FOOTBALL: 2014 SEC Media Days continue with talks from Miles, Welter, Collins and Magee, p. 3
Reveille The Daily
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 149
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Thursday, July 17, 2014
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ART
Women of Red Stick Roller Derby showcase the fast-growing sport
Original works highlight local flora Jennifer Vance Contributing Writer
“mesmerized” watching a bout, as roller derby events are called, with her friends in New Orleans. “I was a cheerleader in high school,” Whatley said. “I always wanted to play basketball with the guys but the coach didn’t like that.” It’s difficult to find serious,
On the fifth floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts sits “Margaret Stones’ Flora of Louisiana: The Baton Rouge Connection.” More than 50 original works by Stones that highlight the horticulture of East Baton Rouge Parish. will be on display Thursday at 6 p.m., for a group of panelists to discuss Stones’ work and influence on the Baton Rouge community. Stones was commissioned in 1976 by former LSU Chancellor Paul Murrill to create six pieces for the U.S.’s bicentennial celebration at the University. The project expanded to include more than 200 pieces and took 14 years for Stones to complete. The project accumulated many supporters and became one of Stones’ three primary works. Writer, illustrator and horticulturist Randy Harelson said he was asked by museum director Jordana Pomeroy to create a show of botanical art for the museum. Harelson suggested taking the 55 pieces Stones created in East Baton Rouge and displaying them in an exhibit. “We can tell the story of the
DERBY, see page 2
STONES, see page 2
CONNOR TARTER / The Daily Reveille
The women of Red Stick Roller Derby practice at Leo’s Iceland on Tuesday for their upcoming bout on Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center.
Renee Barrow Staff Writer
It’s a sport that takes seven referees, constant switching between offense and defense, communication and regular contact — it’s roller derby. “It’s not your grandma’s derby anymore,” said Kerrie “Honey
Badger von Sparkles” Whatley. Whatley is a member of Red Stick Roller Derby, founded in 2007 as a member of the Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Association for women 18 and older in Baton Rouge. Whatley said roller derby’s prime was in the 1980s, but interest in the sport diminished when it
became more about theatrics than playing the actual game. Now, the sport has grown so much in popularity that it is being considered for the 2020 Olympic Games. “I think a nation that loves watching football would enjoy watching derby,” Whatley said. Whatley said she became interested in roller derby after being
BATON ROUGE COMMUNITY
La. artist creates heavy-toned video game Joshua Jackson Staff Writer
Not all video games should be action-packed, and not all works of art should bring smiles to the audience. Through a variety of media spanning video games, music and photography, Michael Patrick Rogers and his company MPR Art Hallucinations create darker art that seeks to provoke thought and emotion. MPR began in early 2013 as a way for Rogers to get back into
making music after a bout with severe depression. “I knew I had to get back into doing things that I loved to do to snap myself out of it,” Rogers said. “Making music has always been my main passion.” Rogers later made the transition from making music in bands to doing freelance music for video games but found himself unhappy with the type of games he worked on. During the summer of 2013, he received an offer from one of
the artists at Telltale Games, creators of game series like “Sam and Max” and “The Walking Dead,” for an animated short film he was doing on his own. The experience inspired him to start making his own projects. Rogers finds that living in Baton Rouge has only restrained his creativity. He said if anything, Baton Rouge has “added to the misery aspect” of his work. “I don’t think living in Baton Rouge inspires anyone to do anything except want to move as far
away from Baton Rouge as possible,” Rogers said. Most of Rogers’ influences date back to when he viewed David Lynch’s film “Eraserhead.” He related to the soundtrack as it had a similar atmosphere to the music he was making. LSU football may be one of Baton Rouge’s biggest draws, but Rogers said he finds the culture uninspiring for struggling artists. He plans to move to Detroit or MPR, see page 2
courtesy of MICHAEL PATRICK ROGERS
“The Grandfather,” a video game created by Michael Patrick Rogers, is about an old man who is troubled by his wife.