Vol. 78 No. 8

NEWS • 03

Gandhi Georgia

SPORTS • 09

ENTERTAINMENT • 13

speaks Student organizations support Tickets for football’s Alabama Mapping State. Breast Cancer Awareness. game moving slowly. one dice

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LIVING • 05

out roll at

PERSPECTIVES • 17

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bashing needs be addressed.

VOL. 78 • ISSUE 8 • OCTOBER 12, 2010 REGISTER ONLINE FOR BREAKING NEWS AT

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Georgia State receives grant for health center

By ANQUANNET WRIGHT Staff Writer

Continuing the innovative steps toward strengthening the health and welfare of the Atlanta metro community, Georgia State University has been granted a fiveyear, $6.7 million grant from the National Institute of Health. The primary focus of the project will be studying the health disparities experienced by minorities in the Atlanta metro area.

The new center will be based in the Institute of Public Health of the College of Health and Human Sciences. It will include researchers from public health, social work, the Center for Healthy Development and criminal justice in the college. Other faculty from the departments of African-American studies, sociology and psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences are also to be heavily involved.

The need for the grant lies with the poignant health disproportion in urban areas. “Poor health, which is caused by a confluence of factors, including poverty, discrimination, unemployment, lack of access to care and the manmade environment,” said Michael Eriksen, director of the Institute of Public Health.

Money from the grant will go to investigations, undertaken

by Erin Ruel, assistant professor of sociology, that will focus on variations in health among disadvantaged neighborhoods, especially in the wake of Atlanta’s mass relocation of low income residents from traditional public housing.

Plans for the grant include examining the role of religion and churches in reducing drug use and the transmission of HIV, researched by professor Richard Rothenberg of the Institute of Public Health.

Testing ways to reduce child maltreatment using computers, called the SafeCare Model from the Center for Healthy Development, will be undertaken and researched by associate professor Shannon Self-Brown.

The grant will also fund several core areas for infrastructure, including administration, research and training for Georgia State students, faculty and the community, as well

Freshman student Dylan Chandler leads the crowd in chanting on the steps of the Capitol with his megaphone.

Chris Shattuck • Signal

Students protest at Capitol over education Georgia State students rallied at the Capitol on Oct. 7 along with students from other metro Atlanta campuses for immigrant rights and to protest budget cuts and tuition hikes.

The event was part of a national campaign conducted by the local chapters of the group Georgia Students for Public Higher Education. Formed almost a year ago, GSPHE opposes continued fee hikes and budget cuts by the Georgia Legislature. In the past year, they have organized two similar rallies.

For the Oct. 7 rally, GSPHE members had a small demonstration in front of the library at noon to raise awareness and to encourage students to attend the march at 5 p.m.

Later that day, the students organized a few blocks away from the Capitol at Woodruff Park. Once there, they chanted and listened to various organizers criticize the effects of cutting education funding and of tuition hikes on students.

More students joined in as the march went directly through Georgia State campus, moving down Decatur Street to Piedmont Avenue until reaching Capitol

Avenue. Marching to the beat of their homemade drums, volunteers carried signs with headlines such as “Education is a Human Right,” “Cut the Military Budget Not Education” and “Dream Act Now.” Although the front steps of the Capitol were blocked off, a special area was set aside for the rally directly in front of the building. The crowd listened as GSPHE leaders introduced state senators Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) and Horacena Tate (D-Atlanta) to accept a mock report card criticizing the state of Georgia’s hypothetical grades on the handling of educational matters for the previous fiscal year.

Orrock warned of bills that would attempt to limit student access to funds for education, particularly school voucher programs.

“Bills have been introduced and passed systematically and repeatedly to suck money out of public education and to create voucher education systems,” Orrock said.

She criticized proposed school voucher programs before contrasting the Pentagon’s vast annual budget to federal funding of K-12 programs.

Both Orrock and Tate agreed on the need to fix the education system and promised to work hard with other state representatives,

after the elections, on the “failing grades” of the education system.

This theme was repeated throughout the day as volunteers were encouraged to mail similar postcard-sized report cards, including individual comments, to their state representatives.

Still other participants wanted to organize to inform students of the issues facing them as soon as next semester.

“I think this is just a way to come together for a bunch of students who are afraid that with the recent increases in tuition that it’s going to keep happening,” Dylan Chandler, freshman, said.

“And in the economy right now, it’s almost impossible to get a job without having a college education.

So we’re really just fighting for the future, our future so that we don’t have an entire generation of uneducated people,” Mary Louise Carrington, a 67-year-old African American studies major at Georgia State, also believed the rally was a way to draw people together. “[The rally] brings awareness to other people. It helps generate action with people. Makes them think we’re not just sitting here,” she said.

She continued by drawing parallels to the protests during the

Vietnam War. “People are fighting back, they’re tired of it. We should learn from Vietnam. We should learn from that time when people were active.”

John Maxwell, a senior and environmental science major, agreed. “I absolutely believe that getting students together and getting out there through these sorts of grassroots organizations is crucial to showing [politicians] that we have a voice and that it’s a big thing,” he said.

However, Kirkland McDaniel, a political science major in his junior year, said that convincing legislators that cutting education should not be an option was the entire goal of the rally. Although the Georgia Legislature is not in session currently, he felt the demonstration would still send a powerful message.

“The goal here today is to spread the word to our legislators that we shouldn’t cut education, and fortunately, we have two senators here to hear our message.

Because, at the end of the day, students are people, people are voters, and [congressmen] want to seek re-election. We have a voice, and we’re making it heard right now.”

as a community outreach area.

Multiple sources insist a major focal point will be to get the community involved.

“It all starts with developing relationships with the community.

The problem, historically, has been that universities will get funding for a certain project, go into the community and do the project, and then the community never hears from them again. There needs

to be a trusting and sustained relationship, which we’ve established,” said Eriksen.

Officials and faculty are hopeful that if the community supports the new center, these

issues will get more exposure and that the rest of the state can follow suit.

By CHRIS SHATTUCK Staff Writer

CAMPUS EVENTS October 12-19, 2010

STAFF INFORMATION EDITOR IN CHIEF NEWS EDITOR LIVING EDITOR

DATE Tuesday

OCT. 12

Wednesday

OCT. 13

EVENT

SPORTS EDITOR

“Politics Beyond Sound Bites”

12-1 p.m.

Urban Life Rm. 170 Topic: The Honorable Kathy Ashe, Georgia State Representative (56th District), will give a talk titled, “Politics Beyond Sound Bites.” This event is sponsored by Greening Georgia State and the Environmental Law Society.

Research Wednesday Morning Speaker Series

PRODUCTION EDITOR ASSOCIATE LIVING EDITOR ASSOCIATE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Special Wellness Wednesdays: Interpersonal Effectiveness to Reduce Stress

COPY EDITORS

ONLINE EDITOR

NAUI SCUBA Diver Certification Class

ADVERTISING MANAGER CIRCULATION MANAGER OFFICE ASSISTANTS

5-9:30 p.m.

Student Recreation Center

OCT. 14

PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

10 a.m.

Main Campus, College of Education Mining data from funded service projects

12-1 p.m.

TBA Rachel Kieran, Clinical Psychologist, from the GSU Counseling and Testing Center, who will be speaking on: “Interpersonal Effectiveness to Reduce Stress”

Thursday

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOR

Coffee with the Dean

9:30-11 a.m.

Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Economics Graduate Student Association GSA) invites all AYS graduate students to meet and talk with Dean Mary Beth Walker about their vision, questions and challenges for the Andrew Young School.

Sheena Roetman signaleditor@gmail.com Daniel Beauregard gsunews@gmail.com Noël Hahn signalliving@gmail.com Kirkland Carter signalsports40@gmail.com Jhoni Jackson signalentertainment@gmail.com Syeda Hira Mahmood signalperspectives@gmail.com Elijah Sarkesian signalprod@gmail.com Angel R. White awhite49@student.gsu.edu Savanna Keo skeo1@student.gsu.edu Jeremy Galloway signalwebsite@gmail.com Emma Harger Shelby Lohr Tara Siddiq signalads@langate.gsu.edu Brian Echols signaldistribution@gmail.com Jared Cate Michael Glass Brianna Alvarez Bryce McNeil bmcneil1@gsu.edu

Molecular Basis of Disease Distinguished Lecture Series

10 a.m.

Main Campus - Commerce Building, Sterne Room, 14th floor Dr. Debbie Parris, Professor in the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics at Ohio State University will give a talk entitled: “Silencing and Silencing Suppression - A Battle Fought Between Animals and Their Viruses.”

Friday

Fall Yoga and Meditation

OCT. 15

11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

TBA Instruction includes classic hatha yoga postures with emphasis on breathing completely, body comfort and aliveness in the present moment. Participants will learn to practice breathing and meditation techniques. This is open to anyone to attend. Fees are payable at each session by cash or personal check. Call 404-413-3342 or email edws@gsu.edu for exact room locations.

Monday

2010 China Town Hall: World Affairs Council of Atlanta

OCT. 18

Registration 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Program: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

GSU Buckhead Center, Tower Place 200-Suite 500, 3348 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, Ga. 30326 Contact: Clare Morton, 404-413-7083

Tuesday

Signs and Symptoms of Substance Abuse in the Workplace

OCT. 19

1-3 p.m.

TBA This workshop is geared toward educating supervisors and managers on a growing concern in the workplace contributing to loss of productivity, poor morale and increased absenteeism. The objectives will include reviewing the history of the Drug Free Workplace Act, Georgia State’s policies, exploring signs/symptoms of substance abuse, and defining the supervisor’s role in the workplace.

MISSION STATEMENT Want to see your event in this space? Contact Daniel Beauregard with your event’s name, time, date, location and a brief description of the program. All events listed in the Campus Events calendar must either take place on campus or be produced by a Georgia State-affiliated organization.

To request placement of off-campus, Atlanta-based events, contact Jhoni Jackson with your event’s name, time, date, location and a brief description of the event.

ATHLETIC EVENTS ATLANTA EVENTS CORRECTIONS/RETRACTIONS

The Signal shall provide, in a fair and accurate manner, news of interest and significance to the Georgia State University community and serve as a forum for the expression of ideas of members of that community. Furthermore, The Signal shall provide an opportunity for students to pursue experience within a professional newspaper environment. The Signal shall also provide truthful and ethical advertising of interest to the Georgia State University community.

ADVERTISING

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The deadline for all advertising is 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday prior to the desired issue of publication. Ads must be print-ready and in PDF format; files must be delivered via e-mail at signalads@langate.gsu.edu. Please visit our website at www.gsusignal.com/advertising for more information, including rates and payment methods.

STAFF POSITIONS

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From the October 5 issue: • “Yahoo CEO discusses today’s media industry,” page 09: Judy Kim is credited with taking the accompanying photograph for the article. The photo was taken by Ryan Kulp.

The Signal accepts applications throughout the year. If you are interested in working with The Signal please fill out an application (available at www.gsusignal. com/applications) and return it to the Student Media Advisor in the Office of Student Activities (Suite 330, Student Center).

OFFICE The Signal Suite 200, University Center P.O. Box 3968 • Atlanta, GA 30303 Phone: 404-413-1620 • Fax: 404-413-1622 • Web: www.gsusignal.com

NEWS

News Editor Daniel Beauregard gsunews@gmail.com

w w w . g s u s i g n a l . c o m / n e w s

Bedbugs in college dorms Ela Gandhi speaks at Georgia State provide a bloody mess

By JESSICA MORRIS Staff Writer

By SUCHI SAJJA Staff Writer The age-old adage “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite” is appropriate considering the current bedbug outbreak in the United States.

Bedbugs are tiny, parasitic insects that feed off of human blood. They live in mattresses, couches, carpets, clothes and other places that may provide them a host.

The exact origin of bedbugs is unknown, but it is possible that the early English colonists who settled in the United States brought them.

Techletter, a training letter for pest control technicians, said that onethird of all English colonies had bedbug infestations, but Native American villages did not have the problem.

Though DDT eradicated the pests from most developed countries, including the U.S., by the 1950s, bedbugs have recently made a comeback. Invading everything from movie theaters and federal government buildings to college dorm rooms and hotels, the tiny insects are presenting a problem as to how to get rid of them.

Because they feed off of human blood, bedbug extermination is a tough task. They are hard to spot and have become immune to extermination methods and chemicals. Most often, bedbugs hide in mattresses and feed during the night. When a person is asleep, the bugs crawl out of hiding and inject a slight anesthetic into the spot where they will bite. This keeps the host from waking or feeling the bedbug feeding off of them.

In September, students at Reinhardt University in Cherokee County found bedbugs in one of their dorms. The students living in the building, all male, spent the night in the university’s gymnasium while pest control specialists quarantined their rooms and belongings.

Though bedbugs were found in only two rooms, the university steam-cleaned every room in the

dormitory building and had all of the other buildings on campus checked as well.

Reinhardt is not the only college with a bedbug infestation.

There have been confirmed infestations in dorms at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Catawba College in North Carolina, Wake Forest University and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

There are precautions that students may take in order to prevent a bedbug outbreak in their dorms or apartments. Most of the time, bedbugs spread when people travel. When traveling, carefully inspect the bed and sheets in hotel rooms. Look for small bloodstains and check all cracks and crevices in the mattress.

Keeping all suitcases and clothing off of the floor may keep bedbugs from hiding in clothes and suitcase crevices. Wash all of belongings in the hottest water possible upon returning home. Bedbugs cannot survive in extremely hot temperatures.

When buying clothing or furniture secondhand, inspect it thoroughly. Check every nook and cranny for bedbugs and their eggs.

That $20 couch may seem great at the time, but it defeats the purpose when it costs hundreds of dollars to get rid of bedbugs.

There are a few signs that prove a bedbug infestation. The first is red, itchy bumps on the body. These spots indicate where the bedbug has fed and are similar to a mosquito bite. Since bedbugs are filled with blood, their bodies burst easily. They leave small blood and feces stains where they infest. Last, bedbugs shed their exoskeletons as they grow, so they leave those behind.

There have not been any reported cases of bedbugs anywhere on the Georgia State campus. For suspected bedbug cases in on-campus housing, the Panther Resident’s Guide to Community Living says to contact your Hall Director or place a TMA work order.

Exterminate Bedbugs There has been a rash of bedbug outbreaks all over the country recently, including Georgia.

Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mohandas Gandhi, spoke on Oct. 7 at the 22nd annual Benjamin E. Mays Lecture series.

Gandhi is a peace activist, social worker and chancellor at Durban University of Technology in South Africa.

The event was moderated by Donna Lowry, education reporter for 11Alive News.

Gandhi spoke about her unique upbringing and experiences. She grew up at the Phoenix Settlement, an experimental community established by her grandfather in South Africa.

“Growing up at Phoenix Settlement was very interesting for me because of all the ideas that were flowing at Phoenix Settlement through my dad and my mother,” she said. “We grew up in the tradition of equality, of respect, of self-sufficiency, and so on. For me, the most important thing about Phoenix Settlement was the fact that we had enough to survive, enough to enjoy our life, and we shouldn’t accumulate more than we needed… Because the idea of accumulation meant you were depriving other people.”

Gandhi spent 15 years as a social worker and worked with the Natal Indian Congress in the 1970s.

She was one of the leaders who met with Nelson Mandela at Pollsmore Prison the night before he was

Galeshewe Urban Renewal Program A bust of Ghandi sits outside the famous Phoenix Settlement, where Ela Ghandi grew up.

released.

After years of political activism, Gandhi and her husband were put under house arrest for nine years. They were not allowed to leave their home from the hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and could not leave at all on weekends or holidays. That meant sacrificing any social or family gatherings, necessary trips to get groceries or supplies and even a doctor had to be called to come to their home in emergencies. Gandhi’s youngest child was three and her oldest was nine.

“Even today you will see those scars left on my children, and the children of others that were under house arrest,” she said.

Gandhi saw this sacrifice and burden as not intolerable.

“It’s a price we felt we had to pay in order to win the freedom we wanted in our country, and I didn’t

think that it was a big price because there were people whose lives were taken, there were people that were tortured,” she said.

She became a member of the South African Parliament after apartheid was lifted. She served from 1994 to 2004. The parliament in the first five years totally remodeled the previous system of government, including the entire law system and constitution.

“It was change in complete thinking from apartheid to the democracy that we wanted to see,” she said. “When we got into parliament we wanted to listen to people, we wanted people to come and interact with parliament so we threw the doors open.”

The Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence sponsored the event and presented Gandhi with an award after the speech.

Geographic information systems: a new tool for educational research

By IRIS EBEN Staff Writer The use of geographic information system (GIS) tools for educational research was the focus last week at the College of Education Research Wednesdays Speakers Series. Paul DiGirolamo, a senior geographic information systems analyst with the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), explained mapping functions of GIS that can help educational professionals solve problems.

Brian Williams, an Associate Dean of the College of Education, said he knew bringing DiGirolamo to speak about GIS for the series would seem confusing to some.

Some may question the relevance of geography with education.

“As a dean, I want to get the education faculty to use the newest and best technology,” said Williams.

With the push for educational reform and the advances in technology, GIS provides educators

with a way to answer some of the problems facing school districts.

“Geographic information systems is the hardware, software, people and techniques used in the creation, collection, storage, visualization, analysis and output of spatial data,” said DiGirolamo.

GIS enables individuals to analyze data, such as the performance of first graders on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT), visually. Instead of reviewing the scores of thousands of students on a table, GIS can represent such data using points, color coding, and even 3D renderings on a map.

“It’s fun to make stuff 3D,” said DiGiloramo. Besides the visual appeal of having data presented this way, GIS provides a context for the data gathered. This holistic picture can help a school district board make better decisions, such as how to allocate grants and funds.

DiGirolamo presented a map of the Atlanta area that showed the percentage of first graders that

failed the reading component of the CRCT. The smallest dots on the map represented failure rates ranging from 0 to 7 percent. The largest dots represented failure rates as high as 44 percent. Areas of the region, colored light to dark, represented average household incomes. The darker the area, the higher the income level.

Looking at the map, the large dots representing high failure rats often overlap lighter regions that have lower household incomes.

Patterns such as these make DiGirolamo remark, “That’s kind of interesting, I wonder why it’s there.”

D i G i l o r a m o ’ s recommendation for getting the most out GIS: “Get familiar with census demographic data and use the tools provided by the ARC online and on campus.”

Educators and researchers can access a range of data, from Cont. on page 04

Geo Info

04

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

www.gsusignal.com/news

NEWS

Finding out what true relaxation feels like

By DANIEL B. RINALDI Staff Writer

Daniel B. Rinaldi • Signal Rachel Anne Kiernan spoke at the Wellness Wednesday workshops last week.

Georgia State faculty and staff learned how to relax and beat stress in a working environment last week as part of the Wellness

Wednesday workshop series at One Park Place.

Yoga exercises, breathing exercises and guided imagery were the tools Counseling Center psychologist Rachel Anne Kieran shared with a handful of faculty

and staff to hep manage their stress.

Sitting on the edge of their chairs, breathing deeply and with straight backs, the participants stretched and flexed their bodies to Kieran’s guided yoga exercises.

After a few minutes, Kieran reconvened the participants.

“Did anybody feel a pop or a snap?” Kieran asked.

Breathing generates more energy than a Red Bull, she said, and it is essential for proper muscle and brain performance.

Furthermore, she said breathing is the key to being able to relax.

Relaxation is often confused with meditation.

To dispel the stereotype that one should be thoughtless when meditating, Kieran led the audience in guided imagery.

“Let’s go to the beach,” she said.

She led the audience’s thoughts from bare toes sinking in the sand to hearing the whitecrested waves pummeling into the shore.

These exercises not only relax, but can also ease stage fright and insomnia, Kieran said. Since she said so many suffer from sleep deprivation, she does not feel offended when people fall asleep in the workshops.

“Sometimes we forget what true relaxation feels like,” Kieran said. “Because we are so used to carrying a certain amount of tension around.”

Tension will linger if one does not continually practice relaxation techniques, even in the office, she said.

“If you walk into my office and surprise me, you will find me with my shoes off,” Kieran said.

Despite her knowledge of relaxation, she said she occasionally struggles to maintain the relaxation-exercise habits. To maintain the habit, she said she turns to free sources with guided meditations in audio.

“There is a huge market for this right now,” Kieran said. “That is probably a bad thing. I think in society we are too stressed out…

We live in a culture that if you are not stressed out all the time, then you are not working hard enough.”

Wellness Wednesdays, headed

by Charlie Safford, has offered workshops on sleep, nutrition and exercise. On Oct. 13, the workshop will be on interpersonal effectiveness skills to properly handle relationships.

Geo Info

Cont. from page 03

the earnings of households in Fulton county to concentrations of the elderly population at www. atlantaregional.com/gis.

For those interested in using the software for research, the Georgia State GeoSciences Department has a Spatial Analysis Lab where GIS courses are taught for free. The ESRI Virtual Campus at www.esri.com, also provides basic GIS training for beginners.

LIVING

Living Editor Noël Hahn

signalliving@gmail.com

w w w . g s u s i g n a l . c o m / l i v i n g

Associate Living Editor Angel R. White awhite49@student.gsu.edu

UCS turns new rope with double-dutch competition

By ANGEL R. WHITE Associate Living Editor

Sarah Saadatjoo The Atlanta walk for Breast Cancer Awareness Month will be Oct. 22-24. The journey starts at the Lake Lanier Islands and ends at Turner Field.

Student organizations show support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By LAURA APPERSON Staff Writer October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Georgia State students and Atlanta residents are jumping in to share information and promote breast cancer awareness.

Georgia State hosts many “Pink Out GSU” events throughout the month of October to support the cause. Oct. 7 was a “Pink Out” day, and the football game on Oct. 9 against Savannah State was a “Pink Out” game. On Sunday, Oct. 10, Georgia State hosted “Pink Out” soccer games in the afternoon at Panthersville Stadium.

On Oct. 30, Georgia State will host a “Pink Out” volleyball game in the Sports Arena.

Student Organizations are also getting involved. Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) will be hosting bake sales and a Think Pink Picnic this month.

ZTA president, senior Katie Oskey, said, “Breast cancer education and awareness month is very important to ZTA, since it is our sorority’s National Philanthropy; all ZTA chapters share this as their common goal to raise funds and awareness.”

ZTA is passing out ribbons

and selling baked goods in the courtyard every Tuesday in October from 12 p.m.-2 p.m. “All of the proceeds from this bake sale will go to breast cancer education and awareness,” said Oskey.

The sorority is also hosting their third annual “Think Pink Picnic” on Oct. 23. “All students are invited,” said Oskey, who is looking forward to raising funds for breast cancer awareness by selling tickets for barbeque plates at the picnic.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month began in Oct. 1985, and was initially created as a week-long event to inform the public about breast cancer health and prevention.

Groups such as American Academy of Family Physicians, AstraZeneca Healthcare Foundation and CancerCare Inc. testified in front of a Congressional Committee about the need for access to mammography and spoke to news reporters about breast cancer awareness.

Today, many organizations all over the United States are involved in Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Wacoal, Inc. and It’s The Journey, Inc. all participate and host

different events to support breast cancer awareness.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation hosts a 60-day walk, called 3-Day For The Cure, in different locations across the country throughout the year. The Atlanta walk is during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, from Oct. 22-24. Participants will begin their journey at Lake Lanier Islands and finish downtown at Turner Field.

Wacoal, Inc., a company that sells bras and lingerie, works with Susan G. Komen to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. Wacoal supports the cause by donating two dollars for every Wacoal bra bought from Oct. 3-16.

Wacoal and the Susan G. Komen Foundation are working together to host events that will raise money for breast cancer awareness. Women can attend bra-fitting events, sponsored by Wacoal, at Lenox and Perimeter malls. Proceeds will go towards breast cancer awareness and prevention.

Thanks to Georgia State and these national organizations, Atlanta can celebrate breast cancer awareness and prevention in October.

Young girls and boys doubledutching in the streets is a familiar image in the minds of many adults and young ones. Celebrating their 2nd annual Career Services Carnival on Tuesday Oct. 5, University Career Services (UCS) brought a new twist to the childhood classic through their career-infused version of doubledutch.

The competition, titled “So You Think You Can DoubleDutch,” featured eight contestants who were required to doubledutch for at least 30 seconds while simultaneously singing an original, career-inspired song.

Many of the contestants sang chants about their major, their career aspirations and how the UCS has assisted in helping them reach their career goals.

UCS representatives Phil Rockwell, career counselor, and Shalanda Cofer, business affairs coordinator, hosted the event as “The Career Rock” and “The Career Diva,” referring to their Twitter aliases. ”We wanted to take fun activities and relate them to careers,” said Rockwell. “It’s really all about having fun today.”

The students were encouraged

to have fun, but were reminded to meet judging criteria. The jumpers were judged on their technical difficulty, career-themed rhyme, execution, percent of routine completed and overall performance. Campus celebrity judges included Eric Blacknall, associate to the vice president, John Krafka, associate director of the Student Recreation Center, and Nigel Harris, aquatics director at the Student Recreation Center.

Crowds of students gathered to cheer on the contestants. “When I was a kid I loved to double-dutch, and now that I am an adult I can’t find many people who can still do it,” said Anquannet Wright, a contestant in the competition and a Signal staff writer. “This was a great opportunity for me to jump in.”

During the intermission, crowd participants were able to test their double-dutch skills with the ropes while judges tallied the votes.

The first place winner was awarded a pizza party and the second and third place winners were presented medals.

When asked about what sparked the idea of a doubledutch competition, Dr. Kevin Gaw, Director of UCS, said, “It was a collective idea—we wanted to tap into the creativity of when we were children and bring it back to the students.”

Angel R. White • Signal The double-dutch competition was held as part of the University Career Services Carnival,

Campus political groups host debate on issues

By NOËL HAHN Living Editor

Squidoo Democrats and Republicans will debate on today’s political policies.

On Oct. 13, Georgia State will host the Voter Empowerment Event, a debate between the Young Democrats at Georgia State and the Georgia State University College Republicans.

This debate will last for 30 minutes and cover three key issues: educational policy and funding, immigration and healthcare. An audience discussion and reception will be held afterward.

The Young Democrats of Georgia was founded in 1932 and work towards encouraging youth involvement in the Democratic Party, supporting the ideals of the Democratic Party at all levels of government and providing young people with the skills and experiences they will need to lead our nation, according to the Young Democrats of Georgia website.

The College Republicans National Committee was founded in 1892 and strive to bring youthoriented issues to the forefront of

the political discourse, according to their national website.

The debate is hosted by the Pi Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and the Georgia State Chapter of the NAACP. The debate will start at 6:30 p.m. in Room 220 of the Urban Life Building.

In the interest of full disclosure, Emma Harger, president of the Georgia State Young Democrats chapter, is also a copy editor at The Signal.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

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LIVING

Student conference uses technology to teach business etiquette

By ESTHER J. LEE Staff Writer and SHEENA ROETMAN Editor in Chief Georgia State University’s Computer Information Systems Department hosted the Second Annual Association for Information Systems (AIS) Student Chapter Conference on Oct. 7 through Oct. 9.

What are information systems?

According to Christopher Sanders, president of the AIS chapter at the University of Georgia, it is “using technology to create value for business.”

The event was comprised of students, professors and professionals from all over the world, including Georgia State, UGA, Clemson University, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, University of Montana, University of Alabama, Temple University, the American University in Cairo, Microsoft and many more.

This three day event started on Oct. 7 with a kickoff party.

There were three different breakout sessions that informed the attendants on many different topics such as Member Recruitment Strategies, Successful Marketing and Communication, and Networking and Relationship

Building Strategies.

Even though these sessions were geared towards information systems or management information systems students and professionals, the information provided was easily applicable to all college students.

Some helpful suggestions for students included making the most of sites like Facebook and posting résumés on sites like Monster and Jobster.

The importance of networking was also stressed, along with tips on how to have a successful interview and how to get the most out of a networking event.

For example, during an interview, if the interviewer asks “Do you have any questions,” it is good to ask the interviewer for advice on how to grow within the company for which you are interviewing.

During lunch, Dr. Munir Mandviwalla, AIS VP of Student Chapters, told the crowd to think

of “imagination, belonging and the kingdom of ideas,” while he played John Lennon’s “Imagine” and the theme song of Cheers.

He explained how AIS chapters are for the greater good and spoke about what the student chapter has done, what’s coming and what to expect in the future.

Special guest speakers were Randal Robinson, the CIO (Chief Information Officer) for Georgia Pacific, and Chris Horace, the Director of Global G&A and IT Sourcing for Coca-Cola.

The last event, lined up for Friday, included a dinner and crowd-engaging performance by Drum Café. All of the attendees were given a small drum to hit, in sync, with the performers. The unified drumming filled the room and, though it was awkward at first, everyone seemed to have a good time. One of the performers later told the crowd that the purpose of this activity was to build team building and unity.

Tips on making the best of a networking event:

• • • • •

Make your appearance matter.

Recall the names of people you meet Learn the industry’s jargon.

Be professional.

Take notes.

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Esther J. Lee • Signal The Second Annual AIS Chapter conference helped students become more business professional through technology.

‘Survivor’ discusses essential leadership skills

By DOMINIQUE DUBOIS Staff Writer Survivor cast member “Coach” Benjamin Wade gave a motivational speech at the Second Annual AIS Student Leadership Conference at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State.

The speech, titled “How to Dream, Focus, Persevere and Achieve,” impressed upon the audience that “you’ve gotta fulfill the passions you have in life,” according to Wade.

The self-described musician, conductor, actor, soccer coach and pastor, described the five points he believed would help people “achieve every goal on the horizon,” including discipline, perseverance, accountability, to dream, and to dare to be different and face adversity, .

“If you duplicate anybody that has done anything great--Martin Luther King, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin--famous people in history always have faced adversity, and there will always be someone saying this guy is crazy…

But be your own man, be your own woman, and don’t conform to what the world has to say, ”said Wade.

“With self discipline comes success… Whenever you say you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it and you’re not going to quit and you’re going to discipline yourself to get there.”

He told the audience one of his favorite quotes is from soccer player Mia Hamm--“The definition of a champion is the soccer player who is drenched in sweat, bent over, and utterly exhausted when nobody else is looking.”

“Only babies get things the easy way… That’s the only time in your life you get what you want.”

Wade quoted his favorite Bible verse from the book of James: “Consider it all joy when you go through hard times.”

He added that in life there are valleys and mountaintops. “I’ve had a lot of valleys... And a lot of mountain tops.”

When he was on the show Survivor, he said, “I wanted to change the game. I’m not going to cheat and I’m going to tell the truth at all times, and better yet I don’t care about the million dollars.”

After Survivor, he said his body was emaciated, but he was stronger than he was at the beginning.

The final step in achieving goals, according to Wade, is accountability. He said that it is important to own your actions.

Wade described two types of people: professionals who look to themselves and amateurs who look to other people.

“Surround yourself with people that will hold you accountable,” he said. “Leaders, when you do something well, invest it in someone under you.”

Wade said he titled his speech “How to Dream, Focus, Persevere and Achieve” because he feels that those are the keys to achieving goals. He said that he is passionate about speaking with college students “because the world sells garbage… And this is a critical time in forging someone’s character.”

When asked what message would he want Georgia State students to receive, Wade said, “Pursue your passion.”

LIVING

www.gsusignal.com/living

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

07

Drag show showcases campus diversity

By SUCHI SAJJA Staff Writer The Escapade, Georgia State’s fall drag show, featured several performances by drag queens and drag kings to a packed house of Georgia State students.

Held by the Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, the drag shows have gained momentum in the past few years. The first show, held in 2008, featured only 200 audience members. However, spring’s Exhibition had over 800.

President Kayla Kane said, “I think why students get so into it is half curiosity and half because it is a show that is like no other on campus!”

Escapade 2010, held on Oct. 7, featured co-hosts Erectra Biggon and Miami Royale, played by Dahshan Velez.

“GSU needs us fierce drag queens to glamorize the campus or else they wouldn’t know about our community. It’s great to perform and show my more feminine side in a university that embraces us so well,” Velez said.

The first performance featured Jersey Royale performing Katy Perry’s “Waking Up in Vegas.”

Jersey Royale, known outside of drag as Chris Massie, believes that the drag shows promote diversity at Georgia State.

“I love doing drag because it’s

an art form and performance that goes outside of the norm,” said Massie. “In drag, you have a whole different persona you have to fulfill and sometimes that persona can come out as your true self and not what society expects us to be.”

Amid all the jokes and dancing, the co-hostesses took the time to help the audience understand LGBTQIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersexed, Questioning) issues and asked audience members from each to stand.

Sam Vernon, who is known as Alex when in drag, said, “The drag show is super important to GSU because it introduces diversity in a unique way.”

Later in the night, the audience found themselves singing and dancing along with Precious as she performed the Tina Turner classic, “Proud Mary.” She received tips from a large number of people in the crowd who went ballistic after her wig fell off in the middle of her performance.

Kelz got the crowd excited as well with his rendition of “No Hands.” Miami Royale joined him on stage and the audience members sang and danced with them.

Buckets were provided for any audience members who wanted to give money to any drag queen or drag king that they especially liked. The audience members were

discouraged at the opening of the show from handing money directly to the performers.

“I didn’t like the buckets.

I’d rather give them the money.

Because you know that they are getting the money and it’s not just being collected,” Georgia State senior Sam Maloney said.

Before the last act of the night, the co-hostesses paid a small tribute to Cameron Bridges, who performed as Miss Ruby Faye until last year. After he retired from drag show performing, he chose Erecta Biggon and Miami Royale to take his place. The ladies thanked Bridges for the opportunity to cohost and Erectra Biggon said to the audience, “[He] gave us the crown and we hope we did him proud.”

The night closed with Erecta Biggon performing “If My Sister’s in Trouble,” with all of the performers of the night joining her on stage. Afterwards, audience members had the opportunity to take photographs with everyone in the show.

“It’s always fun to go to and you never know what to expect. I was very impressed with the Drag King selection of music this year. It was ten times better than previous years. They chose songs that the audience can dance to. They need a bigger venue. They should move to the Rialto,” said Maloney.

Justin Rieling Jersey Royale, pictured above, gave the first performance of the evening with “Waking Up in Vegas.”

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08

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

www.gsusignal.com/living

LIVING

Swim in the Digital Aquarium

By DANIEL B. RINALDI Staff Writer Georgia State’s Digital Aquarium in the Student Center’s third floor, is one of the many things paid for by your student fees.

Students pays $85 each spring and fall semester for the technology fee, plus $57 for the summer semester, according to the Georgia State website. The Aquarium uses about 3 percent of the tech fee. “[The Aquarium] is where you get to see, touch, use and take advantage of the tech fee dollars,” Digital Aquarium Director Nathan Reetz said. “It is where students get their bang back for their tech fee buck.”

The Aquarium primarily functions as a nest of technological tools available for students to advance their educational experience, whether for the classroom or not. Reetz said he hopes students take advantage of the professional multi-media tools they have available.

The variety of trainings, workshops and opportunities available to students enhance their creative and professional palette of skills in video, audio, animation and photography.

In 2001, Georgia State added the Aquarium to its technological artillery, making it the first media lab in Georgia to rent out equipment for free. The Aquarium

since then has been maturing and will soon come of age with tapeless and fully digital cameras.

In 2008, the Aquarium had 150 items for rental; in 2009, there were 300; finally, there are 1000 items to rent in 2010. With the rental equipment and other opportunities, the Aquarium has served about 100,000 people in three years.

Most likely the same 5000 people go 20 times, and the Aquarium houses “regulars” who go everyday, sometimes twice a day, according to Reetz.

“I always wanted the Aquarium to become a place where creative types gather,” Reetz said. “Until it becomes a creative community.”

Before Facebook, the Aquarium quenched students’ thirst for social networking, according to Reetz.

He continually seeks new technology to propose every year to the Information Systems and Technology. Once pocket projectors emerge for iPods and other portable devices, he says he would snatch them up.

By the end of the fall semester the Aquarium will rent out 100 basic video cameras, 50 basic photo cameras, 20 advanced video and photo cameras and 20 laptop PCs. Originally, the Digital Aquarium’s architectural design simulated an aquarium, hence the name. Windows would have canvassed the hallway walls so

The Digital Aquarium offers free classes and computer programs for Georgia State students.

that every summer, hundreds of Inceptors could stare down students as if in a fish bowl, but, the fire marshal declined the design, according to Reetz.

Despite the design rejection, the name stuck and beat other names like “Media Lab.” Fish graduate from aquariums to the deep blue, and some Digital Aquarium aficionados graduate to the ranks of their respective industry. Of the many success stories, the Aquarium has produced Grammy-award winners and one of the creators of Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken, Reetz said.

“I like the digital aquarium a lot because it allows the student several different types of equipment available to them. It is easy to use and I love the opportunity to learn things in there with the classes that

ATLANTA’S NEWEST HALLOWEEN ATTRACTION

they have available. I think it is a useful resource,” Georgia State student Morgan Szymanski said.

Students can get the basic workshop trainings for HD cameras, lighting equipment and more online via www.gsu.edu/aquarium or the Aquarium’s iTunesU and podcasts. To be eligible to handle certain equipment students take

Akeem Mason • Signal

a quiz online. The trainings and the high quality ensure proper handling and less maintenance of the equipment, Reetz said.

Thanks to the collaboration between the IS&T, Student Center and Student Government Association, the Aquarium lives on. For more information, contact digitalaquarium@gsu.edu.

Fast-growing profession encourages members to catch up

By ANGEL R. WHITE Associate Living Editor

OPEN THIS

With the downsizing of the job market, the educational and career choices one makes now in college can determine the amount of job opportunities available in the future. In an article on Forbes. com, Ralph Henderson, senior vice president of staffing company Spherion, spoke in regards to the college majors with jobs that are expanding the fastest.

“If I were sending my kid to school today, I would tell him to get a finance and accounting or a technology degree,” said Henderson. According to Forbes. com, the fastest growing jobs in America are those with foundations in finance, technology and especially accounting.

Georgia State is fostering the professional development of its accounting majors through one of its organizations—the National Association of Black Accountants, Inc. (NABA). As a leading professional association, it represents more that 100,000 members nation-wide and focuses its efforts on developing its member’s educational and professional skills and career paths.

Nine black men founded the organization in New York City in 1969 as a means to focus on the challenges and concerns of minorities entering the field of accounting. It now has representations from various races, ethnicities and genders.

“Our [Georgia State] chapter is open to all business majors and all races,” said Arielle Wiltshire-Scott, current president of the Georgia

OCTOBER

State chapter. “NABA is the liaison between the students and the professionals in these [business] fields.”

The Georgia State chapter of NABA, Inc. has provided panel discussions and various meetings and networking opportunities for its members to become more affiliated with local professionals in the field.

NABA, Inc. holds an annual nationwide convention and expo where it provides workshops, skill sessions and forums to help advance the professional skills of its members. The 40th Annual National Convention and Expo will be held Jun. 22-25 in 2011 in Orlando, Fl. There are also scholarship opportunities for active members.

According to nabainc.org, the association rewarded more than $500,000 to its members for the 2009 fiscal year. Qualifying members are encouraged to apply for the nearly 70 national scholarships available.

The Georgia State chapter of NABA, Inc. is expanding and has chosen its chapter slogan and personal goal this year to be “Development, Diversity and Dedication to Success.”

When asked about the slogan’s significance, Wiltshire-Scott said, “[It will] help members become more interactive amongst each other, so we may build and break down barriers together.”

For more information on The National Association of Black Accountants, Inc. feel free to visit their national website at www. nabainc.org or visit the Office of Student Activities in Suite 330 in the Student Center.

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SPORTS

Sports Editor Kirkland Carter

signalsports40@gmail.com

w w w . g s u s i g n a l . c o m / s p o r t s

Martelli gets 100th win as women’s soccer moves into second in the CAA

By KIRKLAND CARTER Sports Editor

Georgia State fans tailgate before the inaugural football game at the Georgia Dome.

Judy Kim • Signal

250 tickets claimed for Alabama game

By NICOLE SCHIMMEL Staff Writer For the University of Alabama game on Nov. 18, Georgia State Athletics has confirmed that approximately 250 tickets have been picked up through the Georgia State ticket office for the biggest game in the history of the young football program.

The Athletics Department maintains that the tickets were awarded on a first come, first serve basis and the number was based on Georgia State student demand.

According to Todd Reeser, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Development and the Ticket Office, in the contract drawn up at the beginning of the season, Georgia State was allocated 7,500 tickets for the game.

While factors such as the game taking place on a Thursday, being just before Thanksgiving break or less than a month before finals have certainly contributed to the lowticket sales, it seems other factors may have contributed.

Georgia State students were sent an e-mail regarding a lottery for tickets. As for the e-mail notification, Reeser said the ticketing office coordinated with the Student Government Association, and decided the best way to reach the Georgia State community was through e-mail.

The e-mail, sent to student’s University e-mail accounts on Sept.

23, stated, “Georgia State University has secured an allotment of five hundred student tickets that will be offered to current GSU students via a lottery system.”

SGA President James Dutton said that SGA’s role in the email consisted of proofreading the Athletics e-mail and coordinating the bus trips for the students that did secure tickets.

“The 500 number was given to SGA by Athletics,” Dutton said.

“They [Athletics] bounced several numbers around before the season.

Then after they saw the number at each game, they set the number at 500.”

The Ticketing Office immediately got many responses, and the number of tickets was expanded as a result. This process was modeled on other universities, and Reeser said it was a pretty universal procedure.

“I felt like we had a solid plan,” he said. “The number was for students, if we needed to go higher we would have.”

Reeser said that he and his staff set a four-step plan for distributing the tickets. Students were given a window of time following the e-mail notification to enter the lottery, and the amount of ticket sales was based on this response. Once students received this notification, they had two days to claim their tickets. By gauging the student response, the ticket office was able to avoid distributing tickets to anyone other than Panther fans.

The game, moved up two days from Nov. 20 at Alabama’s request, will be Alabama’s homecoming at Bryant-Denny stadium, a massive venue that can hold up to 101,821 fans, according to www.rolltide.com.

Many Georgia State students heard about the lottery, and were discouraged about their chance at attending.

Kalli Walker, a senior and journalism major, has family in Alabama and was planning on attending the game, even after the date was changed from Saturday to Thursday.

“I was willing to take off work and everything,” Walker said.

Many students read their e-mail, saw that the process was a lottery, and assumed they would not be able to get a ticket. Walker had this mentality too, but she was able to secure one ticket. Walker had hoped on making it a group outing.

“Although I was able to get a ticket, I don’t have any friends that

have tickets, so I won’t be going,” Walker said.

Freshman Ebony Brown also did not think getting a ticket through the lottery was feasible.

The tickets, priced at $40 with an additional $3 handling fee, was also a concern for Brown. Reeser said that is how much an away ticket would be regardless of where the student purchased it. Still, Brown made the effort to get the ticket.

“It’s worth a try, might as well try to get a ticket,” Brown said. Like Walker, Brown said her friends did not think they would be able to get tickets, so they did not enter the lottery. However, she did as soon as she received the e-mail.

Freshman inside linebacker Cole Moon said he hopes that students will find a way to come out and show their support.

“We need as many fans as we did the first game,” he said.

Fans still interested in making the trip to Tuscaloosa should look to the Athletics site for updates.

As stated on www. georgiastatesports.com: “Students will have the ability to purchase GSU football regular season away game tickets. A limited number of tickets will be held for students to purchase for any away game and quantities will be based on the supply available to the Department of Athletics. An announcement will also be made on the student ticket page at www.

GeorgiaStateSports.com regarding availability.

“Unless otherwise noted, all away game tickets are assigned seats at the opponent’s stadium.

Students who purchase away game tickets will be notified via e-mail by the GSU Athletics Ticket office when their tickets are available to be picked up. If students wish to sit together for an away game, it is encouraged that those students pick their tickets up at the same time.”

The Georgia State women’s soccer team concluded its two-team CAA home stand Sunday with a scoreless draw against Virginia Commonwealth (4-6-4, 0-4-2), after defeating pre-season favorite James Madison (7-6, 3-2) 2-1 on Friday, Oct. 8, giving head coach Domenic Martelli his 100th win and Georgia State’s first-ever victory over the Dukes.

Martelli was pleased with the steady progress of the team.

“Going into a game against James Madison, the preseason No. 1 favorite, you look at improving every time, from every game and in every facet of the game,” Martelli told www.georgiastatesports.com.

“We’ve done a great job getting ourselves prepared for every game and starting out games the right way.”

The Panthers did just that against the Dukes, with freshman scoring sensation Jewel Evans punching a Stephanie Cuccia pass past the Dukes’ goalkeeper to get Georgia State on the board first.

Evans was honored as the CAA Women’s Soccer Rookie of the Week last week for her two-goal, one assist performance in the 4-2 Panther victory at Old Dominion.

The James Madison game featured two goals from each of the Panthers’ top scorers, Evans and sophomore Sarah Bennett. The goals were the seventh for each player.

Coming up huge for Georgia State was junior goalkeeper Kellianne Collins, who stopped 15 shots over the weekend. The Conyers native has bounced back after giving up the winning goal against Delaware in the waning minutes of the game after AllCAA First-Team goalkeeper Heidi Blankenship left with an injury.

The Salem High School star stopped a critical shot before halftime, when the Dukes were awarded a penalty kick with 16 seconds left before the half.

Martelli stressed the importance of the save and Collins’ performance.

“Kellianne’s save on the penalty kick was unbelievable,” Martelli told www.georgiastatesports.com.

“Going into overtime, that was such a huge motivation for the team.”

Bennett’s goal came in at just over five minutes into suddendeath overtime, pushing the Panthers into a three-way tie for second in the CAA. The tie against VCU, with the help of losses from George

Georgia State Sports Communications Freshman Jewel Evans has seven goals in 2010, including two at Old Dominion, where she earned CAA Women’s Soccer Rookie of the Week for her performance.

Mason and UNC Wilmington, gave Georgia State sole possession of second place in the conference, behind white-hot Hofstra, whose winning streak increased to ten over the weekend.

Collins continued to impress against VCU, earning her second shutout of the season.

While VCU’s record implies an easy target, Martelli was quick to speak to the strength of the CAA, where four of VCU’s six losses were registered.

“Today’s game really showed strength of the Colonial Athletic Association and how Sunday games can be such battles,” Martelli said. “When you look at the results throughout the whole conference this weekend in Sunday’s games, it is always going to be anybody’s game. No matter what the records are, no matter where we stand, no matter where the games are, any team is able to capture the win.”

Martelli’s squad is in good position, but they have four allimportant road games, before a final showdown with UNC-Wilmington in Panthersville Saturday, Oct. 30. at 1 p.m.

“We did well enough today to pull off a tie, but there is more ahead,” Martelli told www. georgiastatesports.com. “We have five games left, the next four on the road. It is very important for us to get as many points as we can. Our ultimate goal of making the conference tournament is still within our grasp, but it is really up to us. It is not going to come on its own.”

10

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

www.gsusignal.com/sports

SPORTS

FCS honors special teams stars McCray and Schlechter

By KIRKLAND CARTER Sports Editor and BRENAY GRIMBALL Staff Writer The transition from playing high school football to competing on a collegiate level can be very challenging for many players, who may have had the luxury of playing when and where they like, but have to adjust to changes in playing time or even playing a new position. Redshirt freshmen Darren McCray and Bo Schlechter are two Panthers that have welcomed these challenges, and have responded, with the pair being recognized by the FCS for their efforts on special teams.

McCray was named the FCS National Returner of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards for his 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Campbell. Recruited as a slot receiver, McCray has had to adjust to a difference in playing time after his 23-touchdown performance his senior year in high school.

“I had to come into college with a whole new mindset than in high school,” McCray said.

Schlecter, a 19-year-old marketing major, received honorable mention from the CFPA after his performance against Campbell. The Wellington,

Fla. Native punted four times, averaging 50 yards, with a 62-yarder.

The performance motivates Schlechter for continued success.

“It’s a confidence booster,” he said. Schlecter expects to maintain the momentum, aiming for a 45yard average per week.

He was recruited as a quarterback in the 2009 signing class, but has excelled at punter and has recently been playing receiver as well. “[The] Quarterback [position] requires a lot more mental strategy then receiver does. As a receiver there is a greater risk of getting hurt and there is a lot of competition in that position,” he said.

Schlechter tries to maintain the positive attitude that is necessary to be flexible.

“It’s extremely important to have a good attitude, that’s what gets you on the field and that is what gets you through life,” Schlechter said.

McCray, a 19-year-old computer information systems major, remembered getting the call from his mother telling him he’d received the award.

“I got a call from my mom, she was yelling and happy and told me I got the FCS award,” McCray said.

“I was pretty excited because to my understanding this was the first

Georgia State Sports Communications Recruited as a quarterback, freshman Bo Schlechter has been honored for the second time by the College Football Performance Awards for his performance as a punter.

time this award was given and to hear my mother excited, added to my excitement.”

The Columbus native made waves when he scored the first touchdown against FCS powerhouse Jacksonville State.

“It felt good to know I was helping out the team,” McCray said. “It was my first collegiate touchdown. It was a pretty memorable moment for me.”

McCray and Schlechter are two very skilled players who understand the game of football, and the two are both vocal about

continuing the trend of being team players.

“I plan on playing receiver or quarterback and giving it all I got, taking my punting seriously and… take opportunities as they come,” Schlecter said.

McCray does not mind the awards, but knows the focus should be on the team.

“For now I just want to help out the team. Rewards will come with time,” he said.

The two athletes are not all business, however, and when they were asked what Georgia State

should know about them, Schlecter simply said “you can’t make this guy [McCray] frown.”

While Schlechter’s statement about McCray shows the rapport these two special teams stars have built, it is clear they want Georgia State to know, is how committed they are to making Panther football the best it can be.

Look for #6 Darren McCray and #12 Bo Schlecter in the secondto last home game against North Carolina Central on Oct. 16 at the Georgia Dome.

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SPORTS

www.gsusignal.com/sports

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

11

Football crushes Savannah State

By ZAKKIYYA ANDERSON Staff Writer

Krazdom The Braves, under the management of Bobby Cox, were ousted from the 2010 NLDS in part due to sloppy umpiring.

The end of an era

By SARAH BAILEY Staff Writer

Sunday, Oct. 3 was the end of an era, when the Atlanta Braves faithful paid tribute to their beloved manager, Bobby Cox, who coached his last regular-season game before a standing-room only crowd at Turner Field.

Chances are if you’ve watched the Braves, you’ve heard Bobby Cox cheering on his players. “Let’s go Chip,” or “Good rip kid,” he would shout from the dugout religiously. Ironically, the evenkeeled manager is famous for his tenacious defense of his players when challenging a call with an umpire. Cox holds the record for most ejections by a manager at 158, and added a post-season ejection in Friday’s come-from behind win at San Francisco.

Dwayne Adams, a junior at Georgia State, says that Cox’s longtime contributions to the city, for many Atlantans, makes him more familiar than mayor Kasim Reed.

“He’s done what he could, for as long as he could, and you have to admire that,” Adams said.

“More people know about Bobby Cox than the mayor. He’s pretty important to the city.”

As iconic as the Atlanta skipper has become, the everhumble Cox remains grounded.

Recently a reporter asked Cox what he thought about people calling him the most influential man in the history of the Braves organization, the longest-running franchise in baseball. “[They] need to get their head examined,” Cox said, according to www.mlb.com.

Cox took the train-wreck Braves from worst to first in 1991, a season that fans that were lucky enough to witness, still light up talking about it nearly two decades later.

After leading the Braves to

the World Series title in 1995, he was there smiling, but still refused to take credit, always giving his players their due.

Cox steered the Braves to 14 consecutive division titles, a feat unlikely to ever be matched, in any professional sport. The 1968 AL All-rookie third basemen is the fourth-winningest manager in Major League Baseball history with 2,504 wins.

Jared Clements, also a junior at Georgia State, said Cox’s record speaks for itself.

“He is the best coach we’ve ever had, and the winningest,” Clements said. “He left a great legacy, and [he] will always be known for that.”

One Braves fan took it upon himself to ensure that Cox was properly recognized. Scott Munn, creator of the Thanks Bobby movement, came to each Braves regular season home game with a “Thanks Bobby!” banner hanging from the Chop House at Turner Field.

Munn even designed t-shirts with the “Thanks Bobby!” logo. A portion of the proceeds received from the shirts will go to Bobby Cox’s favorite charity, the Homeless Pets Foundation.

Cox has had a profund influence on major league baseball, one that may not be fully grasped for years to come. Longtime bullpen coach and Braves Major League consultant Bobby Dews, is conscious of the impact of Cox’s departure on the Braves, as well as baseball in general.

“I don’t think we realize it yet, but his leavingis not only going to affect the Atlanta Braves, but I think all of baseball will take a hit when Bobby Cox retires,” Dews told www.mlb.com. “I watched the reactions of the other teams and heard what the other players and coaches say to me. They are envious that we’re beside him every day.”

Georgia State (4-2) defeated Savannah State (0-6) 55 to 21, the highest-scoring game yet for the Panthers, who were executing on all cylinders against the FCS independent, as the gritty defense and explosive offense took advantage of early miscues by the Tigers.

Head coach Bill Curry was thrilled with the performance in the second-straight blowout.

“I’m very pleased with our men today, because this is another first for us,” Curry said. “[It is] the first time we have played two decent games in a row.”

Over 14,000 fans packed the Georgia Dome to watch quarterback Drew Little pass for 166 yards on 16 of 26 and record four touchdown passes, tying his season-best set last week against Morehead State.

The Panthers won the sixthconsecutive coin toss, elected to kick, and Jocquez Fears set the tone with a huge hit on the opening kickoff. A few plays later, outside linebacker, Jake Muasau forced a fumble, and teammate Brent McLendon recovered the fumble to give Georgia State great field position at the SSU 30.

Georgia State would also falter on their first drive, as Danny Williams fumbled a would-be first down at the Savannah State 11 yard-line.

The Panther defense retaliated by showing a little brotherly love, as Jake Muasau rushed Tiger quarterback Antonio Bostick out of the pocket, forcing an ill-advised pass that Louie Muasau intercepted and returned to the Savannah State 19-yard line.

Redshirt freshman Parris Lee gave the Panthers the early lead, running in a five-yard touchdown with eight minutes and 25 seconds in the first quarter. His fourth on the year, Lee has more rushing

touchdowns that any other Panther.

Penalties plagued both teams, and offensive linemen Ben Jacoby and Joseph Gilbert were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after the touchdown. Placekicker Iain Vance would pick them up, however, booting the ball to the Tiger 29-yard line on the ensuing kickoff.

Bostick and the Savannah State offense could never really get going due to the vigilant Georgia State defense. On only the third Tiger possession, Panther safety Fred Barnes sacked Bostick, forcing a fumble that was picked up by Louie Muasau.

The Panthers would punch it in again after Sam Burkhalter leaked out and caught a dumped pass from Little, driving nine yards for the score.

Prior to the end of the first quarter, the defense gave the Tigers a first down on an off sides call. The first quarter ended with the score 14-0, but with the Tigers threatening at the Panther 15.

Despite a goal-line stop by Louie Muasau, Sheldon Barnes was able to push through the defensive line to give Savannah State its first score of the game.

The following possession, Little carried his team to the Savannah State 29-yard line. The Panthers would settle for an Iain Vance field goal, however, after a couple of incomplete passes from Little stalled the drive.

Savannah State was unable to get going, with penalties on the next drive and throughout the game for a total of ten penalties for 93 yards.

With just under eight minutes left in the half, Kelton Hill shook several Tiger defenders and stumbled for a 30-yard gain. Hill, another redshirt freshman, had 48 yards total on the drive, and ultimately set up Little’s 7-yard pass to Danny Williams for a touchdown.

Bostick was picked on the first

Running back Parris Lee leads all rushers with four touchdowns.

play of the following Tiger drive by freshman Jamal Ransby. The Georgia State offense, totaling 433 yards on the day, took advantage and struck again, increasing the lead to 27-7 after another Vance field goal.

With 24 seconds left on the clock, Little aired the ball out on a fade route to freshman Albert Wilson for a 29-yard touchdown pass. The Panthers went into the locker room up 34-7.

Wilson, a Port St. Lucie, Fla. Native, returned the second-half kickoff for 35 yards to the Georgia State 43-yard line. At 11:06, Wilson struck yet again after stiff-arming a defender and scoring on a 28-yard pass. Wilson finished with 72 yards and two touchdowns and was awarded player of the game.

Despite the 41-7 score, the Tigers fought on and managed to march 94 yards up the field, as Bostick completed a touchdown pass to Brian Lackey for 38 yards.

The Georgia State offense was virtually unstoppable and seemed to be sending a message.

In the third quarter, Star Jackson got into his second game, and fared much better than in his debut against Morehead State.

For the second drive of the game, Burkhalter was used almost exclusively and pounded the Tiger defense, finishing with a one-yard Burkhalter touchdown run.

Bostick and Tiger running back Sheldon Barnes answered on the next Savannah State possession, as the Tigers capitalized on a 6:35 drive with a touchdown, ,the score now at 48 -14.

Savannah State and Georgia State would each tack on one more touchdown, with the final score at 55-21.

Georgia State takes on North Carolina Central (2-3) in the second-to-last home game as the Panthers try for their fifth win at 1 p.m. on Oct. 16.

Tone Lee • Signal

12

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

www.gsusignal.com/sports

Looking ahead to North Carolina Central

By D.J. DUNSON JR. Staff Writer On the heels of a three-game winning streak, Georgia State concludes its three-game home stand on Oct. 16 with a visit from the North Carolina Central Eagles.

The Eagles are in the final year of their transition to Division 1 football and their first in the MidEastern Athletic Conference.The Panthers’ offense has been clicking on all cylinders. The Panthers’ passfirst attack has steadily improved with freshman Drew Little under center. Against Morehead State, Little had the most masterful game of his young career by nearly eclipsing the 300 yard mark and throwing four touchdowns, with four more touchdowns against Savannah State. Little has thrown for 616 yards, 10 touchdowns and hasn’t thrown an interception since the Panthers’ narrow loss to Jacksonville State. It’s a roll of the dice from week to week on which receiver Little will target or who will provide the Panthers with a spark in the backfield. The running game, which has been slow to develop, has finally found its footing by rushing for 399 total yards in the previous two weeks, including a season best 232 yards against Savannah State.

The Eagles will have to prepare for Kelton Hill, who has consistently made long runs

SPORTS

ATHLETIC EVENTS October 12-19, 2010

DATE Wednesday

EVENT Men’s Soccer at UNC-Wilmington

OCT. 13

Wilmington, N.C. 1 p.m.

Friday

Men’s and Women’s Cross Country at Blue Ridge Open

OCT. 15

Boone, N.C. 3 p.m.

Women’s Soccer at Towson Towson, Md. 4 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Hofstra Herald Sun North Carolina Central senior linebacker Donald Laster was rated the 2010 NCAA Division I-FCS Independent Preseason Defensive Player of the Year by www.lindyssports.com

out of the Wildcat and came five yards short of becoming Georgia State’s first single game 100-yard rusher against Savannah State.

Defensively, the Eagles will counter with senior linebacker Donald Laster, named FCS’ Independence Preseason Player of the Year by numerous publications.

North Carolina Central’s conservative offense will look to grind it out with tailback Tim Shankle, but may have to begin airing it out if their porous pass defense has another shaky outing equivalent to their home loss to Winston-Salem. In a game the

Eagles’ defense would like to forget, they gave up five passing touchdowns and 300 total yards through the air.

If Georgia State’s offense finds its rhythm, North Carolina Central’s junior quarterback, Michael Johnson, will likely struggle trying to keep pace. In high scoring affairs this season, Johnson has shown a propensity for costly turnovers and incompletions. This season the Eagles are winless when Johnson throws at least one interception, so look to Georgia State’s turnover factories, the Muasau brothers, to pressure the Eagle quarterback.

Sports Arena 7 p.m.

Saturday

OCT. 16

Men’s and Women’s Cross Country at Oglethorpe Fall Classic Atlanta, Ga. 9 a.m.

Football at North Carolina Central Georgia Dome 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer at Drexel Philadelphia, Pa. 3 p.m.

Sunday

OCT. 17

Volleyball vs. Northeastern Sports Arena 1 p.m.

Women’s Soccer at George Mason national and international economic outlook from Fairfax,the Va. budget to social security reform 1 p.m.

ENTERTAINMENT www.gsusignal.com/entertainment

Entertainment Editor Jhoni Jackson

signalentertainment@gmail.com Associate Entertainment Editor Savanna Keo skeo1@student.gsu.edu

Mapping out Atlanta, one dice roll at a time

By SAVANNA KEO Associate Entertainment Editor If you are suddenly blinded by a mass of light promenading up the streets of downtown Atlanta in the early afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 12, do not be alarmed. It’s only Robert Ladislas Derr performing his innovative art walk, Chance.

Derr’s mission is simple: to create a video cartography of a given city. To do this, the artist takes the unconventional route around the streets. Wearing four cameras on his body and donning a mirror encrusted suit, Derr walks for 45 minutes documenting everything—the people, the architecture, the cars and the atmosphere of the locale.

“It’s an immersive, 360-degree view of a city and the by-sections through the city,” Derr said.

Before Derr embarks on the walk, he asks for thirty rolls of a dice from the crowd. He then records the number of the die into an algorithm, using the rolls as the foundation for his course through the city.

The die determine whether Derr will move forward, backward, right, left, spin or stand in place.

Thirty random commands will lead him through the city while he simultaneously records every angle from the cameras strapped to his shoulders.

“By having a chance algorithm, there is no kind of preconceived idea of where the nice areas and bad areas are,” Derr said. “I go where the dice roll takes me, and that’s a cross section of Atlanta in 2010.”

The basic conceptualization for the walk derived from Derr’s desire to turn the camera outward towards the audience during his performance art. He wanted to capture the world around him while still capturing the movements of his own body.

This avant-garde type of performance art came alive when Derr worked on a personal project in Europe. Using a geographically descriptive chapter from James Joyce’s Ulysses, the artist created a video cartography of the character’s travels by foot through the city of Dublin, Ireland. Derr retraced the movement of the character’s exact locations at the exact times described in the chapter for four days. Using this concept, he did another walk in Providence, R.I. using Edgar Allan Poe’s work about his lover Helen Whitman.

The limitations of these two fiction-inspired walks allowed Derr to revel in ideas of a more extemporized walk. “[I thought that] it would be interesting to have a more impromptu, a more chance, route through a city rather than a

predetermined route,” Derr said.

Since late 2005 when he started the walks, Derr has called Chance an “ongoing psycho-geographical walk performance,” one in which he documents not only the city surrounding him, but the reactions of its occupants.

Through the experience gained from the walk, Derr said that the reactions to the spectacle that is his performance run the gamut from children following him to people assuming he’s a walking advertisement to people asking if he works for Jay Leno or David Letterman (this happened when Derr performed Chance in New York).

“I get ‘Why are you doing this?’ often,” Derr said. “People are always trying to put the walk in context, like there needs to be some rational idea as opposed to allowing the irrational to be the experience.”

In a self-imposed silence, Derr does not speak back with to those on the street. The lack of interaction he has with the bystanders allows them to question what is considered normal, and often leaves them engaged in conversations with strangers.

Typically, the rear camera allows Derr to see reactions that he’s missed when he reviews the footage.

“People feel comfortable when

A.L. Foglesong Robert Ladislas Derr performing Chance in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2006.

they don’t really have to look at me, and they feel as though they have power over the camera,” said Derr. “Depending on where I am, the rear camera seems to allow gestures to happen that would not normally happen through the lens of the front camera.”

These gestures range from guileless waves to crude hand gestures.

Along with the weight of the

cameras, Derr cloaks himself in a veneer of mirrors as he walks in the direction the dice commands.

The stimulus for this facet of the act stemmed from Derr’s first walk in Ireland and was inspired by Ulysses’ main character Leopold Bloom, a troubled man searching for his identity in Dublin Cont. on page 14

Chance

The Carnivores: disorderly but irresistibly catchy indie pop

By PAUL DEMERRITT Staff Writer In the current overstuffed yet fertile indie underground, it’s become the easier than ever for musicians to gain fame within the realm without having to undergo the necessary work of many musical forefathers. What this does is take an endless slew of bands that are hyped up for a few months, then end up being quickly

forgotten about because they lack a certain key intensity, which is unique to bands who have had time to develop a truly organic sound.

There is an industry paradigm which allows anyone with music, a laptop and the connections with the right people access to the finicky world of musical success, where bands are just knocked around with no real thought put into to their legitimate merit.

That was never an option for

The Carnivores The hard-working Atlanta band just released their debut album on Oct. 12.

Atlanta natives, the Carnivores.

Originally coming together over the course of two years through merely being friends at Georgia State, guitarist Nathaniel Higgins, keyboardist Caitlin Lang, bassist Philip Frobos and their later joining drummer Ross Politi began crafting a special style of sound—a means of emotional maturity in the face of a music scene bred by being cool. Carnivores lead the sadly near-extinct niche of genuine, hard-working rock bands whose only plan for success is a rigorous touring schedule coupled with an earnest desire to make music, simply because it feels good.

Over those two years, the band’s sound evolved into a chaotic but refined machine which effortlessly explores the harsh and expansive sincerity of The Pixies, filtered through the easy and atmospheric sway of ‘60s surf rock. With a fan base built upon friendship instead of hype, the Carnivores appear to finally be receiving the precious attention they deserve with steadily increasing buzz from major outlets such as Pitchfork and The New York Times, who have championed tracks from their upcoming debut

full-length, If I’m Ancient. The band talked with The Signal about their sound, the album and Atlanta’s thriving music scene.

When you guys first started out, did you have a definite sound in mind, or did it just kind of happen?

Caitlin: I think that it just kind of happened. I think in our song writing process, Philip, Nathaniel and Ross, they made demos and we all kind of contribute[d] to that.

And I don’t think that we really go for a specific sound. It even is the case where we want to get away from a certain type of sound. So we want to be more creative and not focus on what’s easy to us and challenge ourselves and our songwriting.

When you approached If I’m Ancient, did you approach it trying to sound like anything in particular?

Caitlin: “I don’t think so, like I said I think that a lot of people have said that we sound tropicalia, on the first album. I think that more so than trying to sound like

something, we were trying to say, ‘Well, let’s do something new.’ But we didn’t necessarily know what that new was.

Ross: “We trying to sound more cohesive on Ancient as well.”

What’s it like being a newer band that’s pushed through the whole cycle of the internet, different newspapers and things like that?

Caitlin: “We’re a little old school in the way we think music works.

We put [in] a lot of hard work to be where we are right now. Whereas because of the internet, you see a lot of bands jump that hard work very quickly. Because of the blog world, it’s not that that isn’t great, but I think at the same time we really appreciate where we are.

And almost some of those bands that have.

Nathaniel: “It’s like they’ve cheated. It’s been like that forever though, some bands play one show and they get signed.”

A lot of bands entirely skip that Cont. on page 15

Carnivores

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

www.gsusignal.com/entertainment

ENTERTAINMENT

Netherworld: best in the nation?

By JUDY KIM Staff Writer Snap. Crackle. Pop! No, not like the cereal—instead, these are the sound effects you’ll hear when walking through the infamous Gargoyle Maze, built and created by the co-founders of Netherworld, Billy Messina and Ben Armstrong.

The dynamic duo definitely stepped up to the plate this year when it comes to storyline and costumes. The clearly qualified actors dressed as ghouls and goblins are also a huge contributing factor to the spook-house, making the evening experience literally one hell of a night.

Named the Best Haunted House in 2009 by Fangoria Magazine, Best Haunted House

by USA Today and Hauntworld Magazine this year, Netherworld has lived up to its reputation once again when it comes to the creepy

and downright scary things in life.

The roughly 20 to 30-minute walk is filled with hidden jungles and cemeteries, a mirror room and a vortex that will make you trip over your own feet. The monsters sport great outfits and makeup, and the attention to detail is far beyond what you’d imagine. Bugs appear out of nowhere and butchery like that in the brutal movie Saw makes all the girls scream and the boys shrill, leaving you to fend for yourself.

Gargoyles leap from the air and attack you from above, which undoubtedly adds to the realistic environment—they were seemingly flying. The machinery in the house is outstanding, too. Even knowing that these living creatures are robots does not assuage the fright or the influx of adrenaline rushing through your entire body.

And though the monsters themselves are not allowed to

physically touch you, they sure do give everyone a very good jump.

“I liked it. It was really varied, and whatever you are scared of, it’s there. But it’s also really cohesive,” Freshman Samuel Evans said after enduring the Gargoyle Maze. “I also think the creativity of the monsters [was] good, it wasn’t just like ‘50s horror film recreations.”

Other newcomers stated that they were more than likely to attend every year.

And they should—every season, Netherworld changes up its theme or extends more frightful delights to continuously entertain its thrill-seeking patrons.

This year, Netherworld presented the Dead Salvage, a 5 to 10 minute walk through a mock junkyard and body shop.

Dead Salvage is a lot gorier than the Gargoyle Maze, with body pieces strewn about and chunks of meat hanging from the

Entertainment Editor’s note: If you like Judy Kim’s guide to Netherworld, be sure to check out more haunted house reviews from her in the issues leading up to Halloween.

– Jhoni Jackson

One of the many frightening creatures at Netherworld.

ceiling. A disemboweled body lies in a bathtub filled with blood, and intestines line the floor before you meet the Mangler, the freak behind the butchering. Obviously, this one’s not meant for the easily queasy. Inside Dead Salvage, there’s the Acid Room, the Drowning Tank and the Flesh Compactor; are all notably frightening attractions. The explicit, stomach-churning gore makes you feel like you’ve been transported into a Rob Zombie movie.

The secondary house costs $5 extra. The space itself is a lot smaller than the Gargoyle Maze and it only employs 23 actors total. For only a few extra bucks, Dead Salvage is a good start as an introductory taste to the main event.

But Halloween season is only

Judy Kim • Signal

about a month long. What do the Netherworld organizers do during the other 11 months?

“It takes the whole year to set up this place,” co-founder Ben Armstrong said.

And their hard work surely shows. The elaborate costuming, the seriousness of the actors and the various intricate, creepy environments all make for an unforgettable night of terror.

Tickets for Netherworld’s Gargoyle Maze are $22.

Admission to both the Gargoyle Maze and Dead Salvage is $27.

Guests can pay $50 for a speed pass, which allows them to skip the entry line. For more information about Netherworld, visit www.fearworld.com.

Spook scale—from one (lowest) to five (highest) Fright factor: 5 Gore rating: 4.5 Worth your money?: Yes

Chance

Cont. from page 13

“If I [were] going to assume Leopold Bloom as this man who walks through Dublin, I may want to obscure my identity and I thought, if I put mirrors on myself, the reflections of the city will enable me to disappear,” Derr said. “But at the same time, mirrors have this duality—they allow my presence to become a spectacle.

When I step out into the daylight and the sun hits my suit, I look like a disco ball.”

Derr has performed Chance in a number of different cities around the world—Argentina, Finland, Canada, Denmark and in U.S. cities.

Aside from Chance, Derr has participated in a number of group exhibitions and performed various works around the globe.

The artist’s work was featured in ASPECT: The Chronicle of New Media Art Magazine. He is also a professor at Ohio State University.

Derr hopes to continue performing Chance in the future, but is apprehensive about the idea of bringing the performance

to new cities. The idea of having a record of one particular place in two different times appeals most to this artist. “[I am] documenting how a city changes and if I do the walk in 10 to 20 years, I can see what has happened to the city through the change of time,” Deer said.

Derr hopes to create a category of this performance in what he calls Chance Capitals. The artist’s goal is to conduct the walk in all 50 capitals of the U.S. and catalog the cross-sections of those cities.

This time around, Derr was invited by Flux Projects to perform Chance in the city of Atlanta.

Flux Projects is an Atlanta-based organization whose main objective is to support artists in creating innovative and temporary public art. Derr will begin his walk at approximately 12:15 p.m. in Woodruff Park, near the game tables.

“I hope that the readers get interested and come out and see where the route takes me so that they can become a part of the fabric of Atlanta,” said Derr. “I’m a walking spectacle on the sidewalk.”

ENTERTAINMENT

www.gsusignal.com/entertainment

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

by attempting to prove himself worthy with the filler track “Lick the Box.” While it could very well be a club jam, the song is too forced and sloppy to stand on its own.

But Trunk Muzik is more than the flaccid attempts of another white rapper trying too hard. This southern boy comes hard with a sincere mix of lyrical style and beats that will have you frying up a catfish dinner in no time.

ALBUMS IN HEAVY ROTATION 01

Tomorrow Morning Eels (e works)

02

Phosphene Dream The Black Angels (Blue Horizon)

03

Drawing Down the Moon Azure Ray (Saddle Creek)

04

Little Songs About the Big Picture The Red River (Brave)

Poppy drum-driven folk that makes you want to run barefoot through a moonlit forest.

Yelawolf

Trunk Muzik

05

The Orchard Ra Ra Riot (Barsuk)

06

Rivers Wildbirds and Peacedrums (The Control Group)

By ANNABELLA JEAN-LAURENT Staff Writer

07

Tall Hours in the Glowstream Cotton Jones (Suicide Squeeze)

08

Skit I Allt Dungen (Mexican Summer)

09

Sex with an X The Vaselines (Sub Pop)

10

Crazy for You Best Coast (Mexican Summer)

Underneath the ‘80s mullet and profusion of rainbow-colored body ink is Yelawolf, southern hiphop’s new punk-rap wild child whose latest mixtape, Trunk Muzik, earned him a deal with major label Interscope Records earlier this year.

The 31-year-old Gadsden, Ala., native takes his southern roots seriously. In his fourth mixtape, which features a 12-track barrage of ridiculously heavy, bassbumping beats, Yela wants people to know three things he loves: catfish, Chevys and hip-hop.

Yela samples beats from the likes of The Doors to Pink Floyd, and his charismatic blend of rap, rock and new-boy punk holds true in Trunk Muzik. The opening track, “Mixin’ up the Medicine,” features Harlem rapper Juelz Santana and samples Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” The song is a fast-paced dual crossfire in which Yela takes the crown. While it’s not a battle, Santana can barely keep up with the newcomer, whose lyrics are consistently detailed and strong.

A better collaborative effort is in the Bun B feature “Good to Go,” where Yela boasts about his “Walk like a pimp and talk with a lingo,” and insists he’ll be partying “with a bunch of girls in a Pinto.”

On “Pop the Truck,” the album’s darkest narrative, demands comparisons to Eminem (something often noted in the media. But with all the brutal things Eminem had to say about the dreary pits of trailer park living in Detroit, Mich., Yelawolf finds pride in the foothills of ‘Bama: “Looks like daddy caught the motherf***er that tried to sneak in and steal his ammo/They don’t know that old man don’t hold or throw hands/‘Naw he’s rough like a Brilo.”

“Box Chevy,” which boasts an appearance from Rittz, is a rotating favorite. The smooth-like-scotch listen has Yela professing his love for the classic ride: “Tilted off Jim Beam/My wheels are super clean/ And I wanna see the back of your jeans/In my box Chevy.”

While most of the album stays true to the dirty drawls of the lean rapper, Yela disses his fans

Swedish-born rock that ranges from dreamy to jazzy to rough to folk-like.

11

Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed Pale Sketcher (Ghostly International)

12

Frankie Rose and the Outs Frankie Rose and the Outs (Slumberland)

13

Music for a While Revolver (Astralwerks)

14

The Suburbs Arcade Fire (Merge)

15

The Budos Band III The Budos Band (Daptone)

16

Crown of Thorns Rakaa (Decon)

17

Beast Rest Forth Mouth Remixed Bear in Heaven (Hometapes)

18

False Priest Of Montreal (Polyvinyl)

19

Wilderness Heart Black Mountain (Jagjaguwar)

20

Elf Power Elf Power (Orange Twin)

21

Penny Sparkle Blonde Redhead (4AD)

22

Airtight’s Revenge Bilal (Plug Research)

23

Strange Weather, Isn’t It? !!! (Warp)

24

Lucky Shiner Gold Panda (Ghostly International)

25

Blind Threshold Beats Antique

26

Business Casual Chromeo (Atlantic)

27

Pop Negro El Guincho (Young Turks)

28

Tidelands Moondoggies (Hardly Art)

29

Everything in Between No Age (Sub Pop)

30

Hot Tropics The Growlers (Everloving)

An Athens-based folkpop band with frequent psychedelic tendencies.

This artist, who often performs with Common, offers a smooth, mostly upbeat brand of jazzy neo-soul.

Blending mismatched genres—Middle Eastern, hip-hop, glitch—in a dubstep mindset is this act’s specialty.

Interscope Records

Curren$y Pilot Talk

Damon Dash

By JUNIA ABAIDOO Staff Writer Don’t be alarmed if you’ve never heard the name Curren$y.

While the rapper has been in the conversations of many hip-hop enthusiasts for the past couple of years, and it’s true that he’s been actively appearing on the major music scene since 2000, Curren$y has in no way hit the mainstream.

In his smooth, meditative major label debut, Pilot Talk, Curren$y takes his first big step to doing just that.

For many years, Curren$y was a sidekick, second fiddle on the then brand-new Lil Wayne headed label, Young Money. It was only when his former mentor threw him a bone that he got the opportunity to display his talents. After his Young Money era, Curren$y followed the blueprint set by many rappers before him, rising to relevance by releasing a string of free albums, at one point releasing the mixtapes monthly. This exposure led him to form an alliance with fellow selfproclaimed pothead, Wiz Khalifa, and to join forces with Def Jam. All of the sudden, Curren$y was back in the public scope, setting the stage for Pilot Talk.

Pilot Talk is actually Curren$y’s third studio album. The album opens with the rock influenced “Example,” which features heavy electric guitar and sets the album off on the right foot. Curren$y brags that he’s “an example of what can happen when you quit being afraid to gamble.”

The album features executive production by Damon Dash and Ski Beatz. Though it is a hip-hop and rap album, Pilot Talk features silky instrumentals that often times mesh effortlessly with Curren$y’s raspy but tranquil voice. This tactic

15

best heard on gems like “Audio Dope II,” “Breakfast,” and “The Day.” The latter is by far the best track on the album, and Curren$y enlists some help from hip-hop legend Mos Def and the rising Jay Electronica.

While most songs are packaged well and shed adequate light on Curren$y’s effortless flow, lyrically the album lacks— tremendously. He pushes himself to what is probably his full lyrical potential in “Life Under the Scope” with less than amazing lines like, “Incense and fresh linen/I spit a complex venom/The real n**gas it strengthens/The fake n**gas it kills them.” Occasionally, Curren$y fails to even rhyme line to line, like on “The Hangover,” “Prioritize” and “Chilled Coughphee.”

Curren$y and his Smokers Club Tour makes a stop at the Loft (1374 West Peachtree St.) on Saturday, Oct. 16. Other acts include Big K.R.I.T and Smoke DZA. The all-ages show costs $15 in advance, or $25 at the door.

Carnivores Cont. from page 13 step where a demo tape can be thrown around and they can blow up without that hard work.

Nathaniel: “I feel like they will pay the price for that later.”

Caitlin: “I don’t think they’ll have the same kind of longevity.”

How do you feel Atlanta is as a music scene?

Philip: “I think it’s more friendly then it’s been the last five years.

Everybody knows each other, there’s no division despite genre differences.

Everyone works together pretty nicely.”

Nathaniel: “I think everyone knows that Deerhunter and the Black Lips did it because they toured a lot and worked hard. They have achieved that. It’s like ‘hey, maybe we could do that too even though we’re so far away from New York’.

If you were to describe If I’m Ancient to someone who’s never heard you guys before, how would you describe it?

Philip: “It’s a hard question, It has a wide variety of sounds and styles yet it all works cohesively as an album.”

Nathaniel: “Listen to it start to finish.”

Ross: “A lot of what we had before, plus a lot more.”

Caitlin: “At the heart, they’re just really good pop songs.”

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

www.gsusignal.com/entertainment

ENTERTAINMENT

ATLANTA EVENTS October 12-19, 2010

DATE Wednesday

OCT. 13

Focus Features/Misher Films/Wayfare Entertainment Zach Galifianakis (right) as Bobby and Keir Gilchrist (left) as Craig in It’s Kind of a Funny Story.

Leave it to a Zach Galifianakis film to make light of mental instability. In It’s Kind of a Funny Story, the funnyman plays Bobby, a troubled but comedic patient at a psychiatric hospital who extends his often-humorous advice 16-yearold Craig (Keir Gilchrist), the main character.

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the film is an adaptation of a Ned Vizzini novel of the same name. In Vizzini’s work, Bobby doesn’t exist—at least, not with the same name, or even as a sidecharacter. The novel’s plot slaps a ray of sunshine on depression with its messages of hope despite despair, and Boden and Fleck’s addition of comedic relief from Bobby supplies more doses of fluff than viewers see patients popping meds.

Craig narrates the story of his teenage depression, which he surmises is a result of relatable pressures: school, friends and family. His problems involve no domestic strife, drug abuse or other monumental issues—he simply feels overstressed and hopeless.

And, like many struggling teens, Craig feels his problems are uniquely insurmountable. Under overwhelming pressure, Craig’s checks himself into a psych ward.

That’s where Bobby comes in. Due to hospital renovations, the adult and youth psychiatric inpatients are housed together.

It temporarily shatters the suspension of disbelief required to become engrossed in a film—it’s hard to believe such a situation would ever occur, especially in a seemingly state-run facility. Broken verisimilitude aside, Bobby offers Craig help from the start about life, coping with his maladies and girls (Noelle, a same-aged cutter and Craig’s love interest, is played by Emma Roberts).

Other patients at the ward include a noise-sensitive Hasidic Jew who lost mental control after dropping too much acid, a guy (Matthew Maher) who inadvertently makes a beaver joke in the program’s art workshop and an Egyptian man who’s perpetually asleep.

The abundance of silly characters exaggerated for comedic purposes bends the film’s take on depression into an almost offensive angle. Craig’s catapult from suicidal to hopeful and positive is fast, and easily assisted by connecting with Bobby and other patients. The film begs the question: Are mental disorders and diseases, as a whole, not such a big deal?

Clearly, mental ills are more complex and difficult to overcome than It’s Kind of a Funny Story suggests. They can, in the worst of scenarios, shred a person’s life in a way that makes regrouping impossible.

But Bobby provides some realism, especially when a visit from his child and her mother ends terribly. It’s obvious that Bobby’s unstable mindset has left him with long-term, life-altering results.

In a phone interview where The Signal and other college publications spoke with Galifianakis, Gilchrist and the film’s directors, Galifianakis revealed a potential reason why Bobby’s character feels genuine: he studied actual mental facility patients.

“I went to a couple of mental facilities in New Mexico. [I] kind of observed, and took some notes and asked some questions…I noticed a couple of people in these facilities that seem like they could function on the outside, and I kind of think that Bobby could function on the outside—but he does have the possibility of snapping,” he said.

Craig appears susceptible to the same behavior before entering the ward—an attempt to end his own life is what landed him there—but, during his brief stint, relationships with other patients assuage his pain and rotate his perspective to a more stable place.

“I think [the message] has to do with not feeling alone. You know, internalizing your problems.

It’s very easy for us to think that our problems are our own, and no one else is going through something similar. And I think that opening up and sharing is okay,” Fleck said.

Relationships, like Bobby’s somewhat unfit mentorship to Craig, can be life-saving. But more often, intimate connections aren’t an end-all solution.

Stuff You Should Know All-Star Trivia Night

5 Seasons Brewery, 1000 Marietta St. 6 p.m.-9 p.m.

Free, all ages Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, the duo behind Stuff You Should Know (a blog run by the fact-driven website, How Stuff Works), host a trivia night with a few special guests: John Hodgman of The Daily Show, The Onion’s Joe Randazzo and Aqua Teen Hunger Force cocreator Dave Willis. Scoutmob has a 50 percent off deal at the restaurant, so get a team together and nosh on good eats while you try beating the pants off these smarties.

That’s What He Said Guy Panel

Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, 535 Means St. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. $20, all ages Atlanta’s Date Night Magazine presents a dating discussion with Blane Bachelor (of the Sunday Paper’s Ask a Bachelor column), Wes Hayden of ABC’s Bachelor Pad and The Bachelorette and others. Admission guarantees cocktails and food. Splurge on a VIP ticket ($40) for entry at 6 p.m. and an autograph from Hayden.

‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’: depression isn’t so bad

By JHONI JACKSON Entertainment Editor

EVENT

Thursday

Goth Night: Halloween Edition

OCT. 14

Mary’s, 1287 Glenwood Ave. 9 p.m.

Free, 21-and-up Get your goth on at Mary’s, where DJs will be spinning death rock, industrial, all the waves (new, old, dark), post-punk and, of course, goth.

Friday

Little Five Points Halloween Parade and Festival

OCT. 15

Euclid and Moreland Avenue 5 p.m.

Free, all ages Cinetrope, Blue Eyed Goodbyes, The Pinx and more play in Findley Plaza on the first day of this year’s shindig. Some 35,000 folks show up in the alt-culture neighborhood for music, food, drinks and an early opportunity to slip into a seasonal (and maybe spooky) get-up.

Saturday

Little Five Points Halloween Parade and Festival

OCT. 16

Euclid and Moreland Avenue Noon Free, all ages Saturday’s events start early with The Shathouse Rats, Abby GoGo, The Booze and more than 15 other acts on three outdoor stages. Don’t miss the parade at 4 p.m.—it’s a wacky, scary and hilarious strut of local businesses who take the whole shebang seriously.

Passport’s “Backtrack” video shoot

House of Blind, 491 Flat Shoals Ave. 9 p.m.

Free, all ages Ever wanted to be in a music video? Now’s your chance! Local rap and R&B trio Passport is holding a public shoot at an East Atlanta boutique. Show up looking fly, and maybe you’ll end up in the spotlight.

Sunday

Atlanta Streets Alive!

OCT. 17

Woodruff Park 1 p.m.-6 p.m.

Free, all ages Bust out your ‘blades, board or bike and join other nonautomotive enthusiasts for the second annual afternoon of manual activity in the city streets. The kickoff is at the closeto-campus Woodruff Park, and the route consumes nearby Edgewood Avenue and Randolph Street. Enjoy sporty endeavors like jump rope, double-dutch and Frisbee, plus food from the Atlanta Street Food Coalition’s sidewalk vendors.

Monday

School of Seven Bells, Active Child

OCT. 18

The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Ave. 8:30 p.m. $12, 21-and-up The twin sister duo who harmonize their airy voices into electronic-tinged dream-pop bliss are not only memorable hook masters, but they’re also gorgeous ladies. Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines is the third element in the band, who’ll likely put on an engaging (and aesthetically-pleasing) show that will be entirely worth your cash.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story doesn’t offer a realistic portrayal of a psychiatric hospital, nor does it develop an accurate picture of depression or other mental problems. It does, however, provide a few stories—mainly in Craig and Bobby—that might resonate with a variety of audiences.

And if viewers can ignore the film’s missteps, the story is kind of funny.

PERSPECTIVES

Perspectives Editor Syeda Hira Mahmood

signalperspectives@gmail.com

www.gsusignal.com/perspectives

Gay bashing needs to be addressed Neal Boortz is such a bully!

By ASHLEIGH ATWELL Staff Writer

By EMMA HARGER Copy Editor

Tyler Clementi had a bright future ahead of him. A freshman at Rutgers University, Clementi was a talented violinist and, according to one friend, he had “very good potential”.

Sadly, that potential will never be realized because on Sept. 22, Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey. It is alleged that he was motivated to end his life after his roommate filmed a romantic encounter between Clementi and another young man. Clementi’s suicide was one of five in a span of three weeks.

I was hurt when I heard about Clementi and shocked when I heard about the other deaths. After all, there are people that would argue that gay bashing is not that big of an issue. I beg to differ.

Adolescence and young adulthood are turbulent times in a person’s life. During that time, most people are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe in and who they love. One of the biggest hurdles is sexuality.

Contrary to some what people may believe, people do not just wake up one day and say “I’m straight!” or “I’m gay!” Many LGBT people endure personal turmoil because their desires, urges and attractions are contradictory to their upbringings or what society deems as the norm. Many of them are able to come to terms with it and many are not.

Clementi might have been part of the latter category. After all, from what I have read, no one knew he was attracted to men until this story broke. No one knew what was going through his mind as he struggled with his sexuality. No one knows what he was thinking when he jumped off that bridge and no one will ever know.

Clementi might have been scared to come out because he was scared of the embarrassment he probably felt when he saw his intimate moment plastered on the Internet. Maybe he was afraid of receiving the same treatment that 13-year-old Seth Walsh was subjected to that caused him to be homeschooled and ultimately led to his death.

Perhaps he was afraid to come out because he did not think he would have a support system or that he would be disowned or shunned. He might have been afraid to come out because he did not think he would be able to deal with the bullying, stereotyping, hatred and damnation that many gay people have endured.

I hope the deaths of Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown and Raymond Chase will not be in vain. I hope that these

Radio and print bully Neal Boortz gets more than his fair share of publicity, between his daily WSB talk radio show and his Saturday columns in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on a page of “community voices.” Boortz’s condescending, cruel voice simply doesn’t fit in well on that page and I have routinely written unanswered letters of complaint to the paper about them.

Recently, though, he has gone too far in his demagoguery: he is now attacking writers at college newspapers!

In his column “Student columnist must get schooled,” Boortz attacks Crystal Villareal, a columnist with the University of Georgia’s paper The Red and Black.

He refers to her by a pseudonym— false safety, considering how viciously he attacks her—so he calls her Prunella. But since it was easy to find her real name, I’m going to use it instead.

He begins by attacking Villareal’s double major, which is in magazines and women’s studies.

To him, neither of these are valid forms of study, although of course many magazines are still profitable in this economy and someone has to know how to manage and write them! At UGA, Grady College offers many specific journalism programs of study, including, indeed, magazines.

Also, a women’s studies professor at Wellesley College just exposed a scandal about experiments on Guatemalans in the 1940s where they were intentionally infected with STDs, echoing the Tuskegee experiments.

Facebook Tyler Clementi’s death was one of the five deaths in the LGBT community in the last month to draw media attention.

deaths will help people see that LGBT people need support. No one should be driven to kill themselves because people are intolerant and hateful. LGBT people should be able to live their lives without having to look over their shoulders all the time.

I know that there are people in this world who do not condone homosexuality and that is fine. I am not trying to condemn anyone’s beliefs. However, no one deserves to be harassed because of who they choose to love. I do not like a lot of things people do, but I do not go around calling people derogatory names and beat them up because they are different from me or do something that I do not approve of.

I also hope these cases raise awareness of the effects that a type of bullying can have on people. When I was younger, I was taunted and teased. People made comments about everything from my stature to my intelligence to my personality. Although I did not experience turmoil that could have led me to harm myself, my self esteem was affected.

I would wear jackets to conceal my arms because I thought they were too small and they would cause people to make skinny jokes again. I would do what I could to assimilate and make myself invisible. I did these things because of words, so I can only imagine what I would have done if someone put their hands on me.

Like most schools, my schools had zero-tolerance policies for bullying but from what I saw, they were not enforced. I still saw kids being taunted and the only punishment that was administered to the bullies were verbal reprimands and the occasional in-

school suspension.

Last year, two 11-year old boys who attended school in DeKalb County killed themselves because they were taunted by students who thought they were gay. According to WSB-TV, one of the children, Jaheem Herrera, and his mother, Masika Bermudez, reported the behavior to school officials and nothing was done.

Evidently, Bermudez had a conversation with one of her son’s friends. “He said, ‘Yes ma’am. He told me that he’s tired of everybody always messing with him in school.

He is tired of telling the teachers and the staff, and they never do anything about the problems.

So, the only way out is by killing himself,” she said. Bullying is a serious issue. There are countless others, gay or not, who have been driven to suicide and other drastic actions because they were bullied. The bullying does not stop on campuses. Students have been subjected to harassment at home because of the Internet.

Megan Meier and Phoebe Price both committed suicide because they were bullied at school and online. This has to stop. Too many people have died because someone thought it would be funny to post something on Facebook, to push someone into a locker or yell “faggot” down a hallway. Bullies need to be held accountable. People should be able to get an education without having to worry about having a wad of paper thrown at the back of their head. A teenager should be able to log into their Facebook or Twitter without a knot in their stomach. Bullying needs to stop and assailants need to be held accountable.

Boortz spending so much time attacking Villareal’s majors is incongruous. He should just critique the arguments she made, not make ad hominem attacks against her, but he spends quite a lot of space attacking her as a person.

When he’s not making fun of what she studies, he cherry-picks bits of her column, “Think before you shop at Wal-Mart,” to critique.

She argues that Wal-Mart has ethical problems. She tells stories of her hometown and how small businesses were run out of town when ‘Wallyworld’ moved in.

Sadly, this happens all over the country, especially in more rural communities where Wal-Mart often becomes the only game in town.

She discusses outsourcing and Wal-Mart’s behavior towards its employees, classifying many as part-time so they don’t have to give them health benefits. In fact, WalMart employees and their families make up an enormous amount of enrollees in PeachCare, Georgia’s Medicaid-like system for children.

Their wages are too high for Medicaid but too low for normal insurance, thanks to this “everyone is part-time” policy. Wal-Mart also routinely pays women less than men and often doesn’t promote women past a certain point.

In summary, she makes good arguments and frames them in terms of ethical and moral issues around Wal-Mart. I’m with her, I think we have an obligation to seek out companies with good ethics and give them our money. We also have an obligation to relentlessly question everything.

Boortz retorts with, basically, Cont. on page 18

Boortz

Mandel Ngan Neal Boortz criticized a University of Georgia student for her opinion on WalMart.

18

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

www.gsusignal.com/perspectives

EDITORIAL CONTENT

PERSPECTIVES

THE SIGNAL IS HIRING! Job applications are now available for: Assistant Production Editor Associate Section Editors (News, Sports, Perspectives) Staff Writers Photographers Editorial Cartoonists Applications available online at www.gsu.edu/studentmedia

Caitie Elle Sofia Lipko and other supporters talk to Dr. Douglass Covey about Sodexo’s role at Georgia State.

Why we need to clean up Sodexo

By SYEDA HIRA MAHMOOD Perspectives Editor I’ve been going to Georgia State for almost four years. I thought I knew this school pretty well, but thanks to an eye-opening experience this fall semester has given me, I found that there is still a lot to learn about Georgia State.

For example, I learned that Georgia State’s Student Government Association does not have the student body’s best interests in mind. If they did, SGA would have tried harder to include Georgia State in the student-led debate where both Georgia Tech and University of Georgia were represented. A large portion of the student body doesn’t even know what SGA does.

I also learned that Georgia State has a police exchange program with Israel called GILEE, the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, which is privately funded. Many students and professors at Georgia State have expressed concerns over the program but important questions remain unanswered.

To add to the list, Georgia State also employs workers through a private contracted company called Sodexo, a leading provider of integrated food and facilities management services. Sodexo began in 1966 and has grown into a large multinational corporation serving government agencies,

SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

private corporations, hospitals and schools.

Though Sodexo cafeteria employees and Georgia State cafeteria employees work side by side, the difference in their pay, health care benefits and freedom is limited and debasing. The Sodexo workforce does not have access to affordable healthcare. The company pays their employees low wages and has been accused of anti-union behavior and illegal labor practices.

2010 has been a year of turmoil for Sodexo, but a success for the Sodexo employees, who are getting increasing student support. In April, Ohio State University Sodexo workers went on strike in protest of Sodexo’s alleged unfair labor practices. That same month, 200 Sodexo employees went on strike at the University of Pittsburgh.

Just last week, Sodexo employees and student activists protested at Morehouse College, where students were refused permission to deliver a signed petition to the school’s president.

On Oct. 7, Georgia State’s student body and Sodexo workers took action. Students and workers marched through the cafeteria in the University Center and went to President Becker’s office in Dahlberg Hall to deliver a letter addressing their concerns about the treatment of Sodexo workers.

Sofia Lipko, a graduate student and organizer at Georgia State,

took up the Sodexo campaign and has been working tirelessly with neighboring Atlanta schools such as Emory, Clark and Agnes Scott to get rid of Sodexo’s presence.

Georgia State Sodexo workers and student supporters do not yet know the outcome from their day of action on Oct. 7, but one way they can measure success is by the face-to-face discussion with Becker himself and the Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Douglass F. Covey.

“We just want you to know that this is something that concerns us as students, and now that you are aware of the situation, we expect a prompt response,” Lipko said to Becker.

The Clean Up Sodexo campaign is gaining more momentum than ever. With protests taking place on campuses nationwide, it is important that Georgia State remains engaged and involved in the important dialogue to ensure workers’ rights.

Keep in mind that Sodexo workers are not demanding anything extravagant. They simply want higher wages and lowercost healthcare insurance plans.

It’s shameful that Georgia State students and faculty are served food by cafeteria workers whose demands are not being met.

“This is just the beginning,” Lipko said. “This is only the first step.”

Boortz

Cont. from page 17

“you silly little girl, you don’t understand the free market” and the “no one is forcing her to shop at Wal-Mart” defense. She probably doesn’t even shop there, but wants to inform others about why they might not want to. Where’s the harm in that? Wanting to persuade is the basis of the column.

In response to her discussion of outsourcing, he shoots back that businesses are in business to make money, not hire people. In an economy with millions of people out of jobs, five applicants for every position and some job openings that say “the unemployed will not be considered,” taking the side of outsourcing is especially heartless.

He then insults her intelligence, presumes she doesn’t understand how the pricing of shoes works— oh, because she’s a woman, he has to use the shoes example?—seems to think that “magazine” is a single class and ends it with hoping she

isn’t registered to vote.

You know what, Boortz? I hope she IS registered to vote because she deserves to have her voice heard just as much as you do.

Why has he sunk so low as to attack, insult and stereotype a college newspaper columnist?

The Red and Black has replied in an admirable fashion to this bullying: in addition to editorin-chief Daniel Burnett voicing support, Villareal’s professor Conrad Fink, wrote a touching article expressing his pride in her.

I don’t know if she’ll ever read this, but we’re with you at The Signal, Crystal. I wrote an editorial over the summer for Creative Loafing and received some pretty harsh responses to it. They hurt, and you have every right to feel upset and hurt that this bully is targeting you.

But, in the end, we write about controversial things, we deal with the haters, we keep our heads up and we keep writing.

The following guidelines must be followed when submitting a Letter to the Editor. Failure to follow them will result in your letter not being considered for publication.

Letters must be submitted either online at www.gsusignal.com/perspectives or directly to the Perspectives Editor via e-mail and must include the text of the letter in the body of the message. • Letters should be 200-400 words maximum. The Signal will allow longer letters, but only in rare circumstances. • Letters must include the full name(s) of the writer(s) and include their year and major. If the writer is a faculty member, they must include their title and department. • Letters will be fact-checked prior to publication. The writer may be obligated to make changes to the letter for publication. • Letters will be edited for grammar, clarity, length, factual accuracy and adherence to Signal policy. • The Signal reserves the right to reject letters at the discretion of the editorial staff.

PERSPECTIVES

www.gsusignal.com/perspectives

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

19

CNN anchor attacks Daily Show, loses job

By MICHAEL RABALAIS Staff Writer CNN anchor Rick Sanchez lost his job after making inflammatory remarks against The Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Sanchez, during an interview on Stand Up! With Pete Dominick, labeled Stewart as a bigot, claiming that he was “upset that someone of my ilk, is at almost his level,” referring specifically to Sanchez’s Hispanic heritage and childhood.

Sanchez, who has spoken at length about growing up in the lower class, claims that Stewart’s middle class upbringing has made him oblivious to the struggles of others. He took specific offense to The Daily Show, as Stewart puts it, “poking fun at his extremely pokable show.” He then ended his interview by claiming that the Jewish race is not oppressed or a minority, claiming that Jews run the media and trying to retract his use of the word bigot.

The final episode of Rick’s List, Sanchez’s show, was hosted by contributor Brooke Baldwin, with no mention of Sanchez’s rant the night before. CNN announced the next day that Sanchez’s statement had resulted in his termination from the network and the cancellation of his show.

I found the whole debacle hilarious, especially after the controversy sparked a segment

on the following episode of The Daily Show, in which the CNN host was compared to Michael Scott, the bumbling manager on NBC’s The Office. Stewart handled the pressure in the way he was expected to: by making light of it on cable television.

The controversy drips with irony as well. Sanchez went on his tirade barely a month before Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity,” a demonstration meant to give a voice to those not embroiled in feverish partisan politics. It’s ironic that Rick Sanchez was worried about Stewart’s power over his audience, quoting an article from Time Magazine that claimed most Americans got their news from mock news outlets.

I had never heard of Rick Sanchez before I saw him on The Daily Show. It’s ironic that he had a segment on his show in which he criticized people’s actions and comments, especially considering that his biggest grievance was Stewart’s mockery of others. It’s ironic that he called out Jews for running the media when CNN president Jim Walton and founder Ted Turner are not and have never been Jewish.

The most salient point I’ve heard, however, was from Pete Dominick, who hosted the radio show where Sanchez spoke.

Dominick argues that, as a comedian, it’s Stewart’s job to poke

fun at others and I think that’s what Sanchez doesn’t understand.

Stewart, like all Americans, is blessed with the right to free speech, and there’s simply nothing anyone can do about that.

While Sanchez may believe that The Daily Show is slanderous, most of the show’s content comes from dissecting the statements of others, a practice Sanchez himself engaged in on Rick’s List. The only difference between the two hosts is that Stewart doesn’t take himself seriously, and as it turns out, that’s the key to winning an audience.

It was Sanchez’s use of the word bigot, however, that bothered me the most. Bigot is a word that should be reserved for only the most deranged and dangerous of our population, not a comedian who upset a CNN anchor. On the episode of The Daily Show following Sanchez’s outburst, Stewart showed a clip in which Sanchez used the word bigot in reference to a known neo-Nazi and anti-Semite. Considering that Stewart, who Sanchez has marked as hateful and insensitive, hosted an autism awareness fundraiser the same weekend, it hardly seems like an act of bigotry to me.

All this drama raises the question: Why is it that mock news sources hold such power over their audiences? When it comes right down to it, we simply don’t have that much in common with Stewart

Mazur/CNN Rick Sanchez’z calling Jon Stewart a bigot was tasteless and insensitive.

or Stephen Colbert, yet we clamor for their opinion, buy their books and watch their shows. As I see it, it comes down to majority of opinion.

Most Americans are selfdeclared moderates, and as a result feel isolated by shows leaning to any single ideology. I’ve never watched the Glenn Beck show, but I’ve certainly heard enough about it to know that I don’t believe much of what he says. The Daily Show, on the other hand, presents an opinion completely palatable to anyone with a sense of humor. Comedy Central has found a universal language in comedy, whereas Fox and CNN rely on polarizing their audiences and making specific shows to appeal to subsets within

them.

As Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” draws closer and closer, it will be interesting to see the public’s reaction. Expecting any major news network to change their programming is unrealistic.

They are businesses and make their money by presenting a single ideology.

A far more likely result is a more vocal group of like-minded moderates. Such a contingency might make for a really boring talk show, but would surely make a very interesting grassroots movement.

Can Stewart, a comedian, really give voice to a quiet majority? We may have an answer sooner than we thought.

Mason Graduate Studies Welcomes Georgia State Panthers You may know Mason as a dynamic university just outside of Washington, D.C., but…

DiD you know • Mason was ranked again as a top five Up-and-Coming University in 2011 by U.S.News & World Report.

where innovation is Tradition

• Mason School of Law is ranked among the top law schools in the nation and youngest law school ever to be ranked.

• Mason graduate programs in computer science, education, and industrial/organizational psychology, and several others are nationally ranked by U.S.News & World Report.

• Mason has more than 150 graduate programs in education, business, health, law, sciences, liberal arts, engineering, policy, arts, and many more.

• Mason has committed to $500 million in new construction on its campuses, including a new conference center and hotel, new residence halls, and new research facilities.

• Mason is now the largest university in Virginia and has built a stellar reputation in the region, the nation, and the world.

To find out more about Mason graduate programs, request information, or apply online, please visit admissions.gmu.edu/grad.

Stop by our table at the Graduate School Fair on campus on October 19th.

What’ s Happening ! s u p m a C on Supported by Student Activity Fees

STUDENT ORGANIZATION ROOMS AVAILABLE Application Deadline: October 15 Chartered student organizations interested in leasing a room on the fourth floor of the University Center may now submit an application in 360 Student Center.

For application forms or more information, contact Lesia Chandler at 404/413-1862.

LEADERSH IP DEVELOPMENT Organizational Goal Setting

Wednesday, October 13, Noon Lucerne Suite, Student Center What goals do you have for your organization? If you don’t know your goals, then how do you plan to accomplish your mission?

In this session, you will learn how to set SMART goals and publicize those goals to others.

Za n ny M i n

Ec o n om ic s E

t o n-Be ddo e s

dit o r, “Th e E

c o n om is t ”

Stress Testing America‛s Prosperity

by Zanny Minton-Beddoes Registration is open for the 45th ANNUAL LEADERSHIP CONCLAVE Saturday, October 30, 2010 www2.gsu.edu/leadership

SERIES E G A T S D R A Y T R U O C Floor Student Center, First Pianist Trey Griffrsinda, yC, laOctssobicaerl 14 Thu 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Guitar ic st u co A r, e ck a h T m a S sday, October 13 Wedne 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Whale Done! Tips on Motivating Others Thursday, October 14, 3 p.m.

Lucerne Suite, Student Center What do you have in common with a 5-ton killer whale, you ask? Well, both whales and people perform better when you accentuate the positive. In this session, you will learn motivational techniques of animal trainers and how to make the members of your organization more effective!

Monday, October 18, 3 p.m.

Student Center Ballroom For details, visit www.gsu.edu/studentevents

StudentIES:Activities

ORGANIZATION ROUNDTABLE LEADERSHIP LUNCH SER Thursday, November 4 “Event Planning’ Noon - 1 p.m.

Thursday, October 21, Noon - 1 p.m. 235 Univ ersity Center 465 University Center ivities events through R.S.V.P. for Student Act OrgSync at http://gsu.orgsync.com

Guitar ic st u co A , ia nd u M nn e J day, October 19 Tues 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

ive Rock t a rn e lt A , y t vi ra C i im J day, October 19 Tues 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.

SPOTLIGHT CINEFEST 6th Atlanta Asian Film Festival

“Lost Harmony” – Tuesday, October 12, 4 p.m.

“All About Dad” – Thursday, October 14, 6 p.m.

“Miracle Banana” – Saturday, October 16, 6 p.m.

for ws free All sho e University Stat s Georgia ith ID. Guest w s t n e . stud re 5 p.m $3 befo r 5 p.m. afte tion, and $5 informa t. e r o m r fes o e F .edu/cin visit gsu