ON THE VERGE Oct. 3, 2014 The Daily Eastern News' weekly arts and entertainment section
Nature center to bring fall fun By Megan Ivey Verge Editor | @DEN_Verge Families can celebrate the first week of October and the turn of fall season with the Douglas Nature Center’s annual Fall Family Fest Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The event is free to the public. Jennifer Tariq,the education director of the Douglas Hart Nature Center, said the event is in an open house format.
“Most of our activities will run the entire time,” she said. There are scheduled events within the festival, however. Tariq said a big hit from the event is the costume contest. The contest will start at 2:30 p.m. Winners will be selected from the following categories: funniest, most original, nature, best couple/group, best male/female character and best character/makeup. Costumes can be either homemade or store bought. Tariq said although the couple category is typically
brothers and sisters, it is not always the case. “We had a cowgirl and cowboy last year who did not know each other but we put them together,” she said. “They matched perfectly but were complete strangers.” At 3:30 p.m. there will be an event called the “Haystack Hustle.” Much like the play on words from the saying “a needle in a haystack,” children will be divided into age groups and search a pile of hay NATURE, page 1 for prizes.
Check out On the Verge of the Weekend for an exclusive look at returning band Gaelic Storm.
TRYING FOR REPEAT
The Eastern women’s soccer team will face Belmont Friday in hopes of getting a first win of the season.
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Friday, Oct. 3, 2014
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
VOL. 99 | NO. 29
Coronation polls open Monday
who he was, the phone calls and texts stopped. Washington would hardly see them at first, but as they became more comfortable around him, he started to make male friends again. “At the end of the day I’m still me,” Washington said. Aside from being gay, Washington is AfricanAmerican and Portuguese, and with that comes other challenges. He said being himself was never an issue around black women, but the men were always weary in his presence. Washington said many guys would stare at him uncomfortably and assume because he is gay he would possibly make a pass at them. “Just because I like boys, doesn’t mean I like you,” Washington said. Homosexuality has always been present within the black community, but it is a topic that is often swept under the rug and seldom discussed. “(There’s) so much we don’t talk about and it’s destroying our community,” said Yolanda Williams, a Gateway advisor.
By Samantha Middendorf Entertainment Editor | @Samantha_EE The voting for the 2014 Homecoming court will begin 12:01 a.m. Monday and end at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Each year, Homecoming Week begins when Eastern chooses a king and queen at coronation to represent the school throughout the year. Lori Knoechel, the University Board’s homecoming coordinator, said candidates are chosen by their organizations, including registered student organizations, fraternity and sorority programs, and residence halls. The candidates must go through interviews and an additional voting from the student body done to officially be in the running for king or queen and prince or princess. “These students are the representatives of Eastern Illinois University, and show our school in the brightest light,” Knoechel said. All students, elected by their organizations, must meet a 2.5 GPA requirement, be truthful on their applications and complete an interview with a staff member on campus. The interviews will take place Saturday and Sunday. “These interviews are worth 30 percent of their overall judging,” Knoechel said. “The rest of the candidates percentages are provided by the student voting.” Knoechel also said she encourages every student to vote for who should win the crowns of king, queen, prince and princess. “You should vote because you attend this amazing school, and you want to see it best represented,” she said. “Mostly, you should vote because you are an EIU Panther, and no matter what, Panthers stick together.” Candidates from fraternity programs include Eric Hearling, a Sigma Nu member, Nathan Gayheart, a Phi Kappa Theta member, Mark Galvan, a Sigma Nu member, Mitch Gurick, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon member, Kyle Samas, a Delta Tau Delta member, Alejandro Flores, a Delta Tau Delta member, and Mackenzie Miller, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon member. Some candidates from sorority programs include Erin Kahr, an Alpha Sigma Alpha member, Katie Murphy, a Kappa Delta member, and Abby Howard, an Alpha Sigma Alpha member.
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JASON HOWELL | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Jalen Washington, a sophomore accounting major, said he was most concerned with coming out to his family, but found his father to be more accepting than he anticipated.
LGBTQA racial minorities share struggles By Roberto Hodge Multicultural Editor |@BertoHodge Editor’s note: In observance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer and Ally History Month, this is the first of two articles profiling people on Eastern’s campus who identify as one of those letters. Looking back, he said he had moments when he hated who he was and would cry wishing it were not true. Jalen Washington, a sophomore accounting major, is openly gay and always knew. “I was born this way, (but) I would fight it off,” Washington said. Washington said he dated women as a “cover,” but when he was in high school he met fellow gay people on a retreat with students in his class, which was an eye-opener. He said he started making friends, dated one and then came out to himself. “This is me,” Washington said. However, he said his biggest concern was his family’s reaction. Washington said his family found out when he was in his room and his father walked
in. He said there was an awkward atmosphere and he had a feeling that was the day they would find out. “Are you attracted to guys?” Washington’s father had asked, and he said he was stunned speechless at the brazen question. “I started crying, and I said yeah,” Washington said. Washington told his father that he was bisexual instead of gay because of the connotation of it being easier. To Washington’s surprise, his father was accepting of him and even made a joke about the situation. He said his brother was the first to know of his orientation, which garnered a couple days of silent treatment, but his brother eventually came around and their relationship became closer. Washington said his mother came home crying and was more upset that he never told her first; however, his grandmother has an issue with his sexuality. “If you can’t accept me you don’t deserve my time,” Washington said. Prior to coming out, Washington had more male friends, but once he declared to everyone
Taylor Hall takes top spot in ROCFest for first time By Luis Martinez Staff Reporter |@DEN_News Those in attendance waited in anticipation as Kadie Peterson, the Resident Hall Association vice president, was about to reveal the overall winner of ROCFest on Thursday. “And finally the winner of ROCFest, Taylor Hall,” Peterson said. Taylor has never won ROCFest, and this year Taylor had placed at least in the top three in almost all the events. Anthony Klaus, a freshman engineering major and Taylor Hall’s RHA representative, reflected on the accomplishment.
“The domination was real, but competition was good,” Klaus said. “There were times where we couldn’t make deadlines, and we had our troubles, but we made it through.” He said Taylor Hall had many participants for ROCFest. “We had a lot of participation during the events; some people participated more than most, but in the end we came out on top,” Klaus said. Peterson also announced that Andrews Hall took second place and Pemberton Hall took third place. Person announced the winners of each of the individual events that occurred during ROCFest.
For the boat relay race, Peterson re vealed the winners of both the judging portion and the actual race. For the judging portion of the event the first-place winners were Andrews Hall participants with Thomas in second place, and Taylor in third. The top three halls for the racing portion were Douglas, Ford and Weller. The winners of the ROCFest windowjudging contest were also revealed. The winners of the contest with interactive windows were Pemberton Hall participants. Taylor Hall came in second and Andrews Hall came in third. The zombie tag event had two sets of
winners, which include longest survivor and the most infected. The top three halls with the most infected were Ford, Taylor, and Pemberton halls in that order. The top halls with the longest survivors of the event were Thomas Hall in first place, Stevenson in second and Taylor in third. The final event was the campus-wide scavenger hunt. First place winner was Taylor Hall. Weller hall came in second, and Andrews Hall came in third place. RHA also announced which halls found the most panther babies.
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