SECURE
MSU police aim to improve campus security with new flourescent lights and security cameras.
BLOWOUT
The MSU men’s soccer team destroys Central Baptist 7-0.
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ht e Wednesday
September 7, 2011
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Campus to commemorate 9/11 Sunday JOSH HAYTER STAFF WRITER An airplane crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Black smoke billows into the blue, New York City skyline. Chaos. Confusion. Another airplane bombards the South Tower of the trading complex. Shock. Fear. Anger. Both towers crumble to the ground in a cloud of dust. Sheer terror reigned. Americans watched in horror as thousands fled the storm of concrete and steel. The towers no longer stood. For a moment, all was still. All was silent. But the moment was brief. Images of sootcovered survivors emerging from the smoke united people across the globe. Behind the cloud, beneath the debris, lay thousands of people who had begun the day much like any other day – but they would never make it home. And America would never be the same. Those images live on in Americans’ minds as the 10th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil approaches Sunday. On that day, MSU will hold a candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. in Sunwatcher Plaza to pay tribute to those people who lost their lives on 9/11/2001, and to honor those who bravely put their lives on the line. Dr. Ruth Morrow, professor of music, wants to be sure MSU students, staff and faculty have the chance to reflect on the tragedy. Morrow came up with the idea for the event, but let the Department of Student Development and Orientation take the reigns for planning it. “I wanted to make sure that we, as a community, pg. 3 had an opportunity to remember,” she said. At the ceremony, the MSU community will ‘Mama, Mama, Look at the Plane’ RESTITUTO PARIS, JR.
9/11
Artist to share unique take on terror attacks CHRIS COLLINS EDITOR IN CHIEF When he watched an airplane loaded with passengers smash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center building from his modest apartment in the Bronx, Restituto Paris, Jr. didn’t quite believe it had happened. “It was pretty surreal,” he said. “It was almost like someone was shooting a movie.” The day’s date – Tuesday, 9/11/2001 – is forever etched into the memory of the Bronx-born artist. He, along with most other Americans, will never forget that day. Paris, Jr. will visit MSU Friday to exhibit his unique artwork, some of which has been greatly influenced by the sounds, sights and disbelief he experienced during the 9/11 terror attacks. The Fain Fine Arts gallery opening will be his first exhibition in Wichita Falls. In the early 1990s, Paris, Jr. was fighting with the U.S. Army in the Desert Storm conflict. After serving in the military for seven years, Paris, Jr. earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Cameron University in the mid-90s, then earned his master’s in art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He was working toward his master’s degree when he witnessed the attacks masterminded by a group of religious
extremists, he said. Paris, Jr. was sleeping when the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. He was awoken by voices on his radio announcing news of the attack.
“I saw the second plane hit. It was pretty surreal. It was almost like someone was shooting a movie.” -Restituto Paris, Jr. “My wife calls and asks, ‘Did you see what’s happening?’ That’s when I looked out the window of my apartment and saw it all happening right there. I saw the second plane hit,” he said. His wife called the school their children were attending and drove to pick them up. “They were walking home and they were just covered in dust and ashes,” he said. Viewing the attacks has profoundly influenced his artwork, Paris, Jr. said. It’s impossible for it not to. “A lot of my work has little bits and pieces of what happened on 9/11,” he said. “It’s something you can’t get rid of. Something you can’t erase. It becomes a personal context that I put in my work.”
Paris said art is therapeutic to him. He compares making art to how other people may keep a diary or play a musical instrument. “I use art, I use paint as my diary,” he said. “I can focus my anger and frustrations about what happened into my artwork. It’s just being aware of my surroundings and not letting my guard down, but I’m okay. Without my art, I’d probably be insane by now.” Paris, Jr. said his military background greatly influenced his feelings about the 9/11 attacks. His biggest piece of advice: to be aware of what’s going on around you. “Things like that are possible. It wasn’t until then, when we got hit hard, that we realized things like that can happen at home. When I was in Desert Storm, we knew there was a war and we knew we were fighting. But when it comes onto our homeland like that, it becomes serious business. People need to be aware of that. We just can’t take our guard down.” Paris said he mostly uses oil-based paints and acrylics in his artwork, but also loves to draw. He describes his art as being mostly personal, but doesn’t like it to be categorized. At the very least, he describes it as being surreal and sometimes abstract. “It’s more abstract in thought than it is in literal form. I don’t know. I just put it out there. I work in a truthful manner – I don’t lie or sugarcoat things. I just want people to see it.”
Jazz-ercise
Jasmine Ellis in the studio at 92.9 NIN KAJA BANAS-SALSMAN
Student works as a DJ at local radio station TOLU AGUNBIADE STAFF WRITER “Where’s Jazz?” Jasmine Ellis could be anywhere. At the moment, it’s 9 p.m. The only sustenance the mass communication major has had all day is Chex Mix and a burrito she washed down with a Red Bull in the 92.9 NIN
parking lot. 92.9 is the radio station where she’s been DJing three days a week. It’s her second time behind the mic. Jasmine made her pg. 3 first appearance on air as an intern for Hot 103.9, a competitor station, where she co-hosted
JASMINE