the rambler vol. 93 no. 14

The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917

The RamblerWesleyan sports prepare for upcoming season.Sports, page 5

WEDNESDAYSeptember 1, 2010

Vol. 93 • No. 14

www.therambler.org

Politicians need to scale back on the politics.Opinion, page 2

Goodwill redoes dorm room

Melissa [email protected]

Wesleyan recently expe-rienced its first taste of Ex-treme Makeover: College Edition.

On Aug. 19, one dorm

resident, Selena Stewart, received a makeover of her dorm room with all furnish-ings supplied by Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth, Inc.

Stewart is a senior mu-sic education major who

plans to become an el-ementary school music teacher after graduation. Stewart spends all her time at Wesleyan. In ad-dition to taking 18 hours this semester, she has a part-time job at the pool

in the SUB as a swim coach.

“Everything in my life is on campus,” Stewart said. “It’s not only my liv-ing area; it’s my study area, my personal area and my hangout area. It’s my little

bit of everything.” Originally, Goodwill

wanted to do a makeover of a house with a group like Habitat for Human-ity. They switched gears

Professor’s book outlines Muslim complexity in U.S.Rachel [email protected]

A Wesleyan professor pub-lished a new book in June that addresses the competing de-mands of American Muslims and the Islamic religious and secular laws.

After two years of research and a year of writing and editing, Wesleyan Religious Studies assistant professor Dr. Mark E. Hanshaw published his book “Muslim and Ameri-can? Straddling Islamic Law and U.S. Justice.” The aspects covered in his book include divorce and child custody in different Muslim and Is-lamic cultures in the U.S. and abroad.

“Hopefully the book will help us better understand the complex fabric of the religion in this country,” Hanshaw said. “I think the Muslim commu-nity doesn’t get as much atten-tion as other religious groups

in this country do.” Hanshaw received his doc-

torate in religious studies from Southern Methodist University in 2004, and he also received his jurist doc-torate from the University of Tennessee in 1991.

He said he has several other degrees. Though Hanshaw’s doctoral work concentrated on the Islamic tradition, he has also done a lot of research in other religious systems.

Professors of religion Dr. Ron Ballard and Dr. Jesse Sowell selected Hanshaw to take over the department of religious studies as they en-tered phased retirement in Fall 2007.

“We found out about Han-shaw when he still was in grad school,” Sowell said. “We were interested in him because he won an award for teaching in a public college. For a religious professor to win an award in a public school said a lot about

who he is.” This will be Hanshaw’s third

year at Wesleyan, and he said he was recently promoted to chair of religious studies.

Hanshaw said he prefers to keep his religious affiliation quiet because he does not want his students to come into his class with preconceived notions.

Melondy Doddy, junior psychology and comparative religions major, said she ap-preciates Hanshaw’s lack of religious bias.

“His ability to step out of his own religion and to teach about other cultures and re-ligions is one of the most in-teresting things about him,” Doddy said. “I think he is a real progressive leader at Wes-leyan, and he is one day going to put Wesleyan on the map.”

Wesleyan continues to upgrade technology with SMART boardsShauna [email protected]

As technology continues to change the way people live their daily lives, Texas Wesleyan officials are keep-ing their promises to inject it into their curriculum, giving students in many majors the opportunity to use cutting-edge devices in their classes.

Dr. Hector Quintanilla identify said the School of Business decided to pur-chase three new SMART boards for faculty to use in their classes within the Armstrong Mabee-Busi-ness Center.

This newer technology uses an interactive white board, digital ink pens, a computer and projector, allowing faculty to share examples and lecture notes with students. Students can also access entire lectures, including class notes writ-ten on the SMART board

through different software, including Blackboard, cur-rently used by some facul-ty, said associate professor of economics and finance Dr. Kalpana Pai.

“For me it’s easy to go back to materials I’ve al-ready covered. But for stu-dents I think it’s a good tool to have,” Pai said.

These three new SMART boards were purchased with restricted money do-nated to and raised by the school of business, and make up only a small frac-tion of the 21 installed across the campus, said Title III instructional tech-nologist Meghan Foster.

In 2007, AT&T donated $25,000 to the university as part of an initiative to bring technology into the classroom and use it on campus.

“As part of a project pro-posal, we basically prom-ised AT&T that we would continue that initiative,”

Quintanilla said. “We took that money and we did several things with it. We took some of that money and bought new chairs and new desks for a lot of these classrooms.”

Some of the money do-nated by AT&T was also used to purchase the first two SMART boards for the AMB in 2007. Quintanilla said each board is approxi-mately $2,000 for all the components needed, and about $1,500-$2,000 to in-stall.

Most other SMART boards currently on cam-pus were purchased through the Title III Grant in 2007, where the uni-versity received nearly $2 million from the U.S. De-partment of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program, Foster said.

Foster also said the SMART boards are just

Rooms beginning to change per reportShauna [email protected]

Gone are the days of pink vertical blinds and spending precious dollars on a load of laundry. In are the days of late-night gaming tournaments and Lizzy lounge chairs.

After bringing in two consultants last spring, John White and Bambi Harris, Residence Life at Texas Wesleyan imple-mented several sugges-tions from the consultants’ report over the summer.

Most renovations sug-gested were focused on the lobbies of Stella Rus-sell and Elizabeth Means Armstrong Halls, with plans to re-carpet and paint Wesleyan Village.

“They looked like the 1960s dorms, and so we had done some painting, but this is a total make-over,” said Pati Alexander, vice president for enroll-ment and student services. “Elizabeth was converted to all singles. We pulled out the extra beds and then we ordered recliner chairs; they’re called Lizzy chairs.”

www.sxc.hu

Publication ranks TWU in top tierJonathan [email protected]

US. News & World Report recently ranked Texas Wesleyan a top tier school and No. 71 among the West-ern Regional Universities in its “Best Colleges” list.

The list ranks more than 1,400 schools using the Carnegie Founda-tion for the Advancement of Teach-ing. The top tier ranking only applies

to the U.S. News and not the one is-sued by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

“When you consider the number of universities in the United States, I think [the ranking] is very positive,” Interim President Dr. Lamar Smith said.

Smith also said that the rank shows the school’s progression.

“When you consider where we’ve come from, that’s just more impres-

sive than ever,” he said. “I suspect there was a time in our past where we would not have a ranking at all.”

The positive growth pattern is at-tributed to the quality of the teachers and administrators, Smith said.

Senior Vice President and Pro-vost Allen Henderson said the rank “speaks to the health and vitality” of Texas Wesleyan.

“Our university is in excellent fi-nancial shape, and we’ve grown con-

siderably in the last 10 years,” Hen-derson said in a press release. “We’re poised to do some new and creative things in the future.”

Senior psychology major Court-ney Hickerson said more one-on-one time with class instructors is one of the qualities Wesleyan has that sets it apart from other schools.

“The teachers get to know you bet-ter, and you get to spend more time with them,” she said. “You have more

opportunity to learn from them spe-cifically.”

Polytechnic High School coun-selor Sodonia Johnson said prospec-tive students sometimes consider the rankings when school shopping. A tough economy can also give the rankings more value, she said.

“Usually kids interested in that [number] know that the job mar-ket may look at the school rankings more favorably,” she said.

RENOVATE, page 3

BOARD, page 3

Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler StaffGoodwill Inc. remodeled Stewart’s room after she wrote an essay.

ROOM, page 3

Opinion2 | September 1, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

Jonathan Resendez, editor-in-chiefBarry Grubbs, opinion editor Eliana Mijangos, sports editorChuck Fain, arts & entertainment editorDwight Conerway, college life editorMeisa Keivani Najafabadi, photo editorLara Hartman, multimedia editorErica Estrada, graphic designer/cartoonistWendy Moore, faculty adviserDr. Kay Colley, faculty liaison

Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press As-sociation, Associated Collegiate Press, Student Press Law Center, College Media Advisers and College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers.

Opinions expressed in The RambleR are those of the individual authors only and do not neces-sarily reflect the views of the Texas Wesleyan community as a whole.

RambleR Contribution Please send all news briefs to [email protected]. Submissions due by noon Friday to see brief in the following week’s issue.

Letters to the editor: The RambleR, a weekly publication welcomes all letters. All submis-sions must have a full printed name, phone number and signature. Confidentiality will be granted if requested. While every consider-ation is made to publish letters, publication is limited by time and space.The editors reserve the right to edit all submis-sions for space, grammar, clarity and style. Letters to the editor may be subject to response from editors and students on the opinion page.

“We are not afraid to follow the truth ... wherever it may lead.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Address all correspondence to:Texas Wesleyan UniversityThe RambleR1201 Wesleyan St.Fort Worth, TX [email protected] contact The RambleR

(817) 531-7552Advertising Inquiries:(817) 532-7582

The RamblerFounded in 1917 as The Handout

Publisher: Lamar Smith

What could our leaders do if they abandoned party politics?

Sammy Max, freshman education

“They could do what we want instead of what the party wants them to do.”

Blake Dunson, freshman exercise science

“They could do more for those people who don’t have it as good as they do.”

Braylon Watkins, freshman management

“They are not focusing on the suffering people in

this country.”

Jessica Watton, sophomore exercise science

“They could stop worrying about getting re-elected and

do their jobs.”

Nolan Barbee, sophomore undecided

“There could be more unity in the country. We could be

a better community.”

More good news—Wes-leyan received national recognition in a U.S. News & World Report list that excluded comparable state schools. Wesleyan was ranked no. 71. With-out question, The Rambler knows the school is getting better in many areas.

However, a question does remain. Can the university retain and accommodate the increasing student body?

The preliminary enroll-ment numbers show an influx in freshmen, which is not surprising. Higher enrollment is expected con-sidering the props Wesleyan is receiving for strengthen-ing the quality of the school, little by little.

To strengthen the student body, with both quantity and quality, Wesleyan must focus on retention by deliv-ering adequate resources to its students.

Resources like park-ing, residential housing and technology centers equipped to support a grow-ing student body will be critical. For every reason a student chooses to enroll here, three more should be discovered that make that student want to stay.

You get the picture. It’s not a case of outgrowing our real estate; it’s about giving the best students the best experience in higher educa-tion.

Wesleyan students ap-preciate the intimate class-

sizes offered here. Instead of eliminating their access to a computer lab, why not cre-ate a larger and more com-plete resource with the latest technology. Our students must have access to the tools they need to compete in a changing job market.

Speaking of competition, if the university savors the taste of being listed in the U.S. News & World Report—why not strive to move higher? Why not shoot for 35 instead of 71?

Reaching that goal won’t be quick or easy. The best way to reach it, though, is simple.

Listen to us.The students trust the ad-

ministrators to handle the executive and financial busi-ness of the university. Like-wise, the university needs to trust its students when they say things like, “We need more modern resources.”

It may seem like students are all squandering our lives on Facebook and other mindless Internet-related activities, but the truth is some of us can use those tools to make life easier and better for others—which is an appropriate collegiate as-piration as far as we’re con-cerned.

We’re aware the changes take time. And we’re aware of our constant pleading for “more, more and more.”

Let’s surprise people and see how far “more” can take us.

Staff Editorial

Student body grows, resources must keep pace

Hold the politics, please

Partisan politics is a deadly weapon that is destroying the fabric of one of the greatest societies in history. It’s frustrat-ing to watch Americans slowly losing their grip on true freedom. It seems that we’re either free to be liberal or free to be conservative. How does choosing be-tween these two failed ideologies give us real freedom at all?

Plenty of people are protesting the par-tisan politics we see in government. As usual, liberals complain about conserva-tive and vice versa. Yes, we need choices. Neither of these choices is the right one for a Superpower in decline. Why don‘t we demand the same accountability from politicians we expect from our dry clean-er or our trash collector?

You only need to read a few news-paper editorials or Internet blogs on politics to see the deep and frightening divisions that have been created in our population by political in-fighting

Problem solving is no longer the is-sue. It almost seems like our politicians abandoned the problems altogether in the quest to find blame for their politi-cal opponents. The blame game is not getting this country out of the economic

and social quagmire we are in.Neither conservatives nor liberals in

government should take pride in their efforts unless that effort results in some measure of progress for the nation they serve. It is well past time for our leaders at every level of government to abandon political partisanship and begin to look at our population as one group.

It is time for Americans to set aside their Democratic or Republican loyal-ties so that our nation can rebuild its identity at home and abroad. While we have struggled to pick the right side, we have slowly lost sight of the notion that we were once all on the same side.

New faces in government don’t change anything if the motivation stays the same.

We are not cognizant of how swiftly our so-called American dream can be wrestled away from us in a “Clash of Civilizations.” I think that many Ameri-cans believe the strength of our Ameri-can civilization is permanent. It is not indestructible.

The world is changing constantly and America is no longer in the lead. The ris-ing economies in the Pacific Rim already cast a shadow on their western competi-tors. The penetration of the Muslim reli-gion worldwide has serious implications

for Westerners that cannot be ignored.Still, we seem intent on taking sides

with either the liberals or the conserva-tives. I wonder if Americans are simply afraid they aren’t strong enough to stand up to the politics.

Polls taken on issues ranging from Social Security to natural disaster relief indicate that we are generally unified against our government. Still, we split up into our little groups and scurry into the shadows to wait out the storm.

Desire, courage and creativity were the building blocks of this country from the early days of the revolution through the struggle of two world wars. Americans have won almost every battle fought in our short history, but only because we were united in our cause.

Perhaps not since the Civil War has our population been so polarized. Health care, immigration and economic recession are real issues facing Ameri-cans and our politicians.

There is no time for choosing sides. It’s time for our politicians to abandon their affiliations and work together as American leaders to prop up a very un-stable society that was once the model of freedom and prosperity around the world.

The customer is not always right these days

The old adage “The customer is always right” seems to be a thing of the past in some parts of the business world today. I recently had an expe-rience with a couple of well known retailers that gives credence to my theory. It has come to the point where some retailers are so desper-ate for profits that they are willing to compromise their professional in-tegrity to make a dollar.

As a business student years ago, I was taught the difference between a

businessman and an entrepreneur. A businessman/woman wants to develop a relationship with the cus-tomer, his immediate family, rela-tives and friends so that the original customer will serve as a marketing tool via word of mouth.

On the other hand, the entrepre-neur does not care if you are satis-fied with the product you purchased from him. He doesn’t care if your family and friends make a purchase or if you go away and complain to everyone you meet about a bad ex-perience. The entrepreneur has ac-complished his mission once he or she has your hard-earned dollar in his pocket.

I find this practice particularly suspicious when subliminal return policies are discovered only after the purchase has been finalized. If and

when the customer desires to return an item or has a complaint about it, they often discover a time limit or some other condition. Recently, it seems that many so-called business-men have adopted the attitude and work ethic of the entrepreneur.

My first experience was with a na-tional clothing retailer. I attempted to exchange a Christmas gift but was unable to find anything in the store I was interested in. After standing in line for nearly half an hour, I re-quested a refund on the item. I was asked for a receipt, and I gave it to the clerk.

She scanned the barcode, returned the item to stock, swiped a card and handed it to me. After asking what the card was for, I was informed it was a store credit gift card that could be used for a future purchase. I made

it clear that I had found nothing in the store’s inventory that interested me, but she suggested I give it to someone who could use it. That, according to the store’s policy, was my only option. I didn’t even get an apology.

In a similar incident I learned of a consumer who took the same issue up to the corporate level and was denied satisfaction. After purchas-ing a Global Positioning System, the man received the same item as a gift. Obviously, he had no need for two of the same items so he went to the re-tailer to obtain a refund.

After providing the sales receipt to the customer service representa-tive, he was informed that he could not receive a refund, but would be given a store credit gift card instead. Although he pleaded his case for a refund to the store manager and the

corporate office, the man was frus-trated to learn he would have to be satisfied with “store credit.”

Should we, as consumers, be forced to accept this kind of treat-ment from retailers just because the economy has forced them to ride a financial rollercoaster?

I personally see it as a form of pi-racy that is apparently being ignored by agencies such as the Better Busi-ness Bureau or the Consumer Pro-tection Agency.

Aren’t we all suffering enough in this current economic crisis? Why does the consumer have to suffer the loss?

In times of economic prosperity, we consumers faithfully supported these same merchants and kept them in the black. Now they repay us by putting us in the red.

Barry GrubbsOpinion [email protected]

Dwight ConerwayCollege life [email protected]

“Why don’t we demand the same accountability from politicians we expect from our dry cleaners or our trash collector?”

CampusThe RambleR | www.therambler.org September 1, 2010 | 3

Converting Elizabeth’s rooms to singles increased the housing prices for these rooms by 50 per-cent, but the residence hall is still near capacity, with only a handful of

openings left.“We’re hoping it becomes

a sort of studious type of building,” Cary Poole, dean of students said.

Residents of Stella are also seeing the creation of a new game room and computer room. Poole said new gaming systems, including the Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 will be in-stalled in the game room.

Residence Life is also setting up two desktop computers for residents to use.

“Some of the returning athletes who are in Stella are real surprised—a posi-tive reaction,” Poole said.

Dean of freshmen Joe Brown is responsible for the design and execution of the renovations. He has been with the university for more than 30 years.

“He just does this out of the kindness of his heart

on the side. He’s the one who’s been orchestrating all the renovations this summer,” Alexander said.

Another suggestion from both consultants was to create a more “hotel lobby” look for each resi-dence hall lobby. Brown achieved this with a selec-tion of new paints, carpets, furnishings and lights in both Stella and Elizabeth.

Apart from aesthetic ap-peal, Residence Life also decided to make laundry free in all residence halls starting this fall. Students can now wash and dry clothes at any time, only having to provide the laundry detergent.

Residence Life is also planning to bring in a new laundry vendor next summer. With this new vendor will come a sys-tem in which students can receive text messages that tell them when their laun-dry is finished.

In addition, food and drink machine vendors were changed this past summer, offering students Dr Pepper products for the first time.

“We’re very happy. They’ve been very respon-sive to the issues we had,” Alexander said. “They changed out all of the ma-chines and moved some of the machines.”

Poole said another ame-nity Residence Life hopes to provide for each room in the next school year is the MicroFridge, a small refrigerator with a micro-wave built into the top of it. Since this appliance will only use one power source, it will also help conserve energy.

With all the improve-ments and the influx of new students to the uni-versity, residence halls have continued to fill up, currently at 85 percent ca-pacity, or approximately 367 students, and more than Wesleyan has ever had living on campus.

“Everything I’ve heard has been very, very posi-tive,” Alexander said.

Future plans for reno-vations also include the Brown-Lupton Center, which Alexander said will soon receive a mini-makeover.

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NEVER GO HUNGRY

Always have a planBest Values for Faculty and Staff Meal Plans:

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paying cash at the door!Add $ to your meal plan when you get your refund check

Career ServicesServices Available:

CareerLinkWesleyan’s On-line job board!

• Major/Career Guidance

• Mocking Interview

• Resume Writing & Critiquing

• Resume Posting

• Job/ Intern Seeker’s Database

• Computerized Job Searches

• Employer’s Database

Located in Brown Lupton North Wing Monday-Friday 8:00am-7:00pm 817.531.6512

[email protected] [email protected]

http://www.txwes.edu/careerservices/index.htm

RENOVATE continued from page 1

one component of the in-structional technologies adopted for the university.

“The Title III grant is working to improve the university with the de-velopment of innovative advising strategies, Fresh-man and Transfer Learning Communities and faculty professional development, and the expansion of in-structional technologies,” she said.

In an effort to give more students this learning ex-perience, the Center for Excellence, Teaching and

Learning has offered facul-ty chances to attend work-shops to learn how to use this technology in their classrooms during the past year.

So far, 31 faculty mem-bers have attended the in-troductory workshops of-fered, Foster said.

According to Quintanilla, the university will continue trying to bring students newer technologies that could increase learning ef-ficiency.

Such technologies as the SMART board have already

spread to even lower levels of the educational system, including high schools in Fort Worth ISD, Quinta-nilla said.

“Smart Boards improve learning outcomes by em-powering faculty members to deliver more dynamic lessons,” Foster said. “By in-teracting directly with the content displayed through the computer, faculty mem-bers can engage students in the lesson materials and in-crease their attention and retention of those materi-als.”

BOARDS continued from page 1

because school began.David Cox, senior vice

president of retail sales and marketing for Goodwill, said Goodwill wanted to make the community more aware of the useful prod-ucts it has to offer.

“We came to Wesleyan with the idea because we wanted a way to show stu-dents what is available at Goodwill because it’s really amazing what you can find at our stores when you’re putting together your dorm or your first apartment,” he said.

Stewart was one of two students selected by Wes-leyan resident assistants to write an essay for Goodwill on why they deserved to re-ceive a makeover. Stewart wrote about how her en-tire life is centered around Wesleyan.

“It wasn’t something that I searched for. It was some-thing that chose me, which made it more special to me,” Stewart said.

Stewart said she was most excited by two of the items she received: a mini-fridge and extra seating. Her fa-vorite item is a silhouette mannequin that was deco-rated with her belts, purses

and necklaces.Chuck Burton, assistant

vice president for market-ing and communications at Texas Wesleyan, was there when Stewart saw the room for the first time.

“I got to see her Oh-Em-Gee reaction,” he said. “She loved it. The mannequin piece gave it a feel like when

you watch TV sitcoms and they’re in New York, and it’s just so fashionable.”

Fort Worth Goodwill is hoping to do a dorm make-over at the start of every school year, Cox said. He said he hopes students will realize that the stores aren’t just for Halloween cos-tumes and clothes.

ROOM continued from page 1

Name | Rambler StaffGoodwill Inc. hopes to raise community awareness about its products after redecorating Stewart’s room.

Arts & EntertainmentAlumnus moves past magicJonathan [email protected]

Mike Ince doesn’t believe in mind readers, but some people think he is one.

The mild-mannered Ince graduated summa cum laude from Wesleyan with a mass communication de-gree more than a decade ago. This helped him land a day job videotaping deposi-tions for attorneys. How-ever, Ince honed the craft he uses in his other job for much longer than 10 years.

The 35-year-old began practicing magic at age 15 while working at Magic etc Fort Worth Costume.

“I think every boy, at some point, is interested in mag-ic,” Ince said. “I think the early fascination with that is wanting to be amazing, wanting to do things that other people can’t.”

At age 10, Ince said he would ride his bike three-quarters of a mile to the magic shop and press his nose against the glass and marvel. After receiving a few parlor-sized magic tricks from the shop for his 10th birthday, Ince put on his first show.

“I’d never seen a magician per-form,” he said. “So I did a birthday party for a friend, and they sent me home without paying me.”

While he didn’t receive compensa-tion for his debut performance, Ince did eventually receive a job from his favorite magic shop.

Ince also gained a lifelong friend.“Every day after school he’d call

and ask for a costume,” said Magic etc owner Derek Kennedy.

Even though Ince is now an adult, Kennedy said he still sees the same kindness in him.

“Even as a kid, he would do any-thing for anybody,” Kennedy said.

As Ince grew older, his love for

magic morphed into an affinity for a different kind. Mentalism.

“It’s sort of a magic for grownups,” Ince said. “Even though I’m not claim-ing to be a real mind reader, during the show I want you to believe I am.”

Ince admits his craft relies on the power of subconscious suggestion and reading people for clues—some-thing he can actually practice at his job as a videographer for attorneys.

He controls a camera and micro-phones from the back of a room while an attorney asks questions that may be used in court.

“If the topic is one which the wit-ness might lie about, I get to watch them,” Ince said. “I get to watch where their eyes go, how they hesitate, how

their pattern of speech picks up.”Ince’s videography doesn’t just ben-

efit his ability to read mental cues, it also provides customers.

During an extended break at a depo-sition, attorney Christian Ellis sparked up a conversation with Ince after watching him perform several card tricks. This led Ellis to hire Ince to per-form at the annual awards banquet for the Teen Court of Fort Worth.

“I’ve never left one of his shows without everyone being very happy and very amazed,” Ellis said. “Some are true magic tricks, and some of his stuff is purely psychological—that part is the most interesting.”

Even today, Ince finds new reasons to do what he loves. He was recently

working at Magic etc. and tried a trick out of a new mentalism method book on a young girl. He put a me-dallion under a cup and put out five other cups. He asked the girl to place her hand over any one cup, which she did after hesitating.

She picked the right one.“What amazed me was that I never

knew until after the performance that she was blind,” he said.

Ince said the girl’s inability to pick up his visual suggestions made him wonder.

“If you watch David Copperfield fly, you’re entertained,” he said. “But you don’t stay up late at night won-dering ‘Is that real?’ or ‘What hap-pened?’”

Jonathan Resendez | Rambler StaffWesleyan alumnus Mike Ince demonstrates his skills in the art of mentalism.

What to watch this fallChuck [email protected]

During the summer months, television suffers a period of stagnation. Unless you have premium cable to enjoy such summer programs as True Blood or Mad Men, then chances are you have been watching re-runs these last few months. The wait is soon over as the new televi-sion season begins.

Returning this fall will be the staunchly popular cop dramas C.S.I., C.S.I.: NY, and C.S.I. Miami as well as the long-lived Law and Order: SVU.

NBC’s solid comedy lineup is back featuring Community, 30 Rock and Parks and Recre-ation.

Last year’s comedy hit Mod-ern Family makes it another season as does The Office, which will lose Steve Carell at the end of this season.

Familiar hospital dramas return such as House, Grey’s Anatomy and the spinoff Pri-vate Practice.

More familiar sights this fall will be a new American Idol with an all-new panel of judges. Desperate Housewives moves back to the neighbor-hood, featuring Vanessa Wil-liams of Ugly Betty. The ever-popular Glee comes back for an encore, singing and danc-ing its way back into your liv-ing room. Popular cable dra-mas such as Showtime’s ode to homicidal maniacs, Dexter, and FX’s gang of motorcycle maniacs, Son’s of Anarchy, also return this fall.

New this season is HBO’s already critically acclaimed Boardwalk Empire. It stars Steve Buscemi as a crooked politician in prohibition-era Atlantic City. The show in-volves Sopranos’ writer Ter-rence Winter and Martin Scorsese as executive producer.

ABC’s The Event is a “con-spiracy thriller” that concerns a man trying to rescue his kidnapped fiancee, only to dis-cover “the biggest cover-up in human history,” according to ABC’s website.

Television studios have de-cided to go green and recycle some old favorites for the new season as well. Hawaii Five-0, the popular ‘70s cop show, gets a fresh look but keeps the same familiar theme song. Law and Order: Los Angeles premieres this fall bringing that familiar sound bite to the West coast.

Conan O’Brien also returns to television in the fall. Tenta-tively titled Conan, the show will air weeknights on TBS and feature the same format of O’Brien’s previous late night show.

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90 Years of Leadership

Contact Us atPhone: 817-531-7550

Email: [email protected]

Visit us atOC Hall 202 and 204

1920 2010

Student Life and Student Activities at Texas Wesleyan awaits.

Welcome back students!

Texas Wesleyan Presents• September7at12:15-12:45p.m.

• September8at1:15p.m.

• September9at7:30p.m.

West Library Faculty Inaugural Showcase Preview Concert: Music for Flute, Piccolo and Piano

West Library Piano Dedication Ceremony - Donor: Dr. Richard Gasser

Faculty Recital:Music for Flute, Piccolo and Piano

TheEunice&JamesL.WestLibrary

MartinHall

TheEunice&JamesL.WestLibrary

Formoreinformation,visitThe Music Department

onourpromotionalwebpageathttp://www.txwes.edu/music/

music/index.htm orcall817.531.4992

4 | September 1, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

SportsThe RambleR | www.therambler.org September 1, 2010 | 5

to Ian Leggatt and Danny Mijovich for their selection to the NAIA Athletic Hall of Fame for their accomplishments in the sport of Golf!

Congratulations!Religious Life at Texas Wesleyan

Live music with brief time of worship Tuesdays at 12:15 in PUMC Chapel Free lunch after on PUMC 3rd Floor – Room 312

Free lunch and discussion/dialogue PUMC 3rd Floor – Room 312

“Faith seeking understanding” – ALL are welcome!

For info: http://www.txwes.edu/religiouslife/index.htm

University Chapel:

Common Meal:

Soccer kicks off new seasonEliana [email protected]

Wesleyan men’s and women’s soccer teams opened their seasons on Aug. 28 at Howard Payne Uni-versity.

Christina Zimmerman, senior, opened the game with the first goal of the season leading the Lady Rams to a 4-0 win over the Yellow Jackets. Sophomore Jessica Watton followed Zimmerman’s footsteps with two goals back-to-back. Leah Valtman, freshman, finished the game with the fourth goal.

Head coach Josh Gibbs said this year’s team was, “The best team we’ve had so far, both with chemis-try and talent.”

With seven seniors this year, Gibbs said he cannot pick just one player to watch.

“We are a team to watch. Every player should be in the starting line up every game,” Gibbs said.

As for the men’s team, although they out-shot Howard Payne 15-9, they finished with a 2-1 loss.

Senior Cameron Stapleton was the first and only scorer for the Rams assisted by sophomore TJ Romaguer. Senior goalkeeper Joa-kim Soderbaum finished the game with two saves.

“We had a great game,” said junior Ricardo Aguilara, second year team member. “We just didn’t capitalize on our opportunities to score.”

Phillip Blocklinger, student assis-

tant for the men’s team, said, “The seniors are doing a good job of run-ning the show.”

Blocklinger said the team’s goal is to make it beyond the conference tournament and make a name for themselves in the national tourna-ment.

The men finished fourth in con-ference last year suffering a loss to San Antonio’s Our Lady of the Lake.

Gaspar Martinez, former assis-tant coach and new head coach for men’s soccer, said he holds high hopes for his team.

Both Aguilara and Blocklinger said the new coach will be their key to a conference title.

Young volleyball team aims highEliana [email protected]

The Lady Rams swept the 4th Annu-al Wesleyan Hughes Volleyball Classic this past weekend, Aug. 27- 28.

Kristen Venhuizen started the Rams off with 4 kills in their first game against Brenau. Sophomore returner Christina Daniel stepped up with two kills to turn the momentum around in the second match. Freshman Hannah Horten finished the Lady Rams’ three-game sweep with a kill after several solid plays.

Game highs included senior and team captain Evoni Darling’s 32 assists and 11 digs.

The Lady Rams’ next game against Loyola New Orleans started strong with a 25-13 win in the first game.

Venhuizen and fellow senior and setter, Darling, kept the team up with several solid kills.

Freshman Haelee Horne led the Rams with 13 kills, eight digs and two block-assists to put away Loyola in a four-game match.

Mid-America Christian was forced into error as Wesleyan took another four-game match win.

With a struggle in game three, Dar-ling stepped up her vocal leadership and pushed on to win match four.

Freshman Katherine Rosenbush finished with 16 kills, a high for both teams.

“It was nice to get these wins early on,” Darling said. “It’s some momen-tum I really feel like we need.”

The Texas Wesleyan volleyball team started its season with a trip to New York playing several teams, including California Baptist, ranked third in the nation the weekend of Aug. 20.

The tournament was invitation only and also included Damion College, Sue Falls and Houghton, according to Head Coach Christi Clawson.

With 13 new players, including 10 freshmen, some members of the team said the trip was necessary to begin building relationships.

“All road trips involve some bond-ing, but going this far really forced the issue,” said sophomore returner Chris-

tina Daniel. Venhuizen and Darling led the team

in total attacks and assists for the weekend.

“They are doing a great job step-ping up and being patient with the freshman,” Clawson said. “They lead through example by doing little things like showing up early and being dressed in the appropriate uniform.”

Clawson said the tournament was helpful in showing team strengths and weaknesses.

“We are working on building our strengths rather than exposing our team weaknesses,” Clawson said. “We

do that through ‘coopertition’, compet-itive competition.”

Darling also said that the team’s will to win this year is stronger, and al-though they may not have the experi-ence, the freshmen are really working hard.

Last year’s team finished fifth in conference.

With only four returners, Clawson said, “We are prepared. The seniors have to grab the young ones by their shirt tails and bring them along, but we are prepared.”

The Lady Ram’s next home game will take place Sept. 1 at 1 p.m.

Former soccer player injured in car wreckJacqueline [email protected]

Former Texas Wesleyan soccer player Mark Puente was released from John Peter Smith Hospital Aug. 22, and is headed home after fighting for his life for more than a month.

Puente was struck by a stolen vehicle driven by 57-year-old Ray Dorsey July 11. Puente was going home after working out when his Toyota FJ Cruiser was broadsided by the Ford F350 on Bryant Irvin Road and Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, said family and friends of Puente.

Support and prayers quickly surfaced online. A Facebook page called “Pray-ing for Mark Puente” was created, and 618 people shared their thoughts and prayers for Puente and his family. Pictures of Puente as a child and young adult were quickly added.

The creator of the page wrote, “Let’s post our prayers for Mark on this page so that when he wakes up, he can read through them and see just how many people were praying for him!”

A prayer vigil, “Prayer for Healing” took place July 19, hosted by the Fort Worth Po-lice and Firefighter Associa-tions on the front steps of the Tarrant County courthouse.

Many people prayed and many believe they got an an-swer, according to Facebook comments.

Puente woke up from his medically-induced coma July 24. He began to walk again and tried to talk to family members.

A family friend said Puente underwent several surger-ies and his face was swollen and severely bruised. His hip is broken, and he is still not completely healed.

Puente suffered short-term memory loss and doesn’t re-call the crash.

“He had no recollection

of what happened to him or that he was injured,” said Brad Egan, longtime friend of Puente and Texas Wesley-an alumnus.

Currently, Puente is recov-ering at home with family and close friends and work-ing on his rehab. Egan said visits are limited to reduce stress and focus on recovery.

“I think he will be back to the Mark he was before the accident in six months to a year,” Egan said. “He has been wowing people left and right.”

Puente became a Ram in 2004 and was midfielder for the men’s soccer team. Pu-ente attended UTA his ju-nior year.

Gaspar Martinez, current men’s soccer coach, was as-sistant coach of the team when Puente played for Wes-leyan and remembers when Puente first started the fire academy.

“I was shocked to hear about Mark’s accident,” Mar-tinez said. “My family and I prayed for his recovery, and we were relieved when we heard he was going home.”

Puente joined the Fort Worth Fire Department in 2008 as a vacation relief fire-fighter and is part of Battal-ion 5.

“He always knew he wanted to be a firefighter, and he’s per-fect for the role,” Egan said.

According to the Puen-tes family, Dorsey is behind bars, awaiting trial.

Wesleyan Week in Sports•Christina Zimmerman,

senior, scored the first goal of the season and led the Lady Ram Soccer team to a 4-0 win over Howard Payne Aug. 28 in the season opener.

•Cameron Stapleton, senior, scored the first goal for Wesleyan men’s soccer, but the Rams fell 2-1 to How-ard Payne in their season opener Aug. 28.

•Evoni Darling, senior, finished with 32 assists and 11 digs to bring the Lady Ram volleyball team to a three-match win over Brenau University Aug. 27.

•Katherine Rosenbush, freshman, had a game high 16 kills when the Lady Rams defeated Mid-America Aug. 28.

Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler StaffFreshman Katherine Rosenbush with a kill against MACU.

Meisa Keivani Najafabadi| Rambler StaffRams practice hard to prepare for Howard Payne on Aug. 26.

Mark Puente

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Presidential picnic draws crowdLeft: The Wesleyan Competitive Dance Team performs at the Presidential Picnic during the first week of school. The picnic offered free food, entertainment and raffle prizes. Pick up the Sept. 8 issue for an in-depth look at the dancers.

Right: A performer on stilts balances a chair on his chin during the festivities. His performance also included juggling.

Below Right: Wes-leyan cheerleaders sit courtside while other members entertain. Mascots Willie the Ram and Wilma were also on hand.

Photos by Meisa Keivani Najabafadi and Angie Ruiz

the rambler vol. 93 no. 14

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