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(11/14/19 6:52pm)
Mandi DeLong is a junior English major and double minor in journalism and film studies. This is her third year writing for The Cluster, and she currently interns downtown at Mercer University Press. In the future, Mandi hopes to work in publishing, either in fiction or journalism, and share the passion that she's discovered for herself.
(11/14/19 6:52pm)
Chance Allen is a junior double-majoring in journalism and media studies. Throughout the past year, he has interned with Royalty Headwear and the Admissions Marketing and Communications department, whilst also running a photography business. Chance hopes to continue and broaden his career by creating editorial content that pushes to inform the world on the richness of arts, entertainment, music and culture.
(11/14/19 6:52pm)
Ian Henshaw is senior media studies major at Mercer University pursuing a career in game design. He holds a certificate of game development and spearheaded the use of virtual reality as an early stage product design visualization technique at Formation Design Group in Atlanta. He also worked as a digital media intern for The Allman Brothers Band Museum at The Big House here in Macon.
(11/14/19 6:51pm)
(11/14/19 6:50pm)
Natalie Yaeger is a junior double-majoring in neuroscience and English with minors in chemistry and Spanish on the pre-medical track. Natalie has written for The Cluster since her freshman year, working as Lead News Writer for two years before transitioning to Lead Lifestyle & Opinion Writer. Natalie has been published for her research in both biology and English as well as the art and poetry she creates for The Dulcimer. Natalie also is an SGA Senator-at-Large, a Peer Advisor, MerServe Outreach Coordinator, and on the executive board of numerous other organizations. Natalie is also a member of the University Honors Program where she wants to put an emphasis on research and service. Natalie, in the future, hopes to create positive change while in the medical field through her writing, service, and science knowledge while also broadening her understanding of others, the world, and herself.
(11/14/19 6:46pm)
Mercer participated in National Cybersecurity Awareness Month for its third consecutive year in October.NCSAM is hosted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and began as “a collaborative effort between government and industry to ensure every American has the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online,” according to the National Cyber Security Alliance’s website. The program is in its 16th year.The NCSAM Champion program represents companies, colleges, universities, schools and school districts, government organizations and nonprofits that wish to officially show their support for the month.Mercer University is among over 1,000 NCSAM Champions this year.The university has been a Champion for several years as a way to share important online safety information with the Mercer community, said April Mills, the director of IT Marketing Communications at Change Management at Mercer.The theme for this year was “Own IT, Secure IT, Protect IT.” After identifying issues that are relevant to the Mercer students and faculty, Mercer IT chose to put a spotlight on learning to secure one’s online identity and privacy. Information distributed to students via email throughout October focused primarily on creating strong passphrases and identifying and social engineering.According to IT, phishing is one of the most prevalent cybersecurity issues on campus. “That is one thing that we try to get out at every opportunity. That's one that we struggle with for sure,” Mills said.Mercer’s IT website defines phishing as, “attempts to trick you into releasing your email, bank, credit card, or other private information to an unidentified individual,” usually via email.“Everybody at Mercer community gets phished,” Brett Walker, director of Help Desk and Field Support Services at Mercer IT, said. “Faculty, staff, students, administrators. It happens to everybody.” When receiving an email, IT advises to check the sender and the content of the email closely, but most importantly, never share personal information. Anyone can be vulnerable to phishing, but Walker said it’s important to remain vigilant. “If it looks like an email that you were expecting to get and you just let your guard down just a little bit, people can click and can give away their credentials to a hacker,” he said.Due to website breaches in the last several years, creating strong passphrases is another topic that IT chose to focus upon this year.When large companies’ websites are breached, emails and passwords can be gathered and used to attempt to log on to other websites. Walker said he has seen cases where accounts have been accessed due to data breaches because the victims use the same password on all of their accounts.However, he said the key to avoiding accounts being stolen is a strong passphrase. “There’s two key things: a strong passphrase, but a different passphrase for everything you do … some long phrase can't be just hacked in a billion years,” he said.Another method to protect accounts that could be acquired through phishing or data breaches is two-factor authentication. This can currently be on Microsoft 365 accounts, which would protect Mercer email accounts.An initiative to require Mercer accounts to enable two-factor authentication is in the works, but “there’ll be pushback,” Walker said, despite the fact that it “protects them, their information, their money, and university information.”“It's a great thing and it’s there to protect students and faculty and staff and information and money. But, you know, people don't like change, and they don't like inconvenience ... I would love to just turn it on. But that won't go well,” Walker saidMercer IT’s job doesn’t stop in October. They constantly update their “Security Alerts” tab on their website, said Denise Rogers, executive director at IT Client Support Services. “That is basically an avenue that we use to communicate to students to let them know about any active phishing attempts and other types of security breaches that may impact them,” she said.As for the future of Mercer’s involvement in NCSAM, Mills said that the streak of participation will go on for many years to come. “We're going to continue to participate each year and do our best to get the information out. And we will always highlight what we think is the most important at the time,” Mills said.
(11/11/19 10:15pm)
Being a student athlete at any college can be a big commitment, and for many students, it is not the path they want to take in college.
However, this does not mean that students have to give up their love of being on a sports team. For co-president and swimmer Emma Rose, Mercer’s club swim team is a way of keeping active without pressure.
“It is an open environment for people who want to learn,” Rose said. “I believe it is a safe space.”
The swim team practices every week, but maintains a close and chill atmosphere.
“We have a lot of jokesters on our team,” Co-President Sydney Hanna said. “It lightens the mood which makes it a lot easier because swimming is typically an isolated sport.”
The team competes in roughly three tournaments per semester. In the spring, the team will compete in Nationals with some swimmers who have already qualified.
“You get out what you put in,” Rose said.”You encourage everybody, and when someone does well, you celebrate in that.”
Anyone can join at any time during the school year, and the team has swimmers of all skill levels.
“We like it if they know how to swim,” Rose said. “However, there are opportunities for them to learn.”
The team recently competed in a meet at Georgia Tech with teams coming all the way from Cincinnati.
Their next meet will be next semester. For more information on how to join, visit their Instagram, @mercerswimclub, or their website.
(11/08/19 5:00am)
The U.S. Men’s National Golf Team won the Walker’s Cup in England on Sept. 6, defending the title they won two years prior.
The men’s team completed the tournament in Hoylake, England, with a score of 15.5, edging out the British-Irish team’s score of 10.5.
The U.S team was captained by Nathaniel Crosby and featured the top amateur golfers from across the country. Crosby was pleased with the team’s play, especially following a dominant streak on Sunday afternoon.
“The singles (on Sunday) were amazing,” Crosby told Golf.com. “The guys played great.”
The GB-I team took the lead by two points on day one, but the U.S. team made up the deficit by dominating the remaining matches on Sunday. The U.S won all but two of the singles matches held on Sunday, according to Golf.com.
This is the first time the U.S Walker Cup team has won a matchup in an away contest in 12 years, according to Golf.com.
U.S team members Stewart Hagestad (5 and 3) and Cole Hammer (6 and 5) both had convincing wins. Though the crucial point came from John Augenstein that put him 4 and 3 over Thomas Plumb from England.
"I did not know that my match this afternoon was the clinching point," John Augenstein told Today’s Golfer. "I mean, it really doesn't matter who clinches it. The fact is that we're a team and we won the Walker Cup for each other and for the United States."
The victory brought the U.S record in the Walker Cup to a mark of 37-9-1.
(11/07/19 6:33pm)
This is an opinion article. Any views expressed belong solely to the author and are not representative of The Cluster.
Most people dismiss attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as a learning disability or something that you “get over” after school. In reality, however, ADHD is actually a neurodevelopmental disorder, which means that it causes unusual brain functions that often affect emotions, memory, self-control and learning ability.
The confusion between a learning disability and a neurodevelopmental disorder affects how people treat and react to people with ADHD, which, with some of the effects, hurts people with ADHD. This is something that I’ve experienced a lot, because people don’t fully grasp how ADHD affects people like me.
Like I said before, ADHD is widely seen as a learning disability. However, it actually isn’t considered a learning disability, though it does affect how students perform in academic settings. The hyperactivity and inattention symptoms are the most known and obvious factors in learning disabilities, which make it a lot harder for students with ADHD to sit still or focus in class.
On the flip side, people with ADHD can hyperfocus, which is an intense focus on a task or activity, regardless of whatever may be going around them. Most of the time, we hyperfocus because whatever we’re doing is something we enjoy a lot, but other times, it can be completely accidental. It’s unpredictable and not always something we can control.
While attention difficulties are the more understood parts of ADHD, a lot of people don’t know or understand executive dysfunction and the difficulties with emotional regulation. Executive dysfunction is when executive functions — like focus, memory, planning — don’t work correctly. This means trouble managing time, focus, memory and socialization.
One way this manifests is difficulty completing tasks unless there’s immediate and severe consequences. It doesn’t matter how much you want to do it, you simply just can’t do it. I’ve gotten stuck so many times with doing basic tasks that I need, and want, to do, but it’s chalked up to laziness because people don’t understand ADHD. It’s easier to just blame the individual than consider that there’s a reason they can’t do something.
People with ADHD experience emotions differently, especially in relation to rejection. Rejection sensitive dysphoria, or RSD, is an extreme emotional response to the perception — not even necessarily the reality — of being rejected. It is also solely connected to ADHD. It’s more difficult for people with ADHD to regulate their emotions in a “normal” manner.
The symptoms associated with ADHD not only affect how you act in an academic setting, but in social and work settings too. Inattention, impulsivity, executive dysfunction and difficulty regulating emotions make it difficult for children with ADHD to establish peer relationships to teach them proper socialization, with 50-70% of children with ADHD being rejected by close friends by the second grade. That rejection makes it harder for adults with ADHD to be able to socialize correctly. Their symptoms make them appear “rude, self-centered, irresponsible, lazy, ill-mannered,” as Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder phrased it.
ADHD isn’t just a school issue; it severely affects people’s lives beyond school. The stereotypes about its effects make understanding them harder and warp people’s views about it, which hurts people with ADHD.
That misunderstanding creates false ideas about why people with ADHD behave differently and affects how other people treat them. People need to be willing to understand that ADHD is not just a problem in school, but in people’s everyday lives.
(11/07/19 6:27pm)
After years of close calls and mediocrity, the city of Washington D.C can finally hoist a World Series trophy.
The Washington Nationals won their first World Series title in franchise history Wednesday, defeating the Houston Astros in a thrilling Game Seven matchup by a score of 6-2.
The victory concluded a historic postseason run by the Nationals, who came into the playoffs as a Wild Card team expected to make it no further than the Division Series as a result of lack of depth and inconsistency.
The Nationals proved this assumption to be wrong rather quickly. Down 3-1 in the late innings of the Wild Card game against Milwaukee, just when all of the naysayers about Washington seemed to be right, the Nationals shined. Juan Soto knocked a single into right field with the bases loaded, driving in three runs.
The Nationals stayed alive.
In the National League Division Series, the Nationals faced the Goliath-esque Los Angeles Dodgers, a 106-win team stacked with All-Star caliber players. Washington quickly found itself down two games to one, and in the final few innings of that Game 4, the Dodgers looked poised to crush their postseason dreams, as they led by a score of 3-1.
Then Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto, Washington’s star hitters, stepped up. The pair hit back-to-back homers to tie the game at three, and the rest was history when veteran Howie Kendrick blasted a grand slam in extra innings to ensure the Nationals’ victory. Washington took Game 5 the following night.
The Nationals stayed alive.
Washington then barreled into the National League Championship Series against a flourishing St. Louis Cardinals club, a team with fresh momentum coming off of a stunning NLDS win against the favored Braves. The Cardinals were hot. The Nationals were hotter, sweeping them in 4 games of sheer dominance.
The Nationals stayed alive.
Finally, the Washington Nationals arrived at the World Series. The behemoth Astros stood in their way. A team built for postseason dominance, the Astros boasted countless All-Stars, multiple MVP candidates, a former MVP winner, and a pitching rotation that had struck fear into the hearts of opponents all season. The Nationals found themselves on the brink of elimination again, down three games to two after blowing three games at home. Yet again, though, the club would not give in.
After a clutch performance by star pitcher Stephen Strausburg in Game 6, the Nationals came up big late in Game 7, with two home runs from Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick giving them the lead. After more offense late, the Nationals’ Daniel Hudson sealed the deal, pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
The Nationals stayed alive.
After numerous comebacks and close games, the team from Washington that has failed so many times prior finally has its title. They fought for it and scrapped for it, and the work has finally paid off.
The Nationals stayed alive when it really counted, and now they have a World Series to show for it.
(11/07/19 5:00am)
Meet Ebonye Smith: second-year electrical engineering major, golfer of 10 years, orange juice and dystopian novel addict and lifestyle blogger. And she’s only just getting started.
Self-described as witty, sassy and genuine, Smith has been blogging since the summer after her senior year of high school. She was initially inspired by the people around her making YouTube channels, the influencers she followed on Instagram — including “Cup of Jo” and “With Love, Kayla” — and her own adventurous summer.
“I just liked how witty you were allowed to be and how free you were allowed to be because you had your own space to express yourself,” Smith said.
Among the topics that Smith explores on her blog are travel and fashion.
“But my main topic that I like to talk about is relationships, and not specifically relationships with other people,” Smith said. “It could be relationships with yourself or friendships or romantic relationships."
One post that Smith has written that she thinks is particularly significant is titled “Why Your Past Relationships Haven’t Worked.” Rather than criticize the reader, Smith’s article encourages people to be their authentic selves in order to find people who value them below their surface-level qualities.
Smith said that much of her writing and her life philosophy are motivated by Michelle Obama’s motto, “When they go low, we go high.”
“If I find myself keeping an eye on myself and worrying about what I have to do, and I don’t find myself worrying about what others have going on, life is just so much easier, so much happier,” Smith said.
In addition to blogging, Smith finds joy in pursuing electrical engineering. While she appreciates the freedom and openness of writing, Smith also loves the structure that math and science provide.
“It was something that I was able to solve and get an answer,” Smith said. “It’s not a whole lot of guessing when it comes to math and science, and that was one thing that I really liked about engineering.”
When Smith needs to disconnect from social media and her academics, she turns to golf. Smith said she has been playing golf since she was nine. Although studying prevents her from playing as much as she’d like to during the school year, she said that she plays every single day during the summer with her dad.
Smith said that her mother is also a strong source of support in her life, especially in regards to her blog.
“She was mainly the first one that was pushing me to start a blog,” Smith said. “I remember before I even got my own domain, and I was still on the Wix site, my mom was my first subscriber, my first biggest fan. She was reading all my posts and sharing them on Facebook to her friends.”
Smith’s own advice to anyone interested in blogging and content creation is to get out of their heads and “just start it.” Moreover, she emphasized the importance of being genuine and doing things out of personal enjoyment rather than fame or external acknowledgment.
As for Smith, she ultimately aspires to a career in engineering, but she said that blogging is not something she sees herself stopping in the future.
In fact, Smith is currently in the process of rebranding her blog. Right now, her blog is named after herself — “Ebonye LaSha’” — and is solely text-based, but she is considering adopting a signature unique to the topics she writes about and exploring the podcast route.
“My blog has allowed me to be able to be free with myself,” Smith said, reflecting on her writing experiences over the past couple of years.
(11/07/19 5:00am)
Plans for a 300-student residence hall geared towards upperclassmen were drawn up last year, but lower freshmen enrollment and other variables indicated that there was likely not enough demand to justify building the facility for the fall 2021 semester, administrators said.
“You have to walk a fine line between having enough housing to meet the needs but not having too much housing,” said James Netherton, Executive Vice President of Administration and Finance. “That’s wasted money.”
While complete designs were drawn up by the same architectural firm that designed Legacy Hall, the building was not actually officially set for breaking ground. According to Netherton, it was designed so that — if there was a need — there were plans available.
“We were trying to design based on ‘what do we think will be the most we could possibly grow over the next several years’ and how can we accommodate those needs,” Netherton said.
The idea for the residence hall originated from a summer planning retreat leading up to the 2018-2019 academic school year. There, administration officials decided that they needed plans drawn up for a new residence hall to house upperclassmen, Netherton said.
This decision was a response to what Netherton called the “unprecedented” freshman class that entered Mercer in 2018. That year, Mercer enrolled its largest freshman class in its history, so the administration asked: would there be enough housing if the following freshman classes continued to grow at that rate? The answer was no.
“When we got to that point, we assessed what was the best solution and we came up with a solution if it was needed,” Netherton said. “Then it is a matter of OK, it might be needed. Is it going to be?”
This year, however, the freshman class did not grow at a rate that would have made it necessary to build the new residence hall.
While the class entering Mercer in 2019-2020 was the school’s second largest freshman class in Mercer’s history, the university’s modeling suggested that — with this new data — the current on campus housing would meet the demand for the next two years at least, Netherton said.
“We want to be able to provide all the housing that our students need but we want to keep the costs down,” Netherton said. “That means don’t overbuild. Don’t get too excited. You’re trying to balance those two. That’s why we decided last May it wasn’t time to start the project.”
The design of the project was intended to fill a hole in Mercer’s current upperclassmen housing supply — to provide upperclassmen students an apartment-style living environment with a greater number of community spaces seen in a facility like Legacy Hall, said Jeff Takac, director of Housing and Residence Life.
“We were thinking of building something that’s a little more junior-friendly,” Takac said. “We still want to have that (community) in the common space, but in the room you want your own space because you’re a junior and you want your own space.”
The project would have taken around 18 months to finish. While over time most of the construction costs would be covered by room and board and donations, Netherton said, it is still an endeavor that requires some foresight.
“If you are going to do it, you better need it long-term,” Netherton said. “Once you build that building, it’s going to be around for 50 years, and you’re going to be paying for it for 30. We don’t want to build unless and until we are confident that is going to be really needed. Not just would it be nice to have, not just would it be a great crowning achievement — do we really need it?”
These considerations, however, are still ongoing. The administration maintains a complex algorithm that models the expected demand for housing on Mercer’s campus in future years, Netherton said.
The algorithm takes into consideration a lot of uncertain factors, Netherton said, such as freshmen enrollment, students transferring in and out from Mercer, the number of fourth-year students who decide to stay on campus as well as a variety of other factors.
Depending on what that demand will look like in the future, Mercer may or may not see the building on campus, and what it will look like in terms of size and accommodations will depend both on housing demand and student preferences.
However, with possible plans in hand, if they see the need, a lot of the initial work has already been done.
“I think it would be easy and quick to pick up because I think we’ve eliminated a lot of the legwork,” Takac said. “The groundwork has been done and now it is ‘are we ready to go ahead and start officially?’”
(11/07/19 5:00am)
The 2010’s: The most transformative years of our lives. We learned how to drive and graduated high school. We went to our first school dances and made our very best friends. We had our first heartbreaks and started college. We got our first iPods, our first cell phones.
The 2010’s were also transformative for music. Streaming services made all of our favorite tunes easily accessible and affordable. Indie music changed the game for pop. Artists created some of the most daring and genre-blurring music to exist.
A lot has changed in the past decade for us and for music. What has stayed constant, however, are our favorite tunes. What better way to reminisce on the end of an era than by remembering some of the best albums and songs to come out of the 2010’s? I asked for your submissions and I received them. Here is, in no particular order, your favorite music of the 2010’s.
Artists
Taylor Swift
Releases: 2010-2019
Genre: Pop
You guys like Taylor Swift. A lot. Swift has been making music since 2004 and her sound has changed dramatically, but for the sake of this article, we’ll focus on her music from this decade. Between 2010 and 2019, Swift has released five albums and is one of the best-selling musicians of all time.
Pure Heroine- Lorde
Released: 2013
Genre: Pop/electropop
Lorde’s debut album, “Pure Heroine,” sold over 129,000 copies and was one of 2014’s best-selling albums.
Melodrama- Lorde
Released: 2017
Genre: Pop/electropop
Lorde’s sophomore studio album, “Melodrama,” debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and went on to be certified gold in the United States.
A song for every moon- Bruno Major
Released: 2017
Genre: R&B, Pop
This is Major’s debut album.
Drive Slow- Mac Ayers
Released: 2017
Genre: R&B
This is Ayers’ debut EP.
Contra- Vampire Weekend
Released: 2010
Genre: Indie Rock
“Contra” is Vampire Weekend’s second studio album and made Pitchfork’s list of 100 Best Songs of the Decade So Far in 2014.
After Laughter- Paramore
Released: 2017
Genre: Punk-pop
It’s safe to say that Paramore has made some of the best music of the decade. Their fifth album, “After Laughter,” doesn’t even scrape the surface of their iconic repertoire. “After Laughter” sold 67,000 copies and is Paramore’s third top ten album on the charts.
Songs
Countdown- Beyoncé
Released: 2011
Genre: R&B
Beyoncé’s discography as a whole is home to the decade’s most iconic music. “Countdown” is certified gold and topped a number of charts both in the United States and internationally.
Pumped Up Kicks- Foster the People
Released: 2010
Genre: Indie Pop
Despite the song’s controversy, “Pumped Up Kicks” spent eight consecutive weeks as number three on Billboard's Hot 100 and received a Grammy nomination.
Princess of China- Coldplay x Rihanna
Released: 2012
Genre: Electropop/ R&B
This iconic collaboration is a single from Coldplay’s “Mylo Xyloto.” The song topped charts in both the United States and the UK.
No Hands- Waka Flocka Flame
Released: 2010
Genre: Hip Hop
The anthem of every party of our early teens, “No Hands” had great success, making it in the top 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Super Bass- Nicki Minaj
Released: 2011
Genre: Pop/rap
“Super Bass” is a single from Minaj’s first studio album, “Pink Friday.” The song made it to number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
We Can’t Stop- Miley Cyrus
Released: 2013
Genre: Pop
“We Can’t Stop” tied with “Party in the USA” as Cyrus’ highest ranking single on the charts and has sold over two million copies in the United States.
In the Stars- My Brothers and I
Released: 2015
Genre: Electropop
The single “In the Stars” is from the band’s album, “Don’t Dream Alone.” The group of brothers is making a name for themselves in the alternative-indie-pop scene.
Adorn- Miguel
Released: 2012
Genre: R&B
“Adorn” reached number one on the Hot R&B and Hip-Hop Songs chart and earned the singer three Grammy nominations.
Of course, these albums and songs alone don’t fully encompass the greatness that is music from our childhood, but it sure does give us a lot to look back on and even more to look forward to.
(11/07/19 5:00am)
Football has been the center of Tucker Cannon’s life since he first stepped onto the field to play his first game in first grade.
“If you would have asked me what I wanted to be when I was eight years old, it was to play in the NFL,” Cannon said. “It was always my dream to play in college and then after.”
Cannon came to Mercer after not being heavily recruited in his senior year. Mercer coach Mitch Doolittle contacted him in February of his senior year and gave him the opportunity to walk on.
When he walked on the field for his first practice, it was different than he expected it to be. He was called to come to practice in July because the other receiver got injured. He didn’t know any players or coaches and was in the third slot. However, at football camp, everybody gets a chance to show their talent.
“They threw me in and I am looking around with no idea what I am doing,” Cannon said. “I have come a long way from absolutely having no idea to where I am now, it’s funny to look back on.”
Cannon had his season-best of 144 receiving yards against Presbyterian this year. The biggest play, however, was a touchdown pass against Campbell that landed him the number two spot on Sports Center top ten plays.
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“Every morning (growing up) I would watch sports center and loved watching top ten,” Cannon said. “Seeing it on Sports Center and on TV was beyond surreal.”
During the game, it’s constant plays since Mercer runs a no-huddle. The players remember and get the plays by signs from those on the sidelines.
“I see the play call and I am just like, 'let’s go,'” Cannon said. “Once you are in the route, it’s all just muscle memory ... once you catch it and you are running, it’s the best feeling."
However, practices to get to those plays can be grueling. Practices start at 6:30 a.m. and work out more than just the muscles of the players.
“You just have to be there ready to go,” Cannon said. “Once you are there, you better be there with a 100% effort.”
Toughness Tuesday and Wednesday are the hardest practices of the week. There are 22 periods lasting five minutes each where the teams are split up to do drills to hone in on the plays for the next game.
On top of being a student athlete, maintaining a healthy lifestyle along with a busy social life is not easy. Cannon said that he has to make sure he gets plenty of sleep along with a healthy diet.
The athletics department provides a team dinner on Friday nights. Eating well prevents cramping and makes sure players have plenty of energy to play well. Cannon works towards this all season to perform at his best.
“If you give your 100 percent and know what you are doing, you may not win, and that goes with any sport,” Cannon said. “I am going to run the right route on every assignment with no MAs.”
The Bears will face off in their last home game of the season against Wofford and currently hold a 4-5 record.
(11/07/19 1:59am)
The wind blows popcorn and hot dog wrappers across empty seats. Occasional shouts and boos echo against the vacant concrete of the upper decks of Hard Rock Stadium. Despair-ridden calls of “ice-cold beer” float across fall breezes to the ears of the few that remain. No, this is not a sports purgatory.
This is Miami Dolphins football in 2019.
The NFL team that resides in South Beach is setting unbelievably high expectations for ineptitude so far this season, having been outscored by a margin of 211-63 at the hands of their opponents going into Week 7 of the season, according to ESPN. The team had not scored any points in the second half until Week 5 against the abysmal Washington Redskins. Regardless of the lopsided scores and dwindling attendance, the question remains: Why is Miami so bad?
The answer lies in one colloquial term that has become known to masses of football fans not only in Miami but around the country as “tanking.”
When a football team “tanks,” it means that the owner has fully embraced the lack of talent on the team roster and accepts the fate of falling far out of the playoff picture. These teams, ones which usually linger in the limbo of mediocrity for a few seasons, eventually purposefully do the opposite of what a successful team does in the NFL: they lose games.
The Miami Dolphins fit the mold of a tank team perfectly: over the past decade, they have only had one winning season — 2016 — and have only made the playoffs once — also 2016 — according to ESPN. That lone 10-6 season with a postseason berth was a short-lived success, however, as it only resulted in a 32-12 drubbing at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card.
The Dolphins spent the remainder of those 10 seasons as a middling and even occasionally awful team, finishing with eight losing seasons, as well as one season at .500 in 2014. The team has used a variety of quarterbacks, but none of them have stuck long enough to provide reliability at the position. The defense can show signs of steadiness but regularly reverts to being a revolving door for opposing offenses.
After years of this infuriating inconsistency and mediocrity, though, the Dolphins are now doing what some fans have been calling for after some time. But why tank now in Miami?
The answers are simple: the team is incredibly weak, and the 2020 draft class is incredibly strong. Miami started off the year with two abysmal losses to Baltimore and New England, and it became clear that the team would not show any competitiveness this season, so ownership made a simple and effective decision to blow up the few remaining assets they had.
Star running back Kenyan Drake? Traded. Defensive powerhouse Minkah Fitzpatrick? Traded. Offensive blocking machine Laremy Tunsil? Traded. Receiver Kenny Stills and linebacker Kiko Alonso were also dealt to other teams. The Dolphins’ roster was not this empty at the beginning of the season, the team has simply shipped off its stars in exchange for one thing: draft picks. These transactions all occurred within the span of the past 2 months in Miami.
This is where the “tank” comes into play: by losing tons of games now, the Dolphins position themselves to obtain countless talented players in the 2020 NFL Draft. These trades open up even more opportunities to acquire picks for players that will not help them win games now. Miami has already stacked up 13 draft picks in the 2020 Draft, three of which are first-round picks according to ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe.
If Miami continues to lose, they will almost certainly be granted the #1 overall pick of the draft, which would likely be used to draft dynamic University of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The momentum of a new and very talented quarterback could propel the team to new heights, especially when paired with other talents from what looks to be a very strong draft class.
Amidst the awful team on the field and the increasingly strong incoming talent, the questions about Miami’s strategy this season are still important ones to ask. Is this good for the NFL? How many teams will follow suit?
Regardless of the average fan’s opinion on them, the Miami Dolphins are an awful team, and it seems that they like it that way.
(11/07/19 1:32am)
Kate Lemon wasn’t a poet until her freshman year of college. She started writing at the request of late Mercer professor and Guggenheim Fellow Anya Silver after turning in an essay for her introductory poetry class.
Lemon said she has since “fallen in love” with poetry, drawing inspiration from nature, her own life and the lives of those around her.
“There’s a quote I saw on Pinterest and it was like, ‘if you think I’m writing about you, I am,’” Lemon said. “I liked that a lot.”
Loving poetry came as a surprise to her.
“A lot of it can be hard and complex and hard to understand, so sometimes it’s frustrating,” Lemon said.
Silver’s encouragement inspired Lemon to start reading more poetry, and soon writing her own.
“I always felt like I thought things and then I would never write them down, I would just be like, ‘oh, that’s an interesting thought,’” Lemon said. “At the time I was like, ‘okay, yeah, sure, I’ll do it,’ and then I ended up with an English minor.”
At first, Lemon only shared her poems with her mom, whom she calls her “biggest fan.” She started sharing work on Instagram in April after a conversation with her roommate, who told her not to wait any longer.
“Even now, every time before I post I’m like, ‘I don’t even think this is really that good,’” Lemon said. “Even if it’s not that great, this is how I felt at 20 years old, this is how I’m writing at 20 years old.”
Lemon’s most recent post, titled, “A poem to congress from an advocate of the metastatic breast cancer community,” was inspired by her trip to Washington, D.C. with Mercer professor Andrew Silver for Silver’s “IV,” a play about metastatic breast cancer.
“The poem was just kind of about my experience and kind of how I felt being there and going on Capitol Hill and talking to the senator aids and kind of getting angry and fired up about it,” she said.
Lemon said she isn’t trying to turn poetry into a profession. For now, poetry is a side hobby.
“It’s just kind of therapeutic and stuff and helps me process my emotions,” Lemon said. “If it becomes a profession that would be pretty cool, but I don’t know.”
(11/06/19 5:14am)
Camping before a concert is one of the best parts of the experience, but it is also one of the hardest. It is very easy to slip up and forget some of the most important things until you get there, and you’ll have to pay a lot more for what you need.
Since it is so easy to forget what you need, here are some tips in order to survive camping before a concert.
Bring water and food from home
Even if you are going to be in an area where you can buy food and drinks, you will want to bring it from home. Buying anything in an area around a venue is incredibly expensive, and it is also hard to get in and out of line closer to showtime.
If you are sitting in line from three in the morning until almost seven at night, you are going to need a lot to drink and a lot to eat. The best thing to do is bring a case of water, sandwiches you made at home and a lot of snacks with protein. Make sure you stay hydrated in line; the pit will be extremely hot.
Bring external batteries
You are going to be outside all day; you are not going to be able to charge your phone anywhere. Bring a portable charger or three. Once the concert starts, if your phone is dead, you will regret not being able to take the photos or videos you wanted to.
Bring games
Instead of draining your phone’s limited battery all day, bring games to play in line. Playing games is also a good way to make friends with people around you in line. You are going to be surrounded by these people all day, so you should be friendly.
Some of the best games to bring are games that you can play with a large group. Everyone around is wanting to pass time so that they can get to the show.
Go to the bathroom
Once you are in the official line, there is no leaving. Go to the bathroom way more than you think you actually need to. Losing your spot in line because you have to go to the bathroom is the worst nightmare of someone who has waited in line all day.
In the pit, leaving to go to the bathroom will be almost impossible. So go to the bathroom right before the official line starts, and be prepared.
Dress up, and have fun
The most important tip to surviving camping is having fun. Camping is only worth your time if you enjoy it. The best way to do so is to enjoy the people around you, put on crazy makeup and keep your eyes off of your phone.
Using your phone is the easiest way to pass time while sitting in line, but camping out for a concert is an experience that you entirely miss if you sit with your head in your phone. Spending time with other people so passionate about music is the best part of camping, and it makes sitting in line all day worth it.
(11/06/19 5:00am)
Known for its quirky profile questions and “progressive” women-message-first philosophy, Bumble has become a favorite for users searching for a little more depth than apps like Tinder. What users may not know is that Bumble has features outside of the dating world.
Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz are the app’s social features for making friends and networking career connections. The Bumble BFF profile set up is virtually the same as normal Bumble, but both parties have 24 hours to message after a match.
When setting up my profile, I prioritized making it funny rather than appearing attractive like a typical dating app profile. To appear quirky and ironic, I chose an iPhone self timer photo of myself and my cat for my first picture. I followed with photos from nights out, more self timer pictures and a shot with my camera to demonstrate my creative interests.
Bumble also includes a “basic info” section where users can add information like what they’re looking for, if they’re in a relationship, whether they have pets or their star sign. I filled out all nine information categories to be thorough.
Profile prompts, meant to spark a conversation with new matches, are a fun aspect of Bumble profiles. I chose “Nightclub or Netflix” (both), “Greatest travel story” (almost arrested) and “The world would be a better place with more…” (cider). Out of my answers, the nightclub vs. Netflix question and my love for cider prompted the most conversations with my matches.
Bumble also gives users the option to connect Instagram and Spotify accounts to their profile. I decided to keep my Instagram private, but I did link my Spotify account in case it attracted any musically like-minded matches.
Once I finished agonizing over my profile, it was time to start swiping. The Bumble BFF swiping system is identical to “dating” Bumble, but I only swiped through other women on BFF. Although I understand Bumble’s intentions, there may be something to say here about the assumption that friendships must happen between the same genders, but I digress.
Swiping was equally as nerve-wracking as on a dating app. I found myself swiping left because of an emoji placement or wondering if certain profiles were too “cool” to match with me. While I found an abundance of profiles while swiping near Atlanta, I did see fewer people around Middle Georgia using Bumble BFF. After about thirty minutes of diligent swiping, Bumble notified me that I had swiped through all of the BFF’ers in my area. Most of my matches near Atlanta fell through once I admitted that I live primarily in Macon, meaning that all of my new friendships would probably only exist over Instagram.
I racked up about fifty “yes” swipes to my profile, but I only made matches with about twenty people. Of my twenty matches, I messaged five people first and around seven messaged me first.
Once I received messages from my matches, I found myself forgetting to respond within the 24 hour period before they expired. I only kept up four conversations without expiring and as of writing this story, zero of them are still ongoing.
As a perpetually busy college student, sending messages to random people on an app within 24 hours started to feel like just another deadline placed on me. I began forcing myself to spend time on Bumble, scheduling in socialization time like a subject in an experiment.
Conversations remained pretty bland, with empty promises to meet up or exchange social media handles going unfulfilled. Since my matches and I are college age, most of my conversations ended up turning to majors and career plans. If I wanted painful networking instead of platonic matchmaking, I would have used Bumble Bizz.
Bumble BFF is a good idea in theory, but it seems like it only works in application if you live in a big city and have an abundance of time for swiping.
(11/06/19 5:00am)
Mercer Law School’s Association of Women Law Students is set to host the third annual Lauren Giddings 5K to raise funds for the Lauren Giddings Scholarship.
The race and scholarship are named after a former Mercer law student, Lauren Giddings, who was murdered in 2011. Giddings had recently graduated law school and was studying for the bar exam. Her neighbor and classmate, Stephen Mark McDaniel, was charged with her murder and subsequently plead guilty. The funds raised by the event will go towards covering several AWLS members' bar exam expenses.
“Lauren Giddings was a runner, and her family and the school really wanted to have an event that was in remembrance of her. She would have wanted Mercer students to have help with bar preparations,” Emily Newberry, the AWLS Fall Philanthropy Co-chair, wrote in an email.
The bar exam is one of the final hurdles for law students, and passing it grants a license to practice law in their given state.
“This scholarship is very important because it covers the cost of Bar Exam preparations, which are well over $1,000,” Newberry said.
Aside from finances, the race and scholarship both contribute to the legacy of Giddings.
Grace Hamilton, a pre-law student, said that keeping Giddings’ legacy alive is an important part of combating the type of misogynistic violence that led to her death.
Hamilton also said that receiving financial aid for bar exam expenses would make pursuing a legal degree more feasible and accessible.
“What she wanted to do was to advocate for people, and she would want to empower other women,” Hamilton said.
In previous years, AWLS has raised around $8,000, which comes from a combination of race registration expenses and donations, Newberry said. The group has welcomed around 130 people in previous years and is working with various other campus organizations to put on this year’s race, including Bear Care, the Federalist Society, the Second Amendment Society and the Black Law Students Association.
The race will be held on Nov. 7 at 8:30 a.m. at Central City Park. The cost of registration is $40, which goes towards the scholarship funds.
(11/05/19 7:21pm)
With the holiday season coming up, Macon is going to be a hotbed of artistic and cultural events. There will be activities for everyone, from festivals to food trucks to fire breathers, all in the heart of the city.
First Friday in Downtown Macon
Although NewTown Macon hosts First Friday every month, November’s event will be one for the books. Newtown will be hosting a Garage Meet-Up, a rooftop drive up party on Mulberry Street, and Comic Book Plus and Reboot will host a Halloween party. There will also be events for the entire family at The Grand Opera House, The Macheran Art Center, Macon Arts Alliance and 576 Center for Renewal.
Movie Night at the Ballpark
Macon’s Baseball team, Macon Bacon, will be hosting a movie night at the ballpark on Saturday, Nov. 9, showing “The Sandlot” from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Instead of having a cover charge, Macon Bacon is asking for donations for Loaves & Fishes. You can donate items like nonperishable foods, baby diapers and laundry detergent at the gate.
Vegan Fall Festival in Tattnall Square Park
On Saturday, Nov. 16, Harmony_Vibes and Macon Vegans will be hosting a vegan Fall Festival in Tattnall Square Park. Local vendors will set up at 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. selling vegan food, jewelry and beauty products.
The Cider Social at The Society Garden
On Nov. 23, the Society Garden will be hosting a cider and pie pairing event. This Cider Social will be family friendly; there will be a magic show for children as well as cake walk. Activities will be held from noon to midnight and will feature live music.
Main Street Christmas Light Extravaganza in Downtown Macon
Every year, Downtown Macon glows during the holiday season. Hosted this year by Northway Church, Macon will once again be doused in light. The Light Extravaganza will kick off this year on Nov. 29 and will feature live music from MaconPops! and other local artists. The city will light up at 6 p.m. and will stay lit until Jan. 3. There will also be several different events hosted by Northway Church and Downtown Macon.
There is certainly a lot to check out in the next month to get the community ready for the holiday season.