STUDENT GROUPS

The Black Tulip release party on Thursday will mark the debut of this year’s Shinnery Review.

The event, which will differ from years past, will be focused completely on the talent fea-tured in the Shinnery, Bethany Bradshaw, senior English major from Henderson, said.

“We want to make it into a celebration of all the hard work

that people have put into the magazine this year by showcas-ing all the work in a more struc-tured way,” Bradshaw said.

The creation of the Shinnery is a year-long process. The Shin-nery staff accepts submissions of short stories, poetry, and all types of art and then votes on submissions anonymously to narrow down the entries.

This edition will feature 63 pieces created by 30 different individuals, Bradshaw said.

“There isn’t really a venue to showcase the written word,” said David McMichael, senior English major from Abilene. “When peo-ple write, they want it to have the potential of being read, and the Shinnery provides that.”

McMichael, who is a coeditor of the Shinnery alongside Brad-shaw and Tanner Hadfield, said the authors published in the Shinnery are invited to come

Optimistthe

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

acuoptimist.com

1 section, 6 pages

weatherinside

page 3

websitefeatureBennie’s Attic, a local thrift shop featuring high fashion, vintage clothing at reduced prices offers student discounts.

page 6

sportsThe ACU baseball team lost four games this weekend, putting the Wildcats in jeopardy of not reaching the playoffs. 76° 49°

Wed. Fri.Thurs.

84° 59° 92° 67°

High Fashion, page 3

Samantha SutherlandContributing Reporter

Shinnery to debut Thursday

Vol. 99, No. 52

Abilene Christian University

Photo Courtesy of Bethany Bradshaw

The Shinnery Review will be available at the Black Tulip release party on Thursday. Wildfires continue to rage

across Texas, leaving thou-sands of acres charred in their wake.

The fires are the result of low humidity, lack of rain and high winds sweeping across the Southwest. Red flag warnings extend from the San Antonio area to just outside Flagstaff, Ariz., cov-ering all of West Texas and New Mexico. Yellow flags, which represent fire watch-es, stretch from Round Rock to Harlingen on the south-ern tip of the state.

Twenty-two fires are raging statewide, accord-ing to the National Inter-agency Fire Center website. The closest fire to Abilene is the Wildcat Fire, a 159,308-acre fire just north of San Angelo. Lightning started the Wildcat Fire on April 11, and it is 80 percent con-tained. The next closest is the more expansive PK East Fire that surrounds Pos-sum Kingdom Lake. That fire covers 10,996 acres. Other wildfires range from the Texas Panhandle to the Beaumont area.

Some speculate 2011 to be the worst year in Texas for wildfires, but Marq Webb, public information officer for Lone Star State Incident Management Team, said that is not necessarily true. Webb said 2006 was much worse for Texas fires, with 1.976 million acres scorched and numerous fatalities. This year, 1.838 million acres are burned with only two deaths, both volunteer firefighters. However, Webb said Texas is on track to pass the 2006 fires in acreage.

“I think we will easily sur-pass 2006 as far as acres in the next two days,” Webb said. “But that’s just speculation.”

Sunday’s thunder-storms and hail provided

Texas fires scorch acres

see BURNING page 5

The future of QR codes is yet to be determined as students and faculty attempt to inte-grate this technology with daily life.

Dr. James D. Langford, di-rector of innovation and implementation, said he always is hearing of new ways peo-ple are using the codes. Some stores are of-fering more product information through QR codes. At ACU, some instructors have

students scan the codes to link to faculty evaluations on their mobile devices, thus eliminating errors.

“It’s the nature of innovation and the dif-fusion of it that it starts small and grows and gets big,” Langford said. “The goal is to under-stand, is this going to be a useful innovation and what are the creative ways people are go-ing to come up with to use it?”

Many students don’t use QR codes or see the practicality of them when the information

given in the code is often redundant.Jeremy Foo, sophomore advertising and

public relations and political science major from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said he thinks the QR code initiative will be practical only if people actually use the codes.

“I think it has the potential to be very use-ful because you can compact tons of informa-tion into an entire link in a tiny box,” Foo said.

Zane GoggansContributing Reporter

see TULIP page 5

photo illustration by JOZIE SANDS // Online EditorStudents use ACU’s QR code scanner app for the iPhone. The app is free to all ACU students, faculty and staff.

Touch and GO

STATE

Students give scannable QR codes mixed reviews

newsThe Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will conduct a run/walk in an effort to send a 4-year-old leukemia patient to Disney World.

see READERS page 5

Bailey Griffith, Copy Editor

FACULTY

Dr. Rodney Ashlock has been elected as the chair-elect of the Faculty Sen-ate, and several other faculty members were elected for the first time to the Faculty Senate.

Ashlock, assistant pro-fessor and chair of the Department of Bible, Mis-sions and Ministry, will serve as chair of the Fac-ulty Senate in 2012-13. Dr. Rusty Towell, professor and chair of the Depart-ment of Physics, will serve as chair of the Faculty

Senate in 2011-12. Dr. Kim Pamplin, associate profes-sor and chair of the De-partment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, will serve as past chair in 2011-12.

Ashlock served as a fac-ulty senator from 2006-09. He said he looks forward to learning the responsi-

bilities of being chair of the Faculty Senate in prepara-tion for when he becomes chair in fall 2012.

“It’s mainly a listening and learning period where I’m trying to get back into the groove of Faculty Senate and

Jeff CraigManaging Editor

Faculty chooses seven new senators, chair-elect

see SENATE page 5

quick factsThe Faculty Senate added seven new faculty senators.n Dr. Neal Coates, chair of the Department of Political Sciencen Dr. Brad Crisp, assistant professor of management sciencesn Dr. Houston Heflin, assistant professor of Bible, missions and ministryn Dr. Kenneth Pybus, associate professor of journalism and mass communicationn Dr. Shelly Sanders, assistant professor of Englishn Dr. Allen Teel, professor of musicn Brandon Young, assistant professor of art and design

Student’s Association positions Applications for Student Association positions are due at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Student’s Association office. The available Student Association posi-tions are chief develop-ment officer, who works with the vice president on internal affairs and helps members of congress formulate and implement ideas to im-prove student life; chief communications officer, who is in charge of all advertising and com-munications on behalf of Student Association; and chief financial officer, who assists the treasurer with formulating the budget and other finan-cial matters. The special election will take place 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 2-3 in the Campus Center. For more infor-mation on the Student Association Constitu-tional Amendments visit acustudents.com/?p=962.

Service Saturdays Students can serve the Abilene com-munity during Service Sat-urday on April 30. Contact Rita Harrell at 674-2932 for more information.

Study Abroad Fall 2011 Spaces still are available in the Oxford and Mon-tevideo Study Abroad Programs for Fall 2011. Students can enroll in CORE 120 and CORE 220 in Oxford, and $1,000 scholarships are available for the Montevideo Study Abroad Program. For more information, visit the Study Abroad Office in Room 124 of the Hardin Administration Building.

Upward Bound Summer Advisers Students inter-ested in helping disadvan-taged high school students now can apply to become Upward Bound summer advisers from May 29-July 8. Advisers will receive free room and board, plus $925. For more information, call 674-2529 or 674-2713.

Grief Group The Univer-sity Counseling Center is sponsoring a grief group on Thursdays in April. Each ses-sion takes place from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Hunter Welcome Center conference room. Contact steve.eller@acu.edu for more information.

Team Tatum Walk/Run for a Wish The ACU Student-Athlete Advisory Commit-tee is raising funds to help fulfill the wish of Tatum Kate Flaming, a local girl who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leuke-mia in 2009. Students can help support Flaming by participating in the Team Tatum Walk/Run for a Wish 5K on May 7. Pre-registra-tion is $15, and walk-up registration costs $20. To learn more about Tatum’s story, visit www.caring-bridge.org/visit/tatumkate.

Swing Cats The Swing Cats meet every week 7-9 p.m. on Sundays in Cullen Au-ditorium. No partners or experience are required.

Relay 4 Life The Freshman Action Council is selling Relay For Life shirts in the Campus Center. Shirts cost $10 and are available in four colors: pink in support of breast cancer, blue for pros-tate cancer, gold for child-hood cancer and purple for general awareness.

All-school Chapel The Cha-pel Office encourages stu-dents to participate in “Bring Your Professor to Chapel Day” and invite their profes-sors to Chapel as a part of the campus-wide effort to attend Chapel every Monday.

FCA The ACU chapter of Fellowship of Christian Ath-letes meets at 9 p.m. every Thursday in the Campus Center Living Room.

Online Summer Courses Registration for online sum-mer courses now is open. Students can choose from 15 courses, and each course is three weeks long. For more information, visit www.acu.edu/summeronline.

announcements

29Friday

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

calendar & events27 Thursday28 30Saturday

follow us on Twitter: @acuoptimist // become a fan on Facebook: The Optimist

A log of the ACU Police De-partment’s daily activities will be printed on this page of the Optimist. The first Police Log will appear Friday.

2Campus Day

11 a.m. Come to the Quiet Chapel in Moody Coliseum

5 p.m. Applications for Students’ Association officer positions due in the Students’ Association office

7 p.m. Sub T-16 rush

9 p.m. Delta Theta rush

11 a.m. Small group Chapel on various locations across campus

5 p.m. Alpha Kai Omega rush

5 p.m. Frater Sodalis rush

7 p.m. Gata rush

7:30 p.m. Black Tulip Shinnery Review release party

8 p.m. ACU Bands concert featuring the works of David Maslanka

11 a.m. Praise Day in Moody Coliseum

2 p.m. Baseball at Southwestern Oklahoma University

7 p.m. Softball vs. Tarleton State University

9 a.m. Celebration of Service around Abilene

12 p.m. Baseball at Southwestern Oklahoma

1 p.m. Softball vs. Tarleton State University

3 p.m. Softball vs. Tarleton State

4 p.m. Anne Marie Rauscher and Arielle Collier vocal recital

7:30 p.m. Dimensions in Blue Jazz Ensemble of the US Air Force Band of the West in Cullen Auditorium

66

Chapel

Credited Chapels to date

Checkup07 Credited

Chapels remaining

Grad student presents word study at conference

Joshua Alkire, graduate student from Abilene, has been studying and pre-senting the use and mis-use of the word “literally” for more than a year.

He gets a little tired of the topic now and then, but he could not pass up

an opportunity to present his research once again. He was one of the 74 students out of 700 applicants who were accepted to present in Washington, D.C. at the Posters on the Hill event sponsored by the Council On Undergraduate Re-search, said Dr. Joseph Ste-phenson, assistant dean of the Honors College.

“I’m very proud that Joshua was able to rep-resent ACU at this major national research event,” Stephenson said. “Josh-ua’s research, which actu-ally was part of his Honors Capstone project, was top notch, and there was al-ways a crowd of people around his poster.”

Alkire was the first ACU

student to present at this event, Stephenson said. Alkire was a graduate stu-dent at the time of his presentation, but he per-formed the research while getting his bachelor’s in English and family min-istries. He graduated De-cember 2010.

Alkire’s presentation focused on the legal rami-

fications of literal lan-guage. The current ruling is that witnesses cannot be charged with perjury for truthfully answering the literal meaning of the question, Alkire said. If a prosecutor asked a wit-ness, “Did the dealer give you drugs?” the witness could answer “No,” and be protected, even if his rea-soning was that the drugs were bought, not given.

Alkire was impressed by all of the great under-graduate projects in one room, he said. He was also encouraged by a Yale professor’s speech on the importance of art and humanities. It reminded Alkire that the research in these studies serves to keep people in touch with what it means to be hu-man, he said.

Alkire also has studied the modern use of “liter-ally” as an intensifier as

well as its use in the realm of theology, which he pre-sented in the formats of PowerPoint and paper, respectively. The poster presentation he made in D.C. was Alkire’s favorite platform for presenting his work so far, he said. It was the most interactive way to communicate and allowed audiences to ask questions freely.

The questions listen-ers raised opened Alkire’s mind to the possibilities for more papers in his re-search, he said. He said there is a small possibility he may use the study in his thesis to finish an MA in theology and history. But for now, Alkire said he is taking a break from the topic, literally.

Christianna LewisSenior Reporter

STUDENTS

ACU Police Tip of the WeekAlways keep a record of the brand name and serial number of all electronics, such as laptops, cameras and iPads, to help police recover the property if it is stolen.

Police LogEdited for space

Wednesday, April 136:36 p.m. ACU police received a call about a suspicious person sit-ting in a green Volkswa-gen behind Christian Village on 633 E.N. 19th Street. The individual was an employee of a transportation company hired by Christian Village to survey the number of individuals who enter and exit the back area of Christian Village.

Friday, April 154:45 p.m. ACU police received a report from a student that his laundry had been stolen from a dryer at Smith Hall some-time between 11:45 p.m. and 7:45 a.m. the follow-ing morning.

Saturday, April 1612:23 a.m. The ACU Police Department was notified of a loud noise coming from a party at 942 E.N. 19th St. Officer contacted the tenant and issued a warning. The tenant complied.

11 p.m. The Abilene Police Department noti-fied ACU police of 6-8 armed men dressed in camouflage in the open field at Garfield Avenue and Campus Court. The men were Dyess United States Air Force soldiers in full uniform prepar-ing for a paintball war. Abilene Police reminded the airmen of Abilene’s no air gun discharge mu-nicipal ordinance, and they agreed to relocate.

Friday, April 171:35 a.m. Abilene police notified ACU police of a noise violation from a party at 420 College Dr. Officers issued the ten-ant a citation.

Report all suspicious ac-tivity to the ACU Police Department at 674-2305.

Weekly StatsApril 13-17

AccidentAdministrative Activity Animal Call Armed SuspectAssistBoot/Unboot VehicleBuilding Lock/UnlockCheck BuildingFound PropertyInvestigation Follow Up

Patrol Vehicle: MaintenancePatrol Vehicle:Refuel Public ServiceReport WritingStolen VehicleSuspicious ActivityTheftTraffic StopWelfare Check

3

5

1114

120

2

111

1133

14

1824

Lost Property MedicalEmergencyMonitor TrafficMotorist Assist: JumpstartMotorist Assist: OtherMotorist Assist: UnlockNoise ViolationOtherParking ViolationEscort

11

24

3

19

45

151

Wednesday

contact Lewis atcll09a@acu.edu

correctionThe co-founder of the Taylor County Tea Party an mayoral candidate was misidentified in Wednesday’s issue of the Optimist. The co-founder is Pat Hippely. We regret the error.

FocusApril 27, 2011 Page 3

Bennie’s Attic offers Abilene shoppers a large selection of sophisticated, secondhand clothing and collectables

The word ‘attic’ normally conjures up thoughts of dust and spider webs, and while the contents of Bennie’s are certainly old, they are anything but dark and dusty.

In fact, they are downright glamorous.Bennie’s Attic, a high-end resale clothing and col-

lectable shop located at 216 South Leggett Dr., opened last month after relocating from Sweetwater. The store offers vintage and contemporary clothing, accessories, shoes, jewelry, collectibles, kitchenware, books and electronics for women, men and children.

The shop’s variety of inventory is comparable to thrift and consignment stores, but Bennie Frazier’s sophisticated taste, eye for design, and commitment to organization and ambience sets it apart.

“I like things that are basically unusual,” Frazier, who owns and runs the store, said.

And by unusual, she means reversible two-piece suits; fully-working, collectible portable telephone purses; and antique powder sets. She means scarves of every color and pattern; wide-brim hats of every shape and size; and vintage pink aluminum cake carriers. She means children’s outfits and furniture, oriental outfits, scrubs and real suede shoes for men.

Customers can meander through neatly-organized racks and rooms of consignment pieces while smooth jazz or Will Smith’s Summertime pipes through speak-ers in what used to be a popular hair salon. Frazier’s taste for the unusual decorates the walls and gives the store a colorful and glamorous city-shop feel.

And the charming Frazier is always ready to share her favorite items with high school, college and older customers who appreciate her unique, refined taste. Leather heels, buttoned boots and leopard swing coats – she knows every single item in her store and calls most of it ‘hot, hot, hot’ or ‘just too cute.’ Pick up a top and she knows just the belt that will complete the look.

Working alongside Frazier is Richard Greg, who helps run the store. Greg spends time organizing mechandise and helping customers. Greg is just as accommodating and welcoming as Frazier while customers browse the shop’s inventory. The two make customers’ experience pleasant and pain-free.

Frazier’s collection of everything from authentic vin-tage designer shoes to working antique toasters is con-stantly updated and restocked. Her merchandise comes from dealers in San Francisco, various private estate sales and her own closet, which she’s accumulated over years of working and soaking in the high-end fashion world.

Frazier said fashion is something she’s been pas-sionate about since she was young. Her aunt worked in Oklahoma City for an aff luent family whose daugh-ter was Frazier’s age and, fortunately, her size. As their daughter cycled through her yearly fall and summer designer wardrobes, Frazier would receive her hand-me-downs and castoffs.

“Needless to say, I was always the best dressed girl,” Frazier said.

Between that and watching Rita Hayworth and oth-er celebrities on TV, Frazier quickly developed a taste for high-end fashion. This led her to work for several clothing boutiques and eventually to become the man-ager of Casual Corner, a boutique in California. This is where Nordstrom’s discovered Frazier – and later made her the fashion consultant and special event co-ordinator for their store in San Francisco.

“I was what you call a pace-setter in the company … the top sales executive,” Frazier said. “Which is neat, because you get a 30 percent discount as opposed to 20 percent.”

Having her own boutique was always her dream, how-ever, so Frazier opened Bennie’s Attic in Sweetwater. She sold vintage clothing and collectibles to local shop-pers and several out-of-town patrons for six years before deciding to change locations. She looked into moving to Abilene and decided it would be the perfect place.

“I know my customers, I know my products, I know what’s out there, so I was confident that nobody was re-ally out there in Abilene that could offer the customers what I had to offer, at the price,” Frazier said. “And with the economy being the way it is, women, we still want to look sharp. We want to look trendy and fashionable,

but we don’t want to break the bank. I felt like I could offer the customers all those things at super affordable prices, not only for themselves but for their families.”

Frazier’s shop offers designers like Coach, Nieman Marcus, Escada and Ralph Lauren for prices signifi-cantly less expensive than what shoppers would find online or at other boutiques. Styles range from casual to dressy and the era from the Victorian era to the pres-ent. Dresses from After Five share the same rack with dresses from Forever 21.

“I tend to mix retro with contemporary things,” Fra-zier said. “And the reason I do that is because some-times when you ask people if they like a particular era, they’ll say ‘No, no,’ but then they don’t really know. And you mix it, it’s like, ‘Oh I love that.’ So I do that a lot.”

Every suit, gown and blouse is in excellent condi-tion, so customers don’t have to worry about buying vintage pieces that only will fall apart after one wear.

“As a rule, if you can come in here and you can fit into the dress, the outfit or the shoe, you can go home with it,” Frazier said.

That’s why Frazier dry-cleans, restores and alters items for customers.

She also is working on getting her website up and run-ning, which will offer even more consignment pieces. She said she has more than 500 designer scarves that will be available online, as well as coats, books and other ap-parel and collectibles that just can’t fit in the store.

And the best part: Frazier offers a 30 percent dis-count to college students every Friday.

“It’s important for me to let students know that hey, you don’t necessarily have to travel to Austin or Dallas to find the really nice stuff. You know I’m here,” Frazier said.

She said several students from the surrounding uni-versities already are faithful in visiting every Friday.

Bennie’s Attic is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but Frazier said she’s not the type to kick customers out who want to peruse past closing.

“If you’re in here at 5:30 or if you walk in the door, I’m not going to say. ‘Nope, get out of here; I’m closing,’” Frazier said. “No, no, no … I appreciate my customers and I want them to know that I value their business.”

Lizzy Spano Contributing Writer

contact Optimist atjmcnetwork@acu.edu

ATTIC FASHIONJOZIE SANDS // Online Editor

Bennie Frazier, owner of Bennie’s Attic, opened her shop on South Leggett Drive to give Abilene residents a unique selection of clothes varying from vintage to modern.

I like things that are basically unusual.

BENNIE FRAZIER // owner of Bennie’s Attic‘‘ ’’

Self-ExaminationBy Ryan Self

You may know him as Captain Jack Sparrow or Edward Scissorhands but before he was the Mad Hatter and Willy Won-ka, Johnny Depp had a differ-ent title: ballpoint-pen sales-man. There are many people who, like Depp, have gone on to fame and fortune after en-during first jobs that were less than thrilling. Before he became one of the most well-known actors in the world, Brad Pitt started out on street corners dressed as a chicken advertising for El Pollo Loco Chicken. Even Rachel McAdams, before she stole the big screen in films such as The Notebook and Mean Girls, once asked customers if they would like to super-size their meal. That’s right, Rachel McAdams used to work for McDonalds.

Your first job is not always an indicator of how your future career will pan out. Jonathan Acuff, of Stuff Chris-tians Like fame, is a national best-selling author and now works as a contributor for The Dave Ramsey Show. But as he writes in his latest book, Quitter, success has taken a long time to catch up to him. Before he landed his dream job in Nashville, Tenn. writ-ing best-selling books and working for a nationally-syndicated radio show, he went through eight jobs in the eight years following his graduation from college. Most of those jobs included technical and copy writing work for companies like Au-toTrader.com, Home Depot and Staples – hardly thrill-ing for most.

Sometimes a first job can be a launching pad for inspiration or a big break. Author Stephen King was inspired to write his first novel, Carrie, while cleaning a girl’s locker room as a jani-tor. Stephen Colbert started his career at the famous im-

prov academy Second City ,(which also helped launch the careers of Tina Fey, Steve Carell and Mike Myers) not onstage but by selling tick-ets at the box office and sell-ing souvenirs.

Failure at a first job doesn’t always spell disas-ter for a future career either. Walt Disney had difficulty finding a job in the news-paper industry as a car-toonist and ad creator and eventually was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He also had many failed business attempts and bankrupt-cies before he opened the world-famous Disneyland. MIT actually has offered an entire course on failure entitled “The Fine Art of Failure” because as Diane Garnick of Invesco muses,

“We learn more from our failures that we could ever learn from our successes.”

Before you are the CEO of a Fortune-500 company, you may find yourself sell-ing computer software over the phone for several hours each day. Before you own the dream house with the dream car parked out front, you may be living on ramen noodles and driv-ing a Kia to your job that requires a 30-minute com-mute. But before you give up on your dream of suc-cess at a job that is mean-ingful, fulfilling and well-catered to your talents, you should know that taking a less-than-desirable first job will put you in pretty good company.

Rounding the BasesBy Brandon Tripp

It’s time for Jim Tressel to be fired from his post as the Ohio State University football coach. Tressel is accused by the NCAA of lying about when and how much he knew about NCAA vio-lations that some of his players, in-cluding star Terrelle Pryor, were committing by sell-ing their memorabilia.

It’s time for the university to concern t h e m s e l v e s about their r e p u t a t i o n . It’s all about trying to stay ahead of the firestorm that will ensue and quickly engulf the program.

The thought around much of college football is that the progress of the investigation will be slow and nothing may be decided until after the foot-ball season in 2011.

Regardless, it is time for the university ad-ministration, as well as Athletics Director Gene Smith, to think about how much they really value the national per-ception of Ohio State. Tressel, who has the high-est winning percentage of any Buckeyes coach ever, has put the reputa-tion of the university and the future of its football program on the line be-cause of his actions, or lack thereof, and must be held accountable.

Originally, Tressel claimed he didn’t know anything about the ac-tions of his players, but as time wore on it was discovered that Tres-sel not only knew but contacted people to try and quell the violations

by recruiting the help of people who knew the athletes and taking his findings to a lawyer. This realization quickly debunked any asser-tions Tressel had made about his ignorance in the matter and instantly made it a viral story all around the country.

It only got worse for the Buckeyes head coach when it was dis-covered that he had told everyone that he didn’t want to jeopar-dize an ongoing inves-tigation into a tattoo parlor owner who was

being investigated by the FBI. But then it was discovered that he had forwarded the emails he was protecting to a friend of quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

So the decision Ohio State faces is similar to the one that Tennessee had to answer with Bruce Pearl and to some extent BYU with Brandon Da-vies. The Buckeyes have to decide whether to stand on principles or to let what Tressel has done play out in the me-dia and with the NCAA regulations. Hopefully for college football and those who admire Ohio State, the Buckeyes’ leaders will stand for the right thing. As much as we all love to see that vested genius walk up and down the sidelines at games, it’s time for him to go.

COLUMN

Buckeyes’ coach should be let go

Before he became one of the most well-known actors in the world, Brad Pitt started out on street corners dressed as a chicken advertising El Pollo Loco Chicken.

Laura AcuffCopy Editor

Bailey GriffithCopy Editor

Morgan DavisCartoonist

Summit 2011 will create positive memories for at-tendees, thanks to a sim-ple, yet powerful, theme and notable key speakers.

The theme for next year’s Summit, “Enough,” calls for Christians to ex-amine the “talk-the-talk” and “walk-the-walk” max-im. The Summit website asks us for an “examina-tion of whether our prac-tice matches our belief.”

The 2011 theme exhib-its particular value be-cause it calls Christians to action.

We believe that by calling people to action through self-examina-tion, the theme will serve as a rubric for thought and force attendees to undergo evaluation and ponder the words of the speaker. “Enough” will allow Christians to hear the message and respond accordingly with deep, personal evaluation.

Summit 2011 also will feature some notable speakers, most notably Max Lucado, an ACU alum-nus. Lucado, who serves

as the minister of preach-ing at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, has authored more than 60 books that have sold more than 80 million copies.

Lucado maintains sta-tus as a notable and well-respected minister across the United States. In 2005, Reader’s Digest named him America’s Best Preacher, and Christianity Today gave him the nickname “America’s Pastor.”

People know who Max Lucado is; many ACU stu-dents likely grew up read-

ing some of his books. By integrating a speaker in-dividuals have heard of, there will be more buzz leading up to Summit.

Sharon Cohn Wu, an-other featured speaker, is a vice president with the International Justice Mis-sion. She does not have the name recognition of Lucado, but her organiza-tion carries great weight with today’s college stu-dent. IJM maintains sta-tus as a worthy organi-zation, particularly with progressive students.

Respected Summit 2011 speakers will give at-tendees tangible and ap-plicable ideas. The cogent theme, “Enough,” will create impact and allow for more personal evalua-tion of individuals’ lives.

We believe these two factors will give attend-ees a pleasant experi-

ence and something to think about. If people leave the event think-ing and pondering, then it will be safe to call the event a success. All indi-cators point to a success-ful Summit.

OpinionPage 4 April 27, 2011

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.

The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print

letters containing personal attacks, obscenity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy.

Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.

Address letters to: ACU Box 27892 Abilene, TX 79699

E-mail letters to: optimist@acu.edu

editorial and letter policy

By Morgan DavisThe Funny Funnies

Speakers should make Summit a successEDITORIAL

contact the Optimist atjmcnetwork@acu.edu

the issueThe theme and speakers already have been chosen for the 2011 Summit lectureship.

our takeWell-known speakers will make Summit a memorable and worthwhile event for students and visitors to attend.

contact Tripp atbjt07a@acu.edu

Tripp

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The Buckeyes have to decide whether to stand on principles or to let what Tressel has done play out in the media and with the NCAA regulations.

Failed first jobs don’t dictate futureCOLUMN

Self

contact Self atrcs06g@acu.edu

April 27, 2011 Page 5FROM THE FRONT/FROM SPORTS

only temporary relief for firefighters. Webb said the rain helped tremen-dously, but the effects of the storms will fade quickly because of high winds drying out fields.

“It’s going to go on un-

til we get a significant amount of rain, maybe 10 inches scattered over a couple of weeks,” Webb said. “Until that happens, we will be fighting fires.”

Significant amounts of rain are not expected anytime soon as summer approaches. Joel Dunn,

meteorologist for the Na-tional Weather Service in San Angelo, said things could get a little easier in the future.

“There will be no rain for the next seven days,” Dunn said. “There will be drier than normal condi-tions for the next month,

but that doesn’t mean it won’t rain.”

Wednesday, wind speeds are expected to calm down to 10-15 mph. That is compared to Mon-day’s 20-25 mph winds. However, a cold front is expected Wednesday, changing wind direc-

tions to the north, which may cause more prob-lems for firefighters.

Wednesday’s high temperature is forecast-ed to reach 75 degrees and Thursday’s high is forecasted to reach 81 degrees.

“Luckily, [firefighters]

won’t have the wind speed to deal with,” Dunn said. “But the change in winds is still a big deal.”

All information about wildfires across the area is current as of April 25.

and read their pieces at the event and copies of the Shinnery will be distributed for free.

“If you’re someone that’s interested in the artistic happenings at ACU, it’s a good place to come and see what’s go-ing on,” McMichael said.

Bradshaw encour-aged all students who are interested in getting involved or submitting work for next year to at-tend and find out what the Shinnery is all about.

“It’s the only ACU or-ganization I know that really does encourage the arts in a broad way,” Bradshaw said. “It’s ex-citing to see people from other majors, outside of class and outside of their departments even, be-ing encouraged to pursue creative activities.”

The Shinnery staff also organizes other events throughout the year in-cluding writing workshops, a small group Chapel and a recent concert at Monk’s Coffee Shop that featured a band from Dallas named Seryn. The Black Tulip is specifically a celebration of a year’s worth of work on the Shinnery.

“This is what the stu-dents here at ACU are capable of and this is the talent that is on this cam-pus,” Bradshaw said.

The Black Tulip re-lease party will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Shore Art Gallery.

For Rent:1 -1 bedroom/1bath unfurnished apts.$300/mo. (no pets & no smoking)utilities not included, located within walking distance to ACU, available June 11233 ½ WashingtonCall 325-677-1943 if interested.Two nice 1 bedroom apartments on same property as our home.Available June 1Also, one large 4 bedroom/2 bath house.All listings located 1/2 block from campus on College DriveNo Smoking/No petsCall 672-9633 or 370-5122 if interested.

CLASSIFIED

Court: Wildcats sweep titlesThe women defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State and Cameron Uni-versity before beating Mid-western State University in the final with a 5-1 score; three singles matches couldn’t be completed.

Like the men’s teams, the No. 1 and No. 3 dou-bles matches went to the

Wildcats. Junior Jaclyn Walker and freshmen Mi-cah Hermsdorf and Emily Conrad won their singles matches in two sets.

“Coach always tells us to stay positive,” Conrad said. “We’ve been gaining lots of confidence, and it’s really paying off.”

It is the women’s fourth straight LSC win, and sev-enth in the last eight years.

“We won conference last year too,” sophomore Julia Mongin said. “It was a great win, and we are really looking forward to hosting regionals.”

ACU will host the wom-en’s regional tournament, and probably the men’s tournament as well. The final regular season rank-ing will be released May 4 to determine the region-al hosts. The men were

ranked No. 2 in the South Central Region behind St. Edwards before winning the LSC on Saturday.

“These memories will always stay with us as a team,” Strahl said. “Every-body has put in a lot of effort to accomplish what we have done.”

TENNIS

Continued from page 6

contact Smith atmds10a@acu.edu

SOFTBALL

LSC: Rambellessweep Wildcats in San Angelo

did not get any run support. ACU recorded only four hits as they could not push any runs across the board.

In the second game, ACU fell apart defensively recording five errors and eight unearned runs. ASU would go on and route the Wildcats in five innings 9-1. Peyton Mosley picked up the loss dropping her to 6-5 on the season.

In the final game of the series, ACU would battle tough with the Rambelles. The Wildcats would score in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. ASU would answer scoring single runs in the second, third and fourth. The Wild-cats would score two runs in the fifth to tie the game at three. However, in the bottom of the sixth, ASU would blast a home run to center field to break the tie. ASU would win the game 4-3, completing the sweep of the Wildcats.

ACU will host the Tex-Anns this weekend start-

ing Friday at 7 p.m. will conclude its season with a doubleheader on Saturday.

“We need to win two of three this weekend. If we could sweep that would be great, but our goal is at least two of three,” Brittany Rexroat said. “We are trying to focus on getting all as-pects of our game going. We are focusing on getting our offense and defense work-ing together at the same time, that is something we struggled with against An-gelo last weekend.”

Continued from page 6

contact Cantrell atjrc07f@acu.edu

We need to win two of three this weekend.

BRITTANY REXROAT // senior pitcher‘‘’’

Series: Playoff chances in jeopardyBASEBALL

Continued from page 6

third before being pulled in favor of reliever Kris Carlson.

ACU began a comeback in the fifth inning, scor-ing three runs in the inning with two outs to close the gap to 9-3. After Cameron Watten and Goudeau were retired, ACU ran off a string of four consecutive runners on base. A throwing error brought home Will Calhoun and Bryce Gerhardt.

The ACU bullpen put in six solid innings allowing just one run in the fifth. The Wildcats couldn’t fin-ish the rally though in the late innings, leaving eight

runners stranded in the fi-nal four innings.

In the first game of the Saturday doubleheader, the Wildcats couldn’t find a way to break through against Ag-gie pitcher James Rhodes. Rhodes threw a complete game to move to 6-0 on the season for Cameron. He al-lowed just seven hits while fanning four Wildcats.

Zach Sneed had a solid outing for the Wildcats going 5 1-3 innings giving up just three runs, two earned, while striking out four.

Calhoun, a senior, came on in relief for Sneed and the Aggies plated four runs in just over an inning’s worth of

work to put the game out of reach at 7-0.

In the late game, the Wild-cats got a solid performance again from their starter, this time Watten, who went 4 2-3 innings allowing just two runs, but the ACU bullpen unraveled after that.

Brady Rodriguez was brought on to continue the work, but instead allowed five runs on five hits by the Aggies all in the sixth inning when Cameron busted the game wide open. With a 7-2 lead ACU couldn’t hold back the flood gates as the Aggies continued to pour it on in the seventh and eighth innings, run-ruling the Wildcats in

the eighth by a final of 14-3.“It’s hard when you get

good starting pitching, and then you go to your bull-pen and it blows up in your face,” said Bonneau. “We are frustrated.”

The losses put the Wild-cats tournament hopes in se-rious jeopardy with only one weekend remaining in the season. ACU will need some help with losses by both West Texas A&M and Angelo State along with a sweep of their own against the fifth place team in the LSC.

contact Tripp atbjt07a@acu.edu

Burning: Windy conditions fuel Texas fire outbreakLOCAL

Continued from page 1

“But it needs to be inter-active.”

Langford said as of two weeks ago, there were about 1200 downloads of the get-Go application that ACU offered to students and fac-ulty free of charge. The app is normally $2.

There have been about 680 URLs created using go.acu.edu, which can create several different types of data, but Lang-ford said URLs have been the primary type.

Incorporating the codes into practical use is in the hands of those creating the codes, Langford said. If they are turning a URL into a code without any new infor-mation, those scanning will not find it helpful and most likely will not bother to scan again, Langford said.

“There are some QR codes that are very re-petitive,” Foo said. “They have the entire poster then, ‘Scan here for digi-tal poster.’ No; I’ll pass. It’s kind of impractical.”

Foo said in his home country of Malaysia, many mass-produced publica-

tions use QR codes.Some U.S. companies

are doing the same. Lang-ford showed the Optimist a recent issue of Wired maga-zine in which an advertise-ment featured a QR code that linked to an application for the company’s product. The application was for a Mini Cooper and was a just-for-fun type of app.

That’s how Spenser Lynn, sophomore phys-ics major from White Oak, views QR codes as a whole – just for fun.

“I think they’re a great

novelty,” Lynn said.Lynn expressed his

concern, however, for the opportunities QR codes can give to cyberterrorists with unidentifiable codes and shortened URLs that potentially could link to dangerous websites.

“People will come up and scan them and you won’t know what website you’re going to until you scan it,” Lynn said. “It’s just silly. This is probably the silliest thing I’ve seen ACU do.”

But with ACU’s code cre-ator, students and faculty

must input their informa-tion into the system so ACU knows who makes each code for accountability.

“It’s kind of what you pre-dict, that any time you have something new you’re going to have a smaller number that are early adopters and they’ll jump right on and try something new,” Langford said. “Then as time goes on, you have more people mak-ing a conscious decision to adopt or not to adopt.”

Readers: Campus continues to implement QR codesContinued from page 1

contact Googans atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

CAMPUS

It’s just silly. This is probably the silliest thing I’ve seen ACU do.

SPENSER LYNN // sophomore physics major from White Oak‘‘ ’’

contact Griffith atbng10a@acu.edu

Tulip: Review plans releaseSTUDENT GROUP

Continued from page 1

contact Sutherland atoptimist@jmcnetwork.com

Senate: Eight faculty electedFACULTY

find out what major pressing issues the fac-ulty will face in 2012-13,” Ashlock said.

Ashlock said he looks forward to representing and serving the faculty in the coming years.

“You take up and take on the pressing issues that face faculty, from salary to curriculum issues,” Ashlock said. “You’re also always try-ing to work with admin-istration in productive ways and trying to make that a better and healthi-er relationship.”

Dr. Allen Teel, professor of music, will serve as one of seven new faculty sena-tors who will begin their terms in the fall. Teel said he has full confidence in Ashlock’s abilities to chair the Faculty Senate.

“I think he’ll be fan-tastic. I’ve known him for quite a few years,” Teel said. “He’s a person of great integrity who has students’ best interests at heart, but will serve really well for faculty at the same time.”

Teel said he also looks forward to serving as a faculty senator for the second time. Teel began teaching at ACU in 1985.

“It’s a big time com-mitment, but there is a lot of value in being able to represent the faculty in things that are impor-tant to us,” Teel said.

Dr. Brad Crisp, assis-tant professor of informa-

tion systems, will serve alongside Teel on the Faculty Senate next fall. Crisp said he is looking forward to serving fac-ulty and ensuring their interests are met over the coming three years.

“There is a chance to learn more about how the university is func-tioning and what issues are being presented and ways we as faculty can be engaged in those issues,” Crisp said. “This is an important time in higher education with lots of challenges.”

Continued from page 1

There is a chance to learn more about how the university is functioning...

DR. BRAD CRISP // assistant professor of information systems‘‘ ’’

contact Craig atjrc07d@acu.edu

SportsStandings

Briefs

n Senior sprinter De-somond Jackson led the ACU track and field team last weekend at the Michael Johnson/Dr Pepper Invitational in Waco. Jackson garnered two second-place finishes and a fourth-place finish on the 4x100 relay team. Amso Sang, Ramon Sparks, Nick Jones and Amanda Ouedraogo all had place-worthy fin-ishes for ACU. See the complete story online at www.acuoptimist.com.

n Sophomore golfer Alex Carpenter was chosen Wednesday to represent the USA at the next Palmer Cup tournament this summer. Carpenter and his U.S. team-mates will play a European team and he is the only non- Division I athlete on the U.S. team.

April 27, 2011Page 6

n The baseball team will play Southwest-ern Oklahoma State University in a double-header Friday, starting at 1 p.m. and then will play again on Saturday at 4 p.m.

n The softball team hosts Tarleton State University on Friday at 7 p.m. before playing a doubleheader on Satur-day, starting at 1 p.m.

n The track and field team will compete at the Penn Relays Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia.

Upcoming

BASEBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.

UIWSE OK St.Tarleton St.CameronSW OK St.ASUWTAMUACU

22-822-821-920-1021-1218-1516-1415-15

31-1226-1433-1028-1330-1524-2029-1723-21

SOFTBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.

ASUUIW

TWUWTAMU

ACUTSU

9-9

12-614-4

11-7

9-99-9

27-23

28-2139-8

36-13

26-2621-23

TAMU-K 5-13 24-28ENMU 3-15 13-38

PlayerProfile

Senior Zach Sneed from Grand Prairie, had a solid outing on the mound for the

Wildcats in their 7-0 loss to Cam-eron on Saturday. Sneed threw

5.1 innings, allow-ing three runs, two of which were earned while striking out four batters. On the sea-son, he boasts a 5.40 ERA and is 5-4. Also, he has 38 strikeouts to 17 walks. Sneed was an all-region pitcher last year for the Wild-cats as a junior.

Sneed

Third-place finish advances Wildcats

After a 10-stroke comeback on day two, the Wildcat golf team couldn’t muster a rally in day three and fell to a third-place finish at the Lone Star Conference Championships.

“We played pretty solid but didn’t have our best stuff as a team,” sopho-more Alex Carpenter said.

Although the Wildcats all finished at the top 25, the highest finisher for ACU was Alex Carpenter

in fourth at 3-under-par. The defending national champion, Cyril Bouniol, finished in a tie for 14th at 4-over-par. Tyler Shep-pard finished right above Bouniol in a tie for 12th. LSC Freshman of the Year Trey Sullivan played well in his first LSC tourna-ment and ended up in a tie for 14th.

The tournament looked to be going the Wildcats’ way after the Wildcats made a huge comeback during the second round of the tournament. The

’Cats began the day 12 strokes behind eventual champion Central Okla-homa University but nar-rowed the margin to only two after an under-par round from Bouniol. The birdies didn’t fall for the Wildcats on the last day though and they couldn’t complete what would have been a historic rally.

With ACU failing to win, the Oklahoma schools continued to dominate the LSC tourney. Since divi-sion play began, only two Texas schools have took

home the title – Texas A&M Kingsville University in 1999 and ACU in 2010.

The third-place finish is still good enough to move the Wildcats on as they will play in the NCAA South Central Regional tourna-ment next week. Joining the Wildcats will be Cen-tral Oklahoma and sec-ond-place finisher Cam-eron University. All three LSC schools are ranked in the top 25 with UCO and ACU ranked in the top 10.

“It was fun to be right there in the hunt going

into the last round as a team,” Sheppard said. “It’s disappointing we didn’t pull out the win, but we’re all looking forward to competing at the Regional tournament.”

The NCAA South Cen-tral Regional tournament will be May 2-5 in George-town, Ky. at the Cherry Blossom Golf Club.

“We’re eager to get after it in Kentucky this week,” Carpenter said.

Austin Gwin Sports Editor

GOLF

DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Sophomore Julia Mongin (Left) and freshman Hans Hoch (Right) serve in their respective matches earlier this year. The Wildcats took home both the men’s and women’s Lone Star Conference championship titles and await to see if they will move on to the regional tournament when the final rankings come out May 4.

Matching TitlesTENNIS

ACU swept the Lone Star Conference Tennis Cham-pionships, as both the men’s and women’s teams won

over the weekend in a rain-shortened tournament.

The men defeated In-carnate Word, then in the finals beat Cameron Uni-versity for the second time in less than two weeks, in the championship match. It is the men’s third straight LSC title.

All the men’s doubles matches were close, and

the ACU No. 1 and No. 3 teams pulled out the wins. The Wildcats defeated Cameron with a score of 5-1, as some of the match-es were not able to finish because of rain.

“It was a great expe-rience to beat Cameron again, this time in the fi-nals,” said sophomore John Strahl. “We had a

really close match with them to end the regular season, and Saturday was great because we had wins come from other guys on the team.”

Sophomores Eldad Campbell and Alfredo Desiati and junior Bryan Joiner each won their singles matches, the only singles competitions to be

completed. In the regu-lar season match against Cameron, these three play-ers had lost to their singles opponents.

“My opponent, Nicolas Clerc, hadn’t lost a singles match all year,” said De-siati with a humble smile. “I got to be his first loss.”

Mark Smith Sports Reporter

see COURT page 5

ACU fighting for final playoff spot

The Wildcats’ postseason hopes took a major hit as Angelo State Univer-sity swept ACU this past weekend in San Angelo. The Wildcats now fall into a three-way tie for fourth place in the LSC South Division with the top four teams going to the confer-ence tournament.

ACU falls to 9-9 in the division and now is tied with Texas Woman’s Uni-versity and Tarleton State for the final spot in the conference tournament. ACU plays a three-game se-ries against TSU this week-end in which they need to take two of three in order to beat out the TexAnns for that last spot. ACU also needs to finish one game better than TWU since the Pioneers own the tiebreak against the Wildcats due to the head-to-head series earlier in the season.

“TWU has Angelo left to play and we have TSU, so we have to win more games than TWU this weekend and take at least two of three from TSU,” Head Coach Bobby Reeves said. “If we take two of three I feel like we have a great chance of making the tournament. It’s senior weekend and we play at home, so hopefully every-thing will go well and our girls will be ready to play.”

ACU could not get the bats going this past week-end against Angelo as they lost 2-0, 9-1 and 4-3.

“Two of the three games we played well, one of them we didn’t,” Reeves said. “Our pitching was good this weekend we just didn’t hit like we needed to and our defense in the sec-ond game was not good.”

In the first game, Brit-tany Rexroat allowed only two runs against ASU, but

Ryan CantrellSports Multimedia Editor

SOFTBALL

DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Senior pitcher Will Calhoun watches the game from the dugout during a game on April 9.

BASEBALL

’Cats face elimination

It’s not over until the fat lady sings, but she is defi-nitely warming up in the case of the Wildcat base-ball team.

ACU was swept at home by the fourth-place Cameron Aggies over the Easter weekend. The three losses dropped the Wildcats to eighth place

in the LSC with just one weekend series remaining against the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs.

“We have to play bet-ter, bottom line.” said se-nior Cameron Bankston.

The Wildcats fell 9-6 in the opener after allowing eight runs in the first three innings and stranding 13 of their own on-base in the nine-inning game.

“We need guys to step

up; we feel like we aren’t getting the effort out of some of the guys,” said Bonneau.

Kevin Justice was rocked early allowing two runs in the top of the first, including one on an error by shortstop Peter Goud-eau. Justice allowed four more in the top of the sec-ond and two more in the

Brandon Tripp Sports Director

see LSC page 5see SERIES page 5

Men’s and women’s tennis bring home conference trophies

contact Gwin atagg07a@acu.edu