Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Volume 93, Issue 8

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Eco Eagle bikes missing after one week

Less than a week after the Southern Miss Offi ce of Sustain-ability launched its free-share Eco Eagle Bike program, most of the 17 bicycles are missing.

“We were all expecting this,” said Larry Lee, chief sustain-ability offi cer, “we just weren’t expecting it in a week.”

The bicycles were purchased from Moore Bikes for about $300 each, including maintenance fees. James Moore, the owner of that establishment, came to the USM campus Friday to address the issue that many gear chains on the bicycles were loose and needed repair. Lee said that as he and Moore began tracking down the EcoEagle Bikes for mainte-nance, he realized most of the bicycles were missing.

Lee said Moore and Univer-sity Police Chief Bob Hopkins are helping the Offi ce of Sus-tainability relocate the EcoEagle Bikes. He added that some have been found close to downtown Hattiesburg, while several have been spotted around local apart-ment complexes.

“I can’t lie and tell you that I’m not disappointed,” Lee said. He added that the sign attached to the EcoEagle Bikes clearly explained that they should not be removed from the USM cam-pus. “We didn’t expect it to hap-pen so quickly - or people to bla-tantly disregard the rules of the program.”

Lee said that the Offi ce of Sustainability, with the help of Moore and Hopkins, will collect

as many bicycles as possible and the committee will regroup to decide the fate of the program. Lee added that “everybody is dedicated to having a bike pro-gram,” but he does not know how it will end up.

“The people who really want-ed the program are going to be disappointed,” Lee said.

Lee said the unfortunate out-come of the fi rst phase of the bike program, a free-share honor system, might force the second phase, in which students can “check-out” a bicycle from the Offi ce of Sustainability for the rest of the semester. Bike chains with locks will be distributed with each EcoEagle Bike, if that is the case, Lee said.

Students who know the loca-tion of a missing EcoEagle Bike should send an e-mail to green@usm.edu, Lee said, so that the bi-cycle can be picked up and held in case the leasing phase of the bike program does eventually launch.

Dustin Boone, a senior mi-crobiology major from Laurel, said he never had the chance to make use of the EcoEagle Bikes, though would have liked to.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Boone said. “I mean, with everything Dr. Saunders is doing to try to get us to go green ... I can’t be-lieve that people would take ad-

vantage of something that’s be-ing given to them.”

Matthew Stephen Planchard, a sophomore environmental biology major, said he sent an email to Lee during the summer about the bike-share program in Toronto, Canada, because he “though it would be really awe-some to get a program like that on campus.”

“I am ecstatic that it’s going on,” Planchard said, “but I am furious that people are taking bikes ... It’s a shame that right we can’t institute a free bike program; I hope that sometime in the future, we’ll be mature enough as a community to do that.”

Matthew Stephen Planchard, a sophomore environmental bi-ology major, said he sent an e-mail to Lee during the summer about the bike-share program in Toronto, Canada, because he “though it would be really awe-some to get a program like that on campus.”

“I am ecstatic that it’s going on,” Planchard said, “but I am furious that people are taking bikes ... It’s a shame that right we can’t institute a free bike program; I hope that sometime in the future, we’ll be mature enough as a community to do that.”

Lesley WaltersNews Editor

’’‘‘I am ecstatic that it’s going on. But I am furious

that people are taking bikes ... It’s a shame that right we can’t institute a free bike program; I hope that sometime in the future, we’ll be mature enough as a community to do that.

-Matthew Stephen Planchard, Biology major

Campus groups rock the voteMeryl Dakin

Printz Writer

The College Democrats and Col-lege Republicans of Southern Miss are working together this fall to en-courage student-voter participation in the election in November.

College Democrats staff advisor, Melissa Carpenter, says students are working hard to campaign and in-volve others in the election process.

The group is working hand-in-hand with the College Republicans to en-courage student voter participation, she said. This harmonious relation-ship has resulted in an array of activi-ties for the weeks leading up to Elec-tion Day November 4.

Carpenter said that during the Col-

lege Democrats meeting Wednesday, Senatorial candidate Erik Fleming (D) will speak at 3:30 p.m. in the TCC Room 228.

College Republicans President Em-ily Hoxie said her group will hold a voter-registration drive on Monday at the fountain in Shoemaker Square from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The two groups will hold a party September 26 at the Power House – free food included – to watch the Presidential Debate being held at Ole Miss, Hoxie said. In October, the two groups will host their own debate on the big issues this year, she added.

“We try to do everything with the College Democrats so we don’t force people to vote for one candidate over the other,” Hoxie said. “We’re not

telling people who to vote for, we’re just trying to encourage people to vote and know the issues.”

Sophomore Cassie Carreras, phar-maceutical sales major, agreed with Hoxie’s point.

“Regardless of political position, I think it’s important to be involved with elections,” Carreras said. “I’d much rather people vote for a candi-date I dislike than not vote at all.”

College Democrats meet ev-ery Monday at 2:00 p.m. and every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in the Thad Cochran Center Room 228. College Republicans meet every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in Union Room B. All students are encouraged to join the groups’ respective facebook groups and attend a meeting or activity.

Photo Illustration by Bradley Jackson

A crowded group of students, faculty, and community members sat and listened to Julia Wright Sunday night as she spoke to the campus about her father’s legacy and 100th birthday.

Author Richard Wright, of Rox-ie, was the son of former slaves and grew up in part of this coun-try’s most oppressive and diffi cult era. After living the south in his early teen years, Wright bounced around from city to city eventu-ally landing in Chicago.

An avid reader and writer, Wright was never formally edu-cated, however he became one of the most educated literary authors of his time.

Wright’s most notable work Native Son, was published shortly after the birth of his fi rst daughter, Julia. His novel was a best seller and highly praised by most, how-

ever it left Wright with an uneasy feeling for his and his family’s safety, which drove him to fl ee to Paris, France. There he raised his daughters and continued to write, never returning to the United States.

Julia Wright addressed the crowd with a short account of a speech she had written for the former evacuees of Hurricane Gustav in Jackson. “The hurri-canes that ravaged the Gulf Coast and the city of New Orleans and the tsunamis of the Pacifi c, are nature’s way of showing us that it is not happy. We are not living right,” she said.

Wright recalled many vivid

memories of her early years in Paris with her father saying “he was always smiling” and stated that her father would compare this society as a repeated pattern of previous ones. She also ad-dressed the issue of her father not returning to the United States be-fore his death.

“My father had his eye on the third world at the time of his death and Africa. Had he lived another decade or so, I do believe that he would have been there,” she said.

Wright then posed the question she believed that her father would be asking Americans today: “Will the U.S. allow itself to become one of these third world countries?”

Sherita Johnson, a English professor, specializes in African-American literature and the works of Richard Wright.

“I had been following Miss Wright since the centennial cel-ebration began back in August. I approached her about coming to speak at Southern Miss. At the time she was dealing with a few health issues, but after she was cleared by a doctor a couple weeks later she happily accepted my offer,” Johnson said.

Johnson and her students had and intimate dinner with Wright before the forum Sunday night. Allysha Patrick, senior English major from Clinton, said she was blown away by Wright’s enthusi-asm and kindheartedness.

“She was so different from what I expected. She is very passion-ate and open to everyone; she has such a beautiful spirit. It was an amazing experience meeting her,” Patrick said.

Felisha Simmons-Fields, an

English major from Natchez, also had a good night with Wright.

“She was so warm and friendly and she speaks so highly of her father’s life and his work. She represents her father’s legacy in a very positive and uplifting light,” Fields said.

Johnson said that Wright’s tes-timonies about her father’s life and the purpose behind his work are very important for students, especially black men, to know and understand. It’s so important because Wright’s responses to the society and the things around him as a youth were so inspirational. Wright responded with literacy when he was living in an illiterate world,” Johnson said. “Today’s youth should focus on positive methods of responding to issues and focus more on educating themselves as young men now, just as Richard Wright did, rather than waiting until they’re older.”

Samantha GholarPrintz Writer

Julia Wright, daughter of novelist Richard Wright, visits the university Sunday as apart of an international tour celebrating her late father’s 100th birth-day. Wright spoke about her father’s struggles as an African-American, and how they are refl ected in his works.

Bryant Hawkins/Printz

Wright recalls memories of father, discusses his work

’’‘‘Today’s youth should focus on positive meth-

ods of responding to issues and focus more on educating themselves as young men now, just as Richard Wright did, rather than waiting until they’re older -Sherita Johnson, English professor

Stuff your face for a cause

Marc Smith (right), a senior politcal science major for New Orleans, La., and Tim Janeway (left), a junior computer networking major from Las Vegas, Nev., battle it out during Sigma Nu’s fi rst annual doughnut eating contest Monday. � e contest was for a charity which contributes to the Dubard School of Launguage Disorders. To see a video of the contest, visit studentprintz.com/multimedia.

Maggie Sanford/Printz

Get a review of the Coen brothers new fi lm Burn After Reading on page 6.

www.studentprintz.com |Tuesday, September 16, 2008Page 2|News

DirtyBirds09-09-08 :• Sorority Village - Service Non-Criminal - A weedeater threw a rock into a parked vehicles windshield causing it to break. Forwarded to Physical Plant.• McCarty hall - Hit and Run - Incident report on file.• PAC Lot - Motor Vehicle Accident - Incident report on file.09-10-08 : • Golden Eagle Av - Suspi-cious Person - One verbal trespass warning was issued to a non-student.• Softball Complex - Two trespass warnings were is-sued to non students.• Montague Blvd - Disturb-ing the Peace - One cam-pus citation was issued for Noise Violation.09-11-08 :• Smalling Dr - Hit and Run - Incident report on file.• Fraternity Dr. - Alcohol

- One campus citation was issued for Possession of Alcohol.• Fraternity Dr - Alcohol - One campus citation was issued for Minor in Posses-sion of alcohol.09-12-08 : • Fraternity Dr - Alcohol - One campus citation was issued for Possession of alcohol and one for Minor in Possession of Beer.• Fraternity Dr - Distur-bance - Report on file, no arrests.• Panhellenic - Petit Lar-ceny - A resident reported the theft of an ID pack from her room.• Tech Bldg - Police Assist - A warrant from Lamar County Sheriff’s office was served by USM PD.• Marsh Hall - Grand Lar-ceny - A faculty member reported the theft of 2 mini Mac computers and an Eiki digital projector.

CAMPUS EVENTS

Today

All day -- Women’s Golf @ Cincinnati -- Fall Invitational

6 p.m. -- Southern Miss Soccer @ Miss. Valley State

7 p.m. -- Southern Miss Volleyball vs. Alcorn State

8 p.m. -- Wesley Foundation JAM -- Wesley

Foundation

Wednesday

12:10 p.m. -- Communion -- Wesley Foundation

12:15 p.m. -- Wednesday Workshop -- General

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | Page 3www.studentprintz.com |News

September 15

USM Homecoming

outside the SGA officeEagle Alley Room 120

Deadline for submitting applicationsSeptember 22

If you’re reading this, the doomsday critics have been proved wrong, and the Large Hadron Collider hasn’t created a universe-consuming black hole.

The 17-mile-long particle ac-celerator, which has been criti-cized because of the theoretical possibility that it could annihi-late the universe, was turned on September 10.

Scientists will use the col-lider to recreate the conditions present at the moment of the big bang. By causing high-energy particles to collide, fundamental particles will be released. The collider was the subject of a lawsuit in Hawaii, which unsuccessfully sought to prevent American agencies from working on it.

USM Associate Professor of Physics Parthapratim Biswas said that because there is no such thing as a zero probability in physics, a theoretical possi-bility existed that the collider could create a black hole, but said that it was just as likely that an object would spontane-

ously levitate. He categorized the probabil-

ity of the Large Hadron Col-lider destroying the universe as “larger than the age of the uni-verse,” adding that the theory was “completely nonsensical.” He likened the debate to the doomsday scenarios predicted when the Internet was being developed, and said that the real controversy surrounded the Large Hadron Collider’s $8 billion price tag.

“It’s absolutely worth it,” he said, noting that the machine will have a useful life of 20 to 30 years.

Junior math major Kalin Al-ford, of Meridian, found the collider both encouraging and troubling.

“Honestly, it’s kind of scary,” he said, adding, “as far as they’ve come, it’s kind of ex-citing. Technology has come a long way in a few years.”

Stephen McDonald, a senior administration of justice major from Elm Springs, Ark., was unconcerned.

“It didn’t lose any sleep over it,” he said. “As someone who believes in Creation, I thought it was interesting as man tries

to gain knowledge about the past and the future, when all the answers that man in his in-finite wisdom needs are in the Bible.”

Hadron collider powers upBob Worth

Printz Writer

Courtesy MCT CampusA 13,000-ton particle detector is installed in the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest atom-smasher, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Help Southern Miss go green by recycling this when you’re done!

For most of the last year, Americans have been wonder-ing: Is infl ation taking off? Many decided it was as soon as gasoline hit $4 a gallon, and last week’s Consumer Price Index report is bound to confi rm that view. By this measure, prices have risen 5.6 percent in the last year, the biggest one-year jump since 1991. But the real answer is that it’s still too early to tell.

At the Federal Reserve, some governors are dissenting from Chairman Ben Bernanke’s poli-cy of maintaining its key interest rate at 2 percent, not raising it. In normal economic times, they probably would be right. But in all the turmoil fostered by the mortgage crisis and the anemic economy, low interest rates may not be infl ationary.

Even with the Fed being so accommodating, banks are re-luctant to lend, and experts think the credit crunch is not going to ease any time soon. Mortgage rates have reached the highest level in six years, and fi nancing is harder to get on any terms. It’s pretty hard for infl ation to catch fi re when banks are dousing loan applicants with buckets of cold water.

Oil prices account for much of the recent infl ation jump, and they have been falling, which means the CPI may well cool off. Infl ation hawks, however, note that the core rate of infl a-tion (which excludes food and energy because of their often misleading volatility) rose by 2.5 percent from July 2007 to July 2008, above the Fed’s usual comfort range.

That’s grounds for concern but, as yet, not alarm. The 1991 surge in the CPI turned out not to be a portent of runaway prices. In fact, the infl ation rate fell in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

Many observers are worriedthat the old wage-price spiral of the 1960s and 1970s, may be re-emerging. In that scenario, prices rise, so workers extract pay raises, which spurs companies to raise prices, which spurs workers to demand even more, producing ever-increasing infl ation. But there are two rea-sons the fear may be misplaced.

The fi rst is that in today’s sputtering economy, workers have little leverage to increase their pay, particularly given that unions are far less prevalent and powerful than they were 30 years ago. In real terms, wages have been shrinking.

The second is that the spiral

can occur only if the Fed pumps enough money into the economy to allow it. Otherwise, overly generous companies will price themselves out of business. Absent an expansive monetary policy, higher wages will lead not to higher prices but to higher unemployment.

The problem with judging the Fed is that it’s devilishly hard to know if monetary policy is expansive or not until after the fact. The increase in the core rate suggests it may be. But oth-er indicators are reassuring. The price of gold, which usually gets a boost from rising infl ation, has plunged by more than $150 an ounce since its July peak. The dollar has risen steadily against the Euro in recent weeks.

Besides oil, a lot of other goods such as corn, rice and aluminum have been getting cheaper.

“After sprinting to record lev-els this spring, the prices for ba-sic commodities have now fallen 20 to 30 percent,” The Christian Science Monitor reports.

That doesn’t mean infl ation is no longer a danger. But right now, the Fed thinks it is manag-ing to contain the threat and they may be correct.

Opinion Page 4opinion@studentprintz.com

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One week. a p p a r e n t l y that’s all the time it takes around here for my fel-low students to fi gure out how to abuse an act of gen-erosity.

I would be consumed with liar’s guilt if I said I didn’t see this coming. Theft is a problem here. One in-stance I recall was when I was studying in the LAB lobby be-fore class. I put my textbook and notebook down on the bench I was using and walked to the bathroom. I couldn’t have been gone more than two minutes, but when I returned I found my textbook had suspiciously evap-orated from the highly crowded lobby.

This incident coupled with the numerous times I’ve heard my friends complain about having things stolen from their dorm rooms has prompted me to de-cide that nobody’s possessions are safe on campus.

I questioned the practicality of 17 bicycles being shared be-tween the several thousand stu-dents here, but now it becomes so perfectly clear. The Offi ce of Sustainability was protecting their investment--or at least cut-ting their losses.

I don’t understand the thought process behind stealing some-thing that is everyone’s. Can’t we as a student body respect the benefi ts of this program over the benefi ts of having a new stolen bicycle? Even the bikes which were found downtown amongst other places I still chalk up as theft--borrowing without asking

followed by not returning.If we don’t stop abusing privi-

leges handed to us by our school, said privileges will go the way of the dodo.

While the EcoEagle bicycle program was a nice thought, I think we as a campus have shown the Offi ce of Sustainability that we can’t handle the responsibil-ity of the honor system. I hope the program lives on, as it seems very useful. I haven’t yet had a chance to use one of these bi-cycles, and I would like to have that chance in the future.

I cannot think of a scheme that would be more practical than the honor system for something like this. Checking out bikes for a full semester loses the “ride it and drop it” aspect of the current program, which I think is the best attribute of the honor system.

The only other alternatives would be expensive to start and fi ll someone’s job with technical problems to sort out. GPS track-ers seem like science fi ction at this point. Perhaps we could in-state some type of locking kiosks where Student identifi cation cards are used to unlock bikes and thusly keep the last rider’s information until the bike is re-turned. Again, this seems highly impractical and expensive.

I’m disappointed in my fel-low students, but most certainly not surprised. This situation just goes to show that we can’t be trusted. I hope we can keep our sticky fi ngers in our pockets for the rest of the year so the Offi ce of Sustainability doesn’t keep their next good idea to them-selves.

Bicycle thefts are anunfortunate problem

Jesse BassOpinions Editor

Jesse Bass is a staff writer for The Student Printz. Comments can be sent to printz@usm.edu

Special to the Printz

It is none of our business but we can’t resist. Alabama is get-ting tough with state workers who are too fat. Beginning in 2010, state employees who are obese and don’t work on getting fi t will have to pay $25 a month for insurance that is free to other workers.

The State Employees Insur-ance Board approved the plan last week. Maybe it is following the example of airline companies that recently began charging pas-sengers for overweight luggage. But this is a bad approach to an admittedly worrisome problem. Yes, it is a good idea to encour-age employees to improve their health, get in shape, be fi t.

In Alabama, fried food is en-demic to the culture. Everything

is fried there, from grits to okra to mouth-watering chicken _ and tea comes presweetened. This kind of food is fat-inducing, and it takes an iron will just to resist.

However, being overweight _ even obese _ is not necessarily linked to one’s diet. For many overweight people, weight gain is more about genes than diet. On the other side of the coin, many people who are of “average” weight are affl icted with the kind of medical issues _ diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, etc. _ that are typically as-

sociated with obesity. If the con-cern is about poor health, why not focus on health issues instead of weight?

This is a situation where the carrot is better than the stick. Of-fering a plaque, a reward, bonus, cash or recognition for improve-ment creates positive incentive and good karma. Assessing a cash penalty for lack of improve-ment is a negative incentive. It can work, but there may not be full buy-in of the concept.The column of opinion appeared in the Miami Herald on Saturday, Aug. 23.

Targeting overweight is wrong approach

ʼ̓ʻ̒Being overweight - even obese - is not neces-

sarily linked to one’s diet. For many overweight people, weight gain is more about genes than diet.

Special to the Printz

This column appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

Infl ation: True or false?

8

Do you think the theft of the Eagle bikes is something that should have been expected?

Sound o� online.

Let us know what you think.www.studentprintz.com

Tuesday, September 16, 2008| Page 5www.studentprintz.com |Opinion

Attendance polices unfairA t t e n -

d a n c e p o l i c i e s appear in the vast major i ty of syllabi given out by profes-sors here at South-

ern on the first day of class. According to page 33 of the USM Student Hand-book, class attendance policy is to be “set by the professor, who is expected to set a reasonable policy with respect to document-ed absences that are truly beyond the student’s con-trol.” My question is this: who decided that no more than 3 days per semester is the accepted standard?

As far as I am concerned, I pay this university for the grades I earn, and there-fore it should be up to me whether I get up at 8 a.m. for class or not. I am not being paid for my pres-ence here; I am paying for someone to be available to educate me. In saying that, I fully understand that my grade will probably be ad-versely affected if I choose to skip the majority of my

classes. However, I do not feel that I should be penal-ized for choosing not to at-tend a class 4 days this se-mester, especially if I can still do well in the course.

One of my upper-level classes last fall had a great policy, and it is a policy I would love to see more pro-fessors adopt. The profes-sor did not dock our grades based on attendance, but gave quizzes almost every day to monitor our prog-ress and comprehension. The quizzes forced me to keep up with my home-work, and if I chose to skip class, I knew that I was most likely missing a quiz and in turn negatively af-fecting my grade for the class. She was understand-ing of circumstances that were “beyond the student’s control,” and dropped 3 of our lowest quiz grades at the end of the semester.

As college students, we are responsible for our grades. It is not up to our parents to make us go to school every day, and it is certainly not up to our pro-fessors to act like our par-ents. As responsible adults, we should go to class daily with the knowledge that

it will aid us in attaining the good grades for which we all aspire. However, if you can ace a class with-out attending more than the exams, you should not be penalized for wasting your time for the next 15 weeks.

I do believe that the major-ity of instructors sincerely want us to learn something in their classes, and that’s generally more likely to happen if we are in atten-dance. Ultimately, though, the decision should be up to you and me. Freshmen will learn quickly enough that they won’t do well without going to class.

The Handbook also says that it is the responsibility of each of your professors to notify you “in writing at the onset of each semester of the attendance require-ments.” Pay attention to your syllabi and you won’t be unknowingly stuck in a class with no attendance policy, but you also won’t miss too many meetings of a class with a strict atten-dance policy.

Olivia LightseyPrintz Writer

Olivia Lightsey is a staff writer for The Student Printz. Comments can be sent to printz@usm.edu

Weekends discrimnate As I pre-

pared to raise the white flag to the harsh discovery that I had absolutely nothing to write about

this time around, a sud-den revelation occurred to me—the fact that fun dis-criminates, and why.

The other night as my best friend and I sat in my car, bored and blah, watching from a vacant parking lot the midnight traffic dwindle down, we realized that our every weekend upon begin-ning college in Hattiesburg has been filled with the same routine--nothing. We discovered that this all had to do with the fact that the most fun that’s had around these parts involves clubs, booze, drugs, sex or all of the above, none of which we do.

So I am asking, what do those of us who actually stay sober and out of trou-ble do for fun around here? Sure, there are the movies but that’s not fun, that’s just entertainment, and yes

there is a difference. It is possible to be entertained but not have fun at the same time. That happens every time I watch television.

Keep in mind that I am new to the area so if my plea for fun gives off the vibe that I am completely sheltered trust me, you’re getting the wrong vibe. It’s not that I can’t do the hard-core party thing. It’s the fact that I choose not to.

This may be the reason why I remain bored out of my skull every weekend. I am very aware of the “Rated R” options that are available to me. The op-tions I am not aware of are the ones that actually allow me to keep my memories from the previous night. I just want to have one night of fun in this town without having to lower my stan-dards to do it.

Call me lame if you must. Call this my desperate at-tempt at a life that is above watching traffic from a parking lot. I don’t care. If there is anyone else out there who shares my of-fense to the reality that fun discriminates toward the “goodie-goodies” of this

town and knows a solu-tion to this problem, then please, for the love of all that is fun, let me know!

Jonah Taylor is a staff writer for The Student Printz. Comments can be sent to printz@usm.eduJonah

TaylorPrintz Writer

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Entertainment Page 6entertainment@studentprintz.com

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Japanese groups rock Thirsty HippoRock n’ roll was the universal

language at the Thirsty Hippo last Sunday night.

The bar in downtown Hatties-burg played host to the Japanese bands Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re and The Captains. Language barriers were nothing to a crowd that punched the air in unison to the punk rock performances.

The Captains, hailing from Sen-dai, Japan, kicked off the show aggressively with catchy guitar riffs and upbeat ballads. The band of four, dressed in matching red marching band attire, corralled the audience together almost instantly with their wild gestures. It wasn’t long before everyone was using their hands to mime guns for the rowdy song “Koi No Pistol (Ban, Ban, Ban).” The Captains, who

play a style of rock once popular in the 1960’s called “group sounds,” are currently on their second tour of the United States.

The all-girl band Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re finished the show, treating the audience to guitarist and lead singer Mari’s banshee-like screams and drummer Mizue’s pony-tailed head-banging. Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, from Tokyo, Japan, plays elements of ska and avant garde rock with their signature powerpuff punk. All three girls were dynamos of ener-gy: every so often Mari and bassist Yayoi would prance straight into the midst of the crowd, instruments ablaze. According to tour manager Bryan Nelson, the popular girl band is now on their seventh tour of the States.

“It was a really good show,” said USM junior Brandon Hodges after the concert. “It was really neat to see bands from another country come

out and play their brand of rock n’ roll.” Hodges said he couldn’t make up his mind which band he enjoyed more, so he bought shirts representing each. “And it seemed that [the bands] were having a good time themselves,” Hodges added.

After his performance, The Cap-tains’ guitarist and lead singer Ki-zuhiko agreed that the show was an exciting one. “I like Hattiesburg. The people [at the Thirsty Hippo] are lovely and crazy.”

Mari, of Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, be-lieves that it doesn’t matter wheth-er you are Japanese or American for you to enjoy their music. “I just want to tell everybody about our soul and our energy. We want to let Americans know that the Japanese have soul!”

Patrick LaughlinPrintz Writer

This is a column of opinion written by Printz Opinions staff writer Patrick Laughlin. Comments can be sent to printz@usm.edu

Patrick Laughlin/PrintzThe Captains, a band from Sendai, Japan, perform at the Thirsty Hippo Sunday night. The bar hosted a night of Japanese rock with performances from both The Captains and the all girl band Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re.

Joel and Ethan Coen have to-gether crafted a filmography that spans from unnerving suspense to idiosyncratic hilarity and back again. What’s their secret to persis-tent success? Quite simply, because they just love movies. Their most recent theatrical journey, “Burn Af-ter Reading,” is one of pitch-black humor and unwavering farce.

The film stars a plethora of Hol-lywood front-runners, all turning in performances of calculated dumb-ness. Brad Pitt and Frances Mc-Dormand are two cognitively ill-fated employees of a gym, and one day stumble upon a disc containing what they believe to be secret CIA files. Well, they do actually belong to a CIA agent, played by John Mal-kovich, who recently got demoted from his high rank in the agency for “a drinking problem.” His cyni-

cally feminist wife, played by Tilda Swinton, is having an affair with a happily married man, played by George Clooney. Clooney’s char-acter is having another affair, but with McDormand’s character. J.K. Simmons pops up as a CIA boss, who has a perfectly impersonal so-lution to the entire fiasco. Sounds complicated, right?

The plot of this film does in-tricately twist into itself, uncoil, and twist again, but we are never bored. In lesser hands, this movie would be a migraine-inducing mis-hap, but the Coens unquestionably know how to handle complicated material. The success to this movie

lies in their ability to successfully execute a plot that feels like it could shatter at any moment and the actors’ willingness to play dim-witted characters.

As far as comparisons go, “Burn After Reading” is certainly not the cinematic masterpiece of the brothers’ “No Country for Old Men.” But, believe it or not, Joel and Ethan are completely aware of that. They never set out to make a movie with their fingers crossed that they get another invite back to the Kodak Theatre for some little gold statues. Joel and Ethan Coen truly love the medium they under-stand so well and, in its own way, “Burn After Reading” will fall into their filmography as successful proof that Hollywood takes itself too seriously.

Craig McNeesePrintz Writer

This is a column of opinion written by Printz opinions staff writer Craig McNeese. Comments can be sent to printz@usm.edu

Burn After ReadingRated R, 1 hr 37 min

Showtimes:(1:55),(4:25),7:20, 9:15

Movie review

Burn is typical Coen film

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | Page 7www.studentprintz.com |Sports

The Southern Miss vol-leyball team came up short against Cal State Fullerton in the USD Tournament, losing 3-1 and falling to 7-3.

Against Cal State Fullerton, Stevi Cherry pounded out 14 kills while Angela Hlavaty added 10 for the Golden Eagles offensively. Ivanova registered 14 digs. Erin Sad-dler led all players with a match-high 23 kills with Alex Wolnisty and Brittany Moore adding 11 and 10 kills, respec-tively. Cami Corteau recorded 11 digs.

In the fi rst set, Fullerton fought back from an 11-6 defi cit to take on 14-12 lead following an 8-2 run. From there, both teams battled back and forth. CSF led 23-20, but the Golden Eagles managed to tie the set 24-24 before fi nally pulling out a 30-28 win.

Fullerton came right back to tie the match 1-1 with a 25-23 win. The Titans maintained the advantage throughout the second set. The Golden Eagles tied the set four times.

The teams battled early before the Titans used an 11-4 run to take the lead for good. South-ern Miss

managed to cut the lead to one, 22-21, but Fullerton was able to hold on for the 25-22 win.

The fi nal set featured 11 ties and four lead changes between the two teams. Fullerton ended the set on a 3-1 run, taking a 25-22 win.

Earlier in the day, the Lady Eagles lost to host No. 20 San Diego, 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-16), dropping their second-straight match.

Ashley Petrinec led the attack against the San Diego with eight kills, while Maia Ivanova added nine digs. Amy DeGroot led the Toreros with 16 kills.

In the fi rst set, the two teams battled back and forth in the early going with each team taking their turn with the lead, and neither team having a lead bigger than three. With

the score knotted at 15-15, a Southern Miss ball handling error sparked a 10-4 San Diego run that was capped off on a USM attack error to give USD the 25-20 win.

In the second set, a South-ern Miss attack error ignited a 10-3 San Diego run to begin the frame. After Southern Miss ended the run on a Sara Jane Bowden kill, USD then used a 6-4 run to give the host a comfortable 18-8 lead and a 25-12 win.

In the third and fi nal set, San Diego continued their momentum from set two and again jumped out to an early lead as the Toreros started with an 11-5 run. USD kept the pressure on, winning 25-15 for the sweep.

Southern Miss returns home for a busy week. The Golden Eagles host Alcorn State on Tuesday at 7 p.m., followed by the conference opener against UCF Thursday. For the week-end, Southern Miss will host a tournament, featuring UCF, North Texas and McNeese State.

Volleyball swept in tourneySpecial to the Printz

Help Southern Miss go green by recycling this when youʼre done!

Stevi Cherry

It wasn’t flashy, but the Golden Eagles put an-other game in the win col-umn against another pesky Sun Belt foe Saturday, downing Ar-kansas State

27-24 in Jonesboro, Ark. And as anyone who got to

watch the second half will tell you, it was about as unconven-tional as a win can be.

Looking at the stat-sheet without the score, it doesn’t look like Southern Miss won the football game.

After all the Golden Eagles lost the total yards battle by nearly 100 yards, and got out-rushed 191-129 and out-passed 256-219.

But when it counted most, the young offense put together an impressive drive, and the defense came up with a stop that sealed the victory.

“It was a good win on the road against a good football team, a team that we felt would be tough on the road, and it was,” Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora said. “The guys fought hard all the way to the end and that’s why we won the football game.”

The defining moment of the game came with just under nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter, when Southern Miss got the ball back at their own seven-yard-line while clinging to a three-point lead.

The offense, which had been anemic since halftime, utilized its weapons to put together a 93-yard drive that gave the Eagles a 10-point cushion against a Red Wolf offense that had gashed the Eagles for two straight quar-ters. Austin Davis completed two passes to Damion Fletcher for 44 yards, and Fletcher and receiver Ed Morgan combined for 31 rushing yards on the drive that was capped by a 24-yard pass from Davis to Fletcher.

Don’t be surprised if the Red Wolves end up Sunbelt Con-ference Champs. Their triple-headed rushing attack is going to give everyone in that conference problems.PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Fedora said in his Monday press conference that quarter-back Austin Davis and Shawn Nelson were his offensive play-ers of the week.

Davis finished the game 18 of 31 passing for 219 yards, and added 20 yards on 10 carries. It was Davis’ third 200-yard pass-ing attempt in as many games.

Nelson finished with seven catches for 110 yards, putting himself back on track to reach his personal 1,000-yard goal for the season.

On defense, Fedora praised defensive tackle Anthony Gray, who finished with four total tackles, including two tackles-for-loss and two sacks, and Gerald McRath, who tallied eight stops.SOUND THE ATTACK

The Eagles seemed to pick up right where they left off at Auburn in the first half against Arkansas State, scoring on their first three offensive possessions, but fell flat and never really recovered until the long drive in the fourth quarter.

Fedora said at Monday’s press conference that the trick will be getting his team to play an entire game like the second half of the Auburn game and the first half of the Arkansas State game. “I’m doing everything possible I promise you. I think a lot of it has to do with a team that has a new system in every phase of the game, on offense, defense and special teams,” Fedora said.

Sports Page 8sports@studentprintz.comwww.studentprintz.com/sports

Tyler ClevelandSports Editor

Eagles king of the Sun Belt

Tyler Cleveland is sports editor for The Student Printz. Comments can be sent to printz@usm.edu

Special to the Printz

Freshman Austin Davis threw for two touchdowns, and South-ern Mississippi handed Arkansas State its first loss of the season, 27-24 Saturday night.

With the game tied at 17 early in the fourth quarter, Arkan-sas State lined up for a short field goal, but the snap went through the hands of holder Brett Shrable. The ball bounced all the way back to around midfield, and Southern Miss’ C.J. Bailey even-tually returned it all the way to the Arkansas State 10.

Justin Estes kicked a 28-yard field goal with 10:47 to play to give Southern Miss (2-1) the lead, and the Golden Eagles later went ahead 27-17 on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Davis to Damion Fletcher.

Arkansas State scored with 2:14 to play on Corey Leonard’s 5-yard pass to Jeff Blake, and the Red Wolves (2-1) got the ball back. But Leonard was intercept-ed by Eddie Willingham on a de-flection at the Southern Miss 40.

Davis threw a 1-yard touch-down pass to Jonathan Massey to give Southern Miss a 17-3 half-time lead. Arkansas State scored touchdowns on its first two drives of the second half. Leonard found tight end David Johnson unguarded for a 16-yard score, and Reggie Arnold finished a 94-yard, 10-play drive with a 6-yard scoring run.

Arkansas State was coming off two impressive wins. The Red Wolves upset Texas A&M to open the season, then beat Texas Southern 83-10.

Southern Miss beat Arkansas State in the 2005 New Orleans Bowl.

USM keeps it close in 27-24 win

Top: Defensive lineman Anthony Gray makes a tackle during Saturday’s game against Arkansas State. Southern Miss won the game 27-24.Above: Sophomore kicker Justin Estes attempts a field goal Saturday against Arkansas State. Estes finished the game two-for-two with field goals of 23 and 28 yards.Right: Freddie Parham, a junior wide receiver from Margaret, Ala., runs the ball after catching the kickoff, gaining 25 yards during Saturday’s game against Arkansas State.

Photos courtesy of King Photography

Offense USMASUTotal 348 447Pass 219 256Rushing 129 191

BoxScore 1234USM 314010-27ASU 30147-24

Upnext:USMv.MarshallASUv.MiddleTenn.State

RecAp

Early goal costs Lady Eagles winThe Southern Miss soccer

team dropped a close contest to Louisiana- Lafayette, 1-0 Sun-day afternoon at the Southern Miss Soccer Complex.

Lafayette (2-4-1) scored the games only goal in the 33rd minute as Erika Saffer found the back of the net near the end of the first half.

“We had out opportunities to-day, but just could not find a way to get the ball in the back of the net,” head coach Scott Ebke said. “We had one defensive lapse and UL took advantage of it.”

Southern Miss (3-2-1) took a season high 22 shots includ-ing five on goal and two off the crossbar. Sarah McFadden led all players with eight shots on the afternoon.

Southern Miss had a few golden opportunities late. Mal-lory Barnes hit a header that beat the UL keeper but deflected off the cross bar back into play in the 79th minute. The ball rattled around in the box for a few sec-onds with players from both teams franticly fighting for the ball just inches from the goal line before it was finally cleared by the Cajuns.

In the 85th minute McFadden beat a UL defender for a one-vs.-one situation that UL keeper Stephanie Weston was able to make a great save on to preserve the lead.

McFadden threatened again with less than a minute remain-ing in the game as she once again beat the UL defender and

fired a shot that skimmed the top of the crossbar before flying out of bounds.

“We really have to work on our composure in front of the net, move the ball better on the ground and take advantage of our chances,” Ebke added. “We were able to get some looks at the net today but the UL keeper made a big save and their back line played very well this after-noon.”

The Golden Eagles will return to action Tuesday at Mississippi Valley State and will return to the Southern Miss Soccer Com-plex on Sunday, September 21 as they host Mississippi State, kick-off is set for 2:00 p.m.

“We have to regroup and re-energize for what will be a hard fought road game on Tuesday,” Ebke said.

Special to the Printz

’’

‘‘Wehadoutopportu-nities today, but justcouldnotfindawaytogettheballintheback of the net. Wehad one defensivelapse and UL tookadvantageofit.

-Scott Ebke, Head coach

TheLadyEaglessoccerteamwilltraveltofaceMississippiValleyStateandreturnhomeSunday,Sept.21toplayhostforMissis-sippiState.

UpNext

Renee Hrapmann, a junior midfielder from Mandeville, La., dribbles the ball. Southern Miss lost 1-0 against Louisana-Lafayette Sunday at the South Miss Soccer Complex. The Lady Eagles hit the road today before returning to host Missis-sippi State.

Photo courtesy of Media Relations