Visit the multimedia section to see what decorations student groups used during the Union Programming Board’s 14th annual Festival of the Trees on Thursday
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The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
7 Hogwarts on Campus teams began practicing in October for Saturday’s games
RYAN GERBOSIThe Oklahoma Daily
Editor’s note: This is a continuation of news reporter Ryan Gerbosi’s fi rst-person account of his experience joining Hogwarts on Campus and training for OU’s fi rst Quidditch tournament.
Wednesday afternoon, a friend asked if I was going to a party Friday night. I told him I wasn’t sure, I might have Quidditch practice.
I got a stare of disbelief, followed by laughter and a few derogatory jokes not fit for print.
Like any Quidditch player would, I shrugged it off know-ing Quidditch is one of the toughest sports out there.
I will get my first true shot at the game this Saturday at the Hogwarts on Campus Quidditch Tournament at the Intramural Fields.
Quidditch combines the speed of basketball and soccer, the physicality of rugby and the “Five D’s” of dodgeball in one game. Oh, and you have to hold a broom between your legs the whole time.
The sport was first played in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont, according to the International Quidditch Association. It has spread to colleges across the country.
In October, I joined Hogwarts on Campus mainly for the opportunity to try the magical sport of the wizard world.
At my first meeting, I quickly found a home as a chaser for the The Whomping Willows.
A chaser handles the quaffle, the main ball used to score. Other positions include the keeper, who guards the three hoops on their team’s side. The beaters throw dodgeballs at opposing chasers, forcing them to drop the quaffle and run back to their own hoops before rejoining play.
The seeker has the job of catching the snitch, a runner dressed in all yellow with a flag attached to his back. When the snitch is caught, the game is over and the catching team is awarded bonus points.
Since that first meeting, the seven teams competing have been preparing for Saturday’s tournament.
“We have used various training methods, such as throwing and passing drills and catching one handed,” said Joshua Trope, political science junior and captain of the Phantasmic Night Furies.
Trope said his team has been practicing twice a week at Reeves Park since mid-Oc-
tober. Hogwarts on Campus also began preparations for the tournament.
“We are in the process of constructing six goal posts out of PVC pipes with a hula-hoop on the top,” said Maggie Rogers, international studies and film and media sopho-more and head of Gryffindor.
Rogers said they also bought 14 brooms for the competi-tors and types of balls to be used. Rogers’ work and that of Amanda Yates, University College freshman and head of Slytherin, will culminate in the tournament this weekend.
“We’ve put in a lot of work for it,” Rogers said. “At this point we’re just excited to see it all come together.”
To prepare for the tournament, The Womping Willows have been practicing when we can. One night, we met at the Huston Huffman Center to play basketball. On another day, we worked on our cardio.
By now, our team is ready to take on whoever comes our way, starting with Team Incendio in the first round on Saturday. Rogers said the winner may move on to play other schools, but no definite plans have been made.
Quidditch teams to take fl ight during tournament
Tournament schedule
» 10:30 a.m. —Fawks Fighters vs. Bloody Brilliant » 11:30 a.m. —Team Incendio vs. The Womping Willows
» 12:30 p.m. — Phantasmic Night Furies vs. The SlytherGriffi nHuffl eClaws
Ryan Gerbosi
Students remodel house
LATKES SOLD TO RAISE FUNDS FOR JEWISH CHARITIES
HELEN GRANT/THE DAILY
Asian studies senior John Best serves kugel to University College freshman Helga Skaftason during Latkes for Love on Thursday night at OU Hillel. The event is held each year to raise money for national and international Jewish charities.
REACH Ministries’ donation-funded project increases accessibility for teen with muscular dystrophy
DHARA SHETHThe Oklahoma Daily
A crowd of approximately 50 college students cheered as a tearful mother pushed her son in a wheelchair up a ramp into their newly renovated home Thursday afternoon.
As the Hosler family entered their home, they saw newly painted walls, new furniture, wider doors, a big-ger bathroom and most importantly, a room that 13-year-old Joey Hosler could wheel himself into without need-ing his mother’s or sister’s aid.
Joey has Duchenne’s muscular dys-trophy, a condition that progressively weakens his muscles by impeding the way muscle tissue builds back after use. For the last two years, Joey has needed to use a wheelchair.
Joey’s mother Mindi has been searching for ways to make their house more accessible since then and has suc-ceeded thanks to the efforts of REACH Ministries.
REACH is designed to inspire stu-dents to serve in the community, said Taylor Doe, REACH founder.
Although Doe wants to reflect the love of Christ in the missions REACH participates in, members do not have to be Christian, said Doe, a human re-lations senior.
REACH does not meet regularly for worship but instead holds monthly ser-vice projects along with a few annual service projects, including hosting a se-nior citizen prom and taking inner-city kids to an NBA game.
Renovating the Hosler house was one of REACH’s monthly service projects. All this week, students worked 2 p.m to 2 a.m. fixing the Hosler house.
Doe heard about the Hosler family a few weeks ago through a friend. He quickly put together the remodel in order to finish it before the holiday ap-proached and before students became busy with finals.
READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT OUDAILY.COM
Hillel teams up with Alpha Epsilon Pi to raise money for children, breast cancer awareness with raffl e, T-shirts, latkes
O U Hillel buzzed with conversation and Jewish music as the Oklahoma Jewish community came together to raise money for three charities.
Daniel Smith, architecture senior and event organizer who has helped with the Latkes for Love event for the last four years, said it has been successful.
Hillel has raised more than $5,000 in two years, Smith said.The money was raised through tickets sales for the event.
Smith said after all the costs of the event are covered, all of the remaining money is distributed evenly to the three chari-ties: Save a Child’s Heart; Sharsheret, which benefits breast cancer awareness; and Keseht, which benefits disabled chil-dren. These charities were selected because they are sup-ported by Alpha Epsilon Pi — a Jewish fraternity, Smith said.
Musician Elad Katz provided guests live, traditional Jewish music while they sat laughing and eating Israeli salad, matzo ball soup, kugel and latke.
While Latkes for Love fell on Hanukkah this year and is influenced by the Jewish holiday, it isn’t based solely around the holiday, Smith said.
Hunter Overton, Sooners for Israel political director, at-tended the event to inform himself about Jewish culture and try a latke for the first time.
“I wanted to get a feel for another culture not represented enough at OU,” said Overton, journalism sophomore. “I had
no idea this was here until tonight.”Shayna Daitch, Hillel president emeritus,
said she visited a hospital wing in Israel that was funded with charity money.
“It’s amazing to think someone is alive because of the money you gave to help them,” said Daitch, international security studies senior.
Smith said the money will be counted during finals week, so they won’t know how much money raised until then.
However much money they raise, Smith said that the Jewish tradition of tzedakah, or charity, will be upheld.
“It’s a mandate saying we need to give back,” Smith said. “Someone will be helped by this.”
Benefi t promotes
Jewish food,
culture
I wanted to get a feel for another culture not represented
enough at OU. I had no idea this was here until tonight.”
— HUNTER OVERTON, SOONERS FOR ISRAEL POLITICAL DIRECTOR
Gender Bender Ball held tonightFor the second year, students can attend a formal dance
where many dress as the opposite sex.OU’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Friends
group will host its Gender Bender Ball tonight on campus. “It’s also a challenge to the fact that balls are very rigid
enforcers of gender stereotypes and conformity,” group secretary Caleb Eggensperger said.
Attendees are not required to cross-dress or dress in drag, but it is encouraged, Eggensperger said.
The club sees this as an opportunity for students to try drag or cross-dressing in a non-judgemental environment.
The event is open to all students, not just members of GLBTF. It will begin at 8 p.m. in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union with no charge for admission.
— Hillary McLain/The Daily
BY CHASE COOK | THE OKLAHOMA DAILY
OUR VIEW
Study should be enough for DADT repeal
2 • Friday, December 3, 2010 The Oklahoma Daily | OUDaily.com
OPINION Jared Rader, opinion [email protected] • phone: 405-325-7630
THUMBS UP ›› Student ministry builds wheelchair ramp for 13-year-old with muscular dystrophy (see page 1)
LIFE&ARTS Dusty Somers, life & arts [email protected] • phone: 405-325-5189
OUDAILY.COM ›› Read about Norman’s Little River Zoo, which needs donations in order to reopen
The Classics“Merry Christmas” by Bing Crosby (1945)Recorded way back in the dark ages of Christmas
in the 1940s when commercial holiday music was just getting its sleigh off the ground, this album has been a standout of seasonal standards since the legendary crooner fi rst sang “White Christmas.”
“Elvis’ Christmas Album” by Elvis Presley (1957)No Christmas list is complete without including
the King’s top-selling Christmas album of all-time. Anyone in the Christmas spirit can listen to the short collection of classic favorites that range from blues to rockabilly to traditional gospel.
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Vince Guaraldi Trio (1965)The legendary album of jazzy music from the
“Peanuts” TV special introduced a young generation of cartoon fans to something quaint and innocent in music. Pianist Vince Guaraldi composed and arranged a dozen jazz and choral pieces that retain the childlike charm of the “Peanuts” cartoons, most famously the lively “Linus & Lucy” and the soft lullaby “Christmastime Is Here.” Both the special and album are a Christmas treat for everyone while sitting in front of the tree, drinking peppermint hot cocoa and opening presents on Christmas morning.
Best, worst Christmas albums to celebrate the seasonUnless you’re living under a piece of coal, your ears have already fi gured it out: Christmas music has paved its way down the candy cane road and into the radios and iPods of fans of the holiday season. Here are some notable and not-so-noteworthy Christmas musical releases from the last few decades.
— Alex Ewald/The Daily
The Good“Noël” by Josh Groban (2007)
America’s choirboy opens his mouth and out comes a jaw-dropping, sky-soaring, pants-wetting baritone. At least that’s what a Grobanite thinks — and on Groban’s multiplatinum Christmas album, we couldn’t agree more thanks to holy ballads like “Silent Night” and “Ave Maria” that are about as adult-contemporary as it gets.
“Merry Christmas II You” by Mariah Carey (2010) Say what you want about Mimi, but she sure knows how to put
out a good contemporary Christmas record. Twice, actually. Carey recorded the entire album over the summer as a thematically structured sequel to her fi rst Christmas album, “Merry Christmas.” She notably knocks it out of the park with “O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah” in a spine-tingling fi nal duet with her mother, opera singer Patricia Carey.
The Bad“Home for Christmas” by *NSYNC (1998) Not all musical cheese is delicious, especially when mixed
with Christmas eggnog. Case in point: *NSYNC’s pop-saturated single “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” that exemplifi es the entire uninspired album trying to pass off as a worthy collection of Christmas favorites marked toward the typical teenybopper.
“The Gift” by Susan Boyle (2010) Given both Boyle’s famous track record with
otherworldly ballads like “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Memory,” and the remarkable sacredness of Christmas music, we dreamed a dream that by holiday season, she would challenge the world with her voice one more time. Instead, “The Gift” is wrought with silence. The brassy, middle-aged Scot’s soaring vocals should be where a digitized chorus now is, and that feels empty and unnatural.
The Novelty“Glee: The Music – The Christmas Album” by Glee
Cast (2010) Fox’s “Glee’s” fi fth album released this year is neither a great nor awful compilation of seasonal music selections for next week’s Christmas episode. Sprinkled with both the usual Christmas carol and contemporary numbers, the album brings together the show’s chorus-heavy Broadway fl avor with the holiday catalog’s jingle bells. The haunting classic “O Holy Night” stands in opposition to the overproduced gloopiness that drags down the rest of the album’s second half.
“Christmas With the Beach Boys” by the Beach Boys (1964) This not-so-little Christmas party album put the twist into even
Santa Claus’ jelly belly with the Beach Boys’ trademark simple charm. Members Al Jardine, Love, and brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson carry their always-present vocal harmonies over the silver bell jingles and light snare taps in light fare like “Little Saint Nick” and “Santa’s Beard,” with the same to be said for softer and slower numbers later on the record.
The results are in, and expectedly, the Pentagon’s study on the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy sug-gests its repeal is long overdue.
The Pentagon study showed that 70 percent of ser-vice members believe the change in policy would have a positive, mixed or no effect.
Predictably, those staunchly opposed to overturning the policy, most notably Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are upset.
They believe that if the Pentagon is going to do a study on gay service mem-bers in the military, it better conclude that soldiers are so paranoid of their gay brothers and sisters in arms that they can’t do their jobs — despite what the facts say.
McCain claims the study isn’t legitimate because only 28 percent of service members who were asked to do the survey — 115,000 out of 400,000 — responded.
The senator has made it clear he doesn’t want the pol-icy overturned during the lame duck session, insisting more research is needed.
We believe this is getting a little ridiculous, but we would love to see just how much the results changed if all 400,000 service members responded to the survey.
Critics will point to the fact that nearly 60 percent of those in Marine Corps and Army said overturning the policy would have a negative impact on their unit’s ability to carry out combat opera-
tions, according to the Associated Press.At the same time, the survey found that 89 percent
and 84 percent of combat troops in the Army and Marine Corps, respectively, who believe they may have served with a gay person said they noticed no impact
on their unit’s morale or effectiveness.This is a very important number because it reveals a
striking distinction between experience and perceived fears. Soldiers in the Marine Corps and Army against repealing the policy predict that the change would have a negative effect. But when asked how the presence of a soldier they knew or suspected was gay affected their effectiveness said they didn’t notice anything.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the study is that researchers noted the effects of repealing the policy would likely be comparable to previous mili-tary changes, such as when blacks and women were allowed to serve. Groups who disagreed were very op-posed, but when lawmakers stuck to their principles, the matter blew over relatively quickly. There’s no rea-son to think the same wouldn’t hold true for the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’
Comment on this column at OUDaily.com
If the U.S. government
doesn’t want to be
embarrassed about how
it conducts relations with
foreign countries, it ought”
Conductor to lead OU symphony performance
French conductor Joel Rigal will conduct the OU Symphony for an installment of the “Sutton Concert Series” at 3 p.m. Dec. 5 in Sharp Concert Hall.
The concert will feature Rameau’s “Overture to Castor and Pollux,” Bounod’s “Ballet Music from Faust” and Charles Ive’s “Symphony No. 2.”
Tickets are $5 for students, faculty, staff and senior citizens, and $8 for adults.
Rigal is the conductor for the Clermont-Ferrand Conservatoire E. Chabrier Symphonic Orchestra in France. The event is sponsored by the OU School of Music. The Symphony Orchestra is a 60 piece ensemble of OU students.
For tickets and information, call the Fine Arts Box Offi ce at 405-325-4101.
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Instructions:Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.
Previous Solution
Monday- Very EasyTuesday-EasyWednesday- EasyThursday- MediumFriday - Hard
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) - If you expect your friends to do things that you won’t, you’re likely to be sadly mistaken. You need to be prepared to set an example if you want to play the leadership role.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) - Be extremely careful not to inadvertently disregard the trust of another and talk out of turn. You would violate the confi dence s/he placed in you if you run off at the mouth.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) - Don’t be unduly infl uenced by ma-terialistic things or think others will be measuring your worth by what you have. They will be weighing your worth by who you are.
PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) - Think very carefully before you act, because a lack of self-discipline could cause you problems and put your successes in jeopardy. Be neither impulsive nor erratic.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) - Try to fi gure things out for yourself, because even though others may be well-intentioned, it doesn’t mean they know what is best for you. In fact, they might even make things worse.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) - Before you submit yourself to a joint endeavor, check out the ad-vantages versus the disadvantages. If negative features outweigh the positive, you might want to pass on it.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) - Your quick mind has a tendency at times to jump to conclusions before you’ve studied everything at hand. Wait until you have all the facts before making a judgment call.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) - Even though you may be extremely industrious, you still might not be able to accomplish all of the jobs you intended to complete. The culprit could simply be poor planning.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) - When you want to be, you are pretty easy to get along with, yet the very same people whom you usually accept might rub you the wrong way. You may forgive and forget, but they won’t.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) - It only makes you look bad if you are too proud to make changes when someone else’s ideas are better. Place the importance on the fi nal product and not on who authored what.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) - You are asking for trouble if you can’t wait for an experienced person to show you how to operate some unfamiliar equipment. The end results could be bad if you attempt to work in the dark.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) - A pleasant day with friends could quickly turn into a nasty time if you allow money to become an is-sue. Let each pay his/her own way rather than allow a misunderstand-ing arise over who foots the bill.
HOROSCOPE By Bernice Bede Osol
Copyright 2010, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
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Over 100 million adults read a newspaper each day.But they do more than just read. They are moved to take action by the advertising in it.
So if you want response to your advertising, place it where it will be seen, where it will be used, where it will move readers to act on what they read.
92% took some action in the past three months: checking ads, clipping coupons, or checking entertainment listings.
80% report looking at advertising when reading the paper.
82% used a preprinted insert in past 30 days.
60% prefer to receive inserts in the newspaper.
41% say newspapers are the medium used most to check out ads – more than radio, TV, internet, magazines and catalogs combined.
70 Million people visited a newspaper website in past 30 days.
NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING. GET IN ON THE ACTION.
ACTIONFIGURESMOST CONSUMERS DON’T JUST READ THE PAPER.
THEY TAKE ACTION WITH IT.
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Friday, December 3, 2010 • 3The Oklahoma Daily | OUDaily.com
CLASSIFIEDS Bobby Jones, advertising managerclassifi [email protected] • phone: 405-325-2521
Visit the sports section at OUDaily.com this weekend for complete coverage of the Big 12 Championship game between the Sooners and the Nebraska Cornhuskers
4 • Friday, December 3, 2010 The Oklahoma Daily | OUDaily.com
SPORTS OUDAILY.COM ›› The Daily and the Daily Nebraskan exchange keys to victory in Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game
Also on OUDaily.com | BASKETBALL » Men’s team seeks first road win Sunday | COLUMN » RJ Young and MJ Casiano debate if they’d play pick-up basketball against the president
VOLLEYBALL
OU to host postseason playSooners look to avenge season’s 1st loss tonight against Wichita State
GREG FEWELLThe Oklahoma Daily
The OU volleyball team k i c k s o f f t h e o p e n i n g round of NCAA Volleyball Championship play against Wichita State at 7:30 tonight in McCasland Field House.
OU was selected to host first- and second-round action of the postseason tournament.
This is the fourth time the Sooners have made it into the tournament under coach Santiago Restrepo, but it is the first time they have been selected to host.
The Sooners (21-10) are looking to win their hosting rounds and advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2006, but they will have to get past some stiff compe-tition in order get there.
Wichita State put a bitter taste in the Sooners’ mouths in OU’s first match this sea-son by beating OU 3-0 in Norman. However, tonight is a chance for the Sooners to not only avenge that loss but also begin a run at a national title.
Despite how the Shockers handled the Sooners earlier this year, OU has come a long way from week one of the season.
In the first meeting with the Shockers, Restrepo was still trying to find OU’s opti-mal starting lineup. Players were constantly rotating in to try to find that perfect chemistry. As a result, the team had 26 attack errors
and five service errors, and Wichita State ran away with the match.
OU found its starting six quickly after the loss, though.
After the Wichita State match, OU won 10 of its next 12 matches and swept through conference play to finish with its best record in the rally scoring era.
The Shockers did not
exactly fall off after defeating OU, though. Wichita State posted a 21-7 record, and it enters the tournament with a lot of experience. The Shockers have made the NCAA tournament every year since 2007.
The matchup is about as even as possible on paper. But the road certainly does not get easier for the Sooners if they beat the Shockers in
the opening match.The winner of tonight’s
game advances to play the winner of 13-seed LSU and Tulsa for the sub-regional championship and a berth in the Sweet 16 in University Park, Pa.
The ultimate goal for OU and every team in the tour-nament is reaching the Final Four on Dec. 16 in Kansas City, Mo. For the Sooners to do so, they will have to get past powerhouses Northern Iowa and Penn State — seed-ed No. 5 and No. 4, respec-tively — in the Sweet 16.
The Sooners have im-proved consistently over the course of the season and are playing their best volleyball when it counts. It also helps that the team has opening-round home court advantage for the first time in program history.
Weekend games
» Game 1 — 5:30 tonightLSU vs. Tulsa
» Game 2— 7:30 tonight OU vs. Wichita State
» Sub-regional title — 2 p.m. SaturdayWinner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Games take place at McCasland Field House
Tickets are on sale for the tournament and can be ordered through SoonerSports.com.
More coverage online
NEIL MCGLOHON/THE DAILY
Freshman defensive specialist Eden Williams (6) serves the ball during the OU-Iowa State volleyball match Nov. 13 in Norman. The Sooners host Wichita State in the first round of the NCAA Championship at 7:30 tonight in McCasland Field House.
