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ThE miLLEnniAL BEAT
THE DISCUSSION ON RACE PART 2: UNDERSTANDING STEREOTYPES Patrice Mitchell
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The conversation on race starts with the discussion of stereotypes and understanding that they are not always fact.
“Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people.” -Martina Navratilova
Patrice Mitchell is the columnist for the Millennial Beat. She is a senior Communication major with an emphasis in broadcasting and a journalism minor. After transferring from Marshall University, she has spent the past three years on the Concordian newspaper staff and also as a WMLT reporter. “I love writing and I’ve grown to have an appreciation for politics; which is why I choose to have a political style beat this semester. I chose this topic because I want to learn more about politics and also encourage my generation to do the same.”
The views and opinions expressed in this student newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Faculty, Staff, or Administration of Concord University, or that of the editors and advisor of the Concordian. They are that of the authors.
THE CAMPUS BEAUTIFUL...AND MOLD?
Christian Pridemore
Staff Writer As we come out of winter, sometimes pipes break and water seeps out, or your shower will leak and eventually a mold culture will begin to grow. According to an article on doityourself.com, the primary causes of mold in bathrooms are having the bathroom improperly ventilated, having standing water or general dampness, and broken grout. All three of these problems can easily occur in the residence hall bathrooms and lead to mold and mildew, which is why RA’s and RD’s such as Megan Webber are making sure that such a problem doesn’t arise. After conducting an investigation regarding a complaint about mold being in the Wilson bathrooms, Webber states, “I had my RA’s check every crevice of all the bathrooms in Wilson and Sarvay, and they said that they found nothing. There were some instances of mildew on the shower curtains but other than that they didn’t find anything they thought was mold.” Bill Fraley, who is the Director of Housing and Residence Life on campus, reaffirms this claim by stating, “Wednesday night(02/03/16), Megan Webber and I got her RA’s to check every bathroom and every shower in Wilson
on their rounds throughout the evening, and told them to thoroughly inspect it. They didn’t find any mold in any of the showers anywhere. They did find one or two shower
but they have a limited jurisdiction over them. Custodial services has a completely different supervisor than the residence halls staff, with Tina Brown being the director. Webber
One of Wilson’s bathtubs and showers, where shower curtains are being replaced because of mildew. Photo By:Christian Pridemore curtains that had a little bit of mildew on them…the next day, custodial services took those curtains out and put new ones up.” Both Webber and Fraley state that they have a good relationship with the custodial staff,
gives a definition of the process by stating, “So say a complaint comes in and they came right to me. What I would do is have someone investigate it, and if they thought it was an issue, at that point my RA’s come back to me…and what I’ll do is let
[Tina] know at that point that we’ve had some complaints. At that point, Tina will disperse to them, and they’ll decide if they need to clean the shower curtain or replace it. I don’t have jurisdiction over them.” Webber and Fraley are also both very busy on campus. On any given day, Webber can be seen going in and out of nearly every residence hall and the student center, whereas Fraley deals with everything from student complaints to being a liaison for most other departments on campus to being an emergency responder. Therefore, when complaints such as mold arise, it’s usually an RA that will try to correct it. However, one of the major problems is not the RA’s or RD’s lack of action, but the student’s failure to report such instances when they notice them. Fraley states, “It’s very important any time there’s an issueor a perceived issue, maybe a student sees something they think is mold, but it’s not mold, but if they don’t know for sure, they should report it to us. If they see something that they think is broken or not working right, they should report it to us. We have 3 RD’s on the whole campus, we have myself, and we have 28 RA’s, so if you think about it, we have just SEE MOLD, P. 2
This EdiTion News: • Mold on Campus • Activist Speaks to Students • Groundhog Day • CU Geology Department
studeNt Life: • CU Public Transit • Intermural Soccer • Mental Health Support • Staff Spotlight
Arts & eNtertAiNmeNt: • WV Heritage Exhibit • One Punch Man: Review
OpiNiON • Writing Tips • The Millennial Beat
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We’ve all heard variations of stereotypes: All black people love fried chicken, white people can’t dance, all Mexicans are illegals, all Irishmen are drunks, and all Asians are good at math. While these stereotypes, among others, are used for comedic purposes, stereotypes can get dangerous when attached to a political or social agenda to dehumanize or devalue a particular group of people. Social media and the 24 hour news cycle can breathe life into a situation, and apply a label to all people in a particular group based on one or few isolated incidents. Stereotypes can be funny in context, but they can also be very harmful. Saul McLeod, writer for Simply Psychology, states in a 2008 article on stereotypes that “The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing [thinking] we have to do when we meet a new person. By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to social categorization, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes…”
applied to a situation is how we combat the negative stereotypes that cause fear, in-group and out-group divides, as well as hate and racial profiling. In my opinion, there is no good stereotype because that would imply that every person in that certain group fits into that category, which is nearly impossible. The discussion on race can’t even begin without acknowledging stereotypes and the damage that can happen when they’re used to generalize mass amounts of people. Hate crimes, prejudices in the work place, discrimination in politics, and racial tension across the country all start with the idea that the qualities possessed by the few apply to the masses: which is not true. Individual people should be held accountable for what they do, or how they act. An entire race, religion, gender, or group of people should be held responsible by attribution. With social, political, and civil rights issues occurring throughout the world today, generalizing anyone could honestly be the difference between life and death. For example, assuming that a kid wearing a hoodie looks “suspicious,” or that a man wearing a turban is a terrorist, or perhaps that all cops hate black men.
Volume LXXXIV No. 2
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Getting caught up in believing stereotypes is easy to do; mainly because many of them are humorous and perceived to be harmless. Also, it is human nature to want to classify something in order to understand it better. However, classifying an entire group of people based on the personal actions of one isn’t science, it is ignorance. Stereotypes can be detrimental to the advancement of society when it pertains to racial relations. Also, stereotypes can often turn to racial profiling when they are used as part of an agenda to hurt a specific group of people. Right now, Islamophobia is a big issue throughout the world, and particularly in the United States. The issue is so apparent that even presidential candidates are pandering to the fear people have of Muslims, by proposing bans and vowing to refuse asylum to Syrian refuges trying to make it to the United States. Stereotypes in the news media and through TV shows can be the most dangerous because the message reaches mass amounts of people throughout the world. For example, news interviews that go viral often usually perpetuate a particular stereotype. Having logic to identify when a stereotype is being
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MOLD FROM PAGE 1
might not even be visible. For those that want to try to prevent mold before it begins, writestudio.com suggests things like providing proper ventilation using a fan, keeping wet items such as bath mats and towels off the floor, and making sure that your bathroom is being regularly cleaned. Fraley encourages students to speak up. The custodial staff
and the residential staff are here to listen and help with any problems the students face regarding the upkeep of the dorms. Fraley says, “We will investigate whatever it is. It’s important for people to know that you can report things to RA’s, you can report it to RD’s, you can report it to me. We’re glad to help, but we need help from other people to let us know what’s going on.”
Send your letters to the editor to concordian@ concord.edu
CU GROUNDHOG DAY CELEBRATION HONORS WEST VIRGINIA HERITAGE Tsivia Chonoles
A&E/Student Life Editor This year saw the 38th annual Groundhog Day Breakfast here at Concord University. The breakfast is hosted and paid for by the Advancement Office as a way to “bring the local community in with people here at Concord and build and keep relations with alumni,” said Concord University President Kendra Boggess. The breakfast was started 38 years ago in 1978 by Mr. R. T. Hill, former chair of Concord’s Geography department. “He just wanted to do something to highlight Appalachian heritage, from what I understand,” said Vice President for Advancement Alicia Besenyei, who introduced and presented the certificate to the Grand Groundhog Watcher. According to Besenyei, planning for the event usually starts about six months beforehand, when a nomination form for the Grand Ground-
Grand Groundhog Watcher, Amy Shuler Goodwin gave interviews to local news outlets after the ceremony. Photo By: Tsivia Chonoles hog Watcher goes around as a write-in ballot. Hill’s original intentions behind starting the
annual breakfast is a main factor that goes into choosing the speaker. This year’s Grand
Groundhog Watcher was Amy Shuler-Goodwin, the West Virginia Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Tourism. “First of all I was honored,” Goodwin said about receiving the invitation two months ago, “I just took a very quick look back at some of the past recipients, like Hershel “Woody” Williams, who is a Congressional Medal of Honor winner; reporter Barbara Hawkins, who was […] in a time when women were just really making themselves known in the field of journalism. So it was an honor just to be in a list of people who I admire and who I call friends.” Goodwin spoke about her experiences as Commissioner of Tourism, letting people know just how robust the West Virginia travel and tourism industry is, and how much they are doing to bring more people into the industry and boost West Virginia’s economy. “I wanted to get across the message of it’s not
just the beautiful landscapes that we have in the mountain state, it’s the lots of things to see and do. It is a great place for families, a great place for couples.” During her speech, Goodwin spoke about an opportunity that she had to go rock climbing with one of the best in the world, as well as what she considers to be one of the most important aspect of the tourism industry: those employees who work what some may consider menial jobs. “... Again, it’s really great to flash up pictures of me rock-climbing or white-water rafting or listening to Mountain Stage, but what always strikes me are folks like Ryan and Alexa [from Aramark] in the back. Those are the folks who are running this industry, not me; they’re running it. Anytime I go out I meet everybody who is, literally, behind the curtain, because I get to be out here talking about it, but those are the folks that are making it happen.”
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the most accurate source that you can get your hands on. The second thing to do for any paper for which you can choose your own subject is to write about a topic that you actually find interesting. Mean everything that you say and own it; back it up and don’t back down, because if you are invested and truly interested in the subject matter, than the research and writing will be that much easier, not to mention that it will make it a more interesting read for your professor. When writing a paper, quotes are your best friend…as long as you don’t overuse them. A single paragraph should not consist of
a handful of quotes with a few words or sentence of your own sprinkled in-between. A quote needs to be introduced and given context; treat your reader as if they were a small child and explain to them the importance of the quote. Overusing quotes does not add to your paper, and in fact can detract from it. If you cannot talk about a subject matter in your own words, than maybe you should find a subject to write about that is more interesting to you or that is easier for you to understand. Now we reach the end of your paper, or as I like to call it: the mic drop. The final paragraph of any research paper or essay
is essentially going to be a short recap or restatement of everything you just covered in your paper to refresh the reader’s memory so that you can restate your thesis before writing your final sentence. Your final sentence should have an impact, something to be remembered. It is the last thing that your reader will read. A good tip that I like to write by is this: if your conclusion does not sound like you could drop a microphone at the end of it, go back and rework it. Finally I shall leave you with this: the Microsoft Word citation maker is scum and should be avoided at all costs despite the helpfulness of the endnote
and footnote buttons. If you absolutely hate typing out all of your sources in citation format, try using a website like www. citationmachine.net, www. easybib.com, or www.noodletools.com. Always leave time when you are done writing for careful editing and revision. After staring at this paper for days or weeks or months, your eyes have probably self-corrected any errors so that you read what you meant and not what you have written, so always give your papers to at least one or two other people to read. If there is enough time, some professors are willing to read
rough drafts in order to give their own tips and suggestions. Concord University offers free tutoring services that sometimes go under-utilized, so visit one of Student Support Services drop-in English tutors and have one of them check your grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. Have a friend read it to make sure that your writing makes sense, that none of your sentences are confusing, and that there are no questions that may have been left unanswered. And with that, I leave you. Good luck and happy writing!
be moving to a city of over 800,000 people. So of course I’m nervous. But I think just being a Bonner Scholar has prepared me for this.” She concluded by
saying that though City Year does not pay much, the experience and good feelings she will have from working with them will make it all worthwhile.
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address these things.” To address the issue of what may or may not be mold, here are some key signs for which to look. According to an article on writestudio.com, common signs of mold include a sour or earthy smell, a muddy appearance, and loose tiles which may be infested with mold. Other types of mold also cause unsightly spotting, and in some cases, mold
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over 30 people. We can’t know what’s going on all the time. So we depend on people to let us know. We’ll see it eventually, but by the time we see it… you may have seen it two weeks before we noticed it…If this had been mold, and we hadn’t known about it, it could’ve gotten worse and spread and cause health issues for people. So it’s very important that we
Got something to say? We want to hear you!
BONNER SCHOLAR FROM PAGE 3
she not joined with them. “I’ve been overseas on a mission trip, where we did a lot of service. I’ve done work in my county, in my state, and also in surrounding counties and also in other states.” When asked about the mission trip overseas, Willa said that she and some other Bonner Scholars went to Nicaragua in Central America, where they worked with the homeless and children, and did a great deal of outreach with food, clothes, and medicine. During that trip, Willa says she worked as the pharmacist. The organization that Handy recently got a job at, City Year, is an education organization that was founded in 1988 and is designed to help students from impoverished areas achieve
success. According to the organization’s official website, the organization believes that education has the ability to help children reach their full potential, and that due to the high poverty and crime rates in some parts of the world, many children are not given the same chance to succeed. The website states that schools are designed to provide 15 percent of students with academic aid. However, in some poorer areas, over half of students that attend need academic help of some kind. To that end, City Year has made it their mission to provide these schools with the tutors and the teacher’s aids that students in inner city areas need. Handy says that she will be working with City Year in
Columbus, Ohio, working as a teacher’s aid, tutor, and assisting with extracurricular activities in an effort to assist students that are having trouble in school. Handy also stated that the end goal of all of this is to boost grades and attendance. “Columbus was my first choice, and that is the one the I was placed in.” The hours are roughly 10 hours a day, five days a week, including some weekends. They work not only with children inside the schools, but also outside the schools with their families and the community. “City Year’s motto is ‘To make better happen,’ she said, “And I truly believe we will.” When asked how she feels about all this, Handy said, “I am from a town of 800 people, and will
Photo courtesy of Willa Handy
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EASY WRITING TIPS AND TRICKS Tsivia Chonoles
This guide of quick tips can help you write a better essay with less stress. Photo By: thewritelife.com out; claim it as your own. If you have trouble sitting still for long periods of time, set small goals for yourself; after two pages or twenty to thirty
or two on hand if you get the munchies while you work. Writing an essay is hard brain work so make sure to take care of yourself.
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If it is a long-term assignment, set yourself a schedule and keep to the schedule, whether it’s writing a certain amount every day or writing for a certain amount of time every day. Start your research as early as possible so that you can start writing as soon as possible and not realize two or three weeks before the assignment is due that you have no starting point and find yourself scrambling and stressing to make up for lost time. For procrastinators like myself, it sometimes helps to set an incentive at your end goal; maybe a day trip to your favorite beach or that new video game you wanted, or something else that will help you get it done. The important thing is to not let it sit unfinished. An important thing to remember for essays and research papers is that not every professor will want them formatted the same way. In English 101 and 102 you will have learned MLA, which is probably a citation format that most of us have been using since high school. As you get into higher level classes that are geared more specifically to your major, you may be required to try and do a crash course in APA or Chicago-style writing and citing for papers. This is where the internet and the library come in handy; if your professor doesn’t feel the need to go over whichever citation style they want you to use for your paper and you’re too shy or nervous to go and ask them, have no fear: the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) will be your new best friend and can be found at https://owl. english.purdue.edu/owl/. Other than OWL, you can also find physical style guides
on the shelves in the Concord University library. Style can count for a lot when writing an essay, so make sure that you follow whichever style it is that your professor specifically asks for, and if you aren’t sure which style they want you to write in then ask them or send them an e-mail. Professors are here to help and to teach us, so you should not be afraid to ask for help; their goal is to see us succeed. On to the writing portion. The number one tip is to not start with the introduction of your essay. I know many times where I jot down an introduction for a paper and then halfway through the paper I realize my essay is maybe not going in the direction that my introduction pointed it in. I find that it is so much easier to go back and do your introduction after the cohesive first draft of your essay is finished and you have a clear direction and thesis spelled out in the paper. As for the body of your paragraph, the two most important things are accuracy and sincerity. I know you probably hear this in any class you write for, but when writing a research paper avoid sources such as Wikipedia or personal blogs that anyone can edit; any website that ends in .org or .edu is usually going to be a pretty safe bet. Your safest options, however, are going to be books and other scholarly writings, and many of these can also provide you with other resources to consult in their citations. When writing a research paper, your information should be coming from SEE WRITING, P. 11
Tsivia Chonoles
Position Undergraduate research can be one of the most challenging yet rewarding endeavors a college student can pursue; and at every university, in any discipline, there are those who prove to be especially outstanding in their fields. Some Concord University Geography students prove that to be true, Every year the Geography department takes students to the Southeastern meeting, where students can not only present their research, but also have the chance to meet with professionals in their fields of interest as well as to speak with and be recognized by graduate schools. “We introduced them [the students] to graduate school people from across the south and our students always make a good impression,” said Dr. Joseph Manzo. The meeting, which is an opportunity to meet representatives for graduate schools and compete
in poster competitions and the world geography bowl, moves around each year, and last semester it was held in Pensacola, Florida. “We took about thirteen students, I think,” said Manzo, “and several of them made presentations, but two of them swept their categories.” Those two students were Elisa Sperandio and Katie Testerman. Elisa Sperandio presented a human geography project titled “Life Through the Eyes of the ‘Invader: A Case Study of Immigration in the Düsseldorf-Essen,” for which she conducted field work in Germany. Katie Testerman presented a physical geography project titled “Fire History and Avian Species Composition in a Ridgetop Dwarf-Tree Forest,”for which she conducted field research on Spring Mountain in Pennsylvania. “I’ve been interested in wildlife for my entire life,” Katie Testerman said when asked about the inspiration behind her project, which was com-
pleted as an independent study class. “When I was presented with the opportunity to study the effect fire had on a globally rare dwarf tree forest, I was interested in the effect it had on the wildlife of the area as well. I chose to study birds specifically because not only do they fly and perch, making them easier to identify them visually, they also call, so I could identify them by sound. Another factor in my decision was that many birds are quite reliant on trees and whatever effect fire had on the trees would have an effect on the bird species that lived there.” Several graduate school representatives, as well as graduate and undergraduate students attended the meeting. There were professionals and professors presenting and giving talks, including Concord University’s own Dr. Tom Saladyga. “It was a unique experience for me as it was my first conference,” Testerman said of the meeting. “The talks that I was able to listen to were very
informative. It was unique, as such, because everyone there was in some way associated with geography, so for the most part we were all at least somewhat like-minded. We had the opportunity to represent Concord, our geography department, and West Virginia when we competed in the geography bowl.” The overall top score, among both graduate and undergraduate students, for this season’s world geography bowl was also held by a Concord Student: Robert Jessee. Jessee now gets to go to San Francisco in March to compete with the Southeastern team. “I extend my deepest gratitude to the CU geography department,” said Testerman, “without [this] wonderful geography project I wouldn’t have had such an amazing opportunity to both do my own research, but present and be recognized for my efforts.”
survive in today’s world. For Willa Handy, the student that has taken on this job, it is just one more act of charity in a life of several. Willa Handy was born Apr. 11, 1994 in War, West Virginia. Growing up in McDowell County, Handy saw the needs of people. However, it was not until she was attending Riverview High School and started
looking for colleges that she became involved in community service. “In school I had done community service in as a requirement for a HSTA (Health Science and Technology Academy) Scholarship I received when I came to Concord University. So it started out as a requirement, and as I completed my hours, I decided ‘Oh, I would really love to do more’,
Brittany Strother Editor-in-Chief Patrice Mitchell News/ Opinions Editor Tsivia Chonoles A&E/Student Life Editor
Jonathan Collins Webmaster
James Hoyle
One thing that most college students want is job security for the future. While there are no guarantees in life, one Concord University senior, a chemistry major with a minor in biology, recently earned a job at City Year, a volunteer program designed to help inner city children receive an education that they need to
The Concordian office is located on the bottom floor of the Alexander Fine Arts Center, Room M-08.
Staff Writers: James Hoyle Christian Pridemore
HANDY LENDING A HAND Staff Writer
The Concordian
and throughout high school, I continued to do service and volunteer, and when I found out about the Bonner Program, that was a perfect fit for me.” Handy said that the Bonner Scholarship Program has given her many opportunities that she would not have gotten had SEE BONNER, P. 11
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Mrs. Lindsey Akers Faculty Advisor
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We are one month into the spring semester, which means that many students are probably already facing exams, projects, and essay assignments. Some of those projects and assignments may not be due for weeks or months, so you may be thinking ‘I can put this off a little bit longer; I have time’. Let me go ahead and pop that bubble for you. As a life-long procrastinator, I’d like to offer some tips, tricks, and friendly advice about how to conquer the seemingly long-term assignment. First of all, the long-term assignment should not be treated as unimportant. The longer a professor gives you to complete a project or essay usually correlates to not only the amount of time that they are expecting you to spend on the project, but also with the percentage of your grade that the assignment will count for. The more time a professor gives can also tell you how in-depth or involved a professor expects you to get. A fifteen-page research paper assigned on the first day of class and due on the last day should not read like a fifth-grade standardized test essay, or even like an AP or SAT essay. If you are given an entire semester to complete a project or paper, take advantage of this; begin brainstorming topics by at least week two of class so that you have plenty of time to pick a direction and do your research because odds are, half of the research you do find will probably not be used. If you are like me and are the kind of person who is easily distracted by shiny objects, I have a few suggestions. The
minutes of solid writing, get up and do some simple yoga stretches or take a short walk. Make sure your water bottle is full and that you have a snack
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first is to recognize that there will be distractions, even in the library. The key here is to find the place where you concentrate best and stake it
CONCORD GEOLOGY PUTS ATHENS ON THE MAP
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TRANSGENDER ACTIVIST VISITS CU Tsivia Chonoles
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Jessica had this to say: “There is a part of me that says if I would have come out when I was five-years-old, I would have led a much, much, much more comfortable life. And that is brought up a lot. That is one of the most popular questions that is brought up to me. It was brought up to me yesterday: Would you have done it? I said yes I would have done it with my kids, but they would have stayed with me at all times.” After years of nothing but phone calls with her youngest son, she decided that it was finally time to tell Curtis, now twelve. Rachel then cut all contact between Jessica and her two youngest sons and filed to have Jessica’s parental rights removed, prompting Jessica to fly out to Texas and bring Rachel to court again. Texas, however, is one of the only states where, unknowingly, Jessica could lose her parental rights for not being in Curtis’ life for a certain amount of time, invalidating California’s court ruling granting her full custody. After three years of not seeing her son, Jessica fought this, and fought hard, spending thousands of dollars on court-ordered evaluations and proceedings, only to eventually lose and be told that she could not have contact with either of her younger children. Rachel even went as far as removing her name from Curtis’ birth certificate. “I thought her story was incredible,” said Tsion Tafesse, an international student at Concord after listening to Jessica’s presentation, “She is a strong woman and I hope she gets to see her son soon.” Now, Jessica is the cofounder and president of the non-profit organization, Your True Gender. Your True
Gender found its roots in the used clothing boutique Jessica opened after transitioning. “My little clothing became known as a little hotspot for the trans girls. They felt comfortable,” Jessica said. One person who she helped through the transition was a 65-year-old woman named Peggy who came into the boutique looking for information; Peggy finally decided to transition and was the one who suggested Jessica start an organization to help inform people. Now, Jessica has visited dozens of schools, including the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University and many conservative schools, and plans on visiting even more. Her goal is to visit every school in the United States, and to reconnect with Curtis when he turns eighteen in two years. When asked what she would say to those who may be struggling with their gender identity or sexuality, or with possibly transitioning, she said that “it’s difficult, especially in a conservative area like here. Never, never, never, number one, never give up. You can do it. If it means getting out of the area, if it means waiting a year, if it means it, you can do it...” She emphasized that what people think of you should not matter, that a person should “feel comfortable looking in the mirror. Go for it. That is my number one biggest piece of advice.” Her final piece of advice was this: “whatever you do in life, never give up on your dreams.” For more information on Jessica Lynn and her mission, visit her website at www.jessicalynn.website.
ONE PUNCH MAN: A REVIEW Christian Pridemore
Staff Writer When today’s generation was growing up back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, anime was hitting its stride in the western world with such classics as “Sailor Moon,” “Inuyasha,” and the “Dragon Ball” and “Gundam” series. Many popular tropes in those shows included such ideals as friendship and betterment of your physical and mental state through rigorous training and multiple battles. So what happens when you take those tropes and turn them on their head? When you turn these common ideals into comedy, you get an anime like “One Punch Man.” Before reading further, please be aware that this review will contain spoilers for the show. “One Punch Man” is an anime that was released in November of 2015 and is about a young man named Saitama. The anime makes a point of showing that he’s an average person; he brushes his teeth, deals with the struggles of making a living, shops at the supermarket, etc. However, Saitama is very different from everyone else in the sense that he is, as shown near the end of the series, the strongest man in the universe. After going through a traumatic experience which will remain unexplained, Saitama pledges to become as strong as he possibly can, and begins training soon after. After three years he has become so strong that all enemies he faces can be defeated with one blow of his fists, which is where the anime gets its title. The remaining episodes of this series focus around Saitama dealing with various enemies until, at the
end of the series, he faces an alien that claims to be the strongest being in the universe,
each one ends up failing miserably before Saitama steps in and takes care of the situation.
ration but don’t. This show gives us a myriad of colorful characters that are as flat as
This anime takes all the beloved elements from many popular anime series and butchers them into a poorly executed satire. Photo Courtesy of animecomplexium.com and promptly deals with him in just one punch. That is all there is to speak of on the plot, so if you’re looking for substance, look elsewhere. There is a side story in this anime about what is known as the Heroes Association, where individuals of talent in fighting are registered with the government to become certified heroes. The Heroes Association shows all kinds of characters, from those that are low tier and just your average Good Samaritan to top tier cyborgs and little girls with ESP powers. However, this side plot only serves to give a sense of dramatic tension as, episode after episode, radical monsters absolutely decimate the city and its people. The Heroes Association sends its best heroes to take care of the situation and
This anime is, without a doubt, extremely satirical. It takes all of the commonly known themes about continually growing in a quest to become the strongest and makes fun of them by showing the viewer what happens when you finally do become the strongest. So we get many different scenes of Saitama getting annoyed by long-winded explanations of back-stories to the monsters he faces, as well as scenes of him trying to use his abilities to take care of everyday tasks such as pest control. This satire is funny for about one episode, and gets very boring for the following eleven. One of the worst things that this show does is introduces plot points that could very easily have gotten more elabo-
paper. None of these characters get any better, or show any kind of emotional development even though we see several of them facing hardships and rejection. One of the top-ranked members of the Heroes Association does absolutely nothing but entertain people on TV; the most we see of his abilities is near the end of the series as they are juxtaposed against Saitama’s while taking on the strongest being in the universe, serving to show that he never truly meant anything. The bigger theme shown here is that the low-ranked heroes in the Heroes Association truly enjoy helping people and don’t care about rank whereas the higher ranked heroes seem to only care about maintaining their rank, and naturally are threatened when they see
Saitama’s abilities. This stands as satire because in the end, the monsters that these heroes face are almost always stronger than all of them, whether lowor high-ranked, and it serves as commentary on people in the real world only caring about their status rather than truly caring about other people. This anime does have some good things going for it, such as a wonderful soundtrack that will make you want to listen to more hard-core Japanese rock and throw punches just like Saitama. However, if you watch this show for no other reason, watch it for the fighting. This is truly a fighting anime and, as was stated, the show has several characters that all have a different fighting style and unique character attributes, and it’s entertaining to watch them use these fighting styles in a futile effort to defeat the monsters until Saitama shows up. All in all, I can’t recommend this anime. The plot is simply too light and too satirical to have anything good to offer. None of the characters are likeable, and none of the monsters are original. If you want a good fighting anime, I recommend any of the Dragon Ball series (whose influence on “One Punch Man” is extremely evident), or a more down to earth fighting anime such as “Yu Yu Hakusho.”
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For the first time ever, Concord University hosted a transgender speaker and advocate on its campus. Jessica Lynn visited Concord and gave several talks. She also gave a lengthy presentation Thursday, February 4th, in the Concord University Ballroom, speaking very candidly and openly about her life and experiences as a transgender woman who, being assigned the male gender at birth, transitioned later in life, and was very well-received by those students that she spoke to. “It was so awesome to see Jessica Lynn’s presentation,” said sophomore student and Gay-Straight Alliance President Rebekah Weaver, “She’s a tough woman who has gone through many difficulties in life but has still come out of it all with a smile on her face and a joke on the tip of her tongue. I think what I may have liked best was how unashamed she was and freely spoke about every part of her life. She was very open to all questions which I think may have changed some people’s perspectives about transgender people to be more positive.” Jessica spoke of all of the joys and triumphs, as well as the challenges and tragedies that she faced, and how she has managed to find a positive outcome despite it all. Born Jeffrey Alan Butterworth in 1965, Jeffrey grew up in the 70’s, during a time when it was virtually unheard of to be transgender. Yet from the age of four, Jeffrey knew that he wanted to transition. Unsure of how to approach his parents, Jeffrey became obsessed with different hobbies and activities as a means of coping with the
let a child come into the world without a father, and he and Rachel were married in 1991; their son Jeffrey was born that same year. Rachel and Jeffrey had a second son, Bradley, in 1993, and a third son, Curtis, in 1999 after the two separated in 1996. Jeffrey took her to court when she tried to split up their sons and, after a hard-fought battle, won full custody of the three children. Rachel and Jeffrey eventually came to an agreement that, after their oldest son graduated high school, Rachel would take Bradley and Curtis to Texas and Jeffrey would stay in California and finally transition. After his family left for Texas, Jeffrey once again fell into a depression and attempted suicide; a doctor told him that he had to transition and asked him which was better for his children: a dead father, or a father who is now a woman? Jeffrey finally decided that it was time. When she told her oldest son, Jeffrey Jr. originally found it hard to swallow, but eventually came to accept his father as Jessica. Before telling Bradley, Jessica encouraged her son to do some research about transgendered people and to speak to some professionals, and he was able to take the news easier than his older brother; Jessica decided to wait until Curtis was older before telling him. Jeffrey met with Dr. Marci Bowers in Colorado, and a year later, on September 17, 2010, Jessica Lynn was born. Six weeks and one day after making the transition, Jessica had sex as a woman for the first time “and it felt good,” she said; she finally felt complete. When asked about her transition and if there was anything that she would want to do over again,
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gender dysphoria, a practice common in members of the LGBTQ community. Jeffrey eventually found a girlfriend – Barbara Lynn Eldred – that he felt comfortable with, but still found it disconcerting that the only way that he could get an erection and be intimate with his girlfriend was to fantasize that he was in her position. Part of Jeffrey felt that being a man would somehow ‘fix’ him, but as his feelings of wanting to be a woman got stronger, he began drinking more. The first drastic change happened in 1985, when Jeffrey and Barbara were involved in a terrible automobile accident that killed Barbara and left Jeffrey devastated. After sinking into a depression and attempting suicide, he was taken by his brother to their parents’ house, where he learned that they had known about his desire to be a girl since he was five-years-old, and had planned on transitioning him until they visited Dr. John Money at UCLA. Since discredited, Money was a pioneer in the field of gender identity and was considered the “God” of transsexuality at the time; he informed Jeffrey’s parents that if they raised him as a boy, in a masculine way, then he would be boy. Learning this was the first step in Jeffrey considering to transition, and his first step in becoming sober. “I did not want to be a boy in a dress […] I wanted to be a girl with a vagina,” Jessica said in her presentation, “that’s what being one-hundred-percent woman meant to me.” He eventually met Rachel and they began to have a relationship. When Rachel became pregnant, Jeffrey debated transitioning, and ultimately decided that he did not want to
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ArTs And EnTErTAinmEnT NO PLACE LIKE HOME: EMBRACING WEST VIRGINIA’S HERITAGE James Hoyle
Everyone is encouraged to come and see the travelling exhibit in the Marsh Library’s West Virginia Room until it leaves Concord University in June. Photo By: James Hoyle tion, will be the second location that this particular exhibition will go to.” One of Petrak’s colleagues, Eliza Newland, contacted Concord to see if the University was interested in housing the exhibition. As there was enough space, Concord was able to acquire it. “The exhibit has four major themes or aspects of the lives of coal miners in West Virginia: Leisure Time, Domestic Work and Life, Church and
Faith, and Commerce and the Company Store,” said Petrak. These coal camps were a major part of the lives of most West Virginians during the 19th and 20th centuries. According to a press release about the exhibit, “Coal companies built homes, churches, schools, and stores in the region’s remote coalfields to attract miners… Although mining operations sustained these towns’ existence, there was more to life in
coal camps than laboring underground.” Due to the isolation of some of the geographic locations of these coal camps, many miners often had to rely on the coal companies for practically all of the basic amenities, and according to the press release “…found creative ways to relax, socialize, and entertain themselves.” These coal camps had barber shops, post offices, saloons, social halls, and churches that had
The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
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Staff Writer While Princeton is not too far away from Athens or Concord University, it can sometimes be a hassle to get there, especially if one does not have a vehicle. To be sure, one could always ask a friend to drive them, but as everyone is busy doing homework and studying and other things, that may not always be an option. To that end, the Bluefield Transit Authority, with the cooperation of Concord University, offers a bus service that students can use during the week. Normally, the fee for people to use the bus is $1.25. However, if one has a Concord University student I.D, they can ride the bus for free. The bus travels to Princeton and back, and it does not take very long for it to make its
way there to Princeton. Contrary to what certain rumors may have said, the Bluefield Transit Authority does not charge students to use the bus, nor do they have any future plans of charging Concord students. However, some cuts have been made in recent years, and it all has to do with Concord University’s student enrollment and the budget that it is allocated to use for such things. Rick Dillon, Vice President of Administration and Associate Dean of Students, says that students may ride this bus through a series of contracts and agreements that the school has with the Bluefield Transit Authority. “Every year, it is my job to work with the Bluefield Transit Authority to help students with as much bus service
as we can and that we can afford, both to and from the institution,” Dillon explained. He said that the Bluefield Transit Authority, through the grants it receives through federal funding, provides and operates a bus for students that need it. The money comes from state and federal grants, as well as private sources. Concord University then subsidizes the bus further so that students may have access to it. Dillon was quick to add that there should be no fee, due to the grants and the subsidies that the school gives to the Bluefield Transit Authority to keep and maintain the bus. “Beyond that,” he said, “Until last year, we had another deal with the Bluefield Transit Authority in order to have them run on the
weekends. We did that so that students would be able to get to Wal-Mart and to the movie theater on the weekends.” The money to cover the bus during the weekends, according to Dillon, came from an auxiliary fund in the school’s overall budget, and not from student tuition or fees. However, due to several factors, the bus service has been experiencing several problems. Dillon elaborated saying, “Last year because we didn’t have enough money to run both days, we decided to drop the Sunday service.” Later on, due to a lack of funding to run the service, the Saturday service was also cut. Several factors other than just the budget led to this decision. Though gas prices have come down considerably since Concord University first began
offering this service, the Bluefield Transit Authority has to pay the bus drivers overtime if they drive their routes during the weekends. This, coupled with the budget cuts all across campus, led the buses to stop running during the weekends. However, Rick Dillon said that if enrollment were to pick up, they would be able to run on the weekends again. The Bluefield Area Transit Bus runs Monday through Friday, the first run arriving at the Student Center at 7:55 a.m. on those days. The Transit Authority asks that riders show up at least 15 minutes early, and schedules can be found in the student center.
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Concord University’s Library has been playing host to a moving museum exhibition for the past week. It became open to the public on February 1. The exhibition is one of many travelling exhibitions put out by The Watts Museum, a museum housed in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University. According to the museum’s brochure, it “…preserves and promotes the social, cultural, and technological history of West Virginia’s coal and petroleum industries…” The theme of the exhibition on display is the daily life in the coal camps when the miners were not working. Essentially, the exhibition explores what exactly West Virginians did when it came to maintaining their households and what they did in order to pass the time. “The title of the exhibition is ‘Outside the Mine: Daily Life in a Coal Company Camp,’” said Danielle Petrak, a representative of The Watts Museum, “This exhibit had been on loan to the Coal Heritage Museum in the town of Madison in Boone County. We keep a running list of all of the different places that show an interest in showing one of our moving exhibitions. Concord University, with this exhibi-
James Hoyle
INTRAMURAL SOCCER WRAPS UP Tsivia Chonoles
A&E/Student Life Editor Concord University hosts a wide variety of Intramural sports on campus, and last week saw the tail end of the intramural indoor soccer season, with the Semifinals match on Wednesday, Feb. 3, and the Championship match on Thursday, February 4. The goal of Concord’s Intramurals is to bring out more people to have fun who may not usually play sports, according to Chris Smallwood, Director of Concord’s Intramurals. The main intramural sports found on Concord’s campus include not only indoor soccer, but flag football, volleyball, five-on-five basketball, and
softball. Every single intramural sport gets a playoff and a championship and are open to both men and women; each team is supposed to have one girl on the floor at all times. “We’ve had players come out here and play and I’ve encouraged them to join a varsity team and they were able to walk on and play,” Smallwood says, citing former student Larry Thompson as an example. Thompson went on to play for the football team and is now the football coach at Mount View High School. There were 14 teams playing Intramural soccer this year, separated into two divisions based on skill level. Smallwood called all of the teams “incredibly talented,” however
only four teams made it to the semi-finals. The first Semifinal match pitted The Coaches against Team Ramrod, whose last match against each other went into overtime and took six penalty kicks before ending in favor of The Coaches. The Coaches went on to defeat Team Ramrod once again in their Semifinals match with a score of 4-3 after one five minute overtime. The second Semifinals match between The Broken Ones III and The Untouchables ended with a score of 4-2, netting a win for The Broken Ones III, who went on to face The Coaches in the Championship match the next day. The Coaches were the overall champions this year, defeating The Broken Ones III
with a score of 3-1. The next Intramural sport starting this semester will be five-on-five basketball, and students can follow all of the Intramural Sports on their twitter at @
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youth leagues and sponsored picnic dinners. There were even baseball teams amongst these coal camps. The press release also states that “Children created makeshift playgrounds out of mining equipment, while women kept each other company by tackling household chores with friends and relatives.” Items on display at this exhibition include pictures, boards with information about these coal camps and their recreational activities and day-today struggles, and items that these families would use, such as chairs, a coal scuttle, a handcranked clothes drier and a washboard, children’s toys, and even a cash register. When asked about the significance of such a travelling exhibition, Petrak stated “I think it helps to educate West Virginia’s history and heritage. It’s a way of life that we simply no longer have in this state, and we just want to continue to tell this story and preserve the memory of this lifestyle. It is a way of life that is unique to this state, and it has been lost. It is a story of companionship and camaraderie, and it is a story that needs to be preserved.” Those with any wish to see this piece of West Virginia history need only go to the West Virginia Room in the front of the Library.
CU PUBLIC TRANSIT: NEED TO KNOW
CUintramurals, on Instagram at Instagram.com/CU_intramurals, or on their Facebook.
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BREAKDOWN ON MENTAL HEALTH Christian Pridemore
Staff Writer
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Christian Pridemore
Staff Writer
Above is a visual representation of all of the factors affecting a person’s mental health. Just as it’s important to take care of your body, you must also care for your mind. Photo Courtesy of reileycenter.com but to help people get better. If you feel like you may be afflicted with a mental illness, Lopez recommends seeing a doctor for a professional diagnosis before receiving any kind of medical treatment. “Even if you think you’re suffering, and you haven’t had an official diagnosis, you’re still welcome here.” Lopez says that any and all students are welcome. “I didn’t start this with the idea of just helping the 18-22 year olds… I’m not looking for a general student, I’m looking for any student.” Students that have trouble with anything, be it addiction, stress, veterans or non-traditional students that might have trouble fitting in, are especially invited to come join the group. Lopez especially wishes to address the students of Concord, saying, “If you know someone who has a mental illness or you think needs help, you can refer them to this
group or the counseling center or talk to a professor. Don’t just stay silent about it, because there are people who suffer in silence who need help. Encourage them to seek treatment so that they know they are not alone.” The Mental Health Support Group meets every Wednesday on the third floor of the Student Center from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM in the AB Conference Room, and from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM in the Alumni Lounge. If you or someone you know ever needs a safe space to discuss issues about mental health, the Mental Health Support Group is here to help.
About a month and a half ago, Concord University employed a new Assistant Professor of Music and Carillonist, Kipp Cortez. Cortez is a fresh young face hailing from the Chicago suburb of LaGrange Park, Illinois. He studied at Valparaiso University in Indiana for his undergraduate degree, University of Michigan for his Master’s degree, and is currently finishing his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan. For having an extensive history in the mid-west, Cortez, like many out-of-state people here, was attracted to Concord by the opportunity. Cortez said, “I heard about this job and saw that it was a combination of both organ and Carillon and that was very interesting to me. I saw it as a unique opportunity to bring
Kipp Cortez is the newest member of the Fine Arts Division and has big plans as a the school’s new Carillonist. . Photo By: Christian Pridemore both of those skills that I have here and to share these instruments with others.” Cortez has big plans for the carillon bells here at Concord, the first of which is fixing the mechanism by which they are played. Cortez says that the bells them-
selves are actually in beautiful shape, but that the keyboard used to play them is in need of repair. If all goes according to plan, Cortez plans to have the mechanism fixed during the summer to have the bells working by next fall semester.
Cortez shares his excitement for the bells by saying, “The cool thing about the Carillon is that it’s an instrument that not only has music that is originally written for it, but you can arrange music that is originally for other instruments. You can arrange pop music, classical pieces…what I’ll be doing is a mix of original music and arrangements, and among them will be things that Concord students recognize.” Cortez’s love of playing music goes back to when he was 12 years-old, when he began playing the piano, and a year later at 13 when he began playing the organ. After that point, Cortez says that one experience came after another, until he decided that music was what he wanted to do with his life. In addition to playing the piano, organ, and the Carillon bells, Cortez has also taken voice lessons and plays the
harpsichord. “There’s something that gives me a lot of joy in sharing music with others,” Cortez said. Cortez is indeed very new to Concord’s staff, so much so that he is still getting on his feet as far as figuring out what he enjoys most about being here. However, even in the short time he’s been here, it has been made evident to Cortez that the music department at Concord cares about its students. Cortez says, “The music department has a deep commitment to inviting students in to not only teach them how to play a specific instrument but our introductory courses are also very interesting at giving students a broad overview of everything in music, and I think those two things work very well, and those two things are not limited to music majors.”
BLACKLIGHT BINGO IS BACK Tsivia Chonoles
A&E/Student Life Editor Black Light Bingo returned to Concord University with a bang January 27 as many students turned out to play for the chance to win prizes ranging from candy and Yoo-hoo to Beats headphones and a highdefinition television. The full range of prizes included four cartons of Yoo-hoo, four jumbo bags of candy, two laundry detergent packages, six movie buckets including popcorn, candy, and a selection of DVDs, a jumbo SONY speaker with iPod dock, a Kuerig coffee maker and k-cups, $100 worth of gift cards, and, for third,
second, and first-place respectively, Beats Solo headphones, a forty-inch SONY television, and a PlayStation 4 with Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Usually held every semester, Black Light Bingo usually takes three to four hours to set up, according to Laken Sutton and Brad Gibson, Student Activities Council President and Vice-President respectively; the effort, they assure, is well worth it. As usual for Concord University events, music and lights for Bingo were provided by DJ Late Nite, while the emcee for the event was Student Government President Ronni Wood.
Concord Color Fridays! Be sure to wear your Concord gear on Fridays to show your Mountain Lion Pride! Prizes included everything from movies and Tide pods to televisions and game systems. Photo By: Tsivia Chonoles
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Eric Lopez, a Concord alumni, founded the group to help students that may be struggling with their mental health. Photo Courtesy of the Concord University Alumni Magazine
student who currently works in the Counseling Center on campus, is offering a solution. The Mental Health Support Group is a relatively new organization on campus, which started in October of 2015. The group helps students by using a non-disclosure agreement to create a safe environment for them to discuss problems with their mental health, whether they have been diagnosed or feel like they may be afflicted with a mental illness. Lopez said “In my studies, I noticed that there was a lot of research done on students who had mental illness but didn’t have anywhere to go, especially in rural areas such as Appalachia. So my goal was to create this group in hopes to bring students together, but also to offer support and any kind of counseling help we could offer them.” Lopez says that he does have a general goal for the group itself in trying to bring a better understanding of what mental illness is and trying to get rid of the social stigmas and negative connotations associated with having a mental illness. He also says that the ultimate goal actually ends up being decided by the group members. In this sense, the group works to show students on campus that they aren’t alone in trying to cope with whatever mental illness is ailing them. “We do not diagnose. The goal of this is not to diagnose.” Lopez said bluntly. While not being prejudiced towards people who deal with mental illnesses, Lopez still wishes to make the distinction between what is and what is not a mental illness, and furthermore says that this group is not a means by which to gossip
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In a college setting, students often overlook their mental health in trying to keep up with the stress of grades, peers, and their future careers, and Concord University is no exception. According to an article by bestcolleges.com, mental illnesses which are most likely to
afflict college students include depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance addiction, and suicide. In the same article, it says that research conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness on mental health of colleges shows that 80% of students will not seek help for their mental problems, for one reason or another. Eric Lopez, a graduate
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: KIPP CORTEZ