Issue 14, Volume 118 -- January 25, 2023

Hells Angel gang member on trial

Frank Hanebuth, a German national, is being tried in Madrid alongside 49 alleged international collaborators for running a chapter of the Hells Angels gang on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Spanish prosecutors are aiming to charge Hanebuth with illegal possession of frearms, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization. They’re also seeking a $4.5 million fne.

Campus Life:

Sports:

L.A. gunman found dead after killing 11 Eleven were killed and 10 were injured after gunman Huu Can Tran, 72, opened fre at a Lunar New Year Fest in a Los Angeles dance studio Saturday, Jan. 21. The event was part of the city’s planned two-day events to welcome the Year of the Rabbit, but remaining events were canceled. Police found Tran dead with a selfinficted gunshot Jan. 22.

Bear kills family in Alaska schoolyard

Summer Myomick, 24, and her 1-year-old son, Clyde Ongtow, were mauled by a polar bear after exiting Kingikmiut school in Wales, Alaska. The principal then ordered a lockdown and closed the blinds so the children in the school could not witness the attack. The mauling, the frst fatal polar bear attack in Alaska since 1990, has renewed interest in polar bear patrols.

Ark. man charged for Jan. 6 actions

Richard “Bigo’’ Barnett, 62, from Gravette, Arkansas, was convicted of all eight charges for his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. The Washington, D.C. jury convicted him with a felony charge of obstruction of an offcial proceeding. Photos of Barnett in Nancy Pelosi’s offce with his feet propped on her desk went viral after the attacks, and was used by the prosecution as evidence to prove him guilty. After the verdict, Barnett called his conviction an “injustice” and vowed to appeal it. However, the judge denied his request to move the trial to Arkansas.

Drag performers protest bill at Capitol Author, UCA professor dies

BY BLAKE WEAVER Sta Writer

Protesters showed up at the Arkansas Capitol Jan. 19 to protest the legislature’s proposed Senate Bill 43, which aims to classify drag performance as an “adultoriented business.”

The bill is scheduled for a vote in the Republican-controlled state Senate Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Residents, including drag performers and members of the LGBT community, met on the Capitol steps to protest.

Signs read, “Say NO to SB43,” “I am a lady,” “Respect our existence or expect our resistance” and “Jesus wore a dress. The pope does. So why can’t I?”

Athena Sinclair, a drag queen performer and Miss Gay America 2021, led the protest and said SB43 “could lead to clubs that are in close proximity to public spaces such as parks not being available anymore.”

The bill would bar drag from being performed on public property or within the view of minors.

Sinclair said the bill was intentionally vague to attack drag and transgender communities, and she urged protesters “to vote, make sure you’re registered to vote, and if possible, run for offce.”

Savvy Savant, Miss Gay Arkansas 2022, said, “They say they want traditional family values; when I look out, y’all, this is my family,” gesturing toward the audience.

Savant said, “This is who shows up when we’re hurt. This is who shows up when our rights are being taken. This is the love and acceptance that many people don’t get from traditional family values.”

Sen. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, said, “We are fghting for you and we are not going to stop. We don’t have the numbers yet to fght this kind of legislation, but we are going to keep fghting.”

Drag queen Veronica Tonics, who performs to earn a living, said the bill was “a

disappointment” and could affect the way she performs.

“I feel like if this bill passes we’re going further back when we should be going forward,” she said.

Presbyterian minister and UCA alumna Rev. Marie Mainard-O’Connell said, “I don’t know if the legislators are educated enough to realize that Shakespeare … cross-dressed people.”

“With the vague description of ‘otherwise performs,’ it could defnitely affect things like drag story time but also just being in public in drag because presence can be performance,” she said.

The reverend said, “For a governor who claims that she wants to bring jobs to Arkansas, so far [Sarah Huckabee Sanders] just fred the staff at her own residence and is now working on trying to undercut drag performances, as well as other jobs. So yeah, it’s a job killer.”

CULTURE WAR

Faulkner County Library’s story hours clash on gender

BY MADISON OGLE Associate Editor

Faulkner County Library’s morning lineup included two children’s story times Jan. 15, both conflicting in nature, yet only a few feet from each other.

In one room was Angila Dubois, an Arkansas drag queen and performer.

Opposite them was “Pastor Story Hour” with Owen Strachan, a member of Conway’s Grace Bible Theological Seminary.

Dubois shared books that touched on gender identity and sexuality, namely the book “If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It,” which encouraged playfulness in relation to the world of drag.

Strachan opted for books like “God’s Design,” which told children that God made only two genders and that women were created to serve men.

Strachan said, “We love that design that we were just talking about, kids. You are not evolved animals. You are not like a monkey that grew up. God made you a boy or a girl for his glory.”

At the end of story time, Strachan encouraged the room to stop by the inclusive story hour if they wished and reminded them to “engage them kindly and warmly.”

While his church didn’t sponsor the event, Strachan said the story hour was meant to bring biblical lessons to children outside of church walls.

“It’s no secret that drag queen story hour was a big thing, and it still is,” Strachan said. “We wanted to, not try and compete, but just have our own event where we would say God made boys and girls.”

For Strachan, any gender outside

BY MIA WADDELL Editor-in-Chief

Mark Spitzer, UCA associate professor of creative writing and published author, died Jan. 17. Spitzer was best known for his aquatic-centered books and for founding the “Toad Suck Review,” a literary journal.

In a written statement, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Tom Williams said of Spitzer, “He leaves us with a considerable legacy of his poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, and he mentored, published and supported untold numbers of writers both at UCA and beyond. He was a literary citizen like no other, and I find it so disheartening to no longer use present tense for such a vibrant force.... We will not know his like again.”

Residence Life changes rehiring process for current student sta

BY EMILY KENNARD News Editor

The hiring process for Housing and Residence Life’s student staff will look different from usual this year.

“If you complained about your work, whined about staff meetings, and did a poor job, you are likely not going to be invited back to your position,” Director of Residence Life Craig Seager said.

Seager said that in the 14 years he’s worked at UCA’s Housing and Residence Life, “returning RAs were always guaranteed to return to their same position, as long as they maintained their employment requirements,” but said the policy has contributed toward feelings of complacency and negativity among the staff.

“All current student staff, regardless of their current position, will have to go through a new ‘returner’ process that we will be piloting and assessing,” Seager said, adding that a worker’s end-of-year performance evaluations will play a big part in their decision.

“It is very likely that some residential complexes may have one or two fewer RAs,” Seager said, adding those positions “will be repurposed to other new student staff positions.

Seager said the buildings will have more overall staff and more support for residents.

He said the personnel changes were necessary in preventing student staff — especially RAs — from being overworked, and that recent research he’s done and published in the field says as much.

Seager said, “The duties and responsibilities of RAs have been significantly reduced without the pay changing,” and said he wasn’t aware of

any significant changes to the Housing and Residence Life operating budget.

“Our student staff, RAs in particular, are required to do a lot more than ever before, and this has negatively impacted their mental health, academics, and job performance,” Seager said.

These negative effects on staff are why his department is creating 18 new positions for fall 2023. New positions include programming assistant, marketing assistant, complex assistant and maintenance assistant.

Seager said the department added maintenance assistants to provide “extra support” to residents and to allow professional maintenance to focus on “larger-scale housing maintenance issues.”

“[Maintenance assistants] will be trained by our professional maintenance staff to handle simple maintenance issues such as changing a light bulb or air filter, fixing a leak, fixing a sticky drawer, paint touch-ups or even adjusting the height of a stubborn bed frame,” Seager said.

Seager said the restructure would give students more opportunities to work for Housing and Residence Life because eligibility requirements will differ, like those based on GPA and semesters lived on campus.

“We have also created two additional senior resident assistant positions that offer some extra leadership experience to any student staff members that are looking at joining the College Student Personnel and Administration Master’s Program,” Seager said.

Seager said veteran RAs will not lose their veteran status or pay if rehired, and that the student staff recruitment committee’s work to promote the new positions is already underway for fall recruitment to begin in February.

Community walks through campus in march honoring MLK

photos by Madison Ogle

(Left) A child prays next to Owen Strachan, member of Conway’s Grace Bible Theological Seminary and host of ‘Pastor Story Hour.’ (Right) Angila Dubois, an Arkansas drag performer, reads a book about drag queens to children at the Faulkner County Library, Jan. 15.

Athena Sinclair speaks to protesters on the Capitol’s steps next to K.C. Sunshine on Jan. 19. The performers spoke against Senate Bill 43, which would put location and age restrictions on drag performances.

Rev. Marie Mainard-O’Connell speaks against the bill. She received her master’s degree at UCA.

photo by Blake Weaver

photo by Blake Weaver

Police Beat

Officer Steve Pointer stopped a vehicle Jan. 22 for a taillight out. Officer Kaylob Boykin arrived and noticed “a strong odor of green marijuana.” The driver, student Niya Jackson, said they smoked marijuana in the car before going to get food at McDonald’s. UCAPD requested a female CPD officer conduct a probable cause search on Jackson and four passengers: Kortini Jones, Alivia Carroll, Timyiah Moses and Mykell Gilkey. The officer found nothing illegal and all five students were issued drug violations for admitting to smoking marijuana in the car.

Officer Skyler Cox stopped an orange Dodge vehicle traveling north on Donaghey Avenue for an expired registration Jan. 19.

Cox discovered the driver, 42-year-old Julia Johnson was driving without insurance and had a nonfunctional breath alcohol ignition interlock device. She was required to have the device after a 2022 DWI. She received a district citation for having no insurance and driving on a DWI license suspension. Because she said she had Parkinson’s disease and used a wheelchair, Pro Auto towed her vehicle and a friend picked her up in lieu of arrest.

Culture war:

male or female is a worldview he doesn’t believe in and wouldn’t want to introduce children to.

“There’s no alternate sex. There’s no such thing as transgender. There’s chromosomally boys and girls,” Strachan said.

Across the hall, Hypatia Meraviglia was assisting the inclusive story time and said overall, the attendance and support for the event was something to be proud of with roughly 12 children attending.

Meraviglia is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. They are a member of Faulkner County Coalition for Social Justice and a UCA senior.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to hold more of these in the future. We’re still working on the plans for that,” Meraviglia said. “The goal was to provide another option for families in the area.”

Though they weren’t present for the Christian story hour, Meraviglia said that the impression they got from others was that it was a rather exclusive space.

“The sense that I got was there was a certain message that was being communicated and not everyone is safe in that space,” Meraviglia said. “We wanted to provide a space where people are respected and everybody’s welcome. I think we succeeded.”

Growing up in southwestern Arkansas and identifying as transgender was difficult for Meraviglia, namely because they didn’t have a word for their gender identity until high school.

“It wasn’t even communicated as an option. So I always had the sense that there was something wrong with me, that I wasn’t able to fit the expectations of the adults in my life,” Meraviglia said. “That really wears on a kid. That’ll really mess you up. So I think that it’s so important to have these spaces where kids are able to see this is normal. This is beautiful; this

Spitzer:

is delightful.”

Officer Kaylob Boykin stopped a car on Dave Ward Drive for a headlight out Jan. 21. Driver Daezur Pilgrim was able to provide necessary documentation except for his driver’s license because he misplaced his wallet. After asking dispatch to run Pilgrim’s date of birth and full name, Boykin discovered Pilgrim had two active failure to appear warrants from Mayflower and Conway. Due to having multiple FTA warrants, and being cited for a suspended license in the past, Pilgrim was arrested for driving on a suspended license and transported to UCAPD.

Concurrent library story hours

Meraviglia said that many people think of queer people and Christians as being mutually exclusive, but that’s not always the case.

“We have a lot of Christian queer people who are in [FCCSJ] and Christian trans people too,” they said. “The problem comes in when those religious ideas are put into policies or written into laws.”

Senate Bill 43, filed Jan. 9 and sponsored by Arkansas Sen. Gary Stubblefield and Rep. Mary Bentley, is a bill that targets drag performers and would qualify drag performance as an adultoriented business, in line with strip clubs and adult stores.

The bill would also add additional restrictions, calling for drag performances to be kept off of public property and out of the eyes of minors.

Jason Bailey, a supporter and participant of inclusive story hour, said he feels this bill may negatively affect transgender individuals and not just the drag community.

“These are locations, these are places, these are events. These are actions that you don’t have to participate in,” Bailey said. “They use [drag queen story hour] as a reason for why kids shouldn’t be sexually indoctrinated. But with the example that they’re using, you shouldn’t be taking boys as young as five, six, seven, eight to places like Hooters.”

Bailey said that restrictions are placed on things like drag, yet not placed on things like wrestling, which often hypersexualizes women.

“It’s absurd,” Bailey said. “It’s ‘rules for thee, but not for me.’”

Arkansas has already faced nationwide backlash, including a federal lawsuit, for its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in 2021.

On Jan. 17, 2023, Rep. Mary Bentley filed House Bill 1156 which would limit students’ access to multiple

4 Continued from page 1

Spitzer has published over 25 books, with contents from poetry to nonfiction to memoirs.

In interviews with The Echo ranging from 2021-22, Spitzer said he had helped students publish their work for the past 15 years and detailed his fascination with writing about fish, particularly the alligator gar.

“From here on out, I’m going to stick with what I know best: the grossest, grodiest fish

us humans can imagine.”

David Gessner, a fellow writer and friend of Spitzer’s, wrote on Facebook, “His energy was contagious. Like the nouveau beat he was, he drove back and forth across the country in a van called the Unit, catching trash fish and later monster fish, then bunked up for a while in Shakespeare & Company in Paris, where he translated Genet and had doomed love affairs (his specialty until he at last found

occupancy bathrooms and changing rooms based on their birth-assigned sex.

Locally, the Conway School Board made headlines in late 2022 after regulating students’ bathroom use and overnight hotel room assignments based on their sex assigned at birth, as well as choosing to remove two LGBTQ books.

The books were “Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out” and “Felix Ever After” — both of which had transgender themes.

Meraviglia said, “We’ve seen a rise in Christian nationalism in Conway and in a lot of places. That’s what it is, right?”

“What the school board is doing is making the school not a safe place for trans students. Even trans students who are Christians,” Meraviglia said. “They’re shooting themselves in the foot and the more that we see the imposition of religious beliefs into public policy, the more it pushes out anyone who doesn’t subscribe to those beliefs — and even people who do.”

Student radio station’s location gets KUCA 91.3 more exposure

BY EMILY KENNARD News Editor

Come fall 2023, students might realize what the $5 radio station fee is for when they walk through the Ronnie Williams Student Center lobby and see people broadcasting in the purple-and-gray soundproofed Bear Cave.

Construction’s nearly complete, but KUCA-FM 91.3 is also receiving all new equipment, a process that the Director of Broadcast Services Steve Owens, who’s worked with the student radio station for 17 years, said might take a while.

“When we start the shows next fall, everyone will for sure be in here,” Owens said. “We’re all going to have to learn the new stuff together, too.”

The staff felt the new location would give the service more visibility on campus compared with its current location in the Student Center basement.

“There’s a lot of people on this campus that have no idea we exist,” Owens said. “We’re getting way more exposure.”

The new recording room’s windows, currently covered with QR codes and posters promoting the station, will allow passersby to watch students broadcasting or recording.

Sophomore Bri Hansen, one of the station’s three student managers, said she feels like the location is an opportunity for exposure.

“We’ll be in the middle of one of the busiest parts on campus, and that’s really exciting,” Hansen, who is starting her fourth semester with the station, said.

Almost all the station’s technology, from the Windows XP desktop computers to the station’s transmitter, will be replaced. The broadcasting room will have a 58-inch monitor for breaking news events and sports coverage.

Owens said this upgrade will make workers and radio hosts more competitive in the industry because they won’t require as much training as new hires.

“The stuff that we’re ordering is the same stuff they’ll be running at a lot of commercial stations, so those that do choose that path, they’ll just jump right in,” Owens, who goes by Steve-O, said.

Hansen, a broadcast journalism major, said she’s looking forward to the upgraded equipment because it’ll make her student work feel more connected to her future career.

“You can’t really do a lot down there [in the basement] and then take it out into the real world,” Hansen said.

CHARITY

The radio station replaced the concierge desk and ATM room on the frst foor and is next to the post offce and C-Store.

While the new Bear Cave’s frst broadcast date is unknown, any student can reserve time for a show this semester in the basement. Shows must be clean and noncommercial; songs or discussions can’t have explicit language or promotion of a product or service.

Students can also use the equipment and studio to record podcasts, which the station does not regulate the content of unless it is broadcast.

Hansen hosts shows during the week and said it was fun and stress-relieving.

“Try it out,” she said. “It helps you improve your voice, and that can help you with interviews and public speaking.”

Student managers will train new hosts how to use the current dated equipment in the basement.

Hansen and two other student managers oversee student-run shows and monitor what the radio sounds like during games.

To hear what’s on the air, tune to 91.3, visit uca.edu/ kuca/ or stream the station on Apple Music or the TuneIn app.

Speakers at MLK Prayer Breakfast request donations for food pantry

BY MIA WADDELL Editor-in-Chief

With its largest attendance in years, UCA’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast broke from past traditions by requesting charitable donations to the Bear Essentials Food Pantry to honor King’s legacy.

The Friday, Jan. 13, service featured musical selections from students and short sermons from local pastors. Over 200 guests attended, according to uca.edu/news.

Riva Brown, associate professor of public relations, began the service with acknowledgments to King and the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, which had its 110th birthday.

“60 years ago, Dr. King gave his famous address at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” Brown said. “Speaking at that March were a handful of dynamic women committed to service, dedicated women committed to social action and determined women committed to Dr. King’s vision. I’m talking about the daring women of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.”

In line with the sorority’s philanthropic goals, Brown pointed guests to the QR codes displayed at each table in the room, which allowed them to donate money to the Bear Essentials Food Pantry.

“Your voluntary monetary donation will help the UCA Bear Essentials Food Pantry keep its shelves stocked so our students can study and succeed on full stomachs,” Brown said.

Pastor Odie Phillips of Greater Fellowship Christian Church introduced UCA President Houston Davis and thanked him for being a “culturally competent campus leader — intentional about embracing diversity, belonging, inclusion and equity.”

Davis spoke on the event’s attendance, which, in recent years, had grown smaller due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Castleberry, Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson, Franklin Holbrook and Christopher Harvey with Faulkner County NAACP and Central Baptist College President Terry Kimbrow.

Rev. Everette Cornell Maltbia, UCA Board of Trustee member and founder of True Holiness Saints Center, gave calls of action that attendees could take to honor King.

“We keep Dr. King’s dream alive, frst of all, by being men and women of integrity — more importantly, by being men and women of strong character,” Maltbia said.

“We’ve got to learn to treat others the way we want to be treated. For his 1964 speech in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. King stated these words: ‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools,’” Maltbia said. “We have to learn as a community how to disagree without being disagreeable.”

Rev. Maltbia’s last pillar of action was being active in the community.

Maltbia said, “One of the frst things I think about is paying attention to social issues. You can’t afford to put your head in the sand and pretend like we live in a perfect world. We need to be aware of current events.

Brown summarized Maltbia’s speech with four C’s and two V’s — character, courtesy, common sense, community service, vote and volunteer.

In between speeches, three UCA Concert Choir members gave performances, including Mary Rowe, Miss UCA 2022 Nia Kelley and Karriem Shabazz. Professor Julia Buckingham accompanied the singers on piano.

his great love), creating a fullness to life that combated the existential emptiness that always lurked.”

Spitzer’s final book, “Monster Fishing: Caught in the Ethics of Angling,” releases July 4 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon. The Echo’s previous interviews with Spitzer are available at ucanews.live. To read more of Spitzer’s work, visit his website www.sptzr.net/index2.htm.

Davis said, “We always have this on Friday morning for MLK Day; we get together to have this great celebration of MLK and this great celebration of our community, and all that we stand for, and I’m proud.

“I’m very proud of the fact that in January of ‘21 it was a very awkward event, but many of you were still here … Quite frankly, I think this may be the largest crowd that I’ve seen in my six years here.”

Davis acknowledged several attendees, including Conway School Board President Andre Acklin, Conway Mayor Bart

“When you fnd a social issue that you are passionate about, roll up your sleeves and do all you can to make a positive difference. Don’t be just another complainer.”

“Exercising your right to vote is an important way to be active in your community. If we want to keep the dream alive of Dr. King, we’ve got to remember that our vote is our voice,” Maltbia said. “If we’re going to keep the dream alive, we’ve got to vote from the White House to the local school board.”

Brown concluded the service with thanks to the committee that planned the event and members of AmeriCorps for transporting the physical donations to the Bear Essentials Food Pantry.

Bear Essentials accepts monetary donations through UCA.edu/go/foodpantry, and accepts physical donations in the pantry in room 40 of the Physical Plant.

The pantry is open 11 a.m.5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, as well as 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. It is closed on UCA breaks and holidays. Students, faculty and staff must show UCA ID to use the pantry.

The following information is compiled from UCAPD incident reports by Assistant News Editor Torrie Herrington

Woman cited for broken interlock

Man arrested for 2 failures to appear

Students cited a er car smoke session

Beloved professor and author dies

photo by Madison Ogle Strachan holds up the children’s book “God’s Design.” Strachan himself is an author of books like “Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement Is Hijacking the Gospel and the Way to Stop It.”

photo by Mia Waddell

UCA Board of Trustee member Rev. Everette Cornell Maltbia speaks to service attendees about the importance of paying attention to social issues and voting. Maltbia is a senior pastor at True Holiness Saints Center in Conway, Arkansas and has been on the Board since 2017.

photo by Mia Waddell

UCA Concert Choir member Mary Rowe sings Undine Smith Moore’s “Come Down Angels.” Rowe was accompanied by music professor Julia Buckingham on piano.

Monopoly night for accounting

From 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, students will learn about accounting basics while playing Monopoly with their classmates in the Biz@Bear classroom.

Student karaoke

From 5-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, students will have the opportunity to sing some of their favorite songs in the Student Center Food Court hosted by the Student Activities Board.

Latino Student Association: Arte Pa’Relajarte

From 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, LSA will decorate tote bags for students to take and use for their frst event of the semester in the Ronnie Williams Student Center 214. All students are welcome and encouraged to participate in the decorating and to take time to relax.

Unpacking DBIE

From 12-1:15 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26, Dr. Angela Webster will present in room 215 of the Student Center discussing diversity, belonging, inclusion and equity and how it relates to the UCA community. Lunch will be provided.

Ice skating and hot chocolate bar

From 5-9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26, the Student Activities Board will be hosting an ice skating event outside the Student Center. Hot chocolate will also be provided.

Animal shelter donation drive

From 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26, New Hall staff and students will create blankets and toys for the local Humane Society in an effort to help with resources. New Hall is also holding a week-long drive to gather supplies for donation. Located in the New Hall lobby.

Relay for Life dodgeball tournament

From 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28, Colleges against Cancer will be fundraising for the American Cancer Society with a dodgeball tournament in the HPER courts. Students are encouraged to play, watch and hang out.

Tying Us Together

From 6-7 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, Team Global and Bear Hall welcomes students to collaborate and create a blanket together in the lobby of Bear Hall.

Health Screenings

From 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 30, UCA’s Health Science Club, Health Coaching program and Health Sciences Department will offer free biometric health screenings to students by appointment only in Doyne Room 315. For further information, or to make an appointment, email mperritt1@cub.uca.edu.

Silent march honors Martin Luther King Jr.

BY C OURTNEY S HEPHERD Lifestyle Editor

After marching silently along the perimeter of UCA’s campus, students and faculty gathered around the steps of Old Main to commemorate the message of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Hosted by the Students for the Propagation of Black Culture Tuesday, Jan. 17, the observation featured a speech from President Houston Davis followed by a refection from former gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones.

In his speech addressed to the crowded steps, Davis considered the work that remains to be done, highlighting the importance of these moments of expression to community and university values.

“I want to challenge you

today to grow where you’re planted. Right now, we’re all gathered together, here on this spot in front of Old Main, honoring the legacy of a man that worked every single day to shape his world into something better than he found it,” Davis said. “All of us will, in just a matter of minutes, scatter from this spot. Every moment of every day, you fnd yourself coming to light at different points on this third rock from the sun. I want you to ask yourself, what can and will you do in those spots in our world? What will you do for other human beings that are in your midst in that spot? What can you do with your talents, with your time, with your resources — however those things are defned?”

Davis reminded the audience of King’s message.

“Dr. King said, ‘No work is insignifcant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity

and importance, and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.’

“I frequently challenge all of our students, as well as our faculty and our staff, to leave our university better than you found it. My message to you today is a challenge for you to do the same in your world and within your sphere of infuence,” Davis said.

Sharing a similar message, Jones took to the stage with words of faith, encouragement and action. Jones refected on his time at Morehouse College and the impact it had on him.

“Whether you are a professor, staff or a student, your time in this season can and will be impactful. It will cause you to grow beyond anything you can imagine if you let it. You will have an impact beyond anything you can imagine, if you let it,” Jones said. “We are all connected. As a person of faith,

I believe that we are connected spiritually. As a person of science, I believe that we are connected physically. Ask yourself, ‘how can I strengthen and maintain the network beyond this season?’”

Jones concluded his speech with one of King’s quotes that he found impactful: “I’m cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

As the event came to a close, Davis took pride in the work that UCA has done to honor King. “To me, it is not just about speaking that legacy, but living it. In the course of your day, as you come into contact with people — your neighbors,

what are you doing about that legacy? We need to annually be reminded about why that’s important, why community is important and why looking out for each other is important,” Davis said.

UCA Junior James Buckley, an exercise science major, said events like these mean a lot to him.

“As minority students on campus, it’s not always easy to feel like you belong, especially at a predominantly white institution,” Buckley said.

As a member of the Black Male Achievement Challenge, Minority Mentorship Program and The Blueprint, Buckley frequently attends events where he can support others.

“I think events like this highlight our history and are really important to remind us of our culture so that we can feel more connected to the campus and the people around us.”

Farris Hall resident assistants host campus cleanup

BY TORRIE HERRINGTON Assistant News Editor

Farris Hall resident assistants hosted a Martin Luther King Jr. Day campus cleanup day to encourage community service at UCA.

Junior Cade Richesin, a resident assistant at Farris Hall, said the event was held on MLK Day to promote a sense of community.

“RC Milan kinda helped me organize most of it and write the initial plan. His idea to do it on MLK Day was to provide community involvement and kind of support and celebrate what MLK stood for with community and standing together,” Richesin said.

Farris Hall resident coordinator Milan Novaković said that events like this are essential to campus life.

“I think it is really important to engage students in service and do something that directly impacts the

community they live in, and for our residential students, that is the community on campus,” Novaković said.

Novaković also said that participating in events like the cleanup are not only benefcial to the campus, but also to the students.

“When we do service, especially things that help clean up campus, it improves our mental health and gets people engaged together,” Novaković said.

Richesin said they chose to host a cleanup to inform students about keeping a healthier campus.

“We decided to do a campus cleanup mostly to go ahead and let our residents know we do have an option for recycling in the building and on campus.

It is an important aspect of campus life that not a lot of people put a lot of effort into, so it’s something we wanted to highlight in this event,” Richesin said.

Before picking up the campus,

Richesin said which items were recyclable, and which items were trash.

“When we pick up this trash, and we do our recycling, it is important to use separate bags,” Richesin said. “For example: aluminum and plastic do not go together.”

Richesin said he reached out to Green Bear Coalition for information on recycling at UCA.

“The physical plant recycles a lot of things like motor oil and fuorescent bulbs because they have a lot of mercury in them,” Richesin said.

The event started in the courtyard between Farris and New Hall. Participants went down Farris Road, turned onto Bruce street and circled back to Farris Hall.

They picked up various items alongside the roads such as plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper and cigarette butts.

Richesin also spoke about how cleaning up affects the environment around campus.

“We clean up plastics and things so they don’t go into the drainages like Tucker Creek, which is pretty close to campus,” Richesin said. “We’re keeping it out of some of the waterways, and away from some of our wildlife surrounding campus, which fosters a better ecosystem.”

Senior Aiden Barber is also an RA at Farris Hall and aided in the cleanup.

“All RAs are required to attend all bear plan events, so it is part of my job to be here,” Barber said. “But also, it is one of our better programs because it allows the community to get out and feel like we’re actually doing something for a change.”

He said that the RAs strive to bring their residents together when making bear plans.

“Most of our programs, we try to have some sort of educational or involvement aspect to them. So, we try to make sure our residents are engaged or drive a community bond,” Barber said.

(From left) Jenny Davis, Chris Jones, Miss UCA 2023 Jada Simpson, President Houston Davis and Jeromy Hunt Jr. walk with students and faculty in a silent march around campus Tuesday, Jan. 17 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The silent march was hosted by the Students for the Propagation of Black Culture.

photo by Madison Ogle

GOING GREEN

(Left) Freshman Farris Hall resident Kyle Urban gathers trash from around campus as part of Farris Hall’s campus cleanup. (Right) Farris Hall RA junior Cade Richesin puts trash in a recycling bag. Richesin organized the event with the help of Farris Hall resident coordinator Milan Novaković, who says events like this are essential to campus life.

photos by Torrie Herrington

Shakespeare eatre is unique to Conway, launches education program for students

BY MACI ENGLAND Campus Life Editor

Conway is home to the only Shakespeare theater in Arkansas, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre was founded in 2006 by former College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean Rollin Potter, who wanted to bring professional theater to central Arkansas. AST’s first year of productions was in 2007 and since then the company has produced a wide variety of Shakespeare’s plays each summer.

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre has a special connection to UCA, as it is housed in the department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Although most people who work with AST come from a theater background, anyone can volunteer. Shauna Meador, executive director for Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, says getting involved in theater can be beneficial to everyone.

“Educationally, students can learn all kinds of things,” Meador said. “Theater teaches soft skills in communication and critical thinking, but also practical skills to go into all aspects of entertainment industries, like lighting and sound for theatrical productions that can transfer to other live events like concert lighting and sound; costume and prop design and production for theater and film; and construction.”

“The technical skills we teach are in high demand,” Meador said.

Although Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre brings in professionals from all over the country to perform in plays, each year auditions are open

to those in the community who want to try their hand at being on stage. The company even offers internships to students in the Arts.

“We have auditions in the fall and our application for internships is open now.” Katie Aschbrenner, administrative assistant for Arkansas

Shakespeare Theatre, said.

Aschbrenner only recently joined the staff at Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre but has been involved in theater since she was a child.

“I started as the Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing admin in January last year, and have gradually taken

PREVIEW

on more and more AST job responsibilities. I went to school for theater and fell in love with it in the eighth grade,” Aschbrenner said. “My favorite memory was stage managing “Go, Dog, Go” with Trike Theatre in Bentonville. It was literally the children’s book come to life and it was hilarious! We rehearsed six hours a day and I’m pretty sure we spent the whole time laughing.”

Aschbrenner said that it is an exciting time for Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.

“We are creating new programs and partnerships as well as bringing back old ones in a new way! It’s really great to have a front-row seat to this new chapter of AST. “ Aschbrenner said.

One of the programs Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre is offering is their revised “AST Education LAB.”

The LAB, which stands for “learning and breakthroughs,” offers four classes: middle school acting, high school acting, “Bard Babies,” and stage combat. The classes will allow students a way to enhance acting and performance techniques.

Classes are six weeks long and are running from Jan. 14 through Feb. 18.

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s 2023 season will begin mid-June in Conway and end on July 1 in Fayetteville. The season will include “The Tempest,” “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged” and a Shakespeare cabaret. Dates to be announced.

Performances will be held in Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts at UCA before moving to the Global Campus Theatre in downtown Fayetteville through a partnership with the University of Arkansas.

Upcoming Artists in Residence announced

BY MIA WADDELL Editor-in-chief

Construction delays in the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts are putting a damper on the recently announced artists participating in the Artist in Residence program.

Gayle Seymour — associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences — said that the official schedule is still in the works.

“We have an exciting line up this spring,” Seymour said. “We are still working to get the full schedule on our website. Because the concert hall in the Windgate Center is not quite finished, we have had to make some changes in scheduling and venues.”

The proposed concert hall is 450 seats, with a 65-seat choir section and twelve private viewing rooms.

CAHSS announced the upcoming lineup through a promotional video, featuring eight artists of varying disciplines. Fabiola Jean-Louis, a paper sculptor, will remain in residence for the entirety of the semester thanks to a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Seymour said, “JeanLouis’s extended residency is supported, not only by arts fees, but also by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.”

Jean-Louis’s threemonth residency will include collaboration with Morrilton

High School students as she creates “an immersive mausoleum sculpture made of paper clay,” according to a UCA news release.

Also announced was L.A. Theatre Works, a liveperformance group that will put on “Lucy Loves Desi: A funny thing happened on the way to the sitcom,” a play written by Gregg Oppenheimer. The show is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in Reynolds Performance Hall. Tickets are free for UCA students and can be purchased at the Reynolds box office.

Several novelists will take residency including John Brandon, author of “Arkansas” which was recently adapted into a film starring Liam Hemsworth, Clark Duke, Michael Kenneth Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Eden Brolin, Chandler Duke, John Malkovich and Vince Vaughn. Brandon is slated to visit campus March 1-2.

Matthew Salesses, author of “Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear” will follow, visiting March 15-16.

Hideaki Tsutsui will cover technical aspects of live shows such as lighting design March 31-April 6.

Kim Chi, also known as Sang-Yong Shin, is a drag queen most known for appearing on season eight of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Chi will visit campus April 5-7 with a focus on fashion design and theatrical makeup.

Tawny Chatmon, a photographer who uses mixed media to create dynamic portraits will visit April 1522. Chatmon is scheduled for a collaborative talk with Jean-

Louis in the Windgate Center’s art lecture hall at 7:30 p.m. April 20.

The semester will conclude with opera singer Kristin Lewis from April 12-22.

Artists featured in the program are submitted by faculty members.

Seymour said, “In conjunction with department chairs, the CAHSS dean and associate deans make final selections. I negotiate all the contracts and coordinate events with faculty sponsors. Through this process, we are able to tie residencies to classroom curricula, making the interactions with students even more meaningful.”

In addition to providing current students with enriching learning experiences, the program also acts as a point of interest for students not yet enrolled.

Hannah Hanshaw, an academic adviser and recruiter for the CAHSS, said the program is inspiring to many types of students, not just those in fine arts.

“The AiR program is obviously a huge selling point for prospective students who want to pursue a major in fine arts, but the artists that we bring in are so diverse that I often find even non-art students get really excited about the residencies,” Hanshaw said.

“The ones who plan to major in the arts get most excited when I tell them that the program includes in-class and small-group sessions with the artists. It’s not only that they get to see their public performances, but they get to

learn from these world-class artists in their classrooms.”

Of all the artists, Hanshaw said she is most excited about Jean-Louis.

“I am a big “Drag Race” fan so of course I am literally counting the days until Kim Chi’s residency, but I am probably most excited about Fabiola Jean-Louis. I got to meet her in the Fall of 2021 when she was doing a shortterm residency and was blown away by her use of multiple mediums to include Black and Brown people in historical imagery and narratives that they’d historically been excluded from.”

Information about the Artist in Residence program can be found at uca.edu/cahss/ artists-in-residence.

Taylor Aldridge: tness content creator Q&A

BY SYDNEY AMBRUS Sta Writer

Taylor Aldridge is a senior student with a passion for ftness and body positivity. Aldridge is from Vilonia, Arkansas majoring in public relations with a minor in English. When she is outside the classroom, she is busy creating ftness content and helping others along their self-love journey.

What’s your dream job?

“My absolute dream job is to be a full-time ftness content creator.”

Why did you choose UCA?

“I actually originally went

to Arkansas Tech my freshman year. I missed Conway and the community so much that I decided to transfer back my sophomore year.”

What are you involved in on campus?

“I’m a School of Communication representative and group exercise instructor for the HPER.”

How does it feel to represent UCA’s School of Communication?

“It has been so fun to represent the school that has provided me with so many opportunities to grow into a future PR professional. I love

that I get to be the face of a school that has so many bright, capable and accomplished students.”

How do you balance being a content creator and student representative?

“Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but I have such a passion for content creation.

My [Instagram] page, T-Lane’s Gains, has been my way to express my love for ftness space and the ever-growing need for the promotion of body positivity. Although stressful at times, being able to make an impact and how an individual sees themselves makes it all worthwhile.”

“So far, I think my favorite memories are found in weekly Zumba classes with Caitlyn Cook. She has been the biggest advocate for me to start teaching my own class, and days in the large studio with her are the best parts of my week. I will actually begin teaching my own dance cardio class, starting January 23, called ‘Pop, Lock, and Squat with T-Lane.’”

Aldrige’s class is held every Monday at 9 p.m. in the HPER’s large studio. Follow Aldrige on Instagram, @t.lanes.gains.

“

Story and photos by Julia

Trantham

Maddie

Gilleran sophomore Kaiyhan Smith junior

“Me and my friends are actually going to check things o of our bucket list and nally do all of the things we have been planning, it’s just a bunch of random things.”

“My study habits. I am a junior but this is my fourth semester. I am going for a 4.0 this semester.”

Alan Godwin junior Keia’ra Smith senior

“I just moved up here from community college and I wanna make student loans for my parents as little as possible.”

“I want to x time management. I think the rst thing with time management is being self aware and holding myself accountable.”

Sierra Owens sophomore

‘“There’s a lot of things I’m trying to change this semester, eat more vegetables, get enough sleep, do my homework at a reasonable time - as in not before the due date.”

Mikayla Shaw sophomore

“Spending more time in nature. I did a lot of yoga outside last year, but I think I’m going to spend more time outside and just go on little walks.”

photo courtesy of Taylor Aldridge

Taylor Aldridge shares her passion for ftness with others through social media. She also teaches a class at the HPER called ‘Pop, Lock, and Squat with

T-Lane.’

What’s one thing you’re going to do di erently this semester?

What’s your favorite UCA memory so far?

KIM CHI

An actress performs in Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s production of “A Winter’s Tale” in 2018. AST produces multiple Shakespeare plays a year.

photo courtesy of Arkansas Shakespeare on Facebook

UCA falls to Lions in close matchup

BY GABE WHITE Sports Editor

The UCA men’s basketball team (6-15, 1-7 ASUN) suffered its sixth conference loss against the North Alabama Lions (11-10, 3-5 ASUN), ending with a score of 78-73.

Although the Bears fumbled the win, it wasn’t all doom and gloom as sophomore guard Camren Hunter achieved the fourth triple-double in UCA history, earning 20 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds.

“It’s a blessing, but it would’ve been better if we won the game. I feel like it’s a good step in the right direction. All we can do is build on it,” Hunter said.

The Bears took control of the court for a majority of the first half, stumbling in the final two minutes.

The Lions opened the game with a jump shot by sophomore guard Daniel Ortiz 35 seconds in.

UCA responded vigorously as junior guard Masai Olowokere pulled a fastbreak, following up with a dunk.

As if that entrance wasn’t enough, the Bears doubled down with a threepointer by Hunter only 31 seconds later.

North Alabama continued to hold the lead with two jump shots by junior guard KJ Johnson and sophomore forward Dallas Howell, the Bears turning the tides with a jump shot by freshman guard Johannes Kirsipuu.

UCA gradually began to dominate the court as junior guard Collin Cooper scored two three-pointers, Olowokere scoring one as well.

Although the Bears were racking up three-pointers, North Alabama stayed swift, Ortiz scoring his first three-pointer of the night.

With the Bears barely in the lead, 18-17, Olowokere widened the gap with two three-pointers only 29 seconds apart.

Freshman guard Jacari Lane tried to push North Alabama forward with a jump shot and layup, only to be met with a fast-break layup by Hunter.

The Bears continued to add points to the scoreboard with a layup by senior guard/forward Eddy Kayouloud and a

three-pointer from Kirsipuu.

Freshman guard Carl Daughtery Jr. earned the Bears their biggest lead yet with nine points following a fastbreak three-pointer.

With only a minute and 15 seconds remaining in the first half, North Alabama drove past the Bears, sophomore guard Will Soucie and Lane scoring the Lions two three-pointers.

Lane secured the Lions one last layup with two seconds remaining, ending the first half at 37-37.

The first minute of the second half remained scoreless until Cooper put the Bears back in the lead with a free throw, quickly adding to that with a fastbreak three-pointer.

UCA took charge once again with a six-point lead following two free throws by Hunter.

The Lions began closing the gap nearly two minutes later with two layups from freshman forward Bryson Dawkins, the Bears only one point ahead.

With 10 minutes and 34 seconds remaining in the second half, North Alabama took the lead 53-52 after Ortiz was able to sink two threepointers.

Hunter began to push the Bears to the finish line with a three-pointer and two free throws, giving UCA a fivepoint lead.

With under four minutes left in the game, Soucie propelled the Lions past the Bears with two jump shots.

As the Bears struggled to find ground, North Alabama pushed forward to a six-point lead following two free throws by Johnson.

Despite Olowokere bagging another three-pointer, it wasn’t enough to catapult UCA toward the victory, the match ending 78-73 in North Alabama’s favor.

Coach Brock Widders said, “We have to be a little more poise. We have to finish out that half a little better and that’s as a collective group, from the coaching staff to the manager, to the player. We’ve got to finish out the first half and be more mature.”

The Bears’ next game will be against the North Florida Ospreys at 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at home.

LOSING STREAK

Bisons overshadow Sugar Bears

BY MARY LESIEUR Assistant Sports Editor

The UCA women’s basketball team (6-12,1-6 ASUN) suffered its 12th loss against Lipscomb University (12-7, 6-1 ASUN), finishing with a score of 65-57.

The match quickly began in the Bisons’ favor with a jump shot by freshman guard Ainhoa Cea.

To the opponents’ surprise, sophomore guard Randrea Wright took no time at all to get the ball back down the court, scoring the Sugar Bears two points and tying the game.

Only four and a half minutes in, UCA sophomore guard Kinley Fisher threw a three-point shot, putting the Bears in the lead.

Nearly a minute later, junior forward Kierra Prim made a layup in the paint. UCA lost the advantage when Lipscomb matched their nine points after senior guard Blythe Pearson made a three-point shot.

The first quarter ended with Lipscomb in a twelvepoint leverage, making the score 21-9.

Only five seconds into the second quarter, Wright scored two points with a layup. 57 seconds later, UCA senior guard Sierra Carter bagged a point with a free throw.

The next minute and a

half were unsuccessful for either team until UCA senior guard Kayla Mitchell assisted Fisher with a three-point shot. A turnover by Cea led to Fisher stealing the ball with some mixed possession between teams.

Lipscomb sophomore guard and forward Bella Vinson notched a threepoint, widening the gap. Wright hastily recovered the ball, making a jump shot. Almost 30 seconds later, a layup in the paint gave the Bisons a 13-point lead. Wright added four points to the scoreboard, following a jump shot and layup in the paint. In the last three seconds, Lipscomb sophomore guard Claira McGowan made a free throw, ending the quarter 33-24.

The third quarter had an unlucky start with a missed three-point shot by Wright. With the help of a rebound by junior forward Kyjai Miles, Wright completed the jump shot, putting the Sugar Bears at a six-point difference.

Around 2 minutes in, Fisher completed both free throws followed by a three-point shot by Wright. Lipscomb fumbled the ball for a few seconds before a rebound by Prim, an assist from Carter, and a jump shot by Miles, evening the score 35-35.

Carter didn’t stop there,

scoring another layup and taking the score to 37-35, something the crowd hadn’t seen since the first quarter.

Within the last four minutes and six seconds, UCA scored nine points, had a five-point lead and ended the third quarter 4641.

UCA Associate Coach Tiffany Phillips said, “When we got ourselves in a little bit of a hole they kind of dug themselves out.”

The Sugar Bears’ lead in the fourth quarter was steady, however, their advantage didn’t last for long. About halfway through the quarter, Lipscomb took control of the court, UCA failing to respond.

With only four minutes remaining, the Sugar Bears gave it their all. Lipscomb overpowered UCA, netting a total of 12 points.

The game concluded with a final score of 65-57.

“Whenever you lose, you always feel like you could have done more, and I feel like I could have done more today,” Fisher said.

Regardless of the loss, Fisher tied her career-high score of 16 points, recently set on Thursday against Austin Peay.

The Sugar Bears play against Jacksonville State, at 5:45 p.m., on Jan. 26, in Jacksonville, Alabama.

UCA signs to pursue 10 member conference

BY MACI ENGLAND Campus Life Editor

UCA’s athletic conference, Atlantic Sun, has partnered with the Western Athletic Conference in an attempt to merge and create a 10-member football-only conference.

If plans are successful, the participating schools will form the 11th football bowl subdivision in the country.

UCA has already signed on to join the new conference structure, as well as fellow ASUN members Austin Peay State University, Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of North Alabama alongside WAC members Stephen F. Austin State University, Abilene Christian University, Utah Tech University, Southern Utah University and Tarleton State University.

The goal of the conference is to begin playing in 2024 with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley joining the group in 2025 as its 10th member.

This is not the first time ASUN has partnered with WAC.

The conferences have partnered before in their 2021 and 2022 seasons.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel in a report for espn. com, “Ambiguity looms around the process of becoming an FBS league,” and the reason for the new league is “according to sources, ‘greater certainty in scheduling and recruiting’ and a clear pathway to the highest levels of college football. Also, the schools expect increased revenue through a more lucrative broadcast contract and increased guarantee-game revenue because the games would count toward bowl eligibility if they became an FBS league,” Thamel said.

Director of athletics at UCA, Brad Teague, said the increased revenue will be at no cost to the colleges.

As for changes being made in preparation for the move to FBS, “We do not have plans to upgrade the stadium at this time. We are not allowed to offer more scholarships due to NCAA rules.” Teague said.

It is not confirmed yet whether the ASUN-WAC move to FBS will be successful.

“Our group of 10 football programs is monitoring and assessing the new NCAA policies and therefore, is keeping all options on the table. This could include a move to the FBS,” Teague said.

“For FCS schools to jump to the FBS, there is generally a two-year transition period which would require the board of directors’ approval,” Sports Illustrated’s Mike McDaniel said in an article for si.com.

Oliver Luck, former West Virginia University athletic director, has been named executive director of the new conference.

Luck has worked for the NFL, was general manager Rhein Galaxy of the World League of American Football and was hired as president and CEO of NFL Europe in the past.

Eastern Kentucky President David McFaddin and Tarleton State President James Hurley will serve as co-chairs.

Fans will be updated on the direction of the partnership as more meetings are held with the NCAA Division I board of directors in upcoming months.

“No matter what is decided, UCA will be in an excellent position for its football program and its future,” Teague said.

Upcoming Games

Women’s Basketball

5:45 p.m., Jan. 26 at Jacksonville State Men’s Basketball

7 p.m., Jan. 26 vs. North Florida Track and Field

Feb. 3 at Birmingham

Softball

10 a.m., Feb. 10 at Lake Charles Baseball

4 p.m., Feb. 17 vs. Southeast Missouri State University

Men’s basketball without coach due to surgery

BY ASHLYN LITTLE Sta Writer

The men’s basketball team (6-15, 1-7 ASUN) has been under the instruction of assistant coaches since the turn of the new year as Anthony Boone recovers from heart surgery.

Boone had a successful procedure on Jan. 5, from which he is still recovering. This surgery fell at the height of basketball season, leaving the Bears to be coached by the rest of the coaching staff.

Although the team wasn’t expecting Boone’s leave of absence, its players felt wellprepared to push forward without him for an uncertain amount of time.

“Coach Boone has done a great job of building this program and preparing us along the way. We have great leaders in the locker room,” Coach Brock Widders said.

With 21 games under its belt, the men’s basketball team has just 10 more conference games left.

Since Boone has been gone, the team has a 1-7 ASUN Conference record.

In Boone’s absence, Coaches Jeff Price, John Cranford and Widders have stepped up to lead the team.

“I have complete confidence in our assistant coaches while he is away,” Brad Teague, UCA’s athletic director said.

Price has been with the Bears since July 2021.

While he has only coached at UCA for one season, he has 30 years of prior coaching experience.

Widders is an Arkansas native who has been at UCA since 2017, after graduating from Lyon College where he was captain of the basketball team for four years.

Cranford has been with the Bears basketball team for four seasons.

He was a graduate assistant and director of basketball operations during the first two, before his promotion to assistant coach in June 2021.

As of now, there is no set return date for Boone.

A safe and smooth recovery is of utmost importance to Boone and the basketball program, and while looking forward to having him back, Teague said they are currently playing it by ear.

“Coach Boone is recovering well in the hospital. We are taking it day to day regarding his return,” Teague said.

Boone’s career at UCA began in 2014 where he served as the associate head coach for six years.

He stepped up to be the interim head coach in December 2019 and has never looked back.

He leads the program with exceptional basketball experience as he was a hall-of-fame collegiate athlete at Ole Miss.

Widders said Boone’s exceptional leadership is what the team misses most about him while is out for recovery.

“Missing our leader and friend is the biggest challenge we have faced…In the meantime, our group has decided that adversity will pull us together and not push us apart. We will work with a sense of urgency on the court and in the classroom. We look forward to getting some guys back from injury and making a push in conference play,” Widders said.

As the Bears’ season continues without Boone, the team hopes to stick together and finish the season strong.

The Bears’ next game is against the North Florida Ospreys at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26 in UCA’s Farris Center.

Sophomore guard Randrea Wright scores two points as junior forward Kierra Prim pushes back sophomore guard/forward Bella Vinson. Wright hit a career high of twenty points.

photo by Gabe White

(Top) Sophomore guard Camren Hunter faces of against Sophomore guard Will Soucie of North Alabama. Hunter became the 4th athlete to obtain a triple-double in UCA history. (Bottom) Junior guard Collin Cooper leaps for a lay up near the end of the second half. UCA lost to the North Alabama Lions with a score of 78-73.

photos by Madison Ogle

The Echo Sta

Waddell Editor-in-Chief

Emily Kennard News Editor

Herrington Assistant News Editor

England Campus Life Editor

Julia Trantham Assistant Campus Life Editor

Anna Yanosick Opinion Editor Courtney Shepherd Lifestyle Editor

Strain Entertainment Editor Kevin King Cartoonist

Sydney Cyr Social Media Manager Gracelyn Blankenship Distribution

Scholarship requirements may seem like they are set in good faith, especially the academic ones – it’s just rules to make sure only those who deserve it get the money, right? I don’t think so.

Scholarship requirements are absolutely meant to make you funk out, so the university does not have to hand over any more money. I managed to get myself a cushy excellence scholarship from UCA in 2020, right before they threw out the old system.

For those who don’t know, to keep my scholarship I have to take 30 hours each academic year and maintain a 3.25 GPA.

That works out to roughly 15 hours each semester, although there is a slight caveat that you can get away with 12 in the fall – you’d just have to make it up somewhere else.

At face value, these requirements don’t seem particularly diffcult, especially considering the hoops I had to jump through just to obtain the funds, but the GPA requirement in conjunction with the hour requirement is evil.

to being the News Editor here at the Echo.

Not only did I have to keep up my GPA and fnd time in the day for all these classes, but I also had to fnd time to work, to do the readings, to write my articles … oh, and did I mention? I was keeping up another scholarship with entirely different requirements on top of all of this.

It was impossible. I cried and tried my hardest to scribble out every little detail of my schedule so that I could maybe, one day, accomplish everything I needed to do.

News fash: It never happened. I couldn’t keep it up at all. I had to drop a class, I had to cut my hours and in turn, I had to start visiting the food pantry here on campus. While trying to maintain the hour requirements, my GPA began to fall.

The course load is entirely too much. I recently learned that Hendrix won’t even let you take more than four classes. UCA should take serious notes…but that would mean fewer credit hours and less money, so I doubt it.

The Voice

Students need cleaner spaces to thrive, learn

Anyone who has been around the UCA campus may notice the facilities are not always the cleanest. Not only does this hinder a student’s comfort, but it can have a detrimental impact on their education.

Of course, expecting every classroom and bathroom on a college campus to look pristine is unrealistic, but UCA students deserve cleaner spaces in order to thrive.

According to Vanguard Resources, “Keeping a well-maintained campus is essential for student’s health and learning, the positive image of your institution and protecting infrastructure from any damages.”

Taking this into consideration, it feels cruel that last year in November, SGA announced its plan to drop $10,000 on a carved wooden bear chair to attract more visitors and offer both students and faculty a photo opportunity.

Even just a chunk of $10,000 could drastically change the state of UCA’s campus. This money could solidify the upkeep that some buildings, such as Irby Hall or the Lewis Science Center, desperately need.

It could ensure that the tampon and pad dispensers are always restocked (without relying on donations) or that most bathrooms are cleaned more than just once a week. It could protect students from having to shower in moldy conditions, like in Carmichael Hall.

A happy environment creates happy students. A $10,000 wooden bear chair does not; it is only a drop in the ocean when it comes to the sea of issues UCA’s campus could use the funding to fx.

A bear chair is an investment students can live without, so long as the campus has an abundance of internal problems.

BY MIA WADDELL Editor-in-Chief

I realized that the university was sitting around, twiddling its thumbs, just waiting for me to lose the money it so graciously handed over to me my sophomore year — when I had the bright idea to get a job.

I had just moved into my frst big-girl apartment (shout out college avenue) and I had bills to pay and dogs to feed.

So there I was, working my part-time job in addition

To remedy my horrible mistake of not being a superhero student, I took a may-intersession class, which I really enjoyed. Spreading out my classes by taking halfsemester classes, summer classes or intersession classes allows me to succeed academically and in life.

I genuinely believe that the requirements are meant to make you fail.

But with just two semesters left, I’ll keep working towards that degree without losing my “gift” from the university, which is starting to feel more like a curse.

It’s common for many college students to put increasing amounts of pressure on themselves to stay motivated and productive.

Putting pressure on yourself serves an obvious purpose. It pushes you to get things done, reach your goals and persevere through obstacles.

The problem with pressuring yourself to power through challenges is that it often involves negative selftalk and threats against yourself.

This creates an unhealthy mindset of determination fueled by stress and anxiety. Indeed, it is motivating, but it is also destructive.

This pressure problem isn’t only experienced by overachievers or anxious people. Everyone has experienced a situation where they’ve pressured themselves to get something accomplished.

Some students pressure themselves to pass a class while others pressure themselves to keep a 4.0 GPA

The benchmark of success looks different for everyone, but all of us are working toward a goal that we need to stay motivated to achieve.

There are several paths you can take that will end with you reaching a goal.

from putting pressure on yourself by supporting yourself and staying disciplined.

Supporting yourself often requires a genuine commitment to meeting your own needs. By nurturing your mind and body, you can unlock a surprising amount of energy.

Discipline can come from a place of self-love and encouragement. It doesn’t require beating yourself up.

You don’t have to scare or shame yourself into doing things. You can be successful without using

One thought experiment that has helped me put less pressure on myself is trying to understand why I might default to the negative

Your mind is just trying to help you survive. If you desperately needed water, that mindset of determination fueled by stress and anxiety would be a blessing, helping you push through the effects of dehydration until you could fnd a water source.

The perpetual layer of stench, broken stall doors and faucets or cockroach sightings are common.

The miserable truth is that campus bathrooms are unpleasant to be in, which is unfortunate since going to the bathroom is sometimes a student’s only moment of privacy during a rigorous course schedule.

The perpetual layer of stench, broken stall doors and faucets or cockroach sightings are common complaints reported by students.

Sandpaper toilet paper, a handful of soap dispensers that don’t even dispense soap and cheap tampons with cardboard applicators can be found in almost every bathroom on campus.

Stanley Russ, a beloved and resourceful building, shouldn’t have to be nicknamed “Stinky Russ” due to a blatant lack of care.

BY SYDNEY CYR Social Media Manager

One path toward accomplishment is uplifting, rewarding and generally stable. Another path toward accomplishment is draining, stressful and generally unstable.

You don’t want to look back at your college experience and realize you walked the unnecessarily miserable path toward success.

You can fnd the same motivational feeling you get

If you have your basic needs met, your mind can employ the same types of signals once used to motivate your ancestors to now motivate you to chase after that scholarship or job interview.

The stakes aren’t the same, though. The world has changed so much in such a short period that we can barely keep up.

I’m all for trusting your instincts, but getting your assignment turned in is farther removed from your fundamental needs than your brain sometimes thinks.

If you’re crumbling under the pressure or you don’t know how much more stress you can take, you have to put your experience into perspective.

This isn’t life or death, this is college.

There is no denying the beauty and potential that UCA holds outside of its academic buildings, such as the Jewel Moore Nature Reserve or the Harding Centennial Plaza … but students spend most of their time inside classrooms that are dusty, moldy and dimly lit.

Why allocate time and money to replacing the AstroTurf — artifcial grass — more often than necessary when buildings need makeovers too?

Cleanliness and hygiene have never been more important to society than it has been in a postpandemic world.

It’s dire that students are provided with clean environments where they can learn and grow.

It’s time UCA students receive the cleaner spaces they deserve.

Mia

Milo

Maci

Madison Ogle Associate Editor

Gabe

Torrie

Mary LeSieur Assistant Sports Editor

Jan. 26—Teen Wolf: The Movie

(TV-MA) Directed by Russell Mulcahy. Starring Tyler Posey, Crystal Reed, Holland Roden. (Paramount+)

Jan. 27—Life Upside Down (NR) Directed by Cecilia Miniucchi. Starring Bob Odenkirk, Radha Mitchell, Danny Huston. Limited theater release.

Jan. 27—Maybe I Do (PG13) Directed by Michael Jacobs.

Starring Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, Dianne Keaton, William H. Macy, Susan Sarandon. Limited theater release.

Jan. 27—Shotgun Wedding (R)

Directed by Jason Moore. Starring Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Coolidge. (Prime Video)

Jan. 26—Poker Face (Peacock) Jan. 26— Wolf Pack (Paramount+)

Jan. 26— The 1619 Project (Hulu) Jan. 27—Shrinking (Apple TV+)

‘Plane’ promises high-octane action but fails to land

Filled with dull action, generic characters and uninspired cinematography, “Plane” checks all of the boxes needed for an action fick, but becomes a boring mess lacking creativity in the process.

Following a late-night fight to Tokyo, Capt. Brodie Torrance, played by Gerard Butler, must fnd a way to safely land his ill-fated plane after being caught in a deadly thunderstorm.

On top of the already hazy cinematography, the editing adds unnecessarily choppy cuts, creating an almost sickening experience.

Whether it be practical

The only aspect of “Plane” that keeps the flm from being a total misfre is Butler.

Mobile games ‘Afterplace,’ ‘Frozen City’ shockingly good

We were all once that kid, pestering our parents or siblings to let us borrow their iPhone so we could rummage through all their games.

In order to relive this childhood wonder, I took an adventure into the Apple App Store’s “Best New Games” list. In the top 5 sat “Afterplace” and “Frozen City” — two unexpectedly incredible games.

“Afterplace,” a $6.99 indie game designed by software engineer Evan Kice, is “an open world adventure game flled with silly characters and terrible secrets,” according to its description.

After a series of inexplicable and sinister messages appeared on screen that suggested “everyone will die,” I was thrown into a 2D meadow with the ability to control a pinkhaired character by dragging them where I wanted.

“Afterplace’’ is derivative of the iconic 2015 game “Undertale,” or the Nintendo DS Pokémon games, with its pixelated style, quirky score and open-world mechanics.

You can walk up to characters and chat or fght monsters by tapping the screen and thrashing your sword. Granting the user plenty of freedom with the controls made the game more engaging and tactical.

Within 10 minutes of trying to dissect the game, I was utterly immersed in it.

The prospect of deciding which path to take excited me, and whenever I tragically perished to an uncanny blob monster’s wrath, I gasped out loud.

Your mission is to unravel the world’s supposed “secrets” by sparking conversation with the strangers that roam the

planet and defending yourself from the wacky creatures that lurk in every corner.

Every detail — such as the nifty buildings and eccentric side-characters found throughout the world — is delicately constructed so that the game appears seamless and is enjoyable as possible without being overwhelming.

“Afterplace” is worth the price, even though it is a little expensive for an iPhone game.

The next game I downloaded, “Frozen City,” is a free “city-building simulation game set in an ice and snow apocalypse” created by Century Games.

“Frozen City” opens with travelers Victor and Otto stumbling upon a barren, icy wasteland and deciding to remain after surviving a snowpocalypse.

The goal of the game is to meet the survivors’ basic needs and curate a sustainable town by strategically purchasing practical tools and advancing the town’s presence.

I tapped the screen to build the survivors’ necessary

resources, such as a kitchen or freplace, to help them prosper in their new foreign home.

In order to build your city from the ground up, you upgrade buildings, like a “hunter’s cabin” or a “sawmill,” using logs as a currency.

Assisting the survivors was a rewarding experience, although somewhat tedious due to the avalanche of tasks you must complete.

The tranquil music is a pleasing contrast to the game’s chilling atmosphere. The color scheme and characters are adorable, and while citybuilding games are not my favorite, I can appreciate the amount of effort put into formulating the game’s sharp concept.

My dive into the abandoned app store on my phone unlocked my inner desire to download an embarrassing amount of games and play them until I physically couldn’t.

“Afterplace” and “Frozen City” are now available to download from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Jan. 27—Sam Smith—Gloria [Capitol]

Jan. 27—SG Lewis—AudioLust and HigherLove [Astralwerks]

Jan. 27—King Tuf—Smalltown Stardust [Sub Pop]

Once landing the plane on an unknown island, Brodie, co-pilot Dele (Yoson An), fight attendant Bonnie (Daniella Pineda) and convicted murderer Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), must fnd a way back to civilization, unaware of the dangerous islanders stalking their every move.

While “Plane” isn’t a horrendous movie, it’s far from greatness, falling into mediocre territory.

Featuring an exciting premise supported by a committed cast, it’s rather shocking to see how the flm turned out.

Even at 53-years-old, the Scottish actor continues to be one of the most likable action stars on the planet.

or CGI, one can usually look forward to an action movie at least providing R-rated mayhem, but not “Plane.”

Independent horror sensation ‘Skinamarink’ atmospheric, slow

“Skinamarink” is a dark, meditative journey into pure madness with some seriously chilling moments and an ambiguous plot that leaves audiences with more questions than answers.

Jan. 27—Oozing Wound—We Cater to Cowards [Thrill Jockey]

Jan. 27—Popcaan—Great He Is [OVO Sound] Jan. 27—Lil Yachty—Let’s Start Here [Concrete, Quality Control, Motown]

Video Games

Jan. 27—Dead Space (Remake) [Electronic Arts] PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Jan. 31—Season: A Letter to the Future [Scavengers Studio] PS5, PS4, PC

Jan. 31—Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake [THQ Nordic] PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

Top 5 people

“Plane” is the type of flm that clearly should have taken a page from “John Wick,” a white-knuckled action fick from beginning to end.

The frst and third act adopt this personality well enough, offering anxiety-inducing scenes such as Brodie trying to land the falling plane or mercenary sniper Hajan, played by Claro de los Reyes, taking out the competition from a moving aircraft.

Instead, it seems as if Director Jean-François Richet was inspired by Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” because the talking never ends.

The second act is packed with mundane scenes of escape plans and hostility between the passengers, just like every other survival flm of this nature, such as “2012” and “The Day After Tomorrow.”

Character archetypes such as the mysterious loner Louis Gaspare and rich scumbag Sinclair, played by Joey Slotnick, are all here, delivering the exact plot points you would expect.

Anytime the second act decides to try and add action, it’s flmed from a blurry, handheld point of view, as if it were shot by a child in their backyard.

1. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

After watching two movies related to her and seeing her speak in Little Rock in 2019, I have to include this special lady.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been and will always be a personal inspiration to me, as well as a constant reminder of how strong a woman can truly be. I would love to talk to her and could ask her questions for days. For food, I think we could both agree on getting some ice cream while we talk about the world. RBG was always showing the world how to be a lady with grit.

Even with its R-rating, the flm holds back when it comes to violence.

Besides shootouts, nearly every act of violence was quickly cut out in the editing room, showing little to no blood, aside from the exceptional sniper scene mentioned earlier.

If you don’t plan to scratch the itch most viewers have going into action flms, then why have the R rating?

The only aspect of “Plane” that keeps the flm from being a total misfre is Butler.

Even at 53-years-old, the Scottish actor continues to be one of the most likable action stars on the planet.

Butler fnds a way to combine his action persona from “300” with his boyish charm from “P.S. I Love You,” creating a valiant, affable lead protagonist in Brodie Torrance.

Without the heart of Butler’s character, “Plane” would be completely stale.

The flm had the potential to be a thrilling, adrenaline-fueled ride, but committed the worst sin of all: being a boring action flm.

“Plane” was released Jan. 13 and is in theaters now.

2. Zendaya

After growing up on Disney Channel and watching her grow up too, I’ve spent many hours watching Zendaya on the big screen. Meeting her would be super fun, especially since she likes to joke around a lot. I’d defnitely want to ask her if she still remembers her old music, like the song “Swag It Out” from 2011. She’s had a lot of recent success with big movies, like her role as Mary Jane in the recent Spider-Man movies. Maybe she could bring along Tom Holland and we could have some sort of full English breakfast—beans included!

Fans of experimental horror flms such as David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” or the Japanese cult-classic “House” will likely get something out of watching it. However, the painstakingly slow pace probably won’t grab the attention of the average viewer.

The frst feature-length flm from writer and director Kyle Edward Ball, “Skinamarink” was shot in a single house on a $15,000 budget and has made over a million dollars at the box offce since its Jan. 13 theatrical release.

“Skinamarink” follows a brother and sister, 4-year-old Kevin and 6-year-old Kaylee. After Kevin injures himself falling down the stairs, they both wake up in the middle of the night to fnd parts of their house, like the doors, windows and even the toilet, are disappearing.

The flm draws upon the near-universal childhood experience of waking up from a nightmare in the middle of the night in a dark house to scare you, where everything suddenly seems unfamiliar and disorienting in the swirling dark and you’re irrationally afraid of what could hide in the shadow behind the closet door.

Whether “Skinamarink”

3. Mister Rogers

I don’t like tea, but I totally would drink it if it meant I got to meet Mr. Rogers at his house. I spent a lot of time watching “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” as a child and admiring his calm and casual demeanor. He had such a positive energy. If we met, we could have a chat about different ongoing social issues in the world, or literally just talk about anything. One of Rogers’ main themes he repeats is to “always love your neighbor,” and I feel that now, more than ever, people should spread simple acts of kindness to others.

4.

flm on a $15,000 budget.

succeeds in actually viscerally scaring is subjective to the viewer. It’s not a movie that tries to make you scream by having a masked killer jump out from behind a curtain and hack apart a victim over and over.

Instead, it slowly flls you with unease and dread as you try to make sense of what’s happening until it completely spins out of control.

There’s a handful of jump scares scattered throughout that feel cheap and maybe even unnecessary when “Skinamarink” is so excellent at building tension and probing the fear of the unknown.

The jump scares confict with the experimental nature

Tyler, the Creator

If I got to meet Tyler, The Creator, I would go to some type of diner. As seen in interviews with Nardwuar, a Canadian radio host known for his in-depth research on his interviewees, Tyler has a great ability to tell stories and I feel like he could tell me all the lore behind the restaurant we went to and he would probably know all the employees. Plus, he would know what the best thing was on the menu and probably on the secret menu. Hopefully, I could get some information out of him about his next album and when it drops.

and pacing of the flm as well, as they are a tired horror movie trope more often seen in boring horror flms than anywhere else. The sudden shock of a jump scare also takes you out of the hypnotic trance the flm tries to put you in and makes it harder to get back into it after the crescendo of tension is broken.

The sometimes snail-like pace of “Skinamarink” will also be a turnoff for many viewers. A lot of the shots in “Skinamarink” are pure darkness or a long pan over a blank wall or something just as mundane, all of which are edited to have a very intense layer of swirling, psychedelic TV static and flm grain, constantly morphing and undulating and making fractal-like patterns in the darkness.

Dialogue is sparse throughout “Skinamarink,” and what’s there is usually unintelligible and subtitled. This is another part that just works for you or it doesn’t. The distorted audio and lack of dialogue is an artistic choice that reinforces the visual aspect of “Skinamarink,” but combined with the sluggish pace and ambiguous plot, it makes for a polarizing experience that many people will simply fnd boring.

However, if you fnd these aspects enticing rather than off-putting, ”Skinamarink” is defnitely worth checking out, especially if you can catch it in a theater.

“Skinamarink” is currently showing in theaters and will be streaming on Shudder Feb. 2.

5. Dolly Parton

How could Dolly not be on this list? She’s an incredible businesswoman, singer, songwriter and philanthropist. It would be so much fun to run into Dolly herself at Dollywood and talk. Dolly is so lovable that she makes it hard to dislike her. She has a great personality and a mindset where she wants to work until she can’t anymore. One of my old coworkers had a “God Bless Dolly Parton’’ bumper sticker, and I loved it so much. Me and Dolly would probably have biscuits and jam together.

I’d like to have dinner with

photo courtesy of afterplacegame.com

Afterplace was developed entirely by Evan Kice. It released on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in 2022.

photo courtesy of marvel.com

Gerard Butler (left) plays Brodie Torrance and Mike Colter plays Louis Gaspare in ”Plane.” So far the action fick has grossed $20.6 million worldwide.

photo courtesy of skinamarink.com “Skinamarink” frst gained attention at flm festivals in 2022. Director Kyle Edward Ball shot the

Miss Gay America hosts 51st pageant

8 p.m., Jan. 26 — Bonnie

Montgomery & Jaimee Harris

— White Water Tavern , $12 cover

8 p.m., Jan. 27 — Unraveled — King’s Live Music, $5 cover

8 p.m., Jan. 27 — Metal Madnes: Zashed, Morbid Visionz, Open Kasket, Condemn — Full Moon Records, $10 cover

8 p.m., Jan. 28 — Tyler Kinchen

& The Right Pieces — King’s Live Music, $5 cover

8 p.m., Jan. 28 — Melody

Makers Ball: Sonic Fuzz, Pett, Makeshift Tapedeck — Full Moon Records, $10 cover

9 p.m., Jan. 31 — Adam Faucett

— Bears Den Pizza

8 p.m., Feb. 3 — Presley Drake

— King’s Live Music, $5 cover

7-11 p.m., Feb. 3 — Pantheon, Empire in Ruin, Angel Flesh and Macrocosm — Vino’s

8 p.m., Feb. 4 — Amy Bishop

& The Slingerz — King’s Live Music, $5 cover

7-11 p.m., Feb. 4 — DOUBLE

FEATURE: SURFWAX, Peach Blush, Always Tired and Wrestling — Vino’s Brew Pub

7 p.m., Feb. 6 — Jude Brothers — White Water Tavern, $10 cover

9 p.m., Feb. 7 — Randall Shreve

— Bears Den Pizza

8 p.m., Feb. 11 — Limestone Full Moon Records, $10 cover

7:30 p.m., Feb. 5 — On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan — Reynolds Performance Hall. “Features some of the most iconic songs of the past quarter-century.”

7:30 p.m., Feb. 8 — Blue Man

Group — Reynolds Performance Hall. “Featuring pulsing, original music, custom-made instruments, surprise audience interaction and hilarious absurdity.” Tickets on sale starting Sept. 3.

11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Feb. 11 — Forever

Thrifted Vintage Swap Meet: Valentine’s Market — 711 Main St, Little Rock. 30+ vendors, artists, food trucks and music.

Tatiyanna Voche’ crowned in Little Rock

The 51st Miss Gay America was crowned in Little Rock, a city whose legislature is working to restrict and limit drag performance in the state.

Miss Gay America 2022, Savvy Savant, placed the crown atop Tatiyanna Voche’s hair — which was teased and perfectly hair-sprayed. Savant, just hours before, spoke on the Little Rock Capitol steps to protest Senate Bill 43.

The bill — which has passed the Arkansas Senate Committee — aims to defne drag, or female impersonation, as an “adult-oriented business” and restrict its performance from public property or within the view of minors.

The pageant was founded by Norman Jones, a mainstay in the Little Rock gay scene. Jones owns Triniti and Discovery Nightclubs, two prominent gay clubs in the city. Jones won the pageant’s frst title, competing as “Norma Kristie.”

Despite questions of whether the pageant would continue in Little Rock, come Friday night all 43 contestants lined the stage in the colors of the rainbow. The theme of the night was “Dream in Color.”

The night included a question portion, evening gown portion and a talent portion for the 10 fnalists, which were: Tatiyanna Voche’, Dessie Love Blake, Barbra Seville, Aria B. Cassadine, Tia Wanna Ross, Morgan Morgan Morgan, Chloe Knox, Giselle Cassidy Carter, Janeé Starr and Gizele Monáe.

During the question portion, each fnalist was asked the same question: “If you are crowned tonight, tomorrow you will awaken a leader. In the place of negativity, how does your presence as Miss Gay America promote positivity?”

Blake, of Texas, pointed to being a safe space for the gay community even in times of strife.

“In a time where we are in such trouble with things that are going on in the country — with different states passing different laws … I will be the person that is going to stand up and say ‘I’m here for you, we can do this, it’s OK to be gay, it’s OK to be whatever you are, you are safe here at Miss Gay America,” Blake said.

Voche’, the eventual winner of the pageant began her question portion by greeting the audience.

“So I turned 40 about three weeks ago — you weren’t supposed to clap,

because you were supposed to say I don’t look like it. This has been the best 40th birthday present a guy could ask for. The love and support throughout this entire week is what the art of female illusion is all about,” Voche’ said.

In response to the question, Voche’ cited her work as a leader helping other drag queens.

“For the last few years, I’ve traveled this country on my own because I genuinely wanted to see girls achieve their dreams. As a sister, as a mentor, as a leader, I have promoted positivity the last few years by going to see those girls achieve their dreams, to helping them to say ‘It doesn’t matter what other people say to you, If you’re happy with yourself, and you love yourself, that’s where it all starts from,” Voche’ said.

She continued, “That is the root of loving everything about life. That is the positivity that we’re all looking for — we all want to be loved. If I can spread love throughout this country like I have the last two years, as a leader moving forward, tomorrow morning waking up as Miss Gay America — that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Loud applause followed Voche’s answer, different from the other queen’s responses which foreshadowed her

tribute act rocks Reynolds

Though skies were perfectly clear the night of Jan. 20, Conway received a healthy downfall of “Purple Rain” during Marshall Charloff’s one-man tribute to the late Grammy-winning musician.

The tribute kicked off a semester’s worth of shows, all soon to operate under the roof of UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall.

Charloff differs from other tribute artists in that he began performing as Prince in 2011 — years before Prince’s death in 2016. The style of performance began with Purple xPeRIeNCE, a band Charloff chartered alongside Doctor Fink after a 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame beneft concert.

“Doctor Fink was on keys. I was playing guitar,” Charloff said. “It was supposed to be just one show. I wasn’t dressed like Prince, I was just dressed like me. But at that show, Doctor Fink and I discussed [Prince]. I don’t know if he said it, or if I said we should do more shows together.”

Doctor Fink was Prince’s keyboardist in The Revolution, but wasn’t working for the artist when he and Charloff teamed up.

Some years before this, Charloff had met both Prince and Fink at the same time. However, it was Fink that would continue working with Charloff while Prince pursued other projects.

“I’m in Minneapolis and it’s exploding. It’s called Minneapolis Sound. Prince basically put us on the map,” Charloff said.

While Charloff admits that “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc., released 1979, was also responsible for landing more eyes on the city’s booming music scene, “Prince took it internationally, like to another level.”

Regarding the path of Prince tribute performances, Charloff said the road is relatively untraveled.

“There are very few people in the world who dare do a tribute to the greatest musician that ever lived. It’s kind of ridiculous what he achieved,” Charloff said. “As far as [Purple Piano], I’m the only one in the world that does it.”

His initial group Purple xPeRIeNCE still tours, with their next performance happening Jan. 27 in Pennsylvania. However, Charloff’s

“Purple

It’s

“I was impressed with the room because the show requires participation, right? I was impressed that it wasn’t like pulling teeth. They were there right away,” Charloff said.

“I will say that [Conway] was fantastic. Much better than I was expecting, partially because I’ve never been here. For most of the people here, I was brand new to them,” Charloff said. “I mean, one cool thing is that I have a huge advantage being an original artist and a tribute artist because even if you’ve never heard of me, you’ve heard of Prince.”

Following the show, Charloff took photos with fans and gave copies of his original albums. He said that he wasn’t necessarily surprised to fnd out that some audience members were regular followers of his work and of “Purple Piano” specifcally.

“Matter of fact, Wendy [Sparks] who booked me was at my show in Tennessee because she’s a huge Prince fan and it wasn’t that far. She went and saw me there and was like ‘I’m booking this dude here,’” Charloff said. “A lot of people come in just for curiosity. Like ‘Yeah, no one can pull off Prince, let alone one man show.’”

Ultimately, Charloff is thankful for what his 12 years of Prince tribute work has done for him.

“The levels that I’ve been able to reach, the amount of people. I’m pushing half a million people that I’ve performed for over 12 years.”

Charloff has performed in Detroit, New York and Florida but said Atlanta is one place that holds a large fan base for both his solo and group performances.

As for his favorite Prince song, “The Morning Papers,” released in 1992, takes the cake. His favorite album? 1987’s “Sign of the Times.”

Charloff looks to continue his personal music career moving into the future, following the success of his album “Unperfect,” which placed in the top 100 for global smooth jazz album in 2020.

“[For] my third album, I’ll start releasing singles soon. I don’t know if I’ll get the whole album done this year, but I probably will,” Charloff said.

Piano” functions as a more intimate deviation, consisting only of him and his piano.

the audience that becomes Charloff’s backup singers and dancers.

crowning. Voche’ took home the crown, Blake was awarded frst alternate, Seville was awarded second alternate, Cassadine was awarded third alternate and Wanna

Ross was awarded fourth alternate. Attendees who purchased a ticket got in free to Triniti Nightclub. More information about the pageant can be found at missgayamerica.com.

(Top) Marshall Charlof performs “Purple Rain” at Reynolds Performance Hall. (Bottom) Charlof laughs with the audience.

Brew Pub

photo by Madison Ogle

photo by Mia Waddell

photo by Mia Waddell

Tatiyanna Voche’ is crowned as Miss Gay America 2023. The 51st annual pageant was held in Little Rock at Robinson Theatre. The pageant fell just days after a bill passed in the Arkansas Senate Committee. The bill aims to restrict drag performances.

Andora Tetee, who held the title of Miss Gay America in 2019, clutches a wad of cash while performing at Miss Gay America. Tetee did not compete in this year’s pageant.