FEB. 24, 2011uco360.com

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THE VISTAUNIVERSITY

OF CENTRAL

OKLAHOMA’Sstudent voice

since 1903.

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BasketballBronchos notch 1,200th win in program history and wrap up fourth consecutive conference title.

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Transformative Learning CenterUCO pays $35 K for Sculpture.

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7 Things to know about the gas price increase.

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Campus QuotesWhat’s your deal?

DID YOU KNOW?

In Kentucky, every citizen is required by law to take a bath at

least once a year.

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The annual audit of the city of Edmond released on Feb. 14 revealed several weak-nesses in the city’s finances, including a $264,000 missed payment.

The city was also deficient in its accountability for ap-proving purchases and keep-ing track of how many hours employees work. Overall, however, the city received an unqualified opinion, the best possible result.

By Christopher HowellContributing Writer

Continued on page 4

SENATE BILL LOOKS TO BAN EVOLUTION

Continued on page 3

CITY OF EDMOND FINDS MISSING PAYMENT

By Josh Hutton Staff Writer

For weeks, 22-year-old UCO stu-dent Sara Eichenlaub had no idea what was happening to her body.

“I kept hearing every other week, ‘we don’t know what’s wrong with you, we don’t know what’s wrong with you,’” Eichenlaub said. “I lost 40 pounds in four months, I was los-ing my hair, I couldn’t keep anything down, like I wasn’t eating. I honestly, there for a few weeks, thought I was dying.”

Starting in the August of 2010, Eichenlaub went from doctor to doc-tor without a clear diagnosis. She was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease on Dec. 4, 2010. Though Crohn’s is incurable, Eichenlaub was relieved to finally learn what was wrong.

“I was actually excited,” she said. “I know that sounds weird, but af-ter 22 weeks of pain, as long as you know anything is wrong [it is better than not knowing at all]... When I found out they knew something and they knew for sure it was Crohn’s, I

was calling everybody like, ‘I have Crohn’s! I have Crohn’s!’”

Crohn’s disease causes inflamma-tion along the digestive track, which can lead to diarrhea and abdominal pain. According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, over a million people in the United States have Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s disease is non-contagious and is thought to be hereditary, though smokers have a higher probability of developing the disease than nonsmokers.

As there is no cure, Eichenlaub can only alleviate her symptoms by taking several different pills and medicines throughout the day. The price of her medications, along with the $400 or more dollars she still owes in medical bills, can add up quickly.

“My antibiotics are $50 a month and as a college student, $50 out of your pocket a month is like a thou-sand,” Eichenlaub said.

Being a college student, Eichenlaub finds it hard to squeeze a full-time job into her schedule. Until she is able to work full time, Eichenlaub has found

other ways to pay for her medical needs.

“I’ve decided to sell bracelets to raise money for my medication, my medical bills, and any extra is just go-ing to go to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America,” Eichenlaub said.

The bracelets are purple, silicone bands with the phrase “Cure Crohn’s” engraved across the front. Purple is the official color of Crohn’s aware-ness. Eichenlaub originally purchased 250 bands and sells the bracelets for $5 each.

Though she’s sold quite a few, she could still use some more sales.

“Most of my friends and family from church have bought some, most of my really close friends have bought some,” Eichenlaub said. “I have enough sold to keep me steady til the end of this semester, I think until June, but once June hits... I think I would feel safer if I had them all sold soon.”

Since learning she has Crohn’s dis-ease, Eichenlaub has had to greatly

alter her way of life. “Stress causes you to flare up, cer-

tain foods cause you to flare up,” Eichenlaub said. “I’m a procrastina-tor, so this entire semester has been completely different, like right now I’m studying for a test that isn’t for two weeks. I don’t ever do that. Ever. But I don’t want to hurt either.”

In addition to changing her eat-ing and study habits, Eichenlaub has also had to pay more attention to the health of others.

“Another effect of Crohn’s disease is you don’t have an immune system, so if I run into someone who is just get-ting over a cold, I get it the next day.”

Though she admits she can still get stressed out, the adjustments to her new lifestyle have become almost sec-ond-nature, something she attributes partially to a strong support system. Even the fact that she has an incur-able disease doesn’t seem to phase her.

“Some days I even forget. Taking those blue pills every four hours is just like a normal thing for me.”

By Ben Luschen / Contributing WriterMany Oklahoma state legis-lators are taking aim at evolu-tion in the 2011 congressional session.

To date, three bills have been entered into the hopper in an attempt to remove em-phasis on the scientific theory.

The latest, filed Jan. 19 by Republican state Sen. Josh Brecheen, has already sparked a great deal of criticism from Oklahoma’s scientific com-munity.

Brecheen’s SB554, accord-ing to the senator will create an “academic freedom” in the classroom. The bill would mandate secondary science teachers explain that many as-pects of existence are outside the bounds of science. SB 554 would enforce the State Board of Education’s new “standards and curricula,” the first of which is to “know the defi-nition of science and under-stand it has limitations.” The first tier continues to reinforce the notion in its conclusion, Campus News

STUDENT: ‘PAINT THE CAMPUS BLACK’

The Vista received this toungue-in-cheek letter to the editor this month:

Why are we painting the campus pink? Has everyone for-gotten that it is Black History Month, and breast cancer has already nabbed October? Though it shouldn’t be that we “raise awareness” for just a month, then forget about it for a year. I just think the “I heart boobs” bracelets have done their part. Boobs are obviously selfish for trying to infiltrate February. We cannot just sit by and watch boobs spread like cancer to other months. We cannot put emphasis and blame boobs alone. Where are all the African Americans supporting this month? The MLK speech contest was enough? I love The Vista, but I am ashamed it really has not covered anything pertaining to Black History Month, key word there… month. So I will be the first to say it.

For the month of February, I hate boobs. Paint the campus black!

Josh Barnett, who penned the letter, recently got out of the Army and is a freshman in his second semester studying Eng-lish Education.

He clarified he does not feel “Paint the Campus Pink” is tak-ing over Black History Month, but he feels it must be recog-nized above and beyond, to the level that October was.

“There was pink absolutely everywhere! NFL players were wearing pink, chain restaurants around the country seemed to have pink feng shui competitions. It goes back to allowing history and literature to be re-written with the acceptance of 218 words being taken out of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, of course that brings on a different debate along the lines of cultural acceptance and re-shaping.”

He does not feel as if it is infringing on purpose, “but I do

By Chantal Robatteux / Staff Writer

Josh Barnett wrote a letter to The Vista last week that voiced concerns that the student publication and the rest of the campus had forgotten Black History Month.

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22-year-old Sara Eichenlaub has been selling bracelets to help pay for treatments for Crohn’s disease, a condition that effects the digestive track. Her antibiotics cost $50 monthly, and she still has around $400 in medical bills remaining since her diagnosis Dec. 10 of last year.

BEATING CROHN’S $5 AT A TIME

Continued on page 3

CAMPUSQUOTES‘‘

‘‘2 OPINION FEB. 24, 2011

The Vista is published as a newspaper and public forum by UCO students, semi-weekly during the academic year except exam and holiday periods, and only on Wednesdays during

the summer, at the University of Central Oklahoma. The issue price is free for the first copy and $1 for each additional copy

obtained.

EDITORIALSOpinion columns, editorial cartoons, reviews and commentaries

represent the views of the writer or artist and not necessarily the views of The Vista Editorial Board, the Department of Mass

Communication, UCO or the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges. The Vista is not an official medium of expression for

the Regents or UCO.

LETTERSThe Vista encourages letters to the editor. Letters should ad-

dress issues and ideas, not personalities. Letters must be typed, double-spaced, with a maximum of 150 words, and must

include the author’s printed name, title, major, classification and phone number. Letters are subject to editing for libel, clarity and space, or to eliminate statements of questionable taste. The Vista

reserves the right not to publish submitted letters.

Address letters to: Editor, The Vista, 100 N. University Dr., Edmond, OK 73034-

5209, or deliver in person to the editor in the Communications Build-ing, Room 131. Letters can be e-mailed to vistauco@gmail.com.

THE VISTA

ManagementJenefar de Leon, Editor-In-Chief

Ryan Costello, Managing Editor

Samantha Maloy, Copy Editor

Chris Wescott, Sports Editor

Garett Fisbeck, Photo Editor

Graphic DesignSteven Hyde

AdvertisingBrittany KosterDeOren Robinson

CirculationBill Southard

AdviserMr. Teddy Burch

EditorialKory Oswald, Senior Staff Writer

Cody Bromley, Staff Writer

A.J. Black, Staff Writer

Chantal Robbateux, Staff Writer

Michael Collins, Staff Writer

Brittany Dalton, Staff Writer

Christie Rawlins, Staff Writer

Josh Hutton, Staff Writer

Nicole Ford, Staff Writer

PhotographyKathleen Wells

Editorial Comic Prakriti Adhikari

Administrative Assistant Tresa Berlemann

STAFF

100 North University Drive Edmond, OK 73034

(405)974-5549editorial@uco360.com

“This is so intense... My deal is I’m pretty hungry.”

Senior-Psychology

LINDSAY BRIGGS

“Fight the power, man.”

Freshman-Undecided

JACKSON NAGODE

“Fishing.”

Senior-Broadcasting

KEVIN LAXTON

“I don’t know that I have a deal.”

Sophomore-Graphic Design

SAM BEGEMANN

“Today I’m just enjoying spring. It’s quite nice out-side.”

Sophomore-Biology

ANNA GREENWAY

“What the hell is that sup-posed to mean?”

Freshman-Pre Med

SAM LANGO

What’s your deal?

By Pakriti Adhikari / Cartoonist

Editorial

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE NEXT BUBBLE TO BURST

2012 is less than a year away, but there is another reason to start building up your food and gun rations.

Beyond their empty social sides, financially speaking Face-book and Twitter might not be worth anything. Hold your surprise.

If you’ve seen the business pages of any major newspaper, this shouldn’t come as too much of a shock. Investors have been flirting with the major social networking sites for years, yet nothing has seemed to land.

Facebook, now valued at more than Ford, doesn’t even manufacture a single physical product yet it’s still one of the most desired investments.

Twitter, who has been running at a loss for a long time and only recently opened up advertising, has been valued at $10 billion. Zynga, developers of the openly-loathed online game Farmville have been valued at $9 billion.

If it seems like I’m picking on these “billion dollar” web-sites, I can assure you that it’s not me choosing sides. Let’s take a look at Google. Not a decade ago, it looked like crazi-ness to say that they were worth a similar amount of money. But the minds behind the greatest search engine in the world have diversified their product offerings. In only a few short years they’ve developed their own smartphone operating sys-tem and taken over a market where Windows Mobile used to dominate. Additionally, Google is now in the book-selling, ad-vertising, professional e-mail and domain services and online photo storage businesses. And I still forgot some things. At the sound of the closing bell last Friday, Google’s market cap, or worth of total shares at the current price, was $202.58 billion of real money, not imaginary investor money.

Worried yet? Get ready, because on top of the recovering economy Alan Patrick, co-founder of the technology consul-tancy group Broadsight, said that “new things” like Facebook and Twitter getting high value for little product is the first of several signs that the economy is entering a “bubble,” or too much money and too little assets.

Facebook could prove to be a good investment, but other companies without the same pedigree could get swallowed up by investors and crash the economy much like they did in the “dot-com bubble” burst.

Most of this story will go over the heads of anyone who doesn’t regularly bury their noses in the business section, but as we charge forward to 2012, it confirms my theory that Facebook, Twitter, and FarmVille will be the end of the world.

By Cody Bromley / Staff Writer

NEWS 3FEB. 24, 2011

Protests against corrupt regimes began in Egypt and spread, reaching to Bahrain and Libya. Reporters and officials fear this unrest will spread across international borders and spark upris-ing in neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia.

How do the countries currently in revolt measure up? Libya con-tains the largest oil reserves in Africa, and pumps two percent of the world’s supply. In terms of production, it is only the world’s 17th- largest producer.

Egypt is not an oil-exporting country, but three percent of the world’s oil passes through the Suez Canal.

The main fear, that revolt will spread and affect other countries, is largely centered on the world’s highest oil-exporting countries: Saudi Arabia is first in the world, exporting roughly 270 billion barrels a year. The Saudi regime has not shown significant signs of revolt as of yet, and has increased spending on housing and other programs to prevent uprising.

Gas prices have already begun to rise in reaction to the upris-ings in the Middle East: the current national average stands at $3.18, and rising. This is the highest reported national average in two years.

How will motorists here in Oklahoma be affected? Motorists have paid about 20 cents more at the pump per gallon in the past month. Oklahoma’s average sits at $3.02. While below the national average, residents of Oklahoma City are paying slightly more. Residents in Tulsa are paying approximately a nickel less.

Nationally, there are only four countries at last report Wednesday whose averages were below $3 a gallon. Those states were New Jersey, Missouri, Arizona, and Wyoming. New Jersey was lowest, at $2.93.

The price per barrel of oil continues to fluctuate, hovering around the $100 mark. As the price continues to increase, prices at the pump will reflect that jump. Motorists in Oklahoma and nationwide can expect the trend in higher gas prices to continue.

Things to Know About Oil and the Uprisings in the Middle East

“Students should know that some questions are outside the realm of science because they deal with phenomena that are not scientifically testable.” Brecheen’s proposal also protects educator’s views of creationism to be taught in the classroom. Which brings up the question, whose take on creationism will Oklahoman’s adhere to?

MeShawn Conley, UCO’s director of Multi-Cultural Servic-es, has concerns about the bill’s implications.

“In my personal belief, certain things should be discussed outside of education. I fear forcing views upon impressionable minds that might be in opposition of what they are getting at home is not good for the child.” Relating to having specific “standards and curricula,” Conley said, “The beautiful thing of our multi-cultural society is we get to celebrate individuality. If we force one idea, we become one group.” Sen. Brecheen claims the bill will simply open and encourage the creationism

versus evolution argument in the classroom. In a December interview with the Durant Daily Democrat, Brecheen said, “I have introduced legislation requiring every publically funded Oklahoma school to teach the debate of creation vs. evolu-tion using the known science, even that which conflicts with Darwin’s religion.”

Mike Fuller, the president of Oklahoma’s chapter of Ameri-cans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), does not see the bill as a vehicle for discussion. Fuller contends, “The word ‘scientific’ is used numerous times throughout the bill in an obvious attempt to place “creationism” on the same scien-tific level as evolution. This is ludicrous. Creationism is most definitely NOT science or scientifically based.” Like Conley, Fuller believes religious minorities’ freedom will be trespassed, “Furthermore, since our public schools have students from ex-tremely diverse religious backgrounds, this bill would surely

encroach on the religious liberty of those students that do not subscribe to the religious dogma which would become part of science education because of this bill.”

Fuller is not only a strong proponent of separating religion and state, but was previously a high school science teacher. “From an education perspective, this bill requires the state board of education to adopt ‘standards and curricula’ which, for the most part, were adopted in Texas in 2009,” Fuller said. The passing of the similar Texas bill resulted in over 50 scien-tific and educational organizations coming together in opposi-tion. Our state’s ranking in science studies lulls toward the end of the nation’s list, and according to Fuller, “This would signif-icantly erode our already low ranking in science education as well as the recruitment of scientists and high tech businesses to our State, thus having a very negative economic impact.”

Continued from page 1

EVOLUTION

Continued from page 1

LETTER TO THE EDITORfeel Black History Month is celebrated by just the black pop-ulation. My ignorant white self, had to be awakened by the biological segregation of UCO through some miracle called February. What I mean by that is, how many times have you gone into a class, on the first day of school, looked around and you sit with a white stranger as opposed to a black stranger,” Barnett said.

While he stated in his letter that The Vista did not cover anything pertaining to Black History Month, there was a lead story in the issue of Feb. 1, but due to the snow closing cam-pus, it was an online-only edition.

Barnett said, “I don’t think your coverage of Paint the Cam-pus Pink is affecting Black History Month in the least. Because honestly, how many other activist groups are hosting any oth-er project? I applaud the efforts of people like Courtney James by actually doing something, and not just sitting back and watching, hoping someone might do something.”

Barnett said the reason he wrote the letter to the editor per-

taining Black History Month was because “someone has to stick up for the underdog.”

Courtney James, the assistant director for Campus Activities and Events, said she can definitely see where concerns come up about “Paint the Campus Pink.” She said this is the first year of this event.

James said, “We didn’t mean to infringe on it, we just thought it was a great time for it. Yes, Black History Month is going on, but the Student Programming Board does a multi-tude of programs to support this month as well.”

She added the reason they did not do it in October was be-cause it was not presented to them back then.

James said, “Also, October is Homecoming, so with the Big Pink Volleyball and Paint the Campus Pink, we didn’t want it to be overshadowed by that. I am [also] the advisor for both of these events, and we wouldn’t get all of it done in the same month since students are also limited on how much they can do.”

She has personally worked with MeShawn Conley and Lindsay Echols at different activities. “We have been trying to get the word out on Black History Month, but apparently, the reader may not have seen other things on Black History Month at all,” James said.

She added it was never their intention to take anything away from Black History Month.

“If we didn’t do it in February there is another month of awareness, March is Women’s History Month, almost every month is taken. October is Breast Cancer Awareness, but at UCO, October is also Homecoming,” James said.

MeShawn Conley, the director of Multicultural Student Ser-vices, said she thinks the Paint the Campus Pink programs are awesome programs and a great addition to Central.

“It is unfortunate that the Black History Month addition wasn’t able to be printed and I do wish that it could have been reprinted or emphasized in the next addition. But I don’t think that takes anything away from [it],” Conley said.

G R A P H I C B Y C O D Y B R O M L E Y

NEWS4 FEB. 24, 2011

If you find your study group needing a break from incessant research, head over to YouTube and type in the keywords “two blobs.”

Oklahoma’s Flaming Lips released their first song of 2011 last week on the web’s most prominent video hub. “Two Blobs F—cking” is a complex experimental track, requiring the synchronization of twelve internet-friend-ly devices to hear the full track. So, chanc-es are you will need every member of your study group to attempt the experiment. The twelve tracks cover different rhythms, guitars, basslines, spoken-word vocals, and ambient distortion that come together to form a sin-gle track. On their site, the band insists, “the more devices, the more harmonic possibili-

ties”. Each part also features highly colorful visualizations.

“Two Blobs…” utilizes an idea of commu-nity that the band previously commodified with their 1997 album, “Zaireeka.” Zaireeka requires four CDs to be played simultane-ously. The album was a moderate success and even inspired the book, “Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka (33 1/3)” by music critic Mark Rich-ardson. Wayne Coyne, the frontman for the band, said with these experiments, “You [the listener] and your device, at one with the mu-sic, become one with the orchestra, just as the gods of technology intended it to be”.

What else do the “gods of technology” have in store for 2011? Coyne told Rolling Stone magazine in December that his band intended to put out a track each month and film the recording process. That plan may have been

botched for a plan of greater ambition as “Two Blobs” hints.

At UCO’s Academy of Contemporary mu-sic, located within a mile of Flaming Lips Al-ley, music production major, Evan Oldham, said, “Their new track is certainly wacky. The storytelling takes you to a bad place, but you have to admire the marketing genius of viral magic.” Oldham continued about how he was impressed with the amount of time that prob-ably went into a single track, “I can’t imagine trying to fit those twelve pieces together in studio, let alone mix them. It’s not for me, but it certainly is an experience.”

The band has kept quiet about how and what will be released next aside from the standard and special edition vinyl box set of their career-defining albums, called “Heady Nuggs: The First Five Warner Bros.” The re-

cords drop April 16 (Record Store Day). The box set spans a decade and features the semi-nal releases, “The Soft Bulletin” and “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.”

Music

FLAMING LIPS RELEASE 12-PIECE YOUTUBE SONGBy Josh Hutton / Staff Writer

To watch the video, use your smartphone to scan this tag:

“We’ll always have two or three areas of improvement, because we do so many things around here,” Ross VanderHamm, director of Financial Services for the city of Edmond, said.

The city missed a franchise tax payment from Cox Communications for the first quar-ter of 2010. The independent audit, per-formed by local firm John M. Arledge & As-sociates, brought this to the attention of the city. Cox claimed they had sent payment, but the city never received it.

“I would hate to say that it got lost in the mail, but it got lost somewhere between them and us,” VanderHamm said.

Cox worked hard to rectify the situation. They canceled the first check and sent another check.

“It’s not that unusually for city governments to miss a payment,” Elizabeth Overman, as-sistant professor of political science at UCO, said. “If the city had severe monetary prob-lems, they would be counting.”

“Cox is trying to do the right thing,” Over-man said.

Department heads and assistant city man-agers could approve their own purchases, including those made on departmental pur-chasing cards. While this privilege had not yet been abused, the city has changed this process so that another person must approve the pur-chases.

The budget for the 2009 to 2010 fiscal year was 225.6 million, including salaries for ap-

proximately 750 city employees.The audit also found deficiencies in the

city’s tracking of employee time cards. Each department, such as the electric department or police, has a different system of tracking how many hours city employees work. The city is currently implementing a standardized process for each department for keeping re-cords of how many hours employees work.

The city’s software for tracking utility billing is outdated, and unsupported by the company that sold that software. While the utility bills are being sent and paid correctly, tracking the money once it was received was “a real mess,” according to VanderHamm. The city will have to purchase new software that could cost any-where between $500,000 and $1 million.

“It’s harder to run a city than a business,” Overman said. “There’s always a problem”

The city is constantly working to improve its accountability and finances, which is why the city hires an outside auditor. It has had unqualified opinions for the last five years it has hired an auditor.

“It’s always good to have another set of eyes looking at [our records] and suggesting improvements. Citizens want to know that someone else is looking at how we’re doing things,” VanderHamm said.

The report is available in a condensed ver-sion online, a “citizen’s report” that does not include as many spreadsheets, but contains all the important information.

Continued from page 1

EDMOND AUDIT

The city of Edmond will help UCO pay for a sculpture that will be placed outside the newly constructed Center for Transformative Learning.

UCO paid their share of the cost of the sculpture, $35,000, to the city of Edmond. The city of Edmond will cover the rest of the cost for the artwork.

“We went through a lengthy selection pro-cess [for the sculpture] where we sent out no-tification to artists all over the United States, and had those people submit ideas,” John Clinton, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Design, said.

“We worked with a gentleman named Ran-dal Shadid,” Clinton continued. “What you might call him is an attorney whose primary job is to collect art”

Clinton and Shadid sat down with universi-ty President W. Roger Webb and Provost Wil-liam Radke and looked at the proposals they received.

The sculpture they selected, titled BeLeaf, is a compilation of three bronze sculptures, with three different colors themed to the seasons of Oklahoma. It will consist of leaves, arcing over the sidewalk at the south entrance of the Center for Transformative Learning.

“It represents [what] the Center for Trans-formative Learning is all about: about change, about transforming students, faculty, staff into highly educated, thoughtful, creative people.”

The sculpture will be made by Kevin Box, an Oklahoma native who works primarily in the Santa Fe area. Box has degrees from the Tri County Technology Center and the New York Academy of Art.

In addition to the sculpture, part of the bond issue money primarily used to build the CTL must go to artwork, by state law.

UCO has also worked with the Oklahoma Historical Society in the area of public art-work.

“I think Edmond is on the cutting edge of public artwork. They’ve done a really wonder-ful job of creating an atmosphere throughout Edmond that allows for this public artwork to be displayed and to show the importance of the arts in people’s everyday lives,” Clinton said.

By Chris Howell / Contributing Writer

Campus News

UCO PAYS $35K FOR SCULPTURE

“It represents [what] the Cen-ter for Transformative Learning is all about: about change, about transforming students, facul-ty, staff into highly educated, thoughtful, creative people.”

NEWSw

5FEB. 24, 2011

NEWS WITH A FLASH

Kathryn Schulze wears a message written on tape over her mouth inside the state Capitol Monday, Feb. 21, 2011, in Madison, Wis. Opponents to Governor Scott Walker’s bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers are taking part in their seventh day of protesting. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

A man makes the peace sign inside the state Capitol Monday, Feb. 21, 2011, in Madison, Wis. Opponents to Governor Scott Walker’s bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers are taking part in their seventh day of protesting. (AP Photo/Jef-frey Phelps)

Protesters listen to a rally as sleet falls outside the state Capitol Monday, Feb. 21, 2011, in Madison, Wis. Opponents to Governor Scott Walker’s bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers are taking part in their seventh day of protesting. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Just because someone fails to understand something doesn’t make it true or untrue. It just means that they don’t understand it. Some people just don’t get it no mat-ter how hard or how little they try, and I don’t have time to explain it to each of them. Since they don’t read this column, I can be fairly certain I won’t offend anyone; but if by some slight chance I do, so be it.

I have never had to venture out too far to find trouble, or does it find me? Whether my lot in life has to do with me projecting my attitudes upon the world and in turn receiving affirmation, or if it is simply the fact that 90 percent of the human race is an idiot, doesn’t really mat-ter to me one way or the other. If you want to fight, I will fight you.

I may say or do things that someone else would not, and believe me, it goes both ways. With that said, I can confide in you that I say what I want, I mean what I say, and I not only hold myself accountable, but I promise you I will not run from an argument that involves defending my thought process or ideas. In fact, often times I wish somebody would say something stupid to me. That way I could proceed to put them in an intellectual head lock and a physical arm bar, forcing them to submit to my un-matched will and superior intellect.

The words of the day are accountability and reciprocity; two of my favorite terms. We all know what accountabil-ity is and the lack thereof and most of us know reciprocity as the “golden rule.” To put it plainly: don’t start nothing,’ won’t be nothing,’ but if it goes down it goes down. I did what I did and I shall live with it, go to sleep with it, wake up with it in the morning and then take a look at the re-flection of it in the mirror. How do you like me now? I still love it. Now here: have a kiss with a fist. Mwah.

I am not the wrath of God, Allah or Beelzebub, but I am not going to place a shred of faith in that somehow people will get what they deserve in the afterlife or on judgment day. I am just a man with a valid opinion that is founded upon wisdom, knowledge and a will to die for a greater truth if necessary.

So, if you want to be self-righteous and go out of your way to let me know how you feel about something or the taste that something I said left in your mouth, don’t be surprised when I proceed to practice lyrical witchcraft on your mustache.

If you send me a nasty e-mail attacking me as a person, then don’t go crying to the professor about my response. Don’t get up out of your chair at a restaurant and indi-rectly tell me my gay friends offend your fundamentalist Christian morals unless you want me to respond with, “excuse you, but you can shut your mouth, pull your skirt over your head, sit down, go cut yourself, and wait for Jesus over there…Call the cops honey, no one is coming to save you.”

If you use the false intelligence of one incompetent Iraqi as an excuse to invade a country for non-existent W.M.D’s, then don’t saturate the Internet with the ridic-ulous story as if it somehow justifies the malicious lies you crooked politicians told the American people in or-der to send ignorant children half away across the world to be killed spreading democracy and freedom because it isn’t free. Nothing is free, including an informed opinion. Now, G.F.Y…

-Light it up, A.J. Black

Opinion

BY

A.J. BLACK

OPINIONLACED WITH FACT

It may not be the grand romantic ges-ture most couples dream of, but more couples are skipping the surprise of getting engaged and instead plan it to-gether.

Dr. Amanda Miller, assistant sociol-ogy professor at UCO, explored this phenomenon in her published research paper titled, “Waiting to Be Asked: Gen-der, Power and Relationship Progression Among Cohabiting Couples.”

“We tracked couples who were living together but not married, how they be-gan dating, how they decided to move in together, when they started talking about marriage and how and if they got an engagement when and how an en-gagement took place,” Miller said.

What Miller and Sharon Sassler, Mill-er’s former thesis advisor from Ohio State University, found was that couples were discussing engagement well ahead of actually getting engaged.

“It’s not that there’s this giant surprise and they’ve never talked about it before and all of a sudden, there’s a proposal,” Miller said.

Miller’s research indicates that couples examined questions such as when to get engaged, how they might get engaged, what steps needed to take place fist, and what needed to happen in the relation-ship.

Additionally, Miller said that college educated couples are more likely to discuss these topics more frankly than working class couples.

“I think the reason they’re more likely to discuss them than working class cou-ples is that [college-educated] women have careers that are a little less flexible than working class women,” Miller said.

The topic of discussing engagements before they happen is something that

Miller knows first hand. When seeking her graduate degree, she told her hus-band she wanted him to come with her but that she wanted them to be married first.

A few months later, Miller’s now hus-band and herself went ring shopping, and the actual proposal was still a sur-prise. From her research, Miller said that her experience is emblematic of the couples she studied.

And even though both partners are discussing marriage, Miller’s research in-dicates the men in the couples studied were not losing their dominant responsi-bility status in relationships. In her own experience, Miller said that sharing in the planning of her and her husband’s engagement did not change the dynamic of their relationship.

“I don’t want to speak for my husband, but I think it would be fair to say that I’ve been the assertive partner in the re-lationship. I brought it up, we went ring shopping together, but I still wanted that surprise where he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him,” Miller said.

The discussion of young couples dis-cussing their marriage options is some-thing than many UCO students might face presently, or sometime in the future. Miller’s research covered an age group of 18 to 36, a number that also includes the average ages for a first-time marriage.

“A lot of students from UCO can also appreciate the working class aspects too,” Miller said. “Many of our students come from more working class back-grounds. So they like seeing the contrast between where they started and where they’re headed and how things might change for them in terms of relation-ships.”

Miller has received media coverage the world over for her research, earning mention in a book, Australian newspa-

per The Sydney Morning Herald, and also on WBUR Radio Boston’s nationally syndicated public radio show “Here & Now.”

“It was very exciting. Obviously it’s very nerve-wracking to make sure the right things come out of your mouth, and I definitely made sure I did my re-search beforehand,” Miller said of her experience on the show.

But with the swathes of media atten-tion, Miller said some attention to detail was missed.

“One thing that people have been get-ting wrong is that they think there is some kind of great change that’s taken place over time,” Miller said.

What Miller is referring to is a “Leave it to Beaver” 1950s style that she said never really happened. Miller said that people think that proposals used to be so much different with women just pas-sively waiting for a man to ask for her hand in marriage. What Miller said is missing from this “golden age” way of doing this is the involvement of the par-ents.

“We don’t really think this is some great change that’s occurred in time. It’s a shift in that it’s more up to the couple now more than it ever was before, par-ticularly in the United States, but this idea of discussing the relationship to-gether is not necessarily a novel one,” Miller said.

On blogs and other websites Miller has seen people write that discussing engagements “kills the romance” or that this is the how feminism has “ruined” romance. Miller said this enhanced com-munication empowers younger couples to take more control of their future even if they decide to not get married.

Besides, whether it’s traditional or not, Miller said she cannot think of a fam-ily therapist that would say more com-munication about a relationship is a bad thing.

By Cody Bromley / Staff Writer

Dr. Amanda Miller, assistant sociology professor at UCO, recently pub-lished her research paper titled, “Waiting to Be Asked: Gender, Power and Relationship Progression Among Cohabiting Couples.”

Relationships

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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

UCO Tennis

TOUGH WEEKEND LOOMS FOR UCO

UCO Baseball

BRONCHOS FALL TO OCU

The UCO baseball team lost their game against the Oklahoma City University Stars on Tuesday at OCU.

The Bronchos were shut down for most of the game against the powerhouse Stars. They didn’t manage to score a run until the sixth inning after the Stars had already scored four. The lineup was only able to get four hits off of OCU’s starter, but still kept themselves in the game for most of the day. The Stars didn’t get their first run until the fourth and only after starter Stephen Spirlock had been removed from the game.

Junior Keegan Morrow got a single in the second frame to give Central their first hit of the contest. The excitement did not last long as Morrow was caught trying to steal second. The Bronchos were held scoreless in the in-ning after a Kevin Blue strikeout to end it.

Junior catcher Arrow Cunningham started the third off with a single and shortstop Tay-lor Brown followed him with a single of his own to put two runners on for the Bronchos. Ryan Schoonover laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Cunningham and Brown to third and second with one out. The Bronchos stranded their two runners in scoring position after Tucker Brown popped up to second and Tyler Hancock struck out swinging.

Junior outfielder Austin Rycroft was able to reach base on a walk with one out in the fourth; however, he wasn’t able to advance. Derrick Grimes, Morrow and Blue all struck out swinging to end the top half of the frame. The Stars grabbed the lead in the bottom of

the inning thanks to a solo home run that made the score 1-0.

Tyler Schoonover earned a single in the top of the fifth, but that was all the Bronchos could accumulate in the inning. Central had a disastrous bottom half of the fifth after they gave up three runs on four hits with three run-ners left on base. The Stars ended the frame with a 4-0 lead.

Central answered the Stars with a run in the top of the sixth. Rycroft drew a walk and even-tually scored on a Kevin Blue single to right field making the score 4-1. The run would be the Bronchos’ lone score of the game.

After two and a half innings of scoreless baseball, the Stars ended the drought. They scored three run in the bottom of the eighth to ice the game at 7-1. OCU got three hits in their half of the inning and scored on a three-run double.

The Stars brought in their closer to shut the door on the Bronchos even though there was no save situation. The Bronchos were able to get a runner on base, but they failed to bring him home, ending the game 7-1.

“Oklahoma City is a good club,” head coach Dax Leone said. “They really know how to win and it shows. Hopefully we will be able to be at their level in a couple season and I think we’re on the right track.”

The Bronchos fell to 4-6 on the season. They will travel to Weatherford this weekend to play in a three game set against rival South-western Oklahoma State. They will play in a single game on Friday at 2 p.m. and a double-header on Saturday with the first game begin-ning at 1 p.m.

By Trey Hunter / Sports Writer

The UCO Broncho Women had an oppor-tunity to seize first place in the Lone Star Con-ference’s North Division Monday night, need-ing only to avenge an earlier loss to the No. 10-ranked RiverHawks of Northeastern State.

Against the LSC’s best defense, however, the Bronchos’ league-leading offense looked anything but, and the RiverHawks secured a season sweep of UCO with a 68-53 victory before a reported 800 in attendance at Hamil-ton Field House.

UCO fell into an early hole after two free throws by Northeastern guard Tosha Tyler gave the RiverHawks a 17-10 lead with 14:17 left in the opening half.

A pair of layups by UCO junior center Alex Richardson and another by freshman guard Britney Morgan keyed a 10-point run to give the Bronchos a 20-17 advantage at the 8:59 mark, but the Riverhawks answered, capping the first half with a 16-6 run to take a 33-26 lead to intermission.

The Bronchos closed to within five twice early in the second half, but a three by North-eastern’s Christy Nitz gave the RiverHawks their first double-digit lead, enough to keep the Bronchos at arms’ length throughout.

UCO forced 19 turnovers to stay within striking distance, but scored just six points off those takeaways.

“It was a tough game and again we couldn’t get many shots to fall,” head coach Guy Har-daker said. “We did somethings defensively to give us a chance, but just didn’t get it done.”

The Bronchos, who averaged 75.2 points entering the contest, were held to their sec-ond-lowest scoring output of the season. They hit just 17 of their 58 attempts from the field (29 percent), including just 3-for-23 (13 percent) from behind the arc.

UCO senior forward Ashley Beckley was held to just a single point in the first half, mis-firing on each of her first seven attempts from the floor. She finished with just 11 points on 3-for-14 shooting after averaging 27 points during the Bronchos’ now snapped three-

game win streak. Freshman guard Britney Morgan scored 14

points, but also struggled from the field, hit-ting just four of her fifteen attempts from the field and two of ten from behind the arc.

Junior center Alex Richardson was the Bronchos’ lone offensive bright spot, hitting an efficient seven of nine attempts from the field for 14 points in 19 minutes.

Three players in double figures led a bal-anced Northeastern offense. Jasmine Wright scored 17, Taylor Lewis added 15, and Nitz finished with 12.

With the win, the RiverHawks improved 21-3 on the season, and sits in the driver’s seat in the LSC North with a 10-2 mark. UCO fell to 16-8 on the year and 9-3 conference record.

The Central Oklahoma women’s tennis team dropped their first match of the season on Monday falling to the Oklahoma Christian Eagles 8-1. The loss moved the Lady Bronchos to 3-1 on the season.

The Bronchos’ lone set win Monday came from their No. 2 doubles pair, Eli Abramovic and Anto Rossini.

They now face a tough slate ahead with two matches this weekend.

The No. 21-ranked Bronchos host Cow-ley College on Friday at 2 p.m. and the No. 6 team in the nation Abilene Christian at 12 p.m. Sunday.

Abilene Christian is the defending league champion, but comes into the match against UCO just 2-3 overall and 0-2 on the road with losses to the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

UCO head coach Natalya Nikitina-Helvey said after the Bronchos’ loss to OC on Mon-

day that the team would be motivated come this weekend.

“Despite the score, I think it was the best match we played this season and we had a few close matches,” Nikitina-Helvey said. “Okla-homa Christian has a very solid team and they were simply better today.

“We’re not going to let this affect us and it only motivates us to keep working hard and get ready for two home matches this week.”

The two matches this weekend are the final home games before playing 14 of 15 matches on the road over a stretch of 35 days. The Bronchos’ next home stand will not come un-til April 9, when UCO hosts Northwest Mis-souri State.

UCO is trying to bounce back from a sea-son in which they went 15-7, losing their last two matches of the regular season. The Bron-chos lost in the second round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament and then went on to lose in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.

By Chris Wescott / Sports Editor

UCO Women’s Basketball

MISSED OPPORTUNITY AGAINST NORTHEASTERNBy Ryan Costello / Managing Editor

Eli Ambramovic (above) participates in a singles match on Monday against the Okla-homa Christian Eagles. UCO lost the match to Oklahoma Christian 8-1.

P H O T O S E R V I C E S

8 SPORTS FEB. 24, 2011

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UCO Men’s Basketball

BRONCHOS STAMPEDE INTO HISTORY

Brent Friday (20) races down the court on a fast break in Monday night’s win over Northeastern. The Bronchos are 23-3 overall and 9-1 in conference. It was UCO’s 22nd consecutive win at home.

No. 7-ranked UCO was on the cusp of two significant accomplishments Monday night at Hamilton Field House, and an early barrage of long-range buckets helped them achieve both.

A 71-56 victory over the RiverHawks of Northeastern State wrapped up a fourth con-secutive Lone Star Conference North title for the Bronchos, and stood as the 1,200th vic-tory in the program’s 85-year history.

Broncho head coach Terry Evans, whose nine years at the helm have seen 186 of UCO’s wins, was quick to deflect credit for the pro-gram’s success.

“To me, it’s all about the kids,” Evans said. “I had my day in the sun playing. I just try to get them prepared so they can go out perform and do the best that can do, and they’re doing that this year.”

The Bronchos jumped out to an early lead, scoring 15 straight points after the River-Hawks scored the game’s first basket. UCO hit their first five three pointers, two by Dauntae Williams, two by Tucker Phillips and another by Tyler Phillips, accounting for all 15 points in the early run.

“It’s very important [to start fast against Northeastern],” Evans said of the game’s opening minutes. “If they get ahead, they make you play their tempo, and they can hit some shots.”

After falling behind 15-2, the RiverHawks never challenged. Northeastern never came

within closer than eight points, and trailed by as many as 18 in the 15-point loss.

The Redhawks narrowed the margin to eight for a second and final time at 38-31 fol-lowing a three-pointer by Antoine Branch, but UCO answered again. A seven-point run capped by a Shane Carrol three with 14:47 re-maining turned momentum back in the Bron-chos favor and squelched the RedHawks’ best attempt at a comeback.

Three-point shooting remained the key for the Bronchos’ keeping Northeastern out of striking distance. UCO hit a deadly 11 of their 21 attempts from distance (52 percent). The Bronchos also hit 18 of their 24 free throws.

Williams led the Bronchos with 19 points on five-for-nine shooting. Williams, who hit three of four from three, also added five re-bounds and a pair of assists.

Tucker Phillips added 12 points and six rebounds, and Tyler Phillips finished with 10 points and five boards. Carrol and Victor Driver each added nine.

Their loss to the Bronchos dropped North-eastern to 9-15 overall and 4-6 in conference.

The win, the most recent in a 22-game win-ning streak for the Bronchos at Hamilton Field House, vaulted UCO to 23-3 on the season, including a 9-1 mark in the LSC.

The Bronchos next game, a Wednesday night matchup against Southwestern Okla-homa at Hamilton Field House came after printing.

By Ryan Costello / Managing Editor

Score by Periods 1st 2nd Final Northeastern State (OK)....... 22 34 56Central Oklahoma.............. 33 38 71

Key PlayersDaunte Williams: 19 pts 5 rebTucker Phillips: 12 pts 6 reb

Tyler Phillips: 10 pts 5 reb

1 West Liberty 25-0 200 2 Bellarmine 186 1863 Humboldt State 22-2 1774 Alabama-Huntsville 23-3 1725 Augusta State 168 1686 Minnesota State 22-3 1467 Central Oklahoma 22-3 1438 Missouri Southern 21-3 1409 Arkansas Tech 21-3 135 10 Findlay 21-3 132

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2011 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Standings