VOL 120, Issue 9 - November 10th, 2022

EST. 1903SF FOGHORN
04
SFFOGHORN.COM
FOGPOD
@SFFOGHORN
THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
THURSDAY, NOV. 10, 2022 • VOL. 120, ISSUE 9
NEWS SCENE OPINION SPORTS
New nursing club starts
trans health dialogue at
USF.
Let's do the "Time
Conspiracies trivialize
06 10 12
Warp" again!
attack on Paul Pelosi.
MUSICIANS LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FLOOR AT THE
FALL MUSIC SHOWCASE
Cherrie Liu’s performance brought back 2000’s punk-chic nostalgia. PHOTO COURTESY OF GAKU SHIROMA
READ ON PAGE 07
First-year Abby Wadas
is taking volleyball by
storm.

02
THURSDAY
NOV. 10,
2022
STAFF
SUBMISSION POLICY
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SAN FRANCISCO
FOGHORN
Freedom and Fairness
Editor in Chief
ZOE BINDER
zebinder@dons.usfca.edu
News Editor
MEGAN ROBERTSON
mrrobertson2@dons.usfca.edu
Opinion Editor
SAGE BLISS-RIOS MACE
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Scene Editor
JORDAN PREMMER
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Sports Editor
CHASE DARDEN
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Photography Editor
ELISE EMARD
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General Reporter
JORDAN DELFIUGO
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General Reporter
TALEAH JOHNSON
tjohnson1@dons.usfca.edu
Managing Editor
NORA WARD
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Copy Editor
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DOMINIQUE CADENAS CALVO
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Online Editor
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STAFF EDITORIAL
PUBLIC SAFETY MUST GO HAND-IN-HAND
WITH RACIAL JUSTICE
GRAPHIC BY DOMINIQUE CADENAS CALVO/SF FOGHORN
At the time of writing, we are
entering into the Nov. 8 general election,
which will decide, among other
things, the fate of the San Francisco
District Attorney office. Vying for
the position are four candidates of
varying experience and background:
Brooke Jenkins, John Hamasaki, Joe
Alioto Veronese, and Maurice Chenier.
Whoever is elected will bear the
responsibility of increasing public
safety, actively listening to the public,
and enacting criminal justice reform.
Given the immense influence of the
role, it is imperative that San Franciscans
hold the new DA accountable to
promises of criminal justice reform.
The Thurgood Marshall Institute
lists the DA’s powers, including
the power to investigate accusations
of crime and bring charges, as well as the power
to review old cases for possible wrongful conviction.
The DA can also create alternatives to incarceration
and create “specialized units” to address
“prevalent issues within the community.”
This means the DA can address the root causes
of crime, as opposed to defaulting to policing and
mass incarceration.
In 2020, under then-DA Chesa Boudin, the
DA’s office established the San Francisco Restorative
Justice Collaborative. According to their
website, the collaborative aims to “repair the relationship
between the Asian American and African
American communities in San Francisco,”
and to “generate long term healing, rather than a
band-aid response to high-profile incidents.” The
collaboration works with several youth outreach
programs and community organizations.
The role of DA is a tightrope of balancing
differing views on how to achieve criminal justice.
Despite the progress Boudin’s office made
with the collaborative, his term came to an
abrupt end with the 2022 special recall election.
Only 46% of San Francisco’s eligible voters
showed up to the polls for the recall, and of those
voters 55% voted in favor of ousting Boudin.
Mayor London Breed appointed Brooke Jenkins
as the interim DA in his place.
Jenkins is facing a mix of support and backlash
over the ambiguities of her stance on criminal
justice reform. Upon starting in the role of
DA, Jenkins said she was “progressive,” but in
the same breath advocated for policies known
to disproportionately penalize low-income folks
and people of color. These include giving prosecutors
the discretion to charge juvenile offenders as
adults and the power to request cash bail as well
as gang enhancements.
Given the blatant racial disparities within
San Francisco’s justice system, the city needs a
DA that prioritizes racial justice. According to research
conducted by the San Francisco City and
County Safety and Justice Challenge Innovation
Fund, the per capita rate of incarceration for
Black people in San Francisco is 17 times higher
than white people — with men of color typically
receiving longer sentences than their white counterparts.
Over this past year, we have seen the ways
voting and petitioning for recall has impacted
the DA’s office. Most recently, protestors at San
Francisco State University caused Jenkins to leave
a debate over her perceived decision to delay the
trial of SF police officer Chris Samayoa, who
is facing manslaughter charges for the death of
Keita O’Neil.
San Franciscans must stay committed to
holding the DA accountable and driving forward
change. While the conversation around racial
justice and criminal reform often ends in a stalemate,
we should expect the DA’s office to take
concrete steps to ensure equity.
CORRECTIONS FROM OCT. 27TH & NOV.
3RD ISSUES:
NOV 3:
“USF announces new data ethics fellows:”
Savannah Dewberry conducted the survey of USF
students for feedback on data collection.
“ASUSF Senate resolution promotes menstrual
product accessibility:” Sofia Fontana, the social
justice chair of the Senate’s advocacy committee,
was misattributed as the Senate’s pre-medicine
representative.
OCT 27:
“Get to know Provost Oparah:” Erin Brigham’s
name was misspelled.
“Masks become optional on the Hilltop:” Morgan
Brumm’s name was misspelled.
“The world needs traditional ecological knowledge:”
information about Dr. Gregory Cajete’s
research was drawn from “Earthzine.”
03

04 05
THURSDAY
NOV. 10,
2022
ACTIVIST WILLY WILKENSON TALKS QUEER
MEET ASUSF’S NEWEST FRESHMAN SENATOR
NEWS
NIA RATLIFF
Staff Writer
AND TRANS HEALTHCARE AT USF
Last Thursday, nursing students discussed
how they would go about working with queer patients
at an event put on by student club “Queer
Safety and Education for Nurses” (QSEN). The
club is made up of queer nursing students who
came together in July when they, “Saw a lack of
understanding of queer health or trans health in
general” media and publicity chair Loi Vo said. To
help educate their cohort, the club invited queer
healthcare advocate and veteran trans-rights activist
Willy Wilkinson to talk about queerness in the
healthcare field and working with queer and transgender
patients.
Wilkinson talked about Kyler Prescott a
14-year-old transgender boy who committed suicide
in 2015 after being misgendered by medical
professionals while seeking care for mental health
concerns. His case was recognized this year under
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which
“prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color,
national origin, age, disability, or sex (including
pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and
sex characteristics), in covered health programs or
activities.”
The gender identity of transgender children
and their right to pursue medical transition and
gender-affirming care has been a subject of political
debate for several years. Arkansas passed state
legislature in 2021 banning gender-affirming care,
such as puberty blockers, for transgender minors.
The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of
Law reported that “More than 58,000 transgender
youth and young adults across 15 states are in
jeopardy of losing access to gender-affirming care”
in March.
Wilkinson said that a key to health and
well-being for transgender children is that they be
gendered according to their identity. “Trans kids
know who they are and what they want,” he said.
Diana Seelinger, a first-year biology student,
said the recent push to ban gender-affirming care
is “Scary as hell,” and a sign of the politicalization
of trans people. “Trans people are drummed up
as some incredible worry because of the fact that
somebody could transgress and change their status [assigned to them at birth]”
said Seelinger.
Wilkinson said that, of transgender and gender-expansive students within
the K-12 age range, “78% have experienced harassment, 35% experienced physical
assault, and 12% experienced sexual violence.”
In an interview with the Foghorn, Wilkinson said, “The opposition does
not realize that trans-care is medically necessary and just how devastating it is to
deny youth healthcare. We’ve seen suicidal ideation, suicidal attempts, and suicidal
completion in response to these measures and these different states where
young people are being denied care.”
Speaking to his own experience as a transgender person, Wilkinson said,
“Because we have more visibility, we’re also experiencing a different level of bias,
harassment, and exclusion from opportunity.”
To close the event, the crowd was split into three groups and given a case
study pertaining to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) data collection,
which healthcare providers use to provide trauma-informed and affirming
care to patients that are queer. The case study asked students to discuss what
policies health institutions need to implement to ensure gender affirming care,
Queer and trans health is not discussed enough, activist Willy Wilkinson said. PHOTO BY ELISE EMARD/SF FOGHORN
and how to know if a provider’s question is relevant to care or may be unnecessarily
probing.
Hanley Tran, a fourth-year nursing student, said “The problem with trans
healthcare for many providers is there’s this level of discomfort, there’s this level
of fear, of ‘I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how to respond, I’m going to
say the wrong thing’, right? It’s a learning process.”
Ashley Tam, the secretary for QSEN, said that she noticed homophobia
in her nursing cohort. “The nursing school has been around for a long time,
but there hasn’t been a lot of strides toward making a more equitable and equal
healthcare system,” she said.
Seelinger said, “When I’m [receiving care], I’m a person, and I don’t like
people tiptoeing around me. Most of what that comes down to is just being familiar
enough with queer people, trans and sexual minorities.”
“I think that by really centering our attention towards improving healthcare,
and improving the quality of care towards these individuals who are often
left behind, it ends up improving healthcare and outcomes for everybody,” Tam
said. “No matter who this person is, no matter how they identify, that is how
healthcare should be.”
JORDAN DELFIUGO
Staff Writer
Kiannah-Nicole Karani, a first-year environmental
science major, traveled nearly 10,000 miles
from Nairobi, Kenya to get to the Hilltop. She has
just been elected the newest senator for the Associated
Students of the University of San Francisco (ASUSF)
Senate, and in her term in office, she wants to improve
campus safety and streamline communication
between students and administration.
“It is insane – it feels like so much has happened
already,” Karani said. “So far I’ve voted on the resolution
to accommodate Sikh identifying students
to carry their Kirpan with them, and the menstrual
product provision resolution too. We have held a
town hall, heard over six resolutions presented in the
senate weekly meetings, and I’ve attended my first Internal
Affairs meeting.”
Karani said that her desire to run for the Senate
started when her friends talked to her about issues
they saw on campus. “It was literally orientation
week, and there were already so many concerns,” she
said. Karani said a lack of awareness about campus
activities, worries about security, and dismay over the
absence of toilet seat covers were the most common
concerns.
“I wanted to be in a position to hopefully bring
these concerns to people who could do something.”
The next step for Karani was to begin campaigning,
an experience she described as intense and intimidating.
“Printing posters and using social media was the
most stressful part of it all because it’s very much centered
around trying to stand out to the people who’ll
be voting.”
After registering to run for Senate, Karani was
allowed to begin campaigning, where she ran on a
platform of “For you, with you.” She said, “Because
I’m in the position of being a voice for the freshman
class, I can’t only consider my own opinion. I’m trying
to focus on gaining a collective understanding of
what students want to see and letting that be the message
I’m trying to push.”
Karani said that lots of students in her year specifically
are worried about public safety. “This is one
of the problems that us freshmen are especially concerned
about because we’re in a new environment and
being in this environment, having your safety compromised
is very concerning.”
As reported by the Foghorn in September, there
were two separate occasions of students being robbed
in a month as well as reports about an alleged stalker
near campus. Additionally, Karani said that students
have expressed frustration with transportation, specifically
the wait times with the Public Safety shuttles.
In addition to these issues, Karani said, “A lot of
the freshmen feel as though they don’t know what’s
happening on campus. The consensus I’ve heard is
that they just need a better way of receiving that kind
of information.”
Karani joined Senate to share her friends’ concerns with the administration. PHOTO COURTESY OF KIANNAH-NICOLE KARANI
Karani has proposed a new method of communication
between admin and students beyond just social
media posts. While SLE sends out the “Phoenix”
newsletter with campus events every week, Karani
wants another line of communication that is student-run.
“I’m currently in the early stages of working
on designing a mailing list, because while not all
students have social media, we’re all required to have
a USF email, so everyone would have access to it,”
she said.
The desire for this student-run newsletter, sharing
campus activities, stems from Karani’s struggle
to find community nearly 10,000 miles from home,
she told the Foghorn. “On a more personal level
though, figuring out how to survive so far away from
home was definitely more difficult than I previously
thought it would be.”
Reflecting on her experience campaigning, Karani
said “I am grateful for everyone who voted for me
because all of the candidates were literally so amazing
and it was just fun to be running against such smart,
capable people.”
While Karani said she still has a lot to look
forward to at Senate, she said she is grateful for the
community she has already found in student government.
“I feel as though the Senate is family. It feels as
though you can go to anyone and they’d be willing
to help you.”
NEWS

06
THURSDAY
NOV. 10,
2022
The Show
MusT Must Go On
CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE
07
SCENE
MEGAN ROBERTSON
Staff Writer
Almost 300 USF students and San Franciscans took to campus
last Saturday in fishnet stockings and platform boots to watch the
College Players’ production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
The College Players, USF’s student-run theater company, continued
their yearly devotion to the film. For over a decade, they have
started their season with “Rocky Horror.”
The movie flopped when it debuted in the ‘70s, but queer communities
have since embraced it around the globe. “Rocky Horror
was one of the first movies to show complex LGBTQIA+ characters,
an aspect which has gained the film a kind of ‘ritualized worship,’”
reporting from the BBC notes. “It’s a love letter to queer history,”
said Fen Wright, a third-year psychology major and one of the show’s
directors.
Each year, theaters, performing arts troupes, and bars perform
a classic “shadow cast” version of the show. Fans watch the 1975 film
play on a large screen, while performers simultaneously lip sync and
dance to the musical. Audience interaction is one of the main components
of the show; throughout the film people in the crowd yell
responses to the movie’s dialogue.
“Rocky Horror is a really interesting movie because it’s a product
of its time, but revolves around whoever is performing it and their
identities,” Wright said.
While the College Players kept certain “Rocky Horror” traditions
like audience involvement alive, a COVID-19 case presented a
new challenge to cast members.
Two days prior to opening night, one of the lead actors playing
Riff Raff tested positive for COVID-19 and they did not have an
understudy.
Sam Joon Fernandez, an ensemble actor, stepped into the role
with only two days to prepare — a challenging task for Fernandez’s
first theater production.
In an interview with the Foghorn on opening night, Fernandez
said the audience actually calmed his nerves. “The audience response
has been amazing, and it’s made my job on stage really easy. It was
really super fun to be able to do this role.”
“Putting Sam in a main role, he’s really come into his own,”
Wright said. “He got the blocking instantly, because he had watched
Taylor Griffin takes the stage as “Frank N. Furter.” PHOTO BY LEILA TSELNER/SF FOGHORN
the previous person do it so many times.”
The College Players are one of many theater groups around the
globe that have stuck to the “show must go on” spirit in coexisting
with COVID-19. In early 2022, NPR found that in one Broadway
show alone, producers canceled a week’s worth of shows due to a
COVID-19 outbreak. When the show resumed, more than 60% of
the roles on stage were performed by understudies.
Despite the COVID-19 induced challenges of the performance,
audiences enjoyed themselves. Elena Freiwald, a fifth-year performing
arts and social justice major, was excited to see the show for the
first time. “It was pretty crazy. I loved how into it the audience was.
Even though I had never watched the movie before I was able to follow
the storyline pretty well because of the callers and the actors doing
such an amazing job,” she said.
For Freiwald, “The Time Warp” performance stood out. The
20-person cast stormed the stage to dance along to one of the film’s
most iconic musical numbers. “It’s such a classic. The choreography
was excellent and everyone performed it with a lot of energy,” she
said.
A lively, fun performance coexisted with more serious moments
in the show. In one instance, the College Players’ cast left the stage
entirely, as the scene in the film involved sexual coercion. Moments
like this have brought up larger arguments over the dated and problematic
nature of some of the show’s content.
Phoebe Perkins, a second-year politics major and a co-director of
the show, said that the creative team focuses on performer well-being
because the content can be intense. “We have our consent workshop
at the beginning of the production, essentially to establish that anyone
is allowed to say they are uncomfortable with blocking at any
time,” she said. “We check in with actors every step of the way.”
As the executive producer of the College Players, Wright supports
the company’s yearly return to “Rocky Horror.” The show continues
because of what it means to the queer community, especially in
San Francisco. “It is easy to make fun of it as a bad movie, but it’s also
interesting to watch it as a love letter to queer history,” Wright said.
The love for the film and its legacy of camp and queerness
brought together the audience and the cast that night. “I love theater
at the end of the day,” Wright said. “Talking to the cast and crew,
they also love theater and they can feel the love from each other. I
hope the audience can feel the love of theater through us.”
Left to right, Audrey Walker, Amogh Kaushik, Alex Zeng-Yang, and Gabriel true performing with USF‘s Classical Choral Ensemble. PHOTO COURTESY OF GAKU SHIMORA
SERENA FINNEY
Staff Writer
The Lone Mountain Studio Theater hushed in astonishment as Jasper Li
produced a song live on a synthesizer at Thursday night’s Fall Music Showcase,
presented by the performing arts department. Li started by pressing a couple of
buttons that produced simple beats, and it seemed like we were in for a DJ set.
But then, he began layering those beats with vocal, orchestral, and percussive
soundbytes. The audience gasped and exclaimed as Li strutted away from his synthesizer
and towards a grand piano to play over the song that he had just created.
“This was really different,” Li, a fourth-year performing arts and social justice
major (PASJ), said. “That was the loudest clap I ever received.”
Li was not the only performer to leave the crowd speechless. The showcase
featured 15 performances from students across the performing arts department
and other majors.
The night began with an eloquent performance of “Sonata a Quattro” by
USF’s Chamber Ensemble. The soothing hum of the violin, viola, bassoon, and
cello serenaded the audience. Their performance, led by music director Daria
D’Andrea, was a smooth start to the evening.
President Father Paul F. Fitzgerald, S.J. sat in the front row. Beaming with
excitement he said, “There is something so special about the students of USF.”
Some performers used the showcase as an opportunity to leap out of their
comfort zones. Cherrie Liu, a first-year performing arts and social justice major,
debuted her self-composed piece “Ashes” in her first ever live performance. Rocking
an electric guitar and a punk-chic look, Liu demanded the audience’s attention.
“My professor inspired me to perform tonight, even showcase my song,”
she said.
Returning performers came to the stage with fresh content they were excited
to share with the crowd. Mikayla Jazmyn, a third-year communications major,
flaunted her vocal talents through a debut of their soulful original “Before the
Fall.” According to Jazmyn, the song was inspired by “a summer of letting go” of
her own fears and negativity. Eliora Brown-Egue accompanied Jazmyn on piano
and Liu was on electric bass, adding an element of funk to the performance.
When Molly Bell, a first-year PASJ major, came on stage, she brought
the audience into her world. Basked under a golden spotlight, she played her
self-composed song “Jeremy,” on an acoustic guitar that she painted with hearts.
Bell said she wants to keep making music after college. “I want to continue editing
my music and focus on writing more original songs,” she said.
To close the evening, the USF Classical Chorus Ensemble came together for
an a capella performance of “Wanting Memories,” sending the crowd home in
good spirits.
“There’s something enchanting about listening to people sing as a group. It
really captivated me,” said Alston Georges, a first-year PASJ major.
The night left other PASJ students feeling proud of their peers and optimistic
about music and performance in their own lives. First-year PASJ major, Iman
Moaddeli said, “The show inspired me about the vast possibilities that exist in
the sounds and melodies we make. It’s always exciting to see what other people
are thinking and how they express themselves.”
Foghorn News Editor Megan Robertson performed in the Fall Music Showcase.
SCENE

08 09
THURSDAY
NOV. 10,
2022
REMEMBERING ‘KRISTALLNACHT’ IN LIGHT
OF MODERN ANTISEMITISM
ELECTION DENIAL IN BRAZIL
THREATENS DEMOCRACY
OPINION
ZOE BINDER is a
fourth-year English and
environmental studies
double major.
When I was in ninth grade in Berlin, my history
class took a trip to Sachsenhausen, a former
concentration camp just north of the city. Every
year starting in middle school, our classes covered
the history of World War II, and our lessons got
darker as we got older. We visited the Holocaust
Memorial in downtown Berlin and interviewed
a Holocaust survivor to help us understand the
gravity of the history. But no experience was as
harrowing as standing in front of the wrought
iron gates that read, “Arbeit macht frei” or “work
sets you free” — the slogan used at concentration
camps.
Our guide at Sachsenhausen brought us into
the spaces that we had only come to know in textbooks
and worksheets. We walked through the
same narrow hallways that thousands of Jewish
prisoners walked through and were asked to sit
on replicas of the same hard beds that they were
forced to sleep in. We took turns standing at the
doorway of the camp’s gas chamber and looking inside.
Eighty-four years ago today in 1938, a year before the start of WWII, about
30,000 Jewish men were arrested by Nazi officials and transported to prominent
concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen.
The arrests were part of a series of pogroms, targeted massacres of an ethnic or
religious group, against Jews in Germany and its annexed territories. They began
after a 17-year-old Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, assassinated a German diplomat
in Paris. Grynszpan’s parents had been exiled from Germany as part of a mass
expulsion of Polish Jews a few days prior.
Disguised as “spontaneous demonstrations,” Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Party’s
minister of propaganda, used the assassination to justify a public attack on
Jewish culture. The “Sturmabteilung” (stormtroopers) and Hitler Youth burned
synagogues, destroyed Jewish homes and hospitals, and looted Jewish shops and
businesses. Today, the pogroms are remembered as “Kristallnacht” or “Night of
Broken Glass,” referring to the glass shards that covered streets throughout the
country in its aftermath.
Germans have been trying to reconcile the past for decades now and my
school’s curriculum surrounding WWII is part of that effort. Obviously, people my
age weren’t involved with the Holocaust directly, but our identity as Germans urges
us to face the history of our country. To understand and remember what happened.
Some of us have grandparents or great-grandparents who were directly involved on
the wrong side of history, and that is something we have to acknowledge.
Despite efforts to establish a new national identity, Germany is not free from
antisemitism. The country’s far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose
representatives have criticized Germany’s effort to remember the Holocaust, currently
makes up about 11% of government. According to the German news outlet
DW, AfD representative Björn Höcke said in 2017 that the country needed a,
“180-degree reversal on the politics of remembrance.” He also referred to Berlin’s
Holocaust Memorial as a “monument of shame,” criticizing its place in the country’s
ethos.
The AfD is part of a swell of far-right politics in Europe, but their influence
in Germany pales in comparison with other governments like the newly-elected
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Brothers of Italy, which has roots
in the country’s neo-fascist party, the Italian Social Movement (MSI). In Sweden,
the far-right party Sweden Democrats won 20% of parliamentary seats this year,
(a three percent jump from the country’s 2018 election and an eight percent jump
from 2014).
American antisemitism has been spotlit recently as well. Last month, Ye, formerly
known as Kanye West, tweeted a series of remarks including that he is going
to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” He later evoked antisemitic notions of Jewish
control and greed in an interview with Chris Cuomo when he said that he believes
in a “Jewish underground media mafia,” where “Black musicians signed to Jewish
record labels and those Jewish record labels take ownership.”
According to the New York Times, Ye’s tweets have garnered attention from
antisemites across the country, like a group who hung a banner that read, “Kanye
is right about the Jews” over an interstate in Los Angeles. The same message was
suspended over an interstate and
projected on the video board at a
football stadium in Jacksonville,
Florida.
Growing up, I couldn’t leave
the house without being reminded
of the Holocaust. Berlin’s cobblestone
sidewalks are interspersed
with golden “Stolpersteine” (stumbling
stones) engraved with the
names, deportation dates, and
dates and locations of death of
the Jewish people that lived in the
area. The main train station in my
neighborhood was a major deportation
center during WWII and
has a large sign with a list of the
concentration camps it transported
people to at its entrance. I could
never escape the weight of my
country’s history.
Others, including neo-fascist
groups around the world, have held
on to that history to fuel their hatred.
They draw inspiration from
the Nazi Party’s rhetoric, appearance,
and beliefs. Antisemitism
is a global problem that is most
threatening when we choose to
believe it is a thing of the past.
On this Kristallnacht, we need to
keep history at the forefront of our
minds to confront modern attacks
on Jewish culture.
Nazi officials looted Jewish businesses across Germany and its annexed territories. Berlin, Nov. 10, 1938. PHOTO COURTESY OF
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
HANNAH YODER
is a third-year
international studies
major.
In his acceptance speech, Brazil’s newly
elected president Luiz Inàcio “Lula” da Silva said,
“There are not two Brazils. We are one country,
one people, and one great nation.” But his vision
has yet to come true — in the months leading up
to Brazil’s presidential election, the country has
been wildly divided. The results of democracy did
not settle these divides. Instead, it left one group
celebrating and one group enraged.
Lula was president of Brazil from 2003-2011
and won against current President Jair Bolsonaro
by a narrow margin of under two percent after a
second round of elections on Oct. 30.
Bolsonaro is a former army captain and apologist
for Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship.
During his time as president, Bolsonaro cut federal
education funding, threatened reproductive
and LGBTQ+ rights, stripped away protections
for Indigenous land, and contributed to mass deforestation
of the Amazon.
Lula served jail time in the ’70s
for protesting the dictatorship. He’s
a member of the Workers Party who
promises to work towards economic
and social justice by increasing taxes
on the wealthy, expanding social
housing, and tackling the hunger crisis.
He also plans to strengthen conservation
efforts in the Amazon.
While Brazil’s ousting of Bolsonaro
is an uplifting win for the world,
the reaction from far-right groups in
Brazil parallels the reactions to the
2020 U.S presidential election with
the raid on the capital. After Bolsonaro’s
loss, hundreds of blockades made
up of people, vehicles, and fire, caused
over 60 collective miles of traffic jams,
the cancellation of 1,400 buses, numerous
accidents, and the disruption
of the transportation of food and
goods. These protests were held to encourage
the Brazilian military to intervene
and stop the transfer of power
from Bolsonaro to Lula.
The Brazilian constitution does
not allow the military to intervene in
politics, and those in support of their
intervention are thus in support of
breaking apart Brazil’s democracy and
suggesting nostalgia for the prior military
dictatorship.
Democracy only works when
members of both the winning and
losing parties recognize its legitimacy.
By these standards, democracy is not
being successfully upheld in Brazil, as
far-right voters refuse to accept Bolsonaro’s
loss.
During his presidency, Bolsonaro
decried the legitimacy of the electronic
polling system that the country
uses, instilling doubt in the integrity of
Brazilian democracy among citizens.
This may have strategically contributed
to results found in pre-election surveys
which showed that one-quarter of
the Brazilians who planned to vote for
GRAPHIC BY MADI REYES /GRAPHIC CENTER
Bolsonaro said that the president should not recognize the result if he loses.
The social division in Brazil is reminiscent of division in America. Social media
is littered with fights and neighbors rivaling because their yards advertised opposing
signs. Many of Trump’s ideals and political mannerisms are identical to Bolsonaros;
both have been known to make public racist, sexist, and homophobic comments.
Following their losses, both leaders hesitated to denounce the disruptions held in
their name, with Trump taking multiple hours to speak up and Bolsonaro taking
multiple days.
The same far-right Americans who protested Trump’s 2020 loss are now supporting
the protests for Bolsonaro. Far-right activist Ali Alexander, who organized
the “Stop the Steal” rally preceding the Capital riot, posted on social media, “Take
to the streets, brothers of Brazil! Military standby,” and went on to claim that the
Biden administration played a role in rigging Brazil’s election. Similar right-wing
U.S. activists, such as Steve Bannon, said on social media that Bolsonaro “Cannot
concede.”
The similarities between protests in Brazil and in the U.S. demonstrate that
the threat to democracy is not limited to Brazil in this period of unrest. Election
denial is a dangerous, global, lasting trend that goes hand in hand with tearing
countries apart.
OPINION

10 11
THURSDAY
NOV. 10,
2022
OPINION
Early on the morning of Oct. 28, David De-
Pape, 42, allegedly broke into House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi’s home in San Francisco, and bludgeoned
her husband Paul with a hammer. Pelosi received
care for his injuries, including a fractured skull, at
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and
returned home on Nov. 3. He is expected to make
a full recovery.
The nature of the attack against Pelosi is political.
CNN reported that during the intrusion,
the assailant asked Pelosi where the house speaker
was, implying that she was the intended target of
the attack. The attempted murder of Nancy Pelosi
— who is second in line to the presidency after the
vice president — is reminiscent of the insurrection
of Jan. 6, 2021, when far-right extremists stormed
the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results
of the 2020 presidential election. According to
AP News, on Jan. 6, rioters “roamed the halls and
shouted menacingly, demanding ‘Where’s Nancy?’”
The parallel between the attack on Pelosi and the insurrection at the capitol is
OLIVER RIVER
SATALICH is a first-year
environmental studies
major.
PAUL PELOSI AND RECENT
AMERICAN EXTREMISM
a disturbing reminder of how extremism has ballooned over the past year. A report
from the Atlantic Council found that some far-right extremists have sought support
by pushing into mainstream conservative politics, reaching new, susceptible
audiences.
DePape was subject to the rise of right-wing extremism online. NBC Bay Area
interviewed DePape’s boss, Frank Ciccarelli, about his employee’s extremist attitudes.
Ciccarelli has known DePape for six years, and said that his involvement
with extremist groups was “a gradual process,” and that DePape spoke about “Hillary
Clinton, Pizzagate, MAGA, the election was stolen — all of it.” Along with
speaking to people in his personal life about his theories, USA Today reported that
DePape ran a now-deleted blog with right-wing conspiracy theories and slander
targeting Black people and Jews.
Conservative social circles and sites with
similar rhetoric have had an unsettling reaction
to the brutality that Pelosi faced. The
Southern Poverty Law Center reported that
multiple conspiracy theories about the attack
have circulated, such as the theory that Pelosi
and DePape knew each other before the
attack and were involved in a romantic relationship,
or that DePape was a male prostitute
who Pelosi was soliciting. These theories
have turned an attempted murder against a
major political figure into a homophobic and
classist joke.
DePape’s recollection of the attempted
murder disprove the theories. Details of an
interview of DePape conducted by the San
Francisco Police Department (SFPD) are included
as evidence in the criminal complaint
submitted to the U.S. District Court by FBI
Special Agent Stephanie Minor. During the
interview, DePape told SFPD that his goal for
the morning of Oct. 28 was to “hold Nancy
hostage and talk to her,” and break her kneecaps
if she lied during their conversation. He
also reported viewing Nancy as the “leader
of the pack” of the Democratic Party. De-
Pape disclosed that after breaking Nancy’s
knees, he wanted to wheel her into Congress
to show other members of Congress what the
consequences of their actions were.
The claim that DePape was sexually involved
with Pelosi also reinforces the harmful
stereotype that gay men are predatory.
This stereotype is rooted in homophobia and
is pervasive enough to have dug its roots into
the U.S. legal system in the form of the “gay
panic defense.” According to the LGBTQ+ Bar, this defense is a strategy which asks
a jury to excuse violent crimes, up to and including murder, because of the victim’s
sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The conspiracy shifts the blame
from DePape to Pelosi: if Pelosi is gay and was having an affair, then he was in the
wrong. It removes political extremism from the context of the attack by suggesting
that DePape was motivated by a personal vendetta instead of political values.
By removing politics from the situation, conservative leaders and public figures
are free to pass off the attack as a personal issue of Pelosi’s instead of acknowledging
the systematic issues that have contributed to the rise of political extremism
and resulting violence. For example, in a now deleted tweet, Elon Musk, the new
CEO of Twitter, sent out a link to an article from the Santa Monica Observer that
reported Pelosi and DePape meeting and going to the Pelosi home together after
spending the night at a gay bar. The author of the article said, “Here's what really
happened early Friday morning in San Francisco. IMHO (in my humble opinion).”
Musk has 114.4 million Twitter followers, which gives him an enormous
reach. His decision to tweet false information about the attack on Pelosi was entirely
irresponsible. Many people lack the media literacy abilities to tell false information
from fact, and don’t go out of their way to fact check sources. According to
Brookings, Twitter is “perfectly tailored for the spread of misinformation” because
its algorithm promotes tweets with high instances of engagement. When figures
like Musk post misinformation, the high level of engagement that their tweets garner
means that more people will engage with and end up believing misinformation.
Regardless of the homophobia associated with the conspiracy theories about
the attack, Paul Pelosi is an 82-year-old man who was just assaulted in his own
home and has traumatic injuries. If he wasn’t married to a highly influential political
figure, it would be out of the question to insult him by speculating about the
circumstances of the attack.
By focusing on conspiracy theories and excusing extremism, we’ve lost sight
of what truly matters in the face of threats to the people who are the foundation of
our country’s democracy. In order to maintain the integrity of news and renew the
sense of empathy that should be afforded to all people, it should be of the highest
priority for those in power not to spread false information, and to encourage their
audiences to think critically about the information they take in every day.
GRAPHIC BY MORGAN LEE/GRAPHIC CENTER
CHASE DARDEN
Staff Writer
DONS WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Dons athletics was in full swing this week. Women’s soccer held their annual
senior night as they finished their season against Saint Mary’s College of California.
Men’s soccer played their last road game of the season against Gonzaga University,
and women’s volleyball played the no. 2 ranked team in the nation, the University
of San Diego Toreros.
The women’s soccer team honored their seniors with a win against Bay Area
rival, Saint Mary’s Gaels. The Dons got the win with strong performances from seniors
Keanna Roth and Megan Nail. The Gaels played a strong defensive match, but
the Dons persevered. Senior defender Keanna Roth found the back of the net, late
in the first half, off a corner from star sophomore Marissa Vasquez. The Dons held
the lead as they went into the second half and took home the win behind the effort
of senior goalkeeper Megan Nail, who secured her third straight clean sheet this
season. The Dons finished the season with a six-game winning streak and finished
with their first winning record since 2019.
Aside from the win, seniors of the women’s soccer team were honored with leis
and flowers as they walked the field with their families before the start of the match.
Some of the honored seniors included forwards Tia Catalano, Marie Marlow, Kaylin
Lunsford, Ashley Jordan, defenders Samantha Curwood-Wagner, Catherine
Hill, and goalkeeper Megan Nail.
The USF men’s soccer team was on the road in Spokane when they took on
the Gonzaga Bulldogs. This was the Dons' final road match of the season, and the
Dons and Bulldogs battled hard for 90 minutes. For the first half of the match, it
was high-energy and high-tempo as both teams had many chances to score, with
the Dons outshooting the Bulldogs, nine to seven, in the first half, but both teams
went into halftime scoreless. The Bulldogs scored first, with a penalty kick in the
47th minute. Later in the match, senior Arjan Dosanjh notched his fourth goal of
the season in the 68th minute with a header assisted by Easton Harryman. Both
teams aggressively went for goal for the rest of the match, but ultimately ended the
game with a 1-1 draw. A star in this match was goalkeeper Eric Waltz who recorded
five saves and is now leading the WCC in save percentage at .758 for the season.
Men’s soccer will host their senior night on Nov. 12, on the Hilltop at Negoesco
Stadium when they take on the Toreros of the University of San Diego.
Women’s volleyball took on a tough opponent on the Hilltop, the University
of San Diego Toreros. The Toreros rank second in the nation with an overall record
of 22-1 and an undefeated conference record of 13-0. The Dons and Toreros battled
hard from the first whistle, with the Dons keeping pace as they were within one
point of the Toreros at 6-5. Later on, the green and gold continued to fight as they
capitalized on an attack error by San Diego and remained in distance with a score
of 12-9. San Diego would go on to win the first set 25-18. In the second set, the
Dons looked to even the score with kills from Maria Petkova and Orsula Staka. San
Diego took down the second set 25-19. In the final set, the Dons continued to chip
away at the lead, with the Dons down 14-12 midway through the third set. The
Dons eventually trimmed the deficit down to 18-17, but the Toreros didn’t let their
foot off the gas. The Toreros answered with a 7-1 stretch and would win the third
set and the match, 3-0.
The Dons will enter their final road trip of the season when they take on the
University of Portland and the University of Gonzaga in the Pacific Northwest on
Nov. 10 and 12.
USF students can attend home games for free with the use of their One
Card.
Seniors embrace each other before their final match on the Hilltop. Pictured front to back are Tia Catalano, Marie Marlow, and Kaylin Lunsford. PHOTO COURTESY of CHRIS M. LEUNG/DONS
ATHLETICS

12
THURSDAY
NOV. 10,
2022
DONS PLAYER PROFILE:
ABBY WADAS
JOHN PAOLO
Staff Writer
SPORTS
First-year libero Abby Wadas has already made an impact
on USF’s volleyball team. On Oct. 31, she was awarded the West
Coast Conference’s defensive player of the week following her
stellar performances against Loyola Marymount University and
Pepperdine University. She played a pivotal role in both games, recording
13 digs and three aces against LMU, and 19 digs and eight
assists against Pepperdine. Although this was her first defensive
player of the week award, Wadas has showcased her skills all season
long, averaging 3.78 digs per set with 363 total, third best in the
conference in both categories.
Originally from McKinney, a suburb outside of Dallas, Wadas
had to adjust to her new team and city. “Obviously it’s never easy
but the coaches have made me feel extremely confident,” she said.
“All the girls made me feel really comfortable to just step up and
take that role even as a freshman.” Wadas also mentioned that she
is no stranger to high-level competition. She has been competing
against Division 1 caliber athletes since she was 14 years old.
Even with the experience, the change has been a lot for Wadas.
“Going from high school to college, the level of volleyball is
very different,” she said. “So I want to learn how to adjust to that
and be able to take not only the physical stress but the mental
stress of it all.”
Wadas said that there is a risk of being treated differently as a
first-year when you’re entering a new program, but that she never
felt left out in the Dons volleyball locker room. “The team is amazing.
It’s genuinely the nicest group of girls I’ve ever played with.
We are all like best friends,” she said. “It was really nice going so far
away for college and coming into a program with built in friends, a
built in support system.” Surrounded by such a supportive group,
Wadas said she has been able to deal with the stress of going away
for college and performing exceptionally well.
Wadas is dedicated to the team’s four core values of hard work,
consistency, discipline, and team first. “You do everything to make
your teammates shine,” she said. “I don’t pass a good ball for myself
to look good, I pass a good ball so that my setter can set a good
ball.”
Wadas also attributes her success to her dad, her biggest inspiration.
“I get my athleticism, my competitiveness and all of it from
him,” she said. She said that her father always pushed her to be the
best she can be, supporting her every step of the way. “He saw my
potential and he wanted me to go get it.” When she’s putting in the
hard work on the court, Wadas has her father in mind. “I do it all
thinking about him and making him proud.”
Aside from sports, Wadas hopes to pursue a career as veterinarian.
She is also looking forward to having some free time next
semester to explore the city she will call home for the next four
years, she said.
First- year Abby Wadas is already impacting the volleyball team. PHOTO
COURTESY CHRIS M. LEUNG/DONS ATHLETICS