The Collegiate Times’ comprehensive guide to Virginia Tech football
Thursday, October 7, 2010
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THE
EXTRAPOINT
Chipping away
GREGORY WILSON / SPPS
Safety Davon Morgan keeps Hokie fans into it against ECU. Tech will play Central Michigan for the first time ever Saturday at noon. The Hokies have also moved back into first place of the ACC’s Coastal Division.
Hokies seek to continue Tech’s secondary revitalizes defense improvement after 0-2 start MICHAEL BEALEY MATT JONES sports reporter When the Central Michigan University Chippewas step onto Worsham Field Saturday, they will encounter a Virginia Tech squad firing on all cylinders. Coming off a huge comeback victory in Raleigh against the NC State Wolfpack, the Hokies will look to carry that momentum over into this weekend’s matchup. “This is a week that we had a great win,” said Frank Beamer, head coach. “But it’s right back to work and build on that, and be a better football team this week.” CMU, led by first-year head coach Dan Enos, is 2-3 coming into Saturday’s matchup. Most recently, the Chippewas fell to Ball State, a game in which the defense surrendered more than 300 yards rushing. “We have a lot of new guys playing this year at a lot of positions,” Enos said. “We really like the development of them, but we really felt like we took a step backwards Saturday.” Enos is aware of the challenge the Chippewas face in Blacksburg. “We have a great challenge ahead of us, because we obviously have to go to Virginia Tech,” he said. “They’re obviously an outstanding program from top to bottom.” First-year starting quarterback Ryan Radcliff will take the snaps in offensive coordinator Mike Cummings’ balanced attack. Radcliff was plagued with interceptions in the Chippewas loss to Ball State. “To be honest, he had his worst game of the year,” Enos said of his sophomore quarterback’s three interceptions in the 31-17 loss. “There were a lot of factors involved. Some of it had to do with him being under duress, and he missed some reads. He didn’t play well enough for us obviously to win the football game.” Radcliff is saddled with the task of replacing 4-year starter Dan LeFevour. The NCAA’s all-time leader in total touchdowns, LeFevour was 36-15 as a starter, including 29-4 against MAC opponents. Tech freshman rover Antone Exum believes Radcliff still poses a threat to the Hokies.
“
I don’t want to get satisfied. There’s a lot for me to do, a lot for me to prove. I still feel like there’s a lot more yards for me to run. DARREN EVANS RUNNING BACK
“This team, Central Michigan, likes to pass a lot,” Exum said. “This year they have a pretty good quarterback, and we’re preparing for them to throw at least 30 or more times.” The cornerback position is one of the Hokies’ strengths, where it boasts National Defensive Player of the Week Jayron Hosley and NFL draft prospect Rashad Carmichael. At safety, Davon Morgan and Eddie Whitley have come on strong this season, giving defensive backs coach Torrian Gray possibly his most talented group ever. Tech will look to load the box and force Radcliff to beat them with his arm. On defense, the Chippewas possess a talented group of linebackers, led by No. 43 Nick Bellore. The senior from Whitefish Bay, Wisc., has started all 46 games of his career, sitting at No. 4 on CMU’s all-time total tackles list. A preseason member of the Lombardi Award watch list and Nagurski Trophy watch list, Bellore hasn’t been 100 percent as of late, which worries his head coach. “Nick’s been battling an ankle injury,” Enos said Monday. “He tried to play against Northwestern and had to come out. He feels like he’s getting progressively better, but when you have those type of ankle injuries, that’s something that is probably going to be with him the remainder of the season.” Even still, Hokies running back Darren Evans will not be taking the CMU defense lightly. “From what I’ve seen on tape, that’s a competitive conference. Central Michigan themselves, that defense — they fly around and get to the ball,” Evans said. see PREVIEW / page four
sports editor Call it “DB U” or whatever you want, but the fact is Virginia Tech’s secondary has excelled this season, making plays at opportune times. It shouldn’t be a surprise, though. When you look back at Tech’s history it is inundated with great defensive backs. Since former Hokie and current secondary coach Torrian Gray was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft, 15 other Tech defensive backs have been drafted into the NFL. One of those is current Kansas City Chiefs starting cornerback Brandon Flowers, hailing from Atlantic High School — the same one as current starting cornerback Jayron Hosley, who recorded three interceptions Saturday against NC State. “(The former Tech defensive backs) were obviously great,” Hosley said. “I take my game a little bit after them, I watch their film. I see everything they’re doing. I’m just continuing to do what I can to get better.” Gray agreed, citing the revolving door of talent that continues to come through Tech. He said the current defensive backs help to ease the process with new younger players. “I just know when you’re recruiting and you sign a great defensive back who has potential, you look: ‘Man, for the next four or five years, wow, we should be pretty good,’” Gray said. “Just like guys we have committed this year. You’re hoping they can come in and continue to help your group be strong for the next four or five years. With the guys we already had here, and getting a guy like Jayron back then, you feel real good about that.” Hosley also added that he keeps in contact with Flowers on occasion. And Flowers isn’t a bad example to follow, considering his big-play potential during his career at Tech. In fact, he registered 10 interceptions, including two for touchdowns from 2004-07. “I actually haven’t heard from (Flowers) yet,” Hosley said. “Last time I talked to him was before
LUKE MASON / SPPS
Cornerback Roc Carmichael goes up to defend a pass in Tech’s game against ECU earlier this year. the Boise game, he told me to go out there and do your thing. Most of the stuff he told me was things towards teaching, just watching film because film can take you from being a good player to a great player. Staying in the film room definitely helps as a (defensive back) ... you know you anticipate routes.” The young defensive backs like Hosley certainly haven’t had a difficult time stepping into their expanded roles. Backup free safety Antone Exum saw extended action on Saturday as starting free safety Eddie Whitley was still recovering from an injured foot, sore knee and a stinger in his left arm. Exum, a redshirt freshman from Glen Allen, Va., noted he has had to adjust to several different positions and roles in the secondary. As free safety, Exum also has to call out the defensive assignments on the field, a role he embraced because of Whitley’s uncertainty last Saturday. “I got moved to rover but I only
LUKE MASON / SPPS
Safety Eddie Whitley goes for a tackle in Tech’s matchup vs. ECU. Whitley has battled injuries to his knee, foot, and a stinger thus far. spent a week there or maybe two weeks now I’m back at free safety running with the second-team,” Exum said. “Making the calls and stuff it’s not really that new I just got to get adjusted to the first-team guys, I’m used to running with the second-team.” However, Gray praised the
way his young defensive backs have been performing, a group that includes true freshman Kyle Fuller, who played extensively against East Carolina earlier t his season. “They’re talented guys,” Gray said. see SECONDARY / page four
page 2
WHAT TO EXPECT
tech vs. cmu
october 7, 2010
5
to Fear RB/#6 Paris Cotton Leads team in rushing with 386 yards on 70 carries including 5 rushing TDs
AP Top 25 1. Alabama (58) 2. Ohio State (1) 3. Oregon 4. Boise State (1) 5. TCU 6. Oklahoma 7. Nebraska 8. Auburn 9. Arizona 10. Utah 11. Arkansas 12. LSU 13. Miami (FL)
14. Florida 15. Iowa 16. Stanford 17. Michigan State 18. Michigan 19. South Carolina 20. Wisconsin 21. Nevada 22. Oklahoma State 23. Florida State 24. Missouri 25. Air Force
Virginia Tech
QB/#8 Ryan Radcliff Has thrown for 1437 yards with 7 TDs and 7 INTs.. Averages 287.4 pass yards a game
WR/#11 Cody Wilson Leads team with 25 catches for 460 yards so far in 2010 and has 3 receiving TDs.
207.6
Rushing
126.4
173.8
Passing
290.8
381.4
Total
417.2
Scoring (ppg)
27.4
defense
Conf 2-0 1-0 1-1 1-2 0-1 0-1 Conf 2-0 1-0 2-1 0-1 0-1 0-2
Overall 4-1 4-1 4-1 2-3 2-2 2-2 Overall 3-2 3-1 3-2 2-2 2-2 1-4
121.4
Rushing
138.8
225.8
Passing
184.6
347.2 22.2
Total Scoring
323.4 17.6
special teams 39.9
Net Punting
2.5 23.3
Punt Returns
+3
......radio for
Go Hokies! Beat the Chippewas!
LB/#46 Matt Berning Has 27 solo tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss thus far during the 2010 season
Central offense Michigan
31.0
ACC Standings Atlantic Florida State Maryland North Carolina State Wake Forest Boston College Clemson Coastal Virginia Tech Miami (FL) Georgia Tech North Carolina Virginia Duke
LB/#43 Nick Bellore Member of the 2010 Lombardi Award watch list and Nagurski Trophy watch list
Kickoff Returns Turnover Margin
40.8 5.4 20.9 -2
everyone
october 7, 2010
page 3
Wilson makes most of his opportunities in expanded role NICK CAFFERKY sports reporter If you listen to the stories on campus, you know of David Wilson’s athleticism by now. From catching a rabbit with his bare hands on the Drillfield last year, to his 4.29 40-time, to the fact that as a sophomore he already holds a running back record with his 341-pound power clean, there is little doubt Wilson has the build to be Tech’s star running back. In fact, it’s why he is garnering comparisons to everyone from Reggie Bush to Percy Harvin. “I’m old school, but he reminds me of Gale Sayers and he was the best one I’ve ever seen. David can cut on a dime and he’s got great explosion,” said Billy Hite, running backs coach. “I think before his career is over here at Virginia Tech, you’ll see a lot of them that he’s taken to the house.” Despite of all of this, the 2008 Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year has seen very little of the field this season because of the depth that the Hokies have at running back. With Ryan Williams and Darren Evans both returning from their own respective record-breaking seasons, everyone knew that finding touches for another back would be difficult. This actually led most to believe Wilson would redshirt this season and save a year of eligibility. This idea floated around the minds of the coaching staff until the end of fall scrimmages, when Wilson put that idea to bed by earning a spot as one of the team’s top performers. Wilson was initially excited to not to redshirt when the season began, but that enthusiasm died down after week two, when he realized he wasn’t getting the number of opportunities that he thought he would see. His time came in the very next week, when Williams went down with a hamstring injury and Wilson was one of those left in charge of making sure the Hokies didn’t lose to East Carolina and drop to 0-3. Just as everyone expected, Wilson put the opportunity to
LUKE MASON / SPPS
Running back David Wilson plows through an East Carolina defender on Sept. 18. Wilson has 217 rushing yards on 38 carries this season in addition to two rushing touchdowns. good use, as he had 110 total yards and two touchdowns on just 13 touches. For most of the Hokies faithful, the ECU game was Wilson’s coming-out party. Many were aware of his speed, but few knew about his power and ability to break tackles. “David has got the shake — he’s a lot like Ryan in that respect, but he’s probably got better speed than any of the backs. Obviously he’s a threat every time he touches the football
to make the big play and that’s what we need in our offense right now,” Hite said. His success continued over the next two weeks against Boston College and NC State, where he split carries with Evans as Williams was unable to play. Overall, Wilson has averaged 5.7 yards per carry in the three games Williams has been out, and that doesn’t include the 92-yard kick return for a touchdown that gave the Hokies a spark in the 41-30
come from behind victory against NC State. However, with Ryan Williams’ return looming in the near future, Wilson will more than likely return to being used sporadically on offense and on kick returns. “If that was to happen, I would just look to take advantage of every time I touched the ball,” Wilson said. “After the Boise game, that’s what I decided to do — take advantage of every carry, and own it when I’m out there on the field and I have the ball
in my hand.” A good thing for Wilson is that Bryan Stinespring, offensive coordinator, has refused to say that there is a distinct order in the depth chart. “I don’t think we are relegating anyone anywhere. We are going to play the people that are playing the best, are healthy and playing well. Right now, David is playing well and he gets better every time he goes out there,” Stinespring said. Wilson met the biggest of his
goals last week with the long return for a touchdown, but that doesn’t mean he is content with what he has done. “Once you get one long run, you want to keep them coming. Even when they kicked the ball to me again, I was like, ‘I’m going to return this one too,’” Wilson said. “It definitely felt good to get one of my goals off my list, for sure. I still have other goals on my list, so I have to keep working hard and moving forward.”
ACC looks to sort out its standings this weekend with marquee evening matchup to emerge. Florida State and North Carolina State are early favorites in the Atlantic division. As Virginia Tech continues to turn things around, look for the Hokies to compete with Miami for the Coastal division title.
game — all to corner Jayron Hosley. His final interception came when the Wolfpack were down, 34-30, and had the ball with just more than a minute left. Yet, I really can’t see Boston College winning this game with its ongoing offensive struggles. Predicted winner: NC State
BOSTON COLLEGE AT NC STATE (NOON, ESPN3) Both teams could really use a win here. Boston College (2-2, 0-1) has lost its past two contests. After benching quarterback Dave Shinskie, replacement starter Chase Rettig went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter against Notre Dame and his status is still uncertain. Rettig’s backup threw two picks, and the Eagles netted just five yards of rushing throughout the entire game. Ouch. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack (4-1, 11) blew a 17-point lead against Tech last weekend. Despite throwing for 362 yards, NC State quarterback Russell Wilson tossed up three picks in the
CENTRAL MICHIGAN AT VIRGINIA TECH (NOON, ESPNU) In theory, this should be a relatively easy game for the Hokies (32, 2-0), who look to continue building momentum after their 0-2 start. Tech is beginning a four-game home stand after garnering consecutive ACC road wins. Although running back Ryan Williams has been out with a hamstring injury, Darren Evans is coming off a 160-yard, two touchdown performance against NC State. Central Michigan (2-3) is a substantially different team than their 2009 edition that went 12-2, and is feeling the loss of NFL-drafted quarterback Dan LeFevour.
ontenders in the Atlantic and Coastal divisions of the Atlantic C Coast Conference are beginning
But look for a competitive game here as the Chippewas have only lost by eight combined points to Northwestern (5-0) and Temple (4-1). Predicted winner: Virginia Tech VIRGINIA AT GEORGIA TECH (3:30 P.M., ESPNU) As predicted last week, the Virginia Cavaliers (2-2, 0-1) suffered a bad home defeat to Florida State and have yet to beat an FBS opponent. Evidently there is a lot of work left to be done in Charlottesville if the Cavaliers are going to be bowl eligible this year. Although the Yellow Jackets (3-2, 21) have been far from impressive in any of their three wins, their game-winning touchdown drive against Wake Forest may provide a much-needed spark. Give credit to quarterback Joshua Nesbitt for his most consistent performance of the season — 11-21, 130 passing yards and two touchdowns. Georgia Tech can get itself into the mix in the Coastal Division by improving its conference record to 3-1. Predicted winner: Georgia Tech
Running backs finally seeing daylight thanks to improved offensive line play took five games for them to do it, but for the first time this seaIt son, the Hokies finally showed the potent running game that they were expected to have on day one. However, the fact that it was Darren Evans providing this spark — and not Ryan Williams — is an interesting development in the Hokies crowded backfield. Evans’ 160-yard, two-touchdown performance isn’t shocking by any stretch of the imagination, but his ability to put up those numbers against an ACC opponent when Williams struggled against James Madison University, is something that no one would have predicted. Williams is still out with a hamstring injury suffered against East Carolina, but his numbers this season are far from impressive. In fact, with the depth in the backfield the Hokies have this season, Williams might be the third-best option at running back right now. In the two and a half games he has been able to play in, Williams is averaging just three yards per carry. That includes 20 carries against a Football Championship Subdivision school, JMU and six on an absolutely dreadful ECU defense. That average is significantly less than the 6.5 that Evans is averaging and a good deal less than David Wilson’s 5.7. Regardless of the numbers, there is no doubt that Williams is one of the most talented running backs in the country. His record-breaking 1,655 yards a year ago is evidence of that, and he is the perfect combination of speed and power to be a great run-
ning back in the NFL someday. The problem is that although he has those abilities, he is neither as fast as Wilson nor as powerful as Evans. This poses an issue because the Hokies offensive line struggled this year, and the ball carrier has to either bolt through a hole right as it is closing, or break two tackles right at the line of scrimmage to go anywhere. With Wilson, he is able to reach his top speed in almost no time and can usually reach the hole right before it closes. On the other end of the scale, Evans is the kind of back that can bull through tacklers with ease, as evidenced by his bruising 54-yard touchdown run against NC State on Saturday. Because Williams isn’t at one of those extremes, he struggles to get past the initial line of defenders and his numbers have proven that so far. Williams is still the best running back of the group, but sometimes the situation dictates performance more so than talent. For example, Randy Moss has been one of the top-5 receivers in football for a decade, but in 2005, he only had 553 yards receiving and three touchdowns as a member of the Oakland Raiders. Did he all of a sudden become a bad receiver? No, he had a terrible quarterback that couldn’t get the ball to him. The next year, he set an NFL record with 23 touchdowns because he was traded to the New England Patriots and was able to work with All-Pro quarterback Tom Brady. Just as a receiver relies on a quarterback to get him the ball, a running
back relies on his O-line to give him gaps to run through. When given open space, or put in a position where he only needs to break one tackle, Williams is still one of the best. There have been several moments this season where he has gotten the ball in open space and broken off big runs. The problem is those moments are few and far between because he usually is gobbled up by defenders immediately after getting the ball. For Evans and his massive 220pound frame, breaking through that first group of guys isn’t as difficult of a task, and that’s why he is having the better season. As for Wilson, he isn’t the prototypical running back that Williams is, but maybe that is what the Hokies need right now. The comparisons to Bush and Harvin are perfect because they play similar styles. Wilson, as with the two pros that he is compared to, is so dangerous in open space that coaches try to find it for him any way they can — whether it be a screen pass, toss or a punt return. Nonetheless, with three very different backs, Tech still has one of the best backfields in college football and Williams is still the best talent at the position.
NICK CAFFERKY -sports reporter -sophomore -communication major
CLEMSON AT NORTH CAROLINA (3:30 P.M., ABC/ESPN3) This should be a great matchup as each team searches for its first conference win. Clemson (2-2, 0-1) has fallen on hard times of late, dropping consecutive games to then-No. 16 Auburn in overtime and then-No. 16 Miami. The Tar Heels (2-2, 0-1) have overcome adversity to show that they can still win football games. A 28-3 second half domination against East Carolina along with their come-from-behind win against Rutgers has built up some confidence in a wavering program. With UNC still missing many of its players, Clemson is the better team and can pull off the road victory. Predicted winner: Clemson NAVY AT WAKE FOREST (6:30 P.M., ESPN3) This game is very intriguing from a statistical standpoint, if nothing else. Neither team can throw the ball, as the Demon Deacons (2-3, 1-2) rank 114th nationally with 126 pass yards per game and the Midshipmen (2-2) are standing at 115th and 119.8 yards
per game. In addition, Navy is averaging 17.5 points per game, good for 110th in the nation. On the opposite side of the ball, Wake Forest’s defense gives up 36.8 points per game, which ranks 111th nationally. There is no reason this shouldn’t be a close game, but look for Wake Forest to pull through. Navy is having a down year, even Maryland beat them — and no the Terps aren’t actually good. Their four victories have come over teams with a combined four wins. Predicted winner: Wake Forest NO. 23 FLORIDA STATE AT NO. 13 MIAMI (8 P.M., ABC/ESPN3) Easily the ACC game of the week. The winner here will come away with the pride of the conference and even some national respect. Florida State (4-1, 2-0) is looking to run away with the Atlantic Division and avenge a 47-17 loss to then-No. 10 Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Miami (3-1, 1-0) looks to knot things up with Virginia Tech in the Coastal Division and garner their
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first victory over a ranked opponent this season. The Hurricanes lost to No. 2 Ohio State 36-24 in week two. I would say this game depends on Miami quarterback Jacory Harris’ control of the ball, but the Canes’ defense has been able to overcome his four combined picks in wins at Pittsburgh and Clemson. However, Florida State has a very balanced attack, averaging 224.6 passing yards per game compared to 208.6 rushing yards per game. Tailbacks Jermaine Thomas and Ty Jones virtually split carries and yardage. Senior quarterback Christian Ponder and the Seminoles’ balanced offense will successfully pick apart Miami’s defense and lead them to the upset. Predicted winner: Florida State
GARRETT RIPA -sports editor -sophomore -mining & minerals engineering major
page 4
october 7, 2010
Preview: Hokies hope to take Chippewas in first meeting from page one
Evans, whose 160 yards against NC State marked the second highest of his career, looks to be back in his 2008 form. You won’t, however, hear him say he’s content with his performance. “I don’t want to get satisfied,” Evans said. “There’s a lot for me to do, a lot for me to prove. I still feel like there’s a lot more yards for me to run.” The Hokie offense will again try to balance its backfield, as 2009 AllAmerican Ryan Williams is poised for a return sometime in the next few weeks. Before his injury, Williams was averaging more than 20 carries a game, with Evans only receiving five. After Williams went down with a hamstring injury, Evans saw his carries spike to 13 per game. Evans believes his production uptick can be attributed to his self-confidence, as well as his increased role in the offense. “There’s a slightly bigger role with Ryan being out,” Evans said. “I wanted to pick up the slack and kind of get this offense on a roll here.” When Williams re-enters the lineup, Bryan Stinespring will have to split the carries, and try to find formations to get all his weapons on the field. Stinespring introduced a trick-play of sorts Saturday against NC State, splitting out his left tackle Andrew Lanier as a wide receiver on the right, replacing him with tight end Andre Smith. Smith found a soft spot in the Wolfpack zone defense and hauled in his second touchdown on the day. Beamer liked the result and is encouraged with the possibility of more plays like it. “That was a new wrinkle,” Beamer said of the play that gave the Hokies their first lead against NC State 2827. “I think we’ve got to have different things like that, the element of surprise. Hopefully we’ll see more.” Nevertheless, for Tech to be successful on Saturday against CMU, it will need to just focus on the basics — running the football and playing strong defense. “Central Michigan, No. 1 you have a team that is used to winning,” Beamer said. “They won the MAC last year — we’re playing a team that is very capable.” Tech will look to take down the Chippewas this Saturday at GREGORY WILSON / SPPS noon. The game will be televised on ESPNU. Running back Darren Evans celebrates following a touchdown against ECU. Evans has sparked the Hokies rushing attack with 324 yards on 50 carries including 4 rushing TDs.
Secondary: Current players follow tradition of NFL drafted defensive backs for Hokies from page one
“Because of injuries and other circumstances, those guys had to play early. It’s only going to benefit us down the long haul, so I’m excited about it. They’re talented young guys. It’s hard to teach experience, but Exum and Fuller had to learn it the hard way, by getting in there and playing. Because they’re playing more and repping more, Exum’s been really unbelievable at the point of attack. You put him out there on a great quarterback and some great receivers, and he held his own for the most part. I’m proud of their progress.” After the NC State game it seemed as though the younger defensive backs were challenging the established players like senior cornerback Rashad Carmichael and senior rover Davon Morgan with their exceptional play. According to Exum, Hosley scored 63 points in their grading, which is one of the highest singlegame totals ever for a Tech defensive back. Exum was graded at 44 points, an impressive feat for the young defensive back considering it was in front of a hostile NC
“
I try to beat the player to the ball, when the ball is in the air it’s anybody’s ball. There’s nobody’s nae on the ball, that’s how I look at it. You’ve got to go out and be a playmaker. JAYRON HOSLEY CORNERBACK
State crowd. “As long as we win we’re fine,” Exum said. “But with some of the guys I’m close with, like Davon, he’s right beside me. I’ll be in his ear a little bit if I score more than him.” “I really don’t pay attention to that much because at the end of the day it’s you either make a play or you’re not,” Hosley said. While Hosley’s ability to make plays has been a spark for the Tech defense, he said there isn’t much strategy
involved with beating a man for an interception. “I don’t really look for a certain arc, it’s either he’s going to make the play or I’m going to make the play,” Hosley said. “I try to beat the player to the ball, when the ball is in the air it’s anybody’s ball. There’s nobody’s name on the ball, that’s how I look at it. You’ve got to go out and be a playmaker.” Even Gray couldn’t remember the last time he had a three-interception game and said it was probably playing pick up when he was younger. Head coach Frank Beamer, who started at cornerback for the Hokies from 1966 to 1968, admitted he wasn’t sure if ever got close to that total. “I don’t know if I had three in a year,” Beamer said. “Jayron has a real knack, playing the ball … I think he’s a guy that the game makes sense to him.” Whether or not Tech deserves the title “DB U” yet, it certainly can make a strong case for including one of the nation’s more exciting groups of young defensive backs.
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Now you can take it Anywhere 922 University City Blvd. Blacksburg, VA
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Name Torrian Gray Pierson Prioleau Anthony Midget Ike Charlton Cory Bird Kevin McCadam Wilie Pile DeAngelo Hall Vincent Fuller Eric Green Justin Hamilton Jimmy Wiliams Aaron Rouse Brandon Flowers Macho Harris Kam Chancellor
Year 1997 1999 2000 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Position S S CB CB S SS FS DB S DB DB DB S CB CB FS
Round 2 4 5 2 3 5 7 1 4 3 7 2 3 2 5 5
Pick 19 15 5 21 29 5 38 8 7 11 14 5 26 4 21 4
Overall 49 110 134 52 91 13 252 8 108 75 222 37 89 35 157 133
Thursday, October 7, 2010
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COLLEGIATETIMES 107th year, issue 99
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PAUL KURLAK / SPPS
Stroke of genius BY MIA PERRY | features staff writer auntering along a gravel pathway from her modest home, illuminated by warm lights and livened with colorful strings of prayer flags, Jane Lillian Vance peered down her pitch-black driveway, scattered with cats, on a Wednesday night. The tiny woman, with long, gray brown hair, was adorned with beaded necklaces, which surprisingly didn’t cause her to tip over. She lightly spun Tibetan prayer wheels that line her abode, giving her a small reminder of her trips to Nepal. “Each wheel has thousands of prayers written on a scroll inside,” she said, as she twirled them walking back to her house, “and when you spin them, the prayers are released into the air.” Stepping into her home, nestled away in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Blacksburg, it is apparent that Vance is an artist. Giant canvases of Himalayan-inspired paintings cover an entire wall, one of which reaches the ceiling and is almost as wide. The pieces are not hanging, but instead leaning against one another, layer upon layer of vibrant colors and precise details that a three-haired brush enables her to include. Each painting seems as if it is from another place or perhaps another time. Vance said she entered the world as an artist. Working diligently as a two-year-old on her art, she was serious about pursuing it by the time she was in first grade. She hasn’t stopped painting since. “It’s hard to know why a person comes in predisposed,” Vance said. The artist, whose face makes those in her presence instantly feel at ease, sat down in her eclectic
S
Robberies down in new crime report
ON-CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULTS DOUBLED FOR 2009 FROM FOUR INCIDENTS THE PREVIOUS YEAR SARAH WATSON news reporter A new Clery Act Report showed sexual assaults and motor vehicle thefts on the Virginia Tech campus doubled from the 2007-08 school year to the 2008-09 school year, while the amount of on-campus burglaries decreased by almost half and the amount of aggravated physical assaults decreased by more than half. The report, which was released Sept.
28, assesses campus security and fire safety by providing information about policies and regulations, emergency preparedness, services and other data relevant to the 2008-09 school year. Universities receiving federal financial aid are required to complete the report each year. Forcible sex offenses increased from four to eight in 2009. Virginia Tech Police Lt. Deborah Morgan said the see REPORT / page two
home, which smelled pleasantly like a combination of tea and Vicks VapoRub, to reminisce about her life. She sipped on freshly brewed tea, fingers laden with several large, unusual looking rings grasping the mug while she delved into her many ventures. Vance, who is a Virginia Tech professor, has spent 30 years traveling back and forth from the mountains of southwest Virginia to those of South Asia. With these excursions under her belt, she has sought to connect the worlds of Blacksburg and Nepal. Vance has captured her experiences with both places in a documentary titled “A Gift for the Village.” The documentary is the product of 10 years worth of footage of Vance and her friends in Nepal and other parts of the Himalayan mountain range. But what makes the film special is that it documents the journey of a painting Vance created for a Tibetan healer, Buddhist and lama named Amchi Tsampa Ngawang. The painting represents a cultural bridge between Nepal and Blacksburg, a monumental occurrence. The painting and the documentary are even endorsed by the Dalai Lama himself. Looking deeper inside Vance’s home, it is obvious she enjoys maintaining a loving environment, filled with ornaments she has collected from her travels. The living room is occupied by mementos: sculptures of Buddha, a plethora of beads, embroidered pillows, images of tigers, woven tapestries and ceramics. A large piece of driftwood and a few unique shells adorn her coffee table. There are art supplies strewn about. Flags, children’s artwork
and photographs of Vance’s family decorate the walls, and in every available space left, there is some sort of Himalayan ornament. The variety of objects could fill a book. Even in her actual studio, where a painting in progress sat in the center of the room, there were numerous shelves of souvenirs and trinkets. Her two children, who are both in college, still have rooms at home, which she happily showed off. According to Vance, they still come home whenever they get the chance. “I have the best parent-children relationship in the universe,” she said, gleefully. Vance’s favorite part of the house, however, is in her room. She turns on a light to see it more clearly. A collection of necklaces hangs on her wall. But, there are no diamonds and gold here. Instead, there are beautiful beads of glass and natural stones, which are large and heavy. One necklace has a single turquoise “bead” the size of a tennis ball. “This is worn as a headdress by the Nepalese women,” Vance noted. Looking at all the décor of the house, Vance reflected. “Do I need all these things?” she asked herself. “Probably not. But I have them here to remind me of everything I’ve seen.” Her many travels have literally filled her home. Her first trip to the southern parts of Asia, which is well represented in the crevices of her walls, began in 1985. Although she didn’t know anyone who had ventured there, she decided to visit India for the first time to visit a friend from graduate school. see VANCE / page seven
Cyclists alarmed by notices MICHELLE SUTHERLAND news staff writer Student cyclists are peddling into problems with Parking Services. An increase in the number of cyclists on campus has recently been met with an increase in the number of bicycle parking citations. Two weeks ago, junior Josh Keffer walked out of one of his classes in McBryde Hall to find a warning on on bike, indicating he had illegally parked his bike. “I was surprised,” Keffer said. “There were no signs. I guess that’s the only way you’d know — a big orange sticker.” Debby Freed, Virginia Tech’s alternative transportation manager, has been trying for years to establish bike planning as part of the budget. “With the number of folks who are now cycling to campus, we don’t have the infrastructure in place for everybody to have their own bike rack,” Freed said. One standard bike rack with five metal loops costs about $500 if cement is already in place. If cement is needed in the area where the bike rack will be, it spikes the cost of the new rack by an additional $500. “What we try to look at (is) if there is a consistent, sustained demand for more bike racks,” said Steve Mouras, director of transportation and campus services. “What we don’t want is a knee-jerk reaction.” From year to year, certain classes have more cyclists than others for various reasons. Weather also plays a major role in the demand for bike racks. During cooler winter months, bicycle parking is rarely a problem. “Just because we want to promote bicycle use doesn’t mean that we want to promote indiscriminate bicycle use,” Mouras said. Bicycle citations are issued if parked bikes create a hazard, or potential hazard, such as impeding movement,
LUKE MASON / SPPS
A bike chained to a sign post near McBryde Hall displays a warning sticker from Parking Services. or are parked illegally despite available rack space. Mouras said the bikes can get in the way of landscaping and maintenence. “The purpose (of issuing more bike citations) is not to generate money,” Mouras said. “The purpose is to change behavior.” Mouras compares bicycle parking to car parking. He said he has heard people complain there are not enough spaces, but he said there are always some vacant spots, even on game days. “They just aren’t convenient,” he said. The Collegiate Times noted that outside of McBryde Hall, around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, there were 13 bicycles parked illegally and 24 parked legally, filling up the available
racks. However, nearby racks outside of Torgeson Hall had 17 legal bike spaces available. Junior Kay Comer said she was unaware that her bike, which was chained to a pole outside McBryde, was illegally parked. “The racks were clogged,” she said. Many students remain unaware they need to register their bikes with Parking Services and that bikes can only be parked at racks. He said warnings were a way to communicate the requirements. The university is also taking steps to alleviate crowding at the bike racks. The Bike Bus Walk program, formerly free, now charges $15 per semester. Money earned through the program will go toward purchasing bike racks. In the program, students agree to
travel to campus using alternative transportation methods and receive up to 15 parking passes. The price of a daily parking pass is still half the price of what it would be otherwise when students sign up with the program. The Student Government Association is also trying to bring more bike racks to campus. Aaron Maertins, SGA Director of Transportation, said the idea is in the planning stages and will soon be debated by the legislative bodies. The target date for purchasing would not be until spring semester. Bicycles can be registered with Parking Services for no charge. A bicycle parking citation, however, will typically set the cyclist back $25.
Virginia Tech application provides building, person finder JAY SPEIDELL news staff writer Forget where your next class is? There’s an app for that. The free Hokie Mobile app, released to the iTunes store Sept. 13, gives students access to a variety of university information, including account summaries, balances, class schedules and
a full list of available courses. It also has several other features of the main Virginia Tech website, such as people search. The application sports a maps feature that finds buildings on campus with Google Maps. When a user clicks on a building name, it loads the map and zooms in on the campus, putting a marker on the building.
The app is a joint project between University Relations and Integration and Portal Services, but the idea came from students. “This app was student-driven from the beginning,” said Phillip Hess, a recent alumni majoring in Marketing Management and Communications. The development is ongoing, and the team of students, including Joey Zakutney, John Ryding, Honeigh
Meletis and Tim Tutt, an alumni, think it is a starting point for something much bigger. “Virginia Tech has the opportunity to build a whole platform,” Hess said. Hess said it was important to keep students involved in projects like this, so the final products have the usability and features that students need. “The developers of programs like Blackboard don’t live the student
experience every day,” Hess said. That strategy seems to be successful. The iTunes report from the first two weeks showed more than 1,100 downloads, some from locations as far away as Korea and the United Kingdom. The reviews at the app store are all positive, and most gave five stars out of five. Ken McCrery, manager of
Integration and Portal Services at Enterprise Systems, where the app is being developed, said they are looking into developing an Android version. Hess said that this wasn’t the end of the development, and that a version 2.0 is in the works. “The technology is available to make life easier, we might as well use it,” Zakutney, another student developer, said.
2 news
university editor: philipp kotlaba, liana bayne, gordon block newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865
october 7, 2010
[
virginia headlines
COLLEGIATETIMES
Hitting the right note
]
[
nation & world headlines
]
Slain VSU student ID’d Wednesday
US apologizes for Pakistani deaths
Chesterfield County police charged a 26-year-old Petersburg man in the death of a Virginia State University student who died after he was beaten severely late Monday just off campus. The victim, 23, Daron Jozema Jack, 23, of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, was discovered about 11 p.m. after Chesterfield police were called by neighbors to his off-campus Ettrick apartment in the 3400 block of Watson Street, just west of VSU’s sports complex, Chesterfield police Capt. Terry Patterson said. Patterson said Jack suffered wounds consistent with a beating, and he died early yesterday after he was taken to VCU Medical Center. His body was taken to the state medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of death. VSU spokesman Thomas E. Reed said the off-campus apartment where Jack lived is not affiliated with the university. Patterson said police had to go through diplomatic channels to reach his family. “That’s created a whole another batch of problems,” he said. Police charged Deondray Maddox with first-degree murder. Authorities say the two men were acquainted and that Jack’s was a result of a dispute between the two. -Mark Bowes, Reed Williams, mcclatchy newspapers
KABUL, Afghanistan _ The U.S. apologized Wednesday for the deaths of two Pakistani paramilitary troops and the wounding of four others in a cross-border airstrike by U.S. helicopters that prompted Islamabad to close two vital supply routes used by the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan. The latest flare-up comes as the Obama administration steps up public and private pressure on Pakistan to crack down on the Afghan Taliban and allied groups. Officials in Washington said that intensified strikes inside Pakistan by manned and pilotless aircraft are an effort to pressure Pakistan to move against the Haqqani network, an insurgent group based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan area. Wednesday’s apology by the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, came after the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan announced that a joint investigation into the Sept. 30 incident conducted with the Pakistani military found that the U.S. helicopters mistook the paramilitary troops for insurgents. “We extend our deepest apology to Pakistan and the families of the Frontier Scouts who were killed and injured,” Patterson said. “Pakistan’s brave security forces are our allies in a war that threatens both Pakistan and the U.S.” In Kabul, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, also issued a statement, saying that the force “offers its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of those killed and injured. We deeply regret this tragic loss of life.” There was no immediate official announcement from Islamabad about whether the two statements would be enough to persuade Pakistani authorities to reopen the supply routes from the port city of Karachi into landlocked Afghanistan.
Kronos Quartet, seen above, played to a packed house at The Lyric Theater in Blacksburg Wednesday evening. photo by daniel lin
Clery: Increase seen in motor vehicle theft from page one
numbers for sex offenses come from Cook Counseling Center and the Women’s Center. She said not all sex offenses are reported to Tech Police. Motor vehicles thefts saw an increase, as well, from two to four in 2009. Morgan said the numbers included golf cart thefts. “We’ve had a lot (of golf cart thefts) this year already,” Morgan said. However, 2009 saw a dramatic decrease in burglaries, from 77 to 29.
Morgan said this could be attributed to a decrease of burglaries in residence halls. Morgan identified burglaries as a “crime of opportunity.” “You take the opportunity away, burglaries are going to go down,” Morgan said. Tech Police and other university groups have tried to remind people to lock their doors, Morgan said. Morgan believes that implementation of swipe card access to residence halls also helped decrease burglaries on campus.
Aggravated assaults also plummeted from 24 to 2 in 2009. “By definition (aggravated assaults) aren’t always what you would expect,” Morgan said. An example of a commonly reported assault is one roommate threatening another roommate with a sharp object, like scissors. Offenses such as arson, robbery and manslaughter remained steady when compared to 2008 reports. One murder was reported for 2009. Tech graduate student Haiyang Zhu pleaded guilty to the Jan. 21, 2009,
beheading of international student Xin Yang and is serving a life sentence. The murder, which was committed in the Au Bon Pain cafe in the Graduate Life Center, was the first on Tech’s campus since the April 16, 2007, campus shootings. Vandalism and larceny, two crimes not listed on the Clery Act Report, are the two more common crimes on campus. Morgan said Tech Police have investigated more than 300 reported larcenies or vandalism incidents this school year alone.
CORRECTIONS
DAILY
In “Gap year experiences vary for Virginia Tech students,” (CT – Oct. 5) Shelly Blumenthal, BHS guidance counselor, was misidentified as a female.
Offense
Date
Time
Location
Follow-up to vandalism to a motor vehicle
Aug. 11
10:00 a.m. 1:30 p.m.
Bioinformatics parking Inactive lot
Follow-up to threaten bodily harm
Aug. 29
2:25 a.m.
Slusher Tower
Inactive
Follow-up to phone harassment
Aug. 31
11:32 p.m.
Campbell Hall
Inactive
Follow-up to threaten bodily harm
Aug. 31 Sept. 01
10:30 p.m. 9:48 a.m.
Pritchard Hall
Inactive
Follow-up to underage possession of alcohol
Sept. 30
12:32 a.m.
Barringer Hall
Inactive
Possession of a controlled substance, possesion of marijuana, possession of drug praphernalia Larceny of a bicycle
Oct. 5
10:02 a.m.
Lee Hall
Arrested
Oct. 5
10:30 a.m. 9:30 p.m.
Burruss Hall
Under investigation
-the collegiate times regrets this error.
JUSTIN GRAVES -Contact our public editor at publiceditor@ collegiatetimes.com if you see anything that needs to be corrected.
CRIME
BLOTTER Status
-Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers
october 7, 2010
page 3
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Wondering what’s going on around the ‘burg? Check out the events of the upcoming week. [Thursday, October 7]
[Saturday, October 9]
What: Music: Carla Where: Gillie’s When: 7 p.m. Cost: Free
What: Music: Hammer Boys What: Movie: A Gift for the Village Where: Awful Arthur’s Where: The Lyric When: 9 p.m. When: 3 p.m. Cost: Free
What: Movie: Paranormal Activity Where: Prarie Field When: 8 p.m. Cost: Free
What: Music:Annie Crane Where: Gillie’s When: 7 p.m. Cost: Free
[Friday, October 8] What: Music: Electric Playground Where: Attitudes When: 8 p.m. - 2 p.m. Cost: $2 for 18+, $5 for 21+ What: Music: Kafei w/ Maya Renfro Where: Gillie’s When: 9:30 p.m. Cost: Free What: Music: The Shack Band Where: The Lyric When: 8 p.m. Cost: $5 guys, girls are free
What: Indian Navratri (Dance) Festival Where: Squires Commonwealth Ballroom When: 6 p.m. Cost: Free. $5 for food
[Monday, October 11] What: Dr. Hector Amaya presents “Ugly Betty: Latinos, Media Perceptions and Citizenship” Where: Torgesen Museum When: 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. Cost: Free
[Wednesday, October 13] What: Student Workshop Theater: Sylvia Where: Theatre 101 When: 7:30 p.m. Cost: Free
What: Celebration of Diversity Where: Squires Commonwealth Ballroom When: 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Cost: Free
Raas-Garba festival brings a night of music and dance MAJONI HARNAL features reporter Swirling skirts of bright colors, lively music and a large crowd of dancers make up the Raas-Garba festival, marking the end of the religious event Navratri. A night of animated dancing and sumptuous food will punctuate the end of nine days of worship for Navratri, during which devotees pray to avatars of the Goddess Durga to mark the beginning of the fall season. Unlike other cultural shows on campus, the Raas-Garba festival is an interactive event where audience members are the main focus, and the night is a celebration by all. Although India is a secular country, its Hindu population is 80 percent of its more than one billion people. Festivals in India usually take place on a large scale, hosted in stadiums or large grounds where an entire community can interact, dance
and celebrate. Nowadays, the religious connotations are not in the forefront of the event as much as the chance to dance and mingle with community members. The festival held at Virginia Tech will bring a slice of India into Squires Student Center’s Commonwealth Ballroom. With the prominence of India in the United States’ cultural focus, the Raas-Garba festival, put forth by the Indian Student Association, is a perfect way for students on campus to receive a different glimpse into Indian culture. The name Raas-Garba comes from the two forms of dance that combine to make a popular genre from the state of Gujarat. Each state in India has its own distinct culture and each celebrates Navratri differently. Tech’s festival will be held in line with the well-known Gujarati style. Raas usually consists of women dancing in a circle, clapping and singing, whereas Garba focuses on the use of “dandiyas,” or decorated sticks,
that a couple uses to clap with during dances. “Dandiyas” will be available to curious guests, but they will be in limited supply, as many Indians often have their own pair. Live music will be playing for the audience, which makes up the core of the event. The largest aspect of Raas-Garba is the celebration of the members of the community. Here in Blacksburg it will be the ISA of the New River Valley and anyone who would like to experience a special cultural e vening. Organizers are expecting anywhere from 150 to 200 people to come out for the event. The doors of the Commonwealth Ballroom will open for dancing on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m., and food will be served at 7:30 p.m. While all are welcome to the dance portion of the event, there will be a $5 charge for the dinner catered by India Garden.
sports 4
editors: michael bealey, garrett ripa sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
october 7, 2010
Florida State-Miami rivalry intriguing
......radio for
everyone
ANDREW CARTER mcclatchy newspapers TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — It hasn’t mattered if the offenses have been potent or powerless. It hasn’t mattered if the defenses have been porous or powerful. Hasn’t mattered if the game has been played in Tallahassee or in South Florida. Day or night. Mondays or Saturdays. No matter what the circumstances or styles, regardless of the personnel or coaches, a clear trend has emerged in the Florida State-Miami rivalry: Close games. Very close games. So what, you say. The Seminoles and Hurricanes play tight games. No kidding. It’s more than that, though. During the past decade, Florida State’s series against Miami has produced narrower margins of victory than those found in any name-brand college football rivalry. Since 2000, when Florida State left Miami with a 27-24 victory, the winning team between the Seminoles and Hurricanes has won by an average margin of six points. That doesn’t
include Miami’s 16-14 victory in the 2004 Orange Bowl. Since 2000, Miami’s 49-27 victory in 2001 has been the only game between Miami and Florida State that has been decided by a double-digit margin. In the past 11 meetings between the teams, including that Orange Bowl, seven games have been decided by four points or less. “Both teams always show up, you never know what’s going to happen and it’s always close,” Seminoles quarterback Christian Ponder said. “(It) always goes down to the last minute ... it always somehow finds a way to get close (and be) a good game.” Ponder has been on both ends. He and the Seminoles survived a wild fourth quarter to win at Miami in 2008. Then they lost a season ago when time ran out on Florida State near the Miami goal line. Those games were decided by a total of six points. No, Florida State and Miami haven’t competed for national championships in a while. That fact has wiped away some of the series’ luster. But if the purpose of a rivalry is to produce close, exciting finishes,
then no game has done it better the past 10 years than Florida StateMiami. Among seven other famed college football rivalries — including Alabama-Auburn, Army-Navy, Florida-Georgia, Notre Dame-USC and Oklahoma Texas — Michigan and Ohio State produced games with the second-smallest margins of victory the past 10 years. In those games between the Wolverines and Buckeyes, the winning team won by an average of 11.7 points — almost twice the margin of Florida State’s games against Miami. Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and his players earlier this week had a difficult time explaining the phenomenon. They each said a variation of the same thing: Competition between the Seminoles and Hurricanes brings out the best of both teams, thus resulting in a stretch of games that weren’t decided until late in the fourth quarter. But that answer implies the teams who suffered more lopsided defeats in years past wanted to win less than the Florida State-Miami teams of the past 10 years. And that can’t be true.
“
Both teams always show up, you never know what’s going to happen and it’s always close. CHRISTIAN PONDER FLORIDA STATE QUARTERBACK
Perhaps Ponder described it best: “It always somehow finds a way to get close.” As if there’s a higher power at work. It could be random, the close games the rivalry has produced lately, but Fisher didn’t believe that. He hypothesized the game inspired players to perform beyond their ability. “Sometimes (in that game) you do things that guys don’t ever do on the practice field,” he said. “You don’t ever see them do it. It’s a pride — it’s a competition level. And that’s the thing that makes athletics, to me, so great. There’s nothing you can predict.” Except, it would seem, the reliability of another dramatic finish in the Florida State-Miami rivalry.
opınıons 5
editors: scott masselli, gabi seltzer opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
october 7, 2010
The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
Your Views [letter to the editor]
Rutgers incident relevant to Tech his is in response to Josh Trebach’s column, “When T is a harmless college prank not at all harmless?” (CT, Oct. 5). This is an important issue for Virginia Tech and other institutions to discuss. This is not a political, moral or religious issue. It is a human rights issue. I am not talking about gay marriage or governmental rights but the status of a person in the world. Recently the Westboro Baptist Church protested the funeral of a gay soldier, 20-year-old Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. His status as a hero that died for our freedom and in service to his country is overshadowed by his sexuality. It is essential as students and
young people that we do not categorize or judge a person based on one aspect of their lives. In society it should not be the LGBTA and the rest of the world. Sexuality should play no role in the social hierarchy. At Rutgers, Tyler Clementi was humiliated as a part of a prank that lacked human dignity. We live in a world where people cannot be honest with themselves, let alone other people, out of fear that their life will be full of hatred and judgment. There is absolutely no excuse for this. Despite personal beliefs, you never have a reason to disrespect other individuals. It is essential that as Tech students we are accepting of people and show compassion, because if we don’t more events like this will occur.
Cassy Sims Biological sciences major
Clothesline Project has deep impact on victims Monday, Oct. 11, The Clothesline Project will On present its bi-annual display on the Drillfield from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Rain location: Squires Student Center). The Clothesline Project acts as a visual testimony to raise awareness about violence against women. This effort displays the devastating effects violence has on survivors and on the friends and families of victims. Having viewed the display last spring, I urge Tech students and the Blacksburg community to take some time to visit the project. Because of its open visibility on the Drillfield, viewers can spend as much time looking through the shirts as they’d like while sorting through which shirts they wish to examine. Many of the shirts impressed me, and all of the shirts leave a significant impression on their viewers’ hearts. The survivors and friends and families of victims have incredible stories to share, and their experiences deserve to be recognized by the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg communities. Initiated in 1994 by the Montgomery County chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), this Clothesline Project includes more than 500 shirts made by New River Valley residents. Those affected by acts of violence against women express their pain, suffering, strength, and courage through direct messages and strong illustrations on colorcoded t-shirts. Each color represents a different form of violence: white for women who have died from violence; yellow or beige for women who have been battered or assaulted; red, pink or orange for those raped or sexually assaulted; blue or green for survivors of incest or child sexual abuse; purple or lavender for women attacked because of their sexual orientation; and black for women handicapped by violence. The shirts are hung along a clothesline as if the survivors were standing there themselves, shoulder to shoulder, bearing witness to the violence committed against women on a daily basis. The Clothesline Project allows its viewers the opportunity to experience the suffering some of the shirts express while feeling the strength others communicate and the spectrum of emotions beyond those. Some of the shirts disclosed violence that shocked and even overwhelmed me. Even if you think the
shirts might affect you too strongly, you should visit the project to view at least a few shirts. Although I was moved to tears by many of the personal stories, I don’t regret viewing the project. Instead, I know I grew from the project. It shows the violence that afflicts your peers, students, and community members. No one asks for that sort of violence, and I think it’s disrespectful to pass by the project without acknowledging even one shirt — as I saw many students do last spring. If you haven’t experienced that type of violence, you can’t even begin to imagine the struggle the people behind those shirts went through. I think it’s pertinent for the Tech and Blacksburg communities to listen to the stories these shirts share. The Clothesline Project not only raises awareness within the Blacksburg community about the extent of violence against women but also educates its viewers about the magnitude of the violence’s impact. In addition, the project aids in the healing process of those who have suffered directly or indirectly from violence against women by breaking their silence. Survivors and the friends and families of victims can create their own shirts in the quiet, confidential environment of the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech — on Washington Street in Blacksburg — anytime from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday, Oct. 11 to Friday, Oct. 15. All materials are supplied at the Women’s Center free of charge. If you or someone you know is thinking about sharing an experience, I suggest going to the center and creating a shirt. The creation process in itself signifies a major step in healing. Opening up and letting the experience out can give a sense of relief, and the process itself is empowering. By the end of the clothesline last spring, I felt connected to the human beings behind the t-shirts and empowered to raise awareness within my own community. Visiting the Clothesline Project display is a uniquely powerful experience and an event no one can afford to miss.
KATHLEEN DWYER -regular columnist -senior -English major
MCT CAMPUS
Mountaintop removal column full of fallacies write this letter in response to Matt Schmitt’s column “Mountaintop Imining endangers beauty, economy of Appalachia,” (CT, Sept. 28). I take issue with numerous statements he made in his article, in addition to the overall message. I will address each sequentially as they appeared in the piece. First, “men in business suits command an arsenal of weaponry with the sole purpose of mining the earth from beneath our very feet.” My first point would be that the earth is not mined from beneath our very feet. Mining companies reach out to landowners long before mining ever starts and negotiate a royalty agreement or property purchase which benefits all parties; land owners must give their express permission before mining can occur. Also, the vast majority of the “men in business suits” were once employed in engineering and operations positions. In other words, they worked down in the muck and understand how to get things done. They aren’t money-grubbing, environment-hating pencil pushers shipped in from Wall Street. Second, and this is from personal experience, miners don’t get by “scraping away a living.” Conversely, coal miners hold some of the best-paying, most highly-coveted positions in West Virginia. The average annual earnings of a coal mine employee (most on high school educations) is $62,700, not including extensive benefits. The statements “the truth of the matter is the miner is quickly being replaced, leaving its benefits few and its damages wide and varying” and “thousands have been laid off in recent years because they are not needed when an explosive can do the job exponentially faster and cheaper” are simply incorrect. Mining companies have been utilizing explosives for primary rock fragmentation for more than a century. The real changes occurring in recent decades have been trending toward mechanization, which the column mentioned. What it didn’t mention are two crucial truths regarding this shift. First and most importantly, the mechanization of dozens of dangerous tasks has substantially improved worker safety. For example, 144,480 coal mine workers were employed in 1970 with a fatality incidence of 0.180 deaths/100 workers. In 2005, 112,500 workers were employed with a fatality incidence of 0.020 deaths/100 workers – a 900 percent improvement. Second, the mechanization of mining processes creates a higher total number of jobs than “conventional” mining. Although the coal industry directly employed 144,480 workers in 1970 and around 134,000 in 2005, an estimated 3.5 additional positions in contracting services, maintenance, equipment manufacturers, etc. were created for each coal job in 2005. These additional jobs simply would not exist without mechanized mining. The total financial contribution of the coal industry in 2005, including all jobs which could not exist without coal mining, was estimated to be $362 billion in household income and $1.05 trillion in
taxable revenues. That’s a lot of families being fed. Third, I believe that the statement “the coal companies destroy, without regard, thousands of acres of forest, streams and mountains. They blast the tops off these mountains to get to the coal underneath and fill adjacent valleys with the rubble, burying waterways that are vital to the ... ecosystem” is misconstrued. Less than 2.5 percent of West Virginia’s land area is permitted for surface mining. Of this 2.5 percent, only a portion is actually disturbed; a permit includes total area under a mining operation’s control, not the actual area to be mined. Secondly, the term “mountaintop removal” is often used by opponents of mining to categorize all surface coal operations. In actuality, only a portion of surface sites use the mountaintop removal mining method. The key difference between a typical surface mine (either strip or contour) and mountaintop removal site is where the rock overlying the coal seam is placed. Contour and strip mining blast the waste rock and store it adjacent to the exposed seam and extract the coal before replacing the spoil in its original position; re-vegetating the land with shrubs, grasses and trees; and monitoring it to ensure restored wildlife activity and overall ecosystem stability. Mountaintop removal sites abide by the same restrictions, but the waste rock is placed in adjacent valleys. Ninety-five percent of valley fills occur in intermittent streams, meaning they only carry water during precipitation events and do not sustain their own ecosystem. The quote “since the trees have been stripped from the land, there’s nothing to hold the water, causing the earth to become unstable and allowing rivers to flood surrounding areas with black sludge” indicates the trees are what prevent contaminants from spreading from slurry impoundments. Actually, coal pollutants are prevented from spreading by the placement of several-feet-thick impermeable liners, clay buffers and highly controlled drainage collectors. These systems are, by law, engineered to withstand 100-year flood intensities and require substantial time and resources to construct. To summarize, the reality is quite the opposite from the stigma that mining companies arbitrarily dump their junk into nearby valleys. Fourth, I was somewhat confused by the quote “I cannot, however, support a system where the corporate financier is making millions of dollars off a carefully executed system, while the countryside and its people are harmed on a daily basis.” The first half of the sentence is totally true. The financiers (banks) do make money and they do it with a very, very carefully executed system – carefully executed to achieve a triple bottom line of eliminating collateral effects on local populations, maximizing financial gains and minimizing long-term environmental harm. Obviously, these goals conflict with the assertion the second half of this quote makes. Do you think mining companies deliberately set out to steamroll their neighbors, friends and relatives
who live on the land near the mines they work at? West Virginians love the land they come from and have no intention of ruining it for their descendants. Finally, the statement “only when… government restrictions are imposed on these companies will we see this new type of mining disappear” is also misleading. A basic investigation would show that there is, in fact, an enormous body of legislation governing mining operations in America. The Mine Safety & Health Administration enforces all health and safety standards under Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which was established after the Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977 and then amended by the MINER Act of 2006. Mine sites do not receive advance notice of inspections and face extremely heavy penalties – up to and including shutting down the site – if they fail to cooperate with the inspectors. Mines must undergo a minimum of two full inspections (encompassing the entire site) per year, but usually receive more. To this end, MSHA reported a 99.6 percent inspection completion rate in 2005. In short, mining is already heavily regulated. In fact, complying with legislation is one of the major challenges of mine design and management. In conclusion, I believe this article left out a substantial amount of information directly pertinent to the points the writer was trying to make. Dozens of organizations exist which provide lopsided or flat-out-wrong statistics and figures intended to damn surface mining in West Virginia, but they fail to grasp the greater picture. All statistics stated in this column were taken from government agency databases. I’m happy to provide any readers with references. No matter which side you take, there is no escaping the reality of pictures showing orange water being discharged into streams, black sludge collecting in people’s wells, horrific poverty near mine sites, etc. But these occurrences are far and away the exception to the rule. If Sharkey’s failed a health inspection, would you shut down every single restaurant in Blacksburg? If an airplane crashed in Ohio, would every airport in the country cancel its flights? We’re talking about an industry that provides a livelihood for hundreds of thousands of individuals and their families and provides coal for power and steel production for the entire world. The actions of few tarnish the reputation of many, but their effects in no way condemn an entire subset of Appalachian culture. Look beyond the fear-mongering and finger-pointing of special interest groups to help the hard-working people of West Virginia repair and prevent the recurrence of the isolated damages of coal mining rather than try to convince others to destroy their way of life.
ALEK DUERKSEN -guest columnist -doctoral student -mining and minerals engineering
Rebuilding Haiti a long, complicated process February 2010, a catastrophic, magnitude-seven earthquake In struck Haiti, roughly 15 miles away from the capital, Port-au-Prince. It was the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 200 years and was followed by more than 59 aftershocks. It was so powerful that residents of the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Columbia, Venezuela and Florida felt the movement. It also produced tsunamis. The disaster killed 222,570 people, injured 300,000, displaced 1.3 million and destroyed 97,294 homes. Naturally, the sympathy of individuals, businesses and organizations showed in fund raisers, food drives and more. In the weeks following the quake, news reports included updates about relief efforts and encouraged those with disposable resources to
share them. Now, nine months later, where do the relief efforts stand? With all that time, many people picture clear streets, repaired homes and a return to regular life. If a new human life can be created in that time, surely there can be major progress in rebuilding from a natural disaster. Reality, however, is a very different picture. According to recent reports from the Associated Press, the money from many countries has not arrived in Haiti. About $1.15 billion from the United States, which donors pledged at a conference in March, still has not seen the shores of the island. To make matters worse, the U.S. is not the only country with delayed funds. In fact, only 15 percent of pledged funds have arrived.
Naturally, the immediate efforts following a disaster focus on humanitarian aid; healing the injured, feeding the hungry, and maintaining life. The U.S. has produced $1.1 billion to support these efforts. People feel good about providing food and water, and they should, but there is a bigger picture to consider. While those $1.1 billion were noble and necessary efforts, there are still 1.3 million people without homes, even after all this time. Relief efforts for natural disasters also have to consider the long-term plans for restoring and rebuilding. When the bulk of our sympathy produces funds to provide the basics that are so noticeable on the evening news, we have to be careful of peaking too soon.
There is a complicated process for recovery. A long-term focus is vital to the success and rebuilding of any area, especially one as devastated as Port-au-Prince. First, you do have to handle the basics: food, medical attention, temporary shelter. Without these staples, there would be no population left to recover. This is the phase where major news coverage plays a big role in contributing to the publicity, keeping events fresh in the minds of all viewers and readers. The newness of the event also contributes to our focus. The disaster is fresh in our minds because it’s not something we’ve heard about for months. This is also the phase where most people stop thinking about places they never visit or plan to visit.
They give food or money, feeling that they have done their part, and they move on. What about the children who no longer have parents? What about the individuals whose homes are now gone? What about those who did not survive the quake? What about the roads that are blocked? These are not simple questions, and they will not have simple answers. The answers will be the product of long-term thinking, planning, and efforts. We as viewers have to remember to remain conscious of the efforts. The reoccurrence of the story is there to show the whole picture, not just the first two weeks.
DIANA CAMPBELL -guest columnist
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october 7, 2010
page 7
Vance: Seeing beauty in every moment ‘A Gift for the Village’
follows team to Nepal
from page one
“I’ve never stopped going back,” she said. It took her a visit or two to go further north to Nepal, where she discovered the Tibetan culture, which she describes as “in exile.” By this she is referring to Tibet’s invasion by communist China 50 years ago, an occupation that still stands today. The Dalai Lama is Tibet’s spiritual and governmental leader, who had to flee Tibet and find refuge in India’s mountains. Although he is now 76 years old, the Dalai Lama has not been able to go home for half a century. “It is a very sad story. The world knows it, but tends to forget because it’s been with us for so long, but I don’t forget. The Tibetans I know are the free ones,” Vance said. “But, because of this, they can really only practice Tibetan Buddhism or Tibetan thinking outside of Tibet.” Although this saddens her, Vance’s face lit up when she spoke of the Tibetan’s place of refuge, Nepal, which is less than 1 percent of the world’s landmass, about the size of Tennessee. “It was almost as if an invisible thread was pulling me, and it was just a tug, a tug, a tug, and I’ve been painting about it for decades now,” she said. Vance admires Nepal’s varied landscape, which includes the tallest mountains in the world, a moonscape, tremendous rivers, a tropical forest and malarial jungles. “The minute I return I can’t wait to go back, although this is also my home,” she said. “I have the same feeling about the mountains of Virginia.” She described the Himalayan region as one of the happiest cultures of the 30 different countries she has been to. In that part of the world, everything that is given is not lost. “They do not indulge in the anxieties and grumpy behavior as easily. Their culture teaches them to not waste precious chances to love, and to do service,” Vance said. Nepal is rugged, at times dangerous and far from luxurious, but it is, as a destination, “spiritually clear — crystal clear.” The greatest knowledge Vance gained from her travels concerns how she lives her own life. “There are ways for other hearts to carry your grief. There are reasons for suffering but there are also reasons to celebrate,” she said. “These people have taught me that there is no time to waste. You always have a choice to become passive, to go into a sort of personal paralysis in your life, or you can build something, you can make something that will tell a story, or that will serve another heart. That choice is in every single moment.” She hopes to convey all of these things in “A Gift for the Village.” What Vance finds “miraculous” about the whole process of creating the docu-
ne Virginia Tech professor is delivering the gift of culture to O communities on opposite sides of the
PAUL KURLAK / SPPS
Deciding to become an artist at age two, Jane Vance continues to create and collect from past travels. mentary, is that she and her co-producers had a vision and they were able to document it from the time of its inception, all the way up until its conclusion. Vance’s friend and videographer, Tech alumna Jenna Swann, captured the painting from its very first brushstroke. “I didn’t know it was going to be a documentary,” Swann said, “but I saw this artist with amazing stories and talent.” But there is yet another reason the documentary is so meaningful to Vance. As part of her course at Tech, the creative process, Vance has her students come to her house. She makes them dinner and does a lesson on something she calls “visual yoga.” During the last three years of filming, she had her students videotaped both at her house and in the classroom, and the footage was included in the documentary. “As it happens, in both the shooting in this room and on campus, my front row girl, Morgan Harrington, was in those shots,” she said. The chilling images cause the Tech campus to remember the tragic events of last year, when Harrington went missing in Charlottesville during a Metallica concert. Her remains were found on a nearby farm several months later. “I love Morgan still, and the film is dedicated to her,” Vance said. “She was an especially amazing 19-yearold when I knew her.” Harrington would have joined Vance this past summer on their trip to Nepal, but instead she “carried her ashes.”
“That is a huge reason why the film means the same as my heartbeat,” Vance said. Vance remains close friends with Harrington’s family, and they have helped each other through the grieving process. In fact, her brother, Alex Harrington, and mother, Gil Harrington, recently helped Vance set up a display of some of her artwork at the Community Arts Information Office on College Avenue. Vance has about five paintings on display there, and Gil Herrington created the concept for the window display, which represents the trip from Blacksburg to Nepal. It includes Vance’s hiking poles and boots, as well as photographs of her children on the “Blue Ridge side,” plus items from Vance’s trip and a photo of the Dalai Lama. Vance also included essays and projects from her students in the gallery. Vance is not only proud of her artistic work, but also of the time she dedicates to public schools helping special needs children, and her recent involvement with a Virginia Foundation for the Arts Grant. The kids Vance works with at Prices Fork Elementary did projects in response to “A Gift for the Village,” in the form of giant necklaces, which are also included in the display.
Despite Vance’s many ventures, she still enjoys the homely company of her cats, the visits from her children and the entertainment from friends and family. But sometimes, she does relish alone time in her studio to work on her craft. However, even then, she is not truly alone among all the relics and mementos of her travels. Currently, she is far from lonely as she prepares for her documentary’s premiere at the Lyric Theatre Saturday, Oct. 9, at 3 p.m. Out of the blue, she asked what music Bob Marley played. She answered her own question. “Reggae. Well you know how if you are good with a guitar you can kind of riff a beat, sort of the way reggae sounds?” she asked. “Well, I can paint these Tibetan gods and goddesses, but what good is it if I’m only riffing? I had to make the two parts relevant to one another by this bridging, bringing one culture to the other.” Little did she know, that as a young child painting with such tiny detail, she was actually mirroring the “infinitesimal, patient commitment” that the ancient tradition of Tibetan art honors, something she has devoted a piece of her life to today. “What I want to be taken from this film is that your nature is knocking on your own door,” Vance said, “hidden in plain sight.”
world. “A Gift for the Village” is a documentary that follows Jane Lillian Vance, a professor of the creative process at Tech, and her team, to Nepal, as they deliver a gift to a village leader and lama. Narrated by Public Radio’s Lisa Mullins, the documentary is meant to be a “bridge” between the cultures of the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia and the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal. Vance, also a painter, created a large, intricate painting of the lama of Jomsom Village, Amchi Tsampa Ngawang, affectionately referred to as Tsampa. This gift, and the film itself, received an official endorsement from the Dalai Lama himself. Although the process of the documentary took 10 years, the film begins in 2007 with the arrival of Vance’s painting to Nepal. The painting is shown being delivered in a time of great transition for the village, including the arrival of running water, roads and electricity. Although all these things have greatly improved the lives of many people there, the survival of the culture still depends on crops and the availability of food and water. The film documents the friendship between Vance and Tsampa, who is not only the village leader, but also a doctor among other things. He is an “encyclopedia of traditional medicine” and specializes in helping both the physically sick and the heartbroken. In the film, Vance explains Tsampa and his family continually teach and conserve ancient traditions and val-
ues. “Amchi knowledge is the faith that things grow back,” she said. Several years after meeting, Tsampa made his first trip to America and stayed with Vance, speaking with her students and taking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was during this time that Vance brought up the idea of a “lineage painting.” In Tsampa’s world, a lineage painting is created when a Tibetan leader’s “spiritual and social status become so great that his influence becomes historic.” At first Tsampa declined, but he soon changed his mind. The film captures the very first steps of this lineage painting, entitled “Amchi,” showing Tsampa helping Vance stretch the canvas, and then revealing the finished product 10 months later in 2002. The painting is also a narrative record of Tsampa’s time in Virginia. It includes images and text, in both Tibetan and English, to describe Tsampa and his contributions and his connection to America. Throughout the film, many interviews give insight into Vance’s life and her abilities. One such interview with author and art critic Suzi Gablik makes one wonder how Vance’s artwork is so accurate in depicting Tibetan culture. “It is the only thing that has ever made me even tentatively consider reincarnation or past life experience, because it does seem so unlikely. I don’t think anyone could fake something like that,” Gablik said. Creating pieces like these is Vance’s “fight against poverty of the mind. It’s one thing to deliver this thing 13,000 see REVIEW / page eight
october 7, 2010
page 8
Review: International gaps bridged by brush strokes, film from page seven
miles, but it’s another to have your hometown to say ‘come on in,’” she said, referring to her attempt to bridge the Himalayan culture with our own. The first stop on the trip in 2007 is Katmandu, where Tsampa and other Nepalese villagers are waiting for the Virginians with blessing scarves. Here they unroll the painting in its new country for the first time. However, it is neither home, nor complete. It needs a frame, so it is taken to a shop to be fitted with special fabric called Tankas. Once the painting is framed with the Tankas, the audience follows Vance’s group on its flight in a twin-engine plane to Tsampa’s village of Jomsom. The first order of business that audiences see however, is a ceremony hosted by Tsampa to honor those lost in the April 16, 2007, campus shootings at Tech, mirroring the candlelight vigil held on campus shortly afterward. Next, while the painting remains in Jomsom, the film crew embarks on a 12-day, 155-mile trek to Mustang, an extremely remote region. They are led by Tsampa and accompanied by a government-sanctioned guide. Along the way, Vance points out people grinding rocks into silty powder used for paint, and notes how she brings some of this “rock dust” back home to mix with clear oil paint, to create incredibly vibrant colors. On this pilgrimage, the cameras follow the team along paths dotted with monasteries, one of which is nestled in a cave. The highest point of the expedition however, is the Cave of the Snow Leopard.
PAUL KURLAK / SPPS
“A Gift for the Village” documents the trip of a VT professor and her team to Nepal to deliver a painting, while giving insight to another culture. The crew is only the third group to ever reach this cave, full of ancient paintings. Vance calls the paintings “unprecedented,” because, after spending a year in Sri Lanka, she was able to note that these cave paintings were unlike any other artwork in India. Yet the cave in which she stood now contained “lines from a Sri Lankan hand.” The paintings had Sri Lankan hairstyles, flora and fauna, yet had Tibetan hand movements and rituals
portrayed in them. “This to me means that someone walked 2,000 miles to paint here on this cliff. The equator met the mountains,” Vance said. On the way down from the cave, the crew makes its next stop to talk with a king about their project. Vance appreciates how polite, meaningful and sincere face-to-face interactions are in this region. Tsampa and his people appreciated the journey the crew made, led by
the film’s videographer, Tech alumna Jenna Swann. “There is a fine balance between experience, video and being too invasive. You have to make sure you are respecting their privacy,” she said. The trek continues, and we see how the community outside the king’s palace operates, with schools being built and people harvesting barley and making reliquaries. We also learn from another interview, this time with author and
photographer Thomas Laird, that these people have lost more than half their irrigated land to global warming. “Their culture is being destroyed by our hairspray,” Laird said. The film also stresses the importance of water to the people of these remote villages. Glacial streams come down the mountains and into the irrigation systems that the villages have worked hard to construct. This water is sacred. It powers the mills that crush their barley,
provides drink to their livestock and even turns their prayer wheels. After the team arrives back in Jomsom, it is time for a festival to celebrate the hanging of the painting and the gift that is this cultural bridge. It is “a renewal of old ways.” There is much preparation, with food to be made and dances to be held. The men hold archery and horse riding competitions. After all the festivities are underway, the painting is finally hung in Tsampa’s home to be enjoyed and admired by all. The festivities then carry on late into the night. Throughout the film, the viewer is given a vibrant picture of Nepal. Images of wildlife and beautiful landscapes help audiences understand how special this region is, especially to Vance and her team. The people of Nepal are captured in their day-to-day lives, doing chores and adapting to modern-day living while still upholding their ancient traditions. “We hope we do build a bridge for people who can never actually travel to Nepal and can inspire people,” Swann said. The film premiered in Nepal in June this year and in Roanoke last month. It will also be shown at the Lyric Theatre Saturday, Oct. 9. For more information, visit the “A Gift for the Village” blog.
MIA PERRY -features staff writer -English major