Author Archives | Eric Schucht

Schucht: UO Humans Vs. Zombies Vs. Me

Every fall and spring term, several students can be seen wandering around campus waving Nerf Blasters at others wearing headbands. This is the campus wide game of tag known as UO Humans Vs. Zombies. Human players try to survive the week without being tagged and turned into a member of the undead horde. If you shoot a zombie, then he/she can’t tag you for 15 minutes. It’s a popular game with over 120 students playing this term, so I decided to give it a try. My goal is to try and survive the week. Here is how I did.

Monday: Open Season

I felt a little stupid wandering around campus with a Nerf Blaster and orange armband, but felt more at ease as I encountered more players. I even got a smile from a fellow player in my history class. The entire day was filled with paranoia and suspicion of everyone around me. As the day progressed, I grew relaxed, and that’s when he got me. Out of no where, I was tagged from behind and had to relinquish my ID card and slip my armband over my head. The day ended in unexpected disappointment, but with a dash of hope. 

Tuesday: The Hunted is Now the Hunter

It’s hard to find other players during the day. I scan the crowd for neon orange and keep on getting false alarms from Gatorade bottles.

While I was walking back to my dorm, I ran into two humans and they started to give chase. It was I who was now being hunted and I ran out of fear. I heard someone say ” Oh, there goes another zombie” as I passed by. I was able to lose them but was shot from behind by a third human when walking back.

Each day there are events for players to go where each side has objects to complete. The winning team gets a bonus. We played a giant game of capture the flag with glow bottles. The zombies ended up losing in the end, but we managed to tag a few players and convert them to the horde. There was about 40 of us total and everyone was kind and friendly.

Wednesday: Agent Man

Last night I was revived as sleeper agent. For 24 hours I look and act human, but can tag someone at any time and turn them into a zombie. After the time limit, I go back to being a regular zombie. When I was walking around Carson I ran into a Zombie. We slowly walked closer and closer to each other. We both dropped our backpacks. I cocked my blaster and he charged. We ran back and fourth until I got him in the back. Then I ran to class and was almost late. Later that day I went to the daily event. The humans had to go back and forth between two points while the Zombies tried to eliminate them. It rained, but we played nonetheless.

Thursday: Timeout

I was so sore from all that running the previous night, so I spent the day chilling and resting up for tomorrow.

Friday: Charge!

The event on Friday was fairly simple. Zombies had to move a flag from point “A” to point “B.” I got lucky and was a Spider, a special class. I couldn’t tag anyone, but I got three socks that I could use to stun humans. I was actually better than I expected and hit a few people. I later was a Meat Shield again and ended up running over another play when charging. Man, I wish they would have got that on camera.

Saturday: End Game

The last event was epic. Humans had to capture special points throughout campus and it was the zombies job to stop them. The battle was fierce and we got them pinned down in an open field where we just kept on picking them off, one by one. By the end, all humans were converted to the horde and the game was over.

Final thoughts: 

Humans Vs. Zombies is a fun game and I highly recommended it. The most fun I had was at the daily events, so I suggest going to as many as you can when playing for the most enjoyment. So make sure to grab a few friends and buy some Nerf Blasters for this excellent example of college socializing at it’s best.

 

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Schucht: Why isn’t anything original anymore?

With summer just around the corner, the block busters of the season are starting to emerge. The newest Avengers movie recently came out, and I look forward to seeing Jurassic World and the new Terminator. These movies sound great, but they’re all based on something else, either a previous film or a book. Nothing’s original. So what’s up? Has Hollywood run out of ideas, or are they just lazy? The answer, like most things in life, is a bit more sophisticated than you’d think.

It’s been awhile since we’ve gotten something truly original to become popular. Now I don’t mean original in the sense of something completely out there, but rather a film that isn’t based off a book or comic. The last good movie I heard of to fit the bill was Pacific Rim, and that was two years ago.  I don’t know about you, but I am personally tired of it. If I hear one more person say that The Hunger Games is their favorite movie, I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s not it’s a bad film, it’s just that the book will always be better and there are other films that are purely original that are better. It should be the norm for films to utilize original ideas, instead of the exception. The movie industry’s constant dependency on books and super heroes to base their films off of is an addiction that we as consumers need to stop. But hang on, is it all bad?

It’s quite easy to think of reasons why the film industry would base their movies off of another media. For one, there’s already an existing fan base. If you pick something that’s popular (say, The Hunger Games) then you’re guaranteed a huge audience with no need to heavily promote the movie. Movie executives take a huge risk whenever making a film, and if sales are bad, the responsibility and blame is on them. Now when an original movie tanks, the people behind it will most certainly lose their jobs. In a different scenario, the movie that tanked was based off, oh, let’s say G.I Joe. This time, the movie creators can make the argument, “Well, since the toys were popular, we thought a movie based off of them would be equally as popular.” And they might get a reaction from their bosses, “Yeah, we don’t know what happened.” This, along with the massive amounts of potential profits that they can easily gauge before production is why every tween books series on the store shelf is as at the box office.

You may be asking, why come up with anything original? And to that I drop the nuclear bomb that is Star Wars into the mix. With the Force Awakens coming out this Christmas, one would think that this is example is an argument for a tried and true franchise of our parent’s childhood (I don’t count the prequel trilogy). Well at one point in time, Star Wars was an original idea, and it blew up like crazy. If a film gets it right, they can create an entirely new series that can inspire people to create toys, TV shows and books based off of it. If we just keep on seeing the same stuff over and over again, then eventually we will run out.

Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have un-original movie concepts, it’s just that it’s important to keep the future in mind as well. The original movies are far more culturally important than their books based counter parts, the media worth which is based on is already popular, so something new has the potentially to be, well, something new. It has the chance to be a new series that you enjoy, with new worlds, characters and concepts to explore. That’s why this fad needs to end so we can enjoy new things instead of re-hashing out books and comics on the silver screen.

What do you think, is Hollywood playing it too safe? Is it time for this trend of unoriginal films to end?

Leave your thoughts and comments below.

I await your opinions.

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Schucht: The line between news and celebrity gossip

Robert Downey Jr. has been in the press a lot lately, not for his role in the upcoming Avengers movie, but for an interview with Channel 4 News, a British paid-per-view station (sort of like HBO). Krishnan Guru-Murthy started off the interview talking about his role in the Avengers and slowly shifted to Downey Jr.’s personal life. The whole interview ended with Robert Downey Jr. looking uncomfortable and storming out of the room. Now as a journalist, this created a lot of questions for me. Was Guru-Murthy in the wrong for asking those kinds of questions? Is a celebrity’s personal life fair game in the news?

Now before we dive into the issue, its import to look at Robert Downey Jr.’s past to see why he got upset. His father got him started on drugs at a young age. Now Downey Jr. has talked about this in the past and it isn’t related to the new movie, so why does Guru-Murthy try to bring it up?

The interview is the most popular video on Channel 4 New’s YouTube channel, at eight million views. The rest of their videos don’t even come close, so this interviewer brought in massive amounts of attention.

It’s easy to see that these questions were asked in order to create controversy and bump up the viewer count. Downey’s interview definitely brought attention to the station, as I and most people have never heard of the channel until this interview.

Also important to note, the third most watched video is an interview with director Quentin Tarantino in 2013, where a similar situation occurred.

Guru-Murthy Interviews Tarantino about the film “Django Unchained,” which later leads to questions about violence in films. Tarantino goes on to that he didn’t want to talk about violence in films like he had done in the past and that this interview was a commercial for his movie. And he’s right. Let’s be honest here, that interview was a commercial for the move. That’s why Tarantino was there. Now Guru-Murthy had a right to ask those question, but should he have?

Guru-Murthy stated after the interview that Channel 4 isn’t here to promote movies, they’re here to promote news, and I understand that. Channel 4 isn’t ad-agency, but they’re not TMZ either. When comparing both the Tarantino and Downey Jr., it’s clear to see Guru-Murthy plan of attack. He starts out asking question about the movie and slowly moves towards their personal life. This makes sense. He’s a news reporter and wants to talk about news and the celebrities are here to promote their stuff, so he tries to please both crowds without sounding like he’s their personal commercial. But Guru-Murthy isn’t prying for news. He’s asking for their opinions on politics and diving into their personal lives. He’s trying to create a repose from them, and that’s wrong. Basically, he’s baiting them to create a scene for the views, and it’s working.

I have read some articles that stated that there was an agreement between the two parties beforehand about discussing Downey Jr.’s past, but the fact that Downey Jr. is nervous when his past is brought up and appears very unwilling to talk about it shows that he wasn’t prepared for these kinds of questions. This is what’s most wrong about the whole episode, the lack of or at the very least the appearance of the lack of consent.

I understand Channel 4 News wanting to talk about, well, news, but when you bring in celebrities to promote their products, it’s difficult to change the subject to something news worthy. I don’t think Guru-Murthy is wrong for asking these kinds of questions, but the context with under which they were asked is wrong. You have two opposing groups wanting different things and it turns into a mess. That’s how I would describe this news segment, a mess.

So if you want to talk about news, then don’t talk about celebrity’s personal lives. That isn’t news. There needs to be a line drawn. Celebrity gossip has it places. Let’s not let it creepy into our lives any more than it has to.

Would do you think, is it wrong to ask celebrities of their personal lives, is that to be expected?

Leave your response in the comment section below.

I await your opinions.

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Schucht: Why it’s time to kill off the penny

Money was invented to make the exchange of goods and services easier. When it fails to do so, is it still money? When it comes to the penny, the fact that I can find it lying on the street with people mistaking it for trash shows that it’s worthless. The penny is something that most people would gladly throw away, and for good reason. This iconic coin isn’t worth the trouble. If you were to go to the dollar store and use only pennies, it would take one hundred of them to buy anything. If it takes a hundred of something to buy some cheap Chinese-made bubbles, then clearly there’s a problem. Pennies aren’t money, they’re what we use to scratch off lottery cards. It’s time to remove this copper mosquito from circulation and change up our currency in order to make it better and more efficient to use.

Pennies are the only U.S-issued currency that can’t be used everywhere. Vending machines and most toll booths don’t accept them and they are banned from use on overseas military bases. If the army doesn’t use pennies, then what do they do when they need to return one cent in change? They do the same thing all Canadians started doing when they got rid of their penny in 2012, they round up or down. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but this is far better then what we normally do. Most people when given a penny in change will either put it in the stores tip jar or one of those take-a-penny, leave-a-penny cups. So if you’re just going to throw it away upon receiving it, then why even have it at all?

Many feel nostalgic towards the penny. I get it. It’s been around since 1793 and it’s hard letting go. But come on! At this point, it’s not even money. Heck, it’s barely even made out of copper at this point with 97.5 percent of it being zinc. I understand if you see it as a way of honoring Lincoln, but is putting a beloved leader of our country on something that pranksters use to pay off large parking fines with really honoring him? Plus, he’s already on the five dollar bill and we have a giant monument for him. I think we’re good.

Removing the penny is such an obvious course of action it’s surprising that it hasn’t happened yet. Several bills have been proposed since the early 2000’s that would eliminated the penny and just have people round up, but they seem to fade away every time they’re introduced. Still, there is a lot of public support for the penny extinction so I don’t think we’re far from a post-penny America.

So, if the penny is to go extinct, then what should replace it? I believe it would be best to phase out the nickel as well and have 10-, 25-, and 50- cent coins. I also think we should try to make a dollar coin that Americans would actually use. If Canada can have not only a one dollar coin but a two dollar coin, then America is lagging behind in the world. We need to stop making our existing dollar coins (along with the rest of our currency) into collector items and instead usable coinage.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of removing the penny from existence, then check out these videos by Youtubers John Green and CPC Grey.

So what do you think, is it time to get rid of the penny? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below.

 

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Schucht: The death of video game consoles

It’s always been a mystery to parents why the newest Nintendo whatever or other video game console was a necessity to obtain. “This one has better graphics and better games” we plead. Naive parents would say, “Well, why can’t you play the new games on your old console?”

Because that’s not how it works.

That’s how the video game industry was five years ago, a new console meant bigger and better games. While that is sort of true right now, it definitely won’t be in the coming years. The current regime of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles will be broken by new comers like Valve’s Steam box. The current strategy of Microsoft and Sony is to market their respective console as an all in one entertainment device. It’s not just about games, but also TV, music and movies.

No one would buy a PlayStation to watch Netflix. It’s a nice feature, but not a seller. But, why would someone want to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One? The way that the industry worked in the past was that about every five years the next generation would be released on store shelves and replace the current one.

Technology would have progressed to a point where more powerful machines were possible. Better graphics and faster loading screens enticed customers to drop a couple hundred bucks to play the newest Mario or Halo game. This generation is without a doubt more powerful than the last, but how important is that power?

It’s easy to tell the difference between a PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 game, but it’s difficult to do so with the current consoles and their predecessors. There’s a limit to how spectacular the graphics can be, or at least, a limit to how much of a consoles power a game developer is willing to utilize.

The Order, a game for PS4 has the best graphics I’ve ever seen (not on a PC of course). The reason we don’t see more games with this type of beauty is that it’s unnecessary. It’s more practical to focus on decent graphics and gameplay then make a Mona Lisa. More power doesn’t mean better games, and that is something this generation has forgotten. Don’t get me wrong, there are many good games, but most of them are the Wii-U.

The Nintendo Wii was able to grasp the attention of casual gamers with its simplicity but as mobile gaming on smart phones has skyrocketed, this is a market that can’t be tapped the same way. This is why the Wii-U is struggling, as it’s was an attempted at Hybrid between hardcore and soft-core game. A means of holding on to the past while branching out into the future.

If it wasn’t for the top notch games Nintendo crafts, it’s doubtful it would have sold at all. For only Nintendo knows how to make games for a Nintendo platform. This market strategy will keep Nintendo going, but there’s a reason why Wii-U sales are slow and now where close to the Wii’s. This explains why the company recently announced a move toward mobile gaming and to start building games for that platform.

So if Smart phones are the future of casual gaming, then Valves Steam box is the future of hardcore. Steam is essentially the iTunes of video games. This consoles allows for people to play all the online games available on steam on your TV screen. Now something similar to this came out a few years ago that no one has talked about since, the Ouya. This console ran on a similar principle but instead of computer games, it was mobile. Now why the Ouya failed (like most consoles) is because of the lack of killer apps. There weren’t a lot of games that people wanted to play. Steam already has a lot of games that people are playing and if they can lock down an exclusive to launch with (please let it be half-life three) then it will be very successful.

For those nongamers out there, this may be a lot to take in. To sum things up, I believe the Steam Box will be a major hit and drastically affect the video game market. The compaction hasn’t created a real draw for their new platforms and have struggled because the ability for machines to create better graphics has a limit. You can only make graphics look so good. Because of this, Sony and Microsoft need to focus on unique and quality games. There are some good tittles out there like Bloodborne, but there needs to be more if they want to combat the upcoming threat that is Valve.

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Schucht: Top 5 Characters for Super Smash Bros. DLC

The Super Smash Bros. franchise is one of the most popular series from the video game giant Nintendo. Each iteration of this party-style fighter is full of a roster of the most popular characters from all of Nintendo, but not everyone’s favorite makes the cut. An online forum has been created for submissions of potential characters to be put in the game as downloadable content.

Here’s my list of choices for what would be best for the game. I’ve decided to stick to Nintendo characters as they are the most likely to appear in the game (Sorry bomber man, maybe next time).

Number 5

Character: Ice Climbersimages

Game: Ice Climber (1985)

Ice Climbers is one of a few characters from Super Smash Bros. Brawl that didn’t make the cut for this game’s roster. The mountaineering duo Popo and Nana were originally supposed to be in the game but developers had trouble programming the character for the 3DS version. It wouldn’t be too difficult to finish it up for the Wii U, but the 3DS problem hasn’t gone away. A solution could be found in the New 3DS, which is more powerful than its predecessor and could allow for the character to properly function.

Number 4download (1)

Character: Bandana Waddle Dee

Game: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land (2011)

This one, I must admit, is a bit unusual. Waddle Dee is the Goomba of the Kirby series. A basic enemy that has as much personality as a bowl of plain yogurt, but I think there’s potential here. It would be nice to have another hero from Dreamland, and he’s cute. Bandana Waddle Dee is a playable character in Kirby’s Return to Dreamland with his mighty spear, so it wouldn’t be too hard to create a set of attacks based off of that. I don’t know why, but I just want to squeeze this guy. Maybe he’d be a better off as stuffed plushy than a Smash Bros. Fighter, but it’s my opinion. I want to fight as something cute, so back off.

Number 3

Character: Midnaimages (1)

Game: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)

Super Smash Bros. suffers from a lack of variety in its female characters. That’s not to say playing as Princess Peach or Samus isn’t enjoyable, but it’s just that every female in the game looks like they could be on the cover of People magazine. I scratched my head hard trying to come up with a unique female, until I thought of Midna. A demon-like creature who rides around a wolf forum of Link, Midna has shown to be able to kick quite a bit of butt. Hyrule Warriors (2014) had her as a playable character and really showed the possibilities that could be done with her.

Number 2download

Character: Paper Mario

Game: Paper Mario (2001)

I’m not all for adding another Mario character to the lineup, but this idea is too good to pass up. The Paper Mario series has been one of my favorite RPG’s and is a unique series, to say the least. Paper Mario would be two-dimensional, similar to the character Mr. Game & Watch in the Game and would have a distinct play style to add to the roster. His attack could be based off the items he uses such as Koopa shells and his classic hammer — a staple of the series.

Number 1images (2)

Character: Bayonetta

Game: Bayonetta 2 (2014)

Bayonetta is powerful. With the ability to turn her hair into a monstrous demon and an arsenal guns, she’s a character I want to play as. While she may be over-sexualized in her games, that can be toned down for this family-friendly tittle. Smash Bros. could use another character with a gun (heaven knows we have enough characters with swords) and her appearance and play style would definitely be worth purchasing as DLC.

You can check out the character submission forum here, and feel free to leave a comment on what characters you want to see in the game. These are just my top five, but what are yours? For ideas, check out the latest survey and see who’s leading the pack in submissions. It’s currently Shovelknight, but who do you want to see?

Follow Eric Schucht on Twitter @EricSchucht

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15,000 year old stone tool found by UO archological field school

While they may not be finding the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail, archaeologists with the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History may have uncovered an artifact that could push back the estimated date of when humans first arrived on the continent thousands of years ago.

A bright orange agate rock was found that has a sharp cutting edge with bovine blood on it, which could have been used as multiple tools 15,800 years ago.

“It could be one of the oldest artifacts in America,” archaeologist Patrick O’Grady said. O’Grady lead the group which found the item.

The rock was found by an archaeological field school put on by the museum during the summer of 2012, and has recently garnished media attention as tests are being done on the item. The artifact was found at the Rimrock Draw site in central Oregon, ten feet below the earth’s surface, according to O’Grady. The estimation for the rock’s age is based on the layer of ash it was found under, which was caused by Mount St. Helens’ eruption 15,400 years ago.

“It’s an old, old site, and this one find may push back date,” said Tom Connolly, the archaeological research director at the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

The agate is unlike any of the rock nearby and and was found 18 inches below the layer of ash along with obsidian flakes, predating the eruption of Mount St. Helens by quite some time. The law of superposition states that the oldest items are found at the bottom, which helps to relatively date the age of objects such as fossils.

“It’s kind of like a laundry basket. The oldest clothes are at the bottom,” O’Grady said.

It’s possible the artifact could have been moved underneath the ash due to an animal disturbance or landslide. Research is still underway to determine the proper age of the stone tool. Researchers are now digging around the area where the item was found to see if they can locate any other objects and to determine if the layer of ash is just in a particular pocket or spread out and covering a large area.

The archaeological field school program allows for about 20 students to conduct an actual archaeological dig.The school has found other notable objects such as 10,000 year old shoes found in the 1930s. It is open to all college students but priority is given to those who are archaeology majors. The six week program operates at two different sites in central Oregon and is a great opportunity for those who wish to gain hands-on experience in the field, such as UO student and archaeological major Leo Hirsch.

“It was so much fun and the people who run it are just the coolest people,” Hirsch said.

Those interested in participating in field school can sign up on its website.

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Meningitis vaccinations begin at University of Oregon, other Eugene locations (map)

The University of Oregon began administering the Meningitis B vaccine on Monday morning at Matt Knight Arena, beginning the large-scale vaccination enacted after the death of a student by meningococcal.

The vaccine will be offered until March 5 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The vaccination is a response to the meningococcemia outbreak that culminated in the death of Lauren Jones, a member of the Oregon acrobatics and tumbling team.

Barnhart Hall residents were issued antibiotics the night of Jones’ death. This week’s event was reserved for when the university could acquire the 22,000 doses of the vaccine.

The Health Center also has a fact sheet on the disease.

In 2013, 550 cases of meningitis were reported across the nation. Between 150-200 of them were caused by strain B of the infectious bacteria, The Oregonian reported.

One of the two vaccinations recently approved by the FDA to treat the B strain is called Trumenba. The vaccination is a series of three shots. The vaccine is gauged to treat patients between the ages of 10-25, and was created by Pfizer.

According to Trumenba protocol, students are advised to get the second vaccine within two months, and the third vaccination within six.

The price to get vaccinated on campus is $170 and is covered by most insurance providers, however according to Deb Donning, a risk manager at UO, no student will be turned away due to lack of insurance

Three thousand students have already been vaccinated, according to the Register Guard.

The arena isn’t the only place to get a vaccine. Here’s a map of local pharmacies, including Albertsons, Safeway and Walgreens, where you can get vaccinated.

The University Health Center website has more information on the cost of the vaccines and for a list of required items.

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Humans of UO shows the diversity on campus

While the work of Brandon Stanton’s photo blog Humans of New York, is well known, a similar, lesser-known group is here at the University of Oregon. Humans of UO is a group on campus that conducts brief interviews with people on campus and posts one of their quotes along with a photo of them on the Humans of UO Facebook page.

The group was founded by Megan Garland after she had a discussion with a fellow student at an International Student Association event called Coffee Hour.

“The idea is from him (Humans of New York)… but it’s different because we’re on a university campus,” said Garland.

Eventually, they expanded their reach beyond ISA and started to walk around campus in order to interview to a larger variety of people. Leigh Scheffey and Negina Pirzad later became involved.

The group’s goal is to show off the diversity of the university, explained Garland. There is a variety of students who attend the UO that a majority of students never see.

The trio also enjoys learning a lot about other people.

“You get these stories and you get to know something about someone immediately,” said Garland.

A lot of times, it can be discouraging to ask someone to give a five minute interview and have their portrait taken, she explained.

“You have to be ok with rejection. Not everyone will not want to be interviewed,” said Garland.

But the group is not interested in posting gossip. People are well informed of how the information will be used, and are only asked a couple of general questions, such as “When you were most happy?” or just about their day in general, Scheffey explained.

“We don’t like to put people in negative light. That’s not what it’s about,” said Scheffey.

The group has over 1,500 likes on Facebook and hopes to expand to Twitter and Instagram, explained Pirzad. Humans of UO interviews between 10 and 15 people a week and posts about twice a day. Sometimes, it can be awkward for the girls when they run into people they’ve interviewed before.

“The other weekend we went out to a party and there were 10 people there that we had interviewed,” said Pirzad.

As Garland and Scheffey are slated to graduate this year, the group is looking to bring on more people.

“There’s definitely interest, it just takes the right people,” said Pirzad.

If you are hoping to bump into the group and be interviewed, the trio always walks around campus on Fridays between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. They tend to stick around 13th ave and the EMU and are attracted to large groups of people. Humans of UO is looking to interview everyone who is willing.

“Even if they don’t say something interesting, they’re still a person on campus,” said Pirzad.

Those interested in the Humans of UO can check them out on their Facebook page, where they post all of their work.

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MEChA de UO hosts protest against police brutality

A protest was held at 1 p.m. today outside the EMU by high school and college students as a part of the 11th annual Raz Unida Youth Conference. Over 150 students from over five schools were present. The event, hosted by the student group MEChA de UO, was a conference that brought together different high school Latino groups from across Lane Country.

According to UO senior and MEChA de UO member Yanely Rivas, the goal of the conference is to empower high school students in the local area, and encourage them to attend college. The motto for this year’s conference is “Mi Barrio, Tu Barrio,” which translates to “My Hood, Your Hood.”

The group conducts a political action event each year. This time, the focus is police brutality against people of color. The chant “Hands up, don’t shoot,” was chanted by the students as they marched from the EMU, around Johnson hall and back.

“This year we are addressing police violence in our nation,” Rivas said.

“I think it’s an opportunities for people to participate in social action, which a lot of young people don’t really have a lot of opportunities to be exposed to,” said Tibor Bessko, a School Counselor at Churchill High School.

The conference allows Latino youth to gain access on the college process and how to obtain scholarships and financial aid, according to MEChA’s website.

“We just want to make them aware of how they can be agents of change,” Rivas said.

 

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