The East TexanThe East TexanSTUDENT NEWSPAPER OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSIT Y- COMMERCE SINCE 1915

XCV, No. 18, 8 pages www.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

This week’s poll:

Are you sad Pasesano’s

closed?

Vote online at theeasttexan.

com.

This week in The East Texan

A&M-Commerce students’ art to be exhibited at the Plush Gallery in Dallas. Lucky... -Page 4

Editor James Bright admits Bright Eyes is “too intellectu-al” for his taste.-Page 7

University refines closing proceduresRecent winter weather gives university chance to test its emergency response system

CALEB SLINKARDEDITOR

While winter storms played havoc with weather conditions and class schedules, they also

gave Texas A&M University-Commerce the chance to test its emergency response system. The university has a complex struc-ture in place for situations that require closing the university and, according to A&M-Commerce officials, the response went with only a few minor glitches. “I know there’s been some discussions at high levels in the university about what worked and what didn’t work, and

IRIS continues to shine through as being a reliable method,” Crime Information Officer Jason Bone said. “Nothing beats the direct phone call.” One of the issues encountered was the lack of communication between A&M-Commerce campuses. While the president or acting presi-dent determines whether or not to close the A&M-Commerce campus, the heads of the other campuses make the call to close their campuses. “We have a lot of campuses other than Commerce, and it has been a real challenge to become integrated with other campuses,” Bone said. “If you are an A&M-Commerce student and you

take classes in Navarro, but you don’t take classes with them also, you’re on their campus but you’re not in their sys-tem. You wouldn’t get their alerts. What we started doing the last few days [of the inclement weather] is that if Collin College sends out an alert, we re-broad-cast that to our students that attend Collin College.” While students may only receive the phone calls or read the message on the website, the system in place to deter-mine whether or not to close the uni-versity is complex, as is the way the university disseminates that informa-tion to students, faculty, staff and the surrounding media.

“The crisis team, headed by [Safety Manager] Derek Preas, has a crisis room with a giant computer screen that has a live feed from the National Weather Service,” Assistant Vice President of Marketing Communications Randy Jolly said. Once the situation gets to a criti-cal point, Preas calls University Police Department Chief Donna Spinato, who makes a recommendation to the presi-dent. “At that point, the president or the acting president makes a determination,” Jolly said. “The satellite campuses are

Procedures page 3

Student Forum a success

JUSTIN CHEATHAMCO-SPORTS EDITOR

Despite the Chinese New Year celebration being postponed twice because of the winter weather that hit North Texas, a large number of students showed up to the event when was finally held on Feb. 15. Chinese New Year, hosted in the Morris Recreation Center, fea-tured traditional Chinese dancing, games, crafts and food. Chinese Students Association (CSA) President Chin Vu Hsu watched over volunteers painting Chinese charac-ters on hand fans. “I know in our school we have many Chinese students, but not every-body knows about the Chinese New Year or where it comes from,” Hsu said. “We prefer to cel-ebrate and enjoy it.” In China, it is known as the “Spring Festival” because it marks the end of the winter season and begins on the first day of the Chinese calendar’s first month. The two-week cel-ebration is the longest and most popular holiday in China, and has elements similar to the American holiday season. “New year time is a time of celebration, sort of renewing yourself,” per-former Patty Sun said. “We always do the Lion dance to bring in good luck and

get rid of any bad luck from the previous year. You can kind of start over if you mess up the pre-vious year and hope for good luck and better for-tune for the new year. It’s similar to the New Year we have here with people making resolutions and things like that, but we don’t really have resolu-tions. Its like our biggest holiday; like Christmas.” Sun and the other per-formers entertained the crowd of students, staff and locals with tai chi and the Lion dance. “One of the most com-mon mistakes people make is they think we are doing the dragon dance, because the dragon is a symbol of China and is like the emperor and represents power,” she said. “But actually the lion is more new year’s timely; the lion represents good luck. So you will actually see the lion more often than the dragon, and I noticed it’s the mascot here; so it fits.” The event featured photo opportunities with traditional Chinese items and clothing, as well as Chinese food. “There could have been more stuff, but I liked it,” freshman Alex Thornton said. “The food was really good, I had some orange chicken and a shrimp dish. I liked the decorations, I feel like they really did a good job on those. For

Morris page 3

Chinese New Year ushers in “Year of the Rabbit”

Community prepares to duke it out in Commerce IdolCHANCELLOR MILLS

OPINION EDITOR

The Commerce Rotary Club is preparing to host its sixth annual Commerce Idol talent show and scholarship fundraiser with audi-tions starting on Feb. 18. “Commerce Idol is the most excit-ing event we sponsor each year,” Commerce Rotary President Mike Roberts said. “ Not only is it a fun time for kids and adults to show

off their talents, but it is also our most important fundraiser. The money we raise is used for the scholarships we award each year to Commerce High School seniors. Two students are selected each year and each are awarded $500 for four school semesters.” Commerce Rotary President Elect Jalinna Jones has been in charge of publicity for the event for the past two years. “Really what we need to push

right now is auditions,” Jones said. “We’re hoping to attract from around the community, but also dif-ferent student groups on campus, individuals on campus who would like to participate. We would love to have them and we hope they come out.” According to Jones, there will be a new addition to the contest this

COMMERCE page 3

ADAM TROXTELLMANAGING EDITOR

The first Student Forum of the spring semester was held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16, in the Pride Room of the Sam Rayburn Student Center. Vice President for Student Access and Success Dr. Mary Hendrix led the discussion during which students had an opportunity to voice concerns and comments. Hendrix began the meeting with a few announce-ments and statements, the first of which involved impending budget cuts by the state of Texas on universities. She said a number of grants and loans the state usually gives to students, specifi-cally the Texas B-On-Time Loan, were in jeopardy of being reduced or completely eliminated, and A&M-Commerce will be working with students

affected the most by these changes. She also said the university would be looking to help education students graduating in the near future who may struggle to find a job. “We’re going to be offering help for those in [teacher education],” Hendrix said. “We are very concerned for people graduating on loans who have to find jobs.” Her next statement was about the recent incident involving freshman wide receiver Kenzee Jackson. Jackson was cited for entering the SRSC cafeteria without his Lion card, and Hendrix said both the card and the rules about it exist for a purpose. “Our ID card is not only for food, but other access on campus,” she said. “We’re hearing about students loaning cards. Think about if that card is

A&M-COMMERCE page 3

Director of Residential Living and Learning Dennis Koch answers students’ questions at the Student Forum. The discussion was mod-erated by Vice President Dr. Mary Hendrix and focused on potential budget cuts, the cafeteria and student housing.

Chinese New Year perfomers teach audience members Tai Chi during the Chinese New Year celebration at the Morris Recreation Center.

CHANCELLOR MILLSOPINION EDITOR

College is a place for learning. You learn who you are, who you’re going to be, how to survive on your own, what you’re go-ing to be when you “grow up,” etc. There are some things, however, that you may not learn how to do – certain skills that will aid you during your time in college and could serve you for the rest of your life. So I have decided to write a series of “how-to” columns over completing some these tasks.

This week’s lesson: get-ting over a break-up.

So, after your failed movie night with your (now ex-) girlfriend, you

and missing her. Well, I’ve got the perfect remedy.

What you’ll need: -

lars, rental van, donuts and a gym membership.

Step one: Weep.Step two: continue

weeping as you watch each and every one of the com-edies, romantic comedies,

that reminds you of the girl that broke your heart. Most people will tell you that this is the absolute last thing you want to do. I’m telling you the only way to get the emotional pain out is through the tear ducts. It’s basic anatomy.

Step three: take every single thing that reminds you of your ex – things she left at your place, things she gave you, CD’s that you bought because she told you to listen to them,

planned to give to her be-fore she ripped your beat-ing heart out of your chest and swallowed it whole, and stuff – and build a shrine in her honor. I know some will tell you that this kind of fanatical idolizing of your ex is unhealthy, but who are you going to trust? C’mon, have I ever steered you wrong? That’s what I thought. Now, wor-ship the shrine.

Step four: now that

the “mourning period” is over, it’s time to start “get-ting out there” again.

rental van and park it outside your ex’s house. You’ll want to use your binoculars here to get a better look…at how happy she is without you.

Step six: now that you have seen how quickly she’s gotten over you and your “abandonment is-

chocolate donuts and oth-er baked goods.

Step seven: after six weeks of this bear-claw and donut-hole regiment, look in the mirror. I mean, really look; look at your-self. I’ve heard of a double

chin, but is that a triple chin? That’s ridiculous.

Step eight: gain per-spective. Okay, NOW your “mourning period” is over. Get gym membership.

Step nine: spend the summer losing not only the donut weight, but also an additional 20 pounds.

Step ten: meet new girl who digs your “sexy bod.”

Step 11: fall in love with new girl.

Yippee!! You have now learned how to get over the heartbreak that you’re ex left you with!! Con-grats. Now you can begin the countdown to the mo-ment when you will need to utilize this lesson again.

ARIELLE MCMAHON STAFF CARTOONIST

OPINIONOPINION www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Feb. 24, 2011Page 2

The East Texan,University-Commerce, is published 12 times per semester during the Fall and Spring by students in reporting and editing classes. Content is solely the responsibility of the student editors and writers. The comments and views expressed in The East Texanbeliefs of other students, staff, faculty, administration, or the Board of Trustees. The East Texan is located inside the Journalism building on the east side of campus in room 113. Single copies are available in Journalism 113 for an additional 25 cents.

Letters to the editor are welcome and should be limited to 250 words. They will not be edited for spelling, grammar and libelous or malicious statements. We reserve the right to refuse publication. Letters should be typed or e-mailed

(grade level) and telephone number. Mailing address is The East Texan, P.O. Box 4011 Commerce, Texas 75428.

Established 1915

The East TexanThe East Texan

ADAM TROXTELLMANAGING EDITOR

JUSTIN CHEATHAMCO!SPORTS EDITOR

CALEB SLINKARD EDITOR

JARED WATSONDIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR

CHANCELLOR MILLSOPINION EDITOR

903-886-5985 www.theeasttexan.com

theeasttexan@gmail.com

facebook.com/pages/The-East-Texan-Onlinetwitter.com/TheEastTexan

ADVERTISING: JERIC GRIFFIN(903)-244-7350

CONTACT

FRED STEWARTFACULTY ADVISER

fred_stewart@tamu-commerce.edu

JAMES BRIGHTART SCENE EDITOR

JESSICA MARTINGRAPHICS EDITOR

SAVANNAH CHRISTIANCAMPUS LIFE EDITOR

Chancellor Mills’ Information for Life:Lesson 5: getting over a painful end to a relationship

Clarification

ADAM TROXTELL

The other day, a few of my friends and I had our

-ism class. Our professor

-ing things when it comes to his tests: you need a bluebook, you should take your time in answering the questions, and he wants you to be as detailed as possible with your answer without being too lengthy. We all have had this pro-fessor before, so we knew the drill.

the test, a student walked in late. He grabbed the exam at the front of the room and sat down. It could not have been 20 minutes later when he stood and walked to the front of the

room to turn his “test” in.

sheets of paper. Our pro-fessor allowed him to use notebook paper, but this student only turned in one page with what was sup-posed to be answers to 12 essay questions. It was barely front and back, and our professor was none too pleased.

It was a clear lack of effort and motivation on the student’s part, espe-cially when it comes to this class. This class is one

the required courses for

he treated it like it was

more like a walk from the bedroom to the kitchen.

-lated incident of blatant laziness I have witnessed

in my classes. Unfortu-nately, it seems to be a growing trend.

This causes me to won-der, as the university sets enrollment goals higher and higher each year, whether we are getting the kind of people that we should want to be on our campus. In our pur-suit to attain a higher and more impressive student population, the standards and expectations of in-coming students cannot be lowered in a sort of twisted trade-off.

There is no doubting the importance of adver-tising the university and attracting more students. But, at what cost are we willing to increase our numbers by astronomical amounts? This university should want only those

students who want to be here or in college period.

I do not have any hard

Commerce is shrugging off its responsibility to enroll only those students that meet the standards and have a desire to learn

I see, and I understand that’s probably not much. However, with the goals our university appears to be setting, it can be easy to fall into the trap of trading

a balance for both. If in

is dropping its standards for the ability to stroke its ego over a few num-bers, I do fear for its future and the future of the stu-dents it will cart through each semester.

Increased enrollment should not equal lowered standards

LEEX.INFO

Columnist Chancellor Mills continues his “how to” series by attempting to teach readers how to perform the

not-so-simple task of getting over a painful break-up.

The photo of President Dr. Dan Jones and Provost Dr. Larry Lemanski printed on the third page of the Feb. 17 edition of the East Texan was not meant to depict a signing of the reorganization propos-al. It was merely a stock photo of the president and the pro-vost, who were both key indi-

-communication by the choice of this photo or its cutline was unintentional.

Members of the East Texan staff attended the Student Forum held on Wednesday, Feb. 16, in the Pride Room of the Sam Rayburn Student Center, and we would like to congratulate the

-cally Vice President of

-cess Dr. Mary Hendrix, in giving students a way to voice their opinions in an interactive and friendly setting. It is never easy to take criticism, but the Stu-dent Forum was a very real outreach by the uni-versity toward answering students’ concerns.

The fact that many

and staff members were present and able to read-ily answer questions, concerns and comments raised by students was reassuring. Often, student

concerns are merely the result of a lack of infor-mation, so the forum is particularly effective in diffusing those issues.

-rum gives students an op-portunity to forge a closer relationship with faculty and staff members. It’s one thing for students to read a name in the faculty directory and an entirely different thing to actually meet the individual and communicate with them.

Finally, the university has to make sure to de-liver on the promises they make in these forums. It’s one thing to hear com-plaints and it is another thing entirely to do some-thing about them. Obvi-ously, not every student can be happy, but if the Student Forum results in real, tangible change, then it will truly be successful.

Editorial: Student Forum brings good opportunities to students

by Arielle McMahon and Brad Ray

THIS WEEK’S ‘PLAN B’

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editors,Thank you and Ca-

leb for attending the

you know, concern was expressed about articles that appear in The East Texan. I believe it is im-portant for me to model what we instructed stu-dents to do if they have concerns with the arti-cles that are published.

Thank you for allow-ing me to respond to the most recent post regard-ing enrollment growth and your concern that we may be lowering our admissions standards to achieve this enrollment growth.

The average com-

Class of 2010 was 20.93. The statewide average

20.8. President Jones has made it very clear that we are to adhere to our admissions stan-dards. Certainly, we have an obligation to the students, their fami-lies, and to the state of Texas to provide access to those students who possess the aptitude to achieve a degree. We also have an obligation to have high expecta-tions that are clearly communicated, to pro-vide support services that may be needed,

and to prepare students to meet real-world requirements.

In your article, you mentioned that the stu-dent you observed did not have a blue book.

success seminar in the fall and one of our les-sons consisted of pre-paring students for a mid-term examination. Less than one-third of the class knew what a blue book was. You also mentioned that you all knew the expectations of this professor, but that this student ar-rived late, did not have a blue book, and did not respond in the manner and standards expected by this professor. If this was a transfer student, it could be that he was not aware of the expec-tations. If he was not a new student and was familiar with the expec-tations, he made poor decisions and should suffer the consequences. This is what happens in the real world.

I agree with your statement. It was a clear lack of effort and moti-vation on the student’s part...

My best, Mary Hendrix

Read the rest of the letter at www.theeasttexan.com

newsnewswww.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Feb. 24 2011 Page 3

University increases recruiting tiesADAM TROXTELL

MANAGING EDITOR

Texas A&M University-Commerce is increasing the amount of international contacts they have with universities, embassies, and other global programs with each passing semester as part of a globalization trend. This process is being facilitated by Global Initiatives, a department that specializes in creating avenues for the university to advertise for potential students and faculty or allow their own students and facul-ty to experience different cultures. Dr. Kenneth Clinton is the Associate Vice President for Global Initiatives, and he said the increase in the amount of international stu-dents and their influence on cam-pus has been evident for quite some time. “We had a major influx this last year of students from other coun-tries,” Clinton said. “We were one of the first schools in the state of Texas to have a degree in com-puter science. We were ahead of the curve. We’ve had an influx of students for many years from India, and that’s the largest population [of international students] we have on campus and have always had for as long as I can remember.” Clinton said after this ini-tial increase, those same students tell their friends or family living in their countries of origin about A&M-Commerce. This, plus work done by the Enrollment and Retention Division, which is led by Dean Stephanie Holley, has produced the recent

influx of students from Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and China. “It’s the result, I think, of Stephanie Holley and her shop working the community colleges, so we get all of those transfers coming in,” Clinton said. “It’s the word of mouth. And economically, we’re still a good buy.” Another way A&M-Commerce attracts international students is by having their own faculty and stu-dents visit new or established con-tacts around the globe. “Dr. [Larry] Lemanski went to India and made contact with a num-ber of universities there in terms of creating a relationship; either exchanging faculty or recruiting stu-dents to come here, or vice versa,” Clinton said. “Dr. [Dan] Jones has done the same thing in China and in Morocco. We have a relationship with some universities there.” Clinton also said there is a spe-cific reason China should be con-sidered a hotbed for international recruitment in the next few years. “They’ve gone from one million college students 15 years ago to 10 million,” he said. “They have a rising middle class where parents have money. They have a desire to come to this country to study, and I hear that from the Chinese over and over again. We have a course where our business professors go every year to Beijing to the Geo Science University and do lectures. The Chinese students come in to hear those lectures, because they want to know.” Clinton himself will be traveling to South Korea in the future and visiting Konkuk University in the

capital, Seoul. The plan is to set up a program where Korean students learning there become a part of a Global Frontier Program, in which they spend their freshman year at Konkuk before having the option of studying at A&M-Commerce. With the university’s internation-al ties increasing year after year, Clinton said he hopes American students will get the most out of this exchange of cultures and ideas. “The maximum benefit should be for our students here, and I’m not sure it is,” he said. “It should be where you have the multiple con-versations between students from India, China, and Saudi Arabia. You have a sense of the world that goes beyond National Geographic. I think Americans are very ethnocentric.” Clinton said the entire pro-cess is about building a solid relationship with these inter-national contacts and engaging in dialogue for years to come. Vice President for Student Access and Success Dr. Mary Hendrix said she believes this is becoming a more important process in today’s global climate. “Now, more than ever, inter-national education is needed to build understanding and collabora-tion between and among nations,” Hendrix said. “There is increasing evidence that our graduates will be competing in an international labor market and that they must be able to function in a global economy. Education is about being exposed to diverse perspectives, but also learn-ing that we are very similar.”

continued from page 1... used to get in somewhere on campus and something gets stolen. UPD would go after the owner of the card.” She also had a state-ment about the graf-fiti found on the Science Building and Art Building on campus, and asked stu-dents who have informa-tion regarding the iden-tity of the graffiti artist to come forward. “This is your universi-ty,” Hendrix said. “When someone defaces a build-ing, they are defacing your university. If you know who this is, please pass that on.”Hendrix then referenced two East Texan opinion articles that questioned university policies. The first was an article from this week about the goals involving enrollment and whether or not that was resulting in a lowering of standards for acceptance to A&M-Commerce. Hendrix said the average compos-ite ACT score for the high school class of 2010, which was 20.93. The average composite score for Texas was 20.8. The other article Hendrix mentioned brought up the treatment of freshmen stu-dents compared to that of upperclassmen on two specific instances: housing and academic advising. This was also brought up later by sophomore pre-med and psychology double-major Unswella Ankton. “It seems like it’s a lot about the freshmen,” Ankton said. “We already have Whitley as freshmen only. You’re going to give them a new dorm. Maybe we could have the new

dorm with juniors, seniors and grad students, and Smith and Berry should be all freshmen.”Director of Residential Living and Learning Dennis Koch said while the freshmen will get this new residence hall, plans are in place for four more new ones are currently being discussed and not all of those will be fresh-men only. “We had to start some-where with residential liv-ing and learning,” he said.Koch continued to take questions regarding hous-ing, which included plans to renovate Craddock Hall that are “in the plan” and issues concerning Whitley Hall’s problem with heat-ing and air conditioning and wasps. “That’s kind of a moth-er nature issue, because she’ll just bring them back,” Koch said about the wasps. “Central heat-ing and air is on the to-do list.”Other topics discussed included school spirit, Sodexo’s catering prices, and repairing the hot tub at the Morriss Recreation Center. Director of Career Services Tina Boitnott also addressed a question about difficulty finding on campus job listings. Boitnott said the Career Development service Lion Tracks would soon be expanding. “This is one place you can go to find internships, part-time jobs, and full-time jobs,” she said. “We are working to roll in cam-pus jobs.” A&M-Commerce stu-dents with further ques-tions can post them on the Student Forum’s Facebook page.

A&M-Commerce students express concerns at forum

continued from page 1...

something they had to postpone for two weeks, I think they pulled it off without a hitch.” Hsu said there was a purpose for some of the decorations. “We write on the red paper and put it up on the wall, and that celebrates the meaning of words like happiness or money,” Hsu said. “When we write them and turn it upside

down it means that money or happiness is coming.” There was also a raffle at the event, with prizes ranging from Chinese New Year shirts to an iPod shuffle. The winner of the iPod, graduate chemistry student Kiran Nallea, was surprised at his free gift. “Actually, I was think-ing about going home, saying to my friends ‘Lets go,’ but we stayed until the iPod and I won it,” Nallea said.

Morris hosts event

continued from page 1...

year that she hopes will add some “incentive.” “There are [going to be] cash prizes for the top winners in each category,” she said. “So that may be a pretty good incentive for our A&M-Commerce stu-dents to come out – either as individual performers or as a group.” There are going to be four separate age groups competing and the winner of each category will win a monetary prize, accord-ing to Jones. “There are four differ-ent age groups and cash prizes will be given to the winner of each age cat-egory with trophies also given to 1st and 2nd place winners,” she said. “The 3rd-5th grade winner will receive $75 with the 6th-8-

th grade winner receiving $100. The 9th-12th grade winner receives $200 and the 180 and up winner receives the top prize of $300. There is also a cate-gory for church groups. A church band or perform-ing group of more than three people can enter this category and the prize is a $250 donation to the church.” This will be Jones’ sec-ond year to work public-ity for the event and she said that she has noticed a change in the demograph-ic of the audience. “[In the past] the turn-out has been really excit-ing,” Jones said. “We’ve certainly had a lot of acts and a lot of diverse acts, which is really nice to have. And then ticket sales have really increased each year. A lot of our audi-

ence is comprised of peo-ple who know someone who is performing, but it seems like, in recent years, we’ve had students and other community mem-bers coming out, which is really exciting.” As part of the winning group in the 18 and older category, junior animal science major Stephanie Langford said that par-ticipating in Commerce Idol last year was an overall entertaining experience. “I was in show choir in high school, and was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to perform anymore during college, so I was really excited when I heard about Commerce Idol,” Langford said. “JenAnne Shumway, Morgan Saxon, Tyler Harwell, and I decided to perform a fun

skit/song as a group, and I think that really made the overall experience, for me at least, really entertaining. We defi-nitely had some laughs and made a lot of good memories throughout the experience.” Commerce Idol will take place on March 5 at 7 p.m. in the Commerce Middle School auditori-um. Audition applications and a non-refundable $10 fee are currently being accepted through Feb. 18. Applications and rules are available at the Chamber of Commerce as well as the main offices of each school. Tickets for the show are $5.00 each and are available at the Chamber of Commerce and from Rotary Club members.

Commerce Idol offers prizes for winners

Continued from page 1...

dependent on whoever owns that campus. After the president makes his decision, Chief Spinato calls me and I immediately call the web manager, who puts a notice on the website. Then I call the GM of KETR, who updates the KETR web-site, starts broadcasting it on KETR and updates the weather hotline.” Jolly then communicates with some of his staff, who are tasked to call local radio and television stations with the information. After that, he emails the A&M System. “Then I write an email to System Communications so they know that we will be closed,” he said. “The whole process from when I get the call from Spinato to when the

media is alerted is usually between five and 10 minutes. While we’re doing that, UPD is handling the IRIS alert system.” When determining whether to close the campus or not, the president has quite a few factors to consider. “So much of our student body, faculty and staff is off-campus, so we have a lot of driving over from Dallas, Rockwall, Mesquite, etc.,” Jolly said. “The other day it was bright sunshine, but we still can-celed because the roads west of here were covered in ice. The call for the president is ‘what is safe for our students.’” There are some misconceptions surrounding the result of closing the campus.

“My office has received a num-ber of inquiries as to whether or not canceled class days would have to be made up,” President Dr. Dan Jones said in an email to faculty, staff and students. “The short answer is no: unlike pub-lic schools, universities are not required by law to meet a mini-mum number of days per term.” The university did have facul-ty come on campus even when it was closed. “We had some problems where some of the faculty didn’t under-stand that when we close the cam-pus, the buildings are closed, and you can’t come up and work on something,” Jolly said. “Those buildings are closed for a reason, for liability reasons.”

Procedures stronger following closings

Vice President Dr. Mary Hendrix leads the discussion at the Student Forum.

A booth for international students at the Chinese New Year celebration. A&M-Commerce is continuing a trend of attracting international students to Commerce.

www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Feb. 24, 2011Page 4 Campus LifeCampus Life

SAVANNAH CHRISTIANCAMPUS LIFE EDITOR

Several Texas A&M University-Commerce students’ work will be featured in an upcoming art show titled “Kids From Commerce.” The show is set to open Feb. 26 at Plush Gallery in Dallas.

Junior painting major Sam England said the idea for the show came from a group of students in art professor Michael Miller’s painting class.

“[The idea] started last semester with a small group that wanted to stimulate the art community around us by creating an artistic environ-ment that encouraged creativity and collaboration,” England said.

Creating this inspirational envi-ronment took long hours of work and dedication.

“There were times we were here until the sun came up, but by doing this we created an environ-ment where people could work,” England said.

According to senior experimental studies major Eric de Llamas, whose artwork is also featured in the show, the time put into this “project” cre-ated not just a place for people to work, but a tranquil niche for stu-

dents to produce art.It was from this group effort that

the Art Club was created, display-ing student-made illustrations all across the walls of Room 205 in the Art Building.

“There was tons of work every-where, and the walls were literally covered,” England said. “Randall Garrett, the owner of Plush Gallery, heard about what we were doing and came up to Commerce to look at the progress of the painting class. Fortunately, he really liked what he saw and he decided to feature six students in a show that would display what is going on at this university.”

Senior fine art major Val Curry was also chosen as one of the spot-lighted students and is a friend of Garrett, a rather well-known gallery director in the art industry.

“Randall Garrett is a long-time friend of mine, and he was recently featured in Papercity, an arts and culture publication, for his innova-tive gallery,” Curry said. “This is an unprecedented event insofar as such a large group of undergradu-ates is being featured at an art gal-lery with such a strong reputation in the DFW area.”

According to England, it was inspiration and recognition that helped the group advance as much as they did.

“We definitely influenced each other and were able to appreciate each others work which is the only way you really grow as an artist,” Llamas said.

England and Llamas also agree that Miller is to thank for their success.

“Professor Miller always tells us ‘The rising tide raises all ships,’” England said. “This was motiva-tional and taught us if we want to be successful we are going to have to go where the art is.”

Curry said the themes and motifs of the show are not necessarily a fixed idea, but are based more on the work that is coming out of the art department.

“Camaraderie is just as important as the individual which is something we have learned,” Llamas said. “I have seen groups that are coun-terproductive but our cooperation helps us to be conducive, bouncing our concepts off each other.”

The show opens Feb. 26 from 6-9 p.m. and will be featured through March 26. Visit www.plushgallery.com for more information.

Dallas gallery to host students’ work

ADAM TROXTELLCLAY DYESS

A brush fire broke out just north of the Commerce McDonald’s and the Corners at Commerce apartment complex ear-lier this afternoon. The Commerce Fire Department and Commerce Police Department were dis-patched to the scene, as was the Campbell Fire Department for assistance.

CFD Fire Chief Brian McNevin said the fire began between 2:30 and 3 o’clock on Monday after-noon by the rail road tracks that run just north of Corners at Commerce. The wind caused the fire to spread further north, away from the residential area.

McNevin said firemen could not get themselves or their vehicles out to the flames as fast as they

wanted due to the recent wet weather.

“We had trouble getting to it,” he said. “Because of the snow, everything was wet. Luckily, the wind was in our favor and blew it [North] instead of back toward the apartments.”

The fire was quickly contained by the firemen on scene.

“It took us about 30 minutes to contain it,” McNevin said. “There was never any danger.”

The cause of the fire is not known yet, and McNevin said it may never be known due to the loca-tion of the fire’s origin.

“It could have had something to do with a train coming by, it could have been kids play-ing with matches,” he said. “We have no idea. Stuff like this is hard to determine.”

CFD battles field fire

COURTESY KATHERINE DYESS

The plush gallery in Dallas will be hosting ‘Kids From Commerce’, an art show consisting of work from A&M-Commerce students. The show is a result of work done by members of the Art Club at the university, and some of their work is currently on display in Art Building room 205.

COURTESY AMBREA DEAN

A fire scorches trees in the field north of McDonald’s and the Corners at Commerce apartment complex on Monday, Feb. 14.

www.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 Page 5Campus Life

AMY BRANHAMSTAFF WRITER

Campus Recreation and Intramural Sports teamed up Monday, Feb. 14, to bring runners and walk-ers alike together for a 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) fun run. About 50 students and faculty members par-ticipated in the event.

“We really want to get people running or walk-ing,” assistant director of fitness and wellnes Moira Johnson said. “We usually team up with intramural sports to create exercise opportunities [for stu-dents and faculty].”

Participants had the option to run, walk or jog the event, with the major-ity electing to walk.

“Some of us aren’t run-ning for one reason or another,” John Nystrom said. “I’m walking.”

Before the event, run-ners began their warm-up stretches together.

Connie Kercher of the Regent Scholar Program brought several of her students to run in the event. Kercher’s students expressed feelings of “super excitement” and being “pumped” for run-ning a 5-kilometer race, as many had never competed in such an event before.

A fun run is different from a competitive run, according to Johnson, who pointed out that while competitive runs focus on granting awards to the top three male and female finishers, fun runs are won by people esti-mating how long it will take them to complete the race and the closest times win a prize.

“They are really for everyone, not just run-ners,” Johnson said.

Johnson also said she looks forward to when she will be able to run along-

side participants in future races, and that “once the organizational side is 100 percent [operational], I will run with them.”

Some students had obstacles to overcome prior to competing in the run. Accounting major Melonie Hall underwent surgery in September, and this was her first 5k since then. Hall’s doc-tor gave her permission the week before to walk the event.

“It’s frustrating,” Hall said. “If they do [anoth-er 5k] in March for St. Patrick’s Day, maybe I’ll be able to run a little bit.”

After finishing the race, several students expressed feelings of fatigue.

“I’m feeling tired, but it was a good day for a run,” said senior vol-leyball player Rachael Shelton, who took first place for the females. “I only do two 5k’s a year.”

Gerardo De La Fuente, who finished first for the males, said he had been trying to “get back in shape” after taking a few months off.

“I haven’t ran in a while, but I had fun,” De La Fuente said. “My muscles are feeling a lit-tle tight though.”

Sophomore Rashid Lane, who took third place for the males, also felt exhausted after fin-ishing the race.

“I feel like I’ve run off a few pounds,” Lane said. It has been two years since he last competed in a 5-kilometer run.

All students received a water bottle as a prize for finishing the event. Two 5-kilometer fun runs are scheduled for next month: a Mardi Gras Fun Run on March 10, and a Saint Patty’s Fun Run on March 22.

Club event offers new gaming experience

Fun run challenges students and faculty

Dozens of competitors pack The Club in the Sam Rayburn Student Center for the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament on Feb. 15. Prizes included controllers, a subscription to Xbox Live, and a copy of the game.

... every time a customer used a credit or debit card: or a store owner turned on a light, made a phone call, shipped a package, or paid his payroll, it pays for YOUR education...not just one time, but month after month, possibly for years!

That is what the power of residual income can do, and we have a way to put it to work for you. One conversation could mean continuous income for years. Become a consultant. Be your own boss; no selling required! Work around your class and study schedule, a few hours a day for one year ONLY and never have to work again to finish college!

IMAGINE...

Local merchants could be paying all your tuition, books, room and board, and living expenses for your entire college education and you could leave college DEBT FREE! Take our free training program to learn how to help American merchants and help yourself to a college education.

THERE IS NO INVESTMENT AND NOTHING TO BUY...EVER!

FOR DETAILS GO TO:

www.TurnTheFaucetOn.com/edu

JORDAN WRIGHTSTAFF WRITER

The Texas A&M Un iversit y- Com merce Sam Rayburn Student Center hosted a Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 15. The tournament, sponsored by GameStop in Sulphur Springs and held to com-memorate the release of the third entry in the criti-cally acclaimed fighting game series, was hosted at The Club and was open to all students on the day of the game’s release.

At 4:00 pm, the partici-pants of what would be a 52-player contest were required to register at the front table. The four corners of The Club con-taining wall-mounted televisions each had an Xbox 360 gaming con-sole hooked up to them. The player that won 2 of 3 fights would advance to the next round.

Before the matches began, the contestants had time to mingle and plot out strategies. Several of the players had even

played the newly released game immediately before the tournament in preparation for the day’s competition.

“Dante is one of my main characters so far because his move sets are easier to memorize,” con-testant Charlie Biter said. “It’s mainly about counter-ing what your opponent uses. If they use a brawler, use a fast character.”

Although the game’s recent release status had prevented several of the competitors from practic-ing very much, a number of alternative tactics were employed by the players in hopes of advancing to the final round.

“I did get to play the game just a little bit last night and a bit today but not much so I don’t have a whole lot of experience,” competitor Mikey Kenney said. “I did play Marvel vs. Capcom 1, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and even Street Fighter vs. X-Men so I’ve got a few strategies that we’ll see on screen.”

The spectators voiced their enjoyment of the

onscreen action that the game provided.

“There are a lot of differ-ent combos that are pretty cool,” spectator Cedrick Freeman said while wait-ing for the next round to start. “There are a couple of people that don’t know all of the controls yet, so that’s fairly interesting.”

In between each round, there were several smaller events going on as well. At the end of each round, a raffle was held in order to give out prizes such as “Marvel vs. Capcom 3” themed controllers and a 12-month subscription to Xbox Live.

A costume contest for the characters of the game was also held. Due to a lack of entrants, the prize went to Noah Doran. For his costume based on the character of Ryu from the “Street Fighter” series, Doran received a free copy of the game for the Xbox 360.

“I had to buy all of the equipment from Goodwill and it took me about 2 hours to put together,” Doran said, in regards to

his costume. “This is the best 2D fighting game that I have ever played”

The final matches were displayed via projector on the screen at the front of The Club and utilized its surround sound system. Although the final round, determined by winning three out of five battles, required all five fights to be played out in order to determine the victor, the final match, as well as the grand prize, ultimately went to Chazmon Bradley.

“It feels great, I didn’t expect to win, but once I made it to the final round, I was really happy,” Bradley said. “I love the game and had already preordered it, so I’ll probably give that copy away to a friend.”

Club Coordinator Wayne Grabow said that he is impressed with the progression of the event and considers the tourna-ment a huge success.

“We had about 70 peo-ple in here and 52 compet-itors in the tournament,” Grabow said. “I would say that the turnout was pretty good.”

JORDAN WRIGHT / THE EAST TEXAN

JAMES BRIGHTART SCENE EDITOR

In the history of the world there is a long list of people who have overcome adversities of varying types and used their lives to touch thousands of others. One more for that list is graduate student Matt Plummer.

Despite being confined to a wheel chair, he is very active in music and multiple theatre groups. Plummer said his disability has not hindered him in any way.

“I do believe that it has made me who I am and has given me a different perspective on life in general,” he said. “It has shown me that with persistence, a strong mind, and ingenuity anything is possible. I have never let my disability get in my way of accomplishing my goals and I rarely even think about me actually having a disability.”

It’s a choice how much a person lets life get them down, according to Plummer, and he has no interest in cur-tailing his life.

“You can only accomplish as much as you believe you can,” he said. “Sure, I’ll never play Romeo but then again who said I ever wanted to? If I ever come across anything that I ‘cannot’ do I find something else I can do and put every-thing I have into making it the best I possibly can. Theatre gives me a variety

of ways to express myself artistically and challenge me personally.”

Plummer’s work is not just meaningful to him. Theatre major A’Mari Rocheleau said working with Plummer is a dream.

“He’s such a talented, upbeat, positive person that he makes you look forward to every bit of rehearsal and is constantly providing laughs to keep the cast in good spirits,” she said.

Despite his love for the arts now, Plummer said he was not always inter-ested in theatre and it took a little coax-ing to get him into acting.

“I was forced to take an elective in high school and it was theatre,” he said. “[Theatre] was the only class available at the time. I was definitely not a theatre person and hated having to do any-thing in front of a group of people. I was not very happy about having to take the class.”

Despite his initial reaction to the acting world, Plummer said a teacher helped him take the first steps of the path he is on today.

“The teacher, Vonya Eudy, helped me along the way and soon put me in my first show, ‘The Crucible’, as townperson #3,” he said. “I was terrified and did not have any lines. But since then, I have been hooked on theatre.”

Recently Plummer has taken on a new role in the acting world. He had his directorial debut with the University

Playhouse’s production of “Sideways Stories from Wayside School.” Plummer said he adored being the director.

“I’m not used to being on this side of the stage and giving out direction but luckily I have a fantastic cast and crew alongside me to help keep things going in the right direction,” he said. “It is going to be a fantastic show and something I am very proud to be a part of. Everyone involved has made this experience one to remember.”

Rocheleau said Plummer is equally talented in acting and directing.

“Every time he goes onstage, you know the audience is in for a treat because he’s either going to provide enough laughs to make their faces hurt, or he’s going to bring tears to their eyes,” she said. “But he’s also absolutely fabulous as a director. He has such a clear idea of what he wants to see onstage and man-ages to guide you through accomplish-ing that while still allowing the actors to have creative power in coming up with characters.”

Though he still loves acting, Plummer said his flirtation with directing may be turning into love.

“I’m really starting to love directing,” he said. “It gives me an ability to look at the overall production and have my hand in a little bit of everything. I love the collaboration I can have with actors,

crew and designers as a director. Acting is definitely a very rewarding experi-ence on many levels, but directing gives me a feel-ing of accomplishment like I never felt.”

Work in the theatre is not the only artistic endeavor this graduate student engag-es in. He’s also a member of The Moving Stills, a band formed and filled with A&M-Commerce students. Despite his love for music, Plummer said his current schedule has it made it diffi-cult for him to practice with the band.

“Hopefully it will pick back up again soon enough and we’ll get some new recordings,” he said. “Right now we are looking for some new equipment due to an accident with our van and guitars. Needless to say the van won that battle. Music is definitely a passion of mine and has become much more than a hobby.”

Plummer - also a promi-nent member of Cricket City Improv – said scripted mate-rial and improv present dif-ferent challenges and yield different awards.

“There is nothing like going on stage with no idea what is going to happen and using a suggestion to create

a performance,” he said. “But, then again, there is nothing like rehears-ing a performance and getting it to the best it can be and showcas-ing your hard work to an audience. It really depends on the day of

the week and the mood to what I prefer doing.”

As far as the future goes, Plummer has no intentions of sticking around the DFW area.

“I want to get out in the world and try my hand at professional theatre and improv abroad,” he said. “I really want to get as much experience as possible and find what is best for me through those experiences.”

True to the nature of any direc-tor, Plummer has those who would love to follow him and work with him professionally.

“He and I have always talked about opening up our own theater sometime in the future,” Rocheleau said. “We have such a great ability to be open with each other and manage to come up with crazy yet great ideas without ever fighting so I think we’d be great business partners one day.”

One thing is for sure though- Plummer has proven himself to be adaptable and despite the un-likeliness of being casted in a conventional adaptation of a Shakespearean play; he still sees the possibility of one day acting in such a production.

“An all wheelchair production of Romeo and Juliet would be a very inter-esting artistic choice,” he said.

Art SceneArt Scene www.theeasttexan.comPage 6

A&M-Commerce graduate student Matt Plummer is a staple of University Playhouse productions, including his directoral debut “Sideways Stories from Wayside School.” He is also a prominent member of Cricket City Improv and a guitarist for the Commerce band The Moving Stills.

COURTESY PHOTOS MATT PLUMMER

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

CHANCELLOR MILLS OPINION EDITOR

Let’s be clear about something: I am no Fox Mulder. I do not believe; I do not WANT to believe. So when I walked into the theater to see “I Am Number Four” and discovered that the basic premise involved aliens from another planet, I was a little concerned. I have not seen a well-executed sci-fi flick involving aliens in a long time – if ever. So, I thought, this movie probably won’t be any different. And, boy, was I wrong – big time.

Here’s the story: Number Four (played by Alex Pettyfer) and his protector Henri (Timothy Olyphant) are refugees from the destroyed planet Lorien. Number Four is one of nine gifted aliens who are on Earth hiding from a race of planet decimators called Mogadorians.

The movie starts out in Kenya where we see Number Three and his protec-tor unceremoniously hunted down and killed by the “Mogs” and a large, flying beast that they seem fond of using to kill Number Three and the other visitors from Lorien. After the opening credits, we are then transported to Florida, where Number Four (going by Daniel at this point) is doing cool tricks on a jet ski and being an overall badass. However, all that changes when a third glowing scar

begins to appear on his leg signifying that Number Three is dead. Through a conveniently timed voiceover, we find out that the gargantuan “Mogs” are the ones responsible for the destruction of Lorien

After the incident with the glowing leg scar, Daniel has to leave Florida with Henri and relocate to Paradise, Ohio, where he adopts the identity of John Smith. Here, he meets Mark (Jake Abel), Sarah (Dianna Agron) and Sam (Callan McAuliffe). Mark is your run-of-the-mill “big man on campus”/bully who tor-ments alien conspiracy nut Sam, as well as anyone – namely John – who goes near his slightly voyeuristic ex-girlfriend Sarah.

While all of this is going on, we inter-mittently catch scenes of a mysterious woman (played by aussie Teresa Palmer) who is on John and Henri’s trail and who blows up their home in Florida.

The characters of the movie – as well as the base story archetype – are all fairly unoriginal and generic, but it’s the actors and the fantastical action that makes “I Am Number Four” such a wonderful movie. Some will complain, saying there is no deeper meaning to movie, but to me that doesn’t take anything away from the film. There may be no “moral of the story,” but “I Am Number Four” succeeds in providing moviegoers with the basic entertainment value that you don’t get

from other films.Pettyfer plays a believable troubled-

and-gifted teen, which complements Olyphant’s portrayal as the over-protec-tive “father figure” character. Agron plays the perfect “girl next door” who is into photography and wants nothing more than to get out of Paradise. This movie also managed to highlight relatively unknown actors Abel and McAuliffe. I have seen Abel in a few productions before as the teenage nemesis, and that is where his acting sort of shines. McAuliffe, however, I have never seen before, and I have to say that I was impressed. I have never seen such a wide array of emotion come from an actor as young as this 16-year-old playing Sam.

Now, while I did enjoy Palmer’s perfor-

mance as the mysterious and hot Number Six, the only thing I didn’t enjoy was her spotty Australian accent. Despite being a native Australian, Palmer’s accent seems to be constantly going back and forth between her natural accent and a natural-sounding American accent.

The only other area that this film fell short for me was the ending. I don’t know whether it was because of the PG-13 rat-ing or the fact that it was based on a teen drama novel of the same name, but everything is wrapped up in a neat bow, including Abel’s bully character becom-ing friends with John.

However, even with this neat, uncon-troversial ending, “I Am Number Four” was one of the best sci-fi action adven-tures that I have seen in quite some time.

Plummer directs path through life

“I Am Number Four” reinvigorates a genre of movies that has recently been lacking in originality by focusing on strong acting and rivoting action scenes in a successful effort to entertain viewers.

SCIFICOOL.COM

Sci Fi movie jolts genre to life

www.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 Page 7

CHUFFMEDIA.COM

The “People’s Key” continues indie band Bright Eyes’ tradition of making music praised as genius by some and hated by others.

JAMES BRIGHTART SCENE EDITOR

I’m a pretty open guy. I’ll usually give anything at least one shot to impress me, and, I’ll be hon-est, I’m always a bit wary of music or movies that “revolutionize the field.” One such band is the immensely popular Bright Eyes. Throughout the years, my friends have told me how short sighted I was for not absolutely ador-ing this band. I just couldn’t get into them. Their sound has always been like an empty shell of what should have been good indie music. Shockingly, I loved Bright Eyes’ front man Conner Oberst’s flirtation with punk rock in the late ‘90s with his short-lived band Desaparecidos. The world’s love for Bright Eyes however, has always been a mystery to me. Against my better judgment, I decided to give the face of indie music another shot with their new album “The People’s Key.” That was a mistake. I can usually find one redeeming grace in an album or one track that I can actually enjoy. Not the case this time. From the beginning, this album pissed me off with a recording of a random guy spewing non-sense about a time paradox. I love intros. I literally adore a band that uses the first track of an album as an introduction. There has never been an intro fail like this. The first track, ‘Firewall’ literally has three min-utes of babbling prior to any music. Three minutes of nonsense, just plain and simple maddening non-sense. It does nothing to set the tone of the album. Several bands have tried this sort of thing in the first track, but they succeeded. Their introductions actually worked as a setup for the album. Unfortunately, this is the least of this album’s problems. The worst being it is flat out boring. The album is unin-spired and semi-melodic. The music will lull any listener into a hypnotic state where he or she could be in danger for their life. Driving while e n d u r i n g this album is more danger-ous than the dreaded text m e s s a g i n g motorist. The dan-ger doesn’t stop there. I can literally see some indie kid running over his or her foot with a lawn mower because they allowed themselves to be zombified by this album while trimming the grass. It’s that bad. Granted this is not my favorite genre of music, but I like quite few bands that come from the same mold. My Morning Jacket, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and Iron & Wine are cool with me. Two of these bands are in my top 20, but Bright Eyes is just ridiculously overrated.There is one good thing about this album. Resistance forces seeking democracy in the Middle East and North Africa could blast it over a PA at their respec-tive government’s offices. The act should result in repulsion, or zombification. Either way no member of the country’s government will be able to put up much of a fight. Thank you Conner Oberst for your efforts in spreading democracy. You should be commended for that, but certainly not for the qual-ity of your music.

Bright Eyes album dangerously awful

COURTESY PHOTO ERIN PLEAKE

Barry Alan Berryhill (left) portrays Mrs. Gorf, the evil, witch-like teacher of the 30th floor Wayside School classroom. The production, the direc-toral debut for Matt Plummer, entertained both adults and children with its laugh-out-loud humor.

Art SceneArt Scene

CALEB SLINKARDEDITOR

Creating a produc-tion that entertains both children and adults is a complex task that requires layering dialog and move-ment with meaning for both age groups.

In “Sideways Stories from Wayside School,” director Matt Plummer balanced these competing interests with a deftness unique for a debut direc-tor.

The play centers around six elementary school stu-dents on the 30th floor of Wayside School, Myron (Gerald Taylor, II), Bebe (Latrice Owens), Leslie (Kelsey Cooper), Rondi (A’Mari Rocheleau) and Dameon (Josh Simmons).

The school was origi-nally conceived as a one story building with 30 classrooms, but an archi-tect’s mistake led to them being built one on top of each other.

The students are taught by Mrs. Gorf (Barry Alan Berryhill), a mean, witch of a woman who turns them

into apples if they do not behave. When attempting to turn Bebe into an apple, Mrs. Gorf accidently turns herself into an apple and is eaten by the Yard Teacher, Louis (Micah Haynes).

Mrs. Gorf is replaced by Mrs. Jewls (B.F. Steddum), a complete opposite of their former teacher that encourages the students to let her know if she is being boring and disci-plines them by writing their name on the black-board instead of turning them into fruit.

The students quickly grow attached to Mrs. Jewls, whose whimsical ways are refreshing to them. Mrs. Jewels teaches the students to play instru-ments and attempts to cor-rect the teachings of Mrs. Gorf, although she is soon distracted by a mutual attraction between herself and Louis.

Mrs. Jewls has her hands full keeping Myron from pulling Leslie’s pigtails, a problem that is dealt with during recess by school counselor Mr. Pickle (also played by Micah Haynes) in what is perhaps the most

comical scene in the entire production.

Mrs. Gorf begins appearing to students in various forms, remind-ing them of their involve-ment in her demise. When Mrs. Jewls begins displaying characteristics of Mrs. Gorf, she disap-pears and is replaced by Mr. Gorf (Berryhill), Mrs. Gorf’s son.

Initially, Mr. Gorf appears to be a nervous and polite teacher, but soon the children real-ize that the only reason he has come to Wayside School is to find out who ate his mother and punish them accordingly.

Mr. Gorf discovers that Louis was the perpetra-tor and turns him into an apple, but Louis and the children are saved by the powerful Ms. Zarves, who returns Mrs. Jewls to the class to the joy of the students.

The acting by all involved was superb. Their high energy performances kept the play moving at a dramatic pace and kept all of the younger audience members on the edge of

their seats. Micah Haynes’ performance as Louis and Mr. Pickle was the high-light of the production.

The set was the most complex the University Playhouse has created in recent memory.

There were numerous moving parts, including a moving loud speaker and a chalkboard that doubled as Ms. Zarves’ mouth. Perhaps the most impres-sive was the glow in the dark chalk that covered the set, which produced a satisfactory amount of “oohs” and “ahs” when the lights went out for the first time.

Overall, “Sideways Stories and Wayside School” was a hilarious experience children and adults. The only nega-tive thing about the pro-duction was that there was only one university performance.

But the lucky A&M-Commerce students, faculty members and Commerce community members that were able to see the play left with sides aching.

Play reaches out to all audiences

COVER ART FOR “THE PEOPLE’S KEYS”

JON McDANIELCO-SPORTS EDITOR

I’ve been waiting for this video game to come out for the last eight years ever since I played “Marvel vs. Capcom 2” at the arcades. When the game finally came out, I rushed to Walmart to pick up copy at midnight.

When I inserted the disk into my Xbox 360, how-ever, the console wouldn’t read the game. After fran-tically restarting my Xbox several times, the game title finally popped up on the screen.

Was the game worth all of the wait and stress? The answer is a definite ’Yes.’”

“Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds” continues with the fran-tic pace of action that the series is known for but ups the ante.

Fans of the series will instantly be familiar with the controls and some of the returning characters such as Wolverine, Akuma, and Captain America.

Newcomers will be able to pick-up on the action with the game’s adaptive “simple mode” controls for novices, but veteran players will stick with the traditional controls.

For those who aren’t

familiar with the fighting game, players pick a team of three super heroes and duke it out until only one team is left standing.

The game is based around huge combos, flashy moves, and hyper reflexes. You can tag-out between characters in the middle of a match or have them come out and use an attack, but that will leave your assisting character vulnerable.

There is plenty of strategy with changing characters since they can regenerate some of their health back.

There are over 30 char-acters in the game and each character has three different types of assist attacks and four different special finishing moves.

This gives the game plenty of variety and gives the gamer virtually end-less combinations. Many fans of the previous titles will notice the developers moved from hand-drawn characters to 3D-rendered ones, which makes the game look simply amaz-ing in action.

Despite all of the chaos on the screen, the game always maintains a smooth frame-rate.

The online play is top-notch with little-to-no lag, which I didn’t have high hopes for since

most the time playing fighting games online is just getting destroyed by some smack-talking 15-year-old spamming the same moves with a bad connection.

There are online lobbies in which the top ranked player in the group goes against everyone else in the lobby until they’re defeated and have to try and climb all the way back to first.

You can also play in ranked matches to try and unlock some achieve-ments or invite up to seven of your friends into a private lobby.

There really aren’t too many blaring flaws with “Marvel vs. Capcom 3”. It would have been nice to include even more char-acters but, instead, the developers will charge everyone for future down-loadable characters.

I’ve never been a fan of paying for downloadable content since I did just drop $60 on the game, but I’ll be a sucker and shell out my money.

The game includes a less than stellar “mis-sion mode” where you perform each character’s moves. “Mission mode” is a great way to learn new moves but it’s tedious and repetitive.

Despite what little

shortcomings it has, the developers showed some nice fan service by putting in so many little touches in the game. For example, they use some memo-rable levels from classic Capcom video games such as “Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts” and having each character with four different costumes to choose from such as hav-ing Spider-Man sporting the black and white sym-biotic suit, which is a great extra touch.

You also have your own player license in the game where you can set up your three favorite teams, check all of your playing statistics, and unlock-ing new titles, similar to the recent “Call of Duty” games, which will keep players busy.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3” is one of those games that has tons of replay-ability. I’ve been losing sleep try-ing to unlock all the char-acter’s unique endings in the arcade mode.

I don’t know when this game will be leaving my Xbox because it actually met my high expectations I’ve had set for so many years waiting for it to finally be in my hands.

This is the first game in almost a year that I decid-ed to purchase and it’s worth every cent.

Third installment of franchise is flawless in entertainment, game play

sportssports www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Feb. 24, 2010Page 8

JON MCDANIELCO-SPORTS EDITOR

The Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s basketball team was unable to overcome a strong first half showing from the 6-6 Cameron University Aggies on Saturday night, losing 86-64. A&M-Commerce freshman forward Bianca Stevenson put up a team-high 19 points with nine rebounds while senior guard Mattilyn McIntyre put up 13 points. The Aggies’ had three players score 20 or more points each and A&M-Commerce Head Women’s Basketball Coach, Nicole Anderson, said the team was not able to stop some of Cameron’s weapons. “Cameron has some very good athletes,” Anderson said. “We wanted to limit them to 30 touches and we didn’t really do that as well as we needed to. We wanted to stop, number one, them from being able to penetrate and we didn’t do that as well as we needed so we’re prepared but we just didn’t get it done. We had a lot of break-downs on defense and they had far too many rebounds, they were able to score too often and transition against us.”

Freshman guard China Pippen believes the team was prepared for the game because of their practice regiments. “We tried our hardest tonight but fell short,” Pippen said. “During our prac-tices this week, we focused on figuring out the best abilities that each player for Cameron has and we worked on that every day in practice and we’ll continue to watch film on our next opponents.” McIntyre said the team did not hit its stride until the second half. “They we’re a little bit more physi-cal and little bit taller than us and once again we waited until the second half to try and really put it together,” McIntyre said. “We need to play all the way until the end and fight hard the entire game.” Anderson says the team still has work to do before the season comes to a close. “We need to learn how to continue to play consistently, offensively and defen-sively,” Anderson said. “We need to learn how to hold people and not allow them to score; if we don’t score then they shouldn’t score either and if they do score we got to make sure that we get an opportunity to get a good basket.”

Women fall to Cameron despite strong outing from Stevenson

ALEX NOBECILLA/MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

JUSTIN CHEATHAMSPORTS EDITOR

The Texas A&M University- Commerce band is a major part of the atmosphere at the basket-ball games hosted in the Field House, according to Men’s Basketball Head Coach Sam Walker. Not only do they entertain the stands and teams, but they also conceive cheers for the home team and heckle the visitors. “The team and the coach-es believe that we make a big difference in the out-come of the game,” Drum major Brian Ewing said. “And they have expressed that to the music depart-ment, the directors and the students. After a big win they always come over and they’re pointing at us, thanking us, and shaking our hands. We make a dif-ference when it comes to the end of the games.” The band’s effort get the crowd more involved in the game and help cheer the Lions on to victory. Players and coaches alike adore the band for their dedication and voice their apprecia-tion regularly.

“I think the band is the most important [contri-bution] to having a great home crowd,” Men’s bas-ketball Head coach Sam Walker said. “I wish I had an opportunity to go out and talk to them and thank them for their involve-ment. I think they are a major difference maker in our crowd because some-times it’s silent in here, and if you can hear me talk then it’s too quiet. Not to mention that they are extremely talented.” With the band attending every home game, men’s and women’s, the job comes at the price of time and is not always a require-ment for the students’ music classes. “This is the first year we have a lot of volunteers playing who really are play-ing just for the fun of it,” Ewing said. “They want to be here, they want to get the crowd into the game. This being a commuting school it’s really important to get the crowd involved. We are a big part of that because if we’re not excited then the crowd is quiet, and that makes the game not quite as energetic, not as

fun and it helps the play-ers because we’re in the game.” The extent of the band’s effect on the outcome of games is a mental high five for the home team as well as mentally draining for the visitors. The band often heckles the visitors with friendly chants like ‘ball hog’ to throw off the star players. “It comes from the brass in the back,” Ewing said. “They are the creative minds and usually they have a ros-ter as well. So at all the girls’ games we use their names, like this game we had a girl wave at us, and that was the first time they have ever responded.” Along with presenting a mental roadblock for the visitors to overcome, the band has altered the out-come of games slightly with their antics; counting out a fake shot clock and fool-ing the visiting team into a rushed shot. “Somewhere around eight seconds on the clock we decide to start doing it,” Ewing said. “We just do it every once in a while just to catch them, and we have; several times.”

A&M-Commerce band booms

JUSTIN CHEATHAM SPORTS EDITOR

The Texas A&M University- Commerce men’s basketball team lost their second game in a row Saturday, Feb. 19 to the third placed Cameron University Aggies 80-74. The loss puts the Lions in a three-

way tie for second place in the Lone Star Conference North Division with Cameron and Southwest Oklahoma State University. “We just go out rebounded,” Head coach Sam Walker. “I think if we had rebounded better we would have won the game. We shot the ball well enough, we executed well enough, I think we played defense

well enough, right down to the different categories of what you have to do; like turn the ball over, we got the ball to the right people, made shots, free throws but when it came down to rebounding the basketball we jus kept gave them too many extra shots. It really was the differ-ence in the game, the glaring difference

in the game.” Despite the loss, junior LaBree Sledge led the team offensively with a career high 15 points off the bench and junior Desmond King and senior Tyris Dowell led defensively with six rebounds apiece. “I try to make the intensity of my game play benefit the team,” Dowell said. “Being the only senior on the team I try to pro-vide leadership on the court. I try to moti-vate the younger guys and make everyone around me better.” The Lions were our rebounded 47-29, with 22 of the Aggies rebounds being in their offensive zone. “I thought we did a lot better at handling the ball screens and containing their drib-ble penetration,” Walker said. “I think they were really good today at spreading us out, they dribble penetrate and I thought that in the second half we did a better job than the first half doing that. But once we forced them to a shot, we have to contain the boards and we just didn’t do that; we did not get enough rebounds to win.” The Lions are coming off a crowded two weeks, with basketball games that were cancelled due to winter weather causing a period of congestion. “We have to get ready again, we have to practice tomorrow and get ready to play,” Walker said. “We have another game in 48 hours that will be our fifth game in ten days. We won the first two and lost the last two, I think it’s wearing on us. I thought we had the depth to handle it but I don’t know.” Cameron overcame a ten-point deficit at the beginning of the game to beat the Lions. Milton Garner led the team with 26 points, and Nathan Murray had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Nine of Murray’s rebounds were on the offensive end. “We knew we had to come in and rebound hard and we still got beat on the boards,” Dowell said. “So that resulted in a loss.”

Cameron conquers Commerce at home

ALEX NOBECILLA/MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

ALEX NOBECILLA/MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Junior Desmond King goes up for a contested basket under the net during Saturday’s loss to the Cameron Aggies. The players and coaches alike sported pink accents on their normal home uniform to support breast cancer at the annual Pink Zone night at A&M-Commerce.

Freshman guard Kourtney Briscoe-Adams puts the ball up in the game against Cameron University.

The A&M- Commerce band playing for the basketball teams during the games Saturday, Feb. 19 while wearing their Pink Zone t-shirts supporting the Susan G Komen foundation.