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Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020

Volume 154 No. 14 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934

WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY

Students can now vote on campus SJSU’s ﬁrst-ever voting center opens on ground ﬂoor of MLK Library When to vote: Everyday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

March 3: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eligible people can register to vote at the vote center itself.

Security U.S. Reps. discuss election integrity at town hall Pages 4 & 5

Reform

MAURICIO LA PLANTE | SPARTAN DAILY

Left to right: Shannon Bushey, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla,

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, SJSU President Mary Papazian and Assembly member Ash Kalra cut a ribbon to celebrate SJSU’s new voting center.

New state laws change elections in Santa Clara County Pages 4 & 5

Annual campout draws state support By Andrew Glenn STAFF WRITER

Students set up tents on the Tommie Smith and John Carlos Lawn Thursday evening and settled in for a long night as part of a demonstration advocating for more student housing aid. “I saw an email about this event and just wanted to sit in solidarity with students and others experiencing homelessness in the San Jose area,” Quinn Gonzales, a Santa Clara University public health senior, said. “I think it’s a great demonstration and a really interesting way to bring awareness.” Thursday’s 14th annual campout marked a historic collaboration between the Student Homeless Alliance and San Jose State administration. SJSU President Mary Papazian was the first university president to show up at the event in its history. Commending the alliance for their advocacy, she encouraged the 60 people present and other students to speak up about homelessness, calling it the “issue of our day.” During his speech, Assembly man Ash Kalra echoed the sentiment.

You are part of a legacy of activism that has been so critical to the history of this university. Ash Kalra California State Assembly member

“You are part of a legacy of activism that has been so critical to the history of this university,” Kalra said. “You at this moment in time are valuable in the movement you are creating right now throughout this state.” To show that student housing has been an issue plaguing SJSU for decades, state Sen. Jim Beall described his work as an SJSU housing coordinator while attending the university in the ’70s. “We’d make the phone call to other people to find out who had space on their floor and their apartment, whether or not a student could crash at that apartment with a sleeping

CHRISTIAN TRUJANO | SPARTAN DAILY

Sociology sophomore Jermaine Bradley (left) and Student Homeless Alliance President

TENTS | Page 2 Diana Rendler explain the purpose of the “Poverty Under the Stars” event Thursday.

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NEWS

TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 2020

Left: Sociology junior Elsa Salgado (left) and sociology sophomore Jermaine Bradley (right) help other members of the Student Homeless Alliance set up tents Thursday night. Top: Interdisciplinary studies graduate student Christian Webb performs in a skit about housing, put together by SJSU theatre students. PHOTOS BY BLUE NGUYEN AND CHRISTIAN TRUJANO

TENTS Continued from page 1 bag or blanket,” Beall said. “I remember often I did that in my room that I rented.” Both state legislators voiced their support for Assembly Bill 1314 during the event. “AB 1314 is an example of something students are driving, that you are driving,” Kalra said. The bill aims to provide financial aid to a broader category of California State University students by restructuring the Cal Grant Program to cover the full cost of college attendance to include housing. “Right now [Cal Grants] just covers tuition and the full cost of going to school. And that would be $2 billion more for college students,” Alliance advisor and sociology professor Scott Myers-Lipton said. “It’s $2 billion now and it would double it and that would go to housing.” Other speakers included Poncho Guevara of Sacred Heart and Leslye Corsiglia, executive director of Silicon Valley at Home, who made appearances

to speak about housing crisis solutions. Some students present said that they have been on the brink of losing housing. “I came pretty close [to homelessness] a couple of times. There are nights where I’m wondering how I’m going to solve this money stuff. I just think there are students at this campus who are thinking more than that,” psychology junior Mitchell Davies said. “These kids are the future. These students are making a choice to fight through their struggles every day. Why not give them the tools they need to empower them to succeed.” Students from the SJSU theater department performed a vignette about student homelessness, based on the stories and notes the Alliance has anonymously collected from students. The scene depicted Papazian giving a speech on student homelessness and summarizing the progress made constructing student housing. Meanwhile, two other actors portraying students applied for emergency housing from SJSU Cares, a comprehensive support and referral program that assists students who are

SpartanDaily

WATCH A RECAP OF THE EVENT ON YOUTUBE facing an unforeseen economic crisis. After the “students” quit in frustration, the actor portraying Papazian shakes hands with one of the student characters with tape over his mouth, inscribed with an ID number. “I think they did a great job in their acting. However, that was the first time that we saw it,” sociology junior and alliance member Elsa Salgado said. “What we had communicated to the drama team was, we gave them some sticky notes and told them to give a visual of what student homelessness was like.” Executive director of the NAACP of San Jose and Silicon Valley Jeff Moore slammed President Donald Trump for proposing to cut funds from the Pell Grants, which he said students could use to pay for housing.

“We have politicians who do not seem to understand that what they’re doing is causing the homelessness,” Moore said. “They have no concern for the fact that students have to be more worried about where their next meal is coming from, where their housing is coming from than how to pay for their books and how to spend time to study.” He encouraged agitating the system so that a change can be made. Once the speakers and student performers wrapped up, the Alliance welcomed attendees to stay for a screening of “The Public,” a movie about a group of homeless people who refuse to leave a Cincinnati library at closing time in an act of civil disobedience. Approximately 30 people stayed throughout the night to camp out in solidarity. “It gives people a taste,” MyersLipton said. “It’s not over multiple days and they have a bed to return to. It gives them a small taste of what it’s like to be outside or in your car.” Follow Andrew on Twitter @SaviorElite10

Yiddish stories show immigrant trials By Paul Hang STAFF WRITER

The “Coming to America” book discussion series debuted Sunday with a book about a young, spirited and mischievous 9-year-old boy’s journey from Russia to New York. The continuous series plans to cover other books regarding immigration in the following months. The program is part of The Yiddish Book Center in which Jewish writers share their work with reading groups. The first of the four planned books was “Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor’s Son” by Sholem Aleichem. This was an English translated version of one of Aleichem’s recognized novels which he wrote in Yiddish. The 2009 version published by Penguin Classics was the one used for discussion. The book takes the point of view of a young child named Motl and his adventures of living life in America after

You see that vulnerability in the very way that he’s trying to contain that vulnerability of the people who come to America. Ignat Ayzenberg SJSU Jewish Studies Coordinator

emigrating from Russia. About 20 people attended the panel led by San Jose State Jewish Studies Coordinator, Ignat Ayzenberg. He discussed the content of the books, which depicts the hardships that drove Jewish immigrants to America. One of the examples is the pogrom, an organized movement to massacre the Jewish people in Russia. From 1905 to 1906, there was a large number of Jewish people coming to America to escape the discrimination. Aleichem’s work focuses on the realistic experiences of being an immigrant. Among the topics he likes to cover in his stories is a process of growing and becoming

acquainted in a new home environment. “You see that vulnerability in the very way that he’s trying to contain that vulnerability of the people who come to America,” Ayzenberg said. He said the book took place in a time when the majority of Russians and its empire were illiterate. The heavy machinery industry, which deals with large equipment and facilities, was one of the ways to make money for those without an educational background. The Jewish community who lived in Russia had to work in the machinery industry in Russia which

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The Spartan Daily prides itself on being the San Jose State community’s top news source. New issues are published every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday throughout the academic year and online content updated daily.

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PAUL HANG | SPARTAN DAILY

The “Coming to America” reading group discuss the book “Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor’s Son,” a depiction of the anti-Semitism fueling Russia’s Pogrom.

gave them little opportunity to contribute in the country. “When I read a book like this of a 9-year-old by Sholem Aleichem, I look at it more: how he wants to give the context [to] what people were experiencing at that time,” Ayzenberg said. “So here, Sholem Aleichem is trying to give you a personality type; a character he’s trying to develop.” Librarian Deborah Estreicher said this discussion

series was an opportunity for attendees to learn about the immigration experience. “The richness that the immigrant population has brought here should not be overlooked and the tragedies that have brought people here should be understood,” Estreicher said. Ayzenberg compared Aleichem’s work to Mark Twain’s, pointing out the way Aleichem tackles serious topics while making it easier

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for people to read them. “They shared a comic, a dark humor,” Ayzenberg said. “It’s critical of the injustice of inequality of [superstitious] beliefs.” The next discussion will feature “Enemies, A Love Story” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, led by English professor David Mesher on March 29. Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily

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SPORTS

TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 2020

ANDREW GLENN | SPARTAN DAILY

Top: The Spartans celebrate in a team huddle after their 3-2 win over UC Davis. SJSU nearly went undefeated over the weekend winning 4 out of 5 games. Left: Junior Ryann Thomison leaps in excitement in the win against Santa Clara University. She won 3 of 5 matches alongside graduate student Summer Vercruyssen.

BLUE NGUYEN | SPARTAN DAILY

GAME 1

GAME 2

GAME 3

GAME 4

GAME 5

Spartans

Spirit

Ducks

Aggies

Broncos

Antelopes

Home courts inspire SJSU By Paul Hang & Andrew Glenn STAFF WRITERS

San Jose State’s 3-2 win over Ottawa University (Arizona) was the perfect housewarming gift for their first home games at Spartan Beach. The Spartans won the first four games of the weekend before dropping the Sunday finale. Friday started with some great chemistry from junior Ryann Thomison and graduate student Summer Vercruyssen. They played in three close sets, winning and losing by only three points. Sophomore Sarah Smevog was all over the court during her match in which she lost two sets, hustling to a lot of balls that would normally be out of reach. Senior duo Kaitlynn Zdroik and Caitlin Bettenay stole the show during the first match up. They dominated their opponents in the second of two sets, with a score of 21-13 in the second set. Prior to the second game of the day, SJSU officially opened the new courts with a ribbon cutting ceremony that featured SJSU President Mary Papazian and Athletics Director Marie Tuite. Bettenay said the new courts are a motivating factor for the Spartans. “We’re so blessed to have these courts,” said Bettenay. SJSU then beat the University of Oregon 4-1, in their second game of the opening weekend at Spartan Beach. “We were able to be really technical and precise with our communication which enables us to get better [and] faster,” Bettenay said. She said her chemistry with Zdroik was important to winning the matches for the Spartans. Zdroik said liked the home-field atmosphere while playing on the new courts, bringing positive morale to the team.

“It’s nice to have a lot of people around, a lot of blue and gold around cheering for us,” Zdroik said. But despite having a home-field advantage, the Spartans don’t want to get too comfortable with the new courts. “We still have to bring that same fire that we do anywhere else as if we weren’t home and that’s just the Spartan volleyball way,” Zdroik said. Zdroik said most of her teammates don’t have too much experience playing on a beach setting, but that didn’t stop them from training for these matches. “Being very blue-collared, being, like, [a] workhorse, you know we want to go and work hard,” Zdroik said.

21-16 and 21-15. After senior Thaliana Grajeda and sophomore Tabea Schwarz tied up the game 1-1, UC Davis would respond and retake the lead. Smevog and sophomore Haylee Nelson tied the game 2-2 for SJSU, meaning the fifth match would decide the victor. “Usually I’m the one in my pair who looks at the score,” Nelson said. “When I saw that we were down 2-1 in the overall score that popped in my head while we were playing, but me and [Smevog] were just in a really good rhythm and weren’t worried about what UC Davis was doing.” Zdroik and Bettenay won their match 21-19 and 21-17, giving the Spartans the win

I’m just really proud of all of us. It’s one thing to win and it’s one thing to win four straight on your home turf. That is brand new to us. Sarah Smevog sophomore

Interim head coach Delainey Gregory said during the preseason that the team would scrimmage with each other to prepare for the season. “We definitely ask for [the players’] input, we obviously have ideas, it’s just kind of a mixture of both, you know, and obviously, what’s best for the team,” Gregory said. Friday’s momentum carried into Saturday as they took down UC Davis 3-2. “I thought we were pretty equally matched and we saw that in the game,” Gregory said. “I thought they were one of the more tougher teams [we faced]. I thought it could have gone either way and we just got through at the end.” Thomison and Vercruyssen lost the first match against the Aggies

over the Aggies. “We were not necessarily playing our best but we fought through and got the [win],” Gregory said. “All of our girls just dug in and got it done any way they could and they did a really good job today.” Later that day, the Spartans won again, beating the University of Santa Clara 4-1, good for their fourth victory in a row to begin the season. Sarah Smevog looked at these early victories as a motivational factor for the team. “I’m just really proud of all of us. It’s one thing to win and it’s one thing to win four straight on your home turf. That is brand new to us,” Smevog said. The games were scheduled five hours apart,

and Smevog said she enjoyed having a break in between the matches. “Beach takes a lot out of you. It is really a lot of work on your body. It’s a lot of cardio,” Smevog said. “So I kind of like the break because it gives us the chance to refocus, kind of calm down a little bit, rest up.” Nelson also looked at the wins as accomplishments, but she also noted there is room for improvement. “I think all of us are really confident in our play with the wins behind our back, but we’ve also taken some losses. We’ve come into 3-2 wins twice,” Nelson said. Nelson considered these wins to be challenging for the Spartans, but also said it boosts their confidence when they’re able to win. “I think me and [Smevog] personally, yesterday, we were a little nervous [in the] first game of the season and I think we kind of all got the nerves out,” Nelson said. Gregory said she was proud of the team’s 4-1 start, but that doesn’t take away from the challenges the Spartans will face this season. “I think this whole season is going to be a grind and tough for us. We’re going to win some, and we’re going to lose some,” Gregory said. The Spartans could not seal the deal on a perfect home-opening weekend however, losing to Grand Canyon University 5-0 on Sunday. Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily Kellen Concentine contributed reporting to this article.

UPCOMING HOME GAME BLUE NGUYEN | SPARTAN DAILY

Sac State vs. SJSU Feb. 27 @ 3 p.m.

Graduate student Summer Vercruyssen sets up a serve against Santa Clara University Saturday afternoon.

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2020 ELECTION

TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 2020

‘No more excuses’ to skip voting

Representatives Santa Clara County celebrate SJSU’s implements easier new vote center access to voting By Kunal Mehta SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR

MAURICIO LA PLANTE | SPARTAN DAILY

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (left) shakes hands with political science senior Denise Ramos (right) after Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at the MLK Library.

Voting center opens on campus By Mauricio La Plante & Kunal Mehta ASST. NEWS EDITOR & SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR

Enter, register and vote. That’s what San Jose State students living in Santa Clara County can do now at the voting center in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library. “[Voting] was easy,” undeclared freshman Lulu Ashenfelder said after casting her ballot at the new on-campus vote center Monday. “I was passing by and didn’t know [the vote center] was here until this morning.” Elected officials, San Jose State students and campus administrators celebrated the opening of the university’s first-ever voting center Thursday for the March 3 presidential primary election. Located on the ground floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, in the space of the former Friends of the Library Bookstore, the center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day until March 3, when it will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Ashenfelder, who’s from Sonoma County, now lives in the dorms and registered to vote in Santa Clara County right before casting her ballot. “It took a second, but it was easy,” she said.

more students to vote. State law changes lead to SJSU vote center He said when he was a student at the university during the ’70s, he was very eager to vote for president during the Voter’s Choice Act Assembly Bill 59 Vietnam War, but now it will be even easier for interested Spartans. AB 59 instructed counties The act allows counties to “If you’re the one who’s really excited to prioritize placing voting replace assigned polling places about voting, you can knock on dorms centers on college campuses, with vote centers that any and [go vote] right now, [it’s] much easier in addition to 14 other precounty resident can use to cast than driving people to their polling existing considerations. The their ballot. The county would place,” Yeager said. law was signed on Oct. 8, also send out vote-by-mail Margarita Figueroa, a political science and justice studies senior, said that before 2019, and implemented for the ballots to all registered voters the 2018 midterm elections, she and others March 3 primary election. ahead of time. registered many students to vote through SJSU Votes, a get-out-the-vote initiative. SJSU Votes was a project of the Political “Just go do it, it’s not hard. It takes a half hour of Voters Shannon Bushey and SJSU Participation class taught by Mary CurrinPresident Mary Papazian in cutting the Percival, a political science professor. of your time. There’s no reason not to.” “It reinforces the passion for what we Any eligible citizen with residency in Santa ribbon to open the center. “Young people turned to vote in 2018 in do and what we want to do,” Figueroa said. Clara County can register to vote directly at the vote center, if they were not already record numbers, and I know that increased “Even if you don’t want to vote for a president, automatically registered to vote. accessibility and services that come with a vote local.” Students can also drop off their vote-by- vote center, especially right here on campus, For Papazian, the importance of having mail ballots at the voting center or in the will make strides on how civic engagement students vote was simple. drop-off boxes located in front of Clark Hall and casting a vote occur among busy college “Elections matter, voting matters,” Papazian and in the center of Campus Village. students,” Kalra said. said. “Voting may in fact be the fundamental U.S. House Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Former Santa Clara County Supervisor expression of our civic engagement.” Anna Eshoo joined California Secretary Ken Yeager, now a political science Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter of State Alex Padilla, Assembly member lecturer at SJSU, told the Spartan Daily @SpartanDaily Ash Kalra, Santa Clara County Registrar that the voting center will bring out even

Under the California Voter’s Choice Act, Santa Clara County voters can now go to any vote center in the county and cast their ballots. Every center will open the weekend before primary day on March 3, if not earlier, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. The act has dramatically changed the way Santa Clara County voters can fulfill their civic duty. “We’ve gone out and looked at over 1,000 locations in Santa Clara County to determine our best sites for our 110 vote centers,” said Shannon Bushey, the Santa SpartanDaily Clara County Registrar of Voters. Citizens can also register to vote at the centers on the same day they cast their ballots. Former Santa Clara County WATCH A Supervisor Ken Yeager said that DEMO OF he remembered when you had A BALLOT to register a month before the MARKING election to vote. DEVICE ON “The more barriers you take YOUTUBE away, the more people are likely to vote,” he said. For the first time in Santa Clara County history, all registered voters should have already received a vote-by-mail ballot, regardless of whether they had previously requested one or not. Padilla touted the new system as “no more excuses” voting. He said, given all of the new options and times, people can no longer say they didn’t have enough time to vote or that their assigned polling place wasn’t convenient for them. Ryan Cajes, associate trainer for the Registrar of Voters and 2017 business and finance SJSU alumnus, demonstrated the county’s new ballot marking devices at the vote center’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.

While this is great for students, it’s very convenient for everybody who works at a university; you have professors, administrators and classiﬁed staﬀ. Alex Padilla California Secretary of State

The device allows voters, especially those with disabilities that could prevent them from filling out a standard paper ballot, to make their selections on a touch screen before printing out a ballot with their selections on it. “Even though this is an electronic process, in the end, all of our ballots are on paper,” Cajes said. Assembly member Ash Kalra authored Assembly Bill 59, which made placing voting centers on college campuses a priority, after hearing about the “dramatic increase in participation” that Sacramento State saw in 2018. He commended Bushey and SJSU President Mary Papazian for preparing to host a voting center on campus in May 2019, before the bill was even signed. Padilla said that he doesn’t just want to see higher youth turnout, but rather higher voter turnout “across the board.” “While this is great for students, it’s very convenient for everybody who works at a university; you have professors, administrators and classified staff,” he said. California is demonstrating to the rest of the nation that elections can both be accessible and secure, Padilla said.

SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR

SOURCE: SANTA CLARA COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS; INFOGRAPHIC BY KUNAL MEHTA AND MARCI SUELA

MAURICIO LA PLANTE | SPARTAN DAILY

Left to right: U.S. Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo listen to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla speak about election security while SJSU President Mary Papazian moderates the town hall Thursday evening.

California is on the “cutting edge” of increasing election access and security, U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren said Thursday. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, San Jose State hosted an election security town hall with Lofgren and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, moderated by SJSU President Mary Papazian at the Hammer Theatre Center. “Any voting system used by any county in California first must be tested and certified by the state, that it meets our requirements,” Padilla said. “Among the security requirements we have in California, No. 1 is paper ballots.” The paper record allows for recounts and audits to ensure the

results are accurate, Padilla said. “We have to have paper ballots,” Eshoo said. “And we saw earlier, even though it’s electronic, the [ballot marking device] at the voting center – that produces a paper ballot.” The device prints out a paper ballot with the voter’s selections and a bar code for scanners to quickly tabulate the vote. “Voting systems, by law in California, cannot be connected to the internet,” Padilla said. “The machines we use to mark the ballots, to cast the ballots, to count the ballots, we keep them intentionally offline, making it impossible to systematically hack or rig an election.” Padilla also touted the audits that counties are required to conduct after each election, in which the votes at 1% of precincts are checked. Starting with the upcoming primary

U.S. Representative, 18th district Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Jose Eshoo voted for the SAFE Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and has pushed for the federal government to strengthen its response to foreign interference in American elections.

Town Hall: California leads U.S. in securing election processes By Kunal Mehta

Anna Eshoo

Padilla led eﬀorts to increase election access through the Voter’s Choice Act and New Motor Voter program while maintaining the state’s election security through audits and certiﬁcations of all electronic devices.

West Valley College: 19 15

Lofgren sponsored the SAFE Act, which would provide funding to states to improve their election infrastructure while setting minimum security requirements that all elections need to follow.

Secretary of State California

San Jose State University: 40 ballots cast

U.S. Representative, 19th district Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Jose

Alex Padilla

San Jose State and West Valley College both opened their voting centers on Saturday and will stay open until primary day. Four other colleges open their voting centers this coming Saturday. Vote counts are as of Monday at noon.

Zoe Lofgren

Follow Kunal on Mastodon @legoktm@mastodon.technology

Early voting on college campuses

County oﬃcials and our elected representatives in Sacramento and Washington represented nearly every level of government at the vote center ribbon-cutting ceremony. Nearly all of them have made individual appearances at SJSU before, but this was the ﬁrst time that they all came together for a single event.

election, counties can optionally conduct a risk-limiting audit, which “provides a more robust methodology of ballot review,” according to a 2018 statement from the Padilla’s office. California is already doing all of the right things, Lofgren said. “The good news is that virtually everything in the [Securing America’s Federal Elections] (SAFE) Act that we passed in the House, California has already done,” she said. The SAFE Act would provide funding to states to improve their elections infrastructure, including hiring IT staff and performing cybersecurity trainings, according to a summary provided by Lofgren’s office. The act would require states to ensure that none of their “systems that count ballots or upon which voters mark their

ballots” connect to the internet. The state has taken it one step further by working to fight misinformation and disinformation, Padilla said. “We have already established protocols with the Twitters, Facebooks and Instagrams of the world to report [disinformation] to them,” he said. But most importantly, Padilla said, California has shown it is possible to increase both the accessibility and security of elections. “California believes not just in the fundamental right to vote, but to maintain the security and integrity of our elections while doing more and more and more to increase access to the ballot for all eligible citizens,” Padilla said. Follow Kunal on Mastodon @legoktm@mastodon.technology

Ash Kalra Assembly member, 27th district San Jose Kalra wrote Assembly Bill 59, which prioritized placing voting centers at college campuses. Six colleges in Santa Clara County will be hosting voting centers for the March 3 primary election, including San Jose State.

Shannon Bushey Registrar of Voters Santa Clara County Bushey implemented the Voter’s Choice Act for Santa Clara County, giving voters the ability to vote at any center in the county. Her oﬃce started working with SJSU in May 2019 to bring a vote center to campus.

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OPINION

TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 2020

Asian culture needs more recognition Dan Nguyen STAFF WRITER

Hollywood culture has been devoured by predominantly white actors and directors. The whitewashing has become so bad that films such as 2017’s “Ghost in the Shell,” a film set in Japan and based on an anime, starred white actress Scarlett Johansson taking the role of what should have been an Asian actress. Growing Asian representation offers a reprieve from these white-dominated films and we are finally seeing Asian culture represented in American movies. It’s time to have Western audiences understand the conflicts and ideals dealt with by minorities. In 2018, “Crazy Rich Asians” broke barriers by showcasing Chinese culture. The film garnered $238.5 million in the box office with only a budget of $30 million and an allAsian cast. According to Time, before starting production, “Crazy Rich Asians” wasn’t always going to have an Asian female lead.

CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO FROM FLICKR

The show “Kim’s Convenience” follows a Korean couple that owns a corner market located in Toronto, Canada.

Producers wanted to have a white lead, but the filmmakers turned it down, according to the same Time article. That obviously makes sense because there’s no reason for a white person to play a minority character. Even before the film was made, the filmmakers dealt with barriers in executing their vision for the movie. It’s important to represent Asian culture in film in order to relate to Asian audiences. TV shows such as “Fresh Off the Boat” portray Asian families acclimating to American culture.

Characters such as Eddie Huang, played by Hudson Yang, in “Fresh Off the Boat,” have American interests such as hip-hop and personify a combination of cultures. Barely anyone is stereotyped in the show and the characters can just be regular people with unique interests instead of having Asian actors typecast as the nerdy kid. It’s important to showcase traditional aspects of Asian culture in America, but the growth of Asian representation in film has spread past the

United States, into other countries such as Canada.

not be boxed into one of the biggest Asian stereotypes, which is

It’s time to have Western audiences understand the conflicts and ideals dealt with by minorities.

The show “Kim’s Convenience” follows a Korean family that’s trying to make ends meet in urban Canada. The family battles to

prioritizing a career as either a doctor or lawyer. That stereotype is shattered by the show. The parents in the show are just average

citizens working at a family-owned convenience store in Toronto. The family veers away from conventional “Asian” lifestyles and the children break down the “model minority” stereotype. According to tolerance.org, a program that focuses on educating youth on diversity, the “model minority” myth is the idea that all Asians are geniuses and are forced to work harder by their parents to be better than other children. One of the characters is a high school dropout and works at a car dealership. This job reinforces that not everyone within Eastern culture aspires for a white-collar career. Many Asians are trying to break away from the “model minority” narrative that’s been dictated by Western culture. There are still Asians dealing with that pressure within their own community, especially teenagers, who feel pressured to abide by their parents’ ideals for them in wanting them to be the “model minority.” Asian representation in media has slowly begun to break down stereotypes and get more visibility about how similar cultures really are. Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 2020

Don’t ‘slander’ Bernie Save Social Security Dear editor, My name is Will and as a second-year student, I have never been a big reader of the Spartan Daily. However, a doctored picture on the front page showed Bernie Sanders in a “Make America Great Again” hat. Strange, but innocent enough, just a dumb meme right? Cut to page 3 where the author just ATTACKS Sanders. Immediately I am confronted with “his socialist beliefs,” a gratuitous crack about “making the U.S. into the Soviet Socialist Republics of America,” and the real kicker, calling Sanders “an unpatriotic fool” for sharing his unpopular (but globally popular) opinion that America needs improvement. The author went on to state that, “While I refuse to endorse any one candidate . . . Buttigieg has served as an intelligence military officer,” which when juxtaposed against Sanders’ alleged lack of patriotism, implies that military service is a prerequisite for patriotism and only “unpatriotic fools” criticize the military for its expansionism and lack of oversight. The article continues, quoting Hillary Clinton as calling Trump supporters “‘deplorable’” before going on to say, “You need those deplorable votes to win an election.” I understand this article is meant to be an opinion piece and I respect the [right] of any and all journalists to publish their personal perspectives for people to see. I do not respect the right of any writer to a) slander a political candidate, b) manipulate context and opinion to imply a candidate is better for the country without explicitly endorsing them, and c) directly insulting any reader who happens to be a ‘deplorable’ Trump supporter. This article is

deeply offensive and divisive and belongs on a PeteForAmerica blog, not in a school-sponsored newspaper people might actually rely on for substantive electoral information. A) In one opinion piece, there are three flagrant attacks against the legitimacy of Bernie Sanders as a candidate. While his views may be radical and widely misunderstood, calling someone a socialist in a school publication cannot be tolerated, especially when that same person is called “an unpatriotic fool.” Newspapers have long been a source of anti-communist/antisocialist rhetoric reminiscent of William Randolph Hearst and [Joseph] McCarthy. While these remarks may not constitute out-and-out slander, this article is deeply problematic for any readers that happen to have democratic socialist values. B) Folding right into the Red Scare propaganda is the notion that, as a veteran, “it’s impossible to argue that [Pete Buttigieg] doesn’t love America . . .” I understand this is an opinion piece, but the implied association between military service and patriotism has long been a hallmark of war-mongering and anti-pacifist slander. While this particular article does not slander a particular candidate for their lack of service, it does imply that Pete is a patriot if for no other reason than his military background. Additionally, in the context of this article, I find it hard to believe that the author was not endorsing a particular candidate; it savagely slanders one while enthusiastically encouraging another. Inappropriate for a school publication. C) Last but not least, while I reserve the right to disagree with Trump’s supporters, I keep these opinions to myself (except when asked). It is deeply divisive and

inflammatory to casually refer to them as collectively “‘deplorable’” if for no other reason than their allegiance to the Republican Party. While I respect the author’s opinion and his right to share it, a school-sponsored newspaper is no place for mudslinging and divisive politically motivated insults. I may be the first one to complain about this article, but I am certainly not the only one who feels offended by it. Antisocialist slander, anti-pacifist implications, and flagrant political attacks on character have no place in any legitimate journalism, let alone a schoolsponsored newspaper. I insist this article be rescinded and that this author be removed from political Op-Ed assignments going forward. Yes, this is only an opinion piece and yes, it is unlikely that reading this article will change many people’s minds (if any), but this pattern of masking slanderous attacks, implicit endorsements, and politically motivated attacks [are uncharacteristic as a journalist]. If it is “just one man’s opinion,” then just that one man should be expressing it, not a studentfunded school-sponsored newspaper. Again, I respect the author’s opinion and his right to express it, but San Jose State cannot allow such reckless language to be printed in its press. If this author wants to slander Sanders, endorse Pete, and hate on Trump supporters, he can do it on social media like everyone else, not in a place where students might take it seriously. The placement of this article in the school’s newspaper is unacceptable, please remove it. William Fite SJSU sophomore

CLASSIFIEDS CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Dear editor, There is absolutely no good reason for politicians (mostly national conservative-Republicans) to scare our senior citizens by threatening to cut Social Security retirement benefits. There is no “crisis.” Virtually every serious, non biased study has concluded that the Social Security Trust Fund is fully solvent through 2034. After that, it will be able to provide 76-79% of benefits for the next 60 years beyond 2034. Does it need to be fixed? Of course it does. But it does not have to be done today. There is no need to cut anyone’s benefits. One of the many relatively simple “reforms” that can be made was offered by Republican Presidential candidate Chris Christie in 2015. I literally sat in the same car as Arizona Governor and Democrat Presidential candidate Bruce Babbitt in 1987 when he said that

what we should do is to “Means-Test” Social Security benefits. For example, we can make Social Security more fully solvent well beyond 2034 by reducing the benefits of those who have a yearly income of, say, $80,000/year and higher by a certain percentage. I can still recall Babbitt saying to me “Do multimillionaires really need the same Social Security benefits as senior citizens who live in poverty?” I am calling upon all politicians to stop scaring our senior citizens and to means-test Social Security Retirement benefits. Stewart B. Epstein Retired West Virginia University, Slippery Rock University, and SUNYBrockport professor of Sociology, Social Work, and Psychology.

Fix SJSU parking Dear editor, I am a first year student at [SJSU]. I purchased a virtual parking pass for this semester (2 days a week ) for $152. I would think that upfront cost (paid in full) would secure me a parking space for the two days of week when I have class. That is the parking agreement I signed and paid cash for. What I’m discovering is that SJSU Parking has oversold its spaces to students. Students are left scrambling for parking spots which don’t exist until another student leaves. This situation poses added stress for students and promotes higher chances of accidents in the parking garages. I spent 30 minutes on Tuesday trying to locate a space which I paid for. I had to leave the North Garage, (no sign that the lot was full) to try to find a spot in South Garage. South Garage was also over or near capacity. Today I discover due to a campus event, I am advised to find parking elsewhere — when I prepaid for a parking spot.

SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.

How is this procedure fair? It’s like prepaying for a hotel room, only to find out your room has been given to someone else and being told to find another room. I am very disappointed in your parking policy. University Parking follows what is commonly called a “bait and switch” policy. In good faith, SJSU prepay for parking and then are later told that spot doesn’t exist. Why would you not honor your student customers and have visitors park off campus and bus them in? Why inconvenience your paying student customers and not honor your payment agreement? I’ve paid for a parking space in full but actually don’t have a parking space. Are you offering refunds? Your parking policy is disgraceful and some might argue illegal. I would appreciate feedback and a refund. Dory Albert, SJSU freshman

JOKIN’ AROUND What do you call a cow with two legs?

Lean meat.

SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. Courageous 6. Celebration 10. Mother 14. Neighborhood 15. Dwarf buffalo 16. Copied 17. Practical 18. Very dry, as wine 19. Prepare for action 20. Re-beautify 22. Small island 23. Trigonometry (abbrev.) 24. Bacon serving 26. A few 30. Frozen water 31. Nevertheless 32. Holly 33. Invited 35. Not written exams 39. Jelly 41. Roman silver coins 43. Tally mark 44. Goon 46. Nipple 47. Bar bill 49. Card with one symbol 50. Hearing organs

51. Third zodiac sign 54. Coarse file 56. Way out 57. Scintillating 63. Beige 64. Meal in a shell 65. Forbidden 66. Sow 67. Smell 68. Balderdash 69. If not 70. Animal companions 71. Affirmatives DOWN 1. Make unclear 2. Learning method 3. Corrosive 4. Sheltered spot 5. Choose by voting 6. Manufacturer 7. Angered 8. Brag 9. Diner 10. Judge 11. Gorillalike 12. European blackbird 13. Viper

21. Small African antelope 25. Age 26. Anagram of “Sing” 27. Margarine 28. Defrost 29. Precision 34. Teachers 36. District 37. Teller of untruths 38. Seats oneself 40. Part of a comparison 42. Excrete 45. Green bean 48. Circus tent 51. Ganders 52. Surpass 53. Bogs down 55. Trifling 58. Stow, as cargo 59. Unusual 60. Nile bird 61. No 62. “Comes and ____”

02/20/2020

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 2020

BRICKER’S BOPS

Grimes gives grandiose garbage album review

By John Bricker EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

On past albums, Grimes created futuristic and accessible electronic music, delivering unforgettable moments of experimental grit balanced with pop hooks and dreamy soundscapes. Released on Friday, “Miss Anthropocene” finds the worst possible middle ground between her catchy songwriting and adventurous sound design, resulting in a profoundly disappointing pile of pretentious and boring mush. After gaining a cult following by releasing her mellow and hypnotic “Visions” in 2012, Canadian singer and producer Claire Boucher completely redefined her sound with “Art Angels,” an infectiously energetic pop album blending strange soundscapes with unforgettable songs. Grimes spent the years between albums continuing to push her sound forward, even reimagining the distorted aggression of numetal on her 2018 single “We Appreciate Power,” giving fans plenty of reason to expect her next LP to be her most adventurous yet. Instead, “Miss Anthropocene” messily regurgitates tired ideas from Grimes’ earlier albums and slaps them together into long-winded and dull songs. Opening track “So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth - Art Mix” perfectly sets the stage for the album’s clumsy and patience-testing execution.

“Miss Anthropocene” Rating:

Artist: Grimes Release Date: Feb. 21 Genre: Electropop

ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN BRICKER

It uses a blend of incredible sounds, such as distorted synth bass, bright guitar licks, soft ambiance and Grimes’ airy vocals, but assembles them into a song that meanders for six minutes without growing and developing. The production on the track also falters, especially on the chorus, where a claustrophobically compressed mix mashes all the intricate sounds into muddy slop. Despite a fittingly weak start, “Miss Anthropocene” does have a few highlights where clean production brings catchy EDM bangers to life. “Violence - Original Mix” gloriously updates the icy synth aesthetics of Grimes’ first albums, pairing her

“Miss Anthropocene” messily regurgitates tired ideas from Grimes’ earlier albums and slaps them together into long-winded and dull songs. spacey vocals with driving bass, a massive dance beat and grand layers of bright synths. Grimes elevates the creative instrumental with her dynamic performance, delivering irresistible melodies in a tone that swings from childish to operatic. Unfortunately, “Violence” is the only song you might catch yourself humming

after the album ends, because most of the tracks feature production so cluttered and garish that it isn’t worth getting invested in the songs themselves. “4ÆM” should sound fantastic, switching from eerie and rhythmic verses to punky choruses that bury Grimes’ refrains under distorted guitars and break beats. But just like on “So Heavy,”

muddy mixing crushes the detailed soundscape down into cramped moments of distortion and flat dynamics. Grimes doesn’t save the track with her vocals, delivering predictable melodies and tones that totally lack the creativity and energy of her best songs. Unlike the wellintentioned but spotty “4ÆM,” “Darkseid” was doomed from the start. Over insultingly cheapsounding 808 bass and trap beats, Grimes recites edgy lyrics drenched in hilariously excessive reverb and delay, resulting in a track that sounds more like the product of a fake-edgy Tumblr user than a veteran electronic musician. Taiwanese rapper 潘PAN takes up most of

the track’s runtime with her verse, an erratic explosion of lyrics that sound more awkward than experimental, especially filtered through the ridiculous auto-tune Grimes added. Confusingly, “Miss Anthropocene’s” bloated mix of uninspired trash has garnered almost universal critical acclaim, earning a five-star rating from The Independent, a B+ from Consequence of Sound and an 8.2/10 from Pitchfork. “Miss Anthropocene” should have been a great addition to her discography and obviously most of the yes-men in music journalism are still in denial. Hopefully, Grimes won’t take the mindless praise to heart and will reinvent her sound again next time, preferably in a way that doesn’t reach a new low.

Follow John on Twitter @JohnMichaelBr15 “Bricker ’s Bops” appears every Tuesday.

CORE ON THE COB

Tasty tidbits tantalize my taste buds Lemonades Tagalongs Do-si-dos Thanks-A-Lot

flavored. As someone who consumes more than 10 PB&Js a week, I like to consider myself a peanut butter connoisseur. With that said, Tagalongs are a disgrace and shouldn’t have peanut butter in its name. It’s a chocolate wafer. That’s all. I had such high hopes because this little patty resembled my beloved Thin Mints, but it

TELLITU

The first Girl Scout cookie I decided to taste was the Lemonades. Pretty simple – it’s a shortbread cookie that is supposed to taste like a lemon. Believe it or not, I had never tried any lemonflavored candy until the age of 16, and to be honest, your guess is as good as mine – yellow candy just seemed odd. Six years after my fear of yellow-colored sweets, it was time to take a bite of what I hoped would turn out to be a soft lemon blanket. This cookie didn’t even taste like lemon. I felt as if I was just eating a cracker, which would be fine if it were called Girl Scout Crackers, but it’s not. Moving past the bland taste of yellow, I decided to try the two cookies advertised as peanut butter

SUS

Every time I walk from class to class I follow the same protocol: head down and headphones in as loud as they can go. If anyone tries to talk to me, my response without hearing their question is, “Sorry, I’m an atheist.” This works for me just about every time until the time of year I dread: Girl Scout Cookies season. These girls are like fleas: if you get too close they jump on you and bury their mouths in your skin, causing you to itch in discomfort. You might think calling 8-year-olds parasitic fleas is harsh, but what they do to my wallet is harsher. Every year they pull me back in solely for Thin Mints and I just don’t know how to stop. I truly don’t have the self control to stop myself from buying a box of Thin Mints at 11 a.m. and another at 5 p.m., but truthfully, I blame these little girls for enabling my addiction. Despite my constant interactions with Girl Scouts, I never tasted any of the cookies other than Thin Mints. What can I say, I’m a creature of habit. For 22 years, I stayed faithful to the cookie of my dreams, but now I’m forced to dive back into the cookie dating scene.

palate points

OPINION EDITOR

By Chris Core

could never hope to be as special. The Do-si-dos, however, piqued my interest. Honestly, it didn’t look like anything special. Resembling a miniature apple pie, it’s instead filled with peanut butter, which is basically God coming down from heaven and making it 100 times better – which it was. The cookie is a ripoff of the famous Nutter Butter. However, buying a Nutter Butter doesn’t help little girls go on a trip to Disneyland, so I guess I can chalk one up for the Do-si-dos helping a good cause. Now that I’ve talked to you about the mediocre crumbs I consumed, it’s time to break the real news.

I officially and wholeheartedly think Thanks-A-Lot cookies are better than Thin Mints. At first, I didn’t like it. Yes, it was a very polite for the cookie to thank me in multiple languages on the top of each one. It is very progressive, but nothing about the taste stood out to me. I’d stare at the “Thank You” imprinted on the top and feel my thumb dig into the bottom of the moistlyspread milk chocolate which slowly melted the cookie in my hand, only to be disappointed by the bland flavor. However, after about 10 servings of the cookies, things changed. I got bored eating the cookies as they were originally intended and decided to flip the cookie upside down so the chocolate would face up while I ate it. Much

like the cookie, my world got flipped upside down. What was once bland was now beautiful. And where there was once disappointment in my tummy, there was now happiness. I can proudly admit I ate an entire carton, and plan on eating another this week because my craving cannot be satiated. I came into this cookie tasting expecting to be let down, falsely assuming that nothing could rival Thin Mints, but in the end I’ve moved on and maybe it’s for the better. Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisCore24 “Core on the Cob” appears every other Tuesday.