Crime report: Georgia State Police Department has released the annual crime report for 2011. While most crimes are down, larceny incidents have increased.

OCT. 2 - OCT. 8, 2012 VOL. 80 | NO. 7

Sports 17Arts & Living 9Opinions 6News 3Daily news updates at www.gsusignal.com

Larceny still a problem

As technology rapidly evolves, so does the way we write. Will cursive handwriting be a thing of the past?

The decline of handwriting?

Arts & living | page 10 & 11

Arts & livingpage 9

Nov. 6 is fast approaching. Don’t think your vote matters? You couldn’t be more wrong.

Editorial:Stop complaining and start voting

opinion | page 6

Georgia State’s newest sport settles into new home and preps for upcoming season

Sand Volleyball:Home sweet home

sports | page 17

news | page 3

Everybody has tattoos, but not every employer likes them. Here’s what you can do to avoid the stereotype.

PATR

ICK

DUFF

Y | T

HE

SIGN

AL

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 02

blotterSeptember 26Library PlazaA Non-GSU individual was arrested for false information and issued a Criminal Tres-pass Warning. Officers con-tacted a male observed loi-tering. The individual gave police a false name. After discovering his real identity officers arrested the man and he was transported to Fulton County Jail.

Piedmont North Two students and a Non- GSU individual were arrested for possession of marijuana and a trespass warning was issued. Officers responded to an odor of marijuana and the three individuals confessed to smoking marijuana. The students and the Non-GSU individual were arrested and later released.

Piedmont North A student was arrested for al-coholic possession under 21 years old. An officer saw the student unable to keep his balance. After an investiga-tion the officer confirmed the individual was underage and drunk. The student was ar-rested and later released..

Waffle House A student stated she had her wallet and later realized her wallet was missing. handled by 09/26/12

University Commons

Officers issued a CTW to a Non-GSU individual who was identified as a squatter. The individual was given his notice and escorted off the property.

Piedmont North A report was filed for simple battery and criminal damage to property. A student stat-ed he broke up with his girl-friend, a fellow student, and she confronted him by physi-cally attacking him and pour-ing lemonade on his Laptop.

University CommonsOfficers issued a CTW to a Non-GSU individual who at-tempted to gain entry to the University Commons by us-ing a student’s identification. The individual was given a notice and escorted off the property.

September 25Sparks Hall A student stated she placed her cell phone on a dispenser in the restroom and when she returned five minutes later her property had been stolen.

September 24Park Place A report was filed for Fraud. A student stated she depos-ited money in her account. She latter received a fraud alert regarding her account. She discovered someone

used her credit card and made a $ 207 purchase.

Piedmont North West Housing A student stated he left his wallet containing $120.00 in cash on his desk in his room. When he returned the money had been stolen.

Shell Station John Wesley A report was filed for Fraud. A student stated he last used his credit card at the Shell Gas Station. He later discov-ered someone used his cred-it card had made a $ 179.09 purchase.

General Classroom BuildingA student stated she recalled having her purse in her pos-session and later she realized her property was lost or sto-len. The purse contained her driver’s license, social secu-rity card, debit card and ve-hicle keys.

Freshman Dormitory A student stated she left her room unsecured for the weekend and when she re-turned she realized someone had stolen her jewelry from a bag in her closet.

University Commons Bldg A A student stated she left her clothes in a washing machine when she returned all of her items had been stolen.

weather

last week...

WED78/53

THU80/55

FRI82/56

SAT 80/55

SUN76/53

source: weather.com

LocalComair, subsidiary to Atlanta-based delta airlines, made its final flight last week. The regional flight carrier fell victim to rising fuel cost and high labor expenses. Delta paid $2 billion for Comair more than 12 years ago.

Clayton County school system has received a warning from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that it could lose its ac-creditation. Clayton County school system previously lost their accreditation in 2008.

A Conyers crematory owner’s license was suspended after the unauthorized dismem-berment of a corpse. William B. Ellenberg III, owner of Metro Embalming & Cremato-ry Inc. previously lost his license after a failed suicide attempt at his business.

NationalThe Phoenix man whose hour-long police chase ended in his suicide being broadcast-ed on national television has been identified. Jodon R. Romero, 33, was a convicted felon with numerous violent crimes in his back-ground.

Authorities reported no serious damage af-

ter an earthquake shook a Dallas suburb last week. The 3.4 magnitude quake, about 2 miles north of Irving, TX, cracked walls and rattled homes, but caused no serious dam-age.

In the tight presidential race incumbent President Barak Obama is gaining momen-tum. Recent polling data showed Mitt Rom-ney at a disadvantage as the President takes the lead. The first presidential debate will be Wednesday Oct. 3.

WorldThe U.S. Embassy in Manila Philippines warned westerners of a potential securi-ty threat last Friday. Britain, Australia and Canada are also cautioning citizens to be on guard when attending large events.

A typhoon hit Japan on Sunday, pelting the main island with high winds and rain. Initial reports stated 158,000 people were without power and 104 persons had been injured.

Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, Paolo Gabri-ele, goes on trail for theft. Gabriele gave the Pope’s letters and documents that allegedly proved corruption in the church to the me-dia. If convicted Gabriele could face up to four years in jail.

PATRICK DUFFY | THE SIGNALJovita Moore gave an inspiring account of her rise to anchor of WSB-TV to students at the 2012 Modern Media Conference on Sept. 28. You guys totally missed a great event.

NEWSwww.gsusignal.com/news

Aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft and liquor law violations are down on cam-pus, while larceny remains a problem.

In compliance with the Student Right to Know and the Campus Security Act of 1990, the Georgia State Police has released its 2011 campus crime numbers.

The report comes in the shadow of the Atlanta City Counsel’s task force assem-bled to reduce crime in City of Atlanta college’s campuses.

Crimes like larceny and robbery are constant with previous years—and higher. As reflected in campus crime alerts, larceny is the most re-ported crime on campus with

382 reported cases this year, up from 378 cases in 2010.

Students leaving items unattended in common areas, like the library, compile most of the cases of theft.

“Its just carelessness,” said Sgt. Sharon Ware of Geor-gia State Police Department Crime Prevention. “Having the understanding that if you actually walk away from an item and you’re expecting it to be there when you return back is a misconception here on Georgia State property.”

Faculty and staff fail to take precautions to safeguard their possessions, causing theft rates to remain stagnate. Stolen items are also difficult to recover.

“I would say we do have honest people that do see those things around they do turn them in. But nine times out of ten if somebody picks

it up they’re normally going to walk away with it and keep it,” Ware said.

Motor vehicle theft has decreased over the last three years. In 2009 there were 30 cars stolen on and off campus. The latest numbers report 10 thefts this year. A student re-ported their car was stolen from the Turner Field blue lot on Sept. 17.

The report reflects a ma-jor decrease in liquor law vio-lations. Violations for the past three years have occurred in residential facilities. The pre-vious number of reported cas-es in 2010, 202, is down to 107 cases in 2011.

Teaching students the rules is one reason the viola-tion numbers are down, Ware said.

The number of persons actually arrested for their li-quor law violation is on the

rise. 60 arrests were made, up from 39 in 2010. Charging students has also contributed to lower liquor law referrals.

“Just from the students being aware that we are charg-ing them [has lowered viola-tions]. If they are under the age of 21 they understand that they cannot consume alcohol or things on the property, we also educate them by giving them classes,” Ware said.

Other tools, like cameras installed across campus, have helped police solve crimes.

“We are able to grab the BOLOS [be on the look out] from the camera footage and put that information out to the public also it officers that pictures of that individual so if we come into contact with that individual on the street we can reflect back on that picture and arrested for the charge,” Ware said.

NEWSwww.gsusignal.com/news

TERAH BOYDNews Editor

You can do your part to improve campus safety

o CAMPUS SAFETY:

Heighten your aware-ness and knowledge of crimes that can occur in an urban setting. This program also teaches students how to avoid potentially dangerous situations.

o FLIGHT TO FIGHT:

You can prevent or es-cape an attack. Passive and combative skills are taught to keep you safe from attack or assault.

o OFFICE SAFETY:

Safety tips and practices can make your office more secure. Other con-cerns specific to office workers make the work-place safer.

o UNIVERSITY HOUSING SAFETY:

Each hall is offered this program to teach you to be as safe as possible while living on campus housing. Crime preven-tion through awareness and education.

o OPERATION I.D.:

Learn how to protect yourself by marking your items with your information. The Crime Prevention Office’s marking kits can also aid in the recovery of lost or stolen items.

o DUI/ALCOHOL AWARENESS:

Learn Georgia’s alcohol laws. Students learn about driving under the influence, blood alcohol concentration laws and underage possession of alcohol

Defend yourself: carry a whistle or enroll in a self-defense class. Remember it is illegal to carry weapons on campus and one can easily be used against you.

Protect yourself

Prevention programs:

How you know of an immediate threat

o PANTHER ALERT- A remotely hosted mass notification system that alerts students, faculty and staff through text, email and phone mes-sages.

o OUTDOOR EMERGENCY BROADCAST SPEAKER SYSTEM-

A siren and voice over notification system can be heard throughout campus. During times of severe weather six speakers notify students in transits on campus.

o WEB NOTIFICATION-

Emergency notification systems can be posted as a banner on the uni-versity’s homepage. This can also link other im-portant information to the banner.

o INDOOR BUILDING PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM-

A remotely activated speaker system al-lows notifications to be sounded inside particu-lar buildings.

o POLICE VEHICLE PUBLIC ADDRESS SPEAKERS-

Some Georgia State Police vehicles are equipped with their own speaker system that can be used to allow mobile dissemination of emer-gency information.

Emergency notification:Larceny still a problem

Georgia State Police’s 2011 crime report also found drops in vehicle theft and liquor violations

What Georgia State Police want you to know to stay safe

Be confident: Walking with your

head up makes you look less vulnerable and you will have better visibility of your surroundings.

Lock your doors: park cars in well-lit areas and don’t leave any visible items in your vehicle.

Take the long way: don’t cut through alleys or

tunnels. Take a well-lit path.

Stay calm: if someone is threatening or yelling

at you back away from the individual and report the ordeal if it occurred in class or on campus.

Buddy system: an uncomfortable situation could be a dangerous one. Avoid empty houses, parking lots and buildings.

MIKE EDEN | THE SIGNAL

1.

2.

4.

3.

5. 6.

A change in the consistency of the grading system at Georgia State could occur in the future, de-

pending on student viewpoints. Georgia State’s current grading system,

according to Adriana Macchione, Student Government Association Vice President of Academic Affairs, could make a move to a standard policy of either a consistent use of plus or minus in grading or no use of plus or minus in grading.

“We’re thinking to just establish a consis-tent policy throughout the University which means that all professors have to use the plus/minus system or not,” Macchione said. “If students like the plus/minus system then what we’re going to push for is consistency which means no matter what class you have, no matter what department a 91 to a 93 will be this, for an example.”

Currently, the grading system in place al-lows professors to use plus or minus in grad-ing at their discretion and allows them to de-cide what would be considered an A-, A or A+, for instance.

“For example, if you get a 93 in a class

and a professor uses the plus/minus system and they say a 93 is an A- and then you get a professor who doesn’t use it (plus/minus sys-tem) and you get a 91, it’s just an A,” Mac-chione said. “So that 93 is actually less than your 91.”

Before making any definite decisions to go on with this proposition, SGA will sur-vey students on whether or not they feel the change is necessary.

“We just purchased the pro version of Survey Monkey, so now we can survey un-limited numbers of students and get their feedback and hopefully get started on that today,” Macchione said last Wednesday.

SGA is aiming for 10,000 student re-sponses to the survey, which will be admin-istered through email, though SGA will also put in some footwork to get the numbers.

At this semester’s first SGA meeting a possible alternative mentioned was a 100 point system, but now consistency seems to be an important factor in whatever students want.

“We’re not pursuing that (100 point sys-tem) as an alternative anymore,” Macchione said.

Macchione, who met and discussed this with the Chair of University Admissions and Standards Committee, explained that opt-ing for a 100-point system would require a

lengthy process of going through the Board of Regents. A change for Georgia State would cause a change to all universities in Georgia and prestige: most colleges and universities do not use a 100-point system.

“Whatever seems to be fair is what is probably going to take place,” Macchione said.

While a change may not impact profes-sors as much, students could see positive consequences.

“I think [the grading system] should be uniform and every professor should use a plus/minus system so that it works better for students’ GPAs,” said Taylor Burns, a senior at Georgia State.

When asked her opinion on the mat-ter, Dr. Cynthia Hoffner, a Communications professor, said that she does “not have strong feelings about it either way.”

At other Georgia universities, such as the University of Georgia, all professors are re-quired to use plus/minus in their grading, but they may decide how to assign grades in each class. Also, plus/minus grades are nev-er considered when transferring to Georgia universities.

Currently there is no set time for when, if any, changes to the grading policy will take place. A tentative goal of Fall 2013 is set, though the process could take years.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 04 NEWS

JASMINA ALSTONContributing Reporter

Plus or minus

President Mark Becker will not enter-tain the possibility of any new fee or fee increase this year, weakening the pos-

sibility to gain funding for the proposed Office of Sustainability.

At the Mandatory Fee Committee meeting held this past Friday Dr. Douglass Covey, vice president of student affairs, explained to the com-mittee members that President Becker’s refusal to entertain the possibility of a new fee or fee in-crease would force the Student Activity Fee Com-mittee to find other ways of funding any new pro-grams or organizations, such as the Office of Sus-tainability.

As of press time, President Becker could not be reached for an official comment.

“I think that we didn’t raise any fees last year and feel that it’s in the best interest of students not to raise the mandatory fee this year,” Dr. Covey, said. “Given the economic times, there is a great deal of sensitivity to the cost of education.”

A new Mandatory Fee or an increase in the Student Activity Fee to fund an Office of Sustain-ability would cost students $3 more per semester, bringing the total Mandatory Fee to $663 or Stu-dent Activity Fee to $43.

At the SAFC meeting later on that Friday, the committee discussed how they would receive stu-dent feedback on a reallocation of Student Activ-ity Fees.

The committee planned to hold open forums for students to attend and discuss and will release the dates later on this week. They also planned to send out a survey to students to get the overall stu-dent opinion on a new Office of Sustainability.

Another hoop to jump through Funding for an Office of Sustainability may be held up for another year

ANDRES CRUZ-WELLMANNAssociate News Editor

As U.S. businesses continue to ex-pand overseas, there is a growing need for bilingual jobs in the pub-

lic and private sector. Georgia State requires all College of Arts

and Science majors to take some foreign lan-guage courses, but students may, or may not, take enough away from the class.

“If we are to be successful in such a com-petitive new global economy, we must have a population that is able to understand oth-er languages and cultures,” said Fernando O. Reati, chair of the department of modern and classical languages at Georgia State.

Reati said the U.S. faces a past stigma of citizens not being versed in world cultures.

“While this may no longer be totally true, since we have made some progress, it is unfor-tunately a reflection of the fact, that until not long ago the U.S. was mostly insular with re-spect to the rest of the world and we expected everybody to speak English,” Reati said.

Aside from the stigma, knowing another language puts students in a better position to

find a job. “When it comes to

career stuff, there’s no question that having a second language opens up potential opportu-nities,” said Dr. Kev-in Gaw, director of the University Career Ser-vices.

A native of Indone-sia, Gaw speaks Malay fluently, a skill that has opened many doors in his life.

“I was able to go to work in the university because of my language skills that were already in place,” Gaw said.

As the director of University Career Ser-vices, Gaw helps students find employment post-graduation.

“In the corporate world, having a second language is valuable,” Gaw said.

A 2007 National Education Association study on the benefits of second language found there was more to knowing a foreign language than landing a job.

“A pervasive lack of knowledge about for-eign cultures and foreign languages threat-

ens the securi-ty of the United States as well as its ability to com-pete in the global marketplace and produce an in-formed citizenry. The U.S. educa-tion system has, in recent years, placed little value on speaking lan-guages other than English or on un-derstanding cul-tures other than one’s own,” the study stated.

Most students, despite the advantage a second language would give them, just take foreign language classes to fill the class re-quirement.

Student Gavin Lovett said he thinks students won’t continue taking foreign lan-guage classes past the requirement “unless they are going into a career that utilizes lan-guages.”

“Otherwise, they just take them because they have to,” Lovett said.

Although students don’t voluntarily con-

tinue in a foreign language program, Lovett said he believes the required courses do make an impact.

“While they are in class I feel like students care about the language and culture they are studying,” Lovett said. “However, it’s an inter-est that only lasts for the duration of the time they are in class.”

Some students may not even retain the in-formation after the course is through.

“In my classes people enjoy the lessons but they don’t really learn more than what is asked of them,” student Ryan Sanders said. “Years af-terward they might remember a word or two, but very few ever master or control the lan-guage.”

Reati said he believes Georgia State’s Stra-tegic Plan’s goal of “globalizing the university” is the first step to take to make students well-rounded world citizens.

“Learning foreign languages and cultures is one of the most obvious paths to achiev-ing those goals,” Reati said. “With increased global competitiveness, enhanced cognitive skills, more educated and employable individ-uals, and even the possibility of beating back those “senior moments” of old age as a result of learning foreign languages, what is there to lose?”

-- Laura Haas contributed to this report.

Georgia State to consider uniform grading policy for students

Lost in translationStudents don’t get why they need a second language

TERAH BOYDNews Editor

&ANDRES CRUZ-WELLMANN

Associate News Editor

Benefits of a second language

• Yougetbettergrades• Narrowsachievementgap• Betterbasicskills• Makesyouanabstractthinker• Enhancescognitivedevelopment• Enhancesachievement• Youdobetteronstandardizedtests• Becomemoreculturallyaware• Betterchanceofgettingintocollege• Higherchanceofgettingajob• Moresecurityawareness

-NEAResearchDec.2007

Time is running out for Geor-gia voters!

You have until Oct. 6 to for the general election. The state of Georgia does not allow day of reg-istration. If you do not register by

Oct. 6 you will not be able to vote for the next U.S. president.

Not 18 yet? Fear not—if you are going to turn 18 by Nov. 4 you can still register today.

Sos.georiga.gov/elections is Georgia Secretary of State Brain Kemp’s website and has every re-source for registering and finding your polling place in Georgia.

Registertovote.org is an easy

to use website that can help stu-dents who may or may not be Georgia residents register to vote online.

Not going to your home state in time to vote? No excuse; ab-sentee ballot options are designed for students and other voters that cannot return to their designated polling place on Nov. 4.

Oh yeah, you can vote early

too. See you at the polls, Georgia

State!that cannot return to their

designated polling place on Nov. 4.

Oh yeah, you can vote early too.

See you at the polls, Georgia State!

VOTE

Within seconds, smoke from the fire will engulf the

dorm room. Within minutes…well, after a few minutes it doesn’t matter anymore.

Fake dormitories were set ablaze at Georgia State’s third an-nual Fire Safety Carnival. Stu-dents were taught what a lack of fire safety could cause.

The carnival held at Hurt Park greeted students, faculty, staff, parents and visitors with games, music and free food. Many of the games taught participants how to handle a fire emergency.

“This is basically to prepare the students for any safety issues that they can encounter in their dorm,” said Raphael Johnson, one of the volunteer organizers. “Fire safety is the main concern, though.”

The main attractions, two fake dorms, were set on fire to demonstrate the danger of dorm fires and to show the response time of firefighters—six to seven minutes—is sometimes not quick enough. The time it took for the dorm to be engulfed in flames was about four minutes.

Despite the precautions tak-en by the university, cooking ac-cidents caused many fires; there have been a total of seven in the last three years. The biggest and

most expensive fire occurred in May 2011 and damaged $47,200 worth of property. Cooking was stated as the official cause, ac-cording to the Campus Safety Re-port.

“In a way I feel safe, but some-times the fire alarms don’t always go off,” said Phan Lu, freshman and resident of the Lofts.

Other students, such as fresh-man and resident of Freshman Hall Jennifer Vega, expressed their concerns that their dormi-tories are not safe enough.

Vega pointed out that the stairs in Freshman Hall are usu-ally blocked and said she wor-ries that if a fire were to occur, the stairs would not be a viable es-cape option.

ANDRES CRUZ-WELLMANN

Associate News Editor

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 05

President Mark Becker will deliver the State of the University address on Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. in the Student Center Ball-room.

Singer, songwriter and pianist Maggie McLure will be performing at the next Courtyard Mu-sic Series on Oct. 3 at noon.

Georgia State hosted the Fire and Emergency Preparedness Carnival on Thursday when they lit two fake dorms on fire to show the dangers of fire and being unpre-pared.

Robinson College of Business was awarded a $326,606 National Sci-ence Foundation Grant to improve software de-velopment processes.

Georgia State Athletics opens its new sand vol-leyball facility on Mon-day and invited students and guests to partici-pate in a small ceremo-ny marking the official start of fall practice.

Former Vice Chancellor of New York State Board of Regents and retired educator Adelaide San-ford will speak at the 24th Benjamin E. Mays lecture on Oct. 24 at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Center Speakers Audi-torium.

Georgia State has named Don Hale, for-mer vice president of public affairs of The University of Texas, its new vice president for public relations and marketing communica-tions. He will begin the job on Oct 1.

Andrew Young School of Policy Studies will host Homecoming of the Professions Oct. 19. Featured speakers will be on the 7th floor of the AYSPS building from 3p.m. until 9p.m.

The Paton Institute of Training teaches stu-dents practical paten drawing. This will be on the 3rd floor of Urban life Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 5-6p.m.

Financial aid and the economy topped the list of issues

concerning Georgia State students who participated in a political survey last week.

In the survey, students were asked to select issues that matters most to them, which candidate offers the best solution to that issue and if they knew which candidate they would vote for in the Nov. 6 presidential election.

37 percent of the sur-veyed students selected fi-nancial aid as their top con-cern, while 31 percent said the economy matters most.

The results of the poll showed 78 percent of stu-dents think President Obama is the best choice for fixing their selected topic, while 8 percent think Gov. Mitt Romney offers a better so-lution. Students dissatisfied with both candidates made up 14 percent of the poll.

According to the Cen-ter for Information and Re-search on Civic Learning and Engagement, ages 18-29 vot-ed for President Obama over John McCain in 2008 by a 2:1 margin.

All of the students who selected Romney also an-swered, “yes” to “do you know who you will vote for in November?” Seventy-five percent of those who select-ed Romney also agreed the economy was the chief con-cern in this election.

Fourteen percent of stu-dents surveyed said they had not selected a candidate to vote for in November.

A poll from a non-par-tisan organization Genera-tion Opportunity released in early September revealed 76 percent of the 18-29 year olds surveyed intended to vote in 2012.

President Obama and Gov. Romney will debate for the first time on Oct. 3. Fol-low The Signal on Twitter for live coverage and discussion.

CAmpusbriefs

vote 2012: whatdoyouwantthiselection?Built to

burnDemonstration destroys mock dorms in minutes

LEAH JORDAN | THE SIGNALA fake dorm fire demonstration at the Fire Safety Carnival last week

WhatIssueMattersMosttoyou?

Whichcandidateoffersthebestsolution?

Haveyouselectedacandidate to vote for November?

Fin Aid 37%Healthcare8%Unemploy 8%Economy 31%Other16%

Obama 78%Romney 8%Other14%

Yes 78%No 22%

ALEX OSIADACZStaff Reporter

• Knowwhereafireextinguisheris• Haveameetingplacewithafriendor

roomate in case of a firew

Checkyoursmokedetectors• Knowthequickestwayoutofyourdorm• Keepemergencynumbershandy

thesetipscouldsaveyourstuff,dormandmostimportantly,yourlife

NEWS

We need to hold the arts of the South-east to a higher

standard. American Literature and Music are from the South, after all. From roots to blues to jazz to rock-a-billy to rock ‘n’ roll, we also claim Mark Twain and Poe. The Empire State of the South should not forget this. We should hold ourselves up high and push for new work and solid criticism.

The Players of GSU is “the oldest charted student organiza-tion on campus, and the oldest produced Theatre Company in Georgia.” That’s something spe-cial! Something that shouldn’t be hidden behind a homepage from 1991, and their upcoming sea-son has several intriguing titles. Have you been to one of their shows? Georgia State releases biannually New South, a collec-tion of short prose, poetry and nonfiction. Have you checked it out? It’s nationally known. They have a highly competitive contest each year, where you can read the best of Georgia States’ work. The Welch School Galler-

ies are hosting about 14 different, curated events over the course of the year. Their mediums range from sculptures to photography to paint. There is something for everyone.

Go out and explore more than what your athletes are do-ing. We are in a special time period where our generation is struggling to find its voice, to find it’s vision, and you can help along the way. Support your classmates and Atlanta art and do everyone the service of talk-ing about it. Good or bad, how did it make you feel? Explaining why you don’t like something is far better than any tepid reaction or general like.

Art, regardless of your per-sonal definition, shows our cul-ture. It shows all of our unique voices and justifies our existence of our society. It’s meant to con-vey the time we live in and the is-sues and passions of that age. It’s a pity everything looks the same. It’s a pity the state doesn’t offer more support. But you can help; go out and observe. Go out, dress up nice, drink the gallery’s wine and discuss what you see. Is this more pretentious than

camping in front of a stadium to show your support? It’s cheaper than a game and significantly cheaper than a movie.

Discuss conviction, discuss necessity—the artist is listening. The artist is learning. Defend local art and stand up for voices that would be silent if not for their personal means of expres-sion.

We live in a city that used to be something special and can be again. New works—works created and presented new—are cropping up all over town. There’s nothing finer than when it all comes together. When you see that one painting that draws you in. When you feel at shows’ end a compulsion to rise and ap-plaud. When you hear that song for the first and realize the band lives within a mile of you. The Empire State of the South could be something special. Support our arts! Support the people making it. But don’t give them an inch; let them earn your ad-miration. You’ll know what you’re looking for when you find it, and when you find it you’ll wonder how you’ve made it this long without more.

OPINIONS www.gsusignal.com/opinions

Have a voice, help the Arts

JAMES MCDOUGALDColumnist

You know those people who hop onto your elevator even though

everyone is already crammed in there? Then the weight lim-it alarm goes off, but that one dude who just got on still won’t get off despite the sour looks ev-eryone is giving him. I try my best to clear people off the ele-vators sometimes by reminding everyone there’s a chance we’ll all die in this small, crammed metal box, but I can’t be in every elevator at all times. This is why we need a group of short-tem-pered bouncers to regulate the elevators. Think about it: put a velvet rope outside the elevators and a big dude with a clipboard decides who makes the cut. If anyone even thinks of getting on the elevator just to go up one floor, the bouncer will call them out and not let them get off un-til they ride the elevator for the two-floor minimum.

This system of selective people riding the elevators will bring much needed traffic to the stairs. Most of the time when I take the stairs, there’s always someone chilling in the middle of the stairs. Really? Is this what we do now? Hang out in the middle of the staircase? Then they always seem upset at me for making them get out of my way as I go down the stairs, like I’m the one who isn’t using the stairs the right way. If we have less people in the elevators and more people on the stairs, we can get rid of all the people tak-ing naps in the staircases.

I understand why most peo-ple don’t want to take the stairs; they’re totally empty most of the time. I’ve seen enough episodes of Law and Order SVU, Sopra-nos, and late-night commercials for attorneys to know that emp-ty staircases are usually where people get sexually assaulted. If the bouncers are discouraging people from going on the eleva-tors, then there’s more foot traf-fic on the stairs and we all be-come much safer. Support the safety for your colleges: support bouncers on the elevators.

Why the elevators

need bouncers

KEVIN MALONEYColumnist

Editorial

With the first round of presiden-tial debates approaching, now is a crucial time for students

and young people all over the nation to tune into the pulse of the bloated and complex American electoral system. Unless you are a Political Science major or otherwise over-informed about the American government, chances are that you may be a little foggy on the exact process of how we elect our com-mander-in-chiefs. It’s all right; you’re in the majority, and Nov. 6 is coming up.

Most of you know about the Electoral College, and how there are more or less only a few states where your vote would even have any influence on the outcome of the election. These are affectionately known as “swing states”; doesn’t that sound like fun?

It’s common knowledge that Georgia is as red as the devil’s ass, and, often, voters in states that have a solid reputation of going one way or the other feel discouraged about voting because it feels like it doesn’t matter anyway. Well, it does. Voting not only determines the leader of the nation, but also a whole slew of local issues are decided by your vote.

Most apathetic citizens will cite their rea-son for not voting as “my vote won’t count anyway.” Well, it certainly won’t with that kind of attitude.

Georgia has such a long history of voting Republican that voters on both sides of the political coin shy from from voting. Those who would vote Republican don’t cast their ballots because Georgia is going to go red anyway, and those who would vote Demo-crat don’t go to the polls since they feel like their vote won’t count. I’m sure it’s easier for you to stay home that day, but there is a lot of importance in not only the popular vote, but also in the outcomes of local elections, that determine your immediate surround-ings. Be a good citizen and take part in your local elections. And, at least by determining the popular vote we’ll get to see who had the most support, even if they don’t make it into office (I’m looking at you, Al Gore.)

It’s true that this election has polarized the nation politically, and most likely you have al-ready made up your mind about whom you would vote for. So do it.

The fatalistic notion that it doesn’t matter if you vote or not is certainly not the notion that our country was founded on, and you aren’t making it any better. If you don’t vote, George Washington, Elizabeth Cady Stan-ton and thousands of Civil War soldiers roll in their graves. Also, your local government suffers.

However much you may think you know about the candidates, there is nothing like watching a presidential debate to reveal how these men behave under pressure, an impor-tant skill for a politician. It’s important to not just vote for the guy who’s the best at kissing hands and shaking babies, but also the guy who can clearly and succinctly argue his posi-tion on the important topics.

Ask yourself what particular aspects of the candidate’s platforms that you like, and the ones that you disagree with. If you can’t even think of any, then you definitely need to watch the debates.

Don’t have your minds made up yet; it’s important to keep developing your opinions on the election right up to Nov. 6. Stay en-gaged, stay informed and exercise your right to vote. If you don’t, it’s silly to just complain about the state of politics.

Editorial Cartoon

WILLIAM MIRACLE | THE SIGNAL

We are in a special time periodwhereourgenerationis struggling to find its voice tofindit’svision,andyoucanhelpalongtheway.

“

Stop complaining and do something about it

Ever met that perfect person for you? From the very beginning it seems destined, right? But, suddenly, your lover has to move away, wheth-er it’s college, or simply traveling for work. At first it seems intangible for the relationship to go on. You think,

well how can I love from a distance? No more quality time, and late-night cuddling is out of the question. It be-comes very easy to think the worst.

But just because you or your lover moves away doesn’t mean the death of your love affair! A long distance relationship takes trust and hard work! Don’t think of the newfound space as a sad moment, but instead take advantage of that time and bet-ter yourself. Find new goals to set for yourself as well as finding new ways to keep in touch with your lover. Send letters to each other (yeah, old school, right?).

But you’ll be surprised how happy and closer you’ll feel while reading your mate’s handwriting. You both can spray your signature scents on those letters. And for those physi-cal wants there are ways to make you

feel closer to one another, such as Skype. That way you’ll see the per-son face-to-face. You could also bor-row an item from your lover, like a sweater, t-shirt or even a stuffed ani-mal—anything that they cherish and wouldn’t mind letting you have while you are apart.

Just remember that no relation-ship will last without communica-tion, trust and hard work. When two people work together in a relation-ship, it makes life worth living. We all, at some point, want a partner in life; that one person you can talk to about anything and run to when life gets rough. Working together isn’t al-ways easy, but the key to an effective team is communication and compro-mising. Let go of your pride and let your love fly—it will pay off in the long run.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 07OPINIONS

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THE SIGNAL STAFF

Do you think it is important for students at Georgia State to be required to take foreign language classes? Should they be required to take more or fewer foreign language classes?

ImaniGiraultMajor:CriminalJusticeandPsychology

AlejandroAguilarMajor:Business

Senad CerimovicMajor:Accounting

“...a lot of jobs are looking for people that can translate. I think in a way it should be required…just for the fact that it will open a lot more doors [for students].”

“I think it is important to take foreign languages. I’m a Business major, and in the business field not everybody knows one language... It will be important to be able to talk to them without boundarie.”

“I believe that language in itself brings people together…If we can understand somebody else’s language, you will be able to understand their points of view and their culture. Which would help improve ourselves in one aspect. It should be a requirement and it would be helpful if they took more.”

YOURVOICE•YOUROPINIONS

SarahGreenleyMajor:Creativewriting

(Creative writing majors are required to take four years of foreign language.)

“I would say that they should take fewer. About two years is fine, four years is too much.”

“I think that every student should take at least some foreign language...We’re becoming a worldwide community and there are many different languages...it could help them further their career and their understanding of the field they are working in...”

JasonKirklandMajor:Geology

BrittanyRutherfordMajor:Marketing

We’ve all seen the hordes of students crossing the streets on Georgia

State campus, and whether you’re on a bike, in a car, or walking, chances are that you’ve had to stop dead in your tracks as an army of backpacks and iPods storms its way across streets and parks, traveling wherever it may please.

It’s frustrating, I know. We’ve all had to navigate through it and around it. A veritable mob of stu-dents listening to their ear buds and

looking at the back of the heads of the people in front of them. They block roads, stop traffic and trample over grass and flowerbeds just to get to the class they’re probably already late for.

It’s become enough of a problem that students have begun to receive jaywalking tickets. Don’t worry; I’m not arguing about that—they prob-ably deserve it. Too many times have I seen students listening to head-phones and literally walk into the street without looking either way at all. They continue to their classes and drivers screech to a halt and throw their hands in the air in frustration.

I don’t understand why students need to use their newfound college freedom to walk in the street. I un-derstand the idea of youthful rebel-liousness, but surely some rules are just sensible and don’t need to be broken.

The term “jaywalking” is a play on the 1920’s jazz age slang “jay” which pretty much meant a reckless and oblivious person. I think it still applies pretty well to the situation;

students obliviously and recklessly walk into the street. It’s dumb.

So what is the root of the prob-lem? As campus grows, there needs to be an increasing focus on creating safe pedestrian passageways for stu-dents to get around campus. There are some places where these already exist, such as the awesome library bridge, as well as other passages through and under various buildings on campus.

As campus grows, it will be im-portant for student safety for there to be ways for students in large groups to be able to migrate safely from one end of campus to the other. I mean, think about it, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a tunnel between GCB and Aderhold, I know it’s too late for that now, but that’s how we need to start thinking.

A safe pedestrian walkway sys-tem on campus has its beginnings; it just needs to be improved upon. But in the meantime, students, will you please take out your ear-buds and look where you are walking for once? For everyone’s sake.

Stop walking in the street

Lover’s lane: long distance relationships

JOSH SMITHColumnist

MILES KEENLYSIDEOpinions Editor

“I personally think that it should be up to you. I know that I’m looking to get into international marketing so for me I definetly am flirting with the idea of trying to learn one or more other languages...if it’s your future and you need it, you should be able to do it.”

1. Yes!Inevermissthem

2. Yes,ifIcancatchitwhenitcomeson.

3. No,I’mnotinterested.

4. No,Iwillneverwatchadebate.

Tellusyouranswersonlineatwww.facebook.com/gsusignal

Poll: Areyougoingtowatchthepresidentialdebate?

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Tattoos are becoming more acceptable in the workplace, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Assistant Director of University Career Services Ramona Simien said.

Think about the pros and cons before getting something permanent: location, placement and perspective jobs.

“By getting a tattoo,” Georgia State profes-

sor Eric Reber said, “you’re potentially makinggettingaheadalittleharderforyourself.”

Hide them in the interview pro-cess as much as possible. People have

perceptions. I haven’t learned about youand you’re giving me a percep-tion,”

www.gsusignal.com/artsandlivingARTS & LIVING

TabooWhat was once thought to

be reserved for crimi-nals and sailors is now

for just about anyone who wants one. The stigma of piercings and tattoos is still prevalent, but according to a survey conducted by Pew Research in 2006, 40 percent of Americans be-tween the ages of 26 and 40 have at least one tattoo. If almost half of the American population has ink, why is body art taboo?

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incor-porated wanted to investigate the is-sue and created an event, “The Taboo Tattoo”.

“Our purpose in hosting this event was to analyze the history behind tattoos and how they become more accepted in society today and in the workplace. We want to allow attend-ees to become more aware of the ac-ceptance of tattoos,” chapter president Kyle Walcott explained.

An unbiased, open discussion on body art commenced between a group of people from all walks of life,

Eugine “Tatted Up” Martin, a

Georgia State alum, said he doesn’t think fear of the future should be a reason to deter someone from a tat-too.

“I hate the question ‘what are you gonna look like when you’re 80?’ I’m gonna look like you. We’re all gonna look old, I’ll just have tattoos.”

Laser tattoo remover Dustin No-vak is an owner of Doctor InkOFF, a laser tattoo removal company in At-lanta. He said the process of removing a tattoo can take up to 12 treatments, and sessions last 20 seconds to a few minutes. Removing ink hurts less than initially getting the tattoo, he ad-

mitted. “First we numb them up. We blow

cold air [-32 degrees F] on the skin to take the mind off the laser,” Novak said.

People visit his business for rea-sons from young love that didn’t last to inebriated mistakes.

“It’s always interesting listening to people’s stories,” Novak said.

Jordan Walker, managerial scienc-es major at Georgia State, has seven piercings total: one belly button ring, one nose stud and five on her ears.

“For careers later on, I’m afraid I’ll have to take [some of my pierc-

ings] out. Who knows, I might be sick of them by then,” Walker said.

Walker is one of the many students that think piercings have an obvious advantage over tattoos.

“If you regret a piercing, you can take it out, and you can’t do that with a tattoo.”

Sometimes artists turn people away who desire a tattoo. They have reputations to protect which is worth more than the money.

“I’ve turned down money. I don’t want people walking around with something I’m not proud of,” said Roger Parilla, City of Ink tattoo artist.

LEAH JORDANAssociate Living Editor

Thebusinessperspective:

ThemilitaryPerspective:

TheTattooArtistPerspective

Whatyouremployersmaythinkofyourtattoos:

“Rice joined the National Guard at 18 with no an-

ticipation of ever making a switch into the corporate world. She said that she has a crooked “tramp stamp” tattoo and regrets it now that she is a mother.

Ijoinedthemilitaryandit was a rightofpassagetogetatat-

too.SixyearslaterIwentcorporateand thewomaninterviewingme

said,‘will you be able tocoverthoseup?’ Ijustneverthoughtaboutituntilthen…

Ihaven’tgottenatattoosince.”

“Slam divides her work time between the City of Ink

tattoo parlor in Atlanta and a tattoo shop in Queens, N.Y. She hates when people look at her differently be-cause of her many tattoos.

When asked what she’ll tell her grandchildren about her tattoos one day, she assures that she won’t be ashamed or regret her decision to pursue body art.

“I’mgonnabethebaddestgrandma,” she said.

“I’mgonnahaveastory.It’snotjusta

fad…I’lltellthemthemeaning.”

“[Mytattoosare]somethingI’vethought

about. People think I’magangster…justallofthe

negative.”

“

The Tattoo

LEAH JORDAN | THE SIGNAL

AYSHA JOHNSON| THE SIGNAL

At Georgia State, many stu-dents are unable to write in cursive, and tend to avoid

handwriting in favor of typing.“You don’t realize how often you’re

sitting at a computer,” said Shana Choi, senior English major. “If I try to write a paper by hand it’s not cohesive at all.”

Senior Stuart McDonald said that, for him, cursive writing is very inten-tional.

“Nine times out of ten, when I’m writing something, I don’t have time to be intentional,” McDonald said. “I write a lot less than I used to.”

Dr. Steven Black, a linguistic an-thropologist and professor at Georgia State, believes that we are currently in a technological state of transition, which may affect how much our society val-ues cursive writing.

“For a while, when I was going to college, it was really a transitional pe-riod, in the sense that computers were becoming more common. People were using computers a lot more for a lot of things,” Black said. “But I still learned cursive growing up.”

Dr. Eddie Christie, professor of Me-dieval Literature at Georgia State had a very similar experience in college..

“During graduate school, comput-ers were just emerging, but hardly anybody had one,” Christie said.

Christie talks about the “digital

revolution,” how it affects the way we write and how it has made “profound changes in the structure of society” in the opening paragraph of his essay The Image of the Letter: From the Anglo-Saxons to the Electronic Beowulf.

“Not least among these changes are the ways we consider communication to occur, ideas to be saved, and writing to be produced,” Christie wrote.

Despite the growing influence of technology, other students think that handwriting and cursive are important.

“Writing does help,” junior Keera Freeman said when asked if writing helps her when studying. “You can retain information more. When I’m typing, I lose focus quickly.”

Though Choi writes academic papers more efficiently when typing, she singularly writes in cursive when she handwrites.

“I only write in cursive. I personally struggle with print,” Choi said. “I love script; it’s aesthetically pleasing. A lot of people don’t know most of the letters—it’s a shame.”

Fighting for cursive In a March 2011 blog on ajc.com in

response to the possibility that Geor-gia may stop teaching children how to write in cursive, Bob Barr expressed his outrage towards the “Common Core Curriculum,” a program in which the state attempts to create a curriculum that is more “relevant” to the times. This curriculum implies the state thinks in the current age of technology, students do not need cursive as a skill.

“The process of learning cursive,” Barr said, “teaches the young mind to think and organize thoughts in a way that flows more easily and imaginative-ly than the stilted and childish block letters one learns in first and second grades.”

Barr’s argument, though, seems invalid as students shift more and more to typing and computers for note-tak-ing and writing.

Later, In a Huffington Post blog in Dec. 2011, Tamika Sayles asked her readers how people would conduct themselves in the real world without cursive writing skills, unable to “prop-erly sign their name on a contract or write a check.” She uses herself as an example, claiming that because of her lack of cursive handwriting skills, she is forced to teach herself the craft “with the insertion of checks, contracts, and legal documents in the adult world.”

But if cursive is only required to sign documents or a slip of paper after you slide your credit card at the gro-cery store, then why should students be required to extensively learn it in elementary school? Sayles claims that “there’s nothing worst then not know-ing how to properly sign one’s name,” but if the cultural standard has shifted because of technology, then what is the “proper” way to sign a name?

In his book From The Hands of the English Renaissance, Jonathan Gold-berg mentions that in the Renaissance, though, the concern for signatures specifically was if it was authentic be-cause of its newfound responsibility of

LAURA APPERSONCopy Editor

“Writing was really great for thousands of years, because there was nothing else, so it enabled people to store information and pass it on to other people, communicate over long distances or over long periods of time ... all we’re doing is changing what the technology is for doing that.” -Dr. Steven Black

Handwriting evolution

“The process of learning cursive,” Barr said, “teaches the young mind to think and organize thoughts in a way that flows more easily and imaginative-ly than the stilted and childish block letters one learns in first and second grades.”

Barr’s argument, though, seems invalid as students shift more and more to typing and computers for note-tak-ing and writing.

Later, In a Huffington Post blog in Dec. 2011, Tamika Sayles asked her readers how people would conduct themselves in the real world without cursive writing skills, unable to “prop-erly sign their name on a contract or write a check.” She uses herself as an example, claiming that because of her lack of cursive handwriting skills, she is forced to teach herself the craft “with the insertion of checks, contracts, and legal documents in the adult world.”

But if cursive is only required to sign documents or a slip of paper after you slide your credit card at the gro-cery store, then why should students be required to extensively learn it in elementary school? Sayles claims that “there’s nothing worst then not know-ing how to properly sign one’s name,” but if the cultural standard has shifted because of technology, then what is the “proper” way to sign a name?

In his book From The Hands of the English Renaissance, Jonathan Gold-berg mentions that in the Renaissance, though, the concern for signatures specifically was if it was authentic be-cause of its newfound responsibility of

marking official papers, not how pretty the cursive script looked. Based on the comments from both Sayles and Barr, it seems that the accuracy of cursive script is a concern as it disappears from our culture.

Today, many signatures are sloppy and hurried, but, according to Black, that doesn’t necessarily mean people are uneducated.

“If there’s a consensus that good handwriting means that you’re forward, or that you’re doing a good job, then people that don’t measure up to that can be judged according to that,” Black said. “There [seems to be] some sort of moral judgment about not having good handwriting. And I guess I would say that that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Communication Through Space and Time

Sayles’ concern is that students like Choi are becoming harder to find. Some students cannot read cursive at all.

But it is possible that proficiency in cursive truly isn’t valuable in our culture anymore. Christie briefly explained how writing, which, in An-tiquity, was a successive flow of letters that readers were expected to interpret, was an art in which the educated exclu-sively took part.

“Our techniques of handwriting have changed,” Christie said. In the past, “not everyone could read hand-writing.”

Christie explains that in the Middle Ages, not necessarily every literate

person was good at script. “Some scribes were not great

scholars and sometimes they worked on languages they didn’t understand,” Christie said.

According to Black, handwriting is specifically cultural and is a way of communicating through space and time.

“Writing was really great for thousands of years, because there was nothing else, so it enabled people to store information and pass it on to other people, communicate over long distances or over long periods of time,” Black said. “I can read what a philoso-pher wrote from the 1800s. But, then, all we’re doing is changing what the technology is for doing that.”

In the early 20th century, educators had been teaching cursive for centuries, and, according to Christie, this was the end of a culture that taught and valued cursive.

“Technology is a major force,” Christie said about the change, “but I also think our attitudes about educa-tion have changed.”

Though cursive may be a “dying art,” Black believes that handwriting will never completely disappear from society. As it changes as a result of tech-nology and the opinion of our culture, each of us will develop our own reason to continue—or completely stop—us-ing cursive and handwriting.

“Some people see it as an art form; other people see the way that you do it as being significant to who are; other people use it as a tool,” Black said.

“Writing was really great for thousands of years, because there was nothing else, so it enabled people to store information and pass it on to other people, communicate over long distances or over long periods of time ... all we’re doing is changing what the technology is for doing that.” -Dr. Steven Black

Handwriting evolution

Although many believe the new generation of young adults are ‘out of touch,’ one Georgia State University student is proving them wrong.

Sandy Mitchell, owner of Tie Dye by Sandy, never imagined her tie-dye t-

shirts would be so successful.“This started out as a hobby, and

I didn’t know what to expect, but now that it’s going I’m just going to keep pushing,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell’s tie-dye business has been doing so well, she now has t-shirts targeted to raise money for breast cancer awareness research.

Although the 21-year-old sociology major just started her business a few months ago, her love for tie-dye began years ago.

Two years ago, she was inspired by a group of women who partici-pated in a breast cancer awareness event after receiving positive feed-back about the t-shirts.

Now, for every t-shirt purchased in the special section for breast cancer awareness, Mitchell pledges to donate $5 to research.

While the revenue Mitchell makes from her growing business is a plus, she mostly attributes her motivation to the many women in her personal life who have been diagnosed or are affiliated with breast cancer.

“I’ve had relatives who’ve had it; my aunt, her best friend currently has it, [and] a couple of friends that go to my church,” she said.

The statistics don’t paint a pretty picture for women: research shows about 1 in 8 will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer; for men, the risk is about 1 in 1,000, according to breastcancer.org. A diagnosis of invasive breast cancer means the cancer is spreading and possibly damaging otherwise healthy tissue.

Still, not all of the statistics are reason enough to lose hope. As of 2011, more than 2.6 million Ameri-cans have survived breast cancer.

It’s the strength of these survi-vors that inspire Mitchell.

“It’s extremely rewarding every time I get on the computer and see another sell, or another kind note from someone, a stranger, or someone I know…it really makes me happy.”

To purchase items from Mitch-ell, visit her website at www.etsy.com/shop/TieDyeBySandy.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 12 A&L

ALEXIS SMITHStaff Writer

Step 1:Make a point in the center of the shirt and twirl it in together tight.

Step 2:Now keep tight. Do not let go of the shirt. Wrap the shirt with rubber bands like the picture above.

Step 3:Throw on gloves and grab a colored dye. (You can use water from boiled red cabbage for some pink dye!)

Step 4:Generousolor in one triangular section. Be gener-ous with the amount of dye.

Step 5:Now skip a triangular section and color the one next to it.

Step 6:Repeat step five. The shapes should come out like the picture above.

Step 7:Remove the rubber bands, hang the shirt up, and let it dry for 24 hours. Wash out the dye afterwards with cold water. Machine wash and dry. And now...

ENjoyyourbeautifulart!

Do-It-Yourself:Tie-dying

Tie-dying for a cause

Candra Umunna | The Signal

It’sBre

astCan

cerMo

nth!

For many people, open-ing up a literary maga-zine is a lot like enter-

ing a spoken word coffee shop: there’s a mix of excitement, hesitation, uncertainty and, ulti-mately, happiness at having done it. Especially in a time when al-most anything can be considered “a good book,” a sophisticated, in-depth reading is necessary ev-ery once in a while.

Georgia State operates two such literary journals: The Un-derground, a publication run by undergraduate students, and New South, a biannual publica-tion run by undergraduate and graduate students. What sets New South apart from many other college literary magazines, however, is that it doesn’t accept submissions from Georgia State students. Instead, the interna-tional literary community has the privilege of submitting work.

New South broke apart and went its separate way from The Underground after being GSU Review for 35 years. As it coon-tinues its fifth year of being an individual publication, New South will be seeing some chang-es.

“We’d like to raise its pro-file and become more known

in the literary community, not just around campus,” said Matt Sailor, the editor-in-chief of New South for the past two years. “I’d like to see it issued in more col-lections and grow a reputation.”

The voice of the magazine isn’t static; rather, it changes as the editor-in-chief does. The magazine has been more tradi-tional in the past, but under Sail-or, he said it has featured more poetry and fiction—his favorite medium—and is becoming edg-ier as it develops.

“I like to see strong charac-ters with well-defined personali-ties and conflicts,” Sailor said, “...something unique, not familiar.”

Gregg Murray, assistant pro-fessor of English at Georgia Pe-rimeter College and a contributor to multiple literary magazines, was found and recruited to write for New South. Sailor discovered Murray in another literary maga-zine, Continent. Inspired by the creative essay Murray wrote, Sailor said he recruited him to contribute to New South. Murray wrote a long poem of ‘transla-tions’ titled, “Some Translations for Arturo de Benedicto.”

“These aren’t translations from, say, Spanish to English. They translate other languages, languages of love or sorrow or song or image,” Murray said.

Although Georgia State stu-dents cannot submit to the mag-azine, Sailor said New South re-

flects the campus culture with its broad range of voices.

“From different religions and races, it shows viewpoints from everywhere,” Sailor said.

column

The time has come when busi-nesses need to move past the archaic assumption that hav-

ing a tattoo or a piercing makes a person an inadequate worker.

Technically, it’s not illegal for a poten-tial employer to refuse to hire someone because they have visible tattoos and piercings. It’s considered a right of the employer to be selective with his or her employment. And with the current eco-nomic climate, the fact is that employers have more potential employees than ever to choose from.

Courts have ruled in favor of corpo-rations that have fired a person because he or she refused to remove or cover a tattoo or piercing for religious reasons. About ten years ago, in Cloutier v. Costco Wholesale, a district court upheld Cost-co’s right to fire a woman for refusing to cover or remove her nose ring, which she claimed to be an expression of her faith.

But we all know that times are chang-ing. Tattoos have moved away from sim-ply advertising gang membership. Now, people claim their tattoos have mean-ing – dedications to lost loved ones, ex-pressions of political views, symbols of love for partners, remembering difficult times in life to keep moving forward. In this way, tattoos show depth of character.

That’s not to say every tattoo neces-sarily means something. Some people get tattoos because they think they look

cool, because they want to be perceived a certain way, or because they are mak-ing a fashion statement. A good chunk of tattoos in the world are simply harm-less. Another portion of tattoos simply remain from “other lives” people have long left behind, unable to be removed.

It’s simply a matter of expression, and we all have the right to express ourselves however we please. It doesn’t mean that a person is less hardworking.

Denying someone employment for a tattoo is starting to parallel refus-ing to hire someone because they wear a cross or the Star of David around his or her neck. Granted, extent of the pro-tected expression as tattoos and pierc-ings would be reasonably restricted in line with unprotected First Amendment speech.

Employers should move away from worrying about what a person looks like and seriously evaluate work ethic. A person with a tattoo is no more likely to slack off than anyone else.

By discouraging tattoos in the work-place, employers take measures to stifle creativity. And this doesn’t just happen in the workplace. For decades, people have been debating whether or not schools should require uniforms versus letting students express themselves. Dress codes in high schools around the country limit anything from political t-shirts to “un-naturally colored” hair.

What purpose does this really serve? Surely, every school has a reason, usually along the lines of “inappropriateness” and every business stresses “profession-alism.” I say it’s time we redefine these concepts, and let the creativity be the overriding factor in evaluating people for their value in the workplace.

ANNA NORRISWeb Managing Editor

Does body art in the workplace matter?

New South brings foreign cultures to Georgia States’s students

IMAN NAIMStaff Reporter

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 13A&L

YOUR CALLING.THE COUNTRY’S NEED.

According to the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME), the US is facing

an imminent physician shortage, specifi cally in primary care. Ross University School of

Medicine (RUSM) is helping to meet this need by training physicians who are entering

nearly every area of medicine, including the critical demand in pediatrics,

internal medicine and family medicine.

• RUSM provides clinical rotations at affi liated teaching hospitals in the US.

• RUSM graduates have attained more US residencies annually than those

of any other medical school in the world over the last fi ve years.

• RUSM is eligible to participate in the US Federal Direct Loan Program;

fi nancial aid is available to those who qualify.

ATTEND OUR INFORMATION SEMINARSaturday, October 13, 2012 • 10 amGrand Hyatt Buckhead, Atlanta To register, visit RossU.edu or scan this QR code.

For comprehensive consumer information visit www.RossU.edu/med-student-consumer-info2012 Global Education International. All rights reserved.

RUSM-Print-Georgia State Signal-10.375w.7h.indd 1 9/11/12 12:59 PM

YoucansubscribetoNewSouthbysending payments and forms to:

New SouthCampus Box 1894

Georgia State UniversityMSC 8R0322 Unit 8

Atlanta, GA 30303-3083

Costs:Annual (2 issues): $8

Two-year: $14Current Issues: $5

Sample Back Issue $3

calendarTUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 14

Featured Events today,October 2 Intercultural Relations Fall 2012 Art ExhibitCelebrate the numberous ways Latino culture has been woven into the American landscape through people, music, food, and tradition. View the exhibition of Latino artists in the Gallery Lounge on the 3rd floor of the Student Center.

Tuesday,October 2Dinner Diversity and Dia-logueIn celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, join Intercultural Relations as they cook a healthy meal inspired by Latin culture. Stu-dent Rec Center lobby. Contact Tonya Cook tcook3@gsu.edu 404-413-1587

Tuesday,October 2Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration!Come out and learn about Latin American countries, free food and a performance by Aztec dance, John Jaramil-lo. 12 p.m.- 1:30 p.m. Veterans Memorial Hall on Dahlberg Hall

Wednesday,October 3Free Educational Sympo-siumTo celebrate the 50th anniver-sary of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, the Rialto will pres-ent Caribbean culture, com-plimentary hors d’ oeuvres and Steelpan music. 6-9 p.m. Rialto Center RSVP: Dr. Harcourt Fuller, Email: history@gsu.edu or Tel: 404-413-5264*Only the first 250 people will be admitted

Wednesday,October 3Rawiya [She who tells a story]The Welch School of Art and Design will present a panel discussion on Images, Nar-rative and Representation in the Middle East. Located at the corner of Gilmer Street and Peachtree Center Avenue. Free parking at the United Way Deck at Auburn Av-enue and Courtland Avenue. 10-11:30 a.m. Welch School Galleries. cfarnell@gsu.edu (404)-413-5230

Thursday,October 4Model Casting CallMale and female attire: Solid white, fitted shirts and jeans.

For females, heels must be at least four inches. 7 p.m Stu-dent Center Ballroom

Thursday,October 4Dancing with the GreeksJoin OAASS&P’s Black Soph-omore Society and the Black Graduate Student Association as they present the 2nd annu-al Dancing with the Greeks! Various Greek Fraternities and Sororities form Georgia State will perform a duo of choreographed dance. We will feature various styles of dance and will serve food on Unity Plaza at their after event social. DOORS WILL OPEN at 6:15 p.m. Program begins @ 6:45 p.m. Bring a canned good or article of clothing as they continue to support Haiti Japan.

Friday,October 5- Sunday,October 7Family WeekendThe annual Georgia State Family Weekend will hold many activities such as tail-gating and participating in sports at the Student Rec Cen-ter with your family. You can spend the weekend enjoying a ‘Day in the City’ at the World of Coke, the Georgia Aquari-

um or attend a lecture given by a distinguished Georgia State faculty member to give your parents the Georgia State experience. Registration is now open on gsu.edu/parentrelations.

Saturday,October 6Rialto Series ConcertThird WorldThis legendary Reggae Am-bassadors from Jamaica will bring over three decades of their music to the Rialto stage. The group has released 23 albums, 10 Grammy nomi-nations and was awarded the 1986 United Nations Peace Medal. Pre-show festivities begin at 7 p.m. Show begins at 8 p.m. The Rialto. 404-413-9849

Thursday,October 11Day in the RecCome challenge yourself to Olympic games including: big wheel competition, shoot-ing Gallery, archery, rowing competition and volleyball. Pre-registration required for volleyball-contact andy-hudgins@gsu.edu. T-shirts to the first 500 participants. FREE food. 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. For more information on this event, contact mbuchheit@gsu.edu

Saturday,October 20Homecoming TailgateThere will be music, free food and giveaways including a change to win Sony products. 12 p.m. For deals and dis-counts visit the Sony Educa-tion store at sony.com/gsu.

Friday,October 26 Safe Zone Training Noon – 2 p.m. Lanier Suite, Student Cen-ter Learn more about the LG-BTQIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Questioning) community on campus. Ex-plore ways to promote an inclusive and accepting envi-ronment for all members of the GSU family. Lunch pro-vided.

Monday,October 29Nominations Due: Hosea Williams Awards for Com-munity Activism

Completed nomination pack-ets should be submitted to the Office of Intercultural Relations located in Suite 330 Student Center via email to Tcook3@gsu.edu.

On Campus

Atlanta Exploration Tour: Cyclorama AtlantaFriday, October 12, 2012 Noon – 5 p.m. Sinclair Suite, Student Center The Cyclorama explores a historic review of post-colonial Atlanta. Re-serve your space by Friday, October 5 in the Office of Student Activities, Suite 330, Student Center. Lunch will be provided, and Intercultural Relations will provide transporta-tion and cover entry fee to the Cy-clorama.

IR Goes 3-D: Dinner, Diversity and DialogueDiversity through Food: Cooking Latin Style Tuesday, October 2 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Student Recreation Center LobbyIn collaboration with Student Recreation Center and in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, join Intercultural Relations as we cook a healthy meal inspired by Latin culture. You must reserve your space by Monday, September 24 in the Office of the Student Activities, Suite 330, Student Center. Dinner provided.

Speaker Series

The Distinguished

2012-13Supported by Student Activity Fees

The first in a trilogy of Green Day’s next albums to come (¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré!), ¡Uno!

is a welcome return for the band after a three-year hiatus.

In their ninth album, the members of Green Day; Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Drint and Tré Cool; wanted to go back to their roots. They accomplish this with relative ease, despite their older age and absence from the Top 40 radio stations. A band that has been around for more than twenty years, Green Day is a master of making new music that still feels somewhat familiar to their longtime fans. The band gets a lot of criticism for their age but much of the album retains the same exuber-ant rebellion that has become synony-mous with the band.

Anyone who has become attached to the overly theatrical style of the group’s last two albums (American Id-iot and 21st Century Breakdown) will be disappointed by this album. There are no overarching story lines in this album, no concept to accompany it, and it would be almost blasphemous to call it a rock opera of any sort. How-ever, don’t write this album off yet.

The best songs on the album are the ones that feel the least forced and the most like the older Green Day. The first single, “Oh Love,” is perfect, clas-sic Green Day. “Stay the Night” is the closest Armstrong and crew will prob-ably ever get to a real love song. It’s messy, melodic and endearing. “Carpe Diem” is another stand out on the al-bum, an anthem for anyone of any age.

On Sept. 21 at the iHeartMusic festival in Los Vegas, Armstrong in-famously screamed profanities at the

audience when the promoters of the concert told the band they were fifteen minutes over their allotted stage time. Armstrong, the lead singer, screamed “I am not f***ing Justin Bieber!” He then smashed his guitar on the stage, walking off angry. The next day he checked himself into rehab with the band releasing a statement apologizing for his behavior and any comments that may have offended anyone.

Many have called this outburst childish and unprofessional, specu-lating about its affect on record sales. While that seems doubtful, it certain-ly creates an interesting conversation surrounding the album that could in-fluence their record sales either way. But the bottom line is that this is a good album. It is solid and uncompro-mising, filled with nostalgia for their older music and younger selves and most definitely worth your money.

Unfortunately, the sim-ple and fresh sound of the 2000 song “I’m Like

a Bird” is history in Nelly Furtado’s new album “The Spirit Indesctruc-table.”

Five studio albums later, Nelly Furtado brings a style that some say is perfect for club and techno-influ-enced productions. The evolution of Furtado and the combination of her unique vocal tone over urban tracks has brought her much national at-tention. Though her genre is consid-ered to be pop, her songs include fu-turistic, hip-hop beats.

In the song “Big Hoops,” Furtado said she is “channeling her 14-year-

old-self” as she talks about her love for hip-hop and R&B. She exudes confidence in these lyrics. Perhaps she means all around confidence in who she is as a person.

There is a more refreshing sound in the lyrics “Bucket List.” She cap-tures life’s little moments and pro-vides encouragement to try anything and everything over and over until you succeed.

She has an assortment of fea-tured artists including Nas, Sara Ta-vares, Ace Primo and Dylan Mur-ray. On the U.S. Deluxe Version, she has a few additional songs that allow her voice to shine over instrumen-tation that fits her particular sound. “Be OK” is one of the songs featur-ing Murray.

From album to album, Furta-do continues to change her style.

Though she does take unique risks, this album seems to be doing too much. Some artists start off or find something that really works for them, then snatch it away from fans to “explore” new territory. It might work for a few musicians, but Furta-do is going further and further out in left field. Her voice is gentle, so when she forces it to be powerful on songs with strong bass and drum set, it cre-ates more noise than actually dis-playing her talents.

Ultimately, most of her beats are better than the lyrics or even her voice. Though unique-sounding, her vocal tone on this album comes off as whiny over the hip-hop beats than pleasant and fresh as in her debut al-bum. Finding a site to preview the al-bum is the smarter initial step before deciding to purchase this record.

Green Day | “¡Uno!”

Looper

When you first see Jo-seph Gordon-Levitt in “Looper,” you’ll

probably be distracted by the ridic-ulous amount of makeup he’s wear-ing. That part won’t get better. But the movie itself is worth watching.

Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a well-paid assassin for the mob- the future mob. He drives fast cars and dresses in the latest fashions. He’s addicted to some kind of party drug the movie never specifies. Every day, he goes to a field to kill someone for the mob.

He stands ready with his weap-on until a person from the future appears. He kills him, collects his pay from his body, and reports back to his mob boss. But a future mob boss decides to “close the loops” of all “Loopers,” which means Gordon-Levitt is sent to kill the future version of himself.

Joe seems perfectly fine closing his loop. He’s ready to take his pen-sion and move to some exotic coun-

try until the future mob comes to get him. But future Joe (played by Bruce Willis) has more to live for. He gets away. So Gordon-Levitt is left reel-ing from withdrawals while running from both the mob and his future self.

The makeup, by the way, is all to make the actor look more like his future counterpart, Bruce Willis. It does make Gordon-Levitt resemble Willis a little. His brows are always furrowed in that classic Bruce Willis kind of way and his upper lip is al-most invisible.

But “Looper” is incredibly com-plicated. It’s about time travel. People are jumping back and forth through time and riding bikes that fly. The last thing moviegoers are going to ques-tion is whether Bruce Willis really looks like Gordon-Levitt. The film should have spent more time focus-ing on the more complicated aspects of the plot instead of working so hard to make the two characters resemble each other.

We’ve all seen Bruce Willis play a tough guy before, so his character wasn’t hard to believe. But Gordon-

Levitt also plays a hit man surprising-ly well. He’s cold and uncaring about most of the outside world. His moth-er, a vagrant drug addict, gave him up when he was very young. So the mob took advantage of the desperate child, turning him into the youngest assassin they had ever hired. His mob boss jokes with him about how Gor-don-Levitt’s weapon was bigger than he was when he started his work. The corruption of innocence is a huge theme in “Looper.” Gordon-Levitt shows it well. He acts tough but you can see a glimmer of vulnerability in his glances at times.

The acting in the film truly makes “Looper” remarkable. Gordon-Levitt is able to pull off playing a character with unending layers of personal-ity and he manages to portray every aspect of that. Willis brings in even more layers as we see how his ad-dictions and personality flaws affect him in the future. It’s natural to won-der what happens to the main char-acter of a movie in the future, and in “Looper,” you actually get to see it all. This science fiction action film is worth the two hours.

Running time: 96 minutesRated: URGrade: 4.8 on IMDB

Driller KillerWhile painting a masterpiece, trying to pay the rent and living with two New York City punks, a young man turns to killing the der-elicts in his neighborhood with a power drill to deal with the stress.

Running time: 98 minutes, Rated: UR, Grade: 6.4 on IMDB

Wild ZeroA young punk and his brother’s rock n’ roll band are humanity’s only hope when alien-zombies invade the earth in this Japanese cult favorite.

LARGE PROFESSORPROFESSOR @ LARGE10ODDISEEPEOPLE HEAR WHAT THEY SEE9MASTA ACE & MF DOOMMA DOOM: SON OF YVONNE8THEE OH SEESPUTRIFIERS II7A TRIBE CALLED REDA TRIBE CALLED RED6P VILLAVOLACIOUS5THE CACTUS CHANNELHAPTICS4LYMBYC SYSTYMSYMBOLYST3POOLSIDEPACIFIC STANDARD TIME2GROUNDISLAVAFEEL ME1

reviewsTUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 15

MUSIC

MACKENZIE SEIGLERStaff Reporter

MOVIES

NOWPLAYINGAT

CINEFEST

Nelly Furtado | “The Spirit Indestructible ”

KENDALL HARRISStaff Reporter

Grade: A-Best Track: “Oh Love”Release Date: September 24, 2012

Grade: CRelease Date: Sept. 18, 2012Best Track: “Bucket List”

Grade: ARelease Date: September 28, 2012 Running time: 118 minutesMPAA rating: R

CHATEAUX-CAPRI STOVALL

Arts & Living Editor

SUDOKU

games&such 16

ASSOCIATIONBUSINESSCANCERCARNIVALCORPORATECRIMEDATADEMONSTRATIONELECTIONEMPLOYERS

EXPLORATIONFIREFLAGFOOTBALLFOREIGNFUNDINGHANDWRITINGLANGUAGELOOPERMILITARYPINK

PREVENTIONSAFETYSANDSTORMSTUDENTTABOOTATTOOTRANSLATIONUNIFORMVIETNAMESEVOLLEYBALL

LASTWEEK’SSUDOKUSOLUTIONS

WORDSEARCH MAZE

The Georgia State sand volleyball team officially has a home, complete with sand from nine different states across

the country.The team held an opening ceremony for their

new facility on Sep. 24 in front of athletic depart-ment staff and guests. During the ceremony each member of the team doused the court with sand they had brought from their own home courts.

“We’re extremely excited to go from what used to be a parking lot to now a beautiful, tiered, three court sand facility with some of the best sand in the country,” head coach Tami Audia said.

Georgia State is one of only 25 colleges in the nation that features women’s sand volley ball as a varsity sport. The NCAA will fully sanction the

sport and sponsor a national championship once 40 or more schools participate.

The team began individual workouts on Aug. 27, and is now practicing as a full unit.

“The girls are starting to adapt to what we are go-ing to be asking them to do,” Audia said. “We’re just look-ing to see who’s going to be the players that are going to fit together well as partners.”

A sand volleyball match consists of five matches be-tween doubles teams.

The team’s current ros-ter consists of 12 members, including nine freshmen. Coach Audia doesn’t seem too worried about the team’s perceived lack of experience.

“We have several freshmen on the team,” Au-

dia said. “But it’s kind of neat because a lot of them don’t act like freshmen. They know their sport, their excited about playing their sport, and they’ve done a really nice job out on the sand.”

The Panthers may not have a roster full of college veterans, but they do field one of the more skilled play-ers in the country: graduate student Lane Carico.

“We’re really lucky to have Lane,” said Audia. “She is a three-time All-American at the University of Miami. She’s taken the leadership role.”

The inaugural sea-son will begin this coming

March. Coach Audia says the team plans on making a trip to Siesta Key, Fla. and hopes to also be able to make a trip to the West Coast.

Georgia State will host a two-day tourna-ment at their new facility April 6 and 7 of 2013. The event will also feature Florida State and fu-ture Sun Belt Conference foe Louisiana Monroe.

The new facility is located directly behind the Sports Arena located at the corner of Pied-mont Avenue and Decatur Street and has a seat-ing capacity of 1,250.

“We’re going to have palm trees out here,” Audia said. “We’re going to have people sitting in lawn chairs, bringing blankets to be able to watch the matches. We’re going to make it feel like you’re at a beach.”

Fans can expect the play on the court to be just as nice as the scene around it.

“We’re going to have a very good program,” Audia said. “This is our first year but all of these girls have played sand volleyball for a long time and are very experienced, so they [fans] are go-ing to see some winning right along with having a great atmosphere.”

www.gsusignal.com/sports

SPORTS

Feline war:Panthers and New Hampshire Wildcats collide

The sandstorm beginsRhett Lewis

Associate Sports Editor

OUR STRENGTHS OUR WEAKNESSES

THEIR WEAKNESSES THEIR STRENGTHS

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICSEach player poured sand from each of their home state -- California, Alaska, Florida, New Jersey, Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Georgia.

HUNTER BISHOPStaff Reporter

Donald Russell, Terrance Woodard and Al-bert Wilson have been the strongest pillars for the Panthers. Russell has averaged more than six yards a carry while rushing for 502 yards. His yardage is great, given the fact that he isn’t thrown the ball too often. Wilson is averaging 16 yards a pop catching the ball, with three touchdowns. Often times these two are the only things clicking on offense for the Panthers. Woodard dominates on defense, but is of-ten double-teamed up the middle.

The secondary has been ineffective, giv-ing up 250 yards a game and a five game total of ten touchdowns. The defense as a whole has performed poorly, giving up an average of 38 points per game and 460 yards per game. The offense may be worse, only averaging 10 points per game and 286 yards of offense. So far, the Panthers have been blown out on all five games played.

The Wildcats have a strong offense; as they have an average of 36.6 points per game and 480 yards of total offense per game. These numbers are thanks to wide receiver’s R. J. Harris’ speed, as he’s been one of their key players this season. On the Wildcats’ last game, Harris scored two touchdowns against Dela-ware. Also, the Wildcats have nearly identical splits in run and passes, 238 yards through the air and 244 yards on the ground.

Their defensive line has showed many in-consistencies as they have given up 44 points and 64 points to Minnesota and Old Dominion, respectively. Also, the Wildcats have given up an average of 410 yards per game. The Panthers could take advantage on this point by utilizing running back Donald Russell more often.

(0-5)

(3-2)

WHEN : SATURDAY OCT. 6

WHERE: THE GEORGIA DOME

INAUGURALTOURNAMENT:

APRIL6AND7,2013

AGAINSTFLORIDASTATEANDLOUISIANAMONROE

Georgia State’s new sand volleyball team celebrates new facility

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 18 SPORTS

DonaldRussellSport: FootballPosition:RunningBackYear:SeniorHeight:5’11”Weight:212lb.

Amidst a disappointing season for the Panthers, Russell has been one of the most vital players for the team.

So far, he’s third in the Colo-nial Athletic Association ranking for yards rushed per game, with an average of 95.8 yards.

Despite not getting the ball enough, Russell led the team in rushing in every game so far, pass-ing the 100-yard mark against South Carolina State and Rich-mond.

On the post-game press confer-ence against Richmond, head coach Bill Curry praised the Fla. native.

“You just see how valuable he is,” Curry said. “We just have to keep giving it to him.”

The senior running back is a sociology major and plans to follow football in the future.

PlayeroftheweekPANTHEROfTheWeek

Women’s golf still off course

The Panthers had a rough time at the Golfweek Con-ference Challenge Tourna-

ment in Vail, Colo. as they placed 13th out of 18 after the three days of play.

Head coach Cathy Mant associated the team’s low ranking in the competi-tion with their lack of steadiness.

“Our performance this past week in the Golfweek Conference Challenge had its ups and downs,” Mant said. “Our consistency is lacking but this will come with time.”

During the last day of competition on Wednesday, the team shot one of the lowest overall rounds (295), bump-ing up a few spots.

“In all honesty, I would have loved to see us place a little higher in the final standings but the great news is that we

shot one of the lowest rounds on the fi-nal day,” Mant said.

According to Georgia State Ath-letics, Junior Laura Sanchez and fresh-man Julie Lied led the team with the lowest scores. Sanchez placed 36th with the lowest score of the team (228), while Lied came in 49th place with a 231 score.

Mant said Lied has the potential to grow as a player once she adjusts to the new environment. The Norway native came to America to join the Panthers this season.

“She is adjusting to the many chal-lenges of college life and to college golf in the U.S.,” Mant said. “As she becomes more accustomed to every-thing I believe that she will definitely be someone to watch over the next four years.”

At the previous competition, on the Panthers’ season opener, junior Maria Palacios led the team at Louis-ville, Ky., as they placed ninth out of 15.

“Everyone on the team has stepped up big time at different times so far this season,” Mant said. “Our success will be based on the team effort of all the girls.”

The team has a lot of time to reach consistency as their season lasts until May 24.

Mant said that coaching a sport with a long season brings advantages to the coaching staff.

“We have a little down time at the end of the fall semester and at the be-ginning of the spring semester which gives Coach Lorraine Ballerano and I time to rest and then to refocus,” Mant said. “We have set season- long goals and we work on the small goals to reach our goal of bringing home the Sunbelt Conference Championship at the end of the regular season.”

The Panthers’ next competition will be the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate Challenge at East Carolina University, from Oct. eighth through the ninth.

submitted photoThe Vietnamese Student Association flag football team’s practice sessions before the Olympics at Georgia Gwinnett College were pretty hectic, accord-ing to player Christine Yun.

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS Player Laura Sanchez placed 36th at the Golfweek Conference Challenge.

Anyone who thinks flag football is the light version of tackle football might just be proven wrong by Georgia

State’s Vietnamese Student Association (VSA).“We’ve had a lot of injuries on the team, es-

pecially on the defensive side,” player Christine Yun said. “I sprained my knee, but we also had dislocated shoulders.”

Injuries don’t deter the team’s 30 or so play-ers from representing Georgia State at the VSA Olympics this spring.

Every year in April or March, VSA flag foot-ball teams from various schools including Geor-gia Tech, University of Georgia, Kennesaw, Uni-versity of South Carolina and Emory compete in single-elimination tournaments.

Although VSA clubs organize many activi-ties to raise funds, this event is not a fundraiser.

Diana Nguyen, VSA member at University of Georgia said, “It’s more of a bonding event for all the VSA’s in our community to come togeth-er.”

Last spring, the event was held at Georgia Gwinnett College, but the next host is yet to be

determined.“During tournament time you get to net-

work and meet people from all the other schools and see what they’re doing,” Yun said.

Although most of the players are Vietnam-ese, there are participants from other nationali-ties such as Korea or Nigeria.

Aside from flag football, the event also offers participants to compete in sports such as soccer, indoor volleyball, and other small group activi-ties.

Yet, Yun said that the flag football VSA play-ers stay loyal to their sport. When asked why, she responded, “Why not?” with a laugh. “It’s so fun.”

Not only is it a “fun” sport to socialize and exercise, but Yun said it also serves as a “stress reliever.”

“You’re with your friends, you have a good time and goof around,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun to get together and play.”

This doesn’t mean that the games cannot get heated up when the spring tournament comes around.

“Because its single elimination, it gets really intense,” Yun said.

The level of competitiveness leads to a lot of trash-talking previous to the games.

Also, in the search for advantage, teams even travel to see the other schools’ practice sessions

to keep track of their rivals’ strategies.“Gossip occurs naturally,” Yun said with a

grin. “Some people will travel to go see UGA play, or see Kennesaw play and see what they’re doing and how they’re practicing.”

During preseason preparation, the team doesn’t take it lightly. They start practicing once a week this month, and as the tournament gets closer, they move to two days per week and add more practice hours.

“There are so many different opinions of how everything should be done,” Yun said. “We get on each other’s nerves a lot during practice.”

Because last semester Georgia State lost in the second round against Emory, they are moti-vated to place first next spring.

“We’re coming a lot hungrier this tourna-ment because we didn’t get first place last time,” Yun said.

In order to win the tournament, the Pan-thers must beat UGA and South Carolina, their toughest rivals, Yun said.

However, Yun thinks that Georgia State has what it takes to take the big step.

“I think it’s about the physical aspect and how we do, but it’s also about how much you want it – I think we want it the most,” Yun said. “We’re the loudest and most spirited team.”

Carrying the flagVietnamese Student Association flag football team prepares to represent Georgia State at VSA Olympics

Ismael SuarezSports Editor

JOHNNY GIPSONStaff Reporter

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012 19SPORTS

STRIKING GOLD

Unlike Vavulina, Timmermann was born into a tennis playing family.

Both of her parents, Sven and Siegrid Timmermann, as well as her twin brother, Rick, play tennis (Rick is currently playing tennis at Stony Brook University in Long Is-land, N.Y.).

Linn started playing tennis thanks to her father, who is a tennis coach. Timmer-mann began competing at the age of 9, and first competed internationally when she was about 14 years old.

For high school, both Linn and her brother Rick came to the United States to study and play at Saddlebrook Prepatory School in Wesley Chapel, Fla.

In her four years at Saddlebrook, Tim-mermann was named the 2010 Hardest Worker and the 2010 Performance/ Fitness Award honoree.

She was also dubbed the 2010/2011 Play-er of The Year, and received the 2010/2011 Leadership, Sportsmanship Award.

On top of these honors bestowed upon Linn by Saddlebrook, she achieved a Flor-ida State ranking of 26 in the 18 year-old age group. There she met her private trainer, Rene Moller, who she said has had the big-gest impact on her career thus far.

Timmermann, a psychology major, says she enjoys the tennis program at Georgia State.

“Our coaches have a lot of variety in practice and it is a lot of hard work, but I’m looking forward to getting better and better with every practice.”

As for the finalizing factor for Timmer-mann to come to Georgia State, she said, “the team and coaches were the biggest fac-tor for me to accept this offer.”

Vavulina competed in the main draw in the 2011 Australian Junior Open Champion-ship, which she said is the greatest accomplish-ment of her career thus far.

“It took a lot of effort to earn a high enough ranking,” Vavulina said. “I played a lot of tour-naments every month, but the experience I got in Australia I will never forget. It was one of the best times of my life.”

Vavulina’s career bundles many other ac-complishments.

In 2011, she won the Aivaras Balzekas Lithuania Memorial Cup, as well as the 19th in-ternational Junior Tournament Citta’ Di Prato in Italy.

In 2010, Vavulina won the Raquette D’Or ITF Tournament in Morrocco, then the 14th Namangan ITF Junior Tournament in Uzbeki-stan.

Two years earlier, in 2008, Vavulina was victorious at the ITF Tournament in Finland.

Timmermann doesn’t fall behind when it comes to winning cups. Though, the best career of her life so far was in 2009.

“My biggest accomplishment would be reaching the semifinals in singles and doubles at the International Tennis Federation tourna-ment in the Dominican Republic,” Timmer-mann said.

Vavulina does not come from a tennis family – her father Andrei Vavulina is actual-ly a soccer coach and her mother never played tennis, – but she said her parents have had the greatest impact on her tennis career.

“I have always had and still have the great-est support from them,” Vavulina said. “My parents took the initiative to get me started.”

She played her first national tournament when she was 7 years old, and began playing in-ternationally around the age of ten. Vavulina said her family realized she had a knack for the game very early on.

“In the first week of my practice, my first coach was really impressed,” she said. “At that time, my coach and my parents were sure that my life would be related with tennis.”

Indeed, tennis influenced her life to the point of bringing her to Georgia State.

“I decided to attend Georgia State towards the beginning of 2011. It was an easy decision. I had a lot of options, but I chose Georgia State.”

So far, she doesn’t regret to have become a Panther.

“I like the weather in Atlanta, and I really like the campus. . . With the tennis program, I enjoy every day of practice with my team-mates,” she said.

Vavulina is still undecided in her major, but is leaning towards International Business, although she has her mind set on tennis.

“All of my goals for the future [involve] ten-nis,” she said. “I am going to try and play as long as I can.”

Linn Timmermann

Natallia Vavulina

NORA DONNELLYStaff Reporter

In June of this year, Georgia State received a number one mid-major recruiting class ranking through TennisRecruiting.net thanks to two new freshman recruits, Natallia Vavulina and Linn Timmermann.

Vavulina, born in Minsk, Belarus, has reached an International Tennis Federation (ITF) ranking of 112, and has competed in multiple national and international tournaments.

Timmermann, from Rostock, Germany boasts a national (U.S.) ranking of 54, and has also competed at an international level.

Georgia State women’s tennis team had their first tournament last week-end.

“Our team is very strong this year,” said Vavulina. “We all are trying to do our best and work hard, but at the same time we enjoy being together.”

Timmermann says she is “very excited for our season to start” and to get the team’s ranking up.

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

All shows free for GSU students, faculty and staff with ID. Guests $3 before 5 p.m. and $5 at 5 p.m. and after. For details, visit www.gsu.edu/cinefest.

All shows free for GSU students, faculty and staff with ID.

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All shows free for GSU

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Cinefest Film Theatre

students, faculty and staff with ID. students, faculty and staff with ID. students, faculty and staff with ID.

October 1-7, PredatorMonday-Friday: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m. (No 9 p.m. showing on Thursday or Friday)Saturday-Sunday: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

October 4, My Career as a Jerk Thursday: 9 p.m.

October 5, The Driller Killer Friday: 9 p.m.

October 8-14, ElenaMonday-Friday: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

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Guests $3 before 5 p.m. and $5 at 5 p.m. and after. students, faculty and staff with ID.

CAMPUS EVENTS • www.gsu.edu/studentevents

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES Making a Difference: An Evening with Jane GoodallMonday, October 8, 3 p.m. Student Center BallroomFollowed by Book SigningJoin us for the first presentation of the 2012-13 Distinguished Speaker Series, delivered by Dr. Jane Goodall, United Nations Messenger of Peace and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute. This event is free, no ticket required, and open to all students, faculty, staff and the public. All guests

are encouraged to arrive early for seats. Once the ballroom is full, guests will be directed to the Speakerʼs Auditorium for viewing via live feed. See ad in this issue for more information.

Campus Events at Library Plaza Tuesday, October 912:15-1 p.m.In honor of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender History Month, we gladly present the LGBT Celebration Plaza featuring Alliance.

Open Mic Night Wednesday, October 10, 7-9 p.m.Courtyard Stage, Student Center, First FloorWhether itʼs poetry, comedy, playing an instrument or singing your heart out, any and every talent is welcome in our show. Cash prizes will be given for the top three GSU student winners! If you are interested in performing, stop by

the Campus Events office in 370 Student Center or visit our Facebook page at gsucampusevents to apply.

Photo by Michael Neugebauer 2012

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Spotlight

SPOTLIGHT PROGRAMS BOARDwww.gsu.edu/spotlight

Plaza: SidewinderThursday, October 4, 12:15-1 p.m., Library PlazaAmericaʼs first Sidewinder will be taking place in the Library Plaza at GSU! Five MCs will take the stage and

match their lyrics to the DJʼs flow. The Sidewinder is a style from the UK, never before seen in the U.S. until now.

Lyrics galore! You do not want to miss this!

Good Morning CommutersMonday, October 8, 8-10 a.m.

Aderhold Learning Center, General Classroom Building & Unity Plaza

Come grab some breakfast and get information about upcoming events with Spotlight Programs Board!

Horror Movie Night: InsidiousTuesday, October 9, 6-9 p.m.

Student Center BallroomJoin Spotlight as we watch the horror film Insidious.

Popcorn and other concessions will be served. This is a promotional event for our upcoming Haunted House

“Happily Never After . . . My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy.”

Homecoming 2012October 15-20

Spotlight presents “On The Edge: Homecoming 2012,” a week full of events and amazing opportunities

to celebrate our last Homecoming before the Centennial Celebration of 2013, including:

Good Morning Commuters on Monday, October 15, when students, faculty, staff and alumni can stop by one

of our locations and enjoy free breakfast and receive information about the weekʼs events

Panther Nation at Atlantic Station on Wednesday, October 17, 7-9 p.m., which will provide free food, games and a

great experience for everyone from age 2 to 92The 10th Annual Golf Cart Parade on Thursday, October 18,

which will be bigger and better than ever as we push on to another 100 years with President Becker and

First Lady Laura Voisinet serving as the grand marshals The Crowning of the Homecoming King, Queen,

Prince and Princess on Saturday, October 20, which will take place as we cheer the Panthers on

to victory over VillanovaFor a complete list of Homecoming events, visit

www.gsu.edu/homecoming. For more details about Spotlight Homecoming events, e-mail Spotlighttraditions@gmail.com.

For more information about all Spotlight events, call Spotlight Programs Board at 404/413-1610.

StylesStyles

match their lyrics to the DJʼs flow. The Sidewinder is a style

Aderhold Learning Center, General Classroom Building

Courtyard Music Series.jpg

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Homecoming events, e-mail Spotlighttraditions@gmail.com. Homecoming events, e-mail Spotlighttraditions@gmail.com. more information about all Spotlight events,

call Spotlight Programs Board at 404/413-1610.

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