Electric car batteries create challenge for first responders

By Kienan O’Doherty, Editor-In-Chief

In a world where technology is evolving at a rapid pace, emergency response should as well.

I agree, it is a very odd combination when you first look at it. But when you see an electric car’s debris all
over the highway, you may want to see the logic behind the combination.

Last Friday, a fiery crash occurred between a Tesla Model X and a freeway divider on U.S. Highway 101
in California, leaving the roadster engulfed in flames after being struck by two other cars afterward. The
crash shut down a carpool ramp and two lanes for almost 6 hours, almost twice as long as normal
accident of this type. One of the major problems was the car battery being exposed.

Mountain View’s (CA) Fire Department typically puts out a car fire in minutes. But according to an article
on abc7news.com by Jonathan Bloom, Chief Juan Diaz said this is the first time the department has had
to deal with a Tesla battery that was split open and on fire.

Fire crews arrived at the scene of the accident around 9:30 a.m. Chief Diaz said the last engine company
went back into service around 4:30 p.m. In a gasoline car fire, he said, all companies would’ve likely
been back in service within minutes.

According to the article, Tesla’s no stranger to the Mountain View Fire Department. They’ve conducted
trainings with firefighters, including some at their factory in Fremont (CA), on how to handle Tesla
batteries when they’re damaged in an accident, and how to disconnect batteries from each Tesla model.

So, why did it take so much longer?

Well first, first responders looked over many options. They considered dousing the battery with the
recommended 3,000 gallons of water, but that would’ve required stopping all traffic to run a hose
across the freeway. Another option would’ve been to let the fire burn itself out — but firefighters also
decided against that. So instead, they called on Tesla engineers to come over and help remove the
battery completely.

Being that these first responders had training to deal with this, I believe that it wouldn’t hurt for all first
responders to have more training on this issue, as this is coming to be the age of the electric car. They
need to be more prepared, as the next electric car to catch on fire could even be more catastrophic.

President Trump and his contributions to the winning of The Shape of Water

By Tung Nguyen, Online Editor

In the year of 2018, the world has seen a “fairy tale” winning an Oscar for the Best Picture, one of the most prestigious award that a director could achieve. The Shape of Water had overcome its outstanding competitors to be one of a very few fantasy film, if not the only one, to win the Academy Award, thank to president Trump.

President Trump has been a center of many comedic criticisms coming from the Hollywood’s world, if we can recall the opening monologue of Jimmy Kimmel in the last Oscar event. In this year, more than just gently mocking the president through monologue, many films, which subtly ridicule the presidency and the United States’ society after the election, were chosen to compete for the Best Picture such as Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water.

Throughout the many years of the Oscars, I have to admit that the political factors are becoming more and more important and, probably, surpassing the pure cinematic factors. To be clearer, briefly analyzing The Shape of Water is essential.

The United States’ society during the 1960s is a picture with many contradictory colors. The blue color represents the hope of a better future with massive technological and economical progressions.
The yellow color brings up the remnants of racism toward many people of minorities and red provokes the potential threats coming from the intense rivalry against the Soviet Union. With Elisa Espotito, her life is surrounded by the grey color.

Living in a dreary apartment above an old movie theater in Baltimore and working as a regular janitor in a secret government laboratory during the Cold War, Elisa only has one silver lining that lights up her life as a muted woman: her friendship with Giles, a homosexual painter, and Zelda Fuller, her colored co-
worker. Each of them represent a minority that has been suppressed in centuries by the United States’
society.

However, the color of love found Elisa when she meets “the Asset,” an amphibian-humanoid creature
founded near a South American river. In “the Asset”, Elisa sees a silent friend who shares the passion of music, of dancing and some boiled eggs with her. More than that, they are both lonely and crushed by something bigger. If “the Asset” is physically and continuously damaged by Colonel Richard Strickland, a
representative of a “higher power,” then Elisa is emotionally damaged by her co-workers’ daily complaints, who are the representatives of the United States’ society, because of her disability.

In my opinion, this particular picture is reminiscent of what is going on in the United States’ political arena nowadays under Trump’s presidency: the government stepping on the minorities to reach its own purposes. The images of President Trump constantly mocking a woman of disability as well as disdaining a journalist because of her “regular job” did enrage the public a year ago. Even though The Shape of Water had a big chance of becoming a “so-so” movie like some other movies from Guillermo Del Toro
such as Hellboy, these images from the president somehow pulled its own trigger and pushed The Shape of Water to a massive success.

The depiction of the current presidency cannot be perfect without the last suppressed group, which has been focused mostly on by the president himself: the Mexican immigrants. With his Oscar’s
acceptance speech emphasized on his own Mexican origin, let us guess who put the last puzzle piece in the panorama that subtly implies the “political incorrectness” of President Trump? The Academy Award winner: Director Guillermo Del Toro.

Equestrian team returns to competition

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

After four years of being on a competitive hiatus, the Ohio Wesleyan Equestrian Team (OWUET) returns to compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) against top schools in the region.

The OWUET western team traveled to Miami University on Saturday and Wilmington College on Sunday last weekend to compete against Ohio State University, Ohio University, Wilmington College and Miami University.

All of the competing schools have division 1 club programs, aside from Wilmington’s division 3 status, and all the schools have well established equestrian teams that have won numerous IHSA national titles.

OWUET used to have a strong competitive IHSA presence back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Due to decreased membership and interest, the team has not competed in IHSA since 2014, until last week.

Sophomore Reilly Wright, the western team president and co-captain of the OWUET, competed with two other western competitors, junior Sarah Sanford and sophomore Hannah “Juniper” Deitering.

On Saturday’s Miami show, Wright placed 2nd in her intermediate level class and Sanford placed 6th in her beginner class. All three western riders competed Sunday at Wilmington with Sanford placing 4th in both her A.M. and PM shows. Deitering, also in the beginner level, snagged 4th in her A.M. showing and 3rd in the P.M.. Wright secured 3rd in her A.M. show and came out on top in her P.M. class with a 1st place victory.

Junior english captain Hannah Durr who is in her second semester of holding the position of captain said, “I am so proud of our riders who competed this past weekend, and am very excited to see our english and western riders compete this upcoming weekend.”

“It was such as thrill to ride competitively for OWU for the first time,” Wright said. “To represent our school against powerhouses like OSU and Miami was really exciting, especially with it being Sarah and Juniper’s first show ever.”

Jessica Daniels, the team’s coach, has been working with members since fall 2016 to prepare them for competing in the IHSA. 

“This past weekend I was so impressed with our riders, two of our riders had never shown before and they rode like seasoned pros,” Daniels said 

OWUET’s english team, sophomore Theresa Schluchter, and freshmen Molly Taylor and Hannah Edelblute, compete for the first time this Saturday at Ohio University while western competes again at Wilmington College on Sunday. These shows are the last of the 2017-2018 IHSA season with qualified riders beginning postseason championships in early March.

The IHSA offers competition in both western and english, also known as hunt seat, for colleges nationwide that compete against each other. Competing riders in both seats are assigned a random horse they most likely have never seen or ridden and must immediately ride the strange horse before a judge. 

The difference between riding hunt seat and western mainly comes down to the type of tack, rider attire and riding position. In competition, the judge studies the rider’s handling of the foreign horse under specific hunt seat or western expectations, such as the rider’s arm position or leg movement.

Both styles of riding are offered by OWUET and require no necessary experience from anyone wishing to join to ride for fun or to compete. Members range from experienced riders who have competed their entire lives, while others have never even touched a horse before, let alone mounted one. 

Before the fall of 2016, there were a total of five active members. Due to the recruiting work of the team’s president at that time, alumni Amber Sample, membership boosted up to 22 riders that semester. That also was the semester the team signed Daniels as their new coach.

“This is a growing sport in today’s colleges and a majority of schools are now offering it as a varsity sport,” Daniels said. “The National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) was founded in 1998 in collaboration with the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAA) and continues to be one of the fastest growing women’s sports.”

Since then, their numbers have steadily risen with close to 40 members now, with about 30 actively taking weekly riding lessons. 

“We hope those numbers will grow a little more so we can have some more competitive interest next year and boost our presence in the IHSA,” Wright said.

Coaches Corner: Mike Plantholt

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

As the men’s lacrosse team starts their 2018 season, head coach Mike Plantholt looks to improve the young team and win another conference title.

Sailer: How’s the upcoming season look?

Plantholt: Pretty good, we’ve put together a very nationally competitive schedule. So we play arguably the toughest schedule in the country against four teams in the top seven in the country so we had a tough first game. We had a lot of positives there, I think a lot of our guys played really hard and we realized that we could run with and play with and beat anybody. That’s our focus right now is getting a little bit better everyday and trying to be the best team we can be when it counts.

Sailer: What are the benefits of having such a tough schedule?

Plantholt: Having a tough schedule prepares you for everything, so obviously you want to be good in conference so playing some tough out of conference opponents not only helps you when it comes down to conference time but it helps you when it comes to playoff time. You’re going to be playing the best teams in the country in the playoffs so if you can make it there then that tough schedule will have prepared you for that.

Sailer: Do you have a strategy going into this season?

Plantholt: The strategy this year is getting the younger guys that have been waiting in the wings like the sophomores and juniors, getting them some game experience. I wouldn’t say there’s a particularly different strategy this year then in years past. We just want to continue to improve every game and make sure the guys are having a great experience.

Sailer: Are there any freshman we should look out for?

Plantholt: This is a very strong freshman class, in terms of players to look at Will Anton started in his first collegiate game this past weekend and he’ll be someone who gets into the rotation a little bit. We have Charles Schooler at long stick midi who looks really good, Sean Gellen is a midi that has impressed us, Austin Plaster and Max Johnston also look really good. We have very good goalies in this freshman class both Zach Brasser and Connar Mulcahy. I’m very impressed by how are freshman have been playing so far. 

Sailer: Is it nice to have senior Ben Rigger back as goalie after not having him for the 2017 season?

Plantholt: Yes. He’s a difference maker in the cage and when we didn’t have him last year we were forced to start two freshmen and that was a lot to ask of them being the 13th ranked program in the country. Although, sophmore Joey Sichenzia stepped in and had a solid year, but I think all of our goalies on the team right now are going to learn something from playing under Ben. He brings a wealth of experience.

Professor shows the life of Japanese-American artist through photography

By Tung Nguyen, Online Editor

Decades worth of photographs certainly tells a story.

Lynn Estomin, an award-winning professor of digital art and design at Lycoming College (PA), whose works have been known internationally and well-received, presented her new documentary   “Living in the Story” in the R.W. Corns building on Feb. 16. 

“Living in the Story” shows thirty-five years of photographic artist Patrick Nagatni, a third-generation Japanese-American, who spent most of his lifetime using arts to depict the world’s history during the 20th century with the emphasis on nuclear tragedies. 

Unlike many other artists, Nagatani is well-known for his distinctive approaches to photography. More specifically, Natagani uses sets, models as well as sculptures and background paintings to construct his messages. 

By using red as the dominant color, Nagatanii, with the blend of fact and fiction in his sets, successfully created a deep sense of tension to depict the nuclear aftermaths. 

“His work is also very different. To me, he is telling a story and he is trying to play with the idea of what is truth in photography,” Estomin said. “And more than that, how photography tells somebody its own version of truth.” 

In fact, Nagatani did not see himself as a mere photographer but a narrator as well. Like Estomin, Natagani believes that there is no absolute truth in photography. Photography is only reproducing the moments and Natagani said that the magic of his works is “living in the story.” 

Dr. Lynette Carpenter, professor of English and Film Studies at Ohio Wesleyan University said: “Patrick’s style is imaginative, unusual and he seems to have a funky sense of humor shown in his works. On the other hand, besides Patrick, Lynn is the one who came up with genius ways in making this film and delivering Patrick’s stories. She should take credit for that.” 

When asked what Estomin regrets the most in her documentary, Estomin said: “Definitely the experts talking about his works. I wanted Patrick to tell his story and I didn’t want other people to tell us what we should think is important about his photography. I wanted him to tell the story himself.” 

Before “Living in the Story,” Estomin has been acknowledged by her other documentaries on a wide range of social issues such as human rights, domestic violence, and Planned Parenthood, which have been broadcasted nationally on PBS and shown in many film festivals around the world. 

To view Patrick Nagatani’s other works, please visit his personal website, www.patricknatagani.com.

OWU’s theatre department recreates history in latest show

By Maddie Matos, A&E Editor

Ohio Wesleyan University’s theatre department delved into royal intrigue and religious question with the student production of Royal Gambit.

The show is about King Henry VIII of England and his famous six wives. The wives were known for meeting dynamic ends, with half of the wives dying in their marriage. Each of the marriages were highlighted in the show, and often intermingled with one another.

The show ran from Feb. 15 through Feb. 18 at the Chappelear Drama Center.

Different topics during Henry’s reign were shown, including the religious turmoil Henry brought when he started the Protestant Revolution and its consequences for all his wives. Actors felt the challenge of recreating a historical drama and being able to portray characters correctly, even if they were an understudy.

“One of my biggest challenges was trying to balance my character research and progression without actually being able to act and perform,” Logan Kovach, who played King Henry VIII’s understudy, said.

Students enjoyed the show and the varied performances cast members gave. The show had humorous elements, making the performance more enjoyable for the audience.

“I enjoyed the dynamics of the characters,” freshman Shayla Scheitler said.

“I thought the show had a comedic relief with all of the innuendos, and that made the show all the more entertaining.”

The production was directed by professor of theatre Elane Denny-Todd, had a cast and crew of over forty people, making the show a smaller production compared to other acts throughout the season.

The actors all gave varied performances, with praise directed mostly to senior Daniel Haygood in the role of Henry VIII.

“He embodied his character to the point that you couldn’t identify him as a student here, just King Henry VIII,” Scheitler said.

The play received praise from students and the actors, including a standing ovation at the end.

Manchester City stronger than ever

By Tung Nguyen, Online Editor

Ten years ago, no one would ever believe that Manchester City, the abandoned son of Manchester, is
dominating the English Premier League (EPL)
This season, they’re sixteen points ahead of the second-place team, Manchester United.
As a Manchester United fan, I must reluctantly admit that this is the beginning of an era, and for the
next ten years, Manchester will be blue.
To understand the sudden success of Manchester City in only five years, we have to pay attention to the
changes in the executive board and its result in the drastic shift of the team’s vision as well as playing
styles.
With star players such as Sergio Agüero, Raheem Sterling, and Kevin De Bruyne, anyone of them could
be considered the most influential. But that title belongs to director of football Txiki Berigistain, who is
considered the most influential individual. Being the former director of football for FC Barcelona (Spain),
his bringing in manager Pep Guardiola made his vision clear: to build a Barcelona 2.0 in the EPL.
Begiristain, as the new director of football, is responsible for keeping the consistency in Manchester
City’s transfer strategy. When Guardiola was still managing Bayern Munich (Germany), Begiristain
created a “magical spine” in Manchester City’s line-up with Vincent Kompany, Fernandinho, Kevin De
Bruyne, David Silva and Sergio Agüero. These players are responsible for shaping the playing styles of
Manchester City. Guardiola comes and only has to hone the chemistry of this spine as well as adds
wingers, the least important roles in building up the club’s playing styles, to the line-up with the
purchases of Leroy Sané and Bernando Silva.
With this line-up, Guardiola sets up a “high-frequency pressing” attacking style, which brought him
massive successes in Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Unlike Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini, the
two former managers, Guardiola prefers taking the game at a much slower pace rather than rushing the
ball to the front line and blindly searching for opportunities. Uncertain threats to the opponents’ goals
will result in the ball being delivered back to the midfield. This strategy, of course, strictly requires a
midfielder with good-vision and superhuman passing ability. While Xavi Hernandez, (Barcelona), and
Toni Kroos, (Bayern Munich), individually dictated the playing styles of their teams, Manchester City’s
David Silva works his spells in the midfield. With the physical support of Fernandinho and the flexibility
of De Bruyne, who can easily attract the opponents’ defenders to create spaces, Silva is much freer to
manipulate the plays.
In terms of specific tactics, Manchester City tends to keep possession by passing the ball continuously in
the midfield and waiting for off-the- ball movements from wingers to create threats. Sané, Sterling and
Agüero, with their sharp finishing and fabulous dribbling abilities, will likely to make these threats even
scarier. When the players lose possession, the whole team will exert a high-pressure attack to the
opponents in order to immediately retake possession. This is reminiscent of Barcelona at its peak during
the late 2000s and the beginning of 2010s.

With such tactics and philosophy, Manchester City can easily strangle the second-tier teams because of
their simple, strength-oriented plays. At some points during the season, building a bus in front of the
goal seems to be opponents’ only option when facing Manchester City. However, this overly defensive
play cannot fill the huge gap of the line-up’s qualities when Manchester City has more than one player
who can shine individually.
On the other hand, honor and prestige force the first-tier teams to join the game, to attack and to
accept any consequence afterwards. However, none of the first-tier teams’ midfielders can reach the
level and the chemistry of Manchester City’s trio (Silva, De Bruyne, and Fernandinho) in order to make
an equal play. Therefore, after a while, they cannot stand the countless attacks and pressures, which
eventually rip them apart.
With the first team’s average age 25 and the well-developed youth academy, Manchester City seems
likely to uphold its success in the next ten years. On contrary, Manchester United is having a much
tougher path with a conservative-minded manager, Jose Mourinho, who has turned his billion-dollar
club into a defensive second-tier team. If Mourinho will not take a different approach to catch up the
rise of Manchester City, Manchester, or even the whole Premier League, will be blue.

OWU discusses anniversary of Armenian Genocide through guest lecture

By Maddie Matos, A&E Editor

A horrific and overlooked event was honored in Ohio Wesleyan University’s biennial Kragalott lecture.

Ronald Suny, professor at the University of Michigan, discussed the Armenian genocide, an event that happened over one hundred years ago. The genocide is regarded as the first mass killing of the twentieth century.

The genocide is not as widely known compared to other events in history, most famously the Holocaust during World War II. Through Suny’s lecture, students gained a new perspective on what causes a genocide and the human nature behind it.

“It is very easy for people to blame their fears or problems on other groups of people who are different from them and cause mass violence and terror,” said sophomore Amanda Hays, an OWU history board member.

Over 30 people attended the lecture held in the R.W. Corns Building, including people of Armenian descent.

Suny, an expert on the genocide, has published multiple works on the historical event. Suny is of Armenian descent, making the subject one more personal and essential to share.

The genocide occurred during World War I by the Turkish government. According to Suny, the new government felt threatened by the rise of Armenians in society. Many Armenians held higher positions of power, which challenged the social order in Turkey and starting the genocide.

“This rise created resentment in Turkish society, as they felt that the Armenians had caused a status flip, now with Armenians on top and Turks on the bottom,” Suny said.

The genocide killed between 600,000 and 1 million people, making it the first genocide and documented crime against humanity in the 20th century. Various world leaders later used the event as a model for their own killings, including Adolf Hitler.

Suny explained the Turkish government also started the genocide through affective disposition. This idea of constructing a person off what they believed was a key argument in the presentation.

“The Turks felt five emotions towards the Armenians at the time of the genocide, which were fear, anger, resentment, anxiety and hatred,” Suny said.

 The genocide is not acknowledged by the current Turkish government, along with other nations. The genocide, recognized or not, still destroyed thousands of lives, Suny explained.

Throughout the lecture, active audience members asked questions and engaged with Suny. Some were impressed by Suny’s presentation.

“The speaker had a lot to say and was obviously very impassioned by the subject,” Hays said.

The Armenian genocide lecture provided an insight to a historical event often overlooked, but left an impact felt throughout the world.

OWU Alumni gives presentation on new research idea

By Tung Nguyen, Online Editor

Dr. Brady Porter, a faculty member of Duquesne University and also an Ohio Wesleyan University alumnus, made a return and presented his recent research on Friday, Feb. 9.

In collaboration with the National Aviary and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Dr. Porter focuses his research on the applications of DNA metabarcoding to dietary analyses and environmental DNA surveys.

“The problem is that bird diets are difficult to study,” Dr. Porter said.

By watching the behaviors and the surrounding habitats of    Louisiana Waterthrush, a breed of warblers in eastern North America, Dr. Porter finds a different approach to study its dietary.

“We also want to see what insects it feed its young nestlings and observe the digestive process,” Dr. Porter said.

Later on, Dr. Porter dissects the defecation of these nestlings and provides accurate data about the types of prey items that these bird are eating.

Dr. Dustin Reichard, an OWU professor of zoology, said: “I was not aware how much dietary data could be extracted from avian fecal samples. Dr. Porter’s technique is also much less invasive than the traditional ones and it represents the future of studying food webs.”

Besides working as a faculty member at Duquesne University, Dr. Porter still regularly returns and contributes his findings to the Natural Museum of OWU as well as helps to train the students.

“Dr. Jed Burtt spent a lot of time training and inspiring me when I was here at OWU during the 90s,” Dr. Porter said. “So my motivation to make a return to OWU is to give something back.”

According to Dr. Porter, one of his many experiences with Dr. Burtt that helped him to make a breakthrough in Zoology was attending a scientific meeting in the University of Pittsburgh in 1987.

“Dr. Burtt introduced me to one of the collection manager of the Carnegie Museum along with many other legendary scientists,” Dr. Porter said. “They trained me how to do the museum’s works and skills that allowed me to complete hundreds of findings for my job.”

Speaking of Dr. Porter’s contributions to OWU, Dr. Reichard said: “Dr. Porter trained the next generation of students to prepare both bird and mammal study skins for our museum. He is also a very important source of knowledge to keep the continuity of our museum as well.”

Seminar and exhibit gives students space to discuss inner struggles

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

The What’s Your Big Lie? (WYBL) pop-up exhibit and seminar allowed students to share their inner struggles with their peers and start open conversation about mental health.

The point of the exhibit and program was to bring to light the fact that everyone is living a lie whether it be big or small, in their work life or personal life and that although sometimes we can’t admit it, it’s okay to be living with that lie.

The pop-up exhibit was featured in the atrium of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center (HWCC) throughout the entire day and consisted of a collection of answers to thought provoking questions about mental health. The responses were then projected on the walls, floors and ceiling in the atrium for all to see.

Jordan Axani, the creator of WYBL, led the seminar by telling us how he came to realize the lie he had been living with. After years of being bullied in elementary school, dealing with family issues as well as handling his mental stress, he admitted that, “For 20 years, I hated myself immensely and I was afraid to admit it to anyone, especially myself.”

Junior and Panhellenic President Mackenzie Brunke said, “Axani was enthusiastic about a hard to discuss topic and took it with grace.”

Axani turned to social media as a cathartic release. He started to write and post what he was going through on Instagram. The more he shared, the more people contacted him with their stories and what they were going through. He realized then that he wasn’t alone in his battle.

This WYBL program was developed in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and a team of mental health experts in 2016, and has been praised as life-changing by numerous audiences.

“I have the incredible privilege to work with students, employees and everyday people on helping them kill their inner imposter and embrace who they really are,” Axani said.

WYBL has been presented to over 150,000 students, teachers, parents, entrepreneurs and professionals across North America with hundreds of institutions using WYBL as a way to build a “culture of openness, empathy and belonging.” (https://www.shiftcollab.com/programs/wybl/)

“It was a great approach to reducing the stigma that follows issues like mental health, you were able to feel safe talking about it with your peers,” junior Tessa Coleman said.

Once Axani was through with his story he invited the audience to participate in

Using phones and an anonymous platform, students submitted their ‘big lies’ and other insecurities secretly. Their responses are filtered almost immediately and are then projected at the front of the room.

Just moments after the first confessions showed up on the screen, there was both a moment of relief and recognition on everyone’s faces. Nobody was alone in what they were feeling. Axani, as well as students from the audience, offered words of affirmation and hope to those that bravely sent in their submissions.

Axani took the seminar a step further and asked if students would like to stand up and share their stories without the cover of anonymity that their phone provided. It took a few seconds and a room full of wandering eyes before the first hand bravely went up.