Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, Universal Studios and Chaz Bono, now has its own professional football team once again.
A vote last week among NFL owners rendered the final nail in the coffin for St. Louis fans; their Rams will relocate to Los Angeles for the immediate 2016 season.
For owner Stan Kroenke, the 30-2 decision serves as a victory to return his team to their previous home. It’s been 21 years since the Rams played their last game in Los Angeles, in which time Kroenke has repeatedly criticized the economic and fan support put forward by St. Louis and will now cough up $550 million in order to leave the city.
Waiting for him, however, is one of the largest entertainment markets in the country and enticing plans for an alluring new $1.8 billion dollar stadium located in Inglewood, 10 miles from downtown L.A. Until the completion of the stadium in 2019, the Rams will make their home in the L.A. Coliseum.
The narrative is thrilling and nostalgic for former Los Angeles Rams fans—who claimed the team for the majority of its existence—but is far more somber for St. Louis fans, victims of yet another NFL team to jumped ship on the city.
In 1988, the St. Louis Cardinals (yes there was an NFL team called that too) left and relocated in Arizona. Now, despite the city’s proposal for a new $1.1 billion dollar stadium along the Mississippi River, St. Louis fans are left in the same position as they were almost thirty-years ago.
The city has long been at odds with Kroenke and the NFL. Last Wednesday, Mayor Francis Slay spoke out saying, “At this point I’m so frustrated and disappointed with the NFL.”
Slay went on to call the league “dishonest” and added that he has no desires to re-involve himself with the NFL.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will serve as the temporary home of the LA Rams until they open a new stadium in 2019. Photo Credit: InSapphoWeTrustFlickr (CC By 2.0)
Kroenke’s feud with the city and its fans has continued despite the team’s departure. In an interview with the LA Times Kroenke stated that he wasn’t going to, “sit there and be a victim.”
However the move is not unlike many before it, leaving fans and taxpayers as the true victims.
The city and county will be forced to pay off bonds used to fund the stadium until 2021, but will do so without a team to cheer for. Instead, they’re left only with the memory of four winning seasons and one Super Bowl in the team’s tenure in St. Louis.
Fans in San Diego and Oakland may have reason to fear the same fate. Although the state of California will undoubtedly welcome its fourth NFL franchise in the near future, Commissioner Roger Goodell also gave the San Diego Chargers the option to jointly join the Rams in L.A.
The team has one year to accept the offer, which would then be passed to the Raiders should San Diego decline. Both teams were additionally granted a $100 million dollar incentive to build new stadiums in their current locations.
Only the coming months however, will prove whether or not the incentive money is enough to draw owner’s eyes away from the glamorous Los Angeles market. The league is about dollars and cents, and they will do anything to further their product.
The near future will also indicate whether the Rams’ move is a good one. Los Angeles undeniably offers economic opportunities, but it also carries its fair share of baggage. The results had in St. Louis will far from satisfy Los Angeles fans who have been spoiled over the years with the success of teams like the Lakers and Kings.
The fans, after all, they are the true life-blood of the league (whether they be in the seats or on the couch).
It’s time now for Stan Kroenke to deliver his new fans with a product that will succeed beyond the balance sheet.
Cover Photo Credit: Emmanuel_D Photography/Flickr (CC by 2.0).
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The University of Tennessee Just Had One Hell Of A Controversial Year
By Courtney Anderson
Students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have had a whirlwind of a academic year.
In between talks of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s outsourcing plans and the sexual assault lawsuit that was filed against the university, the school has also been dealing with Tennessee legislators and their feelings about the diversity programs.
It is a conflict that lasted throughout the entire 2015-2016 academic year and finally came to a head this May.
The conflict began on August 26, 2015 when the Office of Diversity and Inclusion posted an article written by the director of the Pride Center, Donna Braquet, on its website.
In the article, Braquet talked about gender identity and gender-neutral pronouns students, faculty and staff could incorporate into their everyday language. And while the post was innocent enough, many conservatives did not find it helpful.
On August 28, 2015, Fox News commentator Todd Starnes posted a piece about the article on his opinion blog. Starnes discouraged the use of gender-neutral pronouns and made fun of the University for having the post on one of its websites.
“Anything goes for the sake of inclusivity, right?” Starnes wrote.
The post then got the attention of Tennessee lawmakers who, like Starnes, felt that the post was unnecessary and posed a threat to “traditional” values.
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The Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Inclusion, Rickey Hall, was heavily criticized, as was Braquet and the Pride Center.
Soon after, the post was removed from the website while Hall was on vacation.
Fast forward to December 2015.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion posted a notice on its website reminding faculty and staff to keep holiday parties non-religious.
Specifically, they were asked to make sure “your holiday parties aren’t just Christmas parties in disguise.”
They were discouraged from incorporating religious symbols and encouraged to bear in mind that Christmas is not the only holiday to occur in the month of December.
Tennessee lawmakers did not like this advice at all.
Many of them, such as Rep. Jimmy Duncan and Rep. Martin Daniel, called them an attack on Christmas and Christianity. Duncan was one of the lawmakers to demand that Hall be fired and Cheek resign.
“Chancellor Cheek called me today and he was very apologetic over this matter. He told me that he is planning to take action within the next week,” Duncan wrote in a Facebook post. “I think the one who should be fired is the one responsible for this, Rickey Hall, the Vice Chancellor brought in here from Minnesota to run this office.”
Students at UT Knoxville fought back.
They rallied in support of Hall and demanded that Tennessee lawmakers recognize that diversity is a major aspect of successful colleges and universities.
Thus, the hashtag #UTDiversityMatters was born.
On December 8, 2015: a disastrous press conference was held.
Students held a sit-in in Cheek’s office to show their support for Hall.
Cheek and Hall were to meet students in Cheek’s office at 3:30 p.m. to address them and the press. Instead, they gave an exclusive interview to only a couple local Knoxville news stations on the third floor of Andy Holt Tower, the building where both of their offices are located. Students discovered this and rushed to meet their administrators.
Afterwards, Cheek and Hall walked to the Communications building, room 321, to finally address the rest of the press and the students who had been waiting. I
n the meantime, it was revealed by the Knoxville News Sentinel that Hall had been “counseled” and that he would no longer have control of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion website. Control of the site was given to the Vice Chancellor for Communications, Margie Nichols.
Winter break came and news died down.
On January 20, 2016, a few weeks after the start of the spring semester, a bill that would strip the Office of Diversity and Inclusion of state funding was introduced. Students immediately began taking action.
The UT Diversity Matters Coalition was officially formed and began having meetings with administration, including Cheek and Hall, about the future of the diversity programs at the school. Meanwhile, in early February, Nichols announced that she was retiring.
Things took a sour turn for diversity at UT Knoxville on March 2, when the senate voted to strip state funding.
Three days later, nearly 150 students wore black and staged a walkout of a basketball game. Throughout the month of March, the coalition continued to meet with administration.
And in April, the Tennessee House also voted to strip state funding.
On April 19, the coalition and nearly 500 students staged a mass class exit in protest of the funding cuts. During the protest, students staged a die-in on the Pedestrian Walkway, one of the busiest pathways on campus.
The following day, the coalition had their final meeting with administration. And while some of the demands were met or otherwise discussed, many of the demands were met with “No’s” from the administration.
A month later, on May 19, the University of Washington announced that Hall accepted a position as its new vice president of the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity and chief diversity officer. Hall will start his position on August 1, 2016.
The following day, on May 20, Governor Bill Haslam allowed the bill to become law without his signature. The Pride Center was immediately shut down, Braquet was fired and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion was disbanded.
Photo Credit: Courtney Anderson
Thomas Tran, UT student and a member of the coalition, was one of the students to speak at the rally. Since the end of the semester, he has consistently spoken out against Tennessee lawmakers’ actions and administrations’ lack of action.
“We have been doing everything ‘the right way,’” Tran said in an interview with RISE NEWS. “We’ve voted. We’ve called legislators. We’ve had meetings with admin. We’ve built broad base support with the student body. And this is how admin pays us back.”
The Pride Center, which administration announced will be converted into “student organization” is being run by students known as “Pride Ambassadors.” Without administrative support or funding, they are on their own.
“We have been told that we have to fend for ourselves,” a post on the Pride Center Facebook page reads. “We, who have been targeted, and harassed, and scapegoated for an entire year, have been cast aside. We have been offered up as sacrifice.”
Students have not given up.
Members of the UT Diversity Matters Coalition have promised to continue fighting for diversity at UT Knoxville. Johnathan DeWitt Clayton, a UT student and member of the coalition, said it best in a Facebook status.
“This isn’t any one issue, but rather an issue of systematic oppression and erasure, one that the university as a whole is refusing to acknowledge, let alone combat,” Clayton wrote. “But we’re here. We’re not leaving. And we won’t let you silence us anymore.”
Cover Photo Credit: Courtney Anderson
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This Gen X’er And Her Two Young Daughters Are Trying To Revolutionize Millennial Menswear
Who says that you have to be a millennial in order to know what they want?
After spending five years as a housewife, Mary Di Fede-Garcia, age 47 and a resident of South Florida, decided that it was time for a change.
She focused on the men’s online clothing market for young people, sensing that it was a soft market.
Then Di Fede-Garcia launched Solsburry last December.
Solsburry is a website where men, mostly millennials, can find affordable clothing.
According to Di Fede-Garcia, Solsburry was chosen as the name of the brand because of a story told by former Genesis front-man Peter Gabriele.
“Peter was not getting along with his band member, Phil Collins, and he got to a turning point in which he needed to decide between going solo or take the back seat at the band while Collins was the lead,” Di Fede-Garcia said in an interview with RISE NEWS. “Peter went to a place in England, called Solsburry Hill, where a sense of change came to him, decided to go on his own, and became very successful.”
Mary Di Fede-Garcia, second from left, with her husband Alex and two daughters at a party in 2014.
Change has come to Di Fede-Garcia’s life as well, but the creation of Solsburry, the brand, was not an easy feat for her.
She had to face two of her greatest challenges: the Internet and social media.
“While I was building the brand in my head, I said to myself: ‘Let me face my biggest fears right on’,” Di Fede-Garcia said. “’If I am technologically challenged and I manage to do well on the web and social media, then I would know that there is nothing I can’t conquer.’”
To overcome her fear and after working for some months with a web developer, Di Fede-Garcia established Solsburry on the web, and it is spreading its name in social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Di Fede-Garcia has had support from her family in figuring out how to efficiently use social media as a branding and sales tool.
“Seeing her struggle since the beginning in not knowing how to do certain things on the web led me to help her,” Mary’s 18 year old daughter Lauren del Pino said.
Lauren is helping with the social media marketing efforts for the brand while her 22 year old sister, Danielle del Pino, is leading the web styling and selection of clothing for the brand.
“My sister helps out with the social media section because that is natural for her,” Danielle said. “I love helping out putting together the styling and the organization for the brand, and, of course, the photoshoots.”
The two daughters not only help their mom build and maintain the brand but also, along with their friends have provided significant inspiration since day one according to Di Fede-Garcia.
A view of a Solsburry photo shoot.
“My daughters have male friends who visit the house, and they are always commenting about how the women’s clothing market is over saturated while the men’s one is missing attention,” Di Fede-Garcia said. “I decided that I wanted to provide quality clothing that is durable, easy to wash and wear.”
Solsburry, is aiming at providing clothing for young men from high school to young adults who are starting their careers- men who want clothes that make them to look good but are also affordable.
Di Fede-Garcia said that she understands that young men at those stages have other priorities that are more important than looking good.
She also contributes a portion of the proceeds from each piece sold to some charities each month.
More Info On Solsburry:
Phone: +1 (305) 275-1829
Toll Free: 1 (844) 834-1829
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Photo Credit: Solsburry/ Submitted.
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Kids, Being An Astronaut Is Boring. You Should Want To Explore The Ocean
For more than a year, my best friend Erin and I have been the two opposing factors in a long-standing argument: Which is more important to explore, the ocean or outer space?
She is a firm believer that escapism is a relevant issue that should be on the forefront of scientists’ agendas, considering our planet is treated like dirt—ha, dirt—and will eventually become unlivable, therefore we must be prepared to leave. I, on the other hand, have faith in our great Earth.
I believe that we can find answers to escapists’ queries right below our feet.
The ocean covers more than 70 percent of our planet, housing and supporting many of our living organisms and life forms over the entire planet.
The ocean affects weather patterns, provides entertainment and impacts human activity in so many ways.
It is the anchor of our very existence, yet we are killing it off each day.
Humans need to be held accountable for their role in global demolition in some way, and righting the wrongs we’ve done by our ocean is a much better option than running off to the stars to kill them too.
Our ocean is depressingly neglected.
Less than 5 percent of the ocean has been explored, leaving 65 percent of our Earth unknown.
We prioritize mapping out completely uninhabitable celestial bodies like Venus and Mercury, but continue to keep our ocean as an afterthought.
According to Larry Mayer, director of the Center for Marine Science and Coastal Engineering at the University of New Hampshire, it is a commitment issue.
Get out of here moon! Photo Credit: Johannes Richter/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
“We could map the entire deep ocean for $3 billion—no more than a single Mars mission,” Mayer said in an interview with BBC.
The sea floor has technically been mapped out, but at a quarter of the resolution of other astronomical objects like Mars.
This information is hardly useful because it is neither detailed nor does it contain any information on the life that inhabits the deep sea.
Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist and director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University, coined the ocean as the “Fruitful Frontier” in a contributing article for Issues in Science and Technology.
With this phrase, Etzioni makes a great point.
The ocean is home to organisms that will help increase medicinary advancements; it is a sink for carbon dioxide, which can be a viable solution to climate change; it is a viable catalyst for developing safer, cleaner energy.
These are only a few items that demonstrate what our ocean has to offer.
The ocean is brimming with potential, yet we refuse to acknowledge its power.
Space is a place for dreamers; the doers look toward the seas.
From Etzioni’s article:
“The ocean has absorbed almost one-third of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emitted since the advent of the industrial revolution and have the potential to continue absorbing a large share of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Researchers are exploring a variety of chemical, biological and physical geoengineering projects to increase the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) made a statement on their website that they are working to increase oceanic research.
However, as actions continue to speak louder than words, space still takes priority.
Whether it be because it seems more mystifying than the seas or because it is a way out of a dying planet, oceanic ignorance will ultimately be the downfall of humanity before anything else.
Mars is cool, we guess. Photo Credit: Kevin Gill/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
So, say this ignorance lasts forever and we eventually obtain the knowledge and technology to venture off to Mars.
Say we find a way to colonize the red planet and live full, healthy lives with little complication.
There is no doubt that we will eventually kill Mars just like we let Earth down.
We will take our vices and keep polluting planets until spaceships are our only options left, and have you seen “WALL-E”?
It does not work.
In no way should we just halt space exploration altogether; that would be ridiculous.
It is just so obvious that the government’s money should be allocated to more necessary and relevant projects.
Even if funding was cut from space exploration, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would not go out of business; corners would just have to be cut.
This means humans would most likely be cut from the big picture, for the moment.
But never fear, for we have robots!
Robots do not require the same accommodations like humans do: Food, radiation shields, armor against prolonged weightlessness and airlessness and—most importantly—a return ticket.
On the economic side of things as well, it costs much less money to send a robot into space than it costs to send a human.
Not to mention, it is much safer than throwing a human out into such uncharted territory; we can’t stand to have failed attempts when human lives are taken out of the picture.
Theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg, in an interview for CNN, said manned missions are “an incredible waste of money.”
Weinberg continued, “[F]or the cost of putting a few people on a very limited set of locations on Mars we could have dozens of unmanned, robotic missions roving all over Mars.”
A view of the Canary Islands from Space. Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
All in all, robots are disposable machines (sorry, “WALL-E”) that we can (and do) use as guinea pigs to do the dirty work humans cannot yet do in space.
So it would not even be a big surprise or change; NASA will not lose much.
While NASA will not lose much as far as human exploration, they are losing federal funding that, while it may seem small, will cause a great deal of suffering, especially in the current political climate.
President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget amendment, “America First: a Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” takes significant stabs at NASA’s agenda that is ultimately detrimental to the Earth.
Trump wants to allocate $19 billion to NASA, which is a 0.8 percent decrease from former president Barack Obama’s 2016 budget.
Trump wants to prioritize commercial flights and partnerships between private and public corporations to make this happen.
That sounds great and all, but the seemingly harmless decrease is where the problem lies.
The budget states, “The Budget terminates four Earth science missions (PACE, OCO-3, DSCOVR 241-916, Earth-viewing instruments, and CLARREO Pathfinder) and reduces funding for Earth science research grants.”
The budget will also completely defund the Office of Education, a program created by NASA to guide youth to STEM careers and make NASA a more prominent role in science and math education.
If the Office of Education cut is not bad enough, consider the Earth science missions that would die too.
DSCOVR 241-916 would work with the upkeep of solar wind monitoring capabilities, which is critical in detecting space weather alerts and creating forecasts.
According to NOAA, “[w]ithout timely and accurate warnings, space weather events like the geomagnetic storms caused by changes in solar wind have the potential to disrupt nearly every major public infrastructure system, including power grids, telecommunications, aviation and GPS.”
We literally know nothing about the sea floor. Photo Credit: Oregon State University/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
OCO-3 is an asset to the International Space Station that would detect levels of carbon dioxide with the sharpest precision NASA has crafted thus far, and it has been a great opportunity for partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The Earth-viewing instruments would give us more developed imaging of the Earth from space.
In addition to these, PACE “will provide unprecedented insight into Earth’s ocean and atmosphere, which impact our everyday lives by regulating climate and making our planet habitable.”
And finally CLARREO Pathfinder “will monitor the pulse of the Earth to better understand climate change.”
Trump wants to cut the few things that NASA has planned to monitor Earth and detect patterns, which means we will miss out on possible significant understandings of climate change and what affects it.
Not to mention, the one mission that solely has to do with oceanic exploration will be cut as well, making Americans (and ultimately all humans) more ignorant to climate change and what it will take to restore the damage done to our planet.
It’s kind of a big deal.
And on top of all that, the Environmental Protection Agency would get a 31 percent decrease if Trump’s budget ever gets enacted.
Aside from economics, pro-space explorers argue that colonizing other planets, and at the very least, gaining traction with getting more humans into space, will bring countries together to work for a common good.
This cannot be more wrong.
Let’s explore that shit! Photo Credit: Josias Caleb Pinedo Silva/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Since the 1960s, getting people to the Moon became a manhood competition between the United States and Russia.
The Space Race tore countries’s relationships down more than they were built up.
Nowadays the United States has worked with Japan on efforts to improve the International Space Station, and in the movie The Martian, U.S. astrophysicists called on China to help bring Matt Damon home from Mars.
But we cannot rely on Hollywood and singular events to fuel hope for global harmony.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, lord of the cosmos, believes that astronauts are inspirations to children.
Many do agree with Tyson: There is at least one moment in every young child’s life that they wish to become an astronaut.
This is not a bad thing by any means; inspiring children to go into science and math fields provides a sense of hope for future generations.
However, the same thing can be done, and can be done more effectively, with ocean exploration.
With the little that we know about the ocean, it means we have so much to discover.
Children should be inspired by what is right here on Earth, rather than something they likely will never reach.
If that sounds insensitive, consider the required qualifications for astronauts, besides a relevant degree:
“[The] ability to pass a NASA space physical, which is similar to a military or civilian flight physical; … 20/20 or better uncorrected [vision], correctable to 20/20 [in] each eye; blood pressure [of] 140/90 measured in a sitting position; height between 58.5 and 76 inches.”
This is all on top of obtaining an impressive enough STEM degree and at least three years of continuing studies or professional experience.
Yet none of this matters at all if there is no money or technology to safely put a human in space.
Aeronautics may sound really cool, but it is not a field for which all our children should strive.
Quite literally, we should really stop teaching kids to shoot for the stars, because getting there can be nearly impossible.
Instead, direct them to the nearest beach and let them imagine all of those possibilities!
We need oceanographers more than ever, so the next generations of scientists should align their priorities properly as soon as they are in grade school.
Space enthusiasts and ocean lovers can agree: There is work to be done in all aspects of science, and it is up to future generations to answer all our questions.
They just need to see where the priorities lie.
Don’t get me wrong, NASA is an amazing program that has done so much for humanity and the advancement of technology.
NASA works as a two-way technology transfer; much of the discoveries NASA makes can be used in other scientific fields.
NASA helped give us personal computers and solar-powered refrigeration.
They even helped show us the beauty of Tang.
However, space should not be our first priority when it comes to scientific research.
There are so many answers in the ocean that are waiting to be found.
There is so much life to discover, so many materials to utilize.
We can make great progress for our entire planet if we just looked down instead of up.
Space may be the Final Frontier, but we should pay attention to the keyword “final.”
We cannot and should not give up on our ocean just because of heavenly possibilities.
We need to preserve and restore what we have and do our planet a service that is long overdue.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: popofatticus/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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