Vol. 52, No. 8
The 27th Battle of the Bands Page 6 Damages of daylight saving Page 4
Sean Feucht special interview Page 8-9
Tulsa, Oklahoma • February 23, 2018 • www.oruoracle.com
Baseball opening weekend Page 12 Photo by Josh Crow
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The spread of the new flu by Cicely Rubottom @cicelypixely Since September, more than 150 Oklahomans have died from influenza (i.e. the flu.) These mortalities have consisted mostly of the elderly and infants. What to say to your professor when you’re too sick to come to class... It hurts all over. Symptoms of this year’s influenza vary but often include a fever, cough, sore throat, congestion, body aches, headaches and fatigue. For when your doctor starts talking about H3N2... Don’t make the headache worse. Translation: there are four different “flu experiences” one can get, the most common strand this year, H3N2, is being held responsible for invading the globe so quickly. With the flu
mutating and making an appearance as a different strand this year, even those who received a flu shot can still get infected. “In previous seasons it tends to happen in different parts of the United States at different times,” said press officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Kristen Nordlund to The Cut. “This is one of the first years we’ve really seen that widespread activity is everywhere. Flu is really across the board in every state at the same time.” When your classmate next to you starts to cough... Move over. Some experts suggest playing it safe and getting the flu shot, keeping up with daily vitamins (see page 11), get enough sleep and wash your hands (a lot).
Due to the four different strands of influenza, getting a flu shot this year may not be enough to avoid infection. / Illustration by Hyunjin Bae
DACA deal done, border wall funded by Grant Holcomb @grantholcombORU At midnight on Feb. 9, the government shut down. Congress worked through the wee hours of the morning to agree to a bipartisan budget to fund the government, and came out with a bill which will sustain the federal government for two years. The bill was staunchly opposed by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who gave a filibuster-type speech on the floor of the Senate. He was requesting time to include an amendment to the budget which would cap the spending. But Republican leadership would not hear his request. Because there was no cap on federal spending, the federal deficit is projected to increase by $1 trillion each year. There have been no proposed plans to offset the enormous amount of federal spending. The government will instead be forced to borrow more to fund all the programs. Funding for non-defense and defense spending will increase to about $300 billion throughout the
funding period. The bill will also temporarily eliminate the debt limit for one year. Included in the bill is $90 billion to go to areas stricken from environmental disasters, like Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. Six billion dollars were also appropriated to battle the opioid epidemic. Both issues garnered lots of bipartisan support. Despite promises from both Democratic and Republican leadership, no deal was made on DACA, chain migration, or immigration as a whole. In the days following, President Donald Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said the budget plan will include $3 billion for a southern border wall. Mulvaney acknowledged the federal deficit will increase sharply, but he says the administration will recommend procedures to avert the rising deficit. He also continued by saying there will be a contingency for $25 billion over the next two years to shelter “Dreamers” under DACA. “What I’m saying in a very confusing way is that we are assuming in our 2018 proposal that
a DACA deal is done and that the border wall is funded,” said Mulvaney. According to the proposal, Trump will still urge Congress to cut spending to certain government agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department and encourage spending toward infrastructure. Additionally, Trump’s new budget would impact college students. “The proposal would sharply curtail incomebased loan repayment plans, scratch the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, embolden the government to go after students who don’t pay their loans and cut funding for federal work study in half,” according to CNBC.
Full story continues online at oruoracle.com
February 23, 2018 • Oracle • 3
‘Step Up Oklahoma’ for teacher pay by Natalie Wilkinson @nwilk17
An Oklahoma state bill that advocated the highest tax increase in the state’s history and a $5,000 pay raise for teachers failed to pass through the OK House of Representatives on Feb. 12. It needed 76 votes to be passed, but only secured 63. The passing of the bill, initiated by business and civic leaders in the group called “Step Up Oklahoma,” would have raised almost $800 million through tax increases on oil and natural gas production, motor fuels and tobacco. In addition, this bill contained a plan to rearrange the structure of income and wind energy taxes in the state of Oklahoma to give educators an annual raise. Hundreds of teachers and bill supporters rallied around the Oklahoma City Capitol building on the morning of the vote, attempting to persuade
lawmakers to back their efforts. Unfortunately for the teachers of Oklahoma, the bill was gaveled out after six hours of open voting on the floor. “It has been 10 years since the legislature has increased teacher pay,” said Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall. “It is past time to do the right thing.” Immediately following the vote, however, McCall stated that this was the last revenue plan he would put out on the floor this session. The state is currently ranked lowest in the nation for high school teacher pay and 49 for overall teacher pay, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average salary for a high school teacher is $42,460. The failed bill is yet another roadblock for legislators seeking to improve the educational system in Oklahoma. “The school teachers and those who have
dedicated their lives to children, when they hear this kind of news, it’s soul crushing,” said State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister to News9. As a result, Step Up Oklahoma and surrounding affiliates have been forced to return to the drawing board once again, this time with a more balanced approach to the tax increase in mind. “If we don’t raise the taxes in the right way – the balanced way that asks everybody to contribute, not just the poor and the middle class – and if we don’t raise enough revenue, then next year when you come in and ask for more, they’re going to say you already got yours,” said Rep. Scott Inman to a group of teachers in the gallery. Despite the setback, lawmakers are poised and ready to propose a more equitable plan for all Oklahomans at the start of the next session.
The dark side of daylight saving time by Nina Lange @NinaForshea
Coming March 11, roughly 1.6 billion people will move their clocks forward one hour and pour themselves an extra cup of coffee to make up the hour of sleep lost due to daylight saving time. Back in 1784, Benjamin Franklin suggested a way to save sunlight and use fewer candles during the winter months. However, it took until March 1918 for a plan to be adopted that established daylight saving time in the U.S. that would preserve daylight and provide standard time. Even though DST has become the norm, there are many adverse health effects that are brought on by this sudden time adjustment. The “circadian rhythm” is the natural rhythm the body goes through in a period of 24 hours, and several studies have shown that DST can harmfully disrupt this rhythm. An article by the New England Journal of Medicine found that this loss of sleep can trigger stress hormones in the body that can cause inflammation. This raises the percentage of heart attacks in people already at risk of having cardiovascular issues. A study by the Finnish Cardiac Society done in 2016 researched how the time transition led to an increased risk of a stroke. “Previous studies have shown that disruptions in a person’s circadian rhythm, also called an internal body clock, increase the risk of ischemic stroke, so
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we wanted to find out if daylight saving time was putting people at risk,” said the Finnish study author Jori Ruuskanen. The researchers took a decade of stroke data in Finland to find the average rate of stokes throughout the year. They then took the rate of 3,033 people who were hospitalized by strokes in the week following DST and compared it to 11,801 people who were hospitalized in the weeks after the time change. The research led them to discover that there was an eight percent raise in the first two days after the transition. “Further studies must now be done to better understand the relationship between these transitions and stroke risk to find out if there are ways to reduce that risk,” said Ruuskanen.
Graphic by Alejandro Contreras
Statement from Oral Roberts University on the passing of Reverend Billy Graham Tulsa, OK - Billy Graham brought the hope of Jesus Christ to millions around the world, and this dedication to spreading the Gospel made him the most iconic and effective evangelist in modern times. Oral Roberts University was honored to welcome Rev. Graham to dedicate our campus in 1967, and his exhortation to put God first in all we do still lives on in the hearts of this community: (Excerpted from the Reverend Billy Graham at the Dedication of ORU on April 02, 1967) “…If this institution ever moves away from faith in the Bible and faith in God and putting God first, then let us this day pronounce a curse on it. This institution was built by the prayers and dedication of men and women who loved God and believed His Gospel and [that] the Bible is the Word of God.” More than 50 years later, ORU continues to take on his challenge to stay true to the founding vision of the university with passion. In August of 2009, ORU Founder Oral Roberts reflected on his friendship with Billy Graham. “Billy was the most generous man in the ministry I’ve ever met. He accepted me as a brother. He said he fell in love with my ministry. I counted him the no. 1 evangelist in the world. We became very close friends.” Upon hearing of Oral Roberts’ passing in December 2009, Rev. Graham said, in part: “Oral Roberts was a man of God and a great friend in ministry. I loved him as a brother. We had many quiet conversations over the years.” “Billy Graham served as a great evangelist, statesman, prophet, teacher, Godly example, friend to us all, father, husband, educator, an icon of a generation, and a champion of spiritual integrity,” says Dr. William M. Wilson, President of Oral Roberts University. “On behalf of the ORU board of Trustees, students, faculty and staff we are praying for the Graham family and are thankful for the shared legacy of Billy Graham.”
Billy Graham and Oral Roberts were good friends, and Graham was invited to speak at the 1967 dedication of the University. /Photos provided by Oral Roberts University
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Farm to table, fad or fable by Haley Gibson @Gibson_hay Farm to table; a phrase that typically includes the promise of serving delicious, garden-fresh foods, plus a rich aesthetic and hip atmosphere. This is a result of what is known as the farm to table movement, in which individuals are becoming more aware of and attracted to menu options that include locally grown items. This is both for remarkable taste and to build better trust between consumer and seller as to how a food item has been raised or processed. But what does it really mean for a local restaurant to be farm to table, and does eating farm to table foods actually have benefits? Here’s a look into what it means to be a farm to table establishment. A local farm, designated within 100-200 miles from the organization, produces food products and conducts trade directly with buyers who want the ingredients for food to serve their customers. The process is pretty simple. Local and naturally grown food does taste better to consumers because the fruit, veggie or animal meat is not far from its home farm. On the other side of the transaction, this exchange also economically benefits the farmers themselves. The reality of this exchange, however, takes an incredible amount of communication from both parties, the buyer and the farmer. Production cycle of produce and product is not like conventional methods, when there is a deadline to keep things fresh and in season. The supply chain is simply different. The quality products coming from small farm situations cannot result
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from mass production methods. The United States Department of Agriculture finds this trade process that creates farm to table to be a model of ‘Food Value Chains.’ They define this as “an innovative business model in which agricultural producers, processors, buyers and other supply chain members form collaborative, transparent partnerships that intentionally attempt to combine financial success with social benefit.” It is now easy to use online resources to track locations in the area in which establishments are serving farm to table foods. The USDA provides a Local Food Directory on their website. Their information is gathered by an Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which then puts together reports of locations in an area that may include various farmers markets, farm to table food hubs and distribution locations. Through services like this and websites like Local Harvest, anyone can take a good look at the thousands of farms surrounding the Tulsa area. From the AMS report, the majority of farm to table crops for the city of Tulsa come from a farm in Oaks, Oklahoma called Three Springs Farm. A Kansas farm located in McCune, called Schenker Family Farms, also contributes to the city. There are a number of family managed farms throughout Oklahoma and Arkansas that also feed into local business here. In all, there are 20 happening restaurants in Tulsa worth a taste that put an emphasis on farm to table foods, according to TravelOK. For example, the popular Dilly Diner, the Tavern on Brady, 116 Farmstead Market and Table and The Bramble Breakfast and Bar.
But farm to table foods are not just reserved for kitchens with a staff and chef; anyone can visit a local farmers market during the week and pick up ingredients to make their own fresh dishes. Tulsa is booming with farmers markets almost every week. To name a few, this city is home to the Downtown Tulsa Farmers Market, Pearl Farmers Market, Cherry Street Farmers Market, Wednesday Farmers Market on Brookside, TCC North Tulsa Farmers Market and OU Tulsa Farmers Market. This doesn’t include the markets located in Sand Springs and Broken Arrow. Washington University did a study to show the major benefits of eating locally and regionally grown foods at a farm to table establishment. In summary, these foods are fresher, as many fruits and vegetables begin losing certain nutrients as soon as they are picked. These foods are seasonal, with no artificial ripening or growing. They are better for the environment, with no transportation cross-country. They preserve farmland, and promote agricultural growth. They create a community and culture that is specific the region, or city that cannot be specifically replicated.
There are many farm to table establishments in the Tulsa area. Check out one today. Photo by Maddy Hunt
A toast to battle of the bands victors by Kayley Forshey and Josh Crow @mybestfriednjo @JAWSH_KROW
Students piled into the Global Learning Center at Oral Roberts University on Thursday, Feb. 15, for the annual Battle of the Bands (BOTB) competition. The room was toasty with eagerness as this year’s BOTB promised a show to remember, and did not disappoint. The Student Association created a fun-filled night for students and performers alike. Students huddled around the stage for performances by ORU’s many talented bands. Saints by Summer opened the night, followed by Eleven:59, LYLA, Cherry Wave and closed with toast. The latter satisfied the audience’s hunger for an award winning performance. Literally. And yes, their name is all lowercase. Each band brought a unique sound and drive to win, creating an exciting night for ORU students. But toast won the title, capturing the audience’s heart with their song selections and passion for music. “The way we ran our set and wanted to include people, we wanted to be genuine,” said Mark Zumpano, junior psychology major and lead vocalist for toast. “We didn’t want to act like we were just there to be serious and perform, we wanted to just have fun. I felt the crowd was really influential to our energy and kind of the way we were running it, and by the end, we were just singing together.” Toast is comprised of students who simply enjoy playing together. Their band was formed almost seamlessly as friends and friends of friends joined, all looking for a way to express their love for music with other like-minded musicians. “We’re all great friends, and we had a lot of fun practicing together and setting up,” said Zumpano. “We really invested a lot of time into it and I can see we were pretty successful.” Along with Zumpano, the band includes students Jacob Brallier, Kyle Ross, Alan Kline, Gabe Phillips, Madelyn Hunt, Haley Gibson, Sam Bowling and Tori Sullivan, all playing various instruments like the dobro, ukulele and trumpet. “When I came to ORU, I really wanted to play music, but didn’t know what to expect, or if I’d meet anybody who’d want to play with me,” Brallier said. He was the dobro player who also
played guitar and other instruments. After finding one another and developing their sound, which they describe as folk with a hint of bluegrass, the band decided to try out for BOTB and made it into the show. Their song selection process for the performance took longer than expected, but they finally found songs they all enjoyed performing. “It was kind of tedious but I think we hit the nail on the head with our selection,” Zumpano said. “For something like Battle of the Bands, we kind of wanted to do songs people would know but also do songs that we like.” The band first performed a mash-up of I’ll Fly Away, which is an old hymn, and Bitter Water by The Oh Hellos. Next, they covered Dog Days Are Over by Florence and The Machine and played an original by Zumpano, called Wanderer. Finally, they ended the night with Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and the entire crowd joined in, shouting each “bum, bum, bum” and “so good, so good, so good” along with Zumpano. “As soon as we decided to do it, I was like, yes, this is going to be so fun,” Zumpano said. “Singing it was like a party; you can only take yourself so seriously when singing a song like that. You kind of just have to let the crowd in and have a ball with it. That’s how we wanted to end the show, having fun, and that’s why we picked ‘Sweet Caroline.’” It could be argued that the song won the evening, not only for the audience but also for toast performers like Brallier. “I was just up there and I was playing guitar, but I looked around a t
Mark killing it up there, singing, and he just stepped out of himself and performed that song; everyone did,” Brallier said. “And the audience singing along, all the words, and I kind of just smiled and thought, this is cool.” Overall, though toast won, each band contributed to the excitement of the evening. Though toast formed out of friendship, some of the band members hope to go on to more serious musical pursuits. “I think there’s a lot of us that really want an outlet for our music and I think there’s a good possibility that we will stay together in some form or another and play out,” said Brallier. ORU gives a toast to toast, and to the rest of the BOTB performers, for an unforgettable night and performances that were so good, (so good, so good.)
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Photo by Josh Crow
Feucht says joining Bethel is more like joining a family than taking a job. 8 • Oracle • February 23, 2018
Worshipping in the warzones by Josh Crow and Paige McQueen @JAWSH_KROW @paigemcq23
For four years, Sean Feucht sat in the Wesley Luehring dorm stairwell, worshipping with only a guitar and some friends. His time in the stairwell helped him commit to a lifestyle of worship, which eventually led Feucht to begin a movement that continues today and has spread across the globe. “We’ve seen a lot of amazing miracles and it gives us a lot of expectation every time we see breakthrough. God’s done it before, He’s gonna do it again; He can do something even crazier,” said Bethel Church worship leader and Oral Roberts University graduate Sean Feucht of his ministry, Burn 24-7. “It really stirs up our heart to believe that those things weren’t just for the Bible or just for history, but that God is still doing these things today.” Feucht and Kalley Heiligenthal led ORU in a night of praise and prayer called “For the Nations,” an evening dedicated to rasing funds for ORU missions teams. Feucht also spoke in chapel on Friday morning, Feb. 15, 2018. Heilingenthal is also part of the well-known worship team at Bethel Church, a multi-campus Christian church with its base in Redding, California. Feucht grew up with a family more inclined to studying medicine than music. He wasn’t heavily involved in music until high school, when he says a natural inclination to worship drew him into becoming a musician. He learned to strum a few chords on his guitar for small group meetings at his church and eventually, the youth group’s worship leader left for college. The leadership role fell to Feucht, though he never dreamed of being a musician. According to Feucht, it was his hunger for worship that carried him. Upon high school graduation friends and family from Feucht’s home in Virginia Beach, VA, suggested that he visit ORU. The Tulsa school was one of the four universities he considered. Feucht arrived to the campus on a stormy day, where he and his father witnessed the whole student body praying and worshipping together. In that moment, Feucht says
he felt the Holy Spirit’s presence and knew it was where he belonged. This kind of atmosphere, which he hadn’t felt at the other universities, was what he was looking for. The relational family atmosphere has always been an attribute that Feucht fondly remembers about the university. Feucht says what stood out most about ORU was the holistic spiritual mindset. Feucht attended ORU in the last years of Oral Roberts’ presidency, and he can still recall the voice of Roberts reverberating in his ears, “You can do anything.” Feucht described his recent visit to his alma mater as surreal. During his four years here, Feucht says the Lord placed him in a season away from the spotlight. He studied, worshipped and enjoyed his time in college, more in the shadows than the limelight. “You know, I worshipped in my dorm room and had my own kind of thing going, but it wasn’t like a season of public ministry for me,” Fuecht said. “It’s just cool for me to come back now and see that it’s a marker in my life of all the stuff that God has done.” Feucht has released 20 music albums and co-authored five books. He also has his own ministry, known as Burn 24-7, which began at ORU with a group of people who were lit with a desire to see the Kingdom of God in all nations. Those who helped him begin Burn 24-7 were the kids that usually stayed for voluntary worship after chapel. “Worship is everything,” Feucht said. “It’s the continual awareness of his presence and the continual engagement of that. You can’t give away what you don’t have. If you’re not guarding it in a personal time, then you can’t get up there on a stage. It’s fraud, and it’s fake. You can’t do it. That’s where the authority comes from to sing it, because you’re living it.” Beginning in a men’s dorm, the movement grew and moved from the ORU campus to Nordaggio’s coffee shop. Feucht says he watched as churches began to catch the vision and host worship nights for the ministry, and eventually, it became more than just an ORU thing. Soon, it began to grow to be more than just an American thing and spread to the nations.
“I was in Afghanistan a couple months after 9/11, before I came to school here,” Feucht said. “I have been involved with the Middle East for a long time. I’ve always loved the Middle East, I’ve always had an attachment to those nations. It’s just grown overtime as the wars happen and the constant tragedy and terrorism. It’s just my heart has been more like ‘God you gotta show up and do something.’” According to Feucht, the amazing thing about leading worship in the Middle East is that although it is difficult to argue Muslims into faith, an encounter with the love of God and the beauty of who he is can make the change. Feucht recounted the shame and disconnection from the God of the Bible resulting from the Middle Eastern religion. “I love the fact that we get to bring worship as a tangible experience of His presence into those countries. We’ve been invited into mosques. We’ve been invited on the front line of war zones,” Feucht said. Even as Feucht leads worship warfare into the farthest reaches of the world, his measure of success is centered around his wife and children. To him, being a good husband and father is more important than selling songs. He and his wife travelled often together when they were first married, and continued this after the births of their first two children. However, they recognized the importance of stability, and enrolled their two oldest children into school. Feucht and his wife now have three children, and another baby on the way. “They were at home today, watching [the chapel service] online, huddled around the TV. They just feel like they are a part of it. They don’t feel disconnected as if the ministry is taking me away, but more like we’re doing this together. That’s what changes everything for us,” Feucht said. In this way, Feucht stays connected with his family and his calling as his ministry and family remain intertwined. He still seeks to bring Christ to the nations through worship and meaningful encounters with God, believing worship to be vital to the supernatural and literal war zones that much of the earth remains in.
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Five vitamins to swear by by Lauren Dunlap @laurenodunlap
With influenza rampaging through schools and workplaces this year, many people are fearful of not only contracting the flu, but the deadly strain which has claimed several dozen lives this season. Here are some easy things that can be done to reduce chances of contracting the flu. Regular vitamin and mineral intake is an extremely effective way of preventing illness and boosting the immune system, among other benefits. Health food stores, supplement shops and even basic grocery stores carry extensive inventories of vitamins or minerals. Despite the variety of choices, there are a few powerhouse vitamins that are essential to immune support and the maintenance of healthy body function. These can be found at stores like Walmart, Target and Walgreens. Iron is critical to the body because it helps the hemoglobin in our red blood cells carry oxygen
throughout the body. When there is not enough oxygen getting to the body’s cells and tissues, anemia develops. Anemia is a condition that causes fatigue, lightheadedness and other tiring symptoms and affects almost five million Americans. Iron supplements, when taken regularly, significantly alleviate the symptoms of anemia. Vitamin C is one of the most well known vitamins, but few people know all of the benefits. Vitamin C has been associated with the production of collagen, a connective tissue that knits together wounds and supports blood vessel walls. It is also great at bolstering the immune system, which is why it is often mistaken as a cure for the common cold. Zinc is a supplement that helps the body control and regulate immune responses, as well as attacks infected or cancerous cells. The positive effects on the immune system are vast, and according to a study done by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “Zinc-deficient persons experience increased
susceptibility to a variety of pathogens.” The body synthesizes Vitamin D when sunlight hits the skin. However, this can be hard to do when winter comes. Vitamin D helps in the regulation of calcium and the maintenance of healthy bones, is a powerful immune system builder and has been known to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes. Some claim that it can even reduce the risk of contracting influenza by up to 40 percent. B-complex vitamins are powerhouse vitamins that can help the body turn food eaten into energy, as well as protect the body from red blood cells when taken with an iron supplement. Experts also claim that this vitamin can help alleviate a variety of conditions, including anxiety and depression. Implementing a regular intake of these vitamins is a great approach to avoid coming down with one of those nasty flu or strep viruses. Being pro-active about health will pay off, now and in the long run.
Fashion for the morning minimalist
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Keep th wor kou ings sim t pa ple nts and with a cu tenn is sh te and com oes. fy lo /Ph ok otos prov , comp let ided by M e with a ake nzie baseba ll Trot ter
by Makenzie Trotter @makenzietrotter
Waking up early in the winter is already a daunting task, but combine that with trying to look cute, and it can sometimes feel impossible. On top of the cold weather and early mornings, picking a fashionable outfit is probably the last thing there’s time for. Well, thank goodness there are many ways to dress comfy and cute. My go to look when I’m in a hurry and still way too tired is a pair of workout pants, tennis shoes (more specifically, my favorite gray New Balances) with a long sleeve T-shirt. To add more style to this sporty look, just grab a cute vest to go on top and you will be good to go. Depending on how cold it is that morning, you may want to throw on a coat as well, especially in unpredictable Tulsa weather. To mix things up with minimal effort, it’s a good idea to invest in another pair of workout pants, maybe some with a fun color or an exciting pattern. Or simply switch up the shirt and shoes with whatever workout pants you already have. Add a cute hat to this sporty look as a perfect accessory.
February 23, 2018 • Oracle • 11
Photo by Mike Martin
Season closing for ORU basketball
The 2017-2018 men’s basketball season comes to a close this week. Heading into their final game of the season on Feb. 22, the team had achieved a 4-9 conference record, claiming 10 wins out of the 30 total games played. Under the new leadership of Coach Paul Mills, the Golden Eagles improved their record from last year by a margin of two wins. They earned an average of 38 rebounds and 72 points per game. The two seniors retiring their ORU jerseys this year are Austin Ruder (guard) and Albert Owens (center).
Starting pitcher Justin McGregor was named to the All-Summit League Team as a pitcher after creating a perfect 9-0 record after his first season with the Golden Eagles. /Photos by Mike Martin
Graphic by Haley Gibson
ORU Baseball sweeps opener by Lauren Dunlap @laurendunlap
Jaden Purnell takes Summit League honors
Junior psychology major Jaden Purnell was named the Summit League Co-Athlete of the Week for the men, along with another athlete from South Dakota State, on Feb. 13, 2018. This is his first career Summit League honor, currently ranking first in the Summit League and 33rd in the NCAA. Purnell has competed at the Third Annual Indoor Gorilla Classic, with the long and triple jump. In his final attempt, he set a personal record in the triple jump (51’ 3.5”, 15.63m), which was also a school record, and another career-best record in the long jump (23’ 10”, 7.26m).
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Finishing off opening weekend with a bang, the Oral Roberts baseball team swept Utah, along with the season’s first weekly Summit Baseball Awards. The series started on Friday (W 4-3) continued to a Saturday victory (W 6-4) and a succesful Sunday (W 3-0). Sophomore Spencer Henson was presented his first Summit League Baseball Player of the Week award. Henson led the Golden Eagles offensively over the weekend with four RBIs, two runs scored, two walks, one double, one home-run (which happened to be his very first pitch of the weekend), and one stolen base, batting .556 (5-for-9) for the weekend. Senior Justin McGregor also had a very strong showing, which earned him the Summit League Pitcher of the Week award. He threw the first five innings on the front end of Sunday’s 3-0 shutout and only allowed four singles and one walk. He recorded at least one strikeout in every inning that he pitched, as well as improved to a perfect 10-0 record in his career. Freshman Andrew Pace made a debut appearance on Saturday, clinching a pinch-hit RBI single. If the rest of the spring looks anything like opening weekend, the Golden Eagles have a nice
season to look forward to, and Head Coach Ryan Folmar is confident. After Sunday’s game, he said, “You have to be excited about the way we pitched, not only today, but all weekend. We have some things to fix offensively, but any time you get three wins against a good club, it’s good.” This Tuesday, Feb. 20, the Golden Eagles were planning on hitting the road for Stillwater, to face in-state rival Oklahoma State. However, the game was postponed due to weather conditions. The team will spend the next eight games at home, welcoming Nevada to J.L. Johnson stadium for a three game series starting on Feb. 23-25. Fans can follow along by tuning in to the ORU Sports Network. Viewers can receive updates on the team by downloading the apps Golden Eagles Live and ORU Front Row.
For more coverage on ORU Men’s Baseball and the rest of Summit League action, log onto oruoracle.com.
Misconceptions of a vegetarian diet
Madeline Ewing @maddieewing3 As a student with dietary restrictions, eating on-campus is a constant battle—to eat, or not to eat? That’s the question that many of my friends and I struggle with. From those who are gluten-free to people like me who don’t eat meat, scrounging around the cafeteria and restaurants on-campus for something to eat is a daily dilemma.
For ORU freshman and on-campus resident Chrissy Maezzei, a meal plan doesn’t do justice to her eating habits. Being gluten-free, dairy-free and also having to avoid processed foods, acidic foods and red meats for health reasons, she is forced to stock her dorm room with prepped meals as her Sodexo dollars and cafeteria visits run down the drain. “I probably eat on campus in general about twice a week, and even then I can only eat from the fruit and vegetables usually,” said Chrissy Maezzei. For me, the vegetarian corner of the cafeteria and the salad bar are usually the limits of my domain. While eating vegetarian is a choice for me, it has, in my opinion, improved my health dramatically as well as increased my energy for everyday life. While there are vegetarian options on the cafeteria menu, they are limited, and after being in school for almost a semester and a half (over 200 days on campus), these options have become overdone. “If a campus serves 1,000 students, statistics predict that 40 of those students will have food allergies, and 30 of them will not have discussed those allergies with the individuals who prepare their
food. Sixteen of the 40 will have allergic reactions within a six month period, and eight of those will be serious reactions,” said Beth Winthrop, the National Wellness Director for Campus Services at Sodexo in the Greater Boston Area, in a Food & Culinary Professionals article. While we strive to meet the needs of the vast diversity on campus, we should also strive to meet the needs of the vast array of diets that come with that. Students should inform dining services of dietary needs, so they can accomodate well. Oral Roberts University does a great job of not only accommodating for each person’s individual needs (whether emotionally, spiritually or physically), but also celebrating differences. This is one of the qualities of ORU that drew me to want to be part of the student body. Now it is time to bring that inclusivity to our campus dining options so that ORU can become an integrated and unified university without nutritional limits.
Studies show, but how do studies know?
Cicely Rubottom @cicelypixely This semester, I found myself particularly uncomfortable during syllabus week. I was intrigued by the ambiguity of certain studies being thrown out as staple arguments
to my professor’s personal studious preferences. The most popular being: “studies show that you retain information better when you handwrite notes rather than typing notes.” As I slid my trusty Macbook back into my backpack after hearing this line in nearly every class, I couldn’t shake the inconclusiveness I felt about such a vague so-called study. How exactly was that measured? So I did some research to satisfy my curiosity and here’s what I found of a couple head-scratching studies: Studies show that handwritten notes are better... To measure the alleged outcome of students learning better through handwriting notes, two students were
selected at random as personality type, GPA and study habits were ultimately deemed irrelevant in this study. First, the two students were presented with a PowerPoint outlining a chapter from a quantum mechanics textbook and asked to take notes on their laptop. The students were then given a quiz on the subject and scored. Next, they were given and pen and paper to take notes on a health lecture. They were then given a quiz on that subject and scored. Both students scored higher when they took notes using pen and paper. Studies show that penguins mate for life... This one was easy. I found a penguin and asked him. Some scholars suggest that a person’s
worldview is largely defined by age 13... In the late 90’s, a group of 13-yearold students were selected at random from a local middle school to participate in this study. They were asked to define what they believe the meaning of life to be in one sentence. The same group was interviewed 20 years later and asked to compare their current worldview to that of the one they had when they were 13. “The meaning of life is and has always been to do something that I love,” said one of the subjects, a financial accountant named John Smith. So, it was settled. Now that I am aware of the cautious thought and energy put into these studies by prestigious psychologists, my mind is put at ease as I continue to scribble away my slightly-legible notes.
February 23, 2018 • Oracle • 13
Inmates grow life skills through gardening
Emma Giddens @em_giddy People will give you 1,000 reasons why you should try to eat farm to table goods. Whether it’s the lack of pesticides or the boost shopping local gives to the community, there’s no doubt that farm to table has the ethos of the 21st century to back its ever-growing reputation, and its influence now moving into a different realm. In prisons across the United States, this means trading in stereotypical prisoner work and the dreaded “loaf ” for vegetables grown onsite
by the inmates themselves. “Gardening allows them to practice compassion in an otherwise often harsh environment,” said Hilda Krus, director of the Rikers Island GreenHouse program in New York City, in an interview with PRI. Programs like Planting Justice, Insight Garden and the Rikers Island Greenhouse cultivate green thumbs in prisons across the country. Rather than releasing prisoners to the destructive cycle of incarceration, these programs endeavor to teach inmates important lessons through gardening. The process of raising a plant from the ground up is a different form of therapy, but one that has seen amazing results. According to the Bureau of Justice, two-thirds of prisoners are rearrested within three years of being released from prison, but Planting Justice is undercutting that statistic. The recidivism rate for inmates who complete the program is just ten percent, and some of them are even hired full-time by Planting Justice when their sentence ends. Equipping prisoners with a life skill, like gardening, or, in the case of Corcoran State Prison, dairy farming, gives them confidence and a trade to pursue once their terms in prison end. “I really enjoy what I do,” said inmate Edward
Wilson in an interview with NPR. “I take pride in what I do. I’ve never been involved in things like this, but I would like to pursue it back in society. Not just for this job, but it shows you what you’re capable of for any kind of job.” Not only are the gardening programs a positive, lesson-teaching outreach for inmates, they’re also a cost-effective food source with pros that reach beyond healthier meals. Taxpayers in Oregon were paying close to $100 million annually on inmate healthcare, according to The Oregonian, but when the Oregon State Correctional Institution (OSCI) in Salem decided to introduce a gardening program to inmates, that number began to dwindle. “It behooves us to try and keep [inmates] as healthy as possible. Not only can we keep our healthcare costs down if we have healthy individuals, but it can also save taxpayer money growing some food ourselves on-site,” said Tonya Gushard, the public information officer for OSCI, in an interview with PRI. So, yes, I think I might agree with the 21st century farm to table eaters. Farm to table foods may help us in more ways than one, and they definitely help prisoners in more ways than one, too.
Step counting may not be best path to health
Hannah Nelson @avidr3ader ORU’s Fitbit-using population knows that to receive full credit in HPE, 10,000 steps per day is required during the semester. However, some experts say people shouldn’t emphasize step goals when developing their personal fitness plan. Recent studies have shown that it’s far more important to track the intensity of exercise, rather than the amount of steps taken throughout the day.
14 • Oracle • February 23, 2018
The BBC recently published an article cataloging the history of the 10,000 steps myth, and also demonstrating how a person can live a healthy lifestyle without getting 10,000 steps daily. The article explained a research experiment conducted by the BBC, in which they split people into two groups—one group made it their goal to walk 10,000 steps a day and the other walked briskly for three 10 minute sessions a day. According to LSU professor Caterine Tudor-Locke, the rule of 10,000 steps a day was the result of a 1960s Japanese marketing plan for a pedometer called Manpo-Kei, which literally translates to “10,000 step meter” in English. The product debuted right after the 1964 Olympics games in Tokyo, and sought to limit the influence of American “slothfulness”
on Japanese society. BBC’s researchers found that taking three fast walks a day was healthier than walking 10,000 steps daily for the participants in its study. “The Active 10 group actually did 30 percent more ‘moderate to vigorous physical activity’ than the 10,000-step group, even though they moved for less time,” said Professor Rob Copeland of Sheffield Hallam University, who partnered with Michael Mosley in researching the topic. Because brisk walking increased the heart rate of the participants, they were able to benefit more from their period of exercise. Another study by NPR reported similar results. They found that, among the 13,000 elderly women they studied, those who walked fast on a regular basis were 90 percent less likely to develop chronic conditions
than those “who weren’t in the habit of walking beyond a leisurely pace.” “There are really no standard recommendations on how far people need to walk,” said Daniel White, a research assistant professor in physical therapy who led the study, in an interview with NPR. “Do people really need to walk 10,000 steps a day? For people with arthritis, that could be a daunting task.” While walking farther could ensure we get the 150 minutes of recommended exercise, some research has found that this recommendation could be fulfilled with as low as 6,000 steps a day. Walking more has health benefits, like any increase in activity would. However, if we’re looking for tangible, lasting results, we should focus on getting more cardio minutes.
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*Truck is available on first-come, first-served basis. Must sign contract and schedule a moving time. Rental sizes vary and range from $23 to $74 with $9 monthly insurance charge. A one-time admin fee is applied. First month’s insurance included. Please refer to ad to take advantage of this offer.
February 23, 2018 • Oracle • 15