Daily Archives: November 17, 2022

Editorials/Student Voice

How Kanye West’s recent comments have cost him      

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By Brogan Frey

In recent weeks, rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, has said and done a few controversial things that are now earning him lost partnerships and bannings on several social media platforms. 

The most significant lost partnership is the partnership between Ye and sports brand Adidas. The German sportswear giant announced the termination of the partnership on Tuesday, October 25th. This was a very significant partnership, and its termination will lead to Adidas losing almost $250 million this year alone, and is said to earn Ye around $100 million annually, which would amount to about $20.83 million for the remainder of the year. 

This is also significant because Adidas is probably the most important partner in Ye’s fashion empire. 

In addition to his lost partnerships, Ye has also been banned from several social media platforms for his increasingly anti-semetic comments. 

On Monday, October 24th, 2022, he was restricted on Instagram, 4 days after he had returned to the platform. Ye has made several disparaging comments about Jewish people, this one being about “Jewish business people.”

Photo taken from Kanye West’s Instagram account, linked here

This photo was taken not long after Adidas cut ties with the rapper. 

As of Monday, November 14th, the most recent post on Ye’s Instagram account is from October 30th. 

The rapper’s account was restricted and content posted by him deleted, because Ye violated some of the social media service’s policies, according to a Meta spokesperson. Meta did not specify what post triggered its decision, or why it took action on West’s account, but says it places restrictions, like preventing a user from sending messages, commenting, or posting, on accounts that repeatedly break its rules. 

Ye’s Twitter account was restricted for the same reason that he was restricted on Instagram. He posted several anti-semitic statements in the space of a few hours. On a now-deleted post on Twitter, West wrote, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death [sic] con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” 

In the same week that this tweet was posted, West was criticized for wearing a shirt that said ‘white lives matter’ on the back during Paris fashion week. The ‘white lives matter’ tag was used by many opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement that came to national attention after the death of George Floyd by a white police officer. 

Also, in relation to this tweet is Ye’s known connection to the Republican Party, who he seems to align with on many issues. 

Overall, besides his comments being deeply offensive and targeting a community that has faced much hurt in the past, Kanye West’s recent comments have cost him millions in brand deals, and a banning on several large social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter. 

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Uncategorized

Beginning of the season for the top women’s swim team in the country

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By: Mia David

Image taken from: https://swimswam.com/virginia-women-break-ncaa-us-open-records-in-200-free-relay-at-acc-champs/

A few weeks ago, the University of Virginia’s women’s swim team was ranked the top team in the nation. They have built up a strong team for the last few years and proved their speed in 2021 and 2022 when they won the NCAA championships.

The women’s team is stacked with Olympians and record-holders. However, Virginia is still one-step ahead and planning for the future. This fall, they have recruited five top-20 girls from the class of 2024—more recruits than their competitors, the University of Texas and Stanford.

Earlier this season, the Cavaliers took on the Florida Gators and shocked people with some insane times. The sophomore Gretchen Walsh was truly the star of the meet. She started the meet with a 21.91 50 fly in the medley relay, which out-splits her teammate Kate Douglas who had the fastest split in history.

Walsh wasn’t done there; she pulled out a 50.53 in the 100 fly, which became the fastest unsuited time in history. She whipped out some speedy 50 and 100 freestyles as well. Gretchen, Douglass, and their teammates Alex Walsh and Maxine Parker went a speedy 3:11.37 in the 400 free relay to finish off the meet.

On November 4th and 5th, the Cavaliers took on the second-ranked women’s team, the Texas Longhorns. Both women and men’s teams competed against each other down in Texas.

The Cavalier women won six events, according to Virginia Sports. Gretchen Walsh had a phenomenal meet, three times being the fastest in the country this season. Walsh also went the fastest time ever in 100-yard IM (the 100 IM is not an NCAA event, nor is it competed at any world championship meets, but it is sometimes added to meets as an extra fun event).

The meet was a fun showdown with music and a light show to add to the energy and excitement, according to Swim Swam News. This dual meet was unlike any other dual meet with the amount of technology and energy put into making it a fun and competitive environment.

Although the meet was exciting and full of great swims for the Cavaliers, they, unfortunately, lost to Texas with a final score of 95-91 for the women.

The team is not yet finished; they are heading to the Tennessee Invitational on November 17-19, and they still have an NCAA championship title to defend.

Travel/Food

Lake and Irving restaurant review

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By: Gabe Kleiber

Lake and Irving is an American style restaurant located, unsurprisingly, on Lake Street and Irving Avenue. My family and I recently went there for dinner; here are some of my favorite things we got.

While it may be an “American” restaurant, it certainly doesn’t stay in those boundaries. The first dish I had was the poke nachos with wonton chips, ahi tuna, garlic aioli, and jalapenos for spice. The wontons were cooked nicely. They had plenty of crunch, and were light and airy. The aioli fits the other ingredients perfectly, and is the biggest source of flavor in the dish. Overall, it is a great Asian spin on a beloved Mexican Dish.

Next we had the Luxe burger, which has beef, cheese, black truffle, foie gras butter, aioli, and a brioche bun. While that may sound complicated, in actuality it is just a cheeseburger. It was amazingly juicy, extremely rich, and is one of my favorite burgers ever. Even though it had a simple concept, the ingredients and execution was complex and incredible. Probably my favorite dish I tried.

Another entree we got was the buttermilk chicken sandwich. It has bacon, chicken, cheese, aioli, and is served on grilled sourdough.
This wasn’t as good as the burger, but still quite good. By far the most interesting thing about it was the sriracha aioli, which I have never seen on a chicken sandwich before but worked quite well. Definitely an underrated way of adding spice and flavor to a sandwich.

Overall, I really enjoyed this dinner. There were some things I wouldn’t get again, and some that were merely good, but their best dishes more than made up for that, especially the burger and the poke nachos. This was the best meal I’ve had in weeks, and I would highly recommend you try it. 8.5/10

Music/Concerts

An analysis of “Sign of the Times”

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By: McKenzie Welch

Image taken from: https://soundcloud.com/emelynejacksonmonroe/
sign-of-the-times-harry-styles-cover

“Sign of the Times”, a song belonging to Harry Styles, has been a long-standing favorite song of mine since I first heard it in the eighth grade, and I’ve listened to it continuously since that moment.

One of my favorite things about “Sign of the Times” is the lyricism that it harbors. The song tells a story, and, whilst the song is fun and easy to sing along to, it has a sadder tone that is often overlooked even though it is seemingly apparent.

Harry Styles has stated himself that the meaning of the lyrics is nothing if not a topic brimming with despair. The song illustrates the feelings that follow the death of a mother not long after childbirth. Trendell states, “… ‘Sign of the Times’ deals with a young mother being told she has five minutes left to live”.

Whilst belting out the lyrics alone in your car or at a concert along with many others, it’s easy to misconstrue the true meaning of the words, but, by taking a deeper look into them, you can see that the message of the song is fairly discernible. This is my perspective on the song and what the lyrics mean.

For example, in the first stanza of the song, Harry sings:

Welcome to the final show
Hope you’re wearing your best clothes
You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here
But you ain’t really good

These lyrics can be interpreted as a final goodbye. The use of the words “final show” is a reference to the last minutes of the mother’s life before she heads up to the door in the sky, of which she cannot bribe to let her come back down to earth and live longer. This part of the first stanza essentially means that whilst this woman wants to live longer, her time has run out, and it’s turning into a bittersweet goodbye.

The entirety of the fourth stanza is a reference to the idea of people having a better life in the after life than the one they were experiencing on earth. It reads:

Just stop your crying
Have the time of your life
Breaking through the atmosphere
And things are pretty good from here
Remember everything will be alright
We can meet again somewhere
Somewhere far away from here

By singing “breaking through the atmosphere”, Styles is conveying the idea that the woman is leaving this current life and making her way into the afterlife, where they will then meet again. Styles also sings, “remember everything will be alright” as though to comfort the woman by telling her it’s alright to move on, and that everyone left on earth will be able to move on eventually and live their lives in happiness.

The chorus of “Sign of the Times” is very clearly referring to the struggle of not wanting to die yet. Harry Styles sings:

We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets

By using “we never learn”, Styles is referring to the fact that it’s always hard to let go of someone no matter how many times one has to experience it. Also, he references the fact that people are always running from death, as the bullets are a metaphor for death. Styles is saying that people are perpetually stuck in a position where they are running away from death, most likely because they are afraid of it, but often accepting that it is your time, such as the mother after her childbirth, the death itself is more peaceful.

The lyrics are much more than just a song to sing as loudly as you can when you’re feeling upset. Instead, they have a deep story behind them, and some of the meanings of the lyrics can be applicable to other areas of life.

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