Henderson State University - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - Volume 108, Issue 17

THE ULTIMATE OATHBrett Rucks and the Oath of Enlistment P.3

@HSUORACLEwww.hsuoracle.com

THE ORACLE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – Scott McKinnon

FACULTY ADVISER – Mike Taylor

COPY EDITOR – Josh James

NEWS EDITOR – Moe Skinner

SPORTS EDITOR – Kaitlyn Kitchens

FEATURES EDITOR – Devin Anderson

VIEWS EDITOR – Dax Guilliams

PHOTO EDITOR – Chris Sharp

PAGE DESIGNER – Houston Fryer

GRAPHIC DESIGNER – Megan Snoddy

ONLINE EDITOR – Scott McKinnon

BUSINESS MANAGER – James T. Allen

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER – Carmin Wills

Have an opinion on an issue or re-sponse to what we said? Just want to rant about something for a while? Write us at ORACLE@HSU.EDU. We want to hear what you think. Hell, if it doesn’t suck, we’ll publish it in next week’s issue. Try to keep it between 400 and 600 words. Just like your Tumblr, we ignore anonymous submissions.

Mystery person donates computers to students in need

GAIT hosts another successful drag ball

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

5

7

PHOTO BY CARMIN WILLS

PHOTO BY BRIAN CHILSONGRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDYPHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

Fishing Club reeling it in11 Peckerwolf comes to

Hot Springs14

THE ORACLE

3FEBRUARY 3, 2015 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

One hundred ninety-nine ROTC and JROTC cadets and 17 cadres came together on Saturday morning at DeGray Lake to par-ticipate, whether to compete or host, in a land navigation training event and a ruck march. The joint Henderson-OBU ROTC program hosted the event.

Two members of the program took the Oath of Enlistment into the Army following the early morning’s activities.

ROTC, (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) is a program for college students, which trains them to be commissioned officers for the United States Armed Forces. JROTC is the

high school, or “junior”, version of the pro-gram.

“It gives kids the opportunity to be leaders before entering the Army, and it gives us four years to polish them to go out and take over a unit,” said Major Chapple, officer-in-charge over the Henderson-OBU combined pro-grams.

The land navigation consisted of finding five points scattered throughout the woods near the lake.

The teams were judged on their accuracy of these points and the time in which they completed the task. The ruck march was a

three-mile trek with a backpack through the hilly terrain.

The overall winner for the two events was Conway High School’s Team One, beating the second place team by only 27 seconds.

They also placed first in the land naviga-tion event. Hot Springs took the title in the ruck march.

Many of the members felt as though they learned a lot about land navigation skills from the competition.

They were able to learn from both their successes and failures in the event.

“We thought we found everything right,” Cadet Victoria Sharma, Arkadelphia High School, said. “Turns out we did one little thing wrong that messed everything up.”

No major injuries occurred, although a few minor ones did. There was a field ambulance present in case of an accident. There were also two four-wheelers available in case some-one needed to be extracted from the woods or elsewhere any distance from the finishing point. “We were well prepared,” Blake Rouse,

company commander of HSU/OBU ROTC, said. “It was a good training environment.”

After the competition, all of the kids were fed and the enlistment ceremony began. Cadet Brett Rucks, sophomore mass media major, and Cadet Blake Bowen of OBU, took the oath and gave a few words to their families and comrades.

“It’s given me a lot of motivation and purpose,” Rucks said. “In the morning, it just gives me a reason to wake up. It gives me a sense of belonging, just a reason for being, I guess.”

Rucks’ mother Kellie Walters and several other family members attended the event to watch the ceremony.

“I think it’s wonderful, I do,” said Walters. “I am very proud of him.”

All members of the ROTC program get to enjoy this same honor when they complete the program.

All members sign a contract with the intent of going into active duty after the completion of their training.

Brett Rucks takes the Oath of Enlistment at ROTC event

STORY BY KATIE SMITH — PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

ULTIMATE OATHWAITING TO COMMISSION — Brett Rucks holds his nerves in check before the ceremony

4 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

This semester Henderson is offering a new free course which began Jan. 28 but students are still able to join her

class at any time. Nydia Jeffers, assistant professor of Span-

ish, started the course for the community with the goal of allowing everyone to learn Spanish without the pressure of exams. It’s all for fun and learning.

“I want to motivate the community to use Spanish for work and fun,” said Jeffers.

The first class met Jan. 28, and focused on Spanish for Healthcare. It’s a two part lesson that will finish next class session. The classes will be held in Reynolds, room 127 from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays with different class focuses each session. Jeffers plans to teach five activi-ties per session.

“I want to make Spanish a live tool for the part of the community that does not have the opportunity to learn Spanish,” said Jeffers.

She can assist in many different profes-sions spanning from police work, healthcare,

writing, speaking or translation and many more. She said she is looking to help in what-ever way the community wants.

She expects there to be at least 10 students in this years’ classes. Jeffers plans to continue to offer the course every semester and expects the class size to increase with each semester the class progresses.

Jeffers said the only things she expects of her students are to come ready to speak and have no fear of making mistakes.

She has taught Spanish for 10 years. She has helped people learn Spanish for healthcare for five semesters and also helped high school students and businesspeople to use the Span-ish language.

Jeffers is also the faculty advisor to the Spanish Club who meets Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. in Mcbrien room 206 and Mondays at 5 p.m. She is also advisor to the League of Latinos who meets Tuesdays at 6 p.m. in the Garrison Cabe room, both of which are open to anyone looking to join.

SPANISH FOR THE MASSESNydia Jeffers heads up free courses for community

STORY BY JARVIS WARREN — PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

BREAKING BARRIERS — Nydia Jeffers opens doors to learning Spanish.

5FEBRUARY 3, 2015 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

This campus has been blessed with an angel, a man who does not want rec-ognition for the good many things

that he does. Last Monday 19 Henderson students and

three students from the Hot Springs campus received a gift by way of Pam Ligon, associate dean of academic services.

Ligon sent out an email to all students stating that once again refurbished comput-ers were available to students. This was sent at 1:14 p.m., by 1:58 p.m. the computers were all spoken for.

“These students have all been blessed,” Li-gon said.Since 2002, Ligon has received com-puters from an anonymous benefactor. The man she calls Dr. B obtains computers from

his sources, wipes them clean, repairs what needs to be fixed, and gets them ready to go.

After Dr. B feels that the computers are in working order, he places them in bundles. This bundle might be a laptop or it could be a desktop with all components. “Since 2002, Dr. B has blessed this campus with way over 300 computers,” Ligon said.

Students who have received these com-puters are grateful. “I was going to the library every day,” Carlos Rodriquez, senior general studies major, said.

Now he can do his work anytime he wants to in the comfort of his dorm. “I feel very blessed,” Rodriquez said. When he graduates he said he plans on passing his computer to his younger sister, a freshman at Henderson.

Some people give back by volunteering, some give care packages to the homeless, Dr.B gives back by fixing computers and get-ting them ready for students who are in need of one and cannot afford to purchase one.

He is reminded of the Starfish story: A man walking along a beach saw a little boy throwing something into the water he asked the boy what he was doing.

The boy said, “throwing starfish back into the water.”

“But look at the thousands of them stranded on this beach,” the man said. “You can’t possibly make a difference.” The boy picked up another starfish and threw it into the water, and said, “I did to that one.”

Dr. B cannot equip a school’s computer lab with new machines, but he can put one computer into the hands of a student here and there.

“When Mrs. Ligon said I was chosen to receive one of the free laptops I felt extremely blessed,” Jill Sebren, senior accounting major, said, “God Bless them whoever they are.”

By taking old computers and fixing them so others can use them, Dr. B has helped stu-

dents that he does not even know. Pam Bax, director of trio programs, is

also involved in the Dr. B’s project. Her role is mostly delivering computers to the school since she lives in close proximity to Dr. B.

She knows the importance of technolo-gy to students, so they can have the ability to work on their assignments.

“Working with first generation and low-in-come students, I realize that many of these students do not have adequate funds to pur-chase new equipment,” Bax said. “Dr. B has a passion for wanting students to succeed and he spends his time fixing and refurbishing computers to donate.”

Pam Ligon does not know for sure when Dr. B will have another batch of computers ready for students.

When that day does come she will send another email out to all students. If a student needs a computer, all he or she will have to do is email her.

The student needs to explain why he or she needs a computer. It should be a well-written, well thought-out email; the computers will be few in number and claimed quickly.

Students in need receive free computers

STORY AND PHOTO BY CARMIN WILLS

GIVING GIGABYTESREFURBISHED & READY TO GO — Pam Ligon distributes one of many donated laptops to Carlos Rodriquez.

Henderson mourns the loss of student Callie Morris, junior nursing major, after dis-appearing on Thursday as she travelled home to Oklahoma.

Morris had left St. Vincent Hospital in Hot Springs around 4 p.m. and cell phone pings identified her last location in Oklaho-ma around 6:30 p.m.

Local law enforcement and Oklahoma Highway Patrol spent the next two days searching the area by land and air with no success.

Henderson received information re-garding Morris on Sunday. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol advised the university that a vehicle matching the description of the one Morris was driving had been located.

Morris was involved in a fatal, one-vehicle accident off Highway 63 in Latimer County, Okla. An investigation will continue under the direction of the Oklahoma Highway Pa-trol, who will provide additional information as it is available. Henderson police will also continue to provide support as needed.

The entire university’s thoughts and prayers are with friends and the Morris fam-ily at this time.

Morris was a resident of East Hall and a member of the Missionary Baptist Fellow-ship on campus.

The Henderson community is a close one and is committed to providing the sup-port that all students, faculty and staff needs. Counselors are available for students, faculty

and staff through the University Counseling Center, and anyone can walk in to the coun-seling center without an appointment. The office is located in Suite 109 in Mooney Hall. Anyone can also seek assistance through lo-cal hospital emergency rooms. The on-call counselor can also be reached through the Henderson Police Department or Arkadel-phia Police.

Plans are currently being made for a ser-vice of remembrance for Callie and the cam-pus will be notified with the details of the event.

The Oracle is also planning a special sec-tion in tribute to Callie in next week’s issue. Any personal stories, special memories, con-dolences or photographs that students or

faculty would like to share will be included in the paper. Submissions can be sent to oracle@hsu.edu.

Additional reporting by Scott McKinnon

Student Callie Morris’ body was found Sunday in her overturned and partially submerged SUVSTORY COURTESY OF OFFICE OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION — PHOTO COURTESY OF THV11

UNIVERSITY MOURNS FOR STUDENT

6 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

In last week’s page 4 article “No Place Left to Park,” a quote was incorrectly attributed to Pamela Shepard, vice president of cor-porate development. The quote should have been attributed to Lewis Shepherd, vice president for student and external affairs.

Women are not the only people who can look good in lipstick and heels. Henderson’s third an-

nual Drag Ball was held on Saturday in Ar-kansas Hall. The event was based on female iimpersonation and also male impersonation. The crowd was ecstatic to see the queens with their fierce make-up, big hair and ravishing outfits. “I thought it was really fun and high energy,” Skyler Shankles, sophomore theatre major, said.

This is the third consecutive year Hen-derson has hosted the Drag Ball. Every year William Henshaw, professor of theatre arts, spends countless hours to put this extravagant event together.

He usually starts planning a year in ad-vance, about a week after the previous year’s performance takes place. The performers range from Miss Gay Arkansas America 2014 Ambrosia Bordeaux, to amateur performers like Vivvyana Koture, OBU sophomore musi-cal theater and biology major.

“Being another person, I love it! Its not that I’m ashamed of myself but it’s just like living a whole other life and going through the transformation, it’s amazing,” said Koture.

Vivvyana has been actively participating in female impersonation for two years now.

The show’s nine performers all had several unique songs and flashy outfits put together for the show.

From singing and dancing on the stage to interacting with the crowd and racking up tips, the show never had a dull moment.

Although the ball was full of laughter and excitement, it was more than just long lashes and short skirts.

In one heartfelt portion of the show, per-former Diamond Rose vowed to take every tip from her performance and match it to donate to an AIDs research foundation. She raised $100 to match for donation.

The purpose of the Drag Ball that is held by GAIT, Henderon’s Gay-Straight alliance, is to educate, diversify and inform.

“It’s a safe place. Henderson is a safe place

for them to come see the diversity of gender impersonation,” Henshaw said.

GAIT meets every Tuesday at 5 p.m. in room 110 of Arkansas Hall.

The group is open to anyone interested and is accepting to all. The goals of this group are to grow, accept, inform and to tolerate.

David Dunavan, AKA Melody Braxton Galore, is an active member of GAIT and is also a performer and co-host of the Drag Ball.

He has been preforming in drag for six years and hopes to help create a more accept-ing community.

“There were different people out in the crowd this year. I was happy to see that.” Dunavan said.

After seeing the fun some of his friends had in and out of drag he decided to try going in drag himself.

The average female impersonator takes about an hour to do his make-up and 45 min-utes to get fully dressed. Eyelashes have to be glued, wigs have to be placed, pads have to be padded, the amount of effort that goes into getting ready is immeasurable.

Anyone who is interested in being part of the Drag Ball or helping is more than welcome to participate.

People from all around the school and with different majors come together to help put this event together.

The Winter Wonderland themed show was lasted about three hours with a 5-minute inter-mission to break up the show.

After the show the performers came off of the stage and interacted with the crowd.

Guests were able to ask questions and take pictures with the beautiful queens.

The organization plans to expand the crowd every year and to entice new people to embrace this culture.

And though the event has come and passed, many audience members will certainly look back on the event as a memorable and enjoyable experience.

There are many thoughts one could walk away with after an event like this. After all of

the high energy performances, a person could walk away with fond memories of queens be-ing fierce and fabulous.

Still, the the air that night was filled with vibes of comradery and love.

It is clear that the impact on our communi-ty continues to blossom every year GAIT host this event.

With adequate support, the positive effect shall continue to grow one sassy step at a time.

GAIT’s hosts another successful drag ballSTORY BY ELIZABETH LAU — PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

DRAG BALL KEEPS ON ROLLIN’7FEBRUARY 3, 2015 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

TAKE A BOW — Drag queens stand together in front of adoring audience.

Excelsior! In a land that is infested with zombies, thieves and bandits, only one group of students can save the

lives of the innocent: The Legion of Nerds! The group led their first live action role

play (LARP) of the semester last Tuesday on the quad. Although this was only the second LARP since the group was established, several people showed up to participate.

Anyone around the quad Tuesday evening witnessed many college students dressed up in interesting and animated costumes acting like people and creatures from a world of their own imagination.

The students fought epic one-on-one bat-tles against each other and acted as if they were the main characters of their very own video games.

They created their own story and tale of adventure. The participants used realistic swords made of PVC pipe and foam cushion to intensify the game and make it feel alive.

“These weapons, in LARP, are called bof-fers,” Coley Henson, junior general studies major and president of Legion of Nerds, said.

Henson defines LARP as “the act of play-ing a role that is not your own (alternate per-sonality) with the intention of progressing a story that is unique and independent from the real world.”

For many people this may seem strange or difficult to understand, but for the Legion, and for many other people who share this in-terest, it is very real.

“You get to make a creative outfit. There is a story or a world that the LARP is traditional-

ly set in and you try and fit into that particular world,” said Henson.

While the group was playing pretend and attacking each other vigorously, there were many other students outside enjoying the sunny day as they watched the live action take place. Junior accounting major, Steve Hibbard said, “Ever since I saw the movie ‘Role Mod-els’, I wanted to do it. It’s super cool. You get to blow off some steam.”

“I do appreciate that people are expressing themselves in this way. It’s awesome,” Leigh-ton Hall, sophomore computer science major, said.

Though many of the students loved it, and enjoyed watching the comic mischief take place, there were still people who were left confused by the event.

“I think it’s really weird, but I can respect their hustle,” freshman psychology major, Jes-sica Richards said.

This may be the Legion’s first LARP of the semester, but Henson said that there will be many more to come.

“We are going to try and shoot for a LARP once a month, and everyone’s wel-come to join,” Henson said. The Legion of Nerds meets every Friday at 6 p.m.in the Wil-son room in Garrison. Henson said that the group recently joined forces with Pokemon Club which meets Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in Caplinger.

Anyone interested in LARPing or joining the Legion of Nerds can contact Coley Hen-son by email at ch181038@reddies.hsu.edu or simply attend a meeting.

The Legion of Nerds hosts its second LARP session STORY BY CALEB WILLIAMS — PHOTOS BY CHRIS SHARP

8 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

LEGION STORMS THE QUAD

9FEBRUARY 3, 2015 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

LEFT: Dillon Hall prepares to slay his masked foe.

RIGHT: Trent Lewis assassinates matriarch Ashley Bles with great cunning.

BOTTOM LEFT: Kelly Garrett prepares to swim in the blood of her enemies.

BOTTOM CENTER: James T. Allen cowers in fear from the terrifying horde. BOTTOM RIGHT: Ryan Himes strikes a pose with his striking weapon.

10 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

Many athletic programs on cam-pus are starting to gear up for the spring competition. One team that

is looking to reel in some trophies is the HSU fishing team.

Led by advisor Ernie Higgs, director of Garrison Activity and Conference Center, and President Theron Asbery, the HSU fish-ing team is preparing for a successful season out on the ponds.

Last season, the team showed great re-siliency with their progress. “We have a very stout team,” Asbery said. “Last year we were the only competitive organization on campus that made it to the National Championship in our sport and I see us repeating that success again.”

Most avid sports fans have never heard of the competitive fishing circuit. Since it isn’t one of the four major sports in North Amer-ica, competitive fishing often goes unnoticed.

“The competitive fishing we take part in is made up of bass fishing,” Asbery said.

“So we don’t just fish after any species in the lake, we focus on largemouth bass, small-mouth bass and spotted bass.”

In competitive fishing, success is synony-mous with consistency.

“You can go out one day and have a great

day and let’s say you end up with 20 pounds in the boat, but if you go out the next day and don’t catch a fish, that usually means you’re going to lose,” Asbery said. “Consistency is everything.”

The fishing team is trying to establish themselves as a force in their sport. The fish-ing team will participate in several tourna-ments this upcoming season.

“The events we are going to be fishing this year are the FLW college events which will take place at Lake Sam Rayburn in Texas, Lake Texoma in Oklahoma and the Red River in Louisiana,” Asbery said.

“We have also been invited to fish the FLW College Open on Kentucky Lake in Kentucky. Also we are fishing Boat US Col-legiate events on Pickwick Lake in Tennessee and Lake Chickamaga also in Tennessee.”

The team is also fishing a part of the

Arkansas Bass Team Trail. The team will take part in tournaments across the state where they will have a chance to win the grand prize of $10,000 in each tournament. These prizes are highly coveted. Should they win these prizes, it would bring a lot of positive attention to the team and the school.

“The Arkansas Bass Team Trail is not col-lege events,” Asbery said.

“It is a private organization that is giving us free entry fee into each tournament to ad-vertise for college fishing.” This means that these events are not limited to only college students.

The fishing team shares a close broth-erhood with one another and each member plays an equal role.

Members of the team are going to be fish-ing and competing in the FLW BFL Arkansas Division.

Michael Gross qualified for the 2015 BFL All-American, which is the major champion-ship of the FLW BFL League.

Also Asbery will be fishing the Wal-Mart FLW Tour. This is the premier Professional Bass Fishing League in the United States.

This event is equivalent to the presti-gious championship game in major American sports.

The team has a bright outlook on the up-coming season.

With their leader in a major fishing league and their sights set on major competitions, it is hard for the fishing team to not feel excit-ed to compete against other fishermen. This fishing season will be an important one for them.

“It is our goal as always to be ranked as one of the best college fishing teams in the country,” Asbery said.

“I firmly believe we have the talent to do it, we just have to put it into action. Trust our skill, trust each other, trust in the Lord, and let things fall into place.”

All of their tournaments can be seen on NBC Sports Network.

Also, everyone can follow the team on their Facebook page, Henderson State Fish-ing Team.

OF FISH AND MEN

11NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTSFEBRUARY 3, 2015

Fishing team sets sights high for major competitions

STORY BY ALVIN STUCKEY — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

One of the most notorious, yet hard to shut down, websites has come back online. The Pirate Bay, a web-

site used for file sharing anything from mov-ies to music to games is back after being a Swedish raid forced the site to shut down for months.

The Pirate Bay is one of the sites that, if you use its services on the campus’s internet, you’ll be kicked off. This let’s me know that many of you at least attempt to use it.

The subject of “pirating” content is a very touchy subject to discuss in any fashion. While many have their own view on pirating, I have one myself that some may or may not agree with.

I believe that it’s alright to pirate certain content based on what it is and how long it’s been out.

When it comes to music, I don’t think it is acceptable to pirate any songs or albums regardless of who the music is from or how old the music is. Almost all types of music are obtainable through legal means, so pirating is unnecessary by those standards.

Another reason I say that it’s not alright

to pirate music is that I don’t agree with the argument that musicians make enough money with concerts and merchandise.

Indie bands don’t make very much money with their concerts and merchandise because they’re not considering big names. Because they’re not big names, they can’t charge nearly as much as other bands, so the money they receive from their music really helps them.

People argue that musicians make too much money, but indie bands don’t make nearly as much profit as bigger name bands and artists make.

Movies and television shows are on the same level as music, but I think much older films are fine to pirate. If it’s possible to get them through correct means, then that should be the way you get them.

Some television shows can’t be found through appropriate means. Season three of “The Tick” still hasn’t been released by Dis-ney. I’m not saying you should pirate episodes from season three, but there’s no other way to watch them that I’m aware of.

A lot of television companies suffer from pirating, but they still don’t release their shows

for legal purchase.What do they expect people to do?Movies, though, are pretty easy to obtain.

Not that my only reason to condone pirating is ease of obtaining the content. Although, that does help the argument of why you should or shouldn’t pirate content.

For years, pirating video games was a big problem in the industry. While it has decreased, many still pirate games, whether they’re new or older games.

For newer games, I don’t think you should pirate them at all. No matter if they’re indie games or big budget games, if they’re new, ei-ther buy them or don’t play them at all.

However, older games are very hard to ob-tain sometimes. Thanks to digital games gain-ing popularity, several companies are re-re-leasing older games online, but many games haven’t seen a re-release.

Because they’re not re-released, the only ways to play them are either to have the old-er console and a copy of the game or pirate them and play them on a computer.

So I think it would be alright to pirate old-er games if there are no other ways to obtain

them. Especially if those games belong to companies that don’t exist anymore.

A big reason that some games aren’t re-re-leased is that no one owns the license to the game, so no one can allow it to be purchased digitally or by other means.

Now, for legal reasons, I’m going to make sure to tell you all that I do not agree with pirating. I wish no one would pirate and that there was no reason to pirate.

But some things can’t be obtained other-wise and people want to experience and enjoy the content they are pirating.

Personally, I don’t pirate anything. I used to pirate tv shows and games, but I stopped because I started using services like Netflix, Steam and the Playstation Network.

I think these services should be supported over pirating not just because it’s legal but also because the creators of the content get money for the content they worked on.

Steam’s goal is actually to give a better ex-perince than pirating content. That alone de-serves some support.

However, some companies, for whatever reason, refuse to release content that they own throug legal means and still complain about people downloading what they own.

Maybe if they released it in a way for peo-ple to be able to get it, the amount of pirating would decrease. Everyone would benefit.

One of the big pro-pirating arguments is that “they weren’t going to buy it anyway.” That’s not a very good excuse because you can say that about other things that are just taken by people without them paying for it.

I imagine people who steal food from Wal-Mart weren’t going to buy it either, which is why they just take it.

I just think people should do all they can to support content creators whether it be mu-sic, tv, video games, etc.

But not everything is available for legal purchase so you either have to pirate it or just not be able to experience it.

With The Pirate Bay, I think the website should stay up and continue how they always have. This way, things like Netflix and Steam will have to keep up with what they’re doing and in the long run, they’ll win because they offer better services than pirating can.

They’ll obtain more and more content and companies will realize that if they release their content with them, people will buy them and support them like they should.

12 NEWS FEATURES SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

CURSE OF THE BLACK FILES OPINION BY DAX GUILLIAMS — IMAGE BY HOUSTON FRYER

This topic is hard for a lot of peo-ple to stomach, and it may cause some of you to feel a little bit

uncomfortable at first. Stick with me and maybe you’ll feel better. With that said, let’s talk about some chunky bellies.

Obesity has somehow been disguised and remarketed as “curvy.” This re-label-ing is not an accurate description of those to whom the label is being applied. Like in calculus, curves do not fold. So if one observes folds under their sides, they are not seeing curves at all.

Though, it is easy to understand why someone may prefer “curvy” over obese, especially if they’ve struggled against thin privilege most of their lives. What is thin privilege you may ask? It is the reason why someone pays twelve dollars more for the same brand t-shirt because the store doesn’t offer it in a certain size.

It is also the reason why some may

make the faulty assumption that a per-son’s weight determines their personality. Popular ideas include, “fat men are sloppy and lazy” and “skinny girls are vain and superficial.” Moreover, culture embraces skinny normativity while encouraging bul-lying and fat-shaming, ultimately fostering a “get skinny or die trying” mentality.

The body positivity movement cre-ates a safe atmosphere for people of all shapes and sizes to feel comfortable with their bodies.

This is a good thing. But we cannot stop here. Wellness cannot thrive on good vibes alone. Those who embrace their bodies holistically are well on their way to wellness, but still must dedicate consider-

able time and effort breaking bad habits and reeducating themselves on how to live healthfully.

The danger of the body positivity movement is the feel-good, do-nothing mentality. Why should a person have to change if they feel good about them-selves? Put simply, the mentality affects all of us by making it ok to put ourselves in dangerous situations.

It suddenly becomes ok for a signifi-cant other to not worry about early-onset heart disease or worse, diabetes, as a result of her being obese.

It becomes standard for an uncle to look for quick fixes and drop fifty pounds in two months because he practiced un-

safe exercising regimens. After seeing his success, his friends and family members will try to imitate his process to get dan-gerously fast results.

All this ensues because he was too fo-cused on “feeling good” burning body fat instead of taking a more holistic approach to fitness.

What is the solution to the feel-good, do-nothing mentality? Educating our gen-eral populous is a start.

Without proper health and wellness education, with emphases on the physical as well as the mental and emotional spec-trums, we are bound to make the same mistakes that keep us unhealthy.

Only solid education can empower those who struggle with weight and other health issues, breaking the long chain of unhealthy habits gradually so we can bet-ter ourselves, enriching others’ lives along the way.

13FEBRUARY 3, 2014 NEWS FEATURES SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

NOT ABOUT THE BASSOPINION BY DEVIN ANDERSON — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

14 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS HUMOR SPORTS

PECKERWOLF, HEAVY GLOW AND DUCKSTRONAUT

The Porterhouse Restaraunt second floor, 707 Central Ave.Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14Dinner — 6 p.m. Play — 7 p.m.$40, reservations required

Spend Valentine’s Day taking a trip back to the 60s and 70s and enjoy dinner while helping solve a mysterious murder. Special guests will provide musical entertainment for the diners. For reservations, call 501-623-9126 or 501-262-4521.

Graphic courtesy of thekehila.org

HOT SPRINGS HAPPENINGSMaxine’s Live, 700 Central Ave.Friday, Feb. 6 — 9 p.m.$5 at door, 21+

Little Rock band Peckerwolf, who formed in 2012, has quickly become one of the town’s biggest acts. Their brand of stoner rock is filled with post-punk themes, harmonized guitar work and raspy vocals. Peckerwolf live shows are known as a sweaty, fist-pumping party. Syn-opsis provided by Peckerwolf

Image courtesy of Brian Chilson

“PEACE, LOVE AND MURDER!”

HOT SPRINGS JAZZ SOCIETY PRESENTS:AMERICA’S ART FORM SERIESGarland County Library Auditorium, 1427 Malvern Ave.Wednesday, Feb. 11 — 6 p.m.Free

America’s Art Form is a series of free concerts that highlights specific eras in the history of jazz and features unique performances from the Hot Springs Jazz Society. This month’s lecture and performance will focus on poetry in jazz.

Image courtesy of Guthrie/Green

15FEBRUARY 3, 2014 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY SPORTS

16 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR

WOMEN UPSET NO. 16 RANKED HARDINGThe men’s basketball team was not so lucky against the Harding Bisons, losing 74-61

STORY BY KAITLYN KITCHENS AND TAYLOR DANIELS — PHOTOS BY KRISTINE MOORE

REDDIE NATION— Kelvin Dixon goes up for a layup and Lady Reddie Jasmine Settles dribbles the ball down court in their games against Harding

The Henderson State men and women’s basketball teams both faced Harding Univer-sity last Thursday at the Wells Center.

The Reddies (9-10 overall, 6-7 Great American Conference) ended the game with a score of 74-61, Harding taking home the win.

Unfortunately, the Lady Reddies (7-12 overall, 5-8 in the GAC) upset No. 16 ranked Harding (15-3 overall, 11-1 league play) with a 91-85 win.

This was the first time since 2007 that the Lady Reddies beat a nationally ranked team.

Six Lady Reddie players, including all five starters, scored in double digits to contribute to the win.

The game against the Lady Bisons handed them their first conference loss of the season and breaking a 12-game win streak for Hard-ing.

Dulincia Keener led the Lady Reddies with

20 points and 12 rebounds while Victoria Stewart recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds over the Lady Bisons. Stewart was 4-for-5 from the 3-point range.

Aungelique Sledge recorded seven re-bounds and made 16 points.

Jasmine Settles also scored 16 points in the game against the Harding Bisons.

Vanessa Pieper made 11 points with Ha-leigh Henson scoring 12 points, 4-for-9 from long range.

At halftime, the Lady Reddies led 46-45 with shooting 50 percent from the floor and forcing Harding to turn the ball over 12 times, leading to 16 points for HSU in the first half

In the second half, the Lady Reddies stretched to a 19 point lead while Harding was struggling offensively just making 1-of-10 3-pointers. Harding closed the gap in the sec-ond half, but HSU held on to win by six.

The Lady Reddies made 32-of-62 shots from the field (52 percent).

The men’s game would not end the same way. For the first ten minutes of the game, Harding kept HSU on their toes and chasing a lead of double digits.

Rashad Perkins capitalized on a dunk op-portunity against Antoine Burrell and shortly shut down the Bison’s momentum with 10:08 left in the first half leaving the score at 28-19, Harding in the lead.

The Reddies started to make a comeback following free throws made by Kelvin Dixon. Perkins answered with a one hand dunk, mak-ing the score 30-27, Bisons.

Kevin Kozan ended the half with a solid 3-pointer closing it off 47-38, Harding.

It seemed that the second half was not in the men’s favor.

HSU shot 26 percent in the second half

hitting on 7-for-27 in the field, while Harding was near perfect.

Despite the struggles of the second half, HSU’s hold kept up the pressure for the most part of the battle.

During each timeout Head Coach Doug Nichols and the coaching staff encouraged the Reddies to keep on battling and keep up the intensity.

HSU continued to fight even though the clock was ticking with 1:18 left and the score 71-61, Harding leading.

The game ended with a score of 74-61, Harding taking the win.

Both men and women’s basketball teams will face East Central University in Ada, Okla. on Feb. 5.

The Lady Reddies game will begin at 5:30 while the men’s tip-off is set for 7:30.

Additional reporting by Troy Mitchell.