The Auburn PlainsmanA SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID

Thursday, April 4, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Vol. 119, Issue 38, 16 Pages

Congratulations to all organizations and individuals

selected for the 2013 Involvement Awards!

The Overcoming Adversity AwardAlternative Student Breaks

Outstanding Sports & Recreation Organization Women’s Club Volleyball

Exceptional Campus OrganizationPhi Sigma Pi

The “Human Touch” Service AwardIMPACT

Female Student Leader of the YearKristie Tingle

Male Student Leader of the YearLogan Powell

Most Entertaining Campus Event“Tiger Stomp”- Black Student Union

Advisor of the YearAmy Ware

The Award for Outstanding Research, Innovation, or DevelopmentUniversity Program Council

Outstanding Cultural Activity of the Year “Friendship BBQ”- Iranian Student Association

Outstanding Media Organization The Auburn Circle

Outstanding Honor or Professional Society of the YearAmerican Association of Petroleum Geologists

Outstanding Support Organization War Eagle Girls & Plainsmen

New Organization of the YearReal Food Challenge

Office of Student Involvement | AU Student Center Suite 3130 | auburn.edu/involvement

2013 Involvement Awards Winners

This week’s question

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INDEXCampus A2Opinion A6Community A7Sports B1Intrigue B5

Sophomore found dead, no foul play suspected

Aubie recruited for jAne wAyne dAySee A3

Chandler JonesCOMMUNITY REPORTER

Auburn’s General Electric Aviation Plant reached sky-high tax abatements at the Au-burn City Council.

At the Auburn City Council meeting April 3 to a happening assembly of Auburn residents.

GE Aviation predicts bring-ing an upward of 69 jobs with

an investment approximating $24,841,000.

“This is for the equipment that they are bringing in, it’s just taking them longer than anticipated to purchase the equipment so the abatement needed to be extended,” City Manager Charles Duggan said. “It usually lasts about two years and so we just needed to

extend it out for them, because they’re now buying the equip-ment. ”

GE Aviation builds high-tech blades for jet engine.

These blades are smaller and are meant to go in the hot-test and fastest part of the jet engine.

» See COUNCIL A2

GACEK

GE Aviation plant soars to Auburn with big investment

Former Miss Auburn University launches food desert 5K run

COURTESY OF EMILEE WILLIAMS

Jessa PeaseWRITER

Miss Auburn University 2011 has cooked up an event to fight hunger and bring awareness to her cause while people run the Food Desert 5k on Sunday, April 7, around Au-burn’s campus.

Former Miss AU Emilee Williams, with help from Au-burn organizations Commit-tee of 19 and Campus Kitch-ens, organized this event as part of her Miss Alabama plat-form.

The event is being held to symbolize the distance many people have to travel to get fresh fruits and vegetables.

“It’s called the food des-ert 5k because the distance

that people, about 25 million Americans, have to travel to access fresh food is about a three mile radius,” Williams said.

“If you live in one of those areas it’s called a food des-

ert which means that if you’re food insecure, you can’t really use your food stamps or any-thing like that at a healthy grocery store.”

» See RUN A2

KATHERINE MCCAHEY / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Mary Katherine Dlugos with Aubie on Saturday, March 30, at Jayne Wayne Day.

RAYE MAY / PHOTO EDITOR

General Electric’s $50 million Plant is located in West Technology Park.

Nathan SimoneMANAGING EDITOR

Cassandra Anne Gacek, sophomore in undeclared sciences & math, was found dead at her Toomer Street apartment Thursday, March 28.

According to a report from the Lee County Coroner, Au-burn Police, Auburn Fire and East Alabama Medical Cen-ter EMS received a 911 call Thursday, March 28, at 7:14 p.m. concerning an unre-sponsive female on Toomer Street.

Chief Deputy Coroner Gene Manning pronounced Gacek dead at the scene at 8:15 p.m.

According to the report, Gacek had a past medical his-tory of seizures.

Capt. Tom Stofer of Auburn Police confirmed that no foul play, alcohol or other sub-stances are suspected to be a factor in her death.

The Auburn Police, Lee County Coroner, and Ala-bama Department of Foren-sic Sciences are continuing the investigation.

Gacek, 20, was a member

of Kappa Kappa Gamma so-rority, resident of Mobile and a 2011 graduate of St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile.

News of Gacek’s death spread quickly on social me-dia and her Facebook page re-ceived an outpouring of sup-port from family and friends in the days after her passing.

Jordan Kirkland, presi-dent of Kappa Kappa Gam-ma (KKG) sorority, said that many members called Gacek a dear friend.

Kirkland said Gacek had a great interest in fashion and

enjoyed camping and hiking in her free time away from pursuing a career in physical therapy.

Kirkland and members of KKG expressed their joy at having her as a sister and how much she is already missed.

“Though she was only a sophomore, Cassandra made such great contributions to our chapter and its members,” Kirkland said.

“Her close friends have called her intelligent and spontaneous with a striking beauty and a compassion-

ate heart. She is already dear-ly missed by the members of Kappa Kappa Gamma.”

» See SOPHOMORE A2

Train to headline spring concertKailey MillerCAMPUS REPORTER

Calling all Tigers: Train, Hot Chelle Rae and Green River Ordinance for UPC spring Concert.

Auburn students asked, and the University Program Council listened.

UPC has organized Au-burn Airwaves, a spring concert featuring Train, Hot Chelle Rae and Green River Ordinance to preform Thursday, April 25, with doors opening at 6 p.m.

Free tickets will be avail-able for students only start-ing Wednesday, April 10 at noon at Auburn.edu/UPC.

Emily Armstrong, direc-tor of major entertainment, was in charge of organizing the event.

“Green River Ordinance will open and then Hot Chelle Rae and then Train will be the headliner so they’ll be the last act to go,” Armstrong said.

“We’d really love to sell out the arena and have ev-eryone that can fit be there.”

UPC started planning the event at the end of last se-mester to make sure that things would be ready in time, Armstrong said.

Although Auburn is a smaller venue, all of the art-ists were flexible and easy to work with, Armstrong said.

UPC had students an-swer surveys so that they could get a feel for who the student body was interest-ed in seeing.

Armstrong said they made sure this was what the student body wanted and that they chose artists that students would be in-terested in and have a good time at.

“They were great, they seemed really excited to come to Auburn,” Arm-strong said.

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Campus A2 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, April 4, 2013

March 29 – Wire RoadThird-degree burglary of a television between 1–9 p.m.

March 30 – Opelika RoadSecond-degree criminal mischief between 4:20–4:36 a.m.

March 30 – Lee Road 137Harassment report

March 30 – Opelika RoadThird-degree theft of clothing and jewelry between 10:15–10:23 a.m.

March 30 – Opelika RoadThird-degree theft of clothing be-tween 3:55–4:05 p.m.

March 30 – East Longleaf DriveThird-degree burglary of video game console, video games, clothing and a drivers license between 9–11 p.m.

March 30-April 1 – Lee Road 12Third degree burglary of a television, DVDs, video games, laptop, and an Xbox between 7:30 p.m. March 30–9:30 a.m. April 1

March 31 – North Gay StreetThird-degree burglary of a laptop, two televisions, video game system and video games between 5:30–11 p.m.

April 1 – South College StreetThird-degree theft of electronic read-er cases and an electronic reader stand between 3–3:10 p.m.

April 2 – Mell StreetSecond-degree theft of a laptop between 12:10–1 a.m.

April 2 – South College Street and Bee-hive RoadLeft the scene of an accident be-tween 5:49–5:51 a.m.

April 2 – South College StreetThird-degree theft of soda bottles, barbecue sauces and a deli wing plate between 2:15–2:30 p.m.

April 2 – Shug Jordan ParkwayHarassment report

— Reports provided by Auburn Department of Public Safety

CRIME REPORTS FOR MARCH 27 – APRIL 2, 2013DUI ARRESTS IN THE CITY OF AUBURN MARCH 27 – APRIL 2, 2013

■ Charles Saxon, 21, Birmingham Thursday, March 28, 1:26 a.m. on North Ross Street

■ Jay Gonzalez, 21, Auburn Thursday, March 28, 3:08 a.m. at South College Street and Devall Drive

■ Tani Jones, 43, Auburn Saturday, March 30, 3:06 a.m. on South College Street

■ John Harvey Sr., 62, Auburn Sunday, March 31, 9:27 p.m. on West Longleaf Drive

■ Patrick Riley, 30, Auburn Monday, April 1, 3:24 a.m. at South Donahue Drive and East Longleaf Drive

■ Katherine Jaggie, 24, Auburn Tuesday, April 2, 2:38 a.m. at South College Street and West Samford Avenue

■ Tyler Griffin, 27, Auburn Tuesday, April 2, 3:37 a.m. at North Gay Street and Opelika Road

■ Eddie Richardson Jr., 51, Auburn Tuesday, April 2, 9:44 a.m. at South College Street and Sandhill Road

Undergraduate Research Board holds Research FairKailey MillerCAMPUS REPORTER

For the first time at Auburn, the Student Government Association Undergraduate Re-search Board has organized the Undergradu-ate Research Fair to benefit students and to help them find the best research fields.

The fair took place at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center on Wednesday, April 3rd from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“Faculty manned tables to talk to you about research opportunities within their depart-ment,” said Patrick Michael, senior in physics.

“Each table (had) packets of information regarding research projects in each depart-ment for students to come and pick up and look through and contact information for fac-ulty members so that they can try and reach out and get involved in undergraduate re-

search.”Michael was the SGA co-director of aca-

demic affairs on cabinet this past year and helped form the Undergraduate Research Board.

This is the first year the Undergraduate Re-search Board and Undergraduate Research Fair have existed.

“The Undergraduate Research Fair is a fair we set up to break the gap between research opportunity and professors looking to in-volve students in undergraduate research,” said Mohamed Elzeiny, junior in microbiolo-gy. “It’s this informational program we set up to get students out and get more involved in research.”

There are 16 members on the Undergrad-uate Research Board who were selected through an application and interview pro-

cess. The Undergraduate Research Board then

selected the students from a variety of differ-ent fields.

“We had all areas of campus researched in one group and we could all find out from our specific colleges what kind of opportunities were out there and how to get students better plugged in,” Smith said.

Colson Smith, sophomore in organismal bi-ology, facilitated helping students get intro-duced to professors and helping them find out what type of research they are interest-ed in.

“It’s great for us as well as students to find out what exactly is going on, what professors are doing and how students can get connect-ed with them,” Smith said.

Smith said he believes a lot of students

don’t know about this opportunity. “After this, we really wont have an excuse

not to know what’s going and we’ll definite-ly have a lot better understanding of the va-riety of research opportunities that we have,” Smith said. “It’s not just people in this one lab doing research, but it’s all across campus for each student in each major.”

The fair took place during research week, which happened throughout the entire week at the Auburn University Hotel.

The research week administrators gave the Undergraduate Research Board a time slot to have the fair.

“The whole point of the URB is diversity and I think that it did a really great job with that,” Elzeiny said. “We have people from all sorts of majors, all sorts of backgrounds and you kind of come together as a team.”

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Evan IsBill WRITER

Senate met Monday, April 1st to allow for senate com-mittee reports, to confirm several appointments made by SGA and other organiza-tions on campus, as well as give senators a look at bills that will be coming into sen-ate in the next week.

Senator at Large, Logan Powell brought to Senate’s at-tention the strides his com-mittee is making for campus safety.

“We are currently work-ing on a resolution to im-prove the lighting near the ex-tension parking lot as well as working on a student survey for safety walking to and from the Village.”

Senate confirmed two new senators to represent their re-

spected colleges. Oclla Parks will represent the School of Forestry and Wildlife Scienc-es and Christopher Faron will serve as the senator for the College of Veterinary Medi-cine, both Parks and Faron have served in senate previ-ously.

Senate also approved the new assistant vice presidents for SGA Cabinet.

Twelve new students were appointed to these positions and each were confirmed with no discussion from senate.

Senator Jacob Dean, from the College of Liberal Arts, did warn senate to be wary of spreading themselves thin. Dean talked briefly about sen-ators being able to perform both jobs effectively and how they were potentially tak-ing positions away from oth-

er students who would like to and are qualified to serve SGA.

Senator at Large, Jackson Pruett, presented the new Legislative Affairs committee.

“As part of this year’s com-mittee restructure we will be creating a new legislative af-fairs committee. The goal of this committee is to serve as a voice of the student body to Montgomery and Washing-ton on issues that involve stu-dents,” Pruett said.

Before senate closed, ad-visor Brad Smith said he saw several new faces during SGA cabinet interviews.

“To me that was really ex-citing and should be excit-ing to you guys as well that we will potentially be seeing some new faces in the office,” said Smith.

SGA approves assistant vice presidents, other appointments

As Miss AU, Williams put togeth-er and sold Miss AU cookbooks to raise money to start a school-feed-ing program through the East Ala-bama Food Bank.

“These kids go home every week-end with a bag of just some snacks and things they can open,” Wil-liams said. “It’s those kids that are on reduced lunch who may not have access to regular meals when they aren’t at school.”

The program was started this semester, and at schools in Ope-lika and Loachapoka kids regular-ly goes home with backpacks. Ac-cording to Williams, more than $1,500 was made from the cook-books that went into the Backpack Program.

“I wanted something that could

be related back to hunger,” Wil-liams said. “My vision was peo-ple would reach for the cookbook when preparing a recipe and that would remind them that not ev-eryone has that luxury to prepare a fresh meal every night. It’s just kind of a way to connect you back to people who may not have what you have access to.”

Vice President of the Commit-tee of 19, Azeem Ahmed, said he has worked with Williams in both the Committee of 19 and Campus Kitchens.

“She had this amazing idea for the Food Desert 5k as part of her Miss Auburn platform,” Ahmed said. “I was like, you know what, sounds awesome.”

Committee of 19 is Auburn’s war on hunger initiative that handles advocacy, awareness and fundrais-ing for all the hunger related activi-

ties, like the Beat Bama Food Drive on campus.

“Emilee has pretty much been running the event,” Ahmed said. “She has done most of the event planning, and we will do some vol-unteering.”

President of Campus Kitchens, Emily Scammel, said they are help-ing collaborate and give Williams support.

“We have made a few dona-tions, and more than anything we are just supporting full-hearted-ly everything she is trying to do,” Scammel said. “A lot of our mem-bers will be there running the race. I probably will not be running be-cause I am horrible at running, but I will be there for support anyway. Just whatever she needs us for.”

The race will start at the RO parking lot off Thach Avenue by the Village residence halls at 1 p.m.

and continue around the cam-pus until making it back to the RO parking lot.

It is $15 to register, and T-shirts will be sold for $12 at the registra-tion tent.

The first male and female to fin-ish will earn a prize.

For more information con-tact ecw0010@auburn.edu or vis-it www.racesonline.com to regis-ter to race.

Th e manufacturin g equipment purchased values at $18,567,000 and will save an annu-al $85,408 and non-man-ufacturing equipment (personal property) pur-chased is $6,274,000, sav-ing $28,860 annually.

These abatements do not include education-al, hospital and children’s

home taxes.In other news:- Citizen’s Communi-

cations concerned an an-nexation property locat-ed on Stonewall Road. Michael Keel is the devel-oper who intends to build $300,000-$400,000 homes on those properties. It is a rural area and citi-zen Ann Priester Bennett spoke against the annex-ation. She owns proper-ty in Stonewall and hopes to leave that area rural.

Residents of the neigh-borhood spoke in favor of the annexation to build up the neighborhood.

- The Council passed a micro loan for the up-coming Edible Arrange-ments.

“That’s our microloan program where the city borrowed money from the federal government and we’re able to make low interest loans to qualifying companies to get them off the ground,”

Duggan said. “This is go-ing to be a business that hopes to locate in The Shoppes at Cary Creek.”

“The idea is to help someone starting out in a new business that’s what that micro loan program is all about,” Duggan said. “It’s not a lot of mon-ey, but it helps fill in the gaps.”

- They approved the purchase of 10 mobile video cameras systems from Digital Al ly for

$24,010 to equip the 10 Law Enforcement Sedans the Public Safety Depart-ment purchased back in February.

- Seven city officials were recognized for 5-, 10- and 30-year pins; three retiring employees were given trophies and Phillip Dunlap was ac-knowledged for receiving the David R. Echols Dis-tinguished Service Award for Exemplary Service in Economic Development.

RUN» From A1

COUNCIL» From A1

COURTESY OF EMILEE WILLIAMS

Emilee Williams was crowned Miss Auburn University in 2011.

Gacek was fond of tie-dying, explor-ing and conquering new lands, climbing trees, trips and photography.

Gacek is survived by her parents, Mark and Pamela, sister Marissa, two brothers, Michael and Markie and her twin broth-er, Peter.

Viewing is Friday, April 5, from 5 – 8 p.m. at Radney Funeral Home on Dau-phin Street in Mobile.

A funeral Mass will be held Saturday, April 6, at 11 a.m. at St. Ignatius Catho-lic Church.

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The Mariners celebrate Jane Wayne Day bright and early

AU Journalism Advisory Council awards three local journalists for achievements

Ben Hohenstatt WRITER

On Saturdays at 8 a.m. most Auburn students are sound asleep, but Saturday, March 30, while many slumbered, a dedicated group of women were just being issued military equipment.

Saturday, March 30, was the first Jane Wayne Day or-ganized by The Mariners, the female auxiliary NROTC pro-gram.

Jane Wayne Day’s creation at Auburn was almost a chal-lenging one according to Kelly Richardon, Mariners secretary.

Rihardson said Spring se-mester is a challenging time to reserve space, but this year Mariners were successful, and events took place at the Nich-

ols Center, rugby field and the facilities

Richardson said the group hopes to make Jane Wayne Day an annual event.

Jane Wayne Day is an event that started as a way for mil-itary spouses to experience firsthand what a day in the life of their significant others was like.

The event’s emphasis was on experiencing the drills and experience of NROTC and ROTC members and making a gesture of solidarity as op-posed to increasing under-standing between spouses.

“It’s a chance to look at what they get to do,” Richard-son said.

This included being issued military gear and performing

standard drills including com-bat fitness testing, running, a field meet and an obstacle course.

By 7:50 a.m. Marines-for-the-day were outside of the Nichols Center with chipper demeanors and ready for their run to the rugby field and to go through basic formation.

Rachel Suhs, Mariners vice president, said she was sur-prised by the obvious energy of the participants.

“These are the type of things any Marine Corps regiment would do,” Suhs said.

The immersive experience also extended to lunch which was comprised of what the of-ficial Jane Wayne Day schedule described as “delicious MRE’s,” or meals, ready-to-eat.

After lunch and the applica-tion of camouflage face paint or cammie paint it was time for the part of the day that in-spired the most dread and ex-citement, the obstacle course.

“It will be a struggle, but it’ll be a lot of fun,” Richard-son said.

Obstacles included Marine Corps staples such as the log wall and up and over bars.

There was also an event unique to Auburn University during Jane Wayne Day, a run through what is affectionately known as the Mundy Trail.

The General Mundy Fitness Trail is a wooded path on the West side of Auburn’s campus with pull up bars at its begin-ning and end with exercise sta-tions along the trail.

Committee of 19 brings slums to campusEva WoghirenWRITER

The Committee of 19 has done it again- rais-ing awareness to those in poverty stricken coun-tries who are still living “joyfully.”

The committee partnered with Servants in Faith and Technology, on their big spring proj-ect “Slum City.”

Members of the organization, leading Au-burn’s fight against hunger, constructed life-sized replicas of slums, representing five differ-ent countries: India, Cambodia, Pakistan, Kenya and Bolivia.

“We wanted to just bring awareness that more than one billion of our brothers and sisters around the world live like this,” said Cary Bay-less, committee advocacy and awareness facil-itator. “Through organizations like Committee of 19 and SIFAT we are trying to educate the Au-burn family on ways that they can help.”

The city was opened on the Haley Center con-course from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 26 through Thursday, March 28 for people to look through and ask representatives any questions they had.

According to Bayless, the point of this event

was not for people to walk by and feel saddened for those experiencing this life, but to realize that because of their extreme poverty there are many health issues and civil issues that arise with this lifestyle.

“At first when I walked by I did feel really sad, but after I talked to someone about it I learned that they were doing this for a reason and to get students involved,” said Nicole Fulkerson, fresh-man in communication.

SIFAT is a worldwide spiritual service organi-zation that serves and educates others in order to improve third world countries. The commit-tee attends SIFAT meetings to gain knowledge about some of their programs and technologies that can be used to help alleviate hunger.

Hamp Price, a learn and service intern with SIFAT, said the committee asked them to part-ner and to bring examples of technologies be-ing used in these communities to help mitigate ways of life.

“After doing research on these urban slums we realized that we are not going to get rid of these whole cities of slums, but instead by ask-ing them what things are inhibiting you from living a fulfilled life and going about it that way,”

Price said.According to the research done by SIFAT

these countries are suffering from several prob-lems because of inadequate nutrition, limited access to clean drinking water and breathing problems from smoke inhalation.

Both organizations believe the first step in aid for these countries is to become aware of the situation at hand.

Price said until students understand where they fit in with the problem they cannot be a

part of the solution.“There is enough food to feed everybody in

the world,” Price said. “So why do we have prob-lems like obesity, yet other people around the world are starving to death?”

According to Price, students have thanked them for being a voice for their people and shar-ing a story that is not very well portrayed.

The Committee of 19 as well as SIFAT encour-ages students to get involved whether it is by do-nating funds or donating their time.

KATHERINE MCCAHEY/ ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Mary Katherine Dlugos, left, junior in political science, and Donald Taylor, sophomore in pre-physical education, at Jayne Wayne Day, Sat-urday, March 30.

RAYE MAY/ PHOTO EDITOR

The slums were created to resemble five countries including India, Cambodia, Pakistan, Kenya and Bolivia

Austin LankfordCAMPUS REPORTER

The Auburn University Jour-nalism Advisory Council is holding its annual award cere-mony April 19 at the AU Hotel and Dixon Conference Center to honor outstanding journal-ists from the state of Alabama.

The council issues five awards and this year, three of the recipients are associated with Auburn.

Roy Bain is the Auburn Jour-nalism Awards Chairman.

“By putting on the ceremo-ny, we are trying to celebrate Alabama Journalism,” Bain said.

Bain also said that to be a recipient you need to be nom-inated and that four of the five awards must go to individuals

who have Alabama roots.Guy Rhodes, publisher and

editor of The Tuskegee News, is receiving the Distinguished Al-abama Community Journalist Award.

“For me, winning the award represents not just me, but a lot of the people I have worked with,” Rhodes said. “It is a great honor for me to receive it.”

Rhodes, 1969 Auburn grad-uate, said he has always been interested in journalism. Rhodes was the sports editor and business manager of The Plainsman during his time at Auburn.

He worked and wrote for The Montgomery Advertiser, Columbus, Ga.’s Ledger-En-quirer and the Opelika-Auburn News. In 1990 he became the

editor of The Tuskegee News where he has been for 18 years.

“Journalism is one of those things that once I got into it, it was hard for me to turn it loose,” Rhodes said. “What I like about it so much is getting to know people from all walks of life.”

Ed Williams, professor in the department of Communi-cation and Journalism, is re-ceiving the Distinguished Spe-cial Achievement in Journal-ism Award.

“I think it is one of the most significant awards I have re-ceived,” Williams said.

Williams has been teach-ing Journalism at Auburn for 30 years and became interest-ed in it when he worked for his high school paper.

“I can’t imagine doing any-thing else,” Williams said. “I thought I wanted to be a com-munity newspaper editor and I did do that, but when I came to Auburn to teach Journalism I never wanted to leave.”

Williams is retiring after this semester.

Ace Atkins, 1994 Auburn graduate, is receiving the Dis-tinguished AU Alumnus in Journalistic Achievement Award.

“I loved everything about being a journalist and a report-er,” Atkins said. “Nothing gave me more pride and joy.”

After his job as a report-er, Atkins began writing crime novels in 2001.

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Campus A4 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, April 4, 2013

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The Auburn PlainsmanA Spirit thAt iS Not AfrAid

Thursday, February 7, 2013

ThePlainsman.com

Vol. 119, Issue 31, 16 Pages

INTRIGUE / B5

CAMPUS / A2

COMMUNITY / A5

OUR VIEW / A7

SPORTS / B1

Lance DavisSPortS WrIterthe University announced Fri-

day, plans to remove the beloved poi-

soned oak trees at toomer’s Corner.

Despite repeated efforts to save the

trees, the possibility of their survival

has been in question since the poi-

soning was discovered in January of

2011.A date has not been set for the

trees’ removal.According to the press release, the

University and the city of Auburn will

host a “Celebrate the tradition” block

party featuring live music at toomer’s

Corner after the A-Day football game

Saturday, April 20.The block party will provide fans

with one last opportunity to roll and

photograph the trees before they are

removed.“While I will be very sad to see the

trees go and to see the end of an era of

one of our greatest traditions, I think

that A-Day serves as a great opportu-

nity for us to celebrate the history as-

sociated with the oaks at toomer’s

Corner one last time before we move

into the next stage of this tradition,”

SGA President owen Parrish said.

The University will also announce

its future landscaping plans for

toomer’s Corner at A-Day.

More than 10,000 people voted in

an online survey conducted by Au-

burn University and landscape archi-

tecture firms Nelson Byrd Woltz and

jB+a for various plans to redevelop

the famous corner .“the architects are combining

their expertise and experience with

the terrific input from the Auburn

Family to come up with a future plan

that we will all be proud of,” said Dan

King, assistant vice president of facil-

ities management.The survey featured four possible

landscaping schemes for the toom-

er’s oaks area and the area extending

into Samford Park.Auburn will decide what to do with

the area after it analyzes the data. It

is possible that one specific scheme

is chosen, but it is also possible that

multiple features from different

schemes are combined into one.

“they don’t really know yet, be-

cause they’re really interested in see-

ing what 10,000 people thought,” said

Debbie Shaw, vice president of alum-

ni affairs.

NatioNal SigNiNg DayWho have the tigers

signed in coach gus Malzahan’s 2013

recruiting class?

FuNNy iN FlaNNelimprov troupe gives

its first performance of the year tonight,

Feb, 7, at 8 p.m. in Haley 2370

BreWiNg oN tHe PlaiNS

a graduate program in

brewing sciences was

approved by the board

of trustees. Will you brew the next best lager?

DoWNtoWN Fire SaFety

How safe are the bars

downtown in times of emergency?

» See Roots A2

Losing our rootsUniversity announces final rolling of

Toomer’s Oaks, future landscaping plans to be announced A-Day, April 20

Austin LankfordCAMPUS WrIterAlthough the fate of the toomer’s

Corner oaks has now been decided,

the people of Auburn will keep them

alive in spirit through stories and

memories. The trees are scheduled to be re-

moved after the A-Day game in April,

giving students and fans one more

chance to roll the infamous oaks.

The trees’ uprooting hits hardest the

people who have made special mem-

ories on the corner throughout the

years. “I remember bringing my kids to

Auburn and them begging me if they

could roll toomer’s after the game,”

said Kay ellen Willoughby, a 1983

Auburn graduate.

Kailey MillerCAMPUS WrIterIt has been officially announced

that the toomer’s trees will be re-

moved in the upcoming months.

Students and faculty members have

mixed feelings about this Auburn

tradition changing. “I think its sad to see a big part of

the university’s heritage torn down,

but I also think that the university

and the city are going to work togeth-

er to do whatever it takes to keep tra-

dition alive and I’m glad to see that,”

said travis Herrmann, senior in jour-

nalism. Auburn provided a survey for

those concerned with toomer’s Cor-

ner to help decide what should re-

place the toomer’s trees.

“They can’t stay the way that they

are now, they’re just a scar on the

face of the campus and it’s the sad-

dest thing I’ve seen since I came

here,” said Michael Fuhlhage, assis-

tant professor in the department of

communication and journalism. “I

haven’t been around long enough to

feel like those specific trees are the

ones that have to be there or else the

tradition fails; as long as there are

trees for people to paper, the tradi-

tion lives on.” Although the final plan for toom-

er’s Corner has not yet been revealed,

there is a plan for a new tradition to

live on at toomer’s Corner as long as

Auburn fans are dedicated to carry it

on with their spirit. “I have a young child who I want-

ed to raise in that tradition and now

we’re going to have to make due with

whatever they accommodate the

university with, but I think it’ll be

positive moving forward,” Herrmann

said.

KatHeriNe MccaHey /aSSiStaNt PHoto eDitor

the toomer’s oaks were allegedly poisoined by Harvey updyke Jr. after the 2010 iron

Bowl.

DaNielle loWe / PHotograPHer

the university made numerous attempts to treat the toomer’s oaks by injecting a sug-

ar substance into the roots in order to encourage photosynthesis.

tHe giviNg treeDid the university make

the right decision in deciding to

remove the toomer’s oaks?

» See memoRies A2

» See RenovAtions A2

Alumni recall memories of

Toomers through the ages

Students want tradition to

stay with oaks renovations

courteSy oF FacilitieS MaNageMeNt

toomer’s corner in 1890.

ThePlainsman.com

Do you love to write?

Are you always looking for the latest news?

Want to serve the Auburn community?

THEN JOIN THE PLAINSMAN STAFF!

Auburn hovercraft ready to take on the Tide

Derek HerscoviciWRITER

Behind the closed doors of the Polymer and Fiber engineering building is one of Auburn’s best kept secrets, and it’s ready to usher in a new era of collegiate rivalry.

Yes, there is a Hovercraft division to the War Eagle Motor Sports program, and on Saturday, April 27 they will face off against none other than the University of Alabama in the first-ev-er Hoverclub of America-sanctioned SEC com-petition.

The team has slowly been gaining recognition for more than a decade, and during their 2008 run the Auburn team placed second overall in the Formula S and Formula II engine compe-titions, as well as winning the Most Innovative Design award for their carbon fiber Hovercraft.

“Theres just a handful of colleges doing this,” said Polymer and Fiber engineering technician Jeff Thompson. “Most are the ones that special-ize in composites, but the (Hover)club is huge, there’s a lot of old guys with lots of money that show up and look like nascar haulers, we com-pete with all of ‘em.”

“The club took off at first, and floundered for a couple years, but the boys this year have real-ly been enthusiastic and made a lot of progress.”

For the hovercraft team, their work is an in-tensely personal one, fueled by a desire to not only design the best machine possible, but win competitions under the Auburn banner.

The contest is an endurance race at Lake Lurleen against Alabama’s newly formed hov-

ercraft club. Teams race on a single tank of gas, and can

change riders, but not refuel for the length of an hour.

The team has two hovercrafts they’ve been developing for the event, one a heavier but more reliable orange fiberglass craft that has been the a mainstay of the club since the beginning, and a newer, lighter carbon fiber in black that they plan on unveiling at the race.

“I aim to see it finished before I graduate,” said Garret Blackburn, senior in polymer and fi-ber engineering. “We’re getting close, and if we can get it to the race it’ll be even better.”

To drive the hovercraft you must put in at least two–three hours of work a week, but for all those involved, that’s the fun part.

They implement their own designs, repair and autograph the damages to the craft they caused and personally tweak its features by hand to ensure everything is shipshape.

“This is really just a fun thing to get hands on with, get some experience with, and under-standing the more complex things in machin-ery,” said Nick Johnson, senior in mechanical en-gineering.

“People come into the club and don’t real-ly know what to do, or how things work, and you just kind of lean over the shoulder of some-body doing something until you figure it out. Im at the stage now where I can come in by myself and get some serious work done.”

Students interested in mechanical engineer-ing are welcome to join the hovercraft club.

DEREK HERSCOVICI/ WRITER

Above right Garrett Blackburn works on the Hovercraft to prepare in for the competition.

Thursday, April 4, 2013 The Auburn Plainsman Campus A5

vwwStarting at Toomer's Corner and finishing on the 50 yard line of

Jordan-Hare Stadium

www.runauburn.com

1/2 Marathon 10K 5K FunRun

Use the code PLAINSMAN and save 25% off yourregistration for any event!

Saturday April 27,, 2013

Auburn Running Festival

Rehydrate with beer

Jordan DaleWRITER

Running for Brews, a new running organization in Au-burn, encourages partici-pants to down a cold beer with new friends after run-ning a 5K each week. Quix-ote’s hosts the organization each week, offering $1 beer specials to participants.

Running for Brews was founded in Dunedin, Fla. in 2010 by co-founders Kevin Bupp and John McMahan. Since then, they have add-ed four locations in Florida, as well as locations in Chat-tanooga, Tenn. and Boulder, Colo. Auburn marks Run-ning for Brews’ first location in Alabama.

“We wanted to create an experience for runners that was unique, fun, and fulfill-ing,” Bupp said.

For McMahan, it’s about meeting new people and networking.

“Week in and week out, we have met thousands of individuals who have our same interests in mind,” Mc-Mahan said.

Running for Brews’ vi-sion is to grow a nation-wide group of social running clubs that will benefit com-munities everywhere.

“Running for Brews con-nects with local communi-ties and charities to bring people together,” Bupp said.

Adam Pugh, manager of Big Dog Running Compa-ny in Auburn, said Running for Brews scouted Auburn for people willing to help get

the program on the ground and running.

Lesley Benning, employee at HealthPlus Fitness Cen-ter, was approached in a similar manner.

“I thought it sound-ed pretty cool and it would force me to get out on a Sat-urday night,” Benning said.

Benning agreed to lead the Auburn location for Running for Brews. She said 30 people signed in for the inaugural Running for Brews run and they ran a distance of 3.4 miles, just over a 5K.

“We’re going to try and change up the route each week, or every couple weeks,” Benning said. “We’ll try to go through 3 or 4 dif-ferent routes on a loop.”

Running for Brews offered a friendly atmosphere for a variety of athletic ability. Some people treated the 5K as a race, while others chose to walk and just complete the event.

“Drinking and running are two of my passions,” said Philip Smith, Auburn alum-ni. “I like that there is some-thing new and different coming to Auburn.”

Smith said he found out about Running for Brews through his friends in Face-book. Others saw Quixote’s advertising the run and de-cided to participate.

“I’m a frequent flyer of Quixote’s and so when I found out they were having a 5K I decided to run it,” said Blake Burgess, senior in the-ater. “I just got done play-

ing football for Auburn and I was looking for a way to stay healthy and get active.”

Burgess finished the run in first, rewarding himself with a cold beer to rehy-drate.

“I feel fantastic,” Burgess said. “I ran around Auburn, got to meet a couple I didn’t know and it was a lot of fun.”

Benning said that she hoped Running for Brews would turn into something big during the summer, en-gage participants of all ages, not just college students.

“We’re going to try and have some fun nights like costumes nights,” Benning said. “Or, maybe mini-mara-thons where we sprint from Quixote’s to Toomer’s and then snag some beers; fun things like that.”

Charitable races are also an integral part of Running for Brews as a way to add a level of meaning to the runs in addition to promoting a healthy lifestyle.

“I like that about it,” Smith said. “I know that they’re trying to get communi-ties together to have a good time, run a little bit and also drink some good beers for good causes.”

Whether running or walk-ing, Running for Brews is aiming for building healthy lifestyles.

“The brews are just a bo-nus to building new rela-tionships and creating a unique community of run-ners and walkers,” McMah-an said.

RAYE MAY/ PHOTO EDITOR

The runners meet at Quixotes before and after the run for some beers.

Putting BIG faith in Auburn studentsEvan IsbillWRITER

In the spring of 2012 a de-cision was made to eliminate “spirit points” which deter-mined block seating.

Spirit points were given to people who participated in IMPACT, philanthropies, BIG Event and other events put on by Auburn.

Eliminating these points held the potential to negative-ly affect these programs.

“I wanted to see intentional and meaningful volunteerism and not forced work hours,” said Owen Parrish, former SGA president. “We were in a system that I had seen through my time as Director of BIG Event and my time in SGA and friends’ time as exec members and president for IMPACT that we were, instead of encourag-ing and supporting people to really love community ser-vice and love different avenues through which they could ac-complish community service.

They were being forced into working for ulterior motives.”

But even with these great intentions, many questioned if programs like BIG Event could effectively serve the Auburn community anymore.

“It was terrifying to think that this program that we had built up for so long might see a dramatic drop in volunteers.” said Kyla Wilkinson, last year’s BIG Event Director.

BIG Event, is a day of com-munity service that allows Au-

burn students to give back to the community they call home.

Each year there are four di-rectors appointed to the mon-umental task of planning the BIG Event.

This year’s directors were Logan Powell, Leanne Portera, Catherine Pariseau and Kellie Jones.

None of the directors felt that the point system being taken away was a hindrance for this year’s BIG Event.

“I think lack of spirit points was the best thing that could’ve happened to us,” Por-tera said. “It made us take a step back and say what’s the purpose of BIG Event?”

This attitude and question helped to motivate all the di-rectors forward with the task at hand.

They each spoke in depth about all of their hard work. But, the BIG Event is held on a Saturday morning, and given the average college student’s sleeping schedule; there was a lot of room for doubt.

These directors, however;

didn’t doubt. “Throughout the year we

never had a set number and our attitude was we’re just go-ing to work as hard as we can and that way at the end of the day if we have 500 people or we have 4,000 people we can rest knowing we did our best,” Pow-ell said.

Pariseau echoed this atti-tude and gave insight to the vi-sion of the BIG Event team.

“We really decided we weren’t going to be focused on numbers that we were gonna be focused on the quality over the quantity,” Pariseau said.

With that hard working atti-tude and faith their future vol-unteers, the team pushed for-ward.

And all of their hard work and positive attitudes paid off.

The directors were invited to attend a national BIG Event conference at Texas A&M in the spring.

The conference, according to the directors, was informa-tive and encouraging.

They all smiled while com-menting on their own part in the conference.

Auburn’s BIG Event direc-tors were asked to give a pre-sentation on their own event and strategies.

The program transitioned from one that many had doubted, to a program that was getting some national at-tention and praise.

Now, with a successful trip to Texas A&M under their

belts, the directors still had the actual event to see through. But their confidence was as strong as ever.

“I think we all knew Auburn would step up,” Potera said. “There was no doubt in our minds that there were going to be awesome students who were gonna come out and they blew us away.”

And step up they did; 2,200 students volunteered at 170 jobsites in Auburn on March 23rd.

“The people who signed up just really pulled through,” Jones said. “They honored the commitment that they made and that’s something you can’t say about a lot of college stu-dents. I think last Saturday re-ally disproved that theory that college aged-students are sole-ly focused on themselves.”

This is exactly what BIG Event is about, Auburn stu-dents showing up to serve Au-burn.

“People didn’t go because they were forced to go,” Par-rish said. “They went because they cared about it. And I think that’s a huge stride for BIG Event and I think the pro-gram has really unchained be-cause of a lack of spirit points where it can really grow now it can really succeed because you have a passionate group of people who are participat-ing and that care about it rath-er than a forced group of labor-ers who know they have to go once a year.”

Student profits from coffee

Kailey MillerCAMPUS REPORTER

Josh Clement, freshman in physics, has started his own coffee shop Black Flag Cof-fee, in the first floor kitchen of Harper Hall of the Quad dor-mitories.

Clement became interested in making coffee during his ju-nior year of high school.

“The summer just before starting here I built my own coffee roaster and kind of started getting into it,” Clem-ent said. “Espresso is a lot harder to make though so I got a job at Caribou in the library just to get a little bit of experi-ence.”

Clement got most of his oth-er coffee making supplies on eBay.

The coffee beans that he uses are Sweet Maria’s coffee.

Clement makes vari-ous types of coffee including espresso, lattes, mochas and regular coffee.

He has peppermint, cara-mel, vanilla and pumpkin fla-vored syrups that he can add for flavor.

Clement says that he can have anywhere from 10-20 cus-tomers each week.

James McKelly, associate professor of English, is one of Clement’s regular customers.

“He just does a really great job,” McKelly said. “I think he’d be a really great small town en-trepreneur.”

There was a question of whether Clement should be roasting and selling coffee in a dorm,

However, Clement is not technically selling it.

He doesn’t put a price on the coffee, but instead leaves out a jar for tips from willing cus-tomers.

Clement said as long as cus-tomers tip well he makes mon-ey off of every cup of coffee.

“One thing I think he does is he locates online really good places to source the beans and that’s key with coffee,” McKel-ly said. “If you can source your beans from really high quality growers you’re in business. It costs a little bit more that way, but the way josh does it I be-lieve he’s able to keep his costs down pretty far because he’s just one person.”

Syler Liu, junior in busi-ness, met Clement at Caribou Coffee last semester and goes to get coffee from Clement al-most every week.

“I would recommend it for everyone on campus because I’m a business major and I see this as a business that he start-ed,” Liu said. “Everything he does is by himself, it’s really good, and the coffee is good.”

Liu’s favorite coffee from Clement is the iced mocha.

Clement’s customers come and go at different times throughout the day.

“Some of the people live

here, other people just come and knock on the door and come in,” Clement said. “I’m usually here in the afternoons and anyone can call me.”

Clement said that he can’t make coffee as fast as Caribou does, but that he makes it well.

Clement plans on continu-ing to make coffee after col-lege, but said he doesn’t plan on continuing it as a business. Instead, he plans on being a physicist.

McKelly described Black Flag Coffee as “dynamite” and said he and his wife love it.

“He can really custom roast the stuff for you,” McKelly said. “If you mention you like a cer-tain kind of bean, he’s able to go and find that kind of bean and roast it to your specifica-tions and it’s not super prohib-iting or expensive for him to do because he’s so small scale.”

RAYE MAY/ PHOTO EDITOR

Clement has been making coffee on his own since his junior year in high school. He has up to 20 custom-ers a week selling types of coffee like espresso, latte, mocha and regular coffee.

Freshman starts Black Flag Coffee in his dormitory kitchen

“I think the lack of spirit points was the best thing that has ever happened to us.”

—Leanne Portera DIRECTOR OF THE BIG EVENT

“I would recommend it for everyone on campus because I’m a business major and I see this as a business he started. Everything he does is by himself, it’s really good and the coffee is good.”

—Syler Liu JUNIOR IN BUSINESS

It’s finally starting to warm up again, and that means we can all look forward to pool time, cookouts, summer clothes, music festivals, and of course, baseball.

As an Atlanta Braves fan, I was fortunate enough to have tickets to the opening game at Turner Field to watch the Braves take on the Phillies. And those who have ever been to an opening game know that not much comes close to it.

I didn’t always see it this way, however. Growing up with a dad who was infatuated with Braves baseball, I was constantly getting dragged to the games. And at the age of 8 or 9, I would have much rather been shopping at Limited Too or Abercrombie Kids than watching baseball. I mainly went for the

Dip-N-Dots.Fast-forward to now, and it’s hard to

believe that’s how I used to be. I’ve now racked up a Prado, Freeman, Heyward and obviously a Chipper Jones shirt. At the opening game on Monday, I proudly wore my Jason Heyward shirt, and couldn’t wait for that first pitch to be thrown.

For anyone who was at the game, you know you could just feel the excitement throughout the park. After a crazy ruling on a so-called “infield fly” that ended the season last year, fans were back and more than ready for the Braves to finally take it all the way this year. And we might actually have the team to do it. After homeruns from Uggla, Freeman and newcomer Justin Upton, the Braves beat the Phillies in a 7–5 victory—and it was exciting the whole time.

All baseball fans can attest to that awesome feeling and familiarity that comes with tailgating before a game, as well as the sounds and smells that come with being at the game in general.

Cheesy, but true. Especially for Atlanta Braves’ fans,

Turner Field feels like one big family, particularly when everyone does the Tomahawk chop together. After all, “this is why we chop.”

While there are many major league baseball fans, it’s about time we come together and support our team that we have right here in Auburn, because this is where it all starts.

Braves starting pitcher Tim Hudson, as well as previous Braves catcher David Ross, played here before getting drafted. There is always an outpouring of support for the football team here, but not as much for the baseball team. These guys, as well as all other underrated sports in Auburn, deserve the same support we give to the football team.

So if you haven’t been to one yet, go experience an Auburn baseball game. Even if you may not be an avid baseball fan, or even a sports fan, you can still enjoy the warm weather, good food and good friends. 

Facebook has caused quite a stir over the past few years. What would we do without it?

Social media, in general, has exploded over the past year- with the rise in populari-ty of Facebook, Twitter and In-stagram. In what way does so-cial media fulfill us? As social media grows larger and larger I feel as if the more it becomes a competition of: how many likes can I get on this picture or how many new friends can I add or how many awesome pictures of myself can I post to show off how wonderful my life is right now?

We have all fallen victim to this at least once or twice…or maybe on a daily basis de-pending on how in touch we are with our virtually por-trayed lives. The virtual, social networking world is danger-ous. It boosts egos and switch-es focus on ourselves and the issue of : how cool can I make my life look? The real rela-tionships and interactions we have with the people around us are what truly matter, not how many friends Facebook says we have.

What did we ever do before the explosion of social media? I feel as if the relationships we shared with others were stron-ger, less superficial and more personal. Without Facebook, getting over ex’s or forgetting bad memories would be much easier. The constant urge to stalk that cute boy or girl in your anatomy class on Face-book is tempting, but really, if Facebook didn’t exist you might actually have to have the courage to talk to that per-son in real life.

Today, it’s easy to reach out but are we truly reaching out when it is not in person? There are so many ways to “stay con-nected.” Are we truly connect-

ed or are we just in existence with one another? Commu-nication forms the corner-stone of all relationships and it’s sometimes important to evaluate how you communi-cate with others. What does your Facebook say about you? Are you creating a persona online that is true to who you are in real life? It is easy to get sucked in, for sure.

For example, the oth-er day, Facebook was expe-riencing a glitch and all 2013 had been deleted. I frantical-ly tried looking for it—every-where and it was nowhere to be found.

Why did I freak out? Then I realized that I had become victim to the social media bug. 2013 has been my most excit-ing year yet and Facebook has proof of that…but with-out proof, my life just seemed lame. I had to remember that my memories from every-thing that had happened this year in 2013 weren’t lost, they were just lost on some irrele-vant website that made me look cool.

But wait. When I say irrele-vant do I really mean it? It was a wake up call and proved to me just how selfishly depen-dent we can become on social media. Social Media has the power to rule our lives, if we let it. After about four or five days everything from 2013 was restored and everything in the world was good again.

What would we do without this “communication tool?” Just think, next time you’re on Facebook, think about how you portray yourself. Have you created a competition for yourself?

Do you dwell more in the virtual world than you do in the real world? If so, then it’s time to wake up and smell the roses, spring is already among us and it’s time for new begin-nings. Take charge and experi-ence life for what it truly is. Fo-cus on the real relationships you have with people and not what it says you have online.

A6Thursday, April 4, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Opinions

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The Editorial Board

ROBERT E. LEEEditor-in-Chief

Nathan SimoneMANAGING EDITOR

Ben CroomesOPINIONS EDITOR

Bianca N. SewardCOPY EDITOR

Dustin ShraderONLINE EDITOR

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John BurnsSPORTS EDITOR

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Rachel SuhsDESIGN EDITOR

Our View

EMILY BRETT

DESIGN@THEPLAINSMAN.COM

CAITLIN WAGENSEIL

INTRIGUE@THEPLAINSMAN.COM

Her View

RACHEL SUHS/DESIGN EDITOR

Women have had to fight hard to get where they are in America. During our na-tion’s infancy, women were treated and ex-pected to act like domestic automatons, a ro-bot that could breast feed and cook a turkey dinner without making too much of a fuss.

Of course, women have made great strides since then. Any job a man can do, a woman can too.

But are those old time gender prejudices really gone?

Recent arguments in congress focusing on birth control and the actual definition of rape are evidence that woman may still not have an equal voice. We believe the equali-ty of women should not even be an issue be-cause it is simply a fact.

Women are equal. Deal with it.Todd Akin, a former representative from

Missouri, said during his 2012 campaign that women who are victims of “legitimate rape” do not get pregnant.

Thankfully, Akin was not re-elected, but his statement is a symptom of a larger prob-lem among our legislators. When they don’t understand the simple biological process of procreation, forced or not, how can we ever move past the stigma that affects rape vic-tims?

According to statistics gathered by the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, or RAINN, 54 percent of all sexual assaults go unreported and 97 percent of rapists nev-er spend a day in jail. That’s right, 97 percent of rapists have never had to face the conse-quences for their vile actions.

Why? At the heart of the matter, it’s because

women are not actually viewed or treated as equals, even in a country that says everyone is equal.

We don’t even have to go overseas to plac-es like India, a country rampant with gender discrimination and shaming of rape victims, to see how poorly women are being treated. Look at CNN’s fawning over the Steubenville rapists. They committed a heinous crime, yet the loss of their futures was mourned, and the victim was unjustly portrayed as a de-serving what she got.

On Tuesday, March 19, a sexual assault was reported to the Auburn Police Depart-ment. However, AUPD said on Monday, March 25 the statement had been falsified, and the case is closed.

We don’t know exactly what happened, who was involved or any other concrete de-tails surrounding the falsified report, and we

can only speculate a motive. But the incident has definitely raised a few questions, and it has made us take a deeper look at the inter-national conversation on sexual assault, rape and women’s rights.

The University has taken a proactive step against sexual assault and rape by institut-ing a Safe Harbor program. We doubt the in-ternational community, or even the United States, sees Auburn as a paradigm for equal-ity and civil rights, but the rest of the world could certainly benefit from looking at why a Safe Harbor program is necessary in the first place.

Humanity – whether the male or female variety – has more value than we could ever imagine. So are women so marginalized and mistreated?

We want women in Auburn, Steubenville, India and everywhere else in the world to know they deserve a free and equal life just as much as men do. The stigma surrounding rape victims is just as atrocious as the act it-self.

So we stand in support of women and the victims of rape and sexual assault. You are not alone, and we are ready to continue the fight in the hopes that someday soon, we will see true equality for women.

Women deserve better

Spring fever everywhere but the plains

Social media irrelevance

I read a statistic somewhere once that claimed today’s average high school student suffers from as much stress as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s. 

Considering how things run around on the Internet, I have my doubts about the verity of this statement; however, it did get me thinking about today’s typ-ical American lifestyle and the impor-tance of rest. 

When I think about college alone, the people around me—my friends, colleagues and classmates—are some of the busiest people I have ever seen.  They’re in class 18 hours a week.  They spend hours in labs doing research.  They work one, two, even three jobs sometimes.  They belong to multiple or-ganizations and clubs.  In short, they are amazing people—we are all amaz-ing people—but we have no free time at all. 

I used to believe that maybe this was

a college phenomenon.  I thought to myself, “Surely when I

graduate, things will calm down a little.  After all, I won’t have classes and labs and homework and studying to wor-ry about anymore.  I’ll get up and go to work every day, and other than that, the rest of my time will be mine to do what-ever I want with.” 

But America doesn’t think like that—at least, not anymore. 

Maybe there was a simpler time once, when—as the statistic suggests—an even moderate degree of stress sent the average adult running to a doctor.  But stress seems to be a way of life these days.   

We live in a workaholic culture.  We are pressured to be constantly moving.  Gone are the days of attending our 9–5 jobs and leaving the work behind at the end of the day; most adults I know work 8–6 or 7–7, and when they come home in the evenings, they bring anything they didn’t finish home with them. 

It’s not any better for kids either.  When I was in high school, I was in class eight hours a day, I worked a part-time job, I was involved in three or four campus and community organizations, I took music lessons and I came home and did my homework every night—

and I was by no means an outlier at my school. 

It’s like I said.  Stress is a normal state of mind.  Being impossibly busy is a nor-mal way of life.  We live in a super-pro-ductive society—but, I am often con-vinced, a less happy one. 

A person with time for everyone and everything but himself is not a healthy person. 

I’m no psychologist, but I can tell you firsthand that working non-stop all the time and never taking any opportunity to sit down, relax, and cater to yourself a little results in bitterness, anxiety, and inevitably exhaustion. 

It strains our relationships with the people we love.  It reduces the quality of our work. 

And so, as I said before, I am here to advocate the importance of rest.  In a society that waits for no one, it is cru-cial that we wait for ourselves every now and then. 

Skip that class just once and sleep in.  Call in sick to work.  Take a mental health day, turn off every electronic de-vice you own, and go off the grid for a few hours. 

I promise, when all the rigors of ev-eryday life begin to catch up with you, you will thank yourself.  

Chelsea HarveyONLINE@THEPLAINSMAN.

COM

We’re long overdue for a nap

A7Thursday, April 4, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Community

CommunityTwo of Auburn’s historic homes scheduled for demolitionSydney CallisCOMMUNITY EDITOR

The Auburn Preservation League held a meet-ing on Tuesday, April 2 to discuss ways to pre-vent the demolition of two historic homes in Au-burn.

The two homes, on North Gay Street, are cur-rently set to be demolished to build a MAX Cred-it Union on the property.

President of the APL, Jason St. Clair, said the APL board approved a board within the APL called the Strategic Priorities Committee to work to establish laws that would hinder the de-molition of Auburn’s historic homes in the fu-ture.

“As we know right now, there’s really no legal way to save these homes,” St. Clair said. “As this committee we’re going to go try to explore ways to stop this. The first meeting will be next week.”

Chip Nix of Newground Building Compa-ny and Jason Lewis of Hydro Engineering Solu-tions, are working with MAX on the project and attended the ALP meeting on Tuesday, April 2 to hear community concerns and answer ques-tions.

“Our client is MAX,” Lewis said. “We’re build-ing a bank. The two homes cannot serve as a bank building. We have to build a bank vault, and there is no real way for us to use the homes. I don’t have a project that can reuse the homes.”

Nix said the homes have been for sale for the past three to five years.

A.Z. (Zack) Carter III, the son of the owner of one of the homes, said he would like to see the homes renovated for the credit union’s use rath-er than demolished, a sentiment shared with many attendees of the meeting.

Carter said he doesn’t want to impede the sale

of the property, but doesn’t want to see his fa-ther’s home demolished.

“My father’s widow had to sell because she’s not wealthy,” Carter said. “I know my father would not want to see the sale, but I know if at all possible, Dad would want to see his home saved.”

Moving the home, conducting a feasibility study and renovating the home to fit the needs

of the credit unions were alternate plans dis-cussed to save the home.

Nix said he is willing to hear ideas from the ALP about saving the homes, but said he needs to hear them in at least 30 days in order to have a conversation about the plans.

“We’re trying to be good neighbors and come forward before the buildings come down,” Nix said. “There’s no way the buildings on the site,

on those two properties will work for the credit union. But if the APL has a desire to either relo-cate the buildings or salvage materials, etc. we’re trying to open the arms and say we’re willing to talk and see what we can do to work together.”

Nix and Lewis also said they have not current-ly set a date for the demolition, but said they are far along in the inspection period after meeting the neccessary zoning requirements.

RAYE MAY / PHOTO EDITOR

At the APL meeting, attendees discussed ways to save the homes on the 300 block of North Gay Street from scheduled demolition to build a MAX Credit Union.

It is a dog-eat-dog world in pursuit of olympic goldAbigail O’BrienCOMMUNITY WRITER

This Sunday, April 7, the Tuskegee University Canine Club will host its annual Doggie Olym-pics at Kiesel Park from 1–5 p.m., with proceeds benefitting the Macon County Humane Society.

Willie Bidot, who is in his third year of pur-suing his doctorate at Tuskegee Veterinarian School and is also president of the Canine Club, said the event is a great way to promote health for the dogs as well as have fun.

Other Tuskegee clubs will be present at the event, offering activities like dog bathing and microchipping, Bidot said.

The event is free, but if owners want to enter their canines in competitions, registration is $2.

Events will include competitions for the larg-est dog, smallest dog, fastest peanut-butter lick-er and most obedient, among other events, Bi-dot said.

There will be prizes for first, second and third place for all competitions, Bidot said.

“It’s just something different for their dogs,” said Melissa Weldon of Auburn Parks and Rec-reation. “You can get your dogs involved in the event and…it doesn’t have to be a dog with a kind of talent – you could just be a great dog that loves peanut butter and your dog could

walk away with a prize.”One of the reasons Weldon wants to support

the event is because the proceeds go to help the Macon County Humane Society, Weldon said.

Weldon lives on a small farm in Notasulga and said her and her husband have 12 dogs, 11 of them rescued.

“I know the need is there,” Weldon said.Lorna Aho, president of the Macon County

Humane Society said on a personal level, she en-joys coming to the Doggie Olympics and getting to see the familiar faces of dogs she has previ-ously fostered and having them remember her.

Macon County Humane Society has no facil-ity and operates solely on fostering, Aho said.

Aho said right now she has 10 foster dogs and eight of her own, estimating that she has fos-tered more than 350 animals in the last four to five years.

The event is helpful for the MCHS in not only providing money, but also in raising awareness.

“To be honest, the human resource side needs to be as replenished just as much as the monetary side,” Aho said. “I could have all the money in the world but if I didn’t have fosters I couldn’t make this thing work.”

The event will be held in the dog park section of Kiesel Park.

Community blooms for annual Garden in the Park festivalAnna Claire ConradWRITER

Get ready to get a dirty in your gardening clothes be-cause Keep Opelika Beauti-ful is hosting its annual Gar-den in the Park event at Ope-lika Municipal Park on Satur-day, April 6.

Garden in the Park will be-gin at 10 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m., and according to Raven Harvis, Keep Opelika Beautiful board member, this event will be fun for the family.

“Garden in the Park is a fam-ily activity that brings people

from all walks of life together united to support the efforts of Keep Opelika Beautiful and their children who are per-forming,” Harvis said. “And it gives everyone a chance to in-teract with those in their city.”

Vendors will sell a variety of handmade, natural and gar-den-related products, such as jewelry, artwork and birdhous-es at the park.

“We’ll have everything from children’s clothes to head-bands to trees and other plants to natural honey,” Mill-er said. “We’ll also have face-

painting and other arts and crafts and live music. It’s a broad spectrum of things, but everything is related to that handmade, natural, garden-related core. That allows us to keep out resell stuff or the stuff you see in larger stores. These are things that you may only be able to purchase at this event, and these may be vendors you otherwise wouldn’t know were out there.”

According to Harvis, this emphasis on homemade and homegrown goods is a key fac-tor in event.

“I love meeting the local vendors,” Harvis said. “Many of them make and sell such unique things and you can only find them by coming to events like Garden in the Park.”

Harvis said this is not an event exclusively for families and gardeners. She said col-lege students would also get a lot out of this event.

“This event is perfect to give [Auburn University] students the feel of a welcoming com-munity,” Harvis said. “And it’s also great for networking. They will learn so much about the

talents of the city schools in Opelika and be exposed to its finest residents.”

If that’s not enough to per-suade college students to show up, maybe the free admission will be.

“This is the first year that we have not charged admission,” Miller said. “Which I think is just huge because, obviously, that will attract more people.”

It’s the sense of connect-ing people to their communi-ty that makes Garden in the Park so vital to the Opelika-Auburn area, and according to

Harvis, it’s events like this that will keep our community alive and active.

“It is essential to meet and greet your neighbors, support community activity and ex-pose yourself and your fam-ily to things that further the beauty of our great city,” Har-vis said. “People often get in-spired to get involved when they connect a cause to an event. We are hoping that Gar-den in the Park is an event that connects people to continue to ‘Go Green’ and ‘Keep Ope-lika Beautiful.’”

Amber FranklinWRITER

If you’re looking for some-thing new to do this Fri-day, besides the regular Sky-17-Bourbon-Momma G’s cir-cuit then head to Opelika.

This Friday, April 5, is Ope-lika’s monthly First Friday event.

Every first Friday of the month, shops in Opelika’s downtown district are open until at least 8:00 p.m., and there is live entertainment throughout downtown.

“There’s a different ambi-ance on First Fridays,” said Pam Powers-Smith, direc-tor of Opelika Main Street. “You have more people mill-ing about, and it’s a really laid-back, casual night.”

People can visit restaurants normally open late, such as Jefferson’s, Ma Fia’s Ristorante and Eighth & Rail, but explore other parts of downtown Ope-lika while they wait.

“Instead of standing there waiting for your table for an hour, people know they can walk around and shop, or pick up dessert at one of our des-sert places that stay open a lit-tle later that night,” Powers-Smith said. “Typically peo-ple will run into people they know, so you’re chatting with people and it’s fun.”

During First Friday, cus-tomers can visit up to nine re-tail stores in downtown Ope-lika that are open late.

Some of the stores that par-ticipate are Fringe Consign-ment Boutique, The Coveted Closet and Jane Sweet Jane.

Fringe and The Coveted Closet sell clothing for wom-en and girls, while Jane Sweet Jane and Taylor Made De-signs specialize in handmade items and gifts such as pil-lows, lamps, jewelry and ac-cessories.

Staying open late on First Fridays gives stores a chance to reach people they may not normally be catering to.

“People that hold a nine-to-five job don’t really have the opportunity to shop at our re-tail stores, so this is the per-fect chance for them to lei-surely come out and look around our shops,” Powers-Smith said.

Fringe experiences a dif-ference in customer base because of First Fridays, said store manager Ashley Colquitt.

“I do think we have dif-ferent customers that come through the night of First Fri-day just because of us being open late,” Colquitt said. “Peo-ple tend to come through here because they see that we’re open when they’re going to dinner or whatever.”

One thing missing from First Friday is the college de-mographic.

“I think we don’t get too much of the college popula-tion up this way, and I think it would be great for them to start coming here,” said Lisa White, store team leader at Fringe.

This month’s event will fea-ture music by Destiny Brown, an Auburn alumna, and other musicians from the local area.

“We have live musicians set up sporadically around the downtown area, so each block has a different musi-cian,” Powers-Smith said.

First Friday is already a hit with Opelika residents, but Powers-Smith continues to encourage more people, es-pecially Auburn students, to come enjoy the downtown event.

“Try something new,” Pow-ers-Smith said. “Come over here and see and do some-thing different. Go some-where for dinner that you don’t normally go to dinner in Auburn and experience the atmosphere for yourself.”

“People that hold a nine-to-five job don’t really have the opportunity to shop at our retail stores, so this is the perfect chance for them to leisurely come out and look around our shops.”

—Pam Powers-Smith DIRECTOR OF OPELIKA MAIN STREET

Downtown Opelika adds even more fun to Fridays

CONTRIBUTED BY REBECCA COZART

Like last year’s event, the Doggie Olympics will have a fastest peanut-butter licker competition.

Community A8 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, April 4, 2013

Sports B1Thursday, April 4, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Sports

George NunnelleyWriter

One thing in particular separates collegiate sports from professional sports: money. And i believe that is the way it should be.

We all know those NCAA commercials that state, “There are over 400,000 NCAA student-athletes, and just about all of us go pro in something other than sports.”

College is about the education and earning a de-gree for the majority of student-athletes, not solely about sports. Not to mention, there are endless ques-tions to be raised if compensation were allowed.

What about the little guys? those mid-major teams and athletes who do not get as much expo-sure as the SeC or Big12.

What about those smaller sports teams such as lacrosse or swimming?

What about the women’s sports that do not earn as much revenue or get as much recognition as the men?

The list could go on and on, and i believe that keeping the traditional aspect of amateurism in col-lege sports is necessary.

But, in my mind, student-athletes are already get-ting paid. What do you call the tens of thousands of dollars that they receive in scholarships? is that not money their families get to keep?

Nonetheless, there are obviously those who be-lieve that it is time to compensate student-athletes because of the money that their likeliness generates.

For example, former NBA stars ed O’Bannon, Bill russell and Oscar robertson are leading a lawsuit against the NCAA and its lack of compensation. Ac-cording to a CNBC article, a trial is scheduled for July 2014, and many think that the NCAA will lose.

But, as of now, athletes know that they sign their marketing rights away to the NCAA when they sign with a college team, and i am standing firm with my argument.

Whenever i think about collegiate sports, i think about the team pride and team unity that is evident. And there is evidence to back up the notion that this team pride and team unity is not always present in professional sports.

Look at the past three or four years in the NFL alone. Big-name players such as Maurice Jones-Drew, Darrelle revis, Mike Wallace and Michael Crabtree, to name a few, have all held out of pre-season training camp or expressed their intent to be traded because of their inflated egos and desire to be paid more.

What is to stop this from happening if compensa-tion is brought into collegiate sports?

take Cam Newton, Anthony Davis or Johnny Man-ziel, for instance. All are student-athletes who burst onto the scene with record-breaking performances in the past three years.

Say Cam Newton would have been paid a por-tion of what his likeness generated during the 2010 season. Who’s to say that he would not have devel-oped an inflated ego, put himself before his team and rather than being a leader, caused locker room tension? Would he have won the Heisman trophy? Would Auburn have won the BCS National Champi-onship? Perhaps not.

Although i am firm in my belief that individu-al compensation should be kept out of collegiate sports, that does not necessarily mean that i don’t believe more compensation to an athletic program as a whole wouldn’t work.

According to the aforementioned CNBC article, the NCAA generated approximately $6.6 billion in television contracts and merchandise licensing in 2012. And where does this money go? Primarily, it is kept within the NCAA.

i believe that the NCAA should have to forfeit more of the money to universities, and, in turn, the universities could compensate the athletic pro-grams as a whole with better facilities, more schol-arships, etc.

if it has to be done, it has to be for the benefit of all. “texas A&M got some $37 million in media expo-

sure after their quarterback Johnny Manziel won the Heisman trophy in December,” said Scott Minto, di-rector of San Diego State University’s sport business program. “He didn’t get paid one dime from that.”

But, Scott, that is not to say that texas A&M did not, or could not, use that money for the betterment of the football program.

The bottom line is, i believe that amateurism is es-sential in keeping the tradition of collegiate sports alive. it makes it different from professional sports, and in many respects, it makes it better.

John BurnsSPOrtS eDitOr

A-Day, the chance for Gus Malzahn and his tigers to display their progress on the field, is 16 days away, and the team is now two weeks into practicing as a unit under the new coach-ing schemes.

the tigers held a two-hour full contact practice Wednesday morning, with 45 min-utes of situational scrimmage work.

At this point of spring training, things are not clicking for the players as they would ide-ally be halfway through a season, but that is to be expected, especially with new leadership.

“i told the guys after practice we’ve got a long way to go,” Malzahn said. “Watching ev-erything, we’ve got to get better at our assign-ments, as far as body language, as far as ef-fort, everything.”

Though the players aren’t necessarily play-ing to their full potential at the fifth spring practice of the year, the coaches have ac-counted for the learning curve, and believe the players should start understanding offen-sive and defensive schemes much better with-in the next few weeks.

“But the great thing is that the next cou-ple of practices, we should see improvement,” Malzahn said. “We’ve got most of our stuff in now and we should start seeing some im-provement.”

By “stuff ” Malzahn means he and the other members of the coaching staff have expressed

their expectation of positional assignments, as well as introducing offensive and defensive plays, blocking schemes and blitz and cover packages.

“We’re trying to get them to think like we want them to think, play like we want them to play, everybody (to) be together with great effort, great body language, (and) the mental and physical toughness,” Malzahn said. “We’re straining them – they’re out of their comfort zone, which is good – but after five practices, we should start seeing improvement.”

College football is a business, and in the SeC it’s a particularly difficult one, especial-ly to downtrodden team members that still have the incredibly bitter taste of defeat in

their mouths from last season’s debacle of a campaign.

As the coach said, he and his staff are push-ing the team to their limit and beyond in or-der to ensure that they, along with the Auburn community and fan base, don’t have to expe-rience another 3–9 season.

Apparently Malzahn believes after five practices the team should begin its upward trend toward “getting” the way the offense and defense will work, and that’s a good sign, because this A-Day is of greater importance than most, and it’s not far away.

it’s more important because of the high ex-pectations and faith in the new coach, and while it may not be fair to demand excellence out of a first-year SeC coach, it’s the confer-ence that he is getting paid to coach in, and fans of Auburn want and need a good return on that dollar, and soon.

it’s also easy for a team and fan base to become spoiled after the 2010 BCS Nation-al Championship, and it’s even more simple to become impatient with a program that dropped off the conference map while a rival is the cream of the NCAA crop year in, year out.

the team needs to look like they know what they’re doing on A-Day, because if they don’t, the excitement surrounding this team and staff may slightly diminish.

The tigers will return to practice Friday, April 5, after a day of rest.

“We’re trying to get them to think like we want them to think, play like we want them to play, everybody (to) be together with great effort, great body language (and) the mental and physical toughness.”

—Gus Malzahn HeAD FOOtBALL COACH

A-Day not too far away

Andrew YawnSPOrtS rePOrter

Spring practice has begun and Gus Malzahn has his players fly-ing around the field. For line-backer Kris Frost, this means taking some time away from fly-ing through the air.

Frost, sophomore in profes-sional flight management, has spent the last year learning the craft and earning his wings as part of his curriculum.

With the beginning of spring practices, however, Frost said he’s had to make time for foot-ball.

“it’s just a little time, a month and a little bit,” Frost said when asked if he’s had to put off flying. “We have meetings at five so i’m going to have to postpone some stuff now.”

And for good reason.Frost spent last season under

former tiger Daren Bates, the team’s leader in tackles in 2012.

in new defensive coordinator ellis Johnson’s 4-2-5 system, the former high school All-Ameri-can is looking to crack the start-ing lineup.

And yet, despite Auburn’s rep-utation as a football factory,

Frost said he wouldn’t be on The Plains these days if not for the University’s flight program, the second oldest in the country.

“When i came for my visit and found out that they had a flight program i knew that’s what i wanted to do, and it was a big say-so in me coming here,” Frost said. “i’m just focusing on what i want to take advantage of aca-demically-wise.”

Frost said the Auburn Univer-sity regional Airport’s proximity to campus was also a huge factor in his decision to sign with the ti-

gers.Like football, Frost said fly-

ing requires preparation, com-munication and multi-tasking, and Frost has now flown several times with an accompanying in-structor.

Soon, however, Frost will earn the aviation equivalent of start-ing a Saturday football game: his first solo flight.

“it’s fun,” Frost said. “it was a cool little twist in my life, and i’m enjoying it every step of the way.”

Courtesy of todd Van emstKris frost charges after the ball at practice Wednesday, april 3.

De-Frost the wings before takeoff

“When I came for my visit and found out that they had a flight program I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and it was a big say-so in me coming here.”

—Kris Frost AUBUrN LiNeBACKer

Courtesy of todd Van emst(top) malzahn speaks to the team Wednesday, april 3. (Left) dee ford evades an offensive lineman. (right) Cameron artis-Payne is brought down.

KatherIne mCCahey / assIstant Photo edItorCam newton is one athlete who would have benefitted from financial compensation, but the team as a whole may not have.

To compensate or not to compensate athletes?

Sports B2 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, April 4, 2013

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April 5Men’s tennis vs. Texas A&M, Auburn, at 5 p.m.

Women’s tennis vs. Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, at 5 p.m.

Softball vs. Ole Miss, Auburn, at 6 p.m.

Baseball vs. Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, at 6:30 p.m.

Track, Tiger Track Classic, Auburn, all day.

April 6Baseball vs. Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, at 2 p.m.

Softball vs. Ole Miss, Auburn, at 6 p.m.

Women’s gymnastics, NCAA Regionals, Gainesville, Fla., at 5 p.m.

Track, Tiger Track Classic, Auburn, all day.

April 7Women’s tennis vs. Missouri, Columbia, Mo., at 9 a.m.

Baseball vs. Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, at 1 p.m.

Softball vs. Ole Miss, Auburn, at 1 p.m.

April 8Men’s golf, Gary Koch Invitational, Old Memorial Golf Club, Tampa, Fla., all day.

March 26Softball vs. Southern Miss, Auburn, at 6 p.m.

Men’s golf, Gary Koch Invitational, Old Memorial Golf Club, Tampa, Fla., all day.

March 27Baseball vs. Alabama State, Auburn, at 6 p.m.

Softball vs. Troy, Auburn at 6 p.m.

The next week in Auburn athletics

Keep up with all news @ theplainsman.com

Will GainesSPorTS rePorTer

During Gene Chizik’s tenure at Auburn the linebackers were consistently inconsistent and rarely had any production. New defensive coor-dinator ellis Johnson will be looking to get the linebacking corp back as one of the consistent strengths for Auburn.

With Johnson’s new 4-2-5 defensive scheme most of the defense will not change from a year ago as far as strategy goes, but the linebackers will be a group that will be taking on a new look in 2013

The 4-2-5 is a system that takes away one of the linebackers from the 4-3 (Auburn’s previous defensive scheme) and replaces him with an ex-tra player in the secondary. While the third play-er is technically a safety he will be part of the linebacking group in some situations. This play-er will be called the star position.

Players have got their first look at the new system during spring practice and have indi-cated that the star position will play as a safe-ty against spread offenses, but will play more of linebacker role against traditional pro-style of-fenses.

With the move to this style of defense, the linebacker position will not be a major recruit-ing emphasis any longer, with much more em-phasis being put on big physical safeties. Be-cause of this the Tigers’ low numbers at line-backer should not be a problem.

Also, Auburn will be looking for bigger line-backers so they protect the middle of the field better. Johnson has said that he would like his linebackers to be 230 pounds and above.

Currently on the roster are Jake Holland, Kris Frost, Cassanova McKinzy, Justin Garret, JaViere Mitchell and Harris Gaston.

Holland is the most experienced player in this group, but has not proven himself to be a pro-ductive player. He lost his starting job last sea-son to then freshman McKinzy. All this said,

Holland has been showing Johnson that he is clever enough to play in his defense. He is cur-rently the only player cross training for both available linebacker spots.

Frost was a highly decorated recruit in high school, but has yet to see much playing time at Auburn other than special teams. Johnson has said he likes his confidence and the command he takes on the field. He could be looking at playing the mike position, which is the quarter-back of sorts on the defense.

Physically, Mckinzy is the best linebacker Au-burn has. At 6-foot-3, 245 pounds he fits what Johnson is looking for in a linebacker. He also saw some playing time in 2012 that will give him experience and confidence going into 2013.

A new face to this group is Ladarius owens. owens played linebacker in high school and asked the coaches if he could return to this po-sition after being moved to defensive end. Like McKinzy, he has good size for the position. The thing the coaches will be watching all spring is if he has enough athleticism to play in space as a linebacker.

Mitchell and Garrett have both been splitting reps at the star position so far this spring. Both have the athletic ability and size to play this spot and will get more of a serious look when fall camp begins.

The candidate most likely to play the star po-sition is junior college transfer Brandon King. He was hand selected by Johnson to play the star and he has all the intangibles to be success-ful.

“Brandon King is a defensive back/safe-ty from junior college. once again, we felt like we needed some depth at safety and some guys that could immediately play. He’s a very hard-nosed, physical type player, so we are very excit-ed about him,” Gus Malzahn said on signing day.

The new 4-2-5 scheme should bring more suc-cess for the linebackers this fall, and in turn add much needed strength to the overall defense.

COuRTeSy OF TOdd VAN eMSTunder ellis Johnson’s 4-2-5 defense, Auburn will switch from three linebackers to two, with a hybrid at the “star” position.

Tigers trying to fill needs at linebacker position

Former Tigers in the showJohn BurnsSPorTS eDiTor

The Major League Baseball season began Sunday, March 31, and while Auburn is not as well known for sending athletes to the big leagues as it is for the NFL, there are still a handful of Tigers who made opening day ros-ters.

Tim Hudson of the Braves, David ross of the red Sox and Josh Donaldson of the Athlet-ics all made their team’s 25-man roster.

Hudson began his 15th season and ninth with the Braves by opening against the Phil-lies Monday, April 1.

The Braves picked up the win, but Hudson

did not stay in the game long enough to add it to his 197–104 overall record.

A former All-American, Hudson has the 13th most strikeouts of any active player in the majors with more than 1,800.

Donaldson is the third base starter for the Athletics, and is in his third season.

Last season oakland won the AL West.ross is new to the red Sox, but it is his 12th

season overall.Last year ross was backup catcher to the

Braves’ Brian McCann. He was with the Atlanta-based team for

four years, and is a career .238 hitter over 11 years.

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ThePlainsman.comEthan BradySPorTS WriTEr

Starting the season with an impres-sive 13-3 record and on the verge of be-coming nationally ranked, the Auburn baseball team hit a wall, losing eight of ten that included a seven game confer-ence losing streak.

After managing a single victory over Alabama, the Tigers are looking forward to their first contest against SEC new-comer Texas A&M.

The three-game series against the Ag-gies will be April 4-7 in College Station, Texas at Blue Bell Park. Texas A&M (18-11, 5-4 SEC) comes into the game pre-viously ranked as high as No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, but recent-ly dropped out of the rankings after be-ing swept by No. 14 South Carolina this past week.

The Aggies should match-up well against Auburn as both teams rank closely together in the bottom 25 per-cent of most SEC statistics.

There are strong similarities in rBi, on base percentage and homeruns between the teams this season. This should prove

to be a closely contested pitching match with both teams averaging approxi-mately three earned runs per game.

one of the most glaring differences between the two teams is Auburn’s sec-ond to last ranking in errors with 39, against A&M’s second best with 24.

Throughout the season, Auburn has hurt themselves by consistently allow-ing unearned runs, many off of errors.

There were seven unearned runs in one game against Troy, eight against Al-abama last weekend, and 38 total this season. Texas A&M has only allowed 11 unearned runs all year and have forced their opponents to work for their scores.

if the Tigers can limit their errors and refrain from giving freebies to the Ag-gies, the series should be close through-out the weekend.

Pitching will be key for Auburn as Texas A&M has allowed 32 fewer runs than the Tigers and consistently score more.

Auburn’s pitching has shown flashes of success in winning games this season, but will need to limit the Aggies’ scoring to give Auburn’s unpredictable batting a

chance at gaining a lead.Some players to watch this series are

two productive seniors, Auburn’s Gar-rett Cooper and A&M’s Mikey reynolds.

Cooper, the first baseman for Auburn, has recently entered a hitting hot streak, leading the team in batting average with a .333 and hitting a crucial three-run homerun to defeat Alabama March 29.

Cooper is tied for the lead in hits, dou-bles, triples and homeruns for the Tigers this season and trails only ryan Tella in rBi’s with 20.

reynolds, a shortstop for the Aggies, leads his team in six categories includ-ing batting average, hits and runs. His .404 average is fourth overall in the SEC and will likely be a problem for Auburn pitchers throughout the weekend.

For Auburn to be successful in this se-ries they must limit their errors and un-earned runs, pitch well against one of the SEC’s better hitting teams and score when they have runners on base.

Too many times this season the Ti-gers have left two and three runners stranded on base, runs that could have changed the outcome of their losses.

Crunch time in College StationAfter three brutal weekends against SEC opponents, the Tigers will

need to turn their season around at Texas A&M this weekend

Courtesy of todd Van emstauburn’s defense will need to stop committing errors if the team as a whole is going to have any success for the remainder of the season.

Alverson selected for 3-point championship

Courtesy of todd Van emstBlanche alverson will compete in the state farm College 3-Point Championship.

John Burns SPorTS EdiTor

Though the Auburn wom-en’s basketball team was elim-inated from the WNiT in the round of eight, senior Blanche Alverson will have another opportunity to represent her school at the State Farm Col-lege 3-Point Championship.

The event will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 4 at Mc-Camish Pavilion on Georgia Tech’s campus, and is part of State Farm’s 25th annual Col-lege Slam dunk and 3-Point Championship.

Alverson is part of an exclu-sive group as only 23 other ath-letes were invited to join the competition.

it will be broadcast live on

ESPN.“it is such an honor to be se-

lected for this event and i am excited for the opportunity to go to Atlanta and do my best,” Alverson said. “Being able to put on the Auburn jersey one more time means so much to me. i will do my best to repre-sent the Auburn Family well.”

Alverson is from Andalusia, and is a 6-foot-3 senior who averaged 12.6 points per game and was a centerpiece to the Tigers’ success this season.

She made 67 three pointers this season and is the fourth Auburn player in history to re-cord at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 steals and as-sists, and 50 blocks during her career.

Sports B4 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, April 4, 2013

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A week in Auburn sportsBaseball: The baseball team won its first SEC game of the season last Friday, March 29 with a 6–3 victory over rival Crimson Tide. Unfortunate-ly the victory was sandwiched by a 6–2 loss Thursday, March 28 and a 2–0 defeat Saturday, March 30. The Tigers are now 1–8 in SEC play but boast a 16–12 overall record. Though the team gave up 11 runs against Alabama, only three of them were earned, and the Tigers’ pitching staff ended the week with only a 1.00 ERA.

Women’s Basketball: The women’s basketball team’s run in the WNIT ended with a 56–43 loss to Drexel in the quarterfinal round of the tournament Saturday, March 30. The Tigers won three WNIT games, and finished the sea-son with an overall record of 19–15.

Men’s Tennis: The No. 32 men’s tennis team picked up a big road win over No. 14 Vanderbilt 4–2 Friday, March 29, but fell to No. 8 Kentucky 4–1 two days later and their undefeated streak on the road against SEC oppo-nents was snapped. Both meetings were on the road for the Tigers, and their record is now 12–7 (4–5 SEC).

Softball: The Auburn women’s softball team won two of three games against Mississippi State, defeating the Bulldogs 8–3 and 7–5 Friday, March 29, but lost to the same team 4–3 Saturday, March 30. After the weekend series, the Tigers’ record sits at 23–14 (4–8 SEC).

Swimming & Diving:The men’s swimming and diving team finished in eighth place at the 2013 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis. It was the men’s team’s 21st consecu-tive top 10 finish at the event, dating back to 1993 and their 31st of all time. Auburn earned 30 All-America honors and a national cham-pionship in the 200 freestyle relay.

Women’s Golf:The No. 28 women’s golf team tied for ninth place at the Bryan Na-tional Collegiate, which was hosted by Wake Forest and the Univer-sity ofNorth Carolina-Greensboro, Sunday, March 31. The Tigers col-lectively shot 30 over after 54 holes, and Marta Sanz earned her third top 10 finish of the season by shooting three over par.

Women’s Tennis: The No. 22 women’s tennis team were dealt their first defeat at home this season 5–2 against No. 19 Vanderbilt Friday, March 29. They were not losers for long, as they swept No. 47 Kentucky 4–0 Sunday, March 31. The Tigers are now 15–5 (5–4 SEC).

Track:The Auburn track team opened up outdoor meets last Friday, March 29, and had several standout performers immediately.Jessie John-son and Valentina Muzaric each set school records in women’s pole vault and shot put, respectively. Senior sprinter Harry Adams tied his personal record in the 100 meter-dash.

Courtesy of todd Van emst(Left) Jonathan wallace throws while being pressured by Gabe Wright during practice saturday, march 30 in Jordan-Hare stadium. (right) marcelo Chierighini finishes in second place in the 100 yard freestyle satur-day, march 30.

IntrigueThursday, April 4, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Intrigue

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Jessa PeaseWrIter

Bourbon Street Bar is revving up for the performance of Ben rector featuring Alpha rev on thursday, April 4.

Alpha rev is an American alter-native rock band from Austin, tex-as, that was formed in 2005 by sing-er-songwriter Casey McPherson, and their performance at Bourbon Street will promote their newest al-bum Bloom that was released tues-day, March 19.

“I love big sound. I love big expan-sive melodies,” McPherson said. “We are kind of infusing that with Amer-ican folk and American country. You know, the older country stuff like Johnny Casino and Johnny Cash.”

McPherson said the band also draws from tom Petty on some of the songs and radiohead in terms of melody and harmony. The group has released three albums including Bloom, and they are on tour often.

Along with McPherson, Jeff Bry-ant, Zak Loy and tabber Millard make up the sounds of Alpha rev, and they don’t just play the guitar and drums. Alpha rev uses the pi-ano, organ, mandolin and lap and pedal steels in their music.

“So we are a four piece, but we

carry twice as much gear with us, because we are switching instru-ments a lot,” McPherson said.

tinizia Bentley, senior in theater, said she loves Alpha rev. She first heard one of their songs one morn-

ing on VH1’s ‘You Oughta Know.’“I guess I would call them alter-

native,” Bentley said. “If I could com-pare them to another band I would probably compare them to Yellow-card, but I would only compare

them to Yellowcard because they are a band that has a fiddle. Yel-lowcard also has a fiddle, and they kind of play the same genre of mu-sic.”

Bentley said she would real-ly like to see Alpha rev at Bour-bon and that she didn’t even know they would be there, but thinks stu-dents should not expect to be able to dance if they attend because that isn’t their type of music.

“I really liked it. It was pretty, so I further investigated them and re-

ally liked everything I heard,” Bent-ley said. “The lyrics that they have for the songs, it’s just beautiful. Like any song that you listen to of theirs is like thought out. It makes you feel something. It’s not simple. It’s like you actually have to listen to under-stand what they are talking about.”

McPherson says his inspiration for songs comes from the way he feels. It really helps when he has gone through something awesome or terrible to start cracking a mel-ody and start cracking a lyric open.

“Bloom is really dealing with get-ting around or getting through in-ternal conflict whether it be inter-nal inside yourself or internal like a close relationship,” McPherson said. “A lot of times that’s how we figure out who we are and what we are about going through the fire, espe-cially fire in this case that deals with internal conflict and external close circle.”

An experience is what McPher-son said he hopes Alpha rev’s per-formance gives the Bourbon Street audience.

“Hopefully a little bit of a ton-ic experience in terms of different sounds and emotional melodies, and an emotionally high-energy show,” McPherson said.

Ben Rector, Alpha Rev to perform at Bourbon street tonight

Darin Beck / photographer

Caitlin WagenseilIntrIgue rePOrter

Christian Hamrick is the artist behind the unique murals at Moe’s Original Bar-B-Que. Those murals, however, barely scratch the sur-face of his many artistic talents.

“I was painting a mural in the back of Little Italy and (a guy) came in to get a pizza for the crew constructing the innards of Moe’s Bar-B-Q,” Hamrick said. “He seemed interested in what I was doing, and asked if I would paint their res-taurant next door.”

Hamrick said he was then introduced to one of the owners named John Moss.

“Moss told me I had two days to paint be-fore they opened—I didn’t sleep for the next two days,” he said. “A few months later, they asked for the outside patio to be painted.”

As far as the creative inspiration behind the murals at Moe’s, Hamrick said he was given a lot of freedom.

“The only specific item they asked for was the menu board,” Hamrick said. “The crew and I brainstormed throughout the process, and the

inspiration was barbecue, music and good peo-ple.”

Hamrick said he used paint and spray paint to do the murals. to be specific, he said he used chalk, charcoal, ink, sharpie, house paint, acryl-ic paint and a few other forms of media.

He said he did a sketch or two for the menu board, but besides that didn’t really map any-thing out on paper. He also said he first painted a few outlines on the walls at the restuarant and went from there.

“Most of it was in the moment,” Hamrick said.Additionally, Hamrick said he didn’t find

painting the murals time-consuming or nerve-wracking at all.

“I guess I’ve learned to ignore the woes of late nights,” he said.

Hamrick said that the best description of his art is found in the artwork itself.

“As far as words go, I am searching for the heartbeat—everyone has a heartbeat but we rarely notice its presence; it’s not just know-ing you’re alive, but truly realizing you’re alive,” Hamrick said. “My art, at least recently, is the

hope of this realization. Personally, I find the heartbeat in the process of creating.”

Aside from his work at Moe’s Bar-B-Que, Hamrick has also painted other murals around Auburn and Opelika, including the murals in Little Italy, Seoul BBQ and Las Margaritas.

And Hamrick doesn’t need to say much about what he believes to be the best and hardest part of what he does. “The best part is the most chal-lenging part, and the most challenging part is the best part,” he said.

He said that on a good day, he spends about 24 hours in the studio, and is usually involved in multiple projects at the same time, whether those projects be collaborative or individual

“today, I put paint on a piano for the Key-note Project, sketched out a few sculptures, and brainstormed community garden options,” he said.

Additionally, Hamrick said he prepped a can-vas to continue a series of subconscious portrai-ture and “talked with some folks about the blos-soming of the Cotton Seed Studio in Opelika.”

While time in the studio takes up much of

Hamrick’s time, he uses what spare time he does have enjoying much of what life has to offer.

“I drink coffee, fish, travel, breathe,” he said. “I get lost, go outside when it storms, make friends, read, dream, and go to shows—I tend to find enjoyment in many things.”

Hamrick added that he was looking forward to richard Hagans’ solo show, “Out of Place,” at The railyard in Opelika on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, 13.

“I caught a sneak peak of some of the work he is planning to show, and it is something I recom-mend no one miss,” Hamrick said.

What Hamrick does is very unique, but he is not yet sure what exactly it was that got him in-terested in art.

“I’m still figuring it out,” he said. “I have al-ways been passionate, not just about art, but other things in general.” the weather, move-ment, humans and cooking were some of his other passions that he named.

With regards to the future, Hamrick has a few words to describe the impact he hopes his work will have. “I hope it strums the soul,” he said.

Original Bar-B-Que, original artwork

“i love big sound. i love big expansive melodies. We are kind of infusing that with american folk and american country. You know, the older country stuff like Johnny casino and Johnny cash.”

—Casey McPherson SInger-SOngWrIter

courtesY of chelsea Wooten

the murals christian hamrick painted at Moe’s Bar-B-Que are funky, one-of-a-kind anecdotes that cover the brick walls on the inside of the restaurant and outside on the back patio.

Intrigue B6 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, April 4, 2013

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Anna Beth JagerInTrIgue rePorTer

Most college students spend their spring break trips sprawled out on beaches across the South attempting to get sun, sand and a lot of booze. But for Jacie Coressel, junior in political science, a casual evening hanging out with Scott Avett from grammy-nominated band, the Avett Brothers, was a trip more her style.

Coressel traveled to europe with fam-ily friends over spring break in what she calls a “fly by the seat of our pants” kind of trip. With St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, and an evening in London hanging out with Scott Avett after one of his shows, it’s a trip she will likely never forget.

The Avett Brothers, a folk-rock in-spired band taking the world by storm, hail from Coressel’s hometown of Con-cord, n.C., where she saw them play many times before they achieved their growing popularity.

“They always used to play in down-town Concord and I would go watch them,” Coressel said. “I’ve been obsessed with them forever, so when they got re-ally big I kind of felt like I had a sense of ownership of them.”

Coressel’s family friend who accompa-nied her to europe happened to attend high school with the brothers, and after seeing their show in London, the band’s manager invited them back stage where they had the opportunity to hang out with Scott for approximately two hours.

This wasn’t the first time Coressel had made one of the brother’s acquaintance.

“(My friend and I) actually ran into them in the mall once before,” she said. “We have a really small mall in Concord. We were those girls who went up to them and asked for an autograph. I felt really bad because Scott was with his kids and Seth was with his wife, but they were just so cool about it.”

While Scott admitted to Coressel that he didn’t remember that fateful day at the mall quite as vividly, she said both brothers haven’t let the fame go to their heads and they each possess an infec-tious, down-to-earth personality that

seemed to stick around for their second meeting.

“They are just so down to earth,” Cor-essel said. “They’re really good, family-oriented, small-town men. They’re still connected to their roots, which I thought was really amazing because, I mean, they’re playing a show in europe and they still have these great personalities. They haven’t been caught up in the fame.”

Coressel said whenever she meets a fellow Avett fan, she feels a sort of con-nection there. It’s a universal fandom, with incomparable loyalty and endless love for new and old sounds that vary be-tween records.

When it comes to the Avett Brother’s music, Coressel is a huge fan of it all, but she tends to prefer their older stuff, with albums like “emotionalism,” rather than their newer sound in the wildly success-ful album “The Carpenter.”

“I like their new stuff, I really do, but “emotionalism” is probably my favorite album,” Coressel said. “Their older stuff is definitely better to me just because I grew up listening to it. I feel like their style has changed a lot because they have become more famous, which I under-stand because they’re trying to adhere to popular culture, but I definitely like their older stuff a lot better. It’s all great though, I can’t really complain.”

Student kicks back with Avett brother

Courtesy of JaCie Coressel

scott avett and Jacie Coressel hang out in london backstage after the concert.

Tuscaloosa band travels to AUCaitlin WagenseilInTrIgue rePorTer

They call it joyfunk. CBDB, a band based out of Tuscaloosa, coined this phrase to describe their sound, and recently made their mark in Auburn playing at Moe’s original Bar-B-Que. now, the band is returning to Auburn and will bring their unique sound to Bourbon Street Bar this Friday, April 5.

“It basically defines our music,” said glenn Dillard, saxophone and keyboard player, of the term joyfunk. “We always try to keep that funky aspect throughout our songs and our writing. We threw joy in front of it to keep that sense of fun and make the music inter-active so that whoever comes out and sees us will have a good time.”

A few of the band members had played together in a previ-ous band, and met the others at a show. From there, they all struck up a conversation about forming something together.

“We all hit it off pretty well, and from there we just decided we wanted to start a project to-gether, which has turned into the band we have now,” Dillard said.

CBDB played its first show as a band on June 23, 2011.

The band has such a unique sound because all six members have very different musical back-grounds and influences.

“I love a lot of stuff like Paul Si-mon and umphrey’s Mcgee,” said Cy Simonton, lead singer and gui-tarist. “our bass player John lis-

tens to a lot of world music.”As for the name of the band,

both Simonton and Dillard said they’ve left that up for the audi-ence and fans to decide for them-selves what it means.

“It’s something we came up with, it’s catchy and doesn’t sound like anything else," Dillard said. “We’ve enjoyed letting peo-ple come up with what they want for it."

While playing at Moe’s original Bar-B-Que on Saturday, March 23 wasn’t the band's first time in Au-burn, Simonton and Dillard are excited to return.

“Auburn is great,” Simon-ton said. “We’ve had some great shows out of Auburn for sure—that Moe’s show was awesome; the crowd was awesome and peo-ple were into it and cheering, which makes us get into and play really well.”

Dillard agrees. “We always enjoy playing

there," Dillard said. "There are great people that are there, and it may be a small place, but it’s such an energetic place. You can get a good amount of people in there and have a great time, and that’s what we care about—having fun.”

Additionally, Dillard said that Auburn always reminds him of a close-knit community.

Because CBDB plays many of their shows in Tuscaloosa, Dil-lard said he always enjoys travel-ing and getting to see new faces in the crowd.

“It’s different for us here,” Dil-

lard said. “We like it because we always look forward to seeing the friends we’ve gained while play-ing in Auburn, as well as meet-ing new friends. It’s a lot of fun to travel and meet new people.”

The band members do find time, however, to take a break from their busy schedule and find time to write new music for a sec-ond album.

“We’ve already started writing new music for the second one, and we’re hoping to be recording that in the beginning of next year,” Simonton said.

He added that a collaborative effort from all the band members goes into writing each song.

Dillard said the band has al-ready written three new songs for the next album.

“We’re continuously writing and just trying to make each bet-ter than the last,” Dillard said.

CBDB will play at Bourbon Street Bar this Friday, April 5, as well as Peachtree Tavern in Atlan-ta on Saturday, April 20.

Additionally, the band’s first album, “phone.keys.wallet.,” is available on iTunes. CBDB en-courages those interested in the music to like its Facebook page at facebook.com/CBDBmusic, and to follow the band at twitter.com/CBDBtweets. More informa-tion about the band and upcom-ing shows can be found at cbdb-music.com.

As for the show at Bourbon, the band is excited to return and play there for a second time.

Courtesy of CBDB

CBDB played at tuscaloosa’s Jupiter bar friday, March 1 to a sea of spirited fans.

Thursday, April 4, 2013 The Auburn Plainsman Intrigue B7

Earth Fest brings all-day music and more to the PlainsKelsey DavisInTrIgue wrITer

Flower hour, yoga sessions and all day live music are just a few of the draw ins for this year’s earth Fest. The environmental Aware-ness Organization will continue the long run-ning tradition of hosting its one-day music festival on Saturday, April 6 at the Davis Ar-boretum.

The first band will take the stage at 11 a.m., and the music won’t stop until sundown.

“Our last band is scheduled at 7 p.m., but they usually don’t stop playing until like 9:30,” said Stephanie Ard, president of the eAO. “we’ll say it’s supposed to end at sundown, but there’s always some band still jamming out there when it’s pitch black.”

A spread of 13 bands will intermittent-ly play among three different stages, with a different band taking one of the stages each hour. Some featured artists on the lineup in-clude gypsies with Knives, Victorian Sundial and Lydia Clash.

“I worked (the event) two years ago, and the music was awesome,” said TJ weaver, earth Fest volunteer. “when I wasn’t having to work, I was spending down-time enjoying the music.”

But the festivities don’t end with a sol-id line up of jam-band like tunes. There will be yoga on the pavilion at 11 a.m. (all are en-couraged to bring their own mats), various local vendors, a tie dying station and more. Other perks lie in the raffling off of an Fend-

er 51 resonator Bass. Best of all, the concerts are completely free.

Musicians playing and those working the event all volunteer their time. Donations will be accepted on behalf of the eAO, which will in part be donated to the Davis Arboretum.

“(The Davis Arboretum) hosts earth Fest every year for us, and they’re just great to us,” Ard said. “The arboretum partners with the eAO on a lot of things, and it’s their 50th anni-versary, so we wanted to donate some funds to honor that.”

Aside from accepting donations to help pay for the event, the eAO will be selling an array of meals, with at least one vegetarian option.

“The veggie burger I had was top notch,” weaver said.

everything coming out of the food tent this year will be essentially waste free, including the plates, cups and silver wear.

“we’ve been working really hard to make sure that everything that comes out of the food tent completely compostable,” Ard said. “It all can go into our compost pile. we’ll then use the university’s industrial strength com-post pile to break everything down.”

no matter what the reason might be for at-tending earth Fest, plan on making a day of it.

“Bring a blanket and a bunch of your friends and just plan on staying the whole day because usually people get there and then don’t want to leave,” Ard said. “They just wind up sort of setting up camp.”

Kelsey DavisInTrIgue rePOrTer

From pencil drawings etched on paper to figures outlined in syrup on napkins, the Association of Visu-al Arts incorporated it all while con-ducting its event: 48 Hours at The waffle House.

The event encouraged those within the community to visit and eat at a waffle House of their choice during the designated 48-hour pe-riod. Participants were then urged produce any kind of creative medi-um inspired by their various expe-riences.

“It’s a fun place to draw,” said Jon Hooks, president of the AVA. “You never know what you’re go-ing to see at waffle House, but yet it always kind of feels the same after you leave I think, even if something weird happens. It’s never quite the same, but it’s always similar in some way.”

Hooks said that the main goal of the event was to record the 48-hour time period in a creative manner.

“we just general interest to see if there was anything that was unique, or if everyone kind of had the same experience,” Hooks said.

Though much of the 48 hours consisted of typical waffle House activities, a few of those hours did break away from the norm.

“I did not know waffle House had a bouncer on Friday nights, but it was actually necessary as I found out. So that was cool,” said Ashley reid, member of the AVA, in refer-ence to a security guard who works at waffle House.

Hooks explained that a fight broke out at one of the waffle Hous-es where a participant was dining.

“He wasn’t even sure (of what happened), but he took photos of it,” Hooks said. “we’ll have those nice photos in the exhibition, which will be kind of awesome.”

All data collected will be on dis-play in The Vault gallery of Big-gin Hall Friday, April 5 until Friday, April 19. The interior will be deco-rated to resemble a waffle House like facade, where art from the event will be on display.

“we’re trying to recreate a simi-lar experience that you would have from going to a waffle House within a very small confined gallery space,” Hooks said.

From 12–5 p.m. on Friday, April 5, waffles and coffee will be provided. Those who attend are encouraged to leave a “tip” based on the service the received and their experience at the exhibit.

All donations will go to the Vi-sual Art Students Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series, AVA’s student run endowment fund. This fund allows students to bring visu-al artists and scholars to lecture at Auburn university for the public to attend.

Art students spend 48 hours at Waffle House

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There are a lot of apps on my iPhone. I’ve got the so-cial media power duo of Face-book and Twitter, Kindle, In-stagram, Vine, Spotify, uSA Today and The new Yorker. while having an abundance of tools at my fingertips for idle time can’t be consid-ered bad, it can be a nuisance to constantly flip black and forth among applications.

The solution for this issue lies in the next logical move for the evolving media mar-ket: making it available in one place.

Flipboard hopes to fill this void. Half social media and half news article assemblage, the app allows you to custom-ize and view all the informa-tion you want to see in one place.

It was launched in 2012 and is available on both Ap-ple and Android devices. They collaborate with major pub-lications like The new York Times, Vanity Fair, The Huff-ington Post and uSA Today to streamline content.

while it might sound like a board game for aging citizens at a nursing home, the name proves to be fitting. Instead of swiping from side to side like the typical smartphone ma-neuver to turn the page, you swipe up and down–flipping to the next page. It’s an alter-native that proves to be very addicting.

The app has a crisp visual appeal. It’s situated in a grid pattern with constantly up-dated pictures and text ac-

cording to the latest articles. As I see it, the app has three

main customizable features: social media, articles and the ability to create what they call magazines.

Flipboard shines in that it’s easy to read articles across a variety of news outlets. You can browse through catego-ries like news, politics and technology or by publication. It’s great if you want to read a lot of articles without having to go through different apps.

within each category, you can dig deeper. For exam-ple, under food you can filter through options like baking, vegetarians or recipes. You can additionally follow spe-cific publications to ensure you get all the content they’re producing.

Major news outlets aren’t the only options for reading, however. Magazines, web-sites and blogs are included as well.

Flipboard allows you to sign into your social me-dia accounts, connecting

them all in one place. Face-book, google+, LinkedIn, In-stagram, Flickr, Tumblr and Twitter are just a few of the options.

The Twitter page lets you to flip through people you follow and immediately dis-plays pictures or articles that are embedded in each tweet. And while the interface is vi-sually pleasing, it’s tedious to individually scroll through every tweet on your feed. If you’re looking to quickly scroll through your feed and see what your friends are up to, it’s best to stick to your Twitter app.

The idea of combining so-cial media platforms is log-ical, but it doesn’t work as well as it needs to replace the actual applications them-selves. Yes, it’s great to be able to flip through my Facebook newsfeed on Flipboard, but it doesn’t offer as many usable features as the original app.

You can also create what they call “magazines.” Simi-lar to Pinterest boards, mag-azines let you save articles or pictures to for later reading.

It’s not apparent if creat-ing a magazine is useful. You can follow others’ magazines, again, similar to Pinterest. Flipboard claims that this op-tion allows people to “be a reader and editor,” but real-ly, it’s more of a bookmark-ing tool. Perhaps there’s value to them if you’re the type that likes to save things for future use or review.

The most useful feature is overwhelmingly the ability to browse hundreds of articles in one place. In a world where new information is coming in every second, keeping up can be tedious. with Flipboard, you only see what you want.

elizabeth wieckInTrIgue@THePLAInSMAn.COM

Courtesy oF AssoCiAtion oF VisuAl Arts

ABOVE: Members of the AVA congregate after their time at Waffle House to look at photos and discuss their observations.BELOW: A sampling of the artwork produced by students from the event.

Courtesy oF AssoCiAtion oF VisuAl

Arts

Intrigue B8 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, April 4, 2013

ACROSS1 Trot or gallop5 Home with a

domed roof10 Stylish14 Earth Day sci.15 Playground chute16 Avatar of Vishnu17 Four-to-midnight

productionoverseer, say

20 Bill of Rightsamendmentcount

21 “Les Misérables”author Victor

22 Parisian love23 “What __ the

odds?”24 In liberal amounts26 Dead battery

hookup31 Get hitched in a

hurry32 Without warning37 Unload for cash38 Colorado ski city39 Secure in the

harbor40 Mind readers42 Luxurious

bedding material43 Encased dagger45 Popular

restaurant fish49 18-Down, on a

sundial50 Shoreline feature51 Stare at impolitely53 Time Warner

“Superstation”56 Dry runs, and a

hint to the startsof 17-, 26- and43-Across

60 Clumsy one61 Mail for King

Arthur62 Wrinkle remover63 MDs for otitis

sufferers64 With tongue in

cheek65 Maddens with

reminders

DOWN1 Bothersome

insect2 Exercise woe3 Nickel or dime

4 Tiny toymaker5 Periodical

publisher6 Sound from a

water cooler7 Fat-reducing

procedure, briefly8 Poem of praise9 “__ the ramparts

...”10 Punishment’s

partner11 Is wearing12 Poker concession13 Have in stock18 Midafternoon

hour19 __ parking23 Winesap, e.g.24 Most capable25 Draw up a

schedule for26 Kid around27 Oscar-nominated

Peter Fonda role28 “__ Flanders”:

Defoe novel29 Social divisions30 Wolf pack leader33 Muscat resident34 “Surely you don’t

mean me”35 Hairdo

36 Seaside swooper38 Contented

sounds41 Exams for sophs

or jrs.42 Winter Olympics

entrant44 Swank of

“Amelia”45 Move furtively46 Scandalous

newsmaker of2001-’02

47 Alaskan native48 Outplays51 “Goodness

gracious!”52 Earth sci.53 O’Hara

homestead54 Opinion website55 IRS form entries57 Inexperienced, as

recruits58 Go wrong59 Moral wrong

By Nancy Kavanaugh(c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc. 10/15/12

10/15/12

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Monday, October 15, 2012

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword PuzzleEdited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

Print DeadlineNoon three

business daysprior to publication

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Sublet Needed for Summer! (May-July 31)Contact Matt Villarrubia at mrv0003@auburn.edu or Ben Coffin at bdc0007@auburn.edu.

Sudoku By The Mepham Group

Solution to Saturday’s puzzle

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku,visit www.sudoku.org.uk.

© 2012 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved. 9/10/12

Level: 1 2 3 4Sudoku By The Mepham Group

Solution to Saturday’s puzzle

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku,visit www.sudoku.org.uk.

© 2012 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved. 9/10/12

Level: 1 2 3 4

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4/7/13

Sudoku By The Mepham Group

Solution to last Sunday’s puzzleComplete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders)contains everydigit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solveSudoku, visitwww.sudoku.org.uk.

© 2013 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

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The Auburn Plainsman and ThePlainsman.com

Apps Due: April 10th

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Apply Now!All majors welcome.

SportsB1

Thursday, February 7, 2013

ThePlainsman.com

Sports

The drama filled saga worthy of its own reality television

show that is the recruitment of Reuben Foster has finally

come to an end. The signature of the top inside linebacker on a letter of

intent to the University of Alabama officially ended his

recruiting process on National Signing Day. People close to the situation believe that a wild mix of

events this past weekend played into his decision and led to

his Tide commitment Wednesday.After originally committing to Alabama after his junior

season, Foster flipped to Auburn in July, de-committed

in December and finally signed with the Tide on National

Signing Day. When he committed to Auburn everyone knew him for

his football talents and five-star status, but after talking with

The Plainsman it became apparent he was just a normal

high school kid. A kid who was funny, couldn’t dance and hated cats.

Then he handled his recruitment with Auburn just the

same, like a child.Foster’s immaturity flourished throughout his recruiting

from the start. From the large Auburn tattoo on his arm to his

unexpected departure from his official visit and the cover-

up, Foster could potentially be a problem for any program.

The rumors surrounding his departure to Tuscaloosa

were allegedly because of an incident occurring at Auburn’s

Skybar with sophomore center Reese Dismukes.

Supposedly Dismukes and Foster engaged in a heated

argument that allegedly included Dismukes using racial

slurs toward Foster, which promptly resulted in his

departure from the visit and arrival in Tuscaloosa.

Multiple photos that night from Twitter confirmed Foster

in Tuscaloosa with fellow recruit Alvin Kamara.

Many people around Auburn believe this to be a commit-

changing event that directly resulted in Foster signing with

Alabama.When asked by Opelika-Auburn News about the incident

Foster replied, “I can’t shed any light on that. No comment.”

Though the incident has not been confirmed, on Twitter

Foster has re-tweeted a comment about calling someone

names based on skin color and making Auburn look bad,

leading to the belief that the incident did indeed occur.

If the rumors are true this situation looks terrible on

Dismukes, a player who has had previous issues violating

team rules including a public intoxication arrest in August

that resulted in his suspension for the Clemson game.

Rumors have surfased of Dismuke’s possible transfer to

Ole Miss, but once again this entire situation is speculation

which arose from Foster’s visit last weekend.

In September of 2012, Foster told the Plainsman, “Auburn

fans, I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying, to do it for my

cousin, Ladarious Phillips, man. And to do what people

think nobody like me can do, just to prove them wrong.”

The confidence in his interview seemed to say he was a

lock for the Tigers, but after Gene Chizik’s dismissal and

recent events in his recruiting he will now be playing football

for Alabama.The controversy surrounding Foster’s recruitment

was a drama-filled process revolving around the young

linebacker’s antics going all the way back to his transfer

to Auburn High, his connection to Trooper Taylor and the

decisions made by Foster in the recent weeks leading to his

signing. The production that seems to follow Foster wherever he

ventures will be hard to leave behind, especially after the

recent events regarding the battle that took place for his

signature. His career at Alabama may rely heavily on the

mentorshipof peers and cooperation with the Tide’s football

staff if he is to be a success at the collegiate level and possibly

NFL level football.

Ethan BradySPORTS REPORTER

SPORTS@THEPLAINSMAN.COM

Foster snubs Tigers againAfter comitting and decommitting to Auburn, Foster was still considered an Auburn man, until last Monday

National Signing Day: defensive additionsConsidered the second best player

in the class, Lawson is the complete package at defensive end. He has good size, 6-foot-2, 251 pounds and decent speed relative to his position.An Alpharetta, Ga. native, Lawson committed to the Tigers March 24, 2012.

After Gene Chizik and his staff left, there was speculation that Lawson was going to bail as well. After signing his letter of intent, Lawson humbly said he just wants to wear an Auburn jersey.

Auburn landed a huge defensive prospect on Wednesday after defensive tackle Montravius Adams from Dooly County, Ga. committed and signed with Auburn live on ESPNU.

Adams is the No. 25 overall prospect in the country according to Rivals.com.

He is a four-star No. 13 overall prospect, according to ESPN.He was named a 247Sports All-

American after helping Dooly County to the Class A Georgia title.

» See Defense B2

««««««««««

««««««««««

«««««

Carl Lawson - DEMontravius Adams - DT Elijah Daniel - DE

Ben Bradley - DTMackenro Alexander - DB

Auburn fans woke up to a pleasant surprise when defensive end Elijah Daniel flipped his commitment from Ole Miss to Auburn on Wednesday.

Daniel was the first player on signing day to fax in his letter of intent to the Auburn coaches. Daniel is from Avon, Ind. and is a

four-star defensive end according to both Rivals and ESPN.He was first team All-State in

Indiana, and a PrepStar All-American his senior year. He also played in the Under Armour All-American Game.

Bradley is a massive defensive tackle who weighs in at 310 pounds and is 6-foot-3. That’s all good news for an Auburn

defense that needs to plug up holes in the interior run game. Bradley will get help from Adams

in the run-stopping game, where the defense struggled last year.A player with his size and strength

can force running backs to the outside where, with the additions of Lawson and Daniel, the Tigers are relatively deep.

Three-star safety Mackenro Alexander chose to sign with Auburn on Wednesday over Mississippi State and Clemson.Alexander was named the Naples

Daily News Defensive Player of the Year after ending his senior season with 154 tackles and five interceptions.Alexander played mostly outside

linebacker in high school, but is expected to play safety at Auburn.

John BurnsSPORTS EDITORGus Malzahn had a massive

test ahead of him in December when he had to hire a coaching staff and recruit an acceptable class of prospects.In a mere two months,

Malzahn put together one of the best coaching staffs in college football and a top 10 recruiting class, according to Rivals.com.

“I’m very excited about this class,” Malzahn said. “We’ve signed 23 so far in this class. We really feel like we filled our needs. I’d really like to compliment our coaching staff. They did a wonderful job in a short period of time.”For a team that gave up

almost 200 yards on the ground every game last season the additions of defensive linemen Carl Lawson, Elijah Daniel, Montravius Adams and Ben Bradley are invaluable.Lawson and Daniel are top

five defensive ends in the class, and Adams is the 25th overall recruit in his class.

Though all recruits will be valuable to Auburn’s football team, one was the glue that brought the defensive class together.

“I’m going to say this about Carl Lawson,” Malzahn said. “I really felt like he’s one of the keys to this class. When a lot of guys went south and went other ways, he hung in there with us. He provided the stability on the defensive side specifically to have the class that we did. He loves Auburn.”The head coach raved about

Adams as well.“I think this is going to be my eighth year to coach college and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger athletic guy than him,” Malzahn said. “I really think the sky is the limit with him. “Along with signing some of

the nation’s top defensive line recruits, Malzahn brought in linebackers Cameron Toney and Kenny Flowers, and defensive backs Mackenro Alexander, Brandon King and Khari Harding.Having an adequate defense

was one of the main concerns for Tiger fans when offensive-minded Malzahn was hired, but with the signings of these recruits it seems Auburn’s defense is headed in the right direction.

It wouldn’t be a Malzahn-caliber recruiting class if the coach didn’t bring in his fair share of offensive backs and wide receivers.He added three potential

dual threat quarterbacks to the two that he already has on campus.

Jeremy Johnson, who was th state of Alabama’s Mr. Football, Nick Marshall and Jason Smith all have the potential to be Auburn’s quarterback in the future.

“We’re going to give all three of those guys a shot at quarterback,” Malzahn said. “They’re all very talented at that position. The dual threat type guys that can do a lot of different things, (and) keep plays alive can be very successful with what we do.”Auburn added two quality

running backs in Peyton Barber and Johnathan Ford.“I think both of those guys

are true running backs,” Malzahn said. “I think they’ve got all the skills that it takes to be a running back in this league.”

The staff also added four wide receivers in Earnest Robinson, Tony Stevenson, Dominic Walker and Marcus Davis,

Stevens and Robinson are both considered four-star wide receivers by Rivals.comOn the offensive line,

Auburn picked up Devonte Danzey and Deon Mix who combine to weigh 610 pounds.Overall, National Signing

Day was a success as Malzahn and his staff succeeded to fill some major gaps at wide receiver, running back, quarterback and defense. So, he essentially filled gaps at every position.Now that Malzahn has the

pieces, he just has to get them moving to get the program back to successful seasons.

Courtesy of todd Van emst

the auburn coaching staff reacts to watching montravius adams says he is signing with the tigers Wednesday feb. 6.Malzahn gets top 10 classWith limited time to salvage a deteriorating recruiting

class, Gus Malzahn and his staff come through with a Rivals.com top 10 recruiting class

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5•8 TRACK REWIND (EIGHTH & RAIL)• AMAMI LIVE (STIR)•TROTLINE (SKYBAR)

6• CHARLIE MUNCASTER ACOUSTIC SHOW (SKYBAR)• JMAC & FRIENDS (STIR)• DAVE MATTHEWS BAND (PELHAM)

7• GRACE POTTER AND THE NOCTURNALS (ATLANTA)

8 9• BIZZY & BEN (GNU’S ROOM)

10• WATER LIARS WITH DU-QUETTE JOHNSTON• Ty ReyNOld’S BaNd (Sky-BAR)

11•THE AVETT BROTHERS (CLEMSON, S.C.)

12• DEREK FINDLY & JOE BAGLEY (STIR)• JILLA WEBB & KURT MCKIN-NEY (EIGHTH & RAIL)

13•BEN SUTTON & FRIENDS (STIR)•DEAR AVERY (EIGHTH & RAIL)•HUMMING HOUSE & TEDO STONE (THE RAILYARD)•PARK BAND (SKY BAR)

14 15• UMPHRey’S MCGee (ATHENS, GA.)

16•NAKED BLUE (GNU’S ROOM)

17• SOMETHING DELICIOUS (STIR)•COLD WAR KIDS (ATLANTA)

18• ACOUSTIC CHAOS (SUP-PER CLUB)

19•DEREK SELLERS (EIGHTH & RAIL)•GYPSIES WITH KNIVES (STIR)• GALACTIC (ATLANTA)

20•KATIE MARTIN & HOLI-DAYS (STIR)• DUMPSTAPHUNK (ATLANTA)

21 22 23•THE BLACK CROWES (ATLANTA)

24• SYLVIA NOVAK (STIR)

25•LESS THAN HEROES (EIGHTH AND RAIL)•SOMETHING DELICIOUS (STIR)

26•WATER LIARS WITH DU-QUETTE JOHNSTON (THE RAI-LYARD)•WIDESPREAD PANIC (ALPHARETTA, GA.)• B.B. KING (HUNTSVILLE)

27• A-LIST PROMOTIONS (STIR)• WIDESPREAD PANIC (ALPHARETTA, GA.)

28 29 30• STREET PARTY IN LIVER-POOl (GNU’S ROOM)• GREENSKY BLUEGRASS(BIRMINGHAM)

MAY 1•SOMETHING DELICIOUS (STIR)

2•FLAMING LIPS (ATLANTA)

3•THE GOOD DOCTOR (STIR)

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GRAPHIC CONTRIBUTED BY KATHERINE WREN, COMPILED BY KELSEY DAVIS

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