Henderson State University - Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - Volume 108, Issue 15

POI BOYDakota Clark shares the magic of poi P.8

@HSUORACLEwww.hsuoracle.com

THE ORACLE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – Scott McKinnon

FACULTY ADVISER – Mike Taylor

COPY EDITOR – Josh James

NEWS EDITOR – Moe Skinner

SPORTS EDITOR – Kaitlyn Kitchens

FEATURES EDITOR – Devin Anderson

VIEWS EDITOR – Dax Guilliams

PHOTO EDITOR – Chris Sharp

PAGE DESIGNER – Houston Fryer

GRAPHIC DESIGNER – Megan Snoddy

ONLINE EDITOR – Scott McKinnon

BUSINESS MANAGER – James T. Allen

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER – Carmin Wills

Have an opinion on an issue or response to what we said? Just

want to rant about something for a while? Write us at ORACLE@HSU.EDU. We want to hear what you think. Hell, if it doesn’t suck,

we’ll publish it in next week’s issue. Try to keep it between 400 and 600

words. Just like your Tumblr, we ignore anonymous submissions.

The Legion of Nerds has big plans for the new semester

Miami police using mug-shots for target practice.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

7

5

PHOTO BY SCOTT MCKINNON

PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARPPHOTO COURTESY OF SWAMPBIRDGRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

A review of musicians coming to Hot Springs12 Women’s basketball slams

on the competition15

THE ORACLE

3JANUARY 20, 2015 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

Last October, President Glen Jones re-quested an investigative audit of The Center for Language Proficiency which

multiple ethical violations and resulted in the removal of the director and assistant director and the closing of the Center.

Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Blake Batson said Tuesday that the case had been re-ferred to his office but declined to comment further, citing the sensitive nature of an “open investigation.”

Jones grew suspicious of the improper spending last summer and consequently con-tacted the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit (DLA), according to a statement he emailed last month.

As the audit proceeded, Julia Correia, former director of the Center for Language Proficiency, returned nearly 300 pieces of equipment that was missing from campus on two separate occasions, according to the au-dit report. Among the items were steam irons, office chairs, a desktop computer, olive oil, and over 200 other pieces of “media related equipment.”

The ESL Academy and The Center were largely Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) grant-funded.

Among other findings, the DLA report de-termined there to be a “lack of guidelines for use of the ADE grant funds” and a “lack of Henderson State University oversight on the use of these funds” regarding the Center.

Many of the violations regarded nepotism, the use of one’s position to benefit family members vocationally and financially through business transactions. More than $58,000 went to business projects in which the family of the former director or former assistant Christine

Smart were involved. Those who participated in the graduate

academy of the language program received CDs recorded by Correia’s son’s band. The cost totaled more than $9,000. Correia’s husband and son edited e-books and DVDs which were purchased and then given to acad-emy participants. The cost totaled more than $28,000. Correia’s husband received more than $17,000 in payments giving presentations at the ESL academy. A state law, Arkansas Code Annotated 19-11-75, specifically forbids universities from conducting business with any organization in which a family member has a financial interest.

The audit also found that the Center en-gaged in general excessive spending. The Cen-ter purchased a new oven and dishwasher for the office.

They spent more than $80,000 on office supplies and ink cartridges, $30,000 on snack food and $3,000 on DVDs. Cookware and groceries “for which a business purpose could not be determined.” Five televisions, several laptops, iPads, microphones and other elec-tronic equipment, many of it unopened were determined to be excessive spending.

President Jones, in his email, explained that he and other Henderson officials acted swiftly

and that having been alerted to possible fraud “immediately contacted external auditing pro-fessionals to conduct a preliminary review of the Center’s activities.”

Jones wrote that Henderson will adopt the recommendations of the audit committee and in addition, eliminate blanket purchase orders, hire an internal auditor, employ an outside ac-counting firm and establish a third-party ho-tline for employees to report fraud.

Cathy Bell, assistant controller, said that many of the changes made to the business office and purchasing department procedures are “things we should have been doing all along.” She added that in the previous weeks, the administration and Elaine Kneebone, legal counsel, has “sent out a lot of emails about changes in procedure.”

Bell said that when she first began work-ing at Henderson, faculty who have the abili-ty to make purchases were required to attend administrative workshops in which the ethics of purchasing and business relationships were discussed in detail. She said she hopes the ad-ministration will re-implement the workshops.

Bell explained that before a purchase is made, it must go through a chain of admin-istrators and offices. She said it’s only a small number of faculty who are authorized to make

purchases and when they do, the purchase must first go to a department chair, then to the dean, then to the Provost and then to pur-chasing.

Bell admits that they should have been more carefully scrutinizing their invoices, and since the audit began they have been.

“We need to make sure the proper person is signing the invoice,” Bell said. “Just looking at it and signing off isn’t enough. We’ve been paying extra attention to duplicate invoices and we’re making sure we have the proper documentation.”

Bell said there was no excuse for what hap-pened and that the violations were clear viola-tions, not mistakes.

“We, here in the business office are do-ing everything in our power to see this doesn’t happen again,” Bell said. She said only a few students, because of technicalities, paid any fees to the ESL academy, so the money used in the violations came almost strictly from the ADE grant and not from the student body’s tuition.

The ESL academy, which Correia also oversaw, has been placed under direction of the Teacher’s College. Judy Harrison, Dean of Teacher’s College, said that they are in the process of writing a request to the ADE to host the graduate academy, but that the audit’s findings has had no effect on undergraduates who wish to add the ESL endorsement to their teacher’s license.

“If you want your ESL endorsement, you can get it,” Harrison said. “The ESL academy is a credit-generating program that prepares those who want to teach K-12 and want to work with English Language Learners, ELL, and it has helped thousands of Arkansas kids.”

Excessive spending triggers university request for audit

STORY BY JOSH JAMES — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

DOWN THE DRAIN

4 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

The art department in conjunction with the communication, mass media and theatre department, has sent a

proposal for a new interdisciplinary major and minor called innovative media to the state for approval. Professors in the art and communi-cation departments saw that there was a need for an interdisciplinary program with the way media has rapidly evolved and become digital-ly integrated. The program is designed to pre-pare students for a career in the changing field of digital media.

“Design students need journalism skills,” according to a proposal for the innovative me-dia program. “Mass media students need de-sign, and they all need to be comfortable with mass media production skills.”

This program is a necessity because the na-ture of media is changing. Media jobs used to be in abundance. From reporters to graphic designers, they were specialized fields.

“As more and more media has become electronic and exists on the web, tablets, and cell phones a lot of those jobs have consoli-dated,” Michael Taylor, professor of commu-

nication, said.David Stoddard, professor of art, and Tay-

lor came up with a plan to have an integrated, interdisciplinary approach using courses that already exist in the art and communications departments.

The program is also going to use elements from marketing and the business school. “It is kind of a broad design for the new media reality,” Taylor said. “Students have been good at writing and editing, but they get in the job market and are told they need to make a web based article with a podcast and video.”

Stoddard has come across the same thing where students have been good at design but do not know how to gather content and report it.

There will be a few elective classes from

computer sciences, education and business integrated into the media program. Accord-ing to the program proposal, “Henderson is well situated to become the first university in Arkansas to offer such an interdisciplinary ap-proach with a major focused on media inno-vation.”

“Currently, the ability to both write and de-sign to produce professional content for on-line, mobile, and social media platforms is one of the most sought out attributes of media and marketing firms,” Brandon Scott, assis-tant director of marketing at Oaklawn Racing & Gaming wrote in an email.

Stoddard and Taylor have also proposed the creation of an innovative media lab, where students can earn practicum hours. Students will be able to create digital media for differ-

ent devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers.

“The fun side of it is we also want to add creativity, where students learn to create from what exists right now, but also try to imagine what could exist 10 years from now and try to create that too, whether it be new kinds of apps, or new kinds of devices with games with news clips,” Taylor said.

Students in the media workhop will work with equipment and software similar to what The Oracle staff uses and will also work as a small marketing agency.

“A project we want to give them to be creative with is advertising this major to high schools and community colleges,” Taylor said. “So that we begin to recruit students to come to Henderson for this major.”

A lot of new equipment will be needed for the new digital media lab, including studio cameras, green screens, lighting, and Apple iMac computers, just to name a few. The esti-mated cost for the facility is $178,045.

A plan is already in the works for the pro-gram to have its own space on campus with offices, classrooms, studios, and labs.

IN THE WORKSInnovative digital media to become new major next fall

STORY BY CRYSTAL CORDOVA — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

5JANUARY 20, 2015 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

In the wake of the fatal police shootings of Michael Brown, 18, Ferguson, MO and Eric Garner, 43, NY, just to name a

couple, we are yet again constantly learning about new cases of police departments across America profiling and targeting people of Af-rican American descent.

In a recent NBC Channel Six South Flor-ida broadcast and supporting online article by Mc Nelly Torres and William Shepard, the North Miami Police Department has been

accused of profiling and targeting subjects throughout the community.

As if racial tensions in America, particu-larly between black men and the police, aren’t already exceeding rooftop levels, now there are new allegations, this time at the North Mi-ami Police Department.

The mugshot of resident Woody Deant, that was taken almost 15 years ago, was pre-viously riddled with bullets at the Medley Po-lice Firearms Training Center by some of the

North Miami snipers from the S.W.A.T. team. Deant’s sister, Valerie Deant, later went to the range to qualify for the National Guard and witnessed her brother’s tattered mugshot, sim-ilar to the graphic on this page, still posted on the range.

After it was brought to the attention of J. Scott Dennies, Chief of Police NMPD, there was an immediate investigation on the matter and all sniper training halted.

Dennies later admitted he was concerned about his officers using mugshots from local residents for training but, denied any targeting or profiling within his department.

Dennies said there would not be any dis-ciplinary actions taken against the officers be-cause, “Our policies were not violated.”

Deant and his family believes and worries about his safety and the possibility of being targeted or profiled from this kind of police training. Deant’s attorney, Andell Brown, links the training to a predisposition and alteration in the judgmen-making process subcon-sciously.

“I’m sure the higher ups in that depart-ment had no idea the officers we’re using those photos,” Johnny Campbell, Henderson Chief of Police, said about the incident.

Campbell also said that when his officers go through training on the simulator, they use no live ammunition and there are also animat-ed simulated human beings instead.

Needless to say, not everyone agrees “no harm, no foul.”

“Since when does ‘protect and serve’ im-ply a need for military tactics? Even in com-petitive shooting events, the targets cannot re-semble a human. Human shaped targets train the mind to shoot and kill humans. To hear that anyone is being targeted for ‘practice’ is disturbing and deranged,” commented Devin Anderson, senior, music composition major.

Anderson continued with one of his own personal experiences with law enforcement.

“My mom can pass for nearly any race but Black because of her creole heritage. Her light skin and ‘good’ hair make her seem like she’s closer to being Latina than being Black.

On my way up to Henderson one year (sophomore year, during the Fall semester), a police officer sped up after us while we were passing through Texarkana, TX. We pulled over when we saw the lights. He jumped out of the car and walked to the passenger side of the car and was red in the face, looking at me. He asked my mom if she was ok. She gave

him a puzzled look. He then said that she was going five miles over the speed limit.

As soon as he let us off with the warning, he returned to his car, sped off, and eventual-ly pulled someone else over. When we passed the car he pulled over, we saw a forty-five year old Black man in some luxury vehicle, who was probably also going ‘five miles over the speed limit.’

He didn’t have any passengers. But the of-ficer seemed really intent on stopping him for some reason.”

Anderson’s views and negative experienc-es are shared by fellow student Terrance Kel-ley, junior, human services major.

Kelley spoke about some of his similar past involvements with the police.

“If I know I am not in the wrong, I’ll take it in front of a judge,” Kelley said, “Even when I’m disrespected, I’ll just sit there and take it.”

Kelley said security guards in stores and other employees have harassed him while sim-ply shopping.

“People watch you in stores, follow you around like you’re going to steal something,” Kelley said.

Kelley believes there is a certain amount of profiling going on by police everywhere.

With all the negative publicity shining the spotlight on “Johnny Law”, the accountability for their life taking actions is nil.

Who’s policing the police? Police agencies across America are in dire need of a major overhaul.

There seems to be zero responsibility for the use of excessive force including, taking the lives of unarmed, innocent people that may or may not have committed minor offenses.

It is obvious that non-lethal tactics such as: tasers, pepper spray and beanbag rounds can often detain suspects. There is an apparent disconnect between the police and the people for very good reasons.

Where are the checks and balances that should ensure Americans that they are not under attack by the very system that is sworn to protect them?

If the officers involved do not see anything wrong with shooting at photos of human fac-es, then they should try practicing shooting at targets made from pictures of their loved ones. Then see if their views on the practice change their minds.

Maybe then, they would see what’s wrong with this picture.

Officers discovered using civilians’ photographs as targets

STORY BY MOE SKINNER — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

SHOOT TO THRILL

A fresh new face has entered the psychol-ogy department — a face that used to grace the classrooms of the University of Nebraska and Penn State — Emilie Beltzer, professor of psychology.

“It’s a very different environment com-pared to what I’m used to,” Beltzer said. “I love the people here. My colleagues are won-derful as well, and the students are very re-spectful and hard working.”

Beltzer was raised in Lincoln, Neb. She at-tended college at the University of Nebraska where she earned her undergraduate degree and doctorate in psychology.

After earning her doctorate, Beltzer spent a few years doing post-doctoral research at Penn State, where she gained a lot of expe-rience working in a large research institution.

“I appreciate the time I spent at the larger research institutions,” Beltzer said. “They just don’t offer what Henderson offers in terms of its intimacy and interpersonal interactions with my students and colleagues.”

Beltzer also did post-doctoral research at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. While there, she worked in a biomedical laboratory where she studied gene expression in the brain using mice.

She said that she was drawn to Henderson because of the liberal arts atmosphere and the location. She also explained that her ex-perience with the faculty members helped her make up her mind about taking the position.

“I’ve been down south in the past,” Belt-zer said. “I’ve always been drawn to the people and the climate. I believe that you always have to meet the people and see the environment to get a true sense of what it’s like, but everything about my first experience here was really nice.”

Beltzer has a four-year-old daughter named Emmry Beltzer Robicheaux. She attends the Davis-Baker preschool, which is also associ-ated with Henderson. In her free time Beltzer likes to take on various do-it-yourself furni-ture projects where she finds old and worn-down pieces of furniture so that she can fix and clean them up.

“I recently found a couple of old vintage

chairs,” Beltzer said. “I painted them and redid them. The main goal is to make them func-tional again.”

Beltzer said that her interest in psychology has always been there, but her interest in hu-man behavior and the way people work and think didn’t come until later in her life.

As an undergraduate she took a bio-psy-chology class which helped her realize that she wanted to focus on the biological perspective of psychology. She focuses her research on the understanding of human behavior from a biological standpoint.

“I’m specifically looking at how people re-spond to stress,” Beltzer said. “I’m looking at how people respond to it physiologically, psy-chologically and emotionally. I’m trying to fig-ure out the factors that account for differences in how people respond to stress.”

Beltzer feels that she brings a health fo-cused physiological neuroscience focus to the department of psychology.

“I feel that we all complement each other very well,” Beltzer said. “I feel like we all offer diversity in terms of what we study and what we can offer students as their mentors.”

“Dr. Beltzer is doing really well in her new position,” Rebecca Langley, instructor of psy-chology said. “She fits in really well in our de-partment, in my opinion.”

This semester Beltzer taught statistics and research methods but she does have the op-tion to teach classes in her core area.

“I really love teaching statistics,” Beltzer said. “It’s think it’s a fun and important class to teach but it’s also a challenge for me in trying to get students to enjoy it or find something applicable to it.”

Beltzer likes to focus on making her classes meaningful and applicable. She explained that she likes to help students find a way to relate the material to their personal lives and find a connection with the material.

“I try to provide direction to my students,” Beltzer said. “I try to steer my students in more of a long term direction with their ca-reer paths and help them figure out what they need to do to get on a particular career path.”

New professor brings her expertise on stress to campus

STORY BY JACOB LANKFORD — PHOTO COURTESY OF MEDIA RELATIONS

STRESS FREE, Ph.D6 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

The Legion of Nerds held their first meet-ing of the semester on Friday to discuss their upcoming events.

The first scheduled event will be a live ac-tion role-playing event, or LARP, on January 27. Improving from last fall’s first LARP, the Reddie LARP will be story-driven and will fea-ture squads attempting to accomplish different goals. All students curious about LARPing are encouraged to attend.

Legion of Nerds hopes to have a LARP every month for the remainder of the school year.

The Legion now has a common room on the third floor of Newberry, which will be used as a hangout area for members.

Starting next month, there are plans to host movie and anime nights on campus. They are also starting a Youtube channel for nerds to post videos of events or anything else they find entertaining.

Legion of Nerds will also be partnering with Henderson radio station KSWH to be-gin broadcasting a weekly nerd radio program. “It’s going to be an open forum type of show that will essentially be a roundtable to discuss really unique and interesting topics,” Ashley Bles, junior mass media major said.

There are plans to host both tabletop game and Dungeons and Dragons events on cam-pus later in the semester.

Started as a new on campus organization last semester, the Legion of Nerds has quickly grown to include roughly 60 members. Weekly meetings, which occur on Fridays at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the Garrison Center usu-ally see around 20 people attending.

Any student who is interested in joining the Legion of Nerds or participating in the Reddie LAPR is encouraged to find their Face-book page, “The Legion of Nerds @ HSU,” or attend one of their weekly meetings.

The Legion of Nerds has big plans for the spring semester

COMPILED BY STAFF — PHOTO BY SCOTT MCKINNON

NERD UPDATE

7JANUARY 20, 2015 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

Left to right — Coley Henson, Ashley Bles, Parker Hutson, Trent Lewis

While working out in the Dunn recre-ation center, I noticed a fellow student doing something I had never seen before. He was swinging tethered weights through a variety of rhythmical patterns.

“Hey you, I’m just curious. What the heck are you doing?”

After recovering from my startling him, he explained to me that it is an art called Poi. Some of the weights even light up or can be lit on fire. He not only does this as an upper body workout, but also for meditation and as a hobby.

I asked his name.“Dakota Clark,” he said.I was sure there was a lot more to learn

from him about Poi. He is what you might call a “talker.” He is about my height, 5 feet 9

inches, with long orange hair, cream-colored skin, and mysterious baby blues. Most peo-ple on campus look at him and scoff like he’s weird as hell. Not to judge, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him wearing a cape in the cafeteria. It wasn’t Halloween.

I thought surely as an athlete I could spin the ropes like him with no problem and may-be even better. But then came the humbling reality.

“Would you like to try? I was in here on Saturday practicing for five hours,” he said. “I only started three weeks ago, and my arms al-ways feel it after a couple minutes.”

I grabbed the cords and swung away. A few minutes was enough for me. It clearly takes more than one time to master it. After I hit myself in the face twice and once in the

leg, I saw how it could be an addicting hobby. Not hitting yourself, but perfecting a craft that takes practice.

He told me this is a more wide-spread ac-tivity than people realize. Anyone at any age can participate.

I’m thinking, “okay, which redneck got bored sitting on their porch watching their kids play the same old boring games in the front yard, and thought to tie some weights on shoe strings and swing them around?”

The origin is much more interesting. “Poi” is the Maori word for “ball.” It orig-

inated in New Zealand where they used it in training for battle. The method was to put a large stone in what they called the “kii bag” and swing this around to make the arms and wrists supple, build strength and to test re-

actions. It also kept the women’s hands and wrists conditioned for weaving.

“It has been modernized into a perfor-mance art since,” Chris Hobbs, operations manager for the Home of Poi organization, said. “It’s a little bit like juggling because of the muscle toning and coordination.”

Hobbs also explained the health benefits of spinning Poi. It is often used for rehab after injury and in some university physical educa-tion programs. People like Dakota Clark use it for exercise but also for self-expression.

“Everyone has a different style and you put yourself in the dance,” Clark said. If you’re feeling sad it can come out in the dance, same for any emotion.

Although I had seen it as a joke at first I realized that it can be an interesting and

Dakota Clark enchants the campus with the spiritual art of poi

STORY BY SARAH WILLIAMS — PHOTOS BY CHRIS SHARP — GRAPHIC BY HOUSTON FRYER

A PASSION FOR

8 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

POI

9JANUARY 20, 2015

beneficial hobby. “There is no correct way to spin,” he said.

“There is only your way.” Poi has helped Dakota in more than one

area in his life. He said he had never had some-thing he could personally identify with. He was always tagging along with other people to their activities and has now found something of his own.

“When you are spinning you are in a world all of your own,” he said. “More than exercise, it helps me clear my head on a bad day and helps me think.” A quick search on Google will lead you to a million sites where you can buy a plethora of fancy Poi equipment.

But, if you’re like me and just want to see if you like it or want to practice, there are some cheap and easy ways to make your own.

According to the Home of Poi organiza-tion, if you have an extra pair of socks around, you’re ready to get started to make a “Sock Poi” set. No strings necessary.

All you need:• A pair of long socks or stockings• Another pair of socks of any sizeTips:

• Roll each smaller sock into a ball shape. If you want you may add extra weight to the in-side of these socks like seeds or rice.• Push the sock ball down into the toe of the long sock.• If you want something heavier you could use a tennis ball instead.• Repeat process for the other sock.• Pull and stretch out the top end of the sock and tie a knot. This makes a knob that you can

swing the sock poi from.You can also sew ribbons onto the ball end

of the sock for extra decoration and visual ef-fect once being spun.

Be aware that if you hit yourself like I did, you may want it to be soft and light enough not to bruise because the ends can get moving pretty fast. The heavier you make it, the slower you can spin and the less likely the Poi will be affected by any wind if you’re outside.

When you’re ready to advance from Sock Poi, or if you would rather try it on a string from the get-go, here are some more beginner instructions:

Supplies:• A pretty good sized scrap of fabric• Some yarn or string• A couple of old shoe-laces

• Two plastic baggies• Some rice or sand• Scissors and a rulerIf you’re using zip lock baggies, snip off

the zip locks so the bags will tie easier.Then take your baggie and fill it up with

rice or sand until you think you’ve found a good weight. Twist them a couple of times and tie them tight with some string, or try some small pieces of duct tape just to make sure it’s tight.

Place the baggie in the middle of the fab-ric square and fold all four corners around it. Take your shoe lace and tie the baggie in tight and start swinging. The length should be about as long as your arm – from wrist to arm-pit. If your shoe laces aren’t long enough, use nylon cord or fancy fabric ribbons.

NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

WHAT YOU NEEDTO MAKE YOUR VERY OWN POI

+

+

+

=

Scrap fabricString

Shoe laces 2 plastic baggies

Rice or sandScissors and ruler

First off, let me go on record by saying that a rapper’s race and gender has no influence upon my personal tastes in

rap.I’m pretty straightforward when it comes

to my tastes. If the rapper doesn’t have lyri-cal finesse and great backgrounds, there isn’t much of a basis for their artistic merit.

So here’s a story for you. Once upon a time there was the birth of rap. It originated in some obscure parts of Jamaica-Queens, New York as well as some similar music happening in Brooklyn.

Hip-hop was based on the idea of sam-pling different songs from different genres and looping them together to create crazy

riffs and beats, ultimately becoming a musical creation of its own. Rap began when some-one started busting some crazy rhymes to the rhythm of aforementioned beats.

It is no secret that black people created hip-hop and rap. As rap evolved and grew, it became an outlet for young minds to express themselves. It became so popular and pow-

erful, it became the voice for numerous po-litical movements campaigning against social inequality.

What the hell does this have to do with Iggy Azalea? There is friction in the rap com-munity right now with Iggy Azalea just as there was some tension and anger in response to Mackelmore winning a Grammy for best rap album.

The concern that rappers in the game have today is “white people are stealing our shit again.” The academic way to say this is to say rap is experiencing white appropriation.

Before you brush this off as just some race-driven paranoia that can be oversimpli-fied as an excuse to use some illegitimate term such as “reverse racism,” please understand the following has happened in response to black created music in just the twentieth cen-tury:

Blues and Jazz are created. In response, Rock and Roll and Dixieland are created. Then Hip-hop and Rap were created. The response was EDM such as dubstep and house (though not immediately). To say that a genre like dub-step that so heavily relies on bass and tech-niques similar to hip-hop is its own animal is just silly.

Let’s say that these rappers aren’t being paranoid. What do they have to lose? It is sim-ple. They lose the market and their audience.

Think about it. Rap has historically been supported by black people.

The relatively new crossovers (proba-bly started with Run DMC and Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” back in the day) with white artists try to bring more listeners of various backgrounds to their music so they can share a bigger portion of the market. By default of Iggy being white, it makes it easier for her to have mass appeal.

To quote Macklemore in an interview with Rolling Stone regarding his success with his Grammy award winning album, “We made a great album, but I do think we have benefited from being white and the media grabbing onto something… even though I’m cussing my ass off in the song, the fact I’m a white guy, par-ents feel safe.”

If Macklemore (someone who is now re-spected in the rap community even after his controversy) can admit this after winning a best rap album Grammy for his second album, what damage can a sexy, decent-sounding art-ist like Iggy do to a rapper’s market?

OPINION BY DEVIN ANDERSON — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

10 NEWS FEATURES SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

BLACK WIDOW DEFILING RAP?

Some politicians should just not waste ev-eryone’s time by running for president. Some-how, both Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee think they still have a chance to lead success-ful presidential campaigns, despite their past efforts and now it seems that South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham, also wants to join in.

I’m going to start off by stating that I am not against these people because they are Repulicans. The reason I am against them is that they are terrible politicians.

I am not a Democrat, I am an Indepen-dent who dislikes both major political parties.

I would also like to state that this article is just me riffing one these people for com-ical purposes. This is neither meant to sway anyone’s opinion, nor educate people about politics.

Now that that’s been said, let’s make fun of some politicians.

In a weird way, Romney holds a special place in my heart because he was just so easy to make fun of for so long. That means a lot to me.

Everything he does is unintentionally fun-ny. But to be honest, I would just rather not

see any more of him.Romney actually hasn’t confirmed a bid

for the next presidential race, but he did tell people that he was putting serious consider-ation into it. I hope he’s lying.

This guy actually has the courage to re-lease a video where he explained that he’s concerned with poverty stricken americans. This is after he spent a large portion of his last presidential campaign insulting those in poverty.

To make matters worse, several news outlets are reporting that Republicans want Romeny to run again. Why? So he can embar-rass your party again?

I don’t know of many people that are worse than Barrack Obama, but Romney proved that he was one of them because he spent so much time being worse while claim-ing to be so much better.

If he does run again, not only will I not vote for him, I’ll continue making fun of him, just as he did to himself with his own bad campaign strategy.

Mike Huckabee, AKA the worst thing to come out of Arkansas since forest fires, also hinted at another possible presidential bid. If

any of you like Huckabee, you’ll want to stop reading now because I am about to insult him harder than I’ve ever insulted anyone in my entire life.

If Huckabee was a beverage, I would ded-icate my life to having it banned from store shelves. Why in the world would he run again after losing so hard last time?

I’m honestly kind of scared of Mike Huckabee. He’s becoming more and more obsessed with religion as time goes on, I feel that he’ll one day think he has divine powers.

When I travel, I’m embarrassed to tell people that I’m from Arkansas because they might compare me to Huckabee.

Huckabee made me so angry during the Sandy Hook incident when he used it as an excuse to explain why schools should focus more on religion.

I don’t care what your opinion on Sandy Hook or religion is, that is just something you don’t do.

If Huckabee does end up running for president, I don’t think I’ll ever stop crying. I’ll be at the booth, voting for someone else, with tears of pure sadness in my eyes.

Just typing Lindsey Graham’s name makes my fingers hurt. I wish I was joking when I say that he is also considering a run for president.

I actually saw an article on Google News titled, “Is Anyone Excited For Senator Gra-ham’s Presidential Bid?”

The answer is no. I can’t think of a single

person who would be excited for that and that includes Senator Graham. I think he’s hinting at running because a supervillain kidnapped his family and won’t return them until he runs for president.

As much as I dislike Mike Huckabee, I think Lindsey Graham would be an even worse choice for president. Most of this guy’s ideas come from his intense dislike for Presi-dent Obama.

I feel that if you asked Graham a question that had nothing to do with Obama, he would just stare at you blankly until you either made it about Obama or just walked away.

Listen, I don’t like Obama either, but Gra-ham’s dislike for the President is so extreme that it makes me think Obama did something horrible to him in the past.

Senator Graham just shouldn’t run for president. I don’t even have a funny thing to say about what would happen if he went through it. I just don’t.

He just has nothing to run on. You can’t be president by hating on everything Obama does. If you could, I’d be president.

Now, my political opinions aren’t even close to being perfect. In fact, they may be just as bad as these three, which is why I’m officially announcing that I am considering a bid to run for president.

I know I’m excited for it, meaning that there’s one more person excited for my bid than Lindsey Graham’s.

OPINION BY DAX GUILLIAMS — IMAGE BY HOUSTON FRYER

POLITICAL POISON

11NEWS FEATURES SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTSJANUARY 20, 2015

12 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS HUMOR SPORTS

JAMES AND THE ULTRASOUNDS

Copper PennyFriday January 30, 9 p.m.

Woody’s Rampage is a three-piece band currently based out of Denton, TX. Whether its bringing music to the world’s largest casino, or rocking the festivals with wailing vocals and gui-tars, Woody’s Rampage rocks, grooves, and soothes with some of the best guitar-driven rock n’ roll around.

Photo courtesy of fabienphoto.com.

HOT SPRINGS HAPPENINGSMaxine’s LiveSaturday January 31

Memphis musician James Godwin has long been known as the skilled bass player behind such well-known local rock acts as Streetside Symphony, the New Mary Jane, Jack Oblivian, and John Paul Keith and the 1-4-5s. However, in recent years, Godwin has been busy fronting his own fine project, James and the Ultrasounds. This week the band is releasing its first full-length recording, Bad to Be Here, on local imprint Madjack Records, and celebrating that release with a show this Saturday at the Young Avenue Deli. Godwin spoke to the Flyer earlier this week about the new record, putting together the band, and much more.

Photo courtesy of Madjack Records.

WOODY’S RAMPAGE

SWAMPBIRDMaxine’s LiveFriday January 23

Swampbird is a foot-stomping folk-rock five piece out of Little Rock, Arkansas. After start-ing off in the living room of a college apartment, they’ve spent spent the past 3 years building their sound and their fan base with countless live shows. From wall-smashing house shows to premiere music clubs, these guys have spread their brand of whiskey-spilling, youthful rock’n’roll all over the midsouth.

Since that release, they have worked tirelessly to develop new material that captures their growth as a band as well as their commitment to raw, energetic performance and are currently working on an album to be released fall of 2014

Photo courtesy of Swampbird.

13JANUARY 20, 2014 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS HUMOR SPORTS

Spring intramurals are back. While picking up your books, schools supplies, class sched-ules and catching up with your friends, do not forget to sign up for the spring intramural sports because the deadlines will be here be-fore you know it.

the five-on-five basketball sign-up deadline is Jan. 22, and games start on Jan. 26. The Tex-as Hold ’em poker tournament sign-up dead-line and start date is Jan. 28. Indoor Soccer’s sign-up deadline is Jan. 29 and games will start Feb. 3. Ping pong’s sign up deadline is Feb. 16

and will start on Feb 18. The dodge ball sign up deadline is Feb. 19 and games start March 2. Ultimate Frisbee’s sign-up deadline is March 5, and games will start on March 10. Softball sign up deadline is March 19 and games start on March 30. Last, but not least is baggo with the sign-up deadline and start date being April 2.

“You can sign up anytime you want prior to those dates,” Kris Dunn, director of cam-pus recreation, said. “Those are just the dead-lines.”

Anyone interested in signing up for any of the intramural sports, all you have to do is go to imleagues.com and fill out the requested in-

formation. As many already know, the new resident

halls being built have taken the place of what used to be the intramural fields.

“In my opinion, taking away the intramu-ral fields damages the IM Program,” Nathan Leonard, senior general studies major, said. “We no longer have a football field or play surface for flag football, ultimate frisbee, soft-ball, soccer, or even a place to tailgate or hold the Greek Olympics. Taking away our space for campus activities hurts the students in the long run. Yes, we may have a rec center but how many games that our meant to be played outside can be played inside? This past semes-ter alone we have seen a change in sports such as flag football being played on a baseball field off campus. Not only as an active member of IM teams do I think this hurt our program but also as a worker. It took away some of our most popular sports.”

The department has had to not only find places for the games to be held but also make adjustments for funding.

“We usually do outdoor soccer but be-cause of the circumstances we have moved it to indoor,” Dunn said. “We are currently using the city’s Parks and Recreation Depart-ment here when available, usually at Feaster Park. Another possibility may also be at the Youth Sports Complex here in town. So for now that’s where sports like ultimate frisbee and softball will be happening.”

Since Henderson has to use these other fa-cilities, they have to pay for them, which is a problem in itself.

“We have a pretty good relationship with the city in that we scratch each other’s backs,” Dunn said. “But there are still some fees the department has to pay, which does hurt my budget that I normally don’t have to worry about. So there are some sources of funds go-ing out that does not typically go out when we do actually have a field.”

The plan for the new intramural fields is to move them to the available space right next to the baseball field.

However, there has been no construction to this space yet but soon there will be. Dunn said that construction is supposed to begin in late January. We should be seeing some prog-ress early this semester, but unfortunately they will not be completed until the fall.

To find out more about Henderson’s intra-mural sports like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter to catch the updates on what is going on.

14 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR

SO MANY ACTIVITIESDeadlines to sign up for intramural sports are approaching fast

STORY BY MAKENZIE STONE — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

15NEWS FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR JANUARY 20, 2015The HSU women’s basketball team played

Southwestern Oklahoma State University Thursday at Wells Center..

The Lady Reddies (5-10 overall, 3-6 in Great American Conference) won 85-73 and did not allow SWOSU to lead at during the second half of the game.

Aungelique Sledge put the first two points of the game on the board with a jumper fol-lowed by a Haleigh Henson jumper to make the score 4-0, Henderson in the lead.

With 16:58 remaining in the first period, SWOSU put their first points on the board with a layup.

Sledge answered with a jumper to make the score 6-2, Henderson.

SWOSU responded with a layup of their own to make the Lady Reddie’s lead 2 points.

A Sledge steal and pass to Henson resulted in a layup bringing the score to 10-4.

With 14:39 remaining in the first half, Sledge made a layup to make the score12-6.

HSU’s Annie Thomas made a 3-pointer with 11:29 left in the first half to make the score 16-12.

SWOSU tied the game up with a three-pointer with 8:51 left in the first half.

The two teams battled back and fourth, bringing the score to a tie seven times in the first half.

With 00:03 left in the first half, Victoria Stewart broke the deadlock with a layup to end allowing Henderson to go in to halftime leading 44-42.

Thomas scored a layup to begin the second half bringing Henderson’s lead to four points.

With the Lady Reddies leading by 10 points, SWOSU finally answered with a layup to get on the board for the first time in the second half.

A layup from Sledge with 16:28 left in the game brought the score to 54-45, Lady Red-dies in the lead. HSU regained their 10-point lead with a free throw by Stewart with 14:51 left in the game.

Henderson took an 11-point lead with a jumper made by Sledge to make the score 61-50.

The Lady Reddies reached 70 points in the game with a 3-pointer by Sledge with 5:41 re-maining. With 5:07 left in the game, Dulincia Keener made a layup for the Lady Reddie lead 72-65.

HSU gained a 10-point lead with 2:52 left in the game with a 3-pointer by Henson.

With a layup by Sledge, the Lady Reddies earned their highest lead of the game: 12 points with only 1:30 remaining in the game.

HSU ended the game with two free throws made by Thomas to make the final score 85-73, Henderson leading by 12 points.

“Offensively we were really good putting up 44 and 41 points up each half ”, Hender-son State head coach Jill Thomas said. “That’s hard to stop so we have the ability to score in multiple ways with multiple players and if you look at the stats, that’s definitely what hap-pened tonight.”

Sledge scored 35 points in the game and had a career-high of 16 rebounds with 5 as-sists and four steals.

“I’m not surprised in Aungelique”, Thom-as said. “She scored in the 30s multiple times last year, but what I’m most impressed with is her 16 rebounds.”

Thomas said that rebounds were the team’s biggest issue coming into this game. HSU logged eleven more boards than SWO-SU, finishing 54-43.

“We knew we had to win that war and with her getting 16 and Dulincia getting 14, that was big for us,” Thomas said.

Sledge has now scored 1,077 points in her HSU career, movinng her up to the number six spot on the HSU career scoring list.

“Sledge is the type of person that gets in the gym everyday and shoots and so she gets rewarded when she gets in the game,” Thomas said.

Keener and Stewart were also a big part of the HSU victory.

Keener finished with 13 points and 14 re-bounds, while Stewart assisted the team with 13 points and five rebounds..

Henson scored in the double digits with 10 points and four rebounds and three assists.

“We need to have a little more energy is the number one thing,” Thomas said. “We need to get up and have more bench players but we just need to keep building that momentum un-derstanding that we can score the ball on that level.”

The Lady Reddies finished shooting 45 percent from the field, making 33-of-73 shots.

SWOSU made 30-of-82 shots for 37 per-cent.

Henderson will next play Ouachita Baptist University on Thursday, Jan. 15 for the Battle of the Ravine at Wells Center. Tipoff is set for 5:30.

ALL BARK, NO BITELady Reddies win with a pair of double-double performances

STORY BY KAITLYN KITCHENS — PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

JUMPER — No. 5, Aungelique Sledge shoots a jump shot for two points in Thursday’s win against SWOSU.

16 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR

REDDIES LOSE TO SWOSUHenderson State basketball team falls below .500 with the loss but are staying positive about the rest of the season

STORY BY MARIAH DELAVEGA — PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

HSU (7-8 overall, 4-5 Great American Conference) lost by 13 points to SWOSU with the final sco fell short by 13 points to South-western Oklahoma State University on Thurs-day, Jan. 15.

Point guard Kerrell Davis was disappoint-ed about their loss, but said that they still have a good chance of making it to playoffs. “We just have to dig deep and stay together when things start to get bad,” Davis, junior sports management major said. Tied 3-3 in the first half, the possession arrow pointing at SWO-SU, Kevin Kozan stole the ball, but missed the transition layup. Kenyan Borders responded

with a 3-pointer, putting SWOSU up by three. SWOSU turned the 3-pointer into eight unan-swered points, prompting HSU to call a tim-eout.

Reggie Murphy came off the bench for HSU and immediately laid it in for two. Kelvin Dixon pitched in with a steal and layup, and HSU rode the momentum to their first lead of the game, 13-12.

Aaron Cooper scored 3-pointer of Ryan Yeates’ assist. Then Rashad Perkins, in tran-sition, put HSU up by six points with a nasty dunk.Both team missed several shots in the first half, but SWOSU was able to catch up

and end the half with a 12-point lead, 37-25. In the second half SWOSU broke it open,

stretching their lead to 18 points. SWOSU led the entire second half. HSU looked sharp for the first eight minutes of the game. Rashad Perkins and Trent Washington gave great first-half efforts, but the missed shots were too much to overcome. HSU trailed by 13 when the buzzer sounded, the final score at 60-73. Doug Nichols, head coach said he knows they will progress after this loss. “Hopefully we continue to get better and hopefully it begins to show during games,” Nichols said.

Nichols said that the team pressed and

zoned more in this game than they had in previous games. “We missed a lot of layups and other shots that we normally make, and it caused us to lose our intensity and not play as hard as our opponent,” Nichols said. Micah Walker and Kelvin Dixon scored 12 points each for HSU. Aaron Cooper finished the night with 10.

HSU hit 24 of 62 shots for 39 percent, while SWOSU was 26 of 54 for 48 percent. HSU will play their next game against Ouachi-ta Baptist on Thursday, Jan. 22 for the Battle of the Ravine at 7:30 p.m. at the Duke Wells Center.

SHOOT FOR THREE — Senior Kelvin Dixon shoots a 3-pointer in the game agains Southwestern Oklahoma State where the Reddies fell 73-60.