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JIM FOX MAKES HIS MARK PAGES 10-11

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EARLY VOTING RECORDS PAGE 5 WOMENâ€™S XC WIN SUNBELT PAGE 8 MEET VANILLA ENVELOPE PAGE 14-15

The Appalachian

September 22, 2016

THE TEAM Carl Blankenship @carl_r_blank EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORIAL MULTIMEDIA BUSINESS

Aleah Warner @aleahwarner MANAGING EDITOR Victoria Haynes @victoriahayness CHIEF COPY EDITOR Sammy Hanf @sammyhanf NEWS EDITOR

Jacob Oller @ollerifyouhearme BUSINESS MANAGER Jordan Boles @jorddb MARKETING DIRECTOR

Katie Murawski @murawskikm A&E EDITOR Jason Huber @_jasonhuber SPORTS EDITOR

Olivia Wilkes @theappalachian ADVISER

CRIME LOG CAMPUS NOV. 7

NOV. 5

7:00 p.m. I Vandalism Rivers Street near East Tunnel Leads exhausted

4:49 p.m. I Drug Violations Rivers Street/Bodenheimer Drive Cleared by arrest

NOV. 7

NOV. 5

7:10 p.m. I Larceny Belk Library Complex Student referral

3:20 p.m. I Public Intoxication Trivette Hall Loading Dock Prosecution Declined

12:01 p.m. I Possession of Marijuana East Hall Cleared by arrest/by another agency

Maleek Loyd @maleekstuff VIDEO EDITOR Sydney Spann @spannooo GRAPHICS EDITOR Braxton Coats @brxcoats22 WEB MANAGER

Lee Sanderlin @lee_sanderlin ENTERPRISE EDITOR

NOV. 6

Dallas Linger @dallingerphoto PHOTO EDITOR

NOV. 5 11:59 p.m. I Underage Consumption of Alcohol East Hall Cleared by arrest

NOV. 6

NOV. 4

8:00 p.m. I Possession of Marijuana Eggers Hall Cleared by arrest

9:00 a.m. I Vandalism Schaefer Center Leads Exhausted

SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS

App News is a service of the Division of Student Development. Email wilkeso@appstate.edu for submissions with subject line: APP NEWS PAGE. Submissions should not exceed 100 words and must include the event title, date/time, location and cost, and a contact email, phone and/or URL. Announcements will be edited as needed and will run as space allows. Preference is given for events that are free or have a nominal cost.

WHAT TO DO VISITING WRITERS SERIES The Fall 2016 Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series will take place with craft talks and readings. Book sales and signings will follow each event. • Nov. 10: Novelist Robert Olen Butler, 2-3:15 p.m. Craft Talk in Table Rock Room, PSU. 7:30 p.m. Reading in Table Rock Room, PSU.

LEADERSHIP COFFEE HOUR The Leadership Development foundation of Student Engagement and Leadership is sponsoring a Leadership Coffee Hour every Monday from 9 am - 10 am in the McCaskey Center PSU 244. All are invited to the conversation. Coffee and tea will be provided. Please invite others to join us. Every week we select a new topic to discuss about leadership!

THANKSGIVING BASKET DRIVE Campus Activities and Hospitality House would like to provide your organization or office with the opportunity to sponsor a Thanksgiving basket to be delivered to a family in need this holiday season. With your help in App State’s campus-wide basket drive, we can reduce the amount of hungry families in our community. As we embark on the first year of our Thanksgiving basket drive, please help us reach our goal of 300 baskets this holiday season! By providing a basket, you are committing to completely fill the basket with the items on the attached list. By dividing the list of items among your members or colleagues, you can easily provide an entire basket of food to bring joy to a familiy in need! Monetary donations should be direced to Nicolas Wright at wrightnt@appstate.edu The basket drop-off location is the McCas-

key Center on the 2nd floor of the Plemmons Student Union, Suite 244. Drop off dates: November 14th & November 18th from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

by Active Minds and Yes Plus, in collaboration with The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. Sessions take place Wednesdays, until Nov. 16th, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in TCVA Room 3200.

FREE LEGAL ADVICE

CREATIVE WRITING INTEREST PARTY

The Student Legal Clinic, in suite 324 in Plemmons Student Union, offers confidential advice, information, and referrals provided by a licensed attorney. The attorney can meet with any currently enrolled Appalachian State student and can advise students on any issue that is not directly adverse to the university. Make an appointment by calling (828) 2628284. More information at legalclinic.appstate. edu.

The Creative Writing faculty invites new and continuing transfer/early college, international, and nontraditional students to a welcome event for all interested in creative writing. The event will combine social time, information, and a short reading by Creative Writing faculty and will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 15, from 6-7:30 pm in the 3rd floor Sanford Faculty Lounge. A student-led writing workshop for transfer students will also be launched at that time. RSVP, if possible, to weinbergsc@appstate.edu.

HUNGER GAMES

VAGINA MONOLOGUES AUDITIONS

The 6th Annual Hunger Games is coming on November 18th! For every 25 cans that your organization brings in for the canned food drive benefiting Hospitality House, you get one entry into the reaping to get someone from your organization to participate as tribute in the Hunger Games! The three organizations that bring in the most cans get an automatic second tribute in the games! Bring in cans to one of the collection boxes (in the ACT Office, or in front of the market in the Union or Trivette) between October 26 and November 17. And may the odds be ever in your favor...

ART IN MEDITATION Students will participate in a short-guided meditation (20 minutes) followed by the opportunity to create an artistic response to the mediation experience. All art supplies will be provided. Class size is limited to 25, on a firstcome basis. No registration required. Sponsored

Auditions for the Vagina Monologues 20162017 will be held on Wednesday November 16th from 7-10 pm in Room 013 in the Reich College of Education. Callbacks will be on Friday November 18th. More information will be given at auditions about callbacks. All gender minorities are welcome! Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to participate! No previous acting experience is necessary! If you want more information or have questions you can email our producer Shea McCullough: mcculloughss@appstate.edu or visit the Women’s Center to learn more!

CELEBRATION OF STUDENT WRITING Please stop by between noon and 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17 in the Grandfather Mountain Ballroom of the Plemmons Student Union to join us for the 6th Annual Celebration of Student Writing! The Celebration of Student Writing is the Rhetoric & Composition Program’s annual showcase during which students from our first- and second-year R_C courses share the exciting written and multimedia projects they’ve developed during the semester with a public audience. The R_C Program values writing as a dynamic and creative endeavor, and past Celebrations have highlighted the strong texts students have produced through their composing processes, including social media and websites, illustrated stories, infographics, audio recordings, videos, multimodal presentations, and other exciting multimedia and written compositions. For more information and to see a video of last year’s Celebration, please visit our webpage: http://compositionprogram.appstate. edu/celeberation-student-writing Students dedicate themselves to producing engaging and effective texts in our courses, so please stop by and join us in celebrating their great work!

HELP PLANT TREES ON CAMPUS!

A free and open event for all, Lyric hosts weekly open mics oriented around poetry and other word based art such as music, story-telling, etc. Join every Wednesday from 8:30-10:30 p.m. at 3rd Place.

We’ve got the tools and the trees. The missing ingredient is YOU! PLEASE help us make our Tree Campus even greener. Please email Mike Madritch at madritchmd@appstate.edu to sign up. Specify which date and time you can help out, and we’ll provide details (location, what to wear, etc). Tuesday, Nov. 15th 9-11:30 a.m., 1-3 p.m. or Wednesday, Nov. 16th 1-3 p.m. The department of Biology will be planting 19 trees along Boone Creek in Durham Park.

SUNDAY, NOV. 13

WEEKLY LYRIC OPEN MICS

THURSDAY, NOV. 10

FRIDAY, NOV. 11

SATURDAY, NOV. 12

Novelist Robert Olen Butler

“The Secret Life of Pets” Screening

Healing Arts Yoga

2-3:15 p.m. Craft Talk 7:30 p.m. Reading Table Rock Room, PSU

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

10:15 a.m. Mayer Gallery, TCVA free for students, $10 non-students

“The Secret Life of Pets” Screening

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

2 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

Rumours 9 p.m. Legends $10 advance, $12 door/non-students

MONDAY, NOV. 14

TUESDAY, NOV. 15

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16

THURSDAY, NOV. 17

Leadership Coffee Hour

Creative Writing Interest Party

Art in Meditation

Celebration of Student Writing

9 a.m. McCaskey Center, PSU

6-7:30 p.m. Sanford Hall Faculty Lounge, 3rd Floor

5:30 p.m. Room 3200, TCVA

12-3 p.m. Grandfather Mountain Ballroom, PSU

ASA’s 2nd Charity Gala

“X-Men: Apocalypse” Screening

6-9 p.m. PSU Solarium $5 advance, $7 door

7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

Lyric Open Mic 8: 30 p.m. 3rd Place

Vagina Monologues Auditions 7-10 p.m. Room 013, Reich College of Edu.

SEVEN NEW BIKE REPAIR STATIONS ADDED TO CAMPUS HALIE HAMILTON NEWS EDITOR

ike App, along with

the Office of Sustainability and Alternative Transportation Sub Committee, collaborated on a grant to make bike repair stations possible. REI provided the funding to buy the tools and University Recreation provided the funding for the installation. In total, there are seven workstations, two were installed last year and the rest were installed in September. “Our goal by providing these resources is to promote cycling in the area because we have found by talking with students that significantly more

students have bikes than ride them, largely due to the fact that they don’t know how to fix their bike or they have a flat tire and they don’t know how to replace it,” Chris Bartram, graduate assistant in charge of Bike App, said. Bartram said their research found that drivers are the primary cause of air pollution, yet about 75 percent of cars commute two miles or less per day. “We submitted this proposal in an effort to promote cycling and in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint,” Bartram said. Although Bike App has not been tracking how many people use the

tools, Bartram said he has heard many people say they use the tools regularly and their location on campus makes maintenance convenient. The tools come with a QR code that links to instructions for those that don’t know how to work them. Bike App currently has five students employed, with compensation coming through University Recreation Bartram said Bike App started off on an entirely volunteer basis, but after writing a proposal that was reviewed by the Office of Sustainability and the chancellor, they were given some university funding for biking initiatives.

This funding allows them to pay staff to help out on Sanford Mall and run educational workshops. Bartram said last year they received a grant for free helmets and were able to give out 20 free helmets to cyclists and skateboarders. “It’s important to be conscious of our impact on the environment, also biking is a large component for health and wellness,” Bartram said. “I think biking is one of the most effective ways to solve a large number of our problems on campus, such as parking and traffic.”

(Caption) A bike work station set up outside one of the resident halls at Appalachian State. The Office of Substainability’s Alternative Transportaion Sub Committee worked hard to set up many bike work stations around campus. The locations include, Lovill Hall, Frank Hall, Sanford Mall, Holmes Convocation Center, Walker Hall, Peacock Hall, and Katherine Harper Hall. (Photo Credit) Julia Eanes

Nov. 10, 2016

EARLY VOTING TURNOUT HITS RECORD HIGH IN WATAUGA SAMMY HANF NEWS EDITOR

ineteen thousand

nine hundred sixty three people took to the polls in Watauga County during the 2016 early voting period, up from the previous record of 17,751 in 2008. Matt Snyder, elections director for Watauga County, said despite the high turnout polling ran smoothly. “We just planned for it and shifted our resources from the Admin site during the first week that it was open and then once all the satellite sites opened up we shifted more resources over towards the student union,” Snyder said. There was one snag, however. Snyder said there was an error with the voting machines in the administration building site and the state recommended recounting the ballots. The recount returned the same results. Walt Grayson, deputy canvassing director for the Watauga County Democratic Party, said early voting turnout

Photo Credit:

at the student union was also at a record high, with 6,483 people casting ballots this year compared to 6,447 in 2008. Daily turnout was also higher, as there were three less days of early voting at the site this year than in 2008. Grayson said average daily turnout at the union was 1,111. “It was just really exciting whenever we broke that record because it was something that we were aiming to do but still, three less days, thinking realistically, it was kind of like a big goal and so we were really impressed with that,” Grayson said. Chris Behrend, data director for the Watauga County Democratic Party, said they registered 4,749 people over the course of their election through their get out the vote efforts and had over 200 staff and volunteers make 48,385 phone calls and knocking on over 5,000 doors. Anne-Marie Yates, chair of the Watauga County Republican Party, said the

Watauga GOP worked to identify voters who would like to file absentee ballots, made phone calls to reach potential voters and had poll greeters at each polling place on election day. Grayson said that registration efforts went well overall and that the only logistical difficulty for getting out the vote came from uncertainty about the campus site’s location. “So probably the most confusion came from not knowing where our voting site was going to be until a little more than a month before the early voting polls open so it was hard for us to go out encourage people to go and vote early because we couldn’t say you should go vote early at the student union or at Legend’s,” Grayson said. Grayson said outreach efforts were well received overall and that he relished educating prospective voters about down-ballot candidates where opinions might not be as strong and there is more

room for conversation than in the presidential election. Voters Grayson talked to were largely concerned about House Bill 2, a controversial piece of legislature dubbed the “bathroom bill” over its restrictions of restroom usage based on biological sex and the environment, with many expressing fear of the environmental effects of fracking. North Carolina also saw record highs for early voting, a State Board of Elections statement said 44 percent of the state’s registered voters took advantage of early voting. “We are proud of the highest early voting turnout in the state’s history,” Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections said in the statement. “Statewide, North Carolina had more early voting hours and more sites than ever before.”

Nov. 10, 2016

PINNING DOWN THE SEASON

Junior, Nick Kee, pins one of his opponents during a wrestling match last season in 2015. JOHN ROBERTSON SPORTS REPORTER

fter a long and hard

fought preseason, the Mountaineer wrestling team is entering the season with confidence and high hopes of another SoCon championship for the second straight year. With the preseason coming to an end, the Mountaineers have now had a Black and Gold exhibition and an invitational at Virginia Tech to prepare for what hopes to be another championship season. As in most college sports, the transition from high school to college is a tough adjustment to make. That’s why the preseason is crucial for getting younger guys ready physically and mentally by the time the season rolls around. Late this preseason, head coach JohnMark Bentley is more impressed than ever with the senior leadership from Denzel Dejournette, a senior All-American who wrestles in the heavyweight division. “We’ve got great senior leadership,” Bentley said. “Denzel works his tail off and does the right thing on and off the mat, which isn’t common to find.” With three years of college wrestling experience under his belt, Dejournette has embraced the role as leader. He calls himself an “overwhelming presence” on the team and is taking responsibility of the freshmen, making sure he encourages them to do the right thing. “I do a lot of yelling, I feel like when I yell they listen,” Dejournette said. “I’m not trying to intimidate them, I’ve just always liked people like Ray Lewis and Eric Thomas who are

inspirational vocal leaders.” Sophomore Matt Zovistoski, who finished fourth place in the SoCon last season, gives all of the credit to where they are at now to the senior class. “We’ve had a very good mindset this preseason,” Zovistoski said. “Senior leadership has been a huge factor, we have great upperclassmen that push us all the time and make us get better.” This season's team consists of only six juniors and seniors, making the other 14 members sophomores and freshmen. The presence of a senior leader like Dejournette is crucial in getting the lower classmen up to par on where they need to be when the season starts. One youngster that has impressed Bentley throughout the preseason is freshman Colby Smith, a three-time state champion and senior high school All-American out of Missouri. “I think Colby [Smith] can compete right away,” Bentley said. “He’s good enough to go deep in the national tournament and I don’t think it’s out of the possibility that he can be an all American as a true freshman. He’s very mat-savvy and has skills that you can’t teach so I’m expecting big things from him.” Smith acknowledges the giant leap of competition from high school to college, but it isn’t keeping him from having any confidence heading into the season. “I have been busting my butt since I was a freshman in high school,” Smith said. “But it definitely a lot harder to break the lineup and there is a lot more competition.” In preparing for the season, the Mountaineers went head to head in

their annual Black and Gold intrasquad exhibition match on Nov. 2. This exhibition match gives the coaches and players an idea as to where they are at physically and mentally before the season starts. Even though these guys wrestle each other daily, it is nice for them to get in a match-like atmosphere where there are fans, a referee and the score is kept. “This is just one part of the steps to get to competition, we learned a lot about ourselves today,” Bentley said. “For the most part, I was very impressed with our freshmen, we’ve got some that I really think are going to help us this year.” With nearly every match going down to the wire, it gives Bentley a sense of comfort knowing that whoever he runs out on the mat at each weight division, the Mountaineers have a chance to win. “We have a lot of competition in every weight class,” Bentley said. “Most of our weight classes it is very competitive to see who is going to start. I think that competition in the room will help because the guy can’t relax.” Sophomore Logan Durham and senior Vito Pasone duked it out at the 125-pound weight class. In a back and forth battle, Durham scored a late two points to win the match 8-7 over Pasone who was first team All-SoCon in 2016 “It feels good to get back on the mat but I’m ready to start wrestling other people,” Durham said. “Vito and I have been wrestling nonstop for the last two years. Last season when I was a freshman he beat me pretty bad all year, but this preseason we’ve pretty much been

going back and forth.” Freshman Colby Smith earned the only pin of the entire night when he put freshman Thyree Washington in a cradle during the second period. “It was pretty exciting to be back out there,” Smith said. “I’m looking forward to the season, it’s going to be a good one.” Officially opening up the season, four wrestlers were placed in the top four of their weight classes when they traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia on Nov. 6 to wrestle in the Hokie invitational. The tournament consisted of two different brackets, an open division and a freshman and sophomore division. Smith took home first place in the 133 pound division, winning the first collegiate tournament that he competed in. Zovistoski took second place at the 149 pound division of the freshman and sophomore bracket. Pasone finished third at the 125 pound division, and senior Forrest Pryzbysz took home fourth in the open division at 165 pounds. Dejournette flew to South Dakota to represent the Mountaineers at the heavyweight division at the Daktronics Open, hosted by South Dakota State University. Dejournette took home third place in the tournament where he won 4-0 in a major decision against Collin Jensen from Nebraska-Lincoln. The Mountaineers are more than ready to enter the season full swing and will be back home Nov. 12 when they host Belmont Abbey and Oregon State in Varsity Gym.

Photo Credit: Dave Mayo; Appalachian State Athletics

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Nov. 10, 2016

Women’s Cross Country team celebrates winning their first Sun Belt Conference Championship.

WOMEN'S XC WIN SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP MONICA CRAWFORD SPORTS REPORTER

he third time was

the charm for the App State women’s cross country team, winning the Sun Belt Conference Cross Country Championships in Dothan, Alabama on Oct. 29. “I’m very excited about winning, and I’m very proud of the young ladies,” head coach Michael Curcio said. “We came close the first two years, and the third time was the charm.” Finishing second in both of their first attempts at a Sun Belt Conference Championship, it wasn’t until their third year in the Sun Belt that they were able to push past the competition and finish first, adding another conference championship title to the long history of cross country success at Appalachian. All seven of the Mountaineers’ runners finished in the top 15 spots in the race, with notable performances from senior Tristin Van Ord, sophomore Emily Fedders and senior Torre Moser. Van Ord finished the race in second place for her third straight year and put down a time of 17:37.50. Fedders finished in eighth place with a PR of

18:24.30 and Moser finished two spots behind her in 10th place with a time of 18:36.50. Junior Hana Ratcliffe and redshirt junior Natalie Kile crossed the line right behind Moser, finishing in 11th and 12th place. Junior Kerry Leonard rounded out the Mountaineers’ performance and finished with the lead pack in 15th place. This was Fedders’ first ever cross country conference championship meet, and Curcio said she stepped up to make sure that she could hold her eighth place spot throughout the race in order to secure a win for the Mountaineers. “I hadn’t been to a conference championship before, so it was really interesting because it’s just a cool environment,” Fedders said. “It was awesome to be a part of that team winning experience.” On the other hand, this was Moser and Van Ord’s fourth and final attempt at getting a conference championship win. “It took a while for us to win – our freshman, sophomore and junior year – so it’s about time,” Moser said. “It was just extremely gratifying to have that win.”

The Mountaineers’ steepest competition throughout the meet was cross country powerhouse Coastal Carolina. Curcio said that it was vital for all seven of the runners to finish ahead of Coastal’s fourth place runner so that the Mountaineers could balance out Coastal’s top three runners and take the title. The team was able to deliver, and ended up beating Coastal Carolina by 13 points. It was the team’s confidence in their ability to finish in the top 15 spots and their determination to finish ahead of Coastal that helped the Mountaineers grab the title. “We felt prepared, we felt ready and we felt ready to hurt,” Moser said. “We realized that it wasn’t going to be easy, and we realized that it was going to take everything that we had. So we accepted that and said, okay, we can do that.” In addition to winning the championship, Curcio was named the Sun Belt Women’s Coach of the Year. “It’s rewarding to be given that honor,” Curcio said. “But it wasn’t anything that I did in particular. I was just able to help these ladies to get to the point where if they run well, they can win and they did.”

Capping the conference championship with a win added to the strong legacy that cross country has at App State. The team won the meet thirty years to the day after their first ever women’s cross country conference championship win, which the Mountaineers won just two years after director of Track & Field and Cross Country John Weaver started the program at App. Following the championships, the Mountaineers were named No. 15 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Southeast Regional Rankings, which the team said is also motivation to finish well in regionals two weeks from now. “The ranking is really just a number,” Fedders said. “It’s exciting to be ranked, but you can go into the race and finish way lower or higher than you’re ranked. It’s more that we’re really excited because we know that we can race as well as we did at conference and race well as a team at regionals." The team will compete in regionals at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional meet on Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. in Earlysville, Virginia.

Photo Credit: Appalachian State Athletics

Nov. 10, 2016

CROSS COUNTRY SENIORS MAKE FINAL STRIDES

Senior Chris Anderson placed 14th in the Sun Belt conference championship.

TYLER HOTZ SPORTS REPORTER

hen the App

State men’s cross country team opened up this season, it was the last time for five runners to leave their mark on the Mountaineer program. Featuring five seniors, this senior class for the Black and Gold is the last class that was still here before the Apps transitioned to the Sun Belt Conference during the 2014-15 season. Seniors Chris Anderson, Michael Ellis, Evan Laratta, Jacob Sears and Andrew Vandenberg have all contributed toward the immense success the App State cross country program has seen over the past few years, and each of them have different stories for how they ended up in Boone years ago. Starting his college career at the University of Charlotte, Anderson did not consider App State at first, but after only one semester he decided that he wanted to get a change of scenery. “I actually didn’t look at App when I first came out of high school, and I just hated the cold,” Anderson said. “After my freshman year, I looked into a school

where I could make a difference, so I looked into App then and the people and academics made me feel like I could fit right in and make a difference.” Bringing a different story to the table, Ellis decided on App State in large part because his high school coach was a former Mountaineer runner of his own. After some encouragement from his coach to take a visit, Ellis thought that the App State program was the right one for him. “[My coach] pushed me to look at App and when I came on my visit I just loved being up here in the mountains and loved the trails,” Ellis said. “The group of guys here at the time were great as well.” Head coach Michael Curcio has also been directly involved in forming this core of five seniors. Curcio was teammates with Vandenberg’s father when they both were running for the Apps back in the 1980s. Coaching cross country and also the distance team for track at App State for 22 years, Curcio has seen the App State program grow and change over the

years. Excelling as a distance runner for the Mountaineers, Curcio tallied three all-SoCon honors in track. In all the years he has been around this program, he sees that this core of five runners are as talented as he has seen. “They have risen to the level of competition we are seeing these days in the southeast, and I’d say these seniors stack up with any group that has come before them,” Curcio said. “It’s a long tradition that goes back even before I was an athlete here, and they have helped keep that tradition alive and now the underclassmen will have that responsibility to keep it moving forward.” While their time on the course or on the track has been marked by achievement, more strides have also been outside of just running for the Mountaineers. “Running just can’t be the only priority, you have to make it also about school because we are student athletes,” Anderson said. “The friends you make on the team stick with you forever, and guys on the team that have graduated three

or four years ago still talk to us, so it is good for us to have some connections.” Through it all, these five seniors have helped the Mountaineers finish in the top four in conference championship meets each of the past four seasons, including two Sun Belt runner-up finishes the two previous seasons. Setting the pace for the final time in a conference championship race, four seniors finished inside the top 20, including top 15 finishes by Ellis in 11th and Anderson in 14th. Although the fourth place finish was lower than what this senior class wanted to achieve, there are still high hopes the Apps can leave their mark in a highly competitive southeast region. “Looking ahead to next week, we would like to crack back into the top 15 in the region,” Curcio said. “We lost to a few teams in the regular season like George Mason and UNC Charlotte, and we would certainly like to get a little revenge and even up the season score.” The NCAA Division I Southeast Regionals will be held on Friday at 11 a.m. in Earlysville, Virginia.

Senior Michael Ellis in a race. Photo Credit: Appalachian State Athletics/Brian McWalters

Nov. 10, 2016

OLD GYM NEW TEAM

Head Coach Jim Fox enters his thirid season of Mountaineers and opens the season at Davidson on Saturday. JASON HUBER SPORTS EDITOR Entering his third year as head coach of the Appalachian State men’s basketball team, Jim Fox has finally been able to make his mark on the Mountaineers with a new foundation, culture and a full roster of players that were recruited and sought out by Fox and his staff. Replacing Jason Capel on April 8, 2014 as the new Mountaineers’ head coach, Fox was taking over a team that had been looking for an identity. Being an assistant coach and associate head coach at Davidson College for 13 years, Fox was bringing something that the men’s basketball team hadn’t experienced in a while: the culture of winning. Both having a history of being Southern Conference rivalries, Davidson and App State transitioned to the Atlantic Ten and Sun Belt conference in 2014, respectively. This was the same year Fox arrived in Boone, and the transition took the two teams’ annual matchups with them. Three years later, Fox and the Mountaineers will face off against the Davidson Wildcats for the first time since their SoCon rivalry and Fox will coach against the mentor who helped him work through the coaching ranks, Davidson head coach Bob McKillop. “This has been a game that a lot of fans were asking for and I am anxious to get out there and be tested against them [Davidson],” Fox said. “I want our program to be able to resemble the success that Davidson has had and being able to be tested against them is awesome.” Both growing up in New York, being 25 years apart in age, McKillop and Fox both attended Chaminade High School in Mineola. Fox’s father coached a local youth basketball team that McKillop also

coached earlier in his career. Fox began to coach the youth basketball team while he was only in high school and knowing Fox’s father, McKillop had the chance to see Fox coach. In addition to coaching McKillop’s son Matt McKillop, it was only the start of a bond between Fox and McKillop. “There was a kinship in a part of a neighborhood network that really develops in a place like New York where there is such proximity between so many schools and so much is intermingled and connected through the generational passing of the torch,” McKillop said. “I knew his father fairly well and I had a chance to watch him coach in youth and AAU basketball and I was very impressed.” In 2001, Fox joined McKillop’s staff as an unpaid volunteer coach, but just three weeks later, one of McKillop’s assistant coaches left, leading to Fox’s promotion. “I didn’t even hesitate to promote him,” McKillop said. “Every opportunity he had, from being part time to full time to associate head coach, he developed and matured and grew as a coach in a way that is incredibly admirable. He did it through a step-by-step process.” Never having been to North Carolina, the transition was different for Fox after years in New York, but he was able to make it home quickly. “Being away from friends and family was tough, but Davidson and Charlotte are incredible spots,” Fox said. “I was ecstatic about how beautiful the area was and I was fortunate to get a job for an outstanding coach at a beautiful place like Davidson.” Enjoying much success with the Wildcats including an NCAA tournament

run to the elite eight with then Wildcat and current NBA Most Valuable Player, Stephen Curry, Fox became a coach that players listened to and a key contributor for the Wildcats. “[Fox] saw the game. He knew how the game was played and he knew how to teach and coach it,” McKillop said. “He is a very IQ oriented coach and I look for people who are detailed and thorough and he really demonstrated that and his commitment and dedication to time was extraordinary. He went above and beyond to become a better coach.” After spending over a decade with Davidson, Fox finally had his opportunity, accepting the head coaching position at App State, a team he had faced many times in SoCon matchups. “I knew it was a crazy business and coach [McKillop] always said if I have a great opportunity, those are the ones I need to jump at,” Fox said. “I had a great opportunity at Davidson so I wasn’t in a rush and I was learning under coach [McKillop] and that is not a bad thing. I knew my time would come and I had to be ready for it.” Tasked with the challenge of building a coaching staff, Fox hired VMI assistant Jason Allison, University of Texas assistant Bryan Lentz and Fairmont State assistant Mantoris Robinson as assistant coaches. Robinson, who played for Winthrop and met Fox during Davidson’s tournament run, didn’t think twice about the opportunity to coach under Fox. “It came as a surprise when he reached out to me and offered me the position,” Robinson said. “I watched the press conference and was blown away at his will for basketball and his charisma.

He was a man with a purpose and I was excited to work for him.” After being projected to finish last in their first season in the Sun Belt Conference, the Mountaineers finished sixth in the conference with Fox’s at the helm. Only having a handful of players that Fox and his staff recruited themselves, Fox was faced with challenge to implement his own system and culture on a Mountaineer team that had been struggling for a while. “I was a high school coach and coached at Davidson and winning was the norm,” Fox said. “It is tough to get through losing, but Bob [McKillop] always told me, ‘You have to impose your will’ and it is a process that you have to build up and get that foundation. You can’t go to the penthouse right away and I know we are building this program up and hopefully the penthouse will come soon.” Only having junior guard Jake Babic and forward Griffin Kinney as the two players that Fox and his staff recruited, Kinney had no doubts about Fox. “He was a first year coach and I was a freshman so we could grow together and make mistakes together and that didn’t really bother me or cross my mind,” Kinney said. “It was a great decision for me.” Knowing the tradition that Davidson has, Kinney felt it would only make Fox a better coach. “I knew he was at Davidson and that program speaks for itself,” Kinney said. “What they [Davidson] have done and if he is bringing that culture here and that offensive system, it would be a really good fit.” After losing many close games last

Photo Credit: Dallas Linger

Nov. 10, 2016

Jim Fox, standing on right, coached at Davidson for 13 years including an elite NCAA tournament run in 2008 with current NBA MVP Stephen Curry, left, and Davidson Coach Bob McKillop, middle. season and only winning nine games, Fox decided to take the team to Europe. The NCAA allows teams to take an overseas trip every four years and was something Fox wanted to do after experiencing it with McKillop and Davidson. “We enjoy the thoroughness of education not just on a court or on campus but having a sense of a year abroad and giving that opportunity to players is part of a full experience for student athletes,” McKillop said. “It gets your players bonding and becoming more familiar and without the pressure and spotlight to compete in front of the media and it is a laboratory that is extraordinary from the basketball, historical, bonding and sociological standpoint.” Experiencing it with Davidson as an assistant, Fox was the one in control this time. “It was a lot different from when I went on these kind of trips at Davidson because I was responsible for everybody,” Fox said. “It made a big difference. When you are in charge of everything going on there it is a lot more responsibility. So, I was always on my toes making sure everything was going okay, making sure the bus is correct, the hotel is correct and that the game is set. I have an incredible staff and they were very helpful in that too.” Still tasked with developing his players, Fox has also been able to have an impact on his assistant coaches as McKillop did with him. “My mentors were always defensive-minded people and now coach Fox brings an offensive mindset to me,” Robinson said. “Finding ways to get these guys better and challenging me each and every day to bring something to the table and be creative, I have seen myself grow under him [Fox] in ways I couldn’t have

Photo Credit: Davidson Athletics

ever imagined.” Fox is hoping his third year will be the year a culture is finally formed, having the players he recruited and getting the system and foundation in place that he wants. “We thought this could be a very special place and you take off from guys and really get this program going,” Fox said. “You see the success the football program has had under coach [Scott] Satterfield and the culture that he has brought and that is something we can build here and I think we’ve got that with the culture and now we just have to get the wins to follow.” McKillop went through his own struggles at Davidson, but said he was never really put into the type of situation Fox was brought into and sees Fox making more progress than an average coach. “To change an entire culture of a team for me is a five, six or seven year process and he has taken incredible strides and started to lay the foundation for that culture,” McKillop said. “He is well on way to that and he has put the foundation in place and now it is a matter of putting together the building because it will be a very magnificent building once he gets it done.” Still continuing to keep in touch on a regular basis, Fox and McKillop will finally face off against as opposing coaches for the first time, with the hope it can rekindle a rivalry for fans and players to enjoy. Not only does the matchup feature Fox returning to Davidson, but it also features two teams with similar offenses. “I have always thought about [playing against Davidson] and thought it would be interesting to see how that game would match up because the offenses are very identical,” Kinney said. “I thought

it would be fun to see how it goes and it will be a head-to-head battle a little more so with the offensive schemes and coach [Fox] returning.” Now having lived in Boone for three years, Fox has begun his own head coaching journey and is now the one wanting to beat Davidson, but he will never forget the experiences that helped

him become the coach and person he is today. “I will always remember those years at Davidson and the guys on the team I am still friends with because it was incredible. It is just such a great place,” Fox said. “I am forever thankful for the opportunity that Bob [McKillop] gave me.”

Former Davidson Basketball player Stephen Curry goes up for a shot with Fox on the sideline as an assistant coach.

MOUNTAINING THE WILDCATS NOV. 12 | WEDNESDAY | 8:00 PM | JOHN. M BELK ARENA Game Notes: The Apps finished the 2015-2016 season with a record of 9-22. They won three of their final five games, including a win over Arkansas Little Rock, who went on to beat Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Davidson finished last season 20-13, and their season ended in a first round loss in the NIT to Florida State. History: This will be the first time the Mountaineers and the Wildcats have met since they both transferred out of the Southern Conference (The Apps to the Sun Belt and the Wildcats to the Atlantic 10). The 78-66 loss on the road on Jan. 11, 2014, was the last game the Apps have played against the Wildcats, and they are 32-42 all-time against Davidson (14-21 on the road). No players from App State’s 2013-2014 team remain on the roster for this season.

SLOWING DOWN JACK GIBBS:

GETTING THE SOPHMORES INVOLVED:

WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE:

The Davidson senior guard averaged 23.5 points per game this past season, and he shot over 33% from three, while also shooting 84% from the free throw line. The Mountaineers were pretty solid defending the three ball last season, allowing less than six made three’s per game compared to them making over eight per game. In addition, opponents averaged almost 24 free throw attempts per game, which is something the Apps need to limit against Davidson who shot an excellent 76.1% from the line a season ago. The Apps need to slow Gibbs down, and they need to not allow him to get easy points at the line or attempt many wide open threes.

Having only one senior on the roster, the youth of this App State team is astounding. With the loss of Frank Eaves, the Apps need to find a replacement for their top scorer from a year ago. Sophomore guard Ronshad Shabazz was named Sun Belt Preseason Third Team, and he was the second leading scorer for the Apps a year ago with 11.9 points per game. On their Europe trip before the season, sophomore forward Tyrell Johnson and sophomore guard Emarius Logan both had some solid games and look to add some scoring. The Apps also need to spread the wealth this season and up their 11.5 assist per game average from this past season.

The Mountaineers struggled controlling the basketball this past season, turning it over of an average of 14.9 times per game, while only forcing 11.3 turnovers per game. The Apps only had two players who had more assists than turnovers, and only one of those players returns for this season (Jake Babic 46 assists to 30 turnovers). The Apps need to control the ball, while also putting pressure on the Wildcats. Davidson only turned the ball over 10.2 times a game, while teams playing them averaged 11.5 turnovers per game. By Tyler Hotz Sports Reporter

DAVIDSON

9-22, 7-13, SUN BELT

COLLEGE 20-13, 10-8, A-10

GAME’S KEY PLAYER

POINTS PER GAME

70.5

79.0

RONSHAD

#2 SHABAZZ

REBOUNDS PER GAME

36.8

35.0

LAST 5 GAMES OF LAST SEASON

3-2

11.9

POINTS PER GAME

29 CAREER HIGH POINTS

Nov. 10, 2016

Freshman running back Darrynton Evans runs the ball against Idaho.

NEW FACE SAME PACE TAYLOR STORY SPORTS REPORTER

o your job: a slogan

made famous in the world of football by the New England Patriots, but has been an undertone of sports for ages. If all eleven players on the field do their job, then everything will go according to plan. This is the role that freshman running back Darrynton Evans found himself in early in his career. Recruited out of New Smyrna Beach High School in Oak Hill, Florida, Evans tallied over 1,600 yards and 25 touchdowns in his final two seasons despite missing six games. He was recruited by an abundance of NCAA Division 1 programs, including Sun Belt rival Georgia Southern, but chose Appalachian State over all of them. As a freshman, Evans has already been a key factor for the Mountaineers. Coming into the season, Evans was the third running back on the depth chart and didn’t see a snap in the first game of the season, an overtime loss to the Tennessee Volunteers. Come game two against Old Dominion, in what was the first home game for App State, Evans saw his first collegiate carries. “I was ready to go,” Evans said. “I told my parents it’s a big step but I’ve been playing football since I was six. It’s kind of the same thing, just a little

Photo Credit: Dallas Linger

bit faster and the people are bigger but at the end of the day it’s still football.” He totaled eight carries for sixteen yards on the day in their 31-7 rout of of the ODU Monarchs 31-7. With starting running back Marcus Cox already rolling to start the season recording two back to back 100+ yard rushing games as well as sophomore running back Jalin Moore producing good numbers, nobody really knew who Darrynton Evans was outside of the team. Next came the biggest home game in Mountaineer football history, a battle against national heavyweight No. 25 Miami Hurricanes of the ACC conference, and 34,658 fans in attendance saw what ultimately was a deflating loss on such a promising day for App. But it was what happened during the game that was potentially worse than the loss itself. Cox was injured in the first half on a long touchdown run, that was called back on a penalty, which caused him to miss the next couple of weeks. This would bring Evans into a larger role than he expected this season. He tallied another five carries ending in eighteen yards, with Jalin Moore receiving most of the carries when Cox went out. Evans’ overall role in the offense would increase against Akron in week

four. With several key runs in the game to keep offensive drives alive, along with a 23-yard reception, Evans was feeling good. What could have attributed to his success in the game was his new role in the kick return game. “Its opening kickoff and you get that first hit out of the way and you don’t have to worry about it the rest of the game,” Evans said. He returned six kicks for 154 yards giving in 199 all-purpose yards in the game, good for second on the team behind Moore’s 274 yards, en route to a 45-38 victory. There was certainly no lack of confidence in Evans to get the job done within the coaching staff. “I had all the confidence in the world in Evans,” said running backs coach Stu Holt. “Those guys had a great camp, they all work hard and those guys are all fighting to get on the field and we would be just fine.” After his first game in a bigger role, some might have expected him to stumble a little being a true freshman and not getting the same volume of reps as the other guys. But in the games following the game against the Akron Zips, Evans kept producing in key moments. Posting 243 all-purpose yards in the

next four weeks, Evans found his role with the team. “What speaks volumes about him is his ability to pick up what we’re doing,” Holt said. “And to be able to do it at a high level is uncommon for a true freshman, so he’s been extremely valuable in the past couple of weeks and certainly look for him to continue to get better.” With Marcus Cox returning from injury, Evans can now spread his talents around in the offense, being utilized more in the receiving game as well as rushing and returning. “We wanted to play him more at receiver,” Holt said. “Due to injury he’s played more running back than we originally thought. He’ll continue to have a big impact in the kicking game and certainly have an impact on offense.” With Cox being in his last year and set to graduate, Evans is looking to be a key contributor of the Mountaineers future. Only three games remain on the schedule for the Mountaineers, Evans looks to continue coming up clutch when his team needs him and hopes to help lead the team to another Bowl Game victory and Sun Belt championship.

Nov. 10, 2016

The members of the local band Vanilla Envelope practice a couple of their songs in the Hayes School of Music building. The ska punk band consists of Logan Smith on alto sax, Corbin Lenard as the bass player and lead vocalist, Bradley Mitchell on bari sax, Justin Austenfeld on trombone, Kyler Rabe on guitar, Charlie Smith on trumpet and Will Whitehurst on drums.

MEET VANILLA ENVELOPE ADRIENNE FOUTS SENIOR A&E REPORTER

ost students are

eager to get schoolwork over and done with as soon as possible. For Corbin Lenard and several of his fellow students, however, one class assignment evolved into something that consumed their lives. Lenard, a senior music industry studies major, is the bassist and lead vocalist for local ska-punk band Vanilla Envelope. The band was a result of a recording project in September 2015 for one of Lenard’s music industry classes, in which he got some friends from the music school together to record a few songs. “I made a joke to our bari sax player Bradley and said, ‘Hey man, let’s do a ska-punk cover of ‘Mrs. Robinson,’” Lenard said. “Then we said that to each other again, but not as a joke, like oh,

this is actually a good idea.” After doing some more recordings for the class, and coming up with the name Vanilla Envelope (the phrase “manila envelope” was misheard by the drummer), the band played its first live show at 3rd Place. Although 3rd Place had a fire code of about 47 people, sophomore music education major Charlie Smith said more than 100 people were crammed in the venue to see them perform. “I didn’t really know what to do when we were done playing,” Lenard said. “So I just took my bass off and stared at the crowd and they just parted for me. That’s still one of the best moments of my entire life.” Vanilla Envelope is made of seven members: Lenard on bass and lead vocals; Smith on trumpet; Bradley Mitchell on baritone saxophone; Kyler Rabe on guitar; Justin Austenfeld on

trombone; Logan Smith on alto saxophone; and Will Whitehurst on drums. All seven members are in the Hayes School of Music as either music industry or music education majors. “It puts us all in the same building every day, which is awesome,” Smith said. “It also makes us better connected as a group and as a band. If we were scattered throughout the school, we’d probably just be bandmates, but we’re all really good friends.” The band calls its genre ska-punk because they modeled their horn line after the ska-punk band Streetlight Manifesto, Smith said, but the music they play is “the loosest definition of ska-punk there is.” A couple of Vanilla Envelope’s songs have ska origins, Smith said, but the band dives into other styles of music such as reggae, jazz and metal. “The kind of music we play is dras-

tically different than most of the bands in the Boone scene,” Mitchell, junior music industry studies major, said. “You know, usually you got your indie rock or indie folk bands, whereas we are very left field from that.” “When we go to shows, the first thing people do is go ‘Oh my God! Horns!’” Austenfeld, senior music education major, said. The band has gone through several lineup changes over the past year; the only members who remain from the original recording project are Lenard, Smith and Mitchell. The changes to Vanilla Envelope’s lineup weren’t due to disagreements within the band, Smith said, but simply because many of the old members did not have the time to commit to the band. “We wanted to be serious and take the band places, start touring and

Photo Credit: Halle Keighton

Nov. 10, 2016

(Left) Members of the local band Vanilla Envelope, Logan Smith on alto sax, bass player and lead vocalist Corbin Lenard and Bradley Mitchell on bari sax, practice a couple of their songs. (Right) Members of the local band Vanilla Envelope, Kyler Rabe on guitar, Charlie Smith on trumpet, and Will Whitehurst on drums, practice a couple of their songs in the Hayes School of Music building. The band identifies their music as ska punk and they travel around North Carolina when they get the chance in between being students at Appalachian State. traveling, and that’s why we had to go separate ways,” Smith said. Another advantage of being in the school of music, Lenard said, is that it wasn’t hard to find replacements for the members who left. “It’s also useful to have so many people who used to be in the band, because they all still remember the songs,” Lenard said. “So if we ever need someone to fill in for a show, they can do it.” Despite Vanilla Envelope’s dedication and closeness among its members, and the willingness of old bandmates to fill in when needed, having a band made up of seven full-time college students isn’t easy. Several gigs have had to be thrown away, Mitchell said, because part of the band was unable to make it. The band still squeezes time for practicing, recording and playing as many shows as they can into their busy schedules, however. The day of the Appalachian State vs. Miami football game, the horn line of Vanilla Envelope was in the marching band, and left at halftime to rush to a gig in Raleigh, which they barely made in time. “They ran in during sound check, just as we were supposed to start playing, having tuned in the car on the way there,” Lenard said. “The sound engineer was like ‘Can we get some horns?’ and I turn and see their empty spots beside me and go, ‘They’re not

Photo Credit: Halle Keighton

here– oh wait, there they are!’” The band will definitely play together for the rest of their college careers, Lenard said, and they want it to continue after college as well. They have recorded an EP, “The G.O.A.T.” and have

recently added their music on Spotify. Lenard said that Vanilla Envelope is his main focus, the thing he puts the most time and energy into; at some times it even takes precedent over classes.

“Going out to all these different places, sitting in a car with these guys for six hours, playing these shows for a bunch of drunk people,” Mitchell said. “I mean, there is a reason why we do it. It’s just fun.”

Nov. 10, 2016

(Top left) Melody Fayth Marshall and Alex Adcock on set of “Diane’s Inferno” directed by Melanie Lech. The film was one winner of the “Do Not Eat More Than One” script contest. (Top Right) Students on the set of “Decomposed”, directed by Berry Jone, during the 45 minute film challenge. (Bottom left) Melanie Lech, Alex Bradford Cobb, and Berry Jones on the set of “Catastrophe”, a plotless script directed by Alex Bradford Cobb (Bottom right) Derrick Kimbrough on the set of “Catastrophe”, which was directed by Alex Bradford Cobb.

36 HOUR FILM FEST SYDNEY WOLFORD A&E REPORTER

ver two years ago,

Appalachian State Film Club members watched films together in a Sanford Hall classroom and talked about what they liked or disliked about them. They struggled with figuring out how they could transform their casual movie discussions into an organization. App State offers an English major with a film studies concentration, but the university does not have a major or many classes that teach how to film, senior English major and App State Film Club event coordinator Alan Dickens said. This is one of the many reasons that Dickens, senior interdisciplinary studies major, the club’s public relations representative Melanie Lech and club president Berry Jones decided to create a film club a few years ago. Now, App State Film Club is evolving, Dickens said. Film Club will hold a 36-hour film competition open to the public to create a comedy, drama or horror/thriller film on Nov. 11. Teams will write, produce, direct and edit their film within three days. Teams have to pick a genre for their film, and begin the filming process at 9 a.m. on Nov. 11. After all of the short films are written, produced and edited, the final products will be shown on Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. “You don’t have the pressure or time commitment of doing a shoot over a

period of weeks,” Lech said. “It’s just one weekend and you end up with something.” Over the summer, Lech participated in a 48-hour film festival in Charlotte, and wanted to bring a film festival to App State. Lech liked the idea of meeting new people, networking and having friendly competition. Anyone who is interested in any aspect of the filmmaking process or wants to get more involved in the film community is welcome to participate in the competition or watch the submissions on Nov. 13, Lech said. Lech said that she wants participants to not only create a tangible product after the competition, but also to learn about film in a different environment than a classroom. “I think that it’s good to get out of the classroom,” Lech said. “These student short films are important for giving students an opportunity to learn, figure out what they’re interested in, what they’re best at and what they want to pursue.” Freshman economics major and participant Patrick McCabe agreed that making short films with other students is an important learning experience. McCabe, a one-person team in the film festival, said that he doesn’t “expect to blow anyone away,” but it would be a way for him to see how he compares to other filmmakers in Boone. Since McCabe is on an individual team, he will be tasked with writing,

directing, producing, acting and editing. Although this means more work, McCabe said that he will be able to have a more cohesive vision for his final product than if he worked with a group of people. Sophomore criminal justice major and participant Thomas Fore wants to be on a team. Fore said he wants to join a team that is interested in trying something new and hearing everyone’s ideas. Fore said he hopes to act in the short film, but would not mind writing either. He recently became interested in acting, and was an extra in “Find a Way,” a faith-based film. “I hope to get more experience,” Fore said. “Hearing praise is good too.” The judges, who are also App State professors, will choose an overall winner and will give out several other awards at the film screening on Nov. 13. Dickens hopes that the 36-Hour Film Festival is what the campus needs to progress toward a larger, stronger film community, and potentially more film classes or film studios in the area. “I feel like events like this film festival are exactly the kinds of things we need to raise ambition for this very complex, powerful medium,” Dickens said. The club still watches movies and discusses them together, but recently there is a focus on filmmaking, Lech said. The group watched low-budget music videos during meetings to get ideas on how to make something

worth watching with limited resources. As for filming newbies, Dickens said that even experienced producers, directors and actors are just as nervous to show off their work as someone who has never touched a camera before. “I don’t think there’s a better crowd of people to start working on your projects with,” Dickens said. “They’re passionate and they’re willing to learn just like you are.” People interested in shooting a film should join the club’s Facebook group and search the spreadsheet for ongoing projects, Lech said. “I just wrote a random script, got some friends together, that’s almost done editing and without Film Club I don’t think that would’ve been possible,” Dickens said. App State Film Club has even more planned in store for the semester than the film festival including a movie night on Nov. 8 that is open to the public and collaboration with the Rotten Appal to create satirical short films. Some members organize shooting a short film on the club’s Facebook page if they want to make a film for fun. “This semester, we’ve had people go off and make their own thing,” Dickens said. “They’re making their own shorts. I feel like the quality of the work of the club overall is improving as the club is finding its footing.”

Photo Credit: Appalachian State Film Club, Melanie Lech, and Cali O’Mailia

Nov. 10, 2016

FOOD4THOUGHT RAISES AWARENESS ADRIENNE FOUTS SENIOR A&E REPORTER

ood-

4Thought, an interactive event to help raise awareness and volunteerism for the Hunger & Health Coalition of Boone, will take place Nov. 10 from 5–6:30 p.m. in Whitewater Cafe. During Food4Thought, participants can walk through four stations in order to learn more about the Hunger & Health Coalition. When all stations have been completed, the student’s name is entered in a prize drawing. The stations’ activities are based on what the Hunger & Health Coalition offers to clients and what students can do to help, said Amanda Wallace, a senior public relations major involved with Food4Thought. The first two stations are about the food and health aspects of the Hunger & Health Coalition, the third lets students know what can be donated to the organization and the fourth is a volunteer sign-up table, where students can learn how to get involved with Hunger & Health. The acapella group Enharmonix will be performing at Food4Thought, and participants will receive free food and be entered into a raffle after completing the stations. “I hope that people will learn about all of the opportunities for volunteering that the Hunger & Health Coalition has,” Taylor Bowers, a senior public relations major involved with the event said. “They are always in need of extra help and donations, but are sometimes forgotten

Photo Credit: Audrey Bowden

Flyer for Fodd4Thought about by the college demographic.” The event is hosted by a public relations campaigns class taught by Heather Preston, a professor in the department of communication at App. The class teamed up with the Hunger & Health Coalition this semester, and acts as a mock PR agency to come up

with a communication plan for the organization. “Our contact at Hunger & Health wanted us to increase awareness about the organization and increase student involvement, so he wanted us to target App State students,” Aki Regan, a senior public relations major in the class

said. “So we’re holding this event to teach people about the Hunger & Health Coalition and get them more interested in volunteering.” The Hunger & Health Coalition is a non-profit organization that assists community members who live in poverty or who have food and health insecurity. The organization has several programs to help those in need receive food and medicine, and relies on partnerships with food pantries and pharmaceutical companies as well as donations from businesses and individuals. Between 2000 and 2013, 29.5 percent of Watauga County lived in poverty, Wallace said, and more than 19 percent of the county lives in food insecure households. In 2015, one in every three people who received food from Hunger & Health’s food pantry was under the age of 18. The overall goal of Food4Thought, Wallace said, is to build a stronger connection between the Hunger & Health Coalition and Appalachian State and to inspire students to get involved. “We’re trying to do this in a fun way; hopefully while people are at the event they’ll have fun while learning about Hunger & Health,” Regan said. “And if it’s successful, it’ll show that students can raise awareness and really make a difference.”

Nov. 10, 2016

BOLO FEST CREATES “ART-REPRENEURS”

Karen Sabo (left) and Abby Suggs (right), two of the producers of BOLO Fest, pictured in Bald Guy Brew, one of the performance locations of the festival. MARY MYRICK A&E REPORTER

n/Visible Theatre doesn’t

always perform in theaters. Past productions have been held in secret locations, post offices and coffee shops. The theater organization has held women’s arm wrestling competitions in Galileo’s, there have been art exhibitions related to their shows in the Jones House and they performed scenes from Shakespeare inside the Watauga County Library. In/Visible Theatre will be utilizing many of these locations to hold the first annual “Boone Solo Performance Festival,” or BOLO Fest, from Nov. 17-19. It will be held in the style of a fringe festival, performed within local businesses of Boone including Bald Guy Brew, 3rd Place, Watauga County Library and I.G. Greer Studio Theatre. Tickets are free, and performers include both local community members and out-of-town guests. Karen Sabo, producer, explained that In/Visible is holding the festival to showcase local artists’ individuals pieces of work, and create “art-repreneurs” within the community. Fringe festivals consist of alternative theater and material that is usually outside of the mainstream, Sabo said. The festivals often lend to more inventive work, she said, as the performances can be held in increasingly unique spaces, instead of a stage directly created for theater. Fringe festivals often showcase some of the newest pieces of work, as they are commonly performed as artists develop them. Large theaters typically avoid “edgy” material, Sabo said, in order to reach a wider audience and avoid controversial issues. Fringe festivals, such as BOLO Fest, are held on a smaller scale, she said, allowing more artists more freedom. “Mainstream theaters are sometimes reluctant because they don’t want to alienate the supporters they need to keep their buildings going, and their staff and all of that stuff,” Sabo said. “And so with fringe festivals, you get some really innovative, interesting material.” Fringe festivals also often receive more diverse audiences because of their affordability and more varied body of

work, Abby Suggs, associate producer of BOLO Fest, said. “Major theaters charge much higher, [which] is why contemporary theater in that realm is reserved, honestly, for rich, older white people,” Suggs said. The performances within the show all have very different in subject matter; but they are all solo pieces, Sabo said. Some of the pieces were written directly for BOLO Fest, while many are new pieces being developed, along with pieces that have been performed for many years. A large portion of the performers wrote their own pieces, some autobiographical pieces and some fictional. Sabo and Suggs plan for the performances to be dispersed throughout different, unexpected locations, including Bald Guy Brew, 3rd Place, the Watauga County Library and the I.G. Greer studio theater on campus at App State. In/Visible Theatre decided to incorporate local businesses to not only promote businesses that they love and that the community loves, but also to show audiences that theater can be performed anywhere and everywhere, both Sabo and Suggs said. In/Visible Theatre, while also frequently producing traditional theater productions, typically produces shows that present unique ideas in unique spaces. Sabo said that In/Visible has been experimenting with the locations of their productions even before the birth of BOLO Fest. “So, in that way, doing a fringe festival in Boone seems sort of a natural thing to come out of everything we’ve done in the past,” Sabo said. Glenn Driskill, senior sociology major and intern for In/Visible Theatre, also believes that the upcoming fringe festival is appropriate for the Boone theater scene. “I hope that audiences gain an understanding of fringe theater, and are inspired to explore and connect with other artists, patrons and fringe theater festivals across the state,” Driskill said. In addition to their use of unique performance spaces, In/Visible specifically chooses performances and bodies of work that they believe are particularly relevant to Boone and the surrounding high country, Sabo said. To understand and watch In/Visible Theatre’s productions, audiences do not

Ray Christian, internationally award-winning storyteller and Boone local, will be performing at BOLO Fest. need to research or have past experience with theater but must be open-minded to different perspectives and innovation in art, according to the organization’s website. Along with regionally-targeted stories, In/Visible Theatre hopes that audiences will gain a better appreciation for theater. “I think some people have the impression that theater can be boring, unless you were a theater nerd growing up and realize how fun it is, but just as an audience member, there’s some of that perception,” Suggs said. The performers within the festival are a mix of professionals, community members, App State alumni and out-oftown guests. John Hardy, Eugene Wolf from Barter Theatre, Suzanne Gray and Leya Topodas are among out-of-town performers. App State alumni include Katelyn Sabet and Jenna Calamai. Mark Suggs, Technology Trainer at App State, and Dennis Bohr, a professor in App’s English department, will also perform. Ray Christian, an international award-winning storyteller and Boone local, is also among notable guests. BOLO Fest provides In/Visible Theatre a way to create what Sabo terms “art-repreneurs,” or “artists that can sort of think like artists and business people.” In/Visible hopes to provide actors with the opportunity to perform pieces of both their own choice and their own directing, Sabo said. Solo pieces are also easily portable and allow actors to

develop pieces that can be performed at various festivals and locations. Actors in particular do not frequently control the roles they play and stories that they tell, but festivals like BOLO Fest allow actors greater influence and agency, Sabo said. For the near future, In/Visible Theatre is planning several new events. In fall of 2017, the theater will hold In/Visible Theatre Community Dance Day, which will organize flash mobs across the High Country. Dancers and community members of all ages will be featured: kids, teens, adults and older adults with canes and walkers, Sabo said. Additionally, the theater intends to hold a series of workshops in the spring for acting, improv and possibly auditioning. The theater has also begun to plan the details of their next traditional production. In/Visible Theatre is currently looking for volunteers from all parts of the community, Sabo said. The theater’s website has a questionnaire that allows community members to find a way specific to their talents and strengths to volunteer. As In/Visible Theatre grows, they looking for helps of all kinds and from all backgrounds, Sabo said. The organization’s website states, “Think you might be interested in sitting in a room for a while with other thoughtful people also interested in beauty, truth, complexity and the potential of art to improve the world? Come see us.”

Photo Credit: Baron Cooper and Mary Elizabeth Myrick

Nov. 10, 2016

ATLANTA STANDS OUT

When I first heard Donald Glover was creating his own television sitcom, I was ecstatic. Whether it be his writing on 30 Rock, his portrayal of Troy on “Community,” his stand-up comedy or his mixture of rap and pop music under the stage name Childish Gambino, I’ve always been a fan. If you have listened to his music or paid attention to any of his work as an artist, you can see that Glover has an ability to depict outside-of-the-box concepts through his unique visuals. Plus, he is organically funny, something that should not be taken for granted in our society of recycled humor. With all of that internal hype, I was worried that Glover’s new endeavor would not live up to the expectations that I, along with many other fans, had created. But somehow, “Atlanta” was even better. “Atlanta” is a different show. Aside from the pilot episode, the other nine episodes could be watched in any order. There is no specific story that bounces from episode to episode. There is no underlying plot running in the background. It’s just life. Each episode works differently. Aside from the characters, everything changes constantly. However, it’s those characters that make “Atlanta” such a joy to watch. The story starts with Earnest “Earn” Marks (Glover) finding out that his cousin Alfred, aka Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), is an up-and-coming rapper in the Atlanta rap scene. Earn, a Princeton University dropout, then sets out to convince his cousin to let him be his manager. While hesitant at first, Alfred

Colin Tate is a senior journalism major from Wake Forest, North Carolina. agrees, and this sets the stage for a multitude of different adventures for Earn, Alfred and Alfred’s stoner friend, Darius (a scene-stealing Keith Stanfield). Alfred’s stand out episode is entitled “B.A.N.,” and it’s illustrated through a show within the show. The episode is a 30-minute talk show featuring all fictional characters. Early on, the viewer is informed that something Alfred had said about the transgender community went viral and had been taken in a negative way. Along with Alfred, the show features the host, Franklin Montague, along with a scholar, and they discuss the incident along with other stories. There are also faux-commercials during “Montague” in which characters that made solo appearances throughout the season are advertising satirized products and services. Alfred’s demeanor and honest-to-himself ways are on full display and Henry’s acting carries the episode as he is the lone main cast member to appear in the entire 30-minute block. As for Darius, at first he may appear as a stereotypical pothead sidekick. But as the series progresses, you find out just how much you don’t know about the

character. For every dumb phrase that comes out of his mouth, there is a wise, thought-provoking one that follows. At one point, he goes on a mini-rant about the pros and cons of rats being used as cell phones. At another, he gets into an argument at a shooting range over the ethics of using human-shaped targets. The list continues. The fourth and final main character is Van (Zazie Beetz), who is the mother of Earn’s child and an interesting character in her own right. While she only appears in six of the series’ 10 episodes, she makes her presence felt. Van’s role is representative of the hardships a young, career-driven, African-American woman faces while trying to settle in life. A role like that is rare in a typical American 30-minute sitcom. She fluctuates on her feelings for Earn but never feels needy or whiny. While their relationship isn’t conventional, it doesn’t seem overly toxic either. Van also gets her own episode where she is followed around with only minor appearances from Earn and Alfred. You see the hardships from her side and also start rooting for her as she attempts to find a way to get around a her job’s mandatory drug test. But while Van, Alfred and Darius are all important characters in “Atlanta,” the show always circles back to Earn. The series starts and ends with him: his relationship with Van, his relationship with his daughter and his relationships with Darius and Alfred. And after 10 episodes, there is no closure. There is no ending. There really isn’t even a middle or a climax. This is not a show that progresses.

This is not a show that builds. It’s not a show that is leading to something bigger. “Atlanta” just is. The life of a semi-celebrity and his manager. The life of a stoner. The life of a single mother who still feels for her under-achieving baby daddy. People often call “Seinfeld” a “show about nothing.” I prefer to think of it as a show about life. “Seinfeld” was true for a number of people, except for the standup comedian aspect. You live in an apartment. You have a few close friends. You talk about things that are kind of boring. You discuss unbeknownst topics. You have relationships. And each episode, or each day, life goes on. In a way, I think “Atlanta” is the same thing for a different demographic. A lot of “Atlanta” is Atlanta. Sitting at the house playing video games. Having dinner with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Hanging out with friends. Going to events or the club. Those are normal activities. There is some version of Earn, some version of Alfred, some version of Darius and some version of Van out there in this world today. That’s what’s so beautiful about the show. “Atlanta” reflects life in such a vivid, occasionally embellished, way, and you can observe that, even if it does not directly reflect your life. It didn’t feel staged. It didn’t feel like these were actors on television. It felt like the telling of stories that are not often told. And it did it in a way that was perverse enough, funny enough and entertaining enough to get millions of people to watch.

UNIFIED BY THE CUBS

f you don’t know any-

thing about the Chicago Cubs, or their 108-year World Series drought, than I am sorry you missed out on the greatest thing that happened this year. In simple terms: this year was awful. American politics are in such disarray we have to look to sports for a glimpse of happiness. Sports are just entertainment, but they have become more relatable in the public eye during this election cycle. Well, except for professional football. Recently we looked to the real American pastime for some uncorrupted viewing pleasure. The Cubs are one of Major League

Angelo Errico is a senior journalism major from Concord, North Carolina. Baseball’s staple franchises, and were the league’s biggest disappointment. Now we look to the Cubs, and their depressingly die-hard fans, for some hope. Their hope can best be compared to,

and again we’re getting political, the hope projected in Barack Obama’s campaign eight years ago. To compare the collective embarrassment of the Clinton and Trump campaigns to the Cub’s glorious 103-win championship season, that revived the spirit of the entire country, at least for a night, would be downright disgraceful. This is how it had to happen. It was supposed to be a comeback, down three games to one to the Cleveland Indians, forcing a game seven and allowing extra innings. All after an unneeded rain delay. Anything easier would not have been worth their fan’s long, grueling ride to much deserved glory. It was an American moment.

The game, which will go down in lore as the one of the greatest ever played, was more than a game played by 18 guys on a wet, Cleveland night. The game left an impression on the country and illustrated what fulfilled hope feels and looks like. An event that didn’t see red or blue. If you don’t like watching sports, that’s fine, they can be silly. But to say the Cubs winning wasn’t one of the most satisfyingly real moments in America this year is willful ignorance. Sports are an escape. An escape from the everyday stresses that haunt our lives. Us fans know they’re silly and pointless, but they make us care about nothing collectively.

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