Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020
Volume 154 No. 3 WWW.SJS WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
MLK Library exhibit dispels homelessness misconceptions By Gia Pham STAFF WRITER
PH O TO IL LU ST TI RA O N BY M AR CI SU EL A
Program clears criminal records By Vicente Vera SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR
“I
was different. I was outspoken. I was angry. I was all those ugly thoughts inside. And at 13, [my parents] opened the door and they said, ‘Get out,’ ” said Diana Carreras, speaker at the opening session of San Jose State’s Record Clearance Project. She spoke of a lost childhood riddled with abuse that many people would balk at sharing so openly, let alone to a class of college students. a mentor at the SJSU Carreras, outreach student-facilitated expungement center, discussed her history of homelessness to 20 students in Clark Hall on Thursday. She turned to the drug PCP as a way of numbing everything she could feel. It was her drug use that eventually caught the attention of the criminal justice system. “Getting arrested, I would say, saved my life,” Carreras said. While her criminal record would complicate her life for years, she said it ultimately took her off the streets. Carreras credited the Record Clearance Project with helping expunge her record and giving her a job as a full-time mentor in 2019. Thus, she said she was free from the lingering troubles of her earlier life.
People need to know that there are people like me, to this day, out there. Not everybody’s bad. Not everybody ends up a drug user or, in certain situations, in jail. Not everybody’s there because they planned it that way or wanted it. Diana Carreras Record Clearance Project mentor
Black’s Law Dictionary defines expungement as the “process by which record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed.” Describing herself as a victim of circumstance, Carreras said she deserved a second chance at life and finding a career. What seemed to be a repetitive CONVICTIONS | Page 2
Framed portraits of adults from all walks of life in collared shirts, silk blouses and radiant smiles decorate the walls under a beaming American flag on the second floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library. But a blue tarp tent in front of the exhibit makes for a sharp visual contrast. The Blue Tarp Project, created by artist Virginia Becker, aims to debunk the public’s misconceptions of homelessness in America, s p e c i f i c a l l y in San Jose. Her portraiture installation shows the faces behind the blue tarps and her journey in understanding the truth about the homelessness epidemic. “When you look up what a homeless person looks like on Google Images, you’re going to get the same image over and over, and I wanted to demystify that,” Becker said. “I want people to see the people I know.” The portraits steer away from stereotypical ideas and appearances negatively associated with homelessness. “They’re all street clothes. This is as they dressed that day, no makeup, no hair, no anything, nothing,” Becker said. “One of the things that I wanted to do was to uninstall the myth that all homeless people lived down by the creek, living in filth and this is the way they are – that’s not true.” The lack of drama in the portraits emphasized the
One of the things that I wanted to do was to uninstall the myth that all homeless people lived down by the creek, living in filth and this is the way they are – that’s not true. Virginia Becker Artist
humanity and similarities people share. Becker said she never asked her subjects to smile or consulted them about their situation. Instead she talked to them about how they felt that day or how their children were doing. Alongside the portraits, posters with facts debunking common myths about homelessness are included in the exhibit. One poster showed that homelessness is primarily caused by the loss of a job. While another stated that supporting affordable housing would be five times cheaper than mediating it through public agencies. Becker said she hopes displaying these statistics will encourage people to approach the homeless epidemic with new methods and will show that affordable housing is the right solution. “Stop looking at the old ways, dispel your myths. TENTS | Page 2
Coronavirus cases confirmed in California By Chris Padilla STAFF WRITER
The California Department of Public Health has confirmed two cases of new coronavirus in Southern California as of Jan. 26 with no fatalities. The virus claimed 106 lives in Wuhan, China and spread across several nations late last year and in January. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed five cases of the virus in the U.S. as of Jan. 27, according to CNN. As of Tuesday, there are no confirmed cases in Santa Clara County, according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. The cases confirmed in California were found in Los Angeles County and Orange County.
The new coronavirus, also known as the novel coronavirus or 2019 nCoV, is a strain of the virus not previously seen in humans, according to the CDC. The symptoms include fever, coughing, muscle aches and shortness of breath, said Barbara Fu, San Jose State interim clinical supervisor. The illness can progress to severe viral pneumonia and death. The virus can be transferred person-to-person, which means that it can be transmitted after close contact with someone infected, according to the World Health Organization. “There are no confirmed cases in Santa Clara County according to the Santa Clara Public Health Department,” Fu said. “Even so, we are working to be proactive and
Opinion
prepared and are closely monitoring the situation.” To minimize the risk of catching the virus, Fu advises frequent hand washing with soap and water and to avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. She also advises avoiding close contact with sick people. The symptoms of novel coronavirus are similar to those of the common cold or flu, Fu said. She advises people who have these symptoms and have recently traveled to China to inform their healthcare provider or the Student Health Center. Fu also said to wear face masks when traveling to medical providers. Follow The Spartan Daily on Twitter @spartandaily
Sports
Numbers at a glance: cases confirmed globally
4,593 deaths 106 confirmed globally cases in 2 Southern California cases in Santa Clara 0 County as of Jan. 27 SOURCES: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH; INFOGRAPHIC BY CHRISTIAN TRUJANO
A&E
Social media privacy policies allow companies to spy on users
SJSU gymnasts honored with awards
YouTuber’s original music delivers personal beauty
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NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29, 2020
TENTS Continued from page 1
ABOUT 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. The Spartan Daily is written and published by San Jose State students as an expression of their First Amendment rights. Reader feedback may be submitted as letters to the editor or online comments.
EDITORIAL STAFF EXECUTIVE EDITOR CHELSEA NGUYEN FLEIGE MANAGING EDITOR BRENDAN CROSS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JOHN BRICKER CREATIVE PRODUCER MELODY DEL RIO NEWS EDITOR CHRISTIAN TRUJANO ASST. NEWS EDITOR MAURICIO LA PLANTE A&E EDITOR ALYSON CHUYANG OPINION EDITOR CHRIS CORE SPORTS EDITOR JESUS TELLITUD
It is not everyone on drugs and alcohol. It is bigger than that,” Becker said. The portraits and statistics incited San Jose State students to reflect on their experiences with homeless people. Hospitality senior Hieu Nguyen remembered witnessing the clearing of homeless encampments near Senter Road and Monterey Road. “It was really sad because, as BECKER I remembered, it was a really rainy day and really heavily and they used a machine to gouge the [tents],” Nguyen said. “It was just like you could see a group of homeless people running around in the rain and screaming ‘stop, stop.’ It’s heartbreaking.” Nguyen, who has worked in community outreach programs which distribute food and resources to homeless people, recalled how he once held similar misconceptions about homeless people. He said shelters are not enough. “At once I was like, ‘how come they don’t go to shelters?’ ” Nguyen said. “It is really crammed inside and the next person is staring at you and
GIA PHAM | SPARTAN DAILY
checking you out and your stuff. It’s really sad.” The exhibit includes a section with resources for homeless people and individuals who want to make positive change within their community. These resources, located in the back of the exhibit, encourage people to realize personal responsibilities on both sides of
the homelessness epidemic. ”We can volunteer, it’s actually really powerful,” Nguyen said. The exhibit will be open to the public until Feb. 28.
A blue tarp in the shape of a small tent lies on the ground in front of a poster offering resources for homeless people as part of the Blue Tarp Project exhibit by artist Virginia Becker.
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PHOTO EDITOR JOHANNA MARTIN SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR VICENTE VERA SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR KUNAL MEHTA SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR JAILEANE AGUILAR CONTENT EDITOR VICTORIA FRANCO COPY EDITOR ERICA LIZARRAGO COURTNEY VASQUEZ SPANISH COPY EDITOR DIANA AVILA GRAPHICS EDITORS CINDY CUELLAR NATHAN DOYLE SENIOR STAFF WRITERS DIANA AVILA PAUL HANG BRIANNA SHEATS EDUARDO TEIXEIRA AUSTIN TURNER STAFF WRITERS JOCLYN AGUIRRE BRYANNA BARTLETT BRIANA CONTE ANDREW GLENN SHRUTHI LAKSHMANAN ALEXIS NAVARRO DAN NGUYEN CHRIS PADILLA GIA PHAM BRIAN SO PRODUCTION CHIEF MIKE CORPOS NEWS ADVISER RICHARD CRAIG
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CONVICTIONS Continued from page 1 cycle of being sold from trafficker to trafficker ended when Carreras became a prisoner to something completely different – her rap sheet. That’s when Carreras turned to the Record Clearance Project to expunge her record. “Expungement pretty much opened the door, and let me run out and slam it back shut behind me,” she said in a later interview with the Spartan Daily. “I’m free. I’m happy.” More than 540 people have had convictions dismissed in court with the help of the Record Clearance Project’s student volunteers and lead attorney Margaret “Peggy” Stevenson, according to figures provided by the Record Clearance Project. Stevenson also teaches the Courts and Society class in the Justice Studies Department. “I’ve never charged clients because all our clients have meritorious cases and are, by definition, unable to hire an attorney on their own financially,” Stevenson said to her students during the orientation session on Thursday. She founded the project in 2008 to give people exiting incarceration access to free legal services that could expunge their criminal records, said Omar Arauza, a student assistant and justice studies senior who works closely with Stevenson. When Arauza enrolled in the project last spring, he was fresh off an internship with the Crime Strategies Unit at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. “I realized that if I were to join [the Record Clearance Project], I could get an internship pretty easily and I’d be able just to knock out that requirement,” Arauza said. “But pretty shortly after being involved with the program I realized how much of an impact it really had to the community.” As a student assistant, Arauza works with other paid legal aides, assistants and mentors in the center’s office, located in the Justice Studies Department in MacQuarrie Hall. Mountains of documents and file cabinets crowd the narrow space, but Arauza and his coworkers said that the office will move into the Student Services Center once Associated Students take back the A.S. House. Many clients pass through the Record Clearance Project seeking its assistance.
VICENTE VERA | SPARTAN DAILY
Diana Carreras, mentor for the expungement outreach center the Record Clearance Project, recounts her troubled childhood to a class of justice studies students, Thursday in Clark Hall.
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Share Your Stories However, the program does not have the resources to help everyone. Clients are chosen carefully by program leaders who determine which cases are eligible for expungement and which clients are the most willing to engage in the tedious court process that comes with it. “When it comes to interviewing and when it comes down to getting that information that is necessary, it may be hard on their side for them to talk about,” Arauza said. Both he and Carreras explained how the stigma of having a criminal conviction stops people from seeking expungement. “People need to know that there are people like me, to this day, out there,” Carreras said. “Not everybody’s bad. Not everybody ends up a drug user or, in certain situations, in jail. Not everybody’s there because they planned it that way or wanted it.”
Crime Blotter Carry concealed dirk/dagger, possession/carry/ transfer billy club Jan. 25, 9:21 p.m. at South 4th Street/East San Carlos Street Adult arrest
Possession of controlled substance - misd Jan. 25, 11:04 p.m. at South 6th Street/East San Salvador Street Adult cited
SPARTAN LIFE PODCAST
Conviction within 10 years of prior DUI conviction/DUI, alcohol/drugs Jan. 26, 1:40 a.m. at South 1st Street/ East Reed Street Adult arrest
Justice studies senior Elizabeth Gonzalez said the program’s goal of helping people like Carreras was what made her return to volunteer for a third consecutive semester. “I feel, kind of, some emotional connection to it because I have family members that do have records and unfortunately, they can’t get them expunged,” Gonzalez said. However, Arauza believes that some people misinterpret the objectives of the project. “They’re like, ‘Oh, so you help people get out of jail?’, which we don’t do that,” he said. “I don’t call them criminals. I call them people, and that’s just something that I don’t think is going to be widely accepted by most people.” At age 62, Carreras said she is at the happiest stage of her life now that she is surrounded by a large family. “The one thing my father wanted to make sure to [tell] me is, ‘You’ll never have a decent job like your mother. You’ll never work [at] the same place as your mother.’ ” Carreras continued, “Guess what dad? My name is Diana. I’m a mentor here at San Jose State, where he claims my mother had her great job.”
Follow Vicente on Twitter @VicenteSJSU
Corrections On Tuesday, Jan. 28, the Spartan Daily published a story titled, “Kobe leaves inspiring legacy behind,” in which Kobe’s final season should have been listed as 2015-16. On Tuesday, Jan. 28, the Spartan Daily published a headline that should have read, “SJSU Alumna opens Asian fusion eatery,” in which owner Thuy Do was misgendered. The Spartan Daily regrets these errors.
OPINION
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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29, 2020
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Social media giants are Big Brother
ILLUSTRATION BY CINDY CUELLAR
Pay attention to the online privacy policies you accept Bryanna Bartlett STAFF WRITER
In-app advertisements seem to be convincing millions of social media users today that the company is listening in on private conversations. Even if the users cannot feel it, Instagram and Facebook are quite literally breathing down our necks. These companies hold a frightening power in our lives from the collection and sales of our social media platforms. This phenomenon should leave the public fearful of an Orwellian “Big Brother” situation. Social media users are reporting that the products they talk about aloud are showing up on their feed within days. The advertisements may seem too miraculous to be anything other than microphone-retrieved data. However, these accusations barely graze the surface of Instagram’s frighteningly pervasive data policy and the power of technology today. The data collection includes: the people, pages, accounts, hashtags, or groups you are connected to, people you communicate with, ads you click, types of content you engage with, profiles you look at, all in-app actions, frequency and duration of your activities, camera usage, out-of-app cookies, battery status, location, face recognition, Bluetooth, amount of active apps, behaviors performed on the device, device IDs and even more. According to Forbes, these social media companies use an artificial intelligence algorithm called “habit tracking” which produces big data points. Habit tracking, reading minds, meticulously guessing what we will like and want to see next: whatever you want to call it, it’s all the same. This also is all part of the terms and conditions that
users agree to when they sign up when registering for the apps. Whether users read the policies or not, they still agreed to it. While we do live in a generation that is submerged in a reality molded by the internet, there must be a line that we draw as consumers. There is no ethical reason as to why industrial giants should have this much insight into every action we take in digital life. The power behind data tracking is uncanny and violating. Instagram and Facebook
Commission, and the U.S. Justice Department’s securities fraud unit. According to Forbes, Facebook paid $5 billion dollars in penalties for deceiving their users. The fine was merely a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money Facebook makes in the sales of personal data every day. One partner involved in the scandal was Cambridge Analytica. According to The Guardian, the Cambridge Analytica data firm paid hundreds of thousands of Facebook users to take a personality test called “thisisyourdigitallife” in 2015. All participants agreed to have their data collected for academic use, but that is not what happened.
While we do live in a generation that is submerged in a reality molded by the internet, there must be a line that we draw as consumers.
are not secure vaults. According to Instagram and Facebook’s data policy, the sites sell its users’ data to outside companies including advertisers, measurement partners, vendors, service providers, researchers, academics and law enforcement or legal requests. As democratic users, we should have the right to deny these sales. Over this past year, industrial companies Instagram and Facebook have been under close investigation by the U.S. government. According to The New York Times, Facebook has been under deep scrutiny over their data policy by the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange
As stated in The Guardian, Cambridge Analytica obtained data from more than 70.6 million users and did not go public with this sale until 2018. Cambridge Analytica claimed to have constructed 5,000 data points for every American voter. While the company was not allowed to sell to a third party, it did. That third party was 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump. According to The New York Times, Trump’s campaign led Project Alamo and tried to sweep the candidacy by psychologically categorizing American voters based on Facebook’s data.
It is one thing to have data stored about each individual using these social platforms, but it is beyond fearful to think that our personal data helped President Trump win the presidency. With the 2020 election coming up, it feels scary to be ignorant in the transactions of our own personal data.
Users have always had the ability to access, rectify, port and erase their own data in the app settings. Instagram and Facebook’s data policy entails that once an account is deleted, all data and cookies in storage are deleted as well. The influence behind these sites are playing a heavy hand on the future. It is time to wake up and
smell the severity. There is great power in the technology that can envision big data and greater power in the companies that use it. This power, however public, is dancing on the line of manipulation in millions of lives. Follow Bryanna on Twitter @brybartlett
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OPINION
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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29, 2020
China trade deal is a solid start Dan Nguyen STAFF WRITER
There has been a raging war that the United States has been caught in for quite some time. This battle might not have created any casualties, aside from a few aching wallets from high tariffs. Through arguments and predicaments, a major deal was struck between two of the largest countries in the world, ending the China and American trade war. Although this deal has great implications,
there’s still unknown consequences for both countries. On Jan. 15 the U.S. and China signed a trade deal that is set to take effect on Feb. 14. According to the South China Morning Post, the trade deal lays down an agreement that China must boost its purchases of U.S. manufactured goods, agricultural products, energy and services over the course of two years.
Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng told the World Economic Forum that the trade deal between China and U.S. will not have any impact on rival exporting nations. Although this deal is meant to benefit both countries, I can see the pros and cons for each country economically. In an article by South China Morning Post, Chad Bown of Peterson Institute for International Economics of Washington, said that this deal could divert rather than expand the growing international commerce. China imports from the U.S. could come at the expense of other European countries since, according to Bown, if China chooses to purchase soybeans or other dairy products from America, then there wouldn’t be any point to
them trading or dealing with European countries. From the same article, President Donald Trump said that this deal could be a boon for farmers since they were hit the hardest during the trade war. China is easing on their regulations regarding licenses, inspection and registration rules which the U.S. has viewed as a barrier for the country. With all that said, this deal seems like a major win for not only the United States, but for China as well. Trump is trying to stop China from outsourcing and stamp out theft of intellectual property. A lot of intellectual property is bought through foreign investment and Trump blames China for stealing Western trade secrets. China has been using subtle tactics in order to access Western technology, to which China forms joint ventures with local firms in order to do business. Apple and Amazon have set up ventures with local partners in order to handle data in China and to comply with security laws. The trade deal can help Western tech companies look out for any third parties trying to steal data or confidential information. A lot of companies are scared of accusing China of internet protocol theft for fear of getting punished financially. It’s pretty scary to know that China can go through all the trouble of getting information, especially from Western technology. With China doing this in the trade deal, they most likely can’t use the subtle tactics that they have used before to obtain information. This deal is an amazing start in the right direction, but in the end China has not held up to deals in the past so it might not exactly be the time for Americans to celebrate.
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO FROM FLICKR
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Grammys don’t promote diversity Bryanna Bartlett STAFF WRITER
For the musicians nominated at the Grammys, the implementation of gender and racial discrimination is more than just a categorical error. Blatant discrimination is powerful enough to dismiss the award show entirely, and with each passing year it is doing just that. The Grammys are simply losing value. Music producer and artist Tyler, the Creator won best rap album at this year’s Grammys, but in a post-ceremony interview with the Recording Academy, he didn’t hesitate to call out the award show’s tendency to “racially avert” in genres. While maintaining his gratitude for the win, he said, “It sucks that when we, and when I say we, I mean guys who look like me do anything that’s genre bending. . . they always put it in a rapper or urban category.” At the 55th Grammy Awards in 2012, Frank Ocean earned his first career Grammy for Best urban contemporary album (Channel Orange). He is yet another example of a black artist shoehorned into a category that his music doesn’t fit. Likewise, Tyler’s 2019 album “IGOR” just does not fit into the category of a rap album. Anyone who listens to it could tell you that. The album is soaked in jazz, pop-funk, soul, and gospel with synth-heavy backdrops. After winning the award,
Tyler asked, “Why can’t we just be in pop?” We are all wondering the same thing. Other artists such as John Legend, YG, DJ Khaled, Meek Mill, Roddy Rich, and Kirk Franklin paid tribute to late rapper Nipsey Hussle with their performance at the Sunday night awards show, according to Time. YG specifically came out to honor Hussle and explore the overall gang violence predicament in Los Angeles, as well as the animosity between the Bloods and Crips, two rival gangs at odds in Southern California. What he was met with when he walked out on stage, however, was a predominantly white crowd clapping their hands. There’s really no way to explain the plight of violence in Los Angeles to an upper-class white mosh-pit that holds no stakes in the matter. If the Grammys really wanted less discriminatory representation, the crowd simply would have had color. Singer and Grammys host Alicia Keys said onstage, “We refuse the old systems. We want to be respected and safe in our diversity. We want to be shifting to realness and inclusivity.” While Keys made no further comment, it is clear she was advocating for the artists facing race and gender inequality throughout the Grammys. Not only have the inequality of the awards been voiced on the very platform, but legal action has finally been taken as well.
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO FROM FLICKR
Tyler, the Creator criticized the Grammys on Sunday for failing to represent people of color in music.
The award show is proving to be more and more discriminatory as time passes. Deborah Dugan, former CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, knew too well of the discrimination within the Grammys and filed a lawsuit against the Academy, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Dugan’s lawsuit was filed on Dec. 22, 2019, just a few short weeks before this year’s Grammy awards. According to The Guardian, Dugan was suspended from the Recording Academy for exposing the Grammys for its boy’s club atmosphere and rigged nominations process. Dugan accused her predecessor of rape, perpetuation of irregularities in the Grammys’ nomination and review process and gender and racial discrimination. While only working in the Academy for a short 5 months, Dugan called the Grammys out on its counterfeit foundation. The cutbacks on attendance to the shows have already started. Whether in support of Dugan or
simple disinterest, artists Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Young Thug, Beyonce and Bon Iver ditched this year’s Grammys. The award show is proving to be more and more discriminatory as time passes. With more celebrities raising their voices about grievances, there are no questions about its declining irrelevancy. Tyler, the Creator described the Grammys best when he said, “Oh, my little cousin wants to play the game. Let’s give him an unplugged controller so he can shut up and feel good about it.”
Follow Bryanna on Twitter @brybartlett
SPORTS
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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29, 2020
5
Gymnastics duo stick the landing By Briana Conte STAFF WRITER
Two influential athletes of the San Jose State women’s gymnastics team, Taylor Chan and Jada Mazury, were nominated for awards by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation this week. Business freshman Mazury won her first MPSF honor as freshman of the week. Chan, a kinesiology senior, had the MPSF’s top all-around score of the year in a meet against Boise State University and Seattle Pacific University. She took home gymnast of the week, her fourth time being honored with the award. “There are so many girls in this conference that work their butts off every single week and it’s so hard to choose who gets it for the one week,” Chan said. “So it’s kind of like a special thing when you get it . . . it’s really heartwarming.” Mazury had a similar sentiment when it came to winning her award. “I had a really good meet in Alaska so I was really excited and a little bit surprised when I won it, but it was just a really fun experience and I hope that I could win it again sometime,” Mazury said. Head coach Joanne Bowers had a different perspective about Chan and Mazury’s conference honors. “I don’t focus too much on that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very nice, it’s just we want to win. We want to move up our program and it takes everybody getting a little better every day,” Bowers said. “That’s our motto really. It happens in practice. You gain your confidence in practice by
JESUS TELLITUD | SPARTAN DAILY
Senior gymnast Taylor Chan celebrates with members of the SJSU women’s gymnastics team after her beam performance Sunday afternoon.
becoming more consistent.” Mazury said her enthusiasm for gymnastics was already great, but since training with Bowers, it has only broadened. “I really like bars because it feels like zero gravity,” Mazury said. “When you’re swinging around, it almost feels like you’re flying and once you hit your routine, and it’s clean, it’s just the best feeling in the world.” Chan said her priority as team captain is holistic success. “The team win is the most important because the six compete, five scores count. You want to hit for your team. Everything
now . . . you want to do it for your team,” Chan said. Bowers said she tries to instill the mentality that each gymnast has to become better, not only for themselves but for the team. “If I say we want to make regionals, if I say we want to get certain scores, we can’t control that. But we can control getting better,” Bowers said. Bowers also helps her team succeed in their education. “We’ve had a high GPA this semester. Our scores [in meets] have been improving. And she always says don’t worry about the scores but we are seeing improvements in our scores which reflects
CLASSIFIEDS CROSSWORD PUZZLE
our hard work in the gym,” Mazury said. There is just one obstacle that is soon to be overcome. “We’re still not being able to do some of the things we want to do [like] practice everyday because we’re trying to keep them safe from the hard landings,” Bowers said. The team lacks the proper environment to train at their fullest capacity. “As soon as we get this new gym that is supposedly coming in May, it will make our lives so much easier in terms of campus training,” Bowers said. Follow Briana on Instagram @muaybri
JESUS TELLITUD | SPARTAN DAILY
Jada Mazury focuses on swinging on the bars. She was named MPSF women’s freshman of the week.
SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.
JOKIN’ AROUND Why did the robber take a bath?
Because he wanted to make a clean getaway.
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS 1. Demonstrate 6. Website addresses 10. Stinging remark 14. Circumscribe 15. Ark builder 16. Food thickener 17. Ancient Roman magistrate 18. Meal in a shell 19. Exploded star 20. Obstinate 22. To endure (archaic) 23. Zero 24. Hyrax 26. Unpleasant person (British) 30. African antelope 32. Disney mermaid 33. Live longer than 37. Sow 38. Deploy 39. Novice 40. Vellum 42. Sesame seed 43. Loamy deposit 44. What McDonald’s serves 45. Submerge 47. Excavated
48. He writes in verse 49. It’s made from antiparticles 56. 1/12th of a foot 57. Grizzly 58. A cry of approval 59. Bit of dust 60. Frolic 61. Lubricated 62. Not amateurs 63. God of love 64. Portents DOWN 1. Implored 2. Go on horseback 3. Leave out 4. Wicked 5. Continuing forever 6. Up to 7. A soft sheepskin leather 8. Shoestring 9. In a ww manner 10. Music director 11. Ancient Greek marketplace 12. Large black bird 13. Scottish hillside 21. Russian fighter
25. An Old Testament king 26. Coarse file 27. Region 28. Layer 29. Bed coverings 30. Damage inflicted by fires 31. French for “State” 33. Mining finds 34. Bell sound 35. Sea eagle 36. One who accomplishes 38. Willing to comply 41. In what way 42. A concern 44. Vagrant 45. Giver 46. Odd-numbered page 47. Daggers 48. Panderer 50. Close 51. Tropical tuber 52. Snip 53. Story 54. Not odd 55. Fishing poles
01/28/2020
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BRICKER'S BOPS
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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29, 2020
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MARCI SUELA, PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSIAH EVERHART
Years of work yield confessional album Oregon-based YouTuber and musician Josiah Everhart uses influence from video game soundtracks to craft personal songs By John Bricker EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
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ecause video game soundtracks use a dizzying variety of genres and emotions to immerse players, it makes sense that a singer-songwriter so heavily influenced by that music would make an album like “Yearn in Years.” Along with capturing the nostalgic beauty of the music he loves, Josiah Everhart’s debut full-length album establishes his unique voice as a songwriter, creating a final product just as catchy as it is heartbreaking. After years of posting his folksy reinterpretations of songs from classic video games on YouTube, the Oregon-native released his first collection of original music, “Songs Come and Gone,” in 2017. Everhart said he learned a lot about music production since releasing a compilation of his first seven original tracks in 2017. “I still don’t really know what I’m doing, but even back when ‘Songs Come and Gone’ came out, I wasn’t really trying to branch out, learn more and experiment,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of that on the new album.” Everhart continued to release video game covers and original music on his YouTube channel every few months, but Everhart said YouTube is now an unreliable platform. YouTube terminated his channel on Dec. 18, 2019 before reinstating it later that day, falsely flagging it for violating community guidelines, according to a statement on Twitter by Team YouTube. YouTube support emailed Everhart the morning of Dec. 18 to notify him that his channel had been terminated, telling him he could appeal the decision without explaining why it had been made.
Everhart later said he did not know why his channel was terminated. “They hung me out to dry,” he said. Everhart, his Twitter followers and fellow YouTubers repeatedly reached out to YouTube for further comment. The website reinstated his channel, restored his subscriber count and reposted all of his past videos. Everhart said his channel’s termination reinforced what he knew about how YouTube treats creators and that he hopes “Yearn in Years” will help him transition into streaming as a more reliable and financially sustainable way to release music. While “Songs Come and Gone” delivered minimal instrumentation and intimate vocals, “Yearn in Years” represents a complete evolution of his sound, using grand palettes and generous effects to create more theatrical and engrossing songs. Opening synth track “Dead Moons” establishes Everhart’s lavish sound with atmospheric effects and airy vocals. The track’s repetitive chords and stiff programmed drums could easily become stale if not for the track’s eerie and somber soundscape, which complements Everhart's moody, vaguely sci-fi lyrics with ghostly vocal harmonies and synths. The album’s dynamic and detailed production reaches its peak on “Hey, Mister,” where the core acoustic arpeggios, spacey drums and soft bass are elevated with glorious layers of backing harmonies and watery slide guitar licks. After gorgeous compositional twists and turns, “Hey, Mister” ends with one last added layer of distant electric guitar, bringing this intricate soundscape to an epic conclusion. Unfortunately, the one track where the album’s spacey production becomes muddy is on the closer, “Without.” After opening with beautiful splashes of muffled guitars, the
album review “Yearn in Years” Rating:
Artist: Josiah Everhart Release Date: Jan. 10, 2020 Genre: Folk
song builds with layers of soft synths and a simple beat into a chorus so washed out that all the cymbal crashes and bright synths melt together. The short three minutes of “Without” does not quite provide enough time to build up to such a climax, resulting in a track that feels messy. Everhart’s confessional and poetic songwriting keeps the album entertaining and potent, even when the production falters. Although Everhart has always had a knack for writing lovely, melancholy songs, his work on “Yearn in Years” takes a much darker turn, using gorgeous sounds to highlight uncompromisingly honest lyrics. On its surface, “I Just Want To” is a happy song, using a bossa nova groove, warm keyboards, cheerful vocal harmonies and bouncy synth tones to create an instant earworm. Everhart betrays the song’s carefree mood with lyrics describing not being able to get out of bed and calling abandonment “more than I deserve.” This contrast between dark lyrics and a happy tune speaks to the song's conflicted nature, which Everhart described as half genuine, one-fourth dark humor and onefourth satire of the empty self-pity in similar songs. The contrast between the carefree instrumental and crushing lyrics make “I Just Want To” gutwrenching at times and darkly funny
in others, but always a beautiful and courageous artistic statement. Everhart follows this track with the bittersweet “Moons of Jupiter,” which pairs achingly gorgeous vocal melodies with sparkling acoustic arpeggios, soft synth tones and a spacey programmed drum beat. The song’s serene escapism, realized through dreamy harmonies and a lovely saxophone solo from jazz multiinstrumentalist and fellow YouTube musician Carlos Eiene, makes Everhart’s lyrics about lost love and death even more impactful. Everhart said he originally wrote “Moons of Jupiter” as “just a song about my favorite planet,” only to later realize he was writing about suicide. “It’s almost like an end of the world song,” he said. “The whole album really is about depression and longing, which is why I called it ‘Yearn in Years.’ ” Although YouTube’s brief termination has made posting video game covers on his channel less appealing, he is not worried about the financial viability of releasing music online. He makes about $20 a month from ad revenue on YouTube and gets several times that from streaming on Spotify, which he believes is becoming more pro-artist. “Every paycheck I get from Spotify is better than the last,” Everhart said. Everhart said he hopes “Yearn in Years” sells well so he can quit his day job and go on tour. “That’s what I want more than anything: the opportunity to make more music.” Collaborators and fellow YouTube musicians like guitarist Richard Bichler and drummer Austin Perrilloux have already told Everhart they are willing to go on tour with him. “And I’m like, ‘I gotta make it happen!’ ” Follow John on Twitter @JohnMichaelBr15