Judges from the American Col-lege Theatre Festival (ACTF) came to see Newman’s production of “Buried Child” earlier this month and nomi-

nated senior C.L. Smet and juniors Justin Ralph and Wes Williams for the national Irene Ryan award and schol-arship.

Traditionally, the Theatre Depart-ment funds students’ trip to the re-gional competition, but after two years

of doing so, the school will not be pay-ing for the students to attend the com-petition.

The trip can cost anywhere from $800 to $3,000, depending on how

WWW.NEWMANVANTAGE.COM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014 VOL. 65, ISSUE 9

since 1968

Genesis Health Club to reduce rate for studentsBy DELANEY HIEGERTStaff Writer

Vantagethe

School will not fund students nominated for award By ASHLEY SECRISTStaff Writer

Students at Newman University will soon have a more cost-efficient way to stay in shape.

Junior Chase Blasi, president of Student Government Association, has been collaborating with Genesis Health Club’s owner, Rodney Stevens, to provide Newman students a dis-counted membership rate at Genesis facilities in Wichita.

Blasi said he set 10 goals for SGA to achieve this year; this is one step to-ward achieving them.

“One of those goals was to increase availability for students to gym equip-ment and fitness,” Blasi said. “Howev-er, our weight room is often occupied by athletic teams, which prevents stu-dents from using the equipment.”

Blasi said the final agreement with Genesis will be announced at the SGA Senate meeting in November, and he could not provide specific details yet.

At a previous SGA meeting, Blasi indicated the reduced memberships could be around $15 a month.

“Genesis has great equipment and facilities,” Blasi said. “This agreement with Genesis Health Club will allow students to work out and be active at nearly any point during the day.”

This agreement, Blasi said, will offer a discounted rate to Newman students throughout the entire academic year.

If students do not want to wait for the SGA deal is completed, however, there is another opportunity to join Genesis at a discounted rate because of another promotion that is going on throughout the month of October.

Scott Weber, assistant club manager at Genesis, said this promotion is one of its bigger ones because it is celebrat-ing its 28th anniversary as a company.

“This promotion is only offered to Newman students,” Weber said. “It’s packed with great stuff – a $6 fee to join, six months of membership free, six months of free tanning, three months of a free buddy pass, and one

STUDENT VOICE OF NEWMAN UNIVERSITY

CAB hopes for a ‘spooktacular’ turnout at Boo BashBy JESSICA SPONSELA&E Editor

Midterms not scary enough? CAB might be able to provide your fear fix with its annual Halloween celebration.

Campus Activities Board is part-nering with Residence Life and Board Games Club to put on Boo Bash in Sa-cred Heart Hall’s basement and on the Quad tonight at 7 p.m.

Boo Bash is the annual campus par-ty CAB hosts to celebrate Halloween

for both on- and off-campus students.CAB Chair Megan Hemel said Boo

Bash draws a lot of student interest each year. The CAB event is a safe yet fun way to celebrate Halloween on campus, she said.

“A lot of people tend to go out for Halloween, and we want to have something on campus,” she said.

Hemel said resident assistants and Board Games Club members are working with CAB to put on some of the many events happening at Boo

Bash this year.“CAB always tries to partner with

other groups on campus,” she said. “We’re a community.”

CAB knew that the RAs had to put on an event in October anyway, she said, so CAB asked if they wanted to be part of the Boo Bash.

The festivities will begin on the Quad, which is between Sacred Heart and Beata Hall. Residence Life will

See “Boo” on Page 2

MORE TREAT THAN TRICK

BOO BASH has been a Newman tradition at least for the past three years. Two years ago, the Boo Bash was a dance in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center. File Photo

See “Genesis” on Page 2 See “Award” on Page 2

News BriefsTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014 NEWS 2

Surge to host movie night

Surge, Newman’s art club, will be hosting a free movie night at 6 p.m. in the Student Center.

“The Monuments Men” will be shown.

The event is a part of the club’s Art Week, which has been going on all week and will culminate in a bird-house sale starting at 5 p.m. Friday in De Mattias Hall.

‘Spooky Joes’ performance Friday

The Sloppy Joe Improv Troupe will perform its sec-ond annual “Spooky Joes” Halloween-themed show at 7 p.m. Friday in the Jabara Blackbox Theater.

The troupe will be host-ing a costume contest, with a prize to be awarded to the best costume, as judged by the Joes.

Admission is free.

Student Government Association’s Week in ReviewAt SGA’s bi-weekly Senate meeting on Tuesday, the student senators voted on the following measures.

APPROVED funding up to $200 for a Veteran’s Day luncheon of sandwiches, chips and cookies in collaboration with Campus Ministry on Nov. 11. (19-0)REJECTED the allocation of up to $1,000 to the Athletics Department’s Pride Committee to boost participation at athletic and extracurricular activities, at SGA’s Executive Cabinet’s discretion. Funds would be used to purchase food, towels, toy airplanes, and to build themes for individual games. (9-10)APPROVED the re-registration of Newman University Theatre Troupe (NUTT) and Ambassadors for Christ. (19-0)

SGA’s next regular meeting is at 12:10 p.m. Nov. 25 in the Cardinal Newman Room in first-floor Sacred Heart Hall. Its regular meeting Nov. 11 has been cancelled to accommodate Veteran’s Day Mass.

Wichita State to play NU on Sunday

Newman’s women’s basketball team will take on Wichita State University in an exhibition game at 2:05 p.m. Sunday at Charles Koch Arena.

Tickets to the game are $5 for Newman students, and may be purchased in Newman’s Athletics Of-fice starting today through Friday.

free boot camp.”The promotion ends Friday.Weber said he has already seen an

increase in Newman students at the gym.

“I’ve seen a lot more students com-ing in, for sure. Quite a few from the wrestling team, but there has definite-ly been a wide variety,” Weber said.

Sophomore wrestler Dustin Reed

said he was not going to pass up the promotion. “When I heard about the October promotion that was specifical-ly for Newman students, I decided to go in and check it out. I got a tour and it’s a lot nicer than previous gyms I’ve had memberships to, like the YMCA,” Reed said. “I’ve had the membership for around two weeks and I’m defi-nitely glad I made the switch.”

Although the promotion will end

Friday, Genesis offers a free seven-day pass that includes two free training sessions year-round for anyone who wants to try out the facilities before buying a membership.

To learn more about Genesis Health Club and its upcoming promotions, contact Scott Weber at 620-200-5755 or via e-mail at sweber@genesishealth-club.com.

From “Genesis” on Page 1

far the actor advances in the national competition. In the past, a Newman actor has never advanced past the first round of Irene Ryan competition.

Mark Mannette, Newman’s direc-tor of theatre, said if the administra-tion does not fund the students’ trip, it may be difficult for some to attend.

“Every year, I am given ‘x’ amount of dollars from the administration for the Theatre Department,” Mannette said. “I have to figure out to use them.”

Mannette said in past years, the Theatre Department has not had to budget to send students, so he asked administration for financial assistance. Previously, he has been able to obtain funds, but this year, the administra-tion did not have any to spare, he said.

“I go to the administration and stick my neck out to see if they can provide any financial assistance for my stu-dents, as I ultimately want them to be successful,” Mannette said.

Every year since the founding of the Theatre Department in 2011, Newman

plays have been submitted for judging to the ACTF.

Judges from the organization come to see the show and have the option to nominate actors and actresses for the national Irene Ryan acting schol-arship, as well as nominate entire shows to travel to regional competi-tion.

This year, “Buried Child” was submitted. Last year, “How the Dog Runs” was chosen, and the year before that, “Something’s Afoot” was selected in 2012.

Mannette said when shows get se-lected to participate in these regional competitions, it is great exposure for Newman’s budding Theatre Depart-ment.

For the past few years, individual actors have been nominated for the Irene Ryan award as well.

Ralph has competed since his fresh-

man year at Newman, and said he is planning on attending this year de-spite having to pay for it out of pocket.

Smet said she was disappointed in the administration’s decision not to fund the trip.

“If you stop fund-ing us because we were unsuccessful [last time] how will we ever be successful?” she said.

Williams, who is not a theatre major, said he has not decid-ed if he will make the

trip or not.“I am weighing taking the LSAT

versus theatre at this point,” Williams said. “I am going to be prepared to at-tend even if I am not able to financial-ly. I would love to go if I can, but I’m afraid I might not be able to.”

An e-mail sent to Newman’s ad-ministration seeking comment for this story was unanswered as of Wednes-day evening.

“If you stop funding us be-cause we were unsuccess-ful [last time] how will we ever be successful?”

C.L. SMET

From “Award” on Page 1

be hosting activities such as pumpkin smashing, apple bobbing, and “Pie your RA in the Face.”

Students will be able to pie their RAs only if they make a donation to breast cancer research.

Inside Sacred Heart’s basement, Hemel said CAB will set up a “Haunt-ed Hallway.”

Sophomore Brandon Gollhofer,

president of Board Games Club, said his club will be hosting a “Hollywood Game Night” based on the television show and will give out prizes funded by SGA starting at 8 p.m.

Hemel said prizes will be “probably more along the lines of gift cards, but who doesn’t love a good gift card?”

Gollhofer said his club noticed Boo Bash would conflict with his Board Games Club’s Thursday night meet-

ing, so it teamed up with CAB to help put on Boo Bash.

“We thought it’d be a fun thing to host a big, fun event together,” he said.

A costume contest will also take place at Boo Bash.

“That’s usually a crowd favorite, to have a costume contest,” Hemel said.

Prizes will be awarded to the most creative costume, the scariest costume, and the best couple costume.

From “Boo” on Page 1

Newman’s Final Friday art recep-tion, “Monster Mash,” opens tomor-row at 5 p.m. in the Steckline Gallery.

Despite the “Monster Mash” theme, the artwork is not Halloween-themed, said Mary Werner, director of visual arts.

“It’s all parody; he likes to make fun of stuff,” Werner said.

While the evening may have a Hal-loween-ish atmosphere with students milling about in costumes enjoying the free refreshments and libations, the artwork of the late artist John Boyd will not.

The nature of Boyd’s non-horrific horror-inspired art is made more clear in a press release from Newman.

“Although his inspiration comes from horror stories, his actual prints are turned into a comic interpreta-tion of the horror characters. Dracula turned into a ridiculous figure through Boyd’s sense of humor looking like a comic figure.”

Boyd died in 2012 after teaching printmaking at Wichita State Univer-sity for more than 30 years, and his artwork is now in the care of curator Jim Johnson.

“He influenced generations of stu-dents with his dry sense of humor and skilled technical ability,” according to the release.

“I think that [Boyd]’s work, because it’s parody and because it has a quirky sense of humor, appeals to young peo-ple, but young people who are kind of thinkers and have a good imagina-tion,” Werner said. “Some shows are for old people, and we try to not have too many of those.”

The Steckline Gallery is one of many stops for Wichita art-lovers during Final Friday, and consistently hosts about 1,500 guests over the course of the year, Werner said.

“[It] has consistently and continu-ally had good exhibits,” Werner said.

For a complete list of upcoming Steckline Gallery exhibits go to www.newmanu.edu/stecklinegallery.

Newman University’s Art Club, now known as Surge, has been busy this week hosting NU’s first annual Art Week, featuring an art-related event for each day of the week.

The idea for the event came from senior Austin Solis, vice president of Surge.

“In the past, we hadn’t done a lot of events,” Solis said. “We really wanted to do something that would get the Art Club’s name out there and get people interested in art.”

Surge’s president Kati Bush said the Art Week was planned not only to coincide with October’s Final Fri-day showing, but also to get people to “want to come hang out with us.”

“We are hoping to get our name out there as a club and that more people will get involved so we can do more things for the school,” Bush said. “We want to get people excited about art.”

The events for Art Week included

a sidewalk-chalk contest on Monday, pumpkin painting on Tuesday, splat-ter painting with balloons on Wednes-day, a movie night tonight, auctioning of hand-painted birdhouses on Fri-day, and a “Monster Mash”-themed Final Friday.

“I think people forget that art can be fun, and can also be a major stress reliever,” Bush said.

There are two more events remain-ing in Art Week, in-cluding the showing of “The Monuments Men,” a movie about a branch of the mili-tary trying to retrieve artwork stolen in WWII, tonight at 6 p.m. in De Mattias Room 175.

Art Week will end Friday with the birdhouse fundraiser and the Monster Mash Final Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. in Steckline Gallery.

The birdhouses, which will be auc-tioned off, were decorated by Surge

members, Solis said. One was turned into a music box,

another into working speakers, and others were decorated and painted with various themes, Solis said.

“There is a wide range of creativ-ity in the birdhouses and the students really went beyond just painting the birdhouses,” Bush said.

Bush said the club has been pleased with the participation level so far this week.

“This is definite-ly going to be some-thing we continue,” she said. “It’s been really cool to see so many people inter-

ested in what we’re doing.”Bush said five new members have

been added to the club since Monday. Surge will meet again at noon on Nov. 6 in DM 170. For more information on how to join, students can contact Bush at bush266783@newmanu.edu.

SENIOR HALEY HUNGATE participates in balloon splatter painting on Wednesday as part of Surge’s Art Week festivities. This is the first year the club has organized an entire week aimed at celebrating the visual arts. Photo courtesy of Austin Solis.

COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINESArtwork intended to ‘parody scary’ at Final FridayBy JOHN DENNYStaff Writer

a&e3

Surge sponsors first Art Week, sees success

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014

“We really wanted to do something that would get the Art Club’s name out there and get people interesed in art.”

AUSTIN SOLIS

By KATLYN VOGTS-BROWNStaff Writer

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014 A&E 4

The Weekly CrosswordACROSS1. Thorn5. Canyon effect9. Oscar, e.g.14. Butter’s rival15. Sly glance16. Professional speedster17. Hearty soup18. OPEC member19. Plant life20. ______ damage23. Percussion instrument24. Legume25. “Like a Virgin” singer27. Put up31. Suspicious33. Helper34. Pamela _____ of “Baywatch”39. Use money41. Superlative ending42. Elevate43. Octopus arm45. Misfortunes46. Toboggans48. Mete out

49. President ______ Lincoln53. Wind direction55. High ______56. Slow down62. Cheese type64. Bare65. Outlet66. Register67. Dogwood or palm68. Actor ______ Guinness69. Actress Della _______70. Dispatched71. Interlock

DOWN1. Bartlett’s kin2. Chorus voice3. Stagger4. Cereal holder5. Upper crust6. Breakfast food7. Listen to8. Decoration9. Barking sound10. Ralph ______ Emerson11. Oak nut12. Show again13. Stage offering21. Prone22. Cooking fat26. Tinter27. Toward the sunrise28. Ready to eat29. First garden30. Lincoln’s coin32. Soothed35. Bannister36. Window part37. Norwegian city38. Robin’s residence40. Punctuation mark

41. Hydrogen and oxygen, e.g.44. Clothed47. Norway’s neighbor48. Impress49. Infuriate50. Pioneer Daniel ______51. Path52. Chile’s mountains54. Icy rain57. Heal58. 500 sheets

59. Car part60. Binds61. Engrave with acid63. “We _____ Family”

Syndicated from Boatload Puzzles

1

14

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20

33 34 35 36 37 38

39 40 41 42

43

48

49 50

44 45

46 47

51

57

62 63 64 65

66 67

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LAST ISSUE’S ANSWERS

ART WEEK PEAKSTOP LEFT: Participants at Wednesday’s splatter painting with balloons got a little messy after creating abstract artwork. Photo courtesy of Emilie Leivian

TOP RIGHT: Sophomore Mark Foster draws Gengar during Monday’s sidewalk chalk contest. Foster won the “Best Overall” category. Photo by Kati Bush, Managing Editor

RIGHT: Junior Justin Ralph assists in creating splatter artwork at Wednesday’s splatter painting event. Photo by Kati Bush, Managing Editor

Athletic directors from all member schools of both the Heartland Con-ference and the Lone Star Conference met this week to discuss a possible a merger between the two conferences.

Newman’s Athletic Director Vic Trilli was in Dallas earlier this week to “look at different possibilities and sce-narios” regarding the possible merger, he told The Vantage by phone Tuesday night.

“We’re in the infancy stages with this,” Trilli said. “This is a big, big thing that has to be addressed by a lot of people.”

The proposed 20-member-school conference would be the largest in Di-vision 2 if it comes to fruition, Trilli said. He said the trend in Division 2 recently has been to move toward power conferences.

“Everybody always watches what goes on in Division 1 schools; they’ve got a lot of super-conferences, if you will, that have come into existence,” Trilli said. “That always tends to flow down, from D1 to D2 and then to D3.”

No final decision will be made on the possible merger until at least Janu-ary, Trilli said. The possibility of a merger between the two conferences has been brought up twice before, Trilli said.

“This has been flowing for a year and half,” Trilli said. “It got hot for a while and then it died. It got hot again and then died again. Now we’re back at it again. We’ve never gone this far before, I can tell you that, because I’m actually down here.”

Trilli said the talks in Dallas re-volved around three main concerns: missed class time for student-athletes, costs and travel.

“Those three things sit at the top of

whatever we do,” Trilli said. “We’re al-ways worried about missed class time, and that’s a huge topic down here right now.”

The Lone Star Conference includes schools from Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.

A conference with 20 member schools would like-ly necessitate two divisions, Trilli said. In an ideal sit-uation, Trilli said Newman could be playing in a “north-ern” division that included teams no farther away than the Dallas area. Travel times for most games would be slashed, though Newman would also play schools in the other division oc-casionally, he said.

“In theory that sounds like a great idea; let’s get it done,” Trilli said. “But

when you try to apply it, it’s not al-ways as easy as it sounds in theory. It’s just massive.”

Newman’s athletic teams have been playing against Lone Star teams ever since the school went to D2 in 2006. In the past two years, Newman’s overall

record against Lone Star teams is 17-45-1, with the one tie com-ing from a women’s golf result against Texas A&M – Com-merce last year.

That equates to a roughly 36 percent

win rate.A large majority of those results

come from Newman’s men’s and women’s golf teams, which frequently compete against Lone Star teams in tournaments.

sportsTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014

5

Heartland Conference considers mergerCombining with Lone Star Conference could cut travel costs, missed classBy MATT RIEDLEditor-in-Chief

“It’s not always as easy as it sounds in theory. It’s just massive.”

VIC TRILLI

See “Merger” on Page 6

FAST FACTSThe farthest Lone Star

Conference school from Newman is 776 miles away.

In the past two years, Newman’s overall record against Lone Star teams is

17-45-1.

The largest current NCAA D2 conference is Pennsylvania State

Athletic Conference, with 18 D2 schools all within Pennsylvania.

Heartland Conference

Lone Star Conference

After nine days of practice, New-man’s men’s basketball team kicked off its season scrimmaging Hutchin-son Community College last Friday, winning 96-89.

The Jets scored 51 points in the first half alone. The Jets then continued to show a solid outing in the second half, team members said. Senior forward Jeremy Espinoza, said he was pleased overall with the team’s performance

during the scrimmage. “I think we have a solid, competi-

tive team and we are all aiming to win,” Espinoza said. “It just has to come down to everyone having a winning mindset and being all-in.”

Head Coach Mark Potter said Friday’s scrimmage was “a true assessment on what is next” for the Jets to work on.

“I was very pleased,” Potter said. “They were finding the open man and playing unselfish ball. This year’s team

has the chance to be a lot of fun to watch of-fensively.”

Newman’s men’s basketball team has been ranked eighth out of ten teams in the Heartland Confer-ence in a pre-season

poll. Potter said this is the lowest pre-season ranking the team has had in his

tenure.“We have a lot of new faces and a

tough schedule, but we can’t get dis-couraged or use that as an excuse for not doing our job competitively,” Pot-ter said. “We have an opportunity to prove a lot of people wrong. I expect them to come to work every day, day in and day out and to not worry about the points scored, but that they are giving their best each play.”

The Jets will open their regular sea-son with a home game against Empo-ria State at 7 p.m. Nov. 18.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014 SPORTS 6

If you do not have time to pick up our weekly issue, here is a link to view our online PDF so you can read the hard-

hitting stories at your own convenience.www.issuu.com/newmanvantage

WE HAVE A WEBSITE!

“I think we have a solid, competititve team and we are all aiming to win.”

JEREMY ESPINOZA

Men’s basketball scrimmages against Hutch CC

VOLLEYBALL (11-11)MEN’S SOCCER (11-4-1) WOMEN’S SOCCER (5-8-2)

Newman vs. Dallas BaptistW 2-1

Newman vs. Oklahoma ChristianW 1-0

Newman vs. Lubbock ChristianW 1-0

Newman vs. Texas-Permian BasinW 3-2

Newman vs. St. Edward’s L 0-4

Newman vs. Dallas BaptistL 1-2

Newman vs. Oklahoma ChristianT 1-1

Newman vs. Lubbock ChristianL 0-2

Newman vs. Texas-Permian BasinW 2-0

Newman vs. St. Edward’sL 0-2

newmanjets.com

scoreboard Newman vs. Lubbock ChristianW 3-2

Newman vs. Texas-Permian BasinW 3-1

Newman vs. RockhurstL 0-3

Newman vs. St Edward’sW 3-0

Newman vs. Bacone CollegeW 3-1

CROSS COUNTRY

Oklahoma Baptist Invitational Men - second out of 11 teamsWomen - third out of 11 teamsRubi Torres- first place medalist

Emporia State Jock’s Nitch Invitationsl(Emporia)Men - second out of 14 teamsWomen - Rubi Torres- Medalist (first)Team- third out of 14 teams

By TAYLOR PARSONSStaff Writer

“I would answer that by saying that we struggled competing in the Heart-land when we first got here,” Trilli said. “We’ve been fighting that battle ever since that decision was made for us to get into the Heartland. We have gotten better. We have. We’ve got to grow.”

Over the past two years, Newman’s record against Heartland schools is currently 155-176-2. That equates to about a 47 percent win rate.

In a 20-team conference “right smack in the middle of the country,” exposure for Newman would be “off the charts,” Trilli said.

“The opportunities for the student experience in athletics would be as good as there is anywhere in the coun-try,” Trilli said. “I can tell you there’s

a lot of people watching what’s go-ing on with these discussions nation-ally. It puts a lot of things in place that could be really good for all members of a strong conference like this if we could somehow work it out. That’s the magic question.”

The Lone Star Conference fields football-playing schools, which is one challenge Trilli identified. In the Heart-land Conference, however, Oklahoma Panhandle State plays football as an independent, and Texas – Permian Ba-sin announced plans earlier this year to add a football program.

While football is still not in the works for Newman, Trilli said the ath-letic directors are discussing how to make the proposed merger work for schools that do not have programs.

“I honestly don’t have a clue at this

point,” Trilli said. “I’m trying to be fair and let you know as much as I can, but it’s going to be a long ways before I can give you anything definite. I can’t even really speculate very well.”

Trilli said it is important to remem-ber that all talk about the proposed merger is merely speculation at this point; it is possible the merger will not come to fruition at all.

“It’s pretty cool for Newman to be in this conversation; it really is,” Trilli said. “The goal is always to get better. How do you make our programs bet-ter? We want to be good at everything we do, and before I can lead or direct as an athletic director, we’ve got to know what we’re trying to do. That’s why I’m down here.”

Athlete opinion on the proposed merger is mixed, said James Pegues, a

transfer junior on the men’s basketball team.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, per-sonally,” Pegues said. “It’ll add a lot of in-conference games to the sched-ule. We have a WSU game to play this year. If we [merge conferences] we’ll pretty much only get to play one non-conference game before having to start with conference games.”

President Noreen Carrocci will sit on a committee to discuss the potential merger, Trilli said.

Carrocci was unavailable for com-ment Wednesday afternoon.

“We cannot afford not be here at the table,” Trilli said.

From “Merger” on Page 5

“Dungeons and Dragons” is consid-erably one of the nerdiest and dorki-est things you can admit to doing.

It’s a few people using dice to deter-mine their fate as they pretend to be different fantasy characters with a “game master” (GM) guiding their experience. There are stats to pay attention to, numbers to crunch, and rules and regulations to follow. For example, my character is a dwarf cleric.

He focuses on healing magic or slay-ing the undead. Different classes and skill sets are what make combat and dungeon-crawling interesting. The player has to imbue personality into the character, which makes the role-playing aspect interesting. You could compare a typical party to Marvel’s “The Avengers” and how they’re jux-taposed together to defeat a common enemy, but their differences are what create the drama and make them an effective team, if that helps put things into perspective.

Conflicts between characters can occasionally arise. Part of the fun of gaming is role-playing to settle this conflicts. Even if party members are not getting along, OUT of character we don’t want anyone to die and we want to keep working towards completing the set narrative.

It’s just a game, but we all take it pretty seriously.

That’s why put up with insane, dramatic, and sometimes very frus-trating gaming escapades. The player can literally ruin or change the game by a simple dice roll. Most rolls start by rolling a twenty-side die (D20) and faced with a natural one on D20, ex-pect the worst.

We continuously have to forgive

opinionTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014

7

What I learned from playing ‘Dungeons and Dragons’

See “Dungeons,” on Page 8

Justin Ralph

Guest Writer

It’s “Just Insight.”

Ghosts in the garage: Haunted home spooks meIn the Halloween spirit, I have a bit

of a confession to make. At my hum-ble College Hill abode, there lurks some sort of spirit.

One of my roommates, Funky Joe Molina, has ada-mantly sworn to me since we moved in that he thought the house was haunted, but I always dis-missed his concerns.

We’ve all heard the stories. Every-thing is haunted these days.

Sacred Heart Hall is haunted; McNeill Hall is haunted. Even New Hall is haunted.

It’s almost like “haunted” is the new black.

Our house was built in 1925, which is before even Sacred Heart College was established.

Our neighbors to the east (who are moving out, mind you, and complain of ghosts in their own house) tell us they believe some sort of ghost – or as they called it, a demon – has tak-en up residence in our unattached, 200-square-foot garage.

They even showed me the photo proof of said specter – ostensibly a photo of their lovely elephant ear plants. If you look into the window of our garage, however, a clear outline of a face can be seen.

Decades upon decades ago, the house two doors to our east used to be a funeral home, apparently, so our neighbors claim it is possible for a lot of “lost souls” to be roaming around the area.

I’ve shown this photo to various friends, and some believe it more than others – I’m looking at you, Mary O’Neal.

Sometimes if you’re working on homework until the wee hours of the morning, the house can give off a bit of an eerie vibe, but then again, what old house doesn’t do that?

But the other day, it materialized as more than just an eerie vibe.

My roommate Blake Boswell and I were playing a little “Call of Duty”

on Saturday night when we heard a loud kicking noise at our back door. Our immediate thought was that it was a possible burglar – the house two doors to our west had been bur-glarized just a few days prior. After inspecting the outside of the house, we found no physical evidence of an-yone kicking at our doors; however, the screen door was off its hinge and was leaning on the ground.

I called our east neighbors about the incident and the first thing they

told me was that it was likely the ghost that lives in our ga-rage had done the kicking. They were more apt to believe a ghost had kicked at our door than a

potential burglar.They tell us the ghost in their house

is not exactly friendly. He does not let them enter a certain room in the base-ment, and if they fall asleep in the basement, they’ve woken up with a choking sensation before. They tell us it’s like a “shadow” that moves about the house, and when it’s in the room it puts them on edge. I can see why

they’re trying to sell the house.Our landlord maintains the only

ghostly thing about our property is a lone raccoon that occasionally makes its residence in our garage at night, but what can I expect him to say?

Apparently the guy who lived at our house before us would always leave the light on outside because he was afraid to go near the garage, our neighbors say.

Even in our backyard, in the short time we’ve lived there, I’ve woken up to find pieces of rope tied to the tree when none of us can remember tying them there.

I’ve yet to feel like there is truly some sort of paranormal being with me in the house, and I’m not entirely sure that I want to feel it, honestly. That’s something I love to watch in movies, but I certainly don’t want to manifest in reality.

The only ghosts I want to see are the balloons with faces on them that I will be inflating for trick-or-treaters tomorrow.

Matt Riedl

Editor-in-Chief

It’s all fun and games until camera

crews show up.

THOUGH A LITTLE BLURRY, our neighbor’s camera phone caught what they believe is a ghostly apparition in the window of our garage. Courtesy of Matt Riedl

The house can give off a bit of an eerie vibe, but then again, what old house doesn’t do that?

on the weatherThursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014 OPINION 8

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From “Dungeons” on Page 7

Joseph Kenneson, Cartoonist

and forget. Even after getting into a drunken fist fight with a fighter, the rogue still continues to party with us. Even if the orc barbarian pisses off a noblemen, the rest of the party at-tempts to remedy it.

Because, in the game, it’s possible to get experience for good or interest-ing or dramatic role playing. There’s a chance for experience from every bat-tle. Every debate. Every disagreement. Everything that happens in the game merits experience. And experience is valuable because it helps you level up, which makes you stronger.

But no matter how strong you are, you depend on your party and the abilities of the others to succeed in the game. No one character is strong enough to stand alone.

We have team up together towards a common goal, to set aside or accept

differences to reach chapter two. Or three. Or four.

Nothing is more aggravating than wasting trivial time on settling elaborate and unnecessary bickering amongst party members instead of continuing to explore the dungeon.

There’s a sense of comradery and satisfaction when the party works co-hesively. Sometimes conflict and de-bate are necessary to justify what is oc-curring in-game, but the point isn’t to stay conflicted. It’s to reach an agree-ment, which is equally satisfactory, be-cause succeeding in combat or diplo-macy is what progresses the story.

And that’s what I’ve learned from playing “Dungeons and Dragons.”

You can only make it to chapter two when you decide to move on and work together as a party, facing all challeng-es head-on to slay goblins together. Because a party that slays together… stays together.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!