CYAN
MAGENTA
YELLOW BLACK NEWS
In Sports:
Vol. 87 No. 6
October 28, 2011
Homecoming game Sat., Oct. 29
Check out the Homecoming special insert to learn more about the man behind Harding’s name and the major milestones that have led Harding to be the SEE Page 1b university is today.
‘Annie’
OPINIONS
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SPORTS
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FEATURES
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ENTERTAINMENT
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In Entertainment:
Kaelyn Tavernit gives her top five picks for Halloween horror films that every student ought to see before the fall season ends. SEE Page 4b
Eighth-grade lead lights up Benson stage with ‘hard-knock life’ classic
by AERIAL WHITING copy editor The sun will come out tonight and tomorrow on the Benson stage as the Harding theatre department performs the fall 2011 musical, “Annie.” Having been performed at Harding before in 1986, “Annie” will show at 8 p.m. on both days as part of the Homecoming festivities. Tickets cost $10, $12 or $15 based on seating and will be available in the Benson lobby an hour to show time. Set in 1933 in New York City, the musical tells the story of spunky 11-year-old Annie, who lives at an orphanage under the care of the unscrupulous Miss Hannigan and who remains hopeful that her parents will come for her. During the Christmas season Annie is invited to enjoy a two-week stay at the mansion of Oliver Warbucks, a billionaire who focuses on business rather than relationships. During her visit, Annie softens her host’s heart, and he eventually adopts her as his own. Annie is being portrayed by Harding Academy eighth-grader Abbey Giboney, the daughter of Head Women’s Volleyball Coach Keith Giboney. “Annie” will be Abbey Giboney’s debut performance. Producer Cindee Stockstill said Giboney has brought a genuineness to her role and that she has been a dedicated worker throughout the process. “Abbey herself is a wonderful young lady, very balanced, very spiritual, just good people skills,” Stockstill said. “She’s a great young lady, and that comes through in her interpretation of Annie.”
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photo by CALEB RUMMEL | The Bison Annie, played by Harding Academy eighth-grader Abbey Giboney sings “I Don’t Need Anything but You” with Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, portrayed by junior Benji Holder, while performing at dress rehearsal Sunday night, Oct. 23. For most of the semester, the orphans, played by a mix of university and local grade-school students, rehearsed with children’s director Dottie Frye before the older cast members held rehearsal, and Giboney participated in both sessions. Giboney said she has really enjoyed getting to work with the younger cast members and college students as well as the experience of being in the production. Giboney said she particularly likes the numbers “I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here”
and “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” and learning the choreography. In addition, she likes the kindness of her character. “[Annie] kind of had a hard life at first, but then when she was good to everyone everything kind of worked out for her,” Giboney said. “So I guess that’s kind of how I picture real life is, but it doesn’t always work that way.” While this story is primarily about Annie, it also charts the transformation of Mr. Warbucks. This dynamic role has challenged
junior music major Benji Holder, whose previous roles include Lefou in “Beauty and the Beast” and Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” which were performed prior to his time at Harding. At the beginning, career-driven Mr. Warbucks is “commander-esque” in the way he barks out orders and pushes people away, Holder said. However, Mr. Warbucks’ demeanor changes dramatically throughout the musical. “The transformation comes when he meets Annie, this little girl who just kind of warms his heart and makes him realize what it’s like to love someone,” Holder said. “I go from this really loner kind of a guy to this guy that falls in love with [Annie], wants to have this little girl as his daughter, wants a family.” Other principal cast members include graduate student Mary McBride as Miss Hannigan and senior Morgan Tunnell as Grace, Mr. Warbucks’ secretary. “Annie” has also challenged the ensemble and set crew, Stockstill said. The members of the ensemble have to portray two or more roles, and the show consists of multiple scene changes, including the orphanage, Warbucks mansion and FDR’s cabinet room, all of which must have their own look. Senior Jonathan Aders, who has been involved in almost every part of the set, said one of the most difficult parts of the set has been constructing the revolves, or rotating platforms, and that he looks forward to seeing the show. “I’m excited to see how all the revolves factor into the set,” Aders said. “I’m excited to see the orphanage scene with the bunk beds. They climb up and down the bunk beds and throw pillows from the top bunks.”
Internet outage causes stir around campus, town by J.M. ADKISON editor-in-chief & Alexis Hosticka features editor This past Tuesday, Oct. 25, the Harding University campus experienced an Internet outage that affected not only the school, but also the town of Searcy as well as the surrounding areas, such as Arkansas State University in Beebe. The campus Internet became unusable at about 11 a.m. and returned just before 8 p.m. Keith Cronk, Vice President of Information Systems and Technology, said the reason for the Internet outage was due to an accidentally cut AT&T cable line near Vilonia and ASU-Beebe. While he is not sure what sort of cable it was, he said he thought it was at least a 9-inch cable. “Once the Internet went out, there was nothing much for [IS&T] to do but wait like all of the other offices on campus,” Cronk said. “There was not much we could do since it was not a campus problem.” With the Internet out,many students could not complete schoolwork. For a technological age so dependent on the Internet, being unconnected gives more problems than not being able to check Facebook. “I was trying to work on phonetics and get on Dictionary.com to see transcriptions of words and if I was transcribing them properly,” said junior Molly Shoaf, who studies communication sciences and disorders. “I also was trying
to email an outline to a friend who was in my group for Bible, and I was unable to do either one. I even went to my mom’s house off campus to see if I could use the Internet there, but since we are AT&T, we did not have Internet at home either.” The outage was also exceptionally troublesome for students with computer-based projects. “I have three projects due next week and I need the Internet for some part of all three of them,” said senior Charlene Nutt, a computer science major. “I also only had two classes yesterday and more time to work on it, but without the Internet, I was unable to get much done. I also had a quiz set up on Moodle I was supposed to take, but that did not happen either. Luckily, the teacher moved the quiz back.” The testing lab also experienced trouble since students were unable to take online tests or lost their work when the Internet crashed. “We are doing recovery work for the testing lab to help get the lost work back for those who lost it during tests,” Cronk said. Though Moodle was unusable, Pipeline still remained accessible. Cronk said Pipeline is a part of an on-campus internal server, which made it accessible for students on campus but not off. In the case of an emergency in which the Internet is out, the school has other avenues to inform the student body of danger or anything important it needs to know about, such as through the texting alert system and regular phone lines., Cronk said.
photos by SAVANNAH LEE | The Bison Freshmen Madison Schwertley and Vanessa Lewis hurl paint at each other at the “Smiles Day” paint fight at Harding Park on Thursday, Oct. 20.
‘Smiles Day’ brightens up campus with smiles contest, paint fight and concert to benefit Honduras by NICOLE SULLENGER opinions editor The organization Smiles for Christ has taken the meaning of its name to a whole new level. On Oct. 20, the members hosted a “Smiles Day” across campus, an event to gain awareness for their organization and to raise money for their mission trip to Honduras. “Today we decided to go back to basics,” said Daniel Avelar, president of Smiles for Christ. “Our name is Smiles for Christ, so we wanted to create a day where we could celebrate the act of smiling. With smiling you give a lot and you receive a lot. It doesn’t cost anything.” Smiles for Christ is an organization whose mission is to help mentally challenged kids and adults in Honduras. Two years ago the group traveled down to Honduras to build a water tank. The community they helped received water only on Wednesdays, but had no way to store it all. With the building of the new tank, they could store water and have it during the entire week. Keeping the same missions mindset, Smiles for Christ wanted to find unique ways that would help serve the Harding community on Smiles Day.
Our name is Smiles for Christ, so we wanted to create a day where we could celebrate the act of smiling. -Daniel Avelar, president of Smiles for Christ To promote Smiles Day, Smiles for Christ members invaded classrooms and interrupted classes to hand out encouragement cards and candy “just to bring a smile to people,” Avelar said. Smiles for Christ hosted a paint fight, smile contest and a concert on the front lawn. The concert featured Harding musicians Katie Morgan, Sammi J, The Abigails and The Grey Estate.The Smiles for Christ members said they believed that the concert was the culmination of what they had been working toward all day long. “Smiles Day is just a different day,” Avelar said.“It’s a day where even if you’re tired or if you aren’t having a good day, we’re going to try and make it better. Because that’s what we’re trying to do with the people we help in Honduras, bring them smiles.” Aside from Smiles Day activities, Smiles for Christ is beginning a new project called 200K. The goal of this
project is to raise $200,000 to build a new school in Honduras for students with disabilities. “We like the vision that this school has because what they believe is that these kids, these adults, these people can be productive to society and we believe in that vision too,” Avelar said. “We believe that even though they have challenges they can give something back.” Wherever they are and whatever they are doing, Smiles for Christ carries the same focus — to serve God. “By serving him we serve his people,” said David Ezell, recruitment chair for Smiles for Christ. “I once heard a quote that said, ‘Once you really love God, you love his people and you love all of them.’ And really lately through Smiles for Christ I’ve developed a love for more and more people and it’s just been a great experience to have fellowship with my brothers and sisters, working toward serving his kingdom.”