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PINE LOG Monday, April 26, 2010

TODAYH 83 L 52

The

TUESDAYH 76 L 47

WEDNESDAYH 80 L 58

Volume 88Issue 20

Next Publication:Thursday, April 29, 2010

Visit us online atwww.thepinelog.com

The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University

Page 4

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Purple shuts out White at

annual spring game.

Students start to prepare for finals.

Page 8

By Marie LeonardEDITOR IN CHIEF

Thursday night at the Cole Art Center in downtown Nacogdoches members of the community gathered among the vibrant pho-tographs lining the walls and the shiny hard-wood floors to watch a free showing of the documentary Food Inc. The film was followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Jeff Roth, as-sistant professor of geography; Gregory Lide, manager of Sacred Springs Organic Farm in Nacogdoches, and Theresa Tkacik, nutrition-ist with Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital.

Food Inc. deals with how our food is pro-duced, what it is really made from and how fast food originated. The film was narrated mainly by journalist Eric Schlosser, and he began by explaining how the food indus-try has changed drastically over the last 50 years.

“You go into the supermarket and you see pictures of farmers. The picket fence and the silo and the 1930s farmhouse and the green grass. The reality is, it’s not a farm it’s a fac-tory,” Schlosser said at the beginning of the film. Although the pictures and taglines used to sell food in grocery stores promote an agrarian image, it is far from how farms are being run today.

The filmmakers asked numerous farmers to show them the barns where their livestock is raised, but only a few finally agreed to let the cameras in. The animals were packed in together in small, dark and cramped spaces until they were ready to be sent off to the larger factories. Companies have discovered that by feeding cows and chickens specific items (such as corn) they grow faster and fatter. Therefore, more money is made quicker.

According to Schlosser, McDonald’s was the first restaurant to develop a factory sys-tem in the kitchen, which eventually inspired dozens of other fast food restaurants to de-velop similar systems. Schlosser also pointed out that in the 1970s, the top five beef pack-ers controlled only 25 percent of the mar-ket, while today the top four (Tyson Foods Inc., Cargill Inc., Swift & Co. and Farmland Industries) control more than 80 percent of the market.

Food Inc. also explains why so many more Americans have been struck with E. coli bac-teria from their food. According to Schlosser, cattle are given feed that their bodies are not designed to digest properly, and the new strains of E. coli cows are getting sick from is passed on to humans who consume the

meat. Another interesting segment discussed

the use of corn in our food today. Schlosser pointed out that due to technology, food can be modified in laboratories, and one vegetable can be used in thousands of differ-ent items. The molecules in corn are easy to modify and are used in the majority of food products today. High fructose corn syrup appears to be on the ingredient list of most packages, but it is not the only one. Zein, treacle, sucrose, sorbiol, dextrose, fructose and many more ingredients can be found in our food. All of this extra starch is causing diabetes among young children, as well as higher levels of childhood obesity.

The end of the film discussed how Americans can make a difference by eat-ing healthy and making the food industry change their policies. Reading labels and eat-ing organic and locally grown food are just a couple of the ways to be more conscious about where food comes from.

After the film concluded, the panel mem-bers spent time taking questions from the audience related to the film. Lide spoke about his organic farm and the challenges he faces as a local farmer. Although he has to worry about the weather and getting too much or too little rain, Lide receives a lot of help from the surrounding community.

“We have lots of volunteers for picking vegetables when we harvest every Friday, and we are constantly soliciting community members to help out,” Lide said. Although the farm contains three acres of vegetables, they try their best to hand pick pests in order to do something immediately about the problem.

Roth then spoke to the audience about what he referred to as a personal revolu-tion.

“Our agricultural system is dependent on oil, and we have already used over half of the oil supply on Earth,” he said. “Our food supply is threatened by this and change is inevitable, so what I’m advocating is a per-sonal revolution.” Roth pointed out it is easy to create vegetable gardens right in your own backyard, which will save money and pro-vide fresh produce.

“Spinach, lettuce, tomatoes...grow what-ever you love, and it will change your life,” he said.

By Marie LeonardEDITOR IN CHIEF

Amnesty International will host Waterboard A Prof from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday by Surfin’ Steve.

In order to raise aware-ness about the global clean water crisis, students will be able to stop by and try to dunk their professor of choice.

Students will pay $1 for two throws and $2 for five throws. The participating professors will include Dr.

Charles Abel, Dr. Bill Forbes, Dr. Alan Baily, Dr. Steven Galatas, Dr. Tom Segady, Dr. Lucas Hollar and Dr. Dianne Dentice.

Amnesty is currently try-ing to raise $5,000 to build a well in Sub Saharan Africa or South Asia through an organization named Charity Water. The well will provide over 250 people with clean water for at least the next 25 years.

“Just donating one dol-lar can support one per-son’s clean water for a year,

so by helping us raise this money students are helping with the clean water crisis around the world,” Erika Purdy, Hurst junior and vice president of Amnesty, said.

Members of Amnesty International will also be selling T-shirts related to their cause at the event, and the money raised will go to-ward the well. The shirts are blue and yellow, and on the front they say “Save Water” and on the back is a beer mug that says “Drink Beer” inside.

By Jennifer PattersonSTAFF WRITER

Students from sororities, fraternities and various other organizations around campus came together Friday afternoon to pledge a few hours of their time to help out the com-munity with The BIG Event.

Apr. 23 from noon until 5 p.m. students went to different houses, organizations or areas across Nacogdoches and the surround-ing community that had requested help with a project.

The BIG Event had a delayed start mainly because of weather.

The rain that occurred Friday prevented some projects from being performed, and the number of projects was reduced due to the weather. The organizers of the event had to change things around and send (in some cases) more students than what was needed to projects.

While the organizers were figuring out where to send students, several people spoke about the community service students had been doing around the community. Over the

past year SFA students have performed over 122,000 community service hours, compared with last year’s 87,000.

I volunteered with Gamma Kappa Omega and went to Solid Foundation, as did several other organizations. Students there worked on painting, yard work, tearing up carpet and vacuuming.

Lots of work was completed in a short amount of time at the Foundation. Since there were so many students helping with the project, the work went by faster. Members of the Foundation who were there were grateful the work was done.

At the end of the day, Aramark hosted a free dinner for the students who participated. Students were encouraged to come back to the Rec Center where we all met and ate din-ner.

There we could also discuss the different projects everyone worked on. The BIG Event is already being planned for the next year.

reviewWonder where your food really comes from?

Professors prepare to get dunked for good cause

BIG event gets students involvedfirst-person experience

THOMAS MOTYKA/THE PINE LOG Brandi Thompson, Groesbeck sophomore, and Sara Evans, Garland sophomore, volunteered at Solid Foundation during The BIG Event. They planted an entire flower bed in the front of the building.

Lumberjacks get dirty

Students gathered in the commuter lot on Saturday at the annual Springfest celebration featuring crawfish and mud volleyball. Whisky Myers and Wade Bowen also performed throughout the day.

PINE LOG PINE LOG The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University

Lumberjacks get dirty

PINE LOG PINE LOG PINE LOG ThePINE LOG The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University

Page 4Students start to prepare for finals.

BIG event gets students involved

PHOTOS BY THOMAS MOTYKA/THE PINE LOG

CMYK

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By Cheryl FanecaContributing Writer

The SFA Ad Design Team was named first runner-up at the American Advertising Federation 10th District Competition Thursday in Amarillo competing against 17 university teams.

For the first time in 100 years, the district is now a mega-district and had two separate competitions. First place winners of the two competitions, the University of Houston and Texas State University, will represent District 10 in the national competition in Orlando June 10-12.

In all the years SFA has competed, this is the highest the ad team has ever ranked, and this is the first year the three departments worked together to create the campaign.

Blake Goldston, governor of District 10, said the district, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Kansas, is considered to have the toughest competition in U.S. Judges were Ric Shiiki, president of Shiiki & Sichler; Joyce A. Mireault, vice president of FirstSolutions and Julie Childs, senior pro-duction manager of Ogilvy Public Relations worldwide.

SFA’s art, communication and marketing students presented their campaign for State Farm Insurance. The students worked all semester doing research and strategy, which they applied to an integrated marketing campaign that included print media, a Web site, television commercials and public relations promotions, video games and downloadable apps for smart phones. Special props created for the competition include cut-outs of life-sized characters that personified the campaign.

Katie Jones, Mieshia Little, Nicole Hall, AJ Bradshaw and Judith Barroeta made SFA’s 20-minute presentation. The judges then questioned all 19 of the students who worked on the campaign, including Tiffany Occhiogrosso, Jerret Swierc, Hayden Henry, Whitney Dodds, Amanda Roberts, William Yull, Juan Aquinaga, Renae Landis, Natalie Abel, Alex Urband, Jill English, David Chavez, Ryan Bench and Kyle Larson.

Faculty members are Michael Tubbs from the School of Art, Dr. Linda Bond from the Division of Communication and Contemporary Culture and Dr. Marlene Kahla from the Department of Management, Marketing and International Business. The creation of the campaign was done in a cross-campus collaboration and a three-way team teaching effort.

pinelog@thepinelog.com

By Tiara JeffersonStaff Writer

The department of kinesiology and health sciences recently opened its Exercise Physiology Lab in Room 112 of the former Early Childhood Lab Building.

The lab is used for classes and to collect data and produce research. Students conduct research on other students for grades. Students’ research included measuring metabolism, performance, strength and aerobic power. They may recruit students who are not kinesiology and health sciences majors for experiments, but participants are required to be in the college-age range.

“We usually prefer not to recruit so much from the outside as we do on the inside,” Eric Jones, as-sistant professor of kinesiology and health sciences, said. “The lab gives students a tangible experience and not just sitting and listening to a lecture.”

Students and faculty are proud of the lab that features two metabolic carts, an electro-cardiogram, a hydrostatic weighing tank, an environmental chamber, treadmills and an ergometer bicycle.

The metabolic carts measure metabolism. The electro-cardiogram is used to conduct cardiac stress tests. The hydrostatic weighing tank is used for under water weighing and measuring body composi-tions. The environmental chamber is a hot box that controls temperature and humidity for heat stud-ies.

The ergometer bicycle measures the control and the amount of work the rider is producing. Anthropometric, or human body, measurements are also taken for research. Students perform heart dissection on deer hearts that Jones and his students hunt and collect for experimental uses.

“We don’t actually use the hearts of our students for dissection,” Jones said. “I don’t think that would work out so well.”

tjefferson@thepinelog.com

By Samuel AcholemContributing Writer

At noon on Friday, the SFA Alumni Association will be holding the Big Dip spring 2010 Mentor Ring ceremony, in the Grand Ballroom at the Baker Pattillo Student Center. In this long-standing tradition, rings are presented to students, grad-uates and friends of SFA.

According to the alumni Web site, “(The BIG Event) is designed to connect students with suc-cessful alumni in mentor-type relationships. A student is linked with a mentor who will pro-vide career advise and recom-mendations throughout his/her remaining semesters in SFA to help for smooth transition from college to professional life.”

The mentors include alumni, scholarship donors, present and former members of the SFA Board of Regents, faculty members, chapter leaders and Alumni Association board mem-bers. The Mentor Ring program is a cooperative effort of the UC

Bookstore, Balfour, the Student Foundation Association and the SFA Alumni Association.

Also a high point of the cer-emony is the dipping of hands by participants in purple dye, hence the name BIG DIP (dipped in pride).

“The school president, Dr Baker Pattillo will do the ring pre-sentation,” said Mitzi Blackburn, director of activities and events. ‘Students can purchase their ring at any time provided that they must have completed at least 60 credit hours or are in their junior year.” Rings can be ordered through the alumni Web site (www.sfaalumni.com).

“About 150 to 200 students take part in the Big Dip cere-mony each semester,” Blackburn said.

“Students are advised to avail themselves of this opportunity of connecting with individu-als with valid guidance on how to succeed in the professional world.”

sacholem@thepinelog.

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CMYK

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By Holley GaskillSTAFF WRITER

The Environmental Awareness Movement (TEAM), an SFA organization to pro-mote University recycling and sustainability practices, is tak-ing the “green movement” to new levels in the local com-munity.

Begun by League City se-nior Bano Benavides and a few interested participants back in 2007, TEAM seeks to unite the scattered efforts of individuals on campus looking to create a more sustainability-focused way of life.

In 2009, TEAM collected and recycled over 1,800 pounds of plastics alone. Even when the city cancelled its curb-side re-cycling program for the Fall 2009 Semester, TEAM’s efforts were not deterred.

“We would load up our member’s cars every time they drove home so they could recycle the plastics in their home cities,” Benavides said. Last spring, TEAM also hosted a “green day” for the children enrolled at the charter school on campus. They talked about recycling on a level where the kids could actively participate, and had a lot of fun getting everyone excited.

Recently, Vice President Penny Gibson organized a drive to earn points on the Coke Web site by typing in the codes off bottle caps they collected. The points were worth money, which TEAM do-nated to Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful.

Despite setbacks like the cancelled city recycling and shortages of money, TEAM has stayed actively involved in sustainability efforts, in-cluding two this past week: Campus Recreation’s Earth Day celebration and the National Volunteer Week. Both events were aimed at not only getting the organization’s name out around campus, but also to promote the causes central to their interest.

The Earth Day fair, despite cloudy weather, proved to be a great success for TEAM and the other organizations repre-sented. TEAM had a table set up out on the green grass of the Mast Arboretum, where they gave out informational materials on their drive to promote recycling around Nacogdoches, swapped ideas with community members on possible sustainability prac-tices they hope to see develop in the area and stamped the hands of the happy children passing by. “We may not be recycling right now,” Benavides said, “but we definitely want people to know we’re still here and want to get things accom-plished.”

During National Volunteer Week, TEAM sought to further the Inherit-A-Spot program here on campus. They met up Monday evening outside the Baker Pattillo Student Center (BPSC) and dispersed across campus to assess the par-ticular areas which are high or heavy in amounts of litter. They spent time cleaning up discarded trash, and sported

an informational table to help raise student awareness about their efforts.

With Nacogdoches recently looking to restart the recy-cling program using a satellite drop-off location, TEAM looks forward to renewed growth and contribution next semes-ter. “I’m hoping to see more people get involved. The com-munity needs to start now and develop the habit so when recycling becomes a neces-sary, we’ll be ready,” Benavides explained. “It’s not just plastic bottles and aluminum cans, it can be anything. Earlier this semester, one organization collected jeans.” Benavides and the other members of TEAM hope to see more students de-velop active interest in sustain-ability on campus and in the communities around them.

Sustainability is more than just a popular business fad or some kind of “movement” to TEAM, it’s a need to create a fu-ture in which we value and pre-serve the planet we all share. “We’re going to keep pushing,” Benavides said, “especially in terms of education. That’s how you really get people involved.” Events, he said, will also be a big part of keeping the TEAM effort going, and the organi-zation aims to have at least one per semester. Anyone in-terested in joining TEAM next semester can join up on their Facebook page, or check out meetings - times for next Fall T.B.A.

hgaskill@thepinelog.com

TEAM participates in Earth Day, National Volunteer Week with campus recycling

HOLLEY GASKILL/THE PINE LOGMembers of TEAM set up an information table at the Arboreturm on Earth Day. Last year, they recycled more than 1,800 pounds of plastic.

IT’S NOT TOO LATEto apply for the fall staff of The Pine Log

Download application from www.thepinelog.com, Work for Us

Deadline extended • Submit application to Student Publications, Room 2.308 BPSC

CMYK

opinionsthe pine log

Page Four Pine LogThe Monday, April 26, 2010

OpinionsPolicy

Opinions expressed in this sec-tion of The Pine Log are those of the individual writer or cartoonist and do not necessarily reflect those of the University, its administrative officers or Board of Regents.

Letters should be typed and should include the student’s home-town, classification, campus identi-fication number and phone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit letters for space, spelling, grammar and potentially libelous material. Letters should not be longer than 300 words. Any let-ter that does not follow this criteria will not be published.

SPRING 2010 EDITORIAL BOARD

EDITOR MARIE LEONARD

MANAGING EDITOR ENTERTAINMENT EDITORNICOLE HALL GARRETT COOK

SPORTS EDITOR OPINION EDITORSHELLY TREVINO JONATHAN GARRIS

PHOTO EDITOR ADVERTISING MANAGERTHOMAS MOTYKA JERRET SWIERC

COPY EDITORMONICA GORDON

✓ Write a letter to Grinding the Ax. Follow the guidelines on the right. Sign your name, and your letter will likely appear on this very page.

✓ Or use our Web site to submit a letter to Grinding the Ax. It’ll save you a trip to the Baker Pattillo Student Center.

✓ Post feedback to our stories online. Hit the “Feedback” button at the end of a story, and let us have it. We can take it.

We’re lookingfor your

FEEDBACK

Axes up to another successful Spring Fest.

Optimism, manners more than just clichè in today’s world

I was watching a comedy sketch the other day about being happy with what you have. His example was to stop talking trash about your car; it’s your car. Go take care of it and be happy you have it so “you don’t acci-dentally end up becoming no hater.”

There is far too much negativi-ty and hate right now. There’s too much jealousy, pessimism, doubt and gloom clouding the air. Have you found yourself grumbling under your breath when you pass somebody with a car newer than yours? Did you ever groan inside when the kid next to you made a B on last week’s test and you only got a C? Ever slam your plate on the table because the person in

front of you got the last corn dog? Of course you have. Everybody has. Rotten things and terrible days hap-pen.

But consider when you’re on the opposite end of the spectrum. Have you ever been having a good day, feeling downright fantastic, then lis-ten to someone else’s cynicism and leave feeling like there’s no reason on Earth for you to be smiling? Imagine: it’s that one randomly pleasant day of no homework and a great grade on that test you studied your brains out for. You’re feeling buoyant, and when you try to share why you’re so happy all you get is some version of “Lucky you. I have x-amount of papers to write and y-amount of assignments due tomorrow.”

It will bring down even the upbeat people in your life.

I can’t lie and say I haven’t been the downer in half of these situations. Everybody knows the disappoint-ment of someone pulling a Zeus and unleashing a downpour on my good mood, but I can’t deny I haven’t done the same thing.

It’s easy for someone to say “Just

smile!” and equally as simple to flash that person an obscene hand ges-ture. You know that if you were more cheerful, it could make other peo-ple around you cheerier as well. But we’re greedy. We need a reason to be content; after all, why should that person be happy and not me?

So what’s the reason? Unfortunately, the answer is cliché: come up with one. If nothing comes to your mind right away when some-one asks what you like about yourself, take some time and figure it out. It doesn’t have to be the ability to play half a dozen instruments or speak four languages; these are skills and accomplishments (though if you can speak more than one language or play any instrument at all, major props to you, good work). Are you tall? Do you have freckles you like? Can you make people laugh multiple times at din-ner? Can you figure out the underly-ing meaning of a novel before the rest of the class? Do you have a darn good reason to not make your bed? Did you just get a new pair of shoes? Have you recently cleared off and organized your desk? In my opinion, these are

more-than-legitimate reasons to like yourself, even just a little bit. Your dog pile doesn’t have to be huge for you to be proud of coming out on top.

I really hate to say stereotypical things, but people need to start ap-preciating what they have and stop being so ungrateful. Quit being mad at people for having more features on their car and take pride in yours. Be happy with your C because the kid behind you ended up with a D. Forget about the lost corn dog and enjoy the french fries from the fresh batch. Otherwise, you’re the hater no one likes. Deny it if you want, but as long as you’re angry at somebody for having more, doing better, or getting more than you, you’re hating. But when you’re happy with your stuff, accomplishments and the little ups you find day-to-day, you’ve no reason to loath others, and they have one reason, which is as good as a hun-dred, to hate you.

You don’t think coming up with something to be happy about can change a bad day? When I took psy-chology in high school, one of our homework assignments was to smile

for one hour. Real or fake, just do it. Of course I felt like an idiot, sitting on the couch grinning about noth-ing, but it did lead to an hour more entertaining than reading chapters and answering questions. My sisters didn’t understand why I was faking a smile, so I used it to mess with them, which led to a genuine one. Even if you have to force yourself to be happy, it doesn’t take much to turn a day around.

So compliment a stranger. Congratulate someone. Nod and smile a “Hello.”

Or you can continue to be bitter. Your call. I’m not naïve enough to be-lieve many people will try these ideas or that a college opinion piece will alleviate the negativity swarming our lives, but if a bad day is improved just a little bit, one person finds a reason to smile or someone decides to be content with what he or she has in-stead of hating on others, at least it’s made a couple people feel better.

Audrey is a journalism junior from Fort Worth

Audrey SpencerStaff Writer

aspencer@thepinelog.com

Running on empty — political parties fight for obsolescenceBy Gail CollinS

the neW york timeS

The whole world is expecting a cataclysm for the Democrats in November. After all, the economy is still a mess, and the party is still ... the party. In Illinois, which was first out of the box this season, the Democrats have already moved beyond the primary and into buyer’s remorse. They’ve already dumped the voters’ pick for lieutenant governor. This week, their question is whether they can get rid of their Senate nominee, Alexi Giannoulias, the son of a Chicago banking family, whose bank failed on Friday.

The Democratic disaster scenario would make absolute sense if it did not also require that the Republicans do something right. But in one state after another, they seem bent on nominating the worst possible candidate. The world is one big scavenger hunt, and their clue says, “Find somebody unelectable.”

In Connecticut, having driven Senator Chris Dodd from the race, the Republicans are racing into the corner of Linda McMahon, whose claim to fame is her role in exporting professional wrestling around the globe. In Florida, they got

tired of having their popular governor, Charlie Crist, as the senate nominee even before they actually nominated him. Now Crist is expected to run as an independent, and the G.O.P. will try to live happily ever after with a conservative state legislator who has issues about his use of the party credit card.

In Nevada, where Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, appeared to be hopelessly un-popular, the Republicans’ favorite, Sue Lowden, got caught up in a controversy over whether she favors returning to the days when people paid their medical bills by giving the doctor a couple of chickens. This is truly not the sort of policy debate you want to use to jump-start a campaign. And Lowden has yet to explain how much poultry it would cost for a colonoscopy.

The country may have moved to the right, but conservatives tend to underestimate the amount of blue that’s still out there. The new Republican governor of Virginia seemed stunned that his state reacted badly to his call for a Confederate History Month that did not mention slavery. But really, the very definition of a purple state is a place where, when you devote an entire month to recalling the glories of the confederacy, you have to give some time

to the bondage angle.In Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, the Senate

minority leader, intended to take noth-ing for granted when it came to keeping the Republicans’ hold on a Senate seat that’s up for grabs this year. His first, and canniest, move was to force the incumbent, Jim Bunning, to retire. Bunning, a cranky ex-baseball player, barely won his last race when he got caught using a teleprompter during a debate and claimed that his opponent, an Italian-American doctor, looked like “one of Saddam Hussein’s sons.”

For Bunning’s successor, McConnell picked Trey Grayson, the secretary of state, who looks a little like a younger, larger Mitch McConnell. Unfortunately for the plan, Grayson is currently getting his clock cleaned by the Tea Party can-didate, Rand Paul.

It is very hard to pick a favorite. Would you prefer the man endorsed by Mitch McConnell and Dick Cheney, or the one backed by Sarah Palin and Jim Bunning? I watched a Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce debate on Friday, and Grayson, who opposed wasteful earmarks, but not the good wholesome ones that come to Kentucky, kind of faded into the woodwork.

It was the out-of-the-running candidates who were the attention-grabbers. There was a very large, genial man whose slogan was “We need to make a U-turn to God,” and a small, gnarled World War II veteran who called the president “a would-be mullah of the most evil kind.” This was Gurley Martin, and his an-swer to a question on cap-and-trade legislation was to croak out “Horsefeathers! Horsefeathers! Horsefeathers!”

If Paul holds on to his lead and wins the nomination, the Democrats — who never re-ally felt they had a prayer in Kentucky — will take heart. Paul is going to be hampered by a general impression in many parts of the state that he is sort of strange. This may be because Grayson keeps running ads titled “Rand Paul: Strange Ideas.”

The Democratic nominee may be the lieu-tenant governor, Daniel Mongiardo, the same guy who Bunning called Saddam-like six years ago. If he and Paul are both the final candidates, it will be an all-physician Senate election. You do see more and more doctors in the political game. Perhaps they want to get out of the medi-cal business before that payment-by-chicken thing kicks in.

Axes down to SAA for refusing to refund money to teams who were only able to play one of their two match-es at Spring Fest.

Axes up to students, faculty and staff mem-bers who participated in the BIG event.

CMYK

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By David CarrNEW YORK TIMES

A high school football field has a majesty, even when empty, all the more so in Texas, where the week-ly game is a religious rite in which youthful striving collides with pride of place. Last November, a lone worker was preparing one of those fields for battle, patrol-ling the pristine artificial turf of the Dillon Panthers with a can of weed killer for any strays sticking through the carpet. With its wait-ing, expectant stands, the field looked almost like a television set.

Which of course it is, situated on a lot in an industrial part of Austin, near the airport. For four seasons this place has sprung to life not only with squads of players, but also with camera crews, produc-tion trailers and cast members of Friday Night Lights, a series that has become a fetish object for crit-ics but has yet to have a winning season in the ratings. The show, about the fictional Texas town of Dillon, has survived only because of a novel business arrangement: DirectTV shares the production costs and in return gets first crack at showing the episodes before NBC. In a time of stagnating, even declining audiences, it’s the kind of partnership that could win favor among television executives look-ing to finance serious drama.

Friday Night Lights, back for its

fourth season on NBC beginning May 7, is based on Buzz Bissinger’s 1990 nonfiction book of the same name about Odessa, Tex., and a 2004 movie directed by Peter Berg. And like the book and the movie, the TV series is only nominally about football. Friday night games are a narrative device, but the guts of the show juxtapose the soar-ing joys and hurts of family with the brutal, intimate charms of small-town life. While the network schedules are full of cops, doctors and lawyers, the people on “Friday Night Lights” teach, deliver pizza, sell cars, or if they aren’t so lucky, collect welfare.

On Season 4 of Friday Night Lights, this will be home field for Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), who along with his wife, Tami (Connie Britton), a guidance coun-selor turned principal, is in a for a rugged year. Mr. Chandler and Ms. Britton have served as an anchor for a series in which the younger characters fight their way through academic and romantic travails but, as happens in life, eventu-ally graduate. Season 3 ended with Taylor’s ouster as coach of the Panthers and an offer for him to take over the Lions when the school district reopens East Dillon High, a school on the other side of the tracks, where making the team seems the least of a young man’s worries.

Though the nation has suppos-

edly gone beyond race with the election of a black president, the series’s new season, as conceived by the show runner, Jason Katims, acknowledges that it continues to drive much of American civic life. Economic recovery may be in the air, but doesn’t often knock on the doors of East Dillon. And the war in Iraq, rarely seen on television news, is very much a fact of life here, as Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), the Panthers’ for-mer quarterback, struggles to look after his grandmother while his father serves yet another tour.

By putting the other side of town in the mix, Mr. Berg, who created the series after making the movie, said: “I think we all understood by making this move we could move deeper into issues that manifest themselves in high schools all over the country. By really looking into things like race and financial status, it brought us closer to the center of some im-portant arguments.”

If all that sounds like home-work, longtime fans of the show can rest assured that Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), a Dreamsicle to most female demographics, is very much a (shirtless) presence; that Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) stops back to see him from college; and that the evil combo of the hotdog quarterback J. D. McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter) and his father (D. W. Moffett) remain hell-bent on using the Panthers to their own venal ends.

In November, at a school in southeast Austin that serves as a stand-in for Dillon High, Tami Taylor has the young McCoy step into the principal’s office for a bit of a talking-to about his disrespect for anything save football. As she tells him she expects better of him, three cameras work the scene from every angle, a trademark of the show and of Mr. Berg.

“Each of the camera operators is a very important part of the crew and what we try to do,” said Nan Bernstein, a producer on the series. “The directors shape the scene, but the operators learn it, they know it, and they serve as a camera obscura, so that the viewer

never feels back from the action, they are always in the middle of it.”

The crew resets after a banging sound comes from another part of the school, where classes from Alternative Learning Center are under way. That most of the show is shot in Austin by a longstanding crew on actual locations, rather than sets, gives it a verisimilitude most network television does not approach.

Ms. Britton, having finished her scene after a small stumble — “Sorry guys, I’ve got to get my mojo back” — stepped outside to a picnic table and answered a few questions about why the show has found a small but frantic audi-ence.

“We are dealing in really pri-mal stuff here,” she said, “winning and losing, being a mother, what it’s like to be a husband trying to protect his family: these are very fundamental human experiences anyone can relate to. We look for small moments that mean a lot, that are resonant, and when that works, I think people really con-nect with it.”

Friday Night Lights stands out in other ways too. In a television world in which network shows are full of speeches, Friday Night Lights embraces the silences.

“A lot of times on this show, it’s

about what we don’t say, or what we are trying to say with our faces, not words, which is sort of how it works in life,” said Jesse Plemons, who plays Landry, the quarterback who moves with Coach Taylor to East Dillon. “I grew up in a small town near Waco, and this show is about the people I grew up with. It does it gracefully, not by beating you over the head with it.”

As Friday Night Lights has pro-gressed, characters have evolved. Landry was originally just a side-kick to the team’s quarterback, but he has gone from geek to love interest for the show’s hottie Tyra to accused murderer (long story, but it involves Tyra) to new kid in school. As happens on a show about high school, soon enough he will be gone.

This season Coach Taylor is try-ing to make football magic out at a school with no tradition and no resources, while his wife is prin-cipal at a moneyed school, where she ends up in the gun sights of prerogative and boosterism. For a few episodes it seems as if it might break apart Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, the real team at the center of Friday Night Lights. People who know the show know that won’t happen, that it will end in a hug of some kind. It just won’t be the kind of neat little hug audiences were expecting.

Friday Night Lights, critic’s favorite, returns to NBC

COURTESY PHOTO

Kyle Chandler stars as Coach Eric Taylor in NBC’s Friday Night Lights.

CMYK

Page Six Monday, April 26, 2010PINE LOGTHE

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By Andreya StephensonCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Shirley Crawford has en-dowed a new scholarship for SFA nursing students. Crawford has been the win-ner of SFA’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and Distinguished Home Economics Alumnus Award. She is also a past-president of

the SFA Alumni Association and past chairman of the SFA Alumni Foundation. Crawford also began four other schol-arships. The new Bill Davis and Shirley Crawford Nursing Scholarship is in memory of Bill Davis, a funeral director from Henderson who was very active in the community.

According to Mo Davis of the Alumni Association,

students can apply for this scholarship on the SFA Alumni site by clicking on the scholarship tab. The applica-tion will be up September 1, 2010 and due by February 1, 2011. This scholarship is for junior and senior nursing majors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Students must reap-ply for this scholarship each semester.

On 4-23-2010 an officer was dispatched to Steen Hall in reference to assault. Upon arrival,the officer made contact with the complainant, who advised on 4-23-2010 she was assaulted by two known subjects at Steen Hall.

On 4-22-2010 an officer was dispatched to the area of the Agriculture Building in refer-ence to a possibly intoxicated person. Upon arrival, the officer determined the subject to be intoxicated and a danger to themselves and others. The subject was arrested and transported to the Nacogdoches County Jail without incident.

On 4-18-2010 an officer was dispatched to Hall 16 in reference to theft. Upon arrival, the officer made contact with the complainant,

who advised between 4-16-2010 and 4-17-2010 his X-Box games were stolen from his residence at Hall 16. There is one suspect.

On 4-17-2010 an officer was dispatched to the McGee Building in reference to theft. Upon arrival, the officer made contact with the complainant, who advised on 4-16-2010 a handheld computer was stolen from his unsecured office at the McGee Building. There is one suspect.

On 4-17-2010 an officer observed a vehicle on Wilson Drive commit a traffic violation. The officer stopped the vehicle and made contact with the driver who was found to be driving while his license was suspended. The person was arrested and transported to the Nacogdoches County Jail.

The Crime LogFreshman wins 5K Mentor Ring Run

THOMAS MOTYKA/THE PINE LOGAustin Urias, Highland Village freshman, won the 5K Mentor Ring Run on Saturday, April 24. The run began and ended in the commuter lot. Anyone who finished the race was entered in a drawing to win a $500 credit for a Mentor Ring.

Distinguished alumna endows new scholarship

CMYK

Page SevenPine LogTheMonday, April 26, 2010

William R. Johnson Coliseum Stephen F. Austin State University

Nacogdoches, Texas

Thursday, April 29, 20106:30 PMPresented by

the Nacogdoches Band of BrothersTickets available at SFA Tickets O� ce, The Good

Book, Cottrell’s, Cornerstone Book Store, Christian Word and Works, and itickets.com

CMYK

sportsPage Eight Monday, April 26, 2010 Pine LogThe

“I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.” — Tony Robbins: Self-help speaker and author

Congratulations to the 2010 SFA Graduates!

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After three days of NFL draft coverage Stephen F. Austin All-American defensive end Tim Knicky received the phone call he has been waiting for since he started playing the game of football. Following the draft, the Green Bay Packers offered Knicky a free agent contract. The two-time All-American will leave for camp Thursday morning.

"I think it's a little poetic," Knicky said. "Nobody wanted to offer me a scholarship out of high school, so I walked on at SFA. I didn't get drafted, but the Packers have given me an opportunity, and that is all I can ask for. Of course everyone wants to hear their name called during the draft, but all I want is a chance to prove myself. I'm very excited to have the opportunity."

Knicky, a 2009 AP, Walter Camp, Sports Network and College Sporting News All-American, earned All-American honors in his final two seasons on campus. He closed out his SFA career by guiding the Lumberjacks to one of their best seasons in school history. SFA won the 2009 Southland Conference title with a 10-3 overall record, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs. It marked the school's first trip to the postseason since 1995.

A two-time first-team All-Southland Conference selection, and a four-time all-conference honoree, Knicky finished second in the nation in sacks (1.04 pg). He recorded 41 tackles, including 15 for losses, and 12.5 sacks in 2009, only one sack shy of tying the league's single-season record. Knicky was named 2009 SLC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, along with Central Arkansas's Larry Hart.

"Knowing that no one wanted to offer me a scholarship out of high school makes you play with a bit of a chip on your shoulder," Knicky said. "I came to work everyday and gave everything I had. SFA was a great opportunity for me and I couldn't ask for anything more. It has been a great journey."

Knicky Signs Free Agent Deal with Green Bay Packers By Shelley Trevino

SportS Editor

The SFA Baseball team won this weekend’s home series against rivals, the McNeese Cowboys with two wins (2-1 and 10-6) and a loss on Sunday (15-7).

The Jacks rallied back from a 1-0 deficit in the ninth on Friday to tie the game at 1-1 going into extra innings. With bases loaded in the final frame, Jerid Scarafiotti, Shreveport sophomore, hit a walk-off single that scored the winning run, finalizing the score at 2-1.

Jason West, Conroe sophomore, earned the win after starter, Tyler Herriage, Lewisville junior, and re-liever, Brad Oats, Decatur sophomore, threw during regulation.

Saturday’s game saw Bobby Loveless, Friendswood junior, and Garrett Smith, Carthage junior, hit two-run homers each to push the Jacks past the Cowboys 10-6.

Jared West, Conroe ju-nior, earned the win for the Jacks with Cory Osch, Caldwell sophomore, earn-ing his first save of the sea-son.

Despite the loss, Sunday saw Sugar Land juniors, Michael Haynes and Darren Crabtree hit homers in SFA’s effort to stay in the game. Haynes’ three-run shot was his fourth and Crabtree’s two-run hit marks his sixth for the season. Seven SFA pitchers saw the mound in Sunday’s match up with Justin Braddock, Southlake junior, earning the loss.

SFA will travel to Little Rock, Ark. on Tuesday ,April 27, before traveling to Hunstville for a weekend se-ries against Sam Houston.

The Purple squad recorded a 42-0 shutout over the White team Saturday night at Homer Bryce Stadium in the annual spring scrimmage. The purple team, comprised of primarily first teamers recorded six touchdowns (four passing/two rushing). The purple defense was just as tough, surrendering only five first downs in the three quarters of action.

"We just wanted to come out here and focus on getting better," head coach J.C. Harper said. "The spring game is the reward for all the hard work that these guys have been putting in for the past few weeks. The guys came out and ex-ecuted, and had a fun time."

Baytown, senior quarterback, and reigning conference player of the year, Jeremy Moses completed 10-of-15 passes for 95 yards and one touchdown. He also had one interception. Although Moses enters his senior season as the school's all-time leading passer, Coppell junior, Dalton Williams recorded the best num-bers for SFA. He finished the night completing 14-of-15 passes for 207 yards and three scores. Transfer Garrett Riley was 7-of-12 for 29 yards and an interception, while redshirt freshman and Whitehouse native, Brady Attaway com-pleted 5-of-8 passes for 29 yards.

Anthony Foster, Schertz sophomore, led all receivers with six catches for 71 yards. Cordell Roberson, Jefferson sophomore, added five

catches for 73 yards and a score, while Gralyn Crawford hauled in three passes for 34 yards and a score. The other two touchdown receptions were hauled in by Hammond, La. sophomore, Ryan Gambel (16 yards) and The Woodlands freshman, Lance Dozier (21 yards).

The Lumberjack running backs carried the ball 10 times for 55 yards and two scores. Dallas Sophomore, Romonté Hampton led SFA with seven carries and two touchdowns.

"We lost a lot of guys at receiver, and we have to replace our two starting defensive ends from last year, but I'm excited about the talent we have at those positions," Harper said. "We have some exciting players to watch.

The first-team defense seemed to pick up where it left off last season. It surrendered only five first downs on the night, and two of those came by way of pass interference calls. The sec-ond-team offense didn't record it opening first down until 2:04 remaining in the opening half.

"I think our defensive ends are going to be strong as well. We didn't get to see (Jacob) Fincher tonight, but put number 51 on his chest and most folks wouldn't know it isn't Tim Knicky. We moved Kenneth Charles to end and he has had a great spring, and I really think Rainey Sternes is going to be dominant on the outside as well. We have a great group of guys to work with," Harper added.

Purple shuts out White

ThomAS moTyKA/The Pine LoG

SFA SPorTS inFormATion

Tim Knicky, SFA graduate and All-American defensive end, signed as a free agent with the Green Bay Packers in the 2010 nFL draft.

ThomAS moTyKA/The Pine LoG

Baseball wins third straight

series