Last Thursday, Dr. Maralyn Sommers, interim provost and vice president of Academic Af-fairs, sat down to talk about her position at Henderson.

As interim provost, Dr. Som-mers is the chief academic of-ficer of the university.

While working together with the school president, she is re-sponsible for campus sites such as the Advising Center, Teach-er’s College, Ellis College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, Graduate School, the library, the Multimedia Learn-ing Center, the Testing Center-and tutoring.

“The provost supports aca-demic programs and helps pro-vide for a sound curriculum, good integrity of the programs, and advocates for the faculty,” Sommers said. “For example, if you wanted to have a new class in criminology, that de-velopment would go through the dean and the provost would give it the stamp of approval.”

As the interim provost, Dr. Sommers has been filling in on this position since August of this year.

This is her second term as an interim, her first being after Dr. Robert Houston retired in 2008.

“I’m on the committee as Dean of Arts and Sciences,”

she replied regarding her in-volvment with finding a new, permanent candidate for this job. “The new provost will be my supervisor once I return to my previous position.”

Dr. Sommers has served as the dean of the Ellis College of Arts and Sciences for 12 years.

She will return to this posi-tion once the provost vacancy is filled.

Before entering the role as dean, Dr. Sommers had already served Henderson for many years.

“I have worked here since 1990, the first eight years spent

as chair of the music depart-ment, the next two as the asso-ciate dean of the Ellis College,” reflected Dr. Sommers.

Going back even further, Dr. Sommers revealed an academic background that spreads over the continental United States.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Boise State, Idaho.

After receiving this degree, Dr. Sommers taught at Adams State College in Colo. from about 1981-1985 while working on her master’s degree.

She earned her master’s de-gree from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Traveling slightly southwest, Dr. Sommers successfully com-pleted her doctorate at Univer-sity of Arizona in Tucson.

So, how did she come to Ar-kansas?

“There was a job listed for faculty in the music department at Henderson State University, I applied and got it,” replied a laughing Sommers.

Sommers reflects on her favorite thing about her time here at Henderson with fond-ness and no hesitation, praising the experience.

“The people. I’ve met some very fine people, good friends, great faculty, supportive admin-istration and great students.”

A new provost will be chosen from a narrowed pool of three finalists.

Before the nation’s indepen-dence, “Give it up for the king” meant something different than “The party man has arrived.”

It meant, “Pay up, or heads will roll.”

Nearly two-and-a-half centu-ries later, most Americans do not cast their vote for even gen-eral elections.

A voter registration table has been set up in the Garrison di-rectly across from Quiznos to help students register to vote for the upcoming November election. The table will be avail-able until Oct. 9, which is the

registration deadline for the election in Arkansas.

The table is sponsored by the Clark County branch of the National Association for the Ad-vancement of Colored People. The NAACP is the world’s old-est and largest civil rights or-ganization, active for over 103 years.

The organization’s state pres-ident has called on its members to register 3,500 people in the state of Arkansas, including 250 from Clark County.

The President of the Clark County branch of the NAACP, Henry Wilson, is the volunteer helping students sign up. After registering students at Arkadel-

phia and Gurdon High Schools, Wilson is focusing on Hender-son.

He gives step-by-step instruc-tions on filling out the registra-tion sheet, and students com-plete the form right at the table. The process takes less than a minute and asks voters for their name, address, and the last four digits of their social security number, along with a few yes or no questions.

Wilson’s father lived to be 78 and never had the luxury of casting a vote. Due to poor tax laws, citizens had to pay to vote and his father did not have the money. Now this right is free to every individual, and Wilson

suggests students take advan-tage.

“Exercise that right to vote,” Wilson said. “People have died for that right, and it’s free.”

Among eligible Arkansas vot-ers between ages 18 and 29, only 18 percent casted a vote in the 2010 elections, according to civicyouth.org.

Arkansas has a population of 2,915,918 with a total annual federal spending budget of $28,025,429 according to myti-metovote.com.

Arkansas spending pales in comparison to the national out-standing public debt.

Since Sept. 28, 2007, the national debt has grown by $3 billion each day, and as of Sept. 27, 2012, the bill is $16,019,357,079,895, according to brilling.com and the national debt clock.

With all of this money being spent, Americans need to de-cide where it’s going. That is done by vote. Federal spending is just one major issue that indi-viduals can vote on.

This year, students will have a chance to vote in a presiden-tial election and have an op-portunity to make history by voting Arkansas to be the first southern state to legalize medi-cal marijuana.

Students who registered with Wilson seem optimistic about their vote.

“I never voted before,” Tyler Poore, undecided freshman, said. “It’s just nice to have a say in what goes on in Arkansas.”

“I watch some of the de-bates,” Mercedes Woodley, sophomore nursing major, said. “But I’ll start watching some more now.”

Some students are register-ing to support a cause they be-lieve in.

“[Medical marijuana] is fi-nally on the ballot,” Dylan Cav-ender, freshman vocal music education major, said. “Hope-fully we will get some dispen-saries around here to boost the economy.”

Though many do not register because they do not get to that part of their to-do list, one un-registered student refused to sign up because time was the issue.

“Jury duty,” Aaron Hunt, freshman music education ma-jor, said. “My major is really de-manding and I don’t have time for that.”

One of the easiest ways to register, other than on campus, is to go online and complete the voter registration form for a mail vote.

Without ever leaving home, voters now have access to vot-ing if they are living in another state or are not going to be where they are registered at the time of the vote.

This is referred to as an ab-sentee ballot.

Eligible voters can also reg-ister at a number of places in town, including the county clerk’s office, State Revenue Office, the public library, or Ar-kansas National Guard offices.

News

Opinions

Features

Diversions

Sports

2

3

4

5

6

Inde

x

Interim provost reflects on service to school

OracleThe

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2012 HENDERSON STATE UNIVERSITY VOLUME 105, ISSUE 07

Jennifer KetchesideStaff Writer

93/63 92/63 92/64 91/65

PRO-STUDENT Dr. Maralyn Sommers is the dean of the Ellis College most of the time, but a vacancy has called upon her to take on the position of interim pro-vost for the second time in her career at Henderson. Sommers has served the school since 1990, first as chair of the music department.

Photo by Jennifer Ketcheside/Oracle

Zach DuttonStaff Writer

TISSUE ISSUES Henderson alum Katrina Patterson led a Zumba-thon as part of the “Kleenex for Kids” drive that asked volunteers to donate tissue.

Photo by Chris Ingram/Oracle

Students are encouraged to register to vote

In the U.S. each year, an es-timated 26 million puppies and kittens are born, approximately 70,000 a day. Of these, 6-10 mil-lion end up being euthanized.

The Humane Society of Clark County (HSCC), founded in 1989 by Dee Ross, is one of the few non-kill shelters in the state.

The few lucky animals sent to the Humane Society of Clark County are guaranteed a life to the fullest.

“Since this is a non-kill shel-ter, the animals will stay here until they get adopted or pass on,” said Gail Gravett, head di-rector of the shelter.

In 2011, the shelter finished the year with taking in 136 dogs and 142 cats.

Many were turned away due to the shelter having limited space and lack of volunteers.

“The shelter is always in need of volunteers and supplies,” Gravett said. “We need more volunteers in the morning, when we open, to help us clean the cages and be ready for the people coming in to find their new furry friend.”

Volunteers must be at least 16 years old to work with the ani-mals on their own.

If a younger child wants to help and volunteer, an adult must be present to help.

Volunteers must know how to handle animals in any situation.

They must know how to walk them, know how to feed them and most importantly know how to love them.

“I’ve been volunteering at ani-mal shelters for about a year,” Patience Walker, freshman biol-ogy major, said. “It feels good to volunteer and help the animals because they don’t really have anyone. When I’m there I clean cages, wash dogs, walk dogs, feed and water the animals, brush them, and, my favorite, play with them.”

The shelter also has a pro-gram that allows visitors to adopt a dog for the day, giving the dogs and adoptees the op-portunity to get out and play.

The HSCC is always in need of supplies such as cat and dog food, cat litter, treats, animal friendly toys, bleach, gloves and other cleaning materials.

Due to the shelters’ lack of resources, they accept any do-nations given to them.

They also collect tin cans

and empty printer cartridges to turn in for money.

“It’s hard to see some of the animals come in because you can tell they’ve had a rough life,” Rachel Womack, a con-sistent volunteer at the HSCC, said. “When the animals shy away from human contact or act skittish around humans, your gut instinct says they’ve been abused or something. When Shiloh came into us, it took her a month to come out of her doghouse. Still to this day if she has never seen you, she will run and hide from you.”

When the HSCC takes in an animal, they receive their shots.

Then, they are put into quar-antine for 10 days to make sure they are not sick and are stable enough to be adopted and put near other animals.

The adoption process con-

sists of filling out paperwork and paying a fee of $60.

That fee includes all the shots the animal needs.

Also included is the spaying or neutering of the cat or dog,

“I wish we had enough volun-teers and time so we could do a home visit before we place the animal in a new home,” Gravett said. “Then I would also love to do a follow up visit to see how the animal is doing, but we just don’t have the people or time.”

“Many animals end up in a shelter because the owner doesn’t want it anymore and it breaks my heart,” Walker said.

“Don’t adopt a pet unless you are 100 percect ready,” Wom-ack said. “Raising an animal is like raising a child, it eats, sleeps, cries, goes potty, and gets sick. A pet is for life and is a big commitment.”

Lights. Drama. Philosophy? Last Thursday night a few

students enjoyed the debut of the theater season, and re-ceived a bit of education as well.

The theater department’s lat-est show is “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” by Jerome Law-rence and Robert E. Lee.

The story is about the young Henry David Thoreau and his infamous act of civil disobedi-ence.

Thoreau lived life question-ing everything in his path.

He eventually fell into trouble with the law when he refused to pay his taxes because he opposed slavery and the war against Mexico in the mid-1840s.

The structure of the play gives insight to both the one night that Thoreau spent in jail and flashbacks of his life lead-ing up to that point.

“It was really interesting to see because it showed all of the moments in Thoreau’s life that led him to make his decision to not pay taxes,” Matthew James, a senior sociology major, said. “The man’s thoughts are deep, and it makes you think of your own life.”

Ramsey Burress, who did an excellent job with the charac-ter, not to mention the tongue-twister terminology and dia-logue, plays Thoreau.

Although, some of the termi-nology might make audience members pay close attention.

Should introduction to philos-ophy be a required prerequisite to see this play?

No, but it does require an open mind and ready ears.

Thoreau’s ideas are still be-ing studied in classrooms today.

Besides being famously stub-born and set in his transcenden-talist ways, Thoreau is known for influencing the philosophies of both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

While in jail, Thoreau be-friends Bailey, a man falsely accused of purposefully setting fire to a barn.

Holt Robinett, who adds a lot of humor to the character and

received many laughs from the audience, plays Bailey.

In addition to Burress and Robinett, some other members of the cast who stood out were Evan Park and Whitney Glover, who are no strangers to the stu-dio theater.

They both gave compelling performances as Ralph Waldo Emerson and his wife.

The scenery on stage is sim-ple, but eye catching.

There are trees lining the back of the stage, and in the middle a mock-jail cell with two beds.

The lighting, designed by Joey Farley, is also used to cre-atively set moods.

“My favorite part about work-ing on a production is the way everyone works together to help one another to make sure the show is the best it can be,” Caitlin Stoddard, part of the crew for the production, said.

“For this show, I’m working with props. Depending on the show depends on my job. I am stage managing the next pro-duction of our season.”

The show is under the direc-tion of Claudia Beach, director of theater, who made some in-teresting artistic choices.

“Our director did most if the  general background in-formation and we as actors researched our characters,” Daphne Willis, junior theater major and cast member, said.

“Since this is a real story we were able to find actual quotes and lifestyles of these people. I found out that mother had 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. We also found quotes from Tho-reau that weren’t used in the show to get an even better idea of his outlook on life and faith and the government. We also searched how people dressed back then and how they com-municated.”

Whenever a cast member is not in a scene, he or she takes a seat in the back of the stage.

Although this creates a some-

what dramatic affect, it also proves to be distracting if an actor does not stay in character, or if one of them is sneaking back to their seat after a scene.

The costumes, designed by William Henshaw, stay true to the 1800s and are quite beauti-ful.

The costumes do not take away from the acting, but they add a simple elegance to the characters.

“I think the story was told in a beautiful and theatrical way,” Brandyn Smith, a theater alum-nus, said.

Admission for “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” is $8 or free with a student ID.

Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1, 4, 5, and 6 in the studio theater.

‘The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail’ debuts

PAGE 2 OCTOBER 1, 2012NewsNews Briefs

Monday, Oct. 1, the Star yearbook will begin taking pictures for this school year. The photographers will be available anytime between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the Garrison outside of Quizno’s. This will be available Monday through Wednesday.

The womens golf team has an all-day match on Monday, Oct. 1, in Oklaho-ma City. The mens golf team also has a match on Monday in St. Charles, Mo.

The Student Nurses As-sociation will be holding a meeting in the Nursing Building on Monday, Oct. 1 at noon. The University of Arkansas Medical Science will be coming to inform the nursing students about the hospital and job opportuni-ties available in the nursing field. This event is free to the public and students.

The theatre department will be holding a perfor-mance of ‘The Night Thore-ou Spent in Jail’ this evening at 7:30 p.m in the auditorium of Arkansas Hall. This show is $8 per person, or free with your student ID. There will be another showing of the play this Thursday, Oct. 4 if you can’t make it on Tues-day.

Henderson will host an artist recital this evening at 7:30 p.m. The recital will take place in the Har-wood Recital Hall. Patrick Meighan will be a guest at this event. There is no cost for the recital.

Thursday, Oct. 4, is Hen-derson’s Founders Day. To honor the day, there will be a Founders Day ceremony at 12:30 p.m. in the Garrison Lecture Hall. This event will have no cover charge. All freshmen still enrolled in Henderson Seminar are re-quired to attend this event.

The Civil War Lecture Series will continue Thurs-day, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Caplinger Lecture Hall. This week, Dr. Angela Boswell will be guest speaking. Bo-swell is the professor of his-tory at Henderson. These lectures are being held to commemorate the sesquin-centennial of the American Civil War. All lectures are free to the public and stu-dents.

There will be a guest art-ist recital Thursday, Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Har-wood Recital Hall. Matthew Haney, Kristie Haney and Hee-Kyung Juhn will be guest artists at the event.

On Friday, the womens volleyball team will have two matches. The first will be against Southwest Bap-tist University at 11:30 a.m. in Bolivar, Mo. The second will be at 2 p.m. against the University of Nebraska-Ke-arney.

This Friday’s movie in the Garrison Lecture Hall will be “Ted.” The movie will start at 7:30 p.m. If you can’t make it to the Friday movie, there will also be a matinee showing of the same movie on Sunday afternoon begin-ning at 3 p.m. in the Lecture Hall.

This Saturday, Oct. 6, there will be a home football game against the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The game will begin at 3 p.m.

Photo by Ryan Klare/Oracle

FURRY FRIENDS Adopting a new pet takes a lot of preparation and com-mitment. There are several things to keep in mind when thinking about adopting (above).

Katie BlairStaff Writer

Humane society raises awarenessMalorie KelleyStaff Writer

After the “Monday Night Football” debacle which left Green Bay Packer fans along with many other players and coaches in disbelief and enraged, the NFL would surely bring back regular of-ficials, right?

Regular officials for the NFL have been locked out of the league without pay and work since June. Locked-out referees met with NFL owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell and signed a deal bringing back referees before Thursday night’s game in Baltimore.

But does this mean that we will have better football sooner? We as fans hope so. On the field for Thursday’s game was a total of more than 70 years of NFL of-ficiating experience.

All the bashing on replacement ref-erees may have been a little bit strong, though. Of course we all think we could go out there and do a way better job and never miss a call. Fact of the matter is, these people are human, and were put in a situation that they have never dealt with.

The real bashing and anger should be thrown upon the NFL owners and com-missioner for making us deal with the atrocious officiating. They were the ones who thought that the NFL would be OK with replacement officials.

It’s like going to Home Depot, getting some supplies to build a house, then in-stead of hiring professionals to build your house, you hire the guys at home depot that helped you find the stuff.

Sure they may know some ins-and-outs of building things, but can they build you a house? Probably not, unless you met Bob the Builder and some of his crew.

The replacement officials did the best job they could, and although they didn’t do a very good one, it’s not their fault.They were just completely unqualified for

the job. It’s the faults of the commissioner and NFL owners for actually hiring those incompetent bozos.

Some of the jobs these officials had be-fore they were scabs go from being real estate agents to high school teachers to policemen. A couple of the referees had not officiated anything higher than Divi-sion III football.

A group of replacement officials who were hired by the NFL, and are now out of a job, recently worked and were fired from the Lingerie Football League. Are you kidding me?

For people who don’t know, the Linge-rie Football League is a bunch of women running around in bra, panties and pads playing football. And they couldn’t even do well enough to keep their job in that league.

By the way, sign me up for that gig please.

One of the officials who worked in the NFL as a replacement most recently worked as a youth referee in Fort Worth.

That’s like telling a high school football player to try and keep up with Michael Vick. That’s not happening.

One of the ref’s was also fired because pictures were found of him in a Saints jersey, and he was a big Saints fan. Just imagine him officiating a New Orleans game. Good for the Saints, bad for whom-ever they’re playing.

It seemed like anyone could pick up an application a month ago and go be a re-placement referee.

I think we all say, “How do you miss that call ref? It’s right in front of you.”

Or, “How is that not a strike? It’s right down the middle.”

We all have the benefit of seeing what happens on high-definition televisions, then watch it played back in slow-mo, and then even slower-mo.

I’m guilty of doing all that, but like I mentioned before, the replacement refs aren’t near being professional referees.

The professionals are going to make mistakes. We know that no one is perfect.

The guys who haven’t even been in the league are going to make more mistakes, plain and simple, and that was proven so far this season only three weeks in.

The blame shouldn’t have been put on them, just like the blame shouldn’t be put on that guy you hire from Home Depot to do your house when your roof caves in three weeks later.

The blame is solely put on the people who locked out officials in the first place. The NFL was so oblivious thinking that the game wouldn’t be tarnished, and now we look back on the first three weeks of the NFL season and wonder what could have been.

Would there have been different out-comes? We know the Monday night game would have been different for sure.

It’s us, the fans, who keep the game go-ing.

With no one watching, the players don’t get paid, jerseys don’t get bought and sta-diums don’t get sold out. We need to be kept happy so we can do that.

The fans deserved better than that, and thank god the NFL finally realized it in time, before the season was really tar-nished.

We should have realized that when we said expletive, expletive to Mr. Official through our TV sets. It wasn’t his fault he just got off the playground officiating the latest flag football game.

It was Roger Goodell and the owners faults for allowing him to wear the zebra colors that we know represent referees.

Thank god all of that is over though, and the regular officials are back. Now we have no excuse when our teams lose and think the game was changed on a bad call.

The game is going to be decided on the field through play and not with yellow flags anymore, and that is one thing I’m happy about.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who think video games are awesome and those who are wrong.

People who don’t play any type of video game usually write them off as a pathetic waste of time. They say that anyone who can spend hours staring at a TV must be some-one with no life. They usually say that during the commercial of whatever useless block of mindless television programs they deem to be much more “enriching.”

I am pretty sure playing “Battlefield 3” online for an hour is a lot more beneficial than a marathon of “Grey’s Anatomy.” At least in 10 min-utes of “Battlefield,” I can pilot a jet, get shot down, parachute

to an enemy tank, lay C4, deto-nate it and then steal a jeep to regroup with my squad mates. In 10 minutes of “Grey’s Anat-omy,” you see Ellen Pompeo cast a few furtive glances.

The way it used to be, games were less about actual immer-sion in the story and action of a game and more about the fact that you were expected to be captivated by the little pixels doing what you wanted them to.

Purists be damned, “Pac-man” was only so fun. It was a little circle eating dots. I can understand why a person could see a guy hunched over a machine in an arcade to see a circle get chased by ghosts as a nerd, but games are now closer to interactive movies than anything.

Maybe I’ve just been in a pro-video game environment

for so long that I don’t under-stand any other way. I was 3 years old when my dad sat me on the foot of his bed fac-ing his small TV, which usu-ally was reserved for watching “M*A*S*H” every Sunday, and handed me the SNES con-troller.

What was surely a moment of “Let’s see what he does” curiosity turned into a lifelong interest.

I remember being the only kindergartener who had beat-en “Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time.” Twice.

I thought I was the master for having beaten The Shred-der a couple of times, but I’ve had a 7-year-old on Xbox Live hit me in the eye with a freak-ing grenade, then call me gay.

Video games have become so much more than a stale arcade and pimpled faces gri-

macing into flickering screens. Some have higher budgets than most movies.

“Grand Theft Auto 4” had a budget around $100 million. Details like traffic sounds, ex-actly replicated streets and lo-cations and even cigarettes in the ashtray outside of a bistro were included. Coming from the drawn borders keeping “Pac-man” away from a bundle of bananas to the brick-by-brick recreation of 1191 Israel in “Assassin’s Creed,” games have become nothing short of artwork.

So before you go making fun of the grown man in Gamestop picking up his pre-ordered copy of the newest “Call Of Duty,” think about what use-less garbage you watch on TV. Chances are, that guy would come in handy if the Russians decide to invade.

OCTOBER 1, 2012 PAGE 3 OpinionsY OUR

H O N E S T OPINIONWhat kind of food do you hope there will be in the new dining hall?

Cooky Whitmorefreshmanundecided

“Better food. Period.”

Shelley Millsseniortheater

“Healthier food. It would be great to have more variety, and more

fresh fruits and veg-gies.”

Courtney Kempsenior

communication“Chicken wraps, like the ones they had my freshman year. The

seniors will know what I’m talking about.””

Solomon Hicksfreshman

athletic training“Cheesecake would be

great.”

From Lingerie to NFL play: Referee situation

Ryan KlareColumnist

Felicia Duncanfreshmannursing

“Chinese or mexican food.”

The Oracle is produced by and for Henderson State University students. Opinions expressed in personal columns do not reflect the opinions of the staff as a whole or of the university.

The editorial staff reserves the right to arbitrarily select articles, letters and ads to be published. In addition, the Oracle reserves the right to edit all letters for space, style and libel as per the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.

The Oracle, as a forum for public opinion, welcomes all signed letters. Unsigned letters cannot be published. Letters must bear the writer’s name, class standing, major and phone number.

The deadline for letters and for advertising is noon Thursday for inclusion in the following week’s publication.

The Oracle is published in Garrison L113 and printed by GateHouse Media in Hope, Ark. Two copies per student are provided free of charge. Additional copies can be purchased for 50 cents each.

Editor-in-Chief: Morgan Acuff newantiquity@gmail.com Faculty Adviser: Mike Taylor taylorm@hsu.eduNews Editor: Stephanie Hartman sh17097@reddies.hsu.edu Sports Editor: Kaitlyn Kitchens kk175413@reddies.hsu.edu

Photo Editor: Ryan Klare rk167403@reddies.hsu.edu

Copy Editor: Ashley Loftin al169408@reddies.hsu.eduBusiness Manager: James T. Allen ja165078@reddies.hsu.eduDistribution Manager: Trey Porchay treyporchay_hsu@yahoo.comGraphics Designer: Lauren Penick lpenick0917@gmail.com

Web Designer: Izhar Buendia izharbuen@gmail.com

OracleThe

HSU Box 7693 Editorial Staff: Advertising Arkadelphia, AR 71999-0001 (870) 230-5221 / oracle@hsu.edu (870) 230-5288 / oracleleads@hsu.edu

Columnists:

“Don’t Feed the Trolls” Ryan Klare rk167403@reddies.hsu.edu

Staff Writers

Zach DuttonMalorie KelleyNeal StewartReaves Alewine Katie BlairKaitlyn TollesonColbie McCloud

Krissica HarperChris IngramTyler PriddyKenneth IbarraZachary ZdanowiczJeffery GilmoreJ.D. Roberts

Zachary ZdanowiczGuest Columnist

Don’t feed the trolls:Game on!

After two years of sequels, reboots, prequels, adaptations and superhero flicks, it is a breath of very needed fresh air to see a movie that is intriguing and original.

Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed “Brick” and “The Brothers Bloom,” finally gets to take a crack at a widely re-leased potential blockbuster.

“Looper” takes place in the year 2044.

Time travel hasn’t been in-vented yet, but when it is, it is immediately outlawed.

Now it is used by the mob to send back targets to be as-sassinated by killers known as loopers.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, from “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Premium Rush,” plays a young Looper named Joe, who finds himself in a predicament when he lets a dangerous target es-cape.

This target is none other than Joe from the future, played by Bruce Willis.

Old Joe later explains that in the future a being known as the Rainmaker has taken over and is destroying everything. When a looper’s contract is closed, he must kill his future self.

Now Old Joe has escaped his execution in order to track down the child that will become the Rainmaker and save every-thing he loves.

Young Joe must choose be-tween stopping the Rainmaker and stopping his future coun-terpart.

This begs the question, kill one and save thousands or save one and kill thousands?

“Looper” is packed with so many great and cool aspects. It is truly an incredible movie that keeps the audience glued to the screen and leaves them wanting more.

Gordon-Levitt and Willis are both spectacular. They re-ally seem to compliment each other, and at times it is hard to believe that they aren’t actually the same person.

JGL had the hardest task of mimicking Willis, but he nails it. He is so dedicated to the part and makes for a great anti-hero.

The other actors bring great performances as well.

Jeff Daniels, Noah Segan and Emily Blunt all bring un-forgettable performances that deserve to be recognized come awards season.

Of course the actors would be nowhere without the writing and direction of Johnson.

Johnson is a storyteller who

believes that without a story there is nothing. He is also a believer in taking something familiar and looking at it in a new way.

One of his other films, “Brick,” takes a high school drug drama and turns it into a noir film, while “The Brothers Bloom” takes a con/heist com-edy and turns it into a deep and enjoyable caper.

Johnson does the same thing with “Looper.” He takes a sci-fi, time-travel thriller and makes it a multilayered and thought pro-voking story.

The dialogue is easy to fol-low and entertaining. Viewers won’t get bored with every con-versation and will actually want

to hear and understand what the characters are saying.

Another great thing about Johnson’s directing is his cam-era work. So many movies now-adays completely forget about cinematography, but Johnson prides himself in having beauti-ful shots as well as using new and creative techniques.

There are a few parts of “Looper” that drag on, but these parts are worth sitting through. The flow and pace aren’t greatly affected, so it’s nothing to dwell on.

The action isn’t mind blowing and the effects aren’t incred-ible, but Johnson is mostly con-cerned with the story. Viewers looking for these things will be

disappointed and will miss out on an incredible movie.

Johnson isn’t James Camer-on and “Looper” isn’t “Avatar.”

It is so rare to see such an original movie in theaters. Au-diences have been bombarded with so much “eye candy” and garbage that they have forgot-ten what a great movie really looks like.

“Looper” is a genuinely great film and is an awesome movie-going experience. It’s got story, action, chills, time travel and awesome characters.

Johnson has a great career ahead of him, and it’s awesome that his first big blockbuster re-ally packs a punch.

“Looper” is time well spent.

PAGE 4 OCTOBER 1, 2012Features‘Looper’ brings freshness to cliche of time travel

J.D. Roberts Staff Writer

VICIOUS CIRCLE ‘Looper’ chronicles the most difficult assignment for an assassin; an assignment to kill his future self. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the young looper who awaits victims sent by the mob from the future. One victim turns out to be his hardest target; his future self, played by Bruce Willis.

Photos courtesy of Alan Markfield

Last week, Henderson Inter-national Student Association, or HISA, hosted its Internation-al Coffee House at the Banquet Hall in the Garrison. Guests ar-rived to a table full of cookies, drinks and hot coffee.

People at every table were talking more than the presi-dents running for office next year.

Mindy Auduong, a sopho-more majoring in early child-hood education and also the current vice president of HISA, was one of the people who went up to the mic to perform. She played a Chinese song named “The Moon Replaced My Heart” on piano.

“This event is where people around campus and around town come meet all the interna-tional students,” Auduong said after playing the piano. “It’s usually a once a month thing but this year were just making it a one-event.”

Jacob Flores, senior Spanish major, was gaining attention walking around in a mariachi outfit with a guitar.

“Being here gives you a taste of all the world’s differ-ent cultures, and it helps you know different people from all aspects of life,” he said. “Then you get to hear good music. I play mariachi music, which is a generation-to-generation music

that’s been in my family.”Flores took control of the

event to play some music on his guitar.

One of the songs he played was “La Bamba,” which many people in America are familiar with.

Nouroudine Alassane, fresh-man sociology major, is an in-ternational student from West Africa.

“It’s excellent being here,” he said. “It allows for us to meet other people from other cultures. If it had not been for this occasion, I would have never met so many people. If you didn’t come, you missed a lot. This is great opportunity for you to learn about other cul-tures.”

Emmanuel Kayitare, a senior majoring in physics and com-puter science, is from Rwanda, Africa, and is also a member of HISA.

“It’s really cool because it helps you meet new people,” Kayitare said. “Most of my American friends I made from things like this.”

Izhar Buendia, a junior ma-joring in communications, got on the piano as well during the event. He played “Manabi,” which suddenly grabbed the audience’s attention.

“The song is one that my grandmother and her parents enjoyed,” Buendia said after playing. “I really like it a lot because it reminds me of my

family and my heritage from Ecuador.”

Chris Espinoza, senior busi-ness administration major, is HISA’s current treasurer. He played the maracas at one point alongside Jacob Flores.

“We can experience so many different cultures, things that we wouldn’t be able to experi-ence here by ourselves, just being in Arkansas,” Espinoza said, describing HISA. “It’s good that there’s international students around with which we can interact, and it’s a great ex-perience.”

Keke Coollier, a junior major-ing in music, is HISA’s current president.

“I think this is going really well,” she said. “I didn’t expect a big turnout like this, especial-ly since it’s Thursday night, but this is a really good turnout, so I’m really pleased.”

Kenneth Ibarra Staff Writer

CHORDIAL Jacob Flores sings and plays guitar at the International Coffee House event last week.

Photo by Ryan Klare/Oracle

International show attracts talent and involved members

Think you have what it takes to make it in The Oracle?

Send us a cartoon or other diversion to Oracle@hsu.edu

Create a Diversion! Submit your short stories, poetry, essays and other creative writing, and they could be featured on this page. Send an email to oracle@hsu.edu with the word “creative” in the subject line. Include your name, classification and major.

OCTOBER 1, 2012 PAGE 5Diversions

Henderson,nationally ranked No. 17 (5-0, 3-0 GAC) cruise to a 50-22 win over Southwestern Oklahoma, Saturday, Sept. 29 in Weatherford, Okla.

The Reddies totaled 451 yards of offense and a season high of 210 yards rushing.

The Henderson defense was not to disappoint with nine quarterback sacks, and 11 tack-les for yardage.

The Reddie defense also had a season best of three intercep-tions.

Henderson first got on the board when Jarvis Smith rushed 11 yards for a touch-down, and Kevin Rodgers com-pleted a pass to Kevin Nichols for a two-point conversion, making the score 8-0 and 4:26 remaining in the first quarter.

Southwestern Oklahoma (1-3, 1-2 GAC) returned with a touchdown to make the score 8-7 to finish the first quarter.

Henderson started off the second quarter with Nichols rushing for a two-yard touch-down and Charles Gonsalves completing a field goal, mak-ing the score 15-7 with 12:37 remaining in the first half.

With 3:55 left in the first half, the Reddies gained another touchdown with Rodgers com-pleting a pass to Israel Valentin for 10 yards.

The sophomore from Fort Woth ended the first half with a score of 22-7.

The Reddies began the sec-ond half with a touchdown as Valentin rushed 34 yards and brought the score to 29-7.

With 10:48 left in the third quarter, Rodgers completed a pass to Dustin Holland for 12 yards and a Henderson touch-down to make the score 36-7.

Reddies soon made another touchdown when Rodgers com-pleted a 9-yard pass to Robert Jordan.

This brought the score to

43-7 and 7:41 remaining in the third quarter.

Southwestern Oklahoma re-turned with a one-yard rush touchdown to make the score 43-15 to end the third quarter.

With 11:20 remaining in the game, Henderson’s Rodgers made a complete 10-yard pass to Darius Davis, bringing the score to 50-15.

Southwestern Oklahoma would score one more time with 1:28 remaining in the game when Aaron Wilson rushed one yard for a touchdown.

This ended the game, 50-22. The Reddies have now scored

50 or more points in four of five games this season, setting a Henderson record.

Nichols is now the second Reddie to rush over 100 yards this season.

He ended the game with 106 yards and 20 carries.

Rodgers completed 19-of-31 passes for 241 yards and four touchdowns in the game.

Dustin Holland and Charles Plaster had 55 yards each re-ceiving.

Jeremy Williams lead the de-fense with eight tackles, while Kashawn Fraser and Keaton Stigger both had two sacks.

Fraser had six tackles and Stigger had five.

The Reddies will play host to Arkansas-Monticello on Sat-urday, Oct. 6 with kickoff for 3 p.m. at Carpernter-Haygood Stadium.

The Reddies Hall of Honor ceremonies will take place at 11 a.m. in the Garrison Center Day Gym.

Henderson will be honor-

ing Guz Malzahn, Joe Carroll, Raymond Cheatham, Boyd Goldsby, Yvonne Neal, Lou Ann Chandler-Howell and Har-old Tilly.

For tickets contact the Hen-derson State department of ath-letics.

Additional reporting by Troy Mitchell

PAGE 6 OCTOBER 1, 2012Sports

Kaitlyn KitchensSports Editor

Reddie football 5-0 in season, 2-0 GAC

Lady Reddies win third for Ozarks Invitational

Kaitlyn KitchensSports Editor

Henderson women’s cross country team finishes third in the Second-Annual Ozarks Invitational in Clarks-ville.

Stacy Emmerling and Charlotte Wetzlar finished sixth and seventh.

Both ladies helped lead the Lady Reddies to their title in the invita-tional.

Emmerling and Wetzlar have been leading individual finishers all season long.

Emmerling has been the top finish-er three times for the Lady Reddies.

Wetzlar finished first for the team once.

Emmeriling, a freshman, finished in 20:07 in sixth place.

She almost beat her personal best of 20:05, which she set on Sept. 8.

Wetzlar, a junior, finished right be-hind in seventh with a time of 20:15.

First year Mary Ellen McMahen

finished in twelfth place with a time of 20:34.

McMahen was almost two-and-a-half minutes faster than her time in the Gulf Coast Stampede.

Courtney Tull, senior, finished twenty-seventh with a time of 22:28.

Freshman Alexis Hankins and Ash-lyn Lessenberry finished 23:00 and 23:38.

Sarah Repp finished with a time of 24:00.

Freshmen Stefanie Blair and Heather White both finished with a time of 24:38.

Ana Escamilla, sophomore, fin-ished at 24:57.

Out of the seven teams, Hender-son finished in third place with an average of 69.

The Lady Reddies will continue to prepare for the Great American Con-ference championiships which are set for Oct. 20 in Ada, Okla.

Additional reporting by Daniel Gal-legos.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS Robert Jordan (above), in the game against Southeastern Oklahoma on Sept. 22, returns a punt 85 yards, breaking three tackles on the way. He later returned another 69 yeards, becoming the first player in Henderson history to return two punts for touchdowns in a game.

Photo by Ryan Klare/Oracle

Lady Reddie volleyball team falls to 0-5 in GAC

Daniel GallegosSports Information

Saturday, Sept. 29, the Lady Red-dies (3-11, 0-5 GAC) played Southern Nazarene University (6-9, 4-1 GAC).

The Lady Reddies were unable to match the offensive attack by Crim-son Storm as SNU registered 24 kills (47-23) and had 24 more attacks (114-90) than HSU in the three sets.

Henderson fell 11-25 in the first set.The Lady Reddies fought to come

back in the second set but fell to 23-25 and also came up short in the third set.

The Crimson Storm were also able to come away with a higher attack percentage with a .272 percentage compared to the .133 percentage of the Lady Reddies.

HSU was better once more in the block statistic as the Lady Reddies recorded nine team blocks compared

to the Comison Storm’s five team blocks.

Jessica Moss and Sarah Williams had the most blocks for the Lady Reddies as Moss would collect two solo blocks and three block assists while Williams was able to account for one block solo and three block as-sists as well.

Moss also led the team in kills with nine, but Ty Lindberg was the most efficient attacker as she hit for a .280 average with eight kills on 24 attacks and one error.

Emily Belz was the top setter for the Lady Reddies as she turned in a team-high of 19 assists.

The Lady Reddies will remain on the road for the next match as they are set to take on Harding University in Searcy, Ark. on Tuesday, October 2.

The match is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm.

Additional reporting by Kaitlyn Kitchens.