Collegian T he Cameron University
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Monday, February 17, 2014
Volume 90 Issue 4
CU discovers its ‘inner fish’ Casey Brown Copy Editor
On Jan. 6, the Biology Department hosted Dr. Neil Shubin, author of “Your Inner Fish,” to meet with Honors students, sign books and give a keynote address as part of the 12th annual Darwin Day Celebration. Shubin is Professor of Biology and Anatomy at University of Chicago and a fish paleontologist. Shubin is well known for his discovery of Tiktaalik, a fish with legs that links sea animals with land animals in the evolutionary chain. “This whole inner fish thing began for me when I moved to the University of Chicago in 2001,” Shubin said. He began teaching an anatomy course and realized that a fish paleontologist was well suited for his position. “It seemed very clear that a paleontologist, and not just any paleontologist, but a fish paleontologist is a very good way to teach human anatomy,” he said. “The reason for that is that many of the roadmaps for our own bodies lie in simpler form in other creatures. A photo “The best roadmaps to understand the complex nerves in our head lie in sharks. The best roadmaps
to understand the complex mapping of our brains lies in other creatures from rats to lizards and other things.” Shubin emphasized that human beings have a shared history with all other creatures on the planet. “The take home message is that we share connections to the rest of life on our planet, and that is because we have a shared history,” he said. “We share history with everything from fish
to flies to mice. “We share a connection to the rest of life on our planet. Every cell and every tissue in our bodies, we have history inside of us, and that history is shared with other animals,” he said. “That history is discoverable. We can go out and look at fossils from around the world, and we can look at embryos, DNA and genomes from different genome projects.” Shubin had a particular goal in mind when he set out to look for the Tiktaalik. He said that, based on a slide he saw in graduate school, he wanted to find new places to look for the missing link.“What I set out to do was to find new places to look in the world to look to find how fish evolved to walking,” he said. Shubin said when he designed his mission, he used what he refers to as a “paleontologist toolbox.” This tool set includes looking for rocks of the right age, rocks of the right type and rocks that are exposed at the surface. He searched in Pennsylvania first because of a limited budget and coincidence that rocks of the right age and right type were about three hours from where he was going to school at the time.
Welcome to Lawton editorial by Kali Robinson (See page 4)
See INNER FISH page 2
CU stays green 2014: reduce, reuse, recycle Kali Robinson
Six years before it opened, long before they were implimented on campus, changes Assistant Managing Editor were mapped to make Cameron a more Cameron University recycles. This is not green campus. Part of this was creating the Cameron just on a trial basis, but campus-wide. Green Committee, a committee of faculty According to Vice President Pinkston, and staff willing to volunteer to help CU go recycling could become an even larger green and become more efficient. project with more faculty and student “Not everyone is a great candidate for involvement. recycling, that’s why every building does not
have recycling bins,” Pinkston said. The faculty Cameron Green Committee considered who was available to follow through with the recycling initiative. This means transportation of recycled items to the CU recycling unit and maintenance of both the bins and the central repository on campus. “Putting the bins out is the easy part of it. They fill up. Now, what do you do?”
Pinkston said. You have to have people designated to empty the bins, take it to a central repository.” “We had to figure out how do it with existing resources. Part of that is what drove not putting recycling bins in every building.”
See RECYCLING page 3
Theatreworks: Peter Pan
Photo by Sadie Jones
Inside this issue:
Lawton Arts and Humanities Counsel, the National Endowment for the Arts and the McMahon Auditorium Kaley Patterson Authority sponsored the event. Theatreworks USA is a company from New York, Staff Writer NY. Its mission “is to create, produce and provide access On Feb. 7, the touring to professional theatre for young and family audiences company Theatreworks nationwide, including disadvantaged youth and underUSA made a stop at served communities.” Lawton’s “Peter Pan” is about a boy who never wants to grow up. McMahon He lives in a place called Neverland, which is “the first Memorial star to the right and straight on to morning!” Wendy, Auditorium John and Michael are three siblings who encounter Pan to perform a in their room one night. Pan was looking for his shadow production of with his fairy, Tinker Bell. Pan convinces Wendy, John “Peter Pan.” and Michael to come to Neverland with him. With a The City of happy thought and a little pit of pixie dust, they’re off to Lawton, The Neverland. While in this new land, the kids encounter Pan’s adversary Captain Hook and his sidekick Smee. Rafi Levavy is the stage manager for “Peter Pan.” He has been with the company for 12 years and on tour with 20 productions. This is his third time to tour with the show. “Theatreworks does excellent shows that are great for adults and kids,” Levavy said. Levavy admitted to attending other Theatrework shows that he is not involved in simply because he enjoys them. He said often times Broadway talent write Theatreworks productions, including
Aggies traveling the globe
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The end of Bieber fever
See Page 3
Kevin Del Aguila. The stage manager said he has enjoyed his experience with this current tour of “Peter Pan” and has a great group of actors. “We’re all New York professional theatre folk,” said Levavy. “[The actors] are relatively young; most of them are in their twenties. They’re all professional actors.” Theatreworks’ production of “Peter Pan” had only six cast actors. Some of the characters played two parts. Jack Herholdt played not only Mr. Darling but also Hook. Mary C. Davis played Mrs. Darling and Hook’s sidekick, Smee. Ethan Spell played John and a puppeteer for one of Pan’s lost boys. Spell also dressed up as Hook’s greatest fear, the ticking crocodile. Jennifer Margulis played Michael and a puppeteer for a lost boy. Anna Stefanic played Nana, the dog nurse to Wendy, Michael and John. Stefanic also played Peter Pan with Patti-Lee Meringo as Wendy. The cast not only had to switch between roles, but also did their own set changes. The story starts in Wendy, John and Michaels’ room. When Pan arrives, the children receive their pixie dust and begin to f ly. The actors had dolls and stuffed animals to represent them. When they began to f ly, they would lift them up in the air and run about the stage. The production allowed children and adults to use their imagination. Right before the audience’s eyes, the actors changed the stage to their destination of Neverland. Pan intended for Wendy to be his and the lost boys’ mother. He wanted her to read them stories. Captain Hook soon found out about Pan’s new mother and decided that he wanted her as his own.
See PETER PAN page 5
Celebrating Chinese New Year
See Page 5
Aggies embracing Quidditch
See Page 8