Author: Jessica Hubble

By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia EditorIt’s springtime in Texas, which means one thing: Bluebonnets are blooming! The popular flower can be found in waves along Texas highways, and, as always, families are flocking to bluebonnet fields to take their annual portraits among the flowers’ natural beauty. It’s almost like a Texas rite of passage to have your photo taken with bluebonnets, whether you’re a native Texan or an out-of-stater. Jack Maguire, historian and former writer for the Daily Texan, once said, “The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia EditorIt’s spring time, so that means one thing: baseball season is back! Baseball is by far the best sport there is. It’s America’s past time and the only way I want to spend a spring or summer afternoon. The atmosphere of a ballpark is electric and almost addicting, making you want to come back for more. There are always fans from all walks of life, and they’re always the nicest. Opening Day might as well be a national holiday for baseball fans. Fans take time off work and miss school for Opening Day. They try…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Editor How do three Baylor graduates from three different cities with three different degrees find common ground? The answer is simple: comic books. Tyler Ellis, Devin Kraft and Ben Humeniuk visited Baylor University, their alma mater, to speak to an audience of Professor Michael Korpi’s students. In addition to sharing insight about their work as comic creators and the comic industry, the trio gave advice to student who have creative passions. All three of the illustrators are published comic artists. Ellis and Humeniuk both have full time jobs in addition to creating comics for comic…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia EditorMost children fall asleep to lullabies. As a child, I fell asleep to the sounds of guitar riffs and drum solos. My mom is an avid listener of classic rock bands, and having a child didn’t change that. She was such a rock fan, she named me after the classic rock song “Jessica” by the Allman Brothers Band. She raised me to love classic rock. Even today, we can be found singing (rather poorly) songs from Tom Petty, The Cars and just about every classic rock band from the ’60s to the ’80s. Obviously, this…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia EditorWe’ve all heard the adage many times –– never talk politics and religion. Why shouldn’t we talk about those things? Is it because they can cause tension and conflict? Shouldn’t people know how to have civil discourse about the things they are passionate about? I believe we should be able to talk about controversial topics such as politics and religion, as well as many other contentious topics, and still be able to listen to one another with respect. These topics are of great importance in everyone’s lives, and we can always learn from one another.…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia JournalistFemale empowerment and country music are not usually two things you find together. Most country songs objectify women, while female country musicians and singers are not played on the radio near as often as their male counterparts. In 2015 radio executive Keith Hill said he advises his stations to only have women country artists as 15 percent of their playlist. Keith Urban broke the norm Nov. 9 at the Country Music Awards (CMAs) when he performed his new single, “Female.” Urban decided to release “Female” as a response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The song…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Journalist As a people-pleaser, it is second nature to say yes. It is so easy I eventually forget what I’ve said yes to and the next thing I know, I’m buried up to my eyeballs in things to do. Why is it so hard to say no? I want to please everyone, I want everyone to like me and I feel like if I say no I’ll be letting someone down. The reality is, not everyone will like me, and that’s OK. The other reality is that I need to take care of myself before…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Journalist Life is just too short to take yourself so seriously. From a young age, I was taught to laugh at myself and not be embarrassed by small things. From the time I was about five-years-old until now, I can tumble head first down the stairs in my childhood home and the first thing you’ll hear is me dying of laughter. Mistakes and accidents are inevitable. There’s no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed of them. Everyone makes mistakes; if you can laugh about the issue, it makes it so much easier to recover from…

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By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia JournalistIn college, there is a common misconception about going home for the weekend. Some people look down upon it, wondering why someone would want to go home, and judge others for doing so. I experienced this judgement even in high school. All of my high school friends never understood why I wasn’t going to school out of state and why I decided to go to school an hour and a half away. There were many reasons why I chose to go to a close school, such as Baylor felt like home, I was being offered…

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For most of my life, I grew up hearing people in church talk about how wives should be submissive to their husbands. This always puzzled me because it was a very stark contrast from the household I grew up in and what I was taught. Colossians 3:18 says, “Wives must submit to their husbands as is fitting in the Lord.” Ephesians 5:22 coincides with Colossians 3:18 by saying, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.”Upon hearing and reading these verses, my first reaction is always disgust. The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of submitting to someone…

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This Thanksgiving break, I discovered a three-week-old kitten crawling across a busy parking lot. Being the animal lover I am, I immediately scooped him up and took him to the vet, skipping out on my lunch plans to make sure he was OK. Within minutes he had my heart, and I knew I was going to keep him. Little did I know three weeks later he would take a piece of it when he left this world in a tragic turn of events I will never be able to forget.I did everything I was supposed to do to be a…

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The first thing I remember on that rainy Sunday afternoon was waking up in a hospital room next to my dad, in intense pain. I remember turning my head awkwardly in the neck brace I was in, trying to figure out what had happened. I looked over to see my dad laying in a hospital bed and heard him say to me, “Everything is going to be OK Jessica. We’ve been in a wreck. We’re going to be OK.”I found out from my dad, and later state troopers and my family, that we had been hit on the passengers side,…

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Even before the Halloween festivities are over, the shelves are already stocked with Christmas goodies. It’s as if everyone has forgotten about that little holiday in November with the turkey, when you’re supposed to be giving thanks for everything you have. Finding a Halloween costume a few days or a week before the holiday can be horrendous because the stores have already moved all the Halloween supplies out and brought Christmas in. Everywhere you go, there are Christmas carols, trees, decorations, sales and everything in between, even though it is only October. But where are the Thanksgiving decorations and foods?…

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By Jessica Hubble | Lariat PhotographerA Gilliam Contracting dump truck carrying dirt and a Dodge Charger collided Tuesday afternoon on University Parks Drive in front of Oso Verde Apartments. The two people in the Dodge Charger had minor injuries and were taken to Baylor Scott and White Medical Center Hillcrest as a precautionary measure. The dump truck driver refused medical assistance.Officer Garen Bynum with the Waco Police Department Public Information Unit said the dump truck was traveling northbound on University Parks Drive when the Dodge Charger pulled out of the Domain at Waco apartment complex in front of the dump…

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I am often the girl you see sitting alone in Starbucks or restaurant; the girl who people feel sorry for because she’s by herself and not with friends.Don’t feel sorry for me, stop giving me sympathetic smiles. I am not sad to be traveling alone or in a coffee shop by myself, and I probably chose to come by myself. There is nothing wrong with doing tasks on my own. I have been an introvert my whole life. I have come out of my shell more since coming to college, but I still enjoy time to myself. I love coming…

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I have been going camping since I was 5-years-old. It is second nature to me to pitch a tent or cook over a fire, and some of my fondest memories growing up are from family-and friend-filled campouts. I looked forward to these excursions months in advance, and once I was there, I always felt relaxed and at peace. I thought that this was a normal vacation or family activity growing up, but as I grew older, I realized not everyone had the opportunity to camp or see the wonders of nature like I did. My family always went to either…

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Prosper Waco aims to end poverty in the Waco area and is convening cross-sector community partners around the city to achieve this. Prosper Waco is a community-wide initiative that models a collective impact structure focused on bringing together collaborative, cross-sector partners to find strategic ways to measurably improve the education, health and financial security in the city of Waco. A current project within the education initiative goal is the push for families to use a free parenting app ‘Vroom’ to help children be ready for kindergarten. The app encourages families to use household items that families already own to teach…

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The Court Appointed Special Advocates Association, also known as CASA, will hold a crawfish boil for their largest fundraiser of the year Friday. The second annual crawfish boil will be held at 7 p.m. Friday in Heritage Square in downtown Waco. The Spazmatics, an 80s cover band, will be playing. A VIP ticket is $125 and includes all you can eat and drink, a goodie bag, a t-shirt and access to see the band. $100 from the VIP ticket goes directly to CASA. A general admission ticket is $10 and just gets people in to see the band. A general…

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A recently surfaced police incident report from 2013 names former Baylor defensive end and NFL draft prospect Shawn Oakman, who was arrested earlier this month on unrelated charges of sexual assault. The alleged victim was a 19- year-old female Baylor student. According to the police report, the woman said Oakman picked her up under her armpits and shoved her into brick, cabinets and shoved her face into “clutter” on her bed. According to the report, the woman did not want to press charges but did want to have the incident report on file. The report explains that the woman and…

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Baylor suffered a campuswide AirBear Wi-Fi outage Monday morning. AirBear was unavailable early Monday morning and was not restored until around 10 a.m. The cause of the outage is unknown. Information Technology Services staff worked to repair the outage and are currently reviewing the cause of the outage. “At this time, our network is stable, and we will continue to monitor and take action as necessary,” said Lori Fogleman, assistant vice president for media communications at Baylor. The Colony freshman Hannah Conrad had English Composition II during the outage. She said the outage caused her peer review to be pushed…

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The Baylor chapter of International Justice Mission is holding its first Stand for Freedom event this weekend. Stand for Freedom will be a 24-hour event held on Fountain Mall. The event will start at 8 a.m. today and end at 8 a.m. Saturday. IJM chapters have been holding Stand for Freedom events on campuses all over the United States for the past two weeks. The event includes a justice market, volleyball tournament, documentary screening, candlelight worship led by The Union Revival sunrise yoga and breakfast. The documentary being shown is “Call and Response” and the justice market will feature vendors…

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A 17-foot-deep sinkhole appeared on Herring Avenue in East Waco on Monday morning, closing the road between JJ Flewellen Road and Dan Rowe Street. The cause of the sinkhole is unknown as crews will have to wait for the area to dry out before repairing it. Larry Holze, director of municipal information, said the sinkhole will take four to six weeks to repair. There is speculation that the sinkhole was caused by a 24-inch sewer line collapsing, but the ground is too wet to fully assess the area. The line is a feeder line that connects from Martin Luther Kind…

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Former Baylor University football player and NFL prospect Shawn Oakman was released from McLennan County jail on a $25,000 bond Thursday afternoon. Oakman, 24, was arrested on a charge of sexual assault Wednesday afternoon. It was reported that he and a student left Scruffy Murphy’s on Speight Avenue to his apartment on April 3, according to a search warrant. Oakman met with Waco Police Department detectives and was served with two search warrants Wednesday, according to a Waco Police Department press release. One warrant was for his cellphone and the other was for DNA samples. After executing both warrants, the…

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Baylor University is accused of mishandling sexual assault claims against two football players from two years ago in ESPN’s second “Outside the Lines” report, which was published Wednesday. Former tight end Tre’Von Armstead and former practice squad player Myke Chatman were accused of sexually assaulting a Baylor student after a police report was filed in 2013 by the woman. Universities are required by Title IX to address allegations of sexual violence involving students immediately. According to “Outside the Lines,” Baylor did not investigate the allegations until Sept. 11, 2015. In January, Baylor was accused of mishandling several sexual assault cases…

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Two council districts in Waco, District 1 and 3 , have contested city council races this election year. The City of Waco general election is May 7. Early voting is April 25 through May 3. The candidates for council District 1 are Wilbert Austin and Mark Stephen Shaw. For council District 3 the candidates are Dustin Weins and John Kinnaird. Austin is currently a city councilman for District 1 and has held the position since May 2006. He graduated from A.H. Moore High School in Waco and attended Guadalupe Seminary in 1990. He is the pastor of Peaceful Rest Baptist…

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Seietsu Sato lost his wife in Japan’s tsunami and earthquake in April 2011 while he was working as assistant fire chief. On Thursday, he is coming to Baylor to tell his story. Sato is speaking at 4 p.m. in 147 Draper. His speech is sponsored by Linda and Kenji Hasegawa and supported by the Baylor University diversity enrichment grant and department of Modern Languages and Cultures. When Sato lost his wife, he was directing teams of firefighters to put out the massive fire that was taking over the city of Kesennuma. He was notified that his wife was missing but…

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Three Baylor police officers were presented with honorary commendation awards at the Waco Police Department’s quarterly award ceremony. Officer Justin Swanson, Lieutenant Greg Perkins and Officer Travis Tews were presented the awards Thursday afternoon for assisting Waco Police Officers’ capture of suspects involved in a robbery involving multiple U-Haul trucks. “It means quite a bit to me, it lets me know and the department know that we are doing what we need to do and what we are asked and desired to do,” Perkin said. “It’s kind of hard to explain because I’m kind of excited about the fact that…

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Letting go of people that are close to you is one of the hardest things to do, but sometimes it is necessary. Letting negativity surround you and being constantly unhappy for the sake of someone else’s happiness isn’t fair to you. When I graduated high school and came to Baylor I decided to leave some people behind because of the negativity that they brought into my life. I was scared to death because doing so meant I would be coming to Baylor all alone. Eight months later ,I can say that was one of the best decisions I could have…

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