Millsaps College

■ Inside ■

Opinions........................2Arts & Life.....................3Features...................4 & 5News continued.............6Sports.....................7 & 8

ARTS & LIFE

VOLUME LXXX, NO.16 THURSDAY, March 1, 2012

FEATURES

SPORTS

Sit down with

honors students

Whitney Gilchrist,

Alex Cashman.

Weighing the truth

behind health

myths.

Majors baseball

sweeps through

Georgia over

weekend.

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

THE PURPLE & WHITE

Amelia WoolardContributor

dream season? Well, not quite, but defi-nitely not the night-mares the Millsaps

women’s basketball teams had in years past.

e Lady Major reached the finals of the Southern Colle-giate Athletic Conference tour-nament last weekend, falling to Centre 60-48. Hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III women’s tournament were dashed despite a 22-6 record.

Despite those disappoint-

ments, the Lady Majors are cel-ebrating their newfound success and respect. Coach Chuck Win-kelman says that people now recognize Millsaps as a force.

“People are talking about (us) now,” says Winkleman.

Record-setting senior Janice Okeke echoes that sentiment.

“I am proud that Millsaps women’s basketball actually means something to our con-ference,” says Okeke. “When I came to Millsaps as a freshman, the other women’s basketball programs did not respect us. I am glad to see players and coaches from around the con-

Photos by Frank Ezelle

A

Senior Janice Okeke (far right)

and sophomore Shatoya White

played key rules in Millsaps

posting a 22-6 record and

reaching the finals of the

conferencetournament.

Lady Majorscelebrate

breakthrough2011-12 season

Commentary by Salvo BlairNews Editor

Based on casual interviews conducted across Millsaps, it appears that the Internet is the preferred medium to stay cur-rent, whether it is by reading newspapers online, social news-feed or watching youtube clips.

How does this affect the politi-cal atmosphere across campus, and in which ways does it affect students’ voting perspective?

e United States Statistical Abstract states some 1.7 billion people use the Internet global-ly; meaning that one out of ev-ery four individuals is Internet friendly. is statistic reaches a nearly mandatory nature among Millsaps’ students and the other 72 million college-aged people across the U.S. With so many young people online, the In-ternet plays an integral role in reporting current events.

In the 20th century, the only media for political commu-nications were television and newspaper. So, the majority of the information the public had access to was limited to a small

number of mass media contrib-utors, such as ABC. ese me-dia outlets held enormous pull in the political process, and this is seen in viewers’ disapproval of Richard Nixon following his sweaty perfor-mance against make-up clad John F. Ken-nedy in the 1960s televised debates.

e promi-nence of televised journalism in the political process led to changes in how policy was viewed by the public. It can be argued that televised news dur-ing this period was more policy and less opinion than the “in-fotainment” that has become so popular today due to several

facets of commercial journal-ism.

e Internet brought a diverse lens for the public to become informed about policy. Along with the expansive amount of

i n f o r m a t i o n made accessible to the public, pitfalls have been associated with the Inter-net. College-aged readers

are more prone than their par-ents to personalize their flow of information by how they direct their searches online. It is easy to get lost amid the slew of in-formation available. It requires conscious effort to obtain the iron-core of factual

Internet alters political news views

News continued - page 6

Basketball continued - page 7

OPINIONS Contact Genny Santos, santogl@millsaps.edu

2

Editor-in-Chief... Kenya Strong-Johnston

Managing Editor... Lana Price

Visuals Manager...Sonum Sanjanwala

Layout Editors...Catherine PereiraMaryam Qureshi

Photo Manager... Genny Santos

Graphics Editor...Sonum Sanjanwala

Business Manager..Juan Fernandez

News Editor...Salvo Blair

Opinions Editor...Genny Santos

Arts & Life Editor...Madeline Rardin

Features Editor...Anna Nations

Sports Editor...Ellen Bouyelas

Advisor...Woody Woodrick

Sta! Writers...Emma SpiesKatie Greer

Contributors...Emily Johnson

Victoria SherwoodMisa Pjevac

Amelia WoolardPayton Mansell

David GuyottJayson Porter

E-mail corrections to Editor-in-Chief Kenya Strong-Johnston, stronkk@millsaps.edu.

" e Purple & White is published weekly.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in articles, letters to the Editor and cartoons printed in the Purple & White do not necessarily re# ect those of the editors, Publications Board, Millsaps College, " e United Methodist Church or the student body. Complaints should be addressed to the Millsaps Col-lege Publications Board. Contact Laura Domingue or Dr. Pat Taylor.

Advertising rates available upon request. E-mail Juan Fernandez at fernajd@millsaps.edu.

" is publication may not be repro-duced in whole or in part without written permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

Letters to the EditorSubmit letters to the editor to the Purple and White at Box 15070 or e-mail Kenya Strong-Johnston,at stronkk@millsaps.edu. Letters should be turned in before 12 p.m. on Sunday prior to the " ursday publication. Anonymous letters will not be published.

PURPLE&PURPLE&PURPLEWHITE

THE

By David GuyottContributor

In the last week or so I’ve seen and heard a lot about bringing Ron Paul to Millsaps.

Being a Millsaps student, I have little time to keep up with any politics not covered on " e Daily Show or " e Col-bert Report. All I knew about Ron Paul was he was a Repub-lican presidential candidate who had not made a signi$ -cant showing at any primary.

While not a Republican, I

didn’t really have any prob-lem with bringing a national political $ gure to campus.

" at was until I did my research.A little digging shows any

self-respecting Millsaps student that bringing Paul to campus would be a colossal mistake.

A serious concern about Paul is that his views are highly in-# uenced by strict Libertarian-ism. According to the U.S. Lib-ertarian Party, this means “the advocacy of a government that is funded voluntarily and lim-ited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence.”

He is interested in slashing the powers of the federal gov-ernment until it does little to nothing. Here is a sampling of his political views according to an article in " e Seattle Times.

Regarding the U.S. national debt problem, Paul, if elected president, “would eviscerate federal government, slashing nearly half its spending, shut $ ve Cabinet-level agencies,

[and] end spending on existing con# icts and on foreign aid.”

To solve the problems with ed-ucation, he would “abolish the Education Department and end the federal role in education.”

In addition to cutting spend-ing, taxes would essentially go away as he would “eliminate the federal income tax and the IRS. Meantime [he] would vote for a national sales tax, [and he] supports certain excise taxes and certain tari! s. [He] favors massive spending cuts to de-fund close to half the govern-ment and eliminate the need to replace the income tax at all.”

I’m le% wondering how we would pay o! our na-tional debt with no taxes and how our already ailing pub-lic education system would fare if it were suddenly cut o! from government support.

While the government does have its problems (such as No Child Le% Behind, the fund-ing of Social Security, etc.),

$ xing those problems rather than doing away with the en-tire government seems to me the more rational solution.

Even more frightening, how-ever, is his plan to “return to the gold standard, eliminate the Fed-eral Reserve, let gold and silver be used as legal tender, [and] elim-inate most federal regulations.”

For those who don’t know much about the gold standard, I sug-gest a brief look at www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GoldStandard.html. For those with limited time, I’ll summarize: “" e gold standard was a commitment by participating countries to $ x the prices of their domestic currencies in terms of a speci-$ ed amount of gold.” " is stan-dard was o& cially abandoned by President Nixon in 1971.

To understand why this would be a serious problem, I turn to a Business Insider article called “Why " e U.S.

No exit from knowledgeGuyott continued on pg. 7

“Mean Girls” quotes1.“If you’re from Africa, why are you white?”2.“" ere’s a 30 percent chance it’s al-

ready raining.”3.“And none for Gretchen Wieners,

bye”4.“On Wednesdays we wear pink!”5.“You can’t sit with us!”

List by Jenna Johnson

! ings our money should be going towards

1. Security (and not the golf carts)2. De-molding dorms.3. Caf ’ food (I pay how much?)4. Laundry facilities5. Athletics (new turf?)

List by Kenya Strong-Johnston

Movies

1. “Fight Club”2. “Training Day”3. “V for Vendetta”4. “Dumb and Dumber”5. “Seven”

List by Ben Cooper

Millsaps’ Top Five:

Just say no to Ron Paul

By Jayson PorterContributor

" e student actors in last-weekend’s “No Exit” not only gave an outstanding perfor-mance, but also an engag-ing learning experience.

As an individual fascinat-ed with how people learn, I was blown away by take-aways of the actors as students.

Our student actors stunned crowds for a full 90 minutes without an intermission. Both the acting and the philosophi-

cal anxieties portrayed made me look closer and ask more. " ough the students depicted Jean Paul Sartre’s characters to a T, this is not a critique or my interpretation. Rather about the actors’ engagements as students. I saw no exits from learning in “No Exit”.

" ese students managed to bal-ance time between schoolwork and this extensive commitment. " ey dedicated themselves to sometimes more than four hours of rehearsal almost every day with virtually no complaint, not to mention the time spent mem-orizing massive monologues.

As a close friend of Brandon Guichard and Anna Gary, I have seen very little of them this semester. Despite their “clus-tered” schedule, it would be hard to $ nd happier students.

A group of students in various classes spentsigni$ cant time transforming a beautiful piece of literature into action; stu-

dents in unrelated disciplines worked together to recreate another world and le% me ex-cited to write about the liberal arts experience they embodied.

What I’m trying to say is that in the performance of “No Exit”, I saw no doors leading from the arena of academia. I hope that for both the crowd and participants this was a lib-eral arts moment to be proud of.

Although I simply could not pass up the opportunity to congratulate my friends, it was indeed the cast and crew’s overall e! ort that led me to take the time to write this.

However, I can only ask if most class-happy students take as much time to study for a test? Or, pardon me for asking, if many students spend as much time preparing to become re-sponsible graduates? I know responsible is a vague word, but with so many colleges concerned with producing civil and life-

long learners, I $ nd it intrigu-ing to look deeper into the ac-tors’ experiences as performers, learners and future graduates.

I o% en heard my friends us-ing terminology by which I was sometimes fascinated. Both discussed the importance of completely empathizing with their characters to the extent of mapping out their lives.

Gary explained this method, describing how as Estelle she went well beyond the script and attempted to rationalize her character’s actions through various poems and memoirs. How cool, I thought. And for the sake of avoiding hell, and thus breaking the fourth wall as the fourth person in the room, I am inspired by their e! orts.

A big question this play raised is what if we were all as excited about our endeavors? What if instead of complaining about

Porter continued on pg. 5

By Madeline Rardin Arts & Life Editor

Mississippi has long been known for its rich history and the writers and artists it has produced. Few exhibits capture the state’s heart and soul as !e Mississippi Story exhibit at !e Mississippi Museum of Art.

!e exhibition is curated by Patti Carr Black, who expressed that the exhibition “explores art that is explicitly and passionate-ly derived from Mississippi—its place of origin” as cited by !e Jackson Free Press.

!e exhibit heavily focuses on the interactions of people, music, nature, history and land-scapes.

!e Mississippi Story features a wide range of artistic works in-cluding glass art, photography, folk art and traditional works. !e exhibit gathers the brillance of di"erent regions of the state by dividing them into regions such as the Coast and the Delta. A third section of the exhibition is dedicated to individuals who have made a tremendous im-pact on the state.

Junior studio art major, Su-

zanne Glemot describes the at-tention to detail.

“!roughout the exhibit, view-

ers can observe how the smallest things, details such as particular #owers have equally in#uenced artists depicting Mississippi,” says Glemot.

!e division of the exhibit by

regions allow the viewers to get a sense of the identity of each area.

For example, the Coast is represented by water color paint-ings by Walter An-derson of crabs, birds and $sh.

In addition to his watercolors works,

the exhibition also features Anderson’s shearwater pottery which depict birds amongst complex designs.

!e exhibition also features the photography of Eudora Wel-ty including her famous piece

“!e Ruins of Windsor” which depicts the remains of a burned mansion.

According to southpoint.com, the mansion shown in “!e Ru-ins of Windsor” is located out-side of Port Gibson and once housed Mark Twain who is said to have watched the Mississippi River from the property.

Landscape and nature-based pieces o%he ex-hibit allow the viewer to either identify areas or gather ideas of what each area looks like.

!ree dimen-sional cityscape painting “Jack-son, MS” by Carol Cole accu-rately captures the bareness of downtown Jack-son.

“Kudzu” by Caroll Cloar de-picts a young African-American girl walking along a street over-taken by the incredibly invasive Kudzu plant that covers many Southern regions.

!e heart of the Delta land-

scape is captured in William Dunlap’s “Delta Dog Trot” fea-turing a bird dog in the fore-ground with #at $elds of cotton aligning the background.

!e lives and history of Afri-can-Americans in Mississippi are represented with pieces such as Gwedloyn Magee’s quilt “Five Years of Hard Labor”.

!e quilt’s bright colors depict two African-American male chain gang prisoners working under the gaze of an armed guard.

!e exhibition features a num-ber of memorable folk art works, including Steve Shepard’s “No Good Stinking Real Estate De-velopers” complete with color-ful designs and aliens.

!e Mississippi Story captures the best of Mississippi through diverse artists and rich history.

!e exhibition is located in the Mississippi Museum of Art and admission is free. !e mu-seum is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Satur-day and from noon until 5 p.m. Sunday.

ARTS & LIFEContact Madeline Rardin, rardimr@millsaps.edu

3

By Misa PjevacContributor

Millsaps’ creative writing hon-or students Whitney Gilchrist and Alex Cashman have man-aged to distinguish themselves as talented, creative writers un-der the advisement of Dr. Steve Kistulentz.

Both students have been rec-ognized on a national level. Gilchrist recently won second place in the Southern Heritage Festival while Cashman was published in the University of Miami’s undergrad journal, ManGrove.

While Cashman and Gilchrist are both participating in the creative writing honor’s proj-ect, they have chosen di"erent paths. Cashman wrote a collec-tion of poems called “Digging for Water,” while Gilchrist fo-cused on $ctional short stories. !e students are both English majors. However, their experi-ence in creative writing was ex-tremely di"erent. Gilchrist says she felt drawn towards writing since childhood sharing, “It was one of the three professions I always pretended to be when I was a kid.” Cashman explains that he was not always drawn towards writing until he took a class with Dr. Steve Kistulentz.

“I knew I was going to be an English major when I came here, but I didn’t start writing until sophomore year. I took Dr. Kis-

tulentz’s intro to creative class and from there it just kind of happened,” he says. Both Cash-man and Gilchrist described their experience of doing an honors project as an exceptional one. However, both shared that the process was not easy. Gil-christ expressed that she “went to the archives in the library was the only one creatively writing.” Now with two creative writing

honors projects in one year, she says, comically, “We’re starting a revolution.”

Cashman describes honor

process for him as “the $rst challenge of putting together a whole body – something big and cohesive, not just a separate poem that needed to be handed in every week”. In addition to writing, “we were reading books and essays, discussing tech-niques imposed and how they do or don’t apply to our work,” Cashman explains.

Gilchrist says that the process

was also a growing experience “We worked for a whole year, on the same poems or stories revis-ing, over and over again. It’s rare

to be able to do that in college.” Both writers shared their in-

spirations and style as being rel-evant to their writing.

“I emulate the stu" that I read or like to read for fun. !e way I see it I’m not really going to de-velop my own voice for a very long time” Gilchrist says.

“!at’s what older writers say – ‘go ahead and emulate when you’re young then $nd your

voice when you’re older.” She $nds the whole process of

$nding her “voice” in writing as a complicated one.

“It is all very confusing. What am I doing right now? I’m just going to practice being a writer for 10 years and then I’ll be a real writer.”

Cashman says he was inspired by writer Matthew Dickman. “I see a lot of me in him.”

Gilchrist shared that she was inspired by Rick Moody and that one of her favorite writers was Lydia Davis. Both shared that inspiration was an ongoing process.

Cashman expressed that he is “constantly running little phras-es… I hear a bunch of stu" and I write it down and sometimes it makes sense. It goes through my head for like, 13 months and then I write a poem about it.” Gilchrist says that she carries a notebook with her at all times for her creative writing, which can be di&cult because it “takes up so much time and discipline. It’s really a di"erent kind of dis-cipline than you have in college. A work day kind of discipline – you have to be consistent.”

Gilchrist plans on pursuing a radio internship a%er college while Cashman plans on attend-ing graduate school.

“We’re starting a revolution”Cashman, Gilchrist return creative writing to honors projects

Exhibit captures the best of Mississippi

Photo by Madeline Rardin

The Mississippi Story art exhibit includes a variety of media.

Photo by Misa Pjevac

Whitney Gilchrist and Alex Cashman discuss their literary journies.

By Payton Mansell Contributor

Rumors !oat around the gym, the weight room and the cafete-ria about health rights, wrongs, dos and don’ts and about choic-es students make regarding their diet and their lifestyles.

"e Purple and White re-searched the truth about com-mon health myths that some Millsaps students may not know.

1. You can spot reduce for tight abs or toned arms.

According to Alice Burton—a spokeswoman of the Ameri-can-Council on Exercise and a former female bodybuilder—in CNN Health, one will not gain

much muscle de#nition in abs or arms regardless of the amount of reps performed if a layer of fat is covering the muscles.

“Don’t focus on a body part. Try to get them all,” advises Bur-ron. “You might have beautiful triceps. It may not be !opping all over the place. Until the fat is gone, most people wouldn’t know it’s there.”

2. Combining a protein shake and a meal a!er a workout is bene"cial.

Mark Macdondald, a personal trainer interviewed by CNN Health, says, “It’s eating another meal; protein shakes, powders and bars are good for emergen-cies, but they’re the lowest qual-ity food…you’re better o$ eat-

ing real food.” A better way to get the protein

one needs is to eat foods such as turkey sandwiches, Greek yo-gurt, nuts and fruits.

3. Women who li! weights get bulky.

Burron explains it is very dif-#cult to create bulk because a woman would really have to overload the muscles.

CNN Health says, “Women have too much estrogen to build large amounts of bulk.Guys build muscles faster be-cause they have testosterone…Strength training helps decrease body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn calories more ef-#ciently.”

4. Your cardio machine is counting the calories you’re burning.

“"e number calculated by your machine is likely not ac-curate,” says Macdonald. “Some machines don’t even ask for your weight or sex.”

Even if the machines did ask for your weight, sex or body fat percentage, not many people will know what their body fat percentage is.

5. Carbohydrates make you fat.

“"e Eating Well” website dis-pells this myth.

Jean Harvey-Berino, Ph.D., R.D. and chair of the depart-ment of nutrition and food sciences at the University of Vermont claims, “"ere’s noth-ing inherently fattening about carbohydrates…it’s eating too

many calories, period, that makes you fat.”

"e body needs carbohydrates to have a successful, healthy diet. Eating good foods that have plenty of whole grain, along with fruits and vegetables, help the body maintain a healthy nu-tritional balance.

Harvey-Berino also men-tions “that low-carb eating can help many people manage their weight.”

FEATURES Contact Anna Nations, natioal@millsaps.edu

4

Healthy living? Maybe, maybe not

Photos contributed

Commetary ByEmma SpiesSta! writer

Many people want to go vegan, but don’t know how to take the ! rst step. And to be honest, that ! rst step is not easy. But every vegan I’ve ever met acknowl-edges that it’s absolutely worth it.

Here are some tips that will make the transition easier. . .

FEATURESContact Anna Nations, natioal@millsaps.edu

5

Veganism: Getting started

Contributed by Emily Johnson

For an easy treat on falafel night, try a

wrap to put a spin on the same old meal. " e wrap can be dressed in a variety of ways, but here is my new-found favor-ite.

Ingredients:One wheat tortilla " ree pieces of falafelSpinach

•••

TomatoesGreen peppersOnionsChipotle sauce

Place the falafel on a wheat tortilla, and top with spinach, tomatoes, green peppers and onions. For extra # avor, dress with chipotle sauce.

Also, try experimenting with other ingredients, whether that means trying another # avor tortilla or adding a little extra cheese on the side.

••••

Caf ’ Creation:Fresh falafel wrap with a kick

1. Do your homework. Although you shouldn’t expect to become an expert on all things

vegan overnight, you should do some basic research. Look into why veganism is healthy and bene! cial as well as how

to go vegan. Because veganism is becoming such a popular glob-al movement, there are a ton of great places to look.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s “" e 30 Day Vegan Challenge” and Virginia Messina’s “Vegan for Life” debunk common vegan myths, provide references to scienti! c research on the bene! ts of a plant-based diet; address groups with special needs, such as athletes, children, and people with certain diseases and provide basic information about eating out, traveling on a vegan diet, go-ing vegan on a budget and cooking vegan staples.

4. When it comes to recipes, the Internet is your best friend. " ink of your favorite meat-based or “omni” dish. Lasagna? Mac

and cheese? Chocolate cake? Google “vegan mac and cheese,” for example, and you will ! nd

dozens of recipes and tips for recreating non-vegan foods. Some of the best websites with the most creative and well-tested recipes are www.theppk.com, www.yourveganmom.com, hipsterfood.tumblr.com (which actually links to dozens of other vegan websites and blogs) and www.vegweb.com.

2. Make small changes ! rst. Most people experience lasting success by easing into vegan-

ism. " is o$ en means going vegetarian ! rst. " at is what I did, and it made becoming fully vegan in! nitely easier than it could have been.

If you eat meat every day, start by cutting it out once a week, then two days and so on. Experiment with substitutes for meat, like beans, cheese or eggs.

Let your body get used to vegetarianism, and when you’ve cut all or most of the meat out of your diet, start experiment-ing with foods such as soy or almond milk, tofu, tempeh, soy or rice cheese, soy-based butter and soy or almond yogurt. When you’ve prepared your body and ! gured out which vegan foods you enjoy the most, begin making the substitutions.

5. Don’t be afraid of messing up. When you slip up, and you probably will, just start

over. Early in my vegetarian life, I ate some turkey chili. My body had gotten used to my new diet, and I felt ab-solutely great.

" e chili made me feel bloated and sick, and until go-ing veggie, I had eaten ground turkey at least once a day.

I committed myself anew the next day. If you acciden-tally eat something non-vegetarian or non-vegan, don’t sweat it. It happens. If you willfully give in to temptation, don’t use it as an excuse to give up altogether. Keep try-ing. It will get easier, and soon you won’t even have to think about it.

6. Ask lot of questions. Don’t be afraid to ask if your food contains animal

products whether you are in a restaurant, at a friend or relative’s house or in the Caf ’.

People aren’t usually o% ended by this, and if they are, who cares? You have a right to know what’s in your food and a right to decide what you’re going to eat.

3. You can do it, and it will be worth it. Everyone thinks they are the one person who could never go

vegan, and everyone has that one food they think they can’t go without. " e fact is, anyone can go vegan, and the enormous variety of healthy and delicious foods that are now widely available allows for vir-tually any taste, texture, vitamin or mineral found in an omnivorous diet to be replicated in a vegan diet. So if you are truly drawn to veganism, just try it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

1 23 45 6

Photo by Emily Johnson

Porter continued from pg. 2

time, or the lack thereof, we looked forward to our stud-ies and our attitudes towards them? " is lesson works alongside Sartre’s message and this untraditional review.

Despite having seen “No Exit” twice and three of the actors in previous plays, I have no opin-ion worth hearing concerning the details that I’m sure make up a traditional critique. All I know is that, from my seat, each per-formance was # awless, perhaps

“purrfect” as Gary would say.I write this as an aspiring life-

long learner inspired by the ef-forts and engagements of others’ learning. " ese four student-ac-tors may have just completed an intellectual journey that may never end in memory. As a stu-dent who o$ en forgets informa-tion a$ er handing in exams, it is cool to see learning with such a capacity to endure. " at is what I call learning for the sake of knowledge. With that said, I can only applaud with a “bravo” for the sake of not ranting too long.

Follow the Purple & White on

@purple_n_whiteto learn more about upcoming

issues and fi nd ways to get involved!

We also take suggestions!

If you have any ques-tions regarding the topic of veganism, or would like advice or recipes, please email Emma Spies at spieser@millsaps.edu.

NEWS Contact Salvo Blair, blairws@millsaps.edu

6

Student news continuted from pg. 1

information online. Also, since the individual is re-sponsible for the direction of his Internet searches, one can easily reinforce biases without realizing it. This requires me-dia companies to develop new applications of old journalistic tactics such as agenda setting, framing and priming.

When developing his own agenda (if one is not provided prior to his searches) the read-er must first decide what key words to search by, if using an aggregator such as Google. The terms chosen may have differ-ent connotations, which lead to websites that provide dif-ferent agendas. For instance, if one were to search “pro-abor-tion” the reader may be lead to sites with conservative agenda; whereas, if that same person had searched for pro-choice then he would be lead to pro-

gressive sites. This exemplifies how Internet newsreaders may prime their own agendas by their word choices.

On the topic of the Internet providing users with a medi-um to set their own agendas, Junior T.J. Tippit says, “Be-fore the world wars, popular agendas were multi-polar, each state or nation polarized its agenda with its leadership. Then during the cold war, it was east versus west; and now, there’s millions of individual polarizations.” Could the com-mand of information that Web offers be a major factor in the rise of individualism that Tip-pit refers to?

Within the past few years, social media has become a recognized force in the news-oriented community. In recent years it has proven to be an in-tegral component of the cam-paign process. Through social publication of short blurbs, Twitter is reshaping the poli-

cies of whole nations by pro-viding unregulated forums for anonymous posting.

It is exceedingly important for a presidential candidate to have Twitter and Facebook ac-counts. The field of campaign consultancy is still trying to determine the effectiveness of social media applications. Speakers such as Hal Mal-chow, who is a nationally rec-ognized campaign consultant, have recently visited Millsaps. Malchow argues that the use of social media programs are be-ing over-estimated due to their age-related demographic. This argument seems to undermine the beauty of social applica-tions—it has a minimal cost. So, if it provides only a handful of votes, the medium should be deemed effective. Even though the demographic effected is not as large as a direct mail or e-mail blasts. Malchow regards face-to-face canvassing having much higher import than ad-

vertising on Facebook. Other consultants hypoth-

esize social-media campaign-ing is an asset that will only grow in effectiveness due to constantly growing online populations. Campaigning on Facebook and Twitter offer a virtual version of face-to-face campaigning through peer-to-peer sharing. For instance, if a respected colleague of a social media user sees that his col-league “liked” the Facebook page of Mitt Romney, that user may be slanted to seek more information on Romney, whether or not the “like” pro-vides verifiable voter metrics to campaign consultants.

Reports from social media research show that younger generations are more apt to express themselves in a candid manner on a public forum than their older counterparts. Does this mean that expression on social medium platforms will become more conducive to

shaping the overall politics as the younger generation ages, or does this mean that online expression is becoming less valuable?

If the former, Tippit’s ac-knowledgement of the rise of individualism in agenda set-ting may be countered by the social conscious of new media. A good example of this coun-teraction may be the polariza-tion of disenfranchised people of the mid-east to certain so-cial movements. The trend of social movements all over the world seems to relate to the ex-plosion of online media where individuals may escape the professional norms of news media and connect to massive networks of social information directly pertinent to the reader. Oppressive leaders worldwide are cringing as they acknowl-edge the power of sites such as Twitter to direct masses into civil disobedience.

Pipeline pushed to rejectionBy Katie GreerSta! Writer

Pressure from the left and right led President Obama de-cision to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline extension.

President Obama’s decision, originally planned to be re-vealed after the 2012 Presi-dential election, was pushed to mid January by Congress.

The presiden’ts rejection, rushed by Congress’ 60-day deadline, came after several months of bipartisan debate.

The pipeline would serve as Canadian energy corporation TransCanada’s offer to greatly enhance oil exports to the U.S.

The New York Times reports, “The pipeline extension was designed to increase Canadian oil exports to the United States by 700,000 barrels a day.”

While House Republicans and economists flash unem-ployment rates and energy benefits to approve the pipe-line’s extension, House Dem-ocrats and environmentalist protest potential environmen-tal harms.

The Public Broadcasting sta-tion (PBS) reports, “The 1700 mile pipeline would cross six states,” connecting Alberta, Canada and Houston, Tex.

Nebraska, home to the Ogal-lala Aquifer, would be one of the six states crossed in the pipeline’s route. Nebraskan

citizens residing along the route protested heavily claim-ing the pipeline endangers the aquifer. Nebraska’s Republican State Senator Tony Fulton, in an interview with PBS, insists a new route that “bypassed the (Ogallala) Aquifer” was need-ed for his support.

“We ought to have some say as to how that pipeline makes its way through Nebraska,” says Fulton.

As a domestic issue, Fulton highlights that states’ rights are being overshadowed.

He says, “It’s been President Obama, Secretary Clinton and

TransCanada who have chosen this route.”

While most Nebraskans are against the pipeline’s construc-tion, Nebraska is also home to unemployed construction workers who support the proj-ect.

Supporters back the esti-mated “20,000 good-paying construction jobs” projected by TransCanada. The final number of jobs created by the project may eventually reach 114,000.

Transcanada representative Robert Jones tells protestors that TransCanada’s “16,000 sensors” installed for picking up “pressure drops” potential leaks in the pipeline should not be of concern.

Supporters point to the U.S. Department of State’s three-year-long study on the impacts of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

The study reports, “It poses no significant impact to the environment.”

Contributed

Write for The Purple & White!Contact Editor-in-Chief Kenya Strong Johnston

for more informationstronkk@millsaps.edu

Basketball continued from pg. 1

ference acknowledge all that we have ac-complished and are yet to accomplish in the near future.”

Okeke set a tournament record by pulling down 42 rebounds during the tournament, played at Birmingham-Southern. She was named to the All-Tournament team along with Shante Morton.

In addition, Okeke and sophomore Sha-toya White are among !ve women chosen for a special all-star team.

Had the Lady Majors won Sunday’s title game, it would have marked their !rst out-right SCAC title and second title in school history. It was the !rst time the Lady Ma-jors had reached the title game.

Millsaps reached the !nals with wins over archrival Trinity and Southwestern University. Centre was ranked No. 1 in the East for Division III.

"e Lady Majors took a huge step for-ward this season. "e reason, Winkelman believes, can be found in the players’ com-mitment to hard work and consistently getting better at the game. A sense of unity has also been evident.

“"at’s one of the greatest things that I’ll remember, they really, really believed that they could do this as a group,” says Winkl-eman.

Okeke agrees. “My teammates and coach-es never gave up on what we wanted to ac-complish,” she says.

"e road hasn’t always been easy. Winkel-man lost players early in the season. Sched-uling and playing more road games than home games also placed a strain on the group, along with the fact that !ve of the 10 players are freshmen and had to face the transition from high school to Millsaps.

“I am proud that we met our goal of being the best defensive team in the conference. It’s said by many great coaches that defense wins championships. I know next year we will put a lot of e#ort into making sure that happens,” says White.

“I hope that we have built a foundation

for the future Millsaps women’s basketball student athletes that come through this program and that they know that they can accomplish anything as long as they are dedicated, have a self-sacri!cing attitude, and a will to win,” adds Okeke.

Okeke says convincing others that Mill-saps could be SCAC champions was dif-!cult. Wanting that title is what gave the team strength through all of the di$cult times, she says.

What’s next for the Lady Majors, espe-cially with captain Okeke graduating this semester?

Winkelman laughs and says with tender-ness, “She will never be replaced. She’s un-believable.”

White agrees. “Janice was the most inspirational leader

anyone can ever have. Her faith and advice on and o# the court is just simply amaz-ing. She will always be the leader of Mill-saps women’s basketball. Her name will be passed down through our team for as long as the players of the 2011-2012 team are alive to see that it happens,” says White.

For Winkelman, showing o# the Mill-saps spirit ultimately makes people wake up and pay attention.

“I really believe our success as a pro-gram this year is nothing but a re%ection of Millsaps’ greatness. And we have been surrounded by great people all over this campus throughout this special season,” says Winkleman.

SPORTSContact Ellen Bouyelas, bouyeen@millsaps.edu

7

Victoria SherwoodConributor

On Jan. 30 the Women’s Profes-sional Soccer League announced its season’s cancelation.

"e popularity of women’s soc-cer in the United States has grown signi!cantly. "e second place !nish in the Women’s World Cup was just another stepping-stone for the players.

With the cancelation of the WPSL season, players and fans wonder where the fate of women’s soccer in the United States lies.

With that comes the question of women’s sports in general. Support of women’s athletics has been a slow moving process.

"e WNBA (Women’s Na-tional Basketball Association) had to join forces with the NBA to be able to support its women’s teams. While women’s sports are supported by fans, their numbers pale in comparison with all men’s athletics.

Women playing sports is still a relatively new concept; older generations can remember a time when women’s athletics were not prevalent in society.

When Title IX was set in place at colleges and universities across the U.S., a balance began to set in between funding for men and women’s sports. Title IX requires an equal amount of women and men’s sports.

At Millsaps there is a noticeable di#erence in attendance between the men’s and women’s games. In a culture that thrives on high im-pact, thrilling, on-the-edge-of-your-seat games, women’s sports just don’t hit the high that some fans seek.

As Division III athletes, there is a level of dedication put into sports. Dedicated to succeeding in both, students choose sports and their education as the main focus of their college years.

Women athletes work just as hard to achieve perfection in their sport as male athletes. As a whole, Millsaps students should work to support men and women sports teams equally. "eir dedi-cation and athletic ability de-serves equal praise.

Equal support for

woman’s sports

Guyott continued from pg. 2

Dollar ‘Works’ And Why A Gold-Backed Currency Doesn’t.”

Wrier Charles Hugh Smith explains, “If the U.S. had to pay for its gargantuan imports with gold, it would run out of gold in less than two years. Surplus imports would cease, and the de!cit would fall to near-zero: imports would have to equal exports. "e consequence of this reduction of U.S. imports to zero would be catastrophic for the rest of the world, which would collapse into depression.”

Paul’s platforms demonstrate a fundamental lack of under-standing of global economics.

Given that the current eco-nomic crisis is generally the biggest problem which our country, and the world, pres-ently faces, this makes Paul a poor presidential candidate.

However, the most pressing reason that we should not bring this man to campus is that he is a racist. "ough he has recently denied these allegations, an ar-ticle on thinkprogress.org ex-plains the truth behind them.

In a 1992 newsletter Paul claims that “we can safely as-sume that 95 percent of the black males in (Washington, D.C.) are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.” He later defends the statement and “told the Dal-las Morning News the statistic

was an ‘assumption’ you can gather from published studies.”

According to the same ar-ticle, “In 1999, (Paul) was the only member of Congress to oppose the issuing of a Con-gressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks. In May 2011, Paul says in an interview that he opposes the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

Millsaps prides itself on tol-erance. For that reason, I was initially not opposed to bring-ing Paul to campus, in spite of my general opposition to Republicans. Even when I learned of his radical and ig-norant economic platform, I still wasn’t convinced that op-posing him was worth a lot of time and e#ort into. His blatant

racism, however, is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Bringing to Millsaps any po-litical candidate who opposes the Civil Rights Act — what-ever his or her party-a$lia-tion — would be a disaster. It would likely, and rightfully, infuriate the Jackson commu-nity of which we are a part. It should also infuriate any self-respecting student at this school. If you continue to sup-port bringing Paul to Millsaps, I hope you will be aware of the facts rather than supporting it simply because “It would be totes cool to have a major po-litical !gure on campus, man.”

Photos by Frank Ezelle

Players credit Coach Chuck Winkelman with changing attitudes about Lady Majors basketball.

Guard Samantha Perez was one of five freshman on the squad.

Millsaps sweeps through GeorgiaSPORTS Contact Ellen Bouyelas, bouyeen@millsaps.edu

8

1. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

A dolphin, because they’re smart.

2. What is your dream job?A high school teacher

3. Describe yourself in one word.Crazy

4. What color power ranger would you be?

I’ve never watched power rangers, but I like the color blue.

5. Who is your favorite musical artist/group?

Incubus

6. If you could have any super power what would it be?

To have the ability to ! y

Major Athlete:

Classi! cation: FreshmenMajor: Psychology

Hometown: Sugarland, TexasSport/Position: Lacrosse,

Attack

Vincent Bresina

By Ellen Bouyelas Sports Editor

Millsaps baseball team re-turned from a weekend road trip with Georgia on its mind.

" e Majors swept three games from York College (7-4), La Grange (17-10) and Emory (6-1). " e wins helped ease the sting of a 2-1 loss Feb. 21 at Huntington College in Mont-gomery, Ala.

A# er Tuesday night’s 16-10 loss to Mississippi College, the Majors stand at 8-3.

Senior Jules Roussel says, “I feel the season is coming along pretty good. We’ve had really good starting pitching so far and our defense has been solid. We haven’t hit as well as we are capable of, but that is going to come around.”

In Atlanta against York, the Ma-jors fell behind by one, but came back as freshman Samuel Doucet singled at the top of the third.

“" e best part of baseball is that it helps you escape real-ity, once you’re on the $ eld nothing else matters but the here and now,” says Doucet.

A# er the game in Atlanta, the Majors rode an hour and a half to play LaGrange that same night.

Against La Grange, Mill-saps scored runs in the sec-ond, third, fourth and $ # h innings which led to a two-run lead against the Panthers.

Once Doucet came on to pitch, Millsaps continued to hold the seven-run lead.

" e next day Millsaps trav-eled back to Atlanta to de-feat the Emory Eagles. Junior

Will Edwards pitched 7.1 in-nings locking in the lead.

“Nothing is better than play-ing in front of a packed crowd that makes every pitch feel im-portant. We greatly appreciate each and every fan that comes to the games and ask for as many people as possible to come support us,” states Edwards.

Junior Will Elmore replaced

Edwards midway through the eighth inning and struck out two to close the win for the Millsaps.

“I think every game we are getting better and better. If we continue to play good defense, have good starting pitching, and start squaring up the baseball on a more consistent basis, we are going to be in pretty good shape. Coach Jiim Page does

a great job in preparing us for each game,” concludes Roussel.

Edwards echoes his teammate. “It is still early in the season

and we still have some things to work out but so far we have played pretty well. We have a team full of hard workers and coaches that know what it takes to win and we do a good job of trying to get bet-ter everyday,” says Edwards.

Photos by Genny Santos

Left: Junior Jerrod Myers had two hits and wo RBI Tuesday against Mississippi College.Right: Sam Doucet allowed just two hits against LaGrange University over the weekend.