July 29, 2016Volume 102, Issue 3nique.

net

OPINIONS

technique
News 2

ENTERTAINMENT

H2H: Tragedy in media p7 Busting stereotypes

Opinions 4

Life 8

Entertainment 10

OLYMPIC ATHELTES TRAIN AT TECH p3

NEWS

p12

Sports 16

SPORTS

Tech gains
two graduate
transfers
HARSHA SRIDHAR
SPORTS EDITOR

New Tech mens basketball head

coach Josh Pastner will have to wait until 2017 to bring his first solo recruiting
class to Atlanta.
By the time Pastner accepted the
Tech job, the recruiting period was
mostly over. Almost every top player
had committed already, and Tech
themselves had a three person class.
However, only two of the commits from the Gregory class signed,
and with the transfer of former player
Travis Jorgenson, Tech had some open
scholarships for this season.
With the addition of two graduate
transfers, guard and forward Jodan
Price and forward Kellen McCormick,
Pastner has demonstrated that he is
willing to search in unlikely places for
talented players.
Price, who is originally from Indianapolis, Ind. has one year of NCAA
eligibility remaining. Price is familiar
with the transfer process, but he will
be able to play immediately this time.
Price ranked as one of the top 150 recruits of his class by Rivals and initially enrolled at DePaul University.
After a quiet year, Price left Chicago
for Ypsilanti, joining the Eastern Michigan Eagles. NCAA rules mandated
that he sit out the following season, one
that saw the Eagles notch 22 wins, a
mark the team had not reached since
their 199697 campaign.
At Eastern Michigan, Price saw significant playing time off the bench. He
averaged 15.6 minutes-per-game over
his two seasons there, taking most of
his shots from three-point range. He
Top L: Photo courtesy of Tex Texin; Top R: Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures; Above: Photo courtesy of Tech Communications

See MBB, page 15

LIFE

Mobile Pokemon craze takes over Techs campus

JON LONG

LIFE EDITOR
Imagine this scenario: you
are driving down a busy Atlanta
street. The radio is tuned to the
local rock station playing a song
from Blink-182s California, a
recent chart topper. To your right,
a glowing billboard advertising
Ghostbusters vies for your attention. Your veins turn to ice as you
move for the brakes, just barely
missing a pedestrian and making
you even more late for tonights
episode of the X-Files reboot.

As you slowly regain your

composure, the man in the street
stands undeterred and seemingly
unaware of your presence. Wild
eyes meet yours as his gaze moves
from his phone, and after a short
apology the man runs off into
the night.
Occurrences like these have
become more common as Pokemon Go, a mobile app developed by Google offshoot Niantic,
becomes the new ringleader of
Americas nostalgia circus. Yellow Jackets and squirrels are no
longer the only animals on Techs
campus as 150 different Pokemon

have swarmed the midtown area,

followed closely by students intent
on catching them all.
These Pokemon are the central
figures of a Japanese media franchise dating back to 1995. This
is hardly the same phenomenon
that gripped the world over two
decades ago, however. Game Boys
have found themselves replaced
by smartphones, while bedrooms
and schoolyards have given way to
parks, restaurants, and the busy
streets of Atlanta
The games, which have historically offered person-to-person
See MON, page 8

Photo courtesy of Streetcat Media

Techs numerous green spaces have been flooded by students,

all intent on getting ahead on the worlds latest mobile craze.

2 July 29, 2016 technique

// NEWS

technique
The Souths Liveliest College Newspaper

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Vidya Iyer
MANAGING EDITOR:
Nick Johnson
NEWS EDITOR:
Evan Gillon
OPINIONS EDITOR:
David Raji
LIFE EDITOR:
Jonathan Long
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR:
Jamie Rule
SPORTS EDITOR:
Harsha Sridhar
DESIGN EDITOR:
Brighton Kamen
PHOTO EDITOR:
Sara Schmitt
ONLINE EDITOR:
Kripa Chandran
WEB DEVELOPER:
Ross Lindsay
HEAD COPY EDITOR:
Alexis Brazier
Founded in 1911, the Technique is the
student newspaper of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is an official
publication of the Georgia Tech Board
of Student Publications. The Technique
publishes on Fridays weekly in the fall
and spring and biweekly in the summer.
ADVERTISING: Information can be
found online at nique.net/ads. The deadline for reserving ad space is Friday at
5 p.m. one week before publication. To
place a reservation, for billing information or for any other questions please email us at ads@nique.net. You may reach
us at (404) 894-2830, Monday through
Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

COVERAGE REQUESTS : Requests for

coverage and tips should be submitted to
the Editor-in-Chief and/or the relevant
section editor.

Copyright 2016, Vidya Iyer, Editorin-Chief, and the Georgia Tech Board
of Student Publications. No part of this
paper may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the
Editor-in-Chief or from the Board of
Student Publications. The ideas expressed
herein are those of the individual authors
and do not necessarily represent the views
of the Board of Student Publications, the
students, staff or faculty of the Georgia
Institute of Technology or the University
System of Georgia. First copy free for
additional copies call (404) 894-2830

sliver

TRISTEN ALLEN
STAFF WRITER

SHOCKING NEWS
Beginning July 1, students
enrolled in any University System of Georgia (USG) institute
as well as any adult age 18 or
over were permitted to carry an
electroshock weapon on campus
grounds and to use the weapon
in self-defense.
These weapons are available
in both ranged and melee forms
and are commonly referred
to as stun guns or Tasers. The
change is limited to electroshock
weapons after HB 859, known
as the Campus Carry bill, was
vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal.
Concealed carry of firearms,
the subject of HB 859, is still a
criminal offense within school
safety zones, which includes
USG campuses.
The electroshock bill, HB
792, passed the House by a vote
of 117-46 and the Senate by a
vote of 43-12. It was signed into
law by Gov. Deal on May 3, the
same date HB 859 was vetoed.
HB 859 was opposed by the
USG during its consideration
within the General Assembly.
When vetoing the Campus
Carry bill, Deal raised concerns
about the necessity of the bill
and its ability to sufficiently improve the safety of students on
USG campuses.
Proponents of the bill cited
the second amendment as well
as the numerous criminal acts
that occur on USG campuses
against students as evidence supporting both the necessity and
justification for the passage of
the bill.
Multiple members of the
General Assembly committed
to reintroduce legislation similar to HB 859 in the upcoming
legislative session to increase
safety on college campuses.

nique.net
Sure is hot outside.
Share a coke campaign song sucksssss. Needs more lyrics!
I think Ice Breakers gum is amazing, I love the shape.
We should be more productive with our lives.
Lets make a music video with lightsabers and glitter.
Amazon just told me to buy one of those horse head masks. wtf.
Dammit, forgot to buy my friend a birthday presentttttt ahhhh.
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer was kinda sad if you think about
it. I wonder if he was depressed.
My boss girlfriend should visit more often. I just got tomorrow
off yayyyyyy
Someone told me that it had been 81 days since hed had sex. Tmi
dude, tmi.
when it gets late in the technique office, we start eating two lollipops.
The swimming and diving events are the best because theyve all
got great abs.
Insomia is overrateedddddd subway cookies 4 lyfeeeeee.
I wish more people would sliver #meta
why is there so much christmas paraphenalia in this office?
LALALA SINGING IS SO FUN
ugh someone just slacked me. jk someone texted my friend.
I hate HATE the new chat on facebook.com, it does not go at
all with the entirety of the website, someone teach them how to
do UI. It doesnt fit in with the new UI because its two different
styles and they think theyre being cool but really they just have
no taste #worst #putemonblast #losers
wow that person has tons of opinions about facebook lol.

TECH SOARS INTO MARIETTA

Tech has agreed to acquire
approximately 52 acres of land
and four buildings from aerospace engineering and security
company Lockheed Martin, located in its Marietta, Ga. campus. The buildings will be used
to expand Tech research offices
in order to relieve crowding in
the five Georgia Tech Research
Institute buildings located in
Cobb County.
The buildings sold by Lockheed Martin to Tech were once
part of the F-22 Raptor stealth
fighter program, having been vacated over time due to the conclusion of the project. The last
employee of the F-22 program
left Marietta in 2013.
Tim Lee, Cobb County Commission chairman, expressed satisfaction with the acquisition,
saying both Lockheed Martin
and the Georgia Tech Research
Institute are great community partners and this purchase
strengthens our reputation as a
center for research, development
and high-tech jobs.
No specific information on
the cost of this acquisition, funding for the purchase or use of the
buildings has been released at
this time.
A RED LIGHT FOR TECH GREEN
Tech Green will remain
fenced off to the public until
Sept. 10, the date of Techs first
home football game.
Tech Green was originally
scheduled to reopen mid-August
after completion of construction
on May 15. Construction began
on Feb. 15 alongside improvements to Cherry Street and Atlantic Drive.
The six million dollar construction on Tech Green was
designed to allow the field to recover more rapidly following periods of rain thanks to improved
drainage underneath the greenspace. Despite the construction
being scheduled to finish in May,
Facilities originally elected to delay the reopening of Tech Green
until August in order to allow
the new grass to take root.
The delay of the reopening of Tech Green will push its
construction time into spanning
three semesters over a period of
eight months. Atlantic Drive is
scheduled to finish construction

in October of this year and is still

closed to non-construction traffic. Ferst Drive will additionally
be undergoing construction with
a similar anticipated end date in
October, with traffic being rerouted or detoured depending on
the phase of construction.
TECH SETTLES OLD LAWSUITS
The University System of
Georgia (USG) settled two lawsuits that were filed against Tech
and the Board of Regents in June
and July of 2016, respectively.
The first case was settled for
$250,000 and the student was
reinstated into Tech. In the second, the accused student was allowed to receive his degree from
Tech, but is not permitted to attend another school in the USG,
including Tech. His disciplinary record was also modified to
only show the code number and
names of charges.
In the first case, a male student accused another male student of sexual assault on May 13,
2015, almost a year after the incident occurred. Peter Paquette,
the head of the Office of Student
Integrity (OSI) conducted an investigation and filed a report in
early June; a week later the accused student was expelled.
On Jan 4, 2016, the accused
student appealed and his expulsion was overturned. The
students lawyer was Andrew
Miltenberg, a New York based
attorney specializing in cases
where male students feel that
they were wrongly accused of
sexual assault.
In the second case, a female
student accused a male student
of sexual assault on Feb. 17,
2015, 17 months after the incident. The accused was expelled
in April and appealed twice,
once to Tech and once to the
Board of Regents; in both cases
his expulsion was upheld. The
accused student later requested
preliminary injunction and a
jury trial, but was also denied by
the U.S. district courts.
These cases prompted the
Board of Regents to modify sexual misconduct policies.
The settlement records were
released after being sealed for
eight months to protect the victims of the cases from harassment. They were released due to
an open-records request.

MAURA CURIE

CONTRIBUTING WRITER
STABBING IN JAPAN
Nineteen were killed and 25
injured in a mass stabbing in Japan on July 25, marking the deadliest such incident the country has
seen in several decades.
The attack took place at Tsukui
Yamayuri-En, a living facility for
the mentally disabled, in Sagamihara. City law enforcement responded to a call made by a Tsukui Yamayuri-En staffer at around
2:30 a.m. local time, reporting
a man wielding a knife inside
the building.
Following the arrival of police
and doctors, the death toll was
determined on the scene. Those
killed ranged in age from 19 to 70,
and at least 15 of the victims were
later announced to have been patients at the facility. Twenty were
critically harmed.
On the night of the attack the
facility was housing less than 160
residents and was attended by
eight staff members.
The attacker was not present
at the scene but was determined
to have broken a window to enter the building. The 26-year-old
man, who was identified to the
local press as Satoshi Uematsu,
later turned himself in. Uematsu
is a former employee of Tsukui
Yamayuri-En with a history of aggressive able-centrism; he told police at the time of his arrest that he
wished to get rid of disabled people from the world, and had been
detained in February for sending
threatening letters of similar sentiment to politicians.
Japan, which has notably strict
gun-control laws, is unaccustomed to mass acts of violence.
The Tsukui Yamayuri-En attack occurred on the fifteenth anniversary of an attack on a primary school in Osaka, which killed
eight children.

technique July 29, 2016 3

// NEWS

AMBER lab creates robot that walks on its own

LINDSEY PLOUSSARD
STAFF WRITER

Last week, a team of Georgia

Tech researchers got their robot to put its best foot forward.
With new, specially designed feet,
DURUS walked with a humanlike gait. Robots typically walk
with flat feet, which uses a large
amount of energy and limits their
mobility. Now, Dr. Aaron Ames,
director of the AMBER Lab and a
professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Electrical Engineering and his team, lead
by graduate student Jake Reher in
the AMBER labs, have successfully achieved humanoid locomotion
in a robot.
The design of the robot started
two to three years ago with SRI
International DARPA Robotics challenge. When the team
originally demoed their robot,
DURUS, at the competition, it
walked with flat feet.
After working extensively on
developing a single theorem to
define human locomotion, Ames
and his team wrote algorithms to
fit this theory and applied it their
robot. Graduate student Eric Ambrose designed a pair of new feet
for DURUS with human walking in mind. They took them to a
shoe store, got them sized, bought

a pair of size 13 shoes, laced them

up and got to work.
Their robot was walking in
less than a week, according to Dr.
Ames. However, within the week
leading up to DURUSs stroll,
there was a lot of trial and error.
Even that week, it fell a lot
before it walked, Ames said. I
dont know, hundreds, maybe
thousands of times.
Ames defined falling as meaning the robot doesnt walk. It
would take a step and not take another one. The team focused not
on the amount of times it fell, but
how close it came to walking.
I often liken it to the human
revolutionary process. How long
does it take us to walk? Well, it
really takes us millions of years if
you think about all the progression that happened to the point
when you were born, right? And
then, when youre born, you learn
to walk in a relatively short time
frame, Ames said.
They were able to get the robot
walking because of the extensive
mathematics they have been developing for years.
Once you understand the
mathematics, things get simpler
in terms of implementations,
Ames said.
At first, the robot would just
kick its foot out and stop. The robot was a fixed entity and changes

were made to the algorithms and

not the hardware of the robot.
The team realized there was
springy-ness in the robots design
that they did not account for.
They tweaked their algorithms
and pretty quickly, the robot
could take two or three steps,
then, four or five. The team kept
tuning until, finally, it walked.
Once you get it, it just does
it. Its kind of like learning to ride
a bike, or learning to walk when
you see a kid do it. At first, they
fall all the time. But they start being able to take more and more
steps and then at some point you
kind of just let it go and there it
is, Ames said.
The robot walked at a pace of
about 1.4 miles per hour, about
the speed of a comfortable stroll
through the park. Last year, DURUS walked four kilometers in
the day before it got its new feet.
Now, DURUS will be able to walk
even further at twice the speed.
The accomplishment is a big
deal in the world of robotics.
We didnt pre-program it to
act human like; it acted human
like because of the math that we
were running. So that implies
that we are starting to understand
something fundamental about
human locomotion, Ames said.
Dr. Ames is most excited about
the social benefits of this technol-

childrens hospitals and held open

training sessions for those who
wished to watch. Among the
crowd were members of the 1996
Olympic dive team, who returned
to the spot where they competed
20 years ago.
We are excited to be returning to Atlanta and the site of the
1996 Games for our final preparation for the 2016 Games in Rio,
said Linda Paul, president and
CEO of USA Diving.
[The McAuley Aquatic Center] is such an exciting venue, and
holds so many memories that its
always a chills-on-the-bone type
feeling when you walk in, said
David Pichler, one of the 1996
divers who returned to send off
the 2016 team.
Past Olympians are not the
only ones reflecting on the games.
President emeritus Dr. G. Wayne

Clough was president of Tech during the 96 games, and remembers

it as a catalyst for making Tech the
University it is today. He credited
past president John Patrick Pat
Crecine for working to bring the
games to Atlanta.
When [Pat] got engaged in
this process, this discussion of Atlanta competing for the Olympics,
he really took it on, and I think
made a huge difference, Clough
said. He was a computer scientist, and very much advanced in
his thinking about using flyovers,
flythroughs and 3D technologies.
He was able to show up at venues,
and show how you would sit and
it would look from here.
Extensive renovations and construction had to be made to parts
of Techs campus and most of it
was unassisted by the games.
In regards to Alexander Me-

ogy. Bipedal walking can go places

where wheels cannot, and robots
can go places that people cannot.
This advance is a step towards
taking robots outside, for things
like disaster response or space
exploration.
The word robot, Ames added, translates to servant.
Thats the point of robots,
theyre supposed to be there to
help us, he said.
Ames is particularly excited about potentially using this
technology to improve human
mobility. This technology is be-

ing applied to exoskeletons and

prosthetics for mobility impaired
individuals. Ames says they are
actively working with a company
in France to make this happen.
This technology could revolutionize robotics and human mobility, expanding current understanding of human locomotion
and translating this understanding into helping helping disabled
people walk.
To top it all off, DURUS seems
to have some good taste in shoes,
keeping it classy in blue and white
Adidas Campus sneakers.

Photo courtesy of Tech Communications

DURUS, dressed in blue Adidas sneakers, takes a step similar to humans. This provides insight into human locomotion.

Tech welcome 2016 swim/dive teams, reflects on 1996

EVAN GILLON
NEWS EDITOR

The U.S. Olympic Diving

Team spent the third week of July
training for the 2016 Olympic
games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in
the McAuley Aquatic Center on
Techs campus. The teams training was originally planned to take
place in a camp in Puerto Rico,
but in order to avoid exposure to
the Zika virus, it chose to train in
Atlanta instead.
The teams choice to train at
Tech is a particularly historic one,
as 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the 1996 Summer Olympic
Games in Atlanta.
Tech welcomed the dive team
with a Send-Off Celebration,
where the 2016 Olympians were
available for autographs, visited

Photo courtesy of Tech Communications

Olympic swimmers train at Techs Campus Recreation Center before the Olympics in Rio,
Brazil. This pool was the same pool Olympic swimmers used in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

morial Coliseum, I think they

gave something like $8 million,
Clough said, and Georgia Tech
raised a lot more money to renovate the stadium at the time.
When it came to the housing,
again, they would only put up a
limited amount of money, and
through the good will of the State
and Zell Miller at the time, Tech
was able to borrow about $140
Million to add to the money and
build the housing that we built.
Students and faculty also
played a significant part of the
renovation effort.
With the aquatic center, it
was just a big, open structure,
said Clough. It cost us about $90
million to enclose that, and the
students were willing to put some
of that in their fees, as well as the
faculty, and we built a first-class
recreation center.
However, once the Olympics
came to Tech, they were largely
separate from the Institute.
The Olympics have their own
way of doing business, and they
make that very clear, Clough
said. What they did do was
provide the momentum needed
to expand Tech and improve the
community. The games were a
nucleation for the idea of improving the neighborhoods around
Tech ... It was, politically, very
difficult to do.
Clough began what he called
the four points of the compass
approach to master planning,
where the goal was to improve
Techs campus, invite people to
come be a part of it and to expand outward and improve the
community and each part of the
neighborhoods around Tech.
One of these neighborhoods
was across the 5th Street Bridge,
now Tech Square, but was once
what Clough described as being
in shambles, with vacant build-

ings and broken windows. The

Institute worked with the Metro
Chamber of Commerce and participated in a program called Central Atlanta Progress that focused
on improving the city. The idea
was not to isolate campus, but to
make it a part of Midtown. The
goal was to say to the business
community, this is your entre
into Georgia Tech.
On the west side of Tech,
Clough felt that Tech had an obligation to the historically black
neighborhoods that wanted to
come back and be a part of the
community, so the Institute conducted an outreach program to
work with local churches and the
Atlanta University Center, a conglomerate of Historically Black
Colleges and Universities in Atlanta. An effort that, Clough said,
resulted in the new biotechnology
center on North Avenue.
To the north, Tech helped
to create a child-care center
for Home Park, and directly to
the south, Tech worked very
closely with developers in the
creation of Centennial Park
Place, which replaced the dilapidated Techwood Homes, one of
the very first public housing projects in the U.S.
Clough believes these initiatives are a large part of what makes
Tech the university that it is.
We want to be seen as a place
where breakthroughs happen,
Clough said. We delivered everything we said we were going to
deliver, on-time and on-budget.
I think [the Olympians] came
to Georgia Tech, they came to
our campus, our venues and came
away impressed.
The U.S. Dive Team departed
on Saturday, July 27; the U.S.
Swim Team will stay for the duration of the month, leaving on
Aug. 1.

Opinions
OUR VIEWS | Consensus Opinion

technique

OPINIONS EDITOR: David Raji

A nickel aint worth a dime

anymore. Yogi Berra

The lack of late-night dining at Tech

Friday, July 29, 2016

TOP SLIVERS

why do I not deserve the right to go see tech play in

Ireland?

Campus needs more options

The food situation at Tech for those who

wish to study late into the night is nothing
short of abysmal.
Clough has decent selections, but paying exorbitant prices for meagre portions
of food at Starbucks or one of the various
vending machines is not ideal. As a result,
students are deterred from staying out
studying after 9:00 p.m. due to the severe
lack of dining opportunities on campus.
Students are sorely in need of more
on-campus options for affordable, filling,
healthy late-night dining. There would be
several benefits, both for the student population as well as the administration.
For starters, a late-night dining option
placed somewhere central on campus,
such as the library or student center, would
alleviate a lot of the congestion that tends
to occur at the Clough Starbucks once it
becomes the only thing left open nearby.
Instead of having to line up for 20 minutes
time that could be spent studying

for a simple pastry, students would instead

only have to wait half as long for a much
better dinner. This wait-time clearly indicates a demand for this type of service.
A central location is key to preventing
students from walking around in potentially unsafe areas late at night looking for
food options, increasing safety at Tech.
In addition, a potential new vendor at
Tech could help the institution make money via rental costs, offsetting any cost to
the institution to set up the business.
An overhaul of the vending machine
economy at Tech is seriously overdue as
well. Most, if not all, of the items are overpriced and not a meal replacement option.
If vending machines are to be a viable late
night food source, they need to store more
substantial options at a fair price.
These requests may not come to fruition
immediately, but for the aforementioned
reasons, it is clear that Tech students are in
dire need of better late night food options.

The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the
Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.

technique editorial board

Vidya Iyer EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Alexis Brazier HEAD COPY EDITOR
Sara Schmitt PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Jamie Rule ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
David Raji OPINIONS EDITOR
Jon Long LIFE EDITOR
Mark Russell SPORTS EDITOR
Kripa Chandran ONLINE EDITOR
Ross Lindsay WEB DEVELOPER

UNLIKELY TO BELLOSSOM BY LANAH MARIE JOSE

Nothing better than playin Bulletproof Babes after a

final exam! :D

*shakes head woefully*

I cant just come up with a sliver dude

greetings from the news editor-on-sabbatical, all the

way from sunny california <3 i hope summer slivers
arent too terrible but if so heres a quality one to
brighten up the ol box.
Why did the chicken cross the road? To escape
murder most fowl

Shakespeare walks into a gay bar. Exit, pursued by a

Bear.

One day, we will watch someone fillabuster with

Hamilton lyrics

Its so hot out I thought I finally made it to hell

What if their was a section called The Black Light

where people could fill out a form saying they failed a
test and they may have failed, but at least they made
the paper.
The world would be so much better if instead of
catcalling with creepy things, people just meowed
loudly out of their car windows.

Write to us:

letters@nique.net
Got something to say? Then let
your voice be heard with the Technique. Sliver at Nique.net, tweet us
@the_nique or check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/thenique. We
want to hear your opinion and want
to make it known to all of campus.
We also welcome your letters in
response to Technique content as well
as topics relevant to campus. We will
print letters on a timely and spaceavailable basis.
Each week we look for letters that

are responses to or commentaries on

content found within the pages of the
Technique. Along with these letters,
we are open to receiving letters that
focus on relevant issues that currently
affect Georgia Tech as a university, including its campus and student body.
When submitting letters we ask
that you include your full name, year
(1st, 2nd, etc.) and major. We ask that
letters be thought provoking, well
written and in good taste. We reserve
the right to both reject or edit letters
for length and style.
For questions, comments or concern, contact the Opinions Editor at
opinions@nique.net.

technique July 29, 2016 5

// OPINIONS

Dont throw away a valuable vote

The immediate aftermath of
Brexit was a flood of analysts
trying to determine exactly what
the referendum meant for the
United Kingdom, its trade partners and global politics. Would
others follow? Would Scotland,
mostly in favor of the European
Union, vote to leave the U.K.?
The next day, Google reported that Internet users in the
U.K. were asking such questions
as, What is the EU? Some
citizens admitted that they had
voted for the referendum to
protest the government, not because they actually favored leaving the European Union, and
Prime Minister David Camerons immediate announcement
of resignation shocked even ardent Leave supporters, who were
busy backing away from untenable campaign promises.
But no degree of surprise
could change the outcome.
Leave had triumphed over Re-

... voting for a candidate

whose ideas you do not
support just to stick it to
one you dislike is immature

HARSHA SRIDHAR
SPORTS EDITOR

main, and the EU Parliament

pressured the U.K. to secede as
soon as possible to avoid economic uncertainty.
On the other side of the
pond, we are preparing for our
presidential election. At this
point, its clich to refer to both
Clinton and Trump as poor options. Clinton is the consummate insider in a nation that
is increasingly frustrated with
career politicians. Trump has
maligned a number of interest
groups in advancing a platform

Hypocrisy in the roles of

wives and daughters

The First Lady of the United for Trumps campaign. She was
States has always been a face- the one to introduce him at the
value representation of the Republican National Convensitting Presidents opinion of tion, and she is more relatable
women, and by extension, how to younger voters, who are more
the United States views the role accustomed to women working
of women and family at a given outside the home.
point in history.
Despite the Republican
Earlier first ladies took on Party opposing programs that
a hostess role, greeting guests would benefit working women,
at the White House and for such as paid maternity leave
the most part staying out of and more access to birth control
the public eye,
and family planwhile modern
ning, Trumps
The
comparison
first ladies such
campaign team
between the two is a understands that
as Eleanor Roosevelt and Mirole of Amersymptom of American the
chelle Obama
ican women has
have advocated hypocrisy towards the evolved, meanfor causes like
it is benefirole of women. ing
civil rights and
cial to Trumps
childrens physiimage if modBRIGHTON KAMEN ern, independent
cal fitness and
DESIGN EDITOR Ivanka has time
health.
In addition
in the spotlight.
to fiery rhetoric and a few quotThe comparison between
able sound bites about building the two is a symptom of Ameriwalls and keeping hot sauce in can hypocrisy towards the role
purses, the 2016 election cycle of women. Why is it that, in
has also seen what will become the words of New York Times
a split in the future role of the writer Jill Filipovic, men like
American First Lady: one elec- Trump marry Melanias and
tion outcome sees a traditional, raise Ivankas?
supportive wife, while the other
He will treat his wife one way
brings the possibility of a First and his daughter another beHusband. This split highlights cause an attractive, traditional
shifting American attitudes wife and a successful, modern
and hypocrisy towards the daughter are extensions of himrole of women in the modern self that reflect well on him in
American family.
different ways. Even with both
Melania Trump embod- womens
accomplishments,
ies many female characteristics Trump speaks more on their
and roles social conservatives physical attributes: he tweets
favor though she is a success- pictures comparing Melanias
ful model with her own jewelry face to that of Heidi Cruz, and
line, her primary focus has been on several occasions remarks
motherhood, raising their son about how he would date Ivanka
Barron while Trump has, to his if she were not his daughter, goown admittance, never changed ing so far as to state that she has
a diaper. She describes herself the figure to pose for Playboy.
as more traditional, stating in
While these statements are
an interview with US Magazine just examples of the bizarre
that she voices political views at Trump comments we have
home, but in public she defers grown desensitized to, it is
to her husband: Thats my hus- important to remember that
bands job. I leave that to him.
Donald Trump would not be
In contrast, Trumps daugh- popular if his views did not reter Ivanka is more modern flect the opinions of the millions
she is an independent busi- who will vote in November and
nesswoman who has been the showcase their views on women
leading female spokesperson with one check of the ballot.

that has been described as xenophobic, inconsistent and impractical.

Clinton has only recently
escaped indictment for using a
private email server to transmit
classified information. Trump
faces legal action of his own over
allegations of fraud at his eponymous for-profit university.
Neither candidate has unified his or her party base;
Clinton has come closer than
Trump, but has left a legion
of Bernie supporters unsatis-

fied. In reaction to what many

Americans are coming to see as
a presidential race between two
evils (look no further than the
favorability ratings for the candidates), some would rather not
make the choice altogether.
If youre have decided that
youre better off sitting out the
2016 election, or, even worse,
casting a protest vote for a
candidate you dont believe in
just to express your frustration,
I ask you to reconsider. Not because voting is integral to the
American fabric or because democracy is dependent upon the
consent of the governed this
is not an episode of The West
Wing. Vote for the person you
believe in because this election
and its consequences are far too
significant to act otherwise.
The next president will face a
number of challenges and have
many opportunities. He or she
See VOTE, page 7

The pointlessness of
celebrity gossip

After the initial small talk, world goes just beyond a single
conversations segue into current individual. So, to what extent
events, but people tend to focus does one need to be involved in
on lighter topics rather than current events?
things that matter.
For starters, no one is reFrom news articles to the quired to dedicate their life
conversations that take place, I to world issues. Its unrealistic
have learned that Taylor Swift since the news continuously
ended her relationship with DJ changes and discoveries are conCalvin Harris in June. She start- tinually being made. However,
ed dating Tom Hiddleston, just keeping up with the news as optwo weeks later. Calvin Harris posed to the Kardashians is so
has since deleted
much more bentweets
about
eficial because
Swift and started It is easy to get swept although
you
wearing Yeezys.
may not be diaway by the glamour rectly affected by
Meanwhile Kim
Kardashian igand excitement of what is happennited a war with
ing these issues
celebrity
gossip ... actually impact
Swift through
an interview and
society.
VIDYA IYER B o m b i n g s
then
released
several
videos
quite
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF happen
which
Swift
frequently
in
claims to be an
the Middle East
act of character assassination.
and while we may not be diWith the immense detail and rectly impacted, it can affect
fascination at mundane details our countrys foreign policy. The
of celebrities lives, Im surprised Zika virus may not be an imthat we dont have a live update minent threat to you, but this
on them today Swift woke up August hundreds of athletes are
from bed, ate breakfast, checked exposing themselves to the virus
in on social media, and contin- to represent their country in the
ued to live her life. Gasp.
Olympics. The GOPs platform
This same detail and vigor is aims to repeal marriage equalnot present when people engage ity and discriminate against
in heavier topics. Not only are minority groups in an attempt
people afraid of stepping on toes to make America great again.
when it comes to differing view- But do we want to become a napoints, but many people are not tion that practices hate and diswell informed on these topics.
crimination?
The news can be depressing
For those that do care about
or even boring especially af- their community, educated diater a long day. It is easy to get log is the first step to enacting
swept away by the glamour and change, and to start these conexcitement of celebrity gossip to versations its vital to know what
escape reality. However, know- is happening. Instead of scrutiing the details about celebrity nizing the decisions of celebrigossip achieves absolutely noth- ties on their personal life, lets
ing. Not only are these discus- have analytical conversations
sions fruitless, but most of what about the state of the world beis written comes from unnamed cause its these kinds of conversources, is based on speculation, sations that can inspire change
and reads way too much into and make an impact.
social media posts. Since we so
You dont need to stop readrarely ever hear from celebrities ing celebrity gossip all together.
about their personal lives what Just keep in mind, that while
we read may not even be true.
you try to know everything
While, its important to al- about Taylor Swift, you will
low your mind to decompress, it probably never even be on her
is also vital to remember that the radar.

Whats been your

favorite thing on Netflix
over the summer?

TOM BOYLE

THIRD-YEAR AE

Wet Hot American

Summer.

AUSTIN LITTLE
FOURTH-YEAR EE

House of Cards or Greys

Anatomy. I watched a lot of
stuff.

ANNA HARRIS

FIRST-YEAR BCHM

Stranger Things.

REN JERYAK

GRAD STUDENT, MSE

Bojack Horseman, season

three.
Photos by David Raji Student Publications

6 July 29, 2016 technique

// OPINIONS

OUR VIEWS | HOT OR NOT

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

HOT or NOT What it means to be an American

Amazon Store

Engineers Bookstore

The long-awaited Amazon

Store has finally arrived. Tech
students will finally be able to
live important dreams realized,
like seeing a video game advertised, wanting it, ordering it
and playing it all in the same
day. Of course, there is also the
classic order-your-textbook-atthe-last-minute-because-youare-lazy-and-now-your-examis-tomorrow. In any case, it
should definitely make things
easier for everyone.

Engineers Bookstore has

been mourned ever since it
closed last spring. Many were
hoping the original building
would be preserved regardless
of whatever the new use for
it would be. Now, however, it
seems that the lot will be used
for a gas station and miniature
market. The original infrastructure will be torn down
to make room for gas pumps.
This is a sad ending to the story of a Tech Tradition.

Olympic Athletes

Month of Tragedy

Tech played host to the

USA Olympic swimming and
diving teams. Divers held three
practice sessions at the McAuley Aquatic Center, which
was the site of Olympic competition at the 1996 games in
Atlanta. In addition, the team
signed autographs for some of
the roughly 4,000 spectators
that showed up to watch the
practices. Several athletes from
past Olympic games were present as well.

July has seen some truly

horrific attacks on humanity
take place around the globe.
From the several wounded in
a stabbing on a German train
to the unreported number of
casualties in a failed Turkish
coup to the bombing in Baghdad, these certainly are trying
times. One can only hope that
these recent acts of violence
are sporadic incidents and not
signs of the times as well as
those to come.

At a recent travel immunization appointment at Stamps

Health Center, the doctor was
surprised to hear of my plans to
visit India for a friends wedding.
India? Whats an oriental guy
like you going to India for? Isnt
that backwards? He laughed.
It was probably the worst attempt at small talk a doctors ever
made to me, but I needed my antimalarial pills, so I smiled politely.
Inside, I was bewildered, wondering if this educated man simply
saw me as a rug or a teapot with
the wrong shipping label affixed.
Checking my email later that
day, my cursor hovered over the
Stamps Health Survey for a moment. Do I actually fill it out and
say something this time? No, its
not worth my time or theirs to
complain. I got my shots and pills
quickly, who cares about how I
felt? On the scale of things that
impact me, racial microaggressions probably fall somewhere between Starbucks baristas not leaving room for cream in my coffee
and having to stop at a red light
for too long walking to campus.
Later that night at a party, I
told this story to a friend, who
also happens to be Asian American, along with my decision to
simply brush it off.
But isnt that just playing into
the quiet-Asian stereotype? she
asked, If none of us say anything,
will anything ever change?
Frankly, for most of my life,
nothing really had to be said. I
grew up in New York City and
went to college in Boston. Being
raised in a large, diverse metropolis, people dont really think about
who is and isnt an American, and
dont really care about where you
come from. Yet since arriving in
Atlanta for graduate school, being

As a minority, enduring
ignorance simply comes with
the job description.

TIM CHANG

PH.D. CANDIDATE BIOENGINEERING

an Asian American has invited

some fairly obtuse comments.
Your English is so good
You see, out here in the real
America ...
And of course, the ubiquitous
But where are you really from?
My favorite Where are you really
from was from an Uber driver
who felt the need to explain her
rationale. Cause you aint white,
and you aint black, and I dont
think youre Hispanic ... ? she
said, her voice trailing off, waiting
for me to validate her intuition.
Heres the thing I am an
American. I was born in Manhattan, and raised in Queens, New
York. As I am walking down the
street alone with my thoughts,
my inner monologue happens in
English. Sometimes Im thinking about when Ill start watching House of Cards again. Sometimes Im deciding whether I
should go to Moes for dinner or
just scrounge around the fridge.
Sometimes Im remembering my
friend shotgunning a Natty Light
at our last 4th of July barbecue.
Im probably thinking about a lot
of the same things you are.
So when you shout Ni hao
or Annyeonghaseyo or Konnichiwa at me on the street, waiting for me to respond, youre not
being polite. Youre reminding me
that despite me having lived in the
United States my entire life, you

still see me as being less American

than you are, simply because I
aint white, and I aint black.
So what does it mean to be an
American? Its a simple, yet highly
contested question still animating
our political discussions today. As
a nation of immigrants, the concept of heritage divides us in as
many ways as it unites. I cannot
speak for all ethnicities. What I
can say, however, is that the social
progress so desperately needed in
this country will creep to a halt so
long as any group in this country
sees themselves as more American
than another more entitled
to its rights and privileges, more
deserving of its wealth, and more
worthy of Gods blessing.
In the end, I deleted the survey. This isnt a problem with one
particular doctor or Uber driver.
As a minority, enduring ignorance
simply comes with the job description. It is frustrating at times,
but instead of getting outraged,
or counting down the days until
I can move back north or out to
California, Ive come to embrace
my responsibility as a minority. As
I struggle to share my story with
others, maybe Ill understand
theirs better as well. As we all
work to dismantle stereotypes one
interaction at a time, I hope that
we can build together a common
understanding of what it means to
be an American.

technique July 29, 2016 7

// OPINIONS

a societal issue, the latter is exactly what the

MANAGING EDITOR
media gives them.
On the other hand,
Each day that news stories might be reportoutlets report on a trag- ed on that otherwise
edy feels like a whole would never have seen
new tragedy.
the light of day. Yes,
Overall crime is police-minority tension
down: murders are and violence existed
down, rape is down and before Barack Obama
rape reporting is up; ev- became president, but
erything has gone down it wasnt until the media
except for hard-drug picked up on a hashtag
use. There are fewer that anyone besides
tragedies happening.
those minorities knew it
Despite
was even an
this,
each
... each issue.
tragedy is
individual t u Un antfeol ry -,
reported on
for a nationthe
tragedy is until
al audience
most flawreported
...
for
so
for so long
less, blamethat it might long that it might less, locally
as well rephigh-profile
resent mul- as well represent persons untiple tragmultiple questionably
edies itself.
unjust death
tragedies
itself. forces laws
Each time a
new rumor
and society
arises, fact or not, ev- to change, we might as
eryone follows the story. well be watching reruns
Thinkpieces, presiden- of NCIS.
tial responses, infoThe sheer volume
graphics, fake sources of stories, is another
and hashtags follow be- issue. It is disrespectfore a coherent narrative ful to say one tragedy
has been surmised.
deserves the national
The other side is spotlight over another,
that although there are but so many low-profile
fewer tragedies, they are tragedies occur that it is
higher profile than in impossible to cover
the past. The only two them all.
reasons for a high proWhy do any of them
file tragedy are that the make it to the national
attacker actually hates stage, then? There is a
the victims for who they point where a media
are or what they repre- outlet is no longer resent or that the attacker spectfully
informing
wishes to send a message viewers of what they
and have a sentence all- should know and is intheir-own in the annals stead cashing in on fear
of history. The former is and sympathy.

NICK JOHNSON

whenever news came

up about the Syrian
OPINIONS EDITOR
conflict, and how many
human rights violations
This year already has were piling up on both
seen a marked uptick in sides, it was upsetting.
well-publicized tragedy. But anyone who says it
But has there really been stayed in their conscious
any increase?
for any longer than the
On one hand, we latest trendy hashtag or
tend to usually hear wave of Facebook proabout terrorism when it file pictures would be an
happens in the United anomaly.
States and other westPerhaps that is a conern countries. Yet, there sequence of this modern
is and has been lots of day technology-inunterrorism godated enviing on in the
ronment we
Do we really all
Middle East
have
for
several only care about set up for
years
now.
ourselves,
the tragedy where nothDo we really only care
because it has ing needs
about
the
to stay in
migrated to your brain
tragedy because it has
too long.
our neck of the for
migrated to
Yet, I canwoods? not help but
our neck of
the woods?
feel that this
Sadly, the
is only part
answer seems to be yes. of the answer.
The attacks in Paris last
It is true that it seems
autumn kicked off a pe- like we hear about tragriod in which it appears edy all the time, and it is
possible that terrorists indeed possible that this
could strike anywhere at is the sole reason why it
any time without warn- seems everywhere. But
ing. Everyone seemed to in that case, why are we
have been kicked into a only hearing so much
fevered pitch, and was about the tragedies that
on high alert. My par- affect western Caucaents even forced me to sian countries?
cancel my study abroad
So, we can deduce
plans for the Spring se- that tragedy may be
mester I had been occurring more, but it
slated to study at Geor- is only occurring more
gia Tech Lorraine.
in western Caucasian
All this aside, it countries. The fact that
should be emphasized we would not know if
that, before those at- violence was occurring
tacks in Paris, none of more in other countries
us were worried much is a great tragedy in and
about terror. Sure, of itself.

DAVID RAJI

VOTE

FROM PAGE 8

will shape the judiciary branch,

perhaps nominating three justices to the Supreme Court, not
to mention numerous district and
circuit court judges. Abroad, contending with humanitarian crises
in the Middle East and an increasingly complex relationship with
China will be routine.
At home, immigration reform
and increasing racial distrust will
be on the table. And for all the
complaints we may have about
the two major parties presidential nominees, their platforms are
quite different. It is our duty to
choose the approach we deem the
most appropriate.
The process can be frustrating,
but there are plenty of ways for us
to express these frustrations. By
speaking up and taking actions
such as calling state and local
representatives, the people can express their opinions and make an
impact in ways besides the presidential election. If you are upset
by national and local corruption,
read up on your representatives
and senators, and vote for those
that you feel you can trust. The
national election is not the only
election that makes a difference.
But voting for a presidential
candidate whose ideas you dont
support just to stick it to one
you dislike is immature, not to
mention dangerous. For all the
positives of democracy, it enables
citizens to rashly and irreversibly
effectuate severe impacts.
In the past month, we have
watched in awe as British citizens
have dealt with the fallout of a
decision that many did not even
mean to make, one that could result in the end of the United Kingdom altogether. Let us not follow
in their example and instead treat
this crucial decision with the absolute seriousness it demands.

Life

LIFE EDITOR:

Jonathan Long

life@nique.net

Atlanta Speaks Up

technique

The Atlanta community has reacted to racial issues popping up throughout the nation.49

Friday,
July 29, 2016

Tech startup gets shot at big funding

JON LONG

LIFE EDITOR

Surviving the
Summer Sun
JON LONG

LIFE EDITOR
August is almost upon us,
bringing with it days that are hotter than a Young Thug homecoming concert. Unlike in a Young
Thug concert, however, you will
run the risk of drowning in a pool
of sweat and self-loathing. Slime
Season indeed.
The summer heat has the potential to turn anyone into a
leaky, burnt and exhausted mess.
Thankfully, however, 21st century science has given us the tools
and methods we need to beat the
summer heat.
EMPTY YOUR BAG
Seeing someone on campus
without a bag is like seeing a cat
without hair; it isnt unbelievable,
but it is always mildly off-putting.
These bags are the main contributors to the infamous back sweat
epidemic that afflicts students in
the warmer months.
There is no simple way to get
rid of bags, but a good alternative
is to get rid of some dead weight
that makes the bag such a burden and your back so sweaty. By
emptying your bag of everything
but the necessities, you can ensure
that your back stays as dry as the
new Ghostbusters movie.
SUNSCREEN
Think back to the last time you
took a hot shower with a sunburn.
If the idea of fire acupuncture isnt
enough to convince you to wear
sunscreen, then look briefly at the
long term effects that repeated
sunburns can have: scars, melanoma and the risk of turning the
skin on your back into a permanent leather jacket.
Covering yourself in cold sunscreen may sound daunting, but
compared to a week of sleeping
uncomfortably on burned skin, it
is a small price to pay.
HYDRATE
When the sun isnt trying to
pan-sear us like tiny overworked
tilapia, it is stealing water from
our bodies. Sweating puts an extra
strain on our bodies supply of water, a supply that is too-often left
below a recommended amount.
Our bodies are 60 percent water. When we are hot, we use more
of this water than normal. Always
be sure to refill your sweat reservoirs and carry around a reusable
water bottle to fill up at one of the
many filling stations provided by
Tech. A dehydrated mind cant
earn a degree.

Youre looking at your phone,

on the map, right, and you see this
little blue line. Well in five to ten
years, youre going to see it projected in real time on the road.
If fifth-year ME Seth Radman
is to be believed, the future could
prove to be an exciting time. It
should be, at least, for his Techbased startup Plutonium Apps,
which was recently invited to audition for season eight of ABCs
hit show Shark Tank.
The company, established by
Radman in 2014, has since [been]
featured in an Apple commercial,
guided clients to over $2 million
in funding, won a national pitch
competition, worked with professional sports teams, collaborated
with a $25 million investment
company and seen [its] apps get
over 1000 downloads in a single
day, courtesy of their website.
One of Plutoniums latest endeavors, a smart watch app called
Pulse, demonstrates Radmans pioneering mind-set when it comes
to technology.
A good company is one that
isnt reacting to changes, but is
peering around the corner and
kind of steering technological
progress, he said. Thats why we
made our first Apple Watch app.
Pulse simulates a metronome
on the smart watch, doling out
perfectly-timed vibrations at
pre-set intervals. Radman and
Chief Technical Officer Stephen
Schwahn, both members of Techs
band program, saw the app as a
quiet and hands-free way to help
musicians keep rhythm.

MON

FROM PAGE 1

interaction in the form of trading,

training and battling these digital monsters with your friends,
have finally found their stride in
the social landscape by bringing
players outside and into public
spaces. This social aspect, combined with the games unparal-

The apps uses proved to include more than just musical applications, however.
We get five to ten emails every
day from people telling us what
they like and what they dont
like, Radman said. But its not
just feedback, there are stories.
There are Olympic athletes who
are using it to train, paramedics use it to keep consistent chest
compressions, there was even a
woman that used it to make sure
she didnt swallow too often because it affects something in her
larynx. Its incredible what people
are using it for.

The team has also partnered

with local organizations, such as
Tech Square Labs and the Atlanta
Hawks, to help take on the burdens of app development.
We believe that everyone
should have the opportunity to
get their idea out there, Schwahn
said. I think that kind of sums
up everything in a nutshell.
Even though theyve become a
solid means of turning those ideas
into products, the team is quick to
credit Tech with their success.
I know a huge part of this we
owe to Georgia Tech, Radman
said. One of their recent goals

is to inspire creative and entrepreneurial thinking. I personally

want to encourage students here
that even remotely have an idea
to go for it. Youre a student at
Georgia Tech.
With initiatives like Tech
Square Labs and Startup Summer, Tech has brought an entrepreneurial spirit to Midtown Atlanta. Thanks to this increased
focus on student innovation, Plutonium Apps and many startups
like it are able to grow from dirty
college dorm room to national attention and generous funding in a
matter of months.

Photo couresy of Plutonium Apps

The Plutonium Apps team consists of second-year VP of Marketing Karima Alkhalid, fifthyear Founder and CEO Seth Radman and 5th year Chief Technical Officer Steven Schwahn.

leled ubiquity, have turned Techs

campus into an almost surreal virtual hunting ground.
While the game has been lauded for its efforts at getting people
outside and active, it has also garnered a fair amount of criticism.
Absent-minded pedestrians have
flooded Atlantas streets, putting
their desire to catch them all

ahead of their will to live. Private

property all across the country
has been rife with trespassers,
with home and business owners
blaming the game for their unwelcome guests.
The games ability to draw a
crowd has not been overlooked
by culture-savvy business owners, however. Pokemon Go has

Photo courtesy of Streetcat Media

Students have rushed to Piedmont Park in droves, taking advantage of the many lures
and items that the area provides. It has become rare to see a park patron without a phone.

proven to be an economic boon

to small businesses, with many
restaurants and bars reporting up
to a 50 percent increase in profits
since the games release at certain
times. Pokemon lures, an in-game
item that can be bought for realworld money, have become a common business expense around the
Midtown area. For businesses like
Tech Plazas Sublime Donuts, the
sales brought in by these lures are
a Godsend.
People come in here, grab
some donuts, and play Pokemon.
They say this area is the hot spot,
a spokesperson for Sublime said.
We have definitely seen business
go up in the past few weeks.
Fortunately for them, Pokemon Go has found its way onto a
record number of phones: Apples
App Store reported that the game
received more downloads in its
first week than any other app in
history, despite only being available in three countries. Though
the craze has slowed of late, developers have taken note that public
alternate reality games can be immensely successful.
So while they may not be hunting Pokemon, mobile users will
continue to be drawn out into
Atlantas streets, businesses and
restricted areas. No matter individual opinions, there seems to be
a bright future ahead for dive bars,
dogs and data plans.

technique July 29, 2016 9

// LIFE

Atlanta responds to nationwide racial tensions

LAYLA GHAZI
STAFF WRITER

On Nov. 24, 2015 a grand jury

came to the decision to not indict
Officer Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown, an 18-yearold African American teenager,
on Aug. 9, 2015 in Ferguson, Missouri. On Thursday Jul. 17, 2014,
Staten Island resident Eric Garner
was put in an illegal chokehold by
NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo
and died shortly afterwards.
The decisions of these two now
infamous cases has brought about
the question for many Americans
whether or not the confrontations
between these African American
men and white police officers is
a racial issue, marking the latest
chapter in Americas age old fight
for civil rights.
The root of the #BlackLivesMatter movement can be traced
to the acquittal of George Zimmerman a volunteer officer
for his local law enforcement
after evidence showed Zimmerman shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida.
Upon the seemingly back-to-back
deaths of Brown and Garner, the
#BlackLivesMatter
movement
was pushed to the national stage.
On the morning of July 8,
the body of a 22-year-old male
by the name of Michael George
Smith Jr. was found hanging from
a tree near the Nelson Mandela
monument in Piedmont Park.
There were countless protests
sparked all across the city, each
becoming increasingly more violent. Citizens, with a great many

Photo by Evan Gillon Student Publications

Prostestors from across Atlanta gather to bring attention towards police violence against
African Americans. Atlanta was one of many U.S. in which demonstrations took place.

Tech students among their ranks,

demanded to know the identity of
the young man.
There were a lot of college
students, and I know that [it] was
led by a sorority from Spelman,
student Hillary Nicole said of a
recent demonstration through
Peachtree Street. I felt bad about
blocking the streets, but then I realized that was kind of the point.

I dont think people protest just

because theyre upset. I think protests are held on populated streets
like [Peachtree] to get peoples
attention.
In a response to the protests
rising across the city, Mayor Kasim Reed stated that citizens
should not prejudge the circumstances surrounding this young
mans death. He even pledged

that police would share all evidence discovered in the course of

the investigation.
To ensure that Atlanta and
its police department would not
be subject to the scrutiny facing
other cities, Reed and local Black
Lives Matter leader Mary Hook
met on a live broadcast on WSBTV for the Atlanta Unite town
hall meeting. Hook presented

Reed with a series of demands,

with Reed expected to respond by
the beginning of August.
Reeds cooperation is a good
sign for politically active college
students who are eager to have
their voices heard but want to
avoid the violence and antagonism that has marred demonstrations in other cities.
I used to think that protests were pointless, said Nicole.
[Now] I think theyre meant to
create empathetic conversation in
the community. I also think that
its important for college students
to be active in civil rights. Its our
future that [older] activists are
fighting for.
Fourth-year AE Moose Lundys thoughts are similar, stressing
the importance of millennial activity in the fight for social justice.
Its very important for the
younger generation to be involved
in activism, he said. We have
a lot more energy, we have fresh
new voices and ideas, were in
positions where we are willing to
learn, and it is our immediate future at stake.
While some groups continue
to protest throughout Atlantas
streets, a majority of our citys
Black Lives Matter societies
agreed to a brief cooling off period, considering Reeds attention
a good start to getting their voices
heard by Atlantas higher-ups.
Considered by many to be the
largest Progressive bastion in the
southeast, Atlanta and students
from schools like Tech and Georgia State should prove to be mainstays in this chapter of American
civil rights history and beyond.

Entertainment

technique

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR:

Jamie Rule

10

entertainment@nique.net

Friday,
July 29, 2016

Die today
live again

New authors idea of virtual

reality not as great as story
BOOKS

Arena
Holly Jennings
GENRE: Science Fiction
PUBLISHER: Ace Penguin
Random House
RELEASE DATE: Apr. 5

OUR TAKE:
JAMIE RULE

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
In the not so distant future of
2054, virtual reality (VR) gaming has become the norm in the
realm of entertainment and,
among other advances in the field
of video games, VR tournaments
have evolved into a multimillion
dollar industry.
Holly Jennings first published
novel, Arena, is told from the
perspective of 20-year-old Kali
Ling who has so far dedicated
her life solely to martial arts and
video games. Fortunately for her,
these two fields have
become inseparable in
her chosen career as a
RAGE Tournament
competitor.
In the games fully
immersive
virtual
arena, teams of five
gladiatorial warriors
compete in a decidedly violent

reimagining of capture the flag.

The glamour of the televised competition, however, is merely an
insubstantial faade, meticulously
held in place by the ever-looming
sponsors. In contrast to the carefully crafted image of teamwork
and athleticism lies a bickering
collection of VR and drug addicted competitors.
With such fame as the games
can provide and the play, die,
play again attitude inherent to the
RAGE Tournament, many competitors feel as though they are invincible. The drug related death of
Lings teammate and boyfriend,
Nathan, serves as a wake-up call.
Kali begins to realize that the
thrill of a fight to the death is not
the only thing important in life.
The rest of the book revolves
around the triple life led by Ling
as she tries to win both the tournament and her own freedom while
not breaking the sponsors illusion
of perfection. This becomes quite a
bit easier when Nathan is replaced
by the conveniently named rookie
gamer, Rooke, who has also had
a significant other die due to the
lifestyle of the tournaments.
The plot of Arena is a gripping narrative and, though the
outcome is a foregone conclusion,
well worth the ride. The detailed
descriptions of virtual reality and
training graciously allow readers to vividly picture the story,
enabling them to immerse themselves in Lings world of virtual
bloodshed and real triumph.
The dialog, on the other hand,
was a bit lack luster and could be
rather unrealistic and stilted at
times. This led to some characters
such as the fifth team member, Derek, being complete
unknowns. His
char-

acter had only one trait: argumentative, which died alongside Nathan, who was the main person
with whom he argued.
Usually, dialog is how readers get to know characters; with
this aid, Arena could have been
phenomenal. Lacking this element, the book must, instead, be
relegated to being simply a good
book. Aside from this slight flaw,
Holly Jennings has created a compelling read with many references
to current games and, of course,
Mario, who apparently must be
mentioned at least once in every
story about video games.
The concept behind the books
plot is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. Arena explores the idea of virtual reality
being too good. The visions of
the simulations seem more real to
the players than the bleak city in
which they live.
Throughout the novel, various characters struggle to truly
believe that the virtual world, not
the gray city, is the fake reality, often trying to escape to the vibrant
world of make-believe instead of
training for the tournament or
talking to real people.
While Arena could be read as
a standalone novel, as it provides a
satisfactory ending, it is intended
to be the first installment of the
adventures of Kali Ling. The virtual sword wielding team captain
has decided that the faade encouraged by the tournament and
its ominous sponsors should be
done away with, and who would
be better suited to this task than
the competitors themselves.
While there are no definitive
details about the second novel,
the well-worded Arena should
be a convincing indication that
Jennings is fully capable of delivering a worthy sequel some time
in the future.

Design by Jamie Rule Student Publications

technique July 29, 2016 11

// ENTERTAINMENT

Mortals outshine fairy in Shakespearean play

SHOWS

A Midsummer Nights
Dream
WRITER: William
Shakespeare
DIRECTOR: Matt Felten
PERFORMER: Sarah Beth
Moseley, Jennifer Lamourt,
and Jeremiah Parker Hobbs
LOCATION: Shakespeare
Tavern
DATE: Jul. 14 - Aug. 7

OUR TAKE:
JAMIE RULE

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
William Shakespeare has, perhaps deservings, earned a reputation for the dense, nigh incomprehensible writing style present
in many of his plays. This status is
easily understood if one attempts
to read any of Shakespeares plays
as though it were a novel, however,
reading it while being mindful of
its proper medium, or better yet,
seeing one of Shakespeares works
performed dissipates the fog of antiquated dialog.
In such a performance, each
actor, as opposed to a single reader, is then responsible for comprehending the intended meaning
and translating the written words
into a captivating narrative. Such
is the case at Shakespeare Tavern
with each of its actors dedicated to
creating coherent and entertaining performances.
Currently, the playhouse is
performing Shakespeares A
Midsummer Nights Dream and
will be doing so every weekend

Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Tavern

Jeremiah Parker Hobbs plays Puck, Oberons mischievous servant, in Shakespeare Taverns A
Midsummer Nights Dream. The meddlesome fairy is interpreted differently in each production.

until Aug. 7. This play follows

four hopelessly intertwined lovers
and an acting troupe as they wander through a fairy infested forest.
The performance opens with a
man upset that his daughter Hermia (Sarah Beth Moseley) wishes
to marry Lysander (Stephen Ruffin) instead of the fathers choice
for a husband (Demetrius, Brandon Partrick). To complicate this
further, Hermias friend Helena
(Jennifer Lamourt) is madly in
love with Demetrius, who ignores
her completely.
Upset with her fathers stubbornness, Hermia and Lysander
run off to be married. Demetrius

follows her, and then Helena follows him despite being told that
their respective quarry do not return their love. The forests fairies
and love potions get involved, and
hilarity ensues.
While this whimsical play
might be as well-known as Romeo and Juliet, audience members can never be quite certain
what to expect, as each rendition
tends to differ from the rest that
have gone before. The vague nature of the fairies lends itself to
a wide variety of interpretations,
and, although the main plot
points will forever be the same,
the tone of delivery or the props

used make each A Midsummer

Nights Dream portrayal unique
in a way that a straightforward
play such as Romeo and Juliet
could never achieve.
Perhaps the most defining
change (or at least the most readily observable change) in each
portrayal of the play is the character of Robin Goodfellow, or Puck,
the fairy servant of King Oberon,
Lord of the Fairies. His appearance (and gender) changes from
performance to performance,
sometimes appearing as a ballerina or even a robot.
The Shakespeare Tavern performs this play every summer, and

has also seen its share of Robin

Goodfellow personas.
This year, the mischievous
Puck, played by Jeremiah Parker
Hobbs, was a satyr. His performance was commendable, and
sometimes his mere presence on
stage was enough to make the
audience laugh.
Even with this fascinating
character to contend with, Moseleys Hermia and Lamourts Helena were by far the best acted
characters and provided much of
the plays comedy. These two actors played their roles well and,
while some interpretations of A
Midsummer Nights Dream portray these women as incompetent
or whiny, Moseley and Lamourt
seemed to believe in their characters passions and motivations.
At one point, the two, thinking the other has stolen their boyfriend, get into a rather unladylike
shouting match as the two men
in question fight in a decidedly
undignified manner in the background. Even though the content of the shouted argument is
basically both women telling the
other who they love, seeing the
four fighting in such a ridiculous
manner is quite humorous, especially since the fighting of the
men includes the occasional bout
of thumb wresting (albeit intense
thumb wresting complete with
vindictive staring).
With such entertaining scenes
being the norm throughout
this version of A Midsummer
Nights Dream, those interested
in a lighthearted comedy without
much thinking involved would
enjoy this Shakespearean play, as
laughs abound, and the plot is not
particularly detailed beyond the
initial setup.

12 July 29, 2016 technique

// ENTERTAINMENT

Ghostbusters crosses the political streams

FILM

Ghostbusters
GENRE: Science Fiction
STARRING: Kristen Wiig,
Melissa McCarthy, Leslie
Jones and Kate McKinnon
DIRECTOR: Paul Feig
RATING: PG-13
RELEASE DATE: Jul. 15

OUR TAKE:
EVAN GILLON
NEWS EDITOR

There is always a valid concern

that a movie remake, however
well-intentioned, might ruin the
reputation of its beloved original.
This month, Ghostbusters,
the 2016 remake of the 1984
original, takes aim at breaking
down gender barriers and pushes
the public to reexamine what they
view as normal in the movie
industry. Led by the star-studded
cast of Melissa McCarthy (Spy),
Kate McKinnon (Sisters), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) and
Leslie Jones (Trainwreck),
Ghostbusters seems like a twohour Saturday Night Live skit
that falls flat at some points but
is filled with enough well-placed
jokes, cameos and social commentary to make it a good movie.
Ghostbusters is by no means
a re-mastered version of the original. Gone is the blunt and borderline apathetic delivery of lines that
has come to define Bill Murray,
replaced with the high-energy and
fast-paced rattling off of punch
lines that are characteristic of McCarthys movies. However, while
the overall feel of the remake is

Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

The Ghostbusters (from left to right Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones) aim to protect the citizens of New York while being misunderstood by officials. With this cast, the remake is more of a comedy than the original.

much different from the original,

it stays true to, and more importantly is respectful of, its origins.
The plot is largely the same as
the classic and the script is peppered with references to the original that will make any Ghostbusters fan laugh out loud. The
cast brings to life a 21st century
version of the ultra-nerd Ghostbuster team, using language
meant to be incomprehensible
scientific jargon, but to the average Tech student these supposedly
intelligent barrages end up being
hilariously scientifically incorrect.
For instance, isotope radiation
has no smell.

Leslie Jones differs from the

other three Ghostbusters members
in every way, as was the intention
for the character of Ernie Hudson
in the original. However, as the
movie progresses, there is an evergrowing sense that the film is supported by barraging the audience
with familiar faces and riding on
the love for the original instead
of being a gem of its own. An annoying amount of suspension of
disbelief is required to become engrossed in the plot, and the movie
seems disjointed, leaving the audience to endure the time between
each punch line. Even so, the
jokes are still funny, and it is great

to see such renowned comedians

working together. At the end of
the day, however, it is simply an
average-quality movie.
Where Ghostbusters earns
back its merit is in its social commentary. The movie is very selfconscious of the significance of
the casting, and pulls no punches.
Director Paul Feig purposefully
portrays all male characters as
incompetent, with Chris Hemsworth leading the pack as a beautiful idiot secretary.
The Ghostbusters team perfectly depicts the difficulty of being female in America. Despite
their success, they are discredited

and told to stand down from their

position, often times by the very
people who caused the problem in
the first place. The movie makes
low blows in a more literal way
where the villain is ultimately
defeated with a well-aimed shot
to his manhood. It is an unapologetically feminist movie, but it is
nothing more, mercifully avoiding becoming anti-men; it is simply not anti-women.
Ghostbusters is not memorable, but its pointed humor and
star-studded cast make for an enjoyable experience to say the least.
It was an homage with a mission,
and on that front, it succeeded.

technique July 29, 2016 13

// COMICS

DILBERT BY SCOTT ADAMS

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE BY STEPHEN PASTIS

CLASSIC
CUL DE SAC BY RICHARD THOMPSON

LIO BY MARK TATULLI

CLASSIC
CALVIN & HOBBES BY BILL WATTERSON

SUDOKU PUZZLE

BY JAMIE RULE,

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

14 July 29, 2016 technique

// COMICS

XKCD BY RANDALL MUNROE

ZIGGY BY TOM WILSON & TOM II

CLASSIC
FOXTROT BY BILL AMEND

SMBC BY ZACH WEINERSMITH

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS
7. See, Carls terribly negligent (8)
9. Rope provides a trail possibly (6)
10. Exercise involving old writer (3)
11. After collapse of trial be exonerated initially and
set free (8)
12. Man meets English student in church (6)
13. See hate, seething hate (6)
15. Joint in one capital or another (8)
16. Skys position is beyond comprehension (5,4,4)
20. Is Tory leader wearing female clothing in discomfort? (8)
22. Long to be in a north German city (6)
25. Body decoration is rubbish also (6)
26. Bury woman in space (8)
27. Partly expandable container (3)
28. Italian city is very pleasant around end of June (6)
29. Make known opening of deli is near (8)
BY ALBERICHCROSSWORDS.COM

LAST WEEKS SOLUTION

DOWN
1. Left a container with old South American (6)
2. To beat Germany, Spain needs show of great skill
(6)
3. Lawyer-speak is absurd, alleges judge finally (8)
4. Votes and chooses to oust leader (6)
5. I restate problem in dissertation (8)
6. Kate somehow gets male editor to pay attention
(4,4)
8. Daughter keeps mansion in a mess, to give an honest opinion (5,4,4)
14. Priests vestment for a pound (3)
16. Like cartoon thats lively (8)
17. Leave behind unfashionable football shirt (8)
18. Mattress could be most elegant (8)
19. Tree, or remains of it after fire (3)
21. Runs away from antelope, startled to some extent
(6)
23. Girls producing seasonal songs (6)
24. Broken down, please pass (6)

technique July 29, 2016 15

// SPORTS

MBB FROM PAGE 1

HOF FROM PAGE 16

never achieved consistent success

beyond the arc, however, making
only 28.5 percent of his shots from
that distance in his Eagles career.
Price comes from a major basketball pedigree. Prices brother,
Austin plays at Lehigh. Prices
uncle played at Notre Dame and
another uncle at Purdue.
As a high schooler, Price attended Detroit Country Day, an
institution that has produced such
talent as former Duke and NBA
guard and forward Shane Battier
and Chris Webber, a member of
Michigans famed Fab Five and
the first overall pick of the 1993
NBA draft.
Price was an integral part of
the teams success, leading it to a
44-10 record over his last season
there, courtesy of Eastern Michigans team website.
Given Techs depth issues at
the shooting guard and small forward positions, Price should be
able to step in immediately and
play big minutes. Tech has had issue the last few years with shooting at those positions. There will
be minutes for whoever can put
the ball in the hoop.
Coach Pastner traveled to the
other side of the Wolverine State
to court his second transfer, Western Michigan redshirt senior Kellen McCormick.
In his final season with the
Broncos, he shot at a 45.8 percent clip from that distance, a
team best. McCormick stands
at 6-foot-8-inches and should be
able to provide consistent shooting for the Jackets off the bench.
After losing Adam Smith, Tech
will need a sharpshooter from beyond the arc to carry the load.
McCormick was Western
Michigans third-most prolific
scorer per minute, with the teams
best shooting percentage. His
mere 5.2 rebounds per 40 minutes, however, suggest that he will
not provide a physical presence
near the basket for the Jackets, but

Tournament title in 2003 and an

ACC regular season title in 2004.
He posted the second- and thirdhighest season steals totals with 48
in 2004 and 41 in 2002. Furthermore, he finished eighth on Techs
all-time list for runs scored (205)
and triples (12). He was drafted
in the eighth round of the 2004
MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs
and played at the Major League
level between 200711.
Michael Sorrow was a Tech
Baseball player from 199396,
playing for the first ever Yellow
Jackets team to make the College
World Series in 1994. Over his
career, Sorrow was a part of a team
that won 175 games and played in
four NCAA tournaments reaching the National Championship
series once. He drove in 129 runs
over his four-year career while
posting a batting average of .322.
Sorrow was drafted in the 29th
round of the 1996 MLB June Amateur Draft by the San Francisco
Giant and played for one year in
the minors.
Nicholas Thompson was a
Tech Golfer from 200105, who
was a two-time All-American and
three-time All-ACC member. He
was part of the 2002 and 2005
teams that finished runner-up in
the NCAA tournament and won
an ACC title his freshman year.
Thompson is one of eight Tech
players to have represented the
United States in the Walker Cup
and is an 11-year veteran on the
PGA Tour.
Jaime Wong was a Tech Tennis
player from 200003, she was the
first Tech womens tennis player to
play in the NCAA Singles Championship when she qualified in
2002. Wong led the Womens
Tennis Team to the NCAA Team
Championship all four years and
left Tech with the school records
for career singles (101) and doubles wins (82). After graduation in
2005, Wong returned to his home
in Singapore.

Photo courtesy of Danny Karnik

Coach Josh Pastner speaks at his introductory press conference this past Spring. Pastner
has been actively working the recruiting trail this summer trying to solidify a great first class.

that is expected given 80 percent

of his FGA in 2015-16 were from
beyond the arc.
Despite his excellent field point
percentage and three point percentage, McCormick struggled
from the free-throw line, only
converting 68 percent of his freethrow attempts. Free throw shooting has haunted Tech of late, and
Tech is not in a position to give
points away this season.
For a team looking to right
the ship under a new helmsman,
though, McCormick and Price
both provide precisely the qualities Coach Josh Pastner is looking

for: veteran leadership and added

depth to a young and inexperienced Tech team. Pastners coaching system is very different than
former head coach Brian Gregory.
Pastner has to find players he
thinks will fit his system, and belives he has that with Price and
McCormick. There are no gaurantees for the starting lineup either, but every player will get their
chance to prove themselves.
The current players have
bought into what Pastner is saying
and that is obvious with the small
attrition Tech had over the offseason. Only point guard Travis

Jorgenson transferred. That move

appears to be one that will benefit
both parties.
Jorgenson was not a scheme fit
for Pastners up tempo offense and
transferring will give him the opportunity to play Division I basketball with a bigger role.
This season will not be easy for
the Jackets. They are replacing alot
of players from a solid NIT team.
The goal for the Jackets is to
compete at a high level, improve
as the season goes on and for
Coach Pastner to take a step in
the right direction on the 2017 recruiting trail.

OJRVFOFU
JOIN THE

Technique

FLAG 137

- Tuesdays -

AT 7:00 P.M.
No Experience
Necessary
WE HAVE FREE PIZZA

POBMMPGZPVS
EFWJDFT

Sports

SPORTS EDITOR:

Harsha Sridhar

sports@nique.net

KOOOOOOCH

technique

Tech alum, Matt Kuchar is going to Rio

to compete in the very first Olympics
with golf.416

16

Friday,
July 29, 2016

Eight inducted into Tech Hall of Fame

CASEY MILES

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

On June 27, the Georgia Tech
Athletic Department announced
the 2016 Hall of Fame class. The
inductees include athletes from
six different sports that attended
Tech as early as 1993 and as late
as 2006. The athletes are; Lynn
Houston Moore, Jarrett Jack,
Calvin Johnson, Brendon Mahoney, Eric Patterson, Michael
Sorrow, Nicholas Thompson and
Jaime Wong.
The athletes will be inducted
at a special dinner on Friday, October 14th and will be honored
during the football game against
Georgia Southern on Saturday,
October 15th. A brief bio of each
athlete is included below:
Lynn Houston Moore was a
Tech Track and Field athlete from
199599 who achieved All-American status in her 1999 season in
high jump. In addition, she won
four Atlantic Coast conference
titles for high jump, two indoor
and two outdoor. Her best outdoor jump at Tech of 6-0, was
enough to give her fourth at the
NCAA Championships her senior
year and is marked as third on
Techs all-time list. Houston now
lives in Louisiana, married to former Tech basketball player Clarence Moore.
Jarrett Jack was a Tech Basketball player from 200205,

and was an integral component of

the team that made the national
championship game in 2004. The
starting point guard all three years
of his college career, Jack ranks
25th on Techs all-time scoring
list with 1,265 career points. In
addition, he ranks in the top ten
for career assists (fifth), assist average (fourth) and steals (sixth). In
2005, he was drafted 22nd overall
by the Denver Nuggets and has
spent time on 8 teams throughout
his 11-year career in the National
Basketball Association. After a
July 15th signing, Jack is now a
member of the Atlanta Hawks,
courtesy of NBA.com.
Calvin Johnson was a Tech
Football player from 200406,
and is perhaps the most famous
football player to come out of
Tech in recent years. In his threeyear career he was responsible for
42 percent of Techs passing yards,
33 percent of Techs pass completions, and 51 percent of Techs
touchdown passes. Johnson ranks
No. 2 in career receptions at Tech
with 178, and was the first threetime first-team All-ACC member
in Tech football history.
In addition, he was named the
ACC player of the year in 2006,
his senior season, while also winning the Biletnikoff Award. While
Johnson possesses many records
at Tech, he is also on the all-time
ACC lists being tied for fifth in
career TD receptions, eighth in
receiving yards and 12th in recep-

Photo by Christopher Gooley Student Publications

Hall of Fame inductee, Calvin Johnson, catches a pass in a game against North Carolina. Johnson
just retired from the NFL and is acknowledged as one of the best players to ever play football.

tions. Johnson retired this past

year after an amazing nine-year
career with the Detroit Lions.
Brendon Mahoney was a Track
and Field athlete at Tech from
200004, winning All-ACC honors 13 times and brining home
seven ACC titles in his four years
at Tech. The twice named ACC
Most Valuable Performer (2002,

2004), earned All-American honors in the 800 meters (2000), the

mile (2002) and the 1500 meters (2004). In 2004, his senior
year, Mahoney won both the
800 and 1500 meter titles at the
ACC indoor and outdoor meets,
giving him the honor of ACC
Most Valuable Performer for both
events. Mahoney now lives in San

Mateo, California, where he owns

a Crossfit business.
Eric Patterson was a Tech Baseball player from 200204, earning All-ACC honors each of his
three seasons. The second baseman, guided the Yellow Jackets
to their second trip to the College
World Series in 2002, an ACC
See HOF, page 15

Tech alum, Matt Kuchar to represent U.S. Golf

ALLISON LAVERY

CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Techs prestigious Olympic
history has been the subject of a
great deal of yellow jacket pride
since the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. Every day students
have the opportunity to work out
where some of the worlds greatest
athletes made history. Most students know Techs Olympic history to be closely tied to swimming
and diving, as McAuley Aquatic
Center was an Olympic competition venue and was used to host
the sendoff celebration for the
2016 U.S. Olympic diving team.
Mens Golf is returning to the
Olympic Games after 112 years,
and Tech alum, Matt Kuchar is
grateful for the chance to bring
home a historic gold.
The 2016 Summer Olympic
Games in Rio are historically significant for golfers and golf fans,
but that hasnt prevented them
from getting off to an anxious
start. Athletes and coaches alike
have voiced concerns about their
personal health and safety, as well
as the health and safety of their
families.
Many of the worlds top golfers
have withdrawn from the games
in response to these concerns,
specifically the possibility of being affected by the outbreaks of
zika virus in the area. Even with
a large amount of withdrawals,
eight of the Olympic golfers com-

Photo courtesy of Keith Allison

Matt Kuchar drives a golf ball at the 2012 RBC Heritage tournament in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Kuchar was a two-time All-American during his career at Tech.

peting this summer are ranked in

the top fifteen in the world. However, when Jordan Spieth, ranked
third in the world, withdrew halfway through this summer, Tech
gained Olympic representation
when Tech graduate Matt Kuchar
stepped up to take his place.
Kuchar graduated from Tech
in 2000 with a management de-

gree and a rising professional golf

career. Since graduating Kuchar
has competed in more than three
hundred PGA events and earned
at least seven PGA Tour victories.
This year Kuchar competed with
a 69.674 scoring average and has
continued to maintain his position as one of the top 17 golfers
in the world.

American golfers make up a

large chunk of the top 15 golfers worldwide earning them four
spots to compete in the summer
Olympics this year. Kuchar was
open about his desire to represent
the U.S. at the Olympic Games,
but even after Spieth officially
withdrew, there was no guarantee
that Kuchar would take the spot.

In order to assure that the open

spot was his, Kuchar had to move
further up the roster of the top
seventeen golfers in the world.
The Olympic Games were only
a month off, and Kuchar only
had a few opportunities to prove
himself before the U.S. golf team
headed to Rio.
Kuchar handled the pressure
well and moved up two spots, to
No.15, in the Official World Golf
Rankings at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after tying for
third place with a 12-foot birdie
putt at the 72nd hole.
The week before the British
Open, the rosters for the Olympic
Golf teams were finalized. Matt
Kuchar will be competing with
Bubba Watson (No. 6), Rickie
Fowler (No. 7) and Patrick Reed
(No. 14) on the mens team for
the opportunity to make Olympic
history. All four U.S. mens golfers
are therefore ranked in the top 15
in the world.
The PGA Championship will
take place before the start of the
Olympic Games. The golfers
that arent competing in the 2016
Summer Olympics have the opportunity to get in a little extra
training before the FedEx Cup
and the Ryder Cup that will take
place this fall.
Kuchar and his team mates
will have to put up with packed
fall competition schedules, but
welcome the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the Rio Summer
Olympic Games.