Vol. 5, Issue 12 The Summa - April 4, 2013

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ENTERTAINMENT HEALTH

Vol. 5, Issue 12

University of St. Thomas

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Fast food: Cheap eats Temptation is Tyler Perry’s Best Film Yet at high cost Looking past a cookie cutter cast, Perry’s That quick burger might be cheap and newest film features a serious surprise ending. easy to get, but getting rid of it is harder.

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ustsumma.wordpress.com CAMPUS LIFE

CAMPUS LIFE

Society of Macrina to Host ‘A Series of Fashionable Events’ UST Mock INSPIRED WOMEN Trial Makes Women’s group aims to teach importance Finals at of interior and National exterior beauty Tournament

By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ News Editor

Throughout the month of April, The Society of Macrina will be hosting “A Series of Fashionable Events.” These events hope to teach young women the value of enhancing beauty both inside and out. The events will feature workshops open to all women at UST interested in attending.

The events have been coordinated by philosophy student, Maureen Bielinski.

“The first event, the Mary Kay Workshop, will have professionals give tutorials and one-on-one advice on how to create several different looks: a casual daytime look, a professional workplace look, and evening look,” Bielinski said. “The women’s vocations panel will feature four speakers from different walks of life who are going to talk about how to live out femininity in the modern world; specifically feminine ways to live their

Legislation training team competes on national level

By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ News Editor

appropriately for different occasions.

“By teaching others how to look professional, it can change someone’s selfconfidence and how they view themselves,” Williams said.

“It is not about what’s on the outside, but sometimes one’s outer appearance may have something that person views Rebecca Skaff / Courtesy Photo

Founding Officers of the Society of Macrina, Maire Kelley, Nadeen Mustafa, Brittany Garza, Chloe Jester, Bonnie Trece, Becca Skaff, pose for a photo outside the Moran Center. The women’s group, which works to empower and educate female college students at UST, will be hosting a series of events informing students about the value of beauty.

vocations in whatever walks of life they took.”

According to Bielinski, the third event will be a presentation by Mary Sheehan Warren on fashion and “the

feminine genius.”

Bielinski plans to have Warren discuss how to flaunt inner beauty by dressing well and the importance of doing so in a “modest, attractive way.”

The Series of Fashionable Events is modeled after the Genuine Feminine Conference that takes place annually at

BEAUTY, Page 2

CAMPUS LIFE

Former US Ambassador Shares International Experiences John Negroponte discusses the relevance of diplomats in a changing world

By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ News Editor

The UST Center for International Studies inaugurated its Distinguished Diplomat Series by hosting former US Ambassador John D. Negroponte for a lecture and reception at La Colombe d’Or on Thursday, March 21.

Negroponte’s career as a diplomat has spanned decades, and he worked in the Reagan, Clinton and both of the Bush Administrations. His diplomat career as representative to other

The UST Mock Trial team made nationals at the annual Mock Trial Association competition the weekend of March 22 at the Jackson Lewis Opening Round Championship Series Tournament Though the team did not make the final rounds of competition, they placed well at regionals, and were able to represent UST on a national level.

“I joined mock trial because of my interest in law and litigation, initially,” said Amber Morrison, a Political Science graduate. “If I decide to go into litigation, it’s really good experience: you actually practice being in front of a judge, arguing objections, talking to a jury. Even if I don’t go into litigation per se, I can also use it for public speaking purposes. It’s great experience on speaking in general, learning how to talk, how to enunciate.”

The competition offers students the experience not only to achieve awards, and they also learn the work of how to be an attorney.

“The competition actually starts in the spring

MOCK TRIAL, Page 2 Stephanie Hernandez / The Summa

SUCCESSFUL TENURES Ambassador John D. Negroponte speaks at La Colombe d’Or as part of the Distinguished Diplomats Series, hosted by the UST Center of International Studies on March 21, 2012.

countries included tenures as Ambassador to Mexico, the United Nations and Iraq before serving as Director of National Intelligence in 2005.

One of the first things Negroponte discussed was some challenges diplomats

face in their careers. The lecture he gave at the ballroom at La Colombe d’Or was mostly filled with people from the Houston diplomatic community, faculty and officials from UST, as well as several dozen students.

“A challenge for diplomacy is the ability to maintain those relationships, to fashion our diplomacy to these new and emerging powers and states in a way DIPLOMAT, Page 2

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that can be productive and beneficial to all,” Negroponte said. “We need to work with ... the alliances of those countries with whom we have constructed diplomatic relationships with, to deal with the outliers, the rouges, and the failing states, all of which is easier said than done.”

One of the most important lessons they learned during the last decade, according to Negroponte, was that issues surrounding nation building and regime change were not that easy.

“If we look back at the history of the last four years, [the United States’] record, in respect to regime change, has not been that good,” Negroponte said.

In an age of new technologies that can sometimes take the place of an actual person, Negroponte also discussed the continued relevance for a human presence when it comes to gathering intelligence and information.

“A question I am sometimes asked is ‘Is diplomacy dead?

Mr. Ambassador, are you just a messenger boy?’” Negroponte said. “First and foremost, don’t forget that you are the personal representative of the President of the United States of America - the most important person, bar none, in the formulation of conduct of American foreign policy under the Constitution.”

Negroponte also said that when the President visits the country where an ambassador is station, that ambassador holds the responsibility of meeting with the president to brief him on

that country’s affairs.

“He’s relying on you to be the most knowledgeable person in the United States government on everything of relevance to the United States that has happened in that country,” Negroponte said.

“You cannot say that is not a responsibility you can delegate to anyone else: you can’t say, ‘Oh Mr. President, my Deputy really knows the situation; he can meet with you instead.’

You are eyes and ears, you are the representative and you are expected to have the analytic knowledge, perception and skill to paint a picture of that country for the President.”

Students also attended the lecture as part of their class for that evening.

“I came with my Theory of Political Economy class; Dr. Balderas encouraged us to come,” said Maria Isabel Lino. “I thought it was a very pertinent, interesting lecture, and I very much liked it.

Ambassador Negroponte is not only humorous, but he is also very well spoken. I took a lot of notes that I hope to use in the future.”

As part of his closing remarks, Negroponte said that being an Ambassador as a representative of the United States is “labor intensive work.”

“It actually really helps to have someone senior, more experienced to observe those things, and draw some wise conclusions from those observations,” Negroponte said. “It pays to have a person on the ground that can do that.

I, for one, think that diplomacy is alive and well.”

Negroponte is currently a researcher and lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

Stephanie Hernandez / The Summa

A FULL HOUSE Both students and professors gather at La Colombe d’Or for the reception that followed former US Ambassador John Negroponte’s lecture on Thursday, March 21. Negroponte shared his experiences as an ambassador.

The News

Thursday, april 4, 2013

Rick Young / Courtesy Photo

GROWING SUCCESS UST Mock Trial members, Nazy Salehi, Patty Cortez, Deavan Preston, Margaret Jones, Victoria Lui, Jenny Ayala, Mina Petrolito, Fernando Basilio, Rickey Rodriguez, Monica Litle, David Salazar, Jax Claiborn, Luis Escobar, Steven Gravesmill and Amber Morrison celebrate their success together in Memphis, Tenn. on March 22.

MOCK TRIAL Continued... semester,” Morrison said.

“The way it works is for each competition there’s four rounds, you argue plaintiff side of the case twice, defense side of the case; you never know what side your going until right before the round when you get assigned your side and the team you’re competing against. You compete in each round with two judges, so there are two ballots for each round.”

The UST Mock Trial team headed to Regionals for their first round of competition in February where they competed against approximately 25 universities.

Prior to qualifying for regionals, the UST team placed high in comparison with other Texas teams.

“In regionals, we placed fifth overall out of the entire competition,” Morrison said.

“Only two Texas schools ranked above us: Southern Methodist University and University of Texas.

Technically, we were the third best school in the state of

BEAUTY Continued...

Ave Maria University and the Edith Stein Conference at the University of Notre Dame.

“We thought if we could put together three different events that have a theme of inner beauty, it would be attractive to women, especially college women,” Bielinski said.

SOM will be utilizing other students at UST to help put on the event in hopes to rally together and receive a big turnout.

“I’m ecstatic to be helping with the Series of Fashionable Events,” said Senior Chase Williams, a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant. “It’s only fitting to have an independent beauty consultant with Mary Kay to host, because it was Mary Kay Ash’s mission to enrich women’s lives.”

Williams, who will be hosting the Mary Kay Beauty Workshop, said the workshop will teach students how to apply the make-up

Texas for regionals. That gave us a bid to opening rounds of the championship series, which were in Memphis last month.”

The team was knocked out of the competition in March, but still managed to rank higher than the University of Houston, Baylor, Houston Baptist University and the University of Texas at Austin.

“We were probably one of the smallest schools to make it,” Morrison said.

According to Morrison, participating on a mock trial team can serve as hands-on training for any student who would like to become a lawyer.

“I am pre-law, so it’s my senior requirement,” said Monica Litle, a Political Science senior. “You start taking a class in the fall. It requires a lot of practice; we had practice three hours a night, probably three days a week before the competition.

Every year we switch off between a criminal and a civil case, and this year we actually presented a civil case, and it was a wrongful death in scuba diving.”

Competing with mock

trial teams can also give prelaw students the experience of being in a courtroom.

“I think it helped me a lot, it got me into the courtroom and got me experience at being an attorney,” said Litle.

“We went to the opening round championships. It was a really great experience for me; it got me the opportunity that I would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise, and it’s just a great opportunity to get in the courtroom before becoming an actual attorney.”

According to Morrison, competing on a national level proved to be very labor intensive. She attributed their success to the combined dedication and efforts of everyone in the mock trial team.

“I was co-captain of the defense side. Chris Agboli was the other co-captain - captain of the plaintiff side,” Morrison said. “Without the combined team effort from people on both sides, we would not have done as well as we did.

Both sides did a lot of work, and were very dedicated, and without that team effort, we could not have made it so far.”

as flawed and it lowers their self-esteem, though others may not view them the same way. “It truly is my mission to help others believe they are just as beautiful outside as they are within,” said Williams.

The event aims to not only explain how to maintain a beautiful exterior, but on the importance of inner beauty as well, according to Bielinski.

“A priest told me once is that the beauty of the face does not penetrate into the soul, but the beauty of the soul can manifest itself on the face,” Bielinski said. “I think that’s a good starting point when talking about the beauty of women.

Beauty is a special aspect of womanhood, and that encapsulates both inner and outer beauty. Inner beauty is more fundamental. That’s kind of what the panel of speakers is going to address; about discovering who you are, and being a beautiful woman inside by fulfilling the vocation that God is calling you to.”

It is when one finds and embraces their inner beauty that one can be the happiest, Bielinski said.

“It’s important that the exterior is inviting and attractive, so that people want to get to know you better and hear your message,” said Bielinski. “Taking care of your physical appearance and fostering your exterior are a means for helping other penetrate the personhood of the interior.”

The Mary Kay Workshop will be held Thursday, April 4 at 7 p.m., and will be free and open to students. The Women’s Vocations panel will take place at Ahern Room, in Crooker Center on Tuesday, April 9 at 7 p.m., and is free to the public.

The last event, “It’s So You: Fashion and the Feminine Genius” presentation will cost $10, and will include a reception. The presentation will take place on Wednesday, April 17 at 7 p.m., to RSVP for the events, email bielinm@ stthom.edu.

The Opinion

THURSDAY, april 4, 2013

The Summa

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“I’ve learned people will forget what you said, what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

VIEWPOINT

An Empty Cave?: Students Change Facebook Profile Pictures In Support of Gay Marriage

By BRITTANY JAMES Copy Editor

If you went on Facebook at all over the Easter break, you probably noticed that many people were changing their profile pictures to the same image: a red background with a white equal sign.

This mass change in profile picture was a result of the Human Rights Campaign, which encouraged people to paint Facebook red in order to show support for same-sex marriages.

HRC’s logo is a yellow equal sign against a navy blue background, so the change to a white equal sign on a red background was supposed to be a recognizable image.

However several people, including myself, had never seen this image before, regardless of its color. So, this was basically null and void to those of us out of the loop.

This movement began on March 25, when the Supreme Court began deliberating on the issue of same sex marriages, and more specifically on Proposition 8, which made same-sex marriages illegal in the state of California.

It was premature to say the least, seeing as though the movement began one day before the Supreme Court even convened on March 26.

However, it did generate a great deal of support, with around 2.7 million people changed their profile pictures to the equal signs in just one day. The number continued to increase as the week progressed.

This movement was not limited to individuals that had a Facebook profile. Groups on Facebook also changed their profile picture in order to show their support.

With that being said, what

is the point in all of this? Does changing your profile picture really do anything besides tell your friends on Facebook that you support gay marriage?

When I first saw the image of the white equal sign I blew it off completely.

After seeing it multiple times I got confused because none of these people seemed to explain what the image meant.

No one commented on the image and there were no captions explaining its meaning. There were just several ‘likes’ each time the picture was shared.

So I gave in and finally looked it up, and then got very annoyed once I figured out what the image represented.

Regardless of my opinion on the issue at hand, I do not want my Facebook news feed looking like it threw up a political debate. Nothing comes from people being political over social media. It just starts a virtual fight, which often times gets very nasty. In the end both parties end up being upset, and nothing is gained. If anything, the issue at hand usually takes a giant step backwards.

In addition to my annoyance, I doubt any of the Supreme Court Justices bothered to check their Facebooks to see just how many people changed their profile pictures.

The court may have received news reports about what was going on around them as they deliberated on the issue, but they would not waste time checking Facebook to get a feel for the amount of public support the issue had generated.

The Supreme Court is supposed to do one job and one job only, which is to interpret the United States Constitution.

In theory, public opinion is not supposed to have any influence on the Supreme Court or the

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decisions that it makes.

The goal of the Supreme Court is not to make people happy, but to interpret the laws as they apply to our Constitution, as our forefathers created them for.

I understand that it is not a bad thing to stand up for what you believe in, regardless of what your stance is on a particular issue.

It is also not a bad thing to voice your opinion about modern issues.

However if you want to actually get something done about it, starting a movement on Facebook is not a good way to go about it.

Even though this movement has had many followers, in the end, nothing will become of it other than it being a waste of time.

Do you want your voice echoing in an empty cave with no one to hear you?

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PERSPECTIVE

Did Catholic Universities Trample on the Rights of Students?

By CHELSEA FERRAMOSCA Opinion Editor

Catholic universities from around the nation, including Notre Dame, Georgetown and the Catholic University of America have rallied behind Boston College in a fight against certain student organizations giving away condoms on campus.

The condoms were given away at an HIV/AIDS awareness and testing event held by several student organizations, and were adorned the red awareness ribbon associated with the virus.

Along with the contraceptive, students were given brochures on safe sex, sexually transmitted diseases and how to properly use various forms of contraception.

When university officials at Boston College found out about the giveaway they threatened the students with disciplinary action because, according to FOX News, the university is a private, Catholic institution and therefore, can control the action of student groups, especially if those actions go against the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The American Civil Liberties Union disagrees, and has backed the students, arguing that Boston College and other Catholic universities are trampling on the First Amendment rights of the students. According to the ACLU, the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act of 1979 prohibits interference with civil rights by private and public entities. They cited a court case lost by Boston University in the 1980s after the institution attempted to force students to remove an anti-apartheid poster from dorm windows.

The judge ruled that the state Civil Rights Act protected freedom of speech rights of the students, despite attending a private school. The university responded to the ACLU by stating that Catholic educational institutions should follow the teachings of Pope John Paul II’s Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which was intended to serve as a definition of morality for Catholic universities throughout the world.

As such, contraception, which is against the teachings of the Catholic Church, should not be given out on campus.

If a student does not agree with the teachings of the Church, they should not be at a Catholic university. There is no doubt that this fight is going to turn into a legal issue back and forth between private institutions and civil rights, but was the ordeal really necessary?

I don’t particularly care whether a student group wants to give out condoms on campus, but as part of an HIV/AIDS awareness event, it does make sense.

On the other side of the issue, the brochures with information on HIV/AIDS, STDs, and contraception could have been handed out without the condoms. I can understand both sides of this argument. It is a legitimate way to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, but it is also a Catholic university. The fight that resulted, on the other hand, has just been unnecessary.

It is not stated what type of student organizations were responsible for the condoms, but it is probably safe to assume that the action was not intended to be malicious. I’m sure it was intended to promote safe sex and HIV/AIDS awareness, not an outright challenge to the teachings of the Church.

Knowing the thought process of the typical college student, I doubt much thinking and planning went into the finer details of the event. A fight with Catholic universities across the nation was, most likely, the last thing on their minds.

However if they were aware of the repercussions of their actions, they should not be at a Catholic university. If this situation occurred on a public campus there would not have been an issue, but contraception is against the teaching of the Church. If the students do not agree with the teachings of the Church, they should not be at a school that revolves around them. I have stated in previous articles that it was not in the fine print that you are attending a private Catholic school.

If you do not like it or do not respect the Church and its teachings, go somewhere else. HIV/AIDS is a problem in modern society, especially amongst those who do not practice safe sex. Trying to raise awareness and prevent further spread of the disease is a popular movement for modern generations.

I don’t necessarily think condoms needed to be given away at this event, but the ACLU most certainly did not need to be called. Everyone needs to go back to their corners and choose carefully what hill they want to die on. No harm was meant by the students and nothing positive will come from this.

It is just not worth the fight.

The Opinion

Thursday, april 4, 2013

VIEWPOINT

Remembrance of the Holocaust Comes April 7 - 8: But Will It Go Unnoticed?

By KENNETH DEPEW Staff Writer

Every month seems to have a pet cause, based on race, sex, ethnicity, national origin or something else, yet the largest atrocity known to man, the Holocaust, has one day of remembrance that usually passes unobserved to but a few in the United States. Most people know the toll of the Holocaust, though not everyone accepts it, but what many fail to recall is the additional deaths and concentration camp detentions of the Nazis. Poles, Romani, disabled, homosexuals and other “inferior people” were murdered. Researchers total the loss of human life between 15 and 20 million.

The murder of six million Jew’s at the hands of the Nazi regime is remembered this year starting at sundown on April 7 until sundown April 8. Twenty-four hours which few will recognize, much the less observe.

Later this month, on April 24, is the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, which some scholars consider a precursor and a “training ground” for those who would implement the Nazi holocaust of the Jews 20 years later.

On April 24, 1915 the orders of Ottoman Minister of the Interior, Mehmed Taalat, a “Young Turk,” were executed. Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were also deported from Constantinople and detained in camps.

Throughout the rest of World War I, between 1 and 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children were slaughtered. Some were burned alive, children were taken aboard boats and thrown overboard to drown, and others were drugged or poised until they were no more. Survivors recount stories of families being tied together with ropes, taken to the edges of cliffs and the largest member being shot, pulling the whole family down as they fell so the Turks could save bullets.

Many died as they were marched into exile in what is now Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Kurdish paramilitaries attacked them as Ottoman soldiers looked on. Robbery, murder and rape were commonplace on the death marches. Armenian cities and villages were deserted, their citizens killed or forced away and then re-inhabited and re-named.

Like the European Jews 20 years later, their homes and possessions were repossessed by the state or pillaged by their neighbors. Armenians were not the only victims of the Ottoman evils.

Tens to hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Orthodox, Chaldean, and other “Greeks” (Ottoman term for Ottoman Christians) were murdered alongside their fellow Christian Armenians.

Two days a year of remembrance and mourning for at least 7 million souls. Two

days often forgotten, if ever known. While we cannot do anything to reverse the tragedies of the past, we can recognize the precursors to similar events in the future.

Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has denied the Holocaust ever occurred and has made statements to the effect of wanting to ensure another one occurs.

Thousands of religiously zealous Muslims shout “Death to Israel” at Friday prayers at Tehran University on a weekly basis. Iranian missiles carry the words “Death to Israel.”

Until 1935 “Iran” was the Farsi word for “Aryan,” but it became the official name of a Hitler admiring shah, who allowed German Gestapo agents to use the country as a base of operations in the Middle East.

Post Islamic Revolution Iranian leaders not only practice overt anti-Zionism and thinly veiled anti-Semitism, but also antiChristianity, as can be seen in the detention and threats of execution against Christians, most notably in the cases of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and Pastor Saeed Abedini, who remains imprisoned.

Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip call for the destruction of the state of Israel and Jews. Their propaganda encourages Gazan youth to take up arms and gain glory by killing Jews, sometimes through cartoons and other televised programming aimed at those who have not yet reached puberty. Like Iran, Hamas has also targeted Christians who dare enter Gaza. Recently, in post Arab Spring Egypt, Coptic Christians have also fallen victim to persecution, murder and rape; something they never faced under the dictator Hosni Mubarak.

An Egyptian Cleric, Ahmed Mahmud Abdullah, known also as Abu Islam, who takes to the station he owns, al Ummah, stated that Christianity originated in penis worship and that Christian women raise dogs to fill the roles of their husbands. This is the same cleric who stated that ‘women in Tahrir Square want to get raped.’ Modern cases of pure unbridled hatred against Jews and Christians are too numerous to name, much less recount.

So what can we do? We can recognize the genocidal mindset before the atrocity comes to fruition and recognize it and point it out, without fear. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

We can act with the same fervor as modern U.S. multiculturalists who feel everything is an affront to everything they are, no matter how hyphenated their nomenclature may be. We can broadcast it just as loud and just as often.

Regardless of what they may say, identifying hatred is not the same as hatred itself. At the very least, we can look to the past on those two days in April and remember.

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The Features

THURSDAY, April 4, 2013

The Summa

5

The Clothesline Project at UST

By CLAIRE LOGUE Features Editor

The Clothesline Project is a program dedicated to the awareness of violence against women. During the month of April, the Office of Counseling & Disability Services will be displaying a clothesline to represent the women who are subjected to violence.

April is National Sexual Assault Awareness month, which provided the Office of Counseling and Disability Services with a special opportunity to promote awareness.

The official Clothesline Project began in the summer of 1990 in Cape Cod, Mass.

The small group of women that began the program were prompted by the “Men’s Rape and Prevention Project” statistic that claimed 58 thousand soldiers were lost in Vietnam and during the same period 51 thousand women were killed by someone they knew.

The women originally involved with the program intended to create a way to take these statistics and turn them

The Clothesline Project - Fred Bonilla / Courtesy Photo

into proactive educational and healing tools. The clothesline part of the plan was suggested by a visual artist, and one of the women involved in the project, Rachel Carey-Harper.

The concept took root as the women chose this as their visual method of communication.

“The Clothesline [at UST] is a powerful visual representation of actual violent acts experienced by people from the Bridge and UST,” said Jennifer Shannon, Coordinator for Counseling & Disability Services. “The Clothesline is meant to raise

awareness of the problem of sexual violence, and to point people towards hope by encouraging healing and prevention.”

The clothesline is more than just a vehicle of visual awareness, but harkens back to the ideals of society, where the laundry was women’s work and neighborhood women would talk and share information over the fence as they hung their clothes out to dry.

This clothesline provides women with the opportunity to share her story in her own way.

The Clothesline Project estimates that there are more than 500 projects both nationally and internationally, with an estimation of 50 to 60 thousand shirts across the globe. The organization is currently aware of projects in 41 states and five countries, expanding as far as Tanzania.

This project is dedicated in every way to honor women survivors and the victims of intimate or gender violence.

With each woman that designs a shirt, more voices are being heard and the silence associated with intimate and sexual crimes is closing.

Different colors of shirts are used to represent the different crimes associated with women.

The colors of the shirts represent white for women who died because of violence, red, pink, and orange for survivors of rape and/or sexual assault; and blue/green t-shirts for survivors of incest and sexual abuse.

“We will have the Clothesline display up in Crooker and Guinan,” Shannon said. “We are collaborating with the Society of Macrina and the Health Promotion and Wellness Department to distribute educational materials on sexual assault for both women and men.”

The Office for Counseling and Disability Services will hold several events throughout the month to provide students with the opportunity to create their own t-shirts.

For more information about the Clothesline Project, check out www.clotheslineproject.org.

Anyone interested in creating a shirt can contact shannoj@ stthom.edu or (713)525-2169 or 6953.

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The Features

The Summa

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Useful tips to avoid the end-of-semester slump With about a month of classes left (and no, we’re not counting exam days, who does that?), we’re all finding ourselves stuck between “is it too late to quit?” and “if only focusing was an actual possibility.” Being productive can be difficult, but to help everyone out, we’ve compiled a few tips for keeping on track and staying motivated.

By CLAIRE LOGUE Features Editor

Make a list, stay organized

Take a break

Not everyone is a list maker, but sometimes, just lining out the things that need to be accomplished can make lots of tasks seem more manageable. Not to mention, it is rather satisfying to check something off your list and file that away as completed. It is also a good idea to keep a calendar updated. It doesn’t need to be anything exciting or fancy, but marking your long term assignments on a calendar or even your phone can go a long way.

Now, this may sound counter-productive, but studies have shown that taking a break from studying can help you stay focused later and also allows time for information to soak in. Make your study sessions an hour long, with 45 minutes of studying and 15 minutes of break time. Be sure to actually take a break though; coffee counts, napping doesn’t. epSos.de / Courtesy Photo

Stay away from distractions

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Look to that circadian rhythm

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It can be really easy to keep your email and facebook open all day, every day, but it’s time to take a break from all of that. Also, don’t let Netflix keep you from getting your assignments done.

Use the internet wisely and only allow yourself to waste time and get distracted when you’ve finished everything you can do for the time being. It can also help to take a break from the computer or TV if you feel yourself approaching the point of no return. Back away, take a deep breath and refocus on the things you must have finished.

Think positively

Yes, we know it can be hard to muster up those positive thoughts when all you want to do is go to bed and wakeup, never? But thinking positive thoughts can really make a difference. By looking at the positive side of things, that daunting task doesn’t seem quite so daunting anymore.

Shell Greenier/ Courtesy Photo

It is proven that everyone has a natural time of day when they are most productive.

Figure out what your circadian rhythms are and let your body tell you when you should hammer out the hard stuff. A few hours of challenging productivity each day can keep you going to the end of the semester.

Take care of yourself

Moyan Brenn / Courtesy Photo Laurie Eno/ Courtesy Photo

Go to class and think about your goals

It can be really helpful when you’re stressed and fairly certain that this is the end, to remember why you’re in school in the first place. What are your long-term future goals? Keep those in mind as you battle the current issues and look for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Stay away from candy, coffee and sugary energy drinks to keep yourself going. This will inevitably lead to a crash. Instead of relying on sugar, move around and look to physical exercise to get your heart pumping and your brain working. Also, sleeping and eating right are the best things you can do for your body in times of high stress. Letting yourself get sick is just about the worst move you can make towards the end of the semester.

Most importantly, be sure to get plenty of sleep.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Entertainment

The Summa

7

Dead Man Down does not deliver, easily overlooked and forgettable

By DANIEL BROWN Staff Writer

Dead Man Down is a movie that was not hyped up enough to attract much attention because movies like Oz: the Great and Powerful were coming out roughly around the same time. This is surprising considering that the movie is directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the same director of the critically acclaimed film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Both films have the same actress, Noomi Rapace, in the lead female role. Other notable actors include Terrence Howard, known for his role as Rhodey in the 2008 film Iron Man, and Colin Farrell, who stars as the main protagonist.

The movie centers around Farrell’s character Victor, a Hungarian criminal under the employment of a ruthless kingpin named Alphonse Hoyt, who is Howard’s character.

The film begins as Hoyt, Victor and several other henchmen confront the leader of a rival gang, with Hoyt accusing the leader of being a mysterious killer who has assassinated several of his most prominent employees and made several death threats against him personally.

FilmDistricts / Courtesy Photo

As a shoot-out ensues, Victor earns Hoyt’s trust after saving his life, and their investigation as to who the killer is continues with Victor’s close friend Darcy, played by Dominic Cooper, taking charge.

One night, Victor asks his neighbor Beatrice, Rapace’s character, out on a date, during which she reveals her knowledge of Victor’s criminal past. From there, the film is spent following Beatrice’s attempt to blackmail him into murdering a drunk driver responsible for disfiguring her in the past and how Darcy and Hoyt’s gang gradually discover the killer’s identity.

The film proves to be terribly mediocre, both in terms of premise and character development. Perhaps the most disappointing character is Victor himself; Farrell’s forte is dark humor, judging by his performance in previous films, but Victor only sparingly engages in such humor during the first act before mutating into a brooding stoic.

Rapace unfortunately gives similarly generic treatment to her character; she is at first secretly obsessed with vengeance against the person who disfigured her and embittered with how people have generally treated her since her disfigurement, but

gradually forgets entirely about her own problems in favor of her desire to help Victor, even though her problems are left unresolved as a result.

Thus, it makes it difficult to like her because she never stands up for herself and always lets her boyfriend solve her problems. There is not much to discuss about Darcy, Hoyt, or any of the other antagonists; as they deliver believable performances, but never deliver anything new or unique and are ultimately forgettable as the protagonists.

In defense of the actors, their performance most likely suffers as a result of the absurd plot twists and terrible pacing.

The identity of the killer is actually revealed to the audience relatively early in the film, eliminating any tension since the ending immediately becomes predictable.

The film feels much longer than it actually is because it takes an atrociously long amount of time for anything to be accomplished.

Some plot points are ultimately insignificant, and others are never resolved; for example, the film shows Beatrice rushing to get to her apartment and away from a group of kids who harass her for her appearance daily, hinting at a confrontation or

resolution that never happens.

Additionally, the plot twists are so frequent and so ridiculous that any investment into the film becomes difficult.

The film has a few action scenes, but they are neither unique nor entertaining in any way. The term “action” is ultimately used very loosely; every action scene is clearly one-sided in favor of Victor, and not one of his many victims manages to even lay a finger on him.

This culminates in an absurdly cliché climax that seems to be taken out of an Arnold Schwarzenegger flick, causing the film to devolve from a mediocre crime film to a groan-worthy action flick.

This is surprising considering the fact that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a drama thriller; since Dead Man Down is supposed to be a neo-noir thriller crime film, one would think Oplav would attempt to create a similar film.

Dead Man Down fails to deliver in any aspect and deserves to be overlooked and forgotten. The deceivingly promising opening gives way to generic characterization, boring action scenes, and an atrociously cliché ending that will leave audiences wishing for refunds.

Fey-Rudd duo passes with chemistry, but fails as a comedy in Admission

By MASON BURRUSS Staff Writer

Actress Tina Fey probably has a long career ahead of her because she is one of the most popular comedians in America and has just wrapped up her hit show 30 Rock. You would think that when pairing her with Paul Rudd, another experienced comedian, the result would be light-hearted, charming film.

Unfortunately, the belowaverage Admission, is a film that has a cluttered screenplay, direction that lacks focus and thinly-written characters.

What chemistry Rudd and Fey have is in short bursts, and eventually a lack of interest starts to develop in the random plot developments.

If the movie had more patience and the screenplay had gone through a few more rewrites, then maybe Admission could have been a great film, instead of one that will quickly be forgotten.

Admission already starts out with a difficult premise, about a Princeton admissions officer named Portia, Fey’s character, who hears from a former classmate named John, played by Rudd, that a student

of his, named Jeremiah, may be the son she gave up for adoption 17 years ago.

Meanwhile, a relationship develops between the two as they meet with each other.

Already the film has a problem in that both of these plots are of second priority in favor of their efforts to get Jeremiah into Princeton.

There are also subplots dealing with Portia’s ex, Portia’s mother, John’s adopted son and even a little one involving the dean of admission’s retirement that seems to be forgotten thirty minutes into the film. All of these aspects never seem to mix well and the film ends up as an uneven “dramedy.”

The problem is that none of these parts of the film are given enough attention. It does not work as a romance because Rudd and Fey are never given enough to seem like a viable couple, and it does not work as a study on parenting because the relationships never develop and are resolved too easily.

Admission also fails as a comedy; first of all because most of the comedic bits seemed to be completely misplaced and contrast highly with the more dramatic parts, and also because the film just

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is not that funny. The director seems far more concerned with making a statement on college admission and what true learning is.

You will notice that the main conflict of the film is John trying to convince Portia to help get Jeremiah into Princeton and then Portia’s efforts to get him accepted.

The film never convinces the audience that it is that crucial for Jeremiah to get into Princeton or that he deserves to. Eventually Portia’s actions do not seem completely justified.

It is not the fault of the

actors; Fey and Rudd are two very charming people and they do manage to generate some chemistry. They are let down by a screenplay that does not give them enough to work with and actually gets in their way at times.

Actor Michael Sheen also shows up, playing Portia’s exlover, and despite his talent, his involvement gets more and more awkward the more he is in the film. Actress Lily Tomlin, playing Portia’s mother, is the only one who seems able to create a twodimensional character.

It is the director, Paul

Weitz, who directs this movie without any caution or patience. He does not seem to care so much about the characters as he does his half-message on education and the plot suffers for it.

It becomes harder to care about what these characters are doing or why they are doing it.

Admission is not unwatchable, just boring. Fans of Fey should stick with Date Night or Mean Girls. She will probably have more projects in the future as her popularity increases; let’s hope they are better ones than this.

8

The Summa

The Entertainment

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Tyler Perry’s Temptation praised by fans but fails to entertain critics

By SARAH OYARCE Entertainment Editor

Tyler Perry fans will find Perry’s movie obnoxiously titled Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor or Temptation for short, to be one of his best.

Critics however, will not be as pleased.

Temptation received a humiliating 16 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but I really do not understand why as I thought that Temptation was a good film.

If you have seen any other Perry movie then you already know the major plot of the film has to do with relationships with the topics of drugs, sex and church thrown into the mix.

This time Perry’s film focuses on a woman named Judith played by actress Jurnee Smollett-Bell. Judith is “happily” married to a man named Brice who she has known since she was six years old, played by Lance Gross.

Gross has appeared in other Perry productions in the past. After 19 years of being together, the young

couple gets married and move to Washington D.C., a big contrast to their humble and religious beginnings in a small southern city.

Brice makes good on his dream of being a pharmacist in a small store in the city while Judith must put her dream of being a marriage counselor on hold for a couple of years based on the advice Brice gives her and she starts working for a high end dating service, that specializes in finding love for rich people.

When a rich, young and handsome social media inventor comes through the door all of Judith’s problems start and the temptation that she eventually succumbs to begins. To not give away the whole plot, Temptation is a morality story about what can go terribly wrong when you cheat on your spouse.

There are a few oldfashioned lines with Judith’s mother scolding her for not cooking hot meals for her husband every day, and also slightly cheesy lines that made the audience burst into laughter during some scenes. One scene even featured Judith’s mother having a prayer circle

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in her apartment completely uninvited which was really awkward, but other than that, the film proved to be a great cautionary tale about the evils of adultery.

All the acting in the film was mediocre at best, but that is nothing new and is found in every Perry movie. Socialite ,Kim Kardashian succeeded in her small supporting role in the film playing herself.

Well, that is not exactly true, but her character is basically only there to give the main

character, Judith, fashion advice about the latest trends and to look pretty, which she accomplishes.

What made Temptation one of Perry’s best was the surprise ending. Usually all of Perry’s films leave you feeling good, especially the ones that involve the crazy Madea, but this one did not and left everyone in the theater genuinely surprised and quite gloomy.

When most Hollywood produced movies have a

happy ending, it is quite refreshing and unexpected to see something play out the way life would have had it play out.

Although critics are bashing Temptation, to some it will go down as one of his most dramatic films along with 2010’s.

For Colored Girls. I found it to be startling and greatly enjoyable, but do not take my word for it. Go see it and make up your own mind on the film.

Out and About: Houston in April Compiled by Sarah Oyarce

April 6: Dirty South will be performing at Stereo Live April 6: Romeo Santos will play at the Toyota Center April 7: Parkway Drive will be at the House of Blues April 9: Baauer and Danny Brown will perform at Fitzgerald’s April 9: Grizzly Bear will be playing at the House of Blues April 10: Jeff Dunham will play at the Reliant Arena April 11: Big Head Todd & The Monsters will perform at the House of Blues April 12 & 13: Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles will be playing at the Bayou Music Center April 13: Secondhand Serenade will be performing at Warehouse Live April 14: Fonseca will be at the House of Blues April 14: Pierce The Veil and All Time Low will perform at the Bayou Music Center April 15: Rihanna and A$AP Rocky will be playing the Toyota Center April 16: Transit will play at Fitzgerald’s

Grizzly Bear Eric Gebhart / Courtesy Photo

April 18: Falling In Reverse will perform at Fitzgerald’s April 19: Meek Mill will play at the House of Blues April 20: Crystal Castles will be performing at the House of Blues April 20: “KTBZ Buzzfest” will be held at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion April 20: Tyrese will be playing at the Arena Theatre April 22: Whitechapel will be performing at Fitzgerald’s April 23: Carrie Underwood and Hunter Hayes will be playing at the Toyota Center April 23: Future will perform at the House of Blues April 24: Bullet For My Valentine will play at Warehouse Live April 24: The Lumineers will be performing at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion April 25: A Day To Remember will be playing at the Ballroom at Warehouse Live April 25: Paramore will perform at the Bayou Music Center April 26: Youth Lagoon will be playing at Fitzgerald’s

Rihanna

April 27: Lisa Lampanelli will perform at the Bayou Music Center Roc Nation / Courtesy Photo

April 30: Metric will play at the House of Blues

The Entertainment

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Summa

9

Olympus Has Fallen: Typical, unoriginal action flick that follows stereotype

By SARAH OYARCE Entertainment Editor

With a pretty epiclooking trailer and seemingly interesting plot, Olympus Has Fallen opened to audiences on March 20 to fairly negative reviews. It includes an enemy in the movie that is creepily relevant for today’s America.

I guess it is no big secret that North Korea is not pleased with the American way of doing things, especially as it pertains to their country. But with recent events, the enemy in this film being a North Korean terrorist group, it just makes me wonder if that was a coincidence or if the writer drew his motivation from tensions between North Korea and America.

But leaving political commentary aside (I will leave that to the opinion section); Olympus Has Fallen was pretty entertaining as a whole if you are willing to overlook cliché writing at some points such as

when the main character of the film Mike Banning, played by Gerald Butler, says that he’s “the best hope” they have got and an extra’s line of “let’s take our house back” and the blatant impossibility of the whole situation.

This impossible act is not the destroying of the White House by terrorists but that just one man can save and take out every enemy fighter to save the free world just in the nick of time, in fact it is not only unreasonable but very overdone.

The plot of the story is rather intriguing. The movie starts out with Banning being a top Secret Service agent who is also friends with the president, played by Aaron Eckhart. On the way to a fundraiser, the president’s convoy gets into an accident and the car that the president and the first lady are in gets thrown off a bridge.

Before the car falls, Banning manages to save the president but not the first lady.

Because the president cannot

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bear to see Banning with him being a reminder of that tragic night, he has him reassigned to a desk in the Treasury building. Eighteen months later, the terrorists invade the White House and he feels the need to redeem himself by rescuing the president, his son and of course, his country.

The action scenes in the film were really entertaining.

They start about 30 minutes into the film and never stop

until the end. There were also a lot of violent scenes in the film, as it is rated R. One of the things that irritated me the most about the film is that the great actors Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett were underused.

The director instead decided to focus the entire film on Butler, which I think was a big mistake as he delivered most of the cliché lines in the film. Other actresses that were

underused were Ashley Judd who only had a small part in the film but I would have still liked to see more from her and Melissa Leo who is an Academy Award winner. The leader of the terrorist group played by Rick Yune was also convincing as an evil guy.

Action movie fans will be very pleased with Olympus Has Fallen, even though critics will be bored with the monotony.

Puzzles Corner April Crossword

Sudoku

1

2

Created by Sarah Oyarce

3 7

6

10

9 11

4

14

5

8

12

13

Dan Rice / Courtesy

Riddle of the Month!

How could a cowboy ride into town on Friday, stay two days, and ride out on Friday?

A. His horse’s name is Friday.

ACROSS 1. Original member of Destiny’s Child; LeToya 6. “The Way” singer; Ariana 7. Federal law that only gives marriage benefits to same-sex couples 8. Capitol of Austria 9. The Fault in Our Stars author; John 11. One of the cardinal virtues

12. Animal and seven deadly sin 13. Christmas song originally written for Thanksgiving; Bells DOWN 2. Civil rights activist; Cesar 3. State where the Erie Canal is located at; New 4. 1966 film about a couple who raise a lion named Elsa;

Born 5. “Dream Deferred” poet; Hughes 10. CEO of Hobby Lobby; Green 14. A shade of brown with a tinge of red

10

The Health

The Summa

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Smartphone Apps for diet journaling lead to significant weight loss

By BIANCA GOMEZ Copy Editor

We are all past the point of “New Year’s Resolutions” when it comes to finally hitting the treadmill – by now, you have either stuck to your goal or decided to stop the dedication a couple of weeks in. With summer coming up, the next wave of “gymhitters” will spend weeks, or even months trying to get in shape for bikini season.

While staying fit is definitely the key component of losing weight, people do not take into consideration what they consume.

The word “diet” seems to scare people off, but there are huge misconceptions surrounding dieting. In fact, dieting has been made easier thanks to dieting applications available for the iPhone and Android.

According to an article

by Anna Hodgekiss in the Daily Mail, “Dieters who used a Smartphone app and exercised lost on average eight pounds more than their counterparts who didn’t track daily food intake and movements.”

Diet apps are trackers on your mobile device that help you follow not only what you consume on a daily basis, but the amount of calories you are limited to. “Just eating right” is not the only important aspect of weight loss; these trackers record your fitness regimen, and they suggest the type of workouts you should try and how much you have to exercise.

There are so many apps

available out in the market.

Some include: MyFitnessPal (iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows; Free), which is a tracker that has a free barcode scanner, remembers your favorite food and automatically syncs your information from their website. It also includes a huge food database that has over 2 million foods listed.

Lose It! (iPhone and Android; Free) is also an app geared to weight loss, a recipe builder, and a large database of food and activities listed.

Users can also track their

nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates and fat.

Fooducate (Android and iPhone; Free), this app helps users change their eating habits and the emphasis of healthy eating.

The app includes everything as MyFitnessPal and Lose It! but this tracker gives information on the quality of food the user is buying and eating by assigning each food a nutritional rating; and iTrackBites (iPhone; $1.99 and Android; $2.99), Similar to the idea of Weight Watchers, this app tracks

Gonzalo Baeza/ Courtesy Photo

point values of food.

It also has a comprehensive food database, creates a favorites list for you and the user weighs-in to track their progress in milestones.

I can say that these apps work from personal experience; I used an app called SparkPeople that was available for the iPhone and Android market.

Not only did this tracker record my carbs, protein and fats, but it also gave me the minimum and maximum amount of calories I need to intake per day based on my

goal (which was weight loss).

My problem was that I would work out for a little while, but I would not know what not to eat, how much to eat, what exercises I should specifically do and how much I should work out.

I have used this tracker since late January, and it has proven results for me. Since then, I have lost 10 pounds – there were a few of weeks where I caught a cold and was too sick to keep up with my P90X exercises, but because I stayed pretty strict to my diet, I only gained one pound and easily shed it off once I recovered.

SparkPeople also has a recipe app called SparkRecipe where I could find homemade low carbohydrate and low calorie meals, versus having to eat the frozen Morningstar meals all the time.

SparkPeople also has their own website where I could not only track my daily intake and exercises online, but I could find the motivation and support from other users by looking through the forums.

Bikini season may be around the corner, but that does not mean you should run to the nearest pharmacy for detox teas or laxatives and work out at the gym 7 days a week for hours per session.

Thanks to technology, eating right has never been easier. I may not be a “health nut,” and I am the typical “I-am-too-busy-to-work-outbecause-of-studying” student.

But if I can reach my weight loss goals with working out and eating the right food, then all hope is not lost.

New USDA food guidelines do away with the food pyramid

By Sandra Efraimson Health Editor

The United States Department of Agriculture made changes to the food group symbol, and is no longer using the traditional Food Pyramid.

The new symbol called MyPlate has an easier to understand visual appearance. The new guidelines are also meant to facilitate nutritional education for consumers. MyPlate is a dinner plate divided into four sections, and includes updated rules for nutrition.

New food rule number one said to eat the most nutrientdense foods. To do this you must avoid eating high calorie foods with low nutrients, such as cookies and sodas. Instead, you should be eating foods that are nutritious such as lowfat milk or nuts that may have

Leonardini/ Courtesy Photo

the same amount of calories, but higher vitamin content and other nutrients.

The second rule said that one should avoid eating solid fats and added sugars. The main reason for this is that high fats and sugars are not associated with nutrients. To avoid this one, should trim fat from poultry and use less sugar or avoid pastries and candy.

The new rules also mention to eat more seafood.

Eating fish a couple of times a week increases the intake of omega-3 fatty acids, which helps reduce the risk of heart attack. You may find the most omega-3 fatty acids in salmon and eating eight ounces of fish, two 4-ounce filets a week, contains enough of this fatty acid.

The USDA also updated the importance of red vegetables (or fruits in the case of tomatoes) in addition to orange veggies.

The reason for the update is to increase lycopene, vitamin C and antioxidants to the diet.

It was also recommended that dark-green leafy vegetables, peas and beans be added to every plate.

The fifth new food rule called for adding more fruit on a daily basis. Eating more fruit rather than less-healthy snacks is a more nutrientdense option. The plate then should have half a plate with vegetables and fruits.

Lastly, the new rules included information that a vegetarian or vegan diet can be healthy. It is possible to go meatless if the consumption of protein is replaced with nuts and seeds. To avoid deficiency of any one essential nutrient, supplements may be added.

These changes aim to change the way that people view a healthy nutritious diet and may facilitate new diet choices for Americans.

Check out the MyPlate diagram and start balancing your plate with the right foods for a healthier self.

The Health

THURSDAY, April 4, 2013

The Summa

11

Oral hygiene affects more than just your teeth

By MARIELA GARCIA Staff Writer

When I was younger, I was often ordered to brush my teeth before I went to bed, and if I recall correctly there may have been a few times I cheated and just pretended to go to the bathroom to do so.

As young children we are taught that keeping our teeth clean is very important. The dentist always made sure to remind you to brush and floss, twice a day every day.

It might have seemed like a bit of an inconvenience to some of us at times, when all we wanted to do is go straight to bed.

But not staying on top of this has surprising and concerning disadvantages other than smelly breath and cavities.

Apart from permitting vulnerability to sicknesses such as gum disease, the buildup of germs and bacteria can have lasting effects on your health.

According to the Health Guidance website, the reason for smelly breath is the bacteria that is left behind in the mouth.

How is this also connected to other diseases? The bacteria resting inside your mouth

Jaymie Koroluk / Courtesy Photo

causes your immune system to constantly fight it off and keep it from affecting the rest of the body.

Further effects of that particular issue is that it can possibly elevate blood pressure, allowing other viruses to attack, similar to a chain reaction.

You may now be wondering: “why is this part of the body such a bustling source of health risks?” or “I’ve never had such problems… Why should I worry?”

First and foremost reason is the fact that the mouth is a warm, moist environment, which creates the perfect opportunity for bacteria and germs to spread.

It also allows for “a direct passage to the stomach through which [these] can pass through into the blood,” according to Health Guidance. Oral hygiene is highly important not only for yourself, but for the people present in your surroundings.

Coughing and sneezing

transmits our bacteria and germs to others if we do not cover our mouths correctly.

There is also vulnerability to sickness because of the things we put in there (wiping our mouths and chewing our fingers for example).

You can do more research at home or nearby to become more informed on this topic.

Flossing, brushing, and using mouthwash are at the top of the list for maintaining efficient oral hygiene.

Although we are aware

that keeping our mouth clean by doing this is good, at least now we know why and we can truly understand why we do it in the first place.

Think of George Washington and his wooden teeth. Fortunately for us we have well trained dentists and advanced technology to help keep our teeth white and shiny.

Visit healthguidance.org for a diverse source of information on health issues for you and your family.

Alcohol awareness month: time to consider how alcohol affects the body

By Sandra Efraimson Health Editor

April is Alcohol Awareness month and I am sure that students have some idea about what alcohol does to a person. It begins with making people more talkative and increases socially daring attitudes that develop as the drinks are consumed. That is on the surface, but do you know what alcohol does to the body on the inside?

Alcohol affects perception, metabolism, movement, vision, skin elasticity and behavior.

According to How Stuff Works, alcohol affects neurotransmitters in the brain, which are the chemicals that process emotions and feelings.

It increases the inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid neurotransmitter causing sluggish reactions, blocks the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate furthering the slowing down of the brain and increases dopamine, the neurotransmitter that is responsible for the reward system causing a “feel good” effect.

The liver processes alcohol, which is usually able

to safely process one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men, according to Livestrong.

Flooding the liver with more alcohol can block the normal blood supply to it and cause cell death. This cell death in the liver leads to scar tissue called cirrhosis, which can eventually lead to liver failure.

Alcohol can also affect the nervous system causing damage that manifests in symptoms such as numbness in the hands and feet, muscle weakness and other autonomic neurological functions.

Medline Plus reports that studies show that these problems can develop in up to half of heavy drinkers and it is an effect that can occur after heavy drinking for more than 10 years.

Alcohol also affects your eyes by causing broken capillaries and irritating tiny blood vessels on the surface of your eyes.

Excessive drinking can eventually cause blindness, a condition called alcoholic optic neuritis, caused by the loss of nutrients lost that are required by the eye to function correctly.

Total Beauty’s website suggests that alcohol can also make your skin ugly due to the

alcohol effects on the hormone vasopressin. This hormone is responsible for keeping water in the body and alcohol inhibits its function, therefore the body has less water to keep skin moist. Dry skin leads to wrinkles. Alcohol also robs the body of vitamin A, which leads to dull colored skin.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines alcohol use disorder as a disease in which people affected crave alcohol and have a strong urge to drink, have loss of control and are not able to stop drinking once drinking has begun, physical dependence that can cause withdrawal symptoms after stopping drinking and tolerance to drinking higher amounts of alcohol.

AUD is much more prevalent in young persons attending college than persons not attending college. AUD can cause impaired academic performance, increase risk of injury by accident and even an increased risk of death.

Psych Central reports that studies show that heavy alcohol drinking has increased dramatically in college women in the last 30 years.

Women are at higher risk than men for more immediate and

serious physical symptoms.

Women are also at higher risk for sexual assault and physical injuries.

People with impulsivity urgency, which is acting without thinking, are more likely to suffer from AUD. Also, people with increased urgency, which is people who want to drink to alter emotional experiences, are more likely to drink to enhance a positive experience or get rid of negative feeling.

Alcohol impairment

is often not obvious to the drinker being impaired, but it is obvious to others.

Alcohol can affect society on more than just a physical level. Thousands of innocent lives have been lost this year already due to alcohol related accidents.

This April, when we think about how alcohol affects us all, think about ways to avoid alcohol. If avoiding alcohol for yourself is not motivation enough, do it for others.

Michelle Tribe / Courtesy Photo

12

The Summa

The Sports & Clubs

UST Model United Nations goes to St. Louis

By Aliyah Cole Sports & Clubs Editor

Who runs the world?

Girls. Well, at least these 10 girls who represented the University of St. Thomas at the 53rd Annual Midwest Model United Nations Conference in St. Louis.

In Model United Nations, students must take on the role as diplomats representing a country. They must research the country as well as international issues, debate and develop solutions for world problems. The university’s MUN only had a matter of weeks to prepare.

This meant intense training for the group that only had a limited amount time to write their position papers and practice their debate.

The team had to put aside their beliefs to take on the role of Ethiopia, the country they were representing for conference.

“Sometimes, personally, you would be against what your country wants, but you still have represent what the country is supporting,” said MUN member, Juana Martinez. “So, that was a new experience for a lot of people.”

It was not only supporting their nation’s beliefs, but the entire MUN experience itself that was new for the team. For

most of them, this was their first exposure to MUN, and there was concern about how it would all turn out.

However, all anxiety came to an end once they arrived at the conference according to team member Juilette Lopez.

“I was just like ‘Well, what happens if I mess up saying this?’ or ‘What happens if my information gets to the wrong point?’

‘What are we going to do,” Lopez said. “Once I actually got there doing what I need to do, it was a lot easier than what I expected. So, all the nervousness just pretty much disappeared and was replaced by confidence.”

Because the conference had a tight schedule and was located in the same hotel the teams stayed in, they did not have the chance to experience St. Louis. Paloma Stier, president of MUN, had hoped to see more of the city.

“Well, I wish we could have actually seen St. Louis since we only stayed in the hotel,” Stier said. “We were very fortunate to have a food court inside the hotel, so we really didn’t have to leave.

But, it’s also unfortunate because I have no idea what St. Louis is like. So far, it’s cold and they have a nice arch. And that’s as far as I know.”

Nonetheless, the MUN

did enjoy their time at conference.

“My favorite part was gathering together in different caucuses,” Lopez said. “It was really cool getting together all the African nations and figuring out, ‘Okay, what’s the problem that we are trying to solve?’ ” Although MUN did not win any awards, they did come back with something more.

“No, we did not come back with awards or anything as such,” Stier said. “That doesn’t necessarily matter.

Each person was able to grow in their own way and learn how to become critical thinkers and different things that the university instills in every class. And so therefore, I think it was very successful.”

Moreover, the group has grown closer during this challenging experience and have formed strong friendships. “‘Honestly, we’re not just a team. We’re actual friends that hangout outside of school,” Lopez said. “I guess you can call us the ‘Pitch Perfect’ of St. Thomas.”

This is not the end-ofthe-road for the dynamic team. The St. Thomas team plans to attend the Houston conference this month, as well as the American Model United Nations in Chicago this November.

Astros win first season opener in seven years

By Claire Logue Features Editor

The Houston Astros made an impressive debut Sunday night with a win against the Texas Rangers.

The Astros pulled an 8-2 victory during their season opener at Minute Maid Park on Sunday, March 31. This is the Astros first opening day win since 2006.

The Astros switched leagues in the off-season from the National League to the American League and despite having the lowest payroll in the majors, Houston was looking pretty good. The Astros are also baseball’s second youngest team.

On Sunday, the team showed off their new orange and blue uniforms, and harkened back to the oldschool days.

Country star and Texas native, Lyle Lovett performed the National Anthem at the start of the game and Texans star JJ Watts threw the first pitch.

While the Astros have received a series of new

players this season, as well as new manager Bo Porter, the Rangers lost a few key players.

Without the help of American League MVP Josh Hamilton, the win for the Astros broke the Rangers streak for four straight opening day victories.

Despite the many predictions that the Astros would be the worst team in the league this season, they

managed to prove that they could hold their own in the opening game.

“To get a win like that, I think it just brings us all closer together,” Rick Ankiel told AP News. “I know from my standpoint and from ours our big thing is that we want to just continue to keep having fun, and obviously winning is fun. It’s a step in the right direction, and it was good.”

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Upcoming Events Thursday, April 4

ROCO String Quartet Subscription Series 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Cullen Hall

Sunday, April 7

Mary Kay Make-up Workshop 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Old Bookstore

Monday, April 8 UST Blood Drive 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 9

“Are We Moving Forward?” Panel Discussion 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Ahern Room

Wednesday, April 10 Annual Lee Lecture Association Conference 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.

Jones Hall

Friday, April 12

Master Class & Book Signing with Sharon Mabry 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Cullen Hall

Sunday, April 14

Monaghan Organ Recital 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Chapel of St. Basil Want your event listed here?

Email The Summa - thesumma@stthom.edu.

SIDELINE HTX Houston Astros (MLB)

Minute Maid Park, 501 Crawford

April 5 - 7 | Astros vs. Athletics April 19 - 21| Astros vs. Indians April 22 - 24| Astros vs. Mariners

Houston Dynamo (MLS)

BBVA Compass Stadium, 2200 Texas

April 14 | Dynamo vs. Chicago April 28 | Dynamo vs. Colorado

Houston Rockets (NBA) Toyota Center, 1510 Polk

April 9 | Rockets vs. Suns April 12 | Rockets vs. Grizzlies April 14 | Rockets vs. Kings James Ramos / The Summa