Herald for November 17

A-State has once again proven to be a leader among its peers. For the sixth consecutive year, the university has ranked in the top 100 schools deemed “Best for Vets” by the Military Times.

The annual survey, which was released in early November, selected the four year university as the 59th best school for vet-erans and military personnel to receive their education. As with previous years, A-State was the only university to make the list in the state of Arkansas. Kathy Mathes, Veterans Representa-tive for the Office of Admis-sions, attributes much of this success to the Beck PRIDE Center.

“It’s an honor to be picked as a ‘Best for Vets’ school for the sixth consecutive year,” Mathes said. “We work hand in hand with the PRIDE Center to guarantee our military men and

women have access to the edu-cational resources they need to achieve their goals.”

Indeed, the PRIDE Cen-ter, which focuses on delivering “personal rehabilitation, indi-vidual development, and educa-tion,” draws in over half of the 410 former and current military personnel on campus. Veterans who seek assistance from the PRIDE Center have access to counseling, rehabilitation ser-vices, financial assistance and other educational resources.

“The PRIDE Center does amazing work, ranging from rehab to giving struggling stu-dents gas money,” Mathes said. “They provide assistance on a very personal level.”

Many of A-State’s veter-an students are attending the university with assistance from the Montgomery GI Bill, which provides military students with monthly educational assistance. According to the PRIDE web-page, the center looks to supple-ment the benefits students re-

ceive from this bill. In addition, Mathes cites A-States in-state tuition policy for all veterans as a driving force for the universi-ty’s high military enrollment.

According to the Mili-tary Times website, this year’s survey was completed by nearly 700 schools. The survey, which works in conjunction with sta-tistics compiled from the U.S. Education Department to allow Military Times to compile their ranking, has received a boost in returns in the last two years.

“Only about 45 percent of schools responding to our sur-vey provided any military-spe-cific graduation, retention, per-sistence or course completion rates,” said George Altman, staff writer for the Military Times. “That’s substantially higher than the 11 percent of institutions that tracked similar stats two years ago or the one-third that tracked them last year.”

Altman, who published his analysis of the rankings on

#Life:Opinion:

PHOTO 4B

Sports: Deathtrap, 1BOur View, 2A Volleyball, 2BNews: Student Speak, 3A

Heroes, 4A

Howl, 4A

A-State’s mascot received national recognition last week after the Universal Cheerleaders Association named Howl one of the top 10 mascots in the coun-try for his work on campus and across the community.

Paige Pauley, spirit squad co-ordinator and head coach, said everyone chipped in to make a video that helped Howl qualify for this competition.

“Those involved with the program created the video while I submitted the video in hopes of qualifying,” Pauley said. “When creating the vid-eo, we tried to maximize shots from different locations to show Howl’s involvement on cam-pus, within the community and during athletic events.”

She said judges from UCA Mascot Staff and Director of College Programs for UCA John White evaluated the sub-missions and decided to rank Howl at eighth place.

According to a news release from last week, A-State ranked just behind LSU, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Canon Ashford, junior social work major from Paragould, said he was excited when he found out about Howl’s well-deserved recognition.

“I think he should be higher than eighth place,” Ashford said. “But, I think it’s great! Howl is so popular around A-State and Jonesboro in general. For him to be getting national recognition is very cool. It goes to show what kind of impact he has made.”

Ashford’s reaction was sim-

ilar to Pauley’s and the spirit squad’s reaction.

“When we found out Howl made top ten, it was so excit-ing. Howl and Scarlet were together at Lit’l Bit of Christ-mas, and I ran into the room to grab them both and shouted, “Eighth place--we’re going to nationals!!” Pauley said. “They were so excited to see their hard work and dedication had paid off. It was also amazing to see the support from the university and Red Wolves fans when the announcement was made. Howl will be a great representation of Arkansas State University and the Sunbelt Conference.”

Pauley said Howl is an im-portant figure within the cam-pus and exceeds the expecta-

tions of the average mascot.“He adds so much spirit and

connects fans to the university through public appearances. No matter the age, when fans see Howl, they immediately grab a camera or give him a hug,” Pauley said. “When others see Howl, they immediately think Arkansas State University. He is such a unique mascot and is easily identified by the public. Howl definitely enjoys making others laugh no matter where he is in the community.”

“I don’t know of any other mascot that is as involved in the community as Howl,” Ashford said. “He is everywhere! I’ve seen Howl collect money for Make-a-Wish.

I’ve seen him at ribbon cut-

ting ceremonies. He was at the Bill Clinton Presidential Rally. When it comes to interacting with the community, no one does it better than Howl.”

The news release said Howl entered the competition in tenth place and finished ninth overall after the competition last year.

Pauley said there was no bet-ter way to emphasize Howl’s humility than when the univer-sity introduced Scarlet.

“He is still the goofy, spirited and enthusiastic Red Wolf as he has always been. Scarlet is such a great addition to the A-State family, and everyone loves see-ing those two together,” Pauley said. “If one is without the oth-

A-State ranked in top 100 list of “Best for Vets”

Brett Whitman| Staff PhotographerDuring the Arkansas State University ROTC’s 2014 Hall of Heroes Induction Ceremony, several ROTC cadets took an oath to join the our nation’s armed forces as a career after they graduate. The ceremony took place on Nov. 15 at the Cooper Alumni Center.

A-State ROTC inducted three into the Military De-partment’s Hall of Heroes for the 2014 year on Satur-day at the Cooper Alumni Center.

Jordan Mays, junior crim-inology major of Hardy, said, “The Hall of Heroes was es-tablished to honor alumni of the A-State ROTC program who have made significant contributions to our commu-nity, state and nation through military service, civil service and veterans advocacy.”

Governor Mike Beebe, retired Colonel Franklin F. Wise and Russell D. Har-rington, Jr., all A-State grad-uates that participated in the ROTC program and served time in the armed forces, were the three inductees at the annual ceremony.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in politi-

cal science, Governor Beebe attended law school while serving in the U.S. Army Re-serve. He later became the 45th Governor of Arkan-sas, and has served for the A-State Board of Trustees.

Colonel Wise served two years as an infantry platoon leader and earned a Bronze Star with “V” device for valor, a Purple Heart and a Com-bat Infantryman’s Badge af-ter graduating from A-State with his bachelor’s in educa-tion. Afterward, he served 28 years in the Adjunct General Corps.

Harrington served as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps after graduating from A-State. After the Vietnam War, he continued to pursue medicine, recently retiring as chief executive officer of Baptist Health.

“I thought the Hall of Heroes event was a great re-

A-State ROTC inducts three into Hall of HeroesJORGE QUIQUIVIX

STAFF WRITER

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A-State Quiddich

practices in full

swing. See details on

the photo spread. Theher aldw w w . A S U h e r a l d . c o m

I N F O R M I N G T H E C A M P U S A N D C O M M U N I T Y S I N C E 1 9 2 1

Vol.94, Issue 13

MONDAY, NOV. 17, 2014

ALLISON NICHOLSNEWS EDITOR

Howl named one of the top 10 national mascots

Denise Goldstein| Staff PhotographerHowl poses for the camera on Wednesday at the men’s basketball game against Southern Arkansas Univer-sity. Howl was selected to compete in the Universal Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Nationals in Orlando, Fla., in January.

EMMA WILLIAMSSTAFF WRITER

Vets, 4A

EMILY ALEXANDEREDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Five A-State students generated a project to work with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Jonesboro to help build houses on Nov. 8.

According to the organiza-tion website, Habitat for Hu-manity of Greater Jonesboro is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to build safe, affordable housing for persons and fami-lies who are not in a position to purchase a home of their own through traditional means.

The students involved are Makayla Moody, Erica Nich-ols, Chris Henry, Jordan Ow-ens and Zane Jefferson. They named this project the Aware-ness Project.

The Awareness Project is part of a class assignment in their oral communications class. The students were re-quired to pick a social issue of their choice and put togeth-er a project that would bring

awareness to the chosen cause.Zane Jefferson, sophomore

exercise science major of Vilo-nia, said part of the assignment was to encourage others to help in any way possible.

Jefferson said the social is-sues could be anything from homelessness or animal abuse to public transportation issues.

“We’ve been working on the project since midterm week of this semester,” he said. “We de-cided to work with Habitat for Humanity, and we’re using this project to encourage others to volunteer in their community.”

Jefferson said the students have helped measure off and cut boards for a porch ceiling, calk windows and boards for house insulation and reinforce a pillar on the porch used to hold up roofs.

Erica Nichols, sophomore animal science major of Lit-tle Rock, said, “I joined Hab-itat for Humanity because I wanted to use my time giving back to others. Even though I

was new to everything, I really enjoyed my experience helping build the house for the home-owner.”

These students along with members of the A-State Habi-tat for Humanity organization went out that Saturday to help build the houses.

“This experience has been more than worth it. My group and I chose to work with this organization because we ad-mire all that they’ve done to help less fortunate people re-ceive proper housing,” Jeffer-son said.

He said, “It was awesome to help work on the house and see the result of our efforts. Meet-ing the future homeowner, see-ing how grateful she was for us volunteering and knowing that we’re helping someone attain a better quality of living is a tru-ly amazing feeling, and we’re going to keep encouraging as many people as possible to vol-unteer wherever they see fit.”

Awareness Project impacts A-State students and faculty

Recently, Bill Cosby joined the many high profile stars to come under fire for illicit activ-ities.

The accusations include sex-ual harassment, drugging and rape, as recounted through mul-tiple women.

This is a resurgence of ac-cusations from years past, one of which ended in a settlement of an undisclosed amount of money with a woman who he allegedly drugged and raped.

However, the public response is still one of disbelief, and many are left to question how some-one with such a fatherly persona could commit such terrible acts.

The allegations against Cos-by are just one of many accounts of public figures getting caught committing terrible acts.

Other celebrities, such as Mel Gibson, Chris Brown and Christian Bale have also been convicted of assault.

Yet they remain some of the nation’s top celebrities despite their charges.

Like Cosby’s allegations, the public also reacted in the same way.

When celebrities commit crimes, our first reaction is often to worry about them, and not their victims.

This, however, leads to the dangerous mindset that puts some celebrities above the law.

This is the same mindset that allows celebrities to get away with crimes for which the vast majority of people would be punished.

It also allows stars to keep earning accolades even though they have committed a crime.

Perhaps the reason we rush to defend celebrities is due to their likability. When we come to admire a celebrity, it is hard to think that they can do anything wrong.

This is magnified by the roles many celebrities portray. Many of the same actors who play calm, likable characters can be the opposite in real life.

Another reason why celebri-ties are allowed to get away with crimes is the apathy of the gen-eral public.

Even when stars get in trou-ble, many are less likely to care, or are forgiving so long as the person makes good music or stars in a popular movie.

However, it is important to realize that celebrities are peo-ple as well.

When someone is charged with a violent crime, there is of-ten a stigma that will stay with the person long after they’ve served their punishment.

With celebrities, however, the stigma seems to go away in favor of the talent the celebrity has.

But as if with anyone else,

violent crimes are not ones that should be promoted. Yet that is exactly what we do when we allow people to keep earning money and giving them praise after they have been convicted.

This leads to a culture that sees violence as something that is acceptable, which is overall a detriment to society.

Another detriment is to the celebrities themselves.

By not taking a stand against public figures, they are more likely to keep committing vio-lent acts.

What would happen if we stopped listening to music from someone convicted of domestic violence?

Or if we refused to go to movies with actors that have been arrested for assault?

It is time for a serious change in the way we view celebrities who commit violent crimes.

By choosing to not support those who commit crimes, re-gardless of social status, we can actually make strides for true punishment of crimes, and pos-sibly prevent them from hap-pening in the first place.

Response to critical article on feminismI am writing in response to Mitchell Ea-

ton’s recent article entitled, “The Pitfalls of Third Wave Feminism.”

I find it highly unfortunate for a writ-er on the ASU Herald staff to be critical of the current feminist movement, particularly since feminists argue that the third wave has ended.

The first wave the article talks about is, indeed, the one unifying around the suffrage movement and women’s rights to vote and own property.

The 1950s to the 1980s brought about the second wave, encompassing issues such as equal pay for equal work, the Equal Rights Amendment, sexual harassment, rape and reproductive rights.

Third wave feminism arrived around the 1990s, rallying around class, race, queerness and gender identity.

This wave put great focus on the idea of intersectionality, or the idea that one person can face multiple forms of oppression.

The article fails to assert that feminism is not just for women; it is for minorities and those in society facing overwhelming dis-crimination, as well as equality for women.

The article states, “First Wave Feminism was steadily seeking important issues.”

This statement infers that the issues fol-lowing First Wave are not of any impor-tance to our society.

That is not the case. The current femi-nist agenda is very broad, encompassing of the above and so many more issues faced by women and minorities today.

Although the article is very broad and lacks focus, I will attempt to address it with specificity.

Firstly, the article speaks mostly toward the economic aspect of the feminist move-ment, so that is where I will start.

The Department of Labor’s own statistics show that white women working the same job, with the same training, make 71 cents on the dollar in comparison to her male counterpart (less if she is African American or Latina).

That is not just, and this is the type of discriminatory practice feminists address and attempt to eliminate.

This point makes moot the part of the article in which the writer compares men earning STEM degrees to women who earn degrees in the liberal arts (remember the popular saying: apples and oranges).

The article claims that maternity leave is a key cause of unequal pay for women.

Though this is a cause of less money earned, it fails to recognize that feminists are working toward paid maternity (and pa-ternity) leave as well.

Secondly, the article says that “third wave” feminists are advocating the abolish-ment of traditional gender roles.

What feminists educate people about is the fluidity of sexuality and the myth that gender is biological in order to expose the cultural expectations around gender and work.

They work to eliminate stereotypes that men should be masculine and women should be feminine.

In no way do they seek to completely abolish traditional gender roles, but to chal-lenge traditional ways of thinking in order to make our society a better place for all – with no regard to their gender expression and/or sexuality.

Lastly, I challenge the writer to elaborate more in the next article, if there is such an article.

I believe the writer has a very flawed un-derstanding of what feminism is and what it seeks to accomplish.

I welcome more discussion on this issue and invite all to join the newly-formed ASU Feminist Union.

If anyone would like to join the feminist union on campus, please email me at [email protected].

-Cody JacksonASU Student

pinionMONDAY, NOV. 17, 2014PAGE 2A O

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Editorial PolicyOpinions expressed in personal

columns are those of the writers and may not reflect the opinions of the staff as a whole.

“Our View” represents the opinions of the editorial staff and is written by members of the editorial board. The opinions are not necessarily reflective of the students, faculty or administration at A-State.

Columns, letters to the editor, cartoons and other content on the opinion page are the views of the author. Content does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Herald.

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Our View:

Rachel Bjornestad is a senior radio/TV major of Powell, Wyo.

Even with the barrage of Christmas commercials that have flooded the airwaves since Halloween, the day of Thanksgiving is still a day set aside for reflecting on our fortitude.

And as part of giving thanks, many choose to show their gratitude by giving to the less fortunate.

Many organizations on campus do their best to collect donations of everything from cans of food to personal items to clothing and toys.

The school’s response has been nothing short of extraordinary, with many organizations seeing bigger numbers of donations than expected.

Nationally, donations have ramped up for the holidays as well. USA Today reports that thirty-four percent of all charitable giving happens during the last three months of the year.

However, while we are willing to give to help families celebrate a holiday, there is a bigger concern for other times of the year.

Over the years, food prices have left much to be desired in the way of donations. When demand for food and crops is low, the government will subsidize the food in order to stabilize the market.

They will then give this money to shelters pantries, or to needy families. But with the demand for food climbing, the government has bought less food. This means less for those in need.

With the economic recession, more families are seeking help from food pantries and homeless shelters.

But there is less food for them as people who would have otherwise donated have less means to do so, also due to the down economy.

Organized food drives are a great way to help fill pantries, but they are usually only popular around November.

Unfortunately, one is hard-pressed to find a successful food drive after the holiday season.

Some organizations do step up to help the less fortunate, but there is a noticeable gap in the number of people who choose to donate versus the number of people seeking help for food during hard times.

Churches and other charitable organizations are also unable to fill the gap alone.

While it is great to donate this time of year, it is important to remember that Thanksgiving is not the only time we can give our thanks, and give to the less fortunate.

And no matter how much we give during the holiday season, there will still be those in need during other times of the year.

“Our View” is written by the editorial staff. Opinions are not necessarily reflective of the students, faculty or administration at A-State.

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Holding celebrities accountable for crimes

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ewsMONDAY, NOV. 17, 2014 PAGE 3ANSTUDENT SPEAK: How do YOU study for finals?

Compiled by Bailey Richardson, Staff Writer

Sam Joplin of Jonesboro:“No sleep, little concentration, moderate amounts of coffee and a whole lot of Jesus.”

Becca Nail of Sheridan: “I conquer a little at a time. Even when trying to cram, I still take a break to give my brain a break for a few minutes.”

Matthew Stewart of White Hall: “Study hard and sleep as much as you can. Do not overdo it. You can’t think when you’re tired.”

MaeLee Reed of White Hall:“I study in short sessions over a long period of time. Study a little for each class a day. The more I stress, the less I retain.”

Trent Cunningham of Brookland: “Stick your head in a book and leave it there.”

Matthew Mullins of Jones-boro: “I chill out and focus. I can’t retain anything when Im stressed. I take it one step at a time.”

Cadedra Mosley of West Memphis: “I try to take it easy and study in pieces. Cramming never works for me.”

Dora Hill of Lake Village: “Tests stress me out, so I have to start early if I want to make a good grade. Stay focused!”

ewsMONDAY, NOV. 17, 2014PAGE 4A N

Heroes, ContinuedHowl, Continued

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Vets, Continued

Brett Whitman | Staff PhotographerColnoel (Retired) Franklin F. Wise was one of the honorees of the Arkansas State University ROTC’s 2014 Hall of Heroes Induction Ceremony. Wise graduated from ASU in 1965 as a ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate.

er, the first question is ‘Where is HOWL?’ or ‘Where is Scarlet?’ They are always aware of where the other is at and enjoy holding hands and blowing kisses.”

For those who are a fan of the power couple, don’t fret. They will more than likely never compete against each other.

“The reason behind that is, if we were to submit a video of Scarlet and she qualified, then Howl and Scarlet would com-pete against each other. How-ever, I promise you that Scarlet will be cheering Howl on when

he takes the floor in January.”Pauley said while dealing

with the final games of the sea-son, Howl will be preparing for the competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

“Each mascot will create a skit including props, mu-sic, sound effects, costumes and more props. It can revolve around a theme of the mascots’ choice. Upon arrival to the com-petition, the props are measured and adjusted. These props ar-en’t just a hand held object. The props used open, twirl, turn into another prop, shoot out, etcet-

era,” Pauley said. “Creativity and visual appeal is the goal. Howl will take the floor and perform his skit and be judged on cre-ativity, props, character, crowd involvement and overall effect. The videos are worth 50 per-cent of the overall score, with the skits creating the final 50 percent. Once all the mascots perform, it’s a waiting game un-til awards.”

Ashford said he wishes Howl the best during his competition in January.

“Keep calm and howl on! Go Red Wolves!” Ashford said.

November 11, said there is still clear room for improve-ment. According to Altman, the main area of concern, as with many schools, is the low grad-uation rate for veterans. The national average is 53 percent, while A-State itself came in much lower, with 37 percent of the university’s veteran students making it to graduation.

“We try to provide our

veterans with the best possible educational benefits in order for them to succeed,” Mathes said. “Each veteran has access to counseling, rehabilitation and financial aid. We also hon-or each of our military students with red, white and blue cords at graduation.”

Mathes hopes to continue improving student retention in the coming years. Despite low

graduation rates, Mathes ac-knowledges the impressive feat of ranking in the top 100 of the 650 schools surveyed.

“Despite the high re-turn rate for surveys, ASU still managed to place 59th,” she said. “We plan to continue the unique and effective services we offer here to remain that high regard, not just for our veterans, but for all students.”

minder of the great things Arkansas State University ROTC alumnus can accom-plish,” Mays said. “It was an honor to have been apart of an event that was meaningful beyond measure to the lives of these individuals. From all ranks of life, this event was meant to honor those great accomplishments that these individuals made.”

The event started at 11

a.m. with a formal induc-tion ceremony followed by a lunch at the A-State ROTC tailgate for the inductees and their families, according to the A-State website.

During the ceremony ROTC cadets took an oath to join the armed forces upon their graduation.

All three were later intro-duced and honored on the football field during the Red

Wolves game against Appa-lachian State at Centennial Bank Stadium.

The Hall of Heroes Induc-tion Ceremony is an annual tradition put on by A-State ROTC to recognize alum-ni of the school and ROTC program, as well as give the upcoming graduating cadets the opportunity to pledge their service to thier country publicly.

ROBERT WOODSSTAFF WRITER

ifeMONDAY, NOV. 17 2014

#LPAGE 1B

Director Molly Simpson gets butterflies in her stom-ach and prays for the success of her students every time the lights dim on the Fowler Center stage. Over five weeks of daily rehearsals, the cast and crew of Deathtrap have practiced lines, painted props, perfected sound cues and played with lighting—all to provide a stunning show for Northeast Arkansas the-ater-goers.

Backstage, classical music plays in the makeup room as actors don their costumes, styl-ists curl and color hair, and prop designers prepare crossbows and blood packets for the upcoming performance. It’s a group effort, with each person focused on making the night successful for everyone else.

“They’re about to shoot blanks, so you’re gonna hear a gun go off,” warns props design-er Jeremy Smith, junior theatre major of Dumas. A package of Twizzlers hangs out his back pocket as he rushes in from the stage.

Near the back of the makeup room, costume designer Clair Abernathy converses with an-other crew member. “How are the blood packets? Are they good?”

Wardrobe head Sarah Ring leans over notes with two oth-er students at a center table. “In act 2, it gets a little more com-plicated. We have three quick changes,” she says, pointing to the breaks in action the staff will have for prepping actors.

For this show, crew need to be in top form for fast costume changes, intricate prop mainte-nance and plenty of special ef-fects.

“With this show, there’s blood, garments that rip, dirt,

and it all has to be repeatable,” said costume designer Clair Abernathy, assistant professor of theatre. “But that’s also the fun part.”

There is a certain thrill to be-ing backstage on the night be-fore a performance, and a busy-ness actress Brook Thomas calls, “The essence of theatre.”

“It’s not an easy play to tack-le,” according to director Molly Simpson, professor of theatre at A-State.

For the crew as well as the cast, “It all starts with the script,” assistant professor of theatre Jeff McLaughlin said. McLaughlin serves as the scenic designer, lighting designer and technical director for Deathtrap.

As the primary visionary for Deathtrap’s single set, Mc-Laughlin said he is most proud of the peacock-like color he was able to pick out for the house of the main character, Sidney

Bruhl. “I’m tickled pink with the colors of the wall, because you really can’t tell if it’s green or blue,” he said. “It’s a great analo-gy for the play as well. You can’t really tell what is what.”

Deathtrap is a two-hour long comedy-thriller with the longest running show record in Broadway history.

“It’s one of those plays that can appeal to multiple audienc-es on different levels,” Simpson said.

Clint Stevens, senior theatre major of Huntsville, plays Sid-ney Bruhl, a struggling thriller playwright with a penchant for murder. Stevens is no stranger to the Fowler Center stage, having been cast in five other A-State productions, and his acting em-phasis has given him the skills needed to capture the didactic nature of the lead character.

“I love how many layers Sid-ney has,” Stevens said. “He puts

on a front for each character, really.”

Possibly the most stunning front in the play is the one Sidney maintains for his wife, Myra, who is played by sopho-more theatre major Heidi Sohl of Benton.

“I think Myra is a very hon-est person who assumes her husband is very honest with her,” Sohl said of her character. “She’s such a team player that she doesn’t realize she’s being played.”

Wild plot twists and resur-rected characters feature heavily in this comedy-thriller, which is all about answering one ques-tion: Would you murder for success? “It’s a really interest-ing topic,” Stevens commented. “Would you kill for something? And in this case, a lot of people would.”

In the opening scenes, ap-pearances indicate Sidney will

murder the young Clifford An-derson, a former student and promising playwright with a thriller script Sidney believes could be a major success. De-spite discouragement from Myra, it seems Sidney is plot-ting to kill his houseguest for Clifford’s brainchild “Death-trap.”

Clifford, while seemingly in-nocent, is engaged in more plot-ting of his own than he lets on.

“I feel like he is very intelli-gent,” said Jason Despain, senior RTV major of Jonesboro and actor for Clifford Anderson. “He manipulates everything to play out as he wants it. The play is titled, ‘Deathtrap,’” the theatre minor joked.

Supporting characters for the play include Helga Ten Dorp, a Dutch psychic por-trayed by junior theatre major Brooke Thomas of Jonesboro, and Porter Milgrim, Sidney’s

lawyer, who is played by senior theatre major Jaelyn Epps of Little Rock.

While the two don’t have as much stage time as the major actors, the parts do play specific roles in the play’s appeal, partic-ularly in comic relief.

“I love how eccentric Helga is,” Thomas said. For the part of the psychic, Thomas needed to learn the Dutch dialect in order to develop a convincing accent. Theatre faculty member Lisa Bohn helped Thomas by pro-viding recordings of German speech, which the actress ana-lyzed and applied to her script. “The dialect work is the hardest part,” she said. “It takes a lot of practice.”

Epps applied the character traits of several popular televi-sion actresses in order to capture the essence of Porter Milgrim. “She’s definitely a boss, for sure,” Epps said. “At the time period, there weren’t very many Afri-can American woman lawyers. When I get out there, I take on my Olivia Pope from Scandal and Professor Annalis Keating from How to Get Away with Murder.”

With a multifaceted cast and a multilevel plot, Deathtrap has a long tradition of theatre suc-cess.

“A lot of the audience mem-bers can relate to the actors,” Thomas said. “We’ve all wanted to manipulate somebody.”

Deathtrap opened at the Fowler Center Saturday, Nov. 14 and will be performed again Monday Nov. 17-Wednesday Nov. 19. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the A-State Central Box Of-fice in the Convocation Center or by calling (870)972-ASU1. Tickets and seating charts are also available online at tickets.astate.edu. Seats are $10 at the door and $8 in advance.

BETHANY GALLIMORE#LIFE EDITOR

Courtesy of ASU Theatre Department Helga Ten Dorp, played by Brook Thomas, waltzes into the home of Myra and Sidney Bruhl (Heidi Sohl and Clint Stevens) with shock-ing predictions to deliver. Deathtrap premiered Friday night at the Fowler Center and will continue to show at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17-19.

Deathtrap: the perfect play for murder

What happens when you mix an Italian plumber, a pink puffball, a rat that produces electricity and an ape who wears a tie? It is certainly a recipe for some amazing fun! The Super Smash Bros. franchise has be-come a household name in the video game world. The popular fighting game combines iconic Nintendo characters into a bat-tle of cataclysm. With a blend of creativity, simplicity and ran-domness, Super Smash Bros. is, hands down, the best fighting game franchise. Other fighting games have tried to imitate the success but never complete the true essence that Smash Bros holds. But why does Smash Bros excel so highly? What makes this unique fighting

game such a powerhouse com-pared to other popular fighting games? Smash Bros. has a few secrets to its long-term success, and its well-known reputation for excelling.

The first Super Smash Bros game was released on January 21, 1999 for the Nintendo 64. Since then, the franchise has expanded to Super Smash Bros Melee, Super Smash Bros Brawl and the recent installments for the Nintendo 3DS and Ninten-do WiiU.

Traditional fighting games allow two characters to fight until someone is victorious. This formula can be frustrating if there is a large group of peo-ple who want to play. Smash Bros solves this problem with a simple formula to allow four characters to fight each other on a 2-D platform stage. Stag-

es range from castles to fly- ing space ships, and e v e n P o k é m o n bal-loons!

The core of the Smash Bros brand is the well-known char-acters. Traditional fight-ing games have characters exclusive to that specific game. Not everyone is fa-miliar with Jin Kazuya from Tekken or Ryu from Street Fighter. Iconic video game characters such as Mario, Link, Sonic, and Donkey Kong are playable in Super Smash Bros. In the newest in-stalment of the series, even the 2-D hero Pac-Man is playable. New players of Smash Bros. will feel comfortable to play if they are familiar with the charac-ters they already love from

a different game. Even the an-noying younger sibling begging to join the big kids can casually

pick up Mario and enjoy themselves.

Smash Bros has an easy play style to which

anyone can grow ac-customed. Fighting

games are known to have a variety of special moves which often in-timidate new

players. Tek-ken, a well-known arcade

fighting game, has one hundred combos and spe-cials for certain characters. No one has time to remem-ber that much

data when all they want to do is play. Super Smash Bros has a different gameplay mechanic. The moves are done by a player pressing one button and using a cardinal direction on the con-troller. A simple fireball can be accomplished by pressing one button. Other mechanics such as dodging and shielding are also easy to master.

We’ve all experienced bat-tling that one player who domi-nates fighting games. They beat everyone at parties and never hand the controller over. Smash Bros defeats this totalitarian rule of the game by incorpo-rating an array of mischievous items, stage changes, and other random elements to throw in some added challenges and un-expected twists.

Items include food, shot-guns and even a mushroom that

shrinks the player. The Super Smash Bros Brawl addition was the first to include the “Smash Ball”. This item gives characters a powerful special move to at-tack other players. For example, when Mario gets a Smash Ball, he releases an enormous wave a fire across the stage.

The new installment of Su-per Smash Bros. for the Nin-tendo WiiU will be released this year on November 20.

New characters and new stages will be added, and there will even be the opportunity to fight with up to eight players at a time.

If you want to have fun and still enjoy a competitive edge, choose Super Smash Bros for your inventory. Other fighting games have their advantages but Smash Bros legacy will endure forever.

A Smashing SuccessThe legendary fighting game that changed it all

MONDAY, NOV. 17, 2014PAGE 2B portsS

LOVE SPORTS?

Contact Nathan Shelby at [email protected]

for more info.

Meetings are every Monday at 5 p.m. in the Herald office, 2nd floor of the

Communications Bldg.

Lindsey Mills| Staff PhotographerTeammates Markie Schaedig, Sarah Kemp, Mallory Warrington and Kariana Castanon-Hill celebrate after winning the first game against the ULM Warhawks. The Red Wolves have been white hot, winning the last eight straight games.

COURTESY OF THE ARKANSAS STATE CROSS COUNTRY TEAM

SETH PRICESPORTS WRITER

Volleyball continues dominating the

Sun Belt

The Arkansas State Red Wolves volleyball team recorded their seventh consecutive win on Friday night when they swept the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 3-0 on Friday night.

The Red Wolves travelled to Monroe, La. for this win, in what was the last of four consecutive road games.

A-State jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the first set and appeared to be in control of the set.

The Red Wolves were never able to pull away however, as the Warhawks fought back to tie the score at 8-8.

The set was closely contested, as neither team ever built their lead to more than three for the rest of the set.

When the score was tied at 24-24, Louisiana-Monroe sophomore outside hitter Hope Pawlik recorded a kill to give the Warhawks a 25-24 advantage.

With the game on the line, A-State performed their best,

scoring the next three points to take a 27-25 set victory.

The points came on a kill from junior outside hitter Kariana Castanon-Hill, a Warhawks attack error, and a kill by freshman middle blocker Drew Jones to end the set.

The beginning of the second set was the opposite of the first.

This time, Louisiana-Monroe jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead, but A-State soon battled back to tie the set at 9-9.

From this point on, the Red Wolves controlled the game. They would never trail again, and built a lead as large as nine at 24-15.

The Warhawks made the A-State faithful sweat when they scored four in a row to make the score 24-19, but a kill from sophomore setter Mallory Warrington gave the Red Wolves a 25-19 set win and 2-0 match advantage.

The third set was closely contested early, just like the first two sets.

The teams fought to a 10-10

tie before Louisiana-Monroe claimed a 14-12 lead. A-State scored six in row to reclaim their lead at 18-14.

The Warhawks did not give up however, as they went on an 8-3 run to take the lead back and make the score 22-21.

After an A-State timeout, the Red Wolves scored the next four points and claimed the victory both in the set, 25-22, and in the match, 3-0.

Even though all of the sets were closely contested, the Red Wolves always found a way to come out on top.

After the game, Red Wolves head coach David Rehr said, “We didn’t play our best, but we got an important road win. It’s always hard to get conference wins on the road, but we have some things we need to work on. Hopefully we will play better against Georgia Southern Sunday.”

The Sunday home matchup versus the Georgia Southern Eagles turned into the eighth consecutive win for the Red

Wolves squad, as A-State won the match 3-1.

The faceoff with the Eagles had a strange beginning, as the game was delayed by nearly an hour when the officials were late to arrive to the arena.

Once the first set did finally begin, the two teams battled back and forth as A-State claimed a 10-8 lead.

The Red Wolves then went on a 6-1 run to take a 16-9 lead.

The Eagles were forced into two timeouts during this run. Georgia Southern tried to fight their way back in, as they cut the A-State lead to six at 20-14.

The Red Wolves responded by delivering the knockout punch, ending the set on a 5-2 run to win the first set 25-16.

The Eagles opened the second set by jumping to a 4-1 lead, but the Red Wolves quickly fought back to tie the score at 8-8.

The teams went back and forth some more, and eventually came to another tie at 14-14.

A-State then finally began

to pull away, as they took a 20-17 lead and forced a Georgia Southern timeout.

The Red Wolves would go on to score five of the last eight points, to win the second set 25-20.

A-State opened the third set by jumping out to a quick 9-5 advantage, forcing another Eagles timeout.

Georgia Southern responded by taking the lead, but the Red Wolves battled back to a tie at 16-16 on a Castanon-Hill kill.

The Eagles took the lead once again, but A-State tied the game at 20-20 when Georgia Southern committed an attack error.

Georgia State took another lead at 23-22, but a kill from Red Wolves freshman middle blocker Jessica Uke tied the game at 23-23.

The Red Wolves could not finish however, as they gave up the final two points of the set, as Georgia Southern won 25-23 to cut the match score to 2-1.

The Eagles jumped out to

an early 3-2 lead in the fourth set, but A-State went on a 7-4 run to claim the lead at 10-6. A-State then began to pull away as they built their lead up to 17-11.

Georgia Southern called a timeout in an attempt to kill the Red Wolves momentum, but it was to no avail.

A-State went on a 5-3 run after the timeout to build their lead to 22-14.

A-State was able to score three of the last six, to claim the victory, 25-17.

This gave A-State a 3-1 match win.

With the win, the Red Wolves climb to 19-8 overall with a dominant 14-4 record in conference.

A-State will play their final two regular season games this weekend.

Friday night the Red Wolves take on Louisiana-Lafayette and Saturday night they will face UALR. Both games will be at 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center.

For all of your Red Wolves Sports

coverage, follow us at:

Twitter: @asuheraldsports

Instagram: @asuheraldsports

Web: asuherald.com/sports

MONDAY, NOV. 17, 2014PAGE 3B portsS

CHASE BECVARSPORTS WRITER

Denise Goldstein | Staff PhotographerAundrea Gamble, junior form Mckinney, Tx., surpasses the offense during the second half. With the win over JSU, the Red Wolves advanced to the second round of the preseason WNIT tournament.

Lindsey Mills | Staff PhotographerSeniors Heather Newberry and Bailey Eller work together during the Regional Cross Country Meet in Fayetteville Friday morning. The Red Wolves Cross Country team finished 10th overall for women and 13th overall for men.

A-state women’s basketball dominates preseason competition

The Arkansas State Cross Country Team ran their last meet of the season in Fayetteville Friday Nov. 14 at the Agri Park when they competed in the South Central Regional meet.

The women’s team ran a 6k and the men’s team ran a 10k in the frigid 34-degree weather.

Coming in to this meet, the Lady Red Wolves were ranked 10th in the sixth and last 2014 edition of the NCAA Division I South Central Region Rankings.

The Arkansas State women’s team also finished 10th in Fayetteville with 249 points, sneaking right in front of Sun Belt Conference Champions Texas-Arlington by five points.

Senior Rexi Parcells led the Lady Red Wolves once again to their 10th place finish.

Parcells ran a time of 20.58 min and placed 22nd, which earned her a spot in the NCAA All-Region team.

Parcells was followed by junior Abbey Dixon who placed 48th with a time of 21.44 min and senior Tilda Helgesson who placed 49th with a time of 21.45 min.

Freshman Arnica Zitting ran a time of 22.11 min, placing 67th.

Senior Heather Newberry

capped off the team score as the last scoring runner for A-State and ran a time of 22.34 min placing 82nd.

The Lady Red Wolves ran personal bests across the board.

University of Arkansas won the meet with 29 points while Baylor University took 2nd place with 82 points.

These two teams qualified for nationals which will take place in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 22.

“For the third consecutive year the women finished in the top 10 at the Regional meet, which is a great compliment to our veteran runners who will be completing their cross

county eligibility this year,” said head cross country coach Kyle Chandler.

“Additionally, the women were able to defeat Sun Belt Conference team champion UT Arlington in the final championship team race of the season for both programs,” said Chandler.

Junior Wil Norris was the

first man to cross the finish line for A-State with a time of 31.22 min, placing 55th.

Norris was closely followed by fellow teammate junior Lance Beckman who ran a time of 31.48 min placing 79th.

Freshman Josh Wojciechowski was the next man over the finish line for

Arkansas State running a time of 32.46 min, placing 116th.

Wojciechowski was followed by junior Jesse Duvall, 32.54 min placing 123rd, and junior Drew Mueller, 33.11 min placing 128th.

These scores combined made for a 19th team finish with a total score of 495 points. University of Arkansas won the men’s race with a team score of 42 points and was followed by University of Texas who had a team score 51 points.

These will be the two teams representing the South Central Region at the National Championship.

“The men scored about the same number of points as they did last year and were able to beat a few more teams this year, so I am well pleased for them,” Chandler said.

“Wil Norris and Lance Beckman both ran place and time personal-records so they did a great job of leading our team,” said Chandler.

This was the last race of the cross country season, but the Red Wolves will return to action on Dec. 7 for the Kickoff Klassic in the Convocation Center when they start their indoor season along with the rest of the track team.

Arkansas State’s Women’s basketball team edged past Harding with a score of 85-81.

The Red Wolves were led by junior guard Aundrea Gamble’s 28 points and 11 rebounds, which were both team highs. Senior guard Hannah Qedan had 10 points and four rebounds.

The game started off quick for the Red Wolves with an 8-0 run, with four of those points coming from Gamble.

With only an eight point lead and the score 16-8, the game went almost three minutes without a score until Harding’s Correy Moyer dropped a layup to cut the lead down to 6.

The Red Wolves lead was extended to 10 for the first time of the night when junior forward Amanda Lawson hit a layup to make the score 24-14 with nine minutes left to go in the first half.

A-State kept on fluctuating to end the first half with Harding actually tying the game at 33 with only two minutes to play.

After some free throw shots by freshman forward Lauren Bradshaw and some buckets from junior guard Brittney Gill and Gamble, Arkansas State’s lead grew to 7 by the end of the half.

In the first half, the Red Wolves had 24 of their 41 points come from the paint,

and 17 points came off the bench.

The Red Wolves’ lead got up to 13 points with only 13 minutes to play after multiple free throws from Gamble and by sophomore guard Jamie Ruffins and freshman guard Akasha Westbrook.

For the next five minutes, Harding and A-State traded buckets with the lead going from 11 points to 13 points with every possession.

The Red Wolves had four offensive chances on their possession following a Bison turnover.

After Qedan missed a three, Gamble was there for the rebound. She missed the layup, but got own rebound. Missed again, but this time freshman forward Ogo Obinabo was there for the tip in.

After that, the Red Wolves lead kept growing all the way up the 16 points after Gamble scored again and the Bisons needed a time out.

The Bisons never quit thought. Down by 17 with only four minutes to play, Harding found a way to lower the margin down to 7 points with just over one minute left.

This is when things started to get a little crazy. After a Bison jumper to lower the lead back down to 8, they got to shoot free throws after a foul and sank both to lower A-State’s lead to 6.

Then after a foul away from the ball, the Bison shot two more free throws and made

them to lower the lead down to 4 points. But the Red Wolves escaped an upset after they inbounded the ball safely and ran the clock out to win their final exhibition game.

Head Coach Brian Boyer had praises for Harding after the game saying, “We scheduled a team that we expected would not be scared or intimidated. They came in with a lot of experience and took it right at us. There were some stretches of positives as a whole obviously, but defensively if you give up 81 points is not good.”

After Monday’s win, Arkansas State’s women’s basketball team opened up the preseason women’s NIT tournament Friday night here at the Convo, with a decisive win over Jackson State 92-60.

The Red Wolves were led in a massive scoring showing by four players who scored in the double digits.

Junior guard Khadija Brown-Haywood scored 10 points with 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, and she also picked up 3 steals.

Senior guard Hanna Qedan scored 11 points with 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block and assist. Junior forward Amanda Lawson finished the night with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal.

The team scoring lead for the season, junior guard Aundrea Gamble, led the team once again in scoring with 15 points.

Gamble was also one

rebound away from a double-double. Gamble stole the ball once and picked up 3 assists.

Junior guard Brittney Gill was very close to a double-double as well with 9 points and 9 rebounds.

Gil picked up 2 blocks and steals, and 1 assist.

The Red Wolves dominated every aspect of the game.

A-State shot 51 percent from the field (33-64) and almost 64 percent from the free throw line (23-36) compared the JSU’s 36 percent from the field (23-63) and 47 percent from the charity stripe (8-17).

Arkansas State once again owned the paint as 58 of their points came from in the paint.

The Red Wolves also had 20 fast break points to Jackson State’s 0.

Arkansas State’s largest lead got all the way up to 36 points. A-State also out-rebounded the Tigers 48-35 for the game.

The only time the game was close was at the opening tip off when JSU got the first points of the game. After that it was all Red Wolves.

The Red Wolves started the game off quick, pouncing on the Lady Tigers to get a 25-6 lead just half way through the first half of the game.

Head Coach Bryan Boyer was pleased with his team’s defensive efforts saying, “Defensively, I was pretty critical and not very happy with our defense Monday night and tonight was certainly a different story. Tonight was very good

defensively and with around six minutes to go we held them to 11 points so obviously it was very good on the defensive side.”

The Red Wolves defense also forced JSU to commit 25 turnovers, which led to 32 points on the other end for the Red Wolves.

After Friday’s win, the Red Wolves moved on to the second round of the WNIT and traveled to Starkville to play the Mississippi State Bulldogs this past Sunday.

The Red Wolves next scheduled home game is Friday, November 28 against Christian Brothers with tip off at 7 p.m..

TILDA HELGESSONSPORTS WRITER

Women finish 10th, men finish 13th at South Central Regional Invite

hotoMONDAY, NOV. 17, 2014 PAGE 4BP

Quidditch takes over A-State

Chelsea Hays| Photo EditorTaylor Machen, Jake Emery and other members of Arkansas State Unviersity’s quidditch club start to take off during their scrimmage game on Thursday. The team holds practices behind the Villiage apartments. Machen is the founding member of the quidditch team.

Chelsea Hays|Photo EditorZac Brinkley scores a point during last week’s quidditch practice behind the Village apartments. The quidditch team practices every Tuesday and Thrusday at 5:30.

Chelsea Hays| Photo EditorChelsey Davis freezes as she calls beats and keeps score during the scrimage game at the quidditch pratice on Thrusday.

T-wo years ago Taylor Machen started the Arkansas State Uni-versity Quidditch team and it has been thriving ever since.

The team currently has 12 to 14 members depending on the day. They travel

and play in all kinds of weather from the sweltering hot to the freezing cold. They have not won any tournaments as of yet,

but some of their members have played on other teams that have gone on to win tour-naments. The quidditch team is currently just a student organization, so members

of the community can join in for the fun. All that anyone needs to do to join the

quidditch team is get in touch with Taylor Machen or Chelsey Davis. Practices are

every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30 behind the Village apartments.

Sarah Thompson| Staff PhotographerNathan Williams prepares to throw the ball to his teammate during the quidditch practice game Thrusday.

Sarah Thompson| Staff PhotographerThe A-state Quidditch team gives it their all during a practice match between team members Thursday night.

Sarah Thompson| Staff PhotographerQuincy Hildreth, graphic design major, runs the ball down the field during the quidditch practice.

Sarah Thompson| Staff PhotographerTaylor Machen and Chelsey Davis run to get to the goals during the quidditch scrimmage game Thrusday. This was their first practice before their upcoming tournament.