OPTIMIST THE
WEDNESDAY December 5, 2007 Vol. 96, No. 26 1 sections, 8 pages www.acuoptimist.com
More than just a pillow fight at a pajama party
Pajamas made in Thailand women’s shelter more than a paycheck: they’re life changing, page 5
Another pizza my heart Nation’s best?
New pizza restaurant, Double Dave’s opens to give Abilene another pizza choice, page 3
ACU running back Bernard Scott one of three players in nation nominated as top D-II player, page 8
Ice rink returns when students leave By Kelline Linton Student Reporter
The Abilene community can soon enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, festive Christmas lights and ice skating fun in one venue. The Ice House, Abilene’s outdoor skating rink at Festival Gardens across from Nelson Park and the Abilene Zoo, will be open Dec. 14 through Feb. 16.
file photo by EMILY SMITH
Joy Huskerson, right, and daughter Kelly McIver, both from Abilene, ice skate on Nov. 17, 2006 when the Ice House opened last year.
The skating rink will be available to the public Thursday through Sunday beginning at 5 p.m. and closing at 10 or 11 p.m. The admission price for children and military personal is $8, while adult tickets cost $10. All fees will include a skate rental. Proceeds earned this winter season will benefit Abilene’s Habitat for Humanity and the Dyess We Care Team; this fundraiser is only
in its second year. “It’s fun to come out here, and it’s a good family event. It wouldn’t bring back the best memories because I fell a lot as a kid, but I would still have fun,” said ice rink volunteer Jake Laudermilk, freshman business marketing major from Austin. The 48-foot by 104-foot rink will be a prime entertainment site this Christmas for people of all ages, volunteers say.
Exposed Art
College students given ONE solution
“There’s not a whole lot to do in Abilene, and this just gives kids another option that they can do in the winter,” said volunteer Ashleigh Wieduwilt, freshman elementary education major from Blue Springs, Mo. Last year was the skating rink’s inaugural debut. It opened in mid-October, but faced numerous melting See
ICE page 7
Sing Song class themes take shape By Grant Abston
By Val Valle
Student Reporter
Online Editor
Although it may seem impossible for a college student in Abilene to spread awareness about global disease or poverty to others around the world, ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History is making it possible. A couple of months ago, ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History launched ONE Campus Challenge. ONE Campus Challenge is a national campaign that gives students and universities the opportunity to help fight poverty and disease by spreading awareness. Students are even given the chance to be rewarded for their efforts by the ONE program. According to its Web site, ONE believes this generation has all the resources and technology to end poverty and fight global disease. “ONE’s use of cuttingedge Internet-based technologies gives members an unprecedented level of organization and involvement,” said Kimberly Cadena, ONE campaign’s spokesperson said in a press release. Currently, there are 1,300 campuses around the nation involved in the ONE Campus Challenge, including ACU. The Campus Challenge encourages students to hold meetings and participate regularly in creating awareness about ONE in hopes to expand the campaign’s effectiveness. Throughout the challenge’s three phases, students can earn points for their school through participation on campus in more than 100 different ways ONE
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ONE page 7
Dickson kwong CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
With the semester winding down, classes begin selecting themes and directors for this year’s Sing Song “World Tour.” This year’s Sing Song theme, “World Tour,” centers on the idea of a band going on tour, offering numerous possibilities. While there are still many details to work out, classes have begun working out details to produce successful shows. The sophomore class has chosen the theme “babies” and will be co-directed by Wade Huggins, Biblical worship major from Abilene, and Chris Herrington, prearchitecture major from Abilene. “I’m excited to direct, and it is good experience leading any group of people and being involved,” said Huggins, sophomore worship ministry major from Abilene. “I have been to Sing Song since I was a baby, so it’s cool to finally be involved.” Carrie Gallman, junior interior design major from Sugar Land, will direct the junior class, centering their act on CocaCola bottles with the theme “Keep on a Rockin’ Me Mommy.” “The experience will be really fun, and our act will be fun and goofy for all kinds of ages,” Gallman said. After winning last year, the senior class will look to continue their streak
Lauren Huff, accounting graduate student from Eastland, and friend Tre Sellari look at a piece of art in “Exposed,” the senior art show Friday in Shore Art Gallery.
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THEMES page 7
Directors absences put students out to pasture By Luke Sims Student Reporter
As this semester draws to a close, students are getting ready to pack up and head home. But it’s not just the students — the directors of the Department of Agriculture and Environment teaching lab have packed up as well. The two former directors of the farm left recently for a career change, one to return
to full-time farming, and the other to try a career in New Mexico. With them gone, student employees have had to step up to meet the farm’s operational needs. “Without a full-time operator, student employees are continuing to do work and are helping out to fill in the gaps. Whether its work time or class time for them, they are putting in extra effort for us,” said Dr. Ed Brokaw,
Brady Cook professor in the Agriculture and Environmental Department. Rhoden Farm, located in Shackleford County, is ACU’s agriculture department’s teaching lab. With places for students to be involved one-on-one with animal management techniques, as well as teaching and research techniques for students and faculty, it is an important asset for agri-
culture students. Brokaw said this lab is very instrumental to students. “It’s very hands-on, and students get the chance to work during class or part time if they choose.” Brokaw also said that although some might question the farm’s status now without the full-time operator, it is well taken care of. “Students are really putting forth effort to keep it run-
ning. It is an important part of the class and important for the students as well. The students are really picking up the slack, and things are running well,” Brokaw said. With the farm continuing to be run effectively, students should not fret of the future of their lab, it’s in good hands. Farm hands, that is. E-mail Sims at: optimist@acu.edu
ACU’s Gentry raising violent questions for women By Sharon Rapelje Student Reporter
Dr. Caron Gentry looks into the realm of women’s violence in global politics in her first book, written with Laura Sjoberg, titled “Mothers, Monsters, Whores.” The 225 pages analyze political women who have used violence: Abu Ghraib, the Iraq prison where detainees were tortured, al-Qaeda, Chechen black widows, genocides and more. The title refers to the labels placed on these women to explain their violence.
“What it really does is excuse any of their reasoning or rationale behind their violence,” said Gentry, assistant professor of Honors Studies and political science. Gentry said it disturbed her that they were not held directly responsible for their actions; instead the blame fell on causation. Her opportunity to write about the topic came in 2006 after she and Sjoberg, assistant professor at Virginia Tech, spoke together on female terrorists and the women involved in Abu Ghraib at the International Studies As-
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
sociation Annual Conference on the panel entitled “Notions of masculinity and femininity and violent women: a retrospective on Cynthia Ehloe’s “Banana’s, Beaches and Bases.” Publishers approached Sjoberg to write a book about the issues, and she said only with Gentry. Each author picked different women to analyze. Gentry said she wanted to include Chechen black widows because of how they were portrayed in 2002. Eighteen female terrorists and 23 male terrorists held as many as 800 people hostage in a Mos-
cow theater for three days. She said she was bothered by the press focusing more on the bodies of the women terrorists than on the hostages or male terrorists. “I felt that they were treated expendably, disposably, and then this language surrounding them of the black widow and their desperate women and their revenge seeking and they’re just angry and rageful and monstrous,” she said. Gentry said she wants the book to make people think about gender stereotypes. “We say that the [labels] are ways of kind of upholding this
image that real women are not violent, real women are gentle, real women are nurturing so then these violent women are not real women.” The book received good feedback at the numerous places Gentry and Sjoberg presented. Matt Greenberg, senior political science and English major from Grand Prairie, said students will enjoy it if they read it. The cover illustration and title word whore will either repel or intrigue them.
Abilene Christian University
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GENTRY page 7
katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Dr. Caron Gentry holds her first book, “Mothers, Monsters, Whores,” which she co-authored with Laura Sjoberg.
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