The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917

The RamblerTheatre Wesleyan gears up for Crimes of the Heart.A&E, page 6

WEDNESDAYNovember 10, 2010

Vol. 93 • No. 23

www.therambler.org

Lady Rams volleyball finish strong on Senior Night.Sports, page 5

Jonathan Resendezjlresendez@mail.txwes.edu

Wesleyan received a visit from Dr. Sandra Harper, Presi-dent of Our Lady of the Lake College and one of two remain-ing presidential candidates, as part of her final interview pro-cess Nov. 8 and 9.

Harper met with the execu-tive vice presidents and provost council and toured the Burle-son campus Nov. 8.

“All the meetings have been very positive and hopeful about the future of Texas Wes-leyan,” Harper said.

Harper said most people wanted to know what her pri-orities would be the first 30 to 90 days in office were she to get the position.

“The new president needs to have somewhat of a blend between the internal under-standing of the campus and the external focus of visibility and fund raising,” she said.

Pati Alexander, vice presi-dent for enrollment and stu-dent services, said although Harper and Slabach were both familiar with developing stra-tegic plans, Harper’s questions were totally different.

“She’s very focused on SACS [Southern Association of Col-leges and Schools],” she said.

“We’re going to be up for reaf-firmation soon and her famil-iarity would be beneficial to us.”

Alexander said she was equally pleased with both can-didates.

“Our community would love both of them,” she said. “The students would be happy with either one.”

Harper’s broad-based expe-rience that higher education is different than a regular busi-ness is a key advantage to the

financial aspect of the presi-dency, said Provost and Senior Vice President Allen Hender-son.

Concerning the strategic plan, she demonstrated her knowledge of structure plan-ning and program assessment, Henderson said.

Bill Bleibdrey, senior vice president of finance and ad-ministration, also said he was impressed with Harper’s knowledge of university gover-nance and SACS accreditation.

“She’s very astute where our accreditation is concerned,” he said. “She’s been around the block a few times and knows how to deal with them.”

Beverly Volkman-Powell, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees and chairman of the Presidential Search Commit-tee, said the committee will meet again on Nov. 19 and will make a final decision by Thanksgiving. If elected, Harp-er would be Wesleyan’s first fe-male president.

TARGETEDCampus officials demand airsoft gun use stop

Counseling available to student body

Jonathan Resendezjlresendez@mail.txwes.edu

A student shouts, pol-luting the air in Stella Hall with curse words. He con-fronts a student who is holding a large, black plas-tic gun with an orange tip—the same gun that spit out a 6 mm bright orange BB that strayed from its path and struck the angry stu-dent. An RA separates the students.

In Elizabeth Hall, not 200 feet away, another air-soft gun, an automatic that sounds like a sewing ma-chine, pierces the quiet and is followed by laughter and quick footsteps.

Airsoft guns, gas or bat-tery powered replica guns that shoot small plastic BBs 100 to 500 feet per second, have a presence on Wes-leyan. The Officials

Although Wesleyan stu-dents who keep and play with airsoft guns said they

do it for fun, the dean of students and campus se-curity said the guns are dangerous and prohibited. Security will start cracking down on those caught with the weapons.

“We see several forms of danger related to the airsoft guns,” said Dean of Stu-dents Cary Poole in an e-mail. “In the most extreme case, a student exiting from their residence hall may be struck on the eye and re-ceive severe injury.”

According to the student handbook, “Students shall not carry a weapon on uni-versity property. Weapons include but are not limited to: BB/pellet guns, paint guns, air guns and airsoft

guns.” Prohibition of pos-session and use are also outlined in the handbook. The repercussions for vio-lations include probation, monetary fines and sanc-tions to perform commu-nity service, Poole said.

An incident involving airsoft guns was reported in mid-October in Elizabeth Hall and warnings were is-sued to students, many of whom were athletes. Poole said students can be placed under two probations, with the more severe not permit-ting the student to repre-sent the school in any way.

“In an extreme case where injury may have re-sulted or where repeated attempts by university of-

ficials to cease the activity [were ignored], suspension may result,” Poole said.

Poole also said the BBs left behind could cause one to slip and create a mess.

“If you walk into the Cafe [Dora’s], you’ll see little green pellets everywhere,” said junior history major Emma Fradette.

Director of Security Feli-sa Barnes said she received

complaints about airsoft guns last year, which led her to speak with the basketball team.

“I told them to cut it out, and they did,” she said.

Barnes said at this point security staff will press for violators to be punished to the full extent, because she has already warned the

“Students need to put the guns up. It’s not worth it. We will catch you.”

Felisa BarnesDirector of Security

Shauna Bankssbbanks@mail.txwes.edu

Graduate students aiming to help oth-ers in their future careers, and students needing help working through day-to-day life troubles, should look no further than the counseling degree programs and Glick House at Wesleyan.

“Students that seek a career in coun-seling have several options, including marriage counseling, guidance counsel-ing, rehabilitative, mental health coun-seling and substance abuse counseling,” said DeTrae Warren, graduate admis-sions recruiter.

Warren said the university currently offers three graduate-level counseling programs: Marriage and Family Thera-py, Professional Counseling and School Counseling. Students must earn a bach-elor’s degree and have at least 18 hours in psychology or related course work to enter these programs.

“Counseling isn’t a one dimensional degree—you can go so many ways with it,” said Jennifer Connell, coordinator for graduate counseling programs. “You can work in a corporate setting, a private practice setting, an educational setting and various other settings.”

Connell said it’s a great idea, especially given the current job market situation, to get a degree that is as versatile as counseling is.

“The training and knowledge that counseling majors gain in the programs make them better active listeners, see things from another’s perspective, and

Second candidate visits campus

Photos by Jonathan ResendezWesleyan’s director of security and dean of students have recently scrutinized the use of airsoft guns by Wesleyan students. (Above) The 6 mm BBs are made of plastic, come in a variety of bright colors and have been found all over campus.

¡Celebracion!

Jonathan Resendez | Rambler StaffVice President of the Alumni Board David Martin chats with presidential finalist Dr. Sandra Harper at a cocktail reception on Nov. 2. The Presidential Search Committee and executive vice presidents also attended the social.

 GUNS, page 8  GLICK, page 3

Photo by Jonathan Resendez

Latin organizations gather to celebrate Dia de los Muertos Nov. 2 with food and drink(Above) Senior psychology major Karla Rodriguez spoons salsa on sophomore English major Adam Cruz’ tostada during a Dia de los Muertos Celebration hosted by the Bilingual Education Student Organization and Interna-tional Programs. (Below) Senior bilingual education major Mayra Olivas serves students corn in a cup for $1. Photos by Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler Staff

Opinion2 | November 10, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

Do you think the government should be involved in regulating the use of alcoholic energy drinks?

Jordan Skiles, junior marketing

“I don’t personally use them, and I don’t understand why

people use them.”

Leslie Rodriguez, junior music education

“There’s no reason to ban it. It should have the same

restrictions as beer.”

Matt Castillo, freshman business

“It’s been on the market for awhile, but they are just start-ing to worry about it. Why?”

Eduardo Cejas, freshman psychology

“It would kind of be like prohibi-tion and that’s an infringement of

our rights.”

Danni Dubois, sophomore psychology

“It doesn’t make sense that they worry about this when there big-

ger things to worry about.”

Jonathan Resendez, editor-in-chiefBarry Grubbs, opinion editor Eliana Mijangos, sports editorChuck Fain, arts & entertainment editorDwight Conerway, college life editorMeisa Keivani Najafabadi, photo editor Erica Estrada, graphic designer/cartoonistWendy Moore, faculty adviserDr. Kay Colley, faculty liaison

Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press As-sociation, Associated Collegiate Press, Student Press Law Center, College Media Advisers and College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers.

Opinions expressed in The RambleR are those of the individual authors only and do not neces-sarily reflect the views of the Texas Wesleyan community as a whole.

RambleR Contribution Please send all news briefs to twurambler@yahoo.com. Submissions due by noon Friday to see brief in the following week’s issue.

Letters to the editor: The RambleR, a weekly publication, welcomes all letters. All submis-sions must have a full printed name, phone number and signature. While every consider-ation is made to publish letters, publication is limited by time and space.The editors reserve the right to edit all submis-sions for space, grammar, clarity and style. Letters to the editor may be subject to response from editors and students on the opinion page.

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The RamblerFounded in 1917 as The Handout

Publisher: Lamar Smith

They say, “When it rains, it pours.” We have recently noticed that when it rains, the campus sidewalks turn into rivers.

There are some drain-age issues that need at-tention at Wesleyan, and there is little doubt our administrators are aware of them.

One sidewalk along the driveway connecting Wesleyan Street to the student housing parking lots has been buried un-der several inches of soil, probably for years.

It is still a sidewalk, but it has grass growing on it. It is not service-able. There are several sections near the student union building that are submerged during rains and have standing water on them even on sunny days.

Nobody enjoys walk-ing between buildings in a downpour.

It’s especially tough to walk through 3 to 4 inches of standing or run-ning water just to change classes.

Let’s face it, our cam-pus is beautiful when the sun is shining, but when rains hit hard, as they did during a recent tropical storm that flooded the library basement, things get dicey.

During heavy and sus-tained downpours, the library is not the only

building affected.The McFadden Sci-

ence building experi-enced considerable wa-ter intrusion during the same summer storm. It’s enough to swim up and down the sidewalks to get to class but walking into a classroom to find the floor flooded it not desir-able.

The task of repairing so many damaged walkways is an expensive one.

The extent of the dam-age across the entire cam-pus is considerable.

Obviously, our leaders have to prioritize their expenditures just as any other college does. It just seems like the safety and comfort of our college community is sometimes taken for granted.

Texas Wesleyan is go-ing to spend money to improve the campus for our students, faculty and staff.

The Morton Fitness Center is proof of that. Everyone is thrilled to see capital improvements on that scale.

There is no harm in suggesting that maybe those who make the tough decisions about spending consider some repairs and improve-ments to the walkways and drainage of our cam-pus grounds.

The rainy season is just around the corner.

Staff Editorial

Campus walkway facelift overdue

Feds seek to regulate popular drinks

The freedoms provided by the United States Con-stitution include the free-dom to drink whatever you please—well, almost.

Nine students from Cen-tral Washington Univer-sity were hospitalized with blood alcohol levels of .300 due to the consumption of Four Lokos, a caffeinated alcoholic drink that’s been popping up in news head-lines all across the country.

The United States Food and Drug Administration is looking into the damages caused by this mix of alco-hol and energy within this drink and 40 other drinks.

Despite the rumors, how-ever, the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t have regulation over caf-feinated alcoholic bever-ages.

The future of Four Loko will be put into the hands of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

The senselessness of this recall is the fact that there are several other drinks available to young drinkers that have the same effects as this alcoholic drink.

Four Loko is a 12 percent alcoholic drink that comes in a 23.5 ounce can for about $3. The concern with a Four Loko is sparked by the high levels of caffeine that cause the drinker to stay awake longer, accord-

ing to the doctors who examined the nine Central Washington stu-dents.

Rather than feeling the typi-cal drowsy effects of alcohol, Four

Loko allows consumers to drink beyond their normal level of consumption.

However, this idea of en-ergy drink mixed with li-quor has been around since 1934 when the Jager was mixed with a German cock-tail that had the equivalents to an energy drink. Today, this drink is commonly sold at bars and clubs all over the United States. It consists of red bull and a shot of Jagermeister. Par-tiers drink Jagerbombs with the hopes of longer lasting, more energized partying.

Those against Four Loko claim the company targets “young drinkers,” college freshmen to be exact, who go a little too far with their fun.

This is not a problem the company should concern themselves with, but one underage drinkers’ parents should address.

Underage drinking is an entirely separate entity than caffeinated alcoholic drinks. Yes, the drink is sold cheap and many mi-nors will wait outside gas stations for those of age to purchase them.

However, this is a simple issue of security and law. The Four Loko brand name holds strict to its support of asking for an ID with every drink.

According to Phusion

Projects, the cans them-selves carry seven warn-ings, including alcohol content in “font as large as the federal government will allow” and a “WE ID” tag.

Underage, inexperienced drinkers often lose sight of their limit when drink-ing anything. The black-outs shouldn’t be blamed on Four Loko, it should be blamed on drinking in gen-eral.

Delaware County Daily Times called Four Loko a “legalized liquid cocaine,” while several blog sites re-ferred to it as “black-out in a can.” However, if these same effects can happen af-ter consuming any substan-tial amount of any alcohol, wouldn’t it make sense to ban all li-quors?

This, in ef-fect, would be a violation of our American rights.

Ac c ord i n g to the U.S. D e p ar t m e nt of Health and Human Ser-vices, “Black-outs are much more com-mon among social drink-ers than previ-ously assumed and should be viewed as po-tential con-sequences of acute intoxi-cation regard-less of age or whether the drinker is clinically de-

pendent on alcohol.” In other words, no matter

your age or the regularity of your drinking habits, too much alcohol of any kind can cause blackouts or al-cohol poisoning.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services gave 19 attorneys represent-ing 4Loko L.L.C. 30 days, as of Nov. 2, to prove that the effects of Four Lokos are not lethal. After that time period, if nothing has been proven, Four Loko will be removed from shelves all over the United States.

Responsibility for under aged drinking or simply going beyond your limit should be placed on the in-dividual, not the company.

Too many tax dollars going overseas

When President Obama announced the U.S. would begin pulling military troops out of Afghanistan by July 2011, I was skepti-cal.

My fears were confirmed recently when the U.S. am-bassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry announced the award of a $511 million contract to expand the ex-isting U.S. Embassy in Ka-bul.

This project is expected to be completed no sooner than June of 2014, which guarantees a presence in the country for nearly three

years past the original self-im-posed deadline.

Eikenberry said the revamped em-bassy compound will be the largest foreign embassy in the world. We

will have a troop presence beyond 2014. Count on it.

The most incredible thing is not the size of the com-pound or even the fact that we will continue to have a significant presence in Af-ghanistan beyond 2011.

What really drives me cra-zy is the amount of money the Obama administration is spending on the project.

Shouldn’t Americans be outraged that in an economy where so many are jobless and suffering, our leaders think it is a good idea to spend half a billion dollars to spruce up the Afghan embassy?

Let me guess, the proj-ect will somehow give our troops an advantage? No wait, we must be doing this to create a more favorable atmosphere for democracy in a region of the world where democracy will likely never take root.

Maybe we should blame Congress for the decision to spend like this overseas.

I have a hard time believ-ing our lawmakers could not find a way to use $500 million to help create jobs and stabilize the economy here at home.

Don’t get me wrong. Jobs are being created—for Afghans. Currently, this project employs approxi-mately 500 Afghans. Once construction begins, the number will increase to more than 1,500 employees.

That’s great news unless you are not Afghan and

happen to be seeking em-ployment here in the states.

There is no doubt some strategic reason our govern-ment is investing so heavily in Afghanistan.

It is probably the same reason they poured hun-dreds of millions of tax-payer dollars into the infra-structure of Iraq.

American citizens may not have a need to know why Bush and now Obama spend so freely in this re-gion.

The point I want to make is that we have needs right here, right now, and I be-lieve these needs are every bit as important as our dip-lomatic agenda or foreign policy.

I am dying to hear a truth-ful and logical explanation for this latest misappropria-tion of taxpayer funds. I hear crickets.

Eliana MijangosSports editoremmijangos@mail.txwes.edu

Barry GrubbsOpinion editorbgrubbs@mail.txwes.edu

Photo Illustration by Barry Grubbs

CampusThe RambleR | www.therambler.org November 10, 2010 | 3

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For More Information, ContactDr. Kay L. Colley at kcolley@txwes.edu

School gathers bears for needyMelissa Batesmdbates@mail.txwes.edu

The School of Arts and Letters is on a bear hunt.

In 2005, professor of English and pre-professional program director Miriam Espinosa and administrative assistant to the dean for the School of Arts and Letters Patricia Ersland be-gan collecting bears and other stuffed critters for the Fort Worth Police De-partment’s East Division to give to children in the midst of a crisis.

Ersland said in 2009, the statistics for the zip code surrounding Wesley-an showed officers needed 350 stuffed animals to fit the needs of the children and young people who would be pres-ent when officers were on-scene deal-ing with a situation.

The crisis situations children en-dure range from a car wreck to a child waiting for a Child Protective Services pick-up to a parent being arrested, Er-sland said.

“After 2005, we found it interest-ing that it’s not just the toddlers that you quiet so they’re not crying be-cause they don’t understand,” Ersland said. “It’s even the teenagers who just need something to hang on to when all around them there’s activity that is normally dangerous.”

In 2005, the languages and literature department collected 179 stuffed ani-mals, Ersland said.

Since 2005, the number of stuffed animals collected has mushroomed to 432 in 2009.

Since the beginning, the School of Arts and Letters has collected 1,487 stuffed animals.

Ersland said the quantity matters, not the quality. She said some of the cutest stuffed animals they’ve received have come from stores like Dollar Tree.

“It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it needs to be new,” Ersland said.

Espinosa said she finds it very sad to think the officers need so many stuffed animals during the year for so many crisis situations.

“Then it makes you feel good to know you’ve helped, even in some

small way,” Espinosa said. “By spend-ing a relatively small amount of mon-ey, we can help someone so very much, and it makes you feel good to do that.”

Professor of English Elizabeth Bat-tles said she thinks the program is a wonderful idea and a great way to give children some measure of comfort and confidence and a sense of stability in a difficult situation.

“That’s simple for us to do as a char-ity-type thing,” Battles said. “To give a stuffed animal that can make such a huge difference.”

Deliver captured stuffed animals to the dean’s office, room 256 in Polytechnic United Methodist Church by Nov. 30.

For more information contact Patri-cia Ersland at persland@txwes.edu or 817-531-4900.

Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler StaffThe Fort Worth Police Department gives stuffed animals to children and young people in the midst of crisis situations such as car wrecks or CPS cases. The School of Arts and Letters and pre-professional program director Miriam Espinosa began collecting bears to donate to the police department in 2005.

gain insight in themselves,” Warren said. “They also learn to be encouraging, yet realistic with clients and the people in which they en-gage.”

In addition to offering degrees in counseling, Wes-leyan also offers counseling services to all students, fac-ulty and community mem-bers.

“Our practicum students, aided by our faculty, offer these services through the Glick House Community Counseling Center,” Connell said. “They also serve be-yond Wesleyan students and faculty, and offer affordable counseling services to the surrounding community.”

A variety of services are offered in the Glick House, including marriage and fam-ily counseling, substance abuse, anger management, parenting, grief counseling and relationship counseling.

Individual counseling for students and faculty is free, while counseling for indi-

viduals outside of the Wes-leyan community comes with a sliding rate, meant to be affordable for all families, couples and single people. The university also has Scott Methvin in the Glick House, a licensed professional coun-selor and marriage and fam-ily therapist, who also helps to provide these services.

“This facility is the train-ing ground for our many great students,” Warren said. “They see some undergrad students, staff, family mem-bers related to staff, faculty and students, and others referred to them by outside professional organizations.”

However, students in the counseling programs do not usually see other students in the graduate program of counseling and faculty due to professional ethics.

“Counselors are natural helping people; these pro-grams lead to career paths that provide helping services with issues that plague many in our society,” Warren said.

GLICK continued from page 1

Counseling services offered:•Individual Counseling (free for students and faculty)•Marriage and Family Counseling•Parenting Classes (English and Spanish)•Adolescents•Anger Management•Grief Counseling•Substance Abuse•School-Related Issues•Partner Violence Counseling•Relationship Counseling

What Graduate Counseling students will learn:•Goal setting techniques•How to help individuals recognize their strengths•How to find solutions to everyday problems•How to challenge themselves •How to be better active listeners•How to see things from another’s perspective•Encouragement techniques•How to be realistic with individuals

Campus4 | November 10, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

90 Years of Leadership

1920 2010

Contact Us atPhone: 817-531-7550

Email: stugov@txwes.eduVisit us at

OC Hall 202 and 204

Sponsored by Student Life

Donation centers will be set up at different locations on campus. Please bring warm blankets and jackets from November 1st—19th so that we can share the

warmth with others this November.

Wesleyan Blanket and Jacket Drive

Math graduates enter teaching fields Melissa Batesmdbates@mail.txwes.edu

Secondary schools need more math teachers, and this year they got four of them from Wesleyan.

Between December 2009 and August 2010, four Wes-leyan graduates got their secondary certification in math and were almost im-mediately hired to teach in secondary schools.

“If we don’t have good math teachers, students who come out of high school won’t have the math background they need for college,” Jane Moore, math-ematics professor and de-partment chair said.

Moore said she believes 50 to 60 percent of high school graduates take a developmental math class upon entering college.

Carlos Martinez, school of education dean, said even though the U.S. is in a rough economic market for teachers, math and science continues to be the greatest need.

“If you can teach second-ary science or math, you’ll get a job in five minutes,” Martinez said. “If you’re willing to teach junior high, you’ll get a job in five minutes. If you’re willing to teach junior high in an urban environment, in two minutes you’ll find a job.”

Henry Ly, 41, served two tours in Iraq and was an engineer before returning to school to teach math. He teaches 220 freshmen at James Bowie High School in Arlington.

Ly said he loves it when he can give a student an “aha!” moment.

“It gives you a great feel-ing that you’ve accom-plished something, and you don’t get that in the daily

workforce,” Ly said. “That’s what drove me to become a teacher.”

But Ly said he’s in a delu-sional stage right now.

“I did two tours in Iraq,” Ly said. “I’d rather be in Iraq than teaching second-ary math. That’s the delu-sional stage feeling I have.”

Sandra Schneider, 29, is doing her internship at Central High School in Keller. She teaches 150 freshmen and sophomores.

Schneider said the state certification exam all sec-ondary math graduates take is one of the hardest certification tests.

Schneider and another graduate, Rebecca Couey, passed the exam on the first try, which is rare.

“When you come into teaching, you forget all the basics,” Schneider said. “You’ve spent so much time in higher level that going back to basics is an adjust-ment.”

Schneider said she has several potential math majors in her high school classes. One student told Schneider she wants to at-tend Harvard. Schneider said she told the student to bring a pennant back from the Ivy League school so Schneider could say she taught a Harvard student.

Rebecca Couey, 33, teaches at New Horizon High School, an alternative school in Joshua. She is the only math teacher for all

ninth through 12th grad-ers. Couey said she always wanted to teach at an alter-native school.

“I was an at-risk child as a teenager and got really close to dropping out of school,” Couey said. “If I’d had an alternative school, it would’ve made a big differ-ence in my life.”

Couey said she’s differ-ent than most math majors who want to go into engi-neering and technical jobs.

“I don’t like the appli-cations of mathematics,” Couey said. “I’d rather teach it than do it every day. Engineering is not for me.”

Couey said she was deter-mined to work at New Ho-rizon. Couey said she knew there would be an opening by May 2010 because of a retiring teacher.

She took 33 hours in spring, about 20 hours at Wesleyan and the rest at Hill College. Couey gradu-ated July 7 and signed the contract with New Horizon five days later.

Luz Padilla, 23, is do-ing her internship at For-est Oak Middle School in Fort Worth. She teaches 69 eighth graders.

Padilla said she always wanted to work with immi-grant students. Most of the time immigrant students are told to learn English then go out and get a job, she said.

“I believed if I got into

teaching I could reach some of those students who’ve immigrated to the United States and give them the option, if they want to, to go to college,” Padilla said.

Padilla said if people want to teach math they have to really like math and children to be able to han-dle the rigors of the job.

“It’s a lot of work—way more work than I expect-ed,” Padilla said.

Padilla said Forest Oak is a low-income school that is 50 percent Hispanic, 40 percent African-American and one percent white. Sometimes she has to sup-ply the children with items they need to do their work.

“I have days where I question why I’m here be-cause the students seem to not want to learn,” Padilla said. “I have to tell myself that’s why I’m here.”

Padilla said students are used to teachers quitting. She said when she has to do off-campus training, the students will ask if she’s quitting because they’re bad.

She has to constantly re-assure them she will not leave.

“I’m trying to influence them and help them to see what’s out there,” Padilla said.

“When you come into teaching, you forget all the basics. You’ve spent so much time in higher level that going back to the basics is an adjustment.”

Sandra Schneider (right)intern, Keller Central High School

“I was an at-risk child as a teenager and got really close to dropping out of school. If I’d had an alternative school, it would’ve made a big difference in my life.”

Rebecca Couey (right)teacher, New Horizon High School

“It gives you a great feeling that you’ve accomplished something, and you don’t get that in the daily workforce.”

Henry Ly (right)freshman math teacher, James Bowie High School

SportsThe RambleR | www.therambler.org November 10, 2010 | 5

Let’s Go RAMS!

-TWU Women’s Basketball vs. Tarleton State University Nov. 13, 7:30 pm

-Home Opener vs. TX Lutheran Nov. 16th 5:30 pm

-Men’s Basketball vs. Southwestern Adventist University

Nov. 15th 7:30 pm

Let’s Go RAMS!

Let’s Go RAMS!

Let’s Go RAMS!

Let’s Go RAMS!

Let’s Go RAMS!

-RRAC Tournament Women’s Volleyball

TWU vs. Southwestern Assemblies of God University

Fri. Nov. 12th 12:00 pm

Lady Rams miss their conference title goalEliana Mijangosemmijangos@mail.txwes.edu

The Lady Ram Soccer team competed in the first round of the Red River Athletic Confer-ence tournament in Browns-ville Nov. 4.

The Lady Rams faced the Louisiana Shreveport Univer-sity Pilots in the quarter finals. Jessica Watton, sophomore forward, came into the game leading the RRAC conference with 43 points. She scored an early goal, setting the tempo for the Lady Rams that re-mained throughout. This first goal was assisted by Karissa Olsen, freshman forward. Pi-lot’s Heather McCutchen, mid-fielder, tied the game 1-1 right before the half.

The Watton-Olsen duo came out the second half refusing to settle for anything less than a lead and took another early

goal. Leah Valtman, freshman midfielder, quickly followed as she scored and gave the Lady Rams a 3-1 lead.

Shreveport tried to get back in the game with a last minute goal, but Katy Houchin, junior goal keeper, made four saves to seal the 3-2 win.

This win advanced the Lady Rams to the Oct. 5 semi-final round against the Red River Athletic Conference winners, Northwood University.

“When you play the regular season champion, you have to perform to near perfection, and we weren’t able to do that,” said head coach Josh Gibbs.

The Lady Rams took a hard 3-0 loss to Northwood, with all three goals scored in the first half.

A free kick at 10:26 was goal one. Goal two came from a corner kick by Northwood’s Natalie Cater, sophomore for-

ward, who 10 minutes later scored again.

“I thought versus North-wood we had a bad day, collec-tively, at the worst time,” Gibbs said.

The Lady Rams finished conference play 13-6, taking fourth place in the RRAC.

“I promised my team that I would be whatever they need-ed me to be whether it was the best forward in the conference or the best cheerleader on our bench,” Watton said, “So all the sacrifices and injuries were all worth it, and I’d do it all over again.”

The Lady Rams will lose six seniors to graduation.

“We lose one of five players in the back that set school re-cords for fewest goals allowed in a season (20) and best goals against average (1.05),” Gibbs said.

Watton led the Lady Rams in goals, assists and shots. Houchin led the team in saves,

and Olsen was ranked Na-tional Association of Intercol-

legiate Athletes Division One for total points and goals.

Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler Staff Junior defense, Kayla Mason (as shown hustling for an assist at Martin Field) was one of four

Lady Ram soccer players receiving Second Team All- Conference mentions for the Red River Athletic Conference. Karissa Olsen, freshman forward, Jodi Blowers, senior mid-fielder, and

Jessica Watton, sophomore forward joined Mason in these honors.

Seniors leave on high note Eliana Mijangosemmijangos@mail.txwes.edu

The Lady Rams volleyball team slid past Southern Nazarene’s Crim-son Storm to get a win on Senior Night Nov. 2 in the Sid Richardson Center.

The Lady Rams started slow, un-able to make any solid returns. Nazarene capitalized on Wesleyan mistakes taking a 25-15 win in a short-fought battle.

In game two, the Lady Rams re-fused to step down. Kristen Venhui-zen, senior outside hitter, capitalized on the errors of the Lady Storm by killing them with three solid spikes. Lynsay Buell, freshman middle blocker, came off the bench with lots of energy and some vital returns giv-ing them a 10-6 lead. Haelee Horne, freshman outside hitter, finished the game off with a block, setting them up for a 25-10 lead.

Taking an early lead in game three, the Lady Storm’s errors made for an early four-point lead. How-ever, Nazarene’s Kira Roberts, fresh-man middle blocker, came into the game sweeping the Lady Rams with a powerful block and kill that Wes-leyan failed to return. This put the Lady Rams above the Storm 20-16. The Lady Rams’ back row jeopar-dized the lead as Nazarene took a 23-21 lead with some irretrievable kills. Venhuizen tried to pick up the team’s tempo, but the Lady Rams fell 25-23.

Both teams kept the game close in game four, but Venhuizen pushed the Lady Rams ahead to take a 12-7 lead with several solid serves. Jennifer Kline, freshman middle blocker, and Buell had two double blocks in a row sending a message to the Storm that they brought their umbrellas and wouldn’t go down easily. Marissa Rangel, junior defensive specialist, and Stepha-nie Dominguez, freshman setter, played a strong back line sealing

the Lady Ram lead. Venhuizen shut down the Storm with a powerful kill assisted by senior setter, Evoni Darling, to seal a 25- 15 win.

“I think it was a great win,” Rosen-bush said. “We all played hard to win for the seniors because we will miss them so much.”

The Storm scored early in game five as the Lady Ram fans sat on edge, but Wesleyan quickly took the 8-7 lead. A serve by Nazarene’s Rob-erts that the Lady Rams couldn’t re-

turn gave them a 13-11 lead. Errors on the Storm’s side left them with a 13-13 tie. Kline came out of the time out with a powerful kill setting the Lady Rams up for a 15-14 lead, and Katherine Rosenbush, fresh-man middle blocker, followed close behind with the winning serve that the Storm just couldn’t handle. The Lady Rams finished the game 16-14 as they celebrated Senior Night for Darling and Venhuizen.

“The win over SNU was a great

win for us going in the conference tournament. We showed discipline, fought for every point earning the match,” said head coach Christy Clawson.

Darling was named Red River Athletic Conference setter of the week as of Nov. 1 with 69 total as-sists.

“As for the seniors, they have giv-en so much to this program over the course of four years. They have been leaders and mentors on the court

and in the classroom, and friends to this young team. They have grown and matured into two young ladies I am proud to say that I have had the opportunity to coach and been in-volved in their lives,” Clawson said.

“Although some of the freshmen haven’t had as much time with the seniors as I have, I know we will all miss their leadership and, more importantly, their friendship,” said sophomore middle blocker Chris-tina Daniel.

Angie Ruiz | Rambler Staff Senior setter, Evoni Darling tops off her Red River Conference “Setter of the Week” title with an assist to freshman middle blocker, Lynsay Buell

for a game-winning kill.

Angie Ruiz |Rambler StaffSenior outside hitter, Kristen Venhuizen, sets up for a dig during a close game against Southern Nazarene University. The Senior Night game honored Wesleyan seniors Nov. 2.

Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler StaffJessica Watton, sophomore forward, (shown preparing to cross her defender from Lubbock Christian University) was named Red River Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Player of the Week Oct. 18-24. She was also named Second Team All-Conference, a title that comes with her eight division one national rankings for points, assists and goals. “Everything I accom-plished this year wouldn’t be possible without the team or coaches I had behind me. I was just being what they needed me to be to win,” Watton said.

Arts & Entertainment6 | November 10, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

Religious Life at Texas Wesleyan

Live music with brief time of worship Tuesdays at 12:15 in PUMC Chapel Free lunch after on PUMC 3rd Floor – Room 312

Free lunch and discussion/dialogue Thursdays at 12:15 in PUMC Chapel PUMC 3rd Floor – Room 312

“Faith seeking understanding” – ALL are welcome!

For info: http://www.txwes.edu/religiouslife/index.htm

University Chapel:

Common Meal:

Music of the Americas Concert

November 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Texas Wesleyan Universityand

The Department of Musicpresent

Guitar Fort Worth: Classical Series @ Wesleyan

November 12 at 7:30 p.m.Martin Hall

Laura Young, guitar

For more information, visit http://www.txwes.edu/music/music/index.htm or call 817-531-4992

Music Department Soloists

Martin Hall

Cliburn Concert Series

November 16 at 7:30 p.m.Bass Hall

Vladimir Feltsman, piano

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Crimes take the stage at Theatre Wesleyan

Rachel Peelrlpeel@mail.txwes.edu

A Pulitzer Prize-winning play will debut at Theatre Wesleyan Nov. 11.

The Wesleyan Theatre depart-ment will perform Crimes of the Heart Nov. 11-13 and Nov. 18-21. The production was written by Beth Henley, a Southern Methodist Uni-versity alumna.

“It’s a show I have really loved for a long time; it’s a Pulitzer Prize winner,” said theatre professor and director Brynn Bristol. “We have so many girls in the department right now that are really good it was actu-ally really hard at auditions to de-cide who to use I had call backs a couple of times because we had so many good auditions.”

The play is set in Hazlehurst, Mis-sissippi, just outside of Jackson in

the 1970s. It’s about three sisters who were raised primarily by their grandparents because their father ran off and their mother committed suicide. The youngest daughter Babe married a rich senator. The middle daughter pursued a singing career in California, and the oldest daughter still lives at home, Bristol said.

“It’s a comedy-drama, a little bit like a chick flick or chick play,” Bris-tol said.

Auditions for the play began right after the presentation of Chekhov’s Vaudevilles. About 40 people tried out for the play, and only six were cast, Bristol said.

Senior theatre major Cari Watson auditioned for the parts of Chick and Meg and was cast as Meg. It took her about two weeks to prac-tice her lines and be completely off book, she said.

“I think the script is lovely,” Wat-son said. “I think that it’s a great indication about how time and dis-tance can’t change the past, or keep you apart from bounds that are just innately there.”

Watson said she practices about five hours a day on campus and at home. She also says she is really ex-cited about playing the role of Meg because her character is relaxed and hip.

“I was really happy to be involved with any part of the production,” Watson said. “I’m happy from sweeping the stage to being the lead.”

The students working behind the scenes make everything possible.

“I just make sure the show runs smoothly,” said Jesica Valadez, sophomore theatre major and stage manager.

Valadez said she will manage nine people for this show ranging from hair and make-up to lighting and sound.

“You have to be very organized, and I love being organized. It’s one of my favorite things,” Valadez said. “You know everything and you’re kind of the go-to person, and it’s re-ally cool, because you are kind of in the middle of everything.”

Valadez says every time she isn’t

in class, she is working on the show. Even when she is eating she is talk-ing about the show.

“At times it can be stressful, but at the end of the day it’s all worth it,” Valadez said.

Crimes of the Heart will debut at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 in the Thad Smotherman Theatre. Tickets are: $8 General Admission, $6 for fac-ulty and staff and $4 for Wesleyan students with ID.

Rachel Peel | Rambler StaffAbove, sophomore theatre major Cassandra Beltran, and junior theatre major Elise Plaskonos try different dresses for Theatre Wesleyan’s production of Crimes of the Heart.

Photo courtesy of Erica MaroneyThe stars of Crimes of the Heart prepare for the show’s debut. From top to bottom, senior theatre major Joy Millard, senior theatre major Cari Watson and sophomore theatre major Cassandra Beltran.

Jonathan Resendezjlresendez@mail.txwes.edu

Mullet-rocking, skinny jean hipsters and long-haired metal heads need to know. Country fans and deaf people need to know. Everyone needs to know.

Kanye West’s album My Dark Twisted Fantasy, dropping Nov. 22, will be a sonic masterpiece—if the songs are the same quality as the songs on his movie Runaway.

I’m writing this article a week before publication, and I can already hear peo-ple moaning and rolling their eyes.

For those still reading, I can assure that if the tracks on the album sound re-

motely similar to the gems featured in his movie, or the ones he’s been releasing every Friday since late Au-gust, there is hope for the music industry yet. I might even buy it.

Jaded by the garbage rap music on the radio, it’s hard to stomach mainstream rap—let alone think it will last more than a couple of months.

But Kanye blends, dumps and splices soulful samples reminiscent of his early years with the electronic and technical prowess of someone who’s lived in the studio for 100 years on cuts such as The Joy.

With most of the tracks running longer than the tra-ditional hip hop song, West

knows he’s on to something. The rapping overall is

nice, but certain rappers have more chemistry with the beat and each other than others, which might be what holds the album from an overall classic rating.

West, however, murders all of his verses: “Pull down your pants, they can kiss both cheeks like we living in France.”

The songs are chock full of money and flaunting references a la trash radio rap—except West gets a pass because it’s different and more creative than ev-erything else out there.

I could easily write 600 words about the first 6 min-utes of his 35 minute video Runaway, which is a mas-terpiece, but no one would read that.

I could write about the Taylor Swift incident or his disappearances to Europe. But that’s not what makes my neck jerk.

I could write about the millions he has spent re-cording in Hawaii or how

much he pays his hot food chef. But that’s not what

makes my face scrunch up. It’s the music.

Kanye’s new album kills the competition

Photo courtesy of contactmusic.com

Arts & EntertainmentThe RambleR | www.therambler.org November 10, 2010 | 7

Not excited about Works Cited?

Get help with your bibliography.

Services Available:Monday-Thursday 8am-8pmFriday&Saturday 8:30am-5pmSunday 1pm-8pm

or e-mail:reference@txwes.edu

Eunice and James L. West LibraryTexas Wesleyan University

*Located on the first floor

http://westlibrary.txwes.edu/

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The Voice of Texas Wesleyan University Students Since 1917

Texas Wesleyan’s YouTube Channel

2.79 Daily Specials

After 5 p.m. buy any two foot long subs for $5 each

TWU Students Breakfast Combo

$2.50Breakfast Muffin, Egg and Coffee

Mon - Fri 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.Sat 8 a.m. - 10 p.m.Sun 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.

We’re Up Early!

Open Mic Thursdays 7 p.m.- 8 p.m.

Join Us For Open Mic Night

This week:

Poet Suhasini Yeeda

Wesleyan welcomes poetic performances Dwight Conerwaydconerway@mail.txwes.edu

The English honor’s society Sigma Tau Delta and literary journal Aries teamed up with Subway owner Ricky Harden to host an open mic night Nov. 2.

A crowd of about 10 people gathered to hear author Rodney Greenwood and local talent perform spoken word.

“Poetry is my way of releasing my hidden feeling about my past life,” Greenwood said. “We all have a story to tell, and this is the way I keep myself focused to move on with my life.”

Greenwood is a 20-year Navy veteran who was raised by his grandmother after being abandoned by his birth mother on the steps of a San Antonio police station more than 30 years ago.

Greenwood began writing poetry in 2003 and has been performing since 2004.

Sigma Tau Delta and Aries will host an event from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Thursday at the Rosedale Subway except for Thanksgiving until the end of the semester.

“I want to offer the Wesleyan students who are far away from home a place to go for local entertainment without having to go far from the campus,” Harden said.

This review is the fifth in a series The Rambler staff is working to bring you featuring potentially overlooked dining spots on East Lancaster Av-enue.

Barbecue is a famous southern cuisine. And though I may be biased, I feel confident in saying that Texans know their barbecue. Many of us have our favor-

ite barbecue places to visit such as Riscky’s, Dickie’s and Cousins. But if you’re in the Wesleyan area, you need not look any further for some good, home-cooked barbe-cue right from the pit.

Smokey’s BBQ is located at 5300 E Lancaster Ave., right across from a recent favor-ite, John Carter’s Place. The location is small but unique.

The restaurant has a down-home feel, furnished with picnic benches and red checkered table cloths. The only thing missing is iced tea served in mason jars.

For $8, I received generous portions of jalapeño sausage on a homemade bun, sweet coleslaw, mustard potato salad and the biggest cup of iced tea I’ve ever seen. This may seem like a lot already, but there’s more.

Smokey’s offers an assort-ment of smoked and bar-becued meats such as ribs, brisket, sausage, wings and even turkey.

The sides are self-serve, delicious and limited to all you can eat.

Aside from the coleslaw and potato salad, Smokey’s

offers one of the most amaz-ing sides I’ve ever tasted: baked beans. Now, these aren’t the ordinary Texas-style baked beans with ba-con and onion. These baked beans are infused with a sweet and tangy sauce and topped with chunks of bris-ket. That’s right, brisket — my kind of meal.

Sweet iced tea and coun-try-style lemonade are also available to wash down a meal like this, and if you’re lucky—you may even get the pie of the day on the house.

If you’re in the mood for some wings and fries, all the mouth-watering sides you can eat, chopped brisket, ribs, sausage and all things barbecue, Smokey’s is where you want to be.

This hidden Lancaster gem will be sure to please.

Don’t forget to check the en-trance doors for daily deals.

Smokey’s BBQ exceeds culinary expectations

Angie Ruiz | Rambler StaffSmokey’s sausage sandwich comes on a homemade bun and is served on a metal tray.

Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler StaffPoet Rodney Greenwood (right) prepares to perform at the Sigma Tau Delta/Aries poetry reading at the Rosedale Subway.

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Angie Ruiz | aruiz@mail.txwes.edu

College Life8 | November 10, 2010 The RambleR | www.therambler.org

offenders more than once.“We know students have a

life outside of class,” she said. “But at this point, if you made your bed, whatever hap-pens—happens.”

The danger airsoft guns pose to other students, along with multiple student com-plaints, have pushed security to the point of zero tolerance, she said.

“[Students need to] put the guns up,” she said. “It’s not worth it. We will catch you.” The Students (names withheld)

The Crosman Pulse R73 airsoft gun generates muzzle velocities of up to 225 feet-per-second. A shot from it feels like a pebble ricocheting off of a lawn mower blade. It creates a small welt that trick-les blood and has the linger-ing sting of an ant bite.

Although freshmen Rusty and Jack are on the same “team,” Jack’s been on the receiving end of Rusty’s Crosman.

“He looked out of the hall at the wrong time,” Rusty said.

Wesleyan students with air-soft guns formed teams and took turns ambushing one an-other, sometimes stealing the other team’s guns a-la capture the flag.

Rusty and Jack have spent about $200 at Wal-Mart and Dick’s Sporting Goods to equip themselves. The going rate for 10,000 BBs: $10. Al-though Rusty and Jack said they enjoy terrorizing fellow hall residents, they often go play outside.

“Some nights we’ll run around playing for a couple hours,” Rusty said. “It’s like [the videogame] Call of Duty, but we get exercise.”

Rusty and Jack’s athletic team hasn’t received warnings from their coach or security about the airsoft gun use—not so for some of the other Wesleyan students packing airsoft heat.

Senior Curtis said his team had a meeting after their coach received an e-mail say-ing the guns were getting out of hand because people were bothered by the amount of BBs in the hallway.

“They were talking about kicking people off campus—especially athletes—so we had to calm it down,” Curtis said. “But at the same time, it’s like what else are we going to do?”

Curtis said playing with the guns wards off the boredom caused by the lack of activities at the university. Although the students play to pass the time, the guns also offer a sense of protection from others who have them, Curtis said.

“The first part that makes us keep doing it is—first off, there’s nothing else to do,” he said. “It’s like, ‘If you shoot at me, I’m going to shoot back. If you shoot at me, it’s a wrap.’”

Curtis said he sees nothing wrong with the guns as long as they pick up the BBs when they’re done.

He believes droves of stu-dents would sign up for an air-soft gun league, which could even benefit the university. If

airsoft guns were restricted to league use only, he said he would still play with them in his free time.

“That’s like saying you can go to the movies but can’t watch a DVD at home,” he said.

GUNS continued from page 1

Jonathan Resendez | Rambler StaffAn arsenal of airsoft guns in a student’s dorm. Some students have spent up to $300 on guns.

Seminar teaches students financial responsibilityJonathan Resendezjlresendez@mail.txwes.edu

Constant rain didn’t stop a crowd of more than 30 students from at-tending Monster.com’s Ultimate Money Skills presentation Nov. 2 in the SUB.

Sponsored by Bank of America and Wesleyan Student Life, the pre-sentation focused on student budget-ing and saving, credit and financial planning for the future. It took pro-fessional speaker Brandon Walker five seconds to elicit student interac-tion with questions about Starbucks and Red Bull.

“If you’re a college student, caffeine plays a significant part in your life,” Walker said. “The average college student spends $4.30 a day on caf-feine. The same amount of money can do something significant.”

Walker said if students traveled to

Wal-Mart or Target at the beginning of the week and made their own cof-fee, they could save $4.30 five times a week. Based on an average 8 percent return, a 22-year-old student would have more than $100,000 by the time he was 64, Walker said.

“The little things make a huge dif-ference,” he said.

Walker said most people don’t know their credit scores, and that it’s the No. 1 financial problem among students. He cited interest, fees and owner discipline as the most prob-lematic credit card traits.

“Set your credit limit high enough to get you out of trouble, but not enough to get you into trouble,” he said.

In 2009, U.S. banks made $36 bil-lion in fees alone—money they made for doing nothing, Walker said. To prevent such fees, Walker said stu-dents should take advantage of text

messaging alerts that notify bank customers when their balances are below a certain amount.

Maribel Solis, junior Spanish ma-jor, said she found Walker’s money-saving tips helpful.

“Going to the club once instead of three times on the weekend makes a big difference,” she said.

Likewise, junior bilingual educa-tion major Lorena Perez said Walk-

er’s practical tips hit home.“He was talking about the real

stuff,” she said. “You might think, ‘Oh, it’s a couple of dollars’, but the stuff adds up.”

Photo and graphic by Jonathan Resendez | Rambler StaffBrandon Walker discusses the importance of financial responsibility.

$$$

The average college student graduates owing $4,000 in credit card debt.

Beware of store credit cards: a one-time saving can increase exponen-tially over time.

Pay more than the minimum amount due, otherwise you’re just digging yourself a deeper hole.

Don’t skip payments. A single non-payment can drop your credit score up to 100 points. There isn’t room for error when 850 is the highest score you can have.