June commencement, Women in game development and the “ComEd Four”
Plus, TV and movie recs for the perfect study break
Welcome back to ‘In the Loop’! It’s your newsletter team — Kate, Anna, Cary, Chinyere, Isabella, Hailey, Monique, Bridget and Emily — here on this slightly snowy Monday.
It’s finals week at DePaul and while many students are dedicating hours to studying and finishing projects, we’re here with your much-needed study break. Keep reading for TV movie recommendations for study breaks of all lengths. For graduating students, important dates for June’s commencement ceremonies are approaching. Plus, we’ve got the need-to-know on the ComEd trial and Alaska oil project.
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To all of our subscribers, thanks for sticking with ‘In the Loop’ throughout Winter Quarter. We will be taking a break for Spring Break next week and will return to your inboxes on March 27.
With that, let’s get into the news!
DeFRAG DePaul hosts event to support female game developers
By Anna Retzlaff
On March 8, DePaul’s social gaming club, DePaul’s Fundamental Research in Academic Gaming (DeFRAG), hosted their “Industry Night: Women in Game Dev[elopment]” event at the Loop Campus’s Student Center. Although the 11th floor is generally a desolate space after dark, the conversation volume was rising by the minute.
The lively commotion of portfolio reviews, check-ins, and visitors shifting between rooms to grab pizza indicated the beginning of a successful International Women’s Day event. DeFRAG, short for, is one of the largest social student organizations on campus. The club focuses on building a community surrounded by gaming degrees but is open to everybody.
The recent social event aimed to empower the voices of marginalized genders in the gaming industry and set students building their portfolios up for success.
The portfolio review portion of the event allowed students to get informed guidance from DePaul staff members about what the gaming industry entails. Constructing a resume for the game industry goes against common rules of thumb, like the one-page length recommendation.
“It’s actually more preferred that you have a multiple-page portfolio that actually clearly explains what you do know and maybe even details just a little about a project [so] that it can pique the interviewer's interest, versus trying to simplify it to the bare minimum,” said Madeline LaPorte, community coordinator at DeFRAG.
Many students showed up, resumes in hand, searching for a portfolio assessment. Densely-packed visitors talked amongst themselves in one room, and virtually every seat in the classroom dining area was occupied.
“Everyone, it’s starting!” said SJ Singh, president of DeFRAG. After the announcement, nearly every attendee immediately abandoned their meals and conversations, forming rows around four women seated behind a plastic table.
The main event — the panel — welcomed four women from NetherRealm, the Chicago-based studio behind the game “Mortal Kombat.” During the panel, the employees spoke about their disciplines and experiences in the industry, then answered audience questions.
“I think a lot of times women especially tend to really freak out about… earning your place at a company like this,” said Kate Burnett, DePaul senior and intern at NetherRealm.
Burnett and Singh describe seeing people of the same gender in the game industry as encouraging. “I think it is disheartening when you don’t even see the people who… are like you. Just seeing women who are killing it and doing a great job is really, really cool to see,” Burnett said.
As of 2021, 23.6% of game developers were women, which is a notable increase from 2011, when it was 15.3%. Soon to be a full-time employee at NetherRealm, Burnett said she was initially nervous about joining the team as a young woman, but the studio’s environment exceeded her expectations.
“The people on my team are older than me, and most of them are guys, and … they really do their best to make me feel welcome,” Burnett said. As the industry shifts to welcome more women, students like Singh help empower them to enter male-dominated areas of the workforce through events like this.
“It’s important to normalize female game dev[eloper]s. They’re here. They’re going to stay,” Singh said.
DePaul News
By Cary Robbins
Important information about June commencement
With commencement coming up, DePaul has written out a list of dates for students who are graduating to keep in mind. The application to be a student speaker at commencement is due by 12 p.m. on Friday, March 31. Read here to learn more about deadlines, becoming a commencement speaker, reserving tickets and purchasing regalia.
Applications for Presidential Fellowships open for tenured DePaul faculty
The Office of the President is offering two fellowship opportunities for tenured DePaul faculty and is now accepting applications for the two Presidential Fellows programs for the 2023-2024 academic school year. Teachers will be able to research and work closely with university leaders to develop actionable recommendations. Applications for both of the fellowships are due on Friday, April 7. Read here to learn more about the fellowships and how to apply.
Join the DePaul community at the Chicago Bulls game
All DePaul faculty, staff, alumni, students and friends are welcome to watch the Chicago Bulls play the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, April 4 at 7 p.m. at the United Center. Students are able to buy their tickets here, and will receive a special edition cap that will have both the Blue Demon and Bulls’ logo on the cap. You will be able to get the cap the night of the game until halftime outside of sections 113/114.
Lastly, here is your weekend sports update (March 10-12):
DePaul’s softball team lost 2-1 against Butler on Saturday.
DePaul’s softball team lost 13-5 against Butler on Sunday.
Chicago Headlines
By Chinyere Ibeh
Taste of Chicago officially moved to September — According to a summer festival and events calendar released by the city, the food festival will return to Grant Park from September 8 until September 10 with three neighborhood events during the summer. The move comes due to NASCAR taking place in Grant Park on July 1 to 2, 2023. Last week, Ald. Brendan Reilly of the 42nd Ward, which includes Navy Pier and parts of Grant Park, requested a delay of the summer events schedule. For all of the details, read Sarah Schulte’s story for Chicago’s ABC7.
Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas pick up valuable endorsements — A week before early voting begins, Johnson picked up an endorsement from Bishop Larry Trotter, a South Side pastor, while Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) and Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) endorsed Vallas. Trotter previously endorsed Willie Wilson during the primary election, who didn’t make it to the runoff. Wilson urged Trotter to also endorse Vallas, but Trotter branched off to endorse his opponent instead. Lopez, a mayoral candidate who dropped out early in the race, announced his endorsement at a rally for Vallas at the Midwest Coalition for Stop the Violence in Englewood. David Struett and Emmanuel Camarillo detail the endorsements in their latest story for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Activists sue to stop the expansion of lakefront dump on Southeast Side — Local environmental activists are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who plan to expand a lakefront dump site. Nonprofit organizations Alliance of the Southeast and Friends of the Parks filed the lawsuit on Monday, alleging that the Army Corps doesn’t have the authority to build the dump site on top of their facility. Park advocates and those in the surrounding area say the process to determine where to store waste once the dump fills up was “flawed and mismanaged.” According to the lawsuit, the Army Corps violated federal laws by approving the vertical expansion without properly considering environmental impacts. Block Club Chicago’s Maxwell Evans has the full story.
Governor JB Pritzker signs bill mandating paid leave for Illinois workers — The Paid Leave for All Workers Act was passed by the Illinois General Assembly earlier in the year. It finally made its way to Pritzker’s desk on Monday, when he officially signed it into law. The mandate will require employers to give employees time off based on the hours they worked. The time off can be used for any reason. Most employees will get at least 40 hours of paid leave per year. For full details of the bill, read Christine Flores’ story for WGN News.
“ComEd Four” bribery trial focuses on Madigan’s power and blurry line between politics and crime — City Club of Chicago president Jay Doherty, rising executive Anna Pramaggiore, Chicago Housing Authority chairman John Hooker and Michael McClain, a longtime confidant to former House Speaker Michael Madigan, are facing one of the biggest political corruption cases in the state. According to federal prosecutors, in 2016, Pramaggiore, Hooker, and Doherty were conspiring with McClain to funnel as much as $1.2 million in payments and other perks to Madigan’s associates. The move was meant to advance the City Club’s interests in the state capital. All four of them have pleaded not guilty to an indictment filed in November 2020, which charged them with bribery conspiracy. They will all make public appearances in court Tuesday, during which jury selection will begin. Jason Mesiner and Ray Long have all the details in their latest story for The Chicago Tribune.
National Headlines
By Isabella Ali
Biden Administration approves controversial Alaska oil project – The Biden administration formally approved the Willow oil drilling project, a massive operation that will take place in Alaska inside a petroleum reserve located about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The reserve is the country’s largest expanse of pristine land. The $8 billion project has the potential of producing more than 600 million barrels of crude oil in over 30 years. This would result in 9.2 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year or the equivalent of adding over two million cars to the road. The United States emits around 5.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide yearly, making it the second biggest polluter on the planet behind China. For more information, check out Lisa Friedman’s article in the New York Times.
U.S. to sell nuclear submarines to Australia – President Biden announced that the United States will sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia as part of a new defense partnership aimed at countering China's growing military influence. The agreement will allow Australia to build a fleet of nuclear submarines with advanced technology and capabilities. Biden said the agreement would strengthen the security of the United States, Australia and the entire Indo-Pacific region. The decision to sell nuclear submarines to Australia was a rare step from U.S. policy, which had last shared such technology with the United Kingdom in 1959. The move was met with criticism from China, which accused the United States of escalating tensions in the region. Franco Ordoñez from NPR has the news.
Silicon Valley Bank is shut down – Silicon Valley Bank, one of the major lenders to the tech sector, was shut down on Friday due to uncertainties regarding its solvency. Stock prices fell and the shutdown sparked concerns that other banks would also fail. In order to safeguard deposits, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation announced that it will take control of the bank, close it, and appoint the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as the receiver. According to data from the FDIC, the bank closure marks the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis and the second-largest in American history. As of December, the bank had $209 billion in assets with more than $175 billion in deposits. Brian Cheung, Rob Wile and Charles Herman from NBC have the news.
Pentagon requests largest-ever defense budget for 2024 – For the fiscal year 2024, the Pentagon is requesting $842 billion from Congress. This request has been the largest since the peak of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the mid-2000s. The budget increase is partially in response to higher weapon and equipment costs, but it is also intended to address the conflict in Ukraine as well as the strategic threat posed by China's rapid advancements. Pentagon comptroller Michael McCord stated at a press briefing that "the budget will hit a trillion dollars," most likely within the next five years, even if it just increases to account for inflation. For more information, check out this article by Tara Copp of the Associated Press.
Hey, Check This Out!
With Hailey Bosek
Hi y’all! Happy finals week! We are giving Lauren a well-deserved break this week from recommendations. While you are toiling away in the depths of the library, it is also important to give yourself some brain breaks. So put down the packets and study guides and give yourself some time to rejuvenate your mind and body!
You- Season 4
If you are pursuing this one as a study break, be careful. I binged this two-part season in two days. Penn Badgley stars as the anti-hero Joe Goldberg, who is running away from his dark crimes of the past seasons. Manipulative, gaslighting, and delusional, Joe has a loveable charm that the show cleverly uses to disguise his evil and get the viewer to root for him. This season is perfect for you dark academia lovers, as this season features Joe in the rainy London university scene. If you like mystery, plot twist, and thrills, these hour long episodes are the perfect escape from studying. All seasons are available on Netflix.
Fleabag
I might be biased in this recommendation, but this is the perfect show for a brain break. Phoebe Waller-Bridge stars in this show as the main character fleabag. This is technically a comedy. However, you’ll have to decide whether to laugh or cry at some of the heartbreak. The fiery protagonist often breaks the fourth wall to address the absurdity of her life to viewers whilst navigating the streets of London. They are 20-25 minutes long, which studies recommend for optimal studying break time. The two seasons are available on Amazon Prime.
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
If you need a little bit more than 20 minutes and haven’t seen the Oscar award-winning movie, then this might be the perfect opportunity to dive in. If being awarded Best Film isn't enough for you, then the credits for the dynamite cast might be. Jamie Lee and Key Hu Quan both were awarded best supporting Actor and Actress and Michelle Yeoh won the award for best actress. Be warned, this film is a real tear-jerker. It follows business owner and mother Evelyn Wang as she navigates her complicated familial relationships in the midst of interdimensional time travel. It is filled with action, comedy, drama, and above all love. Take some time away from the books and give yourself the pleasure of seeing this amazing movie.
Resources
Need resources regarding cooling centers, rental assistance, abortion access, COVID-19 testing and vaccines or mental health? Check out our complete list here.
That’s it for today! We will be taking our Spring Break next week, but will return to your inboxes on March 27.
Until then, take care,
The 14 East Newsletter Team