Millsaps alumni can now add “swimsuit model” to their long list of graduates’ accomplishments: gracing the cover of the new St. Louis Rams 2007-2008 Cheerleader Swimsuit Calendar is Mill-saps graduate and former dance team captain, Kate Anderson.

“I had no idea I’d be on the front (cover) - it’s some-thing that I’m very proud of,” says the fi rst-year Rams cheerleader.

The cover photo came as no surprise, however, to those who know Anderson best. “I knew if anyone could make it, it’d be Kate… I knew she had a good chance because of her drive,” says Anna

Smith, an alumna and friend of Anderson.As for the picture, “She looks beautiful…it’s a

different side of Kate but a good one,” remarks Jor-dan Willett, a member of the Millsaps dance team Major Impressions while Anderson was a captain. “She’s been a great representative for Millsaps,” Willett continues, “she’s an example that Millaps students graduate well-rounded.”

In addition to being a fi tness instructor, a so-rority member, and what Willett describes as a “great, caring leader and good captain,” of the dance team, Anderson also made academics a pri-ority, majoring in history and becoming a member of the history honors society, Phi Alpha Theta.

“She always worked really hard,” Smith says of Anderson, who is now working for a public rela-tions fi rm in St. Louis in addition to cheering for the Rams.

Anderson fi rst decided to try out for the Rams cheerleading squad during her senior year at Mill-saps. “I knew I wanted to try out for the NFL, and I knew I’d be in St. Louis,” she explains. After a

On the heels of the second successful summer training camp on campus, the New Orleans Saints, in conjunction with partner BankPlus, have announced their plans to endow Millsaps with $100,000 for capital improvements related to the camp.

“BankPlus, like other corporate enterprises, purchased sponsorships to support the annual Saints camp at the College,” explains Vice President and Dean of Students Brit Katz in an e-mail interview. “BankPlus generously sponsored the assorted costs that accompany staging a complicated program like the Saints summer training camp!

“Technically, it’s neither a payment for services nor a donation. It’s an opportunity for the sponsor to attach their fi rm or agency’s name to the Saints training camp. But, the College and the Saints divide the sponsorship money over the costs of the amenities needed to execute camp programs.”

In an article published on the Saints’ Web site, the organization’s Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Offi cer Dennis Lauscha declared his satisfaction with the seasonal camp’s location.

“We are very appreciative of the great partnership we have forged here with Millsaps,” Lauscha said.

“The administration has been very accommodating to the Saints, and we are looking forward to moving forward with what we hope will be a long partnership in the future.”

According to both Saints and administration offi cials, there are no plans for the arrangement to end in the foreseeable future. In the same article, Millsaps College President Frances Lucas said that she intended for Millsaps to host the

Saints for “at least the next three to four decades.”

Patrick Cooper, director of event scheduling and services for students with disabilities, cites various capital improvements brought on by the Saints’ camp to explain the benefi ts of a lasting partnership.

“We’ve got new air conditioning for the gym, we’ve got the new fi eld down by Woodrow Wilson - that could be used for intramurals and for our

sports to practice on,” he tells. “I know we’ve got two of the fl oors in Sanderson re-carpeted over the past two years, so that’s also been a benefi t.”

Reinforcing the optimism regarding the partnership’s longevity is the reported success of this year’s training camp and its improvements over last year.

One of the well-known hiccups of the 2006 camp was the fact that the Saints checked out within three

days of new students checking in for class, requiring maintenance staff to put in a great deal of overtime in order to prepare the dormitories.

According to administrators, this was not as much of an issue this year.

“They left earlier this year, but, still, we were rushing to get ready for the students,” says Patrick

August 30, 2007, Volume 72, No. 1

LifeFondren Artmix puts local art in the spotlight.

FeaturesMillsapians travel the globe to study, socialize.

The future site of Reuben’s, the Millsaps coffeehouse, has undergone a great deal of renovations in preparation for its projected opening this coming October.

Reuben’s, meant to serve as an alternative to the cafeteria in both fare and hours of operation, is far into its transition from former residential building to American Disabilities Act-approved restaurant, according to Vice President for Campus Programs and Alumni Todd Rose. However, the main hindrance to its opening has been various forms of city approval needed to open a facility serving alcohol.

“It’s been kind of frustrating,” says junior Darrington Lancaster. “I was really disappointed it wasn’t open when we got back to school; it would have been great to have a brand new place to hang out right away.”

Rose admits that although no trustees have thus far expressed grievances over an on-campus facility serving beer, there has been some hesitation from alumni. The two concerns, according to Rose, have been that a private institution should not be serving alcohol and that such a venue would support the stereotype of the beer-sodden college campus.

“They’ve also said, ‘I’ve been out of college for forty years or so, and I’m sure it’s very different from when I was there,’” Rose acknowledges.

“The alcohol license will be just like any other place in town,” says Chef and Dining Services Manager Dave Woodward. “If you don’t have a picture ID, you will not be served.”

Both Rose and Woodward, representing both the Millsaps College dining staff and Valley Foods, the food supplier for the Cafeteria, were involved in meetings regarding the remodeling of Reuben’s.

Valley Foods will have the same role in Reuben’s it currently has with the cafeteria, namely the purchasing of food and commercial equipment and the training of staff and management.

“Our desire is to have this heavily staffed by student employees,” says Rose. With a projected staff of 15 employees, a manager and a supervisor, Rose is excited over the possibility of the college providing more job

Millsaps’ “coffee house” opening in October

Saints, BankPlus give $100,000

Kyle DohertyEditor-in-Chief

Luke DarbyOpinions Editor

Alum graces calendar coverMary BlesseyContributor

Calendar continued - page 8

Opinions................2Features.................4Life........................6News continued.....8Sports.....................9

It is my hope that in the future, the caliber of the average Millsaps student is taken into consideration

before speakers are invited to address our campus.“Campus speaker” page 2

SportsMajors prepare for cross-town “Brawl.”

Saints continued - page 8

Coffeehouse continued - page 8

Training camp a success

Photo contributed by Anna SmithKate Anderson (center) before becoming an NFL cheerleader.

Photo courtesy of Frank EzelleThe New Orleans Saints returned to Millsaps for another hitch-free training camp this past summer.

Nell KnoxFeatures Editor

Since I was 10 years old, I knew where I would be the night that the final Harry Potter book was released. I’d be standing in line at the bookstore at midnight, dressed in my cloak, wand at hand, and smirking at the stares from Muggles who would never understand that this was the biggest literary event of my life.

As fate would have it, I was actually in a cabin somewhere up in North Carolina the night the book was released, but thanks to Amazon’s diligent shipping services it made its way into my zealous hands nevertheless.

By noon, 50 books had made their way out of the camp mailroom. That first night I could be found creeping around the cabin at one in the morning, drinking black tea

in efforts to stay awake and barrel through another hundred pages.

Emotional involvement when reading the books is natural, but with the seventh book it was even more intense. I anxiously adjusted my headlamp as I read through the agonizing tortures and deaths.

If JK Rowling intended for me to get frustrated as I read through the 300 or so pages of aimless wandering in the middle of the book, she succeeded.

My frustrations and doubts were mercifully cast aside, however, as I neared the final 150 pages. Suddenly the action picked up and the entire book began to fall together.

It was at this point that something strange happened to me. I began to feel an immense and inexplicable emotion that was not related to the action of the book. Rather, it was a sense of loss that came from within. “Have you finished the book? What page are you on?” my campers would ask me.

But I had stopped reading. Overcome with a desire to prolong the story, I thought, “If I don’t read, I won’t find out what happens. I can keep the saga going on a few more hours.”

Harry Potter has been more than a book. It has been a defining

part of my adolescence and early adulthood. As my friends and I would finish reading each book, we would talk with wonder about how crazy the next one would be.

I can distinctly remember talking about how old we would be when the last epic was finally in our hands. Imagining the sensation of reading the last page

could never prepare me for the tears in my eyes as I arrived at the conclusion of the final sentence.

I lay in my bunk that night, after finishing the end of the end, realizing that I had grown up with Harry. No other generation will be able to experience this feeling.

They will not be able to go through the same anticipation and longing and excitement at each new release. The instant gratification of cellophane will dash away the thrilling agony of patience.

Instead of reading the books they will be able to watch the movies and discover how the saga ends. I wish to one day impart my delight in Harry’s world on to the next age bracket of readers.

As the sappy epilogue provides a look at Harry’s offspring, I ponder children of the next generation. My wish is that despite the ease at which they can

learn about Harry’s world, they grow up still loving the books like my friends and I have.

I hope they cherish each new installment as much as the last one, and that on their 11th birthdays they await the owl from Hogwarts, telling them that they too are now wizards.

Meagan MaloneStaff Writer

As part of the welcome week-end schedule, freshmen and Foun-dations leaders were asked to at-tend a talk by Lori Hart Ebert. As the large incoming class packed into the Academic Complex recital hall, they awaited an address con-cerning “Gender Issues and Alco-hol.”

What we were treated to in-stead was a hybrid of a stand-up comedy routine and a pseudo-aca-demic lecture which did nothing but reinforce the most negative of gender stereotypes as well as pres-ent immature solutions to various issues that plague dating relation-ships.

I personally felt that the intel-lectual capacity of the Millsaps student was thoroughly under-mined by the stereotypical student to whom Ebert was preaching, and

as a third-year, returning student I am embarrassed that the freshman class was welcomed with Ebert’s message.

The lecture was littered with statistics, theories and studies concerning the differences be-tween males and females. With this information, Ebert attempted to offer solutions to dating prob-lems for college students.

Though Ebert does indeed boast a doctorate, each of her three de-grees is in higher education, not neuropsychology or gender stud-ies. She even began the lecture by telling the crowd the method by which she became informed: “I read,” she said.

The picture she painted of the female was so grossly stereotypical that although there was laughter, I heard many protests from those around me who wanted to be rep-resented as more than a shallow socially-obsessed twit.

Ebert said, the place on the fe-male brain that is able to receive and transmit information is larger than that of the male. Thus, a fe-male can easily multitask, mean-ing she is free to “check Facebook, make-up, break-up, paint her toe-nails, watch a soap opera and even plan an event” all at one time.

The picture of the male was equally unfair. According to her research, a male is rendered inca-pable of multitasking because of his brain makeup meaning that at

any given time, if a guy is watch-ing football, he is literally incapa-ble of doing anything else.

Both of these examples are im-mediately proven untrue by the av-erage Millsaps student. Both men and women, in my experience here on campus, are capable of multi-tasking, and not all females use this ability for such foolish ends. Likewise, males do much more productive things with their time than simply watching football.

The basis of her advice for stu-dents was founded on the hardcore belief that men and women oper-ate on completely different levels and are simply incapable of really relating to one another naturally. She never once mentioned that the difference between men and women is a hotly debated topic and that conclusions are perpetu-ally swinging back and forth.

She offered the idea that while women crave development of re-lationships through asking ques-tions of one another, men prefer simply making statements or re-porting facts and are not easily engaged otherwise.

Her solution to relationship problems that arise as a result of men not wanting or needing to engage women in the way that they wish to be engaged was es-sentially this: For the men not only to respond to the questions they are asked by their significant other but to then pose the same

exact question back. Ebert seemed to say that by using this snazzy little trick, men would essentially be cured of all relationship woes. Furthermore, a side effect of the trick, she suggested, was that after awhile, women would be so satis-fied by the new wave of attention in the form of restated questions that their desire to converse would actually decrease!

It was at this point that I be-came most incensed and insulted. She proposed that couples be con-tent to fool one another into be-lieving that one actual cares about what the other has to say. I have yet to meet a male on this campus with whom I am not capable of establishing an actual connection of sorts, yet she seems convinced that this connection is false.

Furthermore, the examples of relationships that she presented resemble few to none of the re-lationships in which I have been on campus and which I have ob-served between students here at Millsaps. Perhaps the talk was meant to be taken lightheartedly, but I feel that, in a way, she spoke to us as if we were ingrates rather than scholars, animals rather than thinking people and senseless rather than aware.

It is my hope that in the future, the caliber of the average Millsaps student is taken into consideration before speakers are invited to ad-dress our campus.

OpinionsPage 2

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Luke Darby, darbylw@millsaps.edu

The

Purple &

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Campus speaker demeaning to men and women

Series’ end sparks deep emotion

I began to feel an immense and inexplicable

emotion that was not related to the action of the book. Rather, it was a sense of loss that came

from within. “Have you finished the

book? What page are you on?” my campers would

ask me.

Ryan ZagoneContributor

I feel odd writing this. The last time I made any real con-tribution to the P&W was two and a half years ago in an article concerning Ashlee Simpson. The Purple &White editors prob-ably call those articles “fi llers” for their main purpose is to take up space; however most normal people call them “crap.”

I don’t know why I wrote it; the other presumably two or three poor souls who were un-fortunate enough to read that article also probably wondered why I wrote it. I can only hope that the experience did not leave them cursing their own literacy.

Back to feeling odd right now. For the past two years this sec-tion has been fi lled with students condemning each other to a fi ery existence in hell for a variety of acts including but certainly not limited to religious belief, alco-hol consumption, sexual orienta-tion, race and any other detail of one’s life that, in the real world, make him or her not devilish but

unique. It’s hard to get those confused,

but somehow it happened. I’ve always imagined those writers were fi ercely enraged, perhaps to the point of causing a self im-posed aneurism.

Last year anger was an emo-tional state required to write an opinions article. I feel odd, slightly out of place, writing this because I’m quite happy, even content- new emotions expressed in these opinions pages.

I’ve been asked to give a word about greek life on campus due to my appointment as Interfra-ternity Council President and concerning Greek life, I’m con-tent and quite happy with as well (also new feelings toward Greeks in this part of the P&W).

The fraternities and advisors have been busy. There’s an ac-tive IFC that hopefully every Greek man can name or at least recognize some member. That’s a major improvement.

We’re self governing and have pulled off a successful, peaceful semester last spring.

Upgrades to the houses have been made, particularly new locks on doors and windows. The punch codes and knobs prohibit one from kicking doors open as I’m very used to doing. Sparked by a sore ankle, I’ve had to re-acclimate myself with us-ing such equipment, specifi cally the steps involving “Turn knob, then push.”

Greek life offers so much to students that it’s overwhelm-ing sometimes to put into words which is why I’ll leave it to the fraternities to do during rush.

I do want to emphasize the importance of rush to both low-

er- and upperclassmen inter-ested in fraternity life. There’s really no reason not to rush. It’s free, a great time to meet other classmates, and a week of home-

cooked or expertly catered-food. For no other reason, come to eat gluttonously.

To help us move a bit fur-ther, greek life has new advis-ers. We’ve lost John Conway and his pearls of wisdom, but we’ve gained Matt Binion from South-ern Miss. He’s unarmed and badgeless, but I don’t feel this detracts from his competency.

He’s actually great, bringing many new ideas to our school. This year, Matt’s going to help us enact only one thing. I want to boil it all down to a bare mini-mum. (Hopefully he and IFC and Dean Katz all agree with me. I didn’t consult them before writ-ing this.) I want to put upon not just the Greeks, but the student body, one small challenge.

I emphasize “small” because

it’s actually hardly a challenge. It’s so small a fraternity could probably pull this off so you know everyone else can. IFC has one rule this year. Respect oth-

ers. That’s it. We’ll have some other policies

and guidelines, but this is really all you need to know.

Respect your own: the ea-ger sophomore who proves his “growth” through party-ing until 3am on those random weeknights while you’re trying to sleep; the senior who is big-headed and bossy by now; the advisor who nervously prays the house doesn’t crumble apart in the night.

Respect others’ fraternities. This year we’re not going to wear others’ jerseys and wave others’ fl ags. If your brother feels the need to wave a pole with col-orful cloth attached that doesn’t belong to any of his affi liations, give him the fl ag of another country or make up a fl ag. He

probably won’t fi gure out until he wakes up sober that he was cursing some country in Latin America and not his neighbor.

There’s just no need for con-tinually being at each others throats. It not only makes us look bad, but it’s inconvenient.

No offense, but I get bored at my house sometimes and would like to travel around to see what the KAs might be up to or what contraption the Lambda Chi’s have erected, but I can’t do this peacefully because some idiot thought that stealing a plastic tro-phy was a life defi ning moment that had to be accomplished. It’s time to grow a bit.

Respect those that aren’t af-fi liated. Not everyone feels the need to join a fraternity, in fact half of the people at this school don’t. There’s no reason not to add a couple new bodies to the porch on a weekend night.

Respect the administration. They’re in charge and if you talk to them, they most always have our best interest in mind. Just respect others. I’m not asking that you understand everyone’s viewpoint. At this school, that would be impossible.

Respect does not require un-derstanding; it requires the men-tal capacity to realize others exist around you. I feel certain we’re all past that stage of develop-ment.

Hopefully, if we’re successful at this venture, it will be a fun year (and the horrible opinion articles of the past will cease to exist, and we can channel our en-ergy to complaining about some-thing other than our classmates, such as Ashlee Simpson).

OpinionsPage 3

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Luke Darby, darbylw@millsaps.edu

Greek life worthwhile and worth working on

IFC has one rule this year. Respect others.

That’s it. We’ll have some other

policies and guide-lines, but this is really all you need to know.

The P&W Staff’s Summer Jams

“The Well and the Lighthouse” - The Arcade Fire

“Ticks” - Brad Paisley

“Romeo & Juliet” - Dire Straits

“What What” - Samwell

“I’m N Luv with a Stripper” - T Pain

“You are my Face” - Wilco

“300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues” - The White Stripes

“Dashboard” - Modest Mouse

“Takin’ a Walk” - John Prine

“Helicopter” - M. Ward

“Love Today” - Mika

FeaturesPage 4

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Nell Knox, knoxnl@millsaps.edu

Kathleen Morrison News Editor

This past summer, 36 Millsaps students got the chance to speak, learn and live Spanish like true Costa Ricans.

Dr. Robert Kahn of the modern languages department accompanied the Millsaps students on two separate month-long sessions during which the students took Spanish courses of varying levels. The students attended class every day at the Costa Rica Spanish Institute, better known as COSI.

Each weekend the group traveled throughout Costa Rica, on day trips to coffee plantations, or longer weekend excursions to Isla Tortuga, Playa Tambor and beautiful hotel resorts.

“One weekend was free so we got to organize our own trips,” says sophomore Lloyd Gray. “We went to Monte Verde. It was just a small group of us, and it was some of the most relaxing and peaceful time I’ve experienced anywhere.”

What made the trip distinctive for most students

was the opportunity to stay with host families. Each student stayed with a different family, most of whom spoke little to no English.

“It’s so much better to live with a host family,” explains senior Melanie Smith. “You could learn about how they live day to day. You could ask your mamacita – that’s what we called our host mothers – questions you might not feel comfortable asking in class.”

Sophomore Katherine Negrotto agrees: “Living with fluent speakers is the best way to learn. You can study grammar in the classroom, but it’s different when you start talking to people – you learn slang and everyday conversation.”

Kahn stresses the importance of being fully immersed in the culture to truly learn about it.

“Students lived the language,” he says. “They really lived the culture and not just as tourists. For that period of time, students become Costa Ricans.”

For some students, that meant getting involved with

community service through the service learning course.

Service learning did not take place within a COSI classroom but at a preschool, an assisted living center and orphanage. Twice a week, students visited these places to teach English to

the children or to play bingo with the elderly.

Students in the service learning course were also required to spend time researching the state of schools or the treatment of the elderly in Costa Rica, and at the end of their month-

l o n g stay, a final paper about the entire experience was due.

“In this way, the service learning really covers not only spoken Spanish but also reading and writing,” explains Kahn.

The service learning

had such an impact on Negrotto that she plans to return to Costa Rica next summer to intern at the preschool where she volunteered.

“I loved working with the kids,” she says. “Going from student to teacher was really amazing. I learned just as much from them as they did from me.”

Kahn has been hosting the trip to Costa Rica since 1994.

Next year, Kahn plans to add a new, two-week session to the program, in addition to the two month-long sessions already in place. He also hopes to start what he calls a “Survival Spanish” course, where students who have had no Spanish before can go abroad to learn the basics.

“I love to see the progress the students

make on this trip,” Kahn says explaining his fondness of the annual trip. “I love the Costa Rican people I love the beautiful country, and I love seeing the students improve.”

Contributed photoEmbracing the Costa Rican culture, seniors Chris Uihlein and Travis Pinkston come togeth-er and bond over the smiles of a local child.

Students take class in culture in Costa Rica

Catherine SchmidtManaging Editor

Every student who traveled to Nice, France, this summer can tell a story of a normal moment turned extraordinary.

For sophomore Anne-Marie Mueschke it was the French murder-mystery sitcom that she and her host mother watched every week called suspectes.”

“When the commercials came on, she would say, ‘Did you understand what happened?’ and she would explain everything to me,” Mueschke says.

For senior Jonathan Giurintano this was “wasting time one night” at the end of the trip sitting on the Promenade des Anglais watching the ocean and the people.

“It was so peaceful. I realized that even though I was thousands of miles from home, I felt totally comfortable, which contrasted so much with the initial shock when I arrived,” Giurintano says.

Beth Sadler, a senior, experienced this moment when learning to maneuver the public transportation system.

“I rode the public bus for the first time—I had never been on the bus at home. I learned how to read bus and train timetables in French. It was definitely a freeing experience to realize I could do those things in a different country,” Sadler says.

And they have stories of blunders, such as Vanessa Johnson, a junior’s, “bisou gratuit,” or “free kiss,” from the cola vender on the beach.

“I thought he asked if I wanted a coke,” she avows. What she got:

A dip and a genuine French kiss. Then they have the stories that

can make us jealous.“When we first got to Paris, we

had no idea where we were going, but we found our way to the river Seine,” says Mueschke, who took a weekend trip via train to Paris with Sadler and senior Taylor Allee.

“Paris has a grey feel because the sky is mainly overcast and because the old buildings near the river have a kind of have grey brick, but it’s beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. I remember having this feeling when we reached the river, and out of this there was all this fog and this one big willow falling into the river, and all of a sudden out of the fog there was Notre Dame. I just thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m in Paris.’”

Ten students traveled to Nice with Dr. Priscilla Fermon of the modern languages department, a record number of participants in the program’s six years. Each muses poetically at the mention of France.

Even the veteran Fermon gushes: “Nice is a walking city. There are winding streets where you can get lost easily and shops with artisans whose families have worked there for centuries. Everything has a marvelous aroma – flowers, coffee, the market – and there are beautiful breezes from the Mediterranean.”

One of the distinguishing aspects of the program is that the students learn alongside other international students who are in Nice.

Upon arrival, students take a language placement test at

France Langue, one of two schools in Nice certified in the International Association of Language Centers. They are then grouped according to proficiency level in classes with other international students.

“All the Millsaps kids aren’t bunched together,” Fermon says. “Students cover pretty much all continents, but the one uniting factor is the desire to learn French.”

Each student stays with a host family for the month-long duration of the program, forcing him or her to truly connect with the language and the culture.

“We have wonderful host families – real, live, genuine French folks,” Fermon says.

While each student can rattle off a list of landmarks they visited independently in France and Italy, it is often the stories of host families and every day victories that surface.

Giurintano recalls talking with his host mother about her visits to the United States.

“Occasionally I caught her singing a Rolling Stones song,” he says.

Sadler describes nights when she stayed at the dinner table until 11 p.m. talking to her host mother

and fellow Japanese France Langue student about the cultural differences between the United States, France and Japan.

“Since we were all girls, some nights we just watched girlie movies,” Sadler confesses.

These authentic moments define the trip.

“What is most rewarding to me,” says Fermon, “is seeing the progress students make: speaking, listening, making connections and making discoveries about themselves. They didn’t think they could find their own way to that museum, but they did. They didn’t think they could go to the

train station and buy a ticket, but they did. It is wonderful to see how they grow not only in terms of the narrowly defined goal.”

“I realized how universal people are,” says Mueschke. “I think I wanted to believe that our cultures were really different, but there are these universal traits, and I don’t think I expected that.”

Mueschke adds: “And there’s a certain feeling you get when you buy your first train ticket to Italy. I mean, at home you have to tell your parents when you go on a road trip, but there you just say, ‘I’m going to Italy. Because I feel like it.’”

Contributed photo Taking a break from studying in Nice, France, students visit the city of Eze.

French enthusiasts adopt language, joie de vivre

Kate RoyalsThe Life Editor

Over the summer a group of Millsaps business and psychology students mixed work and play on a school sponsored trip to Europe.

The students took classes for a month in England, the Netherlands and Germany while traveling on the weekends to other European countries such as Switzerland and Belgium for sightseeing and tours.

Economics professor Susan Taylor taught the business class for the first half of the trip while Director of Undergraduate Business Program Diane Baker taught an international business class for the second half.

The business and psychology groups had class from 9 a.m. to noon during the week and had the afternoons to sightsee and the weekends to travel.

Senior business major Alli Mattalino said she believed the fast pace of the trip was beneficial rather than overwhelming.

“I enjoyed moving around a lot,” she says. “We stayed in London for almost two weeks, and by that time you’re kind of ready to go somewhere else. It was nice to be able to see all the different cultures, and it’s easier to travel from some of the other places because London is kind of off

by itself.” When the students were not in class, they

were often taking tours of major companies and locations like the Bank of England, Lloyd’s of London, the U.S. embassy in London or BMW and Audi in Munich.

“During the Bank of England tour, a woman gave a huge presentation on what the company does and how they’ve been handling different fluctuations in the economy,” Mattalino recalls.

S e n i o r B a r k l e y We d e m e y er also attended the trip with the business group and says the trip intensified his desire to work abroad after college.

“I double major in business and Spanish, and now I really want to work in Spain,” he says.

Wedemeyer’s favorite parts of the trip included the free weekends for traveling and particularly the activities in Switzerland.

“We went paragliding which is where you run from the top of a mountain and the parachute fills up,” he says. “Also, we went on

a 13,000- foot mountain peak at the top of Europe and snowboarded in August and that was pretty cool.”

Mattalino liked the classes because of the small size and the class discussions.

The business group actually completed the majority of their work before going on the trip – this included mostly research and papers and left class time open for presentations and discussions.

“The classes were definitely a lot easier

to talk in because a normal business class is usually 30 people, but when there are nine of us and we’re spending 24 hours a day together, you get pretty close so you’re not afraid to say what you feel,” Mattalino says.

Senior Emily McCoin, who majors in sociology and religious studies, attended the trip with the psychology group.

“I wanted to go so bad, and I’ve taken a lot of psychology classes so I just decided to go with the psychology department,” McCoin says.

Psychology professors Stephen Black and Andrew Thaw taught the psychology classes in Europe. The psychology students learned in a less conventional classroom setting.

“The trip itself was the class,” says McCoin. “We went to a lot of museums, specifically war museums and memorials. Like going into the gas chambers in the concentration camps … you can’t experience that in the classroom.”

McCoin plans to advertise for the trip and highly recommends it to younger students.

“I had the best time of my life,” she says. “I’m going to do a whole presentation on the trip for my sorority because it was so amazing.”

Cree CantrellStaff Writer

Wtiting in journals helped Millsaps stu-dents better appreciate the time they spent in the Maya Cul-ture and Ecol-ogy program in Mexico’s Yucat-an Peninsula.

The program lasted from May 24 through June 5 and was lead by Mill-saps’ profes-sors Dr. Stan Galicki of the geology depart-ment and Dr. George Bey of the anthropolgy department.

Participants spent time in numerous cities throughout the Yucatan includ-ing Merida, the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatan; Valladolid and Puerto More-los.

In addition, stu-dents also spent time at the Helen Moyers Biocultural Reserve, a research center operated by Millsaps and its non-profit organi-zation Kaxil Kiuic.

Designed to “train students who are not nec-essarily science or anthropology majors, to become environmentally and historically conscious citizens equipped to deal with the complex nature of human, land use, and envi-ronmental issues in the 21st century,” the program incor-

porated field work and classwork.

“It was very in-teresting to actu-ally see what we had talked about in class,” says junior Megan Jumago of the importance of field work through-out the trip.

An average day during the program consisted of an early rise, usually before 7 a.m., fol-lowed by a morn-ing lecture and field trips.

Most nights were spent work-ing and writing pa-pers.

An important aspect of the trip was the required journaling.

“The journaling brought a deeper meaning to the

Mayan history”, said Nancy Yates, a junior. “It offered a chance for us to be introspective.”

“The journals were actually nice because the days were so packed and went so fast it was nice to sit down in the afternoons and think about what you did that day,” says Will Fontaine, a junior.

“It made it a lot more memorable and a lot more im-portant.”

Students stayed in the Millsaps House, a dormi-t o r y - c l a s s ro o m facility developed by Millsaps’ Else School of Manage-ment in Merida.

“In Merida, it was cool to see the

effects of colonial-ism and the rich-ness of history” comments Yates on her experience.

“I liked looking at the ruins and thinking that it had to be the most in-credible civiliza-tion not only to survive but to do something that impressive and in-credible in a harsh environment,” says Fontaine.

“I believe the average rainfall was 80 centimeters a year and because of the limestone bedrock geology of the region the wa-ter basically went straight through the ground to the water table which made it very dif-ficult to get it.

It made water a scarce commod-ity.”

Students en-joyed the snor-keling trip off the coast of Puerto Morelos.

The Mayan ru-ins in Puerto Mo-relos stand on the water, offering the students a chance to view them from offshore, just as the Spanish Conquista-dors had centuries before them.

“I definitely rec-ommend the trip to everyone”, says Rikki Darcey a se-nior biology major.

“Dr. Bey has a passion for the Maya, and he re-ally tried to instill this passion in [the students].”

Commentary by Ace MadjilesiCopy Editor

Four students, myself included, accompanied Dr. Julian Murchison of the sociology and anthropology department on an ethnographic vista in Tanzania, Africa.

Sophomore Jane Fuller and seniors Ray Yeates and Chelsi West also participated in the program. In conjunction with Dr. Iren Omo-Bare of the politcal science department, the Tanzanian trip completes Millsaps’ African Studies program as the two trips explore countries on the west and east coasts of the continent.

On our last day in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, I read an editorial piece in the Tanzanian newspaper Daily News. Written by Thomson Mwakyanjala, the article expressed the writer’s disgust for the Western view of Africa. The article opens with: “The western media is never short of bad news about Africa and the African people.”

Mwakyanjala is right. When I returned, family and friends were far more interested in my bout with malaria than the stories I told of cooking with friends. My stories about sitting on the front porch of our guesthouse with Yeates and talking to people about the weather were boring. I watched my friends’ eyes glaze over when I recounted a story about a rice merchant helping me find cigarettes in Songea.

Westerners sometimes want to put Africa in the catch-all category of the unknown,

imagining it a steamy jungle of disease and machine guns, a place where dignified white people like Robert Redford and Merryl Streep let their hair down and dance to a phonograph among the natives and monkeys. This was not the Africa I visited.

Walking from the bus stop in Songea, I am certain that the four of us looked strange. And yet, if we caught anyone’s eye, they were sure to smile at us. If we approached anyone with our mediocre Swahili, they were encouragingly helpful. Those who knew some English were always excited to practice with us as well. But those superficial interactions did not solely define my experience.

We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with a handful of Tanzanians and these, more so than the wood carvings or “genuine African masks,” were what defined my Tanzanian experience.

We had to get past seeing Tanzanians as exotic characters and start seeing them as real people before we could truly appreciate what Tanzania had to offer us.

“Anthropology is a science of people. Just as in the classroom, people became the focus of our study in Tanzania,” surmises West.

Ye a t e s , a s o c i o l o g y /anthropology minor, also felt that the citizens of Tanzania are what set this study abroad trip apart from others. “For me the best part of going to Tanzania was being able to talk to people and get their life perspective,” Yeates reflects.

FeaturesPage 5

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Nell Knox, knoxnl@millsaps.edu

Yucatan trippers find meaning from daily jour-nal entries, field work

Contributed photoAn ancient Mayan ruin was photographed by a member of the Yucatan trip. The photo and other ruins depict the subject of various journals kept by students.

Business, psych students take classroom to Europe

Tanzania trip proves life-

changing for participant

Contributed photoStudents take a break from their European adventures to pose for a group shot.

Contributed photoStudying in Tanzania allowed students Ace Madjilesi and Jane Fuller to make new friends.

Catherine SchmidtManaging Editor

Let’s get one thing straight: Clay Hardwick does not promote vandalism. He just happens to live for the creation and enjoyment of what you might call “street art.” And, no, this is not synonymous with graffiti.

“Art students generally cre-ate work for a gallery space, to hang on a white wall,” Hardwick says. “MixedCORE is all about street art, all about making art a lifestyle, a day to day interaction whether it be literally on the street or in your car or on the internet. We shouldn’t have to go to a spe-cific location to see art because so many people are creating it.”

Hardwick, a Millsaps junior from Jackson, conceptualized mixedCORE (mC) as a group that would promote art for the people, by the people. In particular, Hard-wick envisioned the group as a forum of information and inspira-tion for young artists.

“MC is geared toward the under 21 crowd that is not necessarily accepted at a lot of places—bars and venues,” Hardwick says. “It’s mainly to represent that voice that can’t speak as easily for itself … and to offer an outlet and a source of education.”

One goal of mC is for “young artists to collectively inspire each other through shared resources and art.”

Greg Gandy, a senior at Missis-sippi School of the Arts, became interested in the group as he be-gan to explore street art.

“I was looking for like-minded friends to motivate and inspire me,” says Gandy.

Always interested in art, Gandy felt his desire to learn more about art was not well met at Madison Central High School, where he at-

tended until his junior year. “There weren’t many people

in my high school who were really interested in art class,” says Gandy. “Everyone just took it as an elective. Those who were really talented got all the attention from the teacher, but those who were still trying to learn, like me, were over-looked.”

At Miss. School of the Arts, Gandy takes art classes on top of the staple curriculum, at-tending classes from 7:45 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.

“It’s a long day, but I’m will-ing to do it because that’s what I enjoy,” says Gandy.

Gandy describes the art he is creating now as “mixed-me-dia, underwater scuba diving with text and watercolors.”

“It sounds hokey,” Hardwick says of the origin of the name “mixedCORE.” “But ‘core’ re-fers to an urban group, a city, a community, and ‘mixed’ im-plies diverse mediums and dif-ferent types of people.”

The group introduces the young artists to alternative processes of urban art that are not generally taught in high school classrooms, such as transferring printed images on to canvas, wood, fabric or other recycled materials.

In the future, Hardwick wants to set up studio visits in which the young artists watch more established artists in their studio, having the op-portunity to learn a bit about their art form and the process involved.

The young artists are then ex-pected to give back to the Jackson community through sharing their art or knowledge.

Hardwick and cohorts Greg Gandy and Morgan Welch, both high school students, are looking

for a student at each high school to represent the group. Several representatives are in place now, but Hardwick hopes to gain more interest and support from public school students as the majority of those involved thus far attend pri-vate schools.

About 30 individuals contrib-ute to mC either as artist, venue or promoter. The web site mixed-core.com features the work of the young artists, most heavily con-centrated in digital art and photog-raphy at this point. The site also offers “how to” guides on certain

urban art processes.The group is planning an expo-

sition for early October at the Icon Gallery in Fondren in which artists from mC will exhibit their work.

The LifePage 6

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Kate Royals, royalkr@millsaps.edu

Group supports, inspires young artists

Sital SanjanwalaLayout Editor

Local band Questions in Dialect is set to headline at Rock ‘N the Bowl on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007, from 4:30 until 11:30 p.m.

The line-up in order of performance is: Armor and Effect, Red Hill City, No Means No, The River Company and Questions in Dialect.

Senior Rob Stephens, heading the event with the Rock ‘N Roll club, says that the goal of this project is that of the club itself: to revitalize music on campus.

Last year, Stephens and the Rock ‘N Roll club came up with the idea of a back to school music event. With funding from SAPS the idea grew into a reality.

The estimated number of students attending is approximately over 200 as reported on the Facebook event.

“With barbeque and live music scheduled in the bowl, I believe that people will come out and enjoy it and hopefully look forward to seeing it as an annual event,” Stephens says.

Questions in Dialect, an instrumental band that explores new concepts in its music, will headline the event at Millsaps. Forming

in 1999, Questions in Dialect has stayed an innovative sound in the musical community. “Music is the most important thing to all of us,” says Daniel Guaquita, percussionist, drummer and electronics tinkerer. The band uses both analog and digital electronics in their performances.

“We explore very new ideas. Music is what we feel and how we think,” Guaqueta states. “We’re a very innovative group, and we set our own standards.”

Armor and Effect will open the show with guitarist Wes Hill, senior.

Following is Red Hill City, an indie band, is noted for its use of synthesizers.

No Means No, a group who played at Millsaps’ Battle of the Bands, is primarily blues oriented.

The fourth band is the heavily rock influenced group The River Company with Millsaps alumnus Travis Scharr and former Millsaps student Alex Scharr.

“They’ve done a couple of The Beatles shows on the coast,” recalls sophomore Beth Fossen, from the band’s native Ocean Springs, Miss.

Overall, the Rock ‘N Roll

Club is hosting the event to “bring music to campus,” says Stephens.

“When you listen to

music, you should forget about what you’re thinking about. Be happy you’re alive and celebrate life,”

says Guaqueta. “I’ve seen people who will close their eyes and lie on the floor and meditate. On stage is

our only time to play and be our real selves, and on Saturday we are going to freak it out.”

Rockin’ locals rock the bowl

Graphic by Thomas RichardsonMajor Millsaps prepares for Millsaps’ first annual Rock N’ the Bowl, featuring local bands Questions in Dialect, Armor and Effect, Red Hill City, No Means No and the River Company.

Kate RoyalsThe Life Editor

This Thursday, Sept. 6, Fondren is hosting a unique type of art showing called Art Mix.

Almost all the stores in the area will be staying open late and welcoming shoppers inside to look at the art and enjoy free food and beverages.

Some of the stores that will stay open include Cups, McDade’s, Brown’s Fine Art Gallery and Vision Eye Care.

Lorene Dodd, a junior from Birmingham who double majors in Studio Art and Art History, showed a series of prints of photographs she made at last year’s ArtMix.

“I think ArtMix is really beneficial for the Jackson art community especially since it’s so small historically,” she says. “There was such a wide variety of stuff for sale there – glass art, jewelry, paintings, sculptures. I’m definitely planning on showing again this year.”

However, Dodd thinks ArtMix could stand for some improvements.

“I think that ArtMix is definitely a step in the right direction but right now it’s just attracting

people who would already be attracted to an art event,” she says. “I think a big step would be getting people who aren’t just interested in art and making it a cultural event that’s not limited to conservative watercolors or kitschy magnets. Maybe if there was a DJ or a band it would integrate it into a cultural event.”

Ellen Langford, a Jackson artist who has studied art in San Francisco, D.C. and Florence, Italy, has regularly shown at Fondren ArtMixes in the past.

This ArtMix also marks the first time that her work will be showing in a venue that is not her own studio.

Langford appreciates ArtMix and art scene in Jackson “because Jackson tends to be proud of local artists and pretty supportive. Also, artists tend to be supportive of each other – in San Francisco, for instance, it’s more competitive.”

Langford calls ArtMix a “community builder” because it allows Jacksonians and especially those who live around Fondren to get together one night in a social setting.

Charles Richardson,

executive director of the Fondren Renaissance Foundation, describes the event as “a casual night of food, fun and art. Kind of a shophop, so to speak.”

The idea for ArtMix was originally Joel Brown’s of Brown’s Fine Art and Gallery. The event began as just a couple of galleries that stayed open to show art and provide food and wine.

“It kind of evolved in to all of the Fondren merchants realizing that this is an opportunity for us to be open after hours, as well,” Richardson explains. “So that’s where it evolved into a ‘Fondren After 5,’ if you will.”

According to Richardson, a wide variety of art will be on display at ArtMix.

“There’s everything from something to hang on the wall in the dorm all the way up to something to hang over a mantle,” he says. “The beauty of Fondren and Art Mix is that you can find things to get from $25 to $2500 and everything in between.”

Upcoming ArtMix dates are currently scheduled for Sept. 6, Oct. 4 and Dec. 6.

Whitney WagesContributor

From Friday, Aug. 24 through Wednesday, Sept. 19, Millsaps College is hosting artist Elizabeth Mead’s solo exhibition “Situational Site” in the Lewis Art Gallery.

She is the Assistant Art Professor at William and Mary College in Virginia. The art exhibited is a selection of her graphite drawings and sculptures.

Mead graduated with her Bachelors of Fine Arts in 1985 at Philadelphia College of Art. She then received her Masters of Fine Arts in 1991 from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Her inspiration comes from Barnett Newman’s series of paintings titled, “The Station of the Cross, Lema sabachthani.” This series has been a strong source for her for over 20 years. Initially drawn by Newman’s powerful formal compositions, she recently became fascinated by the way in which abstract qualities can possess a spiritual presence.

Mead chose to title her exhibition “Situational Site” because she says her work deals with the notion of site and in particular, the relationship of the objects she makes to the site in which they find themselves.

“As we move through the world, our bodies record knowledge and

memories. My work strives to anchor us here and now within the places we find ourselves. Yet, this place has become so ‘situational,’” she explains.

Her art reflects her investigation into the environment’s influence on objects and in turn those objects’ influence on the perception of space.

The “Stations” represent a spiritual experience that makes space situational.

Unlike other spiritual expressions, the devotional ritual of the stations occurs in time and space.

The 14 stations are positioned around the church, forcing the devotee literally to move

throughout the church from one station to the next.

“The contemplative mental state is forced into the realm of the physical world. Here in the early 21st century, we find less and less to ground us to the place we are in physically,” Mead says in her exhibit explanation.

“Information is at our fingertips and we can move from one continent to the next in mere hours. Cell phones, Blackberries and iPods join us to a virtual leaving any actual physical connection to space tenuous. As we move about less anchored by the physical world, where will we find ourselves spiritually- what will ground us? A physical

experiential relationship is the crux of my work.”

Presented at the gallery are the first three of her stations along with other recent explorations into site, environment and objects.

Station two, titled “Atlantic Ocean,” is a graphite drawing. Her first station is entitled “Lake Waramaung,” which involves a sculptural piece and graphite on paper.

Several more artists will appear at the gallery in the upcoming months.

“Urban Abstraction” by Susan Maakestad, Associate Professor of Art at Memphis College of Art, will be exhibited from Monday, Sept. 24 through Friday, Oct. 26.

“Sentences” by Greely Myatt, Professor of Art at The University of Memphis, will be exhibiting his works Monday, October 29 through Friday, November 30. His gallery talk will be the Friday Forum on November 30 at 12:30 p.m.

The LifePage 7

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Kate Royals, royalkr@millsaps.edu

Artist experiments with spirituality

Painting by Ellen LangfordJackson artist Ellen Langford will show some of her art at Fondren ArtMix. The image above is her painting entitled “One Morning Over Breakfast.”

Fondren art scene mixes it up

Photo by Whitney WagesThe above piece of artwork is part of artist Elizabeth Mead’s stations currently at the Lewis Art Gallery.

Coffeehouse continued - page 1

August 30, 2007The Backyard Brawl6:59 p.m, Mississippi CollegeThe Millsaps Majors and the Mississippi College meet again to continue their age-old rivalry at Robinson-Hale Stadium.$5 if tickets are purchased in advance, $15 at the door.

Thursday, Sept. 6Faculty Artist RecitalLynn Raley, pianist7:30 p.m., Ford Academic Complex Recital HallBeethoven’s energetic and witty Sonata Op. 31, #1 in G major, a group of Chopin etudes and the famous “Dante” Sonata of Franz Liszt highlight this program. Raley has performed extensively across the country and in the Netherlands, Canada and Taiwan.No cost for admission.Contact Linda Nix, 601-974-1422 or nixls@millsaps.edu

NewsPage 8

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Kathleen Morrison, morrikm@millsaps.edu

July 8 – Vandalism

At approximately 2:15 p.m., officers received a complaint from a student in which consisted of persons unknown burning property that belonged to another student.

July 10 - (Bee) Vandalism

At approximately 5:21 p.m., Campus Safety received a call from a student indicating that they had been stung by a bee and needed medical assistance.

July 12 – Medical Emergency

At approximately 4:30 p.m., an officer responded to a medical emergency in which a visitor slipped and fell on some steps outside one of the residence halls. She transported herself to the hospital to get checked out.

Ben CainSports Editor

Although the Millsaps football team was ranked no higher than No. 3 in the previous five Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference preseason coaches’ polls, the 2007 Majors have been picked to repeat as conference champions this season.

Both regional and national football experts seem to have

taken note of the Majors’ 2006 7-0 sweep of SCAC opponents. Less than a year after breaking Trinity University’s streak of 13 consecutive conference championships with a 34-12 trouncing on Nov. 11, 2006, Millsaps received six of nine first-place votes from SCAC coaches this year. The banner season also earned the Majors 22 votes towards a spot on D3football.com’s national top 25 list, eclipsing cross-town rival Mississippi College’s total of

nine votes.“We are certainly coming off a

great run last year after winning the SCAC, dethroning Trinity at our homecoming game, and securing an automatic playoff bid for the first time in over 30 years,” observes Athletic Director Tim Wise.

“This year we are returning 19 out of 22 starters for [head coach Mike] Dubose and his staff, so certainly the expectations

are great. You want to be in this situation, but you get the chance to prove it all on the field,” says Wise.

Sophomore quarterback Cree Cantrell emphasizes that while the recognition in preseason polls is an honor, the team has kept its focus squarely on the goals outlined at the start of practice by the coaching staff.

“The media attention is a huge boost for the team and for

Millsaps athletics in general, and I am proud to be a part of that, but Coach Dubose never mentions the polls. He emphasizes our two goals, which are winning the conference and going on to a national championship,” explains Cantrell.

“We talk about goals, not polls, and our focus is making sure we get better at each practice,” he adds.

Majors gain pollsters’ respect for ‘06 successes

Ace Madjlesi Copy Editor

Staff changes are taking place within the Division of Student Life as two new faces take on major responsibilities.

Dr. Rushton Johnson will leave his position in the division as assistant dean and director of resident life to serve under President of the College Dr. Frances Lucas to “work on special projects.” Johnson confirmed his enthusiasm for the change, saying “I am excited about this opportunity and the new challenges.”

Millsaps alumna Megan Shaw James and Matt Binion will work together to fill the void left by Johnson’s move. James assumes the title of assistant director for student activities and will supervise student organizations, including National Panhellenic Conference sororities and all National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations. James’ duties also consist of the co-advisement of the Student Body Association’s executive and legislative branches and planning Student Life special events such as Fourth Night and the annual Student Life Awards.

After graduating in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, James worked as a leadership consultant for a year

before pursuing a master’s degree in higher education administration at North Carolina State University. James has also worked at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the department of Greek life.

While at Millsaps, James was an officer in her Greek organization and served as an SBA senator. She is married to Millsaps Hall-of-Famer Ricky James.

James expressed excitement about her return to Millsaps and her anticipation is shared by other members of the Student Life staff.

“The college invested significant time, talent and energy to attract Megan James. She brings a superior combination of experience, leadership and service to the betterment of our student body,” lauds Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Brit Katz.

Binion, who graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in history education and a master’s degree in higher education administration, has been named assistant director for residence life and student activities and will co-advise SBA in regards to SAPS. Binion will also supervise fraternities within the Interfraternity Council and join the Student Life leadership team that consults on programs like the

Senior Year Experience and Foundations.

“I hope to see a more unified and focused group of students who realize the impact they can have on their school,” reveals Binion.

Additionally, Binion will take on the entirety of Residence Life, aided by Student Life Administrative Assistants Martha Johnston and Tiffany Hammond.

“Residence Life has definitely benefited from Matt’s presence. He is very efficient and, most importantly, he is all about the students,” comments Johnston.

A Pascagoula native, Binion will wed his fiancée, Lindsey, in October.

The two young professionals have already grown comfortable with working together. “Matt and I make a great team and we’re looking forward to working with … mmm … what word would Brit Katz use … highly motivated and intelligent students,”

comments James. “I think we have a really good balance,”

echoes Binion. “Megan, as an alumna, has a commitment to the College and knows how things were done in the past. I think I bring fresh ideas from outside the Millsaps bubble.”

Student Life pulls a staff switch-a-roo

SECURITY REPORTS

Cooper. “There were a great deal of students already here on campus - football players, volleyball players - came right on their heels, so there were some students that were displaced, but it was for a shorter period of time this year than last year.

“There are a lot of people on this campus that worked hard to make it work well. Maintenance, housekeeping, grounds, dining services - they deserve gold stars. There’s a place in heaven for them for all the work that they did,” Cooper adds.

“Fabulous” is how Assistant Director of the Career Center Kendrick Schetter, who served as the principal coordinator of residence life, security and housing, describes this year’s camp.

“It was much neater than last year and I think part of that’s just getting a year down,” Schetter adds. “The Saints getting used to us and our staff and teams getting used to the Saints and meshing things together. They did their thing and we did our thing and everything just kind of floated along.”

Schetter goes on to explain that,

despite the brutal heat, nature cooperated for the most part.

“It was hot, but as long as the sun’s out then we don’t have to flip practice around because that’s kind of the area that could cause the most problems once our football team gets here, we have to coordinate practice fields and who plays on what field when,” he says. “Two years without rain, so we’re doing OK now.”

One way in which the weather did not cooperate, however, was the flooding of the new practice field built for the Saints. According

to Schetter, five days of solid rain during the turfing process left the field unusable for the season.

Saints Head Coach Sean Payton, however, did not seem to mind.

“One of the things Coach Payton said when he got down there and looked at it was, ‘Well, we’re going to have a great field next year,’” Schetter recounts. “So he takes everything with a grain of salt when we’re working and little things like that happen.”

Saints continued - page 1

students. Millsaps dining services has

worked to design a menu that holds a separate appeal from the standard cafeteria fare, in the hopes of drawing students looking for a different scene. Among the featured items are sweet potato fries with honey pecan sauce and a roasted turkey sandwich with cranberry and jalapeno glaze.

The exterior has also received a

new coat of paint, a re-shingled roof and new woodwork replacing old or damaged timber. Stakes outside the front door mark the dimensions for the new porch.

The most time consuming of the renovations has been the remodeling of the kitchen areas, strengthening the floors to support commercial grade equipment and widening doorways to meet with ADA regulations.

grueling audition process with over 400 other hopefuls, Kate made the squad.

“I was with her when she found out. She just screamed and she was really really happy,” Smith remem-bers.

So far, Anderson says she has thor-oughly enjoyed her time as a Rams cheerleader. The best thing about her job, she says, is that “if you’re pas-sionate about dancing and perform-ing, there’s absolutely nothing like the

adrenaline rush you get when you’re out there in front of 60,000 people.”

However, Anderson’s work is not over after the game. “It’s a job that takes a lot of time - it’s a job not only on the field, but in the community as well.” She says the Rams cheerlead-ers “are active in many charities” and serve as “ambassadors for the Rams.”

Anderson is uncertain how long she will continue to cheer for the Rams, simply stating, “It depends on where life takes me.”

Calendar continued - page 1

Photo by Mary Clark RardinWork on the future home of Reuben’s is reaching its conclusion.

Photo by Mary Clark RardinMegan Shaw goes from student to Student Life.

Respect continued - page 9

Commentary byBiran MitchellContributor

Dan Marino once said, “Sure the home field is an advantage- but so is having a lot of talent.” If Marino’s quote holds true, the football Majors, who boast a roster teeming with 115 total players and 59 new faces, should have a noticeable advantage this season.

The large number of players brings equivocal potential of a large amount of talent. “We’ve got some really talented kids coming in who should see a lot of playing time. You have to realize, though, not all these guys will get to play, but they’re out there busting their tails every day,” stresses Sports Information Director Kevin Maloney.

The large roster will likely fuel competition for playing time, and freshman kicker Evan Bauer sees this as an advantage for the team.

“The more guys we have the better we will be. It creates competition for starting spots, and when

people compete they get better,” explains Bauer.

Competitions between guys with dreams of another championship dancing in their heads. “There definitely is pressure for a repeat, expectation is at an al l

time high here,” says Maloney.

They say success fuels expectation, and here it seems that success also fuels competition.

Well, competition and a newfound surge of excitement for the football Majors.

Bauer sees a balance between academic notoriety and Coach Mike Dubose’s transformed team as contributors. “Coach Dubose has turned this program completely around,” says Bauer.

In Maloney’s opinion,

a successful football team has added even more prestige to Millsaps’ reputation. “Millsaps is definitely education first, but 7 wins and a SCAC

championship later and enrollment is up,” he comments.

Dean of Student Life

Brit Katz notes that last year’s undersized “Katrina Klass” had 232 incoming freshman, and this year’s incoming student total hovers around 338. Whether it is fair weather or a winning football team responsible for this

increase, I’ll take both, thanks.

With this massive influx of players comes the question of Millsaps’ capability to accommodate

them. It seems as though the New Orleans Saints could not have come at a better time.

The Saints-funded renovations and expansions include the refurbishment of the lower practice field as well as the addition of a double-wide trailer for extra locker space. The space is proving essential to supporting this year’s bumper crop of players.

Maloney remains confident that the team can remain cohesive in spite of its large size, noting that squads of this size are not extremely unusual at other schools. “Several teams in our conference boast 100-plus players on their rosters. There are no roster limits in Division III,” comments Maloney. The old cliché the more the merrier holds true here.

While it is unclear for the moment whether Maloney’s theory is accurate, one thing is certain- the combination of the Saints’ presence, Dubose’s transformation and academic proficiency are proving to be a winner for Millsaps.

SportsPage 9

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Ben Cain, cainbg@millsaps.edu

Photo courtesy of Frank EzelleDuring summer practices, the football team worked through several sessions of two-a-day practices.

Photo courtesy of Frank EzellePlayers’ practice jerseys signify their unit and help coaches keep track of the 115 men on the field.

Photo by Frank EzelleSoph. David Hardy (77) and his partners on the offensive line are charged with pro-tecting Juan Joseph, the Majors’ junior quarterback.

The start of Division III college athletics seasons could not arrive at a better time for classic (or classy) sports fans.

Take one look at that “Backyard Brawl” poster, which features two athletes holding puppies in their arms, and you see the greatest contrast to the circus going on in pro sports.

My summer months typically involve watching the National Basketball Association Playoffs and Major League Baseball while anxiously awaiting football season, occasionally getting teased by the fifteen minutes of action during an NFL pre-season game.

This summer, however, sports television, magazines and newspaper sections were overloaded with things other than game highlights.

We sat through countless specials on the veracity of Barry Bonds’ record. We stayed right with Tank Johnson through his legal problems, only to see him waived by the Bears. We looked for our daily “Pacman” Jones update (on T.V. and through our police scanners), especially when we heard he was going to start stage-brawling for the poetically named Total Nonstop Action Wrestling company.

Of course, most of our attention was focused upon the Michael Vick fiasco, and now we’re exhausted.

The summer, as we know it, is over, though. We’re back to the school routine and back to our school’s sports. Our Millsaps athletes may have to deal with the consequences of not studying hard enough for a test (though I doubt their coaches would be too happy), but we probably won’t see them pulling out a gun in a night club.

Professional athletes aren’t the only ones giving sports fans a hard time. Every year we find out about numerous NCAA Division I programs having records erased due to boosters’ lack of restraint in handing out sports cars. At our Division III school this summer, on the other hand, there were more than a hundred guys out there doing football two-a-days in the blistering heat for not even a Yugo.

Proud alumni did reward the football team for winning the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference last year by donating championship rings, and I bet the players can look forward to that again at the end of this year, but they won’t be getting anything fancy beforehand. They played great and were rewarded for it.

Our players have the luxury of being champions that have warmed the hearts of their fan base without having to be called superstars or heroes.

As we have seen time and again, being a superstar or hero swells the head so greatly (and, no, this is not a shot at your changing cap sizes, Mr. Bonds, I know you’ve been sue-happy lately) that the parts of the brain that control common sense get overshadowed. Luckily we “Think” at Millsaps.

It’s great to be back to a place where you can watch sports just to watch sports. I’m just praying that unlike with Michael Vick, nothing crazy happens that pulls Juan Joseph’s new shoe line off the market.

Out in left field

Thomas Richardson Graphics Editor

Majors’ large roster promises continued success in 2007

Ben CainSports Editor

The Millsaps College men’s cross country team opens its 2007 season on Friday, Aug. 31 on the campus of Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss.

This year’s team is anchored by a quartet of seniors, including veterans Sam Gaye, Will Benton, Travis Tutor and new runner Jack Boettcher, who has trained with the team in the past but has not competed due to injuries. Junior Taylor Weglicki and sophomore Lloyd Gray, both returning members of the 2006 team, are joined by freshmen Evan Parker and Stephen Butler to round out the eight-man squad.

In 2006 the Majors finished eighth of 10 teams at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, but Gaye provided a bright spot for the team by qualifying for the NCAA Division III South/Southeastern Regional Cross Country Championships and placing No. 42 out of 152 competitors there.

This season, Weglicki hopes that more members of his team will be able to enjoy similar individual successes so that Millsaps will gain recognition as a cross country power.

“Sam was the only one to make it to regionals last year, so we need to change that. The goal this year is to perform well in our conference to show that Millsaps College has a strong cross country program and move on to regionals from there,” comments Weglicki.

With half of the team entering their final campaign as Majors, Weglicki feels a sense of urgency to succeed as a team this year.

“We have a lot of upperclassmen runners, so we need to do well in conference this year while we have them here. After they leave, we are going to be building again,” he says.

Weglicki believes that the team’s effort over the summer has prepared them well for the upcoming season.

“Everyone put in a much bigger effort this summer, and we are all coming in considerably stronger than we have been in the past, which will make us stronger at race time,” explains Weglicki.

Gray shares Weglicki’s optimism, commenting, “We know we have a better team than we did last year, and the meet at Alcorn State will be a checkpoint to see exactly where we are.”

The team has been forced to contend with the recent heat wave, but Gray says that the weather did not intrude on head coach David Rop’s training schedule too severely.

“Coach Rop has had us run at 6 a.m. on many days,” he explains.

While competition meets tend to be run later in the day when heat can become a challenge, Gray feels confident that the team will not suffer for lack of training in such conditions.

“It’s better to be well-trained and to get in the miles to be fit on race day than to try to toughen yourself up by running in the heat. We have run twice a day on some days, and on those days we did run

in the afternoon. Of course, there is another aspect of toughness and dedication that comes when you have to get up at 5 a.m. to prepare for a run.”

In addition to the more than 50 freshmen

SportsPage 10

August 30, 2007 • The Purple & White

Contact Ben Cain, cainbg@millsaps.edu

Football8/30 Millsaps at M.C. Clinton 6:59 p.m.

Cross Country8/31 Alcorn State University meet Lorman, Miss. 8:30 a.m.

Men’s Soccer9/1 Millsaps vs. Principia Memphis, Tenn. 2 p.m.9/2 Millsaps vs. Washington University Memphis, Tenn. 2 p.m.

Women’s Soccer9/1 Millsaps vs. Spelman

Atlanta, Ga. 12 p.m.9/2 Millsaps vs. Agnes Scott 12 p.m.

Volleyball8/31-9/1 Spring Hill Invitational8/31 Millsaps vs. Spring Hill College Mobile, Ala. 5 p.m.9/1 Millsaps vs. Martin Methodist Mobile, Ala. 9 a.m.9/1 Millsaps vs. Dillard University Mobile, Ala. 1 p.m.9/4 Millsaps vs. Belhaven Hangar Dome 7 p.m.

Major Calendar

Nick Namias

Major AthleteHometown: Memphis, Tenn.Major: BusinessFuture Plans: Law schoolNumber: 17Position: Running backNickname: “Namo”Favorite Pre-game Music: AC/DCFavorite Food: Italian dishesFavorite Caf food: Chicken parmesan

Favorite Drink: Blue hawaiian punchFavorite Restaurant: Ruffino’s (in Baton Rouge)Favorite Professor: Dr. Blakely FenderFavorite Book: “Junction Boys”Favorite TV Show: “The Shield” or “Nip/Tuck”Favorite Millsaps team to watch: Basketball

Photo by Frank Ezelle Sophomore Lloyd Gray gains ground on the competi-tion during a meet in 2006. Gray is part one of 5 returning runners for the Majors’ 2007 mens’ cross country team.

Runners ready for breakout year

and the 2007 Millsaps squad currently boasts more than 100 players, an all-time high for the program. Wise believes that the team’s recognition in polls will help maintain momentum for recruiting this year.

“Recognition in national polls and in our own coaches’ poll is something that we can be proud of. Coach Dubose

and his staff have improved our program immensely since taking over a year ago, and we are looking forward to 2007. Recognition helps in recruiting and increases our team’s following while giving supporters something to be engaged in,” says Wise.

“With national rankings, voters look at the past and

tradition of football teams, so winning championships and returning many players is something to be proud of, but our hope is that in November we’re hosting another conference championship.”

In addition to the 50-plus freshmen football players,

19 other new Majors will make

their NCAA debuts this week.

Four are members of the

men’s soccer team, the

women’s team boasts seven and

the volleyball team features 8

new faces.

“Respect” continued from pg. 8