Martin KurtzOrbit Media Reporter

The Chase Program that began in the Fall 2014 semester is going on hia-tus for the time being.

The program had many students in-volved and was headed by Associate Professor of Business Gary Golden.

It offered students the opportuni-ty to win incentive based prizes. The prizes were based off of attendance of campus activies and visitation of local businesses.

Throughout last semester, there were two problems with the program, the technical aspect of the website and the involvement of student partici-pants on campus.

“We had some technical difficul-ties getting the site to work the way we wanted to,” said Junior Maribeth Holtel, who helped design The Chase website. “Like we wanted leaderboards, like current, on the spot information, and that was hard to figure out technically.”

With the technical side of the program having dif-ficulties, student involvement wasn’t as big as hoped by The Chase Group.

Holtel discussed how it affected the interest in The Chase.

The Black & Magenta Vol. 119, Issue 13 Jan. 19, 2015

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service

Students volunteer day offKathryn KellarEditor-in-Chief

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an op-portunity to serve local communities.

Part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s leg-acy is his dedicated to service to an in-dividual and local communities.

Last year Muskingum University joined the campaign with the Day of Service project.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day Muskingum University students were given the opportunity to give up their free day to serve the surrounding com-munities.

“We had some new staff members

that came in, who had been at other schools who have done it before and it had been an interest of mine,” said Di-rector of Greek Life Stacey Allan. “But something that I didn’t have [was] enough manpower to kind of get it ac-complished beforehand.”

The volunteer opportunity con-tained more student involvement than what was originally expected.

“I was shocked...[I said,] ‘I will be happy if we get 30 students to come and do service on this day,’” said Al-lan. “And we had 120 students come and do service. So, I was really really shocked. I was really impressed. I was excited to see that many students up

at 10 o’clock in the morning on their Monday off and spend a couple of hours doing different things.”

Allan stated that this experience was positive for students.

The different groups had varying tasks from laying mulch to cleaning out a battered women’s shelter.

“Nobody was upset about the service that they got assigned or anything,” said Allan. “They were all happy to do it. I’m sure they might have grumbled a little bit...It was very heartwarming to see from our Muskies as well.”

Approximately 12-15 different vol-unteer groups are expected for the Day of Service project this year.

Some of the local organizations that are going to be helped by the Day of Service project are feeding the home-less at Christ’s Table and working with underprivileged youth in Zanesville.

“I think it’s exciting,” said Allan. “I think that it’s always great to see the community connect with our students, especially our students who aren’t from the surrounding community to connect as well.”

After volunteering students are giv-en a free lunch. Following lunch stu-dents have the opportunity to see a free showing of the film “Selma,” which is based off of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life.

Involvement program lacks participation

“Because of some technical difficulties, it makes it harder for students to be wanting to be involved with it,” said Holtel. “So people aren’t as excited about it. Especially if it doesn’t work properly, then people aren’t going to be like ‘Check this out’.”

The people that participated in The Chase did en-joy it.

“The people that were involved in it and who did win prizes seemed really excited about it,” said Holtel. “And if we have all these people ex-cited about it, then they will want to join and if we’re having problems with it and it doesn’t function prop-erly, then it’s not going to take off as it should.”

During the hiatus, the core group will try to discuss how to make the program more user friendly and how to get more people interested in it.

Holtel thinks that if the problems can be figured out, people will really enjoy The Chase.

“I think if we got it working prop-erly and just pushed it on students like show them exactly what it is, how to do it, how easy it is to use or how easy it’s supposed to be used, then I think people would really respond to it,” said Holtel. The Chase is officially on hold for

the spring semester.“I just think a pause to it could be disappointing,”

said Holtel. “But then it can give use time to make it something outstanding.”

The hiatus of The Chase program will give more time for further development for the creators of The Chase program.

Ohio Theatre Alliance Page 2Scholarship Days Page 2Lacrosse Brings Changes Page 7

Kathryn Kellar, Editor-in-Chief

Maribeth Holtel/Submission

NewsPage 2

National theater auditionsdraw up-and-coming talent

Christine HolmesNews & Managing Editor

This past weekend, nearly 350 stu-dents were expected to attend the Ohio Theatre Alliance North Central Re-gional Auditions.

The young actors, dancers, singers, and technicians auditioned before a predicted 80-100 producers with the hopes of being hired.

According to Jerry Martin, Pres-ident of the Ohio Theatre Alliance, some of the job opportunities available are summer jobs and others are at near-ly professional, year-round levels.

He said the hiring rate is high at the auditions and there are graduate school

Tom German/SubmissionLeon Avery from Clarion University in Pennsylvania auditions at the 2014 North Central Regional Auditions.

Students choose service over sleep on their day off

Admissions hosts annual scholarship days for high school seniorsKarysa KentOrbit Media Reporter

Finding what college best fits a stu-dent can be a stressful and exciting time for high school seniors.

Muskingum University is one of many institutions that offer an un-dergraduate program. So how does Muskingum University stick out in comparison to other schools?

One way is by hosting a Scholarship Day.

Admission Counselor, Chelsea Rob-erts, is the person that organizes the eventful days from the registration to the catering.

There are many students, faculty, and staff that help in Scholarship Day, to ensure that the events run smoothly.

“While the students are taking the test, we take the parents over to Cald-well Hall Theatre and they learn about what’s going on during the test,” said Roberts. “Then Financial Aid will speak to them and then if time permits, Beth [Dalonzo], will wrap up and ex-plain about the campus and give them a better feel.”

Scholarship day starts at 9 a.m. and the test is normally distributed around 9:20 a.m.

After the test is over the students and parents can participate in campus

tours, student and faculty panels, and scholarship interviews with professors.

This day is not just about the panels, interviews, and test taking skills.

The main purpose is to help the stu-dents decide if Muskingum is right for them.

“Bring students back onto campus who have been excepted and have a scholarship package from us and it’s a huge recruitment day,” said Roberts. “Because yes they’re coming, they’re going to take a test, they’ll hopefully get more money. That’s their incentive to come it’s a great day where every-body is around, so they get a feel for what campus life is like.”

There are three scholarship days this year beginning with the first on Jan. 31, then on Feb. 7, and 14 from 9 a.m. to anywhere from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. de-pending on the students schedule. The test that is presented is going to take about 75 minutes.

Scholarship Day is one of the most important ways to attract future stu-dents to Muskingum University.

Awarded scholarships oftentimes influence a high school student’s final decision on their future university.

Most students who complete the scholarship day requirements are of-fered an increase in their already awarded scholarships.

“I enjoy helping people out and this sounded like a fun opportunity because it was with my peers. Also, since we don’t have class, I would like to do something productive to occupy my time.”

“I want to have a positive impact on New Concord and the community, as well as create awesome memories with my fellow Muskies.”

Christine Holmes/Black&MagentaSarah Gotschall, a sophomore at Muskingum wanted to volunteer in the Day of Service for the opportunity give back to the community.

Christine Holmes/Black&MagentaJen Hastings, a junior at Muskingum, chose to participate in the Martin Lu-ther King Jr. Day of Service on Mon-day, Jan. 19.

opportunities as well.“Muskingum students have the op-

portunity to audition and to get sum-mer jobs just the same way that people from any other college comes here to get jobs,” said Martin.

The talent comes from all over the country including The Eastman School of Music in New York as well as New York University.

Auditions aren’t just limited to un-dergraduate students, however.

“We have people coming in that are finishing their master’s degree from In-diana University School of Music and The Cincinnati Conservatory,” said Martin. “So we have that quality of people that come in.”

For some of their auditioning, the trip to Caldwell, Walter, Cambridge, and Montgomery Halls is not a short walk across the quad from the resi-dence halls.

Some fly from across the country for the opportunity to present their talent to producers.

“As a student, if you were to fly into Columbus, rent a car, pay for two night’s hotel plus all of your food for an opportunity to spend 90 seconds on that stage, you would feel pressure to prepare and rehearse so that you would put out the best product that you have,” said Martin.

He said some Muskingum students take the opportunity for granted.

“I think that if you just have to come over here from Memorial Hall, there’s a tendency not to put as much stress on it as if you have paid your airline ticket from San Francisco, and you’ve rented that car, and you know you’ve put fifteen hundred dollars into that 90 seconds. That’s pressure,” said Martin.

Christine Holmes, News & Managing Editor

Join Orbit Media Are you interested in getting involved in campus media? What mediums does Muskingum offer?- Newspaper, The Black & Magenta- Radio, WMCO- Orbit TV

Photo submitted by Orbit MediaMembers of Orbit Media join the Revolution #theRevolution.

News Page 3

Editor-in-Chief: Kathryn KellarNews & Managing Editor: Christine HolmesSpecial SectionsEditor: Kandee FerrellSports Editor: Chris MorganOpinion Editor: Kandee FerrellWeb Editor: Josey JamesCirculation Manager: Chase Strawser

Copy Editors: Josey Jamesand Lindsey KreamerFaculty Advisor: Lisa Marshall

This is Volume 119, Issue 13 of The Black & Magenta. The Black & Magenta is published weekly except during school holidays. Contact (740) 826-8189 or email bandm@muskingum.edu for subscription informa-tion.

Editorial Staff

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration laid out a blueprint Wednesday for the first regulations to cut down on methane emissions from new natural gas wells, aiming to curb the discharge of a potent greenhouse gas by roughly half.

Relying once again on the Clean Air Act, the rules join a host of others that President Barack Obama has or-dered in an effort to slow global warm-ing despite opposition to new laws in Congress that has only hardened since the midterm elections. Although just a sliver of U.S. greenhouse gas emis-sions, methane is far more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

The White House set a new target for the U.S. to cut methane emissions by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2025, compared to 2012 levels. To meet that goal, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue a proposal affecting oil and gas production, while the In-terior Department will also update its standards for drilling to reduce leakage from wells on public lands.

How much will the regulations cost the energy industry? The White House said it won’t have specific estimates until later.

“There are significant, highly cost-effective opportunities for reduc-ing methane emissions from this sec-tor,” said Dan Utech, Obama’s climate and energy advisor. “We’re confident we can do this in a cost-effective way.”

Methane, which leaks during pro-duction of natural gas, has grown as a concern for environmentalists amid the ongoing boom in drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. Yet these rules will target new or modified natural gas wells, meaning thousands of ex-isting wells won’t have to comply. The Obama administration left open the possibility it could regulate methane from existing wells in the future while asking the energy industry to take vol-untarily steps to curb emissions in the meantime.

Though long in the works, the meth-ane plans come at a particularly sen-sitive moment for Obama’s environ-mental agenda. Republicans, incensed that Obama has made copious use of

executive action to sidestep Congress on climate and other issues, have made rolling back those actions one of their first orders of business this year now that they control both chambers of Congress.

Obama’s intention to eventually force industry to cut methane emissions has long been part of his broader strat-egy on climate change, and Wednes-day’s announcement may prove to be incremental.

Last year, the White House said the EPA would study how methane is re-leased during drilling and determine whether it needed new regulations. That the administration has now de-cided it does need more regulations will surprise few. But the key details — how the regulations will affect in-dustry’s bottom line and how deeply they’ll reduce greenhouse gases — won’t come until the government for-mally proposes the rule. That won’t come until later this year, with plans to finalize it in 2016 — the last year of Obama’s presidency.

Officials couldn’t say how far the rules will go toward meeting Obama’s goal to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions up to 28 percent by 2025, other than that the contribution would be “significant.” But environmentalists argue that cutting methane is key to curbing climate change, and some sci-entists have said that without methane controls, the country’s shift from coal to natural gas will have less of an envi-ronmental benefit. “This is a landmark moment,” said Fred Krupp of the Envi-ronmental Defense Fund.

The oil and gas industry insisted such rules aren’t necessary because methane emissions are already on the decline, and said gas producers are already working to reduce methane leakage. After all, methane is natural gas, so the less that leaks during pro-duction, the more of it that companies have left to sell.

“The president’s plan is another case of the administration adding new red tape to make mandatory what industry has been doing voluntarily for several years,” said Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance, which rep-resents gas and oil companies.

Obama moves to create first methane limits for gas drilling

Kathryn Kellar, Editor-in-Chief

Clean Air Act takes part

Orbit Media New Member Meeting is Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. in Caldwell Hall room 370.

Monday, Jan. 19 Boys/Girls Varsity Swimming @ Marietta H.S. 1:00 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 20 Boys Basketball @ Crooksville H.S. 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 21 Girls Basketball @ Crooksville H.S. 6:00 p.m.

Friday Jan. 22 Boys JV Basketball vs. West Muskingum H.S. 6:00 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 19 New Concord Council 7:30 p.m. @ Village Hall

Tuesday, Jan. 20 Sweet Singing w/ Sweet Adelines, 6:30 p.m. @ College Drive Presbyterian Church

Thursday, Jan. 22 NCAARD Adult Guitar Class, Session One 7-8 p.m. @ New Concord Elementary School

POUND Class 7-8 @ New Concord United Methodist Church

Community CornerPage 4

Pets get cold, tooKandee FarrellSpecial Sections/Opinion Editor

The winter weather is hard on peo-ple and pets alike. With freezing tem-peratures and snowfall, pets have a hard time dealing with the cold weath-er, and their owners have a hard time keeping them safe. Although it can be frustrating and difficult, it’s important to take the necessary steps to keep pets healthy and safe from the frigid condi-tions outside.

According to Rachel Elliot, DVM at the Animal Clinic in Cambridge, Ohio, animals are equipped to handle temperatures below freezing but in light of recent drastically low tempera-tures reaching negative 40 degrees, even extra fur doesn’t keep cats and dogs warm enough to stay outside. If animals must go outside there are ways to make sure that they don’t face the consequences of too much exposure. Puppies and kittens run the highest risk in the low temperatures.

“The first big thing is make sure that they are not unattended at any time outside, we don’t want them to run off and this time of year, 10 minutes may be all it takes to kill one,” said Elliot.

The cold weather is definitely risky, but salty walkways also pose a risk to the furry friends. After walking on salt-ed sidewalks or roadways, pets may

get ice and salt mixtures in their paws which can lead to irritation. Animals may also try to clean their paws of the salt which can lead to an upset stomach or more severe side effects if too much salt is ingested.

If pets do live outside through the winter season, there are ways to keep them safe.

“Shelter from the wind is really im-portant,” said Elliot. “The next most important thing is making sure they have good dry bedding.”

Forgetting to keep fresh water for your outside pets and farm animals can be detrimental to their health as well.

“They need water just as much in the winter, sometimes more so and if we forget about it and let it get frozen, then they can get into trouble pretty quickly,” said Elliot.

The winter is definitely a time when pets need to be monitored more but ac-cording to Elliot, they can spend time outdoors to enjoy the season.

“They certainly can go outside,” said Elliot. “A lot of dogs really enjoy snow; [they] like to play in it, like to be outside.”

Anyone worried about their pet’s health this season can always reach out to their local vet. Veterinarians can answer questions to ensure pet owners follow safety procedures to keep their animal companions happy and healthy.

Christine Holmes/Black&MagentaNew Concord Golden Retriever, Maggie Marshall isn’t bothered by the cold snow because she’s all decked out in winter gear from head to tail.

Upcoming Events

JGHS Athletics

Around Town

Christine Holmes, News & Managing Editor

Lifestyle & Culture Page 5

Photo Submitted by Kayla Rausch

Kayla RauschColumnist

I am a small town girl in every sense of the word.

I’ve lived most my life in a very sheltered world, taking about every precaution possible when it comes to every situation.

About a year ago I was sitting in my kitchen and I was just having a normal conversation with my mother . I came to the realization that I have lived an incredibly boring life.

All I did was work, school, clubs, eat, sleep, and repeat. I didn’t do any-thing exciting at all.

I just was going through the motions of life and a boring life at that.

I made a decision that I had to do something different with my life.

When I was in middle and high school I went to a type of summer camp called Reach Workcamps.

Reach Workcamps is a group that goes into towns and essentially helps people make repairs to their home for a variety of reasons.

I believe the best way to describe it is church camp met Habitat for Hu-

“Into the Woods” delivers

Daniel BarrColumnist

The year 2014 was important for politics, but one of the biggest politi-cal news stories of 2014 in the United States was about a satirical movie.

This movie caused an international incident before it even saw the light of day, I am talking about Seth Rogen’s and James Franco’s “The Interview.”

“The Interview, ” by Sony Pictures, is about Dave Skylark (Franco), an en-tertainment news show host, and his producer, Aaron Rapaport (Rogen), getting the interview of a lifetime with the totalitarian leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un (Randall Park).

The CIA had a different plan for Skylark and his producer Rapaport.

They planned to task them to assas-sinate the leader of the country to help bring democracy to it, spoiler alert,

they end up killing Jong-Un. Even though the plot of the movie is inter-esting, “The Interview” is nothing to write home about.

It is a raunchy comedy with a few laughs, but it is an average comedy at best.

People have been making satire about North Korea for years, so why is this movie so special?

To learn the real reason, one has to look at the incident that occurred be-hind the scenes and in the end what this movie represents to the American people.

On Nov. 24, Sony Pictures was hacked by a group called Guardians of Peace, stealing a massive amount data.

This data consisted of company e-mails, confidential files, and even a few unreleased films, which were re-leased to the public.

The Guardians of Peace demanded

that Sony should not release the movie or that they would suffer further harm and threatened Sony’s families if the movie was released.

After an investigation by the feder-al government, it was concluded that North Korea was behind the attack.

After discovering this North Ko-rea’s involvement, which the country still denies, Sony and movie theaters pulled the movie.

This made quite of few Americans mad.

Not because they were looking for-ward to the movie, though some prob-ably were.

It was because a foreign power at-tempted to censor what they hold dear, Freedom of Speech.

President Barack Obama even spoke out against the movie being pulled, “We cannot have society in which some dictator some place can start imposing

censorship in the United States.” The support again the censorship

was so strong that the movie did end up in some theaters and also on demand, making $18 million dollars on the first weekend.

While this is a happy ending for Ro-gen’s movie, it does bring a disturbing new type of terrorism used by a foreign power that civilians have not seen out-side of a theater, cyberterroism.

This is the first time that a foreign power has tried to induce a fear against the public through the use of comput-ers.

“The Interview” proved Americans are resilient against this type of censor-ship.

But the government, companies, and individuals need to make it a pri-ority to protect their information less if something more vital is hacked and people are killed or maimed as a result.

Small town girl, big world travels

A plan backfired, North Korea’s war on satire

Kathryn KellarEditor-in-Chief

“Into the Woods” started out as a musical. The 2014 film came out on Christmas Day and stirred buzz with a well-known cast including, Meryl Streep (“Mamma Mia”), Anna Ken-drick (“Pitch Perfect”), Chris Pine (“Star Trek”), Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada”) and Johnny Depp (“The Pirates of the Caribbean”).

The film ties in well-loved fairy tales, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Red Rid-ing Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk with some startling twists along the way.

A baker and his wife are left child-less because of a curse. A witch makes the couple collect fairy tale items to break their curse.

Throughout the film viewers can see the tales of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Red and Jack.

If you are a fan of the fairy tale sto-ries and don’t want those beloved sto-ries to change at all then this film is not for you.

The film is visually beautiful and appealing. The lighting, sets, costumes and overall coloring are all done very well.

The actors are all very good and the music is both catchy and good at nar-rating the dark version of fairy tales.

Without looking at the plot the story is a great watch and is very entertain-ing. However, once looking into the film’s plot it is harder to evaluate.

I, personally had not listened to the “Into the Woods” soundtrack or expe-

rienced the musical play and was in for some very major surprises.

These surprises to me felt like they came out of nowhere and left me to ponder if I found the film to be worthy of seeing again or a dud.

Can a perception of a fairy tale be changed after a majority of your life and still be considered good?

The first major shocker was that part way through the movie there was the basic happily ever after ending scene, but it was not the end of the film.

Next Prince Charming cheats on Cinderella by kissing the baker’s wife. Therefore, breaking up an iconic fairy tale couple.

Another major shocker of the film is that the baker’s wife randomly falls off of a cliff and dies.

Through these series of tragic events none of the main characters seem to re-spond mournfully to the events.

The film paints a dark veil over fairy tales, but also shows colorful and imaginative narrative.

If you have not seen the film and are not closely attached to the original end-ing of fairy tales this film will capture your heart.

Personally, I enjoyed the film, but am caught between classic fairytale endings and bright settings and catchy songs.

“Agony” sung by the two princes is amazing and entertaining. Overall, I would say that if you enjoy musicals this is a must see.

The acting is well done and the “Into the Woods” crew did a great job of nar-rating the magical woods.

manity. When I started thinking about something adventurous to do I decided to apply to be a summer staffer.

As a camper this was something that I always imagined that I would want to do.

I looked up to these people and what was the worst that could happen? So in May I flew out to Colorado.

As a side note, this was my first time not only flying, but also traveling by myself, so most of the initial traveling was the scariest thing I had ever done.

I am an avid “Grey’s Anatomy” fan. All I kept thinking the whole flight was that I was going to have the same fate as Lexi Grey.

I was going to die. But, I flew into Colorado and the exciting part of my trip began.

I got off the plane and started my journey through the airport, shaking.

I was realizing that I was so scared and I had no idea what I was doing.

All that mattered to me in that mo-ment was that saw the people that I was going to spend the rest of my summer with, and my journey into the big bad world had begun.

Continue read-ing issues of The Black & Magenta to read exclusive column articles.

Kandee Ferrell, Special Sections & Opinion Editor

OpinionPage 6

Senior year as told by Kandee: I will leave in 114 days. I think. I’ve

done everything right. I’ve taken all of the required classes. I have participat-ed in extra curricular activities. I have checked my transcript… many times.

Everything points to graduation ex-cept the fact that I can’t believe that I could possibly graduate.

The voice in my head laughs hyster-ically every time I tell someone that I graduate in May.

She doesn’t believe me. I have done everything to convince her that it’s time but she just isn’t ready to leave. She’s in denial. Even though she won’t listen, my graduation date slowly ap-proaches. I can’t stop the flow of time.

The worst part is, I can’t tell if I want to or not. A part of me can’t wait to wear the gown but every time I imag-

Why do your New Year’s resolutions fail?

New Year’s Resolutions are some-thing that most of us aim to achieve.

A new year signals a fresh start, a new chapter.

We put items on our resolution lists like work out more, be healthier, drink less caffeine or do more with our lives. The list can go on and on for several days.

We often times set big expectations on ourselves that are harder for us to successfully achieve.

Instead of steadily easing into goals we instead try to jump straight in. This makes it harder for us to reach our res-olutions.

Our goals to improve ourselves for a new year is one that most of us are constantly reaching and struggling for.

We want to be better, do better.

The truth is that a new year, a new start should be mainly focused on us living our lives. Living your life can mean being healthier through smaller steps that we can set for ourselves.

Yet we get caught up in our own imperfections or things that make us insecure.

Our imperfections make us unique. Why should we change them?

Let’s face it most of us have already broke our New Year’s Resolutions and it’s not even February yet!

The keyword in that statement is most, not all. There are some individ-uals out there, who have succeeded in achieving their New Year’s Resolu-tions and will make it through the year.

If you have already failed why not try going back and setting smaller goals steadily? You can still set those goals and succeed you just need to for-give yourself if you take a step back.

We shouldn’t consider failing reso-lutions a failure.

Failure would mean giving up and it is not too late to start again and ease into resolutions.

Honestly, what makes us decide that we need to lose weight or eat better only on the first of the year?

For years I have set New Year’s Res-olutions and felt horrible about failing. Should I have felt ashamed?

The answer is no. Instead I should have found a way to mold my resolu-tions to better ease into my daily life-style.

We have to give ourselves the un-derstanding that we are human and we often times make mistakes and that’s

The Black & Magenta staff encourages Letters to the Editor. All letters must include contact information and a name to be considered for publication. Let-ters will not be published anonymously.

Letters must be 200 words or fewer to be considered. The staff reserves the right to edit for style, grammar and space.

We will not publish any letter that we consider potentially libelous. If you have questions or would like to see how The Black & Magenta is put together, please e-mail bandm@muskingum.edu.

This is a student publication. Opinions expressed in the editorials, columns and cartoons are those of their authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Black & Magenta or Muskingum University.

Kandee FerrellSpecial Sections & Opinion Editor

Kathryn Kellar Editor-in-Chief

ine it, my gag reflex is triggered. Now, trust me, I’m ready to leave. I want a job, a house, to grow up. But the peo-ple here… I can’t leave them.

I can’t. I have no idea what I will do if I don’t wake up to Kayla Rausch telling me I’m late for class.

I can’t see myself eating lunch with-out see Kelsie Churchill’s face at the table across from me.

If I don’t hear 90.7 while I work, how will I ever get anything done?

Without Dr. Marshall, whom will I get to approve my work? If Dr. Ad-ams doesn’t tell me to keep writing, I’ll never keep writing.

I will never forget the first time I heard Dr. Wells lecture about Shake-speare. I will never forget when I saw my first article on the front page of the

Black & Magenta. This is my home. It’s worse than when I moved away from that place where my parents live.

Nothing has ever felt more compli-cated than deciding whether I am hap-py or sad to be graduating.

Every time my friends talk about the plans for next year, I realize that they’re lives are going to continue af-ter I leave.

I’ll be out in the world starting all over. Stay tuned for the conclusion of Senior year as told by Kandee.

Up next: Job hunting, finding a crap-py apartment that I can afford on my own and most importantly, what corny saying will I put on my graduation cap?

All that and more, on the most de-pressing semester of my college career and basically of my life.

Letters to the Editor

The last semester

Kandee Ferrell, Special Sections & Opinion Editor

okay. We are imperfect. There is no way

for us to be perfect. It is in fact un-achievable.

Maybe we think that New Year’s Resolutions will help us to better fit in with the rest of the world. I don’t have the answer as to why you or anyone else have or have not set a New Year’s Resolution. Only you can determine the ‘why.’

Rather than focus on what is wrong and feeling like we lack control, think about what you can do to fix it. What is stopping you from making a February resolution or a resolution for random times of the year?

Sure we all could work out more. We could definitely all eat healthier, be kinder, drink less caffeine, do more, worry less. More importantly we could live more.

I have one New Year’s Resolution this year and for all of the years to come in my life. That is to live.

Live without regret. Live without worry. Live without fear.

Instead I am going to live with hope. Live with faith. Live with adventure.

Sure there are going to be other things that I want to achieve, but those are goals that I set for myself through-out the whole year rather than a guilty resolution that I know that I won’t fol-low through with.

Instead of beating ourselves up about the failed resolutions, just live and enjoy your life. Set goals for your-self at different points throughout the year to keep your motivation up.

Live with tenacity. Live with wis-dom from past failures.

Life is not a spectator’s sport. In or-der to live you need to play the game. That means that you can’t be afraid of taking risks or failing New Year’s Res-olutions.

Continue to work towards living your life and setting personal goals along the way.

Sports Page 7

Lacrosse brings changes to campus

Chris MorganSports Editor

Captain’s Quarters

With the Cleveland Cavaliers’ recent struggles, it’s easy for die-hard Cleve-land fans to question what this team will be able to accomplish this sea-son. It’s certainly been a roller coaster year so far for the Cavs starting with the poor start, to the winning streak and now to injury problems for Kyrie Irving and LeBron James. The Cavs’ current record is definitely not one to be too proud of right now, only stand-ing at 19-17.

Despite the downward trend for the team, they still hold the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. Obviously that won’t matter if they don’t find a way to beat a very good Atlanta Hawks team, but it’s still not really time to full on panic for owner Dan Gilbert and GM David Griffin.

Trading Dion Waiters in a three team deal that landed the team Iman Shumpert and JR Smith paired with the recent trade with the Denver Nuggets that brought big man Timofey Mozgov to Cleveland should be enough to keep the Cavs afloat.

Once James comes back from his injury is when the real test will begin. James will come in with no experience with the new players so it will be key for him to adjust on the fly and learn to play with the group and make things gel.

On top of these moves let’s not for-get there’s still plenty of time left in the season, so I think the Cavs should be fine. It is an 82 game season after all, so this team is far from done on with this new campaign.

New varsity sport creating traditionsChris MorganSports Editor

Students returning to Muskingum for the spring semester will notice some major changes to athletics at the school.

Starting late in January both the Men’s and Women’s lacrosse teams will begin final preparations for the first seasons ever played at Musking-um.

The biggest part of that preparation is getting back on the practice field as a team learning how to play the game.

However, with so many other sports going on at McConagha Stadium, spe-cific measures had to be taken to en-sure the safety of the athletes of not only Muskingum University, but also of John Glenn High School.

That is why a safety net has been put up around the majority of the football field.

Athletic Director Larry Shank stated that due to constraints in space, a plan had to be made to allow for more than

one team to practice at the same time.“When you take in classes, available

practice time, and when the cafeteria is closed it’s necessary for us to let one or two sports practice at the same time,” said Shank.

The netting starts at the 20 yard line on the football field, and stretches all the way across one end line, and then back up to the 20 yard line. The netting will cover both ends of the field with a similar set up on the opposite end of the field.

“That’s the most dangerous part where the players are shooting the ball at the goal,” said Shank.

In order to make the plan work, the athletic department decided to allow the track team and the Women’s la-crosse team practice at the same time.

The coaching staffs would then co-ordinate their practice schedules with each other to keep athletes at different sides of the stadium at all times as an-other safety precaution.

Because of the difference in velocity of the ball between Men’s and Wom-en’s lacrosse, the Men’s team will prac-tice with no other teams at the stadium.

Once the Men’s team is finished, the John Glenn track teams will practice.

With the season quickly approach-

ing, both lacrosse coaches have been hard at work making preseason prepa-rations despite not yet having the abili-ty to talk directly to the athletes due to NCAA regulations.

Women’s Head Lacrosse Coach Rachel Cibulas is excited to begin the season, and also knows what to expect from her team.

“Obviously we want to improve ev-ery day that we’re in practice and in every game and always just set bench-marks as we go,” said Cibulas.

The Women’s team will have a lot to learn on the fly this year, especially for having a very young team.

Cibulas will only have 12 players on the roster this season, half of which are first-years.

“We’d like to set our goals accord-ingly for the teams we’re playing or for whatever lies ahead of us,” added Cibulas.

The men will have a much deeper roster to turn to and will be led by Head Coach Nick Gallagher.

The men’s team will begin the inau-gural season on Feb. 25 on the road at Bethany, while the women begin with a home game against St. Vincent on Feb. 22.

Chris Morgan/Black&MagentaThe new netting mounted to poles drilled into the football field was designed to keep athletes safe during practices.

Want to see a more in-depth look at the Cavs’ season so far? Go to www.blackandmagenta.com for an extended look-in at what’s going on in Cleveland.

Don’t worry, the Cavs will be just fine

Chris Morgan, Sports Editor

SportsPage 8

Christine Holmes/Black&MagentaJasmine Goings, (center) goes up for layup over John Carroll’s Beth Switzler, (right) and Sarah Cairnie (11) to cut the Muskie deficit to three points late in the game at the rec center. Goings finished the game with 12 points.

Muskies in action over breakChris MorganSports Editor

Muskingum University Student Ath-letes were busy while the students were away for winter break. Both Men’s and Women’s basketball teams played five games a piece, and the wrestling team competed in two separate meets.

The Women’s basketball team failed to win a single game and posted 0-5 which puts them in the midst of their longest losing streak of the season so far. Of the five losses, three were to OAC opponents Baldwin Wallace, Ot-terbein, and Ohio Northern. The final two games of winter break were against Denison and Bluffton, respectively.

The Lady Muskies did see a bright spot in the game against Denison when junior point guard Angela Darnley set the school record for most assists in a single game with 13.

With the losses, the team now stands at 3-9 (1-4) and sits at the bottom of the conference.

The wrestling team participated in two events, losing 54-0 in a dual meet against Waynesburg and finished last out of eight teams at the Waynesburg Invitational in early January.

In the dual with Waynesburg the Muskies surrendered four decisions by forfeit and also had four of the five ac-tive wrestlers lose by fall in the wres-tler’s respective matches.

At the invitational the Muskies were able to notch a few wins, although only two of them counted toward the Musk-ies team total of 12 points.

First-year Caleb Cox recorded a win by injury-default at 174 pounds, while fellow first-year Brannon Scott record-ed a fall at the four minute mark in his bout at 285 pounds.

First-year Grayson Miller compet-ed as an individual at the event and notched a 2-0 decision in the heavy-weight division.

The Men’s basketball team saw the most success over break going 2-3 in five games. The two wins came against conference foe Ohio Northern and Franciscan, while the losses came against Baldwin Wallace, Otterbein and most recently Case Western Re-serve.

Men’s Head Basketball Coach Gene Ford saw a lot of improvement from his team over the last games.

“I think we’re starting to play a little bit more consistent,” said Ford. “In the Ohio Northern game at home I think we played our best 40 minute game of the year.”

The team performed pretty well against a good Case Western team by Ford’s standards, but were ultimately plagued by poor free throw shooting and turnovers in the 76-65 loss.

“We feel pretty good going into the meat of the season,” Ford added.

The men now sit at 4-8 (1-4) on the season and also sit in last place in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

OAC Standings as of Jan. 13Men’s Basketball Women’s BasketballMarietta 13-0 (6-0)John Carroll 9-3 (5-1)Mount Union 9-4 (5-1)Baldwin Wallace 10-3 (4-2)Heidelberg 6-7 (2-4)Wilmington 5-7 (2-4)Capital 4-9 (2-4)Otterbein 3-10 (2-4)Ohio Northern 6-7 (1-5)Muskingum 4-9 (1-5)

Ohio Northern 10-3 (6-0)John Carroll 12-1 (5-1)Baldwin Wallace 10-3 (5-1)Heidelberg 6-7 (4-2)Wilmington 8-5 (3-3)Capital 6-7 (2-4)Otterbein 5-8 (2-4)Marietta 5-8 (1-5)Mount Union 5-8 (1-5)Muskingum 3-10 (1-5)

Christine Holmes/Black&MagentaAngela Darnley drives to the basket in the game against John Carroll.

Upcoming WMCO Sports BroadcastsWed. Jan. 21. Men’s Basketball vs. Capital @ 7:00

Sat. Jan. 24. Women’s Basketball vs. Baldwin Wallace @ 2:30

Tues. Jan. 27. Wrestling vs. Baldwin Wallace @ 7:00

Wed. Jan. 28. Women’s Basketball vs. Marietta @ 7:00

Sat. Jan. 31. Men’s Basketball vs. Otterbein @ 2:30

* All start times are in the afternoon unless otherwise noted. Catch them live on 90.7 and streaming on orbitmediaonline.com.

Women’s Basketball falls to 3-10 in the midst of longest losing streak of the season

Lady Muskie Last Five Games

@ Baldwin Wallace L, 68-42

vs. Otterbein L, 81-66

@ Ohio Northern L, 82-46

vs. Denison L, 71-63

@ Bluffton L, 83-82

Chris Morgan, Sports Editor