The Skyline Newspaper

Pete Smyke (right) demonstrates his opposition to La Entrada al Pacifico during Art Walk last November. Photo courtesy Sharon Collyer

"ReViva! Collective" Revitalizes Area's Grassroots Movement

By Sharon Collyer
Skyline Reporter

"They're chocolate covered bananas," says Clay Drinkard during a Wednesday night weekly potluck. Drinkard, one of Reviva! Collective's most outspoken members, reassures me that the bananas are great. To my surprise, they are, and, by the time the feast has ended, I've been impressed many times over, and not just by bananas.

When I received an invite to join the Reviva! Collective's weekly meetings, I expected a group of young alternative idealistic artsy twenty-somethings gathered together to share a meal, find new ways to save the planet, and then, of course, to party till dawn. "Sure, why not?" I thought, having once been a planet-saving young alternative idealistic artsy twenty-something myself. Upon arriving, however, I realized how stereotypically limited my vision is and how cynical I've become.

You see, the Reviva! Collective is an umbrella network that represents a handful of Alpine's grassroots organizations that seek environmental and socio/political change in the Big Bend. Members of organizations such as Veterans for Peace, the Alpine Sustainability Project, the 305 Oralé Way artist collective and the Non-Violent Peaceforce come together once a week to discuss their projects, their visions, their accomplishments and their needs.

"We are trying to bridge the communication gaps between activist groups in nearby communities," says Johanna Nelson, overseer of 305 Oralé Way. "We come together as group representatives, and as individuals, to support one another, educate one another and to help one another. For this group to make sense, it is important for everyone to be a vocal part of it. No one contributes any more or any less than anyone else."

The Reviva! Collective began as a reactionary effort by a group of friends who were opposed to La Entrada al Pacifico, the name for the truck corridor that would link the port town of Topolobampo, Mexico ,with Midland/Odessa, and which would greatly increase truck traffic through downtown Alpine. Three months later, Reviva! has grown to thirty members and has taken on a variety of community-based projects. Not all members are involved in all projects, and not all projects are exclusive to the Collective, but there is as wide a variety of interests as there are members, and members of one group often extend their focus and enthusiasm to help out with another group. "I am relieved that I don't have to do everything myself. There are other people who are interested and want to help," says Eve Trook, representative for Veterans for Peace, the group in charge of the Honk to Impeach campaign. "Reviva! works because we share energy and vision. We can all pitch in."

Although the Collective is best known for their opposition to La Entrada, they are a driving force behind the border wall protest. The Collective is also involved in numerous undertakings. Through the Alpine Sustainability Project, the Collective plans to establish and operate a working community garden; through the Alpine Green Chapter, they back the creation of an Alpine Creek trail system; they are currently planning an Alpine Mural project; they boost morale at the Alpine Farmer's Market every Saturday with coffee and burritos; they support the recycle people, the Freecycle people, and the bicycle people; and they still find time to split themselves into smaller groups and work in other areas of need. Community-wide activities include a bi-weekly film series, free community artist seminars, and of course, the fabulous weekly potlucks.

For Sul Ross students, Reviva! offers an opportunity to get involved in a world beyond the campus. "There is great potential for the student body to get involved in the community," says Tony Gonzalez, Reviva! supporter, community organizer and Sul Ross student. "This is a big issue here – students come to Alpine to go to school, but don't really know what's going on in the community, in part because they don't know how to get involved."
Gonzalez thinks for a moment, and adds, "We aren't telling people what to do; we are offering opportunities for people to do what they need to do. We are like a support group for community activists."

At the end of the potluck, not only did I have a bellyful of good food and a renewed sense of community activism, but I also took with me a spirit of camaraderie born from the desire to do good things with my community for my community. As Susan Curry, Reviva! supporter says, "They are people with a lot of ideas that haven't been trodden down by something more pragmatic." Smiling, she adds, "They are synergy…when the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. That's what's neat about Reviva! - they are synergy."

Want to know more? Have good ideas on how to help your community? Want to be a part of something bigger than yourself? Come to a Reviva! Collective potluck on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. at 305 Oralé Way, located near the corner of West Gallego and 7th, and meet a bunch of cool people who want to make your Alpine a better place.
Bring an open mind, a sense of humor and a dish to share. You can also log in to www.revivacollective.org to find a schedule of upcoming activities, an open forum, and a links to other community activist web sites.

Remember, whether you've lived in Alpine for a week or twenty years, this is your community. Get moving. Get involved. Reviva!

Grading Professors and Rating Web Sites

By Madeleine Cantu
Skyline Reporter

I've been a university student for going on two years now, and whenever it comes time to register for classes, I find myself looking to fellow students for guidance on who to take -- and who not to take. I'm sure all of us experience this at some point or another in our college lives: "Who did you take for University Algebra?" "Was he/she hard?" And the answers were either "Oh, he's good!" or "No, don't take him."

There's actually a service, and perhaps you've heard of it, called RateMyProfessor.com that allows you to rate your professors online and leave comments for everyone to see, rather than just telling your close friends. It's interesting to check out, and I admit I became a little hooked when I started looking into this.

RateMyProfessor.com is just one of many similar services such as PassCollege.com, ProfessorPerformance.com, and at least three others are available for people to use, as well as the "Grade My Professor" service on Myspace.com. However, RateMyProfessor.com has its own Facebook application and remains one of the most popular services despite its competition.

James Otto, Douglas A. Sandford, Jr., and Douglas N. Ross, from Towson University, in Maryland, reported in their research that there were approximately 6,000 schools registered on RateMyProfessor.com as of August 2006, and among those schools nearly 770,000 professors with a combined total of 5.7 million ratings were available for students to peruse and add to (it's up to 100,000 professors and 7.5 million ratings now). However, they estimated that a small percentage of students actually vote, which can alter the ratings a professor has. For instance, do only the students that absolutely despise the teacher get mad enough to go online and leave a scathing comment and a rating of 1 out of 5? Maybe. I came across a professor at Sul Ross who had two bad marks from 2003 stating the teacher was "evil."

The questions I had were these: "Does Rate My Professor have biased answers?" "Would I really be able to determine if I should take Teacher A over Teacher B?" "Did the students simply leave a professor with a high rating just because they gave (theoretically speaking) no homework and all multiple choice tests, or a low rating because the professor lectured in a monotone fashion to the back wall the whole time?" "And how many students actually rate?" All of these questions were unanswerable based on the responses left by most students and the format available in making these judgments.

However, the site itself is pretty easy to use. You type in your school name and then find your professor by first letter of his or her last name. Once you find the one you're looking for, click on his/her name and read the assessments that other students have left. It tells you the rating of the professor in a few categories: the ease of learning in the class, how helpful the professor is, how clear the professor lectures, and his/her overall quality of teaching. Next to that, there's a space for student comments, although it is optional, and often left blank.

When you rate the professors, you rate on a scale of 1-5. It allows you to post what textbook they require (which isn't really that helpful, in my opinion, since books always change), and the call number of the class.

There is also a fun option, allowing students to determine whether the professor is "Hot or Not." (If the professor is hot, you'll see a little jalapeno icon on his or her ratings page - kind of funny, really.) There's also a comment box that allows you to write your own thoughts on the professor. Submissions do go through an editor, so no derogatory comments are accepted. (I guess the "evil" comment wasn't derogatory enough.) Professors can also add their rebuttal to a statement in a blog-like format, to dispute a comment, I suppose - but I didn't see any of these.

"I take into account what is on RateMyProfessor.com whenever I have to choose a teacher," says student Robbie McDaniel. "I don't register for classes without looking them up first."

The one thing I was disappointed about was that a few of my professors that I had in the past weren't listed. I tried to add one (you can thank me later, Dr. Terry) to see how it would work, but although I checked back the next day, it still hadn't been posted.

From what I could tell, the remarks and ratings were fairly accurate. I checked several of the teachers I've had, and the ratings and comments left were true enough, although you should read and decide at your own discretion.

I did discover one thing, however. From now on, the only teachers I'm taking are the ones with the jalapenos.

Carnegie Mellon Prof. Delivers REAL Last Lecture

By Robbie McDaniel
Skyline Reporter

What would you say to people if you only had one last opportunity to speak to them? In a lecture series called, "The Last Lecture," Dr. Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, gave the audience of 400 his REAL last lecture.

Dr. Pausch battles pancreatic cancer. At the time of his lecture, in Sept. 2007, he had recently received the news of his terminal condition and prognosis of two month survival expectancy.

Pausch's lecture is not one of gloom-and-doom, however. His message was about life, not death; about chasing and fulfilling childhood dreams. Pausch related a very happy childhood and many dreams. He wished to become an NFL player, but did not achieve that dream. He said, "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

One of his football coaches had ridden him very hard in practice one day. Another coach noticed this and told Randy that this was a good thing because it means he cares. He explained that when you do a bad job and no one points it out to you, that is when they've given up on you. This gave Randy a new perspective on the experience.

Rejection became an inspiration to Pausch. Another of his dreams was to be a Disney Imagineer. He was a computer science major and tried on several occasions to gain Disney's attention with his skills and technology.
His philosophy is, "Brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out; they let us prove how much we want something." After 15 years, and numerous tries, he finally developed skill with a virtual reality technology that Disney was interested in. He collaborated on Disney's "Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride," and fulfilled one of his childhood dreams.

Pausch's parents instilled in him the value of "always having fun." As a child, he asked to paint his bedroom walls with his own art and drawings. They said, "O.K." He painted rocket ships, an elevator, and even the quadratic equation." They felt that allowing Randy to express his creativity was much more important than maintaining pristine walls. However, his parents did also keep him in check. When he complained to his Mom about graduate school tests, she said, "We know how you feel, but just remember…when your Father was your age, he was fighting the Germans in WWII."

Professor Pausch speaks of the importance of making the distinction between people and things (He once deliberately poured a canned soft drink into the back seat of his brand new convertible to prove this point.) Dr. Pausch explains the importance of deciding early on whether you choose to be a "Tigger" or an "Eeyore." Being curious, enthusiastic and energetic are always options. Even in his terminal condition, Randy Pausch chose to "Never underestimate the importance of having FUN."

Dr. Pausch explains the importance of living with integrity, and getting along with others along the path to achieving dreams. Being honest, apologizing sincerely, and expressing gratitude are among his highest ideals.
"Don't complain…work harder," he advises. "If you live your life properly, the dreams will come to you."

Dr. Pausch wrote his lecture, not for the audience at Carnegie Mellon, or the thousands who saw the short version on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but for the three young children he will leave behind.

To view a 10 minute excerpt from his lecture, visit http://www.oprah.com/videochannel/videochannel_player.jhtml?video=1178&category=31
For the full 1 hour and 44 minute lecture at Carnegie Mellon, go to: mms://wms.andrew.cmu.edu/001/pausch.wmv

Distinguished Scholar Invited to Review QEP

Dr. Kent Ryden, Director of American and New England Studies at the University of Southern Maine, has accepted SRSU's invitation to serve as an on-site reviewer for the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). One requirement of the QEP is that any school up for reaffirmation selects one reviewer with special expertise in an important aspect of the plan.

The SRSU plan focuses on creating opportunities for more hands-on, active learning using West Texas as an outdoor and cultural laboratory. As a director of a regional studies program, Ryden will provide expertise needed to evaluate the SRSU plan, which seeks to increase opportunities for critical thinking and increase student engagement with academic subjects.

According to SRSU President, R. Vic Morgan, "As a well-respected regional scholar, Ryden adds the right mix of credentials to join the SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) review team.

"We believe Ryden will recognize the unlimited opportunities in an enhancement plan that focuses on our location in this beautiful and culturally rich border region. Capitalizing on regional uniqueness has been an invigorating answer for many universities toward providing quality academic programs, as well as improving recruiting and retention."

Ryden earned his Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University and received the American Studies Association's Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize for his dissertation, a revised version of which became his first book, "Mapping the Invisible Landscape: Folklore, Writing, and the Sense of Place" (1993 U. of Iowa Press).

Ryden's books have demonstrated how a regional focus can provide rich opportunities for participation from all disciplines. His work also reveals a respect and sensitivity toward unique cultures and diverse learning styles.
He has been instrumental in paving the way toward innovative solutions for often stalemated environmental conflict.

His innovative and fair-minded thinking has been widely praised by critics representing many disciplines including William Cronan, Bill McKibben, Lawrence Buell, William Howarth, Yi-Fu Tuan, and Bruce Rosenburg. Buell says, "Ryden's deeply informed, engagingly written account of how New Englanders have constructed—and been constructed by—their encounters with regional places is both a significant work of literary and cultural-historical scholarship and a significant act of environmental citizenship."

Ryden was chosen by the 45-member SRSU QEP committee from a list of possible candidates. For further information, see his website at the University of Southern Maine www.usm.maine.edu/anes/faculty/ryden/ .

Scandal, Spying, Spirit, Sportsfans: Super Bowl '08

By Adam Cuellar
Skyline Reporter

Football fans are eagerly awaiting Super Sunday's matchup between the undefeated New England Patriots and the New York Giants. What should easily become the most watched program in the history of television is only heightened by numerous scandals surrounding the Patriots on their march towards perfection.

The infamous "Spygate" kicked off the year for New England and head coach Bill Belichick. Accused of, and later caught, cheating using video equipment to record opponent's defensive signals, the team was heavily fined and stripped of its first round pick in the upcoming draft. Belichick himself was handed the largest single fine ever by NFL commissioner Roger Goddell.

Twenty weeks later, and in preparation for the Super Bowl, the Pats again find themselves in the midst of controversy. All-World wide receiver Randy Moss was hit with a restraining order by a close female friend after "harming her and not providing or allowing her to obtain sufficient follow-up medical care."

"Bootgate," a spin-off of the Patriot's spygate woes, has erupted only days before the Super Bowl.
Quarterback/Celebrity/Model Tom Brady was seen and recorded wearing a protective boot on his right ankle, sparking a media frenzy and seemingly eliciting speculation from every crevice in America regarding his health and availability.

All of these distractions must be craftily handled by the Patriots if they want to become the only 19-0 team in the history of the NFL. The only other team to remain undefeated throughout the regular season and playoffs was the 1972 Miami Dolphins. However, many critics don't believe their achievements would be nearly as significant as the Patriots, considering they played in an era of fewer games, inferior competition, and the absence of a salary cap.

In 1993 the NFL introduced the salary cap, an effort to promote parity within the NFL's many storied franchises.
This new feature set a limit on every team's budget for players and ensured no team could stack up on the best athletes by paying them all more money than other teams could afford. As far back as 1936, the league created the draft, opportunities for the poorest teams to obtain the best college players. Also, the NFL bases a team's schedule on how well they did the previous season. The worst teams get the easiest schedule according to the prior year, while the elite teams routinely have to play other playoff teams from a season ago in order to make another postseason run.

All of these factors make it easy to see why no team in thirty five years has been so close to a perfect season.
If the patriots manage to do so, it would be an accomplishment many thought impossible.

The Patriots' efforts have easily made them the most polarized team in all of sports. It seems like fans either love or hate them, wanting them to succeed unblemished or be hammered by twenty points in the season finale.
Unfortunately for New York, many fans outside the Empire State could care less about their involvement; they just want to see if the Pats will finish perfect or not.

One thing is for certain: The game will break every broadcasting record imaginable and have fans either rejoicing or bickering after every call. For what it's worth, however, this is the true spirit and undeniable appeal of the game.