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Volume 97 | Issue 40
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ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Facebook linked to depression BY LINDA NGUYEN Intern
NEWS: Smartphone app allows exercise tracking on the go Page 2
PHOTO COURTESY OF KEEP DENTON BEAUTIFUL
The 18th annual Redbud Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Denton Civic Center. Keep Denton Beautiful will have more than 60 booths inside and outside the center for people to visit.
City’s redbud festival celebrates Arbor Day BY K AYLAH BACA
SPORTS: National Cutting Horse Association competes in Cowtown
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ONLINE: Women’s golf team faces strong competitors in Waco
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Denton is saying goodbye to t he cold weat her a nd kicking off spring with the 18th annual Redbud Festival Saturday at the Denton Civic Center. The free event is the city’s official Arbor Day celebration. The festival will feature over 60 indoor and outdoor booths with gardening, landscaping and home improvement products. It lasts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and there will be free educational seminars throughout the day. “The fest iva l is not just for gardeners,” said Mendie S c h m idt , t he e v ent a nd out reach coord i nator for Keep Denton Beautiful, the nonprofit organization sponsoring the festival. “If people learn something new, that’s great, but we want everyone to have a good time.” Denton was established as the Redbud capital of Texas in 1993. Mayor Mark Burroughs is scheduled to proclaim April 9 as official Denton Redbud Day, Schmidt said. Redbud t rees a nd ot her native Texas plants will be available to purchase at the festival. “I’ve been goi ng to t he
Redbud Festival for several years,” said Alana Presley, the environmental educator and program coordinator for the Elm Fork Education Center. She said the Keep Denton Beautiful organization has done a good job keeping the com munit y awa re of ecof r iend l y ga rden i ng pr actices.
“We want everyone to have a good time.” —Mendie Schmidt, Keep Denton Beautiful “It’s a great way to celebrate spring and become more awa re of loca l busi nesses catering to native gardening and other outdoor hobbies,” said Tina Ek, an applied arts and sciences senior. She ha s a l s o at tende d the festival in the past, and said she’s look ing for ward to seeing what native plants are up for sale this year. Schmidt said a lot of college students volunteer for t he festival, and they are a big part of helping make the event successful.
Redbud usually has about 5,000 people attend and she expects that number to grow this year because of the newly added educational seminars, Schmidt said P re s enter s i nclude t he Denton O r g a n ic S oc iet y, Trinit y Forks Nat ive Pla nt Society of Texas and Denton Municipal Electric. The seminars will provide tips about organic approaches to law n ca re, infor mat ion about keeping homes sa fe a ga i n st c r i me a nd show attendees how energy is used throughout a house. One of t he sem i na rs at t he fe st iv a l w i l l d i s c u s s xeriscaping, the practice of la ndscaping in a way t hat reduces water use, said Kara Roberson of the Denton Public Communications Office and coordinator for the class. She s a id t h i s t y p e of ga rdening practice ca n be used for all types of lawns, i nclud i ng sma l l spaces, because xer iscapi ng w it h a d a pt i v e p l a nt s d o e s n’t require harsh chemical fertilizers or pesticides. “Water-conserving plants can also be planted in pots for patio use, which would work for col lege st udent apa r tments and townhomes,” she said.
Social interactions among school children have moved from the playgrounds of yesterday to the websites of today as younger generations put more of their lives into the public domain. A recent clinical report published in the journal Pediat rics suggests t hat Facebook contributes to depression in young people. However, researchers are s t i l l u nde c ide d a b out whether social networking sites cause depression in young people or merely augment t he depression they already feel. “People w it h ment a l health issues often retreat into t he cyber world of social networks, use them in a somewhat compulsive manner and get worse,” said James Quinn of the rehabilitations, social works and addictions faculty. Ada m Br ig g le of t he ph i losophy a nd rel igion studies faculty said t he socia l st r uct u re of networking sites is one that promotes exclusivity and belonging. “ T he pr oble m [ w it h Facebook] is it broadcasts relationships and makes it public,” Biggle said. “You realize when you’re on the outside.” He sa id it c reates a community for people, but it’s also exclusive. This can cause people to feel isolated if, for example, they see friends going to a party they weren’t invited to, he said. “ You h ave to f r iend someone and they have to choose whether to accept or not. You sometimes have to be invited to events and groups,” Briggle said. Applied behavior analysis freshman Jeanmarie Thompson gets on Facebook at least four times a day, and said it can be upsetting when someone de-friends her or rejects her friend request.
Facebook Facts -More than 500 million active users -50 percent of users log on to Facebook in any given day -Average user has 130 friends -People spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook -There are more than 250 million users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. -People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users. “I get a little sad when someone I know rejects my friend request,” Thompson said. The report suggests that Facebook opens the door to cyber bullying and harassment, but Briggle said it’s just what used to happen at school except on line. Facebook is on ly as bad as t he users ma ke it, he said. “Facebook is a neutral medium. You ca n use it to boost a person’s selfe s t e e m or t o b u l l y a person,” Briggle said. “It’s just another social situation. Facebook depression is no different than depression caused in real life.” Texas Academy of Math and Science junior Boice Ha r r i s do e s n’t h a v e a Fa c e b o o k b e c a u s e h e doesn’t see t he point of spend ing much t ime on the website. “It’s a waste of t ime,” Harris said. “I don’t have to be on Facebook. It causes a lot of drama and I’m better off without it. I like doing things the old-fashioned way — in person.”
UNT prepares for conference series with FAU BY BOBBY LEWIS
Senior Staff Writer With only three wins in 12 Sun Belt Conference games this season, the Mean Green softball team will play a conference series against the Florida Atlantic Owls this weekend in Boca Raton, Fla. UNT and FAU will begin the series with a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Saturday, then play at 11 a.m. Sunday to conclude the threegame set. “FAU is going to be a very, very important series,” said senior infielder Mallory Cantler. “We have to be ready to win that series so we can just continue on with the rest of season and try to make us get on a run so we can go as far as we can.” The Mean Green (17-20, 3-9) goes into the series with its first winning streak in a month, after beating the UT-Arlington Mavericks 1-0 Wednesday. “Hopefully that gives us a big boost,” said head coach T.J.
Hubbard. “FAU’s a solid group. They’ve got probably the two best pitchers in the conference. They play fundamental softball.” Those pitchers are senior Rose
“FAU is going to be a very, very important series.”
—Mallory Cantler Senior infielder
Gressley, who has a 1.86 ERA, and sophomore Taylor Fawbush, who has a 2.92 ERA. Both pitchers have 11 wins, that accounted for all of FAU’s (22-18, 6-3) victories. Gressley has the third-most strikeouts in the Sun Belt, with 119. As a team, UNT has struck out 202 times this season, the second-most in the conference. Those strikeouts played a role
during Wednesday’s matchup with UTA, as Mean Green batters struck out seven times. During the game, UNT was hitless for the first six innings before loading the bases and scoring the game’s only run in the seventh. Despite its offensive struggles, UNT got help from sophomore pitcher Brittany Simmons, who pitched her first completegame shutout of the season. She or redshirt freshman Ashley Kirk will likely start every game of the series. Each pitcher is coming off a victory, as Kirk notched her seventh win of the season with defeating Western Kentucky Sunday. “I feel pretty good after w atch i ng u s f ig ht [ on Wednesday],” Hubbard said. “After having no hits through six innings and fighting for the lead in the seventh, that’s huge. I think it’s big for the girls to know that they can fight like that, so I think it’ll be good momentum going into the weekend.”
PHOTO BY STACY POWERS/SENIOR STAFFER
Sophomore shortstop Lesley Hirsch prepares to hit the ball during a practice. The UNT softball team will face Florida Atlantic this weekend.