The Vanderbilt Hustler 9-10-14

vanderbilthustler WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

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VOL. 126, ISS. 21

REACHING OUT Cultural organizations explain their mission on campus — from recruitment practices to community-building — and address perceptions of self-segregation

SEE PAGE 2

LIFE

Tongue ‘N’ Cheek keeps Vandy laughing After a big year and before their back-to-school show, members of the improv comedy troupe share what makes audiences laugh

SPORTS

PAGE 10

‘It’s Time’: the story of Brad Gaines

Former Vanderbilt football player Brad Gaines relives a tragedy that led to an unlikely friendship in an ESPN documentary

OPINION

PAGE 12

Weighing in on the Israel-Hamas conflict

A columnist and a guest writer from Dores for Israel analyze US involvement and interests in the conflict between Israel and Hamas

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campus

CAMPUS UPDATE On Wednesday, Sept. 10, there will be a Project Safe opening celebration from 10-11 a.m. at the Project Safe Center. The center is dedicated to sexual miscounduct prevention and response.

NATIVe debuts as first cultural organization for Native Americans on campus

By COLLIER BOWLING News reporter --------------------

Beginning this fall, NATIVe, or Native Americans in Tennessee Interacting at Vanderbilt, is the first student organization to represent Native Americans on campus.

NATIVe was founded by individuals from various walks of campus life: Krystal Tsosie, a Navajo Ph.D. student; Holly Glass, a Choctaw undergraduate senior; Alisa Yockonhawken, Navajo and of Campus Planning Architecture & Construction and Dr. Nanibaa’ Garrison, Navajo and assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society.

“The four of us decided we need to have a native presence on campus,” Tsosie said. “We are already the most minor of minorities on campus, and I know that when I came here I was the only graduate student who was native in the school of medicine. So being able to find three other natives on campus was a blessing. So we decided to come forward and make a collective.”

Because Tennessee is without any state or federally recognized tribes, the organization plays a unique role on Vanderbilt’s campus as an outlet for Native Americans to promote cultural awareness, get involved in the community and bond.

“The thing to remember about Tennessee is that there were originally several tribes here,” Tsosie said. “Since the Indian Removal Act that later led to the Trail of Tears, a lot of those nations were forcibly relocated to lands that were west of the Mississippi. So now what we have in Tennessee is a state without any state or federally recognized tribes. And for somebody like me who came from Arizona, which has over 20 tribal nations, to come from here it is a completely different contrast.”

Glass said NATIVe can be significant for Native Americans at Vanderbilt because it provides an outlet that can’t be found elsewhere.

“For me, it is a way to indigenize the space and make it more comfortable for us,” Glass said. “I’ve already noticed people coming out of the woodwork saying ‘I am a senior and a Native American, and I just never did anything. I’m so excited there is an organization on campus, and I want to be a part of it.’”

While the organization is directed toward Native Americans, people of any ethnicity can join. Membership is not limited to Vanderbilt, as those of the Nashville community and beyond can also join.

“We also realized that there is an entire native network outside of Vanderbilt in the Nashville area and outside Nashville who also want to be part of this huge social collective,” Tsosie said. “So our organization is sort of formed to serve them as well as us together.”

NATIVe’s first event, “Nations within States: Citizenship, Pottery & The Catawba Indian Nation,” will include a powwow dance performance, a panel on Native American sovereignty and a pottery exhibit. The event will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 17 on Vanderbilt’s campus: The exhibit and discussion will take place throughout the day at the College Halls at Vanderbilt, while the powwow will be held at 5 p.m. at Curry Field.

More information about the event and the organization can be found on NATIVe’s Facebook page, titled “Native Americans in Tennessee Interacting at Vanderbilt.”

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Various cultural organizations reached out to first-years at this year’s 2014 Student Involvement Fair on The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons.

Addressing perceptions of self-segregation Student leaders and members of cultural organizations discuss perceptions of their groups on campus

By SAARA ASIKAINEN Managing editor --------------------

Before they even deloft their beds or unpack their suitcases on move-in day, many first-year minority students receive a knock on their door or are visited by a member of a cultural organization, greeting them with a small gift and informational flyers.

Targeted recruitment practices — recruitment aimed at students from specific racial or ethnic backgrounds — are a routine part of the beginning of the academic year for many cultural organizations. These efforts are made in the hope that early in their first semester, first-year students are able to join a network of students of their own cultural background or racial identity.

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However, according to several leaders in these organizations, their groups’ mission is twofold: The other aim is to foster diversity on campus through outreach and educational programming. Yet some of these leaders and other students have expressed that there is often a tension between these two goals: Connecting students to a particular culture can result in perceived self-segregation in the Vanderbilt community.

Recruitment to cultural organizations Some organizations, including Masala-South Asian Cultural Exchange and the Black Student Alliance, have received lists of first-years during the summer from the Office of Intercultural Affairs and the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center, respectively — including this year. Based on these lists,

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both Masala-SACE and BSA engaged in targeted recruitment — via social media, emails and letters — toward first-years who might fit into their cultural group.

Dean of Students Mark Bandas, however, said his office recently learned about the practice and will discontinue it. “We believe students should control their own information. The Office of Intercultural Affairs will not distribute this information in the future,” he wrote in a statement to The Hustler.

But cultural organizations aren’t entirely dependent on these lists for their recruitment practices. Once on campus, the organizations’ leaders said they reach out to students from similar backgrounds in various ways, including handing out goodie bags to first-years on move-in day and visiting them in — continued on PAGE 4

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CAMPUS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 CULTURAL ORGANIZATION EVENTS

Cafe con Leche 2014

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InVUsion 2014

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Taste of Asia 2013

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Holi 2014

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— continued from PAGE 2 their dorms.

They also strive to recruit students from all cultures represented on campus by participating in the student involvement and multicultural organization fairs, as well as by hosting first-year mixers for interested students.

Fostering community for students of different cultures Once students have joined these cultural organizations, many said they find a sense of belonging in being around peers that come from similar backgrounds.

Madhu Govind, former president of Masala-SACE, who currently serves as senior adviser to the organization, said that she believes cultural organizations are the most important student groups on campus as they connect people to their upbringing and cultural traditions.

Joe Gelman, publicity co-chair for the Vanderbilt Association of Hispanic Students, said joining VAHS his sophomore year offered him a home away from home.

“It helps when you’re adjusting to campus if you have this group of people who come from a similar background as you,” Gelman said. “It kind of eases the transition a little bit.”

Some students said they feel a tension between belonging to a minority group and existing on a majority-white campus.

“Vanderbilt is labeled as a ‘rich white kids’’ school — that’s what the stereotype is,” said Amy Dam, recruitment chair for the Asian American Student Association (AASA).

“I think that (Multicultural Leadership Council organizations) are trying to help bridge this divide, this empty space, that some of these minority students feel.”

Addressing perceptions of self-segregation Various student leaders said that one issue faced by their cultural organizations is combating the belief that only members of their cultural group are welcome, a notion that might contribute to the perception that “selfsegregation” exists on campus.

Dam initially worried that she would be limited to an “Asian bubble” by joining AASA. “That’s what a lot of Asian kids are afraid of. They’re like, ‘I was in an Asian bubble in high school, there’s no way I want to be in an Asian bubble here,’ so I don’t want to join AASA,’” Dam said.

Regardless of whether it occurs at Vanderbilt or not, Pranjal Gupta, current president of Masala-SACE, said that “self-segregation” is not necessarily a negative thing, remarking that it is just a part of human nature.

“You gravitate towards people that are like-minded to you,” Gupta said. “And for some reason, self-segregation is always attributed to cultural organizations and race, but in reality you’ll see students have their own friend groups here. They get involved in certain organizations and they stick with those organizations, whether it’s a religious organization or a Greek organization.”

Dr. Frank Dobson, director of the BCC, combats the idea that just because students “hang together” with people like them means that they are self-segregating. He said by choosing to attend Vanderbilt, students of color are making a conscious decision to attend a school with people from varying backgrounds.

“To suggest self-segregation I guess would suggest that those students who come here — and let’s just use the example of black students — don’t want to be around white people,” Dobson said. “That flies in the face of their coming here in the first place. I also teach at Fisk University, so if an African-American student really didn’t want to be around white people, why would you come to Vanderbilt when you could go to Fisk or Howard?”

Reaching out to students across campus Many students acknowledged that it can be difficult to feel comfortable joining an organization dedicated to a culture that is not their own.

“For example, in the cultural fair, I’d go up and talk to

freshmen and they’d be like ‘Oh, I’m not Hispanic, I’m not interested, no thank you,’” Gelman said. “So that’s definitely a problem that arises, that people will feel like they shouldn’t join because they’re not (Hispanic).”

A recent graduate who was involved in AASA said that often, this perception of self-segregation can be the biggest barrier.

“I don’t think the problem is whether there is selfsegregation or not — it’s that people believe that there is, so that’s what keeps people from taking that first step into our events,” she said. “I think that the outside perception of what we are is really hurting us, because it’s really making it very difficult for us to reach outward when people think that we’re not reaching.”

For this reason, Gelman said it is important for cultural organizations to emphasize outreach.

“I think it’s easy for (self-segregation) to happen, and that’s why I believe cultural organizations, whether it’s VAHS or BSA or (VUCA), need to make one of their priorities being inclusive and not catering to specific groups,” Gelman said.

Student Body President Tanner Owen said students are still trying to adapt the campus social scene to Vanderbilt’s recent increase in diversity over the past 10 years.

“I do see an effort from students, and I wouldn’t have expected it even three years ago, to learn more about different cultures and different identities,” Owen said.

“It really gets down to the issue of acknowledging that we’re all coming from different places and those different places have all sorts of implications, but at the same time, we’re all Vanderbilt students and we all have something to learn from one another.”

Cultural organizations have said that outreach to the rest of the student body is already a priority, and current efforts include trademark events and performances that welcome all students, such as Diwali, Cafe con Leche and the Asian New Year Festival.

Additionally, Akaninyene Ruffin, community and public relations co-chair for the Multicultural Leadership Council, said bridging the gap between cultural organizations and Greek Life is one of its prominent goals for this year.

Dam, who also sits as the secretary for the MLC, said that the council is pushing toward co-sponsorships between MLC organizations and also between MLC and Vanderbilt Student Government, Vanderbilt Programming Board and Greek Life. One particular goal Dam cited was a tailgate co-hosted by a fraternity and MLC organization.

“If there is a push, the push is to go and experience more — it’s not to stick within your own community,” Ruffin said.

One former student remarked that she believes campus would benefit from discussing our perceptions surrounding self-segregation.

“I don’t think that people should be looking for a solution in terms of trying to change how our campus is structured, but we should really be having some really active dialogue about how we can change our perceptions of people, and stop being so judgmental when we see someone in a sorority or someone in a cultural org,” she said.

EDITOR'S NOTE The Hustler explicitly looked at practices and reflections from the five biggest cultural organizations on campus according to Anchor Link, including AASA, Masala-SACE, VUCA, BSA and VAHS. The Hustler recognizes that “self-segregation” is a very complicated issue that extends beyond just cultural organizations, and recognizes that all of its nuances cannot be captured in one piece.

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Taking action with Summer for Respect Junior Christina Jones spent her summer working with Summer for Respect, a social justice program that commemmorated the 50th anniversary of Mississippi’s Freedom Summer by working against labor issues in communities affected by Wal-Mart

By ALEX GRIFFIN News reporter --------------------

Influenced by her father that grew up in the civil rights era of the 1960s, junior Christina Jones has spent much of her time on campus working with economic, racial and social injustice issues. On campus her involvement has ranged from work with International Justice Mission to the NAACP, and most recently Jones spent her summer working against labor issues through the Summer for Respect program.

Summer for Respect was created by OUR Walmart and Columbia University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer. Throughout the program, Jones dealt with labor issues created by Wal-Mart and recorded the stories of individuals in affected communities.

Spending her summer with the Florida Summer for Respect team, Jones said she was able to see the real-world consequences of issues that she had learned about abstractly in the classroom.

“Here at Vanderbilt, the work that I’ve done with certain

organizations, it’s easy — even if it is staying up all night, I’m not really risking anyone else’s well-being,” Jones said.

Jones said she found that the consequences involved in fighting social injustices were much more real for those she was trying to help.

“They were very nervous — they didn’t want to (go on strike) because it’s so much more real when this is the way (they) feed (their) family,” Jones said.

Jones said that her work with various social justice groups on campus led her to Summer for Respect.

“I didn’t really know a lot about the labor issue before, but being there on the ground definitely informed me and showed me all of these different fights going on are interconnected,” Jones said.

Jones said the program made her feel that economic, racial, and social injustices could be fought.

“To see small changes, but very real changes, happen in the community while I was down there, it was awesome just to see,” Jones said. “It restored my faith that (change) was possible, because for a while I was feeling like I can scream and shout, but my voice isn’t being heard.”

Jones also had the opportunity to go to Jackson, Mississippi for the Mississippi Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary Conference, which commemorated the work of the 1964 Freedom Summer. There, she was able to meet individuals who had been present on the scene in 1964.

“It’s incredible when you see a person and you’re like, ‘Wow, you gave up so much, not only for yourself, but for others and for me,’ and it was just really humbling to see that,” Jones said.

She hopes to bring her experiences from this summer back to campus by bringing more energy to the organizations she is already involved with and to the general Vanderbilt com-

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Junior Chirstina Jones worked with OUR Walmart this summer in its Summer for Respect program. munity.

“We’re all very hardworking people, and I think that sometimes when you point out those privileges people have, (people think) you’re trying to negate the hard work that they do, which isn’t always the case — at least I know that’s not the case for me,” Jones said. “I think that it’s very easy to turn a blind eye, and I think that a lot of Vandy students might do that because, you know, they have other stresses that are happening, but at the same time these are very real problems that are affecting people’s lives every day.”

For students who want to become more aware of these issues, Jones encourages them to use the student body as a resource.

“Luckily, we are in a place where you can meet someone new and you meet people who are doing incredible things everyday, so you have those resources, you know we are a resource to each other,” Jones said. “(Injustice) affects everyone, even if you don’t see it … I don’t care if you’re a white straight male who’s got all the money in the world, it’s going to affect you some way.”

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opinion

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Tomorrow, put aside politics for a day, and remember 9/11 for what it really is: a testament to the strength and resilience of America in the face of a generation-defining tragedy.”

J.R. RIDLEY

The Islamic State American foreign policy must be noncontradictory to defeat a threat that contradictory policy created

I ERIK WEINBERG is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at erik.a.weinberg@ vanderbilt.edu.

n June, the world was shocked by the rapid advance of a largely unknown Syrian militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), into almost a third of northern and western Iraq. In its offensive, the group routed the Iraqi army and seized more than $400 million in cash and bullion reserves from the Iraqi central bank in the city of Mosul. In addition to acquiring vast cash reserves, the group also seized thousands of U.S.-supplied weapons and armored vehicles from fleeing Iraqi forces. The group’s success in June, and subsequent defeat in several battles of Kurdish Peshmerga forces at the beginning of August, prompted the United

vanderbilthustler EDITORIAL BOARD TYLER BISHOP, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF editor@vanderbilthustler.com

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States to begin airstrikes in Iraq to aid security forces in their fight against the militants.

ISIS rebranded itself the Islamic State (IS), claiming its goal is to rule a caliphate stretching from Morocco to India. To be clear: IS is not simply a terror organization. Unlike al-Qaeda, IS has specific territorial ambitions and uses conventional force of arms to achieve them. In the areas under its control, the Islamic State rules with brutal efficiency. It has set up courts, religious schools and various social services, all governed under Islamic Sharia law.

Punishment for crimes against IS is severe, often resulting in amputations, stonings, crucifixions, beheadings, enslavement or mass executions.

Religious minorities

are forced to choose between conversion or death; these minorities include members of Muslim sects at odds with IS’s hardline Islamic philosophy. More than one million Shi’a Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and various other minority groups have been forced to flee from IS, an estimated 1.4 million into Iraqi Kurdistan alone.

Last year, I wrote on how involvement in the Syrian Civil War, specifically aid to rebel factions, was not in the United States’ best interests.

I argued that indirect support to “friendly” Syrian rebel groups, such as providing arms and training, could have the side effect of empowering larger and better-armed Islamist groups, such as the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s official affiliate in the country. While the Islamic State has carved out expansive regions in the north of Iraq and Syria, al-Nusra has concentrated its power in the southwest of Syria, seizing border crossings with Israel and capturing 47 UN peacekeepers in the last several weeks.

American policy in the region has enabled IS to become the threat that it is. In Syria, we armed and trained rebel groups to fight Bashar alAssad, resulting in the Islamic State’s ability to open a second front in Iraq. The United States is spending money and risking lives to fight IS in Iraq while weakening its enemies in Syria.

The Islamic State is a threat to global political stability, and American foreign policy continues to enable IS’s territorial ambitions. The

The Vanderbilt Hustler Opinion page aims to stimulate discussion in the Vanderbilt community. In that spirit, columnists, guest columnists and authors of letters to the editor are expected to provide logical argument to back their views. Unreasonable arguments, arguments in bad faith or arguments in vain between columnists have no place in The Hustler and will not be published. The Hustler welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three methods of expression: letters to the editor, guest columns and feedback on vanderbilthustler.com.

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Islamic State is a threat to the United States’ geopolitical interests. Having beheaded two American citizens, in addition to openly declaring its intent to attack America, IS is in an active state of war against our country.

Bashar al-Assad is not a threat to the United States’ interests. A hardline Islamic state — think Iran, without geopolitical pragmatism, and prone to carrying out mass executions — in Iraq and Syria would be by far the worst possible outcome of this conflict. The United States should continue with airstrikes in Iraq and expand air operations into areas of Syria under IS control. In addition, it should provide expansive material support and training to Kurdish Peshmerga forces, which have so far been the most effective fighting force against IS in Iraq.

The United States can influence victory in Iraq, without the deployment of any ground forces, through partnerships with the Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces. In Syria, the situation is much more complicated. Given that al-Assad is the best-equipped to fight the Islamic State in Syria, any further intervention in the Syrian Civil War by the United States would be self-defeating. American foreign policy must be noncontradictory to defeat a threat that contradictory policy created.

Our interests in this fight are clear, and we must act decisively and pragmatically to advance them.

reserves the right to edit and condense submissions for length as well as clarity.

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The underlying truth

THE

President of Dores for Israel calls for unity against Hamas SHADI FARAHI is a senior in Peabody College and serves as the president of Dores for Israel. She can be reached at shadi.a.farahi@ vanderbilt.edu.

I

GUEST COLUMN

f you’ve checked your Facebook news feed in the last two months, you have encountered what seems like an endless string of Israel-related posts — everything from infographics to videos.

This summer, the fight between Israel and Hamas has stolen the spotlight from major international developments such as P5+1’s extension of nuclear negotiations with Iran and the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In fact, more than 700 foreign journalists traveled to Israel to cover the story. With all of this coverage comes the obligatory sense for viewers to “choose a side.” However, before doing so, we must understand the true choice before us, and it isn’t “Are you pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian?”. The question we should be asking is, “Are you anti-Hamas?”

If you are truly pro-Palestinian, you should be anti-Hamas. What should be a governing body is actually a terrorist organization comparable to alQaeda, Hezbollah, ISIS and Boko Haram. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Canada. Hamas is not a legitimate government by any stretch of the imagination, and those who argue so are turning their backs on the very Palestinians they so fervently claim to care about. What government would instruct its citizens to ignore the warning leaflets of a war opponent (a prevention tactic unprecedented in military history)? What government would fire rockets at a border crossing — preventing the entry of humanitarian goods to its own people? What government stores its missiles in schools and underneath playgrounds?

By digging deeper — figuratively and literally — we find the underlying truth. While underground

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Israel was composed of hundreds of bomb shelters, underground Gaza was a network of terror tunnels. Israel had allowed cement into Gaza for civic purposes, but Hamas diverted it for use in its tunnels. Essentially, Hamas put more resources and effort into its underground city than it has to the Gaza above ground. Over the past two years, Hamas constructed the tunnels using child labor, resulting in the deaths of 160 Gazan children. What is more, each tunnel cost $3 million, and with approximately 30 tunnels, the project’s total cost was $90 million.

That $90 million could have gone to the construction of hospitals, schools and so much other useful infrastructure. Why funnel construction materials and foreign aid to terrorist ambitions? Because Hamas values the death of Jews over the lives and welfare of its own people. The purpose of these tunnels was to infiltrate Israel to murder and kidnap Israeli citizens, and the first attack was planned for the upcoming Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) on September 24.

Israel’s operation was against Hamas — not the Palestinian people. In this conflict, there was no victory to be claimed, for there were no winners. Approximately 2,000 people died, and a terrorist group remains in control of the area. Unfortunately, this is not the end: As long as Hamas remains in power with weapons in Gaza, the cycle of violence and cease-fires is bound to repeat itself. Dores for Israel mourns the deaths of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, Shelly Dadon, Daniel Tragerman, many other innocent civilians in Gaza and Israel, and the IDF soldiers who fought on the frontline of democracy.

RANT Something got you peeved? Irked? Honked off? The Rant is your place to anonymously vent your spleen on any issue you want. To get your rant on, visit the vanderbilthustler.com Opinion page.

Why is the new wifi network terrible? I can’t even watch a YouTube video in Towers without waiting five minutes for it to load.

WHERE IS THE RANT???!!!!!111111111111111111 1111111111 I hope that our most talented football team ever on paper realizes that their embarrassing lack of effort or pride has effectively destroyed the most momentum that our football program has ever obtained. Get it together.

How about the school moves Vandyville onto Kensington Place instead? It would bring those fans to the location where tailgates have been traditionally held for decades.

For anybody signing up to take notes for students with learning disabilities: don’t bother if you’re doing it for the money. I ended up getting 60 dollars out of 95-dollar check because of taxes. What a waste of time.

Why the f*** does Kissam housing not have the same seniority system as the rest of housing.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME PUB NO MORE BUFFALO CHICKEN QUESADILLA??? Time to cry myself to sleep.

The legacy of 9/11 Out of tragedy come strength and unity

I J.R. RIDLEY is a junior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at john.r.ridley@ vanderbilt.edu.

’ve heard people say that they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. At a bar, driving home from work, watching the news at home. This devastating incident was so momentous and tragic that it left a lasting impression on everyone who was alive to witness it.

That day was more than 50 years ago. Our generation was not alive to witness it or even experience the legacy that JFK left in the decades afterward.

But there is no doubt that it had an impact on the country, on our national spirit, on our foreign policy and on the way we remember JFK as a man and as a leader. Although none of us were alive to witness that event, we were alive to witness our own generation-defining tragedy: the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

9/11 was quite possibly the most egregious domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history. Nearly 3,000 men and women died, most of whom were innocent civilians, many of the rest of whom were the heroes trying to save them. The terrorists who carried out these attacks wanted to strike right at the heart of

America, and they succeeded. To this day, I cannot look up pictures of 9/11 without my eyes watering when I see the looks of total, absolute grief and bereavement of those who lost their families and friends.

That was 13 years ago. Since September 11, 2001, it is evident that those terrorist attacks have had a profound impact on our country, our politics and our people. 9/11 required us to create an entire new government agency, the Department of Homeland Security, simply to address such terrorist threats.

9/11 has affected our racial prejudices and our foreign policy, as we have been engaged in foreign conflicts continuously for the last dozen years.

However, this is not the legacy of 9/11. Tomorrow, you will see 2,977 American flags laid out across Library Lawn as a memorial to those who lost their lives. This is an event organized jointly by the Vanderbilt College Republicans and the Vanderbilt College Democrats. There is no partisan message to this memorial, no ulterior agenda that Republicans or Democrats are trying to pass. The legacy of 9/11 is one of patriotism, unity and newfound national

spirit. In the wake of 9/11, our country came together like never before, as we all supported and helped one another through this terrible tragedy.

We saw the largest sea-based evacuation of an island in history, mostly at the hands of ordinary citizens. We witnessed an outpouring of support and aid to Manhattan. And now, we see how this continues to be a legacy of unity. 9/11 serves as a reminder that sometimes in our darkest and saddest times, we find the best parts of ourselves as a people and as a country.

Today, JFK is recognized as a hero and a legend.

We lament the fact that he didn’t have time to fulfill his potential. History cannot tell us whether he would or would not have lived up to this potential.

History can only tell us that now, he is a fallen hero.

On 9/11, we remember 2,977 fallen heroes. Tomorrow, put aside politics for a day, and remember 9/11 for what it really is: a testament to the strength and resilience of America in the face of a generationdefining tragedy.

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life

QUOTE OF THE DAY “I think because (Nashville’s) kind of a musician’s town in a way, there’s a little bit of a nervousness going in. It’s kind of like a New York or LA thing where you go to dinner and your waiter is a better musician than you are. You kind of know you’re surrounded by people that know what they’re doing.”

JOSH LOVELACE, NEEDTOBREATHE

BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

NEEDTOBREATHE performs at Exit/In in Nashville on Oct. 7, 2013.

Fresh air for NEEDTOBREATHE

The band’s keyboardist weighs in on ‘power posing,’ Nashville and stripping down their sound

By PRIYANKA ARIBINDI News editor --------------------

Though Christian rock band NEEDTOBREATHE has been playing together for more than 15 years, the members’ go-to preshow ritual was developed very recently.

“We do this thing called a ‘power pose,’” said touring keyboardist Josh Lovelace. “It’s from a TED Talk. We all stand in a circle with our arms up in the air kind of locked, and we just stand there and kind of look at each other. We look kind of like idiots, but … it’s a power pose because you feel like you can take over the world when you put your arms down.”

While they may not be trying to dominate the world, they certainly are touring through it following the release of their newest album, “Rivers in the Wasteland.”

Along the way, on Saturday, Sept. 13, they’re stopping in Nashville — a town they’re very familiar with after headlining Vanderbilt’s Rites of Spring in 2013.

“I think because (Nashville’s) kind of a

musician’s town in a way, there’s a little bit of a nervousness going in,” Lovelace said.

“It’s kind of like a New York or LA thing where you go to dinner and your waiter is a better musician than you are. You kind of know you’re surrounded by people that know what they’re doing … but we just try to embrace it.”

In his humility — and his native Tennessee twang — Lovelace underscored the group’s breadth of experience. “Rivers,” their fifth studio album, debuted in April 2014 at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Though the group’s trademark Southern rock sound isn’t gone, the album had a distinctly folk feel, to which Lovelace readily owns up.

“We really were overthinking things (before),” he said. “We really wanted to strip back on some of those layers and stick to the songwriting and really be intentional about that.”

The band’s extensive catalog allows them to switch up their setlists frequently, though Lovelace says that touring behind this album has been particularly exciting for them.

“(During recording) we went into a room and kind of just kept playing together, and a lot of these songs happened in there — a lot of them are captured in the moment,” he said. “It’s just such a natural interest to want to play these songs live because we played these songs live when we recorded them.”

The evolution of their sound isn’t the only big change that the group has undergone. A 2013 documentary titled “Prove the Poets Wrong” chronicles the band’s highs and lows after the release of their 2011 album “The Reckoning,” and includes their struggles both breaking into the mainstream and staying together as a group.

The film, which includes footage of arguments and a backstage fistfight between band members, wasn’t the only evidence of trouble in paradise. On the eve of the band’s tour that same year, their drummer, Joe Stillwell — one of the original members of the group — announced his decision to leave after 13 years with NEEDTOBREATHE, forcing them to find a replacement for their tour dates at the last minute.

With regard to past turmoil, Lovelace is quick to assure that things are different now, and that there’s no love lost in the NEEDTOBREATHE family.

“There’s no hard feelings to people who have come and gone,” he said. “We’re gonna keep moving on and playing music.”

In fact, in the case of their new drummer, the band picked from within the family. In a Reddit AMA earlier this year, Seth Bolt, the group’s bassist, said, “Much to our surprise, Randall Harris, the soft-spoken intern that had been getting us lunch every day while we made ‘The Reckoning,’ is a monster of a drummer. We didn’t even know he played!”

Even with the roster changes and the evolution of their sound, there are some things that remain the same for NEEDTOBREATHE. “We’re a band that still hangs out,” Lovelace said. “We have Xbox tournaments going on … we like checking out cool things in cities. (We like) being a part of each other’s lives.”

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LIFE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

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Keeping up with ‘Let’s Keep In Touch’ Recent graduates and Tongue ‘N’ Cheek alumni Peter Linck and Dan King start an improv podcast to stay in touch

By ANGELICA LASALA Social media director --------------------

Last year, Vanderbilt students — now alumni — Dan King and Peter Linck spent the better part of their days together. They shared the stage as members of improv comedy group Tongue ‘N’ Cheek (TNC), trudged through late nights in the newsroom piecing together issues of satire publication The Slant and dwelled around McGill Hall’s patio in their downtime.

Then graduation happened. King and Linck went their separate ways, to New York City, New York, and St. Louis, Missouri, respectively.

For the two friends, leaving Vanderbilt’s humor outlets — and each other — proved to be a difficult adjustment.

“We had been emailing each other … (and) I was lamenting that it’s hard to stay involved with comedy stuff, not being able to write Slant articles and do TNC and just kinda be around it quite as easily as we used to have access to,” Linck said.

Amid this exchange, King had an epiphany: “It just kinda sucked because my friend, my writing partner, my buddy … now he’s not 30

feet away all the time, and I just thought to myself, ‘Y’know, it really doesn’t need to be that way at all.’”

And so began the podcast “Let’s Keep In Touch,” with daily episodes featuring the duo keeping in touch by phone under their TNC-given nicknames Cairo (King) and Vespa (Linck).

According to Linck, “Let’s Keep In Touch” comprises outright absurdities and meditations on real-life events in equal measure.

Episodes range from planned sketches to complete improvisation, but overall it tends to err on the latter side of the spectrum — an implicit nod to King and Linck’s TNC roots.

“We have at least one phone call a week where all that we do is we pick a topic and we just say ‘Alright, let’s call each other and talk about it,’” King said.

When asked why they decided to go by Cairo and Vespa rather than Dan and Peter, both agreed that using their comedic alter egos simply felt natural.

“Honestly, that’s what we would call each other in our everyday lives back at Vandy, so it does, to some extent, kinda roll off our tongues more easily,” Linck said. “But I guess the thing that people say about TNC nicknames that’s always cool is that you have this

BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

Peter Linck (left) and Dan King perform improv at Bongo After Hours Theatre in April 2014. nickname, and it makes the space of improvising a very, like, sacred thing.”

King added that, for both of them, there’s a good deal of overlap between person and persona — that is, neither Dan/Cairo nor Peter/ Vespa are fully separate entities.

Listening to the duo’s dynamic, it’s hard to tell whether they became friends because

they’re comedians or whether they became comedians because they’re friends. However, one thing remains clear: Their friendship has informed their comedy, and vice versa.

“We can’t go to Cafe Coco and put on a show, but we can still do this,” King said. “Really, genuinely, we’re staying in touch — we’re talking to each other a lot, and it’s awesome.”

Tongue ‘N’ Cheek keeps campus laughing after 18 years

By LAURA DAVIA Life reporter --------------------

After more than 15 years of performance, Vanderbilt’s improv comedy troupe, Tongue ‘N’ Cheek, returns to campus with the Back to the School Show this Friday in Sarratt Cinema. In the last school year, the group had its share of highs and lows.

Despite receiving an invitation to the finals of the National College Improv Tournament in Chicago last spring, a lack of university funding prohibited the troupe from attending.

“What I know about funding is that the funding has to be used in a way which benefits the entire student body, and I don’t think the school recognizes us going to Chicago for nationals as something which benefits the entire student body,” said senior Lauren Mandel (who goes by the stage name Tails).

However, after being recognized as one of the top improv teams in the nation and as a consistent and popular source of free entertainment on campus, Mandel and the rest of Tongue ‘N’ Cheek would beg to differ.

“You can go to a lot of the different a cappella groups (and) dance clubs — their shows you have to pay for. We are and always have been a free show on campus,” she said.

Though Tongue ‘N’ Cheek is commit-

ted to keeping its entertainment free and available at Vanderbilt, the group’s frequent shows in Sarratt Cinema have been known to fill quickly. The group enjoys its current home in the intimate cinema, but audience members often spill into the aisles and standing room.

This year, in order to both generate funds and offer ensured seating, the group is now offering $5 VIP tickets, which allow students to skip the line and take reserved seating. They hope that this ticket option will allow fans to minimize their wait times and help the group in the process.

Last spring the troupe graduated seven of its senior members, but even before the start of the school year, it began making good on its efforts to rebuild and start strong. Over the summer the troupe performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade’s Del Close Marathon in New York City. The annual event, organized to honor the life of influential comedian Del Close, operates for 56 hours straight and draws professional, amateur and collegiate improv troupes.

“Every comedian you can think of has performed on (the Upright Citizen Brigade Theater’s) stage in some way or another. It was amazing.”

Tongue ‘N’ Cheek’s Back to the School Show is on Friday, Sept. 12 at 7:37 p.m. in Sarratt Cinema. VIP tickets are available for $5 at Sarratt Box Office.

TNC on what makes audiences laugh “Bold characters, people they can relate to and people they could never in a million years understand.”

—Navii (Megan Ward), 2017

“The thought they were just about to have.”—D!no (Bill Hillsman), 2016

“When an improvisor has complete commitment, goes balls to the wall and isn’t afraid to make a fool of themself.”

—Nugget (Duncan Hall), 2015

“Making the scary things in life ridiculous, because it makes the world a more comfortable place to live in.”

—Tique (Danielle Williamson), 2018 “The unusual, the goofy, the strange, the weird and the different.”

—Tails (Lauren Mandel), 2015

“Reality wrapped in a comedy chalupa.”—Lunar (Brian Cooper), 2015 JULIA ORDOG / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

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The Hustler's picks

Beats ‘n eats

Music City has always been a good fit for foodies. At these spots, you can fill up on the good stuff while experiencing some of Nashville’s live music By Dana Alloy and Margaret Macon, life reporters

Bluebird Cafe

Nestled in the heart of Green Hills, the quaint Bluebird Cafe is almost undetectable among the busy streets and mall shoppers, but this storied venue has hosted the likes of Faith Hill, Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks. A typical night at the Bluebird includes three to four songwriters who perform original songs that the audience is often already familiar with because they’ve been made famous by popular country, rock and pop artists.

Many of these performances are done “in the round” — an informal setup in which the songwriters are seated at the center of the room and play together while also sharing stories from their careers. Customers have a $7 food and drink minimum that’s easy to cover by ordering from the cafe’s typical bar fare, such as spinach artichoke dip, house-made potato chips, roasted turkey clubs, Caesar salads and an extensive drink menu.

Hustler’s pick: the Chicken Quesadilla. Made with shredded chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, black beans and corn, this dish is simple yet satisfying. If you’re looking for something on the lighter side, the Baked Brie appetizer, served with warm bread and strawberries, is perfect to share with the table.

Sambuca

Located in the middle of the trendy Gulch neighborhood, Sambuca is accented with dark colors and is always dimly lit, ensuring that customers can easily view the live music on the centrally located stage nightly. Though the music enhances the atmosphere of the dining experience, it isn’t loud enough to deter conversations at the tables — customers can choose to either direct their attention to the show or allow it to elevate the sultry ambience. The genres performed span a wide range, as does the restaurant’s fare, which includes salads, gourmet small plates and a variety of seafood, vegetable and meat entree options.

Hustler’s pick: the Salmon Oscar. This flame-grilled salmon topped with crab and dill-spike hollandaise and served with asparagus is full of flavor and a great choice for a specialoccasion meal. You also can’t go wrong with the three-side sampler piled high with Brussel Sprouts with Bacon & Smoked Tomato Butter, Maple Bourbon Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli Crunch with Apples & Walnuts.

Puckett’s Grocery

Just a few blocks off of South Broadway lies Puckett’s Grocery.

With cozy, barn-like decor, twinkling lights and great live bands, this is the spot to be for tourists and Nashville natives alike. Puckett’s originally started as a country grocery in Leiper’s Fork in the 1950s, but as its reputation grew, it expanded to other locations in the Tennessee area, including this one. As it’s grown, Puckett’s has maintained its authenticity; in comparison to other spots on Broadway, it’s one of the most family-friendly spots to get the classic country experience.

DANA ALLOY / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

Hustler’s pick: Deep Fried Brownie Sundae. If you’re going to Puckett’s, grabbing the barbecue goes without saying, but save room for dessert. This decadent Blue Ribbon winner at the Southern Fried Festival is an absolute showstopper. Puckett’s makes what is essentially a brookie on steroids by mixing brownie batter with cookie dough and deep-frying it. The whole ensemble, topped with vanilla ice cream, makes a sundae that’s worth the calories.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

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sports SEC POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 2 Each week, I rank the teams in the SEC 1-14. This week, I’ll make a reference in each ranking to how badly Vanderbilt has played, the SEC takes a bunch of small schools’ lunch money and did I mention how badly Vanderbilt has played?

By ANTHONY TRIPODORO Sports writer --------------------

1. No. 3 Alabama Boom. 41-0 victory for ‘Bama. Roll Tide!

(If we don’t start rooting for the SEC in general, we’re in for a long season, fellow Commodores.)

THE BIG STAT Quarterback rating of Vanderbilt QB Stephen Rivers — dead last among all 127 Division I-A starting quarterbacks.

‘It’s Time’

10.3

Documentary shares ex-Vandy tight end Gaines’ grief

2. No. 6 Georgia Neither Vanderbilt nor Georgia showed up to play football this weekend. Georgia had a bye, though.

3. No. 5 Auburn Cameron Artis-Payne made another big week for the Tigers with 112 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries against San Jose State. Every team in the SEC that played this weekend beat up on a small out-ofconference opponent. I’m including Ole Miss in that group for beating up on Vanderbilt since we’re going to be demoted to Conference USA before the season is over.

4. No. 7 Texas A&M After destroying Lamar 73-3, the Aggies have produced more offense in their first two games than the Commodores can reasonably expect to over the course of this season. Kenny (Trill) Hill threw for another four touchdowns before handing over the reigns to freshman phenom Kyle (Football?) Allen, who tossed another two.

5. No. 10 LSU Quarterback Anthony Jennings only completed seven passes on Saturday.

Three of those passes, however, were snagged by Travin Dural, who had 140 receiving yards and — you guessed it, three touchdowns. Not only were those seven passes enough to propel LSU to a 56-0 victory over Sam Houston, but they were also enough to give Jennings one more completion on Saturday than Vanderbilt quarterback Stephen Rivers, who had six. The Commodores, however, did not win 56-0.

6. Florida Florida won a game for the first time since last October, beating Eastern Michigan 65-0. The Gators have a lot to prove after the embarrassing losses they suffered last season.

One of those was against Vanderbilt, and if Will Muschamp is out for revenge this season, I don’t even want to know what the final score will be when Florida visits Nashville in November.

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By JESSE GOLOMB Sports writer --------------------

Brad Gaines sat in the front row of Sarratt Cinema at Vanderbilt last Tuesday, clutching a handkerchief. His three brothers, his wife and four children, and a series of figures from his past — teammates and opponents, friends and acquaintances — sat with him. Everyone had gathered to see the premiere of “It’s Time: The Brad Gaines/Chucky Mullins Story,” an ESPNproduced documentary portraying Gaines’ relationship with Mullins.

As the film played, Gaines touched the handkerchief to his face every so often, but the tears would not stop coming. A quarter century after he was involved in a hit that paralyzed Ole Miss defensive back Roy Lee “Chucky” Mullins and eventually ended his life, Gaines’ grief retains its power.

“You’re telling me I was a part of that, that I facilitated that?” he said early on in the film. “You can’t help but blame yourself.”

As Gaines spoke, his 10-year-old son Bradford turned to look at his dad and then swiveled back toward his father’s mirrored image and his enlarged, teary eyes. In both places, he saw pain. For the first time, Bradford was allowed to know how much it hurt.

A crack of lightning In 1989, Gaines was a tight end for Vanderbilt and the SEC’s leading receiver.

He was 6-foot, 227 pounds. He ran a 4.5 40yard dash. Two of his brothers were already playing in the NFL. He seemed primed to join them.

Then, on Oct. 28, the Commodores traveled to Ole Miss for the Rebels’ homecoming game. Early in the first quarter, Vander-

bilt drove the ball to the Rebels’ 20-yard line. On the next play, they lined up in trips right formation. Gaines readied himself in the slot. He and quarterback John Gromos had noticed that Gaines was being covered by a linebacker. The two sensed a chance to score.

“I always felt like there wasn’t a linebacker in the league who could cover me,” Gaines said.

Gaines raced up the seam, and at the 5-yard line, he turned, expecting the pass.

He leaped and twisted his torso toward the line of scrimmage. The ball hit his hands.

Suddenly, a crack exploded behind him.

Mullins had sprinted over from the opposite side of the field and launched himself into Gaines’ back. His helmet hit Gaines square beneath his shoulder blade; the wind was knocked from Gaines’ lungs.

The ball popped loose, incomplete.

“All I could think was: Damn, this guy made a fantastic play,” Gaines said. “He broke up a touchdown. (But) now, I’ll never forget that sound.”

Gaines walked away from the spot of the play and attempted to catch his breath. But behind him, Mullins laid motionless on the turf. A team of trainers rushed onto the field as Gaines looked on.

“Three minutes pass. Four minutes pass. I’m thinking, ‘he’s got a stinger,’” he said. “Five minutes pass. Then 10 minutes, and I go over there. He’s still not moving. I start talking to some of his teammates. Of course, no one knows then what’s going on.”

As the minutes crept by, fear began to set in. Many of the more than 40,000 fans on hand at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium joined hands and prayed. They all watched as Mullins remained on the turf, stilled.

A helicopter chopped up the sky. It

settled down and waited for Mullins to be brought off the field on a stretcher. Then, it carried him back into the air. And the game went on.

A sound of thunder Later that evening, Gaines stood in front of his locker, wrapped in a towel. A cabal of reporters surrounded him.

“Do any of you guys know what happened to the player that tackled me?” he asked.

One responded. “They think he’s paralyzed,” the reporter said. “He probably won’t ever walk again.”

The force of the words sent Gaines stumbling backward onto a bench, into his locker. The entire dressing room fell silent.

“Oh, no,” Gaines mumbled, dazed. “I have to get in contact with him.”

“It just deflated me,” he said, looking back. “I was following (my brother) Chris, who was an All-American at Vanderbilt. I was having a fantastic year. All of a sudden, a big concrete wall pops up right in front of you, and at that moment, everything stops.”

After he received the news, Gaines got dressed, gathered his belongings and walked out to the team bus. His parents were waiting for him.

“Do you remember the player that tackled me?” he asked them. “I was told they think he was paralyzed.”

His parents were quiet. Gaines broke down and cried.

“The next three hours driving back to Nashville seemed like an eternity,” he said.

The storm The surgeon who examined Mullins after the hit called his injury the worst of its kind he had ever seen. “As if a bomb were

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As Mullins rehabbed from the catastrophe, Gaines limped through the remainder of his junior year. After, he decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

He did so, he says, believing he would never play football again. The incident on the field in Oxford had robbed Gaines, a boy from a family known best for football, of joy for the game.

“It ruined football for me,” he said.

“Football wasn’t important to me. I think the Lord had his hand on me. He had something different for me to do.”

With his mind retreating from football, Gaines visited Mullins whenever he could.

Though the two had never spoken when they met on the field that day — in fact, Gaines said he had no knowledge of Mullins beforehand — they grew close afterward, and called each other nearly every day. The new friends talked about football, girls and plans for the future. They encouraged each other through their pain, and helped each other’s minds venture elsewhere.

“I think that it was important to him to make me feel good,” Gaines said in the film.

“Does that make sense? That it was important to him — that ‘I don’t want this guy feeling bad.’ Whatever was going on, he put me in front of his problems.”

Even as Mullins tried to assuage Gaines’ guilt, Gaines watched helplessly as his friend’s once-powerful frame shriveled to less than two-thirds its size.

Then, in early May 1991, less than a year after returning to school, Mullins suffered a blood clot in his lungs and lost conscious-

ness. He was taken back to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, the same place where he had spent 114 consecutive days after the initial injury, and was put on life support.

Gaines rushed to Memphis. For three days, he slept on the floor of Mullins’ hospital room. On the fourth day, he stood next to Mullins. He watched through a pane of glass as a doctor delivered the worst possible news to Mullins’ guardians.

“I’m looking at Carver and Karen, and I see their heads drop,” he said. “I knew what that meant.”

Mullins died later that day. He was 21.

The eye Three times a year — the anniversary of the hit, the anniversary of Mullins’ death and Christmas day — Gaines loads his car with four gallons of water, two jugs of liquid soap and some towels. He pulls out of the driveway from his family home in Nashville, and drives alone for three hours to Mullins’ gravesite in Russellville, Alabama.

When he arrives at the cemetery, he lugs the containers of water over to Mullins’ headstone and empties them. Gaines adds soap to the frothy mix; then, for more than two hours, he kneels and scrubs the marble.

Once he is sure no blemishes remain, he dries the stone and gives it a fresh coat of polish. Finally, he crouches low and yanks weeds from the earth surrounding the site.

With the job finally complete, Gaines sits down on the grass and talks to his friend.

The stone gleams back.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 The calm The people whom Mullins left behind provide a support network for Gaines, but still he has never been able to reconcile the role, however small, he played in Mullins’ demise.

“Is there anything I could have done differently?” he asked in the documentary. He can never know the answer to this question, and yet he wonders all the time.

Until Tuesday, Gaines had never shared with his family his feelings on what had happened between him and Mullins. “It’s my weight to carry,” he said. “They know this is what I do, and I know they’re there if they need me.”

He has often bristled when people tried to get him to articulate why he feels so guilty.

“If someone asks me in line at the bank or in a coffee shop about it, I can’t explain why I’ve responded (to the injury) in the way that I do,” he said in an interview the day after the premiere, one that took place, perhaps unironically, in a coffee shop.

“But,” he added. “If you see this film, I think you’ll say: I understand.”

On Thursday, “It’s Time” premiered nationwide. As countless people learned his story, Gaines left his wife and three of his children downstairs. He walked up to his sixyear-old daughter Neely’s room, closed the door and turned on the TV. Neely crawled onto his lap. Together, they watched Gaines’ story unfold.

A few minutes in, she noticed something.

She did a double take, peering from the television set in front to her father above.

“Dad,” she said. “Your eyes are wet.”

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SEC POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 2 CONTINUED 7. No. 14 Ole Miss This game was so lopsided that Ole Miss fans were using Yik Yak to thank us for being hospitable hosts this weekend. Ole Miss fans are from Mississippi, so they have no idea what sarcasm is, which means they actually felt sorry about how badly they beat us. Not sorry enough to stop them from stealing one of SAE’s lions, but you get the point.

8. No. 24 South Carolina The Gamecocks have looked thoroughly unimpressive so far this season after beating East Carolina 33-23 this weekend. You know who has looked even more unimpressive than South Carolina, though? I’ll give you a hint: It rhymes with Banderbilt.

9. and 10. No. 20 Mizzou and Mississippi State My editor told me I used too many words in last week’s power rankings, so I’m not going to waste words talking about these two teams and their unremarkable victories over unremarkable opponents. I’ll just say that it would be really nice if Vanderbilt could get an unremarkable victory over an unremarkable opponent at some point this season.

— continued on PAGE 14

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

SPORTS

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SEC POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 2 CONTINUED 11. Arkansas Hey Razorbacks, don’t think I didn’t notice your 73-7 whooping of Nicholls State.

It’s not enough to push you up in the power rankings this week, but things could be worse. (Insert Vanderbilt joke here.)

12. Kentucky Kentucky is better than us at football now too. Has Derek Mason replaced Kevin Stallings as the worst head coach at Vanderbilt? You can’t tell if I’m joking or not (I am — we’re not there yet).

13. Tennessee The Vols pulled out a 34-19 victory at home against Arkansas State, which is certainly nothing to write home about. UT vs.

Vanderbilt is shaping up to be some real hate-watch television this year.

14. Vanderbilt The Commodores made Ole Miss look like the Seattle Seahawks at LP Field. The Seahawks’ home crowd is referred to as the 12th Man because of how much of a homefield advantage it gives its team. Vanderbilt’s home crowd might as well be nicknamed the -10,000th Man because that’s how many students are going to be showing up to games and staying past the second quarter by the end of the season. It’s not right, and we shouldn’t jump ship on the program, but I doubt many students will see it that way.

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Redshirt freshman linebacker Nigel Bowden tackles Temple running back Kenneth Harper on August 28, 2014.

Keeping a mentor’s memory alive

Nigel Bowden’s new jersey number honors more than just great NFL linebackers

By BEN WEINRIB Asst. sports editor --------------------

52 is a number often associated with middle linebackers. Ray Lewis. Patrick Willis. Jon Beason. That trio has made a combined 23 Pro Bowls since 1997.

For millennials like Nigel Bowden, one

of Vanderbilt’s starting middle linebackers, that’s much of the reason he dons that iconic number.

“I always looked up to Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis and Jon Beason,” Bowden said. “How they carry themselves on and off the field, how they worked out. So I said it’s time for me to be a part of that.”

But beyond the connection to those Pro Bowl and potential Hall of Fame players, Bowden shares another connection with the number: It’s dedicated to his fallen brother, Jason.

Bowden grew up in Macon, Georgia, the youngest of four siblings. Even though he’s grown to be bigger than any-

SPORTS

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Jason, who was 12 years older than Nigel, in particular stood out to him as a role model and father figure, especially since their personalities matched so well. Although Nigel is aggressive and lets his presence be known on the football field, they are both laid-back and welcoming at home.

“He was around me a lot,” Nigel said. “He was that guy to push me with grades and things. He was that guy telling me you can’t just focus on size and strength; you have to practice it every day and get better with your size. Talent can only take you so far, so you have to practice everything to get better.”

Jason played football all the way up to his senior year of high school when he got into an accident and hurt his back. Afterward, he enlisted in the military and was stationed in Iraq, but still made sure to watch over young Nigel.

But with their being an ocean apart, Nigel couldn not help but slip back into the bad habit of slacking on schoolwork. That was until three soldiers came to his door in his seventh grade year to deliver the heartbreaking news: Jason was tragically killed in a car accident in Iraq.

Nigel was crushed, but he was also moved.

He wanted to show appreciation for everything his brother gave for him, even wearing the same jersey number Jason had worn in high school: 32.

During his time at Central High School,

‘‘

My brother used to tell me all the time, ‘If you do it 52 times, you’ll get it right soon’ ... It just came up in my head that I wouldn’t be in this position without his help.

’’

Bowden became a four-year starter at linebacker and was named First Team AAA AllState as a senior. Rivals.com also named him a four-star recruit, making him one of the crown jewels of James Franklin’s strongest recruiting class.

But despite all the hype, Bowden, along with 18 other student-athletes from his recruiting class, redshirted. Although he never saw time during games, Bowden got to see how upperclassmen carried themselves and prepared each week. Getting to be around players like Jordan Matthews rubbed off on Bowden and the other freshmen in his class.

“It kind of actually helps us a lot,” Bowden said. “No matter how much it kind of gets you when you sit out a year, I think it benefits everybody, especially when we build that chemistry sitting out with each other like, ‘Man, we gon’ be out there one day. We just gotta work together and stay humble.’”

During his first season on campus, Bowden wore number 48 because 32 was taken by safety Andrew Williamson. But as time went on, Bowden kept coming back to the advice Jason gave him: “My brother used to tell me all the time, ‘If you do it 52 times, you’ll get it right soon,’” Bowden said. “All I kept thinking was that 52 times, trying to do everything right. It just came up in my head that I wouldn’t be in this position without his help.”

With his redshirted season over and a new jersey to wear, Bowden is more than ready.

He impressed the new coaching staff so much that he earned a starting job over junior Jake Sealand, who had the second-most tackles last season among returning players.

“Nigel has some very natural and instinctive feel for the game,” said defensive coordinator David Kotulski. “He’s a guy that plays with great balance and vision. He’s very

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

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physical and plays with a great passion for the game. Those are the things that you love to see not only with him but the other kids that we have at linebacker. There was no doubt that he was the guy who deserved the opportunity to walk out there first and play.”

And that first play was a memorable one for Bowden. He can remember the adrenaline rushing, his hands shaking, his heart beating fast. Bowden was so excited that he got tripped up running full speed trying to pursue Temple’s Jalen Fitzpatrick on a short pass.

Bowden got his first tackle against quarterback P.J. Walker, and after the hit, he could finally get rid of the nerves that had been building up for a year. After two games, he is third on the team with 12 tackles and leads the team with two quarterback hurries.

But despite the early success, Bowden still has a ways to go, and he knows it.

“Nigel had three missed sacks on Saturday (against Ole Miss),” said head coach Derek Mason. “And as productive as he is, if you asked him, that’s what he remembers most.

He remembers those three opportunities.”

That drive to improve, along with persistence, are traits that were instilled in Bowden by his brother Jason. Now he’s hearing the exact same messages from his head coach, a reminder of his brother’s advice that he keeps close to heart.

“My brother used to tell me all the time, ‘You gotta bring it every day on the field,’” Bowden said. “Competition brings it out of you, no matter how tired you are.”

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