I was born two months prematurely with congenital diplegia cerebral palsy. That is a whole story in and of itself.

RELATED: My Body, NOT My Choice

Growing up in a public school system, I saw firsthand how lucky I was to enjoy the "benefits" of the disabled existence: alternative testing locations with extra time allotted, elevator usage without question, close parking spots outside destinations, while still maintaining some "normalcy" of the human existence: the ability to walk, talk and remain in general education classes with my able-bodied friends and peer group.

The older I became, the more I understood my ability to "contort" myself was relatively unique to me. Not everyone who is disabled has the "luxury" of being able to mask it in a crowded room - and thus dispel ignorant first impressions - as promptly or as directly as I can.

Having said that, there was no one with my same duality in my public school system, making me the "token disabled child" until I got to college.

I remember my first collective meeting with Ball State University's Office of Disability Services. I was surrounded by equally intelligent people with disabilities.

Suddenly, I was no longer a disabled person who - by some miracle - happened to be smart. I was a smart person who happened to be disabled. The thing that had made me unique - and predominantly self-conscious - for nearly two decades was no more; my identity was a description.

I knew this cultural identity shift would happen at the collegiate level, but I was not prepared for how it would affect me. I thought it would make me feel relieved or liberated, but I felt gaslit more than anything.

From my perspective, when people began to treat my disability like it was "no big deal," I was taken aback.

"What do you mean it is no big deal? It is my life," my eyes said at a glance.

However, it did not take me long to understand that the remark was rich with subtext. "No big deal" was not a discredit toward the reality of being disabled. Instead, it was meant to underscore the actuality of being seen for more than such. With this understanding came a sense of internal shame: maybe I was the problem.

"If I keep talking about my disability, no one will see me for more than such," I thought.

Coincidentally, I also realized not every disabled person in my college town had made that revelation - particularly disabled men. By now, I worry that the ones I have interacted with may never.

About a month into my first semester of college, I remember how refreshing it was to not look to the left or right of me and see snickering faces or be on edge that people would ask about my gait as I walked by.

I narrowly let go of the angst. Thankfully, not soon enough to let myself be hurt by the inevitable.

The first - and only - person on campus to ask me, "Why you walkin' like that?" was a man in a wheelchair. The irony was not lost on me. It is something I will never forget.

To be clear, the question itself was not the issue. The issue was all in the approach. "Why you walkin' like that?" and "Are you okay?", for example, are two very different approaches that ask the same questions. I am only bothered when answering the first one.

In several of my personal interactions with disabled men in workplace settings, I encountered behavior that felt entitled and dismissive, which challenged my expectations.

I have wondered whether some of the behaviors I have observed could be shaped by overprotective environments growing up, though I recognize that experiences vary widely.

Research from The National Library of Medicine in December 2019 suggests that overprotective parenting disrupts normal independence development, which can intersect with gender expectations.

"Although parental control behaviors are more likely to be considered protective against risky sexual behavior, the relation between parental overprotection and risky sexual behavior is unclear. Furthermore, parental overprotection may influence peer selection and prosocial behaviors in emerging adults, which may, in turn, influence outcomes of risky sexual behavior, as suggested by primary socialization theory," according to the study.

To that end, the same coddling disabled men are given, even beyond their childhood homes and into the streets of society, does not exist for disabled women, as women have historically been declared the "inferior" sex in American society, as noted by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Last month, I sat in on a series of organization leadership interviews, as part of my role within student media. In one case, I was present not as a decision-maker, but as an observer during both the interview and the deliberation that followed.

One of the candidates, a wheelchair-bound man, and I were both born with cerebral palsy.

After not being selected, he shared his disappointment on a public social media forum, reflecting on what the outcome might mean and questioning whether his disability played a role in the decision. His response spoke to a broader frustration - one that blended personal ambition with the uncertainty many disabled individuals feel when opportunities do not go their way.

In my experience, expectations can differ along gender lines, and I have sometimes felt that disabled women are granted less leeway in certain environments.

The situation raises questions not just about representation and access, but about how we, as disabled people, process rejection, advocate for ourselves and engage with the systems we are part of - especially when emotions are high and stakes feel personal.

My mother, for good, instinctual reasons related to my physical safety, has long-since wanted me to date a disabled man. Instances like the above remind me why I have not, and why I am far more hesitant to do so now.

I was raised knowing that being disabled is not an excuse to get what you want. Disability is a description - not a qualification that automatically pits you above others. When disability, or any minorital label for that matter, such as race, ethnicity or gender is used as leverage without merit, it sets the demographic - and all people who identify within it - back, lessening the impact and credibility of true discriminatory threats.

It is not hard to obtain real-world experiences like internships or jobs solely because one is disabled, as my peer suggested. But, it is hard to obtain such things if one is not likeable or collaborative.

Being a member of an underrepresented population is a delicate responsibility. With it comes the social understanding that one's actions have the potential to influence how someone else views an entire community of people.

When that responsibility is mishandled - when frustration turns outward or accountability is deflected - it does not exist in a vacuum. It can reinforce the very stereotypes others within the community are working to dismantle.

The result is a quiet but constant recalibration, working not only to be seen as individuals, but to counterbalance narratives we did not create. Such perpetuation of stereotypes can be twice as harmful to women.

In January 2022, actor Peter Dinklage, born with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism, spoke out against Disney's decision to make a live action "Snow White" during an episode of Marc Maron's podcast, "WTF"

Dinklage called the story and its treatment of little people "backward" for the present-day time period.

Disney responded to his concerns in a statement reported by Variety.

"To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community," a spokesperson said. "We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period."

Dinklage's comments, though they may have been well-intentioned to avoid perpetuation of stereotypes, ended up threatening the livelihoods and opportunities available to actors with dwarfism.

Similarly, the wheelchair-bound men I have interacted with in close quarters on my college campus view their role as less of a delicate responsibility and more of an opportunity to make themselves the martyr for disabled people, which I would argue, is shameful - and demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge for the fact that disability appears in many forms, across many lives.

There is a difference between advocating for yourself and making yourself a martyr.

Advocacy looks like naming a concern, grounding it in experience and inviting accountability. It asks questions, seeks clarity and pushes for change without assuming intent.

Martyrdom, on the other hand, shifts that focus inward. It frames the outcome as proof of personal injustice before the full picture is understood, turning a moment of disappointment into a broader indictment.

The distinction is subtle, but fundamental. Advocacy creates space for progress; Martyrdom can unintentionally narrow it.

Personally, although it has taken just over two decades, I have no problem advocating for myself. I do, however, feel very uncomfortable in instances where I am called upon to be the "spokesperson" for disability rights and access-related issues.

This, again, is because disability is a spectrum, and I recognize the dexterity and mobility that I am fortunate to have. I can offer perspective; I will not be patronized.

Disability is a description, a piece of the puzzle called life. One's decision to make it their whole identity, something I have - albeit narrowly - avoided via ironclad support from close friends and family, is unfortunate.

I understand the complexities of the disabled existence. Disability is so ingrained into us that it is nearly impossible to believe that other, able-bodied people see us for more than such.

That's why I feel for my disabled peers who have reached young adulthood without the same steadfast support systems I have, which have kept me from becoming my own worst enemy time and time again.

From what I have observed, paralyzed men prefer to act as if the world is working against them, and that as a result, the people within it owe them something.

This is an unfortunate, selfish choice, rooted in paranoia. By doing so, one is prone to automatically assume the worst in people, fostering a lifetime of loneliness and isolation - despite living with something that makes them largely dependent on the strength, help and kindness of others.

That posture does not just isolate the individual - it distorts how the rest of us are seen, forcing others in the community to carry the weight of perceptions we did not create. Advocacy demands clarity and courage; martyrdom demands attention. Too often, it comes at everyone else's expense.

Contact Katherine Hill via email at katherine.hill@bsu.edu.

We celebrate the months of the year in order to commemorate moments in our history and culture. These moments can range from St. Nicholas to the founding fathers, all the way to a fleeting fairy tale of a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow.

March is a month that many do not think has a correlation, but March is full of history, challenges and barriers to overcome for a community overlooked and locked away.

March is a time to celebrate movement through walking, rolling and everything in between. It is Disability Awareness Month.

Growing up with a physical disability, I know all too well the challenges and pressure that society puts on everybody, with a special intensity for those who might not fit the mold of what society deems acceptable. Disability is a spectrum. No two people are alike, no matter if the diagnosis is the same, and I think that is a homage to our humanity.

But disability is rooted in history, defined by jockeying for control and a battle between the forces of acceptance and ignorance.

Acceptance is hard. People are going to have a hard time accepting things and people they do not understand. That is just in our nature. However, I believe human nature has the ability to adapt and evolve like no other living organism on the planet. It just does not happen as fast as we want it to sometimes.

So, I have to deal with looks, inappropriate comments in school about things like intimacy and how it feels to be the only one in my family not to walk. People always assume that if I take someone out on a date, that they drove me instead of me driving them, because there is a cultural attitude that people in wheelchairs cannot drive a car.

When I got my driver's license, the DMV workers did not know how to act and treated me like I was five. These are uncomfortable truths and realities that people with disabilities face on a cultural level, but acceptance is deeper than surface level.

The acceptance of disability has to come from the person dealing with that inability, and that is what Disability Month represents in its totality. It is a movement of acceptance from the people outside looking in, and when we look in on ourselves through self-reflection.

My acceptance journey has come a long way since I was a child, and it has not always been a straight line to get to where I am today. I still carry a chip on my shoulder that gets in the way more than I would like to admit, but I grew up in an able-bodied household. I grew up in that culture and trust me, I was stubborn.

I did my best to keep up with my siblings and not stray too far behind, even on my wheels and on my knees. My parents treated me exactly like my siblings, and that was a blessing in disguise, because it not only made me strong - it made me who I am.

It made me like part of a family instead of feeling like an outsider looking in on my family. Not only that, but it also caused me to not understand that I was different. When I saw other people with disabilities, I would think to myself, "I am not like them." I am not happy to say that I looked down on them.

I was in a special education room, and throughout kindergarten and first grade, I avoided that place like the plague because I did not think I belonged there. I would have rather been with my siblings and people who looked like them than people who look like me.

At that time, I did not understand that I was not going to be able to keep up with the people who looked like my siblings forever and I was going to have to find a way to adapt to keep up with the people I wanted in my life.

I did not have very many disability role models growing up. Besides family, my therapist and teachers who took me under their wing, it was not until I got to college that I truly understood the meaning of finding your people and accepting other people with disabilities, because there was always a divide.

I felt like there was an intelligence barrier that kept me from having meaningful connections and conversations with my classmates early in my educational career, especially within my special education experiences.

I still have moments of spite with other people with disabilities who have a wheelchair, but can also walk. For a second, I cannot help but think "Do you really need that wheelchair?" But I have learned to turn that negative talk into understanding.

Disability is a spectrum and chronic illness does not always affect the body the same every day, nor does it affect everyone in the same way. It is not easy all the time. I cannot always go speeding in a straight line like my siblings or like an ordinary 21-year-old. But I am okay with where I am, who I have found and the community I have built alongside the path I have carved out for myself.

In my experience, the ignorance I have faced is from the belief that ignorance is bliss in our society. There are the people who just hate other people because they are too afraid to open up their minds and try to see where other people are coming from. Unfortunately, that is just a given sometimes.

You should see the people's faces when I tell them I am part of the largest minority group in the United States. A white man saying he is a minority does not flow well with the perception of what a minority is in this country. I got told that I was a cisgender white man that has had all the privileges in life and had nothing to complain about.

First off, the ability to walk is a huge disadvantage and advantage for people. I am not saying that I would give up my life to walk, but I think people take it for granted more than they realize. That was from a fellow person with a disability.

The Paralympics, which take place in March, and The Special Olympics, which take place in June, are two great organizations that help young adults and children with intellectual and physical disabilities compete on a national scale. They are a gesture of acceptance aimed at challenging societal stereotypes about these athletes.

The Paralympics are Olympic events that happen every four years in the winter and the summer, just like the Olympics, but there is no medal counter on our computers, no reporters on the ground getting significant airtime, and there are no delegations from other countries.

Politicians do not come and support these events because the only money they find in disability is to frame it as an inspirational story, and that is what the national media does. They miss the picture of the depth and history that my culture and community has to offer.

Even at a university that prides itself on accessibility, navigating opportunity has not always been simple. Last month, I learned-for the second time in a year-that I would not be selected as editor-in-chief of the student magazine. I won't lay out my qualifications or make a case for myself, because that's not what this story is about.

But when I shared the news with my parents, there was a pause before any words came out. And then, almost instinctively, we found ourselves asking the same question: is the world - or even this university - ready for an editor-in-chief who looks like me? It is not an easy question to sit with. But it's one I have had to learn how to carry.

Over time, moments like this have a way of turning into quiet reflection. You begin to wonder how decisions are shaped - how much they rely on familiarity, on past experience and on what leadership has traditionally looked like. In those moments, it is hard not to ask whether every story and perspective is fully understood in the room where those decisions are made.

I do not know how many people involved in that process had ever engaged with someone like me in that context before. I do not know what assumptions, if any, entered the conversation. And maybe that is part of what makes it difficult. There are not always clear answers, and sometimes there are no conversations at all.

But those conversations are not always easy to have. Sometimes, the hardest part is not the outcome - it is finding a way to talk about it at all.

You might be sitting in a blind spot that you have never thought about. I am lucky to have lived a fortunate life, but I am an exception, not the rule. I still deal with what some people would call discrimination. However, I would call it an uphill battle and a chance to teach people that individuals with disabilities are more than just a diagnosis from a doctor.

I know some people who read this might connect it to some of the DEI programs that you may have heard about in our political climate, but I can assure you that I believe this story is bigger than just a fickle political policy.

I write this story because it is important to me to celebrate all the people who have gotten overlooked, just like me.

I had a friend in high school, Sean, with autism who would sometimes get overwhelmed by social norms and society's expectations, but he could build a multifaceted functional arm out of building blocks.

There are people out there like Sean that have minds that can improve our society for the better, and I hope that this story gets people thinking about unity, celebrating our differences and that it is not always what is on the outside that tells the whole story. This March marks the 40th occurrence of Disability Awareness Month being observed, and we have come a long way since 1987. Many minority groups suffer, fight and crawl to get national media attention, like Black History Month. I am not comparing my struggles to what they face on a daily basis. But I do know that we are a younger movement than Black History Month is, so it gives me hope to see growth in national eyes and impact.

Hopefully, Disability Awareness Month can be that movement for my community for generations to come.

Look past the inspirational disability story you may see on your feed or in the news. Look beyond the inspirational stories of the Paralympics and see the competitor behind the disability. See the person. The neighbor. The father, mother, son or daughter. Reach out to a friend you know and say, "Happy Disability Awareness Month! Want to celebrate?"

The small things go a lot farther than you may think, and inclusion and acceptance are no small piece of that puzzle. This story may be rooted in my experiences, but it is not about me. It is about celebrating our culture and history with the 70 million Americans who live with a disability.

Happy Disability Awareness Month my friends and to everybody who has helped us advance this far. Your support and dedication certainly does not go unnoticed. We do not always stand together, but no matter how we move, we do it together.

Contact Dillon Rosenlieb via email at dillon.rosenlieb@bsu.edu.

Maloney said that even the Yankees, Dodgers and Tigers even get waxed sometimes, and that it was just Southern Indiana's game.

"They outplayed us, they out pitched us, they out hit us," Maloney said. "In every facet of the game they won."

The head coach said it was a good thing it was a mid-week game and not a Mid-American Conference (MAC) game, but Maloney said the team can go back to the drawing board and learn from it.

The Cardinals struggled pitching, as they walked eight batters, let up ten hits and gave up 13 runs.

"You can't walk eight guys and [win]," Maloney said. "The pitching and defense have to be better than it was today."

Sophomore infielder Brayden Huebner was a positive on the game, as he recorded a double and two runs batted in (RBIs) and hit two other "missiles" as Maloney described.

Huebner has been a big positive for the Cardinals this season, as the infielder is hitting .294 with three home runs in the early year.

"Just a highly competitive kid with a very good swing, he's very athletic," Maloney said. "He's a good player and he's only going to get better."

Ball State's next scheduled home game against Oakland City Mar. 25 was cancelled, so the next game the Cardinals have will be a home series Mar. 27-29 against Ohio.

Maloney said while it is always the goal to win the midweek non-conference games, he said "the MAC games is all that matters." The head coach wants the team to start preparing for Ohio.

The Cardinals' 7-2 conference record is good enough for number two in the conference, but Maloney said that record will only hold as long as the team plays good baseball.

"If you play poorly, any team will beat anybody," Maloney said. "We got to get back to playing good baseball."

Contact Kyle Stout with questions via email at kyle.stout@bsu.edu or on X @kylestoutdailyn.

Tonight: This evening you can expect calm conditions with a low of 38 degrees. Mostly Cloudy skies with winds coming in from the south-southwest at 5 mph.

Tomorrow: Just a light coat is all you'll need as you head out the door tomorrow morning. 39 degrees to start of the day, kicking up to 57 degrees by noon. Then to wrap up the day the temperatures get up to 68 degrees. Lingering clouds throughout the day with winds remaining calm.

Seven-Day Forecast: Brief warm up then late week storms cool us down quickly. Thursday evening into Friday morning severe storms are possible. This includes heavy rain, strong winds, hail, and thunderstorms. Temperatures falling 35 degrees from Thursday to Friday. Expect highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Then early next week rain returns but temperatures are warmer. Stay weather aware for later this week.

- Assistant Chief Weather Forecaster Elizabeth Myers

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Ball State softball suffered a close defeat to the Butler Bulldogs and fell to 12-13 on the season.

Butler took a 3-0 lead right out of the gate following the top of the first. Senior Ella Whitney responded by hitting a homerun her very first at-bat of the day, narrowing the deficit to 3-2 at the end of the first inning.

This marked Whitney's eighth homerun on the season.

Ball State tied up the game 5-5 in the third inning with Whitney hitting an RBI.

Butler took the lead back in impressive fashion as juniors Olivia Roberts and Makena Alexander hit back-to-back homeruns to increase the Bulldogs' lead 7-5 through five innings.

The Cardinals responded with Whitney hitting a double and managing to send a Ball State runner home to slim Butler's led to only one.

Ball State showed strong fielding at the top of the seventh and it looked like it was anyone's game.

Butler came out with the upper hand as the Cardinals had three ground outs to finish the game.

Ball State faces Toledo this upcoming weekend in a three game series with a chance to get back in the win column against the Rockets.

Contact Bryce Pennell with any questions @bryce.pennell@bsu.edu or on X @bryceBSUDN

Iandolo: It's pretty good, naturally. I have been a head coach before, and being here so long, I recruited most if not all these players as part of the recruiting process or main part of the recruiting process, either been in the gym with them or had been recruiting them. It's a lot different than going somewhere new to be a head coach where you don't really know anything and know any of the guys like you have to learn all of it. At least here, I knew the guys a lot. There was a lot I didn't have to learn and just made sure the guys were good with the change, and we got some good coaches to help with that as well.

Q: After stepping back into the Muncie area as Volleyball coach, what were some of your main goals you were looking to set in year 1?

Iandolo: Win the conference, you know? The main one is to win the regular season, to win the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA). to go back to the Final 4 ideally, and if we can get to a National Championship, we can compete there. That would be awesome. That's what we want to be doing every year, and the first thing I told the guys is 'the goals haven't changed.' Every year that I have been here, the goal is to win the championship, and we still talk about it every week. We have things that we can get better at…especially as I get new coaches in here and they give their ideas and input. Some areas we can be better at is figuring out what those were and really attacking those to try to push limits.

Q: Do you feel that pressure being Ball State Men's Volleyball coach with the countless banners that hang up in Worthen?

Iandolo: No, I just would like to win and compete at a high level, and I was like that as an athlete. So, it's not new to me and I wouldn't say 'pressure,' but there are a lot of people that care about what we are doing, and I think that's awesome. It brings with it a lot of support, and what comes with [that comes] responsibility to both the players and to the support of the program, mak[ing] sure that we are doing things the right way. No team is perfect, and it's rare that a team goes through the season [that] is undefeated. So, we are going to take losses here and there, but at the end of it, as long as we are playing the way that we need to be playing the way that we need to be playing, whether we win or lose at the end of it, we did it the right way. I will be happy with that. Definitely the goal is to put more banners in Worthen [Arena], and I don't take that as 'pressure.' I want to win and I want the team to be successful.

Q: Did you expect the team to achieve a 17-3 record this early into your coaching tenure?

Iandolo: Maybe not exactly that record, but there was no part of me that didn't think we should win most of our games if not all of them. Our schedule is pretty tough, and we had a lot of ranked teams that we have played at the time of us playing them. We have lost to the number one team and then to a couple of ranked teams in the conference. Those are good losses, not bad losses. We have had to learn some things about ourselves, and we have talked about all year we have everything with our team. We need to win this year and win a championship this year and I wouldn't say it is expected, but I'm not surprised. This is what we are trying to do and it is just that we gotta keep climbing. Just don't let off the gas, make sure we keep going more and more and more to make sure we win this game. That is how I feel about the season.

Q: What type of identity were you trying to create going into the season?

Iandolo: Definitely carrying some of it over as I was a part of what we were doing here. I believed in what we were doing, and I just think there are some things we need to be a little bit better at. One of those was discipline and accountability, especially from our upperclassmen, which I think we are getting this year which is showing itself and then we need to be better with our serves and defense. I think we have made some big improvements there. I think we have gotten better at the serve pass and the defense which is like a high effort, accountability [and] playing together as a team.

Q: How have the players bought into that and have you seen that carry into this season?

Iandolo: They have bought in really well and it was immediate. When the switch happened this past summer those next few days all I was trying to do was call the guys to get them on the phone with as many of them as I could and talk to them. All of them were just I don't wanna go anywhere and I will see you in August. This is how we are going to do things and guys are just pumped ready to go. It has carried itself into the season and nobody's perfect. We have our moments where we are slacking or not doing the things we should be doing, and all that kind of stuff but we have been talking to them about consistency and that is all about doing it right away more often but that does not mean you are going to be perfect. It is just stacking wins and that is just stacking days where you are doing things the right way. Stack practices where you are training the right way and workouts where you are training the right way. If you do that more often than not, you are going to be successful.

Q: Volleyball is a momentum based sport so how has your team maintained that composure in some of those high-pressurized situations?

Iandolo: It is about playing together and staying aggressive. Not backing off when things get tight and I think it's something that we have been really good at this year. We have been responding when things aren't going our way. We have dropped a couple matches but we won the match right after. We dropped a set and then won the set right after that and that's all you can ask for. Then it is how do we fix whatever we are struggling with and how do we make it better. We have to fix it and we just can't let it stay. We didn't play well and we are gonna keep not playing well? No, we need to fix that and need to be better.

Q: As the season continues what areas would you say the team needs to improve on so that they can be reaching its full potential at season's end?

Iandolo: We gotta be cleaner at the end of sets. Sometimes, we take a little too long to close out games. When we are in the 20s - and then all of a sudden - we give up a couple points. You don't need to give up those points, finish the game [and] don't let the other team back in. We are playing good teams, and if you give them a few free points, they could take that round. You saw what happened vs Ohio State. We were down 8 points, and we almost came back. They let us make a couple of plays - and all of a sudden - now the momentum's back to us. All the teams we play are capable of doing that, and it is all about finishing games. [We] still got to get better and more consistent with our defense. Our blocking's been pretty good, and then we have some matches where we are really good defensively behind it. Then we have some matches where we are not great defensively behind it. So…something we work on almost every day is block and defense, putting in good serves and put[ting] ourselves in good positions, but I think those are two big things. Our offense, we can score points with the best of them. Can we stop the other team and be a little bit better there? Can we finish when we have the opportunities to finish sets? We gotta do it quickly and not give them any life.

Q: What are some potential long term goals as you hope to carry the success that you have made this year into future seasons?

Iandolo: We gotta keep building up. This is a program that I believe should be competing for the top 10 nationally every single year and we have the resources for we have the support from our alumni to do that. We are just continuing to build that. We are using this year as another building block for alumni support and donor support. I am hoping that will translate as we get in the next few years of financial support for more support for the program. They have been great so far, and [we] just gotta keep pushing the envelope. There is a lot of talk right now in coaching circles of 'How [can] we push the envelope of men's volleyball and of our programs? What is the next thing we can do to improve our life for our players, to make our players better to get better recruits like to travel like to travel to do cooler things like with competition?' I would say what we are doing now is just repeating and getting better. It is just an endless cycle, and that is how you develop really good players as you have players as freshman and they see how it is done and come back and they are even better the next year, just continuing the support and [we] gotta keep recruiting the right players so we keep training them and developing them.

Q: Any message you wanna send to fans that have come out to your games in support of your seasons so far?

Iandolo: We are undefeated at home, and one of the bigger reasons why we play better here. It is something that we are working on playing better on the road, but they are definitely a big part of our success. The guys love playing here, and we have got recruits that come on visits and they see that environment that we play in and they want to be a part of that. Our fans are loud and rowdy, and there are always thousands here. That is amazing and awesome. It is fun to play in that environment. I believe we are a top five environment to play in the country, without a doubt. There are a handful of schools, and I think ours is one of them, [where] if we don't have fans coming out and supporting us, we definitely don't have the record we do. Being able to look up and around and see all the people is fun for our guys, and [they] have fun with it. If you are having fun and you can play good volleyball, you are gonna win a lot of games. It is gonna be hard for teams to come in here and do what they need to do. It is going to be big. If we achieve our goal of winning the regular season, we get to host every tournament game we play. That part will be much needed as we continue this season, so [I] just wanna say, 'Thank you.'

Contact Zachary Kendall with comments via email atzachary.kendall@bsu.eduor on X @Kendall_Zachary.

Today: A beautiful day with the temperature being 56 degrees and mostly sunny, winds coming from the south-west at 15 mph, and if your going on a walk, jog, or run bring a light jacket.

Tonight: Cloudy skies with the temperature being 40 degrees with winds coming from the south south-west at 20 mph, and if your going out make sure to bring a jacket with you.

Tomorrow: During your morning commute the temperature will be 41 degrees, and it will also be cloudy, you will see a little bit of the sun and feel more warmth at 12pm during lunch hour, and at 5pm the clouds will come back but it will be in the mid-to-high 60s.

Seven-day forecast: Wednesday high of 71 but cloudy with the low of 60, Thursday high of 80 with thunderstorms in the afternoon with a brief cold front cooling the temperature leading to Fridays high being 46 degrees with morning showers and then clearing up later in the day, Saturday cloudy it with it being 52 degrees, Sunday and Monday being Mostly Cloudy with Sundays high being in the mid-60s and Monday high being 71 degrees.

-Weather Forecaster Jon Urbina-Reyes

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X @NLIWeather for breaking weather updates.

NewsLink Indiana is a proud Ambassador for the NOAA Weather-Ready Nation program.

For more information about the Weather-Ready Nation program please click HERE

Tonight: Make sure to bring a jacket or coat outside tonight since temperatures will drop below freezing with the low being 28 degrees. The wind will also be a factor tonight with a consistent 15 mph wind and gusts up to 20 mph. Conditions will remain partly cloudy into the early morning.

Tomorrow: As you start the commute to work or school, temperatures will remain below freezing at 29 degrees. However, the wind will calm down to 5 mph in the early morning. Temperatures will quickly rise and the cloud cover will move away giving sunny conditions at noon with temperatures in the mid-to-low 40s. Clouds will move back in through the afternoon as the temperature increases to the high of 53 for the day.

Seven-Day Forecast: After a cool start to the week, temperatures will begin to rise again on Wednesday with mostly cloudy conditions and a high of 66 degrees. Thursday has the potential to have some record breaking temperatures with the high being 76 degrees. However, there is a chance for showers and thunderstorms after 5 p.m. These showers will continue into early Friday morning causing the temperatures to dip drastically. The high for Friday will be in the mid-40s, for an almost 30 degree difference in temperature between Thursday and Friday. The weekend will see the slow climb back up in temperatures with the sun finally emerging on Saturday with a high of 49 degrees. Sunday the high will climb back up to the high-50s with slight cloud cover expected throughout the day. As next work week begins, cloud cover is expected to return with temperatures rising back into the mid-to-high 60s.

- Weather Forecaster Evan Reed

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X @NLIWeather for breaking weather updates.

NewsLink Indiana is a proud Ambassador for the NOAA Weather-Ready Nation program.

For more information about the Weather-Ready Nation program please click HERE

Glass Alliance Egg Sale and Hunt

Grab your family and friends to help you search for eggs hidden in Oakhurst Gardens, and be on the lookout for a special visit from the Easter Bunny! Candy-filled eggs will be available for children to find-please limit to five per child so everyone can enjoy. Not in the mood for a hunt? Purchase beautifully hand-crafted glass eggs and other themed pieces made by Ball State University students from the Marilyn K. Glick Center for Glass. Each unique piece makes a perfect keepsake or gift.

• Price: Prices vary
• Location: Minnetrista Museum and Gardens Education Center in Oakhurst Gardens
• Date and Time: Saturday, March 28, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The West Wind

Come see a new play by local playwrights John and Jenni Marsh! Ride the rails across turn-of-the-century America in this heart-warming comedy about finding friendship, purpose and inner strength.

• Price: $20 for adults, $15 for students
• Location: Casazza Family Studio Theatre
• Date and Time: March 20-29. 2026, Friday and Saturday Shows at 7:00 p.m., Sunday Matinees at 3:00 p.m.

Learn about 3D Printing

Curious about 3D printing? Join Fabrication Lab Manager Andrew Arthur for 3D Printing, a two-part introductory series that teaches you the basics of 3D printing. In the first session, you'll learn how FDM 3D printing works, what materials used in the Fab Lab, where to find 3D models, the basics of slicer software, and more!

• Price: Free
• Location: Fab Lab, AT 141
• Date and Time: March 25, 2026 and April 1, 2026, 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Live at RoHo's: Andrew T

Come listen to local musician Andrew T and enjoy some delicious martinis at RoHo's!

• Price: Free entry
• Location: RoHo's Martini Bar
• Date and Time: Saturday, March 28, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Hull Property Group, a real estate company based in Augusta, Georgia, that focuses on improving enclosed and run-down malls, has previously purchased 37 other malls across 17 states for redevelopment.

RE/MAX Real Estate Group's broker-owner Ryan Kramer said the original plan for the Muncie Mall, established in 1970, was to tear down the old movie theater, JCPenney and the Sears building to make way for four storefronts and major retailers.

But he said that as anchor spots and mall tenants continued to decline, the mall became less and less viable.

"Anchor spots are very important because they drive a lot of traffic," Kramer said. Losing those anchor spots can take a toll on a business.

"So, once they started to lose Sears and JCPenney's and Carsons, then it became kind of a tumbling effect to, you know, losing a lot of that momentum with the mall," Kramer said.

John Mulherin, the senior vice president for government relations at Hull Property Group, said, "Once all your anchor stores leave, it puts a lot of pressure on the interior shop stores because those stores don't have the foot traffic to make them successful."

Mulherin said the lack of foot traffic in secondary-market malls, such as Muncie, is leading to many of them being shut down.

"In these secondary markets, they're being shut down," Mulherin said. "And once they're gone, they're gone, right? And they're not coming back.

However, the lack of foot traffic and interest in the space from major retailers is not the only reason Hull Property Group has decided to proceed with the demolition; rather, it is because of the building itself.

"The building is the misimprovement," Mulherin said. "The building keeps people away, both mentally and physically."

Hull Property Group discovered that the 130,000-square-foot mall has only one air-conditioning system throughout the building, along with one fire riser, one fire suppression system and one electrical system. The cost to split up the infrastructure would have totaled "a million five," Mulherin said.

"You're better off tearing it down and creating the offering and then build[ing] something new," Mulherin said. "It's actually cheaper to tear it down and build something new."

But that was not the only turning point that convinced Hull Property Group that demolition was the best decision for the Muncie Mall.

Because of the leases the current tenants of the mall have, Mulherin said Hull Property Group did not want to interrupt them so close to the holiday season. But in November 2025, Hull Property Group began receiving notices from tenants stating they would be out of the mall space after Christmas.

It got to the point that Hull Property Group realized the mall itself might no longer be viable.

"Between the tenants who had already notified us and the tenants who were month by month, who could leave any time they wanted, I was going to be down to about a 7 percent occupancy in June of this year," Mulherin said.

Mulherin said that as the mall continues to deteriorate, it will negatively affect the target, the goals and everything around it.

"Blight begets blight," he said. "Nobody is going to make a multimillion-dollar investment on the curb out parcel unless the behemoth behind it is a viable going concern."

Ever since the mall opened in 1970, its value has continued to decline. In the last 30 years, the mall's value has gone from approximately over $2 million to less than $70,000, Mulherin explained.

"The value of the mall is based on the rental income coming in on the mall. And when it's full, that mall is worth a lot of money because of the occupancy of the unit. But now the occupancy has went down. The value of the mall goes down with that," Kramer said.

All of these components led Hull Property Group to one conclusion: that the mall was no longer viable and their original redevelopment plan would not be cost-effective. The cost of the original plan, Mulherin said, was approximately $9.8 million, whereas the cost to demolish the building is roughly $5.3 million

"I've got a much better opportunity of attracting someone to the property with a clean slate than I ever would have with our original phase one because the mall behind it was not proper[ly] viable," Mulherin said.

With an open, viable plot of land, various tenants have the potential to move into the space. Mulherin said there are multiple interested buyers with their eyes set on the site.

"So, we develop, and we'll build, you know, we'll build for whatever tenant that comes along," he said. "But we've had interest already since the word's gone out that we're going to have eventually a blank slate now."

With phase one of the plan set to begin in April with the demolition of the JCPenney and the Sears, Hull Property Group cannot begin the second phase of the demolition, which consists of the rest of the mall, until within 90 days of the last tenant vacating the property. This can take anywhere from six months to two years, Mulherin said.

Despite that, Hull Property Group aims to move forward with its plans as soon as possible because it knows the Muncie market is strong, especially along McGalliard Road.

The main challenge will be scheduling, as there are still tenants in the mall. It would be easier to tear the building down all at once, but because Hull Property Group is working around tenants, Muherin said that cannot happen.

Hull Property Group has made it known that there are two main things being focused on when it comes to the mall's redevelopment: developing the site to meet market demand, and being more disciplined about who gets let back onto the lot.

"It's not necessarily the tenant you have, it's the tenant you don't have that counts," Mulherin said. "You can put the absolute wrong tenant in there. It's going to keep a lot of other tenants out."

The current tenants of the mall are all looking to relocate, but there is no word on whether or not all of the current businesses will remain in Muncie.

"I did hear that Books-a-Million definitely wants to stay in our market and is actively looking for replacement space in the Muncie market. So, the hope is that others will also do the same thing," Kramer said.

However, the challenge many tenants will face is the moving and tenant improvement expenses they are likely to incur, Kramer explained.

As of March 2026, there are plenty of ideas for what could replace the Muncie Mall, but Kramer said everything remains speculative until contracts are signed.

"It's a concept. So, that back 25 acres could be apartments. It could be a national wholesale club, it could be a car dealership, it could be anything," Mulherin said.

Mulherin believes the lot has potential as an apartment site, but is unsure whether apartments are needed in that area of Muncie.

From a real estate perspective, Kramer disagrees.

"I am not a big fan of considering apartments on a lot like that, because there's plenty of room to do it there, but I would much rather see all business there," he said. "But there may be some opportunity, because there's so much space that there could be some mixed use."

Owl Mayhall, a fifth-year landscape architecture student at Ball State University, whose thesis is about the redevelopment of the Muncie Mall with a focus on wetland filtration, spoke about their thoughts on the new redevelopment plans.

"I think it is a bad idea. I mean, that's an understatement, I guess. But I think they are very blinded by the monetary issues of it all," Mayhall said. "Like, right now, it's not making money, and that is the only thing they're seeing."

As a student and a resident of Muncie, Mayhall said they had expected the demolition for some time.

"I was very hopeful for some type of renovation, but I think Muncie specifically has been struggling in a lot of different ways."

The current Muncie Mall building adds no value to the tax roll and is considered a misimprovement, but Mulherin believes that the ad valorem valuation for this site can increase as potential major retailers gain more interest in the lot's clean slate.

"We're projecting right now that the ad valorem valuation can potentially go from $2 million, as it currently sits, to over $45 million," Mulherin said.

Mulherin said the demolition should be done by the end of 2026.

This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

Contact Jayden Vaughn via email @jayden.vaughn@bsu.edu.

Hosted by: Chris Dawson, Ian Fraser, AshWeird, Jaxx Lomax

Edited by: Chris Dawson

Graphic by: Chris Dawson

After falling 2-1 in the opener Mar. 20, the Cardinals rallied in the second and third outings to take their third conference series win.

In the second game Mar. 21, Ball State had their backs against the wall down 6-3 in the top of the ninth inning. That was until junior first baseman Jack Bakus pinch hit a grand slam to take the lead, leading to an 8-6 road win.

"This is the theme of the [team], it's been amazing," Head Coach Rich Maloney said. "Different guys' numbers [have been] called and they answered the bell."

The head coach said that in the history of baseball, pinch hitters usually hit under .200, But all season, the Cardinals' pinch hitters have come in in big moments and have shown out

"We've been having so many guys get big pinch hits when the games on the line, that's been amazing," Maloney said.

Ball State found themselves in a similar position Mar. 22 in the rubber match of the series, as the team was down 4-3 to start the ninth inning. But the Cardinals scored four straight runs and were able to hold on in the bottom of the inning for a 7-5 victory.

"The guys are showing great resiliency," Maloney said. "They've been a great comeback team, we've had amazing victories, and they never quit."

The ability to come back in these games is a big reason why the Cardinals have a winning record again, and are 7-2 in the conference.

"We were on the brink of losing several times these first nine conference games," Maloney said. "We found ways to win most of them."

Coming into the season, the Cardinals had so many new faces, and there was some uncertainty about who would step into the bigger roles for the team. There has not been a shortage of talent so far, as Maloney said he has used the most players he has ever used before while coaching.

"It's just the way it's worked out," Maloney said. "To use the whole roster, it actually is a really good thing because everybody knows that they can get their number called."

After their third straight Mid-American Conference (MAC) series victory, the Cardinals will head to Evansville for a midweek matchup with Southern Indiana Mar. 24.

Contact Kyle Stout with questions via email at kyle.stout@bsu.edu or on X @kylestoutdailyn.

Fast fashion has dominated the clothing industry for the past couple of decades as it gets pieces from the garment factories to store shelves in little time and even saves retail companies money. Retailers don't want to increase their prices because their customers don't want to buy expensive clothing.

According to the NBC News article "New clothes feel cheap? They really don't make them like they used to" by Jing Feng, the demand for low-cost clothing has surged since 2020, helping fast-fashion brands like Shein and Temu thrive. This causes other retailers to have to compete with these cheap clothing brands, which forces them to cut costs in their clothing production. In this article, Feng included that approximately 60% of the total production costs for clothing come from the fabric. The remaining 40% accounts for labor costs and additional decorative details like buttons and zippers. So retailers will choose to use lower-quality fabric to cut costs and keep up with other fast-fashion brands. The less effort and time that goes into the clothes, the quicker it is to put these pieces out on the shelves.

Fast-fashion significantly reduces the quality of clothing to make it quicker and cheaper. Ball State University Professor of Fashion Industry Studies Diana Saiki says that customers tend to care more about keeping up with the latest fashion trends and buying from popular brands, and they ignore the lower quality.

"We've become so branding-focused that sometimes people don't pay attention to the quality versus the name," Saiki said. "Consumers would rather partake in the latest trends, and they don't care about the quality, really. They're not going to wear it that long."

Saiki said that fast fashion is fueled by trends, which circulate more rapidly with the help of the internet. In the past, the fashion industry had only a few seasons of clothes to produce. According to the article, "What Really Happens to Unwanted Clothes," by Beth Porter, the fast fashion industry has allowed for more than 50 microseasons to exist throughout the year. This then puts more clothes into circulation, which contributes to the reality of overconsumption.

"Before overconsumption, if you look at the homes, they have these small closets, and today, they have these giant ones to hold all these clothes," Saiki said. "I don't know if it's really that needed. And it's also American. Americans are culturally sensitized to buy stock. If you go to Europe or other countries, they are much more into quality. They'll slow the production down, and then they know good-quality clothes as well as good-quality handbags. Americans are just really into buying stuff."

Not only do Americans like to exercise their capitalistic right, but over-consuming and impulse buying have been made much easier over the past few decades. According to the journal article, "Click to Buy: The Impact of Retail Credit on Over-Consumption in the Online Environment," by Lauren Ah Fook and Lisa McNeill, online shopping has made buying products convenient as customers are able to do it from the comfort of their own home. However, online shopping has also made it more convenient to impulse-buy. Not only is it much easier to click a few buttons to have something shipped to the consumer, but customers can get free shipping if they put enough clothes into their cart to reach a minimum amount of money. They also allow customers to send back clothes for free if they don't want them, which allows consumers to put more in their carts. However, it's not always convenient to return and ship these items back, and Saiki admitted that she bought multiple of the same item in different sizes -and forgot to return the ones she didn't want.

Online shopping provides a convenience that increases the likelihood of impulse buying, but evolved methods of payment have also worsened overconsumption. According to the article, "Spendception: The Psychological Impact of Digital Payments on Consumer Purchase Behavior and Impulse Buying," by Naneem Faraz and Amna Anjum, the ability to pay for something without even having to pull out a wallet makes spending money almost thoughtless. When customers use their phones to pay or even just tap their card onto the reader, it weakens the mental link between spending money and its consequences. When customers use physical cash, they can watch their money supply decrease in a transaction. The increased use of digital and card payments has made overconsumption worse as they don't force customers to physically see their money decrease.

Not only have digital payments evolved but so has the attitude surrounding thrifting.

Audrey Robbins, Ball State University assistant lecturer of fashion industry studies, said that when she was a kid, thrifting was looked down on and seen as a lower-income-class activity. Thrifting has since then increased in popularity, especially since it is a more sustainable option than buying clothes brand new.

"Thrifting has taken on a completely different meaning today," Robbins said. "You feel that sense of, 'I'm helping contribute to a more sustainable economy. I'm not contributing to as much waste.' I think that there's a little bit of luck too, like, 'I found this. I'm the lucky one who scored this awesome piece.' So there's a little bit of pride that comes with thrifting now that we didn't have in the '80s or '90s."

However, in the case of sustainability, thrifting ends up being a double-edged sword. Robbins teaches a class on fashion and sustainability and said that most of her students don't know how to recycle their old clothing.

"I've had this conversation with my students frequently," Robbins said. "If I say, 'How do you recycle your clothing?' everyone says, 'Well, I donate it.' Well, that's not recycling it. That's moving your junk from your home to somebody else's space. So that doesn't actually answer the issue of the overabundance of waste because we don't have a good way currently to easily recycle."

According to Robbins, states would have to invest in infrastructure that would be able to recycle old clothing to be turned into new clothing. However, even having this infrastructure wouldn't give people a perfect recycling solution as it is difficult to extract virgin fibers from modern clothing.

"What the problem is in fashion is if you look at a label, very few things are 100% polyester, 100% cotton, 100% nylon," Robbins said. "We add in 50% polyester, 50% cotton; we add in all these different combinations. And when you break them back down, you can't say, 'OK, I'm going to pull the polyester out of the cotton.' There's no way to break them back down to that virgin fiber to be able to make them into something that is going to be as good a quality as when it was originally made. So there's a bit of a gap right now on how we truly recycle because we're just moving things out of our space."

Thrifting also comes with another issue. Donation places like Goodwill are unable to sell all the donations they get due to damage or mildew that can spread quickly to other clothes. According to Porter, 5% of the clothing donations that Goodwill receives go straight to the landfill.

Blake Edwards, a Ball State University alumnus, owns Well Made Vintage, located in The Village. This vintage thrift store has been in Muncie for over three years and has been a huge success, according to Edwards. He said he sources all of the clothes sold in Well Made Vintage and says there are clothes he avoids when sourcing products.

"Lately, we've been repairing a lot more things, and we have a friend now who is repairing a bunch of stuff for us that has holes in them," Edwards said. "So we stay away from damaged clothes unless they're really cool pieces. We have a massive pile in the basement of stained stuff because it just doesn't meet the store expectations."

While Edwards approximated that around 10% to 15% of the clothes in the store don't sell, he said those clothes are not thrown away. He said they still can be used to help other clothes be sold.

"If we have a really ripped-up pair of pants, we can save that and use it for the belt loops for other pairs of pants when they're missing," Edwards said. "Other things will either end up in our fill-a-bag or we always try to donate to St. Vincent De Paul in town."

Using two different pieces of clothing make something new is known as upcycling.

Robbins is currently teaching Fashion 381, which involves an event at the Indianapolis Airport that takes place on Earth Day called "Recycled Runway." This event features sustainable pieces of clothing, and Robbins' students are preparing for it.

"Students are creating upcycled, re-imagined pieces where they are taking things that would have otherwise been discarded," Robbins said. "So maybe it's a shirt that had a hole, or maybe it's a pair of jeans that was shredded or even stained in some way. They're taking all of those and breaking them down into other new pieces."

Robbins said the only downside to upcycling clothing is that these pieces are difficult to clean. Though upcycling is a sustainable practice, clothes that are made from upcycling cannot be thrown into a laundry machine like traditional clothes can. They are more fragile and cannot able to be frequently cleaned like other clothes. However, Robbins said that people should reduce washing their clothes in general due to the amount of water it takes and the pollution laundry contributes to.

"A single load of laundry usually uses 15 to 30 gallons of water, so having larger loads of laundry and waiting until you truly need a full amount of water is ideal," Robbins said. "Synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon, acrylic, and spandex all shed those tiny microplastics during washing. Washing microfibers releases hundreds to thousands, even millions of microfibers as we wash them, and they are too small to effectively filter out. So they end up in our rivers and our drinking water."

There are sustainable actions people can take with their clothes such as buying them second-hand or getting more wear out of them before they are washed, as Robbins suggested. However, if a consumer wants to buy brand-new clothes sustainably, they can be fooled by greenwashing tactics retailers use to lure in customers with good intentions. Companies use greenwashing to appear as if they engage in sustainable practices, using terms like "eco-friendly" and "recycled materials" for their products.

Greenwashing is used more as a marketing technique than something that can be backed up by actual evidence from these companies.

"Greenwashing is tricky because there's not a whole lot of regulation globally, definitely not even on a local level," Robbins said. "You stick the recycle symbol on something; you stick the word 'eco-friendly;' you stick the word 'sustainable' on it, and there's no way to prove that they are not, as a company, meeting that goal. A lot of our fast fashion brands have eco-lines that aren't any more eco-friendly than their other lines."

Even if consumers want to take actions to be more sustainable and purchase vintage clothes that are higher quality, it is going to become increasingly harder. Edwards said that the supply of vintage clothes has significantly decreased over the past 10 years.

"From when I first started in 2016 to now, it's very hard to find vintage clothes," Edwards said. "I'm going a lot more to find the same amounts that I used to be able to find in two or three thrift stores. And that's a good and a bad thing because now it means potentially more people are going and getting these things from the thrift store. It also could mean that fast fashion is just dominating thrift stores, which is what I see on a daily basis."

Due to the double-edged sword that sustainable clothing and solutions to fast fashion seems to be, Robbins said that there likely won't be one solution that is 100% sustainable. However, she said there are still steps people can take to make a more environmentally conscious fashion industry.

"I don't know that we can perfectly recycle and upcycle our clothing, but what we can do is more consumer education," Robbins said. "We can reduce consumption. We can buy from brands that do have take-back programs, where they repair and resell and accept old clothing. But really just buying less, buying better quality, trying to wear things longer is the best thing. The best recycling is not needing to recycle because we are actually going to keep those things."

This article was written for Cardinal Media by a student in the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication in a classroom environment with a faculty advisor. It was not produced by independent student media.

Ball State opened up MAC play March 13 against the Akron Zips. The Cardinals went 0-3 in the weekend series, being outscored 14-9. Despite a tough opening to conference play, Head Coach Helen Peña kept the team's heads high.

"The message to the team was that we get to choose how we view those outcomes, and how we let it shape us as we move forward. They can either build us or break us. We can lean into our processes and culture more, or we can go the opposite direction, but only one way will help us grow and continue to build," Peña said.

After a rough opening series to conference play, Ball State went back out on the road and took on the Central Michigan Chippewas with a chance to get back into the win column.

Ball State was able to get back into the win column, despite only going 1-2 on the weekend series. The Cardinals won the final game 7-1 and dropped the first two 5-6 (10 innings) and 3-4.

Game one was the definition of a heartbreaker for Ball State, as they worked their way back from a four-run deficit and tied it up in the top of the seventh inning.

The Cardinals got up one in the top of the tenth, but the Chippewas were able to walk it off in the bottom half of the inning.

One positive from coach Peña was the pitching and the excitement she has for their pitching in the future, and a big bright spot is senior Ella Whitney.

"We are putting ourselves in very good positions to win. Our last three games that we've lost have been one run games. I'm looking forward to the pitching staff to build on some good performances this weekend and keep attacking batters and minimizing the free bases. Offensively, continuing to challenge them and working out mental tools to not make any one moment bigger than another," Peña said. "Big innings are just about passing the bat and not trying to do too much. Staying committed to our approach and processes will be the focus there."

Whitney was the starter in the team's lone win this weekend, allowing only seven hits to the Cardinals 12, and is currently 5-2 on the mound this season.

Ball State now has a quick turnaround as they play in-state school Butler, on March 24. in Muncie.

"Butler is always competitive and they've got a talented team and offense this year," Peña said.

The two teams are not strangers to each other as they matched up last season, with the Cardinals getting the upper hand, winning 7-0.

"I'm excited for us to have the opportunity to compete at home and continue to grow and build on what we did [this weekend] before facing Toledo next weekend," Peña said.

Looking ahead, Ball State will travel to Toledo on March. 27 with a chance to increase their conference record against a team they went 2-1 against last season.

Contact Rylan Crum with any questions @rylan.crum@bsu.edu or on X @RylanCrum.

The first movie I vividly remember seeing in theaters was Disney Pixar's "Tangled." I was 6 years old at the time, and while I did not understand the concept of 3D glasses, the movie's plot stuck with me long after I left the theater. I hummed the melodies of the soundtrack; scenes replayed in my head as I closed my eyes to sleep.

I could not fathom how life was supposed to return to "normal" when mine felt so transformed within an hour and 40 minutes.

I experienced similar feelings of captivation - or borderline obsession - watching "Matilda" in school, or "Mary Poppins" while ill at home.

By my first-year of high school, I guarantee I was the only 15-year-old in America who ran home to watch "The Sound of Music" every night for a week straight during the holiday season.

Even then, I knew the concept of watching movies was something much deeper to me than just a way to pass time or unwind - it was an escape from reality.

In my prime, I can never dance the way that Julie Andrews could in hers, but for two hours and 52 minutes, I can be in her company and pretend.

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Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, in November 2019, I was flicking through channels on the DVR and landed on Nora Ephron's "Julie and Julia" - the movie that made me want to make movies. The parallel storytelling fascinated me, a testament to the interconnectedness of mankind.

The movie, which tells the autobiographical stories of culinary pioneer Julia Child and blogger Julie Powell as she embarks on her "year of cooking dangerously" with Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" decades after its publication, seamlessly melds the two multigenerational stories.

Ephron indirectly taught me, through "Julie and Julia" and other semi-autobiographical films centered on female leads like "Heartburn" and "When Harry Met Sally…," that movies were not just an escape from reality - they could be reality, stories of everyday life - and I wanted to make them my reality.

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The COVID-19 pandemic was undeniably disastrous.

Data collected in a 2024 article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) using MRI scans to evaluate structural changes in adolescent brains post-COVID suggests, "Social isolation due to lockdowns that were imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on adolescent mental health."

I suppose this is true to some extent - but ultimately, the pandemic taught me to be comfortable with being alone and to relish moments of isolation as opportunities for creative exploration. As a teenager trying to find her way in the world at the time, I will always be grateful for the pandemic as a period of introspection.

Looking back, perhaps having the pandemic at my disposal for introspection is less a reflection of my response to boredom, and more so a reflection of how fortunate I was because of my parents.

At 15, I was old enough to comprehend the state of the world, but just young enough to avoid working in it. Thus, with no grueling schooldays to attend or work experience under my belt, the pandemic allowed me to pursue creative aspirations I might not otherwise have had, including watching every single Meryl Streep movie and reviewing them in a blog.

The pandemic also heightened the use and accessibility of streaming services.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA)'s annual theme report for 2021 reported a 14 percent increase in the global home/mobile entertainment market.

"Over the last two years, the pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of our daily lives, generating new and unexpected challenges. The film, television and streaming industry has not been immune, and in many ways, we are still navigating this new reality," Charles Rivkin, MPA'S chairman and CEO wrote in the report's introduction.

No doubt, I was among that 14 percent while in lockdown - but the problem is that percentage rate has only increased nationwide post-COVID. What was once an adaptation - a quick fix while in lockdown - has now become the standard, the new normal across the movie industry - slowly but surely eradicating movie theaters entirely and turning filmmaking into less of a craft and more of a hobby.

The solution has become the problem.

Just because an art form is made accessible to everyone does not mean that everyone should try their hand at it. My minor while in college is film and screenwriting, so I feel entitled to make the prior statement, but it is not just my opinion. Nationally famed director Steven Spielberg has repeatedly advocated for the traditional moviegoing experience that streaming services have undermined.

In a November 2022 Q+A, Spielberg told The New York Times, "The pandemic created an opportunity for streaming platforms to raise their subscriptions to record-breaking levels and also throw some of my best filmmaker friends under the bus as their movies were unceremoniously not given theatrical releases."

His sentiments are shared by other famous directors across the U.S., such as Martin Scorsese.

In a February 2021 essay for Harper's Magazine, Scorsese wrote, "...The art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned and reduced to its lowest common denominator, 'content.'"

Within the past year, I have taken various screenwriting and film analysis classes. The curriculum has exposed me to script structure, key elements and motifs that categorize a movie within a specific genre(s) and to the cultural significance woven into the themes of the craft that reflect, allude to or depend upon the social climate of the time period in which they are produced.

The film and television industry is a beautifully double-edged sword: movie runtimes remind us that time is fleeting, but the ability to watch them over and over again pushes against the mortal constraints of human existence.

As the decades pass, I am lucky enough to be in my early 20s without having lost a grandparent or any person close to me, for that matter.

However, Robert Redford's - my sexual awakening's - death hit me pretty hard, followed shortly thereafter by Diane Keaton, Rob Reiner, and most recently, Catherine O'Hara.

I am a firm believer that when "the greats" of any industry die, something great dies with them that cannot be replicated, no matter how hard future generations, like mine, may try.

But I am also a staunch proponent of legacies, with my own greatest fear being to die without a trace - to be forgotten.

Within the past few years, the film and television industry has proven not to be immune to the digitized effects of modern media, but the great thing about the industry is that it, by nature, is a profession that continues to evolve, or build off the legacies of "the greats" from years prior.

Thus, the film and television industry is no stranger to evolution - and it is still, somehow, continuously proven the ability to honor the sanctity of its "golden age," for no one ever dies in vain if on the silver screen they remain.

Contact Katherine Hill via email at katherine.hill@bsu.edu.

"Roller derby is largely a queer community; there are outliers, sure, but it's such an accepting community. You can be whoever you want to be, on and off the track, and you will be accepted here," said Cornfed Roller Derby athlete Faith Jones-Smith.

Roller derby also offers an outlet for many people to express themselves, not just physically, but emotionally as well.

According to roller derby athlete August Hazzard, "It has helped boost my self-esteem, because everyone is here to do the same thing and everyone is supportive of you no matter what."

LGBTQ+ representation in roller derby dates back to the sport's inception, as roller derby athlete C.S. Hendershot said,

"Roller derby was founded on the premise that a lot of the folks that join it are challenging society's norms. We include everyone, and you don't often see that in professional sports these days."

Cornfed Roller Derby's gender representation is not the only thing that makes it diverse, as most athletes come from very different backgrounds in sports. As Jones-Smith said,

"I played a lot of different sports growing up, from basketball to cross country, to tennis and softball. Nothing that has as much physical contact as this one, but it helped me gain a level of sportsmanship."

However, in the case of Hendershot, they have a different story.

"I was not very competitive in sports growing up… I really struggled in my teen years, but roller derby has helped me find a sport where I feel included."

In a sport based on inclusiveness and gender representation, this helps some athletes find people like themselves that they can connect with.

"I started off in an all gender league, and we didn't have a lot of guys on our team. With me being trans, I connected with some more of the trans and queer people on my team. Even if they aren't queer, or if they weren't any sort of the LGBTQ, nobody would judge you for anything," said Hazzard.

Contact Stephen Grata with comments at stephen.grata@bsu.edu.

Capko, who has been an assistant at SMU for the past two seasons, brings a load of experience to Muncie. Capko began his coaching career at Marshall as a graduate assistant before moving onto Stetson and then Georgia Southern.

Most of Capko's experience comes under head coach Andy Enfield, who he coached under at both USC and SMU.

Capko spent eight seasons at USC between 2016-2024, where he served as an assistant and associate head coach. In 2024 he followed Enfield to SMU where he spent two seasons.

In his time with the Mustangs, he was named one of the top "power 5 assistants" in the country by the Athletic, along with being one of the 50 Most Impactful high major assistant coaches by Silver Waves Media.

In his playing career, Capko started at the University of Florida, playing under legendary head coach Billy Donovan, but transferred after one semester there. He then transferred to the University of South Florida where he was a nominee for Big East Player of the Year during his senior campaign.

"Chris Capko is an exceptional basketball coach," Ball State Athletic Director Jeff Mitchell said in a press releasefrom the university."His breadth of experience at the NCAA Division I level, combined with his elite recruiting acumen and expertise in player development, set him apart from an incredibly strong pool of candidates and made him the best coach to lead our program."

Contact the Daily News via email at editor@bsudailynews.com.

For Braiden Robinson, owner of Wook's Workshop, a 9-5 lifestyle was never his end goal.

"I've always wanted to do something for myself, work for myself, so that's what kinda gave me the motivation to like look for things I'm into and to turn into a career," Robinson said.

After suffering from a life-changing car accident, Robinson gathered his creative talents together and brought his lapidary business to life. During the day, he spends time in his studio carving pieces of stone down to perfection.

"Being able to turn what Mother Nature made already into something more beautiful is pretty spectacular," Robinson explained.

Those "somethings" are pieces of polished jewelry and gemstones. He sells these pieces at vendor events like First Thursdays at Muncie Makers Market year-round.

When he's not in the studio, Robinson is up to something more heated. During the day, he's a lapidarist, but at night, he's a fire performer.

"I've always been kind of a pyro when I was a kid, I like to look at the campfire and stuff like that," Robinson said.

That kid grew up to be a professional fire tosser, performing at different events all around Muncie. To some, fire is harmful, but it brings him peace.

"I kind of get into a meditative state when I'm doing it and zone out and just really focus on just me and the fire. And it really brings me to this calm, serene place and I look cool doing it," Robinson said.

Robinson's been on the fire tossing route for over six years, bringing entertainment to local events during warmer seasons. Fire tossing was not easy at first, but after attending Kinetic Fire at Flow Fest in 2024, Robinson knew immediately what he wanted to do.

"The first day I lit them on fire and was like 'that's intense,' but after practice and drilling, I'm really not afraid of the fire anymore," Robinson said.

Robinson is not hard to catch; he practices often at parks and open spaces, all while staying safe.

"I decided to pull the trigger on getting insurance for it so I can do it professionally, and it's been a growing thing since then," Robinson said.

Robinson is just getting started before the summer. For any information on how to book a session with Robinson, reach out through his personal Facebook account at Braiden Robinson

Contact Kahmara Munn with comments at kahmara.munn@bsu.edu.