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E D I T O R I A L L Y

“Les Miserables” an emotional ensemble performance

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Issue 5

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Vol. 119

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FUTURE program BCPC hosts MLK Day celebration brings ‘spectrum’ disorder awareness Justin Joo

Staff Writer

Taylor McElroy Staff Writer If one were to look up “autism” in the medical dictionary, chances are he would find that it is a “spectrum” disorder.

The term “spectrum” is given to disorders that include a broad range of symptoms. In this particular case, “spectrum” disorder refers to the fact that people with autism can range from mild to severe. Autistic people can be bright and verbal, as well as intellectually disabled and non-verbal.

Those closest to the disorder tend to see it differently. Aside from its definition as a medical disorder, the word autisim is often associated with a pure heart and being very sensitive and finding a way to survive in an overwhelming, confusing world.

The University of Tennessee is aware of this aspect of autsim and funded a post-secondary education program called FUTURE. The program attempts to provide a future for those who suffer from autism or another intellectual disability.

As one of 27 states across the country awarded funding, the two-year program is designed for those who have completed high school without earning a regular high school diploma. Since every case is different, this nonresidential program will ensure individualized academic, social, vocational and independent living skills to students between the ages of 18 to 29 who suffer from intellectual disabilities.

FUTURE is hoping to get students involved in becoming tutors or workout mentors for the program.

Participation in FUTURE will provide students with a local or regional option for continuing their education beyond high school to increase employment opportunities.

“We are very excited about this opportunity for FUTURE students and encourage everyone to participate,” Elizabeth Fussell, FUTURE program director, said.

University student volunteers, or educational mentors, have the opportunity to meet different groups of people. Mentors with FUTURE students can build new relationships during their college experience.

Independent study course credit is available to qualified mentors. FUTURE students audit one UT course and one prep course. They are required to take core courses with the FUTURE Program. The program will also feature an individualized schedule for each student based on personal career aspirations achieved through a people-focused planning process. Mentors are asked to work two hours or more a week with students, such as speaking to students about life skills.

Other activities include going to lunch together, introducing students to their friends, including students in extracurricular activities such as basketball games, and exercising with students. Mentors sometimes create a compilation of pictures and videos of a FUTURE student’s college experience.

“People need to understand that suffering from something, whether it is autism, multiple sclerosis or even ADD is just a small part of who and what a person is, and who they can be,” Monica Calvillo, freshman in chemistry, said. “If given the opportunity a person can really achieve some truly amazing things, and I am proud my school is helping people get that chance.”

To sign up or for more information, contact Sarah Whisman, FUTURE volunteer coordinator,at sbraunre@utk.edu.

The annual MLK Day of Celebration took place Monday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement. The program was presented by the Office of Multicultural Student Life and the Black Cultural Programming Committee.

“This is something we do every year,” said Ashley Omelogu, junior in food science and technology and member of the BCPC. “This year, instead of a regular speaker, we wanted someone to reenact and perform. We usually start planning over the summer, but it takes about a month to get everything finalized.”

The UC was filled with over 100 attendees by 3 p.m. The program began with a recording of King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Then BCPC member Derrick Thompson gave the formal introduction, listing some of the events to come and stating the purpose and meaning of the MLK Day of Celebration.

“This is about the history and evolution of AfricanAmericans,” Thompson said.

Next, Elizabeth Sueing, member of the Zeta Delta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, sang the Black National Anthem. The audience stood and sang along with Sueing. The anthem’s lyrics, written by James Weldon Johnson, were provided in the event’s programs.

After the audience returned to their seats, a selection of slam poetry was performed. Each poem covered different issues of civil rights, including the history of the movement, the future of the civil rights struggle, and whether or not King’s “dream” had yet been fulfilled.

Tia Patron • The Daily Beacon

The Love United Gospel Choir performs during the MLK Day of Celebration event in the UC Jan. 16. The group was founded in 1970 and also has a dance team that was started in 2005. For more information on the Love United Gospel Choir, visit http://web.utk.edu/~lugc/.

An audio-visual slideshow documenting King’s life followed the poetry. The strip featured pictures from King’s childhood, wedding, his family, protests, his assassination and funeral. The strip concluded with a photo of former President Ronald Reagan signing the bill that would make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday in 1983.

Actor Elliot Porter then performed the first part his skit “Wisdom of Willie Brown.” The skit was divided into three segments, each performed at different times throughout the entire MLK Day of Celebration. The skit is both a humorous and dramatic chronicle of Willie Brown’s early survival of an attempted lynching, meeting King and his

involvement with the Civil Rights Movement.

The Love United Gospel Choir then took the stage to perform. The group of over 25, all dressed in matching black and red attire, were accompanied with live drums, guitar and keyboard, and sang three songs, concluding with “We Shall Overcome.”

Although initially hampered by technical difficulties, the UT chapter of the NAACP also paid tribute to King and the Civil Rights Movement. Their presentation featured a slide show with pictures and biographies of many Civil Rights leaders, including Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and even President John F. Kennedy.

Near the end of the celebra-

tion, members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity performed.

Members walked down the aisles of the auditorium toward the stage while reciting verses from the poem “Thy Will be Done,” which was written anonymously. The fraternity pays tribute to King yearly, and the celebration is particularly meaningful to them as King was a member of the fraternity.

“With him being a brother, we always want to take part in the program,” said Akoma Onwuzuruigbo, a member of the fraternity who performed in the skit. “It’s always about respecting Dr. Martin Luther King. His presence in our fraternity, his presence in the black community, and really his presence in everyone’s lives.”

Scientists find lost Darwin fossils The Associated Press LONDON — British scientists have found scores of fossils the great evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 150 years.

Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang, a paleontologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, said Tuesday that he stumbled upon the glass slides containing the fossils in an old wooden cabinet that had been shoved in a “gloomy corner” of the massive, drafty British Geological Survey.

Using a flashlight to peer into the drawers and hold up a slide, Falcon-Lang saw one of the first specimens he had picked up was labeled ‘C. Darwin Esq.’ “It took me a while just to convince myself that it was Darwin’s signature on the slide,” the paleontologist said, adding he soon realized it was a “quite important and overlooked” specimen.

He described the feeling of seeing that famous signature as “a heart in your mouth situation,” saying he wondering “Goodness, what have I discovered!”

Falcon-Lang’s find was a collection of 314 slides of specimens collected by Darwin and other members of his inner circle, including John Hooker — a botanist and dear friend of Darwin — and the Rev. John Henslow, Darwin's mentor at Cambridge, whose daughter later married Hooker.

The first slide pulled out of the dusty corner at the British Geological Survey turned out to be one of the specimens collected by Darwin during his famous expedition on the HMS Beagle, which changed the young

Cambridge graduate’s career and laid the foundation for his subsequent work on evolution.

Falcon-Lang said the unearthed fossils — lost for 165 years — show there is more to learn from a period of history scientists thought they knew well.

“To find a treasure trove of lost Darwin specimens from the Beagle voyage is just extraordinary,” Falcon-Lang added. “We can see there’s more to learn.

There are a lot of very, very significant fossils in there that we didn’t know existed.”

See DARWIN on Page 3

Graduate killed in random beating The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — A recent college graduate left a bar with his girlfriend just steps from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia’s tourist district, yelled at a cab that wouldn’t give him a ride and was savagely beaten by men who piled out of a car, perhaps in the mistaken belief he was yelling at them, investigators said.

Police are seeking four suspects and offering a reward in the beating of Kevin Kless, 23, early Saturday after he shouted at the cab while he and several friends looked for a ride, authorities said. Three men got out of a car behind the cab and started kicking and punching Kless, who fell to the sidewalk severely injured.

The three men and the driver of the car drove off. Kless was pronounced dead at a hospital several hours later.

Investigators were still looking for the four men Tuesday and trying to get more information on the brutal attack, Officer Christine O’Brien, a police spokeswoman, said.

The city announced a $10,000 reward for arrests and convictions, and Mayor Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon Michael Nutter took to Twitter Tyler Thomas, freshman in pre-med, plays a round of pool in the UC Down Under Jan. 17. Any student can play to condemn the killing: for $2 per half-hour.

“Encourage ANYONE who

knows or saw anything about this incident to give us info, we need to catch these people, asap!” the mayor wrote.

The apparently random and brutal attack was the latest in a string of killings in the City of Brotherly Love, where there have been 20 homicides so far in 2012, up from 12 at the same point last year. Last week, a 30year-old man with a long arrest record was charged with gunning down a carload of seven teenagers who had been feuding with his stepsons. Three of the boys died.

Investigators have little information in Kless’ killing, which happened as he and several friends tried to stop the cab near Lucy’s Hat Shop, a bar in the city’s historic section. The area, home to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, is also home to many bars and restaurants and is a popular hangout for young adults.

When the cab stopped, police said, Kless got involved in a conversation with the cab driver, who then drove off. The suspects, who were in a car behind the cab, apparently thought Kless was yelling at them, according to police.

Three of them got out and began beating Kless near the historic Second Bank of the United States.

2 • The Daily Beacon

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

InSHORT

George Richardson• The Daily Beacon (Antenna Cond Regular 7 pt)

Work continues on the new Natalie L. Haslam Music Center January 11. The construction is expected to take just over one more year before moving in during summer 2013.

1803 — Jefferson requests funds for Lewis and Clark Determined to begin the American exploration of the vast mysterious regions of the Far West, President Thomas Jefferson sends a special confidential message to Congress asking for money to fund the journey of Lewis and Clark.

Jefferson had been trying to mount a west-

ern expedition of exploration since the 1790s, and his determination to do so had only grown since he became president in 1801. In summer 1802, Jefferson began actively preparing for the mission, recruiting his young personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to be its leader. Throughout 1802, Jefferson and Lewis discussed the proposed mission, telling no one—not even Congress, which would have to approve the funds — of what they were contemplating.

Jefferson directed Lewis to draw up an estimate of expenses. Basing his calculations on a party of one officer and 10 enlisted men — the number was deliberately kept small to avoid inspiring both congressional criticisms and Indian fears of invasion— Lewis carefully added up the costs for provisions, weapons, gunpowder, scientific instruments, and a large boat. The final tally came to $2,500. The largest item was $696, earmarked for gifts to Indians.

Following the advice of his secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin, Jefferson decided not to include the request in his general proposed annual budget, since it involved exploration outside of the nation’s own territory.

Instead, on January 18, 1803,

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he sent a special secret message to Congress asking for the money, taking pains to stress that the proposed exploration would be an aid to American commerce. Jefferson noted that the Indians along the proposed route of exploration up the Missouri River “furnish a great supply of furs & pelts to the trade of another nation carried on in a high latitude.”

If a route into this territory existed, “possibly with a single portage, from the Western ocean,” Jefferson suggested Americans might have a superior means of exploiting the fur trade. Though carefully couched in diplomatic language, Jefferson’s message to Congress was clear: a U.S. expedition might be able to steal the fur trade from the British and find the long hoped-for Northwest passage to the Pacific.

Despite some mild resistance from Federalists who never saw any point in spending money on the West, Jefferson’s carefully worded request prevailed, and Congress approved the $2,500 appropriation by a sizeable margin. It no doubt seemed trivial in comparison to the $9,375,000 they had approved a week earlier for the Louisiana Purchase, which brought much of the territory Jefferson was proposing to explore under American control.

1919 — Post-World War I peace conference begins in Paris On this day in Paris, France, some of the most powerful people in the world meet to begin the long, complicated negotiations that would officially mark the end of the First World War. Leaders of the victorious Allied powers — France, Great Britain, the United States and Italy — would make most of the crucial decisions in Paris over the next six months. For most of the conference, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson struggled to support his

idea of a “peace without victory” and make sure that Germany, the leader of the Central Powers and the major loser of the war, was not treated too harshly. On the other hand, Prime Ministers Georges Clemenceau of France and David Lloyd George of Britain argued that punishing Germany adequately and ensuring its weakness was the only way to justify the immense costs of the war. In the end, Wilson compromised on the treatment of Germany in order to push through the creation of his pet project, an international peacekeeping organization called the League of Nations.

Representatives from Germany were excluded from the peace conference until May, when they arrived in Paris and were presented with a draft of the Versailles Treaty.

Having put great faith in Wilson’s promises, the Germans were deeply frustrated and disillusioned by the treaty, which required them to forfeit a great deal of territory and pay reparations. Even worse, the infamous Article 231 forced Germany to accept sole blame for the war. This was a bitter pill many Germans could not swallow.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, five years to the day after a Serbian nationalist’s bullet ended the life of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and sparked the beginning of World War I. In the decades to come, anger and resentment of the treaty and its authors festered in Germany.

Extremists like Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) Party capitalized on these emotions to gain power, a process that led almost directly to the exact thing Wilson and the other negotiators in Paris in 1919 had wanted to prevent — a second, equally devastating global war.

— This Day in History is courtesy of History.com.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Daily Beacon • 3

NEWS

Perry blasts Turkey in Republican debate The Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey — U.S. Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry drew Turkey’s ire on Tuesday after suggesting the country is ruled by Islamic terrorists and questioning its NATO membership.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry released a scathing statement saying Perry’s comments were “baseless and inappropriate” and that the U.S. has no time to waste with candidates “who do not even know their allies.”

Perry, the Texas governor whose candidacy briefly soared when he entered the race in August but whose shine faded after a series of weak debate performances, said Turkey was ruled by “what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists” and questioned the country’s NATO membership.

In a debate ahead of the South Carolina primaries, he said Turkey was moving “far away from the country that I lived in back in the 1970s as a pilot in the United States Air Force that was our ally, that

worked with us.”

Turkey, which has assisted NATO in Afghanistan and other missions said it has been at the forefront of the fight against terrorism.

It said it was “strongly condemning” Perry’s words.

“Turkey joined NATO while the governor was still 2 years old,” the statement said. “It is a member that has made important contributions to the trans-Atlantic alliance’s conflict-full history. It is among countries that are at the front lines in the fight against terrorism.”

Turkey has been ruled by a government led by pious Muslims since 2002. Although it’s ties with Israel have deteriorated, the government has maintained a close relationship with the West while seeking to represent the views of the Muslim world.

Most recently, Turkey began to host NATO’s early warning radar system as part of NATO’s missile defense system, which is capable of countering ballistic missile threats from Iran.

Perry also said Turkey should not receive foreign aid. While the United States recently deployed four Predator drones to Turkey from Iraq to aid Ankara in its fight against the autonomy-seeking

DARWIN continued from Page 1 He said one of the most “bizarre” slides came from Hooker’s collection — a specimen of prototaxites, a 400 million-year-old tree-sized fungus.

Hooker had assembled the collection of slides while briefly working for the British Geological Survey in 1846, according to Royal Holloway, University of London.

The slides — “stunning works of art,” according to Falcon-Lang — contain bits of fossil wood and plants ground into thin sheets and affixed to glass in order to be studied under microscopes. Some of the slides are half a foot long (15 centimeters),

Matthew DeMaria • The Daily Beacon

The UT Dance Team performs during the men’s basketball game against UNC Ashville on Jan. 6. The dance team and cheerleading squad recently competed in Orlando for the UDA National Championships. The dance team won second in jazz, fourth in hip hop, and the cheer team won fourth.

Kurdish rebels, Turkey does not receive U.S. foreign aid.

The Turkish statement said Turkey’s leaders were “personalities respected not only in the United States, but in our region and in the world and whose opinions are strongly relied on.”

The Turkish statement said Perry’s low standings in polls were proof that the Republicans in the U.S. do not endorse his opinions.

“Figures who are candidates for positions that require responsibility, such as the U.S. presidency, should be more knowledgeable about the world and exert more care with their statement,” the Turkish statement said.

The Turkish ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan, said: “We do hope this episode in last night’s debate leads to a better informed foreign policy discussion among the Republican Party candidates, one where long-standing allies are treated with respect not disdain.”

Perry did poorly in the first two nominating contests, the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, and needs to do well in South Carolina to keep his candidacy alive.

National polls show him far behind the front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. “great big chunks of glass,” Falcon-Lang said.

“How these things got overlooked for so long is a bit of a mystery itself,” he mused, speculating that perhaps it was because Darwin was not widely known in 1846 so the collection might not have been given “the proper curatorial care.”

Royal Holloway, University of London said the fossils were ‘lost’ because Hooker failed to number them in the formal “specimen register” before setting out on an expedition to the Himalayas. In 1851, the “unregistered” fossils were moved to the Museum of Practical Geology in Piccadilly before being transferred to the South Kensington's Geological Museum in 1935 and then to the British Geological

Survey’s headquarters near Nottingham 50 years later, the university said.

The discovery was made in April, but it has taken “a long time” to figure out the provenance of the slides and photograph all of them, Falcon-Lang said. The slides have now been photographed and will be made available to the public through a new online museum exhibit opening Tuesday.

Falcon-Lang expects great scientific papers to emerge from the discovery.

“There are some real gems in this collection that are going to contribute to ongoing science.”

Dr. John Ludden, executive director of the Geological Survey, called the find a “remarkable” discovery.

4 • The Daily Beacon

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

OPINIONS

Editor’sNote Striving for autonomous thought Blair Kuykendall Editor-in-Chief In response to my last missive on independent thought, one particularly profound reader has challenged me to lend clarity to the abstract. His loquacious rebuttal asserted that our generation has been continuously charged to think for itself, yet we are seldom told how. Upon reflection, I agree that some merit lies in spelling out life’s strategies for success. Consequently I have decided to oblige with this meager attempt at philosophical deduction.

This discussion necessitates some parameters.

We must first take as a given that independent thought is indeed desirable. There are a surprising number of arguments ranging from the biological to the sociological that would advocate instead the utility of homogenous thought patterns. I dismiss those here, though that could prove an interesting debate for another day. Within the framework of modern society, where an individual’s basic needs are met, we will safely assume along with Maslow that the final frontier is self-actualization. Independent thought is undoubtedly required for such a journey.

As one overarching caveat, I would like to make it clear that no one can achieve perfectly independent thinking. While there is extreme merit in an ability to think for oneself, even the most independent of individuals will only ever be able to achieve some level of autonomy. There are two different extremes of one continuum that could foster thought completely devoid of influence. One reader has pointed out that an individual in complete ignorance, unaffected by any other knowledge, can truly think independently. I would argue that at the other extreme, an individual with a grasp of every piece of knowledge in existence would be able to think independently as well. As it is, everyone falls somewhere in between, bound by the narrow perspective life has given them. Nevertheless, I believe the pursuit of self-determination remains noble. To attain even a portion of mental liberty can revolutionize one’s outlook on life and perhaps in

turn the outlook of society at large. I submit Gandhi.

To develop some unique perspective on life, an individual must first acknowledge his authority to do so. Those who develop their own ideas must possess an internal respect for both their mind and being. Self esteem and security, while admittedly trite sentiments, are the impetus for independence. In the world’s sea of humanity, a measure of egotism is necessary to declare one’s own perspective valid, or even more daringly, correct.

Once one has been able to attain such levels of vainglory, he must sufficiently define his preferences.

I am shamelessly biased to the method used by economists in analyzing decision-making. To maximize personal utility, the clever individual approaches life with a clearly delineated set of preferences. Only in the acknowledgment of true desire can an individual achieve actualization.

Given a collection of at least a few preferences, one must then take a hard look at the world. Which existing people, places or pursuits fit within the framework of your individual inclination? It is certainly not a given that the entirety of one’s desires can be actualized with the outlets available on our earth, but it is conceivable that at least some can be actualized with the diversions at hand.

After a set of wants has been identified, the connoisseur of independent thought then develops their own route to attaining what they desire.

Obviously at this point independent thinking can only get you so far. Even if you have resolutely identified your preference to rule a country, for nonroyals this will be utterly impossible. Striving instead to attain desires within the realm of possibility, an individual must have the intelligence to piece together his own route. A good measure of the strength of one’s preference is the lengths to which he will go in pursuit.

We arrive at the crossroads where life becomes interesting. The independent thinker, having created his own path, must tirelessly pursue it. Those unique individuals who refuse rest until they have attained it write their names on the history of mankind. As Napoleon so often reminds me, “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”

— Blair Kuykendall is a junior in the College Scholars Program. She can be reached at bkuykend@utk.edu.

SCRAMBLED EGGS • Alex Cline

THE GREAT MASH-UP • Liz Newnam

Columns of The Daily Beacon are reflections of the individual columnist, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or its editorial staff.

Appreciate sitcoms over time, anytime Ac orns and Other Seeds by

Anna-Lise Burnette At the risk of sounding like some crazy Chuck Klosterman devotee, I have to confess that over the past week I managed to watch the entire first season of that ’90s phenomenon known as “Friends” for no reason other than to experience time travel.

But because at some point I realized that the first few shows I had watched were filmed before I even started kindergarten, I had to wonder: Isn’t there something sort of wasteful about watching an almost-two-decades-old sitcom? And isn’t there possibly something psychologically dangerous about looking at horrible, horrible outfits and haircuts for hours at a time?

But if watching “I Love Lucy” or “I Dream of Jeanie” doesn’t raise eyebrows anymore, perhaps watching more recent comedy series shouldn’t be such a big deal either.

Sure, there’s the question of what these shows are actually encouraging (and there I suppose you have to decide for yourself whether your own outlook more closely matches that of the 1950s or the 1990s), but I’m not here to proselytize. There is certainly a reason that some of the longest running or most popular shows of any decade are now being sold in deluxe box sets, and it isn’t because they suddenly became culturally irrelevant.

While we might smile wryly today at sitcom moms and dads climbing into their own individual twin beds, that does nothing to detract from the humorous situations and clever wordplay that mark a great script. In fact, the quaint things about an “outdated” show often only serve to heighten the viewer’s amusement in a way that current television shows couldn’t even hope to. Any of you remember early-model wireless phones almost as large as your head? (No, I didn’t think so. For the same reason that giant microwaves, clunky beepers and pale green iceboxes seem quaint and quirky enough to be hip.)

That’s just what time does, though. Just as the resurgence of vintage polyester and furs has marked the transition from one decade to another, the widespread movement of nostalgia for the popular culture of our parents’ or grandparents’ youth is something that

continues to capture our attention. And for the people who don’t quite have the guts to admit that the original “Star Trek” was (obviously) the best, they’ll always have the TV shows of their older siblings, right? “Saved by the Bell” is no “Andy Griffith Show,” but at least it’s in color, eh guys?

And that’s fine. I realize that it takes all kinds, and so I don’t expect that everyone in my generation will be interested in watching reruns from the ’60s. Which is why I have no problem opening up a piece about the value of dated pop culture with the admission that “Friends” is an entertaining if somewhat misleading bit of a time capsule. There’s not anything less valid about studying life in the last half of the last century than studying the first half, even if you do happen to be studying a decade that you yourself lived through.

The presumption I’m making, of course, is that the viewer is always studying whatever he’s watching. I know it’s optimistic, but I’d like to think that no one ever just mindlessly watches television. (Sure. Go ahead. Laugh.)

And that’s why I am such a big fan of watching old shows rather than newer ones. It isn’t just a matter of quality, although that’s certainly a part of it, if we’re being honest.

It has to do with the intellectual challenge that taking in programming from another time requires of a viewer.

I don’t mean anything too strenuous; after all, we’re talking about TV, not a centuries-old allegorical novel.

(Just by virtue of being a television program, all older shows are — at least for now — unavoidably contemporary, at least when compared to anything from the 19th century back.) But it does necessitate a sort of broader understanding of both human and American culture, in addition to more specific understandings of the politics and society of whatever decade the show was created in.

It doesn’t take an incredible amount of sophistication, either. There’s no need for the average-but-savvy television fan to hold a degree in American history. What enjoying a show mainly requires is simply being part of this great big community we call society. If you’ve ever lived with someone older than yourself, ever heard about events that happened before you were born or ever stepped outside your tiny opaque bubble, then you’ve got the tools to enjoy almost any decade’s entertainment. And who knows, maybe you’ll even find that you can bond with your crazy family over late-night reruns after all.

— Anna-Lise Burnette is a senior in interdisciplinary studies. She can be reached at kburnet7@utk.edu.

Get educated, remember to vote S mel l This by

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ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Clay Seal

“Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow; and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.”

Nov. 29, 1877, Thomas Edison used this line from the 19th century nursery rhyme as test audio for his then cutting-edge phonograph. The first true effort toward crossing over from print to audio media (though at the time, not necessarily perceived as such), the invention’s debut created an antecedent from which audio and recording technology rapidly expanded. The resulting new industry revolutionized the fields of communications, music, literature, information and, not surprisingly, politics.

Franklin Roosevelt was the first public figure to really champion the new culture, largely out of necessity. Why a president and not, say, the 68th Congress or Chief Justice Taft and his eight buddies? The answer is complicated and the philosophies, varied, but for one thing, the president, unlike the collective representatives from the legislative and judicial branches, has a single voice. He has the faculties to craft a public message and is expected to be a nationally-conscious, representative figurehead; thus, he is both well-equipped to address the public and is presumed to have something to say. Throughout his tenure, FDR did just that. He spoke regularly to the nation — first through his radio broadcast “fireside chats” — and eventually with the aide of picture, as the first president to speak on television in 1939 (though Hoover was the first to speak from the White House, on national issues).

Since Roosevelt, media’s influence over the executive branch has increased significantly. News outlets, their ubiquitous field correspondents and their even more ubiquitous cameras have garnered such a power that experts often refer to media as a whole as the “fourth branch of government.” Because the president is now so frequently on-camera and often slave to a script, there’s a first-amendment-stipulated accountability in the White House that simply wasn’t there a century ago; the resulting access to and visibility of the president is something our founders never dreamed of — a time when press briefings figure directly into presidential approval ratings and YouTube (or something) has the

capability to force our commander-in-chief into an obsequious bow to … whomever. Simply put, media, with its phonograph and its radio and its TV and its big, bad Internet, has changed the game. The presidentpolity relationship, once based on nothing more than an expectation of good policy and a well-run country, is now hung on a timeline of technological pioneerism.

It’s a well-intentioned thing, don’t get me wrong. In a utopian sense, I think it’s great that the leader of the free world has to answer to a camera lens. Unfortunately though, the aforementioned rise in media activity, participation and number has prompted news outlets to become progressively more competitive and agendabased. Supposedly objective news stations are actually partisan as hell (though, some no longer even care to feign the bipartisan veneer), and even print publications are nothing but opinion pieces.

At no point in a four-year term is this truer than during election season. Which leads me, finally, to my point — after a politician’s message passes through the gauntlet of expectations, media manipulation and extra-political standards, how exactly are voters supposed to cast votes that really reflect their opinion? The spirit of competition, or whatever motivates media personalities to gravitate to either end of the spectrum, has reduced the political information culture to nothing more than a highlypolarized fight between mommy and daddy at the dinner table, and the kids don’t know with whom to side. I dare you to base your vote on Fox News and NPR — it’s not possible. We need something more than a talking head circus if we’re to cast informed votes or even decide party affiliations.

I would say that citizens have the prerogative to ignore politics and assume the blasé, so-long-as-my-snow-getsplowed attitude, but today’s partisanships and grossly different behaviors among demographics have made it such that not voting has simply become another way to vote. Unless, you know, you’re 90. So here’s the part where I get to tell you what to do about it. In the wake of the media’s apparent inability to fully and objectively inform the public of the individuals vetted to run/lead the country, a need has arisen for us to educate ourselves politically and actually participate in our participatory democracy. Go figure, right? There is by no means a need to make a task out of it, but public influence starts at the individual and as I’ve made so obnoxiously clear, the media simply isn’t getting the job done. So, you know, do your homework and rock the vote.

Or whatever the kids are saying nowadays.

— Sam Ellis is a senior in political science. He can be reached at sellis11@utk.edu.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Daily Beacon • 5

ARTS&CULTURE

‘Les Mis’ connects with audience Man found dead in theater The Associated Press

Tia Patron Photography Editor After sitting down in the historic Tennessee Theatre, I was looking forward to finally being able to see “Les Misérables” after having sung the music in high school and still not knowing anything about the musical.

Basically, the musical is about a man who is released from a chain gang on parole and disappears. Eight years later, you see him again and he has become a factory owner and mayor without anyone knowing his past. A mother, Fantine, is fired from her job because it is found out that she had a child out of wedlock. Mayor Jean Valjean, after confessing his past, promises to save Fantine’s daughter after she dies. The story continues with Cosette, the daughter, when she is older and finding true love during one of the French Revolutions.

Some of Broadway’s famous songs come from this musical, like “On My Own” and “I Dreamed a Dream,” which has been made more popular after Susan Boyle sang it in her auditions in “Britain’s Got Talent.” The actors showed true vocal talent and gave me goose bumps several times throughout the performance.

I had only ever seen “Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats” in the past, but it had

been several years so I was not used to the idea of the majority of the musical being sung.

Marigrace Angelo, senior in art and Spanish, had never seen this kind of Broadway before.

• Photo courtesy of Deen van Meer

“I really enjoyed the fluidity and operatic quality of the style,” Angelo said.

“The actors were brilliant both dramatically and vocally.”

Angelo’s only issue with the musical was the lack of connection with character Éponine, who was in love with Marius, the man in love with Cosette.

“While Éponine’s death scene was very evocative, I didn’t find myself sympathizing enough with the character as I should have,” Angelo said.

While overhearing some members of the audience, it seems that the musical leaves out much of Éponine’s background that is in the book.

The production also was something of amazement as it incorporated a digital background that allowed multiple scenes, very quickly adding to the information given to the audience. The ability to have only a few sets to transform into an inn, a street scene, barricades during a battle and even the sewers, adds to the creativity that was required in this Broadway tour.

The audience enjoyed the comedic moments, usually adult in theme, and at the end it seemed the audience had a true connection to Valjean and Cosette.

There were several sniffles heard around where I was seated and the standing ovation lasted several minutes. I even had some tears at the end that I was at least able to cover up during the curtain call.

Overall, this production was magical and heartfelt. I did not hear one person that did not enjoy the performance and even had several people jealous that they were not able to actually see the performance themselves. For anyone who was not able to see it this past weekend, it will be in Atlanta at The Fox Theatre, April 24-29. I encourage you to see it if you enjoy a good ensemble performance, great solos and a story that leaves you in tears after.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A Colorado man who was missing for five days was found dead in a locked movie theater restroom after workers noticed an odor and forced their way in, authorities said.

Police had searched the area around the Fort Collins theater after the family of 66year-old George DeGrazio reported him missing on Jan. 9 and his vehicle was found nearby.

DeGrazio died of a heart attack, Deputy Coroner James MacNaughton told KMGHTV of Denver (http://bit.ly/wrNaQe).

The man’s son, Dylan DeGrazio, told the station that he was upset that theater employees didn’t find his father’s body earlier.

“If I had the police department saying somebody disappeared in this area and we’re trying to locate him, I would be searching every nook and cranny of my establishment,” he said. “But that didn’t happen.”

A spokesman for Cinemark didn’t immediately return a message left by The Associated Press. In a statement, the company said it was working with authorities and couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation.

Rushdie event sparks outcry The Associated Press LUCKNOW, India — Organizers of an Indian literary festival said Tuesday they hope Salman Rushdie will attend, despite calls by Muslim clerics to ban the BritishIndian author from the event.

Rushdie’s planned appearance at the Jaipur Literary Festival has sparked an outcry among some Muslims who consider his 1988 book “The Satanic Versus” blasphemous.

Last week, Darul Uloom seminary leader Maulana Abdul Qasim Nomani urged the government to bar Rushdie from the five-day

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Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, where Jaipur is based, said protesters’ feelings should not be ignored and that Rushdie should stay away due to security concerns.

The 64-year-old author has attended the annual festival previously without incident.

He has said he does not need permission or a visa to enter or travel within India.

Festival director Namita Gokhale said Tuesday the invitation to Rushdie stands.

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“We certainly hope he’ll be there,” she said, though his planned Friday appearance has been shifted due to changes in his schedule.

Gokhale would not give more details about when he might show.

Organizers called the controversy an “irritation,” and said they were discussing security measures with authorities to ensure the safety of all who attend.

“Every liberal person in this country needs Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon to stand up and be heard,” organizer Sanjoy Roy told Indian broadcaster CNN-IBN. “We Daniel Killion, freshman in mechanical engineering, are becoming a very shrill nation” that calls plays table tennis at the UC Down Under on Jan. 17. for banning and burning “stuff we don’t like.” Half-priced billiards and table tennis is on Wednesdays from 3-9 p.m.

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67 Like a D68 U.F.O. crew

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W.W. I mil. group Wakens Sealer’s stuff Holy city of Iran At a cruise stop, say Annual parade honoree, informally Popular swab The New Yorker cartoonist Peter Ring foe of Manolete Euro fraction They may be even, ironically Descartes’s “therefore” Get, as profits “Cease” and “desist,” e.g.: Abbr.

6 • The Daily Beacon

THESPORTSPAGE

Graham ‘product of what I’m selling’ as backs coach Matt Dixon Sports Editor Jay Graham will be forever known to Tennessee fans for his touchdown runs against Alabama in 1995 and ’96, but he’s back on the UT sideline because “Tennessee was always the place I saw myself coaching.”

Despite the opportunity to coach Marcus Lattimore, one of the nation’s top running backs, for another season, Graham left South Carolina to become the running backs coach at UT, where he ranks seventh on the school’s all-time rushing list with 2,609 yards.

“It was tough not to decide to leave, not because he is a p o t e n t i a l Heisman Trophy candidate, but because he is a good young man,” Graham said of Lattimore. “We talked about it and I said to him that he would probably coach at your alma mater if you had been in the same position. He agreed, and it was a good conversation. He is just a good young man.”

After a six-year playing career in the NFL, Graham began coaching at UT in 2005 as a graduate assistant. He also spent time at UT-Chattanooga, San Diego, UT-Martin and Miami (Oh.) before joining Steve Spurrier’s staff at South Carolina.

“Jay has every quality you would want in a coach,” Vols coach Derek Dooley said.

“He is certainly a great person. He cares

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Johnson learning patience, leadership The Associated Press In the early days of her Tennessee career, Glory Johnson had a knack for frustrating her coaches. These days they can’t help but sing her praises.

“If we have to lay our hat on somebody, it’s Glory Johnson,” associate head coach Holly Warlick said. “She plays the game the way it should be played, with a lot of effort, a lot of heart. She plays hard every possession. She’s getting beat up a little inside, but she’s got a maturity about her.”

The senior forward has become the ninthranked Lady Volunteers' most solid player this season by turning in consistently strong performances on both ends of the court.

The Knoxville native has always been a strong rebounder with a spirited attitude on the court, but as a young Lady Vol she drove coach Pat Summitt crazy with her inconsistency. Johnson would turn in a double-double performance one game and find herself in early foul trouble in the next.

With some learned patience and a lot of extra time in the gym, Johnson finally has realized the potential Summitt expected of her.

“I would get mad at every call,” Johnson said.

“You just get to a point where you realize the calls are not going to change. The refs are going to make really good calls and they’re going to make really bad calls and they’re going to miss things. Not everyone’s perfect. Just deal with it, handle adversity and move on.”

Johnson’s 9.8 rebounds per game rank second in the SEC, just behind the 9.9 rebounds Nikki Byrd averages at Mississippi. Her 14.5 points per game rank fifth in the SEC, and her 64 percent field goal shooting ranks tops in the league and sixth in the nation.

Even though she draws extra attention from most opposing defenses, Johnson has managed eight double-double performances this season, including four in five Southeastern Conference games. She earned back-to-back SEC player of the week honors for her play in wins against Old Dominion, Auburn, Chattanooga, Georgia and Arkansas.

On the defensive end, Johnson is tasked with shutting down the paint but often ends up frustrating shooting guards as well.

“She manhandles whoever is there,” Georgia coach Andy Landers said after the Lady Bulldogs lost to Tennessee on Jan 5. “If you try and guard her, she comes right at you and makes you foul her.”

about the student-athletes. He has done a remarkable job in his short career of coaching players, motivating them and getting them to play well, and then, add to it what he has done at this place.

“It was pretty much a no-brainer for me. We are glad Jay is back to his family and he is going to have a big role for us moving forward.”

Graham was hired while players were away on Christmas break, but the former Vol thinks it will be easy bonding with UT’s current running backs.

“One of the guys pointed into the corner of the room, and I guess my picture was up, and asked, ‘Was that you?’ They are starting to figure out who I am,” he said. “... I think because I’ve walked in their shoes, I’ve done some of the things that they do, I think they can identify with me and understand it. Certainly, you have to know how to coach them and I think that validates it, but because you’ve been in their shoes and played at different levels, when they come off the sideline you can really identify with them during a game or at practice.”

Graham believes his time File Photo • The Daily Beacon at UT as a player gives him a recruiting tool he can pitch at potential future Vols.

“When I am sitting on a young man’s couch I am a product of what I am selling,” he said. “I think that’s very important. For his parents to see that if you play well and can get to the NFL it is possible. Some of these young men might want to go off and coach too. I am able to talk about all of Matthew DeMaria • The Daily Beacon those things. I think that parents are able to see that this is what they want for their The Lady Vols volleyball team celebrates after a 3-1 win over Kentucky for the SEC young man to end up doing.”

Championship Nov. 23. The Lady Vols beat Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but lost to Ohio State 3-2 in their next match.