February 12, 2016

Indiana Statesman For ISU students. About ISU students. By ISU students.

Volume 123, Issue 54

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

indianastatesman.com

Email system restructure will reduce inbox clutter Shalynn McNeal Reporter

Indiana State University is implementing a new requirement to improve the way e-mails are handled. The change will impact faculty, staff and students whose emails use indstate.edu.

E-mail retention is the process of managing old documents and unwanted emails people received and then sorting them into folders, making it easier to understand and clearer to view.

Lisa Spence, associate vice president for Academic Affairs and chief informa-

tion officer, said the current system needed to be restructured for efficiency.

“The realization of the whole situation is that there is a lot of information in our e-mails that we are not managing to our benefit. We felt like we needed a framework structure,” Spence said.

Preparations are being made so that each department is ready for this change so there is no confusion. For e-mails that are too important to be deleted, there is a tagging system to save important documents for a certain amount of time over the 6-month period.

Emails can be saved by highlighting

and choosing how long to keep them. After the designated time limit is reached, the document is sent to the archive. That does not mean the e-mail is deleted; it is simply stored in a file that can be retrieved later. This will help prevent e-mail overload and clutter in the inbox.

Spence said archiving important emails can help users find them easily when they need them in the future.

“We let our emails stack up for a long period of time, so we have all these important emails and then we have a thousand other e-mails out there surrounding the important ones,” Spence said.

ISU celebrates Fat Tuesday

Meetings will be held with departments that will cover how the new system works. Items that are not tagged will be deleted six months after the email has appeared. This new system will help manage and keep important e-mails, while unimportant ones are deleted.

Sophomore health administration major Ebone Tuggles said she agrees with the change.

“I feel like we always need new skills to better ourselves with all the new technology in the world, managing our e-mails would be a good start for that,” Tuggles said.

Indiana State alumnus to Trump, students: Waterboarding is torture Libby Roerig

ISU Communications and Marketing

Students celebrate Mardi Gras in the Dedes on Tuesday with food, music and crafts.

Cicara Moore | Indiana Statesman

See story on Page 4

ISU alumna forges path to success through self-publishing Carey Ford

Editor-in-Chief

With the whisper of puffy snowflakes blanketing Terre Haute outside, a group of writers gathered Tuesday night in a meeting room in the Vigo County Public Library to celebrate and learn from one of the community’s own.

Lexi Ryan, a graduate of Indiana State University, is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author who has published over a dozen books and novellas.

Though it seems like she’s an overnight success, it hasn’t been an easy journey.

A particularly difficult rejection nearly drove her away from writing.

“I sat in my car and I felt like every door had closed,” she said. “I tried the small press— the results sucked. I tried Big Five (publishers) and couldn’t get in. … the agent route, the small press route — I felt like every door had closed.”

Then she saw some of her writer friends — some she considered “worthy” because they’d been scooped up by big publishers — choosing instead to selfpublish their works.

“And so I looked at what they were doing, and I decided, you know what, maybe this is a way I can justify the time I’m going to take away from my family to write,” Ryan said. “(Writing has) always been a part of who I am. I can make a plan and I can make it work and I can even make minimal income from my books, then this might work out for me.”

Now she champions self-publishing as a way for writers to exert maximum control over their works and retain a higher percentage of the profits — so much so that she’s turned down book deals from traditional publishers.

Her presentation Tuesday night offered a glimpse into the world of self-publishing, opening the door for those in the community who want to get their work out there but just don’t know how.

After the presentation, several members of the audience approached Ryan, telling her of their current projects and publishing plans.

Ryan offered them this advice: “Read a lot — of anything. Then write a lot.

There’s the idea that you have to write

a million words before you’re ready to write words that are going to go out in the world. Maybe that’s true, maybe that’s not, but it sure doesn’t hurt,” she said.

Ryan received a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in women’s studies in 2003 and completed her master’s in English with a concentration in writing in 2005.

“She was one of my first students here,” said Mark Lewandowski, a creative writing professor at ISU who specializes in creative nonfiction. “She was in her last year of graduate school when I started (teaching at ISU), in the first class I taught. I was her thesis director.”

He admitted he didn’t take Ryan seriously at first.

“She told me when she first got here that she wanted to write romances,” Lewandowski said. “I know I was dismissive about it, I told her ‘don’t waste your talent.’”

Despite the initial reaction, Ryan said Lewandowski “has always been very, very, very supportive” of her.

“I adore him enough that I can forgive him for that reaction,” Ryan said.

“I’m sure he hasn’t read romance novels — he’s not familiar with the genre. The assumptions about the genre are that it’s not quality writing, it’s trite or cliched, so he was just working on assumptions.

Then he came pretty quickly to respect the fact that I knew what I wanted and I was going after it. So, from the academic side there’s always a bit of snobbery.”

“I’ll never live it down,” Lewandowski said. “I saw this really smart, really talented writer and she wanted to write genre romances instead of literature. I’m sure I was disappointed, and that’s why I said it.

“Everyone has to find their own path (to do) what they want to do. It’s too easy, in English departments especially, to measure success on whether or not the students do what we do, which is totally wrong. It’s natural, but it’s not right.”

Lewandowski said this concern has led the English Department to reach out to writers such as comic book writer and ISU alum Troy Brownfield last semester. Lewandowski said he doesn’t want to limit students to just academic or literary pursuits, even if they’re outside his area of expertise.

Submitted photo

Lexi Ryan, a graduate of ISU, will give a presentation Monday at 3:30 p.m. in Tirey Hall’s Heritage Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.

“I don’t know anything about romance—it’s not my world, I wasn’t totally aware of what she was doing,” Lewandowski said. “In fact, it even took me a while to realize that she was Lexi Ryan.”

That’s not a surprising fact, considering that Lexi Ryan is her pen name.

“It’s partially a branding thing, partially because I have young kids,” Ryan said.

She chose the name because it was hard to get wrong — unlike her legal name.

She said she wanted a name people could spell and say easily.

She published her first 5,000-word story under that name, in a Sex and Shoes anthology, and continued using the nom de plume after that.

She served as an adjunct professor at ISU and Ivy Tech during that time and didn’t want her students to look her up.

The name continued as a buffer between her teaching life and romance-writing life.

Ryan recalled a time in a doctor’s office where the receptionist, an avid romance reader and follower of Ryan’s social media accounts, recognized her.

“Typically, that doesn’t happen,” Ryan said, “and you’re able to keep the two lives separate.”

Among her friends and family, however, she doesn’t keep her romance-writing persona a secret.

SEE SUCCESS, PAGE 2

Presidential candidate Donald Trump may have won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, but it would be difficult for him to earn a vote from Indiana State University alumnus Dave Brant.

Trump recently attracted Brant’s attention when he said during the Feb. 6 Republican debate, “I would bring back waterboarding, and I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”

The interrogation technique that simulates drowning is a familiar topic to Brant, who after a career of working at every level of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, led the agency from 1997 until retiring in December 2005.

Brant objected to waterboarding when it was used during the Bush administration following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I define waterboarding as torture, despite what Donald Trump said Saturday night,” Brant said. The practice has since been outlawed.

Brant posed a scenario to Indiana State criminology students when he visited campus Monday: You’re sitting in a 10x12 room with a terrorist and tasked with getting information from him.

“You’re sitting face to face with him,” Brant said. “He wants to kill you. You’re now dealing with a person who your standards, your beliefs, your culture has no relevance whatsoever. It doesn’t matter what you say to this person. He has a single purpose in life — to kill you.” What do you do?

One student said she’d get a translator. Another suggested talking it out with the terrorist — to try to find some common ground. Brant agreed.

“There is a way to establish a relationship-based approach with someone in this setting that can yield positive, valuable information, but it takes time, patience and incredible hours of literally guys just sitting in a room and saying nothing,” Brant said.

“I can document, as can other agencies, tremendous success of garnering information from these folks through that methodology that would never, ever be achieved otherwise. Never.”

NCIS is a criminal investigative, counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence agency with 1,500 employees in more than 300 offices around the world. During Brant’s leadership of the agency, detainees at Guantanamo Bay were brought there from the battlefield for two types of interrogation.

The first — intelligence interviews — probed for actionable information, he said. Interrogators try to get information related to a specific threat. Time is everything. “We need to know now where your family is, where your coconspirators are, where the weapons are hidden, anything that would be of immediate intelligence to troops,” he said.

The mission for Brant’s NCIS agents, however, was to gather information for criminally prosecutable cases in a U.S. court of law or military court-martial.

Time is not a factor for these investigative interviews.

When Brant learned “enhanced” interrogation techniques were being used at Guantanamo Bay, he took action.

“After becoming concerned about the possible utilization of ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques, I went to very senior levels and said, ‘I will pull my people out (NCIS Special Agents) if

SEE TRUMP, PAGE 2 Page designed by Hannah Boyd

NEWS

Page 2

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 Page designed by Hannah Boyd

Geology students land national conference spot Mallory Eherenman

ISU Communications and Marketing

Indiana State University geology students’ collaboration with an alumnus will be presented at the Geological Society of America in October and the Indiana Academy of Science in March.

Identical twins Kyle and Caleb McDaniel worked alongside Derrick Unger, a 2005 graduate, in the Cumberland Mines in Tennessee this summer.

For two days, Kyle and Caleb took samplings of sphalerite and calcite to determine the spatial distribution of germanium and gallium, which are important superconductors.

The pair says they wanted to see if there was enough germanium and gallium present in the waste material to be mined for a profit.

“The practical skills that Kyle and Caleb brought to the team were a strong asset, and it was great seeing fellow ISU students apply their knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems,” Unger said.

This academic partnership between Kyle, Caleb and Unger was made possible

by State geology Professor Sandra Brake.

Unger worked with Brake on research for multiple summers during his time at Indiana State.

“Dr. Brake has been an excellent advisor, professor and mentor to us both. She has opened a lot of doors for us since being at Indiana State,” Caleb said.

Kyle and Caleb have presented at the geology conference once before and at the time, shared the results of their research into acid mine drainage in West

ISU Communications and Marketing

Indiana State University seniors Kyle and Caleb McDaniel look at rock core samples with Derrick Unger, center, a 2005 graduate of Indiana State.

Terre Haute.

The first study, presented by Kyle, dealt with metal that pollutes the sediment surrounding the channel. The second study, presented by Caleb, involved blackberry plants’ uptake and the storage of metals within their cells.

They concluded there was a higher

level of certain toxic elements within the samples.

The sons of State alumni Annette and Robert McDaniel, Kyle and Caleb will graduate in May and hope to attend graduate school this coming fall.

They have been involved in numerous campus activities including Sigma Alpha

Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Pi, the Environmental Science Club and many philanthropy events.

Looking further into the future, the pair says they would prefer to attend the same graduate school and later live in the same city but not necessarily work for the same employer.

Indiana State grad talks travels, digital marketing world with students Betsy Simon

ISU Communications and Marketing

“Where do you live?”

It’s a simple question for most people but not 2008 Indiana State University alumnus Chris Penn and his girlfriend, Gina Valdez.

“Everywhere, I guess you would say,” Valdez said before she and Penn took the floor to talk to a few dozen current Sycamores about their story and how today’s social media tools allowed them to begin making side money by posting videos of their travels to YouTube.

The couple, who have been traveling in their RV for the past few years and have attracted more than 47,000 subscribers to their channel, Chris and G Travels, shared their story and the benefits of the effective use of social media in today’s digital world during a presentation Tuesday.

Penn’s interest in travel started during a study abroad experience in Australia while he was an Indiana State student. He also would discover during an internship in college that a 9 to 5 lifestyle wasn’t for him.

Penn, who grew up in Montezuma, purchased a van and began traveling after graduation. Since August 2015, he has been working with Ishaan Vadhera, a Master of Business Administration student and director of the ISU Student Marketing Company, Sandeep Bhowmick, assistant professor of marketing and Vernon Sweetin, assistant professor of marketing, to improve his digital mar-

ISU Communications and Marketing

Chris Penn speaks at ISU about his travels and his experience with social media as a digital marketing tool.

keting efforts using Basecamp, an online project management software, to help him go from 31,000 to more than 47,000 YouTube subscribers.

“They’re digital marketing entrepreneurs who travel to beautiful places and make a living because this is such a fascinating time with so many social media tools that allow them the freedom share their travels and make money,” Sweetin said.

Penn’s initial plans after graduation were to travel to Southern California

then to Alaska. But the cost of van repairs left him stranded in Arizona. He spent nine months working and met Valdez, who now travels with him.

The couple records their travels and established a YouTube channel to upload their adventures, like summers spent in Alaska. They recently generated an additional mobile income by leveraging the YouTube channel and other social media platforms within RV industry businesses by shooting videos to teaching people about the different products.

“I’ve been able to meet other people through the social media channels who are doing similar things with their travels,” Penn said. “When I find companies to work with, I look at their online reviews because I do not want to be tied to something that’s not quality since I show viewers exactly what products do.”

After their brief stop in Indiana to visit Penn’s family in Montezuma and visit his alma mater, Penn and Valdez planned to fly back to Arizona on Tuesday evening to get their RV. “Our goal is to go back to Alaska for a while, but from there, we don’t know yet where we’ll travel next,” Penn said.

“Everybody thinks they have all the time in the world to do what they want to do, but that’s not the case. Life is short, and you’re freer today than you’ll ever be. I didn’t have the foresight after I studied abroad to see how traveling could be a job. It really wasn’t until I bought a van after college that I thought I could do this as a lifestyle.”

Penn’s learned that social media can be undervalued, though, and told the students they will need to explain how the new platforms can best reach customers where they communicate.

“Students today are incredibly lucky to be in college at this time with all of these tools that help to open the world to allow them to do anything, anywhere,” Penn said. “I see the value in these tools and what they allow us to do when I get comments on our channel that we’ve inspired someone to get an RV or when people say they travel vicariously through us.”

SUCCESS, FROM PAGE 1

TRUMP, FROM PAGE 1

“I’m perfectly comfortable with the people who know me knowing that I write as Lexi Ryan.”

Martin Maynard, a parttime adjunct in the English Department, also graduated with a masters in English from ISU last spring.

“All of the professors in the English department pride themselves on getting the students as ready for the job markets as possible,” Maynard said. “Not only do they give instruction on the courses, but (provide) life lessons and pertinent facts regarding the field, which include: who’s hiring, what companies/schools are looking for, what traits are desirable, etc. The English department recognizes that there is life outside of the program and tries to link the learning to application. Lexi Ryan is just one of many who has taken the education and experience and made it applicable.”

A writer himself, Maynard said he appreciated learning more about Ryan’s process.

“What worked for her and what did not work for her is

I confirm information that ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques are being utilized. I won’t condone or allow my people to participate in activities that I consider wrong and possibly torture. We simply will not participate in those types of activities. It created a big deal,” he said.

Likening it to a cop who shoots first and asks questions later, Brant cautioned students to not react emotionally in highly charged situations.

“You need to be able to step back and ask yourself, ‘Is my action going to produce the outcome I’m seeking ... which is accurate information?’”

Brant said. “Do you have a problem getting someone to ‘talk’ if they’re talking to avoid pain, serious injury or possible death? They’ll talk.

They will absolutely talk. There’s no doubt about that. The question will be how truthful, credible or accurate is any information they provide?”

In scenarios such as these, the information the suspect provides isn’t always credible, according to Brant.

“You’re going to say whatever you think someone wants you to say to escape an uncomfortable or perhaps very painful situation,” he said.

A relationship-based interrogation approach can produce accurate, credible information.

“Eventually, somebody might say, ‘Could you get a message to my

Submitted photos

Ryan, a romance author, has written over a dozen books.

valuable information for us so that we do not make the same mistakes,” he said.

On Monday, Ryan will give a presentation titled “(Re) Writing the Bestseller,” in which she will discuss how she turned a story she said no one wanted into her bestselling novel “Unbreak Me.” She will also give a reading of some of her work.

The event, presented by the Creative Writing Committee, the College of Arts and Sciences and Center for Community Engagement, will take place Monday at

3:30 p.m. in the Heritage Lounge in Tirey Hall.

It is free and open to the public.

Lewandowski said he’s looking forward to hearing her read her work.

“There’s something about hearing students, especially past students, read,” he said.

“I’m very proud of her. The whole idea of your student going out and succeeding the way that she has so very quickly — it’s an amazing story, and I think she’s one of our greatest success stories (to) come out of ISU.”

mother?’ They might not say a word for two months, and then the person would say, ‘Could you get a message to my mother?’” Brant recalled. “It takes a long time to get there.”

That simple request can — and did — produce a relationship that led to the obtaining of critically important terrorism relevant information.

Brant earned his master’s degree in criminology from Indiana State in 1975.

After graduation, he worked for two years as a police officer in Miami and then was hired by NCIS after first making contact with the agency as a student at State.

In 40 years of law enforcement, Brant has worked with the leaders of every major federal agency as well as leaders throughout the Department of Defense. He is currently the managing director of the Public Sector Practice at BDO, the fifth largest accounting firm in the world.

During his time at the helm of NCIS, he led the agency through unprecedented challenges and changes.

“The attack on (the U.S.S.) Cole was unprecedented; it was a precursor to 9/11,” Brant said. “Everybody knew then there was no going back. It was a uncertain future, no one knew what it would portend — ISIS hadn’t evolved and the current threat hadn’t taken the current form it’s taken, but everybody knew the world as we knew it would never be the same.”

indianastatesman.com

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 • Page 3

Monday Wednesday Friday

Read the Statesman

Page 4

Valentine’s Day Playlist Dajia Kirkland Reporter

1. “When We Were Young” — Adele 2. “Sugar” — Maroon 5 3. “Shades of Cool” – Lana Del Rey 4. “1, 2, 3, 4” — Plain White T’s 5. “Adore You” – Miley Cyrus 6. “I’m Yours” — Jason Mraz 7. “Gravity” – John Mayer 8.

Thicke

“Lost Without You” – Robin

9. “Brown Eyed Girl” — Van Morrison 10.

Adele

“Make You Feel My Love” -

Valentine’s Day Movies Dajia Kirkland Reporter

1. “Can’t Buy Me Love” 2. “Benny & Joon” 3. “50 First Dates” 4. “Pride and Prejudice” 5. “Meet the Parents” 6. “Crazy, Stupid, Love” 7. “She’s the Man” 8. “Think Like A Man” 9. “Pretty Woman” 10. “Maid In Manhattan”

FEATURES

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

Fat Tuesday Fun Page designed by Hannah Boyd

Rileigh Roberson Reporter

Students crowded the Dedes in Hulman Memorial Student Union to attend a Mardi Gras celebration where they enjoyed some of the long-standing traditions such as King Cake, jambalaya and festive music.

Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday, is a celebration that involves a day of feasting before the period of Lent.

The celebration had many activities to offer that contribute to the Mardi Gras culture including tarot card reading, face painting, mask decorating and a handwriting analysis booth; however, Haley Gravely said that “the smell of the food” was what attracted her to the event.

Sodexo provided jambalaya, rice and beans, along with vanilla ice cream with a banana foster drizzle. King cake, a cinnamon roll-like dessert, is also a famous tradition and delicious treat that was provided at the party.

Materials for mask decorating were provided and the face painting and balloon artist line was constantly filling with intrigued students. The face painting was intricate, with loopy flower designs and typical Mardi Gras colors of green, purple and gold were represented on students’ faces. The balloon artist made a variety of balloon creatures including an octopus, a dog and a unicorn.

Two interactive activities the organization offered at the celebration were the fortune-telling station and handwriting analysis stations. Vicki Banks, administrative assistant in Fraternity and Sorority Life, has been reading tarot cards since her high school years in 1973. She started getting more passionate about tarot card reading when she would play poker with her friends. After their games she would

Cicara Moore | Indiana Statesman

A student participates in Mardi Gras festivities by getting her face painted during the celebration Tuesday night.

do readings for them.

Theresa Ortega works for the Recreational Center as their social media and marketing associate, but when she is not at the university, she is working as a handwriting analyst. She became interested in this field when she had a friend who worked for the FBI analyzing handwriting.

While she wishes she had picked up this skill long ago, she has studied and analyzed handwriting for 13 years.

“It helps connect people to who they are,” Ortega said. She is always impressed at how handwriting analysis allows people to show who they are without speaking a word.

Brassie says that the best part about these types of events is seeing the students come out, get involved and have a

good time.

“It wouldn’t be a successful event if the students didn’t participate,” Brassie said.

The Office of Campus Life hosts and helps to support many large-scale activities on campus, such as this party for students’ enjoyment. Other events they are in charge of include Family Day, Sycamore Sunday and some of the Program All Weekend (PAW) events.

An event such as the Mardis Gras celebration takes weeks of planning according to Carole Brassie, an administrative assistant in the Department of the Vice President and Dean of Students as well as a member of the committee for the Mardi Gras celebration. Brassie, along with committee members Nena Haggard and Leigh Ann Pittsford, began planning for this celebration back in November.

ISU shows its artistic side Rileigh Roberson Reporter

Indiana State University is home to four different art galleries. These art galleries each house different themes, shows and display different types of art.

The University Art Gallery, located on the first floor of the Landini Center for Fine and Performing Arts, typically features work created by professional artists around the country.

The art collection that has been on display since Jan. 14 is called Open-Type and focuses on artists who make art out

of different forms of type or print.

This particular exhibit presents artwork by Mark Booth, Chris Walla and Buzz Spector, along with a few others.

To wrap up this show, the gallery will be hosting an artist talk on Thursday, Feb. 18, where artists Katie Hargrave and Brett Hunter, who are currently represented in the Open-Type gallery, will be speaking.

The gallery typically rents the art in order to display the artist’s work, but depending on the artist and the piece of work, it is sometimes purchased, according to Grace Flesher, who is a part-time

employee at the University Art Gallery.

The next theme that will be presented at the University Art Gallery will be the Student Juried Show. This show is a competition for all Indiana State students, not just those who are art and design majors.

Students will submit their work by Feb. 15, and professionals Katie Hargrave and Brett Hunter will judge it.

They are permitted to enter three different pieces, and there will be a monetary award given to a chosen artist, and the work of the finalists will be displayed in the UAG until March 25.

Why emojis are a no-brainer for digital communication Tracey Lien

Los Angeles Times (TNS)

When the Oxford English Dictionary declared an emoji its 2015 word of the year, it was a bit of a head-scratcher.

The emoji it singled out — an image of a laughing yellow face crying tears of joy — did not fit most people’s definition of a word. To some, it was even less of a word than shortlisted nominee “lumbersexual” (a young urban man who cultivates an appearance and style of dress suggestive of a rugged outdoor lifestyle).

But for linguists around the world, the announcement wasn’t about whether the Oxford English Dictionary had lost it. (It hadn’t — most linguists agree a word is a discrete unit that is meaningful; emoji fit that definition.) Rather, it was a recognition of the enormous effect yellow smiley faces and other colorful emojis representing food, animals and hand gestures have had on the way people talk online.

Don’t believe them? A 2015 study by Bangor University linguistics professor Vyv Evans found that 80 percent of smartphone users in Britain use emojis.

When the research focused on people under 25, almost 100 percent of smartphone users text with emojis. According to a SwiftKey report, 74 percent of Americans use emojis every day.

Aside from widespread adoption of the icons, which began after Apple made emojis available on its iOS mobile operating system in 2011, with Android following in 2013, emojis have been one of the biggest communication breakthroughs since people took to the Internet.

Look at it this way, Evans said: There are estimates that as much as 70 percent of the meaning we derive from a faceto-face encounter with someone comes from non-verbal cues: facial expressions, intonation, body language, pitch. Which means words account for only around 30 percent of what we say.

As an example, he noted the huge difference in meaning between saying “I love you” as a statement with a falling intonation as opposed to “I love you?”

Move this online, where emails, text messages and instant messages mostly allow us to communicate with words, and you can see how messages can lose their meaning or be misinterpreted. Evans even has a term for it: the Angry Jerk Phenomenon.

“You’ll recognize it instantly,” he said.

“You get an email from someone who you know to be calm and sane, and they come across as a completely angry jerk. When you press the send button on a message, the instant it is sent, you lose control over how it’s interpreted.”

A December report from Bloomberg found that 8 trillion text messages are sent each year. That’s a lot of opportunities for a message to be misinterpreted.

Cue the emoji.

Emojis originated in Japan in the late 1990s, when wireless carriers created sets of digital stickers people could use in text messages.

Elsewhere, people had long used emoticons — visual expressions strung together using symbols such as parentheses, dashes and colons, like :) to denote a smiley face. Where text took the empathy out of messages, emojis and emoticons put it back in.

But emojis quickly surpassed emoticon use for two key reasons: There’s a lot more that people can communicate with emojis. (“I can make an emoji that’s a whale or a penguin,” said Internet language expert Gretchen McCulloch. “I don’t even know how I would do that with emoticons.”)

And once emojis were incorporated into Unicode — an international system that standardizes characters across different operating systems so when you type “:-)” into your iPhone or Android phone, the symbols automatically turn into a yellow smiley face — they became accessible

and easy to use.

Add to that the belief that “humans as a collective species are programmed to use visual communication” (that’s from linguist Neil Cohn, whose own research focuses on how people have a biological inclination to draw things), and emojis became a no-brainer for digital communication.

Language experts note that the real innovation behind emojis lies in their ability to help people online say what they mean, so when they write “What the heck?” they can signify with an accompanying laughing emoji or an angry-faced emoji whether their statement is an expression of amusement or outrage.

And try as people might, emojis aren’t here to replace language. Many streams of emojis easily can get lost in translation.

For instance, a group of 800 people pooled their efforts to translate Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” into emojis. The translated epic is titled “Emoji Dick.” Its famous opening line, “Call me Ishmael,” is communicated through five emojis: a telephone, a man’s head, a sailboat, a whale and a hand gesturing “OK!” Which might make sense, but only if you know what you’re looking for, McCulloch said.

“For example, Domino’s Pizza tweeted a pizza emoji, then some space, then a person emoji, a cloud emoji and a burger emoji,” she said. “And somebody retweeted that with the caption: ‘I fart burgers as I run to my one true love, pizza.’ Clearly that’s not what Domino’s meant by it, but that is what it could mean.”

Things that are quickly adopted have a tendency to quickly go away. But the way emojis fit so seamlessly into the way we communicate and their ongoing ubiquity gives linguists the belief that they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

The Unicode Consortium, which is made up of the major software developing stakeholders such as Apple, Face-

book, Google and IBM, continues to process applications for new emojis.

Anyone can submit a request for free by heading to the Unicode website and writing a detailed proposal for the emoji.

The process in which the Unicode technical committee decides if an emoji will see the light of day can take up to two years. The consortium receives around 100 proposals a year, and approval rates vary year to year.

There are currently 74 new emojis shortlisted for 2016, including a dancing man, a croissant and pancakes.

Anyone can also create his or her own sticker sets and upload them to the Google Play or iTunes App Store, bypassing the Unicode process, as the Finnish government did when it launched 30 Finland-themed stickers that could be downloaded and used in text conversations.

One of them is a heavy-metal headbanger. Another is a naked man and woman in a sauna. But these stickers are different than emojis.

Stickers have to be downloaded, and when people send them, they are sending an image. Emojis are made up of Unicode characters, and are standardized across operating systems.

“Digital communication is here to stay,” Evans said. “We’re all virtually connected, and we’re in the midst of a digital revolution. For it to be as successful as spoken language, it needs this kind of system to complement and support the messages coming from text.”

The system might grow to include an emoji for every facial expression, gesture, food or flag. Or, as Cohn, the linguist, hopes, as the system matures, people will want fewer, but more useful emojis.

“Why isn’t there an emoji of someone with a face that has rolling eyes?” he said.

“That would be really useful.” ©2016 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

indianastatesman.com

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 • Page 5

OPINION

Page 6

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 Page designed by Sarah Hall

Legalize hemp with health benefits

Zach Davis Columnist

Recognizing cannabis isn’t harmful enough to warrant its criminalization, Colorado was the first state to legalize it for recreational use in 2012.

Since, a lot of people have questioned whether or not legalization is a smart idea, especially because of the amount of revenue it brought to the state.

But there is more to consider than how much money a state can make, such as health effects.

Cannabis has negative and positive health effects like many natural substances.

However, a study has circulated recently which took the time to assess individuals based on the amount of cannabis consumed and subsequent verbal memory skills, such as vocabulary.

The results suggested that as cannabis use increased, individuals had a harder time with verbal memory.

However, the negative effects only started to take place after intensive use and only among some of its users.

Negative effects also included increased heart rate and difficulty breathing after extended use.

One notable thing is all of the negative effects are very personal and don’t affect everyone the same way.

The only impact cannabis has on those other than the consumer is how the individual reacts to the psychological effect of the high, which is still only an indirect effect.

By consuming cannabis the individual acknowledges health effects may happen. It’s their body, so it is their choice.

It is common for an individual to become drowsy and calm, or jittery and giggly when consuming cannabinoids.

Also, overdosing on cannabis is extremely difficult to do and rarely, if ever, happens.

It doesn’t commonly cause the consumer to be violent or disorderly.

In fact, cannabis often makes its user calmer than other substances — like alcohol — prompting them to laze on the couch and watch TV. Alcohol is legal to individuals 21

and older. However, alcohol can more easily impact people other than the consumer.

Motor skill functions can become impaired, causing the consumer to bump into others or break things.

The consumer also can become violent, disruptive and sometimes rude to others.

Alcohol can also be lethal if too much is consumed, and alcohol poisoning isn’t an uncommon occurrence.

As of now it is easily said that cannabis is safer than alcohol, a very legal — and easily attainable — item.

Cannabis also has a few health benefits. For example, cannabis may inhibit cancerous cell growth and can reduce nausea.

This is perfect for individuals going through chemotherapy, since the point is to combat cancer and chemo can cause severe nausea.

Tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly referred to as THC, also reduces weight loss from AIDS and can help with glaucoma if taken orally or in a cream.

Cannabis also helps reduce anxiety and depression.

Imagine how much help medical marijuana could be to patients.

It could help someone retain their vision long enough to see their grandchild born.

Or it might help someone with AIDS hang on long enough to be around for the cure.

Maybe someone with cancer could be able to eat and regain their strength after their chemo treatments.

Someone could hold on through their depression just one more day so that something good can happen.

The interesting part is that all of these health benefits are those from THC, only one of the many cannabinoids in cannabis.

The other cannabinoids haven’t seen quite as much research. Perhaps future research into those could bring about new treatments for diseases.

If cannabis has so many redeeming qualities, why is it still illegal in most of the country?

After all, it is relatively safe, and it has health benefits if used responsibly.

We need to stop treating cannabis as if it is a dangerous drug, more dangerous than alcohol. There are consequences to cannabis consumption, but by using it, the individual consents to the potential side effects.

Cannabis should be legalized for individuals 21 years and older and as necessary for medical patients.

Sheneman | Tribune Content Agency

Sanders trumps Clinton in New Hampshire

Joe Lippard

Assistant Opinions Editor

No one can deny it; primary elections are important.

Primaries are instrumental in both parties’ decisions when choosing who to nominate for president. In a primary, voters choose which candidate they want a delegate to vote for. Those delegates then go to the party’s national convention, where votes are cast for that party’s presidential nomination.

On Tuesday, voters in New Hampshire made their choice for the candidates they wanted to see get their parties’ presidential nomination. It was the second election of this year after the Iowa caucuses, and many candidates experienced quite the upset. Ted Cruz finished first in Iowa, but came in third in New Hampshire. After his second-place finish in Iowa, Donald Trump emerged victorious on the Republican side. Hillary Clinton, after narrowly defeating Bernie Sanders in Iowa, came in second in Tuesday’s primary.

It’s surprising that a rela-

tively unknown candidate would give the establishment’s pick such a hard time in the primaries. Just who is this Bernie Sanders man and why does he want our votes?

He hasn’t been covered much in the mainstream media.

Sure, a lot of people know about him because of some of his more vocal, more callous fans, but what does the man actually want to do?

Sanders’ policies are much more focused on economic issues than foreign policy.

While Sanders may not focus on foreign policy as much as other candidates, he is not completely ignorant on the matter. In the New Hampshire Democratic debate, Sanders identified North Korea as the biggest threat to national security aside from the Islamic State group. Just days after testing possible components of a hydrogen bomb, North Korea launched a satellite into space with a rocket that could potentially be repurposed to deliver nuclear payloads. It seems to me that he correctly identified the largest threat.

What Sanders lacks in his foreign policy platform, however, he makes up for with his domestic platform. Sanders is very big on equality.

One of his goals is lifting the cap on taxable income. Currently, there are tax brackets all the way up until $250,000,

where the tax rate flat lines.

Sanders proposes raising the tax rate on those who make over $250,000 so that those who make millions of dollars a year pay their fair share in taxes.

Sanders also proposes taxing speculation on Wall Street. Many people have blamed the 2008 financial crisis at least partially on Wall Street speculation.

Speculation happens a lot, and a lot of money changes hands in these cases. Big banks make absurd amounts of money through speculation, but they also take those big risks with other people’s money behind them, so why not ask them to pay a portion of that profit in taxes?

Perhaps one of the biggest facets of Sanders’ platform is his plan to make college tuition free for students. He explains that this will be done with the money from the tax on speculation and the wealthiest Americans. This is a good idea. So many college students in America start their careers tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt because college is so expensive. This debt makes it incredibly hard to be prosperous and live that American dream that everyone is so fond of referencing. Free tuition would cut that cost

SEE CLINTON, PAGE 7

Comments state that ads and should be more diverse

Mason Moton Columnist

I came across a book in the library this past week entitled “Global Perspectives on America.”

I didn’t get deep into it, but I did manage to read the synopsis written on one country in southeast Asia (the name of which is long forgotten; I know, I’m young; I should remember, but I don’t).

Anyway, my point is that many countries have a love/hate relationship with ours.

On one hand, we have a lot to be proud of: the first president who is not Caucasian, laws that permit the marriage of people with different sexual orientations

and many other things that I am sure have been recognized by foreign nations, but so often do we proclaim one thing and do another.

Many times our actions speak louder than our words, and this idea has played a major role in the criticism Americans receive from other nations.

We talk about peace, justice, charity, but our corporations do not live up to their true potential of being significant benefactors to the world around them as much as they could, and arguably should be.

A prime example is brought to the forefront in a brief examination of Sunday’s Super Bowl.

First let me admit, what prompted me to choose this topic for discussion was a comment I read while Googling “Super Bowl Commercial Comments.”

Joe Calgarian, of CBCnews.com, said, “The cost paid by companies for these 30 second spots could feed every starving child in North America until adulthood.

That is why the terrorists hate us.”

Not to be too critical of my country,

and not to be to cynical about major corporations, but in light of the Colgate commercial that urged viewers to turn off the sink while brushing their teeth in regards to the people without access to water, the comment by Calgarian seems appropriately made.

Everyone can’t be a humanitarian, but there definitely is a need for organization in the name of charity to help sway business practices, such as million dollar commercial spots, into being more charitable to the people who use their products and to the people who can’t use their products.

Although this is a giant topic to cover, it deserves attention. The comment stopped me in my tracks; hopefully this opinion piece will do the same for you.

So what can be done about this comment? Well, I think that for one: commercials should be more diverse. With America predicted to be more than 50 percent Hispanic by 2020, ads should represent our ethnic diversity.

Ads should give more attention to the small businesses in this country that keep

Editorial Board

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 Indiana State University www.indianastatesman.com Volume 123 Issue 54

Carey Ford Editor-in-Chief statesmaneditor@isustudentmedia.com Kylie Adkins Opinions Editor statesmanopinions@isustudentmedia.com Dajia Kirkland Features Editor statesmanfeatures@isustudentmedia.com Rob Lafary Sports Editor statesmansports@isustudentmedia.com Marissa Schmitter Photo Editor statesmanphotos@isustudentmedia.com Matt Megenhardt Chief Copy Editor The Indiana Statesman is the student newspaper of Indiana State University. It is published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the academic school year. Two special issues are published during the summer. The paper is printed by the Tribune Star in Terre Haute, Ind.

it running; to the farmers who grow and produce our food, and who do so under strict federal laws that ensure consumer safety — laws that can cause these farmers financial strains and more laborious work; to the teachers all across our small towns and large cities, who work diligently with the youth of America to lead them into growth and learning, and who do so with modest salaries that the average trash pick-up crew surpass; to nurses who serve the sick and the wounded; to the veterans home and abroad, who serve willingly and without hesitation; to the senior citizens of the country, who are too often pushed in homes where they are forgotten.

Commercials need to remind them of their glory days and encourage them — after all, they watch more tv than most adults anyway.

Sure, the commercials were funny, and the Puppymonkeybaby was hilarious, but how about the corporate world makes a slight shift to focusing more on the people they are selling to as opposed to the reason why they are selling?

Opinions Policy The opinions page of the Indiana Statesman offers an opportunity for the Indiana State University community to express its views. The opinions, individual and collective, expressed in the Statesman and the student staff’s selection or arrangement of content do not necessarily reflect the attitudes of the university, its Board of Trustees, administration, faculty or student body. The Statesman editorial board writes staff editorials and makes final decisions about news content. This newspaper serves

as a public forum for the ISU community. Make your opinion heard by submitting letters to the editor at statesmanopinions@isustudentmedia.com. Letters must be fewer than 500 words and include year in school, major and phone number for verification.

Letters from non-student members of the campus community must also be verifiable. Letters will be published with the author’s name. The Statesman editorial board reserves the right to edit letters for length, libel, clarity and vulgarity.

indianastatesman.com

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 • Page 7

CLINTON, FROM PAGE 6 for students drastically.

In his social issues, Sanders has been preaching equality for nearly his entire political career. Sanders marched on Washington to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. give his “I Have a Dream” speech. He has opposed many bills that sought to outright make same-sex marriage illegal. He voted against the controversial Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, a law that

their frustrating times, though. However, the frustrations these two have are entertaining and carefree compared to what other friendships endure.

“The most disturbing thing is when I get approached by a girl and her first words are ‘So who’s your tall friend?’

It’s a heartbreaker,” said Prusator of the woes of hanging out with Niels.

“I’ve always been sent messages asking for Niels’s number. So that is kind of weird.”

Bunschoten gave a big smile but said that’s something new to him in America too, just like Twitter and good rap music.

“I don’t think a girl ever looked at me until I came to America,” Niels added.

BROTHERS, FROM PAGE 8 form for virtual bashing on each other.

Bunschoten, whose Twitter handle is BrickCrawler and inspired by his newfound love for rap, goes to war daily with Prusator, better known as Indiana_GP. “I guess we like to publically shame each other in a way,” Prusator said of life in the “Twittersphere.” “We do it pretty equally.”

“I didn’t even have a Twitter until I came here (Indiana State),” Bunschotten said, interrupting Prusator. “Khristian (Smith) dared me to get one and so I did. I guess it all started there.”

Even the chillest friendships have

To place a classified ad call:

(812) 237-3025 fax us: (812) 237-7629 stop by the office: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Room 143, HMSU or send us an email: statesmanclassifieds@isustudentmedia.com

FOR RENT VERY NICE 7, 5, 4, 3 and 2 bedroom houses.

Close to campus. W/D, stove & refrigerator. Plenty of room for grilling out. LSM Investments, LLC Call Shane 812-483-2497 NOW RENTING-FALL 2016 Studios, 10 Bedroom Houses & Apartments Available.

Contact us for information and showings SharpFlats.com 812-877-1146 or sharpflats@gmail.com 5, 4, 3 & 2 BEDROOM HOUSES Nice houses for rent.

CLOSE TO CAMPUS Lower rent for additional people Call 812-232-6977

the Supreme Court overturned a few years ago.

According to Seven Days, an independent Vermont news site, in 1983, then-mayor Bernie Sanders supported a gay pride march in the town of Burlington.

Sanders wrote in a memo before the event, “In our democratic society, it is the responsibility of government to safeguard civil liberties and civil rights — especially the freedom of speech and expression. In a free society, we must all be committed to the mutual

“I was the least popular ever. I guess being tall, foreign and a basketball player is a thing here in the U.S. But I have been approached about Grant actually. I want that for my best friend though. I wouldn’t ever take that away from him like he probably does to me.”

Niels Bunschoten and Grant Prusator are in it to win it on the basketball court, where hopes of a Missouri Valley Conference championship and a NCAA Tournament bid are within reach in their remaining time at Indiana State. But Mario Kart, writing raps and taking on the world are all great things too. It just goes to show that a sport goes beyond the X’s and O’s. It’s the common bonds and the friend-

CLASSIFIEDS

Liner Rates

ISU Organizations

Rates are for the first 20 words.

Extra words are 15¢ each.

*Fraternities, sororities, student organizations and departments (includes Greek notes): $5.00 per issue

Business Classifieds

Deadlines

One liner ad for one issue: $7.00

Business Frequency Discount

For Monday Issues: 3 p.m. Thursday For Wednesday issues: 3p.m. Monday For Friday issues: 3 p.m. Wednesday

Same liner ad in three or more consecutive issues: $6.00 per issue

respect of each other’s lifestyle.”

I personally really like Bernie Sanders, and I think that he could make a great president. Sanders stands, and has stood for a long time, for equality, a fair chance for everyone and for those at the top to pay their fair share.

Obviously not everything that he wants to do can be done easily, but with time, perhaps we can see some change to the system that is beginning to show its flaws.

Ad Classifications

Business Opportunities, Career Services, Check-It Out, Child Care, Employment, For Rent, For Sale, Greek Notes, Internships, Jobs Wanted, Lost and Found, Personal, Resumes/Typing, Roommates, Services, Spring Break, Subleases, Tickets, Travel, Tutoring, Vehicles, Wanted to Buy

PERFECT FOR ROOMMATES Upper 2 Bedroom, 1 Bath Apartment.

New appliances including washer & dryer New paint, carpet, ceiling fans. C/A. Great location on S. 6th St. Tenant pays heat (Aug. $70), electric (Aug. $55). Landlord pays water/sewer. No Smoking. No Pets. $700 p/m. $700 Damage deposit.

DeBron Properties 812-249-0767 or 812-249-8284

ADOPTION

Word “DFind ” ogs

lay

BASSET HOUND DINGO PUG BEAGLE GERMAN SHEPHERD RETRIEVER BLOODHOUND GREAT DANE ROTTWEILER BOXER GREYHOUND SAINT BERNARD BULLDOG HUSKY SAMOYED CHIHUAHUA LHASA APSO SCHNAUZER CHOW CHOW MALAMUTE SETTER COCKER SPANIEL MASTIFF SHAR PEI COLLIE PEKINGESE SHEEPDOG CORGI PINSCHER SPITZ DACHSHUND POINTER TERRIER DALMATIAN POMERANIAN WHIPPET DEERHOUND POODLE

Each Row must contain the numbers 1-9 Each column must contain the numbers 1-9 And each set of boxes must contain the numbers 1-9 solution found in classifieds for following issue.

question

What sea creature can have an eye measuring 16 inches across, the largest in the animal kingdom?

Answer: A squid

Triviaweek

Carey Ford

Editor-in-Chief, 237-3289 StatesmanEditor@isustudentmedia.com

PUZZLE SPONSOR

THE STORK DIDN’T CALL We hope you will.

Happily married, loving, educated, traveled, family oriented couple wishes to adopt newborn.

Dominick and Liz 1-877-274-4824 www.lizdomhopetoadopt.com

ow to

Student Advertising Manager, 237-4344 ISU-statesmanads@mail.indstate.edu

SUDOKU ANSWER

SHu •DoP•K: u

of the

ships formed that sometimes matter the most in the long run. The duo, whether known by their first names or

by BrickCrawler and GP, are proof of that.

“I have no family that’s close,” Bunschoten noted. “So the team is really my family here and Grant I consider a brother to me. I can come to him with anything and any problem. He’ll give me crap for it, but he’ll help me out too. It’s just a great thing to have.”

“He’s my brother,” Prusator said in agreement. “It’s almost amazing the times we finish each other’s sentences.

He’s a great guy, and I know he’d do anything for me. He’s a great teammate and an even better friend.”

SPORTS

Page 8

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 Page designed by Grace Adams

Indiana State men hope to snap two-game skid at Bradley Desmond O’Sullivan Reporter

The Indiana State Sycamores (13-12, 7-6 MVC) will look to bounce back from their loss to the Southern Illinois Salukis when they travel to Springfield, Missouri on Saturday to take on the Missouri State Bears.

This will be the second scheduled meeting between the two teams, with the first contest going to the Sycamores 68-59 on Jan. 27.

The Bears (10-15, 6-7 MVC) will also be looking to get back on track after their most recent loss to conference rival Northern Iowa on Wednesday. The Bears’ effort was led by sophomore Chris Kendrix, who had 20 points, eight boards and two blocks. Also leading the Bears was freshman Jarred Dixon who racked up 15 points, three assists and a rebound.

The all-around shooting performance by Missouri State was respectable as they went 25-55 on a 45.5 field goal percentage, outperforming the Panthers in that category. However, the Bears committed 12 turnovers to the Panthers’ three and 21 personal fouls to UNI’s 11, allowing the Panthers to collect

ISU Communications and Marketing

No. 4 sophomore guard Brenton Scott scored 12 points against Southern Illinois, making himself a force to be reckoned with against the Missouri State Bears.

on 19-24 from the free throw line.

Foul problems have been present all season for Missouri State as they now average around 20 fouls per game.

The Sycamores will certainly have their hands full with De-

Club basketball making waves nationally

quon Miller, who leads the Bears in points, averaging 12 a game.

However, Indiana State will also have to come up with an answer for Obediah Church, a freshman forward for the Bears who leads the team in rebound-

Brotherly love Bunschoten and Prusator form bond on and off the floor

Adler Ingalsbe

Rob Lafary

Indiana State University offers several organizations for students to join and be a part of depending on their interests. One of the most successful groups on the school’s campus is the men’s club basketball team.

Started during the 2012-13 school year as a practice club, the team has taken huge strides and has become a very popular and prosperous sports organization at ISU. Club sports graduate assistant Tony North said unlike intramural sports, club teams practice a few times per week and travel around the country, playing other universities.

“Club basketball is one of the 15 current club sports offered at ISU. It differentiates from intramural basketball because the club team has scheduled weekly practices, and they travel to other universities on a regular basis to compete,” North said. “The club basketball team is viewed more of a student organization than an intramural team.”

In order to be a part of the men’s club basketball team, players must go through a tryout that not only includes their skills on the hardwood, but the intangibles that make them a person that the team wants on their side.

“The club basketball team holds tryouts at the beginning of both the fall and spring semesters.

Any currently enrolled student is eligible to participate in the tryout process,” North said.

“The process for tryouts is a fairly simple one.

They hold tryouts for two or three days at the beginning of each semester. During those days they put individuals through a variety of drills and conditioning. Toward the end of the tryout they usually scrimmage to get a feel for how each individual plays with a team. They make cuts based off of skill, availability, attitude, academic standing, and how well an individual can work within a team atmosphere.”

North said the team typically carries 12 to 15 players on their roster, depending on how many guys come out for tryouts.

This year’s tryout saw over 40 students walk through the door, making it more difficult to land a spot on the team.

Jaylin Banks, current player on this semester’s team, said try-outs for the team were much harder this year due to the amount of talent that showed up.

Niels Bunschoten had a career high 21 points in a loss to Southern Illinois on Wednesday night. Teammate Grant Prusator missed a free throw and went scoreless in only two minutes of play. But that’s OK. Maybe it was later that night, perhaps the next day or even sometime this weekend, but eventually Prusator will best the 6’9 forward from the Netherlands in something other than a basketball game. Whether it’s a competitive game of Mario Kart, a friendly rap battle or being the more popular one on Twitter, he’ll get his time to shine.

That’s pretty typical competition for the two Sycamores. Each have won their fair share of battles, but the two teammates turned best friends will never settle a playful lifelong war.

Prusator, a Highland Community College transfer, established himself as a sharpshooter off the bench in his first year at Indiana State a year ago while Bunschoten made the trek to Terre Haute this past summer after transferring from Howard Junior College. The two immediately clicked.

“Niels came out for a visit, and I didn’t think much of it. All I heard was that he was foreign so I figured he’d be some tall, goofy, Dirk (Nowitzki) looking guy. Turns out he was uglier than Dirk,” said Prusator with a big laugh. “We were here in the summer, and obviously he didn’t go home to the Netherlands so we decided that for the Fourth of July we were going to go up to Matt’s (Van Scyoc) lake house, and he rode with me. I guess six hours there and back was a lot of bonding time.”

“We went to Wisconsin and had a great time up there,” Bunschoten added. “After that I came over to his place a lot to hang out and play

Assistant Sports Editor

ing and blocked shots, averaging 6.1 boards and 1.5 blocks per game.

ISU will be looking for a big game from their leading scorers Devonte Brown, Brenton Scott and Khristian Smith, who lead the Sycamores in scoring at 16.2,

15.4 and 10.9 points per game, respectively. They all scored in double digits in Wednesday night’s effort against Southern Illinois, with Brown scoring 19 points, Scott scoring 12 points and Smith scoring 18.

Niels Bunschoten will also look to improve upon a career night against SIU, scoring 21 points.

As the regular season draws nearer to the close, this will be an important game for both teams as they try to improve their conference resumes before the MVC tournament arrives.

ISU holds a one-game lead over MSU in conference wins and losses.

A win this Saturday would put the Sycamores past Northern Iowa into fifth place in the MVC standings and give them some badly needed momentum heading into a difficult threegame stretch against Illinois State, Wichita State and Northern Iowa.

It would also give the Sycamores a regular season sweep of the Missouri State Bears.

The game tips off at 4 p.m. and will be available to watch on The Valley on ESPN3. Onair radio coverage is available on 95.9 WDKE.

Sports Editor

ISU Athletic Media Relations

ISU Athletic Media Relations

Mario Kart, and we ended up liking the same video games. I guess that’s how we started bonding all the time.”

The instant mention of the game Mario Kart to the duo sparked a back-and-forth verbal clash after a practice at the Hulman Center on Monday that Bunschoten ultimately won. A video game fanatic, the junior confidently stated he was better than Prusator on the popular Nintendo game, despite his counterpart having the better world rank.

“You play more; you have it at your home,” Bunschoten said in response to Prusator’s world rank claim. “Grant’s improved a lot, and I have to bring my A-game everyday if I want to beat him. But I still think I have the upper hand in Mario Kart, and I can beat him at least sixty percent of the time.”

But firing back was Prusator, who said his rapping skills are far better than his friend’s, who wasn’t really introduced to rap music until his arrival in the United States. Bunschoten said the Netherlands certainly wasn’t a breeding ground for the genre.

“We had this one guy, his name

was Ali B, and I hated him,” Bunschoten said of his country’s lack of rap stars. “Everybody from like 10 to 15 years old loved him at that time, and he was the most annoying dude ever. I grew up with a passionate hate for rap. When I came to America I finally started listening to some good rap.”

“He’s got a good flow,” Niels added of Grant’s skills. “He has a more appealing voice to females … maybe. On the quick raps it takes him like a week but me it only takes like two hours.”

Prusator agreed with the assessment and accepted the compliment with no problem, but even he was aware he had the advantage from the start.

“I’m better,” Grant boldly stated.

“I mean (English) is his second language so I’ll give him that. I mean if I tried to rap in Dutch it would probably be pretty bad.”

Basketball fans are used to seeing the two on the playing floor whether home or away, but friends made away from athletics are more common with the pair on social media, where Twitter has become a plat-

Bunshoten (left) and Prusator (right) have bonded further than two teammates normally would, forming a friendship that’s sure to last.

SEE BROTHERS, PAGE 7