North Texas Daily 2-18-16

NEW OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR HARRELL RETURNS TO TEXAS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016

VOL. 106 No. 5

NTDAILY.COM POLICE

SOCIAL MEDIA

Legal battle looms over UNT police shooting

Raunchy Snapchat account gains attention

By Tiffany Ditto Staff Writer @TiffanyDitto

By Dalton LaFerney News Editor @daltonlaferney

He sits calmly in the University Union using his iPhone 5c to upload a Snapchat video of a UNT student snorting cocaine off another.

“Yep, just another Tuesday,” he says.

Only a handful of friends know his secret: he’s the operator of one of the most popular Snapchat accounts viewed by students at UNT. He didn’t want to give his name, because the nature of this project, he said, places a target on his back.

The Mean F—king Green account’s stories get more than 6,000 views a day, and often feature students doing drugs or having sex. Students send in videos and photos that are then reposted to the account, which can be viewed via its Snapchat story.

“Mostly it’s random,” he said.

“On Sunday’s I don’t post penises because that’s my day off from penises.”

According to the account owner, he relies heavily on contributors to ensure that everyone featured

A WALKING MINISTRY

Multicultural director and adviser Cheylon Brown stands in front of a painting hanging in the Multicultural waiting area. Kaylen Howard|Staff photographer

SEE SOCIAL MEDIA ON PAGE 2

Multicultural advisor and alumna shares her story

WEATHER

Today H: 75°F L: 57°F 7-Day Forecast Friday H: 81°F L: 57°F Saturday Sunday

H: 79°F L: 58°F H: 72°F L: 48°F

Monday H: 64°F L: 43°F Tuesday H: 64°F L: 39°F Wednesday H: 65°F L: 40°F TRENDING

@ntdaily @thedose_ntdaily @ntd_sports

#Apple

Apple released a letter Tuesday announcing its opposition to the FBI’s demands to develop a “backdoor” for the iPhone.

#StreetFighterV

The fifth game in the famed “Street Fighter” franchise released Tuesday. The game features sixteen characters and a take on the pay-as-you-play structure, locking certin content behind in-game currency.

#KanyeWest

Kanye West’s latest album, “The Life of Pablo” released exclusively on the Tidal streaming service this week.

EDITORIAL ON PAGE 12

APPLE BITES BACK THE DOSE ON PAGE 7

DENTON’S BEST PANCAKES

PAGE 10

By Kaylen Howard Staff Photographer @TheKaylenHoward You’ll never find multicultural advisor Cheylon Brown reclined in her office chair, waiting to be served, with her feet propped on her desk.

There’s no time to relax for this hard worker, who said she is motivated

by God’s love, serving others and staying viligent.

“I have had so many students leave my office saying, ‘You’ve changed my life,’ or, ‘You made a difference,’” Brown said. “But in actuality it’s the other way around.”

Framed pictures of family

members and friends crowd her office shelf, while small motivational plaques and crafts embellish her desk.

Wearing a genuine smile, Brown carries a calm composure throughout her busy day.

“I think she is very vibrant, elegant and poised,” integrative studies and multicultural assistant Ashanti Johnson said. “She carries herself like a black woman that is sure of herself and the job that she has.”

Through the eyes of many students, Brown is an advisor and a mentor. But outside the glass doors of the Multicultural Center, she spreads her love for Christ as an educational

youth ministry pastor in Irving’s Community First Worship Center.

A UNT alumna for 20 years, Brown also goes on yearly missions to Africa, where she helps children in small orphanages and preaches the gospel.

“This work is about helping people,” she said with a smile.

“Whether it is in the ministry, the church, traveling to Africa or if it is here at UNT. I see it all as part of the divine ministry that has been given to me.”

Coming from a low-income family in Fort Worth, Texas, Brown said the thought of furthering one’s education

wasn’t common. But she had a passion for higher education.

“Out of my grandmother’s eight children and their children, I was the first person to get a bachelor’s degree,” she said.

Setting a foundation Born and raised in the heart of Stop Six, Fort Worth, Brown spent most of her childhood dedicating herself to her younger cousin, whom she calls her “favorite person in the whole world.”

“My parents let me live at home because I wanted to be her protector,”

SEE ALUMNI ON PAGE 5

UNION

Just add water: Creative arts class brings out imagination

By Matt Payne Copy Editor @MattePaper The sound of skinny plastic paintbrushes rattling in drinking cups and splashing into tiny caps of water echoes through an otherwise silent classroom.

Exactly 20 students are hunched shoulder-to-shoulder over several aisles of tables.

Several ears are occupied by earbuds, and heavy sighs are occasionally heard—not sighs

of distress, but of unspoken relief and detachment from any distracting thoughts.

But one student sighs in frustration.

“That’s OK! Here—just add water,” the instructor said after rushing to the student’s side and examining her error. “Have your mini panic attack, then let the water flow and work for you.

Water is the eraser of the drawing world.”

The interest in the Union

Informal Arts series has been contagious among UNT students, to the point where arts coordinator Nicole Newland has been forced to turn away several students eager to get an elusive taste of creating art.

Psychology junior Jasmin John is one of many students interested in the recentlyorganized Union Informal Arts series. She and a friend scurried to the Union to take part in their latest venture into the fine arts,

a water coloring class taught on Feb. 17 by local artist Zarina Kay. “I never get the opportunity to paint outside of programs sponsored by the university or UPC,” John said. “It’s a good opportunity to refresh myself, so to say.”

John attended the previous class featuring “zentangling,” a style of cyclical tracing and, by extension, meditation. She

SEE UNION ON PAGE 5

DIVING

Senior Abercrombie mastering the art of diving at North Texas

By Alex Lessard Associate Sports Editor @alexjlessard After preparing for months to perform a perfect rendition of what she had committed her entire life to, judgment day came for kinesiology senior Jasmine Abercrombie. It was her time to shine, and all she needed to do is climb the final ladder, take a deep breath and make a final leap of faith.

This is the exact thought process divers across the country go through before elegantly elevating into the air on their way to a smooth landing on each jump into the pool. Different divers have different thought processes when standing on the board - some close their eyes to relax, while others try to focus on nothing at all.

But for Abercrombie, the strategy is rather simple: just don’t look down.

“Whether you think about it for a long time and think about all the things that could go wrong or you just get up there and go, you’re still going to have to do it,” Abercrombie said.

Growing up, Abercrombie was never the type of girl to spend all of her time in pools during hot Texas summers.

Rather, like many divers, she started out as a gymnast, learning the intricacies of fluid body movements and developing an advanced level of strength and body control from a young age. She continued gymnastics for eight years, but after having back surgery in high school, chancing further injury was too big a risk to take.

SEE DIVING ON PAGE 9

Kinesiology senior Jasmine Abercrombie practices a dive from a three-meter board during practice. Colin Mitchell | Senior Staff Photographer

The mother of Ryan McMillan, the sophomore who was shot and killed by UNT police on Dec. 13, has hired an attorney to challenge whether the officer’s decision to shoot her son was constitutional.

Renee Higginbotham-Brooks, an attorney based in Fort Worth, is representing Gina McMillanWeese in her search for answers surrounding her 21-year-old son’s death.

Neither the police investigating the shooting nor university officials, including university president Neal Smatresk, will answer her questions. Police did, however, release some of the police camera footage showing what happened.

McMillan, who had just finished his first semester at UNT, was killed on the corner of Oak and Fry streets when he “advanced on” UNT police Cpl. Stephen Bean.

What’s in contention is whether Bean used the proper amount of force or if he moved too hastily to shoot McMillan, rather than use a taser or pepper spray, the attorney said.

Higginbotham-Brooks has more than 30 years of legal experience and most recently won $1.8 million in a wrongful death case, according to her website.

The UNT legal team has appealed all information requests to the Texas Attorney General’s Office because the university does not want to reveal anything — including details of UNT useof-force policies — ahead of the results of the investigation by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers will try to determine whether Bean was justified in shooting McMillan.

CAMPUS GOVERNMENT

Graduate student assistants seek outside employment

By Lisa Dreher Staff Writer @lisa_dreher97 Graduate students are demanding the option to get jobs outside of their given assistantships from departments that often require them to not have obligations other than being a TA. Grad students need assistantships to build their portfolios and gain experience, but there are a limited number of them. Some department leaders want graduate students who are looking only for experience, not a paycheck. The problem, some graduate students said, is the 20-hour-a-week paycheck doesn’t cover living expenses.

“There are many students who have an assistantship and have their tuition paid,” said Joseph Oppong, the Toulouse Graduate School associate dean of research and development.

“If we are going to give it to someone who is trying to make money when other students are deprived of it, it’s kind of not fair.”

The departments argue that graduate students should seek financial support elsewhere because assistantships are awarded and not required.

The university now pays for a graduate student’s six semester credit hours for the fall and spring through the Tuition Benefit Program that started last semester. Those in this program are encouraged to pursue their

SEE CAMPUS GOVERNMENT ON PAGE 4

NEWS Page 2

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016

NTDAILY.COM

Owner of the Mean F---king Green Snapchat account looks at the app between classes. Hannah Ridings | Senior Staff Photographer

MFG UNT may mean green, but do they mean f—king green?

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 on the page is at least 18 and they know they are being filmed.

“I try not to make it too porn-y,” he said. “There’s more than that on there but some people just want to see that stuff. There are some perverted people that send me stuff.”

While the MFG account itself isn’t illegal, Snapchat’s terms of use state “you will not use thirdparty applications that interact with other user’s content” and “you will not post content that contains pornography,” both of which the MFG account violate every day.

“If it was somebody recorded, whether having sex, or something personal of their

selves and had that stuff put on Snapchat without their consent then we’re talking about a state jail felony charge,” UNT community relations officer Kevin Crawford said. “The issue is in what’s being displayed.

Having the account exist is not illegal.”

Crawford said that if a minor were seen in a pornographic way on the page, both the minor and the account owner would have committed a felony. The account owner said there was a time when a photo of a nude minor was uploaded to the account’s story.

But the account owner is not worried about the police doing anything.

“As a warning the cops do follow the account, but they’re not going to do anything to me,” he said.

UNT police said they could potentially use the videos as a reason to obtain a search warrant. For now, Crawford said, they will continue to monitor the account and make sure no one is in danger.

“There was one girl who was 14-years-old on the snap, someone messaged me about that, and I confronted her about that,” the account owner said. “But, people are good Samaritans and they tell me about it.”

The account was first created last May by another student.

The current owner said they got tired of running it six days after creating it, so they turned it over to him. He had “nothing better to do,” and happily took it on.

“I thought it would be fun,” he said.

He said that upon gaining access to the account, he changed the password so that only he would be able to post to it.

“I’m the only person [that can access it], because my fear is that if someone else took over they could be greedy and I could lose access to it,” he said. “I’m kind of possessive over it. With this type of thing people could greedy and exploit it. Seriously, there are people who would

SAFETY

The UNT facilities department is in the middle of improving campus lighting as part of an eight-week restoration project, university officials said.

Officials have already replaced 11 light poles to brighten pedestrian paths and parking lots in an effort to make faculty and students feel safer while walking around at night. The reason for the new light poles is that trees and other greenery on campus have blocked light illuminating nearby walking paths.

The lighting project will result in 36 new lights across campus, said Helen Bailey, director of facilities planning and design construction.

Every semester the UNT police and Student Government Association pair up with UNT facilities to conduct a campus safety walk to ensure the campus has sufficient lighting and walkways.

Monthly reports from facilities are issued as a way to notify students and faculty of

McClendon’s sentiment.

“Every time I see something it has a negative connotation,” accounting junior Desirae Hardy said. “It’s usually dealing with sex and drugs.”

Even the account owner’s mother knows about the account. “[My mom] keeps referring to it as a porno site,” he said. “She wasn’t happy about the stuff that was on there, but what can she do about it? Nothing.”

Because MFG content violates Snapchat’s terms of use, the account owner knows it could be taken down, but he’s not worried about it.

“I can just make another one,” he said.

CRIME

Facilities improves campus lighting

By Evan McAlister Staff Writer @evan_McAlister

exploit it and blackmail people.”

Students across campus contribute to the account by sending MFG videos through a third-party app called Sneakaboo. The account gets thousands of video and photo submissions daily.

Sometimes the videos that appear on the account are graphic, but he feels he has to post them because that’s what the people want.

“I think it’s funny,” business sophomore Danny McClendon said. “I would say [MFG] shows the diversity of UNT.” McClendon added that he once saw his brother on MFG breaking a guitar against a tree.

Other students don’t share

obstructions on sidewalks and roads.

“Someone from facilities always attends [campus safety walk] to hear comments and respond to issues,” Bailey said.

Some of the lighting issues are on Denton streets. Those observations and complaints are given to the city. If the lighting issue is on UNT property, “technical issues

and solutions” are taken into account then added to the priority list.

“Simply put, if it’s deemed to be too dark, checked using meters, then we will see if it’s feasible to add lighting there,” Bailey said.

Staff writer Laura Cortez contributed to this report.

Students take a path behind the Chilton Hall parking lot, where there are lights and benches. Tristan Miller | Staff Photographer

Eric Johnson indicted for murder Staff Reports North Texas Daily The man who allegedly shot and killed Sara Mutschlechner was indicted for murder last week by a Denton County grand jury.

Eric Johnson, 20, was the only person arrested in connection with the New Year’s day shooting that caused Mutschlechner to die. Denton police said Johnson admitted he fired a handgun at Mutschlechner’s car. One bullet hit Mutschlechner in the head while she was driving, causing her to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a light pole.

Johnson, a former Marine, was driving his mother’s car after leaving a party — the same one Mutschlechner attended — when he pulled up next to the 20-year-old sorority sister’s car while driving on Elm Street. The people in Johnson’s car, police said, were shouting at Mutschlechner and her passengers. The situation escalated, and Denton police allege Johnson shot two rounds at her car before speeding away.

He was later arrested in Yuma,

Eric Johnson Courtesy | Denton Police Department Arizona, by U.S. Marshals. He was brought back to Denton Jan. 21.

Mutschlechner, a Zeta Tau Alpha sister, was the designated driver for her friends when she was shot. The university community rallied around her death in the form of a Feb. 2 candle-lit vigil outside the Greek Life Center.

“I’m absolutely devasted,” sorority sister Annie Irwin said in the days following Mutschlechner’s death. “Sara was one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. [She] always had a smile on her face and never had anything bad to say about anyone. To have this happen to her is horrific.”

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 3

PROTEST

Denton citizens rally against threat of Return of Kings group

By Erica Wieting Features Editor @ericawootang

When self-proclaimed “prorape” and neo-masculine organization Return of Kings circulated plans to meet and assemble in Denton as part of an international movement, town residents and UNT students alike were quick to respond with a protest of their own.

The group of about 20 concerned citizens and students gathered Feb. 6 next to the Confederate statue on the Denton Square. Not a single ROK member was in sight, as far as attendees could tell, but the absence of the all-male coalition didn’t mean its cause was gone.

ROK members had publically cancelled their meet-up because of protests organized against them in various locations where they had planned to convene, but they continued to communicate through pages on their website.

“When I was in high school and I was learning about feminism, I found one of the Return of Kings articles that had gone really viral. It was something about, ‘Why to date a girl with an eating disorder,’” English junior and Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance special events coordinator Amy Viña said. “That was the first time I can really remember misogyny not being an abstract concept to me anymore, knowing that there were people that hated me and that wanted to hurt me.”

ROK creator Roosh Valizadeh officially founded the group in 2012. Since using what he called “Game” and “Pickup” in a February 2015 interview with A Voice for Men to “get laid regularly.”

Valizadeh has published at least three websites and more than 16 books.

“The more media attention they get, they’ll just get more

active and make people aware of what’s going on, so we need to get them out of mainstream media,” said political science senior Billy Poer, who attended the protest with a handwritten poster that read, “This is not Denton,” “#RapeIsNotOkay” and “#ConsentIsSexy.”

The ROK website currently reaches over 1.5 million page visits per month, according to Similar Web analytics.

“That type of rhetoric does breed in our culture,” Viña said.

“I think it does impact young men specifically. Even if we don’t see a direct action from this group, it’s putting speech out there, saying these ugly things and facilitating these hateful, dangerous thoughts.”

Denton criminal defense attorney Tim Powers said he was unaware of the exclusively male association until recently, when he read a news article about their recent plans to gather.

“In some jurisdictions they may need to get parade permits or assembly permits,” Powers said. “But those are given to other organizations that maybe a lot of people don’t agree with, such as the neo-Nazis and things like that. The Ku Klux Klan have made public protests before, and although many people find those ideals not constant with their own thinking, they certainly do have a right to assemble.”

A Facebook event started by sociology sophomore Christina Bridges, titled “#ThisIsNotDenton,” garnered more than 600 positive RSVPs from outraged and concerned people who cared about the cause.

Calloway’s Nursery employee and former UNT sociology student Drew Hairston, who was at the protest, said he discovered the event when a friend invited him to it on Facebook. “[The Internet] can be used to get a good, positive message

out there,” Hairston said. “But it’s also an easy tool for the Return of Kings and other websites to get their message out to a wide audience.”

Poer described the Kings’ failed meet-up as a “day of action,” and said the group’s most recent incitement propelled them into the public eye and granted them more recognition than they should be given. Acknowledgement of their existence, he said, only perpetuates the cause they’re trying to promote. “[The meet-up] gave them national, and even worldwide, recognition,” Poer said. “I think the reaction to them was absolutely right. Their ideas shouldn’t be allowed to spread.”

Valizadeh has advocated for the legalization of rape on private properties, proposing in a 2015 blog post on his personal website that the “violent taking of a woman” should “not [be made] punishable by law when off public grounds.”

“The most dangerous thing about them is that their ideas aren’t new,” Viña said. “Rape was legal on private property for a very long time, and that was a large element of how society was maintained for hundreds of years. They’re trying to bring us back to something that hurts people.”

A post on the ROK site from 2013 titled “Three Signs she’s Making a False Rape Accusation” claims that women who say they failed to report rape right away due to shame or humiliation are voicing “complete bullshit.”

The same article is suspicious of any woman claiming to have been raped by a known assailant stating “a man looking to rape someone would not pick a target who could identify him to the police.” According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, 80 percent of rape cases are committed by someone close to the victim.

“This entitlement to sex and

Political science senior Billy Poer holds up his homemade sign at the Return of Kings protest. Erica Wieting | Features Editor women’s bodies, that already exists, and that needs to stop,” anthropology junior and FMLA secretary Kathryn Jimenez said. “It’s not just strangers in bushes all the time. It’s people who are known to the victim, and making it legal on private property just means that they could get away with it.”

In the aftermath of ROK’s threatened meet-up and the resulting protest, many citizens

have expressed feelings of concern while others have found the task of brushing off the group’s existence to be a relatively simple one.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous,” Powers said. “Sexual assault is typically a state charge as opposed to a federal law charge.

I can’t see any legislature in this country watering down abusive charges [for anybody], whether it be women or men in

that situation.”

Whether the group of neomasculine advocates will redouble their efforts remains to be seen, but Denton residents are staying vigilant.

“This is not something we’re going to allow to happen,” Hairston said. “This is Denton.

This is who we really are, and this is what we stand for, which is equality, safety, love and compassion.”

COMMENCEMENT

2012 Soldier of the Year to speak at Spring commencement ceremony

By Evan McAlister Staff Writer @evan_McAlister UNT announced Wednesday that former Army Sgt. Steven Davidson will be the keynote speaker at this year’s mass commencement ceremony.

As a U N T a lum nus a nd the 2012 “A r my Times” Soldier of the Yea r, Davidson will deliver h is speech at the end of the th ree- day un iversit ywide com mencement celebration.

“It is absolutely incredible to come back a nd tha n k the facult y who believed in,” Davidson sa id in a press release. “I hope that in com ing back I ca n honor those who took a cha nce on me a nd that I ca n inspi re others to t r ust thei r gut.”

Texas Gov. G reg Abbot t spoke at last yea r’s ceremony a nd was met with a less tha n enthusiastic response f rom

st udents. With more tha n 4, 0 0 0 st udents g raduating last spr ing on ly 30 0 to 4 0 0 st udents showed up to Abbot t’s speech.

W h ile at U N T, Davidson mentored st udents, spoke to young people about bullying a nd used h is con nections to advocate for vetera ns a nd young adults to get involved with thei r com mun ities, according to a un iversit y press release.

A f ter h is W h ite House inter nsh ip in the executive off ice of the president, Davidson was appointed to h is cu r rent position as the specia l assist a nt to the assist a nt secret a r y for Fossil Energy.

“T here is noth ing more power f ul tha n hea r ing f rom one of ou r own about h is path to success a nd how a college education f rom U N T helped h im ach ieve h is d rea ms,” U N T president Nea l Smat resk sa id.

Davidson joined the a r my in 20 09 a nd was deployed to East A f r ica in 2011 for Operation Endu r ing Freedom. Du r ing a 10 - day French-r un deser t wa r fa re cou rse in 120 - deg ree heat, Davidson saved a fellow ser vice ma n’s life.

Remember ing h is spor ts medicine t ra in ing f rom h igh school, Davidson r ipped the soldier’s cloth ing into st r ips, wh ich he then soa ked in the sma ll a mount of water that rema ined in at tempt to cool the soldier’s body.

“I a m honored that Sgt. Davidson is ret u r n ing to h is a lma mater to inspi re fellow g raduates with insight he’s ga ined f rom h is t ra nsfor mation as a st r uggling st udent to a college g raduate a nd distinguished soldier with a n incredibly br ight f ut u re,” Smat resk sa id.

= OPENING SOON IN DENTON =

NOW HIRING

BARTENDERS - SERVERS - HOSTS - COOKS = APPLY ON SITE AT LOCATION = 3258 SOUTH I-35 E, DENTON, TX 76210 Sgt. Steven Davidson will be the keynote speaker at this year’s commencement ceremony. Courtesy| UNT

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 4

Graduate student assistants seek outside employment CAMPUS GOVERNMENT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 studies and not bother with another job.

In response, the Graduate Student Council passed legislation earlier this month supporting the option to work an additional job.

“When the issue was brought to the floor, we realized it wasn’t just one department,” GSC president Jesus Valero said. “It was actually an issue that was affecting more than one area.”

GSC senator and geography teaching assistant Michael Sakinejad drafted the resolution last semester after hearing from fellow graduate students and GSC senators about the conflict. He said the geography department has helped him financially, but others are lacking.

“Support for graduate students, especially in terms of financial support from their

departments, has dwindled over the years or is not constant,” Sakinejad said. “My fellow senators [think] there shouldn’t be a patchwork of regulations keeping graduate students seeking jobs.”

Teaching fellows, teaching assistants and research assistants would not respond when asked for comment, citing those with unapproved jobs to support themselves and their families could risk being fired.

Departments urge students to complete their graduate studies within five years without trying to balance jobs and other obligations. According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, UNT’s 10year graduation rate climbed from 49.8 percent in 2014 to 56.7 percent in 2015.

“The idea of giving students assistantships, or scholarships or fellowships is to shut out distractions so that they can focus on their research and get

it done in a timely manner,” Oppong said.

Departments have their own salaries for teaching assistants, starting at a basic pay rate and varies depending on department. For example, TAs working for the biology department generally make more than those working for the dance or theater departments.

This variance causes some graduate students to feel there is an imbalance in how much they make annually.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people from the lower-paying parts of the school, and they had to get outside jobs to support themselves and their families,” Sakinejad said. “It’s pretty much standard at all universities that salaries for graduate students have been stagnant or dropping” One of Oppong’s geography graduate assistants worked 10 hours a week at a workshop for graduate students. Because of this, the geography department

Geography major Callie Spence asks TA Michael Sakinejad a question in her Introduction to Geographic Location lab on Wednesday morning. Sarah Bradbury | Staff Photographer FELLOWSHIP

Michael Sakinejad stands in front of a map of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Sarah Bradbury | Staff Photographer would not allow her to take their teaching assistantship, he said.

“I said that’s extreme because it’s not like she’s pushing shopping carts,” Oppong said.

“She was working at something that was related and relevant that ultimately got her to accomplish her goal. If I had my way, I would make every graduate student attend this workshop so it would benefit them.”

Geography chair Paul Hudak declined to comment.

To help solve this problem, the Toulouse Graduate School recently created the position of vice provost, which has yet to be filled. The position exists so the graduate school can report to someone who oversees curriculum and faculty rather than a dean, who communicates mainly with faculty and students.

The vice provost would be tasked with creating a

Geography major Callie Spence asks TA Michael Sakinejad a question in her Introduction to Geographic Location lab. Sarah Bradbury | Staff Photographer possibly university-wide policy to resolve the issue. A search committee headed by the vice provost of academic affairs, Christy Crutsinger, will work with the GSC to find and appoint someone by the end of

the semester.

“We want to come to some sort of resolution that addresses the academic, the administrative and the personal lives of graduate students,” Valero said.

POLITICS

New fellowship to expand Dems debate in local forum undergrad research opportunities

By Sarah Sarder Staff Writer @sarderrr UNT officials from TAMS, the Honors College and the Hurley Administration Building have come together to create a program aimed at encouraging undergraduate students to take interest in research.

The new Undergraduate Research Fellowship program plans to expand opportunities that typically only allowed graduatelevel students to assist in faculty research.

“This is an opportunity for students to actually take a step into the graduate world of academic research and scholarship,” TAMS associate dean for academics Dr. Eric Gruver said.

The new initiative reflects the university’s devotion to improving research output, which helped UNT to be labeled tierone in research by the Carnegie Classification. The new research program was introduced just days following the announcement.

“We are very proud that the goal of being a tier-one university has been achieved,” Dean Glênisson de Oliveira of the Honors College said. “But it is still important for us to build on that momentum and continue to incentivize and create opportunities for research at all

levels.”

The fellowship requires a student and a faculty mentor to outline their proposed research and offers a $500 award to students who complete their proposal in two semesters. There are 250 fellowships available for students, and an additional $10,000 that will be granted to the college with the most recipients.

“We’re trying to incentivize colleges to encourage their students to apply for these awards,” Gruver said.

While anyone with at least two semesters remaining at UNT can receive a URF, the $500 will only be awarded to student accounts, so seniors will not receive the money unless they continue on and attend graduate school at UNT. “The URF will occasion more opportunities for undergraduates to interact closely with research mentors, to make original contributions to their fields of study and to be able to place on their resumes a stellar credential of academic distinction,” Dr. James Duban, associate dean for research and national scholarships said. “So, the award goes well beyond the very generous financial sum of $500.”

The idea to create the URF came when Duban found that schools with high numbers of national scholarship winners seemed to

The Hurley Administration Building. Courtesy|UNT

have more undergraduate research opportunities. Duban discussed the subject with former UNT vice president Geoffrey Gamble, who knew of a program similar to the URF at Montana State University, where Gamble had previously been president.

“When people have a mindset of working with other departments and people, that is really for the benefit of the whole,” Oliveira said about the combined effort that brought the URF program to fruition. “We really look forward to expanding that spirit of collaboration as more and more departments jump on board and are engaged in this effort.”

The discussion about the URF expanded at this point to include Oliveira, Dr. Tom McCoy, vice president for research and economics, Provost Finley Graves and Dr. Bob Brown, vice president for finance and administration.

Finally, UNT president Neal Smatresk was approached with the idea. He was fully on board, and approved funding for the project.

“The funding is based, first and foremost, in the conviction of our university administrators that the URF stands significantly to enhance the quality of education for undergraduates who might otherwise not benefit from such mentorship,” Duban said.

By Rhiannon Saegert Denton Record-Chronicle rsaegert@dentonrc.com

Infrastructure, the environment, health care, education and House Bill 40 all were up for discussion during Tuesday’s state House District 64 debate, giving two very different Democratic candidates a chance to state their case to constituents.

Paul Greco, a retired University of North Texas adjunct professor, has been involved in politics since 1980, when he worked with the Houston firefighters union.

As a former firefighter, most of his political experience involves firefighter and fire code-centric legislation. He also served as the Dallas chair delegate for the District 100 Democratic Convention.

By contrast, Connor Flanagan, a 21-year-old student majoring in political science at UNT, had never voted in an election in his life before casting an early vote in the primaries on the day of the forum.

“It’s a shame to me, and it’s a shame to our society,” Flanagan said during closing statements. “As someone who’s had a passion for politics my entire life, it took my name on the ballot. What is it going to take for those kids to get up on a Tuesday afternoon and go vote? Eventually, whether it’s 10 years, 20 years or 30 years down the line, my generation will inherit this future. The reason I’m running is to prevent us from inheriting the future in shambles.”

Greco and Flanagan are running for the Democratic nomination for the state House of Representatives District 64 seat, which is being vacated by longtime Rep. Myra Crownover, a Republican. Sandy Swan moderated Tuesday’s event at Dan’s Silverleaf.

First, candidates were asked how much control local governments should have in regulating the oil and gas industry.

“It’s hypocritical that local government can make their own decisions about public schools and everything else,

Democratic candidate for the Texas House District 64, Connor Flanagan, debates his opponent, Paul Greco, at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton Tuesday night. Ranjani Groth |Denton Record-Chronicle but we can’t make our own decisions about plastic bags, waterways, drilling, fracking and anything else,” Greco said.

Flanagan said HB 40, which overturned of Denton’s local fracking ban in 2015, was what made him decide to run in the first place, despite the odds.

“It’s the reason I, a college kid, decided to do this clinically insane thing,” Flanagan said.

“It’s interesting to me, as Paul said, that Republicans preach on local authorities controlling pretty much everything, but when it comes to things like fracking, it should be blanketed by laws at the state level.”

Both candidates agreed on the issue of health care, stating Texas should expand Medicaid.

“Republican or Democrat, fis cally conservative or not, I can’t truly understand why you would deny free money for the federal government to help people,” Flanagan said.

“It’s not like that’s coming from specifically Texas taxpayers — it’s not coming from our budget.”

Greco agreed and said medical lobbyists should be more regulated, and more should be done to combat any stigma surrounding Medicaid.

“We can fight this,” Greco said. “They’re calling it ‘for lazy people,’ but it’s not that at all. Working out in the inner cities as a firefighter, it’s people who are disabled, it’s seniors. A lot of these people can’t work, or they can’t afford [health care] because they’re out of a job.”

When asked about funding

for Texas public schools, Greco said the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s “60x30” plan, which aims for 60 percent of Texas’ 25- to 34-yearolds to hold a postsecondary credential by 2030, could be a partial solution. Flanagan said he didn’t believe funding is the issue.

“I think it’s a matter of where the money is being spent. I don’t believe more taxes should be imposed to throw money at this problem. I think … the system needs to change,” Flanagan said. “We need to get rid of Common Core, we need to get rid of standardized testing. It doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked for a while.”

Finally, the two discussed the growing population of Texas, especially Denton, and the infrastructure changes and construction necessary to keep up with the growth.

Both candidates said increasing the state gas tax is the answer.

“County commissioners have asked me questions about the infrastructure here. They say they’re getting tired of footing the bill to the state and federal government,” Greco said. “Twenty cents of each gas tax is only about 9.2 cents of road now. I think we need to increase it. It hasn’t been increased since 1991. If we don’t, we can barely maintain what we have now.”

Early voting in the March 1 primaries began Tuesday and continues through Feb. 26.

ARTS & LIFE Page 5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016

NTDAILY.COM

Creative arts class brings out imagination

UNION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Her two specialties— Students gathered around Newland said. “And I want to Kay as she let water drip over physical and emotional—go described the course as a rare bridge that gap.”

Fortunately, Newland was thinly-traced lines, vividly hand-in-hand and allow Kay opportunity to escape the monotony of her daily routine, able to connect with local artist coloring her painting of a to express what she calls “introverted” activities as an Kay at Oaktopia in September of human eye. which is devoid of art.

Coincidentally, Kay is an extrovert.

Despite being more than last year. She said she admired “It’s a weird thing, teaching,” 30 minutes early for the class, Kay’s art booth of “emotional” avid boxer at Tidal Boxing Club John, her friend and several work and reconnected with her and shares Newland’s desires to Kay said. “Being specific about after her were unable to attend. to proposition teaching classes. continue collaborating not only an activity and having to dig “Like anything new and Kay’s watercoloring course was in encouraging fascination of into your subconscious—it different, it’s been a learning the second of several events art, but also in spreading the opens our minds. And I love it. experience,” Newland said under the Union Informal Arts discipline she’s gained from I’m always going to teach.” boxing. about overcoming obstacles series. and the position created for her by director of University Union activities Zane Reif.

Newland collaborates with Reif to come up with new activities for students to participate in.

Residing in Denton for eight years and earning her master’s degree in art history at the College of Visual Arts and Design, Newland immersed herself in the local art scene early on in her move from Austin. She said she aspires to involve the student body in campus life by expanding the several series she organizes. She wants to hire more artists and allow any Denton resident to attend classes.

“There’s been a strange disconnect between student artists and local artists,” Color paint is placed on watercolor paper at the informal art class held in the Union. Hannah Ridings | Senior Staff Photographer

Erica Wieting | Features Editor

A walking ministry: multicultural advisor and alumna shares her story ALUMNI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Zarina Kay teaches students at the informal art class how to let the water work when painting. Hannah Ridings | Senior Staff Photographer

CLUBS

Coffee and Cultures Club helps students find common ground

By Nikki Lyssy Staff Writer @Blindnikkii A cheerful chatter rises from a spacious room tucked inside Marquis Hall as students sip on freshly-brewed Arabic coffee. The topic is Valentine’s Day—a holiday Americans have celebrated for centuries, but one foreign to the international students scattered about the room.

This is the reason that the Coffee and Cultures club exists—to aid international students in connecting both socially and culturally with their American counterparts. The club meets most Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m.

Volunteer leader and Palestinian Rani Espanioly arrived in the U.S. in 2011 as an international student and became interested in American culture.

“I got more interested to help with international students because [I was one],” Espanioly said. “I got connected with the International Student Cooperation, which is an organization that helps students get connected with international culture.”

Through the club, Espanioly became connected with the Intensive English Language Institute and came to them with the idea of “Coffee and Cultures.”

“We sit for hours over a cup of coffee and talk about several things,” he said. “I started making Arabic coffee and

bringing snacks, and we talk about different topics, helping students to open up. A lot of international students… don’t open up because there’s a lot of issues, misunderstandings and misconceptions about the American language and life.”

Espanioly said the club has had a lasting effect on the many students who participate.

“It establishes a lot of friendships and relationships,” he said. “People get to know cultures from different places.

We do a cultural exchange over topics [such as] education and stress. We build bridges of mutual understanding and respect.”

Topics are chosen on a weekly basis as needs present themselves.

“There are so many things going on in the international students’ lives,” Espanioly said.

“You try to tackle a topic that is relating to them as internationals, but also something that relates to American culture as well.”

International student and Saudi Arabia native Ali Alakula is currently studying the English language. He said he hopes to study criminal justice, business administration or human resources one day in the future.

It’s an opportunity he cherishes.

“In my country we cannot study when we get older,” Alakula said. “There’s no school or organization that we can study [at thirty years or older].

The government chose my wife for a scholarship, so I came here and the government paid the requirements for me to study.”

Alakula said adjusting to Denton was easy because of the large number of international students at UNT. “The local people of Denton are very friendly,” Alakula said. “I lived in Dallas for a few months and it was not like that.”

He said with such a wide range of nationalities—from America, Japan, China and more—Coffee and Cultures has been a giveand-take experience.

“I can know every culture and can benefit from them,” Alakula said. “I give them my benefits, also, if they learn something about my culture.”

Student assistant Raven Vincent said participating in Coffee and Cultures has been invaluable in helping

him understand more about international cultures.

“There are so many differences [such as] holidays, politics and food,” Vincent said.

“It’s a beautiful thing to find out that someone celebrates Christmas on the other side of the world in a completely different way than you do.”

She said she learned through her experience that no matter the culture, people are all related in one way or another.

“I did not know how similar life is in other parts of the world,” Vincent said. “Yes, we have our differences, but people—their family, their loyalties and their love—are all essentially the same.”

International student and member of Coffee and Culture Ali Alalkum, stands outside of Marquis Hall. Kaylen Howard | Staff Photographer

Brown said. “I wanted to take care of her because she was shy and didn’t talk.”

Brown said she learned the importance of generosity and gratitude at a young age, influenced by her grandmother, her mother Rosie May and her father Calvin.

“I saw my grandmother help so many people,” Brown said. “I saw my mom and dad help every person you can think of.”

When it came to her education, much like her younger cousin, Brown kept to herself and shied away from her teachers and classmates.

“I’d never talk,” Brown said.

“Believe it or not, as much as I talk now, I did not talk then. So they thought I was special [education] because I wouldn’t read out loud.”

Although she kept to herself, Brown began to break out of her shell as she progressed in school, graduating from Green B. Trimble Technical High School. Soon after, Brown landed her first job as a dietary nurse at Cook Children’s Hospital.

“Serving people is everything that I have done,” Brown said. “My life has been about that.”

Life through death At 12 years old, Brown’s mother was tragically murdered.

“Most people, I think, would have turned the opposite way,” Brown said.

“But it’s what drove me to salvation.”

Brown started her mission as a new believer in Saint Matthew Missionary Baptist Church, where at a young age she was appointed as an assistant youth director and president of the youth department.

Brown had an early start in leadership beginning with her Sunday School teaching.

Leaning forward on her desk, she passionately said, “I absolutely love it.”

Soon after her position at Saint Matthew, Brown decided it was time to move to her second church home, Community First Worship Center in Irving.

“I woke up, and the Lord told me to shadow my apostle,” Brown said.

“So that’s how I ended up leaving my church, and I’ve been at Community ever since.”

An African mission Brown said her vision to travel came at the age of 16, when a recruiter promoting missions to Africa approached her.

“He kept talking about things that

were going to take place, and I would always say, ‘That’s going to be me,’” she said. “I’ve always wanted to be one of those people.”

Brown’s faith grew as she developed spiritually and continued pursuing her goal to serve those in Africa.

Fifteen years later, Brown became part of a missionary project called The Africa America Mission.

With empty pockets and not enough support from church fundraisers, the mission looked like it was going to fail the first time around.

But one of Brown’s missionary partners decided failure wasn’t an option.

“My apostle stepped out on faith and said, ‘We’re going pack your bags,’” Brown said. “Literally, we bought our tickets three days before we left.”

Last year was the second time Brown traveled to Africa. She said she was able to come out of the shadows of her Apostles—Christian teachers—and independently preach the gospel.

“It was possibly the most powerful thing,” she said. “The people are hungry, they love Americans, so it was almost as if I had a second family.”

The power of love Old friend and advisor Ella Johnson described Brown as caring, protective, obedient and gracious, calling her a “genuine person who loves people and thrives in being a part of who they are.”

“Cheylon believes that everyone deserves a fair and just chance,” Johnson said. “She gives all she has to make it possible for others to be uplifted.”

Students like Ashanti Johnson come to Cheylon for spiritual advice, knowing there are no boundaries between friendship and work.

“If I need to come in her room and talk about Jesus or close her door and pray, we can do those types of things,” she said.

It is rare for Brown to have a spare moment, but when she has the time to speak about what she loves, her face lights up.

“This work that I do teaches people the power of love through culture,” Brown said. “It helps us to believe in something that is greater than us.

Whatever that thing is, that helps you treat somebody else in a way that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That’s what I think my work is all about.”

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Growing up with DBA: Hallie Barnard and her heroes

By Kyle Martin Staff Writer @Kyle_Martin35 Hallie Barnard, a young, lively 7-year-old student at Denton’s W.S. Ryan Elementary school, loves to draw, play with her dogs and siblings and wants to be the first female president.

She is also anxiously awaiting a blood donor match for a bone marrow transplant. Hallie has a rare blood disorder called Diamond-Blackfan anemia, a condition in which the body lacks enough healthy red blood cells, leaving those affected more prone to sickness and cancer.

“There’s no rules in my room!” she shouted while jumping on the bed with 5-year-old brother Breece. “I’m gonna catch you!”

Hallie Bea, as her friends and family know her, finds joy in public speaking and has delivered a multitude of speeches since discovering her condition. One took place at Southern Methodist University in front of thousands of compelled audience members. She has become a momentous advocate for her cause and even plans to be the first kid spokesperson for her organization.

At first glance, Hallie does not seem

to be sick—she’s vibrant, energetic and ready to talk about anything, be it dolphins, Fort Worth Police officers, or playing piano—but after seven years of blood transfusions and steroids, her body will soon develop a tolerance to her medications.

The only known cure for a case like Hallie’s is a bone marrow transplant.

Otherwise, as the family is well aware, the disorder is potentially fatal.

At the ripe age of 19 days old, Hallie had a run-in with death.

“My dog Rusty alerted my parents, and they came into the room, and I had my tongue sticking out and I was blue,” Hallie said.

That night in May 2008, at the family’s previous home in Virginia, Hallie’s parents laid their newborn daughter down to sleep and went to brush their teeth. Upon hearing a startling howl, something they had never heard before, they knew something was wrong.

Rushing into Hallie’s room, they found her already unconscious. Hallie’s mother Elyse said she dialed 9-1-1 while her husband Jesse administered CPR. Rusty had saved the infant’s life.

Doctors usually diagnose DBA at birth or within the first three months of life, but they had failed to catch the disorder with Hallie. After months of

worrying and Hallie’s health making no real progress, the family’s physician told them to check her into the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital. She needed special medical attention and blood work.

Doctors knew she had a health issue but wrongly diagnosed the child with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and then acid reflux, among other things. They didn’t think to test her blood.

Her condition had gone misdiagnosed for a year.

“They didn’t know what to look for,” Elyse said. “Because it’s so rare, they had never seen it.”

The family arrived at UVA Children’s Hospital to a team of hematologists ready to conduct an emergency blood transfusion for the young girl. Hallie was the first case the Virginia hospital had ever seen, as the blood disorder is strangely uncommon.

According to international non-profit organization Delete Blood Cancer, 14,000 registered patients sit and wait for either a bone marrow or stem cell transplant to cure their blood disorder every year in the U.S. alone. Fewer than 800 of those patients have been diagnosed with DBA. Those diagnosed with this form of anemia are more prone to sickness and

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Hallie Barnard poses in a superhero costume. Courtesy|Andy Chao

MUSIC

Trumpet icon prepares to play at UNT

By Reece Waddell Senior Staff Writer @ReeceTapout15 Former New York Philharmonic principal trumpeter Phil Smith is widely regarded as one of the best trumpet players in the world. A member of Philharmonic for three decades, his name is synonymous with trumpet excellence.

Smith will be onstage at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 22 at the Winspear Performance Hall with UNT’s top brass ensemble for a one-night concert.

“I wanted to work with the kids out there,” Smith said of his decision to come to UNT. “I decided to share a little trumpet excitement.”

For more than 25 years, Smith sat front-and-center on the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The

sound of his brass trumpet echoed off the brick walls, the seats of the auditorium filled to the brim with eager concert-goers.

The position of principal trumpet chair in the New York Philharmonic is a prestigious one, with only six men on record, excluding Smith, who have held the title since the Philharmonic Society of New York and the New York Symphony merged to become the Philharmonic in 1928.

Despite being a world-renowned musician for one of the top orchestras in the world, Smith decided to retire from professional trumpet playing in 2014. Even though he doesn’t perform as often, he said he has a passion for music education.

After putting his trumpet in its case, Smith began teaching at the

University of Georgia in August 2014, currently serving as bandmaster of the UGA British Brass Band.

That same passion for teaching is what led him to Denton.

“Based on my career as first trumpet in the Philharmonic, there’s a lot of information and experiential knowledge I gathered from that,” Smith said. “I’m a big brass band buff. I think brass band is a great medium and is great training for young brass players.”

Smith is coming to UNT due in large part to an invitation from Jason Bergman, who currently serves as the assistant professor of trumpet at UNT and is a personal friend of Smith. During his time as a student, Bergman had several master classes with Smith—an experience he now

wants his own students to have.

“Phil Smith is kind of a trumpet icon,” Bergman said. “He’s kind of a trumpet hero for everybody. When I was in college, I did some workshops with [Smith], and he was a really important figure in my own personal growth.”

Nicholas Williams, who conducts the brass ensemble Smith will be performing with, also used to play trumpet before he began conducting.

“I’ve grown up knowing who [Smith] was,” Williams said. “I listened to recordings of the New York Philharmonic. It’s pretty incredible to work with him … hopefully it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it probably will be.”

But working with the famous musician isn’t only a memorable moment for Williams. Performing with Smith will be beneficial for students as well. While he is on campus, Smith will conduct various rehearsals and classes with music

student—and for a lucky few, oneon-one practice sessions.

“When we have a person of his caliber [coming to campus], it’s extremely special,” Williams said. “You can parallel it with any discipline. When you bring in a person at the very top of their discipline, it’s a great thing for the students that are here, the faculty and the university itself.”

Williams’ students echoed his excitement.

Music education junior Patrick Byars is one of the members of the brass ensemble who will be performing with Smith in a few days and is more than ready for the occasion. Byars, a Texas Music Educators Association All-State trumpet player in high school, is yet another person who has idolized Smith and considers him a premier trumpeter.

“If you think about Morgan Freeman and how good he is at

playing God, that is Phil Smith at playing trumpet,” Byars said.

“It’s perfect. I’m really excited.

He is probably one of the biggest influences for most trumpet players.

You throw down his name, and everybody should know who he is.”

Smith will be performing a duet with Bergman called “Quicksilver,” as well as “Trumpet Voluntary”

by Purcell and a flugelhorn solo titled “His Eyes on the Sparrow.”

Admission will be free for UNT students.

For Smith, even though he does not perform as regularly as he used to, one thing remains constant. =“Part of what I loved to do when I was active in Philharmonic was to get out and stand on the front of the stage,” Smith said. “Things have changed a bit. I don’t do as much playing anymore. But I love sharing my interests, and that hasn’t changed.

It’s more about the students than it is about me coming up.”

ART

Art contest showcases Denton school district ’s talent

By Kayleigh Bywater Senior Staff Writer @kayleighbywater It’s only been held for three consecutive years, but the Black History Month art contest held at the MLK Jr. Recreation Center has made a lasting impression on Denton’s youth.

The contest is a way for 6th to 12th-grade students at Denton ISD to show off their artistic abilities while taking a deeper look into the importance of Black History Month.

Recreation specialist Johnathan Smith said the contest started as a way to bring Denton youth together.

What began as a small art competition has grown into a

much larger event for the center.

“The first year, we only had about five or 10 entries,” Smith said. “Now, we have over 50 entries that were submitted.

We aren’t limited to just one or two schools, but instead we are able to showcase talents from students around Denton.”

For the contest, students are given a certain theme to work off of and interpret in their own way. This year the topic is “Freedom is Within Us.” Using everything from colored pencils and crayons to watercolor and acrylics, students were able to run with the motif in any direction they saw fit.

Smith said the judging has been taking place this week.

Specific judges will give out first, second and third place medals for each grade.

Community members are able to come and put in their input as well.

Results are slated to come out today.

UNT Multicultural Center director Cheylon Brown is vicechair of the MLK Advisory Board and is also helping judge the contest.

“We are looking for originality, use of theme and creativity, just to name a few,” Brown said. “The contest provides students an opportunity to be creative, express themselves, take pride in the study and celebration of Black History and confidently

utilize skills they’ve learned in their art classes.”

But the students aren’t alone.

John H. Guyer High School art teacher and UNT College of Visual Arts and Design alumna Christian Reid has tried working the theme into his curriculum in order to promote the contest to his students and expand their thinking.

“I didn’t want to just hand them the topic and leave it at that,” Reid said. “Together we looked at examples and

spoke about different visual interpretations that people associated with ‘Freedom is Within Us.’ It is a topic that can take on so many forms, and I wanted to be there to help them dive deeper.”

Reid said the contest doesn’t only provide an artistic outlet for students, but it also makes them realize their work means something. By accepting a wide range of submissions, the contest paves the way for students all over Denton to

showcase their hard work and efforts throughout the semester while learning more about Black History Month.

“I want my students to feel encouraged that they are more than ready to make their mark on this world with their art,” Reid said. “Sometimes they can be unsure of where they stand, but this is positive reinforcement that they matter and can make a difference in the world of art.”

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Up-side-down art of two different world views is one of the pieces currently on display in the MLK civic center for the annual Black History Month art competition. Kaylen Howard | Staff Photographer

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cancer due to a deficiency in red blood cell production, though the disorder itself is not a cancer.

A normal, active red blood cell count for any given person is anywhere from 11 to 15 or nine, according to the Children’s Oncology group. At a count of seven, the person requires a blood transfusion and at any number below that, the person is considered lethargic and could die.

At 12 months old, Hallie had a red blood cell count of four.

“The whole year that she had been alive, her [red] blood cells were low, but nobody knew,” Elyse said. “She was so used to functioning at such a low level, it

didn’t alter her.”

The Barnards have since uprooted from Virginia to Texas to find refuge for Hallie in the Lone Star State’s expert medical care and have remained in Denton for three years. Hallie receives medical treatment from Dallas Children’s Hospital, where she is now one of 21 patients with DBA, rather than the only patient in Virginia.

Dallas Children’s is one of only four hospitals in the nation that treats DBA, with the other three located in Massachusetts, New York and California.

Because Elyse was in her third trimester with Breece at the time of the move, the family couldn’t fly to their new home. She was seven

months pregnant when they made the drive from Virginia to Texas.

The family has now started their own 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, named Hallie’s Heroes for potential donors that will match with either Hallie or one of the other 14,000 registered patients in need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

The group works in part with Delete Blood Cancer, searching for donors to match with hopeful recipients.

Angie Medlock, a software product manager and neighbor to the Barnards, serves as vice president of Hallie’s Heroes. To find out if a donor is a match for Hallie or another patient, there is

Nine-year-old Hallie Barnard hugs her Boxer Linus. She has a rare form of anemia called Diamond-Blackfan and is currently seeking a bone marrow transplant. Erica Wieting | Features Editor FOOD

The Dose: Where to get your pancake fix in Denton

By Haley Yates Staff Writer @haleysocoollike Elementary school taught us there are five food groups essential to our health and well-being.

But one thing the public health system failed to elaborate on is soul food.

I’m not talking about your mama’s homemade chicken pot pies or Grammy’s creole crawfish étouffée – I’m talking about pancakes.

Pancakes are an overlooked, happy food that should be consumed at least once a week, if not more. We’ve scoped out the best places in Denton to nourish your soul and satisfy the food pyramid.

Dix Coney Island Dix is a new addition to the Square and offers both breakfast and dinner foods 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You can get your standard buttery flapjack at this joint, or you could opt for their signature chicken in a blanket.

It’s exactly what it sounds like: chicken strips cut into pieces and folded into a giant pancake. When the server places the plate in front of your starving face, you may question whether ketchup or syrup should be drizzled over the masterpiece.

Syrup is the obvious answer, and the sticky sweetness perfectly compliments

the chicken.

Seven Mile Café Seven Mile is a quaint café residing in an old church and offers upscale breakfast yums. This is the place to go when you need a pancake fix but can’t decide what flavors you want in your mouth. Its pancakes are made from scratch, and it has flavors like red velvet, cinnamon roll and peanut butter chocolate. Can’t decide? Seven Mile has a sampler plate where you can pick your three favorite flavors.

You absolutely cannot get the sampler plate without trying the “s’moreo” pancake – melted gooey marshmallow fluff spread into a

chocolate chip pancake with Oreo and graham cracker crumbles on top.

Enough said.

Old West Café Old West Café does not have pancakes. It has slapjacks.

I do not know how the two differ, or what the hell a slapjack is, but I do know they are damn good.

At Old West, you can get all sorts of goodies on your slaps. Stuff them with fresh blueberries or chocolate chips, or slather them in whipped cream or peanut butter syrup. Old West also has crumbled sausage cakes on the menu, but that honestly sounds like a tummy explosion waiting to happen.

The chicken in a blanket at Dix Coney Island has chicken strip pieces folded into a warm pancake. Haley Yates |Staff Writer

only one way: swabbing the inside of their cheeks for DNA. Medlock aids in organizing and swabbing potential donors among other duties within the group. She said they are looking to do two things: find matches not only for Hallie, but also any of the other thousands of pending recipients, and raise donations for research and awareness.

“We started really small and started getting the word out, advertising what we were doing,” Medlock said. “There was a sense of urgency about it.”

The group’s influence has since spread, along with Hallie’s story. UNT fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma, also known as the UNT Skulls, recently teamed up with the organization as part of a philanthropy project, and many of the fraternity’s members have swabbed and registered.

Hallie’s Heroes and the Skulls are also looking to organize “Swab Denton.” They plan to first swab those involved with Greek life at UNT, eventually expanding to the rest of the university’s students and faculty, Texas Woman’s University and, in turn, the rest of Denton.

On its Facebook page, Hallie’s Heroes has already started informing people about its upcoming 5K Fun Run. It will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 2 at W.S. Ryan Elementary, with registration and packet pickup beginning at 7:30 a.m. Participants can register online for the event, where volunteers will be swabbing and registering donors all day.

People can also donate to the DBA Foundation or join the donor registry.

Amy Roseman, spokesperson for Hallie’s Heroes and donor recruitment coordinator for Delete

Hallie Barnard and her younger brother Breece sit on the couch of their Denton home. Erica Wieting | Features Editor Blood Cancer Dallas, said she hopes many people will register as donors and understand the impact they could have on another life.

They want to swab as many people as possible to get an especially diverse sample of the general

population in the registry.

Anybody could match with Hallie or another person regardless of nationality, age or gender.

“There is something we can all do to help,” Roseman said. “This is a numbers game.”

REVIEW

The Dose: Fan Days puts smiles on newbie con-goers

By Kayleigh Bywater Senior Staff Writer @kayleighbywater Love wasn’t the only thing in the air this Valentine’s weekend.

Three-hour long meet-andgreet lines and abnormally warm February weather did not stop people from suiting up and making their way to Dallas Comic Con Fan Days at the Irving Convention Center to meet special guests such as Stephen Amell (“Arrow”), David Mazouz (“Gotham”) and Neal Adams (a well-known comic artist).

Fan Days brought to light a vast array of pop culture from the past and present, including comics, movies, television shows, gaming and more. Overall, the 15th anniversary of the Dallas Comic Con event did not disappoint.

With Fan Days being my first ever con, I had no clue what to expect.

Many people who go, such as myself, don’t participate in cosplay, immerse themselves in reading comic books or know every superhero in Marvel’s and DC’s archive. I expected to go to Fan Days in my “The Flash” shirt, pick up a new Funko POP! figure to add to my collection and be on my way.

After finishing on Saturday, however, I regret not purchasing a weekend pass.

Fan Days provided more than

just an outlet for lifelong comic fans. It allowed event-goers with varying interests, along with those who have never been to a con before, to come together and celebrate sci-fi and anime as well as Disney princesses and “Harry Potter.”

You pass by a “Suicide Squad” Joker. Next, you make your way past a walking Toothless from “How to Train Your Dragon.” It was like being a little kid in a candy store, but instead, surrounding you was every television, movie, gaming and comic character you could imagine.

The guest list at Fan Days was shorter than other cons but introduced current stars mixed with blasts from the past. Beloved actors from current shows “The Flash,” “Arrow” and “Gotham” met fans and signed autographs alongside Will Friedle (Eric Matthews from the ‘90s Disney show “Boy Meets World”) and the ‘80s “Dukes of Hazzard” cast.

In addition, the exhibition floor room was packed with what seemed like endless rows of vendors selling and trading thousands of different t-shirts, figurines and knickknacks. Event-goers could find everything from custom, unique artwork of their favorite characters to exclusive and rare Funko POP! figures (I almost broke down into tears when I found the San Diego

Comic Con exclusive unmasked Flash).

It really was a collector’s dream.

With every event, however, comes some downsides.

The hour-long lines to meet these guests made way for antsy fans and sore feet. Bank accounts were hurting as well. Ticket purchases did not include meet-and-greet or autograph costs, which for each special guest could range anywhere from $40 to $185. Although there was a “wide” variety of (three) food trucks waiting outside for the tired con participants, the lines took another hour to get through.

But even though the event was packed, it was completely understandable.

If you’re a fan of comic books, movies or just pop culture in general, Comic Con and Fan Days are a must for you, because despite the long lines and sweaty people, no one seemed to really pay attention to the obstacles. Why be so serious (wink, wink) when you could put a smile on your face and enjoy what’s happening around you? It was like one big group of excited, dorky friends.

There’s one thing I do know for sure. At 10 a.m. this morning, I will be pulling out my laptop in Spanish class to purchase tickets for the Dallas Comic Con Fan Expo in June.

See you there, con fans.

HISTORY

Time capsule to preserve modern university culture

By John Hoang Staff Writer @jhoang1995

Checking emails, making social media inquires and creating polls to gather data on UNT culture, political science sophomore Hannah Frosch works to create a time capsule that will represent the university’s current state of being.

The capsule will be placed in the walls of the Union building in April and will be opened on the University’s 150th anniversary.

Pictures and quotes relevant to current times will represent what UNT meant to a future generation.

Frosch, who is the project manager for Student Government Association, is overseeing the task. “[We’re] hoping [for] a positive reaction when people see how much UNT has grown,” Frosch said. “To see how we evolved as a university.”

SGA is reaching out to the student body through social media sites and OrgSync, hoping to accurately represent the university’s community and culture. University icons like Scrappy the Eagle will have a spot in the capsule to preserve

how events and images changed over time. “[It’s difficult] trying to represent all of [the] student body,” Frosch said. “[We are] trying to get more input from a diverse student body.”

UNT president Neal Smatresk said he wanted to create a time capsule to represent the campus on UNT’s 125th anniversary, as this project had been done previously.

“Lots of things could change in 25 years,” Frosch said. “Just to see how UNT was and how [much] fun we had thinking of certain things and events.”

SGA originally planned to place the time capsule in the ground, later to be dug up but decided to place it in the walls of the Union as a way to represent how the campus will change over time.

“As long as people think, ‘I represent the university as a whole,’ I think I could consider it to be successful,” Frosch said.

By using polls and interacting with students online, Frosch has been receiving feedback and input from the community SGA wants to represent. Although she gets emails weekly, she said input from students

doesn’t feel diverse enough so far to incorporate the entire student body.

“Sometimes people limit themselves, and not every voice is heard,” Frosch said. “Some feel like their voices and opinions don’t matter when they really do.”

At a college with a reputable and well-known music program, some students feel UNT’s musical heritage highlights one of the major elements of campus.

“I feel something that represents the music or artistic aspect of UNT should be placed, like a concert brochure or a poster,” media arts sophomore Marina Jimenez said.

The everyday lives of UNT students have been defined by the culture and technology surrounding them, and others feel the typical day in the life of a student will change.

“I’d put in a message that describes how my everyday life for the last two years went,” media arts junior Alex Alerasoul said on his idea for the time capsule. “Just as a comparison to possible immense changes that will have happened, to affect how daily life would go 25 years from now.”

Like the previous time capsule,

which offered a look into the lives of students from an older time, SGA expects the upcoming capsule to capture the essence of contemporary campus life.

“Every picture, every element, captures where we are as a student

body and [our] culture,” Frosch said.

Student culture and the components that make UNT a community will have a place in the capsule.

“I believe future students will be astonished whenever they open

the time capsule for the first time,” integrative studies junior Sam DeLeon said. “I know that all of the future students are going to love all the surprises that we have placed in it.”

The 1988 time capsule sits on a shelf after being dug up in 2015. Hannah Ridings | Senior Staff Photographer

SPORTS Page 8

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016

NTDAILY.COM

DODGEBALL

Dodgeball club more than just P.E. activity

By Reece Waddell Senior Staff Writer @ReeceTapout15 A dozen multi-colored rubber balls sat lined up at the half court line of the old basketball gym. The squeak of tennis shoes was prevalent and the air was filled with the scent of latex and sweat. A few stray balls ricocheted off the wall as players took their positions.

When the signal was given, both teams sprinted toward the brightly colored spheres – some dove and others kicked, all to ensure their team got more balls than their opponent.

A few seconds passed as both sides sized each other up before the first person uncorked a line

drive, hitting a player squarely in the chest for the first out of the game.

The sport is dodgeball, and every Friday night at the Bahnsen gym, UNT students from all walks of life come to play the highly popular elementary school game.

Having grown in popularity in the last decade, especially after the release of the movie “Dodgeball” in 2004, members of the club said there is one question in particular they all have been asked at one time or another.

“Everyone comes up and asks us if we know the five D’s of dodgeball,” computer engineering senior and club copresident Michael Canan said.

“There’s dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge.”

Can Canan dodge a wrench?

“A few,” he said. “It’s hard.”

But the dodgeball club is more than just a nostalgic experience built around a movie or childhood pastime.

Dodgeball at UNT is based more on strategy and is predicated around teamwork and camaraderie. There are several different tactics used during games, but one remains consistent from the days on the grade-school asphalt.

“When you’re a kid, you’re just throwing and trying to hit someone in the face,” media arts senior and club co-president Jason Snider said. “[To that extent], it’s the same.”

The “Play Ground” dodgeball is one of the tools of choice in at the Bahnsen gym.

Dylan Nadwodny | Staff Photographer

FREAKY

FAST

While some people on the team may not have specific strategies, Canan employs one unique to him.

“I get two balls and call it, ‘Trick or Treat,’” Canan said.

“People say, ‘Oh, they’ll be easy to catch.’ But there’s two of them coming at you. So you try to catch one of them and the other one hits you.”

The rules of dodgeball are simple – try to hit members of the opposing team with a ball before it touches the ground. If someone catches a ball thrown by an opponent, the player that threw the ball is out and a member from the team who caught the ball can return to the game.

Although the dodgeball club in not regulated by the American Dodgeball Association of America, there are guidelines that must be followed. The rules are dictated by the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association – the governing body for NCAA dodgeball programs.

“The NCDA does a lot of good things for all the teams in our conference,” Snider said.

“It’s a good thing when you can have people come together and play all these games.”

The majority of the time, the dodgeball club has intra-squad scrimmages, lining up against one another.

But UNT has also competed against other schools. In fall 2014, the club placed second at a tournament hosted by the University of Nebraska.

“We haven’t been to a tournament in a while because all the teams are really far out,” Canan said. “The last one was in Nebraska. So we drove up there, played a few games and had a lot of fun.”

Any person is able to not only join the team, but play in tournaments as well. With no team fees, all players have to do is register on IMLeagues. com. In addition to the club being free – typically a college student’s favorite word – no prior experience is required to play.

“There’s the people that show up every week that know what they’re doing, but there’s

Co-president of the dodgeball club and media arts senior Jason Snider said the game is to him, to some extent, the way it was when he was a kid.

Dylan Nadwodny | Staff Photographer also new people who come out,” logistics and supply chain management senior Patrick Worbs said. “The people that have been here show them strategies and different things.

It gets really competitive from there.”

And to the surprise of no one, some members of the dodgeball team compare themselves to characters from the Vince Vaughn flick. Personalities range from the dorky teen Justin Redman to the insanely buff Me’Shell Jones and even the coach, Patches O’Houlihan.

Aside from the character comparisons, the dodgeball that exists at UNT is not entirely like the movie or the games played by fifth graders. There are no bags of wrenches to be dodged, no cars to avoid and no crying when a game is lost. Instead, there are adults relaxing and remembering a simpler time before the stress of work, class and life caught up with them.

“I feel like all college students are still kids,” Canan

SANDWICHES

Computer engineering senior Michael Canan brings his arm back to get ready to throw a ball at the opposing team. Dylan Nadwodny | Staff Photographer

said. “They love just going around and playing. Everyone wants to get out of their element and go back to their roots.

Dodgeball helps bring that out of them. The best thing we can do is make them feel like a kid again.”

UPCOMING GAMES Thursday •W Basketball: @ Florida International (Miami, FL) – 6 p.m.

•M Basketball: vs. Florida Internaional (Denton, TX) – 7 p.m Friday •Softball: vs. Northwestern State (Waco, TX) – 10 a.m.

•Softball: vs. Liberty (Waco, TX) – 12:30 p.m.

Saturday •Softball: vs. Baylor (Waco, TX) – 12:30 p.m.

•Tennis: vs. VCU (Lynchburg, VA) – 1 p.m.

•W Basketball: @ Florida Atlantic (Boca Raton, FL) – 4 p.m.

•M Basketball: vs. Florida Atlantic (Denton, TX) – 7 p.m.

•Softball: vs. TBD* (Waco, TX) – 3 or 5:30 p.m.

Sunday •Softball: vs. TBD* (Waco, TX) – 9:30 a.m. or 12 p.m.

•Softball: vs. TBD* (Waco, TX) – 9:30 a.m. or 12 p.m.

•Tennis: @ Liberty (Lynchburg, VA) – 11 a.m Tuesday •W Golf: Islander Spring Classic (Corpus Christi, TX) – All Day * = Game to be determined based on tournament results.

SERIOUS DELIVERY!

TM

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TO FIND THE LOCATION NEAREST YOU VISIT JIMMYJOHNS.COM ©2016 JIMMY JOHN’S FRANCHISE, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

WILLIAM CLARK GREEN • SAM RIGGS CODY JOHNSON & THE ROCKIN' CJB JASON BOLAND & THE STRAGGLERS MICKY & THE MOTORCARS AND MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 9

GOLF

Women’s golf looks to bunker down and improve on poor fall season

By Austin Jackson Staff Writer @a_jack17

After a lackluster fall season where the Mean Green failed to crack the top ten once in tournament play, the North Texas women’s golf team enters spring with hopes to unlock their full potential.

The Mean Green enters the spring ranked 195th nationally, looking to unseat No. 49 Middle Tennessee State University as Conference USA champions.

Coach Barry Niemann took over as head coach of the women’s team in the fall after Jim Mitchell stepped down due to health reasons. Niemann said he hopes his young squad can build upon the lessons learned in the fall season.

“We have a young team, traveling with four underclassman in the fall,” Niemann said. “We’re looking to build on that experience. We never did play to our potential.”

In the fall, the Mean Green rolled out a young roster led by juniors Eji Kwon and Ali Christian, sophomores Nyca Khaw and Abbi Shaddix, and freshmen Kalli Jennings

and Samantha Huang. Kwon, the team’s silent leader according to Niemann, has been a three-year starter for North Texas and has had the lowest stroke average since her sophomore year..

The team is also hoping the return of sophomore Devin Edwards galvanizes the team going into the spring. Edwards is recovering from a serious wrist injury that kept her out of fall play.

“We’ve got a good player coming back in the spring that wasn’t with us in the fall in Devin Edwards,” Niemann said. “She’s coming back really nicely from that injury and is playing well in qualifiers.”

In their first competition of the spring at the All There August Challenge, Edwards sat out while the team placed 12th overall.

But in next week’s tournament at the Islander Spring Classic in Corpus Christi, her long road to recovery is set to come to an end, as she is on the roster to make her first tournament appearance since last spring.

“My wrist feels great, but over the past year it’s been frustrating with rehab and just getting back on the course,” Edwards said.

“I want to run and play great right away, but for now I have to walk”

Sophomore golfer Nyca Khaw played seven games as a freshman and had a season-best finish at the Price’s Give Em Five Intercollegiate in the 2014-2015 season. Courtesy | Mean Green Athletics

Freshman golfer Samatha Huang is ranked seventh among international players and is ranked 66th in the United States. Courtesy | Mean Green Athletics Edwards said she physically feels fine, but her mental game isn’t quite ready for tournament play.

“My game’s not there yet, but accepting that is part of the process to get my game where it needs to be,” she said. “I’m very competitive, so I want to play great all the time and fight through. It’s a process.”

Another young standout on the North Texas women’s golf team is freshman Kalli Jennings. Jennings learned the game of golf in the high winds of East Texas, where playing the wind with draws and fades is a necessary skill.

Jennings prides herself on her ability to drive the ball deep as well as shape her shots.

“I’m an imaginative player. I like to move the ball around,” Jennings said. “I hit the ball further than most other girls, so that’s a

big advantage.”

In the fall, Jennings had the second best scoring average on the team, finishing in the top 20 at the Bob Hurley Shootout in Tulsa. Regardless, Jennings described her freshman debut as “mediocre,” saying one thing she hopes to improve in the spring is playing with a winning mentality.

Coach Niemann said players like Jennings are the future of the program and part of the rebuilding process. But in her first tournament of the spring at the All There August Challenge, Jennings and the Mean Green stumbled out of the gates with a 12th place finish.

Coach Niemann said he wasn’t happy with the results, but he did see a silver lining.

“We are not taking advantage of our strengths, and we are making too many course management mistakes,” Niemann

said. “I did see several positives, but we have a lot of work to do in order to be at the level that I know we can be.”

One positive Niemann saw was the improvement in the later rounds by Kwon, Khaw and Huang. Kwon shot a team-best 74 in her final 18 holes to finish in 32nd place, which helped elevate the Mean Green from 14th to 12th place despite rounds in the 80s

by Jennings and Christian.

With four tournaments leading up to the C-USA Championship, Niemann said he hopes to have the team playing the best when it matters the most.

“We’re just trying to turn the program around and move up in the rankings,” Niemann said. “We have a long way to go, but I am confident that this team will step up and get the job done.”

MEAN GREEN QUICK HITS

LEAP OF FAITH

Kinesiology senior Jasmine Abercrombie poses for a photo during practice. Colin Mitchell | Senior Staff Photographer

Senior Abercrombie mastering the art of diving at North Texas

DIVING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

As a result, the Houston native decided to give diving a try during her final semester of high school. Although it was a whole new challenge, the endless overlaps between the two sports helped her make a smooth transition. Mental strength is crucial, and having strength in your core, legs and shoulders is what separates good divers from great ones.

Once Abercrombie arrived to North Texas, she began learning much more than just basic diving techniques. With more practice came more success, and sooner than she expected, Abercrombie had become one of the best divers in Conference USA. “Junior year, I think I really peaked,” Abercrombie said.

“Each meet, I did better and better. It wasn’t until conference that I realized how good I was.”

Now in her final season with the Mean Green, Abercrombie’s repertoire has rounded into form. Diving boards can range anywhere from 1-3 meters high, known as springboards, to 5-10 meters, known as platforms. Abercrombie hadn’t even touched the 3-meter before college, but now she’s become even more courageous, expanding her range to as high as the 7-meter platform.

Naturally, as the board gets higher in the air, an element of fear begins to linger in divers’

heads. Luckily for Abercrombie, she never had a fear of heights.

“You have to have a lot of confidence, and you kind of have to be a little bit of an adrenaline junkie,” junior teammate Samantha Scheck said. “If you’re doing platform, you’re literally throwing yourself off a three-story building into water.

If you hit it wrong, that’s like concrete.”

When using the 10-meter, divers hit the water at a speed of 30-45 miles per hour, which can make the tiniest of mistakes extremely painful. Dives also take around two seconds to complete, putting even more pressure on athletes to pay close attention to detail.

In that short time, a panel of judges rates each dive on a scale of one to 10 based on the diver’s takeoff, body control and lineup to execute a vertical landing that makes the smallest splash possible. Once the scores are calculated, they are combined with the times of the swimmers to create a cumulative team score.

To prepare for the preferences of different judges, first year Mean Green diving coach Mark Murdock has focused on teaching the fundamentals to both the rookies and veterans of the team.

“I’m a stickler for twisters.

They’ve got to be tight and straight, and they’ve got to

be squared on the bottom,” Murdock said. “Each judge has their different thing that they’re really looking for.”

After working with Abercrombie, Murdock noticed the rods in her feet made it hard for her to push through her toes during takeoffs. Nevertheless, She has been receptive to all of his tips and tricks, thoroughly impressing him in his short tenure at North Texas.

“She has such strength, want and drive to compete at her highest level,” Murdock said.

“She’s well collected, and she’s got great focus when she’s diving. It amazes me all the time how she’s able to do the things that she does.”

Abercrombie doesn’t describe herself as a leader, but she sets an example for her teammates with her hard-working personality.

Being the only senior of the five-member diving team, Abercrombie has also gotten to know both her swimming and diving teammates outside the pool quite well - something she said other schools often fail to do.

“She’s one of the funniest people you’ll ever meet,” Scheck said. “If you don’t really know her, she seems like the shyest, most intimidating person ever.

But within our team, she’s a leader because she’s always trying to get better.”

Abercrombie earned her

second career C-USA Diver of the Week award in mid-October en route to arguably her best season yet. And with just under a month left until her final C-USA championship meet, Abercrombie is confident her hard work will continue to pay

off.

“I’m really not too worried about what place I get at this point,” Abercrombie said. “I know I’m doing my best every time.”

Littrell finalizes his coaching staff Head coach Sean Littrell made six hires official Wednesday and now has a full coaching staff heading into next season. Four of the new faces are on the defensive side of the ball: Mike Ekeler (defensive coordinator and linebackers coach), Troy Reffett (assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator), Derrick LeBlanc (defensive line coach) and Nate Brown (cornerbacks coach). Strength and conditioning coach Zack Womack and assistant athletic director of football operations Shane Elder round out the staff.

Softball infielder awarded after first weekend of games Junior shortstop Kelli Schkade was honored as the C-USA Co-Player of the Week for her performance at the Hillenbrand Invitational last weekend.

In the season opener against No. 13 Arizona, the Albany native became the first player in North Texas history to hit a home run in the team’s first at-bat of the season. She went on to add two more bombs in the second game of the night and finished the tournament with four multi-hit games.

Schkade leads the Mean Green in batting average (.529), HRs (3) and RBIs (7).

Tennis senior recognized for match-clinching win After earning the final point of a 4-1 Mean Green win over No. 36 Oklahoma, senior Kamilla Galieva was named the C-USA Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday. It is the first time she has earned the award in her career. She had also clinched the doubles point with junior Alexis Thoma 6-0 against the Sooners, and defeated her singles opponent 6-3, 6-2 on the way to a North Texas 4-1 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

The Russian entered the weekend winless in singles play and now sits at 2-1 on the season.

Mean Green Hall of Famer passes away Former North Texas offensive linemen and Denton ISD coach and administrator Bill Carrico died on Sunday. He helped Mean Green football to a combined 16-4-1 record in 1958 and ’59 on the way to a No. 20 national ranking. In 1993, Carrico was named to the North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame and earned a spot on the North Texas All-Century team in 2003. He was 79 years old.

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 10

ROLLER DERBY

Denton roller derby league brings graceful chaos to skating rink

By Austin Jackson Staff Writer @a_jack17 The adrenaline junkies of the North Texas Roller Derby aren’t afraid of a little grunt and glide.

Last Saturday at the Mountasia Family Fun Center in North Richland Hills, the Main Street Mafia and Hickory Street Hooligans met at a rink tucked behind a miniature golf course, through arcade doors framed by “Dance Dance Revolution” and “House of Dead 2.” But Hickory Street Hooligan Kasey Isik, also known as “MILFunction,” said the roller derby is much more than just a game.

“It’s not fishnets and cigarettes anymore,” Isik said. “We’re athletes, and it’s a sport. It’s a legitimate sport.”

The North Texas Roller Derby is a Denton-based league with three teams: the Hooligans, the Mafia and the Muertas Locas. The cream of the crop is selected to play for the league’s travel team: the North Texas Unicorns.

When skaters join the league, they are placed into the “Crash Test Hunnies” training program, which places skaters into groups that teach different skill sets. Once a skater has passed through each of the groups, they are placed in the draft and then on a team, according to North Texas Roller Derby representative Lauren Williamson.

Isik, who changed her skater name from “Red Soho” to “MILFunction” on Saturday, said she got into the sport after taking her daughter to the roller rink and joining the league as a fun motherdaughter activity. More than four

Main Street Mafia captain Stacy Bzdok, also known as John Wayne Stacy takes a warm up lap before her bout against the Hickory Street Hooligans. Austin Jackson | Staff Writer

years later, she is still competing.

“It’s fun to feel your body be powerful,” she said. “It’s fun as hell.”

The sport itself is simple.

Five skaters play on each side, with one jammer, one pivot and three blockers. The jammer races around the track and attempts to slither through the opposing team’s blockers. The pivot serves as a coach on the track, coordinating the blockers to skate as one and put the jammer down.

Ashley Ayer, a.k.a. “The Blocking Dead,” is a Jill-ofall-trades, excelling as both a pivot and a blocker. She said the Hooligans practice three to four times per week and even watch game films on YouTube to prepare for matches.

“It can be violent, but it’s very strategic and very graceful,” she said.

Before the Mafia and Hooligans faced off, the Tulsa Derby Brats and North Texas Fallout kicked off the junior league season. The Brats and Fallout, filled with players aged 11 to 17, are a testament to how the game is growing.

Brianna Jones, a.k.a. “Trouble Clef,” is the star player for the North Texas fallout. She led the Fallout to a 223-109 victory over the Brats in the 2016 season opener.

Jones turned 18 recently and said she will be moving up to the adult league as well as the travel team in the upcoming season.

Hickory Street Hooligan coach “Rip City” gets his squad into formation. Austin Jackson | Staff Writer Jones learned the game from her mom, who used to play roller derby, and has been competing in league matches since she was 14 years old. She’s even been skating on “quads,” which are skates with four wheels divided into two rows of two, since she was 2-years-old.

Jones looks forward to moving up because she can finally play the game without holding back.

As one of the strongest players in the league, she said she has to be cautious to avoid seriously injuring her competitors.

“When I play with the adults, I can go full force,” Jones said.

“There’s been times I’ve hit a junior hard and it’s made me burst out into tears because I feel so bad.”

But underneath the competition and bone-rattling hits of roller

derby, there is a community of friends and family.

Over 100 fans showed up to the bout, which was B.Y.O.C. (Bring Your Own Chair), and the crowd sat lined around a metal fence gilded with Styrofoam pool noodles. Much of the crowd donned Hickory Street Green and Main Street Mafia Black to show their support.

However, one fan, North Texas graduate student Julia Stamman, was attempting to remain neutral in maroon. Stamman said she was waiting to be drafted into the league on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and was excited to play at a higher level.

“There’s a community for sure,” Stamman said. “Everybody is super friendly and super inviting.”

For Wayne Zeboski and his

wife, their first experience of live derby action was the main event of their Valentine’s eve date. He said he used to follow the sport on television in the ‘70s but was confused as to why the rink was flat and how the game had changed.

Much to Zeboski’s surprise, hugs and smiles spread throughout the crowd. After the match, the Mafia arose victorious, beating the Hooligans 270-81, but the night was not over after the final whistle.

Supporters and skaters from each side celebrated the competition over a post game meal at Flips Patio Grill. Everyone was invited, including the Zeboskis.

“I was expecting guerilla warfare,” Zeboski said. “This is different.”

FOOTBALL

New offensive coordinator Harrell ready to bring “Air Raid” attack to Denton

By Brady Keane Staff Writer @BradyKeane3

Even after breaking collegiate passing records and winning a Super Bowl, North Texas offensive coordinator Graham Harrell always knew he wanted to be a football coach.

However, his journey to Denton did not go how he originally had planned. After shattering almost every passing record in Texas Tech University history as the Red Raiders’ quarterback under head coach Mike Leach from 2004-2008, Harrell spent three years in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl XLV in Arlington.

But after being cut from the Packers before the 2013 season, Harrell was forced to live out of hotels and travel bags across the country while vying for another chance with an NFL team.

That’s when Leach, now the head coach at Washington State University, called.

“I was still training to play when Coach [Leach] called and

asked if I would be interested in coaching with him,” Harrell said. “After being all over the place, any sort of stability sounded great to me.”

It was a foot in the door for Harrell, and one that would eventually provide an opportunity to rapidly advance through the coaching ranks.

He spent his first year as an offensive analyst for the Cougars before being promoted to wide receivers coach last season.

While Washington State was flourishing under the “Air Raid” system Leach and Harrell are known for, Seth Littrell, who was the running backs coach at Texas Tech during Harrell’s playing career, was announced as the head coach at North Texas.

It didn’t take long for Littrell to make a phone call to Harrell asking him to come back to Texas. Less than two weeks after Littrell was introduced as the Mean Green head coach in December, Harrell was announced as the team’s offensive coordinator.

“It was a really tough decision,” Harrell said. “The

toughest thing was just leaving Coach [Leach]. I enjoyed working with and playing for him, but at the end of the day, you have to do what you think is best. Getting an opportunity to come home and work for coach Littrell and being here at UNT just felt like the right move.”

The addition of Harrell, who now has the unique experience of both playing and coaching in the Air Raid offense, could help ease some of the pains the Mean Green has had at quarterback over the last few seasons. Since Derek Thompson graduated after the 2013 season, North Texas has rolled out four different quarterbacks over the last two seasons.

The quarterback position is important in such a passoriented offense, and Harrell will play a key role in both recruiting and developing the team’s signal callers.

“Year in and year out, we are going to go out and recruit quarterbacks,” Littrell said. “At the end of the day, you have to have a quarterback to make any system work, especially when you throw the ball around.”

Harrell’s impact on recruiting quarterbacks was felt almost immediately after joining the Mean Green. Having only been in Denton a few weeks, he helped bring former Allen High School star and University of Alabama back-up quarterback Alec Morris to North Texas for his final year of eligibility in 2016.

Harrell’s role as both a former star quarterback in the state of Texas and his knowledge of the Air Raid offense played a large role in Morris’ decision.

“I grew up in Texas, so I watched him play at Texas Tech,” Morris said. “Obviously, I think any quarterback would be excited about jumping into this kind of system. You’re a quarterback, so that’s what you’re on the field to do. When you get to throw the ball a lot, it’s fun to do.”

The simplicity of the offensive attack should help to take the pressure off of Morris and returning senior starter DaMarcus Smith next season.

North Texas was dead last in Conference USA in scoring at less than 16 points per game last

season - an issue the Air Raid provides a simple yet explosive answer to.

“It’s a quarterback-friendly offense,” Harrell said. “We put a lot of responsibility on the quarterback, but we try to keep it simple for him too. That’s what we think gives you the best chance to win. If you’re not thinking, then you’re not hesitating. You’re just out there playing and having fun.”

While Harrell’s expertise will help to take some of the pressure off of the quarterbacks, his status as a Texas football legend gives an immediate advantage on the high school recruiting trail with both players and coaches across the state.

“It definitely helps just as far as getting in the door and people getting excited for you to come to their school,” Harrell said. “It just helps build a relationship with a guy if they have a base knowledge of who you are.”

Despite getting a late start in December, the Mean Green finalized the first recruiting class under the leadership of Harrell and Littrell on Feb. 3, coming out with a class of

playmakers on both sides of the ball. North Texas added 19 players in the class, with nine offensive players that include local star running back Nic Smith and back-to-back Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year quarterback Mason Fine.

“I was really pleased with it from the offensive side,” Harrell said. “We signed a lot of really talented players and guys that we think can come in and compete right away and help us right away. And that’s the ultimate goal.”

With the signing class in place, Harrell is one step closer to getting back on the field and leading an offense. Although his playing days are over, the former quarterback still has a fierce competitive nature and will to win.

“Once we get on the field, it’s just going to be coaching and competing, which I love to do,” Harrell said. “At the end of the day, it’s just doing what you love out there, and I’m looking forward to getting back out with the guys and coaching.”

SOFTBALL

Rotating softball line-up keeping team on its toes

By Clay Massey Staff Writer @Clay_FC

When the North Texas softball team opened play last weekend at the Hillenbrand Invitation in Arizona, the starting line-up was largely still up in the air.

Head coach Tracey Kee hopes to continue keeping that fluidity and choose her line-ups based on what she sees in practice each week. In Arizona, Kee changed her starting line-up three times and switched the batting order in all five times.

“We’re so athletic that it’s going

to be a rotating line-up. And they understand that,” Kee said. “They also understand that they’ve got to swing the bat to be in the lineup. I think for us, having so many new people, the key was to get them in games and try and get some of those nerves off of them as quickly as possible.”

One youngster who seemed to shake the nerves off when put in the line-up was freshman utility player Rhylie Makawe. She started out playing in the outfield in the leadup to the season but was moved to first base after Kee experimented with her there.

As a utility player, Makawe can

play multiple positions on the field.

The freshman was dropped into her first collegiate game at first base and batted eighth in the order on opening day against the University of Arizona. Makawe’s defense was also on display with seven put-outs against Arizona.

She appeared in every game over the weekend for the Mean Green, hitting .385 on the season with four RBIs, but is still never sure where she might end up on the field on a game-to-game basis.

That’s not to say she isn’t prepared for whatever may come her way.

“I’m not really sure what

position I’m playing until coach sends the line-up out,” Makawe said. “Last weekend I played at first, and I’d been practicing at first and as well as outfield. Since I’ve been doing both, I was prepared for whichever one I was going to play.”

Kee does her part in making sure each of her players are prepared for whatever role they could see during the run of play. To do so, Kee gives her players reps in various positions, making for a very active practice with players bouncing around from spot-to-spot.

The concept isn’t as prevalent in most other sports.

“We spend as much time working our secondary positions as we do our primaries,” Kee said.

“For us, they understand that we’re going to give them all the looks

they need at both positions to feel as comfortable as possible.”

Senior utility player Karly Williams can attest to Kee’s philosophy. As a senior, Williams has racked up 119 starts between second base, shortstop and third base.

Williams became a middleinfield aficionado last season, starting 46 games between second and short with the majority of her starts being at second. She racked up a .982 fielding average, helping turn two double plays and committing only three errors.

Williams welcomes the rotating line-up citing and the competitiveness it brings.

“It makes it more competitive every single day knowing that no matter where you are somebody

is going to be behind you fighting for that spot,” Williams said. “It keeps everybody working hard and having that intensity every day.”

Kee doesn’t plan on changing her philosophy and plans to always keep her options open with her line-up, especially considering she has a vast array of options to choose from with five utility players. For Kee, the unpredictable nature of her line-up is a way to keep opponents on their toes.

“It’s exciting,” Kee said. “I think a lot of it is that’s what we’re built on. We want the athleticism, we want the versatile kids and we want the kids that are going to complete.

And I think as long as they know that line-up is not set for 56 games, they’ll continue to work hard.”

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Freshman pitcher Lauren Crine throws the ball toward the plate during team practice. Dylan Nadwodny | Staff Photographer

W W W.T H I N L I N E.U S City of Denton, Ramey King Insurance, Golden Triangle Mall, UNT of the Square, Ben E. Keith, Dallas Film commission, Little Guys Movers, Mellow Mushroom, Mochila, Lucky Lou’s. Cool Beans, Riprock’s, Dallas Observer, Axis Reality Group, Point Bank, Ed Steele Photography, Denton CVB, Pyware, Denon Film Company, Atomica Music, Earthworks, Texas Commission on the Arts

OPINION Page 11

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016

NTDAILY.COM

PHOBIA

Parallels between ‘80s Satanic Panic and modern Islamophobia

By Sidney Johnson Staff Writer @Sidjohn87 We as humans tend to fear what we don’t understand, creating demons in our own conscience about issues we may not be completely versed in.

The negative association of immorality equates the Satanist community to terrorism often associated with Islam. A few bad apples have the potential to erode an entire way of life, and their repercussions can have a chilling effect.

When the topic of Satanism is brought forth, two names are synonymous: Aleister Crowley and

Anton Lavey.

Crowley was a University of Cambridge educated occultist the British media once deemed the “Wickedest Man in the World.” The crux of his teachings was to “do what thou wilt,” and Crowley used this to form “The Book of the Law” and expanded to usher in a new era of human evolution. But before Crowley died in 1947, he inspired another.

Anton Szandor LaVey, just 17-years-old at the time of Crowley’s death, saw religion as a pitiful, manmade crutch believers relied on to create meaning of the world. He then went on to create the Church of Satan in 1966, and considering the word Satan is Hebrew for “oppressor,” it is no surprise that the majority of

Americans deemed LaVey a threat to the common good, even a criminal.

This accompanied a resurgence of interest in the occult as America transitioned into a period of civil unrest- think “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Omen” and “The Exorcist.”

As the free-love era of the ‘60s and the hippie-nihilist era of the ‘70s were replaced with the renewed morality of the Reagan era, Americans became obsessed, not with the occult itself, but with the idea that Satanists were practicing ritualistic murder, animal sacrifice and child abuse under their noses.

Perhaps the most bizarre occurrence of this was the McMartin Preschool Abuse trial. The case against Ray Buckey, the son of the

owners of the preschool, stands as the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history.

As the case went on the defendant’s claims became more bizarre. Judy Johnson claimed that Buckey’s mother had taken the boy to a church to watch the beheading of an infant, as well as drink the blood.

Furthermore, she claimed that Ray had sodomized her son while his head was in a toilet.

Buckey was eventually cleared of all charges, but he and his family’s reputation as caregivers were severely damaged. Accusations like these were common during this time, though this remains the most extreme example. This is troubling, as it has been determined

in the decades following this moral outrage that there was not a single instance that organized, murderous satanic practice has ever taken place - seriously, ever.

Jump forward to modern day, and while Americans have mostly reduced their fear of Satanic cults to the lore of “found-footage films,” they have created new Public Enemy No. 1: Muslims.

Armed “militias” standing outside of mosques in Irving; the Omaha Islamic Center vandalized in Nebraska; a Houston mosque being set on fire Christmas day.

Noticing a pattern here?

This distrust of those not seen as the “norm” (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) is unfounded, harmful

and ultimately on par with that of rock music being played backward to reveal messages from the Prince of Darkness himself.

The overall point is as follows: the American populace tends to create a scapegoat in that which they do not understand.

In the age of Facebook, it has become all too easy to share information without doing the diligence of checking its credibility, its relevancy or its potential to do damage. Attempting to see things beyond one’s own perspective can assure that the U.S. doesn’t invest itself indicting another Ray Buckey instead of focusing on problems of real magnitude.

It’s time to grow up.

POLITICS

What if we had four candidates to choose from?

By Preston Mitchell Staff Writer @Presto_Mitch The New Hampshire primary is the latest in a baffling series of political competitions that saw Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump win their respective votes. Even though Sanders is technically an independent, his Democratic following continues to aid his success. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, lost to Sanders by 22 points.

Not only does this contradict the predicted landslide, but it also shows left-wing America largely identifies with Sanders.

On the flipside, Donald Trump led the Republican vote while party favorite Ted Cruz came third below Trump and John Kasich.

Despite Trump being the projected lead in this Saturday’s South Carolina primary, he still faces Ted Cruz’s resolute brand of conservatism. This is particularly the case since he’s made it clear of Trump’s past of supporting abortion.

Obviously, the politicians to watch are Sanders, Clinton, Cruz and Trump. While two candidates

will most likely stand toe-to-toe, it is also possible that all four can run for president at once. In fact, what if someone on the right and the left both ran as independents?

Think about it: Bernie Sanders is an independent who chose to run Democratic. It just so happens that extreme liberal thought happens to compliment his plans. However, Hillary is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat (almost by blood).

If she starts winning primaries, especially since she’s so popular in South Carolina, Sanders could still run as a third party against her.

FIREWALL

North Texas Daily Editorial Board

Editor-In-Chief...................Nicholas Friedman nicholas.friedman1@gmail.com....@NMFreed

News Editor...............................Dalton LaFerney laferneyd@gmail.com.............@daltonlaferney

Arts & Life Editor..........................Erica Wieting ericawieting@gmail.com........@ericawootang

Sports Editor......................................Scott Sidway s.sidway@gmail.com.....................@ScottyWK

Visuals Editor..............................Kristen Watson kristenwatson2@my.unt.edu............@kbwatts

Visuals Editor............................Meagan Sullivan meagansullivanphotography@gmail.com....@meagansullivan_

Opinion Editor.............................Harrison Long harrisonlong@my.unt.edu..............@HarrisonGLong

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As for Trump, his freewheeling arguments make for a stark contrast between Cruz’s traditional methods of relating to his GOP crowd. His nemeses at the moment find it’s still possible Cruz could become the lead Republican candidate, leaving a large faction of right-leaning vote unaccounted for. Trump has enough financial savvy and influence (and general disregard for decorum) that he could leave the party at any time and run as an independent himself.

The first woman president; the first Jewish president; the first Latino president; the first

B-list reality-series-host president: history will be made, one way or another.

Four candidates, each more polarizing than the last- it’s difficult to imagine a more exciting election season than that of two outsiders running against two establishment candidates, but it would surely be unlike anything for years to come. So, in the event that this long-shot circumstance finds its way to your living room television set this November, be sure to remember one thing: your vote counts.

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 12

SECURITY

Apple as transparent as its storefront in cyber security

By The Editorial Board North Texas Daily @ntdaily In the age of Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Wikileaks, the debate on privacy versus security has never been more relevant.

In recent years, stories regarding the government spying on U.S. citizens have been met with extensive outcry and calls for transparency as George Orwell simultaneously rolls over in his grave.

In the wake of the San Bernardino shootings that rocked the nation last December, Apple, who manufactured the phone in the possession of one of the shooters, has cooperated behind the scenes with the FBI in order to help them piece together a clearer picture of the events.

But now, the story has changed.

According to a statement released by

Apple CEO Tim Cook, the FBI has asked Apple to create a “backdoor” that would allow them to circumvent several key security features of iPhone software and gain access to its encrypted data.

Apple has promptly refused this request, and publicly at that, noting the software does not currently exist, and though the government may very well hold good intentions in regard to its use, there is no way to know what might come about after the fact.

“The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone.

But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices,” Cook writes in his address, which was posted on the official Apple website Tuesday.

It does indeed set a dangerous precedent, and beyond the valid concerns of the federal government

overreaching its bounds with this “master key,” the fear of rogue third parties acquiring it is just as troubling.

Consider that just this month, hackers released the information of literally thousands of employees working for and with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. How can the same government agency that has proven itself vulnerable to attacks on its own employees be expected to guard the doorway to the personal data of tens of millions of American citizens? Apple does, after all, hold over 40 percent of the U.S. smartphone market share.

The shortsightedness of our government’s domestic intelligence agency is troubling, but not terribly surprising.

It is in light of this that we must commend Apple for doing the right thing and remaining committed to transparency with its customers. It

reiterates that, even as it refuses the government’s request to create this potentially dangerous and wildly unpredictable software, it is steadfast in helping it in any capacity that would not breach the trust of its customers, their expectation of privacy or the law itself.

So, to the men and women who proudly walk in the doors of the FBI every day to defend us from threats on our own soil, we would like you to know that we do appreciate what you do, but we politely ask you keep your nose out of our business.

As law-abiding citizens, we support your endeavors in thwarting evil, but not at the expense of our privacy.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Courtesy | Apple.com

SQUIRRELS ON CAMPUS

Comic by Jake Bowerman | Staff Illustrator

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Entertainment Listings Thursday, February 18, 2016

Denton’s 1st Liquor Store 1010 W. University (next to Movie Tavern)

3969 Teasley Lane @Robinson Road

Locally Owned and Operated

African-American Spirituals Gabrielle Ebron | Contributor Black History Month is officially here and you know the drill: it’s time to learn “what they don’t teach you in school.” Denton County Office of History & Culture is doing its part by helping educate the community through a serious of speakers and exhibitions in the month of February.

At noon on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 110 W. Hickory St., Rose Taylor will present a lecture discussing the history and significance of African-American spiritual songs. A Dallas native who currently studies music at Texas Woman’s University, Taylor will also be performing a few songs herself at Denton Courthouse on the Square The event is free and open to all who want to learn more about black culture and history.

Open Mic at Audacity Brew House! - 7:00 PM Trivia Night- 8:00 OM @ Mulberry St. Cantina Friday, February 19, 2016 Live Music - 7:00 PM @ LSA Burger Ghosts of Denton tour - 8:00 PM @ Jupiter House Coffee Friday Night Dart Tournament - 7:45 PM @ The LABB Saturday, February 20, 2016

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Denton Steps Together Dance Workshop Nichole Castagnino | Contributor Break out your dancing shoes because connecting with your fellow Dentonites just got a little easier—and a whole lot more fun.

Thin Line and Texas Woman’s University are hosting the Denton Steps Together Dance Workshop inspired by Thin Line documentary, “One Million Steps.” And the best part? No dance experience or know-how is required.

So come and see just how enticing the power of dance can be, even if you have no

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rhythm. But come early; the workshop will only be available to the first 20 people.

The fun only lasts an hour from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 20 at the PattersonAppleton Center for Visual Arts, 400 E McKinney St., and is free to the public. For more information, contact Thin Line Fest at 1-888-893-4560.

Jazz Brunch - 10:00 AM @ The Chestnut Tree Live Music - 7:00 PM @ LSA Burger Ghosts of Denton Tour - 8:00 PM @ Jupiter House Coffee Sunday, February 21, 2016 Free Roll Texas Hold Em Tournament - 6:00 PM @ Jack ’s Tavern Op=en Mic with Bone Doggie - 9:00 PM @ The Abbey Underground Suit and Tie Jazz Band 10:00 PM @ Paschall Bar Monday, February 22, 2016 National Margarita Day 9:00 PM @ Lucky Lou’s Paul Slavens and Friends 9:00 PM @ Dan’s Silverleaf Open Mic Night - 10:00 PM @ Andy’s Bar Tuesday, February 23, 2016 Great Minds, Great Ideas, Great Conversations - 6:00 PM @ Apogee Stadium Real Texas Radio Live Broadcast - 7:00 PM @ LSA Burger

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