November - 2016 Issue 9 The Vitruvian
Lourdes University’s Premier Arts & Sciences Journal November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
Mission Statement As a Lourdes University student organization, we will strive towards the same excellence in written and visual communication that is the goal of the university learning outcomes. The content of the Vitruvian shall reflect the integrity, intellectual curiosity, and service to global society that is inspired by the evangelical pursuit of truth inherent within Franciscan ideology. The Vitruvian is born of the necessity for awareness and will spark interest on campus and ignite global conversation.
Purpose The Vitruvian will strive to empower the individual with knowledge of both the local and global communitites and create a stronger individual and community at large.
The Vitruvian will create the necessity of awareness and in turn will spark a movement of readers who begin on Lourdes Campus and take their thoughts around the world.
The Vitruvian is born of the necessity for awareness and will spark an interest on campus and ignite a global conversation.
1 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
The 2016 Election and a Just Vote! Rigged System: The Faculty Advisor's Take by Katherine Melick Page 3 by Noah Roderick Page 3
A Different King of Election: A Republican Perspective
by John Sco History’s Firsts Page 5 by Dominic Esposito Page 6 Burgers With the Drs by Dominic Esposito Page 6
Pokemon: A History by Kaitlin Schroeder Page 7
The Afterparty Begins: Four Underlooked Wii U Games by Syd Klem Page 8 2 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
again and again, because there is no effort Just Vote! without error and shortcoming; but who does by Katherine Melick actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devo ons; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows As a registered Democrat, I strongly believe that in the end the triumph of high achievement, an Hillary Clinton should be our next president of the and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails United States. She stands as the most qualified and while daring greatly. experienced candidate to have run for this office. Hillary has spent her life and career helping to Therefore, on November 8, 2016 I will improve the lives of children around the world confidently cast my vote for the most qualified through educa on and immuniza ons. Hillary has candidate to seek the office of President of the always sha ered the glass ceiling for women, proving United States. I will vote for the woman who has me and me again that gender is not a qualifica on spent her life daring greatly, I will VOTE HILLARY! for success. In the words of our First Lady, Michelle Obama, “[Clinton] has more experience and exposure to the presidency than any candidate in our The 2016 Election and a life me. Yes, more than Barack, more than Bill. So She is absolutely ready to be Commander in chief on Rigged System: The Faculty day one. And yes, she happens to be a woman.” Advisor's Take by Noah Roderick The Vitruvian is a young publica on, and we have not been around to cover any previous presiden al elec ons. And so we're par cularly excited to have both Republican and Democra c perspec ves from Lourdes students in this issue. We're grateful for our contributors, but we would Though the 2016 Presiden al elec on has been love to see more poli cal wri ng in the future. mired in nega vity. I strongly believe that Hillary Clinton is the best and brightest choice for our future. As faculty advisor to The Vitruvian, it is not my The many problems facing our na on need a highly role to editorialize or to endorse a candidate. In intelligent and a calm and steady hand at the helm. this most conten ous of elec ons, however, I feel Hillary Clinton by far exceeds these a ributes. compelled to offer one endorsement: The Secretary Clinton comes with much controversy, but Vitruvian itself. my concerns were diminished when I reread Theodore Roosevelt's speech known as “The Man in Many people in this elec on cycle—from both the Arena”: the Right and the Le —have been talking about a rigged system. And they're absolutely correct. It is not the cri c who counts; not the man who points But to be clear, there is absolutely no evidence of out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer widespread voter fraud, nor is there a shadowy of deeds could have done them be er. The credit cabal of the super-rich pulling all of the strings in belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, the media and government. The truth is whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; infinitely subtler than that. While many of our who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short policies and ins tu ons do indeed favor the most privileged members of our society, the rest of us 3 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
are also complicit in this rigging every single day. We Educa on), only about 10% of what you'll be complicit whenever we choose the the path of least learning is skills; the rest of it is ideas. Which resistance. The system is rigged to make it easy for us means that if all you have graduated with is a skill to seek refuge from the moun ng pressures of set for a job, then somewhere along the way you twenty-first century adult life in our own social will have lost 90% of your university educa on. bubbles and material dreams. In the short term, this That hardly seems fair. That seems rigged. is a much less stressful way to live one's life. But the long term consequences are an increasing feeling of W h e r e a s s k i l l s a r e l e a r n e d t h r o u g h powerlessness and a growing certainty that the demonstra on and repe on, ideas must be system is indeed rigged. cul vated far and wide. Skills can be passed down from one person to another, but ideas need Not everyone is lucky enough to a end college, but whole communi es in which to grow. And your for those who do have that privilege, it can be a me family, your circle of friends, and your Facebook where one consciously decides whether or not they network cannot be that community. Those will spend the rest of their lives in their comfort groups tend to reinforce what you already know bubbles where their rela onship with wider world and believe—they offer the path of least exists on a need-to-know-only basis. And if you're resistance. They cannot foster the sort of lucky enough to a end Lourdes University, you intellectual curiosity and compe on of ideas should know that the faculty and staff here pour their that come with a real educa on. Your classroom hearts and souls into making sure that you are able to can be that community of ideas, but you need make that decision consciously. more than that. You need to take an ac ve part in crea ng the community of ideas.
That's where something like a student news publica on comes in. When you contribute your ideas to a publica on like The Vitruvian, you get to decide what you want others to know, rather than being told by someone else what you need to know. We happily accept wri ng on all kinds of subjects, and you do not have to think of yourself as a skilled writer in order to contribute. All that But there again, the system is rigged. Your personal we ask is that, instead of resigning yourself to future is murky; your financial outlook is shaky, and your place in the rigged system, you take the college is more expensive than ever. The path of small but courageous step to dare yourself and least resistance is to think of college as a transac on your community to know. Sapere aude, Lourdes! in which you give your money and your me, and in return you receive skills and a cer ficate. But if a er four or five years, all you have are skills and a cer ficate, you should demand your money back from the ins tu on and your me back from yourself. If the authority figures in your life have convinced you that a university educa on is about acquiring skills for one par cular job, then, I am sorry to say, you have been duped. Even in the professional disciplines (e.g. Nursing, Business, 4 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
A Different Kind of Election: A Hillary Clinton is the Washington establishment's Presiden al candidate but she is marred in Republican Perspective scandal because of her private email server that by John Scott had state department informa on on it and leaked classified emails that give Americans a The elec on of 2016 is unlike any other in history, window into the extent to which this elec on has America will either elect the first female President or been rigged in her favor. Super delegates gave the countries first non-poli cian to the most Hillary Clinton a massive advantage of over three powerful office in the world. However, what this hundred delegates on Bernie Sanders before the elec on could mean is a fundamental change in primaries even started. Although Bernie Sanders Americas foreign and domes c policy. What the next confirmed himself as a socialist, he ran as a President has to deal with is rising infla on, crippling democrat and a racted enough people and won debt of more than nineteen trillion dollars, and a enough primaries to come within a stone's throw rising threat from ISIS, so whoever gets elected will of winning the nomina on only a couple of certainly have a tough job to do. Now the ques on is months before the conven on. In the elec on of what is what kind of President do the American 2 0 1 6 t h e r e i s a n o t h e r a l t e r n a v e t o people want to have, given the general dislike people establishment candidate just as there was forty have with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. years ago and that is businessman Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has never been a poli cian, but he is a successful businessman with companies all over the world and a net worth of more than three billion dollars. Trump's campaign has been self-funded to a large degree and more so than any major party candidate in recent history. What Donald Trump brings to the table is an understanding of finance and turning debt into surplus as he has done for himself. However, The last me character became the central issue in a Donald Trump does lack an quate foreign policy presiden al campaign was in `1976 The republican experience foreign policy experience because he s ll splintered by the fallout from the Watergate is not a poli cian which limits his understanding scandal the democrats were able to run Jimmy carter of the military. The new President whoever it will a state Senator and one term Governor of Georgia be does not understand all aspects of issues that because his character was his best a ribute and is what advisors are for, and that might help people viewed him as trust worthy. In the elec on of Trump broaden his understanding of foreign 1976 character meant more than poli cal issues policy. Donald Trump has made offensive because in the wake of the Watergate scandal the comments regarding women and illegal republican party lost the trust of the American immigrants that a seasoned poli cian would not people. There was something to be said about the make. Donald Trump has a lot to learn but he has fact that Jimmy Carter being apart from the scandal not been inves gated by the FBI for espionage. riddled Washington poli cal establishment which The ques on now is who does America want to made him the perfect candidate in 1976. Fast be the next President? forward to the elec on of and America is in a very similar situa on to that of 1976. 5 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
first person to think of that. All I can imagine of is History’s Firsts a husband and wife in some form of igloo or mud by Dominic Esposito hut and one day one of them looks at the other and thinks “Hmmm I wanna show affec on to my significant other but I don't know how to do Recently, I came across one of the greatest mysteries it...... Maybe if I smack my jaw against their jaw of our universe. One that I think has been ignored for they will get the message.” Maybe someday in far too long. When did hugging people become the future people will look back at what we do socially acceptable? It is such a strange prac ce of today and think “Who was the first person to take the human race. We see someone we like or a picture of their food and show it to their someone in emo onal distress and our first ac on is friends?” It will probably go along with the to get as close to them as possible and wrap two of ques on “Why are people named Dominic our limbs around them. Logically it makes no sense, Esposito so darned awesome?” but the weirdest part is that it works! We normally feel be er a er hugs which just makes the whole thing extremely strange. I can see the idea that Burgers with the Drs maybe hugging has always been normal but it s ll by Katherine Melick doesn't get rid this scene in my head of a bunch of Roman soldiers si ng around and discovering the The students slowly filled the Lourdes Campus wonders of hugs. Ministry House on Wednesday at around 6:30 in the evening, gathering in celebrate one another and star ng new friendships while con nuing old ones. Dr. Dwayne Beggs, a professor of History at Lourdes University and director of the First Year Experience program, was a generous host. Dr. Peter Sibilio, professor of Theology, also hosted.
The professors created this func on so that students and their professors could get to know each other be er and share a community. This event is a great idea for First-Year Experience students to par cipate in, and a fantas c Centurion 1: Hey Arthri s come over here a opportunity to make new friends. The event was second. also fun for people who like history and/or Centurion 2: Yea what's up? theology. The event brought many people Centurion 1: (Wraps arms around the other) together, and students found a lot in common Centurion 2: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh What are you with each other. They talked about poli cs, video doing? games, football, and their Lourdes experiences Centurion 1: Trust me this is going to awesome. with each other. Speaking of people who were the first to do something, who was the first guy to eat a chicken This event was so much fun, and I eagerly await egg? Some random peasant was running around the next get-together in the future. All are trying to live past 22 and just saw white spherical welcome! object come out of a chicken's rump and just thought “I'm gonna eat that”? Or even kissing. Who was the 6 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
Pokemon: A History were rewarded because according to the Pokémon themed website Bulbapedia, the by Kaitlin Schroeder Japanese Red and Green versions, along with When it comes to the video game scene, very few their Blue version, which was released a couple of games have become quite a phenomenon like months later, went on to sell 10.23 million copies Pokémon. First released in Japan in February 1996 altogether in Japan alone. Bulbapedia also states by companies Game Freak and Nintendo, they that in North America, our Red and Blue versions became a major success almost instantly. 2016 sold a combined 9.85 million. So just between marks Pokémon's 20th anniversary, and with Japan and North America, the original Pokémon Pokémon Go being a massive hit over the past games in their respec ve regions sold just over summer and with Pokémon Sun and Moon coming 20 million copies. out on November 18th, it's safe to say that Pokémon is s ll very relevant in today's world. Pokémon When Red and Green were released on the games are a childhood favorite of many adults and original Game Boy in Japan, two of the biggest high school and college students, so it's also safe to complaints about these games were all of the say they create a lot of nostalgia as well. Overall, it glitches found in the games and that some of the has sold over 279 million games according to the Pokémon sprites didn't look so great. To fix this, gaming website Kotaku, and according to the website Game Freak released Pokémon Blue Version go Nintendo News in 2014, the Pokémon Company Japan in October of 1996. In the Blue version, makes 1.5 billion dollars in just one year. So in honor Pokémon were also found in different spots than of Pokémon's 20th birthday, and just in me for Sun in Japan's Red and Green. However, when and Moon's release, let's take a look at the roots of Pokémon was released in North America in the series. September 1998, there were a couple of changes from the Japanese versions. Americans had received Pokémon Red and Blue as our first two versions. Even though it would be easy to say that we didn't receive Japan's Green version, that isn't exactly the case. Our games used the Pokémon loca ons from Japan's Red and Green while taking the fixed bugs and sprite art from Japan's Blue version. So in a way, we received completely different than Japan did, as our versions didn't have some of the bugs that Japan's Red and Green did, and the Pokémon in our version were found in different places than in Before any of the games were released, there was a Japan's Blue version. Later in both regions, lengthy development period involved with Pokémon Pokémon Yellow was released. It had more Red and Green in Japan. Produc on had started in 1990 and lasted a total of six years, mainly because the developers needed to work on other games to ensure they had the money necessary to complete the project. Game Freak, the company that developed Pokémon, almost went bankrupt due to the Pokémon games, and several workers quit because of the situa on. However, these efforts 7 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
similari es with the anime, which was first released The Afterparty Begins - Four in Japan in 1997. This version had very few changes between its Japanese and North American Underlooked Wii U Games counterparts. by Syd Klem
Part of the reason these games became so popular is because they are very accessible and easy to The Wii U, first launched in 2012, is on its way out understand. Unlike having a complex, hard to follow as Nintendo prepares to launch the Switch in plot line like other role playing games, the main goal early 2017. Though plagued by weak sales and a of Pokémon is to catch every single species of poor marke ng campaign, the console has Pokémon and to become the Champion. While some assembled some of the best games of the eighth people might cri cize the simplicity of this, it makes genera on. Here are four of my personal the games appealing to kids and to newcomers of the favorites that I would highly recommend if you genre. On top of having very accessible gameplay, can find a Wii U for cheap. these games have become famous over the years for the glitches that can be found within them. Even Tokyo Mirage Sessions (2016) though Japan's Blue version was created to fix the bugs that could corrupt save files, there were s ll some bugs found within it and therefore the American Red and Blue versions. Some of the more famous examples include MissingNo and the Mew glitch.
Very few video games series have been as successful as Pokémon has. Even though development of the original games might have been long and rocky at some points, the efforts of those at Nintendo and RPGs are frustra ngly scarce on the Wii U. Tokyo Game Freak have been recognized. As stated earlier, Mirage Sessions might appear a shallow, candy- the games have sold 279 million copies, and to top colored concession, but manages to provide a that off, there is also an anime, a trading card game, sa sfying 40+ hours of turn-based enjoyment. and manga have also been based off the video The main draw of the combat system is the games. There is also a market for Pokémon plushies, “Session” feature, which allows for characters to figurines, and toys. Not a lot of video game perform a acks in sequence with one another franchises can say that, making the popularity of for myriad effects. With a party that expands to seven by the end of the game and a host of Pokémon very impressive. Seeing that Pokémon can specialized techniques that can be performed be enjoyed by kids and adults alike, it's safe to say it is between individual ac ons, Tokyo's flashy ba les going to s ck around for a while. are a joy to watch.
Are you interested in finding out even more The story never deviates significantly from JRPG informa on about Pokémon? Bulbapedia is a great tropes, but the character dynamics make the side place to start looking, and there are several YouTube quests genuinely enjoyable beyond farming for channels that offer tons of facts on Pokémon, like EXP. Some are rousing and exci ng, others are T h e J W i z , T a m a s h i i H i r o k a , a n d emo onal and touching, and the best are DidYouKnowGaming. hilarious in unexpected ways. 8 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9
Bayone a 2 (2014) a lack of gimmicks like items or arbitrary progression systems. The finer aesthe c details have not been ignored either. The game boasts gorgeous visuals and a thumping electronic soundtrack, along with the ecsta c announcer from F-Zero GX, the greatest racing game of all me, who screams bloody murder every me you take first place.
On top of everything, there's the “Neo Future Pack,” a DLC pack with eight addi onal courses for only $5 alongside the generous $15 tag on the Probably the best-known tle on this list, but based base game. Both prices are insul ng to a game on its lacking sales it s ll needs to be experienced by this good. I am willing to trade mul ple internal more. As the tular Umbra Witch, you'll ba le the organs for more content in FAST Racing Neo. forces of Heaven and Hell with an arsenal of menacing weapons and flashy combos. With the The Wonderful 101 (2013) original Bayone a (2009), developer Pla num Games created a combat system so cathar c that they've iterated on it in every ac on tle they've developed since. That inclina on towards refinement shines through in the sequel's blockbuster produc on values and silky anima ons, all running at a mostly smooth 60 FPS.
If the joyous lunacy of the opening sequence- in which Bayone a engages a platoon of angels atop an out-of-control fighter jet careening through Manha an- doesn't at least rouse a smile, then The Wonderful 101 lives up to its name. In an all- something must seriously be wrong with you. out-war against an invading alien menace, you will control a team of one hundred superheroes FAST Racing Neo (2015) who combine their bodies into “Unite Morphs” to form enormous weapons. The simple premise is held together by superb execu on. The sense of scale is immediately apparent, with gigan c enemies looming over a mob of ny heroes. Firm but fair difficulty will force you to learn the game's deep combat mechanics inside and out while tes ng your strategic adaptability.
All that aside, The Wonderful 101 is a game about moments. Moments like figh ng a dragon while falling from a skyscraper, boxing with a giant That's not a typo. “FAST” is just how developer robot in an erup ng volcano, or blas ng off into Shi’nen chose to display the tle. A er rocke ng space to confront a final boss that's bigger than through the 16 chrome-gilded courses this futuris c the planet you're defending. That's not a spoiler racer offered, I would be surprised if they didn't because nothing can prepare you for actually capitalize the word. FAST is a beau fully simple experiencing it yourself. This is a game you will game: razor-sharp controls, face-mel ng speed, and remember for years a er comple ng it. 9 November 2016 The Vitruvian Issue 9 Come to Game Festa November 19th At the Den!
Looking for a place to rest and unwind before finals? Luckily for you, Gaming Society will be hosting Game Festa on November 19 from 7:00pm - 10:00pm.
The event will see contestants competing in six different games, including table tennis and foosball, along with video games like Mario Kart 8 and Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Each contestant will have one chance to earn points from each game. In the end, the top three players will be awarded with $30, $20, and $10 respectively. There is noentry fee, and food and drinks will be provided free of charge.
Please join the Gaming Society for a night of pizza, prizes, and fun! Join us on Facebook for updates on events and meetings, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/662271517273067/
The Vitruvian is a student run journal that is always seeking further input and opinions from faculty and staff here at Lourdes University.
We are always accepting articles in the form of interviews, reviews, and editorials. Additionally, we would love to invite art students to submit their work. At the Vitruvian we wish to showcase all forms of expression including photography and design.
If you would like to contribute in our upcoming issues, please contact either Dr. Noah Roderick ([email protected]), or Sydney Klem ([email protected]) 10