The Optimist Print Edition: 11/04/2009

b. No. What a waste of time.

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Optimistthe

acuoptimist.comBREAKING NEWS, VIDEOS, PHOTOS, DISCUSSION AND EXCLUSIVE CONTENTVol. 98, No. 21 1 section, 8 pagesWednesday, November 4, 2009

Forecast InsideSPECIAL EFFECTS ORgritty drama might appeal to your edgy side, but try re-watching a film you loved as a child. You might enjoy it more than you did 10 years ago.

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Online

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WILDCAT FOOTBALLkept its playoff hopes alive with their 47-35 win over A&M-Kingsville on Saturday, despite Kingsville blocking three of the Wildcats’ punts.

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Did you vote in the Google Trike contest?

Visit acuoptimist.com to join the discussion.

VIDEO

Frater Sodalis Haunted House

LOUD+CLEAR

The Best Medicine

a. Of course. Let’s put ACU on the map.

c. What’s a Google Trike?

Christianna LewisContributing Reporter

The new Street View Trike is bringing previously in-accessible sites to Google Earth. ACU is battling for nomination in the nation-wide contest that will de-

termine which sites – and universities – will be next on the map.

The Google Trike con-test was announced on the official Google blog Oct. 16 and lasted until Oct. 28. Any user could suggest a location for the

Google Trike’s next visit. The nominations fell into six categories, including landmarks, theme parks and university campuses. Google will review the re-quests and open the vote on the final nominees Nov. 11th.

Following Google’s an-nouncement, ACU began calling for alumni, faculty and students to vote to “put ACU on the map.” Links to the nomination site were posted on the ACU Web site, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. The

response was encourag-ing, said James Langford, director of web integration and programming.

“We’re just trying to get to the second round,” Langford said.

University vies for Trike spotTECHNOLOGY

Brittany BrandContributing Reporter

Spring Break Campaign signups began this week offering students 16 national and four inter-national campaign des-tination choices for the holiday break.

The registration pro-cess began Monday and

will continue through Thurs-day. Registration is accomplished through a lottery system, and lottery tickets are avail-able to interested students immediately after Chapel throughout the week in the Campus Center. Students are then

required to visit the SBC Web site to register with their lottery number.

Ben Rogers, senior fi-nance major from Ath-

ens, said students will be allowed to register for their desired SBC location in the Campus Center on Thursday based on the

time designated on their ticket number.

However, a lower lot-tery number does not guarantee and earlier signup time. Series of tickets will be selected at random; for example, 001-050 might be the sec-ond troup to sign up, said Daniel Burgner, an SBC committee member.

According to the SBC Web site, spots will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis with preference given to cur-rent students.

The campaigns to Den-ver and Guatemala usual-ly fill up fastest, Burgner said. The trip to Guate-

I like to travel and see how God is acting in different places.BEN ROGERSSenior finance major from Athens

ACADEMICS

Ben WartonContributing Reporter

ACU now offers graduate and undergradu-ate certification in gerontology for students interested in how we age.

The courses offered to gain certification are designed to coincide with multiple ma-jors, including sociology and family studies, social work, psychology, communications, Bible and exercise science, said Jan Brokaw,

service administrative coordinator for the Pruett Gerontology Center.

Courses can be taken as electives and include Sociology and Aging; Exercise and Aging; Death Education; and Adult Develop-ment in Aging.

Gerontology is the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of ag-ing, Brokaw said..

ACU has been involved with gerontology since 1984, when the university first added

it as a field of study. Two years later, the Center for the Study of Aging opened; it was renamed the Pruett Gerontology Center in 1994 in honor of Zack and Geneva Pruett, who provided a $1.5 million endowment for its creation.

Austin Holt, junior biblical text major from Granbury, said he thinks the gerontol-ogy courses will benefit him in his future

Festivalto showforeignfilms

FILM

Pruett Center offers gerontology certification

JOZIE SANDS Chief Photographer

Alyssa Matthews, senior family studies major from Kansas City, Kans., looks over an assignment in Dr. Charlie Pruett’s adult development and aging class.

Students register for domestic, international campaignsSPRING BREAK

Photo courtesy of BLOG.DK.SG

Bailey NealContributing Reporter

The Paramount Theatre will present a collection of 21 films, each less than 20 minutes, as part of the 11th annual 24fps International Short Film Festival on Fri-day and Saturday.

In a little more than a decade, the short film festi-val has grown from a local competition used to cele-brate Halloween to a large-scale operation, said Barry Smoot, artistic director for the Paramount. He says in its early years, the compe-tition received few entries, and those were from only Abilene and the surround-ing Texas communities.

The selection pro-cess for entries was the same this year, but the selections from which to choose were not.

“We take the field of sub-missions and narrow them down to 20 to compete and be screened for the public,” Smoot said. “We ended up this year with 21, we had such a hard time cutting them down.”

24fps is open to any student or independent filmmaker worldwide, ac-cording to the 2009 24fps

see PRUETT page 4 see FPS page 4

see TRIKE page 4

see SBC page 4

Announcements

CALENDAR AND EVENTS

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

2CampusDay

3 p.m.Weekend Campaign: Houston

6 p.m.Christmas Carousel at the Abilene Civic Center

7 p.m.24fps International Short Film Festival at the Paramount Theatre

7:30 p.m.Inspecting Carol at the Abilene Commu-nity Theatre

8 p.m. Wildcat Hour

5:30 p.m. Spring Break Campaign Signups

6 p.m.Christmas Carousel at the Abilene Civic Center

Texas Hold ‘em Tour-nament at the Mall of Abilene

6:30 p.m. Team Quest in Hart Auditorium

7 p.m. ACU Volleyball vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville

7:30 p.m.Inspecting Carol at the Abilene Commu-nity Theatre

8 p.m.The Tony Barker & Meatball Acoustic Jam at Strawberry’s

5 THURSDAY

3 p.m. Spring 2010 Registration: Juniors

The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities. Groups may send announcements directly to [email protected].

To ensure an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days before. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifications of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

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Volunteer Opportunities

The Salvation Army needs volunteers to help shoppers select Angel Tree toys, keep Angel Tree records, label items and receive gifts. Contact Cecilia Barahona at 677-1557 for more informa-tion.

The First Baptist Church needs volunteers to reorganize and rearrange supplies and educational materials in the children’s department. Volunteers are needed 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 12-31 at the First Baptist Church at 1333 N. 3rd St. Contact Cassie Ir-win at 675-8106 for more information.

The Salvation Army needs volunteers for the Christmas Angel Tree Project. Contact Cecilia Barahona at 677-1408 for more information.

Abilene Adult Day Care needs volunteers to help call Bingo. Volunteers are needed every Mon-day at 1:30 p.m., except the third Monday of the month, when volunteers are needed at 10:30 a.m. Contact Donna at 793-3519 for more informa-tion.

Christian Service Center needs volunteers to fill requests for clothing, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc. from the donation center. Volunteers may work Friday or Saturday from noon-4 p.m. Contact Jim Clark at 673-7531 for more information.

Literacy teachers are needed at the Interna-tional Rescue Commi-tee. Volunteers will help refugees learn to read and write. All volunteers are required to attend an IRC orientation and a literacy workshop and must commit to two to four hours per week for three months.

Breakfast On Beech Street needs volunteers to prepare and serve breakfast to homeless and low-income members of the Abilene commu-

nity. Breakfast is served from 6:30-7:15 a.m. Volunteers must arrive at 5 a.m. Tuesdays and 5:30 a.m. during the rest of the week. For more informa-tion, visit the Web site at www.fccabilene.org/out-reach.html.

Meals on Wheels is look-ing for volunteers to de-liver hot meals to seniors and adults with disabili-ties each week. Volun-teers may work once a week, Monday-Friday, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Contact Elisabeth Rodgers at 672-5050 for more information.

The International Res-cue Commitee needs volunteers to set up apartments before refu-gees arrive. This includes shopping for household supplies, assembling furniture, and putting away kitchen and food items. All volunteers are required to attend an IRC volunteer orientation and must be available dur-ing weekday afternoons. Reliable transportation and ability to perform minor physical labor also required.

The College Heights Friendship House needs help with children’s activities from 3-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call 829-6514 for more informa-tion.

The Noah Project needs volunteers to cover the domestic violence crisis hotline Monday-Friday between 6 and 10 p.m. Contact Yvonne Myers at 676-7107 for more infor-mation.

HERO, Hendrick Equine Rehabilitation Oppor-tunities, is in search of volunteers to walk or jog alongside a horse to support and assist clients with challenges. Requires at least one hour per week. Sessions run Sept. 29 through Nov. 19.

The Christmas Carou-sel will take place from noon-5 p.m. Nov. 5-8 at the Abilene Civic Center. There will be a sale of holiday gifts, sponsored by the Junior League of Abilene, which will benefit numerous charitable causes. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens.

A blood drive will take place from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 9 between the Admin-istration Building and the Brown Library.

Inspecting Carol will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5-7 at the Abilene Community Theatre at 801 S. Mockingbird Lane. Tick-ets are $8 for students. Call the box office at 673-6271.

The 24fps International Short Film Festival will

take place at 7 p.m. Nov. 6-7 at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets are $6. There will be 11 shows Nov. 6, and 10 shows will play Nov. 7. For a list of movies and showtimes, visit www. paramount-abilene.org/24fps/. To order tickets call the box office at 676-9620.

A Texas Hold ‘em Tour-nament will take place 6 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Mall of Abilene. Tournaments are held every Thursday night at 6 and 9 p.m. The tournament is free, and prizes are given for first place winners.

The Tony Barker & Meat-ball Acoustic Jam will take place at 8 p.m. Nov. 5 at Strawberry’s Bar and Grill. Call 232-6571 for more information.

Wildcat Hour will take place from 8-9 p.m. Nov. 6 all around Abilene. Wildcat Hour encourages participants to turn off the lights for one hour in an effort to conserve energy.

Country singer David Newbould will perform at 7:45 p.m. Nov. 7 at Play-faire Park. Tickets are $5.

Jody Nix and The Texas Cowboys will perform at 9 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Fire-house Bar and Grill.

A holiday recipe swap will take place at 4 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Mockingbird Branch of the Abilene Public Library. A cooking instructor will also pro-vide some healthy tips. The event is free.

A book signing by il-lustrator Connie Weeks and author Debbie Reese Potts will take place from 4-5:30 p.m. Nov. 4. They will sign copies of their

children’s book, Ocean Surprises, at the Texas Star Trading Company. They will be accompa-nied by Texas first lady Anita Perry.

A live broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera’s Turandot by Puccini will take place at noon Nov. 7 at the Century 12 Theatre.

A spiritual-experiences discussion will take place from 2-3:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Main Branch of the Abilene Public Li-brary. Call 214-929-3872 for more information.

A classic vehicle show will take place from noon-4 p.m. Nov. 7 at Elmdale Baptist Church. Registration for a car is $10, and there will be free hamburgers and hot dogs. Call 672-5527 or 518-8146 for more infor-mation.

4WEDNESDAY 6 FRIDAY

November 4, 2009 Campus News

Jill DougherContributing Reporter

The Junior League of Abilene is ready to start spreading Christmas cheer at the 29th annual Christ-mas Carousel. “A Heavenly Christmas!”, the theme for this year’s event, will take place from Nov. 5-8 in the Abilene Civic Center.

Customers can kick off holiday shopping as they peruse booths sponsored

by more than 100 mer-chants. Other activities include a style show, a grand gala and breakfast with Santa.

According to the Ju-nior League’s Web site, the merchants may vend anything from clothing and jewelry to children’s items, food and photog-raphy services, guaran-teeing shopping and en-tertainment for all ages.

A committee of 30 wom-

en spends a year planning and executing the event. Allison Cowling, Christmas Carousel chairman, said she expects about 10,000 visitors at the event.

“This event is our sole fundraiser,” Cowling said. “Last year, we raised over $100,000 to give back to the community.”

The Junior League strives to serve the children in the community and to promote volunteerism, the

Web site states. The money raised is used for grants, hygiene packages for el-ementary schools below the poverty line, funds for Child Protective Services and various other projects.

“It’s fun for the public, but we don’t want people to forget that this is a char-ity event,” Cowling said. “The money is going right back into the community.”

General admission to enter the market hall is $5

for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Children 12 and younger enter for free.

Katie Shipley, a junior speech pathology major from Dallas, said she is excited about the up-coming event.

“$5 isn’t that expen-sive, especially since I’d be getting a variety of differ-ent booths,” Shipley said. “The fact that they donate money for charity is even more of an incentive.”

Regardless of whether she does any Christmas shopping at the event, Shipley said simply attend-ing has its rewards.

“Even if I end up not buying anything, at least I’m still a part of the process of giving back,” Shipley said.

Christmas Carousel fundraises for communityLOCAL NEWS

Casey OliverContributing Reporter

The Halbert Institute for Missions, in a joint effort of Bible faculty and stu-dents will present Team Quest on Thursday, a short to pique interest in university-supported mis-sions opportunities.

Dr. Sonny Guild, direc-tor of the Halbert Institute, said the goal of the meet-ing is to educate the ACU community about teams already in the mission field or planning to go.

“There’s going to be a showing of a documen-tary made about one of our teams that’s currently in Tanzania, Africa,” Guild

said. “Our team that is go-ing to leave soon for Zam-bia, Africa, will also be introducing other teams preparing to leave.”

There are several teams training through the Hal-bert Institute, and this meeting is a good oppor-tunity for students to be introduced to members of those teams and hear their plans of action, Guild said.

There also will be a food tasting with several foods from around the world to give students a glimpse into the fields the mission teams will be en-tering, he said.

Shelly Tarter, junior the-atre and technical design major from Shallowater,

said studying abroad in-creased her global aware-ness and she is looking forward to hearing others’ stories from the field.

“I really enjoy getting to share my experiences abroad, and I think it’s awesome that these mis-sions teams will be shar-ing with others, as well,” she said. “

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thurs-day in Hart Auditorium and the lower rotunda of the Biblical Studies Build-ing. All students are wel-come, and signups are not required.

Halbert Institute seminar sparks interest in missions

MINISTRY

Emily LoperContributing Reporter

The Susan G. Komen On the Go trailer set up shop in the mall area Fri-day to educate students about breast cancer and encourage action in the fight against it.

Janelle Benuska, Ko-men On the Go staff mem-ber, said the tour started in New Jersey and traveled down the East Coast to its final stop in Abilene. She said its goal is to educate youth about the untruths of breast cancer.

“It is a common myth that breast cancer only affects women over 40,” Benuska said. “That’s why detection is key.”

Benuska said the main feature of the pink trailer is its interactive computer curriculum. The eight to 10 minute program gives students general knowl-edge, as well as many little-known breast cancer statistics. Upon comple-

tion of the program, par-ticipants were given a free drawstring bag containing more information about breast cancer and entered into a drawing for a free iPod Nano.

The Susan G. Komen foundation sponsors na-tional and local events raising money for breast cancer research through-out the year. The Ko-men foundation’s two most popular events are its Race for the Cure, a 5K walk or run, and the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 60-mile walk.

Benuska said the tour focuses on college cam-puses. About 200 students complete the curriculum on each campus, and oth-ers stop by throughout the day to pick up infor-mation pamphlets.

“People always learn something new from the video curriculum, as well as from the stories of those whose lives have been touched by breast

cancer,” Benuska said.Amanda McAdams,

junior social work major from Tyler, said the pink trailer caught her atten-tion as she walked to class Friday morning. In her free time after Cha-pel, she decided to brave the long line and watch the presentation.

McAdams said she knew a little about breast cancer before she entered the trailer but was shocked by some of the statistics included in the program.

“I always thought most of the women affected by breast cancer had some-one in their family who had been affected,” McAd-ams said. “The curriculum talked about how women with no affected relatives are just as susceptible.”

Awareness ‘On the Go’HEALTH

contact Oliver [email protected]


Heather Green Wooten (’80) signs copies of her book, The Years of Polio in Texas, in the Mc-Glothlin Campus Center on Monday afternoon.

contact Dougher [email protected]

contact Loper [email protected]

rules and guidelines. This year, the film competition did not receive any sub-missions from ACU stu-dents but received a total of 437 film entries from all over the world.

“There’s a film in the competition from Slove-nia; I mean, I had to look up where Slovenia was,” Smoot said. “The entries start coming in from Texas and go all the way across the U.S., to Canada, to Mexico … then places like Iran and Japan.”

Smoot said the first 11 films will be shown Friday night, and the remaining 10 on Saturday night. Awards will be given after

the last short film. Three cash prizes are given to the top three films, and another cash prize is giv-en to the film that receives the Horizon Award, which is granted to the most promising student film.

A free screening of four films by teenage artists will take place at the Para-mount Theatre as part of ArtWalk on Thursday, and 24fps is presenting a Young Filmmaker Show-case on Friday.

Tickets to the film screenings are $6 each night. Those interested can find more information about 24fps at www.para-mount-abilene.org/24fps.

November 4, 2009From Front

Google was not specific on how the locations will be evaluated, but Lang-ford said the number of requests likely will influ-ence the choice of nomi-nees. Langford said he believed the response was enough to increase ACU’s chance of reaching the fi-nal round.

“One thing that might help is that we’re on the Customer Advisory Board for Google Apps; but we’re also in the middle of West Texas,” Langford said. “They might choose larger campuses next.”

The competition not only offers ACU good press, Langford said, but gives people worldwide an opportunity to visit the campus from the com-fort of their own homes. Though ACU already has a 3-D map of its campus available on the Internet, the Google Trike would capture 360-degree photo-graphic views all over cam-pus, allowing the viewer a much richer experience of the university. This would be a great tool for poten-tial students, as well as alumni who haven’t been able to see the campus’s changes over the years, Langford said.

The Google Trike is a tricycle mounted with nine cameras designed to cap-ture panoramic images of locations out of reach of the Street View Cars. It has

already captured several famous locations, includ-ing LEGOLAND California, Santiago State University and several historic sites in Europe. However, this competition offers the public its first opportu-nity to decide which new locations can be visited on Google Earth.

If ACU is chosen as the Google Trike’s next des-tination, the visit – and launch party – will be planned and coordinated by the five ACU Google ambassadors.

The ambassador proj-ect is one of several in-dications of ACU’s un-common relationship with Google, said Lead Ambassador Joshua Ar-cher, sophomore informa-tion systems major from Southlake. ACU’s partner-ship with Google may give ACU a competitive edge in the nomination stage of the contest, he said.

“I think we have a re-ally good shot at it,” Ar-cher said. “A lot of schools don’t have what we have.”

Students will be able to vote on the finalists at www.google.com/trike Nov. 11. To find more information about the Google Trike and the com-petition, Archer said stu-dents can “Google it.”

“I want to go into ministry when I’m done with col-lege; so, I think that taking gerontology courses would greatly increase my abil-ity to minister to people,” Holt said. “Knowing about people of all ages and how they think is something that is very important to my career.”

Ministers, counselors and directors of commu-nity programs for older adults or researchers and teachers in gerontology would profit from the certi-fication, Brokaw said.

Along with academics, the Gerontology Center fo-cuses on service and leader-ship within the community.

“We assist churches throughout the nation with developing ministries with senior adults, training workers to serve as senior adult ministers and hosting educational conferences and seminars around the country,” Brokaw said.

Students also partici-pate in developing and conducting research proj-ects, professional and con-tinuing education.”

For more information about the gerontology pro-gram, visit the center’s Web site at www.acu.edu/aca-demics/cas/gerontology.

mala is a medical mission trip offered through the premedicine program; it requires a separate ap-plication.

Seattle is the largest campaign with 26 spots available. The other campaigns have room for 10-20 people.

Burgner, senior politi-cal science major from Yorba Linda, Calif., said the trips are not limited to undergraduate stu-dents. Faculty, graduate

students and even those who do not attend ACU may participate. Burgner will lead the campaign to Honduras this year.

“SBC really are an act of ACU to create leaders to spread the word of Christ,” Burgner said.

The campaigns are about service, and cam-paigners do “everything from building churches to entertaining children to feeding the homeless and spreading the love of Christ by serving others and shining his light into a darkened world,” accord-

ing to the SBC Web site.“I like travel and see-

ing how God is acting in different places,” Rogers said. Rogers, a senior fi-nance major from Athens, will be leading a campaign to Boston this year.

The international campaigns will travel to Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nica-ragua. The campaigns within the nation in-clude: Boulder, Colo.; Chicago; Corpus Chris-ti; Denver; Huntington Beach, Calif.; Boston; Houston; New Orleans;

Manchester, N.Y.; Se-attle; Patchogue, N.Y.; St. Paul, Minn.; Atlanta; Miami; Salem and Wash-ington D.C. Campaigns vary in price, ranging from Houston at $250 to Nicaragua at $1450.

For more information visit www.acu.edu/sbc.

Trike: Chance riding on votesContinued from page 1

contact Lewis [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY

SBC: Students travel to serveSPRING BREAK

Continued from page 1

contact Brand [email protected]

Pruett: Courses open to all majors

ACADEMICS


contact Warton [email protected]

FPS: Paramount presents shorts

FILM


contact Neal [email protected]

Dr. Ellen Little knows what it means to be called by God.

As a medical missionary who has spent time on at least three continents, Little, physi-cian and medical director of the ACU Medical Clinic, has spent years serving “the call.”

“I majored in premed and Spanish,” Little says, “But I always had an interest in missions.”

Little went to medical school at Texas Tech Univer-sity, and while in her resi-dency training, made the de-cision to move to Uganda.

“I was praying to God ev-erywhere I went, teaching people the role that God plays in our health,” she says. “I lived there eight years work-ing as a missionary doctor, doing health teaching and Bible teaching.”

Global Gospel

While there, Little says, she saw many people suffering from malaria, and she came into contact with cultural be-liefs that often conflicted with her own Christian beliefs.

Many people believed curs-es caused sickness, she says. But, rather than blatantly re-futing their cultural beliefs, Little says she worked to help

her patients transcend them through an understanding of God as a force bigger and more powerful than any curse.

Some also considered in-fertility or a lack of male chil-dren a curse or a “woman’s issue,” something Little saw as an opportunity to use Bib-lical stories to connect with her patients.

She referred to the story of Abraham and paralleled his desire for children with a family’s desire for sons. Lit-tle also told of God’s request for Abraham to sacrifice his son, asking families if per-haps God was testing them in a similar fashion.

“There are a lot of ways things are written in the Bi-ble that connect in a way sci-ence could not to the African mind,” Little says.

The spiritualism of their culture made Biblical sto-ries something easily under-stood and shared, Little says. And her goal was to use that strong belief in the spiritual realm to better communicate the true nature of God.

“God is more powerful than Satan,” she would say. “Good is more powerful than evil.”

Little’s work with the peo-ple of Uganda was strength-

ened by her home church, the Kampala Church of Christ. Church leaders worked with Little to find a common ground on which to connect with the people and explore the primary issues making patients sick.

While living there, Little con-tinued traveling throughout the continent, aiding children in Kenya and patients in Sudan before returning to Uganda.

“There’s a lot of HIV/AIDS in Africa and Uganda,” Lit-tle says, her voice catching. “Some were friends … there were a lot of sad stories.”

No Place Like Home

Despite Little’s obvious con-cern for the African people, she seems to radiate a sense of joy. She maintains her work in Africa was reward-ing, but it was with equal pleasure Little responded to the call to return to the Unit-ed States.

“I’d always says that if I was going to move back to the United States, I’d want to work at a Christian school,” Little says. “There was a call-ing – a literal calling – to come back here.”

The call, Little says, was from a friend who knew of

Little’s desire to work at a Christian school and had heard of an opening at ACU. That phone call led Little to Abilene, where she accepted the position she fills today.

The differences between African and American cul-tures immediately became apparent, Little says. Vari-ances ranged from the fast-paced American lifestyle to hearing English spoken as a primary language as opposed to African dialects.

However, Little felt she had entered a position where she could have an equally strong impact on people’s faith.

“I have a chance to see stu-dents grow in their faith and be with them at what I feel is a critical juncture in their spiritual lives,” Little says.

Prescribing Love

The chance to make a dif-ference was a privilege she welcomed in her new occupa-tion. Little noted she, as well as other doctors in the clinic, occasionally plays the role of mentor to students, guiding them in their spiritual walks in addition to attending to their medical concerns.

This dedication to students is something Little is known for and something her col-leagues have come to see as an integral part of her ministry.

Michelle Drew, the family nurse practitioner at the Med-ical Clinic, has known Little for 10 years. In fact, Drew’s arrival at the clinic came at Little’s urging, Drew says.

“What makes Ellen so spe-cial is that she ‘walks the walk,’” Drew says. “Her whole medical career hasn’t been about being a doctor who happens to be a Christian; it’s about having a vocation that could fit in to her life as a Christian and the service that she’s committed to in her walk with God.”

She also noted Little always offers to pray with students and patients, and even those who decline her offer receive prayers on their behalf. Her concerns, Drew says, extend beyond physical ailments to the spiritual health of her pa-tients. As an Abilene native and ACU graduate, Little is well-equipped to handle the problems patients may lay at her feet, Drew says.

“She’s already been where they are at now,” Drew says. “She can empathize with the challenges students are fac-ing right here, right now, be-cause she’s been there and done that. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s a great doctor, and she’s an amazing woman

of God.”

Just Part of the Job

As for Little, she says her fo-cus on students is all part of the day’s work.

“It’s part of my job to pray with patients, “ Little says. “It’s not boring. It’s fun work, what I do.”

Regarding her interest in medical missions, Little says she hopes to attend Spring Break Campaigns and already is planning a trip to Uruguay next June.

Little also is looking into doing premed and prehealth trips, with the intent of comparing and contrasting health care delivery in other countries to that in the Unit-ed States. She says travel has been and will continue to be a significant part of her life.

“I’ve been to about 25 countries – do you want me to name them all?” Little says, laughing. “I’ve been to a med-ical women’s conference in Thailand. I spent eight years in Africa. I went to Europe as a sophomore in college. I’ve been to Central America – you name the country, I want to go. Any place, I want to go there too.”

However, Little empha-sizes her love for travel is a passion God utilizes to help spread the Gospel.

Contagious Passion

“I love travel, and that’s great, but I think God does lead us in those areas where we have a passion.” she says.

That belief, she says, is something she wants to share with ACU students, along with her desire for students to go out and pursue their own passions.

“I just encourage people,” Little says. “If this is where you see yourself, just go out and do it. Don’t talk yourself out of doing things just be-cause you think you should do something practical.”

Beyond that, Little says, finding the place God wants to use you is a combination of passion and prayer.

“Sometimes there is some-thing that resonates with your heart,” Little says, “and you find it – that calling – through prayer.”

FocusNovember 4, 2009

contact Leahy [email protected]

Photo courtesy of DR. ELLEN LITTLE

Clinic doctor administers Gospel message with medical remedies

Littleput a

love in yourart Cara Leahy

Features Writer

Photo courtesy of DR. ELLEN LITTLE

LEFT: Dr. Ellen Little cares for a baby in Africa during her time as a missionary. Little said she sees similarities between her minis-try in Africa and as the doctor at ACU’s medical clinic.

BELOW: Little works at an eye clinic in Africa as a missionary. Little said differences between African and American cultures were apparent immediately upon returning to the United States.

Opinion November 4, 2009

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Optimistthe

By Jordan BlakeyAtaraxia

At some point in life, peo-ple cross the line from G-ratings to blood, guts and bad language. You know those kids who go to col-lege and overdose on R-rated movies and then talk about how cultured and artistic they are. They turn up their noses at the latest Pixar movie, and you can’t even breathe the words Beauty and the Beast with-out getting a ridiculing. The problem with putting aside childish things is that you miss the valuable lessons hidden – or obvious – in classic children’s movies.

As a silly and mildly frightening example, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory presents a strong, although sugarcoated mes-sage of integrity. Wonka al-

lows five lucky kids to take a tour of his chocolate fac-tory, but they all seem to fall short of his standards. Augustus Gloop plops into the chocolate river and is sucked up a tube; Violet Beauregarde chews the untested piece of chewing gum after she is warned against it and balloons into a giant blueberry; Charlie breaks the rules but expe-riences the power of for-giveness when he owns up to his mistake.

Most kids remember Woody the cowboy doll looking sadly at the name Andy scribbled across the bottom of his shoe in Toy Story. When Andy gets a new toy, Buzz Lightyear, Woody faces issues of jealousy and insecurity,

but risky adventures teach them to swallow their pride for Andy’s benefit, and af-ter some shady business with a bully and a rocket, find they can be friends in spite of themselves.

In The Jungle Book, Mowgli is raised and be-friended by wolves who begin a quest to return him to the man village when they discover Shere Khan is in the jungle and threatening Mowgli’s safe-ty. They meet some bumps along the way when Mowg-li decides he wants to stay in the jungle, but in the end, Bagheera and Baloo encourage him to go back where he belongs.

Growing up is the theme of many kids’ films. In The Lion King,

Simba feels guilt because of his father’s death and runs away. As he gets older, he is faced with the decision to return and accept responsibility for the dismal state of Pride Rock or stay with Timon and Pumbaa, living care-free in the jungle. Simba eventually decides to take his place as king – with a little help from his cloud-father and a crazy mon-key named Rafiki.

In Mary Poppins, Jane and Michael are used to taking advantage of their nannies by playing pranks and getting into trouble, but Poppins manages to gently whip them into shape without stifling their creativity. The adults in the movie laugh so much they

are flying in the corner of a living room. Jumping into paintings, dancing on rooftops and flying kites, the children and their stiff-upper-lip father make a compromise on the correct way to act and learn to re-late to each other.

Children’s movies are not shallow. They help us hold on to that spirit of imagination and cre-ativity. R-rated movies can be great, but they are not the only ones

at the theatre. You are never too old or mature for a kid movie. Keep an open mind, and remem-ber you can find depth if you’re looking for it – even in a movie with talking animals, danc-ing chimney sweeps or Oompa Loompas.

Kid flicks offer meaningful messageEDITORIAL

Religious freedom expands ChristianityCOLUMN

Self Examination Ryan Self

The cities of Europe are lit-tered with cathedrals. They are impressive, imposing, centuries old and most d a y s , close to empty.

These s t o n e -c a r v e d buildings, with their ornately c a r v e d gargoyles and striking stone towers and buttress-es, are a monument to Europe’s deeply religious history. It is a history filled with inquisitions, reforma-tions, revolutions and cen-turies of religious leaders closely aligned with those in power. While it would seem religion’s prominent role in government helps religion to thrive, history tells a different story.

There are religious ref-erences everywhere in Europe. Besides the many cathedrals that line the streets, there are count-less references to religion in daily life. The streets

themselves are reminders of Europe’s religious roots. There are hundreds, if not thousands of roads in Western Europe that begin with Saint or have some re-ligious affiliation.

Despite all this expo-sure to religious symbols and street names, reli-gious affiliation in Europe is starkly low compared to religious affiliation in America. According to a study by Vexen Crabtree, only 6 percent of Britons attend church on a weekly basis. Only 12 percent of the population in France – a country the history of which involves more than a few grievances against the power-hungry Church – at-tends church more than once per month, accord-ing to the U.S. Department of State. Even in Italy, the home of the Vatican and numerous religious monu-ments, weekly attendance at religious services hovers around 15 percent, accord-ing to the Telegraph.

America’s founding fa-thers, in response to the abuses of power by the monarchies and religious leaders in Europe, sought

to place a clear division between church and state. Freedom of religion, not the injection of religion into every level of govern-ment and daily life, has al-lowed Christianity to flour-ish here in the states.

The problem in Amer-ica is not that those who identify themselves as nonbelievers have never been exposed to Christian-ity. It is, perhaps, the fact some have been overex-posed to a cheap, commer-cialized version that is not appealing. The solution to this problem is not more prayer in schools or more nativity scenes in front of city hall.

The presence of the Ten Commandments in a court-house is a comforting idea, but the removal of these commandments from the premises does not mean all morality leaves with them. The moral and ethi-cal principles of the people

we elect are the concern, not the religious symbols and monuments that sur-round them.

Christianity, if we be-lieve it to be true, should be able to flourish without government intervention. Government protection, yes, but the freedom rather than the endorsement of religion that has allowed American religiosity to become what it is. As Ben-jamin Franklin once said, “When a religion is good, I conceive it will support it-self; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to sup-port it so that its profes-sors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ‘tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.”

THE ISSUEAdults can easily brush off children’s movies instead of giving them a chance.

OUR TAKEChildren’s movies are not just for kids. They have real themes and meanings for adults, too.

Young-timer tells old tales

COLUMN

Bread with Tomato Colter Hettich

Stories beginning with, “In my day … ” or “When I was just a little twerp … ” are always good for a chuckle; but of-ten, I give them the p o o r e r half of my d i v i d e d attention.

When I turned on the TV Sunday afternoon, I choked at the sight of Brett Favre throwing against the Green Bay Packers. In my day, my younger brother threw on his new No. 4 Packers’ jersey Christmas morn-ing and didn’t take it off for weeks.

As I stood in front of that 46-inch, HD-beam-ing flat-screen, I real-ized I had a few in-my-day stories for today’s little twerps.

In my day, Brett Favre was every Cheesehead’s idol. Today, Lambeau Field’s faithful boo the quarterback they once adored, snow or shine.

In my day, Arnold Schwarzenegger roamed a post-apocalyptic world as mankind’s only hope, a renegade robot-ransack-er. Today, Arnold roams the American desert looking for California’s economy. When you see the Governator standing calmly at a podium, just know he harnesses the power to splinter it with his bare hands.

In my day, talking to anyone outside a mov-ing vehicle required a bag phone: a corded phone, securely at-tached to a nylon bag, powered by the ciga-

rette lighter. Today, a bag phone is almost as handy as a torch.

In my day, memory cards didn’t exist. We didn’t save our prog-ress. “Game over” actu-ally meant your game was over. And if your game froze, there was no scratch on the disc – there was no disc. You merely needed to blow inside the cartridge through your shirt and slap it back into the console.

In my day, connect-ing to the Internet sum-moned an electronic orchestra. I can only compare the 10-15 sec-ond symphony to the sound of a lawnmower running over a tennis racket, complimented by 20 forks grinding on a slick dinner plate.

In my day, random statements of fact could not instantly be verified by 3G iPhones. We ar-gued. Indefinitely. If our bag phone had service, we’d call our friend. Connecting to the Inter-net took too long and gave you a headache. Today, thanks to 3G and IMDB, you don’t have to remember that actress’s name or that movie she was in.

You will have your own “in my day” stories before you know it; so, let the old-timers share theirs. You’ll learn a thing or two and just might make an unlikely friend in the process.

Email the Optimist at:[email protected]

contact Self [email protected]

Freedom of religion, not the injection of religion into every level of government and daily life, has allowed Christianity to flourish here in the states.

contact Hettich [email protected]

Hettich

Self

ryl Richardson barreling through the line from 1 yard out. On their next possession, ACU was forced to punt. The punt was blocked and returned 22 yards for a game-tying touchdown. The Wildcats answered with a 70-yard drive, re-sulting in a field goal.

Kingsville quickly answered on the open-ing drive of the sec-ond quarter, going 90 yards on six plays for a touchdown to take their only lead of the game, 14-10.

After a Reggie Brown touchdown, Craig Har-ris intercepted Kings-ville quarterback Bil-ly Garza. Five plays later, Richardson got his second touchdown of the game to give the Wildcats a 24-14 lead. That was the last score of the half, and the Wildcats took a 10-point lead into the locker room.

Kingsville started the second half with the ball, but ACU forced them to punt. On the fourth play of the next drive, ACU threw a short pass to Edmund Gates, who eluded a defender and raced down the field

for a 72-yard touch-down. This was the longest ACU pass play of the season.

Later in the quar-ter, Mark Sprague hit a booming punt that pinned the Javelinas on their 6-yard line. The Wildcats dialed up a blitz, and Fred

Thompson sacked Garza in the end zone for a safety, making the score 33-14.

“I thought he threw it,” Thompson said. “Coach called a good play. It opened up, and my eyes got real big. I just threw my hands up and jumped

on him.”Justin Andrews add-

ed a score on the next drive, catching a 5-yard pass from Gale. Brown put the game away late in the third quarter with his second touchdown of the day. The Wildcats went into the fourth quarter with a com-

manding 47-14 lead.Kingsville mounted

a comeback in the fourth, scoring 21 points, but they still fell to the Wildcats by a 47-35 score.

The Wildcats will face one final road test against Midwest-ern State in Wichita

Falls. The Mustangs are ranked sixth in the region and the Wildcats fourth.

November 4, 2009 From Sports

Win: ACU keeps playoff hopes alive

LSC: ACU No. 4 seed in tournament

FOOTBALL

OPINION


contact Cantrell [email protected]

her season high in as-sists with 52, only seven shy of her career high.

Shawna Hines, Mi-chelle Bacon and Lauren Leone had double digits in kills with 12, 11 and 10, respectively. Hines, who leads the nation in blocks, added six more to her commanding total.

The win came after a blowout by the ACU women Thursday. The ’Cats made quick work of the East Central Ti-gers in a match that lasted only 65 minutes. The Wildcats committed just eight errors in the entire match en route to a 3-0 victory.

The Wildcats will fin-ish up the regular sea-

son this week with two games at home. Their 16-home game winning streak – and their play-off chances – will be on the line when they face Texas A&M-Kingsville on Thursday and Tarle-ton State on Saturday.

Because of Friday’s loss against Midwestern in the last regular-season game, the Wildcats didn’t get the first round bye they were looking for in the tourna-ment. ACU is now the fourth seed; Central Okla-homa still leads the confer-ence, followed by West Tex-as A&M and Midwestern.

The Wildcats have a good chance at going far in the tournament, with only six losses in the entire sea-son. Shots on goal, how-ever, are a key factor for a win – the Wildcats’ only losses came when their op-ponents’ shots on goal out-numbered their own. If the ladies keep playing how they have been, though, it might be wise to put your money on them.


Wildcat safety Tony Harp is escorted by his family before the Texas A&M-Kingsville game. Harp was one of twenty seniors honored on Senior Day.

TEAMRECORD

CONFERENCEOVERALL HOME5-3-2 8-1-1

AWAY2-4-110-6-2

NEUTRAL0-1-0

Courtney Wilson

Crissy Lawson

Courtney Wilson led the Wildcats with five goals during the regular season. Wilson is also the all-time leading goal scorer for the Wildcats with 17. Honorable Mention: Lyndsey Womack

Crissy Lawson put together another successful campaign for the Wildcats. Lawson allowed only 13 goals all season and recorded six shutouts. Honorable Mention: Alyson Thomas

Julie Coppedge

Freshman Julie Coppedge only scored four goals for the Wildcats but made all of them count – each goal was a game winner.

Offensive MVP

Defensive MVP

Clutch Player


contact Bartee [email protected]

Streak: Wildcat win could propel ’Cats to playoffs

SOCCER


contact Gwin [email protected]

Texas A&M-Kingsville had the ball at its own 7-yard line. Kingsville was in a shotgun formation with three wide re-ceivers to the left and one to the right. Running back Fred Winborne was in the back-field with quarterback Billy Garza. This was a formation the Javelinas ran several times Saturday.

ACU countered by having defensive end Aston Whiteside line up over the Kingsville right tackle. Defensive tackle Marvin Jones lined up over the center, and Bryson Lewis was between

the left guard and left tackle. Be-fore the snap, linebacker Casey Carr walked over the left guard, showing blitz. Linebackers Fred Thompson and Kevin Washing-ton were lined up over the left tackle, also showing blitz.

What Happened

At the snap, Marvin Jones rushed the QB, causing both the right guard and the center to try and block him. Bryson Lewis bull-rushed the guard and began pushing him into the backfield. Kevin Washing-ton engaged the left tackle be-fore dropping into short zone coverage along with Casey

Carr. Thompson looped inside of Lewis – RB Fred Winborne tries to come over to block Thompson but was unable to get to him because Lewis had driven his man into the back-field. Because Jones and Lewis did a good job of occupying the interior lineman, Thomp-son was able to go untouched to the quarterback.

To make matters worse for the Javelinas, Aston Whiteside was able to beat the RT with a phenomenal speed rush to help bring down Garza for the safety.

The Concept

When the Javelinas came out in

a spread formation, the Wild-cats countered by overloading – rushing more defenders than the Javelinas had to block – the right side of the defensive line and showing blitz. This caused Garza to get rid of the ball quick-ly on his “hot” read. However, because Washington and Carr dropped into coverage where Garza wanted to throw, the QB had to hold onto the ball, giving the defenders plenty of time to get to him for the safety.

Ryan CantrellAssistant Sports Editor

The Wildcats rebound-ed from two consecu-tive losses to defeat Texas A&M-Kingsville 47-35 Saturday. The win kept the Wildcats’ playoffs hopes alive go-ing into the final week of the season.

“It started out with the offensive line,” said Head Coach Chris Thomsen. “They didn’t play well last week, so they wanted to come out and prove that they were a better group than that. We want this to be a start of a long season.”

Mitchell Gale came out strong and led the Wildcat offense, which struggled last week, to 47 points, its highest total since hanging 58 on Fort Lewis in the second game of the season.

“The difference was our preparation,” Gale said. “We came back hungry Sunday after we

watched film. We knew what we did wasn’t us and just had to get that fixed. Tuesday, Wednes-day, Thursday and Fri-day, we came out fo-cused and determined to right the ship.”

ACU started the game with an 11-play, 78-yard touchdown drive, ending with Dar-

Sports November 4, 2009

Angelo State 5-3 6-4

MSU 6-2 8-2

Standings

THURSDAY

SoccerACU at Midwestern State, 2:30 p.m.

VolleyballACU vs. TAMU-Kingsville, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY

SoccerLSC Semifinals

SATURDAY

FootballACU at Midwestern State, 1 p.m.

Cross-CountryNCAA Division II South Central Regional, 10 a.m.

VolleyballACU vs. Tarleton State, 2 p.m..

HOME GAMES LISTED IN ITALICS

Upcoming

THURSDAY

VolleyballACU 3, East Central 0

FRIDAY

SoccerACU 0, Midwestern State 3

Women’s BasketballACU 81, Lubbock Christian 61 (Exhibition)

SATURDAY

FootballACU 47, Texas A&M-Kingsville 35

VolleyballACU 3, SE Oklahoma 1

Scores

FOOTBALLTeam Div.

VOLLEYBALL

TAMU-K

SE Okla.

Central Okla.

6-2

4-4

3-5

WTAMU 5-3

TAMU-C 4-4 4-5

Team Div.

Angelo State

TAMU-K

8-3

6-5

Cameron 4-7 16-11

WTAMU 12-0 29-3

MSU 6-5 10-22

WOMEN’S SOCCERTeam Div.

Central Okla. 7-3WTAMU 7-2-1 13-2-2

TX Woman’s 6-3-1 8-8-1

TAMU-C 5-5 10-8

Angelo State 4-6 10-9

MSU 6-4 12-4-2

East Central 3-7 6-8-2ENMU 4-6 9-10

NE State 1-8-1 5-11-1

East Central 5-6

SE Okla. 5-6Central Okla. 5-6 14-15

TX Woman’s 4-7 14-16Tarleton State 4-7 10-19SW Okla. 2-9 5-27ENMU 0-12 5-22

ENMU 2-6 2-7NE State 2-6 2-8

SW Okla. 2-7 2-8East Central 0-8 0-10

n QB Mitchell Gale was named LSC South Offen-sive Player of the Week and LB Fred Thompson took home LoneStar Con-ference South Defensive Player of the Week.

Briefs

8-2

5-56-4

3-7

16-13

17-10

21-13

14-19

13-6-1

SW Okla. 4-5-1 7-10-2

Ovrl.

Ovrl.

Ovrl.

ACU 6-2 8-2

ACU 10-1 25-5

ACU 5-3-2 10-6-2

Tarleton St. 7-1 9-1

TAMU-C 7-4 23-8

Breaking it downOPINION

Tanner KnauthSports Editor

see WIN page 7

HEATHER LEIPHART Staff Photographer

Linebacker Arthur Johnson runs for a Wildcat first down after recovering a blocked punt by the Javelinas.


ACU students celebrate a defensive stand by the Wildcats that resulted in a safety against the Javelinas.


Quarterback Mitchell Gale steps up to throw in Saturday’s game against Texas A&M-KIngsville. Gale completed 24 of 34 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns.

Wildcats win pivotal game

FOOTBALL

GAME BREAKERSThe Optimist picks players of the game and the play of the game.

n Offensive Player of the Game: QB Mitchell Gale, 24 of 34 for 289 yards, 2 TD'sn Defensive Player of the Game: LB Fred Thompson, 9 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumblesn Play of the Game: On ACU’s first drive of the third quarter, Gale connected with Edmund Gates on a 10-yard out. Gates was able to shrug off the corner trying to make the tackle and was then able to speed past the remain-ing defenders for a 72-yard touchdown. The touchdown was ACU’s longest pass play of the season.

contact Knauth [email protected]

Austin GwinAssistant Sports Editor

The Wildcat volleyball team came from behind to beat Southeastern Oklahoma State 3-1 in ACU’s biggest win of the season Saturday night.

ACU was ranked sev-enth in the region en-tering the match, and Southeastern sat in tenth place. The victory

pushed the Wildcats’ record to 25-5, includ-ing 10-1 in conference play, and will probably vault them into the top six in the region. Only the top six will make the playoffs, so ACU needs to move up if it wants its season to con-tinue past this week.

ACU fell behind early in the match, losing the first set 25-22, but excel-

lent hitting percentages in the second and third sets gave the Wildcats a 2-1 advantage. In the fourth and final set, the ’Cats wrapped up the victory, thanks to eight kills by Jennie Hutt.

Hutt totaled 18 kills for the match, matching her season high. Setter Ijeoma Moronu also met

Lucky No. 13, Wildcats extend winning streak

VOLLEYBALL

Sam BarteeSports Reporter

It’s the end of the regu-lar season for women’s soccer, and the Wildcats finished on top. Head Coach Casey Wilson praised the talent on this year’s team – a tal-ent that has showed.

The chemistry on the front line never ceased to impress opponents and fans, tallying 22 goals

this season. Junior Court-ney Wilson was the leader in goals this season with five, while senior Jordan Reese led the stats sheet with four assists.

The Wildcats ended their season 10-6-2 and 5-3-2 in the Lone Star Conference. Now, it all boils down to how they play in the tour-nament against Midwest-ern State on Thursday.

Defensive pressure leads to safety for ’Cats

OPINION

Season ends, LSC tournament begins

see STREAK page 7 see LSC page 7

The Optimist Print Edition: 11/04/2009

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