Orchestra concert
The 53-member Baylor Campus Orchestra will perform its second concert of the semester at 7:30 p.m. today in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building; the event is free.
Kick it with a lawyer
Baylor School of Law professors are hosting an auction for students where the prizes include fun activities with the professors themselves. Want to go bowling, golfing or shopping with a law professor? Go to an auction table at the law school today to place a silent bid.
Eyes on the future
Faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of Baylor have a chance to voice their opinion on the university’s next 10-year strategic plan. Community input will be taken until April 2011. The university’s strategic planning website (www.baylor.edu/strategicplan) will guide the process with timelines, links and instructions.
Symposium series
The Presidential Symposium Series is hosting Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University, from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday on the fifth floor of Cashion Academic Center. She will speak on the public mission of universities.
12/2/10: The Baylor Lariat
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12/1/10: The Baylor Lariat
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Visit from pro
The Baylor Triathlon Club will host a discussion panel with professional triathlete Amanada Stevens at 6:30 p.m. today in the Baylor Sciences Building.
Horns of plenty
The Baylor Trombone Choir will perform a free concert at 7:30 p.m. today in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building.
Dance the day away
Come to the McLane Student Life Center courts No. 1 and 2 between 1 and 2:30 p.m. Saturday for the Zumba Master Class. The class is $5 and will be led by certified instructors. Get in the holiday spirit by bringing a canned food donation for the Caritas food drive.
Political expert to visit Baylor
By Sara Tirrito
Staff Writer
The post-inauguration portion of the Presidential Symposium Series will continue today with political philosopher Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain speaking to the Baylor community about the importance of a liberal arts education at 3 p.m. in Kayser Auditorium of the Hankamer School of Business.
Elshtain is the Leavey Chair in the Foundations of American Freedom at Georgetown University and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. She has written and edited a number of books and also has been published in various journals of civic opinion.
“She’s a nationally and internationally recognized expert in a number of fields of political science, political thought, international relations, ethics — a whole range of subjects that are also important to Baylor,” said Dr. David Clinton, professor and chair of the political science department at Baylor. “She has published widely. She has been the prolific analyst of contemporary events. So she’s brought political, ethical, moral [and] philosophical thought to bear on real contemporary issues.”
A friend of Elshtain’s, Dr. Byron Johnson, co-director for the Institute of Studies of Religion and distinguished professor of social sciences, said Elshtain’s breadth of expertise in various fields is impressive.
“She’s just a giant in the academy and she’s one of these rare scholars whose record in so many different disciplines is just astounding,” Johnson said. “So whether you’re talking political science or you’re talking philosophy, she has very few peers.”
Because of Elshtain’s interest in Baylor and its mission, Johnson said he believes she was a good choice to bring to Baylor.
“She’s kept a close eye on Baylor. She’s a Christian and there are so many Christians throughout the academy all across the country, and I think across the world, that really are watching Baylor and trying to see if this grand experiment, what we call Vision 2012, can really be achieved — being world class in terms of excellence and also being committed to the Christian faith,” Johnson said. “So for someone like Jean Elshtain … she just has a very keen interest in what’s gong on here, not to mention the fact that she shares the same mission and vision of Baylor herself in her own life.”
Dr. James Bennighof, professor of music theory and vice provost for academic affairs, said he thinks Elshtain’s lecture will help students understand the importance of classes that are not as career-oriented and the more abstract ideas taught in those classes.
“A lot of the times the value of such things has to do with developing the ability to think critically, having examples of how great thinkers throughout history have dealt with problems that are not necessarily career-oriented,” Bennighof said. “I think that [the lecture will] shed light on the value of liberal learning, and especially with respect to some of the ideas that she’s found important to write about.”
In 2004, Elshtain spoke at Baylor as part of a conference titled “Christianity and the Soul of the University: Faith as a Foundation for Intellectual Community.”
Dr. Thomas Hibbs, dean of the Honors College, said it is an honor to have Elshtain come back to Baylor this year.
“Jean Elshtain is one of the most gifted public intellectuals in the United States,” Hibbs wrote in an e-mail to the Lariat. “Her lectures are always topical and informed by her prodigious scholarship, witty and tough-minded. It is a great honor for Baylor to host her yet again.”
The next presenter in the symposium series will be Dr. Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University, speaking on university-community engagement. Cantor’s speech will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the Cashion Academic Center’s Blume Banquet Hall.
Oral stories of Wacoans frozen in history by tour
The StoryCorps bus travels across America recording the conversations of ordinary people for preservation in the Library of Congress.
By Carmen Galvan
Staff Writer
StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization dedicated to recording and preserving oral history, is visiting Waco this holiday season.
The mobile tour began recording in Waco Central Library on Austin Avenue on Nov. 26 and will be scheduling appointments until Dec. 20, said Eloise Melzer, state supervisor with the StoryCorps mobile tour.
“Our mission is to record the stories of everyday Americans of all different backgrounds and walks of life,” Melzer said. “We want to record them and preserve them for future generations, and we want to archive their stories in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.”
The national oral history project records the conversations and interviews between friends and loved ones with the purpose of preserving their diverse life experiences and memories. Once recorded, the interviews have the possibility of being broadcasted through National Public Radio or other national media outlets, Melzer said.
The project was initiated by Dave Isay, a radio documentarian who has been producing radio documentaries for National Public Radio for years. Melzer said Isay developed a documentary that taught people to use the recording equipment to record their own lives and he produced a piece based on the collected footage.
“Through the process [Isay] saw how empowered people felt by documenting their life and the ability to ask questions of their family members that they normally wouldn’t ask,” Melzer said. “The participants also walked away with the recording of their family’s voices.”
This type of documentary inspired Isay to begin StoryCorps in 2003, and the project has expanded to a national organization since then, recording more than 35,000 conversations in all 50 states.
StoryCorps has three permanent recording locations in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco, but the organization’s mobile tour travels across the United States to capture the stories of different backgrounds and experiences.
“Every place we go we partner with public radio, and the mobile booth travels through the country,” Melzer said.
“We try to go to a diversity of places: large cities, small towns, rural areas, places where there is different diversity, history and experiences. We’ve never been to Waco before, so we partnered with KWBU and we are just thrilled to be here and to document the unique oral history of Waco.”
Brodie Bashaw, FM station manager for KWBU, a National Public Radio affiliate, said the StoryCorps visit is a great opportunity for citizens of Waco to have their life stories documented.
“I think it’s really going to help in opening eyes to the number of different cultures here,” Bashaw said.
“StoryCorps is a chance for John Doe and Jane Smith to go and tell their stories.”
The opportunity also emphasizes the tradition of listening, said Dr. Stephen Sloan, director of the Institute for Oral History and assistant professor of history.
“The focus of StoryCorps is that listening is important,” Sloan said. “Taking the time to listen and to really understand one another’s experiences is a dying art that is deeper than tweets or status updates. As our attention span gets shorter and shorter, it’s something we really need to be intentional about.”
Melzer said participants have 40 minutes to record their conversation, which may cover all life’s topics from honoring a deceased loved one to life lessons.
“We find that a lot of people say they don’t have a story, but everyone has a story and you ask one question and 20 minutes go by,” Melzer said.
“When you’re in the recording booth, it’s a really intimate experience because the world falls away and it’s just you two having a conversation.”
Participants receive their own copy of the conversation and the option to have their recording considered for national broadcast, but all recordings are preserved in the Library of Congress.
Melzer said that StoryCorps still has recording sessions available at the Waco Central Library. Appointments may be scheduled at www.storycorps.org or at 1-800-850-4406.
Ants go marching: Insect discipline applied to military
By Meghan Hendrickson
Staff Writer
Baylor engineers are researching swarm patterns of insects to provide swarm intelligence for the nation’s military.
According to Dr. Robert Marks, distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, there is increasing military interest in unmanned autonomous vehicles. A collection of vehicles can act like a swarm of insects, and Marks and his team are researching to find simple rules the vehicles can follow to enable the military to complete its mission.
Marks is working with Dr. Benjamin Thompson of the Applied Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University and his research assistant, Albert Yu, who just received his Master of Science in electrical and computing engineering from Baylor, to conduct research for the Office of Naval Research to develop swarm algorithms for Navy applications.
“Dumb bugs do smart things,” Marks said. “Bees build intricate hives. Ants build and defend anthills.”
Marks explained how ants figure out how to get the Milky Way candy bar someone drops on the sidewalk back to their home by traveling the shortest distance, despite obstacles that prevent that path from being a straight line.
“Using the same algorithm we learn from ants, we can get messages, Milky Way bars, over communication paths to their destination using information packets, ants, in a very efficient way,” Marks said.
Marks went on to say that social insects are robust and adaptive. He said that even if someone steps on half the ants taking the Milky Way bar to their home, the ants will still complete the task; it will just take longer. He said that ants are individually unaware of the overall task they are performing and they continue to follow their simple rules to complete their mission, without a master controller directing their every move. It is these simple rules that Marks and his team are trying to create for the military.
Thompson, tactical processing and control department head at the Applied Research Laboratory and Baylor alumnus, said that the ultimate goal is to create great engineers to further the mission of the Navy.
“Along the way, with this particular effort, we hope to discover new and interesting things about how swarms of autonomous vehicles can be created to interact with some predefined and useful purpose,” Thompson said.
Marks’ research stems from an idea he learned from his grandfather.
“My grandfather, who had a third-grade education, once told me that man has never done anything that God didn’t do first,” Marks said. “He is right. All of man’s engineering designs can be found in nature.”
Marks helped found the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computational Intelligence Society, a professional society that carries the motto “Nature Inspired Problem Solving.”
Marks looks at the intelligent design found in nature to try and mimic that design in his man-made creations, a process known as biometrics.
Marks uses simulations of computer generated swarms at NeoSwarm.com in order to find patterns in swarm behaviors. He has been surprised to find interesting responses that he did not plan.
One of Marks’ computational intelligence master’s students, Daniel Jepson, uses the simulations for the class research.
“My research revolves around a small band of fierce Spartans fighting their way out of an overwhelming army of drunken Persians,” Jepson said. “The research uses swarm inversion and outfits each Spartan with a few simple rules. The goal is simple: help the Spartans escape from the ambush.”
He said that after approximately 24 hours of computer simulations, interesting behaviors emerged from the swarms. Some behaviors modeled ancient Greek tactics such as the phalanx and others sent the Spartans running for their own lives, forsaking their friends.
“Computational intelligence has revealed a new world of exciting research — the kind that makes me cheer for Spartans running across my screen into the wee hours of the morning,” Jepson said.
Thompson said this project has been one of the most intellectually rewarding research projects he has been involved with.
“It seems like we come up with new and surprising insights into swarm intelligence as applied to autonomous vehicles every week, and it’s been a lot of fun along the way,” Thompson said.
Christmas gets B.A.S.I.C. with New Anthems
By Jade Mardirosian
Staff Writer
Baylor’s annual Christmas on Fifth Street will include a new event this year, New Anthems for an Old Story.
Dr. Burt Burleson, university chaplain and dean of spiritual life, spearheaded the new project, which is a musical advent service that will take place Thursday.
The service will include originally composed hymns and anthems written by Burleson and Carlos Colón, artist-in-residence at Armstrong Browning Library and a resident fellow at Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion.
Burleson described the songs as being composed specifically for the Baylor community for this Advent season and noted a number of reasons that motivated the writing of these pieces.
“We really believe that a Christian institution needs to have its life together punctuated by worship and have the community come together in worship events specifically during special seasons,” Burleson said. “The season of advent is really about waiting and anticipating the coming of Christ. The songs we have written are really to help us get in touch with our longing and waiting for God.”
Colón describes Burleson’s lyrics as soul stirring and explains the two worked closely on composing the songs.
“When I write something like this, the text is the most important thing because it is the message,” Colón said. “He is very rigorous with his lyric writing and he would go back and make many changes with his lyrics and I would make changes to the music until we had something that felt right, that we could sit down and sing together.”
Colón describes the music as being melodically very accessible to the Baptist tradition while remaining connected to older traditions.
“I would say it is music that will connect with a community like Baylor, it is music that is sing able,” Colón said.
B.A.S.I.C.— a chamber choir, a string orchestra and different ministers in the community—will help lead the service.
B.A.S.I.C. is based at Central United Methodist Church in Waco, and includes members from several churches in the community.
The choir will perform some pieces alone and will also act to lead the audience in other hymns and songs during the service.
“It may feel like a musical, but instead of the audience being spectators, they will be participants,” Colón said. “In other words, this is not something you come to just sit and listen to. Instead you partake and participate; it’s a musical for the congregation.”
Burleson and Colón both hope this service will become an annual event at Christmas on Fifth Street and part of a greater tradition at Baylor.
“We feel that this piece will be a complement to the joy at Christmas on Fifth Street,” Colón said. “We hope that it will provide people with an opportunity to start with a moment of reflection or to end their joyful experience at Christmas onFifth Street. I love to sing and make music with students and I hope that as many students as are able come and connect with the music.”
New Anthems for an Old Story will be held at 6 and 8 p.m. Thursday in the Armstrong Browning Library.
Women take on Fighting Irish
Lady Bears expect strong defense from No. 16 team
No. 32 forward Brooklyn Pope draws a foul in Baylor’s matchup against Michigan State on Nov. 19 at the Ferrell Center. The Lady Bears won, 78-52. They face No. 16 ranked Notre Dame at 7 p.m. today in Waco.
By Matt Larsen
Sports Writer
After holding three opponents in a row under 45 points, the No. 2 Lady Bears prepare to host one of the best defensive squads they have seen this season in No. 16 University of Notre Dame at 7 p.m. today at the Ferrell Center.
“We think we are pretty athletic and quick, yet if you look at the number of steals, they have played one less basketball game than we have and they have like [125] steals to our [73],” head coach Kim Mulkey said. “For a team that mixes their defense as Notre Dame does, playing zone and man, they are just a hard-nosed, aggressive team.”
Leading the nation in steals, the Fighting Irish bring a 5-2 record to Waco where they play Baylor (7-1) for the first time in the two programs’ history.
Notre Dame is the only team in the top 25 AP or coaches poll to have two losses, but both came to Top 15 teams.
Its first slip up came against No. 13 UCLA in an 86-83 double overtime loss and the second came at No. 8 Kentucky, 81-76.
Even with the two losses, Mulkey said she believes the team probably deserves to be ranked higher.
Her squad already knows about close losses to tough teams as the Lady Bears’ only loss came on the road by one point to No. 1 Connecticut.
Baylor demonstrated its ability to win against Top 25 talent three days later when it beat No. 25 Michigan State 78-52.
The schedule once again heats up for the Lady Bears as their next three games feature two ranked opponents in No. 16 Notre Dame and No. 9 Tennessee and a dangerous Minnesota squad sandwiched in the middle of the home stand.
First, they will look to handle a Notre Dame squad hungry for a top ten upset.
“Muffet McGraw is one of the finest coaches in the country,” Mulkey said of the 29-year coach who will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of fame in 2011. “She has won a national championship; she has been to a couple of Final Fours, Sweet Sixteens. While they did lose three players from that starting lineup last year, I would venture to say that this team is as good as the one they had last year.”
The Irish return three seniors, but are led in scoring by a pair of non-senior guards.
Junior Natalie Novosel averages 17 points a game while sophomore Skylar Diggins adds 12.9.
They also depend on their ability to spread the scoring responsibility around as they have seven players averaging eight points per game or higher.
With no one on the roster taller than 6-foot-2, the Irish have no imminent post player to match up with 6-foot-8 sophomore post Brittney Griner, who has averaged nearly 30 points a pop in her last four outings.
Mulkey expects to see some mixing of different defensive sets that play to Notre Dame’s quickness, but is confident her team won’t see any big surprises.
“I don’t know that there is any team that can do something that we have not seen,” she said. “We have seen it all.”
If Notre Dame decides to put multiple defenders in and around the paint to keep Griner from getting as many looks, senior guard Melissa Jones believes the answer is simple.
“A lot of people doubling down on Brittney opens things up for perimeter shooting,” she said.
The Lady Bears currently have four players with significant minutes averaging .389 or above from 3-point land.
Jones has been the most dangerous, going 9 of 18 so far from behind the arc.
Regardless of how many defenders they put around her, Griner looks forward to being tested every time up and down the court again.
“You can’t take any one play off,” she said. “For me, I love them [the big games]. Each play is kind of back–and-forth.”
Sports take: Heisman race raises questions
By Krista Pirtle
Reporter
The 76th annual Heisman trophy will be awarded to the most outstanding college football player in the nation Dec. 11 in New York City.
This season, one name has been used in connection with this prestigious award, Cam Newton, the explosive quarterback at Auburn; however, after allegations came out about his conduct while attending the University of Florida, this front-runner might not leave with the Heisman after all.
While attending the University of Florida, he was arrested on charges of stealing a laptop, as well as facing a possible expulsion because of three separate instances of academic cheating.
On top of that, two sources who recruit for Mississippi State said Newton and his father, Cecil, based Newton’s college choice on monetary incentives.
All of these allegations have not hurt Newton’s eligibility to be included on the Heisman list, but should it hurt his votes?
With the recent issue with Reggie Bush returning his Heisman, this process has been taken a lot more seriously, which it should be.
If the Heisman Trust awards the Heisman to Newton but the allegations prove true, the moment of receiving such an honor has been ruined for Newton.
Moreover, the moment for the rightful winner has been taken away.
Back in 2005, the race was neck and neck between USC’s Reggie Bush and the University of Texas’ Vince Young. The Trust gave Bush the honor, after which Young played an outstanding game against Bush and his Trojans for the national championship.
On most award watch lists, Newton’s name isn’t alone. Alongside it are Stanford’s Andrew Luck, Oregon’s LaMichael James, Boise State’s Kellen Moore and Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon.
Sure, you can compare stats, but the Heisman runs much deeper than mere numbers on a piece of paper. It is the single most celebrated award in American collegiate athletics.
Actually, if you go by stats alone, Kellen Moore has more yards and touchdowns for the 2010 season than Newton. So what is it that puts him at the top?
Look at their conferences. Boise State is in the WAC, which hardly contains any powerhouses. Thus, a 6-1 record is not that impressive against sub-par teams.
Auburn is in the SEC, said to be the best conference in Division I college football.
Play on the field is important to determine the winner, but how does conduct off the field measure up? What if the allegations hold true, yet Newton receives the award? Is that ignoring his past conduct and making it permissible? Should it be looked over because that was years ago?
Those questions are going to go under great consideration this next week. After the conference championships are played, there will be a better understanding of who should get the Heisman.
But only Newton, James and Moore will get to prove themselves, as Moore and Blackmon finish out their seasons after the bids are given and the votes are counted.
Even though there does seem to be a front runner in this year’s race, will the off field conduct overshadow the on field performance?
Krista Pirtle is a sophomore journalism major from Olney and a reporter for The Lariat.
Q&A: Norwegian Mikkelsen describes golfing, living in U.S.
By Tyler Alley
Reporter
Joakim Mikkelsen had a busy fall semester. He not only attended Baylor classes, but he participated in four golf tournaments, one of those being held in Argentina. He took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about that tournament and Baylor men’s golf, among other things.
Q: What did it mean to you, personally, to be able to represent your home country of Norway in the World Amateur Team Championship in Argentina?
A: It meant a lot. I have played for Norway before but not in a real championship kind of setting.
Q: What did you take away from the experience?
A: I’ve played in big events before. This probably the biggest one I’ve played in. It’s just the same as all the other tournaments. It’s good to play against the best amateurs in the world. You try to learn from some and beat others.
Q: Your Baylor teammates had a tournament a couple days after that you could not be at. Was it difficult to not be able to participate in Baylor’s final tournament on the fall schedule or were you just completely focused on the WATC?
A: It was a little weird. Our tournament is one of my favorite ones. I like the course in Dallas real well. I went from straight from the airport in Dallas. I watched them play the final round. It was canceled the last day.
Q: Baylor men’s golf got off on the right foot at the beginning of the year. In the first tournament, three guys shot under par. What contributed to the team’s good start?
A: I think our finish in the first tournament is what we expected, at the very least; that’s how we want to play. I think some of us played a lot over the summer and got prepared. I think that’s pretty much it.
Q: Since then, the team has had declining results. It went from fifth place to seventh to ninth and again ninth. In your eyes, what is the reason for the slide the team has gone through?
A: I don’t think there is any specific reason. It really varies how you play in golf. I think it was just a little slump. We just need to get ready to get back in the spring.
Q: What is your view on the results of the fall schedule?
A: Oh, we all feel bad about it. We feel like we’re way better than how we’ve done. I think we are all confident we’ll come back and do well in the spring. We had a rough stretch in the beginning of the spring last year and we came back and played well in the postseason.
Q: The team just got two letters of intent from an Italian player and a Norwegian player, Mikkel Bjerch-Andresen. Do you know him personally?
A: Yeah I know him a little bit. He’s from a golf club about 40 minutes away from where I lived. So I don’t really know him that well but I’ve met him through tournaments and national team stuff back home. So I think he’ll be good for us.
Q: What was the transition like for you, over two years ago, from living and playing golf in Norway to going to college in Central Texas and playing on courses in America?
A: Well moving here was pretty much a whole new life. You leave all your friends and your family, everything back home. There’s the culture. You have to speak another language in your everyday life. There’s a lot of new people and a lot of new things to get used to. And golf-wise, it’s different. The grass can be a little different, and the course can be longer and have different layouts. Eventually, it’s still the same game; you just have to adapt.
Q: Final question. I have a quote from you earlier in the year. You said, “We want to make it back to nationals. And then we want to take it one step further and make the cut at nationals.” Do you still think this goal is reachable, and what is it going to take for the team to reach this goal after a disappointing start?
A: I think we should be disappointed if we do not make nationals. And then, when you first get to nationals, you never know what’s going to happen. Making match play is hard, but if we can make it to the tournament there’s no reason why we wouldn’t be able to compete with the teams there. But for us to get there, I think we all need to get after it right when we get back from Christmas. Hopefully we can make good progress as the tournaments move on and be at our peak for the postseason.
The men’s golf team returns to action Feb. 14 at the UTSA Oak Hills Invitational in San Antonio.
Video from Crowder Band shines with praise
David Crowder sings with his band at the grand finale for his Fantastical Church Music Conference in October. Crowder is a graduate of the School of Music and a board member of the church music program.
By Liz Appling
Reporter
An unusual but creative concept for a recent music video is now the backdrop of yet another triumph for the David Crowder Band.
Although the band has been making albums for several years, the “SMS (Shine)” film debuted as the second official music video released by the band and turned into an immediate success, drawing recognition from outside the Christian music community.
Using 700,000 Lite-Brite pegs, the video combines 1,200 images to create a live-action sequence for a love story that becomes the focus of the video.
Lead Singer David Crowder said the interpretation for the video intends to reinforce that grace and redemption exist in proximity no matter how “bleak life may seem.” “That’s the intent of the video, is to in some way be light in the spaces that we enter,” Crowder said.
This video was difficult to create and has gained acclaim for its creativity.
The video has been featured online by national publications, such as USA Today and Entertainment Weekly.
Paste Magazine also endorsed it as an “Awesome of the Day” while Fox and Friends included it in a recent morning newscast.
In addition, it has also been posted in Billboard Magazine’s video vault.
Crowder said the making of this video was extremely different than the first video, making the entire process a new learning experience for the already-accomplished band.
Crowder said video uses stop-motion and still photography to create the animation effect for the Lite-Brite concept.
“One thing we found out from using stop-motion is there is a lot of problem solving,” Crowder said.
For instance, the band had to think of a method to efficiently assemble each Lite-Brite picture during the month of filming, Crowder said.
He explained they had to explore ways to have about 100 individual Lite-Brite frames assembled for continuous and faster filming rather than reassembling one Lite-Brite each time the frame changed.
Ultimately, the band made the concept work by recruiting volunteers from University Baptist Church, where David Crowder also serves as the music and arts pastor, to help build the Lite-Brite frames for upcoming days of filming.
Toph Whisnant, the community pastor at University Baptist Church, said the band made an announcement after church one Sunday that they needed more hands on deck for this project, drawing in nearly 75 volunteers for the first afternoon of Lite-Brite picture-making.
The church’s volunteers continued to help until filming was completed by taking the supplies home and working individually or in a group, then bringing the assembled frames to the church to be delivered to the barn the band uses for recording and, now, filming.
Carrollton senior Drew Waggoner said he was impressed with the video immediately, noting it was a great song choice for the band as well.
“I knew David Crowder was gifted musically, but seeing the video gave me a better appreciation for how artistically talented he is as well,” Waggoner said.
Waggoner said Crowder’s albums and live performances are always good quality, but now they are truly taking their gift to the next level with this video.
Television catches on to teen trend: pregnancy
By Mallory Hisler
Contributor
Teen pregnancy is a popular topic for TV shows, movies and documentaries. Because the issue is generally considered controversial and there is not an agreed-upon way on how to handle it, the media continues to explore it in different ways.
“I know that I can barely take care of myself, and they have to take care of another life,” Austin sophomore Melissa Principe said, referring to the large number of teen mothers in America today.
The media portrayal of teen mothers is pervasive and many people with basic cable are exposed to them on a daily basis.
“Shows on teen pregnancy are everywhere,” said Victoria sophomore Emily Guerra, listing multiple shows such as “Teen Mom,” “16 and Pregnant,” pregnancy shows on Discovery Channel and Lifetime movies.
The problem a lot of people run into is the question of whether the media is helping by portraying teen pregnancy as it is, or glamorizing it.
Well-known cable network MTV has multiple reality shows dedicated to letting viewers see the lives of young mothers. They follow a few teenage girls throughout the country who have gotten pregnant and film as they go though the pregnancy, birth and life thereafter.
The programs have many dedicated viewers who are intrigued by the lives of their peers who must bear the responsibility of taking care of another life instead of just their own.
“I have known friends who have gone through teen pregnancy, and I find it interesting to see what life is like behind closed doors for these girls who deal with this,” Guerra said.
Guerra is certainly not the only female who finds interest in the life of young mothers.
“I think it’s interesting to look into the lives of teen moms, because it is something that I don’t think will happen to me,” Principe said.
Many viewers feel the shows adequately portray teen pregnancy, and even offer a glimpse into just how hard raising a child as a teen can be.
“I honestly think TV doesn’t glamorize it,” Guerra said. “It shows how the girls are struggling to finish school because they have a baby now, or how their parents kicked them out because of having a baby and the girl and her boyfriend are trying to make it when they barely have any money to take care of the baby.”
Principe, though admittedly a fan of the shows, has mixed feelings about how they present the lives of the young mothers.
“There are scenes where they show you the hard stuff, and a lot of the girls say that it is hard to be a teen mom and they wish that they wouldn’t have done it,” Principe said, “but then there are times when you’re like ‘who has the baby and why are they out partying or messing around?’”
Although a large number of people believe the shows give the viewer a truthful representation of teen pregnancy overall, there are many who would disagree with that opinion. Eureka, Mont., senior Abby Gallegos, who helped raise her brother’s two children when his girlfriend got pregnant at 16, sees the shows from a much different perspective.
“They aren’t accurate,” Gallegos said of the shows. “I feel like it’s reality TV and hyped up and ridiculous.”
There are many people who believe that giving young mothers a reality TV show automatically glamorizes teen pregnancy. Just looking around at the weekly tabloids, it is possible to see many of the mothers from the MTV series on the covers.
The instant fame that comes with being on television can be alluring and is what worries those who believe that media attention to teen mothers is detrimental to other teens.
The ideas on how the media portrays teen pregnancy are mixed at best; however, most agree that teen pregnancy is not an optimal choice for a young girl.
“Your life and everyone’s life around you is affected,” Gallegos said.
“I think it is the hardest thing any teenage girl could go through,” Guerra echoed.
Texas is one of the 10 states with the largest number of teen pregnancies, and its rate is 63 teen pregnancies for every 1,000 teen girls. McLennan County’s rate of 61 pregnant teens for every 1,000 is on par with that of Harris County, Dallas County, Bexar County and Travis County, homes to the state’s largest metroplexes with 64, 78, 67 and 54 pregnant teens for every 1,000, respectively.
So as the problem of teens getting pregnant continues to grow close to home, there will also be a growing number of people trying to find ways to fix the problem — be it by attempting to educate them with reality TV shows of pregnant teens, or the censoring of shows of that nature.
‘Tangled’ fails at attempt to be fresh or classic Disney
With her pet chameleon, Pascal, on her shoulder, Rapunzel holds Flynn Rider hostage with her hair after he climbs into her tower. Rapunzel is voiced by Mandy Moore. Flynn Rider voiced by Zachary Levi.
By Cara Leigh
Contributor
In an attempt to wring a modern twist out of a fairy tale classic, “Tangled” fumbles around on screen with much-intended charm which, in the end, turns out to be the stubborn knot in this new Disney charade.fA savvy re-vamp of the fable of Rapunzel, “Tangled” is a frank, abrupt, tongue-in-cheek animated musical about the girl with the long blonde hair.
After drinking an elixir from a single enchanted healing flower, a sick and pregnant queen gives birth to a princess with radiant golden locks which, it turns out, contain concentrated magical healing powers as well.
But not all is well in the kingdom: the vain old hag Mother Gothel wanted to use the rare flower as her own fountain for beauty and youth and in greed snatches up the baby princess in order to exploit the child’s magical power.
Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) grows to be a feisty and wistful stowaway, and with the sensuous and seductively wicked Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) hiding her from the kingdom and the world, the teenager and her quirky pet chameleon soon get cabin fever within the confines of their tall, lonely tower.
The blonde beauty is endearing enough, but her naivety and wide-eyed innocence is an act that we’ve all seen before thanks to the very same hands of Disney’s animation studio. She adds nothing new to the Disney vault with her gumption (Belle, Pocahontas, Jasmine and Ariel), woes of confinement (Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas and Cinderella) and stunningly good looks (any Disney princess ever conceived).
This unoriginality flattens out her character into a well-meaning but fairly boring princess, and the introduction of the disarmingly debonair bandit Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) does not help her case. Pooling all of their resources to make a cad-like Rider pop off of the screen, the animators ended up neglecting poor darling Rapunzel.
With some assistance from a bloodhound of a white stallion and an ensemble of an exaggerated and spirited nature, “Tangled” is a silly, slapstick comedy lathered in a sappy, melodramatic finish.
Its angle was to appeal to a more advanced and informed crowd, one that has grown weary of happy endings and trite, fairy tale narratives. It was supposed to appear laughably self-aware, supposed to be snappy and fresh.
It makes for a cumbersome musical, has little sense of rhythm or nuance, and is — despite a briefly intriguing climactic twist — predictable. Disney has lost its once-invaluable ability to tell a good, simple story well, and with this talent they also lose their luster.
“Tangled” is a cheesy fairy tale, and a far cry from a masterpiece.
Grade: B+
Point of View: The Grimm tale of politics and celebrity
By Nick Dean
Editor in chief
Once upon a time — in a time far, far away in the future — there is an American political sphere that cherishes realism and rationalism. After years upon years of praising the stunt politicians and media-attention seekers, Americans will use the power of their votes to force out the celebrities and usher in politicians that are actually real. It’s a fairy tale I daydream about — but I don’t think it’s far off.
Voters are exhausted. They are tired of the lies and the hyperbole. The major players in American politics aren’t real. They are like protagonists and antagonists in a highly dramatic, twisting piece of literature. Barack Obama plays the role of a struggling president hoping to bring much change but instead finds himself sitting idle, promising much and delivering little. He can’t please the furthest of the Left and he’s a socialist to most Republicans.
Nancy Pelosi is the wicked witch of the East. Politicians only use her name in two ways — to show that they are not like her or to show that their opponent voted for her. When someone attempted to dethrone her from the top of the party, she still managed to finagle her way to the top.
But the fairy tale isn’t contained to America’s Left. The Right has its stars. Sarah Palin, the Alaskan mother rallying fellow hockey moms to combat the Establishment and reclaim America for the family.
And we can’t forget Rush Limbaugh, the conspiracy guru who broadcasts drama from his radio lair for all the Right to hear. He’s on record as saying that he would have moved out of the country if Barack Obama won the presidency. (Obama won. Rush stayed.)
These are the characters of our current political situation. How did this happen? How did pragmatism slip away from the American public while hyperbole stole the spotlight? When did we begin to value celebrity over aptitude?
Nothing about the people influencing our policies seems real and I’m ready for that to change. Voters ought to reconsider the qualities we need in our nation’s leaders. A certain level of celebrity is inherent for the top leaders of our nation. But when is it enough? How many more TV shows? How many more media stunts?
Let’s take Palin for example. Far from insipid, Palin is an active topic in the news realm where she is in a constant battle with her nemesis, the media.
I wonder why she’s covered so much. It’s not like she was a vice presidential candidate in 2008. Or that her daughter just got third place on a B-grade TV show. Or that she just finished a weeklong series on TLC about her homeland of Alaska. Or that she just started a book tour for her recent release.
This problem isn’t just caused by the votes constituents cast. Journalists are partly to blame. News outlets need to recognize that perhaps Palin has staked her claim as the archenemy of the media just to get more attention. (Clearly, she made it into my column.) The truth though, is that Palin quit her public service job. She didn’t finish her governorship in Alaska. She hasn’t announced that she is running in 2012 yet. The only reason the media continue to cover her is because she rants about political issues on Facebook and her daughter has third-place dancing skills.
Palin has created her character perfectly and that false identity has sparked in me the urge for a more realistic, more beneficial political system. I am determined to seek out the true character of those wishing to be elected to serve the public. I want real people leading my country. I want the people that will work toward legitimate change, the candidates that care more about their constituents than press coverage. I want candidates that care.
And that may take awhile, but a guy can dream.
Nick Dean is a junior journalism and political science double major from Austin and the editor in chief of The Lariat.
Point of View: By Embracing challenges: When it comes to change, don’t just talk the talk
By Matt Larsen
Sports writer
Change.
We all love to hate it.
Particularly in this season filled with mittens and cocoa and heartwarming memories, we don’t look on change with deep longing in our eyes.
And we’re not talking about the nickels and dimes jingling around in your pocket.
We’re talking about the change you have to make every morning from warm, cozy blankets to cold, crisp blue jeans, from paying less than a dollar for a gallon of gas to almost three, from sitting half-awake in a classroom to sitting half-exasperated in a cubicle with an angry customer or boss griping in your ear.
And then there are other kinds of change.
Like when a spouse loses a job, a childhood friend gets diagnosed with cancer or a car crash takes a loved one. Big or small, when change comes knocking we fidget and squirm, we run and escape, we cry and mourn.
We do this for good reason with many kinds of change. Our bodies are made to cope by way of tears and long conversations.
Yet, in all our deep-seated desire to outrun change, we simultaneouslxy can’t wait to grab a front row seat as we tell the world to change around us.
With popcorn in hand, we cozy up in our comfortable La-Z-Boys to watch our favorite show: the lives of those around us (and if we are feeling anti-social, we’ll settle for a sit-com). We love nothing more than to watch other people’s lives change dramatically around us because we can feel a part of the change without really changing much.
We watch that guy down the hall go build a well in Africa and feel a part. We watch our philanthropy chair change majors after meeting the kids he is serving halfway across the world and we feel a part. We watch our older sister move to the most poverty-stricken county in the U.S. to use her economics degree and we feel a part.
We even like cheering on that change when it comes to change in our government. We watch and cheer because of that old phrase we laugh about called “living vicariously.” I can think back to so many times I have enjoyed a hearty chuckle at the notion of parents (or other older family members) living vicariously through their kids as they appear to maintain a death grip on the past.
Then one must consider what living vicariously means in its simplest sense, and that is living through the life of another.
Ouch.
I believe we are so quick to watch and chant for change yet also so quick to run from it in our own lives. Of course, hold onto your memories. But we can’t ask the world and those “in charge” of it to change when we ourselves are scared to commit to changing our sheets every other week.
We are scared what life without iPods and armchairs and all-you-can-eat meals might look like.
We are scared of what living off a dollar a day in a neighborhood teeming with sex slavery might actually feel like.
We are scared of what “that” risky step, to which every inch of our body and spirit cries out “Yes!” might ask of us. So we instead choose to listen to that nagging voice of doubt we so quickly label reason.
We have to change.
It’s plain and simple and completely outside our control whether our lives will change. It’s unavoidable.
Our question is whether we simply watch lives, including our own, change around us or choose to take the little steps toward a life that embraces and dare I say even longs for that change we so love to hate.
Matt Larsen is a junior journalism major from Katy and a sports writer for The Lariat.
Senate stifles code revisions
By Sara Tirrito
Staff Writer
A bill containing revisions to the electoral code was rejected when it was brought before the Student Senate at its Nov. 18 meeting.
The bill was the first of a three-part series of bills to revise the electoral code, but was the second bill dealing with the topic to be rejected in the last month.
Sugar Land sophomore and senator Cody Orr presented the bill at the Nov. 18 meeting.
“All the revisions we were trying to make were subject to debate, and though most of the revisions — I would say the vast majority of the revisions — were pretty noncontroversial, there was still discussion about a lot of topics,” Orr said, “and just the fact that there was still more discussion that could go on I believe was the reason that a lot of senators wanted to vote down this version and wait for a new bill that had more time for everyone to think about and consider.”
Student Senate president Michael Lyssy said he was surprised by the amount of concern senators expressed when the bill was brought forth because it was expected to be a more acceptable version of the original bill presented earlier this month.
“The bill they brought two weeks ago was supposed to be a little bit more acceptable, a little bit less controversial, a little bit more specific in the changes that they wanted to make and not so broad, so I was surprised that there was so much concern,” Lyssy said. “It still seemed like the bill was too broad.”
Electoral commissioner and Houston junior Gregg Ortiz said he was also surprised by how much controversy remained pertaining to the bill.
“I think overall it’s less controversial, but it is one part of a whole and I know that I walked in there, and the [operations and procedures committee] walked in there, on that Thursday thinking this was either going to pass or fail with little disagreement, but it turned out that there was more content that the senate identified with and that they thought needed more attention than we previously thought,” Ortiz said. “It certainly surprised me how controversial it ended up being.”
One of the main sources of debate was a portion of the bill dealing with the process of choosing the electoral commission, Orr said.
Other sources of debate included a clause pertaining to candidates’ nicknames and changes to campaign expenditures limitations, said Fort Worth senior Daniel Houston, president pro tempore of the Student Senate and chairman of the operations and procedures committee.
However, Houston said those topics are not as central to the bill as other provisions and they may be dropped or compromised in order to help more necessary provisions pass.
“As of right now, I’m focusing on making sure that the more central provisions in the set of changes that the operations and procedures committee has suggested are presented before senate in a form that will pass,” Houston said. “Some of the more controversial aspects to date, up to this point, have not been centered around those … they’ve centered around sort of marginal issues that were not terribly important to the committee that we are willing to compromise on to get the rest of the bill passed.”
Orr said having the bill voted down was positive in the sense that now there will be more time to improve it with the help of more senators.
“I would have liked to have seen it passed when it was brought up the first time,” Orr said, “and even though it has been temporarily voted down, I believe that this provides an opportunity for more senators to get involved in the process and eventually the final bill will probably be much better than what we had before.”
Corpus Christi junior senator Angela Gray, chair of the campus improvement committee, said she thought it was wise the senate rejected the bill because more discussion is needed.
“Electoral codes shape the future of the structure of student government and how the whole body functions,” Gray said. “It’s something that all of student government needs to be a part of deliberating and shaping — how the whole body’s going to function from here on out.”
Student Senate’s last meeting of the semester will be Thursday night. Houston said another bill could be brought before the senate at that meeting.
Local education programs accredited
By Carman Galvan
Staff Writer
Communities In Schools of the Heart of Texas in Waco and of Bell-Coryell Counties in Fort Hood have achieved national accreditation, the Texas Education Agency announced Monday.
The affiliates tested and passed the Communities In Schools Total Quality System standards. The standards measure the affiliates’ nonprofit business practices and how well the Communities In Schools model of integrated student support services in schools has been implemented, a press release from the agency stated. The Texas Education Agency said the Communities In Schools national office developed the Total Quality System standards in order to set guidelines that ensure uniform quality and improved student experience.
“It’s basically like a stamp of approval,” said Doug McDurham, CEO of Communities In Schools of the Heart of Texas and lecturer in Baylor’s School of Social Work. “The standard that we had to meet in the application process covered two things: programming and business standards. The purpose of our agency is to help ensure that our students are successful in school by addressing non-academic barriers, and part of the standard to help meet that goal is our programming — that we are reaching students and have appropriate services. The other half is the business standard, that the agency is functioning well as a nonprofit.”
McDurham said that after a year and a half process, the Heart of Texas affiliate received accreditation in July and was the first program to receive the accreditation in Texas. The Bell-Coryell Counties affiliate received its accreditation last month, said Mary Barr, executive director of Communities In Schools of Bell-Coryell Counties.
“It took a little more than a year to work through the entire process,” Barr said. “It was very detailed and very involved.”
McDurham said the process helped the affiliate strengthen as a whole.
“Basically, going through the process really made us step back and look at what we are doing and how we are doing it,” McDurham said. “It really forced us to be stronger and better and more research-based in our work.”
The Communities In Schools of the Heart of Texas will also receive a small grant through the state Communities In Schools office as an incentive to encourage and mentor other affiliates going through the process, McDurham said.
Barr said she was thrilled when she received the news.
“We are very flattered and very relieved and glad it’s done,” Barr said.
“I’m very proud of the program. It’s an exceptional program and I’m very proud of the staff. They’ve done a lot of exceptional things to help children who live in a very challenging environment.”
McDurham also emphasized that the accreditation reaches Communities In Schools’ partners as well, including Baylor University’s School of Education, School of Social Work, Financial Aid and student volunteers.
“When we shared locally that we had gotten the accreditation, one of the things we wanted to emphasize is not just the stamp of approval for what we do but also for all our partners,” McDurham said. “We consider Baylor to be one of those partners. We have a lot of connections with Baylor and we very much believe those connections to Baylor help make us successful as an organization.”
Retired professor continues to mentor students
By Yueqin Yang
Contributer
Every Wednesday and Friday at around 2:15 p.m., a silky-haired old man, accompanied by a woman in her 50s, teeters into the conference room at the Center for International Studies on the second floor of W. R. Poage Legislative Library.
Usually, a few students have gathered in the lounge, waiting for their arrival. It is 2:30 p.m. The meeting begins around a table capable of seating 10. This is a non-credit class, and any international students could attend with no payment.
J.R. LeMaster, emeritus professor of English, retired in 2006 after 47 years of teaching. The woman is his daughter, DeNae, born to his first wife. The students are a group of international students from China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Mexico.
LeMaster suffers from severe degenerative arthritis of the spine as well as other infirmities. He cannot drive, and his daughter drives him to campus from the other side of Waco twice a week.
Since early 2009, LeMaster has volunteered his time, energy and effort helping international students with their English speaking and writing. He coaches them, encourages them, and more importantly, tells them about life. Group members make presentations or deliver speeches, which he and the others critique, offering suggestions to make them stronger.
“I was afraid of delivering a speech because I forgot everything before my classes,” Sunny Gao, a senior from Shanxi, China, said.
“But now I feel better. I have learned a lot from his classes, especially confidence.”
LeMaster also tells them about his childhood, his teachers, his students and his wife.
LeMaster, 76, is a professor, a poet, a writer and an editor. He has published 21 books, written hundreds of poems, taught innumerable classes and assisted countless students.
His only son died suddenly last year. Wanda, his wife of 43 years, passed away more recently.
“I enjoy being in his classes, and I have learned a lot, not only knowledge, but a way of life,” Rui Zhang, a graduate student in economics from Henan, China, said.
Born in Pike County, Ohio, LeMaster earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Defiance College. After finishing his master’s and doctorate degrees at Bowling Green State University, he came to Baylor in 1977.
“Baylor provided me the opportunity to decide what I would teach and how to teach it,” LeMaster said. “I retired four years ago. I miss teaching.”
DeNae said LeMaster and Wanda had different personalities.
“They were totally different persons,” daughter DeNae said. “She was very outgoing and sociable.”
When asked the most valuable thing his late wife taught him, LeMaster failed to fight back his tears. “Pride,” he said, tears trickling down his cheeks. “Always try your best to do a thing and be proud of it.”
LeMaster almost collapsed when his wife died. His back bent more and his figure became more emaciated.
He likes to sit in a reclining chair looking out a window at his wife’s flower garden, looking, always looking closely.
“Only teaching can distract him from deep sorrow,” DeNae said, looking at her father.
LeMaster lived and taught in China on a number of occasions and brought many international students to Baylor in the 1980s and 90s.
“I found working with international students rewarding,” LeMaster said.
He said he will return to Baylor to offer his advice to students, even if only one student needs him. He will come until the day he can no longer walk.
To him teaching is life. It has never been merely a job. It is and has always been a way of living.
Editorial: Hypocrisy of WikiLeaks dilutes free info mission
It has been just two days since the first hundreds of more than a quarter of a million secret government documents concerning American diplomacy in numerous countries landed on the websites of global newspap
In the print edition of the Times on Monday, the paper began its series titled “State’s Secrets,” with four articles based on the confidential information the news outlet learned from State Department documents.
The articles detail that American diplomats are being required to conduct more intelligence gathering at their posts overseas, that many Arab nations were concerned with Iran’s nuclear weapons dealings and that the U.S. government strongly condemned the release of these documents to the public by WikiLeaks, a site devoted to broadcasting state secrets to the public.
WikiLeaks was responsible for the leak of 76,000 documents this summer regarding America’s progress in the war in Afghanistan.
The major release of secret documents by one of America’s most prominent newspapers has stirred ethical conversations in all circles — from journalists to the Times’ readers — and many are not happy with the paper’s decision.
On the Times’ website, editors are answering readers’ questions concerning its coverage of documents containing information that could cause much harm to Americans and strain international relations.
Readers have suggested that it is not the Times’ place to decide what confidential documents are OK for release and which should be redacted. “We elect leaders who, along with their trusted appointees and officials, analyze data and make such decisions. By subverting that process, The New York Times and WikiLeaks are undermining our entire electoral process,” one reader, Brian Chrisman, wrote to the Times.
The problem in this situation lies in the fact that the organization responsible for the documents’ release, WikiLeaks, is not a transparent organization despite its zeal for the freedom of information.
WikiLeaks receives funds from all over the world in ways that make its contributors anonymous.
Reported by The Wall Street Journal, the organization gets funds from Germany’s Wau Holland Foundation, where it has an account set up in its name. German law requires that those names are not released. But founder Julian Assange said that wasn’t the only way the organization gets its funds.
“We’re registered as a library in Australia, we’re registered as a foundation in France, we’re registered as a newspaper in Sweden,” Assange told the Journal. The organization also has two charitable organizations in the U.S., set up as 501C3s, that “act as a front” for WikiLeaks, Assange told the Journal.
The hypocrisy is astounding. The organization that looks to break the confidentiality of countries seeks protection within the privacy laws of those very countries.
However, what is more stunning is that while the Times received the summer documents directly from WikiLeaks, this time the Times received documents from The Guardian. Assange refused to give the Times the documents because of its coverage of WikiLeaks’ organizational and legal problems.
A news organization that works with a company with anonymous donors has crossed the line and entered unethical territory — a fact made apparent by Assange’s abandonment of the Times for its coverage.
The Times should not entangle itself within WikiLeaks’ hypocrisy. The whistleblower site may have endangered many lives and American ties, and if the Times continues to work with him in any manner other than for interviews, it is allowing the want for a breaking story to trump the necessity of a free press that acts ethically and with integrity.
If our national media continue on this trend, they are attempting to promote transparency all the while creating a convoluted, mysterious mess of the free press — a truth that could result in much more being hidden from the American people.
Point of View: Experiences of failure help jump life’s hurdles
By Chris Derrett
Sports editor
When people ask me why I want to be a sports journalist, I give them two cliché, mildly humorous answers. I’m not good at anything else, and I’m much better at writing about sports than I am playing them.
Now that I think about it, the second reason would be a lot funnier if it weren’t so pathetically true.
You’d think that the kid whose dad had the fifth-fastest 100-meter dash in Rice University history would find something, one position on the court or field that would lead to athletic excellence.
Nope. Some situations are win-win. Others are win-lose. My history in organized sports? Lose-lose-lose-lose etc.
The saga began when fourth-grade Chris’ father decided his son needed to play a sport, a team sport. Naturally I chose the least team-oriented sport, and for good measure it was the one about which Dad knew the least.
I was a quick learner. On the first day of practice I learned that second base is not played by literally standing on second base. A few weeks later I knew both how difficult a baseball is to hit as well as how to discern balls and strikes.
The season also showed me what happens with exceptionally poorly thrown pitches. They hit you. I cried every time, which was quite a few times because of my apparent attraction to bad pitches.
I also sobbed every time I struck out, which was every time I didn’t draw a walk or get beaned. That’s right; I hit .000 my rookie season.
As the seasons progressed, my teams could never quite make it to the top. One year we were one win short of qualifying for the championship game. The next year we had the best regular season record, but they instituted playoffs and our No. 1 seeded squad lost its title game bid to the No. 4 seed.
It wasn’t Fun Fair Positive Soccer, either, and there were no trophies for second place.
So baseball wasn’t my cup of tea. That was OK; I knew I really wanted to follow in Dad’s footsteps.
For a time, it seemed like things were great. I went from the seventh-grade pipsqueak who wanted to pee himself before every race to a growth spurt-aided eighth-grade star collecting several ribbons at every meet.
But before freshman year of high school began, my coach introduced me to hurdles. They introduced themselves in the form of frequent bruises and cuts.
Still, I entered the freshman division district meet having won all but one of my 300-meter hurdle races that season. That loss came to current Rice running back Sam McGuffie.
I had every reason to believe I’d grab a gold medal at district, and I did.
For 150 meters, at least. Then I did my best Wipeout impression and crashed my way into eighth place. Guess what color ribbon you get for that finish.
Still guessing? Trick question — the only things they stick on you for that kind of performance are bandages and hydrogen peroxide.
By junior year I figured out I wasn’t going to be a scholarship athlete, and by then I enjoyed track like a Baylor fan enjoys watching the Aggies win at anything.
Fast forward a few years, including a track-free senior high school year and a few internships and freelance work, and here I am.
When I look back on it, sports taught me the obvious: that I’m not the greatest athlete in the world. But in an almost pitiful way, they also helped me.
I don’t swing at strike three, nor do I smash hurdles anymore. Instead I get letters like the one I opened after Thanksgiving break, telling me the Dallas Morning News regrets to inform me it is unable to offer me an internship for 2011.
This time the finish line is in sight, and I know a thing or two about absorbing a hit and moving on. Now all I need is a metaphorical batting helmet.
Chris Derrett is a junior journalism major from Katy and the sports editor for The Lariat.
Point of View: For this Christmas season, how about a little respect for student journalists?
By Carmen Galvan
Staff writer
All I want for Christmas is a little faith in our media. As staff writers, my colleagues and I have conducted numerous interviews for stories of varying importance and sensitivity. However, one thing I have noticed is that the more sensitive a story is, the less likely a source is willing to cooperate, even at Baylor.
This isn’t surprising. In fact, it’s what we as journalists expect. Of course it would be absurd if a spokesperson or public relations agent were to willingly answer any questions on a sensitive topic that is going to be eventually covered by the seemingly
ruthless media.
Or would it?
Based on my own experience, that of my colleagues as well as that of well-seasoned journalists, it is far better for an organization to provide transparency and cooperation in communicating with both the public and the media. The “why” is easy; it’s Public Relations 101.
You look less suspicious and develop a relationship with the media. By withholding information, refusing to speak with the media and the inability to provide a straight story, an organization loses credibility with the media. Not to mention it creates a bit of anger along the way. It is important to remember that our job is to present factual and unbiased news in order to inform the public. That is our goal. And it is indescribably frustrating when we are unable to fulfill that goal because an organization spokesperson refuses to speak with a journalist or retracts their name as a source in order to save his or herself. Please realize that we don’t have a personal vendetta against you. We just want you to place the public’s interest before your own and put a bit of trust in your media.
I believe that it is important that organizations and departments across Baylor campus realize that most news outlets, especially The Baylor Lariat, hold itself to the utmost level of integrity. I do realize that there is a stereotype of the media that is not completely misguided.
I admit that there are sloppy reporters out there who either intentionally or unintentionally report incomplete or false information, thereby potentially ruining the organization’s credibility or reputation. But this does not mean that every reporter fits this stereotype. And Baylor should have some trust in the integrity of its own students.
I’m asking that Baylor University in its entirety – which includes administrative departments and student organizations – offer a degree of cooperation and transparency to its student journalists. Not just to make our jobs easier, but to actively place the public’s interest first by willingly offering the full truth when asked and to demonstrate a certain degree of trust and respect of your student journalists.
Such a gift may not be able to fit in a stocking or under the Christmas tree, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask.
Carmen Galvan is a junior journalism major from Baytown and a staff writer for The Lariat.
