3/27/17 Issue

@HSUORACLE www.hsuoracle.com

Henderson State University – Monday, March 27, 2017 Volume 112, Issue 7

VAPORIZED

Valley of the Vapors successfully held its 13th music festival in Hot Springs during spring break. P. 4-5

THE ORACLE

THE ORACLE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – Emily R. Bell FACULTY ADVISER – Mike Taylor SPORTS/ONLINE EDITOR – Pete Tubbs OPINIONS EDITOR – Dax Guilliams PHOTO EDITOR – Joshua Bradley GRAPHIC DESIGNER – Natasha Cribbs BUSINESS MANAGER – Kansas Tye

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 Valley girl? Andrea Lo of Vancouver’s Belle Game stunned the audience with her classic voice.

Photo by Emily Bell

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CAMPUS MOURNS The beginning of spring break was marked with the deaths of two students.

SITTIN IN HOT WATER

Valley of the Vapors had its thirteenth successful independent music festival.

IRON FIST RULES

Dax reviews Netflix’s latest Marvel series, “Iron Fist.”

SPRING ON THE FIELD

Sports editor, Pete Tubbs, goes over the baseball team’s spring break of games.

ORACLE ONLINE Our online format has more stories and full galleries of the latest games, news, and events. Go to hsuoracle.com and check out these latest stories:

• Best Cover? Poll for your favorite Oracle cover, winner receives graphic T-Shirt with the cover and headline on it.

• Student artists discuss their upcoming senior exhibits this week.

COMIC ARTISTS Eager to share your skewed sense of humor with the rest of your peers? Email us your digital comic strips or scanned hardcopies to ORACLE@HSU. EDU. But first, check out our policies for comics online at hsuoracle.com.

ADS AND ADS

For online or print ads, email us at kt194294@reddies.hsu.edu or call the business office at 870-230-5288 to get in touch with our business and ads manager.

March 27, 2017

REDDIE NEWS

3

Campus mourns sudden passing of two students Story by Emily Bell, Editor in Chief

Profile pictures from Crain’s and Watkin’s Facebook accounts.

Students Mykayla Crain and Taylor Watkins were loved by many, and left behind lasting impressions during their time as Reddies.

Students and faculty were shaken by deaths of students Mykayla Crain and Taylor Watkins in two unrelated car accidents in the past week, announced in recent campus-wide emails by Tonya Oaks Smith, director of marketing and communications.

Crain, 23, was a senior elementary education major who grew up in Malvern.

She was involved in a single-car accident the morning of March 11 on highway 67 south of Malvern. According to police reports, Crain’s car struck a guardrail. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Many friends and family members have written Facebook posts in Crain’s memory, sharing

their loss.

“Shocked and saddened, but grateful to have known her. She had such a sweet heart for the children she cared for every day,” Christi Nation, executive director for Henderson in Hot Springs and Crain’s Management Communication teacher, wrote on Facebook Monday.

“She was one of the sweetest and nicest girls,” Brandis Jones, criminal justice and sociology major, posted on Saturday. “We had classes together last semester that she helped me in.”

Crain demonstrated action and initiative in her education and projects since high school.

According to her friends and family, she would be just as motivated to work and improve others’

projects when asked to assist.

Crain’s funeral was held on the 18 at First Baptist Rockport in Malvern.

Junior human services major, Taylor Watkins, was involved in a head-on collision with a Peterbilt semi-truck the morning of March 13. She was northbound on Arkansas 9 near Lono when she crossed into oncoming traffic on a curve in the highway, colliding with the truck.

Watkins was pronounced dead at the scene.

Watkins’s family has posted a memorial fund for their daughter at lonesomedoveboysranch. com. Lonesome Dove is an education-based ranch for at-risk boys with licensed educators, academic promotion, and skills development in horticulture, carpentry, auto mechanics, and more.

Watkins grew up experiencing and participating in the work her family founded to help improve delinquent boys’ lives and futures.

Her family background in this area influenced her decision to major in human services at Henderson.

According to the site, the memorial fundraiser will provide the funds necessary to finish remodeling their facility. “The next cottage we remodel will be called ‘The Taylor House’ in her honor,” the site stated.

“She was wise beyond her years and had a heart and passion for God and for the broken-hearted,” Tracy McCorkle said of Watkins after her funeral. “She listened to people, and made them feel loved and important.”

Watkins’s peers described her as fearlessly truthful, humble and striving to improve herself, welcoming and loving, and above all she made sure to take the time to listen to others no matter what.

Faculty and staff who would like to offer their support to Watkins’s family can make their donations by visiting the ranch’s webpage.

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VALLEY OF THE VAPORS

Media students discover the authenticity of Hot Springs’s music fest Story and photos by Emily Bell, Editor in Chief ingly loud the atmosphere is until they step the week of the festival. outside when they feel like their head is His advice, to clearly see the difference floating on cotton. Or pop into the bathbetween entertainment and talent, is surely appliroom beside the stage in Low Key Arts and cable to VoV. see the walls tremble, threatening collapse VoV creates a thriving community of artists under the weight of dynamic bass. for only five days out of each year, and anyone Gnarly. present during this event becomes a part of You’ll find yourself in the parking lot that community. From the event organizers and passing around a bottle of beer, a bottle of sponsors to the performers and the crowds, this whiskey, a bottle of whatever’s available with community exceeds the usual “artists supporting stranger friends. Not that you need it. When artists” mentality found in such communities you have bands like VODI on stage, alcohol across the world. It focuses instead on artists and drugs are certainly not required to fade improving artists on a professional level.

Chicago band Sunjacket provided a techno-fusion into the ethereal experience.

People tend to slap the label “sense of commusound fit for spiritual worship at Low Key Arts.

Regardless if you partook in a circle of nity” on almost any sort of artistic festival these “puff-puff-pass,” you might smell like weed days, but in reality such “sense of community” Last weekend one of Hot Springs’s biggest on the way home. only goes so far to present the entertainment of yearly events kicked off spring break. Valley of And somehow that’s not a bother. refined artistry to a consumer and nothing more. the Vapors (VoV) held its 13th independent However, VoV’s authenticity runs miles deepNot that there’s anything wrong with that. music festival throughout downtown from St. er than partying, rock and roll, and the drugs Such festivals and events are what provide job Patrick’s Day to last Tuesday. theme typical of music fests. There were some opportunities to professional artists. But few venIf you were able to attend this year’s VoV, con- 60’s hippie experiences to be had at VoV for sure, ues actually take the time to coral professionals sider yourself “unlucky.” but that’s obviously not the only draw. There’s from all over the world who are excited to reach In view of the 13th anniversary, VoV decked more to this festival that separates it from Austin out to each other and to amateurs/students right out its usual downtown venue, Low Key Arts, City Limits, Memphis in May, and the New Orle- here in Arkansas. with black cats and mystical superstitions to ans Jazz festival (other than the obvious fact that Whether these artists are musicians, composembrace the unlucky number. no major-label bands are booked). ers, studio artists, writers, journalists, photograLocal artists contributed time and skills to With all its angry, unrefined, young punk phers, or filmmakers, everyone is on board with each create their own spin on VoV’s black cat aesthetic, VoV has spun a perfect web of mascot, all of which adorned an entire wall in surprisingly professional networking.

Low Key Arts. The artists also donated works to There are few other communities a silent auction held during the week of the festi- in Arkansas that achieve the level of val, with bids starting at $100. All proceeds went authentic, artistic professionalism that toward future VoVs. VoV manages to create every year. This To get into the legit nitty-gritty (emphasis on festival goes beyond the entertainment gritty): VoV is one of the few truly authentic invalue, doesn’t concern itself with “what dependent music festivals left standing. It leaves will draw the largest crowd,” and looks you feeling dirty in the right way, douses you in to an audience separate from the regular, a sense of accomplished exhaustion, and deafens albeit enthusiastic, fest-goers. you with all the loud music you wish you could “When you review a concert or replicate in your own home (but can’t because festival, you must be able to distinguish that’s impossible, and the neighbors would combetween entertainment and talent,” Rick plain).

Koster, music reviewer for Connecticut’s Andrea Lo of Vancourver’s Belle Game led her five piece VoV peeps might not even notice how crushThe Day, said at a workshop held during new age group with existential force.

March 27, 2017

5

VoV 13th Independent Music Festival Story continued cussed his frustration regarding sively authentic, and what calls out the “get a writers who essentially perform real job” downtrodden artists of Arkansas to through their writing, but fervently support this event. It’s just what this seemed to forget to add any real little-known Southern state needs in order substance to their critiques. to instill the belief in young artists that what Jansen and Koster discussed they want to do for a living can be just that: how writers today could imA real living. prove their works to be more When a group of media students, exhausthonest, thorough, and provide ed from over 12 hours interviewing, filming, a benefitting read. They showed and editing head home for a short recuperaboth sides of the journalistic tion before the next day’s shooting schedule, review, and worked together to they realize their luck in such an opportunity. help others improve.

Without VoV, countless artists striving to VoV hosts several workshops achieve their profession would have few oththroughout the week for the er avenues through which to gain experience.

Big Jesus, hardrock band from Atlanta, featured three guitarists sole purpose to teach, to expand VoV is certainly the gritty independent and focused on exceptional riffs. the mind. Such dedication to music festival it purports to be, but that grit teaching, growing, and improv- isn’t just for the aesthetic. assisting one another in any way they can. ing seems to surpass any other widely known It’s like a rock polisher; that grit is what’s They work together to promote each other, festival in Arkansas. left after someone rough-around-the-edges and to offer the opportunity to improve.

Perhaps that’s what makes VoV so exclugains a little more polish.

There’s no “get a real job” in this crowd.

There’s no “I do this because I have a trust fund, so why not?”

These are real jobs. These are hardworking people doing what they love and making a living, not either/or. These professionals who attend VoV are ecstatic to promote just that to amateurs and students hoping to gain experience for their future careers as artists.

“When people write reviews about my music, about my band’s shows, sometimes they just don’t make any sense and don’t really tell me anything about my work,” Andrew Jansen, lead guitarist/vocalist for Loud Sun, said during the workshop with Koster. “It doesn’t help me, there’s not a lot there I can use to help me grow or improve.”

Jansen, who performed at Low Key Arts during the festival, spoke with Koster, media students, and others interested in professionPrince isn’t dead, his spirit simply went into Dallas’s “smoovie” music man, Ronnie Heart. ally reviewing music and concerts. He dis-

6

OPINIONS

Kick, Punch, It’s All In The Mind

Opinion by Dax Guilliams, Opinion Editor / Image courtesy of Netflix Netflix has done a great job of taking characters from Marvel Comics and giving them great shows. “Iron Fist” is the last one before “The Defenders” and while there are some issues with “Iron Fist,” it’s still yet another great series.

The character of “Iron Fist” is a very interesting one. After surviving a plane crash, Danny Rand is rescued by monks from K’un L’un, a city in heaven that only appears on earth every few years.

Danny is trained to learn Kung Fu from the monks and becomes a powerful martial artist of legend known as the Iron Fist. He then returns to earth and attempts to rejoin society by taking over his father’s company.

At first, the actor playing Danny, Finn Jones, doesn’t portray the character very well. However, as the series goes on, Jones really gets into the character and does a great job.

Overall, “Iron Fist” starts off kind of average but then gets better with each episode. I think this might be one of the reasons some reviewers were so harsh on the show.

Some reviewers complained that there wasn’t enough action and the show was boring. What show were they watching?

There was plenty of action with the show I was watching. Danny was running around, punching people all over and throwing them down stairs.

I also saw a lot of complaints that the scenes at Danny’s company were

boring and took away from the story. Those scenes added a lot to the story, mostly because they helped build the characters.

Being a billionaire CEO of a company is one of the most important things about the Iron Fist comics.

While a lot of the actors did a great job, there were two that stood out from the rest. Jessica Henwick plays Colleen Wing, a close ally of Danny Rand who helps him by giving him a home and helps him battle villains, and she’s one of the coolest characters on the show.

But the actor that I think was the best out of all of them was Tom Pelphrey who plays Ward Meachum, Danny’s childhood nemesis and the man who took over the Rand Corporation with his sister, Joy. Ward Meachum stole every scene he was in and he made the show so much better. I’m honestly still shocked at how great Pelphrey’s performance was.

Although I really enjoyed “Iron Fist,” I think it’s the worst of the Marvel Netflix shows. There’s a lot to like about the show, but there are also a few things that really bring the show down.

One of the worst things the show did was make Danny kind of whiney and mean towards people.

In the comics, Danny is a very compassionate person and he does get around to being like that in the show, but not until much later.

Another big complaint I have is that the special effects in the first

few episodes look really bad. In the first episode, Danny flips over a taxi that almost hits him and it does not look good.

My biggest criticism of the show is that none of the villains are that great. The actors who play the villains are good, but what they actually do in the story is just uneventful.

The Hand return as the villains of “Iron Fist.” This would be impressive if they weren’t already the villains of the second season of “Daredevil.” We’ve already seen them, what they can do and we watched Daredevil and Electra kick their asses.

To be fair to The Hand, they come off as better villains in “Iron Fist” but they’re still not as cool as they are in the comics.

The other Marvel Netflix shows have such great villains. None of the ones in “Iron Fist” compare to The Kingpin, Kilgrave or any of the villains in “Luke Cage.”

Even with these complaints I have, “Iron Fist” is still an enjoyable show to watch and it does a great job setting up “The Defenders.” If you like the other Marvel Netflix shows, it’s worth checking out “Iron Fist,” especially since it sets up for the next show.

March 27, 2017

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GAMES Keep your mind sharp and14, your hours FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 2017 less numbing puzzle. Answers Los Angeles with Times this Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis in next week’s issue.

ACROSS 1 Bindle-toting migrants 6 “Oliver!” nogoodnik 11 Bygone intl. carrier 14 Face in the crowd, in film 15 With no help 16 A, in Aachen 17 Crude early version of a work of art 19 Bottom-row PC key 20 Natural salve additive 21 Slightly 23 Financial claim 26 Coin-in-afountain thought 28 Pakistani language 29 “The Lord of the Rings” beast 30 Computer programming glitch 33 What marathoners load up on 35 WWII conference site 36 Like swimming competitions 39 Getting by 43 Rants and raves 45 Bold 46 New York City zoo locale 51 Slithery fish 52 Et __: and others 53 Harp constellation 54 Daly of “Cagney & Lacey” 55 Sun protection for kissers?

58 Former Russian ruler 60 “__ no use!”

61 Lakeside launching aid ... and, literally, each set of circled letters 66 Pot pie veggie 67 When Macbeth kills Duncan 68 French-speaking Caribbean country 69 FDR successor 70 2000s TV series set in California 71 Snooze

By Mark McClain

DOWN 1 Seagoing pronoun 2 Good Grips kitchenware brand 3 A/C capacity meas.

4 Church instrument 5 Satirist Mort 6 Secret agent’s passport, say 7 Some craft beer 8 Advanced in one’s career 9 At no addl. cost 10 Grape soda brand 11 Italian playhouse 12 “I’m on it, boss” 13 Pre-poker deal demand 18 Planted, as seed 22 New Orleans university 23 “Livin’ La Vida __”: Ricky Martin hit 24 Baghdad’s land 25 Beige shade 27 Crafty 30 To be, in Barcelona 31 __-mo replay 32 Perform miserably 34 Bill for drinks

Last week’s answers

2/14/17

Monday’s Puzzle Solved

FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 7, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Gownlike Roman garment 6 Like teary eyes 11 Sculpted physique, briefly 14 Sky blue 15 Asteroids game company 16 Actor Vigoda 17 Zero or one 19 Japanese carp 20 Trunk of the body 21 Orchard rows 23 Internet ©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 2/14/17 destination 27 Good 37 “Hometown Proud” 49 Super cold Housekeeping 50 Motorola supermarket chain publisher since phone 38 Roomie in prison 1911 54 __ by jury 40 Earl __ tea 28 Pilot Earhart 56 Blind as __ 41 Pizza cooker 29 Leaning-on-the57 Ness, for one 42 Actor Chandler horn sounds 59 Massage of “Bloodline” 31 Hawk’s claw reactions 44 CIA operative 32 Wintry temps 33 NYG rival the 62inPadre’s brother 46 Muslim bigwig 63 Whopper 47 Upper crust NFC East 64 Summer, in groups 36 Pinball excess

By Gerry Wildenberg 37 Mountain bleaters 68-Across 48 Attacks, puppy38 Ball-and-mallet 4 Lyricist Gershwin 65 Fabric mishap style game 5 Free from doubt 39 Foxy 6 Madrid mother 40 Business 7 Bluesman convention Redding handouts 8 “Othello” schemer 41 Clods 9 __ Lanka

2/7/17 Monday’s Puzzle Solved

8

SPORTS

Baseball has half and half break Story by Pete Tubbs, Sports Editor

Spring break may have been a welcome reprieve for most students, but for the Reddie baseball team there was no rest to be found. The men played six games and brought home three wins and three losses.

The first games of the break were on March 18 and were against Southeastern Oklahoma State University. The first game was ill fated for the men in red, as there was only one score throughout the entire game and it belonged to SEOSU. The second game was better for the visiting team as there was again only one score, but this time it came from the Reddies. In the second inning, Joe Myers sent a home run straight over the right field fence.

The Reddies faced off against SEOSU again the following day, and the results weren’t what they had hoped for. They lost the game at a score of 7-1.

Delta State University was next up for the men in red. The game was played on March 21 at 3 pm and again yielded a less than satisfactory outcome.

Hayden Lessenberry sent a homer over the left center fence to start the game off, that same inning, Delta State also scored. Jordan Taylor got a hit in the third inning and sent Parker Jones to home for another Reddies score.

Colton Coffman scored next off of Brentten Schwaab reaching on a fielding error. Joe Shepherd then scored off of a Kearon Redmon single which was followed by Brentten Schwaab’s score off of an Alan Hall fly ball to right field.

The final score of the third inning for the Reddies came from Redmon after Joe Myers doubled to left center. Delta State then scored once more to close out the third.

Parker Jones scored to open up the fourth inning, then Taylor scored soon after. The Reddies scored once more in the fourth when Coffman crossed home plate after Redmon singled up the middle. Delta State also scored before the fourth ended.

The fifth began with Myers sending a home run over the left center fence. Over the remainder of the fifth and the entirety of the sixth inning, DSU scored four times.

The Reddies got their final score in the seventh when Lessenberry homered to left field. Delta State scored four more times to close the game with a score of DSU 15 HSU 13.

March 25 saw the Reddies in a double header against East Central University during which they found redemption for their previous losses. The first game began at 2 pm and was played on Clyde Berry Field.

Coffman stole home to secure the first run of the game in the second

inning. ECU then scored one of their three runs of the game in the third inning.

The fourth saw Taylor score off of a Redmon single. Alan Hall scored in the fifth off of a Parker Jones fly ball to left field, and then Dylan McCain scored in the sixth off of a Redmon double. The final score of the game for the men in red came from Coffman and Taylor scoring after the latter hit a homer and send the former over the plate by way of RBI. ECU scored their second and third scores of the game in the eighth. The final score saw the home team came out on top at a score of 7-3.

The second of the two games began at 5 p.m., and Myers started the home team off with a score in the fourth off of a Coffman fly ball to centerfield. Jones made the second and final score of the game off of a McCain walk RBI. The Reddies had a half and half kind of week, but they look to raise their record this week with their next game being played against the University of Arkansas at Monticello at 6 p.m. on Friday.

REDDIES BASEBALL SCHEDULE UAM HOME UAM DH HOME Central Baptist Conway Southern Arkansas Magnolia Southern Arkansas DH Magnolia Mississippi College DH HOME SWOSU HOME SWOSU DH HOME Union University TN Jackson, TN NWOSU Alva, OK NWOSU DH Alva, OK Southern Arkansas HOME OBU Arkadelphia OBU DH Arkadelphia GAC Best of 3 Series TBA Great American Conf.

TBA

6 P.M. 1 P.M., 4 P.M. 6 P.M. 6 P.M. 1 P.M., 4 P.M. 3 P.M., 6 P.M. 6 P.M. 1 P.M., 4 P.M. 4 P.M. 6 P.M. Noon, 3 P.M. 6 P.M. 3 P.M. 1 P.M., 4 P.M. TBA TBA