The Daily Beacon

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Issue 22, Volume 122

Friday, February 8, 2013

Fracking concerns some in UT community Lauren Parker Contributor When energy exploration crops up in conversation, Tennessee is not typically a state that is mentioned. However, UT is considering leasing several thousand acres of land in the Cumberland Forest northeast of Oak Ridge to an oil and gas company to conduct research on the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing, also known as “hydrofracking.” Hydrofracking as a drilling technique has become popular and profitable in the last decade due to refined drilling techniques, rising energy costs and lack of regulation. While fracking is providing fairly clean energy for Europe, North America and China without having to buy oil from

the conflict-riddled Middle East, it still feeds the fossil fuel addiction plaguing most industrialized countries. Hydraulic fracturing starts with the drilling of a vertical well. A horizontal well branches off from the main well into the rock layer. A pipe is then inserted into the well, and a highly pressurized mixture of water, chemicals and sand is pumped down into the well at high speeds to create or widen pre-existing fractures in the rock layer. The sand keeps the fissures open and allows the trapped natural gas to escape into the well and be collected at the surface. The recovered water mixture is stored in open pits • Photo courtesy of agriculture.utk.edu and then taken to treatment The UT Forest Resources Center demonstrates a restoration project in the UT Cumberland Forest in Morgan facilities. County. The Cumberland Forest could be leased for hydraulic fracturing, a controversial drilling technique, in order to study environment impacts. See FRACKING on Page 3

Library celebrates new Commons Students receive language credits studying abroad Melodi Erdogan

of campus and we wanted the main corridor … to have services that were very student centered and were open more Justin Joo than just 8-5. …” Staff Writer But although the construcThe renovations to the section on the second floor is ond floor Commons in Hodges complete, additional renovaLibrary are officially complete, tions will soon begin on the and UT wanted to celebrate. ground floor of Hodges. Administration, faculty, Within a few weeks, Dean of staff and students gathered Libraries Steve Smith said that throughout the second floor construction will begin on the of Hodges Thursday afternoon ground floor to make room for to celebrate the completion of One Stop, a central location to months and months of renovacombine the services needed tions done to the Commons. for students to manage their All along the main hall of enrollment, registration, finanthe second floor booths for cial aid and paydifferent library ments. It will act services were on as an alternate locadisplay. More than tion for the Student a hundred students Services. and faculty mingled Smith does not from table to table, foresee the consigning up for a struction impeding raffle drawing and access to Hodges sampling snacks from the ground that some of the floor entrance, booths offered. but he said that it Some of the would be noticetables includable. He hopes that ed the Writing it will be finished Center, the Office by the summer. of Information During the sumand Technology, mer, renovations UTPD, the Office will be done to of Multicultural the third through Student Life and a sixth floors, known photo booth with as the Stacks. costumes, just to Renovations will name a few. include making Teresa Walker, more room and head of integrated install more electric user services, was outlets as well as very proud of both enhance security the Commons and Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon elements due to the celebration. Hodges now being “We have put Students study in the newly renovated Commons on the second floor open 24 hours a day. so much time, and of Hodges Library on Nov. 13. The library welcomed students to a The first floor thought and energy celebration to get to know the new additions on Feb. 7. Commons will also into this,” Walker receive renovations, said, “and we’ve our library is better than were added and the Studio but Smith said that they probabeen living this renovation for Vanderbilt’s,” Cheek joked to a was expanded. Many of the bly wouldn’t begin for another so long now that we really services offered, such as OIT two to three years because of a roaring crowd. want to celebrate what we’ve A small buffet of food was and Research Assistance, were lack of funding. done and see students using But for Smith, the afternoon offered to those attending the relocated to be in a more cenit.” festivities in the Mary Greer tral and accessible location. was about the completion of Dean of Libraries Steve Room after the speeches were Areas for the Student Success the second floor’s renovations. Smith, Interim Assistant Vice Center, the Math Tutorial For him it was a moment of done. Chancellor for Information The entire renovation cost Center, the Writing Center pride. Technology Joel Reeves, “You know, as proud as I $3 million. The massive proj- and the Stat 201 Lab were also Provost Susan Martin and am about the space, I’m more ect began in the summer 2012 relocated. Chancellor Jimmy Cheek all “The main thing that we proud of our staff,” said Smith. and was expected to be comgave speeches toward the latpleted by the fall semester. were going for … was to reno- “The library staff, UT staff, ter part of the dedication. However, due to the many vate the entire second floor to the contractors, all the people “It’s always a great day when other construction projects at have a mainstream quality,” that made this happen. There’s we can celebrate something UT, the renovations were not Walker explained. “So what definitely a sense of pride in that benefits our students,” completed until well into the we were thinking of was that the people and the results.” Cheek said in his speech. “And fall semester, although certain the library really is the center Assistant Arts & Culture Editor

I’m very proud of the work that’s been done here because it’s all dedicated to making our students a better place in the library.” The chancellor noted a recent meeting with Smith where Smith noted that Hodges has been ranked 25th among all public U.S. academic libraries, which goes in conjunction with the Top 25 initiative. That ranking puts Hodges third among SEC libraries (beaten only by Texas A&M and Florida) and ranked number one in the state. “And that means that

parts were accessible to students prior to completion. But for some students, such as communications sophomore Brittany Jaimungal-Singh, the wait was worth it. “I love the new Commons, it’s very worker friendly and new installed plugs on the ground so you can work anywhere if you have a laptop,” Jaimungal-Singh said. “It was worth waiting for the construction. It annoyed me a little bit but it’s better now.” Much of the construction was done to increase space. A dozen new group study rooms

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As professors and media outlets increasingly discuss the importance of globalization, many students at UT are using study abroad opportunities to complete foreign language requirements. In their spare time, of course, they visit the beach. “Class is three hours a day, five days a week, and the rest of your time is your own. I’ll be available, but they don’t have to do anything,” said Laura Atwood, an associate professor of Spanish who is co-leading a study abroad trip to Costa Rica this summer. “In five weeks, you go to Costa Rica, spend your weekends on the beach and finish your language requirement.” The young Spanish teacher was approached in spring of 2012 by a former graduate professor, Dr. Oscar RiveraRodas, who currently teaches in the Modern Foreign Languages department. He enlisted her help in raising awareness about a trip he was leading and in the process piqued Atwood’s own interest in leading a study abroad trip. Their five-week stay in Costa Rica offers four different tracks, each requiring six credit hours. Trips like this are common among foreign languages at UT, offered to countries that speak French, German, Mandarin Chinese and more. This trip in particular offers an intensive intermediate track, essentially completing an entire foreign language requirement in little over a month. Lesley Bringhurst, a sophomore in business with a minor in Spanish, went on a similar trip to San Pedro, Spain last summer. Dr. Rivera-Rodas served as the UT faculty during her stay in the coastal city of southeastern Spain.

For Bringhurst, the practical application of her studies was a huge benefactor. “Since I lived with a host family, I had to communicate with them everyday about little things, if I was sick or hungry or something like that,” she said. “I didn’t have my professor or anyone else that spoke English in the house, so I had to make do and learn to say things the stupidest way possible. I learned how to communicate.” Spending half of the summer in another country is no vacation for the professor, and Bringhurst said that Dr. Rivera-Rodas possesses a special ability to bring the subject to life. “He was really good at finding outside sources to teach from,” she said. “Rather than just quoting from the textbook, he would find poems or movies or funny videos or personal stories that he had that would relate to what we were learning so we could have more reference of what we were doing.” Although the professors work hard, Bringhurst mentioned that Dr. Rivera-Rodas did go out on the town a few times, even venturing into a club or two. Bringhurst credits the trip to Spain as fundamental to her Spanish education and entirely worth the cost. With the help of UT’s Study Abroad office, she was able to use the summer Hope Scholarship and a study abroad scholarship to pay for airfare and food. “It was totally worth the money, absolutely,” she said. Many of the trips cost between $4,000 and $6,000, but typically include all expenses. The $6,000 price of Rivera and Atwood’s trip to Costa Rica even allots for passport fees. For more information about studying abroad, visit studyabroad.utk.edu.

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INSIDE THE DAILY BEACON: Page Page Page Page Page

R.J. Vogt News Editor

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. . . . In Short . . . . . . News . . . . Opinions .Arts & Culture . . . . . Sports

Get to know Anna DeMonte Page 6

2 • THE DAILY BEACON

Friday, February 8, 2013 Associate Editor Preston Peeden

IN SHORT

ppeeden@utk.edu

Managing Editor Emily DeLanzo edelanzo@utk.edu

Around Rocky Top

Janie Prathammavong • The Daily Beacon

Students watch how to make empanadas with veggies and beef during a Columbian cooking demonstration at the International House on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

THIS DAY IN

HISTORY

1918 — U.S. Army resumes critic for The New York Times, publication of Stars and and Grantland Rice, who went Stripes onto become known as the dean of American sports writOn this day in 1918, the ers. At its peak during the war, United States Army resumes Stars and Stripes reached a publication of the military circulation of 526,000. newsletter Stars and Stripes. Stars and Stripes resumed Begun as a newsletter for publication during World War Union soldiers during the II, during which circulation American Civil War, Stars and reached 1,000,000. Serving as Stripes was published week- a daily hometown newspaper ly during World War I from for service members, governFebruary 8, 1918, until June 13, ment civilians and their fami1919. The newspaper was dis- lies stationed around the world, tributed to American soldiers it has been in continuous pubdispersed across the Western lication in Europe since 1942 Front to keep them unified and and in the Pacific since 1945. informed about the overall war In these two regions, Stars and effort and America’s part in it, Stripes reaches 80,000 and as well as supply them with 60,000 readers respectively. It news from the home front. also publishes a Middle East The front page of the news- edition as well as an electronic paper’s first World War I issue edition on the Internet. featured A Message from Our Chief, a short valedictory from 1924 — First execution by General John J. Pershing, lethal gas commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force The first execution by lethal (AEF): The paper, written by gas in American history is Tiara Marie • The Daily Beacon the men in the service, should carried out in Carson City, Dr. William Fowler of Vanderbilt University introduces himself before beginning his speak the thoughts of the Nevada. The executed man lecture on “Archaelogy of the Spanish Conquest Town of Ciudad Vieja, El Salavdor” new American army and the was Tong Lee, a member of American people from whom a Chinese gang who was conin McClung Museum Auditorium on Feb. 5. the army has been drawn. It victed of murdering a rival is your paper. Good luck to it. gang member. Lethal gas was The World War I-era Stars adopted by Nevada in 1921 as and Stripes was largely the a more humane method of carcreation of Second Lieutenant rying out its death sentences, Guy T. Viskniskki, an AEF as opposed to the traditional press officer and former cen- techniques of execution by sor at the American Field Test hanging, firing squad, or elecHeadquarters in Neufchateau, trocution. France. Featuring news artiDuring a lethal gas execucles, sports news, poetry, let- tion, the prisoner is sealed in ters to the editor and cartoons, an airtight chamber and either among other content, the potassium cyanide or sodium eight-page weekly publication cyanide is dropped into a pan was printed on presses that of hydrochloric acid. This prohad been borrowed from Paris duces hydrocyanic gas, which newspapers. Viskniskki’s staff destroys a human body’s ability was made up mostly of enlisted to process blood hemoglobin. men and featured prominent The prisoner falls unconscious journalists like Harold Ross, within seconds and chokes to future co-founder of The New death, unless he or she holds Yorker magazine, Alexander his or her breath, in which Woollcott, a former drama case the prisoner often suffers violent convulsions for up to a minute before dying. Lethal gas as a method of carrying out capital punishment was largely replaced by lethal injection in the late 20th century.

1943 — Americans secure Guadalcanal On this day in 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged campaign. The American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in the Solomon Islands. Guadalcanal is the largest of the Solomons, a group of 992 islands and atolls, 347 of which are inhabited, in the South Pacific Ocean. The Solomons, which are located northeast of Australia and have 87 indigenous languages, were discovered in 1568 by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana de Neyra (1541-95). In 1893, the British annexed Guadalcanal, along with the other central and southern Solomons. The Germans took control of the northern Solomons in 1885, but transferred these islands, except for Bougainville and Buka (which eventually went to the Australians) to the British in 1900. Both sides suffered heavy losses of men, warships and planes in the battle for Guadalcanal. An estimated 1,600 U.S. troops were killed, over 4,000 were wounded and several thousand more died from disease. The Japanese lost 24,000 soldiers. On December 31, 1942, Emperor Hirohito told Japanese troops they could withdraw from the area; the Americans secured Guadalcanal about five weeks later. The Solomons gained their independence from Britain in 1978. In the late 1990s, fighting broke out between rival ethnic groups on Guadalcanal and continued until an Australianled international peacekeeping mission restored order in 2003. Today, with a population of over half a million people, the Solomons are known as a scuba diver and fisherman’s paradise. — This Day in History is courtesy of History.com.

Friday, February 8, 2013

THE DAILY BEACON • 3 News Editor RJ Vogt

CAMPUS NEWS FRACKING continued from Page 1 Even though the well boreholes run thousands of feet below ground, there is still a fear among environmentalists that some of the deadly chemicals used to fracture the rock will contaminate ground water. The hydrofracking in Tennessee has been done using nitrogen gas instead of the water and chemical mixture, making it a cleaner process. However there are still drawbacks to the new method. “The shale formation that they’re fracking … is very shallow,” said

Mike McKinney, director of UT’s Environmental Studies program. “And that in my opinion leads to increased chance of contamination.” While fracking is considered less environmentally damaging than coal in terms of extraction methods, shale gas is still a fossil fuel. “Even if they make it really clean, you’re still going to have the climate factor,” said McKinney, raising a concern shared by many environmental groups. “… And we’re investing a tremendous amount of money in this, and it’s taking away from wind, solar and geothermal.” Charlie Gang, a junior in geology, summarized the situation as a clas-

rvogt@utk.edu

Assistant News Editor David Cobb dcobb3@utk.edu

sic example of risk versus reward. “It all depends on the level of risk versus the benefits of getting the gas,” Gang said. “If there’s a ton of gas and not all that much risk … then go for it. But if there’s not really all that much and the risk is relatively high, they should probably not do it until they can negate the risks.” The university, in response to the public backlash, has delayed the leasing deal approval by the state panel for 30 days in order to respond to concerned environmental groups and citizens and to provide more information on the project.

Around Rocky Top

Erica Fabbri • The Daily Beacon

Students open up to representatives during the “Networking at Neyland” event in Neyland Stadium on Tuesday, Feb 5. Students were able to learn new networking skills to use in the professional world.

Students learn professionalism, networking skills Samantha Smoak Copy Editor Watching the sunset from the skyboxes in Neyland Stadium, more than 40 juniors and seniors attended “Networking at Neyland” Tuesday night. Organized by Career Services, UT Alumni Association and UT Athletics, representatives from 55 organizations gathered to meet with the students in the West Club at the stadium. Erin Harvey, a career counselor at Career Services, hopes students will successfully implement the networking tools they have learned. “I hope it really is a good time for them to practice these type of skills,” Harvey said. “As a professional you need to have good networking skills ... to maintain ... your career, not to just get that first job.” Elizabeth Pallardy, a consultant for the College of Communication and Information, along with the College of Arts and Sciences, agrees with Harvey. “I hope (students) both learn how to network and what networking is. I think a lot of people are afraid of it,” Pallardy said. “To learn what it is and really how effective it can be and really a chance to practice that. I think often we hear about (networking) or we might learn about it, but the chance to immediately go practice (networking) will help kind of make it a reality. The reason we do events like this (is that we know) networking is the number one way people get jobs.” Before moving to West Club, Career Services counselors gave networking tips for success. The counselors discussed topics such

as the importance of getting your name out, the importance of follow-ups and effectively communicating your goals to the people you talk to. This event included hors d’ouevres, so small details such as thinking about which hand to hold your plate in were also discussed. “Professionalism is always key,” Pallardy said. “If you don’t act professional and respectful you’re not going to get anywhere from that networking contact.” Harvey said she believes that the follow up is the most important thing to remember after the event is over. “I would say persistence and that follow up piece (are most important), because these employers will meet hundreds of student if they’re here for this and the job fair,” Harvey said. “It’s really the ones that can come up with a way to follow up and maintain that network and uphold it … maybe they didn’t get the job now, but will be thought of later for a position. Harvey also says that finding a way of standing out will make you more memorable to potential employers. “Just thinking about a unique way to stand out in a follow up … just (remember) that they are meeting a lot of people, so (think about) what will make you stand apart now in years or months and weeks to come,” she said. Pallardy stressed the importance of keeping an open mind when talking with people during the event. “Even if the person you are talking to isn’t in the exact industry you’re interested in … you never know who you are going to meet and what kind of connections they’ll have,” she said.

4 • THE DAILY BEACON

Friday, February 8, 2013 Editor-in-Chief Blair Kuykendall

OPINIONS

bkuykend@utk.edu

Contact us letters@utk.edu

Staff

Column

The Metaphorical Core of the apple

RJ Vogt News Editor Please, sir, don’t throw away that apple core. Don’t worry, this is not one of those “save the earth,” “reduce, reuse, recycle,” “pollution is icky” lectures. I want you to eat the core for you, not Mother Earth. If you’re like most Americans, eating around the apple core is something you’ve done your whole life. You learned from someone in your family, watching them eat around and following suit. All those childhood episodes of Rugrats ingrained in you a distinct fear of eating seeds, because honestly, watermelonexplosion is a miserable way to go. And those few times you accidentally bit too deeply into your fruit of choice, the texture of the core was all off. So you continue to eat around the core, tossing almost a third of the apple into the trash. Imagine, however, if you turned the apple on its head. You took bites of the yummy, fleshy outside, but in each chomp you swallowed just a little bit of the core too. You wouldn’t taste the tougher texture of the core because it would blend in with the rest of the bite. If you kept this up, you’d eventually eat the whole apple, from base to stem. Along the way, you may swallow a few seeds, but come on – we all know you won’t grow apples in your stomach. This sounds crazy, I know. But for most of human history, this was probably how all humans ate apples. There was none of this nonsense about avoiding the core; our cavedwelling ancestors chomped the whole thing down. As society evolved and social classes

developed, the wealthy began eating around the core, unconcerned about waste, and eventually, our core-avoiding culture emerged. Enter the metaphor; should we really be carefully avoiding the tough centers of our lives? It’d be some sort of student who could learn Spanish without ever taking tests or studying. The athlete who never lifted weights or ran a hard mile but still reached the peak of his sports, ever heard of him? Yeah, me neither. The truth is, life is all about the good and the bad. You have to take both in stride to keep your sanity. If you consistently throw away things that intimidate you or challenge you, you’ll never grow and certainly never prosper. In relationships, you cannot simply throw away the deepest part of a loved one’s personality because you find it hard to swallow. No, loving someone means accepting even their densest character flaws. Much of a successful life revolves around trying new things, making the most of a situation, cliché, cliché, cliché. Why should we preach the importance of tenacity and hard work if we can’t even eat a whole apple? Next time you have an apple, you’ll think of this column and consider turning that apple upside down. Some of you will let the fleeting notion pass, unconvinced that the method of eating an apple reflects your character. You will pitch that core at the nearest trashcan, content to continue the traditional eat-around-the-problem approach. But for those of you who take this metaphorical Friday column to heart, the curiosity will overwhelm you. You brave few will turn that apple upside down, sink your teeth deep and understand the meaning of satisfaction. You will eat it, core and all. You will never again leave a third of your life unexamined. One piece of advice: Be sure to throw away the stem. That’s probably not edible. — RJ Vogt is a sophomore in College Scholars. He can be reached at rvogt@utk.edu.

SCRAMBLED EGGS • Alex Cline

DOTTY... • Katie Dyson-Smith

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.

Learning best applied outside classroom Chaos Theory by

Sarah Russell Efforts in what educators like to call “experiential education” have increased in both secondary and higher education. While the phrase itself is fairly self-explanatory, experiential education can and does take on many different forms depending on the discipline. It can be hands-on research, community service, cooperative learning, or even internships in one’s chosen field. Although not necessarily a new or recent trend, experiential education has become a top priority for many schools and universities, and the opportunities to engage in experiential education have only continued to increase over the years. UT’s infamous “Top 25” push has focused a good deal of administrative time and money on developing one particular form of experiential education, namely research. Many educators, especially in higher education, see research as the most important element of experiential learning and certainly the one requiring the most attention and development. For many disciplines, research is the primary way to take subject material outside of a classroom and into an applied setting. The study of history, for example, takes on a very different form when it is taught in a lecture format rather than when it is being examined through primary sources and through the application of theories and methods. Similarly, most scientists agree that research in their labs is the best way for them to apply learned material. There is no denying that research plays a critical role in experiential learning at the collegiate level. But to say that it is the only way to engage in experiential learning is to perform a disservice to other methods that create similar opportunities for students to apply the

knowledge of their field to a discernable and practical situation. For example, while many engineers do engage in research projects, many others choose to participate in co-ops or internships in their field, which is a practical choice considering that much of engineering is extremely applied. Foreign language students would most likely get much more out of their studies with a chance to practice their speaking and writing skills in a practical setting, like translating for a company or for immigrants. Nurses and pre-med students work with hospitals, often on a daily basis, as training for their future careers. Students from almost every discipline benefit vastly from engagement with community service, volunteer work, and activism. Future social workers are certainly not the only students who can and should participate in community service, because there are organizations that work to improve conditions in almost every area imaginable. Not only do we, as students, have an obligation to give back to our communities in return for the education and opportunities that we have received, but involvement in community service can often provide invaluable experiences learning about people, society, and the world in which we live. It is often not difficult to seek out and to find these experiential education opportunities, especially at a large public university with the resources like the UT. But sometimes it can require getting creative, networking, and thinking outside the box about what hands-on experience would contribute best to the topic in question. It might require being willing to explore options that seem on the surface to not fit with a particular career goal, or even to create new opportunities. Regardless, students should not shy away from engaging in experiential learning. Knowledge in any form is best applied outside of textbooks and lecture halls. It belongs in the real world, where discoveries are made, jobs are performed, and service is rendered. — Sarah Russell is a senior in history. She can be reached at srusse22@utk.edu.

Music industry exploits artists Burden of Infallibility by

Wiley Robinson

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I’ve never payed much attention to the music industry. Video games are my thing. I’ll go my entire life not knowing or caring what the acceptably garbled lyrics of any given song from any given genre. I’m glad to see many people are disillusioned with it to the point where they just focus on the music they like and are comfortable existing outside the industry. But too many others at least blindly accept the marriage of art and for-profit. I’ve picked up a few unromantic impressions of the industry as a whole along the way and feel like it’s important to emphasize that something as universal as an appreciation for music and an insular self-interested industry don’t always mix. Business is not the arbiter or culture, and when decisions for things like art are made that way, everyone just dooms themselves to the low, routine, socially driven purgatory of entertainment standards that are the norm. The amount of original bands just making a living playing music is one percent. Original, like the band your friends are putting together and maybe writing songs for, is not manufactured based on a mixture of luck (connections) and market data. Next time you read some public relations abomination about how illegal downloading is killing the music industry, keep the one percent figure in mind. What is it killing exactly? If you’re one of those lucky one percent of bands that manages to land that major label or major indie contract, great. You now have around a ten percent chance of making that money. The top ten percent of the label’s artists typically pay for everything else the label does. The rest just aren’t profitable enough. This isn’t necessarily the band’s fault, but instead because of how much they’re relying on some people’s ability to artificially market

and hype them and even end up owing money to their overlords. That’s the way it’s always been, and if you don’t like your music being a complete product of market data the solution is simple: ignore the authority the industry cloaks itself in — music award shows. You know what article you never see anywhere? A small, completely unknown band, group, whatever, using digital technology to get their music out to more critics and fans than they thought possible in places that would have been completely inaccessible five years ago, a very short amount of time ago now that time in these terms is based on technological growth. But that’s just what I’ve witnessed. It costs nothing to make a download link and you have nothing to lose when you have nothing. The internet, for all the extra avenues of stuff it can sell its created for the industry, helps the independent proportionally way more than it helps the industry. Which isn’t necessarily to say that is hurts the industry, but there’s a lot to be said for zero entry level cost in the arena everyone has already moved to. You know why you rarely hear anyone saying this? The industry controls the music press and has spread their poison about how they control the internet far and wide. The entire idea of music journalism is a moot one, because when it appears like you’re presenting popular perceptions and analyzing them, your sample has been completely manufactured. If you’re not giving analyses, you’re just doing public relations. Finally, this is something you always hear, but it’s no less relevant. If your main goal when listening to music is to give Apple more money than the musicians you like, buy your music on iTunes. Music on iTunes not only costs more but they give next to nothing to artists compared to other services like Amazon and Bandcamp which only take 15 to 20 cents on the dollar. These big industries do the consumer no good and it’s important to continue wrestling power from them while we can. — Wiley Robison is a senior in ecology and evolutionary biology. He can be reached at rrobin1@utk.edu.

Friday, February 8, 2013

THE DAILY BEACON • 5 Arts & Culture Editor Victoria Wright

ARTS & CULTURE

vwright6@utk.edu

Assistant Arts & Culture Editor Melodi Erdogan

merdogan@utk.edu

Author finds success with ‘Stuff White People Like’ Molly Loftus Staff Writer The idea of soccer, whole foods, not having a TV, multilingual children and standing still at concerts are all characteristics of the type of white people Christian Lander represents in his New York Times bestselling novel, “Stuff White People Like.� On Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in the UC auditorium, students listened as Lander described the interworkings of the novel and blog that metamorphosed his professional life. “All of my dreams came true because I started this goofy little blog with my friends,� Lander said. “Stuff White People Like� is an anthropological examination of upper-middle class white people which takes a humorous approach to diversity. The blog was conceived when Lander and his best friend began rattling off what they perceived as typical white traits which fill the blog aimed at providing entertainment for friends. Lander gathered the majority of his data from his diverse high school in Toronto, Canada, where cultural differences were prominent. He clarifies the distinct kind of white person he depicts in his book and novel. “You don’t have to be white to be white; you

just have to be rich,� Lander said. Offending people is not of concern for Lander. In the beginning stages of “Stuff White People Like,� Lander said he experienced tremendous guilt regarding negative comments about the blog. He was then comforted by the words of a friend. “As a writer the worst thing you can have from people is no reaction,� he said. Matt Hoover, senior in anthropology, appreciates the ability for Lander to dilute a serious cultural reality into a source of harmless comic relief. “The obvious humor is the self-deprecation. The fact that we (white people) are able to read this and think it’s funny because we have had a relatively smooth history is a luxury,� Hoover said. The main complaint he is forced to addressed is that the alleged highlighting of differences in race. Lander argues that the entire point of “Stuff White People Like� is to celebrate differences. “It’s okay to emphasize differences. It’s good that we aren’t the same,� Lander said. Despite not being an advent reader of “Stuff White People Like,� Hoover, among others, said he responded positively to Lander’s performance. “I enjoyed it a lot. He had a great delivery

Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon

Christian Lander, New York Times best-selling author of “Stuff White People Like,â€? talks to students about his experience as a writer in the UC Auditorium on Feb. 6. of students laughed in unison about discrepancies that we fall victim to daily. The subliminal messages interwoven into Lander’s humor were undeniable. At the shows closing, audience members lined up in front of a microphone for questions and comments. Many took that opportunity to applaud Lander on his ability to use the theater of humor to address the issue of racism. “He’s a good story teller ‌ his stage presence. He himself was the best part,â€? Hoover said.

and stage presence. Underneath the humor he always managed to say something intelligent that resonated with me personally,� Hoover said. Lander said he was pleased with the outcome of the event as well. “There was great energy and good laughs. People laughed at all the right parts,� he said. One part in particular that caused uproar from the audience was when Lander orated his favorite excerpt from “Stuff White People Like� about white people’s attraction to scarves. A variety

Local band signs major label, starts tour Montana Coward Staff Writer The band Oh No Fiasco has finally received their big break upon signing with Five Seven Music and are about to kick off a nationwide tour, beginning in the city where they got their start — Knoxville. The tour begins Saturday at Relix Variety Theatre in the Old City. The band got together about three years ago when vocalist Lindsey Stamey met bassist Thomas Boyd after one of his band’s shows and almost immediately became a member. “I’d been playing in bands since I was about 15,� Stamey said. Since many of those bands had been her brother’s, she said she felt right at home with

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the group of guys. For about a year the band traveled and played under the name, The Few. Boyd cleared away some confusion behind the band’s current name. “It means nothing,� he said, chuckling. After fighting for URL space with another band and a few drinks at a T.G.I. Friday’s in Michigan, the band came up with the name Oh No Fiasco. The band maintains modesty when asked about their success and making it big. “I don’t think we’ve gotten there,� Boyd said, “We’ve pulled some people in Knoxville, but we’ve been in the past year, just recording.� “By the end of this year we will know,� Stamey added, considering the tour and the release of their new CD. Their album, “Where’s the Fire?� is set to hit stores later this year, and has the band buzzing

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with excitement after a full year of recording in New York. “There’s a lot of things we’re not allowed to say,â€? Boyd said. He reassured that it is true the band is “a lot less rock oriented.â€? “Lyrically It’s just kind of fighting self doubt ‌ so it’s not like all bummer songs. It’s like a struggle within yourself to be completely content,â€? Stamey said. They don’t plan to keep their new sound under wraps long. Oh No Fiasco plans to debut songs from the album during the upcoming tour, starting with Knoxville. The tour heads out west to Dallas for their first major show with The Dirty Heads and Shiny Toy Guns. They will perform at least 25 shows during this tour and are eager to get

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD • Will Shortz ACROSS

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back out on the road. “That’s what we like the most. We’re naturally kind of gypsies. We like to travel all the time,� Stamey said about touring after the band’s long break. As for fans, Oh No Fiasco credits a nice base here in Knoxville, but the hype for Saturday’s show appears to be among new fans who haven’t seen the band perform before. Sara Ryals, a new fan of the local band and freshman in kinesiology, said she was eager for the concert. “I haven’t heard much of the band, but I think I’ll like it,� she said. “I’ve heard some of their stuff and it sounds really good.� The concert is on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 8:00 p.m. at Relix Variety Theatre. Admission is $5 at the door.

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6 • THE DAILY BEACON

Friday, February 8, 2013 Sports Editor Lauren Kittrell

SPORTS

lkittre1@utk.edu

Assistant Sports Editor Austin Bornheim abornhei@utk.edu

Vols carry undefeated streak into ITA Kick-Off Patrick MacCoon

Freshman looks to continue hot start

Staff Writer

Scott Carter

For the second weekend in a row the No. 14 Tennessee men’s tennis team will hit the road to take on Duke and Wake Forest as part of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. After winning all three road matches at Illinois last weekend, improving their record on the season to 10-0 as well as punching their ticket to the National Indoors, the undefeated Vols will try to keep their record unblemished. While it is hard to look past such a hot start, head coach Sam Winterbotham and his team tend to not look too much into it. “We don’t really think about it,” Winterbotham said about the team winning ten straight matches to begin the season. “The great thing about this team is that they work hard. “We take it one practice at a time and try to get the most out of that practice one individual at a time. When it’s time to play we will go out there and continue to do what we’ve been doing.” Friday afternoon, the Vols will go up against the No. 9 Blue Devils on their home court at 6 p.m. The tough road test is nothing that will seem to faze UT, as they have won all three matches this season against ranked opponents. “This weekend won’t be any more challenging than Illinois,” he said. “There was a big crowd there and I don’t think we have a problem playing on the road. “(Duke) has a very talented team and we have to be ready to play.”

Contributor

• Photo courtesy of Tia Patron/Tennessee Athletics

Junior Colton Norton returns a backhand against Murray State at Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville on Jan. 21. In Friday’s match against the Blue Devils they will be looking for somewhat of revenge after Duke beat them 6-1 last season in Knoxville. Sophomore Mikelis Libietis’ play will be key against the Blue Devils and Deacons this weekend. Currently he is ranked ninth in the country in singles play and has posted a 6-0 record from the No. 1 position. The Vols also feature a trio of ranked tandems in doubles play, with Libietis and Jim Collins at No. 14, Edward Jones and Jarryd Chaplin at No. 21 and Libietis and Chaplin at No. 26. While their play has been key to not having dropped a match this season, the team

has also been lead by its three seniors. “We have great senior leadership,” Winterbotham said. “Ed Jones and Taylor Patrick have been in our program for four years and have been really stepping up along with John Collins.” Going into this weekend the Vols look to keep the same mentality playing on the road as they would at home. “We try to go out with the same mentality in every match we play,” senior Ed Jones said. “We want to be the best tennis player out on the court.” UT will wrap up weekend play Sunday afternoon at Wake Forest at 1 p.m.

Freshman pole vaulter Jake Blankenship describes himself as hard-working and dedicated, and those qualities are reflected in his level of competition. As a freshman on the Tennessee Track and Field Team, he has won his event in three of four meets, tied a record set in 1993 and has been honored as the most recent SEC co-freshman of the week. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Blankenship played football and baseball until he took up pole vaulting at Gahanna Lincoln High School. He decided to continue his career as a Volunteer based on the quality of academics in the Engineering program and the track and field coaching staff. “Russ Johnson is such a solid coach,” Blankenship said, adding that competing for a staff that had trained Olympians also influenced his decision. Now, in his first season, he is already making a name for himself in the vaulting world. At the 2013 Armory Collegiate Invitational in New York City, Blankenship won the championship division of the men’s pole vault with a jump of 18 feet, ½ inch, four inches better than his previous career

• Photo courtesy of TN Milesplit

best. This jump also tied the Tennessee freshman record originally set by Olympic silvermedalist Lawrence Johnson in 1993. With success, however, comes more pressure to succeed. “I’m happy the training paid off,” Blankenship said. “I really try not to let the pressure build up. It changes day to day, but an athlete has to recover from a bad meet.” Blankenship has a crowd of supporters ready to help him through the tough times and he credits his family for supporting him the most. His grandfather, also a pole vaulter, has been a special source of inspiration for Blankenship. “He’s always come to my meets and he is always there to

back me up,” Blankenship said of his grandfather, who even helped train him throughout his high school athletic career. “My team supports me,” he said. “Because you don’t always have a perfect meet, but they are there for you.” Blankenship has already made a great impression on team and his coaches. “Tying any record at UT is quite special because our history is very rich and we have had many great athletes come through here in the past,” J.J. Clark, track and field head coach, said. “But Jake tying Lawrence Johnson’s record is even more significant because of what he came to be at UT and worldwide.” Blankenship said he would being an Olympian like Johnson would be one of his aspirations. “If I could follow in (Johnson’s) track that would be amazing.” For now, however, he plans to just work hard and give his best at every opportunity. “I’m trying to live up to what (my family) have done for me,” Blankenship said, “The more work I put in, the more it will pay off.” Jake Blankenship will next be competing at the Samford Multi and Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.

DeMonte relishes UT’s family feel Preston Peeden Associate Editor If it hadn’t been for warm weather, a bright shade of orange and a friendly coach, freshman swimmer Anna DeMonte might have never come to UT. Hailing from Ann Arbor, Mich., DeMonte was a hot commodity on the swimming recruiting trails last year. Courted not only by the University of Michigan, her hometown team, but also perennial swimming power schools like Texas, she made her decision to come to this UT based off of the connections she had made with coaches and future teammates, not to mention the perks of Tennessee weather. “What stood apart about it was the family,” DeMonte said. “Everyone down here was just so friendly, and I felt like here I could be at home … . Not to mention, I love the warm weather. Right now, in Michigan, it’s like ten degrees, and down here, I’m in a short-sleeve T-shirt.” Tennessee wasn’t the only warm weather school DeMonte visited, however, as it came down to a difference in team colors that won her for the Vols. “For me, it came down to Tennessee and Texas, and I liked bright orange much better.” A five-star recruit according to Swimming World magazine and 12-time All-American in high school, DeMonte has had an immediate impact in the lanes on Rocky Top, especially in the home finale against Vanderbilt, in

• Photo courtesy of Melanie Maxwell/AnnArbor

which she won two races. As an IM swimmer, which means her main event is the Individual Medley (an event which uses all four strokes), DeMonte’s versatility and talent has impressed her coaches. “She’s really multi-talented,” head coach Matt Kredich said. “She’s got really good command of all of her strokes … She is just really good at everything.” According to her coaches, what truly stands out about DeMonte is not just her talent, but also the intangibles she brings with her in and outside of the pool. “Anybody who meets her is impressed with her complete enthusiasm, energy and happiness,” Kredich said. “For example, in her recruiting class, there were some other swimmers that were similar to her on paper. But after the first call we had with her, both me and an assistant

coach would nearly fight over who would get to talk to her.” For DeMonte, it was that selfdescribed excitability and energy that ultimately drove her into swimming. “I started swimming yearround when I was nine when one of my coaches on my summer league thought I was real energetic and could do well,” DeMonte said. “My parents also thought I was way too hyper all the time, and they needed to get me to calm down. “And trust me, it works,” DeMonte added jokingly while watching her teammates entering the water for practice at the Allen Jones Aquatic Center. With DeMonte’s first regular season over and the SEC and NCAA championships on the horizon, Kredich has big expectations for his young swimmer. “I think she’s going to be a great leader,” he said. “ … She’ll definitely be one of our more outspoken swimmers. And I expect her to have a blast at SEC and NCAA this year and learn a lot … By the time she’s done here, she’s going to be scoring a lot of points at NCAA. She’s going to continue to just get better.” For DeMonte, however, what matters right now isn’t individual performances or the far-off future, but rather the road that lies immediately ahead of her. “I just want to take it one year at a time,” DeMonte said. “Obviously, my goals for myself are high, but right now I want to be in the moment and do the best I can right now.”

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