The Daily Gamecock 9/29/09

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dailygamecock.com TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

USC artists up for $250,000 prize

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Graduate students could win largest international award

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Sierra Kelly and Josh Dawsey

Thursday

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Five Star Gamecocks As the team prepares for its fifth game, Sports takes a look into five top athletes who have stood out in the 3-1 season.

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Jimmy’s Trailer Park Wonder what you should b e e xc i te d to s e e i n theaters this season? Look out for Jim Carrey and Colin Firth to shine on the big screen in hits that already seem Oscarworthy.

David Walters / THE DAILY GAMECOCK

Nick Oleszozuk works inside his studio. His work examining the media in society is featured in a national art gallery.

T he l i f e -lo n g a r t i s t ic dreams of Nick Oleszczuk and Jerry Slayton might be coming true in three weeks. The t wo USC st udents are in the running for an A rtPrize, an international award that brings the winner $250,000 and international acclaim. Oleszczuk and Slayton, from Michigan and Alabama respectively, met at USC. Together, they created a work titled “Obscure Television Lighting an Obscure World.” The art features two connecting walls that use 3-D, video light, animation, sculpting and murals to look at how the media affect daily life. “There exists a paradox of opportunity for communication to be transformed and warped to the benefit or hazard of the receiver of said communication,” the artists said in their work statement. “We see it all around us todaymagazines, blogs and news networks make capital off of the idea that information can be distorted and debated for ratings and marketing purposes.” The work is currently being shown at the Urban Institute for Contemporary A rts in Grand Rapids, Mich. This year, the museum is home to the ArtPrize competition, and Parker Jennette

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As students take advantage of a 24hour library in the midst of midterm studying season, Thomas Dan Cooper should make Solley Fourth-year space for pre-law napping. student

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Problems in Patterson Housing planning renovation to remedy dormitory issues

Coach Steve Spurrier and players talk to the media after their first practice of the week as they prepare for Saturday’s matchup versus S.C. State.

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Jennifer Morrash’s community shower in Patterson Hall has flooded over for the past three weeks. “And when I turned the shower handle, it came off in my hand,” said Morrash, a first-year psychology student. That’s one of many problems Patterson Hall students say they’re facing this year. For the short term, USC officials say they’re trying to remedy student issues. They concede the residence hall needs substantial work, and that’s why they’re planning a full-scale gutting and renovation after this school year. Miranda Maile , a second-year nursing student and Resident Mentor in Patterson, said the main problems concern the community bathrooms. “The sink s and showers are always clogged. It’s an ongoing problem,” Maile said. “The building itself is really old, and it needs to be remodeled.” Kirsten Kennedy, director of University Housing, said that the new Patterson Hall won’t feature community bathrooms, and the entire plumbing infrastructure will be updated. Like many other dormitories on campus, it will have suite-style bathrooms, which should help alleviate the problems students are currently reporting. Other students have noted that the study rooms in Patterson are not comfortable or inviting, especially because the community rooms are simply unused student rooms

containing a few extra desks. That will change too. The new residence hall will feature several community study rooms per floor that should be more accommodating, she said. She’s also excited about new door card readers, better plumbing and seismic upgrades. Kennedy also said one current problem is that when Patterson residents have concerns with some aspect of the building, they often do not report it to maintenance officials. The correct procedure, Kennedy said, is to fill out a complaint form with University Housing’s FIXX system online or by phone. University housing should then fi x the problem within 24 hours. Without this action, maintenance never becomes aware of situations that need to be addressed. “I have compared the statistics on yearto-year plumbing complaints, and I have seen that there is not a major increase,” Kennedy said. “The records do not show any greater maintenance problems.” Morrash, though, said she reported her complaints with maintenance, and her shower problem was still not resolved for weeks. “I reported it to FIXX, to two resident advisors, and it still took them at least two weeks to fi x the showers.” Maile, the Resident Mentor, agreed with Kennedy, saying that many of the difficulties that girls in Patterson experience could be resolved more quickly if they used the FIXX hotline properly. “Girls aren’t calling, and that is why it’s not getting fi xed,” Maile said. Comments on this story? E-mail sagcknew@mailbox.sc.edu

incredibly long process just because we had so ma ny things involved,” Slayton said. It was 45 hours over the span of three days setup or so I’m glad that we got it all done in time.” For those close to the pair, the success isn’t surprising. “Nick’s artistic talent began in preschool when he was three years old,” Oleszczuk’s mom, Emelie, said. “He took lessons with a Michigan artist on Time Magazine. He enjoys the teaching aspect of art, doing art and doing shows.” Even if t hey don’t win, they’re not giving up. Both say they want to teach art on a college campus. “Teaching on a university level is our inspiration,” Slayton said. “The more shows, the more viewers and people we can get interested in our artwork, the better. It is really difficult in being a professional artist.” Comments on this story? E-mail sagcknew@mailbox.sc.edu

Garnet Circle ring tradition continues ASSISTANT MIX EDITOR

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is offering only 20 or so spots for artists to display their work before the competition begins. So when the museum offered the pair one of its three main spots, they were ecstatic. “We put together a project and we sent it to them,” Oleszczuk said. “They called us and said ‘hey we have an opportunity for you’ and we jumped on it and signed the cont ract.” W ho w ins t he $250,000 is up to the masses. In three weeks, the gallery will open up to the public . More than 1200 pieces of art will be in the competition, and whoever receives the most votes wins the prize. From early indications , it looks like Oleszczuk and Slayton have a good shot. This is the first year that the event is scheduled to happen at the Grand Rapids art museum. For the two artists, getting their work perfectly displayed at the host gallery was the top priority. “The u nder tak ing of installing our work was an

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David Walters / THE DAILY GAMECOCK

Nick Oleszczuk and Jerry Slayton paint a rendition of a gamecock in their studio. The two are up for a six-figure prize.

College mementos on sale this week in Russell House

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VOL. 103, NO. 27 ● SINCE 1908

High school class rings are worn an average of 30 months, while college rings are typically worn for about 22 years, according to Mike Merritt, Balfour’s regional manager. The custom ring-making company based out of Austin, Texas, will have representatives on the second floor of Russell House from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. daily through Friday so students can purchase official university rings. T hough st udent s w it h junior academic status have been ordering rings for over two weeks, Ring Week, which is put on by Garnet Circle each spring and fall, marks the last five days to purchase the unique University symbol for the semester. With over 1,000 rings sold each year at USC, more in the fall than in the spring, the University is one of the top ten ring-purchasing schools, despite being nowhere close to that statistic in terms of

population, Merritt said. “Rings are a big deal in the South. We’re much more nostalgic around here,” Merritt said. “Y’all’ve got pride down there in South Carolina. There’s a lot of symbolism in it all, not just what the ring looks like.” Garnet Circle hopes to sell a total of 500 by Friday, with 300 already sold in Balfour’s last two campus visits. Since 1999, Garnet Circle, a 70-member student association that aims to bridge t he gap bet ween c u r rent undergraduates and Carolina alumni, has taken the school’s 76-year history of university rings a step further and presented a Ring Ceremony each semester on the historic Horseshoe. This year’s Ring Ceremony will take place December 1 and will include a presentation of rings by president Pastides and a Garnet Circle representative, not only to each recipient, but also to a “very special University guest,” according to Laura Ybarra, a sixth-year anthropology and psychology student and Garnet Circle’s Ring Ambassador. Ybarra said that she asked RING ● 2

Keri Goff / THE DAILY GAMECOCK

Johnny James asks about a class ring inside the Rusell House.


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