L&A: Seven band members reunite for two nights of tunes (Page 6)
Sports: See which team will give OU its toughest test this season (Page 5)
News: Find out more about Women’s Equality Day events (Online)
The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
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PEOPLE TO KNOW
Have you seen this man
You’ll hear him before you see him, but there’s no missing this student with his characteristic boots and boom box.
CHANDLER NEAL SPECIAL PROJECTS REPORTER @CHANDLERNEAL
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JIANG JIAXIN/THE DAILY
Film and Media Studies Senior David Hunt sits with his iconic boom box and whip. Hunt is often not only seen walking to and from class but also heard as he sings along with the tunes he blasts from the boom box.
When my relationships with humans are constantly falling down or less than fulfilling, music is all I really have.” DAVID HUNT, FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES SENIOR
OPPRESSION
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Students shoved their hands in their pockets and made conversation as a don’t walk sign forced them to stop. Some stared vacantly at the flashing red hand while others began mouthing words to songs coming through their ear buds. As cars rolled to a stop and students crossed the street, the distant chords of Aerosmith’s “Fly Away From Here” filled students’ ears. A few turned, though after a few weeks most of them knew where the sound was coming from. The music blared from a textbook-sized Memorex boom box, dangling from a braided tannish-grey rope its owner refers to as the “whip.” The music came accompanied by the deep, raspy voice of David Hunt who sang along as he held the end of the whip and crossed Lindsey Street, seemingly oblivious to those staring openly at the unexpected musical performance. Hunt, a film and media studies senior at OU, whom some refer to as ‘David Bowie kid’ or ‘boom box boy,’ is often recognized by his bleached skinny jeans and smudged eyeliner — and, of course, his ever-singing boom box. That’s all most students know about him and that’s fine with Hunt. The blond-haired musician stopped caring about bystanders’ opinions a while ago. “They need music,” he said. Hunt was diagnosed with autism when he was 3-years-old, so social interactions are a struggle for him. When his only love left him his freshman year of college, he said he lost his closest friend. His heart ached in his own pain, but it aches even more for people he cares about. Hunt’s mother was raped when she was a young girl. His half-sister was molested as a child. A friend of his was traumatized because her father molested her. Hunt watched as life dealt cards of misery to those around him like life was a game — a game he became too tired to play, and soon he was too tired to worry about his music bothering someone on the sidewalk. “I am so exhausted and I’m just like, ‘fuck it, I don’t care,’ ” Hunt said. Sitting at a picnic table outside Cate Center, he recounted the events in his life that led him to create music.
TECHNOLOGY
Data manipulation may soon be easy Computer science professor receives grant to create advanced editing tools JUSTINE ALEXANDER News Reporter @caffeinejustine
Students may have an easier way to edit, explore and annotate data soon thanks to a computer science professor and a grant from the National Science Foundation. Computer science professor Chris Weaver received a five-year grant for nearly $500,000 to develop his data visualization project, which, according to the project’s website, is meant to make visualizations of data more useful by allowing the visualizations themselves to be edited. Current technology allows users to pinch to zoom on a map or to swipe to change perspective. However, to actually change the data, users would usually have to use a text editor, Weaver said. Using Weaver’s technology on a touch screen, a pinch to a slice of a pie chart would accordingly adjust the percentage it represents instead of just zooming in. “When the data is changed, it automatically updates the display as well,” Weaver said. “It becomes fully AT A GLANCE interactive.” Additionally, the projData Visualization ect would allow users Project to automatically update stored data whenever + Funded by a and wherever it’s edited $500,000 grant given to computer science among different displays. professor Chris A user could have data, Weaver a map and a chart all respond to a change made + Should allow data to a timeline. visualizations, such as Weaver said that in a graphs or maps, to be way, the process is oppoedited easily without site to the way users typiusing a text editor cally use data. However, + Can work with a the traditional way of edvariety of data types iting data to edit visuals would still be useable in his program. Weaver said that his project is more general than programs like Microsoft Excel and can work with a greater variety of data. With special focus on use in the humanities, the data visualization project can work with numbers, space, time, text and even qualitative data, such as color. The data visualization project will create a collaborative, graphical data space for personal or public use, Weaver said. In the space, users can create and edit meaningful, interactive and optionally searchable visuals in real time. Unlike Wikipedia, the space would support original research while still allowing casual use with movies, sports, music, games and more. Weaver also said applications for his technology in gaming are feasible, especially in strategy games. Another feature of the data visualization project is its customizability and ease of use. The user doesn’t need to know computer literature to have many options for using the technology. Weaver said program users could build data visualization software that works for them from existing parts in a library designed with a simple language. For example, the many existing variations of swiping and pinching functions could be collected by the Weaver research group and incorporated into their library, where users could pick and choose from these building blocks to suit their needs while overlooking technical detail.
SEE MUSIC PAGE 2
SEE GRANT PAGE 2
After Ferguson, students gather to discuss racial issues Demonstration links police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri to Oklahoma events EMILY SHARP News Reporter @esharp13
In the wake of ongoing protests in Ferguson, Missouri, Sooners will gather for a demonstration about the police militarization, brutality and racism in Ferguson. The demonstration will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday on the South Oval. Anyone who wants to participate can attend, said Ashley McCray, Ph.D student and demonstration organizer. The Ferguson protests began after Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American from Ferguson, was shot multiple times after a skirmish with a police officer. Looting and riots followed the shooting with multiple nights of rowdy protests where police officers fired tear gas and rubber pellets. The National Guard was called in and has since drawn out. The OU demonstration won’t have a strict structure, and McCray will be passing out literature and information for the WEATHER
upcoming campus conversation about Brown’s death, she said. “As an American Indian, I think it is important to stand up with other persons of color and differently oppressed people,” McCray said. “This could very well happen to any of us for a variety of reasons.” This demonstration will focus on how the Ferguson incident is relatable to Oklahoma, McCray said. “There are many people on our own campus who have to navigate racial barriers that some people aren’t even aware of every single day,” McCray said. “We must remember that there are victims of police brutality here in our own state.” McCray named a few local examples, such as Jeremy Lake who was shot by his girlfriend’s father, an off-duty police officer, and Luis Rodriguez, who died while being restrained by officers. “Countless others from around the country and in our state have one thing in common; they are each a person of color,” McCray said. “If Michael Brown had been white, the tragedy in Ferguson would have never happened.” Emily Sharp, emily.a.sharp-1@ou.edu
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Graduate Student Brittini Jackson stands in the shade and speaks to OU students at a rally against injustice in front of Dale Hall.
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