Chuck’s Cheap Thrills does staycations.A&E, page 5

The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917

WEDNESDAYMarch 10, 2010

Vol. 93 • No. 8

ONLINE: www.therambler.org

The RamblerHazinski moves on to represent U.S. at world championships.Sports, page 6

Formerly homeless students find nicheRene’ Edwardslredwards@mail.txwes.edu

Wesleyan’s student body is vast. It is made up of traditional, non-traditional, interna-tional and even previously homeless students.

Two of these students are Melissa “Red” Bates, 29, and “Max”, 42, a current Wesleyan student who wants to keep his identity pri-vate.

Red and Max have different backgrounds and stories, but share the commonality of go-ing from homeless in Fort Worth to pursuing a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan.

For Red, the choice to attend Wesleyan stemmed from childhood. She and her fam-ily have been members of the Polytechnic United Methodist Church since 1992.

“I always loved the campus and knew that TWU was where I wanted to go when I decided to go back to school,” Red said.

An English major and a current staff writer for The Rambler, Red said she lived in two Fort Worth homeless shelters for a total of three years.

“The domino effects started when my mother died on Dec. 15, 2004,” she said. “Af-ter that, I moved in with some family friends who were like second family to me for about a year and a half, and that’s when I started TCC. Then the husband of the family said that I needed to find a job in a certain amount of time or I was going to have to move out.

“I have no hard feelings because he was try-ing to make me jump into life with both feet, because I grew up kind of sheltered.”

She didn’t find a job. “I went to the Presbyterian Night Shelter

first, and I stayed there for about a year and a half,” she said. “Then I stayed with some friends at a camp site for a little bit, and then I went to the Union Gospel Mission.They’re the ones who put me back in school.”

Eventually, Red got hired working the front desk at a women and children’s shelter across from Presbyterian Night Shelter

“I really did love my job, and I loved work-ing with the kids,” Red said. “Even though I was working and I loved my job and I felt like I had a purpose, I never forgot that I was homeless.”

Tuition expected to jump 5 percentJonathan Resendezjlresendez@mail.txwes.edu

Wesleyan faces a tuition increase similar to other local public and pri-vate institutions.

Wesleyan tuition will increase 5 percent in the fall, according to Vice President of Finance and Administra-tion Bill Bleibdrey.

Wesleyan’s increase estimate comes from predicting what peer institutions will do along with predicted fall en-rollment numbers, Bleibdrey said.

“We want to stay in the same range as a lot of other institutions,” Bliebdrey said. “The issue is a lot of us come out with our price increases at the same time, so nobody really waits and see what’s there. We kind of expect, and react to, what’s gone on in prior years.”

Bleibdrey said Austin College, Uni-versity of Texas at Arlington and Uni-versity of North Texas are among the schools Wesleyan looks at.

UTA is increasing tuition 3.95 per-cent while UNT’s expected tuition in-crease is 5 percent, according to news

reports.Texas Christian University is in-

creasing tuition 6.2 percent. However, Bleibdrey said he does not consider TCU a peer institution.

Wesleyan’s scholarship budget will also go up more than 5 percent in the fall, which means more money avail-able for students, Bleibdrey said.

“We think that’s necessary based on the economic climate and what stu-dent’s tell us about the affordability,” Bliebdrey said. “It’s part art, part sci-ence.”

Director of Financial Aid Shanna Hollis said it’s important that students remember Wesleyan is a private insti-tution.

“It allows more flexibility in terms of how we award some institutional funding,” she said. “The more you have to pay in direct costs is directly related to the total amount you can re-ceive in financial assistance.”

Public institutions are feeling the pinch more than private ones, she said.

Study abroad trip offers firsthand exposureJonathan Resendezjlresendez@mail.txwes.edu

Some students crack a text-book and learn Spanish.

But others can learn Span-ish and receive course credits by actually living in Mexico.

Wesleyan’s International Programs department will travel to Cuernavaca, Acapul-co and Mexico City, Mexico from July 11 to 25. The ma-jority of the trip takes place in Cuernavaca where students pick two out of three upper-

level Spanish courses to study while they stay with Mexican families.

“We want to give students an experience that’s beyond what they would see as a tour-ist,” said Marie Boisvert, direc-tor of international programs. “The real value in the study abroad experience is seeing how everyday people in Mex-ico live, what their everyday life is like and experiencing their culture more firsthand.”

Boisvert used the example of staying in a beach resort to

illustrate a tourist’s disconnec-tion with the real essence of a location.

“If you never explore be-yond that, you’re not going to have a real sense of what it is to experience the culture,” she said.

There are both obvious and hidden benefits to studying abroad. Complete language immersion is an advantage taking courses in Mexico has over taking courses in a Wes-leyan classroom, Boisvert said.

“Instead of going home and speaking English, order-ing something at the store or getting around here speaking English,” she said. “If you’re in Mexico, you have to do everything in Spanish. You’re thinking in Spanish and your language capabilities grow ex-ponentially.”

Roberto Gomez, assistant director for the Language Education Travel Service, said that seeing how the Mexican

Honor society collects books Melissa Batesmdbates@mail.txwes.edu

Mortar Board, the na-tional senior college honor society at Texas Wesleyan, is hosting a book drive. Mortar Board’s national project is reading literacy.

“If you look at the sta-tistics, a child that hasn’t learned how to read by the time they are in sec-ond grade will not gradu-ate high school,” said Alice Wade, president of Mortar Board. “Seven out of 10 will end up in jail.”

The book drive will ben-efit a school that caters to Pre-K through 12th grade students.

Mortar Board chose to work with a private school, Vision Academy.

“The school has 47 stu-dents they are currently helping,” Wade said. “A lot of them are low income and they live in this neighbor-hood.”

Pre-K through fourth grade children need books like Easy Readers, while upper grades need biog-raphies, fiction and non-fiction.

“We have children 3 years old learning how to read, then we have students all the way up to 12th grade,” said Tiffanie Alexander, Vi-sions Academy teacher.

Multiple copies of the same book are preferred so the entire class and teacher can read the book together, although single copies are accepted.

“I think this is a won-derful opportunity for the community to become aware that we are here and

International ProgramsStudents enjoy downtime from studying while in Mexico.

 HOMELESS, page 3

 TUITION, page 3

 BOOKS, page 3

 MEXICO, page 3

Rebecca Moore | Rambler StaffThere are approximately 6,378 people who are homeless in Fort Worth over the course of a year.

Jonathan Resendez

Opinion2 | March 10, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

What are you doing over spring break?

Blake HolemanJunior Marketing

“Going to Padre. I’ve been saving up all year.”

Jose TinocoFreshman Accounting

“Spending time with my family.”

Courtney BrileyFreshman Undecided

“Uhm…working.”

Ariel MitchellFreshman Business Finance

“Basically, I’m planning on taking my little cousin to Lockheed Martin and JC Penny Corporate.”

Luis AguirraJunior Math

“Going to a concert, South by Southwest. It’s pretty much the only thing exciting that I’m doing.”

Jonathan Resendez, editor-in-chiefChuck Fain, opinion editor, arts & entertainment editorConner Howell, college life editor, special projects editorJoakim Söderbaum, sports editorRebecca Moore, photo editorRachel Horton, multimedia editorKelli 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 twurambler@yahoo.com. 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 76105twurambler@yahoo.comTo contact The RambleR

(817) 531-7552Advertising Inquiries:(817) 532-7582

The RamblerFounded in 1917 as The Handout

Publisher: Harold G. Jeffcoat

Smoking litter makes us all look bad

Smokers leaving their trash on the ground is repugnant.

I am a smoker, but I always try to find an ashtray or smoker’s cease-fire, and I have never thrown an empty cigarette pack on the ground.

One day while walking across our beauti-ful campus, I passed the library and saw an empty cigarette pack that had been thrown on the ground and stomped on, yet there was a trash can 20 feet away.

It infuriates me that some people are so disrespectful. Don’t claim you have school spirit then flick a cigarette away or throw your pack down.

You have to remember that this is your campus. This is my campus. This campus belongs to everyone. Treat it like your home.

This campus actually is home to some students. Do you throw cigarette butts down inside your house? No, you have an ashtray for that.

So what if you have to walk 20 feet out of your way to throw a pack in the trash or put a cigarette in the smoker’s cease-fire. You’re a smoker, you need the exercise.

If you don’t want to walk out of your way, just keep the cigarette in your hand until you reach your destination. It’s a pretty safe bet that wherever you are going will have a place for cigarette disposal.

If you just finished your pack of cigarettes and are not near a trash can, then put the pack in your pocket or backpack and throw it away when you reach a trash can.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not claiming sainthood here. I am not claiming that I have never flicked a cigarette butt when I am on campus. I, however, do my best to always find the proper receptacle for my trash.

Also, please be respectful of the non-smokers on campus. At least try to blow your smoke in the opposite direction or wait until they have passed before even taking a puff.

Does anyone remember that last semester there was a petition to make this a smoke-free campus? If smokers are not respectful of this campus, we may lose our privileges.

In the summer of 2009, Tarrant County College banned smoking across the board, on all campuses. Students, faculty and staff are allowed to smoke in their cars, but no ‘smok-ing remnants’ are allowed to leave the car, i.e. butts, ashes, smoke.

University of Texas at Arlington has initi-ated a campus-wide ban as well, effective August 2011. Many other colleges are follow-ing suit.

If we smokers are not more respectful of where we smoke and what we do with our trash, then eventually we may not be able to smoke anywhere except our own houses or cars, maybe.

Texas Wesleyan has gone to great lengths to cater to smokers by installing the smoker’s cease-fire receptacles in strategic locations. The least we can do is thank them for their consideration by using the ash trays and receptacles.

Being a smoker, I understand that you can’t always be at a designated smoking area

because you are trying to get from one class on one end of campus to another class on the other end, but whenever possible, please do try to use the designated smoking areas. Not only is it polite and cuts down on trash, but it also shows others that you are trying to be respectful of them and this campus.

You also have to remember that cigarette butts are not biodegradable. Cigarette filters may look like cotton, but are made of cel-lulose acetate, a plastic that takes between 18

months and 500 years to degrade, according to cigarettelitter.org.

The Centers for Disease Control has deter-mined that approximately 25 percent of adult Americans, about 46 million, are smokers. Cigarette butts may seem small, but butts add up, and that is severely affecting our environ-ment, according to cigarettelitter.org.

Remember those numbers the next time you finish your cigarette.

Break from monotony

According to “College News,” South Padre Island is soon to become one of the most popular places to spring break in the U.S. for college students.

Port Aransas seems to be coming in a close second.

When most college students are asked about their plans for spring break, you tend to hear, “I’m going to Padre to fist pump all week, obvi,” as stated by Unde-cided junior, Miguel Arreguin.

However, there seems to be a growing number of students like me, who don’t necessarily swoon over dirty, crowded beaches and having sand in your shorts all week.

So for those of you out there I present: The Alternative Spring Break - it’s not a lifestyle, just a new path.

High Beam Research Group defined spring break as “an American college ritual known for extreme behavior--binge drinking, drug taking and sexual promis-cuity.”

Well no offense to you lovely binge drinkers out there, but I am forging a path filled with sobriety and adventure that I might actually remember when I get back to campus.

If you don’t feel like couch surfing this spring break, the perfect solution is to take

a random road trip. My roommate and I searched for bands

that we like and found a concert in a ran-dom location. Then we planned our spring break around that.

It’s fun to plan because it’s a change from the norm, but it also seems to cost less money because you are venturing to a location that isn’t flooded by tourists.

The Alternative Spring Break has some-thing to offer for everyone, without the loud overcrowded beaches of Padre and Cancun to ruin the drama-free fun.

The first step is to pick something you’re interested in: concerts, arts shows or the world’s best apple pie, whatever you enjoy. Rock climbing is great this time of year.

Plan your trip around that one activity and find crazy, odd things to go see or do that lead up to the big event.

Spend the week on the road, enjoying the things that we, as busy Americans usu-ally overlook. Stop to smell the roses, as they say, and turn up the tunes.

The road trip is the way to go when you’re planning a safe and unique spring break.

So get out the map and enjoy. Trust me; this will be one spring break you will not forget.

Melissa BatesRambler Staffmbates@txwes.edu

Rebecca MoorePhoto editorrmoore@mail.txwes.edu

Rebecca Moore | Rambler StaffLitter make a dirty habit even dirtier.

Spring vacation

CampusThe RambleR | www.therambler.org March 10, 2010 | 3

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The lack of freedom and sleeping on a mat every night is a constant reminder of not having your own home and warm bed, she said.

“It’s definitely harder for women to be homeless,” Red said. “The PNS is very unsafe for women; there have been rapes and murders inside the building.”

According to the Mayor’s Advisory Commission on Homelessness, in Fort Worth there are approximately 6,378 people who are homeless over the course of a year. Of that amount, 52 percent have dis-abilities, which include ad-diction and mental instability. Approximately 3,800 people are homeless right now.

Red said she has been an avid reader since she was 5 and is thankful that she never got involved with drugs and rarely drinks.

“My only addiction is coffee and cigarettes,” Red said.

For Max, addiction, among other things, was paramount for his decline into homeless-ness.

“A lot of it was my own making,” he said. “I created a lot of problems for myself from my teenage years on. I came from a family that was very dysfunctional. They had run rampant for generations from alcoholism and all kinds of abuse.”

When Max turned 18, he ventured into the world with no guidance or emotional or financial support.

“I didn’t have a lot of so-cial skills,” Max said. “I didn’t know how to be someone’s friend. There are a lot of things that led me into alcoholism and addiction.”

For Max, the past 20 years of his life consisted of jail time, treatment facilities, and his own personal demons. He kept himself from overcom-ing his struggle for decades.

Asking for help, Max said, was the biggest hurdle and he spent the entire year of 2006 at the Presbyterian Night Shel-ter.

“As a man, I’ve got to make

my own way,” Max said. “I thought that it was my re-sponsibility to get myself out of it since I got myself into it. I finally realized that some-times you have to ask for help, and that was hard. My pride wouldn’t let me. I thought that I didn’t need anyone’s help.”

The breaking point oc-curred several years ago when he was convicted and incar-cerated for a crime he didn’t commit. Max said his lifestyle put him in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people.

But things began to change. “I had a public defender,

and she looked me in the eye and said some key things that I know made me realize that God was involved in this meeting between she and I,” Max said. “She said she could get me the minimum sen-tence, and when I got out, I needed to go to a treatment center.”

When he was released from jail, he made an unsuccessful attempt at rehab and imme-diately relapsed. Soon after, he encountered a previously homeless friend who was do-ing well, and he became Max’s mentor.

“He taught me how to ap-preciate life again, and things just started happening- in-credibly good things would fall into my life,” Max said.

Soon after, Max found and maintained a job in down-town Fort Worth and met an-other person who was instru-mental in helping him get into college.

He became friends with a frequent customer, who gave him $2,500 to pay an out-standing debt to Wesleyan, which he obtained from a

failed attempt at college in 2002.

Max said he had severe apprehensions about going back to college. He was wor-ried about what people would think and felt as though he wouldn’t fit in, but he knew he was ready.

Not caring what others think was one of the most important lessons his mentor taught him, Max said.

“He said, ‘Whatever they think of you, whether it’s good or bad, is none of your busi-ness. That’s not the deal we have, your business is to stay clean and sober today and let God take care of the rest.’ That was so huge for me,” he said.

Max is now a mentor for several men who battle addic-tion, and he counsels at treat-ment facilities and hospitals. He hopes to attend law school after graduation.

In October 2008, Fort Worth enacted a 10 year pro-gram to end homelessness called Directions Home: End-ing Chronic Homelessness in Fort Worth, Texas.

According to the Perma-nent Supportive Housing pro-duction program model for Tarrant County, the city will spend $66.7 million on con-struction for 662 permanent emergency housing units, which includes facilities to serve people with addiction and mental health issues.

The brief states that Tarrant County spends more than $30 million a year facilitating the homeless. Directions Home is an initiative that will also pre-vent homelessness, which will be less taxing and expensive in the future.

To help, visit www.ahome-withhope.org.

HOMELESS continued from page 1

serving the community,” Al-exander said. “It’s good for people to understand that there is a school in the com-munity that provides all types of things outside of just teach-ing.”

Mortar Board placed col-lection boxes in strategic lo-cations throughout the cam-

pus, including the library and student union building.

Mortar Board will collect books through March 29 and will present the books to the school at the Mortar Board induction ceremony and lun-cheon March 30.

Unused books will be re-cycled or sold to Half Price

Books, depending on their condition, and the money will be used to purchase books that are needed, Wade said.

Wade hopes to make the drive a yearly event, ideally in the fall.

“This will be a good way to rally the kids together and get them out of their stupor from summer,” Alexander said.

BOOKS continued from page 1

Hollis also said the price increase could provide some students with the opportunity to receive more financial aid.

While some of the money will go toward providing more Internet access and in-vesting in expanding some of the doctorate programs, other funds will cover cost increas-es in faculty health insurance.

“Our medical insurance rates for all the employees went up 18 percent this year,” Bliebdrey said. “So all of the sudden, that additional rev-enue from the price increase has to cover things like insur-

ance cost increases.”Wesleyan President Dr.

Harold Jeffcoat agreed that the “astronomical” increase in health insurance rates is a top priority.

“There’s just not another way to do it,” he said. “For the first time in recent memory, we’re asking every employee to pay a portion of their own health insurance.”

Faculty and staff of the uni-versity pay 5 percent of their medical insurance premium for insuring themselves, Ble-ibdrey said in an e-mail. Ad-ditional costs are borne by

employees if they choose to insure a spouse or family member.

Student Government As-sociation President Heath Scott said raising tuition to cover faculty healthcare is “an unfortunate evil that must be dealt with.”

“It is my hope though, that we shift the main burden off the backs of the students and spread it evenly among all members of the Wesleyan family,” he said. “A 5 percent tuition hike will be hard for a lot of my fellow students to handle.”

TUITION continued from page 1

people live and play helps stu-dents understand immigrants in the U.S.

“Students often express how their experiences in Mexico broadened their understand-ing and increased their appre-ciation for the people of this country,” he said. “They have expressed their amazement at the way Mexican families dis-play their emotions, respect and family unity in the home. Some of their preconceived ideas are dispelled.”

Gomez said studying in Mexico allows students to see the riches, grandeur and poverty of Mexico, something which cannot be shown in a classroom.

“In the classroom, they couldn’t see or understand why there are so many street

vendors in Mexico—some as young as 5 years old,” he said.

The trip also creates a sense of community which helps students perform better aca-demically and can increase their chances of earning a de-gree, she said.

“Once you feel that con-nection, you’re more likely to graduate,” Boisvert said. “Research suggests that study abroad helps students persist to graduation in a four-year degree.”

Dr. Amy Bell, associate pro-fessor of Spanish who leads the trip, attests to the benefits of studying abroad. As both of her parents are retired profes-sors of German, she said trav-eling abroad is “in her blood.”

“I’ve been going on pro-grams like this since I was an undergraduate,” she said. “It’s the best thing.”

Bell said living with fami-lies helps students think, act, eat and drink like them. Past experiences have resulted in

lifelong friendships.“It’s always the same fami-

lies, so evidently it’s a positive experience,” Bell said. “Other-wise, the families would say,

‘no mas.’”Students accustomed to

strict schedules are in for cul-ture shock.

“If you’re used to everything

being done on time, that’s just not the way,” Bell said. “If they close for siesta you’re not get-ting your product. Just have a beer.”

International ProgramsTravelers visit an ancient Mexican temple while in Cuernavaca.

MEXICO continued from page 1

“If they close for siesta you’re not get-ting your product. Just have a beer.”

Dr. Amy Bellassociate professor of Spanish

“I thought that it was my responsibility to get myself out of it since I got myself into it.”

“Max”previously homeless Wesleyan student

College Life4 | March 10, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

Summer break in IndiaWesleyan students and faculty get ready for cross-cultural journey

Suhasini Yeedasyeeda@mail.txwes.edu

As the 2010 summer break approaches and students make their plans for the three month break, a group of Wes-leyan students will use their break to participate in a study abroad trip to India.

The trip is scheduled for July 1-14, with a total of three professors and 24 students go-ing.

Dr. Mark Hanshaw, assis-tant professor of comparative religious studies, said this will be Wesleyan’s first trip to In-dia.

Hanshaw said the experi-ence will “help expose stu-dents to a culture and set of religious systems that are very different from what we are ac-customed to.”

Hanshaw said this exposure will help challenge barriers or assumptions students often have about other areas of the world, especially third world countries.

But students have a variety of reasons for going on the trip.

Senior religion major Car-los Careaga said one reason he is going is because Wesley-an makes the trip financially possible for students.

“I decided to go to India, because it was affordable,” Careaga said. “The price, $1,250, was peanuts com-pared to what it would nor-mally be if you were paying on your own.”

The price includes airfare, lodging, in-country transpor-tation, transfers, insurance,

hand-outs, lectures, museum and tour site fees.

Hanshaw said most of the students going are religion and education majors, but he encourages students from any major to join.

One such student, sopho-more business major Oscar Lazarky, said this trip could look great on a future resume.

“I feel like having this on my resume will help my career tremendously,” Lazarky said. “It says I can go places and take care of different things and communicate with many different races and cultures of people in the work force.”

But aside from listing this experience on his resume, Lazarky said he intends to en-joy the trip as well.

“I’m not too excited about the food, but I can’t wait to see all the crazy souvenirs I can find,” Lazarky said.

Hanshaw said the cross-

disciplinary aspect of this trip is perhaps one of the greatest opportunities for students.

Hanshaw also said students from both religion and educa-tion majors can complete up to six hours in a span of two weeks.

But Careaga said the credits weren’t as important to him as the experience itself.

“I don’t even need those six hours,” Careaga said. “I would have graduated this semester,

but I wanted to go…so I post-poned my graduation until August.”

Careaga said it will benefit him in his future career in the ministry. He believes this trip will give real experience to his studies in Buddhism and Hin-duism.

“The study of religion can build bridges,” Careaga said. “Ignorance is what divides us.”

Hanshaw said students would have the opportunity to travel to many famous lo-cations in India.

Students will tour the Dalai Llama’s home in Dharmasha-la, the Himalayan Mountains, and the fairgrounds where the Beatles studied under the Ma-harishi yogi.

“This trip will allow you access to places you wouldn’t normally be allowed to go,” Careaga said.

Toward the end of their journey, Hanshaw said they will travel down the Ganges River to witness a traditional ceremony of the scattering of cremated ashes and visit Va-ranasi, the birthplace of Bud-dha.

“I hope that the university keeps helping students with trips like this,” Careaga said.

Looking for a place to call Home?

Check out housing on campus

Singles Doubles

Dorms and Apartments

All to yourself! Get a roommate!

Stella, Elizabeth and Wesleyan Village!For more information

Contact Residence Life at

817-413-5000

Buddhist monks gather for their morning meditation at the resi-dence of his holiness Karmapa, the religious leader of Tibetan Buddhism second to the Dalai Lama.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Hanshaw Local Hindu priest sits meditating in an alley.

Hindus pray outside the temple in Mathura where the Hindu god Krishna was born.

“The study of religion can build bridges. Ignorance is what divides us.”

Carlos Careagasenior religion major

Arts & EntertainmentThe RambleR | www.therambler.org March 10, 2010 | 5

Take a break from the standard spring break

Chuck Faincmfain@mail.txwes.edu

When someone says “spring break,” it usu-ally evokes visions of beaches with scantily clad beauties at Fort Lauderdale or some oth-er tropic getaway. If you’re like me, however, you have neither the organizational foresight, nor the cash to bring such a trip to fruition.

So, for those of us stuck in DFW for this school-free week, the Chuck’s Cheap Thrills team has compiled a list of fun(?) and frugal activities to fill your spring break.

Dollar Movies:There used to be several movie theaters in

the Metroplex that showed second-run mov-ies for only a dollar. Unfortunately, only one

remains in our neighborhood. Cinemark 8 in North Richland Hills offers the theatrical experience for a dollar or less and is about a 20-minute drive from Wesleyan. You can check out other locations and show times at www.cinemark.com.

There’s also Netflix, Redbox and a host of other cheap movie services that you can use to fill up all that time. For a complete listing of movie rentals, see previous “Cheap Thrills” columns at therambler.org.

Six Flags/Hurricane Harbor:Right in our backyard, in Arlington, Texas,

sit two massive amusement parks that offer great ways to fill a day or two. Six Flags has rides, shows, games and ridiculously over-priced food. You can avoid the price gouging,

however, if you bring your lunch or eat at one of the local fast food places – just get your hand stamped when you leave so you can re-enter. Admission will cost about $50, which is the same price as a “Play Pass” that allows unlimited visits to any Six Flags throughout the year. You can purchase tickets online and pay the children’s price of $31.

Hurricane Harbor, the Six Flags water park, is a bit cheaper – only $26 for admission – and offers fun for the whole day. They even have a new ride, the “Mega Wedgie,” which sounds… delightful. Check out their Web site sixflags.com for more deals, tickets and cou-pons. Also, if you visit an Arlington visitors center, they usually have discount tickets for both theme parks.

Museums:Great works of art and intriguing exhibits

await your perusal in any of Fort Worth’s magnificent museums. Aside from their usual masterpieces, the Modern Art Museum (themodern.org) features awe-inspiring architecture, great masterworks of art and, for a limited time, the exceptional Andy Warhol exhibit featuring work from the last decade of his life.

Admission is only $4 with student ID and half price on Wednesdays. There’s also the Amon Carter Museum (cartermuseum.org), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and His-tory (fwmuseum.org) and the Kimball Art Museum (kimbellart.org) to name a few.

Zoo:The Fort Worth Zoo (fortworthzoo.org)

offers an afternoon of fun and fascinating animal watching. Their new exhibit, The Museum of Living Art, is a $19 million proj-ect featuring a “30,000-square-foot, indoor/outdoor herpetological facility, which houses more than 100 amphibian and reptile spe-cies, representing more than 850 animals,” according to the zoo’s Web site. There’s also many more exhibits including the penguins, primates and “Parrot Paradise” included with price of admission, which is $12 – and half price on Wednesdays.

Botanic and Water gardens: If you’re looking for a more laidback, scenic

place to spend some time, check out Fort Worth’s acclaimed Botanic Gardens or the Water Gardens. Both are free.

Located in downtown Fort Worth, the Water Gardens is “an oasis in the concrete jungle of the center of town,” according to fortwortharchitecture.com.

The Botanic Gardens are located off Uni-versity Drive and are a great spot for a nice day. Additional options for a fee include Butterflies in the Gardens, where 12,000 live tropical butterflies from around the world are released, the Japanese Gardens and Concerts in the Garden, featuring the Fort Worth Sym-phony Orchestra.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsThe Fort Worth Water Gardens offers a refreshing break for spring break.

YES, WESLEYAN HAS

RELIGIOUS STUFF!

Tuesdays - 12:15 (Free Period) - MSMFREE lunch with Discussion/Dialogue

Thursdays - 5 PM - University Chapel

All Are Welcome and Meet in PUMC 312

Worship with live music and speakersAll Are Welcome and Meet in PUMC 117

(With FREE dinner after in PUMC 312)

For Information Contact:http://www.txwes.edu/religiouslife/index.htm

HOTJOBS

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•Accountant, Norwood Land Services, LLC. For more information: http://norwoodland.com•Lead Case Manager,Catholic Charities, Fort Worth Diocese. Contact Career Services for info.

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Thursday

Combined Jazz Band & Wind Ensemble Concert Dr. Bryan English, director - Martin Hall Bob Schneider With Mark Wayne Glasmire - Poor David’s Pub

Taylor Swift - American Airlines Center

FridayRX Bandits with The Builders and the Butchers, Zechs Marquise - Granada Theater

The Low Low Lows - Good Records

Saturday

Afternoon St. Patrick’s Day Parade Party - Granada Theater

Rumors by Neil Simon - Lakeside Arts Center

The Flaming Lips, Midlake - North Texas Fairgrounds

After hours at the Kimbell - Kimbell Art Museum

Sunday Bedroom Farce - Theatre Three, Inc

MondayCanadian Tenors - Irving Arts Center

Disney’s Sleeping Beauty - Artisan Center Theater

TuesdayTitus Andronicus - Good Records

Yo-Yo Ma - Bass Performance Hall

Wednesday

Andy Warhol: The Last Decade - Modern Art Museum

Flying Saucer’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Glass Night

Performance: Fiddler On The Roof starring Harvey Fierstein - Bass Performance Hall

Upcoming Events:

The MBA program at Texas Wesleyan offers:

• Aflexiblescheduleofevening,weekendandonline classestohelpyoubalanceacareer,familyandschool

• Coursesthataddressthewayorganizationsoperateand coverthefullbreadthofbusinessknowledge

• Opportunitiestoworkonteam-basedprojectswith localbusinesses

• Averageclasssizesof15-20students

• CoursestaughtbyPh.D.faculty

TEXAS

UN IVERS I TYWesleyan

Classes start soon!Summer Session

June 2010*

Fall SemesterAugust 2010**

ContacttheSchoolofBusinessAdministrationat817-531-4840

Texas Wesleyan University • 1201 Wesleyan Street • Fort Worth, TX 76105

*SummerenrollmentapplicationsduebyMay31.**FallenrollmentapplicationsdueJuly30,2010

Sports6 | March 10, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

Jacqueline Wittmanjrwittman@mail.txwes.edu

The Texas Wesleyan men’s basketball team lost in the semifinals of the Red River Athletic Conference basket-ball tournament, 78-64 to Ba-cone College.

“We knew Bacone was a good team and had been playing very well,” said Head Coach Terry Waldrop. “We expected to compete at a high level that afternoon.”

The Rams were the No. 1 seed in the tournament and knocked out hosting team Southwestern Assemblies of God University in the quar-terfinals with a 76-72 victory.

Fifth-seeded Bacone Col-lege won the RRAC tourna-ment after defeating Texas College, 86-85 in the final.

After the championship game, two Rams were an-nounced to the RRAC men’s basketball all-tournament team.

Jeremy Smith, junior guard, was named all tournament, scoring 29 points in the tournament. Senior forward

Jamel White was also named all tournament, scoring 28 points, with eight rebounds and six assists.

“I am proud to be a mem-ber of the all-tournament team, but now it’s about our team taking advantage of ev-ery opportunity to get better for nationals,” White said.

The Rams will have less than two weeks to bounce back from the loss. “Hope-fully we can use the loss as a learning experience and it will help us refocus as we prepare for the biggest stage of all,” Waldrop said.

Although the Ram’s didn’t win the conference tourna-ment, they won the regular season championship and earned an automatic bid to the 73rd Annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA national tournament in Kansas City, March 17-23.

Bacone College won the conference tournament and is also headed to the national tournament with the Rams.

In conference play, the Rams split wins with Bacone. At home, the Rams beat Ba-cone 78-71, but lost in Waxa-

hachie 70-67. “We have to have the mind-

set that our regular season is over now, and if we lose, we are out,” White said. “We have to play each game like it’s our last.”

According to Waldrop, the team’s top competitor in the national tournament needs to be itself.

“The men will have to work hard to do well in Kansas,” Waldrop said. “We are a team. If we can quickly grasp that we need to work together, then our time in the tourna-ment can be very interesting and fulfilling.”

The NAIA national tour-nament is a 32-team single elimination tournament. The bracket announcement will be live at 4 p.m. March 10 on College Fanz TV.

“We want to compete at a high level in the national tournament and represent Wesleyan the way our previ-ous teams have, with class and tremendous effort,” Waldrop said.

Courtesy of athletic departmentJeremy Smith (above) made the all-tournament team, along with Jamel White.

Jacqueline Wittmanjrwittman@mail.txwes.edu

Texas Wesleyan table ten-nis player Mark Hazinski won the men’s National Team Tri-als, qualifying to represent the United States at the World Championships. The Texas Wesleyan table tennis pro-gram hosted the USA Table Tennis National Trials and the Leone Texas Wesleyan Open back-to-back March 4 to 7.

Hazinski beat Yu Shao in the final of the National Trials on March 5 to qualify for the World Championships. Shao won the first of five games 11-7, but Hazinski went on to win the match after beating Shao 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 and 11-6.

The top three winners of the national trials qualified for nationals. Shao, who won second place, was followed by Peter Li.

Along with Ariel Hsing, winner of the women’s na-

tional team trials, Hazinski will represent the U.S. at the World Championships May 23-30 in Moscow, Russia.

The competition between Shao and Hazinski was high as Shao beat Hazinski in the semifinals of the Leone Open. Hazinski also won first place in group one of the men’s round robin while, Shao fin-ished first in group two of the men’s round robin.

Other players from the Tex-as Wesleyan table tennis team also played well throughout the Leone Open.

“We had good results from many of our players, such as Chance Friend and Sarah Hazinski,” Head Coach Jasna Rather said.

Chance Friend won the un-der 2400 event after defeating a competitor from Korea in the semifinals to move to the of the Leone Open.

“The tournaments were great preparation for college nationals,” Rather said. “Our players haven’t gotten to play at this high level since De-cember, and I hope it helps our team to be exposed to bet-ter players.”

The Leone Texas Wesleyan Open totaled $9,000 in cash prizes, drawing top competi-tors from New York, China and Peru.

“The tournaments were different because we had a lot of new players come out and many from different states,”

said Texas Wesleyan player Ines Perhoc. “The high cash prizes attracted many strong competitors, and, overall, it was a fun experience.”

The first place winner of the Leone Open, Shao Yu, won $3,000 and the second place winner, Huijing Wang, won $1,500.

“The tournaments were very well-organized, and all the players seemed to be satis-fied,” Rather said. “They were excited to have the opportu-nity to compete with the best players in the U.S.”

Rather also said hosting the tournaments was very suc-cessful.

“Participants were happy with how the Wesleyan ta-

ble tennis program ensured everything ran smoothly throughout the tournaments,” Rather said.

According to Rather, the known success of Texas Wes-leyan hosting tournaments is beneficial when they apply to host the 2012 Olympic Trials.

Game Time/Place

FridayBaseball vs. University of the SouthwestSoftball vs. Central Baptist College

2 p.m.LaGrave Field5 p.m.Sycamore Park

Saturday Baseball vs. University of the Southwest

1 p.m.LaGrave Field

Sunday

Golf at UST Mamiya Texas IntercollegiateTable TennisBaseball vs. YorkCollegeSoftball vs Huston-Tillotson University

Hawks Creek GC, Ft. Worth12:30 p.m.LaGrave Field2 p.m.Austin

Monday Golf at UST Mamiya Texas Intercollegiate

Hawks Creek GC, Ft. Worth

TuesdaySoftball vs. Our Lady of the Lake UniversityBaseball

1 p.m.San Antonio

WednesdayBaseball vs.University of Arkansas at Monticello

3 p.m.Pine Bluff, AR

WesleyanWeek in Sports

•Rams Softball (9-6, 3-1 RRAC) split a pair of games at University o the South-west March 5. The Lady Rams then swept a double header from Texas College March 7.

•The Rams Baseball team (8-5) took an 11-6 victory at McMurry University March 3.

•The Women’s Basketball team (20-10) defeated University of the Southwest 81-63 in the confernece quarterfinals March 4 before falling in overtime 74-70 to Southwestern As-sembiles of God University in the seminfinal matchup March 5. Senior Ashley Da-vis and sophomore Eliana Mijangos were selected to to the all-tournament team.

•The Women’s Soccer Head Coach Josh Gibbs signed forward Karissa Olson from Keller High School March 8.

“To play Holland, you have to play the Dutch.”Ruud Gullit

former professional soccer player

The Weekly Sports Quote

Texas Wesleyan University

Annual Career Fair

When: Tuesday March 239 AM - 1 PM

Where: Sid RichardsonGym

Sponsored by:

Along with many other active participants...

Upcoming Sports:

Hazinski can start packing for Moscow

No. 1-seed Rams fall in conference seminfinals

Mark Hazinski“I hope it helps our team to be exposed to better players.”

Jasna Ratherhead coach