Feb 3, 2016

T!" E#$% T"&#'CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF THE EAST TEXAN

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Star Wars ranked from worst to best

No movie franchise in history has had the lasting appeal, the cultural impact, the rabid following that Star Wars has garnered. With a re-lease at least once per decade since the 1970s, its dominance over our popular culture is unmatched, its fame shining bright as an explod-ing planet. To celebrate, this week Andrew Burnes took a look back at the series that 99 percent of us grew up with and ranked the seven canon Star Wars 9lms from worst to best. :ere have been hits and misses along the ride, but every Star Wars theatrical event from the good to the bad to the Gungan.

PAGE 6

The Looking Glass Self

We tend to perceive ourselves through how we think others per-ceive us. :is sociological theory, devised by Charles Cooley, has been backed up by evidence time and time again, and the college campus is no exception. Special contributor Sean Bates, who consideres himself to be a walking stereotypes, dives deep into his own psychoanalysis in a simultaneously hilarious and deep column.

PAGE 2

Hunt County Public Art

brings beauty to Commerce,

GreenvilleTexas A&M University-Commerce art professors and students have become increasingly involved with county-wide e;orts to add artistic expression to the downtown areas across the area.

PAGE 5

Late RegistrationUniversity o;ers African American Studies minor for 9rst time

Kerry WilsonSenior Reporter

Texas A&M University-Commerce students will soon have the opportunity to expand their knowl-edge on African-American history and culture through a new program starting next semester.

:e new program, African-American studies, will begin in the fall of this year starting as a mi-nor before working its way up to the point of being both a minor and major.

Dr. Salvatore Attardo, dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts, explained the process behind starting the new program.

“Obviously we started with the minor because it is just easier to do,” Attardo said. “We don’t have to seek approval outside of the university. Whereas for any new major, you have to get approval from the coordinating board, from the system, an accredit-

ing agency, so it takes about a year. People think that you create a program in 9ve minutes. No, you have to write a prospectus, it’s huge.”

Attardo said that in addition to the minor start-ing next semester, the hope for African-American studies beginning as a major will be in the Fall of 2017.

“We’re pursuing both,” Attardo said. “But we’re going to do the minor right away, because we can just go through the internal approval process, which is fairly complicated too, but nothing com-pared to the external one. So, we think that we can have the minor on the books by fall. We’re hoping in a year, so Fall of 2017, we will have the major on the books. So that’s what we’re pursuing.”

Attardo also said that the program will be in-terdisciplinary. :at is, it will not be limited to the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts.

“Both the minor and the major will be interdis-

ciplinary,” he said. “By this, we mean very broadly intended. So, not just limited to the college, but to every discipline in the university. We’ve already started talking to the College of Business. :ey have a research center that studies alternative forms of leadership, management, and so on. :ey have done some very interesting archival work on Af-rican-American managers very early on. I mean, during slavery times. You wouldn’t think that there were that many African-American managers dur-ing slavery times, but in fact, there were. So, that’s one area. It really is a multidisciplinary work.”

Attardo said the reasoning behind starting the program is the unequal balance between minority students and faculty at A&M-Commerce.

“I was looking at the statistics on our enrollment data,” Attardo said. “I don’t know if you know this, but we are now a minority-majority university.

CONT. ON PAGE 3

MoneytalksTravis HairgroveManaging Editor

:is past July, Mark J. Perry of the American En-terprise Institute declared that we are living in the “new era of the $400 textbook,” when he reported on the 945 percent increase in the average price of college textbooks that has occurred over the last 37 years.

In light of this troubling and arguably unsus-tainable trend, Drs. Salvatore Attardo and Judy Ann Ford (the Dean and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts, respec-tively) lead an initiative, last semester, promoting the use of textbooks and other materials that would cost the students no more than $25 total per class.

As spring rolled along, a number of history courses, Texas Government and Intro to :eatre were among those whose professors chose to par-ticipate in CHSSA’s purely voluntary Low-Cost Textbook Initiative’s inaugural semester, saving ap-proximately 400 students about $115 each, getting the program o; to its o<cial start.

“What we have found is that really, in every dis-cipline, there is something available,” Attardo said. “So far, nobody has yet to come to us and say, ‘You know…I wanted to do it, but I could not 9nd a free or low-cost textbook on my subject.’ One par-ticular person said, ‘It took me 15 minutes.’ :is is working out really well.”

By utilizing up-to-date technology and refer-ence sources that Gee Library already subscribes to, professors participating in the initiative were able to locate and/or acquire these low-cost alternative class

materials through a variety of means.“:ey’re from all kinds of di;erent places,” Ford

said. “Some are in the bookstore…just regular books, only $25 or under, but a whole bunch of things are eBooks that are available to the students with no cost. Sarah Northam, in the library, ran a copyright workshop for the faculty who are partici-pating. She’s also been very helpful in helping them 9nd course materials, some of which are available through the library itself, as they’re already paying the cost of it.”

While the idea of helping students 9nancially by mak-ing an e;ort to 9nd educational read-ing material that could be purchased for such a low price certainly speaks to a professor’s desire to provide better access to a college education, it is also of paramount im-portance that the content of those books to be of at least equal qual-ity to more costly textbooks.

“Obviously, our top priority is to give the students the best education that we can,” Attardo said. “If that means that we have to buy a textbook, then we’ll buy a text-book, but I tend to think that you can give superior education by using primary sources and providing the context and the discussion as the professor, be-cause, often, they teach in their areas of expertise. :ey’re going to be the best teaching resource.”

“For history, which is my discipline, there is all sorts of pedagogical advice that wants you to go di-rectly to the sources,” Ford added. “Instead of read-ing about the Declaration of Independence, they can read the Declaration of Independence.”

In addition to copyright law compliance, an-other issue that had to be taken into account when trying to get the initiative o; the ground was not violating any kind of agreement the university has with its bookstore.

“If students have to buy anything, they buy it through the bookstore,” Ford asserted. “If it’s free material, that’s 9ne…but nothing’s being sold through professors or departments, or anything like that. “

CONT. ON PAGE 3

Dr. Attardo and Ford’s work to make textbooks a;ordable again begins to hit its $tride

EAST TEXAN PHOTO/ANDREW BURNES

Following a 945 percent increase in textbook prices in the last 37 years, Drs. Attardo and Ford have lead an initiative in the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts to bring total costs for books and materials at or below $25.

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“By educating people on the topic and remembering the purpose of the month. *at’s the reason to celebrate and to see how far we’ve come.” -Troy Silver

“Enlighten the youth more about Black History Month. We’re just educated about two or three important +gures when there’s a lot more we’ve done outside of political things.” -Eumarcus Washington

“I think that Black History Month needs to be kept to honor those people who have paved the way for future generations and to give today’s generations of college kids the inspiration to achieve better stu, for the following generations.” -Matt Allen

How do you think Black History Month should be celebrated?

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“I feel like we should have more dynamic speakers teaching about the past, present, and future of black history. Helping us understand that black history didn’t start at slavery.” –Jasmine Baker

Editor Andrew BurnesManaging Editor Travis HairgroveNews/Social Media Editor Joseph AldermanSports Editor Carter LacyOpinion Editor Hunter KimbleStudent Life Editor Alissa SilvaProduction Editor Patricia DillonPhotographer Kristen TaylorPhotographer Aaron HwangCopy Editor Kyria AhoDistribution Manager Sean BatesDistribution Assistant Michelle WhiteheadFaculty Adviser Fred StewartPhone 903-886-5985E-mail [email protected] Texan Website tamuceasttexan.comEast Texan Print Issue Online issuu.com/tamuc.easttexan

Hunter KimbleOpinion Editor

Well here it is, the month of February. Although we’ve only had two weeks of school, it’s shocking how quick January went by. Now that I think about it, my entire Christmas Break went by too fast as well. *is semester has lasted for only two weeks and it already feels like I’m hit with a bunch of stu,. I’ve got to deal with schoolwork and assignments from my job and it feels like time is not giving me enough hours to meet the deadlines. *is makes me wonder about my life in 2016 because I’m graduating this year in the summer.

It seems like the Spring and Summer semesters are too long of a time frame to panic about the future, but if you really think about it’s not that long at all. As we all know, February is the shortest month of the year. It will be over before we know it. *en, we have March and Spring Break, which starts on March 14. After that April will be gone in the blink of an eye. Finally, the spring semester ends on May 13 and I begin to take my last two courses in June. Once that’s all over, I get to walk across the stage in August with my head held high and worries at their peak.

Once I graduate, I have to deal with looking for a job. Also, I have to put up with paying o, my student loans. Let’s face it, when you look at the whole job application process six months is not enough time. Within that time frame, I have to go job hunting, do interviews, get hired for said job, and make enough money to get out of debt. At the same time, I will be paying insurance and taxes from my income. I can only hope that whatever portion is left is su-cient enough for me to live on. I know about the various ways of extending the six months window like going to graduate school, but I still have to pay the money back. Graduate school doesn’t get rid of it. *en I need to get a car and look for a place to live on my own with my measly beginner’s salary. I don’t even want to mention graduate schools, because that is a can of worms that I don’t want to open.

I know people will tell me to stay calm and not worry about it till the time comes, but my problem is that the time is quickly approaching. I need to have some type of plan or at least an idea come May. I feel so neurotic about the future and this is supposed to be the year where I get to relax for once in my life at this university. It may seem like I’m all calm, cool, and collected on the outside, but on the inside I am freaking out.

I guess the best I can do for know is make an e,ort to enjoy this semester, but still try to work on my game plan for life after college like searching for jobs in my +eld or ones that match my skill sets and making sure my credit score is good enough to buy a used car. I don’t know what the future will have in store for me, but I do know that it’s best to prepare for whatever happens by always having a plan to follow. If something happens that detours from the original plan, then I have a back up plan. If that doesn’t work, then I would just call on Jesus at that point, because I would be stuck like Chuck!

If !e Shoe Fits....

Fast Forward Worries

Sean BatesDistribution Manager

Recently, I woke up one morning and went into my routine as usual. I threw on my bright blue shades and tie dye shirt that says “Woodstock”, styled my beard and hair (or as I call it, the Rock Locks) to perfectly capture the look of a fusion between Shaggy and Jesus, and played some Sublime on my acoustic guitar as my burning passion for Bernie Sanders kept me warm. It was at this point that I took a good, hard look at myself and realized one thing: I’ve turned into a walking stereotype of a white, collegiate male. I’m not sure when it exactly happened, as it came in such small steps, but the only things I lack at this point are a hacky sack and desire to play ultimate frisbee. Once I noticed this about myself, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Our generation is so strongly encouraged to seek out individualism and strongly discouraged from stereotyping that my +rst inclination was to be a bit disappointed in myself for falling into such a cliché. Haven’t I grown up as a unique little 6’6 snow.ake that is completely di,erent from everyone else? How could I look at literally any

portrayal of a college hippie and feel like it’s a completely relatable character that understands my hardships and woes? Well, okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, because it’s honestly not so bad.

People get annoyed with being cast into roles because there are so many assumptions that come with them, but every once in a while, it actually works out for the better. If I tell somebody that I’m in favor of legalization, they don’t even bother asking what I’m referring to, because of course Hippie Gumby over here is talking about pot. Do you think anyone suspects the guy wearing the shirt that says “Beat Drums, Not People” is going to be an avid gun enthusiast or hold any views that aren’t extremely liberal? By taking on several strong characteristics that are held fairly consistently with other young men in similar positions as myself, I’ve given people a pretty solid +rst glance at what they can expect from me. Obviously, you don’t want to be completely summed up by the broad strokes of your style and beliefs, but total ambiguity makes things awkward. Approaching new people is hard enough as is, so isn’t it nice to give ourselves some easy targets? If I see

someone around campus wearing a Vault 111 hoodie, it immediately lets me know that we’re bros and would get along just +ne, whether they know it yet or not (but they’ll de+nitely know as soon as they see me in my shirt that shows Bernie Sanders as a pip-boy.)

We are much deeper than what we show on the surface, but the image we portray is a re.ection of either how we see ourselves, or how we want others to see us. We live in a culture that’s so saturated with di,erent styles and cliques that it can be really di-cult to +nd what is natural to us and what will +t comfortably with our surroundings. Just because you +nd you’ve fallen into a general archetype doesn’t mean you’ve sold out or that who you are at heart has been completely de+ned; it just means that you’ve developed the sense of self that you need to get yourself through whatever point you’re at in life. So whether that means vaping and longboarding, geeking out, partying all the time, voting for Trump (please don’t) or whatever other box you’ve put part of yourself into, don’t be ashamed of genuinely embracing the path you’ve chosen.

EDITORIAL CARTOON BY JOSEPH ALDERMAN

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Shannon MoseleySpecial Contributor

Recent research has shown that helping others has multiple bene+ts for your own mental health. ,is means that one of the best ways to manage stress and improve your overall wellbeing is to make a point of being available to serve others. ,is doesn’t necessar-ily require a time commitment. It can be as simple as giving up your seat for a person in need, asking someone who is alone to dine with you, or paying for a stranger’s drink.

Having an altruistic nature and making the point of being a RAKtivist (Random Acts of Kindness activist) is good for others, but is especially bene+cial for YOU. How can this be that Random Acts of Kindness can make a person healthier and happier? ,e following is a list posted by ,e Mental Health Foundation of Great Britain with some of the key bene+ts of RAK:

1. Promotes positive physiological changes in the brain associated with happiness.

Giving to others releases endorphins, which then ac-tivate parts of our brain that are associated with trust, pleasure and social connection. Being altruistic and spending money on others leads to greater levels of hap-piness compared to when you spend money on yourself. ,is happiness then increases the chance that you will be altruistic in the future, ultimately creating a positive feedback loop of generosity and happiness.

2. Helps to keep things in perspectiveHelping others in need, especially those who are

less fortunate than yourself, can provide a sense of per-spective and can make you realize how lucky you are, enabling you to stop focusing on what you feel may be missing in your life - this helps you achieve a more positive outlook on the things that may be causing you stress.

3. Reduces stress and improves your healthEvidence suggests that altruism can boost your

health. Emotions which are related to altruism such as compassion may help stabilize the immune system against immunosuppressing e-ects of stress. Altruistic acts may also decrease pain by stimulating the brain to release endorphins, which are powerful natural pain-killers.

4. Helps reduce negative feelings People who are altruistic have better life adjustment

overall and tend to see life as more meaningful. Altru-ism is associated with better marital relationships, a de-creased sense of hopelessness, less depression, increased physical health, and enhanced self-esteem.

5. It can help you live longer Giving may increase how long you live. Studies on

older people show that those who give support to others live longer than those who don’t.

,e Counseling Center will be celebrating RAK FEB 8-10, 10AM-2PM, in the Sam Rayburn Student Center’s Atrium. Please stop by for inspiration and celebration of the altruistic human spirit! Addition-ally, don’t forget that you can spread RAK via social media. Be sure to keep us in the loop on Twitter at: @TAMUC_CounCtr. You are also encouraged to stop by on FEB 10, at the same place and time, to re.ect on speci+c relationships with our 5th Annual “Relation-ship Roadmap”.

Counseling CornerMental $tness

via love and kindness

As demographics shi!, university o"ers African American Studies

CONT. FROM PAGE 1

More than 50 percent of our students are minorities, so we are a minority-majority university. So, I was looking at the statis-tics on our student enrollment. You know, how many of them are African-American, how many are Asian, how many are His-panic. ,en, I looked at the faculty. I was like ‘Our faculty numbers are average.’ If you compare them to the national aver-age, then we are right there with the na-tional average. ‘But, our students numbers are way higher than the average.’ In other words, we serve more minority students than other universities, but our faculty numbers aren’t there.

“So, I said, ‘Well, what can we do to improve this?’ ,at’s when I thought ‘You know what, we should have an African-American studies major, because then we can recruit faculty speci+cally to teach in that program.’ Usually you have to have about 100 students for a program to be viable and to be able to support itself by itself. If we get to that number, I don’t see

any reason we can’t do that. ,en, we can hire people whose research specialty is that. We have people who do African-American studies, but they are like historians who do African-American studies or literary scholars who do African-American stud-ies. Whereas here, we can hire somebody whose specialty, whose dissertation, whole +eld of research is African-American stud-ies.”

Concerning how many faculty mem-bers will be added, Attardo said that the +rst priority is +nding a director for the program.

“What we’re looking at is hiring a direc-tor for the program,” he said. “,at’s your starting point. ,en, it’s the number of students that rules everything. We are very simple people in administration. You have to have the faculty to teach the students.”

Attardo said he hopes the program pro-vides improvements in the learning en-vironment for all students and opens the door to increased multicultural communi-cation on campus.

“Having more faculty is crucial and the

research shows this,” he said. “You want to have students of color, you have to have faculty of color. ,ere are not 25 ways of doing it. So, that’s one thing, to provide an environment that is more conducive for all the students. ,en, we talk about multicul-turalism, all these things like building re-spect and acknowledging di-erences. ,e best way of doing it is by talking about it. If we are all in our little corner not talking to each other, we can’t acknowledge our di-erences. We can’t even discuss them.

“In terms of the students themselves who are going to major in this or minor in this, there is a value to knowing history, and knowing your history particularly. Be-cause, if you know where you come from, you can understand how you got here, and that makes it easier to go where you want to go. I strongly believe this to be the case, so I think it’s really important for African-American students, but also other students who are not African-American to be able to hear the story and learn about the history of the people that were taken from Africa, came here, and so on and so forth.”

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Ford and A!ardo work to bring down unnecessary textbook costs

Cont. from Page 1

“In fact, we’ve kind of partnered with the bookstore on this,” Attardo added. “In one particular case…be-cause we’re very stringent, and we say the books have to be $25 including taxes…or the student, out of pocket, is going to pay less than $25, the book-store agreed to take a cut into their revenue and sell a particular book that was $24.99 at a discount, so that is would qualify [after tax]. I was like, ‘Wow. I’m impressed.’ The bookstore

is on our side.”Ruth Campos, a manager at the

university bookstore expressed sup-port for the program, due to students not having to hunt online for the ab-solute best price on more expensive textbooks.

“Historically, the classes where it’s [textbooks that are available for less than $25] being offered, we’ve never really seen the sales for those books to begin with, so I’m kind of excited about it. I think once it gets a little more off the ground and we get the

textbooks that are required, and we get them on the shelves, it might actually boost our sales.”

Even though the Spring 2016 semester is the f irst with the Low-Cost Text-book Initiative in effect and only a small portion of the student body has experienced any settings, At-tardo and Ford have found the response to be encouraging.

“So far, the reactions that we’ve gotten have all been

positive,” Attardo said. “I have to say, not a single person said, ‘That’s a lousy idea’ or ‘What were you think-

ing when you did that?’ Everybody has been very, very positive, even the bookstore. You’d think they’d be concerned, but they’ve been absolute-ly and fantastically supportive. I’ve had several students who’ve come up to me and thanked me for doing this. So…from my perspective, there are 400 people that we saved a little bit of money, and I think that’s a good thing. So…as far as we’re concerned, this has been a successful trial.”

PHOTO COURTESY/DR. ATTARDO

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C!"#$% FEB. 4, 2016PAGE 4

By Ryan Scott Sta! Writer

For more than 100 years, the City of Commerce has seen its fair share of ups and downs. But one person who is working to spur growth in the city is Paul Voss, executive director of the Commerce Chamber of Commerce.

Voss, who has resided in Commerce for 35 years, has held his current position since April of 2014. Voss said he was interested in the position due to what he believed was a need to give back to his community.

“I worked in the trucking business for 45 years until I had a very serious accident,” Voss said. “After I recovered, I heard about the position in the Chamber being open, and I felt that I could really help make some changes.”

Voss and the Chamber of Commerce have been focusing on revitalizing not just the city, but also especially the downtown area.

“It’s like the chicken or the egg scenario,” Voss said. “What do you do "rst: do you "x downtown and then revitalize it, which takes more time, or do you do the reverse? It’s a hard decision to make.”

Voss said that he remembers a time when most of the downtown businesses had become bars, and while he noted that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, he still believes that “it’s important to have plenty of family-oriented businesses downtown to diversify the area.”

For 30 years, the Bois d’Arc bash has brought people from far and wide to downtown Commerce. Voss said that while the Bash is a de"nite boost to the city, there is still more that can be done.

“We are moving the car show that was normally during the Bash to the spring,” Voss said. “It helps lighten the load on the city during the Bash, and gets more people into downtown at a di!erent point in the year.”

In the city’s relationship to the University, Voss said he believes that it is important to keep a strong bond between the University and the city.

“#e University has an astronomical impact on the city as well as Hunt County,” Voss said. “I "rmly believe that if the University weren’t here, this town would have probably dried up a long time ago.”

In Voss’ time here, between 75-100 new members have been added to the Chamber of Commerce, a testament to some population growth. With the help of the University, Commerce creates a large impact on Hunt County, producing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue.

“#e University has a multi-million dollar impact on this county,” Voss said. “Dan Jones (A&M-Commerce president) is probably one of the most in$uential people in the county because of it.”

Commerce is bene"tting with the expansion of the university

and new business popping up about town. But not all things for the future are set in stone.

“We need to take a look at our highways,” Voss said. “Truck tra%c is rapidly increasing, faster than the county had predicted, so there may be some big changes coming to our highways in Commerce.”

Voss said he thinks he is up to the challenge of helping Commerce continue to grow

“I really view it as paying back my community,” Voss said. “I’ve lived here for 35 years, now it’s my turn to give back.”

Travis HairgroveManaging Editor

Since 1999, political science majors at Texas A&M University-Commerce have been participating in the Southwest Model Arab League (MAL), an intercollegiate competition that simulates the relationship dynamics between member states of the real Arab League, with the aim of giving students a deeper understanding of the workings of diplomacy.

For the last four years, A&M-Commerce has hosted (and will host again in April 2016) the event wherein each participating university’s team “role plays” as two di!erent Arab League member countries, all working to serve “their country’s” interests in real time, in response to real world current events.

Adjunct Professor Adam Haney, an A&M-Commerce alumnus and former MAL participant himself, is the current instructor of the course.

“#e component that I think doesn’t get emphasized enough [when studying political science] is the actual diplomacy that goes into doing it…the personal touch,” Haney said. “If you want to get someone to agree with you, it’s not only important to be right, you also have to not be annoying. Several years ago, we had one of our delegates that was so obnoxious to the rest of the delegation that they passed a resolution to disband our country and give the territory away to the surrounding states.

“So…there’s a big component [in international politics] that we don’t talk a lot about, and that’s diplomacy in actual policy.” Haney emphasized. “You can throw out things all day long, but how do you discuss who’s gonna oversee this [program, initiative, policy, etc.], who’s gonna pay for it…the actual nuts and bolts of diplomacy and policy making that go into it.”

Kaylin Taylor, a senior political science major, will direct the staged diplomatic talks as Secretary General in April.

“During my sophomore year, we represented Jordan and Kuwait,” Taylor said. “In representing both Jordan and Kuwait, I would say that the

biggest disparity is that Kuwait is a GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] country, so they have their oil and gas revenue, and Jordan is not in that scenario. Jordan’s main issue is the number of Palestinian refugees and now Syrian refugees, so it’s interesting. We had a country who could o!er the solutions and the money, and we also had Jordan, who is more in the role of ‘we can’t o!er you this, but we need help,’ so it’s very interesting being in the same classroom and being able to divide two di!erent mindsets.

“Last year, we represented Syria as a representative of the Syrian National Coalition, not Assad, so that was also very interesting…and that same year, we also represented Djibouti,” Taylor explained. “Djibouti is the poorest country in the Arab League, so that represented a great challenge. When you’re a country like Saudi Arabia, you’re one of the wealthiest countries, so you have people coming to you when you’re writing resolutions and such, but when you’re Djibouti you have to put yourself out there and

get in the game, so it’s a good experience.“I represented Syria,” Taylor speci"ed. “With

the current crisis, that’s one country where you really had to know your stu!, because there were de"nitely topics and questions. So, with Model Arab League, you succeed as a representative of your school, but there are also avenues for personal awards.”

In addition to the competition aspect of the MAL, each year’s event also brings in "gures who have been instrumental in real world Middle Eastern diplomacy to visit A&M-Commerce, and speak with the student delegates.

“We had Robert Jordan, who was Foreign Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, speaking here last year, then we had David Lesch, who’s an academic from Trinity College [in San Antonio],” Haney said. “He was on the negotiating team in Syria, advising on policy, so we’ve gotten some big names that have come here to Commerce. We had a prospect last year of getting one of the Saudi princes to come and speak, but his schedule didn’t allow for it. #at would’ve been nice to have one of the Saudi royals here on campus.”

MAL competitions are administered by the National Council of U.S. - Arab Relations, which also provides study abroad opportunities for student delegates.

Taylor, who visited Qatar in November of this year, said “We met with various government ministries and we also got the go to Education City and Qatar University. We met with the World Cup Committee and we got to go to the Islamic museum of art.”

“It’s a unique experience, because I can go represent Qatar [in a Model Arab League simulation] next week,” Taylor said. “On the trip, we got to ask basically any questions we wanted. #ey were very welcoming. It was really amazing, and it’s a trip that can’t be replicated. I know a lot of the kids I met when I went to Qatar felt the same way. A lot of them want to study the Middle East because of this program. #at’s the kind of the impact it has, and we’re really fortunate to have it [MAL] on campus, and I hope we keep it forever.”

Model Arab League gives political sciencestudents a taste of diplomacy in action

PHOTO COURTESY/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

PHOTO COURTESY/NICOLAS HENDERSON

Director of the chamber of commerce strives to help Commerce appear just a

little bit bolder on the map

FEB. 4, 2016PAGE 5 F!"#$%!&Hunt County Constable Recalls

Career in Law EnforcementHunter MicheReporter

In a town as small in population as Commerce and a county as small in population as Hunt, one might expect the duties of law enforcement o!cers in the area to be relatively quiet, be"t-ting a county whose population doesn’t exceed 90,000.

Hunt County’s population density is about 91 persons per square mile, but that doesn’t mean Wayne Pierce isn’t busy as Constable of Precinct 2.

Pierce, a 32-year veteran of law enforcement, has served in the constable’s position for Hunt County’s Precinct 2 for eleven years and is in his third term.

“I’ve had di#erent positions,” Pierce said. “I’ve worked as a patrol o!cer, I started law en-forcement as a reserve peace o!cer for the City of Commerce, I worked for the sheri# ’s o!ce for a while, years ago. I went into the county attorney’s o!ce as the investigator and came back and worked at the Texas A&M University-Commerce police department, was lieutenant of operations at one time, was interim chief for about a year.”

Pierce’s small o!ce behind the Mr. Minot on Culver Street in Commerce belies the amount of work that goes into his position, which can be anything from traditional police duties such as patrolling and issuing tickets to speci"c duties of a constable such as issuing warrants, overseeing eviction, and serving as a baili# in court.

“$e constable is a constitution-created po-sition—the Texas Constitution. Our primary

job according to the constitution is to serve due process papers like evictions, small claims suits, things of that nature, and also serve as baili#s for the justice courts,” said Pierce.

Many of these evictions, unlike what people may see on “reality” television shows, are not the tense, near-violent confrontations that normally appear to happen. Instead, Pierce said he super-vises the removal of the evictee’s possessions in a fairly routine manner with no melodramatic confrontations of any kind.

“A lot of times on stu# like that it can get violent, but on our end, if someone was evicted, they come to court, they lost their battle with the court, they had their chance appeal or didn’t appeal, and now comes the writ of possession, and the writ of possession tells me to go and have their stu# moved out. Usually by that time they know it’s coming so they have already moved out or are in the process of moving out.”

Despite the risks and responsibilities of the job, however, Pierce said he doesn’t regret join-ing law enforcement, and even enjoys his job, calling it challenging and said that it feels good to interact with the people of Commerce and Hunt County.

“It’s a new and challenging day every day. I enjoy it, because being there to help people, just driving by and waving at them—nobody never waves at anyone anymore—I try to make it a point to try and make eye contact with folks go-ing down the road and city streets and county roads, just stop and say ‘Hi, how’re you doing?’ and just let them know I’m there for them if they need me,” Pierce said.

A Life in Service Pierce, posed here in front of the state seal of Texas, has served in law enforecement for over three decades, and has held the position of constable for Hunt County for over ten years.

Joseph AldermanNews Editor

Regular visitors to downtown Greenville surely have noticed the area looking a lot more artistic in the last couple years. Large mu-rals have begun popping up around downtown thanks largely to Hunt County Public Art, a Keep Greenville Beautiful Project.

$ese additions are not limited to Greenville only. $e group has also been working in Commerce, with the construc-tion of Eternal Carousel, a sculptural piece by artist David L. Zvanut located on Park St. $e area is intended to become a sculptural park, being continued this year by the involvement of Texas A&M University – Commerce alumnus J.J. Savage.

$e Commerce Journal describes Savage’s sculpture as be-ing constructed of timber from a demolished railroad bridge, buried partially into the ground in order to form a bridge-like appearance. $e piece will be titled “Bridge Crossing.”

Savage is not the only person a!liated with A&M – Com-merce involved with Hunt County Public Art this year. Brian Weaver and Robert Bird, both instructors in the department of art, will also be doing public art projects for Greenville.

“be seen” [sic] by Brian Weaver is described on www.hunt-countypublicart.com as being a “large steel sculpture covered in a durable surface [that] will be installed on a small wall at the Renshaw Davis & Ferguson law "rm at 2900 Lee St. in Greenville. $is attention-getting sculpture is designed to let people photograph themselves within the fun artwork, using a double-sided design.”

“‘be seen’ is a large scale sculpture depicting a "gurative character peering over a small wall while contemplating whether or not to interact with society,” Weaver said. “‘be seen’ is a social commentary on the awkwardness of human interactions. ‘be seen’ will be constructed of steel and covered with a durable surface.”

Bird’s mural will appear on the wall of the Greenville Herald-Banner on King St in Greenville, and is described by Hunt Coun-

ty Public Art as “a careful selection of colors that lets viewers play a matching game. Each individually mixed color will be applied to only two squares, letting you try to "nd the pair when you look at it.”

Hunt County Public Art is still seeking funds to help

in the production of their 2016 projects, and is holding a fundraising gala February 6 at the Emerald Ballroom be-hind Landon Winery in downtown Greenville. More in-formation and more ways to contribute can be found at www.huntcountypublicart.com/2016-art-projects/.

Bridge Crossing A 3-D model of Savage’s “Bridge Crossing” was constructed to display the

proposed concept to Hunt County Public Art.PHOTO CREDIT / WWW.HUNTCOUNTYPUBLICART.COM

ART IN THE PUBLIC EYE

PHOTO CREDIT / WWW.HUNTCOUNTYPUBLICART.COM

SoundtrackBurnes’ Turns

FEB. 4, 2016PAGE 6 E!"#$"%&!'#!"

!is raucous, blues-infused, piano driven, four-and-a-half minute bombshell is a cheerful ragefest fueled by God-knows-what going on in Axl Rose’s head. I can’t really think of anything that’s been bothering me for an entire decade-and-a-half, but I think we can all concur that it’s way too long to be pissed o". Either way, it’s therapeutic to take a look into the rearview mirror, lift that middle #nger high, and move into a new age whether its life after college, a new election year, a bad relationship, or the haters that said a Guns N’ Roses reunion would never happen.

PHOTO COURTESY/YOUTUBE.COM

Guilty pleasure time! Yeah, the lyrical content here isn’t exactly Bob Dylan, but when the groove is this infectious and the mood this rebellious, I can overlook it. Some-times, when you’re an outgoing editor of a paper writing about controversial comments, you need a few minutes to indulge. !is one does it for me every time. If you ever see me walking across campus bobbing my head like an idiot with my long hair scrunched up under my Marshall headphones, this is probably what’s bumping through my eardrums. No apologies.

PHOTO COURTESY/BET.COM

Beautiful chaos. It’s an antithesis that creates some of the most strangely beautiful music ever created and is the tool of use for Heavy Metal bands like Metallica, Mastodon, and Foo Fighters. Deafheaven’s 8-and-a-half minute epic with nary an understandable word, though, is the most perfect representation yet featuring surging guitars, teeth-gnashing vocals, and a beautiful ending that fades into operatic piano like a lonesome dove in the eye of a storm.

PHOTO COURTESY/2DOPEBOYZ.COM

PHOTO COURTESY/YOUTUBE.COM

!is haunting-then-driving, dark piece is what plays as Order 66 comes down and Anakin Skywalker #nally makes the long-anticipated plunge into the dark side by slaying countless jedi children as clone troopers simulta-neously wipe out almost every remaining jedi across the galaxy. In a prequel series with many hits and misses, Anakin’s betrayal is a moment that stands out, and it wouldn’t be the same without Williams’ fantastic score.

Star Wars: from Worst to BestAndrew BurnesEditor

Star Wars is a series as grand as the galaxy its characters inhabit. From binary son-burning sand (it’s course and rough and gets ev-erywhere, you know), to oceanic, perma-stormy planets, from Yoda to Sidious, from Jar Jar to R2-D2, each entry in the legendary se-ries has something for everyone to love and hate. But regardless of how you feel about each movie, there’s no doubt that every single one was an event that a"ected millions. With each swing of the

lightsaber, with every quotable or cringeworthy line, the seven Star wars movies have been a means of debate, discussion, love, disgust, and Saturday night serial entertainment. Regardless of how you feel about his directing prowess (good Lord, the man is rough with dialog) George Lucas created something special when that now famous Star Destroyer #lled silver screens across the globe in 1977 that will carry on forever. With the apparently limitless future of the Star Wars universe thanks to Disney’s ownership, let’s look back at the #rst seven #lms that made the series what it is today.

7. Star Wars Episode II: A!ack of the Clones!e Phantom Menace seems to get all the hate, but there’s no doubt in my mind this escapade into the Naboo #elds of sandless heartache featuring two monotonous lovers in the prime of confusion takes the position as the worst Star Wars ever. !e #rst three-fourths of the movie may as well be a call to jury duty; only a select few would ever be excited about it. Once the arena scene really takes o", the pace quickens and the plot thickens, but it’s really too late to save this one from being decent at best.

6. Star Wars Episode I: "e Phantom Menace!e one with Jar Jar beats its younger brother mostly thanks to the intrigue of Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, one of my personal favorite characters in the Star Wars saga. His death (uh, spoilers?) packs an emotional punch that the second one lacks, and it is interesting to #rst see how vast and diverse the Star Wars universe is beyond the traditional desert, ice, and forest en-vironments. It makes the galaxy seem more connected as a whole than ever before. Oh, and that Darth Maul guy was alright, too.

5. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the SithI know Hayden Christensen gets a lot of heat for his monotonous whining throughout the movie, but frankly I think that’s exactly what Lucas was going for. Take it or leave it. !e set pieces are grand, the lightsaber duels are at their peak, Williams’ score has never been more stir-ring, and seeing Anakin #nally take the plunge is simultaneously one of the most satisfying and heartbreaking moments in the history of the franchise.

4. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi!e #rst last piece of the Star Wars puzzle was intriguing, exciting, joyful, and triumphant. !e main problem here was that Lucas seemed to have already exhausted all his options. !e Ewoks weren’t exactly a welcome addition to Endor, and the middle of the movie drags what is other-wise an excellent pace. Blowing up the Death Star again was a big retread, but it was Lando Cal-rissian and Wedge Antilles (utter badass, by the way) this time, so that makes it alright. Right?

3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope!e one that started it all was no doubt revolutionary for the time. Hell, nothing even remotely like it had ever been done before and considering the many setbacks that Lucas and crew experi-enced during production, he was amazed that it became a hit at all. What set the Star Wars uni-verse apart was its characters, and every one had depth, interest and uniqueness as they battled across the galaxy and blew up the Death Star for the #rst and best time. Looking back it doesn’t pack the same punch that it did before, but it’s still a classic in every sense.

2. Star Wars Episode VII: "e Force AwakensLike Vader before him, J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the series was branded the chosen one the minute it was announced. Expectations were ridiculously high, Disney’s scary hand was sure to leave nasty #ngerprints all over the product, and the future of the series depended on the quality of the new characters. !anks to a mix of nostalgia, a fantastic new cast, and modern technology, !e Force Awakens delivers on all fronts. With mystery around every turn, simultaneously grip-ping and hilarious dialog (the Achilles’ heel of the series in the past), unbelievable set pieces, and the most emotional moment in franchise history, this one’s a winner through and through.

1. Star Wars Episode V: !e Empire Strikes Back

Abrams’ may have needed to meet high expectations with his reboot, but no other Star Wars movie needed to deliver like the followup to the original. Understanding this, Lucas and Kershner took everything the original did and did it grander with more emotional storytelling, side stories, and deeper plot points all mixed together in a big cauldron of darkness, foreshadowing and doom. Almost all of the best moments in Star Wars series history comes from this movie: Solo’s timeless line, Vader’s unexpected dec-laration, Yoda, and possibly the best love theme of all time. And they did it all without a Death Star. Now that’s impressive.

PHOTO COURTESY/DEAFHEAVEN/TUMBLR.COM

1. Guns n’ Roses“14 Years”

2. John Williams“Anakin’s Dark Deeds”

3. Drake“Energy”

4. Jim Johnston“X-Pac”

PHOTO COURTESY/ANGELFIRE.COM

S!"#$% FEB. 4, 2016PAGE 7

Baileigh WhitlockSta! writer

When the Lion softball program started two years ago, it was known that it was going to be a challenge, but it had to start somewhere and it started with getting leaders to guide the direc-tion of the program. "at is how three senior team members made history with the program.

Luci Ponce came to A&M-Commerce from Weatherford Col-lege to be part of the new program, because she wanted “to start from the ground and move up to success.”

"e pressure was on for Ponce, an in#elder who was named team captain and forced to “step out of her comfort zone.”

“I had never led a team before and there was pressure from the school and community not to make any mistakes because all eyes were on us,” Ponce said, referring to the team being on their toes trying to make a good initial impression for the program.

Ponce, named all-conference at Weatherford College, was a four-year letter winner at her high school and two-time league MVP her junior and senior year. She also spent several years play-ing on a club team in her hometown of San Jose, Calif.

Ponce is a well-rounded individual and athlete, also lettering in basketball and volleyball while in high school.

“Playing softball here has impacted my life by opening up so many opportunities for success,” Ponce said.

Also by being on the team, Ponce has had multiple networking opportunities that have enhanced her career path.

Kylene Hatton is also a senior, who has racked up runs on the board as a hitter and base runner.

A four-year letter winner at Royal High School in California, Hatton came to Commerce to discover and soak in the di!er-

ent areas and cultures around the country. She also came to be a part of the history with A&M-Commerce’s #rst softball team.

Feeling the pressures of #rst-year program challenges, Hatton said she took the #rst-year as a growing year and has continually grown with the program.

“"e team was so young that the spotlight was on us as leaders. We had to lead by exam-ple and be leaders on and o! the #eld for the younger members of the team,” Hatton said.

She spent two seasons with North Idaho College and hit .380 with four homeruns and 25 RBIs. She was named NFCA Academic All-American and NJCAA Distinguished Academic All-American.

“I want to leave here being remembered as somebody who gives their all on and o! the #eld and someone who always puts the team #rst,” Hatton said.

Danielle Guerra, a kinesiology major from Vernon, Texas is an in#elder who played at Vernon College where she was named to the outstanding defensive team. She ended her high school career with a .400 batting aver-age.

Guerra came to A&M-Commerce after hearing about the success of coach Richie Bruister from one of his former players that she played for. She has gained a lot by being a part of this team and the program as she met a lot of people through com-munity service projects and camps.

After being given the platform of being a leader on the team, Guerra said that it has allowed her “to set the standards for the team and program through the many things that the team does on and o! the #eld.”

“I want to leave this team being known as a hard worker, good person and passionate on and o! the #eld,” Guerra said.

Being successful, not only on the #eld, but o! as well, is a priority for the team and program as they recorded the eighth high-est GPA in the NCAA DII in 2015. All three players want to become a coach and have started out the right way to leading a team through the start of the softball program. "ey are hyped for next season and their goals are #nishing games together and strong, building team chemistry and the ultimate goal- getting a ring.

"e Lions open the season on the road at the St. Mary’s Tour-

nament in San Antonio with games against Lubbock Christian, St. Edward’s, Colorado School of Mines, and St. Mary’s.

"e Lions will also travel to Kingsville for a tournament Feb. 12-14 then o! to California and Oklahoma before coming back to Commerce for their home opener March 1 against the University of Texas-Permian Basin.

So!ball seniors prepare for season

Evan Lueke Sta! writer

Pittsburg, Kansas: "e Lions crawled their way into the Pittsburg State Invitational this past weekend. "e Lions track team traveled to Pittsburg for the #rst indoor track meet this season.

With a long bus ride ahead, the Lions left "ursday afternoon and did not get checked into the hotel until around 11 PM. "e bus ride was full of excitement as the athletes were look-ing forward to the competition. Pittsburg State, home of one of the nicest indoor tracks in the nation, will be hosting nationals this year. "e Lions headed over to see if they could hit some standards and compete there again in early March.

"e Lions started o! the day with the 60-meter dash qualifying rounds. "ree of the guys and three girls quali#ed for prelims. Next, things got kicked o! well for the Lions in the 5,000 meter run. "e Lions were led by Sopho-more Turner Pool, who set an indoor school re-cord with 15:23.27. Following that was Terra Truitt, who broke her own indoor record with an 18:33.15. With two records broken in the same event, things were looking very good for the Lions.

In order to compete in Nationals, you don’t have a regional meet on the D2 level. You have marks. An Automatic mark puts you in the National meet, guaranteed. A provisional

mark puts you on a list. If there aren’t many automatic marks, the top athletes who hit pro-visional marks gets to go and compete at Na-tionals.

Competing in the 60 meter hurdles were Seth Pearson, Brock Petteit, Luis Simon, Lan-orris Garden, and Matt Rich, who all quali-#ed. Rich also broke the school record and hit a NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Later that day, Luis Romero set an indoor school record hitting a 1:51.51 in the 800 meter run. "at also gives him a NCAA provisional quali-fying mark. Kamryn McKee places 7th in the 400m with a 56.94, which gives her a NCAA provisional mark. Devontae Steele won the triple jump with a 15.38m giving him a NCAA provisional mark. Malcom Woods, a freshman continued his solid performance with a 21.90 giving him a NCAA provisional mark. Seth Pearson vaulted a foot personal record, setting a new school record, and hit a NCAA provi-sional mark vaulting 4.87 meters. To end the night, the Lions ended with a distance med-ley relay, which is combined with a 1200, 400, 800, 1600. "e Lions hit a school record and was a second o! of hitting a NCAA provisional mark.

"e Lions competed very well for the open-ing meet, with 6 NCAA provisional marks and seven school records, the Lions head home late Friday night on a good note. Traveling back home was very relaxing after a long day, and they did not get back until 6 am.

Kylene Hatton moments before the pitch.

NCAA marks, school records accompany track team

EAST TEXAN PHOTO/ EVAN LUEKE

In!elders Luci Ponce (above) and Danielle Guerra (below) getting ready to begin the play.

S!"#$% FEB. 4, 2016PAGE 8

Kourtlynd Buggs-TorresSta! writer

"e Lions men’s basketball team has had a rough start since the beginning of the semester, only being able to pull o! one win in the last three games.

"e Lions started o! the early school series with a (85-81) loss to the West Texas A&M Bu!s. "e Lions stuck neck and neck with the Bu!s most of the #rst half eventually taking a 5 point lead before halftime.

"e Bu!s came out for the second half with a vengeance mounting a quick 14-3 scoring run that left the Lions behind 9 points. "e Bu!s ended the game ahead by #ve with 39% shoot-ing overall, but went 80% from the 3 point line to the Lions’ 59%. "e ultimate deciding factor was the three ball. Top scorers for the game were Bryant Crowder and Anthony Adams with 20 point performances.

When the Lions headed to New Mexico to face the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds they were in hopes of snapping their three-games losing streak. Unfortunately, the 5-13 Greyhounds had other plans.

"e Greyhounds quickly got on to the Lions taking a 15-11 lead early in the #rst half into a 17 point lead after a 17-4 run. "e Li-ons struggled from the #eld, going scoreless for almost 8 minutes during the #rst half. Despite the shooting woes, the Lions #nished the #rst half strong scoring the last 5 points of the half cutting the Greyhound lead to 11 points.

"e Lions seemed to come back out into the half determined to cut the lead. "e Lions pulled o! a 12-0 scoring run early gain-ing momentum from an Alley-Oop from Jeremy Jones to Bryant Crowder. "e Lions tried their best to keep the game in their grips only trailing by a few points after the scoring run, but the Grey-hounds eventually pulled away closing the game out with a 12 point 72- 60 victory. "e loss gave the Lions their #rst four game

losing streak since the 2012-2013 season."e Lions returned home to face the Arlington Baptist Patri-

ots, after losing the last four games the Lions were desperate for a win.

"e game started at a slow pace with the Lions taking a 7-2 lead #ve minutes into the game. "e Lions quickly woke up eventually taking a 20-9 lead with 12:28 remaining before halftime. "e Pa-triots tried their best to combat the Lions’ e!orts reducing the lead to 29-23, but the Lions returned #re going on a 15-2 scoring run that didn’t end until the half was over.

"e second half resembled the end of the #rst. "e Patriots couldn’t #ght back against the Lions o!ensive onslaught. "e Li-ons took a 21 point lead two minutes into the second half eventu-ally taking a lead as big as 31 points. "e Lions put the Patriots away with a 98-71 win. "e Lions had three players in double digits Bryant Crowder had 20 points, JR Owens 13 points, and Ronnie White 14 points.

Facetime: !e Lions go 1 for 2 as the semester roars ahead

EAST TEXAS PHOTO/ KRISTEN TAYLOR

Richard MoserStaff writer

The 2015-2016 Lions women’s basket-ball team has gone through a roller coaster season up to this point, seeing its share of wins and losses. Since spring basketball ar-rived, Texas A&M University- Commerce has dropped two of its f irst three games by a to-tal of just 10 points with back-to-back losses coming at the hands of West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico. The Lady Lion’s most recent win came against the Patriots of Ar-lington Baptist on Tuesday, Jan. 26 at The Field House, marking the team’s f inal non-conference game of the season.

A&M- Commerce was able to outpace Ar-lington Baptist in a shootout 113-95, giving the Lions a 6-2 record at home. Numerous re-cords were set in the game as a result of both teams’ defenses struggling to stop their oppo-nent’s offensive f irepower. Arlington Baptist led by one going into halftime, but the Lady

Lions were able to pull away in the second half with the help of numerous players, in-cluding guard Shomari Harris. Harris had 10 rebounds and six assists on the night, both of which led the team. Forward Artaejah Gay poured in 30 points of her own, a new career single-game record. The last time a Lion on the women’s team dropped at least 30 points in a game was back in 2009. The team’s 58.5 percent shooting from the f ield was a new sea-son high, which aided in A&M- Commerce setting a new team game record with 113 points. The basketball team is 2-0 against the Patriots with the f irst matchup coming just last year.

The Lions are now 10-9 overall and 3-4 in Lone Star Conference play. The next games in line are on Saturday, Jan. 30 against Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas and on Wednes-day, Feb. 3 against Cameron at The Field House. A&M- Commerce defeated Cameron 62-56 in their f irst head-to-head meeting back in mid-January up in Lawton, Okla.

!e Lions outperform Arlington Baptist, look ahead

toward Tarleton, Cameron

EAST TEXAN PHOTO/ ALISSA SILVA