No. 15
Vol. 1
April 29, 2021
A Rocking Good Time at A Big Squawk About Bird Island Guitarmageddon
Photo by Lance Brownfield
The students of Dr. Bruce Johnston’s Guitar Seminar class put on a big and loud performance at Guitarmageddon. The biannual event took place in the Evans Student Center at OBU. Lance Brownfield venues, parties and weddings. you might see. They’ve been Salmon had never even heard Contributing Reporter Johnston has put on the event accompanied by everything of the band before taking the Five microphones, four elec- once a semester for five years. from opera singers to keyboard class. This last show was the tric guitars, one acoustic guitar, This time it was a special per- players in the past. sixth and final one for Salmon. one electric bass, and a drum formance for the class since Josh Salmon and Ethan “We all had a really good kit. Sounds like a show at one COVID-19 cancelled the show Kuntz, both senior music in- time playing some classic of the big venues in Little Rock, for the last two semesters. dustry majors at OBU, took songs,” Salmon said via email. right? Well, it actually took Instead of performing live the lead on most songs. Kuntz’s “We started running through place at OBU’s Evans Student this last fall, the class did a gravelly voice was fitting for the songs at the beginning of Center last Tuesday. recording project. While John- “Best of You” by The Foo Fight- the semester, and each week The showcase of students ston said it went really well, ers. The two both had elaborate we would meet to work on two shredding and soloing was they made the decision to mask pedalboards to help them craft to three.” accompanied by Dr. Bruce up and get back on the stage unique sounds. If you missed out on the Johnston, a lecturer of music this time around. Salmon sang “Use Some- show, do not fret. You can at the university. Johnston While the show is mostly body” by Kings of Leon, be- always see the next Guitarmaplayed drums during the hour centered around the guitars, cause according to Johnston geddon this November in the and a half set. there’s no real limit to what his “voice is perfect for it.” Evans Student Center at OBU. “I named it Guitarmageddon because in all honesty, I expect it to be a bit on the ‘excessive/bordering on obnoxious’ side of things,” said Johnston via email. “There is never really a need to have five or six guitars on stage at the same time.” During the performance, the band covered hits from The Beatles, Steve Miller Band and The Doobie Brothers as well as several instrumentals. Their rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was slightly darker and more brooding than the original on account of the thick, rich sound made by so many guitars. Austin Murberger’s expressive tremolo picking really set the song off. Murberger is a sophomore music major at Henderson. Him and junior music major Zach Tabor both participated in the OBU event as Reddies. “It’s kind of an exchange program for guitar,” said Johnston. The event is part of a course Photo by Lance Brownfield called Guitar Seminar and is Josh Salmon takes the lead during a song at Guitarmageddon on Tuesday, April 20. This designed to get students used to playing popular songs for guitarmageddon was the first since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelly Stiles HSU Oracle Editor-In-Chief The sound of soft waves and chirping birds fills the warm summer air. As the sun drops below the mountainous horizon, orange, pink, and blue shimmer off the lake water. Thousands of birds swarm the sky in artistic display. This is a typical July evening at Bird Island. “It’s a God thing,” Dad said. “It’s such a miracle.” In 1965, my father Lamar Currington first saw the birds when he was six-years-old. He and my Papaw Charles came across the island while fishing on Lake Ouachita, the cleanest lake in Arkansas. The manmade lake became available to the public in 1956, three years before my dad was born. The pristine waters have been my father’s summer home since infancy. “It’s better seeing your kids experience it,” Dad said. As an adult, my dad found himself wanting more than summer visits. In 1986, he bought a piece of land right off the coast and lived in a tent until he finished building a house. Born and raised on the water, Bird Island is a part of me, a part of my family. My older sister and I would lie on the hard top of Daddy’s pontoon and name the birds above us. We would follow our named birdies until they eventually got lost in the darting mess of black dots. “Around dusk they come from all directions and swirl like a loose tornado before settling down, wing-to-wing, for the night,” Dan Scheiman, bird conservation director of Audubon Arkansas, said. Bird Island is Arkansas’ largest known Purple Martin roost. The patch of Bald Cypress is located in the middle of Lake Ouachita. It is 1,260 feet long, and about 100 feet at its widest point. Much of the land beneath the trees may be submerged when the water level is up, but trees are all the birds need. “At less than a tenth of an acre, Bird Island’s size is disproportionate to its huge importance for Arkansas birds,” Scheiman said. The island is about a mile from the nearest mainland shoreline. The closest boat launch sites are Brady Mountain Use Area and Buckville Use Area. Bird Island is dubbed an Important Bird Area by the Arkansas Audubon Society because it is one of a handful of migratory roosts in Arkansas that consistently hosts a large number of Purple Martins. Cattle Egrets and possibly Little Blue Herons nest on the southern end of the island as well. An estimated 20,000 to 40,000 Purple Martins have roosted on Bird Island at the end of June and beginning of August every year. My father argues that these Purple Martins are actually
Great Swifts, a species that looks quite similar from far away, but is easily distinguishable from up-close. He has seen some of the birds wear a ring around their neck that is characteristic of Great Swifts. Also, he believes that the dark color of the birds better aligns with the black Great Swifts versus the dark purple Purple Martins. Most experts agree, however, that Purple Martins are indeed the primary hosts of Bird Island. The sheer numbers, constant influx and movement of birds, tree cover, and fading light make counting Purple Martins a daunting task. Students from the Mountain Pine High School Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) program experimented with several techniques, including photographing the sky through a fisheye lens and later counting all the birds in the photo, as well as counting the birds on a branch and then multiplying by the number of branches and trees. Birds roosting on Bird Island have been disturbed by boaters using fog horns and floodlights, and visitors leaving trash behind. The Arkansas Corps of Engineers and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission were told of the disruptions, so they allowed EAST students to post signs at access points around the island to reduce interference. Preventing foot traffic during roosting will protect the birds who are already at risk due to the lack of natural roosting environments. Occasionally, the birds will make their home on a nearby island similar in size and amount of trees. One year, the water level was so high that both islands were completely submerged, so the birds chose to inhabit a piece of land near Brady Mountain Marina. In preparation for their arduous journey to the Amazon Rainforest, the Purple Martins congregate for about a month at places like Bird Island because there are plenty of bugs to eat. “They build up enough fat to fuel them for their migration south,” Joe Siegrist, president and CEO of the Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA), said. About 80-90% of Purple Martins breed east of the Rocky Mountains during the summer. They only eat flying insects, so the birds leave the area when winter comes to drive away their food. Purple Martins are quite social; they breed colonially in groups anywhere from as few as 20 birds, all the way up to 50,000. In the morning, the birds disperse up to 100 miles in different directions, swooping and diving to catch insects. They arrive back at their roost close to sunset to rest in the crevices of trees or other tall objects. Bird Island has filled generations with awe. I look forward to experiencing the feathered flyers through the eyes of my children and grandchildren. Until then, I hope to share this
Ouachita’s Stephany Quintero chosen among 2% of students nationwide for Educational Delay Program to pursue U.S. Army JAG Corps Mandy Halbert OBU News Bureau
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Since high school, Stephany Quintero has been passionate about serving as a member of the U.S. Army. Now a senior accounting and finance double major and member of ROTC at Ouachita Baptist University, Quintero has been named in the 2% of college students around the country accepted to the Army’s Educational Delay Program. Originally from Arkadelphia, Ark., Quintero will graduate from Ouachita in May 2021 as a 2nd Lieutenant and has been chosen – among 6,000 cadets – as one of 136 cadets nationwide for the U.S. Army’s Educational Delay, an honor that defers service years and allows cadets to further pursue their studies for medical or law degrees. Of those 136 cadets, Quintero is one of 23 who were selected for the law school option. “The Army’s Educational Delay program is a highly selective process that goes through several boards, and for good reason,” said Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Moyer, professor of military science at Ouachita. “The
Department of Defense is taking a financial gamble on a student by allowing them to delay their service commitment in pursuit of a specialized degree such as being a doctor or lawyer.” The Educational Delay Program’s law school option is designed to produce active-duty Judge Advocates from current ROTC cadets. During their third year of law school, cadets compete for selection into the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, the military justice and military law branch of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard and Navy. Quintero has been accepted to the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville with plans to become an Army lawyer. “I met Stephany at the beginning of her junior year in college while she was serving as Ouachita and Henderson State University’s cadet company commander and was considering law school,” Moyer said. “Stephany is an excellent student, peer mentor and a dedicated leader. She was my best company commander and has always impressed me with her commitment to others.” “I could not believe it when I was first told I re-
ceived Active Duty, and then it was even more exciting that I had been accepted for an Educational Delay,” Quintero said. “I immediately called my parents after and told them the great news.” After sharing with her parents, Quintero sought out Bryan McKinney, dean of Ouachita’s Hickingbotham School of Business, who not only helped her prepare for the application process but who she said also inspired her to pursue a career in law. “I have loved every moment of visiting with her about a future career in the law,” McKinney said. “I walked alongside her as she navigated the law school application process, and some of my best memories of the year were celebrating with her when she learned of her acceptance for Educational Delay, and when she told me she’d been accepted into the law school of her choice. “I will always be proud of Stephany, and I have 100% confidence that she will move on from Ouachita and make a positive difference in people’s lives,” he added. Quintero participated in JROTC as a student of Arkadelphia High School and was encouraged by
mentors to pursue the officer route rather than enlistment. Through ROTC, she was able to receive a college education at Ouachita as well as work toward becoming an Army officer. “I remember the first time I met her when she came to visit [Ouachita’s] campus,” McKinney said. “She was dressed in her JROTC uniform. She brought a notebook and took notes and asked great questions. She was so professional. I knew that she came from a supportive family, but I was impressed that she came alone. This was her journey – the first in her family to attend college – and she was ready to tackle it.” While under Moyer’s command at Ouachita, Quintero made the connection between military service and law studies through a meeting with a former JAG officer. This inspired Quintero to use her passion for law to serve members of the military, specifically. “I want to represent soldiers and help them with their troubles before they deploy, or if they seek legal counsel,” Quintero said. “I want them to have peace of mind that their wills and contracts are safe as they make their way to danger-
ous areas. I just want to put the skills that I have to best use by being the best lawyer for soldiers and care for the U.S. in that way.” Quintero’s intentions to serve have been a trademark of her college years. She was chosen as the Henderson and Ouachita ROTC cadet company commander in Fall 2019, and she currently works as a resident assistant in Ouachita’s Susie Everett Hall. Quintero consistently has been named to Ouachita’s President’s or Dean’s List each semester, and she is a member of the Carl Goodson Honors Program and Tri Chi women’s social club. “I am very blessed to not only be Stephany’s colleague, but her friend, as well,” said Michelle Smead, resident director of both Susie Everett and Maddox Halls at Ouachita. “She is a very humble and kind individual who has worked extremely hard – and overcome many obstacles – to accomplish her dreams. Stephany is one of the most positive role models that I know, and I truly believe that the sky is the limit for this amazing and determined young lady.” Because of the influence and guidance of her profes-
sors, ROTC mentors and her parents, as well as her own determination to succeed, Quintero will complete her degree in May and as a firstgeneration college graduate. “Stephany has the unique quality of being the type of leader who can balance emotional and mental intelligence,” Moyer said. “Whether the credit goes to her family, faith, instructors or peers, Stephany’s demeanor and compassion at such a young age is commensurate with effective military leaders today.” “I definitely trusted God with everything, and I would pray that He would guide me to what was best for me,” Quintero said. “I tried to not take things in my own hands, but rather let God make the decisions for me. It has been very hard, both mentally and physically, but here I am demonstrating that it is possible to get it done.” The Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University ROTC Program are part of the 5th Brigade and the Golden Lion Battalion. For more information, call 870-2454352.