Jan 23 Issue

Students return from their travels, abroad Page 4

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The A&T

REGISTER

volume lXXXVI No. 11

January 23, 2013

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Wednesday

The student newspaper of north carolina A&t

Aggies participate in historical day Aggies celebrate MLK Day and Obama’s inauguration

Photos courtesy of mcclatchy tribune (mct campus)

Jan. 21 is dedicated to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. As Aggies participated in community service projects around the city and walked in the MLK Parade, a group of Aggies traveled up to D.C. to witness the start of a second term for President Barack Obama.

On Monday, President Obama was sworn back into the White House as a part of his second inauguration.

The Presidential Inauguration was available for individuals to watch on televisions but students got an up close and firsthand experience as the university planned a bus trip to take them up to enjoy the inaugural festivities.

“Our students should have the opportunity to participate in the inauguration for the second term of the nation’s first African American president. I think it brings emotion and connection to this president and this first family,” said Chancellor Harold L. Martin.

With President Obama’s inauguration taking place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this year is the second time that a federal holiday has coincided with a presidential inauguration.

The first was Bill Clinton’s in 1997. This day brought a stronger meaning to students as they not only got to celebrate the legacy of Dr. King but got a chance to witness the first African-American president is inaugurated the same day.

“I think that it is tremendous to have the presidential inauguration on MLK Day be-

cause it shows that America is in a transgression period and we are moving forward,” said SGA President, Allahquan Tate.

Tate, who witnessed the first inauguration of President Obama, felt this year was more somber compared to 2009.

For other students, this was their first time at an inauguration and in the city.

A&T gave 95 students the opportunity to take a once in a lifetime trip with their fellow collegiates.

A little less than 500 students applied for this experience promoted via Facebook and twitter during winter break.

“I felt like the trip was a wonderful opportunity and experience and it also allowed me to be apart of history,” said Ahmad Alston, a freshman graphic communications major from Newark, N.J. Back in Greensboro, Aggies and local high schools joined up for the MLK Parade.

Other events around the city, Bounce-U, which is for the youth to come play and learn about Martin Luther King Jr., took place.

“It was a lot of fun walking in my first MLK parade. Just the joy and excitement from the residents along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive was best part,” said A’Dia Gaskins, a junior chemical engineering major from D.C. Though the inauguration is over, the honoring of Martin Luther King Jr. continues.

N.C. A&T has developed a week of events for the students and Greensboro community to join.

Last night, members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated hosted a candle light

Children carry signs in hopes of bringing awarness to the number of homeless children and adults in the city of Greensboro during the MLK parade.

Citizens across America huddle together on Dr. Martin Luther Kings day of birth to witness Obamas second inaguration.

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Minor arrest equals no employment

Newton shooting a conspiracy?

Gators look to continue improving

Wallis is a “Beast of the Oscars”

Keep up with breaking news on our Web site. Slideshows, videos and more are available online.

College students are now free to do what they want, but make sure you do not end up in a police station.

Little more than a month since the shooting in Newton, Conn and theorists believe the tragedy happened for a reason.

Florida head basketball coach, Billy Donovan looks forward to strive with his team to head back to the NCCA tourney.

As the youngest Oscar nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis has made history amongst top ranked actors.

Erik Veal

Editor-in-Chief

www.ncatregister.com

PAGE 2

vigil in honor of MLK followed by an oratorical contest.

A&T has teamed up with University of North Carolina at Greensboro to present a commemorative program-featuring speaker, Dick Gregory Tonight starting at 7 p.m. at Aycock Auditorium.

To close out the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, A&T will host a gospel concert extravaganza in Harrison Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. featuring the A&T Fellowship Gospel Choir and James B. Dudley High School Gospel Choir.

For more on these programs, you can go to www.ncat.edu and look under “News and Events.”

Email us theatregister@gmail. com and follow us on Twitter @TheATRegister Kameron James contributed to this story.

Photo by alicia funderburk • The a&t register

Children wear signs as part to celebrate the legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Greensboro’s annual MLK Day parade.

Photo by Alicia Funderburk • The a&t register

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Photo by christopher martin • The a&t register

WEATHER

PAGE 8

wednesday

39° Low: 25° High:

Thursday: Partly Cloudy | High 38° friday: Wintry Mix | High 36°

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Seniors, pay attention to what is due for graduation kamil lockley

Register Reporter

The time has come! This semester marks the end of a long college journey for many graduating seniors.

Preparing for the “real world” can become a stressful time for graduates.

While many students are ready to enter the workforce, many students are not.

At the top of many graduating seniors check list is to find a job or internship upon graduating. The thought of what to do next is a concern for many students.

However, the search for jobs or internship does not have to be

a lonely one.

The Office of Career Services, located in Murphy Hall, is the perfect resource for all students who need help with future school and career plans.

Career Services provides assistance with internships, resumes, employment, and interviewing skills.

“All students should take advantage of our resources from the time they enter college to the time they graduate,” said Joyce Edwards, executive director of career services.

Not only does Career Services offer one-on-one assistance, but they also offer workshop sessions on various helpful topics.

The website of career services also has over 2,000 short videos to prepare students during and after college.

While the walk across the stage seems a little further down the road, seniors should begin sending in paperwork to the university to register for graduation.

The senior profile form and the graduation application are due Feb. 1.

Students should also be planning their cap and gown purchases early. Grads will have the opportunity to purchase their cap and gowns at the Grad Fair held on campus on March 11-14.

“The Grad Fair is the best

inFOCUS

time for students to pre-order their cap and gown at a discounted price.

It is extremely important for students to put in their orders in early, and avoid full price in store purchases,” said Donna Powell, A&T bookstore director.

The Grad Fair will also give seniors the opportunity to purchase other paraphernalia such as T-Shirts, stools, diploma frames and class rings.

Tassels will be sold separately the Friday before graduation, and graduates will be able to pick up their orders from May 6-10.

While cap and gown purchases and using resources such

as Career Services is important, building up a network and reaching out to different people for career purposes is equally important.

Taylor Grier, senior child development major expresses her views on networking upon graduating.

“I am working on building up my contacts and taking advantage of meeting new people.

I want to have ‘go to people’ in my contacts even after I graduate,” said Grier.

Establishing career based relationships with different people allows grads to have a wide variety of references that will become useful in the near future.

Seniors must also check with

Financial Aid, the Office of the Registrar, and the Treasurer’s Office on their financial status and their standing with the University.

Graduating Senior Criminal Justice major, Jarret Howard, is excited about what his future holds after graduating, and is prepared for the outcome.

“I’m looking forward to using the knowledge that was gained and cultivated at this great institution and using it to impact the world as well as continuing the legacy of aggie pride.”

Email us at theatregister@gmail. com. Follow us on Twitter @TheATRegister

A&T confirms Sit-In events University relations On Friday, Feb. 1, A&T will celebrate the 53rd Sit-In anniversary with a series of events honoring the N.C. A&T Four.

The theme for the event is “Legacy to Legacy: Shared Leadership.”

The celebration will begin with the annual Sit-In Breakfast at 6 a.m. at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center.

The event will feature re-

marks from the living members of the A&T Four – Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil ans well as the Richmond family.

David Richmond is deceased.

The Breakfast program will also feature the winners of the Guilford County Schools Sit-In essay competition as well as remarks from student leaders and administrators.

Breakfast will be followed by the laying of the memorial wreath at 9 a.m., at the February

One Monument and a roundtable discussion with the A&T Four and Student Government Association at 9:30 a.m., in Harrison Auditorium.

The A&T Four sat down at a segregated lunch counter at the F.W. Woolworth store in Downtown Greensboro on Feb. 1, 1960.

These events are free and open to the public. No reservation is required. For more information call 336.334.7791.

The A&T Register wants you to contribute to our publication.

Get a chance to write stories, develop multimedia pieces from video to soundslides and learn page layout and design.

Every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in GCB Room 328A

Photo by alicia funderburk • The a&t register

Members of the Beta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Mathew Hester and Theron Christopher begin to lead the crowd to the reflection pool for the MLK candel light vigil.

Wednesday

23

Au Naturale Hair Care Forum Exhbit Hall 7 p.m. -10 p.m.

Anti-Hazing Forum

New Academic Classroom Building Room 101 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

events

If you have any programs coming up that you would want placed in our events calendar, send us an email with the name of the program, time and location to:

theatregister@gmail.com

MLK Commemorative Program Aycock Auditorium UNCG campus 7 p.m.

friday

25

thursday

24

Winter Warmth Drive Union Lobby (Mural) 11 a.m. -3 p.m.

saturday

26

Stop the Violence Walk Exhibit Hall Noon -1 p.m.

Erica N. James Scholarship Ball Memorial Student Union

HBCU Student Issue Forum

Couture Productions Open Auditions

Exhibit Hall 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Exhibit Hall 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.

7 p.m.- 10 p.m.

MLK Gospel Extravaganza

Here Comes the Centaurs

Corbett Sports Center 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Harrison Auditorium 7 p.m.

Moore Gym 8:55 p.m.

Basketball vs. Morgan State

The A&T Register Box E-25, 1601 E. Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411 Newsroom: NCB 328A (336) 334­-7700 www.ncatregister.com

The A&T Register is published every Wednesday during the fall and spring semesters by students at North Carolina A&T State University. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Register’s newsroom (subject to availability). All subscription requests should be directed to the Business department.

The A&T Register has a weekly circulation of 5,000 copies on-campus and in the community and is a member of The Associated Press, The Associated Collegiate Press and the Black College Wire. editor in chief: Erik Veal Managing editor: Karmen Robinson SENIOR editor: Kelcie McCrae copy DESK CHIEF: Justine Riddick opinions editor: Kalyn Hoyle sports editor: Symone Kidd scene editor: Necole Jackson NCATregister.com editor: Kayla McLaughlin ASSISTANT ONLINE editor: Courtney Matthews SENIOR REPORTER: Jenell McMillon photo editor: Chris Martin

staff photographers: Alicia Funderburk, Jasmine Palmer GRAPHICs EDITOR: Taylor Wilson GRAPHICs DESIGNER: Shanima Parker reporters:Chanel Tucker, Liliane Long COPY EDITORS: Melody Hall, Kashian Scrivens business OFFICE Manager: Carlton Brown business SALES Manager: April Burrage business Assistant: Ashley Jacobs, Sahara Selby CONTENT EDITOR: Anjan Basu faculty adviser: Emily Harris

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3

Lone Star College shooting near Houston leaves three wounded Marisa Gerber and Matt Pearce MCT Campus

LOS ANGELES TIMES– One person was being detained and another sought after an argument escalated into gunfire at a Houston-area community college on Tuesday, injuring at least three people.

Barely six weeks after an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., revived the political fight over gun control, the nation on Tuesday again had to deal with reports of gunfire at an educational institution and watched televised images of

students running in fear.

Rescue workers and police rushed to Lone Star College’s North Harris campus at approximately 12:30 p.m. CST amid reports of shots having been fired. The campus was on lockdown for at least an hour before officials began evacuating the campus.

At least three people were taken to two area hospitals, officials told reporters. One person was being detained as a person of interest, according to Harris County Sheriff’s Maj. Armando Tello.

Authorities said they were looking in the surrounding

woods for another person, also described as a person of interest. It was unclear if the person being sought was armed.

Although details remained confused, witnesses interviewed by local television stations said the incident began in the library area of the campus, which has about 18,000 students.

Lone Star College student Brittany Mobley said: “I saw two dudes basically get into an altercation and the dude that shot, he basically got angry and started shooting the other guy,” Mobley told TV station KHOU. “A lot of people heard a lot of shots.”

Mobley said the suspect had the gun hidden in his clothes.

“Basically, I seen the dude that shot him and as soon as I heard the bullets flying and the gun being fired off, then everyone started running and it was a hint for me to start running as well,” Mobley said.

Sheriff officials told reporters that they had confirmed three injuries at the scene.

The injured were taken to Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital Emergency Center and Houston Northwest Medical Center.

Cody Harris, 20, he said he was in a classroom with about

six or seven other students waiting for a psychology class to start when he heard eight shots.

He and other students looked at each other, said, “I guess we should get out of here,” and fled.

“I was just worried about getting out,” Harris told The Associated Press. “I called my grandmother and asked her to pick me up.”

Bruce J. Martin, an assistant professor at Lone Star College, tweeted that he had heard six to eight shots downstairs in the library and had taken cover for 20 minutes.

“Most students have been

evacuated,” he wrote, adding in another tweet: “2-3 people shot, blood on library floor as we were escorted out by police.”

In addition to the college, four nearby schools in the Aldine Independent School District went into lockdown, a district spokesman said.

The shooting follows the Connecticut attack where a gunman invaded an elementary school, shooting 20 children and six adults. That attack has sparked a push by the Obama administration to increase gun control by banning assault weapons and limiting the size of ammunition clips.

A minor arrests can affect your employment post graduation Beer pong is desiree stennet MCT Campus

ORLANDO– Every year, thousands of college students across the nation leave home for the first time and make decisions with potential to affect their lives for years.

Along with choosing career paths, taking classes and asserting their newfound freedom, some also end up with criminal charges on their records.

A U.S. Department of Justice report released in June showed that students who have been arrested, even for minor crimes, face extra obstacles in an already shaky job market.

A criminal record “will keep many people from obtaining employment, even if they have paid their dues, are qualified for the job and are unlikely to reoffend,” according to Amy L. Solomon, a senior adviser to the assistant attorney general in the

Office of Justice Programs, and author of the report.

Her report pointed out that “the majority of employers indicate that they would ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ not be willing to hire an applicant with a criminal record.”

In October, one 20-year-old woman from Broward County, Fla., was visiting the University of Central Florida campus when she was caught holding an open can of beer and charged with misdemeanor underage drinking.

Like her, many students have their first run-in with law enforcement over relatively minor crimes. But even minor infractions could have implications later on.

“You don’t want to have that mark on your record,” said University of Central Florida police Chief Richard Beary. “With the job market as competitive as it is, even that misdemeanor arrest could have an impact on you de-

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pending on what position you’re trying to get.”

Though it is unclear what proportion of the arrests made by university police involve students rather than members of the general public, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report shows that thousands of arrests are made on Florida college campuses each year.

In 2011, police departments at the University of Florida, Florida International University, Florida State University and UCF arrested a combined 2,194 people.

There were 513 arrests on the UCF campus that year.

Those included many of the 398 UCF students arrested on and off campus.

Those students make up just a tiny fraction of UCF’s roughly 58,000 students, noted a university spokeswoman.

People who aren’t enrolled in schools are on campus for various sporting and social events,

and those arrested who are not students are often charged with theft and other property crimes.

Cary Carlisle, a Pensacola, Fla., bail bondsman, has seen plenty of first-time-offender students come through his doors and said that, although the numbers are low, the experience usually forces those students to grow up fast.

“It’s usually a pretty eyeopening experience for them,” Carlisle said. “After a while the reality hits them, and all of them are usually scared because this is the first time they have had a brush with the law.”

In addition to the long-term pitfalls, students also face shortterm consequences, university spokeswoman Zenaida Kotala said.

After an arrest has been reported to the university, the student suspect must go before the Office of Student Conduct, which evaluates each case.

The office’s student-conduct

board _ made up of faculty, staff and students _ holds hearings for suspected violators and levies sanctions ranging from formal warnings to expulsion.

HOW TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE University of Central Florida Chief Richard Beary offers these tips to keep students from getting in trouble with the law: Before the student goes off to college, parents should talk about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Students armed with knowledge about drugs and alcohol will know what to do when friends offer them.

Know the law and abide by it, even when you disagree with it.

Use common sense. Stay away from situations that you know may get you in trouble later.

U.S. pays tribute to King as Obama begins new term kim brumback

Associated Press

ATLANTA– The youngest daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hailed the inauguration of the nation’s first black president to a new term as one of the achievements made possible by the civil rights struggle her father helped lead decades ago.

Bernice King spoke at an Atlanta service Monday on the federal King holiday, urging Americans to draw inspiration from her slain father’s nonviolent campaign after a difficult year of military conflicts abroad and natural disasters at home.

“We pray that this day will be the beginning of a new day in America,” she said.

“It will be a day when people draw inspiration from the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. It will be a day when people realize and recognize that if it were not for Dr. King and those who fought the fight fought in that movement, we would not be celebrating this presidency.”

Monday’s King holida marked by parades, rallies and service projects around the nation coincided with celebrations of President Barack Obama’s inauguration to a second term in Washington.

Many paused to take stock of the progress made by the country since the 1960s fight to end racial segregation and of challenges ahead as Obama assumed a second term.

In Washington, Obama spoke proudly of having taken the oath of office using a Bible that had been owned by King. It was one of two he used for the ceremonial inauguration Monday, watched by hundreds of thousands.

“I had the great privilege that the Bible we used was his Bible and they asked for it to be inscribed,” Obama said after the

ceremony.

The other Bible belonged to President Abraham Lincoln.

Dozens in the crowd thronging outside the U.S. Capitol to see Obama sworn in stopped first outside the King Memorial for photographs.

Across the nation, many Americans paused to reflect on King and the changes wrought in the nation since the civil rights era.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley called the King celebration in that state “a great day for America.”

Hundreds of people rallied in Montgomery, Ala., not far from where King spoke at the end of a march in 1965 between the Alabama cities of Selma and Montgomery against the racial segregation once prevalent across the South.

An Alabama state representative, Thad McClammy, said King’s speech there in 1965 was one of the first steps in a nonviolent campaign that opened the way for new opportunities for minorities.

“It paved the way all the way from Selma to Montgomery to Washington, D.C.,” said McClammy, referring to Obama’s inauguration.

Parades and rallies were held across many states to salute the slain civil rights leader.

Chief among them was the 45th annual service for the civil rights leader at the Atlanta church where King was pastor.

There, Bernice King stressed her father’s commitment to nonviolence, saying that after the 1956 bombing of the family’s home in Montgomery, Ala., her father stood on the porch and urged an angry, armed crowd to fight with Christian love — not guns.

“This apostle of nonviolence perhaps introduced one of the bravest experiences of gun control that we’ve ever heard of in the history of our nation,” she

said.

The keynote speaker was the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a socially conservative evangelical association.

It marked the first time a Latino had been invited to deliver the King Day address at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

He urged those listening to complete King’s dream.

“Silence is not an option when 30 million of our brothers and sisters live in poverty,” he said. “Silence is not an option when 11 million undocumented individuals continue to live in the shadows.”

The Atlanta service kicked off a year of celebrations of the 50th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington. Students led by King’s great-niece Farris Christine Watkins delivered sections of the speech in turn.

By the end, the crowd was on its feet, shouting “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Afterward many stayed to watch Obama’s second inauguration on a big-screen TV. In Columbia, S.C., civil rights leaders paused during their annual King Day rally to watch the inauguration on a big screen.

“You feel like anything is possible,” Jelin Cunningham, a 15-year-old girl, said of Obama’s presidency.

Elsewhere, visitors thronged the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., the city where King was assassinated in 1968.

In Detroit, students beautified schools. Others painted murals honoring King in Arkansas, donated food bank items in Texas, and conducted a community health fair in Pennsylvania.

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big business for drinking king chris macias

MCT Campus

SACRAMENTO– The Beer Pong King, with a microphone peeking from his front pocket, ascends to his throne otherwise known as the DJ booth at the Union in Roseville, Calif.

Below he sees four long tables stacked with red plastic party cups, a crowd of 20 thirsty teams vying for a $100 purse, and wayward pingpong balls popping around the floor like bacon splatter.

“Welcome to Tuesday night beer pong at the Union,” said his royal highness, his microphone now live. “If you’re here for beer pong, come see me at the DJ booth. And we’ve got $5 pitchers all night. Anyone looking for a partner?”

How cool it would be to sign bar tabs simply as “Beer Pong King”? But for that he uses his real name: Hector Rivera. He’s 30 years old, living fit and single not far from the Union, a popular hangout for those recently of drinking age in Roseville.

Rivera looks a little like the comedian Pablo Francisco, but beer pong is no laughing matter for the young entrepreneur.

It’s the gas in his Acura TL, the roof over his Roseville home, the Burberry watch on his wrist.

Beer pong is Rivera’s fulltime job, where punching a clock means promoting and organizing tournaments, obsessing over a “Beer Pong King” documentary and pitching high-powered reality TV show producers.

Beer pong, after all, has emerged from its party game origins with plastic cups to high-stakes $50,000 tournaments, official merchandise and music videos. Rivera’s mission: to get some of that money.

The Beer Pong King isn’t so much a feared competitor as a CEO type with PowerPoint presentations about this party game’s commercial potential.

He aims to build a beer pong empire, to transform this time-honored party game into a lifestyle and a profitable bit of pop culture.

This might sound like crazy talk, but Rivera is banking on a beer pong bonanza, either through a “Pong Kings” reality TV show, his documentary, mass merchandising beer pong equipment or, preferably, all of the above.

“You’ve seen the pictures of Justin Bieber playing beer pong, right? said Rivera, who often speaks with an unmodulated confidence, like life is one giant pitch meeting.

“Beer pong is ready to explode. I’m trying to find someone who does it better than me. I’m not only keeping up but I’m setting the trends.”

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, January 23, 2013

As Israelis vote, peace remains distant dan perry & josef federman Associated Press

JERUSALEM — Benjamin Netanyahu seems poised for re-election as Israel’s prime minister in Tuesday’s voting, the result of the failure of his opponents to unite behind a viable candidate against him — and the fact that most Israelis no longer seem to believe it’s possible to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians.

The widely held assumption of a victory by Netanyahu comes despite his grim record: there is no peace process, there is growing diplomatic isolation and a slowing economy, and his main ally has been forced to step down as foreign minister

because of corruption allegations.

Even so, Netanyahu has managed to convince many Israelis that he offers a respectable choice by projecting experience, toughness and great powers of communication in both native Hebrew and flawless American English.

He was also handed a gift by the opposition. Persistent squabbling among an array of parties in the moderate camp has made this the first election in decades without two clear opposing candidates for prime minister. Even Netanyahu’s opponents have suggested his victory is inevitable.

“His rivals are fragmented,” said Yossi Sarid, a dovish for-

UK’s Prince Harry comes back from Afghanistan JILL LAWLESS

Associated Press

LONDON — Capt. Wales is coming home to be Prince Harry once again.

The Ministry of Defense revealed Monday that the 28-yearold prince is returning from a five-month deployment in Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps. It did not immediately divulge his exact whereabouts.

In interviews conducted in Afghanistan, the third in line to the British throne described feeling boredom, frustration and satisfaction during a tour that saw him fire at Taliban fighters on missions in support of ground troops.

When asked whether he had killed from the cockpit, he said: “Yea, so lots of people have.”

He also spoke of his struggle to balance his job as an army officer with his royal role — and his relief at the chance to be “one of the guys.”

“My father’s always trying to remind me about who I am and stuff like that,” said Harry, the younger son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.

“But it’s very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the army. Everyone’s wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing.”

Stationed at Camp Bastion, a sprawling British base in the southern Afghan desert, the prince — known as Capt. Wales in the military — flew scores of missions as a co-pilot gunner, sometimes firing rockets and missiles at Taliban fighters.

“Take a life to save a life.

That’s what we revolve around, I suppose,” he said. “If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game.”

Harry’s second tour in Afghanistan went more smoothly than the first, in 2007-2008, which was cut short after 10 weeks when a magazine and websites disclosed details of his whereabouts. British media had agreed to a news blackout on security grounds.

This time, the media were allowed limited access to the prince in return for not reporting operational details.

A member of the air corps’ 662 Squadron, the prince was part of a two-man crew whose duties ranged from supporting ground troops in firefights with the Taliban to accompanying British Chinook and U.S. Black Hawk helicopters as they evacuated wounded soldiers.

He said that while sometimes it was necessary to fire on insurgents, the formidable helicopter — equipped with wing-mounted rockets, Hellfire laser-guided missiles and a 30mm machine gun — was usually an effective deterrent.

Harry shared a room with another pilot in a basic accommodation block made from shipping containers, and passed

the time between callouts playing video games and watching movies with his fellow officers.

His security detail accompanied him on base, but not when flying.

“It’s as normal as it’s going to get,” Harry said of the arrangement. “I’m one of the guys. I don’t get treated any differently.”

But he said he still received unwanted attention at Camp Bastion, which is home to thousands of troops.

“For me it’s not that normal because I go into the cookhouse and everyone has a good old gawp, and that’s one thing that I dislike about being here,” he said. “Because there’s plenty of guys in there that have never met me, therefore look at me as Prince Harry and not as Capt.

Wales, which is frustrating.”

Ever since Harry graduated from the Sandhurst military academy in 2006, his desire for a military career has collided with his royal role. After his curtailed first Afghan deployment, he retrained as a helicopter pilot in order to have the chance of being sent back.

The speed and height at which Apaches fly make them hard for insurgents to shoot down, but Harry’s squadron commander, Maj. Ali Mack, said the prince had still faced real danger.

“There is nothing routine about deploying to an operational theater — where there is absolutely an insurgency — and flying an attack helicopter in support of both ISAF and Afghan security forces,” Mack said.

The danger was underscored soon after Harry arrived at Camp Bastion in September, when insurgents attacked the adjacent U.S. base, Camp Leatherneck, killing two U.S. marines and wounding several other troops.

Harry said he would have preferred to have been deployed on the ground with his old regiment, the Household Cavalry, rather than spending his tour of duty at Camp Bastion, a fortified mini-city replete with shops, gyms and a Pizza Hut restaurant.

Harry said it was “a pain in the arse, being stuck in Bastion.”

I’d much rather be out with the lads in a PB (patrol base),” he said.

Despite the frustrations of base life, Harry said he relished the flying: “As soon as we’re outside the fence, we’re in the thick of it.”

Older brother William, who is second in line to the throne, is a Royal Air Force search-andrescue pilot. He, too, has expressed a desire to serve on the front line, but officials consider it too dangerous.

Harry said he thought William should be allowed to serve in combat.

“People back home will have issues with that, but we’re not special. The guys out there are.

Simple as that.”

mer Cabinet minister who now writes a column for the Haaretz newspaper. “He benefits by default,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

The confusion and hopelessness that now characterize the issue of peace with the Palestinians has cost the moderates their historical campaign focus.

Many Israelis are disillusioned with the bitter experience of Israel’s unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip in 2005 that led to years of violence. Others believe Israel’s best possible offers have been made and rejected already, concluding that they cannot meet the Palestinians’ minimal demands.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that in 2008 he offered the Palestinians roughly 95 percent of the West Bank, and additional territory from Israel in a “land swap.” He also said he offered shared control of Jerusalem, including its holy sites. The Palestinians have disputed some of Olmert’s account and suggested they could not close a deal with a leader who was by then a lame duck.

“There can’t be peace because we’ve tried everything already. All the options have been exhausted. They apparently don’t want to make peace, said Eli Tzarfati, a 51-year-old resident of the northern town of Migdal Haemek. “It doesn’t matter what you give them — it

won’t be enough.”

Tzarfati expressed what seems to be a common sentiment.

A poll conducted last week in Israel by the New Wave Polling Research Institute found that 52 percent of respondents support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a peace agreement.

Yet 62 percent said they do not believe the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, is a partner for peace — and an identical number said it is not possible to reach a peace agreement.

The survey questioned 576 people and had a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

In the absence of peace

talks, those who wanted to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands used to speak of a unilateral pullout from at least some of the territories.

But that idea has been mostly removed from the table because of the Gaza pullout, which led to the territory’s takeover by Hamas militants and years of rocket fire into Israel.

This situation leaves many Israelis at a loss over what to do next.

Since most of the Palestinians are now living in autonomous zones inside the West Bank and prevented from entering Israel, and violence has largely subsided, the most attractive option to Israelis seems to be ignoring the issue.

Students return from abroad victorri taylor Contributor

Some students may be too afraid to spend an entire semester in another country or afraid to travel and live with unfamiliar people, but that was not the case for N.C. A&T students Courtney Jackson and Melanie Payton.

Jackson, a senior public relations major, spent her Fall 2012 semester in Hong Kong.

“I wanted to study abroad because I’ve always wanted to be out of my comfort zone and see a different part of the world,” said Jackson. “I wasn’t always brave enough. I went through the training and workshops as a sophomore but I chickened out.”

During her junior year, she finally decided that time was running out, so she set her hopes on China, Italy or Australia. And China it was.

“There was something about China that was pulling me,” said Jackson who received a Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship to study abroad. “I think it was seeing the growth in their industry and economics that made me interested. I also wanted to see how their traditions would compare to American traditions.”

Jackson took a lot of international relations and political courses while in Hong Kong, and though her classes were three hours long, the experience was well worth it.

“I was knee deep in politics which I always thought I hated, but then I realized that a lot of what is going on in the world and how we communicate is between two things. Politics and money,” she said. “In our world, that’s important, and that’s what I wanted to learn about.”

Everyday was a cup of tea, literally. She started everyday with a cup of tea while looking out of her apartment window to see the beautiful view of the mountains.

“Where I lived…it was comfortable,” she said. “I did miss the way we cooked in America.

The Chinese are more about the natural taste of the food, and there’s a lot of rice!”

Jackson was also able to be a part of the Reach the World Program where she would send articles and pictures to a 2nd grade class in Brooklyn, N.Y. so they could follow her journey.

“There hasn’t been anyone that came back from studying

Photo courtesy of melanie payton

(pictured Above) melanie payton (middle) meets Thomas Shannon, U.S. Ambassador for Brazil, during her fall semester travelling to 13 countries with the Semester-At-Sea program.

Photo courtesy of hong kong institute of education

(pictured right) courtney jackson admires Chinese paper lanterns at the Hong Kong Institute of Education at a multicultural event during her study abroad experience in the fall semester.

abroad that said they shouldn’t have gone,” said Allegra Lang, Study Abroad Coordinator.

“The world is becoming more interdependent, as students graduate, they literally are competing with students from all over the world,” said Lang who studied abroad twice in France while attending Spelman College before teaching English in France post graduation.

“I wanted HBCU students, in particular, to have the experience that I had studying abroad,” said Lang. “In my second semester, there were only two out of 70 students in my program that were African American.”

Payton had a similar experience.

“The program that I went under was predominantly white,” the industrial and systems engineering senior explained. While Jackson spent her semester in one country, Payton was a

part of the Semester-At-Sea program that is affiliated with the University of Virginia, which allowed her to travel to 13 countries during the semester.

“At first, I was going to study in Brazil, but with Semester-At-Sea, I got to experience a lot,” said Payton. Of the 13 countries, Portugal, Uruguay, South Africa, and Ghana were her favorites. In South Africa, she was able to hike a mountain for the first time as well as swim with sharks, go on a safari, and even pet a cheetah.

But Ghana proved to be one of the most moving countries she visited.

“It was so empowering,” Payton said. “Ghana was all Black…there was Black everywhere.” She enjoyed the cultural experience that was much different from the other countries she traveled to.

Payton also traveled to Novascotia, Ireland, London, Bel-

gium, Portugal, Spain, Santa Cruz, Argentina, Dominica, and Brazil. While in Brazil, she was able to meet Thomas Shannon, the U.S. Ambassador for Brazil.

She enjoyed her trip so much, that she and some other students who accompanied her are trying to find ways to create scholarships to target underrepresented minorities in the program.

According to statistics provided by the Institute of International Education, about 4.8% of African Americans participated in study abroad programs in the 2010-2011 academic year.

Karmen Robinson contributed to this article.

Email Victorri at vjtaylor@aggies. ncat.edu and follow The Register on Twitter @TheATRegister

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Town defends factory amid new gun ban MICHAEL HILL

Associated Press

ILION, N.Y. — The big brick Remington gun factory pieces together military-style rifles in a state that has just banned their sale after a string of mass shootings led to a national outcry over civilian ownership of them.

Residents of Ilion see the issue far differently: The gun factory is a major local employer and a source of pride for almost two centuries.

As Mayor John Stephens put it, “Remington is Ilion. Ilion is Remington.”

Little wonder that residents in this blue-collar stretch of the Mohawk Valley are defending Remington after state lawmakers banned the sale of semiautomatic rifles like the Bushmaster weapon made there. The move came after the weapon was linked to gunmen in the deadly Connecticut school shooting and in the Christmas Eve slayings of two firefighters in western New York.

Remington employee Tom Bradle said don’t blame the guns in mass shootings, blame the shooters.

“It’s the person that pulls the trigger. I don’t care what kind of gun it is,” Bradle said as he walked back to the factory from lunch break on a chilly, gray day recently.

Chad Delmedico, who works on Remington’s Model

700 bolt-action rifle, said it more simply: “We have a bum rap.”

Remington has been intertwined with Ilion since shortly after Eliphalet Remington crafted a flintlock rifle on his father’s forge in 1816. Even the elementary school shares the company’s name. Company officials did not respond to calls seeking comment, but locals say the factory employs about 1,200 people and produces Bushmaster, Marlin and H&R products.

Parts of the Remington Arms Co. factory, with its imposing four-story front of brick and old-style, multi-paned windows, date back to the days when upstate New York was a manufacturing powerhouse.

But factory jobs have become rarer in the string of modest towns along the Mohawk River, and Ilion, with about 8,000 residents, depends heavily on Remington.

Stephens, the mayor, was disgusted by the news last month of 20 first-graders and six adults killed by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

But he is critical of the New York state law approved last week banning certain semiautomatic rifles and largecapacity magazines and calling for background checks on ammunition purchases, among other measures. He dismisses the idea that there’s an emo-

Should worst flooded areas be left after Sandy?

WAYNE PARRY

Associated Press

SEA BRIGHT, N.J. — Superstorm Sandy, one of the nation’s costliest natural disasters, is giving new urgency to an age-old debate about whether areas repeatedly damaged by storms should be rebuilt, or whether it might be cheaper in the long run to buy out vulnerable properties and let nature reclaim them.

The difficulty in getting aid for storm victims through Congress — most of a $60 billion package could get final approval next week — highlights the hard choices that may have to be made soon across the country, where the federal, state and local governments all say they don’t have unlimited resources to keep writing checks when storms strike.

But the idea of abandoning a place that has been home for years is unthinkable for many.

“We’re not retreating,” said Dina Long, the mayor of Sea Bright, N.J., a chronically flooded spit of sand between the Atlantic Ocean and the Shrewsbury River only slightly wider than the length of a football field in some spots. Three-quarters of its 1,400 residents are still homeless and the entire business district was wiped out; only four shops have managed to reopen.

“Nobody has come to us and said we shouldn’t exist,” she said. “It is antithetical to the Jersey mindset, and particularly to the Sea Bright mindset.”

The story is different in the Oakwood Beach section of Staten Island, N.Y., where despite 20 years of flood protection measures, Sandy’s 12- to 14-foot-storm surge inundated the community, forcing some residents to their attics or roofs to survive. Three people died.

“Building again and again in this very sensitive flood plain will only achieve the same results — flooding, and possibly untimely death,” homeowner Tina Downer told about 200 of her neighbors

who gathered to discuss a potential buyout program last week. “It is not safe for anyone to live there.”

The problem has worsened in recent decades with an explosion of development near the nation’s shorelines. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that in 2003, approximately 153 million people — 53 percent of the nation’s population — lived in coastal counties, an increase of 33 million people since 1980. The agency forecasts 12 million more to join them by 2015.

Scientists say that putting so many people in the most vulnerable areas is a recipe for disaster.

Jon Miller, a professor of coastal engineering at New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of technology, said retreating from the most vulnerable areas makes scientific sense.

“I grew up in Rahway and I remember the controversy when several properties along the Rahway River were bought out due to repetitive flood losses,” Miller said. “It was painful and caused dissension in the community.”

Residents feared not only being forced from their homes but also not getting enough money to purchase a suitable home in the same community, Miller said.

A 1988 Duke University shore protection study cited a nor’easter that occurred in Sea Bright four years earlier, causing $82 million in damages.

“Clearly the economics of this situation dictate that Sea Bright is not worthy of salvation, although politics and other considerations may decide otherwise,” the study asserted. “The prudent management alternative in this community would be the gradual removal or relocation of the buildings.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie considers strategic retreat from some storm-damaged areas on the table “in a broad way,” but said he wants to leave the ultimate decisions to individual towns after giving them advice later this week on how to rebuild.

tional link between Newtown and Ilion.

“Are people disappointed and distraught?” Stephens asked. “Do they feel bad and are they sad? Absolutely! Absolutely! I would never wish that on anyone, never. But as far as an emotional attachment between us and them, I don’t see it.”

Stephens voiced a sentiment heard frequently in this largely conservative area: New York’s law and the sweeping gun regulation package proposed recently by President Barack Obama are wrongheaded.

The New York law, starting when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it Jan. 15, defined as illegal assault weapons semiautomatic rifles that accept detachable magazines and have one additional military-style feature such as a pistol grip, flash suppressor or bayonet mount. The old law required two such features.

At the State Bowling Center next to the Remington factory, Rod Brown said the weapon that the Newtown gunman used could easily have been a Smith & Wesson or a Browning instead of a Bushmaster model.

Kelley Holmes-Morton in her salon, Heads-R-Turning, said she is a National Rifle Association member who believes gun makers are not to blame. And Betty Watkins said as she pumped gas that

the Second Amendment, about people’s right to bear arms, is being “pushed around and misused.”

Robbi Breit at the Sellers Avenue consignment shop seemed more conflicted than others in Ilion but still feels that closing Remington won’t end gun violence.

“I cried my heart out” after Sandy Hook, she said. “I’m torn between both sides. But you can get another job. You can’t get another kid.”

Bushmaster is owned by Freedom Group Inc., the largest firearms maker in the U.S., which has its headquarters on Remington Drive outside the neighboring small towns of Madison and Mayodan, N.C. No guns or ammunition are manufactured there.

Most people around know the 43,000-square-foot building near the high school and the Walmart as the home of Remington Arms, which moved to the site in the mid-1990s, and not the weapons conglomerate Freedom Group has become, said Mayodan Town Manager Michael Brandt.

“They’re not big contributors to the community like a typical large company would be in an area,” Brandt said.

“This is where they’re located, but we don’t really see much of them.”

Word that Freedom Group is for sale and changes are looming has generated little

local concern in an area where surviving textile producers and a Miller-Coors brewery are bigger employers, said Sharon Chirichella, who runs a temporary staffing agency and is an officer with the local chamber of commerce.

That contrasts with Ilion, where the concern among people is the future of Remington.

The company had said last March it could leave New York if the state went ahead with a move to add unique identifying information on spent bullet casings. That proposal is off the table, but people in town wonder where things stand in the wake of the new state law, which does not affect Remington’s ability to manufacture military-style weapons.

“If I’m an executive at Remington, what’s my attitude going to be toward the state that bans one of the premier products that I produce?” local Assemblyman Marc Butler asked.

Obama’s gun control proposal added more uncertainty. Jamie Rudwall, who has worked at the plant since 1995 and is president of the United Mine Workers of America Local 717, said he expected the gun business to increase in the short term amid new regulatory proposals, but he worries about jobs in Ilion long term.

“We’ve been here almost 200 years,” he said. “I hope to be here another 200.”

Atari files for bankruptcy ben fritz

Associated Press

The U.S. operations of iconic but long-troubled video game maker Atari have filed for bankruptcy in an effort to break free from their debt-laden French parent.

Atari Inc. and three of its affiliates filed petitions for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York late Sunday.

Its leaders hope to break the American business free from French parent Atari S.A. and in the next few months find a buyer to take the company private. They hope to grow a modest business focused on digital and mobile platforms, according to a knowledgeable person not authorized to discuss the matter privately.

Although the 31-year-old brand is still known worldwide for its pioneering role with video games such as “Pong” and “Asteroids,” Atari has been mired in financial problems for decades. Since the early 2000s it has been closely tied to French company Infogrames, which changed its name to Atari S.A. in 2003 and in 2008 acquired all the gaming pioneer’s American assets.

Chief Executive Jim Wilson has been with Atari Inc. since 2008, and in 2010 became CEO of the French parent. The New

York-based executive has attempted to rebuild the company, which has just 40 employees in the U.S., by developing games for smartphones and the Web based on well-known properties _ among them a successful “greatest hits” compilation of arcade titles and an updated version of “Pong.” He has also licensed the Atari logo for consumer products, a business that provides about 17 percent of the company’s revenue.

There is evidence that the U.S. operation, which after the sale of other assets now makes up the bulk of Atari S.A.’s business, has been improving.

The corporate parent has been profitable for the past two fiscal years, save for the effect of a money-losing French subsidiary, Eden Games, that has been up for sale. Before that, neither Atari S.A. nor Infogrames had been profitable for about a decade.

Still, its profits have been small ($11 million and $4 million, respectively, for the past two fiscal years) and revenue plummeted 34 percent in fiscal 2012 and 43 percent in fiscal 2011.

But the company’s growth potential has been hampered by its near total reliance on London financial company BlueBay Asset Management for cash. A $28 million credit facility with BlueBay lapsed

Dec. 31, leaving Atari without the resources to release games currently in the works, including a real-money gambling title titled “Atari Casino.”

Efforts to recapitalize the corporation have been unsuccessful, in part because of its complex structure as essentially an American business with a French public stock listing.

Shares in Atari S.A. have dropped in value from more than 11 euros in 2008 to less than 1 euro recently.

Atari Inc. has secured a commitment for $5.25 million dollars in debtor-in-possession financing to continue operations and release games.

If Chapter 11 is successfully completed, the U.S. business could reemerge with its own resources and little or no debt to BlueBay. It’s not yet clear who might step up to buy Atari Inc., although Wilson will probably seek backers to help him keep control. It’s also possible the company could be sold to another buyer, whole or in pieces.

Atari’s remaining French businesses would probably seek legal protection to find a buyer or dissolve in that country.

Representatives for Atari S.A. and BlueBay did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Japanese plane battery burned JOAN LOWY

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The battery that caught fire in a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 in Boston earlier this month was not overcharged, but government investigators said there could still be problems with wiring or other charging components.

An examination of the flight data recorder indicated that the battery didn’t exceed its designed voltage of 32 volts, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement.

NTSB investigators are continuing to look at the battery system. They plan to meet Tuesday with officials from Securaplane Technologies Inc., manufacturer of the charger for the 787s lithium ion batteries, at the company’s headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., said Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for the board.

“Potentially there could

be some other charging issue,” Nantel said. “We’re not prepared to say there was no charging issue.”

Even though it appears the voltage limit wasn’t exceeded in the case of the Japan Airlines 787 battery that caught fire on Jan. 7 in Boston, it’s possible that the battery failures in that plane and in an All Nippon Airways plane that made an emergency landing in Japan last week may be due to a charging problem, according to John Goglia, a former NTSB board member and aviation safety expert.

Too much current flowing too fast into a battery can overwhelm the battery, causing it to short-circuit and overheat, he said.

“The battery is like a big sponge...If allowed, it will soak up everything it can from the garden hose until it destroys itself,” Goglia said.

There are so many redundancies and safeguards in aviation that when an acci-

dent or mishap occurs, it almost always is the result of a chain of events rather than a single failure, he said.

The Japan Airlines plane caught fire Jan. 7 while it was sitting on the tarmac at Boston’s Logan Airport. In a separate incident on Jan. 16, an ANA flight made an emergency landing in western Japan after a cockpit message warned of battery problems and a burning smell was detected in the cockpit and cabin.

Since then, all 50 787s that Boeing has delivered to airlines’ fleets have been grounded, and the manufacturer has halted deliveries of new planes until it can address the electrical problems.

The batteries in two incidents “had a thermal overrun because they short-circuited,” Goglia said. “The question is whether it was a manufacturing flaw in the battery or whether it was induced by battery charging.”

5

Business highlights Compiled by Associated Press Jobless rates fall in less than half of US states

Unemployment rates fell in less than half of U.S. states last month, as steady but slow hiring is making gradual improvement in the job market.

The Labor Department said Friday that rates fell in 22 states in December and rose in 16. They were unchanged in 12.

The department’s monthly report also shows that steady hiring nationwide in the past two years has lowered the unemployment rate in many parts of the country. The rate is now below 7 percent in 25 states.

And some of the states hardest hit in the recession have seen solid gains.

Government: Food allergies may be disability under law

Allergic to gluten? What about peanuts? Federal disabilities law may be able to help.

The Justice Department said in a recent settlement with a Massachusetts college that severe food allergies can be considered a disability under the law. That gives those who suffer from such allergies a new avenue in seeking menus that fit their diet.

The decision leaves schools, restaurants and other places that serve food more exposed to legal challenges, if they fail to honor requests by people with food allergies.

Piedmont Natural Gas wants to cut SC, NC rates

Piedmont Natural Gas wants to reduce rates for its customers in North Carolina and South Carolina.

The Charlotte Observer reported the request would reduce the typical customer’s bill about $9 next month. The Charlotte company says wholesale prices for natural gas are dropping.

The rate changes would take effect Feb. 1 and reduce residential rates by about 8 percent.

Piedmont serves about 1 million customers in the Carolinas and Tennessee.

Transcripts show Fed underestimated crisis in 2007

Federal Reserve officials in 2007 badly underestimated the scope of the approaching financial crisis and how it would tip the U.S. economy into the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, transcripts of the Fed’s policy meetings show.

The meetings occurred as the country was on the brink of its worst financial crisis since the 1930s. As the year went on, Fed officials shifted their focus away from the risk of inflation as they slowly began to recognize the severity of the problem.

Beginning in September 2007, the Fed cut interest rates and took extraordinary steps to try to ease credit and shore up confidence in the banking system. Throughout the year, the housing crisis deepened, home prices weakened and subprime mortgages soured.

Toyota settlement may signal future legal strategy

Legal observers say recent settlements by Toyota Motor Corp. may signal the Japanese automaker would rather fight its battles behind closed doors instead of in a courtroom.

The company has been chipping away at settling lawsuits over sudden-acceleration issues. It has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to resolve economic loss and some wrongfuldeath claims.

But the question remains whether attorneys who sued Toyota could prove to a jury there was a design flaw responsible for the dangerous problem.

theWORD 6

The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, January 23, 2013

‘Truthers’ deem the Obama speaks on change Newtown shooting a conspiracy theory Doyle McManus

MTC CAMPUS

kelcie c. mccrae Senior Editor

It has been a little more than a month since the nation was shaken by the Newtown, Conn. shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead.

In good American tradition it didn’t take long for conspiracy theorists to rationalize a greater meaning behind the tragedy.

And like most of these theories, it lacks a key element — truth.

In the days following the second deadliest shooting in the nation’s history, several videos and commentary have gone viral claiming this was a hoax by the government and media to enforce stricter gun control laws.

To add evidence to their theory, in the weeks following the shooting, President Obama responded to the nation-wide debate on gun control by unveiling a historic series of proposals geared to wane gun violence within the nation.

Amid the skepticism, people like James Tracy have gained a sense of notoriety by broadcasting his claims.

The tenured history profes-

sor at Florida Atlantic University said, “While it sounds like an outrageous claim, one is left to inquire whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took placeat least in the way law enforcement authorities and the nation’s news media have described,” he wrote in his blog post on memoryholeblog.com.

He claims the tragedy was nothing more than government and lobbying efforts to address our nation’s long debate over gun control laws.

A video produced by an unknown person has also gone viral making similar claims to Tracy.

One of the many false claims involves a photo with President Obama and a little girl backstage at a Newtown vigil two days after the shooting.

The video claims the girl is 6-year-old Emilie Parker, a child murdered in the massacre when in fact it was the dead girl’s sister.

The girl’s parents confirmed that.

Also the video added insult to injury by claiming Robbie Parker, the parent of a murdered child, was putting on an act while reading a statement

The ‘K’ Report:

Niners have the upper-hand in ‘Harbaugh Bowl’ I predicted that Jim Har- er hand has the opportunity baugh and the San Francisco to win their first Super Bowl 49ers would be crowned cham- since the glory days of Steve pions of Super Bowl XXVII in Young and Jerry Rice.

This time around, the fate the first-ever article of “The K of the 49ers lies on the arm of Report.”

This past Sunday, San second year signal caller CoFrancisco booked their ticket lin Kaepernick and a quandary to the big game after they beat of pass catchers headlined by the top-seeded Atlanta Fal- fourth-year wide receiver Micons 28-24 in an epic playoff chael Crabtree and seventh year tight end Vernon Davis. battle.

The 49ers’ offense drastiOn Feb. 3, the NFC’s 49ers will clash with the AFC’s Bal- cally improved once a debattimore Ravens in what has able mid-season quarterback been dubbed the “Harbaugh change from Alex Smith to Kaepernick occured.

Bowl”.

Kaepernick’s Two brothers, Jim emergence as a deadand John Harbaugh, ly dual-threat quarwill pursue a trip to terback, the quality football nostalgia running of running while coaching from back Frank Gore, and opposite sidelines for the collective efforts the first time in NFL of the offensive line history. have propelled the Both team’s jourNiners into a team ney to this point have of not only defenbeen nothing short of KALYN sive, but offensive intriguing. supremacy.

After an injuryClever and deceptive complagued season, an unlikely playoff run, and an unthinkable binations of zone runs and Mile-High Miracle, the Ra- play-action passes have left vens find themselves healthy many of the NFL’s best deand hungry after a convincing fenders frozen and dumfound28-13 victory against the infa- ed throughout the 49ers’ playoff campaign. mous New England Patriots.

I expect nothing different For 17-year veteran linebacker, Ray Lewis, the voy- from the Baltimore Ravens’ age has been nothing short defense.

Collectively, San Francisof magical as he hopes to sail into retirement with a second co’s roster is faster, younger, and more skilled than the RaSuper Bowl victory.

Lewis leads all players in vens on both sides of the ball.

Jim Harbaugh’s ability to tackles this postseason.

A win would certainly es- make timely and effective adtablish the University of Dela- justments offensively and deware product, Joe Flacco, as fensively certainly gives San an elite NFL quarterback and Fran the upper hand over the forever remove the monkey Ravens.

Expect the 49ers to win by from his back.

San Francisco, on the oth- a score of 24-13.

HOYLE

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in front of the press. It claims he had a joyful spirit and was making jokes prior to “getting into character” to appear sad and sullen.

It is impossible to fathom what these parents are going through emotionally.

How they deal with loss is completely different from the next person, so it is unfair to say Parker parent is not grieving because he is not crying 24 hours a day.

History has proven that conspiracy theorists are just as American as apple pie. From the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the Sept. 11 attacks, groups of people believe in government and media cover ups for whatever reason. Some cases may have a slimmer of truth to them.

However, in the Newtown, Conn. case, simply put — I just don’t buy it.

As an avid viewer of ABC’s hit show “Scandal,” would it surprise me if the government were in cahoots with the media to curb what is public knowledge?

Of course not, but it ultimately comes to what is fact and what is just imagination.

On the eve of Inauguration Day, White House political strategist David Plouffe promised that President Obama’s inaugural address would include a call for bipartisan cooperation.

“He is going to say that our political system does not require us to resolve all of our differences or settle all of our disputes, but it is absolutely imperative that our leaders try and seek common ground,” Plouffe said on ABC. But it was hard to find that outstretched hand in the inaugural speech Obama gave Monday.

In 19 minutes, Obama delivered an eloquent, powerful and often combative summary of his values as a progressive Democrat who believes that an activist federal government helps make America great.

And if there was any question about how ambitious an agenda Obama intends to pursue in his second term, the answer was clear: He’s going big, not small, just as he did in 2009.

The president listed a daunting series of priorities: a fiscal deal including tax reform, measures to reduce healthcare costs, a new immigration law, gun control and education reform. He made a point of promising progress on climate change, a priority he seemed to have abandoned during his dif-

ficult first term. He added full equality for gay Americans, an item that made its way onto his first-term agenda only through a campaign-year back door.

Obama knows that he will need to win some Republican votes, especially in the House, to accomplish any of those goals. But on Monday he chose to assert his electoral mandate rather than extend an olive branch.

If there’s a second half of his strategy a secret plan to help bring some Republicans to “yes” the president is keeping it well hidden.

Most inaugural speeches are so anodyne full of airy invocations of national unity and vague calls to greatness that the words are forgotten by lunchtime. Not this one. It was a progressive’s call to arms.

“We have always understood that when times change, so must we,” Obama said, “that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges” (are you listening, “tea party”?) and “that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.

“A great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people from life’s worst hazards,” he said. “Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people.”

And instead of gauzy invocations of common ground, Obama issued a series of surprisingly tart political zingers

aimed, not so subtly, at his adversaries.

“Our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it,” he said. “We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few.

“We reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.”

He even took aim at Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, who has derided recipients of federal benefits as “takers” rather than “makers.”

“The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security ... do not make us a nation of takers,” he said.

Ryan, who was on the platform listening, took the high road with a statement that said: “We (have) strong disagreements over the direction of the country.... But today we put those disagreements aside.

Today we remember what we share in common.”

Privately, though, many Republicans were seething.

It was a long way from the Barack Obama of 2009, the brash young idealist who promised to change the way Washington worked, seek postpartisan solutions and banish “the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long.”

Collegiate studies do not define intellectual status Justine Riddick

Copy Desk Chief

Students from A&T’s engineering department happily sport “Get a Real Major” tshirts.

Though the shirts carry a lighthearted undertone, one cannot deny the condescending view of non-math and science related majors on our campus.

As an English major, I have been questioned on countless occasions, “What are you going to do with that,” as if teaching is my only career option.

Forget the need for speech and ghostwriters, copy editors, or people who can compose a coherent email.

I recall multiple conversations with my peers consisting of the proverbial, “What’s your major?”

The moment I say English, they dismissively respond, “That’s not too bad.”

Never mind those who believe journalism and mass communications is a walk in the park and visual art majors are not to be taken seriously.

People quickly pass judgment on non-math and science related majors.

But I do not comprehend how one could even compare subject matters so inherently different.

To compare an English or JOMC major with a business or engineering major parallels comparing apples with oranges.

These types of majors utilize different parts of the brain.

Majors such as engineering, that focus more on objectivity and definitive answers, mostly utilize the left hemisphere of their brains.

On the other hand, majors that require creative and openended thought, such as visual arts and English, use their right hemispheres.

I have often overheard people talk about how wonderful their grades would be if they had an “easier” major.

Such individuals fail to realize, regardless of the grade point average hierarchy prevalent on A&T’s campus, it takes hard work to maintain mostly “A’s” in any major.

Each major has different standards and expectations to meet.

So while a biology major, for example, may be required to write a research paper, it

would not be graded on the same scale or level as an English paper.

No matter how great the content, if an English major hands in a grammatical nightmare, he or should expect no higher than a “C” on the assignment.

You do not know what it takes to be an English, art, or JOMC major unless you are actually pursuing a degree in one of those respective majors.

Thus, who are you to say those are “easy” fields of study?

Nobody knows the time and effort it takes to crank out the work students in Frazier Hall literally labor around the clock to create.

One may argue art majors love what they do so the time they put it does not matter.

However, one’s love of his or her major does not negate all the time and effort that goes into being a successful student.

There is no one standard of intelligence. Intelligence does not begin and end with one’s ability to compute complicated equations, but transcends to encompass the mastery of verbal, visual, musical and creative skills as well.

Just because you can excel in one discipline does not mean you can succeed in another.

The fact of the matter is easy majors do not exist.

Putting other majors down does not validate your intellectual capacity or your field of study.

People can talk trash and condescend all they want, but the average non-art major cannot generate the works actual visual art majors create.

The average engineering major cannot thoroughly read, comprehend then critically analyze “Beowulf,” “Heart of Darkness,” or “Paradise Lost.”

Conversely, the typical English major cannot correctly complete a business, engineering, or biology major’s homework.

So the next time you feel like knocking English, art, or JOMC majors have a 10-page explanation of relativism, a 4’ by 8’ painting that took 30 hours to complete, and a New York Times worthy news article on hand.

-email us at theatregister@gmail and follow us on Twitter

Stereotypical behaviors plague reality television Kourtney pope Contributor

Ignorance truly is bliss depending on the size of the check. As the New Year presses on, the media continues to push the envelope of television. Stereotypical behavior is painfully becoming the new reality. Fights, screaming matches, and hair pulling are the common denominators.

Realistically speaking, these shows have lost their authenticity.

People on reality shows are not themselves. Everyone has a role to play. Reality television is no longer about portraying real-life. It has become more about fulfilling a character role. Though the channels may vary, the characters are always the same.

Whether it is the “villain,” “Miss attitude,” “the fighter,” or “the home wrecker,” everyone has a role to play in today’s reality productions. As the viewers, we never request more from these networks so they continue to mass-produce and promote what they know will get ratings.

What is the allure of reality shows that keeps us captivated? Week after week the storyline remains the same.

All we get from these shows is backstabbing fueled drama.

We do not walk away from these shows more enlightened.

Certain viewers seemingly long to be these characters.

They begin to talk, dress and act like the characters they see portrayed on these reality shows.

As viewers, we talk about

reality show personalities in our day to day lives as if we know them.

They become a part of our general conversations. We hash out judgments on oversensationalized and likely scripted scenarios as if we were there.

We argue via social media over who was right and who was wrong as if these people care what we think. I highly doubt their lives would stop if they knew viewers thought of them as the worst member of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast.

As of late, networks have been going too far. TLC is currently exploiting people’s grief with the network’s new show “Best Funerals Ever.”

Other shows depict girls as young as three getting spray

tans. Older women are arguing with each other proclaiming to be “gone with the wind fabulous.”

Viewers aspire to be young adults seeming to have no ambition outside of gym, tan and laundry.

There is nothing real in reality television. Glass throwing and table shaking is not something the average person does on a daily basis.

Are these people really characters or the networks modern twist on Sambo? Everyone is just trying to have a good time while life passes you by.

They grin and tap dance without a care in the world for ratings and a check.

Perhaps reality television is one big minstrel show. Who is the real clown now?

Editor’s note:The opinions expressed on The Word are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the staff of The A&T Register. All house editorials are written and revised with input from the editorial board, staff, and is approved by the editor. All submissions must be sent to theatregister@gmail.com to be considered for submission and should be no longer than 250 words. Submissions must be received by the Sunday prior to publication at 5 p.m. to be considered. The A&T Register reserves the right to edit all submission content for clarity and grammar. Submissions become the property of The A&T Register and will not be returned.

theSCORE The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Boosters’ bucks roll in, questions arise FRANK FITZPATRICK MCT Campus

PHILADELPHIA — Just 28 months ago, ice hockey was a successful but obscure club sport at Penn State. Its players shared ice time with broomball teams and its arena held slightly more than 1,000 fans, which hardly mattered since few ever came to hockey games.

Then Terry Pegula opened his wallet and, poof, humble hockey was magically transformed into a princely Division I program with a 6,000-seat, amenities-laden arena on the way.

On Saturday night, Penn State’s hockey team, 9-12 in its first Division I season, defeated Vermont, not at its cramped Ice Pavilion but in an NHL arena, the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Next season, the Nittany Lions will play in the new $89 million Pegula Ice Arena, an on-campus facility funded entirely by a gift from the natural-gas billionaire and equipped with sleek luxury suites, hydrotherapy and weight rooms, and two ice sheets.

The story of Pegula’s money and its role in the creation of big-time men’s and women’s hockey at Penn State is hardly unique in college sports, which is increasingly affected by this kind of checkbook enchantment.

In a constant quest for new revenue, athletic departments have stepped up the search for these megabuck Merlins who can make their alma maters’ deficits and losing records disappear with the stroke of a pen.

It’s a process intensified by the ever-rising costs of competing and a decrease in public funding.

“These large gifts for ath-

letics are fairly recent, and most come from people who are graduates of the schools who have a natural affinity for them,” said Al Checcio, a longtime Philadelphian who as Southern California’s senior vice president for university advancement is in the midst of a $6 billion fund-raising campaign, $500 million of which is earmarked for athletics.

“It’s my sense that they understand the importance athletics, like it or not, plays in the life of a university.”

While Pegula, a publicityshy 1973 Penn State grad who also owns the Buffalo Sabres, has become Penn State’s benefactor, other ambitious sports schools have their own: Though Nike founder Phil Knight apparently couldn’t dissuade Chip Kelly from departing Eugene for Philadelphia, his fortune and his hip athletics-gear company have transformed Oregon into perhaps the sexiest program in college sports.

T. Boone Pickens has donated at least $235 million to Oklahoma State, where, not surprisingly, the football stadium bears his name and the athletic director is a friend.

The deep pockets of Under Armour founder Kevin Plank, according to Forbes magazine, may have facilitated Maryland’s recent shift to the Big Ten, an ambitious move that cost Plank’s alma mater a $50 million departure fee from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

At Oregon, the reported $300 million Knight has contributed has sparked a complete reconstruction of facilities and attitudes for the once-lame Ducks. And the futuristic football uniforms Nike created for the school have helped make

Oregon a national phenomenon.

“As a result of what Knight has done at Oregon, a lot of things that have happened there have enhanced Oregon’s brand nationally,” Checcio said.

“Now more kids are applying.

They’re getting a higher caliber of students applying. You even see Oregon shirts on the East Coast now.”

The story is similar at Oklahoma State, where Pickens, an avid sports fan who grew weary of his alma mater’s dismal showing, donated $70 million to athletics in 2003 and another $165 million three years later.

It’s no surprise that the school in remote Stillwater now has facilities that rival any college’s as well as a much better win-loss record.

Every school,” said Tom Drew, a North Carolina-based fund-raising consultant, “would love to have a T. Boone Pickens.”

Still, there are many, particularly on the academic side, who view the trend as potentially dangerous, who believe these multimillion dollar gifts invariably come with strings attached.

James Earl, the cofounder of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, said Knight, who reportedly can monitor Oregon’s in-game play-calling, “controlled the athletic department.”

ESPN has reported that Plank is “heavily involved behind the scenes with board members” at Maryland.

And while Pegula and his money have not yet been linked publicly to football or basketball at Penn State, they became an issue recently when he reportedly offered to intervene on behalf of the university’s

efforts to keep football coach Bill O’Brien, who was briefly pursued for NFL head coaching positions in early January.

Just what kind of promises and influence these huge donations evoke remains unclear.

Legally binding gift agreements ensure both the pledge and its material rewards most often naming rights. While no one can quantify how much influence such contributions bring, the answer seems obvious.

“When you raise serious money from anybody, whether it’s for academics or athletics, people become involved in your program,” Checcio said.

“The people that make these transformational gifts, whether it’s for medicine or athletics, become partners with your institution. Nobody gives that money away and says, ‘Hey, have a blast. Go to it.’ “ And so whenever there’s a major conference shift or coaching change at one of these schools, the names of Knight, Pickens, Plank, and, most recently, Pegula, are bound to arise. For good reason, said some college sports watchdogs. “(Athletic directors) and presidents in need of money assume that the next big athletic donor will be different,” said Scott Kretchmar, a Penn State professor who was that school’s NCAA faculty representative for a decade. “But, in my experience, this is as naive as thinking that a high school recruit with a rap sheet the length of his arm is going to turn virtuous the second he arrives on a college campus. It doesn’t work that way. Money buys influence. The donors expect it.”

So far, Pegula’s gifts to Penn State which now total at least

$102 million have been directed at hockey. However, during O’Brien’s recent flirtation with several NFL teams, including the Eagles, the businessman’s name and potential influence came up.

The Harrisburg Patriot News reported that Pegula had offered to donate $1.3 million toward O’Brien’s reworked salary, something O’Brien has denied.

Pegula, who rarely talks to the media, initially agreed to be interviewed for this story. But at the last minute, a Penn State fund-raiser issued a statement on his behalf.

“On the day his gift was announced in 2010, he referenced the biblical philosophy of ‘to whom much is given, much is required’ without seeking anything in return,” said Rodney P. Kirsch, senior vice president for development and alumni relations. “I have never found him to be interested in leveraging his generosity to wield power at Penn State.”

“I bawled my eyes out,” Battista said.

That process and the time it took, Checcio said, was typical of big contributors.

At Coastal Carolina, the football coach is a retired Wall Street billionaire. That school is betting that Joe Moglia, who coached before he went into finance, will use his knowledge and his money to launch its 10-year-old program to the next level.

If Penn State, Oregon, Maryland, and Oklahoma State can find these super-donors, why can’t other schools? Sheer numbers, Checcio explained, could be part of the reason. All those schools are large public institutions that produce lots of graduates.

Florida is its own toughest SEC opponent EDGAR THOMPSON MCT Campus

GAINESVILLE, Fla. —Billy Donovan has been here before, coaching a red-hot team seemingly destined for big things in March.

Sometimes, those teams have gone all the way. Other times, they have come close. Then there are the times where boundless possibility ends in stinging disappointment for Donovan’s Gators.

It remains to be seen where Donvoan’s current team now ranked No. 8 ends up. But Saturday’s 8352 dismantling of then-No. 17 Missouri continued to raise expectations for the Gators, who fell a game short of the Final Four the past two seasons.

The key, Donovan said, will be for his team not to let up as it moves forward, beginning Wednesday night at Georgia.

“For me, it’s just all about getting better,” Donovan said. “Better than we were yesterday, better than we were the day before that and constantly trying to improve.”

It will be hard to improve much on Saturday’s performance.

The Gators were clicking from the opening tip, scoring by layup or dunk on seven of their first eight baskets to build a 15-2 lead.

Florida never looked back.

But if the Gators (15-2, 4-0 SEC) need to be reminded how fleeting success can be, they face the perfect opponent next.

“I think that will help us keep our focus at practice the next couple days,” senior forward Erik Murphy

said. “Similar situation to last year. We beat them at home and they got us there.

We’re trying to prepare and not let it happen again.

Georgia (7-10, 1-3) lost 77-44 Jan. 9 in Gainesville and has shown few signs it can handle Florida, the odds-on favorite to win the league.

Donovan, though, will be looking for signs with his team to prevent complacency from settling in after four SEC wins by an average margin of 26.8 points.

“The human nature in all of us is to want to relax,” Donovan said. “My job as a coach is to try to take these guys out of their comfort zone.

“If you want to be comfortable, you’re never ever going to reach your true potential.”

In 17 seasons at Florida, Donovan has coached many teams with potential. Some realized it, while others did not.

Donovan’s 2005-06 squad never gave in to success or failure. The Gators began 17-0, had two- and three-game losing streaks, and eventually closed the season with 11 straight wins en route to the national championship.

The so-called ‘04s the four-man collection of Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green won again the next season to set the standard for Florida basketball.

The 2001-02 Gators won 11 of 12 games to close the regular season, but lost in the second round of the SEC Tournament to Ole Miss, followed by a 75-54 loss to Temple in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

7

AGGIES RUNDOWN MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM Norfolk State North Carolina Central Savannah State North Carolina A&T Morgan State Hampton Delaware State Bethune-Cookman Florida A&M Coppin State Maryland Eastern Shore Howard South Carolina State

MEAC

OVR.

6-0 4-0 4-1 2-2 2-2 2-2 1-1 2-3 2-3 2-3 1-2 1-5 0-5

11-10 11-7 10-9 9-10 5-10 5-12 6-10 7-13 5-13 5-15 1-13 4-16 5-13

THIS WEEK’S GAME: Saturday at Corbett Sports Center vs. Morgan State 4 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM Hampton Howard Florida A&M Delaware State Bethune-Cookman South Carolina State Coppin State North Carolina A&T Morgan State Maryland Eastern Shore Savannah State Norfolk State North Carolina Central

MEAC

OVR.

5-0 5-1 4-1 2-1 3-2 3-3 3-3 2-2 2-3 1-2 1-5 1-5 0-4

14-5 10-7 7-11 5-11 8-9 11-6 7-12 10-7 5-13 5-9 6-13 3-14 0-17

THIS WEEK’S GAME: Saturday at Corbett Sports Center vs. Morgan State 2 p.m.

AROUND SPORTS MIAMI (MCT) — The attorney representing former University of Miami basketball coach Frank Haith in the Miami-related NCAA case is angry about a report released Monday by CBSSports.com citing an unnamed source saying Haith now the coach at Missouri “is expected to be charged with unethical conduct and failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance.”

Michael Buckner, one of three attorneys on Haith’s legal team, told The Miami Herald that until Haith actually receives his Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, the report is premature.

“Throughout the case we have conversations all the time with the NCAA,” Buckner said.

“Any type of allegations are not allegations until you receive the actual notice. Whoever talked to (CBSSports.com college basketball insider) Jeff Goodman is violating the NCAA confidentiality provision and as of right now, my client and anyone on his legal team have not received a notice of allegations.

“I just think it’s unfortunate because if a notice comes out and all those things are not included, then that source will have to pay for disclosing information that may not be true. ... I think the evidence that I am aware of would not and cannot support any allegations that have been asserted by Mr. (Nevin) Shapiro against my client.”

Buckner refused to talk about the specifics of the article, which also said “the source told CBSSports.com that the NCAA was unable to prove the allegation from Miami booster Nevin Shapiro that Haith or anyone on his staff paid $10,000 to a family member of former player DeQuan Jones.”

The article went on to say that despite the NCAA being unable to prove the $10,000 payment, “Haith will be charged with unethical conduct because the NCAA did not believe his story that payments to his assistants intended for camp money did not wind up going to repay Shapiro, who made allegations to Yahoo! Sports back in August of 2011.”

Those two assertions seem to contradict each other, but Buckner refused to address specifics.

The CBSsports.com report also said Haith will be charged “with a failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance due to impermissible airline travel that was given to the family of two players from a member of his staff and also the interaction between Shapiro and players while on visits.”

8

The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Keep Calm and Long.Live.A$AP

#Trending Fashion Hotpicks Mikael Wood

MCT Campus

The A&T Register takes a look at all the great trends from Men’s Fashion week

o v e r s i z e d scarves are a 2013 must have for men’s fashion. Everyone from Saint Laurent to Maison Martin Margiela is incorporating this look in their 2013 collections. Oversized scarves will look great with a simple pale-colored henley. Check out asos. com’s look above and stop by their website to find great pieces to wear this winter.

Wealthy, impatient and not without a few rough edges, A$AP Rocky comes by his rap handle honestly.

In late 2011, this young Harlem MC announced his arrival with an impressive mix tape, “Live Love ASAP,” that married a streetwise lyrical sensibility to plush, pop-savvy beats.

Now, less than 18 months later, he’s releasing his feverishly anticipated major-label debut, “Long.Live.ASAP.” It’s similarly titled but considerably splashier than its predecessor, with input from Alist producers such as Danger Mouse and Skrillex and guest appearances by Drake and Florence Welch.

And it reportedly earned A$AP Rocky a multi-milliondollar record deal, the kind, he boasted to Pitchfork, that hasn’t been handed out since 50 Cent’s heyday a decade ago.

“It feel good waking up to money in the bank,” he admits in the album’s lead single, “Goldie,” and you can hear in his unhurried swagger that he knows the security of which he speaks.

His rise was fast, but its speed was matched by action.

Perhaps it’s that concentrated rush of experience that accounts for how preternaturally assured A$AP Rocky sounds on “Long Live ASAP.” At 24, he’s seen it all before many MCs have seen much of

Wallis’ Oscars’ nod makes history Paul johnson Contributor

It is that time you all have been waiting for.

Welcome ladies and gentleman to award season As all of this year’s nominees prepare their acceptance speeches and practice their ironic surprised faces, there is one little girl who is a winner in everyone’s heart, even if she doesn’t win.

Her name is Quevenzhané Wallis, and she has made history by being the youngest girl to be nominated for an Oscar for best leading actress.

Wallis stars in the film ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ that premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where she plays a lively and highly imaginative little girl named Hushpuppy.

Taking place in a Louisiana swampland known as “the Bathtub,” Hushpuppy lives alongside her father, played by Dwight Henry, in a community that lives opposite of the modern structure of society.

In recent interviews with Quvenzhané, she expressed her feelings about the movie and how much fun she had while filming.

She recounts her favorite part of the experience, eating seafood, and eating all of the crabs that she could.

She also really enjoyed working with her co-star Henry.

While they had a skeptical beginning, she knew it was love when he wooed her with a box of brownies, cookies, and buttermilk drops, or as Quvenzhané put it, “anything that was considered sweets!”

20

Questions

Many great women and girls have been recognized with a best actress in a leading role nomination such as Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Anne Hathaway to name a few.

This year is no different.

Along with Quvenzhané, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Emmanuelle Riva, and Naomi Watts are also in the running for this award.

If Wallis does take home the award she will beat out Tatum O’Neal, who is the current youngest winning child ever to win an Oscar winning best best-supporting actress for Paper Moon.

As time winds down to the big day, Quvenzhané continues to remain humble and hardworking as she finishes another film entitled Twelve Years A Slave where she works alongside Henry for a second time.

This year’s 85th Academy Awards debuts Sunday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.

Be sure to tune in and watch as some of your favorite actors, actresses, directors, and producers grace the stage of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif.

- the atregister@gmail.com and follow @ATRegister on Twitter.

Who do you think will take home Oscars this year?

Tweet you answer to us! @TheATRegister

hotlist

thescene

Jan. 23 to 29 The A&T Register’s guide to what reality shows everyone is talking about in 2013

buckwild

anything.

He appears to have heard everything too. Though his videos for early songs like “Peso” and “Purple Swag” made purposeful use of his uptown stamping grounds, A$AP Rocky hardly limits himself to a New York state of mind here.

Instead he pulls from a number of regional hip-hop variants: Houston’s woozy chopped-and-screwed sound, the fleet vocal gymnastics associated with Cleveland’s Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Atlanta’s obsession with the future of funk.

In his lyrics, A$AP Rocky mirrors the music’s worldly vibe with a nonchalant bravado, coolly outlining an ultra-

high-end lifestyle populated by beautiful women and designer clothes. (No rapper has embraced fashion more enthusiastically since the mid-’00s, when Cam’ron, another Harlem native, was often photographed wearing a hot-pink fur coat.)

Yet, if the stakes on “Long Live A$AP” can sometimes seem perilously low, the disc’s opening couplet puts “expensive taste in women” and “probably die in prison” on equal footing A$AP Rocky’s songs don’t lack for emotion.

In the scratchy, slow-rolling “Suddenly” he recounts the indignities of a tough childhood (“Roaches on the wall, roaches on the dresser / Everybody had roaches, but our roaches ain’t

respect us”), but projects the relief that he’s moved beyond them.

Elsewhere he summons a disarming tenderness in “Fashion Killa” as he lays out a lover’s top-dollar wardrobe: “She got a lot of Prada, that Dolce & Gabbana,” he marvels over a sparkly electro-pop production, “I can’t forget Escada and that Balenciaga.”

Does the bewitching result live up to the price A$AP Rocky’s label paid for it?

What’s clear is that A$AP Rocky thinks, indeed, he knows, he’s worth the cost.

“Long.Live.A$AP” won’t take long to convince you he’s right.

‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’ remake is one for the books amanda rhoda Contributor

‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’ made its way back in theatres continuing with the Leatherface story and still managing to scare people out of their seats.

Despite poor reviews, the sequel made its way to the number one spot at the Box Office grossing 23 million within the first weekend.

The horror film opens with a clip from the 1974 version, which takes place in Newt, Texas where Leatherface is shown slaughtering young teens that cross his path.

Tired of his horrifying antics, citizens prepare and eventually kill him by burning down the house with Leatherface and his family inside.

So they thought, leaving two survivors, a baby and Leatherface.

Years later, Heather (Alexandra Daddario), a local grocery store butcher discovers that her grandmother has passed leaving her with a sizeable inheritance, including a mansion in the town of Newt.

Heather brings along her boyfriend, Ryan (Trey Songz), and best friends Nikki, (Tania Raymonde) and Kenny (Scott Eastwood) to travel with her to collect her inheritance, a handwritten note from her late grandmother, and to visit the estate.

While there, they discover a horrifying visitor.

Full of the usual gore and gruesome, gut splattering action, the movie presents a lot of surprising twist and turns.

One of which we find out

Trey Songz

about Heathe r ’ s past that even she doesn’t know about.

For years everything that she was told

was a lie.

The movie progresses by Heather (Daddario) finding a stack of newspaper clippings showing what the towns people did to her family.

One thing is for sure, Leatherface shows no mercy towards any of his victims, except when he finds out who Heather (Daddario) really is Another great surprise was R&B singer, Trey Songz acting. ‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’ was his first leading role in a major film.

*Spoiler Alert* Although Songz played the token black guy, you can look forward to seeing him for more than ten minutes of the movie.

Although Songz is a rookie in the movie world, his skills showed otherwise.

Trey Songz not only helped the audience feel the scare during certain parts of the movie, he also brought a high amount of sex appeal and was noted to be the targeted reason why the

Buckwild is a new reality series following an outrageous group of childhood friends from the rural, country hills of West Virginia. The group loves to dodge grown-up responsibilities and always lives life with the carefree motto, “whatever happens, happens.” While money may be tight in their neck of the woods, whether throwing a dump truck pool party, “mudding” in their pickup trucks or building their own human slingshot, nothing stops them from making their own entertainment. The show airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on MTV.

washington heights

B

A group of talented, young adults introduce us to what’s known to be the last true neighborhood in Manhattan. With trials and tribulations trying to break them down, their Latin culture and hunger for success is what brings them all together. This refreshing show is sure to have you laughing, crying, and wishing you were living in the Heights. This show airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m.

Write.

black ink

film skyrocketed to the number one spot.

This movie brings the right amount of suspense and action to make a great horror movie.

The actors did a amazing job of scaring the audience.

One thing that seemed a bit unsettling was the missing 3D element of the movie, which the film left the audience wanting more of.

If you are expecting to see flying chain saws or even human body parts towards the screen, save a bit of money by viewing the film in 2D. - the atregister@gmail.com and follow @ATRegister on Twitter.

So easy, a Ram can do it.

Wednesday 5 p.m.

GCB 328

1. Did you miss us over the holidays? 2. Are you ready for this year’s 20 questions? 3. Do you want to hear some gossip? 4. Did you hear there was a real live catfish on campus? 5. Did they really think that we wouldn’t find out? 6. How many people are involved in this? 7. What satisfaction do you get out of lying to people? 8. What’s up with this @AggiesFinest Instagram page?

9. Will this be like the Aggie Hoes page? 10. How many of you want the page to turn ratchet so that it will liven things up? 11.

How long until they shut down this page? 12. Is there a no weave qualification on the page? 13. Would you be mad if you were featured on AggiesFinest? 14. Is the person behind the page even up to par? 15. What if it was Kenny doing the page? 16. You do know what spring semester means right? 17. How many people are about to go missing? 18. Did Beyonce really lip-sync the National Anthem? 19. First fake pregnancy, next lip-synching, what’s next? 20. But you watching her during the Super Bowl, right?

VH1 has stepped up its reality series game with a new show called Black Ink. The show takes place at a New York tattoo shop and shows the battles the owner and workers go through to survive. The show even features a rumored Aggie named Dutchess. This may be one of the realest reality shows on TV. Check it out Mondays at 9 p.m.

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