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Friday, November 18, 2011

PAGE 8 & 9 T H E

E D I T O R I A L L Y

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Issue 65

Vol. 118

I N D E P E N D E N T

S T U D E N T

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906

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Study abroad opportunities offer experience Orientation sessions, peer advisers open doors for UT students, special programs “It helps make you more marketable for jobs and grad school in the future,” Hulse said. “Study abroad students gain skills that any employer would value, like being able to take on new challenges, being creative, stepping outThe Center for International Education has been hecside of your comfort zone, working with people who are tic these last few days, wrapping up Orientation Week and different from you, problem-solving and, for some, having launching International Education Week, which started learned another language. It helps students to grow as a Monday. person, become more independent, and grow in confiThe purpose of both of these events is to better equip dence in themselves.” students to travel abroad — an experience that can be If one is considering working internadaunting, life-changing and, in the words of tionally, studying abroad is an excellent Madeline Brown, “absolutely worth it.” way to test out living in a foreign country, “During my five months abroad in the she said. Others choose to study in a locaNetherlands, I learned more about myself and the tion where ancestors lived. world than I had in my two and a half years at UT,” “It’s like tracing your history and seeing Brown, senior in journalism and electronic media, the culture up close,” Hulse said. said. “The anxiety that comes with being in a foreign With so many reasons in favor of studycountry soon wears off and before you know it, ing abroad, why don’t more students do it? you’re having the most interesting and thrilling time Finances largely seem to be the answer. of your life.”

“I think a lot of students don’t realize Some of this initial anxiety can be avoided if stuhow affordable it can be,” Venkov said. dents are informed about the culture they are about “Especially since at UT, our exchange proenter and what they can expect during their travels. gram allows you to pay UT tuition overThis is where the orientation and international eduseas. That’s huge. And since you can also cation weeks come into play. use your scholarships, it turns out to be “Pre-departure orientation is mandatory for all really affordable.” students before they study abroad,” Anne Hulse, Students can also receive full class credPrograms Abroad coordinator, said. “We go over it for courses taken abroad, meaning that health and safety, which are of the utmost importhey can stay on track toward graduation. tance, but we also talk about ways to make the most File Photo• The Daily Beacon And, according to Brown, everyone can of their stay.”

A brochure stands on display during a study abroad fair in 2009. Studying Students are divided into groups based on the abroad is an experience many encourage students to participate in. For find a program to enjoy.

“You can study abroad for as short as a region they are traveling to and meet with either a more information, students can visit http://studyabroad.utk.edu or attend few weeks in the summer or do a semester peer adviser who has already studied there or an info sessions from 2-4 p.m. in the Programs Abroad Office. or full year,” Brown said. “We have proexchange student from that region. grams in 54 countries.

There are also semester-long prowho spent a year in Tokyo.

“For students who are going to England, for instance, grams directly related to one field of study — mine, for “Studying abroad is such an incredible experience,” they can receive the best advice on how to live there and what to expect because they are talking to a person who Breen said. “It shows you how big the world is and yet example, was a journalism program.”

For those interested in learning more about studying is actually from there,” Demi Venkov, senior in theater, how small it is. There are so many different people and said. “And as a peer adviser who studied in England, I different cultures and different ways of doing things, but abroad, the Programs Abroad Office holds information sessions from 2-4 p.m. on regular class days. give the perspective of an outsider who assimilated into then when you get to the human level, it’s all the same.”

“I had the time of my life living as an international stuBeyond providing students with a new life perspective, their culture.”

Venkov, who spent a year studying drama in studying abroad can also have a significant impact on dent and making friends from all over the world,” Brown said. “It’s an experience everyone should try.” their future careers.

Morgan Liv McConnell Staff Writer

Manchester, U.K., listed England, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Australia, Asia, Africa and South America as some of the destinations orientation participants will be traveling to for Spring Semester.

“There’s a lot of people who go in the spring and our numbers are increasing every single year,” Venkov said.

More than 800 students studied abroad last year, and the numbers are growing. This increase in popularity is well deserved, said Rochelle Breen, senior in linguistics

Survey to assess UT as employer Collected data analyzes university employees’ responses, concerns Justin Joo Staff Writer The University of Tennessee has finished gathering data for the Fall 2011 Employee Engagement survey. The survey covered topics such as pay, leadership, communication, training, job satisfaction, performance evaluation and others.

“University leadership wants to make UT the best employer it can be,” Mary Lucal, senior trainer and employee relations coordinator at UT, said. “Critical to that is hearing directly from employees on what is being done well and what needs to improve.”

A link to the survey was sent to all faculty and staff through e-mail on Nov. 1, with a paper copy available from supervisors and the human resource departments. Surveys were completed Nov. 15.

The survey was sent to all of the University of Tennessee’s campuses, including Chattanooga, Martin, Tullahoma, Memphis and Knoxville. However, the majority of UT Knoxville’s faculty and exempt staff did not have to take the survey, as it was already given to them in the spring.

The fall survey was only offered to any UT Knoxville campus faculty or staff that had been hired since April, had worked at least 60 days and who also work at least 50 percent time.

The data from the spring and fall surveys will be compiled together for analysis.

The results will be sent to UT in early 2012.

An open forum for employees will be coordinated in April to discuss the results and what actions should be taken in response. The forum will be for employees only, but the results of the survey will be posted for all to see at http://yourvoice.tennessee.edu.

The Chronicle of Higher Education and ModernThink are the sponsors of the survey.

They work as a third party group that will analyze the data and keep the survey anonymous.

The Chronicle is a newspaper and website that generates stories specifically for college universities and students, while ModernThink is a leading management-consultation firm.

They will send the results of the survey to UT in early 2012.

Originally, the spring survey was only Tia Patron • The Daily Beacon Tennessee’s other mascot, The Volunteer, resembling Davy Crockett, waves the flag offered to faculty and exempt staff at the UT before the UT vs. ULM basketball game on Nov. 16. The Volunteer is often seen run- Knoxville campus. However, non-exempt staff ning down the sidelines and through the “T” with the flag and at basketball games. were invited to participate in the fall survey,

provided that they work at least 50 percent time.

According to the Chronicle’s website, “nonexempt staff” is defined as jobs such as “technical and paraprofessionals, clerical & secretarial, skilled crafts and service maintenance.”

They are usually not part of the survey’s data.

Often times, non-exempt staff are not included because of union contracts. The Chronicle had cases where other universities would have been barred from taking the survey if they included non-exempt staff because of union agreements. UT has had no such difficulties.

Employees across campus all have an interest in the survey and what results will come from it, although some staff have doubts if anything at all will happen.

“They ask questions. They get answers.

Nothing happens,” Patrick Pardee, a maintenance specialist at Hess Hall, said. “One of the questions was, ‘What can we do to change the culture of the campus.’ What does that even mean?”

Though Pardee was cynical about the survey, he was impressed by how much depth the survey went into.

“They tried to hit everybody,” Pardee said.

“Faculty and staff.”

His biggest concerns were pay and improving building conditions.

Celcelia Mackerson, a service aid at UT Knoxville, did not take the survey but heard plenty about it. Pay was also a topic of big concern for her.

“It’s decent now,” she said. “But I’ve been here for 11 years. I’ve seen it gradually go up.”

She doesn’t know whether she’ll be able to go to the employee forum in 2012, but she hopes to.

“It’ll depend on when and where it will be, but I’m definitely interested in it,” Mackerson said.

The Chronicle will be discussing some of the results in its own publication. Part of UT’s motivation for taking the survey is the chance to compare its results with those of other state universities that are also taking the survey, which is a part of the Vol Vision and Top 25 Initiative.

However, it is ultimately about hearing from the employees at UT. “Faculty and staff feedback will be a key consideration toward steps to make UT a better place to work,” Lucal said.

2 • The Daily Beacon

InSHORT

Friday, November 18, 2011

George Richardson • The Daily Beacon

A young fan gets a high five from one of the UT football players during the Vol Walk before the South Carolina game on Oct. 29. Two hours and 15 minutes before every home game, the players and coaches walk down Peyton Manning Pass to the stadium in front of fans, cheerleaders and the pep band.

1918 — Haig ends Battle of Somme Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force in World War I, calls off the Battle of the Somme in France after nearly five months of mass slaughter.

The massive Allied offensive began at 7:30 a.m. on July 1, 1916, when 100,000 British soldiers poured out of their trenches and into no-man’s-land. During the preceding week, 250,000 Allied shells had pounded German positions near the Somme River, and the British expected to find the way cleared for them.

However, scores of heavy German machine guns had survived the artillery onslaught, and the invading infantry were massacred. By the end of the day, 20,000 British soldiers were dead and 40,000 wounded.

It was the single heaviest day of casualties in British military history.

After the initial disaster, Haig resigned himself to smaller but equally ineffectual advances, and more than 1,000 Allied lives were extinguished for every 100 yards gained on the Germans. Even Britain’s September 15 introduction of tanks into warfare for the first time in history failed to break the deadlock in the Battle of the Somme. In October, heavy rains turned the battlefield into a sea of mud, and on November 18 Haig called off the Somme offensive after more than four months of slaughter.

Except for its effect of diverting German troops from the Battle of Verdun, the offensive was a miserable disaster. It amounted to a total gain of just 125 square miles for the Allies, with more than 600,000 British and French soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in action. German casualties were more than 650,000. Although Haig was severely criticized for the costly battle, his willingness to commit massive amounts of men and resources to the stalemate along the western front eventually contributed to the collapse of an exhausted Germany in 1918.

1978 — Mass suicide at Jonestown People’s Temple leader Jim Jones leads hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide at their agricultural commune in remote northwestern Guyana. The few cult members who refused to take the cyanide-laced fruit-flavored concoction were either forced to do so at gunpoint or shot as they fled. The final death toll was 913, including 276 children.

Jim Jones was a charismatic churchman who founded the People’s Temple, a Christian sect, in Indianapolis in the 1950s. He preached against racism, and his integrated congregation attracted mostly African Americans. In 1965, he moved the group to northern California, settling in Ukiah and after 1971 in San Francisco. In the 1970s, his church was accused by the press of financial fraud, physical abuse of its members, and mistreatment of children. In response to the mounting criticism, Jones led several hundred of his followers to South America in 1977 and set up a utopian agricultural settlement called Jonestown in the jungle of Guyana.

A year later, a group of ex-members convinced U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan, a Democrat of California, to travel to Jonestown and investigate the commune. On November 17, 1978, Ryan arrived in Jonestown with a group of journalists and other observers. At first the visit went well, but the next day, as Ryan’s group was about to leave, several People's Church members approached members of the group and asked them for passage out of Guyana. Jones became distressed at the defection of his members, and one of Jones’ lieutenants attacked Ryan with a knife. Ryan escaped from the incident unharmed, but Jones then ordered Ryan and his companions ambushed and killed at the airstrip as they attempted to leave. The congressman and four others were murdered as they attempted to board their charter planes.

Back in Jonestown, Jones directed his followers in a mass suicide in a clearing in the town. With Jones exhorting the “beauty of dying” over a loudspeaker, hundreds drank a lethal cyanide and Kool-Aid drink.

Those who tried to escape were chased down and shot by Jones’ lieutenants. Jones died of a gunshot wound in the head, probably self-inflicted. Guyanese troops, alerted by a cult member who escaped, reached Jonestown the next day. Only a dozen or so followers survived, hidden in the jungle. Most of the 913 dead were lying side by side in the clearing where Jones had preached to them for the last time.

1987 — Congress issues final report on Iran-Contra scandal After nearly a year of hearings into the Iran-Contra scandal, the joint Congressional investigating committee issues its final report. It concluded that the scandal, involving a complicated plan whereby some of the funds from secret weapons sales to Iran were used to finance the Contra war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, was one in which the administration of Ronald Reagan exhibited “secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law.” Naming several members of the Reagan administration as having been directly involved in the scheme (including National Security Advisor John Poindexter and deceased CIA Director William Casey), the report stated that Reagan must bear “ultimate responsibility.” A number of government officials were charged and convicted of various crimes associated with the scandal. A minority opinion by some of the Republican members of the committee contained in the report argued that the hearings had been politically motivated. They also suggested that while Reagan administration officials might have used poor judgment, the ultimate end-continuing the fight against the leftist regime in Nicaragua-was a worthy goal.The differences in opinion, while partially reflective of partisan biases, were also evidence of a question that had plagued U.S. policy makers since the early days of the Cold War: in the battle against communism, were the ends more important than the means?

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

Friday, November 18, 2011

NEWS

The Daily Beacon • 3

White House, China at odds The Associated Press BEIJING — While Beijing’s public response to President Barack Obama’s more muscular China policy has been muted, behind the scenes the U.S. president’s sudden moves to contest rising Chinese power are setting the capital on edge.

During his ongoing nine-day swing through the Asia-Pacific region, Obama has already unveiled a plan for an expanded U.S. Marines presence in Australia, advocated a new freetrade area that leaves China out, and called on Beijing not to buck the current world order.

The Beijing government is trying to understand the shift, tasking academic experts to review the initiatives and submit options on how to respond.

“The U.S. is overreacting,” said Zhu Feng, an international relations expert at Peking University who was asked to study Washington’s moves and make recommendations. He said the government may feel bewildered by the Obama initiatives.

Meanwhile, state media are warning of a new U.S. containment strategy.

“The U.S. sees a growing threat to its hegemony from China. Therefore, America’s strategic move east is aimed in practical terms at pinning down and containing China and counterbalancing China’s development,” the official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary.

Obama told the Australian Parliament on Thursday that the U.S. intends “to deter threats to peace” and will remain an Asia-Pacific power.

On Friday, Obama will become the first U.S. president to attend a summit of East Asian leaders, a region that China sees as its rightful sphere of influence.

Obama is also pushing for the rapid expansion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a U.S.-backed free trade agreement that so far has drawn mostly smaller countries. Japan and Canada have expressed interest in joining, while Beijing has been left out.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called it natural for the U.S. and Australia to improve relations, just as China wants to do with each, but said such improvements “should take into consideration the interests of other countries.”

Despite its evident wariness, the Chinese government appears to be in watching mode. Obama has repeatedly said in public remarks that the U.S. welcomes China’s rise and wants it to play a role as a responsible power. Both sides have much at stake and their economies — the world’s largest and second largest —

are deeply intertwined, doing $456 billion in trade, overwhelmingly in China’s favor.

Beijing can ill afford a serious rift with Washington. The normally risk-averse authoritarian leadership is preparing for a politically tricky handover of power to a new generation of leaders next year. And, while the U.S. suffers from high joblessness, anemic growth and other economic woes, China also is challenged by a slowing of its robust growth that could see unemployment and banks’ bad loans rise at a time when Chinese have come to expect ever-higher standards of living.

Managing those expectations has become difficult, particularly in regard to the United States. Beijing has played up its handling of Washington, especially after President Hu Jintao held a pomp-filled summit with Obama in Washington in January, and repeatedly invoked the leadership's intention to build a constructive partnership.

Yu Wanli of Peking University's School of International Studies said many Chinese would likely view Obama's new posture as a betrayal of that professed partnership and that could narrow Beijing’s options, forcing a tougher response.

“Public opinion may put the Chinese government in an embarrassing situation,” said Yu, who specializes in U.S.China relations.

A reliably nationalistic media that pander to the Chinese sense of patriotism and deepseated suspicion of the U.S. have already sounded the alarm. The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the Communist Party's People’s Daily newspaper, hit hard upon the theme of besiegement. It quoted a People’s Liberation Army major general as saying that the expanded U.S. training and deployment base in Australia was one of a series of U.S. installations to “encircle China from the north to the south of the Asia-Pacific region.”

In a separate article entitled “Six ways of countering the eastward movement of American strategy,” the Global Times alleged the U.S. was seeking to weaken China by nurturing hostile forces within the country while wrecking Beijing's relations with its neighbors. It suggested Beijing reduce its massive purchases of U.S. government debt — which have helped keep U.S. interest rates low — to get Washington to stop meddling in the South China Sea, where China is asserting claims to islands, reefs and atolls contested by five other governments.

George Richardson • The Daily Beacon

Students cheer after an organized flash mob that featured card tricks, dancing and, at the end, college hall-offamer and former UT football coach Johnny Majors.

NY privacy laws show new face The Associated Press NEW YORK — Barbara Handschu had tried to remove her name from the agreement that is her legacy.

More than a quarter century ago, after New York’s police were caught spying on Americans who were exercising their right to free speech, she and others filed suit to stop it. The outcome was an agreement to place limits on surveillance — the Handschu rules.

But then, in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, police said they needed more flexibility to protect the city. When the judge agreed to weaken the rules, Barbara Handschu tried unsuccessfully to strip her name from the guidelines.

Now, she sees the fruit of the weakened Handschu rules: the New York Police Department’s secret surveillance program targeting Muslims, detailed in a months-long Associated Press investigation. And she finds echoes of an earlier time in reports of police infiltrating student groups, of detectives inventing excuses to snoop in people’s homes.

“It’s not that different than what happened back in the ‘60s, except that somebody’s being targeted because of ethnicity and before we were targeted because of political belief,” Handschu says. “I mean, this is worse. This is racial profiling.”

The AP stories revealed that that over the last decade, the NYPD built a wide-ranging program to map and monitor Muslim communities, recording everything from where they pray to the restaurants they eat in. Without evidence of wrongdoing, officers have infiltrated student groups, eavesdropped on people and documented what they heard in daily reports.

The revelations have brought attention to the 40year-old lawsuit filed by Handschu, “Steal This Book” author Abbie Hoffman and a motley assortment of Yippies,

hippies, anarchists, computer geeks and Black Panthers. In justifying the surveillance, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has repeatedly cited the rules that emerged from the Handschu case as proof that police are acting lawfully; civil rights advocates, in turn, have pointed to the fate of the Handschu rules as a prime example of how privacy rights have crumbled in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Under the new rules, known as the Modified Handschu Guidelines, Cohen can act alone to authorize investigations for a year at a time. He can also authorize undercover operations for four months at a time.

While the original rules called for "specific information” that a crime was about to be committed, the revised rules say only that facts should “reasonably indicate” a future crime.

The plaintiffs’ longtime lawyers have done battle with the NYPD over police videotaping of protesters in 2004 and 2005.

And on Oct. 3 Jethro Eisenstein — the lawyer who co-wrote the original class-action complaint in 1971 — filed another motion with Haight, the judge who has handled the case from the beginning. It cites the AP investigation and demands that the NYPD open its files regarding the surveillance of Muslims in order to determine if they violate the Modified Hanschu Guidelines.

OPINIONS

4 • The Daily Beacon

Better

Than

Friday, November 18, 2011

Reality TV

‘Green Lantern’ differs from comics Robby O’Daniel Recruitment Editor How much viewers like Cartoon Network’s “Green Lantern: The Animated Series” has a lot to do with if they are fans of the “Green Lantern” comic book series, specifically the iteration since 2004 written by Geoff Johns.

In that series, Green Lantern Hal Jordan’s long-time nemesis Sinestro forms a corps of his own to take on the Green Lantern Corps. Only after that do loads of other corps begin to show up, one for each color in the rainbow. Among them are Atrocitus’ Red Lanterns, Saint Walker’s Blue Lanterns and others. Johns’ worldbuilding in the series is impressive. He added a ton of new characters that have quickly become fan favorites in such a short amount of time.

So “Green Lantern: The Animated Series” is a bit puzzling. Essentially the critical acclaim and popularity of Johns’ run has started all the “Green Lantern” properties in the mainstream media. The “Green Lantern” movie, while poorly cast and poorly written, followed the basics of Johns’ tales, though Sinestro’s lack of moral ambiguity was strange.

“Green Lantern: The Animated Series” deviates. No, characters are not openly different from how they are portrayed in the comics, but how the story is told is changed. In the first two episodes of the series, the hourlong “Beware My Power,” the Green Lantern Corps meets the Red Lantern Corps. The way fellow Green Lantern Kilowog reacts suggests that the Green Lantern Corps has never heard of any other kind of corps out there.

It is baffling that the first episode of “Green Lantern: The Animated Series” does not immediately establish Sinestro as the central villain, especially considering Green Lantern’s guest spots in other shows, like “Superman: The Animated Series” and “Justice League,” have all immediately jumped in with Sinestro as the antagonist.

The creators of the series said at New York ComicCon that since Sinestro played such a large role in the “Green Lantern” movie, the creators were going to stay

away from the character for the first season. That is ridiculous. It’s essentially trying to avoid doling out spoilers on a story that was written back in the 1960s when this iteration of Green Lantern was first created.

It is also such a shame that “Green Lantern: The Animated Series” has already gone to such lengths to match up with the movie franchise, considering the poor box-office performance of the movie will probably lead to no sequels.

The Red Lantern Corps themselves are much tamer than the comic book counterparts. In the comics, the Red Lanterns vomit blood and serve as mindless, killing drones for their leader Atrocitus. They are so mindless that they do not speak properly, only in guttural groans and one word at a time. Atrocitus seeks vengeance on the Guardians of the Universe, the Green Lantern Corps’ masters, for killing his home world.

That part of the story is intact, but the animatedseries version of the Red Lanterns talk normally and look less grotesque. In particular, Atrocitus looks like a generic red villain. The choice in the first episode to have a Red Lantern that struggles to kill — Razer — adds tension to the story but does not really make logistical sense. When the Red Lanterns recruit people with rage in their heart, why would they recruit someone who does not have that? It’s the equivalent of the Green Lantern Corps choosing a coward to wear a ring.

That is a lot of nitpicking, but honestly, the first two episodes were fine space adventures. The series’ greatest strength is that by the very nature of the “Green Lantern” comics, with 3,600 Green Lanterns in existence, the creators can come up with new characters at will. Who knows? Maybe like Harley Quinn from “Batman: The Animated Series” or Livewire from “Superman: The Animated Series,” an original character will sneak his or her way into comic book canon.

And really, viewers that are hardcore “Green Lantern” fans will have a lot of nitpicks like these, but they will also watch every episode because finally, after all these years, this show exists.

It is great to see Hal Jordan in beautiful Bruce Timm design, even if he looks more like a bodybuilder than a test pilot. Josh Keaton’s voice fits him perfectly. He is certainly better than that Ryan Reynolds guy.

— Robby O’Daniel is a graduate student in communications. He can be reached at rodaniel@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.

Quality reading informs, engages Chao s Theory by

Sarah Russel As much as it saddens me to admit it, I cannot remember the last time I sat down to read a book for pleasure. That is not to say that I have not read any books lately — in fact, as is typical for anyone pursuing a major in the humanities, I have read around 10 books this semester between writing papers about specific history books and researching topics for projects.

But reading books for school is completely different from reading books for pleasure. As anyone pursuing their master’s or doctorate will tell you, one simply does not have time to read every word of every book assigned as school work. Often, the best you can hope for is an understanding of the thesis or main plot of the book and a general sense of how the author formulates his or her arguments and characters. Decorating the pages with notes and highlighter marks can certainly help when it comes time to write the actual paper on the book, but in terms of understanding enough of the book to coherently discuss its arguments, it often suffices to have read the introduction, the conclusion and the topic sentences of each chapter.

By contrast, reading a book for pleasure is intended to be an engrossing experience. Attempting to ponder the thesis or highlight important quotes defeats the purpose of curling up with the book in the first place.

Regardless of the genre — science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, poetry or anything else — a book read purely for pleasure should not be analyzed within every inch of its life. It should create a universe convincing enough to pull readers in, to allow the readers to become familiar with the characters and to almost feel as though they themselves are a part of the story. It is the ability of books to create a vivid world of their own that determines their success and partly explains the popularity of the “Harry Potter” novels and the “Lord of the Rings” series, to name a few examples. When a reader can imagine the world created by the author, can feel

empathy for its characters and can understand the point of the book without deliberately seeking out a thesis statement, the book has succeeded in its purpose.

More likely than not, the textbooks we as college students spend most of our time reading are not nearly as lively or intriguing as “Harry Potter.” We spend hours with these tomes full of academic drivel, when we would rather use them as door stops or fire fuel. Making such reading assignments interesting is an almost impossible task — few people enjoy reading dry textbooks for pleasure, and the authors of the textbooks themselves would probably tell you that their intent was not to entertain but to inform. But this does not mean that there are no books on topics like physics or Nazi Germany that are not only just as enjoyable as “Harry Potter,” but are also instructional in a way that may not be exactly subtle but is certainly not as dry as the tedious prose of our college textbooks.

I certainly wish I had had a copy of Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” while I was taking physics in high school. Although some of the content still goes over my head, Hawking is nonetheless a gifted writer whose explanations of physics are much more accessible and articulate than the brick of a textbook I had to lug around for a year. It is no surprise, then, that his book about physics became a bestseller, if someone with absolutely no propensity towards the hard sciences could find it, not only appealing, but intelligible. I can safely say that I learned more about physics from that paperback book than from that five-pound textbook.

Although history is my major and is my favorite thing to study, most history textbooks are still remarkably dull.

Luckily, a new trend in contemporary literature is reviving the genre of historical nonfiction, making books based entirely on historical fact as captivating as “Harry Potter” novels. Authors like Erik Larson and Simon Winchester write books that focus on the unraveling of suspenseful events in history, telling stories of murders, espionage and intrigue based on actual primary documents.

Because their books read more like novels than textbooks, learning about specific eras of history is enjoyable because they are presented not through unfathomable academic jargon but through the vehicle of a fascinating story.

— Sarah Russell is a junior in history. She can be reached at srusse22@utk.edu.

Politicians pander on cognitive level T he Bur den o f I n fa l i a b i l i t y by

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With politics, as usual, being little more than an exercise in emotional immaturity, I’m compelled to revisit a 2006 psychological study from Emory University that irrevocably (and irreverently?) puts politics in its place.

The study took people who merely described themselves as being left or right and analyzed regions of their brain activity in response to data, specifically regarding George Bush or John Kerry before the 2004 election. The subjects were asked to think about inconsistencies in contradicting statements of the two candidates.

Basically, John Kerry might say something about being in Vietnam and justly earning his purple hearts, and George Bush might say something questioning Kerry’s service. The subject would then be confronted with “new” information that might explain the inconsistencies. New information about an opposing candidate was never really given a chance to take root.

“None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged” said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory University. “Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones.”

No activity increases in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the brain most associated with reasoning and logic, was detected. With minds made up on any given scenario, brain activity greatly increased in areas that involved reward, Westen explained. The reaction is similar to what addicts experience when they get a fix.

These results should seem painfully obvious: The system our representatives and the mediums they use to communicate their intentions to us are built solely upon emotion, because it is what we, as little more than animals that have managed to barely suppress the thralldom of instinctual drive, still respond to. And yet I venture to say that when there is such exciting

evidence about the very defunct nature of our culture’s (species’?) most fundamental dialogue with itself, preexisting notions about the fallible, too human institution of government must be revisited with new vigor.

Why do we, who consider ourselves the highest form of life, still respond to such complicated and multilayered issues in such a roundly emotional and instinctual way? Compared to other creatures, we have the incredible power of deliberate action; we are able to abstract and therefore defy the instincts that enslave lesser beings, such as the all-powerful genetic drive for reproduction. Contraception is a fine example: While mostly unable to adequately suppress the instinctual drive to have sex, we are intellectually free of the gene’s demand for procreation — the reason we even have the drive in the first place.

Objective thought takes a kind of intellectual high road, and a different part of the brain than emotion.

Consider the national dialogue on taxes: Apparently raising taxes and lowering taxes both stimulate the economy. Where’s the simple truth? The tax game is a double-edged sword with no consistent formula that comes in many forms. Straightforward tax increases for any group are politically unpopular with the voting mob out of sheer propaganda, while borrowing and spending, the deceptive alternative, should raise taxes and debt more because of interest owed.

Complacent political partisanship and the chemical sense of reward that Westen talks about result from indulging in lower instincts we’ve always had, when ambivalence on a subject tended to get one eaten. That’s why it feels so “good” to know for certain that you’re correct, and new information is sort of unconsciously blocked out: Cognitive dissonance simplifies the world.

It worked when the world was relatively simple.

There are not two kinds of people in the world.

But if there were, it would include people who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t. Resist the dumb little worlds the media anticipates your stupidity with. Conflict-based political rhetoric is indulged in to the detriment of the species, as it discourages use of our full human potential — but much more immediately it is to the detriment of our country.

— Wiley Robinson is a junior in ecology and evolutionary biology. He can be reached at rrobin23@utk.edu.

NEWS

Friday, November 18, 2011

The Daily Beacon • 5

Blogger challenges institution The Associated Press CAIRO — A woman activist who posted nude pictures of herself on her blog to protest limits on free expression has triggered an uproar in Egypt, drawing condemnations from conservatives and liberals alike.

Some liberals feared that the posting by 20-year-old university student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy would taint them in the eyes of deeply conservative Egyptians ahead of Nov. 28 parliamentary elections in which they are trying to compete with fundamentalist Islamic parties.

Nudity is strongly frowned upon in Egyptian society, even as an art form. Elmahdy’s posting is almost unheard of in a country where most women in the Muslim majority wear the headscarf and even those who don’t rarely wear clothes exposing the arms or legs in public.

Elmahdy wrote on her blog that the photographs — which show her standing wearing only stockings — are “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy.” The blog has received 1.5 million hits since she posted the photos earlier this week.

The posting comes at a time when Egypt, a nation of some 85 million people, is polarized between Islamists and liberals ahead of the elections, the first since the February ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Members of the most hardline Islamic movement in Egypt, the Salafis, have warned voters during their campaigns that liberals will corrupt Egypt’s morals.

“This hurts the entire secular current in front of those calling themselves the people of virtue,” Sayyed el-Qimni, a prominent self-described secular figure, said referring to Islamists.

“It is a double disaster.

Because I am liberal and I believe in the right of personal freedom, I can’t interfere,” elQimni said Wednesday night on one of Egypt’s popular TV political talk shows, “90 Minutes.”

The April 6 movement, one of the most prominent liberal activist groups that led the 18day uprising against Mubarak, issued a statement denying claims by some on the Web that Elmahdy is a member of the

Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon

Workers and students work behind a barrier during the annual blood drive contest against the University of Kentucky on Nov. 17. Every year UT and UK compete before the game to see which school can donate the most blood.

Shooter ‘needed to kill’ Obama The Associated Press BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho man accused of firing an assault rifle at the White House believed he was Jesus and thought President Barack Obama was the anti-Christ. He had become increasingly agitated with the federal government, and at one point suggested the president was planning to implant computer tracking chips into children, according to court documents and those who knew him.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, was charged Thursday with attempting to assassinate the president or his staff. He is accused of firing nine rounds at the White House last Friday night — one of them cracking a window of the first family’s living quarters — when Obama and the first lady were away. If convicted, Ortega faces up to life in prison.

Ortega was arrested Wednesday at a western Pennsylvania hotel when a desk clerk there recognized him and called police.

Ortega’s public defender, Christopher Brown, declined comment after his first court hearing in Pennsylvania. Ortega’s mother has said he has no history of mental illness, though authorities had reported he had “mental health issues” when looking for him.

In Idaho Falls, where Ortega is from, a computer consultant told The Associated Press that the two met July 8 after Ortega asked for help editing a 30-minute infomercial. Monte McCall said that during the meeting at Ortega’s family’s Mexican restaurant, Ortega pulled out worn sheets of yellow paper with handwritten notes and started to talk about his predictions that the world would end in 2012.

“He said, ‘Well, you know the president is getting ready to make an announcement that they’re going to put GPS chips in all the children, so they’re safe,’” McCall said. “... And then he said, ‘That’s just what the anti-Christ is going to do to mark everybody.’”

Kimberly Allen, the mother of Ortega’s former fiancé, said he had been well-mannered and kind in the four years she had known him.

But he recently began making statements to her daughter that were out of character, including that he believed he was Jesus. Allen said the family was worried when he went to Utah recently, where he said

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he had business, and didn’t come back. Ortega’s family reported him missing Oct. 31.

Allen said they were flabbergasted to hear he was wanted in Washington.

“I believe that the boy needs help,” said Allen, of Shelley, Idaho.

Her daughter, Jessica Galbraith, was engaged to Ortega and is the mother of their 2-year-old son. She declined to comment Thursday except to say: “I love him, and I’m here for him.”

It was unclear why or when they split.

Reached by the AP on Thursday, Ortega’s mother said she didn’t have anything to say. She earlier told the Post Register in Idaho Falls her son has no history of mental illness.

“He has different ideas than other people, just like everyone, but he was perfectly fine the last time I saw him,” Maria Hernandez told the newspaper. “He might be saying weird stuff that sounds crazy, but that doesn’t mean (he) is crazy. He might be confused and scared.”

At his first appearance in court in Pennsylvania, Ortega sat quietly, his hands free but his feet shackled. He said only, “Yes, ma’am” when he was asked if he understood that he would be going back to Washington to face the charge.

According to a court document released after the hearing, authorities recovered nine spent shell casings from Ortega's car, which was found abandoned near the White House shortly after the shooting.

An assault rifle with a scope was found inside.

A person who knows him subsequently told investigators that he had become increasingly agitated with the federal government and was convinced it was conspiring against him, the document said.

Others told investigators that Ortega had reportedly said Obama was “the anti-Christ” and the “devil.” Ortega also apparently said he “needed to kill” the president.

Authorities said Ortega was clad in black when he pulled his car within view of the White House on Friday night, fired shots and then sped away. The White House has not said whether the Obamas’ daughters, Sasha and Malia, were there at the time or commented on the shooting.

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The posting prompted furious discussions on Internet social media sites, with pages for and against her put up on Facebook.

One activist, Ahmed Awadallah, praised her in a Tweet, writing, “I’m totally taken back by her bravery.”

A supporter, who identified himself as Emad Nasr Zikri, wrote in a comment on Elmahdy’s blog, “We need to learn how to separate between nudity and sex.” He said that before fundamentalist influence in Egypt, “there were nude models in art school for students to draw.”

Some 100 people liked his comment, while thousands flooded the site with insults.

Some denounced Elmahdy as a “prostitute” and “mentally sick” or urged police to arrest her.

Elmahdy did not reply to attempts by The Associated Press to contact her.

Her move comes as Salafis have become more assertive in pushing their attitude that women should be kept out of the public eye, promoting a Saudi Arabia-style segregation of the sexes. On Salafi parties’ campaign banners, photos of the few female candidates are replaced by drawings of a flower.

During a recent election rally in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Salafists covered up a public statue that depicted mermaids. Salafi clerics appearing on TV talks shows have refused to appear face-to-face with female TV hosts, unless the presenter puts on a headscarf or in one case, a barrier was placed between the two.

Most recently, an Islamist preacher crashed into a university musical concert in a Nile Delta province of Mansoura, saying music was forbidden by Islam and that he wanted to “promote virtue and prevent vice” — the term used for the mission of Saudi Arabia’s religious police.

Women rights activist Nehad Abou el-Qomsan said conservatives “keep adding layers to cover up the women and deny their existence.”

But, she said, what Elmahdy did “is also rejected because posing nude is a form of body abuse.”

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Player of Duke Santos in “Ocean’s Eleven,” 1960 What may come between two friends?

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Blocks of history One concerned with blocking More reasonable Caucus call Sports org.

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One helping with filing, for short Momentary disruption “Gotcha” Where to see the writing on the wall?

A. J. who wrote “The Citadel”

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6 • The Daily Beacon

ARTS&CULTURE

Friday, November 18, 2011

Christmas classic takes CBT stage ‘Call of Duty’ scales back options “People come back year after year,” Morgan said. “I think it becomes a kind of a center of their holiday experience.”

David Kortemeir is new to “A Christmas Carol” this year, and he will play the part of the cold, greedy Scrooge. He wanted to be a part of this particular play because the story has

Clarence Brown Theatre is actually one of his favorite places.

“The production values here The Clarence Brown — the lights, the sets, the cosTheatre will soon begin its tumes — are really top-notch,” annual showing of the muchKortemeir said. “I really enjoy loved classic “A Christmas working with different direcCarol” with some new changes tors down here, and it is the to keep things interesting. favorite stopping place for For the last four years, the me.”

Clarence Brown Theatre has Kortemeir said he thinks put on the Edward the play will always resMorgan and Joseph onate with any audience.

Hanreddy adaptation of “I think we can all relate “A Christmas Carol.” to making mistakes and Each year, the show has regretting those mistakes been a great success and and wishing we could go has kept audiences back in time and fix those engaged with slight mistakes, and that’s what changes. the story is all about,” Director and coKortemeir said. adapter Morgan said he As with any production, has always felt strongly there are obstacles to overabout “A Christmas come. The play has a large Carol.” cast of 30 people, there are “It very much takes me children involved and back to my childhood almost every American has Christmases,” Morgan seen the story in one form said. “There’s a strong or another. One of the sort of reconnection with biggest obstacles Morgan that impulse of what has as director is creating • Photo courtesy of Clarence Brown Theatre Christmas is.” new renditions annually.

Morgan thinks the play “How do we recreate a veris both important and popular been a part of his life for so sion this year that is nearly because it has such an uplifting long.

“I was acquainted with it as fresh, that is like new?” message. a boy growing up and, in fact, Morgan said.

“It’s a story about redempThe only way to find out is tion,” he said. “It’s a story that to this day I have to watch the affirms that whatever mistakes 1955 film version of the story,” to see the show this year. “A me make, we can still be the Kortemeir said. “There are Christmas Carol” starts with a kind of person that we want to many great Christmas stories, preview showing that is free but ‘A Christmas Carol’ is the for students on Nov. 23, and be.” opening night is on Nov. 25. It People keep coming back one that resonates with me.”

He has worked with the runs until Dec. 18 with shows every year even though they have heard the story or seen it Clarence Brown Theatre many at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matiperformed before. Morgan times before on such produc- nees at 2 p.m. Tickets are availsaid he thinks it affects most tions as “Amadeus,” “The able for $5 for students on people in the same way it does Music Man” and “Oedipus the clarencebrowntheatre.com.

King.” Kortemeir said the him.

Brittney Dougherty Staff Writer

Campaign upgrades fail to make up for withheld multiplayer games Wiley Robinson Staff Writer “Modern Warfare 3”: true sequel, or version 2.5? Does it even matter for overall enjoyment at this point? Let’s see how well the highest record-breaking media sales in human history, ridiculous media hype and an army of online loyalists actually translate into a quality product.

MW3 comes in a three-part package, one anybody familiar with the direction of the franchise should know about — the campaign, a single or co-op wave survival (new) and short mission-based (not new but awesome) offering collectively called Spec Ops, and the online competitive multiplayer.

We’ll start with the online. Now, the world would have you believe that the online multiplayer is obviously the center of gravity for the game, and indeed that its simple, appealing human competition is the prime mover for the unnatural volume of sales.

And the world would be correct — but this very fact deeply weakens MW3 based on an ultimately castrated online experience.

To say that the combat mechanics, spawning patterns and overall pace of weapon and accessory unlocks in MW3’s multiplayer are basically unchanged is no obvious judgment — this could easily be a good thing. The only discernible change has been the sensitivity of the hit boxes (how much damage is done when shooting certain parts of the body) in Core mode. (It’s a little easier and more direct to kill your enemies with body shots, hooray.) Literally everything else remains mechanically the same: Spawning patterns for teams are not entirely random, and just as hectic yet, implicitly sensitive to successful momentum from encroachment upon an enemy spawn area; team play is not really dependent on unit cohesion, but based mostly on the aggregate performance of individuals in the team playing at a momentum they’re most comfortable with. (Everyone is rewarded based almost solely on individual performance anyway.)

Did I mention everyone is just running around frantically trying to out-maneuver

and out-reflex enemy players? It’s the same intuitive, fun, reflexive gameplay where you just turn off your brain, forget you’re even using a controller and run totally on instinct. The game’s raw accessibility and, it should be repeated, intuitiveness, is why it is making these multi-millions; easy-kill-easydeath, enemies-never-longer-than-15-or-20 seconds-away gameplay is a safe and effective formula for fun.

So what could possibly be the problem?

Let it be clear that unchanged gameplay with infinitesimal refinement over five years of consistent re-release is not my criticism.

However, the calculated lack of player options for scenarios and customization of the experience, options that could in no way diminish the gameplay itself — this is unforgivable.

Over the years, the myriad of CoD installments have come up with some good and mostly well-executed ideas (thanks mostly to the Treyarch development team) for game types: Besides frantic staples like Search and Destroy and Headquarters, co-operative Zombie wave survival and Black Ops’ wager matches especially were instant classics as soon as they were implemented. The change of pace was a breath of fresh air to a majority of fans. The wager matches and game types in particular introduced a concept so painfully mandated by the arena of human competition in shooters: players starting/competing on an even playing field.

There are too many obvious reasons why this is true. CoD basically re-invented the online FPS as a sport. People play casually, sure, but decisions made by the developers themselves, ostensibly based on some sort of empirical data, imply that they increasingly play with the motivation to not just win games, but to be the best individual player.

The implementation of the Elite service that has such an emphasis on stat tracking and sharing, making individual performance that much more integral, makes the lack (nonexistence) of legitimately competitive game types completely baffling.

See MODERN WARFARE 3 on Page 7

Friday, November 18, 2011

MODERN WARFARE 3 continued from Page 6 Access to competitive tournaments is practically the most touted reason players would pay an extra $50 a year for a full Elite membership. And yet MW3 actually has the drooling stupidity to reduce the number of available game types. Hardcore mode, a clear preference for many players and mainstay of every installment, has actually been cut down with the removal of favorites like HC Free-For-All and Headquarters. This artificial scarcity of game types, the most integral part of CoD’s most integral feature (multiplayer) is such an amazing “screw you” to the millions of people, with diverse preferences and motivations to play, buying these games.

Even if they’ve omitted these game types due to some sort of technical limitations or merely with the intention of making us pay for them in the future, the decision diminishes the overall experience in a huge way. However inherently fun CoD’s gameplay is, it is ultimately brought down by the fact that it has been limited to asymmetrical, mostly teambased warfare. It is simply not up for debate that CoD patronage is dominated

The Daily Beacon • 7

ARTS&CULTURE by individual-performance driven gameplay — the Des. themselves shamelessly confirm this — and the emphasis on experience grinding, leveling and weapon/perk combination is a limitation that only partially rewards the reason people play. The minor distraction of new guns, gun-leveling, the kill-streak changing “strike package” and rehashed perks do not make up for ignoring an already-established benchmark for unlocking a game’s full potential.

For what it’s worth, the campaign is arguably the most fun yet. You have to appreciate the level of graphical optimization that’s come as a result of this hardware generation’s unnaturally old age — the sheer amount of awesomely rendered things happening on screen in the context of hypothetical full-scale contemporary warfare in places like Paris, New York and Berlin is impossible to not enjoy on some level.

The CoD single-player and cooperative mission formula has been perfected in MW3. Somehow, the developers have achieved a level of first-person cover/line-of-sight gameplay that puts the same ridiculous number of enemy and friendly AI on screen that works in both wide-open and tight quarters, and yet even on the highest and most chaot-

ic difficulty setting you pretty much always know why you were, if not who exactly was responsible, killed. The game rewards situational awareness and responsiveness with unprecedented acuity, which is a more than welcome alternative to somehow tying together disjointed plot patterns that started in 2007. The ending is clearly one that has run out of patience with itself (where there was little enough concern to begin with), but at least it has a lot of crazybadass-action-fun doing it.

There may very well be some sinister commercial reason why some people behind CoD refuse to give it a complete multiplayer package — because they seem to know what they’re doing and who is playing their games in all other respects. The integrity put into refining the gameplay in Spec Ops missions and the campaign is commendable — almost equaling the disappointment of the most claustrophobic yet otherwise well-engineered multiplayer offering to date. I’ll keep playing hardcore for a bit, enjoy Spec Ops, but I will not be hooked into buying the forecasted stream of map packs for a purposely incomplete game.

Nintendo back to proper form Wiley Robinson Staff Writer

What banner year for games would be complete without a major Zelda release? “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” comes out on Nov. 20, and it’s looking good.

Based on the size of ad campaigns, releases and overall enthusiasm, this year would seem to be one of gaming’s best.

“Modern Warfare 3” is financially the biggest media release in history, and it’s obvious that the industry as a whole has enjoyed a lot of growth.

But overall game sales for 2011 have declined, not risen — and Nintendo, which historically outsells everyone else from the combined forces of its handhelds and consoles — is responsible for 90 percent of the loss.

Speculation for why is extensive; the Japanese company has simply been bested by Western business models; they made themselves uncompetitive for the long current console generation haul when they didn’t invest in robust enough hardware for the Wii; they got greedy and churned out “garbage ware” to appeal to the younger Wii demographic and neglected to make games with the quality and quantity that they’re known for.

But Nintendo could very possibly be on the turn-around with its imminent Zelda release.

Zelda games all seem to be stand-alone adventures, but also seem to be loosely associated realities. The story of “Skyward Sword” seems to be an explicit and universally applicable prequel to the entire series. It starts out with Link and Zelda as childhood friends, which probably explains the eerie revelation from past games (Ocarina of Time) that Zelda somehow remembers Link from somewhere. This deliberate look into the past has been a long time coming.

The storytelling in Skyward Sword is purported to be the Tara Sripunvoraskul• The Daily Beacon best achieved, not just by Nintendo, but in the medium so Poet Blas Falconer signs copies of his book “A Question of Gravity and Light” after a reading in Hodges Library far. Link still doesn’t talk, and on Oct. 24, as part of Writers in the Library, a series that the library hosts. The next event in the series will be a there is no voice acting (nor reading from Pamela Schoenewaldt on Jan. 23.

should there be — voice acting doesn’t have to be the logical evolution in this art), but Nintendo is said to use cinematography to create a very dramatic and empathetic tale that motivates you in a personal way.

Zelda and the supporting characters themselves are said to be the most appealing and empathetic yet.

Graphical style is somewhere between the Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, with the color and liveliness of the latter without overt cell-shading and cartooniness. Nintendo always plays with art style and juxtaposes it with story and character tone — if you’ve played both of those games, a hybrid is probably the closest we’re getting to the feel of “Skyward Sword”: lively and artistic without being overly cartoony or brooding.

Footage of new dungeons shows an emphasis on more active, creative and reflexive challenges than utilized in the passed. Also, the world outside of dungeons has been revamped — physical obstacles string together to make most of a journey an energetic and breathless one.

Perhaps the best news about Skyward Sword is that the new control scheme is exactly what we’ve been waiting for — even if you haven’t. Without having done it, it’s been largely described as the most intuitive and immersive motion-sensor gameplay ever. But it’s also rather challenging — the A.I. very much are built around the freedom of the new system, and enemies will react vigilantly to block a player’s attacks. Sounds rewarding.

In an industry that has started to look at innovations like storytelling suspiciously through business models that declare marginal increases in graphical integrity, not style, are enough for people, Nintendo’s initially odd choices with the Wii seem to finally be being used like the Nintendo we know and love. If you don’t have a Wii, borrow one from a friend or relative that is inevitably collecting dust — it sounds like this Zelda is going to be a safe bet.

8 • The Daily Beacon

SPORTS

Friday, November 18, 2011

Vols begin playoff hoping to reach bowl game Fourteen seniors to be celebrated in Tennessee’s final home game of season Clay Seal Assistant Sports Editor With the way this season has gone, Tennessee hasn’t really faced a must-win situation.

If the Volunteers want to get to a bowl game, though, that’s exactly what they have.

The Vols host Vanderbilt Saturday at 7 p.m., still searching for their first conference win of the season.

With last week’s demoralizing 49-7 loss at Arkansas, the Vols dropped to 4-6, 0-6 SEC, their worst conference record in school history.

“Defensively, a real veteran group — real veteran group,” UT coach Derek Dooley said of Vanderbilt. “Tough, extremely disciplined, never out of position, great tackling football team. They just play really sound football.”

Tennessee has won 27 of the last 28 matchups with the Commodores (5-5, 2-5), the loss in that stretch coming in 2005.

Does that give the Vols a mental edge?

“Not this year,” said senior defensive tackle Malik Jackson, who has watched a few Vandy games this season. “They’re very capable of coming out and beating us when they play their best.”

The Vols will receive a boost, though, as sophomore quarterback Tyler Bray is expected to return after fracturing his thumb Oct. 8 against Georgia. Bray had his cast removed last week, and has been practicing this week.

Bray missed five games, four of which the Vols lost (all to top 15 teams). While he was unable to play, Bray hit the film room and studied the playbook under the watch of Dooley, offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and QBs coach Darin Hinshaw.

“I study a lot and also, you realize how

much football really means to you,” Bray said. “(You) kind of take it for granted that you have to come out and practice every day. Once you get hurt and that’s taken away from you, you see things differently.”

Bray averaged 316 yards a game while throwing 14 touchdowns and two picks before his injury.

Tennessee’s youth has been well documented, as they rank third in the nation with 16 true freshmen played this year, but this weekend is not about them. Saturday is Senior Day for Tennessee, as the Vols celebrate the careers of 14 players. Austin Johnson, Tauren Poole, Ben Martin and Malik Jackson are the only starters.

Sitting with four wins, the Vols have to win against Vanderbilt and Kentucky to reach bowl eligibility.

“Every year when you’re training and stuff, you look at the schedule, and you look at it realistically, and you’re saying we’ll beat these guys, we’ll beat these guys,” Johnson said. “I do that every year kind of in my head. It’s not what I thought, but it’s kind of the hand we’ve been dealt. We’ve been dealt this card, and our backs are against the wall and we’ve got to win these last two games.”

Johnson, a Hickory, N.C. native, leads the team with three interception and has amassed 65 tackles this year.

Poole will finish his second season as the No. 1 running back after nearly transferring before his junior year. Poole had 22 touches in his first two seasons behind the likes of Arian Foster, Montario Hardesty and Bryce Brown.

The first two are in the NFL, and the latter transferred to Kansas State.

Last season, Poole rushed for 1,034 yards Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon and averaged over 5 yards a carry.

The game kicks off at 7 p.m. and will air on Malik Jackson tries to shed an LSU lineman on Oct. 15. Jackson had eight tackles against the Tigers, one shy of his season-high of nine against Alabama. Jackson ESPNU. has 43 tackles, 2 sacks, and 6.5 tackles for loss this season.

Friday, November 18, 2011

SPORTS

The Daily Beacon • 9

’Dores enter as rare favorite against Vols First-year coach Franklin has Vandy looking for first bowl appearance since 2008 Matt Dixon Sports Editor Most years when Vanderbilt plays Tennessee, it’s the de facto bowl game for the Commodores.

But this year it’s different for the Volunteers’ in-state rivals in Nashville. Under first-year coach James Franklin, Vandy enters Neyland Stadium needing a win in either of its last two games to become bowl eligible for just the fifth time in program history.

A win against the Vols would also be the ’Dores first since 2005 when Jay Cutler led Vandy to a 28-24 victory over UT in Knoxville.

“I think our guys are gaining and building in confidence each week,” Franklin said. “It’s a great challenge and I’ve talked about it with the team, and winning on the road in this conference, there’s no doubt about it, that’s where our focus is, to go out and improve each week.

We’ve had enough experience playing in difficult environments. I would think all of those experiences that we had this year would help us go to Tennessee and play well.”

The ’Dores are 0-3 on the road this year, with losses to South Carolina, Alabama and Florida. Vandy does have two SEC wins: a 307 win over Ole Miss on Sept. 17 and a 38-8 victory over Kentucky on Nov. 12.

“With how much we’ve improved, I think it is a good time for us to be playing anybody,” Vandy quarterback Jordan Rodgers said. “I feel like we’ve gotten to the point where we’re confident that we can get a win against anybody we face, if we play how we know we should and execute how we know we should. So, for us right now, we go into every game thinking that we should win, that we should be able to compete. So, right now it’s a good time for us to be playing anybody.”

Rodgers, the younger brother of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, has started the last four games for Vandy after splitting time with Larry Smith through the team’s first six games this season. With Rodgers under center, the ’Dores have scored at least 21 points in each of the four games, and lost to Arkansas and Florida by a combined eight points.

Rodgers is completing 51.6 percent of his passes (80-of-155) for 1,166 yards and seven touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s also run for 305 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns.

“He moves the chains,” Tennessee defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said of Rodgers. “He does it in a lot of different ways. He’ll throw it, he’ll run it, he’ll scramble. He just makes plays.

When it’s third and six, he finds a way to get a first down. That’s probably the best way to describe him. He has done an excellent job.

Schematically, they do a lot of different things.

He gives you issues because of the quarterback runs and those type of things.”

Junior running back Zac Stacy leads the ’Dores’ ground attack, averaging 6.5 yards per carry with nine touchdowns. He needs only 111 yards to top the 1,000-yard mark on the year.

On the other side of the ball, Vandy presents a challenge to a UT offense, even if sophomore quarterback Tyler Bray returns to help the struggling Vols.

Regardless of whether Bray plays on Saturday or not, Vandy is preparing the same.

“I hope he plays,” Franklin said. “It’s not going to change a whole lot based on what they do scheme-wise. It’s not like you are going to see an option quarterback come in and change everything. They might have a few little wrinkles, but it doesn’t really affect how we are preparing for the game whatsoever and we are expecting to see him.”

• Photo courtesy of Zac Hardy/The Vanderbilt Hustler

10 • The Daily Beacon

THESPORTSPAGE

Friday, November 18, 2011

Vanderbilt game close to must-win

1 2 2 4 5 5

Nation into depression.

After everything this fan base has FIRST PLACE: 43-12 been through in recent years, and not just on the football field, could it Matt Dixon Sports Editor get any worse?

Would losing on Saturday be the Tennessee 24 - Vanderbilt 23 lowest point in the football proSports Editor Oregon - USC gram’s history?

Oklahoma- Baylor The term “must-win game” is One could certainly argue it Kansas State - Texas used far too often in sports. would be.

Nebraska 24 - Michigan 27 In reality, no game is a must-win That’s why it’s as close to a mustin the sense that if a team loses it win game for UT as it could be withSECOND PLACE: 42-13 out truly being a must-win game.

Preston Peeden Managing Ed. quits playing.

Some games can be a Even if the Vols Tennessee 31 - Vanderbilt 28 must-win for coaches on don’t beat — or upset Oregon - USC the proverbial hot seat or in this case — the Oklahoma- Baylor must-wins if a team wants Commodores, they’ll Kansas State - Texas to make a bowl game. still travel to Nebraska 24 - Michigan 14 (Note: Derek Dooley is Lexington, Ky., next NOT on the hot seat and Saturday and beat the SECOND PLACE: 42-13 wouldn’t be until 2013, his Wildcats for the 27th fourth year at Tennessee, at consecutive time.

Brent Harkins Ad Sales the earliest. It only creates But Tennessee cerTennessee 23 - Vanderbilt 20 unwarranted discussion tainly can’t overlook Oregon - USC and controversy among a Vanderbilt, especially Oklahoma- Baylor UT fan base that needs to this year.

Kansas State - Texas understand the situation Saturday’s game has Nebraska 32 - Michigan 21 Dooley inherited and realas many implications in ize it’s not a quick-fix). terms of this season FOURTH PLACE: 41-14 That said: The and going forward for Volunteers really, really, both programs as any Will Abrams Copy Editor really need to beat UT-Vandy game in recent memory.

Tennessee 24 - Vanderbilt 21 Vanderbilt Saturday night in Neyland Stadium.

Regardless of the Oregon - USC A loss to a favored outcome in the final Oklahoma- Baylor Commodores team at home game at Neyland Kansas State - Texas — that’s not a typo — Stadium this year, the Nebraska 28 - Michigan 24 would ensure Tennessee its Big Orange Nation DEAD STINKIN’ LAST: 39-16 second consecutive losing needs to rely on the season for the first time in watering of the bamboo Clay Seal Asst. Sports Editor a century. UT went 3-5-1 in and the feeding of the 1910 and 3-4-2 in 1911. orange dog. And most Tennessee 28 - Vanderbilt 21 Let that sink in. It’s of all, trusting the hair Oregon - USC been 100 years since the and orange pants of the Oklahoma- Baylor Vols had back-to-back losVols’ head coach.

Kansas State - Texas George Richardson• The Daily Beacon ing seasons.

At the end of the Nebraska 45 - Michigan 38 Tennessee coach Derek Dooley tries to motivate the day, it’s still Tennessee A win by Vandy would Volunteers against South Carolina on Oct. 29. Dooley has football. Losing isn’t also make it bowl eligible DEAD STINKIN’ LAST: 39-16 been a topic of debate throughout the season with UT’s well received by this for just the fifth time in the 4-6 record. Trying to cheer up the team, Dooley brought fan base, as it shouldn’t program’s history.

Robbie Hargett Chief Copy Editor a orange ceramic dog to practices this week.

More, first-year VU be. Back-to-back subTennessee 24 - Vanderbilt 21 coach James Franklin would .500 records only come Oregon - USC gain even more momentum on UT around every century or so. Maybe SEC team or two and maybe sneakOklahoma- Baylor for a school that’s been the doormat even longer. ing into the SEC Championship Kansas State - Texas of the SEC for decades.

We’ll find that out tomorrow game went down with Hunter’s knee Nebraska 28 - Michigan 17 Fair or not, a win by the ’Dores night. at Florida. Bray’s broken thumb would give the impression that against Georgia sent the Big Orange

Matt Dixon

Vandy is closer to Tennessee than the Vols are to Alabama, Florida, Georgia or even South Carolina in terms of the SEC pecking order.

If Tyler Bray and Justin Hunter had been healthy all year and UT were sitting in the position it’s in now, or if next year Vanderbilt is favored over the Vols, that’d be a serious cause for concern.

In reality, Dooley and UT had little margin for error this season. Any realistic hopes of upsetting a quality