oct. 26, 2011
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The student-run newspaper at the University of ArkansasTRANSCRIPT
PAGE 1 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 Vol. 106, NO. 26 UATRAV.COM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011VOL. 106, NO. 268 PAGESUATRAV.COM
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! e UA college of engineering had the largest percent increase in fresh-men enrollment of any college on campus this year with a more than 30 percent increase, the assistant dean for student recruitment at the Col-lege of Engineering said.
“We’re growing faster than the
other colleges and overall we’ve been pushing for more engineers to go into the workforce,” said Bryan Hill, the assistant dean for student recruit-ment.
In 2010, the college of engineer-ing had 532 new freshmen. ! is year, that number increased to 693. ! is increase is largely because of the job opportunities available with an engi-neering degree, Hill said.
Students are looking for a poten-tial career and engineering can o" er that to them, Hill said.
“Finding a job with an engineer-ing degree a# er college will be very easy, because it's such a needed pro-fession,” said Devin Burns, a fresh-man mechanical engineering major.In addition to the increasing fresh-
man enrollment rates, the
college of engineering also has a 70 percent second year retention rate according to the college of engineer-ing Fall 2011 retention report.
! e engineering college also does extensive recruiting to generate in-terest in the $ eld, Hill said.
“We’ve created a pipeline program where we start working with sixth graders and on to get them interest-ed,” Hill said.
“! e engineering fair last year [I think it was in the summer] was when I became interested in engi-neering,” said Aneeka Majid, a fresh-man biomedical engineering major.”
“! e college of engineering ad-vertised their program so well by making it feel very manageable to get a degree within four years, but also making it seem fun and exciting,” Burns said.
College of Engineering:Largest Increase in Freshmen Class
by JANNEE SULLIVANStaff Writer
! e Center for Business and Economic Research in the UA Sam M. Walton College of Busi-ness released the $ rst “State of the Northwest Arkansas Re-gion Report,” which reported a growth in employment, a de-crease in unemployment but a lack of education.
“! e ‘State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report’ was our attempt to catalog just how well the region is doing and has done,” said Kathy Deck, director of the CBER.
! e center compared com-munities with large research universities and populations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida and Al-abama that are similar to North-west Arkansas to see where we need improvements, Deck said.
Employment grew at a rate of nearly 24 percent from 2000 to 2010, and Northwest Arkansas had the smallest increase in un-employment in two years com-pared to peer regions, according to the report.
“Northwest Arkansas blew away the competition over the past ten years when you look at job creation and new business formation,” Deck said.
However, in education, Northwest Arkansas did not come out on top. Less than 25 percent of Northwest Arkansas adults have a bachelor's degree or further education, according to the report.
“Our peers sometimes have as much as 35 percent of their population with bachelor's de-grees,” Deck said.
! e CBER gathers and ana-lyzes statistics about the state. For the report, they pulled data from the state Employment Se-curity Division, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statics and the U.S. Census Bureau, Deck said.
Report ShowsEmployment
Growth but Lack of Education
in NWA
Page 8
by LANDON REEVESStaff Writer
In This Issue:
Japanese/English ExchangeUA students can now register for a new study abroad program.
Page 2
Resident Hall Alarm ViolationsMost Resident Hall evacuations are caused by styling irons and microwaves. Page 2
Depth Chart Airs WednesdayArkansas’ quarter-backs will be featured on ESPN’s Depth Chart Wednesday, the last in a four-part series.
Page 5
Cold Weather Brings Illness Certain common campus illnesses are back this season with a vengeance.
Page 7
Google+ Shines Through Features, Lacks People! e lack of activity on Google+ causes it to continue to take a back seat to Facebook.Page 7
Unnecessary Violence Common in Media Cable news should step away from its use of gratuitous violence.
Page 4
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see ENGINEERINGon page 3
see REPORTon page 3KRIS JOHNSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Freshmen engineering students studying how graph and charts are used in Dr. Heath Schluterman’s Intro to Engineering class.
Members of the Latino Alumni Society and Hispanic Heritage Month Committee hosted a reception at the UA Alumni house to conclude the Hispanic Heritage Month cel-ebrations.
“! e reception was to thank and honor Hispanic Heritage Month volunteers, students that volunteered for the many events hosted for Hispanic Heritage Month such as Cam-pus Day, Manos Unidas, and Plaza de las Americas,” said Luis Fernando Restrepo, Span-ish professor, assistant vice pro-vost for diversity and president of the Latino Alumni Society (LAS).
Also recognized were Ty-son Foods and Cox Communi-cation for their support to the events held during Hispanic Heritage Month and individu-als who le# a legacy were also recognized, Restrepo said.
! e Legacy Awards were presented to Robert E. Frans and Paul R. Noland for their partnerships with both Bolivia and Panama and their constant work with the Hispanic com-munity.
Frans was executive direc-tor of Partners of the Ameri-cas which worked with Boliv-ian students to attend the UA and also helped establish the Maria Teresa de Frans scholar-ship fund.
Noland helped create con-tact with the UA and Panama in 1951.
! e Outstanding Supporter recognition award went to Part-ners of the Americas Program. ! e Partners of the Americas Program was a program started in the 1960s’ by President Ken-nedy as a people to people col-laboration, Restrepo said.
“! is is the $ rst reception
Latino Alumni SocietyMembers Sponsor
First Receptionby ZESSNA GARCIA
Staff Writer
Residence hall o% cials are asking students to use their fobs when entering and exiting on-campus housing to increase se-curity, the director of residen-tial facilities said.
“! e housing department has a moral obligation to keep students safe here on campus,” said Reggie Houser, director of residential facilities.
! ough the students are adults, they o# en do not un-derstand the importance of the housing fobs administered to them, he said.
“Recently, there was an iPhone stolen in Maple Hill South. A# er reviewing video footage, it was found that a resi-dent let three strangers in with-out fobs,” Houser said.
Tailgating has become a bit of a problem, when non-resi-dents follow residents into the halls. ! e fact of the matter is, he said, students should go down to get guests and be with the guests while in the dorm.
! e student should also es-cort the guest out of the build-ing. It is what is best for both
the guest and the other resi-dents, he said.
“We only have around 10 to 15 problems on campus throughout the year involving people tailgating into dorms,” Houser said.
Most of the crimes com-mitted are done at opportune times, He also said that though the video cameras are not con-stantly monitored, they are al-ways available for review upon the report of a problem. “I am happy to say that at least 75 percent of crimes in dorms are solved that are reported.”
“We in housing also under-stand the students’ perspective though,” Houser said. Most stu-dents mean no harm when let-ting in a person behind them, he said.
“I don’t see a problem with me tailgating into my own dorm when I enter it daily,” said Molly Slavin, freshman English major. “I wouldn’t let an adult in, but for students, who says a tailgater not living there is more dangerous than an actual resi-dent inside?”
Resident Hall OfficialsAddress Security Issues
by BAILEY KESTNERStaff Writer
see SECURITYon page 3
SAMANTHA TUCKER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERMalachi Lockwood, freshman, opens the door for Brandon Bear, freshman at Humph-ery’s Hall. Since all dorm entrances and exits are locked, students should always carry fobs when coming back and forth from the dorms.
see RECEPTIONon page 2
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Vol. 106, NO. 26 UATRAV.COMPage 8
Halloween Costumes;
Creative to Creepy
NEWS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 PAGE 2
The women and men of the University of Arkansas Police Department, in partnership with the community, are committed to protecting the future of Arkansas by promot-ing a safe and secure environment.
The Transit and Parking office handles parking permits and passes and transit for students, including bus routes and GoLoco Ride Sharing. Students with parking violations can contact the office to appeal their citation.
NEED TICKETS? CALL 1-800-982-4647
NEED A RIDE AT NIGHT? CALL 575 - 7233
NEED EMERGENCY HELP? CALL UAPD 575-2222
HAVE A TICKET? CALL 575-7275 TO RESOLVE IT
Otherwise known as 575-SAFE, the mission of the Safe Ride program is to provide students with a safe means of transportation from any uncomfortable or inconvenient situation. Safe Ride brings you home safely.
Don’t forget to call early and reserve your student football tickets for the 2010-2011 season. The ticket office is located on Razorback Road next to Baum Stadium.
CAMPUS NUMBERS
The Arkansas Traveler, the student newspaper of the University of Arkansas, is published every day during the fall and spring academic sessions except during exam periods and university holidays.
Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily refl ect the opinion of The Traveler. The editor makes all fi nal content decisions.
One copy of The Arkansas Traveler is free to every member of the UA commu-nity. Additional copies can be purchased for 50 cents each. Mail subscriptions for delivery within the continental United States can be purchased for $125.00 per se-mester. Contact the Traveler Business Manager to arrange.
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The Arkansas Traveler strives for accuracy in its reporting and will correct all matters of fact. If you believe the paper has printed an error, please notify the editor at 575.8455 or at [email protected].
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Investigation of the circum-stances behind ! re alarms in residence halls can fall within the jurisdiction of the univer-sity police as well as housing.
“When a alarm is pulled or a detector goes o" there is a ! re alarm panel that shows exactly where it is located and a com-puter generates a readout,” said Lt. Matt Mills of the UAPD. “In general areas the source can be harder to ! nd, but the Fire De-partment can use thermal im-aging to ! nd the source.”
Most evacuations on cam-pus stem from nuisance alarms, which are when the smoke de-tectors pick up particles from aerosol sprays, curling irons or food burning in a microwave, said Reggie Houser, assistant director of facilities administra-tion of residential facilities.
Other items that may cause an alarm to go o" include a full lint trap ionic dryer or smoking illegally on campus.
“Ninety-seven to 98 percent of ! re alarms result from inci-dents like unattended cooking,” Houser said. “In those cases, students have to attend an edu-cational session because it dis-rupts the lives of other students.
If there is criminal intent behind a ! re alarm that is when the police get involved. # is would be considered a false alarm.
# is semester there has only been one false alarm, in Pomfret B-wing.
“I feel very frustrated and appalled that a college student
would pull an alarm for no rea-son,” said Padma Mana, a fresh-man who lives in Pomfret B-wing.
# e person responsible for pulling the ! re alarm has al-ready been identi! ed and is go-ing through the judicial pro-cess.
# e in-house investigation in residence halls are conduct-ed by the hall’s coordinators for residence education and resi-dent advisors, Houser said.
“It makes me feel good that they have already found and taken action against the person who pulled the alarm,” Mana said.
Nuisance Alarms are the Cause ofMost Residence Hall Evacuations
by CICELY SHANNONStaff Writer
# e JET Program is a Japa-nese government sponsored exchange program that aims to improve foreign language teaching in schools and to pro-mote international understand-ing, and now the UA gives the opportunity for students to ap-ply.
# e program o" ers highly quali! ed university graduates opportunities to work as ei-ther assistant language teach-ers (ALT) in elementary and secondary schools or coordina-tors for international relations (CIR) in selected local govern-ment o$ ces in Japan, according
to an online article. # e government of Japan
sponsors the program. Con-tracts are for a minimum of one year with the opportunity to renew for an additional one to two years, according to the JET program.
Candidates must hold a bachelors degree by July 1, 2012 and demonstrate a strong inter-est in the culture of Japan. Ap-plicants will be able to teach mostly middle school and sometimes elementary school in Japan, said Tatsuya Fukushi-ma, professor of Japanese and linguistics.
“As of now I am aware that a student is very interested in the program, but throughout the
year we get around four to six students applying,” he said.
Previous knowledge of Jap-anese is not required, but rec-ommended, however students must have an excellent com-mand of English.
“Going to Japan, a culture so di" erent from here, to teach English to students sounds like such a wonderful experience. It is like having a bit of both worlds, you’re teaching your culture and at the same time living another,” said Sergio An-tognelli, senior majoring in marketing.
Applications are reviewed by the embassy of Japan and later students are interviewed at the nearest embassy. Finally,
preliminary training sessions are held for selected partici-pants and pre-departure ori-entations are held at embassies and consulates, according to the JET Program participant recruitment and selection.
“Its nice knowing that the UA gives unique opportunities like these” said Paulino Paz Es-tenssoro, sophomore majoring in international business and economics.
Anyone who wants to know more about the program or at-tend an information session can go to Kimpel 301, applica-tion deadlines are in mid No-vember.
Japanese Government Exchange Program to Start at UAby MATILDE BONIFAZ
Staff Writer
MARY MCKAY STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Adam Burk, a junior Pomfret RA, prepares bacon for his floor party “Razorbacon”. The burning bacon set off the fire alarm in Pomfret on Sunday October 9th.
that we do for the Latino Alum-ni Society,” Restrepo said. # e reception was held at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House on Oct.21 and about 50 peo-ple were in attendance. Dur-ing the event classical music of Latin America was performed by Catalina Ortega, a % ute in-structor at the UA, and Andrew # ompson on the guitar.
“I thought it was a very nice way to not only thank and rec-ognize but also to inform about the Latino Alumni Society” said Brande Flack-Armstrong, assis-tant director of education and leadership.
At the reception, current students and alumni were invit-ed and learned more about the Latino Alumni Society. A ma-jority of the students in atten-dance had volunteered for His-panic Heritage Month events. # e society needs 100 more members to o$ cially be a part of the Arkansas Alumni Asso-ciation.
“Here soon I’m going to be an alumni and that will for sure be something that I’ll want to do,” said Jeanette Arnhart, doc-toral student in Interdisciplin-ary Hispanic studies.
“I’m really proud to know that there are people that really care so much,” Arnhart said. “It says a lot for the university and it says a lot for the Hispanic past and future.”
“I thought it was a very love-ly event and I was very glad they had that event,”Flack-Armstrong said.
# e Latino Alumni Society was created to promote the La-tino student population and en-courage the students to succeed. In promoting the development of Latino students at the UA the LAS is working on scholarships for Latino students. # is was the ! rst reception sponsored by the Latino Alumni Society.
RECEPTIONfrom page 1
Some residents said they struggle with the employment situation in Northwest Ar-kansas.
“I have applied for more than 60 di! erent jobs, and a lot of the big companies around here are on hiring freeze,” said John Dagen, who graduated in may with a bach-elor's degree in Spanish and Latin American studies and is unemployed. “I interviewed with Walmart while they were under a hiring freeze, some may even have job postings on their websites but are un-der order not to hire.”
Dagen has searched for employment on www.craig-slist.com, tried to network with Facebook and checked websites of major companies in the region. He has had sev-en interviews with no results. He advises fellow job seekers to be aware of scams and peo-ple trying to take advantage of you.
Brad Miller, UA gradu-ate with bachelor’s degrees in physics and philosophy, has experienced similar results.
“I was employed on my last semester by the people I have worked for the last six years,” Miller said, “but I have taken a huge pay cut and since then been looking for some-thing else, and that has been two years.”
Miller searched for jobs in state and across country. He has tried unsuccessfully to " nd a job through websites, such as oddjobnation.com and americorps.gov.
“I applied for 10 jobs through Americorps, and then I started realizing that most of the jobs don't pay a livable income,” Miller said.
“I would actually have to go into debt to take the job. You work 50 hours, and when it is done, they give you about $5 an hour for your time.”
NEWSPAGE 3 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011
When suspicious of a tail-gater, the best thing to do is just ask the person if you can help them, Houser said. If the person wants into a dorm they don’t live in, they can go to the front desk and sign in. “We have no problem with students having visitors. # ey should just know that they are responsible for the guests
while there,” he said. Resident assistants are
very helpful in reinforcing this idea with the students, Houser said.
“We have actually held a few programs in which RAs dress in disguise and try to tailgate,” he said. In one in-stance, a few students let in three male RAs, who then proceeded to follow them to their room, Houser said.
“# at de" nitely surprised
them but showed them what could actually happen,” he said.
“# e programs are done with care and caution. Hous-ing only wants to educate stu-dents on safety while living in the dorms,” Houser said.
# ough he knows stu-dents o$ en " nd the fobs un-important, they should know, “everything we do is for the safety of them,” Houser said.
Biomedical and me-chanical engineering are some of the fastest grow-ing professions nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the UA, most engineering students
are majoring in mechanical engineering, Hill said.
Mechanical engineer-ing is probably popular be-cause it is such a broad " eld with many di! erent career opportunities, she said.
“# e number of engi-neers needed is substan-tial,” Hill said.
“I think there’s so many people interested in engi-neering majors because of the huge range of things you can do with an en-gineering degree,” Burns said, “as well as the proba-bility of " nding a job a$ er school.”
Santa is Comin’ Round the Bend
LOGAN WEBSTER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERChristmas hit the University of Arkansas early this year when fraternities had a freshman dress up as Santa Clause and ride around campus on a scooter. The fraternity who requested the act is unknown.
REPORTfrom page 1
ENGINEERINGfrom page 1
SECURITYfrom page 1
When I woke up Thurs-day, I started my morning off like I always do— by shame-lessly checking Twitter. So as my groggy mind began sort-ing through tweets, my eyes widened as I saw that at some point in the early morn-ing hours, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had been captured and possibly killed. As a student journalist, breaking news is something that I am obsessed with, and rightfully so. Because the revolution in Libya had been such a dominating headline in the past couple of months, I continued to follow the sto-ry as the morning went along. However, I started to become disconcerted when all of the major news networks were promoting a “graphic photo” on their websites of a man alleged to be Gaddafi with a gunshot wound to the head. I
began to get even more upset when I clicked on a news ar-ticle and was subjected to the graphic photo with no warn-ing. This was all before 11 a.m., when Libyans were not confirming the death, only the capture. It didn’t seem quite right to be publishing and promoting something so graphic with no proof it was the disgraced dictator.
As the days went by, my interest in the story went from high to plain disgust and disinterest. While run-ning on the treadmill at the HPER later, I was shocked to see that CNN kept showing the video footage of him get-ting shot in the head again, and again. I began to lose count of how many times the video was shown. It appeared to be on a loop and so I just willed myself to look down for the rest of my workout so as not to throw up.
Who or what is respon-sible for this violence in the American media? I could be wrong, but I never re-member seeing such graphic things shown on cable news networks as a child. Did the images of people jumping out of windows to avoid get-ting burned alive in real time on the morning on Sept. 11, 2001 desensitize us to hor-rific footage on the news? I believe that America, as a
whole, is dealing with some sort of post-traumatic stress from the tragedy of Septem-ber 11, and its after effects, but the desensitization of such violence on cable is in-excusable.
One could also argue that 24-hour news networks, combined with social media, expedited this process. This may sound like I am com-pletely against violence on the news, which is not true. I, like any journalism stu-dent, believe in freedom of the press. But there is a dif-ference between Anderson Cooper reporting from a war zone and putting such an act of gratuitous violence on loop during prime time hours just to fill space on 24-hour cable networks. An impres-sionable nine-year-old prob-ably isn’t going to choose to watch CNN on their own accord, but they will when while sitting with their par-ents as they watch the eve-ning news, or when flipping through channels trying to get the Disney Channel. I had nightmares that night of peo-ple being shot. I can imagine how a child would feel when confronted with such an im-age.
The example of Gaddafi is just one in a sea of brutal im-ages being shown in the me-dia in a post-9/11 world. I re-
member as a middle schooler my mother frantically reach-ing for the remote as news networks showed Saddam Hussein walking to his execu-tion stand. Less than a month after Osama bin Laden was killed by American forces, I read about video games and movies in the works, glorify-ing the mission.
Do I believe that any of those three men did not get what they deserve? Absolute-ly not. Of course the world is better off without ruthless dictators and men who spread evil everywhere they go. But desensitizing ourselves to the violent acts that caused their demise isn’t making for a bet-ter America. It may be point-less to hope that in this age of instantaneous news cover-age that such gratuitous vio-lence will lose its sexiness. Until that day comes, I will continue to change the chan-nel and look away in disgust when news networks decide to loop footage of bad men getting executed.
Mattie Quinn is the 2011-2012 managing editor. She is a senior majoring in journal-ism.
Her column appears bi-monthly, every other Wednes-day.
PAGE 4 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 EDITOR: SABA NASEEM MANAGING EDITOR: MATTIE QUINN
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OPINION
CONTACT US! e Arkansas Traveler welcomes letters to the editor from all interested readers. Letters should be at most 300 words and should include your name, student clas-si" cation and major or title with the university and a day-time telephone number for veri" cation. Letters should be sent to [email protected]. Columns and cartoons do not necessarily express the views of ! e
Arkansas Traveler.
EDITORIAL BOARDEDITOR
MANAGING EDITOROPINION EDITOR
ENTERPRISE EDITOR
Saba NaseemMattie QuinnJordain CarneySamantha Williams
FROM THE BOARD
MCT CAMPUS
Unnecessary Violence Common in MediaFrom The Managing Editor
Traveler Quote of the Day
“The housing department has a moral obligation to keep students
safe here on campus,”
-Reggie Houser, director of residential facilities, “Resident Hall Officials Address Safety Concerns,”
page one
New Approach Needed to Solve Underage Drinking
Minors can now be arrested for possession of alcohol if they’ve been drinking, even if they don’t have it with them when arrested.
Arkansas is one of 19 states that has no family or lo-cation exception to underage drinking, according to the Department of Health Human Services’ Alcohol Policy Information System. To understand the U.S. underage drinking problem, more than 10 million people between the age of 12-20 considered themselves “current drinkers” in the past month, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
The change in the Arkansas law attempts to curb un-derage drinking in the state. Yet, without the change, if an underage student was arrested for public intoxication or driving under the influence, they’re already facing charg-es and a likely trip to J-Board.
Sadly, students who want to drink, will likely keep drinking even if it means having to find new ways to do so. (Perhaps in the same way that not allowing drinking on campus doesn’t mean students never drink on-campus, or they go off campus to drink and come back to their residence halls afterwards.)
We understand that state government officials feel compelled to curb underage drinking with tools readily at their disposal—legislation.
But with most Arkansans having their first drink of al-cohol at 14, according to the Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment Survey, perhaps the best thing state legisla-tures could be doing is working with schools and organi-zations to start alcohol awareness classes earlier.
A more effective, preventative method throughout the state could also help curb underage drinking at the UA in the long run.
And perhaps—along with preventative methods— we should focus less on an abstinence-only method and teach teens that if they’re going to drink — and more than likely if they want to, they will particularly once they get to col-lege— to drink responsibly.
ASG Continues ScholarshipsLast spring the Associated Student Government Presi-
dents’ Council gave out its first scholarships to UA stu-dents. The presidents’ council is made up of past ASG presidents.
Even though the council was an idea of the Billy Flem-ing, last year’s ASG president, we’re glad to see that ASG President Michael Dodd is continuing on with what we hope will become a tradition that UA students can depend on, and compete for, in the future.
The scholarships are available to all undergraduate students, and the deadline is November 2nd.
Last year the council gave away a $1,500 scholarship.We and other students have often debated ASG’s rel-
evancy and an increasingly competitive atmosphere for scholarships and a stagnant economy, the scholarships are an easy, direct way for students to understand how ASG can help them with things that we all deal with each se-mester—tuition, books, etc.
by MATTIE QUINNManaging Editor
Fight or Flight Moment for Perry’s Campaign
Remember more than a month ago when we were all talking about, and worrying over, how—and why— Tex-as Governor Rick Perry was leading Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts gover-nor, in the polls?
We wondered how long Perry would be able to keep his new-toy status and com-pete with Romney—who has been sadly priming himself for the 2012 election, well, since he lost the Republican nomination in 2008.
We might have our an-swer.
It started with the tacky hunting lodge name (or may-be for those who have been tracking Perry through his governorship might argue that it started long before that), then he was booed for his incident with Romney during the last debate and now he has a slew of embar-rassing poll results under his belt.
The Public Policy Poll-ing Center released a poll in which Rick Perry only beat Katty Perry, the pop singer, and Tyler Perry with 41 per-cent and 38 percent of the vote, respectively.
In the polls that actually matter, Perry has gone from good, to bad, to worse.
Perry has 12 percent of the vote in Wisconsin. He has six percent in Nevada compared to almost 20 percent in July. He’s ahead of only Michelle Bachmann who is having some campaign crises, Rick Santoroum, John Huntsman and some guy named Gary Johnson. Perry is essential-ly beating those who are al-ready —and in some cases sadly— irrelevant.
It would be easy to write off Perry now that he’s down; that he was nothing more than a flavor of the month. The poll results would cer-tainly suggest that he’s been replaced in the voters’ hearts by Hermain Gain. (He has 28 percent in Nevada and is beating Romney with 30 per-cent in Wisconsin, according to the Public Policy Polling Center.)
Furthermore in a poll against President Barack Obama, the guy who de-spite his attacks on Romney he eventually wants to beat, Perry loses with slightly more than 32 percent of the vote to Obama’s 50, accord-ing to a Real Clear Politics poll. (The closest Perry has gotten to Obama is within 2 percent.)
This could be a fight-or-flight, sink-or-swim moment for Perry and his presidential ambitions.
He is about to launch a new round of attacks on Romney—because that worked so well for him during the last debate—, brought on what Politico is
calling “some of the most na-tionally seasoned and tough-est names in the Republican media world” and has rolled out his flat tax plan.
The next Republican de-bate isn’t until November 9. Unlike Gingrich that has been moving up the polls during the last four or five months, Perry obvious-ly doesn’t have that long to become relevant again and make the voters like him again with primaries coming up in the next three months.
Despite his poll numbers, if there’s one thing that is true about politics is that it is always changing. It would be foolish to count Perry out of race for the Republi-can nomination, yet. But his time to turn things around is limited.
Jordain Carney is the 2011-2012 opinion editor. She is a senior majoring in jour-nalism, political science and English.
Her column appears week-ly, every Wednesday.
The Fourth Estate
by JORDAIN CARNEYOpinion Editor
Arkansas’ episode in the Depth Chart series will air Wednesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
! e series features quarter-backs away from the " eld, in preparation, practices and on game day. ! e Razorbacks are the last team featured in the four-part series including pre-vious shows on Wisconsin, Au-burn and Oklahoma State.
Junior starting quarterback Tyler Wilson and sophomore backup Brandon Mitchell were mic’ed for the show. ! e Hogs episode was taped in the week leading up to the Oct.8 Auburn game and includes game action against the Tigers.
“I’m just as anxious as you guys are,” Wilson said. “I may ask one of the guys for a copy, because I’ll be in practice when is airs.”
! ree teasers of the hour-long show were released by ESPN, including McGee and Mitchell talking about national title hopes and the SEC West race. One of the teasers featured Wilson and McGee interacting during practice.
Another clip showed Wilson and other players passing out pizzas to fans camping in front of Reynolds Razorback Stadium for the game against Auburn.
“We got to call the Hogs a few times, I think that was im-portant.” said Wilson.
Vanderbilt Presents Chal-lenge
Vanderbilt is tied for the na-tional lead with 15 interceptions this season.
Wilson has thrown just three interceptions in seven games
this year.“I don’t anticipate him
throwing many picks,” McGee said. “He’d better not throw many picks. Tyler, he’ll be " ne. He knows how to throw to our own guys.”
Vanderbilt will also pressure Wilson. Wilson has been sacked 12 times in seven games, but will face a Commodores’ rush ranked No. 4 in the SEC, aver-aging two sacks per game.
“! ey are going to pres-sure a lot,” McGee said. “I think they pressured the Universi-ty of Georgia 63 percent of the game. At Alabama it was right
at 42 percent … We have really gameplanned and studied what they did.”
O# ense wants quicker starts.Arkansas’ o# ense has strug-
gled with slow starts this season, failing to score " rst in six of sev-en games.
! e Razorbacks have faced double-digit hal$ ime de" cits in three of their last four games, including a 17-7 de" cit at Ole Miss last week.
“We’ve got to play our game and execute or [Vanderbilt is]going to bite us, said Wilson “Don’t get too emotional and out of control.”
! e game is set to kick o# at 11:21 a.m., the third pre-noon kicko# of the season. ! e of-fense struggled early in the other two games, falling be-hind against Texas A&M and the Rebels, but senior receiver Jarius Wright said practices are more to blame than early starts.
“I feel like everybody’s up and ready to go and wide awake,” Wright said. “I feel like it just has to do with the way we start o# in practice. I feel like that’s the reason we start slow. We just have to start faster in practice.”
by ZACH LIGIStaff Writer
Arkansas has the Southeastern Conference’s best o# ense, averag-ing 462.1 yards per game, mainly because of the aerial attack coach Bobby Petrino has deve loped dur-ing his four years with the Razor-backs.
However, when brilliant pass-ing o# ense meets old school,
tough defense, particularly in the secondary, who wins?
Well, the 2011 Razorbacks are beginning to show that the sec-ondary is the one prevailing.
Arkansas is 2-1 in its three con-ference games thus far with wins coming against the SEC’s worst pass defense in Auburn and the worst overall defense in Ole Miss.
Auburn has never really been known for its secondary even while winning the BCS National Championship last season. ! ey just happen to bene" t from the na-tion’s best o# ensive and defensive player being on the same team at the same time.
Let’s look at the recent strug-gles of the Arkansas o# ense start-ing with Saturday’s nasty escape in Oxford, Miss.
! e Hogs failed to score a pass-ing touchdown for the " rst time all
season against Ole Miss in the 29-24 win, this because of the stron-gest position on the Rebel squad, their secondary.
! e Rebels’ starting corner-backs Wesley Pendleton and Charles Sawyer were part of a sec-ondary that held Davey O’Brien Award semi" nalist Tyler Wilson to just 232 yards passing, while the junior completed less than half of his attempts.
Pendleton and Sawyer have combined for four interceptions this season and eight pass break-ups this season. Although the tan-dem wasn’t able to pick o# any of Wilson’s passes they did get four pass breakups and limit the highly-touted Arkansas starting receiving core to just six catches on the day.
If the Hogs think they escaped Ole Miss and now head Nashville to face a usual doormat of the SEC
in Vanderbilt, they might be rude-ly awakened this year. Vanderbilt has what could be the third-best secondary in the conference be-hind the secondaries of unbeaten of LSU and Alabama.
! e Commodores have an ex-perienced group in the secondary and are bound to put up a good " ght against the No. 10 Razor-backs on Saturday. With Arkan-sas focused on " nding a consistent rushing attack a$ er the big day ju-nior Dennis Johnson had against the Rebels, don’t be shocked if Wil-son’s stats look similar to last week at game’s end against Vandy.
Casey Hayward is a top-three cornerback in the SEC and has the stats to back it up. ! e senior has an SEC-leading " ve intercep-tions with one return for a touch-down. Pair Hayward with fellow cornerback Trey Wilson and the
two have eight of the Vanderbilt NCAA-leading 15 interceptions.
Arkansas’ receivers have al-ready been slammed by Alabama’s talented secondary bunch and shut down by Ole Miss’ group. If they don’t " nd their mojo from the past two seasons on Saturday in Nashville, then the Razorbacks starting slow for a " $ h consecutive game might be inevitable.
Much of the blame for Arkan-sas’ slow starts has come on the defensive side of the ball where the Razorbacks have surrendered multiple big plays and been the victims of long opponent drives. However, the o# ense is as much to blame, since they have come out % at and aren’t able to sustain a drive long enough to keep the de-fense o# the " eld.
Is it because until late in the " rst half against Ole Miss, Arkan-
sas hadn’t seemed to " nd a consis-tent running game?
! at could be it.! e problem, though, seems
in direct correlation that Arkansas’ experienced receivers seemed to not be getting the job done against the better secondaries in the SEC.
With Vanderbilt looming, the performances against Alabama and Ole Miss have to have the Ra-zorback coaching sta# worried seeing conference rival and No. 1 LSU still on the schedule.
! e Tigers’ secondary has swamped the college football highlights weekend a$ er weekend.
Will the Hogs be up to the challenge?
Zach Turner is the assistant sports editor for ! e Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every Wednesday. Follow him on Twitter @zwturner.
PAGE 5 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 SPORTS EDITOR: JIMMY CARTER ASST. SPORTS EDITOR: ZACH TURNER
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Strong Secondaries Besting Arkansas’ O! enseCOMMENTARY
CROSS COUNTRY
Arkansas Ready For SEC Championship
Arkansas is coming o# a second place " nish at the Chile Pepper Festival and is prepar-ing to compete in the 2011 Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championships next Monday.
! e No. 15 Razorbacks are the reigning conference cham-pions and have high expecta-tions for the SEC Champion-
ships, which will be their fourth under coach Chris Bucknam.
“! e pressure is still there [to win]. A certain amount of it last year was getting over the hump, and now we feel like our pro-gram is on solid footing,” Buck-nam said. “Now it’s a question of building on what we did last year.”
Bucknam and the Razor-backs placed third in the SEC Championships in his " rst year of coaching. ! e Hogs have im-proved steadily each year since, placing second then " rst in the succeeding years.
“Not the win, not what’s ex-pected at Arkansas,” Bucknam said. “And then last year, obvi-
ously, we got that win. It was a lot of fun. It proved that we can win this; we can do this. Now, I don’t think we think much about last year. We’re focused on the race this year.”
! is time, the biggest prob-lem Arkansas is facing is the inconsistency in the Hogs’ top " ve.
”I don’t know if I can name [the top " ve] when we get down to a$ er the second runner,” he said. “We got a few guys that ran our top " ve that weren’t in our top " ve in Oklahoma State. I think it shows a little bit of the fact that we have some pret-ty good depth, but we want to make sure that all hands are on deck.”
! e top runner for Arkansas all season has been junior Eric Fernandez. Fernandez has been the " rst Razorback to " nish at each meet Arkansas has com-peted in.
Second is senior captain Duncan Phillips. However, the rest of the top " ve has been un-clear, with some runners placing well at one meet to be overtaken by another teammate the next.
“Now it’s a question of get-ting all ten of our athletes on the line and all doing the same thing at the same time. ! at’s re-ally the big goal now—to have a great performance by all of our athletes, not just a few here or there,” Bucknam said.
Arkansas will be the high-est-ranked team at the event. ! e No. 15 Hogs are the only ranked SEC team at this point in the season, with Georgia barely missing the top-30 and Florida just dropping out of rankings.
Hogs’ ESPN Show Airs WednesdayDepth Chart will feature Razorbacks’ quarterbacks
FOOTBALL
by RUMIL BAUTISTAStaff Writer
Volleyball Playing for FirstMatchup with LSU for top spot in SEC West
Arkansas’ volleyball team has an opportunity to capture " rst place in the SEC West Wednes-day night in Barnhill Arena.
! e Razorbacks (14-8, 6-5) moved into second place in the division over the weekend, jump-ing ahead of Mississippi State with sweeps against Ole Miss and Alabama. Arkansas is now one game behind LSU (14-7, 7-4) for " rst place, a spot the Razorbacks will play for Wednesday against the Tigers.
“Every match is a huge match in the SEC,” Arkansas coach Rob-ert Pulliza said. “It’s a big match because it’s the match at hand. LSU is very good. ! ey have great tradition. Something that is excit-ing for the fans to come out and watch and be part of it tomorrow.
“We’re playing them for " rst in the west and that makes it ex-citing itself, but it’s just like any other SEC match. A big match and you’ve got to win as many of those as you can.
“LSU is the only team in the West Arkansas hasn’t faced. ! e Razorbacks come into the match with momentum, winning four of their last " ve matches, includ-ing the most consistent e# orts of the season against the Rebels and Crimson Tide, “Pulliza said.
“Well I thought even though we were behind I thought our en-ergy was consistent through the match and I think that’s how we were able to get back in it and get the upper hand on the tail end of every set,” Pulliza said. “I actually think we’ve been very good play-ing from behind, I don’t think that has been a problem for us playing from behind. I think our problem has been playing from
in front which for some teams it’s easier, but for us it has been harder.
“We’ve just gotten a little bit comfortable at times, but I think this weekend we did a good job of playing from in front also and closing things out.”
Arkansas posted a .289 hitting percentage over the weekend, much higher than its season av-erage .233.
“I think we’re in that part of the year when everyone is just starting to get in a comfort zone with relationships on the court,” Pulliza said. “I think we’ve settled into a good groove as a unit that’s why I think it showed this past weekend.”
Arkansas is making strides toward the NCAA tournament. ! e Razorbacks are No. 67 in the NCAA Volleyball RPI Rankings that came out Tuesday, an eight-spot jump from last week.
by MONICA CHAPMANStaff Writer
LOGAN WEBSTER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Arkansas defensive specialist Christa Alvarez was named SEC defensive player of the week for the Razorbacks’ games against Ole Miss and Alabama over the weekend.
VOLLEYBALL
Eric FernandezGARETH PATTERSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson will be featured on ESPN’s Depth Chart series Wednesday which documents college football programs and their quarterback situation. The show will air at 6 p.m.
CROSSWORD
SUDOKU
TODAY’S SOLUTION
SOLUTION
Breaking news:A toilet seat has been stolen fromthe local police station. Police have nothing to go on.
Q: How do you make a slow horse fast?A: Don’t give him any food.
Q: If two collars had a race, how would it end?A: In a tie.
Q: What’s the di! erence between a moose and an ant?A: A moose has antlers, but an ant doesn’t have mooselers.
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DOWN
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1 Rarely read e-mail5 Edible pockets10 Bottled model14 Contemporary of Ella and Sarah15 Make up (for)16 Verne skipper17 Hardwood trees18 “Buzz o! !”19 Extremely dry20 “Just what we need!”23 “Love __ Madly”: Doors hit24 Caustic substance25 Stately27 Chaotic situation29 Fraidy-cat33 Extra NHL periods34 Approximate " g.36 “Uh-uh”37 Follow the advice of38 “# anks, but none for me”42 Irksome swarm member43 Place to apply gloss44 Elephant’s $ oppy feature45 Mil. base enforcers46 Shrubby landscape48 Like Dylan # omas, by birth52 Sweetie pie54 NAFTA signatory56 “Sands of __ Jima”: 1949 " lm57 “Furthermore ...”62 Stein " llers63 Find the answer to, as an equation64 High point65 “# e King and I” setting66 Engaged in, as a trade67 Dog of old mysteries68 220-by-198-foot plot, e.g.69 Classroom jottings70 In need of a map
Di" culty:
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THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER
FEATURES PAGE 7 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 FEATURES EDITOR: LAUREN LEATHERBY ASST. FEATURES EDITOR: KELSI FORD
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A common phrase is going around campus – “Oh yeah, ev-eryone’s sick.” ! ese past cou-ple of weeks have been plagued with coughs, sneezes, belly-aches and more. Before the winds of winter blow in, there’s already a fair amount of tissue in students’ dorm rooms and a long line at Pat Walker.
“It’s around the eighth week of school, and we’re seeing a lot of upper respiratory sicknesses, because of allergies, colds, and even some strep/mono cases.””
said Mary Alice Sera" ni, exec-utive director of the Pat Walk-er Health Center. “Due to al-lergies, colds, and even some strep/mono cases.” Allergies
Pollen count levels have in-creased from moderate to rela-tively high over the past cou-ple of weeks, according to the American Academy of Aller-gy, Asthma and Immunology pollen count. ! ere has been a high increase in the amount of weed and mold spores in the air due to the recently high temperatures.
Freshmen might be expe-
riencing more allergies than permanent Fayetteville resi-dents. Coming to a new area away from home also a# ects al-lergies, Sera" ni said. But that doesn’t mean upper classmen are immune.
“My allergies were so bad one morning, I couldn’t even go to class. I took some antihis-tamines and started to feel bet-ter, but that wasn’t a pleasant way to start my day,” said Devin Fell, a junior at the UA.
Seasonal allergies are most common in the fall and in the spring due to the pollen and leaf mold increase. Seasonal al-
lergies can seem like the least of your worries during mid-terms, but normal everyday al-lergies can potentially progress to severe upper respiratory ill-nesses. Allergies are o$ en he-reditary, so if your parents are prone to seasonal allergies, it’s very likely that you will expe-rience some of the same symp-toms.
! e Common ColdLiving in close contact gives
cold germs a chance to multi-ply. It’s not a coincidence that the person next to you in lab also has the same drippy, nasty and downright annoying cold.
Cold symptoms occur within two to three days of contact with the virus - from touching or inhaling in the air of an in-fected person.
“Address it earlier rather than later. You have to take the precautions that Mom might have reminded you of if you were at home,” Sera" ni said.
Symptoms of colds range from coughing, a runny nose, an itchy throat, tiredness and even a slight fever.
“It wouldn’t go away,” said Lori Schubach, a sophomore, of her recent bout with a cold. “I was in class physically, but mentally I just fell asleep.”
! e best way to treat a cold is to get enough sleep, Sera" ni said. Going to bed earlier can work wonders for your im-mune system.
Hygiene also plays into treating a cold. By staying up-to-date on your showers and making sure to wash your hands, you can easily bypass a cold.
MononucleosisNow we’ve stepped into the
serious sicknesses – these sorts of illness can have he$ y com-plications. If you think you might have one of these, do yourself a favor and head over to Pat Walker.
“I thought I just had a cold, but I wasn’t getting better for weeks,” said Caitlyn Morely, a sophomore. “I was exhausted almost all of the time and it felt like the most intense, awful cold I’ve ever had. I " nally de-cided to get tested and much to my dismay, I had Mono. I pret-ty much had to leave school for two weeks.”
Mono has the awful reputa-tion as the “kissing disease” be-cause it is spread by saliva, but
it can also be contracted by just using the water fountain a$ er someone who has it.
! e key to detecting Mono is that the lymph nodes in the front and back of the neck along with the tonsils will be incredibly swollen. Having a basic blood test gives conclu-sive results for Mono.
Unfortunately, only the symptoms of Mono can be treated, and that is why people have the illness for weeks – you have to basically ride out the infection.
Strep ! roatStrep throat is caused by
streptococcal bacteria and can be transmitted from person-to-person contact and saliva. Symptoms include a fever and a red, sore throat with white patches, among other things, according to the A.D.A.M. medical encyclopedia.
Your mom wasn’t wrong -- gargling with salt water can help ease the pain of a sore throat, and some hot lemon tea with a spoonful of honey can also be soothing.
If tested positive for strep, your doctor will put you on an-tibiotics - either penicillin or amoxicillin. You should be feel-ing much better in about a week.
As for prevention, stay home from school and buy a new toothbrush ASAP.
Fall is prime time for upper respiratory sicknesses. Wash-ing your hands, eating healthy and getting enough sleep can be easy prevention methods for any of these illnesses. Keeping up a healthy lifestyle while you’re away from home can allow you more time to concentrate on school and social life and can as-sure your attendance to all the Razorback games.
As The Weather Turns Cold, So Do Students
by SHELBY GILLStaff Writer
CONTESSA SHEW STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERWith cold weather approaching and flu season brewing, many students will be affected with illness before the semester ends. Students should take precautions by getting a flu shot, washing hands often and staying away from friends who feel ill.
Four months ago, Google jumped into the social network-ing arena, launching Google+ to compete with social media juggernaut Facebook. ! e two services have a lot in common: Similar basic interface, similar privacy and sharing options and video and text chat capabilities.
But some in the social media community prefer Google+ to Facebook because they say it’s simpler and the way it lets users share content is more stream-lined than on Facebook. But Google+’s major shortfall—its lack of users—is hurting it, they say.
“I prefer it more than Face-book,” said Terry Irwin, a Fay-etteville resident who has been using Google+ since shortly af-ter the service became available. “I think the design and kind of the general idea of it [are great].”
“It’s a lot simpler than Face-book. It’s a lot cleaner. You don’t have the mess that Facebook has sort of become,” said Adam Call Roberts, a UA graduate who now works as a producer at 40/29 News.
One of the most popular fea-tures on Google+ is “Circles,” the platform’s system for letting users separate and categorize others on Google+. Users can separate the people they are con-nected with into smaller groups of colleagues, friends, family, ac-quaintances or other “Circles”—allowing users to easily share or access content only in a particu-lar group of people.
“! e ‘Circles’ I think are a pretty awesome idea,” Irwin said. “! e way you can cater what content you want to be shared with who. And you’ve got a lot more control over what you see.”
“! e best part about it is how easy it is to set your privacy set-tings,” Roberts said. “If I have something from the Onion that I want my friends to see, but I don’t want my grandma to see I
can put it up on Google+ any-way and I can just choose who sees it very easily.”
However, Facebook has add-ed similar friend grouping and sharing options to its platform since the launch of Google+.
Google+ also lets users vid-eo chat with multiple other us-ers with its “Hangout” feature, which is similar to Skype’s ser-vice (Facebook has also recently added a similar video chat ser-vice).
“Sparks” is one Irwin’s favorite features on Google+ because it lets him organize his “Stream”—the equivalent to Facebook’s “Newsfeed”—to show news and information based on keyword searches, he said.
“About 90 percent of the way I’ve found a lot of the stu# I " nd news-wise about Ron Paul is through my Google ‘Sparks,’” Irwin said. “Because I can go in there and go to his name and click on it and it’s got articles from anywhere from USA To-day to CNN, any Youtube vid-eos—a whole slew really of any-thing that hits his name.”
Another feature that Irwin thinks makes Google+ better than Facebook is that Google+ is integrated with Google’s oth-er services, including Gmail, Chrome, Google Documents and Google Calendar.
“Once they % esh out Google+ a little bit more—they start in-tegrating a lot of that stu# —I could see it being really, really, really cool,” he said.
Google+ also works well with another Google product, the Android phone.
“Since I actually have an An-droid phone, Google+ integrates pretty well with that,” Irwin said. “I have it set up where anytime I take a picture it automatically uploads [to Google+]. I don’t even have to do anything.”
But for all Google+’s great fea-tures, Irwin and Roberts both said Facebook has it beat in one
Google+ Shines Through Features, Lacks People
by EDDIE GREGGStaff Writer
Students can See Broadway for a Bargain at the WAC! e Jets and Sharks are at it
again, and this time the Broad-way production is visiting the Walton Arts Center.
“West Side Story” got its start on Broadway in 1957, but now the production has been revised and refreshed, said Amanda Smith, market-ing coordinator for the Walton Arts Center. It now includes nearly 10 percent of dialogue in Spanish mixed throughout the production. However, it is not enough to prevent viewers from following the story, she said.
! e Walton Arts Center will have eight performances, with two performances on Sunday, Oct. 30, the last day of the play.
West Side Story follows the tragic love story of Maria and Tony, two teenagers separated by the feud between gangs. Ma-ria is loyal to her brother Ber-nardo, the leader of the Puerto Rican gang the Sharks. Tony is still close with his former gang
members in the Jets, a white working-class gang. As their friends realize what is going on between the two, tension between the two gangs rises as the story, adapted from Shake-speare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” nears its dramatic conclusion.
It’s a classic American love story, Smith said: “Almost ev-eryone has been exposed to it in some way.”
Hannah Beavers, a senior drama major from Farming-ton, is excited to see the perfor-mance. Although she has seen approximately 20 Broadway productions at the WAC, she has never seen West Side Story before.
Beavers said Broadway shows are di# erent because of their extravagance. “! ey have a budget and can put more into it,” she said.
Although tickets start at $49, by entering the code “STU-DENTDEALS” students can get tickets for half price, for any seats except main % oor prime during the Wednesday, ! urs-day and Sunday evening per-
formances.From Nov. 15 through Nov.
20, the Broadway production of “Rock of Ages” will also have eight performances at the WAC.
Set in the ‘80s, “Rock of Ages” is the love story of small town girl and big city rocker, told through songs by Journey, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake and more.
Beavers encouraged students to go see a Broadway show.
“Really, it's the last place where you can see honesty,” she said. “! ey can't go back and redo things. It's new every night.”
Students have a chance to win tickets this ! ursday, Oct. 27, at the Rowdy Beaver Res-taurant and Tavern on Dickson Street. Participants are encour-aged to wear their best ‘80s cos-tume when they enter the kara-oke contest, Smith said. For an-other chance to win, students can drop their names in a bowl at Halloween Express o# Col-lege Avenue.
! e 50 percent student dis-count is available for certain
seats and nights at all Broad-way shows the WAC o# ers, Smith said.
Blue Man Group will return to the WAC as well, from Jan. 10 until Jan. 15. Student tickets will start at $25.
“We try to keep our prices relevant to our audience, and accessible,” Smith said. “If you were to go see Blue Man Group in Vegas, it would probably cost $100.”
Tickets sold out quickly when Blue Man Group visited last year, so those interested should not wait to purchase their tickets, Smith said.
Broadway’s “Bring It On: ! e Musical” will come to the Wal-ton Arts Center from Feb. 7 un-til Feb. 12. ! e cast will include a Bentonville native, as well as Neil Haskell from “So You ! ink You Can Dance,” Smith said.
Students can buy two dis-counted tickets per show with their student ID, so those inter-ested can grab a friend and go enjoy a show.
GOOGLEon page 8
by HAILEY RAYStaff Writer
COURTESY PHOTOThe Walton Arts Center welcomes “West Side Story” with eight performances until October 30. The WAC offers entertainment ranging from plays, musicals and concerts throughout the year.
FEATURES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 PAGE 8
critically important area—num-ber of active users.
Since its launch, Google+ has grown to more than 40 mil-lion users, according to a recent press release from Google. Face-book, however, has more than 800 million users worldwide.
Roberts said that he is connect-ed with 112 people on Google+.
“And in the past 24 hours I’ve got exactly—2 posts on it,” he said, checking his Google+ account. “So that kind of tells you how active it is. With a so-cial network, it all depends if your friends are using it or not.”
“Right now I think there are still some advantages to us-ing Facebook,” Irwin said. “But I think that has a lot more to do with the sheer num-ber of people on Facebook.”
He said if more of his friends used Google+, he would prob-ably quit using Facebook.
One thing that may inhibit people from joining or switch-ing to Google+ is that most people who have a Google+ account also have a well-es-tablished Facebook account and possibly a Twitter account.
Most of what Roberts’ friends post on Google+, they also post on Facebook or Twitter, he said, which renders the use of Google+ kind of pointless.
And the features that he liked about Google+, like bet-ter privacy settings for individ-ual posts and video chat, Face-book has added to its platform.
But what a social network really boils down to, he said, is wheth-er or not people are using it.
“It doesn’t matter how cool a bar is—if nobody’s there, you don’t want to be there,” Roberts said.
GOOGLEfrom page 7
For functions and date parties, there is always pressure to come up with an original costume for you and your date. For an easy costume that you can find in your closet, there is the popular costume idea inspired by the iconic couple, Barbie and Ken. It very simple to put together with just a hot pink dress for Barbie and a polo and cargo shorts for Ken. Another fun costume that is easy to make is Dr. Seuss’s Thing 1 and Thing 2. This can be easily made by taping a “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” sign to red footie pajamas and finding inexpensive blue wigs. Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin can also be made at home. For Charlie Brown, all you need is a yellow shirt and some black duct tape, and the Pumpkin costume can bought or made with a giant orange shirt and a black sharpie. Another costume that you can make yourself is the man in the yellow hat and Curious George. All you need for this costume is a giant yellow hat and a yellow shirt, and a brown t-shirt, leggings, and monkey ears for Curious George.
If making your own costume is not exactly your forte, there are several unique cos-tumes that you can find at a costume store. Little Miss Muffet and a spider can make a great couple’s costume, using an Alice in Wonderland costume for Little Miss Muffit along with a pre-made spider costume. You can also find a flower costume and a bum-ble bee costume for you and your date. Another idea is Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, both of which can be found at costume stores.
As Halloween approaches, functions and parties demand a costume that will stand out among the crowd. Here are some ideas for couples cos-tumes, group costumes and single costumes that will set you apart among the hundreds dressed as pumpkins, witches and ghosts.
by CAITLIN MURADStaff Writer
For a group of girls going to a costume party together, there are several options. A creative and very entertaining idea is the Evolution of Britney Spears. Each girl dresses up as Britney Spears at a different stage in her career. There are also the Kardashian sisters. The girls can dress up as Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, Kendall and Kylie Kardashian. To mimic the Halloween classic, a group of girls can dress up as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. And of course, there is always the throwback to the ‘90s option of the Spice Girls: Posh, Ginger, Scary, Sporty and Baby Spice always seem to make an appearance around Halloween.
Co-ed group costumes allow more room for creativity and can include full casts of movies and television shows. The most popular this year is the full cast of Jersey Shore. This is an excuse to get a bad spray tan, wear cheetah print, and gel your hair. A more innocent cast would be the characters of Harry Potter. You and your friends can grab your wands and robes in honor of the last movie. A very creative option, requiring a little crafting is going as a rock, paper and scissors. The rock can be made out of a card board box spray-painted gray and the paper and scissor can be cut out of poster board. Another idea that you can make at home is to go as s’mores. One person is a Hershey bar, one is a marshmallow, and two people are graham crackers. The marshmallow can be made out of two white pillows and the rest can be created from poster board.
Singles costumes for guys are sometimes hard to fi nd, especially for guys who hate cos-tumes. Mario, from Mario Brothers, is a costume perfect for guys who don’t like going all out for Halloween. All that is needed is a red shirt, overalls and a red baseball cap with the letter “M” taped on. An idea that’s a little more extravagant is a circus ringmaster. For this costume you will need a white dress shirt, black dress pants, a dress coat, bow-tie (prefer-ably red), and a top hat. A robot costume requires a little more creativity. You will need sev-eral boxes of di! erent sizes spray painted silver. The largest box goes around your middle and the smaller boxes go on your arms and legs (the box for your head is optional).
Girls’ Halloween costumes are a little bit easier and seem to be more available in cos-tume stores. There is always a wide variety of Disney princess costumes to choose from, complete with wigs. A costume you can make at home is a crayon, using a large T-shirt in whatever color you choose to be and a pointed birthday hat in that same color. A cave wom-an costume is also very simple to make: all you need is animal print fabric and a large dog bone to tie in your hair or carry around. Include a few brown makeup smudges on your face for the fi nishing touch.