The Daily Iowan WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2024
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COMMUNITY SINCE 1868
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NO RING. NO RULES. ALL HISTORY. In a downtown diner, Iowa’s wrestling scene finds new blood looking to go big.
Olin Mhyre Arts Reporter
arts@dailyiowan.com
On a rainy Thursday evening, Carlos Oliva climbed to the top of a ladder inside The Dandy Lion — a diner and staple of Iowa City. Onlookers — inside and out — followed Oliva with their eyes as he climbed each rung, while they anticipated the guaranteed leap. Earlier that week, Oliva had just finished waiting tables when he answered a call from The Daily Iowan. “Yes, there really will be an underground, no rules, no ring wrestling tournament on Oct.24 at The Dandy Lion,” he said cheerily. Oliva was born in Guatemala and moved to Iowa City as a kid. He spent much of his youth observing the worlds of the WWF, WWE, and New World Order wrestling. It did not take long for Oliva to become attached to the sport. As it was for many other young adults, wrestling was an outlet of virtue for Oliva. Week in and week out, characters of true good vs. true evil went head-to-head and performed feats of the highest theatrics and most strenuous athleticism. Larger-than-life characters like Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and, for Oliva, John Cena acted as frameworks for behaviors and morals. “I had no clue what this man was saying, but I felt the aura,” Oliva said of Cena. “I had to do everything in my power to be a professional wrestler when I grew up, and I did.” Iowa has a deep connection to the worlds of both Gre-
WRESTLING | 2A
INSIDE
Trio of transfers
Petition prompts accessibility discussion Kristian Marchand, a wheelchair user, began a petition for an additional elevator in Macbride Hall.
The No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling squad landed three massive transfers in search of an NCAA National Championship. Kyle Parco, Jacori Teemer, and Stephen Buchanan headline a deep Hawkeye squad with serious potential to contend for All-American status. SPORTS | 1B
ONLINE • The Johnson County
Veterans Affairs Department lit up part of the health and human services building green as part of Operation Green Light for Veterans, a nationwide effort by counties to recognize veterans’ sacrifice. Check out coverage at dailyiowan.com.
• Listen to the latest episodes
of The Daily Iowan’s two podcasts, Above the Fold and Press Box Banter, where reporters cover the latest news and talk sports at dailyiowan.com.
Marandah Mangra-Dutcher Managing Print Editor
marandah.mangra.dutcher@dailyiowan.com
Iowa’s Old Capitol, with its gilded dome, sticks out among the buildings on the University of Iowa Pentacrest. However, they all hold history — especially Macbride Hall. Home to the Natural History Museum of Iowa, Macbride is filled with artifacts, excelling in telling stories that have long since ended. However, the building and its content have some downsides. Kristian Marchand navigates Macbride weekly. The trek begins by entering through a door concealed in the building’s landscape. The journey continues with a ride to the first floor of Macbride. Using an elevator that screeches the entire way up, Marchand exits only to be met with heavy, old wooden doors leading into history — where a push-to-open button remains unusable. Rolling through Macbride’s museum, Marchand is followed by taxidermied eyes as they continue on the path ahead. Passing Rusty the Giant Sloth, Marchand gives the once-thriving creature a nod while their wheelchair slides against the carpet. The brownish-red animal looms over Marchand with pitch-black eyes, feeling almost too large for the space allotted to him. Marchand continues on. The chirping of the robotic birds greets them as they wheel further into the museum. Finally, reaching another set of doors — just as heavy as the last — Marchand pauses, garners one last burst of energy, and opens the doors to our century. All of this? The journey it takes for Marchand to get to their Thursday class.
Accessibility on college campuses Isabella Tisdale | The Daily Iowan
Kristian Marchand, a first-yeat at the University of Iowa, travels to their dorm on Oct. 25. Marchand recently started a petition to make Macbride Hall more accessible for those with physical disabilities.
Nationwide, college campuses find themselves struggling with accessibility for campus buildings. Sometimes, a building’s compliance can often be expensive and taxing, especially
ACCESSIBILITY | 7A
ICON fosters unique education in second year
Iowa Conservatory for the Performing Arts is in its second year of being a boarding school. Zoe Smith News Reporter
news@dailyiowan.com
Leslie Nolte has been a pillar of the Iowa City arts community for decades. Since opening Nolte
Academy 25 years ago, she has fostered arts education for dancers and actors after the confines of their normal school hours. With an abundance of students walking through Nolte Academy’s doors every day, Nolte saw a discrepancy. “My experience with so many of my students at
Nolte Academy, leaving to go to boarding schools, including my own daughter, led me to really understand that we had a great opportunity to do that here, and maybe even do it better than some of the
ICON | 7A