Nov 12, 2015

Slow fade?Last week saw a shocking, sudden change for the Commerce com-munity as Mayor John Ballotti, the head professor for Speech Communications on the A&M-Commerce campus, resigned from his position at the head of the town. Having coincidentally scheduled an interview with Bal-lotti the week before, we talked with him less than 24-hours after he made his announcement in his o!ce in the PAC as the voices and laughs of theatre students echoed through the halls. In his "rst sit-down interview since making the announcement, Bal-lotti discussed his frustrations regarding the way the city gov-ernment was organized, how (or if) he’d like to be remembered, quoting General MacArthur, and what made him get into the race in the "rst place.

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Two Timers

PHOTO COURTESY/LIONATHLETICS.COM

The Texas A&M University-Commerce soccer team followed suit with the football team winning their second LSC championship in a row on Sunday.

CONT. ON PAGE 7

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

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SurvivorTravis HairgroveManaging Editor

For most Americans, it’s di!cult to imagine a squad of fully armed teenagers and children invad-ing a house and demanding that the resident fam-ily leave their home; but in the case of Dr. Gracie Brownell (a professor of social work at Texas A&M University-Commerce), that horri"c scenario was all too real, when the Liberian Civil War (literally) reached her family’s front door in 1990.

She was only six years old.“I remember that we were allowed only to take a

few things from our house,” Brownell said. “While they were rummaging through our stu;, one of the guys took the shaving cream and didn’t know what to do with it, so my mom showed him how to use it. <ey didn’t even know how to =ush the toilet and

basic stu; like that, so my mom showed them that and some other stu; around the house as well. She was nice to them even though they were asking us to leave, so they said we could take more stu; and we grabbed some blankets and stu; like that.

“As days passed by, when we’d walk past our

house, I could hear them banging on the piano,” Brownell continued. “<ey took one of my dress-es…a red one, and hung it in front of our house as their =ag. <ey were just a bunch of children, and they were always high.”

CONT. ON PAGE 5

Liberian civil war refugee turned doctoral professor talks about being kicked out of her home, growing up on the run, and becoming a social worker in America

ExodusThis year, hundreds of thousands !ed their home country of Syria due to that country’s civil war. A&M-Commerce professor Dr. Gracie Brownell can relate; she and her family were forcefully removed from their Liberian home when she was only six.

All that you can’t leave behind

Texas A&M-Commerce played host to the annual November tradition of decorating a memorial at the front of the Rayburn Student Center in honor of fallen veterans last week.

EAST TEXAN PHOTO/KRISTEN TAYLOR

Idiot WindLast week, the A&M-Commerce campus was visited once again by those dudes with signs who yell about how we’re sinning a lot. Guilty as charged? Regardless, A&M-Commerce photographers were at the scene and captured some emotive images of the pro-ceedings.

PAGE 4

A call to armsFrom loony preachers to angry organ players, the last few weeks of THE EAST TEXAN have seen free speech brought to the forefront of the campus conversation. Travis Hairgrove and Joseph Alderman o;er their takes on the issues.

PAGE 2

T!" E#$% T"&#' S%#((The East Texan, official student newspaper

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I’m planning on going on a weeklong mission trip. -Beth Jones

Travis HairgroveManaging Editor

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, the freedom of speech has gotten a real workout at A&M-Commerce, and the City of Commerce in general; with an impassioned letter to the editor expressing grievances against a member of administration being printed in this very newspaper two weeks ago; a traveling preacher setting up by the Rayburn Student Center and delivering an aggressive, hell*re, and brimstone sermon this past Monday; and an unexpected resignation by the mayor of the City of Commerce, in which he indicated that there were a number of citizens, city employees, and members of the city council and chamber of commerce who were “working against the city government,” and thereby “su+ciently eroded” his e,ectiveness as mayor.

While all of these incidents have certainly kept us busy at the East Texan, I can’t help, but be reminded that this is why our university newspaper exists. We, who make up the sta, of the East Texan may work for the paper, but it’s really your publication, as a student or sta, member at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Over the course of this semester, a good number of people have either come to the newsroom giving us tips on stories to pursue or sent sincere letters to the editor, voicing their opinions…and I just wanted to say keep it up. -e better, and more consistent communication becomes between the campus community and student media, the more relevant our news, issue, and event coverage will be.

So…thank you for being such an engaged audience this semester, and remember, if there’s something you’d like us to cover in the East Texan, don’t hesitate to contact us via the information detailed at the bottom right hand side of this page.

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Voice your opinion by sending us letters

Don’t Get Tread on,Exercise YOUR Rights

Joseph AldermanNews Editor

Early last week, quite a crowd gathered in the area between the Sam Rayburn Student Center and the Science Building to watch a trio of religious extremists describe in detail all the reasons that students of Texas A&M University – Commerce are condemned to an eternity of damnation. -ose lucky enough to catch it were in for quite a show.

In the four years I have been in Commerce, I’ve seen the folks from Open Air Outreach out here a couple of times, although typically they do not draw nearly as much attention as they did last Monday. I’m not sure what caused such a crowd from the student body to appear this time, but I must say I was quite pleased with it. I was happy to hear people in the crowd shouting back at these hatemongers, shooting holes in their diatribe. Impassioned people are an amazing thing to watch, I only wish that they had something more positive to focus their e,orts on. It is unfortunate that the university provides us with this ‘free-speech zone’ and yet the only people who chose to use it are folks like these, with nothing, but hate to spread.

-e reason for the strong reaction was clear: these speakers were attacking the way a lot of people, speci*cally Christians, view their faith and their relationship with their God. As a nonreligious person, most of this argument meant nothing to me, but the ire with which students were throwing back the speakers’ comments was inspiring. If only students would take this same level of fervor to voicing their own opinions, the school’s free-speech zone may be used for something more than Jesse Morrell to literally stand on his soap box, and tell us all how we’re going to hell. I’ve complained here before about the lack of activism on this campus, and free-speech zones are the perfect place to practice.

So please, don’t leave something as glorious and celebrated as the freedom of speech to losers like Open Air Outreach. Did the university do something to make you mad? Tell people about it! Do you feel underrepresented or attacked by the government? Change it! Is there a world issue that you don’t feel enough people know about? Spread the word! -ose are the real reasons free-speech zones like this were set up, not for the sake of some clowns from Lindale to show up every so often and insult us on our own campus.

CorrectionsIn the October 29 issue of -e East

Texan, in the story titled “Distinguished Art Professor Passes Away,” -omas Seawell’s 2005 Printmaking class should be described as the *rst he had taught in 25 years, not ever. As well, collagraphy is listed as a method of screen printing, whereas it is actually a method of printmaking. Finally, collagraphy is described in the story as the combined use of various small plates, whereas that simply describes screenprinting. We at -e East Texan apologize for these innacuracies, and strive to do away with them wherever they are found.

If you *nd an error in any East Texan story, feel free to contact us at [email protected], and we will glady remedy it.

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Nick PatrasSpecial Contributor

With only a few weeks left before the end of the semester, you may begin to experience end-of-year stress that involves family and holidays, in addi-tion to academic pressure. Trying to balance school and personal life especially during this time of the year can sometimes be very overwhelming. When it comes to managing stress, do you +nd it easier to empathize with other people and tell them to take it “one day at a time” while it’s di,cult to tell your-self the same message? Are you kinder to others, but more critical of yourself when faced with similar struggles? If so, there are two ways you can nourish yourself to awaken self-compassion.

Compassion toward your physical self.Do you know when your body is under stress

and how do you care for it? It may be tension in the neck, shoulder, chest, or stomach area. It may also be in the form of aches and pains along with other physical discomfort. To bring compassion toward your physical self, begin by identifying the areas in your body that are tense and need care. -en soften and loosen up these areas. Adding the practice of deep breathing will help relax your body as you tell yourself to stretch your neck, lower your shoulders, expand your chest, or soften your belly. In addi-tion, taking a nap, eating nutritious food, and ex-ercising are other compassionate ways of caring for yourself.

Compassion toward your mental self.When you feel stressed, your mind may auto-

matically be occupied with worries or unwanted racing thoughts. Some thoughts may be nega-tive or self-critical in nature while others may contain self-blame or ruminations of “I should” or “I should have.” While some people argue that motivation comes with strict or harsh words, it is usually unhelpful and hinders mental health in the long run. To foster self-compassion in your life, allow unwanted thoughts to come and go. Imagine watching leaves .owing down a river with each leaf representing a disturbing thought you want to let go of. If thoughts are too strong, you can gently repeat a short expression to calm your mind. Some common ones are “this too shall pass,” “I am safe,” “may I be kind to myself right here right now,” or “allow myself to give the compassion I need in this moment.” -ese phrases o/er a good starting point for cultivating self-compassion. Ultimately, you may want to be able to create and have several of these statements available for self-care.

Now that you have a glimpse of what self-com-passion is and how to foster it physically and men-tally, give yourself permission to begin this process by making a conscious choice to be kind to your-self.

Ideas or questions for the Counseling Corner? Call (903) 886-5145 or stop by the Counseling Center in Halladay Student Services Bldg, Rm #204. Previous articles can be found on the Coun-seling Center web site.

Counseling Corner

Awakening Your Self

Compassion

Dropping the gavelCommerce mayor cites low approval, fulfilled�  goals�  behind�  resigna onAndrew BurnesEditor

In his first sit-down interview since announcing his resignation at a City Council meeting on November 4, for-mer Commerce mayor John Ballotti said that he had fulfilled his goals as mayor during his multi-term stint at the head of the city.

Seated behind the desk in his small, cluttered office in the Performing Arts Center on the Texas A&M University-Commerce campus (as the screams and loud conversations of theatre students echoed through the halls), Ballotti ex-plained his reasoning behind his pass-ing of the gavel to Pro-Tem mayor Rich-ard Hill.

“What happened was a coincidence of timing,” Ballotti said when discussing the resignation of several key members of the Commerce city administration including City Manager Marc Clayton, and Finance Director Summer Spurlock within the span of a few months.

“Our city secretary had a birthday, reached the retirement age so she re-tired. The City Manager had a birth-day, reached the retirement age, retired. Our finance director applied for a job in Greenville, got it, so she’s leaving for more money.

“As for me, I’m a term limits type of guy. Especially in small areas. I’m not a resident of Commerce. I’m an outsider. In the original campaign I campaigned on that because I’m not a retail person. My income comes from the university, so I can be more independent and you won’t be able to buy me off. Essentially, next month I was going to be a lame lame duck because I wasn’t going to fill out an application for a ballot spot.”

While the lame duck period for elected leaders is notoriously known for its inefficiency, it is rarely the type of thing that calls for a mid-term resigna-tion. And for Ballotti, his impending job replacement was only a contributing factor to his decision to leave.

“The real issue for me is I got the feeling that I was losing the ability to lead,” Ballotti said. “And I’ve always felt from the time before I got into political communication that if you are in a po-litical position in a leadership role and you can’t build a coalition to lead then you’d better get out. Let someone else do it.”

“I think part of that, in my case, happened because I’m an outsider. Some

people you make happy, and then you do something and then some other people are happy, but the group you first made happy is now against you. It’s difficult to reach that happy median.”

Another factor that Ballotti said ul-timately helped lead to his decision to abandon his role as mayor is his ever-increasing workload as the head of the communications program at A&M-Commerce taking up more and more of his time.

“The Mayor of Commerce is a title,” Ballotti said. “You have a city manager. All the mayor does is cut the ribbons and open and close the meetings. There’s no power like there is in the big cities. It

got to the point where there was noth-ing really on the horizon for me. It just seemed like time to go back to what brought me here in the first place.”

Ballotti’s final, big accomplishment as mayor was the restructuring and en-forcement of several key requirements in the health and safety inspection code for residential areas in the city, which was the issue that got him interested in running for the position in the begin-ning. According to Ballotti, the house next to his own in Commerce was se-verely burned (though not totally de-stroyed) by a fire that was caused by faulty wiring that could’ve been caught if the city had been administering proper inspections at the time. When the house remained intact for an entire year, climaxing with a buyer actually

attempting to renovate the charred re-mains of the house rather than tear it down and start over, Ballotti realized that something needed to be done and began his campaign. But, Ballotti says, even then, he knew that he only wanted to be a two-term official.

“It was something I was thinking about even when I ran,” Ballotti said. “I only wanted to do it for two terms. Commerce didn’t need me. I don’t feel bad. We were successful for three-and-a-half years and it’s getting down to the holiday season when I’d have to turn the gavel over to Pro-tem Hill. Well now he’s got it. I used General MacAr-thur’s farewell speech at the U.N. He

said ‘Old soldiers don’t die off, they just fade away.’ In a couple of weeks, the fact that Ballotti was mayor won’t even be remembered.”

However, some would argue that Ballotti’s final moments as mayor were far from a fade. At the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting, Ballotti read a letter that was described as “scathing” by pro-tem Hill in the article. In the letter, Ballotti described his frustrations with the city administration in some detail, though he refrained from men-tioning anyone by name. Ballotti him-self had yet to read the Herald Banner article that quoted Hill’s reaction at the time of this interview, but when asked about Hill’s description of the letter, Ballotti responded.

“He said that?” Ballotti asked, “Over the course of the last seven or eight months, I think what he’s refer-ring to is that I had formed an opinion through conversations that I had with people. There were people in Commerce that were not satisfied with city govern-ment. There were people that work for the city that weren’t satisfied with the city government. There were people in the city council that weren’t satisfied with the city government. There were people in the chamber of commerce that weren’t satisfied with the city govern-ment. The line that I put in there was ‘I’m not going to mention any names, but those that cry foul the loudest will identify themselves.’ So if nobody says anything, I dry up and go away. And if anybody does, then maybe there was a reason why they said that. I don’t know. It’s my opinion. Maybe I read it four months sooner than I should have, but it seemed like the right time to me be-cause I would’ve had to wait for it to be approved, and I didn’t want to have to sit up there and say ‘Ok, we’re in order now.’ I don’t know what pro-tem Hill was thinking, but that was probably the part where I said what I felt that kind of made me feel like I had no more leader-ship ability in town. So that’s what that was.”

A er�  three-­‐and-­‐a-­‐half�  years,�  A&M-­‐Commerce�  Speech�  professor�  Dr.�  John�  Ballo �  re red�  from�  his�  posi on�  as�  Mayor�  of�  Commerce.

“Commerce�  doesn’t�  need�  me.�  I�  don’t�  feel�  bad.”

-­‐�  John�  Ballo

As students crossed campus, trying to keep up with a typically hectic Monday this past week, those walking to or by the Rayburn Student Center were met with a surprising spectacle.

There, standing atop an actual wooden soapbox facing the steps leading up to the northwest entrance of the student center, was a 30-something year-old man, dapperly dressed in an outfit that featured a f lat cap and suspenders, supporting a massive picket sign in one hand with the words, “God Hates Sin” emblazoned upon it, with the url for his website (OpenAirOutreach.com) printed at the bottom, while his other hand clutched a Bible and he shouted a confron-tational sermon...peppered with provocative words like “faggot” and “camel toe” at the top of his lungs.

One only needed to whip out his or her smartphone and look up the url displayed on his sign to discover that his name was Jesse Morrell; a touring, open-air (street) preacher who mostly preaches at college campuses, but also occasionally at LGBT pride events or outside bars and strip clubs.

Many students stared in wide-eyed dis-belief, glared in red-faced fury, or laughed giddily as they were drawn in closer by

“Saint Jesse’s” antics, and they could make out more of his anti-gay/anti-skimpy cloth-ing/anti-alcohol/anti-masturbation tirade, and saw that he was accompanied by three supporters, each wearing t-shirts bearing Biblical excerpts every bit as fundamental-ist as the signs they were carrying, but they mostly left the rabble rousing to Morrell.

Some students passionately shouted back at him in response and professed their own religious beliefs, while others delighted in hurling insults and cheap shots. Occasion-ally, students did crowd closely into Mor-rell’s space, but friends doing their best to console them often gently pulled them away.

As wildly contrasting as peoples’ reac-tions were, one thing was certain, Morrell had a lot of peoples’ attention. Phones were out everywhere, poised to plaster photos and video all over Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.

After about two hours of tirelessly ag-gressive preaching, though, Morrell did fall noticeably silent as a group of students joined hands in a circle around him and prayed…but once they finished, he picked up his hellf ire and brimstone sermon where he’d left off, and continued on, well into the afternoon.

NOV. 12, 2015PAGE 4 C!"#$%

Travis HairgroveManaging Editor

Papa Don’t Preach

PHOTO COURTESY/TR AV IS HAIRGROVE

PHOTO COURTESY/HANNAH CLARK

PHOTO COURTESY/CHEVALL PRYCE

PHOTO COURTESY/CHEVALL PRYCEPHOTO COURTESY/TR AV IS HAIRGROVEPHOTO COURTESY/TR AV IS HAIRGROVE

NOV. 12, 2015PAGE 5 F!"#$%!&A&M - Commerce Prof Tells

Tale of SurvivalCont. From Page 1

After vacating their home in Virginia, Libe-ria (a suburb of Monrovia), Brownell’s family sought temporary shelter at her parents’ place of employment; the campus of Ricks Institute (a private, K-12 Baptist school), where they stayed with other displaced families until rebels took control of that part of town as well.

As those families were forced to leave Rick’s Institute and continue !eeing east toward the Ivory Coast, they had to go through a series of rebel-controlled checkpoints.

“We were asked things like which tribe we belonged to, because that’s part of what the war had to do with…so when the rebels came to overthrow that particular president [Samu-el Doe] and kill him, they started to look for people from his tribe [Krahn],” Brownell ex-plained. “At one of the checkpoints we went to, they asked my dad about his tribe. He told them [Grebo]. "en, they asked him to speak his tribe’s language, but he nor his parents spoke their local dialect, so he didn’t know how. "ey mostly just spoke English, but they still identi-#ed with that particular tribe. Since he couldn’t speak it, they pulled him to the side and were gonna kill him, be-cause they felt that he was actually from one of the tribes they were hunting and that he was trying to pass.

“My mom was screaming and asked to see the boss,” Brownell recounted. “"e boss turned out to be a young man she had given a light up pen [at a checkpoint], so that he’d let us keep our blankets. When she explained to him that my dad really was from the tribe he said he was, but that he just didn’t speak his tribe’s dialect, the boss told the others to let him go. He saved my dad’s life.”

After surviving several similar checkpoint stops, the weary family eventually crossed the eastern border into the Ivory Coast. After a few months there, they headed into Ghana, where they had more connections.

“When we got to Ghana, we stayed in a [ref-

ugee] camp, and we had to register,” Brownell said. “"ey [people working for the United Na-tions High Commission for Refugees] would ask for your name, where in Liberia you were from, your education, how many children you have, the ages of your children, their grade level, what you could do [for work], and then they’d assign you a living quarters. If you had a sick family member, you’d go to the hospital. We were all fairly well. We were just really malnourished, but we weren’t as ill as other people.”

“After we got situated in the camp, the ladies, during the day, would take care of the children,” Brownell detailed. “"e males would go see if they could get some kind of work, even though they couldn’t really work in Ghana, because they didn’t have work permits. My dad, since he worked at Ricks Institute and SOS Chil-dren’s Villages [schools/homes for displaced children and war orphans] in Liberia, and was connected with some missionaries who knew he was a teacher, was able to get a position with SOS, which allowed us to move from the camp into one of their lodgings, and we [Brownell and her siblings] could go to school.”

Dr. Brownell’s family spent approximately two years in Ghana before returning to Liberia,

where in addition to con-tinuing her education, she eventually worked as a youth broadcaster for the Liberian gov-ernment-owned ELBC radio network as well as Talking Drum Studio. During those years, she also volunteered as a peer counselor.

“I did the youth broadcasting thing as a teenager,” Brownell said. “By the time I was in the 10th or 11th grade, Liberia had the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the world. Because of the war, a lot of young women were raped, so the United Nations worked along with the Family Plan-

ning Association [of Liberia], and they trained adults and young people as peer educators. We would go into communities and talk to people our age about abstinence and contraceptives, or try to bridge the gap between them and the Family Planning Association for those of them that were already pregnant and needed help. I

really really liked t h a t … h e l p i n g people, and it just kind of set me on that path.”

Upon gradu-ation from St. Teresa’s Convent School (in Mon-rovia), Brownell pursued higher education in the United States; #rst at Shorter College in Rome, Geor-gia, then at Baylor University, and #-nally at University of Texas at Arling-ton, studying psy-chology, sociology, and social work, and researching and writing a dis-sertation about the reintegration of former child soldiers in Liberia, respectively.

“After the war ended, the United Nations and also some interna-tional community members provided some money to help rehabilitate these ex-combat-ants…many of whom were chil-dren at the time of their conscrip-tion or enlist-ment,” Brownell

said as she began to explain her research. “In my study, I looked at the reintegration experi-ence of ex-child soldiers in Liberia, trying to #gure out what they’re doing ten years later.

“"ey were supposed to get counseling and some kind of vocational skills training, but most of them still didn’t feel like they were part of society [upon completion of the program],” Brownell added. “A lot of them felt dissatis-#ed. "ey talked about how they were really interested in learning sewing, carpentry, or ma-sonry…but when they took those classes, they weren’t implemented correctly. Some people talked about how they learned how to sew on paper rather than on cloth. Some of them talk-ed about how they were promised monthly sti-pends and that when they graduated they were supposed to get some kind of package to help get them started, but they didn’t receive any of those things.

“"ey pretty much felt abandoned by the gov-ernment, and by those groups that they fought for. A lot of them feel powerless,” Brownell em-phasized. “"ey’ve tried to advocate for their rights. A lot of them feel like they were robbed of their childhood, #ghting for some ideology, and now they’re at a place of more disadvantage than they were before the war. A lot of them feel like they’re always on edge…that maybe somebody’s going to retaliate for some of the things they did during the war.

“However, I always struggle between looking at them as victims or as actual perpetrators,” Brownell admitted. “While some of them went into #ghting because they were abducted and they didn’t have any say in it, but some of them actually went into it voluntarily because of some kind of ideology that was being encouraged or they felt that it was a way to get some kind of power…or a way to raid and bring some loot, goods, and food home, to feed their families. People went into it for di$erent reasons.”

In addition to her deep research into the obstacles preventing former child soldiers from fully assimilating back into civilian society, Brownell is also a founder of the online radio station, RadioLIB.

“It’s for Liberians in the diaspora [Liberians living outside of Liberia]. We have Liberians

who live in the U.S. We have Liberians in Canada…wherever. "ey are able to access information about Liberia and communicate with each other, using the online radio station. "e primary language is English, but we used to have someone who read the news using a lo-cal, pidgin, Liberian English.”

In her post as an assistant professor of social work, one of the concepts Dr. Brownell regu-larly emphasizes with her students, is the way in which their choices as consumers can con-tribute to human rights violations in the global scheme of things.

“Our ex-president [of Liberia], Charles Tay-lor, is currently serving time in the Hague for war crimes against Sierra Leon, and leading a bunch of children as an army,” Brownell said. “He also had people working the diamond mines…taking diamonds out illegally and sell-ing them to countries. We may not have con-trol over that, but we need to inspect where they [diamonds] are coming from, and if they’re in-deed being mined in a sustainable and digni#ed manner. You may think you’re getting a sweet deal, but it could be on the backs of children…so I just encourage them [her students] to ask where their products are coming from.”

“Also, in Liberia, the Firestone Tire Com-pany has a huge plantation where they grow rubber trees,” Brownell pointed out. “A human rights lawyer in Liberia took them to court over human rights violations, because the adults who tap the rubber may have two or three children working with them in order to help them meet their quota. "e children will quit school, and will become rubber tappers with limited edu-cation…and then their children will probably have to quit school before the #fth grade to help them too, so they [Firestone] are perpetuating a cycle on intergenerational poverty.

“"e human rights lawyers came out and said, ‘You’re making millions of dollars o$ of this land and these people who are tapping your rubber. "e least you can do is invest back, and give quality education for their children and healthcare. "ose are examples of how, in our globalized world, even though you’re not in Liberia, you can still contribute to the poor conditions that people live with, there.”

“They pretty much feel abandoned by the government, and by those groups that they fought for. A lot of them feel powerless”

PHOTO COURTESY/GRACIE BROWNELLDr. Brownell at Texas A&M University - Commerce

PHOTO COURTESY/GRACIE BROWNELLBrownell, far left, and family during their time at a refugee camp in Ghana

SoundtrackBurnes’ Turns

NOV. 12, 2015PAGE 6 E!"#$"%&!'#!"

#TBT: Spider-Man 2New Releases!e Hunger

Games Mockingjay Part

2

If you’re still watching !e Hunger Games movies, you are one hell of a dedicated fan.

Following the recent trend of legendary mu-sic artist biopics, Tom Hiddleston becomes Hank Williams com-plete with his vocals.

I Saw the Light

Purpose

With a revealing onstage breakdown at that one award show that isn’t the Grammys, Justin Bieber began his babyface turn. Time for the next page.

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Speaking of award shows, will Adele run away with it again? Will her new album save the music industry? Will she ever come up with a real title?

PHOTO COURTESY/WIKIPEDIA.COM

!e tracks I’ve been into, new and old, over the course of the week.

“Sometimes I feel so happy/Sometimes I feel so sad/But mostly you just make me mad.” Genius. If there was ever a more tenderly indecisive helmed by Lou Reed, I couldn’t tell you what it was. While !e Velvet Underground isn’t necessarily known for their singles prowess, the quietly jangling guitar melody (not to mention that tambourine!) make this one a forgotten classic.

PHOTO COURTESY/VANYALAND.COM

Marvin Gaye’s instant masterpiece from 1971 is "lled with heavenly vocals and easy-listening production. But under-neath the surface is an important landmark case of impor-tant social issues that are still bitingly relevant today. By the time he climaxes with this driving tune, you’re either on board or left behind wondering What’s Going On?

EAST TEXAN PHOTO/TRAVIS HAIRGROVE

Star Wars Ba"lefront

Call it a blatant cash in or a lucky turn of events, but the long-anticipated Star Wars Battlefront reboot hits shelves a month before J.J. Abrams’ sure to be record-breaking release. People have been play-ing the free Beta for a long time, and from what I’ve seen, this is going to be one hell of a fun ride when it releases fully this month.

Are you aware of all of the sociological implications of this pinnacle of superhero movie romanticism? Well they exist! Just take my word for it.

1. The Velvet Underground“Pale Blue Eyes”

4. Bruce Springsteen“American Skin (41 Shots) Live from Madison Square Garden”

!is plaintive, unapologetic rally against racially moti-vated police brutality earned Springsteen a No. 1 Most Wanted award from New York police. I can relate. From a young mother coaching her son about keeping his hands in sight to asking “Is it a gun/Is it a knife/Is it your wallet/!is is your life,” the live performance from Madi-son Square Garden is gripping for the full eight minutes. But when it climaxes with a searing guitar solo followed by a sorrowful sax solo from Clarence Clemons, Spring-steen doesn’t have to say a word to get his message across.

PHOTO COURTESY/YOUTUBE.COM

By OutKast’s incredibly awesome, live musician-"lled blowout Aquemini, Rap had spread from the East Coast to the West Coast to the Dirty South tackling real social issues in a way that had never been done before. But rarely did a track tell as concise a story as this tale about a girl named Sasha !umper who meets an unfortunate and untimely end. It travels through the same vein that Eminem’s Stan did years later. But between you and me, OutKast did it better.

PHOTO COURTESY/2DOPEBOYZ.COM3. OutKast“Da Art of Storytellin’ (Part 1)”

2. Grimes“REALITi (Demo)”

PHOTO COURTESY/REDBULL.COM

Grimes is pretty much the coolest pop star that you don’t know (suck on that T-Swift). Hell, even Robyn would have trouble keeping up with this Japanese-in#uenced techno babble As cold as an ice bucket challenge for days on end. Dibs.

Breaking bread with the dead

Basement TapesChris Hernandez, Rebekah Davidson, and Hannah Johnson (from left to right) take a taco break at the !esta complete with an eerie grin.

Travis HairgroveManaging Editor

!e colorful skull makeup and other skull-depicting artwork (calaveras) may be the most recognizable and visually strik-ing tradition associated with Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and do much to imbue the Mexican holiday with a sense of mystery, but the O$ce of Hispanic En-rollment and Retention at Texas A&M University-Commerce invited all students and sta% to its own celebration, to help give

the university community a more nuanced understanding of the meaning behind the festivities.

“What we’re trying to do is help more people understand what Dia de los Muer-tos is,” Assistant Dean Fred Fuentes said. “We don’t want people to be scared of it or think that it’s something demonic. It’s a way of remembering and honoring friends and family who have passed, that started with indigenous cultures long, long ago. Later, when the Spanish came and brought Christianity, they said, ‘Ya’ll can’t be do-

ing this anymore, except on All Saints’ Day [and All Souls’ Day],’ so it got mixed in with that.”

!e cultural event (held on Nov. 3) fea-tured two components: an altar display on the second #oor of the library for which, student organizations and sta% o$ces were invited to build decorated altars as a trib-ute to deceased loved ones; and a "esta at the amphitheater, which focused on the celebratory side of the holiday by o%ering free face painting, tacos and tamales, and lively, Spanish-language dance tunes.

University !eatre Department preps for next productionImogene Wo!ordSta% Writer

Texas A&M University- Commerce’s the-atre department will be presenting “Calling All” in the Studio !eater in the Perform-ing Arts Center Nov. 17-22 at 8 p.m. nightly plus a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee.

“Calling All” is a one-act play written by Melanie Marnich, about a group of six peo-ple, (two girls and four guys) in their early 20’s who are telemarketers working for PBS. It is the last night of pledge week and they have a large goal to meet—but don’t want to. !e play happens in one day, so there aren’t any costume changes.

“Calling All is a dark comedy,” graduate assistant and director Lauren Simpson said. “It starts out with jokes then gets real. It’s so real to human existence. You get to see the

individual people at the same time while see-ing them all together.”

“!ree years ago, a good friend of mine emailed me with di%erent pieces and ‘Call-ing All’ was one of them. I didn’t think any-thing about it at "rst. !en I went back and reread it, and I liked it, so I wrote up my proposal and sent it in,” she said.

“I’m excited about it. It’s a really good script, funny, and has that humanity. I’m excited for people to see it. I thank my good friend who died before he "nished his mas-ter’s—because if he had never emailed it to me, I would have never had this opportu-nity, so I’m doing this with him in mind. !e play is not suitable for children, there are di%erent references for young and seasoned adults.”

“Calling All” is the entry for the Kennedy Center American College !eater Festival,

C/ACTF.“!e festival is the college level Tony

Awards,” Simpson said.!ree actors will be chosen to compete,

as well as a couple of design elements, at the festival.

“As the director, I’m more on the creative side; I help them learn their lines and how to say them better and with which props. I have a picture in my head of how I want it, and everyone, the actors, and my stage manager, Katie Oloch—my right hand, help me get what I want out of my head out on stage,” Simpson said.

Tickets are on sale at the theatre box of-"ce (in the Performing Arts Center), Mon-day-!ursdays, 1-5 p.m. or online. Tickets for students with their IDs, or younger than 18 are $5, tickets are $10 for seniors, and $15 for adults.

P!"# $N%&. '(, ()'* S!"#$%Lions win LSC title, regionals next

Carter LacySports Editor

+e Lions soccer squad (13-5-2) claimed its second straight Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship, shutting out West Texas A&M (10-10-1) 4-0 on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Lions claimed a berth in the NCAA tour-nament for the second straight year, and extended the winning streak over WTAMU to four straight games.

Savannah Grasser scored two goals, in the 40th and 87th min-utes, and Jade Bell (16:39) and Vicky Back (17:23) both contrib-

uted with early goals. Back leads the Lone Star Conference with 15 goals on the season and 34 total points.

+e Lions jumped to a 3-0 lead at the end of the ,rst half on goals by Bell, Back and Grasser before Grasser added her second goal in the second half.

+e Lions have won eight of their last 10 matches, including their six most recent. Combining both regular season and tour-nament titles, this is the Lions’ seventh overall, ,ve of which have come in the last 15 years.

Back was named the tournament Most Valuable Player with Taylor Rhodes, Madison Cordts and Ashley Phillips named to

the LSC All-Tournament Team. +e Lions are ranked 5th in the South Central Region of the

NCAA Division II. Other Texas teams ranked include Midwest-ern (8th), Texas Woman’s (7th), St. Edward’s (4th), Dallas Bap-tist (3rd), and Angelo State is ,rst.

Vicky Back and Anitra Wright are 8th in assists and assists per game nationally. Madison Cordts is third for game-winning goals, Courtnie Northern is sixth in goals against average, ninth in shutouts, and eights in shutouts per game.

+e ,rst round of the 2015 Division II Women’s Soccer Cham-pionship will begin Nov. 13.

Back named MVP, Lions go back-to-back

Kourtlynd Buggs-TorresSta- writer

+e month of November has been a rollercoaster ride for the Lions volleyball team as they have a loss, win, loss with Texas Woman’s coming to town Friday.

After a 3-game win streak Oct. 20-24, the Lions slipped the next two outings in October and it carried over to open November.

LIONS FALL 3-1 TO TARLETON+e Lions faced Tarleton State Nov. 3 and looked to

break out of the two-game losing spell, but failed to stop the skid, losing to the TexAnns 3-1.

Set one saw the Lions falling behind early. +e Lions rallied back to outhit the TexAnns .267 to .118. +e Li-ons ended up taking the ,rst set with a 25-20 victory. Ve-ronika Baric led the Lions with ,ve kills in the ,rst set.

In the second set, the TexAnns started out on ,re with an 11-5 lead early in the match. +e Lions responded try-ing to edge their way back into the game, but it wasn’t enough. +e TexAnns stopped the Lions’ surge and brought the score to 19-12. +e TexAnns went on to claim the second set 25-17.

+e third set proved to be the most entertaining with 13 ties and ,ve lead changes. But the Lions couldn’t ,nd the edge and fell to the TexAnns 27-25.

In the fourth and ,nal set, the Lions struggled to get anything going. Hailey Roberts put on a show for the

TexAnns with seven kills. Tarleton also closed out the Li-ons by putting on a defensive clinic with 15 digs and four

blocks. +e TexAnns took the fourth set 25-16.BACK IN THE WIN COLUMNVeronika Baric and Summer Alford were on ,re in a

3-1 win over Midwestern State, recording 19 and 16 kills respectively while Taryn Driver added 10 more and Jaslyn Wacker stepped up with seven blocks.

+e Lions edged the Mustangs 26-24 in the ,rst set, then fell 26-24 in the second. But, the Lions rallied behind solid play throughout to take the next two sets 25-18 and 25-17 and drop the Mustangs to 0-13 in LSC play.

Individual leadership for the Lions came from Court-ney Tate with 49 assists and 20 digs.

+e win evened the Lions’ LSC mark at 7-7LIONS SLIP 3-1 TO CAMERONAfter jumping to a 26-24 ,rst set win, the Lions fell 25-

29 and 26-24 the next two and 25-22 in the fourth set to fall to Cameron 3-1.

Alford had a solid outing for the Lions, recording 15 kills with Wacker adding 13 to the cause.

Lacie Jessup recorded a single-match high with four aces.

TEXAS WOMAN’S HERE NOV. 13+e Pioneers will come to Commerce after sweeping

Midwestern 3-0 to improve their season record to 22-6 and 11-4 in the LSC.

Leading the attack against the MWSU was Sara Oxford with 15 kills for TWU.

+e Lions will host TWU, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. to close the regular season before the Lone Star Conference Champi-onships get under way Nov. 19-21.

Keonte HerreraSports Information Assistant

+e Lions concluded their 2015 season at the NCAA South Central Regionals race Nov. 7.

+e Lions wrapped up their season in Can-yon, Texas on a progressive note as the men ,n-ished 16th with an average time of 33:02.66 in the 10k run, and the women ,nishing 18th with an average time of 24:36.02 in the 6k run.

Luis Romero was the top runner for both teams. Romero placed 17th in the men’s 10k run, and ,nished with a time of 30:56.40. Romero was named to the All-Region team, and was the third LSC athlete to cross the ,n-

ish line after ,nishing 12th at the LSC Cham-pionships. Although Romero missed qualifying for the NCAA National Championship by six places, Romero ran his best race of the season. Terra Truitt was the ,rst Lion for the women’s team to ,nish in the women 6k run with a time of 22:47.20.

“Both programs have shown great improve-ment from a year ago,” head coach Ross Smithey said. “We look forward to the upcoming track season where we expect our distance runners to have a greater impact at the conference level than in previous years.”

Cross country season ends at regionalsGOING HIGH – Sydney Reyes (5) goes high during the Lions 3-1 loss to Tarleton. Ready�  for�  ac on�  are�  the�  Lions’�  Ashley�  Mireles�  (3),�  Courtney�  Tate�  (7)�  and�  Veronika�  Baric (8). (East Texan photo by Kristen Taylor)

Volleyball wins 1, drops 2

Men Results17- Luis Romero- 30:56.4075- Andrew Cobos- 32:54.30104- Hunter Hawkins-33:31.40118- Turner Pool- 33:54.80119- Ryan Kallenbach- 33:56.4015- Luis Osornio- 34:04.90133- Trevor Montgomery-34:26.90

Women Results38- Terra Truitt- 22:47.2098- Tori Lenz- 24:04.30 112- Jenna McLaughlin- 24:18.10152- Mikayla Maldonado- 25:43.40157- Taylor Ramirez- 26:07.10165- Kate Holleman- 28:38.90

N!". #$, $%#&P'() 8 S!"#$%

Carter LaceySports editor

Tyree Barton stopped Angelo State’s Kyle Washington inches short of a *rst down in the closing seconds of the Lions’ 36-35 LSC Playo+ Championship semi*nals win to send the back-to-back Lone Star Conference champions Texas A&M-Commerce Lions into the title game Saturday.

,e Rams drove to the Lions’ two-yard line and faced fourth and two with time running out. Rams QB Washington went for the *rst down, but was stopped short by Barton, the Lions took over and ran out the clock.

,e Lions started whittling a 28-10 de*cit in the third quarter when Richard Cooper returned a kicko+ 88 yards for a touchdown.

Harrison Stewart hit Darby Smith with a 36-yard scoring pass to cut the Angelo lead 28-23.

Angelo’s Washington hit Brett Rasberry with a 10-yard touchdown pass with Sam Fowler adding the PAT to move the Rams to a seemingly comfortable 35-23 lead.

But, the Lions weren’t *nished as Derrick Macon hauled in a 3-yard scoring pass from Gabe Rodriguez followed by Martinez’s point after and the Lions had cut the margin to 35-30 with 13 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

,e Lions started its *rst drive of the fourth quarter down 35-30 at its own *ve-yard line. ,e Ram defense forced a punt, but the Lions tried a fake. However, the pass attempt was incomplete, and ASU took over at the Lions’ 12 yard line.

Following a holding penalty against the Rams, Fowler lined up for a 28 yard *eld goal attempt, but the kick was blocked and the

Lions took over at their own 20.Seven plays later, the Lions took the lead for good on a 25-yard

touchdown pass from Stewart to Lance Evans. ,e PAT failed, and the Lions held onto the slim 36-35 lead for the win.

Stewart was 22 of 44, including one interception, for 335 yards and three touchdowns. He has passed for 2,644 yards this season, and is second on the Lions’ single-season passing list.

Cooper was on *re on the ground, rushing for 116 yards for 1,168 this year, and 2,025 for his career. ,is places him sixth in Lions’ all-time career rushing.

,e Lions will host No. 2 seed Midwestern State Nov. 14 at Memorial Stadium at 2:30 p.m. ,e game will be televised on the American Sports Network to a national audience.

Midwestern enters the *nals following a 26-21 win over Eastern New Mexico.

One Step Closer

LOOKING DOWNFIELD – Harrison Stewart (15) looks down!eld for a receiver during the Lions LSC playo" win over Angelo State. Stewart !nished the game with 335 yards on 22 of 44 passes and three touchdowns. (East Texan photo by Aaron Hwang)

Win puts Lions’ in LSC Playo! Championship

FINDING THE OPENING – Richard Cooper (23) !nds an opening behind Peyton Thorne (90) and picks up some of his 120-yards rushing in the 36-35 Lions’ win over Angelo State. (East Texan photo by Aaron Hwang)

UP AND DOWN – Angelo State’s Brett Rasberry (5) tries to go up and over, but the Lions’ de-fense and Cole Pitts (19) have other ideas and they take Rasberry down. (East Texan photo by Kristen Taylor)