Thursday, February 18, 2010 Print Edition

Hokies’ pitcher has all the ‘Wright’ stuff

BY ED LUPIEN | sports reporter said Pete Hughes, Virginia Tech baseball head coach, in regards to 2008 edition of the Hurricanes.

“There were a ton of firstrounders in that lineup,” Hughes said. “He abused those guys that day.”

Wright’s final line against the best team in the nation included seven strikeouts on 132 pitches.

Wright has been the underdog his entire baseball career and is always eager to silence the critics who say he’s too short to be a dominant starting pitcher.

“It’s such a different angle staring down a 6-foot-5 righthander guy compared to a shorter, 6-foot left-hander,” said Dave

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Turgeon, associate head coach.

“Generally, those athletes carry a chip on their shoulders because they constantly have to prove themselves at every level,” Hughes said. “Inherently, that makes an unbelievable competitor because you have an agenda every day and you never really ever get complacent because you’re trying to prove somebody wrong all the time.”

Wright is well aware of what he has to do to be successful on the mound.

“Obviously, the taller people tend to throw harder,” Wright said. “Being smaller, I feel like I have to be more accurate.”

“When you get to this stage

of your career, that really helps you become battle-tested and mentally tough,” Hughes added. “That’s where he separates himself from a lot of the other kids in this league.

He’s left-handed, talented and athletic, but he separates himself in that he loves to compete and is good in pressure situations.”

There’s no doubt in Hughes’ mind that Wright was one of the main reasons why Tech produced its best conference record last season since entering the ACC in 2004.

PPS SKY/S UMAN MARK

5 feet 9 inches tall and 170 pounds, junior pitcher Justin Wright has never been a very intimidating sight from the mound for opposing hitters.

Heading into the 2010 season, however, it’s safe to assume that every team in the Atlantic Coast Conference knows the left-hander’s name by now.

Wright first grabbed hold of the attention of the college baseball world two seasons ago when the then-freshman threw a complete game in just his fifth start to defeat No. 1 Miami.

“That was the best offensive team I’ve ever coached against,”

see WRIGHT / page six

An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

www.collegiatetimes.com

COLLEGIATETIMES 107th year, issue 19

News, page 2

Features, page 5

Opinions, page 3

Sports, page 6

Classifieds, page 4

Sudoku, page 4

Tech unveils ‘Day of Remembrance’ plans PHILIPP KOTLABA & GORDON BLOCK ct news staff The third anniversary of the April 16, 2007 shootings on the Virginia Tech campus will be oriented toward commemorating the victims’ dedication to scholarship and learning, according to plans released by the university on Wednesday.

This year, the plans for the upcoming “Day of Commemoration”

on April 16 closely follow that of the previous year, with a midnight ceremonial candle lighting, the 3.2-mile-long run at 8 a.m. and candlelight vigil later in the evening.

The official commemoration ceremony has been moved into the evening, with a community picnic on the Drillfield from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the university will hold a number of “Expressions of Remembrance”

Director named in agriculture program

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on the web

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Check out the CT’s Web site at www.collegiatetimes.com for a list of events to be held April 16.

events across campus celebrating student accomplishments, including musical performances and a panel discussion on “A Story of Community Resilience.”

“The committee wanted to make sure the academic nature of our com-

munity was not forgotten,” said Mark Owczarski, university spokesman.

“The desire is to do things like lectures, seminars, brown bag types of things ... any type of learning activity that can take place outside the classroom.”

Although many of those ideas are still being formulated, the events are collectively intended to reflect the scholarly dedication of the April 16 victims.

With increasing numbers of current students who were not enrolled

at Tech in 2007, the university must also convey the essence of the tragedy to those who did not l ive through April 16 and its aftermath, said Brandon Carroll, Student Government Association president.

“It’s like when you have two war veterans talking about their experience, and you try to interject,” Carroll said. “They’ll tell you, ‘You could only know about it if you were there.’ It’s not expressible in words.”

Despite the subtle change in focus, the memory of April 16 will be preserved, Owczarski said.

“We’ll do everything so that those memories are not forgotten,” he said.

“Students come and time passes, but we don’t want to forget. That’s why we have these activities.

“Institutionally, Virginia Tech will never forget what happened or the people that were lost. That was the commitment from day one.”

‘My form of sculpture’

KATIE ROBIDOUX news staff writer VirginiaTech’s only two-year associate degree program has a new leader to head its operations.

Pavli Mykerezi will serve as the new head of the Agricultural Technology Program, housed within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Having served as the program’s interim director for the past two years, Mykerezi was nominated and selected in January. He has been an instructor at Tech for more than 10 years and previouslyservedasdirectorgeneral at one of the largest agricultural polytechnic institutes in Albania, his home country. He recently became a naturalized American MYKEREZI citizen.

According to Mykerezi, the Agricultural Technology Program has gained a positive reputation within the state of Virginia, and during his time as director, he plans to maintain and improve it.

The program is largely geared toward students aiming to take over a family farm.

“My goal is to maintain the number of students we have — not to increase, but to stabilize and to focus on the quality of the program,” Mykerezi said. “The program has a good reputation and I like to see how, based on this foundation, we can go to the next step.”

The program generally has between 110 and 115 students each year. Of this population, about 60 are freshmen and the rest are in their second year.

“All of our graduates are in huge demand and they always immediately get a job,” Mykerezi said.

An ideal applicant for the program is a student dedicated to finishing the degree within two years and aiming to enter the job force immediately upon graduation, said Susan Sumner, associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“Many students have grown up in a rural farm environment and are going back into the family business,” Sumner said. “After they graduate from the program, they can go out and run those farms in a much more productive way.”

Sumner was clearly satisfied with the choice of the new director. “The students regard the program with a lot more pride,” she said. “He has instilled in the students how important it is to do a good job and to be a serious student.”

Jacob Gilley, Mykerezi’s graduate assistant and the program marketing coordinator, also said the new director will work well in the position.

“He’s a great guy to work with,” Gilley said. “He has a lot of vision for the program, and he knows its purpose. But at the same time, he’s able to admit there are some flaws with the program and he works to fix them. That, I think, is a sign of a great leader.”

BRIAN CLAY/SPPS

Former English professor Larry Bechtel works on a sculpture in his studio. One of his works is “Ready to Serve,” a bronze statue honoring fallen police dogs.

Former professor fuses work with arts of recycling and sculpting RYAN ARNOLD features reporter Larry Bechtel is omnipresent on the Virginia Tech campus without even being there. He sees who’s late to class and knows everyone’s favorite beverages.

A former English professor at Tech, Bechtel remains embedded in the university through sculpture and recycling.

Bechtel created the bronze statue of Tech’s first student Addison Caldwell, which stands in its mid-stride pose between Torgersen Hall and the Performing Arts Building.

Fifteen years earlier, Bechtel spearheaded a volunteer effort to organize a paper-recycling program for Tech. Its popularity ultimately created a full-time job for Bechtel, and the operation flourished into what is now Virginia Tech Recycling — he even designed the logo. In 2007, Tech issued Bechtel the President’s Award for Excellence.

This summer, however, Bechtel learned his position was eliminated because of what he said were budget cuts. In October he unveiled another bronze sculpture, “Ready to Serve,” at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. A poised German shepherd honors fallen Virginia police dogs.

Bechtel sat down with the Collegiate Times to discuss his contributions to Tech and his other art.

COLLEGIATE TIMES: How do you find that the sculpture and recycling intersect?

LARRY BECHTEL: I was thinking back about sort of the history of the (recycling) program here at Virginia Tech and how I got involved.

I was teaching English at the time ... and I was also doing art on the side. And I was

doing a good bit of found art stuff. I had a long (time) interest in woodworking so I was picking up bits of wood, and I also was walking up through our woods near our house and I found this stash of old-timey oil cans. ... I liked the kind of things I was coming up with. Sort of organic, the natural world, the human world intersecting and so forth. ... But when I really started to get involved in putting together a recycling program for the university ... I consciously put aside the art to focus on that work. But I also realized that I was approaching it like an artist, not as an engineer and not as a business manager.

And that means that I saw myself as actually participating in found art. It was just a different kind of found art. In this case I was having to take the pieces that were available to me through facilities and kind of put them together in a way that would enable me to carry the growing amounts of paper and cardboard that we were getting.

CT: You didn’t hesitate to place “Ready to Serve” on the campus so soon after?

BECHTEL: No, I didn’t. Actually, that was a really good thing because that project had been ongoing. It was about a year and a half to the finish. No sooner did I lose my position here than I had to turn my attention almost immediately to that project because it was in its closing stages, and there was a good bit to do. ... The timing was great there because it took my mind from one thing where it might have dwelt. And people do (dwell) — this happens to people — but I had this alternative life already working and I could shift to it. ... I like “Ready to Serve.” I like the university motto a lot. These public commissions (have) a very strong element

of public service in (them). And I have to have a certain amount of that. So the recycling program really served that purpose for me. I felt good about that. But I also was able to take that same logo there, that same motto, and move across into the sculpture.

It was a way for me to sort of maintain some continuity.

CT: When you shouldered VT Recycling, did the priority shift harm you as an artist?

BECHTEL: Well I’ve thought about that.

Yes, I’ve definitely thought about that. What can I say? That’s the way my life has worked out. There’s no sense in regretting things.

I should have started when I was 20. Why didn’t I start doing it then? ... On the other hand, my association with the University has been good, it’s been valuable. And as I say, it was my form of sculpture. That’s the way I choose to see it. And so when I meet other sculptors and they’re very accomplished and have that long list of stuff, I say, “Well chances are they didn’t develop a recycling program.”

CT: Are you at all bitter about the removal of your VT Recycling position last summer?

BECHTEL: That was naturally troublesome.

It was unexpected and, you know, I had to cope with that, I had to deal with that. I had to think my way through that. It was both traumatic and it was a gift, so I can’t talk about the one without the other. At the moment I’ve got to contain the amount of things I’m doing art-wise. It’s unlimbered me. I see the way in which I’m experimenting with the sculpture and writing — I’m actually doing a good bit of writing, too. This wouldn’t have been possible. So everything has its time and its season. It was time for me.

[

on the web

For the complete Q&A with Larry Bechtel, check out our Web site at www.collegiatetimes.com.

]

And it had always been my desire to turn over the program to the university. It was never my intention to cling to it indefinitely.

And that’s in fact what happened. That’s the way I see it.

CT: As the first Tech student, Caldwell could be called a pioneer. And so might you with VT Recycling. Was that ever your perspective while working on the sculpture?

BECHTEL: I don’t think I ever really quite thought of that parallel. It’s a good one, though. I really, really liked that project because I liked seeing him as an idealistic young man walking across the mountains in search of knowledge. It’s a beautiful symbol.

You know, his personal accomplishment is nice — it’s almost folklore. And it’s nice to have that sort of at the root of the university.

There’s something to be said for idealism, and a lot of times it gets punctured because it’s naive. And people who know more are apt to critique the idealist as not knowing enough about the real world. But it takes idealism to push through for change. And if you didn’t have that almost naivete, you might not be willing to expend so much energy. The one downside of knowing a lot is that it tends to inhibit your willingness to try something different because you know so many reasons why it would fail. And idealism is not guilty of that. It’s bound to learn and it’s bound to suffer, but it’s got to be a starting point.

2 news

new river valley news editor: zach crizer university editor: philipp kotlaba newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865

february 18, 2010

[

blacksburg headlines

COLLEGIATETIMES

]

Blacksburg High classes move to middle school

MICHAEL MCDERMOTT/SPPS

Blacksburg High School’s roof collapsed on Feb. 12.

Blacksburg High School students will move their classes to Blacksburg Middle School, interim Superintendent Walt Shannon said yesterday.

Details have yet to emerge on the logistics of the move and when it will occur.

Shannon said high school students would attend classes at the middle school on an “afternoon schedule.”

CORRECTIONS -In “Gun bill faces opposition ahead of vote” (CT, Feb. 16), only concealed carry, not open carry weapons, are illegal in restaurants that serve alcohol.

-In “Church spreads anti-gay ideas” (CT, Feb. 17), the letter was modified from its submitted version to remove the name of one of its subjects. The church pastor should have been more clearly distinguished from the friend mentioned in the final paragraph. A fully revised version can be found online at www.collegiatetimes.com.

The Collegiate Times regrets these errors.

JUSTIN GRAVES -Contact our public editor at publiceditor@ collegiatetimes.com if you see anything that needs to be corrected.

[

Wondering what's going on around the 'burg?

Check out the events of the upcoming week.

[Thursday, Feb. 18]

[Saturday, Feb. 20]

What: Wachovia Speaker — Kimble Renolds, “Leadership During Challenging Times” Where: Alumni Assembly Hall When: 3:30 p.m.

Cost: Free

What: French & Francophone Film Festival — Being Jewish in France Where: The Lyric When: 2 p.m.

Cost: Donations welcome

What: Seminar — Procrastination Holding You Back?

Where: 111 Femoyer Hall When: 1 p.m.

Cost: Free

What: Nepal Nite Where: Graduate Life Center Auditorium When: 6:30 p.m.

Cost: Free

What: Free Culture meeting Where: 145 Squires Student Center When: 8 p.m.

Cost: Free

What: Film — The Princess and the Frog Where: Squires Colonial Ballroom When: 8 p.m.

Cost: $3 general; $2 students w/ ID

[Tuesday, Feb. 23]

What: Developing a Medical School Curriculum for the 21st Century Where: 108 Surge When: 5 p.m.

Cost: Free What: Josh Sizemore Where: Gillie’s When: 7 p.m.

Cost: Free What: Students for Sensible Drug Policy presents: Reefer Madness Where: 100 Johnston Hall When: 8:30 p.m.

Cost: Free

[Friday, Feb. 19] What: Virginia Tech Jazz Ensemble Where: The Lyric When: 8 p.m.

Cost: $8 general; $5 students What: Film — Private Radio Where: Squires Colonial Ballroom When: 8 p.m.

Cost: $3 general; $2 students w/ ID What: Camp Barefoot 4 Music Festival Showcase Show Where: Awful Arthur's When: 9:30 p.m.

Cost: $7 What: Two Funerals, imadethismistake and Up&Up Where: Gillie’s When: 9:30 p.m.

Cost: Free

What: The Bosco Where: Champ's When: 9 p.m.

Cost: $5 What: Reid Speed Where: Awful Arthur's When: 9 p.m.

Cost: $10 What: We Leave at Midnight, w/ Alex Fom Perkasie Where: Gillie’s When: 9:30 p.m.

Cost: Free

[Sunday, Feb. 21] What: The Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile Where: The Lyric When: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $25 reserved seating; $12.50 for students w/ ID What: Guest Artist Recital — Jennifer Capaldo Where: Squires Recital Salon When: 8 p.m.

Cost: $5 general; $3 students and seniors

[Monday, Feb. 22]

What: Seminar — Federal Internships Where: 111 Femoyer Hall When: 4 p.m.

Cost: Free What: Augustana College Choir Where: Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, 600 Prices Fork Road When: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: Free What: The Movement Where: Attitude's When: 9 p.m.

Cost: $6

[Wednesday, Feb. 24] What: Night Skiing (Venture Out Special Event) Where: Meet at Venture Out When: 5 p.m.

Cost: $25 What: BSA presents Poet Dana Gilmore Where: Haymarket Theatre & Williamsburg Room in Squires Student Center When: 7 p.m.

Cost: Free

[All Week] This week, the Lyric is showing “Young Victoria” starring Emily Blunt. Check out TheLyric.com for showtime information.

What: “The Skin of Our Teeth” Where: Squires Studio Theatre When: Feb. 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24 @ 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 21 @ 2 p.m.

Cost: $9 general; $7 senior/student

If you would like an event featured in our calendar, e-mail featureseditor@collegiatetimes.com with event details, including cost.

nation & world headlines

]

Obama, Dalai Lama to meet at White House Thursday WASHINGTON — Months after he postponed their first meeting in a gesture to China, President Barack Obama will sit down Thursday at the White House with the Dalai Lama — two Nobel Peace Prize winners with a mutual interest in coaxing changes from the Chinese and keeping peace in the region.

For the Dalai Lama, the meeting nevertheless adds pressure on China to grant Tibet greater autonomy. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Tibet’s failed uprising against Chinese rule and the Buddhist spiritual leader’s exile to India.

For Obama, the meeting is a chance to reassure both human rights advocates and foreign policy hawks that he’ll stand up to the Chinese when need be, and that the U.S. still is committed to protecting freedoms for ethnic and religious minorities. by margaret talev, mcclatchy newspapers

Tiger Woods expected to issue apology Friday ORLANDO, Fla. — Tiger Woods is set to make his first public appearance since his extramarital escapades became worldwide news, with the announcement of a Friday briefing at PGA Tour headquarters to apologize for his infidelity.

Golf’s No. 1 attraction will take the podium at 11 a.m. EST on Friday at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, though his appearance could be very short.

“While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between he and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him,” the statement continued. by jeff shain, mcclatchy newspapers

look down.

pick up.

......radio for

everyone

opınıons 3

editor: debra houchins opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

february 18, 2010

The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

Your Views [letters to the editor]

Bill will make coal use cleaner

F

ew issues have garnered so much public attention as the debate over coal mining and specifically mountaintop removal mining. The debate has riled communities in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia and across the commonwealth. Weighing in on the divided public interest, the Virginia Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources held a public hearing last week for Senate Bill 564 — The Stream Saver Bill. A summary of the bill follows: “Coal Surface mining, refuse control. Prohibits the issuing of a permit for coal surface mining operations unless the applicant affirmatively demonstrates, and the Director finds in writing, that no spoil, refuse, silt, slurry, tailings, or other waste materials from coal surface mining and reclamation operations will be disposed of in any intermittent, perennial, or ephemeral stream.”

Notwithstanding what various parties believe the intentions of this bill are, at least one thing is true: Mountaintop removal mining is destructive to the natural environment where it occurs and has serious economic, social, and environmental implications in the areas surrounding its practice. Proponents of the bill applaud it as a first step to solving the myriad problems created through mountaintop removal mining. Opponents, namely those in the coal mining industry, believe the bill will completely eliminate all coal mining in Virginia. Here are some facts.

This bill is not intended for shutting down all coal mining in Virginia because a pending amendment would exclude

Stop concealed carry gun bill

J

ust as the owner of Top of The Stairs is opposed to concealed carry in restaurants serving alcohol in “Gun bill faces opposition ahead of vote” (CT, Feb. 6), I urge all owners of Blacksburg restaurants that serve alcohol to oppose the legislation.

It’s already a stressful job to work in a restaurant, as my two weeks of being a busboy will attest. As a waiter or waitress, there are hundreds of on the job stresses, both with the customers and the management.

There are very few professions outside of the police and military where there is a threat of a gunshot injury on the job; is it worth it to add waiter/waitress to that list?

As there is concern with losing income generated by “outof-town” patrons by not allowing guns in restaurants that

CSA overreacted on comments

I

would like to congratulate the Commission on Student Affairs. By taking up the surpassingly unimportant issue of anonymous internet comments in the CT and threatening action that is so wrong it appears to be illegal, it seems to have mastered the art of killing a fly with a sledgehammer.

I have a better solution — the CT should simply post this disclaimer on its Web site: “Overly sensitive persons who actually allow themselves to be offended by anonymous Internet comments should refrain from reading comments.” There you go, problem solved.

Better yet, maybe some common sense could break out and the members of the commission

underground mining operations.

Surface mining has resulted in the decline of miners employed from hundreds of thousands in the 1950s to tens of thousands today across Appalachia.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Appalachian coal will begin to see a permanent decline in available coal reserves within the next 10 years, resulting in further job losses. Although coal mining is touted as the “lifeblood” of Southwest Virginia, this region continues to experience chronic public health problems and economic depravity. Surface mining proponents claim that all surface mining operations are reclaimed to their natural state or for economic development purposes. However, many old surface mining sites remain infertile or undeveloped.

Supporters of coal mining say opponents offer no alternatives, but alternatives are already here.

In 2008, employment within the wind industry (85,000) was comparable to that of coal mining (87,000) and there is still a huge potential for the growing renewable energy sector. Even if Senate Bill 564 does not pass, its consideration and the heated public hearing for it show that Virginia is starting to look toward a more sustainable future.

As an institution at the gateway to Appalachia, Virginia Tech should push forward in providing opportunities for the communities of Southwest Virginia as we move away from coal. Let’s invent the right future.

Bryce Carter senior humanities science and environment major Matthew Ward senior environmental policy and planning major serve alcohol, I have only two questions: Is the “out-of-town concealed carry” revenue worth the former local and out-of-town patrons who will take their spending money to a restaurant where guns are not allowed?

Is the “out of town concealed carry” revenue worth the inevitable blacklisting (or closing) of a restaurant if a gun is discharged inside?

Of course it’s not fair to label all concealed carry permit holders as trigger happy drinkers, as it’s been shown that they’re more responsible with weapons and highly-trained to use them correctly. On the other hand, the “what-if” scenario is a life and death situation, something to think about in a school with Virginia Tech’s history.

Jacob Eberhart senior industrial design could learn to take my mother’s advice when they hear something they don’t like: “consider the source.”

Is it really worth getting worked up over comments that are so obviously offensive that the poster wasn’t even willing to post them under a fake name? All you are accomplishing by doing so is gratifying the poster by letting them know it worked.

Unfortunately, no good system exists for controlling Internet trolls without limiting access for everyone else. It would probably be best for everyone if the CSA would just learn to ignore idiots instead of crying about them and move on to issues where it might actually accomplish something.

Patrick Currier graduate student mechanical engineering

we’re YOUR newspaper. send a letter to the editor and express your views. send an e-mail to opinionseditor@ collegiatetimes.com with your letter or guest column attached.

MCT CAMPUS

Religions must not prevent gays from membership R

eligion has no place in America when it comes to legislation.

Why we humor it at all is questionable to me. It has been my experience that religion is often no more than a vehicle for the subjugation and discrimination of other peoples.

The Bible has been used to legitimize slavery, popularize the submission of women to men, and of course, increase the hatred and alienation of homosexuals.

When I was much younger and attended a Lutheran church with my family, the pastor informed us on one occasion that a gay couple had wanted to come to our congregation and had also made it clear that they were not going to hide their relationship. The pastor acted as though they had informed him they were going to have sex on the altar, and he proceeded to tell all of us that their request to join our church was rejected, much the same way one rejects a college applicant.

I guess they just weren’t up to par.

How the out-of-wedlock mother and the several adulterers in our congregation were still admitted, but a couple of men who had apparently been together for more than 15 years were not was really beyond me at the age of 15.

It was also beyond me to understand how the pastor believed himself capable of arbitrarily rejecting people from the house of God. As a Christian, I can think of few sins worse than barring another human being access to the Divine.

This matter of “allowing” gay people to be with one another is comical in its self-righteousness and hypocrisy. The last refuge of any homophobic individual attempting to bar the way to civil rights from gays is always the Good Book. There is no legitimate moral basis for condemning a consenting adult relationship.

And whether or not same-sex attrac-

tion is genetic is of little relevance.

In this country, just as it should be around the globe, people should have the right to do with their bodies as they please, as long as it does not harm another human being. How two women or two men engaging in a romantic relationship harm so many heterosexual people is inexplicable.

It is not enough that almost every media source, from sitcoms to dating sites, caters to the whims of this one kind of relationship (heterosexual).

But now, as though the happiness of gays cannot be had without sacrificing the joys of heterosexuality, this majority and its arsenal of church institutions strive to limit access to basic rights that, if barred to any other group, would be noted as atrocious.

Try stating publicly that interracial couples should not be allowed to get married and watch how popular you become.

Christian churches and their comrades, such as those Mormon, Muslim and Jewish organizations that have decided to reinforce homophobic stances, are desperate and sad. Aren’t there starving children who need to be fed? Isn’t there a community where a school deserves to be built and funded? Isn’t there some other cause more worth the church’s frenetic religious efforts than stopping gay people from getting married, adopting or attending church?

Are these matters really so important to religious organizations that everything else can be put on hold? I sometimes wonder how much good the church could have accomplished in a single year if it had completely ignored the affairs of the gay community. I bet it would be gargantuan.

The obsession that the homophobic heterosexual community seems to have over the sexual activities of gay people is another striking char-

acteristic. Heterosexual couples are always viewed in a wholesome light and the entirety of their relationship is taken into account. When we look at heterosexual couplings, we consider marriage, children and the love between them. When we look at lesbians we think, “How do they do it?” or with gay men, “Which is the man or woman?” It is as though these people are so entrenched in the belief that heterosexuality is the only sexuality that they have to transform whatever relationship they find to fit their framework.

These individuals obsess about the sexual nature of the relationship because the gay identity is constantly sexualized. As a group we are never seen outside of a sexual context since what is so offensive to the majority is not our actual loving relationships but how we get things done in bed. Why is this so intensely focused on? It seems outright perverse that such a thing should be a fixation and that it should vex a community so powerfully as to drive it to actions of fear.

The gay community needs religious institutions to mind their own business. Unless such organizations wish to help us, they have no business transacting with us. The number of lives they have managed to destroy in their fervor to persecute disparate sexualities has been colossal and it needs to stop. There is nothing righteous or divine about their actions and there is nothing about judging one’s neighbor that God sanctions.

JOHN DRIESSNACK -regular columnist -junior -biological science major

Athletes should diversify abilities and talents in youth K

ids today think varsity sweaters are just props from the TV show “Happy Days.” That’s not a statement about sartorial change so much as an observation as to how the multiple varsity letter winner is fast becoming an extinct species.

It’s largely a function of sports specialization — high school, middle and even grade school kids focusing on a single sport to maximize their chance at the big time. This approach is ruining the vintage concept of the well-rounded student athlete. And the movement now has a new poster child.

David Sills is a seventh-grade wonder-kid athlete from Delaware. So bright is his future that the University of Southern California has offered him the opportunity to be a Trojan.

If he stays on track, he’ll graduate in 2018.

Sills already has a personal quarterback coach, Steve Clarkson, who has worked with Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Leinart and current Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley. Clarkson reached out for newly hired USC coach Lane Kiffin, who checked out YouTube video of Sills’ performance.

Impressed, he called the soon-tobe Pride of Bear, Del., and made a (verbal, nonbinding) scholarship offer.

Sills accepted. And suddenly, while he was out celebrating with an ice cream sundae at Friendly’s, his name was scrolling across the Bottom Line on ESPN. I hope Sills stays healthy, succeeds in his athletics and academics, and even goes pro should be choose to do so. But right now, he’s only 13.

And he already has the weight of the world upon his shoulders. It seems like an inordinate amount of pressure to put on a kid who won’t

be able to drive himself to a game for years. Sills’ father, also named David, told me last week that his son is ready to handle the expectations that come with such a high-profile commitment.

“He really doesn’t react very poorly to pressure. I mean, he doesn’t feel it at all. People have always told him that he’s really good at playing quarterback, and it kind of just rolls off his back,” the elder Sills said. “It never has bothered him in the past and I don’t expect it will bother him in the future. Right now, the only difference between what he was last week and this week is he’s got a little bit of media attention.”

More than a little media attention, actually. Delaware’s News Journal newspaper called the commitment “out of line” and used Sills to make the case for restricting NCAA coaches from even talking to kids younger than 17. Sills’ name made the topic list on ESPN’s most popular talk show, Pardon The Interruption. Appearing on another ESPN show, Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan called it a case of “bad parenting.”

Maybe I shouldn’t judge the senior Sills’ decision. But I can comment on what it says for all of our kids. By putting David on a pedestal at his young age, it makes him a role model at a time when teens should be relishing the opportunity to play multiple team sports for the only time in their lives.

At age 47, I can attest to the difficulty in rounding up 21 other guys to play football, 17 individuals for some baseball, or 9 guys for some hoops. But instead of encouraging kids to go try everything, we’re letting the David Sillses among us write off other sports before they’re even close to signing a letter of intent. Let alone

a pro contract.

To an extent, even the elder David Sills agreed with me: “Whether it’s good, bad or indifferent, kids are focusing on certain sports earlier nowadays than they did when we were young. You kind of look at kids that are going to the Olympics right now. We’re going to look at them as heroes, and they are.”

He continued: “There’s pitfalls any way you go. If you play three sports and you don’t focus on one, you may never reach your potential in one.

If you play one sport and you don’t reach your potential in that particular sport, then you didn’t have the opportunity to play others. It goes both ways.”

Maybe so. But the fact remains: Olympians and All-Pros are the exception, not the rule. And no matter how dedicated single-sport athletes become, chances are they’ll join the already overwhelming percentage of high schoolers that don’t play in college. Maybe if they’re among the most fortunate of athletes, they’ll become one of the millions of college players who don’t advance to the professional level.

The NCAA advertisements that roll around each March Madness have it right: “There are over 380,000 student athletes, and most of us go pro in something other than sports.” And even those athletes are the standouts.

The question is, who should the rest of the students emulate?

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features 5 february 18, 2010

Going Wilder: After much effort, cast and crew are ready L

adies and Gentlemen, it’s showtime.

For the last five weeks, I’ve had the pleasure to update Collegiate Times readers on the production of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “The Skin of Our Teeth.”

The cast and crew have worked out several pieces of anatomy to bring this show to fruition, and I’m proud to be a part of that. I’m happy to say that we have one hell of a play on our hands.

going

e r d l i W

“The Skin of Our Teeth” premiered in October 1942 and tells the allegorical story of the Antrobus family of Excelsior, N.J., as they try to build a better world in the face of ice ages, KATHRYN SHAW/SPPS floods and war.

Thorton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Skin of Our Teeth,” features a dynamic range of stage props and character designs from woolly mammoths to dinosaurs.

We’re opening up to the public to show them how we have built that world and audiences are going to get something really special. This is a tough show, with a lot of heavy themes and situations, but it’s a wonderful comic-fantasy and a visual feast.

The final week prior to the show has been the most intense part of the rehearsal process.

Last Saturday, the cast and crew spent the entire day in Squires Studio Theatre for tech rehearsal, which is the process of integrating lights, sounds and projections into the performance.

“Skin” normally takes about two and a half hours to perform, but we only got through the play once in the nine hours we spent in the theater. That should give you an idea of how slowly tech can move.

The good news is that the cast and crew were so “on” that we got out of rehearsal almost two hours early.

What does that mean?

We have our stuff together.

In addition to tech, the big addition to the show this week was wardrobe. I touched on costuming last week, but it’s worth reminding readers just how much clothing adds to a character.

Inhabiting the world of the show is the actor’s job, and the ability to do so can be understandably diminished if you’re just wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Put on a costume, and you have no choice but to feel like the character.

A friend of mine asked me about the acting process when I started the column.

“So, basically you’ll be out every night for the next month playing dress up?”

Yeah, pretty much. Like anything else, it is slightly more complicated than that, but the “dress up” is one of my favorite parts of the process.

Acting, technical aspects and costumes have been meticulously worked on, and now we feel comfortable enough to open the show. For more than a month the cast and crew have sacrificed multiple nights downtown and plenty of sleep and relaxation to “Skin.”

One more thing has to happen to make this show work. The audience needs to show up. This column has been my way of sharing my love of the stage with CT readers, and I’d like to invite you to see the finished product.

“The Skin of Our Teeth” runs Feb. 18 to 21 and Feb. 21 to 27. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $9 for the general public, and $7 for students and seniors.

I’ll be back next week to say goodbye and to discuss how our venture has fared now that we’re going live.

DAN WAIDELICH -features staff writer -junior -communication major

6 sports

editors: joe crandley, alex jackson sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

february 18, 2010

Tech’s preseason Wright: Consistency is key in ’10 All-American looks to continue to prosper at plate from page one

RAY NIMMO sports reporter Few teenagers can handle a move across the country. Junior first baseman Austin Wates dealt with that right in the middle of his high school career.

Not only did Wates have to create new friendships, but he also had to continue his success in sports in a completely different environment.

Wates, who moved from Seattle, Wash., to Richmond, Va., before his junior year in high school, has become a force on the baseball diamond. Last season, Wates was fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in batting average, hitting .397. He also amassed 20 doubles, hit five home runs, batted in 42 runs and stole 16 bases.

Amazingly, that wasn’t enough to earn him All-ACC honors, but it did help him garner a preseason All-America third-team selection this year.

Before all the success, Wates lived in Seattle and played three sports in high school: baseball, soccer and basketball.

“I didn’t want to tire myself out of baseball,” Wates said. “It is something that you did need a break from. It takes a lot of repetition. I think that’s something I was afraid of. I was decent at basketball and pretty good at soccer.

I did enjoy it at the time, but looking back, I’m glad I chose the sport I did, which was baseball, because it’s something I truly do love.”

Wates even received an offer to play at soccer powerhouse UCLA, but he didn’t have the passion for soccer that he had for baseball.

“I had a couple offers to play soccer,” Wates said. “It’s hard to do something every day that you don’t love to do. I’m very thankful for being able to play baseball because it’s something I love to do. Getting up at five in the morning to go kick a soccer ball around when I didn’t really want to and didn’t love it is something I would have really struggled with.”

Undoubtedly, the big move from Seattle to Richmond put a damper on any other college considerations.

A move like that is tough for anyone, and Wates was no different. He still misses his hometown.

“I still have a lot of friends out there who go to the University of Washington,” Wates said. “There’s a part of me that still wishes I lived

there. I did go visit over Christmas break, but I’m glad I’m at where I am.

But I would like to go back.”

Wates’ mother facilitated the move.

She received a job offer from Virginia Commonwealth University and moved to Richmond in Wates’ sophomore year. He and his father stayed until the next summer.

Wates struggled with the idea of moving almost 3,000 miles to a brand new city.

“At first, I kind of fought it. Actually, I really fought it,” Wates said. “I remember there was a week I didn’t come out of my room in the summer time because I didn’t want to move. But in retrospect, it was probably the best move because my mom’s whole side of the family is on the East Coast. We spent all of my childhood on the West Coast with my dad’s side of the family.

All it takes is a four-hour car drive to see everyone who hangs out at my grandma’s house.”

Wates’ parents were always there for him in dealing with what he described as “a culture shock.”

“My parents have stuck with me — that’s about as accurate as I can make it,” Wates said. “As you can imagine, from coast to coast as a junior in high school was pretty tough because there’s already those cliques that are established at schools. People have their niches and groups of friends.

Not to say people didn’t welcome me in my new school, but it’s always hard to come into a new place, especially at the end of your high school career.

My parents really fought with me to keep my head on straight and keep me going in the right direction.”

“Without them, I wouldn’t be in the place I’m in now,” Wates said. “I’m very thankful for all the things they’ve done for me. I’ve been really fortunate to have parents who played sports in college. Well, my mom was a ballerina and my dad played baseball for a year, but they know what it takes. It takes a lot of perseverance.”

Perseverance is exactly what Wates needed in the recruiting process.

Because he was an athlete coming to a different side of the country, schools didn’t have much time to do their research on Wates. It forced him to find schools on his own.

“It was a little bit confusing because I didn’t know much about the schools in the area,” Wates said, “but at the same time I was a senior — the summer before senior year — kind of running around Virginia and the east

“Look at us when we didn’t have him,” Hughes said. “The kid gets hurt, and we get swept in the two series in which he’s out of action. He’s kind of that security blanket that we need.

Every good rotation has that one guy you lean on to get a win and get you off and running. He’s played really well for us for two years.”

Hughes noted that Wright’s ability to adjust makes him so potent.

“He’s one of those guys who can figure out how to win even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, because he knows what’s going to help him beat his opponent that day,” Hughes said.

Despite being the most consistent pitcher on Tech’s roster last season, Wright got off to a less-thanstellar start. In what would be his worst outing, he allowed seven runs on 10 hits in four innings against UNC-Asheville in the frigid February weather.

“I consider myself a warm weather pitcher,” Wright said. “I’ve never really pitched well in the cold. Last season, I feel like I wasn’t really prepared for my first outing. This season I feel a lot more ready.”

Needless to say, the 20-year-old from Forest, Va., rebounded from the rough beginning to his sophomore campaign, finishing with a 3.95 ERA and a 7-2 record, with wins coming against Virginia and Maryland.

coast looking at schools. Thankfully, I was able to commit here early because I liked it so much. I was running around for a little while which was pretty stressful.”

Committing to Virginia Tech may not have been quite what Wates expected. Head coach Pete Hughes puts a lot of emphasis on academics, and at the time, Wates might have been a little bit uninterested.

“He kept nodding off to sleep when he was in his interview with me in the recruiting process with his mom in the office,” Hughes said. “That’s one vision that sticks out in my head.

Maybe I was talking too much academics to him. I think that was it. I think it wasn’t important to him in his life at that time. I knew it was the goal his mom wanted him to have — to be a better student and care more about academics. It was mine, too. His mom and I kind of dominated the conversation and left Austin out of it until his head started bobbing and weaving.”

It didn’t take long for Wates to realize the importance of school as his grades improved drastically.

“The kid’s GPA is not even close to where it was in high school,” Hughes said. “That tells you a lot about him — taking criticism, changing a lifestyle, changing his approach to academics and changing his approach to life.

You go to high school and your GPA is down, then you come to college where it’s more demanding academically and they don’t even compare.

That’s why he came here. He’s going to get a degree and he’s going to reach his potential. That’s the only thing I promise kids in recruiting.”

Wates is a sociology major and plans to complete a psychology minor this semester. He hopes to become an entrepreneur

MARK UMANSKY/SPPS

Hokies’ pitcher Justin Wright delivers a pitch during Tech’s game against Wake Forest last year on Sunday, April 5. Wright threw a complete game in the outing, which the Hokies won at home 3-2.

Wright also pitched his second complete game of his collegiate career against Wake Forest in early April, striking out eight in the contest.

The junior has also taken a different

approach this off-season and is confident that he’ll get off to a smoother start in 2010.

“I worked on my change-up a lot and tried to develop a good off-speed

NICK JEREMIAH/SPPS

Hokies’ utility player Austin Wates swings for the fences in Tech’s game against North Carolina last season on March 15, 2009.

“It may not be relevant on the same level, but I want to start a couple businesses and maybe invest in a couple businesses,” Wates said. “You

know, sociology is the study of people and psychology is the study of how people think. Being an entrepreneur, you definitely have to be a

pitch,” Wright said. “Since I’ve come back to campus, my control has been good, and I’ve had some good live outings. I’m ready for the season to start.”

people person. That’s kind of how I relate it.”

Keeping a journal also helps Wates’ goal of becoming an entrepreneur.

“I just kind of started this year,” Wates said, “because when you want to be an entrepreneur, you have all these thoughts you’re trying to bring together. That’s part of it. If I see a problem that needs to be solved, or a problem that I think could easily be solved, I just write it down in my journal, and I can come back and refer to it.”

His good friend on the team, junior Jesse Hahn, pointed out a couple other things Wates has a tendency to do.

“In study hall, he’s the king of blasting music when you’re trying to study,” Hahn said. “He’s always interrupting me. He plays his headphones on loud.

Then he’ll take his headphones out of the computer and just play it loud and act like no one’s in the room but him.

We just laugh about it.”

Wates can provide a few more laughs in other ways.

“One time he came in all hyped up after a lift,” Hahn said. “Me and him were goofing around with each other.

He went to get up on a stool in the locker room, started dancing and he fell off the stool.”

It doesn’t look like Wates will fall off the radar anytime soon, though.

Hughes expects big things from him.

“Honestly, in my estimation, he’s the best positional player in the ACC,” Hughes said. “Whatever comes with that, that’s what I expect out of him.

I’m not afraid to say it because he can handle high expectations, and it won’t change his approach to anything.”

With that high level of expectation, a 3,000-mile move may not seem that daunting after all.

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