February 13, 2014 | Volume 3, issue 18 | Fayetteville, AR
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FACEBOOK’S PAPER REVOLUTION PAGE 2
THE WINTER OLYMPICS ARE DIFFERENT THIS YEAR page 3 15 MILLION! page 4 THE TECH CHALLENGE page 10
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editor’s note
FACEBOOK’S PAPER REVOLUTION missing article
RYAN MCCreAdY Pi Kappa Alpha Editor-in-Chief
Ryan is a senior studying international business. You may contact him at rmccread@uark.edu.
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3 tHe WinteR olYMPicS ARe DiFFeRent tHiS YeAR
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The Winter Olympics haven’t been around forever. We’ve all heard that the Olympics originated from the ancient Greek games and events from those times, such as running, can still be found in the competitions. The Winter Olympics are much different. They did not begin until 1924 and have occurred every four years, with the exception of the interruption of World War II. It wasn’t until 1992 that the Winter Olympics took place in alternating even years from the Summer Olympics. I bet most people prefer the Summer Olympics because of the large array of sports and competitions. There is something for almost every type of person. The Winter Olympics include very popular sports such as skiing, snowboarding and ice hockey as well as sports many have never heard of or have no interest in watching, including skijoring, cross country skiing and curling. This winter, we watch the American teams fight for the gold, once again, but it seems things are a little different this year. This winter, Sochi has undergone deadly attacks. A railroad bomber killed 18 people in a terrorist scale attack, as people prepared to travel to Russia for the games. As in any event where large numbers of people merge and mingle, security is always something to keep in mind. The U.S.A. teams have been encouraged not to wear team uniforms
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or American pride clothing while in MORGAN Sochi, outside of the JohnSon games. Some have Pi Beta Phi disregarded this Morgan is a junior studying political science. and will take their You may contact her at mrj012@uark.edu. chances to show off the red, white and blue. Speaking of colors, the United States’ uniforms have been under attack as well. Designer, Ralph Lauren expresses a vintage take on these American made uniforms which people seem to either love or despise. If you haven’t already, take a look. Also in the news are the political ramifications of the Olympics. Russia has been criticized for strict anti-gay laws, which the United States has taken into full account but chosen to to comment on. However, President Obama sent a message to the Russian government by appointing two openly gay members to the Olympic delegation. This year ’s Winter Olympics have been interesting before they even began. National security has been tightened and the political of it all is being widely debated in Russia. We wish all the athletes the best and, of course, USA! USA! USA!
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15 MILLION!
In 1999, Delta Delta Delta Fraternity (Tri Delta) officially adopted St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as its philanthropic partner. In the first year, 15 of 133 chapters participated and raised $44,269. In 2002, Tri Delta took on the challenge of raising $1 million over four years to endow the hospital’s Teen Room. The Teen Room is a haven where patients, aged 13 to 19, get away from parents, nurses and doctors to be with kids their own age. In January 2005, Tri Delta reached its $1 million goal a full year ahead of schedule.
partner and few are raising a comparable amount of money. This new goal challenges the collegiate chapters of Tri Delta to raise $3 million each year, collectively.
ALEXANDRA Chunn delta delta delta
Alexandra is a sophomore studying Broadcast Journalism and PR. You may contact her at atchunn@uark.edu.
The next year Tri Delta committed to raise $10 million in 10 years to name the Patient Care floor in the Chili’s Care Center. The Patient Care floor provides 18 additional patient rooms, with a parent room attached. This floor houses patients who recently received bone marrow transplants. In May 2010, just four years later, Tri Delta met the $10 million fundraising goal.
The Specialty Clinic houses a broad range of services for St. Jude patients. At some point during their care at St. Jude, each child will likely be referred to a clinic within the Specialty Clinic. The following services are provided in the Specialty Clinic: cardiology, gynecology, immunology, neurology, pain management, preoperative surgery care and pulmonary care.
In July 2010, Tri Delta announced it would take on a new, more aggressive challenge to raise $15 million in five years to name the Specialty Clinic located in the Patient Care Center at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
As a member of the Delta Iota chapter of Tri Delta, I am beyond thrilled to announce that, nationally, Tri Delta has met their goal of $15 million, not in
No other Greek organization has had this level of commitment to a charitable
five years, but in only three and a half years.
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debate & discuss
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KATIE KorTeBeIn Pi Beta Phi
Katie is a sophomore studying creative writing. You may contact her at kkortebe@uark.edu.
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SHANNON JoneS Zeta Tau Alpha
Shannon is a junior studying apparel studies. You may contact her at snj004@uark.edu.
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ANNIE huMPhreY Zeta Tau Alpha
Annie is a junior studying social work. You may contact her at arhumphr@email.uark.edu.
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CHALLENGE
In recent times, many of us have been accustomed to creating our relationships and social lives through our cell phone screens and, while it may seem you have hundreds of friends at the tip of your fingers, in reality you don’t. Let’s be real. Most of us have created a life inside our technology, a complete illusion of having a life. Social media boosts our confidence, enhances our social life and keeps us connected to the craziness around us. When we get likes on selfies, it makes us feel important or just well liked. We’re not missing anything at parties because we see them the next day.
LAUREN rAndALL Alpha delta Pi
Lauren is a freshman studying english / journalism. You may contact her at lerandal@uark.edu.
So I propose a challenge. I challenge you to go through an entire day without posting a picture on Instagram or an update on Facebook. No one really cares that you had pancakes for breakfast or that you miss your boyfriend 400 miles away. What is important to you probably isn’t to most people. Go print that picture and hang it up on your wall if it is a moment that makes you happy. Or go visit your boyfriend.
I challenge you to talk to the person sitting next to you in class instead of killing the time and awkwardness by checking your phone. I mean a real conversation not, “Can I borrow a pen?” or “What I challenge you to talk to the person sitting was the homework assignment?” Do next to you in class instead of killing the time and you think our parents met in college by sending texts? Make real friends awkwardness by checking your phone. I mean through conversation and experience, a real conversation not, “Can I borrow a pen?” not Facebook. Surrounding yourself with actual people is a healthier way or “What was the homework assignment?” to engage.
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The issue is not sharing our lives with the world around us, but that we are missing the world around us. Everyone is so consumed with themselves and media that we forget to look up. Social media boosts our esteem, but it also kills it. I don’t have to tell you how nauseating it is when you post a picture on Instagram and it only gets 12 likes. It starts to get to you. Most of the time, that is this generation’s biggest worry. I’m not the first to speak of what social media and technology does to our society. I won’t lie. I can’t go thirty minutes without texting someone, checking Instagram or, so help me, Facebook. Sometimes, it makes me feel so unproductive and upset. I see all the pictures of people on Facebook, or past boyfriends, instead of doing homework or something that actually benefits me. While it is fun to share with the exciting moments in your life everyone, it’s counterproductive. It’s almost creepy. I know more about people before even meeting them. College is supposed to be some of the best times in life and we are wasting them.
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I challenge you to find a book, a real book, that isn’t on a Kindle, Nook or iPad. Have a cup of tea; it might actually make you look up. I challenge you to write a letter to a distant relative or friend. I really miss the whole getting mail thing. It shows people that you are really thinking of them, you are describing what is going on in your life and are generally interested in what the other person has to say. Lastly, I challenge you to not use your phone for a whole day. Go do something productive like homework or actually go to one of the parties you always see on Facebook. Go outside. If we can separate ourselves from technology, I promise you will be so much happier. You won’t be the one skimming the pictures from last night. You will be the one at last night. Sometimes, it feels better to be away from everything. Technology only adds to the unnecessary drama in our lives.
laugh out loud
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DeAtH BY cooleR PAintinG There is a way to identify the girl who’s devoting all of her time, energy, blood, sweat and literal tears to painting a Kappa delta M e g a n i s a s o p h o m o re cooler. During formal studying English & journalism. season, you can find You may contact her at any given girl stuck in map014@uark.edu. her room and covered in paint for endless hours. Girls devote sleepless nights to drinking cups upon cups of coffee for a fraternity boy who gives her a t-shirt in return. Ha, a t-shirt. On average, a sorority girl spends 150 puls hours in their college lifetime painting a cooler. I made this statistic up, but it sounds plausible.
MEGAN PeArSon-hArguS
Hobby Lobby lives for formal season, I promise you. They stock their shelves hoping that sorority girls with mascara stained cheeks will run in with a panicked look and buy up every bottle of paint. Then we do. We create Pinterest boards full of images we found all over the Internet as inspiration. By cooler law, every cooler has to be red, white and blue and has to say, “Raised Right,” at least once. If you do not, you will have dateless functions for the rest of college. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. Boys. Do you know what kind of mental and near physical pain you put girls through
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when you ask them to a formal? Obviously, we like getting dressed up, so do not hesitate to ask, but do realize that when you ask we are automatically banished to a week of absolute cooler hell. Do you know what you put these poor girls through? It is awful. Painting a cooler was by far the worst week of my six months of college life. Plus, painting coolers ruins your nails, which is practically a federal offense in my eyes. Where did this tradition come from? What girl decided, one day, to paint a cooler for her formal date? The act of painting coolers truly confuses me. I have tried researching it, but the origins do not exist. Whoever you are, who created this tradition, I will find you and I will use a lot of mean words. This girl has probably caused more pain and suffering for the female gender than our home girl, Eve, ever did. During formal season, the University should offer counselors on call with tissues for these poor girls. Counselors should also provide medical excuses for class. This should be a legitimate excuse accepted by all U of A faculty: “Sorry, teach, I can not come to class because the formal is on Saturday and I have to finish the cooler.” I am sure our professors would completely understand. For clarification, there are rare assortments of girls with unbelievable talent who love devoting their weekends to painting every square inch of several coolers. My heart goes out to these girls. I pray for their sanity. Also, a shout out to the art majors who make kick butt masterpiece coolers that make my cooler look like kindergarten level Microsoft Paint.
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A ThoughT To Ponder Sam Steele Ponder is an ESPN college football sideline reporter, the wife of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder, a n d a b l o g g e r. P o n d e r ’ s w e b s i t e ( w w w. prothirtyone.com) offers a sincere side to the otherwise serious, statistical, and show-stopping style she displays on the sidelines of college football games. Due to the hustle and bustle of a very busy college football season, Ponder has but one entry, but the content is invigorating. The title: “Examining Truth And Twitter.”
The true meaning behind her father’s words didn’t really sink in until Steele Ponder got her first real taste of the cruelties of the world via HANNAH henderSon Twitter. She had just landed her big break with Fox College Sports, delta delta delta covering Big 12 College Football on the sidelines. She believed Twitter H a n n a h i s a f re s h m a n studying broadcast journalism. would help her engage with the viewers, answering any questions You may contact her at heh009@uark.edu. she could while in the middle of the action. After her first report, she scrolled through her Twitter. None of the questions had anything to do with football. They were ridiculing her based The things we let bother us must have little on her external appearance.
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bits of truth to them. As C.S. Lewis said, “By mixing a little truth with it, they made their lie far stronger.” Ponder went on to say, “here ‘s the lie: that our worth as humans is dependent on what any other human says, does, or thinks.”
No human was created exactly the same and we all have insecurities. Sam Steele Ponder is no exception. She creates a common ground between us and an admired, powerful woman in a very male-dominant industry. Samantha Steele Ponder grew up a confident kid, avoiding the high school insecure years. “While the common school of thought was that fitting in was what made a kid confident, being different was the key to my self-esteem.” She didn’t give much thought to her wardrobe, hair or makeup and certainly didn’t follow by trend. “I was friendly and good at sports,” she explained, “and that was enough.” Sure there were probably one or two people who weren’t too fond of Steele growing up, but she never believed she was bullied, “I just dealt with life’s unpleasantries,” she exclaimed. When difficultl times arose her father would remind her that if she lived her life trying to be the best at everything, she would never feel like enough. He would say, “If your confidence is based on something subjective, you will never be truly confident.”
Because of the harsh words, Steele Ponder looked deeper into what was wrong with just about every part of her body. Being in the national spotlight can really make anyone, especially a woman, focus on every little insecurity they have ever had about themselves. When all eyes are on you, it’s easy to feel like the ugliest person in the room. It didn’t matter how many positive things were said, “the constant reminders of what’s wrong with me… you know, the things God missed, forgot about or didn’t like me enough to include are what continue to linger,” Steele Ponder said.
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The things we let bother us must have little bits of truth to them. As C.S. Lewis said, “By mixing a little truth with it, they made their lie far stronger.” Ponder went on to say, “Here ‘s the lie: that our worth as humans is dependent on what any other human says, does, or thinks.” Sites like Twitter are breeding ground for those lies. As soon as I tweet something, I wait to see how many retweets or favorites my tweet will receive. It is like a little game. You come up with something clever to say, reword it a couple times, ask a friend if it is funny or good enough to tweet, send it out there and wait. Sounds a bit like a popularity contest,
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if you ask me. Just like high schoo – we are trying to be popular, liked problems they have and a heck of a lot of Twitter followers, but where and accepted by a general public. When someone criticizes us, we take we all relate is they can be just as insecure as we are. The people with the what these broken people are telling us and let it break us. most, are often the most unhappy. When we stop looking in the mirror and start living our lives more confidently, we are the real winners. Our common ground is that we are all broken, flawed. Even those superstars who look like they have everything figured out, are flawed My advice after reading, “Examining Truth and Twitter” is to accept in one way or another. The most beautiful girl you know, most likely, your flaws, yet be humbly confident. Be confident in the ways you woke up this morning and complained about a body part she didn’t were created,accepting of your flaws and receptive to where you may like. The girl with over a thousand instagram followers probably took fail and where you exceed expectations. If you keep the mindset that an hour or so making her teeth whiter, her skin clearer and more tan you are a consistent learner always willing to learn new approaches, with a photoshop editor. The point is, we are all insecure. you will shock your doubters or learn something you didn’t know before. That is otherwise known as being humble. Sounds like a winWhere we fail is when we let others dictate how we perceive ourselves. win situation to me. The media does a fine job reminding us of just how unimportant we are. It’s easy looking up to celebrities, professional athletes or other Dita Von Teese said “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world idols. They have everything, or so we think. Perfect bodies, perfect hair, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” perfect wardrobe, perfect life, sufficient amounts of money to fix any
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ASHLEIGH gIoVAnnInI delta delta delta
Ashleigh is a sophomore studying Biochemistry and Sports Management. You may contact her at avgiovan@uark.edu.
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philanthropy & service
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MuSIC FeSTIVAL MAnIA
Beale Street Music Festival. Memphis, Tenn. May 2 to May 4.
KAYLA eIFFerT
If you thought Beale Kappa delta Street by itself was K a y l a i s a s o p h o m o re a party, you haven’t studying Advertising and PR. You may contact her at experienced anything kmeiffer@uark.edu. yet. This festival is known for its variety and for being action-packed, with all the acts in one weekend. Stay posted for the 2014 lineup. Bonnaroo. Manchester, Tenn. June 12 to June 15.
Festival season is right around the corner and you are not going to want to miss what 2014 has to offer. Below is a list of the most popular festivals in North America and what you need to know about each one to be sure that you don’t miss out. South By Southwest. Austin, Texas. March 7 to March 16. This up-and-coming festival is known for discovering raw, new talent as well as pulling in a big-name lineup. Austin is the perfect festival city with its variety of venues and bars for meeting a mixed group of people and discovering new music, for what is sure to be a good time. Ultra Music Festival. Miami, Fla. to March 28 to March 30. This festival has been dubbed the most famous EDM festival in North America, and for good reason. Their 2014 lineup includes Afrojack, Armin Van Buuren, Avicii and David Guetta, just to name a few. On top of that, who doesn’t want to go to a rave in Miami? Coachella. Indio, Calif. April 11 to April 13. Coachella claims to have the best lineup every year, which is hard to argue with. Some highlights from their 2014 lineup are Muse, Arcade Fire, Skrillex as well as the first confirmed OutKast reunion appearance. The full lineup for this year is on their website.
Nothing is as hardcore as camping outside for four straight days. It is, arguably, the ultimate festival experience. The 2013 lineup featured Macklemore, Pretty Lights, The Lumineers, Paul McCartney and many more. They have yet to release their 2014 lineup, but it is sure to be impressive. Warped Tour. Throughout North America. June 14 to August 3. The tour stops in more than 40 American cities in an eight week period, so it is easy to find a convenient location close to you, and it offers a wide range of music genres from electronic to metal and pop and all variations in between. Some highlights from their lineup include The Devil Wears Prada, Mayday Parade, Anberlin, Enter Shikari. They are constantly updating the full list of acts. Lollapalooza. Chicago, Ill. August 1 to August 3. This particular festival has been known to pull in big names; In 2013, they had The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Vampire Weekend and the Killers. It is also known for being very organized, for those of you who are serious about making a plan to see your favorite artists. TomorrowWorld. Chattahoochee Hills, Ga. September 26 to September 28 Last year was this festival’s first year as an extension of the world-famous festival, Tomorrowland, in Belgium. Its first year was a huge success due, in part, to its unique “dreamville” camping area building a community within the festival.