This past summer Dr. James Engman, professor of biol-ogy and department chair, took students on two adventures to study abroad. In June, he took a group of 10 to Belize. In July,

he took another group of 10 to Panama.

Before students fly off to dif-ferent lands to study their eco-systems and the organisms that reside in them, students must

have some knowledge about these areas.

“For both trips, students were required to learn a list of 120 organisms, mainly marine, by their scientific name and

common name and be able to identify them before the trip,” Engman said.

“We had to write two 10-page research papers, one on a cul-tural aspect of Panama and the other on a organism found in Panama,” Catie Morrow, pre-medical biology major, said. “I had to memorize 125 different organisms. We had to learn their genus species name, so I made flashcards for them.”

Students have readings in textbooks as well as discus-sions on journal articles. For the Belize trip, students must complete a research paper and presentation, and for the Pana-ma trip, students are required to write two research papers and present one or two presen-tations.

“Students on the Panama trip should have had at least gen-eral zoology,” Engman said. “For Belize, it is more flexible. Students on both trips received college credit.”

Continued on pg. 2.

Downtown Arkadelphia has long been characterized by small businesses and historic buildings, but now has a more modern display for the public eye.

This week, muralist Dave Loewenstein of Lawrence, Kan. put the final touches on the larger-than-life work, “The Journey from a Dream to the Promise,” on the side of the Honeycomb restaurant.

His artwork spans a 24-by-65 foot canvas of brick for mem-bers of the community to enjoy as locals drive or walk by the downtown eatery. The project was funded and produced by the Mid-America Arts Alliance which, according to its website, “seeks to develop meaningful and high quality works through a collaborative process driven by local people, often with the guidance and technical assis-tance of professional artists.”

The MAAA produces over 450 exhibits, performances and professional development opportunities to communities across the nation that lack the funds or resources to produce cultural programs for their citi-zens.

Loewenstein is on a six state tour of mural painting this year, including Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas.

The artist handpicked Arka-delphia over Hot Springs, Conway, Russellville and Fort Smith in light of the fact that there is no artwork like this in the town.

The design depicts a man’s path through his future of be-coming a successful educator. The work shows a boy on the left holding a sapling, then a man on the right with a gradu-ation cap handing the sapling

off to a child. The mural was dedicated to the community last week to a crowd of over 60.

The process began with three open meetings with the community to establish what was important to them about their Arkadelphia home.

“We did lots of research; talk-ed to a lot of people,” Loewen-stein said.

They decided on a theme of education considering the two colleges in the town, as well as the local school district and their recent Arkadelphia Prom-ise program.

The Promise program gives high school graduates of Arka-delphia a chance to go to col-lege with fully paid tuition, a promise few towns nationwide have made to their students.

Three people who had an es-pecially vital role in the process are pictured in the mural itself. Using the ideas that came from these meetings, Loewenstein, along with local artists, pre-

sented a final proposal for the mural to the Arkadelphia Arts and Humanities Council on which Henderson’s director of theatre, Dr. Claudia Beach, is a member.

Once the artwork was ap-proved, Loewenstein began work with his assistant, Ashley Laiad of Topeka, Kan., and an apprentice from Little Rock, Jordan Karpe.

The project started with a digital projection of the outline of the work before the fun re-ally began. The artists worked side-by-side with over 200 vol-unteers from the community to get paint on the wall. As of last week, the work force dimin-ished down to the three profes-sionals working on the finer details of the masterpiece.

In comparison with other works, this one is the “best one yet,” Loewenstein said.

There are a number of local people and places depicted on the mural. From the floor of

the Ross Foundation to an en-dangered woodpecker found in Arkadelphia forests, this mural embodies the theme of educa-tion. The focal point is a woman with a pattern dress on.

“She is the idealization of teachers we’ve all had,” Beach said.

“She could be many things,” Loewenstein said.

This particular image caused a small controversy for a few community members before the mural was complete.

Martha Dickson is a retired designer from Arkadelphia who is best known for an inau-gural gown she made for for-mer first lady Hillary Clinton. She is pictured with bright red high heels, below the school-teacher, working on sewing the teacher’s dress together.

Henderson, Ouachita Baptist and the bridge that connects the two over 12th street repre-sent the colleges and their rela-tive locations.

The artwork isn’t just a smor-gasbord of people and places, but tells a story. Loewenstein was hazy on the details of the mural, posing the task to indi-viduals to make their own inter-pretations of the depictions.

“Look at it very carefully; It’s like a poem or listening to a country ballad,” Loewenstein said. “It’s done in a very sym-bolic and metaphorical way, not a literal depiction.”

Students are encouraged by the artist to make a trip down-town to check out the modern mural. In an interview with KARK, the project’s manager, Farrell Ford, was very positive about the accessibility of the work and the impact it will have on the community as a whole.

“This will be here for years and years so it’s a part of us, and it’s a part that anybody can come and look at,” Ford said. “They don’t have to wait ‘til the doors open. In that respect, it is the community’s art.”

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Mural enriches downtown Arkadelphia

OracleThe

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2012 HENDERSON STATE UNIVERSITY VOLUME 105, ISSUE 10

Zach DuttonStaff Writer

Photo courtesy of Jeff Cerino

A QUICK SWIM Biology students swim with sharks in Belize. Students must write a research paper and complete a presentation, among other things, in order to attend the trip and study exotic animals.

Photo courtesy of James Engman

Belize and Panama trip rewards biology students for hard work

Colbie McCloudStaff Writer

MURAL, MURAL ON THE WALL The mural featured on the Honeycomb restaurant (above).

There was a $400 price differ-ence for both trips. To travel to Belize, it cost students $2,800. For the Panama trip, students spent $3,200.

“Each student on the Panama trip received a sizeable travel stipend from the university, and some students received ad-ditional scholarship support,” Engman said.

Not only were prices differ-ent, but lengths of times on the trips were as well.

The Belize trip lasted 10 days and Panama trip 21. Staying at the Henderson biological field station for six days prior to leav-ing was a requirement for the Panama trip.

“Students got to stay at a ma-rine laboratory on Ambergris Caye in Belize for a week and then went to the inland to stay in the jungle for three days,” Engman said.

While in Panama, they went from Panama City to Kuna Yala, a region for Caribbean marine ecology, and visited undevel-oped regions on the mainland and then islands in the Pacific Ocean. Students were able to experience a variety of cultures in Panama.

“There is the Latin culture of Panama City, the Afro-Caribbe-an culture of the north coast of the country, the Kuna culture of Kuna Yala and the Embera culture in the rainforest,” Eng-man said.

The Kuna culture is the most extreme culture, according to Engman, because they are an indigenous group that has never been removed from their ancestral lands.

“The government allows them to govern a fairly large area as they see fit,” Engman said. “As a result, their tradi-tional culture is more ‘intact’ than most Native American cul-tures that I am familiar with.”

Women in this Kunan society still wear traditional clothes and maintain a matrilineal society. Foods are usually very simple; rice, beans, vegetables and a lot of seafood.

“The native language is still spoken, and some older people do not speak Spanish,” said Engman. “Boats carved from a single log called cayukas are still common, and several of the islands the Kunas reside on do not have running water or elec-tricity.”

For students, the trips have been beneficial.

“The Panama trip was an

amazing experience that made me realize just how wonderful our world is,” Ali Brown, junior biology major, said. “The eco-systems within our world aren’t expendable, and we take that for granted so often. It was a cultural experience I will never forget.”

“I had an amazing time in Panama,” Morrow said. “I would consider living there, I

loved it so much, and life is so easy going there.”

In Belize, students get to swim with manatees, sea tur-tles, sharks and stingrays.

“My favorite part is always the same; watching our stu-dents, many of whom have never traveled outside of the U.S., getting to experience ex-citing, unique places,” Engman said.

Last Wednesday the Career Fair was open for students and all who were interested.

There were tables around the Garrison’s day gym, and many of the tables had information about graduate schools, pos-sibilities in the Navy and other jobs for graduating students.

Melanie Clark, a freshman undecided in major, had never been to a career fair and did not know what to expect.

“I couldn’t understand it at first because I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “So I tried to be interactive with all the workers at the tables.

“They told me about the work opportunities they had,” Clark said. “One of the things you could get involved in is life opportunity, which is a place where you get to work with people who are disabled.”

Chief Petty Officer Julie L. Arp was in charge of the Navy table.

“Basically we come to career fairs and promote Navy aware-

ness and job opportunities that we have,” Arp said. “We’re educating students a little bit and giving them our contact information. We have a lot of different programs like gen-eral officer programs, medical programs and reserve oppor-tunities, but it depends on the type of degree that the student is pursuing as to what program pertains to them.”

The process of joining the Navy is not an easy and simple one.

“It’s a [Department of De-fense], so it is a little bit longer application process than walk-ing into your McDonalds, filling out an application, getting a call a week later and saying you’re hired,” Arp said. “The applica-tion process, if you’re looking to be an officer, can take up to six months to complete.”

Sarah Sapaugh, a sophomore majoring in music education, is interested in becoming a teacher.

“The fair is really nice,” she said. “I’m looking around the school districts here, just to see what’s up. The school districts

are here to talk about their school districts and who they’re hiring.”

One of the school tables that caught Sapaugh’s eye was the Little Rock School District.

The school district has a total number of 25,727 students en-rolled, a majority being elemen-tary students.

This school district and com-munity created a Strategic Plan that hopes to give its students a bright, open future.

A health insurance table was also set up with Courtney Hor-ton, an insurance agent and re-gional administrator, searching for future agents.

“I didn’t know anything about insurance going into it,” she said. “I come seven years out of assembly production, so I didn’t know anything.”

The health insurance com-pany offers classes and training that help any newcomers get familiar with the new environ-ment.

“We have district coordina-tors that work with the new agents to help train them,” Hor-ton said. “It’s a really rewarding

career.”Rob DeSilva, district manager

of Sherwin-Williams, was hand-ing out M&M’s and Snickers along with information about his company.

“We are the Sherwin-Wil-liams Company, and we’re the largest paint manufactory in the country and second largest in the world,” DeSilva said.

According to the program given at the career fair table, The Sherman-Williams Com-pany is the industry leader in providing top quality coatings and related products to paint contractors, manufacturers, industrial users and the retail trade.

Working for the Sherwin-Wil-liams Company gives benefits in areas such as health, dental and vision care.

There are various discount programs and a competitive base salary.

In order to work for them, a college student must first graduate with a minimum GPA of 2.5. Business graduates are more likely to get this job com-pared to other majors.

Watch out Henderson. There is a whole lot of drama coming your way.

Next week marks the 43rd year of the American College Theater Festival, better known as ACTF, and for the second year in a row Henderson is hosting the event.

There will be 150 students attending from six different schools.

Roger L. Stevens began ACTF in 1969. Since then, it has grown into a national the-atre program with more than 600 schools involved in the United States.

Theatre students are working hard to prepare for the upcom-ing event.

“It’s pretty hectic but fun at the same time,” Caitlin Stod-dard, a junior theatre major, said. “It takes a lot of work to be prepared for the actual con-ference but once it is here it’s pretty fun.”

“Basically, we make sure all of our facilities are clean and presentable,” Zach Henthorn, a senior theatre major, said.

“We also make any necessary changes to the different spaces that will be used on the first day of the festival. This would include any lighting changes, needed props, set materials, etc. The faculty splits us into several different crews as well to help run the festival.”

The faculty plays to the stu-dents’ strengths when they split them into crews.

“It really depends on the po-sition the student is involved in,” Joey Farley, a junior theatre major, said. “For example, I am the lighting designer for the space mainly used for the con-ference, and I have to collabo-rate with the other schools that are using the space and make sure that it is equipped with ev-erything they need to fully light their shows.”

Jeffery Gilmore, a junior the-atre major and co-coordinator for the event, said that students and faculty have been prepar-ing for months in advance.

“Most of our crew is working multiple jobs,” Gilmore said.

In addition to hosting the event, Henderson theatre stu-dents will also be presenting works of their own.

“We have entered ‘The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail’ to be ad-judicated in the festival,” Stod-dard said.

All of the schools bring pre-pared works to be adjudicated, and then at a later time listen to responses and opinions from other students and the adjudi-cators.

Shows that do well at the state festival might have the chance to advance to regionals, which take place in February.

Nationals take place in the spring.

“The student designers for ‘Thoreau’ have display boards that will go in the lobby that will showcase their work,” Gilmore said. “They, as designers, are eligible for advancement in the festival even if the show does not proceed.”

Arkansas Hall will be swarmed with theatre students next Thursday through Sat-urday while workshops and shows take place throughout the three days.

The workshops are for fes-tival attendants only, but stu-dents may buy tickets for the shows at the door 30 minutes prior to curtain.

Tickets are $8, and because it isn’t part of the Henderson sea-son, student fees do not cover the shows.

There are different shows running on Thursday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Friday at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Not only is the festival an op-portunity for potential audienc-es, but it also offers an array of experience for the theatre ma-jors.

“It’s a good experience for the students,” Stoddard said. “Its also really cool to see how other departments in the state are.”

“My favorite part is seeing all the different processes that other schools are teaching their students, and to see the differ-ent ways situations are handled when it comes to building sets that are able to transport,” Far-ley said.

“The faculty and staff are working hand-in-hand with the students to teach us how to run a theatre that has multiple shows moving in and out at the same time,” Gilmore said. “It truly is a wonderful learning experience.”

Henderson hosts theatre festival PAGE 2 OCTOBER 22, 2012News

News BriefsThe Ridiculous Reddies

Photo Scavenger Hunt sign-up deadline is on Monday, Oct. 22. If you like myster-ies, this is the chance for you to shine. You can sign up for the scavenger hunt in the Dunn Recreation Cen-ter.

The women’s volleyball team will have a game on Tuesday, Oct. 23 against the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff. The game will take place in Pine Bluff at 6 p.m.

The Ridiculous Reddies Photo Scavenger Hunt will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 23. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. and last until 8:30 p.m. The hunt will take place in the Dunn Recreation Center. Do not be late or the hunt will start without you.

There will be a Lake De-Gray mountain bike trip on Thursday, Oct. 25, begin-ning at 5 p.m. If you want to go, be at the Iron Mountain Trailhead. Bring your own bike.

The Lady Reddies vol-leyball team will compete against Southern Arkansas University on Thursday, Oct. 25 in Magnolia at 7 p.m.

The Civil War Lecture Se-ries will continue on Thurs-day evening. This week, Da-vid Sesser will be speaking about “Clothing Confeder-ate Arkansans.” The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Caplinger Lecture Hall. This is part five in the series.

The planetarium will be having a show on Thursday, Oct. 25 about the stars of the pharaohs. The cost is $3 without a student ID and $1 with an ID. Henderson stu-dents and OBU students are both welcome. The show will begin at 7 p.m. sharp. There will be no late entries so please be on time.

There will be a movie in the Lecture Hall on Friday, Oct. 26. This week, “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection” will be playing. The movie will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Both the men’s and wom-en’s swimming and diving teams will have a meet on Friday, Oct. 26. In Conway, the swimmers will take on Hendrix.

In case you miss the Friday showing of “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection,” there will also be a Sunday matinee show-ing of the movie beginning at 3 p.m.

The Reddie football team will attempt to extend their record to 8-0. The team will play against Southern Ar-kansas University on Satur-day, Oct. 27.

The Red Wave will com-pete against Hendrix on Sat-urday, Oct. 27 in Conway.

The Haunted River will be taking place throughout the month of October on the Caddo River in Caddo Valley. Tickets are $10 per person.

The Battle of the Ravine Blood Drive will take place next Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Garrison Day Gym.

Henderson Halloween will take place next Wednesday, Oct. 31 on the South Lawn. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. Student organizations will provide the treats for community trick-or-treaters. The event will last until 7 p.m.

Katie BlairStaff Writer

Career Fair offers future opportunities Kenneth IbarraStaff Writer

Continued from page 1.

Colbie McCloudStaff Writer

Biology students visit Belize and Panama over the summer

Y OURH O N E S T OPINION

What was your favorite part of homecoming?

Listen up: Staying positive

OCTOBER 22, 2012 PAGE 3 Opinions

Kaitlyn TollesonColumnist

Don’t feed the trolls:Stop liking movies I don’t like

Ryan Klare Columnist

Everyone has a different life story. Whether it is glamor-ous, bland, humorous, lively, normal or just plain simple, the fact of life is that when you come to college, you are pre-sented with the opportunity to change your persona for bet-ter or worse.

“Grab life by the horns” is the saying we have all come to know.

Many believe that this should be the motto of life. A lot of finding out where you fit in is your past.

Are you a people person? The typical talk-your-ear-off type? Are you shy? Are you afraid of needles? There are so many questions that come into play when considering a major or organization to join.

There are so many different stereotypes of people at col-lege. The jocks, nerds, the in-betweens, the crazy, the wild and the normal.

Where do you categorize yourself? Many find them-selves wondering what their title would be.

These labels often play a role in which organization you choose to be involved in on campus. There are so many different organizations. Comic club, sororities and fraterni-ties, yearbook and HISA (the international student organi-zation) are just a few of the organizations Henderson has to offer.

It’s all about experimenting different things. You may find yourself longing to study bi-ology and then falling in love with theatre. The best advice that you can take is to start out as an undecided major and get some general education under your belt before deciding.

College is a time where you begin to make your own decisions. It seems strange to many when you don’t have someone to redirect your path if you choose the wrong one. That’s what parents are for, right? Well, now that you are out on your own, it’s time to close the door on people mak-ing decisions for you.

“I chose psychology as a ma-

jor because I think it is very in-teresting,” Lauren Tannahill, sophomore psychology major, said. “I think it is very inter-esting to study how the mind works.”

Students have so many op-tions when it comes to majors. Henderson is well known for its aviation and nursing pro-grams, along with so many others. With so many options, how could one choose only one major to pursue as a ca-reer?

Again, this is a major deci-sion in a student’s life.

Deciding to change one’s major is often scary for stu-dents. Many would just rather stick with the major they first decided on.

Changing majors is just a part of college. Many students change majors.

Talking to your advisor can be very helpful when trying to decide on a major. Advisors are here to help you with your main goal: graduation.

Don’t be afraid to go talk to your advisor. They can be a

great tool for any student. Taking advice from upper-

classmen is also a great way to learn about courses on cam-pus. Ask before you sign up for classes.

Who should I take? When should I take this? This will all come in handy when you are preparing your semester schedule plan.

“At first my major was mass communications, but I didn’t realize that we had a mass media major, which I later changed it to,” Katie Blair, sophomore mass media major, said. “The mass media pro-gram and the dance program were the two reasons why I came to Henderson.”

Although at the beginning of a college career one may seem overwhelmed by the stresses of deciding what your major will be or which organization you would like to join, there is a place for everyone who puts in a little research and thought.

At Henderson, you will find out where you belong.

For as long as I can re-member, I have been crazy about movies. So much so that it took more effort than it should have to not complete the previous sentence with the opening line from “Good-fellas.” I realize that everyone likes movies, yes, but to find people who appreciate more than the actor’s face is a little harder these days.

I guess it just gets under my skin for someone to not ap-preciate the way they should. There are so many things that go into making something that tells a story in a believ-able and memorable way that do not involve awkward friendships becoming rela-tionships and kissing in front of a damn sunset. That be-ing said, people who say that “The Last Song” is one of the greatest movies ever made just make me want to snort Amdro. I’m not saying that I am some sort of authority on what movies are great and what aren’t, but at least have

reasoning behind why you like a movie. There are peo-ple whose favorite movie is “Magic Mike.” It’s their favor-ite movie. That should bother you to the core. When a movie’s basis is Channing Ta-tum’s stomach and Matthew McConaughey’s breathing of “Alright, alright,” it shouldn’t be held all that high.

I think the main selling point for me with a movie is dialogue. I love a movie that can have a weak plot but be fantastic because of the natu-ral back and forth between the characters. Obviously the Coen brothers are masters of this, with two of my three fa-vorite movies ever being Coen movies. Take number two on my list, “The Big Lebowski.” If anyone else directed, wrote or starred in that movie, it would have been terrible. The plot wasn’t the strongest idea ever, but the way it was presented and brought to life made almost every scene iconic. Impeccable delivery

of every “dude” from Jeff Bridges, the quick changing emotions of John Goodman and even the awkward inter-ruptions from Steve Buscemi made me love every minute. To this day, I can’t tell some-one they don’t know what they are talking about without saying “You’re out of your ele-ment!” It may have not been a blockbuster with shiny ef-fects and pretty faces, but it is shining example of what true talent is capable of doing in a movie. That, and it’s the only thing Tara Reid can truly be proud of. I mean, come on, what else does she have? “Van Wilder?”

I’m not a snob, though. I love bad movies in their own way. One of my favorite mov-ies growing up was “The But-tercream Gang.”

It was a wonderfully ter-rible coming-of-age movie set in what could only be Bev-erly Cleary’s wet dream. It fo-cused on a group of kids who apparently think community

service is the greatest thing of all time. They spend their time helping people in town just for a “Why, thank you, young man” and a shiny new nickel.

One of their group moves to Chicago and falls in with the wrong crowd, made obvi-ous by his wearing a bandana on his brow. We all know that fabric on a forehead is the uni-versal sign of teen angst and moral dilemma.

This movie, while treasured in my memory, was probably the most laughable example of the 90’s straight-to-video era. It’s a different kind of bad, though. It’s not as cringe inducing as a movie that is trying to take itself way too seriously. It may have had people without even an IMDb entry, but at least it had a rock-skipping scene.

Ever seen Kristen Stewart skip a rock? Hell no. Pick up a rake and help out Mrs. Jenkins, Bella, then we’ll see about a place in movie history.

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

Paris Landersfreshman

physical therapy“Winning the step

show.”

Nicole Dyersophomore

nursing“The bonfire and the

drum beat”

Jesse Kleinsophomore

biology“I didn’t know the

queen, she should’ve been an Alpha Z.”

Fantasya Allenfreshmanundecided

“Tailgating with the Deltas.”

Noel Garlingjunior

family and consumer science

“All the festivities tailgating and bonfire

and having friends come celebrate.”

It’s that time of year again. Brace yourself, take some headache medicine and grab a friend because “Paranormal Ac-tivity 4” has been released.

The first “Paranormal Activ-ity” was released in 2009 and has spawned three sequels and a huge following. The original restarted the found-footage sub-genre and had audiences on the edge of their seats.

Three years later, audiences have been told that “Paranor-mal Activity 4” is what they’ve all been waiting for.

Unlike the first three, the fourth installment of the series focuses on a family that doesn’t include the bad luck sisters, Ka-tie and Kristi.

Instead, the audience gets to spy on a normal family whose only crime was living across the street from a weird family.

The movie focuses on fifteen-year-old Alex, played by Kath-ryn Newton.

She lives the life of any nor-mal teenager, until she finds Robbie, the strange boy from across the street, hiding in the clubhouse in her back yard.

Robbie is invited to stay with the family after his mom is rushed to the hospital. Alex’s brother, Wyatt, is the same age as Robbie, and the two hit it off. Everything seems to be normal until weird things start happen-ing around the house.

Alex is convinced that Rob-bie has brought something into the house and enlists the help

of her boyfriend Ben, played by Matt Shively, to set up comput-ers around the house to catch the strange activity.

What they find is noth-ing short of bizarre. Floating knives, strange symbols, crash-ing chandeliers and nightly visi-tors all tip Alex off that there is something off about Robbie.

Alex grows more suspicious as Robbie and his invisible friend begin to influence Wyatt in strange ways. As she and her brother grow apart, Alex must do some investigating to find out what is really going on and get to the bottom of all the ac-tivity.

It is always exciting to see the angle the directors choose to go with each new installment. Seeing a world outside Katie and Kristi’s family is a breath of fresh air and reminds the au-dience of the aspect of reality these movies have.

With that being said, it has to said that “Paranormal Activity 4” is one of the weakest in the series.

It’s not as bad as the second one, but the magic that direc-tors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman brought to the third movie has diminished.

They have seen what the audience wants and instead of giving it to them they are able to withhold it and save it for an-other chapter.

That’s not to say that the movie is scary, but now people want answers along with their scares and that is something “Paranormal Activity 4” doesn’t deliver.

The movie does tie into the first three but it leaves the audi-ence with more questions than answers, and that’s annoying.

The whole movie is intense and very suspenseful. There are tons of fake-outs but it still puts people on the edge of their seats. The best part of these movies are the last 20 minutes, and this one does not disap-point.

Not only is the movie scary, it is also fun to watch. People don’t see Paranormal Activity movies for the acting or cin-ematography.

They watch them to have fun

while getting their pants scared off.

It is clear that the main goal of the directors was to entertain and give horror fanboys every-thing they wanted (besides an-swers). There are some great horror movie references and little details that make the mov-ie a little more watchable.

While it did have its good mo-ments, “Paranormal Activity 4” just doesn’t live up to the hype. The series really needs to find a new angle to keep audiences coming back for more.

They are one bad movie away from becoming the Saw fran-

chise, which had a neat, inter-woven story, but it took seven movies to tell it.

It isn’t a step back, but it isn’t necessarily a step forward ei-ther.

“Paranormal Activity 4” is a scary, fun movie that people should go see with their friends because it’s better and more en-joyable that way.

If you are looking for an-swers, you will have to wait un-til next October when “Paranor-mal Activity 5” is released.

“Paranormal Activity 4” de-livers the scares but saves the answers for another time.

PAGE 4 OCTOBER 22, 2012FeaturesNewest ‘Activity’ fails to tie up loose ends

J.D. RobertsStaff Writer

SOUL’D OUT ’Paranormal Activity 4’ follows the family of Alex (Kathryn Newton, above). The normal family is threatened when a strange boy from across the street begins hanging out with Alex’s brother. ‘Activity’ begins in the house, and it is all caught on camera in the fourth installment of this found footage horror film.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

From Oct. 12-21 of last week,

Hot Springs held their 21st An-nual Documentary Film Festi-val.

Over the years the film festi-val had been held at the historic Malco Theatre.

This year, though, it has changed venues due to weather damage.

This year the film festival was held at another historic site, the Arlington Hotel, in downtown Hot Springs.

According to the Arlington Hotel’s official website, the ho-tel has been in existence since 1875 and has survived a devas-tating fire.

The present Arlington was opened up in 1924 on New Year’s Eve.

The film festival began in 1991 and has featured 10 Acad-emy Award nominated docu-mentary films since then.

It has been a success year af-ter year.

According to the festival’s of-ficial website, the Hot Springs Film Institute, which puts on

the festival in Hot Springs each year, remains the only surviv-ing film institute in the United States dedicated solely to the documentary film genre.

“I wanted to get my film in this festival,” Ben Daitz, direc-tor of “The Sun Never Sets,” said. “It’s a pretty well known film festival. One of the best, and has a great reputation for

being a great documentary film festival.”

Though Daitz is a filmmaker and plans to continue his career in documentary film, he is also a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medi-cine.

Over 80 films were shown during the festival’s 10-day stretch of film screenings.

“The Sun Never Sets” was shown on Wednesday.

The film is about a small-town paper in Española, NM.

The paper, called the Rio Grande Sun, is depicted in the film as being a “scrappy” news-paper.

The Sun is famous around the northern part of New Mex-ico for leaving no story unre-ported.

In the film, the Sun is said to do a better job than the DA or sheriff’s office at reporting and investigating crimes and break-ing stories.

The paper has broken many stories that have revealed huge scandals in politics and educa-tion and health departments in northern New Mexico, keeping the town informed of controver-sies and other important bulle-tins.

They have run political fig-ures out of office and brought the people of northern New Mexico stories they need to hear.

“It is a small-town paper that is just fearless with great lead-ership that is important to it’s community,” Daitz said.

Out of the 40,000 people who live in Española, it was reported in the film that 35,000 people read the paper in the town.

“There would be traffic jams to buy this newspaper on Wednesdays,” Daitz said. “There was so much depth in these stories, it was unlike any other paper, and I wanted to show what a small-town news-paper does.”

A small-town newspaper serves its community instead of entertaining the people in big-ger markets where papers are released.

According to the film, “a

small town without a paper is like a community without a li-brary.”

Daitz wanted to show how a small town paper should ser-vice it’s community, and there was no better paper to look to than the Rio Grande Sun.

“This film shows why people go into journalism,” Daitz said. “To break stories, and go out and make a difference as a re-porter.”

The Sun started in 1956 and has been in circulation ever since.

In an economy where other papers around New Mexico have folded or gone mostly digital, the Rio Grande Sun has grown to become the largest paid weekly newspaper in New Mexico, according to the Sun’s website.

The Sun is one of the first and only papers to include the police blotter in it’s paper.

The blotter is basically a daily written record of events and ar-rests.

The budget for this film when Daitz started was $20,000, and over a 5-year stretch of making the film, mostly by himself, that isn’t a whole lot of money.

“I would like to see it shown in schools of journalism where they don’t really know what newspapers are anymore,” Daitz said. “I’ve sent it to PBS and hopefully they will show it and it will get out there.”

After the film, the audience applauded, and Daitz took questions from people in the audience.

“I think this paper depicts exactly what is important, and that is to keep our democracy going,” he said. “Telling stories no one else knows is valuable to democracy.”

Zac ZdanowiczStaff Writer

Documentaries make their way to Hot Springs

POUNDING THE PAVEMENT Robert E. Trapp, editor and publisher of the Rio Grande Sun, is shown above delivering newspapers. The documentary ‘The Sun Never Sets’ tells the story of the newspaper and was shown at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival last week.

Photos courtesy of Ben Daitz/New Deal Films Inc.

OCTOBER 22, 2012 PAGE 5Fall Event

HEART AND KEY Contestants for homecoming queen shared the stage at the Heart and Key Homecoming Ceremony.Photos by Ryan Klare/Oracle

SPIRITS AFLAME The annual homecoming bonfire attracted a large crowd to end the day of tailgating that most of the more involved Reddies attended to celebrate the homecoming victory against East Central University.

CAN’T WAIT TO BE QUEEN Henderson president Glendell Jones is shown above crowning the latest homecoming queen, Charde’ Wade.

The week of homecoming activities attracted

students and alumni this weekend with the

Heart and Key Homecoming Ceremony, the

crowning of the new homecoming queen,

the homecoming game against East Central

University and the traditional homecoming

bonfire. This celebration of Henderson’s rich

traditions renewed the Reddie Spirit among

alumni and showed new Reddies the reason

for their Henderson pride.

Henderson hosted their an-nual homecoming this week-end, Oct. 20, at Carpenter-Hay-good Stadium, winning 49-14.

The game opened up with a 97-yard touchdown by Isreal Valentin on the kickoff.

The Reddies are now 8-0 in the season for the first time since 1975.

Henderson is first place in the Great American Confer-ence, beating out Ouachita Baptist University, who lost to Harding on Saturday, 34-14.

Valentin ended the home-coming game with 140 all-pur-pose yards.

He also had 43 yards receiv-ing and a touchdown grab.

Henderson took a 20-0 lead in the first quarter.

Kevin Nichols had a pair of rushing touchdowns of 1 and 3 yards.

In the first quarter with 6:37 remaining, the second touchdown for Henderson was scored by Nichols.

Nichols rushed up the middle for 1 yard, making the score 13-0.

With 3:07 remaining in the first quarter, Nichols rushed for three yards for a touch-down to end the first quarter, 20-0.

The second quarter started with East Central gaining their first touchdown of the game with a 39-yard touchdown by L. Anderson with 12:50 left in the second quarter.

Henderson returned only a little over a minute later with a 38-yard touchdown from quar-terback Kevin Rodgers to Val-entin.

This brought the score to 26-7.

There was a period where not much action happened dur-ing the second quarter.

This changed when Rodgers

made a complete pass to Elliot Herbert for 12 yards to gain a touchdown with 3:14 left in the first half, making the score 32-7.

Before the second quarter ended, Charles Gonsalves made a good field goal attempt with 00:00 remaining in the first half to gain three points, ending the first half 35-7.

The third quarter was un-eventful until there were 8 sec-onds left on the clock.

Rodgers made a deep pass to Robert Jordan for a 78-yard touchdown to make the score 42-7 to end the third quarter.

If the Reddies had not scored a touchdown in this quarter, it would have only been the third time this season that they went a single quarter without scor-ing a touchdown.

The fourth quarter of the game continued with a touch-down from both Henderson and East Central.

Henderson’s Jarvis Smith rushed up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown with 6:37 left in the game to make the score 49-7.

East Central made their final touchdown of the game with 5:16 remaining in the game

for a 3-yard rush touchdown to make the final score 49-14, Henderson proudly winning their eighth game of the sea-son in a row.

Rodgers passes Nick Hard-esty, previous quarterback for Henderson, who had 43 career touchdown passes in 18 games in 2009-2010.

Rodgers now has a total of 45 career touchdowns in 15 games for an average of three touchdowns per game.

For the sixth time this sea-son, Rodgers statistically went over 300 yards passing in the season.

Rodgers has completed 29-of-41 passes for 378 yards.

Jordan had six catches, lead-ing the Reddies receivers with 120 yards.

Labroderick Barnett had five receptions for 85 yards.

Keaton Stigger, leading the Reddie defense, had eight tackles including two for yard-age. The Reddies had a total of 464 yards of offense.

Henderson will next travel to Magnolia on Oct. 27 to face Southern Arkansas. Kickoff is set for 6:00 pm.

Additional reporting by Troy Mitchell.

PAGE 6 OCTOBER 22, 2012SportsReddies win homecoming game against ECU

HOMECOMING VICTORY Labroderick Barnett runs to gain yardage for Henderson in the homecom-ing game against East Central where the Reddies won 49-14, making their season record 8-0.

Photo by Ryan Klare/Oracle

Henderon swim team wins to OBU in season opening

Kaitlyn KitchensSports editor

Kaitlyn KitchensSports editor

The women’s and men’s Hen-derson Red Wave swim team both took home wins against OBU on Oct. 19.

The Lady Red Wave swim team finished 117-110 over OBU in the final event in the 200-yard free-style relay race to win first place.

The men’s Red Wave team won seven of 13 events.

The Red Wave swim team opened their season with a 146.5 to 92.5 win over OBU.

Senior Robert Fisher won first place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.66.

Aaron Villemez, sophomore from Montgomery, TX, placed third in the same event with a time of 1:47.52.

The Red Wave swim team had already taken first place in the first two events.

Fisher placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.76.

Villemez placed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.79.

Nicholas James, senior, won first place in the 200-yard individ-ual medley with a time of 1:58:57.

Guy Buls, freshman from Br-enham, TX, was right behind James, placing second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:59.14.

James also reached first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50:89.

Buls won first place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.04.

Senior Adam Milecz competed in the 50 freestyle, placing sec-ond with a time of 21.28.

Following right behind him was junior Denver Dawson plac-ing third with a time of 21.88.

Freshman from Edmond, Okla., Dylan Anderson, finished second place in both the 100-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle with times of 10:07.23 (100-yard freestyle) and 5:04.54 (500-yard freestyle).

Shae Bielby, freshman from Broken Arrow, Okla. won first place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:03.11.

Erik Johannessen, freshman

from Magnolia, TX, got first in the one-meter diving competi-tion.

He had a score of 135.30 and Johannessen was also second in the three-meter event with a score of 124.80.

Freshman Collin Lightfoot from Mckinney, TX won the three-meter dive with a score of 128.20 and also finished third in the one-meter competition.

The Red Wave 200-yard free-style relay team finished off the evening in first place with Fisher, James, Villemez and Milecz with a time of 1:24.11.

The Lady Reddie Red Wave swim team also had a victorious day against OBU, bringing home numerous wins.

In the 200 freestyle relay, Erin Beu, Victoria Culliver, Jeanne Miller and Lauren Sutton fin-ished the race with a time of 1:40.81.

OBU’s team finished behind with a time of 1:42.00.

OBU won the first two events of the day, but Sutton, a sopho-more from Katy, TX, took first place in the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle with a time of 1:57.68 (200 freestyle) and 53.94 (100 freestyle).

Beu, freshman from Owasso, Okla., placed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.02.

Sophomore from Hattisburg, Miss., Mary Andrews, finished in second place in the 100 butter-fly with a time of 59.94.

Andrews also finished in third place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:01.60.

Chelsea Leary, senior from Spring, TX, won two events.

Leary took first place in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:12.85 and also in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 59.51.

Miller, sophomore, finished 5:22.06 in second place in the 500 freestyle.

Camille Leary finished second place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:12.09.

Emily Wright, freshman from Grapevine, TX, won both diving events with a score of 189.85 in the 1-meter and 186.60 in the 3-meter event.

Additional reprorting by Troy Mitchell.