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Students join together to celebrate National Coming Out Day P.8

Henderson State University - Monday, October 12, 2015 - Volume 109, Issue 8

THE ORACLE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – Moe Skinner

FACULTY ADVISER – Mike Taylor

COPY EDITOR – Dylan McNiel

NEWS EDITOR – Carmin Wills

SPORTS EDITOR – Madison MacNew

FEATURES EDITOR – Rickey Miller

VIEWS EDITOR – Dax Guilliams

PHOTO EDITOR – Joshua Bradley

PAGE DESIGNER – Melanie Cole

AD DESIGNER – Chris Sharp

GRAPHIC DESIGNER – Jordan Jones

ONLINE EDITOR – Ashley Smith

BUSINESS MANAGER – Coley Henson

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER – Rylie Prescott

Have an opinion on an issue or response 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.

FIRST IN CONFERENCE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

16PHOTO COURTESY OF HSU SPORTS INFORMATION

PHOTO BY KRISTINE MOORE

Faculty Reception3

THE ORACLE

COVER: Students make rainbow cupcakes in celebration of the national event. Photo by Dylan McNiel

PHOTO BY CARMIN WILLS

Pink House Knock-out5PHOTO BY MOE SKINNER

Wanda Harris Profile7

3OCT. 12, 2015 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

I

Presient Jones and his wife open their doors to new faculty and friends for a receptionSTORY BY CHRISTIAN PIERCE — PHOTO KRISTINE MOORE

On October 1, President Jones and his wife had a drop-in reception at their home. The ceremony was to honor new faculty, new promotions and newly tenured faculty at Hender-son.

This year, Henderson was honor-ing 25 teachers that have been given this honor.

One of the people to be honored was Judith Jenkins, assistant profes-sor of educational leadership.

Jenkins felt it was nice to be hon-ored at the reception and to be able to get to know other faculty that help

make Henderson a very productive and outgoing university.

“It was a honor to be there, nice food, and great atmosphere,” Jenkins said. It was a very pleasant experience, and I got to know other employees too.”

Jenkins, a graduate of Henderson, officially began teaching at Hender-son in August.

Jenkins received her associates and bachelors degrees in secondary business. She received her master’s degree in secondary counseling in 2008.

Eric Jett, assistant professor of counselor education, was also hon-ored at the reception. This is Jett’s first semester at Henderson.

Although Jett was not able to at-tend the reception in person, he still felt it was great to be honored.

Jett sees himself being at Hen-derson for a life-long career, and he wants to help Henderson establish more goals.

Jett, originally from Tulsa, Okla., loves the community that Henderson has to offer and how this campus supports it.

“I came to Henderson because the community, and the support that it gains from the students and faculty here on campus,” Jett said.

Jett loves the goals Henderson has to offer to the students, and where they want to see them in a few years from now.

“The goals Henderson has for the University, and where they want to see students are wonderful. They are very determined to make them be successful.” Jett said.

M —

PRESIDENTIAL SUITE

DRESS YOUR BEST — Party in the big house

FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS 4

FAIR FOR THE UNDECLARED

Tuesday, October 6 marked Henderson’s first Explore Majors Fair. Trickles of students ranging through multiple ethnicities attended the fair in hopes to gain insight on majors that peaked their interest.

The fair comprised of multiple depart-ments of education that Henderson has to offer. There were tables set up for the nursing department, the school of business, social sciences, the foreign language department, the department of aviation, the mass media department and many more.

“We wanted to start reaching out more to our freshmen and sophomores in terms of career development,” Sheri Phillips, career de-velopment coordinator said. “[Career develop-ment] is very important to Henderson and we encourage our students to explore different career paths.

“I came to the fair in hopes to find more information that I need before I decide to change my major,” Aniyah Harrington, fresh-man human services major, said. “I am really glad that they [Henderson] decided to do this because it helps me more by getting to be able to meet many professors at one time rather than skulking on the Internet trying to find something that may interest me.”

Some students came not to find a new major, but just to gain more information that they didn’t already know while others came just to support the event itself.

“I really came to get more information about the department of aviation,” John Mc-Gee, sophomore aviation major, said.

“I am just here for support,” Haley Polk, freshman elementary education major, said. “I already know what my major is, or at least I hope.”

According to data reports for fall of 2015 posted by the university, which was focused on enrollment and degree programs, the top 10 degree programs are nursing, biology, business administration, psychology, aviation, elementary education, music (education), computer science, criminal justice, and athletic training respectively.

In fall of 2014, biology major held the highest number of students with that major. It replaced nursing from fall 2013.

“I plan to keep my major and see it through,” Malika Owens, freshman nursing major, said. “[The fair] just seemed like a cool place to get to know more people interested in nursing as much as I am.”

Other students, fully aware of what they wanted to major in, attended the fair simply because they were assigned to do so by one of their classes.

“I like the concept of the fair – I like what they’re standing for as a school,” Makell Nelson, freshman biology major, said. “But in all honesty, I am only here right now because my Henderson seminar teacher said that we needed to be in attendance today.”

“Like the guy said in front of me, I am ba-sically here for my Henderson seminar class,” Aerial Dunn, freshman criminal justice major, said. “Although I do have intentions of going over to the table that my department is set up at and at least find out more information – it will be a help to make good use of my time.”

Not everyone at the fair was so sure in what they are majoring in at the moment.

“Judging by the amount of people in this room, although I could be wrong, I would say that not many people know what career path they are most interested in – maybe they

are just afraid to ask the right questions so to speak,” Phillips said. “Believe it or not, it is actually ok to not know what you want to major in. We try to encourage students to have somewhat of a firm idea of what they want to major in by the end of their sophomore year in college. Most students believe that they need to know their major when they come to school but that is not the case.”

As far as transfer students go, there are high numbers of them that came to this school with a major in elementary education, nursing, and recreation. Be that as it may, there is a .09 percent of first-time transfer students that are still undeclared when it comes to their major.

“I’m a first-time transfer student so I un-derstand the difficulties of adjusting and find-ing a niche,” Rayven Giles, junior mass media major, said. “I’m just happy to have an idea of what I want to do when I grow up and that takes some of the edge off. I know it must be stressful for the undeclared.”

WAITING TO HELP STUDENTS — Right, David Stoddard, professor of art and left, Megan Hughes, junior digital art and design major, are eager to help interested students.

Students were able to discover possibilities of different majors offeredSTORY BY JAE-KUR LOCKHART — PHOTO BY WENDY HARRIS

5OCT. 12, 2015 FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

Fraternity recieves indefinite suspension for recent activities at house party STORY BY MOE SKINNER AND CARMIN WILLS — PHOTO BY CARMIN WILLS

A party on Thursday evening hosted by the residents of 812 Pine St., also known as the “pink house,” allegedly turned into a Friday morn-ing brawl that left several Hender-son students in need of immediate medical treatment and a fraternity suspended indefinitely.

According to Devon Hagood, junior pre-med major, around 1:30 a.m. he and his roommates became uncomfortable with the growing number of people inside their home and had started asking people to leave when the fight erupted.

Hagood and his fellow roommates are all members of the fraternity Phi Lambda Chi, epsilon chapter at Henderson. Hagood said there were approximately 200 people at the party.

“Girls were being hit,” Hagood said. “My buddy was on the ground on all fours while six or seven people were kicking him in the face.”

Hagood alleged that the aggres-sors were mostly members of Hen-derson’s football team.

Hagood said the Arkadelphia Police Department responded to the scene and the mass scattered.

Hagood said after the altercation was over, his three roommates and other guests at the party needed medical treatment. Roommate Kenny Lovewell, junior aviation major, required several stitches to the face and head. Roommate Zach Bowe, senior political science major, re-ceived several stitches to the back of his head. Roommate Griffen Rucker, junior aviation major, had his lip split in the fight and also required medical attention.

Hagood said guest Trevor Hy-dron, junior business major, was hit in the head with a beer bottle by an unknown person but did not get cut. The neck of a broken beer bottle, an empty 30-pack, cardboard beer box

and other smashed pieces of liquor bottles still littered the pink house’s yard on Saturday.

“We are just four guys that rent a house together,” Hagood said. “It’s not affiliated with our fraternity or Henderson.”

Hagood said their chapter is under suspension pending an investigation.

“I don’t foresee any future prob-lems because we are not having any more parties,” Hagood said.

“What I am adamant about is not taking any action without the correct information and doing damage to either group or individuals,” Chad Fielding, assistant vice president for student affairs, said in a phone inter-view Saturday afternoon.

Fielding verified that no one indi-vidual, as of yet, had been placed on suspension or leave of any kind over the incident.

Fielding said he is waiting until a full investigation has been conducted

before taking any action. “We don’t need people on or off

our campus that are going to bust beer bottles over people’s heads and send them to the hospital,” Fielding said.

Once Henderson confirms who the individuals were, those people will most likely face criminal charges.

“When you start using broken bottles, that becomes an assault with a weapon and those are felony charges,” Fielding said.

They may be the most important person on campus, that doesn’t mat-ter Fielding said.

“That’s not the kind of student we want on our campus, I don’t care who they are,” Fielding said.

APD was unable to release a police report prior to deadline due to the ongoing nature of the investiga-tion.

POOL OF BLOOD — Party gets out of hand early Friday morning.

FIGHT CLUB

6

TAKING NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

Henderson’s social media threats protocolsSTORY BY ASHLEY SMITH — GRAPHIC BY JORDAN JONES

THV11 reported that last Monday a University of Central Arkansas freshman was arrested for posting a threatening message on the social media app Yik Yak.

The message read: “Fellow Yaks, you all seem like good people and I care for you, so if you read this, please stay in your dorms or off campus next Wednesday, I care too much for you all to fall victim of the event.”

Samuel Davies was taken into custody an hour later.

With situations such as school shootings and this recent UCA threat occurring, how would Hen-derson handle this emergency if faced with a similar style threat?

“If a post is considered to be in violation of Arkansas law, Henderson State University would cooperate with law enforcement officials in enforcing state law,” Tonya Oaks Smith, executive director of marking and commu-nications, stated in an email.

Arkansas state law states in Ark. Code Ann § 5-41-108 that any person who sends a message

to another person via email text, social networking site, Twitter or other computerized means of communication commits a mis-demeanor crime if the message is intended to frighten, abuse or harass the other person, or if the message uses obscene, lewd or profane language.

The sender violates this law if they post a message with the rea-sonable expectation that the target will receive it or view it.

According to the emergency procedure provided by the uni-versity, all bomb threats should be immediately reported to the university and Arkadelphia police, as well as emergency 911.

“Any threats made toward the university would be investigated immediately,” Johnny Campbell, chief of university police, stated in an email. “We encourage the campus community to report any information to the campus police.”

The protocol listed is if the threat is called in, emailed, or in person. If the threat was posted

on social media, a similar protocol would be followed after the mes-sage was reported.

“Students are not monitored on social media. However, the Office of Marketing and Commu-nications does monitor mentions of Henderson State University in a number of social media chan-nels, just like other companies or organizations that are active on social media,” Oaks Smith said. “Our students are adults, and they are governed by Arkansas law in relation to their communication on social media.”

A suspicious post can get a stu-dent in trouble, though the post would be have to be reported, unlike at UCA where the police found the post.

Yik Yak specifically states in their FAQ: “The Federal Stored

Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq, restricts Yik Yak’s disclosure of user account infor-mation without the lawful consent of the account holder or unless authorized by a properly issued warrant, court order, or subpoe-na.”

Yik Yak does not monitor content unless it specifically says a name or somebody’s address. Henderson handles bomb threats and other threats very serious-ly. Immediate caution would be taken by law enforcement and handled in the specific manner of the situation.

In order for the threat to be recognized, someone must report the post to police for them to take action.

PROPERPROCEDURES

OCT. 12, 2015

“She has done so many powerful things in the community and on the campus and I feel as though she does not get the recogni-tion that she needs,” Mariah Brown, graduate student and clinical mental health counseling major, said. “That’s why I nominated her for that award.”

Wanda Harris, education specialist, was giv-en the Life Toucher award this past September at the Life Touchers Awards Gala. The cere-mony was held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Brown is a member of Miss Teen Promise. They support females by way of scholarships and academic support.

She has worked closely with Wanda Harris and has had hands-on experience with her abilities.

“Wanda Harris does it all. She houses with-

in her body many aspects that are admired by most women,” Brown said.

“Positive, poise, professional, productive, polished – that’s all her,” Brown said. “Those are the qualifications as far as the awards goes and she matches them perfectly. If I could just put a small impact on her life then maybe so many other people will notice her and be able to receive some of the amazing things that she does – maybe it could trickle in to their lives. I am inspired by her.”

Her humble upbringing is what she feels that led her down her path of helping others as much as she possibly could Harris said.

“First and foremost, I was surprised when I received this award. I also felt quite pleasant and honored,” Harris said. “I truly believe that I am a product of my parents. I lost my mother when I was six and so my father had to raise five children,” Harris said. “He has always had the spirit of servitude. My brothers and sisters are all just so giving as well.”

Throughout her years of working at Hen-derson, she has touched the lives of many students.

She is involved in a few different organiza-tions, such as Student Support Service, Ladies League and the Angelic Voices of Christ.

“She is a phenomenal lady. She does not mind going that extra mile to help someone out,” Rickey Miller, senior mass media major, said. “I remember when I first met her at bible study. Her words spoke directly to me at least it seemed that way.”

Mykayla Arnold, sophomore communica-tion major, felt a similar relation to Miller.

“Being a first-time freshman when I met

Ms. Harris, she helped me to become more confident and open up to the rest of the student body on campus,” Arnold said. “She encouraged me to get involved and really live to my full potential on campus as well as any-where else.”

Harris adheres to the needs of the students she works with and that is what motivates her.

“My students tell me what they desire – what their visions are,” Harris said. “I feel inclined to move and do what is necessary in order to help them do whatever it is they need to do. I didn’t have that sort of support when I graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1984.”

Harris works with Henderson’s AVOC which was established by Kenneth Harris over 40 years ago, although known as BSU at the time.

“AVOC gives the students an opportuni-ty to do community service and to travel to different states – to do and see things that are somewhat outside of their norm,” Harris stated. “It allows for the current members to meet AVOC alums and so forth as well. We will be traveling to AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas this weekend (Oct. 10-11) to do a bit of community service.”

Furthermore, Harris is an education special-ist coach for Student Support Services. This organization lends help to students personally, academically and financially if need be.

“We try to help guide and direct students down the right path as best we can. We do our best to guide them to graduate school if possible,” Harris said. “Our ultimate goal is to graduate our students.”

The background of the Life Toucher Award recipientSTORY BY JAE-KUR LOCKHART — PHOTO BY MOE SKINNER

7 NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL — Wanda Harris enjoys the sunlight out front of the Student Support Services building.

WANDA WOMAN

If you didn’t come out you should have. This week the Growth, Acknowledgment, Intelligence and Tolerance club, also known as G.A.I.T, or the Henderson Queer-Straight Alliance, hosted it annual National Coming Out day event on the Quad. The event was held Thursday Oct. 8.

President of the QSA Justin Cox, junior theater major, said that the club decided to put on the event to celebrate and promote self-awareness, diversity and tolerance on campus.

The event had a pretty good turn out and had a great response, Cox said.

Cox said the club does not have any other specific plans for pride week.

However, the club does meet in Arkansas Hall every Monday at 6 p.m. He said the club strives to promote ideals of growth, acknowl-edgment, intelligence and tolerance in the community.

“If anyone needs a safe place to come on campus and be themselves, they are more than welcome with us,” Cox said.

The event was held for anyone who wanted to attend, and they gave out rainbow colored cupcakes to all in attendance and even people who were just passing by.

They had a door set up and signs saying things such as “Human,” “Ally,” “Bi-sexual,” ”Gay” and things of that nature for people to hold as they walk through the door to “come out” and pose for a photo.

LaDarius Jamerson, senior theater major, was in attendance at Thursday’s event. He said he loved how welcoming everyone was and how respectful the guest were to this special week.

He came out to his friend Michelle West, Henderson alumna, for the first time at the event. Jamerson said she was the first to know. He said they’ve been friends since Jamerson

moved to Arkansas in 2005. This was a very special time for these two.

“You should be proud of who you are,” Jamerson said.

Jessica Gilliam, sophomore theatre major, said that she believes events like these are important.

“So many people struggle with their identity and the fear of judgement from others,” said Gilliam. “It’s really amazing that G.A.I.T. is here to help with that.”

Gilliam said that she is proud to come out as a “human.” She’s really glad she participated in the event.

Marissa Defoor, junior psychology major, said the event was fun and that everyone was cool and nice. She had a fun time socializing with her friends and enjoying a free cupcake.

“I got a cupcake, so it was a pretty cool experience,” Defoor said.

8

NO MORE HIDING NEWS VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

National Coming Out Day on the quadSTORY AND PHOTO BY DYLAN MCNIEL

LOVE THE SKIN YOU’RE IN — Students pose on the quad on National Coming Out Day.

OCT. 12, 2015 NEWS FEATURES SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS 9

LETTERS TO THE EDITORBEST OF LUCK TO DULINCIA KEENER

Dear Oracle,

Thank you for the article on HSU’s Dulincia Keener. Truly, she is a student-athlete in every sense of the word. I had her as a student in two history classes, and she did a great job in both. She has also been one of the best basketball players in recent HSU history, as well as an outstanding representative of our university. Her parents are first rate, also. I know she is going to have a great senior year and will be just as successful after graduation.

Tom FreemanHSU History Department

10

“Undertale” is one of the best games I’ve played this year. When I purchased it, I had no idea that a game made mostly by one person would entertain me so much.

The game was released last month, but I couldn’t get around to reviewing it because I just had to keep playing it to learn more about how it changes each playthrough.

“Undertale” was released for the PC on Sep. 15 and was developed and pub-lished online by Toby Fox. It is also one of the highest rated PC games on several websites and is currently the second high-est rated PC game on Steam.

It truly deserves the praise it’s getting because of how unique it is. This isn’t a bare bones kind of game.

One of the many reasons I enjoy the game so much is because of how great the story is.

You begin as a child who falls into the underground caves that monsters live in. But the story becomes about more than just trying to return home, it’s about de-termination and how it can motivate you in different ways.

As you make choices, whether they’re minor or major, the story changes more than any other choice-based game I’ve ever played.

If I had to recommend this game for one reason only, it would be how the sto-ry and the characters change with tiniest of details based on how you play.

And there are so many different things to do in various playthroughs. Hang out with a ghost and listen to spooky music, defeat a skeleton by flirting with him, go on a cooking show with a murderous robot, learn to fear talking flowers and more.

While the game does borrow many elements from games such as “Earth-bound,” “Undertale” takes them and puts its own spin on things.

The game is unique in many ways,

especially the battle system. While it is a turn-based RPG, “Undertale” mix-es things up by including Shoot-em-up mechanics while you fight and gives you the option to spare or evade every single fight.

I found my playthrough where I didn’t attack or kill a single enemy to be the best. Pacifism is how I believe the game should be played because not only does it make the story better and all of the characters stick around, but it’s more interesting to interact with the monsters instead of murdering them.

It certainly makes the boss battles even more interesting.

A lot of the bosses have special gim-micks, so attempting to understand and spare them while fighting them is very fun.

Two of my new favorite video game characters are from this game. Sans and Papyrus, two skeleton brothers, are amaz-ing.

I’ve never laughed so hard than I have watching the antics of these two. The best dialogue in the game involves you calling Papyrus in various rooms in the game just to hear the things he has to say.

Many of the games best and most im-portant moments involve the two. I hope they get their own spin-off in the future.

They’re honestly two of the best fic-tional characters of all time. There’s no bones about it.

Those two aren’t the only funny char-acters either. The basic enemies are fun-ny and it’s another reason I recommend sparing their lives.

But when the comedy comes to an end, “Undertale” becomes so bone-chill-ingly terrifying. The final boss has a form that is easily one of the most horrific im-ages I’ve seen in a long time.

And if you play through the game kill-ing everything in sight, it becomes worse. This game makes you feel bad for the ter-

rible things you do.If you end up not having the spine for

the bad choices you make and reset your game, it remembers. Toby Fox put in a system for the game to keep its own files and characters of the game will call you out for the things you try to avoid.

The game balances everything so well, has some of the best characters I’ve ever seen and it’s only ten dollars. I can’t get the same experience from sixty dollar games made by a large team of people.

I think “Undertale” is going to have a big impact on indie games in the futrue. I can feel it in my bones.

It’s games like this that make me so glad Kickstarter exists.

Yeah, I’ll admit that some very terri-ble ideas and projects are on Kickstarters

and have even been funded with it. But because of games like this, I like Kick-starter and many of the things that have happened because of it.

People might think I’m overhyping the game, but I’m not. I haven’t even begun to fully praise this game.

Some of you might not like RPGs. Well, I guess you should start because “Undertale” is that good.

And it’s so easy to buy. It’s ten dollars and you can buy it on Steam, the “Un-dertale” website. Hell, if you shout loud enough, I’ll show up and tell you how to buy it.

So give “Undertale” your time. It’s cheap, unique, and has a great story.

If you do buy it, you’ll have a ton of fun. A skele-ton.

UNDERTALE DOESN’T FAILOPINION BY DAX GUILLIAMS — PARODY IMAGE BY JORDAN JONES BASED ON AN IMAGE © TOBY FOX

NEWS FEATURES SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS

OCT. 12, 2015 NEWS FEATURES SPA CITY HUMOR SPORTS 11

www.HumanServices.Arkansas.gov | Division of Children and Family Services

w w w . a r k a n s a s s a f e h a v e n . o r g

1-888-510-BABY2 2 2 9

It’s Legal. It’s Safe. It’s Anonymous.Safe Haven is a law designed to protect babies.

There is an option. Don’t abandon your baby.

What is Safe Haven? In Arkansas, the Safe Haven law allows a parent to give up a newborn anonymously. The purpose of Safe Haven is to prevent babies from being hurt or killed by unsafe

abandonment. Unsafely abandoning a baby puts the newborn in extreme danger that can result in the baby’s death. It also is illegal, with severe consequences.

12 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS HUMOR SPORTS

WEDNESDAY NIGHT POETRY PRESENTS KEVIN SANDBLOOM

Magic Springs Theme Park, 1701 E. Grand Ave.Saturday, October 17 at 11 a.m.$35 registration fee

Come join the 10K race or 5K run/walk at Magic Springs that goes through the park and around the coasters. Age group awards, cash prizes, and refreshments after the race. Not a runner? Enter the Roller Coaster Ride event and try for a total coaster riding distance of 5K. Registration includes a Magic Springs ticket, a shirt, finisher medal for each event entered and free parking. For more information and registration, visit www.rollercoasterrace.com.

Image and description courtesy of Roller Coaster Races

HOT SPRINGS HAPPENINGSKollective Coffee and Tea, 110 Central Ave.Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m.free

Kevin Sandbloom is a nationally known poet, singer and musician that has performed on stages from London to Los Angeles. Don’t miss this exciting event! Open mic will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by Kevin’s feature at 7, then a second round of open mic. Photo and description courtesy of Kollective Coffee

THE ROLLER COASTER 10K AND 5K RACES AT MAGIC SPRINGS

TAV FALCO’S PANTHER BURNS WITH MIKE WATTMaxine’s Live, 700 Central Ave.Friday, Oct. 16 at 9 p.m.$10, 21+ show

Equal parts primal, early rock’n’roll, deviant hill country blues and avant-garde art, Tav Falco and Panther Burns are ramshackle, raw, and unholy. Special guest Mike Watt is a legend in the world of west-coast punk rock.

Photo and description courtesy of Maxine’s Live

OCT. 12, 2015 13NEWS FEATURES VIEWS HUMOR SPORTS

FILM FESTIVITIES Touching base with the Hot Springs Film Festival STORY BY WENDY HARRIS — PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

If learning about interesting people or hear-ing unique stories is your thing, the 24th an-nual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is the place to be. The HSDFF is the oldest non-fiction film festival in North America and an academy-award-qualifying festival for the Documentary Short Subject category. This years’ festival takes place October 9-18 at the Arlington Hotel & Spa, located at 239 Central Ave in downtown Hot Springs.

With much anticipation “The First Boys of Spring” was shown in Horner Hall at the Hot Springs Convention Center on Saturday morning. Due to the high expectations of people wanting to see the film, the convention center was chosen as the screening location in-stead of the Arlington. “The movie started at 11a.m.; I got here at 10:30 a.m. and there were

already people waiting,” said Kevin Westhill, retired factory worker from Phoenix, Ariz.

“The Springs Magazine” has produced a festival guide with a short description of each film, name of the director and film running time. These festival guides are free and can be obtained at the Hot Springs Visitor’s Center, Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and the Arlington Hotel & Spa. Volunteers of the HSDFI provide a daily schedule of the films with times and what cinema the films are shown in. This daily schedule is available when you purchase a ticket to a film. Program guides are available for $5. However you can see the full festival schedule at the HSDFI website www. HSDFI.org

Ticket prices and passes vary. Student passes are $50 and this includes admission

to all regular film screenings and panels and forums during the festival. General admis-sion to individual films is $7.50. This does not include special ticket screenings. For a full list of prices, passes, purchase outlets and other special events visit the HSDFI website.

Two major events still to come are a book signing with actor Peter Coyote at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16th at 11:30 a.m., and on noon Saturday, the “The Conversation,” a film about race in America. A discussion with filmmak-ers Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster will follow the screening.

There is still plenty of time to check out the schedule of events and see a great documenta-ry or two. The film festival has something for every member of the family. So make a trip to beautiful downtown Hot Springs and enjoy.

HOLD YOUR SEATS — Film fans gather and wait patiently to watch one of the movies hosted in the festival.

14 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS HUMOR SPORTS

THE

Stephen Tobolowsky has acted in over 200 TV shows and films. One of the most famous roles he played was Ned Ryerson in “Groundhog Day” opposite Bill Murray, Happy Chapman in “Gar-field,” and Mr. Bates in “Freaky Friday.” Friday, October 9th at the 24th Annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival the actor unveiled “The Primary Instinct” which was a storytelling history given by the storyteller himself. He reflected on important moments in his life and the fact that all of human history has been recorded in much the same way.

In the documentary Tobolowsky was asked by an 8 year old,” Why do people tell stories in the first place?” Tobolowsky gave the kid some quick answer at the time but he took some time afterward to reflect upon this and why he did chose to be a storyteller.

To answer the question of why you need to know the what, so he talked about three stories of his lifetime that were seemingly not relat-ed to see if there was any relation.

The first story he talked about the birth of his son and how he held this tiny human in his arms for the first time. He went on to describe the imaginary communication between this newborn and he. Noticing the light seemed very bright Tobolowsky took his hand and covered the baby’s eyes and from the look he got back it was an ‘I don’t know who you are but thank you’ moment.

Tobolowsky’s next story recalled a time when he was a tot. He and his neighborhood friend Jill were playing with a large refrigerator box. Tobolowsky recalled saying to Jill, “You know I think we could have put a window right there and you and I could live here forever’. When she smiled at him he recalled the warm feeling he felt.

Tobolowsky’s third story was about a terrible accident he had and was off work for three months. After recuperation, he composed one a group email and sent it to every writer, director, and producer he had

ever worked for seeking employment. When he got a response, a part had been written specifically for him. He received the script he was surprised to find his part, “Enter butt-crack plumber’. Rob Hedden, the writer, thought he could certainly make this part funny and if any-one could make it work Tobo could do it.

When Tobolowsky was still very young his dad took he and his brother to go meet the Green Bay Packers. His brother talked him into going and asking for autographs and the only paper and pen they had was his dad’s prescription pad and pen. He ended up several auto-graphs from the team as well as the great Vince Lombardi. Over the years they had lost track of this treasure.

What do these stories have in common? Like his motto, they are true. His motto is “The truth always trumps clever”, says Tobolowski. The stories are all firsts. Firstborn, first love, first desperation, in his life. In life there are a lot of true firsts but they do not always rise to the occasion to be memorable.

Surprise is another element of Tobolowsky’s stories. For example, the birth of his son was not the defined moment but instead, was the imagined interaction between them. Tobolowsky considered his first date the time the time spent in the old refrigerator box with Jill. In desperation it was the fact he got the butt crack job written specifically for him He went on to say that these were moments not connected with time.

In his closing comments, Tobolowsky spoke intimately about his family. His father read books for his mom as her Alzheimer’s advanced. She was his father’s eyes as he lost his sight. After she passed away his father had the house cleaned up was about to throw away a paper pad. His father asked if this was anything important. It ended up being the pad with the Green Bay Packers and Vince Lombardi’s signature. The blind had found a missing treasure.

TALK WITH ME — Stephen Tobolowsky converses with a fan in the Central Park Fusion restaurant in Hot Springs.

Stephen Tobolowsky debutes at the Hot Springs Film Festival STORY AND PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

INSTINCTPRIMARY

OCT. 12, 2015 NEWS FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY SPORTS 15

NEWS FEATURES VIEWS SPA CITY HUMOR 16

RISING TO THE TOPReddies bring home their fourth win in a rowSTORY BY ALVIN STUCKEY — PHOTO COURTESY OF HSU SPORTS INFORMATION

Following up their 17-7 victory against Arkansas Tech, the Red-dies took the field in Searcy to face Harding University.

Henderson State (5-1) defeated Harding 22-17 in another defen-sive battle.

HSU received the opening kickoff and set up shop at their 15 yard line.

HSU’s first drive lasted 12 plays and ticked over four minutes off the game clock. The drive end-ed with a 24 yard field goal by Houston Ray which pushed HSU into the lead to make the score 3-0, HSU.

The Reddie defense made their presence known on Harding’s first possession.

On the second play of Hard-ing’s drive, HSU’s Josh Davis forced Harding’s Park Parrish to cough up the football. The ball was picked by HSU’s Dondre Wright at Harding’s 38 yard line.

Henderson’s next drive would feature a few passing and running plays. Dallas Hardison connect-ed on back-to-back first down throws with a 17 yard pass to Hagan Tucker and a 15 yard pass to Joseph Snapp.

HSU would enter the end-zone first with a two yard rushing touchdown by Ryan McDonald. The extra point try would be blocked however so it made the score 9-0, HSU.

Harding would go on a lengthy

12 play, 77 yard scoring drive that lasted exactly six minutes. The Bison drive was capped off with a one yard rushing touchdown by Parrish. After Harding made the extra point it made the score 9-7, HSU.

Henderson would not have the ball for very long after Hardison threw an interception to Hard-ing’s DeAndre Baines late in the first quarter. Harding would keep the possession heading into the second quarter trailing 9-7.

Harding would capitalize on HSU’s turnover early in the sec-ond quarter with a 22 yard field goal by Tristan Parsley which put Harding in the lead by one, 10-9.

The Reddie defense would strike at the mid-way point of the second quarter when Blake Bur-nard jumped on a Harding fumble by Sam Blankenship.

HSU’s offense would take advantage of Harding’s turnover when Hardison hit Corey Chap-pell with a 27 yard touchdown pass at the 5:04 mark of the second quarter. Ray’s extra point propelled Henderson back in the lead, 16-10.

The score would stay this way heading into halftime after Pars-ley missed a 36 yard field goal that went wide left as the second quarter ended.

After Harding went three and out to open up the third quarter and Henderson failed on a fourth

down attempt, Harding started their next drive on their 39 yard line.

Harding’s ground game was heavy on this drive which was topped off with a seven yard rushing touchdown by Matt Tenison. Parsley’s extra point try was good so Harding had a 17-16 lead. Harding would hold their one point lead into the fourth quarter.

Both teams would trade non-scoring possessions early in the fourth quarter. HSU would make a big play on special teams when Darion Grey returned a punt for 46 yards all the way to the Bison’s nine yard line.

Henderson would set up shop at the Harding nine yard line. The drive would be capped off with an Andrew Black 10 yard

rushing touchdown. HSU tried to go for two to make the score a single score game but they failed. Henderson jumped back in the lead 22-17.

Harding would get the ball back with a minute left in the game hoping to win the game, but their attempts were shot down when HSU’s Trevon Del Rio picked off Parrish’s first intercep-tion of the game. The Reddies would sit on the ball to seal their fourth straight win.

Javante Mack led the Reddies in receptions with six and receiv-ing yards with 80. Hardison went 17 for 29 from the field with 223 yards.

Henderson State travels to UAM to face the Boll Weevils Saturday. Kick-off is at 3 p.m.

BLOCK — Montana Fuller, junior gaurd, and Dallas Hardison, redshirt junior quar-terback, push through the Bison defense.