The Daily Helmsman

The

Daily

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Failure to launch

Tigers endure another onesided loss, falling on the road to Arkansas State 47-3

Helmsman

Vol. 79 No. 10

LEISURE STUDY

see page 12

Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis

BY ERICA HORTON News Reporter

by Aaron Turner

For some students, UC may be more of a distraction than attraction

Sophomore accounting major Darius Sullivan sleeps on the third floor of the University Center after a long day of classes.

Blue TOM label to hold ‘Idol Search’ contest auditions

www.dailyhelmsman.com

University of Memphis students waiting for classes to start chat with friends, eat, study and even sleep in The University Center.

Some do so between classes. Others, in lieu of them.

Linda Hall, coordinator of multicultural affairs, said she sees students “major in the UC” often.

“We want people to utilize the UC, but to use it correctly,” she said. “There are people that put more emphasis on being seen in the UC than those that use it to network effectively. You come in and they’re there. Then, you leave and come back and they’re still there. So you know that they’re spending more time in the UC than in class.”

Hall said “UC-ology” is not in the student handbook and will not help students graduate.

Bob Barnett, director of the UC, said that its purpose is to support the extracurricular activities of the students.

“It’s a place students spend a tremendous amount of time when they’re not in class,” he said. “(It’s) a community center for the entire campus.”

Barnett said just because a student spends a lot of time at the UC doesn’t mean they’re missing classes or getting distracted from schoolwork. He said many students study in the UC, though it was not intended as a place for academics.

“When we first opened, there were a lot of questions about, ‘Where are the quiet study areas?’” he said. “We have tried to accom-

modate that. People study in the atrium and the ballroom.”

Though he could not give an exact figure, Barnett said thousands of students, alumni and people from the community use the UC on a daily basis.

Students heavily involved in organizations said that they use the offices set aside for their groups to study and take care of multiple school-related projects at once.

Groups including Empowered Men of Color frequently hold mass study sessions in the UC in reserved rooms.

Tia Johnson, junior biology major, said that when she’s walking to and from class there’s frequently a mass of people standing on the front steps of the UC, many of whom she believes do not attend The U of M. “They’re usually the same people,” she said. “Either they go and just don’t go to class or they don’t go here and they go to the UC just to hang out.”

She said she tries to avoid the building between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., when crowds are the largest. Johnson said the amount of people in the UC during those times confirm her belief that students are skipping classes.

“We pay for school, so it’s not like (the administration) can kick people out of the UC for not going to class, but you can fail class by skipping,” she said.

Juna Taylor, freshman nursing major, said she probably spends about three hours a day in the UC eating and hanging out with friends.

“I skipped a class today and came to the UC,” she said. “I just didn’t feel like going.

Though, there are people I see here every time I come in.”

American Idol may be television’s premier musical talent search, but The University of Memphis is hoping to discover its own music star.

Today at 6 p.m., Blue TOM, The U of M’s student-run record label, will host the first in a series of three auditions for their Idol Search competition in the University Center Beale Room. Auditions will also be held on September 20 and 27 at the same time and place.

Performers who impress the judges will have the opportunity to compete in the Idol Search competition on November 18. The grand prize winner of Idol Search will receive free recording studio time and a guaranteed song on the next Blue TOM compie are looking Records lation album.

Students on for any students the Blue Tom who are wanting label record all of their own to express their music, also creativity through managing their own marketing music.” and promotional affairs.

— Trey Hamilton Spencer Turney, a Music business junior sophomore commu-

“W

by Aaron Turner

BY ROBERT MOORE News Reporter

From left to right, U of M students Trey Hamilton, Bekah Wineman, Spencer Turney, and Mary Eckersley are the four confirmed judges for the U of M Idol Search. Auditions will be held on Sep. 13, 20 and 27 in the Beale room located in the University Center. nications major and Blue TOM vice-president of event booking and coordination, will be a member of the judge’s panel. Turney hopes that the event will encourage students to become a part of the label.

“The reason I wanted to be a part of Blue TOM is the social aspect of different musicians from all different backgrounds wanting to affect the Memphis scene, and especially The U of M,” Turney said. “We’re definitely doing cool things for this campus.”

Auditions are open to all U of M students. Students

must audition with their own original music and all auditions will have a 15-minute time limit. Instruments, amps, and microphones will not be provided, but students can bring their own tracks or give an acoustic audition.

Trey Hamilton, a junior music business major and president of Blue TOM Records, will join Turney on the judges panel. Hamilton said that he’ll be looking for originality from contestants.

see

Auditions, page 4

2 • Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The

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Daily

H elmsman

TIGER BABBLE

Volume 79 Number 10

thoughts that give you paws

Editor-in-Chief

Scott Carroll Managing Editor Casey Hilder

Where we were on September 11, 2001

News Editors Cole Epley Jasmine Hunter Sports Editor Adam Douglas General Manager Candy Justice Advertising Manager Bob Willis Admin. Sales Sharon Whitaker Adv. Production Rachelle Pavelko Hailey Uhler Adv. Sales Robyn Nickell Michael Parker

Contact Information

Ads: (901) 6 78-2191 Fax: (901) 678-4792

News: (901) 678-2193 Sports: (901) 678-2192

dailyhelmsman@gmail.com The University of Memphis The Daily Helmsman 113 Meeman Journalism Building Memphis, TN 38152 The Daily Helmsman is a “designated public forum.”

Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.

The Daily Helmsman is pleased to make a maximum of 10 copies from each issue available to a reader for free, thanks to a Student Activity Fee allocation.

Additional copies $1.

YOU REALLY LIKE US! Yesterday’s Top-Read Stories on the Web

1. ‘Rebirth’ doc shows post-9/11 healing

by Kyle LaCroix

2. Tigers and tigers and tigers, oh my!

by Michelle Corbet

3. Patriot Act ends foreign student confidentiality

by Mary K. Levie

4. Counterterrorism becomes part of law...

5. Flash mob freezes at RSO fair

from our wire service

by Erica Horton

“I was in my dorm room. I heard about everything in between hitting the snooze button for my 11 a.m. class.”

— @CorrieCross “I was on my way to work. First big girl job, 19-years-old.

I heard from Howard Stern. They were in disbelief.”

— @RaeLWilliams “I was in 5th grade walking to art class. Our teachers turned us around back to class. The school was on lockdown all day.”

— @deezel2013 “I was in 8th grade homeroom when we saw the towers fall. I will never forget that day.”

— @Kadye “I was in 7th grade in an assembly program about reptiles.

Etched in my mind…”

— @zreavis “7th grade. Came back from breakfast break and our teacher was watching on TV. We watched the rest of the day.”

— @danielmangrum “I was in 7th grade and my school chose not to tell their students. I honestly didn’t know until I came home and turned on TRL.” — @WhiskeyAndWine

Across 1 Effervescence 5 Orange container 10 Afterthoughts 14 Mine, in Marseille 15 Where dos are done 16 Chimney buildup 17 Blessing 18 Words spoken while tossing in cards 19 One may be dog-eared 20 Microprocessor 23 Hard tattoo to misspell 26 Grafton’s “__ for Burglar” 27 Sunday dinners 28 Qatar’s peninsula 30 Grating sound 32 Load (up), as energy food 33 Synthesizer pioneer 35 Juanita’s “this” 39 Substance in a visual display unit 42 Scout uniform accessory 43 Depression era migrant 44 Graph line 46 Snobbish mannerisms 48 Maine mail order giant 50 Halfback’s maneuver 54 __-mo replay 55 High-speed PC option 56 Broth-making aid 60 Two-tone treat 61 Oodles 62 Long skirt 66 Leave out 67 Modern kind of phone 68 Voltaire’s “with” 69 Topeka’s st.

70 Versatile blood donor 71 Green stone Down 1 Beatles adjective 2 Chat room “I think ...”

3 Bronx attraction 4 Metal in pennies 5 Forensic TV spin-off

“I remember walking into history. The news was on, my teacher was crying. I remember the burning buildings on TV. I was 11.”

— @iChaseDreams_24

Tell us what gives you paws.

Send us your thoughts on Twitter @dailyhelmsman or #tigerbabble. Or post on our Facebook wall at facebook.com/dailyhelmsman.

6 Highway exits 7 Baseball’s Felipe or Matty 8 Track tipster 9 Goes in 10 Pet-protecting org.

11 __ Ark 12 Loaf on the job 13 Staircase units 21 Japanese wraparound 22 Double Dutch needs 23 Fella 24 Postgraduate grillings 25 What they call the wind, in a 1951 song 29 Backyard cookouts, briefly 30 65-Down, in a cocktail 31 Prefix with culture 34 Skunk’s defense 36 Take a __ at: try 37 Put a levy on

38 Assumed name 40 Ryder competitor 41 Shout at from below 45 NBC show with Baba Wawa skits, briefly 47 At the bottom of the standings 49 Soft shot 50 Kindle download 51 “__ Rae” 52 Expected at the terminal 53 Mob outbreaks 54 Alarming situation 57 “That’s a surprise!”

58 Twice-monthly tide 59 Key of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 63 Gardner on screen 64 Crossed (out) 65 The ends of 20-, 39- and 56-Across are forms of it

S u d o k u

Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

Solutions on page 12

The University of Memphis

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 • 3

BY TRACEY HARLOW News Reporter With 50 countries and over 250 study sites, the Study Abroad program offers University of Memphis students endless possibilities to travel the world and learn about various cultures while earning academic credit.

Today in the Student Activity Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Study Abroad Fair will answer questions students may have concerning The U of M’s study abroad programs. The fair will be moved to the University Center Ballroom in the event of rain.

Study Abroad Director Rebecca Laumann said that information tables, faculty directors and alumni will be available assist potential travelers.

“We expect about 600 or more to participate in this event,” Laumann said.

Alyssa Etheridge, senior management major, attended the fair in the spring before embarking on her trip to Italy, where she studied Italian culture and photography.

Several of Etheridge’s friends who had previously studied abroad encouraged her to

attend the fair.

“The fair was very informational and educational,” she said. “Each program had its own table set up to answer any questions you might have.”

Courses in the program include politics in Great Britain and Germany, nursing in diverse cultures in Ecuador and art education in Florence.

“The best thing about studying abroad was being able to study something I really loved and enjoyed,” Etheridge said.

“It was also great to learn about a culture opposite of American culture.”

Students eligible for the program will be in good academic standing, have a GPA of at least 2.75 and have successfully completed one year at The U of M, though all students are encouraged to attend the fair.

Molly Monroe, junior elementary education major, said she’s interested taking a class in Florence.

“I’m planning on stopping by the information tables tomorrow because I really want to study literature classes and see what classrooms are like overseas,” she said.

Scholarships are available for the program, which is offered throughout the year.

by Aaron Turner

Study Abroad Fair Novelist presents history of provides students Chinese immigrants in South with program info, opportunities

John Jung will lecture on Chinese immigration to the South during the early 1900s on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Johnson Hall auditorium. Jung’s family was the only Chinese family that lived in his hometown of Macon, Ga.

BY CHRIS DANIELS News Reporter Novelist John Jung will discuss Southern Chinese immigration today in The University of Memphis’ Johnson Hall Auditorium from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Learning how to cope with cultural barriers and Chinese heritage are among the topics Jung will address.

Jung’s daylong visit also features a meeting with an on campus fifth grade class, a tour of The U of M and a presentation to the Helen Hardin Honors Program Students.

Jung’s speeches are about the history of Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s in the Mississippi Delta and Georgia regions. “(Students) will be able to

understand the story of immigrants in the South, and understand the difficult cultural barriers some faced,” Jung said. “It will be worthwhile for people to get a better understanding of what life was like.”

Jung’s parents moved to Macon, GA, from China in the 1920s and were the only Chinese people in his hometown. He helped work at his parents’ laundry, which was a common form of work for Chinese immigrants during that time.

After 40 years teaching psychology at California State University at Long Beach, Jung retired and began writing novels.

Jung said he focused primarily on family psychology, which he incorporates into his speeches.

Jung wrote four novels including “Sweet and Sour: Life in

Chinese Family Restaurants” and “Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers.” His novels focus on different aspects of Chinese immigrants learning how to live in America.

Retired Delta State professor Frieda Quon, who was also born in a Chinese family new to America, said she related to Jung’s books because of their focus on Chinese immigration in the South.

Jung is one of few authors to write about the subject, Quon said.

“Because our families were from similar Chinese villages, I had an immediate connection,” Quon said. “We both had to adapt to a new country.”

Riki Jackson, assistant director of The U of M’s Confucius Institute, said Jung’s speeches don’t primarily focus on the prejudices his and other families faced but of the struggles of living in a new country. “(Jung) holds a lot of history, and talks about the challenges he faced and what we can learn from it,” Jackson said.

The Confucius Institute is sponsoring Jung’s visit. His speech is free and open to the public.

4 • Tuesday, September 13, 2011

www.dailyhelmsman.com

World

77 U.S. troops injured in Taliban truck bombing

BY LAURA KING Los Angeles Times The massive Taliban truck bomb that exploded outside an American military base in a restive eastern district injured nearly 80 U.S. troops and killed five Afghans, Western and Afghan officials said Sunday.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place Saturday evening in the Sayedabad district of Wardak province. That is the same district where insurgents last month shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter, killing 30 American troops, the majority of them Navy SEALs, including some from the unit responsible for killing Osama bin Laden.

The Chinook crash, which remains under investigation, was the worst single loss of American military lives in the nearly decade-long war.

Although no Americans died in Saturday’s blast, it appeared

to be one of the biggest casualty counts in an insurgent strike on a Western military installation. The bombing also carried symbolic weight, coming on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Wardak provincial

he said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that the outpost’s perimeter wall was damaged in the attack, but that “protective barriers ... absorbed most of the explosion.”

Western military officials said

The Taliban claimed responsibil-

ity for the attack, which took place in the same district where insurgents last mongth shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter, killing 30 American troops. governor, said the blast devastated the Sayedabad district center, damaging a number of government buildings, including a medical facility. An 8-yearold girl and a policeman were among the five Afghans killed.

Seventeen Afghans were injured,

the injuries of most of the 77 troops who were hurt were not life-threatening.

The Taliban said in a statement that a “martyrdom-seeking” attacker blew up a truck packed with explosives just outside the base. The group, which often

Campus Events

Group to address often-touchy subjects of depression and suicide prevention

BY DOMINIQUE WILLIAMS News Reporter Jaime Tworkowski, founder of To Write Love on Her Arms, and special guest Jarrod Gorbel will speak on suicide prevention in the Michael D. Rose Theatre tonight at 7 p.m.

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping those suffering from depression and addiction and preventing self-injury and suicide.

Founded in 2006, the group has responded to 160,000 e-mails from 100 countries. “(The group) began simply as an attempt to help a friend and tell a story,” Tworkowski said. “I started selling t-shirts as a way to pay for my friend’s drug treatment. The organization grew out of the response to those things.”

As the group grew, so did its goals.

“For the organization, the goal is to save lives and to encourage people to lean on other people and to get the help they need and deserve,” Tworkowski said.

TWLOHA became popular through online mediums including MySpace and Facebook. Tworkowski said she looks forward to meeting with U of M students and strengthening bonds in the student community.

“It’s an attempt at an honest conversation, and an attempt

at introducing the possibilities of hope, help and community,” she said.

“More than anything, we’re trying to let people know that they’re not alone, and we’re trying to start a conversation that continues long after we leave town.”

University of Memphis students can get involved with

suicide awareness through the student-organization Active Minds, which aids those with mental illness through peer support and communication.

“We believe that young adults have the strength to break down the walls of silence and the stigma that surrounds mental health issues,” Tworkowski said.

exaggerates the effectiveness of its attacks, claimed that as many as 50 U.S. troops were killed.

Hours after the attack, a solemn ceremony was held at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Sunday morning to remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the U.S. Before an audience of several hundred embassy employees, military officials and Afghan dignitaries, the American flag was lowered to half-staff and a lone bugle sounded taps.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who flew into New York as the attacks were taking place, said he kept his boarding pass from his flight that day.

“For me, the last 10 years have always been about 9/11,” he said before the crowd observed a moment of silence.

“I’m never going to forget what happened that day, and I will never give up on my commitment to doing everything I can to ensure that 9/11 never happens again.”

Auditions from page 1

“We are looking for any students who are wanting to express their creativity through music,” he said.

Blue TOM member and sophomore music industry major Mary Eckersley will also be a member of the judges panel. For Eckersley, however, the competition is about more than just talent.

“I want to see the total package,” she said. “I don’t just want to find musicians and performers, but someone who can move the entire crowd. I am looking for someone with potential in the music industry, someone we would want to work with in the industry. In the end, it’s all about the music industry process.”

Fellow judge and junior recording technology major Bekah Wineman shared Eckersley’s sentiment.

“We are obviously looking for musicians with talent,” she said.

“But we also need to find someone who is marketable. The winner will have to be someone we can introduce to music professionals in the business.”

The competition is the first Blue Tom Idol Search in two years.

“Idol search is making a triumphant return to campus this year to allow some lucky artist a chance to take advantage of all of the resources Blue TOM has to offer,” Eckersley said.

The University of Memphis

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 • 5

World

Citing abuses, Mexico politicians declare war on Twitter, social media

BY TIM JOHNSON McClatchy Newspapers As Mexicans flock to social media to stay informed about the country’s growing violence and mayhem, uneasy provincial politicians have turned their sights on Twitter, seeking prison terms for users of the micro-blogging service who are deemed to be troublemakers.

In Tabasco state on the Gulf of Mexico, a law is expected to go into effect this week that mandates a jail term of up to two years for those who “provoke chaos or social inse-

curity” through telephone calls or online postings.

Its enactment would come days after a prosecutor in neighboring Veracruz state tossed two people — a math tutor and a grandmother — in jail on terrorism and sabotage charges for their tweets.

The two face 30 years or longer in prison if convicted.

The legal moves are the latest in what amounts to a war over information — or lack of it — in areas of Mexico convulsed by criminal turmoil.

In many of those areas, traditional media have sharply

limited what they report for governors “are really sort of a newscast in Villahermosa, fear of reprisals from mob- like feudal lords in Mexico,” the state capital. sters or because they worry and they view information The modification to the that state advertising will be about crime as a potential penal code in Tabasco was cut off. threat to political control. approved Aug. 27 by the That’s sent Mexicans to A Tabasco legislator, Jose state’s 35 legislators and now social media, where they keep Espinoza May, rejected that awaits publication in the offione another informed of shoot- view, saying the pending law cial newspaper, said Rubi de outs, roadblocks, beheadings is to deter people from reck- la Cruz, who works for the and other criminal acts, and lessly spreading falsehoods. state legislature. “I think that to offer opinions about their “It’s not a gag law nor is will happen (this) week,” she elected leaders’ added. inability to stop The need to am a heartfelt Twitter user, I keep the peace the violence.

“I dare to say am in favor of freedom of expres- was also cited that a majority in the case of narco-related sion but I defend our right to live in of Gilber to violence is not M a r t i n e z peace and tranquility.” actually report(gilius22), — Javier Duarte ed (in tradiand Maria de Governor of Veracruz, Mexico tional media),” Jesus Bravo said John M. (maruchibravo) Ackerman, a in Veracruz legal scholar and columnist. it an effort to stifle freedom state.

That leaves Mexicans hungry of expression. Rather, it’s so The two are in jail for tweets for news. “They want to know that we rise to the needs of they posted on Aug. 25 saying in order to take care of them- a new Tabasco ... (to battle) that drug cartel gunmen had selves, their personal security.” alterations of social peace,” attacked a school and killed Ackerman said provincial Espinoza told El Informativo, children in the Boca del Rio district of Veracruz.

The state’s public security chief, Gerardo Buganza, said the reports — which authorities say were untrue — caused “more than 26 accidents” as panic-stricken parents rushed to retrieve children.

The lawyer for the two, Felipe Ordonez Solana, said his clients simply tweeted what already had been circulating on the Internet for several hours.

He disputed Buganza’s allegation of resulting chaos, saying no reports of multiple accidents appeared in the city’s newspapers the next day.

“They are scapegoats ... so that all of us Veracruzanos do not say bad things about our distinguished governor. I hope you capture my satire,” Ordonez said in a telephone interview.

But Gov. Javier Duarte defended the arrests, ironically in a tweet to his 45,500 followers: “I am a heartfelt Twitter user, I am in favor of freedom of expression but I defend our right to live in peace and tranquility.”

Lawyers and advocates, however, warn that the backlash against social media strikes at basic rights.

“The government wants to control information through these laws,” said Roberto Arrucha, a lawyer and founder of an advocacy group, the Twitter Contingent of Veracruz.

He said that as criminal turmoil worsens, state officials routinely “make up statistics, hold information back and hide violent events.”

Arrucha said the efforts to put limits on users of the Twitter micro-blogging service, which limits posts to 140 characters, and Facebook will not halt the use of social media.

“People are already going to anonymous accounts. They are protecting themselves. There is a proliferation of anonymous users now,” Arrucha said.

Ackerman said efforts to penalize users of social media for spreading unconfirmed reports “will be completely counterproductive” as more Mexicans hide their identities online.

“It will make it even easier for people to spread rumors,” he said.

“I

6 • Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tigers ta www.dailyhelmsman.com

University displays 100 fiberglass year of The U of M’s existence — businesses, landmarks and other l statues were painted by local arti sity alumni and students.

ake over The University of Memphis

photos by Aaron Turner

s tiger sculptures — one for each — before dispatching them to local locations throughout the city. The ists, business owners and Univer-

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 • 7

8 • Tuesday, September 13, 2011

www.dailyhelmsman.com

National

Public gets first close-up view of 9/11 memorial The National September 11 Memorial in New York opened to the public Monday, offering the first up-close view of the gray, cavernous waterfalls that designer Michael Arad calls “voids.”

The somber memorial features twin reflecting pools that sit within the footprints of the original twin towers. The pools are nearly an acre in size and feature the largest artificial waterfalls in North America. The names of victims of both the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are inscribed in bronze panels placed around the edge of the pools.

Hundreds of swamp white oak trees dotting the surrounding plaza are intended to create a canopy that will dramatically change with the seasons.

Kevin Nolan of Philadelphia told a Los Angeles Times reporter after his visit that he found the site “very nice,” though neither he nor a friend with him understood the concept behind the design.

“I think they should have rebuilt,” said the friend, who declined to provide her name. “To me, building up is more important than building downward.”

Nolan praised the etching of victims’ names into the parapets surrounding each pool, because it offers the families a way to run their fingers over their loved ones’ names.

“That’s really important to them, I’m sure,” he said of people who lost loved ones.

He said he was surprised that for all the security concerns of late

he was not asked to show an ID before entering. (Visitors produced printed passes and had their handbags and other personal items scanned.)

Fears about a security bottleneck did not materialize. Nor did the crowds inside. Visitors said there was plenty of space to wander among the oaks and peer down at the pools.

“I found it beautiful — moving,” said Esmerelda Martinez, who had come from Jersey City, N.J. She told a Times reporter: “I’m not sure I understand the design or why they did it this way, but it works.”

Demand for passes to the memorial was so overwhelming that many people showed up without bookings, hoping they could still get in.

Among those taking the gamble were Stephanie Austin of Los Angeles and her friend, Lia Killeen of San Francisco, who were in New York this week for vacation.

After Sunday’s formal dedication, Austin said she wanted to see the memorial for herself, “just to reflect on the event closely.”

Though the women were just 13 when the attacks occurred, and neither knows anyone injured or killed, Austin said she felt a connection to the victims whose names are engraved in the parapets.

“As an American, I felt like we were all in this together.”

At right, the 9/11 Memorial in New York City was opened to the public for the first time on Sept. 12. The north pool of the memorial is in the shadow of the unfinished Freedom Tower.

MCT

BY TINA SUSMAN AND RENE LYNCH Los Angeles Times

The University of Memphis

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 • 9

Lifestyle

BY KATE SANTICH The Orlando Sentinel Jordan Thomas was 16 years old and about to go scuba diving off the Florida Keys when a wave knocked him underwater and into the boat’s propeller.

“I remember saying, ‘Dad, my feet are gone,’” he said.

The accident was freakish, but Thomas’ reaction to it may have been equally unlikely.

Still lying in a Miami hospital bed after nearly bleeding to death, the teen began planning for a way to help other amputees — children whose families were not as well off as his.

“I didn’t think my life was over,” said Thomas, now 22 and a junior in international business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. “I knew my life wasn’t over. And that situation just let me see how much better I had it than a lot of kids did, and it made me think about what I could do to help.”

Both of his parents are neonatologists, graduates of the University of Florida. Their income and connections helped their youngest son get the best medical care and support from a wide circle of family and friends. Twelve days later, by the time he was back home in Chattanooga, Tenn., Thomas and his family already had laid out the structure and mission of what was to become the Jordan Thomas Foundation — a private nonprofit organization that would raise money for children’s prosthetic limbs.

His mother, Dr. Liz Kennedy Thomas, who had witnessed

the accident, believes the effort helped both Jordan and the family to heal.

“It was his idea from the very beginning,” she said. “In a lot of ways, I think that perhaps he didn’t process what had happened as much as he might have, and so he moved it into a realm he could deal with. The foundation turned into something very positive out of something that was otherwise devastating. It helped us all bond and grow.”

The children that Jordan Thomas had encountered in the hospital were not, for the most part, destitute. Their families had health insurance. But as Thomas quickly learned, insurers often refuse to cover prosthetic limbs for children, or they cap coverage, often at $5,000 per year.

“It’s just cheaper for them not to cover,” he said. “Or sometimes they’ll pay for one prosthetic for a lifetime.

I always compare it to giving an 8-year-old kid a pair of shoes and saying, ‘Here, wear these for the rest of your life.’

It’s not feasible.”

Children, with their rapidly growing bodies, often need new prosthetic limbs as frequently as once every year or two. Joints such as knees are particularly pricey — $100,000 or more apiece. Yet, as Thomas likes to say, arms and legs are not luxuries.

At the national Amputee Coalition, a nonprofit resource center, the issue is one that advocates have been battling for years.

“When prosthetic devices can cost ... $10,000 or more ... this cap can have catastrophic implications for families,” said

MCT

Student’s mission: help childhood amputees get artificial limbs

Rollins College junior Jordan Thomas, who lost both of his legs in a scuba accident when he was 16, walks on campus. He created the Jordan Thomas Foundation to cover the cost of artificial limbs for children whose families can’t afford them. So far, the foundation has raised $1 million.

President and CEO Kendra Calhoun. “We have heard that families have mortgaged their homes to pay for prosthetic devices for their child.”

Calhoun calls Thomas “an inspiration” in more ways than one. Not only has he been able to help pay for dozens of prostheses for children in the U.S. and Haiti, but he also is a role model for the tens of thousands of children across the country living with varying degrees of limb loss.

In 2009, Thomas was named one of CNN’s Top 10 Heroes. He also won the national Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award and

was given that year’s Courage Award — an honor from the nonprofit Courage Center that previously had gone to physicist Stephen Hawking, Itzhak Perlman, Christopher Reeve, Janet Reno and Bob Dole.

His foundation has sold wristbands and T-shirts and held an annual golf tournament — Thomas is an avid and talented golfer — and has collectively raised nearly $1 million. For U.S. beneficiaries, the foundation commits to buying them as many prosthetic limbs as they need until they reach age 18.

“He is our angel,” said Susan Fraser of Atlanta,

whose 7-year-old daughter, Samantha, first received a leg from the foundation in January 2010. “Our insurance plan would cover $1,000 out of pocket maximum per year toward prosthetics, and that doesn’t even touch it. That doesn’t even cover the foot. ...

I don’t know what we would have done without him.”

With the artificial leg, Samantha can rock climb, ride a bike, roller skate, play soccer and ride horses. Without it, her mother said, she might not have been able to do any of those things. She might well be in a wheelchair.

Thomas personally called to tell Fraser her daughter had been selected to be helped.

Then the entire Thomas family came for a visit that Christmas. Jordan sidled up to Samantha, comparing their prostheses and talking easily.

“To see someone so young be so eloquent and so willing to help others when there’s so much yuck out in the world ...” Fraser said, her voice trailing off.

It’s not that Thomas has never had a bad day. The night before he was to accept the Courage Award, he removed his legs as usual to take a shower but wound up falling badly. Slumped on the tile floor, the permanency of his loss hit him suddenly, two years after the fact. He sat there, sobbing.

“That was the moment,” he said recently, walking across the Rollins campus, his gait long and athletic. “But I look back now, and, as strange as it sounds, I wouldn’t change anything, not even the accident. It has given me the chance to do so much more.”

10 • Tuesday, September 13, 2011

www.dailyhelmsman.com

Entertainment

BY MARK EMMONS San Jose Mercury News He’s about to be immortalized on the big screen—by Brad Pitt, no less—but Billy Beane has said barely a word about it.

Few interviews. No talk radio.

“This is a

movie adaptation of a book based on a time nine years ago.

I’m always disappointed when we don’t have a great year. But I don’t view this season through the prism of the movie. They are two different times.”

— Billy Beane

General manager, Oakland Athletics

And forget “Entertainment Tonight.”

His silence about the muchanticipated film “Moneyball,” due for release Sept. 23, has led to speculation that the Oakland A’s general manager is uncomfortable being cast as a genius at a time when the standings tell such a different story. But Beane says his source of unease is something else entirely.

“The hard thing for me has been figuring out how to walk this fine line,” Beane said this week. “If I embrace all this movie stuff, it looks like I’m

really digging it. But if I put my hand up and say, ‘No,’ I look like I’m distancing myself from it. There’s no playbook for this.”

A’s owner Lew Wolff, who saw an early cut of the movie with Beane, believes his GM has struck the right balance.

“Billy is not the kind of guy who is looking for fame, at least the Hollywood kind,” Wolff said. “But I think he’s handled this beautifully by not making too much of it. I know he likes the movie a lot, but he hasn’t gone Hollywood by a long shot.”

Wolff added that a wellknown writer, whom he declined to name, said this might be the first time Pitt— twice People magazine’s “sexiest man alive”—portrayed someone nearly as handsome as himself.

Beane, 49, laughs on hearing the comparison.

“Only my mother thinks that,” he said.

“Moneyball” is the film adaptation of Berkeley, Calif., author Michael Lewis’ 2003 book that lionized Beane’s revolutionary approach to building small-budget teams into baseball contenders. Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”) wrote the screenplay and the cast includes Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (as A’s manager Art Howe) and Jonah Hill.

Beane, who has a collegeage daughter from his first marriage and 3-year-old twins with his second wife, likes to mock himself as “just a guy who runs a baseball team.” So he admits that the whole movie thing is “a little surreal.”

Before he was a gamechanging executive, Beane was a can’t-miss prospect who missed. A San Diego native from a Navy family,

MCT

Beane keeps his distance from ‘Moneyball’

Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane answers questions from a reporter at a press conference in 2009. Beane is the subject of the upcoming film “Moneyball.” he excelled at all sports. He was offered a scholarship to Stanford University where the football coaches saw him as a possible successor to quarterback John Elway.

Instead he signed with the New York Mets, who made him the 23rd pick of the 1980 draft. Beane, though, never became the star everyone had envisioned, playing slivers of

six major league seasons with four teams as an outfielder.

But beginning as a scout in 1990, he climbed the ranks in the A’s organization, becoming GM in 1998. Unable to afford stars, Beane embraced a statistics-driven, research-oriented method to find useful players who were unwanted by other teams.

The A’s, who had a 74-88

record when Beane took over, won 103 games in 2002.

Although they haven’t reached the World Series under Beane, they made the playoffs five times in seven years, proving Beane’s point that an underfunded team could outsmart those with fatter payrolls.

Lewis’ provocative book

see

Moneyball, page 11

The University of Memphis

from page 10

upset many in baseball’s old guard because Beane was so dismissive of the time-honored process of assessing talent. Hollywood came knocking and eventually the film was greenlighted as a vehicle for Pitt.

“Not only was he nicer than you could imagine, but I was even more impressed with how intelligent he is,” Beane said. “He’s incredibly bright with a really wicked sense of humor.”

But the baseball gods also have a sense of humor. The “Moneyball” mystique has faded as the film hits theaters. The A’s haven’t posted a winning record since 2006 and their current record (6478 entering play Wednesday) is the fifth-worst in the American League.

The year has gone so wrong that Beane was forced to fire the manager, Bob Geren, a friend so dear he served as best man at Beane’s first wedding.

Still, Beane expresses no discomfort with the notion that he will be portrayed as a mastermind at a time when the A’s are faring so poorly.

“This is a movie adaptation of a book based on a time nine years ago,” he said. “I’m always disappointed when we don’t have a great year.

But I don’t view this season through the prism of the movie. They are two different times.”

While the gap between baseball’s rich and poor has only grown the past decade, Beane said the reason for Oakland’s inherent disadvantage is the antiquated O.co Coliseum.

The A’s want to move to a proposed park in downtown

San Jose. But a major league baseball “blue-ribbon” committee has been studying the situation for more than two years with no resolution.

“Our fate is tied entirely to securing a new stadium,” Beane said. “We’ve been relegated to dealing with things on a year-to-year basis, and that’s not great for any business. We need the revenues to keep players we like around for a long time.”

Beane added the A’s are “a bit of a house of cards in the current marketplace,” and those cards tumbled when early injuries derailed this season. That’s why Wolff says the A’s current problems can be too much even for Beane’s magic to overcome.

“Billy understands the boat we’re in,” Wolff said.

But the A’s will be winning again in the movie. Some in the organization saw a private screening last week, and their reviews were positive.

“They gussied it up some,” said Steve Vucinich, the A’s longtime equipment manager. “But that’s Hollywood, and that’s OK. For the most part it was pretty true.”

Vucinich suspects his boss is happy with the film.

“If Brad Pitt playing you doesn’t feed your ego, nothing will,” Vucinich said.

Beane admits nothing of the sort.

Instead, the notably casual GM, often dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, is dreading the red-carpet experience. And he sees the humor when asked if he will view the premiere the way he does most A’s games: not watching but pacing outside the venue.

“It’s certainly a once-in-alifetime experience,” he said.

“I think when I look back on this, I’ll probably wish that I enjoyed it more.”

Football

Tigers trounced at ASU, 47-3

by Jerald Holiday

Moneyball

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 • 11

Freshman defensive back Bakari Hollier catches an interception against an Arkansas State receiver.

BY ADAM DOUGLAS Sports Editor The University of Memphis Tigers football team headed to Jonesboro, Ark. with hopes of turning things around against Arkansas State on Saturday.

They had a new starter at quarterback with true freshman Taylor Reed, and another freshman, Artaves Gibson, showed promise in his first collegiate game.

Freshman wide receiver Keiwone Malone, a transfer from Alabama and former Mitchell High standout, was ruled eligible to play by the NCAA one day before the game.

But the Tigers put up anoth-

er disappointing effort as their defense allowed 30 points and 336 total yards of offense in the first half en route to a 47-3 loss against ASU. “It’s obvious that we weren’t prepared tonight,” head coach Larry Porter said.

“I truly believe that we’ve got a locker room full of guys that are better than that.”

Though Porter believes the players are better than that, the truth remains to be seen.

The Tigers gained just three yards of offense in the third quarter after posting 137 in the first half, finishing with an abysmal 169 total yards of offense for the game. Former Briarcrest High head football coach Hugh Freeze, who is now the head coach at ASU, took his starters out of the game after the first series of the third quarter. Memphis was unable to score against the second and third teams of ASU in the final 20 minutes of the game.

“It’s up to us as coaches to get them prepared and we didn’t do a good job tonight,” Porter said. “It’s us as coaches, so we got to stop blaming it on personnel.”

Whether the blame is on coaches or a lack of talent, some players still have faith that the season can still be turned around starting with the Tigers next home game against Austin Peay State University.

“I think we just got to step up and compete,” senior linebacker Akeem Davis said.

“Everybody’s down and sad in the locker room. But we’re still very optimistic about the season because we still have 10 opportunities to prove ourselves and be competitive in conference play and win Conference USA.” Before a crowd of 29,872, the second largest in ASU his-

tory, the Tigers allowed yet another opponent to score over 40 points and amass 600 or more yards on offense for the second straight week.

Despite all of this, Tiger players know that there’s still a lot

“Adversity

slapped us in the face Saturday, and what we’re going to do is give it our all and go strong in practice this week, and then give everything we have to Austin Peay.”

— Akeem Davis Senior linebacker

to be said about the rest of the season.

“I was very surprised about the outcome of the game,” senior wide receiver Tanner Rehrer said. “I would still tell Tigers fans to stick behind us because we have talent – I see it at practice every day.”

Davis shared Rehrer’s outlook.

“Just like in life, you get shocked,” he said. “It’s life and adversity. Adversity slapped us in the face Saturday, and what we’re going to do is give it our all and go strong in practice this week, and then give everything we have to Austin Peay.”

Make sure that little bird in our ear is you.

Send us your thoughts @helmsmansports

12 • Tuesday, September 13, 2011

www.dailyhelmsman.com

Soccer

BY BRYAN HEATER Sports Reporter

In a city where basketball and football reign, soccer is usually just an afterthought. But the 16thranked University of Memphis Lady Tigers soccer team’s seven-game win streak is drawing increased attention to the program.

The Lady Tigers picked up two victories last weekend to improve

“We don’t

rely on one player to win us the game.

We depend on everyone on this team to have success.”

— Melissa Smith

Senior forward

their record to a program best 7-0-0.

Friday, the Lady Tigers defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 3-0 in front of a notably larger crowd at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.

On Sunday, they closed out the weekend with a win over the University of North CarolinaCharlotte, 6-2.

“Any time we have a crowd, the kids feed off that, and I thought it was excellent tonight,” head coach Brooks Monaghan said.

Sophomore forward Rasheeda Ansari scored the Lady Tigers’ first goal of the match after Rebels goalkeeper Alley Ronaldi missed a free kick by senior defender Lizzy

Simonin. Ansari took advantage of the mistake and put the ball into the back of the net.

The Lady Tigers’ next goal came in the 78th minute when Simonin connected on a penalty kick to give the team a 2-0 lead. The final goal was scored in the 84th minute by sophomore midfielder-forward Christabel Oduro, who has a team-leading four goals.

Against Charlotte, The Lady Tigers started the onslaught with a goal in the 13th minute by freshman midfielder-defender Carly Cassady, the first of her career. “(The ball) came from the right side and then we did a switch and Kelley (Gravlin) passed it to me,” Cassady said. “I was open when I got it, so I just took the shot and it went in.”

Cassady became the eleventh Lady Tiger to score a goal this season during a match where six different U of M players scored six goals.

“We don’t rely on one player to win us the game,” said senior forward Melissa Smith, who scored the Lady Tigers’ fifth goal of the game. “We can depend on everyone on this team to have success.”

Although the Lady Tigers are off to their best start in program history, the players are keeping their focus on the mission at hand.

“We just focus on one game at a time. That’s our thing,” said senior goalkeeper Elise KuharPitters. “We keep our minds on that 90 minutes that we are playing.”

The Lady Tigers will round out non-conference play on Thursday as they take on Vanderbilt in Nashville. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m.

courtesy of U of M Media Relations

Women’s soccer continues hot streak of seven straight wins

Redshirt senior Melissa Smith dribbles by a Charlotte defender on her way to scoring a goal.

The U of M women’s soccer team is off to the best start in the program’s history, winning seven straight games to notch a 7-0-0 record.

Bird is the word.

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