RamblerThe

First-year Iyabo Erinkitola is making her mark in Transy’s new lacrosse

history (p. 6).

September 27, 2012 • VOL. 96, ISSUE 3 Transylvania University • Lexington, KY • transyrambler.com

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She belongs, she fits, she never quits

This year, the Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council (IFC) are joining forces to make sure hazing never happens on Transylvania University’s campus by taking part in National Hazing Prevention Week.

Hazing is defined by the IFC and the Panhelenic council as “any action or situation created to produce mental or physical discomfort, embar-rassment, harassment, or ridicule.”

Though IFC and the Panhellenic Council are spearheading the awareness week, hazing isn’t unique to Greek organiza-tion, Panhellenic president and junior Maria Starck said.

“It’s come more to the fore that it happens in club sports, it happens in musical groups, it happens in any kind of student organization where any kind of selection happens and that there is some sort of identity and tradi-tion,” Starck said. “I think we have an opportunity with our resources and with our [Greek] chapters having a lot of leaders in them to be spearheading a campaign that would address multiple parts of our community.”

That campaign includes the recently established annual new member seminar, a poster campaign, and an e-card campaign.

“While we don't believe that hazing is very preva-lent at Transy, we also don't want it to be,” IFC president and senior Ryan Smith said.

Smith said that he hopes the campaign this week, and a few other events that IFC and the Panhellenic Council have planned, will “reflect our general disdain for any hazing.”

For example, IFC, who has never had an official bylaw that ad-dresses hazing, hopes to adopt one within the next year.

“They have completely revamped their bylaws in the past year, so they’re still working on some things that they want to include,” assistant director of student activities Amy Jo Gabel said. “Both councils have education committees on them that are devoted to helping promote things that align with their values.”

While National Hazing Prevention Week is an annual event, it has never been observed at Transy before, mostly due to scheduling conflicts with recruitment. This year, though,

recruitment didn’t interfere allowing both IFC and the Panhellenic Council to have time to devote to planning, according to Gabel.

“You can always do better, and while we do talk about it in our meetings, we’ve never done an all-campus awareness like we’re trying to do this year,” Gabel said.

For education committee chairperson and first-year Hillaree Tinsley, this awareness is the main point of the week at Transy. While she said that she did not think Transy

is an environment that fosters hazing, she pointed out that there is a defi-ciency of knowledge about hazing on campus.

“That’s our focus – the little things that become normal that you may not see as hazing, but that actually are or that can be

felt as hazing,” she said.Starck expanded on Tinsley’s sentiments, saying,

“[Hazing] can become a silent issue or it can be normal-ized. This is something that we’re willing to vocally ad-dress, that it does exist, and there are people on cam-pus who can be point persons for you.”

For Gabel, the week is not only about this edu-cation, but is also about dispelling any preconceived notions that people might have about Greek life.

“It shouldn’t make anyone think negatively just because we’re talking about it,” she said. “I would hope that they would respect us a little more for talk-ing about it and join in the conversation.”

And according to Gabel, this week represents the general idea behind her job in charge of student activi-

ties.“My whole goal in working with college students is to

ensure that you all have an awesome experience,” she con-tinued. “Your four years should be the most memorable time

that you ever have, and you should never at any time feel unsafe or undervalued or that you have to earn anyone’s respect or be mis-

treated.”

Rachel Smithrasmith15@transy.edu

As of last week, the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board (DIAB) publically released their Campus Climate Survey report —and the results were significant.

Devised to gather student opinion on the social landscape here at Transylvania, the survey was not created with any, “preconceived ideas about what was going to happen,” said Director of Campus Diversity and Inclusion Eduardo Nino-Moreno. “…nor was intention to prove or disprove any type of hypothesis.”

Nino-Moreno made sure to establish that this was not formulated as a, “social science research project.” The survey did not seek to do anything but, “describe a situation through the eyes of the beholder.”

Sent out early last semester to the entire student body of 1,100, only an average of 20.2%, or 222 students, responded to at least, “some portion of the survey,” according to the report summary.

Consisting of 13 questions, the survey had eight closed-ended questions and five that requested written responses.

Brian Rich, professor of sociology, was on the committee that sought to compile the survey information into statistical data.

“Last summer, after the survey had been completed…they told me that they had a lot of data. And asked if I could maybe help them, especially with qualitative data,” said Rich. “So we had a meeting with three work study students, Rhyan (Conyers), and Eduardo…to talk about what to do with all of this information.”

Throughout the summer the committee worked hard to compile and “code” both the quantitative data from the closed-ended questions, and qualitative data from written responses, according to Rich.

“You can’t take all this amount of data and just shrink it

down and reduce it that way with coding. That sort of takes the flavor, the actual words that people use to say things. So that was an attempt then to pull out the representative quotes from the survey answers,” said Rich.

The results of the survey were enlightening. “It has put on the central carpet, a series of issues that

students may want to consider,” said Nino-Moreno. According to the executive summary of the report,

“approximately one in seven students reported routinely feeling excluded or having difficulty making friends or fitting in (at Transy), and more than one in three students indicated that they were economically struggling.”

“We are still not a very inclusive campus,” said Nino-Moreno. “Students ranging from socio-economic status differences, to in some cases religious groups, and some others to Greek life groups, and some others to the LGBT groups, felt that there was a lot still that had to be done.”

A number of the written responses were “very painful descriptions,” said Nino-Moreno. Some of the students who

wrote these responses gave their name, but the DIAB has not, and will not be releasing them, despite haven been given authorization to do so.

Nino-Moreno cites one survey response in particular, where two white female students were exiting an elevator in MFA and were overheard by an African American student walking past.

When the door opened, the African American student overheard one girl in the elevator say, “You see, we pay more, so you don’t have to see that.” And the person for whom the comment was intended for “reacted vigorously”—according to Nino Moreno—by saying, “I’m so sorry that you’re saying that, because that person happens to be a very good friend of mine.”

Responses like these pose a problem for a campus that is currently seeking more diversity.

“We are a far cry from where we want to be, “ said Nino-Moreno. “Now that does not mean we can generalize. What it means is that one instance is one instance too many. And that if we want to continue attracting individuals from all kinds of walks in society and the world we have to pay attention to these kinds of things. By the same token, we cannot continue wanting to have more international students when we also exhibit some exclusionary practices as were also illustrated in the survey.”

To change this, Nino-Moreno insists that we as a campus community need to understand other cultures, and the way to do that is by, “taking advantage of our liberal arts education setting in order to learn about it.”

“I think that all of us in the campus community need to make this extra effort to support an administration that is trying to take steps towards achieving that,” said Nino-Moreno.

Currently, the DIAB is thinking of devising a similar survey for the faculty and staff so that everyone on campus will gain a greater since of what Diversity and Inclusion will mean for Transy.

How well does the Transylvania community serve these groups?

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Molly Crainmgcrain13@transy.edu

DIAB releases campus climate survey

For more information on Hazing Prevention Week, visit www.haz-ingprevention.org. To read Transy’s stance on hazing or to report an incident, visit homepages.transy.edu/~greeklife/hazing/.

IFC, Panhellenic Council recognize hazing prevention week

At a Lacrosse Road: Carrying the torch

Campus LifePage 2 September 27, 2012

“It’s an exciting time for religious life at Transy!” said Wilson Dickinson, Associ-ate Dean for Religious life.

Dickinson, the creator of the student and staff led Council of Interreligious Life (CIL), is excited to announce that the coun-cil will soon be, “Creating spaces where students who have a religious background that is not represented can come together to explore big questions.”

In other words, tolerance is the bottom line. The underlying goal of the council is to promote solidarity between all students, whether they have a different religious af-filiation or none.

Dickinson believes that currently re-ligion at Transy is something kept private when it should be embraced, emblazoned on the sleeve of the believer without the fear of being socially ostracized.

Dickinson envisions a Transy commu-nity with more trust and respect, because to him, “Religion isn’t something to be hid-den.”

Students are encouraged to be them-selves and to find their voice with the help of the council. New ideas are welcomed.

“Transylvania students are brilliant, exciting and innovative, but they are also overworked and over scheduled.” Dickin-son said.

Dickinson, having been a student at Transy himself, understands the pressures, and seeks to alleviate them. He hopes to work with existing groups like Gathering of Inter Faith Transylvania Students (GIFTS) who focus their efforts

on bettering the community, and to explore new ideas that they hope will help students connect with one another in dif-ferent ways.

“People can begin to have a conversation,” Dickinson says.

The council comes together to brainstorm for ideas, and to get existing ideas moving. The council is currently work-ing on a series of talks entitled, “What Matters to me and Why,” that support diversity and creativity on the personal level.

It can be a little overwhelming trying to wrap your mind around scientific topics in class such as fracking, adaptive traits, and germ cells.

However, some professors at Transy are taking science out of the classroom and moving it into a place many would never expect: a pub.

Every third Monday through May term there will be a talk held by a Transylvania science professor on a special topic at West Sixth Brewing Company on Sixth Street from 6-7 p.m.

The, perhaps unusual, idea of the science pub came from Associate Professor of Exercise Science Kirk Abraham who worked with the West Sixth Brewing Company and the Tran-sy faculty to arrange these talks.

His goal in starting the science pub was to, "branch out into the neighborhood and to take science outside the class-room.”

In doing this, scientific subjects are opened up not just for students but for the general population in a stress-free en-vironment.

The first of these talks, which was given by Assistant Professor of Chemistry George Kaufman, was on the topic of hydraulic fracturing otherwise known as “fracking.”

Kaufman believes that this approach to taking science out of the classroom to the general public is a great way to help people connect with science, especially those who might not otherwise learn about it.

“I thought it was a huge success, especially since envi-ronment was conducive to large amounts of discussion after the 'talk' part of it was over. People were able to engage and grapple with the topic, and they could ask questions about it that were relevant to them,” said Kaufman. “They could see

that it affected them either directly or indirectly and that the science was important for understanding a complex, real-life, current issue. That made the topic come alive.”

The science pub offers a way for students to investigate and learn about science from professors in a laid back envi-ronment without the worry of a test or quiz. The discussion afterward offers the freedom of asking any questions relating to the topic that a person may have.

The topics for the science pub vary, allowing students to pick which facets of science they would like to further ex-plore. Topics range from the personalities of birds to the treat-ment of diabetes with wine. There are also talks that will be given on germs and invasive species and many more subjects. An outline of the dates and topics can be found on posters hanging on the walls of Brown Science Center for those who are interested.

“All the science pub talks this year promise to be incred-ible, and I would urge everyone to go,” said Kaufman.

While most students at Transylvania University were getting adjusted to classes during the first week of school, one student had a different agenda.

From Sept. 2-7, junior Clarke Waldrop was representing the Commonwealth of Kentucky at the Democratic National Con-vention in Charlotte, N.C.

Waldrop went to the DNC as one of nearly 6,000 Voting Delegates, 73 of which were from Kentucky. While there, her duty was to represent the state and vote to nomi-nate President Barack Obama as the demo-cratic candidate in the 2012 general election.

This wasn’t Waldrop’s first trip to the politically charged event, either.

She was also present at the DNC in Denver in 2008 where she interviewed sev-eral people, including the First Lady Jane Beshear, also a delegate, and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo. This experience encouraged her to become a DNC voting delegate for future conventions.

When asked how she was awarded the opportunity, Waldrop said, “As a volunteer on Democratic campaigns, including Alison Lundergren Grimes's campaign, and through lifelong friendships with respected Western Kentucky democrats like Kay McCollum and Governor Beshear's first Democratic Party Chair, Jennifer Moore, I built a solid resume that the Kentucky State Convention voters found favorable.”

Several notable political figures spoke at the convention including Duval Patrick who became governor of Massachusetts af-ter Mitt Romney.

According to Waldrop, Duval, “issued a challenge to Democrats to ‘grow a back-

bone’ and not apologize for supporting Pres-ident Obama.”

Waldrop described another prominent speaker, First Lady Michelle Obama, as “electrifying.” And said, “her speech was personal and relatable to all families, touch-ing on issues that people deal with everyday. Healthcare for veterans, glass ceilings and the need for the Lily Ledbetter Act, and the need for student aid because our president wants every young person to attend college without a mountain of debt.”

All the speakers, Waldrop said, left an impact.

“While listening to them, I couldn't get rid of my goosebumps,” she said. “Each speaker had the perfect words and level of enthusiasm to get everyone fired up and ready to go!”

Upon returning to her local Community, Waldrop hopes to bring back thie same en-thusiasm she witnessed at the convention.

Waldrop gained a new perspective dur-ing the trip, including a “sense of pride to be a Kentucky Democrat with our dedication to equality, fair representation of all groups, and a real commitment to listening to the voices of young people.”

Waldrop advises anyone interested in attending the next DNC to, “start planning now. Get involved in local and state elec-tions. Attend meetings of Young Democrats, Democratic Women and talk with members of your county's Democratic Executive Committee. Access the state democrat party website. There are instructions and dates and meetings to attend in order to be considered a candidate.”

This experience offered Waldrop an op-portunity to represent the Democratic party, the state of Kentucky, and the politically ac-tive students of Transylvania University.

The Council of Interreligious Life comes together to discuss new ideas about the state of religious life on campus and how to improve it.SARA

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ONBrooke Jennettbcjennett16@transy.edu

Scarlett Blevinssgblevins15@transy.edu

Hannah D. Johnsonhdjohnson13@transy.edu

Junior Clarke Waldrop represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. as a voting delegate nominating President Barack Obama to the democratic ticket for preisdent.

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CIL offers new forum for religious life

Transy professors mix booze with science

TU student selected as Kentucky delegate for Democratic National Convention

1. What’s your guilty pleasure?There is no need to feel guilty about pleasure. At least that’s what the voices in my head tell me.

2. If you could create a new Transy mascot, what would it be?Lestat de Lioncourt

3. What was the last song you listened to on your iPod/last CD you put in your car’s stereo system?Monty Python, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”

4. What’s the first thing you’ll do when you retire?I’m going to Disneyland.

5. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?Waldo. Try to find me.

6. In high school, were you a jock, an artsy kid, a prep, a band geek, or part of some other clique?Petty bourgeoisie

7. What is the craziest dream you have ever had?That I could be a rich professor.

8. What celebrity would you choose to play in a movie about your life, and what would be the most fitting title?Duh, Eugene Levy.American Pie XP (Ask someone who knows the Greek alphabet what this means) 9. What is your favorite Crayola color?Radical Red. Viva La Revolucion!

10. Answer this question: Why did the chicken cross the road? (“To get to the other side” is NOT an acceptable answer.)Who cares? But if you fry it I’ll eat it. 11. If you discovered a star, what would you name it?Maphia after my son, Max, and my daughter, Sophia.

12. What piece of clothing/accessory defines your wardrobe?My powder blue leisure suit.

13. Other than your current job, what oth-er profession would you like to pursue?Rich eccentric.

14. (Cliché question) If you were trapped on a desert island for 3 weeks, what are the 3 things you would pick t o keep with you?My family…oh, wait, scratch that, a big screen TV, satellite dish with a generator, and unlimited bourbon.

EtceteraPage 3 September 27, 2012

With a Transylvanian10 Questions

Mike Cairo

Wave Motion

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OpinionPage 4 September 27, 2012

Editor-in-Chief......................................................Jake HawkinsManaging Editor.........................................................Molly CrainDesign Editor.........................................................Rachel SmithPhoto Editor.........................................................Matthew DurrCampus Life..................................................... Scarlett BlevinsOpinion Editor...........................................................Emily MartinArts & Entertainment Editor...........................Ameka MenesSports Editor..............................................................Cory CollinsCopy Editor...................................................................Molly DeanDesigner..............................................................Chase ColemanAdvisor..........................................................................Tyler Young

Letters should be:No more than 400 words. The Rambler reserves the right to cut letters to the editor to fit our length requirements, and we may edit your let-ters to fix grammar or spelling mistakes.Signed, with contact information. Full name and telephone number or e-mail address is needed.Letters must be original. We will not accept form letters.

Send your letters to:rambler@transy.edu

Letters to the Editor

RamblerThe

Transy says...What do you think about recruitment this year?

“I, as an independent, found recruitment to be an all-consuming nuisance on campus. Its ubiquitous presence on campus provided a distraction from normal courses of affairs...I have no problems with people wanting to join a sorority. My problem is with the ubiquity of Greek Life.”

Kris Smoot, ‘15

““We strive to adapt to changes of other aspects of campus.”

Ryan Smith, ‘13,Interfraternity Council president

“August term I think did affect women’s perceptions of greek life and perceptions of certain chapters.”

Maria Starck,’14 and Panhellenic president

“As someone who went through recruitment, it was an exhausting and nerve-wracking

experience. But it was great to meet so many new girls and though it was very anxiety-

inducing, it was a good bonding experience.”Kaitlin Haggard, ‘16

“Being right next to a sorority hall, I felt a bit scared to leave my room due to all the loud cheering and screaming. Although,

watching the run-outs was exciting because everyone looked super happy.”

Jessica Lee, ‘16

It seems ironic that as National Hazing Prevention Week begins, a student is hospitalized after an “alcohol enema” incident at the University of Tennessee. Or maybe it’s a sign that there is still more progress to be made.

A UT (not to be confused with TU) fraternity chapter was suspended for 30 days after an incident that left 12 students cited with underage drinking, one with disorderly conduct and one still in critical condition after having a blood alcohol level five times the legal limit for driving.

Here at Transylvania, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for. We pride ourselves on the safe community in which we live and feel confident that nothing like what we see on the news could ever happen here.

But that is a dangerous way to think. While there are no documented cases of hazing on campus this year, according to the campus crime log, it would be naive to assume that it never happens. Therefore, it is important for the entire Transy community to make steps to make our campus even safer.

Of course, that is not to say that getting involved in student organizations is dangerous. But it is important for

us all to be aware of potential dangers. So it is a strong first step that this year’s annual National Hazing Prevention Week event is a campus-wide event and not just a subject for greek chapter meetings.

And as Panhellenic Council president and junior Maria Starck said in an interview with The Rambler, hazing is not a problem that only affects greek organizations. It could happen in any student group with a selection process.

Hazing does not always have to involve alcohol, either. It can be anything intended to embarrass, harass, or mock.

It is here that our wonderful small school atmosphere can become a downfall. In a community like Transy’s, it is hard to trust that what you report in confidence to one person will not spread to everyone in a matter of hours.

So it is the campus culture that may contribute to no reported cases of rape or hazing. Students might be afraid that telling someone means telling everyone. And once you’ve been ostracized at Transy, it’s not easy to make a comeback.

What is there to do, then? We need to have a stronger system of trust. New members of all student groups need to have leaders to turn to who will not betray their confidence. Though that’s not to say that such leaders do not exist because they do.

Leaders of greek organizations especially should be commended for recognizing that such a change is necessary.

Hazing is certainly not an easy thing to talk about. But acting like it doesn’t happen here just avoids the conversation. This makes a solution more difficult to achieve.

Admitting a problem exists, even if the problem isn’t prominent, is the first step towards change. What comes next? We must create an atmosphere on campus where people feel like they can report things in confidence.

Within a small, tight-knit college campus, it is easy to be worried about the social implications of any action taken. Especially one like reporting something dangerous or illegal.

It is time for Transy students to quit worrying about how something will make them look and start worrying about what is right.

For all of Transy’s talk about reporting National Hazing Prevention Week, there are thankfully avenues for action to be taken. Hazing can be reported on greek life’s webpage. Crime report forms can be found on TNotes. Residence Life staff are trained to deal with emergencies.

Hazing is by no means a major problem on Transy’s campus but that is not a strong reason to ignore an issue that has become so dangerous at so many other institutions.

So while there are always improvements to be made within Student Life, there is comfort in knowing that greeks and independents, leaders and new members, administration and students are all working together towards the same goal.

Rambler Staff Editorial

Rambler praises hazing prevention efforts

Cheers andJeers•Cheers to the Ink in the Cage exhibit taking place until

October 26. Everyone should go check it out! •Jeers to the Gypsy Poetry Slam causing the people who

attended to want to drop out of college and become poets because it was so awesome! •Cheers to the SGA voter registration drive for registering

230 voters! Everybody: YOU MUST VOTE! •Jeers to having to choose which May Term trip you

want to go on! So many amazing choices, including: Ireland, London, and even a Civil Rights travel course where you travel to the most iconic Civil Rights era sites all over the country!•Cheers to community service! There are many upcoming

opportunities for you to help out, such as knitting or crocheting scarves for Special Olympics Kentucky. Also, the League of Women Voters needs volunteers for several events.•Jeers to never knowing the hours of the on-campus

restaurants! This may just be a freshmen problem, but I swear I have missed so many weekend meals on accident!

•Cheers to almost being finished with our first month of classes! One down, three to go this semester!•Jeers to all the winners of the Hotel Transylvania

scavenger hunt winners! Give us less-capable people a chance to win, for once!•Cheers to the variety of fitness classes being offered

currently at the Beck Center, including: Six-Pack Attack, Booty Pop, Chisel, Iron Yoga, Sweat Shop, and Yoga! Come on students, go get fit! Check TNotes or the Campus Recreation site for the schedule.•Jeers to the cafeteria for always making the best

desserts, and preventing all the students from getting fit!•Cheers to music professor Larry Barnes for advancing to

first-degree black belt in Tai Chi.•Jeers to all the rest of us who have to live in fear of a

professor with a first-degree black belt in Tai Chi!•Cheers to the wins over Asbury and Marietta last week

for men’s soccer and to junior Eric Froschauer for being named Player of the Week for men’s soccer by the Heartland Conference for the week ending Sept. 24! Way to represent the Pioneers!

Jessica Leejnlee16@transy.edu

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Send your opinions to rambler@transy.edu

A&EPage 5 September 27, 2012

Do you enjoy eating food? Well, have you ever stopped to wonder where it came from and what

could be in it – or on it? Showing Sept. 27 in the Campus Center Gym, The Office of Sustainability is hosting a film night, one in a year-long series, called Food Films: “Food Fight,” that will address various issues with the food we consume on a daily basis to survive.

“Food Fight” is 91 minute film that delves into the way American agricultural policy developed and how our modern culture views food. It details how the food movement in California stood up against big agribusiness for healthier choices.

Senior Eryn Hornberger, who selected the film, said that, “Many films were considered for the film series, but I chose this one for September because of the new agricultural policies being determined on September 30 that could effect food prices and impact many local producers.”

Specifically, she is referring to the “Farm Bill,” which has been in effect since 1908 and has been updated every five years since. Many people are concerned that this bill complicates farming for farmers and prevents food from being sold locally at much lower, reasonable prices.

If you ever shop at the local farmer's market on Saturday mornings, or even if you prefer to be able to select fresh groceries grown in Lexington, this film is directed toward you – and anyone who may not be aware of these issues and policies.

Hornberger felt that it was the best choice since, “it is an introduction to the American agricultural policies, which in very general terms determine the cost of food. These issues are relevant to anyone who eats food and is concerned about the rising cost of food.”

To learn more about where your food is coming from and what you can do to assist this national cause, stop by the Campus Center from 7-9 p.m. and prepare to watch an eye-opening documentary. Additionally, you can visit the film's website beforehand for a more in depth look prior to the viewing by going to http://www.foodfightthedoc.com/foodfight.html.

Prepare to experience an imaginative new world of sights and sounds this coming weekend as Transylvania University hosts the second annual “Studio 300 Digital Art & Music Festival.”

Combining creative artistic works with digitally mastered sounds, the festival will feature presentations that engage audiences both aesthetically and aurally in a variety of interactive and artistic exhibits, as well as three waves of concerts.

Assistant Professor of Music Timothy Polashek, who is the director of the Studio 300 Festival, regards this year’s festival to be unique, including “more selective groups of works” than last year. This allowed for shortened concerts and an increased variety of exhibits featuring work from students, professors, and nationally acclaimed artists.

Transcending the boundaries of art and music, Studio 300 exhibits include everything from an interactive game of Pong based entirely on sound, to the illustration of fighter tattoos in Morlan Gallery. Three waves of concerts will depict computer tones, “synthesized from scratch,” according to Polashek.

“[They’re] sounds you don’t really hear in the real world,” says Polashek.

The first three waves of concerts will feature several interactive performances, including a unique performance on the piano of “Sound Mirrors” by Transy's own professor of music, Larry Barnes.

While computer generated sounds provide audiences with a listening experience unlike any other, Polashek says he likes “to mix in the video as well” and “have performers on stage for some works” to create the best effect possible.

Art exhibits will include presentations such as “Crib” by Assistant Professor of Art Zoé Strecker. Her sculpture incorporates elements of digital recording technology and artistic design through the mediums of wood, steel, and video monitors, to name a few. Visual multimedia representatives of music can be experimented with at the interactive BYTE Gallery International Exhibition Works in the Rafskeller foyer as well.

All activities presented by the Festival are free and open to the public this Friday, Sept. 28- - Saturday, Sept. 29.

Aspiring and local writers were in creative paradise last weekend as Lexington hosted the thirty-fourth annual Ken-tucky Women Writers Conference, a two-day convention held on September 21 and 22 featuring writing workshops, seminars, and panels.

The conference is the longest running gathering of wom-en writers in the country, previously featuring such iconic literary figures as Maya Angelou and Alice Walker as pre-senting speakers.

Local celebrities such as Nikky Finney, the poet who spoke at Transylvania’s 2012 opening convocation, and Mary Ann Taylor-Hall, author of the novel read for this year’s inaugural August Term, have also been featured in the past.

Martha Gehringer, instructor in Writing, Rhetoric and Communication, called the conference a “pilgrimage point” for female writers.

Two of Transy’s own students, sophomore Rachel Smith and senior Kristen Ballard, received scholarships to attend the conference this year. Ballard, a theater major interested in playwriting, found the convening of the women’s writing community a very beneficial experience.

Ballard referred to the conference as a venue in which novice and experienced writers alike can “gain the skills they need to take them to the next level.” She spoke par-ticularly of a workshop she attended that taught writers how to find a literary agent for their work, a crucial skill in the lengthy process of publishing.

Ballard also learned distinct techniques for pitching fic-tion and nonfiction to publishers – fiction publishers, she stated, often want a full manuscript to be offered, but non-fiction publishers prefer writers to pitch “only [their] ideas. Then they can work with you [during the writing process] and say, ‘There’s not going to be a big market for this.

You’re not going to make much money,’” or vice versa. The Women Writers Conference held various other fic-

tion, nonfiction, playwriting, and poetry writing workshops with subjects as varied as turning cooking blogs into books and writing in social media.

Attendees of the conference were given the chance not only to hone their own craft, but hear the work of other writ-ers as well. The keynote speaker, Ruth Reichl, focused her talk on Saturday evening at the University of Kentucky’s Worsham Theater about the history of food writing and ana-lyzing past attitudes about food in order to understand cur-rent perspectives.

The convention’s Gypsy Poetry Slam, hosted at Transy’s Carrick Theater, brought poets from around the country to Lexington to share some of their best work. The slam in-cluded a two-round competition in which the spotlighted poets read their work and were scored by a panel of judges. Tara Betts, a well-known poet and creative writing teacher at Rutgers University, was also present, reading poems from her debut book, “Arc and Hue.”

Rose Smith, reading verses about her thoughts on Presi-dent Obama and the feeling of being kidnapped, took sec-ond place in the competition. Whitney Greenaway, who spoke of identity issues and finding lovers, won first place.

Ballard, when asked what advice she could give to other aspiring writers, passed on one of the most important things she learned during the conference: “Include humor in your writing.”

She also highly encouraged students to attend next year’s Women Writers Conference. With a fee of only $30 for stu-dent attendees, the conference is highly accessible to young writers and is an invaluable experience.

Ballard recommended registering for the conference months in advance, as space in most workshops is limited. The Women Writers Conference is hosted each year in Lex-ington, primarily at the Carnegie Center. For more informa-tion, writers are encouraged to view the conference’s web-site, http://www.uky.edu/wwk/index.html.

Patti Starr doesn’t have a normal life. In fact, some might say that it is paranormal.

And that’s a description she would embrace. Starr, who began hunting ghosts in the ‘70s, has a

hectic schedule filled with writing books on Kentucky hauntings, leading classes on ghost hunting, and, not so unlike the rest of us, responding to emails. In her case, more than 200 a day.

Starr, who is also an author and lecturer on the paranormal, lives in Lexington where she operates five businesses, including Ghost Chasers International and The Ghost Hunter Shop.

The shop, located at Porter Place in Lexington, houses everything from crystals, to amulets, books, video recorders and utility vests. All things that, Starr says, she uses to prove the existence of ghosts.

And that’s her mission. “Every time I do a ghost hunt I start by saying

‘Sweet spirit: I’m here tonight to prove that you exist. Anything that you can do, or show me, will help me show this and I thank you in advance,’” Star said.

Starr’s not alone, either. In fact, the belief in ghosts is so large that Lexington will soon host, for the fifth year, “ScareFest,” an international convention on horror and the paranormal.

The convention, taking place Sept. 28-30 at the Lexington Convention Center, will bring stars from both film and television, horror and the paranormal.

Fans of scary movies might recognize names such as Malcom McDowell (“A Clockwork Orange”), Ashley Lawrence (“Hellraiser”), the man behind the Michael Myer’s mask, Tyler Mane and Chris Sarandon who voiced the character Jack Skellington

from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Famous faces in the paranormal world include

Chip Coffey, who hosted AE’s series “Psychic Kids” and appeared on the show “Paranormal State” on the same network and Joshua Gates, the host of SyFy’s “Destination Truth.”

Starr, who is the owner and co-creator of ScareFest, brings her own notoriety to the event as well. Her resume includes authoring several books, including “Ghosthunting Kentucky,” and appearances on several television shows across networks.

ScareFest is just one of many recent examples of a new wide interest in the paranormal.

“It is hot now,” says Starr, “but in the ‘70s when I decided to do this it was not cool. I could not tell people I was a ghost hunter because they thought you were dealing with the Devil.”

Starr seems to be right. In the past decade, reality television shows chronicling the life of those investigating things like ghosts, demons, psychics and the UFOs have become something of a commonplace on networks like SyFy, A&E and even the History Channel.

Starr traces the interest in the paranormal to “The X-Files,” a science fiction drama that ran from 1993-2002 on Fox. She says that the show’s examination of paranormal topics — including ghosts — allowed people to feel more comfortable discussing the paranormal.

And comfortable they seem. This year’s ScareFest attendance is expected to top 15,000, growing from 12,000 last year and 5,000 when the convention began five years ago.

Editors Note: A version of this story also appeared on KyForward.com, an online newspaper for which Hawkins contributes.

A performer adjusts settings at last year’s Studio 300 Digital Art and Music Festival.

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Cynthia Springercespringer16@transy.edu

Festival incorporates varied media

Bianca Spriggs, a Transy alumna, performs her poetry at the thirty-fourth annual Women Writers’ Conference this past weekend.

Kaitlin Haggard

knhaggard16@transy.edu

Women bring life to writing

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Documentary advocates for healthier choices

Lexington hosts ‘ScareFest,’ horror and paranormal convention

Jake Hawkinsjrhawkins13@transy.edu

Ameka Menesajmenes15@transy.edu

A committee assembled to carry the university forward. And from the top, the mission was simple: grow, diversify, internationalize. Expand the present-day boundaries of Tran-sylvania.

A list, 77 courses of action. 77 ways for the university to accomplish their mission. Numbers were crunched. Evidence was presented. Decisions were made. And 77 became 32. Those 32 strategies became the Strategic Enrollment Plan.

And lacrosse became the newest, most talked about sport at Transylvania.

When sports like men’s volleyball, rowing, and wres-tling did not, lacrosse made the cut. The minds behind the university’s future had decided the sport could provide more than sticks and ball games. Lacrosse was a chance to take a step forward.

The Admissions team saw that the reach of the lacrosse stick went beyond the field.

“Lacrosse was one of the things on our minds before we got to the table,” explained Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions Brad Goan. “For several years, we talked to so many students that asked if we had a lacrosse program. Generally, if someone is looking for that and you don’t have it, they’re not coming.”

They knew there was a demand for this sport. If they started it, students would come.

And the demand was increasing. “Lacrosse is a growing sport,” Goan said. “It’s an area where there was a growth opportunity.” The sport was growing in all the right places. Transylvania saw in lacrosse a chance to expand its boundar-ies.

“It’s also a sport that’s very popular in recruitment mar-kets we identified as being important,” Goan said, citing la-crosse’s growing prominence in the D.C. and Dallas markets.

Just like that, pieces fell into place. A sport emerged as one of the answers to the university’s goals.

“We had marching orders from President Williams,” Goan said. “To grow a little bit, increase geographic diver-sity, internationalize campus.”

Enter lacrosse. A sport that added large numbers of stu-

dents, that necessitated out-of-state recruiting, that expanded boundaries. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so farfetched that a sim-ple game could help shape Transylvania’s future.

Admissions saw big picture ideas. Transylvania Athlet-ics saw a chance to expand its own boundaries.

When officials involved in the Strategic Enrollment Plan approached Athletic Director Jack Ebel about the prospect of adding new sports, he took it as an opportunity for his divi-sion to grow.

“Athletics needs to be doing more,” Ebel admitted. “Most Division-III schools that are similar to Transy have a significant percentage of the entering class in athletics.” Ac-cording to Ebel, the numbers hover around 40-50 percent.

Transylvania sits closer to 25. Ebel knew the goals: grow, expand, diversify. “So what

sports can you add that will significantly make a difference?” he asked. The answer was lacrosse.

“Lacrosse is one of those sports that just seemed like it was growing,” Ebel said. “It’s a numbers sport; the only other sport that can bring in those kind of numbers is football. We can’t do football.”

But we could do lacrosse, a sport adding up to 40 men and 25 women. “That’s a significant number of people to add to the student body,” said Ebel.

But lacrosse’s success extends beyond the numbers. Those promises fueled the decision. Something less tangible will determine its long-term reach.

“You’re going to look at that group of students and ask, ‘Did that group of students do what we expect of our stu-dents?’ said Goan. “Did they contribute to the campus com-munity outside the classroom?”

“They’re going to bring their own identity and their own experiences,” predicted Ebel. “Whether you watch lacrosse games, or your roommate’s a lacrosse player, or you have a lacrosse player in class…it will enhance students’ under-standing of the world.”

Two years ago, a committee assembled to expand the boundaries of Transylvania. Three days ago, the first sticks clashed as lacrosse fall practice officially sprang into motion. It’s a narrative that only time will tell.

But one thing is certain: It’s more than a buzz, a curi-osity, and a mesh-knit jersey that sits upon the shoulders of the inaugural Transylvania lacrosse players. It’s the promises. It’s the decision. It’s the notion that this sport of collision, of speed, of excitement, could also represent the first of many steps forward for the name upon the scoreboard.

Sports Page 6 September 27, 2012

It’s not easy standing out. For that reason, lacrosse didn’t always come easy to

first-year Iyabo Erinkitola. Before she became the team-mate, the contributor, the friend, Erinkitola had to be “the black girl”. The odd one out.

“I use to come home and cry to my parents,” she said. “At first, I didn’t feel like I really fit. I was the only African-American on the team.” It was the little things that brought her down. Being left out, hearing the whis-pers, both comments that created distance.

“You could tell that it bothered people,” Erinkitola said. She’d recently changed schools and cultures, and faced a new mentality. “The mindset was completely different. I didn’t think it was a big deal that I was a black girl that got straight As and played lacrosse.”

But it was a big deal. It shattered expectations. People would tell her it wasn’t her sport. They’d say

she belonged on the track or the fields of cross-country. She was a runner, an athlete, but not a lacrosse player.

But she didn’t listen to those voices. She listened to her father. She listened to the man born of Nigerian par-ents who had taught her the cornerstones of that culture: pride, respect and family.

“I came into lacrosse with that idea of pride, respect, family,” she said. “I thought we were all going to be like sisters; we’re going to help each other, push each other, and work hard. But it didn’t happen like that.”

Instead: the whispers, the exclusion, a standalone face in a team sport. But her father’s voice, once more, rang loudest.

“You’re not a quitter,” he told her.Her father had known all about prejudice. He’d

been born in Chicago to Nigerian parents, heard the taunts, the abuse; then he overcame them. He added nu-merous degrees to the end of his African name. He shat-tered expectations, silenced the doubts. Then he helped

his daughter do the same. They’d work out together. He’d push her to train. In

preparation and work, there was purpose. “You’ll have an undeniable contribution to the

team,” he told her, “There won’t be a way they’ll be able to leave you out.”

She persisted, she overcame. And finally, Erinkitola secured her teammates’ respect. “As I gelled my way in,” she said, “I felt like everyone took from someone else. They gained a new perspective.”

“As did I.”Erinkitola learned that this was her sport. She did

fit. To hell with expectations. She’d never paid them much attention. She wasn’t

just “the black girl”, the girl that could run. Alongside track and cross country, Erinkitola was a competitive gymnast and a ballerina, admittedly not drawn to the basketball court. She was the athlete she wanted to be.

“You can’t let other people determine your actions,” she said. “I’ve always kind of done what I wanted to do. I feel like if people did think outside their comfort zone and the stereotypes, they’d find that they fit.”

Fast forward to today. You’ll find that Erinkitola very much fits. Far beyond those first days of exclusion, she’s integral to the Transylvania Lacrosse team. She be-longs. She’s a part of this.

“Honestly, I hope that people will see how we work with each other, how we act with each other, and I hope they’ll see that I wouldn’t be able to do it without them, and hopefully they’d feel they wouldn’t be able to do it without me,” she said.

It’s a team that embodies pride, respect, and family. Erinkitola hopes the sport follows suit.

“I would hope that lacrosse becomes a sport in which everyone is welcome,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to feel like it’s not their territory. Because it is.”

Despite the lines that surround the field, Erinkitola proves each time she raises her stick that this game has no boundaries.

She belongs. She fits. She never quits.

Trips to the grocery store usually do not serve as the genesis for great sports writing. But on my most recent trip, I stumbled upon an easy to use labeling machine.

“Wow!” I thought, “…now whenever I forget the names of common household items I’ll have a handy roll of industrial grade plastic stripping to remind me!”

Of course I quickly purchased the impressive piece of redundant machinery.

As soon as I could rip off the packaging, I began label-ing everything in sight. No longer will there be any ambi-guity as to the names of my dorm room’s carafes. (That’s right, carafes. “Mug” is so seventies.)

In the midst of this organizational onslaught, I was in-terrupted by a startling epiphany.

Was this very labeling machine- which now sported

newly stuck signage, “LABELING MACHINE”- not a metaphor for the cognitive frames- the “labels”- humans create to make the itemization and recognition of their lives simpler?

Many times, it’s easier to look back to the easy-to-read denominator we have constructed for ourselves than it is to look at something with an objective eye. Unfortunately, this model attempts to discount the very thing that makes life interesting- the minutia, intimate details, and some-times restricted coding that comprise the makeup of what something actually is. The devil is in the details; but so is the darling.

“Hey! Isn’t this a sports article?” you may find your-self asking.

It is indeed rhetorical question asker! And now an ex-planation is owed.

The other half of this piece’s motivation was inspired amidst contemplations about the stereotypes that shape our opinions of particular sports institutions. The sport afflicted most overtly is equestrian.

The very requirements of participation (owning or having immediate access to competitively trained horses) prevent it from being widely accessible to most people. It would be easy to use this as justification for pigeon-holing all equestrian athletes, and the sport, as “elitist.”

And in some ways, in some areas, that may be true. But what causes those perceptions to be so pervasively ac-cepted, even if they may not be accurate?

Labeling. Not a lot is known about the sport, even here

in Kentucky, the veritable ‘Horse Capital of the World,” and since lack of pertinent info is so common, label reliance can be almost expected. Transylvania Equestrian, however, can operate as autonomously from these preconceived notions as we, the student body, allow.

Let us not rely on hackneyed clichés. Instead of guf-fawing at ludicrous profiteering, and cases of animal cru-elty/negligence that have tainted the horse industry, look rather to the special bond competing alongside an animal engenders for those competitors brave enough to jump a 1,100 pound animal over high barriers.

Look, not at the financial mobility that an equine com-petitor may have, and instead at the supreme dedication it takes to gain the trust of arguably the animal kingdom’s biggest diva.

I encourage these attitudes not out of spite, but because I know I have been guilty of these same mis-labelings.

Just as people don’t enjoy being labeled primarily on their background or phenotypes, athletes as well crave the ability to self-define. Granting them that right is part of what makes a conscious citizen/student consciously aware and in tune.

This campus can be as enlightened and tolerant as we want to be. If labels are compromised in favor of conscious cognitions, you get to define what meaning a sport, or any-thing, has. Because, sooner or later, everyone’s labeling machine runs out, and then how will you know the differ-ence between a Mecklenburger and a mug?

Labels cheapen Transy’s newest sport

Cory Collinscecollins13@transy.edu

Erinkitola hopes to become one of the faces of a new lacrosse.

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She belongs, she fits, she never quits

Cory Collinscecollins13@transy.edu

The season begins: Lacrosse hit the field for Fall prac-tice last week at their new field located off of Fourth St.

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At a Lacrosse Road: Carrying the torchPart 3 of 3: