This week on General Education, host Kevin Gramling recaps two articles about the USC athletic director’s resignation as well as USC Student Health’s summer services. Afterwards, Kevin speaks with staff writer Claire Qiu about her recent article on a pair of USC students’ research project on regenerative agriculture.
This episode was hosted by Kevin Gramling. Written by Kevin Gramling, Jonathan Park, Grace Ingram and Christina Chkarboul. Edited by Thomas Johnson. Produced by Grace Ingram and Christina Chkarboul. General Education is one of three shows on the Daily Trojan podcast network. You can find more episodes anywhere you listen to podcasts
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The University of Utah women’s softball team has punched its ticket to the Women’s College World Series, marking their first appearance in nearly 30 years. Today’s game against SDSU was a high-stress tiebreaker, but the Utes kept their composure and delivered a decisive 7-2 win with aggressive bats and strong defense.
The game started off with some drama when SDSU’s Bella Espinoza advanced to second on a Utah fielding error. Pitcher Mariah Lopez walked the next batter but followed it up with a strikeout before Cali Decker advanced to first on a fielder’s choice, picking Espinoza off at third. Makena Brocki hit a ground ball to second base that gave Utah an easy third out. The Utah offense struggled to find its rhythm with an Aliya Belarde flyout to left field, an Ellessa Bonstrom groundout to second base and a Julia Jimenez popout to right field, ending the inning 0-0.
The second inning was busy for both teams. SDSU started off with a double from AJ Murphy. Ute Haley Denning caught a foul fly from Alexis Otero to get the first out of the inning, though Murphy advanced to third on the play. Lopez decisively struck out the next batter before a dropped fly ball to left field allowed Murphy to score and put Macey Keester on second. Espinoza grounded out to end the Aztecs’ run. Utah started off strong with a single from Sophie Jacquez, who advanced to second on a sac bunt from Karlie Davison before crossing home on a triple from Abby Dayton to even the score at one all. A single to third from Denning followed by a daring steal put her on second and made her the third Ute in program history to reach 100 steals. A lineout from Kendall Lundberg put the pressure on with two outs, but Shelbi Ortiz stepped up to the plate and sent Dayton and Denning home for two unearned runs after an SDSU fumble. A dropped pitch sent Ortiz to second; Belarde singled to left field to send Ortiz across home plate, advancing to second on the throw herself. Bonstrom fouled out to left field to end the inning with Utah up 4-1.
Returning to the field, Lopez delivered three quick strikeouts to get the Utes back to the plate. Jimenez and Jacquez each flied out to the outfield. With a full count, Davison singled to center field to get on base. Dayton stepped up to the plate looking to repeat her impressive first at-bat, but Davison was tagged out as she tried to steal second after a wild pitch, leaving the score at Utah 4, SDSU 1.
In the top of the fourth, SDSU’s Brocki and Murphy each flied out to left field before Otero fended off a full count for a triple to right field — her first of the season. Otero made it home on a single from Jade Ignacio, pinch hitting for Jeweliana Perez. A foulout to first base ended the run. Utah’s Dayton grounded out to first to start off the offense, and a short ball from Denning gave the Aztecs a quick second out. Lundberg grounded out to the pitcher to make it a short inning, with Utah up 4-2.
The fifth started out with an Espinoza single to left field. Denning caught a fly from Barbara in left field to keep Espinoza on first and get the first out. Jillian Celis flied out to put the pressure on, but the next two batters walked to load the bases. The tension was palpable, but Lopez delivered the strikeout to leave all three runners stranded and keep the Aztecs at bay. Looking to extend the Utah lead, Ortiz singled to right field. Belarde flied out to left field before a single from Bonstrom advanced Ortiz to second. Another SDSU error put Jimenez on base and set Ortiz across home plate to put the Utes up 3. A Jacquez single to left field loaded the bases, but after an SDSU pitcher change, a lineout from Davison gave SDSU a double play, with Bonstrom tagged out on her way back to third.
To start the sixth, Utah retired Lopez, after 101 pitches in the game and 317 pitches for the series. With Sarah Ladd on the mound, Otera flyed out to left field. A single from Taylor Okada, pinch hitting for Ally Deuker, was followed by an attempted double play after a lineout from Keester, but an overthrow allowed Okada to advance to second. Espinoza hit a high ball to left field that was easily caught for a third out. To start the bottom of the sixth, Dayton singled to third base. A bunt from Denning pushed Dayton to second and a sac bunt from Lundberg pushed Denning and Dayton to second and third, respectively. Ortiz was called out after being hit by a pitch, with the umpires ruling that she was intentionally in the path, but the Utes couldn’t be stopped: Morris singled to centerfield to bring Denning and Dayton home for two unearned runs. Bonstrom grounded out to send the Utes into the final inning with a 7-2 lead.
Denning started off the seventh strong for the Utes with a great catch deep in center field. A single from Celis was followed by another outfield catch, before a Brocki single advanced her. Murphy reached first on a fielder’s choice that put Celis out at third to end the game.
Today’s impressive performance puts Utah into the NCAA Women’s College World Series for the fifth time in program history, and the first time since 1994. The Series runs from June 1-9 in Oklahoma City and will air on ESPN and be available for streaming on several platforms.
“This team wanted it so bad,” Lopez told ESPN in a post-game interview. “I’m at a loss for words.”
Tune in next week to watch the Utah women work their magic.
He’s the ginger with 14 No. 1 hits, five multi-platinum albums, and is no stranger to the iconic Wembley Stadium, where he has performed several record-breaking sold-out shows. Offstage, he had an unimaginable 2022: his wife was diagnosed with cancer months before giving birth to their second child, his best friend died unexpectedly and he was sued for copyright infringement of his most successful song.
The Next Album
Ed Sheeran takes the listener through all the ups and downs in his most personal album, “-,” or better said as “Subtract.” Released on May 5 and produced by Aaron Dessner, who also produced Taylor Swift’s recent hit albums “Folklore,” “Evermore” and “Midnights,” “Subtract” is a stripped-down acoustic album demonstrating Ed Sheeran’s singer-songwriter roots.
Ed Sheeran performing onstage (Courtesy of Irish Times)
The road to “Subtract” was a long one. Sheeran has been working on “Subtract” for over a decade, putting aside acoustic songs for the fifth acoustic album he hoped to make one day. “Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health and ultimately the way I viewed music and art,” Sheeran shared on his Instagram.
Within the span of one month, his wife Cherry Seaborn was diagnosed with cancer. She was pregnant with their second child, which made treatments hard to navigate. Then Sheeran’s best friend Jamal Edwards, founder of SBTV and the man who helped launch Sheeran’s career passed away suddenly. On top of that, Sheeran had to go to court for claims of possible copyright infringement for his chart-topping singles “Thinking Out Loud” and “Shape of You” from his album “Divide.” According to Pitchfork, in “Thinking Out Loud,” Sheeran had allegedly plagiarized “chord progressions, time signatures, bass lines, and more” off of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
To deal with these events in his life, Sheeran turned to writing and, continuing on his Instagram, “in just over a week I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.”
Now, Seaborn is recovering and Sheeran won the lawsuits, but what about the music that came from all this? I asked Ed Sheeran fan John Claydon what he thought of the album. He said his stand-out songs after a first listen are “Sycamore,” “End of Youth” and “No Strings.” Claydon also mentioned that a track later on the album, “The Hills of Aberfeldy,” feels like “the perfect spiritual sequel” to “Galway Girl” — a notable track from Sheeran’s album “Divide.”
Many of the songs on the album seem like diary entries from Sheeran. Very minimal production and lack of out-there voice effects bring Sheeran’s storytelling to the forefront. One of four bonus tracks on the deluxe album is “Toughest.” This song acts as a direct response to Seaborn and her cancer diagnosis saying she is “the toughest in the room.” Like my opinion of many songs on the album, I think the song is pretty but very particular, which is not for every listener or every occasion.
As any brilliant marketing team would do, with one ultra-personal album comes an ultra-personal docuseries. Disney+ released “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” on May 3. The four-episode limited series follows Sheeran as he discusses the events in his life that influenced the album. We hear interviews from his wife as she explains her recovery from cancer, and in the final episode Sheeran writes, records, and then films the music video for “F64,”a song tribute to Edwards. As a fan of Sheeran for a few years now, I learned lots about his childhood and music career watching the docuseries.
For those less interested in the narrative and who would rather stay for good music, there is plenty of that as some of Sheeran’s writing and recording process is shown throughout the episodes. Some of my favorite behind-the-scenes music clips are littered throughout the first half of episode 3 as he works on “Bad Habits” off of “Equals” and “Dusty” and “Boat” off of “Subtract.” Also in episode 3 we see the emotional, never before seen footage of Sheeran’s first time playing “Subtract” on stage for an audience at London’s Union Chapel. Sheeran is well-known for using a loop pedal for live performances, which he demonstrates at the start of episode 4.
Ed Sheeran Docuseries poster (Courtesy of Disney Plus)
“Subtract” is available to stream on all music platforms, and all episodes of “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” are available to stream now on Disney+. Also, you can catch Sheeran on tour in 2023. Tour dates and venues can be found on his website.
“Sing! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Louder!” (Sing by Ed Sheeran)
The University of Utah women’s softball team (40-14) handed SDSU a punishing loss in the second game of the NCAA Super Regionals. The Utes are now just one win away from a visit to the Women’s College World Series, where they last appeared in 1994. After a close game on Friday, the two teams are now tied at one game each and will play again tomorrow in a game you won’t want to miss.
After yesterday’s loss, the Utes came out swinging and ready for revenge. Aliya Belarde opened up with a single to shortstop and was immediately brought back to the dugout by Ellessa Bonstrom, who homered over the right center wall to a roaring Utah fanbase. While the next three batters, Julia Jimenez,Sophie Jacquez and Karlie Davison, all popped out, the Utes started the game off strong and kept the momentum going. In the bottom of the first, SDSU’s Bella Espinoza singled to third base and advanced to second after a single from Cali Decker. A single from Makena Brocki brought Espinoza home before a flyout ended the inning with Utah up 2-1.
After Ute Abby Dayton struck out swinging, Haley Denning singled to third base. Kendall Lundberg flied out to left field before a double from Shelbi Ortiz brought Denning home. A groundout from Belarde brought the top of the second to a close. Utah pitcher Mariah Lopez shut down any SDSU momentum with a strikeout, followed by two caught pop-ups for a short and sweet second inning. Heading into the third, Utah was up 3-1.
With two outs, after Bonstrom and Jimenez each flied out to centerfield, a 30-minute lightning delay paused the game. Coming back from the delay, Utah’s Jacquez reached first on an SDSU error. Davison singled to center field and Stella Bennett, pinch running for Jacquez, reached second. She was then tagged out at home as she tried to score off of a Dayton single. SDSU saw one hit in the bottom of the third with a double from Mac Barbara but the Utah defense shut down any hope of scoring.
In the top of the fourth, Denning grounded out before Lundberg singled to center field. Ortiz flied out to center field before Belarde singled. Bonstrom loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch; Jiminez took advantage of the scoring opportunity and let one fly over the left center fence, bringing in four runs and riling up the crowd. A single from Jacquez brought another opportunity to score, but a popout from Davison ended the inning. After a three-up, three-down bottom of the fourth, the Utes were up 7-1.
The fifth inning saw more of the same. Dayton reached first on an SDSU error and Denning followed up with a bunt to advance Dayton to second. Lundberg hit a solid ball down the third base line and reached first on a fielder’s choice as Dayton was picked off at third. Ortiz stepped up to the plate ready for anything and hit an impressive ball over the right field fence to bring the game home. Lundberg, Denning and Ortiz rounded the bases to make the score 10-1 for Utah as the crowd went wild one more time. Belarde singled and advanced to second when Bonstrom was knocked out at first after a bunt, but was left stranded on second when Jimenez grounded out. A flyout and groundout started off SDSU’s last chance to score before Espinoza singled to the pitcher. After a single from Barbara, Espinoza was out at second and the game was called.
The blowout win puts Utah back on the field tomorrow, Sunday, May 27 at noon mountain time. The team that wins will move on to the Women’s College World Series. Be there to support!
