Beginning Friday Oct. 13, Stamps Health Services began receiving a large amount of cases of students reporting nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. On Friday alone, there were 15 students admitted to Stamps who reported the symptoms, and those numbers continued on Monday and Tuesday at the beginning of this week.

From Wednesday, Oct. 11, to the end of Tuesday, Oct., 17, Stamps received 65 students with the reported symptoms, and Emory University Hospital Midtown received around 10 Tech students in the same time period. If any students went to a clinic besides those two their visits have not been recorded officially by Stamps. Since Friday, Oct., 13, there have been 87 total confirmed cases of students experiencing
these symptoms.

According to Senior Director of Stamps Health Services, Dr. Benjamin Holton, “there is no clear-cut pattern that this is food poisoning related to something [students] ate in a dining hall.” He reported that they had received students who had eaten on east campus, west campus and even off campus who all reported to Stamps with the same symptoms.

Dr. Holton made it abundantly clear that the origin and organism causing this illness is unknown; however, Stamps is working with the Fulton Country Health Department (FCHD) to identify the organism responsible as soon as possible. The results of testing of stool samples that FCHD picked up from Stamps on Tuesday may not be out for several days to maybe over a week.

In addition to the FCHD, Dr. Holton and Stamps have contacted a research group at Emory Hospital Midtown that has a rapid test for norovirus, but at this time the group has not responded.

While Stamps and the rest of Tech employees are working to stop the spread of the illness they are relying on students, faculty and staff for containment.

“The most important thing that students can do is wash their hands, and it has to be with soap and water, an alcohol based hand sanitizer is not sufficient,” Holton said.

Additionally, Stamps put out a list of things students should do, both those who are sick and those who are not. Students should not share food, utensils or any drinking containers. If a student develops any of the symptoms they should stay home until their symptoms are gone for 24 hours. Finally, cleaning should be done of all surfaces and clothing. Meaning washing clothes on the longest cycle, and all surfaces should be disinfected with a disinfectant like a diluted bleach solution.

As of now, Stamps is treating the illness as norovirus and their recommendations are recommendations commonly given to deal with it. While they do not have the organism causing the illness, treating the illness as norovirus and prescribing steps to prevent it stops the spread of any of the organisms causing this illness.

In addition to students, Stamps has talked to Dining, Housing and Parking & Transportation Services. Dining checked all instruments that measure food safety and temperature and found no indications that their food was outside of the safe range. Furthermore, no dining employees have been out sick recently with GI illnesses. Dining has cleaned all equipment and reviewed proper safety procedures with employees. They are using disposable tongs and utensils and rotating these out whenever possible.

PTS, the student center and the CRC are all taking extra effort to wipe down any common use areas. Housing is doing extra cleaning using supplies specifically meant for dealing with GI illnesses. Additionally, any soiled bathrooms are being cleaned thoroughly and promptly.

As of now, while the cause and origin of the illness and unknown, students, faculty and staff should follow the direction of Stamps and check their website for updates at health.gatech.edu.

On Wednesday, Oct. 11, the Ferst Center for the Arts at Tech’s Atlanta campus opened its doors to the top seven candidates in Atlanta’s mayoral race for an hour-and-a-half-long forum. Term-limited current Mayor Kasim Reed, a Democrat who has served since 2010, will be leaving an open seat for his job at the end of his term, and with 12 total candidates in the running, the spot has several contenders.

Televised on 11Alive and moderated by 11Alive anchor Jeff Hullinger, the candidates — City Councilmember Mary Norwood, City Councilmember Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Chief Operations Officer Peter Aman, City Council President Ceasar Mitchell, State Senator Vincent Fort, former City Council President Cathy Woolard, and City Councilmember Kwanza Hall — were asked pointed questions with one minute to respond. If a candidate mentioned another by name, the latter would get thirty seconds
of rebuttal.

Of the issues discussed, gentrification and housing affordability were generally at the forefront. Especially with the development of the Beltline and the closing of so-called “Murder Kroger” to make way for a 12-story office building, the concern over the rising costs of housing and the difficulty of keeping Atlantans in Atlanta was a topic of debate.

All candidates stated that they want to make housing less expensive. Aman pointed out that Atlanta is one of the least densely populated cities in Atlanta and suggested increasing the density: “We need to grow Atlanta … but we need to do so in an appropriate way.” Mitchell mentioned the need for a stronger, more effective tax policy to make sure “a senior citizen is not moved out of her home just because the taxes
are rising.”

When Fort took the floor, he made the decision to call out some of the other candidates’ voting records, in the process making the claim that he is the only one who has actually voted against displacement of Atlanta residents and worked against predatory lending and destabilization of neighborhoods.

“People can talk about displacement-free zones all they want, but when they vote to displace people, they ought to be held accountable,” Fort said.

Referencing Bottoms’s earlier comments that “redevelopment in and of itself is not a bad thing,” Fort said, “I think I heard one of my fellow candidates say that gentrification isn’t so bad. That person hasn’t spoken to the people I’ve spoken to in the last year … gentrification isn’t so bad unless you’re victimized by it.”

Moving the discussion on towards crime, Hall made reference to his recent legislation, signed by Mayor Reed, which decriminalizes possession of under one ounce of marijuana within the city of Atlanta.

Bottoms, in one of her responses, described her own experience with an incarcerated family member and said that “it’s unfortunate that our state leaders were too weak to make a real
change” before now.

Woolard was first to mention gun control, but Aman contributed to the conversation soon afterwards by making the claim that the “root of the problem” was education.

“We’re not going to police our way out of crime,” Aman said.

During some of the discussion in the debate over traffic and transportation, Woolard said pointedly that she was “not going to do what Norwood suggests” and tunnel to build more roads, which she implied was an idea similar to that of Republican gubernatorial candidate Casey Cagle. Norwood refuted the point, stating that her idea was dissimilar from Cagle’s in that it would be used for subways and not for cars.

Bottoms also confronted Norwood for what she saw as her opposition to annex several nearby cities into Atlanta. Norwood said in response to the comment that the cities in question did not match the all of the legal requirements necessary for them to be annexed.

In closing statements, all candidates gave brief pitches to the audience, reviewing their qualities.

Hall went first and emphasized unity, saying “Atlanta doesn’t need a white mayor, a black mayor, [or] a gay mayor … Atlanta needs a great mayor.”

Woolard closed with her tagline, “I’m fighting for ATL: Affordability, Transportation, and Livability.” Throughout the evening, despite firing a few shots at Hall and Norwood, Woolard also did not speak quite as much as some of her opponents.

Mitchell threw in a personal touch about his family and bridged into the defense of families and communities that he would launch as mayor: “I don’t want to be your next mayor. I want to serve you as your next mayor.” Mitchell spoke as such throughout the evening, saying “as mayor” or “when I’m mayor” in almost every one of his responses.

Norwood, building on the tone of her messaging throughout the night, emphasized her experience in government and stressed the need for utmost transparency, promising to “restore trust” between the people of Atlanta and their representation within the government.

Bottoms also infused her personal life into her statement, saying that she was running for four reasons — her four children.

Aman, having joked throughout the night about his lack of experience in public office, pointed out his extensive experience in business, which he claimed would translate well across all four sectors of society: government, private, nonprofit and constituency.

Lastly, Fort was the most applauded candidate of the debate during the course of the night. He ended with a call for action: “City Hall has lost its way … time has come for a change, and I am that change.”

The election is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 7 later this year, and a runoff, if it becomes necessary, will occur on Dec. 12, also Tuesday.

If you have been going to Georgia Tech football games for the past few years, you may have noticed that the same girl has been twirling fire and batons every half-time for a while. You no longer have to wonder who she is.

Annabel McAtee, fourth-year BME, grew up in Iowa and started baton twirling in second grade. She has been competing since then. She even attended an online high school so she could manage to train during the day.

“It was very intense,” McAtee said.

When she was twelve or thirteen years old, she first tried out fire twirling for an Iowa state fair. She would participate in local talent shows to win prizes.

While McAtee has continuously done baton twirling, she had only attempted fire twirling a few times throughout middle and high school. It was not until she arrived at Tech that she picked up fire twirling.

So, how did McAtee end up at Tech? The tale is a long one. When she was in high school, she competed in the World Championships for baton twirling and won the bronze medal.

At the nationals level, there was a woman recruiting baton twirlers for a charity festival, hosted through Lions Club International, in Peru. She was one of roughly ten performers to be selected, and during two weeks in Peru, McAtee performed at many parades.

“I met a lot of noble people and Peruvian authorities,” McAtee said. “It was pretty neat.”

It just so happened that her chaperone at this festival was the Tech coach. The coach highly encouraged her to look into Tech for baton twirling and inquired about her academic interests. McAtee visited Georgia Tech soon after the Peru trip. She was impressed by the academics at the school and excited to be able to continue twirling since it was something that she had done for so long. She felt like Tech would be the perfect fit.

Since coming here she has performed not only at football games, but also basketball games and other events. She is occasionally requested to perform fire twirling for special guests.

“Well … I don’t wanna get this wrong but I think it was the president of Bank of America … I wouldn’t quote me on that,” McAtee laughed.

However, as with many sports careers, her baton twirling has not always been smooth-sailing. Unfortunately, McAtee has encountered some physical setbacks, which temporarily stalled her baton twirling career.

“When I was sixteen, right after World Championships, I started having severe hip pain,” McAtee said. “I ended up having to have two hip surgeries to repair a torn labrum in each hip.”

McAtee’s whole recovery process took about eight months.

“Going through the recovery process, then having to relearn everything in twirling was definitely my biggest struggle in baton,” McAtee said.

McAtee is the only fire twirler performing at Tech. While she practices with the band three times a week and sometimes performs alongside GT Gold Rush, for the most part she flies solo.

But of course, as a student at Tech, baton twirling is not the only activity on her plate. So what does she do with her time?

“I do research which takes up a lot of my time … I wish I was a more interesting person,” McAtee joked.

McAtee does research in the Tissue Engineering and Mechanics Lab under Dr. Hollister. There she is testing shape and memory polymers for use in a variety of medical applications.

The Hollister Lab also does work with 3D printing biomaterials, including tracheal splints.

Studying and research take up most of her time, but she has taken up teaching baton twirling and has a lot of fun with it.

It started her freshman year at a football game when she told people she would be interested in teaching her craft.

By word of mouth amongst the baton-twirling world, the news spread and she had a few people reach out to her for lessons. She started teaching a few girls who had never touched a baton, and she has found it very rewarding.

Some of her students have come and gone, but a few core girls have stuck with her for all three years now.

McAtee never really considered going in the direction of Cirque du Soleil or doing twirling professionally.

“It’s kind of odd to think about how I’ve been doing baton my whole life and finally it’s going to almost come to an end,” she said.

Because teaching has been so rewarding for McAtee, she is definitely considering giving baton twirling lessons as a side to her career post-graduation. She wants to be able to take everything she has learned over the years and give back to others.

“There is something really, really awesome about seeing someone catch something after they’ve been working on it for a month,” said McAtee. “It’s a pretty cool thing.”

When coming to Tech, three things are almost guaranteed: caffeine addiction, food poisoning and an adversarial relationship with the department of Parking and Transportation Services (PTS).

The perennial boogeyman on campus to some, PTS undoubtedly evokes more anger than any other acronym at Tech, a school with perhaps the highest acronym density on this side of the Mississippi. But, as easy as it is to hate an entity best known for towing cars and writing tickets, PTS’s Director of Parking Operations Glenn Kurtz believes that the organization’s perceived downsides are something of a necessary evil in an operation that, as a whole, keeps Tech’s campus moving.

“There are definitely some preconceptions out there,” Kurtz said in an interview. “Preconceptions and reality are missing each other. We make mistakes, there is no doubt about it. And we own up to that. We work every single day to do the right thing.”

To students frustrated with high parking fees, questionable tickets and bunched busses, Kurtz’s words probably offer little in the way of comfort.

A group consisting of Kurtz, PTS Director of Business Operations Sherry Davidson and Director of Transportation David Williamson met with the Technique recently to address specific student concerns regarding PTS. One of the most common student complaints related to a lack of available parking.

“The campus is very large and we have different challenges on different parts of campus,” Kurtz said. “One of our goals is to have parking available for the entire community, and that includes faculty, staff, students, everybody. We work very hard to issue a certain number of permits based on the number of spaces that are available. That’s not to say that we hit the nail on the head every time, but that’s
our approach.”

Though students normally have no issues getting a pass, certain areas like the Management deck and Peter’s are often so full that drivers are forced to park elsewhere on campus, usually farther away from their destination than they’d like.

“We look at historical data from, say, the past three years, to see the trends,” Davidson said of the process. “We set goals for these locations. We try to cut them shy of the goals before the beginning of the school year because we don’t know from year to year. Typically two weeks after school starts we count to see what availability looks like and go to our waitlist. We actually have more parking spaces than parkers. In the most desired locations, folks will see that there isn’t enough space so they have to move to the outskirts of campus.”

To help foster better communication with the student body, the department is testing a program in which cameras, placed in decks throughout campus, monitor the amount of available parking and relay that information to students via app.

The idea is still in a pilot stage, but current freshmen may very well see full implementation of the program before they walk the graduation stage.

Controversial parking tickets were also a heavy point of emphasis for students, though the department believes that the frustration is simply due to a lack of adequate communication.

For example, a common myth going around is that the parking department is funded mainly through citations.

“Parking is primarily funded by parking fees,” Davidson said. These are the one-time fees that students pay when purchasing a parking permit. “There are a couple of other revenue streams like events, visitor parking, things like that. Citations make up about four percent.”

The department also allows students to contest any parking tickets they have received. In most cases, according to Davidson, the appealed citation is reduced or nullified altogether.

On the bus side of the operation, Williamson believes that the department is also making big strides.

The accuracy of bus wait times, for example, has been a common complaint in recent years.

“If you’ve got four busses, let’s say on the red route, and one of those busses isn’t connected to the GPS, all the info coming in is wrong,” he said. “The sign may tell you ten minutes, and all of a sudden the bus pulls up. The NextBus system is just reporting info that we pass to it. If our data is missing, the prediction is going to be off.”

The GPS systems began on a 2G network, but due to capacity issues, the department is in the process of moving to 3G. This, combined with the hiring of an extra staff member, has led to what Williamson calls a “significant improvement.”

The department is also working on various solutions to the problem of “bus bunching,” when busses on the same route end up right next to each other.

To help bring these issues to light within the organization, Asher Berman and Sam Crane serve as mediators between PTS and the student body. They serve as co-chairs for SGA’s PTS committee and meet with Kurtz, Davidson and Williamson biweekly.

“We are supposed to provide student input and engage with the leadership of PTS so that they understand student priorities,” Berman said.  “What we try to do is give PTS the tools to be able to communicate better with students.”

Through the efforts of Berman, the leadership of PTS and the entirety of the student body that has voiced concerns, the department is slowly working to become an asset in the eyes of the students rather than a burden.

To help them with that goal, PTS encourages all students with questions or concerns to contact either the SGA representatives or the department directly.

The High Museum of Atlanta opened its newest exhibit, “Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design,” on Oct. 14. Atlantans are lucky to have the High in their backyard — the museum is the first American venue to present the exhibit, organized by the Vitra Design Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

“Making Africa” brings a much-needed spotlight to the economic, social and political conditions of Africa in the twenty-first century. The exhibit is geared to creating a global identity for Africa and highlights artists that are completing work for the betterment of the continent.

New artists, thinkers and designers are featured in this collective exhibit. Media types include film, video interviews, digital comics, sculptures, photography and more.

Although the collection addresses a global audience and looks for the advancement and creation of a new Africa, it does not ignore the past of the continent, injured by war and colonization.

The exhibit places photographs of Africa from the past next to contemporary works that are
developing the culture of the area. When the current photographs are displayed next to older ones, the astronomical rate of change is put into perspective. The
postcolonial development and its significance can be understood by the audience to a greater degree.

The exhibit features a multitude of works from 120 artists from 22 countries. The span and diversity of the types of art are awe-inspiring. The creativity of the region, the symbolism in the sculptures and the integration of technology within the exhibit
is striking.

Some portions of the exhibit explicitly educate, using videos and detailed explanations from scholars to explain the intricate history of Africa in a global context. Other pieces are left with little explanation: their presentation in the silence of the dimly lit hall is enough for their messages to be delivered to a curious audience.

Holistically, the exhibit leaves the audience with more understanding of the history and present of Africa and educates more than a traditional exhibit. The goal of “Making Africa” is not to be open-ended or to let the audience to come to their own conclusions; instead, it delivers a strong message of African solidarity and introduces Atlanta visitors to a wide range of art from a wide range of countries.

“Making Africa” is broken into different sections: Prologue, I and We, Space and Object, Origin and Future. Prologue features many basic elements of African art that are used to challenge traditional styling.

The Prologue pushes the audience to challenge the notions they have of Africa. The poster piece for the exhibit, Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru’s 2012 “C-Stunner” glasses, is in this section.

These glasses contort perspective through their view, asking the audience to question their view of Africa and its culture. The Prologue also outlines the technological changes that have come to the continent, utilizing interactive displays for African history, politics, demographics and more.

The second portion of the exhibit, I and We, focuses more on fashion, photography, individual expression and gender issues. I and We shines a light on daily life in Africa, highlighting specific cities, like Dakar and Cotonou.

Chris Saunders’s photography and film collection, “The Smarteez,” followed a fashion crew that uses DIY skills to create their collections in Soweto, South Africa. This portion of the exhibit draws attention to pockets of art that decorate Africa’s cultural landscape.

Space and Object focuses on the connection between everyday living space and art behind African construction. This section features objects that may be considered common, but the collection highlights how even the simplest building blocks of necessary life subtely differ in their creation and appearance.

Malian designer Cheik Diallo constructed a bright blue chair from steel wire used in Africa’s fishing economy. The art is not simply a visually appealing object: instead, each portion of the exhibit has its own significant history.

The final section of “Making Africa,” Origin and Future, encourages the audience to consider the future of Africa based on a newfound understanding of its present.

As Africa balances tradition and  industrialization, Origin and Future shows what strides are being taken to combine Africa’s cultural elements with the optimism of the future. One artist’s collage on glasswork uses images of African masks with everyday objects.

“Making Africa” is the type of exhibit that must be considered all together. After inspecting each individual element, it is important to understand the complexity of each piece and how it is culturally significant in contemporary Africa and the world at large.

For many viewers, “Making Africa” will offer a glimpse into African modern art. The effort to understand both what makes the continent unique and what it has in common with the West bridges cultural perceptions and increases art appreciation.

All people are living their own unique narratives with themselves as the sole protagonists. Each of these parallel narratives exists in the same moment and is constantly coinciding with and interacting with those of others. Every conversation is an intersection of narratives and, the better they coincide, the better the interactions will be.

In his newest film, “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” director Noah Baumbach explores how family members’ own respective narratives coincide and depart through the lives of the Meyerowitz family.

The patriarch, Harold Meyerowitz (Dustin Hoffman, “Rain Man”), is a blunt, self-absorbed sculptor who approached semi-celebrity at one point in his career. While the quality and impact of Harold’s work is never clear — though Harold himself staunchly maintains that he has not lost his edge — Baumbach makes it clear that Harold consistently neglected his duties as a nurturing father to his three children: Danny, Jean and Matthew.

The story starts with Harold’s eldest son, Danny, played perfectly by Adam Sandler (“Punch Drunk Love”). Yelling his way through New York City’s gridlock, he visits his father on the way to drop off his daughter, Eliza (Grace Van Patten, “Tramps”), for her first year of film school. Danny, in some ways the film’s protagonist, is the disappointment of the family, according to how Harold treats him.

Brazen as ever, Hoffman’s Harold essentially ignores his son, heaping praise onto the younger Matthew, even when Danny is the only person who still slavishly maintains that Harold’s artistry is valuable to the world.

Unlike his brother Matthew (Ben Stiller, “Zoolander”), who has achieved wealth as a business manager, Danny is a former pianist turned homemaker turned divorcee and finds himself truly alone as his daughter leaves him for college.

Adam Sandler truly shines in this tragicomic role as all of the awkwardness and anger that characterizes his usual characters is leveraged to create a poignant person who truly wants to be loved and needed.

He and his sister, Jean (Elizabeth Marvel, “House of Cards”), arrange for their father’s work to be displayed in a group exhibition, which Harold initially dismisses as an insult to the quality of
his work.

While also dealing with Harold’s neglect, Jean laments that, as the only unartistic member of the family, she is constantly forgotten by her father. Still, out of a sense of forgiveness and familial duty that both her brothers lack, she tends to and supports her curmudgeonly father.

Before long, Matthew enters the story as well, and audiences soon learn that, though his father dotes upon him, all is not well for Matthew. Where his siblings long for attention and respect from their father, Matthew longs to be rid of the corrosive expectations that Harold has placed upon Matthew as his favored son.

The first half of the film weaves the characters’ narratives together, often hilariously, as their quirks, expectations and baggage clash ever so slightly. Each character is slightly out of sync with the others, and characters never converse. They simply talk past each other.

Baumbach has written a sharp, incisive script that peels back the veneer of Harold Meyerowitz’s semi-famous, outwardly successful family to reveal how each member is resting atop a mountain of unfulfilled, festering expectations.

While this film could easily turn into another dysfunctional family movie in the vein of “The Royal Tenenbaums,” it mostly avoids cliches and reaches out to audiences through the strength of its performances. The cast plays off each other quickly and naturally, replicating a family dynamic familiar to most viewers.

The performances ultimately are so powerful because of their emotional depth. Stiller, Sandler and Marvel all wear their characters’ burdens and insecurities so well that when their narratives clash violently, viewers are as torn as the characters are.

Halfway through the film, Harold is hospitalized and placed in a medically-induced coma. Here, Baumbach reveals the warm heart of the film. For all the bickering, disappointment and self-loathing that the characters carry with them, the Meyerowitzes are still a family.

In several comically endearing scenes, viewers are treated to the three siblings simultaneously pestering, cross-checking and annotating the words of Harold’s doctors and nurses to ensure him the best treatment.

Near the end of the film, each character wonders if Harold even deserves it. Baumbach posits that he does and that they all do. None of them will ever fulfill their expectations of themselves and each other, but that is okay. The disconnects in their narratives are superficial, self-imposed and ultimately inconsequential.

Overall, Baumbach is able to weave this story together naturally, sidestepping cliches and delivering strong emotional climaxes in a plain and unadorned style.

However, the movie does trip up occasionally. Some dialogue is clumsy, and some of the editing is questionable.

There are several cuts that look truly out of place, like a series of jump cuts near the film’s end that will immediately take most viewers out of the film and interrupt the flow.

Further, the premise of the film and the interactions between characters at times feel eerily similar to previous films in
Baumbach’s repertoire. After all, the concept of the dysfunctional family is certainly not a completely original premise for a film.

In the pantheon of dysfunctional family movies, like “Little Miss Sunshine” and “American Beauty,” “The Meyerowitz Stories” certainly edges its way to the top, but it fails to distinguish itself enough to be incredible.

Netflix bought distribution rights to the film, and it may be one of the best Netflix originals to date. Uniquely, select theaters, including Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, are also airing “The Meyerowitz Stories.”

In 2016, the world lost two of the most forward-thinking, genre-defining musicians to ever graced the art of making music. Prince and David Bowie were as much musicians as they were lifestyle pioneers ­— before them, proud displays of over-the-top sexuality and the enigma of artist androgyny were not widely accepted nor understood.

Now, one year later, Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, releases her fifth studio album to reaffirm to those who proclaim that “rock is dead” that it certainly is not and that she is one of the reasons why.

The incredible lives of Prince and Bowie might have ended, but St. Vincent now carries the torch of progressive art rock, and she carries it in a way that would make both of her musical
predecessors proud.

“Masseduction” is St. Vincent’s long-anticipated follow up to her 2014 self-titled album. After releasing “St. Vincent” to critical acclaim, the quiet, Oklahoma-born guitar shredder became a bona fide rock star.

“St. Vincent” was placed on multiple year-end lists, received a “Best New Music” designation from Pitchfork Magazine and won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Rock Album. This achievement was even more impressive since it was the first time in 20 years that a solo female act earned the award.

“Masseduction” is to her 2014 masterpiece as Kendrick’s “DAMN” is to “To Pimp a Butterfly.” She has won the awards, earned the acclaim of critics and the respect of millions and is hailed as one of the best — if not the best — at her craft.

Amidst all of the success, there are always experiences that give an artist important insight into who they are and force them to answer important questions as to how newfound success has changed them for the better or for the worse.

At the beginning of her career, St. Vincent’s music proved to listeners that she could be as artful and productive with a guitar and microphone as any band or any male singer could. As time has passed, the stories that she has relayed through her lyricism have spoken through cryptic passages and single-line metaphors.

On her new album, though, St. Vincent tells complete stories and describes experiences with a newfound candor. “Masseduction” tells of struggles with relationships, drugs, sex, and purpose.

The first lyrics one hears on the album explain why: “I’ve got this thing I keep thinking / Get high and meet up drinking / The void is back and I’m blinking / I
cannot stop the airplane from crashing / And we circle down from the sky.”

These lyrics seem pretty sad and troubling for a musician who has achieved a level of success that most never will, and these lines are just from the first song, “Hang on Me.”

Continually, Clark uses intelligent lyricism and storytelling to create a remarkably aware masterpiece. As always, her sudden placements of overdriven guitar solos or airy musical interludes round out the album in a beautiful way that can only be described as quintessentially St. Vincent.

The album’s second track, “Pills,” is a song that exemplifies this process and stands out for its contradictory nature. Over surging bass and synth and with a fun, staccato delivery, the song’s lyrics describes the chaotic life and mind of a pill addict.

“I spent a year suspended in air / My mind on the gap, my head on the stairs / From healer to dealers and then back again / From guru to voodoo and voodoo to zen.”

The hook paints a picture that is even more grim: “Pills to wake, pills to sleep / Pills, pills, pills
everyday of the week / pills to walk, pills to think / pills, pills, pills for the family.” She has
definitely achieved bona fide rock star status.

Again and again on “Masseduction,” St. Vincent relays stories with subjects this heavy on her own terms. The impressive candor indicates that Annie Clark has become a real artist. She has had the trying experiences, the failed relationships, the “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” lifestyle that most musicians never see coming.

With a guitar in hand and intelligent lyricism on tap, she recounts these experiences with impressive honesty but also with inspiring confidence. Rock music’s current queen is ready to handle whatever life throws at her, and surely she will continue to make powerful music from those experiences.

Last month, one of the biggest scandals in NCAA history broke. Federal prosecutors disclosed their discovery of a ring of corruption and money flow between families of college recruits, coaches of university teams, sports merchandise manufacturers and sports agents. Essentially, athletes’ families were paid money for their children to sign with certain schools that had apparel deals with Adidas, and coaches at these school in turn took bribes to steer these star players towards particular sports agents upon being drafted into the NBA.

This activity has turned out to be widespread: coaches from Auburn, Oklahoma State, Louisville, the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California have already been removed from their positions amid pressure following their implication in the quickly developing scandal.

The scope and scale of the investigation is completely unprecedented, and its impact is being felt throughout college basketball. However, a question remains at another level: What does this news say about the integrity of the student-athlete experience and amateurism on a broader scale?

As for the student-athlete experience, while this case is very high profile, it pertains only to a small fraction of players, compared to the thousands of college-level basketball players around the nation. A vast majority of student-athletes, even the ones at Division I schools, likely were never even offered a money to play at a particular school (past a scholarship). Therefore, the student-athlete experience remains, for the most part, unadulterated.

However, for the affected student-athletes at the aforementioned schools, this experience has been tainted. Collegiate sports, to many sports fans, have always been more special than their professional counterpart due to the athletes playing for their love and passion for the game and fans rather than for the sake of making money. (Remember the story lines about the 2011 NFL lockout which described the event as a contest between millionaires and billionaires?) Sure, many college players are motivated to perform by future money if they are drafted to a professional sports team, but many players know they will not play past college and yet still put in the immense work required for a student-athlete. Playing for passion rather than paychecks is a fundamental pillar of the student-athlete experience, but the few players and coaches who did accept money violated this very spirit of collegiate sports.

In analyzing and diagnosing the root of what happened, it is easy to blame players and their families for accepting money. After all, they well know that in four years’ time come draft day, they will be making more money than they know what to do with, we say. However, the players and their families are not wholly at fault. Many athletes and their families come from low-income backgrounds, and being offered tens of thousands of dollars to sign with a nationally branded school is just too good an opportunity to pass up. Blue chip athletes should not have to choose between abiding by ethical guidelines and providing needed money to their families. Instead, the NCAA should emphasize the importance of abiding by its framework to coaches and other companies, and then respond to infractions with rapid action. That is not to say that the students are not responsible for violating rules, but if coaches abide by them, then students will not be in a position to accept any money in the first place.   

It is sad to think that this money has not only created an unfair advantage in the NCAA to teams that are willing to bend or break the rules altogether, but also that ambassadors of collegiate sport have come to value money over the spirit of the game.

Athletes are not appreciated for their skill and hard work anymore; they are seen as a commodity. One sports agent is quoted as saying, “if we take care of everybody and everything is done, we control everything,” and “you can make millions off one kid”, courtesy of NBCNews.com. This notion of college sports and athletes simply being a money-generating commodity is sickening and needs to be overhauled.

That is particularly true when we consider that the student-athletes themselves do not even get to cash in on the business. Let us not forget when Georgia receiver A.J. Green was suspended for having the temerity to sell a game-used jersey. No matter how well they compete, student-athletes cannot get ahead. And that makes
options such as the one being investigated particularly appealing.

Looking ahead, the integrity of college basketball and sports in general is still intact; in fact, this incident will likely deter athletes and coaches alike from partaking in such behavior again in fear of being caught. Only time will tell what the implications of this debacle will be, but hopefully through it all, uncovering the dark underbelly of collegiate sports will provide a medium through which the very spirit of college sports can return to what it used to be: playing for the love of the game, not for the distractions around it.

Coach Paul Johnson said that Tech kicker Shawn Davis is “probably” out for the season, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Wednesday.

Davis had served as Tech’s main kicker since the start of the season, filling the void left at the position since Harrison Butker departed Tech for the NFL. Despite a rough start to the season, missing a game-winning field goal against Tennessee in Tech’s opener, Davis had improved as the season went on, hitting 14 out of 15 extra point attempts and hitting both of two field goals attempted since Tech’s opener.

Davis suffered what is believed to be a torn ACL during Tech’s game against Miami last Saturday, when he attempted to tackle a Miami returner. Davis was questionable for Saturday’s game against Wake Forest this week after the Miami game.

For the rest of the season, Tech will need to rely on freshman kicker Brenton King, the only other Tech kicker to attempt field goals this season. King has made both field goals attempted this season, one against Miami and another against UNC.

Davis and King had competed for the starting kicker job entering the season, but King was hampered by a groin injury, giving Davis an opportunity to take over the starting role as kicker.

Behind King in the depth chart would likely be senior Bennett Barton, who saw action in 2014 and 2015 as a receiver, but recorded no statistics in any of his appearances. Barton changed his position to be a full-time placekicker last offseason, but he has only seen action in a handful of games this season, missing an extra point attempt against UNC earlier this season.

Despite the rainy conditions later in the game that put a damper on Tech’s running game, Davis’s injury came before a heavy fourth quarter downpour, when the field was relatively dry.

Tech saw several players go down against Miami in addition to Davis. Most notable was the loss of explosive BB Kirvonte Benson to a leg injury during the game. Johnson indicated that Benson is likely to be ready to play against Wake Forest on Saturday, giving a much needed offensive boost to the team, which struggled to score points without him.

After another excruciating one-point loss last Saturday against Miami, it is understandable for Tech football fans to be frustrated. One point losses on close plays to end games will do that. Despite Tech’s mediocre 3-2 record, there is still reason to be optimistic about Tech football, even in spite of the brutal schedule ahead.

On Saturday, Tech joined a handful of BCS teams to have multiple one-point losses in a season. Since 2000, only 37 teams have lost multiple games by one point. While the 3-2 record hurts when it comes to conference standings and bowl game qualifications, Tech is a much better team than that record indicates, and future games should reflect that reality.

Using Pythagorean record, which predicts a team’s strength and win percentage based off points scored versus points allowed, Tech is No. 21 in the nation and No. 4 in the ACC behind Clemson, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. In the yardage-based Pythagorean record, which looks at strength and win percentage as a function of yards gained versus yards allowed, Tech is No. 20 in the country. Based on these statistical predictors, Tech is actually one of the best teams in the country, and although results have not followed yet, they should be coming soon.

Tech’s schedule, which looked brutal as of last week, now appears a little lighter thanks to some upsets from a crazy weekend. Despite having no ranked versus ranked matchups, there were an incredible seven upsets last weekend, including four top ten upsets. Among those upsets were ACC favorites Clemson, who for the first time since last year looked human. The Tigers were upset on the road by the Syracuse Orange, 27-24, taking their first loss since losing to Pittsburgh over a year ago, 43-42. Clemson is the toughest team on Tech’s schedule, but their loss to Syracuse means that the Jackets might have a chance to down the reigning national champs.

Down the stretch, Tech will be facing Wake Forest, a team that has lost two in a row and is only 1-2 in ACC play; the suddenly-mortal Clemson; an upstart UVA team that has yet to face serious ACC competition; Virginia Tech (who the Jackets knocked out of the AP Top 25 Poll last season with their backup quarterback) and a lackluster Duke team who was only narrowly able to defeat UNC earlier this season.

The Jackets are 2-1 in ACC play currently, and given that their conference schedule looks significantly weaker thanks to this weekend, there still exists slim hope for Tech to beat a path to the ACC Championship game.

If the ACC Coastal turns out to be as close as it was in 2012, Tech might be able to earn a spot in the game without running the table — a 6-2 record could be enough to get the Jackets to the title if Miami stumbles down the stretch (which, given their close calls, they certainly might). Even then, a bowl game should not be out of the question for Tech.

Tech fans can also take solace in the youth of the team. QB TaQuon Marshall, who has been nothing but a revelation for Tech’s offense, is presumed to be returning next season for his final year of eligibility, and KirVonte Benson is only a sophomore. Much of the offense’s core will be intact for at least next season, and despite losing the Austin twins next year, the same can be said of the defense. Tech’s future looks bright, and if this season does anything, it establishes Tech as a team with something to prove.

Both the Tennessee and Miami games were disappointments for Tech, but looking forward, there is still much to be excited about with regards to Tech football. The future looks bright for the Jackets.