The Patriot - April 5, 2018

The University of the Cumberlands Student Newspaper

SpringIssue Issue76April March 29, 2018 Spring 5, 2018

Thursday April 5, 2018

Editor-In-Chief Eric Ford Edwards Managing Editor Megan Willoughby Faculty Adviser Jeremiah Massengale

Patriots, Although this spring weather is bipolar and deceiving, I am blown away that it’s already April. We are nearing our final days of the semester. Freshman, you have almost completed your first year of college. That’s a huge accomplishment.

Seniors, this is your last month in Williamsburg as a Patriot. Are you as emotional as I am? Here at The Patriot we are taking advantage of the last four weeks of class, providing you with content that informs the student body about current events, entertains readers about pop culture, and highlights heroic figures on campus.

Am I the only girl who hates “Fortnite”? Well, I guess I’m going to have get over it sooner or later, because it’s taking over the gamer world. This week’s issue dives into the nature of video games, a popular trend in today’s society.

Men and women all over the world are ignoring their significant others by live streaming and professionally competing through e-sports. Soon enough, we will all transform into fat humans in the movie “Wall-E.” This issue also extends the adventurous mood that spring weather brings upon students itching for sunshine.

Going hiking is a wonderful way to clear your mind and think. It is peaceful for a majority of the time, but it can also broaden your curiosity. If you’re in for an eerie trip, go visit Six Gun City at the top of Eagle Falls Trail. Unexpected adventure is always thrilling.

We are always looking for new content to add to The Patriot. Don’t be shy! We are interested in your ideas, writing skills, photography and graphic design. If want to become a part of our newspaper family or have any questions regarding the articles in our weekly issues, email thepatriot@ucumberlands.edu. We will be happy to answer your questions!

Staff Emilee Agee Taylor Duke Leanne Gregory Tyler Kohn Mike Krzyston Megan Muggridge Nichole Sharp Zane Ross Editorial Review Board Lisa Bartram Marianne Worthington

Email comments, concerns or tips to: thepatriot@ucumberlands.edu or call us at 606-539-4172 7000 College Station Drive Williamsburg, Kentucky 40769 The Patriot is the weekly student publication of the University of the Cumberlands. Our goal is to provide timely and original content by highlighting campus news and views.

Megan Willoughby

Award-winning member of the Associated Collegiate Press and Kentucky Press Association.

Page 3 News

A new era of athletics eSports officially declared a varsity sports team for the Fall of 2018

BY MIKE KR Z YSTON Sta ff Writer

It has been recently announced that Cumberlands will be adding its 31st varsity sport to the campus beginning the fall semester of 2018. Electronic sports, more commonly known as eSports, is a form of competition by organized teams using video games.

The addition of Cumberlands’ eSports team has been tested this academic year as a club team, with the team’s primary video game in focus being the popular online battle arena game “League of Legends.” Starting in the fall semester of 2018, these club players will be eligible to receive athletic scholarships, according to the university’s athletic department.

“What’s funny is that I started playing ‘League [of Legends]’ when I was a freshman,” said Tristan Macri, a member of the eSports club. “Now as a senior next year I will be able to have my school paid for because of it.”

While playing video games as a collegiate sport may sound silly to some people, it has been a recent and steady trend sweeping across universities and colleges throughout the nation. According to the home website of the National Association of Collegiate eSports, 45 colleges have their own varsity team and compete against each other regularly, having varying seasons of nine different games.

Cumberlands will become a part of the Collegiate Starleague, an organization that also observes seasons of nine different games.

Just like football, baseball, and other team sports, eSports has its own professional league; one that is very profitable. According to Business Insider, an American financial and business news website, eSports grossed a revenue of almost $700 million in 2017. While it may be small to the NFL’s $14 billion revenue in 2017, researchers from Business Insider say eSports has a potential of making almost $2 billion by 2020.

Of course, the Cumberlands video game athletes won’t be seeing that kind of money, as there is a lot of growth to be made as a team.

“We have some good players at certain games, but the goal is to be great in all nine eventually,” says head coach Jeremiah Brown.

In the mean-time, Cumberlands’ newest batch of athletes will continue practicing until their varsity debut this fall. The team shows promise, notching some victories this past fall over larger universities such as Louisiana State University and Western Kentucky University.

“The future looks bright, and I am excited to be a part of this new team to the university,” says Brown.

Page 4 Features

This week’s gaming playlist from The Patriot staff is a compilation of songs from our favorite games. Give it a listen, and get your game on.

Six Gun City

BY MEGAN WILLOUGHBY

Photo by Taylor Duke

Managing Editor

Located at the top of a staircase inside of Eagle Falls Trail located in Corbin, Kentucky lies a mysterious adventure worth traveling for, Six Gun City. As one hikes this beautiful trail, they will reach a beautiful staircase midway through, offering them the choice to carry on or turn back.

Once the staircase diminishes, an eerie abandoned town sits behind what used to be a tourist attraction welcome sign. This diamond in the rough is perfect for someone who seeks imagination, picturing what the place would have looked like before its abandonment. It’s a hiking spot just waiting to be explored. The chilling remains of what was once a full-functioning set of buildings, sends goose bumps down anyone willing to witness it.

The tourist attraction Six Gun City includes old rustic buildings including a sheriff’s office, a bank, a barbershop, and many others pertaining to the time of its youth. Inside of the old rubble lies old papers scattered around the floor. The western theme of this area’s scenery is good for photography, curiosity, and exploration.

Mike Krzyston, a UC junior, spends his free time

hiking local trials with his peers.

He happened to stumble upon Six Gun City when he was exploring Eagle Falls Trail.

Krzyston said, “Six Gun City is one of those hidden gems of this area that makes it even more unique. Even though you could easily ask the local about the history of the ‘city’ on top of a mountain, it’s a lot more fun to make up why it was abandoned, or even be spooked by its presence up there.”

The emotions of hikers who hike Eagle Falls Trail, leading them to Six Gun City, fluctuate from curiosity to sadness. Micah Linton, a sophomore at UC, explains how his emotions are affected when he visits this hidden spot. “I was sad to see the tourist attraction of the ages left to rot,” Linton says.

This spot holds many unknown factors waiting to be discovered. If students are interested in hiking this trial, it is encouraged that they take a friend for safety purposes.

This abandoned gem is sacred to local hikers, giving them the opportunity to discuss their findings through blogging online.

Any formal information about Six Gun City is hard to locate, making it even more intriguing.

Page 5 Features

Student by day, streamer by night UC students share their passion for live streaming

UC student Brenden Rodgers during a stream on Twitch

BY TAYLOR DUKE Sta ff Writer

On Thursday nights, you can usually find University of the Cumberlands senior Avery Seeger, also known under his Twitch handle @ A_Seegz, in his dorm room preparing to stream. “Stream what?” you might ask. And to that I’ll say, welcome to your glimpse inside the world of online video game streaming.

Streaming is a way for gamers to share their game plays as well as a way for non-streamers to be entertained and learn various techniques that could be used in the game.

Twitch is an online streaming service that is most notable for it’s live and uncensored game play streamers. Among the most prominent creators is Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. Blevins is most known for his “Fortnite” stream with rap sensation Drake, yet he continues to break Twitch records daily with the help of his 3.7 million followers on the platform. In an interview on “Squawk Alley” on CNBC, Blevins discussed how he profits from Twitch Prime, a feature introduced when Amazon acquired Twitch in the fall of 2014.

UC junior Brenden Rodgers, who is also a Twitch affiliate streamer with the username @armalogic, adds, “[Ninja] a wellrounded and wholesome guy and uses his platform for fantastic things, such as doing a charity stream and raising over $100,000 for suicide prevention charities.”

When talking about why people would watch streamers play video games Seeger states, “Streamers give back to their viewers in a

way you wouldn’t think they could. They help people through break ups or just bad times in their lives… I guess it’s a form of escape.”

One misconception that comes with streaming is the reason why it’s even a thing.

Although there are many YouTube videos of game play, Twitch makes it more personal. In a live stream, there is video of the game presented like a screen grab as well as the player in a small box off to the side. This way you can see the game action as well as the reaction of the player. “If they like somebody as a person it would be the same thing as going to hang out with them in person,” states Seeger.

Because of its “live” nature, streaming can be emotionally driven and at moments very vulgar. The connections made through Twitch aren’t as distant as the Internet seeks them out to be.

“Many don’t realize that for the viewers, it’s just like watching a TV show or a sports game. Interacting with the community that I stream for is the most important part of this. There are a lot of people out there who want to just chat with you and watch you play video games. I try to engage with anyone who is in my chat during the stream, ask them how their day is going, just generally make them feel welcome. You would be surprised at how much of a difference it can make,” Rodgers says.

Page 6 Features

You are what you eat I am pants a comic by Tyler Kohn

BY MEGAN MUGGRIDGE Staff Writer

Patriots, have you ever heard the phrase, “You are what you eat?” You’ve probably heard it many times before but didn’t quite believe that it was true. After all, most of us have eaten a lot of pizza in our lifetime without having pepperonis pop up all over us or transforming into a pizza. So, are we really what we eat?

David Katz, M.D. confirms this theory in his article “Mom was right: You are what you eat” when he discusses how the food we eat affects our body. “Just as our homes are made from lumber without looking like trees, our bodies are made from the nutrients we extract from foods without resembling those foods. The nutritional content of what we eat determines the composition of our cell membranes, bone marrow, blood, and hormones. Consider that the average adult loses roughly 300 billion cells to old age every day and must replace them. Our bodies are literally manufactured out of the food we consume.” Katz says.

In a video titled “You ARE What You Eat” created by the YouTube channel After Skool, they discuss how the body makes up for the millions of cells that die in everyone’s bodies each day. Their answer was “with the food they eat. That food becomes the fuel for our bodies own manufacturing plant to replace cells that die. When we eat toxic, chemically latent, nutrition-less food, our bodies have a hard time manufacturing new, healthy cells,” After Skool says.

Did you know that the food you eat can affect both your health and state of mind? The simple meaning behind the phrase, “You are what you eat” is that if you eat unhealthy food all of the time you are going to feel crappy and will live an unhealthy lifestyle.

However, if you eat healthy food then you will feel and look healthy.

You are what you put into your body.

Who could blame you for eating food that is much more obtainable? It is much easier to grab a bag of chips or a few Oreos than it is to fix a salad or peel an apple. But, without the nutrients from healthy foods we cannot carry out the billions of functions that occur inside our bodies every day. If we cannot function properly we won’t be able to live a healthy lifestyle… or even live at all.

Eventually, eating all of the processed junk foods like potato chips and cookies will lead to the cells in your body becoming processed junk too. Your body is literally becoming the “couch potato” that your friends so jokingly call you. The genetically modified foods that we fill our bodies with have dramatic effects on our lives. So, drink lots of water, eat fresh fruits and vegetables and put down the potato chips, UC.

Page 7 Health

Sweet Dreams

BY LEANNE GREGORY Staff Writer

Sleep. It is an essential part of life and one that many people around the world enjoy. The National Sleep Foundation recommends an average of seven to nine hours of sleep for adults between the ages of 18 to 25 and while for some individuals that is an easily achieved feat, for others it can be difficult to get that recommended amount. For those individuals who find sleep an elusive dream, here are some tips and tricks to help ensure that sleep is a thing no longer ignored.

Working in another room.

While seemingly counter-productive, the National Sleep Foundation states that taking all of the items that cause stress, such as work related items, and electronics, out of the room where you sleep and using them in another room when sleep is difficult to come by can help strengthen the association of stress and productivity with the particular room the work is being done in. Leaving the bedroom as the place the body associates with sleep and relaxation thus allowing the body to be more readily able to fall asleep.

Putting together a night-time routine.

The human body thrives on a sense of routine and stability.

According to a recent Harvard Study about healthy sleep, utilizing a pre-bedtime routine, such as walking, or journaling, or reading can allow the body to release the stress accumulated over the course of the day, helping the body to wind down easier when it’s time to sleep. There is no specific time of evening the routine needs to occur in order for it to work, its suggested to implement the routine about an hour or two before the preferred sleeping time in order to receive the most benefits.

Set a sleep schedule.

According to sleephabits.net, attempting to sleep when the body and mind aren’t entirely tired will only lead to a sleep that is both constantly being interrupted and is not as deep or invigorating as the body needs. A good way to help circumvent this is to arrange a set time to sleep and wake every day, ensuring that the bodies circadian rhythm, the process that keeps track of the bodies daily functions on a 24-hour cycle, has time to regulate the change and provide the proper cues to the body when the sleeping hour approaches.

Exercise and lower caffeine consumption.

Both the National Sleep Foundation and NHS recommend picking up an exercise regimen and reducing the intake of caffeine taken in over the course of the day as a way to help improve sleep during the course of the night. The exercise regimen doesn’t need to be intensive to produce the desired effects and according to both organizations’ websites, for individuals who get hungry or who need a small glass of something to ease the transition into dreamland, a light snack or a warm-milk based drink can serve as a good substitute for the usual caffeinated beverage.