FEATURES
NAU Skate Club looks to the future
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ZACHARY MARKEWICZ
he skate club members trickled in one by one, most of them fashionably late. It was cold and windy outside, but the atmosphere in the University Union’s Grand Canyon Room quickly warmed up. Jokes flew around the room, and the occasional sound of Tech Decks clacked in the background. Throughout the meeting, there was one consistency: NAU Skate Club’s plans for the future. With a fundraising campaign about to end, the club met to discuss how it should use the money and begin planning for the next campaign. Club members quickly began presenting ideas on how to spread the word about the new petition to construct a skate park on the Flagstaff mountain campus. Davis Ray, president and founder of NAU Skate Club, led the discussion. Ray started skating when he was 5 years old and said growing up skating has given
him a sense of community involvement. Through the constant success and failures of practicing, Ray said his confidence in dealing with life challenges has improved. “I think skateboarding definitely means something different to every person,” Ray said. “But for me, it has just been one of the greatest blessings in my life. It has kind of shaped the entire way I view the world. When you see life through the lens of skateboarding, it is kind of hard to come back. It teaches you so many lessons and sets up the way you view challenges.” Armed with his passion for skateboarding and his knowledge of mechanical engineering, Ray said he has wanted to work on a campus skate park project for a long time. A skate park on campus became a possibility after Ray received an offer for the role of president of the NAU Skate Jacks, a longboarding club. See SKATE on PAGE 14
Left: Junior Neto Fernandez, an NAU Skate Club member, performs a line of tricks filmed by another member, junior John Wilson, on the pedway, Oct. 27. Right: Sophomore Rowan McCullough performs a trick over a traffic cone outside of the Starbucks Union and The Wedge on central campus, Oct. 27. Taylor McCormick | The Lumberjack
NEWS NFL visits Southside Community Garden
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DAISY JOHNSTON
olunteers joined NFL representatives Nov. 11 to plant a tree and install new garden beds in the Flagstaff Southside Community Garden. NFL coordinators said they want the upcoming Super Bowl in Arizona to have a legacy lasting further than the game. On Veterans Day, local volunteers spent their day off shoveling, digging and planting in 32-degree weather. Volunteers gathered at the garden at 10 a.m. to hear speakers from NFL Green, Terra BIRDS, the Flagstaff Sustainability Office and the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, which organized the event. After the speakers were finished and a plan was made, volunteers took a group photo before getting into teams and beginning the gardening process. Tools, snacks and parting gifts were all provided by the NFL. Super Bowl LVII will take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Feb. 12, 2023. It will be the fourth Super Bowl held in Arizona. Jay Perry is president and CEO of the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee. Perry and her team began work 16 months ago in preparation for the game in February. Working on small community projects, Perry said, is what makes her job both exciting and challenging. “The idea of beautifying and rehabilitating a community garden, getting it ready for next season’s crops and putting in the apple tree that we did today, I’m excited to come back in a few years, drive by and see it still going,” Perry said. Moreover, Perry said the committee wants this to be an Arizona Super Bowl, not only for Phoenix. Around 5,000 volunteers have contributed to projects sponsored by the NFL in Flagstaff, Mesa and Tucson. The most recent Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles was criticized for its effects on the local economy, increasing construction and displacing residents. See NFL on PAGE 5
OPINION
The future should be on rails BRENDAN TRACHSEL
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quick Google search of “the future of transportation” results in a plethora of dreamy technologies. Self-driving cars, drones, hyperloops and flying vehicles promise to be the answer for all our transportation needs. The truth is these are all facades to the simple fact that the technologies we need for sustainable, efficient and reliable transportation are already here. Trains are often touted by environmentalists as being the most environmentally friendly option for transportation, and they are absolutely right. Public ground transportation beats personal vehicles, and when it comes to buses and trains, rail reigns supreme. On top of that, rail transportation is the second safest form of transportation and has the potential to be reliable, affordable and fast. However, trains in the United States are known to be quite the opposite. The sad state of passenger rail services occurred from nearly a century of mistreatment from national, state and local governments. From the 1880s to the 1920s, trains ruled the transportation world. The cost to travel across the U.S. drastically decreased, and streetcars could be found in every large American city. In 2022, streetcars, now known as light rail, are essentially nonexistent, and train travel is known to be riddled A train roars past the Amtrak station as the city halts to let it pass, Nov. 13. with delays. See RAILS on PAGE 8 Sara Williams | The Lumberjack