VIEWS: ARTS & LIFE: SPORTS: Local artist streaks, pushes for individualism Page 6 Biker’s passion helps him overcome addiction Page 4 Track team prepared for biggest meet of season Page 5 Making Music UNT students, faculty bring chamber music to China Page 2 The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas ntdaily.com News 1,2 Arts & Life 3,4 Sports 5,6 Views 7 Classifieds 8 Games 8 Thursday, April 1, 2010 Volume 95 | Issue 39 Cloudy 81° / 62° Spring allergies plague students Tuvan musicians come to campus BY GRACIELA RAZO Senior Staff Writer Allergy season is here, and it’s causing students walking around campus to sniffle and sneeze on their way to class. Some students mistake infections or serious illnesses for allergies and do not visit the doctor as soon as they should, said John Shelton, assistant clin- ical director. “There is not any 100 percent reliable way to tell the difference, but you can get a good idea based on what the symptoms are,” Shelton said. Students can recognize slight clues to whether their sickness is because of reoc- curring springtime allergies or a more serious infection, Shelton said. Allergies usually come with sneezing, watery nose, congestion and itchy eyes. Infection symptoms commonly include those of allergies and other, more serious signs, Shelton said. “The symptoms can be similar, but you can get some hint from the characteristics of the symptoms,” Shelton said. M. Jadeja, a Walgreens pharmacist, said students need to be aware of the differ- ence between their allergic reactions and unusual sick- ness symptoms. “Usually infection is asso- ciated with high fevers and a lot of pain,” Jadeja said. “Students should watch out for lethargy, too.” Allergies mostly flare up when students are outdoors, Jadeja said. If students feel better at other times of the day, their sickness probably is not an infection. Students should look for discolored nasal discharge and severe pains as signs of an infection, as well, Shelton said. People commonly confuse a sinus infection for seasonal allergies, but “pretty signifi- cant facial pains and head- aches” indicate that they need to get to a doctor as soon as possible, Shelton said. “[Patients] usually come in with symptoms, and they are not sure whether it is an allergy or an infection,” Shelton said. Jadeja said the phar- macy does see an increase of students filling prescrip- tions, inhalers and over-the- counter drugs to battle their allergies around this time of year. Shelton suggests students go to a drugstore to pick up allergy medicines, like Alavert, Allegra or Zyrtec. “If they’re not doing the job, then it is time to come into the Student Health Center to find some- thing better that will help,” Shelton said. Amber Cohn, an accounting senior, said she suffers from aller- gies this time of year but rarely misses class because of her symptoms. Her allergies include sneezing, congestion, runny nose and headaches. “All the fun stuff,” she said. She takes Claritin for her allergies, but sometimes finds that her symptoms are not from allergies at all, Cohn said. “I’ve had a [severe] sinus infection and a respiratory infection before,” Cohn said. “Normally if it’s not aller- gies, it’ll be more consistent, and I’ll have a fever, too.” Cohn will wait a week to see if symptoms go away before she visits a doctor, she said. Cohn also takes daily vita- mins and supplements to stay healthy, she said. “I will take anything that’s going to raise my immune system and has antioxidants in it,” Cohn said. To prevent sickness, students should get enough rest, eat properly and wash hands frequently, Shelton said. DREW ROBERTSON FOR PRESIDENT CAMERON JEAN FOR VICE PRESIDENT KEVIN SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT MERCEDES FULBRIGHT FOR VICE PRESIDENT Voting began Monday and will end at 5 p.m. Friday, April 2. To vote, visit www.unt.edu/sga Read results Tuesday at ntdaily.com Don’t Forget to Vote The Alash Throat Singers From Tuva performed Wednesday night at the Eagle Student Services Center as part of the UNT College of Music Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology. BY AMBER ARNOLD Arts and Life Editor A Tuvan throat-singing ensemble serenaded more than 150 wide-eyed audience members with an ancient form of music passed down through many generations Wednesday night. The group, Alash, combines complex sounds and multiple vocal and instrumental layers to recreate the traditional Tuvan music. “It may even stretch back before humans invented language,” said Sean Quirk, the group’s manager and interpreter. The Republic of Tuva is a part of the Russian Federation. The musicians have mastered the technique of suppressing the fundamental vocal tone and bringing out overtones and harmonics to sing multiple notes at once, said Steven Friedson of the music faculty. “Music is one of the most human things we do,” Friedson said. “… It’s a beautiful thing to understand and experience different cultures’ music.” Nachyn Choodu, Bady-Dorzhu Ondar, Ayan-ool Sam and Ayan Shirizhik comprise Alash and have been practicing the art of throat singing for most of their lives, Quirk said. “All of them have been doing this since they were anywhere from 5 to 9 years old and have been practicing their instruments for 10 to 12 years,” he said. The process of learning how to throat sing is different than learning musical instruments in Western culture, Friedson said. “We have this mindset in the West that if you want to be a musician you take lessons and go to conservatories,” he said. “Traditionally, this was a matter of osmosis. You were around it, and you just learned how to do it as a part of being in the culture.” Friedson has taught the Tuvan art of throat singing in his Music Cultures of the World class for the past 15 years as a way to open his students’ minds to new musical ideologies. “It helps to understand our own culture better and our own music better when we under- stand how music functions in other cultures,” he said. Kevin Raab, a musical perfor- mance sophomore, said he gained his interest in the music when he took Friedson’s class. “I saw the posters around campus, and after taking that class, I knew I had to come,” he said. In the class, he attempts to teach students to throat sing. Friedson said. However, even he admits that he has not quite mastered it. “I can do it a bit, but not like these guys,” he said. The worldwide popularity of the art form is a relatively recent development, Friedson said. Kongar-ol Ondar, Tuva’s world- renowned throat singer, was the first to bring throat singing outside of the country. He also appeared in the film, “Genghis Blues” with blues musician Paul Pena. UNT upgrades stadium security BY VINCE GRAZIANO Contributing Writer UNT’s new multi-million dollar stadium has begun to rise from the clay where golfers once drove, chipped and putted. When completed, it will be the crown jewel of the university from both a facility and security standpoint. Eric Capper, an asso- ciate director of athletics, said the new security measures and tech- nology being put in place at the new stadium will greatly improve upon those used at Fouts Field. “It’s kind of like going from the Flintstones to the Jetsons,” he said. Fans could have the option to report incidents by text message or phone call to secu- rity personnel, who would use new surveillance equipment to identify the location of the inci- dent and respond accordingly. “We will have video surveil- PHOTO BY CLINTON LYNCH/VISUALS EDITOR Throat singers from Tuva perform Wednesday night in the Lyceum. The group, Alash, combines complex sounds and multiple vocal and instrumental layers to recreate the traditional Tuvan music. The current security device, a fence, is used around the entire field to prevent trespassers from entering the premises. PHOTO BY CLINTON LYNCH/VISUALS EDITOR PHOTO BY MARIA WEBSTER/PHOTOGRAPHER See GROUP on Page 4 lance to identify specifically where the fan is,” Capper said. “We currently just don’t have the space and personnel in place to handle those types of requests.” He added that the new cameras will have zooming and panning capability, greatly increasing the ability of security staff to identify problems. “Once the stadium is completed, the amounts and types of security will make for a more enjoyable fan experience,” Capper said. At Fouts Field, the technology infrastructure is simply not in place, and the new facility will be much easier to control and manage with less staff, he said. The new stadium will have an on-site, central control center where security-related issues will be handled. See BETHEA on Page 5 “I will take anything that’s going to raise my immune system.” —Amber Cohn Accounting senior
Transcript
VIEWS:
ARTS & LIFE:SPORTS:
Local artist streaks, pushes for individualismPage 6
Biker’s passion helps him overcome addictionPage 4Track team prepared for biggest meet of seasonPage 5
Making MusicUNT students, faculty bring chamber music to China Page 2
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texasntdaily.com
News 1,2Arts & Life 3,4Sports 5,6Views 7Classifieds 8Games 8
Thursday, April 1, 2010Volume 95 | Issue 39
Cloudy81° / 62°
Spring allergies plague students
Tuvan musicians come to campus
BY GRACIELA RAZOSenior Staff Writer
Allergy season is here, and it’s causing students walking around campus to sniff le and sneeze on their way to class.
Some students mistake i n f e c t i o n s o r s e r i o u s il lnesses for allergies and do not visit the doctor as soon as they should, said John Shelton, assistant clin-ical director.
“There is not a ny 100 percent reliable way to tell the difference, but you can get a good idea based on what the symptoms are,” Shelton said.
Students can recognize slight clues to whether their sickness is because of reoc-curring springtime allergies or a more s e r i o u s i n f e c t i o n , S h e l t o n said.
A l lerg ies u s u a l l y come w it h s n e e z i n g , watery nose, congest ion a n d i t c h y eyes.
Infection s y m p t o m s c o m m o n l y include those of a l lergies a nd ot her, more ser ious signs, Shelton said.
“The symptoms can be similar, but you can get some hint from the characteristics of the symptoms,” Shelton said.
M. Jadeja, a Walgreens pharmacist, said students need to be aware of the differ-ence between their allergic reactions and unusual sick-ness symptoms.
“Usually infection is asso-ciated with high fevers and a lot of pain,” Jadeja said. “Students should watch out for lethargy, too.”
Allergies mostly f lare up when students are outdoors, Jadeja said. If students feel better at other times of the day, their sickness probably is not an infection.
Students should look for discolored nasal discharge and severe pains as signs of an infection, as well, Shelton said.
People commonly confuse a sinus infection for seasonal allergies, but “pretty signifi-
cant facial pains and head-aches” indicate that they need to get to a doctor as soon as possible, Shelton said.
“[Patients] usually come in with symptoms, and they are not sure whether it is an allergy or an infection,” Shelton said.
Jadeja sa id t he pha r-macy does see an increase of students filling prescrip-tions, inhalers and over-the-counter drugs to battle their allergies around this time of year.
Shelton suggests students go to a drugstore to pick up allergy medicines, like Alavert, Allegra or Zyrtec.
“If they’re not doing the job, then it is time to come into t he Student Hea lt h
C e n t e r t o f i nd some-thing better t h a t w i l l help,” Shelton said.
A m b e r C o h n , a n a c c ou nt i n g senior, said she su f fers f rom a l ler-gies this time of yea r but
rarely misses class because of her symptoms.
Her a l ler g ies i nclude sneezing, congestion, runny nose and headaches.
“A ll the fun stuff,” she said.
She takes Claritin for her a l lergies, but sometimes f inds that her sy mptoms are not from allergies at all, Cohn said.
“I’ve had a [severe] sinus infection and a respiratory infection before,” Cohn said. “Normally if it’s not aller-gies, it’ll be more consistent, and I’ll have a fever, too.”
Cohn will wait a week to see if symptoms go away before she visits a doctor, she said.
Cohn also takes daily vita-mins and supplements to stay healthy, she said.
“I will take anything that’s going to raise my immune system and has antioxidants in it,” Cohn said.
To pr e v ent s ic k ne s s , students should get enough rest, eat properly and wash hands frequently, Shelton said.
DREW ROBERTSONFOR PRESIDENT
CAMERON JEANFOR VICE PRESIDENT
KEVIN SANDERSFOR PRESIDENT
MERCEDES FULBRIGHTFOR VICE PRESIDENT
Voting began Monday and will end at 5 p.m. Friday, April 2. To vote, visit www.unt.edu/sga
Read results Tuesday at ntdaily.com
Don’t Forget to Vote
The Alash Throat Singers From Tuva performed Wednesday night at the Eagle Student Services Center as part of the UNT College of Music Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology.
BY AMBER ARNOLDArts and Life Editor
A Tuvan throat-singing ensemble serenaded more than 150 wide-eyed audience members with an ancient form of music passed down through many generations Wednesday night.
The group, Alash, combines complex sounds and multiple vocal and instrumental layers to recreate the traditional Tuvan music.
“It may even stretch back before humans invented language,” said Sean Quirk, the group’s manager and interpreter.
The Republic of Tuva is a part of the Russian Federation.
The musicians have mastered the technique of suppressing the fundamental vocal tone and bringing out overtones and harmonics to sing multiple notes at once, said Steven Friedson of the music faculty.
“Music is one of the most human things we do,” Friedson said. “… It’s a beautiful thing to understand and experience different cultures’ music.”
Nachyn Choodu, Bady-Dorzhu Ondar, Ayan-ool Sam and Ayan Shirizhik comprise Alash and have been practicing the art of throat singing for most of their lives, Quirk said.
“All of them have been doing this since they were anywhere from 5 to 9 years old and have
been practicing their instruments for 10 to 12 years,” he said.
The process of learning how to throat sing is different than learning musical instruments in Western culture, Friedson said.
“We have this mindset in the West that if you want to be a musician you take lessons and go to conservatories,” he said. “Traditionally, this was a matter of osmosis. You were around it, and you just learned how to do it as a part of being in the culture.”
Friedson has taught the Tuvan art of throat singing in his Music Cultures of the World class for the past 15 years as a way to open his students’ minds to new musical ideologies.
“It helps to understand our own culture better and our own music better when we under-stand how music functions in other cultures,” he said.
Kevin Raab, a musical perfor-mance sophomore, said he gained his interest in the music when he took Friedson’s class.
“I saw the posters around campus, and after taking that class, I knew I had to come,” he said.
In the class, he attempts to teach students to throat sing. Friedson said. However, even he admits that he has not quite mastered it.
“I can do it a bit, but not like these guys,” he said.
The worldwide popularity of the art form is a relatively recent development, Friedson said.
Kongar-ol Ondar, Tuva’s world-renowned throat singer, was the first to bring throat singing
outside of the country. He also appeared in the film, “Genghis Blues” with blues musician Paul Pena.
UNT upgrades stadium securityBY VINCE GRAZIANOContributing Writer
UNT’s new multi-million dollar stadium has begun to rise from the clay where golfers once drove, chipped and putted.
When completed, it will be the crown jewel of the university from both a facility and security standpoint. Eric Capper, an asso-ciate director of athletics, said the new security measures and tech-nology being put in place at the new stadium will greatly improve upon those used at Fouts Field.
“It’s kind of like going from the Flintstones to the Jetsons,” he said.
Fans could have the option to report incidents by text message or phone call to secu-rity personnel, who would use new surveillance equipment to identify the location of the inci-dent and respond accordingly.
“We will have video surveil-
PHOTO BY CLINTON LYNCH/VISUALS EDITOR
Throat singers from Tuva perform Wednesday night in the Lyceum. The group, Alash, combines complex sounds and multiple vocal and instrumental layers to recreate the traditional Tuvan music.
The current security device, a fence, is used around the entire � eld to prevent trespassers from entering the premises.
PHOTO BY CLINTON LYNCH/VISUALS EDITOR
PHOTO BY MARIA WEBSTER/PHOTOGRAPHER
See GROUP on Page 4
lance to identify specifically where the fan is,” Capper said. “We currently just don’t have the space and personnel in place to handle those types of requests.”
He added that the new cameras will have zooming and panning capability, greatly increasing the
ability of security staff to identify problems.
“Once t he stadium is completed, the amounts and types of security will make for a more enjoyable fan experience,” Capper said.
At Fouts Field, the technology infrastructure is simply not in
place, and the new facility will be much easier to control and manage with less staff, he said.
The new stadium will have an on-site, central control center where security-related issues will be handled.
UNT viola student Michelle Paczut poses with SCUT viola students after a rehearsal. Students and faculty left the U.S. on a two-week trip to Beijing and Guangzhou as part of a College of Music federal grant to establish a chamber of music program at the South China University of Technology College of Arts in Guangzhou.
Music faculty, students teach, perform in ChinaBy Alex CheAthAmStaff Writer
The Cultural Affairs Division of the U.S. Department of State awarded the College of Music a federal grant of about $30,000 to establish a chamber music program at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.
The UNT representatives, who arrived in China on March 9 and returned March 21, consisted of four UNT faculty members, Gene Cho, Susan Dubois, Nikola Ruzevic and Terri Sundberg, and six grad-uate students who specialized in a single instrument, Reuben Allred, a piano player, Ross Gasworth, a cello player, Szemoke Jobbagy, a violin player, Michelle Paczut, a viola player, Seijin Park, a violin player, and Kellie Quijano, a clar-inet player.
“The dean at [South China University of Technology] felt that the school didn’t have a strong chamber music presence,” Gasworth said. “The chamber music program at UNT is really
great, and the students and faculty have much experience.”
The grant contributed toward travel and living expenses for the trip and a chamber music library for the South China University of Technology.
The purpose of the two-week stay in Beijing and Guangzhou was to initiate a chamber music program.
Chamber music is played by a small group of musicians without a conductor.
Terri Sundberg of the music faculty said the music program at the Chinese university — as well music programs in general
— need chamber music because it encourages collaboration, inde-pendent thinking and leader-ship in a different way than large ensemble programs would.
“In Guangzhou, music is very hard to acquire,” Sundberg said. “We have much easier access to chamber music in the United States, so we brought two large crates of music.”
The $5,000 worth of music will be used to provide the university with a comprehensive library of string and woodwind composi-tions.
Gasworth said they performed concerts, coached students on chamber music and helped individual instrumentalists. The experience was very rewarding, he said.
“I chose to go on the trip because it was a chance to go play, work with and learn from people who I wouldn’t normally have the chance to ever meet because we were immersed in another culture,” Gasworth said. “It was a great chance to collaborate with UNT students and faculty as well.”
The concerts showcased the UNT faculty, UNT students, and
Chinese university faculty and students, as well as combina-tions of the four.
“[The UNT] students were like superstars in that environ-ment. The SCUT students were in awe of their ability, and asked the students and faculty for autographs,” Sundberg said.
Gasworth said that the hospi-tality of the Chinese students was the most meaningful part
of the trip to the UNT faculty and students.
“I feel like that doesn’t happen very often here,” he said. “We got to know the [Chinese students] really well and socialize, even outside of the work. We all share the common bond of being musi-cians. We learned a lot from them, and hopefully they learned a lot from us.”
“[The UNT] students were like superstars in
that environment.”—Terri Sundberg
Chair, Music -Instrumental Studies
Texas Attorney General sues fedsBy SheA yArBoroughSenior Staff Writer
While the ink was still drying on the newly passed health care bill, 13 state attorneys general f iled a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming the bill was unconstitutional.
In a press release from his office, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott cla imed t he bill infringed on the states’ right to regulate commerce within their borders based on the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. It states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” and is widely inter-preted as the “states’ rights” amendment.
“We sent a letter to Congress letting them know we believe this legislation violated the
Constitution, v iolated the Commerce Clause, and Nancy Pelosi said she didn’t care what the state agents thought, that they were going to plow ahead and pass this legislation,” Abbott said in a video message on the Attorney General’s Web site.
Florida, South Carolina, Nebraska, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho and South Dakota are the 12 states listed with Texas in the lawsuit filed against three federal bodies: the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Labor.
By mandating that all legal U.S. residents have qualifying health care coverage or pay a tax penalty, the health bill represents an “unprecedented encroachment” on the liberty of the individual, Abbott said.
“We believe we have to stop Washington D.C.’s power grab here,” Abbott said. “If we don’t, there will be no limit to what Congress imposes upon us. “
Elizabeth Oldmixon of the political science faculty said she did not want to comment on the constitutionality of the bill, but did say she saw the potential for the health care bill to put a strain on the state’s money.
However, if the 50 states insti-tuted these policies, it would not be a constitutional issue, Oldmixon said.
“It might be a public policy issue where you say it wasn’t a good thing to do, but it wouldn’t be an aberration of the 10th Amendment,” she said.
The 10th Amendment creates the space for states to mandate their citizens to find and pay for private health care, like in Massachusetts, Oldmixon said. She reiterated that she doesn’t feel the issue is constitutional, but is more a problem with policy.
“Their argument, based on the 10th Amendment, is it’s fine for Massachusetts to do this, but not necessarily the federal government,” Oldmixon said.
As a former pharmacy tech-nician, Jarrett Pelzel, an inter-national studies senior, said the need for reform was evident every day he worked with
customers at the pharmacy, but he doubted the rationale of the states to sue the federal government.
However, he said he was puzzled as to the steps the states could take to let their opinions be known to Congress.
“I don’t know what else you [could] do. What are the other methods they can take to convey their disappointment?” Pelzel asked.
David Mason of the political science faculty said he is not in favor of the actions the state has taken toward the federal government.
There has already been an imposition placed on those who have health care by “free riders,” who use hospital services but don’t have health insurance and don’t pay, Mason said.
“It’s a practical issue,” he said.
People with health insur-ance are paying for people who don’t have it because hospitals have to give them service but they don’t get paid for it, Mason said. The lost money is made up by charging the insured more, he said.
“To me, practically speaking, it’s sort of eliminating free riders on the health care system, which should reduce the cost for those of us who do pay health insurance,” Mason said.
By SheA yArBoroughSenior Staff Writer
A bill centered on refer-endum and campaign spending limits made its way to the senate floor Wednesday at the Student Government Association meeting.
Charles Vincent, a College of Arts and Sciences senator who also works for the Office of Sustainability, presented a bill calling for a limit on the amount of time SGA members can campaign for a referendum to two weeks. It also sought to set a $1,000 limit on money used for campaigns, which some said included donations, not just money spent directly by the campaign.
“We want to talk to students as close to the election as possible so it’s fresh on their minds,” Vincent said.
Senators began to debate the nitty-gritty of two sections of the bill and the discussion grew heated in the chaos that ensued. Andres Campion, a senator for the College Arts and Sciences, expressed concern about the $1,000 limit.
He asked about donations from local businesses. When told dona-tions would have to be included in the $1,000 limit, he responded with an expletive.
,He was concerned that donors would be offended if their dona-tions were turned away because of the spending limit.
“What if I’ve already spent $600 and someone donates a thou-sand, am I supposed to say no and hurt my campaign because it’s in the bylaw?” Campion asked.
Questions of motive were also raised. SGA Vice President Jamaal Sanders said he felt the bill showed a lack of confi-dence that he and SGA President Dakota Carter are fulfilling their Election Board duty to educate the students about what is on the ballots.
“Honestly I think this is tied to personal motives for future referendums, like the green fee,” Sanders said.
The proposed $5 “green fee,” which must be approved by a student referendum, will be paid by students for environmental and agricultural projects.
Sanders said SGA members might be worried that the fee will be passed because the students don’t know enough to make an informed vote.
“I feel they might be worried
about the fee being passed and want more time to talk about it, which I understand,” Sanders said. “But at the same time, trust the SGA to do their job and inform the students. To
me it’s like a slap in the face that you don’t trust we know what we’re doing to inform the students.”
T h e S G A s o m e t i m e s approves referendums for
Photo by alex scott/PhotoGraPher
Student Government Association presidential candidate Kevin Sanders swaps ideas with Student Government Associa-tion presidential candidate Drew Robertson during Wednesday night’s SGA meeting.
matters, which must be voted on by the students.
It is the student-led govern-mental body of UNT.
Vincent appeared to lose his patience as the meeting wore on.
“I think that Vincent feels passionate about this. He’s always been the green guy,” Carter said. “He’s going to bring his A-game.”
The bill passed after the senators agreed to remove the $1,000 limit. Questions were raised as to why the Election Board, which handles such matters, was not left to do its job.
The SGA shouldn’t change the rules because the election board is already responsible for them, Carter said.
“It’s an Election Board issue. The Election Board is there to make the rules,” he said. “I can see both sides, but this is why we have the Election Board, to make the rules for the election. What’s the point of having an election board if you’re going to be legislated out?”
SERVEDYOU
BENEFITSGET
STEP
1Review your benefit options online at www.gibill.va.gov.
STEP
2Submit your application VA Form 22-1990 or 22-1990E.
STEP
3After you have enrolled in a school, check with your School Certifying Official (SCO) to confirm that your VA enrollment certification has been sent to VA. This triggers your benefit payment.
3 STEPS TO YOUR POST-9/11 GI BILL BENEFITSThe Post-9/11 GI Bill provides vets great education benefits, but YOU must take action to ensure the assistance you deserve is paid in a timely fashion. Follow these steps to simplify the process and help VA expedite your benefit payments.
Text “GIBILL” to 99702 or visit www.gibill.va.gov for more information.Standard Message and Data Rates May Apply
KERRVILLE – As sunlight breaks over an open, hilly land-scape, deafening roars of engine revs can be heard for miles.
A loan rider, clad in leather chaps and jacket, hugs the hill country’s winding curves. Jereme Barnes, 36, takes a deep breath to smell the crisp, spring air as he accelerates on his coal black 1974 Moto Guzzi 850 T beside the Guadalupe River into Louise Hays Park.
“This is my favorite place to ride,” he said. “On the weekends, you can just hear roaring down the highways because we have some of the best twisty roads in Texas. It gets hilly and twisty. It’s just beautiful.”
The renowned hills draw in biker fanatics from across the state, including Barnes, for the chance to take a drive on the spacious, winding roads.
“It really becomes a biker town on the weekends,” he said as he lit a cigarette. “That’s one of the reasons I moved here.”
Barnes rides his bike, “Lucy-fer” about 360 days out of the year. For him, it’s an extension of his body, he said.
“I love working on them almost as much as I love riding them,” he said. “It’s an indescribable feeling of freedom.”
Barnes described it as being completely open in air, similar to a convertible car, but better.
“I feel like I become one with the machine,” he said with a smile. “A total free-spirit feeling — other than the limitation of the police and the deer.”
Biker lifestyleFor many bikers, drug use is a
major part of life on the road.“Twenty years ago, it was all
Hill Country biker overcomes obstacles
Heather Galbraith, 31, (left) and Jereme Barnes, 36, are residents of Kerrville. Barnes said he enjoys riding his motorcycle “Lucy-fer,” a coal black 1974 Moto Guzzi 850 T, around Texas Hill Country’s open land and winding curves.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JEREME BARNES
about having fun and riding your motorcycle all over the country,” Barnes said. “However, to do that, it’s hard to hold on to a regular job. The majority of them would deal drugs to afford that free life-style.”
Barnes admitted to also falling victim to that lifestyle after a major motorcycle crash that broke his ankle in several places.
“After the accident, I got addicted to morphine and OxyContin,” he said as he stared down at his oil-stained hands tightly clutching his leather jacket. “Once I stopped taking it, I got horribly sick. Unbearably sick. From that point on, I started buying pills off the street, and that just continued on and on.”
Barnes found himself buying about $100 a day worth of pills and needed a job that would pay
for his habit. “I was bottoming out in my life
at that point, I couldn’t afford my habit anymore and it was really interfering with my life,” he said. “I went to an outpatient rehab in Austin. That’s where I went this morning.”
Barnes admitted himself volun-tarily and never got into trouble with drugs.
“I realized I had a problem and I went in,” he said.
In repairSince that day of realization,
Barnes has been clean for almost five years. He said his motivation to stay off the drugs has been his fiancée, Heather Galbraith and his bike, the two ladies in his life.
Ironically, the biker lifestyle that brought Barnes into a world of drugs has now become his outlet
to escape his troubles. “I used to think that I could take
a pill and my problems would go away for a day. Once you learn that behavior, it’s hard to kick it,” he said. “Biking gives me motiva-tion to keep off of the drug. It’s a reason to stay sober.”
A passionBarnes has been repairing bikes
since he was 6 years old. His father, Bill Barnes, a
53-year-old Kerrville resident, works at Archway Recovery Center as a Chemical Dependency Counselor.
His father became someone for Jereme Barnes to talk to during his downward spiral into drugs. He’s also been someone with whom to share a common passion.
“He has been obsessed with motorcycles and anything
mechanical since he was a little baby,” his father said. “Ever since then he was trading motorcycles, he would swap and fix them up.”
His father said that before Jereme Barnes was old enough to ride, he already owned 27 bikes.
“He would take a piece of garbage and when he was done fixing them up, they looked like they had just got off the show-room floor,” his father said. “Some of them are actually sitting in museums in Australia, because they look brand new.”
Bill Barnes said that throughout the years, Jereme Barnes always had his hand in motorcycle repair of some kind or another and riding.
“That’s definitely his passion. There’s no doubt about it,” Bill Barnes said. “To me, I was looking at it to help him become respon-
sible. He was learning how to take care of himself and learning how to run his own life.”
Jereme is completely self-taught in motorcycle repair from a library manual and now owns his own bike repair shop on his one-acre land in Kerrville.
“I am extremely proud of him,” Bill Barnes said “I’ve watched him take things that no one knew how to fix and repair it in about 30 minutes. He’s really, really good at what he does.”
ComradesJereme Barnes said his favorite
part about being a biker was the camaraderie that came with it.
As a courtesy, many bikers wave at others with a simple “hand out.”
“I don’t know if you’d ever notice it unless you were on a bike,” he chuckled.
He said waving almost gets annoying on weekends in Kerrville because there are so many bikes on the road.
Some riders tend to get an atti-tude and judge others on the kind of bike they ride. However, Barnes said he doesn’t agree with that outlook.
“Usually anyone with any time under their belt recognizes that you don’t care what they ride, they’re one of us,” he said. “It’s a brotherhood.”
This story was the first place winner for on-site Feature Writing competition at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association conference in Kerrville.
Stomping, clapping and laughter echo through the empty hallways out of Wooten Hall 122 as the members of the UNT Improv Comedy Club warm up for the night.
The free two-hour impro-visation comedy classes are open to any student at UNT at 9:30 p.m. every Tuesday..
Ryan Cortez, an economics senior and co-president of the group, said he has found people are more l ikely to come to the improv club prac-tices if he advertises for free classes.
“I f we don’t laug h at ourselves then it becomes a mundane world, so laughter seems to cure that,” Cortez said.
To begin t he class, t he g roup doe s a n exerc i se called “one-word story” with everyone standing in a circle. One person in t he circle begins by saying one word, and the person standing next to them says one word and
so on, creating a sentence and story out of each person’s single word.
A not her exercise ca l led “hot spot” featured a person in the middle of the circle, singing a song.
Next, someone else would come and tap them and start singing a new song based on the last person’s.
“They have to fight their own instincts and not talk over each other in the scene and still make the scene inter-esting,” Cortez said. “Since there are so many people on stage, there is going to be a lot of people that want to take the spotlight but if they do that, they will make the scene very chaotic. It’s beneficial if they work together.”
Teamwork and liking one another are important for making the scenes funny, he said.
Annie Earnest, an anthro-polog y ju n ior, at tende d her first UNT improv class Tuesday night and said the class is a good place to be
funny. “Even if you’re not all that
funny, it brings the funny out of you,” she said.
The improv class helps her become comfortable around new people, she said.
“It ’s def i n itely a good creative outlet for the partic-ularly nerdy and particularly creative,” Earnest said with a laugh.
Logan Williams, a radio, television and film senior and co-president of the club, said improv is a great way to prac-tice thinking on your feet.
“There a re a l l k inds of i mpr ov i s at ion, not j u s t comedy,” he said. “If you get into some situation that you need to come up with a solution to and you haven’t pla n ned it before, t hat ’s improv, too, whether it’s a comedy scene or the best way to get something done when you’re in a crisis, like how to cram for a test.”
Because it is one of the less-serious clubs on campus, improv practices are always a
Improv club laughs it up during weekly class
Eric Merritt, an accounting sophomore, and Edward Owino, a mechanical engineering technology junior act out an im-prov game called “freeze.” The UNT Improv Comedy Club gives free improv comedy classes at 9:30 p.m. every Tuesday in Wooten Hall122.
PHOTO BY CLINTON LYNCH/VISUALS EDITOR
lot of fun, Williams said. “If you screw up, we’re not
going to get mad at you or anything,” he said. “As long as you at least try to learn then you’ll be accepted and
have fun.” Because they never know
w ho w i l l show up each Tuesday, the club isn’t plan-ning any performances in the near future, Cortez said.
“It ’s d i f f icu lt to get a ra ndom g roup of people comfortable enough and make them collaborative enough to become a troupe together,” he said.
“I think Ondar popularized it, and that film brought it to the attention of a much wider public,” Friedson said.
Traditionally, the music was sung by herders and seen in the culture as an old style, he said. Musicians would mimic the sounds of gurgling water or wind and other natural sounds.
“They have this vocal virtu-osity that engages their envi-ronment,” he said.
Kathleen Montes, a music education freshman, attended Wednesday’s event and said she has been interested in throat singing for the past two years.
“I really like listening to it,” she said. “It’s a really unique and skillful art form.
During the early years of the Alash’s success, the group members were a bit surprised by their music’s popularity, Quirk said.
“They have a good sense of how powerful their music is,” he said. “I always watch people in the audience mouthing ‘Wow’ or ‘Oh my god.’ It doesn’t matter where we are, people are always moved by it.”
Group performs ‘unique, skillful art form’ at concert
International leader shares story of heroismBY CHRISTINA MLYNSKIStaff Writer
Courage, empowerment and change will be the focus as a humanitarian hero, Paul Rusesabagina, revisits his expe-rience of dealing with genocide in the Republic of Rwanda.
Rusesabagina has been recognized for saving more than 1,200 lives during the Rwanda genocide and will present a free lecture at 7:30 p.m. April 1 in the University Union Lyceum.
There will be a 15-minute Q-and-A session after the lecture for attendees to ask Rusesabagina any questions.
“There is a need for people to understand that, in these times of crisis, it’s possible for people not to go along with the crowd and take charge of their own destiny and do good,” said James Meernik, associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Encounters International Speaker series began two years ago as a way to bring interna-tional leaders who have contrib-
uted to humanitarian issues to the university. The program provides a different approach to critical thinking for students, who, in turn, ask questions about ideological challenges, sa id Sa leha S u l e m a n , assistant vice provost for International Education and a part of the E n c o u n t e r s International S p e a k e r Series.
“It’s impor-tant to educate yourself, and getting people involved helps t he preven-tion of things l i ke [ geno-c ide ] f r om h a p p e n i n g aga in. This is why Paul Rusesabagina comes to speak and does these things,” said Jessica Tomberlin, temporary assistant to the vice provost
of the international depart-ment.
In April 1994, the African nation of Rwanda fell to geno-cide between the members of the Tutsi and Hutu tribes in the
course of the nation’s civil war.
As a Hutu hotel manager i n Rwa nda, Rusesabagina took sig n i f-ic a nt r i s k s when he shel-tere d more t h a n 1, 2 0 0 people in his hotel.
B e c a u s e of his coura-geous acts, no one within the hotel lost their life, Tomberlin said.
The genocide ended in July 1994 after Tutsi rebels forced the Hutu’s tribe into the Congo. It was during this time that Rusesabagina, along with his
As part of the UNT International speaker series, Encounters, Paul Rusesabagina will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyceum tonight.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE
Continued from Page 1
wife and children, escaped to a refugee camp.
“Many people think that in order to make a change, espe-cially in the world, you need lots of people, but I think with this presentation the message is one person can transform many people’s lives,” Suleman said.
Ruseabagina established the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation in 2005. The foun-dation works toward his vision of ending future genocides and to increase awareness for sincerity and resolution, not only in Rwanda, but other African countries, according to the foundation’s Web site.
Suleman hopes that commu-nity members will see the event as a way to bring into perspec-tive that people can emerge as leaders and provide posi-tive thinking and universal responsibility for humanitarian causes.
“Our world is getting more diverse, and I think people need to learn how to coexist with others,” Suleman said. “People should start thinking about how we can build together a peaceful world, where all things are sustainably ideological.”
“Our world is getting more diverse, and I think people need to learn how to coexist with others.”
—Saleha SulemanAssistant vice provost for International Education
THURSDAY New Band Burnout - 5 New Bands, Only $3!!! @ The Boiler Room Ottoman Turks, Retro Run, No Your the Best @ Andy’s BarFlorene My Empty Phantom @ Dan’s SilverleafMicky & The Motorcars LIVE! W/ Whiskey Myers @ Rockin RodeoOdysset (formally This Old house), Circlebirds, Manned Missiles,Cactapus @ Rubber GlovesThe Craziest Party In North Texas @ RBarFlash Mob @ Hydrant CafePhat Thursdays @ Electric Cowboy
FRIDAY Kill for the Kingdom / Acirema / Applaud the Impaler / Fallen Martyr@ The Boiler Room Andrew Delaney & the horse you rode in on, Austin Chalk @ Andy’s BarBid Daddy Alright @ Dan’s SilverleafIntimate Stranger, The Ganjas, Casino @ Hailey’s ClubGirls Night Out! @ Rockin RodeoLaffapalooza Comedy Night @ RBarKaryna Cruz @ Hydrant CafeGirls Night Out! @ Electric Cowboy
SATURDAY Wayne “The Train” Hancock with Guitar George Trio @ The Boiler Room Crusierweight @ Andy’s Bar7th Annual Bugs and a Band @ Dan’s SilverleafSiren City, Moving Atlas, Bronze Whaler, Descender @ Hailey’s ClubThe Stampede @ Rockin RodeoPeelander-Z, No Heroes, stew! @ Rubber GlovesSinful Saturday’s @ RBarZanzala @ Hydrant CafeBiggest Party in North Texas! @ Electric Cowboy
Athlete of the Week: Sprinter displays ‘raw talent’
Bethea: ‘� e current security is archaic at best’
BY ERIC JOHNSONSenior Staff Writer
A calm washes over Melissa Barnes as she steps into the starting block, whispers a quiet prayer and leaves her opponents in a cloud of dust.
The junior sprinter blis-tered the track last weekend in her return home to Arlington, earning her first Sun Belt Conference Performer of the Week award.
“I felt so comfortable because I was just out there running in front of my family and friends,” Barnes said. “Being in a familiar environment definitely makes it easier, and I think that we are continuing to prove that we can run with any school.”
In just her second outdoor meet since transferring from Oklahoma, Barnes took home first place in the 100-meter dash and the 4-by-100-meter relay,
leading the UNT women’s track and field team to a first-place finish at the UT-Arlington Bobby Layne Invitational.
“This is the type of perfor-mance that we expect of her,” sprint coach Sammy Dabbs said. “She comes from a huge program, so she know that expectations are high, but I think that she will continue to exceed those expectations.”
Born on a cold December day in 1988, Barnes heated the room with her energy from that moment.
“I always say that we were all asleep before Missy, and that she woke us up,” said Melissa Barnes’ mother, Mary Anne. “She would never sit still, and she brought so much excitement into our lives. But we knew we had to find an outlet for all her excess spirit.”
Her rambunctious attitude as a child earned her the nickname
Missy, which was given to her by her grandmother because of her tendency to grab the attention of the room.
Missy, as she is still affec-tionately called by her family and friends, was signed up for several sports in an attempt to calm her excited nature. After trying gymnastics and basket-ball, a game of tag helped Barnes discover where she really needed to be.
“I realized that I was running, and nobody could catch me,” Missy Barnes said. “I just feel so connected to track, and I feel like I was put here to run.”
The reserved Barnes was an instant leader for Mansfield Timberview High School, and she helped to set the stage during the school’s inaugural season.
“Missy was the beginning of our tradition,” said Timberview head track coach Cinda Baer.
“She built the foundation for this program, and throughout her time here she taught the younger girls what it takes to be successful.”
Barnes compiled a list of accomplishments a mile long during her time in high school, winning 2007 Texas Track Athlete of the Year and leading her 4-by-100-relay team to a first-place finish at the U.S. Junior Olympics in the process.
“She just has this raw talent,” said Dabbs, who was a mentor to Barnes during high school. “Once she got that love for track, she was not going to be caught by anyone.”
Her stellar high school career earned her a scholar-ship to Oklahoma, but after two unhappy years in Norman, Barnes joined the Mean Green in the fall of 2009.
“I have known coach Dabbs
forever, so coming to UNT put me back in that familiar envi-ronment,” Missy Barnes said. “I have been running all my life, and this is the type of environ-ment that can really pull out all my potential.”
A big smile and a friendly personality helped Barnes fit in with her new teammates.
“She came in with this posi-tive attitude, and everyone was kind of drawn to her right away,” fellow junior sprinter Brittani Simmons said. “It is in my nature to help my teammates feel comfortable, but she is the kind of person who fits in with any group.”
When she is not busy making her teammates laugh with her goofy attitude, Barnes is pushing them, and herself, to their breaking point.
“She is that unspoken leader that makes everyone around her
want to work that much harder,” Dabbs said. “Winning is not good enough for her, she wants to prove that she belongs with the best in the country.”
The 21-year-old marketing major has scorched the track during the Mean Green’s two outdoor meets, earning three first-place finishes.
On the eve of the Texas Relays in Austin, the biggest outdoor meet of the season, Barnes remains unfazed by the magni-tude of the moment.
“I don’t feel any pressure to perform. I know that I am going to run my best time and that our 4-by-100 relay is going to hit that national mark,” Barnes said. “We are trying to make a name for ourselves, and this is a great opportunity for us.”
“The current security is archaic at best,” said Brian Bethea, asso-ciate director of athletics.
The technology will not be the only thing upgraded at the new facility. Security staff will
undergo continuous training to keep abreast of new security techniques.
The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security has developed a Sport Event Risk Management work-shop in conjunction with the
Department of Homeland Security and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, which UNT staff attended.
“We participated in the pilot program about two summers ago,” Bethea said. “We use it
to become aware to current issues.
They include personnel from campus police, the athletic department, emergency manage-ment, fire and HazMat, and emergency medical and health services. The aim is to develop
cohesive security action teams for each university that chooses to participate.
“We always develop in concert with the police department,” Bethea said.
UNT has already received a grant from the Department
of Homeland Security to offset some of the costs associated with training and new equipment, and it has applied for another.
W hile the construction is under way, Manhattan Construction Group is respon-sible for site security.
Continued from Page 1
To see multimedia for this story, visit ntdaily.com
In 2009, Simmons won seventh at the Midwest Regional earning all-region honors; Simmons anticipates her best at the Texas Relays Meet in Austin this weekend.
Junior sprint Brittani Simmons gets a great start while practicing her sprints at the Fouts Field on Tuesday.
BY BEN BABYStaff Writer
Her coaches say she possesses talent, determination and an incredible work ethic, but UNT junior sprinter Brittani Simmons has sustained injuries that have kept her off the track in recent years.
Now healthy enough to compete, she’s been scorching the track and competition on her way to becoming one of the top sprinters in the Sun Belt Conference.
“Brittani was injured parts of the first two years she was here, so she’s probably a little bit behind in her development because of that,” said Rick Watkins, the track and field head coach. “She’s really coming on. She really improved. She’s one of the best sprinters in this part of the country.”
A stress fracture in her right foot and plantar fasciitis in both feet were a couple of injuries that plagued Simmons during her first two years at UNT. Even now, Simmons still has issues with her feet, but they have not prevented her from performing well.
“It seems like I always have injuries, but I’ve been running, so it’s not too bad,” she said.
Simmons was born in Fayetteville, N.C., but when she was 11, her family moved to Texas to accommodate her stepfather, who is in the military.
Growing up, Simmons didn’t watch a lot of TV, as her parents did not like some of the program-ming it had to offer. Her brother, B.J., who Simmons said, “showed her who not to date,” introduced
her to many different sports, with one of them being track. Simmons said she didn’t realize how good she was at track until a middle school showdown opened her eyes to the sport.
“I moved to a new school in seventh grade … and every-body was talking about another girl named Brittney that was really fast, and everybody kept talking about her, and I was like,
‘I wonder who that is?’ And then we raced and I beat her, and I was like, ‘I should stick with this.’”
Having stuck with it, Simmons, a Christian and a product of Harker Heights High School in Harker Heights, has shined in her collegiate career. Junior Alysha Adams recognized Simmons from the start because of her work and determination.
“She went through a couple
UNT track and � eld team heads to Austin for Relays
� e Script: � is year’s Big Dance proves one to remember
BY BOBBY LEWISContributing Writer
After a successful campaign last weekend, 25 members of the Mean Green track and field team are in Austin for the 83rd annual Texas Relays, the biggest meet of the season.
The Texas Relays are the second-largest track meet in the nation, only to the Penn Relays.
With the event being such a major national track event, assistant coach Sammy Dabbs said he believes this is a big meet for UNT athletes, espe-cially since the Texas Relays is invite only.
“This meet is about respect,” Dabbs said. “This is a national, invite-only meet, and this is a chance for us to gain some national recognition.”
Although the meet started Wednesday, he doesn’t think the shortened week will hurt the athletes at a l l, Dabbs said.
“It shouldn’t affect us too much because our first event actually isn’t until Thursday, so it will be a pretty normal week for us,” Dabbs said.
The meet welcomes about 5,000 athletes ever y year, including those from Division I, Division II and Division III schools, as well as events for high schools athletes.
One of the Mean Green runners that will compete in the Texas Relays will be junior sprinter Missy Barnes. Barnes is coming off being named the Women’s Track
Athlete of the Week by the Sun Belt Conference following her stellar performance at the Arlington Invitational, and she expects to have another good outing at the Relays.
“I expect us to do really well,” Barnes said. “We’ve been training really well, so it’s going to be a good envi-ronment for us to step it up and really compete.”
Head coach Rick Watkins said he also expects great results for UNT at the Texas Relays.
“Well, the big thing is, this is
one of the biggest meets in the country,” he said. “Our expec-tations are to go down there and compete, and we expect to go down there and make the finals. That’s the goal, and I don’t think that changes in any competition.”
The Texas Relays have also become a huge social event, bringing many part ies to the Austin area during the meet’s four days. However, it shouldn’t be much of a distraction for the Mean Green athletes, especially for Barnes who has been to the Relays
every year since she was in high school.
“I’m pretty used to it,” she said. “If it was something new, it would probably be a distrac-tion, but the crowd is pretty normal to me.”
The 83rd A nnua l Clyde L it t lef ield Te x a s Relay s takes place at the Mike A. Myers Stadium and started Wednesday, although none of the 25 Mean Green athletes will compete until today. The Texas Relays will conclude Saturday w it h t he men’s 4-by-400-meter relay.
BY SEAN GORMANSenior Staff Writer
With its unpredictable nature, a handful of close contests and large amount of upsets, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has every right to be referred to as “March Madness.”
Year in and year out, brackets
are busted, experts are exposed and star players make a name for themselves before entering the summer’s NBA Draft.
At the point where picking 40 out of the first 60 games correctly and only having one team left in my Final Four bracket is a good year for me, I’ve accepted the Big Dance brings unparalleled surprise and excitement.
Even with the tournament
having a history of upsets, this has been a special year that will be remembered (for better or for worse) by all college basketball fans.
Before we all get overwhelmed with the NBA playoffs and the start of baseball, let’s examine what has made the Tournament of 2010 as good as its ever been.
Mean Green returns I’m sure most of America didn’t exactly jump up in pure joy when the Mean Green advanced to its second NCAA Tournament in four years, but the genuine apprecia-tion for the team on campus was
refreshing.Although the Mean Green only
lasted about five minutes against the now-powerhouse Kansas State Wildcats, the journey to make it to the tournament was special for everyone in Denton, myself included.
Whether it was the countless people going to the games in Hot Springs and Oklahoma City or just making the effort to pay atten-tion to it, the students embraced the men’s basketball team more than before.
The bottom line is that with UNT returning to the tourna-ment, the fan base over the year
improved drastically, which is a big step for all Mean Green fans abroad. With nine seniors returning next year, look for it to continue to grow.
Fearless five seedsAfter the end of the first day of
the tournament, only 56 out of 6.5 million brackets filled out on ESPN were perfect. By the next day the number was down to two, and nobody made it to the sweet 16 untouched.
One of the reasons for this massive failure was the under appreciation for two programs that were overlooked when people decided who would advance to the Final Four.
The Butler Bulldogs may receive comparisons to the Indiana Hoosiers, but this team is no underdog. It’s hard to say any team that hasn’t lost since December can take on that role.
Wins against Syracuse and Kansas State were no fluke. This team has held all four of its oppo-nents in the Big Dance to less than 60 points so far and has enough talent to take advantage of playing 10 minutes away from their campus in Indianapolis.
Although this wasn’t its best season ever, Tom Izzo’s boys at Michigan State have played their best during the tournament.
The Spartans lead the nation in rebounding and have not seen any drop-off in production after losing star guard Kalin Lucas to a torn ACL.
I don’t care how many great coaches there are, one cannot have a conversation about the top five coaches in the game without mentioning Izzo’s name. His consistency is impressive and his experience is another reason why this team has made it this far.
Never before have two No. 5 seeds advanced to the Final Four, seeing it happen for the first time is another reason why this playoff has been so special.
David slays Goliath The success of the Bulldogs
and Spartans isn’t the only reason people abandoned their brackets earlier than usual. The Sweet 16 included a nine, 10, 11 and 12 seed, making the first two rounds all the more exciting to watch.
While St. Mary’s upset Villanova in the second round, Northern Iowa demolished brackets and shocked the world with a win over the top-overall seed Kansas.
We saw 14 seed Ohio over-whelm three seed Georgetown and a handful of other first round upsets that are always fun to watch.
This year’s tournament did not come up short on upsets, which is another reason why the Big Dance has been so entertaining.
With UNT getting back to the national stage, two No. 5 seeds making noise and upsets galore, this has been an unforgettable NCAA Tournament for a variety of reasons.
of things her freshman year where she had a foot injury, so she ran indoor, but she didn’t get to run outdoor,” Adams said. “She struggled a little bit as far as what she can do, but every time she was able to go she went 100 percent, and I think that’s why she stood out to me.”
When she’s not roasting opponents in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash or 4-by-100 meter relay, Simmons can be found hanging out with her teammates and occasionally cooking chicken alfredo, which is another thing she excels at. When she finishes her time at UNT, Simmons, a kinesiology
major and health promotions minor, plans on going to school to become a physical therapist.
Before she’s done, however, Simmons said she wants to go to the national meet. In the process, she will also try to bring the UNT track program to national prominence.
“A lot of schools with bigger programs don’t really respect North Texas, but we’re making big steps, and that will be successful, too, as a whole,” Simmons said.
Simmons, who has already received a Sun Belt Conference Co-Women’s Athlete of the Week this season, has this year’s
outdoor season and her senior year to accomplish the lofty but attainable goals. Assistant coach Sammy Dabbs said he believes that her talent and work ethic will continue to lead the talented Mean Green.
“She was my top sprinter last year, and even with the people who transferred in, it didn’t cause her to go down,” Dabbs said. “She stepped her game up and she’s improved, and she’s right in the mix with everybody else. She’s one of the top sprinters in the Sun Belt. She does all the little bitty things, which is one of the reasons that makes her so great.”
T he U.S-Ru ssia ag ree-ment to slash nuclear arse-nals announced last week represents real progress in controlling the most fear-some weapons on the planet, not least because it ensures continued mandatory inspec-t ions of Russian weapons following December’s expi-ration of the previous treaty.
Both sides w il l have to g ive up somet h i ng. T he new 10-year accord requires reductions in deployed stra-tegic warheads to 1,550 from the 2,200 now allowed, a 30 percent cutback. Launchers — that is, missiles and bombers — would be reduced by half, from 1,600 to 800.
This overall decrease in nuclear weapons and delivery
capabilit y is a signif icant contribution to arms reduc-tion, a U.S. foreign policy goa l of bot h Republ ica n and Democratic presidents. That’s only part of the story, though.
The bigger goals are nuclear nonproliferation — stopping the nuclear arms race from spreading to more countries — and keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. No prog-ress can be expected in these areas
Including the urgent matter of stopping Iran’s nuclear-weapons program — unless other nations are convinced that countries in control of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world are committed
to reducing their own inven-tories.
For the Obama adminis-tration, which has scored few diplomat ic achievements, this is a demonstration that it can walk and chew gum at the same time. The treaty was negotiated, often with the persona l inter vention of President Barack Obama, during the most intense period of wrangling over health care legislation.
Because the treaty will need 67 votes in the Senate to win ratification, at least eight from Republicans, Obama must do a good sales job. He can point out that it replaces the expired START agreement of 1991 and extends cuts negotiated in 2002 under the Treaty of
Moscow. Both were achieved under Republican presidents named Bush.
Oba ma a lso repor ted ly rejected Russian demands that the treaty require U.S. agreement to limit missile-defense plans in Europe. This is a separate issue and was rightly kept out of the agree-ment.
Senators are entitled to be skeptical until they see the final version of the pact, but it should not fall prey to the bitter divisions that marred the health reform debate. Part isan concerns should be ignored when the goal is ensuring a safer world for future generations.
This editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Tuesday.
The Editorial Board includes: Shaina Zucker, Josh Pherigo, Rebecca Hoeffner, T.S. McBride, Melissa Boughton, Amber Arnold, Kip Mooney, Abigail Allen, Sydnie Summers, Brianne Tolj, Clinton Lynch, Justin Umberson, and David Williams.
Want to be heard?The NT Daily does not necessari-ly endorse, promote or agree with the viewpoints of the columnists on this page. The content of the columns is strictly the opinion of the writers and in no way re-flects the belief of the NT Daily.
The NT Daily is proud to present a variety of ideas and opinions from readers in its Views section. As such, we would like to hear from as many NT readers as possible. We invite readers of all creeds and back-grounds to write about whichever issue excites them, whether concerning politics, local issues,
ethical questions, philosophy, sports and, of course, anything exciting or controversial.Take this opportunity to make your voice heard in a widely read publication. To inquire about column ideas, submit columns or letters to the editor, send an e-mail to [email protected]
Note to Our Readers
NT Daily Editorial Board
EPA investigates drilling safety
Erykah Badu sells individualism
Editorial
{{{
Campus ChatHow do you feel about artists using nudity in music videos?
“It doesn’t bother me. I could see why some people would be offended, but not
me.”
“It’s their music video. They should be able to do
what they want.”
“I don’t care. I don’t know the song very well. It all
depends on the music and if it expresses what the
artist is trying to say, then I think it is okay.”
With more than 14,000 wells pumping natural gas from the Barnett Shale rock formation, the North Texas area is at the center of one of the most prolific urban drilling boom in the nation’s history.
Cities, school districts and landowners have been cashing in since the drilling boom began a decade ago, and money is pouring in to the regional economy. However, as once-rural drilling sites continue to encroach on the neighborhoods where people live and work, many are beginning to question the safety of the operations.
The Environmental Protection Agency has begun a safety review of the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” The review comes in response to a number of complaints from communities around the nation. Those complaints include reports of contaminated drinking water, reduced air quality and noxious odors in areas around wells.
Local risksThe small rural Denton County town of DISH is at the core
of the debate. Five facilities circle the outskirts of the town, so for the 200 residents of DISH the effects of drilling have become a part of their everyday lives. The town’s mayor, Calvin Tillman said a lack of regulations have allowed drilling compa-nies to operate their wells in a way that endangers members of the community.
Complaints to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality prompted a detection unit to be sent to DISH where air sampling was conducted for two hours. After the tests came back negative, the Town Council used 15 percent of its annual budget to conduct a private air quality test, which indicated a much different reality.
The August sampling found harmful air pollutants were present throughout the area. Benzene levels were 55 times higher than the State allows. Other known carcinogens also exceeded legal limits with pyridines at 384 times the legal limit. Questions have also been raised about the potential for contaminating drinking water.
Fracking concernsFracking is a process in which a mixture of high-pres-
sured water, sand and chemicals are used to crack the stone and create fractures that allow pockets of gas to be accessed. Compare it to an expanding crack from a small stone hitting your windshield.
The safety concerns focus on the details of the chemicals used, but unfortunately for the public, the specific mixture of those chemicals remains a tightly guarded and fluctuating secret among competing companies.
Also troubling is the question of what to do with the millions of liters of contaminated water, which could potentially enter the water supply. In Dimock, Pa. an improperly cased well contaminated several water wells and one even exploded.
It is important for the EPA to thoroughly investigate the problems and find safer solutions for the process of natural gas drilling. As the country searches for cleaner and more nationally independent means of energy gas wells will continue to spring up in our communities. Every level of government must insure that the environment and residents are fully protected.
R&B artist Erykah Badu’s latest album certainly has a lot of people talking. Released Tuesday, it’s not the music that’s getting all the atten-tion.
The album’s first released music video is for the track “Window Seat.” The video was shot in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza on St. Patrick’s Day and features a hooded, overcoat-clad Badu stepping out of a 1965 Lincoln Continental and proceeding across the plaza toward the infamous Grassy Knoll.
While she walks — contin-ual ly scanning for police — Badu slowly removes her clothing piece by piece until she is completely nude and sta nding ya rds f rom t he spot where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. A shot then rings out, and she falls to the ground. Blue blood f lows from her head onto the pavement in a pattern that forms the word “group-think.”
Badu acknowledged that her naked strut was carried out in
an area with young children. She said she hoped the inci-
dent wouldn’t traumatize them and said as she passed by she attempted to “telepathi-cally communicate” her good intention.
Sigh.The layers of stupidity run
deep in this, the latest tale of a celebrity attempting to make a powerful, if not self-fulfilling, artistic message about the evils of conformity.
Let’s give Erykah the benefit of the doubt and chalk up the three most obvious issues — it was illegal, disrespectful and lewd — to the liberty afforded by creative license. So, what was her message?
Badu said she made the video as a tribute to individ-uality. She wanted to take a dramatic stand against group-think and chose to assassinate herself because she wanted to compare “the [Kennedy] assassination to the character assassination one would go through after showing his or herself completely.”
How grand of her. Given the amount of media
attention being given to Badu, her video and her album, I’d say she’s done a pretty good job convincing us that group-think is bad. I’d say we’re all starting to really believe it, and her record sales will likely be the unexpected beneficiary of her brave stick-it-to-the-man approach.
To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what to believe after I watched the video. Concerned that I should feel this video was meaningful, I looked up what other people thought about it in order to form my own opinion.
It wasn’t unti l I found an inter view with Er ykah explaining her message that I was able to grasp what she was artistically expressing. And then I agreed — as I hope others do.
Groupthink is bad, and indi-vidualism is good. Don’t be afraid to be your own person. Badu’s artistic rebellion was the perfect vehicle for that
message. After all, it worked for Indie Rock band Matt and Kim whom Badu’s video is “inspired by.”
In fact, it seems that Badu was so “inspired by” the Matt and Kim video — which features the duo stripping naked in the Times Square streets and ends when Kim is killed by a bus — that she decided to use the exact same concept.
How individualistic of her.
Josh Pherigo is a journalism and political science junior. He is the views editor for the Daily.
Scott NeumannMusic education sophomore
Nicholas MonfriesCommunication design
freshman
Max Amey Undeclared freshman
Nuclear pact improves arms control
Publications Guide-lines:Please read your ad the fi rst day of publi-cation. The publisher assumes no fi nancial responsibility for er-rors or omissions of copy. We reserve the right to adjust in full an error by publishing a corrected insertion. Li-ability shall not exceed the cost of that portion occupied by the error on the fi rst insertion only. The advertiser, and not the newspa-per, is responsible for the truthful content of the ad. The newspaper reserves the right to request changes, reject or properly classify an ad, and must approve all copy.
Announcements Announcements Help Wanted Help Wanted Help Wanted NT Daily NT Daily NT Daily NT Daily NT Daily
Sudoku requires no calculation or arithmetic skills. It is essentially a game of placing numbers in squares, using very simple rules of logic and deduction.
The objective of the game is to fi ll all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow. In a 9 by 9 square Sudoku game: • Every row of 9 numbers must in-clude all digits 1 through 9 in any order • Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order • Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9
Yesterday’s answers
$$Need Cash$$Find your part-time job today by searching the ntdaily classifi eds.
Feel like you don't have enough space?Break out by � nding a new place ...
In the classi� edsntdaily.com
Get Noticed!go to ntdaily.com and
click on classifi eds today and sell your
stuff tomorrow.
Roommate giving you problems?FInd a new one in the ntdaily classifi eds.
Afraid you won't � nd a roommate? Place an ad ...
In the classi� edsntdaily.com
NTDAILY.COM
NEWS
TO YO
U
NTDAILY.COM
CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDSPhone: 940-565-2851 • Fax: 940-565-4659 • Email: [email protected] • www.ntdaily.com • GAB 117, Corner of Avenue B and Mulberry
$5,000-$45,000
PAID EGG DONORS
+ Expenses for up to 9 donations. N/smokers, ages 19-29, SAT>1100/ACT>24/GPA>3.0 reply to [email protected]
STUDENTPAYOUTS.COM
Paid Survey Takers Needed In Denton. 100% FREE To Join!
Click On Surveys.
Earn $1000-$3200 a month to drive our
brand new cars with ads placed on them. YouDriveAds.com
