03/17/14 Issue

@HSUORACLE www.hsuoracle.com

Henderson State University - Tuesday, March 17, 2015 - Volume 108, Issue 22

MISS HSU PAGEANT Annual pageant returns this week P.5

THE ORACLE

THE ORACLE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – Scott McKinnon FACULTY ADVISER – Mike Taylor COPY EDITOR – Katie Brown NEWS EDITOR – Moe Skinner SPORTS EDITOR – Kaitlyn Kitchens FEATURES EDITOR – Devin Anderson VIEWS EDITOR – Dax Guilliams PHOTO EDITOR – Chris Sharp PAGE DESIGNER – Houston Fryer GRAPHIC DESIGNER – Megan Snoddy ONLINE EDITOR – Scott McKinnon BUSINESS MANAGER – James T. Allen

GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

12 Jeanne Miller swims to greatness

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER – Carmin Wills

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Have an opinion on an issue or response to what we said? Just want to rant about something for a while?

Write us at ORACLE@HSU.EDU. We want to hear what you think.

Hell, if it doesn’t suck, we’ll publish it in next week’s issue. Try to keep it between 400 and 600 words. Just like your Tumblr, we ignore anonymous submissions.

COVER: Brittney Humphrey appears crowned as last year’s chosen one.

Photo courtesy of Department of Marketing and Communications.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF LOW KEY ARTS

Valley of the Vapors music festival

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IMAGE BY HOUSTON FRYER

The media students go to New York City

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PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Former Globetrotters coming to Hot Springs

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REMEMBERING CALLIE MORRIS Campus holds service for departed student

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ears of joy and memories filled the Garrison lecture hall on March 10, as friends and family gathered to honor the life of Callie Morris.One by one, a panel of representatives stood before the audience and shared their fond memories of Morris and condolences for her family. As each person shared their speech, a slideshow recounting the life of Morris played in the background.

“Callie leaves behind her incredible family here at Henderson,” Glendell Jones, Henderson president said. “She leaves behind her great family at her church, but she also leaves great memories for us.”

President Jones also captured the university’s emotion on the subject by saying, “When someone on our campus hurts, we all hurt.”

One of Morris’ closest friends, Clayton Sorrells, nursing major, was chosen to speak at the service.

“Callie was absolutely the most amazing person I had ever met,” Sorrells said. “We were good friends, we always hung out together, studied together and ate lunch together every day.”

STORY BY JORDAN JOHNSON — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY He shared his fondest memories of Morris and relayed the overall message that she will be dearly missed.

“If you ever asked someone, they could never find anything bad about her, because there was nothing bad to say against her,” Sorrells said.

Sorrells also talked about Morris’ parents and how at the funeral service they decided to find positivity in a depressing situation.

“Callie’s parents were there, and they were just lifting everyone up and it was just amazing to see parents that were going through tragedy, and they were lifting us [students] up,” Sorrells said. “They were going through this tragedy but they were lifting us up and making us smile. It was just amazing to see that.”

As Sorrells started to wrap up his speech, he made sure to relay Morris’ message of her faith in God. “Callie wanted us to know God,” Sorrells said. “Let this be a rejoicing time because Callie’s in a better place.”

Before Sorrells ended his speech, he said, “I’m [going to] be a better person because I met Callie.”

Jeff Krisell, pastor at Faith Missionary Baptist Church, was also in attendance to share his memories of Morris. He talked about seeing Morris every Sunday and reveled at how Morris always chose to share her faith with anyone who would listen.

“She lived her life beyond herself,” Krisell said. “She was always involved in the lives of her family and friends and others.”

Krisell, like others, knew Morris was not perfect, but valued everything she did for everyone she could.

“Callie was righteous,” Krisell said. “It wasn’t because Callie didn’t do anything wrong. She was righteous because she worked on her relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Krisell also talked about the new scholarship opportunity in Morris’ name for prospective nursing majors.

“When the idea of a scholarship in her name came to us and the nursing department, we thought, ‘Well, that’s perfect because it reinforces the truth about the word of God,’” Krisell said.

Krisell also talked about how Morris, even without her being here, will still be able to im-

pact lives.

“For many of us, her legacy lives within our hearts, our minds and our memories, for years and years to follow. But we’re gonna give the opportunity for someone who may not have known her personally, to prosper,” Krisell said. “To establish this scholarship is going to help that legacy.”

“Even in her passing, her life will go on beyond just her and will affect somebody else,” Krisell said.

In an email interview, Barbara Landrum, nursing department chair and associate professor, stated that because the idea of a scholarship in Morris’ name was relatively new, there is not a lot of information on the subject.

“I am sure it will be [for] students accepted and enrolled in the upper division nursing program,” Landrum stated.

Krisell ended his speech with encouraging words that, he believes, everyone should follow.

“Live beyond yourself. Live for Jesus Christ. Live for your fellow man,” Krisell said.

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PURSUIT OF GREATNESS

Music and fine art department pursue national accredidation to strengthen curriculum

STORY BY CALEB WILLIAMS — GRAPHIC BY MEGAN SNODDY

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hat is long and strenuous and rhymes with the word participation? Reaccreditation is the word, and it’s a word that many students and faculty in the music department can’t stop talking about.

The reason for all the talk is after a long six years of stress and sweat, the department has finally been reaccredited by The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) giving credit to its administrative support, passionate faculty and student performance levels.

“The process is long and strenuous,” Department Chair of Music James Buckner said.

“You see the idea of reaccreditation is to set a minimum set of academic standards, and it all starts with a self-study.”

Students on campus are no stranger to the music department. The department engineer’s excellence and reaccreditation gives it the true representation it deserves.

The six year process has kept the department on its toes, with three consultant visits, an NASM team visit and hundreds of pages of self-study appendixes.

“The handbook we started with and turned in was originally 30 pages, but it has slowly gotten over 200 pages,” Buckner said.

“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

“The handbook lists ethics, like how to perform, and proper etiquette,” Buckner said.

“Once we get the handbook done we then have to do a self-study. There are three of them and we picked the easier one. Basically, it

is a list of questions, and the answers have to be in alignment with what’s in the handbook.”

“The NASM wants to know about everything: the faculty, the students, the finances, everything. It is rigorous…” Buckner said.

“You can never lose accreditation unless you don’t pay your dues or if you don’t submit the Higher Education Arts Data (HEAD) survey.

You basically start new every year.”

A process like this keeps the department fresh and clean. It’s almost like opening the next chapter in a book.

This is the next and present chapter of the music department. There’s much more to this process, but it would take six years to explain, this is the base. With it being finished, a few things will change, if they haven’t already been changed.

“We will have charts for upcoming freshmen to show them what repertoire they will be working on, and what they would be working on in the future,” Buckner said. “It’s basically a way that students can see their progression the longer they’re in the program.”

“We were doing most of this already, but we weren’t writing about it,” Buckner said.

With a process as drawn out as this, it truly does reflect on not only the music department, but Henderson as well.

“It shows the rest of the campus and perspective students that they can get a quality music education from Henderson,” Administrative Specialist Salina Smith said.

So what’s next in this new chapter of the

music department? What’s next is a true continuum of a quality liberal arts education in the school with a heart.

“The reaccreditation of the music department by NASM shows that the department is

continuing to uphold its highest standards for its students and faculty,” Smith said.

The department will continue to achieve excellence and will continue to uphold its greatness.

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REDDIE ROYAL RUMBLE Annual Miss HSU pageant returns this week

STORY BY JARVIS WARREN — PHOTO COURTESY OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

FROM LEFT — Third runner-up Alyson Morrison, first runner-up Kourtney Kellar, Miss HSU Brittney Humphrey, second runner-up Jordan Arivett and fourth runner-up Kelsie Jefferson.

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iss HSU is back and right around the corner rescheduled for 7 p.m.

March 19 in Arkansas Hall because of the inclement weather.

The contestants compete in private interview, talent, on-stage question, swimsuit and evening gown. The winner will represent Henderson at the Miss Arkansas Pageant in Hot Springs on July 5-11. She also serves as a Reddie Ambassador for the 2015-2016 school year.

The Miss Henderson State University pageant has a long and proud tradition at Henderson. The first pageant, held in Arkansas Hall, was on March 24, 1960.

Eleven contestants vied for the title of “Miss H.S.T.C.” Annette Reeves, a freshman from Malvern, was crowned as the first “Miss Henderson State.” Sue West, a sophomore from Malvern, was the first runner-up; Mary Janice Nethery, junior from Arkadelphia, was

second runner-up.

“I was beyond excited when they announced me as the winner,” said former Miss HSU Brittney Humphrey.

“I wanted the crown so badly because I wanted to represent my university and win the scholarship to help pay for my education. I am honored that the judges felt I was qualified for the job.”

Twelve Henderson students will compare for the title of Miss HSU. The 2015 candidates are: Robin Campbell, a junior from Pine Bluff; Katie Miley, a junior from Arkadelphia; Ayanna Willis, a sophomore from Little Rock; Tessa Probst, a sophomore from Benton; Hope Moore, a sophomore a sophomore from Benton; Alexis Garrett, a sophomore from Texarkana, Texas; Abby Willingham, a sophomore from Lavon, Texas; Dominique Walker, a freshman from Blytheville; Ashtyn Price, a senior from Arkadelphia; Brooke Cornelius, a junior from

Hope; Faith Ledbetter, a junior from Arkadelphia; and Mariah Brown, a senior from Little Rock.

Entertainment will be provided by Miss HSU 2014 Brittney Humphrey, Emma Beard, Tanner Oglesby, Aaron Gilmer, Lisa Ridgeway, Jakyri Scott and Jennifer Wright. Ricki Rebollar, a graduate student at Henderson, will serve as host. Admission is free and open to the public.

“The event was fun,” Humphrey said.

“We had a girls’ night two nights before the pageant so all of the contestants were able to relax, have fun and get to know one another.

The day of the pageant was fun to experience with everyone. What girl doesn’t love getting dressed up?”

“My year as Miss HSU has been everything I hoped it would be and more,” Humphrey said. “I truly thought it would not fly by, but I was very wrong about that. My year has flown by, but I can honestly say it has been one of

the best years of my life.”

“I have been competing in the system for three years and every day brings new experiences. Being Miss HSU opened so many doors for me. I was able to meet people on campus and throughout the community” said Humphrey.

She also commented, “I got to represent HSU at the Miss Arkansas Pageant the Arkansas Student Leadership Forum in Little Rock, the National Student Leadership Forum in Washington D.C. and so much more. I will forever cherish the memories I have made.

Thank you to HSU Staff and student body for supporting me throughout my year. I could not have done it without you.”

“I want all of the contestants to know two things I consider very important when competing: have fun and be yourself.” she concluded.

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VALLEY OF THE VAPORS Independent music festival returns to downtown Hot Springs just in time for spring break

STORY BY SCOTT MCKINNON — IMAGE COURTESY OF LOW KEY ARTS

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R.E.A.D.Y. — Peelander Red of Peelander Z stands atop his followers at an open air concert.

The Valley of the Vapors music festival celebrates its 11th year in Hot Springs from March 19-24. The festival kicks off with a free opening night reception and art show from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 19 at Emergent Arts, 341A Whittington Avenue.

The festival, organized by the Low Key Arts, features over 30 bands from as far away as Japan, workshops, documentary films and free concerts around the downtown area.

Some artists scheduled to perform at this year’s festival: Jamaican Queens, Native Lights, My Gold Mask, Water Liars, Pallbearer, Two Cow Garage, Swearing at Motorists, White Mystery and PeeLander Z from Japan.

The main concerts will take place March 20-24 at Low Key Arts, which is one block north of downtown Hot Springs on Arbor Street. Doors typically open every evening around 7, and bands start taking the stage around 7:30.

Every day at 6 p.m., a “secret show” will occur some place around downtown. The locations of the shows are revealed in the hours leading up to the show via the VOV website. Previous secret show locations have ranged from barbershop parking lots to inside a school bus.

Another unique Valley of the Vapors event is the free trail shows. Artists and audiences meet at a local park to enjoy an intimate and outdoor acoustic concert.

The shows are very family friendly events and oftentimes, families will bring their children to the trail shows. Trail shows will meet every day at noon, on March 21-24.

A new addition is the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival presents the Underground and Outsider Film series, which will show a series of music-related documentaries.

All of the films will be shown at Deluca’s Pizzeria, 407 Park Avenue. The full schedule of

films and their descriptions can be found on the VOV website. Valley of the Vapors also features workshops available to the public.

This year, there will be workshops on banjo and harmonica, comic strip creation, DIY touring for filmmakers and performance artists and a discussion session on LGBT issues.

All workshops will take place at Emergent Arts on Whittington Avenue.

Drew Martin, festival curator, spent time for two years assisting Low Key Arts executive director Bill Solleder with the booking of acts for the festival and took over that responsibility full time last year.

Martin is passionate about Valley of the Vapors and how it brings people together.

“My first time at VOV, I was a senior in high school. I was there and didn’t know a single person,” Martin said. “I was just hanging around waiting for the show to start and Bill [Solleder] came up and just started talking to

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PHOTO COURTESY OF PEELANDER Z me. By the end of the week, we were friends.”

Martin says to expect to see a family at the festival. Not a literal family, but strangers coming together and becoming a family through the environment and the music.

Martin describes what a newcomer should expect from the festival. “You’ll see and hear things that you’ve never expected. It’s amazing. It’s a hug. It’s a big musical hug.”

Festival passes that allow entry to all concerts, trail shows, and all workshops can be purchased online for $50. Single day tickets can also be purchased at the door of Low Key Arts for $10. All shows at Low Key Arts are open to all ages and shows occurring at Maxine’s are 21 and over.

Full event schedules for concerts, trail shows, and workshops can be found at www. valleyofthevapors.com. Audio and video samples from artists and festival pass information can also be found on the site.

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MANHATTAN TRANSFER

OPINION BY DAX GUILLIAMS — IMAGE BY HOUSTON FRYER

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ast week, Henderson’s media staff members and faculty took a trip to New York City and your’s truly went along for the ride.

It was my first time in the city and I had quite a lot of fun, even if I now hate Times Square with every fiber of my being.

The plane ride up there was fine, mostly because I sat in the wrong seat and the guy who was supposed to have a seat to himself

decided that I could have it. Score!

Manhattan is a great city, if it weren’t for Times Square. By day two of the trip, I couldn’t wait for Dr. Doom to level it to the ground as means of pissing off the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. But I’m not gonna focus my attention on Times Square. There were many cool places in the city that I got to see.

While I wasn’t there for very long, Brook-

lyn was one of the best parts of the city I got to visit. I only went there for pizza at first, but I found more to enjoy.

A lot of us at The Oracle went to a bar in Brooklyn called Barcade and it was great.

Know why it was great? Because it was a bar and an arcade.

The drinks were cheap, the games were fun and there was more. That night was made because a certain someone there got the high score in Final Fight.

It was me. If you couldn’t tell by the clear and present excitement in these typed words, I was the one who dominated the Final Fight machine and earned the respect of all the nerds that go there.

They even gave me a free glass with their logo on it, so that was awesome.

And this was done right after a day of eating nothing but pizza because that’s what you do when you go to New York.

I’d like to talk more about the pizza, but the best way to know about it is to go to the city and eat it yourself.

But back to Manhattan. Midtown was easily my favorite part of Manhattan and that’s just for their comic book store.

Midtown Comics was the best comic book store I’ve ever been in, but that may be because I was born and raised in Arkansas.

The best store I’ve found in this state that sells comics is Books-A-Million.

Even though it was very crowded, the store was fun to browse through as they had an amazing selection.

Not only did I find copies of “Red Lanterns,” but I also found enough Booster Gold and Spider-Woman that I was drowning in them. And I’ve waited years to finally be drowning in Spider-Woman comics.

They also had a ton of action figures, but that’s not my thing.

What’s really great about the store is that they ship their products all over the country, so you can use their website to get access to all kinds of great comics and graphic novels with characters like Booster Gold, The Question and more Booster Gold.

Another great thing about Midtown was that it didn’t have the pressure that Times Square had. Times Square is insanely crowded, with a lot of people being dressed up as

cartoon characters and guys trying to stop you and sell you whatever it is that’s on the CD they’re holding.

Without those people walking around, Midtown was a breath of fresh air. It also didn’t have dozens of monitors with bright ads flashing down at me.

Also, I got to see the Nintendo store. It was a pretty cool place, but I didn’t buy anything, mostly because I had already spent so much money at that time.

Either way, it was a nice place and it certainly would be better than a Sega store. Ha! Take that, Sega!

Don’t think that the trip went so well for me. A couple of bad things happened too.

On the first night there, a homeless man yelled obscenities at me and a couple of other people. Looking back on it now, it was hilarious, but it was terrifying when it happened.

I also had the misfortune of eating at places near my hotel that were way too expensive for the quality of food I was given.

A Japanese restaurant named Nipori was the only restaurant near the hotel that I enjoyed. I don’t know what was in my ramen, but it was amazing.

The trip wasn’t all fun and games and tasty pizza, though. I went on the trip with the rest of Henderson’s media crew to attend the College Media Association conference that was being held at the hotel we were staying at.

I got some hot tips on journalism, met some great professors from all over the country and got to write my first non-fiction comic, which other people and I hope get published in the nearby future.

Overall, the trip was fun, but it wasn’t everything I had expected. I discovered why New Yorkers hate Times Square, I had a ton of great food and I got harassed by the homeless and people dressed as cartoon characters.

So plenty of good and a little bit of bad made for a fun trip. If you ever get the chance, travel there yourself and have your own fun.

You could enjoy bowls of ramen in a room next to three Japanese men that are drinking way too much.

You could go down to Barcade and try to get your own high score in a game they have.

But don’t bother trying to get the one for Final Fight. That belongs to me.

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HOT SPRINGS HAPPENINGS ARCHERY SPORTS TOURNAMENT

Hot Springs Convention Center, 134 Convention Blvd.

Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. free to attend The Arkansas National Archery in the Schools Program, part of the National Archery in the Schools Program, targets students as young as fourth grade and as old as high school seniors.

They learn archery skills, as well as an outdoor hobby they may enjoy for the rest of their lives.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, description courtesy of agfc.com

EXHIBITION GAME FEATURING FORMER HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS Hot Springs YMCA, 130 Werner Street Saturday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m. $5 for adults and $3 for students

Watch an exhibition game featuring some former members of the world famous Harlem Globetrotters taking on the Arkansas Dragons in conjunction with ESPN Arkansas 69.3 radio.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

THE EGGSCELLENT EASTER EVENT

Garvan Memorial Gardens Magnolia Room, 550 Arkridge Rd. Sunday, March 29, 1:30 to 4 p.m. $10 for members, $25 for nonmembers, reservations required Come join in the fun and learn one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced art forms.

Pysanky, or Ukrainian eggs, are created through a simple process of using wax and dyes, but the results can be stunning. It’s great for the whole family and you can’t beat the excitement of revealing the final design underneath as the wax is melted away. All supplies provided. Open to children 6 and older, parental supervision required.

Image courtesey of Wikimedia Commons, description courtesy of hotsprings.org

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OXYGEN IS OVERRATED — Jeanne Miller swims at Ouachita Baptist University in a swim meet last semester.

FINISH STRONG Senior Jeanne Miller represents HSU in NCAA National Championship

STORY BY MARIAH DELAVEGA — PHOTO JEFFERY P. GILMORE Jeanne Miller was the only one from the HSU swim team who made it to the NCAA National Championship Tournament in the last two years.

Miller went to the NCAA National Championship Tournament last year in 2014, but didn’t go as far as she did this year.

At this year’s NCAA National Championship Tournament in Indianapolis, Miller placed 13th in the 100 butterfly having a time of 55.97 on Thursday, March 12.

She placed 10th in the 200 butterfly on Friday, March 13.

Her time was 2:03:63 in the preliminaries at the morning session. Her time qualified for the consolation finals on Friday.

Miller cut nearly a second off of her time from the morning session and received 2:02:34.

Miller totaled 11 team points for HSU for this year’s NCAA National Championship Tournament.

“It’s been so fun being on the swim team at HSU,” Miller said. “It’s sad that it’s all over for me now, but it was a perfect way for my season to end and I had a fantastic senior year, and I really cannot complain at all.”

Miller received All American, Academic All American and all conference this season.

“The thing that is so great is that she saved her best swim for last,” Coach Coak Matthews said. “That was her best record of her career and broke her own school record.”

Miller’s plans for next year are to go to graduate school.

“We are really going to miss Jeanne, she is a big impact on the team and she always impresses me,” Matthews said.