The Skyline Newspaper

Photo: (L to R) Anna Kreger, MaryAshley Gredell, Arthur Sayre, and Jamie Rios before starting their second day of parliamentary debate in Claremont, CA.

CA Expands Horizons for Debate Team

By MaryAshley P. Gredell
Skyline Assistant Editor

The words "debate team" generally bring up a mental image of solemn-faced college students dressed in suits with copies of the Constitution tucked into their pockets.

Four debaters from Sul Ross took on a much different crowd; think Birkenstocks and beards, in many cases, at the National Open Debate Tournament hosted by Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, CA.

They spent four days on the road and two days in competition this past week, returning home with a totally different perception of what life and argumentation can be like on the West Coast.

"What we did with this tournament is encounter students from universities in a region that approaches debate in a vastly different paradigm than we did," said team coach and chair of the Fine Arts and Communication Department, Dr. Esther Rumsey.

"That meant we had to expand our thinking to encompass these other ideas, which of course is important to critical thinking (something Sul Ross is currently trying to find a way to test) and expanded world views."

"I got a lot of cultural experience from the trip," said Jaime Rios, a junior history major from Roma, Texas.

"These were caring people; very service-oriented. It has inspired me to show the rest of Sul Ross that we can try to provide these services as well: being helpful and more benevolent towards others," continued the student government president.

The team tries at least once a year to make a major trip that takes the students outside of their Texas comfort zone. Traveling really challenges them to encounter the rest of the country.

"We've been to Wyoming, Las Vegas, Louisiana, Colorado...while we can't afford to do a lot of these long trips, once a year makes for a neat experience," said Rumsey.

Rumsey's dedication to the team doesn't end with coaching her team through every competition and weekly practice: she also drove the 1200 miles up through San Diego and on to Claremont, a suburb of Las Angeles, in her own Pontiac minivan.

The two teams Sul Ross sent held their own against students from up and down the state of California, winning two and three rounds, respectively.

"It is necessary to travel and find out what other micro-cultures we have within our country," said Rios.

"It is the best way to learn and bring those things back to our community."

Arthur Sayre, a senior Political Science major from Hawley, Texas, is the longest-running member of the team, now in his eighth semester as a debater. He found more than good competition in California: "The debate team has always given me an opportunity to expand my intellectual horizons. This trip, though, meant that I had an opportunity to swim in the Pacific Ocean. That was awesome."

New interested speech and debate team members are always welcome at meetings, held in FAB 106 on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. No experience is necessary; just interest in current events and a willingness to travel.

Learning Centers Assist Students in Need

By Adam Cuellar
Skyline Reporter

By now, most students have taken at least one exam for every class and are gearing up for mid-terms. It's important to realize that tutoring is not only helpful, but sometimes necessary for students to be successful during these busy testing periods.

Fortunately, Sul Ross presents a vast amount of student resources in the form of learning centers on campus. Chances are, if you are struggling in a class, want help studying for an exam, or just want to review lecture notes, there is someone who can help you.

Currently, there are tutors who can help you with courses in math, science, history, English, and Spanish. Most of the tutors are familiar with the more advanced courses as well.

The primary learning center is located in Ferguson Hall Room 203. Both the Student Support Services and the Academic Center for Excellence share the space in a collective effort.

ACE tutors assist in Math, Reading, and Writing courses. Math tutors are available Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., and Friday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Assistance in reading and writing courses is handled by graduate student Meredith Horn and undergraduate Cary Leeper, and is available Monday and Wednesday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Student Support Services can assist in math, history, and an array of science courses. Tutor hours vary but are usually from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Although the program is aimed primarily at those students who are members, it is quite easy to sign up and enjoy the extra benefits of the program, such as academic seminars, fun trips, and an assigned personal mentor to help track and ensure your success in and out of class. To sign up simply contact Ida Hoelscher, ext. 8605, also available in FERG 203.

In addition to the ACE reading and writing lab, the Department of Languages and Literature hosts a Writing Center located in MAB 102 as well. Here, experienced graduate student tutors Landon Moore and John Orr can help students in any English or writing class. Available hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Friday between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. A Spanish tutor is available at the center as well.

Tutors and students alike can benefit greatly from their experiences with one another. Meredith Horn, one of the two ACE reading and writing tutors, chimed in on her experience, thus far: "It has been a real feeling of accomplishment to watch the students we tutor significantly increase their grades and understand new concepts. It is a very rewarding job, especially working with students who desire to improve and are diligent to come by every week for help."

Student Support Services member Austin Hill also commented on his observations, "It's good to have someone willing to help you so much when you struggle at first. I have actually received help in the dorm room of one of the tutors when I really needed it. That helped me out a lot."

With plans being made to place academic tutors in the new dorms, it's obvious that the school is doing everything it can to promote continued success among all students.

Take advantage of the various resources at hand. Your grade may be depending on it.

Nature Conservancy to open new trail in Davis Mountains

FORT DAVIS -- The public will have an opportunity to experience the beauty and wealth of wildlife to be discovered in the Davis Mountains on a new hiking trail opening Oct. 5. The newly constructed, 2.5-mile Madera Canyon Hiking Trail lies within The Nature Conservancy's Davis Mountains Preserve. The trail is a loop, beginning and ending at the Lawrence E. Wood Picnic Area on Highway 118, about 24 miles northwest of Fort Davis. It will be open during daylight hours.

"Since the Davis Mountains Preserve is typically open to the public only for special activities, the new trail gives people an opportunity to enjoy this part of the preserve more often," said Colin Shackelford, Davis Mountains stewardship director for The Nature Conservancy.

Built by volunteers by hand for minimal impact on the landscape, it was designed by Big Bend National Park trails supervisor Don Sharlow and his crew. Other volunteer trail builders came from the Tierra Grande Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists, St. Stephen's Episcopal High School in Austin, Central Texas Trail Tamers, the American Hiking Society, Bowie High School Junior ROTC in El Paso and Davis Mountains Preserve volunteers.

The trail was made possible by support from General Motors and from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. GM donated $100,000 to help fund the trail and to assist in the acquisition of 10,000 acres that were added to the preserve in 2004. A grant of $44,295 was received from TPWD's Recreational Trails Program.

"We're tremendously grateful for all the hard work of our volunteers and to GM and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for their donations," Shackelford said.

"The Madera Canyon Hiking Trail is now a reality because everyone shared the vision to create it."

"GM supports the work of The Nature Conservancy because we believe in its mission of preserving our landscapes, helping local economies and saving precious places around the world," said Elizabeth Lowery, vice president, environment, energy and safety policy for General Motors.

During a ceremony to dedicate the trail at the Davis Mountains Preserve on Sept. 29, GM announced it was donating another $25,000 to The Nature Conservancy of Texas, and GM will continue its support of the Conservancy in 2008 with a donation of a 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, which will be built at the GM Arlington Assembly Plant in Texas.

The Davis Mountains are ecologically unique because of their rare and unusual flora and fauna, and are often described as "sky islands" rising out of the sea of the Chihuahuan Desert, Shackelford noted.

"Animals and plants living above 5,000 feet here are isolated from other similar mountain ranges by vast distances," he said. "These are true ecological islands, preserving living remnants that occur otherwise nowhere else in Texas, and some animal and plant species that are found nowhere else on Earth."

A moderately difficult hike, the new trail offers views of Madera Canyon, Pine Peak, Mount Livermore (the highest peak in the Davis Mountains), Sawtooth Mountain and the whole of the upper watershed for Madera Creek. At one point, the trail drops down into Chico Canyon, where it follows the creek and takes hikers past a historic stock tank.

Hikers will walk through stands of stately ponderosa pines, pinion-juniper woodlands and grassy meadows. Wildlife that may be present, particularly at dawn or dusk, includes gray fox, ringtail, western scrub jay, acorn woodpecker, Montezuma quail, golden eagle, Davis Mountains cottontail, javelina, white-tail and mule deer, mountain short-horned lizard and, rarely, mountain lion. At dawn, visitors may listen for the bugling of elk in the fall or the chorus of coyotes any time of year.

The trail is open from dawn until dusk and camping is not allowed. Due to the sensitive nature of the plants and animals found on the preserve, mountain bikes, ATVs and pets are prohibited on the trail.

For more information, contact The Nature Conservancy's office in Fort Davis at (432) 426-2390.

Doyle Bramhall to Perform Oct. 25

Texas blues legend Doyle Bramhall will perform in concert Thursday, Oct. 25 at Sul Ross State University.

General admission is $3 per person for "An Original Night with Doyle Bramhall," a 7 p.m. concert in Marshall Auditorium. Students, faculty and staff will be admitted free with Sul Ross ID. Proceeds from the concert go to the Ira Blanton Folklore Excellence Fund, which is used for folklore scholarships. Blues music, an American original, plays a major role in folklore studies.

Bramhall, who performed with the late Stevie Ray Vaughn in the Nightcrawlers, will be playing songs from his latest album, "Is It News." The Sul Ross concert is billed as the second CD release party, the first scheduled Oct. 6 at the Continental Club in Austin. Bramhall wrote or co-wrote many of the songs on his new album and recorded several in New Orleans just a few months after Hurricane Katrina.

As a singer, songwriter and drummer, Bramhall has been an integral part of Texas blues for nearly 40 years. He and his band, the Chessmen, first opened for Jimi Hendrix in Dallas in 1968. He moved to Austin with the band's guitarist, Jimmie Vaughn, and they formed Storm. Later, Bramhall left and formed the Nightcrawlers with Jimmie's younger brother, Stevie Ray.

Two of Bramhall's compositions, "Change It" and "Lookin' Out the Window" became staples in Stevie Ray's repertoire, and the pair collaborated on several more classics as well. He released his debut album, "Bird Nest on the Ground," in 1994.

His triple-threat abilities (singing, songwriting, and drumming) have been widely acclaimed by critics.

Find more information on Bramhall at MySpace.com and at Doyle Bramhall.com.

For more information, contact Dr. Ira Blanton, 8262 or blanton@sulross.edu.

ACS Director Holme to Deliver Chemistry Lecture

Dr. Thomas A. Holme, director of the Examinations Institute of the American Chemical Society, will lecture Wednesday, Oct. 10, at Sul Ross State University.

Holme, a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will address "Chemistry, Live in Your Living Room," at 7 p.m. in Warnock Science Building, Room 301. There is no admission charge and the public is invited.

Holme's lecture will describe ways to access local news media outlets to secure positive coverage of chemistry. Chemistry demonstrations that fit neatly into the short time slots afforded by modern news coverage will be shown, and discussion will focus on how to use the demonstrations to foster favorable images of chemistry.

Holme will show video clips in his presentation to show what chemistry looks like as it goes live into living rooms around Milwaukee.

For more information, contact Dr. Avinash Rangra, 8116.

Television Review

"Avatar: The Last Airbender"

By David Johnson
Skyline Contributor

"Water. Earth. Fire. Air.

Long ago, the Four Nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them.

But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar: an Airbender named Aang. And although his Airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.

But I believe Aang can save the world."

This fall, Nickelodeon began airing the third and likely final season of the best cartoon on television, "Avatar: The Last Airbender."

Some of you already know about it and watch the show religiously, but most of you probably don't and are missing out. You're saying, "Oh, I'm too old for cartoons," or, "Cartoons today suck. It's not like when I was a kid."

And on both accounts you're wrong.

From "Looney Tunes" to "The Flintstones" to "The Simpsons" and "South Park," American cartoons have always been aimed primarily at an adult audience, not to mention countless anime from Japan. More importantly, most of the cartoons you enjoyed as a kid truly do suck without the benefit of nostalgia. "G.I. Joe," "Transformers," and, as much as I love it, "ThunderCats," are cool when you're a kid, but not very good otherwise.

"Avatar" is not one of these shows.

What makes it great, and I do mean "great" without any hyperbole, is that while aimed at a young audience, its content isn't limited by it.

It helps that unlike most cartoons made for kids in the 70s, 80s, and even into the 90s, "Avatar" has a relatively high production budget and the animation is gorgeous. Fight scenes are fluid and perfectly suited to the whirling choreography, but the art also captures the subtlety of facial expressions and timing of physical humor brilliantly. If you're a kid, you'll most enjoy the sheer coolness of elemental manipulation, i.e. "bending." And it is cool, but unlike many other shows, that's not all there is to it.

The basic story is simple enough to be summarized in the opening eighty-five words and understood by young children or anyone watching for the first time, but the complexity, especially across episodes and seasons, is intellectually fulfilling even to adults.

This is due in a large part to the complexity of the main characters. They are flawed, fallible, and incredibly realistic. Aang is the protagonist supposed to save the world, but he's also a twelve year old and acts accordingly (sounds accordingly, too, because his voice actor was twelve when he started). He screws up, the current state of his world is actually his fault, and he knows it.

But even the evil characters aren't cartoony or incompetent, and unlike the Cobra Commanders and Shredders of yore, have believable, often sympathetic, motivation for their actions other than "being evil."

A problem that's faced nearly all American cartoons is a lack of believability, mainly due to censorship restrictions. Because cartoons generally are considered to be intended and therefore "suitable" for children, a lot of stuff gets cut: obviously no real swearing or nudity, but also no extreme violence. This is especially a problem in a show like "G.I. Joe" where the set up involves the United States military against a terrorist organization, but everyone fires colored lasers, and no one is injured or killed. It's just silly.

"Avatar" has to face some of these limitations as well, and that's a good thing because kids need shows, too. The genius is that unlike other shows, Avatar is not afraid to handle death as a serious and realistic subject. The title is in fact a reference to an act of genocide by the Fire Nation against Aang's people, the Air Nomads, which was intended solely to kill him and ironically left him the only airbender alive. Two other main characters lost their mother, and another, a member of the Fire Nation, lost his generalship because of his actions after the death of his only son.

That's heavy stuff for the 6-to-11 demographic, but it's handled responsibly and in a way that sets it apart from most every other cartoon on the air today.

The first season was better than any cartoon since "Batman: The Animated Series" in every way, and the second season was even better than the first. Depending on how the third turns out, this could be the best cartoon series ever, again, no hyperbole.

Check it out Fridays on Nickelodeon at 7:30 p.m. or Saturdays at noon, especially if you have kids. You won't regret it.