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ENTERTAINMENT
OPINION
THE OORACLEVolume 93 | Issue 9 | Free in single copy | April 23, 2010Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505
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1. The Stem Center is slated to open May 7. 2. New Hall North will
house 338 students this fall. 3. The student
media will move from the RUC to a new
facility in 2011.
Goodwin questions Derryberry Award selection committee
- Page 7
“Shame on Tennessee Tech” reads a sign in bold, red letters visible from Dixie Avenue.
The sign has been placed there by the Mid-South Carpenters Regional Council. The sign signifi es a labor dispute between Tech and the organization.
When approached, the persons behind the sign could not give out any information. They give out fl yers to anyone who approach-es them.
“Shame on Tennessee for Desecration of the American Way of Life,” reads the top of the fl yer. Below this statement is a structure housing a rat that appears to be chewing on an American fl ag.
The fl yer continues: “Shame on Tennes-see Tech for contributing to the erosion of area standards for Tennessee’s Carpenters. Mid-South Carpenters Regional Council has a labor dispute with Proffi tt & Sons which is a subcontractor currently working at Tennessee Tech. Proffi tt & Sons does not meet area labor standards, including providing or fully pay-ing for family healthcare for all of its carpenter craft employees.”
The sign has been placed opposite from the construction area that will be New Hall North.
Proffi tt and Sons is a drywall corporation based out of Knoxville, Tenn. and their web-site indicates that the business has been oper-ating for 30 years. Under the list of their cur-rent projects is “Tennessee Tech/Residence Hall.”
“As we have stated many times during this ordeal, we do not have a labor dispute with anyone,” said Ray Proffi t, Jr., the president of Proffi tt and Sons, in an online letter issued to customers. “We have no issues or disagree-ments with the union. We are a good provider and employer of jobs in East Tenn. We treat our employees well.”
The Mid-South Carpenters Regional Council is an affi liate of the United Brother-hood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, as stated by their website. Their organization has been involved in labor issues since the late 19th century. The website states that the main goal of the organization is to improve the lives of its members.
The Mid-South Carpenters Regional Coun-cil claims there are labor standards not being addressed. Proffi tt and Sons claims that they have high quality standards for their employ-ees and there is no real issue.
Protest sign on Dixie Avenue addressed by labor union, construction company
Shame on who?
By LEE FERRISStaff Writer
Coming soon: progressNew Hall North, STEM Center to open this year while student media anticipates 2011 move
A note from the editors
- Page 6
1.
2.3.
Photo / Dakota Weatherford
Photo / Samantha Kendall
Clockwise from above: Charles Macke, director of Residential Life, gave The Oracle an exclusive tour of New Hall North. The STEM Center will open the day before commencement. View of the The Oracle and WTTU’s future home from Prescott Hall.
Protestors standing with the sign in 2008.
Photo Services
Photo Services
NAME THE NEW HALL NORTHDINING AREA
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On Friday, May 7, Tech will unleash its latest six mil-lion dollar creation just one day before commencement. Over the past year and a half, Tech has been working dili-gently on their new state of the art learning facility.
The 25,000+ sq/ft build-ing is the new Ray Morris Hall/ Millard Oakley STEM Center. The building will host a variety of new technology and resources for students. The Science, Technology, En-gineering, and Mathematics Center will be used to con-duct class and educational research.
“Our goal is to eventually have all the sciences taught in the STEM Center just pertain-ing to education majors that study conceptual sciences and we strive to see how we can improve teaching of these subjects and how can we im-prove the learning of these subjects,” said Glenn Binkley, assistant director of Facilities and Business Services.
That is precisely what the entire purpose of the STEM Center was based on. Each classroom is set up much like a typical science lab at Tech but is outfi tted with a few new twists. The previously called “lab,” is now called a learning studio, and is outfi t-ted with a camera with the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom.
STEM Center opens its doors in May
By MATTHEW DAVISStaff Writer
The cameras are used to capture the reaction of stu-dents as they respond to dif-ferent stimuli. Their reactions will be monitored at all times by staff that will record and document how audio visual, internet clips, etc. can ben-efi t the learning environment. These new practices will be available for all professors so that they may steer them-selves away from the straight lecture format.
“We can cast the net broadly to improve the teach-ing and learning methods of students in order to utilize this new tool and help make better students and in turn prepare better engineers,” Binkley said.
The STEM Center will also serve as a civic center for nighttime activities such as meetings and food catering and will provide computers for anyone to use. The STEM Center is designed to keep intact lifelong learning for all students.
“We don’t want to cut off learning for our current college students so they are more than welcome to use our new facility for meetings and to just come and hang-out,” Binkley said. “Our new center is designed to cater to anyone from pre-k all the way through 98.”
The STEM Center will also be the home to one of the most unique experiences in the Upper Cumberland. It will host a virtual theater
that has software that will be very similar to a planetarium, which the surrounding com-munity does not currently have access to, unless they drive to the Knoxville, Tenn. area.
“We want students who come to the STEM Center, from the time they step foot in the building to say, ‘WOW!’ because chances are they will be learning,” said Binkley.
The glaring issue when-ever a cutting edge building pops up on campus is always where the money for such an extravagant, new addition came from? The entire STEM Center was privately funded from many donors such as NASA, HERSA, USDA and private donors.
The three federal agen-cies donated the majority of the funds, Millard Oakley do-nated around $2 million, Ray Morris, who the building is named after, donated $1 mil-lion, and several other donors made smaller contributions so that no tax dollars were used in the creation and outfi tting of the STEM Center.
The new 25,000+ sq/ft building will be home to the Oakley STEM Center
Since the opening of the RUC in Fall 1970, the commu-nications department and stu-dent media has called it home. Fall 2011 that will no longer be. The Upper Cumberland Regional Health facility sits on land leased by Tech since 1973. Now that the group has outgrown the space, they will be moving to a new facility near Highway 111.
When new space is ac-quired on campus, the time period is usually years instead of months before occupancy. Provost Jack Armistead’s job is to make sure the deans and, through them, other adminis-trators and groups know of the timeline for acquisition, so that ideas for its use can surface and be considered.
“A key factor in the fi nal decision was the increasing pressure TTU was feeling from the Board of Regents and State to increase reten-tion and graduation rates,” Armistead said.
“One response to that pressure, based on national research, was to seek ways to offer a more centralized and comprehensive advising ser-vice to fi rst-year students and to those second-year students
Communications department to relocate
By SAMANTHA KENDALLStaff Writer
Residential Life to unveil New Hall North this fall
Almost identical on the outside to New Hall South, New Hall North has upgrad-ed to a more modern style.
“We are trying to make it less institutional and more like home,” Housing Director Charles Macke said.
Scheduled to be complet-ed in early June, fall students should have a new dorm to occupy. Though a name has
not been settled for the resident hall, Macke
said New Hall North is better that A Hall
and B Hall or New Hall and Newer
Hall.The $22
m i l l i o n ,
By DAKOTAWEATHERFORDStaff Writer
four-story building will house 338 students. Single rooms will make up 1/3 of the rooms, while the rest will be double rooms. Residen-tial life has been working to make the building’s décor more likeable. The hallways have been painted a contem-porary light blue and green, while the rooms feature a dark wood stain for a more stylish look. The bathrooms have the same dark color sink counters, while the fl oor is an earth-tone tile.
New Hall North is the fi rst residential hall that has been constructed with single rooms. The single rooms will feature a full-size bed and will have private bathrooms.
Starting in August, b o t h New Halls w i l l
accept residents of any grade classifi cation.
The New Hall also has three separated laundry rooms with a recreational room attached. The recre-ational room will be a place for people to congregate and watch one of the big screen TVs that will be placed on each fl oor.
As you walk into the new hall, there will be an informa-tion desk and a vending area. The fi rst fl oor will also have a grill from which to order food. Next to the grill, will be an
Outtakes to accommodate students on the go. The recre-ational room will have games such as ping-pong, pool and foosball.
Campus sororities and the environmental village will meet on the fourth fl oor. The sororities will each have their own room, which they can decorate accordingly.
The advantage of living in New Hall North is “develop-ing relationships with people who are similar to you and different from you,” Macke said. “College is about sitting around at two o’clock in the morning playing cards and arguing about politics.”
Far left: A view of the con-struction site of New Hall North.
Left: The new dining facility slated to be much like the Swoops food court in the RUC.
Above: A fully furnished double occupancy suite in New Hall North.
Photos / Dakota Weatherford
The communications department, student media complex are scheduled to move to the Upper Cumberland Regional Health building by Fall 2011
who had not yet declared ma-jors.”
To make this a possibil-ity, Armistead asked Paul Semmes, College of Arts and Sciences dean, to talk to the communications faculty about moving from the RUC to the newly acquired space.
According to Armistead, three other requests for the space were submitted: one from the child development laboratory, one from the Col-lege of Engineering, and one from WCTE, the Upper Cum-berland’s public television station that is not a Tech unit.
At fi rst, it was thought that all groups could be ac-commodated. After a study of the architectural papers and visits to the facility, it was found the space could only be open to two or three entities.
The 18,000-square-foot space will be divided among the speech and communica-tions department and student media, the child development laboratory and possibly a third entity. As of now, two-thirds will be for the speech and communication depart-ment and student media and one-third for the child devel-opment laboratory. There will be a wall separating the classrooms and offi ces from the lab, so it is safer for the children, and strangers can’t walk around that part of the
building.“The third priority would
have been WCTE, since it could collaborate better with communications if the two activities were housed near each other,” Armistead said. “However, the WCTE staff decided the station needed much more space.”
The space was considered unsuitable for the College of Engineering’s needs because of the potential high-cost of renovations that would be necessary.
Brenda Wilson, com-munications and journalism director said, “It is disap-pointing that we will no lon-ger be located in the Univer-sity Center. The journalism program and student media have been housed here since the university center was con-structed, so we can be closer to the campus offi ces and stu-dent activities that we report on. If our new location gives us more space and dedicated classrooms for our grow-ing programs in journalism and speech, then we will be pleased to have more room.”
Photo Services
Dr. Sally J. Pardue, Interim Director Millard Oakley STEM Center poses in front of the newly constructed facility.
For more information about the grand opening of Ray Morris Hall and the Millard Oakley STEM Center visit:
http://www.tntech.edu/stem/grand-opening/
Read the full story
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through SGA and that their concerns are taken serious-ly is the most r e w a r d i n g thing about the offi ce,” O c h s e n b e i n said.
It isn’t all easy though. In addition to his duties here with SGA, Sean serves
as the student regent for the Tennessee Board of Regents. His duties there are to repre-sent all students in the entire
Page 3 | April 23, 2010www.tntechoracle.com
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23Until April 24Greek Week
6 p.m.Relay for Life
7:30 p.m.Marvin Perry Trumpet SoloWattenbarger Aud.
24 & 25 1 p.m.Baseball vs Morehead State
30All dayLast day of Classes
011 p.m.Softball vs Eastern Kentucky
021 p.m.Softball vs Eastern Kentucky
03Until May 7Final Exams
04All dayTAB Tuesday presentsFree coffee and hot chocolateRUC, 1st fl oor
064 p.m.Commencement RehearsalHooper Eblen Center
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3 p.m.Baseball vs Austin Peay
3 p.m.Softball vs Southeast Missouri
By BRANDON STEPHENSONStaff Writer
President Obama? Un-touchable. President Bell? More easily accessible. Presi-dent Ochsenbein? At your service.
Rewind to May 2007. Newly-minted high school graduate Sean Ochsenbein steps out of the Hooper-Eblen Center with his life in front of him. Fast forward to now. Tech’s newly re-elected SGA President of the same name sits in his offi ce. In that time,
Recently re-elected Ochsenbein reflects on student governmenthe has accomplished a myri-ad of achievements for both Tech and himself.
“Surprisingly, it wasn’t a goal of mine to be involved in political offi ce. I enjoy people and working with them to achieve a goal,” Ochsenbein said. “I knew at some point I wanted to serve the student body, and being the SGA President turned out to be the perfect fi t.”
Many students may won-der just how student govern-ment affects their day-to-day affairs and scholarly endeav-ors. What does the SGA do anyways, and what responsi-bility does the president hold
in that? The respon-
sibilities held by the president are varying and m u l t i - f a c e t e d . One day might be spent observing other universities and fi nding ideas to better Tech. The next day might be spent reading over legislation submit-ted by SGA sena-tors or meeting with President Bell to discuss issues on campus.
“Being able to show stu-dents they do have a voice
Ochsenbein
state school system equally, including community colleg-es and technology centers.
“Sometimes it’s hard for me to hide my purple and gold pride,” he said.
While not representing Tech, Sean volunteers for the local rescue squad and works as an EMT for the ambulance service. This, in addition to SGA responsibilities and school work, makes our pres-ident one busy man.
“Sometimes when I look at my calendar, I have four different places to be at the same time,” Ochsenbein said. “It can be tough. I have great friends and wonderful co-
workers that make my life-style possible.”
All the bustle has to give way to some relaxation, and Sean said when life allows it, he loves nothing more than leaving the Blackberry behind and hitting the trails for a few days and spending time with friends.
“I just really enjoy life. I love people and hearing about what motivates and inspires them. People might think I’m over-excited, but really I just appreciate them. Life is too short not to enjoy the great people around you.”
Well said, Mr. President.
WHY IUON
International University of NursingST. KIT TS
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PRESS RELEASE
Twitter is donating its digital archive of public tweets to the Library of Con-gress. Twitter is a leading social networking service that enables users to send and receive tweets, which consist of web messages of up to 140 characters.
Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets per day from people around the world. The Library will receive all public tweets—which number in the bil-lions—from the 2006 incep-tion of the service to the present.
“The Twitter digital ar-chive has extraordinary po-tential for research into our contemporary way of life,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “This information provides de-tailed evidence about how
Twitter donates Tweet archivetechnology based social net-works form and evolve over time. The collection also doc-uments a remarkable range of social trends. Anyone who wants to understand how an ever-broadening public is us-ing social media to engage in an ongoing debate regarding social and cultural issues will have need of this material.”
In making the donation, Greg Pass, Twitter’s vice president of engineering, said: “We are pleased and proud to make this collection available for the benefi t of the American people. I am very grateful that Dr. Billington and the Library recognize the value of this information. It is something new, but it tells an amazing story that needs to be remembered.”
A few highlights of the donated material include the fi rst-ever tweet from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Pres-ident Obama’s tweet about
The social networking site will release public tweets to the Library of Congress
winning the election, and a set of two tweets from a pho-tojournalist who was arrested in Egypt and then freed be-cause of a series of events set into motion by his use of Twitter.
“I think Twitter will be one of the most informative resources available on mod-ern day culture, including economic, social and political trends, as well as consumer behavior and social trends,” said Margot Gerritsen, a pro-fessor with Stanford Univer-sity’s Department of Energy Resources Engineering and head of the Center of Excel-lence for Computational Ap-proaches to Digital Steward-ship, a partnership with the Library of Congress.
The Library has been col-lecting materials from the web since it began harvesting con-gressional and presidential campaign websites in 2000.
The new Heidtke Trading Room in Johnson Hall, made to help train aspiring fi nance students, is equipped with enough high-tech equipment to make any trading fl oor vet-eran green with envy.
The room was funded through a number of private donations, most notably from Nashville investment manag-er L.O. “Buzz” Heidtke.
The room features $150,000 in equipment to give
New trading room open to finance studentsBy EVAN TAYLORStaff Writer
fi nance students a cutting-edge education in the work-ings of the trading fl oor.
The room is equipped with “seven high resolution monitors that display quotes from a number of equity, debt, and currency markets,” said Bob Wood, the college’s as-sociate dean and the Heidtke Professor of Finance.
“The servers are pro-grammed so that we can change the content on the screens from our offi ce com-puters.”
The room is currently be-ing used by students to man-age three investment funds
totaling up to $400,000, and by fi nance professors to teach students using real-time mar-ket data.
“The room is used for the Investment Challenge courses - undergraduate and gradu-ate fi nance portfolio manage-ment courses,” Wood said. “We also use the room for meetings and presentations. The room will continue to be used in this manner.”
The Trading Room gives students and professors ac-cess to equipment and infor-mation to put them on par with Wall Street traders.Photo Services
Tech business students learn to trade stock in the new Heidtke Trading Room.
Now that Tennessee’s higher education funding formula is based on retention and graduation rates, Tech is increasing its focus on recruit-ment, advisement and alter-native degree programs—the areas it thinks will most likely boost its numbers.
“The fi rst step is recruit-ing the right kind of student for Tech,” said President Bob Bell. “If you recruit the right kind of student, then you will most likely be successful at graduating them on time with a completed degree. So we really need to focus on our recruiting practices.”
Bell said that Tech needs to focus on future students with interests that mesh cohe-sively with its various colleg-es. If Tech recruits students like these, then it is expected to strengthen these collegiate areas while also successfully
Tech focuses on three areas to boost retentionBy JENDA WILSONStaff Writer
retaining these students. If they are truly interested and capable in their area of study, then they are more likely to stay with Tech and complete their degrees.
But Bell acknowledges that advisement also plays a large role in student reten-tion.
“We really have to rec-ognize that a senior in high school will not always real-ize on their own what the job market is like and what career will suit them the best,” Bell said. “They also won’t usu-ally learn that during their freshman year either. But that is what college is about: exploring career choices and deciding which one fi ts best. A successful advisement pro-cess, though, means students will take less time choosing a major and career.”
Tech surveyed 522 fresh-man students last fall about various aspects of their col-legiate experience. Out of 441 who responded to questions regarding their advisement
process, 4.8 percent didn’t know who their advisor was, 14.1 percent had a bad expe-rience with their advisor and 52.2 percent weren’t aware of the advisement services their college offered.
With plans to improve these numbers, Tech has formed a committee to re-view advising services. It is made up of the directors of the major University ad-vising centers and is led by Edith Duvier, College of Arts and Sciences Student Success Center director.
Jack Armistead, pro-vost and vice president for Academic Affairs, also has several ideas he thinks will improve advisement, and ul-timately retention and gradu-ation rates.
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THE OORACLE
Pay your taxes, but don’t think they buy exactly what you want
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The Oracle returns September 10!
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With April comes everyone’s favorite time to bash the govern-ment: tax day. So of course, on that day, people gathered to pro-test taxation.
Now of course people have the right to protest, and I’m real-ly glad they do. I think it’s great that protesting is still done in person instead of hidden behind usernames on web sites. It’s an old-school public forum.
But the timing of these pro-tests practically defeats the point. By April 15, when you’re out protesting taxes, you should have already mailed in that tax form. If not, you’re breaking the law.
Yes, we can (and should) de-bate about the proper use of our tax dollars. But just complaining that taxes are high? No.
First, we have taxation with representation. That separates the issue from any patriotic kin-ship with the founders anyone tries to create. Voting rights and representation in government is what America’s built upon. But you can’t build anything without money.
I think there is a lot of waste-ful spending. I think that the fact that the country is massively in debt is shameful. But I’m not go-ing to protest taxes because I’m displeased with how some of
that money is used.I’d hate to see an America
without taxes. We wouldn’t have fi re or police departments, the in-terstate system, air traffi c control, a military, public schools, sewer systems, basically any infrastruc-ture that a country needs.
You have the right to vote for the representation you want. You have the right to assemble and discuss politics. You have the right to protest when the rep-resentatives don’t vote your way. But you do not have the right to get what you want.
I understand, greed and gung-ho are the basis of capital-ism. We’re able to say what we want, think what we want, buy what we want. We expect to al-ways get what we want from the government as well. We want all of the protections and none of the taxes.
How do you expect the gov-ernment to provide superpower status without funds?
I, for one, am willing to pay a portion of my meager income to live in a place where I’m safe. None of us wake up every morn-ing to check the latest bomb dam-age or ask around town and see which political protesters were taken in the dead of night, never to be heard from again.
We worry about another ter-
rorist attack, but we don’t suffer real fear of our country being overtaken by a foreign force. We complain about the state of the nation, but we don’t believe the nation will actually fall apart.
America is nowhere near from weak. Even with its mas-sive debt, America is a wealthy country.
We get a lot for our tax dol-lars. While we should monitor the use of taxes and be aware of spending, complaining about taxes themselves just makes us look like whiny little kids.
Security costs money. Government costs money. Sustaining a country that pro-tects its people’s liberties costs money.
We pay our taxes and we vote, and we hope our represen-tatives use the money responsi-bly. But ultimately, we do not make the fi nal decision. We have to vote for people we are willing to put faith in.
We have our say, and we should value that, instead of complaining about every piece of policy we disagree with. Chances are, if a policy passes in Congress, a lot of voters some-where are happy about it, and a lot are unhappy. Government cannot please everyone all the time. But we shouldn’t get riled up every time we’re the ones left unhappy.
My advice? Pay your taxes, and save the protesting for when something really matters, not just when things don’t go your way.
Is four an unlucky number?
While I was grazing through the Herald-Citizen, I noticed a particularly disturbing headline on Tuesday: “Cookeville man charged with 4th DUI”.
How can someone get not one or even three DUIs, but four? This has to be one of the most inane things I’ve ever read about.
I genuinely feel sorry for the guy. The article said the gentle-man was after revenge for being jumped by four guys. Maybe the number four is just a bad luck charm for him.
The years of his offenses are 1994, ’95, 2002 and now ’10. When you add up all the num-
BRANDON JELSONStaff Writer
Poll of the WeekShould Tech aim to use new green energy and be more environmetally friendly?
Yes 17%
No 17%
I don’t care. 67%
The Oracle poll is not scientifi c, only refl ects the opinions of Internet users who chose to participate and does not refl ect the
public as a whole. Online voting for this poll closed April 21.
There are no new polls until next semester, but you can help name New Hall North’s dining area!
Dining Services and Residential Life are asking for name suggestions until Tuesday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m. The top
10 names will be selected and put to a student vote.The winner will receive 100 Dining Dollars and a $50 gift card to the Tech Bookstore. Please send submissions to
bers of the years he was convict-ed you get a sum of 8,001.
Pair that with Highway 111 and you get 8,112, divide that by “four” and you get 2,028 – could it be another year of unmanage-able happenstance?
He is well within age range to see another 18 years, being 40 at the time of his most recent arrest.
However, if he keeps acts like this a part of his routine, a big box will be in his near and lasting future: be it one with bars or one with nails.
Jelson is a guest editorial writer and writes “The Wheels on the Bus Go
Meow Meow“ feature series for The Oracle
Note from the editorsOn Feb. 7, The Feb. 5 edi-
tion of The Oracle disappeared from its distribution bins in the RUC. Six men, one of whom was wearing Kappa Sigma let-ters, were observed on video surveillance removing The Or-acle. The action was believed to be in response to an opin-ion piece in that edition. Oracle staff members investigated the incident further to obtain the names of responsible individu-als but were restricted by FER-PA laws.
After meeting with Kappa Sigma representatives on Feb. 23, a memo of understanding
was composed and sent re-questing full disclosure of docu-ments pertaining to the investi-gation, permission to include the six names per the offi cial police report in an article, statements of apology to be published in The Oracle, and repayment of the cost of production and relat-ed expenses. Follow up of that memo was unsuccessful.
On April 22, The Oracle re-ceived a University document with the following names:
John Doucette, freshman civil engineering major; Tyler Greenwood, freshman chem-istry major; Kevin Hale, senior
chemical engineering major; Mitchell Harrison, psychology major; Philip Stephens, senior communication major and the Kappa Sigma chapter presi-dent; and Thomas Thurmond, sophomore sociology major. According to the document, the men owe $492.11 for “repay-ment for papers.”
Attempts to contact Kenneth Maynard, district grand master of Kappa Sigma, for comment were unsuccessful.
CHRISTINE SEIBER & WILL HOUSLEY
Page 7 | April 23, 2010www.tntechoracle.com
SPORTS
Finally. It is April. Small animals are coming out of hibernation, those spring showers are sure to bring May fl owers and of course, Baseball season has started. Amer-ica’s pastime has spread its proverbial wings and taken fl ight. Teams all over are full of ex-citement and for once, the biggest buzz isn’t about steroids. Why?
The answer is simple. Baseball has start-ed to go back to its roots. No more syntheti-cally-enhanced, one-dimensional mashers take roster spots from legitimate athletes. No more McGwire-esque 20 inch biceps. Gone are the Bonds-ian 9 ¾ sized ball caps. These days it’s all about defense and speed, quality at-bats instead of looking to hit the lights out of the stadium. Purity sure is a good thing.
Baseball’s substance abuse policy is the most stringent in major sports, and ef-forts to cut out unnatural enhancement have been extremely effective. Some may argue that without these mammoth boppers that baseball is struggling or that interest in the game is sagging.
I beg to differ. If you can turn on ESPN then you can clearly see reasons that baseball is fl ying high. Albert Pujols has opened the season with a continued assault on the record
books, the juggernaut Yankees are aiming at a storied 28th world championship and rook-ie sensations with endless talent are rising to superstardom.
Think about it. How many people on this planet can hit a mid-90s fastball with a three-inch diameter bat? Now for comparison, how many people can tackle a person? The hand-eye coordination required to play baseball is immense.
Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria takes batting practice with a pitch-ing machine that shoots tennis balls at 100 mph. Just because that isn’t challenging enough, he marks the tennis balls. Red spots mean pull the pitch, black spot means go the other way with it, and no spot means go back up the middle.
That is why I love baseball. You have to really work hard to play and
stand out. That’s why every time a game is on it is worth watching the most elite athletes.
It’s April, and boy am I glad. Base-ball, apple pie, and mom is about as Ameri-can as you can get. Cliché? Maybe. It is only cliché because it’s a true statement. Every fan can be hopeful because at this point, every team has a chance.
Every kid can get out there and play little league with dreams of being just like Jeter, Pujols, Mauer and Chipper. In the words of the late Harry Caray, “Hello again, everyone. It’s a bee-you-tiful day for baseball.”
Track to host championships
By BRANDON STEPHENSONStaff Writer
Tech is looking to run, throw and jump over the competition to win its fi rst Ohio Valley Conference championship meet.
Tech will host the OVC championship meet for the fi rst time May 30. In order to be a host site for the event, Tech made several improve-ments to its track and fi eld facilities, adding new shot put rings and a landing area, a steeple chase pit, a pole vault box and landing mats, new hurdles, a new discus and hammer throw ring, and a javelin runway.
Tony Cox, women’s track and fi eld head coach, said hosting the meet will have a positive impact on the
program.“This is a great opportu-
nity to highlight our facility and our program,” Cox said. “Track and fi eld is the most popular sport in the world, and this meet will help raise the profi le of our team.”
The money raised from the meet, according to Cox, will go towards paying for the upgrades to the track and fi eld facilities.
Nine women’s teams and fi ve men’s teams will com-pete at Tucker Stadium for the championship. Eastern Illinois University and South-east Missouri State Universi-ty are the favorites this year, but Cox said he is confi dent in his team’s chances.
“This year we have the best team we have had in a long time, maybe ever, so I expect us to move up a few places,” Cox said. “Having the meet on our home track
will help us do that.”With the exception of the
decathlon and heptathlon, all of the NCAA events will be held, including sprints, re-lays, steeplechase, hammer throw, javelin throw, and pole vault.
This year’s team has bro-ken several school records, and Cox said he is expecting more.
“We have some of the best distance runners and throwers in the conference,” Cox said. “Our relay team just broke the school record last week in the 400 meter relay, so I’m sure we will take some more school re-cords down at the conference meet.”
Admission for the meet is free for Tech students with a school ID and $5 for every-one else.
By ELLIE BOLESStaff Writer
Spring has swung once again
4th and LongBy BRANDON GOODWINSports [email protected]
The Derryberry Award is given annually to a graduating senior who “exhibited scho-lastic attainment arising out of moral and in-tellectual integrity; successful campus activity where participation indicates a commitment to good citizenship, interest in one’s fellow per-son, and instincts for leadership; and physical vigor as shown by fondness for and success in sports.”
This year, the prestigious award was giv-en to someone who has only attended Tennes-see Tech for just over a year and a half.
In order to be eligible for this award, one must be nominated. The nomination form asks for awards and honors the nominee has been given. On Ruth Diroff’s, however, several of the awards she earned were from the Univer-sity of Tennessee, where she was enrolled for two years before transferring to Tech.
Let’s take a look at the three other fi nalists for this award: Josh Simer, Diana Carson and Teresa Craig. Notice what they have in com-mon? They are athletes.
Simer and Carson are All-OVC golfers and Craig won an OVC Championship as a member of the volleyball team.
What did Diroff do that warrants ‘physi-cal vigor and success in sports’? She partici-pated in a few intramural sports. To me, that hardly displays vigor. I’ve played several in-tramural sports and, as anyone else who has played will know, anyone can put their name on a roster and say they played. In fact, some of the most athletically-challenged people I know have ‘played’ intramurals.
The athletes I mentioned above deserve more respect than they were shown. Imagine having to practice 20 hours a week while tak-ing a full load of courses. Now add to that, strenuous workouts, staying in hotels and studying on busses. Sound easy? Try doing it your entire four-year career at Tech. That sounds ‘vigorous’ to me.
I know that the physical requirement is only one aspect of the award, so I’ll indulge you further on the other three fi nalists.
Simer graduated a semester early while being a member of the golf team. This month, he will wrap up his fi rst semester as an MBA student and also compete for the OVC Cham-
pionship.Carson is a communications major whose
‘moral and intellectual integrity’ is beyond any I’ve ever seen at Tech. Today, she is bat-tling for an OVC Championship; not just for her, but for her team and for her University.
Craig is majoring in political science and played in 111 games this year. She was also named to the Academic All-district team last season.
Simer and Craig have also been tops in academics the conference over their careers, each winning the OVC Medal of Honor ev-ery season. All three have been named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll every year of their academic careers.
Of the 43 winners of the Derryberry Award, only two have been athletes: Mike Winchester in 1975 and Stephanie Ward in 2005. Why is this?
Is it because the selection committee has something against athletics? How did some-one like Beth Boden not win the award? She boasted a 4.0 GPA in civil engineering and led the nations in home runs in softball. She was the OVC Player of the Year in 2007 and led Tech to its third straight conference champi-onship.
All of these athletes participate in com-munity service projects every year. Many of them are involved in more campus activities than I can name.
So why did Diroff win the award this year? Perhaps it’s because engineering majors tend to get favored over other majors. May-be it’s because of the people (including fac-ulty and administrators) who begin to drool anytime they hear the letters U-T. Or maybe it’s because those on the selection committee haven’t got the slightest clue how hard these athletes work day in and day out to represent our University to the best of their abilities.
The Derryberry Award should only go to someone who has been at Tech from SOAR to graduation.
For the selection committee to consider Diroff an athlete is a disgrace to Tech athletics and giving the award to a transfer student is a disgrace to the University itself.
“There are some similarities between boxing and skating. Both require power and grace. Physically, boxing is obviously much harder.” - Tonya Harding
Henry, Liberatore take OVC Pitcher of the Week honors
Does the Derryberry Award selection committee discriminate against real athletes?
Tech (18-20, 4-5) will look to start a new winning streak in a huge three-game Ohio Valley Conference series against Morehead State Uni-versity (22-17, 5-4) this weekend at Bush Stadium.
“This is when the season starts getting really fun,” Head Coach Matt Bragga said. “Morehead’s a good team; it should make for an exciting weekend.
Saturday will feature a double header beginning at 1 p.m. Seniors are expected to get the start for the Golden Eagles. In the fi rst game, Adam Liberatore will take the hill for Tech, and pre-season all-OVC selection Lee Henry will take the mound in the second. Sunday’s matchup is scheduled for 1 p.m., freshman Tristan Archer will take the mound for Tech.
Juniors have set the tone at the plate for Tech. A.J. Kirby-Jones con-tinues to lead the nation in home runs with 18, third in walks with 43 and is tied for sixth in RBIs with 55. Chad Oberacker leads the coun-try in total number of hits with 71 and is 13th in average, hitting a red-hot .446. Morehead State currently leads the nation as a team in home runs hit (all stats thru last Sunday, April 18).
“I’m just glad to be having a re-ally good year,” Oberacker said. “I had a great summer last year, and Coach told me to keep hitting it like I have been when he moved me to the clean-up spot and it’s worked.”
The Golden Eagles swept OVC foe Eastern Illinois University Pan-thers last weekend before losing last Tuesday night to Middle Tennessee State University. Tech’s pitchers shutdown their conference rivals al-lowing the Panthers to score in only one inning all weekend.
EIU’s offense was completely dismantled on Saturday by a pair of complete game shutouts thrown by Liberatore and Henry. Liberatore went nine innings striking out 12 and scattering only eight hits for his fourth win of the season. It was his fi rst complete game of the season.
“It was a great day for me and Lee both and it was really nice for us to go out and pick it up the win,” Liberatore said. “The offense has won us a couple games this year. I was just trying to get outs, but they just weren’t hitting me.”
Henry threw a three-hitter and struck out nine en route to his second victory. It was also his fi rst complete game of the year.
“It was a lot of fun getting after it,” Henry said. “I’m just doing my thing out there and allowing God to work through me.”
Liberatore and Henry were named co-pitchers of the week in the OVC for their dominant perfor-mances. Henry currently leads the OVC in strikeouts and opponent batting average and is second in ERA.
“It’s nice to lead the conference, but those are just category titles,” Henry said. “I’m just excited to get out there again this weekend, it’s what I love to do.”
Sunday, the Panthers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the fi rst inning off starter Nick Price. Cha-son Choate and Stephen Pryor then
held EIU to only two base runners over the fi nal eight innings.
The offense found its stride in the fi fth inning with a couple of bases-loaded walks by Tate McMil-lan and Oberacker to cut the lead to three. An RBI by Ben Burgess in the eighth made it a two-run game and set the stage for the fi nal inning.
Freshman Zephan Guyear got things started with a one-out sin-gle to left fi eld in the bottom of the ninth. McMillan quickly took the second pitch he saw right back up the middle to set the stage for Tech’s all-time total bases leader, Kirby-Jones. A wild pitch moved both the runners forward 90 feet and fearing the worst, EIU intentionally walked
the Tech slugger. Oberacker then laced the fi rst pitch he saw back up the middle for a dramatic walk-off Golden Eagle victory.
“They were starting everyone off with a fi rst-pitch changeup, so I was looking for it and luckily it dropped in for a hit,” Oberacker said. “It was a really big win. We really needed it. Hopefully we will sweep Morehead too, we lost two of three to these guys last year and it left a really bitter taste in our mouths. All we have to do is play like we did this last weekend.”
Tech lost to MTSU on Tuesday. The Blue Raiders busted open a 6-5 game with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. MTSU added
one more run in the 11-5 fi nal. The bottom part of the Blue Raiders line-up did most of the damage as the fi ve, six, and seven hitters accounted for seven RBIs.
“We didn’t play our best,” Brag-ga said. “Unfortunately when that happens against a good team like Middle, you get a bit unfocused.”
Burgess and Casanova Donald-son each had two RBIs in the loss. The loss ended Tech’s season-long fi ve game winning streak.
Fans, don’t forget to come out to Bush Stadium this weekend and cheer on your Golden Eagles. Ad-mission to every Tech home baseball game is free. You can also follow the action live on the internet with lives-tats at http://www.ttusports.com.
By JAMES SCHIERMEYERAsst. Sports Editor
Seniors Lee Henry and Adam Liberatore each threw shutouts against EIU. Courtesy of Sports Information
The duo dominated at home as Tech swept conference favorite Eastern Illinois before falling to Middle Tennessee State
Page 8 | April 23, 2010 www.tntechoracle.com
ENTERTAINMENT
Go inside the booth: John Corley
Summer music festivals worth the drive and money
Recently, Kassi Thomas, on be-half of The Oracle, had a chance to sit down with WTTU 88.5 FM DJ John Corley, host of “Uncle John’s Band.”
Q: Tell us about your show:
JC: “Uncle John’s Band,” named after the Grateful dead tune, is in it’s sixth semester on the air. My motto since the early days has been “Music to Groove to,” but now I like “Funk, Groove, and Good-time music.”
Q: What kind of bands can we hear to “groove” to on your show?
JC: Rather than focus on one art-ist, I’d rather present a cornuco-pia of jams, but some regularly featured bands are of course the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Parlia-ment Funkadelic.
Q: Can you describe your WTTU experience?
JC: I’ve been a DJ at WTTU 88.5 FM since my freshman year in fall of 2006. It’s been very benefi cial to my college journey.
Q: Have you had any other past shows?
JC: Last semester I experimented with a show called “Perpetual Groove,” which focused on funk, but now I just let the funk creep in on “Uncle John’s Band.”
Q: What are you studying here at Tech?
JC: My degree is in Earth Sciences with a concentration in Geology, which I’ll wrap up in May 2011.
“Uncle John;s Band” airs Thurs-days at 7 p.m. on WTTU 88.5 FM. You can also listen online at www.tntech.edu/wttu
By KASSI THOMASSpecial to The Oracle
Photos taken by Kassi Thomas
By KASSI THOMASSpecial to The Oracle
You may be one of the privileged few considering shelling out the $40 - $70 necessary to attend the annual Rites of Spring Music Festival on the campus of Vanderbilt University this weekend. This year’s schedule boasts such names as Ben Harper & Relentless7, Passion Pit, and that infectious French band, Phoenix, who probably didn’t convince you to buy a 2010 Cadillac SRX, but did rouse enough interest with their single “1901” for you to check out their 2009 record Wolfgang Ama-deus Phoenix. Preceding Phoenix on Friday night’s line-up is a band you may not have heard much from in a while, but the truth is they are still hard at work.
After a series of independent-ly released EPs, Cold War Kids emerged in 2006 with their fi rst full-length studio release Robbers & Cowards. The So-Cal based four-piece essentially exploded onto the indie scene, and two years of con-stant touring and festival appearanc-es followed, until their sophomore album Loyalty to Loyalty dropped in mid 2008. Though none of the singles from Loyalty to Loyalty gar-nered as much attention as “Hang Me Up to Dry” had two years prior, the guys thankfully did not humor the wishes of bassist Matt Maust’s parents to pack it up and fall back
on their college degrees. 2009 brought forth a live EP, pro-
duced at Fingerprints record store in Long Beach, and released across the nation on Record Store Day. With the exception of “Expensive Tastes,” At Fingerprints consisted complete-ly of tracks from their most recent LP. However, a little-known four song EP, Behave Yourself, was re-leased online in late December, and physically hit stores this January, marking the fi rst release of new ma-terial in over a year. Opening with “Audience,” a dance-jam riddled with imagery, and wrapping up with their trademark gospel infu-sion in “Sermons,” Behave Yourself satisfi es the thirst of even the most parched CWK fanatic in a mere fi f-teen minutes.
The moral of this convoluted tale is that should you fi nd yourself on the Vanderbilt Alumni Lawn some-time around 8:10 PM tonight, open your ears and steal a listen of what the Cold War Kids have to offer. You’ll no doubt hear a track or two from Behave Yourself, as well as bits and pieces of what these raucous minstrels have been working on in the studio. Rites of Spring is one of only a handful of announced tour dates for the foursome in the 2010 calendar year. They are currently dedicating themselves to hashing out new material at a recording stu-dio in Nashville, so hopefully we’ll soon be dropping the needle on yet another Cold War Kids LP.
Cold War Kids’ newest album “Behave Yourself” promises to get you moving
Courtesy of the Cold War Kids
It’s almost Summer and that means music festivals around the country are going to be happening, so, pack up the car with some friends, see the country and hear some good jams.
BonnarooTennessee’s own music festival
is one of the biggest and best in the Southeast. Located on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, this festival is like nothing else. Every year, this shindig brings some of the biggest names in music and comedy and this year is no different.
Major performances this year include Dave Matthews Band, Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Conan O’Brien, Weezer, Tenacious D, and The Flaming Lips perform-ing Dark Side of the Moon featuring Stardeath and White Dwarfs.
But, there are quite a few lesser known bands going that are worth your time. Jack White’s side project, The Dead Weather, is on the sched-ule. She & Him are going to be in attendence hot on the heels of their newest offering, “Volume Two.” And, for you electronica fans, Dead-mau5 and Bassnectar are featured. You can fi nd the compelte line-up at Bannaroo’s website.
With all these great names, you should already be buying your ticket to Bonnaroo. But, if you need another reason, here you go. The whole Bonnaroo experience is like nothing else. From camping with friends to living out of your car for four days, you won’t fi nd anything else like this, this close to Tech.
Which is another positive of this festival, it’s only about an hour and change drive from Tech. You don’t have to make too big of a commit-ment to get there.
Even if you aren’t the camping type, plenty of hotels within driving distance are there at your service. Once the festival gets underway, traffi c generally dies down quite a bit, making car travel to the site very easy.
When: June 10 - 13Where: Manchester, TNwww.bonnaroo.com
Sasquatch!This one will require some driv-
ing, but Sasquatch! is set in one of the most scenic venues in the world. You should fi nd some like-minded friends and pack up the car. You’re in college after all, go see the world!
Despite the drive, this lineup is worth the trip: My Morning Jacket, Vampire Weekend, The National, Midlake, The xx, MGMT, Passion Pit, Broken Social Scene, Wale, Deadmau5, Portugal, The Man, and The Temper Trap. And, that’s just to name some of the bigger shows going on.
When: May 29 - 31Where: Quincy, WAwww.sasquatchfestival.com
Austin City LimitsTaking its name from the leg-
endary PBS series, Austin City Lim-its Music Festival is one of the pre-mier fests in the country.
Although the lineup has yet to released, May 18 is the announce-ment date, ACLMF didn’t get the ‘premier’ tag for being lame. Past headliners included Kings of Leon, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, Wilco, The Killers, and Arctic Monkeys.
So, when the line up is an-nounced, you can trust that ACLMF will be rocking. It is a moderate drive but it’s highly recommended.
When: October 8 - 10Where: Austin, TXwww.aclfestival.com
SummerfestSummerfest boasts that it’s the
largest music festival in the world and with 700 bands, spanning 11 days, it’s hard to argue.
Although the festival lasts 11 days, you can pick and choose when you go with tickets that cost only $15 each day. Plus, when you aren’t at shows, you’re in Milwaukee, so, college chums, I trust you can fi nd something to do there.
Here are some acts you should care about: RUSH, Carrie Under-wood, The Bravery, The Roots, Mod-est Mouse, and 311.
When: June 24 - July 4Where: Milwaukee, WIwww.summerfest.com
John Corley during one of his recent shows on WTTU 88.5 FM
LollapaloozaLocated in the heart of Chica-
go, Lollapalooza is a historic sum-mer music festival that takes place in Grant Park. The festival always makes a strong showing, but this year, Lollapalooza is going to tear down Grant Park again with a line-up that has something for everyone.
Lollapalooza’s headliners this year include Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Phoenix, MGMT, and The Black Keys. In addition, the festival offers several other acts.
Yeasayer will be attending and performing tracks off their newest album, Odd Blood. Another name that’s big on the indie charts, Griz-zly Bear, known for their landmark 2009 album, Veckatimist, will be at the festival. And, for you fans of gypsy-punk fusion, Gogol Bordello will be there most likely playing tunes from their new album Trans-Continental Hustle, which drops this Tuesday.
In addition to a killer lineup, the festival is in the great city of Chi-cago, which is always worth a visit whether Lollapalooza is going on or not. You can always fi nd something to do in this city in between bands.
This festival is designed more for people staying in hotels rather than camping. If all the hotels near are too enpensive or totally booked, the Metro, Chicago’s train system servicing as far away as Milwaukee, has a station near Grant Park for easy access. Plus, the system usu-ally offers special deals for students during Lollapalooza weekend for the more spend thrift music junkies.
When: August 6 - 8Where: Chicago, ILwww.lollapalooza.com
By CHUCK ACHESONEntertainment Editor
The Unites States is a big place with a bunch of good music for you to go check out.Here is a list of fi ve of some the best in the country, but rest assured, if you look around, you can fi nd plenty more, so, get some friends together and make memories this Summer. Graphic designed by Chuck Acheson
Like a symphony at a surf party, an orchestra on the beach, The Morn-ing Benders’ new album Big Echo is just that. Pop/rock, surf, and classi-cal music are all seamlessly combined until each genre cannot be distin-guished from the others, a giant wave of sound, if you will.
The Benders’ made leaps and bounds since their 2008 release, Talk-ing Through Tin Cans, which didn’t re-ceive much critical acclaim. It mostly featured the basic structure- guitar, bass, drums and some electronic ap-
pearances. It’s pretty hard to make groundbreaking music using the basic setup. It’s really easy to just be lumped together with other bands that sound the same.
To be heard these days, a band has to be able to make the listener say “wow” or “hmmm.”
On the new album, it seems like the band knew they had to do some-thing to set them apart from the host of power-pop bands that are on the scene today. They did it on Big Echo.
So many genres are present on the album. Jazz-like percussion, smooth cello, fl uttering fl utes, doo-wop vocals, and the clink-clank of xy-lophone accompany the drone of re-verb-drenched surf guitar, a complex and unique sound, to say the least.
The most impressive aspect of the album, to me, was the unbelievable layered harmonies. They’re all over
the place. Lead singer and guitarist Chris Chu has an amazing voice and a distinct vision. In his vocal arrange-ments, he records tracks in several vo-cal ranges and dubs the tracks over an original vocal track. The result is as-toundingly rich and full. It’s basically a choir of one dude’s voice. The song that sums up the feeling of Big Echo is defi nitely “Excuses.” This song is so awesome because it has such a mas-sive sound. In a recent experiment, Chu grouped a ton of his friends in a recording studio to record a version of this song. In the end, about thirty people packed into the studio.
Five guitar players, three percus-sionists, three violinists, two cello players, a choir of girls and a choir of guys all trade off parts and create a fantastically dense version of the song. Everyone should listen to this because it’s such a darn feel-good tune. You can watch the experiment
by searching the track name “Excus-es” on www.vimeo.com.
Another great aspect of this al-bum is that it’s not all happy-go-lucky jangle pop. There are some really mel-low tracks, as well. For instance, “Wet Cement” is a lofty, calm, and soft. Another chilled-out track is “Pleasure Sighs,” which is dreamy and slowed-down in comparison to most of the other tracks. Big Echo is a perfect al-bum to get down to during spring-time, too. Most of the tracks are sure to put you in a whimsical mood. Pop this one in and you’ll be blowing dan-delion seeds into the air in no time.
Well, it’s the last edition of The Oracle for the semester, which means this is the last article I’ll be writing until next fall. It’s been a blast rant-ing about music every week. So, until I talk to you in the fall, listen to some good music, go to some good shows and have a great summer!
Page 9 | April 23, 2010www.tntechoracle.com
ENTERTAINMENT
By Matt Knieling, who was voted “Best In Show” in the art contest at Omni-Con 2010 / Voyage of the Clementide is exclusive to The Oracle. For previous parts of the story, visit www.inanimateshorts.com
Spin DatRecordWith KYLE BUCKNER
The Morning Benders’ “Big Echo”
Movie Talk
By CHUCK ACHESONEntertainment Editor
Final Grade: A-
Kick-aSS
By EMILY COONCESpecial to The Oracle
As I rode the elevator up to suite 321, I was anxious and excited to see what the very posh and modern Art Upstairs Gallery had in store for me on an elusive Thurs-day afternoon. The elevator door slid open, and I was met by the big open windows overlooking the Cookeville Square with the sunset blaz-ing in, illuminating an oth-erwise obscure kitchen-sized room. Sent on a mission that I had chosen to accept, I felt like a collector of clues as I scribbled away details in my journal, observing and report-ing the elements that made each work of art unique. I slowly inched my way down the long curvy hallway, mov-ing from drawing to drawing while pausing briefl y to ad-mire the detail of each image.
The name of the exhibit is High Contrast, a small col-lection of still life drawings created by using a combina-tion of charcoal and graphite on white paper that address topics such as chiaroscuro, portraiture, proportion, and perspective. This showcase of works was created by cur-rent Tech students who were in Kimberly Winkle’s Art 2310 class over the past few years. Some, but not all, of the emerging artists whose works are on display at the
gallery are art majors, mak-ing the creators and their ef-forts all the more admirable and interesting. Most of the drawings took 10 to 15 hours to complete.
Portraiture (for those of you who are not well versed in artist vernacular, as is the case with myself) is a repre-sentation of a person using objects that are reminiscent of the intended individual. Each portraiture is different in the
representative objects that the artist has chosen in order to recreate that person on pa-per without actually draw-ing their subject’s face. There are varying degrees of highly contrasted whites, grays, and blacks that bring immense emotion to the drawings. The artists were challenged to make do without the use of color and still somehow make this mystery person come alive in the mind of the
viewer.I challenged myself to
fi gure out who the artist was trying to portray before I looked at the title of the work. Unbelievably, the lack of col-or brought more life to each drawing than I had imagined it would. I thought harder and looked deeper, as I felt I was looking through a win-dow into the artist’s psyche. I was allowed the ability for a split second to see through
their eyes how they felt about the person they chose to rep-resent in their drawing.
I took note of the objects in Scott Collier’s drawing: a folded American fl ag encased in a triangular wooden and glass box, a titleless leather bound book with ruffl ed pag-es, an old stretchy watch lying on its side in front of the fl ag, a cigarette extinguished too soon, and a pocket knife that was as sharp as the day it was purchased. I felt the secret seep quietly into my mind as I slid my thoughts over each one of these objects one more time: this was a portraiture of his dad, his grandfather or an important and respected male fi gure in his life. I had won the game I was playing with myself. The title of the drawing was “Frank.”
I realized I was subcon-sciously looking for my dad in one of these black and white drawings, and he is who I would undoubtedly draw if I possessed the abil-ity. I had captured my elusive Thursday afternoon as I left suite 321, rode back down the elevator and stepped back into my own mind on the Cookeville square, feeling content that I had found my dad hanging on the wall in Scott Collier’s mind.
High Contrast is open the month of April, and most of the artist’s contact informa-tion is available at the exhib-it.
High Contrast offers dynamic experience in black and white
Created by Chad Malone, this is one of the many pieces in the High Contrast collection.
Left: The album artwork for The Morning Benders’ Big Echo. Right: The band members sport the surf look that is their hallmark. Photo Courtesy of The Morning Benders
Every so often, a movie comes along that is taken from a comic and does the story justice. Kick-Ass man-ages that feat in spades.
The story opens with Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a high school student and comic book fan, as he ponders why no one has tried being a super hero. After a quick pur-chase online, Kick-Ass is born and the story starts to unfold quickly.
Let me be blunt, this movie is not perfect, it’s not going to win an Oscar, but the unadulterated fun more than makes up for its shortcomings.
The action sequences and shootouts were top notch from beginning to end. Combining the action with music that sounds like it’s from Sat-urday morning cartoons, was odd at fi rst, but after a few seconds it feels like a natural combination with Hit Girl’s (Chloe Moretz) antics.
Which brings me to the next point, Hit Girl made this movie. Her ac-tion sequences topped all the others, which were great too. When she hit the strobe light later in the movie, I was blown away by the sequence. In addi-tion, that sequence pulled off fi rst-person shooting that didn’t feel forced and hokey, ala Doom.
Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) was another high-light of the characters. This role fi t almost fl awlessly into Cage’s skill set, being weird but still, somehow, pretty cool.
The story of Kick-Ass was extremely gritty, which played into the overall feeling of the mov-ie perfectly. The whole package pulled me in from early on in the movie and did not let go until the ex-plosive ending.
Yes, the movie is very violent with coarse lan-guage from numerous characters, but it is di-rected, as the comic was, at adults. And, that be-ing said, the Crazy 88s se-quence from Kill Bill or any of the fi ghts from 300 are far more graphic.
I had a few minor problems with the movie, namely Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Red Mist) who just doesn’t seem to be any dif-ferent from McLovin from Superbad.
The only major down-side for me was that the Cookeville theater decided not to carry this movie. But, it’s well worth the drive up to Crossville or even Nashville to see this fl ick.
Don’t take your kids and if you can’t handle some graphic imagery then pass. Everyone else, give this movie a shot, you’ll probably enjoy yourself.
MPAA: R
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