Millsaps College

■ Inside ■

Opinions........................2Arts & Life.....................3Features...................4 & 5News continued.............6Sports.....................7 & 8

ARTS & LIFE

VOLUME LXXX, NO.14 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012

FEATURES

SPORTS

Diverse array of writers comes to Millsaps.

Bells, virgins and Gandhi: What do they have in com-mon?

Majors gear up for new challenges in 2012.

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

THE PURPLE & WHITE

Mayans continued - page 3

Abed HaddadNews Editor

illsaps recently be-gun heavily polic-ing student drink-ing on campus.

As stated in the student handbook, Major Facts, Millsaps students must comply with Mississippi laws, which re-strict drinking to only students of legal age. Major Facts does, in fact, give students guidelines for drinking on campus, using such language as “discrete and inconspicuous.”

!e handbook even states “Any alcoholic beverages which are being consumed in pub-lic areas must be in containers which are opaque and which are not identi"able as holding alcoholic beverages.”

However, what students tend to neglect is that those poli-cies only apply to those of legal drinking age.

While campus security usually only responds to student com-plaints, students have expressed concern about what they see as security intruding on their pri-vacy. “I understand the role of

security on campus, but it be-comes an issue when it is at the cost of our privacy as students and adults,” commented fresh-man Hunter McClendon.

In a recent Student Body As-sociation (SBA) session, the topic was discussed and the new measures were instated.

According to SBA, Dean Brit Katz expressed concerns with student behavior. “Students need to be held accountable,” he says.

Beginning this semester, se-curity will patrol areas around the dormitories as well as Fra-ternity Row to insure the safety of students. “If students behave properly and in a civil manner, then security is not as likely to ask questions,” says Director of Residence Life Patrick Cooper.

Senior Whitney Gilchrist un-derstands the implications of the new measures.

“Concerns seem to be legiti-mate based on the heightened number of cases of serious al-cohol poisoning,” comments Gilchrist.

!ese new security measures a#ect most those living on fra-ternity row and the students

who go there on !ursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Katz highlights the role of Fraternity Row in preventing any incidents related to drugs or alcohol.

“Is it the Greek men on cam-pus’ responsibility to take bur-den for all underage drinking at Millsaps? No,” he says. Nev-ertheless, he emphasized the responsibility of students to protect each other, ensuring the safety of the campus as a whole.

Security guards can go into fraternity house at anytime, since the houses are on Millsaps property. If a security o$cer has any reason, he has the right to enter a student’s room for fur-ther inspection.

“!ere is a lot of ambivalence about the rules,” says Gilchrist. “Had I not happened to hear about the new rules in a sorority meeting, I certainly would have inadvertently broken them.”

A factor in maintaining safety on Fraternity Row could be the use of monitors, as stated in Major Facts, “All student spon-sored events involving alcohol are required to have at least two

Monitors.” While the acknowledgement

of alcohol consumption can pull a strain on fraternal func-tion, it does serve well.

“(Security Guards) can ask for the assistance of (party) moni-tors,” says Cooper. “Frater-nity houses must abide by the school’s alcohol policy.”

Nonetheless, these new mea-sures open up a new window for reckless behavior on part of Millsaps students.

Due to the stringent rules, students may be more likely to drink o# campus, whether at a bar or a friend’s house, increas-ing the likelihood of drunk driving.

While the severty of these measures can be debated, what remains clear to students is the role of security on campus.

Sophomore Andrew Gar-giulo states, “Security should help reduce excessive underage drinking, (but) I do not think the policy is being reiterated to end parties… !ey should help us ensure the parties do not get out of control.”

Fraternity Row monitored for excessive drinking

M

Dig this: Where did the Mayans go?Tao TangContributor

When Dr. George Bey and Millsaps students were broad-casted on Japanese TV in Janu-ary, it wouldn’t be hard to tell that this small school had been doing something so big that its story had reached the other side of the world.

In 2010 the Millsaps An-thropology professor’s work in Kiuic, Mexico drew attention from National Geographic af-ter a USA Today featured a

story on Bey’s work. National Geographic’s interest led to the PBS documentary “Quest For the Lost Maya.” !e docu-mentary is based on Bey and Millsaps students research into why the people in the area of Kiuic abruptly le% their homes. “Quest For the Lost Maya” will premiere on March 28 and will air nation wide with an expect-ed 4.3 millions viewers.

Dr. George Bey says the col-lapse of Maya was a gradual pro-cess and reasons of the collapse varies regionally. Since 900 BC,

Mayans had abandoned their cities fpr environmental and political reasons, but signs indi-cate that they returned to their abandoned cities. !e Millsaps archeological project in Kiuic ,which was permanently aban-doned around 850 likely be-cause of drought, reveals a dif-ferent story.

“What we are starting to see there [Kiuic] is that there was drought. Kiuic’s very suscep-tible to drought because they depended completely on rain water” says Dr. Bey

Millsaps’ research in Yucatan explains why Mayans chose to live in places like Kiuc which have no su$cient water sup-plies.

“!e reason that they went a landscape that lacks water was the soils were so good. !is area has the best soil in Yucatan. It was a kind of balancing act,” Bey explains.

“!e collapse of the Maya took place over 200 years. What hap-pened in one place might not

By Grace WilliamsContributor

As a Millsaps student, and speci! cally as a former Purple & White sta" writer, I found the inclusion of Katie Greer’s article “Numbers that should change your vote” in the news section – on the front page, no less – ba# ing and upsetting.

Let me make clear that I do not consider myself an ex-pert on Amer-ican elective politics or the American tax code. Nor am I a stringent sup-porter of President Obama, or even a Democrat.

However, I suspect that I was not alone in thinking Greer’s piece was in$ ammatory, mis-leading and perhaps even factu-ally incorrect. For example, the assertion that the “bad debt” President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union Ad-dress came exclusively from

“his stimulus plan” is, at best, an over-simpli! cation of a series of complex issues a" ecting the economy.

Similarly, I assume that “(a)s a result of the raised debt ceiling, the Gross Domestic Product ex-ceeded 100 percent [sic]” was a typo of some sort, though what it was meant to say I cannot ! g-ure out. % e implication that this summer’s raising of the debt ceiling was some sort poor deci-sion on Obama’s part re$ ects a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning and signi! cance of sovereign debt.

However, in writing to the editor it is not my intention to refute Greer’s article point by

point. % ere are countless members of the Millsaps c o m m u n i t y better quali-! ed to address the speci! c facts and ! g-ures therein.

Rather, the classi! cation of this sort of highly biased and in$ ammatory writing as “news” suggests a poor understanding of what role a newspaper can, and should, play in a commu-nity.

News is meant to inform and even sometimes enlighten. From the title alone it is clear that with her piece Greer meant instead to in$ uence opinions and recom-

OPINIONS Contact Genny Santos, santogl@millsaps.edu

2

Editor-in-Chief... Kenya Strong-Johnston

Managing Editor... Lana Price

Visuals Manager...Sonum Sanjanwala

Layout Editors...Catherine PereiraMaryam Qureshi

Photo Manager... Genny Santos

Graphics Editor...Sonum Sanjanwala

Business Manager..Juan Fernandez

News Editor...Abed Haddad

Opinions Editor...Genny Santos

Arts & Life Editor...Madeline Rardin

Features Editor...Anna Nations

Sports Editor...Ellen Bouyelas

Advisor...Woody Woodrick

Sta" Writers...Carpenter Stevens

Sara Sacks

Contributors...Emma SpiesJake Warren

Tao TangGrace Williams

E-mail corrections to Editor-in-Chief Kenya Strong-Johnston, stronkk@millsaps.edu.

% e Purple & White is published weekly.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in articles, letters to the Editor and cartoons printed in the Purple & White do not necessarily re$ ect those of the editors, Publications Board, Millsaps College, % e United Methodist Church or the student body. Complaints should be addressed to the Millsaps Col-lege Publications Board. Contact Laura Domingue or Dr. Pat Taylor.

Advertising rates available upon request. E-mail Juan Fernandez at fernajd@millsaps.edu.

% is publication may not be repro-duced in whole or in part without written permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

Letters to the EditorSubmit letters to the editor to the Purple and White at Box 15070 or e-mail Kenya Strong-Johnston,at stronkk@millsaps.edu. Letters should be turned in before 12 p.m. on Sunday prior to the % ursday publication. Anonymous letters will not be published.

PURPLE&PURPLE&PURPLEWHITE

THELetter to the Editor

By Kenya Strong-JohnstonEditor-in-Chief

I wonder sometimes if we un-derstand how to truly capitalize on happiness. In the end, are we really happy?

I can understand if the con-templation of such a thought seems morose, maybe cynical, but I don’t care. I don’t think our world or our society places enough emphasis on the impor-tance of true happiness and its actual meaning.

In Spanish class we are read-ing about the importance of the present in ancient Aztec culture. An anonymous poem says “por breve tiempo, amigos.” For a short time friends, we are here. While we are we must be happy because “solamente aqui, nuestro corazon se alegra” – only in this time is our heart happy.

So comes the valid question of what makes us happy? How,

among the clutter of our day-to-day lives, can we truly capitalize on the happiness we desire.

Relationships–be it with friends, a signi! cant other, pro-fessors or family–are the build-ing blocks to happiness. Of course, these relationships in-clude, and begin with, a secure and intimate relationship with the self. Self-respect, self-loyalty and self-assurance may be hard to come by at times.

On days when it feels like a gray cloud is following you, it is easy to neglect any good feel-ings that come your way. Why do we do this? I like to believe that in our constant striving for relationships we feed o" the idea that relationships can o" er us a means of support.

We are quick to assume rela-tionships are unsupportive un-less we are sad or upset, so we give them a reason to be. I say: Let the happiness and laugh-ter of a relationship be the true foundation of its structure.

If a relationship is built entire-ly o" the negatives of a gloomy day and the desire for support of unwanted feelings then how is it a relationship at all?

Regardless, it is this relation-ship with the self that begins to sustain our relationships. Gloomy day or not, we will al-

Capitalize on dancing in the rain:

fi nding self-respect in happiness

Compiled by Genny SantosOpinions Editor

hipsterindisguiseput ! sh in all the puddles on

campus #bestworstpracticaljoke

SororityGingershoutout to the Millsaps li-

brary computers for losing all traces of my paper that’s due at 5. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

thegreekgirlI prayed for my liver today in

church #mylife

MeowsapsSeniorI want French fries & beer &

no more computer screens

HyperactiveActivistWe walked all the way across

campus for the kitchen but for-got the ingredients #reallife-threestooges

! atKidInPlaidto the person listening to my

music library when I gotta dis-connect it: sorry, you have to ! nish Will Smith’s Greatest Hits

when I get back

silentsarcasmUhhhh how many quarters are

there in a basketball game? #Im-SorryIDontUnderstand

biochemblondeI think the people above me are

tap dancing in roller skates…?

hipsterindisguise! le a maintenance request &

they’ll knock on your bathroom door while you’re showering. ACTUAL #MILLSAPSPROB-LEMS @MillsapsBubble

silentsarcasmEver get the feelin the stranger

beside you in the library just murdered someone? #stress #crossedtheline #WhatsIn% eB-riefcase #HopeImNotNext

Meowsaps SeniorI would say I ! nd an average of

three black and one white feath-er in or near my dorm room ev-ery day.

biochemblondeit’s sooo cold in my room!

But I’m not going to put pants on. #ihatepants #moreblanket-splease!

HyperactiveActivistWhen you realize that you put

honey on your wa# e instead of syrup due to the lack of labels in the caf.

MillsapsBubbleOkay, let’s settle this: what is

that smell in the Franny Lou garden?

! atKidInPlaidclass ended early cuz the in-

ternet was too slow to load the documentary we were supposed to watch #millsapsprobs

sassysophomorePpl get hilariously competitive

over their ranking at housing se-lection.

MillsapsProbsIt takes about 27 minutes for

the library computer to log me in #millsapsprobs

MajorHipsterJust did a backbend in the

shower trying to avoid the cold water @MillsapsProbs

fratguyepitomizedReal security or beer pong po-

lice? Not sure which one Mill-saps needs more at this point… #whoknows

loudandproudHide yo kids, hide yo wife..

Detective Katz is on the prowl for this hooded miscreant. #brit2therescue #strangerdan-ger

curlyQTHE CHAMBER OF SE-

CRETS HAS BEEN OPENED

hipsterindisguisespeaking of campus robbers

& valentine’s day, this is my in-conspicuous pepper spray.

thegreekgirlHappy Valentines Day? More

like Happy Bagel day in kava! #millsapsprobs

#whensbreakagain?: A tweet cycleLetter continued on pg. 3 Happiness continued on pg. 3

ARTS & LIFEContact Madeline Rardin, rardimr@millsaps.edu

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By Madeline RardinArts & Life Editor

! e 2011 holiday season, le" a legacy of virtual gi" s. Pinterest, an online scrapbook, captured the curiosity of many young tech-savy individuals; especially young women.

C r e a t i n g an account through Face-book and be-ginning the pro-cess of building a virtual board is free and easy. According to the Pinterest website, Pinter-est is a place where “people use pinboards to plan their weddings, deco-rate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.” Like Facebook, the social media site includes “likes” and comments along with the new idea of “re-pining,” or sharing someone else’s ideas. ! e unique ideas come in the form of cra" s and recipes to more personal desires such as engagement photo ideas or wedding plans.

! e website’s main objectives and the array of “pinnings” at-tract: women. According to Da-lecitypatch.com since its launch in 2012 Pinterest has had more Internet tra# c than Google Plus or Tumblr. Not surprisingly,

data gathered by Techcrunch.com says that 97 percent of the steadily accumulating fan base is young adult females.

“It doesn’t surprise me because it really doesn’t o$ er much for males” says Holly Harlan, a se-nior majoring in Communica-

tions. Despite the growth of the site, some people doubt the se-riousness of its objectives. ! e age of its fans raises questions however, the same crowd drove sites like Myspace and Facebook to success. Targeting young women and their interests will most likely produce an ideal ef-fect in the long run.

Pinterest was not created just to appeal to women, however. It was hoped to, and has proved to be, a useful marketing tool for many businesses. Big budget designers such as Kate Spade have used Pinterest as a tool to market their products. Business

Insider interviewed Kate Spade’s vice president/ecommerce Jo-hanna Murphy to discuss how the popular brand utilizes Pin-terest. Murphy says Kate Spade does not use Pinterest to simply “pin” their own products but as a tool to share with fans what in-

spires them. Even though the popu-lar brand hasn’t set up its boards in to make a di-rect pro% t from their boards it is a helpful market-ing tool. Harlan noted that Pin-terest does make a pro% t from brands that have marketed their products.“From

what I understand Pinterest makes a

pro% t from every product that is featured that gets sold,” she says.

“If we look at it again,” says Murphy. “It’s kind of the fuel for the overall % re to the brand that will then ultimately drive sales.” ! e marketers and cre-ators of Pinterest have tapped into particular market which has allowed them to be incredi-bly successful. Whatever reason people % nd for using Pinterest, it has proven itself the hot new social media site.

By Madeline RardinArts & Life Editor

! is semester’s Visiting Writ-ers Series will feature a variety of presenters that it should ap-peal to just about any Millsaps student.

Poet Tom Sleigh of Brooklyn, N.Y. will be the % rst to present. Sleigh is the winner of numer-ous awards including the Wil-liam Carlos Williams Award, the 2008 Kingsley Tu" s Award in which he won $100,000, and a % nalist in the Los Angeles Times Book Award. His works include A! er One, " e Dreamhouse and most recently Army Cats.

In a 2003 interview conducted by Allegra Wong of the Full Cir-cle Journal, Sleigh described his in& uences “I’d have to say that Browning for his technique; Wallace Stevens for a certain quality of gravitas, what Keats feels near his death, when he

said he was living a sort of post-humous existence; Philip Lar-kin for his sense of extremity; Pound for his & uidity of concep-tion and hardness of execution; Baudelaire for his music and intense scrutiny and a$ ection for street life; and Bishop and Lowell for their immersion in the physical world, would be my fathers and mothers.”

Sleigh will present at 7:30 p.m February 23. ! e trio of talented artists Rick Moody, Welsey Stace and Joe Pernice are scheduled to present March 28. Rick Moody who has critically acclaimed novels, novellas and story col-lections will present % rst. His 1994 novel the " e Ice Storm was such as success that the popular movie database IMDB.com noted that it caught the at-tention of director Ang Lee.

Lee adapted the novel into a 1997 feature % lm starring To-bey McGuire, Christina Ricci

and Elijah Wood. English author and musician Stace, also known as John Welsey Harding will be the next to present. Stace has produced 17 albums in the past 20 years. Stace’s literary work Charles Jessold, Considered As A Murderer was noted by Caroyln

Kellog of the LAtimes as being “carefully plotted and brilliantly executed.”

Singer and writer Joe Pernice complete the event. Pernice has been a part of the music indus-try for more than a decade and has released 13 albums. ! e

New York Times has praised Per-nice’s work calling it a startling slice of beauty.” ! is event will take place at 7:00 pm. ! e event will be ticketed and prices will be $10 for the public but free for Millsaps students with ID.

! e % nal author of the spring 2012 series to present will be Matt Bondurant. Boundurant’s presentation will take place on 7:30 pm on April 5th. A native of Virginia, Bondaurant’s work in-cludes novels: " e " ird Trans-lation, " e Wettest County in the World and " e Night Swimmer. His 2008 ! e Wettest County in the World has been made into a % lm starring Shia LaBouef and Tom Hardy and will be released this year.

For more information on the Visiting Writer’s series contact Dr. Steve Kistulentz at steve.kis-tulentz@millsaps.edu.

Acclaimed authors bring more than words to Millsaps

Contributed

This year’s visiting writer’s series brings in an array of writ-ers passionately sharing their successes.

: A website geared towards women?

: A website

Mayans continued from pg. 1

have happened in another place. Some places might be en-vironmental, other places might be (cased by) warfare or po-litical con& icts,” Bey says “! e big question is why didn’t they come back? ! e the answer to the question that seems to be emerging is politics and power.”

He further explains why Ma-yans never returned to Kiuic which they occupied for 1,900 years, “ A lot of changes caused political instability and made it di# cult to organize (to return). For example, if the government wasn’t there to help a" er Ka-trina, New Orleans would be abandoned. So the response of the Mayan power structure wasn’t able to organize people to get them back into these cities. And as a result, they moved to the northern part of the penin-sula.”

Jeremy Zipple, director of Na-tional Geographic documen-tary, “We knew that it is 2012. So there’s gonna be a lot of in-terests in Mayan stu$ s. And we thought it would be cool to do a serious documentary on Maya for PBS that maybe didn’t buy into all those sensationalism

about the 2012 phenomenon. It is a serious project that wouldn’t be sensationalistic”.

Zipple has two main focuses of the documentary, “One is that the Mayans who lived in the Yucatan were way earlier than anybody can imagine, like 1,500 years earlier. Secondly, evidence of what happened to those people. It’s a story about the civilization of the people,” Also, Zipple talks about the part of the documentary that he likes very much, called “Stairway to Heaven. It is a beautiful build-ing built on the top of this hill. It looks like people who lived there weren’t royal. ! ey were middle class Mayan. A lot of documentaries focus on the top of the chain. It’s just normal Mayan people and it turns out that the civilization was very af-& uent. Lots of diverse diet and activities,” he says.

! is archeological project in Yucatan is funded mostly through donors to the college, and Beys says, “ ! is is Millsaps doing some of the most impor-tant archeological in the world right now. And I think everyone should be proud of what they are doing.”

Contributed

By Carpenter StevensSta! writer

Millsaps is not only rich in culture and diversity, but it also holds a heritage that has fostered some notable campus legends.

From the popular tale that stepping on the seal in the Bowl will delay graduation to the virgin cannon shooting o! out-side the Ford Academic Complex and the mystery of Gandhi’s disappear-ing glasses, these stories are part of what gives the campus character.

Freshman Christina Til-ton heard these legends when she came to visit as a volleyball recruit. She heard stories of the M Bench, the seal in the Bowl, the “virgin can-non” and the cursed bell outside the library.

“I heard that they have refused to put the bell in a building because the past two buildings it has been in caught "re,” remarks Tilton.

Another legend is the “virgin cannon,” rumored to "re when-ever a virgin stands in front of it.

Another Millsaps myth claims

Major Reuben Millsaps and his wife were buried in the tomb on the South side of campus umtil allegedly some students from Belhaven University stole the bodies, leaving a vacant tomb.

Freshman Taylor Ziegler en-joys the legend of the M bench.

“I think it’s a great romantic spot,” she declares. “#ey say

that when a guy kiss-es you on the bench that you will fall in love and get married.”

Many a girl has waited for a night of

the full moon when her Prince Charming sits on the M Bench and grants her a kiss.

While romance may be in the air for some, the leg-ends and myths also stem

to the supernatural. Becky Bacot Hall

stands as a memorial, named a$er a promi-nent Methodist couple’s daughter who died in a car crash. She is said to roam the halls to this day.

“It’s pretty freaky to think about. But I just try not to think about it,” says Tilton.

Ziegler also ex-presses her concerns.

“I try not to believe in that kind of stu!,” Ziegler adds. “It’s not worth it, but still, you wonder if it is real.”

Many people wonder: Are the legends and sto-ries real? Is it true that the glasses of Gandhi were stolen so many times that they are now locked away and only put out on the

statue for special occasions? Or is it true that streaking

around the Bowl will actually save you from not graduat-ing if you stepped on the seal?

#ough the truth behind these legends is questionable, the myths undeniably strike curios-ity in both students and faculty.

FEATURES Contact Anna Nations, natioal@millsaps.edu

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Dr. Michael Reinhard’s Winston Churchill class unleashes a fresh atmosphere for political science en-thusiasts.

At 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday, the class, joined by regulars and curious customers, gathers at Pizza Shack’s Old Canton Road location to watch "lms that highlight Churchill’s po-litical involvement and world span-ning con%ict. Millsaps alum and Pizza Shack owners Mike Parker

and Larry Emmett o!er more than just a space for political conversa-tion. #ey throw in free pizza, too.

Since the beginning of the semester, Reinhard’s Churchill class has near-ly doubled in size, and he gives the credit to Parker and Emmett. While pouring over Churchill’s “History of World War” brought the students in, it’s Pizza Shack’s award-winning pizza that makes them return.

Millsaps landmarks continue to keep legends alive

Genny Santos

Some of the most familiar sights on campus hold hid-den stories to tell.

Come join us!Letter continued from pg. 2

mend that the reader not vote to re-elect President Obama.

#e piece does not take a complete look at President Obama’s economic re-cord, or even the complete e!ect of the stimulus package. For example, Greer neglects to mention the 10 straight quar-ters of GDP growth to-date or that the unemployment rate of 8.3 percent is an improvement on the October 2009 peak of 10 percent .

I hope that in the future the editorial sta! will exercise better judgment in the articles it runs as front-page news and hold its contributors to higher journalis-tic standards. If this sort of demagoguery and misinformation has any place in our campus newspaper, surely that place is Opinions.

If you have a letter for the editor, please submit to Kenya Strong-Johnston at @stronkk@millsaps.edu

Happiness continued from pg. 2

ways be in relation with ourselves and the sooner we can learn to ignore the glooming cloud and dance in the rain, the sooner this relationship can blossom.

Words of advice: If you "nd yourself

struggling with this self happiness, be-gin to note the things that leave tingles in your toes. #ese are the things worth pursuing. Do you get a jolt from doing yoga or taking a jog? How about sitting in the sun reading a good book, just for the fun of it? Maybe you think the only thing that makes you happy is out of this world and seems like a rare experience?

#is, I doubt. I guarantee that you pass by at least a dozen things each day that make you truly happy. Sure, there might be those things that are hard to come by but what are the things you can grasp right now?

#ese things are like a rainbow on that gloomy day, a hint of sun from behind the clouds. #ese are the things that – de-spite the time you need to spend study-ing, performing, giving, excelling, suc-ceeding – you cannot pass up. In order to build the foundation of a truly happy life you "rst have to make sure you, yourself are happy.

Take the gloomy days for what they are but remember that weather always moves on. You can’t have a rainbow without a little rain. Challenge yourself today and every day to put aside an assignment, a feeling of distress, a scheduled out day to recognize and utilize those special little things that make the sun shine.

Column by Emma SpiesContributor

Every vegan has two or three foods that compose about 90 percent of his or her diet.

! is is not to say that variety is di" cult; in fact, the list of foods we can eat is much longer than non-vegans might imagine. But, because so many vegan staples are healthy, many of us are able to eat lots of the foods we really love without becoming full or packing on the pounds.

For vegan activist and Mixed Martial Arts # ghter Erin Red, the staples are kale and hum-mus. My staples are tofu and spinach—although I rarely turn down a piece of vegan carrot cake with cream cheese icing. ! is is obviously not one of the healthier options.

Vegans and non-vegans alike are probably familiar with hummus. It is a thick spread that originated in Middle East-

ern cuisine. Hummus always contains chickpeas and tahini (ground sesame paste), but it can have virtually any combina-tion of spices or $ avors added.

We might think of hummus as just a snack food, but it’s so healthy that most of us would probably bene# t from eating more of it.

Chickpeas are loaded with # ber, which pro-motes healthy diges-tion, as well as folic acid, iron and protein. Moreover, hummus is usually made with ol-ive oil, a great source of healthy monoun-saturated fatty acids. Spread hummus on bread or crackers or use it as a dip for baby carrots, sliced cucum-bers or other veggies.

Another vegan es-sential is the soybean derivative tofu. Poor tofu is weird looking, di" cult to cook prop-erly and has, along with granola, been deni-grated to the realm of perpetual joke foods.

But, once you # gure out how to cook tofu, it can be your best friend.

For one, it is a great source of protein. Four ounces of # rm tofu contain about 10 grams of

protein, about 94 calories and no cholesterol.

You can also # nd calcium-for-ti# ed tofu if you want even more nutritional bang for your buck. Also, tofu is usually pretty in-expensive. Prices vary depend-ing on the store and the brand,

but Kroger carries 16-ounce packages of tofu from $1.79 to $2.69.

Vacuum-sealed Mori-Nu brand tofu, which has a very long shelf life, is available for as little as $1.50 for a 12-ounce package for Rainbow Natural

Grocery Cooperative members. As vegan chef Virginia Mes-

sina points out, tofu’s blandness actually increases its culinary versatility. Being a porous food, it can easily soak up the $ avors of spices, sauces, and marinades

Now, on to the greens. Al-

though most of us probably hat-ed them when we were young, it is time to accept that leafy greens are as important to a healthy diet as our parents al-ways told us.

Numerous studies have shown that green leafy veggies lower

the risk of heart disease. ! ey are great sources of vitamin C, folic acid, potassium, magne-sium and other important nu-trients.

Luckily, as adults, we can choose how to prepare our greens, so we can choose to make them delicious.

My personal favorite, spinach, is a great alternative to the limp, boring, nutrient-lacking iceberg lettuce we o% en see in salads.

If you want a more hardy green, try kale. It is usually less expensive than spinach—about 99 cents per bunch at Kroger—and is probably a better option for a stir-fry or soup because it holds up to heat better than spinach.

Kale has more antioxidants than almost any other veggie and is also loaded with calcium, B-vitamins and # ber. My favor-ite way to eat kale is to sauté it with a little olive oil and garlic. Watch for the dark green leaves to turn bright green, and you’ll know it is ready to eat.

Find Red at www.erinred.tumblr.com, or check out her podcast, Red Radio, which is available for free on iTunes.

Want some simple vegan tips, like my tried-and-true low-fat hummus recipe or some sug-gestions for how to wrangle tofu into submission? Email me at spieser@millsaps.edu.

FEATURESContact Anna Nations, natioal@millsaps.edu

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Vegan Wonderfoods

Millsap

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bumpe

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say i

t all:

Wit & w

isdom

Take a look at what we say and how we say it.

Contributed

A few key foods in the vegan diet serve as foundations for an array of ! avors and spices.

Commentary by Jake WarrenContributor

While browsing the internet a few weeks ago, I came across an attention-grabbing website that lists something the Obama ad-ministration has accomplished in the past three years, ranging from “Health Care Reform Bill,” which allows childrn to remain covered by their parents’ in-surance until the age of 26” to “Eliminated subsidies to private lender middlemen of student loans and protect student bor-rowers” to “Creating more pri-vate sector jobs in 2010 than in all Bush years.”

!e punch line of the website is the way you get to the next Obama accomplishment- by

clicking a button on the page. Each time, the button contains a saying, things like “!at doesn’t a"ect me personally so who cares” or “But what has he done for me lately?”

!e tongue-in-cheek website almost perfectly encapsulates the way President Obama is viewed by a number of Ameri-cans, both inside and outside of his political party.

Regardless of the outcome of the 2012 election, Obama’s time in o#ce from 2009-2013 will be seen as one of the more ambi-tious and successful presiden-cies we Americans have seen, at least in terms of legislative un-dertakings.

Obama was inaugurated into a presidency that was drastically di"erent than the presidency he campaigned for in 2008. Rather than working for “Change We Can Believe In” Obama had to struggle to simply keep the country’ above water.

But he did it. !e stimulus bill worked. It was not enough, but it did what it could- well enough so that some jobs kept recieving funding and others were cre-ated.

He reformed health care cov-

erage and placed two Demo-cratic justices on the Supreme Court, which seems to guaran-tee that the reform is probably here to stay.

!e war in Iraq is done, and the war in Afghanistan is wind-ing down.

Tax breaks for the middle class and certain small businesses have reinforced the backbone of this country, and the un-employment rate has dropped steadily and heavily for the past 4 months (from 9.0 percent in October 2011 to 8.3 percent in January).

!e American automobile in-dustry is growing again, in part because the Obama administra-tion refused to let it die.

He has somehow managed signing legislation even against a Republican owned House that only votes “no” and Republican Senators who use $libusters like co"ee $lters. Not to mention that Obama has shown himself to be a shrewd tactician when it comes to foreign policy, sup-porting the Arab Spring revolts while keeping our troops out of it, assassinating much of al-Qaeda’s brass through planned drone strikes, boldly utilizing

the SEALs when needed and almost %awlessly o"setting Chi-na’s growth through strengthen-ing America’s in%uence in Asia and a new permanent Marine base in Australia.

Yet the approval rating for the President sits at a lukewarm 46-50 pervent, depending on who you ask.

Why? If we’re being honest here, it’s because Obama took on a job that he wasn’t really ready to do. He lacked the po-litical network that a Clinton or a Bush could bring to o#ce, re-lying instead on charisma and a strong grassroots movement to put him into o#ce, without the political thinkers prepared to help him when he got there. So once there, he could only be de-$ned as “wild-eyed” or “naïve”. !is is fair.

In the $rst two years, Obama struggled to get his rank and $le congressmen in line. He could not make his plans sound nearly as imperative as the Republicans could make them sound frivo-lous and ultimately paid for that in the 2010 elections.

Couple that with the fact that his campaign rhetoric was overwhelmingly inspiring and

raised expectations to Messiah-like levels. If you followed the presidential campaign closely in 2008, you know that %awless speeches from Obama were a dime a dozen, and sometimes that is all it takes to get elected.

But, early on in his adminis-tration, the Messiah was miss-ing, and the economy was not $xed immediately. For that mat-ter, not much else was.

But a president’s legacy is not de$ned by how he begins a&er taking o#ce. Rather, it is de$ned by how a president grows and understands the complexities of his o#ce and the workings of Washington’s political machine. !is is what we are seeing from Obama now.

He still calls on his rhetoric, and over the next nine months, he will do that more frequently. But, 2012 is not 2008. Obama can sell a track record to match his rhetoric, and he can sit back and watch as Republican candi-dates tear themselves to pieces while the economy improves.

By no means is our President a lock for re-election, but don’t be surprised if Barack hangs out in Washington for the next four years.

NEWS Contact Abed Haddad, haddaag@millsaps.edu

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In defense of President Obama

Greece faces more austerity measuresCommentary by Abed HaddadNews Editor

Violence increased in Ath-ens on Sunday, with more that 80,000 protestors taking to the streets to voice their anger ag-about the austerity measures taken by the Greek parliament to ease the country’s foreign debts.

In the past 10 years, Greece’s position in the Euro Zone has allowed the country to take on more loans than it can repay, causing the economic state of the country to spiral out of con-trol over the past year.

Greece has been under inter-national attack for its socialist government, which undertakes much of the country’s infra-structure, relying on major dol-lars from tourism and the ship-ping industry.

However, the country’s private sector has not been as healthy as it once was, taking shortfalls for the lack of investor con$dence in the country’s economy.

A&er the initial shock of the crisis, the European Union (EU) hastily put together a bailout measure to help the ailing econ-omy that consisted of $152.6 billion in aid.

European leaders have even

persuaded banks to take a 50 percent loss on their loans in fear of default, raising that $g-ure to a 70 percent loss by early 2012.

However, in order for Greece to receive the $-nancial package, Euro-pean leaders imposed a series of $nancial condi-tions on Greece, urging the country to cut spend-ing and public sector jobs.

Moreover, !e Europe-an Union’s tax increases, spending cuts and pub-lic-sector wage cuts have pushed Greece into a deep recession.

!e country’s economy shrunk by 12 percent between 2009 and 2011. European Union reported an expected shrink of up to six percent in 2012. !e crisis has also lowered Greece’s politi-cal legitimacy, as it was a weak player of within the Eurozone from the inception of the $nan-cial alliance.

In an expected move a&er Greek $nancial turmoil reached a high point, Prime Minister George A. Papandreou stepped down, lowering public trust in both the Socialist Party and its government.

An interim government was formed to handle the $nan-cial crisis, headed by Lucas Pa-pademos, an economist and

former vice president of the Eu-ropean Central Bank.

Papademos’s interim govern-ment has faced multiple ob-stacles, forming and reforming several times in public response to the government’s actions. !e interim government consisted of the three coalition members: !e Panhellenic Socialist Move-ment, the New Democracy Par-ty and the Popular Orthodox Rally.

A big challenge that faces the interim government is public support, as throughout the $-nancial crisis, Greek workers

have been leaving their posts in protest to massive cuts, leaving the country with a 19 percent unemployment rate.

But, the interim government has more to worry about tham rallying public support. !e European Commission, !e European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), collectively known as the Troika, has pushed other european countries in support

of Greece.Germany and France, two of

the strongest economies in the Eurozone, have been the stron-

gest opposers to the $-nancial measures taken by the Troika, citing Greece’s inability to take serious parliamentary action.

Facing a sovereign de-fault on international debts to private banks and other nations, Pa-pademos suggest a fourth round of cuts, this time a 22 percent cut in mini-mum wage and public sector layo"s.

While $ve cabinet mem-bers resigned in opposi-tion, Papademos pushed the proposed measures through the Greek Parlia-

ment on Feb 12, garnering 199 votes for and 74 votes

against the package.But with increased public vio-

lence against the government’s decision to cut spending, a shift in political power might be pending. With tentative elec-tions in April, one can only guess the future of Greece.

Contributed

More than 80,000 civillians violently protested the latest economic cuts.

Sara SacksSta! Writer

Millsaps’ tennis teams have had enough of com-peting against one another.

Both squads are ready to face opponents they don’t know.

! ey will get the chance this weekend when they travel to Conway, Ark., for season-opening matches against Harding Univer-sity and Hendrix College.

“I think we’re very ready,” says new head coach Jason Box. “In a sport like tennis when you’re always having to play one of your teammates in practice, you’re ready to see someone you don’t like across the net from you.”

Despite the team’s eager-ness to see some new, rival faces on the court, the team’s chemistry during pre-sea-son training has been great.

“! e girls get along so well,” contends senior Lauren Wil-liam, captain of the women’s team. “It’s a nice dedicated group of six girls. ! ey are so much fun to be around.”

“! e chemistry is actually really good,” agrees men’s team captain senior David Bastian. “We all get along pretty well.”

For Box who has had ex-perience coaching Division III athletes, the joy of coach-ing comes from the fam-ily atmosphere of his teams.

“Our jobs as coaches are

fun because of the players we get to coach,” says Box.

“! ey have really started to come together as a collective unit on both teams,” Box remarks.

Both the men’s and wom-

en’s teams place value in winning their matches.

“One of our goals for the end

of the season is to come in the " rst half of the Southern Col-legiate Athletic Conference championship,” says Williams.

Bastian agrees. “Coming in the top four in the confer-

ence is a big goal. With the team this year, we have pretty good chance of doing that.”

Box is less concerned about wins and losses than e# ort.

“I can’t predict how many wins and losses we’re going to have. I’ve only seen our play-ers play a few matches in the fall, but I’m not real concerned about that this year,” he says.

“What I’d really like to see our team do is start preparing and competing the right way, and I am certainly starting to see that in the " rst few weeks of practice. Now, we just have to start doing it in competition which is always much harder.”

Box trusts Williams and Bastian, to help move the team in the right direction.

“Both of them are doing a really good job at leading our teams and understanding that things are going to be more serious this season than they have been in the past,” he says.

! e players and the coach believe that they will be able to move the team back to the successful season that the Millsaps tennis pro-gram has enjoyed in the past.

“He’s awesome,” remarks Bastian about Box. “We have the same kind of goals and objectives which is just a gen-eral betterment of the team.”

! e tennis teams travel for the " rst " ve weeks of their season, playing their " rst home match on March 30th.

Tennis focused on more than wins and losses

SPORTSContact Ellen Bouyelas, bouyeen@millsaps.edu

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By Kenya Strong JohnstonEditor-in-Chief

People are o$ en surprised to hear about my love of base-ball.

Most are quick to assume that the obsession comes from dating a baseball player, but in reality it started long before that.

Every weekend (when avail-able) my dad and I would watch a game on television- that is where my fascination began. We would blare the volume, partly because of my

dad’s poor hearing, but pri-marily because he claimed you couldn’t hear the true sounds of the game through a television screen, and turning the volume as high as it would go could help. We smiled at the unmistakable sound of bats on balls and the mu% ed background noise of crowds cheering. Already I had fallen in love.

Television couldn’t even begin to compare to my " rst game though.

! e grass was greener than any crayon I had ever used. ! e rhythmic pace of the game was mesmerizing. Fenway Park was like a dream to a young girl dreaming of witnessing the game in person.

With my cousin I found my seat and kept my eyes trained on the " eld the entire time, leaning forward in my seat.

Unfortunately, as I grew older and my weekends " lled with my own athletic events, the time I spent watching the

game began to dwindle. ! e small town were I grew up couldn’t support a baseball team (besides Little League) so I wasn’t exposed an incredible amount in person to the game I love so much.

My best friend and I collect-ed packs and packs of baseball cards, our collections still saved in the bottom drawer of a fam-ily dresser. We would compete with the number we had, but more importantly liked the idea of browsing the faces, the stats, the names. Unlike many die-hard fans, I didn’t " nd a team to follow. If I had to say one, it would be the Red Sox (because of my " rst game), but that sounds generic. For me, it is more than following a team. ! e game of baseball is what I love.

• ! e “blunk” or “ding” of a hard hit ball.

• ! e food: sun& ower seeds and peanuts

• ! e breeze

• ! e lack of a clock• ! e slow pace that is relax-

ing and suspenseful all at the same time

• As I get older, the way their uniforms perfectly hug their behinds

• Red sliding stains• ! e history• ! e smell of loved leather

gloves • ! e emergence of di# erent

heroes every dayIt’s unfortunate to me that

so many people " nd the game “boring.” I claim that they are afraid to give into something slow. Our every day lives move so quickly around us that there is rarely time when we sit back and just watch and listen. Baseball gives you this perfect opportunity. It is unlike any-thing else and should be taken as such.

For me, it is not only a child-hood memory but a piece of me that will remain forever.

Finding memories in baseball

By Ellen BouyelasSports Editor

As a Millsaps cheerleader and Sports Editor of the Purple and White I have seen the ins and outs of Majors basketball this year.

I have talked with the players throughout the season, and have shouted my fair share of “rah-rah-rah” at the games.

With the women completing a streak of 15 straight wins, the Millsaps stu-dent body was getting pumped. With each passing weekend, the crowd in the stands seemed to multiply, espe-cially during our white out game.

Yet, with the growing attendance, I noticed there was a severe lack of fan participation. Certain individuals such as Raven Scott and her volleyball teammates led the crowd in chants and cheers, trying to get everyone involved. However, even with their e# orts, not everyone in the bleachers took part in the spirited fun.

As an underclassman in high school, I attended each football game, but never cheered much, partially because I really had no clue about the rules of the game.

Second, I was petri" ed of drawing attention to myself.

I learned by my senior year that the more you chant along, the faster and easier it is to understand the game. When I stayed light-hearted and had fun with the crowd surrounding me, I realized I had drawn more attention by not cheering. Plus, I was missing out on a much more enjoyable expe-rience as a fan.

Many of my friends who are ath-letes have come to a unanimous agreement that nothing feels better than to have a huge crowd of fans en-couraging you and cheering you on, no matter how well the team is do-ing in the game. Whether Millsaps is winning or losing, in any sport, it is our duty as Major fans to come out and support our team, our peers, our friends.

What can we do to get these crowds of Millsaps fans at all sports games? How can we make sure everyone cheers on our teams?

Track has been up and running for a couple weeks now. Tennis, so$ ball, baseball and women’s golf are start-ing up this weekend. Lacrosse, along with men’s golf, will begin late Febru-ary, early March.

Major fans

Contributed

Top: Senior Malte Schick; Bottom: Sophomore Callie Creek-more.

Softball brings new sincere belief to 2012SPORTS Contact Ellen Bouyelas, bouyeen@millsaps.edu

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Favorite Hobby: Watching movies

Describe the best game you’ve ever played. 2010 season at LaGrange.

We were down 2 runs with 2 outs in the top of the ninth inning. With an 0-2 count, I hit a 2-run single that tied the game. I went on to score the go-ahead run later in the inning to mount the comeback victory.

Chad Ochocinqo changed his name a few years back. If you could change your name for your sport what would it be?

I’ve always thought hockey players have the coolest names, so any of those would be fun. But if I had to choose, I’d probably change it to Evgeni Malkin because he’s my favorite.

Most in! uential person in your life: My dadHave you played any other sports, if so for

how long? Started playing baseball at the age of 4. Grow-

ing up, I played basketball and football in 7th and 8th grade. I also played ice hockey from ages 8-10.

Favorite catch phrase: Another day, another dollar...

If you could meet someone living or dead, who would it be and why?

Drew Brees. He is both a respected athlete and a wonderful person. Not only was he able to transform the greatest franchise ever, but he also helped rebuild one of the greatest cities on Earth. WHO DAT 4 LIFE!

Major Athlete:

Classi! cation: Fi! h year senior

Major: AdministrationHometown: Baton Rouge, LaSport/Position: Out" elder/

Pitcher

Ryan Zemke

Ellen BouyelasSports Editor

Millsaps so! ball team hopes hard work in the fall pays o# this Spring. “I feel good about the upcoming season, and I say that because I feel like we had a good fall season. From a work stand point we were very consistent with our workouts and approached them all with a good attitude,” says Head Coach Roland Rodriguez. “ $ e team developed a good work ethic and really seemed to work together. I’ve seen that carry over to our spring workouts.”

$ e women have been work-ing harder since they will have to compete against some of the top schools in the nation right out of the gate this season.

“I feel like we have a lot of po-tential and talent that will take us a long way. Everyone is super excited and takes it very seri-

ously. So, if we lose it won’t be because we didn’t give it our all,” says sophomore Logan Dukes.

Senior Jade Hewitt echoes her teammate, “I feel really positive about this season. $ is team is di# erent from any team I’ve ever

been on, and we have a team bond that is hard to describe. Each girl on this team contributes something di# erent to the team, but when we are all put together, we are some-thing incredible. It is all about

the team, not the individual.”One of the biggest challenges

the team will face is to stay fo-cused for the entire season, which consists of more than 40 games and never to lose sight of their ultimate goal, which

is a Southern Collegiate Ath-letic Conference championship.

“Sometimes during the season it gets hard; mental toughness is just as important as physi-cal toughness,” explains. Hewitt

Rodriguez elaborates, “What I think I’m hoping for is that this team has a stronger and more sincere belief than we have shown at times in the past. We have had a couple of good sea-sons since I’ve been here, but something was always missing.”

Both Dukes and Hewitt portray the con" dence their coach seeks.

$ ese women know they are not a weak team and that under the leadership of Ro-driguez, one of the most suc-cessful so! ball coaches in SCAC history, the team grows stronger with each practice.

“He is the leader of our program, and we all re-spect and look to him each and every day,” says Hewitt.

Genny Santos

The Majors softball team hopes their new intensity and passion will carry them through their 40 games this season.

Kappa Delta Emerald Evening Silent Auction bene! ting Prevent Child Abuse America and the Jackson YMCA’s Family Support Services

7 p.m. -10 p.m. on Feb. 25th at the Mississippi Children’s MuseumLive music, heavy hors d’oeuvres and silent auction items

Come and have a great time with Kappa Delta and support our philanthropy!

C.S.’sFriday is Millsaps College Night

Specials on food & drinks for students, faculty and staff

Live music 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. Saturday: The Yard Dogs