beyond
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copy of Beyond 2012TRANSCRIPT
Fall 2012
Illustration by Alex Johnson
Inside:“Goofy” science or demonstrated fact? The politics, research, and money of climate changeBy Daymon Kiliman
Rising concern turns to decrease in violations: Underage drinking penalties see greater student responsibilityBy Nafia Khan
Losing a voice, gaining a perspective: A writer’s experience with nonverbal communication barriersBy Lori BeckhamUIS
Stu
dent
Mag
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FALL 2012 Beyond*2
Beyond StaffEditor-in-Chief:
Kati [email protected]
Assistant Editorfor News:
Daymon [email protected]
News Reporter: Ashley [email protected]
General Reporter:Nafia Khan
Assistant Editorfor Features: Lori Beckham
Features Reporter: Ray Carter
Assistant Editorfor Sports: Adam Buck
Sports Reporter: LaNee [email protected]
Columnist: Sean Bruce
Photographer/Illustrator:
Alex [email protected]
Layout & Design Editor:
Colten [email protected]
Business Manager: Kate [email protected]
Web Editor:Tushar [email protected]
Adviser: Debra [email protected]
Editor’s NoteAs the end of another fall semester approaches, I hope you take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to read this issue of Beyond. This issue of Beyond is also the last that several of our staff will write for, myself included, as we will be graduating, moving on to internships, or in my case studying abroad before graduating in the spring. I hope that you have enjoyed reading The Journal and Beyond over the past two semesters, as I know I have enjoyed both writing and editing over the past several years. Also, there are great things yet to come, so keep reading to see what changes lie ahead. Inside this issue of Beyond there are several human-interest stories to give you a new perspective on issues, or insight to a group of people you may not know much about. Each of our reporters dove into a topic of their choosing to bring new light to a passion or interest they have. Whether or not you share the same passion, I hope that you will enjoy the stories we have for you. -Kati Maseman Journal Editor
What’s InsideThe decision is yours: Tell us what you want to see in the last issue of the semester by Kati Maseman, p. 3
“Goofy” science or demonstrated fact? The politics, research, and money of climate changeby Daymon Kiliman, p. 4
Burdened journey of higher ed: The light at the end of the college tunnel, clouded by debtby Sean Bruce, p. 5
Rising concern turns to decrease in violations: Under-age drinking penalties see greater student responsibilityby Nafia Khan, p. 6
Supporting the community this holiday season: Volun-teer Center, local organizations collect food and other goodsby Ashley Henry, p. 7
Losing a voice, gaining a perspectiveby Lori Beckham, p. 8-9
Embracing natural hair, the way it grows from your headby LaNee Wood, p. 10
Springfield music scene: Fewer venues, but greater musician trafficby Ray Carter, p. 11
Desktop or laptop? Your question answeredby Tushar Thakkar, p. 12
America’s new pastime?by Adam Buck, p. 13
International Festival spices up UISby Colten Bradford and Alex Johnson, p. 15
Photo by Colten Bradford
FALL 2012 Beyond* 3
The decision is yoursTell us what you want to see in the last issue of the semester
The Journal wants to know what you would
like to read about in our December 5 issue. This will be the last issue of the se-mester, and we want you to enjoy every page of it. Below are several categories, with different genres and themes. You can pick the stories you like and let us know by email, phone, or just stop in and see us. Most students have just finished making a much more important decision in the next President of the United States, but now a much more carefree choice is here. And hey, there aren’t any bad
choices on this page. Have some fun with this one and decide the content that is by the students for the students.
Pick one from every cat-egory (Can’t decide? Choose more than one):
Holidays: (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice)• History of the winter
holidays • Holiday fun facts• Student voices on the
holidays• Holiday events around
Springfield• Decorating fun, and tips
for the holidaysFinals
• How to study for finals • Tips on how to stay stress
free during finals• Best places to study and
relax during exam timeCampus events
• African Student Associa-tion (Boutique, African Beatz, Movie Night and more)
• Campus Senate Meeting• Holiday Fiction Reading,
preview• Student Government Asso-
ciation Meeting
Extras• Holiday Horoscopes• Viral Holiday Video• Microwave recipes for the
holiday• Holiday Trivia
Food• Holiday recipes• Best places to eat during
the holidays• How to: holiday cooking
tipsSports
• Basketball season pre-views
• NFL update• NBA update• Player Profile (You pick
the player)
Don’t see something you want? Write it down and bring it to us, or send your idea via email. Hey, you could even give us a call, we’d love to hear from you.
Email: [email protected]: Student Affairs
Building (SAB) 20Phone: 217-206-6397
By Kati Maseman
Check out the latest UIS news
updates and event photos!
www.uisjournal.com
The Journal, the UIS student
newspaper@uisjournal
FALL 2012 Beyond*4
“Goofy” science or demonstrated fact? The politics, research, and money of climate change
Climate continued on page 5
Do you know the truth about climate change?
This is how Steve Goreham, Ex-ecutive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America and author of The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism, beck-oned to customers who pass near his table of self-published books. If the customer had a young child in toe, he said, “Pretty soon they’ll have her watching Al Gore’s movie,” referring to the 2006 film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, starring the former Vice President.
This is how he drew in Stacey Ericson, a kindergarten teacher at Pleasant Hill Elemen-tary School, who was browsing at Barnes & Noble on a Saturday afternoon with her children. “Change your light bulbs and save a polar bear: that’s what they’re teaching them in schools these days,” Goreham said.
“No, that’s not what we’re teaching them,” Ericson responds, while flipping through the pages. She purchased a copy anyway, asking Goreham to sign it as a gift for her father. “He’ll love this. Just for a little while, he may think he raised a Republican and not a Democrat.”
Goreham, a former business executive, holds an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Uni-versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago. “I just de-cided I would start writing some books and picked some topics, and I really got interested in this one.” It was in his first book, Climatism! Science, Com-mon Sense, and the 21st Century’s Hottest Topic, that he penned “climatism” to describe a scientific, social, and political bias.
“I call it a madness,” he said. “Climatism is the belief that man-made greenhouse gases are destroying Earth’s climate.” Greenhouse gases occur naturally and as the result of human activ-ity. Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, for example, share the defining characteristic of both absorbing and emitting heat from the sun, which creates a greenhouse or warming effect when pres-ent in Earth’s atmosphere.
Goreham argues that the production of these gases through human activity, such as forms of industrial manufacturing, urban development, and
automobile emissions, has little impact on the envi-ronment. “If we completely eliminated emissions, we probably couldn’t even measure the tempera-ture difference.”
Despite Goreham’s claim, which he says is sup-ported by some segments of the scientific com-munity, “The world jumped to a conclusion [which is now] being driven by money. We have many people who have built their careers on this position now. They’ve gotten tenure at universities because they took this point of view.”
Dennis Ruez, Associate Professor of Envi-ronmental Studies, clarified the role of scientific research in the university setting: “When scientists apply for a grant, they don’t say, ‘I plan to prove this.’ They say, ‘I want to investigate whether or not climate change is happening.’ … The results don’t come until after the funding.” The primary concern of the funding sources, according to Ruez,
is not the results. “They just want it to be good science.”
Even though Goreham be-lieves there is a strong econom-ic motive behind the debate, he said, “I don’t pretend to know what’s in people’s hearts. I deal with the science, fact, and the economics.”
The consensus among re-searchers is that the Earth is heating up, and there is little disagreement human activity has influenced that trend. A study conducted at UIC in 2009 found that 97 percent of clima-tologists surveyed around the world agree that humans play a role in climate change. Accord-ing to Ruez, this is not where the debate ends, but where it
begins. “There is a debate about how much of a role humans have played, because there are multiple factors,” he said.
Climate scientists often find trends in the his-toric record. “From the geologic record, which is where we should go, because the Earth has got-ten warmer and cooler we know that can happen naturally,” Ruez said, “We also know the rate at which it happens naturally. Current climate change is happening far, far faster than it has ever happened in the geologic past, so we know that there’s something else happening here.”
But Ruez stated that warming trends do not occur uniformly across the globe. Goreham uses the difference between Antarctica, which is still very cold according to historic standards, and
the Arctic, where some have sounded alarms over shrinking polar ice caps, to bolster his claim that global warming is “goofy” science.
Ruez stated that the public often hears “global warming” and assumes the world is warming at the same rate. “And that’s absolutely not the case,” he said. “Steve is correct in that there are places in Antarctica that are currently getting colder, but as a global average he does not acknowledge that the globe is getting warmer.”
Additionally, it can be difficult for non-scientists to grapple with the meaning of data. While Gore-ham points to the rise of little more than one degree Fahrenheit over the past 20 years as less then alarming, Ruez said it is historically significant. “Twenty-thousand years ago when there was ice
By Daymon Kiliman
Opinions on the existence of climate change
Steve Goreham and the cover of his book The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism.
FALL 2012 Beyond* 5
Burdened journey of higher edThe light at the end of the college tunnel, clouded by debt
Once, not too long ago, college was viewed as a fortress of sorts, protecting its students
from the harsh realities of the real world until they had learned and matured enough to cope. These seekers of knowledge could plumb the depths of their curiosity while learning valuable skills that will help them in the future. This image may cer-tainly remain strong in popular culture, but some recent developments have started to wear away at the university system’s ivory tower façade.
In the past a combination of low tuition, reliable government funding and decent economic circum-stances meant that students could expect a fairly carefree existence in the college environment. (Note: nostalgic reference to the past may not nec-essarily reflect reality for everyone). Now, skyrock-eting costs of attendance, cuts in state funding and recent economic stress have stunted the one thing college students need most, financial support.
According to College Board, an advocacy group made up of universities, the average annual cost of tuition has increased 150 percent since 1990, and has actually increased roughly 900 percent since 1978. While inflation does account for some of this, the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that inflation has only increased roughly 350 percent since 1978. The daunting aspect of these figures is not the rate of increase, although it is overwhelm-ing, but that it only accounts for a portion of the expected expenses of students.
The average cost of tuition alone, not accounting for housing, fees, books, food, and other necessi-ties, remains at roughly $8,244. Coupled with these other expenses students can expect to pay some-where in the region of $15,000 over the course of one academic year.
It is important to remember that according to the U.S. Census Bureau the current real, meaning adjusted for inflation, median income was $50,522 and estimates suggest that it will be lower by the end of 2012. This means that the average American household attempting to support a student at col-lege would cost over one fourth of their income.
This means that an increasing number of stu-dents are turning to student loans to finance the education that their families can no longer fully support. As a result, 2011 saw some of the highest student loan debts in history. With $1 trillion of student loan debt held by people in America, it has even surpassed the combined total of credit card debt. Actual student debt has increased 511 percent since 1999. According to CNN, graduating seniors in 2011 held an average of $27,000 in student debt with at least two thirds of them with some form of debt.
Worse, the increasing amount of student debt combined with poor job prospects and economic hardship of graduating seniors has led to higher defaulting rates, recently reaching 13.1 percent, meaning that almost one sixth of all student loan holders, or about 6 million people, defaulted.
Now what do all these statistics mean? Obvious-ly, it is not a great time to be a college student in America. Without scholarships and family financial support, most students can expect to graduate with a piece of paper and a crippling amount of debt. Yet the alternative to pursuing a college degree,
working straight out of high school or pursuing vocational training, almost ensures economic dif-ficulty as a worsening job market. It makes poten-tial employment opportunities dim. Thus many students are left with few alternatives other than to accept the unfavorable conditions inherent in the student loan system and try to graduate as soon as possible to minimize the damage.
It is difficult to imagine how this might get worse, but in all likelihood the situation will continue to deteriorate without some substantial overhaul of the system or significant economic boost. Either would require some combination of competent leadership, popular support, and fortu-itous circumstances to achieve. All seem somewhat lacking at the moment and there is little reason to believe in a sudden appearance.
Luckily a college education has seemed to provide many debtors with the ability and methods necessary to begin instituting some change. An online petition campaign is currently under way known the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012. The petition has already received more than 1 mil-lion signatures and efforts have been made to force the Education Committee Chair of the House of Representatives, John Kline, into action. Whether or not this initiative proves successful, it neverthe-less serves as a cause for optimism. After all even if one petition is defeated, it will pave the way for more effective moves.
A radical suggestion voiced by some protestors is to emulate other western nations with national-ized secondary education systems allowing for free, if highly regulated college admissions. Now this system might work in the U.S., but it would require a great deal of effort to mesh it with our current policies. Even then, it would likely suffer from a lack of proper funding, since our govern-ment is in no shape to take on greater financial responsibilities at this time. Perhaps in the future, free secondary education can join primary educa-tion as an inalienable right of U.S. citizens, but that is still a long way off, and if our current school system is any indication, this is not necessarily a bright future.
By Sean Bruce
covering Springfield, [it] was only 8 degrees Fahr-enheit cooler than now. 1.4 is a good chunk of 8.”
Beyond the science, there is an obvious political dimension to this debate, with parties often advo-cating more or fewer regulations depending on how environmental issues factor in the decision-mak-ing. Marc Reiter of the College Democrats said, “Republicans claim clean energy legislation and regulations are harmful to the economy, but they don’t understand that you can’t have an economy if
you don’t have a planet to put it on.” The College Republicans and the Students Allied for a Greener Earth did not respond to invitations for comment.
Goreham uses his evidence to argue against state and federal policies that attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions, particularly subsidies for wind and solar projects. “In my mind, I think President Obama thinks he’s doing the right thing … but it’s all because of a misguidedness.”
For his part, Ruez avoids mixing political policy and science. “There’s only one science,” he said. “What you do with that information, that can be
different based on your political perspectives... Regardless of whether it is entirely human-caused or entirely natural, the impacts of climate change are going to be the same. That’s where the discus-sion needs to be, but at that point we need to bring in the political scientists as opposed to just natural scientists.”
Ruez does agree with Goreham on one point, though: “Don’t get your science from Al Gore because he’s not a scientist. Gore makes his living with words. I make mine with science.”
Climate continued from page 4
Illustration by Colten Bradford
FALL 2012 Beyond*6
Rising concern turns to decrease in violationsUnderage drinking penalties see greater student responsibility
According to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, 25 percent of students ages 12 to 20 admit to drinking alcohol and 16 percent have reported they binge drink. Underage drinking has become a concern across the country. It has recently been named a major public health problem.
In the City of Springfield, the trend of drunk driving and underage drink-ing has raised concern among local officers. However, the number of youth being stopped for intoxication has decreased since last year, with 115 individuals fined for underage drinking compared to last year’s 145.
Sergeant Kean is the Traffic Services Supervisor for the Spring-field Police Department. He said the Springfield Police Department typi-cally get calls about noise and then check out a party, where they find un-derage drinking and alcohol supply.
Kean said there are two different ways to penalize underage drinking by the city police. One is an ordi-nance violation and the second is the state violation. Kean stated usually the city goes with the former.
“There is a consequence for the action, but it’s not a criminal con-sequence so you’re not harshly punished for an indiscretion,” he said. “People make mistakes and we understand that. Generally, as a city the last four or five years, we primarily take a view of seeing it as
an ordinance violation rather than a criminal violation unless it’s the same person over and over.” Kean added if a young offender continues to make the same mistake over and over, it is at the discretion of the officer to make it a criminal matter.
Suppose you go a party and there are underage people there. Accord-ing to Kean, people that are under 21 consuming alcohol are cited. These individuals get an ordinance violation for illegal possession of alcohol by a minor. The person who is hosting
or providing the alcohol get a ticket for illegal gift of sale of alcohol by a minor and that’s what they would get charged with.
Both citations require attendance at a hearing in the City Council chambers in front of an administra-tive judge. Also, drinking citations are no laughing matter – they range anywhere from $500 to $1,000. It all depends on the administrative judge’s discretion, Kean said. Though, he stated, most people will opt for the hearing versus pursuing further con-
tention. “Once the fine is paid, it wouldn’t
come up on a background check,” he said. “Especially for a college students – UIS, Benedictine, Rob-ert Morris, Lincoln Land – a lot of kids are thinking past today, I don’t want to be jammed up for umpteen years on a job application, yeah I was arrested for X, Y and Z.” Kean says that’s why the city opts for the administrative hearing – the penalty is not as harsh.
Other very prevalent occurrences with alcohol are alcohol poisoning and drunk driving. Kean said the city police work hard to prevent fatalities, especially on high-risk drinking days like St. Patrick’s Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day. On St. Patrick’s Day, the city police use a voucher system for transportation to encourage safe rides home. Any cab rides from the bars downtown to home are free for those celebrating and the city picks up the tab.
“This year we picked up $2,600 in cab rides,” said Kean. “We see it as a very useful program so we have continued it.”
On campus, the problem of under-age drinking is still existent, as it houses both upper and lowerclass-men. The highest numbers of inci-dences occur before the semester starts.
By Nafia Khan
Citations for minor possession/consumption of alcoholissued this semester by Campus Police 2011/2012 alcohol citation in the city of Springfield
Alcohol continuedon page 11
Although parties and alcohol consumption will happen in college life, there are many repercussions for underage drinking. Legally, this in-cludes major fines and attendance at hearings. There are also health risks, including alcohol poisoning.
Illustration by Colten Bradford
FALL 2012 Beyond* 7
Volunteer continued on page
14
By Ashley Henry
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Left: The Central Illi-nois Foodbank offers a “choice method” to provide people in need with nonperish-able and fresh food items.
Below: The 21 coun-ties the Foodbank serves
Supporting the community this holiday season
For many, the holiday season welcomes feasts
surrounded by friends, family and loved ones. For others, it is a struggle to put food on the table.
In Sangamon County alone, nearly one in eight individuals are food insecure, according to the state food-bank association, Feeding Illinois. From that number, three percent are homeless, and many do not qualify for food stamps or government assistance.
To help support communi-ty members in need, the UIS Volunteer and Civic Engage-ment Center partnered with the Central Illinois Foodbank to raise awareness for their hunger-relief efforts, and get students and faculty involved in the cause.
The Central Illinois Foodbank is a nonprofit organization in Springfield, serving 21 counties, with 160 organizations and agencies in central Illinois. The foodbank employs a staff of 14 mem-bers and has a 22,000 square foot warehouse that holds 700,000 pounds of food and goods, for three to four weeks at a time.
Public Relations Manager Kaleigh Friend said, “When we first started, we were at Brother James’ Montessori… and had 200 pounds of apple cobbler.” Friend added that when the organization be-gan in 1987, the foodbank processed roughly 800,000 pounds of food that year, and this year in 2012, she says that they are on track to process 8.5 million pounds of food, with 1.5 million pounds of that being fresh produce.
As part of a growing network to fight hunger in America, the Central Illinois Foodbank works with local and regional organizations, the USDA and Feeding
America. These organiza-tions provide various dona-tions including fresh produce, non-perishable goods, non-grocery items and toiletries. The foodbank itself then acts as a distributer to its 160 af-filiated agencies, two feeding sites and six mobile pantries. All goods are distributed in pounds and cost the agen-cies 11-19 cents per pound to cover maintenance fees associated with the deliver-ies. The facility delivers 60 percent of all donations, with orders of 500 pounds or more per delivery.
“One of the things we do is a mobile pantry, and we do them in six counties,” said Friend. “We bring a truck with about 12,000 pounds of food into the area and we open it up to anyone with need.”
She added that because the people in need are often common citizens with jobs, homes, and families, they are often embarrassed to receive aid. However, the mobile pantry program is open to anyone with need, not requir-ing identification or proof of socioeconomic hardship. Friend said that one of the goals of the foodbank is to offer a “normal” food experi-ence for individuals in need,
encouraging the “choice method,” much like that of a grocery store to eliminate the bagged distribution of food. The foodbank also works to teach individuals how to eat fresh, healthy and even new foods – offering recipes during mobile pantry hostings.
Just as the Central Illi-nois Foodbank has worked
Volunteer Center, local organizations collect food and other goods
Photo by Ashley Henry
FALL 2012 Beyond*8
Losing a voice, Gaining a perspective By Lori Beckham
It isn’t often that a hear-ing, articulate person
must go for days without ut-tering a word, but that is what the doctor told me I had to do if I wanted my voice back by the end of the week.
It’s that time of year when allergies and sinus infections spread in our communities. I had so much phlegm in the back of my throat that when I tried to talk, an extremely low, unfamiliar voice--a voice of an old woman--gur-gled out instead. Even when I could say a few words, some syllables would not pro-nounce; it was like someone kept clicking the mute button on and off in my voice box.
It also hurt to talk, so I kept it to a minimum and often spoke in whispers. The doctor told me not to speak, not even to whisper, for at least a few days. Meanwhile I had classes to attend, people to reach, and errands to run. I was not going to let this tem-porary silence stop me from carrying on my plans for the
week.After the doctor’s office
I went straight to Walgreens to pick up a recommended over-the-counter medication. Thankfully the doctor wrote the name of it on a piece of paper.
I waved down a Walgreens employee, rubbed my throat, and mouthed, “can’t talk,” then I handed her the piece of paper. She was friendly, spoke to me, and helped me find it. I mouthed, “Thank you.”
When I approached the cashier and handed her the medication, she told me the total and I nodded, grabbing my wallet. Realizing I didn’t say a word, she assumed I could not hear and turned the monitor so it faced me and I could see the amount due. I wasn’t going to bother trying to explain to her that I can hear, but it was a nice gesture; I imagine a helpful one for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
At the same time, I wish she had assumed I could hear, because she turned the monitor away and gave back
my change, not telling me the amount. She also barely made eye contact once she realized I couldn’t speak.
When a person expresses they cannot speak, what should people assume? One employee talked to me while the other became silent; both making their own assump-tions about the woman who did not have a voice. It got me thinking about language barriers for those who must find other means of commu-nication in public.
Deborah S. Witty works for the Secretary of State. She said she has been deaf since she was 18 months old. “My parents don’t know the cause of it,” Witty said. “I just know I got sick and when they tried to call my name, Debbie, I could not hear them.”
Witty said she can read lips a little, but she often relies on writing notes to communicate with people in public who don’t know sign language. Witty explained, however, that she is not good at writing in English and sometimes people misunder-
stand her. “I have patience with them, though,” she said.
Witty said it helps greatly working with people who know a little bit of sign lan-guage, at least the alphabet. She is also set up with an interpreter during evaluations and meetings at work. While she has had miscommunica-tions in that past with her supervisor, with a co-worker, and people in public, she said, “I’m interested in com-municating with the hearing, with notes or in sign lan-guage.”
Nick Pelissier, a senior in Sociology & Anthropol-ogy, is hard of hearing. He explained, “[I] lost all my hearing in the left ear, and I have about half my hearing in my right ear…I can hear a bit, but not every sound. I can only hear bits and pieces of words.”
Despite this, Pelissier can speak clearly and read lips thanks to speech therapy growing up. He hated speech therapy as a child due to the repetitiveness and left pre-maturely, but that therapy has helped him speak among the
hearing. Regarding public speak-
ing, he said: “I think the main problem that I face is that I speak so well that most people mistake me for being a hearing person. I know I speak with an accent, but sometimes I have my mo-ments when I can speak so clearly, somebody will ask me what country I’m from…people who don’t know me definitely think I’m a hearing person, and it gets kind of awkward when they find out I’m hard of hearing.”
Pelissier said it is also frustrating, “When people turn away when they are talking; they do it all the time and it drives me up the wall.”
I can relate to this state-ment during my brief period of silence, but my problem was in reverse. While Pelis-sier can’t understand people who turn away from him, preventing him from read-ing lips, I often tried com-municating with people and they would look away just as I was trying to tell them something. After one of my classes, someone compli-
FALL 2012 Beyond* 9
Losing a voice, Gaining a perspective Photo by Kati Maseman
mented me and then immedi-ately glanced away, forcing me to tap him on the shoulder to get him to look back so I could mouth, “Thank you.”
While Pelissier may not have as much difficulty com-municating in public like Witty, he notes the differ-ences in treatment among the hearing.
He said, “There have been several times where people would find out that I’m hard of hearing and then their entire attitude would change. They’ll exaggerate their lip movement, they’ll exagger-ate their motions, and it’s irritating when they start to do that.”
Pelissier added that some people treat him like he is mentally handicapped, mak-ing their speech simple and giving looks of pity.
It makes me think of the cashier who averted her eyes from me once she came to the conclusion that I was deaf or hard of hearing.
Being affected by hearing loss or the inability to speak can often be isolating. Gaining a new perspective on these dif-ficulties can help create awareness and promote inclusion.
FALL 2012 Beyond*10
By LaNee Wood
Embracing natural hair,the way it grows from your head
There are some misconceptions about be-ing natural and having natural hair. Some
people think that they have to wear their hair in an afro in order for them to be considered “natural.” This is a false. The only real requirement to being natural is to have hair that has not been chemi-cally altered, meaning that the hair is free of harsh perms or texturizers that denature the hair follicle. There are several different types of natural hair. They range from extremely kinky hair to wavy hair.
With natural hair, like any other nature of hair, it is important to know exactly what your hair type is. This makes it easier for you to research what does and what does not work on your specific hair type. “One hair type might need a little more mois-ture than another hair type,” stated Brittany Hen-derson, president of Kinky and Curly, the natural hair club.
According to blackgirllonghair.com there are four types of natural hair. There is type 4, which is defined as being the kinkiest of them all. Within this type there are 4a and 4b. Both of these hair variations have up to 75 percent of shrinkage.
There are 3 subtypes of type 3 hair. 3a is naturally big curls and usually very shiny. 3b has
smaller curls than 3a and bigger than the curls in 3c. The 3c hair type is one that was recently devel-oped. It falls so close in between 3b and 4a no one was quite sure if it needed its own category.
Type 2 hair has 3 variations. They all, though, are considered wavy hair; the difference between the variations of type 2 hair is how easy it is to style this. 2c is more resistant to styling, 2a styles with ease and 2b is somewhere in between those definitions.
Henderson has been natural for about 2 years
now. She went through a long strenuous process to get to where she is at, length-wise, now. Henderson started to go natural with a process that is called “transitioning.” This is a process where the hair is worn in protective styles allowing it to grow until “the big chop” is done. “The big chop” is when all of the chemically processed hair is cut off; and only the natural hair is left.
Some people forgo this transition process and do their big chop when they make the commitment to go natural.
According to Henderson, “Relaxers were tearing out” her hair. She went on to say, “I had to figure something out in order to have a bet-ter…grade of hair.”
Mainstream media has millions of African Ameri-cans convinced that the only way to have manageable, beautiful hair is to have straight hair.
For example, Nicki Minaj, a famous female rapper, has made it her signature style to wear pink and blonde wigs. Even though this is a cos-tume, this image forces her younger audience to believe there is something wrong with wearing their own hair.
Even though Nicki Minaj is used by the media to represent this bleak, miscon-strued version of an African American woman, there are
Brittany Henderson (left), sophomore communication major and president of Kinky and Curly Hair Club, Ciera Hoosier (center), freshman biology major, and Grace Latimore (right), freshman English major and secretary of Kinky and Curly Hair Club display different types of natural hair.
Hair continuedon page 14
FALL 2012 Beyond* 11
By Ray Carter
Springfield music scene
The music scene in downtown Springfield is good, constant,
and has a lot of variety according Re-cycled Records co-owner Gary Kes-sler. Kessler’s shop is right down the road from Elf Shelf and co-owned by his brother Mark. Recycled Records was originally a furniture store, but it has been in the music business since 1980.
Kessler explained that musicians will often stop to play at Marley’s Pub in Springfield, because it’s half-way between Chicago and St. Louis. “We’re extremely lucky to have the music scene that we do. With our store we have 40,000 records, which is far more records and styles of mu-sic than you’re going to find almost anywhere,” Kessler said.
Going to downtown Springfield is a hike for UIS students, but the trip is worthwhile. Gary Jones, owner of Elf Shelf Music and Books says many college-aged students aren’t interested in spending money on records or DVDs. “I see a lot of interest in people to buy music. Young people tend to be interested in hearing people perform rather than downloading a CD,” Jones said.
Jones said that younger people don’t come in his store as often, but he does see a lot of interest in mu-sic with bars and clubs. “The music scene in Springfield is great. When events happen down here, they usu-ally pack them in,” Jones said.
Kessler agreed, he said that an average weekend could contain over a fifteen live performance at bars downtown. “We have some very fine local musicians. There’s live music, many times at Brewhaus, also at Marley’s pub. There’s the Blue Grouch and some other bars on Maple Ave. We do have some fine bands and musicians,” Kessler said.
Kessler notices a difference in the way young adults consume their
music in Springfield. “We’re see-ing a lot more young people buying records than CDs or DVDs. Even the three dollar used ones aren’t selling as much as they used to. But we do still sell a fair amount of them,” Kes-sler smiled.
Both owners say that the perfor-mance venues have done a decent job in keeping the music scene alive in Springfield.
Freshman mathematics major, Devin McAtee, thinks the music scene in Springfield is on its way up. “I think so, I think it could be big-ger. I think it’s growing and getting
there,” McAtee said.McAtee played in a local garage
band and thinks that Springfield’s size has hurt its music scene. “There are a couple local places around like The Black Sheep and The Vine; I’m not sure if The Vine is still around. There are all sorts of bands that go around and play. It was always a lot of fun, but it got drama-filled and competitive at times. That’s why we stopped playing,” McAtee explained.
Ruth LaMaster, vocalist for local blues band Hurricane Ruth, said mu-sic venues need to encourage young people to perform in order to attract young people to the music scene.
“Yes, I’ve seen a lot of great musi-cians come out of Springfield. The venues are shrinking, but I think the music scene is alive and well. It’s growing. There are a lot of people playing and playing it well,” LaMas-ter said.
Hurricane Ruth has been together for more than a decade and they love to play at outdoors blues festi-vals and different performance ven-
ues; LaMaster agrees that the type of music style will alter the view of Springfield’s music scene.
“It really depends on what type of music you’re interested in; especially if you’re looking at different genres. With music concerts, Springfield may not be your choice. The jam-ming and acoustic scene from my perspective is pretty good. There could be a difference of opinion. If you’re looking for Hip-Hop or Metal, Springfield may not be it,” LaMaster explained.
There are opportunities for young adults to get involved with the music scene. Clubs and Venues have re-cently started to expand their hours to allow young adults and teenagers the opportunities to become involved and listen to music.
“Yes, I do think Springfield does a good job catering towards young people. Case and Point, we have a performance on Nov. 24 at Boon-docks. We have band opening for us called Midnight Rush; they’re great dudes. They’re around 15 and 16 years old,” LaMaster said.
The Clubs and Bars allowing young musicians to refine their craft and gain listeners can eventually lead to paid work and solid booking. When talking with LaMaster, you start to see the different opportunities for young people to listen and play
Fewer venues, but greater musician traffic
“At the beginning of the school year, we see students coming on to campus and drinking with their friends,” Sergeant Stuart said. “For many freshmen especially, it’s the first time they’re away from home so they are more likely to go out and get into trouble.”
Sergeant Strickler of the Campus Police said stu-dents who get citations from campus police for underage drinking must appear before
an administrative judge at the Sangamon County Building for their fine. Similar to the city citation, fines depend on the discretion of the judge. Also, habitual offenders can face stiffer penalties.
“If they keep going back to the judge, there might be a fine increase,” he said. “They might also have to go through the student judicial process on campus.”
Stuart added, he thinks many times students who don’t want to get caught often try other ways to drink under-age. “They think they are safer going to an upperclass-
men’s apartment and drink there,” he said. “That’s not always the case because then they will be leaving campus later to return to their resi-dence hall so the matter of safety is still a concern.”
Overall, though, campus police have seen promis-ing signs of the majority of student body making good decisions. “We are seeing a decrease in the incidences of underage drinking compared to last year,” said Stuart. “Incidences of DUI have also decreased.”
According to data from Campus Police, there have
been 16 citations issued for consumption or possession of alcohol by a minor, one cita-tion issued for contributing to delinquency of a minor and one citation issued for violat-ing the zero-tolerance policy for underage students.
Kean said the city police work with the Illinois De-partment of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Division to support advocacy efforts as well as coordinate checks. The city police also work with groups like Students Against Drunk Driving to promote smart decision mak-ing in the public and private
schools in Springfield and surrounding areas. “It’s the kids themselves who are driv-ing the effort to keep their peer group from going out and doing dumb things,” he said.
On the UIS side, every incoming freshmen class receives a presentation on underage drinking from the campus police during orienta-tion. Stuart said he is hopeful students are receiving the most up-to-date information about the resources available on campus surrounding this important topic.
Alcohol continued from page 6
Music continuedon page 12
“Yes, I’ve seen a lot of great musicians come out of Springfield. The venues are shrinking, but I think the music scene is alive and well.”
-Ruth LaMaster,Hurricane Ruth vocalist
FALL 2012 Beyond*12
By Tushar Thakkar
Desktop or laptop?Your question answered
People like to complain about their computers. “It runs too slowly,” “It doesn’t work the way it should.”
Having a Computer Technical Support Certificate all of my friends come to me for help with any and all computer relat-ed issues. There have been multiple times where I have seen some of them sit in front of their computer and just want to smash it because it takes forever to start up. Of course, I try to help them out with their issues, but there is only so much that can be done to have a computer run faster without hav-ing to spend extra money on it. This leaves them wondering why they bought this computer in the first place.
It comes down to what’s the better choice: a laptop or a desk-top. It may seem like an easy choice, but unless you really want to sit in front of your computer screaming at it and pulling your hair out, please follow along. Most people are leaning towards laptops or tablets when looking to buy a new computer, but what they do not take in consideration is that laptops and tablets are made mainly for mobility and ease of access.
Mobility and ease of access are both great things to think about when buying a new computer, but what most people do not think about is how they will be using it. Multitasking on a tablet is not really the best idea, nor is thinking that a tablet can be used as a normal comput-er. Tablets do not come with big enough hard drives to store that much data, and it is not possible to type very efficiently on a tablet without having to buy an external keyboard (which can cost about $50 extra). Another down side to tablets is the lack of support for programs including Microsoft Word.
Now let’s look at laptops, as these are probably the most common type of computers used today. Most people would agree laptops are really the best of both worlds because they have good performance, can support any and all applications available in the market, and provide good mobility due to battery power.
These days, everything is possible on a laptop, from edit-ing pictures to creating word documents, watching movies, and playing online games. How well a laptop can perform these tasks is the big question. The one big reason why a laptop may not be the best option is games.
Students need time to relax, and if playing games is how you do that, then a desktop is the better choice.
Some people may argue that it is possible to play games on a laptop and yes, that is true, but my argument here is not that a laptop cannot handle gaming. Rather, that a laptop cannot handle it as well as a desktop can.
If you play a game once a week just to relax and to get your mind off of all the work you have just completed and the game freezes up, well then so much for relaxing. It is possible to get a laptop that has good performance, but it comes with a price tag to match, and for the same price it is possible to get a desktop that has double the performance.
Laptops are made for an average computer user not a gamer, unless of course you are ready to pay the high price for more performance, which I believe would just be a waste
of money.When it comes to per-
formance, desktops are the best things out there right now, and they are cheaper than ever. A high perfor-mance desktop is available for around $700; you just need to look in the right place. Compare this to a high performance laptop, which costs about the same
price, if not more, and would not provide the same amount of performance as a desktop
would. Desktops are great for ev-
erything from writing papers to playing games, though there really is not room for mobility with desktops, which is really their only downfall. One really good thing about a desktop is that anything can be used for a monitor. This means your monitor can be a 55 in. television. Imagine sitting on the couch with a wireless keyboard and mouse
(which you can purchase for about $20). This saves money because
there is no need to go out and buy a monitor.
Desktops will now usually come with 1TB hard drive, which is double the size of a normal laptop’s hard drive at 500GB. With desktops, if there is ever a hardware issue, it is much easier to fix it as opposed to a laptop. Because desktops are big, they tend to heat up less because there is more room for the air to travel in and out. On laptops everything is crammed in together so there is way less room for air to travel and have a higher potential for overheating problems. If this happens, it can also damage the other parts around it.
The choice is yours, do you want to buy a computer be-cause it looks pretty or do you want to buy a computer that can give more performance for the same price, or even less?
Pros• More memory and processing• Better gaming platformCons• Large• Stationary
Pros• Mobility• Supports most programs
Cons• Less memory space• Expensive
music in the Springfield area. “We played a lot of blues festivals, and our choice bars like The Curve and Crows Mill Pub. We like to play outdoor blues festivals; we’ve played the Chatham Sweet Corn Festival, and festivals in Champaign and Keokuk, Iowa. We even played at the Old Capitol Blues and BBQ festival last year,” LaMaster said.
The lack of energy from Springfield’s music scene has persuaded Political Science and English senior, John Tienken, to be not as excited about music in Springfield. “I think it could be better, I don’t think there are enough venues in Springfield. I do think the Student Activities Community does a good job of bringing bands into cam-pus,” Tienken explained.
Thickened thinks students would appreciate the music scene in Springfield more if they saw the city trying harder. At the Food Empori-um, junior Nakila Buggs and freshman Alex Camp suggest there could be a generation gap with the music scene in Springfield. “It depends on your tastes. If you like classic rock, than Jackson Browne’s recent performance may be more your foray. If you’re a mainstream listener, and are into big acts like the Wiz’s or Kanye’s, even Big Sean or Lady Gaga; Down-town Springfield’s prob-ably not the most attractive place,” Camp said.
Buggs agrees that Spring-field has been doing a poor job of trying to promote and attract musicians to come play in Springfield. “They could be better, stronger in advertisement. Schools such as U of I Champaign and UIC always attract big artists. Springfield could definitely use improvements to attract music acts for students and faculty,” Buggs explained.
Music continued from page 11
FALL 2012 Beyond*13
By Adam Buck
America’s new pastime?
Baseball has been known to be Amer-
ica’s favorite pastime, but that could change in the next couple of years. A new sport is on the rise and is spreading across the nation, a sport that has the potential to be Amer-ica’s new favorite past time. Known as football around the world, here in the U.S. we know it as soccer.
Soccer was slow to gain popularity due to other sports like American football, base-ball, and basketball, which have remained America’s most popular sports. Today, however, the United States has more official soccer players than any other nation in the world, with almost 18 million. No other sport in the world crosses so many cultural boundaries, and it’s no surprise that it is the fast-est growing team sport in the United States.
Soccer has been in the U.S. since the early 1800s; the first official soccer team, the Oneidas, was formed in 1862. Immigrants from Europe helped spurred the soccer movement in the last part of the 19th century. They brought with them the tradi-tions and rules and formed local teams to play on. The first attempt to organize a professional soccer league happened in 1884 with the founding of the “American League of Professional Foot-ball,” but later that same year the league closed.
In the past several decades, the number of soccer leagues have risen all across the country. Soccer has particu-larly caught on with younger generations. According to the Federation International Football Association (FIFA), of the 18 million Americans who play soccer, 78 percent are under the age of 18. “The experts say soccer has be-come popular with children because almost anyone can
play. There are teams for girls, boys, older children and young adults.”
This widespread participa-tion among youth is making the sport more popular. Many Americans become interested in soccer because their chil-dren play. This is also where the term “Soccer Mom” has come from.
In the 1900s, soccer was recognized as the fastest growing college and high school sport in the United States. This trend continues today with more high schools and colleges adding soccer programs to their athletics programs. Another thing colleges have started doing, which helps contribute to the growth of soccer, is hosting soccer camps for youth to work on their skills.
Soccer has been played on campus since 1977, accord-ing to UIS archives, when it was still called Sangamon State University and Aydin Gonulsen coached the team. In their first game the SSU Prairie Stars beat Bradley University 4-2. The sport continued to thrive when the SSU Prairie Stars won their first NAIA national champi-onship in 1986. Even though the school is no longer known as SSU, the soccer program has continued to grow and now includes members from other countries like Spain, Russia, and Barbados.
There are several factors that helped contribute to the
growth of soccer over the past several decades. The biggest factor was the 1994 World Cup that took place here in the United States. One of the main reasons that FIFA chose to have the World Cup in the U.S. was in compli-ance with an agreement that a professional league would be established. And so in 1996, two years after the World Cup, Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded.
Another important fac-tor that helped escalate the sport’s popularity was soccer superstars, like English soc-cer player David Beckham playing in the MLS. Today the MLS has 16 professional teams that are helping in-crease the sport’s popularity.
Popularity grew even more with the 2010 FIFA World Cup as fans across the nation watched the month long tour-nament unfold.
American soccer is also affecting soccer on a global level. Annette Lydon stated in her article The Growth of Soccer in the United States, “In the U.S., 35 percent of all soccer players are female, one of the highest percent-ages of women participants around the world. Soccer in America is helping to cross racial, as well as gender, lines.”
This is why soccer is be-coming so popular. No matter where you are in the world, what gender, or race, anyone can play soccer. It can be
played practically anywhere and the rules are universal.
With all these local and international influences, it is not hard to see why soccer’s popularity is on the rise in the United States. In the next several years soccer might be considered one of the top sports in America, and maybe
even a new favorite past time. Due to the economy, the growth of soccer has slowed slightly, but it has not stopped. For now soccer will just continue to grow and gain popularity.
Sangamon State University Prairie Stars, NAIA 1986 men’s soccer champions coached by Aydin Gonulsen
Photo courtesy of UIS Archives/ Special Collections
FALL 2012 Beyond*14Volunteer continued from page 7
April 11 & 12, 2013 Early Registration ends December 14, 2012.
o All students who submit their poster abstracts by this deadline will have their posters paid for by StARS.
General Registration will continue until February 15, 2013.
Keynote Speakers
o Mary Jo Bang, author of six books of poems, including The Bride of E and Elegy, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award.
o Ryan Ewing, Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama. He is currently exploring the surface of Mars with the NASA Curiosity team.
For more information visit the StARS webpage at
http://www.uis.edu/undergraduateresearch/stars/index.html
to eliminate hunger in the area, the Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center is doing their part to promote hunger awareness on campus. On Oct. 31, the center hosted its 5th annual Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods. Nearly 150 staff, faculty, and students, on 15 teams, worked together to collect a total of roughly 7,000 pounds of food for the Central Illinois Foodbank, according to director Mark Dochterman.
“We raised 6,600 actual pounds of food at the event, and then there was a little over $100 that people raised, and we count that as $1 a pound,” said Dochterman. “In the following days we collected a couple hundred more pounds [of food], so we are right at 7,000 pounds.”
Dochterman added that this year, the Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods event is part of a larger effort called the Holiday Stars Program. This program was formerly its own individual effort in past years, collecting canned goods for the Central Illinois Foodbank. However, this year the Holiday Stars Pro-gram refers to the efforts that began with Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods.
It also includes Toilet-ries for Troops in Nov. with American Legion #32, and Gifts Under the Tree in Dec. with the Central Illi-nois Foodbank. Each effort throughout this three-month period works to collect food and other necessities for com-munity members and veterans who need assistance through-out the holiday months.
“The idea is that Holiday Stars… is supposed to hit three specific communities
that could use a boost in the holiday season. You’ve got the people who make use of the Central Illinois Foodbank, you’ve got local veterans, and then you’ve got student families. Those are all groups of people that I think could use a little bump around the holiday season. It also makes it more personal. If we are able to do this Gifts Under the Tree event, it separates it [from typical food drives]. It’s not a charity case; it’s more of a sense of com-munity around the holiday season,” said Dochterman.
In addition to the Holiday Stars Program, the Volun-teer and Civic Engagement center is also participating in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, alongside the Central Illinois Foodbank. The week runs from Nov. 10 through Nov. 18, one week before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Both the center and the foodbank chalked the quad with hunger and homeless-ness statistics on Monday Nov. 12. UIS also hosted an ECCE speaker series event Nov. 13 titled, “Give a Damn?” where students were given an insight and new per-spective on poverty in local communities first hand. The events wrap up Nov. 14 with the Faces of the Homeless Panel, co-sponsored by Lin-coln Land Community Col-lege, which hopes to conquer the stigmas and stereotypes associated with the homeless community.
For more information or to get involved with the many hunger related causes in the community, visit www.centralillinoisfoodbank.org or www.uis.edu/volunteer.
some women that natural hair transitioners look up to. For example, Alicia Keys is a beautiful black woman and she has natural hair. She makes it easy for women to feel like the skin they are in is great and the hair that spouts from the tops of their heads is beautiful. She is not the only one; women like Macy Gray and Tracy Ellis-Ross also proudly rock their natural hair.
The media is forever changing. According to Ciera Hoosier, CAP Biology major, perception of natural hair has changed from “being [con-sidered] ‘nappy’ to accept-able.” She has been natural her entire life, but she admits that she has thought about getting a perm. She con-fessed to feeling like this be-cause her older sister always got them and they “looked really straight” in comparison to her hair.
Hoosier went on to say,
“I feel the media portrays getting your hair permed or chemically done or even having fake hair [as socially acceptable]; they don’t show the beauty of your hair—your natural hair.” As unfortunate as this statement is, it has been true for the last decade, but now wearing your own hair has become more ac-ceptable.
People don’t like change, which is why it came as a shock to society when wom-en decided to wear their hair as it grows. “A lot of people think it is so radical to wear your hair, the way it grows out of your head,” accord-ing to Grace Latimore, CAP English major. Latimore is on the Kinky and Curly execu-tive board. She confessed to being natural since she was in eighth grade. She, like a lot of other woman who wear their hair natural, went through a transitional phase where she wore protective
style until she did her “big chop.”
“Once you can embrace that [having natural hair],” Latimore continued, “It changes your perception of yourself.”
The reality of this natural hair movement is that “a lot of people are not accepting of it,” said Henderson. Women need to know that someone is there supporting to them. It is a struggle for Black women across the globe. Having a support group alleviates some of the strife.
Wearing your hair natural is empowering. You do not have to compromise with society. While going natu-ral is an optimal choice you are welcome to wear it how you want to. You can wear it curly or kinky—braided, permed or in a weave; just make sure that you love it. Going natural to many wom-en is more than a movement, it is a lifestyle. So embrace it.
Hair continued from page 10
Correction:In our Nov. 7th article, “Veterans remembered at UIS,” a caption listed UIS student and veteran, Chad Sibley, as the creator of MVSO at UIS. This was incorrect. Sibley was one of several people who helped revive the organization. We apologize for this error.
FALL 2012 Beyond* 15
Please RecycleBeyond!
Photo by Colten Bradford
Photo by Alex Johnson
Annual InternationalFestival spices up UIS
The 35th Annual International Festival was held in Student Life Building on Nov. 9. This was celebrated with performances, food and informational booths representing various cultures.
Above: Daughters of the Dance performed in the Student Life Gymnasium to the sounds of drums. This group’s perfor-mances are always improvised.
Left: An exhibition of Taiji Quan was per-formed at the International Festival. Taiji Quan is a Chinese martial art practiced for defense training and health benefits.
Check out uisjournal.com for more photos.
Tickets: 217.206.6160 • 800.207.6960www.SangamonAuditorium.org
This unique performance of holiday cheer delights audiences in an evening
of great music and boisterous fun.
Sunday, December 2, 7 PMUIS Students receive up to a 50% discount on tickets.
The legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band along with special guests:Mardi Gras Indian Chief & alto saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr.,
trombonist & vocalist Glen David Andrews, and Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers.
Friday, November 16, 8 PMUIS Students receive up to a 50% discount on tickets.
Wednesday, November 21, 7:30 PMUIS Students receive up to a 50% discount on tickets.
More than 50 years ago one musical changed theater forever. Now it’s back and this mesmerizing revival
remains as powerful, poignant and timely as ever.
sponsoredby
FALL 2012 Beyond*16