The Valley Vanguard (Vol. 44 No. 21)

VALLEYTHEVANGUARD Saginaw Valley State University’s student newspaper since 1967Monday, February 27, 2012 Vol. 44 No. 21

news tips/press releases [email protected] newsroom (989) 964-4482 advertising (989) 964-4248 visit us online at valleyvanguardonline.com

There was no shortage of food or people at the annual Taste of Soul event last week.

Students, staff and faculty gathered to enjoy soul food at the Marketplace at Doan cafeteria.

The event took place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 22, to celebrate families during Black History Month by coming together to enjoy Southern food.

Diverse recipes from black faculty and staff at the University were prepared with help from SVSU Dining Services.

Mamie Thorns, organizer of the Taste of Soul event and special assistant to the president

for the diversity programs, made pecan tarts. Within an hour and a half, her dessert had disappeared.

“I doubled my recipe from last year,” Thorn said. “That’s amazing!”

Thorn said she created the recipe because pecans are a “Southern tradition.” The recipe comes from her great-aunt who lived in Mississippi.

Jay Dillard, a cook at the Marketplace at Doan, had a busy first half of the week preparing food from the recipes submitted.

Dillard had been prepping two days prior to the lunch and started cooking at 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Ribs, fried chicken, collard greens, Mexican cornbread, chicken pot pie, smothered chicken, shrimp and grits were among the dishes created.

“I feel awesome. We haven’t run out of anything (except for a few desserts) and had no complaints,” Dillard said. “I feel pretty darn good about this one, better than previous years.”

As the cook looked around the cafeteria, he said he felt his hard work had paid off because “from the looks of it, everyone (had) a smile on their face.”

Jason Wolverton, marketing director of dining services, was also happy with the turnout.

“I think it’s fantastic. You can see as you look around that this place is packed. We have lines at every station,” he said during the event.

There’s still hope for Internet addicts.Mymentalspace.com has a free

downloadable app that can block distracting sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and YouTube in order to help people get their lives back.

The app, called Mentalspace Manager gives users the ability to block any sites they desire and also allows them to select certain days and times they wish to be denied access.

They must choose someone they trust to be their mental network admin, as he or she is the only person with the power to unblock a website.

Mark Ostach, CEO of mymentalspace who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in information systems, was inspired to create the app due to Internet tendencies he witnessed in himself and others.

According to Ostach, not only do people spend a significant amount of time on websites such as Facebook, but they are also allowing such websites to affect their emotions.

He said users constantly strive to have the most friends and get a high number of “likes” on status updates.

“It’s this weird kind of attention vacuum that we’re looking to get plugged into,” Ostach said.

Ostach said web users don’t understand that viewing an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend’s Facebook profile or watching negative viral videos are harmful to their well-being.

“What you don’t realize is how that content affects your mood and day,” Ostach

said.Jake Kantola, exercise science sophomore,

said sometimes Facebook seems to cause more harm than good.

“It doesn’t affect me personally, but I think that’s how a lot of problems start,” Kantola said.

Brooke Juday, exercise science sophomore, said Facebook would be more enjoyable if people were more conscientious about what they post.

“Some people post things that people just don’t need to know,” Juday said. “I’d say it gets emotional.”

In addition to affecting emotions, Ostach said the Internet is a contributor to procrastination among high school and college students.

Brian Warner, criminal justice senior, said he admits that Facebook and StumbleUpon consume more of his time than necessary and cause him to procrastinate on assignments.

He said he tends to procrastinate on papers the most.

“I wait until the last minute and whip it out,” Warner said. “Even while I’m writing, I’m flipping between tabs to look at Facebook.”

Along with eliminating unwanted emotions and procrastination, Ostach said he hopes the Mentalspace Manager can help students be conscious of how much time they spend online in order to avoid “techno brain burnout.”

“It’s that feeling of exhaustion after searching the web for six hours and you don’t know why,” he said.

The app includes a timer function to

Marketplace fries up southern traditions By Katelyn Davis vanguard staff Writer

Motivation for success and its relevancy to the black community was a key theme in “Past to Present: The Progression of African-American Culture” last Thursday.

Sponsored by God’s Children of Integrity and The Office of Multicultural Services, the program attracted several late-comers, despite starting late itself because of technical difficulties.

After opening remarks, the event began with a poem from biology freshman Sherie Barnes.

She read “A Message to My Hater,” a poem about slavery, discrimination and racism.

Video presentations were displayed of black leaders who impacted society in forms of

politics, music and liberal arts.The first presentation

incorporated a slideshow of photos representing the civil rights movement.

Group discussions were led by a group of panelists, including rhetoric and professional writing professor Fenobia Dallas and Desmon Daniel from the office of multicutural services.

Other members of the panel included accounting senior Vance Fulton and graphic design junior Katrina Murrell.

Daniel responded to the first presentation and gave importance to historical education.

“No matter how far we go we have to remember where we came from,” Daniel said. “The pursuit of knowledge will truly make you a better person.”

He emphasized that the school is a playground and students should take advantage of all that is offered.

Fulton discussed how he is one of those who has taken advantage of his resources.

As member of the Roberts Fellows, Fulton studied in China and Japan.

“Just the fact I was given an opportunity was an eye opening experience,” Fulton said.

“Back in the day, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to do that.”

Lack of confidence and

By Tyler Bradleyvanguard staff Writer

Looking back to their roots

By Andrea McBridevanguard staff Writer

Slightly more than 700 people showed up at the O’Neill arena on Wednesday in an attempt to break the world record for the world’s largest zumba class.

But the attempt was not successful, because 2,013 peo-ple were needed to break the record.

Rachael Hunt, criminal justice freshman, said she wanted to break the record as much as anybody, but still en-joyed the event.

“I like the music and dancing aspect of the work-out,” she said. “It makes it fun.”

Casey Lake, athletic train-ing junior, was one student who attempted to break the record. Even though the main goal was not a success, she said she felt that something good came from it.

“It brought the communi-ty closer together, and the peo-ple that participated can go and tell their friends about it,” she said. “Maybe next time we

will have a bigger turnout.”The University also en-

joyed hosting the event, even if the ending result did not put it in the record books.

SVSU’s director of recre-ation, Aaron Mowen, saw the pros that came with the Uni-versity getting some public attention.

“Already, through pro-motion of the event, our University has become rec-ognized through state and national networks such as ABC, NBC, the Detroit News and Saginaw News,” he said. “SVSU is in the spotlight for a positive, fun event that will open the eyes to potential stu-dents on their future choice of institution, and reconfirms to our students why SVSU is a great place to be.”

Secondary education ju-nior Alex Faley also found many positives.

“Even though we didn’t break the record, I still think it was a really fun experience,” she said. “It was fun to dance with hundreds of people.”

Despite being turned on to zumba, class off record mark

See spAce, A2

See HisTory, A2 See soul, A2

A place other than Myspace

Courtesty of Ksenija Savic

Mark ostach, Founder of mymentalspace.com, offers a downloadable app to help students stay off distracting sites.

Vanguard photo | Arianna Paver

sherie Barnes read her poem, “A Message to My Hater” at the past to present, black history event, last week.

Vanguard photo | Sean Dudley

The Marketplace hosted the event “A Taste of soul,” where students were able to sample southern-style dishes.

Vanguard photo | Tyler Bradley

over 700 students and community members attempted to break the world record for zumba class participants.

By Joey olivervanguard staff Writer

See ZuMBA, A2

Mymentalspace.com helps students and Internet surfers stay off distracting sites when studying and doing school work, with a free downloadable app.

Flip to A9 for a preview of this year’s softball team, which is looking to top a record-breaking season.

The Valley Vanguard 125 Curtiss Hall campuseditorsBrandy aBraham and joshua j. roesner e-mails [email protected] and [email protected] office (989) 964-4482

News coverage continued from page 1

Page A2| Monday, February 27, 2012 | valleyvanguardonline.com | The Valley Vanguard

svsu.edu/vanguard valleyvanguardonline.com

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aboutussince 1967, The valley vanguard has provided coverage of campus and communiTy happenings To sTudenTs, faculTy, sTaff and communiTy residenTs free of charge. an online ediTion of The paper is availaBle aT valleyvanguardonline.com and is updaTed weekly during The fall and winTer.

publishingThe vanguard is puBlished By The sTudenTs of saginaw valley sTaTe universiTy weekly in The fall and winTer semesTers, wiTh one issue puBlished in The summer. our office is locaTed in curTiss 125 on The campus of svsu, aT 7400 Bay road, universiTy cenTer, mi 48710.

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policebriefs

correctionsandadditionsif you see an error, please leT us know as soon as possiBle By con-TacTing ediTor-in-chief Toni Boger aT (989) 964-4482 or [email protected]. in addiTion To prinTing a correcTion in our prinT ediTion, The online version of The sTory will reflecT The correcTion.

newsbriefs

Anti-bullying weekTo mark the week of Feb. 2, anti-bullying week, Student Association is hosting a series of awareness events.

Monday’s main event will be ‘Know Your Bully,’ which will take place at 8 p.m. in the Student Life Programming room. The event, sponsored by the Pine Grove Council and Living Proud, will highlight how bullying takes place.

Tuesday night, S.A. and other groups are presenting ‘An Evening with Hill Harper,’ which will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Malcolm Field

Theater. Harper, a film, television and stage actor, stars in the CBS drama series, “CSI: NY” and is a three-time New York’s Best Selling Author, is coming to campus to speak about bullying. Admission is free and open to the public.

There will be daily activities held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students are invited to participate in activities including signing a banner, a hugging booth, and a say something nice booth. T-shirts will also be available for $10. Tables will be in front of the Marketplace at Doan. For

more information, contact S.A. representative Julie Boon at [email protected]. All funds raised during the week will be donated to a yet-to-be-decided anti-bullying charity.

Author and Researcher visiting campus

Evolution researcher Eugenie Scott will be on campus Tuesday, March 13, to present “Creationism, Evolution, Education – and Politics,” at 7 p.m. in Ott Auditorium, located in the Regional Education building.Scott will discuss how politics has contributed to the controversy over

the teaching of evolution in schools.She is the executive director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of evolution and science as opposed to the teaching of creationism and other biblically based theories in science classes. Scott is the author of “Evolution vs Creationism: An Introduction,” and co-wrote “Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for our Schools.”The event is free, and is sponsored by the SVSU Biology Club.

Counseling Seminars

The counseling center will be hosting several seminars in the coming weeks for students. At 3 p.m. Thursday, March 15 in Curtiss 224, and at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 27 in Curtiss 127, “Stick with it: How to stay motivated!” will be presented.At 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, “Assertive vs. Aggressive Communication” will be in Curtiss 100.

Police briefs are written according to reports from University Police. These indicate preliminary descriptions of events and not necessarily actual incidents.

Vehicle Damage• At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, a

female student pulled out of a parking spot in D-lot and hit a vehicle behind her. Minor damage was done.

• At 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, a female student was waiting for a spot in R-lot when another female driver backed into her. Minor damage was done to both vehicles.

• Between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, a male student’s vehicle was dented and scratched on the driver’s side corner panel.

Hit and run• Between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday,

Feb. 14, a non-student was parked in E-lot to attend swimming lessons in the Ryder Center. When the female came out, she found a dent and a scratch on the rear driver side door.

Operating while intoxicated• At 3:46 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17, a 21-year-

old male student was pulled over for swerving on Pierce Road. When the officer made contact, he could tell that the male had been drinking. The male failed his sobriety tests and was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

• At 2:39 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, a 20-year-old male was pulled over on Davis Road because his brake light was out and he was swerving. When the of-ficer made contact he could tell the male was intoxicated and gave him sobriety tests which he failed. The student was arrested.

Trespassing• At 11:07 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, the

resident director from Living Southwest contacted campus police because they spotted a student in the courtyard who has a no-trespass letter. When officers arrived, they could not find the male. A warrant will be sought.

Fraudulent Activities• At 1:59 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, an

18-year-old male student used his Independent Bank debit card at the ATM near the bank. The male left his card in the machine and another male withdrew $200 from the card. Two days later the male returned the $200 and the card to the bank.

Minor in possession• At 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, an officer

was on foot patrol and observed males selling drugs. One officer made contact with the male student who sold the drugs and another officer made contact with the group of students who bought them. All of the males had marijuana on them and three students were arrested for possession and one student was arrested for selling marijuana.

• At 10:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, the resi-dent director from First Year Suites could smell marijuana coming from a room. When officers arrived they searched the room and did not find any. The resident director identified a male who previously had received a no-trespass letter. A war-rant will be sought for his arrest.

Larceny• At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, a female

student left her iPhone in a computer lab in Science East. When she returned a few minutes later to look for the phone it was gone. A custodian found it on the second floor in Brown Hall in a trash can.

help people control Internet usage. Users can set the length of time they wish to be on the Internet and an alarm will go off once the time expires.

Another feature allows users to set their mood. Doing so gives the app a chance to show users how their online behaviors correlate with how they feel.

Ostach wants the app to be effective yet enjoyable.

One way of doing so is providing users with an inspirational quote, photo or video if they attempt to access a blocked site.

“It’s not meant to be a clinical app,” Ostach said. “It’s meant to be fun.”

In addition to managing mymentalspace, Ostach also presents a program called “Project Disconnect.” He speaks at schools, universities and youth groups to inform people of the importance of balancing time on the web.

motivation in the black community was discussed.

“You still have power even if you don’t exercise it,” Daniel said.

They discussed how some students don’t feel they can be successful.

Other speakers shared their stories of academic success and examined where the academically unsuccessful students were and why they were not at the program.

The question was raised why students seek degrees but aren’t willing to put in efforts for academic success.

One student told her story of why some students may not feel they can be successful.

She was doing exceptionally well in one of her classes when her professor approached her saying it was remarkable that she was passing.

In the past, the professor had mentioned black students stereotypically don’t do well in the class.

She discussed how a stereotype cannot be taken for truth.

“Just because of who I am, doesn’t mean anything about who I’m going to be,” the student said.

Students were told to not only focus on becoming academically successful for themselves, but also to bring knowledge and experiences earned back to where they came from, so others know that they can do it, too.

Students were challenged to motivate their peers and to not give up on them.

“If you don’t do that, we won’t have jobs at the University,” Daniel said.

Each line, Dillard said, had a 15-to-20-minute wait.

That didn’t deter biology junior Jade Mays, who said the cuisine reminded her of home.

“It reminds me of being back at home and when my family from down South – Mississippi - cooks soul food,” said Mays. She named macaroni and cheese, smothered chicken and catfish as her favorites.

Another student who attended the event was pleased to also get a taste of home.

“I like it because it’s a variety of food. It’s food that we like. It’s not every day you get home-

cooked, soul foods so it’s good,” Marshae Anderson, social work junior, said.

Cynthia Essex, administrative secretary in the office of diversity programs, made her great-great-grandmother’s macaroni and cheese recipe, which, like Thorn’s, also comes from Mississippi.

“I am very happy because of compliments,” she said about the special lunch. “The event was awesome. Everything was good.”

Essex said the event brought people together.

“If you look around, the event brings all cultures together,” she said. “Food brings us together. We are not celebrated by our color.”

Other dishes were catfish from Robert Lemuel, director of scholarships and financial aid;

greens by Barbara Jones, associate professor of teacher education; marble fudge cake from Makiba Batten, assistant cross country/track and field coach; and southern shrimp and grits from Shawn Wilson, director of multicultural student services, and his wife, Gina.

Thorn said she was impressed by the turnout, saying it was the best she’d seen in years.

“This is definitely much larger than last year. It’s been very successful,” Thorn said. “I’m very grateful for the support from the entire campus and the community.”

What became enjoyable for some attendees was that, though they did not succeed, they still were a part of something that was publicly dis-cussed and that gave them a chance to get on television.

“I loved it,” Lake said. “I’m glad I got to be a part of something that everybody knows about.”

Faley put aside the public atten-tion the event gathered and said she was there for herself.

“It’s a little intimidating to dance in public, but I don’t mind much anymore,” she said. “I do zumba for myself, not for the crowd of gawking onlookers.”

The event also was advertised off-campus. The University took steps to get the community involved.

“We’ve worked with university communications, media relations and web communications,” Mowen said. “Each of those departments has

contributed to spreading the infor-mation far and wide, from putting the event on the homepage, writing a press release for community news and arranging TV interviews for the event.”

Without the attempt being put into the record books, those who showed up on Wednesday still have the memory of their attempt, and still have what they enjoyed about the dancing to look back on.

“It got everybody out and mov-ing and an opportunity to be a part of something big,” Lake said.

SpACecontinued from A1

HiSTORycontinued from A1

SOuLcontinued from A1

ZuMbA continued from A1

The International Student Club of Saginaw Valley State University presents:

The Intercultural Night

Place: Malcolm Field Theater at SVSU

Date: March 16th, 2012

Time: 7:00pm

Cost: $10.00

SVSU Students free

Vanguard photo | Tyler Bradley

Last week’s Mardi Gras festivities, sponsored by the Residence Housing Association, featured several performances from students in the music department. Food, games and karaoke were also offered.

News and events from on and around campus

The Valley Vanguard | valleyvanguardonline.com | Monday, February 27, 2012 | Page A3

courtyardthe

The Valley Vanguard 125 Curtiss Hall campuseditorsBrandy aBraham and joshua j. roesner e-mails [email protected] and [email protected] office (989) 964-4482

svsu.edu/vanguard valleyvanguardonline.com

Last week’s president’s forum primarily focused on concerns also raised in a recent Student Association (SA) online survey.

One of the main concerns was with the Academic Advising office. Students felt that the advisers there don’t know enough about the curricu-lum.

“Students don’t know where to go for correct information,” said Dan Chapman, a representative of S.A.

According to students, the com-puter forensics minor is one of the most problematic.

Gilbertson said he would need more accurate information on where the exact problems were but said he would look into solving them.

The survey also concluded that all feedback on the counseling center was unanimously good. All responses stated that counselors were very help-ful, polite and concerned.

Students also were dissatisfied with dining services.

“About 30 percent of students (responding to the survey) would

like to see more hybrid options as far as declining balance/meals on meal plans,” Chapman said.

Students would like to have more options when it comes to choosing the meal plans that come with a mix of declining balance and a certain amount of meals per week.

Some student suggestions in-cluded more vegetarian options on a regular basis along with dessert op-tions offering both a sugar free and a regular choice, not just one or the other. This was a big issue when it came to certain dessert selections such as pudding.

“Dining services business is sell-ing food,” Gilbertson said. “They want to give you what you want.”

He added that dining services would look into these issues.

Chapman also brought up a con-cern from graphic design and art stu-dents, who said that there are a lack of Mac computers available for us due to reserved labs for classes.

Gilbertson mentioned that this wasn’t the first time that this issue had been brought to his attention.

“We have looked into this before, but we can always look into it again,” he said.

It was also noted that the sched-ules of all computer labs are available online.

The classrooms in Brown Hall were a concern that came up in the survey as well. Students complained that the rooms are small and the desks undersized.

“This was a 1980s approach to classroom design,” Gilbertson said. “We can’t do much about it immedi-ately, but we’ll look into it.”

When asked about the issue of the littering on campus, especially cigarette butts, Gilbertson said that there would soon be a $50 fine for all people who smoke outside the desig-nated areas.

Another issue was concerning the fact that SVSU has two Papa John’s lo-cations on campus and they both of-fer the same food options. Students explained that they feel just having fewer options is getting tiring. They have seen other options at other cam-pus locations and would like to have those options here.

Gilbertson explained that food services is in the business of selling food and that he would look into this issue.

A first-hand source is often the best source of accurate informa-tion.

Hyun Kim, a visiting South Korean scholar, gave a presenta-tion last Wednesday about the di-vided Korean situation and how it affects South Korean life.

“Many scholars are skeptical of the intentions of North Korea,” Kim said.

South Korea has been a de-mocracy since the 20th century with exception of an authoritarian regime that held power from 1961 to 1987.

During the same time, North Korea has been ruled by a series of authoritarian regimes operating as a self-described Juche State, the po-litical thesis of Kim Il-Sung.

Sung founded the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which says that the Korean masses are the masters of the country’s develop-ment.

The name comes from juche, meaning “main body” or “main-stream,” and is sometimes trans-lated in North Korean sources as “independent stand” or “spirit of self-reliance.”

According to Kim Il-Sung, the Juche idea is based on the belief that man is the master of every-thing and decides everything.

It has also been interpreted as always putting Korean things first.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, Il-Sung elaborated Juche into a set of principles that the government uses to justify its policy decisions.

Among these are indepen-dence from great powers, a strong

military posture, and reliance on Korean national resources.

South Korea has become part of the broader world economy, while North Korea became isolated from the rest of the world.

“Conditions in North Ko-rea are extremely desperate, we shouldn’t stand by and watch a failed country, it’s gone on too long,” said Lucas VanAtta, politi-cal science senior.

The economic divide of Korea

is shown through the population, its exports and economic systems.

While North Korea remained economically socialist, South Ko-rea took the approach of becoming a capitalist market economy.

South Korea compares favor-ably to Japan and Germany when it comes to health, education and standard of living, North Korea was ranked under Iraq.

Advising, food choices, computing dominate latest president’s forum

Foreign language honors fraternity opens chapter

Two Koreas, one glaring problem


President Eric Gilbertson talks with students at his forum about their concerns and what the University can do to improve campus life at SVSU.

See SPAniSh, A10 See KorEA, A10

There’s a new publication on campus titled The Law Review. The journal is made for students, by students.

Created by the political science de-partment, it includes student-written pieces about the law.

“It’s an academic journal comprised of undergraduate academic essays from political science related courses,” said Kyle O’Mara, a junior political science major.

Faculty supervisor of The Law Review, political science professor Jesse Donahue, came up with the idea when she realized many of SVSU political science majors at-tend law school post-undergraduate grad-uation.

She said students are required to write legal briefs and law papers in many of the political science courses offered at the Uni-versity.

Donahue said he encourages students to get involved and submit their papers to the journal if they’re political science stu-dents or just took a political science course.

“We welcome papers about the law from all students on campus,” Donahue said. “But students should get involved in it if they want to go to law school.”

The first edition of The Law Review is set to arrive on campus newsstands in early April. The journal will then be published annually.

Donahue selected three students ma-joring in political science to be a part of and edit The Law Review. The editors are up-perclassmen Kyle O’Mara, Patrick Martin and Larissa Skalecki.

As editorial staff, their job is to decide which papers to include in the journal and to edit the essays grammatically.

“My primary responsibilities as an editor are to evaluate submitted essays and help determine which will be accepted for publication,” said Skalecki, a senior.

Editors’ duties also include meeting with the writers of the essays to proofread and make changes.

“As an editor, I work with the respec-tive authors to edit the essays for readabil-ity and length,” O’Mara said.

Students who are interested in getting their paper considered for publication for the 2013 edition of The Law Review are asked to submit two copies of their piece of writing by emailing them to Donahue.

The deadline to submit papers for the journal is Oct. 30.

Donahue said she asks students to leave out their name on one of the two cop-ies submitted.

“One of copies should not have the student’s name because our editors read the papers without knowing who wrote them,” she said.

The other copy should include the stu-dent’s name, the title of the paper and the name of the professor who created the as-signment.

Students at the University are allowed to submit up to three essays per year for each issue.

For more information on The Law Re-view, people are encouraged to email Do-nahue at [email protected].

A new chapter of the world’s larg-est foreign language fraternity now calls SVSU home.

On Feb. 26, a private initiation cer-emony was held in Founders Hall to welcome students and faculty members into a new chapter of the Spanish Honor Society.

The Spanish Honor Society, or Sig-ma Delta Pi, is the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society.

It was first established in 1919 at the University of California Berkeley and is the largest foreign language honor soci-ety in existence.

It is the only honor society devoted exclusively to students of Spanish in four-year colleges and universities.

“We’re founding it and initiating another chapter here on campus,” said Ricardo Pastor, professor of modern for-eign languages.

Pastor led the ceremony last Sunday and is responsible for bringing the frater-nity’s new chapter to SVSU. He said that a chapter of Sigma Delta Pi could en-courage students to continue their stud-ies in Spanish and to rise to the level of excellence that Sigma Delta Pi has come to admire in its members.

Spanish education senior Lauren Zion was one student initiated last Sun-day.

She has been taking Spanish classes at SVSU since she was a freshman.

First edition: Law Review By Katelyn Davisvanguard staff Writer

By Katie headvanguard staff Writer

By Adam haenleinvanguard staff Writer

By Blake Allenvanguard staff Writer


hyun Kim has been a guest professor at SVSU since August. he lectured on the state of affairs in north and South Korea.

The Valley Vanguard 125 Curtiss Hall [email protected] editor-in-chiefToni Boger office (989) 964-4482 e-mail [email protected]


opinion


This week, we highlighted mymentalspace, a new app that helps students manage their time on the web so they

can learn to be productive without the distractions.

We think that this app and others like it can be beneficial when it’s crunch time for midterms or finals. We’ve all fallen victim to the dreaded Facebook procrastination. We’ll write a paragraph of a paper, go on to Facebook for 15 minutes and repeat the cycle with other sites such as Pinterest, YouTube or Twitter. And we’ve had Facebook cut into our sleep time at some point.

But while we can stumble in our attempts to be productive, we realize that time management skills are learned through situations like this. Part of being successful in college is learning when to buckle down and when to relax. We question apps like this mostly because it does this learning for us.

We’re also wary of trusting someone to be the administrator of the app. You have to know your friends pretty well to give them control of your free time on a computer. Our board is one made up of people who enjoy control over their own lives.

We aren’t willing to give up the little control we have to someone else during the chaos that is college. We realize the value in learning how to control our work time and our free time. It will be us, not someone else, who is the ultimate admin of our time after we leave college.

However, the one thing we really appreciate about this app is that it values the power of motivation and inspiration. When someone attempts to go to a website blocked by the app, it provides something inspirational.

It’s this type of positive thinking that we’d like to see more in college. It’s so easy to be burdened down by the load of work that comes from jobs and classes. We should learn to never underestimate the power of accepting positive thinking, especially when we are burdened.

That small positive can go a long

way. It’s easier to feel like being motivated when we’re around others who are motivated, just like it’s easier to feel like procrastinating when we’re around others procrastinating.

Even though this app emphasizes the need to be productive, we have to realize the necessity of taking a break as students. Our brains are not meant to study for hours without end, just like our rear ends are not meant to sit for hours without end. Attempting to do so will only lead us closer to being burned out, which is something we never need in college.

While we are happy that mymentalspace can help curb the dangers that come with procrastination, it can be beneficial to take time away from our studies. Figuring out how to balance that time is key.

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Last night, tens of millions tuned in to watch the 84th Annual Academy Awards, but I wasn’t

among of them. Like many other young people, I didn’t catch the “Oscar Buzz.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love movies. I watch one almost every day. I’m simply not a fan of awards shows and I get enough of Hollywood from the media already. When Oscar season is here, the pervasiveness of the awards coverage becomes particularly nauseating, so I don’t watch. It has little to do with Billy Crystal or Joan Rivers.

If I wasn’t shaking with anticipation for the red carpet walks, the tired comedy and the boring

acceptance speeches last night, it wasn’t because they weren’t trying hard enough to reach me.

In weeks leading up to the

awards, advertisers tried to generate Oscar excitement among the 20- and 30-year olds through social networks such as

Facebook and Twitter, smartphone apps, online ballots and discussion boards. Videos provided

backstage access and interviews with the stars.

Bloggers were paid to hype up the festivities.

Hollywood made sure everyone knew about its

big night.Despite

making Oscar promos available online and on-the-go, the academy has a problem keeping the awards relevant to young adults. The average age of an Oscars viewer is about 50 years old. That figure becomes a problem when the Academy relies on advertising revenues from the Oscars for much of its operations.

Advertisers want to reach a target audience of young people that may still be forming their shopping habits and that could become lifetime consumers of their products. Advertisers paid $1.7 million for 30 seconds of commercial time during the awards, but most of the people in the audience were baby boomers.

To get feedback from younger viewers, analysts will now collect demographic data as well as positive and negative feedback from comments, posts and votes from sites about both the Oscars and the ads. The responses they collect from people commenting on awards and ads, however, may not tell them much about the people they want to reach most: those who didn’t watch and who didn’t care enough to comment.

The advertisers and analysts will spend millions trying to figure out why manufactured excitement for the Oscars is a failed strategy, but here are a few that come to mind without the need for costly market research.

Part of the problem the Academy and its commercial sponsors face is that young adults with income are already bombarded heavily with Hollywood images and stories. Celebrity gossip shows, tabloid magazines, morning shows and commercials spots try to sell them something every day. All they have to do is turn on the television

or walk outside.By the time the Oscar season

arrives, young people have reached their saturation point with celebrity endorsements. Viewers don’t care at that point if a celebrity nominated for an Oscar is featured in a commercial aired during the awards. It’s more of the same with nothing new to see.

In addition, the Oscars buzz about movies becomes a rerun of every behind-the-scenes, all-access marketing spot viewers saw at the time of its release. It’s the same stars with the same superficial interviews all over again with the word Oscar thrown in.

Another issue is that big budget, high-art movies are often better received at Oscar time than many of the low-budget “indie” movies many young people actually prefer and watch more than once. Some young people have difficulty giving the Oscars much credibility when they don’t recognize their film favorites with nominations or awards. They certainly don’t tune in to see the results for films that never attracted their attention in the first place.

The Oscars doesn’t have to turn into the MTV Movie Awards to reach young people, but it does have to recognize the values of the audience it wants to reach.

Finally, if the academy wants to make its awards more relevant to young people, its writers, actors, directors and producers in Hollywood should work harder to make movies that this demographic cares about. If there are films young people relate to competing closely in several categories, these folks may tune in to the awards rather than learning the results from the news the next day.

The issue - A free app called mymentalspace is available for students looking to cut out procrastination time from their studies.

Our position - While procrastination can be dangerous when studying, the app can underestimate the necessity of taking a step back from studying.

Why the Oscars fail to reach young viewers

New app against procrastination is beneficial, but study breaks still needed

Joshuaroesner,campus ediTor

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tylerBradley, sTaff wriTer

toniBoger, ediTor-in-chief

Brianhlavaty, adviser

ediToriaL Board, feBruary 2012- march 2012

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Columnist | Noah Essenmacher

Noah Essenmacheris the Vanguard weekly columnist. Reach him at [email protected].

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Editorial Cartoon Rashad Baiyasi is a physics and chemistry junior and the Vanguard’s cartoonist. Reach him at [email protected].

The Valley Vanguard 125 Curtiss Hall [email protected] editor-in-chiefToni Boger office (989) 964-4482 e-mail [email protected]


opinion


There’s just something about free that can be hard to grasp. Free things usually come in small, useless,

crappy sizes, conditions and bad packaging. They’re usually thrown out after a while. But there is something that has always been a joy for anyone, no matter what age – samples.

They can be anything at all. They can come in big and small sizes. They can be samples of food from Sam’s Club, samples of shampoo and conditioner from a salon or samples of makeup from makeup counters.

They all are welcome because they are free and above all, useful.

Product samples help us find out if something is what we like and if we actually want to buy the full size of such products. No one wants to go out and buy the product only to find it was a waste.

Besides helping us to find out what products we like before we purchase them, they can also serve as one of the best travel products to pack. They are, of course, within the limits of the TSA 3-1-1 rules. Also, samples of something like shampoo and conditioner are often in tear-away packs that fit nicely in travel bags and take up little room. They leave room for other products you cannot put into smaller containers.

Since spring break is coming up, I thought I’d mention what tricks I use to make things easier to pack light for my trip.

I’m packing more samples than normal-size products. My liquids bag is small and I have a lot of face treatments I need to take with me.

These sample packs are actually not hard to find. On Amazon.com, there are shampoo and conditioner tear-away packs for sale, along with just about anything else you can think of. I also found one of my favorite face creams in small tear-away packs that have two kinds in one package.

Makeup boxes and makeup bag subscriptions are something big that had been around for a while but are just coming back.

They were usually only available to members subscribed to certain magazines, but they now are emerging on the web.

The makeup bag or box is something that gets sent to a customer for a small fee such as $10. It’s free to sign up, but the small fee is to cover the shipping and handling of the package.

When you subscribe for the first time, you answer a few questions about your health, beauty products you love and what kinds of food you like or would like to try.

At the beginning of every month, subscribers receive their custom-made package. Inside would be three or five normal-size products stylists from the company select for the customers based on their profile choices.

It’s nice to find your favorite kind of product in a trial size so that you can carry it with you wherever, try a certain product and to help aid you in finding the right product without breaking the bank or wasting product.

I remember those amazing times in the sand box not having to worry about adult issues or urgent schedules that had to be completed. I only had to

remember the golden rule.Since then, I have found that many

young college students have forgotten some basic rules and are smothered by over-doting parents. As a result, they have no experiences with the real world.

They aren’t allowed to fail in any way. They are narcissistic. They lack empathy for others and put their own needs first. They expect high grades when they don’t earn them, and they expect constant praise. They are selfish, rude and get away with things no one in my day would have.

These are all things I found in the book “Generation Me” by Jean Twenge, who classifies “Generation Me” as anyone born in the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s.

I shudder to think what a monster I could have become with modern child-rearing practices if my parents weren’t in their 70s when I was raised.

Gorged on a diet of grade inflation, constant praise and materialistic entitlement, I probably would have succumbed to a life of thoughtless self-indulgence if not for the constant thought of what they could do to me.

Perhaps, one day, we will say that the recession saved us from a parenting attribute that churns out ego-induced spoiled brats. But it is too soon to tell if our economic free-fall will cure America of its sense of economic privilege.

The recession has made it much harder to get the money together to give our kids six-figure sweet sixteen parties and plastic surgery for graduation presents, all in the name of self esteem.

It’s a good thing that we’ve built up the confidence of our kids. But in the process, we’ve created a generation of hot-house flowers puffed with a disproportionate sense of self-worth and without resiliency skills they need when mommy and daddy can’t fix something.

All that narcissism is a problem that can include students disregarding curfews, playing dance music until 3 a.m.

and failing to understand why professors won’t let them make up an exam they were too hungover to take in the first place.

It seems that the flip side of all that confidence isn’t significant success, but antisocial behavior.

Armed with a steady influx of trophies just for showing up and “I Am Special” coloring books, it is hard for kids to understand why an abundance of ego might be bad for them.

My parents struggled to give me the freedom to be me while also teaching me generosity, compassion and humility, all of which were characteristics I had to learn when I was in kindergarten.

But I didn’t make it easy on them. I was the kind of kid who threatened to maim himself if asked to wash the dishes.

“Don’t get cocky, kid,” was the response from my mother when I declared, “My grades are too good for my behavior to be monitored.”

“Guys are a dime a dozen,” my father would remind me when I came up with the brilliant idea that school was getting in the way of my social life.

My mom would also trot out fables to keep me in check, ridiculous fairy tales that would keep me up at night and reflect on my decisions in life.

Ever read the original ending to Cinderella? The prince charming never got his happily ever after as he always wanted too much and ended up a beggar.

It mostly worked. However, I still hate to be told what to do, I dislike following rules and I will waste hours trying to get out of the simplest

household task. But I’m a work in progress.

No matter how you were raised, the handiest cure for narcissism used to be life. Whether through fate, circumstances or moral imperative, our culture kept arrogance in check.

Now, we encourage it. Pastors preach of a Jesus that wants

us to be rich. The famously egocentric wide receiver Terrell Owens declares at a press conference that being labeled selfish is fine with him. We live in a world where everyone can be a star if only on YouTube.

The general sense among students on campus is that with the world being such a competitive, cutthroat place, they have to be narcissists.

Well, you may need a super-sized ego to win “America’s Next Top Model” or to justify your multimillion-dollar bonus.

But the last I checked, our lives don’t require all that attitude.

Treating the whole world as if it works for you doesn’t suggest you’re special. It just means you’re inconsiderate.

As an antidote to a skyrocketing self-worth, Twenge recommends “humility, evaluating yourself more accurately, mindfulness and putting others first.”

Such values may seem quaint and maybe even self-defeating to those of us who think we’re special. But trust me, it gets easier with practice.

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

Some people need to reflect back in those years of blankies, warm cookies and cold milk to remember the world does not revolve around them.

Vanguard Staff Writer | Opinion

The beauty of free samples Raising a generation of spoiled, egocentric kids harms all of us

Blake Allen is an international studies sophomore and a Vanguard Staff Writer. Reach him at [email protected].

Kaelyn Ward is a graphic design junior and Vanguard Staff Writer. Reach her at [email protected]

Vanguard Staff Writer | Opinion

{}

Religious CounselingChristian counseling/Life coaching - Relationships, stress, addiction, more. Call Larry Hoard B.A. 989-842-3982. christianlifecoaching.net.

op-edIf you are a faculty member wishing to write your opinion in The Valley Vanguard, please contact Editor-in-Chief Toni Boger at [email protected]

For more information, go to svsu.edu/srci, or contact Jules Gehrke, special assistant to the provost, at (989) 964-2175, or [email protected].

Student Research & Creativity InstituteInnovation. Originality. Excellence.

The Student Research & Creativity Institute offers substantive financial support for the most promising of student-led artistic, research and service projects across the disciplines. The initiative can offer up to $50,000 in total support during an academic year and seeks to tap the rich reservoir of talent among SVSU’s best students.

Fall Review CycleSubmission deadline: Oct. 31Notification: December 10 Work on funded projects begins after: January 1

Winter Review CycleSubmission deadline: March 31 Notification: May 10 Work on funded projects begins after: July 1

(All dates will default to the next business day if they fall on a weekend.)

The Valley Vanguard valleyvanguardonline.com125 Curtiss Hall [email protected] A&EEditor Molly young officE(989) 964-4482 E-mAil [email protected]


a e&

Challenges of being deaf did not stop Russian poet Ilya Kaminsky in pursuing his passions.

Nearly 100 people came to Ka-minsky’s poetry reading last Tuesday. The reading was sponsored by Voices in the Valley and the Office for Diver-sity.

Student posters that featured Kaminsky’s poetry, as well as graph-ics depicting the imagery within the poems, were distributed at the event.

Born in Odessa in the former So-viet Union in 1977, Kaminsky grew up with the challenge of being deaf.

He lost most of his hearing at the age of 4.

He began writing poetry in Rus-sian, and published the book, “The Blessed City.”

Kaminsky came to America at age 16 when his family sought politi-cal asylum.

Kaminsky has written collection of works published in works such as “Dancing in Odessa.”

He teaches at San Diego State University.

Kaminsky read excerpts of his collection from “Dancing in Odessa.”

He opened with his poem, “Au-thor’s Prayer.”

As he read, the poems were dis-played on an overhead projector so guests could follow along.

He fluctuated in his intonations and energy in his reading, going from fast-paced, high-pitched dramatic verses to softer, whispered verses.

“I never heard anyone read poet-ry like that,” said Sarah Drummond, a fine arts and creative writing junior. “It wasn’t what I was expecting.”

The couplet poem discusses the narrator’s repercussions for speaking for the dead.

His work was often in first per-son. Topics of poems are usually dra-matic events and their effects on so-ciety.

His piece, “Maestro,” tells a story of a school bombing near an apple or-chard in Moldova.

He continued with his poem, “Aunt Rose.”

Written in triads, it shows memo-ries of Rose as reference to war, edu-cation and love.

His work is often deliberately sexual such as the case in his poem, “In Praise of Laughter.”

Referencing “Aunt Rose,” he tells about a public prosecutor who hurt several people including the narra-tor’s family.

It discusses his grandfather’s murder, and how the prosecutor “signed people off.”

“I like how he enjambed sentenc-es,” said Alyssa Harasim, a communi-cations senior. “It’s not typical.”

He read other poems such as “My Mother’s Tango” and “Dancing in Odessa.”

Kaminsky followed with excerpts from his 2002 publication, “Musica Humana” and read his series “Nata-lia.”

“He definitely has music in his writing,” said creative writing profes-sor Arra Ross.

Poems in this reading were sub-stantially longer than his “Dancing in Odessa” series.

In his poems, he often make al-lusions to ancient philosophers and religious texts.

Making reference to Jerusalem and Moses in his poem, “American Tourist,” he was able to create and re-inforce meanings and themes.

In it, he also touched on social structure and poverty.

His books were available for pur-chase and could be signed following the reading.

Kaminsky co-edited a book of interviews from several American po-ets.

The book, entitled, “A God In The House,” will be released in March.

Published poet, professor travels nation to perform

Vanguard photo | Tyler BradleyIlya Kaminsky, Russian poet, performs his poetry in Founder’s Hall. Kaminsky lost most of his hearing by the age of 4, and most of his writing is about the former Soviet Russia, where he lived until the age of 16.

Vanguard photo | Tyler BradleyEnglish professor Arra Ross introduces Kaminsky at Thursday’s event. Ross organized it.

Vanguard photo | Tyler Bradley Kaminsky signed books after the reading.

By Tyler Bradleyvanguard staff writer

Braun writing awards looking for applicantsBy Brandy Abrahamvanguard caMpus editor

Writers from any major have an opportunity to write outside the curriculum.

Submission for the 10th an-nual Ruth and Ted Braun En-dowed Writing Awards are due Friday, March 16.

Essays from any of the nine categories are accepted, includ-ing general education, graduate programs, graduate and under-graduate multimedia, as well as from the college of arts and behavioral sciences, business, education, health and human services and science, engineer-ing and technology.

The University Writing Committee and two or three professors from the department will read and judge submissions.

The committee, which also hosts the National Day of Writ-ing, consists of professors from each college at the University.

The Braun Award, which features academic writing, pub-lishes writers in both an annual SVSU publication, managed by Diane Boehm, and on the SVSU website. Winners receive a cash reward and certificate.

Boehm, member of the UW Committee, director of the writ-ing center and English professor, said that faculty often use win-ning essays as models for future classes.

“It lets students see what that kind of paper looks like,” Boehm said.

Through faculty nomina-tion, the committee encourages students to ask professors for a nomination.

“There is always an amaz-ing array of things being pub-lished,” Boehm said. “And the best part is recognizing the stu-dents’ writing.”

“Every year is different than

the year before,” Boehm said. “And that makes the judging challenging.”

If nominated, students will have to revise their original work for a more general audi-ence.

“They get a grade of course,” said Deb Wagner, Uni-versity writing committee chair-person and nursing professor. “But some students want to go beyond that. It gives them the opportunity to get their work published.”

Winning can look good on a resume.

“Every job ad is looking for students with good communica-tion skills,” Boehm said. “One way to demonstrate that is to re-fer to an award like this.”

Multimedia winners will get their videos and presenta-tions linked on the SVSU website.

“ W e have a w o r k i n g r e l a t i o n -ship with the multime-dia winners,” Boehm said.

“The more last-ing reward is the confidence as a writer,” Wag-ner said. “And they can take that with them.”

W a g -ner said that the c o m m i t -tee looks for clarity,

structure and organization in a well-written essay. Yet, that doesn’t mean a “writing-inten-sive” essay.

“Nursing is writing inten-sive, but other departments also contribute a large number of submissions,” Wagner said.

Submission guidelines don’t require the student to have taken a writing intensive course.

“Critique is at the critical aspect of writing,” Wagner said. “To really critique an essay you have to read and share them.

Alicia Kozakowski, OT graduate said, “You have to be competent in the area you are writing about and go to existing literature.”

She suggested that stu-dents use the knowledge t h e y

gain in the classroom to always write award-winning essays, even without the award, and to remember to use the resources available on campus.

Danielle Radosa, exercise science junior, said the only writing intensive course she has taken was a criminal justice class, but she has written essays for other classes.

“Good papers challenge you to write to your best abili-ties,” she said.

To write a good essay, Me-gan Denton, exercise science sophomore said that it has to be something original.

“You have to write like no one else has written or said be-fore,” she said.

For students looking to ap-ply, Boehm suggests checking out the guidelines on the SVSU

website.

The Valley Vanguard valleyvanguardonline.com125 Curtiss Hall [email protected]


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A&EEditor Molly young officE(989) 964-4482 E-mAil [email protected]

artbriefsArt Gallery• The University Art Gallery is cur-rently featuring Cianne Fragoine in “Atmospheric Conditions: An Exhibition of Works on Paper.” The exhibit will be on display until Saturday, March 3. For more information visit the Art Gallery’s website, svsu.edu/artgallery. Free.

Coffee House Series• At 10 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, program board will host its coffee house series where students will perform “diverse talents.” Par-ticipants will gather in the rotunda. Free.

Valley Film Society• At 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 2, in C100, the Valley Film Society will show a Swedish film, “Smiles of a Summer Night,” a romantic comedy. $5 per student. $10 per non-student.

Cut Paper Designs• Beginning Monday, March 12, the University Art Gallery will exhibit the work of Mary Gaynier, a bach-elor of fine arts from Toledo, Ohio. For more information on the exhi-bition, entitled, “Scherenschnitte: Cut Paper Designs,” contact the art department at (989) 964-4159.

Belly Dancing• At 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, campus recreation will host a belly-dancing class in Student Life Center Program rooms 1 and 2. Free.

Intercultural Night• At 7 p.m. Friday, March 16, International Programs will host Intercultural Night in the Malcolm Field Theatre. International and American students will work together to present a an array of cultural performances. Free for students. $10 for non students.

Craft Show• From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 17, Keepsake Collection will host its biannual craft show in the O’Neill Arena in the Ryder Center.

Artist in Residence• At 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 17, in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall, Artist in Residence, Jeff Hall will perform in an event entitled, “The Music of Herbie Hancock.” For tickets, call the SVSU box office at (989) 964-4261. $5 for students and seniors. $12 for adults.

Encore!• At 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 23, and Saturday, March 24, in the Malcolm Field Theatre, Encore!, a student-led RSO, will premier their Spring musical.

Free Music Fridays• From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. each Friday, Brewtopia in Bay City will host Free Music Fridays. The event will feature local music bands play-ing live acoustic shows inside the coffee shop. Free.

Spanish Movie Night• At 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, in B109, the MFL group will show a Spanish Civil War film, “La lengua de las mariposas.” The film will be subtitled in English. For more information, email [email protected].

New club shoots to reel in aspiring filmmakers

Cardinal Filmmakers of-fers skills difficult to come across in the classroom, but pay off after graduation.

Tim Kenyon, English professor and adviser to Car-dinal filmmakers, said he believes that filmmaking is underrepresented at SVSU.

There are few courses devoted to the subject. Ke-nyon said that he trusts the group will help fill the void.

The state of Michigan offers tax breaks for anyone who creates a film in this state.

Tax breaks could mean job opportunities for gradu-ates.

Kenyon said he believes that learning to make film is valuable for gradu-ates entering the job market.

The group will expose m e m b e r s to the art of film-making

as well as teach them critical techniques.

“Students will be in charge of the entire process: generating ideas, writing, shooting and editing,” Ken-yon said.

The first official meet-ing is set for March. This is where the group will decide on an agenda.

Future meetings will cover all aspects of film mak-ing. Members will then ap-ply those concepts to proj-ects, Kenyon said.

The group is waiting on approval of grants for equip-ment. Members hope to pur-chase equipment in spring and learn to use it over sum-mer.

By fall, the group should have everything it needs to “hit the ground running,”

Kenyon said.One grant that may help

the group get rolling is the SVSU Foundation Resource Grant.

With four members on-board, they are looking for more student interest.

“This is not a group for seasoned filmmakers, it’s not a group just for theater ma-jors,” Kenyon said.

Instead, the RSO will serve as a group where peo-ple learn the process of creat-ing film.

“We have one guy who knows nothing about film-making, he just thinks it’s cool,” Kenyon said.

To encourage those who are inexperienced to join the group, Cardinal Filmmakers will supply any necessary equipment.

With obvious time restraints, the group

has no intention of creating fea-

ture-length films.

Shorts, mini documenta-ries, music videos or simply shooting a single scene are possible projects.

Some of these projects will include promotional pieces for on-campus events, achievements and activities.

The group also has in-tentions of getting involved with local, independent film programs.

Cardinal Filmmakers will offer devoted members all access passes to Hell’s Half Mile. Hell’s Half Mile is an annual independent film festival that takes place in downtown Bay City.

Members will also have the chance to meet profes-sional filmmakers and par-ticipate in workshops at the festival.

For more information about Cardinal Filmmakers, students are encouraged to contact Tim Kenyon at tken-

[email protected].

Vanguard graphic | Evan Poirier

By Joshua Hartleyvanguard graphic designer

Not only does Bay City serve as a hometown for pop stars such as Madonna, but it also serves as a hometown for a local emerging filmmaker.

J.C. Peterson is a writer, producer and nonprofit professional who will make an appearance at the Bay City screening of his newest film, “POP-U-larity!”

The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday, March 2, at the State Theatre in Bay City.

Tickets are available online for $5. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Copies will be available for purchase at the screening.

The 77-minute film is a mockumentary comedy about a small-town singing compe-tition, where contestants try to become Pen-skeegee’s next POP-U-lar person.

The film examines if and how there is no wrong way to be popular.

“It looks at diversity in a broad way,” Peterson said.

The competition includes a four-time diva champion and her loyal gay assistant, a cowboy and musical therapist, and a housewife with her artist son.

“The characters represent a diverse mix of people,” Peterson said.

Actors include Betty Ouyang, Thessaly Lerner, Krys Fox and Ashley Cuellar.

Betty Ouyang, who plays Celeste, has played roles in “As The World Turns” and as a voice in a video game.

Thessaly Lerner, who plays Ness in the film, has primarily done voice acting for video games such as “The Sims” and “Si-lent Hill 3.”

The film is being distributed to video stores such as Blockbuster, Amazon, Netflix and Red Box.

The inspiration behind the film came from an experience from co-writer and pro-ducer Michelle Ehlen and Peterson.

They both decided to go out one night in Los Angeles to a karaoke bar.

They discovered the diversity of the people who were there.

They were inspired to create the film and soon began researching by going to several other karaoke bars.

Ehlen had thought to create the film as a documentary, but it soon became a moc-

kumentary.After nine months of shooting in Los

Angeles, and editing as it progressed, “POP-U-larity!” was finally created.

Peterson became interested in film af-ter taking a photography class at Delta Col-lege.

After that class, he started taking any class that served as a creative outlet.

While at Delta College, Peterson creat-ed an hour-long documentary, “Short Fuse: Story of an AIDS Activist.”

Originally written for a class assign-ment as a way to avoid a 20-page paper, the documentary moved on to appear at film festivals and aired on PBS in 1993.

Since then, Petersen attended Colum-bia College for film and moved to Los An-geles.

Peterson’s next project is called, “The Blue Room.”

Now in its shooting stages, the film is a documentary about a Los Angeles family and its experiences with paranormal activ-ity.

Although living in a four-bedroom house, the parents have four sons who share a bedroom because of the experiences.

“I’m not sure what we’ll uncover,” Pe-terson said.

The film is looking to be in circulation at film festivals by the end of the year.

By Tyler Bradleyvanguard staff writer

Local film producer premieres “Pop-U-Larity” at State Theatre

Following your dreams can take you to great lengths.

Rachelle Austin, music se-nior, can attest to that.

As a freshman, Austin won the first place prize at NATs, a national singing competition. In her sixth year this semester, Austin is one of 15 students in the world accepted to an opera program in Italy.

She has the opportunity to live and perform there for two months this summer, but needs to raise money first.

“I did receive aid for $750, which is nice,” Austin said.

But it isn’t enough. Austin estimates the trip will cost more than $5,000.

Austin is performing a fundraising solo concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 23, to help defer some of the cost. The con-cert is free, but donations are welcome.

Austin will stay in a small city near Florence, called Luca. The program is called Canta in Italia and is a run through Wichita State University.

“I had to send in a CD consisting of four songs,” said Austin. “Two in Italian, one in French and one in English.”

Austin said she is nervous as much as she is excited.

“I will be flying alone, which is terrifying, and into a place where I don’t speak the language,” Austin said. “My goal is to teach myself some Italian before I go.”

Austin said her years of hard work and practice are pay-ing off.

“I practice at least four hours a day,” she said.

Austin said she didn’t al-ways have a passion for sing-ing.

“Singing kind of just hap-pened,” she said. “I didn’t want to take gym in middle school 8th grade, so choir was my last option and I loved it.”

As much as she loved sing-ing, Austin said she needed something even more challeng-ing. Opera added another di-mension to singing.

“Opera was more of a chal-lenge to me,” Austin said. “I think that’s why I kept up with it.”

Although many students don’t know the styles of opera, it is leading Austin down the road to success.

“I take eight classes each semester and most of our choir classes are one credit four hours a week.”

Juggling school, voice les-sons and practice keeps Aus-tin at the top of her game. She hopes to raise enough money to show off her talent in Italy this summer.

Student hopes to raise $5,000 in opera solo to perform abroad

Courtesy | Pop-U-Larity Facebook“Pop-U-Larity,” Peterson’s 77-minute film will show at 7 p.m. Friday, Mar. 2, at the State Theatre in Bay City. Tickets are available online for $5. “Short Fuse: Story of an AIDS Acrivist,” another of Peterson’s films, aired on PBS and was featured in several film festivals.

The Valley Vanguard valleyvanguardonline.com125 Curtiss Hall [email protected] editor Justin Brouckaert office (989) 964-2629 e-mail [email protected]


sports

A former GLIAC champion is turning tragedy into inspiration – and maybe even a career.

Derek Stone, a 2010 SVSU gradu-ate who won two GLIAC titles and qualified for nationals three times during his undergraduate career, was hit with tragedy last January.

“I lost my cousin, and then two weeks later I lost my best friend,” he said.

Stone said that the deaths of Mi-chael Beatty and Thomas Daley in-spired him to organize a road race in their memories. The initial plans fell through as Stone accepted a job in re-tail management after graduation and moved from Saginaw to Traverse City. After he got settled, however, the idea still lingered in his head.

“I was at work one day and I thought, ‘You know, I want to start a company. I’ll put this race on and base my company on organizing road races and triathlons,” he said.

With that thought, MileStone Racing was born.

Stone, a graduate of Lapeer East High School, already has two races planned, one in his hometown of Metamora and the other in Lapeer.

One of those races, scheduled for Saturday, June 2, is the Inaugural Beatty-Daley challenge, a USA Track & Field-sanctioned event that includes the Beatty Mile, the Daley 5K and the Beatty-Daley 5K Walk.

A portion of the proceeds from the event will go toward two scholar-ships, the Thomas Daley Agricultural Scholarship and the Beatty-Daley Scholarship.

Stone said that if things go well with these first two races, he hopes to make his work at MileStone Racing into a full-time job.

“I’m hoping to make enough money by our first race to replace my salary,” Stone said. “Hopefully within six to seven months, I’m doing this as a career.”

For now, Stone is relying on help from friends and former teammates to get his business off the ground. Among his co-workers at MileStone Racing are Amanda Genther, a 2011 SVSU graduate, and Nick Ekel, a for-mer all-GLIAC athlete for the Cardi-nals now running at Wyoming Uni-

versity.“Right now, everyone has volun-

teered to do this for free, but once I get paid I’m going to pay them to reim-burse them for their time and effort,” Stone said.

Because the only main cost for the company at this point is insurance, Stone said that his venture doesn’t come with all the risk that other entre-preneurs face.

“There’s really not that much cost going into it,” he said. “Just a lot of time.”

In addition to getting MileStone Racing off the ground, Stone is also in the process of getting his coaching certification, which he plans to use to help aspiring athletes in need of guid-ance.

“It’s kind of like a personal train-er, but more like a coach for running and triathlons,” he said.

He hopes to put that certification to use by establishing a running camp for young athletes in Traverse City through his company.

“I met a kid up here in Traverse City who used to run against me at Grand Valley, and we became re-ally good friends,” Stone said. “Now we’re going to start a running camp for kids K-12.”

The camp is scheduled for Mon-day, June 25 to Friday, June 29.

Stone said that in addition to planning a triathlon on Lake Michi-gan, he also hopes to bring his influ-ence further south and host a race in the Great Lakes Bay Region, though he’s not sure when.

“I want to give back to the com-munity,” he said. “I want Saginaw Valley to know what I’m doing.”

MileStone Racing accepts any person who volunteers to help stage an event. For more information, visit www.racemilestone.com.

Walt Head is entering his 30th season at the helm of the SVSU baseball team, where he has established himself as one of the top coach-es in NCAA Division 2 history. The longest ten-ured coach in the GLIAC, Head is ranked 27th in Division 2 history with 794 victories and has led the Cardinals to three NCAA playoff trips and two outright GLIAC titles. In a recent in-terview, Head talked about baseball, the media and the winding trail that has led him to coach-ing success.

On his path to SVSU

“First of all, I coached amateur baseball in the Flint area. I kind of fell into this because I was doing something else and someone talked me into doing the amateur baseball team in Flint. I was still playing at the time. I thought I was going to be in the big league or something, but I finally took the job, and we finished third in the nation my first year. We were very suc-cessful, and the next year was even more suc-cessful. We went on in amateur baseball and we actually won a National Championship in Flint in 1974.

Then I got a pro scouting job with the Ori-oles. I stayed with them for five years, and then one of my friends, who had the scouting direc-tor job for the Toronto Blue Jays, he asked me to come with him. So I was there with him for five years. Then, when Bob Becker called me, who was the athletic director in the December of 1982, he told me to come in and interview. He just gave me the job right on the spot.“

On the early years

“We didn’t have a field to play on. We had to play on the football practice field. It was hor-rible. We had the worst facilities in the country for outside baseball, and the inside one wasn’t much better. We got better, and the fourth year we were here, we just missed the World Series. ‘86 is probably the best team I’ve ever had. “

On longevity

“You kind of learn from experience. I had all those really good things in front of me, and then I come here for 30 years. The game is sup-posed to be fun and all of that, and I’ve said to people, I still believe when it stops being fun, it’s time for me to retire. I’d like to probably coach here a few more years. I don’t think more than three, but I’ll take that as we go.”

On his career

“I kind of fell into coaching. I always thought I’d be a high school football coach after I finished playing pro ball, but I never played pro ball so I never got that opportunity. It just didn’t work out with football so as it has all turned out, I think it’s been OK. I’ve been re-ally successful as a coach. I have three teams in the Flint Hall of Fame. One of my goals was to get some teams in there, and I got three so that’s more than anybody else has so I’m pretty happy with that. Me as a person, I think it’s more interesting to talk about the team.”

On the media

“That’s one good thing. When we play bad, you say that; when we play good, you say that. I think that’s fair because if we want to be talked about, then well, we should play bet-ter!”

From runner to entrepreneur

Coach Head on Baseball

Coach Walt Head

By Justin Brouckaertvanguard sports editor

By Lisa Coffellvanguard staff Writer

After a slow start last season, SVSU is ready to put in the work needed to make it to the NCAA tournament.

“We’ve had a really good recruiting season, our pitchers have gotten better and our pitching depth is the best we’ve had in a while,” head coach Walt Head said. “I don’t know if we’ll win a championship, but we really need to get into the playoffs because we’re good enough to do that.”

Head coach Walt Head is back for his 30th season, and he’s ready to utilize the depth of talent on his team to have a successful year.

SVSU is returning all but one of its starters this season, and it has added other talented players to the team.

“This year’s probably going to be our best one in a long time, and probably even for years to come, because of our offense, our pitchers and the great core of guys we’re returning,” said junior pitcher Carson Beauchaine.

Last season, Beauchaine pitched 61 innings, struck out 48 batters and kept opponents to a .238 batting average. All three were team best and led to him being selected as the starting pitcher for the All-GLIAC First team.

Junior outfielder Kyle O’Boyle, senior shortstop Matt Hunt and senior outfielder Ryan Ermers also received All-GLIAC Honors.

With a 25-24 record last season, 18-15 in the conference, the team was ranked tenth in the region by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) in the preseason poll.

“It’s good that you can start in the region being ranked at all,” Head said.

This ranking will put the team in the position to move up as long as it starts winning right away.

“I thought we really jelled well

last season, and we carried that on to training in the off season and in the fall,” Hunt said. “I think that we all understand what we need to do personally and that it’s going to be a good year for us.”

SVSU’s season will begin March 3 in Auburndale, Fla. While in Florida, the team will play 11 games. These games will give a good indication on the team’s chances for making it into the NCAA tournament.

“We want to do better in Florida than we have been doing because the last few years, we made the tournament, but we didn’t play very well down South,” Head said. “To get ranked in the nation and to get into the NCAA tournament, you need to win some games down there.”

“We’re playing some pretty good competition, a little better this year than it has been, but our pitching staff’s just as good as ever so we’re looking to win a lot more than usual,” Beauchaine said.

In order to pull out some wins down South, Coach Head and the rest of the pitching staff have begun planning their lineups.

Among the strong lineup, three pitchers Coach Head will utilize in Florida, along with the rest of the season, are Beauchaine, junior Mike Saunders and sophomore Mike Schaaf.

“It’s the first time we have three kids that can throw 90 miles per hour,” Head said. “We haven’t had that in the 30 years that I’ve been here.”

When it comes down to it, the team will have to work together in order to have a successful season.

“It’s all about having your teammates back and playing as a team,” Hunt said. “We’re a family out there, and we need to work as one to achieve our goals.”

After returning from Florida, the team will have some time to prepare for its first home double header at 1 p.m. Friday, March 24, against Hillsdale College.

Deep pitching staff key to wins By Lisa Coffellvanguard staff Writer

BaseBall

Vanguard File Photo

The team will rely on pitchers such as Carson Beauchaine, Mike Saunders and Mike Schaaf to lead the team this season.

Courtesy Photo I Derek Stone

Former SVSU runner Derek Stone started his own company, MileStone Racing, to organize road races and triathlons.

The Valley Vanguard valleyvanguardonline.com125 Curtiss Hall [email protected]

sports editor Justin Brouckaert office (989) 964-2629 e-mail [email protected]


sports

Starting a season ranked fourth in the country brings lots of pressure, but the Lady Cardinals are ready for it.

SVSU finished last year’s season with a 42-18 record, one of the best in school history. They traveled all the way into the semi-finals of the Division 2 softball championships, the furthest the team has ever made it in that tournament, before losing by a single run to the University of California-San Diego.

Freshman outfielder Chelsea Adcock thinks that the demands that come with being a highly ranked team is what will motivate them to be even better than last year.

“Our team is ranked fourth in the nation right now, and we are working really hard to live up to that,” she said.

First-year head coach Tim Rousse, who led the team to the playoffs as interim head coach last season, likes his team’s chances even though they lost some key players

from last year’s team.“We are missing 5

starters from last year’s team, including the best pitcher in the country,” he said, referring to Jade Fulton, an All-American who graduated last year. “But I love our depth. We have talent.”

Being motivated by preseason rankings will not lead to success by itself, however. Adcock said that the team is up for the challenge and that its off season regimen will be beneficial once the season begins.

“We have been working out,” she said. “We’ve been doing a lot of hitting which will help out when the season comes immensely.”

Toughness and working hard against good competition is what coach Rousse believes gives his team the best chance to win.

“Our offseason was rigorous,” he said. “We played three MAC Schools and Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. We showed that we can play with anyone, as evidenced by a 3-2 loss to MSU when we out hit them, out pitched them,

and I felt outplayed them but ended up falling in the ninth.”

According to Rousse, the key to being even better next season comes down to one thing.

“Pitching, pitching, pitching. It all starts and ends in the circle,” he said. “We can hit, we are good defenders, but the only thing we have not

seen around here in a while is someone other than Jade Fulton in the circle.

“I can tell you Alexa [Gehrls] is eager to get her shot. She is a gamer and ultra competitive.”

Gehrls posted a 19-10 record last season, pitching 93 innings with an earned run average of 2.32.

The season will officially begin March 3 when the Cardinals will open up in Florida for the Rebel Spring Games. They will be playing Fayetteville State at 9 a.m.

“I love this team. We are young and very excited,” Rousse said.-

Ranked team embraces pressureBy Joey Olivervanguard staff Writer

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Softball•Saturday vs. Fayatteville State,9 a.m., Kissimmee, Fla.•Sunday vs. Minnesota State-Mankato, 9 a.m., Kissimmee, Fla.

Baseball•Saturday vs. West Virginia Wesleyan,2 p.m., Auburndale, Fla.•Sunday vs. Rockhurst (Mo.),5 p.m., St. Petersburg, Fla.

March 5 - March 11

Softball•Monday vs. Southwest Minnesota State,1 p.m., Kissimmee, Fla.

Baseball•Monday vs. Maryville (Mo.),6 p.m., Auburndale, Fla.•Tuesday vs. Florida Southern,7 p.m., Lakeland, Fla.•Thursday vs. Minnesota State-Mankato,2:30 p.m., Winter Haven, Fla.•Friday vs. Lewis,9 a.m., Winter Haven, Fla.•Saturday vs. Mansfield,3 p.m., Auburndale, Fla.

Track & Field•Friday @ NCAA Division 2 Indoor National Championships,TBA, Mankato, Minn.•Saturday @ NCAA Division 2 Indoor National Championships,TBA, Mankato, Minn.

sportsbriefs

Grob wins third straight GLIAC titleBy Justin Brouckaertvanguard sports editor

softBall

Courtesy Photo I Athletic Media Relations

This year’s team is coming off a successful season that included the deepest post-season run ever made by an SVSU team. The Lady Cardinals lost in the NCAA semifinals.

Florida might be the ideal spring break destination for college students, but for a handful of SVSU athletes, Minnesota is sounding nice this time of year.

The men’s and women’s teams com-peted at the GLIAC Indoor Champion-ships this weekend with many earning top conference finishes and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Division 2 Na-tional Championships in Mankato, Minn. on March 9.

The men were led by junior multi-event athlete Tyler Grob, who repeated as GLIAC champion in the heptathlon and was only 20 points shy of a school record. Already a two-time All-American, Grob will travel to nationals and attempt to im-prove on his fifth-place finish from last year.

The school record-holding distance medley relay team of Emily Short, Dia-mond Taylor, Alycia Wright and Ashley Meyer placed fourth, provisionally quali-fying for nationals with their record-break-ing time from earlier in the season.

Senior pole vaulter Elizabeth Willford, also a school record holder, earned a fifth-place finish in her event.

Meyer earned a second-place finish in the mile, provisionally qualifying for the national meet with a time of 5:00.82. Her distance medley relay teammate Wright also qualified provisionally, placing sec-ond in the half mile with a time of 2:11.29, just .04 seconds off the school record.

Vanguard File Photo

Junior multievent athlete Tyler Grob is headed to nationals for the third time. Grob finished fifth at indoor nationals last year in the heptathlon and fourth at outdoor nationals in the decathlon.

track & field

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“Since Spanish is my major, I feel that being inducted reflects my stud-ies very well,” Zion said.

Zion said she is glad that the op-portunity to join such a prestigious honor society in her field of study was available.

The entire ceremony was con-ducted in Spanish, and some of the initiated members participated in the ceremony by reading poems and oth-er works.

“It is a very formal ceremony,” Pastor said. The event was only open to those students and faculty who were eligible to be initiated into the honor society.

According to Pastor, there are many benefits to being a member of Sigma Delta Pi.

“Not only does the fraternity give tremendous prestige to the Universi-ty, but employers will definitely pay attention to members who have this on their resumes,” Pastor said.

In terms of how the society will impact her future, Zion said she was optimistic that being a member would help her career.

“I think that as with most honors societies, I will benefit for being a part of it,” Zion said. “I hope to take ad-vantage of scholarship opportunities, which are generally only available to inducted members. And if there are any professional development oppor-tunities offered, I hope to attend those events too.”

“To stabilize their leadership and their country, work must be done,” Kim said.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has highlighted the sig-nificance of the country’s free-trade agreement with the United States and his commitment to end North Korea’s nuclear programs.

However, the denuclearizing ini-tiative has not been implemented be-cause of North Korea’s proactive be-haviors, such as its long range rocket launch in 2009 and the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel.

As a result of the North Korean government, there has a steady flow of refugees.

The number of North Korean ref-ugees in South Korea has risen steadi-ly since 1993. Approximately 300,000 or more North Koreans have defected from the country to live in neighbor-ing China.

There are families split between the two Koreas who hope for a re-duction in tensions and easier travel across the border.

“A clear response is not being received in the aspect of family re-unions,” Kim said.

South Koreans who venture to North Korea find it hard to find a job and receive lower levels of income.

“Those who defected from North Korea deserve a chance at a real life,” said Elizabeth Calloway, theater ju-nior. “It is best if we put them in the countries that they will be safe.”

Many women and children have been the victims of human trafficking.

“Issues brought up of human rights, human trafficking needs to be resolved,” said Lorin Davis, interna-tional studies junior.

A culture war driven from the statistical data as if the two Korean societies should unite reflects that half think they should and half think it is too soon.

There are several ways in which South Korea and the U.S. have tried to engage North Korea.

They plan to send food and fertil-izer to North Korea to ease the food shortages that the country routinely faces.

South Korea has also expressed a willingness to invite Kim Jong-Un to the nuclear security summit.

This is significant because “there has not been clear evidence about his instability in leadership,” said Kim.

The United States is currently looking to engage Jong-Un by restart-ing the six-party peace talks that have been used as a way to decrease ten-sions in the region.

“There will be a long process with negotiating with North Korea to see where the country stands,” Kim said.

SpaniShcontinued from a3

Koreacontinued from a3

The Valley Vanguard (Vol. 44 No. 21)

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