the rambler, 10.28.09
DESCRIPTION
Vol. 92, No. 21TRANSCRIPT
Student Life’s haunted hallwayin full effectCollege Life, page 4
WEDNESDAYOctober 28, 2009
Vol. 92 • No. 21
ONLINE: www.therambler.org The Rambler
Sexy costumes evoke mixed reactionsA&E, page 5
The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
Daniel [email protected]
The Campus Activity Board is Texas Wes-leyan’s newest student organization where individual students or student organizations can participate in funding and/or planning on-campus events.
What makes CAB different is that members are not obligated to be a part of a student orga-nization to participate. They simply need to be interested in being a part of the on-campus so-cial. CAB was responsible for last year’s Home-coming Tailgate and the Halloween party as well as a couple of on-campus dances.
“I joined CAB last semester because I was new on campus and I wanted to be involved [with] an organization,” said Amaya Howard, a sophomore political science major. “I heard about some of their previous events and was interested.”
CAB will serve two functions, planning and carrying out at least one social event per month and managing a budget for student organiza-tions to request funding for their own events.
The budget used for CAB is funded by Student Life, according to Michael Chaney, CAB facili-tator.
According to Chaney, who is also director of volunteerism and student organizations, stu-dent organizations or students who seek fund-ing for an on-campus event that is open to the student body must fill a proposal form and at-tend a CAB meeting. The Board will then vote on whether or not the event will receive fund-ing for their event and if so, how much.
“I am not a member of any other organizations so I am fully dedicated to making CAB events successful.”
Amaya Howardsophomore
Historic graveyard receives recognition
Jonathan [email protected]
Although graveyards are somber places, a celebration was held Oct. 21 for Polytechnic Cemetery.
Tarrant County court officials, rep-resentatives of the Tarrant County Historic Commission and Daugh-ters of the Republic of Texas were all invited as Poly Cemetery received a historical marker from the Texas
Historical Commission commemo-rating it as the 100th Historic Texas Cemetery.
“This is a big deal,” Brenda Mat-thews, Wesleyan history professor, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last year when plans for the marker were announced. “I’m really excited.”
The cemetery held its first funeral in 1867, before Texas Wesleyan even opened its doors, according to the Star-Telegram.
Descendants of those buried in the cemetery were scheduled to be pres-ent for the dedication.
According to a press release from the THC, Texas Wesleyan history faculty members and students began researching the Polytechnic Cem-etery in 1997. By 2002, students un-der the instruction of Dr. John Mat-thews, history professor, successfully mapped the cemetery.
Although they were able to un-
cover some information, exactly how many people were buried in Poly cemetery remains unknown.
Gerron Hite, cemetery preserva-tion coordinator for the Texas His-toric Commission, told the Star-Telegram that the lack of records is common for old cemeteries.
“Many of them don’t have a burial list,” he said. “They don’t think about the future.”
Laura Rosser | Rambler StaffPolytechnic Cemetery was recognized as an historic graveyard by the Texas Historical Commission in a celebration last week.
SGA enactsmeasure to beautify campusJonaathan [email protected]
In keeping with its hopes of making Texas Wesleyan a more visually pleasing envi-ronment, the Student Gov-ernment Association passed proposition B.G. 2 this month.
The proposition is a part of the SGA’s “Adopt-a-Spot” kick-off. According to the bill, the program is designed to stimulate campus beautifica-tion in numerous locations.
“It’s going to be a great thing to add to residency life,” said Mindy Pospichal, SGA trea-surer, of the “Adopt-a-Spot” initiative.
Proposition B.G. 2 allocates $475 for the renovation of an area immediately south of Stella Russell Hall, west of the sports court.
The money will pay for a tree swing and outdoor fire-place, as well as several deco-rative stones to create a rock garden effect.
While a majority voted the proposition in, some did not want it pass, saying that the bill lacked structure. They also said obtaining permits and whether or not it was in a smoke-free zone could pres-ent issues.
Jonathan Attaway, SGA sec-retary, is pleased it passed.
“It has the potential of bring-ing new levels of awareness to the organizations,” he said, “and how they can change the campus for the better.”
MONEY, page 4
Laura Rosser | Rambler Staff Stella is getting a firepit.
New board offers funds to enhance student life
Annette Torres
BESO earns grant moneyThe Texas Wesleyan University Bilingual Education Student Organization was granted a $500 scholarship by the Bilingual/ESL Educators Association of the Metroplex to fund par-ticipation in the BESO Institute at the Texas Association of Bilingual Education Conference in Houston.
Opinion2 | October 28, 2009 The RambleR | www.rambler.org
Jonathan Resendez, news editorLaurence Sheehan, opinion editorConner Howell, college life editorJoakim Söderbaum, sports editorChuck Fain, entertainment editorLaura Rosser, photo editorRachel Horton, multimedia editorLaShawnda Mayhorn, social media directorDaniel Bravo, advertising managerKelli Lamers, faculty adviserDr. Kay Colley, faculty liaison
Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press As-sociation, Associated Collegiate Press, Student Press Law Center, College Media Advisers and College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers.
Opinions expressed in The RambleR are those of the individual authors only and do not neces-sarily reflect the views of the Texas Wesleyan community as a whole.
RambleR Contribution Please send all news briefs to [email protected]. Submissions due by noon Friday to see brief in the following week’s issue.
Letters to the editor: The RambleR, a weekly publication welcomes all letters. All submis-sions must have a full printed name, phone number and signature. While every consider-ation is made to publish letters, publication is limited by time and space.The editors reserve the right to edit all submis-sions for space, grammar, clarity and style. Letters to the editor may be subject to response from editors and students on the opinion page.
“We are not afraid to follow the truth ... wherever it may lead.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Address all correspondence to:Texas Wesleyan UniversityThe RambleR1201 Wesleyan St.Fort Worth, TX [email protected] contact The RambleR
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The RamblerFounded in 1917 as The Handout
Publisher: Harold G. Jeffcoat
What is your Halloween costume this year?
Jackson Duran,senior biology“Jack Sparrow.”
Meghan Winton,senior biology “Bumble bee.”
Saba Whipple,senior mass comm
“Party girl.”
Angel Maldonado,junior mass comm
“Vampire.”
Marques Hamilton-Griffin,senior mass comm
“Bruce LeRoy.”
Like most people, I love Halloween. It’s the time of year I get to act like a child and no one judges me.
Yes, I am a 6-year-old trapped in a 27-year-old’s body. I take the Toys-R-Us theme song to heart.
Remember: “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys-R-Us kid, with millions of toys to choose from that I can play with…” and so on.
However, as a grown up man-child, I do have some
problems with the direction Halloween has taken.
The hypocrisy of the holi-day breaks down like this:
First, I keep referencing it as a holiday, as most people do, but as we celebrate it, it’s not. It would be like saying that for Thanksgiving we are
going for beers, wings and to watch the Cowboys game.
Secondly, I bet you don’t know the origin of Hallow-een. It is actually an ancient Celtic festival to celebrate summer’s end called Sam-hain.
According to www.his-
tory.com, the costumes come from a tradition of the ancient Celts who believed during Samhain the borders between this world and the next become thin.
Spirits from the other side would cross over, and if you were dressed up, the spirits would assume you are already a spirit and move on somewhere else. If not, they would haunt you.
Thirdly, it’s more the day that even the classiest, so-phisticated women dress like sluts. And we approve this. As a society we acknowledge
that this is your one night only pass. My only reason for disapproval is again, the hypocrisy.
If you can’t wear a short skirt 364 days of the year, then why wear one this one night? I’m not going to lie, I do love looking at those short skirts, but we give a pass this one night when walking out in public with a painted chest and pasties is accepted.
Why can’t we have that every night without a woman being called a slut? Because we are hypocrites.
I’m a dork 365 days of the
year, and if there were 365 more, I’d still be a dork, dress like a dork, walk like a dork. I am all dork and proud of being who I am.
Last year I was Pauly Bleak-er from Juno for Halloween. Not a ghost, a werewolf or anything else the “cool guys” are wearing.
To bring it all together, Halloween is a fun day. Go, dress up, trick or treat, party, do your thing, but remember when you look around this Oct. 31 that you are celebrat-ing hypocrisy on multiple levels.
Laurence J. [email protected]
Halloween Hypocrite
Since the abrupt outbreak of the H1N1 virus last April, sanitation is an issue that has gained more attention on col-lege campuses.
As students were diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, schools around the nation closed to prevent the risk of spread-ing among staff, faculty and students. Texas Wesleyan was one of them.
Prior to the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, Texas Wesleyan had already taken precau-tions to keep students clean.
The installation of hand sanitizers near the entrances of most buildings, including the Brown-Lupton Cam-pus Center and the Nenetta Burton Carter Building is a sanitary measure that encourages students to keep their hands clean after touch-ing doors. Since doors are
frequently touched, they are common sites for the spread of bacteria.
The possibility of a flu or H1N1 outbreak on campus can be related to a lack of personal hygiene, as well as inadequate cleaning proce-dures.
Yes, custodians are hired to keep our facilities clean, but our health also depends on our decisions about personal hygiene.
We can protect ourselves from becoming sick by simply washing our hands with soap and water or by using sanitizers like the ones currently installed across campus.
We can also protect our-selves from the spread of germs by sneezing or cough-ing into a tissue and then disposing of it properly.
If tissues are not available, it is advisable for students to sneeze or cough into their
elbows instead of using their hands.
There are some areas of Texas Wesleyan that could use greater sanitation efforts.
The computer labs in the basement of the Eunice and James L. West Library, as well as classrooms with comput-ers, should have disposable wipes available to students.
After using the computers, students should be able to clean the keyboards. Several students use the computers throughout the day, and if the keyboards are not disinfected frequently, there is a possibil-ity for the spread of germs.
If we see facilities on cam-pus that are not as clean as we would like, we should say something about it instead of ignoring the problem.
Texas Wesleyan is our uni-versity, and we should keep it clean in efforts to prevent a potential outbreak of H1N1 this season.
Stephanie [email protected]
Keep it cleanConstant sanitation key to fighting H1N1
“I’m a dork 365 days of the year, and if there were 365 more, I’d still be a dork,”
Laurence J. Sheehan
Letter to the EditorA lot here to agree with. The main thrust of the article (Modern Media Mess, Oct. 21) is spot-on! “Pack-journal-
ism” is a well-documented phenomena. The 24-hour news cycle is a major reason that it has gotten so out of hand.
The problem used to be getting all the important stories in very limited news programs and publication space (i.e. the daily paper and 30 minutes in the evening and at night).
Now there is continuous coverage, and the issue becomes what fills it. The filter is turned the other way, and otherwise insignificant stories become wall-to-wall
time-fillers, while more important and less interesting news gets slighted with increasing regularity.
Also, the corporate, for-profit model of media companies must share significant blame. News channels compete for ratings the same way any other television station does. They put the emphasis on what keeps viewers tuned in, not necessarily what they need to
know to be well-informed. I personally argue that this represents a signal failure of their role in society, but the an-
swer is more discriminating viewership. Dollar votes are the best way to bring change. As with so many public problems, more awareness is a central key to solving the problem.
To quote the famous poet John Donne, “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”I do worry about the message that criminal prosecution sends to parents. When it comes to the safety of one’s child, can one truly “overreact,” especially to a crimi-
nal degree. If it was a real hoax, then the parents should be severely punished, especially if it was a
ploy to enter the vast wasteland that is reality television. -Zach Davidson BS 2008Please submit all Letters to the Editor to:Laurence J. [email protected]
Dreamstime.com
CampusThe RambleR | www.therambler.org October 28, 2009 | 3
A cap is set at $250. How-ever, Chaney said, not every event will receive the maxi-mum amount. By next fall, Chaney plans to make it man-datory for every student or-ganization to attend the first meeting of every month in order to remain active and eligible to receive funding for future events. The only excep-tion would be members of the United Greek Council (frater-nities and sororities).
Chaney said he hopes that with CAB, organizations and students can help spread the word of events and stay con-nected with one another about future events while promoting student life. The group meets every Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Carter Conference Room.
CAB is still a work in prog-ress and is looking to fill a seven-member board by next meeting. Currently, two co-chair positions are the only ones filled by Howard and Es-ther Kantai, former members of the now defunct Student Activity Council.
Howard said her main focus
for the upcoming semester is to increase the amount of stu-dent interaction of activities on campus.
“I am not a member of any other organizations so I am fully dedicated to making CAB events successful,” she said.
MONEY continued from page 1
Businessman provides insightDaniel [email protected]
Texas Wesleyan’s newest in-ductee to its Business Hall of Fame shared his message of success to a packed house in Martin Hall Oct. 20. Vernon Bryant, president and chief executive officer of Southwest Bank is this year’s recipient of the Fort Worth Business Ex-ecutive of the Year award, and he had words of advice for students.
“Ethics, reliability, good work habits and planning are all very important,” Bry-
ant said. “Also, don’t be afraid of change. Everything will change with tomorrow’s busi-ness environment, and you need to be poised as a proac-tive participant and leader.”
Bryant passed on knowl-edge gained throughout his career of leadership in the banking industry, including the role of ethics in the busi-ness world, his view of the industry and the current eco-nomic recession.
He spoke for nearly an hour and then answered questions from the audience about the banking industry, the reces-
sion and the economy.“I thought that his main
topic, being ethics in the banking industry, was ex-tremely relevant to what is happening right now,” said Dr. Tom Smith, marketing pro-
fessor. “People are concerned with what is happening with the recession, the govern-ment bailing out the large banks, and all that.”
Bryant is a member of Wes-leyan’s board of trustees and
also spoke about the univer-sity. He said he sees a bright future for the school’s busi-
ness programs. “I am confident that Texas
Wesleyan can attract larger numbers of area profession-als to its MBA program, es-pecially considering the com-petitive nature of the business environment in which we op-erate.”
He also said he intends as-sist with the growth of the business programs.
“As we move forward,” he said, “I plan to become very actively involved in the future success of these, as well as Texas Wesleyan’s other pro-grams.”
“I am confident that Texas Wesleyan can attract larger numbers of area professionals to its MBA program.”
Vernon Bryant Jr.Southwest Bank President & CEO
Online advising now available for some Kimberly [email protected]
Sophomore and junior business students will be the first to pilot the new e-advis-ing program this fall at Texas Wesleyan.
The e-advising program will allow students to create an online course planning work-sheet, which will allow stu-dents to plan courses for the next two semesters.
The worksheet can then be submitted to advisers. The course is then displayed for approval for advisers in Ram-link.
Students will also be able to have their degree plan au-dited and see how many hours are needed for graduation through the e-advising sys-tem.
“About 60 other universities
are currently using the e-ad-vising program,” said Patricia Quiñones, advising specialist.
The program is also being launched with the school of education.
According to Quiñones, if the pilot is successful, “the idea is to have the entire campus using the program by 2012 or sooner. It is a good program and offers a good advantage to students and faculty.”
But not all students see the advantage.
“I would rather meet with my adviser than use e-ad-vising,” said Cristin Thorne, business major. “I feel more comfortable with talking to someone who knows about all of the business classes and can give direct input.”
Dr. Thomas Bell, professor of business administration, said, “E-advising is a use-
ful tool to aid students in the planning process; however, students should still come and meet with their adviser to make sure the courses are be-ing offered at the desired time. The tool just enhances the ad-vising experience but does not replace it.”
Discovering how the e-ad-vising process enhances the advising experience is why the school of business is piloting the program.
“E-advising is still a pilot study,” said Dr. Hector Quin-tanilla, dean of the school of business. “We need to find out if it benefits the students first.”
In the mean time, depend-ing on its success rate, busi-ness sophomore, junior and senior students will be able to use the program in Spring 2010.
Keeping the beatLaura Rosser| Rambler Staff
In Brief...Poly parade
The community is pa-rading to Wesleyan for activities Oct. 31. University President Hal Jeffcoat and other rep-resentatives from Texas Wesleyan will take part in a parade that begins at 10 a.m. at Polytechnic High School.
The parade will pro-ceed down Rosedale to the quad where commu-nity leaders will speak, and family games and activities will continue until 1 p.m. Sen. Wendy Davis instigated the cel-ebration when Poly High improved its state test scores after years of low scores and the threat of closure by the state.
Care packagesThe Sports Medicine
Society is collecting
items for military care packages to be sent to soldiers in Iraq in No-vember. The group is seeking donations of any kind to fill these packages.
Suggested items in-clude tall white sox, medicated lip balm and cleansing wipes as well as money for the group to purchase items.
For information or to make a donation, visit the training room locat-ed in Sid Richardson or call 817-531-7590.
Got yogurt? Lambda Theta Alpha
Latin Sorority supports Breast Cancer Aware-ness Month by saving lids to save lives. The group is collecting Yo-plait yogurt’s pink lids through Nov. 6. Drop boxes are located in the SUB and the library. For
every lid turned in, Yo-plait donates 10 cents to breast cancer research.
Halloween events New Student Pro-grams is hosting a pumpkin carving contest at noon Oct. 29 in front of the SUB. Bring your already-carved pumpkin to enter or stop by and vote.
The music department performs its annual Hal-loween concert. Musi-cians are in full costume for this family event un-der the direction of Bry-an English at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 in Martin Hall. Admission is free.
Campus Activities Board hosts Monster Bash at 9 p.m. Oct. 30 in the SUB. The event will include free food, video games, DJ and a costume contest.
Office of Communications
Students drummed along with Kumaasi African Ensemble during International Week festivities Oct. 20.
College Life4 | October 28, 2009 The RambleR | www.therambler.org
Research got you searching?Get help researching your paper at the
West Library’s Reference Desk.
Services Available:Monday-Thursday 8 am - 8 pmFriday & Saturday 8:30 am - 5 pmSunday 1 pm - 8 pm
or e-mail:[email protected]
Eunice and James L. West LibraryTexas Wesleyan University
Scaring the student life out of youStudent Life’s haunted hallway is in full swing, and more Halloween events are on the hori-zon. New Student Programs is hosting a pumpkin carving contest at noon Oct. 29 in front of the SUB. Bring your carved pumpkin to enter or stop by to vote. Campus Activities Board is throwing a Monster Bash at 9 p.m. Oct. 30 in the SUB with free food, DJ, video games and a costume contest.
International afFair
(directly above) Oliviu Vasilca and Thomas Bosco pose by their Romania dis-play. (left) Dirk Nowitzki and sauerkraut mark Germany’s place at the fair. (directly be-low) Josephine Okoth stands in front of her display ready to serve her Kenyan spiced tea. (below) Hasan and Allah serve humus and pita bread while talking about their home in Palestine.
SGA, Dora’s team up to serve student needs Josephine [email protected]
The Student Government Association wants to bring change to Texas Wesleyan.
“We want to ensure all stu-dents appreciate being at Wes-leyan,” said Heath Scott, presi-dent of SGA.
“The main objective of SGA is ensuring school spirit among students, campus se-curity and general school beautification” Scott said.
Scott, a junior political sci-ence major, said his desire is to be the best president SGA has had by prioritizing the students’ needs.
“The issue that we are fo-cusing on now is finding a solution to the cafeteria issue after complaints from some students, mostly school ath-letes, regarding the Dora’s time schedule,” Scott said.
SGA is considering lobby-ing for hours to be extended at Dora’s Residential Restau-rant.
Kasey Cantrell, a junior fi-nance major and the Stella Russell Hall representative, proposed the issue to SGA af-ter receiving a couple of com-plaints from two golf players about them not getting food after practice.
“By the time the players get back, Dora’s is always closed, so they never get their food,” Cantrell said.
Ida Nickerson, chair of the food committee and a sopho-more political science major,
said SGA has taken the caf-eteria issue to the school ad-ministration after a couple of suggestions from students on having the operating hours of Dora’s extended to accommo-date everyone.
The cheer team is one group affected by the hours, and they approached Joseph Barnes, director of dining services, with the help of SGA.
“We have our practice un-til late,” said Melanie Mudu-kuti, cheerleader and fresh-man representative on SGA. “When we asked for a special program which would get us all getting our food, the re-sponse was amazing., Mudu-kuti said.
She said they will soon have someone getting food for all the cheer group members.
“We appreciate that,” Mudu-kuti said.
It is issues like this that
Nickerson said are SGA’s pur-pose.
“Without consideration of the presence of students and their needs, there would be no SGA,” Nickerson said.
SGA is focusing on conve-nience issues as well as beau-tification, school spirit and security. A ram statue is cur-rently awaiting installation and other measures have been taken for convenience and safety.
“This semester, the SGA achieved one of its goals by getting the basketball court lighting hours extended after requests were forwarded to us,” Scott said
SGA is now advised by Eng-lish professor Dr. Carol John-son-Gerendas.
“I’m pleased to take up the position of the new adviser and would like to help in ev-ery way,” she said.
SGA meetings take place at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesdays in the Brown-Lupton Campus Cen-ter. Meetings are open to all. Officers also invite students to stop by their offices in O.C. Hall in rooms 202, 204 and 221.
“Wesleyan is capable of do-ing so much if all students work together to have all their issues solved amicably,” Scott said.
Andie Massingill | Rambler StaffSGA President Heath Scott meets with students.
Photos by Conner Howell| Rambler Staff
Laura Rosser | Rambler Staff
Arts & EntertainmentThe RambleR | www.therambler.org October 28, 2009 | 5
A Paranormal Prodigy comes to a theater near you Michael [email protected]
Rabbits could not breed fast enough to keep pace with the growing fan base of Paranormal Activity.
The surprise thriller, already No.3 at the box office, has many critics hailing it the defining horror film of our generation.
Filmed in just a week on an estimated bud-get of $11,000, it has already grossed more than $33.5 million.
The film began its journey as an entry to Screamfest and now is showing in 760 theaters. Taken for what it is, Paranormal Activity is a damn good movie.
Unfortunately, there is a down side to all this attention. As the hype escalates, expecta-tions are placed on the movie to be something other than it is. As a result, many excited theater-goers are leaving unsatisfied.
This was my initial experience, so I decided to give it another shot.Despite knowing exactly what was going to happen, as tension mounted my hairs stood on end, and I couldn’t help but observe the reactions around me.
The room was strategically overwhelmed with waves of fear. As each wave hit, the house
would scream, try to comfort themselves and then demand silence. It was almost masochis-tic. Some people literally jumped out of their seats. I saw, and appreciated, much more of the film’s composition.Every great composer knows that silence is an important instrument.
The Paranormal sound team composed a masterpiece. Rather than a gushing abun-dance of blood and gore, the gripping terror is accented by excruciating silence and ... well,
the rest you’ll have to discover for yourself. Simple, everyday sounds manipulated (or not) so that you can never be sure
nor predict what will happen. Many people claim – and I can attest –
that the scariest part is trying to go to sleep afterwards.Writer-director Oren Peli admit-ted in interviews that if they had not found the right actors to play the couple plagued by paranormal activity, the whole project would have fallen through. Thank heaven they found Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. One can’t help but praise these actors; the chemistry and real-ism between the two is so organic they draw you into a state of suspended belief.
To learn more about the film, visit the of-ficial movie Web site at www.paranormalctiv-ity-movie.com
Hot for HalloweenCostumes range from frightening to foxyChuck [email protected]
Halloween means several things: accepting candy from strangers, toilet paper in trees and dressing up.
While there’s always the tried and true wolf man, ma-niac killer or zombie, others use current events, tragic ce-lebrities and sex as their cos-tume muse.
Here’s a list of some popular, provocative and thought-pro-voking (maybe just provok-ing) costumes that people are wearing this year.
Michael Jackson/Farrah Faw-cett/Billy Mays
OK, maybe Billy Mays doesn’t have the star power that Michael and Farrah had, but he gets lumped in this category because of the prox-imity of his death in relation to the other two. With the re-cent wave of celebrity deaths, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Walter Cronkite walking around.
My prediction is the Michael Jackson costume will be most popular. He was the thing of dark fairy tales when he was alive, and now, in death, he’s even creepier. Plus it’s just fun to dress up like Michael. Have you ever worn one sequined glove around? Try it for a day and tell me you don’t like it, I dare you.
Next popular would be Billy Mays. Not only is the costume easily constructed (blue shirt,
pants, some crappy infomercial product), it also has a pretty high comedy potential – always a plus.
Barrack Obama/George Bush/Bill Clinton
Politicians have been a popu-lar choice for Halloween costumes since, oh, let’s say the Nixon admin-istration. Though he was perhaps the initial inspiration for presiden-tial Halloween masks, the tradition continues as the work of a lot of politicians scares a lot of people.
There are those frightened of Obama’s health care plan, there are those frightened of Bush’s wars and general dopiness, and there are, ap-parently, those who are still fright-ened by Clinton’s infidelity. And, like Clinton, there are those who are just scared of Hillary (also a popular costume this year).
Swine FluI’ve seen several variations of this
topical costume, from a doctor’s outfit with a pig nose attached, to a pig mask with a stereoscope. This is perhaps the scariest costume out there right now.
Not that pigs dressed as doctors are all that scary (they’re ador-able, actually), but this costume re-minds us of the H1N1 monster that plagues our lives, threatens to ruin our days, or worse – kill us. For ease of construction and impact of mes-sage, you can’t beat the flu.
A sexy (fill in the blank)Thank god for Halloween. It’s
the time of year when girls who wouldn’t normally expose them-selves, expose themselves. From a sexy Catholic school girl, to a sexy Twister board (right hand blue!), women’s Halloween costumes have
thrown a little sex onto ev-erything. Even characters that were never intended to be sexy, like a nun or Batman’s Robin.
Not that I think that any-thing’s wrong with that, a little cleavage makes every-thing better. It’s just a little weird initially when you see a sexy version of Robin; though it’s also affirming because you always knew that costume would look better on a girl.
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Photo courtesy of Paramount PicutresJust another Paranormal night at in bed.
Photo courtesy of costumesupercenter.comWe all knew there was something special about Robin.
Photo couresy of bizrate.comThe scariest costume of them all.
Photo courtesy of flim.comThe good ol’ Michael Myers costume, Mom’s favorite.
Review
Sports6 | October 28, 2009 The RambleR | www.therambler.org
“Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer.”
David AcfieldFormer Cricket Player
Rather receives long-lost Olympic medal
Daniel [email protected]
Ask any member of the Wesleyan Cheerleading team and you will learn that the term “off season” is not in her vocabulary. As the soccer teams begin conference play and the basketball teams gear up for their season openers, the Wesleyan Cheerleaders don’t get a break.
“They work very hard and long hours to accomplish what the crowds will see,” said Coach Carolyn Ikens-Owen.
This year’s team has two captains in sophomore el-ementary education major Mariah Hill and sophomore psychology major Melody Doddy. The team has been practicing stunts, flips, yells and cheers since mid-July when the team traveled to San Marcos and participated in the Texas State Universal Cheerleading Association camp.
While at camp the team earned numerous camp awards and ribbons and also had the opportunity to bond as a team.
“Every evaluation we had earned us the highest blue superior ribbon award,” Hill said. “Our squad really came together and truly has one voice.”
The squad consists of 21 members, 11 of which are new additions to the team.
Since last year, the team has been working on adding an-other element to their squad: men.
Male cheerleaders, which are nothing unusual at other universities, were something the cheerleading team lacked in recent years.
Last year, the team had three male members in senior Jason Simpson, senior Pierre Ard and sophomore Oscar Lazarky. With the addition of Taylor Pokluda, junior, and Jeremy Beck, freshman, the
team is now up to five male members, who bring an extra dimension to the team.
“They show tremendous talent and skill,” Hill said. “We have improved our stunting ability and now are able to do elaborate stunts such as our flip stunt, one-leg stunts and one-man stunts,” said Hill.
Ikens-Owen agrees with Hill.
“They add a much-needed strength effect and make the squad much louder when they cheer,” she said. “I am very fortunate to have such great guys on the team. They all work very hard and take their positions on the team seriously.”
This year, fans can catch the Wesleyan cheerleaders cheering at both the men’s and women’s home basketball games. They also attend vol-leyball, soccer and baseball games throughout the year.
Aside from cheering at sporting events, the squad
also performs at events such as Ram Camp and President’s Picnic.
Ikens-Owen expects big things from this year’s squad because of their experience.
“The ability level of the team is much higher than last year and recruiting has helped tremendously with getting this higher quality,” she said. “Everyone on the team has
experience, whereas in the past it was less.”
For more information on the Wesleyan cheerleading squad, visit www.txwes.edu/studentlife/cheerleaders.htm.
Game Time/Place
Thursday
Men’s Soccer vs.SW Assemblies of God UniversityWomen’s Soccer vs.SW Assemblies of God University
5:30 p.m.Martin Field
7:30 p.m.Martin Field
Friday
Volleyball vs.Texas CollegeVolleyball vs.Jarvis ChristianCollege
4 p.m.Tyler7 p.m.Hawkins
Saturday
Volleyball vs.Wiley CollegeMen’s Soccer vs.Huston-Tillotson U.Women’s Soccer vs.Huston-Tillotson U.
11 a.m.Marshall5:30 p.m.Martin Field7:30 p.m.Martin Field
Upcoming Sports
WesleyanWeek-in-Sports
•The Lady Rams Volleyball team (12-14, 6-4 RRAC) split a pair of matches on the road Oct. 24. They beat Bacone 3-2 (25-11, 22-25, 21-25, 25-13, 15-11) in conference action before losing 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-11) to John Brown.
•The Lady Rams Soccer team (11-5, 4-2 RRAC) posted its seventh shutout for the season when picking up a 3-0 win on the road against University of the Southwest Oct. 24. Goalkeeper Katy Houchin set a school record with her sev-enth shutout of the season. The previous record (six) was set by Brittany O’Brien in 2008. The Lady Rams are only one shutout short of matching the school record of eight set last year. With 11 wins so far, the Lady Rams are only three wins shy of the program’s highest (14) set in 2005.
•The Rams Soccer team (10-6, 2-4 RRAC) defeated Univer-sity of the Southwest 3-0 on the road Oct. 24. The Nabassi scored his eighth goal of the season when he secured the overtime win for the Rams. At 10 wins, the Rams are only three wins away from matching the program-high 13 wins from the 1993 season.
TheWeekly Sports
Quote
7-7 Flag Football StandingsName Wins Losses TP Scored TP Against ByesPickles 6 0 200 24 0
BOHICA 3 3 56 35 0TapOut 3 3 97 107 0
1 L's 3 3 88 123 0Twisters 1 5 7 56 0Pink Dragons 1 5 28 48 0
Fantasy FootballPig Skin Pick'Em
Leaderboard Name Pts.Jeremy Newton 68Cara Lumpkin 64Michael Greer 63Rachel Loftin 62Phillip Blockinger 62Fabiola Duron 62Oscar Lazarki 61Terry Waldrop 59Jason Simpson 59June Johnson 58Daniel Bravo 58Sandy Gonzalez 58Ryan Amador 57Trey Bomar 57
Laura Rosser | Rambler StaffWesleyan cheerleaders show their support by handing out Halloween candy.
Trick and treat by Wesleyan cheerleaders
Daniel [email protected]
Wesleyan table tennis head coach Jasna Rather received a replacement Olympic medal Oct. 24 at a ceremony at Wes-leyan’s Sid Richardson Cen-ter. The replacement medal took the place of a lost bronze medal Rather won in the 1988 Summer Olympics, which were held in Seoul, South Ko-rea.
That summer, Rather was representing her home coun-try of Yugoslavia in the wom-en’s doubles table tennis event. She took home the bronze with teammate Gordana Perkucin but would soon find her home in political turmoil.
Rather fled her home coun-try in 1995, leaving behind the Olympic medal in her hometown of Foca, Bosnia, in the home of her grandmother.
Her grandmother passed away shortly before war broke out. Armies were quick to take possession of the home and all of its belongings.
“I have no idea where the medal might be today,” Rather said.
She continued to play table tennis in Japan before per-manently relocating to the U.S. in 1996. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in po-litical science from Oakland University in Michigan and earned her master’s in edu-cation from Texas Wesleyan
before becoming head coach in 2006.
The ceremony, which also
featured members of the 2009 National Intercollegiate Champions receiving rings
honoring their championship season last spring, was held during the annual Texas Wes-leyan Open.
Members of the student body, faculty and staff as well as local media were in atten-dance for the emotional cere-mony, at which Texas Wesley-an President Harold Jeffcoat spoke and explained how he made numerous phone calls to the U.S. Olympic Com-mittee and the International Olympic Committee in search of answers for the lost medal.
“There’s no way our table tennis coach won’t have her Olympic medal,” Jeffcoat said.
Eventually he was able to get in contact with someone who had a cast of the 1988
medal and quickly had a re-placement sent.
Rather isn’t sure what to do with her new medal but will probably keep it on campus, possibly on display.
“All I know is that I plan not to lose it,” she chuckled.
For video from the event, visit www.therambler.org.
Renee Greer | Rambler StaffPresident Jeffcoat presents the new medal to Rather.
“There is no way our table tennis coach won’t have herOlympic medal.”
Dr. Harold JeffcoatUniversity President