After what seemed like almost too long to wait, “Stranger Things” is back and graces Netflix once again with spooky homage-filled goodness. All nine episodes of its second series were released on Oct. 27.

The majority of the ensemble cast returns; the only primary characters from the first series
not making an appearance are those who were killed off in the first season.

Winona Ryder (“Edward Scissorhands”) and David Harbour (“Suicide Squad”) reprise their roles as family matriarch Joyce Byers and Hawkins Police Chief Jim Hopper. The show now finds Joyce in a relationship with former high school classmate Bob Newby, played by Sean Astin, (“Lord of the Rings”).

Finn Wolfhard (“It”) also returns as Mike Wheeler. The series begins with him fruitlessly searching the airwaves for any sign of Eleven. As the audience later finds out, she is not quite as done for as the end of the first series had led to believe.

Millie Bobby Brown (“Intruders”) plays the telekinetic Hawkins Lab escapee, who has been living in the middle of the woods with Hopper, ostensibly to avoid detection by Hawkins Lab officials.

Their back-and-forth is generally relatable and enjoyable. The backstory of how they connected and entered into their living arrangements — told through flashback — is quite well done.

Two prominent new characters make their debut in Hawkins fairly early on: “Mad” Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink, “The Glass Castle”) and her older step-brother Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery, “Power Rangers”).

However, neither character’s purpose is immediately apparent, leaving the viewer with a sense that both of them were only distractions from the action. Max’s inclusion seems to be solely as a love interest as well as a point of conflict for members of the original gang from the first season.

The character of Billy has even less purpose; his primary responsibilities throughout the season are unnecessarily berating his step-sister and checking himself out, Buffalo Bill-style.

His conflict with Max might have worked if viewers already were invested in Max from the previous season. As is, the subplot falls rather flat, yet perhaps there was no grand design ever planned out for the character.

A simple explanation for Billy lies in the character of Henry Bowers from Stephen King’s
“It.” He could have been intended as an homage to the simple-but-evil baddie.

The Steve Harrington (Joe Keery, “Molly’s Game”) arc is another minor annoyance. While the character is much more likable this season, his rapid transition from the douchebaggery exhibited last season to being a fiercely protective and loyal guardian baby-sitter is a bit much to swallow.

However, Steve’s partnership with and mentoring of Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) makes all of this worth it. Steve’s final scene, in which he drops off Dustin at the Snow Ball, is wonderful. In fact, the entirety of the Snow Ball at the end of the last episode is a cheesy and delicious payoff; this soft landing of the series plays marvelously.

The lowest point of the series is Eleven’s episode-long detour to visit her “sister,” Kali (Linnea Berthelsen, “Natskygge”). Although Kali’s powers are pretty cool, they cannot make up for putting the overarching story on hold. Eleven is not even able to get any kind of sense of happiness from connecting with her sister, as they end things on a bad note.

Yet, with all things considered, the weight of this season is greatly felt. The stakes are much higher, as the dark powers at play this time around are coordinated and out to do damage on a large scale. The set pieces were impressive as well. The “Shadow Monster” or “Mind Flayer” absolutely dominated the screen every time it made
an appearance.

Eleven’s powers this season are more impressive than before, and the sometimes-nonchalant, sometimes-passionate way she wields them deepens the character. Nancy Wheeler (Nancy Wheeler, “Hannah Montana: The Movie”)getting a good deal of screen time is certainly welcome as well. As with last season, Dyer knocks it out of the park with her conflicted and dynamic performance. The returning characters’ performances are strong as well, with the stand out being that of Will Byers, whose performance is handled by Noah Schnapp (“Bridge of Spies”). That a 13 year-old can muster such a range of emotion, from utterly terrified to demonically enraged, is astounding.

The overriding concern for future seasons will be surpassing the level of craziness again. Trepidation lies solely with the necessity of raising the bar even higher.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A question that most, if not all of us, were asked beginning at a young age. For most, the answer to that question changes over the years, for some it might not, and for even fewer that dream becomes reality.

However, most of us, whether it be due to our own mistakes or just unfavorable circumstances, do not realize these goals.

For me, the question that has been asked of me most of my life still has no concrete answer. In the past, I thought I had the answer many times, but each time the answer has slipped from my grasp.

For the longest time, I’ve thought that I’ll grow up and do one thing, have one job, one “life.”

That was until I saw a comic from Zach Weinersmith, the creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

The comic, released on Sept. 2, 2012, explores the idea that you only live once. You don’t only live once — your lifetime is split up across multiple lives.

“Most people never let themselves die,” the comic reads. “Some are afraid of death. Some think they are already ghosts. But you have many lives.”

While Weinersmith splits those lives up based on a skill or thing you spend doing during that time, I think it can be better explored by your answer to the age-old question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

For me, the first large shift came the summer before I came to Tech. I was one of the people whose dream did not change or waver throughout all of middle and high school.

In my mind, I was going to play baseball in college and beyond, but it wasn’t meant to be. Due to my own actions, the dream I had for most of my life was no longer going to happen.

For a few months, I was unsure of my future, unsure of what I would become.

Fortunately, that part of my lifetime is just one of many “lives” I can live; the experiences I had are real, but I don’t need to dwell on that singular life when I’ve got so many more to live through. Instead of sulking, I redirected my passion into other things: the newspaper, video games and  weight lifting.

I move forward now, knowing that these things will stay with me for the rest of my life, but it’s possible that I will always move onto something new.

College, of all places, seems to be a place that dreams go to die, but at the same time, new ones are born.

Too often, people come to Tech, or college in general, and realize that their dreams don’t match reality. The good thing I’ve seen about most people at Tech, is that they’re resilient and can figure out what they want quickly. But people should also realize that college isn’t the be-all-end-all for the rest of their life.

Their life beyond college may be defined by what they do here, but they may end up in a place way different from what they studied here.

In 2015, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person has held 10 different jobs before the age of 40. That number is expected to grow. Gone are the days of your life dedicated to one company.

Additionally, some people may realize on their first job that their career isn’t what they thought it was. The most important thing to remember is that this is just one life of the many you will live in your lifetime.

“It takes seven years to master something,” Weinersmith says, “If you live to be 88, after age 11, you have 11 opportunities to be great at something.”

So, do not fret when this life does not turn out the way you thought, realize that this is one of many lives you will live in your lifetime.

Though the term “music film” may seem obscure on the surface, it is a genre with which everyone, on some level, is intimately familiar. Streaming services like, Netflix and Hulu, play host to a slew of documentaries and biopics on prominent musicians.

Soundtrack-driven films, like “Les Misérables” and “La La Land,” have shown huge ticket-selling potential, and the post-MTV landscape has given viewers the ability to watch Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” whenever they please.

To celebrate films like these, a few artistic minds came together to create the ATLarge Film Festival. The inaugural Atlanta
festival comes from the same vein of meticulously curated events, like South by Southwest (SXSW) and Sundance.

“I just felt like the music film genre was really underappreciated,” said event co-founder Rob Ganger. “With Atlanta, its film industry and music industry
are thriving.”

“Obviously the music industry has for a lot longer, but the film industry is in some ways surpassing it now. So, we decided that the time was right to start this festival to kind of do both things,” Ganger added.

The inaugural festival, held between Oct. 27 and 29, brought creators from all over the United States to Atlanta in order to share their films and speak to attendees.

One of these creators, director Jodi Wille, brought her film “The Source Family” to the festival for its first ever screening in the Southeast. The film had previously sold out screenings in several prominent festivals worldwide, including SXSW.

“I think film festivals are so
enriching for a city because having a festival is very different than just having movies at a theater,” Wille said. “Oftentimes with film festivals, the directors are willing to bring out filmmakers and the subjects of their film, so it allows for cultural conversations.”

The festival decided not to accept submissions in its first year, instead opting to carefully curate the films that filled the walls of Georgia State’s Creative Media Industries Institute. While the turnout was not huge, the intimate feel was par for the course for an inaugural festival.

“As a first year event, it’s always tough to get traction, so we didn’t have high expectations for a big turnout,” Ganger explained. “What’s important to us is the quality of the curation and the people that we are bringing in, and that really surpassed our expectations.

“Some of the connections that were made through the experience have kind of blown our minds. For that, it was completely worth it, and we feel we have a great
foundation moving forward,” Granger continued.

By bringing an event with great potential to grow to Atlanta, Granger and the other organizers hope to expedite the city’s path to becoming a “cultural powerhouse.” Music has always been a big as well as an integral part of Atlanta’s DNA, and production companies have been making high budget blockbusters right outside Tech’s doorstep, including Marvel movies like “Ant Man.”

Ganger believes that these developments will have an impact on the way that Atlanta’s students interact with the city and its culture. “Getting students involved is very important to us,” he said. “We really want to engage the younger generation because [they] have so much access to everything.

“We live in turbulent times,” Ganger continued. “What is an artist’s role in that, and what can they do to make a difference in their own life and within their community?”

Wille echoed his sentiments, focusing on the interplay between media, youth and societal issues.

“You bring communities together with film festivals,” she said. “You get people to speak and share ideas, and during times like right now, when there is so much happening in our country, conversations and community
are more important than ever.

“Film festivals bring people together in a way that can be revitalizing for a community; I think any person, regardless of resources or age, can start sharing films with their friends,” Wille continued. “Really, all it takes is a desire to share a film, and the desire to think about a film on a larger level — to realize that each film has themes that come with it and messages
of value.

“They can be igniters of conversations that are beneficial to have in our culture. For me, as a film programmer, I think about films that speak to the times we are in,” she concluded.

The interest of sponsors, coupled with the attention from filmmakers and other industry leaders, have already put ATLarge in a promising position. ATLarge could easily turn into Atlanta’s premiere film festival in the coming years while also amplifying the importance of music in film.

A lot of things lately have been enraging me, and yet I’m the one that looks like a jerk when I have actual feelings about these topics. In a conversation I had the other night, I spoke to someone who was “tired of being the angry feminist” and wanted to tone down their anger when it came to discussing important issues.

But why is anger such a bad thing in our society? Why can’t I be taken seriously even if I’m emotional about what’s going on?

I should be allowed to be the angry feminist, taken seriously and still maintain credibility throughout the conversation.

It is one thing if I am unable to see reason because I am blinded by my anger; it’s another thing to be completely disregarded because of my emotional investment in an issue.

When I see marginalized people being taken advantage of, I get angry. When I am treated as an object instead of as a person, I get angry. When I’m seen as lesser because of my gender, sexuality or personal views, I get angry.

I wonder what it will take for people to respect me, and when I realize this is a fight I may not be able to win, I begin to be emotional.

Things that make me emotional matter to me.

Does it scare you that I am attached to issues more deeply than just having a vague opinion on it?

Does it scare you that I may be an educated member of society, while also feeling personally involved with social issues and the happenings around me?

Does it scare you that my strong opinions cause me to be passionate, and that it may also cause me to actually do something about my anger, such as actually fight for my beliefs rather than sit idly and watch the world go by?

And remember, this is an opinions piece. In no way is it the overall opinion of the Technique as an entity, or of all women and people affiliated with the paper, but it is my opinion. And if you have something to say, I welcome you to respond.

If you want to share your own opinion, I highly recommend you write a Letter to the Editor, but don’t just let your words be empty. Fight for what you believe in, but be rational.

Trust in your people, but remember you are responsible for your own actions against
injustice.

And seek knowledge, but know that our system is rigged, and that those who have felt the oppression and pain from its misgivings have a right to speak too, even if you don’t agree with what they say, which is why it is so frustrating that opposing people disregard what I say because I’m an “angry feminist.”

I will not allow my anger to devour me, and if I do, you can call me on it. But even if you don’t like what I’m saying, try to listen to me, and I’ll give you the same respect when you explain your side of the argument.

A lot of people say that angry feminists will “never find love” or “hate men,” but here’s the truth: we only hate the system that forces us to be seen as lesser than our male counterparts, a system that regularly marginalizes already oppressed communities, a system that still argues about whether or not a rapist is entitled to their victim’s body and life after the assault, a system that told me to keep quiet when I was sexually harassed every day for nine months, a system that told me “there’s nothing we can do” to prevent me from the absolute torture of men
believing that they were entitled to my body and my personhood, a system that contributes to the declining mental health of my generation and the rise of movements against fundamental civil rights of American people.

I am often met with more resistance than what I “dish out.” Even a simple polite request for someone to not be sarcastic about the modern feminist movement earns me a sneer, a rude remark and an insistence that I’m over-reacting.

Don’t tell me to “calm down” or “take a joke” when you are joking about something as serious as the acquisition of human rights and the importance of equality.

Yes, I’m angry. Because the world is full of injustice, and I feel a little helpless.

Yes, I’m angry. Because there are people who don’t feel as strongly as I do about helping people who cannot help themselves.

Yes, I’m angry. The world is a messed up place and I can’t help but to feel affected by it.

Yes, I’m angry. So why aren’t you?

One hundred thirty million years ago, two neutron stars collided, producing gamma rays, gravitational waves and a lingering “afterglow” of gases. This collision was detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) on Aug. 17, which employs several Tech researchers.

This cosmic event, however, was invisible to the human eye, only detectable on finely tuned instruments. LIGO’s two detectors, located in Louisiana and Washington, both recorded the event, which endured for only
90 seconds.

The Virgo observatory, a similar interferometer located in Italy, also picked up the same ripples in spacetime passing through Earth, a first detection of gravitational waves for the observatory.

“Since we had three detectors, we could basically triangulate where the signal was coming from to a patch in the sky,” said Laura Cadonati, an astronomy professor in the School of Physics at Tech and deputy spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. “It was still small enough that telescopes could scan the area and they saw a light that was not there and had appeared.”

According to Cadonati, the tiny light that they found in the sky was exciting: the gravitational and gamma wave detections comprise the first time a collision of neutron stars has ever been viewed, and the first time that an astronomical event has been studied using both electromagnetic and gravitational information.

As an astrophysicist, Cadonati is one of the many researchers who are actively working to observe and learn from the data LIGO reaps. In her role as deputy spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, she helps to represent over 1,500 physicists, astronomers and other researchers from all over the world who are all passionate about the observation and analysis of celestial events.

The announcement of the discovery came about two months after the neutron star collision, on Oct. 16.

The event proves that the collision of neutron stars releases short gamma ray bursts. These bursts were observed by two separate space telescopes, the Fermi Gamma Ray Burst Detector and INTEGRAL.

Observatories received both light and gravitational waves from the cosmic event, and both types of waves arrived within two seconds of one another, the first evidence that proves gravitational waves travel at the speed of light.

When the neutron stars collided, they produced an initial burst of matter called a “kilonova,” which blasted many heavier elements such as iron, platinum and gold out into space. Now, huge clouds of gas containing these elements surround the collided stars.

The confirmation of the existence of a kilonova gives an answer to one of the biggest questions asked by astrophysicists: where in the universe are the heaviest elements of the periodic table formed?

Scientists now speculate that a neutron star collision just like this one might have been the start of some of the matter that composes our very own planet.

In addition, the amplitude of the waves that reached Earth are very telling. Measuring the height of the waves allows scientists to discern just how far away these stars were, which will indirectly lead them to a more precise way to calculate the rate of expansion of the universe.

Researchers are not exactly sure what has become of the body that was formed of the two neutron stars, which themselves are formed when the cores of large stars collapse during a supernova that marks the end of their life. Cadonati’s colleagues currently theorize that it has created a small black hole.

Cadonati has been impressed with the high levels of collaboration within the LIGO community. The researchers have managed to publish their discoveries in an extremely short period of time, despite the fact that some of the papers have hundreds of
authors listed.

“I am really sitting on the shoulders of giants,” Cadonati said. “The collaboration has been an amazing experience. There have been people who have devoted their lives to this, and it really gives me such a joy to witness.”

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Stamps Health Services released an announcement that, with the help of the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness (FCDH), they had discovered the source of the sickness that spread through campus following fall break.

The culprit was the common, rapidly spreading virus known as norovirus. While the illness is most commonly known to spread through food, because of the nature of the virus it can easily spread through person-to-person contact.

In this case, Stamps has not identified the source of the virus, just that it came to campus after students returned from fall break.

“No common food source, activity, or dining or residence location has been identified as the origin,” reads the article posted on Stamps website.

From Oct. 11, the day students returned from fall break, to Oct. 24, Stamps received 136 patients reporting some of the common symptoms of norovirus: vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.

Additionally, the FCDH also launched a survey for everyone to report on, regardless of their association with Tech. As of Oct. 20, 226 people completed the survey with 194 reporting symptoms of norovirus.

While the illness has been identified, Stamps is still warning students, faculty and staff to be wary of the illness. If proper steps to prevent the spread of norovirus are not taken, the illness may still circulate on campus for weeks or months from now.

At this point, while the number of reported cases have declined, it is still up to everyone at Tech to halt the spread. Many campus departments have and are continuing to work with Stamps in an effort to stop the spread.

Housing and Campus Recreation have both thoroughly cleaned “high-touch” areas, with Campus Recreation even deep cleaning the locker rooms in the CRC.

Dining Services has had North Avenue dining hall inspected by the FCDH and received an A grade for cleanliness. Next week, Brittain dining hall will be inspected, but in the meantime all foods were verified to have never entered the temperature range which foster the growth and spread of bacteria.

Beyond departments, individuals may hold the most power in stopping the spread of norovirus. Stamps continues to encourage students to follow a strict set of guidelines in order to halt the spread of the virus.

First, students who are experiencing symptoms should stay home until they are symptom free for 48 hours. This is the biggest step in preventing the spread; if sick students continue to intermingle with those who are healthy, the disease will continue to spread.

Second, all people on campus, regardless of whether they are sick or not, should wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds. It must be washing hands, as alcohol-based hand sanitizers are ineffective against norovirus.

Finally, students should properly clean and prepare their living space. Food, clothing and everyday surfaces should be cleaned.

What do a Capstone Design course and class focused on Afterlives of Slavery have in common? Both are Serve-Learn-Sustain affiliated classes.

Serve-Learn-Sustain, or SLS, is based on Tech’s motto of “Progress and Service.”

SLS came about due to Tech’s most recent Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) is the group in charge of accreditation for degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states, from Texas to Virginia.

A major part of the reaffirmation of accreditation process is the QEP. Tech’s previous QEPs include the International Plan and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. This reaffirmation occurs every 10 years, and for Tech, the most recent reaffirmation was in 2015.

In Fall 2013, about a year before the QEP was due, Tech had an open call for concept papers from groups of at least five academic faculty members spanning at least two colleges.

Dr. Beril Toktay, a professor within the Scheller College of Business, led a proposal centered around sustainability.

Dr. Ellen Zegura, current chair of the School of Computer Science, submitted a proposal on community-based learning.

The QEP Advisory Board decided to combine these two proposals into Serve-Learn-Sustain to focus on “creating sustainable communities.”

SLS can be seen all across campus, from partnered student organizations to workshops and affiliated courses. SLS employs five full-time staff members, including Dr. Ruthie Yow, who specializes in finding community partnerships and service learning.

“What SLS strives to do is to help students and faculty think in these broad and creative ways about what sustainability is and what it has to do with service, or community,” Yow said.

Part of SLS is giving context to sustainable communities.

“Everyone has a different idea of what community is, and everyone has a different idea of what sustainability is,” Yow said.

A “sustainable community” does not fit into a singular definition. SLS expands the conversation to one about equity at the center of society, nature and technology. Their “big ideas” range from managing the commons to smart cities to doing good in your neighborhood.

There is no doubt that Tech is a highly innovative place. That is a major reason Serve-Learn-Sustain was chosen as the Quality Enhancement Plan.

However, it is easy for some Tech students to submit to the idea that sustainability is someone else’s problem or that there is nothing a single student can do to contribute in a meaningful way.

SLS aims to combat that by giving a clear pathway for further engagement and focusing on several over-arching themes.

“When you’re intellectually engaged in a class, whether you’re a CS major or you’re in the architecture school, if someone can offer you a clear illustration of the connection between the work that you do and something happening in the community that you live next to, then usually just offering that connection is a spark for investment in what happens to people you don’t know,” Yow said.

Once a student gets that spark from an SLS affiliated course, they do not have to stop there. The SLS website allows you to search for upper level affiliated courses based on theme, “big idea” and college or school.

If you have continued interest in sustainable communities and want to do a project, the next step would be to get in touch with Yow who can find a partner for your project. Eventually, you would be able to do a capstone that had a focus on sustainability, using SLS and their resources. Your design project could then lead to a career that further develops your interests and talents in sustainability.

“You would use a recommended employer because you came and talked to us, to engage in the beginning of your career with an organization doing the work that you care about,” Yow said.

Coursework is not the only way to get involved with SLS. At least once a month, there are events and workshops, including a series based on the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.

When an esteemed guest comes to campus, SLS provides opportunities for highly driven students to engage with the speaker outside of the talk. For instance, in mid September, President Emeritus Dr. Wayne Clough came to campus to speak on climate change and Tech’s role.

A handful of students who attended that event are going to meet with Clough and talk with him over breakfast about their ideas and networks for approaching solutions to climate change.

“We are always wanting help students stay engaged rather than go to a talk and feel like ‘Oh that was neat.’ We always want to provide a pathway for further engagement,” Yow said. “There’s always a way to move forward and to continue to build a relationship. The idea is that nothing that we do is ever a one-off.”

Most recently, SLS has worked on the application for ATLRCE. An RCE (Regional Centre of Expertise) is a U.N. initiative committed to implementing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals at the regional and local level.

These goals include no poverty, zero hunger, quality education and sustainable cities and communities. There are currently 156 RCEs around the world and only six RCEs in the U.S.

The ATLRCE is a joint effort by higher education institutions around Georgia, from Tech and Emory to Spelman, UGA, Clark Atlanta and more.

The vision of the Greater Atlanta RCE is to create a network of all sectors of Atlantan society to connect and support diverse collaborations. A major goal is to bridge the gap between learning and development.

Approval for the ATLRCE plan is expected in January.

In the end, SLS stands at the intersection of Tech’s motto and vision: Where progress and service meet innovation.

“The notion is that you don’t do your work in a vacuum and you don’t do it just for your CV or resume. You do it because you can do it in concert with a broader network of people,” Yow said.

For more information on Serve-Learn-Sustain, including resources for finding affiliated courses or workshops, visit serve-learn-sustain.gatech.edu.

In keeping with the Atlanta Pride festivities earlier this month, Tech students and community members came together for OUT Week, Tech’s own campus Pride celebration. OUT Week aims to provide a platform for the Tech community to honor LGBTQIA progress.

“OUT Week is Tech’s annual celebration of the LGBTQIA community,” said Aby Parsons, inaugural director of Tech’s LGBTQIA Resource Center. “Since its inception, OUT Week has featured debates, socials, workshops and dances, all for LGBTQIA students and allies.”

One of the events this year was “Fruits of Our Labor: Racial Justice and Queer Liberation in the Deep South,” a reception and discussion for students and community members.

The event took place at DramaTech on Oct. 17 and was hosted by the LGBTQIA Resource Center in partnership with the African American Student Union (AASU).

OUT Week has held an annual reception for the past five years. However, the added discussion panel was shaped by student initiative.

“In 2016, Scout Schultz, who was then president of Pride Alliance, and Jake Orvis, who was then president of GT College Democrats, approached me about putting together a panel discussion during OUT Week that focused on the status of queer justice in the post-marriage equality era,” Parsons said. “I thought it was a fantastic idea and decided to combine this with the annual reception to give that celebration more meaning and impact.”

This month’s event served as a reflection of Schultz and Orvis’s idea.

The discussion panel consisted of four lifelong activists for social justice from the South.

“Between them, our speakers have worked to eliminate racism, homophobia and transphobia through civil disobedience, protest, legal advocacy, faith-based activism and education,”
Parsons said.

The speakers emphasized the positive impact of collaboration in a world where many people are affected by multiple forms of oppression.

Parsons also shared that the event itself was an example of such collaboration.

“In spring 2016, two black queer women approached me to express their frustrations at how their needs weren’t being met by either predominantly white queer groups on campus or predominantly straight and cisgender black student organizations,” Parsons said. “We had a long and productive conversation about how we could move the needle to ensure that the experiences of black LGBTQIA students were being addressed on campus.”

This conversation resulted in the inception of the Black Queer Lives Matter partnership between AASU and the LGBTQIA Resource Center.

“We’ve hosted one collaborative event per semester since then, including a Black Leadership Conference panel, a Black History Month exhibit and lecture, a student panel and now this OUT Week event,” Parsons said.

The speakers at the event hailed from a variety of backgrounds and contributed meaningful perspectives to the conversation.

“Lorraine Fontana began her activism in the Civil Rights movement organizing against the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s and is still more active today than just about anyone I know,” Parsons said. “Reverend Duncan Teague insisted that black communities address the rising rates of HIV infection among black gay men when no one else wanted to talk about it; E.R. Anderson has been at the forefront of bringing racial and queer justice programming to Charis Books and More for the past several years and transforming the store into a community hub for critical conversations about social justice; Dean Steed is a formidable activist with the Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative, an organization dedicated to eliminating police brutality against queer and trans people of color in Atlanta.”

The discussion allowed each of the speakers to share their views on combating racism, homophobia and transphobia. It also highlighted the ways in which activism evolves over time, emphasizing the paramount importance of inter-generational conversation.

“We activists need to be learning from our community elders,” Parsons said. “All too often I see younger activists dismiss the work of our elders as being outdated or not intersectional enough; what we learned from speakers such as Lorraine and Reverend Teague is that we have much to learn from folks who have been doing this work for decades.”

“Fruits of Our Labor” was just one of a number of opportunities for the Tech community to become involved with Pride on campus. Those who would like to stay involved with the LGBTQIA Resource Center can do so through the various educational trainings and workshops offered year-round.

“Programs such as Safe Space, Trans 101 and our LGBTQIA Interfaith Lunch and Learn partnership with the Wesley Foundation are a great way for students and employees to learn more about the LGBTQIA community,” Parsons said. “We also offer programs specifically for LGBTQIA students, such as our Q Chats discussion groups and our new Queer Coffeehouse series. We also provide individual referrals and advising (but not counseling) to LGBTQIA students, including those who are questioning their identities.”

For more information about the LGBTQIA Resource Center, go to lgbtqia.gatech.edu. For more information about AASU, visit gtaasu.org.

John Carroll Lynch (“Zodiac”) has a cheeky eye — a patient, slow-burning eye for subtlety but cheeky nonetheless. In his debut feature “Lucky,” he puts it to good use. “Lucky” is notable for being one of the final films of Harry Dean Stanton (“Paris, Texas”), who died at the age of 91 one month ago.

Starring Stanton as the eponymous Lucky, the film follows Stanton’s eccentric, stubbornly independent 90-some year old persona as he conducts the same idiosyncratic daily routine in a small Midwestern town.

Viewers are treated to each charming repetition as Lucky wakes up, shaves, smokes several cigarettes, does yoga exercises and ambles from his home to the local diner for a coffee and a crossword. Every wrinkle in Stanton’s face is expressive; viewers never tire of watching him shuffle, brood and argue from place to place.

Lynch’s shots are slow and observant, allowing viewers to soak every feature, contradiction and quirk of the life Lucky has forged for himself, from the cactus he waters in his underwear to the game shows that he religiously watches.

Suddenly, one morning as he is waiting for his daily coffee to brew, Lucky falls. At the hospital, he is told not to be alarmed because his fall is simply an inevitable result of his old age. For the first time in a while, Lucky is forced to face his own mortality.

While it is not an original idea by any stretch of the imagination, there is charm to this film, and most of it stems from Stanton himself. Spouting off words of wisdom that reveal a deep intuition beneath his quiet facade, Stanton is able to infuse depth and poignancy to the rote routine of a single individual. This poignancy is demonstrated wonderfully when Lucky is invited to a birthday party for a friend’s son and delivers a soulful, scratchy rendition of “Volver, Volver” to the music of a hired Mariachi Band.

Still, this charm can only take a movie so far. While Lynch has built a strong cast around Stanton, it seems as if he has neither the script nor experience to direct them well. As Lucky cycles through his three standard watering holes — a diner, a bodega and a bar — he interacts with the same cast of characters over and over again. Each voices their advice, opinions and existential worries, and every time, it feels as if each character is delivering a rehearsed, trite monologue on perspective, time and mortality. Nearly every line not delivered by Stanton is ever so slightly stilted.

If the film’s editing were a little tighter, a more natural quality could be offered to these lines. David Lynch, the prolific director of “Twin Peaks” and “Mulholland Drive,” plays Howard. A lonely, similarly eccentric man, Howard’s tortoise, President Roosevelt, recently ran away. Upon the loss of his lifelong friend and pet, Howard lectures his fellow bar patrons on his torment. Scenes like this have the potential to be both humorous and deeply affecting, but the script only feeds actors familiar, well-worn platitudes.

The weak directing forces viewers to simply infer the emotional intention of each scene. Many of the characters only ever seem to be reacting to Lucky, as audience surrogates, rather than adding any complexity and depth to the plot.

The movie does not say anything original about mortality and other themes. The script never takes Lucky’s character anywhere that departs from the generic existential crises that ail most aging characters. At 88 minutes long, the movie could benefit from more plot points and character development that would push Lucky into more emotionally rich territory.

Despite the heavy nature of its themes, the film never descends into existential dread or despair. Though he broods and grumbles, Lucky constantly looks to accept his mortality and face his world with a broad, asymmetric smile.

On Saturday, Oct. 18, the CRC indoor soccer court played host to the fifth annual indoor soccer tournament organized by the Georgia Tech International Ambassadors (GTIA). Games were played from 9 a.m. onwards with the final kickoff around 4 p.m. The seven teams that competed in the tournament included players from all around the world with each team vying for the championship.

The event was truly a multicultural affair. The tournament saw players competing from a host of countries, namely China, India, Germany, Thailand and Brazil, to name just a few. Campus and cultural organizations were well represented at the tournament while  some teams simply came together as friends.

The final saw the two most successful teams of the day compete for the winners’ medals. The score was 7-1, but this was not a reflection of the skill level of the losing team. The captain of the runners-up, Isaac Joy, said his team “play[s] together every week,” which shows the overall high quality of soccer that was on display in the final.    

The event was organized by GTIA, an organization that is made up of a mix of international and American students. GTIA works to welcome new members of the international community into life at Tech while also ensuring an integrated community for all international students during their time here.

As a result, the annual indoor soccer tournament has proven to be an excellent way to bring
students of all nationalities together, all with a common love
for the “beautiful game,” as it is often called.

For the first time in its history, the tournament was free for all teams to enter. Alice Robang is the VP of finance for GTIA, and she was a main contributor in organizing the event.

“Despite cultural differences, there still exists that shared passion for the sport of soccer and the sportsmanship and teamwork that goes with it,” said Robang, when discussing the impact that the tournament has on the international community at Tech.

The regular excitement and enthusiasm for the tournament is evidence of the increasing interest in the sport here at Tech. One would be hard-pressed to stroll across campus without seeing the red of Manchester United, the all-white of Real Madrid or the crest of another one of the biggest clubs in the world.

It would be easy to attribute this enthusiasm solely to the thriving international community at Tech, but more and more Atlanta natives are coming to love the game, as evidenced by the recent popularity of the Major League Soccer club, Atlanta United.