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POLICY

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BY HILLARY LAPLATNEY

Staff Writer

Oktibbeha County Humane Society Student Chapter will host Rent-A-Pup, an event to help raise money for local animal shelters, today from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on the Drill Field.

At Rent-A-Pup, students and Starkville residents have the oppor-tunity to pay $5 and spend 20 minutes with a dog from the local humane society. There will also be T-shirts for sale and a drop-off box for donations such as collars, leashes, food bowls, pet beds, pup-py pads, cat litter, toys, treats, pet food, towels and blankets.

Anita Howard, shelter manager at OCHS, said the event is a great option for students whose living arrangements do not allow pets.

“(Students) are given the opportunity to exercise and play with some of the puppies at the shelter,” Howard said.

Howard also said the event gives students and locals an opportu-nity to adopt a dog.

Sherrie Wiygul, secretary of OCHS, said this is the second Rent-A-Pup event; the fi rst was held last November.

“(The turnout in November) was incredible,” Wiygul said. “We ran out of time for people to rent dogs, there were so many people lined up.”

In order to accommodate more renters, two tents and 12 dogs will be at Rent-A-Pup today.

Kate Thompson, president of OCHSSC, said she hopes today’s event is even more successful than the Rent-A-Pup event last No-vember.

“Last year we raised $715 and countless donations,” Thompson said. “By the end of the day, all but two of the dogs were claimed. The other two had prospective owners and have since been adopt-ed.”

Thompson said she hopes Rent-A-Pup will gain even more atten-tion this time and will have a positive effect on local animal shelters.

“The students really seemed to enjoy Rent-A-Pup, and I know that the dogs did,” Thompson said. “(It) is the perfect way to give the students a chance to have a pet for a while without having to handle the messy stuff and for the shelter dogs to get some much needed attention.”

BY JAMIE ALLEN

Staff Writer

A group of Mississippi State students is bringing awareness to slavery through a 5K run and walk called Run to Rescue held March 7 at 6 p.m. starting in the Junction.

Race directors are challenging the entire Starkville community to participate in the event and to become more aware of the issue of modern-day slavery and human traffi cking which occurs all over the world, in-cluding Mississippi.

Co-director Cody Forrest, junior insurance, risk manage-ment and fi nancial planning major, said this event is de-signed not only to reach the students of MSU but also the communities surrounding the campus.

Forrest and co-director, Ke-nan Prentice, senior kinesiol-ogy major, said together they

started this event last year after going to a Passion conference where they learned about the extent of modern-day slavery throughout the world and in the United States.

“Me and a couple of other people had never heard of it un-til last January. When we heard about it, we decided to not just take the statistics to heart, but to take action and stand up and do something about it,” Pren-tice said.

Forrest said the goal of this event is to educate people about human traffi cking because knowledge is the fi rst step to fi xing this problem.

“Our goal of this race is to bring awareness to everyone we come in contact with,” said Forrest. “We want to just put that idea that 27 million peo-ple are in slavery into people’s heads in a manner where they can understand it and believe it.”

BY ALEX HOLLOWAY

Staff Writer

With the introduction of the Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit program, Missis-sippi State University and local offi cials are hoping to extend and strengthen a public transit network into Starkville.

At a Wednesday meeting in the Colvard Student Union, Mike Harris, director of parking operations, revealed the plans for the new routes. In the fall, three new routes will be added, all of which will go into Starkville.

The fi rst revealed route was the cam-pus-city connector route. The route is ulti-mately planned to begin and end at the park-ing garage that will be behind the post offi ce in the future; however, Harris said until that building is complete, the route will anchor from Giles Hall. From there, the route runs up University Drive, through the Cotton District and circles around on West Lampkin Street to run down University Drive again. Harris said the route is expected to take 10 to 15 minutes to run a complete circuit.

A special bus that looks like a trolley has been ordered to be used on the route, which

Harris described as a historic route. The next route announced was called the

city circular route. The route will go around the city of Starkville, through areas that pro-vide access to medical services, Walmart, res-idential areas, the industrial area and others. There will be a point near campus that inter-sects with the sportsplex route that will allow passengers to get off and switch routes if they need to get to campus.

He said two buses will run the route. One will run the circuit clockwise, and the other will run it counterclockwise.

Rent-A-Pup returns to Drill Field

University passes bus routes plan to help connect campus to Starkville community

Students bring awareness with Run to Rescue

MSU celebrates 135 year history

KAITLIN MULLINS | THE REFLECTOR

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION | The MSU community helped commemorate the university’s 135th birthday Thursday afternoon in the Junction. Guests enjoyed refreshments, T-shirts and live music from Big Poppa Strang.

SEE RESCUE, 2

SEE ROUTES, 2

COURTESY GRAPHIC | MIKE HARRIS

Humane Society seeks donations, support for local chapter

Run and walk to recognize modern-day slavery and human traffi cking

Track and � eld seeks to qualify for indoor championships

Sports / 7

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THE REFLECTOR2 | FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013

BADDAWGS

Monday, February 25• 9:30 a.m. A student was arrested for no insurance and no seat belt.• 2:10 p.m. A resident adviser reported an open beer can in Hurst Hall.• 3:00 p.m. A student was arrested for speeding and no insurance.• 3:04 p.m. An employee reported her university-issued iPad was stolen or lost in another state.• 3:10 p.m. A student reported fraudulent charges made off campus on his debit card.• 3:20 p.m. A student was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident.

Wednesday, February 27• 8:27 a.m. An employee reported a white F-250 truck dumping trash on the campus.• 9:06 a.m. A student needed medical assistance at the Writing Center. The subject was transported to OCH.• 10:36 a.m. A student passed out in McCain Hall. The subject was transported to OCH.• 11:46 a.m. A student reported a suspicious incident in the bakery involving another student.• 7:38 p.m. A student wrecked his bike near Cobb Institute, causing injuries. The subject refused transport to OCH.

Thursday, February 28• 1:17 a.m. A student reported his iPad stolen from his room in McKee Hall, last seen a week ago.

Citations:• 2 citations were issued for speeding.• 1 citation was issued for disregard of a traffic device.• 1 citation was issued for careless driving.• 1 citation was issued for driving the wrong way on a one-way.

The third route was the sportsplex route, which was fi rst introduced last fall. Harris said plans are to add more stops

between Montgomery Hall and the Sportsplex, which are the foundation points for the route.Harris also said 12 new buses have

been ordered to fi ll the needs created by the new routes. “The buses have been ordered, but it

takes 180 days for them to get here,” Harris said. “That puts them into Au-gust, so we’re hoping to have them ready by the time school starts. If not, we may have to push things back to the next month.”He said he hopes the SMART program

is will be a fi rst step of growth over time.“We hope to add more routes in the fu-

ture, but this is a starting point,” Harris said. “What we want people to know is the places the buses are going are places they want to go.”Harris said offi cials would look at rid-

ership once the routes were going and, if needed, make modifi cations to the stops along the routes.One aim of the program is to help

reduce congestion on busy streets in Starkville, like Highway 12. Harris also said he hopes the new

routes will help ease some of the parking strain on campus.“We want to help reduce the need for

new parking lots on campus,” he said. “Sure, we can build new parking lots, but is that the best use of our land? No, it should be used for new classrooms, residences, other things for students.”

Last year, Run to Rescue had 300 participants and raised over $8,000 to donate to the International Jus-tice Mission, a human rights agency that rescues people from slavery. This year its goal is to raise $10,000

to give to IJM. Jackson Donald, junior educational

psychology major, said after running the race last year, he decided to use his hobby of photography to bring awareness to human traffi cking. “This race is a great way to spread

the news about it because it is a huge problem,” said Donald. “If just one slave is freed from the money we

raised then that is enough for me.” Prentice said the proceeds of the race

will go to IJM. Registration is $20 and all the proceeds from the registration fees and extra donations will go to IJM. “We try to let donations that are given

cover the cost of the race so that every-thing that people pay goes straight to IJM and their goal,” he said.For more information about the race,

human traffi cking or to register for this event, visit runtorescue.org. Informa-tion booths will also be set up in the Union on March 4, 5 and 7 and on the Drill Field on March 6 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

RESCUE continued from 1 ROUTES continued from 1

Holmes Cultural Diversity Center stands up to modern day slavery

BY JAMIE ALLEN

Staff Writer

As a part of the effort by the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center to bring awareness to modern-day slavery, the Student Association at Mississippi State University is hosting Stand for Freedom on March 6 at 3 p.m.

At the Stand for Freedom event, MSU students will stand for 27 hours in honor of the 27 million people in slavery all around the world.

Amina Bahammou, Director of Spe-cial Events for SA cabinet and sopho-more human sciences and family devel-opment major, said she decided to bring this nation-wide event to MSU because after hearing about modern-day slavery at a Passion conference, she became en-thusiastic about bringing an end to this crime.

Participants are asked to donate $10 to the Freedom Campaign to end mod-ern-day slavery. The goal is to raise $2,700 in honor of the 27 million slaves.

During the night, there will be games, music and speakers as enter-tainment for people standing for this

cause. Then as classes are starting, the event will be moved to the Drill Field and around campus. Participants will be wearing their T-shirts and giving out information on modern-day slavery.

Maribeth Barfi eld, junior biochem-istry major, is also helping plan this event. She said she encouraged students to get involved because so many people

do not know about this crime. “I was just shocked about the num-

bers and statistics about human traf-fi cking because I had no idea. Stand for Freedom is a lot about bringing aware-ness to the fact that this is happening. I think that a lot more people would care if they knew,” Barfi eld said.

Bahammou said the goal of this event is to raise awareness for modern-day slavery because there are more slaves now than there ever have been in his-tory.

“I feel like people do not really ac-knowledge it, and if they do, they think it is in other countries, but it’s right here in our own backyard,” Bahammou said.

Sam Diarbakerly, sophomore mar-keting, professional golf management major, became active with Stand for Freedom through the Student Associa-tion. He said he wanted to take a stand against human traffi cking because he realized how lucky he was to be born in a free country and how lucky he was that he was not forced into this slavery.

Diarbakerly said he hopes the Stand for Freedom will make people think about how common modern-day slav-ery is around the world.

“I think my generation has grown really insensitive to horrors like this around the world, it is important to think about ‘What if I was a slave?’ This is a real world problem; we all need to come together to end it,” Diarbakerly said.

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I feel like people do not really acknowledge it, and if they do, they think it is in other countries, but it’s right here in our own backyard.”- Sam Diarbakerly

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NEWS

OPINION the voice of MSU students

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013 | 3REFLECTOR-ONLINE.COM

CONTACT INFORMATIONEditor in Chief/Hannah Rogers

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Editor in ChiefHannah Rogers

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ReflectorThe

Not too long ago I came out from under the academic rock I

had been under to fi nd out that our culture has been sub-jected (willingly) to a massive zombie hype. I was complete-ly convinced that after the ab-sence “2012 end of the world” scenario that this zombie fad would peacefully ride off into the sunset of our yesteryears. I was wrong.

With shows like “The Walk-ing Dead,” a new Brad Pitt summer blockbuster “World War Z” and even local fun runs, zombies are inescapable (which is what makes them scary as hell, right?).

Whether or not there are real zom-bies (minus those that trip on bath salts and gnaw off the faces of home-less men) the zombie apoca lypse lives and feeds on our minds.

Recently, I have noticed this zombie infl uence living in the students on this campus. Living may be a stretch here because what it actually seems like is that people are dead but still functioning. Dead to what? Their surroundings. The world. Nature.

I see students walk from class to class completely im-mersed in something else than what is actually going on around them. They cross en-gineering row in a hypnopom-

pic state completely oblivious to motor vehicles, cyclists and life around them. They could get hurt.

This is a dangerous and se-rious affair we must address. OK, maybe I am being a tad dramatic, but it is extremely annoying and disrespectful to other humans. This igno-rance to one’s surroundings even happens at the gym. Stu-dents have these white cords stuffed in their ears as they kick, crunch and even run on the indoor track. Whatever happened to look both ways before you cross a road?

Or always be on the look-out for a crazy driver who could accidentally put you in

the hospital, unless it was of course the fault of the pede s t r i an stepping out into traffi c t h i n k i n g the world will stop for him or

her? When did we start to as-sume that the world happens around us and not to us? I could have sworn Copernicus debunked that belief back in the 16th century…

I am not saying that we shouldn’t bite the bait our iPhones dangle in front of us as we walk to and fro on this large campus.

I am just saying look up and around every fi ve seconds or so.

This makes us responsible for our own actions. Acci-

dents happen extremely fast (yes, I have seen someone get hit by a car on this campus) which is why we have a hard time seeing them.

But we can increase our chances of safety and decrease the amount of “my bads” if we just pull our heads out of asses and look up a few more times.

Being aware of your sur-roundings really isn’t that hard.

Actually, your long walks will be a little more interest-ing as you can pay attention to the color change of the tree outside Paterson or the birds singing in the trees between Swalm and Mitchell.

When you tune into the background noise to fi nd a beautiful song hidden in the static, it’s a wonderful sur-prise. You might look up to be met with an infectious smile from someone who is having a fantastic day.

Our phones are fantastic pieces of technology and the ability to enjoy music is a gift, but we should not let things turn us into zombies. End rant.

THE WORD ON JOHNSON SREET | MATT TAYLOR

Friends don’t let friends become zombies

Matt Taylor is a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. He can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

MATT TAYLOR

Last May I wrote an ar-ticle that expressed my concerns over an

increasingly uncooperative Congress regarding the mem-bers’ inability to make budget cuts and implement a plan to put our country on a path out of economic disaster.

A “super committee” was formed, agreeing to raise the debt ceiling by $2.8 trillion while promising to cut $1 trillion in spending and fi nd $1.8 trillion in savings.

Failing to complete this task would trigger deep, un-desirable cuts in defense and social programs, providing an incentive for both parties to compromise.

In November of 2011, Congress was not successful, forcing the mandatory cuts of the sequester to take effect.

To my surprise, we have yet to see the drastic ramifi -cations of this congressional failure.

More than a year after the super-committee’s creation and many attempts to avoid the cuts, the sequester is to be carried out today.

Some assumed that the se-questration issue would have been solved last minute be-fore taking effect, but as it approaches, my hope is di-minished.

There will be a series of across the board cuts of both non-military government agencies and defense branch-es.

While many social pro-grams are thankfully exempt from these cuts, including food stamps, Medicaid, Social Security and Temporary As-

sistance for Needy Families, many are not. Some of the a l t e rna t ive affects in-clude slash-es to Meals on Wheels, c h i l d c a r e and vac-cines.

Some say the sequester will result in children being kicked out of childcare and close to 10 thousand fewer children re-ceiving vaccines.

While we could also see damaging effects on our economy along with a great amount of job loss, I feel helpless as to what alterna-tives there are.

Having these consequences laid out for Congress is im-portant — a sort of punish-

ment for not doing their job. No matter your fi scal views,

changes need to take place to get our country out of debt.

I person-ally would rather see the very rich

minimally affected (by higher taxes) than the poor and el-derly forced into even greater uncertainty.

The way Congress decides to allocate funds to balance the budget, however, is less worrisome to me than the prospect of Congress avoid-ing the sequester again, push-ing the deadline further.

This could be more danger-ous than any proposed cuts, proving to Americans that

Congress is entirely unable to get our debt under con-trol.

Congress’s inability makes each member responsible for allowing America’s economy to continue deteriorating.

Although the consequences of the sequester could be dev-astating for people who de-pend on the programs being cut, the provision is necessary due to the ineffi ciency of our divided leaders.

If Congress had been re-sponsible enough to come to an agreement, moving past its desire to be stubborn (appeal-ing to the voters of the far left or far right) we would not be facing these extreme cuts.

I’m criticizing Congress pretty harshly, but in all reali-ty, the members are not solely to blame.

We did, after all, vote each member into offi ce.

Our polarized, partisan views have made us responsi-ble for the attitudes of the in-dividuals leading our country and making crucial economic decisions.

Whether you identify as a Republican or Democrat, our responsibility as young people is to demand leaders who will rise above petty partisanship to come together and make necessary changes.

When voting, remember to look for candidates who not only hold your views but also are cooperative and willing to make compromises.

Do not be fooled by pop-ular politics to believe that cooperation is a sign of weak-ness. Without it, our democ-racy fails.

CONTRIBUTING WRITER | ANNA WOLFE

Congress must move past stubbornness, work to meet deadline

Imagine with me for a sec-ond.

A girl wearing a short skirt and high heels struts down the street with last night’s make-up smeared all over her face.

Another girl, who is seem-ingly opposite with her con-servative blouse and perfectly brushed mane of brown hair, bends down to pick up a con-dom that has slipped from the fi rst girl’s pocket.

She hands it over with a smile.

No preconceived no-tions about whether or not the girl is about to drop it like it’s hot in a strip club or if she is headed to some kind of steamy sex house forms in the second girl’s mind.

This interaction happened because, in this imaginative world of wonder in which a person’s sexual activity holds no weight, the word “slut” ceases to exist.

Double standards do not exist.

Men get down and freaky just as much as women do.

And no one says a damn thing about the actions or “consequences.”

Women can offer their bod-ies as a service just as a den-tist offers a service of cleaning plaque off teeth. Men can sell their goods like a baker sells

a donut.Two consenting adults

choose what they want to do with their bodies because this world does not see sex as some deviant, evil force. Sex means expressing freedom. Sex doesn’t mean that some-where down the line, some-thing went wrong.

Educators teach sex educa-tion and talk about wrapping it up in order to protect every-one from diseases.

Someone can buy condoms in Walgreens without catch-ing a disapproving glance

from the ca-shier.

Whi spe r s or text mes-sages aren’t sent back and forth c a p t i o n e d with “omg, Beth slept with Dillon

last night! that’s like the third person she’s slept with, what a whore!!!” Or “Beth must be going thru something tough, bless her <3.”

The human body isn’t seen as something that must im-mediately be blurred out, taped up or strictly covered.

No one holds the power in deciding what is deemed “sexy.”

People do not giggle or feel shame when the word “mas-turbation” pops up in conver-sation.

And people aren’t viewed as immoral or deviant just be-cause they want to feel a natu-ral pleasure.

The word “prude” has no meaning either. If you do choose to not have sex, then by golly, that’s what you choose. You aren’t a “dirty vir-gin.”

This world does not repress sexuality involving pro-gay rights or prostitution.

And most importantly, this world does not show a link between social conservatism and the increasing rate of “teen pregnancies, abortions and sexually-transmitted dis-eases,” according to AlterNet.org.

With the word “slut” delet-ed from existence, the world becomes a less harsh place.

Men and women have equal power over their bodies and aren’t deemed pariahs for exploring as many bodies as they want.

Now that we’ve all stepped through the magical wardrobe into Sexy Narnia (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?), we can see how labeling someone as a “slut” because he or she wants to feel pleasure regulates be-havior that can bring about a guilt that shouldn’t exist.

Zack Orsborn is the life editor at The Reflector. He can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

ZACK ORSBORN

Recently, Virginia Tech released a study claim-ing chick lit badly infl u-

ences body image. In the study, researchers

took passages from two novels, — Emily Giffi n’s “Something Borrowed” and Laura Jensen Walker’s “Dreaming in Black and White” and changed the character descriptions to vari-ous heights and weights.

The researchers found read-ers’ self-esteem plummeted when they read the passages with lower body weights and when the characters’ expressed low self-esteem.

Here’s the thing. I’ve read a lot of so-called “chick lit.” Not once have I heard a character mentioned of below average body weight, and rarely have I even heard a character’s size mentioned without immediate commentary on the way society views size.

I am sure books exist which may portray body dysmorphia without critiquing it, but many more exist which simply por-tray the pressures on women to be thin in an honest and criti-cal manner. This also means the reader who begins a book read-ing about a character worried about losing weight will often fi nd that same character has ad-

dressed that challenge in some way by the end of the book.

Counter to the logistical problems with the conclusion of the study is the question of what in the world “chick lit” is anyway. The term gained pop-ularity in the 90s after Bridget Jones gained immense popular-ity, and even then was not very well defi ned.

Now, “chick lit” seems to mean either “stuff that is pack-aged in pink with trite bylines” or simply “stuff that’s written by women, about women, for women.”

No matter what it’s defi ned as, the term is rarely used as a compliment, instead becoming a catch-all term used to label certain books as sub-par simply because they portray the experi-ences of women.

If we need proof that the quality of these stories bear little relation to the “chick lit” marketing publishers are push-ing on them, we need look no further than our very own Barnes & Noble. Search any classic novel written by a wom-an on Google Images, and you will probably fi nd that it has recently been “chick litifi ed,” bearing a pastel cover, maybe with an image of a hot dress on the front.

These novels are not “trash,” but they do have a lot in com-mon with the modern novels which also bear these covers: they were written by, for and about women, often as honest critiques of the challenges the average woman faces.

Likewise, Marvel has recent-ly released a “chick lit” line of comics about She-Hulk and Rogue with bright colors and descriptions like “climbing the corporate ladder by day and battling villains and saving the world by night — all while try-ing to navigate the dating world to fi nd a Mr. Right who might not mind a sometimes very big and green girlfriend.” My question to the publishers and critics of these comics is what exactly makes this storyline dif-ferent from every other super-hero storyline on the market?

Clark Kent and Spider-man juggle ordinary life with their superhero identities all the time, but we don’t see descrip-tions like this about them.

All of these things point to the conclusion that the mar-keting makes a genre but the content.

Creating a category for wom-en’s writing which denigrates it is just a bad idea. Many chick lit novels are not light or friv-

olous, but tackle real issues in thought-provoking ways. But even if they were all light-heart-ed, what’s so bad about that anyway? Using contemporary voices and pop culture refer-ences do not make a book use-less.

Sometimes we just need something relatable to read on the beach. These books don’t need to last 10 years to make a difference. All they need to do is portray our society honestly and give women a space to un-derstand themselves and their generation.

The term “chick lit” prob-ably isn’t going away anytime soon. But in the meantime, we can refuse to judge books by their covers, read broadly and refuse to allow critics make us feel bad for doing it.

Whitney Knight is a junior majoring in English education. She can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

WHITNEY KNIGHT

ONE LITTLE SPARK | WHITNEY KNIGHT

‘Chick lit’ degrades women, promotes stereotype

EVERYBODY NEEDS TO CALM DOWN | ZACK ORSBORN

Imagine if ‘slut’ did not exist

We can increase our chances of safety and decrease the amount of ‘my bads’ if we just pull our heads out of our asses and look up a few more times.”

“Two consenting adults choose what they want to do with their bodies because this world does not see sex as some deviant, evil force.”

“

Congress’s inability makes each member responsible for allowing America’s economy to continue deteriorating.”

“

THE REFLECTOR4 | FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013

The United States mil-itary has proven to be one of the strongest

forces in the world. There are hundreds of thousands of brave Americans who sacrifi ce their personal liberties, time with families and sometimes their lives so the rest of us can continue to enjoy the free-doms we have.

T h e r e are cer-t a i n l y p e o p l e out there who do not agree with some of the wars our military is engaged in, and that is perfectly acceptable. Part of what our soldiers are doing is giving you that right to decide you disagree with the government.

The thing that gets under my skin is when someone shifts his or her dislike of the war from the war itself onto the soldiers. This is just wrong.

The soldiers who are risk-ing their lives have absolute-ly no say in what confl icts in which they take part.

Decisions of that nature come from the head of the government. Soldiers in our military deserve nothing but the utmost respect.

Whenever I see a man or woman in uniform, my heart swells with pride.

Whether he or she is a sol-dier, sailor, airman or marine I feel an unparalleled sense of patriotism. I go out of my way to give the person the respect he or she deserves.

I think you should, too. I

urge you to thank a veteran the next time you see one.

No matter if he or she served in Korea, Vietnam or recently in Iraq or Afghan-istan, we should thank and respect these veterans.

I can almost guarantee you veterans will greatly a p p r e c i a t e you took the time to thank them.

Granted , I may have a somewhat skewed view on this issue. My father was a pilot for the U.S. Air Force. Because of him, I grew up on planes.

I feel at home in the air. I, too, am planning on joining the air force to become a pi-lot.

If you are reading this and are feeling charitable (assum-ing you are not a broke col-lege student), I have an orga-nization I believe is worthy of your donations.

The Wounded Warrior Project has always piqued my interest. This is one of the most honorable charity organizations in the U.S. As stated on woundedwarrior-project.org, the organization’s purpose is to “raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, help injured service members aid and assist each other and provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.”

Even if you feel soldiers do not deserve respect, I would hope you at least have some moral sense. Realize while you may not agree with the cause

those brave soldiers fought for, they are still human be-ings. They deserve every op-portunity to obtain a normal life after the sacrifi ces they have made.

Care packages and contact from back home help soldiers through their deployments.

If you have any spare time, do your best to put a simple package together. Include in it some candies, magazines, books, letters, movies or any-thing that could help a sol-dier deal with homesickness. We need a better system for helping our veterans readjust to civilian life once they leave the service. There are far too many cases of homeless veter-ans.

Whether the solution comes from the government or from a private organiza-tion, something needs to be done. If you want to disagree with a war, that is your pre-rogative. But do not hate the soldiers for something they cannot control. Instead, you should voice your opinion in a proactive manner by con-tacting your representatives.

After all, it is they who make these decisions. To me, the servicemen and women who fi ght for our country are some of the bravest people there are. Veterans take great courage to sacrifi ce so much, while asking for so little in return.

THE JEW POINT | JOEY FROST

Joey Frost is a junior majoring in political science. He can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

JOEY FROST

After nearly eight semes-ters of college, I have become very thankful

for my broad course require-ments from the College of Arts & Sciences.

I can’t believe I just said that.

I, like many others in my department, have spent much time complaining about the classes I’ve had to take to earn my Bachelor of Arts in com-munication. I want to write, edit, read and produce for a living. Did I really need to take three science classes and one with a lab?

Those classes had nothing to do with the writing and ed-iting classes I’ve taken within my major, but I’m thankful I took them.

We chalk our frustration of having to take sciences and other “unrelated” subjects up to blaming how left-or-right-brain dominant we are, but in reality, those classes make us well-rounded, informed stu-dents. At least it should.

As crazy as this may seem, I wouldn’t call Earth science unrelated to my major. I may not be a pa-leontologist, but I’m a j o u r n a l i s t (at least I’m on my way to becom-ing one). If I’m ever r e q u i r e d to report on climate change, I’ll have a basic scientifi c understanding of what I’m writing.

I understand more about recycling, natural resources and the importance of ener-gy conservation than I would ever understand without tak-ing a class on the study of the Earth.

Our generation relies on immediate satisfaction.

The idea of taking classes for the sake of learning has be-come less popular.

We want to take the classes we think we need for our ma-jor to graduate and then move on.

We don’t want to waste our time with classes that may not immediately peak our interest.

I think my disdain for the “core classes” comes from more than a generational at-titude.

I despised taking math be-cause my math teachers in high school made me hate it.

I can remember the ex-act moment I started hating math, in fact. I was in the eighth grade.

The entire fi rst semester of algebra I was doing well (at that point, my grades in math were exceptional so I was al-lowed to skip ahead to a high school level) and midterms were right around the corner. I took the test and found out I made an 84 … which was a C. I was devastated.

I studied so hard and didn’t get that be-loved A. I didn’t even get a B. In my book, I may as well have failed. I was used to mak-ing good grades. But instead of feeling like I could talk

with my teacher and get some help understanding what I missed, I felt intimidated by my teacher. I felt like he didn’t care about me. So I kept quiet. Math has been a struggle ever since.

Am I grateful for the two grueling math classes I was

forced to endure in college? Yes, I am.

I hated every second, but for the fi rst time in a very long time, I understood what I needed to learn. I was able to move past my high school bitterness about math and ac-tually learn the material.

Teachers lay the foundation for how well you perform in a class, sure. But I think the big moment for me was un-derstanding only I was re-sponsible for how well I did in classes.

If we care enough about getting the best education we can and learning as much ma-terial as possible, taking the “unrelated” subjects won’t dis-courage our learning.

Regardless of whether I will use the quadratic formula as a journalist, at least the eighth grader inside triumphed when I did well in the college class-es.

Understanding the val-ue our liberal arts education could change our future. We shouldn’t complain about tak-ing classes like history, litera-ture, politics or social sciences, in spite of our previous perfor-mances such courses.

If we take these classes se-riously, instead of skimming by with minimal effort, we’ll leave college with not only a specialized education in our major, but also a working knowledge of much more.

Mary Chase Breedlove is the opinion editor at The Reflector. She can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

MARY CHASE BREEDLOVE

THE CONSTANT | MARY CHASE BREEDLOVE

Core classes provide solid foundation for life, any major

I believe we need a better system for helping our veterans readjust to civilian life once they leave the service. There are far too many cases of homeless veterans. Whether the solution comes from the government or a private organization, something needs to be done.”

“

Do not blame veterans for war frustrations, care for them

If we take these core classes seriously, instead of skimming by with minimal effort, we’ll leave college with not only a specialized education in our major but also a working knowledge of much more.”

“

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BY CASEY SMITH

Staff Writer

Blackberry Smoke brings its distinctive southern rock sound to Starkville once again Friday at Rick’s Cafe.

Rick Welch, owner of Rick’s Cafe, said everyone could expect one thing from the band tonight.

“Put simply: badass southern rock,” he said. The Atlanta-based band consists of Charlie Starr, Richard

Turner, Brit Turner, Paul Jackson and Brandon Still. The band members are signed with Zac Brown’s recording label Southern Ground. Blackberry Smoke’s website describes the band as a mix of gospel, bluegrass, arena rock and a touch of outlaw country.

The band is busy touring the country spreading its southern rock sound to all who will listen. More often than not, the lis-tener likes what he or she hears. Every live concert Blackberry Smoke plays, the band goes home with a larger fan base. Welch said word is spreading about this talented group of guys and for one simple reason.

“The music,” he said. “These guys are packing rooms all over the nation now.”

Starkville is just one of the many stops the band is making on its journey to national fame. Welch said he does a lot of research before he picks a band to play at his bar and, every now and then, he comes across a band he knows has huge potential.

“Sometimes you can tell from listening to their music and watching their videos it’s just a matter of time before these guys get big, and I better jump in while I can still afford them,” he said.

He said Blackberry Smoke was one of those bands. He is per-sonally a fan and said Starkville is a great place for the band members to play because of their appeal to all types of music fans.

“Even if their music isn’t specifi cally your thing, you certainly have to appreciate their talent and the love for their music is completely apparent when watching them perform,” he said. “Any music lover can appreciate that.”

Opening up for Blackberry Smoke is local band Jamie Davis and Soul Gravy. Blackberry Smoke allows the option of booking support, and Welch decided the two bands would make a great combination. Jamie Davis and Soul Gravy was quickly chosen after he sent songs to their management. He said Starkville should be proud to have one of its own opening up for Blackberry Smoke.

“They’re amazing and talented in their own right and have been playing here for years,” he said. “Seeing them both on the same stage on the same night will really be a treat for me personally, and I’m very glad it worked out like this.”

He also said the bar has a personal connection tie to Friday’s show. David Oswalt from Columbus worked at Rick’s Cafe until he moved to Atlanta and began working with the band as a member of the crew.

David Williston, graduate mechanical engineering major, has seen Blackberry Smoke live four times and looks forward to making it a fi fth time Friday. He said he enjoys the band’s music because it is a good mix of southern rock and country.

“They are the kind of band recorded music just doesn’t do them justice,” he said. Williston said the band puts on an amazing live show. “I would describe the experience of seeing Blackberry Smoke live as a beer-drinking, face-melting ex-

travaganza,” he said. Welch also said he is certain the talented band will put on a great show Friday. “This isn’t a front. They are the real deal,” he said. “They have slowly and patiently built a strong and

extremely loyal fanbase all over the nation.”Fans do not have to wait much longer to see the band in action. Doors open at 8 p.m. tonight. Jamie

Davis and Soul Gravy will kick the music off at 10 p.m. with Blackberry Smoke following at 11 p.m. Day of show tickets are priced at $15. To purchase tickets or read more about the band visit rickscafe.

net.

Life & EntertainmentTHE REFLECTOR6 | FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013

Blackberry Smoke brings southern rock to Rick’s

COURTESY PHOTO | SHORE FIRE MEDIA

Blackberry Smoke will offer a mix of gospel, bluegrass, arena rock and outlaw country at Rick’s Cafe in Starkville.

ZACK ORSBORN | THE REFLECTOR

Now that the NFL sea-son is over, the offsea-son full of coaching

changes, contract negotia-tions, free agency and, most importantly, the draft is here. One of the biggest pre-draft events is the NFL combine held annually in Indianapolis, and the top prospects from college football are invited to come showcase their talents for scouts, coaches and gen-eral managers as they try and improve or maintain their draft stock.

Three MSU players were invited to the combine: cor-nerbacks Johnthan Banks and Darius Slay and defensive tackle Josh Boyd. Banks has been one of the top prospects all throughout the college season, but after a disappoint-ing 4.61 time in the 40-yard dash, his stock will fall. For now, he’s likely looking at be-ing a second-round pick, late fi rst-round at best. Banks can play and can be a legitimate starting cornerback in the NFL, but I doubt teams will want to use a fi rst-rounder on a corner who runs a 4.6.

Slay, on the other hand, had a terrifi c showing at the com-bine, running a 4.36 in the 40, the fastest offi cial time of any defensive player and fi fth fastest overall at the event. After being a fourth-to-fi fth round projection coming into the combine, I estimate Slay has jumped all the way up to second-to-third round discus-sion.

Slay is now in a great po-sition as he has great measur-able times to go along with his production on the fi eld. Sometimes players produce on the fi eld and don’t mea-sure well, and that gives NFL scouts pause. But Slay per-formed well on the fi eld, has good measurables and did it in the top football conference in the nation, all of which so-lidifi es him as a big time pros-pect at cornerback.

Boyd had a solid outing at the combine and more than anything, confi rmed what most people already knew about him: he is strong. Boyd had 32 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, which was the fourth best mark among defensive lineman at the event, and he proved him-self to be one of the strongest prospects in the class.

His 5.14 time in the 40, however, also reaffi rmed what people already knew about him: he’s most likely not go-ing to be an every down play-er due to lack of pass rush ability. This makes him a middle-round guy.

Perhaps the guy with the

most to prove at the combine was Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o. Te’o is coming off the worst game of his career in the BCS National Cham-pionship game, and on top of that, he became victim to one of the biggest scandals in sports history shortly after the game.

With so much pressure on him and so much to prove, it would seem the distractions were too much for him as Te’o ran a disappointing 4.82 time in the 40, despite reports that he ran a 4.6 in his own per-sonal workouts.

Obviously, 40 times are not everything, especially at the MLB position. Former Flori-da linebacker Brandon Spikes ran a 5.1 at his pro day back in 2010 and is now one of the better players at his position in the league. But low 40s will hurt players’ draft stocks whether it’s fair or not, and with the cloud that is hanging over him, Te’o has little to no room for mishaps. Luckily for him, he still has the pro day to make a fi nal impression on scouts.

I have always been a pro-ponent that way too much stock is put into the combine. We have seen way too many “workout warriors” who did little on the fi eld and got picked high because of a great workout but who fall short of expectations in the NFL.

A perfect example is the two teammates Banks and Slay. On Tuesday, Slay’s work-out was the talk of the cam-pus, and I even heard people saying maybe Slay should go higher than Banks. This is the problem with the combine. No disrespect to Slay, who is a solid player, but he is not better than Banks and neither are a lot of the other corners who may have run better than Banks. With whatever speed or lack thereof Banks possess-es, it was enough for him to be one of the best corners in the best conference in football the past two seasons in a row. The tape matters, and all the 40 times, vertical jumps and bench presses are nice, but at the end of the day, it comes down to if you can play.

SPORTSREFLECTOR-ONLINE.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013 | 7

Slay, Banks, Boyd compete at combine

THE COACH’S CORNER | FORREST BUCK

Forrest Buck is a junior majoring in sport pedagogy. He can be contacted at reflectorsports@gmail.com.

FORREST BUCK

Owen makes immediate impactBY FORREST BUCK

Staff Writer

Softball pitcher Alison Owen has been a Bulldog her entire college career but not a Mississippi State Bulldog.

Owen transferred from Georgia after her sophomore year to play at State. Owen said she loved her time at Georgia, but it was time for her to open up a new chapter in her life.

“I cannot replace the mem-ories that I had there or the teammates that I had there,” Owen said. “It was so awe-some to be able to have the opportunity to pitch in the College World Series, and meeting those teammates and having those relationships, and I’d like to thank the pro-gram for the opportunity.”

After sitting out the 2012 season, she has fi nally been able to take the circle in 2013, and she is already off to a re-cord-breaking start. She was named co-SEC pitcher of the week after back-to-back mon-ster games on the mound.

Last Saturday, she broke the record for strikeouts in a game by an MSU pitcher with 15, and then the following day, she broke her own record with 16 Ks.

Owen is part of an MSU pitching staff that leads the SEC with 143 strikeouts and a .159 opponent batting av-erage and is second in the league only giving up 51 hits.

Even with all the success she has found already this season, Owen has remained humble, al-ways giving the credit to her teammates and coaches.

“I wouldn’t be able to do it without the animal defense behind me and Sammy (Sam Lenahan) and Logan (Foulks) doing a great job behind the

plate,” Owen said. “Vann (head coach Vann Stuede-man) has been working with me on my spins and helping me focus on a pitch-by-pitch mentality, and she’s just the best pitching coach in the na-tion.”

The success on the mound is not new to Owen, however. She had a combined record of 28-7 in her two seasons at Georgia and had an ERA under three both seasons. She also pitched in the Wom-en’s College World Series her freshman year in the semifi -nals of the tournament.

Owen said pitching in the CWS was a great experience she can never replace.

“The Women’s College World Series was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. I will never forget those days or the teammates I went with,” Owen said. “But I can’t wait to go back and get there again with State because all of us are working so hard, and that’s our goal.”

Owen said she considered transferring to other schools, but after visiting MSU and hanging out with Stuede-man and the softball team, she knew State was where she needed to be.

“I wanted to stay in the SEC and go to a school with a good pitching coach, and here at State, I could have both. Vann is one of the top pitch-

ing coaches in the nation, and it is really awesome for me to be able to play for her,” Owen said. “It’s not just about softball with her; she really cares about us as people and teaches us life lessons, and that is why I

wanted to come to State.” Stuedeman said she knows

the impact Owen can have on the MSU softball team. After Owen was named co-SEC

pitcher of the week, Stuede-man called Owen a program changer.

“We knew when she said yes it was a big yes for Missis-sippi State,” Stuedeman said. “She’s been fun to coach. She’s really in control of all of her pitches, and she really enjoys going out there and compet-ing.”

Off the fi eld, Owen is a normal college student. She enjoys spending time with her roommates and friends. Some of her hobbies include writing, painting and play-ing pool. She is really close with her family back home in Georgia and said she skypes them all the time.

Owen also said she is a very big SEC football fan.

“I’m a huge SEC football

fan; I grew up loving it,” Owen said. “Georgia football will always have a place in my heart because I grew up a Georgia fan and I have friends there, but I’m a huge Missis-sippi State Bulldog fan.”

Julia Echols, who also trans-ferred from Georgia and is a childhood friend of Owen, said she is a great teammate and leader.

“She’s an unselfi sh team-mate who’s always looking out for what she can do for some-body else,” Echols said.

Owen’s off-the-chart ability on the fi eld is complimented by her great attitude off the fi eld. Despite being very tal-ented at what she does, she has a humble attitude and is unselfi sh, which makes her talent that much more special.

COURTESY PHOTO | MSU MEDIA RELATIONS

Alison Owen tranferred to MSU from Georgia and broke the school record for strikeouts on back-to-back nights last weekend.

BY ANSON KEITH

Staff Writer

Mississippi State Universi-ty’s women’s indoor track and fi eld team looks to continue its winning ways as the Dogs enter the week ranked No. 25 nationally.

The top-25 nod was fore-seen by head coach Steve Dudley after a superb showing at the SEC Championships last week.

In a press release, Dudley said Bougard performed like a champion over the weekend.

“I couldn’t be prouder of how our women performed this weekend,” Dudley said. “There is no doubt in my mind that we’ll rank in the nation’s Top 25. If we keep doing our job, we’ll be even better in the years to come.”

The women fi nished No. 11 overall in the SEC fi nal standings in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend. Sophomore Er-ica Bougard led the way in scoring for her squad as she put up 13 of her teams 18 to-tal points.

Many of those points came from her record-breaking per-formance in the triple jump competition. The Byhalia, Miss., native broke an MSU record that had gone nearly 15 years without being touched with her 41-09.25 showing.

Bougard said she did not pur-posefully try to break the re-cord but that it just happened.

“Breaking the school re-cord was pretty awesome even though I had no intentions on doing so,” Bougard said. “The triple jump isn’t one of my main events. It’s just something my coach thought I could do and excel in, so I went out there and tried it.”

In the fi rst day of the com-petition, Bougard set four personal records in the pen-tathlon and won the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump. She ended the day with a second place fi nish in the 800-meter run but was later disqualifi ed for stepping out of bounds, moving her to 13th place.

In the 4x400-meter relay,

the Bulldog team of Bougard, Ocian Archer, Jody-Ann Muir and Kanishia Carey broke the school record with a time of 3:39.28.

Bougard said she does not look at herself as the main leader because everyone leads and helps each other out in times of crisis or need.

“We all motivate one an-other from time to time,”

Bougard said. “Mentally, I just focus on the positives all the time, and of course I keep in touch with my family throughout my entire compe-titions. They help with that a lot.”

The men do not have an offi cial indoor team, but Ca-nadian Brandon McBride will compete in various indoor competitions at Nationals. While he is very focused on doing well at Nationals in the indoor department, he said he is really looking forward to the outdoor competitions as well.

“We don’t really have an offi cial indoor men’s team, so I just compete in various events. Also, I’m very tall, so indoors isn’t our main focus at this time,” McBride said. “But I’m still going to com-pete to the fullest of my abilities.”

M c B r i d e , who signed with MSU in February of last year, is looking to make a big im-pact this year. He said making Nationals is on the mind of everyone on the team.

“As a team the goal would be to qualify more people to go to Nationals, but person-ally I would like to break my country’s junior record for outdoor competition,” Mc-Bride said.

This weekend, select play-ers will travel to South Bend, Ind., to compete in the Alex Wilson Invitational, which is a last chance qualifi er meet. This gives the athletes one fi -nal chance to qualify for the 2013 NCAA Indoor Champi-onships.

For the men, the 4x400-me-ter relay team of Daundre Barnaby, Scottie Hearn, Ran-dy Patterson and McBride will compete along with Jason Harper in the triple jump and

Marcus Jack-son in the high jump. Barnaby and McBride will race in the 400-meter dash. Muir will repre-sent the lady Bulldogs and compete in the 400-meter dash.

For those who qualify, the NCAA In-

door Championships will be next Thursday through Satur-day in Fayetteville, Ark.

Bougard, McBride shine for track and field

ZACK ORSBORN | THE REFLECTOR

The Women’s College World Series was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had ... But I can’t wait to go back and get there again with State.”Alison Owen,junior pitcher

“

COURTESY PHOTO | MSU MEDIA RELATIONS

Sophomore Erica Bougard set four personal records in the pentathlon last weekend at the women’s SEC Indoor Championships. This weekend select players will compete in a last chance meet.

As a team the goal would be to qualify more people to go to Nationals, but personally I would like to break my country’s junior record for outdoor competition.”Brandon McBride,freshman distance runner

“

8 | FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013 THE REFLECTOR

SPORTSRIVALRY WEEKEND

SATURDAY HOOPS:OLE MISS AT MSU

4 P.M. , FSN

STAT OF THE DAY: SOFTBALL PITCHER ALISON OWEN IS THE ONLY PITCHER IN SCHOOL HISTORY TO PITCH A COMPLETE GAME SHUTOUT IN THREE STRAIGHT STARTS.

BY ALDEN THORNHILL

Staff Writer

The only remaining un-beaten team in the SEC, the Mississippi State Bulldogs, come into their weekend se-ries against St. Joseph’s on a roll, starting the season off

on an 11-game win streak. The No. 5 Bulldogs look to stay perfect as the Hawks of St. Joseph’s (2-4) out of the Atlantic 10 Conference make the journey down to Dudy Noble Field.

The Maroon and White’s offense has heated up the

past few games, particular-ly with the help of junior fi rst baseman Alex Detz, who now leads MSU bat-ters with 12 RBIs, batting .423 on the year. Detz’s im-pressive season has been a surprise to some but not to shortstop Adam Frazier.

“I knew he (Detz) could hit. I played with him a couple of summers ago,” Frazier said. “He knows the strike zone really well.”

Detz is not the only Bull-dog contributing to the out-standing offense so far. Fra-zier currently has a six-game hit streak and has gotten a hit in 10 of the Bulldogs’ 11 games this season.

Frazier is also batting .465 with fi ve RBIs on the 2013 season. Right fi elder Hunter Renfroe has driven in nine RBIs on the season.

In two midweek games, State defeated Rhode Island 13-2 and 17-5. In those two games MSU, scored its most runs since 2010 by bringing in 24 combined runs.

In Wednesday’s game, senior Sam Frost drove in four runs, and junior Der-rick Armstrong and fresh-man Jacob Robson each recorded four RBIs.

Frazier and Detz each picked up three hits against Rhode Island.

Ross Mitchell picked up the win, moving to 3-0 on the season.

St. Joseph’s could pose a challenge for the Bulldogs’ bats as the Hawks have three pitchers throwing a .270 ERA or better while striking out 51 batters on the season. The Hawks’ pitchers will also have a challenge since the Maroon and White batters have are batting .336 on the season, the best average amogst SEC teams.

Head coach John Co-

hen said he plans to stick with the same rotation he used last week with Jacob Lindgren starting today, Evan Mitchell taking the mound Saturday and Kend-all Graveman and Will Cox getting the starts Sunday.

The Bulldogs and Hawks will begin their four-game series today with the fi rst pitch at 4 p.m. Saturday, the teams will play at 12 p.m., and Sunday will in-clude a double-header start-ing at 1 p.m.

As the only unbeaten team in the league, Dogs host St. Joseph’s

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IAN PRESTER | THE REFLECTOR

Junior Evan Mitchell is part of a Bulldog pitching staff that has held opponents to just .181 batting average on the season.