nov. 18, 2009
DESCRIPTION
The student-run newspaper at the University of ArkansasTRANSCRIPT
From flash floods to erosion to watershed pollution, Mullins Creek on the UA campus poses serious problems for the Northwest Arkan-sas community.
Mullins Creek, also known as College Branch Creek, runs from Reid Hall to Lot 56 across the southwest quadrant of the UA campus. It’s located in such an area that its storm watershed flows off into both the Illinois and the White River, and it’s on the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency’s list of impaired streams.
Water channeled into Mul-lins Creek from roads, buildings, parking, etc., exceeds the streams carrying capacity – or the ability to maintain normal ecological func-tions, according to research done by the UA Community Design Center. In addition, the research found that excessive fertilizer and other lawn maintenance agents used on local landscapes drain to the stream, altering its nutrient composition and aquatic wildlife balance.
“The problem with this stream is that it has no natural floodplains and pollutants are dumped, not fil-tered, into it daily,” says Jeff Huber, Project Designer for the UACDC. “Because it runs through campus, that stream is polluted with every-thing from oil to heavy metals, from things off cars to things off buildings. A lot of it is petroleum
based.” The Arkansas Department of
Environmental Quality assess-ments determined that Mullins Creek had the highest sediment load in the entire West Fork-White River Watershed. The first hour of stormwater runoff has a pollution index greater than that of raw sew-age, according to UACDC research.
Perhaps the greatest threat M u l l i n s Creek poses is to our own drinking wa-ter. “A storm occurs and that creek floods and runs off. It goes into the West Fork of the White River and it comes back into Beaver Lake,” says Huber. “Beaver Lake is where our drinking water comes from. If we don’t treat this here on campus, we won’t have a water supply.”
Despite all this, no environ-mental agency has a record of wa-ter quality from having ever tested the creek. Not the U.S. Geological Survey, not the EPA, and not any department on campus. Only sedi-ment load evaluations have been done, and, those, infrequently.
The UA commissioned the Community Design Center to de-sign a solution for the creek water runoff when the EPA starting put-ting the pressure on four years ago.
The project is known as Campus Hydroscapes. The only stipulation from the university was that no parking spaces from Lot 56 could be removed, making the job that much more complicated. But the Center produced numerous de-signs wherein flood plains could be carved out of Lot 56 and earthen mounds could be introduced at the head of the creek, as well as deep-
rooted veg-etation. All of these, insists the UACDC, would be vi-able solutions to curb the problem and would cost under $1 mil-lion.
The UA has had the
comprehensive, 117-page design for four years but has yet to put any of the plans into application.
Steven Luoni is the director of the UACDC. “Headwater conditions are critical to the health of a wa-tershed,” says Luoni. “Because the stream runs underground beneath the football stadium and practice fields before ‘daylighting’ in the athletic valley, the creek loses its ecological capacity.”
The ecological duress of Mul-lins Creek is evinced in its wildlife, or lack thereof. Of 63 types of fish found in West Fork Watershed, only one type, the tiny Central Stoner-oller, is found in Mullins Creek.
“This is certainly an indication of water quality,” says Huber. “Once that last fish is gone you have al-most no hope of restoring the sys-tem back to its natural state.”
Pollution isn’t the only worry. Excessive flow rates and stream bank loss of Mullins Creek now threaten walkways and bridges, including one on Arkansas State Highway 62, according to UACDC research.
Lot 56 is historically a wet-land. As outlined in the Campus Hydroscapes project, Lot 56 would ideally return to a marsh and the problems posed by Mullins Creek would cease to exist. But the UACDC worked around the park-ing spaces.
“It is a challenge because we only have a limited amount of space to work with in solving this problem,” says Huber. “We can’t go in under the stadiums so we have to nip this at the head of the stream. The area we have to work with is a very small grid between Bud Walton Arena and the park-ing lot, but there are solutions for keeping contaminated water from running off of campus into riv-ers.”
The plan is a holistic one: Just let plants do their jobs. The Hydroscapes project calls for in-troducing plants that have deep fibrous material to allow water to be filtered through the sub-surface. The design explains that
University of Arkansas | Fayetteville, Ark.VOL. 104, NO. 14 | Single Issue Free
About you. For you. For 104 years.Page 1A | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009
6 See preview of New Moon and other upcoming movies on page 8B.
LifestylesInternational students take break from studying abroadpage 6BSportsNelson does it allon defensepage 1B
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For students attending the UA from out of the country, making the transition from one culture to another can be a long, dif-ficult process. The presence of 28 international registered stu-dent organizations gives these students opportunities to bring their culture to Northwest Ar-kansas.
Michael Taiwo, president of the African Students Organiza-tion, said he wants his group to import Africa into Northwest Arkansas. Taiwo said his group has a moral obli-gation to educate people about Afri-ca, and they want to change the usual perceptions of his homeland.
“People do not really know about Africa. The Africa they know is probably through Hol-lywood or CNN, and they don’t really reflect the situation on the ground,” Taiwo, a native of Ni-geria, said. “So we feel it is our responsibility to tell people what is really going on.”
Stefan Trim, the president of the Caribbean Students Organi-zation, shared the same senti-ments about importing his own culture to the area.
“We want to branch out to
others, and learn with others and to share our culture,” Trim said.
Sylvia Tran, the president of the Vietnamese Student Associa-tion, said it can be challenging to bring Vietnamese culture to Fayetteville because of the small Vietnamese population, but they have been able to grow to more than 30 members by sponsoring events on campus.
“The campus is a great place to share our culture with stu-dents,” Tran said. “We would not be able to bring awareness to people without the help of the university and its students.”
The Vietnam-ese Student Asso-ciation has one event left this fall, the “Chop-sticks Work-shop,” where participants will learn how to use chopsticks, and will then use their newly ac-
quired skills on authentic Viet-namese food.
The Vietnamese Student As-sociation has been working since this summer on “Vietnamese Immersion,” which is the larg-est event they will be involved with this year. They are working with the Office of International Students and Scholars who hold an immersion every year to showcase an aspect of a certain
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS EDUCATE, INSPIRE
Jordan GrummerContributing Writer
See RSOs on Page 2B
MORE NEWS. LESS PAPER. UATrav.com
(Clockwise from top right) 1) A sunset over the Kalahari Desert during the summer Study Abroad South Africa program. 2) The British Guard marches toward Buckingham Palace as a part of the changing of the guard ceremony during the summer Theatre in London Study Abroad program. 3) A close-up of a snake from Costa Rica. 4) Geshe Namgyal Wangchen, an internationally respected Tibetan Buddhist monk, giving an annual teaching to monks at a dormitory at the Drepung Loseling monastery in south-ern India.
See International coverage on page 5A
BAILEY ELISE MCBRIDE News Editor
JACLYN JOHNSON Assistant Managing Editor
STEPHEN IRONSIDE Staff PhotographerSTEPHEN IRONSIDE Staff Photographer
‘Far from the landwhere their footsteps have trod’
Campus creek pollutes Fayetteville water supply
Samuel LetchworthStaff Writer
“The problem with this stream is that pollutants are dumped, not filtered, into it daily...If we don’t treat this here on campus, we won’t have a water supply.”
— Jeff Huber, project designer
See CREEK on Page 2
Give at Grub’s for the holidays Nov. 18
Visit Grub’s Bar and Grille today to help support your local homeless shelter. As an effort to help the community, the Walton College of Business has teamed up with Grub’s to help the Seven Hills Homeless Shelter this holiday season. Aside from a night of food, drinks and music, this is also a great way to donate to a good cause.
AWSM to host seminar tomorrow
The Arkansas Women in Statistics and Mathematics will host a seminar by Teach for America alumnus Ben Kirksey from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in Room 404 of the Science-Engineering Building. Anybody interested in a career in teaching is invited to attend. For further information, please e-mail [email protected] or contact the mathematics department at 575-3351.
Professor’s presentation to be shown on C-SPAN
C-SPAN’s Book TV will broadcast the presentation given last month by UA professor Robert Maranto on a new book of essays about the presidency of George W. Bush at 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. Maranto, who holds the Twenty-First Chair in Leadership in the College of Education and Health Professions, is lead editor of “Judging Bush,” published by Stanford University Press.
Program looks for host families
The UA Friendship Family Program is looking for host families in Northwest Arkansas. The program has been bringing people to-gether for friendships from around the world for close to 30 years. This program connects international students, families, exchange students, and visiting students and scholars with American singles and families in the Northwest Arkansas area. To be a Friendship Family Host, participants must attend an orientation and fill out an application at ISS.uark.edu/354.php. For more information, contact Casie Shreve of the Office of International Students and Scholars at [email protected] or 575-6665.
Mullins Library announces holiday hours
Mullins Library will close at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, and Wednes-day, Nov. 25. The library will remain closed Thursday, Nov. 26 for Thanksgiving Day and reopen at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 27. On Sunday, Nov. 29, the library will open at noon and remain open for 24-hour service until 11 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. The library will open on Sunday, Dec. 6 at noon and remain open for 24-hour ser-vice until 11 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. The library will be open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, and noon Sunday, Dec. 13, until 2 a.m. Monday, Dec. 14. For more information on library hours and services, visit Libinfo.uark.edu. Library hours can also be heard by dialing 575-4101.
BRIEFLYspeaking
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PROFILESfrom the Hill
Professor brings his own experiences to the classroom
LARRY ASH Staff Photographer
Professor Hoyt Purvis in his office in the Journalism department. Purvis is also the director of International Relations.
Hoyt Purvis is a professor of journalism and the director of International Relations at the University of Arkansas. He was Press Secretary for Sena-tor J. William Fulbright, a Foreign and Defense Policy Advisor for Senate Majority Leader Robert Bird and has drunk whiskey with Johnny Cash. Sam: What was it like work-ing for Senator Fulbright? Purvis: It was an exceptionally interesting and important time in history to be in Washington. You’ve got the Vietnam War, Watergate and tons of social issues going on. I was right in the middle of things. It was fascinating. Sam: Fulbright, of course, is renowned for his opposition to the Vietnam War from early on. Purvis: Well, it’s hard to say what the beginning was. At first he sided with President Johnson but eventually be-came strongly convinced that the Vietnam War was not in the best national interest. Sam: What inspired you to start the International Re-lations Program here at the UA? Purvis: I have always believed in international education and mutual understanding. Clinton appointed me to the Fulbright Scholarship Board to oversee the international exchange program. I am also the Vice President of the Fulbright As-sociation. We started the In-ternational Studies major here eight years ago and are excited to say that we currently have more than 300 International Studies majors.
Sam: What is this about getting drunk with Johnny Cash? Purvis: (Laughs) That was a different life. I thought I want-ed to be a music promoter in Northeast Arkansas and the one guy I most wanted was Johnny Cash. He showed up and I wound up getting in the car with him and his band. Well, the car started while I was talking to him and I wasn’t going to give up so I wound up riding with them all the way to Memphis. Sam: And you guys all got drunk on the way? Purvis: Johnny passed me something in a brown bag and I took a swig of it. I was being polite. I was just talking busi-ness and music with the man. Actually, I didn’t end up book-ing Johnny Cash, but I did get Roy Orbison. Sam: A fair compromise. Do I understand that you were involved in the Olympics in 2008? Purvis: (Laughs) Well, I’m not exactly an Olympian. I have four major interests: media, politics, international rela-tions and sports. The Olympics sort of embody all of those. My daughter is a diplomat and lives in China so we had some-where to stay. It was breathtak-ing. Sam: What is your favorite sport? Purvis: That is difficult to say because I love them all, but if I had to choose I would say baseball. Sam: How about them Damn Yankees? Purvis: Well, that win was in-
Sam LetchworthStaff Writer
evitable. The Yankees clearly have the best team money can buy. I hesitate to say that, but that is one of the issues base-ball has. Sam: Do you think baseball is on its way out? Purvis: No, I don’t think so. Baseball has issues like other elements of society, but I think it is enduring. There has been some renewed interest in the sport, I would say. But foot-ball has become more widely followed and overshadowed baseball to some degree. Sam: I think it was Howie Long, former linebacker for the Raiders, who said that baseball was America’s pas-time but football was Amer-ica’s passion. Purvis: I would agree with that. I love football, too, but I just like baseball more. You sound like a football fan. Who’s your team?
Sam: I was raised on the Cowboys. I can’t help it.
Purvis: I saw that new stadium for the Arkansas/Texas A&M game. Boy, I thought the stadi-um in Beijing was something. Sam: Does it bother you that journalism is moving off the
page and onto the Web? Purvis: It doesn’t matter how I feel. We are in a new era, figur-ing out which direction we are going. You have got to adopt new trends. The virtue of news-papers is that information can be delivered to people in an orderly fashion. Now informa-tion seems to be scattered and the approach of media doesn’t necessarily serve the public in-terest. I don’t know if what we need is video razzle-dazzle. Sam: It seems to me that the 21st Century has given birth to a new sort of Schiz-oid Man that requires con-stant stimulus. Purvis: Yes, I know that King Crimson song. Don’t get me wrong, the benefits of the In-ternet are incredible and enor-mous. The modern man gets to decide what is valuable to him because the options are so limitless. Somewhere, though, you must establish some pri-orities. Sam: So you’ve been here at the university for 27 years. How much longer do you plan on sticking around? Purvis: Until they run me off I guess.
There will not be a print edi-tion of the Arkansas Traveler next week, but continue to check UATrav.com every day for up-dates. Look for the last two print issues of the semester with “Re-ligious Diversity” on Dec. 2 and “Finals” on Dec. 9.
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | UATRAV.COM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 | Page 3A NEWS
country. Tran said the theme of this year’s immersion is “The Vietnamese New Year.”
“It will be an interactive eve-ning and I’m hoping guests will enjoy the atmosphere, activities and food,” Tran said. “It should be a wonderful learning experi-ence.”
The African Students Orga-nization organizes two large events during the year to show-case African culture. Food is the main attraction of “The Taste of Africa.” African students pre-pared authentic African food and more than 500 people attended, Taiwo said. The organization’s biggest event, “The Sound of Africa,” is in the spring. It incor-porates many different aspects of African culture including Af-rican food, a fashion show and African dances. Taiwo said he expects to see 700 people attend the event.
The Caribbean Student Or-ganization sponsors an event next spring called “Dancing Instructions.” Dances like the calypso and limbo dancing will be put on display in what Trim said would be “an immersion into Caribbean culture.”
Working with other Interna-tional RSOs is also a goal of the Caribbean Student Organiza-tion, Trim said. At the “Caribbe-an Cookout and Backyard BBQ” last month, the highlight was a friendly soccer game with stu-dents from the African Students Organization.
“Everyone has something to contribute,” Trim said. “At the end of the day we came here to be educated, and to be educated is not just being an impartial (bystander), but communicat-ing and interacting with differ-ent people.”
The African Students Orga-nization has 60 members with 21 of Africa’s 53 countries rep-resented. The Caribbean Stu-dent Organization has 59 active members.
Middle Eastern Studies program provides insight
into a complex culture
A group of girls sit on red couches in Hotz Hall. Scarves of white, red, black and blue with simple designs cover their heads, some loosely thrown on, others tightly wrapped. Study-ing together, one girl follows the other’s finger with her large green eyes, darkly lined with khol. The others chatter away in Arabic, about school, their lives and their home countries.
These five girls represent a small picture of the diversity brought to the UA campus from the Middle East. There are 100 students enrolled this fall from 18 different countries in the Middle East, according to the fall enrollment report.
Just like these girls bring a part of their culture with them here, the King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies brings a piece of Middle Eastern history, language and culture to the university com-munity. Students experience this through the classes, colloquia, speakers and the cultural pro-grams that the Middle East stud-ies center sponsors.
The center was created in 1993 with a $25 million endow-ment by the Saudi government, the largest endowment given to a foreign country at that time. The endowment helped create concentrations from five differ-ent departments at the UA, and these were anthropology, geog-raphy, political science, history and English. Professors were brought from each department to help put together courses for the center.
“The Middle East is a region made up of many different as-pects and we represent that di-versity, unlike a lot of schools that just focus on political sci-ence,” said Tom Paradise, a UA geology professor and former director of the center. “We have teachers that are specialized in many different areas.”
Former President Bill Clin-ton played a big role in the es-tablishment of this center, said Adnan Haydar, a UA Arabic professor and head of Middle East studies from 1993 to 1999. Clinton was governor at the time and he asked Prince Bandar, the brother of the king of Saudi Ara-bia, to help.
Haydar came to the UA in 1993 with a vision for the pro-gram that emphasized the mod-ern Middle East and literary translations. At one point, Hay-dar had only 15 students and was teaching a total of 24 credit hours. The number of students who enroll in Arabic I now is around 64, Haydar said.
There was an increase of stu-dents interested in the Middle East because of America’s in-volvement there, especially in Iraq and Kuwait, with the Gulf War and, more recently, the Iraq War, Haydar said.
“It’s a politically favored lan-guage,” said Alia Biller, a psy-chology major and Middle East studies minor. “Learning Arabic gives a better understanding of
the culture and history of the Middle East.”
Through the program, the campus has grown to accommo-date students from the Middle East to study at the UA and to send American students to vari-ous universities in the Middle East, whether it is to study Ara-bic, anthropology, archeology, politics or art. This year, the cen-ter is supporting five students from Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey and Iran. Many students from the UA also plan to go or already have been to the Middle East.
“I’m planning to go to Syria in the summer to study archeol-ogy,” said Bilal Ziada, a sopho-more anthropology and Middle East studies major. “I joined this center because it always seemed like my natural path.”
Another popular study abroad program in the Middle East is spending the semester at the university in Amman, Jordan. Biller had taken three semesters of Arabic before she went to Jor-dan in the spring of 2009.
The hardest part about studying in the Middle East was adjusting to the different culture and to their ideas, Biller said. They were very nice, but some of them got their ideas of American women based on TV shows like Desperate Housewives.
“I thought I was open mind-ed before I went, but studying abroad really gave me a dif-ferent sense of the world,” she said. It made “me more aware of the political situations going on there” which can be quite different than “perceptions that people get from the news and from movies here.”
The program encourages traveling to the Middle East and helps pay for the students who are majoring in Middle Eastern studies to study there. There were 41 Middle East studies ma-jors and minors in 2009, a sig-nificant increase from the 28 to-tal majors and minors in 2006. Since Middle Eastern Studies can only be a second major, these numbers aren’t as large as other majors offered. However, students from many different majors take classes involving the Middle East.
“Classes are filled because people are interested and curi-ous,” said Joel Gordon, direc-tor of Middle Eastern studies. “Headlines generate class atten-dance especially since these stu-dents are looking for different perspectives.” Gordon teaches a survey of classes, but his special-ties lie in Modern Middle East and Egyptology.
The center also brings in no-table speakers who have experi-ence in the Middle East or ex-tensive knowledge about it. They recently brought in two speakers to discuss the Palestine and Is-rael issue, one that has been catching headlines for years.
“There is a growing open-ness in our community to want to understand and explore,” Gordon said. “Our common goal is to turn people’s horizons outward.”
RSOsfrom Page 1A
Saba NaseemContributing Writer
International Student Essay“It started like any other
vacation. It was the family cus-tom to move to the rural parts of Northern Nigeria to spend a few weeks during the holidays. The only difference this time was that we had new neighbors. They were a large family from Comanche, Okla., and they had been in Nigeria, my country, for a month prior to our arrival. I quickly made friends with Manso, one of the 11 children of the family. Manso was about my age – I was 16 at the time – and height. He was as athletic as I was and we used to run up the mountains together every morn-ing. He also loved soccer and we could play the game together all day. But that was where the sim-ilarities ended. Manso had an unusual calm and grace about him; he would allow you to do all the talking while listening with rapt attention. He quickly became the go-to guy during conflict resolution. I was Man-so’s antithesis - garrulous, brash and impertinent. I was the go-to guy when people wanted to start a conflict. I admired Manso’s persona but I did not try to be like him because I believed he inherited it: After all, everyone in his family had similar traits.
Then came my birthday. Manso brought me a fetish look-ing stick as a gift. It was a nor-mal stick except that it was em-broidered with purple, orange and black fabric and it had an eagle feather at one end and a turkey feather in the other. He
explained to me that they were Indians from Okla., USA, and that what I had in my hands was referred to as a Talking Stick. The Talking Stick, he continued, was used during a council meet-ing. The holder had the right to speak while holding it and everyone must listen. This, he told me, was to help prevent dis-cussions from degenerating into cacophonies. They believe that whoever holds the talking stick has within his hands the sacred power of words. The eagle feath-er, for instance, represents high ideals i.e. truth as viewed from the expansive eye of the eagle and the turkey feather symbol-izes peaceful attitudes necessary in every successful dispute reso-lution.
For the rest of the holiday, the Talking Stick was with me everywhere I went. Whenever a friend wanted to say something, I gave it to him and reminded myself that I must not interrupt him until he was through with what he had to say. This forced me to listen empathically. Also, when it was my turn to speak, I would hold the stick bearing in mind that my words were sacred and I am bound by them. I lost the Talking Stick during one of my morning jogs through the mountains but the lessons in effective communication that it taught me was life changing. I am a better person now because I met a Native American who so willingly shared with me the gift of his culture.”
In honor of International Education Week, the Office of Inter-national Students and Scholars, the Office of Study Abroad, and the Holcombe International Living Learning Community created an es-say contest to “highlight the opportunities for international educa-tion all around us.”
The essay topic was this:“‘When you learn something from people, or from a culture, you
accept it as a gift, and it is your lifelong commitment to preserve it and build on it.’ –Yo Yo Ma
In light of this quotation, write an essay describing a personal experience that helped shape your character and international out-look. Explain what the experience was, how it changed you, and how you intend to apply this lesson to your life.”
The winner of this year’s competition was Oluwafemi Michael Taiwo, a chemical engineering graduate student who wrote about an experience with a visitor in his native country, Nigeria. Taiwo is currently the president of the African Student Organization.
Taiwo said he was “at once excited and humbled to win the essay competition.”
Taiwo’s essay is printed here.
COURESY PHOTOOluwafemi Michael Taiwo, a chemical engineering graduate student, is this year’s winner of the essay contest for International Education Week.
CREEKfrom Page 1
any healthy ecological system has a healthy microbial commu-nity handled by deep soil and deep rooting plants.
“Microbes are nature’s tillers,” says Huber, “And soil is the sponge of urban development.” The re-search used in outlining the Cam-pus Hydroscapes plan indicates that if the proper vegetation were introduced to the head of Mullins Creek there would be a 90 percent reduction of water volume leaving the college site and the pollution index would be brought back 75 percent over time.
Whatever the reasons for the UA’s reluctance to green-light the project, Mullins Creek continues to become more impaired with every rainfall. “It is a huge burden to take a paradigm shift,” says Huber. “If you feed something to someone long enough they think that’s their diet. But it’s still unhealthy. Mullins Creek is unhealthy.”
LARRY ASH Staff Photographer
Mullins Creek, which runs from Reid Hall to Lot 56, might be polluting the water supply for Fayetteville.
Check UATrav.com
for daily updates.OPINIONPhone: 575.8455 | E-mail: [email protected] 4A | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 Editor: Tina Korbe | Managing Editor: Kimber Wenzelburger
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER
Recently, a thoughtful and loyal Traveler reader e-mailed me to lament the reduced print publication schedule we adopted this year.
“With the three times weekly publication schedule, it was possible for students to engage with The Traveler,” he wrote. “(Now), my only engagement with The Traveler is on a Wednesday.”
We regret that this is the case for even one student on campus. After all, UATrav.com was created and designed to “connect students to the story” on a daily basis – and the print edition was reduced so we could fuel more energy into multimedia reporting.
Unfortunately, our Web analytics reveal the vast majority of UA students do not check UATrav.com every day. While we’ve had nearly 19,000 unique visitors, the highest number we’ve had in a single day is just 1,199 – or 6 percent of the student population.
Last year, about 2,000 people visited thetraveleronline.com every day, and we had more than 5,000 e-mail subscribers. When our site transferred from one server to another, those subscribers did not automatically transfer with it. We’re still working to restore that sub-scription list. As we do, we hope all those who’ve missed receiving The Traveler in their inbox will visit UATrav.com and resubscribe by click-ing the button on the bottom right-hand side of the homepage.
For now, allow me to repeat: We switched from a three-times-a-week print publication to a daily news site to provide students with more news. And we’ve done that.
Not only does the Web site provide us with unlimited space to publish, it also allows us to break stories before other local media outlets – and we’ve done that, as well.
When Fayetteville voted down a tax increase to pay for a new high school, UATrav.com was the first to report it. When tornadoes threat-ened Fayetteville, UATrav.com assumed the role of a broadcaster and updated in real time. When ASG Senate meets, UATrav.com reporter Adam Call Roberts reports minute-by-minute. And those examples don’t even touch the Sports section.
Podcasts, slideshows, an interactive map – they’re all on UATrav.com. Starting today, we hope you will be, too.
Cheers,
Tina E. KorbeEditor
Sarah Palin: Detractor or contender?
The Arkansas Traveler welcomes letters to the editor from all interested readers. Letters should be at most 300 words and should include your name, student classification and major or title with the university and a day-time telephone number for verification. Letters should be sent to [email protected]. Letters appear in the order they were submitted as space permits. The editor reserves the right to edit or refuse letters on the basis of length, accuracy, fairness, liability and sensibility.
EDITORIAL BOARD TINA KORBE | Editor KIMBER WENZELBURGER | Managing Editor BAILEY MCBRIDE | News Editor
President Palin in 2013? Well, who in 2005 would have thought a totally unknown, unaccomplished, inexperienced, leftist junior senator from Illinois could defeat Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008, much less be elected president?
Sen. John McCain, of course, contributed mightily to the surprising election result. A muddled, lackluster candidate, his fate was sealed by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent implosion of the economy. But lest we forget, McCain made Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin his vice presiden-tial running mate – and after the convention but before Lehman, McCain-Palin raced ahead of Obama-Biden in the polls for the first time.
Americans saw something special in Palin. She electrified the Republican convention and much of the country with her charisma, her Reagan-like plainspoken conservatism and her striking beauty. Independents around the country took notice. Conservatives, many of whom viewed McCain as a Republican In Name Only, were sud-denly energized.
As McCain-Palin polls moved up the national media moved out—out to Alaska in search of whatever damaging facts or rumors they could find on Palin. They didn’t get much, but, ironically, they didn’t need much. Palin herself blew it in major network interviews, giving vague and un-satisfying answers to questions any national candidate should have been able to handle with ease.
Fast forward to now. Palin’s new book became an Amazon best seller a month before its release this week. Monday, Palin started a national book tour, including appearances on Oprah, Larry King and Bill O’Reilly, establishing herself as a heavyweight 2012 contender. So-called feminists will attack her. The national media will trumpet every hint that she, like 99 percent of Americans, isn’t intimately conversant with inside-baseball Washington trivia. But none of that will matter. The American people will be taking a second look at this very interesting, middle American populist and deciding if she might not just make a good replacement for the guy who took down Hillary Clinton.
Larry Ash is a photographer for The Arkansas Traveler. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
She didn’t know what the vice president does when asked by a curious third grader. She was unable to name a Supreme Court ruling other than Roe v. Wade or a newspaper she reads daily in her notorious interview with Katie Couric. She believed the “Department of Law,” a non-existent branch of the United States government, would protect her if her ethics were questioned. She can see Russia from her house – and, now, she wants to be your president!
According to a recently completed Gallup poll, more Republicans would consider voting for Sarah Palin than believe she is qualified to be president. Am I the only one who finds that slightly terrify-ing?
This is the woman who quit her job as governor of Alaska for no real reason. Who built a “Bridge to Nowhere,” and spent in excess of $21,000 to cart her children to events across the nation to which they were not invited.
Top McCain aids referred to her as a “whack job” and a “diva” – and, now, she wants to be your president!
Republicans, give me a break. I’m by no means a straight-ticket voter, and would consider either a conservative candidate or a female—but definitely not Sarah Palin. Just because she wrote a book and made an appearance on Oprah does not qualify her to be our president.
To nominate Sarah Palin for president in 2012 would be the ultimate shot to the foot for Republicans. In many ways, the upcoming election is their make or break moment. To nomi-nate someone just because she appeals to the lowest common denominator of your voting base is hardly the way to go. The Republican candidate in 2012 will need more than just good looks and name recognition – he or she will need the ability to produce tangible, positive results.
Most people can’t even tell her apart from Tina Fey, but she’s Sarah Palin – and, now, she wants to be your president!
Bailey Elise McBride is the News Editor of The Arkansas Trav-eler. She majors in journalism and anthropology.
A problem and pain: That’s Palin A Palin presidency’s plausibleBailey Elise McBride
News EditorLarry Ash
Guest Columnist
“I don’t know of any plan to charge a fee, and I’m not in favor of a fee,” Chancellor Gearhart said.
Gearhart and students agree on the majority of campus bike policy issues. In a meeting with a dozen student representatives last week, the chancellor outlined the Department of Transit and Parking’s reasons for issuing bike permits.
Thanks to action by student protesters and the Staff Senate, permit fees are off the table. Thanks to an ASG bike census, we now have a more accurate way to estimate the number of daily riders. Everyone agreed that we should plan for the future anyway, and build more bike racks than we need right now.
The ASG members who support mandatory permits (and, frighteningly, there are more than you think) cited registration of bikes as a way to help police recover stolen bikes.
I’m still very skeptical about how registra-tion is going to help. But if it does, there’s no reason for the university to simply duplicate other organizations’ efforts. The National Bike Registry will send you a sticker and put you into a database that will be useful even if the thief brings your bike off campus. If you’re worried about theft, it’s a lot easier to just take a photo of your serial number than to fill out a form.
And at any rate, there’s no reason to make what is essentially an insurance program man-datory or to call the stickers “permits.”
The final reason Transit and Parking stated it had to require registration was the claim that it would make ticketing bikes easier.
The problem of improperly parked bicycles should near an end next semester. The depart-ment, at the urging of ASG, is planning to install
enough new racks to accommodate more then 200 bikes. ASG is also recommending that some of the unused racks be moved to high-traffic areas.
This will work a lot better than the failed permit plan: Only about 15 percent of bikes parked on campus have permit stickers, despite free publicity for the registration program by The Traveler and UATV, and Transit and Parking officials handing out permits themselves in front of the Union for days. People simply don’t want the stickers. No matter what sort of PR work the university does, registration is never going to get above 20 or 25 percent. The only way to even get close to full compliance is the extreme step of seizing bikes without permits.
I don’t think that Transit and Parking offi-cials are willing to impound bikes that are parked properly just because they don’t have a sticker. And if they are, they should resign – the university’s mission calls on it to reward respon-sible bike riders and visitors to campus, not to punish them for missing paperwork.
A lot of alternatives to confiscation were discussed, including painting bikes or using
some sort of bike boot. Booting or chaining an improperly parked bike that’s locked up to a tree or a railing would just make the problem worse. Painting bikes is almost certainly illegal.
My solution? Use the current rules.According to the July 1, 2009, document
“Parking and Traffic Regulations” from the uni-versity Web site, if bikes are improperly parked or create a safety hazard, they can be immobi-lized or impounded. Bike owners currently have 60 days to claim their impounded bikes. The policy requires that the owner have a receipt or a notarized statement of ownership, as well as registration with the university. This seems a bit excessive, and could use some revision.
But the point is that we can solve all the problems the Transit and Parking Department submitted to the chancellor without permits. There’s simply no need for them.
Not everyone sees it this way. Some ASG members are under the delusion that the prob-lem is “a resistance to change” and “bad PR.” At both the meeting and the town hall last week, elected ASG representatives suggested the administration should just wait for all the people upset with the new rules to graduate. In four years, freshmen can be told “this is the way it is” and they won’t complain.
President Mattie Bookhout spoke out in both instances: “We need to set policies because they’re the right thing to do, not because we hope everyone will forget in the future.”
I agree.
Adam Call Roberts is a columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. He also blogs regularly for UATrav.com.
Notes from Underground
ADAM CALL [email protected]
NO NEED TO REINVENT THE BICYCLE WHEEL
Letter from the Editor
Get caught in the Web
The comprehensive health care bill passed by the U.S. House is momentous because it grants nearly all American citizens access to health care. But the House bill falls short of meet-ing a second essential goal of health reform – controlling the skyrocketing costs of medical care. Final legislation passed by Congress must do much more to move away from fee-for-services incentives to a system that rewards results rather than procedures.
The House bill pays for its reforms with a tax on the incomes of the very rich. That would do little, if anything, to encourage less use of unnecessary services.
The Senate Finance Committee has a better plan – a tax on the expensive “Cadillac” insurance plans that encourage overuse of medical care.
The House bill leaves out a crucial feature that the Senate is considering: creation of a commission empowered to enact measures that would save money and improve patient care in the Medicare program. That kind of panel, properly insulated from lobbyists and political pressures, could enact reforms worth copying in the private sector.
The House bill also proposes a public option to compete alongside private insurance plans. But House members rejected a plan to base reimbursements rates on the Medicare fee sched-ule. Without that advantage, costs of the public option could be equal to or greater than costs of private plans.
If final legislation includes a public option, it must be empowered to negotiate rates that lower the costs of treatments, medications and premiums.
Many good ideas have been proposed for reducing waste, mistakes and inefficiencies in medical care. All could result in a healthier and wealthier population. Money saved on health care costs could go into paychecks.
Some of the most promising reforms: penalties for hospitals with high numbers of preventable errors and infections; more transparency about the true costs of treatments; rewards for doctors and hospitals achieving good results, disincentives for providers who over-treat; and “bundled” payments that provide doctors and hospitals with a fixed amount to care for acutely or chronically ill patients. Congress must place progressive measures like these in a final bill.
A reformed health care system should not only guarantee that people get the care that they need. They should need the care that they get.
CONGRESS MUST DO MORE TO CURB MEDICAL COSTS
GUEST EDITORIALThe Kansas City Star
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | UATRAV.COM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 | Page 5ANEWS
Students from across the campus weigh in on issues from across the the globeAn international affair
Prabuddha Lohani, an in-dustrial engineering student from Nepal, said he is disap-pointed in some of the most recent Nepali national news.
Last week, prime minister Karima Begum slapped one of her employees five times for sending an old car, rather than a new car, to the airport to pick her up.
“She was acting stupid and without class,” Lohani said.
He said that the incident was not an isolated event: It is common behavior for leaders in Nepal to abuse their power.
“Another minister smashed the window of a car when the driver stopped the vehicle without telling her he was
about to stop,” Lohani said. He also remembered an in-
cident during the reign of an-other minister, when a forestry officer was locked in a room for several hours because he said something the minister didn’t like.
“Everyone in Nepal is go-ing insane from these things,” he said.
In Lohani’s opinion, the Nepali people have too many hopes and dreams but not enough direction to do achieve those goals.
“There is no law and order in the country; people are con-trolled by their emotions,” he said. “This (incident) is just a small picture of Nepal politics.
April RobertsonStaff Writer
April RobertsonStaff Writer
Whale hunting in Japan has been a controversy for some time, but the contro-versy escalated recently when the country announced its largest hunt in decades. Com-mercial whaling was banned in 1986, but Japan has continued to hunt whales with the excuse of conducting research to help manage the whale population.
Humpback whales, endan-gered since 1963, are back on the hunting list in Japan since the population has grown to what it says is a “sustainable
level.”Saaya Nakahara, a UA Jap-
anese student, believes there is a prejudice against Japanese because of the whale hunting.
“I just want people to un-derstand: We are not just kill-ing them for nothing. They are
to eat, and I am pretty sure there is a limited num-ber they can kill,” Naka-hara said.
Scientists in Japan col-lect data
from the dead whale, and then the meat is packaged and sold. Japanese consider whale meat to be like any other fish, and it is a traditional Japanese food,
Taniah TudorAsst. News Editor
India - 178
China - 130
Japan - 108
Bolivia - 77
Korea - 73
Vietnam - 48
Saudia Arabia - 34
Columbia - 22
Brazil - 20
Indonesia - 18Information courtesy the Office of International Students & Scholars
Photo Illustration By Jaclyn Johnson
Top 10 home countries of UA international students
Miran Gichki is a political science major from Pakistan. On Nov. 12, there was a suicide bombing in Pakistan against the International Services of Intelligence, and 32 people were killed as a result.
Gichki shares his view of the source of trouble and how to rid the nation of it.
Pakistan is in the transi-tion to democracy, but Gichki
believes it is far from a resolu-tion of any kind.
“Our representative orga-nizations are weak,” he said. “When they are, nationalism can grow.”
G i c h k i thinks that will leave lit-tle room for democracy as the military controls al-most every-thing. The weakness of those organiza-tions is linked prominently to religion and propaganda.
To improve the political situation of Pakistan, Gichki said, “It is up to the people to (ensure) mass political participation. It rules out the
military and the elite.”
The main problem is that people who stand up for their rights are labeled “trai-tors,” he said.
Pakistan is a nation with the sole purpose to have national unity, and this is the main goal of propa-
ganda. To reach that unity, re-ligion becomes the scapegoat.
“Pakistan used to be part of India … so we have five ma-jor ethnicities, but one main religion,” he said. “Religion is the only common point; oth-erwise, we are totally different people.”
As a result, the propagan-da is centered on Islam, and Gichki finds that too many people add to the constant atmosphere of jihad against the former Soviet states and against India. “It has raised
Nepal
Japan
See NEPAL on Page 6
See JAPAN on Page 6
Pakistan
See PAKISTAN on Page 6
“Religion is the only common point.
Otherwise we are totally different people.”
— Miran Gichki
“We are not just kill-ing [whales] for nothing.
They are there to eat.”— Saaya Nakahara
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | UATRAV.COMPage 6A | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 NEWS
96163-University of Arkansas Fayetteville-6.944x15-4C-11.18
Activation fee/line: $35.IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION:
VERIZON WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS STORES
April RobertsonStaff Writer
Coming to a coed universi-ty like the UA for undergradu-ate or graduate education can be a challenge for many Saudi Arabian students. In a large part of Saudi Arabia, sexes are segregated until postgraduate education, except for family members. Students, faculty and even staff are either all male or all female. Aside from p r o f e s s i o n a l a t m o s p h e r e s where mixed sexes are re-quired, such as a hospital, most workplaces are segregated, as well.
Sefat Al-Warsh, a Mus-lim woman from Saudi Arabia, said that it was difficult when she first arrived and began taking Eng-lish classes.
“I couldn’t interact with males. For a year or more I
separated myself from other classmates,” Al-Warsh said.
She didn’t speak to men, and when she attended class, she would try to choose a seat close to other women or move her seat as far away as possible from the men in the room.
Now Al-Warsh has over-come that cultural issue, she said. She has dealt with it by thinking of this as only a tem-porary period in which she
is required to work with the opposite sex.
“I can talk to (men) or sit close to them, but I don’t keep them as a friend. I am trying not to lose that cus-tom,” Al-Warsh said.
Not everyone has the same difficulty Al-Warsh has had, she said. Female students who come from areas of Saudi Ara-bia that already have mixed schools adjust more easily to the level of interaction be-tween sexes in the United States, she said, and men, even from segregated areas, also adjust more easily be-cause they don’t feel the same pressure to keep traditional customs.
Al-Warsh is at the UA on scholarship, and by Saudi Arabian law she must have a male companion accompany her. Her two brothers live with her; the younger one is here
on scholarship himself and the older is here as her com-panion. The purpose of the male companion is to protect her and have someone re-sponsible watching over her, but Al-Warsh said custom and law don’t always meet up with reality.
“I do everything – buy the groceries, wash the dishes. I keep all the responsibility,” Al-Warsh said. Many times it is the women who take care of the men and keep the honor of the family, she said.
When she returns to Saudi Arabia, she plans to become a professor in an all-female university. It is a more com-fortable environment for Al-Warsh because she doesn’t have to keep the restrictions of her religion and culture. She can leave her hair uncov-ered, use make-up and wear fitted clothes.
“I have more freedom … I can live my life as a girl,” Al-Warsh said.
The king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, recently opened a new coed university, but Al-Warsh doesn’t approve. She is afraid it will cause problems in a so-ciety that has not adjusted to mixed-gender interaction.
King Abdullah succeeded to the throne in 2005 and the new university is not the only change he has made. He also appointed the first woman to the Saudi Council of Ministers as deputy minister for wom-en’s education in 2009.
Shadi Jamshidy, a UA architec-ture student from Iran, was visiting family for the summer when the Iranian presidential election took place.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Kar-roubi and Mohsen Rezaee were the candidates. Ahmadinejad won the election, but pressure from multiple governments prompted a re-election. Ahmadinejad took that election, too.
In response, the popular can-didate Mousavi asked Iranians to protest the election results and the Green Revolution was formed.
Months later, Iranians are still protesting, especially the students of Tehran University, who protest every day by fasting from the food in the cafeteria, banging on their empty plates and yelling, “We don’t like the government.”
Jamshidy’s political view became a priority in her life as she experienced her family’s passionate discussions and witnessed her friends’ demonstrations on the
local campus when she arrived in Iran last summer.
“(Our parents’ generation) experienced the change from monarchy to democracy, so they remembered those times and wanted to support Mousavi,” she said.
During Jamshidy’s stay, the elec-tion affected every move she made. She had made plans to visit family and old friends while she was there, but those plans changed as the election put a damp mood on the nation and few people traveled.
“No one believed that Ah-madinejad won twice as many votes as Mousavi,” she said. “Every-one got depressed.”
Even though many people wanted to respond to Mousavi’s request that people go to the street and protest the election results, the stakes were too high for some.
“If you go to the streets (to protest), you don’t know if you’ll be coming back,” Jamshidy said. “Se-curity guards work on commission to beat and arrest one person, they get $250 each.”
Jamshidy’s family lives in Tehran, the capital of Iran, where she says the view of government
varies drastically from the rest of the country because of the social status.
“We call the government a ‘potato government’ because they bribe small-town (people) with money and potatoes,” she said.
Jamshidy and her friends were frustrated because so many people attended the voting polls and rules were more strictly enforced than usual.
“They usually would supply more ballots as they needed them and give (voters) more time if the lines were too long,” but this time, the ballots were not refilled and the remaining voters at the cutoff time were not allowed to vote.
Iranians living temporarily in other countries are allowed to vote, as well, so the voting process does not start until a certain time to allow for time-zone differences. Again, this year’s election was different.
As Jamshidy’s friend Golsa waited in line after driving from Fayetteville to Tulsa to vote, she received a call from another Iranian friend: The election results were being tallied and her vote would not be counted.
IranTaniah Tudor
Asst. News Editor
Saudi Arabia
It’s getting worse every day.” Lohani said he thinks that
the brunt of the problem is that many citizens let all the responsibilities fall to the minister or leader at the time and that they are not con-cerned with the greater good of Nepal.
“People need to wake up. You are the one to change things,” he said. “(Leaders) are not the people to tell us what to do; we should tell them.”
Demonstrations and pro-tests are constant in Nepal, which is part of Lohani’s con-cern.
“When demonstrations are going on, there is no business, no work, so people don’t have money to feed their kids,” he said.
During these times, class time is reduced to 10 to 15 days a month and some stu-dents have to walk for hours before taking an exam.
In Nepal, there are 22 po-litical parties. Lohani said this is because everyone has their own idea of how the govern-ment should be run, but then they are not satisfied with their leader when they realize he or she can’t fix everything.
Lohani said he doesn’t think a new constitution would help because the leaders do not fol-low what they write.
NEPALfrom Page 5
PAKISTANfrom Page 5
religion above all (other things) and is brainwashing everyone,” he said.
Gichki finds it hard to be-lieve that Pakistan has taken little blame for supporting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the nine years that the United States has been at war.
“(Pakistanis) usually blame the U.S. for the Tali-ban’s formation, but I think the state is to blame,” he said. “The truth is that Pakistan held the ropes for everything going on in Afghanistan.”
Gichki came to that con-clusion because Pakistan had been a safe haven for the Taliban for so many years, but when the U.S. left the area, Pakistan supported those groups even more.
He felt that both the U.S. and Pakistan are to be equally blamed because they were using people and exploiting them against India.
Gichki suggested reforms for the International Services of Intelligence and for the military because, “Elections are a façade for order … the military controls even the ‘ci-vilian’ government.
“Once the transition to democracy is fully made and the representative organiza-tions are more stable, people can have more power,” Gichki said.
Nakahara said. It is something her grandfather has eaten since he was young, though Nakahara herself never eats whale meat, she said.
Whale meat is becoming less available and uncommon for meals, Nakahara said.
A June 2006 independent
Japanese opinion poll by the Nippon Research Centre showed that 95 percent of Japanese never or rarely eat whale meat and 69 percent of Japanese do not support whal-ing in the Southern Ocean, according to Greenpeace In-ternational.
“Because whales are get-ting extinct; part of the rea-son is because of us,” Naka-hara said. “(The government) is trying to limit that.”
JAPANfrom Page 5
FROM ALL OF THE TRAVELER STAFF TO YOU:
HAPPYTHANKSGIVING!
REST UP, CHOW DOWN
SPORTSHogs back to the RockArkansas travels to the state capital to play Mississippi State
Phone: 575.7051 | E-mail: [email protected] 1B|WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 Sports Editor: Matt Watson | Assistant Sports Editor: Harold McIlvain II
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER
FOOTBALL
Nelson makes impact no matter where he plays
Football is one of the most physical sports in the world. A team’s injury report can affect its success more than play calling.
But sometimes the injury bug bites the coaching staff, too.
Early Friday morning, defensive coordina-tor Willy Robinson had to be taken to the hos-pital with what is being called an infection.
“It hits us all at home when something like this happens,” said head coach Bobby Petrino.
The Razorback coaching staff doesn’t wear shoulder pads. The coaches aren’t running through ropes or hitting the sled. But their long working hours, coupled with sometimes unhealthy habits, can lead to sickness.
Head coach Bobby Petrino is now trying to get his coaches home earlier, particularly on Sunday nights. Monday is when the staff does all its game planning. “It’s a hard day,” Petrino said.
The amount of coffee the staff drinks doesn’t help, either.
“A lot of times, when you sit down, pick up the remote control and start breaking down the game film, a cup of coffee just goes right with it,” Petrino said. Considering the amount of game film the coaching staff watches, while the average cup of coffee contains 94.8 mil-ligrams of caffeine, unhealthy habits can be easy to fall into.
Working out to stay in shape during the season isn’t an option, either.
“It’s tough. We really don’t have time to work out during the season,” said Petrino. “I think the biggest thing is to make sure we do a good job of eating properly and not drink-
ing so much coffee.”Saturday night, Robin-
son was not on the sideline. Instead, the Razorback defense huddled around inside linebacker coach Reggie Johnson, relieved of his normal coaching duties for the game against Troy. Johnson was now running the entire defense.
Looking for some motiva-tion, a little pep talk, the guys waited for their coach to speak.
“You guys nervous?” asked Johnson. The Razorback D said nothing.
“I am,” Johnson said. This was the first time this season Johnson
had to call defensive plays, but not the first time ever. When Petrino was coaching at Lou-isville, the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator Mike Cassidy missed a game against Syracuse. Johnson, who was on the staff, shared play-calling duties with another assistant coach.
Although Ryan Mallett’s record-setting per-formance got most of the attention Saturday night, the defense played well. Under John-son’s control, they recovered one fumble and intercepted three passes, holding the Trojans to 20 points.
But don’t expect Johnson to be heading the defense this weekend.
“(Robinson’s) doing good,” sophomore safety Jerico Nelson said. “He’s back to his old self, laughing, and he’s really trying to get the plays together for this game.”
Robinson has until an early 11:21 a.m. kickoff to be ready for Saturday’s game against Mississippi State.
“I would anticipate Willy being on the sideline Saturday,” said Petrino. “He’s ornery enough to.”
Practice is constantly moving from one position to another for sophomore Jerico Nelson.
The hybrid linebacker-safety is often found running from one positional coach to another through-out practice at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“I might be with the linebackers for one period,” Nelson said. “But then when the defensive backs and receivers go one-on-one, I’ll go down there.”
The day isn’t over there.“Then I go back with the line-
backers,” Nelson said. “And after that I’ll go back with the defensive backs. Everyday I work with both positions.”
But Nelson said it hasn’t been too difficult balancing the two positions on a week-to-week basis.
And at times, the Destrehan, La., native doesn’t even know what the game plan will call on him to do because of the versatile nature he brings with his coverage and pass-rushing prowess.
“My role changes more than oth-ers week to week,” Nelson said. “The (opponent’s) offensive style (dictates) what I do that week. If a team runs the ball a lot, I’ll be blitzing more than I do cover. But last week, I covered a little more than blitzing (against a pass heavy team).”
But Nelson doesn’t even play solely on defense, either – he leads the Razorbacks with nine special
teams tackles this year, too.Against Troy last week, Petrino
said Nelson had one of his better games bringing value to the Razor-backs during two phases of the game.
“Nelson had a very good game not only on the defensive side of the ball but on special teams,” Petrino said. “He had great performance on special teams with a lot of produc-tion. He ran the punt team and did a nice job with that.”
The extra responsibility of being the leader of the punt team is some-thing Nelson said he enjoys because he is able to use his defensive skills to help the Razorbacks.
“During the punt coverage, I’m the personal protector. I set the front, line everybody up and make the checks. I really like special teams – kickoff and punt. It is just like a defensive style of special teams.”
The ever-changing nature of the unique position hasn’t taken a toll on the production from Nelson, who at times has done it all for the Razorbacks.
He is fourth on the team with 53 tackles, has 5.5 tackles for losses, 1.5 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble.
But Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said Nelson brings more to the Razorbacks than just statistics.
“When he is playing physical, it excites everyone on the team,” Pe-trino said. “He has been playing fast and physical and getting big hits. He is a great leader for us.”
Earlier in the year, Auburn quar-
terback Chris Todd guided a ball to Mario Fannin for a quick screen pass, but Nelson was ready with a big hit that removed the receiver’s helmet for a 4-yard loss and received a roar from his teammates.
Big hit after big hit has been delivered this season by the 5-10, 205-pound defender, who said he enjoys delivering the punishing hits because of his size.
“I take a lot of pride in them because when I’m on the field most people think they can take advantage of me,” Nelson said. “But every op-portunity I get I try to take advan-tage of it.”
And Nelson said the hits usually provide a motivational boost for the defense, which is a big part of his contribution to the team.
“It’s an emotional feeling,” Nelson said of making big tackles. “Football is a very emotional sport. Once you show the passion, it all comes out. The coaches put you in position and you just have to make the right plays.”
After an Arkansas turnover just before halftime during the Troy game, 5-9 running back Michael Smith put a big hit on an unsuspect-ing Trojan cornerback that made Nelson proud.
“Me and Mike talked after the game about (that hit). We basically just smiled about it. He said he knew how it was to be a small person and make a big hit.”
Sometimes big hits just come in small packages.
The Arkansas Razorbacks achieved bowl eligibility for the first time in the Bobby Petrino era Saturday with a senior night victory over Troy.
With two games to go and six wins in the books, the Hogs have two chances to clinch a winning season and an outside shot at the Cotton Bowl – the pinnacle of Ar-kansas football to some.
But once again, just getting to a bowl shouldn’t be all that excit-ing for this school, especially when Arkansas was a couple wins from a national championship berth just a few years ago, and has had a handful of NFL draft picks and two runner-up Heisman finishes since then.
If Trindon Holliday doesn’t run back that kick for a touchdown in Little Rock in 2006, or Reggie Fish just lets the Florida punt go in the
SEC Championship game the same year, the Hogs are talking BCS bowl.
Few schools have national title expectations year in and year out. Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and USC have been in the conversa-tion annually in the past decade. Arkansas doesn’t have the storied history of an Alabama or Michigan, or the recent success of Florida or LSU, either.
But the Razorbacks do have a
national title (1964) in the trophy case, and they did play in the “Game of the Century” back in ’69, and Matt Jones was really cool when he played here, so bowl eligibil-ity doesn’t exactly mean the same thing here that it would at say, Eastern Michigan, which has two bowl appearances in school history and actually, factually, lost 40-0 to the Michigan School for the Deaf in 1902. OK, last shot at EMU this season.
But when you think of great moments in recent Arkansas his-tory, I doubt a bowl game comes to mind. Since I’ve been alive, the Razorbacks are just 2-11 in post-season matchups. Two bowl wins in 21 years. Yeah, the Cotton Bowl win over Texas in 2000 was kind of awe-some, but other than that it’s been nothing but tough luck for the Hogs in winter football games.
My favorite Razorback memories (I don’t remember 1964 too well) all end with beating LSU, and Hog fans have had plenty of memorable moments in the last few years.
For the record, while coaches don’t like looking past opponents (or at least talking about it pub-licly), I have no problem skipping right past Mississippi State and focusing on LSU. The Bulldogs are a good team, and I expect a good game Saturday in Little Rock, but I expect an Arkansas win.
The Razorbacks have a decent chance at an 8-4 finish, which would include a win in Death Valley, where the Hogs started their current two-game winning streak over the Tigers.
Arkansas hasn’t won three straight over LSU since the 1920s, and keeping the Golden Boot again in 2009 would mean the Razorbacks
and Tigers split the series even over the last decade.
There have already been two Miracles on Markham – London Crawford’s last-minute TD catch from Casey Dick last season reprised DeCori Birmingham’s ’02 game-winning grab from Matt Jones – and Matterral Richardson’s triple-overtime interception that sealed an upset of No. 1 LSU in ’07.
Arkansas has had enough miracles against the Tigers to make the Golden Boot a glass slipper.
A win over Mississippi State would give Arkansas a winning season, but a third-straight victory against LSU might get Petrino saint-hood.
Matt Watson is the sports editor of The Arkansas Traveler. His col-umn appears every Wednesday.
Robinson trying to get back in the game
FOOTBALL BASKETBALL
JONATHAN GIBSON Staff Photographer
Sophomore Jericho Nelson is fourth on the Razorback defense in tackles. He also leads the team in special teams stops.
Harold McIlvain IIAssistant Sports Editor
Danny MeyerStaff Writer
Hogs stick together despite turmoil
Heading into Arkansas’ basket-ball season opener against Alcorn State last Friday, the main sto-ryline wasn’t the Hogs’ showdown with the Braves. Far from it.
Instead the headlines concen-trated on the five Razorbacks sus-pended three days prior to tipoff. Some fans already began to write the season off on sports radio shows and message boards. Even coach John Pelphrey cautioned the game would be a dogfight because of the Hogs suiting up just eight players, including a quarterback and a golfer.
While the phone lines and keyboards were in overdrive, just 7,713 fans showed up to Walton Arena to witness the eight remain-ing Razorbacks rout the Braves 130-68 in a performance their coach didn’t see coming.
“I thought they’d play well, I had no idea it’d be like this,” Pelphrey said after the game. “I told the guys in shoot around, ‘Do not expect this to be lopsided. This is going to be a hard fight, grind it out, hopefully we have enough to win it in the last four minutes of the game.’ I’m a little surprised at how well it went for us.”
The undermanned Razorbacks dominated Alcorn State despite playing without returning starters Courtney Fortson and Stefan Welsh, freshman forward Glenn Bryant, junior guard Marcus Britt and sophomore walk-on Nick Ma-son – all suspended for offseason grievances.
The Hogs didn’t just beat the Braves, they did so in record-breaking fashion. It was Arkansas’ highest-scoring game since the 1996-97 season and the 62-point margin of victory was the largest since Nolan Richardson’s 2000-01 squad beat Northwestern (La.) 115-47.
Rotnei Clarke set a school-record with 51 points, and hit an SEC-record with 13 3-point-ers. The sophomore led a team comprised of five players making their Razorback debuts in an eight-man rotation that included quarterback Brandon Mitchell and golfer Steven Cox. Clarke hoped the game would begin to help alleviating the cloud of off-court drama hanging over the program.
“We had some adversity com-ing into this game,” Clarke said. “We obviously had a lot of people talking about what had happened and we just wanted to come out and play and give the fans some-thing to be excited about.”
The game served as an oppor-tunity for the team to prove them-selves on the basketball court
Robinson
See HOOPS on Page 2B
Jimmy CarterAssistant Sports Editor
Going bowling is fun, but beating LSU is betterSwinging for the Fences
MATT [email protected]
COMMENTARY
The following story is satirical in nature with fictitious quotes and opinions. It is meant for en-tertainment purposes only and not to be taken serious. Seriously.
With more than a handful of Arkansas Razorback basketball players missing in action early this season because of disciplinary or medical issues, university officials have called on a few former Hog hoop stars to come back and repre-sent their alma mater on the court once again.
Although the Razorbacks re-turned all five starters from a sea-son ago, two of those returning starters are currently suspended indefinitely – guards Stefan Welsh and Courtney Fortson – and an-other returning starter, forward Michael Sanchez, is battling plan-tar fasciitis, some kind of Voodoo foot disease keeping yet another Hog on the sidelines.
So a few phone calls later, and the desperate UA athletic depart-ment filled the basketball roster with NBA stars Joe J o h n -son and Ronn ie Brewer, who are coming back to Fayetteville not just to fill up the roster but join current Razorback stars Michael Washington and Rotnei Clarke in a quest to win an NCAA title and restore Arkan-sas hoops to national prominence again.
“I think it is going to be a lot of fun,” said Johnson, the 28-year-old Atlantic Hawks forward who has been an NBA All-Star and played on the U.S. national team since leaving Arkansas in 2001. Johnson played two seasons with the Razor-backs, leading the team in points and rebounding in both his fresh-man and sophomore campaigns.
“I’m pretty sure it’s an utter vi-
olation of NCAA rules, but I think I can be an asset to the Razorbacks. The Hawks are playing the Hous-ton Rockets on Friday anyway, so I don’t think they’ll even need me to win.”
Brewer, 24, has enjoyed pro-fessional success with the Utah Jazz, emerging as one of the best defensive players in the NBA. His reputation earned him the task of guarding Kobe Bryant in the Jazz’ playoff series against the Los Ange-les Lakers last season.
“I’m from Fayetteville, so it will be great to be back home and get to wear a Razorback jersey again. Plus, playing in the Southeastern Conference will be a cakewalk compared to guarding Michael Jordan wannabes every night,” Brewer said.
Brewer is in for another sur-prise, too – another Arkansas leg-end, Ron Brewer, Sr., will be joining the team as well. Ron and Ronnie are No. 15 and 16 on the all-time Arkansas scoring list, respectively, and it is believed that they will form the first ever father-son play-er tandem in NCAA history.
T h e 54-year-o l d B r e w e r s h o u l d b r i n g s o m e m u c h -n e e d e d
experience to a Razorback team that began the season with three newcomers in the starting lineup.
“Experienced? Are you calling me old? I can take you right now. Let’s take this outside,” Ron said, before rolling up his sleeves and walking out on the interview, not to be heard from again.
It is unknown whether the oth-er two “Triplets,” (Marvin Delph and Sidney Moncrief) from the UA 1978 Final Four team have been contacted about playing again.
“Still, I’m pretty sure this whole thing is illegal,” Johnson said. “I was offered big money from some other SEC schools, but I’ve always wanted to be a Razorback. Again.”
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | UATRAV.COMPage 2B | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 SPORTS
SWINGING FOR THE FOUL POLE
SATIRE
Shorthanded hoops Hogs call on ex-Razorbacks for help
JERRY LODRIGUSS Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT
Joe Johnson is returning to Arkansas after a success stint in the NBA.
Matt WatsonSports Editor
after the tumultuous offseason.“We’ve just got to keep coming
out and proving people wrong,” junior Jemal Farmer said.
Positives have been few and far between for the program since beating No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 7 Texas within a week last season. The Hogs finished 2-14 in the
Southeastern Conference Tourna-ment, missed the postseason and saw three players accused of rape during the offseason.
The shorthanded Hogs gave the Razorback faithful some-thing to grin about Friday night, though. The Hogs played defense, pushed the basketball and unself-ishly shared the ball on offense, with all but one player dishing out an assist.
“I don’t know how long we can compete with being down to
the numbers we were at, but those guys need to be given a lot of credit,” Pelphrey said. “They prac-tice hard and a lot of those guys were put in the wrong position at this point in their career.
Despite all the newcomers, the Hogs gelled in their first regular season game together. Pelphrey said the players’ understanding how to play as a team made up for the overall lack of experience and depth.
“You can have tremendous
talent and if you don’t understand how to play and you let selfish-ness enter your body and train of thought, you can’t reach your potential,” Pelphrey said. “Those guys right now are better than we’ve been to this point in time (in that regard).”
The Hogs added two walk-ons prior to the game, a move prompted by the their lack of depth.
“I don’t think it’s good for the University of Arkansas if we get
two guys in foul trouble or some-body gets injured and we have to finish the game with four,” Pelphrey said.
While the Hogs were the heavy favorite, the rout was evidence of the team’s chemistry and ability to bond in tough circumstances.
“I don’t know where it ends up for us at the end of the day, three or four months from now, but these guys let you coach,” Pelphrey said. “Good for those men that show up everyday early,
ready to work and encourage each other and are serious about going to school. Obviously to be a special team you have to have all those things and a certain talent level, and we will.”
The Hogs’ youthful, under-manned squad displayed a poise, focus and togetherness beyond their years, shocking their coach and fans.
And – after months of turmoil – they made Arkansas basketball about the basketball once again.
HOOPSfrom Page 1B
KENT D. JOHNSON Atlanta Journal-Constitution/MCT
So is Ronnie Brewer.
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B
Big man on campus: Clarke v. MallettIn 1994 it was Corliss Williamson. From 2001-04,
Matt Jones assumed the title of big man on campus. Jones passed the torch to Darren McFadden, who
solidified his place as one of the most loved athletes in Arkansas history during his three years in Fayetteville.
Each of those athletes was the unquestioned big
man on campus. They were the unquestioned stars, had the best-selling jerseys and were idolized by kids across the state.
In 2009, Arkansas has not one, but two athletes worthy of being dubbed the next big man on campus. Quarterback Ryan Mallett and guard Rotnei Clarke are the faces of the football and basketball programs, respectively.
Both Mallett and Clarke have garnered national attention and raised the question: Who is the big man on campus?
When Mallett transferred from Michigan to play in Bobby Petrino’s offense, he was instantly a legend in Razorback nation. His fabled right arm made him a beacon of hope for a fan base dying to see a passing attack lead their team to national prominence.
Mallett’s rocket arm has been a highly-discussed, often immortalized topic of discussion among Ar-kansas fans. He’s said he can throw the ball 80 yards. Junior tight end D.J. Williams joked that Mallett could throw a football 115 miles per hour. Of course, Mal-lett’s performance on the football field has just caused the legend to grow.
With two regular season games remaining, the sophomore already holds the Arkansas single-season passing yardage mark and broke the single-game re-cord for passing yards and touchdowns this year. Writ-ers and analysts across the nation have talked up the Texarkana, Texas, native, saying his 6-foot-7 frame makes him a prototypical NFL quarterback. Heading into his junior season, Mallett might very well be one of the front runners in the 2010 Heisman race.
In the other corner stands Clarke. Rotnei was a legend in his own right the moment he set foot on campus. The Oklahoma all-time leading high school scorer’s deadly accuracy from behind the 3-point line reached almost mythical proportions before the Verdigris, Okla., native even played in a single game
for the John Pelphrey’s hoop Hogs.There is a story that Clarke once hit 94-of-100
3-pointers at Verdigris High in front of former-Arkan-sas coach Stan Heath. The story was just a rumor, but it gained believability in light of Clarke’s comments after the Hogs’ opener last Friday.
The sophomore said he felt hot coming into the Alcorn State game after shooting well the Wednesday and Thursday prior to the season opener. Apparently “well” for Rotnei equates to hitting 275-of-300 and 281-of-300 3-pointers while working out with his father the two nights prior to the opener.
He told this story after setting the Arkansas scoring record with 51 points and shattering the Southeastern Conference record by knocking down 13 3-pointers in the Hogs’ 130-68 win. Foxsports.com had already tabbed him as the top shooter in the country and other national media outlets are beginning to take notice. Clarke was featured on the front page of ESPN.com Monday afternoon and his uncanny 3-point range and accuracy has garnered acclaim from media spread around the country.
Both Clarke and Mallett have set records and been recognized as premier players in their respective sports. Bobby Petrino’s offensive expertise and devel-opment skills seem to guarantee the gridiron Hogs will always be solid under center. While Arkansas might never see a signal caller with Mallett’s physical abilities again, as long as Petrino is coaching the Razorbacks, the offense will always be explosive. His pedigree assures that.
Clarke, on the other hand, might very well be the best shooter to ever call Bud Walton Arena home. His marksmanship is a rare talent not easily matched and Arkansas fans are very likely witnessing the greatest shooter to ever don the cardinal and white. It will be near impossible for Pelphrey to replace Clarke with an equal caliber shooter. It would be for any coach in America, as shooters of his skill are few and very far between.
Arkansas, though, has been and always will be a football school. If the program is even respectable, it is the unquestioned top sport on campus, and in a race too close to call on accolades alone, Mallett gets the nod for that very reason.
That’s not taking anything away from Clarke. Both are incredibly talented athletes and both are adored by Arkansas fans across the globe.
In the end Arkansas fans are the big winners. They get to root and cheer for two players who are not reaching for, but have already attained legendary status among Hog fans.
The fact there can even be a debate about the big man on campus is a testament to the skill and star power both Mallett and Clarke possess.
For Hog fans, it’s a great problem to have.
Extra Points
JIMMY [email protected]
COMMENTERY
Passing Offense:Known for consistently ranking in the bottom third of the SEC standings year in and year out along with Vanderbilt, Mississippi State has not found a way out of that runt in 2009. Through the team’s 10 games this season, the Bulldogs are 4-6 with two games to go. Vandy and Mississippi St. are the only two SEC teams that don’t have a .500 overall record. They’ll need to win the next two to become bowl eligible. The passing offense, led by senior quarterback Tyson Lee, ranks 10th in the SEC ahead of only Kentucky and Vanderbilt (the only two SEC teams that Mississippi State has beaten this year). Lee has accumulated 1,370 yards through the air to go along with four touchdowns and thirteen interceptions for worst in the SEC. His best performances came against Georgia Tech (278 yards), LSU (172) and Houston (160), but the Bulldogs lost all three of those games. His worst performances came against Auburn (53 yards) and Vanderbilt (66). His favorite targets have been fresh-man wide receiver Chad Bumphis and sophomore tight end Marcus Green. Those two have caught 318 and 264 yards receiving, respectively, to go along with three touchdowns by Bumphis and two for Green. GRADE:
Rushing Offense:The Bulldogs have had more success on the ground than through the air while garnering a 4th overall ranking in the SEC behind only Florida, Auburn and Alabama. The Bulldogs average 208.7 yards per game on the ground and rushed into the endzone 16 times. Senior Anthony Dixon leads the way for the Bulldogs with 1,082 yards rushing and nine touchdowns and has gathered 3,685 yards rushing and 39 touchdowns for his career. His complement is 6-1, 220-pound bruiser Christian Ducre who has added 263 yards of his own and two touchdowns. Backup sophomore quarterback Chris Relf has also added 213 yards and three touchdowns in limited time. GRADE:
Rushing Defense:Ranked 9th in the SEC, the Bulldogs have had some struggles defending the run this season. The Bulldogs give up an average of 157.9 yards rushing per game with notable poor performances against Auburn (390 yards) and Alabama (252). The top three tacklers on the team are linebackers. The linebacking core is led by senior Jamar Chaney who has 81 tackles (32 solo). Chaney is followed by juniors K.J. Wright and Chris
White. Wright has 69 tackles (35) and White has 64 (39). The sack leader on the team is junior defensive lineman Pernell McPhee who has four while Chaney and Wright each have two. GRADE:
Passing Defense:The passing defense is slightly worse than the rush-ing offense. Ranked 10th in the SEC, the Bulldogs allow more than 200 yards per game on 7.6 yards per pass. The team’s worst appearance was against C-USA opponent Houston when the Bulldogs allowed 434 yards through the air. The leading tacklers in the secondary are senior Marcus Washington and sopho-more Charles Mitchell who have 53 and 52 tackles, respectively. Leading the team in interceptions are freshmen Johnthan Banks and Corey Broomfield who have four and three, respectively. Banks returned one interception 100 yards earlier in the season. Jamar Chaney has also snagged two opposing passes. GRADE:
Special Teams:The Bulldogs have had two place kickers this season. Junior Sean Brauchle started the season, but went 6-9 with two misses less than 40 yards. Fellow junior Derek DePasquale, a transfer from the Colorado School of Mines, has replaced him to go 8-10 with a long of 43. Returning the kickoffs and punts for the Bulldogs is junior wide receiver Leon Berry who has gathered 899 yards on kickoffs and averages 27.2 yards per return. On the punt returns, Berry has only gotten 69 yards with a long of 35. Junior Heath Hutchins does the punting duty for the Bulldogs and has placed nine inside the 20. Head Coach:In a league with fellow coaches such as Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino and Houston Nutt, it could be easy to overlook Mis-sissippi State head coach Dan Mullen. Mullen took the reins behind the Bulldogs for the first time this season and will continue to look to improve upon historical poor performances by the Bulldogs. For the last three seasons, he served as the offensive coordinator of the Florida Gators before moving to Starksville. His first ever recruiting class last offseason ranked #19 by scout.com. Thus far, the Bulldogs will probably finish the season just shy of bowl eligibility thanks to losses to two out of conference opponents (Houston and Georgia Tech), but future success may be on the way.GRADE:
First Look at Mississippi State
Clint LinderStaff Writer
CD+
B
C+
FOOTBALL
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | UATRAV.COMPage 4B | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 SPORTSOne-on-Onewith a Razorback
alex tejadaSpringdale, Ark.6’0” 205 lbs2009: 11-for-14 FGs
Arkansas kicker Alex Tejada kicked it with Traveler assistant sports editor Jimmy Carter. The junior discussed living close to his family and his place in Arkansas lore. Tejada hit 21-of-32 field goals entering this season and ranks second on the Arkansas career PAT list.
You need two extra points to set the school record for most PATs made. Does that mean anything to you?It does just because of all the great kickers we’ve had here. We have a great legacy of kickers in the past, Steve Little, (Ish) Ordonez, Kendall Trainor, the list goes on and on. It’s a great honor but right now I’m just focused on helping this team win. That’s all that matters to me now.You’ve had problems with your kneecap. Does that still affect you?I dislocated my kneecap. That’s just one of the injuries that really hurt me and affected my kicking. I’m over that now and I feel like I’m having a pretty solid season now. Its one of those things that was a setback for me in the past and I’ve moved on and gotten better from it. It’s no big deal now. It’s something that we worked through and rehabbed and have gotten better.
One of the main reasons coach Smith was brought in was to help with the special teams. How big of an impact has he had?It’s been great to have coach Smith here. He’s a great person, a great coach. He’s a valuable part of this team and his staff and we’re all grateful he’s here. The switch was made to yellow goal posts in Reynolds Razorback Stadium this year. Does the different color actually help you?The goal posts are still the same. The width hasn’t changed, the middle hasn’t changed. We’re going to go to stadiums where they have white goal posts and the color doesn’t matter. I should just go out and get the job done regard-less of the color.How do you bounce back after a tough game like Florida?You’ve just got to use it as motivation and not let it happen again. I’ve been at the lowest of lows and its just one of those times where you learn from the past. All you can do is just bounce back. It’s one of those things that hap-pened, I wish I would have handled it better. But you’ve just got to look forward to the next situation and hit it. It was a great opportunity for my team and myself and it really hurts to let
that slip away. What is the reaction you get around cam-pus from fellow students after you have a tough game?That really doesn’t matter. I just have to stay positive. You’re happy your family is nearby. You can just find them and have leisure time with them and they’ll bring you up. My teammates have been really supportive and other than that it really doesn’t matter. I spend most of my time with these guys and these guys are my brothers. As long as they’re behind me, it really doesn’t matter outside of that.You came back a week later and made a 52-yarder against Ole Miss. Even though it was nullified, how much does that help your confidence?I feel like after the Ole Miss game I felt pretty confident. I felt like I bounced back a little bit. The 52-yarder didn’t count, but for me it counted a whole lot. I felt like it was one of my better games. Coming off the Florida game that was a little turning point. It’s just times like that where your focus increases and you can’t be worried about anything or worried about what people are saying. You’ve just got to go out and hit it. Its just one of those times that you’ve got
to be strong mentally and just go out there and execute, because that’s all that really matters.I talked to Cameron Bryan earlier this year and he said he was the best tackler on special teams. I highly doubt that. Cameron’s a good athlete but I don’t think he’s the best tackler on the spe-cial teams. I’d have to say that I am. I feel like I’m a little more aggressive than he is out there.You’re from Springdale. Is having your fam-ily so close a positive?I’ve enjoyed it because I can drive home at any time and get a nice home-cooked meal. If I for-get something at home I can call them up and they can meet me somewhere. During the week they’re pretty chill. They don’t bother me; they like me to stay focused. They respect my time as a college student athlete. But any leisure time I have they want me to call them. I go home once a week and hang out with them and spend some quality time from them.Do you get teased a lot about being a kicker?No, a lot of these guys are jealous. A lot of these guys are itching for that time to get away and things like that. A lot of these guys are jealous and wish they had that downtime I had.
1. ALABAMA2. FLORIDA3. LSU4. TENNESSEE5. SOUTH CAROLINA6. OLE MISS7. ARKANSAS8. GEORGIA 9. AUBURN10. MISSISSIPPI STATE11. KENTUCKY12. VANDERBILT
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COMPLETE THIS GRID SO EVERY ROW, COLUMN, AND 3X3 BOX CONTAINS EVERY DIGIT FROM 1 TO 9 INCLUSIVELY
ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19) TODAY IS AN 8.Although you’re clear on what you want, others may not be. Suggest an alterna-tive itinerary.
TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20) TODAY IS A 7.Today you get a chance to reveal new levels of feeling. Personal healing allows you to show love more easily.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 21) TODAY IS A 7.Plan your day around physical activity. That way you keep your emotions in balance, and new ways of seeing things naturally emerge.
CANCER (JUNE 22-JULY 22) TODAY IS A 7.Expand your vision to include home and social responsibilities. Dress in the morning with your evening in mind.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22) TODAY IS A 6. You feel like you could climb a mountain today. Better to satisfy immediate needs within your house-hold.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22) TODAY IS A 7.Keep your thoughts to your-self. You still need to cook them before they’re ready to serve.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22) TODAY IS A 6.A new healing methodology grabs your attention. Try it out, then decide if it’s for you.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21) TODAY IS A 7.Romance is usually a private thing. Today, take your love public, but remember the manners your mother taught you.
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21) TODAY IS A 9.Work on a research or writ-ing project. While you’re at it, add opinions about what could have improved the outcome.
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19) TODAY IS AN 8.You have new ideas about how to allocate cash. Spend only if you must. Otherwise, save for later in the month, when you’ll need extra.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18) TODAY IS A 6.A partner provides every-thing you need to move ahead. Make hay early in the day. Dreamy moments oc-cupy your evening.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20) TODAY IS A 7.Talent plus energy equals success. Apply both to a task that you might not have as-signed yourself.
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E-mail: [email protected]|Phone: 575.7540Page 6B | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 Lifestyles Editor: Brian Washburn | Assistant Lifestyles Editor: Lindsey PruittLIFESTYLESTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER
Check Traveler Top 5 next week for the top 5 reasons we’re ready
for Christmas Break.
Top 5 Places to Study Abroad
Italy1.
2.
Visit Venice, the most beautiful city in the world, or spice up your style in the fash-ion capital of the world, Milan.
Spain
France
It’s the most visited country in the world: It must be pretty awesome.
Australia
South Africa
Just because Steve Irwin’s gone doesn’t mean “Crikey!” doesn’t live on.
TravelerTop 5
3.
4.
5.
The best place to brush up on your Spanish skills, Spain offers beauti-ful countrysides and, of course, bullfighting!
Go on a safari – because ever since you saw “The Lion King” you’ve wanted to be part of the circle of life.
Holiday breaks are a time for hard-working college students to take a break from the stresses of academia and extracurricular in-volvement and revel in the com-forts of home.
Yet, for those thousands of miles away from loved ones and a house to call their own, Winter and Thanksgiving Breaks can be an anxious time. For many inter-national students, holidays require intensive planning and the inevi-
table expenditure of funds for the purpose of securing comforts that American students often take for granted.
Su Jung Hong, a sophomore from South Korea, described how the different varieties of interna-tional students adapt to the holi-days. Those who are “visiting” and will be in the United States for a se-mester or two usually take advan-tage of location in the middle of the States and travel.
“For most of them, it’s their first time (to visit the U.S.), and when they have a chance to come here, they try to maximize (their op-
portunity) and get as much out of it,” Hong said. “So that’s why most of them are going to travel in the U.S. They want to go to New York, California, Chicago… Most of their holiday and whenever they have time, they’re going to try to go somewhere to visit and experience other stuff.”
Hong classified herself as a full exchange student, and most of these students have either moved to the States with their family or live with a host family through an exchange program. She came to the U.S. on the latter path, and spent her junior and senior year at
Valley Springs High School while living with her host family in Har-rison. Last Thanksgiving Break, Hong spent the holiday with her host family, and saved her money for a plane ticket to South Korea for Winter Break.
“Either Summer or Winter Breaks are long enough to go to your country,” Hong said. “And the airplane costs a lot – it’s like $2,000 or $3,000. So you can’t afford to go every week or every month, you know.”
This Thanksgiving Break, Hong
Erin RobertsonStaff Writer
International students take a break from studying abroad
See BREAK on Page 7B
Mr. Chow Wo-man’s transformation from a charmingly brooding chap in “In the Mood for Love” to a deplorable aging Don Juan in “2046” is simple to explain, as perfectly stated by Wong Kar-wai: “We love what we can’t have, can’t have what we love.” As much as it pains me to say that Mr. Wong’s theory may be tortuously cor-rect, I still try to defy it, disre-garding emotional turmoil in an alternate pursuit of pretty things.
I almost always dress in three quintessential colors: black, white and gray. Very rarely do I wear other colors, particularly vibrant colors or rambunctious prints. The issue is not that I don’t like reds and yellows and prints, but I, in raw vanity, don’t think the colors (strictly speaking of garments) are suitable on me. There have been a number of tops and
blouses featuring such colors that captivate me aesthetical-ly, but I move away, realizing that even if I did purchase them brashly I would return them.
When the matter of dress-ing up is focused on shoes and accessories, however, I am willing to be more lenient, as I really do love pairing red shoes with my three color preferences. It must be the small detail of color that makes the ensemble pop with a sense of coy amusement, I reckon. In fact, if I replaced my trademark fondness of gray tops and cardigans with equivalent reds, I could surely become a third member of The White Stripes. And when some whimsical days call for a red purse to balance a bit of a bleak outfit, that’s fun, too.
Regarding animal prints, I cannot seem to bring myself to buy one of the appealing cardigans of leopard and zebra patterns. While on the hunt for some much-needed rain boots during the shower storms last month, I initially wanted a red pair, a request I submitted to the manager at Private Gallery. When rain boots arrived, I went in to examine the inventory; although there was indeed a pair of red boots, they were freckled with white polka dots, a motif that I find too
deliberately precious. To alleviate my disap-
pointment, and to humor my friend Erica, I tried on a pair of the leopard-printed rain boots, which, to my complete surprise, I did like. I did save that 20 percent coupon for when the occasion of buying rain boots emerged, and so I purchased that pair, a good investment as the boots have proved to be helpful while walking on campus on rainy days.
The wildly boisterous print purchases didn’t stop there. I’ve purchased a couple of scarves in leopard and zebra prints, which fleetingly remind me of Maggie Cheung and Kate Moss, who pair a true sense of cutting-edge style with their otherwise classy look with their tenden-cies to wear something of an animal pattern, usually in a fur coat of some sort. I don’t quite care for fur anything, including faux fur, so I need not spend money on such things, but scarves I can deal with. When I’m swagger-ing around with my scarves, speaking English in my con-trived Asian diction, I feel a bit like la Cheung, I must say.
And on to the problematic yellow, a color my mother
When DOOM released Born Like This earlier this year, his first record in four years, the rapper formerly known as MF Doom dished on anarchy, violence and homophobia. In short, the project stunk of hatred and pessimism. Un-expected Guests, a collection of Born B-sides, remixes and other oddball tracks, couldn’t be more different. It’s shorter, more diverse and mercifully goofy.
Guests is structured as a scattershot mix tape, a me-dium that suits DOOM better than the full-length. Songs dissipate just as they break a sweat and give way to a B-movie sound clip or a word-less coda. The bombastic horn samples of Born Like This are mostly gone, replaced by jazzy keyboard lines (“Sorcerers”) and slow-motion upright bass (“Street Corners (DOOM Remix)”).
Even in its scathing politi-cal critiques, Born was far too stoned to deliver any affective social message, much less a coherent verse. Guests doesn’t even feign substance, with DOOM rhyming about every-thing from a pants-less Nancy Drew to the cleanliness of his metal mask.
This sense of flippancy pervades nearly every song, most enjoyably on the honky-tonk “Da Superfriendz,” which could have been the soundtrack to “Peanuts” if Charlie Brown grew up in a Long Island ghetto.
Speaking of “friendz,” there are too many cameos here to count. Most notable are J Dilla’s production on “Sniper Elite” and Ghostface Killah’s (rather lame) verses in “Angels.” DOOM’s throaty rasp is distinct but grating, and it’s a joy to hear such a communal record from such an eccentric character.
Of course, DOOM has never been consistently great, and Guests has its share of flubs. Tellingly, songs with longer run times are usually the weakest: “Project Jazz” proves hip-hop and smooth-jazz muzak an ill-advised combination, while “My Favorite Ladies” dips its toe in misogyny.
Conversely, Guests shines
A lighter shade of DOOM
CD REVIEW
Brady TackettAssistant Lifestyles Editor
COURTESY PHOTO
To have and have notLe Smoking
ANNA [email protected]
Witches, hysteria and decep-tion: the perfect ingredients for an emotionally powerful, thought-provoking play. “The Crucible” is a time-honored play written by one of America’s greatest playwrights, Arthur Miller, and is currently be-ing produced by the UA Drama Department.
The play revolves around young girls accusing prominent members in Salem, Mass., of being witches and how their lie sends the com-munity into turmoil. Yet the com-plexities of the show dig deeper into the responsibility of the individual in the face of evil.
“It’s an amazing combination of passion and intelligence and also about a big idea – we as individu-als in society have a responsibility to tell the truth to the community and to ourselves,” said Kate Frank, director of “The Crucible.”
Miller wrote the play in re-sponse to the era of McCarthyism and the Red Scare in the 1950’s, and he was affected himself by the anti-Communism panic. However, the play is easily just as relevant in today’s society of mob hysteria and its consequences.
“Even today, a group can be demonized and persecuted,” Frank said. “For example, when we talk about our country and how we use techniques of torture to derive false confessions from suspected terror-ists.”
The production has many practical applications for audience members to take away.
“It’s a nice, simple message: Don’t jump on the bandwagon too early for anything. It’s sort of cautionary in that way,” said Laura Harrell, a graduate assistant who portrays Elizabeth Proctor in the UA production.
The story could also help people have more of an open mind and consider facts before jumping to conclusions just because of some-thing they have heard, said Patrice Foster, a graduate assistant who
plays Rebecca Nurse in the show.Though “The Crucible” is a
popular production all across the country, many aspects of the UA production are as thrilling and unique to a newcomer as to a Mill-er enthusiast.
“This one’s a lot more simple and all about the story. The set is really minimalist and there’s a lot
UA’s ‘The Crucible’ thrills audienceMille Appleton
Contributing Writer
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER LARRY ASH
See DOOM on Page 7B See LE SMOKING on Page 7B
“As for Katie Couric,
where do I begin?”
-Former vice-presiden-
tial candidate Sarah Pa-
lin discussing Couric’s
liberal bias in her new
memoir “Going Rogue.”
See CRUCIBLE on Page 7B
LIFESTYLESTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | UATRAV.COM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 | Page 7B
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will return to her host family’s home in Harrison. As for Winter Break, she will once again make the long plane ride home to see loved ones in South Korea.
Candace Juhyun Park, a sopho-more from South Korea, took the same path as Hong, and even at-tended the same high school before enrolling at the UA. She also stayed with her host parents in Harrison over Thanksgiving Break last year, but opted out of the trip home in favor of traveling with a friend.
“We went to San Francisco for two weeks,” Park said, as she ex-plained that her trip to California cost about as much as the round-trip airfare to South Korea. “It costs a lot to go back to my country … but it still costs money to travel around the U.S.”
Park recognized that there is
a definite issue when it comes to accommodating international stu-dents over the holidays.
“International students have to go somewhere,” she said. “There’s so much pressure, (and) you have to spend money. (The UA) opens certain dorms but doesn’t have the cafeterias open. But international students don’t have cars and they have to go eat somewhere, either to walk to Dickson Street or plan ahead.”
Matt Sokoloski, from the of-fice of International Students and Scholars, explained what activities are offered to international stu-dents on holidays.
“Cynthia Smith and Casie Shreve, who both work with out-reach programming in our office, arrange Thanksgiving with an American family for those stu-dents that are interested,” he said. “This is not a home-stay program but instead a day for the students to spend time with a family. This
is a great opportunity for students to experience this holiday firsthand with a local family.
“Besides this, we do not do any formal arrangements for students during the Winter Break,” Sokolo-ski said. “We encourage students to stay in residence halls that are open during the academic breaks so that they can continue to stay on campus if they wish. Other students use the holidays as an opportunity to travel and see other parts of the country.”
Sokoloski said some students also spend time with their Friend-ship Families, another ISS outreach program.
Arnold Ankrah, a sophomore from Ghana, took a slightly differ-ent route last Thanksgiving and used the opportunity away from school to serve others through volunteer work. Ankrah said he doesn’t currently have plans for the upcoming break, but for Win-ter Break he plans to visit family in
North Carolina. Whenever the holidays come
around, Ankrah usually visits his family in the States or goes home to Ghana, depending on the length of the break, or stays off campus, “whatever is cheaper to do at the time,” he said.
In regard to UA provisions, Ank-rah said they are infrequent and “too expensive and other times it’s unreliable.”
Whether visiting family mem-bers in the States or abroad, travel-ing with friends or giving of their time to others, international stu-dents find a way to make the most of the American college experience during the holidays.
BREAKfrom Page 6B
Who doesn’t love to eat? Food is the international language, cap-turing people with sight, smell and taste.
Traveling across the world to come to a foreign school with a foreign language is hard enough, but leaving home-cooked meals and being immersed in a new food culture can also be a great chal-lenge. Many international students miss Mom’s meals and the feeling of home they bring.
“One of my favorite foods from home is Pani Puri,” said Hetu Patel, a student from India. “I can’t even describe it, but it’s so good, you just have to try it. I’m asking my mom to make it when I go for Thanks-giving.”
Patel has lived in the United States for five years and went to high school in Hot Springs. One of the greatest challenges for her was coming from a small village in In-dia where most people are vegetar-ians.
“People are big on meat here,” she said. “People cannot live with-
out it. People would eat it every day.”
Though Patel eats meat and it isn’t unusual for her now, she first remembers thinking beef jerky was a bizarre snack.
“People always ate it in class and I didn’t know what it was, so I read the ingredients and couldn’t believe what people were eating,” she said.
Many foods in American culture might seem strange or surprising to an outsider. Roxy Jien, a student from Bolivia, thinks Cajun food, funnel cakes and root beer floats
are “just kind of weird.”Though American foods can
seem out of the ordinary at first, students are often surprised once they try new things.
“I love breakfast here,” Patel said. “In India there isn’t much of a breakfast. I love waffles, pancakes, muffins, all the breakfast foods.”
Jien’s preferred American meal consists of chicken and rice casse-role and apple pie for dessert.
“The desserts are different,” Jien said. “We’d eat flan or fruit salad, not brownies or baked goods. I do love desserts, especially chocolate
desserts or pastries.”With the diversity of students
living in Fayetteville, ethnic restau-rants encircle the UA campus. Sev-eral favorites among international students as well as traditional stu-dents include Wow Japanese Bistro, Taste of Thai and Petra Café.
“I go to Taste of Thai, which is pretty close to home, like the curry,” Patel said. “But I really love Olive Garden. It is the best – I go there all the time.”
Ella’s Restaurant inside Carnall Hall has an Indian buffet every Tuesday and Saturday that is very
authentic, Patel said. Students can also share their hometown flavor with friends by buying products from an Indian market in Rogers and a Mexican market in Spring-dale.
One opportunity for UA stu-dents to explore the taste of world cuisines is at an international potluck 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday night at Holcombe Hall.
While international students might have some meals that re-semble the ones they are used to in their home country, they are still no substitute for the real thing.
International students !nd comfort cuisine in Fayetteville
Pani Puri Flan Fruit Salad
Mille AppletonContributing Writer
COURTESY PHOTOSThree foods student Hetu Patel enjoys eating when she is at home in India are Pani Puri, flan and fruit salad. Foods she enjoys while in America are breakfast foods like pancakes and waffles.
brightest in glimpses of rhythm and melody in con-densed tracks like “Quite But-tery” and “Yikes.” DOOM and his contemporaries have a lot of interesting sonic ideas, but
the rapper has learned (prob-ably from Dilla’s Donuts) the value of scarcity and doesn’t allow these tunes to outstay their welcome.
The record is an adequate retrospective of DOOM’s career, showcasing his perverted-soul beats and his weirdo rhymes. DOOM always
forgoes club-bangers in favor of head-scratchers like “Bell of Doom” or the whimsical “Black Gold,” which is why critics love him.
Unexpected Guests, like the rest of the rapper’s work, is special in its sense of ad-venture and expedition. The B-side wins again!
DOOMfrom Page 6B
told me I could never pull off, to which I actually respond to her criticism for the first time. To reconcile my love of the golden hues of yellow, I have become quite fond of my golden-toned scarves and berets.
I must make a special mention of blue. I’ve been in the mood for blue, and I have the proper diagnosis. While poisoning myself with literature this summer to counter boredom and time, I reread one of my favorite author’s novels, “South of the Border, West of the Sun,” in which one of the female characters, Shimamota, is always characteristically in blue everything. The prose of Haruki Murakami, that naughtily talented man, forever haunts me – it never fails – for I have now allowed royal blue to creep into my rather exclusive closet.
I loathe compromising, I must admit, but when I can, I tolerate it when it comes to matters that are easy to deal with and agreeable to my finances. Negotiating with inanimate objects is far easier than negotiating with people. I’m fine with not having the real thing so long as I can find an alternative. It’s the easy way out, Mr. Wong, to find an alternative, and I am forever looking for the easy way out.
LE SMOKINGfrom Page 6B
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER ASHLEY HUTCHINS
of really beautiful music to help the story along. It’s also very eerie, and it has a haunting quality in a good way,” Foster said.
The modest set design is bal-anced by the lighting, music and costume design that pull the pro-duction together to paint a beauti-ful picture on stage, Foster said. It is also open for the audience to truly focus on the story and characters.
“The audience gets to know the characters and hurt with them and be anxious with them about telling a truth or a lie,” said sophomore
Keila Lorenc, who plays Mercy Lewis in the show.
The classic play that spans through generations will keep au-dience members entertained and in suspense.
“The (audience) will enjoy a performance of a wonderful cast of actors and the telling of a fascinat-ing story,” Frank said.
“The Crucible” will be per-formed in the University Theatre 8 p.m. Nov. 18 through Nov. 21 and 2 p.m. Nov. 22. Tickets for students are free for the Wednesday, Thurs-day and Sunday performances. Other tickets can be bought for $3 at the University Theatre Ticket Of-fice.
CRUCIBLEfrom Page 6B
LIFESTYLES THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | UATRAV.COMPage 8B | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009
Upcoming holiday movies
December 25December 25 December 25
December 4November 20 November 20
Starring Rachel McAdams, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, this thriller pits Detective Sherlock Homes and his partner, Watson,
against a man whose plan is a threat to all of England.
In Heath Ledger’s last starring role, this fantasy thriller tells the story of a doctor’s deal with the devil and his quest to save his
daughter on her 16th birthday. After Ledger’s death, actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell took over his role.
A widower attempts to reconnect with his three grown children by taking a road trip during the holiday season. The family
comedy stars Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and Robert De Niro.
Bella Swan finds herself deeper in a supernatural world of vampires and werewolves in the second movie installment of the “Twilight” series, and
she’s in more danger than ever before. Starring Kristen Stewart and heart-throb Robert Pattinson, this thriller is likely to be as big a hit with fans as
the first movie was.
In this heart-warming film, starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and Kathy Bates, a family adopts a disadvantaged teenager, who, despite
many challenges, grows into a successful NFL prospect with the help of his new family.
This musical stars Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Day-Lewis, and portrays a film director’s struggle to balance his professional and personal lives as he juggles relationships with his wife,
mistress, muse, agent and mother.
Lindsey PruittAssistant Lifestyles Editor
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