August 9, 2011

THENORTHERNLIGHT

AUGUST 09, 2011

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

WWW.THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG

Fall semester textbooks hitting recycle bin Alaska oil wealth Students want say in bookstore recycling process, some books are still useful fund closes FY ‘10 at $40.1B

By Matt Caprioli News Editor

Summer fun at Aleyska

Last of summer pickin’s available on the mountain

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Editorial Soldiers, not F-22s the face of budget cuts

PHOTO ILLISTRATION BY WILEY CASON

Though many students would rather find their textbooks in the recycle bin, the bookstore has been hesitant to allow students to go rummaging for old books.

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Planetarium offers 360º view 8 computers, 2 projectors take viewers to the stars

See Motion Cover

Overtime NFL lockout over, lockedin to new contract

See Motion Cover

Index:

No one wants to pay for expensive books, and students will happily avoid the bookstore if Amazon, craigslist, or word of mouth can offer cheaper textbooks. One untapped resource may be the recycle bin that the bookstore offers for those books that it can’t accept during buyback sessions.

Here are a few titles that were available on August 1st: • Human Anatomy Lab Manual • Introduction to Statistics • Introduction to Geology • “Fiction” 6th edi.

by R.S. Gwynn.

• “Living with Art,” 8th ed. by Mark Getlein All these books have no market value, so the bookstore chose to give students the option to recycle books

in a collection bin. The collection bin provided

by One Planet Books, a book recycling program sponsored by MBS— the bookstore’s main shipment supplier—is there year-round But some of these books students can still use. The Human Anatomy Lab Manual, for example, has not changed in three years, and the same edition will be sold new at the bookstore this fall. Last spring it was 97 dollars for a new edition.

The statistics book in the bin was an eighth edition. This fall Stats 252 has moved on to the ninth edition, but like many new editions in the general education field, not much has changed, according to the Statistics Department.

The bookstore stopped taking this edition at the beginning of spring 2011 semester.

By Becky Bohrer Associated press

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A fund established decades ago to share Alaska’s oil wealth with future generations has hit $40.1 billion.

The Alaska Permanent Fund on Tuesday reported a 20.6 percent gain for the recently ended fiscal year, its third-highest return and biggest since 1986.

Chief Executive Mike Burns said it was an outstanding year but the fund’s board and staff don’t chase returns. He said the goal is a positive rate of return over the long run and that’s the focus in building a portfolio that doesn’t change in response to short-term book recycle see page 02 market conditions.

“We don’t live year-to-year, and really try to take a longer view,” Burns said.

The fund reported that stocks comprise about half its total value and were the biggest contributor to its overall performance. The fund’s real estate portfolio gained 16.9 percent for the year; U.S. bonds 5.3 percent; and non-U.S. bonds 0.6 percent. The fund reported that its alternative assets also contributed to the up year.

The fund receives 25 percent of the state’s oil royalties, Burns said, which amounted to $887 million last fiscal year.

This year, the fund expects to transfer $800 million to the dividend division for checks to Alaskans. Last year, the fund said, $858 million was transferred.

Starbucks coffee costs extra on campus, causes commotion

With the high cost of coffee students need a way to counterbalance the price and still maintain a good budget

By Ashley Snyder Features Editor

What is one thing that is essential to most students’ daily lives? Coffee. And what is one of the most popular places to get coffee on campus? Starbucks.

Unfortunately, like most places on campus, the menu at this particular Starbucks is more expensive than other off-campus venues. This fact causes problems because many Starbucks fans believe the prices of Starbucks’ coffee is already too highly priced at regular locations. Now they have to pay extra on top of it.

Some drinks are really not that much more expensive, such as the Grande Café Mocha which is $4.55 on campus and $4.50 at another location such as Carrs or Fred Meyers. But another typical drink, such as a Grande Vanilla Latte runs at $4.70 on campus and $4.40 off. Also, generally when a person upgrades their drink from a Grande to a Venti the price difference is around 30 to 40 cents, but on campus it can rise up to more than 60 cents.

“We get a lot of people that complain about the higher prices.

But [the people who own it] draw their prices based on profits and that’s where some of the extra

News.....A2

Features.....A3

UAA Starbucks barista Marci Shannon holds up PHOTO BY JIM FOSTER/TNL a “treat receipt” on August 3rd. If asked, baristas will stamp the receipt of your coffee purchase, which allows the customer to buy another coffee the same day for $2.

comes from,” said Starbucks barista Amber Preston.

The nearest off-campus Starbucks is over a mile away on Tudor, which can take over thirty minutes to get to walking.

Impossible for students who want a Starbucks beverage in-between classes, and unthinkable in the winter when the sidewalks become treacherous sheets of ice.

This forces most students to shell out the extra money to get their favorite concoctions conveniently.

Some people opt to not

Opinion.....A5

spend any money at all, at least not their own.

“I don’t go there unless I have a gift card anyways. All of the Starbucks cafes are expensive,” said student Amanda Owens.

Fortunately, the Starbucks Corporation has provided a way to help keep the costs down and still allow students to have their favorite drinks. This miraculous deal is called the treat receipt. All one has to do to get one of this tasty little receipts is to buy any

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A&E.....B2

Sports......B6

Comics.....B8

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News| August 09, 2011

STATEWIDE BRIEFS

Parnell names Ken Kreitzer to judicial council Gov. Sean Parnell has chosen a former police and corrections officer to serve on the Alaska Judicial Council nearly four months after his first pick withdrew amid controversy.

Ken Kreitzer, of Juneau, replaces Parnell’s earlier pick for the seven-member board, Don Haase.

Haase withdrew his name from consideration in April after concerns were raised about statements he had made under questioning by lawmakers regarding criminalizing adultery

and possibly premarital sex.

There were concerns, too, with Parnell nominating a resident of Valdez when the state constitution calls for the council to be a geographically diverse group.

Haase would have replaced a member from Ketchikan.

Parnell stood behind Haase, and Haase has said he wasn’t pressured to withdraw.

The judicial council screens applicants for judicial vacancies, evaluates the performance of judges and researches ways to improve the judicial system.

SAY WHAT? Loose cash found along Ohio highway totals DELAWARE, Ohio (AP) -- Loose cash found along a highway has made a central Ohio community nearly $21,000 richer.

Delaware city officials have revealed that’s how much money police collected on a day in early March, when one officer said it looked as though the median on U.S. Route 23 was growing money.

The city north of Columbus held on to cash for nearly five months

and kept the amount secret to see if anyone would try to claim it. Since no one did, the windfall now goes into Delaware’s general fund.

City Community Affairs Coordinator Lee Yoakum tells The Delaware Gazette officials have not decided how to use the money.

The newspaper reports authorities suspect it was from a drug sale or some other illegal activity.

Hawaii girl finds message in a bottle from Ore. KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) -- A 10-year-old Oregon boy scribbled a note on binder paper, stuck it into a bottle and tossed it into the ocean.

A year later and 2,000 miles away, a 9-year-old girl exploring a Hawaii shoreline found the bottle floating in a tide pool.

Since then, the two children have been exchanging emails and plan to become pen pals, West Hawaii Today reported Monday.

Thomas Craig, now 11, of Silverton Ore., told the newspaper he hadn’t thought much about his message in the bottle he threw into Winchester Bay during a family fishing trip until he recently received an email from Trinity Ballesteros, of Kailua-Kona. “I couldn’t believe someone had found it. I was shocked,” he said. “When I threw it overboard, it hit the top of my grandpa’s boat so I thought it broke and sank. The chances of someone finding it seemed like a once-in-amillion type thing.”

Trinity was beachcombing along the shore in front of the Queen Liliuokalani Children’s Center in Kailua-Kona when she spotted the old fashioned-looking bottle. “My first thought was what if someone is really in trouble and they’re sending out an SOS,” she said. “Would I even be able to help? Were they lost at sea or stuck on a deserted island? Were they even in Hawaii?”

Surrounded by friends and family, Trinity opened the bottle and found the letter, which read, “Dear finder of my message, My name is Thomas and I live in Oregon. I’m ten years old and this week I’m salmon fishing deep in the ocean. I would like to hear from you.”

Thomas asked for a response and included his mother’s email address.

Because the email address was difficult to make out, Trinity, with help from her grandfather and parents, sent a message to several different email addresses about two weeks ago.

Recycle: bin closed to poachers Lead Textbook Buyer Galina Ryabova-Houston said that no students have asked to look in the collection bin so far. They have partnered with One Planet the last three buyback sessions.

Before the partnership, Ryabova-Houston said that the bookstore would collect everything in a tub and display it along the entrance.

“People would pick through them creating quite a mess in the outer hallway. The covers of the books would become ripped and bent after several pick throughs and be left lying all over the front entrance,” Ryabova-Houston.

The collection bin is currently closed, and opened through a lever at the back. When asked if students could look through the bin and take whatever books they wanted, Alessandra Vanover, the director of the bookstore, suggested that would be inappropriate.

“If someone dropped it in the recycle bin, we want their intention honored,” Vanover said.

Some students want the option to look through the books before they are recycled.

Patricia Westbrook and Sarah Mayes are nursing majors in their senior year. They remember using

the same anatomy lab manual when they took Anatomy 111, two years ago.

“We had to buy it from the bookstore because it was a custom edition, it wasn’t easy to find online. Sure, if I had seen it in a box I would’ve taken it and saved a lot of money,” Mayes said.

Westbrook keeps all her books for future reference, while Mayes sells her books whenever possible.

She only keeps books for her major, mostly because they went out of edition. This was the first time she heard about the recycling program, and said she would now have to visit the bookstore to recycle her books.

“I’ve never even thought of recycling them before. I will now definitely,” Mayes said.

Geology major Tessa Cellors was also intrigued about the program; without it, most of her books would stay at home.

When asked if students should be able to look through the future recyclables, both students firmly said yes.

“If they’re going to recycle it anyway, who cares if the book is messed up because people rummaged through the bin?”

Westbrook said.

According to the One Planet Books website, all participants are paid for shipping the books to MBS. That number varies with several factors. So far, the bookstore has only broke even through the program, RyabovaHouston said.

“Since the program is just starting we are pretty much breaking even on our labor costs handling and processing recycled books. Please keep in mind that not all books dropped in the bin head to One Planet books.”

The bookstore can look for other markets where the books may have value, but they say they prefer to donate it.

“In the past we have donated some books to the LRC, the Bases and as donations to the community. Occasionally we have set some out, on a bookcase, in the front of the store for people to take as they like,” Ryabova-Houston said.

Bookstore buyback resumes August 25 to 31.

No place like home: Peacock flies back to zoo NEW YORK (AP) -- A peacock with a sense of adventure - and a good sense of direction - has flown back home to New York’s Central Park Zoo. On Tuesday, humans flocked and tweeted as the peacock left the zoo for a perch on a Fifth Avenue window ledge. It had good taste: A condo there reportedly sold for $22.5 million in 2009.

Zookeepers predicted the

handsome green and blue bird would make its way home - and it did just before 7 a.m. Wednesday.

It’s been a rebellious season in the city zoos.

In March, an Egyptian cobra was found nearly a week after it went missing at the Bronx Zoo’s Reptile House. Two months later, a zoo peahen was recovered at a nearby auto-body shop.

-compiled by Matt Capriol!

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FEATURES

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Pick away the end Starbucks: of summer blues Treat receipt With summer coming to a close, it’s time for students to find some last minute adventures; Alyeska may be the solution By: Ashley Snyder Features Editor

Whether students want to acknowledge it or not, the countdown is close to ending as the new semester of school quickly approaches. It’s time to face it, summer vacation is ending and it’s time to wrap it up. But after a fun-filled summer, what is left to do that will be fun and able to delay those end of summer blues?

How about going on a short road trip alone, with a significant other, or with a bunch of friends

lots of it. The only catch is that whoever wants this vast quantity of pie slices must be on stage, and eat as much as they can in five minutes.

John Greyson enjoys watching the competitive consumption of pie, “One of my friends did it last year and I think his hands were tinted purple for days.”

There are also booths with pies that people can take and eat at their leisure if they aren’t in a competitive eating mood.

The festival ends at 6pm each day, but the fun doesn’t stop there

where everyone can frolf, hike, GRAPHIC BY COREY BEAUDRIE/ TNL pick berries, bake pies, eat pies, and view concerts all in one in the land of the midnight sun. weekend and all in one place.

Alyeska offers a wide variety of This is made possible at the other activities that people can popular Alyeska resort, located in partake in after hours. Alyeska just the heart of Girdwood. Alyeska is opened a nine hole frolf course, hosting its fifth annual Blueberry which is rising in popularity in Festival, scheduled for August 13 Alaska, and a great way to waste and 14 running from 12pm until time away. Alyeska is also home 6pm each day. What’s even better? to miles of mountain biking Admission is free. trails and even offers list assisted This festival is host to various downhill mountain biking. booths with arts, crafts, food, For those who want the more and more. There will also be live automatic mode of transporting music from local bands such as around the wilderness, ATVs are Cherry Jam, The Stringfellows, available for rent.

River People Band, Your average Afterwards, people can spend Amazons, among many others. a night in one of Alyeska’s many “The festival has tons of suites, or ruff it outdoors in a tent different activities, and many of or even under the open sky and do them are great for keeping the kids everything again the next day. busy while we adults go visit the Whatever variety of activities beer garden,” said Leslie Tomack. a person chooses to partake in, it Outside the festival, patrons is guaranteed that it will be a fun can go on blueberry picking and exciting adventure and a great jaunts, guided for the beginners, way to spend some of the last days or on their own for novices. It of summer before it’s time to head is a nice hike up the mountain back to school. and the blueberries make a great late afternoon snack. But be sure to save enough to make a blueberry pie later at the culinary demonstrations.

For those who do not want to go through the daunting task of picking and then baking, there is the option of just eating pie, and

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starbucks drink, have the receipt stamped, and bring it back to any Starbucks after 2pm the same day to receive any cold drink for $2.

As an added bonus, with the treat receipt students can add whatever extras they want to their drink and it will still be only $2. So, if a student is craving that extra shot of espresso or a few pumps of peppermint flavoring, which usually costs 50 cents or more extra, then they should go for it, it’s on Starbucks!

For those who are not constant coffee consumers, the deal still applies because it allows redemption for any cold beverage on the menu including Frappuccinos, Tazo teas, Vivanno smoothies, and their new shaken iced tea lemonades.

Student Maria Elison figured out a way to make the treat receipt the most effective, “I really like getting a cheap drink in the morning like a drip coffee which is like less than $2.50 and then coming back and getting a $5 or more drink for $2. It makes it almost like a two for one deal.”

The campus Starbucks is not corporate owned, instead they are operated by Seawolf Dining, but they still offer treat receipts which is great for students to offset the costs of drinks on campus.

Though they generally do not hand out the treat receipts unless a customer specifically asks for it, so those who do not know that the deal is going on are left out.

“We don’t print receipts automatically and it’s pretty much by request,” said Preston Although the deal is only going on until September 5th, barely scratching the first week of the new semester, the treat receipt deal occurs several times a year. The best way is to check on

Starbucks’ website for upcoming deals.

Another way to offset the cost is for students to bring their own mugs, which will discount the drink by 10 cents. There is also the option of keeping the cup from an earlier visit and bringing it back later that day for a 50 cent refill on a drip coffee.

Regardless of the high cost, students continue to return for their coffee fix or for a tea break, keeping this Starbucks busy and a prime location for drinks.

“There are a lot of college kids and they always want coffee,” Preston remarked.

Don’t hike all over town…

Find what you need right here on campus: • Seawolf Postal Express USP, US Postal Service, & FedEx services • Copy & Print Center Copies, binding, poster-printing, & more

We even ship fish!

Lower-level of the Campus Bookstore. www.uaa.alaska.edu/gss 907.786.6860

Free customer parking outside our green-awning entrance.

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features| August 09, 2011

@ your library: “J.B.” by Archibald MacLeish

By Matt Caprioli News Editor

Too bad Shakespeare rarely used stage directions. They can be quite enjoyable for people whose only contact with a play is through writing. Contemporary playwrights have made great use of them, perhaps because they know people will actually read their plays, at least on a greater scale than in 1610.

Archibald MacLeish’s “J.B.” has a healthy amount of stage directions; each of the eleven scenes has a paragraph of stage directions for each scene. The prologue gets two.

“J.B.” is a modern re-telling of the story of Job, a biblical man who lost all his children and livelihood as a test from God. The story is quite perplexing because Job has seemingly done nothing to deserve his fate.

MacLeish won three Pulitzer Prizes before his death in 1982, two for poetry and one for drama (the one for drama was for J.B.; it also won a Tony that year).

He’s primarily famous for “Ars Poetica” and promoting the arts as the Librarian of Congress.

The play is set in the “Mad Men” era—1957—so Job’s name is appropriately transformed to “J.B.”. His speech, like that of his five kids and wife Sarah, would fit right in with the popular television show.

But the story of J.B. is actually a story within a story. The prologue introduces two key characters, Mr. Zuss and Nickles. Both older men are actors of little success.

They appear in the theater to (presumably—nothing is clear in this piece) play their own parts as God and Satan. To see Job’s story, the pair climbs a ladder and watches from the rafters.

While Job is on stage, they watch with masks. God/Mr. Zuss wears a white mask that smiles but with its eyes shut. Nickles/ Mr. Satan also wears a white mask, but one that frowns in disgust and pain, its eyes open to the world. Mr. MacLeish was a fan of symbolism.

It’s been said that great plays can never be understood in one showing. This play is no different.

For those not so thrilled by thinking, this play will be a bore.

Yes there are gory scenes in the middle—how Job’s children die could only happen in the 20th century—but most of the play’s weight lies in its philosophic questions and poetic arrangement.

It is after all, “A play in verse.”

The work can be self-conscious.

No policeman would report to you

of the death of your children with the following words: “I heard/two words. I don’t know what they mean. I have brought them to you like a pair of pebbles/ Picked up in a path or a pair of/ Beads that might belong to somebody.”

The characters aren’t developed as much as the issues that drive them. The kids are there to be cute; the policemen and journalists—MacLeish calls them “messengers”—are there to deliver messages; Job suffers, his friends are no help, and his wife eventually leaves him.

What they talk about is more important than who they are.

They confront many perplexing, paradoxical things (the story of Job is inherently perplexing).

MacLeish’s cast of a dozen or so characters collectively consider the authenticity of guilt, the righteousness of God, and humanity’s (purpose?) on earth, among many other things.

In line with the bible, J.B’s comforters have the same biblical names— Eilphaz, Zophar, Bildad-and are hardly comforting. “God is far within History—Why should God have time for you?”

Bildad asks.

The other two have different views on divine justice and whether anyone should feel guilt: Eliphaz says that humanity or god have no control over the universe, while Zophar says that we should assume we’re always guilty—“your sin is simple, you were born a man.”

Until God (aka “The Distant Voice) appears to Job, he continues to ask for an explanation of his guilt. Job believes everyone needs guilt to be human. That’s what separates us from any other species, and is the founding criteria for a soul. Even at the end, there is no solid explanation for why Job stops asking for an explanation of charges; habeas corpus, if you’re a justice major.

You can flip to the back of the book, around page 152, for a possible explanation as to what Job learned from his encounter with God. “He does not love. He/is,” Job says.

Though MacLeish was primarily a poet, he makes great use of the theater’s atmosphere.

It’s quite striking when silence, darkness, and drums are used.

Those who love poetry will enjoy MacLeish’s free play with meter (the play is free verse, but now and then he uses meter).

Justice and sociology major may have fun connecting dialogue to theories they learned in class.

The characters aren’t developed as much as the issues that drive them.

a humor column by Alden Lee

Window Seat, Peanut Bag, and an Excess of Earlobe Battling bladder pains and food shortages, airlines no longer fun

By Alden Lee

Assistant Features Editor

I used to get a kick out of flying.

A nine-year-old mentality turns a trip to the airport into the ultimate Cinnabon-fueled adventure. And boy oh boy, crossing through that boarding tunnel to the body of the plane was like following the yellow brick road to the Land of Oz, complete with cool overhead bins and funny-smelling air. I’d sit in my seat and mess with the little twisty things that made the air come out, munching on my stick of gum and waiting happily for my ears to pop as the plane rumbled into flight.

That was, of course, before TSA started strip-searching passengers with methodical indifference and the airlines decided we were all double amputees for whom leg space is a pointless commodity.

The sense of adventurous wonder I used to hold has long since evaporated. It’s been replaced by a sadly cynical understanding that this post-9/11, recession-wracked mess we find ourselves in has basically reduced our flying options to being crammed ass-first into a metal tube like we’re at the wrong end of a Pillsbury Doughboy packing plant.

Luggage space continues to shrink exponentially, to the point where if you’re carrying anything larger than a man-purse (or satchel, if you’re Indiana Jones), best believe you’re checking that sucker in. Stewardesses can hardly shimmy through the narrow aisles anymore to give us our hand signal safety demonstrations, and the in-flight meal has downgraded from chicken cordon bleu…to a bag of peanuts. Forget using the plane’s bathroom these days— built to accommodate roughly the size of an anorexic dwarf, you end

up having to stand in the toilet to wash your hands.

I really shouldn’t complain—at least we’ve still got airplanes to get around with. Owe China too much more money, and pretty soon we could be flinging passengers out of giant slingshots. Thank you for flying Delta, and happy landings!

Still, not too many people are happy about our current flying conditions. And it’s in our united state of discomfort that we really get to know the individuals sitting around us.

I recently took a flight to Minneapolis.

I had a window seat, for which I was grateful; my kneecaps would be spared from the stewardesses rattling by with their peanut bagladen food carts.

All overhead space had been taken, so my backpack and laptop case were stuffed into what little leg space I had left. A couple minutes before departure, a very old man was escorted to the seat next to me and helped into a sitting position.

Liver spots dotted the man’s tired skin. Eyelids drooped like a basset hound’s, and so did his earlobes; hanging like silly putty from his saucer-cupped ears.

It was clear he was once a wellbuilt man, but his body had since turned against him, withering with age. He glanced over at me as the attendants left and I expected a weary, almost defeated look, but he gave me a jovial wink and nod instead before settling back in his seat.

We got to talking over the course of the five-hour flight. He told me he was a Vietnam vet, and his son had been killed three years ago in Afghanistan. This was his second time visiting Alaska, the first almost twenty years ago, and he was on his way home to St. Paul and his wife. He was happy I was pursuing journalism—the written word, he said, was the most important thing we could hold onto when everything else went to hell.

Eventually the old bugger fell asleep, and of course right about then is when all the Coke I’d been drinking began launching a full-blown assault on my bladder.

The window spot did have its disadvantages; I was veritably trapped between cramped seats and an old man in slumber.

For some reason I didn’t feel comfortable with waking this Vietnam vet up and having flight attendants lift him out of his seat just so a scrawny college kid could take a leak—but pretty soon, with my bladder swelling to about the size of a cantaloupe, my more immediate discomfort took precedence.

As I leaned over, racking my brain on how best to phrase the situation, he cracked an eye open and said, “Just climb over me, son.

I don’t give a damn, and it’s better than you sitting in a puddle.”

I shook the wheelchair-bound man’s hand as we exited the plane in Minneapolis. I still had my bag of peanuts.

‘Forget using the plane’s bathroom these days...you end up having to stand in the toilet to wash your hands.’

OPINION

The Northern Light 3211 Providence Drive Student Union 113 Anchorage, AK 99508 Phone: 907-786-1513 Fax: 907-786-1331 info@thenorthernlight.org

EXECUTIVE EDITOR 786-1434 editor@thenorthernlight.org Shana Roberson MANAGING EDITOR 786-1313 content@thenorthernlight.org Taylor Hall COPY EDITOR copy@thenorthernlight.org Wiley Cason NEWS EDITOR 786-1576 news@thenorthernlight.org Matthew Capriol!

FEATURES EDITOR 786-1567 features@thenorthernlight.org Ashley Snyder A&E EDITOR 786-6198 arts@thenorthernlight.org Heather Hamilton SPORTS EDITOR 786-1512 sports@thenorthernlight.org Megan Edge PHOTO EDITOR 786-1565 photo@thenorthernlight.org Daniel Jackson WEB EDITOR 786-1506 web@thenorthernlight.org vacant LAYOUT EDITOR layout@thenorthernlight.org Jacqui Lockman ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR news2@thenorthernlight.org Vacant ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR features2@thenorthernlight.org Alden Lee ASSISTANT A&E EDITOR arts2@thenorthernlight.org Leroy Polk ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR sports2@thenorthernlight.org vacant GRAPHIC DESIGNER graphics@thenorthernlight.org CJ Beaudrie ADVERTISING MANAGER 786-4690 ads@thenorthernlight.org Mariya Proskuryakova ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE vacant CIRCULATION ASSISTANT vacant EXECUTIVE OPERATIONS ASSISTANT vacant MULTIMEDIA EDITOR vacant CONTRIBUTORS Bryan Dunagan Eli Johnson Jim Foster Brett Frazer Alec Fritz Daniel McDonald MEDIA ADVISER Paola Banchero ADMINISTRATIVE ADVISER Annie Route The Northern Light is a proud member of the ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS. The Northern Light is a weekly UAA publication funded by student fees and advertising sales.

The editors and writers of The Northern Light are solely responsible for its contents. Circulation is 5,000. The University of Alaska Anchorage provides equal education and employment opportunities for all, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, Vietnam-era or disabled-veteran status, physical or mental disability, changes in marital status, pregnancy, or parenthood.

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EDITORIAL

Defense budget cuts most likely to come straight from soldiers’ wallets We were warned two months ago that the greatest threat to our national security was the national debt, by Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Today, Mullen is scrambling to find nearly one trillion dollars in cuts for the defense budget.

The debt deal that Congress reached last week called for $350 billion in cuts for military spending over the next ten years. In addition, if the “Super Congress” cannot compromise on $1.2 trillion in budget cuts across the board, an additional $500 billion will automatically be cut from the Defense budget.

So where will those cuts come from?

Despite the withdrawal from Iraq, over 50,000 troops remain.

More than that are stationed in Germany. Over 30,000 still remain in South Korea and nearly 50,000 are in Japan. What does that mean? Iraq and Afghanistan, post drawdown, aren’t going to get much cheaper any time soonand anyone who says they will is probably lying.

Another likely area of cuts is to future weapons programs, though former Defense Secretary Bob Gates cut several of those programs already. Among these were the F-35 program and the Transformation Satellite (TSAT) system, meant to allow for more bandwidth for ground forces to communicate with each other and with air support overhead.

As much as some people are convinced that America is already far outpacing any other country, it simply isn’t true. Or at least it won’t be true for long at this rate, considering the failure of the F-22, which has yet to see desert action due to reported limitations with communications, targeting and issue with rain and sand affecting its stealth ability.

But even if some of the cuts come from these sophisticated weapons programs, they won’t be enough. And officials are warning that the second round of cuts will be harmful to our security.

“If it happened, and God willing that would not be the case, but if it did happen, it would result in a further round of very dangerous cuts across the board, defense cuts that I believe would do real damage to our security, our troops and their families, and our military’s ability to protect the nation,” said newly appointed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

There probably would be room to cut from the budget if the inefficiency of the large military machine were tackled.

Inefficiencies that include paying huge government contract rates (which are more than what the average person pays walking in off of the street), military

members and their dependents being referred to emergency rooms or off base urgent care centers, adding up to $500 per visit to the bill. And of course, any military member can point to the inefficiency of the endless paper trails that exist throughout the military, requiring many more man-hours to accomplish simple tasks than should be necessary.

But these seemingly simple areas to target will likely be left in a legacy of the big machine that is the military. Military benefits are far more likely to be targeted.

Tuition assistance for active duty service members has already been cut.

And even before Congress voted for the deficit deal last week, the recommendation was made to for them to overhaul the military retirement system which currently allows for members to retire after 20 years of service and immediately start receiving benefits equivalent to 50 percent of their base pay. The new plan would privatize military retirement and restrict retirement collection to typical retirement ages seen in the private industry.

The problem here is something that even the general public might

not understand. The need and value for military retirement after 20 years (or closer to 30 for some).

The first component may be fairly obvious: 20 years in the military is near the peak of what anyone can take in such a demanding career.

Furthermore, the 20-year mark for retirement is mandatory. That means that a person who has spent 20 years doing something that requires very specialized, but not necessarily marketable, skills (i.e.

Explosive Ordinance Disposal) is kicked out of their job at an age where they likely have a full family to support with no skills or home base to begin doing so.

That is one very small reason the current retirement system is important for military members.

The other is retainability, considering less than 15 percent of military members stay in for the full 20 years. For many, having the security of that retirement check for their families and livelihoods is what makes the sacrifice of saying goodbye to those families worth it.

The military has already raised prices for retirees’ medical coverage, a benefit that was advertised as free for many. New reports suggest that officials may

be planning to require co-pays for medical care for those on active duty as well in order to save money on the defense budget.

Free medical coverage is one of the biggest recruiting tools the military currently has. Since base pay is not usually competitive with similar civilian jobs, the military needs these recruiting tools to continue to supply a force that is able to defend the country.

The military cannot afford to lose these benefits. Unbeknownst to most, active duty service members are already stretched incredibly thin. Those in garrison are doing the work of several military members and those deployed are repeating that duty far too often.

The bottom line is that while there certainly is plenty of room for defense budget cuts, they will most likely target benefits of the military members rather than the inefficiencies of the large military machine. The members of Congress that were so quick to pin nearly $1 trillion in cuts on the defense budget should have the oversight to ensure those cuts are administered fairly.

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06

TNL

opinion| August 09, 2011

RETHINK

LEFTY ON THE LEFT

Subsidized loans for graduate American citizens school help economy need to take back their government

By Brett Frazer Staff Reporter

Students at UAA are all too familiar with the rising cost of college education.

Protests on campus last year demonstrated that many students were not pleased with the Board of Regent’s proposed tuition hikes. I suspect that proposed tuition hikes in the future will be met with a similar response. Well, if you’re a UAA student who was planning on attending graduate school, you might want to think again.

As part of the recent debt ceiling compromise, Congress has eliminated subsidized federal loans for graduate students (they have also doubled the interest rate on subsidized loans for undergraduates, but that’s another story). A subsidized loan, or “interest-deferred loan,” allows students to attend school without accruing interest. Interest on a subsidized loan kicks in the day of graduation. However, Beginning in July of next year, students using the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP) to help pay for graduate or professional school will begin accruing interest immediately after taking out the loan. Most students who take out loans for graduate school are unable to pay back anything during their education, meaning the interest on their loan will compound year after year. This will result in unprecedented levels of student loan debt. As an example, the average law student today graduates $75,000 in debt.

After subsidized loans are done away with, this number will be closer to $90,000.

Congress has made the wrong decision for three reasons. First, they’re being hypocritical.

Second, they’re hurting students who need subsidized loans the most. And third, they’re making it more difficult for American citizens to compete in a globalized, information-based economy.

On the first point; Harry Reid (D), Mitch McConnell (R), and John Boehner (R) all agreed that increased revenues (read: more taxes) would not be part of the initial spending cuts associated with raising the debt ceiling. Well, by doing away with subsidized loans, Congress is effectively imposing an additional tax on graduate students.

Let’s be clear – a subsidized loan is still a loan. It still must be paid back. Students still pay interest. The only thing that’s “subsidized” on a subsidized loan is the interest accrued during the time spent in school. Unless

a student defaults on their loan, the lender (the U.S. Department of Education for almost all subsidized loans) will make money through earned interest.

The government isn’t “losing” any money by subsidizing a loan.

The money earned through interest goes back to the United States. By definition, any money collected by the government in exchange for services is a “tax.”

A subsidized loan can be thought of as a “tax break” for graduate students.

The government provides a service – a low interest loan backed by the full faith and credit of the United States – and in return the government asks for a “tax” by charging students interest once they graduate. Congress has effectively eliminated this tax break, raising the tax imposed on graduate students.

In other words, Congress has decided to raise revenue, albeit through a roundabout mechanism.

Congress refused to raise revenue by ending the Bush Tax Cuts, closing tax loopholes for the wealthiest corporations, or raising the Capital Gains Tax. Instead, they have imposed a tax on students seeking graduate degrees. Why is it that graduate students should be asked to pitch in and close the deficit, while the wealthiest Americans should not?

Now, let’s consider the impact this policy has on education.

Students who are on the fence about going to graduate school, because of the cost, may now be deterred from attending graduate school. Students that considered medical school, law school, pharmacy school, or business school may now decide it is not in their interest to pay more for their loans, and choose less lucrative careers. This is turn results in less taxable income, and ultimately, less revenue for the government.

Congress could not have picked a worse time to implement a policy like this. The rising cost of graduate-level education and dwindling resources available for grants and fellowships means that an increasing number of students are relying on loans to pay for graduate school.

Let’s look at pharmacy school as an example. The pharmaceutical market is one the most profitable in the world. Despite the recent economic turmoil, individuals with graduate-level pharmacy degrees are in extremely high demand. As such, the cost of attending pharmacy school has

risen by more than 50% in the last eight years. It now costs as much as $100,000 to receive a graduate degree in the pharmaceutical sciences. The same is true for almost all other graduate programs and professional schools.

According to U.S New and World Report, “the University of California system recently warned it will raise professional school tuition by as much as 31% in 2011.” Law Schools and Medical Schools across the country are raising tuition at an alarming rate.

The research fellowships and TA positions that students once relied on to pay for graduate school cannot keep up with the inflating cost of education. Graduate students taking out loans has been a growing trend, and now those loans are more expensive.

In terms of the globalized economy, doing away with subsidized loans will make America less competitive. NPR reports that our nation’s top tier graduate schools (MIT, Columbia, and Berkley) are enrolling an increasingly large number of foreign students.

In 2010, MIT granted more engineering PhDs to resident aliens than to American citizens. This is because foreign governments understand the value of highly specialized degrees in a globalized, information-based economy.

To the best of their ability, they subsidize the education of their students, sending them to the best graduate programs in the world.

The students then return to their home countries, doing wonders for their domestic economies, and fostering competition in the global economy.

The United States cannot rely on cheap labor to power its economy. Nor can it rely on lowskilled workers. The United States must make new investments in education, but it seems Congress is moving in the opposite direction.

‘Students who are on the fence about going to graduate school, because of the cost, may now be deterred from attending graduate school.’

By Eli Johnson Contributor

Well, in the 11th hour, congress passed a bill designed to take from the middle class and give to the wealthy. It has proven, once again, that President Obama cannot govern, and that corporations have a complete stranglehold on this country.

Everybody who has a modicum of political sense knew the debt ceiling debates were nothing more than political theater. It has all happened before with the Bush Tax Cuts extension.

The debt ceiling deal is pretty simple. There will be $1 trillion in immediate cuts, with an additional $1.5 trillion to be done by the “Super Congress.” One should almost feel bad for these 12 saps.

There will be three members from each party in each house of Congress which will comprise it. These 12 people will be the scapegoats for the rest of Congress.

The thing that makes this so pathetic is that they can’t even suggest doing anything useful, like raising taxes. That was another part of the deal – no tax increases whatsoever.

But raising taxes is essential for the welfare of the middle class. A simple solution is to let the Bush Tax Cuts expire on all brackets, since the middle class would hardly notice the increase.

Only the rich would feel the significant increase. This is justified: the rich have the lowest taxes that they have had in almost 80 years.

Another thing America must do is slash the military budget.

America’s military budget is bigger than the top ten nations combined. In 2008 we spent over

$600 billion in two meaningless wars.

The final way, and this is a controversial one, legalize drugs.

Prohibition was ended largely because the country needed money. There are hundreds of billions of dollars this nation could be taxing and regulating.

One would think it’s a no-brainer.

But this country won’t do any of those things. As the debt deal showed, this nation has been working to help the rich for a very long time.

“The Democrats are failing to stand up to Republicans and failing to enact sensible reforms that benefit the middle class because they genuinely believe there’s political hay to be made moving to the right. They’re doing it because they do not represent any actual voters,” said Matt Taibbi, a respected political blogger, wrote in an article for Rolling Stone.

The fact is that the current way of doing things is only there to benefit those who have the money, and who have no intention of spending it to help the economy. This is something the kamikaze Tea Party seems to not understand.

When the rich don’t spend, and the middle class can’t spend, the only thing left to throw money into the agape jaws of Wall Street is the government. And if we tell the government they can’t do that anymore, this country’s economy may slip back into an even worse recession.

Keith Olbermann had a brilliant perspective on this issue in his latest “Special Comment.”

“Where is the outrage to come from? From you!” he said. The people need to be outraged. From Alaska to Florida, all people need to be outraged.”

Americans are still hostages, and they don’t even know it.

There needs to be outrage. Is there?

August 09, 2011 | opinion

ON THE RIGHT SIDE

07

Life trumps right to privacy; science shows birth is far from the beginning

By Daniel McDonald Contributor

The abortion debate is largely focused on the legal question of whether or not a woman ought to have the right to terminate her pregnancy. The right to an abortion was legally validated by the 1973 landmark decision Roe v. Wade, but the battle continues to rage over both the methods and timeframe in which an abortion can occur. And although many (myself included) would like Roe v. Wade to be overturned, society must first answer the fundamental question of whether abortion is morally justifiable. As G.K. Chesterton put it, “To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.” Therefore, it is vitally important to show why abortion is morally wrong.

The most rational place to start is at conception. Every living human being can trace their beginnings to the moment when the chromosomes of their father’s sperm united with those of their mother’s ovum. This process leads to the formation of an entirely new organism which we call an embryo. Often an embryo is portrayed as being a mere clump of cells in the early stages, but to the contrary, according Robert P. George, a professor law at Princeton University, “As early as eight or ten weeks of gestation, the fetus has a fully formed, beating heart, a complete brain… a recognizably human form, and the fetus feels pain, cries, and even sucks his or her thumb.”

From the very start it can be firmly established that the embryo is a distinct living thing with its own unique DNA. It is not a part of the mother’s body but something separate and dependent. The question of when life begins may be an issue in philosophy, but the embryo is biologically living; that is as much beyond dispute as the reality of any adult human life. And when an abortion occurs, the life that is ended is a member of the family of Homo sapiens. It is a

human being that happens to be in the earliest stages of life.

Much of the divide over this issue appears to stem from two opposing views of human life. One side views human life as intrinsically valuable, while the other sees it instrumentally valuable. If human life is intrinsically valuable, then it is an end in and of itself, while its counterview is conditional.

The instrumental perspective is posited clearly by philosopher Mary Anne Warren, who defines a human person as one who is capable of “consciousness, reasoning, communication, self motivated activity, self awareness.”

Of course a problem with this is that it excludes newborn infants and the mentally ill. We can scientifically establish that an embryo is a living member of the human species, and will never agree on the human person criteria. For something as important as human rights, it is preferable to have a basis more firm than the mind of Mary Ann Warren.

Another apologist for abortion is Judith Jarvis Thompson. She argues from a bodily autonomy angle in her famous violinist example. She describes a situation where a man is attached to a violinist who needs to borrow his kidneys to survive. He can detach himself at any point, but it would mean the death of the violinist. She concludes that a Good Samaritan would keep himself attached, but that nobody is expected to give up bodily autonomy and do whatever it takes to allow another person to survive.

There are several problems with this analogy. The most obvious is that abortion is not at all the same as the story

she describes. It is not the act of disconnecting oneself, but an active attempt to end the life of someone else. It would be more accurate to describe the man having to kill the violinist by violent force.

The picture she paints seems to be similar to the situation of conjoined twins. Often, their organs are intertwined and the survival of one is dependent on the other. Could we justify one killing the other order to achieve bodily autonomy?

It is true that a fetus is dependent on the body of its mother for survival, but the vulnerability of its life does not change much after birth. Consider the fact that no infant could survive on its own. An infant is extraordinarily dependent on others for food, shelter, and protection. Since she believes that nobody is entitled to the beneficence of others, in her view, it is morally justifiable to pass by an abandoned infant on the sidewalk.

Even five and six year olds would not likely survive on their own without the consideration of adults; therefore, caring for infants is actually a basic societal duty, and is not going above and beyond the call.

The two most prevalent arguments justifying abortion fail because one leads to an amoral society that arbitrarily deems many of its own unworthy of rights, while the other supports the abdication of the duty to care for infants.

Because a fetus is a living breathing member of the human race, it has the right to life, which makes the choice to have an abortion morally wrong. And despite the Roe v. Wade, perhaps the increasing moral conscience on this issue will “turn the worst laws to advantage,” as Tocqueville once noted.

The question of when life begins may be an issue in philosophy, but the embryo is biologically living; that is as much beyond dispute as the reality of any adult human life.

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AUGUST 09, 2011

MOVIE REVIEWS A&E

Summer of heroes: ‘Captian America’

A&E

Retro movie review: Harvey

B4 B3

B Section

otio M

THE NORTHERN LIGHT’S SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG

Planetarium offers patrons a 360º view

GAME REVIEW A&E

B2

Solve puzzles with ‘Catherine’

FOOD REVIEW A&E

B3

Anchorage Food Quest: best cupcake

SUMMER SPORTS SPORTS

B6

Kincaid: Final stop on the Frolf train

MEET THE SEAWOLF SPORTS

B7

Katie Richards balls for the ‘Wolves

While definitely a prime focus, shows offered at the planetarium don’t only include big-budget Hollywood features such as Black Holes or Cosmic Collisions. Each show is complimented by a brief lecture from department professors, as well interactive tours of earth, the solar system, and beyond.

COURTESY OF ANDY PUCKETT

See Planetarium page B5

OVERTIME

NFL pre-season kicks off

By Megan Edge Sports Editor

As most beer drinking, apple pie loving, hot dog eating Americans already know, the NFL lockout has come to an end.

We should all sleep more soundly knowing that the men of our favorite teams are training and preparing for another season of America’s favorite sport.

Football.

We can now joke more freely about what was once a touchy topic, without worrying that we may upset a nervous patriot waiting and waiting on an answer that they never thought would come.

What would our fall and winter have been like without Sunday, Monday and Thursday night football?

Sports bars would become places to mourn, where groups of fans would gather to bury their sorrows, and support one another in what would surely be a difficult time. Beer companies would go out of business. Men would sit in their recliners staring into their

blank black 51-inch TV screens; pale skinned, with a hand gripped firmly on the heart of their favorite NFL team’s jersey.

As ridiculous as all that sounds, it can’t be to far-fetched seeing as how the NFL lockout was a rather ridiculous situation in its self.

Let’s review the last four and a half months and the contract that will last ten years. From selfish players to selfish owners, to the fans who got strung along through it all, here it is.

1. Rookies- the old guys calling the shots had little regard for the new guys. No player was alowed to practice at or use team facilities. Time was lost in preseason camps, keeping the new guys from bonding with the more seasoned pros. The attitude that this isn’t important though, as long as million dollar contracts are signed, makes people question the motives of both players and owners. Love of the game or Love

of the Money?

2.No pain, No gain- Due to the lack of team training rookies are getting, their debut showings will be below average. This is not to say that rookies are at all to blame, but compared the rooks in years before, they will struggle with less time to prove themselves worthy of something greater than benchwarmers.

In a time of decision someone must suffer, someone and or something must be sacrificed. This is the sacrifice for the next ten years being lockout free. No pain no game. Go hard or go home. Sweat plus sacrifice equals success (and any other sports cliché you can think of).

3.Brain power- Yes, 130 plus days of lockout news can get repetitive. Each week for the last four and a half months, we heard talk of an end, but in that same week we got an update saying the next week would be the end. The only thing more repetitive than that vicious cycle is the directions on the back of a shampoo bottle.

Rinse, lather, and repeat. But the

What would our fall and winter have been like without Sunday, Monday and Thursday night football?

See NFL page B6

Roach infests AK

Papa Roach takes over Koots, showing an increasing attraction for bigger bands

By Younger Oliver

Special to The Northern Light

Alaska is slowly seeing an increase in the number of popular bands that are visiting the state, including the likes of Slightly Stoopid, Ludacris, Korn and, most recently, Papa Roach. For many, the Papa Roach concert was one of the biggest events of the summer, namely because it was an all-ages show. Held in the parking lot of Chilkoot Charlie’s on Saturday, July 30, tickets for the concert were $35 - a fee even a broke college student could afford.

The show was opened by three local bands: Noise Brigade, The Hoons and Delmag. Noise Brigade took the stage first, beginning their set at 5:45 p.m. The crowd was sparse, and while some enjoyed their music, the applause from the crowd was disappointing. The Hoons seemed to be a little more well-known among the concert-goers, and their reaction from the crowd was more favorable, especially when three of the band members removed their shirts. After The Hoons’s set was over, Fatguy from KZND 94.7 came on stage and, much to the crowd’s laughter and dismay, removed his shirt as well.

Delmag was the last local group to take the stage before Papa Roach.

Lead singer Mike Gorder evoked much laughter from the crowd for his “beer breaks” in between songs.

Coors Light seemed to be the drink of the hour for the group.

Finally, Papa Roach was announced. While it seemed to take hours for them to come to the stage, the anticipation among the crowd was astounding. People were trying to start chants of “Papa Roach! Papa Roach!” and others were trying to see around the edges of the stage to catch the first glimpse.

Eventually, Papa Roach took to the stage, and the crowd exploded in cheers and applause.

The band immediately opened with “Getting Away with Murder,” from their 2004 platinum album of the same name. They followed See Roach page B2 this hit with “Burn,” from their 2010

While it seemed to take hours for them to come on stage, the anticipation in the crowd was astounding.

B2

TNL

A&E| August 09, 2011

Roach: ‘Annihilation’ of crowd

Contiued from Motion Cover

album “Time for Annihilation.”

Immediately the crowd was alive; there was yelling, cheering, clapping, jumping and more “rock on” hand gestures in the air than you could shake a stick at. Lead singer Jacoby Shaddix kept the crowd going throughout the entire 90-minute show – whether it was talking to us and telling us when to sing or jump, or holding out his microphone to the crowd to have us join in on the chorus, he had everyone engaged and ready to rock. There was a small mosh pit near the stage with some crowdsurfers, but nothing got out of hand.

Each song Papa Roach played during their set was well-known by the crowd. They reached back to their original hit albums “Infest” (2000) and “Lovehatetragedy” (2002) for songs such as “Dead Cell,” “Between Angels and Insects” and “Born with Nothing, Die with Everything,” Thrown into the mix was “Scars” – a definite fan favorite – which was also from 2004’s “Getting Away with Murder,” as well as “…To Be Loved” and “Forever” from 2007’s “Paramour Sessions.” “…

To Be Loved” gained Papa Roach both fans and popularity when it was picked up as the official theme song for “WWE Raw” in 2006. The band also played a couple songs from the 2009 album “Metamorphosis,” Papa Roach’s transitional-period album.

Although still loved by the crowd, these songs got no response compared to that of “Scars,” one of Papa Roach’s more famous songs. The band popped it on the crowd in the middle of the

Contract Writer

Papa Roach plays in front of hudreds in the parking lot of Chilkoot Charlie’s on Saturday, July 30 2011.

show with no warning at all. They transitioned directly into it from the previous song, and it took the crowd a few moments to realize what was happening, but as soon as they got their bearings, there was an explosion of excitement and the whole crowd sang along with the rest of the song. It was an experience that many might never have again; singing one of the most beloved songs a popular band has written right alongside them in concert, especially while they are still young and popular.

Papa Roach certainly did not disappoint. The crowd was so wrapped up in the concert and the energy that it was a shock to realize that 90 minutes had passed when Shaddix announced that there was time for one last song. The crowd made a massive murmur of disappointment, but its attitude changed when it heard what were quite possibly the

COURTESY OF/ KARL CHAUDHARY

the best opening lines of a last performance at a concert: “Cut my life into pieces/ This is my last resort.”

Papa Roach closed their show with what appeared to be one of the crowd’s favorites, “Last Resort” from “Infest.” The crowd’s energy immediately transformed from disheartened to joyous and enthralled. As the crowd sang along to every word of the song, there was an acceptance that the concert was almost over.

At the last note of “Last Resort,” it was apparent that $35 had brought on an evening of wonderful entertainment.

Next time however, I will invest in a folding stool for me to stand on to see over the tall people’s shoulders, because being 5’2” at a Papa Roach concert just doesn’t cut it.

‘Union Black’ unifies styles

Skindred’s latest album isn’t available in the U.S., but with originality and musical fusion like this, it needs to be Contract Writer

This isn’t a review, it’s a lament.

Skindred’s stellar album, “Union Back,” has been out since April in the UK. As of this publication, it still isn’t available anywhere in the US. However, it is finally affordable to import, formerly costing $40 and now a much more reasonable $9.

If you haven’t heard of Skindred, enrich your life.

Skindred’s unique sound, which no one has ever touched, mixes funk, reggae, hip-hop, blues and metal; it hits the ears like a swarm in its catastrophic harmony.

From the opener, “Union Black,” to the final track, “Game Over,” listeners will be blown away by the explosive guitar riffs, drum breaks, bass lines and the ever versatile vocal styles of Benji Webbe. After the nearly 10 years they’ve been around, Skindred has perfected their sound to an art

Kinky Tetris: block puzzles and adultery

By Bryan Dunagan

MUSIC REVIEW

By Bryan Dunagan

GAME REVIEW

that is up there with Mozart and Pachelbell.

“Warning” marks the first time the band has featured any other artist on one of their albums, and the one they use here is none other than Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach. The two of these vocal styles mesh perfectly, and neither overpowers the other.

All the songs are classics, from “Doom Riff,” to “Guntalk” and “Get it now,” Skindred has taken their genre and reconstructed it again so that nearly every song has one main genre with the others set to puree.

“Union Black” marks the most versatile album Skindred has released. After the stellar, but way too short “Shark Bites and Dog Fights,” this album is a fantastic follow-up. The only issue is that Skindred needs to put out an album more often than once every two to three years, because you always want more.

Artist: Skindred Album: Union Black Release Date: April 25, 2011 Record Label: Britannia

★ ★★★ ★

Catherine loves you. It’s true, she does. She comes over every night just to satisfy your carnal desires, and to top it off, she’s just your type. However, there’s a big problem with your Catherine situation. You have a girlfriend of five years, and her name is Katherine too, only spelled with a “K.” As if that wasn’t troubling enough, when you sleep with her, (Catherine with a “C”), you have horrifying nightmares, waking up in a cold sweat, or worse, in your own urine.

That’s basically the kind of experience you should expect when playing “Catherine”; a bizarre yet engrossing mixture of gaming genres that is held together by one of the best humaninterest stories to ever be featured in a video game. From the start, players take control of Vincent, a software programmer with no ambition, glad to just drink with his friends at the Stray Sheep pizza bar and spend time with his long time girlfriend, Katherine.

Katherine is pressuring Vincent into marriage, and Vincent is probably going to acquiesce, except that he has a major problem with making decisions. The player is able to actually influence his choices via crafting text message replies to Katherine, being as aloof or committed as the player decides to be. While mulling over his life and the looming decisions closing in on him, he looks up and sees Catherine, the blonde carefree beauty that just happens to seduce him.

The story takes place during the day, and there are dating-simulator elements of the gameplay then, but the bulk of the gameplay occurs come nightfall. When Vince falls asleep, he has nightmares of climbing Babel’s Tower of falling blocks while wearing nothing but his underwear, as well as the new hair and sheep horns growing mysteriously from his head. In order to climb the towering structure, he has to rearrange the blocks in a certain way, forming stairs and platforms to progress upwards. This creates an addictive puzzle system, and the controls are water tight, but it is so challenging that there are definitely times when the player will be screaming at the screen after a highly macabre demise at the hands of the giant murderous sheep who kills you if you climb too slowly. The tower has to be scaled one block at a time but, simultaneously, the giant sheep eliminates blocks below a certain line. The game forces players to stop and think with every approach. Of course, if players think too long, they will reach their untimely demise - a

balancing act that becomes more than a little stressful.

“Catherine” has some of the most agonizingly challenging puzzle gameplay to date. It’s definitely no mere “Tetris” kind of puzzle game. The rather steep learning curve also doesn’t help matters, and some players may be turned off by the difficulty at first.

Still, the story is so lavishly told from a visual standpoint, as well as a literary one, that the difficulty of the puzzle portion becomes insignificant. From every twitch of Vincent’s eye in his insanely expressive face in the in-game graphics engine, to fully animated cut-scene sequences (produced

by Studio 4⁰c, a large animation house in Japan most famous for the 2006 movie “Tekkon Kinkreet,” which saw theater time even in the U.S.) the graphics and look of the game never disappoint.

Every encounter between Vincent and Catherine/Katherine is to see how much he can handle until he breaks, and where his priorities lie when he does so.

Until the conclusion, the player is able to influence these priorities by deciding what Vincent says in texts, phone calls, and personal encounters. There are even portions where Vincent goes into a confessional and answers different questions, which also influence the direction in which the story goes. One of the best questions asked in confession is, “Are you a pervert?” Listening to Vincent’s execution of your decisions is hilarious, and quickly becomes one of the most entertaining parts of “Catherine.”

“Catherine” is one of the more fantastically bizarre games to come out this year. It blends the dating sim and puzzle genres seamlessly and, though the difficulty can be problematic at times, the player will likely want to stick with it just to continue unravelling the compelling story.

Game: “Catherine” Developer: Atlas Persona Team Release Date: July 26, 2011

★ ★★★

August 09, 2011 | a&e

FOOD REVIEW

B3

RETRO MOVIE REVIEW

Best chocolate cupcake in town ‘Harvey’ stands The best cupcake; a sweet and tasty Food Quest finale

firm on real legs

By Heather Hamilton A&E Editor

By Heather Hamilton, Ashley Snyder

frosting and topped with a tuft of chocolate mousse. It is moderately moist, but dry and heavy enough to resemble more of a muffin than a cupcake. The frosting is conservatively applied, but is thicker and more rich than the others, appearing to be more like

A&E Editor, Features Editor

For many, birthday parties and celebrations are among the greatest joys of growing up. The expectation of ingesting copious amounts of sugary treats usually puts a smile on kids’ faces.

At The Northern Light, random celebrations and birthday parties tend to be accompanied by homemade cupcakes, so for the final installment of Anchorage Food Quest, TNL scoured town for the best chocolate cupcakes from locally owned shops.

It was TNL’s most difficult mission in Food Quest, since few of Anchorage’s bakeries and pastry shops offer cupcakes on demand. Here’s what we found:

1. Sugarspoon - PB&J Cupcake:

and a light drizzle of chocolate syrup on top. The cupcake itself is the most moist of the ones sampled, and both the cake and the frosting very nearly melt in your mouth. The mint flavor in the frosting is very strong, but not overbearingly so. It does, however, overpower the muted chocolate taste in the cupcake itself. Nothing tastes badly here, but the cupcake could have used a bit more of a chocolaty flavor.

Cake Studio is located downtown on 4th Avenue next to the 4th Avenue Theatre.

3. Superstar Pastry Design - Chocolate Rush:

hardened cake frosting than the light buttercream of the others.

Despite appearances, the frosting is actually moist and soft. The blend of flavors is consistent as well, so as plain as it is, at least it’s well put together. The L’Aroma Bakery branch sampled is located inside the midtown New Sagaya on Old Seward Highway.

5. The Flying Dutchman - Chocolate Custard Cupcake: This cupcake is, by far, the finest cupcake sampled in this round of Food Quest. It’s a chocolate cupcake with raspberry jelly filling and peanut butter frosting, garnished with a few shavings of chocolate on top. It is as close to perfection as TNL can envision it. The chocolate cupcake is moist and flavorful, and the raspberry filling is rich and light at the same time, complimenting the chocolate. The peanut butter frosting is very strong, but it doesn’t overpower the rest of the components, instead meshing with them to create a blended taste.

Unfortunately, Sugarspoon only offers cupcakes on Wednesdays; it’s worth it though. Sugarspoon is located next to Bella’s Boutique on Spenard Road.

2. Cake Studio Bakery and Boutique - Grasshopper Cupcake: The Grasshopper Cupcake is a chocolate cupcake frosted with green mint buttercream frosting

The Chocolate Rush features a chocolate cupcake with fudge filling, buttercream frosting and topped with M&M’s. Unlike the Grasshopper Cupcake, the Chocolate Rush is more flavorheavy on the actual cupcake, rather than the frosting. The cupcake isn’t as moist, but the flavor potency almost makes up for it. The frosting has a consistency similar to that of Cool-Whip, and is nearly as bland as it too.

The fudge filling, however, is as expected - rich, thick and very chocolaty. Superstar Pastry is located behind the City Diner on the corner of Minnesota and Benson.

4. L’Aroma Bakery Chocolate Cupcake: The cupcake at L’Aroma is easily the most simple of the cupcakes sampled, consisting of a chocolate cupcake with chocolate

TNL’s least favorite cupcake has to be the Chocolate Custard.

There isn’t much going for this Flying Dutchman creation, despite their reputation for wonderful pastries. The cupcake itself is so dry it nearly crumbles between the eater’s fingers. It is also nearly impossible to unwrap from the paper cupcake cup because it sticks so badly. The frosting is so tasteless that TNL can’t determine what flavor it’s supposed to be, and the sprinkles are so numerous that it looks like a bag of them ripped open on top of the cupcake. The custard is a strange component, and both the flavor and the consistency don’t fit with the cupcake. It also leaves an awkward aftertaste. Numerous reports say great things about The

Based on the Mary Chase play of the same name, “Harvey” tells the story of Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart “An American Tail: Fievel Goes West”) and his best friend Harvey, who happens to be a six foot tall invisible rabbit. Elwood’s sister, Veta Louise Simmons (Josephine Hull “The Lady From Texas”), and her daughter Myrtle Mae Simmons (Victoria Horne “Affair with a Stranger”) live with Elwood, and in perpetual mortification with his need to introduce everyone he meets to his invisible friend.

After Elwood inadvertently ruins a social gathering at their house by frightening the guests, Veta decides to have him committed to the local sanitarium for treatment.

Stewart is disarmingly charming as Elwood Dowd; his smile and positive nature is infectious even when the viewer thinks the character is acting oddly. He is always kind-hearted, smiling and genuine to everyone he meets. This demeanor earns Elwood much respect at a local bar, Charlie’s, where he and Harvey spend quite a bit of time sipping martinis and talking to other patrons. The regular patrons who are familiar with Elwood even go out of their way to ask how Harvey is faring, and attempt to stand up for Elwood when others try to take advantage of his generosity.

Perhaps the most touching scene with Elwood is the one in which he tells one of the sanitarium doctors and a nurse of how he first met Harvey. As he tells the story, Stewart’s voice is nostalgic and his eyes are seemingly staring off into nothing, like he truly is remembering something long since past, and his smile gives away his fondness for the memory in a way even his soothing voice does not. In that moment more than any other, he truly is Elwood P. Dowd.

Veta is a more complicated character than she first appears, and Hull does a relatively good job of keeping up with and portraying her many facets. She struggles at both the beginning and end of the movie over having Elwood

committed to the sanitarium, showing her genuine love and concern for her younger brother.

Veta is comical, but this is due to her grand facial expressions and constant wailing over Elwood and his “imaginary” friend, (at one point she is so hysterical one doctor is convinced that it is her who needs treatment and releases Elwood).

In contrast to Veta is her daughter Myrtle Mae, who throughout the film shows little to no love for her uncle. While Horne plays the part of a mild mannered young lady well, she lends her powerful eyes to moments when Myrtle is upset over her uncle, giving an almost feral look to them. Her expressions show her deep determination to lock away Elwood better than any one of her lines regarding the topic, even though there are a few good ones. Contrary to this overbearing behavior, Horne is also expected to play Myrtle as lovestruck throughout a fair portion of the film. This part of Myrtle doesn’t diminish her desire for Elwood’s capture and treatment, but it does temper it whenever the object of her affections (an orderly at the sanitarium) is on the screen. She smiles in these moments, and almost appears to be a different person despite remaining genuine to her more aggressive side. In doing this, Horne perhaps gives the second best performance in the movie.

Never once is the audience’s experience bogged down by the fact that we never see Harvey.

He is as invisible to us as he is to everyone else, and yet it doesn’t matter. Not seeing him gives the audience a way to connect with the characters better, and adds credibility to the film.

Many classic films of previous generations are being remade into new big budget cinematic experiences for modern audiences, but a remake of “Harvey” could never hope to do justice to the performances given in the original 1950 masterpiece. Let’s hope Hollywood resists the urge to do what it does best and tries to fix what isn’t broken.

Director: Henry Koster Starring: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Victoria Horne Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

★ ★★★

B4

TNL

a&e| August 09, 2011

SUMMER OF HEROES MOVIE REVIEW

‘Captain America’ takes fall for summer movies

By Shana Roberson Executive Editor

It had to happen eventually. Not all of the summer super heroes movies could be good. And Captain America will go down as the worst one this summer.

That doesn’t mean you can’t find some enjoyment out of the movie.

Set in the World War II era, Captain America is a story about a sickly, small young man who, try as he might, cannot find a way to get into the Army to fight the Nazis, or bullies as he puts it. Luckily for him, a genius doctor notices his good character and selects him for an experiment with a super soldier serum that will amplify all of his physical and emotional characteristics in order to make him a lean, mean, benevolent fighting machine. Unfortunately, another used that serum before it was ready and a super strong, super evil nemesis for Captain America was created: Red Skull.

The movie stars Chris Evans (“Fantastic Four”_ as Captain America, Hugo Weaving (“The Matrix,” “Lord of the Rings”) as Red Skull and debuts Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Captain America’s love interest. Tommy Lee Jones also stars as the Colonel in charge and Stanley Tucci (“Devil Wears Prada”) as the doctor, who both not only steal scenes but inject the only bits of humor the film offers.

All of the summer hero movies have

been cheesy. And really, taken from decades past where our present day cynicism was (thankfully) lacking, how could they not translate somewhat cheesy? Where Captain America fell short was in not making fun of itself, and not injecting any humor into the story.

Think IronMan, another in the Avenger series. Really? A man being kept alive by a magnetic chest plate that is keeping shrapnel from getting to his heart. For years. Suuure. But what makes the audience forgive this 40-year-old plot is the humor and attitude it’s delivered with.

And from X Men to Green Lantern this summer, cheese was coated with humor in order to make it easier for the audience to swallow.

To it’s credit, the casting team of Captain America did their job well. Chris Evans shines as scrawny, pre-Captain Steve Rogers and doesn’t falter once he moves into the role that made him a hero.

Not only did Evans do the work to present himself drastically different in a physical sense, he really nailed the essence of his character. Evans told Screen Star that Rogers was an “incredibly noble, honest, selfless man.” And though those qualities might not translate easily through the silver screen, Evans certainly made it happen.

Another high point in the film was its costuming and makeup. The audience is transformed to the time of World War

II by visually stunning wardrobes that span from the women Captain America performs with on stage to the men he battles with on the field. The hair and makeup----.

Finally, this film saved the best for last.

As with all Avenger movies, the scene after the credits is exciting. But this one was the most exciting and could well serve and the best motivation for seeing Captain America all together.

Director: Joe Johnston Run time: 124 min Genre: Action/Fantasy Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES

★★ Left: Chris Evans lost weight for the roll before gaining muscle to depict the transformation Steve Rogers goes through in the film.

Right: Hayley Atwell played a feisty Sergeant Peggy Carter, Captain America’s love interest.

‘The Avengers’ set to be released May 2012 The culmination of all recent Marvel films, ‘The Avengers’ will put our favorite faces on one screen

Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man

Mark Ruffalo replaces Chris Hemsworth as Thor Chris Evans as Captain America Scarlett Johanssan as Black Widow Edward Norton as The Hulk

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson

Tom Hiddleson as Loki

Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye

Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts

August 09, 2011 | A&E

B5

PLANETARIUM: Grows from education to entertainment From space to light shows, Dr. Puckett gives the low-down on how UAA’s Planetarium produces its material, and what it’s offering in the future

By Leroy Polk

Assistant A&E Editor

The UAA Planetarium and Visualization Theater, or just “the planetarium” for short, was constructed along with the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building (CPSB) in late 2009, and classes began utilizing the new technology in Spring 2010.

At the time, not many people knew it existed, let alone exactly what it was capable of. As lecture classes began to be taught inside the room under the visualization dome, students at UAA, either in science major programs or those taking entry-level Astronomy classes, were made abundantly aware of its visual power. Since then, the relatively unknown existence of the facility, tucked in the back of the CPSB, is now enjoyed not only by UAA students, staff and faculty, but also by the Anchorage community as a whole.

Aside from its usefulness as an educational tool, the planetarium is also a presentational medium through which entertainment can be enjoyed. The planetarium overcame its initial obscurity by opening to people who were not enrolled in UAA science classes, and exploring the entertainment angle of the facility in two different ways.

The first is through the showing

i

of weekly films that UAA and the planetarium director, Dr. Andy Puckett, have procured the licenses of. The second way is through unique student and community involvement with the venue on a creative level (engineering projects of sight and sound), which are then available for public viewings. The Northern Light sat down with Dr. Puckett to get an inside glimpse into the inner workings of the planetarium.

“We have two projectors: one in the front, and one in the back.

And each one covers half of the dome,” Dr. Puckett said, “So there is a seam that we are very careful to mesh together that goes from your left to your right, directly above your head. Each one of those projectors is fed by four video-rendering computers, so there’s a total of eight that cover the dome, with each computer taking up a one-eighth portion of the screen.”

The computers, with their processing divided into portions, are thus made to process less and do not suffer from hardware lag, allowing them to render higher definition without skipping a beat.

This translates to a much more breath-taking image quality.

In addition to pre-rendered shows, the planetarium also offers interactive journeys through Earth

and the galaxy.

“We can lift off and fly through space almost like it’s a video game.

And that’s pretty common, everyone is used to that in a video game setting. But what we’ve got is this immersive reality.

It’s like you’re in this domed car, where you can see in 360 degrees with your peripheral vision back around your head,” said Dr. Puckett, “Everyone asks me if I can hook COURTESY OF ANDY PUCKETT up an Xbox to it, but Swirling nebulae tower overhead as the multiple projectors display high definition imagery across the massive domed screen. right now we can’t do planetarium has two that, and it’s because Instead, these shows were set to shows upcoming on of just that – we have eight the DJs own unique soundtrack.

August 12th: “The Search for different computers. We can play a Unfortunately Sonic Vision is Life,” narrated by Harrison Ford, DVD or a game on a 33 by 16 foot will not be returning in the fall, will be making its final run, and screen, but it wouldn’t be taking due to the expiration of the visual’s “Black Holes” will be playing advantage of it. […] It wouldn’t be license. There will be more directly afterwards. On Friday, immersive in 360 degrees like the programming like it however, September 9, Dr. Puckett will be things made especially for it.” with volunteers creating their own showing the new film, “Cosmic Not only are there the weekly visuals for shows. Dr. Puckett Collisions,” narrated by Robert showings of these specially works with such volunteers, and Redford. fitted planetarium movies, but is always open to new ideas and When school resumes in the fall, also the opportunity for creative volunteers. For viewers, Puckett there will be more showings per involvement. DJ’s from UAA advises the cardinal rule of the month and the full schedule, along have already seen popularity with now-popular planetarium’s events: with descriptions, is available on the Sonic Vision shows, which “Get your tickets in advance, they UAA’s planetarium website at: used Moby’s original visuals always fill up.” www.uaa.alaska.edu/planetarium. sans soundtrack due to licensing.

More information: The

August 9-22, 2011

FOCUS EVENTS CALENDAR

CONCERTS

Dark Star Orchestra

August 18 at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub A self-proclaimed Grateful Dead coverband, Dark Star Orchestra (DSO) will be playing at the Bear Tooth for a special showing. DSO will perform a complete setlist from The Grateful Dead’s repetoir. It is a 21+ show, and doors open at 7 p.m. More information on the band can be found online at www.darkstarorchestra.net with ticket pricing and information available at www.beartooththeatre.net/events. html.

CULTURE FESTIVALS Hawaiian Festival - August 20 at 1 - 5 p.m.

Downtown Anchorage (Peratrovich Park on 4th and E Street) will be full of pride for the 50th state, with events including games, live dancing demonstrations, music, and food, all indigenous to this rich culture. More information on the event can be found online at http:// www.anchoragedowntown.org/

Greek Festival - August 19 - 20 at 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

August 21 at noon – 8 p.m.

The 17th annual Greek culture festival will be hosted again at the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church this year. Attendees will be treated to all of the most prominent aspects of Greek culture with traditional Greek folk dances and full-course meals, including vegetarian options. More information can be found at http://www.transfiguration.ak.goarch.org/

Silverstein

August 19 at Club Millenium & August 20 at Chilkoot Charlie’s

The Canadian post-hardcore headliners Silverstein will be performing on tour for the release of their fourth album on two separate shows on Friday the 19th and August the 20th at Club Millenium and Chilkoot Charlies, respectively. Club M will be an all-ages show, but Koots will be strictly 21+. More info on the second show is available at www.koots.com.

UAA Planetarium Shows - August 12 - 7 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.

The planetarium on campus will be having its final showing of the blockbuster The Search for Life, narrated by Harrison Ford, followed by a showing of Black Holes, narrated by Liam Neeson. The amazing visuals will be displayed on the full dome planetarium located on the UAA campus in the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building. Both shows are open to the public, and will include a brief lecture by Dr. Travis Rector. More information can be found at http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/planetarium/

Compiled by Leroy Polk

SPORTS

B6

COURSE REVIEW continued from Motion cover

NFL: lockedin until 2021 players were being smart though.

32 owners up against 1,900 NFL players. One can only hope that despite the all of the brain damage these players have received in their careers, they would have enough brainpower to ratify the owner’s agreement. And they didthey reviewed and reviewed only seconds before the quarterback was sacked on his own five yard line. Don’t fret, billionaires (owners) will still be billionaires and millionaires (players) will still be millionaires.

Thankfully it’s over. Fans, players, coaches and owners can be worry free until 2021.

Since the end of the lockout NFL teams are moving forward and at an accelerated rate.

Already, the Jets three-year quarterback, Mark Sanchez, has been named captain taking an automatic lead for the New York team.

Randy Moss is “retiring” after just 13 seasons in the NFL. This is something most people are questioning seeing as how just weeks ago Moss’s agent told the media he is in the best shape since his 2007 season with the patriots.

Mark Schlereth, former Alaskan and Red Skins and Denver Broncos guard, who is now an ESPN football tallking-head, said on a Sports Center broadcast, “I can’t wait until camp is over and Moss comes back.”

He makes a strong argument though. We are all accustomed to the Moss attitude. You know the “I’m the shit” attitude he acquired in his time with the New England Patriots. This could explain why teams are only offering him oneyear contracts. We digress though.

With that lovely personality trait one can only suspect he finds training camps beneath him. He is Randy Moss.

The Giants have resigned running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who in his last season had eight touchdowns, 47 catches and rushed for 1,235 yards. Yes it looks hopeful for the young athlete going into his fifth season in the NFL. Well there you have it. Just a start for your 2011-12 NFL football seasons. The season is set to kick off Thursday Sept. 8 when the Saints and the Packers go head -to-head.

Kincaid: TNL’s final Frolf stop of summer

By Megan Edge The Northern Light

Located at the end of Raspberry Road is Kincaid Park, and the home to the second most challenging disc golf course in the city of Anchorage. It’s no Hilltop in terms of difficulty, but up until Hilltop opened in early June the course held the bar for hard core frolfing.

Compared to the local favorite Westchester, Kincaid has few people, or at least that is how it seems. The distance from tee to hole to the next tee is quite a distance for every hole, so even if the course is busy, the groups of frolfers get fairly spread out. This helps to get rid of the feeling of being rushed to hurry through the hole.

Even though the course is challenging, there is truly something for everyone. Like many golf courses, it features both

amateur and pro tee’s, depending on what caliber of player you determine you are. This will also very the par depending on which tee who chose to start fun.

What is surprising is despite the fact that the course is in the wilderness, the bugs really aren’t bad. And the trails from each hole are nicely groomed.

The view is also remarkable. If you look into the bay Fire Island is in clear view.

This wraps up our summer course reviews. There is still time to go out and enjoy the summer weather with your pals and your frolf discs.

Here is a list of some courses around the Anchorage area, some of which TNL didn’t have time to review.

1.Hilltop Ski Are 2.Hanshew Middle School 3.Robert Service High school

4.Peters Creek 5.Alyeska Ski Area 6.Westchester Lagoon 7.Kincaid Park 8.Fort Richardson

9.Russian Jack Springs 10.Girdwood DGC 11.Schroder Park 12.Eagle River High School

August 09, 2011 | sports

By: Ashley Snyder Features editor

s

en ich

eR i t ka

The UAA women’s basketball team has been host to many athletic stars, and is always on the lookout for new shiny athletes. One of the newest additions to the UAA women’s basketball team is, Utah native Katie Richens. Having played basketball since the third grade, Richens has been a dedicated player and excelled in her high school career as a four year letterwinner, second-team all-region as a freshman and first-team all-region as a sophomore.

“We obviously recruited Katie because of her basketball skills, but what separates players at this level is the drive and determination that lies within the individual, and she possesses those intangibles,” Head coach Tim Moser said in a recent press release.

“Her love for basketball will be demonstrated by her work ethic. We are extremely excited to have Katie for four years.”

The women’s basketball team ended last year with a 27-7 season, advancing to the NCAA Division II Tournament 2nd Round. The hope is with Richens and other new additions, the team will excel even further this year.

How long have you been participating in basketball?

I started playing basketball in the third grade so I would’ve been eight years old. I played Jr. jazz every year until junior high then I played on their team then eventually my high school team, then a year on the Salt Lake Metro AAU team.

How has playing basketball shaped your life?

Basketball has taught me so much! I was blessed with an athletic ability and through that traits like determination, hard work, patience, perseverance, etc. have come.. It’s taught me to never give up and to work hard for what I want. Nothing can stop a person if they want it bad enough and put in the effort.

What position do you like playing the most?

I play point guard and shooting guard. I love these positions because I get to have the ball in my hands, I’m able to score and the direction of the game is up to me. Lots of pressure and I like it like that.

What is your most memorable moment in bball?

My most memorable moment in basketball was when my team made it to the state tournament my junior year. Our school hadn’t made it that far in seven years. We made it all the way to the state championship game and lost in the final seconds. It was the most disappointing experience I have ever had. But the sting of losing eased a little bit when I got a phone call a few days later saying I had been picked as our state’s 3A MVP! I was speechless. It was an unforgettable year of basketball.

Greatest obstacle you have had to overcome?

Sports have a lot of obstacles to overcome. Sickness, broken bones, black eyes, sprained ankles, losing games, but the thing that was the hardest for me to deal with was losing a close friend and teammate my sophomore year.Unfortunate circumstances led to a tragic suicide that left behind many hurting hearts.

It wasn’t easy but I learned a lot from it and it turned into a good growing experience for me and my team.

Who has inspired you the most in life?

My mom has inspired me the most. She has always supported everything I do, followed me to every sports game or high school event I’ve been a part of. She’s never given up on me and pushes me every day to work harder and become better in everything I do. Her faith is unfailing; she works hard, and uses every moment as a chance to teach. She’s taught me what’s important in life and I know no matter what I can rely on her. I hope one day I can be like her.

How hard will be to adjust to a new team?

I think adjusting to a new team is going to have many challenges. We’ve all been coached different and have our own styles but Coach Moser will do a good job of meshing us together. I’m sure it’ll take a little bit of time to get things flowing on and off the court but we all have something in common; we love playing ball! I’ve already met most of the girls and I really like them so I’m excited to get up there and get closer with them all.

If you weren’t playing basketball, what sport or school activity would you be most into?

If I wasn’t playing ball I’d be doing soccer or track (throwing the Javelin in track) I did both in high school and loved them. I’m very competitive so I’d have to stay involved in sports somehow.

Is there anything about starting college that makes you nervous?

I’m a little nervous about moving so far away. Alaska is a long ways from Utah and it’ll be tough to be away from all my family and friends but it’s a new and exciting challenge and I’m excited to be out on my own.

What are you most excited about experiencing in college?

I’m most excited about playing ball! The coaches and program are amazing and it’s an honor to be considered a part of UAA’s Women’s Basketball Program. We have to opportunity of winning a national championship and there’s nothing I want more. I also can’t wait to do a little Alaskan fishing I love the outdoors so I don’t think I could have chosen a better place to go to school at.

What would you like to major in?

I haven’t decided on my major yet. I have lots of interests, particularly in sports psychology, history and physical therapy but I can’t make up my mind yet.

B7

B8 BROKE COMIC

TNL

sports| August 09, 2011 HOROSCOPE

YOUR STARS THIS WEEK

by Stella Wilder

SODUKU

The coming week is likely to prove an excellent period of personal growth for almost every individual, especially those who have put their own dreams and desires on hold temporarily to see another pursue his or hers. It’s the time to dig deep, to define what is most important, and to move ahead aggressively toward the achievement of that which is most important -- and personal. He or she who knows what he wants will have the opportunity to put those desires on the fast track, and enjoy almost immediate rewards.

The week isn’t only for the dreamers, though; those who pursue more practical, pragmatic and down-to-earth goals are likely to find the odds in their favor. All should be aware, however, that time is of the essence, and the rainbow in the sky isn’t likely to last forever.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 7) -- Your personal belief system may be put to the test, but you’ll find a new way to put your own ideals first without offending anyone else.

(Aug. 8-Aug. 22) -- Some may think that you’ve had more than your share of success recently, but more is on the way.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 7) -- It’s a good time to thank those who have gone to bat for you. By week’s end, you’ll have more reasons than ever to be fully grateful. (Sept.

8-Sept. 22) -- You may lose a bet, but the gains should outweigh any losses when all is said and done.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 7) -You’ll receive news that prompts you to change your plans rather dramatically but not necessarily permanently. (Oct. 8-Oct. 22) -Dedication is the watchword for all Libra natives. You can renew a personal commitment.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 7) -- What you have only recently invented may have to be reinvented, but you’ll know just what is required in order to make it all work. (Nov. 8-Nov. 21) -- You can put certain endeavors on a faster track than others. A rival is impressed.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 7) -- You and a loved one will have the chance to reaffirm the dreams you have built together. Don’t be afraid of that which is irreversible.

(Dec. 8-Dec. 21) -- A long period of dormancy is likely to come to an end; be ready to spring into action.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 6) -- Others may try to imitate what you do, but they cannot begin to imitate your unique style. This week, the how is just as important as the what. (Jan. 7-Jan. 19) -- You may have to repeat yourself more than once before you will truly be heard.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 3) -- Imagine facing the week without the burdens you’ve been carrying lately; very soon, that is precisely how things will really feel. (Feb. 4-Feb. 18) -- What you see is what you get, at least during the first half of the week. Later, you may be surprised.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 5) --

It’s not a primary goal that you will reach, but one or two secondary ones that mean more to you than you thought. (March 6-March 20) -- Only the best will satisfy you, and you must be ready to do more than usual to get it.

ARIES (March 21-April 4) -- You may find yourself far from home, but you’re not likely to be working in a vacuum. Work and play may be unusually social. (April 5-April 19) -- You’re in line for more than you expected, and you’ve done everything you can do to ensure success.

TAURUS (April 20-May 5) -- You may find yourself joking about something that others take seriously, and by week’s end, you’re likely to understand why. (May 6-May 20) -- The encouragement you receive as the week opens is likely to propel you into uncharted territory, but you’re ready.

GEMINI (May 21-June 6) -- Anything you do behind the scenes is likely to work wonders, and you’re not going to require a great deal of personal thanks. (June 7-June 20) -- The strength of your family unit will give you what you need as you attempt something difficult.

CANCER (June 21-July 7) -Your connection to those who have gone before will seem stronger to you than ever before, and that bond proves quite rewarding. (July 8-July 22) -- You may be required to take on a task that others are not willing to accept. The job suits you.

SEAWOLF SNAPSHOTS: WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AHEAD TO THIS FALL? PHOTOS BY JIM FOSTER/TNL

rd forwa es g n i k m oo ga “I’m al sketball eer.” h to b ause I c bec ing “I’m lookto rd a forw g.” graduatin

ms Jazmine Willia eing 22, Senior, Mark

Whitney Powell 25, Senior, Nursing

g okin o l o m “I’ ard t forwting pre out get uisites req he way ng of t learni of and history .” the losophy phi

CRYPTOQUOTE

Balogun Bisho 19, Computer S p ence, Sophomocire

“I’m looking forward to brightening my intelligence.”

Luke Lusardi 21, Junior, Phil osophy

“I’m looking forward to meeting back up with friends after being gone for two years.”

Solution for a cryptoquote from July 26 issue “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.”

Albert Einstein

Steve Wickenkamp 25, Outdoor Leadership, Senior