thewichitanyour university n your voiceWednesday n March 3, 2010

SPLIT: MSU tennis truimphs over Newman, falls to Incarnate Word

nPage 8

Career Fair draws feweremployers

Many Midwestern State University stu-dents enjoy finding ways to express their school spirit. Freshman Laura Gilbert does it by horsing around. She dresses up as Maverick, the Mustang mascot.

Gilbert said the greatest thing about being the mascot is: “Being in the middle of the action, up close, and being a part of the experience.”

She shows up to the games early to get dressed, then mix and mingle with fans. Gilbert said many young children enjoy the attention, while others “run away and cry.” Some of the fans jump on her in ex-citement.

She said there is a sense of freedom in what she does.

“Only a small percentage of students know I am the mascot. So I am able to goof off. If I choose to bust out and do the stanky leg it’s okay,” she said, laugh-ing.

Most of her friends are surprised when they find out she’s the mascot. Many

people typically think of it being a male, rather than a female.

Gilbert has been entertaining Mus-tang fans since the beginning of the football season. Last fall she worked alongside sophomore Anna Brogan. The two would trade places through-out the games.

She now works alone at every home basketball game.

“An occasional break is need-ed,” Gilbert said. “Being inside the costume gets extremely hot.”

Not only is it hot, it’s hard to see from inside the horse’s head. On occasion, she’s run into peo-ple. The only way to see out of the costume is through two small holes on the end of the Mustang’s nose.

Freshman Laura Gilbert spends her time in the Mustang suit horsing around in the name of school spirit

Theatre dept.earns honors

Governor Perry announces jobs

A lower-than-usual turnout among poten-tial employers has forced Friday’s Career Fair to change venue from D.L. Ligon Coliseum to the smaller Comanche Suites in Clark Student Center, but the Career Management Center urges students to take the opportunity to meet with future em-ployers seriously nonetheless.

Sarah Ward, the CMC’s employer relations co-ordinator, said a sparser sampling of employers was somewhat expected due to the struggling econo-my.

“We all watch TV and read the news,” Ward said, referring to the pervasive presence of the re-cession in the media. “Employers just aren’t hiring like they did in the past.”

Brittany NormanEditor in ChiEf

See CaReeR on page 5

The cast, crew and other individuals involved in the MSU Theatre production of “and the Rain Came to Mayfield” received a Directors Choice award at the Region IV american College The-atre Festival. (Photo courtesy)

ashley Nesbittfor thE WiChitan

See MaVeRICK on page 4

When Gov. Rick Perry visited MSU Friday to discuss new jobs created in Wichita Falls, he de-livered a message of hope in an otherwise bleak economic climate.

He said there is still a land of opportunity in America, even today.

It’s called Texas, a place where everything’s big-ger – especially the chance to succeed.

Natura World, Inc., an organic mattress com-pany headquartered in Canada, is opening a plant in Wichita Falls.

Perry said this will create about 400 new jobs and produce $25 million more in capital invest-ment for the city.

The state has invested $1.5 million to get the company up-and-running in the states.

Chris CollinsManaging Editor

See PeRRY on page 5

Chris CollinsManaging Editor

did you know?n On average, mascot costumes

weigh somewhere between15-30 lbs. The head is the heaviest part.

When it rains, it pours.And the Rain Came to Mayfield, a production put

on by the MSU theatre department, has garnered award after award since it debuted last semester.

The play won the Directors’ Choice Award at the Region IV American College Theatre Festival in Amarillo Feb 22 – Feb. 27. Five other plays, from Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and New Mexico, were in consideration for the award.

Mayfield was also awarded with the Meritorious Achievement in Scenic Design and Best Load-In

See THeaTRe on page 5

Freshman Laura gilbert is the woman behind the

Mustang mask. gilbert has been playing the part of

MSU’s mascot “Maverick” all of this year. (Photo by

Julia Raymond)

Alpha Phi sisters walk a mile – in heels – for cardiac research

nPage 4

campusvoice2 n The Wichitan March 3, 2010

thewichitan3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 n Wichita Falls, Texas 76308News Desk: (940) 397-4704 n Ads: (940) 397-4705

Fax (940) 397-4025 n E-mail WICHITAN@mwsu.edu

editorial boardnEdiTor in ChiEf: Brittany normannManaging EdiTor: Chris Collins

nEnTErTainMEnT EdiTor: Lauren Woodnop-Ed EdiTor: position opennSporTS EdiTor: Josh hoggardnphoTo EdiTor: Julia raymond

nadvErTiSing ManagEr: Jamie MonroenCopy EdiTor: phoebe Kurmi

and amaka oguchinadviSEr: randy pruitt

nrEporTErS: Leah roberts, Jaleesa Bealom, ashley nesbitt, Matt Ledesma,

Loren Eggenschwiler

nphoTographErS: Loren Eggenschwiler,patrick Johnston, Kassie Bruton

Copyright © 2007. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, fac-ulty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwest-ern State University. First copy of the paper is free of charge; additional copies are $1. The Wichitan wel-comes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publica-tion. Letters should be brief and without abusive lan-guage or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number

and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.

Jedi, of course, are known for their wisdom. One Jedi, however, was the wisest of them all.

And somehow, he’s evaded this column for six weeks.

What column series on Jedi wisdom would be complete without a nug-get of wisdom from the wisest, greenest, smallest, most powerful Jedi of all?

The great Master Yoda.During Order 66, all

Jedi were to be executed. The few Jedi who escaped went into exile.

While Obi-Wan fled to Tatooine, Yoda went into hiding in the far-off swamp planet of Degobah.

And so, we find ourselves in Epi-sode 5 of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back.

As Luke is beginning to discover how sensitive he really is to the Force, he is left stranded on the freezing ice planet Hoth. As he begins to lose con-sciousness, he sees Obi-Wan’s Force presence. Obi-Wan tells Luke to go to the Degobah system and train with Yoda.

After Luke lands on Degobah, dis-covers the true identity of Yoda, and begins his training, Yoda begins to pour out nine hundred years of wisdom. In one particular instance, Yoda tells Luke to stack a pile of rocks using only the Force.

Luke responds, “I’ll give it a try.”“No. Try not,” Yoda replies. “Do,

or do not. There is no try.”

How many times have we said a non-committal, “I’ll try” rather than a “yes” or “no”, so we don’t have to feel the weight of failure?

I know I use the “try” cop-out so many times it isn’t even funny.

When we say, “I’ll try”, we’re giving our-selves a safety net. If we fail, it’s okay, be-cause we didn’t exactly

commit, and if we succeed, then it’s as if we did say “yes”.

We “try” to study for that big test. We “try” to break that bad habit.We “try” to make that relationship work. We “try” to handle that differ-ence we have with someone. We “try” and we “try” and we “try”.

Shall we quit “trying” and start “do-ing”?

Think about it. How crazy would living a life of ac-

tion be?Not just passive phrases with no

commitment, but real, passionate, ac-tion?

Taking risks, being vulnerable, living without a safety net. Stop trying. Start doing.

And, guess what, readers? You get a double dose of Yoda wisdom today!

Luke tries to lift his crashed X-Wing out of the boggy lake he crashed it into on Degobah, but he can’t.

He tries again.And fails again.The little green Yoda goes over to the

X-Wing, sticks his hand out, closes his eyes, and effortlessly lifts the X-Wing out of the water.

Flabbergasted, Luke exclaims, “I don’t… I don’t believe it!”

Yoda replies, “That is why you fail.”What a thought… The reason why

we fail, the reason we don’t succeed when we “try”, is because we don’t be-lieve.

We don’t believe we can succeed. So, we don’t. The two Yoda-ism’s go hand-in-

hand.We are so afraid to fail that we even-

tually stop trying and cut our lives short of what they were intended to be.

Nelson Mandella said it best. “Our greatest fear is not that we are inade-quate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our dark-ness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?” We have a limitless amount of po-tential! Yet, we sit on it. We let it rot without ever putting it to use. This week, I want you to try something. That risk you’ve been wait-ing to take… Take it. That guy or girl you’ve been waiting to admit you like… Tell him or her. That part you want to try out for… Try out for it! Take a leap into the unknown. Because the only real failure is not trying.

Not think, you should. Only do.

Mother Nature strikes again. That is the harsh reality facing Chile this week after an earthquake measur-ing 8.8 on the Richter scale hit the country on Saturday.

The quake was trig-gered by the country’s geography; it lies on the border of two tectonic plates. The earthquake brought with it a tsuna-mi that swept across the pacific, hitting islands off the coast of Chile, including Easter Island.

Twelve-foot waves also swept across French Polynesia and the Chatham Islands in New Zealand. Hawaii was hit by 6ft waves that washed over low lands in Hilo but caused little or no damage elsewhere.

Chilean president Michelle Bache-let stated that the forces of nature had “once again put to the test our ability to deal with adversity and get back on our feet. And we are examining every way to restore all the basic services in the country. But there’s still a lot to do”.

The death toll from the quake cur-rently stands at 711 but has contin-ued to rise in the aftermath as power shortages continue to hamper rescue affects in the rubble. Although the effects of this quake are devastating, Chile has been applauded on its pre-paredness and quick action in the face of crisis. The country sits on the pa-cific ‘Ring of Fire,’ and although roads and buildings have been damaged, no significant devastation has occurred, at least compared to what we saw in Haiti.

On Jan. 12 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, killing around 230,000 people and almost completely wiping out the nation’s capital, Port-Au-Prince.

The reason that Haiti suffered so catastrophically was due to poverty and building codes.

After a devastiting earth quake hit in 1960 the Chilean Government implemented a ‘seismic’ construction code meaning they are better prepared to withstand an earthquake.

The problems facing Chile now are more closely related to the restora-

tion of law and order. Looting has become a significant crisis in the wake of devastation and the Chilean military is in place in Concepcion, where looters have filled shopping carts with plasma TVs and other electrical appliances. They also face problems with prisoners esacping. More than 200 escaped in Chillan and although some have been caught more than 100 are still at large while the coun-

try deals with the clean up. Tonight tens of thousands of Chil-

eans prepare to spend another night in tents as they fear the effects of an after shock that could bring down more buildings. Some have not eaten for days and as they make their way to grocery stores to loot food they are met with resistance by the military who are armed with tear gas in order to prevent riots.

The government has imposed a dawn to dusk curfew in order to limit the crime in city areas. Regional Mili-tary Commander, Guillermo Ramirez, issued a severe warning to would-be looters: “I would advise criminals not to mess with the armed forces. Our response will be severe, but within the context of the law,” he said.

The Chilean government has sought emergency assistance from the United Nations.

President Obama offered U.S. help as soon as the Chilean government re-quired it.

Foreign aid from other countries has already begun to arrive on the mainland. The European Union has pledged $4 million in emergency aid for Chile. Japan said it was providing an emergency grant of $3 million, as well as sending tents, generators, wa-ter cleaners and other emergency gear, while China has pledged $1 million.

The rescue operation is expected to continue for the next couple of days as rescue teams arrive to search under the rubble as well as moving into re-mote parts of the country.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Chile this week to meet President Bachelet and dis-cuss rescue operations.

Leah robertsFor the Wichitan

Quake hammers Chile,inspires new outreach

May I be excused?nour view

Everyone has heard (and probably used) ex-cuses.

Your car had a flat. Your cousin’s boyfriend was in the hospital

because he crashed his bicycle into a tree. Your dog ran out the front door chasing af-

ter a skunk – you’re pretty sure it was rabid, too – so you had to catch your pup, de-skunkify him AND take him to the vet to make sure he wasn’t going to go “Old Yeller” on you.

Your grandma has had six surgeries, five heart attacks, eighteen doctor’s visits and two instances where not only has she died and had a funeral out of town only to miraculously come back to life the next week and need you to drive her to the rheumatologist.

Come on, now. Zombie grandmas? Really? Of course, if your granny dearest really does join the legion of the shambling undead, then by all means take a day off class and use that excuse.

Otherwise, we’re curious – just how stupid do you think your professors are?

It’s time to lay off of the excuses in a real-ly big way. If you oversleep one day and miss class, instead of blaming it on a power outage or a fire, try saying: “Sorry I was late. I forgot to turn on my alarm last night.” If you’re a gener-ally punctual student, most of your professors will probably respond with some level of un-derstanding.

Here’s a secret – they’ve probably overslept once or twice in their lives as well. They are, contrary to what some students believe, human beings.

If you’re late or absent two out of three class periods a week, though, even the truth might

get a little bit old. You might even be tempted to spice it up a little and invent stories to de-flect the blame for your overuse of the snooze button onto someone or something else.

Our advice? Don’t. Either start waking up on time or just shut up about it.

Yeah, you’ll probably get away with playing sick a couple of times in a semester. After all, some people really do have the migraines ev-eryone else pretends to have, and out of com-passion and/or an inability to ignore a condi-tion that truly does affect students, professors try to be understanding.

However, if in a single semester you have six-teen headaches, three stomach viruses, various allergic reactions that leave your face too swol-len and hideous to even CONSIDER coming to school, various colds and sinus infections and thirty-three instances of the Swine Flu (different mutations, of course), don’t be sur-prised when no one believes you if you really do come down with something.

You also might want to consider the fact that a classmate might report you to the health department for being a constant oozing source of contagious viral nastiness.

If you leave your homework in the car, ask (politely) if you can get it after class and drop it by the professor’s office. If you just didn’t do your homework, don’t claim it’s in your car lest your benevolent professor suggests you retrieve it. That situation will require another good sto-ry for why, after you made the trek to the park-ing lot, you returned without your assignment.

Maybe you can get a phone call from zombie grandma’s Bingo friends while you’re walking to your vehicle and have to immediately zoom

off superman-style to stop granny from eating their old lady brains. Yeah, that would work.

Basically, if you didn’t do your assignment, take your “F” and say you’re sorry. Don’t share a story about how, no, you weren’t at Toby’s and on Facebook all weekend, the reason you didn’t have time to write your midterm was because you were teaching inner-city third graders about Jesus at an overnight church camp!

Let’s just be real. Excuses are dumb. Your professor might let them slide, but if you’re one of those constantly late/absent/homeworkless folks, they are going to catch on. Maybe you’ve never been called on your BS before, but trust us, they know your car hasn’t been hit in the parking lot of your apartment complex forty-seven times.

It’s also highly unlikely that your uncle’s girlfriend’s sister doesn’t suddenly need you to babysit her kids because the daycare has been closed down due to a salmonella outbreak three different times, all on days where there just happened to be exams.

Ever wonder why your instructors look at you like a criminal when you legitimately were sick and missed a quiz? You need to cast the blame no farther than the clown four seats in front of you who (mistakenly) thinks he’s getting away with something when everyone knows he’s full of crap.

Excuse-overusers: you are ruining it for the honest people.

We’re all adults(ish) around here. It’s about time to take responsibility for our own screw-ups. Who knows, you might just gain a little more respect in the process.

nJust Joshin’

Josh hoggardJedi guru

op/edThe Wichitan n 3March 3, 2010

COMING SOON TO A CAMPUS NEAR YOU… Friday, March 5 MSU Career Fair 10am-1pm, CSC Atrium Meet employers and learn about careers and internships.

Sunday, March 7 MSU Cheerleaders: College Prep Stunt Clinic 1-4pm, Don Flatt Gym Learn the skills needed for college cheerleading.

Monday, March 8 University Programming Board (UPB) Meeting 5:00pm, CSC Shawnee Become a new member and help plan programs for MSU!

Monday, March 8 Artist-Lecture Series: Sloane Crosley 7:00pm, Akin Auditorium Hear the best-selling, witty, urbane, and madcap writer.

Tuesday, March 9 Women With a Voice: A Night of Music & Poetry 7:00pm, CSC Shawnee Sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and UPB.

March 10 and 11 Imagine Graduation 11am-6pm, CSC Comanche For all May 2010 graduates. Congratulation to all spring grads!

Friday, March 12 Yule Ball (sponsored by the Harry Potter Alliance) 7-10pm, CSC Comanche Put on your wizardly robes or gowns and dance the night away.

March 13-21, 2010 Spring Break All Day Stay safe and enjoy your well-deserved vacation!

Tuesday, March 23 Pre-Greek Week Kick Off BBQ 11am-2pm, SW Plaza Join MSU Greeks for their upcoming service and unity events.

Saturday, March 27 SpikeFest 2010 (sponsored by IFC and WE-Rec) 10:00am, Wellness Center A 4-on-4 sand volleyball tournament benefiting SEEK Camp.

Dome Theater Like IMAX, but on campus... Join University Programming Board (UPB) on Thursday, March 25, 2010

from 1:00-7:00pm in the Clark Student Center Atrium to experience this 360 degree spectacle of light and sound.To learn more about Dome Theater,

contact Cammie Dean in the Office of Student Development and Orientation at 397-4500 or email upb@mwsu.edu.

March is Women’s History Month!

Be on the lookout for different programs and educational opportunities during the

month of March 2010 as various Midwestern State University organizations recognize the contributions of outstanding

women and importance of the female gender. Programs will be offered by

University Programming Board, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Multicultural

Services, and more.

The Spotlight is brought to you by

The Office of StudentDevelopment & Orientation Endless Opportunities. Lifelong Connections.

Clark Student Center, Room 194 (940) 397-4500

http://activities.mwsu.edu

Look for the next Spotlight on Wednesday, March 24, 2010!

Risk Management Workshops

The 2009-10 mandatory Student Organization Risk Management

Trainings have been scheduled. Every registered student organization at MSU must have a representative attend one

workshop. Workshops will be held in CSC Shawnee Theater.

Wednesday, March 3 from 5:30-7:30pm

Thursday, March 4 from 5:30-7:30pm

the Spotlight

A SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS... -To the ladies of Alpha Phi sorority for hosting their annual High Heel Walk and raising funds and awareness to prevent heart disease in women.

-To the men of Interfraternity Council (IFC) forcoordinating MSU Night at the Wildcats to benefit Children’s Miracle Network.

-To all of the students, faculty, and staff who have contributed nearly 400 service hours towards the House that Midwestern Built project with Habitat for Humanity.

Has your organization done something worthy of recognition in the Spotlight? (performed community service, presented a program, traveled to a conference, received an award, etc.) Let us know! Call 397-4500 so your organization can be featured in a future issue.

Twelve percent of students at MSU are Af r ican-Americans.And how many are willing to participate in a Black History pro-gram?

Easy, ZERO. I can’t stand back

and shake my head because I know I am part of the issue as well. I could give A to Z of excuses, but what does that matter? I’m one of the people who didn’t contribute to MSU’s first Black History program, too.

This might be because Black His-tory Month, according to MSU, is nothing but fried chicken in the din-ing hall and showcasing the Oscar nominated-film “Precious.”

I found out the showing was can-celled through word of mouth and Facebook. I wasn’t in the Black His-tory program, but I was curious to see what it entailed.

Discovering the real reason behind the cancellation is heartbreaking: lack of cooperation.

As African-Americans and college students, we can’t come together to work collectively and educate for the vitality of our history?

Twelve percent! How many of this

12 percent know of the first black students who attended MSU? Or do we have to wait until next Feb-ruary when the book-store posts their pic-tures and stories?

This was truly a moment to shine as a black community for the university, but co-operation simply flat-lined.

For as long as I’ve been here, I’ve wondered why there wasn’t any-thing special done for Black History Month.

This year, Jessica Jones, president of the MSU chapter of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Member Karmen Simmons and others were willing to do something special for this time of year.

But they didn’t get to because it seemed like nobody else was.

It’s understandable that some stu-dents have other priorities to attend to.

But to be so ignorant to protest the movie’s importance, or to deny the importance of Black History

Month itself, is pure foolishness and buffoonery.

As Blacks, we’ve come from hav-ing a national week to the shortest month of the year.

To only celebrate a month is a joke.

We should consistently, vocally, and proudly express our heritage re-lentlessly.

To complain about not creating a program is one thing, but to cancel it is another one altogether.

I dare anyone who moans and groans over this flop of a program to ask themselves what they’ve contrib-uted.

What seems to be the issue is uni-ty.

I have never seen a school with such a small population be so divided and forgo the bigger issue: coming together.

If we all reached the same goal of producing an excellent pro-gram, that would have been done. I take this incident as a call of ac-tion.

As a university, African-Ameri-cans and other multi-cultural orga-nizations, we should come together and work effectively, sufficiently, pro-fessionally and creatively to showcase the significance of our respective, in-dividual heritages.

Jaleesa BealomFor the Wichitan

COME TOGETHERStudent is upset that apathy, infighting caused divisions,distractions from the truth behind Black History Month

(again)

feature4 n The Wichitan March 3, 2010

stilettosTrading in sneakers for

Alpha Phi’s annual walk pushes participants to greater heights –

at least as far astheir footwear goes

MSU’s Alpha Phi sorority held a one-mile high heel walk to ben-efit cardiac research.

On Saturday, members of the community put on their favor-ite high heels (some stuck with tennis shoes) and made a mile-long trek.

The High Heel Walk is Alpha Phi’s primary philanthropy project.

(Photos by Kassie Bruton)

Besides being the mascot, Gilbert is a typi-cal college freshman. A kinesiology major, she stays busy trying to balance school work and her

social life. Gilbert has always been involved with

school athletics. She’s been a cheerleader since 7th grade. She graduated from Rhine

High School in Denton and then moved to Wichita Falls to continue her education.

Gilbert said being the university’s mascot is a great way to take pride in the school and get involved. She

recommends the job to anybody who is committed and can really get excited

about things. She earned her place as mascot by speak-

ing with cheerleading sponsor, Sue Wither-spoon.

All tryouts for the fall are usually held at the end of April or early May. Any student is eligible, but it helps to have previous cheer-leading or mascot experience, she said.

Each participant is critiqued based off of his or her skill level in ability to do tricks and be entertaining. They are required to do a skit with the cheerleaders and are judged by their performance.

Witherspoon said she wants people to know that becoming the university’s mascot

is not easy. They must go through a series of vigorous tryouts just like the cheerleaders.

Each potential mascot is also sent to cheer camp. During Gilbert’s experience at camp she won All American, the award for the all-around best performer in a category.

The mascot is given a scholarship, the amount based on skill level.

Witherspoon is hoping to get more people in-terested in trying out.

“It is a fun job. It does take time though,” Gil-bert said.

Having the Mustang symbolize the university is a young tradition. It began the spring semester of 2006. MSU was formally known for being the “Indians.” This changed after the NCAA forced the university to adopt a new mascot.

MSU was one of 19 colleges told to do so. The NCAA said all universities were prohib-

ited from displaying hostile and abusive or ra-

cial origin mascots, claiming Indian was a racial nickname. If the schools failed to comply, they would not be allowed to host any future NCAA championship competitions.

Since then, fans have fallen in love with the Mustang.

Gilbert does not know how long she plans on working as mascot. Until then, she will continue to put smiles on faces and support her school. One day she’ll pass the costume on to the next student.

MAVERICK....................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1

Maverick the Mustang (Photos by Patrick John-ston)

newsThe Wichitan n 5March 3, 2010

campus briefsn Today:

Resumania Days in CsC WiChi-ta i anD ii at 10 a.m.

n THURSday:FRom sWeats to suits in CsC ComanChe suites at 6:30 p.m.

FoReign Film seRies: the Closet at the Kemp CenteR FoR the aRts at 7 p.m.

n FRiday:msu CaReeR FaiR at D.l. Coliseum at 10 a.m.

opening ReCeption: Kit ReisCh anD Continuing eDuCation in the Juanita haRvey aRt gal-leRy at 6 p.m.

n SaTURday:gRaDuate anD pRoFessional sChool pRtaCtiCe exam Day in DillaRD at 9 a.m.

n Monday: aRtist leCtuRe seRies: sloane CRosby in aKin au - DitoRium at 7 p.m.

n TUeSday: imagine gRaDuation in CsC ComanChe at 11 a.m.

FaCulty FoRum seRies: DR. nathan Jun in the CsC shaWnee at 7 p.m.

aCaDemiC ReCoveRy gRoup in CsC apaChe at 3:30 p.m.

“These 400 jobs are a big deal,” Perry said. “It’s good news.”

“I’m sure there are communities all across the country that would dearly love to be in your po-sition,” he said. “We have some great challenges across the country and in Texas as well. We’ve done well, relatively speaking, in this economic crisis. But our work is not done.”

Perry said the fact that the company chose to set up shop in Texas is significant.

“When they make their products, I want the tags to say ‘Made in Texas,’” he said. “Fact is, that’s becoming a symbol across the world of quality.”

He said the project is the culmination of col-laboration between the Texas Enterprise Fund, the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce and city civic leaders.

“It’s efforts like this that keep jobs coming to Texas,” he said. “It’s important because the pay-checks come along with that. On behalf of the 24 million people who call this state home, I congrat-ulate Natura World on their expansion.”

“We’re very excited about today’s announce-ment,” said Scott Miller, senior vice president of U.S. sales for Natura World, Inc. “This company was founded on the premise of making products that are healthy for you to sleep on, using natural organic components.

He said that for the company based in Cam-

bridge, Ontario, the growth has been unprecedent-ed.

Last year Natura World acquired two compa-nies in Utah that specialize in making gel-based sleeping products. One of the companies, Gelsolu-tions, will be relocating to Wichita Falls as part of the project.

“This will help us continue on our growth ef-forts,” said Miller, who grew up in Dallas.

Perry said that although stories like this shed some light on the country’s lengthening economic shadow, the battle is far from over.

“Until every Texan that wants a job has a job, we’ve got a job,” Perry said.

The governor said this job is to implement poli-cies that will allow job creators to risk capital with the promise of success.

“We work hard in the legislature to create a cli-mate where innovation can be rewarded,” Perry said. “Our employers have a better chance to suc-ceed here than anywhere else in America.

He said the unemployment rate in Texas is two percent less than the rest of nation, on average. Out of the 10 most populated states, unemployment is lowest in the Lone Star State.

Texas also produces the highest number of pri-vate-sector jobs than any other state.

“This indicates that at the core of our economy, there is strength,” Perry said.

He said the success of our economy is due to a hardwork-ing populace.

“The success of our state is built primarily on the efforts of the men and women in this audience,” Perry said. “Gov-ernment does not create jobs. Government creates the envi-ronment where the jobs can be created.”

He said the principles of government are very simple:

Don’t spend all the money.Have a tax and regulatory

policy in place that is fair.A legal system that does not

allow over-suing.A public education system

that’s appropriately funded.

“This com-pany would not have come to Wichita Falls, Texas, if there was any doubt about those four points,” he said. “When you combine those four things with the legendary work ethic found in this state, those princi-pals continue to attract em-ployers. They know they will have the op-portunity to succeed.”

Perry said that since 2003 the state has received thou-sands of inqui-ries from other companies try-ing to get the same hook-up as Natura World. All of the candidates who have been chosen, which are few, were selected painstakingly.

“A very small percentage actually get funded,” he said. “You look for community involvement and the opportunity for job creation. But this company was one of those where the return on the invest-ment for the state is going to be great. Particularly at this juncture where an economic crisis is going around.”

He said some small- to middle-sized cities in Texas are succeeding because of focus and disci-pline.

“They have the work force, and they know that in this state they get to keep more of what they work hard for,” Perry said. “We are at the top of everybody’s list when they’re looking for a place to expand or relocate to.”

“We have a city that says, ‘We can figure out

how to make this happen,’ instead of one that says, ‘Gee, we can’t do that,’” said Tim Chase, president of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Chase said economic development is a team sport in Texas.

“There’s no question about it – we’ve got a lot of players on this team,” he said.

“We think regionally here,” Mayor Laham Lyne said. “We know that what happens in Wichita Falls happens because of all the outlying areas: Iowa Park, Electra, Burkburnett, Clay county, Ar-cher county.”

Lyne said Burkburnett contributed $600,000 to bringing Natura World to Wichita Falls.

“That type of effort says, ‘We’re in this together. We’re North Texas,’” he said. “It’s not just one sin-gle person – it’s a whole group of people that make things happen. This is what makes our community unique. We pull together and say, ‘We can do it.’”

and Load-Out accolades at the festival.

MSU was not selected to ad-vance to the Kennedy Center American College Festival. The go-ahead was given to Parking Lot Babies, a student-written pro-duction from Southeastern Loui-siana University.

Brandon Smith, theatre tech-nical assistant, directed the play. Props were designed by Wil-liam Palmer. Sydney Stockton designed costumes, lighting was designed by Ben McKinney and Ryne Easen. Christie Hoang

stage-managed the play. The cast included Trinton Williams, Wil-liam Palmer, Matthew Griffin, Sydney Stockton, Kelcie Bush, Samantha Pecor, Kristi Mil-lis, Adam Granberry and David Henne.

This is the sixth consecutive time MSU has been considered for the Regional Festival. It’s also the fourth consecutive time MSU has been on the list of advancing plays.

This is only the second year the theatre department has advanced to the regional competition.

THeaTRe..........................continued from page 1

Governor Rick Perry (Photo Courtesy)

PeRRy...........................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1

Still, about 50 companies and or-ganizations seeking new hires have agreed to set up booths at the Ca-reer Fair. Ward said the employers who are coming should not be over-looked.

“We’ve got local, state and na-tional employers coming,” Ward said.

Representatives will be on hand from the FBI, accounting firms, lo-cal police, hospitals from the Texas and Oklahoma areas, and various other businesses that would appeal to those not in the business, crimi-nal justice or health sciences fields.

“There are a lot of businesses looking for a wide range of players,” Ward said.

There will be ample opportunities to hone job hunting skills as well.

“We try to tell students that even if you’re a freshman or sophomore, get a resume done,” Ward said. “Go to these events and see what it’s all about. You’ll be better prepared (than those who don’t take advan-tage of the learning experience).”

In fact, events correlating with the Career Fair will be taking place all week long. The festivities kicked off Monday with “Where’s The Tent,” which made job-seeking ad-vice easier to swallow by washing it down with free pizza and drinks.

Tuesday and today brought the chance to have resumes critiqued and corrected at “Resumania.”

Tomorrow night, Career Fair sponsors will be on hand to meet

with students and give them tips on what employers are really looking for during “From Sweats to Suits” in CSC Comanche at 6:30 p.m. Ward said she also hopes to work a fash-ion show into this event.

She said Joseph A. Bank and Dil-lards will be providing mannequins wearing appropriate attire, and she hopes students will pay attention to this “What Not to Wear” presen-tation for job-seeking college stu-dents.

Those attending the Career Fair should come prepared, Ward said.

“Students should bring at least 10 copies of their resume,” she said, adding that it helps to arrive early. It’s also not a bad idea to pick up business cards from the employ-ers you speak with so you can send them a note afterward as a follow-up.

This is also one of those opportu-nities where you can, and probably will, be judged on how you look.

“We suggest professional attire,” Ward said. A business suit is best, but she is aware that many college students don’t have a suit and tie hanging in their closets, and pre-sented acceptable alternatives.

“We know not all college stu-dents can afford a new suit, but they probably have a pair of nice khakis and a button-down shirt,” she said.

She also urged students to pay at-tention to accessories. To bring your outfit up to a professional level, she said sometimes all you need is a new

tie or a pair of nice earrings.

Also, if you wouldn’t wear it to visit your grand-ma, you probably shouldn’t wear it to the Career Fair. Ward said there have been instances where stu-dents have showed up for the career fair and made a strong impression for all the wrong reasons.

She advised stay-ing away from shirts that are too low cut (ladies) or that come up too high, shorts in general, or sagging, baggy pants.

It also pays to treat the Career Fair as a professional event rather than a buf-fet for free pens and other swag.

“Some students treat it as a trick or treat,” Ward said. “They’re not really taking advantage of the Career Fair.”

As for the employer shortage, Ward said it’s a problem, but it won’t last forever.

“Things will turn around,” she said. The CMC is maintaining posi-tive relationships with employers.

“They’re still interested in us,” she said.

This year, some of the usual career fair attendees just can’t afford new hires or simply lack the travel bud-get to make the trip to MSU.

Whether you’re looking for a post-graduation career or just at-tending for experience, Ward said it pays to remember that you’re there to impress.

“First impressions count,” she said.

what to don Bring along at least 10 copies of your resumen dress professionally – wear a business suit if you have onen Practice your handshake. a firm handshake gives a better first impressionn SHoW UP! even if you’re not currently looking for a job, you will be someday. Use this year’s Career Fair to gain experience in communicating with potential employers

CaReeR...............................................................................................................................continued from page 1

a&e6 n The Wichitan March 3, 2010

25 Number of students in Greek fraternities or sororities who received perfect 4.0 grade point averages during either the spring or fall semesters of 2009.

$385

* Free Wi-Fi

Bowls of BlissLauren Wood

EntErtainmEnt Editor

Gorillaz feel good with ‘Plastic Beach’

The key to understanding the grandiose concept behind the Gorillaz’ third album is to explore the island that the title is derived from (conveniently located on the band’s website).

Before venturing into the confines of the Swiss Family Robinson-esque construct pictured on the cover, the viewer may choose to speak to a pelican with a spanner stuck in its throat, or a morose seagull. When asked what the Plastic Beach is, the seagull aptly explains that it’s the gathering ground of all the world’s garbage, and from the outset, it looks like a paradise. Of course, once you get closer, it belies something far more sinister.

The website allows you to explore the construct for yourself, and it’s easy to see how the seagull’s explanation reflects on the album you’re about to hear.

While all of these songs sound fit for a day of lying in the sun with a Mai Tai in hand (which they are), a second or third listen will undoubtedly yield darker undercurrents.

Even before a single note is played, it’s apparent that Plastic Beach is a gargantuan effort. Everything about this album, from the cover art and elaborate back story to the website itself, towers over the listener in such a way that it’s almost impossible to remember the last time a major band has exploited the concept album so thoroughly; even Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band knew when to stop running with its own idea and let the music speak for itself.

However, that’s not to say the Gorillaz’ ambitious campaign is detrimental to how good Plastic Beach is. As with all their albums, the story (which involves one of the band members holding the rest of his cohorts and a slew of collaborators hostage on the island to record said album) rests outside the boundaries of the whatever’s being played.

Regardless, Plastic Beach is an outstanding album.

At a time when most bands have been unable to measure up to past successes, G o r i l l a z has not only managed to go against the grain and release an album that surpasses their last (Demon Days), but they’ve also set

the bar much higher for their contemporaries.There are over 15 guest musicians on this

record, ranging from rock legends like Lou Reed to contemporary powerhouses like Mos Def and Snoop Dogg. With a number that high, it would seem certain that an album like this would collapse under the weight of its own ambitions, but thankfully that’s not the case here.

Each track segues into the next with two or three guests at a time sliding in to trade vocals, whether they’re droning in the background or wailing at the forefront. The lead-off single (Stylo) is an excellent example of this—Bobby Womack sings his heart out while Mos Def ’s nearly inaudible rhymes trail off in a blanket of 80’s electro. The same goes for White Flag, whose musical backing (provided by The National Orchestra For Arabic Music) compliments Bashy and Kano’s vocals in an unlikely yet exciting way.

Some songs are silly and rife with imagery (Superfast Jellyfish, Some Kind of Nature) while others are tranquil meditations on humanity and ecology. The collaborative process that drove this album must be applauded because most of the guests put forth a lot of effort, particularly Bobby Womack.

Lou Reed’s turn was a little disappointing, but his presence offered an enjoyable contrast nonetheless. It makes one wonder what the Barry Gibb sessions would’ve sounded like had they made it onto the album.

Hands down, Plastic Beach is the Gorillaz’ best album yet. The band really shot for the moon this time; there’s no telling what they’re going to do after this.

If this is the last we hear from them on the musical front for the next few years (apparently they want to continue expanding their influence into stage and screen), albums like Plastic Beach will remain a shining testament to their theatricality and ingenuity.

Devan GillFor thE Wichitan

“Plastic Beach” is the Gorillaz’s first release in five years. (Photo Courtesy)

Wichita Falls has gotten a new genre of cuisine, Mongolian stir-fry. Genghis Grill is a build-your-own bowl, fast, casual, Asian stir-fry concept that is catching on quickly.

I had been to a GG before in another city, so I was thrilled when one was built in town. I went on Saturday night, and we only had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated. Once we got our bowls and were able to put our orders in, the chefs informed us it would be about 30 minutes till we received our food, which dampened my mood.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.When you arrive at Genghis Grill, you are

immediately submersed into a colorful and lively atmosphere. Once seated, your waiter will give you

a silver bowl and ask you if you have ever been to Genghis before. Since everyone at my party had, we skipped the introduction and headed right toward the lines.

However, if you have never been to Genghis before, I suggest admitting that to the waiter. It will help you avoid the dumbfounded look you will get when you get up to stand in line.

The lines consist of five small stations. The first is Choose Your Protein. You can load your bowl up with any combination or amount of chicken, sliced beef, turkey, sausage, ham, marinated white fish, Khan’s Krab, calamari, shrimp, scallops, tofu, pork, marinated steak or pepperoni.

The second station is Season Your Protein. You select which of the 12 seasonings you want. You can stay simple with salt and pepper, go wild with Dragon Salt, or just experiment with lemon pepper

New Mongolian restaurant mixes up build-your-own stir-fry

Jane Austen has long been revered as one of the greatest English writers of our time.

Her stories of love, heartbreak and the hilarity of societal manners have warmed the hearts of many, and generations of nerds have quivered with excitement at the very name. Austen.

Generations of high school students and college freshmen, however, have groaned at the name. Austen is a name associated with assigned readings and forking over eight bucks to your local bookstore. Pages and pages of women quibbling over which rich handsome man to marry.

What would possibly make Jane Austen’s classic relevant, interesting, and not mind-numbingly boring?

Easy. Add zombies.In Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice

and Zombies, all the boring parts are replaced with intense zombie action and ninja moves, while all the witty dialogue and banter remain unchanged.

The beloved Elizabeth Bennett is no longer just an oddball of society. She remains a free-thinking, hike-loving, poor man’s daughter with four sisters. But she is also expertly trained in the arts of martial skill and zombie killing.

The basic plot is as follows: Elizabeth Bennett is the second eldest of five daughters. Since the family has no heir, it is up to the daughters to secure their futures through marriage. Easier said than done, seeing as the family is poor (by society standards), Mrs. Bennett is a raging harpy, and of the three youngest girls, one is perpetually crying, another perpetually ugly, and the other insatiably slutty (again, by societal standards).

Elizabeth finds this super handsome rich guy named Mr. Darcy, but he’s arrogant and just knows how good he is with a musket. He falls in love with her and proposes. She answers with a roundhouse kick to the face, but then later realizes her love for him. The two battle it out (literally and figuratively) and discover love amidst all the pride and prejudice.

Oh, also, the countryside is plagued by zombies.

It’s actually kind of scary how well Austen’s classic and Grahame-Smith’s crack fiction mesh together. Austen’s characters often take long walks or carriage rides to neighboring towns, leaving ample opportunity for zombie attacks.

Long conversations are way more interesting when you throw in katana-wielding, musketry, and hand-to-hand combat. Likewise, the balls and parties go from hum-drum to awesome when interrupted by graphic depictions of zombies busting in and munching on the kitchen staff.

I actually had never read Pride and Prejudice before reading this book. I bought it only because I thought the title was epic. What I found was that the contents, too, were epic. Austen’s work is abridged and the story preserved, with zombies thrown in just enough to keep things spicy. But the driving element is never the zombies or the fighting or carriages being overtaken on the road. It’s the love story between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth that carries the novel, and it, for the most part, stays exactly the way Austen wrote it in 1813.

That’s why this book is so cool. It made me go out and rent the A&E adaptation of Austen’s classic, and I sat there for five hours, riveted by the dialogue and the expressions and the characters. And there wasn’t a zombie in sight.

If you’re new to Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a fantastic introduction to her work. If you love anything zombie-related, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is still fantastic.

Oh, and if you’re an English teacher?Assign this version to your students.

and yellow curry salt.The third station is Pick Your Veggies and it is

just that: you choose which vegetables you want in your concoction. There are 30 different things to choose from and you are free to load up your bowl with whatever you choose.

Now you’re almost done. You can pick a sauce, if you want. There are 15 different kinds you can choose from. I stayed simple with the Honey Soy, but you can be bold and go for the Red Curry Peanut Sauce or the Chili Garlic Sauce. They do have small spoons so you can sample the sauce before you make your decision, which is extremely helpful since most of us have no idea what Dragon Sauce tastes like.

Lastly, you take your bowl to the grill counter where you Call Your Starch. You can choose from steamed rice, brown rice, fried rice, udon noodles, spiral pasta or tortillas.

They will give you a number and you place it on your table and shortly (hopefully) your bowl will arrive hot and steaming for your enjoyment.

The upside to this style of cuisine is that it is up to you what you put in your bowl, however that is the downside. You kind of just have to cross your fingers and hope you like how it comes out.

It will take a couple attempts to get it exactly how you want it, but it usually turns out amazing no matter how you mix it.

The main problem with this restaurant is the wait to get your food. It took about 30 minutes to get ours mainly because it was packed that evening. So if you are in a rush and short on time, this wouldn’t be my first pick. However, it is well worth the wait if you have the time.

It is $9.99 for one bowl and dinner and an extra $4 if you want an endless bowl. An endless bowl is where you can get as many bowls as you want, kind of like an all you can eat buffet. But I was stuffed just after my one bowl.

Overall, it was delicious food; however the wait was a disappointment. But I would still recommend it to all who have not experienced this unique cuisine.

Genghis Grill is located on the corner of Midwestern Parkway and Kemp Avenue, next to the Verizon store.

Zombies and Austen, a new classic Jamie Monroe

advErtising managEr

“Pride Prejudice and Zombies” is a new in-troduction to Jane Austen’s work. (Photo Courtesy)

a&eThe Wichitan n 7March 3, 2010

Countdown to OscarsLauren Wood

EntErtainmEnt Editor

The red carpet af-fair will be held on Sunday, March 7. (Photo Courtesy)

Jennifer Lopez is expected to release her newest album in the summer of 2010. (Photo Courtesy)

Predictions and possibilites for the Academy Awards

The red carpet is set and the biggest movie event of the year is only days away. The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will air Sunday on ABC, hosted by actors Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

The usual awards have been selected and the nominees are crossing their fingers till the results are revealed and they hear those magical words: “And the Oscar goes to…”

In case you haven’t had a chance to see the nominations, or can’t make up your mind, I am here to provide you with a little insight in hopes you can better make your decision on who you think should win.

In the category of Best Picture, there are ten nominations. This one will be the most difficult to predict because there are so many choices that differ greatly in their genre.

I think that Avatar will win Best picture honestly because it was a huge film. The film is not up for any other major awards, so I think it has a chance. However I would like to see The Blind Side take home the Oscar. I feel like this was a great movie all around, meaning the cast was superb, the fact that it was based on a true story was a bonus and did extremely well in box offices.

In the category of Best Director, I think James

Cameron who directed Avatar will win the award. It has been so long since he has done anything this extreme (think back to Titanic) and for it to come out so amazing, I think he deserves it.

However, Kathryn Bigelow, who directed The Hurt Locker and Lee Daniels, Precious, also have a shot at grabbing this award.

But, the director I am really rooting for but I know won’t win is Quentin Tarantino. I thought Inglourious Basterds was a phenomenal film that should be recognized, but Tarantino is not for everyone and probably will not get recognized for his brilliance.

The Best Actor nominees are all excellent this year, however I believe either Jeff Bridges for his role in Crazy Heart, or Morgan Freeman in Invictus, will take home the trophy.

Bridges did a great job and the movie wasn’t half bad either. Invictus wasn’t as strong as a film but Freeman fit his role perfectly. If either wins, I would be pleased.

As stated previously, I have a thing for The Blind Side, so it shouldn’t come as a shock when I pick Sandra Bullock to win Best Actress. I think she is so accomplished and such an amazing actress. She definitely deserves this award, even though it will be a close race against Gabourey Sidibe (Precious). Meryl Streep is nominated but since Julie & Julia didn’t do so well, I’m not sure she would be the

winner of this category. As far as Best Supporting Actor goes, I think

Stanley Tucci deserves a shot. He is rarely the leading man, and I think he pulled off his role in The Lovely Bones quite well.

Matt Damon did well in Invictus, but I wouldn’t consider his role to be Oscar-worthy.

Woody Harrelson (The Messenger) and Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) might have a chance since they were smaller, indie films, but unfortunately I have not gotten to see the films.

And finally, the Best Supporting Actress category is full of promising talent. I had a tough time picking who I liked most.

I have narrowed it down to Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) and Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air). I thought both actress are wonderful in these films as well as plenty others and deserves a shot at the award.

I would be thrilled if Anna Kendrick (from Up in the Air) got the award, especially since she is so young, but also because it proves that she is bigger than just her small role in the teenage sensation Twilight.

So there you have it. Those are my predictions and possibilities. Tune into the Oscars on Sunday at 7 p.m. on ABC and decide for yourself who you are hoping gets the golden statue.

You can always watch the red carpet action that is aired before the event and see what the actors are wearing.

Goodwin Band gives a big phat performance

J.Lo splits from Lauren Wood

EntErtainmEnt Editor

Akin Auditorium has rarely been as full as it was Thursday evening.

It was packed.Like jam-packed.Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band, part

of the Artist Lecture series, must have been ecstatic to see the sold-out venue.

Really, you wouldn’t think Goodwin – who writes songs in the big band/ 1930s swing vein – would draw much of an audience besides decrepit old people reminiscing of flapper girl and cheap gasoline.

And sure, there were some oldies there. God bless them.

But filling most of the seats were students. Rowdy, excited students, at that! It was they who showed up in big numbers to experience the music popularized more than half a century before they were born.

And it seemed like they loved it.Goodwin kicked off the show by running

onstage excitedly and introducing his players one by one. He gave each one a bro-grab as they ran past him, dancing and goofing off.

The band seemed like an energetic bunch – especially considering they were mostly comprised of white 40- and 50-somethings (in stark contrast to the audience).

During the set Goodwin sounded just like, well, Goodwin. Every song had a flavor that was ubiquitously him. The trumpets were loud, the pacing was fast and there were more solos than you could shake a trombone at.

Goodwin’s arranging sensibility was quick and to-the-point. Entrances were snappy and well defined with a lot of variety between rhythm, brass and woodwinds.

This was to his benefit. There was very little abstraction, noodling around, stuff like that.

At one point early in the show, however, the interplay between Goodwin’s piano and the guitarist was very Chick Corea. The subtlety and note selection in this section – which was eventually punctuated by some very interesting drum patterns and percussion work – said to the audience, “Yeah, I can do that, too.”

Whole-toned, off-time sections were sprinkled into other songs during the set, which also added some variety to the show.

The musicianship during the show was quite impressive, even for professional studio musicians from. L.A. No notes were flubbed, transitions were clear and syncopation was dead-on.

It’s good the group operated with such musical professionalism – the pacing of the show stayed pretty much the same throughout. Not that it was a bad thing. It’s just Goodwin’s style.

But it was refreshing to hear the band switch gears once in a while. One example of this was during an arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which was obviously the group’s best effort of the night.

The arrangement was marvelously creative. It’s hard to redo a classic like that – especially a Gershwin – but they pulled it off. The woodwinds in particular came into the forefront during this one, namely the piccolo, clarinet and soprano sax work.

On the other hand, Goodwin’s rendition of Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man, sounded rather uninspired. He tried to take the 80’s cult hit and give it his own singular flair, but it just came out too much like all of Goodwin’s other songs. It was barely recognizable, really.

But other than that, the show was very tight.Goodwin ordered up more sax solos than any

other instrument during the show, but it wasn’t surprising. Goodwin, who earned a doctorate in saxophone performance, killed a solo himself.

But he really wasn’t too biased. He arranged a piece for the trombone section and the trumpet section – earning him woos and cheers from the band geeks in the audience.

Goodwin’s band members were super-cheeky and playful during the set, but it was hard to tell if they were actually playful characters or if it was just scripted. The Big Phat Band trivia game near the end of the set was pretty funny, if only because of the audience members Goodwin hauled onstage.

Also funny was the white, 50-year-old Goodwin instructing the audience to scream, ‘That’s how we roll!’ during one song.

The band finished up with Play That Funky Music White Boy and played Jazz Police as an encore.

Goodwin rocked MSU last week, proving that he truly is the sultan of swing.

Chris Collinsmanaging Editor

After more than a decade, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has confirmed she has split from Sony’s Epic Records. The label put out her first CD, On The 6, in 1999 and since then, she’s sold millions.

Her newest album called Love? was due to be released by the label in April but in a statement released last Tuesday, Lopez said, “At this point, I have fulfilled all my contractual obligations to Sony/Epic (and) we have come to an amicable decision.”

Lopez says she has a new label home and her album will be out in the summer, but she did not specify the label.

Epic Records is an American record label. It is owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment. The label was founded in 1953 as a jazz label, and was eventually expanded to several genres of music.

Lopez is still expected to release her new film, The Back-Up Plan, a romantic comedy, April 23.

Lopez has starred in multiple films, starting her acting career in Selena, then starred along side Matthew McConaughey in The Wedding Planner and played opposite Jane Fonda in

Monster-In-Law.Love? will be Lopez’s seventh studio album.

She released her first album, On The 6, in 1999, followed by J. Lo in 2001. Her album This Is Me…Then was released a year later and then Rebirth hit the stores in 2005. Her first full Spanish-language album Como Ama una Mujer was released in 2007 and a short six months later, her sixth studio album Brave was released.

Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band per-formed last week in Akin Auditorium. Goodwin is a Grammy award-winning jazz pianist, saxo-phonist, composer, arranger, and conductor. Under Goodwin’s direction, the Big Phat Band has released five albums: “Swingin’ For the Fences”, which received two Grammy nomina-tions, and “XXL”, which received three. (Photos by: Brittany Norman)

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off into the post-seasonMustangs finish strong on the road to the post season

The Midwestern State men’s basketball team could finally break out the victory cigars last weekend.

With a 10-2 mark in Lone Star Conference South Divi-sion play, the No. 7 Mustangs claimed their second-consec-utive division championship outright after Angelo State took down Tarleton State last Saturday night.

MSU, which ended the year with a program best 25-2 record, had previously downed Angelo State in a 105-100 overtime thriller earlier on Wednesday to close out the regular season.

With the title also comes the top seed in the LSC Champion-ship tournament which starts today at the Bruin Field House in Bartlesville, Okla.

MSU begins tournament play in the quarterfinals versus Southwestern Oklahoma.

Tip off is scheduled for 2:30

p.m. The Mustangs had already

clinched a berth in the tourna-ment, but the race for the No. 1 seed was still up for grabs when they hosted Angelo State Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

Senior guard Craig Green, who was also named LSC South Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season, scored eight of his team-high 27 points in the OT to help the Mustangs pull out the victory.

Junior forward Charlie Logan posted one of his best games of the year with an 18 point, seven rebound, five block effort.

Teammate Jason Ebie also contributed 18 points and seven assists, while Michael Godwin recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Junior guard Chris Hagan rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and six steals.

The Mustangs trailed 91-88

with just a little more than 30 seconds remaining in the sec-ond half. Logan cut the deficit to one after finishing off a nice alleyoop pass from Ebie with a monstrous dunk.

Hagan came up with a steal on the next possession, and dropped in one of two free throws after being fouled to knot up the scoreboard.

After forcing yet another Rams’ turnover, MSU had the last shot of regulation but was unable to get a shot off before time expired.

That’s when Green took over in the extra minutes, hitting a pair of free throws to give the Mustangs a 99-98 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

MSU overcame a 31-point night by Angelo State’s LeMar-shall Corbett and 23 point, 15 rebound effort from Johnny Barnes.

The win gave MSU its sixth-straight season without a home loss, and the first since the 1998-99 campaign.

matt LedesmaFor The WichiTan

The Mustangs were firing on all cylinders as the team’s 2010 season drew to a close last Sat-urday afternoon in San Antonio.

MSU (9-17, 2-10) reeled off its third-straight win in a nar-row 67-66 victory over Incarnate Word.

But that was just the team’s second nail-bitter of the week, after downing Lone Star Con-ference South Division rival Angelo State, 69-67, earlier on Wednesday.

“This win gives us great mo-mentum going into next season,” head coach Noel Johnson said after the victory on Saturday.

“I can’t say enough about the effort over the past three games.”

Sophomore forward Cierra Thompson paced the Mustangs’ offense with a career-high 19 points versus Incarnate Word.

She also hit the go-ahead free throw with 18 seconds left in the game, as MSU got a defen-sive stop on the final possession to hold on for the win.

Teammate Savannah Carver,

also a sophomore forward, added 14 points while junior forward Breeanna Brown contributed four points, six rebounds and four steals.

MSU led 36-35 at the inter-mission, and kept the margin about the same until the Car-dinals took their only lead of the second half with six minutes re-maining on the clock.

But that lead would be short lived as Brown hit a jumper about thirty-seconds later to put the Mustangs back in control. w

MSU will be seeing plenty of Incarnate Word (19-8, 13-1) in the near future. This season’s Heartland Conference regular-season champions will join the LSC South next year.

The Mustangs squeezed out their second conference win in close fashion against the Angelo State Rambelles at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

Junior forward Nolisha Markham continued her run of big games recently, scoring 15 of her team-high 21 points in the second half Wednesday night.

That performance, along

with Thompson’s 15 points and Carver’s 11 points, would be just enough to hold off Angelo State’s Camille Perkins.

The junior guard matched a career high 35-point night, but even that wouldn’t be enough to prevent the Rambelles from falling to 5-6 in conference play.

Angelo State (12-14, 5-7) would go on to miss the post-season altogether due in large part to this loss. MSU held a double-digit advantage to start the second half, and were still up 66-58 with just a little more than two and half minutes left in the game.

But two big Angelo State 3-pointers quickly cut the defi-cit to within a basket. Perkins nailed another trey with 27 ticks left on the clock to put the Ram-belles in striking distance of tak-ing the lead.

But that’s as close as they would get, as MSU put the brakes on the Angelo State’s offense by forcing two big turnovers down the stretch.

The Mustangs finished sev-enth in the LSC South.

matt LedesmaFor The WichiTan

midwestern State’s men’s basketball team prepares to take the court against Angelo State for their season finale. (Photo courtesy Julia Raymond)

MENWOMEN

Midwestern State got off to a rough start Thursday in the first game of a double-header with Abilene Christian.

But the Mustangs shook off that early 7-2 loss to finish the day in dominating fashion with a 14-2 shellacking of ACU in the second match up.

MSU improves to 9-3 on the year after the split, while ACU

goes to 6-7. Sophomore third baseman

Mallory Mooney had the big bat for the Mustangs Thursday, go-ing a combined 4-for-6 at the plate while extending her hitting streak to five games.

Mooney, who posts a team best .462 batting average, really made her mark in Game 2. She high-lighted a seven-run third inning with a three-run homer over the center field wall.

That was followed by junior

McKenzie Sickler’s two RBI long ball later in the same inning, push-ing the lead at the point to 14-1.

MSU got all over ACU starter Jacque Gregoire in the top of the first inning. The Mustangs piled on six-earned runs on the junior hurler, and ended her night after only 1 2/3 innings.

Freshman Natalie Rodriquez came up with a double to lead off the game, while teammates Elena Bennett and Courtney Bingham both found their way on base to

load up the bags a short while later.

Mooney brought in one run with a single to centerfield, and then Lauren Craig’s two-run dou-ble helped put MSU up early 5-0.

Senior pitcher Katie Petersen (4-2) allowed just nine hits and two runs in five innings for the Mustangs.

The win came just days after she was named both LSC North Pitcher of the Week and Louis-ville/National Fastpitch Coaches’

Association National Pitcher of the Week. She now also needs only 10 more strikeouts to become MSU’s all-time leader in the cat-egory.

The roles were reversed in Game 1, as ACU put up three runs in the first inning against the Mustangs’ Brittany Tanner (3-1).

In three innings, she allowed four earned runs on seven hits, while striking out three and walk-ing one.

Junior Kristina Gutierrez came

in relief for the final three in-nings and held ACU to one more run and four more hits.

The Mustangs notched their only two runs of the game in the seventh inning on an Alyson Reynolds RBI double and Rodri-guez RBI single.

MSU gets its chance to host a double-header with ACU with two games at Mustangs Park this Thursday.

First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

matt LedesmaFor The WichiTan

Mooney, Mustangs split Abilene Christian double header

mSU’s women’s basketball team cheers on their team from the bench as the Lady mustangs beat Angelo State (Photo courtesy Patrick Johnson)

sportsThe Wichitan n 9March 3, 2010

On Deck This Week

n WEDNESDAY, MArch 3 BASKETBALL Men @ lone star conference chaMpionships Bartlesville, ok

n ThUrSDAY, MArch 4 BASKETBALL Men & WoMen @ lone star conference chaMpionships Bartlesville, ok

n FriDAY, MArch 5 BASKETBALL Men & WoMen @ lone star conference chaMpionships Bartlesville, ok

TENNiS Men @ caMeron quad

SoFTBALL 1 pM vs. pittsBurg state* 3 pM @ Missouri southern* 5 pM vs. eMporia state*

n SATUrDAY, MArch 6 BASKETBALL Men & WoMen @ lone star conference chaMpionships Bartlesville, ok

TENNiS Men @ caMeron quad

SoFTBALL 9 aM vs. neBraska - oMaha 11 aM vs. northWest Missouri

n SUNDAY, MArch 7 BASKETBALL WoMen @ lone star conference chaMpionships Bartlesville, ok

n MoNDAY, MArch 8 GoLF Men and WoMen @ east central tournaMent

n TUESDAY, MArch 9 GoLF Men and WoMen @ east central tournaMent

TENNiS WoMEN vS. cENTrAL oKLAhoMA 2:00 PM

SoFTBALL 1 PM vS. SoUThWESTErN oKLAhoMA

BoLD DENoTES hoME GAME * denotes teri Mathis Zenner MeMorial tournaMent gaMe - Joplin, Mo

Natalie Rawson was named assistant volleyball coach at Midwestern State University Tuesday as announced by Venera Flores-Stafford.

“Coach Rawson brings quality playing and coaching experience to the program while broaden-ing our recruiting base with her previous position at a junior col-lege,” said Flores-Stafford, who will enter her seventh season at the helm of the MSU volleyball program.

Rawson spent the past season serving in the same capacity at

the University of Louisiana-Monroe, an NCAA Division I program that competes in the Sun Belt Conference.

She served as interim head coach of the program after John Schmidt resigned in late No-vember.

“It’s great to come into a sup-portive atmosphere where every-one wants to win and it’s set up to succeed,” Rawson said. “That goes from the players to the team and all the way through the athletic department.

“I’m in a great position to learn from (coach Flores-Stafford’s) success.”

The California native spent the previous two years as the

assistant coach at Marshall-town (Iowa) Community Col-lege where she was instrumental in helping the team to a 54-44 overall record.

Rawson mentored two NJ-CAA All-Americans at Mar-shalltown as the Tigers soared to a No. 11 national ranking during her two-year stint (2007-08).

Prior to working as an assis-tant at Marshalltown CC, she worked as an assistant coach for the Fusion Volleyball program in Valencia, Calif.

Her technical expertise helped numerous players sign with Di-vision I programs from across the country.

Rawson was a standout vol-

leyball and softball student-ath-lete at Colgate University from 2001-05.

She earned all-conference first-team recognition along with being named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in volleyball.

Rawson twice led the Patriot League in digs along with earn-ing her way on to the Patriot League Honor Roll on two oc-casions.

Midwestern State returns all but one starter off of a squad that advanced to the Lone Star Conference Championships for the third straight season.

MSUMustangs.comFor The WichiTan

Rawson named assistant coach for MSU volleyball team

Opening weekend for the MSU Cycling Team started at Texas Tech in Lubbock. A shuttle bus with 20 students left Friday. The team started off with Saturday morning with a road race.

6 men started the A category which was won by Josh Carter in a sprint with Jason Short taking 4th and Alexi Martinez taking 5th.

Due to a shortage of women racers, the 7 MSU category A women raced alongside the 7 cat-egory B men. For the men, Roy Bracey was able to take 1st in the

sprint finish with Sean brown in 3rd and Fidel Goytia in 4th.

Unfortunately category B man, Reynolds Shaffer was un-able to finish the race due to a mishap causing him to break two bones.

For the women, Jennifer Pur-cell snagged 1st with Marilyn Cullinane in 2nd, Claire Rout-ledge in 3rd, Loren Eggenschwil-er in 4th and Tiffany Stewart in 5th.

After a brief lunch break, it was back to the Race course for the time trail, a 6 mile timed event with technical turns and a few hill climbs including a fin-ishing climb.

The women began the trek.

Purcell was able to yet again take first with a time of 14:09.45, even after a wrong turn.

Stewart took 2nd, Eggen-schwiler 3rd, Cullinane in 4th and Natalie Klemko in 5th. The wom-en were followed by the category B men were Bracey was able to take 1st again with 13:50:08.

In the category A men, Short took 2nd with 12:34.66 after Texas A&Ms Chad Haga. Todd Elenz came in 4th.

After much need rest from the winds of Lubbock, the women started the races for MSU Sun-day morning. Routledge took 1st followed by Stewart Cullinane, Purcell and Klemko.

The category B men followed

shortly after. The high winds caused the

group to scatter but Brown was able to take 1st with Tyler Mat-thies in 2nd.

Category A men were able to take the lead again with Carter taking the sprint followed by A&Ms Cody Foster, then MSUs Short in 3rd, Elenz in 4th, and Martinez in 5th.

It was a good start for MSU in the South Central Collegiate Conference.

MSU will be taking the road again March 5-7 to Texas A&M then Dallas for the DFW Col-legiate Race Spring Break open-ing weekend.

Loren EggenschwilerFor The WichiTan

Cycling season opens big for Mustangs

MSU tennis coach Larry Wig-gins wasn’t too thrilled with some of his team’s performance last Saturday at the Colin County Community College Tourna-ment.

The Mustangs managed a split for the day, with the women beat-ing Newman 9-0 and dropping a match to Incarnate Word 5-2.

The men also blasted New-man 9-0 before falling to Incar-nate Word 5-1.

“The girls were shorthanded

due to a lot of injuries, so they played as well as they could have,” Wiggins said. “But the boys could have stepped up the intensity against Incarnate Word.

“There are just certain days when you don’t play as well, and sometimes that happens.”

The Cardinals built an early cushion by taking all three sets in mens doubles action. They then went up 4-0 when Fransico Se-gura beat MSU’s Bo Zaputovic 6-4, 6-1.

“We just have to get better at playing doubles,” Wiggins said. “When you go down 3-0 like that it makes it hard to come

back. But that’s something we’ll work on this week.”

The Mustangs had no trouble in that area earlier in the day ver-sus Newman.

The duos of Zaputovic and Carlos Bataller, Vjekoslav Sti-panic and Ocatavian Dinuta, and Chad Meeks and Daniel Mc-Mullen all swept their respective doubles matches.

Zaputovic, Stipanic, Bataller, McMullen, Meeks and Luke Joyce all also added singles wins in a dominating victory.

It was much the same story for the women, as MSU breezed through matches with Newman

in perfect fashion. The Mustangs then took a 2-1

lead over Incarnate Word, but the Cardinals rallied back by winning the first four singles matches.

Wiggins praised the efforts of sophomore Alex Odell-Michaels, who recorded two doubles wins and one singles victory Saturday.

The men (6-5) will next travel to Cameron Quad on Saturday to take on Southwest Baptist.

The women (6-3) face their first Lone Star Conference match against Central Oklahoma on Tuesday.

Matt LedesmaFor The WichiTan

Men, women split tournament

ABovE: octavian Dinuta serves in the colin county commu-nity college tournamentriGhT: Bo Zaputovic prepares to serve to opponent in cccc Tournament. he fell in his singles match but won in doubles. (Photos courtesy Brittany Norman)

WIN SOME, LOSE SOME

sports10 n The Wichitan March 3, 2010

Olympics that started with tragedy, controversy and talk of the host country dominating the podium ended Sunday with a comical Closing Ceremony pok-ing fun at the glitches during the Vancouver Games and celebrat-ing all things Canadian.

On a festive night in which Canada basked in the glory of a runaway victory in the gold-medal count, capped by an over-time win against the U.S. in the men’s ice hockey finals, standup comedy from top-notch actors and riveting performances from big-name singers put a cheerful touch on a 17-day run widely considered more of a failure than a success.

It was a fitting conclusion for Vancouver, since there were so many problems, from a bad ice-making machine at the venue for long-track speedskating to a tripped-out cauldron to contin-ual weather woes, and there was no shortage of partying the past 2 weeks in this city, way before Sidney Crosby’s goal in one of the greatest games in Olympic history.

The fourth leg of the caul-dron finally rose at BC Place Stadium it never left the floor at the Opening Ceremony, deny-ing retired Canadian speedskat-er Catriona Le May Doan an opportunity to light the flame. Doan brought the heat Sunday in front of 60,000 fans after a handyman took center stage and realized the cauldron’s extension cord was unplugged.

Nordic combined skier Billy Demong, who won a gold medal Thursday in the individual large hill and catapulted the U.S. to a silver Tuesday in the 20-kilo-meter relay, carried the Ameri-can flag, then ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero was sworn in as a member of the International Olympic Committee athletes’ commission, a full-fledged IOC spot.

After a flag handover from Vancouver to Sochi, Russia, the 2014 Olympic host, the fun began, with William Shatner saying “two Canadians minus 30 degrees is just another sign of global warming.” Catherine O’Hara made light of the lack of snow that hampered the Olym-pics, saying Vancouver is “sorry if you thought Canada was one big frozen tundra.”

Vancouver 2010 chief John Furlong elicited the biggest ap-plause donning felt antlers by declaring that Canada’s hockey triumph over the U.S. “will be remembered for generations.” Michael J. Fox later joined the fray with, “If I’m watching the U.S. and Canada play hockey, I’m sorry, I’m wearing a maple leaf on my sweater.”

In a brief speech, IOC presi-dent Jacques Rogge said the sporting world “shared the grief of an Olympic dream cut short,” a reference to the death of No-dar Kumaritashvili, a luger from

the nation of Georgia who was killed in practice the day of the Opening Ceremony.

Rogge also said Olympic fol-lowers “witnessed extraordinary acts of courage,” a probable ref-erence to Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette, who won a bronze after her mother died last week of a massive heart at-tack. Rochette was Canada’s flag bearer.

No mention was made of the slew of problems in Canada’s third Olympics, a collapsed bar-

ricade that injured 19 people, timing issues in biathlon, re-funded snowboarding tickets and weather delays in Alpine skiing. And few noticed protesters who marched Sunday in Vancouver with signs reading “Homes Not Games” and “2010 Corporate Circus.”

Then again, maybe no-body cared. The flame was ex-tinguished, the cauldron was brought down and a stage the size of two football fields was filled with gigantic hockey play-

ers, beavers on wheels, floating moose, dancing canoes and frol-icking lumberjacks as banners of grizzly bears and police officers unfurled and paper leaves fell from the roof.

In a white tuxedo, Michael Buble rocked the joint before handing over the microphone to Avril Lavigne. Nickelback and Alanis Morissette closed the show while Vail Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn flashed her ant-lers and Olympic Training Cen-ter bobsledder Steven Holcomb

proudly displayed his gold from the four-man event.

The 37 medals - nine golds, 15 silvers and 13 bronzes - by the U.S. were a record for the most at a Winter Games. That’s 12 more than the Americans won in 2006, when their 25 was their record for a non-U.S. Winter Games.

Winning 14 golds - the most Canada has claimed at any Olympics - enabled Canada to break the previous mark for Winter Games golds, 13 by the

Soviets in 1976 and Norway in 2002. Canada grabbed 26 total, four less than Germany, which had 10 golds. Norway took fourth with 23 medals.

“It says our athletes were well prepared, that they had a fantas-tic Games,” U.S. Olympic Com-mittee chief executive officer Scott Blackmun said. “We really don’t view this as a competition between nations as much as a competition between athletes, and our athletes have done a phenomenal job.”

Brian GomezMCT CaMpus

Olympics come to a close, pay off for U.S., Canada