The Signal Vol. 83 No.14

DEC. 1 - DEC. 8, 2015 VOL. 83 | NO. 14

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Hello Winter Brrrrrr, it’s cold in here. Pack up the halter tops and shorts.

We give you a wintery guide to keep you warm.

Arts & Living | 10-11

PHOTO BY JUSTIN CLAY | THE SIGNAL

Inside Flashing blue lights

What choice and why

GSUPD dropped over $200,000 on emergency call boxes across campus.

Was it worth it?

College is not only a time to break free. It’s also a time where the choices we make either help us or hurt us in the future.

News | Page 3

artistic playground

GSU Vs. GSU

Eyedrum is a non-profit venue displaying local art and music.

Its diverse content ignites the art scene of the city.

The football team faces Georgia Southern in the season finale with bowl game eligibiity on the line.

A&L | page 9

Opinion| Page 7

DAILY NEWS AT WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

News 3

Opinion 7

Arts & Living 9

Sports | pages 18-19 Sports 15

2

NEWS

blotter 1.

still active. The second one was given out at 6:46 p.m. on Decatur Street. That case is cleared.

Nov. 21

Stealing in a taco joint

A non-Georgia State affiliated person was involved in a burglary in the Willy’s Restaurant.

The case is still active and was reported at 1:47 p.m.

2.

3.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

Nov. 21

Feeling free to roam

A non-Georgia State affiliated person was issued a criminal trespass warning and was cited for smelling like marijuana at 2:18 p.m. The incident occurred in the University Commons.

Nov. 23

2.

24 Thievery in the streets 4. Nov. Off-campus, a Georgia State

staff member was involved in a case of theft or lost property.

The case has been cleared and was reported at 9:37 a.m.

5.

Nov. 24 Feeling unsafe

A Georgia State staff member was involved in a case where someone was being threatened or harassed. The incident occurred in the Alumni Center between the days of Nov. 16 at 10:58 a.m. and Nov. 24 at 10:40 p.m.. The case is still active.

criminal tresspass

3.

Two in a day

Two criminal trespass warnings were issued to nonGeorgia State affiliated people.

The first one was given out at 9:59 a.m. in the SunTrust Building. That case is

1.

5.

theft harassment

PHOTO OF THE WEEK The famous SkyView Atlanta ferris wheel lights up in red, white, and blue to show support for France after November’s attacks.

PHOTO BY JUSTIN CLAY | THE SIGNAL

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NEWS

www.georgiastatesignal.com/news

Emergency call boxes leave officers hanging

University Police spent well over $200,000 on an underutilized help system

PHOTO BY JADE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

Calls studied from Jan 01, 2015 to Oct 22, 2015 440/502 calls - Unable to Locate ADDRESS/CALLER, TROUBLE 91 call boxes currently on campus

79 of which are maintained by GSUPD

Total cost: Between $200-300,000 8 Ground-powered call box units: $24,149

8 Solar-powered call box units: $25,653

SEAN KEENAN

Associate News Editor

W

hen university police are summoned by the trigger of an emergency call box alert, 88 percent of the time, police records say, they don’t find out who called.

Since January, Georgia State University Police Department’s (GSUPD) emergency call box phone system has rung 502 times (as of Oct. 22). An open records request filed by The Signal last month revealed that, of those 502 calls, there were 440 occurrences of university police being “unable to locate address/caller, trouble.”

GSUPD Sgt. Sharon Ware of the department’s crime prevention unit said “a lot” of those calls were made by officers testing the hardware.

“A good chunk of that could be us [police] hitting the call boxes because we check ‘em every night to make sure they’re operable,” she said. (It’s unclear whether police tests account for the majority of the unaddressed calls as they’re all logged on the same ledger.)

GSUPD shelled out well over $200,000 to get about 90 Panther blue phone boxes (worth more than $3,000 each) installed around campus, according to receipts given to The Signal by police.

And when the call boxes malfunction due to an old or faulty radio and computer board, they can cost more than $2,700 to fix.

Ware said even though the call box system is underutilized and possibly misused, one saved life would make all those dollar signs worth it.

“The [price] tag does appear like the cost

Estimated price per call box install: >$3,000

is not fitting the results,” she said. “Yeah, we’re spending a lot of money on this, but if it can help one person, then the money was worthwhile.”

However, Ware couldn’t remember any instances of lives saved by the call boxes.

“There have been situations in which a bystander hit the call box because someone was fighting or something and we were able to respond,” she said.

Ware did not know if the police had ever conducted feasibility studies to determine if purchasing 91 call boxes worth $3,000 each were in the best interests of the department and the students it protects.

Can anybody see me?

Due to the lack of nearby camera surveillance, it’s can be impossible for responding officers to determine whether a deserted call box means a false alarm or the trouble has moved.

Ware said GSUPD decided against purchasing the pricier camera-equipped call boxes due to questions of their durability.

“They do have the new call boxes that do have the security cameras on them,” she said. “But when there’s bad weather, it messes up those cameras so we didn’t opt to spend that money for those cameras...because the weather is going to damage them over time.”

Ware assured The Signal that police response times should obsolete most worries of uncertainty in these potentially emergency situations.

“Our response time is so good that, nine time out of ten, we’re gonna catch ‘em because we’re spread out all throughout the downtown area so that when a call box goes off, the dispatcher is alerting the officer closest to that location,” she said.

But Georgia State journalism student

Cost to replace faulty radio and computer board: $2,716

Tyler Karstensen said he thinks GSUPD’s emergency telephone system “works well on paper, but not in practice.”

“It doesn’t work so much like ‘could the button help me?’” he said. “It’s more of like a deterrent. But [in an emergency] the person can’t really stand around there and wait.”

Karstensen said the scantily-used security measure could be improved upon if police would purchase and install surveillance cameras to oversee problem areas, such as the campus parking decks.

“If they’ve already spent all that money putting them up, it couldn’t hurt to put up some cameras within view,” he said, “...if they plan to actually utilize them.”

Karstensen said he’s only heard of two students who actually buzzed into the emergency service -- And one time, he claims, he saw a student open one that didn’t ring.

He thinks many students don’t care to know about the service afforded by the call boxes.

“I’ve heard people thought they were call boxes for the police escort service,” he said.

In fact, dialing into from a call box is one way students can request the university’s safety escort program. But considering the student body doesn’t seem to pay much attention to the emergency system, Karstensen said, it might not be worth the cost.

“I don’t know if it was actually worth spending too much money on because people aren’t really utilizing them. Students naturally think ‘call 911’ instead of hitting the button on the call box,” he said.

Ware said GSUPD needs to make a better effort of informing students how helpful emergency call box systems can be.

“We definitely don’t get a lot of the students, faculty and staff responding through the call boxes, but it’s there for that extra protection,” she said.

NEWS

4

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

Five things to be thankful for in 2016 Georgia State will be implementing new initiatives in the new year CHRISTINA MAXOURIS Staff Reporter

G

eorgia State is steadily moving towards campus improvements for 2016, with new buildings, centers and programs currently being created. University President Mark Becker announced during his State of the University address that the university is one of the leading schools in the country when it comes to innovation. And the faculty and staff are continuously trying to keep that reputation alive.

1. Student Financial Counseling Center

In a Town Hall meeting on Nov. 4, Becker announced that Georgia State will be creating a Student Financial Counseling Center to help students navigate through financial turmoil. This program will be funded by the $2 million grant which the SunTrust Foundation awarded to our university, according to Associate Vice President for Public Relations Andrea Jones.

“SunTrust will provide financial mentors and the center staff will use the system to contact students and develop a series of outreach programs,” she said.

Jones said financial problems is the

main cause of why students drop out.

“The center will also serve as a contact point for financial counseling with low-income and hard-to-reach families that rarely have access to financial guidance from credible institutions,” she said.

2. New Creative Media Industries Institute

Georgia State has taken on the construction of the new Creative Media Industries Institute. With a fund of $22.8 million from the Woodruff endowment, the new building will be built next to Woodruff Park, according a Georgia State news release.

The Art Institute will welcome research and partnerships with Georgia’s Arts Industries to create more opportunities for students of the arts. According to the president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Research Allowance, C. Michael Cassidy, it will help financially with the Institute’s needed equipment.

3. Science Park II

Science Park II, also known as Petite II, is in its late stages of construction. The new development will be an extension of Georgia State’s already existing science building and will consist of six floors, four of which will be dedicated to research.

Aimee Graciela Rivera Solis, a

PHOTO BY JUSTIN CLAY | THE SIGNAL

A new science building right next to the Petit Science Center is nearly finished with construction.

Georgia State chemistry major, said she is ecstatic about the news.

“I feel like it will provide a lot more opportunities for the undergraduates as well, since there will be many more facilities,” she said.

The construction of the Science Park II is expected to finish in January of 2016.

Solis also said she feels relieved that there will be more space opening up for science students to get a hands-on experience in research.

4. New Residence Hall

Another advancement for the university is the residence hall scheduled to open in the fall of 2016.

The building is located near the University Commons and will house 1,052 residents, according to The Signal.

Francesca Jean-Baptise, a Georgia State sophomore, said she thinks the additional dorm is great for the university.

“More dorms means there are more students coming in. This new building is ideal for freshmen in our

expanding student body,” she said.

5. Burning Bright campaign climbing towards goal

Finally, in 2016 Georgia State plans to climb to their goal of $300 million for their Burning Bright campaign.

The campaign was created to raise money for student, faculty and university programs and upgrades, setting a specific money goal which it aims to meet within four years.

Currently, Georgia State has raised $195 million.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

MARTA Army marches on

Grassroots organization MARTA Army intends to improve ridership CHARLES BAILEY Staff Reporter

T

he MARTA Army has only had boots on the ground for about three months.

But the first initiative Operation Timely Trip and the new MARTA kudos challenge continue to march forward.

MARTA Army is an independent grassroots organization dedicated to improving the MARTA ridership experience. Since September, the Army has held meetings in several Atlanta areas including Georgia State, East Point, Old Fourth Ward, and Georgia Tech, according to Simon Berrebi, co-founder of MARTA Army and Georgia Tech transportation Ph.D student.

“Our programs have created a network of power users across the system who are reclaiming ownership over the system by improving the transit experience in their own neighborhoods,” he said.

The newly implemented Kudos challenge allows MARTA riders to nominate any MARTA employee to receive a medal of honor and a $50 Amazon gift card during an awards ceremony on Dec. 11, according to a Nov. 17 MARTA Army release.

Also, MARTA Army soldiers who elect to “adopt a stop” take on the role of guardians, protecting and updating their neighborhood bus stops as a part of Operation Timely Trip. Berrebi said the “soldiers” will receive updated signs after MARTA’s Dec. 12 markups or bus service changes.

“If the sign gets damaged, soldiers are responsible for reaching out to us to get a new one,” he said.

He also said MARTA has been involved with the Army since the 2014 Georgia Tech Transportation

Camp, where MARTA officials asked how could MARTA be improved, according to Atlanta Intown.

“MARTA officials gathered in a room full of transportation enthusiasts,” Berrebi said. “We were young, creative and techno-savvy.

We said, ‘We can make a difference.’”

Berrebi said the Army has over 120 members and 120 adopted stops. He also said the Army is crowdfunded and working toward non-profit status.

“Our model is to keep the costs as small as possible in order to make our programs as scalable as possible.

Until a few days ago, our biggest donation was $50,” he said.

Joffrey Price, a Georgia Tech transportation graduate student, said he met Berrebi last semester then decided to join the Army.

He said non-English speaking MARTA patrons face issues, and the MARTA Army is “a step in the right direction.”

“If you haven’t used MARTA or don’t speak English certain aspects [of riding] are difficult, like paying the fare or [finding] trip information,” Price said.

MARTA doesn’t engage its riders often, so its riders created an Army.

MARTA spokesperson Lyle Harris said the nearly 40 attendees of the 2014 Transportation Camp at Georgia Tech liked his idea of the MARTA Army.

“I found there was a very deep vein of people that wanted to help make MARTA better,” he said.

Harris said the Army “hacks,” or accesses the MARTA system for bus information for Operation Timely Trip, and MARTA’s legal department helped smooth out the process to allow “limited use” of the company’s logo and trademark.

“We made sure there wouldn’t be any impediments to [MARTA

SEAN KEENAN

Associate News Editor

G

eorgia State Student Government Association’s (SGA) Team IMPACT is going to need to change a letter in its acronym. The “A” in IMPACT -which last election season stood for “Advocating for a 24-hour study space” -- will need a new cause to advocate for.

At a Nov. 19 Senate meeting, SGA President Sebastian Parra, who ran for the seat on Team IMPACT’s ticket, announced he has come to an agreement with our university overlord, President Mark Becker, to finally effect a 24-hour study space for the Panther family.

But this initiative, one long striven for by those campaigning under the Team IMPACT moniker, is merely in its infancy. Becker told Parra the administration still needs to sort out

last week Local

Auditing firm hired after data breach Ernst & Young was hired to examine Georgia secretary of state office in light of a lawsuit that brought to light how Georgia voters personal information fell into the hands of political parties and news media companies, according to the AtlantaJournal Constitution. Six million voters were affected and their released information included Social Security numbers. Secretary of State Brian Kemp said the 12 disc that had the information are recovered or destroyed.

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY MARTA ARMY

Members of the Marta Army are at an event in Forest Park at the Clayton County Youth Soccer Tournament.

Army’s] operations,” he said.

“This [citizen engagement] is not something MARTA does often.”

Josh Proctor, Georgia State middle education major, has only ridden the bus twice, but he thinks the MARTA Army is a great idea. He said he thinks the bus service is more reliable than the trains.

“During the snowstorm last year, I almost missed a test once riding MARTA because of the severe delays,” he said.

He also said he believes the train information monitors, specifically at Lindbergh Station, are unreliable and could use some work. He said

regular maintenance should be part of the Army’s objectives, recalling the monitor failure while he was at Lindbergh Station last week.

“The monitors broke down last week [at Lindbergh], so scheduling maintenance would be good if they had a good team,” he said.

Harris said MARTA and the Army often meet to share information and support. He also said MARTA recently met with the Army about their periodic markups.

“The Marta Army is starting with small, impactful projects,” he said.

“From all the reports we’ve received, the Marta Army is doing very well.”

SGA’s Senate proves productive the bureaucratic fixings.

“The money is there,” Parra said.

“Now we just gotta implement it. [We need to] talk to Dr. Covey about how we can get this rolling.”

The Senate also amended Thursday’s agenda to allocate a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting to skim over any documents to be addressed thereafter.

“I will not be going over line-by-line the constitution and bylaws, so please take this time to read over them,” Parra said of the files being amended for the GSU-GPC consolidation.

And although the Senate came better prepared to discuss the docs this week, Parra said they still need to chew through the finishing touches of their bulky bylaws before they wrap it all before Dec. 4.

“Most of them sent me emails saying, ‘It’s good,’” he said of the email suggestions mandated by SGA’s VP of Academic Affairs David Jackson last week. “[But] we have ‘til the end of the year to [consolidate the docs].”

5

NEWS

The Senate also approved a resolution to vet prospective graduation ceremony commencement speech makers. The speaker, come walking time, will need to have decent grades, a few community service hours and some empirical proof of school spirit. Other legislation approved will add to the roles SGA’s liaison officers.

SGA also elected to appoint Jacob Hill, a Georgia State freshman, to Head Senator of the College of Education.

“SGA has always been an interest for me,” Hill said. “I just went ahead and went for it...I feel like I bring something different to the table being a freshman.”

SGA Sen. Daniel Duhart of the College of Business nominated his colleague, Sen. Gelila Kebede, as their school’s Head Senator. SGA still needs to fill the vacancy of head senator for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Organizers from the Malcolm X Grassroots movement also made a brief appearance at Thursday’s meeting

when they preached speculation of the “White Lives Matter” stickers that have popped up around campus.

The two members asked SGA if it would get on board with their efforts to hold “The Man” accountable for practices of discrimination and racial supremacy. SGA took a rain check until the group made more information available.

And SGA’s Executive Vice President Teara Mayfield said the senators weren’t so distracted by their Tweets and ‘Grams Thursday as they were at the last meeting.

“You’ve done a great job,” she said.

“I haven’t seen many people on their phones tonight.”

Parra also teased of some progress made with Becker regarding the fight to allow undocumented students (mostly Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals) enrollment privileges at the soon-to-be consolidated Georgia State.

The Signal will have more on that soon.

National

Jared Fogel gets 15 years in prison

Ex-Subway spokesperson Jared Fogel, 38, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for having sex with girls ages 16 and 17, according to CNN Money.

Fogel will be able to get parole in 2029, and he said he will pay the 14 victims a total of $1.4 million in restitution. For his crime, the maximum amount of prison time is 50 years. Fogel’s attorneys said since he didn’t have sex with younger kids, then he shouldn’t receive maximum sentencing.

Global

Malian hotel shooting kills more than 20 people

During a shooting in a Malian hotel, the gunmen killed at least 22 people on Nov. 20, according to CNN. The hotel, called the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, had approximately 140 guests and 30 employees when the attack began. Mali is on a 10day state of emergency and are in a three day mourning. There is believed to be two or three gunmen in the shooting.

CORRECTIONS Issue: 11.17 - “Home for the Holidaze” Sports page 16 - Transfer ‘U’ Incorrect cutline.

NEWS

6

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

Ready, prepared and equipped ZEKARI SMITH Staff Reporter

W

hen the weather is anything other than clear, sunny skies, traffic becomes disastrous and Georgia State campus is flooded with standing water.

Georgia State student Ivan Manisa can attest to the amount of traffic and accidents he has faced while commuting to campus through all types of weather conditions.

“Weather plays a major factor every day when commuting,” he said. “Rain makes everyone drive slower and more accidents tend to slow traffic down. Students also tend not to come when it’s a cold misty Monday morning.”

Georgia Emergency Management Agency Meteorologist Will Lanxton said traffic depends on the weather condition and claims ice elicits a different type of traffic rather than rain.

He also said poor traffic conditions are typically created by a combination of weather and Atlanta’s imperfect road system.

According to the Renew Atlanta

website, there is a backlog of repairs to Atlanta’s infrastructure, costing almost a billion dollars. Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta City Council recently had a plan to tackle the necessary infrastructure repairs approved by Atlanta citizens. The majority of the budget is allotted to transportation, which has a budget close to $200 million.

Reed believes that the infrastructure repairs will greatly improve traffic, and blames Atlanta’s infamous congestion on unsynchronized traffic lights and bridges needing repairs, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“If you’re talking about Atlanta in particular, I don’t think it’s a secret that the way the roads in Atlanta are set up aren’t particularly ideal, on any day, so when there’s any sort of weather that’s out there obviously drivers slow down and [the roads] are even more backed up than they already are,” Lanxton said.

This year preparations for winter weather are better than ever, according to the AJC. Last year’s Snow Jam left hundreds of drivers stuck in the snow-covered interstate and roads across Atlanta. This year, the recommendations made by Gov. Nathan

Deal’s Severe Winter Weather Warning and Preparedness Task Force are being executed to the very last detail.

On the Georgia Government website, just a few of the many recommendations are creating new salt facilities, implementing better communication, and keeping school superintendents updated on emergency weather information.

The AJC article provided a list of some of the new tools and technologies provided this year. This list included an estimated 1,900 employees on call and ready to address winter weather emergencies.

The city also plans to have nine new salt stations, spread across Atlanta and all of Georgia, to melt the ice on roads by lowering the ice’s freezing point.

Lanxton confirmed the new changes for how Georgia will handle weather emergencies.

“I think we’ve certainly learned from past experiences …. over the past couple of years in particular our responses have improved, each time we’re getting better, we’ve been communicating internally better, we’re communicating externally better, we’re partners with the public,” he said.

PHOTO BY JUSTIN CLAY | THE SIGNAL

Students walk through campus on a rainy day.

Crime heats up the holiday season December and November have been the most villainous months in Atlanta NATALIE CHRISTINE Staff Reporter

A

tlanta Police Department (APD) statistics show as the holiday season approaches, crime spikes in the Atlanta area.

The APD’s 2014 monthly crime reports show that the highest number of crimes in 2014 occurred in December. December had 3,048 crimes including homicide, rape, assault and various types of theft. The month with the next highest number of crimes was November with 2,912 crimes.

The monthly crime reports from 2009 -2014 also show that both the number of crimes and arrests start to increase in November through December and drop again in January, according to APD statistics.

APD Director of Public Affairs Elizabeth Espy said that crime naturally fluctuates for a variety of reasons.

“It could be people moving to the city, it could be a lot of different factors.”

During the week of Thanksgiving, APD arrested 609 people in 2014 and 592 people in 2013. This number gradually climbed throughout the weeks until the week before Christmas when it reached 760 people in 2014 and 796 people in 2013. The week after, Dec. 21-27, the number of arrests dropped dramatically to 491 in 2014 and 606 in 2013.

Georgia State student Carla Vizcarra said she thinks the leading cause of the increased crime rate may be caused by people trying to provide for their families.

“I would say since Christmas is coming people especially with children

are trying to get presents for their children so I think they might steal or whatever to try to make their children happy,” Vizcarra said.

The most common crimes were related to theft. Burglary, entry into a building with the intent to commit a crime, and larceny, theft of personal property, were the two most common crimes during the months leading up to the holidays in 2010-2014, according to the APD’s statistics.

The Uniform Crime Report showed there were 1,666 instances of larceny and 546 instances of burglary in December 2014 and 1,372 instances of larceny and 522 of burglary in December 2013.

Georgia State student Crystal Fuller said for her, the holidays bring financial pressure. Fuller said that because she has a job this year, she feels added pressure to pay for everything she usually does as well as buying presents.

“So I understand the stress of being an adult because they have to buy presents on top of doing all the other things they need to do. So it’s a lot of different things being pulled from different areas at one time.”

Finance is a major factor in holiday stress. According to a 2012 survey by Think Finance as reported by NBC, 45% of people would rather skip Christmas because of the financial pressure. Fifty-nine percent of the people surveyed expected to still be in debt from Christmas in January.

Vizcarra said that for her, the holidays bring extra pressure to make precious time spent with the family meaningful.

“It’s a special time and you just want everything to be perfect for the family and everything and I guess there’s a little bit more pressure because of that,” Vizcarra said.

December 2014 actual crime breakdown Murder

5

Aggrevated Assault

247

Rape

12

192

Auto Theft

38

Robbery Larceny that is $200 and over

336

out of a total of

3,048

96

Larceny that is $50 to $199

429

Burglary in a residence

117

Burglary in a non-residence

1,234 Larceny that is under $50

OPINION JOHN MILLER Columnist John is an English major with a concentration in Literature. He spends his time cooking, reading, writing and watching movies. Mostly watching movies.

www.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

Start college because I would be the first generation

Start college because family expects me to

Tweet John! @johnmillerdavi1

Sometimes students have a difficult time deciding on the reason for them to go to college.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JADE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

What choice and why Existentialism and the college experience

C

ollege is an absurd time of life. We spend thousands of dollars just for books we don’t read and classes we don’t care about.

We work towards a degree that doesn’t guarantee us anything in the “real world,” we sacrifice hours of sleep in pursuit of this goal.

We’re working our asses off. Sometimes it seems unfair. Sometimes it’s enough to cause a great deal of resentment.

Resentment itself is a key concept in existentialism, meaning approximately what it means normally, but here applied to a philosophical context.

And resentment is exactly what we’ll end up with if we don’t embrace the fact that college is, definitively, absurd.

And I don’t mean absurd as in stupid. I mean what the existentialists of the past century formalized as “The Absurd,” an apt description of an

individual’s relationship to the world.

Everything the world demands of us, the Existentialists would say, is absurd. It’s not just college, it’s life itself that imposes the conditions that makes college so absurd.

But what do we have besides what the world expects of us? We have our individuality, which is delineated by our ability to choose for ourselves.

Personal choice is something college students struggle with. Many of us start out in college because that’s what our families expected of us, or because we’d be the first in our family to go to college. Either way, the choice was made for us, in some respect.

We’re guided towards our degrees with a sense of obligation. We tell ourselves that we need the degree because X, Y, and Z. “I need to get a good job, I need to help those in need, I want to become somebody.”

But what we so often forget is that these aspirations are secondary to who we are as individuals.

Every day, we read about people who have taken complete 180s in their careers. The CEO-turned-beanfarmer, the housewife-diagnosedwith-cancer-becomes-painter; we’re familiar with the general idea of a person completely reinventing themselves, but why do they change so suddenly?

Usually these personal transformations are set in motion by loss. The loss of a family member or the loss of purpose or direction can set someone in an entirely new direction, and which direction is ultimately influenced by what choices they make as an individual.

What would you do tomorrow

if all colleges around the world disappeared, and no one expected you to work towards any kind of degree?

Not much would change, right? Your parents would probably rush in and tell you to get a job. But what if your parents said nothing? What if you didn’t need to make money, what if you were of absolutely no use to the world around you? What would you do then?

The particular Existentialism I’m talking about came about after World War II, and was led by humanitarian thinkers, mostly French, such as JeanPaul Sartre. These thinkers strove to reclaim the individual from his cultural circumstances, those that ultimately led to the deaths of what is estimated to be over 80 million people.

The way they proposed to do this was to stress the importance of the individual above her cultural context, like I was attempting to do above, and if I can sum up the sentiment in one sentence, it is that we have no responsibility to the world around us at all.

But we can’t stop there. We still haven’t answered the question of what’s left after that. What’s left is a personal responsibility towards what Existentialists call authenticity.

What choices we ultimately make for ourselves have to be authentic ones.

In other words, they can be anything that we want them to be, as long as we’re not making them because of some outward influence. They have to be generated from the self alone.

This opens one up to the state of absolute freedom, which sounds good at first, but is, on second thought, an extremely heavy burden and

terrifyingly lonely. Freedom like this is so isolating that most people want to give it away to something else-religious or political institutions, careers, friends and lovers--so they don’t have to take full responsibility for themselves.

I’m not saying that belonging to a society, big or small, or having friends and loved ones is a self-betrayal, I’m just saying that in order for those connections to really mean anything, they have to come from a place of authenticity within yourself.

If you give yourself away to a person or a society without it being an authentic choice, you will run into problems. You will find that when that thing goes away, your sense of self will go away, too.

Which brings us back to college.

College exists as a means through which the “real world” does everything it can, besides beg, to get us to join its ranks.

This is what all of the fervent careerism is about, especially when you approach your final year. Those in the “real world” want you to give yourself away to their causes, their careers, ultimately to help them make their choices, or to affirm the choices they’ve already made, so they feel less alone, or less responsible.

Don’t do this. Or, if you do, only do it because it is something you have checked with yourself to be an authentic decision coming from your innermost desires, not because you fear what you might be without it.

You will always be your version of you, despite people constantly trying to convince you you’re their version of you.

8

OPINION

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ARTS & LIVING

www.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

This is Eyedrum:

Placing avant-garde in Atlanta

SYDNEY CUNNINGHAM

Associate Arts and Living Editor

T

he right space and think tank is what takes artwork from a part of a portfolio into a deserved and interactive experience. Performances, art, music, literature and film all have found an odd home sporadically dwelling in a long forgotten 1920s space.

Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery, located in Atlanta’s Art District off of Forsyth Street, is home to experimental demonstration no matter the art genre of choice.

Morgan Carlisle, the Chair of the Board at Eyedrum, supervises the organization and makes sure all decisions and events are carried out.

“We try to represent any and all forms of cutting-edge art that we can,” Carlisle said. “Eyedrum is one the oldest arts organizations in Atlanta. We have pioneered and fostered the way for many other cool galleries and groups that you will find Downtown in the arts scene.”

Their mission statement is to foster experimental and avantgarde art to create dialogue and collaboration in the contemporary art community.

Eyedrum is currently still renovating the building they acquired last year into the space they deemed fit for artistic delivery which also allows the space to grow into something larger.

The multiple store fronts are on Forsyth and Martin Luther King.

“We are renting space for a dollar a year plus property tax from Laz Parking. They own the whole building which is also connected to a Laz parking deck,” Carlisle said. “Along with the six stores we are inhabiting, is a rooftop that we use for various events such as film screenings and sculpture shows.”

As of this moment, three of the six stores are equipped to house events. The other three are being worked on as well as improvements being made to the three already usable stores.

“We have probably moved over ten tons of debris from all of the spaces,” Carlisle said.

The Art

The board at Eyedrum have composed five committees to carry out the expanse of the different art. The five committees are respectively devoted to art, performance, music, literature and film.

“These groups are our main programming source and are we are constantly churning out innovative and diverse works because of how many hands are involved in curation,” Carlisle said. “We have other committees for education, technology and operational needs and then the board curates their own programming too.”

The genre and type of art generally exhibited at Eyedrum range from any and all places.

“We exhibit anything that is cool and interesting,” Carlisle said. “My favorite show in the gallery so far has been Orion Crook’s ‘Living

“We are a quirky bunch who are always changing, growing and passionate about contributing to society. You probably won’t know what you are getting into when you walk in the door, but it’s always fantastic.”

-Morgan Carlisle

Case’. He and his curated artists had live plants and art growing out of our gallery floors and walls.”

There are constant music shows on the roster. From experimental sound artists, to garage, to punk and metal and to ensemble groups and musicians. All of these acts are held within one week.

Established in 1998, Eyedrum has had the time and opportunities to build a long list of musicians and artists who have stopped by.

“I meet artists from all over the country and a surprising number of them tell me we were their first show or that we were the first group to really give them a chance with their art,” Carlisle said. “It’s a lovely thing, knowing that there is a lot of nostalgia associated with us. We have almost two decades of facilitating artists in their different stages of creation and we are forever looking to collaborate and support.”

The atmosphere you get from being inside Eyedrum’s energy is much like the feeling you get with the art inside: baffled and earnestly curious.

“We are a quirky bunch who are always changing, growing and

passionate about contributing to society,” Carlisle said. “You probably won’t know what you are getting into when you walk in the door, but it’s always fantastic.”

Students Enter

For Georgia State students who not only want to watch the art, but also take part of it. Eyedrum is willing and open. They have internships for those interested in curation, production or simply the art scene. They accept proposals being sent to showcase their art, but Eyedrum prefers talking about the art in person.

“Come to our shows and talk to us. We are super friendly and always excited to meet new people with great ideas. Eyedrum is probably one of the most approachable nonprofits you will meet and that is something we really pride ourselves on. Eyedrum is constantly looking for volunteers on a project to project bases, so there are endless ways to be a part of our family.”

Anyone interested in sending a proposal can do so at art@ eyedrum.org

PAGE DESIGN BY DARIAN MATHEWS | THE SIGNAL

Witness the Exhibits Eyedrum’s second Graphic Scores Concert

Take the Trip

88 Forsyth Street SW Atlanta, GA 30303 Phone: 404-578-4430

PHOTO BY JUSTIN CLAY | THE SIGNAL

Located in downtown Atlanta, Eyedrum is a local music venue and art gallery. for art and music enthusiasts alike

For the second time, Eyedrum will be having a concert surrounding Graphic Scores, which utilizes abstract works of art and multiple sets of people to interpret each piece.

Dec. 4 8 p.m.

Elizabeth A. Baker Traveling Circuits

Elizabeth Baker is pianist who also incorporates a toy piano into an

electronic performance. here will also be an artist talk.

Dec. 5 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Closing of Michael Jones’ “Moving Targets”

This art exhibit began Oct. 24 and is wrapping the same night of Elizabeth Baker’s show. Michael Jones’ art collection is a mixed-media installation with some video work that questions all of the different contexts our culture uses firearms.

Dec. 5 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Terminus Ensemble

Terminus Ensemble is a collection of composers living in Atlanta and the surrounding areas who play various compositions written by the musicians.

Dec. 6 8 p.m.

Star Wars Mass and Contraband

The film exhibits the critiques, celebrations and rants on the “religion” of the Star Wars franchise.

Dec. 12 Price: $7

Baby it’s cold outside: NICHOLE PLACE

G

Arts and Living Associate Editor

oodbye fall and hello winter. It is time to pack away the turkeys and pumpkins, and start hanging up the holly. Bundle up, because here comes everything you’ll need this winter. So, enjoy the time you can with family and friends. Happy Holidays!

Clothes & Appearance Women:

1. Brown booties: This perfect pair of shoes is a great transition from fall to winter. Why? Because they can be worn in both seasons, of course.

2. A parka: This is no ordinary coat. This is a delightful number that will keep you cozy while walking to class, topped with a fur hood none the less.

3. Knitted mittens: Because you can’t go wrong.

4. Knee length skirts: These skirts are perfect when paired with tights. They are also a great ally when they have a little reflective material for the unavoidable holiday party.

5. Sweaters: Worn best when they are bedazzled, patterned or portray some sort of animal.

6.

Leather moccasins: They look laid back but still nice enough that they clearly aren’t house shoes.

7. Cable knit sweaters: Because they are practical and cute.

8. Embroidered sweater: The more detail the better.

9. Winter white pants: Whoever said white after Labor Day was wrong, lied.

10. Peplum tops: They are festive and look to on everyone.

Men:

1.

Suede boots: A classic shoe to pair with most outfits. (Do not pair with sweats) 2. Camel pants: Great colored pants to dress up any outfit.

3. Colored khakis: Ditch the beige and break out some new colors. Maroon, forest green, all the colors of the season.

4.

Pom-pom beanie: All the warmth of a regular beanie, but all the pizzazz of winter.

5. Trapper hat: The classic item to top off your lumberjack look for the colder months.

6. Sweaters on sweaters: Layer up with a sweater and cardigan.

7. Jacket with shearling: Just because they are very stylish.

8. Buffalo check: Keep up with the lumberjack theme.

9. Baggy pants: Not sagging, just a little more leg room.

10. Graphic sweater: Give the eye a little more to look at during this holiday season.

Winter Makeup: Makeup during the winter is a little brighter than fall. The season of acceptable glitter. · Red lipstick: The classic and never overdone. (NARS Jungle Red) · Bronzer: A great product to make sure you aren’t as white a snow.

(Channel ) · Highlighter: Bring a little shimmer to your cheeks.

(Wet ‘n’ Wild Hollywood Boulevard) · Champagne eyeshadow: A great lid color to bring in the New Year.

(Maybelline Champagne Fizz)

PHOTO BY JASON LUONG AND JUSTIN CLAY | THE SIGNAL

There are several different types of people at every Holiday/ Christmas party. You might see the (left to right) the angry teen, the smoocher with their mistletoe, the cookie hoarder, or the moocher with their tupperware ready in hand!

Everything to know about winter Drinks & Tasties Classic Winter Drinks: · · · ·

Hot chocolate topped with the works.

Apple cider with a cinnamon stick Peppermint mocha (a classic) Eggnog

Drinks with a kick

· Spiked Eggnog: Just mix in a little rum or bourbon to your classic eggnog, you’ve got yourself a party favorite. · Red Wine Hot Chocolate: Chocolate chunks, milk and red wine. Just serve hot. · Sparkling Cranberry Punch: Mix together cranberry juice and a little champagne and get the festivities started.

Festive Foods: · · · · · ·

Gingerbread French toast Sweet potato pancakes Cinnamon rolls Tomato soup and grilled cheese Banana bread Cheeseburger soup

Holiday Treats: · · · ·

Pillsbury holiday printed sugar cookies (your childhood self will thank you) Gingerbread cookies Peppermint bark Peanut butter fudge

Fun & More Winter activities: For a few more activities in Atlanta check out our Holiday issue · Ice Skating · Bake cookies from scratch · Tree lightings

Classic Holiday Movies:

· “A Christmas Story”: Be careful not to shoot your eye out · “Elf ”: Probably the most quotable Christmas movie of all time. · “A Nightmare Before Christmas”: The only movie that can be haunting and merry, AT THE SAME TIME. · “Home Alone”: “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” · “The Santa Clause”: The idea that anyone’s dad could magically become Santa, that’s cool. But we were lucky it turned out to be Tim Allen. · “The Grinch”: Bringing a Christmas classic to real life. · “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”: Outrageous antics that lead to an amazing family bond.

Gift Guide:

· Moms: A great pendant necklace or bangle by Kate Spade that says “Mom Said So.” · Dads: Cards Against Humanity card game. Because he’ll laugh and probably not realize it came out a few years ago. · Boyfriends: Shoes are a great gift, everyone loves shoes. · Girlfriends: Listen closely to what she wants in the weeks leading up. If you don’t just get an expensive gift card. · Roommate: If you like your roommate than you’ll have a good idea of what they would want. But if you don’t like them, give them a passive aggressive gift, like trash bags because they don’t take out the trash enough.

10 People you’ll see at a Holiday Party:

· Ugly Sweater Wearers: The people that are have had the halls decked since October and will show it by being overdone at this party. · The Creepy Kisser: That one person who carries around a mistletoe and makes overly flirtatious jokes. · The Caroler: The person who can’t stop singing Christmas Carols and will somehow find a way to work the lyrics into every conversation. · The Ho-Ho- Hoe: The girl who bring the slutty theme of Halloween into the holiday season. · The Commercializer: The one guy who truly believes all holidays were created by greeting card companies. · The Mooch: The person that brings water bottles to fill with alcohol and tupperware for leftovers. · The Lost Grandparents: The grandparents who haven’t seen anyone in a while and they think they are related to everyone at the party. · The Atheist: They are only there to celebrate the Winter Solstice. · The Cookie Hoarder: They can’t seem to leave the desert table. · The Angry Teen: Because when aren’t they angry.

How to avoid awkward family conversations: We all receive the terrible list of questions when we see family members: how’s school, what kind of degree is that, what do you plan on doing once you graduate? So, here are a few ways to avoid answering any of those questions.

1. Before answering take a bite or sip of something then answer with your mouth full. It will be so inaudible they will most likely just nod then walk away.

2. Simply say “Good” then leave.

3. Fake a phone call.

4. Fake a cough attack and quickly excuse yourself.

5. Pretend like your mom needs your help.

ARTS & LIVING

12

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

Lights, Camera, Christmas

Tree lighting makes Governor’s mansion shine with cheerful holiday spirits CATRINA DYGERT Staff Reporter

T

he Christmas season seems to start earlier every year, with garlands and wreaths popping up before the Halloween costumes are even packed away. This year you can kick off your holiday season with a celebration at the Governor’s Mansion. Nathan Deal and his family have opened their home to the public for a special Christmas tree lighting on Dec. 6 at 6 p.m., in order to celebrate the holidays in style with their fellow Georgians. A special series of Holiday Tours will follow in the weeks after the lighting.

The tours will include a viewing of all the official rooms in the mansion, each decorated in an array of flowers and lavish Christmas trees. The Deputy Director of the Governor’s Mansion, Kat Bakhaus, said there would be eight trees in all, each “decorated to represent different governors and their families who have lived in the mansion.”

Tours will begin after the lighting ceremony, which will also include an instrumental performance by the 116th Army Band to “get people in the mood,”, according to Bakhaus. The lighting will be followed by a choral performance from the Georgia Boys’ Choir in the ballroom, which will

have an array of cookies and cider following the recital. Katie Deal, the governor’s daughter, will also be performing her rendition of a song made popular by Kermit the Frog.

Additionally, Bakhaus emphasized “a really neat Hanukkah display” that will be hosted by the First Lady, Sandra Deal, on Sunday Dec. 13.

Several prominent members of the Jewish community, including the Israeli Consulate General, Vernai Shorer, and Rabbi Spike Anderson, will be in attendance. There will be a performance by the Temple Emanuel youth choir, Shir Hachovim, which will culminate in the lighting of a century-old menorah borrowed from the Bremen Museum.

While the tours are free, the Deal family requests that all visitors bring a toy with them to donate to their Toys for Tots campaign this Christmas. All toys collected on the tour will be donated by the Deal family to the local preschool community. Toys can be dropped off during the tour or at any point during tour hours, if you don’t wish to participate in the tour itself.

Even though the Holiday Tours are aimed at emphasizing the joy of the season, Bakhaus hopes to offer folks a little history, too.The Greekrevival style house was built in 1967 and spans an impressive 24,000 square feet. While the tour will allow the public access to the lower level and the main floor, the tour excludes

PHOTO BY DAYNE FRANCIS | THE SIGNAL

This Sunday Governor Deal kicks off the holiday season with his annual Christmas lighting.

the second floor, which houses the First Family’s private living quarters.

All of the furniture in the home was chosen by a specialized art committee as the epitome of the Federal Period and remains a permanent collection through every administration.

Overall, hopes are high for this year’s tree lighting, though Bakhaus could not comment on an apporoximate number of people expected to show up.

Despite Governor Deal’s recent announcement that he would not be accepting refugees, Bakhaus insisted the Mansion is not expecting any protestors: “The goal is to experience fellowship with the people of Georgia.” The Holiday Tours are aimed at “[giving] people an escape” from what’s going on in other parts of the world, and, for one night at least, you can experience holiday cheer with the governor himself.

Governor’s Mansion 391 West Paces Ferry Rd NW Atlanta, GA 30305 Christmas Tour Hours: Dec. 7 – 18 Monday - Friday: 9:30 - 11 a.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Sunday: 2 - 4 p.m.

Groups of 10 or more should call 404.261.1776.

Experimenting outside the shoe box Georgia State student dives into handcrafted footwear CHANTE FOSTER Staf Reporter

B

eing different doesn’t mean you have to conform, Mike’ O Owolabi, is an aspiring serial entrepreneur, building a brand by making customized handcrafted mens loafers. Mike’ O, is studying finance at Georgia State, and his creative mind set is what led him towards making his own shoes.

What types of events have you been doing to get your product out?

“Just recently I did Culture Shock, which is a big fashion show. We really just started doing the event, because we have to market and go out there are get ourselves known.”

How did your company get started?

PHOTO BY JASON LUONG | THE SIGNAL

Mike’ O Owolabi, a senior and a Georgia State Finance major, is the creator of MO by Mike.

”On my way to Nigeria a year ago, my mom, who is a medical consultant, had a meeting in Italy. She gave me some money, to dress nice for the meeting, and when I got to the event I didn’t feel like I was dressed up.

Everyone else there had a look that I wanted, so I asked someone where they got their shoes from. They told me, ‘I didn’t get my shoes from the store, someone actually made these, just for me.’ That was a neat idea, [to] [have] a shoe made just for you, and when I saw that I told my mom, ‘ I feel like this is something people of my age in the United States would

want.’”

Once you realized the potential in costume shoes, what was the next step for you?

“I did reach out and got some contacts in Italy. I went to Nigeria and found some shoe makers that could sew the shoes. The shoes are made in Nigeria and the material are [imported] from Italy.”

What types of shoes do you currently have available for orders?

“For now we have already made, two style bold black and red [shoe] in stock [with] different sizes. We also have a custom orders, which is when [the] [customer] let’s me know what they want and I get it done. A lot of fraternities have been getting in contact with me. The costume orders take longer, because we’re basically starting from scratch.”

Do you have any friends that help you with the business?

“After Christmas, I came to the “After Christmas, I came to the United States, and I told a couple of my friends [that] I’m going to start a shoe company. A couple of them were like, ‘what makes you think anybody is going to buy shoes from you?’ [Some] of them though it was a pretty good idea.”

What are some ways that the shoe can be customized?

“You can get names and emblems on

them. I have some with my initials on them.”

How does your business stand out from competitors?

“It’s quality product that speaks for itself, and if you have my shoes on it’s always a good conversation starter..

It’s a handmade luxury specially made for you, because it’s not like you can find it somewhere else. Affordable compared to others, competitors might sell their shoes for $400 and the people that they market to are willing to pay that. My target market is college students. It’s rubber bottom instead of wooden bottom, which is good for durability.”

What are some challenges that you’ve encountered?

“As a person and a business, I’m learning everyday and [that] [includes] learning new ways to improve the business. Coming into this, there wasn’t [a lot] that I knew about. My family back home owns businesses and they don’t communicate to, us the kids, how they go about it. It was basically a whole new learning experience and that’s the fun thing about it.”

Each shoe is made to fit the style of the customer.

For more information about Mike’ O visit: http://www.mike-o.com

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

review

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FILM REVIEW

The 33: Great film inspired by epic true story SYNOPSIS:

Disaster strikes on Aug. 5, 2010, as a copper and gold mine collapses in Chile, trapping 33 men underground. With more than 2,000 feet of rock in their way, members of a rescue team work tirelessly for 69 days to save the seemingly doomed crew.

Beneath the rubble, the miners begin an epic quest to survive, contending with suffocating heat and the need for food and water. With family, friends and the rest of the world watching, it becomes a race against time and a true test of the human spirit.

RATED: PG-13 GRADE: AVERDICT: Marked by wonderful acting performances, “The 33” is a strong film that succesfully mixes tension, emotion and hope at most times.

FERNANDO MATTOS

Staff Reviewer

T

here’s a key detail that sets “The 33” apart from the rest in the disaster genre: it’s based on a true story. It is based on the collapse of a gold and copper mine in Chile in 2010, which trapped 33 men for 69 days. Truth is important here, but it is not used just as an excuse for a poor story. On the contrary, “The 33” stands on its own as a film. And it’s a great one.

The quality of this movie begins with the acting. Antonio Banderas plays Mário Sepúlveda in a remarkable leading role. Banderas knows how to be simple and never dictates the tone of the story. He matches it. He shares the screen with his 32 colleagues. His acting goes on a crescendo until the moment he sees light for the first time in two months.

It’s emotional and rings true.

Juliette Binoche accomplishes something similar as the sister of a miner. She is so simple and well within her character that it takes some time to recognize her. Her acting speaks much louder than her star. Her chemistry with Rodrigo Santoro, who plays the figure of Chilean Minister of Mines, is a joy to watch. In one scene, he, on the top of the mine, and she, beyond the fence, communicate without a single word.

Their faces explain it all: the rescue wasn’t successful yet.

The screenwriters and the director Patricia Riggen do a great job in presenting us to the mine. By focusing on a first time miner, we can experience the same fear he feels when the truck carrying the 33 men

enters the mine and the sunlight becomes distant until it disappears.

Riggen’s use of a black screen when the mine falls is also extremely effective. We are about 10 seconds in the dark without sound and it feels like an eternity. It’s the moment when the film best captures the sensation of being buried alive. There are places in the film where I felt those moments or other editing techniques like this could have been used to heighten tension, since the technique of the film feels very conservative overall.

Even when the mine comes down, the shots look too stable where I expected a more nervous, shaky camera.

The shot of the first miner being rescued, on the other hand, is fantastic. We stay with him in that small rescue capsule and suddenly we become attentive to every little detail: we don’t want anything to go wrong now. The scene embodies symbolism, and Riggen does a good job in extracting it.

One issue with the film is that at times it seems to spend too much time above the surface of the Earth.

I felt that some of this time could have been used to develop more of the secondary miner’s characters.

It also creates a distance between us and the miners. The film could have suffocated us more in the mine and expanded on the drama already there.

“The 33” is a well-done film and a wonderful way to pay homage to the 33 survivors, who were never compensated financially after the event. At times, it plays too safe and distances us from the miners a bit, but it is still a good work of art. It is marked by great acting performances, and one that deserves to be seen.

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SCOTDRAKULA SCOTDRAKULA

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ABRA ROSE

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HOMESHAKE MIDNIGHT SNACK

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LAND LINES THE NATURAL WORLD

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MILD HIGH CLUB TIMELINE

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MILD HIGH CLUB TIMELINE

ARTS & LIVING

14

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

Campus & Downtown Events

Tuesday

Wednesday Holiday lights Centennial Park

World AIDS Day December 1 10:00 am 2:00 pm

December 2

Free event for you and your family to stroll through a winter wonderland at Centennial Olympic Park when it’s lit by thousands of lights for Holiday in Lights.

In honor of World AIDS Day, the Department of Student Health Promotion is offering free and confidential HIV testing at the Rec. Center.

Thursday

Friday LinkedIn Photo Fridays

Winter Holidays Around the World

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Located in the Speaker’s Auditorium, the first Awareness gala will help bring attention to HIV/AIDS support.

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December 5 6:30 pm 10:30 pm

Have a LinkedIn page or wanting to start one? Come to the University Career Services every Friday at the Student Center.

Student groups share their cultural holidays in the forms of song, dance, poetry and more!

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Africa Unites HIV/AIDS Awareness Gala

December 4 3:00 pm 4:00 pm

December 3 12:00 pm 1:30 pm

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Saturday

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Sunday COOKIES WITH SANTA December 6

Santa will be making his first stop this year at Zoo Atlanta. Bring the little ones for a personal visit with Santa and a professional photo.

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged

by December 4.

Monday FESTIVAL OF THE SEASONS December 7 9:00 am 8:00 pm

Georgia Aquarium will be hosting a Festival of the SEAsons. Families can visit the Aquarium as transform into a winter wonderland.

More events and info at georgiastatesignal.com

SPORTS

www.georgiastatesignal.com/sports

The best start in years

Guard Kevin Ware goes up for a layup during the season opening win against Middle Georgia State.

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY MIKE HOLMES | GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

Hollowell and Ware carry the men’s basketball team to a 3-1 record JEREMY JOHNSON Staff Reporter

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he Georgia State men’s basketball team is off to the best four-game start in program history, going 3-1 to tip-off the 2015-2016 season.

The Panthers have gotten scoring production from junior Indiana transfer Jeremy Hollowell and senior Kevin Ware.

Hollowell is averaging 20 points per game so far this season and averaging three rebounds per game.

Ware is averaging 12.7 points per game so far.

The Panthers are still tinkering with their lineup. They have used three different combinations in the starting lineup in the first four games of the season.

The lineup changes have included eight different players getting starts this season. Isaiah Williams has taken over the starting point guard duties after Isaiah Dennis started the season off as the main point guard due to the emergence of Williams who scored 10 points off the bench in the Panthers’ first game.

Williams is averaging 8 points per game so far this season.

The Panthers opened the season with a 73-54 win over Middle Georgia State. Ware led the Panthers in scoring in that game with 14 points.

Hollowell added 12 points and five rebounds.

The Panthers faced another instate opponent in game two when Emmanuel College came into the Sports Arena.

The Panthers would cruise to their second victory of the season 77-58 behind Hollowell’s 25 points. Ware put in 19 points.

The win made Georgia State 2-0 for the first time since the 2000-2001 season.

The Panthers flexed their defensive dominance as the team held Emmanuel College to 39.6 percent shooting for the game.

Coach Ron Hunter applauded his team’s effort on the defensive end against Emmanuel College after the game and acknowledged that defense is a focus of the team moving forward in the season.

“The process continues, but I feel like we are starting to create our own identity,” Coach Hunter told Georgia State athletics after the game. “Going into a game, we always have a goal of holding a team under 40 percent shooting and 60 points, and we were able to do both of those tonight.

Regardless of how many we score, we feel as if we do both of those, we will be in great shape any night.”

The Panthers would suffer their first loss of the season against the Ole Miss Rebels of the South Eastern Conference on Nov 25.

The Rebels defeated the Panthers 68-59 despite Hollowell’s big game.

Hollowell scored over 20 points again as he put in 23 points.

The Panthers battled a tough Ole Miss team and had opportunities late in the game as the Panthers came within two points of the lead with under three minutes to play.

But the Panthers could not close the gap and finish the deal. The SEC’s top leading returning scorer Stefan Moody scored 21 points for the Rebels.

Ole Miss out rebounded Georgia State 39-20. Coach Hunter said he got a lot of questions about his team answered in this tough matchup with the Rebels despite losing their first game.

“After playing some non-D1’s, I still had some questions about our team, but many of those were answered tonight. I really like our toughness and that will be important as the season goes on. We have some things that need to be cleaned up, but that will come,” Coach Hunter told Georgia State Athletics at the press conference following the loss.

The loss is only part of the process and facing tough completion will help the Panthers find out about themselves for games in April and March.

The Panthers have made a habit of facing quality SEC competition early in the last few seasons.

The Panthers faced Vanderbilt in 2013 and faced Alabama in 2014, both of which were losses.

Georgia State now has three straight losses to SEC competition.

The Panthers followed up the loss to Ole Miss with a thrilling 78-72 overtime win over coach Hunter’s former school IUPUI on November 27 at the Sports Arena.

Coach Hunter won 274 games in 17 seasons at IUPUI before coming to Georgia State in 2011.

Williams sent the game to overtime with two free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining. Williams scored 13 points in the game.

The Panthers trailed 64-59 with under a minute to play and found a way to scrap and claw back to tie the game at the end.

The Panthers would pull away in

What you need to know • The Panthers’ leading scorer is Jeremy Hollowell who is averaging 20 points per game. Hollowell is a transfer from Indiana where he played two season under head coach Tom Creen.

• The Panthers are on a ten game winning streak at the GSU Sports Arena. This is the fourth longest home streak in school history.

• The Panthers’ next home game will be against Old Dominion on Dec. 12 at 2 p.m.

overtime. Coach Hunter applauded the character of his team after finding a way to win a tough game after being down.

“That was a character win by our guys tonight,” coach Hunter said to Georgia State athletics after the win.

“I always say that good teams find a way to win. That was a tough game for me to coach knowing some of the players and coaches over there.

Coach [Jason Gardner] has that team moving in the right direction, and I know it was a big game for them.

At the end of the day, I am just glad we came away with the win and can move on to the next one.”

The Panthers are in the feeling out phase of who they are. These next few weeks will be important to finding themselves before Sun Belt Conference play begins on December 30 against University of Texas at Arlington.

Georgia State will face UAB in Birmingham, Alabama on Dec. 1 at 9 p.m.

SPORTS

16

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

Figuring it out

PHOTO BY DAYNE FRANCIS | THE SIGNAL

The Panthers maintained a steady lead to beat Howard 65-58.

New women’s basketball team still learning how to play with one another DEVONE SLAPPY Staff Reporter

G

eorgia State women’s basketball team currently has a 2-4 record in nonconference play this season.

The Panthers started the season off right with a win against Kennesaw State 66-62. The Panthers were down 16 points, until they made a comeback that was led by Makeba Ponder, who finished the game with 19 points and four 3-pointers. Although they won their first game, the Panthers would drop the next three games.

The beginning of their losing streak started at Tennessee Tech, losing the game 72-65. In that game, the Panthers shot only 31.9 percent from the field, and 25 percent from the field in the first half. The Panthers were down by 28 points, before they found a rhythm and brought the team back within four. Tennessee Tech finished the game strong, however, thanks to the Panthers poor shooting.

The Panthers would then lose the next game to Morehead State. In this game, they lost in a shootout rather than just by bad shooting. Morehead State won the game 99-90 thanks to their efficiency from the 3-point line. Both Morehead State and the Panthers put up over 75 shots in the game, however Morehead was 47.8 percent from the 3-point line compared to the Panthers 26 percent.

The Panthers played an efficient game shooting over 40 percent from the field, but their 3-point shots just weren’t falling like Morehead States were. That was the difference maker in this game.

To extend the losing to three

games, the Panthers lost to Alabama by a score of 72-56. The Panthers were actually leading majority of the first half, until they missed 14 straight shots allowing Alabama to take a 3228 lead at halftime. In the second half, Alabama took over as the Panthers finished the game with 23 turnovers and shot 33 percent from the field.

The Panthers were close to the upset in the first half, however their bad shooting problems continued to bring them down.

The Panthers snapped the losing streak by beating Howard 65-58 in their Thanksgiving Classic Opener.

Even though the Panthers came out with the victory, they continued to shoot poorly as they made 37 percent of their shots from the field. Thankfully, the Panthers defense came alive forcing Howard to shoot a mere 28 percent from the field. In addition, the Panthers forced 24 turnovers as well as forcing Howard to shoot only 14 percent from 3-point range.

Six games into the season, the Panthers overall as a team are having an inconsistent year. Georgia State is shooting 37 percent from the field on the year and only 26 percent from 3-point range. The leading scorer Makeba Ponder is averaging 11 points a game, but ranks last on the team by shooting 27 percent from the field.

The scoring problem is causing this season, so far, to be inconsistent however not all is bad this year.

The Panthers defense is playing well, forcing opponents to an average of 29 percent from 3-point range. In addition, they are forcing turnovers, averaging 20 per game and have a +1.4 in turnover margin overall. They are also averaging 11 steals a game and opponents are only shooting 40 percent from the field.

The Panthers season so far has had ups and downs, which explains their 2-4 record. Let’s see if they can make some more shots to match their outstanding defense. The team will also have to learn how to implement all the new players on the team as well.

New Players

Georgia State come into the season with nine new players: four freshmen, two NCAA transfers, and three junior college transfers. The four freshmen are forward Astaja Tyghter, point guard Madison Newby, forward K.K. Williams, and guard Kierra Henry.

The two NCAA transfers are guard’s Tatianna Jackson and Erica Norwood.

The three junior college transfers are center Alaysia Mitchell, center Taleah Williams, and center D’Arcy Draper.

With nine new players, it makes sense why the team has been inconsistent, as they are still trying to find a way to gel and build that team chemistry. In fact, every player on the team has played at least one game and no one player has started all six games this year. They are still trying to figure out their perfect lineup, as well as the lineup for the bench. However, Coach Baldwin-Tener has noticed one thing about his team so far.

“With nine new players, I have noticed we really play to win. We are coming together and getting better each game. We need to learn to take better shots and do smarter things when we are in command,” Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said in a Georgia State Athletics press release.

The team is slowly coming together this season, but with nine new players it will take time until they figure out the system that fits the team.

“We are coming together and getting better each game. We need to learn to take better shots and do smarter things when we are in command.”

- Sharon Baldwin-Tener, Head Coach

PHOTO BY DAYNE FRANCIS | THE SIGNAL

Georgia State Forward (#21) Morgan Jackson shoots a free throw.

PANTHER OF THE WEEK

FOOTBALL

1st 2nd

Jeremy Hollowell Basketball Hollowell has played his part in replacing the dynamic scoring duo of Ryan Harrow and R.J. Hunter his first week on the court with Georgia State. He currently leads the team averaging 19.5 points through the first four games. On a season that has only seen him, Kevin Ware and Markus Crider start every game so far, Hollowell’s consistent production of leading the team in scoring for the last three games have been necessary. Hollowell is an Indiana native and transfer who came to Georgia State largely due to his relationship with R.J. and Coach Hunter. At Indiana, he appeared in 29 games and started in 15 for the Hoosiers.

3rd

Sun Belt Standings

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

17

SPORTS

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Arkansas State

Arkansas State

Little Rock

7-0 | Overall: 8-3

0-0 | Overall: 4-1

0-0 | Overall: 5-0

Appalachian State

UL Lafayette

UT Arlington

6-1 | Overall: 9-2

0-0 | Overall: 4-1

0-0 | Overall: 5-1

Georgia Southern

UL Monroe

Georgia State

6-1 | Overall: 8-3

0-0 | Overall: 4-1

0-0 | Overall: 3-1

Georgia State

Little Rock

UL Lafayette

4-3 | Overall: 5-6

0-0 | Overall: 2-2

0-0 | Overall: 2-1

South Alabama

Troy

UL Monroe

3-4 | Overall: 5-6

0-0 | Overall: 2-2

0-0 | Overall: 2-2

UL Lafayette

UT Arlington

Troy

3-4 | Overall: 4-7

0-0 | Overall: 2-3

0-0 | Overall: 3-3

New Mexico State 3-4 | Overall: 3-8

South Alabama 0-0 | Overall: 1-2

Georgia Southern

Idaho 3-5 | Overall: 4-8 Texas State 2-5 | Overall: 3-8

SPORTS EDITOR’S PREDICTIONS RASHAD MILLIGAN | THE SIGNAL

*CONFERENCE GAME

FOOTBALL Saturday, Dec. 5 Iowa vs. Michigan State Florida vs.

Alabama Clemson vs. North Carolina

Michigan State

Pelicans vs. Heat*

Heat

Bulls vs. Thunder* Cavs vs. Warriors*

at Statesboro, Ga. 2 p.m.

Thunder Warriors

0-0 | Overall: 2-4

at DeLand, Florida 3 p.m.

Stetson Stetson Hatter Classic at DeLand, Florida 1 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALL Tuesday, Dec. 1 at Birmingham, Alabama 9 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Saturday, Dec. 5 North Florida

at GSU Sports Arena 2 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 20

Bethune-Cookman Stetson Hatter Classic

Arkansas State 0-0 | Overall: 2-4 South Alabama 0-0 | Overall: 2-4

UAB

North Carolina

Falcons

Texas State

Georgia Southern *

Alabama

Falcons vs. Bucs*

0-0 | Overall: 2-4

Monday, Dec. 21

UL Lafayette

0-0 | Overall: 2-3

Georgia State

SPORTS CALENDAR

NBA CHRISTMAS DAY*

UL Lafayette vs.

Troy Trojans

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Friday, Dec. 4 Wright State

at Dayton, Ohio 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 12 Old Dominion

at GSU Sports Arena 2 p.m.

THE FINAL SCORE R.J. returns to Atlanta Georgia State’s all-time leading scorer R.J. Hunter made his professional debut in Atlanta on Nov. 24.

Although Hunter’s Celtics lost to the Atlanta Hawks 121-97, Hunter led all Boston scorers off the bench with 12 points. Panther fans were seen and heard throughout Phillips Arena and the Men’s Basketball team attended the first half, before traveling to face Ole Miss on Nov. 25.

Softball announces schedule The Softball program will play in four tournaments and have 24 home games next season. The team, that was ranked No. 40 last season, will face six top-25 teams, which include four squads ranked in the top-10. The Panthers are led by the reigning Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Ivie Drake and are returning after having a ninth consecutive season with 30 or more wins.

Baseball adds five Fall recruits The Baseball team has added outfielders Terrell Frazier and Jaquez Williams, right-handed pitchers Jansen Action and Jordan Lee, and catcher Cole Jackson during the fall signing period. All five recruits are highly regarded in their respective areas and four of them even reign from the metro Atlanta high school area.

Action is a community college transfer from Alabama and is expected to make an impact with Georgia State from his first season.

Georgia State vs SPORTS

18

PHOTO BY TROI CHARITY | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY BRANDON WARNOCK | GEORGIA SOUTHERN

What you need to know DEVONE SLAPPY Staff Reporter

O

n Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. the Georgia State Panthers will take on division rival Georgia Southern for bragging rights.

The Panthers are coming into the game with a 5-6 record and are in fourth place in the division compared to Georgia Southern’s 8-3 record as they’re third in the division.

The Panthers are coming into the game as underdogs for many reasons. First off, the Panthers are a 5-6 team going on the road against the Eagles who are undefeated at home. At the home the Eagles are beating opponents by at least 25 points per game.

Georgia Southern is coming into the game with the best running game in the nation, averaging 378 yards a game. Georgia State’s defense is giving up 198 rushing yards a game.

Expect the Eagles to come in dominating on the ground game.

Not only do the Eagles have a dominant running attack, but their offense is averaging at least 37 points a game. The Panthers’ defense are giving up 33 points per game. The Eagles shouldn’t have any problem passing their average season points this game.

The Panthers still have a chance in this game, if their defense can stack the box and prepare for the running attack. The Panthers can stack the box because they shouldn’t have to fear the Eagles passing game. The Eagles are only averaging 64 passing yards a game.

In fact through nine games, the Eagles have only attempted 96 passes and those passes are averaging a mere 6 yards per attempt. So the Panthers shouldn’t be too concerned with anything deep in the passing game.

The Panthers offense in this game, will need to come in running the ball rather than passing. The Panthers may average only 96.7 rushing yards per game, however they are going against an Eagles defense that is giving up 137 rushing yards per game. The Panthers have a high chance of creating a good running attack against the weak running defense of the Eagles. If they can get the running game going, the Panthers will be able to open up the pass.

The Panthers should go run first because they are facing an Eagles defense who is only giving up 202 passing yards a game. Plus the

Eagles in their first nine games only gave up 15 passing touchdowns, which is less than two per game.

Overall in this game, expect the Eagles to stick with what they’ve been doing all season which is running the ball. The Eagles shouldn’t have a problem running the ball against the Panthers run defense, as the Eagles have a total of 39 rushing touchdowns on the season so far.

However, expect the Panthers to do the opposite of what they’ve been doing all season, by coming into the game establishing the run.

If the Panthers can create a running attack on the Eagles weak run defense, and continue averaging over 300 passing yards a game, then the Panthers have a great chance of leaving the game with a win.

DEVONE SLAPPY

RASHAD MILLIGAN

JEREMY JOHNSON

Prediction columns Staff Reporter

Sports Editor

Staff Reporter

Panthers:

33

42

28

Eagles:

30

52

38

In my opinion, I think the Panthers will come out with a win. I do not believe it will be an easy or even a pretty win, but I still think the Panthers will have the edge in this game.

The Panthers are going to establish the run this game to go along with their great passing game.

The Eagles have a bad run defense that gives up over 130 rushing yards a game. The Panthers offense is already averaging 27 points a game while only averaging 96 rushing yards.

The Panthers are scoring mainly through their passing game, so imagine if the Panthers could just get 140 yards from their running backs this game? If you thought the passing game was good now, imagine it how great it can be with play action.

The Panthers should be hungry in this one.

Added to the difference the results of this game will make on paper, rivalry and pride will also kick in for Trent Miles’ football team. In the pass happy offense that quarterback Nick Arbuckle engineers, don’t be surprised if the extra fuel of his final guaranteed college game pushes the team to a season-high in points. Although Southern probably won’t score 69 points again this season, Georgia State’s defense still hasn’t proved to be consistent enough to hold the talent in Statesboro. With this current winning streak and improvement shown when backs were against the wall, Trent Miles will survive to see another season at Georgia State.

This heated matchup is closer than the stats may indicate. The Eagles are the NCAA’s top rushing attack. The Eagles have four rushers over 500 plus yards rushing for the season.

This could be the formula that makes the difference as the Panthers have a high powered offense. The Eagles will be able to keep the Panthers offense on the sidelines, making scoring opportunities scarce for the Panthers.

This will be a closer game than last year’s 69-31 Georgia Southern victory. The Panthers are making strides as seen over the last few weeks but Southern is a more finished product at this point and also have the home field advantage this year.

Georgia Southern 19

SPORTS

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015

GAME PREVIEW

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY BRANDON WARNOCK | GEORGIA SOUTHERN

Q.B. vs Q.B.

SIGNAL ARCHIVES

BY DEVONE SLAPPY, STAFF REPORTER

Georgia State will have the advantage at the Quarterback position against Georgia Southern.

Kevin Ellison, the Eagles quarterback, is only completing 46 percent of his 71 passing attempts, and has thrown for 479 passing yards and three touchdowns. Ellison is only averaging 53 passing yards a game and has a QB efficiency of 108.

Whereas Nick Arbuckle, the Panthers quarterback, is on another level compared to Ellison.

Arbuckle has thrown for 3,814 passing yards with 23 touchdowns, and is completing 64.2 percent of his passes. In addition Arbuckle has a quarterback efficiency of 153, and is averaging 347 passing yards a game.

Ellison’s only advantage is his running game.

Ellison has 637 rushing yards this season along with eight touchdowns and seven yards per rush attempt. Arbuckle is negative in rushing yards because of the number of sacks he has taken. Overall Arbuckle has the advantage in passing and Ellison has the advantage in rushing.

R.B. vs R.B. The Eagles have the clear advantage at the running back position. The Eagles have two rushers with over 100 carries. Matt Breida has the most carries with 180 along with 1,495 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns. Brieda averages 136 rushing yards a game. The Other rusher is L.A. Ramsby with 138 carries and 707 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.

Ramby has more rushing yards than the Panthers starting running back Demarcus Kirk. Kirk has only 75 carries for 320 yards and two touchdowns. He is only averaging 32 yards a game. The Eagles clearly have the better running backs.

position breakdown

W.R vs W.R At the Wide Receiver position, the Panthers will have another advantage. The Panthers have two main receivers with at least 55 receptions. Penny Hart is the number one receiver with 966 yards and seven touchdowns. The number two receiver is Robert Davis with 932 yards and five touchdowns. Both are averaging over 85 yards per game.

The Eagles on the other hand only have two receivers with eleven catches. BJ Johnson is the number one receiver with eleven catches, 186 yards and zero touchdowns. The number two is Ryan Longoria with 11 catches, 113 yards and zero touchdowns. The Eagles team as a whole at the wide receiver position only has 696 yards compared to the Panthers 3,813.

Football Column JEREMY JOHNSON Staff Reporter

T

he Georgia State football team is building momentum heading into the final stretch of the season. The Panthers have been competitive in every game as of late and picked up the school’s largest victory against Texas State on November 14.

The Panthers have finally returned most of the offensive weapons that had Panthers’ nation excited coming into the season.

Running backs Taz Bateman and Kyler Neal both returned to the

lineup against Texas State to add a jolt to the Panthers’ rushing attack as the Panthers proceeded to rush for 172 total yards.

Senior wide receiver Donnavan Harden has gotten into the flow after an early season foot injury had him sidelined for the first few weeks.

Harden has figured his role in the Panthers offense as they are now running like a well-oiled machine with now three horses at the wide receiver position in Harden, freshman Penny Hart and junior Robert Davis.

The offense is still battling injuries at tight end as Joel Ruiz is out for the season and Keith Rucker was sidelined against Texas State. But the emergence of the three big time tal-

ents at wide receiver has helped ease the sting of losing two big targets.

The Panthers are about to come into some of the biggest games of the season as they face Troy and then rival Georgia Southern.

The Troy game will unquestionably be emotional as it will be senior day for Panthers such as Nick Arbuckle, Joesph Peterson, Bruce Dukes, Tarris Batiste and Wil Lutz.

The Panthers will be fired up to play and will have a chance to grab another late season win over a Troy team struggling to get to .500 this season themselves.

The Panthers then will travel the 208 miles to face bitter rival the Georgia Southern Eagles. This game will

have implications on the standings, for the fan bases and for the futures of both programs.

The Panthers will be carrying loads of momentum behind them as the roll into Statesboro. They will potentially be fighting for win number six and becoming bowl eligible for the first time in program history.

The Eagles will be looking to stay alive in the Sun Belt Championship hunt as they currently trail Arkansas State by one game in the standings.

The Panthers’ momentum will make them a dangerous opponent going into the matchup as they are jelling late in the season and would love to play spoiler to their rivals.

The Eagles will not be caught off

guard by the Panthers due to the magnitude of this growing rivalry.

The Panthers’ offensive rhythm will keep them competitive in the game. The scoring opportunities will be limited due to Georgia Southern’s ball control triple option offense.

The improving Panthers’ defense will need to be ready for a heavy dose of cut blocks and physical run attacks from the Eagles.

Players like junior Shawayne Lawrence, Jalen Lawrence, Carnell Hopson and David Huey will have to provide an anchor in the middle of the defense to give the Panthers a chance to play spoiler and get bowl eligible against the Eagles.

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