I n d e p e n d e nt
Issue no.
S t u d e nt
V o ic e
o f
B o is e
S tat e
S inc e
1933
52
March
21
2013
Volume 25
w w w.arbiteronline.com
Boise, Idaho
First issue free
Top Stories
Treefort
Being bald isn’t so bad
All you need to know about this weekend’s music festival.
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Emily Pehrson, an Arbiter news writer wrote a preview for St. Baldrick’s Day and ultimately decided to shave her head for the cause. This is her first person account of the experience.
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Equality Megan riley/THE ARBITER
Shavees were sponsored by community members to help raise money for St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
Second annual St. Baldrick’s Day
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Bronco ballin’
Broncos earn first ever at-large NCAA tournament bid
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Weather Today
Kyle McCallum Staff Writer
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Friday’s weather was fantastic. Throngs of watchers and the hairless watched as the ceremony continued— two people at a time sat patiently on a stage while two others meticulously shaved the heads of those seated “Anybody who is shaving their head talk to friends and family, members of their community, going door to door, students go through their floors, asking for donations,” said Sundi Musnicki, the area coordinator of University Housing. As a part of St. Baldrick’s Foundation, students organized this event in order to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research. Those who chose to have their heads shaved were sponsored by their communities; their loss in hair was matched by an increase in funding for St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Men and women equally took part in the event; a mob
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A look at affirmative action in higher education.
“This is Rylee, and she is a cancer survivor,” said Ewing. “After about a year and a half of treatment and two bone marrow transplants, a couple of rounds of radiation, regular chemo, Rylee is better now, so we’re all about —Karen Ewing giving back...” of soon-to-be-shaved students and community members gathered to the left of the stage ready to take part in the ceremonial shaving. The spirits matched the weather. Students from the resident halls tossed footballs in the background, and students and adults donned t-shirts and shorts while their wintery skin met the sun for the first time in months. And, most importantly, the ceremony included a face-painting booth on picnic tables near the main stage. The event commenced at three o’clock with the original goal set to $5,000. By four o’clock that afternoon; one hour into the event, that goal was met. “The total amount of money raised for the event was $10,069” said Aubrie Gribble, a SRA at Chaffee Hall and primary
coordinator of the event. Though the shaving of heads was the primary method of fundraising, students and coordinators alike found other ways to raise money. “We’re helping out by selling wristbands. They cost $1 and so far we’ve raised over $100,” said Emily Walker, a Freshman at Boise State University. The event took a somber turn around 4:30 when Karen Ewing and her daughter took the stage. “This is Rylee, and she is a cancer survivor,” said Ewing. Rylee is six-years-old. Though she is healthy now, Rylee’s path to recovery was an arduous one. “After about a year and a half of treatment and two bone marrow transplants, a couple of rounds of radiation, regular chemo, Rylee is better now, so we’re all about
giving back with research and study, so that a few years from now the cure rate is even higher,” said Ewing. According to St. Baldricks. org, national childhood cancer research is the least funded of all cancer research receiving just four percent of federal cancer research funding. Raising money for research on childhood cancer becomes the responsibility of the community when there is little help from the state. “You just don’t hear a whole lot about it, and we haven’t heard a lot from Hollywood because it’s just too sad. Nobody wants to be the spokesperson for the sad,” said Ewing. The second annual hosting of St Baldrick’s Day by Boise State students and staff was much more successful than expected. Twice the expected amount of money was raised, men, women and children alike shaved their heads for funding and awareness, and many were inspired to continue the fight for funding and research for childhood cancer.
Boise State professor to play Treefort Mostly Cloudy
48º high
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Tomorrow
Mostly Cloudy
43º high
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What’s Inside News Briefs News Opinion Sports The Arbiter
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Danielle Davidson Staff Writer
Soulful synth-pop, was the description Andrew Stensaas used to describe the Edmond Dantes band music style. With influence from a variety of genres Stensaas and Ryan Peck came up with their own unique sound, and after about a year of playing together they’ve found their way into the Treefort lineup. Stensaas, and Peck, a current biology professor at Boise State, had no clue who each other were when they started the band, but the fact they both like playing music and performing was enough to get Edmond Dantes off the ground. “Boise Rock School (is where) we met, where I work,” Stensaas said. “We just kind of started a year ago, as a little bit of a fun thing and then we started writing some material. We just thought, this is pretty fun and it sounds pretty good and so we started playing shows in Boise and played a lot of shows last summer.” Finding their music style came naturally, Stensaas said. Even though they’ve been subconsciously influenced by other people, their sound is completely their own.
“As I got into my high school days I started listening to a lot more music and Bill Withers had a huge influence on me, and all these jazzy soulful singers started to impact me,” Stensaas said. “(One) of the bands Ryan's been listening to lately is Hot Chip. They’re music is so impressive as far as just the synthesizes they use and the rhythms they use. He listens to Metric, and he likes them, and he has a ton of musical influence." The future of Edmond Dantes includes hopefully getting their songs on iTunes and they’re excited about what they’ll do in the future, including the Treefort Festival. “As we’ve been playing around town, we talked to Eric Gilbert, he used to run sound for some of the shows at the back," Stensaas said. "When he heard us, he’s pretty particular about who he has play at Treefort, he said (we) could play if we want. He gave us some time slots available, and we got to pick one within the time frames that he gave us and we picked Sunday.” Even though Edmond Dantes has just been playing locally they keep the dream about making it big. “Josh Gross wrote a review about us, and he was really nice. He said that
CODY FINNEY/THE ARBITER
Edmond Dantes works on his sound before Treefort. some of the music is simple enough as just a duo that would be much better grasped if it was with a huge band,” Stensaas said. “It would be awesome to have that huge band and
play at some point in life at Madison Square Garden. That would be a fun spot, but I would be too scared right now. We’re years and years from anything like that.”
Two little girls, McKynna and Riley, were helped up onto the stage. Somewhat shyly, but giggling, they crowded behind me. In turn each was handed a pair of scissors. With a little help from the stylist McKenna, began sawing through my hair. A moment later she was helped down from the stage, one of my long pigtails swinging from her hand. There was a smile on her face as she showed her trophy to her mom. McKynna was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2006. Today, at the age of 9, she is in maintenance. That means that she is being given additional treatments in hope of preventing her cancer from returning. I learned about the St. Balrick’s event when I was assigned to cover it for The Arbiter. My roommate offered me $100 if I would shave my head. At the time I just laughed. However the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed to do it. No one gives children with cancer a choice in whether or not they want their hair to be gone. No one offers them money for the research of their disease when they lose their hair. Many of them aren’t even old enough to understand what is happening to them. I had expected to feel a lot more nervous. Everyone around me had such strong emotional reaction when I had told them my plan. My best friend who is getting married this summer threatened to ban me from her wedding photos. My family started raising donations for me not to shave my head. People have been tripping over themselves to buy me hats and scarves. However as I sat in that chair all I could do was smile. Staring through the elbows of the woman shaving my head I saw McKynna stuffing my hair into a plastic bag to be sent to Locks of Love, a charity that makes wigs for people who lose their hair due to chemotherapy treatments. I don’t regret going bald. I am going to save a small fortune on hair care products. My head will be nice and cool this summer. I started a new trend at the event by getting my freshly shaved head painted. And most importantly of all I raised $500 for childhood cancer research. I’ve never had a ponytail that made me feel better than that. arbiteronline.com