Issue 23, Volume 118 -- April 5, 2023

TODAY’S FORECAST

Storms 72/51

THE NEWSDESK

FROM THE ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

INTERNATIONAL

Bomb kills Russian pro-war blogger

An explosion April 2 in a St. Petersburg cafe killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and wounded at least 30.

Russian media reported that while Tatarsky was holding a public meeting, a woman presented him with a bust of himself and it supposedly blew up. Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that Darya Tryopova was arrested for suspicion of involvement, as she was previously detained for participating in anti-war rallies.

Campus Life: Students promote accessibility with Go Baby Go

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Sports: Cheer team heads to nationals after preview performance

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Lifestyle:

Artist blows stylish glass pieces for medical marijuana patients

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Missing 15-year-old found

Tanvi Marupally spotted in Florida public library

by ashlyn littlE Staff Writer

Seventy-two days after walking out of school and down the street instead of taking her usual bus home from school, Tanvi Marupally was found almost 1,000 miles away from Conway in Tampa, Florida.

On Wednesday, March 29, the community was shocked by the news that 15-year-old Marupally had been found, alive and unharmed.

After two months of communityled efforts to find the missing teen and pushing her name, story and photos out to the public, River Watson, a Florida resident, spotted Marupally in a public library in Tampa on March 28.

Watson recognized her from a photo on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Instagram page.

Watson took a photo of her and sent it to the same Instagram page from which he initially recognized her, and from there, authorities handled confirming her identity and getting her back home.

“You’ve heard many times over the years, ‘If you see something, say something,’ and this is the perfect example of that,” Conway Police Chief William Tapley said at a March 30 news conference.

By early Wednesday morning, March 29, the Conway Police Department had been notified someone matching Marupally’s description was spotted in Tampa, and they contacted the U.S. Marshals Service and the Tampa Police Department.

In what Tapley said was “a case of sheer luck,” when Tampa police went to the library to review security camera footage, Marupally returned.

Tapley said upon being spotted and approached by Tampa police, Marupally immediately identified herself. Tampa police took her into protective custody for further questioning, asking her questions only she would know the answer to, to confirm her identity.

The Conway Police Department notified Marupally’s family and made arrangements to get her back home as soon as possible.

“Today is a good day, Tanvi Marupally is at home with her family, where she should be,” Tapley said at the press conference.

Despite being found in Tampa, Marupally spent most of the two months she was missing in Kansas City, Missouri.

Tapley said on Jan. 17, when Marupally walked down Davis Street

See Tanvi - page 2

School shooting spurs anti-trans hate

After a shooter killed three children and three adults March 27 at a Nashville Christian school, activists are concerned about anti-trans disinformation spreading. While authorities haven’t shared information connecting the shooter’s gender identity to the attack’s motive, advocates worry that comments might jeopardize and scapegoat trans people. The Trans Empowerment Project, an advocacy group based in Nashville, said it’s seen an uptick in hate, but that it has also seen pushes against gun violence in the community.

Toddler found in alligator’s mouth

Two-year-old Taylen Mosely was found March 31 after officers arrested his father, Thomas Mosely for the murder of the boy and his mother, Pashun Jeffery. Officers in St. Petersburg, Florida, including a dive team and drones, spotted an alligator with the boy in its mouth. Police Chief Anthony Holloway said they shot the alligator so it would drop the toddler’s body still intact; the alligator was later euthanized.

NATIONAL STATE

Asa Hutchinson runs for president

After eight years as Arkansas governor, Asa Hutchinson, 72, announced his 2024 presidential campaign. He boosted his criticism of Donald Trump’s campaign, calling his nomination the “worst scenario” for the GOP. Hutchinson said his campaign is for Republicans who are ready to turn the party away from Trump. He said his formal announcement will be made in late April in Bentonville.

5 dead after Arkansas tornado

by mia WaddEll Editor-in-Chief

reported in central Arkansas by North Little Rock mayor Terry Hartwick. Fifty people were injured in Little Rock and 28 people received medical treatment in Wynne.

The National Weather Service Little Rock said the tornado had peak winds of 165 mph and was on the ground for an estimated 31.9 miles. At one point, the tornado was 600 yards in width.

Little Rock mayor Frank Scott said that as of Sunday, April 2, about 13,000 Entergy customers were without power.

The city has opened the Family Assistance Center at 315 N. Shackleford Road where residents affected by the tornado can grab free meals and supplies.

It is open daily from 10 a.m.- 7 p.m.

President Joe Biden activated Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to aid in the recovery process, following a request from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Scott estimates that 2,983 structures in Little Rock were damaged.

Joe Goudsward, a North Little Rock meteorologist, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that this was the strongest tornado to hit Little Rock since Jan. 21, 1999.

Little Rock is accepting water and nonperishable food donations at 7000 Murray St, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. North Little Rock is accepting supply donations such as tarps, gloves and bags at 4501 Burrow Dr.

by Emily KEnnard News Editor

The National Park Service has removed the University of Central Arkansas from its database of institutions with Native American human remains.

The database previously said UCA reported the remains of at least two Native individuals to the federal government.

The listing was based on a July 27, 1995, letter from a professor in the former Department of Geography, Political Science and Sociology to the National Park Service, who reported she had been using two skulls for “classroom demonstration purposes.”

NPS administers the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act program, which requires institutions that receive federal funds to return Native cultural items, including funerary objects, human remains and sacred objects to descendants or tribal nations.

In a March 30 letter to the National Park Service, President Houston Davis asked for the inventory to be changed from 2 to 0.

“We believe that Dr. Elaine Fox most likely packed these materials and took them off campus with her when she retired from the university on May 15, 2007,” the letter said.

However, the former sociology and anthropology professor, now 76, said that isn’t what happened.

Fox reported to NPS having the skulls in 1995, but said after that, a government official suggested she ship them to an out-of-state address because they had no known origin.

Fox said, “I have no idea the address that I sent my skulls to, though I did get a letter some months later telling me they had received them, and they were Native American.

“When I did get the letter, I was surprised because I never thought I’d ever hear from them again.”

She believed the president’s office or her department had also received this letter of receipt, so she didn’t keep it.

“I do remember sending them out of state, and I was sorry to have to do that. I really liked using them as a teaching aid, but we had to comply with NAGPRA, and so we did,” Fox said. “It was a struggle.”

Fox said, “The president of UCA at the time appointed me to be the NAGPRA representative, and I actually did go to every single room in every single building, looking to see if I could identify any more patrimony, but I didn’t find anything.”

She said she used the skulls in anthropology 101 and also in a class she taught about Native American history, where students would pass them around.

Inside:

order

caption: Photos by Rachael Lanari, Montana Tollett, Mia Waddell & Sydney Ambrus

(Top left) Police check for survivors at a home in Little Rock on Glen Drive. (Top right) Debris litters the street in front of a home in Little Rock near Cantrell Road. (Bottom left) The sun sets on a gas station damaged on Keihl Avenue in Sherwood, Arkansas. (Bottom right) An uprooted tree spans the front yard of a West Little Rock home on Napa Valley Drive.

Police Beat

15-year-old caught driving with weed

Officer Skyler Cox cited an unnamed 15-yearold March 31 after discovering tobacco products and 5.9 grams of marijuana during a probable cause search. Cox pulled over a black Jeep on Donaghey Ave. at 12:40 a.m. for failure to stop at a red light and for driving with no lights on. Upon contact with the driver, Cox said he smelled marijuana and the teen told him there was marijuana under the passenger seat. Cox then conducted a search. The minor was then arrested for possession of controlled substances and transported to UCAPD. After contacting a juvenile intake officer, UCAPD released the minor to his mother.

Resident wakes up next to ex-roomie Man refuses tests, charged with DWI

A Conway Hall resident said his former roommate snuck into his room after his request to stay over was denied several times. The resident said when he woke up March 27, he found his ex-roommate asleep in his old bed. When the resident returned later in the day, he was unable to get the ex-roommate to leave and called UCAPD. A Conway Hall Resident Assistant told officer Tommy Wise that the suspect’s checkout date was Feb. 14 and he never returned his key to housing. Officer Nicole Sumner had the door lock changed before the ex-roommate returned. When he did return, they escorted him to his car and issued him a ban from campus.

NAGPRA:

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Tom Dillard, the university’s first archives director, found the skulls in his first year on the job while Torreyson Library was being remodeled in 1986.

NAGPRA passed in 1990.

“The University of Central Arkansas had accumulated some stuff for years that needed extra protection, so when I got there and started setting up UCA archives, of course, that was in my department,” Dillard, who left UCA in 1997, said.

He said the skulls were found on a shelf of what was called the Arkansas Room, and that “there was no documentation with them.” Dillard assumed they were donated, and he transferred them out of the archives.

“Someone thought UCA was

Tanvi:

Zachary Dejarnette, 38, was arrested March 26 for suspicion of driving while intoxicated and refusing to submit after Officer Skyler Cox pulled him over in front of Fox Run Apartments for speeding. After approaching Dejarnette, Cox said he smelled “intoxicants” and had him do sobriety tests. Cox told Dejarnette that based on his failure to complete the tests, he would be arrested for a DWI, would have to submit to a breath test and sign a license suspension form. he refused and was charged for doing so. Dejarnette was transported to the Faulkner County Detention Center for processing. His truck was towed.

Archives director found the skulls in 1986

an appropriate place for them, which, of course, it wasn’t. … There was no archaeological program on campus. They should have never taken them, but there was no one to say no,” Dillard said. “I have not seen them since I gave them to Mrs. Fox. She was very professional,” Dillard said. In March, the archives found in its manuscript collection a 1950s inventory of a campus museum, which listed “two skulls.” In January 2023, ProPublica published “The Repatriation Project,” which supplemented the NPS databases by making the remains searchable by tribal affiliation, where available, and also by showing what percentage

of remains the institutions have made available for return.

Using federal registry notices, ProPublica reported UCA had repatriated 0% of its remains, but Fox, who retired from UCA in 2007, said she complied as soon as she knew she had to.

The NAGPRA program sent two follow-up letters to UCA in 1995 and 2005, which Fox said she doesn’t remember. A NAGPRA program manager said the agency has no record of the university responding about the listing until March 2023, when archaeologist and UCA professor Duncan McKinnon reached out to ask about the inventory.

Honors community raises $1,100 for queer nonprofit Lucie’s Place

by blaKE WEavEr

Staff Writer

The UCA Schedler Honors Council hosted an ‘Issues in the Public Square’ silent art auction to fundraise for charity in the Ronnie Williams Student Center ballroom. The art auction was set up to fundraise for Lucie’s Place, a grassroots nonprofit organization based in Little Rock that aids in housing homeless LGBTQ at-risk youth in Arkansas.

Freshman Honors Council Representative and one of the organizers of the event, Richard Ware, said the charity “gives them resources so they can have gender affirming care, housing and so they can thrive and flourish in their best regard.”

There were various studentmade pieces of art and crafts lining the walls of the student center ballroom that bid could

be placed on. A crocheted rainbow dinosaur, pictures of the milky way and baskets filled with gift items were some of the items up for auction.

One of the artists and Honors College Council member, Erik Stinnett, donated four pieces to the event which were all photos of places or wildlife around our state.

“One is the Milky Way rising over the Smith Barn in Marshall, Arkansas. One is a picture I took from Hawksbill crag in the Ozark National Forest,” Stinnett said. “Lucie’s Place is a very good cause and I wanted to contribute in whatever way I can, people have always asked for prints of the pictures I have taken, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to help donate and support Lucie’s Place.”

Another artist and Honors College representative at the event, Audra Watts said, “I made

SAFA

APPEALS

two crochet pieces, Olive the rabbit and Skittles the rainbow dinosaur. I’m very proud of how Skittles turned out.”

Watts said, “I wanted to make these pieces specifically for this auction. So I made these both mostly over spring break. I picked up and taught myself to crochet in January, so I thought it’d be really fun to be able to make pieces with a new hobby that could support such a good place.”

Richard Ware said, “We have a lot of different people from across campus involved in advertising this event. What we are really trying to do is start this auction so it can have as big of an impact as it did in years prior and spread across campus.”

The Schedler Honors Council posts updates about future art auctions and how to get involved on its Instagram, @schedlerhonorscouncil.

SGA debates funds for Silent Disco

by torriE hErrington

Assistant News Editor

After a lengthy debate April 3, SGA denied a requested student activity fee allocation appeal from the Minority Mentorship Program.

Sophomore James Buckley spoke on behalf of MMP and said they would like SAFA to allocate $6,000 to the program to cover the costs of their silent disco for fall 2023.

“Our request for $6,000 for sound system headphones was declined due to being declared rentals,” Buckley said. “We are purchasing a service in which headphones are provided for our event; it’s a service, not a rental.”

SGA Vice President of Finance J’Lun Herron said that SAFA cannot cover the expense because SAFA does not cover rentals, and during the SAFA hearing, the headphones were presented as a rental.

“It was explained that he

was basically paying for usage of headphones for a certain amount of hours, and that is depicted as a rental,” Herron said.

Senator Brad Lewis motioned to deny the MMP SAFA appeal and Senator Phoenix Vu rose in support.

“We’ve already been through all of this discussion before, we’ve decided that we will not be funding this and I would appreciate it if you would honor our decision,” Vu said.

Senator Kuhreem Shabazz rose in opposition to the motion, suggesting that SGA should support the appeal due to the silent disco event being toward the beginning of the fall semester.

“They came to us now asking SGA to help them now.

I feel so the freshmen who are coming in will need this choice to be made right now,” Shabazz said.

After voting to end the debate, SGA passed the motion to deny the MMP appeal with

22 yesses, eight nos, and five abstentions.

Herron explained that while the SAFA appeal was denied, MMP can still request funding from the SGA general reserves at a later meeting.

“I’ve already met with the Minority Mentorship Program and discussed it with them. I told them they could come to the summer senate and ask for this amount,” Herron said.

SGA President Courtney Clawson clarified that no motion was discussed for the appeal requested by Gospel Choir, so the appeal was automatically denied.

Members of the UCA Ivorian Association requested $135.59 for their upcoming event at the Crafton Alumni Pavilion; the funding would cover ingredients to make authentic Ivorian food. The motion to fund the Discover Ivory Coast event passed with 33 yeses and one no.

Tree planted for teen at Faulkner County Library

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instead of taking her school bus, she walked to the train tracks. She spent the rest of that day and the entire night following the tracks until she found a train she could get on, which she rode into Kansas City.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Jeremy Hammons of the Eastern Arkansas Fugitive Task Force helped with Marupally’s case. He said the Marshals Service helps with missing child cases as of 2015.

Hammons said at the news conference he was told from the beginning that Marupally was resourceful, but he was still “absolutely astonished” she made her trek safely.

“I had no idea I was dealing with a little Rambo here,” he said.

In Kansas City, Marupally found a homeless shelter where she checked in under a fake identity, and stayed for two months. Tapley said she got to Tampa by taking a bus, and upon arrival, found an abandoned property where she lived before being found.

At the library, Marupally had been using the computers to search for jobs through Craigslist in order to earn some cash. She had a working phone with her when authorities found her, but it was unclear where

she got the phone from, as she did not have one when she went missing from Conway Junior High School in January.

The Conway Police Department believes the stress of the chance of her family being deported is why Marupally might have run away from home.

Tapley said that, other than knowing the teen walked north on Davis Street on the afternoon of Jan. 17, they had no other viable information about her whereabouts over the past two months.

Tapley said the lack of information about where she may have been was the reason why a news conference wasn’t held earlier in her disappearance. He explained that because she was considered a runaway and was not kidnapped, they could not send out an Amber Alert, but assured the community the department worked continuously on her case, even if it was behind closed doors.

While several groups were involved in aiding in Marupally’s safe return, one specific community member has been an outspoken advocate for her case.

Conway resident Jenny Wallace has spent much of her time over the last two months

ELECTIONS

working tirelessly to push

Marupally’s story to as many people as possible.

“I became an advocate for Tanvi and her family when I realized very little of anything had been done the first two weeks she was missing. When I knocked on doors on the street she was missing on and none of the people I spoke to knew there was a child missing. On day 13, I knew that if this child was going to come home, the community was going to have to be involved,” Wallace said.

Despite the time that had passed with little to no leads where Marupally might be, and not knowing her or her family prior to her disappearance, Wallace said she vowed to never stop searching for her, advocating for her and supporting her family.

Marupally turned 15 just days before being found. To honor her birthday, Wallace, Marupally’s family and other community members held a celebration and planted a tree in her honor at the Faulkner County Library in Conway.

“I think she’s going to love the tree we planted for her. She was found in a library … we planted the tree at her library,” Wallace said.

School board campaigns start up

by mia WaddEll Editor-in-Chief

Two positions are up for grabs on the Conway School Board and a total of five candidates are on the ballot.

Incumbents Bill Milburn and Jennifer Cunningham will face the three challengers.

Milburn represents District 5 and is being challenged by Trey Geier, who cites the “current school board’s hyperfocus on divisiveness and not on the education of our kids” as his reason for running.

The current school board has made headlines for policies such as removing LGBT books from the library, instituting bathroom rules for trans students and prohibiting Conway High coaches from wearing Black History Month T-shirts.

Milburn was appointed to the school board in October 2022 by the Conway Public Schools Board of Education following the resignation of the seat’s previous holder, Scott Champlin.

Milburn does not have a campaign website, but billboards promoting his campaign say “conservative.”

During a candidate meet and greet on March 6, Geier said that the current board is

running talent out of the district. Cunningham and Milburn did not attend.

“All of our teachers are important to us. You’re seeing administrators, teachers, staff and all of our intellectual knowledge going to other school districts based on the current school district’s board.”

“The school board has done a wonderful job at pushing stuff,” Geier said. “I think it’s more important that we listen to teachers.

School board member atlarge Jennifer Cunningham is facing two candidates: Sheila Franklin and Jessica Disney.

Franklin said she has faith in the school district, but, “I know that we are a long way from where we need to be, where we have been, but I know that we can get back there.”

She cited the community’s support in her campaign and promised to be a “loud voice” for the city.

At the root of her campaign, Franklin said, “I believe that the school board should focus mainly on educating our kids, all of our kids. I want that to be our main focus — we are giving each and every one of our students the best quality education that we can afford them. We are making sure all of our children feel safe and loved in our school district.

I’m not the type of person to draw a line in the sand — I want to serve everyone. I want to make sure that we are hiring and keeping good educators.”

Jessica Disney, also challenging Cunningham, built her campaign around three things: “Education first, being your voice, and teachers matter.”

Disney said she will foster education first by “creating an inclusive learning environment through policies that support and nurture every child in our school district regardless of their background or identity.”

Disney also cited transparency as a key factor and promised to “make sure information is readily available for the public and accessible to all members of the community.”

Election Day for the positions is Tuesday, May 9, with early voting beginning Tuesday, May 2.

Early voting locations include the McGee Center at 2800 College Ave and Agape ACTS Church at 1423 Ingram St. Early voting will take place 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 2-5. Election Day hours are 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Identification is required to vote. The last day to register to vote is April 10.

Conway’s bomb squad gets grant

by Emily KEnnard News Editor

The Conway Fire Department’s bomb squad received $186,330 in federal funds March 28 from the Arkansas Homeland Security Grant Program, and the City Council approved $78,700 and $28,000 to be spent on an X-ray machine and travel expenses, respectively.

Fire Chief Mike Winter said the X-ray machine will use the Logos system, which all bomb squads in the state use.

“We often work with these squads, and it makes the operation smoother and more efficient when we work with the same equipment. The Logos is an X-ray system, which allows us to X-ray packages and identify its contents,” Winter said.

Winter said CFD has been receiving these grants since the bomb squad’s creation in 2004.

“This grant will improve our responses by updating our equipment to the latest technology for a quicker and more accurate diagnosis of the situation,” Winter said.

Winter said the FBIaccredited squad has three support staff and seven technicians.

“All technicians are required to obtain 16 hours of training a month and attend a 40-hour formal training each year. These classes are held throughout the country to keep our technicians updated on the latest threats and advances in the bomb community,” he said.

Blake Brents, a bomb technician, said having updated technology and training is important.

“Every advancement in technology is an advancement that an individual can use

against the public or ourselves as the responding agency,” Brents said.

Brents said, “With the newer X-ray systems, robots, and various other new equipment we receive, we are able to understand and view our threats faster and with more accuracy.”

Brents said the members’ yearly training teaches them in part about new threats.

“This allows us to familiarize ourselves in case we have this scenario arise in our response area. In order for us to be proficient in our job, we have to be able to diagnose and comprehend what threat we have,” Brents said.

Brents is an engineer on the fire department’s truck one, his full-time role. On the bomb squad, he assists with the grant process and helps with computer and robot maintenance.

Brents said, “With the exception of the bomb commander, all CFD bomb squad members’ full-time role is assigned to an apparatus within the CFD. The response vehicles are at two stations with bomb squad members.

“This allows us to train and make sure the equipment is always ready for any threat that arises while we are on duty at the station.”

He said CFD’s bomb squad is a regional response team, which means it has agreed to respond anywhere in the state if requested.

In the event of a bomb threat, he said the local police department or the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office notifies CFD’s dispatch directly, or they contact the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

“ADEM will then determine who the closest bomb squad is and contact the on-call individual for that squad. If the call comes through our dispatch, our bomb commander is contacted with the caller’s information and a brief description of what the threat is,” Brents said.

Brents said the bomb commander chooses the squad’s response based on the threat’s severity.

“If the situation is not truly time-sensitive, members from off duty will more than likely be the ones responding to the threat. If it is a timesensitive threat, then the onduty personnel will respond directly from their station to the location,” he said.

Brents grew interested in the bomb squad during the CFD new hire orientation and joined in 2015 to challenge himself.

“I knew that the bomb squad could offer that challenge with every call and training I would encounter,” Brents said.

“I started off as a support personnel from 2015-2018. In October 2019, I attended Hazardous Devices School (HDS) in Huntsville, Alabama. HDS is where every certified bomb tech in the country attends,” he said.

According to the Arkansas Department of Public Safety website, “The Arkansas Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) is funded by the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] to enhance the state’s terrorism preparedness and response capabilities.”

ADEM’s Homeland Security Branch administers the grant program.

X-RAY

Butterfly garden

From 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday, April 6, the Student Activities Board will be in the Ronnie Williams Student Center Block allowing participants to hand feed free flying butterflies inside an enclosed screen inflatable using a nutrient based butterfly nectar. When the event ends, the butterflies will be released back into their natural habitat.

Do Nothing Day

From 5-6 p.m. Thursday, April 6, Bear Hall residents will be in the Bear Hall lobby, inviting students for their annual event that emphasizes taking care of yourself and prioritizing rest over anything else. As a part of the experience, students will have the opportunity to have structured “Do Nothing Time” where they will engage in activities of their choosing. Free food will be provided.

Protection from a fool

From 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, UCAPD and The Oaks invites anyone to the Oaks Community to learn about the right moves to protect themselves in a self-defense class.

It’s Tea Time…

From 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, the Office of Diversity and Community and Women of Excellence will be in the McCastlain Hall Ballroom featuring guest speaker Mrs. Jamil Rogers Thomas, who is the owner of Thomas Legacy Services. Appearances by Miss Essence 2023 and Miss UCA 2023 will be made and will feature entertainment by Moves In Motion and a UCA String Ensemble. The event is free to students, faculty and staff. Free food will be provided and the recommended attire is Kentucky Derby inspired.

Bear Village Flea Market

From 6-7 p.m. Monday, April 10 in the Bear Village Clubhouse, students will get rid of furniture they no longer want or exchange furniture. Unclaimed items will be taken to Goodwill.

Build your resume

From 3-4 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, Carmichael Hall invites residents to learn the importance of having a resume and the correct way to build one. Residents who create a resume will have the opportunity to have it reviewed by the career center.

Eric Siebert talks Bible mix-ups

by Thomas sTaab Staff Writer

Delta Zeta hosts kickball fundraiser

by Julia TranTham Assistant Campus Life Editor

Students in Greek Life met at the UCA softball fields to compete for first place in Delta Zeta’s annual “Kickball for a Cause” event on Saturday.

The fundraising event was for the Starkey Hearing Foundation, Delta Zeta’s philanthropy.

The Starkey Hearing Foundation helps many people with hearing loss and has been working for over 40 years in over 100 countries. More than one and a half million people have been provided with hearing health services through the help of the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

Sophomore Rachel Harmon is the chairperson of the event and has been planning “Kickball for a Cause” since January of this year. Harmon said that through the fundraiser, Delta Zeta is directly impacting its philanthropy.

“It raises money and equips children and people who don’t have access to hearing care, so it gives money and gives hearing aids to people who need it,” Harmon said.

All trophies and the concession stand funds raised from the event will go straight to Starkey.

“We have sponsorships and that will go straight to Starkey as well,” Harmon said.

Money from the team registration fees will also be donated. Teams were made up of eight to 10 players and had to pay a fee of $100 to sign up.

“Our goal was to get 14 teams, so we were able to get that goal,” Harmon said. “It’s hard with kickball because people have other events and stuff but we are very happy with how much we were able to raise for this.”

Each team that registered was in attendance, despite concerns regarding the weather.

“We didn’t know if this

was gonna go on until 8 this morning,” Harmon said. “We had planned for months and then we were just like ‘well, I’ll just have to see what happens’. But making sure teams signed up and just making sure there was a clear line of communication was one of the biggest things we had to deal with.”

Junior Sebastian Ross was one of the competitors for the men’s tournament, with his team named “The Leftovers.” The team placed second in their tournament.

“I woke up in time to get here at nine,” Ross said. “I think my favorite part was just talking trash to my buddies on other teams.” Ross said a couple of his friends asked him to be on the team and they set it all up.

“Will Clark and Gavin Rowley kind of made it up for us and were like ‘hey come out here to this event’ and they said it was gonna be a good time,” Ross said.

BEEP-BEEP

Harmon said she was very proud of her sorority and how involved they are in raising money for their philanthropy.

“It’s easy to get sidetracked about other stuff,” Harmon said. “That’s what we need to do and that we’re able to be a part of but I’m really proud about how Delta Zeta has multiple different events that are all different types so we can get different community members in.”

The sorority has shopping events and sports events, with one of their biggest being a ‘mocktail’ event in the fall semester, where they raised about $7,000 last fall. Harmon said she was also in charge of the mocktail event.

“I think we do a really good job of making sure that our membership understands what our philanthropy is and that we’re all really involved in it,” Harmon said.

Children drive modified Jeeps in race

by Thomas sTaab Staff Writer

The parking lot of the Integrated Health Science Building was a sight to behold on Saturday, April 1, as UCA’s department of occupational therapy hosted its second annual Go Baby Go event, with six children receiving specially modified ride-on cars.

Family members, UCA students and volunteers lined the parking lot Saturday afternoon, cheering as the children crossed the checkered finish line under an arch of purple balloons in their newly constructed vehicles.

Go Baby Go is a national research program focused on providing accessible and common-sense solutions for children who experience limited mobility.

UCA students began working on the idea of establishing a Go Baby Go program for the university in 2021. Lynne Hollaway, a clinical instructor in the UCA occupational therapy program, said clinicians from Arkansas Children’s Hospital approached her with the idea originally, and students were eager to get the ball rolling.

“The event was a great success last year, but this year we have a lot more community involvement and we could not be prouder of our professional student team,” Holloway said. Graduate students from UCA’s occupational therapy, physical therapy and speechlanguage pathology programs formed a pit crew to guide a group of volunteers to modify the vehicles.

The volunteers consisted of UCA occupational therapy students, physical therapy students and speech-language students, as well as medical students from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

“Here today we have students from speech, OT, PT and students from UAMS. It is a great way for us to work as an interprofessional team to accomplish a goal for a patient,” Leah Lowe of the physical therapy department said. Go Baby Go was an all-day event beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday and finishing around 5 p.m.

From 12:30-3 p.m. pit crews worked with patients to construct their modified rideon cars.

“The teams of students came in this morning, found

out who their patient was and learned about their diagnosis. Then they built the car with the modifications and made their own adaptations as they saw fit,” Lowe said.

The children who received the specially modified cars are patients from several different clinics around central Arkansas.

“A few of the children are patients at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and some are patients at local physical therapy clinics, REACH Therapy Services is one of them. One of our patients is also from Pediatrics Plus,” Lowe said.

The excitement came to a head at 3:30 in the afternoon, when the “Get Your Keys” segment of the event began.

The volunteers for the event created a makeshift racetrack in the parking lot with cones serving as guides and a finish line under the awning of the Integrated Health Science Building.

Each child climbed in their miniature blue or pink jeep, and as the pit crew explained how to operate the freshly modified vehicle, most of the children took off as soon as they learned how to accelerate. The vehicles featured a special modification where

RELEASING CREATIVITY

Topics of the Bible and Christian faith were on full display in the McCastlain Hall ballroom Thursday, March 30, as author Eric Seibert delivered his presentation “Saving God from the Bible.” Seibert’s opening statement caught the ear of every audience member in the room.

“If reading the Bible does not raise profound problems for you as a modern reader, check with your doctor and inquire about the symptoms of brain death.”

Seibert made sure to reiterate that his critique of God’s behavior in the Old Testament is not an attack on the Bible, but rather an attempt to deconstruct violent Old Testament portrayals of God.

“Most Christians probably read the Old Testament to learn about God. They expect it to tell them what God is like, what God has done and what God requires of them,” Seibert said.

This quote from Seibert led into his next segment, attempting to answer the overarching question of “Why does God need to be saved from the Bible?”

“No matter how you quantify it, God is responsible for an enormous amount of violence in the Old Testament,” Seibert said.

“Through various passages of the Old Testament, God drowns humanity, sends plagues, instigates wars and even commands genocide,” Seibert continued.

People expect the Bible to reveal what God is like. Reading about God committing acts of violence against humanity causes readers to create an image of a violent God.

But according to Seibert, the Bible frequently misrepresents and distorts God’s character. In order to deconstruct the violent portrayals of God, Seibert proposes that readers contextualize Old Testament portrayals, as well as acknowledge that God did not say or do everything the Old Testament claims.

A child races his Go Baby Go Jeep. Each Jeep was specially modified for each child.

pressing a button on the steering wheel acted as the accelerator, as opposed to it being a pedal near the bottom of the car.

In order to stop the vehicle, the driver just simply had to stop pressing the button.

The Go Baby Go project received donations from Arkansas Children’s Hospital, numerous clubs on campus and nearly twenty local businesses.

More information regarding the Go Baby Go program can be found on its website, adaptivesportsconnection.org.

Seibert provided two pieces of key evidence that helped guide his proposals, the first was archaeological evidence.

“Archaeology has demonstrated, rather conclusively, that some stories in the Bible never actually happened. For example, critical biblical scholars no longer believe that the Israelites came to possess the promised land in the way described in Joshua 6-11,” Seibert said.

The second reason to acknowledge God did not do everything the Old Testament claims, relates to the nature of how history was written in the ancient world.

Students channel inner artists in sip and paint event

by Torrie herringTon Staff Writer

Students put paint to canvas and created a lively spring scene March 30 at Canvas and Coffee in the Ronnie Williams Student Center.

Alumna Lori Cullum was the lead painter for the event hosted by the Student Activities Board.

“I love seeing how different all the finished products are because I am just here showing them a sample but everyone paints and creates differently, and I allow that creative freedom,” Cullum said.

The event was free to students on a first-come, firstserved basis. Canvas, paints, paintbrushes, coffee and energy drinks were provided. Graduate assistant Hazel Bonilla said SAB chose to merge coffee and painting because

both things are something students can enjoy.

“College students love coffee, and college students spend a lot of time on their studies and caffeine helps with that,” Bonilla said. “So it’s finding a therapeutic way to channel their energy and time away from school with something that they love, which is coffee.”

Junior Katherine Williams said the event is a good way to step back from the stress of big assignments.

“It is a really good way to destress, especially since we’re moving toward the end of the semester and everyone is assigning final projects,” Williams said. “It’s really nice to have something that you can do that is not stressful. It is just laid back, and you get to make something you can bring home.”

Senior Jenna Lewis said she attends Canvas and Coffee each semester and that it is her favorite SAB event.

“I think it is a fun way to express your creativity and let some stress off from school,” Lewis said. “You get to take something away from school that’s not just your degree, you have something to say ‘hey, I made this while I was a college student.’”

Cullum demonstrated how to make a specific painting but junior and SAB President Trey Massingill said he loves that students can ultimately paint whatever they want.

“My favorite thing is that it really gives students a creative outlet,” Massingill said. “They can come here and they can paint what’s on the screen, or they can also paint whatever they want. So, they don’t have to follow the narrative, but it’s

also a lot of fun if they do.”

While the event is a favorite for artistic students, Cullum said it is also an opportunity for students who are not familiar with painting.

“There are so many students out there who have never painted before and this gives them the opportunity to create something where they might not have had it before.”

Cullum said the events SAB puts on have come a long way since she was a student.

“We had a Student Activities Board, but there were no art events,” Cullum said. “I minored in art when I was here, and I would have loved something like this.”

SAB’s Vice President Sami Lopez is a senior and said her favorite part about being a member is that mental health is always put first.

“It’s like you’re a person

first, student second, and then you’re a SAB member, so if you have things that are going on in your life, those come first,” Lopez said. “I really like that environment.”

Massingill said SAB’s upcoming events include a mental health week with various events to promote good mental health.

“We’re doing a mental health awareness week in two weeks, and we’ll have a couple of mental health advocates like comedian Frank King,” Massingill said. “He’ll talk about his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts, but it’s more in a conversational way rather than getting lectured at.” More information about upcoming SAB events can be found on their Instagram, @ uca_sab.

photo by Madison Ogle

Jacey Howerton (middle) and the winning kickball team take a selfie with their first-place trophy. The fundraiser raised money for Delta Zeta’s philantrophy, the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which helps people who have hearing loss. “Kickball for a Cause” has been planned since January.

photo by Thomas Staab

Fraternity brothers compete in Greek pageant

by hannah rohrer

Staff Writer

King of lemurs turned king of Greek Life, Julien Martinez was crowned as the 2023 Spring King after his Madagascar-themed performance at Alpha Sigma Alpha’s annual Spring King pageant.

Spring King, formerly known as New Member King, was held March 28 in Reynolds Performance Hall and has been a consistent fundraiser for ASA’s philanthropy, the Special Olympics.

“I really wanted everyone to have a great night and raise as much money as we could for our philanthropy,”

Elizabeth Ennis, ASA’s pageant chairman, said.

The pageant consisted of four rounds — intro, talent, toga and formal.

Audience members saw themes of all varieties, including Justin Bieber, “Rocky,” NASCAR, outer space, Hercules, “Baywatch,” and “Madagascar.”

“Whenever I first heard about this, I knew it was something I wanted to do,” Martinez, a Sigma Phi Epsilon fall ‘22 member, said. Martinez represented ASA.

Martinez, a freshman biochemistry major pursuing premed, was nervous about doing Spring King but ultimately enjoyed himself once he got on stage.

With the intro round first, we saw the musical stylings of “Justin Bieber,” a sparring match between the boxer Rocky and the poor soul he knocked out, and a Baywatch lifeguard giving mouth-to-mouth to a swimmer in need.

The talent round was just as eventful, with contestants performing theatrical dances to music that fit their themes.

“There was a lot of time and effort put in by the people in my dance, and

I’m just really grateful,” Martinez said, “It was hard with Spring Break, but we got it done.”

Countless nights of practicing for

hours on end paid off for him and his dancing animal-themed friends as he was named winner of the talent round. With toga next, it was evident that

FIGHTING FOR EQUALITY

People of UCA:

Hypatia Meraviglia stands for change

by maci england

Campus Life Editor

From mapping moons with NASA to fighting for trans rights with the Faulkner County Coalition for Social Justice, no task is too large and no cause is too small for senior Hypatia Meraviglia.

Meraviglia is a double major in physics and linguistics with minors in math and interdisciplinary studies.

When asked why they chose such a combination, Meraviglia said at first there was no clear answer.

“When I was a freshman people would ask me, ‘That’s a weird combination, why physics and linguistics?’ and I didn’t really know how to answer. But a couple years ago I stumbled into system science, and things kind of clicked — I love planets and languages because they’re both complex, vibrant and intertwining systems.”

Their love for physics led them to joining the Society of Physics Students their freshman year, an RSO they’re now a co-leader of.

“SP’s entire purpose is to celebrate physics, really dig deep into what makes people love it. We do hands-on experiments, invite in groundbreakers in different fields, bring science to the local community and more,” Meraviglia said.

Meraviglia said the organization is currently preparing for the 2024 solar eclipse, an event that will bring tens of thousands of people to Conway to see totality.

Meraviglia said their love for planetary systems science shows most directly in Green Bear Coalition, an environmentalism club at UCA.

“My peers and I built and now care for a community garden on our campus. We help teach the student body about

the planet and sustainable farming, organize litter cleanups around our city and donate the produce we grow to the campus food back,” Meraviglia said.

“By better understanding how other planetary systems function, we can better understand our role on our own planet,” Meraviglia said.

Meraviglia’s passion for planetary systems also led them to apply for an internship with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a dream they’ve had since they were a child.

“My professors encouraged me to apply, telling me about other students who’d done it and thrived.”

Meraviglia said the process to apply is simple.

“It’s pretty easy to apply at interns. nasa.gov. You can browse thousands of internships. You fill out a short application, write a few statements and eventually interview with the leads on the projects. Don’t be afraid to coldemail people, introducing yourself and emphasizing why you’re interested.”

While at NASA, Meraviglia mapped the seasonal movement of chemicals in the atmosphere of one of Saturn’s moons, Titan.

“I joined the project knowing absolutely zilch about coding or planetary atmospheres. I felt utterly outside my depth. I worked throughout the summer to close gaps in my knowledge and produce good science. I’ll never forget the excitement when I first figured out how to produce an image of the moon’s disk. That’s what motivates my research — awe for complexity and beauty, and the joy of sharing it with others.”

Meraviglia recommends interning with NASA to all students who are interested.

“It’s a fantastic way to do amazing

work and have a profound impact in your field. NASA hires folks from a wide array of disciples, not just STEM. They’re competitive, but you’re not expected to be an expert in the topic you apply for — learning is part of the process.” Meraviglia said.

Being a transgender, nonbinary student, Meraviglia said they originally dreaded having to stay in state for college, but found a support system of queer people and allies in Conway.

“Conway has a deep queer history, of which UCA is an important part. It’s become my hometown. Often folks think, and not without reason, it’s right in some ways, that Arkansas chokes out fights for justice, liberation, autonomy, and safety. But I think the opposite is also true. People here stick up for each other. We learn how to hold each other, protect each other, listen, grow, correct ourselves, demand our right to exist until our voices break and more voices take up the work,” Meraviglia said.

Meraviglia said the fight for queer liberation is more important than ever because of recent state and school policies.

“The Arkansas legislature and the Conway School Board have both introduced and passed several policies and bills that horrifyingly restrict the rights of trans people: policies 4.20 and 4.56.2, HB1156, SB125, SB199, SB43 and more. In October, the Conway School Board allowed a speaker to issue a death threat at a public meeting. In January, Sen. Stubblefield introduced SB49, which would have banned trans people from singing, dancing or speaking in public.

Just last week, Gov. Sanders signed into law SB199, which limits access to transition care for minors.

“Every day I wake up and lose more rights. It’s hard to focus on classes or

this was the audience’s favorite round.

The men took turns, about 2030 seconds each, showcasing their muscles by doing a combination

of different flexes and poses, each accompanied by outbursts of screams from the crowd.

Harlen “Harley” Nordman lived up to his portrayal as Hercules as he was crowned the toga round winner.

With the formal round comes the interview process, where each contestant picks a slip of paper out of a bowl to reveal their question to answer.

After a heartfelt sentiment from Beau Wright about what our generation can learn from the elderly and Karter Pawelczak’s inspirational testimony about his former soccer coach, it was apparent that the judges couldn’t possibly choose.

Therefore, the two were granted a tie and titled formal round winners.

An intense aura lingered over the room as everyone anxiously awaited the judge’s decision for the overall Spring King winner.

While the audience members waited, hosts Karli New of ASA and Jake Ward of Pi Kappa Alpha told jokes and had playful banter to keep the crowd at ease.

After much deliberation, Martinez was named the official 2023 Spring King, which garnered cheering of approval from the masses.

A humble Martinez said it “felt great to win” and that he was grateful for everyone, especially his fraternity brothers, who made it possible and helped him win this accomplishment.

He advises incoming students joining Greek Life who may participate in the next pageant to “just have fun with it.”

“At the end of the day, we’re all just here. Just a bunch of Greek Life. Don’t take it too seriously.”

science. I feel like the only thing I can do right now is hold my trans siblings,” Meraviglia said.

Meraviglia said everyone should familiarize themselves with these bills and do their part to take action.

“If you aren’t sure what these bills do or what’s been happening with the Conway School Board, please read the bills and coverage by local news.

Check on the trans people in your

life. Tune in to liberation and mutual aid work around Conway. If you can, show up to community events, rallies, legislative committees and school board meetings. What happens here directly affects you,” Meraviglia said.

A request to all, “Get involved where you know you can make the most difference.”

STUDENTS SAY: “What would you choose for your last meal on death row?”

“A

honey bbq boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings.”

“Really good rolls, probably just Texas Roadhouse steak and rolls. That’d make me happy.”

“Definitely steak and lobster, specifically a New York strip. I don’t think I would have a specific place it would be from but that and a really big glass of lemonade.”

“I think over last spring break last year I went to Italy with my mom and in Pisa there was one place we ate at and it had grilled calamari gnocchi pasta.”

“My moms pozole, and I think that’s it. It’s just a really good dish my mom makes. And every time she makes it, it gets better, she only makes it around wintertime.”

“Definitely ramen. I’m from Japan and I haven’t seen real traditional Japanese ramen here so I want to try that again soon.”

Story and photos by Julia Trantham

Anna Marvin freshman

Crunchwrap, an Andy’s concrete, a can of Diet Coke and ten

Isabella Mason freshman

Natalie Louw senior

Tyus Diaz sophomore

Diego Ibarra freshman

Sohma Ichikawa sophomore

top photos by Madison Ogle. bottom by Hannah Rohrer

(Top left) Julian Martinez leads his Madagascar-themed group. (Top right) “Justin Bieber” Evan Holly lifts a Bieber fan into the air. (Bottom) Beau Wright, Julian Martinez, Harley Nordman, Beau Verser. Karter Pawelczak, Evan Holly and Garrett

photo courtesy of Hypatia Meraviglia Hypatia Meraviglia is a senior double major in physics and linguistics with minors in math and interdisciplinary studies. Meraviglia is involved in many organizations on and off campus and calls on others to do what they can to make a difference.

Sports

Upcoming Games

Baseball

by eMily Kennard News Editor

In preparation for this week’s National Cheerleading Association tournament in Daytona, Florida, the UCA cheer team performed a high-energy stunt routine on April 2 at the Farris Center.

The team’s new coach, Antonio Anderson, said, “I have no doubt in my mind that if they perform at nationals like they did tonight, they will be very successful.”

Anderson said he was “shocked and excited” by the community’s turnout for the preview.

“Usually cheer doesn’t bring in the big crowds because many people don’t really understand all that we do, especially in a competition setting,” Anderson said.

He said the competing team will have 18 of the 27 cheerleaders performing, and that they’ve made a lot of progress for nationals “in such a short period of time.”

“They have been through so much and continue to show that they have what it takes. I believe they’ve even shocked themselves with being able to pull it all together,” Anderson said.

“Everyone should keep their eye on UCA cheer,” Anderson said.

The preview was also senior Emma Knight’s last performance at UCA, but she said it was an “amazing feeling.”

Knight said, “The number of people that were there to support us was unmatched from any other year.”

“All the support from alums, families and friends made the whole gym light up with energy.”

Knight said that even though this will be her third time competing at nationals, this year, she feels “more ready and confident” than before.

“Our coach has done so much to prepare us over the past two months and I can’t thank him enough for all the support and effort he has put into us. I wouldn’t be able to feel this ready without him,” she said.

Anderson, an alumnus of UCA’s cheer program himself, said he choreographed the routine, which made moves and stunts easier to modify.

”Choreography is a forever ongoing

change up until they hit the floor. I’m always looking for ways to make them look more polished and more prepared,” he said.

Anderson said the Bears’ support from alums, the community and the administration “will help them to get to the top again.”

“This program was once known as a powerhouse program that won many national championships,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the team, which has three two-hour long practices a week, has been hard at work for the competition.

“Most of them also work on things outside of practice, whether it be at an open gym, or at their all-star team practices,” he said.

Anderson said, “I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”

The Bears will perform their routine in Daytona on April 6 and will compete in the Advanced Small Co-ed Division I category.

The competition will be exactly two months after the Feb. 6 suspension from UCA Athletics, which led to the team creating a Change.org petition to let them

5 p.m., April 6 at Liberty University Track and Field April 6-7, at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Softball

4 p.m., April 7 vs. Florida Gulf Coast

Sugar Bears drown Dolphins

by Milo Strain Entertainment Editor

The UCA softball team (24-8, 8-1 ASUN) beat the Jacksonville Dolphins (17-17, 4-5 ASUN) three times backto-back this weekend for the Sugar Bears’ third series win this season.

The Sugar Bears traveled to Florida to face Jacksonville University, playing two games on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Tennis grabs win

Cheer excites before tourney Bears defeat EKU,

compete at nationals. It gained 4,078 signatures.

The same day, the petition closed and declared victory, and Athletics walked back its decision publicly on Twitter, stating that Anderson would serve on an “interim, part-time basis” coaching the competition squad.

UCA’s Director of Media Relations Fredricka Sharkey said the suspension was due to “team chemistry,” and the cheer team was not allowed to perform at the rest of the season’s basketball games.

Bellarmine

by blaKe Weaver

Staff Writer

The UCA tennis program traveled to Eastern Kentucky University (5-16,1-5 ASUN) where the Bears got their second victory of the ASUN season against the Colonels, winning 6-1.

UCA’s trip to Kentucky resulted in 2 doubles victories, where sophomore Nicole Ross and junior Jaeun Lee won 6-2 in their match, and freshman duo Nanoka Kazama and Vichitraporn Vimuktananda won their match 6-4. This tennis meet was the Tennis Bear’s first matchup with the EKU Colonels.

In singles play the Bears displayed dominance by winning 5 of out the 6 of the matches.

Lee won a three-set victory in the number one spot and Vimuktananda won her number two spot in a tiebreaking set. UCA freshman Ting-An Chen won her set by retirement by EKU freshman Mariia Triska. Ross was the first to win her singles set of the day against EKU senior Madison Hill.

The Bears tennis program’s next matchup was April 2 against Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. The tennis Bears’ (10-8, 3-3 ASUN) netted a clutch 4-3 conference win and made UCA 2-0 against Bellarmine all-time.

Ross and Lee continued to display doubles dominance with a 6-1 win but Bellarmine would strike back with two victories of their own bringing the total score to 1-0.

UCA struggled in singles play with Lee and Vimuktananda respectively losing their matches, bringing the total score to 3-0 Bellarmine.

UCA then scored four singles match victories in a row, with Ross’ close 7-6 win snagging the 4-3 overall win for UCA.

UCA tennis will be heading back home to play Austin Peay on Thursday, April 6, and staying home over the weekend to play Lipscomb on Saturday,

a total of eight wins

UCA conquers Knights in close tennis matchup

by Gretchen bullinGer Staff Writer

The UCA tennis team (108, 3-3 ASUN) struggled in its first match against Bellarmine (4-18, 1-5 ASUN), causing UCA to fall behind until the last second with a 4-3 victory.

The Bears started off on Saturday with doubles where junior Jaeun Lee and sophomore Nicole Ross secured the win.

This would prove to only carry the Bears for a little while with the other double matches causing UCA to fall behind 0-1.

The climb back from this fall was not a pretty one, including many setbacks along the way.

Lee and freshman Vichitraporn Vimuktananda, UCA’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, both started off the singles with not much luck.

Both players ended up

losing their matches early, creating an even bigger gap in scores, 0-3.

UCA would then start to take charge at the last second with Ross winning four singles games. These victories allowed UCA to climb back up from the fall and score the win against Bellarmine by 4-3.

This win was very much needed for the Bears after their previous conference loss in Florida just three weeks before. The loss to Florida caused UCA’s conference standing to be up in the air, not knowing if they could pick it back up.

The win against Bellarmine allowed the Bears to regain their standing in the conference.

This win also counts as the Bears’ second win against Bellarmine this season.

Bellarmine had a rough start this season with its 4-18 record, including their last

game against Vanderbilt which resulted in a loss for Bellarmine.

The Bears have been on a winning streak, defeating Tufts University on March 21 and Eastern Kentucky University on March 30.

The Bears absolutely destroyed Tufts 6-1 with their single wins and were also able to obtain two out of the three doubles rounds played.

UCA grabbed its win against EKU with a doubles victory and singles victories allowing them to take home the win.

UCA will continue its tennis season with its next games being against two Tennessee schools.

Later this week, UCA will go up against Austin Peay on Thursday, April 6 at 11 a.m. and Lipscomb on Saturday, April 8 at 10 a.m. Both games will be the last two played at home.

“It’s always a good feeling when you can go on the road to a place you’ve never been before and win three games,” Jenny Parsons, UCA softball coach, said.

Jacksonville put up a fight in the first game of the series on Saturday. The Sugar Bears and the Dolphins traded the lead for a while until the score was tied at 2-2 at the end of the fourth inning. UCA scored a whopping five runs in the fifth inning, bringing the score up to 7-2 and cementing the Sugar Bears’ first win of the series.

The first game against the Dolphins was also the longest game of the UCA softball season so far, at over two-anda-half hours long. Scores didn’t get as high in the second game but the Sugar Bears maintained their momentum, winning 2-0 over Jacksonville.

UCA’s defense prevented the Dolphins from getting a run for the entire second game partly thanks to the efforts of redshirt junior pitcher Kayla Beaver, who earned her fifth shutout of the year, marking a strong finish to the first day of the series.

Other highlights from game two include junior outfielder Tremere Harris reaching base on the first bat of the game for the sixth game in a row.

“They were all close games, we didn’t hit as well as we needed to, but in certain situations, we pitched really well,” Parsons said.

The Dolphins and the Sugar Bears faced each other a final time on Sunday in another low-scoring game where the Sugar Bears shut them out for the second time in a row, winning 1-0 thanks to a run in the fifth inning from redshirt junior outfielder Jenna Wildeman.

Redshirt senior pitcher Jordan Johnson pitched a onehitter — pitching a perfect game until the fifth inning — and the Sugar Bears got four hits.

“Jordan Johnson pitched really well today [Sunday]. She struggled getting adjusted to the mound on Saturday, but then today settled down really well,” Parsons said.

Jordan, from Paola, Kansas, struck out eight batters, earning her fourth shutout of the year. A solid UCA performance and series finale win against Jacksonville.

This series was the Sugar Bears’ first time ever playing against the Jacksonville University Dolphins.

The UCA softball team’s next stop is in Springfield, Missouri, to face the Missouri State University Bears on April 4, before playing against the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles in another series on April 7 and 8, this time at Farris Field. The UCA softball team will host an Easter Egg Hunt right after their third game on April 8 for kids 12 and under.

(Left) freshman Nanoka Kazama prepares to swing in a doubles match. Kazama has

in doubles.

photos courtesy of UCA Cheer team Facebook

COLONELS FALTER

KNIGHTS SLAYED

(Left) Junior Diamond Brown and (Right) junior Emma Grace Knight cheer at the final home football game during the 2021 season. The cheer team has seen a return after being suspended in February of 2023.

photos courtesy of UCA Sports

The

Staff

The Voice

United States has a problem with extremism

Extremism runs rampant throughout America and leaves citizens in the all too familiar cycle of grieving children lost in another school shooting and pleading with lawmakers to enact change. Most recently on March 27, six people, including three children were killed at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.

My first year of college has been the most challenging academic year of my life and has not been easy on my neurodivergent ADHD mind, yet something I’ve found very comforting is a 45-minute drive to see my family.

College is hard, and by living on campus, sometimes I feel like I can’t escape the thing that consumes my mind the most.

I don’t hate college. It’s just difficult to “stop overanalyzing” my academic success while I’m here.

My workload is constant, but I really can’t complain because thats what college is all about --- the never ending workload until a degree.

I know it’s something that many college students don’t like to admit, but the “gravitational pull of home” is strong.

For the last 19 years of my life, I’ve always been home when I’ve felt stressed and needed comfort, but the last nine months have been utter hell.

After every bad day, every long day and every happy day, I got to greet the people I love the most.

But now, I greet the 16x16 that is my current living situation.

The hardest part of adapting to college was that I didn’t get to see them every day, and even though I’ve gotten over that initial feeling, I still miss them.

Although I missed them, this was also when I needed independence, which is just a part of life.

When things pile up, or I’m about to pull every hair on my head out, I find so much solace in heading back home to decompress.

I love to sit on my couch and talk with my mom, and I love to sit and watch old “Blue Bloods” reruns with my

The days of driving down to your local arena, parking and going inside the box office to purchase a ticket to an entertainment event are long gone.

As some venues may still offer the option to buy tickets in person, several of them have switched over to the online format, selling tickets exclusively on TicketMaster.

This poses a huge issue: ticket resellers.

Ticket resellers use bots to buy up large amounts of tickets and resell them at higher prices. It’s unfair.

They have taken the fun and excitement out of getting tickets.

There should be more laws in place that prohibit ticket price-gouging from happening.

For starters, ticket resellers make concert tickets less accessible.

Once a ticket reseller logs into the queue with their 100 bots, your chance as a regular consumer to get tickets is significantly lower.

By the time it’s your turn in the queue to purchase tickets, they’ve already been sold to the bots ahead of you.

Ticket resellers not only make them less accessible by taking up spots in the queue, but they also make the tickets cost significantly higher.

Ticket resellers are greedy and almost always charge double the face value price. They are preying on desperate fans who want to see their favorite sports teams and musicians.

I experienced this firsthand when trying to purchase Drake and 21 Savage tickets.

Tickets started at $169. These same tickets are now selling for as high as $921 by ticket resellers.

This is such an unfortunate situation when you want

dad.

In both scenarios, we always end up falling asleep, but that’s what I love about it. I also love to have the occasional lunch or crawfish boil with my grandma and grandpa or even spend the day with my nana and papaw. Since my college career began, I have craved being around my family.

I hate that I took so many years for granted with the people who have shaped me into the person I am today.

I find myself yearning for a hug from my parents and sister, or a kiss on the cheek from any of my It’s even harder that I no longer see my sister, who used to live two blocks from my school.

I miss the days I could drive to her apartment after a day at school, and it’s been hard finding a way While a phone call or a text message will do the trick, it’s hard to pull my mind away from the tangle it’s in, with a new knot composing every I go home once or twice a month, sometimes more or less.

However, I’ve found that I can regain my focus after a weekend with the people I love most. On a Friday night when I have nothing to do --- granted I can break away --- I’ll go home for the weekend and have a relaxing getaway.

It’s not easy being in college, but I’ve found that I enjoy being close to home and the luxury of that 45-minute drive.

It’s not a childish thing to miss your people.

Everyone misses their families in different ways, but we all find ways to cope.

I can proudly say that I love going home to see my family, and I love the feeling of being with them.

Even if it’s just for a night or two, I can’t think of a better way to spend my weekend.

to buy a ticket to see your favorite artist, but the price for a single ticket is the amount of your biweekly paycheck. This leads me to my next point: unhappy customers.

The situation with ticket resellers upsets a lot of entertainment fans, and rightfully so.

Leading some fans to even file lawsuits against Ticketmaster for allowing this issue to go on.

There is a current lawsuit now in Los Angeles, filed by Taylor Swift fans against Ticketmaster and their parent-company LiveNation, for allegedly imposing higher prices on fans in the presale, sale and resale market, according to This poses an even bigger problem,

Now, Ticketmaster and LiveNation have a reputation for allowing resellers to infiltrate their sites and cause chaos in the ticketing industry. All of this could be prevented if there were federal laws in place that inhibited ticket reselling and held these large companies accountable.

Currently, there aren’t any federal laws in place.

However, 16 out of 50 have a law that make reselling illegal. These states issue fines for up to $1,000 and a jail sentence of a year if the person is a first-time offender.

States such as New York, New Jersey Alabama, Georgia and Illinois require a special license to even resell tickets.

If all 50 states implemented some form of action against ticket reselling, entertainment fans across the country would appreciate it.

It would offer everyone a fair chance at seeing their favorite artists and sports teams.

To halt the phenomenon of individuals using guns that should not be in their possession in the first place to massacre innocent citizens, identifying the root cause is integral. Extremism and gun violence have a distinct and severe link; the number of mass killings related to extremism, specifically right-wing extremism, has drastically grown since the 1970s, according to apnews.com. From the 1970s to the 2000s, between two and seven extremist mass killings occurred every decade. In the 2010s, this number flew to 21. For example, a 19-yearold white gunman killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in New York on May 14, 2022.

“I shot and killed people because they were Black,” the shooter said, according to nbcnews.com. He “studied” previous mass shootings and hate crimes and posted a disturbing manifesto online saturated with antisemitic and racist ideology. The shooter remarked that he was “bored” during the COVID-19 pandemic and that 4chan, an imageboard website used mostly by young males, radicalized him. This reveals an unsettling aspect of mass shootings and their perpetrators — the commonalities between them and the manner in which they spawn.

Online forums like 4chan and Reddit foster environments where right-wing extremists are comfortable sharing radically intolerant beliefs. An unsettling chunk of mass shooters associate with these principles and work to copy acts of terrorism committed by previous extremists. The Buffalo shooter even cited another white supremacist mass shooter who frequented 4chan as inspiration for his crime. Forums on 4chan dedicated to sharing gory content desensitize susceptible users to violent imagery. Gore forums and extremist circles play a devastating role in the radicalization of mass shooters.

Therefore, it is pertinent that law enforcement cracks down on online subcultures that encourage mass murder and extremist propaganda through content moderation. According to splcenter.org, youth radicalization experts Cynthia Miller-Idriss and Brian Hughes believe the government and law enforcement is not doing enough to prevent tragedies like the Buffalo shooting.

They argue that instead of pouring more money into programs that focus on how to handle a shooting as it is happening, officials should address problems at the source. The Buffalo shooter received a psychiatric evaluation after threatening to commit a murder-suicide in June 2021. However, no further action was taken because his threat was deemed not specific enough. He later told a private Discord channel that he got away with it because he told officers it was a stupid mistake and is “still able to purchase guns.” If the police had properly intervened, the shooting may have never happened. Miller-Idriss and Hughes argue that schools should implement a curriculum that provides tactics to identify far-right online spaces and practice digital and media literacy.

While the Nashville shooter’s motives are not yet clear, acknowledging the power online forums have to radicalize individuals is crucial when planning prevention.

New This Week Movies

April 5— The Super Mario Bros. Movie (PG) Directed by Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic. Starring Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy. Theatrical release.

April 7— Paint (PG-13) Directed by Brit Mcadams. Starring Owen Wilson, Michaela Watkins, Wendi McLendon-Covey. Theatrical release.

April 7— How To Blow Up A Pipeline (R) Directed by Daniel Goldhaber. Starring Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage. Limited theatrical release.

Melanie Martinez rebirthed with new album

by hAnnAh rohrer Staff Writer

Melanie Martinez’s new album, “PORTALS,” showcases the singer’s perplexing and in-depth evolution of self-identity and mental health struggles. Dedicated fans mourn the end of the Cry Baby era as we shift into the dark and magical realm of “PORTALS,” which highlights Martinez’s new and true self.

“I hope the weight of mortality that society has placed on people becomes lighter. I hope grief becomes easier for people while listening to this record,” Martinez says on her Instagram @ littlebodybigheart. She has released three studio albums, “Cry Baby,” “K-12,” and her most recent album, “PORTALS,” which came out March 31. PORTALS is the final part of the Crybaby trilogy.

The singer released the songs “DEATH” and “VOID” before the new album dropped and even blessed her fans with the official music video for “DEATH” on YouTube.

The highly anticipated album houses 13 songs and no featuring artists, giving Martinez the full spotlight to showcase her alt version of rebirth through catharsis.

The album starts with “DEATH,” a quick yet somber tune illustrating the official funeral of Cry Baby, followed by reincarnation — shown in the music video as a pink, catlike alien figure.

“VOID” perfectly encapsulates the feelings of depression and anxiety and the demons she faces in her brain by saying, “There’s rotten things left in me / Infected by society / No one here but me to judge me.”

We see a theme of nearly flawless segues from song to song to where you can barely tell when one ends and the next begins with songs like “TUNNEL VISION.”

The tone of the album shifts with “LIGHT SHOWER.” The track embodies the curiosity of the afterlife combined with the desire to cleanse yourself of the trauma you’ve experienced with the lyrics, “I was surprised to see heaven in your eyes / I never once was treated right, you’re what I’m missing in my life / As bright as the sun, give me your vitamin D / Let’s run into another dimension / You make me feel like I’m on drugs.”

“SPIDER WEB” is my personal favorite. The duality of this track is superb. It showcases the struggles society has placed on us, especially in the realm of social media. She sings, “I’m hiding myself from the enemy / I wish to not be perceived / Didn’t ask for this dangerous visibility / I’m feeling too scared to sleep.” The following two tracks, “BATTLE OF THE LARYNX” and “THE CONTORTIONIST,” are filled with painful verses that ultimately make you feel emotional for the people who relate — those who bend over backward for others,

and try to make things work with someone who cannot give the same effort effectively or willingly.

“THE CONTORTIONIST” is accompanied by chilling laughs from Martinez themself, along with bone-crushing sounds that will raise the hair on the back of your neck.

The next two songs are a bit taboo. “MOON CYCLE” and “NYMPHOLOGY” detail the struggles of being a femmepresenting person who deals with the societal standards of women being forced to play mom and speak when spoken to.

“EVIL” is a fan favorite as it is definitely the most relatable recording on the album. Most people can relate to dating a narcissist who calls you crazy or evil for simply “seeing through their bullshit,” Martinez said of the track. The album ends with “WOMB,” a full-circle experience that prepares you for your next endeavor after evolving to your newest form. The lyrics “Feeling alive, the closer that I get to my life” is a beautiful end to the album before we hear the familiar “Life is death is life is death is life,” which seamlessly pivots listeners back into the first song of the album, “DEATH.” This album is executed almost perfectly; from versatility, lyrics, transitioning, and eye-opening transparency, this album should be highly praised and a recommended listen to all.

“PORTALS” is available on all major streaming platforms.

(Top)

April 6— Beef (Netflix)

April 6— Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+)

April 7— Transatlantic (Netflix)

April 9— Happy to be Home with the Benkos (HBO Max)

Television Music

April 7—Daniel Caesar—Never Enough [Republic]

April 7—Rae Sremmurd—Sremm 4 Life [Interscope]

April 7—Thomas Bangalter Mythologies [Erato/Warner Classics]

April 7—Tim Hecker—No Highs [Kranky]

April 7—Yaeji—With a Hammer [XL]

Video Games

April 6—Curse of the Sea Rats [PQube] PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch

April 7—EA Sports PGA Tour [Electronic Arts] PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

April 12—Murderous Muses [D’Avekki Studios Limited] PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Top 5 chicken breed companions

by AnnA yAnosick Opinion Editor

“The Last of Us Part 1” for PC — a remake of the beloved post-apocalyptic actionadventure video game — lacked a sufficient release because of its glitchy performance, including frequent crashes, low frame rate and broken visuals.

These catastrophic bugs resulted in an overwhelmingly negative rating on the game’s Steam page, and loyal fans deemed the game unplayable less than 24 hours after its release on March 28.

Developer Naughty Dog raced to implement repairs and patch bugs after seasoned gamers expressed their outrage.

Released originally on the PS3 in 2013, “The Last of Us” was an instant success and garnered a devoted fan base, a sequel and a TV series adaptation, all in the last decade.

It received universal praise for its breathtaking graphics and riveting narrative.

The game follows hardened smuggler Joel and brave orphan Ellie as they navigate a world rotted with despair after a mutated fungus spreads, transforming humans into wretched, barbarous creatures.

Users must wait approximately two hours for the game to build its shaders upon launch, which essentially means the game is syncing with your PC to prepare shadows, lighting and textures.

Typically, this process takes a few minutes the first time you launch a game.

If it takes hours to configure the game’s shaders, that means some players cannot request a refund because Steam only allows refunds for games that have been played for less than two hours.

Considering the game is a whopping 80 GB and $60, this is a major disservice to faithful fans and curious newcomers.

The problems only become more excruciating from here.

As you dive into the gameplay, the frames-per-second

drop significantly, and the screen freezes at random moments. Tinkering with the settings does not soften the poor performance.

To make matters worse, the game also routinely crashes, most likely due to shaderbuilding errors happening in the background.

Players have reported numerous amusing bugs, including Joel’s smuggler buddy Tess levitating and Joel himself having abnormally bushy eyebrows.

Although Naughty Dog apologized for the level of quality and attempted to repair the excessive crashing and low quality, it was disheartening for those who patiently waited for the game’s release, which was delayed for 25 days to ensure maximum performance.

Eager-to-play gamers instead met a buggy, underdeveloped replication of a masterfully created game.

“The Last of Us Part 1” PC port is undeniably a cinematic experience for those seeking nuanced character arcs and an original glimpse into how humans adapt to a pandemic.

Its world is unlike most zombie post-apocalypse video games; its “zombies” are technically not dead but infected humans transformed into grotesque savages.

This element is a clever and disturbing twist on the classic horror trope and makes it more gut-wrenching to have a virtual stake in the murder of people who cannot be cured of the mysterious infection.

However, it is not a carefully crafted third-person shooter video game designed for users craving an immersive technical experience, complete with a smooth frame rate and optimized performance.

It is a disappointing reiteration of an iconic game known for its fluidity that has left gamers with a bad taste in their mouths.

“The Last of Us Part 1” for PC is currently available for download via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Tyler, the Creator drops unreleased music on deluxe version of album

by Gretchen bullinGer Staff Writer

Tyler, The Creator released his first two singles, accompanied by music videos, off of the deluxe edition of “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST: The Estate Sale,” gearing up towards the start of his new era.

“DOGTOOTH,” which was released on March 27, showcases the Tyler that we have grown to love from the “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” era, Sir Baudelaire.

This song shows Tyler rapping about buying his neighbor’s house and showing off his luxurious lifestyle, just like many other songs off “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST.”

The song does not have much meaningful impact on Tyler’s story, however, it seems as if this song was just made in good fun while also showcasing his lavish lifestyle.

Alongside the song, Tyler released a music video the same day that showed him driving cars, flexing money and jewelry, and even destroying luxury cars just to show how much money and power he has.

While this song and the accompanying music video may not have much of a deep meaning behind them, it makes sense that Tyler dropped this song as the first single.

This song, while a generic rap song, is well-written and produced.

It is a very catchy song that will have people who don’t listen to rap listening to it because of the effortless flow and delivery that Tyler gives.

3. Red Star

5. Rhode Island Red

While Rhode Island Reds are a classic choice, they are a poor choice for a companion mainly because they are prejudiced against other older, younger, weaker or differently bred chickens. Rhode Island Reds are violent to chicken species. I possessed one that was suitable for companionship: an old hen, Clucky Lucky, who was attacked by a hawk and blinded. Clucky Lucky could no longer perceive differences among chickens and outlived all her bigoted counterparts.

4. Silver-Laced Wyandotte

Coming in at number four is the beautiful Silver Laced Wyandotte as a belowaverage chicken companion. I place this beautiful breed at the bottom simply because my childhood mind despised them for no real reason. I cared so little about these chickens I named them all Sally. Why I disrespected these chickens so much is not entirely clear to me, perhaps I just thought they were boring. While I still have no reason to despise them, I trust my childhood judgment.

At number three we have the Red Star. While my feelings toward this breed as a companion falls neither here nor there, I did have a memorable Red Star I named Lazy Eye for her asymmetrical eyes — quite mean in retrospect. If you looked at Lazy Eye on the left, she appeared to glower at you in rage whereas if you looked into her right eye she looked perfectly innocent. I once allowed Lazy Eye to sit in my lap too long and she laid an egg, which feels like an honor of sorts.

Tyler’s first singles usually give us a sort of introduction to the album and who Tyler has embodied for the album, they aren’t the best works on the project itself.

With the release of this first single and video, it was safe to assume that we would get another single since that is the route that Tyler normally takes.

with abruptly, and more.

This shows the audience that Tyler has grown from the 19-year-old artist that we once knew into a respected figure in music.

The second half of the song is Tyler going off on his audience for digging into his personal life, not understanding that he will continue to grow and for being judgemental.

Tyler is tired of being labeled in certain ways based on past music. He wants to be known for more than just the music he made five or even 10 years ago.

Two days after “DOGTOOTH,” Tyler released “SORRY NOT SORRY,” a much more personal song.

“SORRY NOT SORRY” showcases Tyler apologizing for certain topics in his past and also harping on people who refuse to see his evolution as an artist.

He apologizes to what we can assume is his old group rap collective “ODD FUTURE” for letting his and their egos impede their friendships.

The group disbanded back in 2015 with many members not acknowledging each other today.

As the song goes on, Tyler apologizes for things such as hiding his sexuality for so long, not being more involved in the “Black Lives Matter” movement, leaving people who he had formed connections

Known widely for their ability to lay eggs of a blue-green hue in addition to their large tufts of feathers on their ears, Ameraucana chickens are the number two contender for chicken companions. While my Ameraucana, Boss, did not have to do much to gain my favor since five-year-olds are extremely impressed by blue-green eggs, I was moved when Boss started following me when I would weed my mother’s garden. While this was likely because Boss knew I’d offer her worms, I took her attempts personally.

“SORRY NOT SORRY” signifies the growth Tyler has overcome since first releasing music and the choice that he has made to leave his past behind and start this new chapter of his music career.

This song is truly one of Tyler’s best songs, begging the question of how could he not even release it until now?

The song is so emotional, deep and raw, allowing the listener to feel Tyler’s sorrow.

This song will go down as one of Tyler’s best, I would even say one of his top five best.

While we are seeing the end of one of Tyler’s most influential eras with the release of these two singles, it begs the question of what will be next for Tyler, The Creator not only musically but personally.

With Tyler’s album releases being two years apart each, his next album is probably due sometime later this year.

“CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST: The Estate Sale” released March 31 on all streaming platforms.

1. Buff Orpington

This breed’s unshaken kindness despite the “fowl” horrors of our world makes them the best chicken companion. My Buff Orpington, Blondie, experienced the heinous murder of four sisters. Alone, Blondie had no protection from a rough gang of Rhode Island Reds, who plucked out her feathers. Blondie would run and relay her day to us through her low bocks. Moved, my family protected Blondie and gave her a private enclosure to regrow her feathers in.

2. Ameraucana

‘The Last of Us: Part I’ PC release plagued by bugs, long load times

Tyler is tired of being labeled in certain ways based on past music

vinyl copy of ‘CALL ME IF

the deluxe version of his 2021 album on March 27.

photos courtesy of atlanticrecords.com

The album art for Melanie Martinez’s new album ‘PORTALS.’ (Bottom) A promotional image for ‘PORTALS’ featuring the alien creature Martinez created for the album.

Clinton artist breathes soul into ornate glassware

by brenna Metts

Writer

Known by her artist pseudonym, NinJah uses glassworking not only as a creative outlet but as a meditative space.

NinJah handmakes nature-inspired glass pendants and also co-owns Bufo Glassworks with her husband who she assists in making intricate dab rigs and pipes for medical marijuana.

The pair live on the outskirts of Clinton with their three dogs, including two hairless chihuahuas named Dragon Cheeze and Bonesaw, and work side by side in their school bus that they converted into an art studio.

The school bus holds two workstations complete with torches and burners, firing kilns, a propane and oxygen fuel supply and borosilicate rod and blow tube storage.

While NinJah initially pursued an education in vocal music education at Arkansas Tech University, she discovered that her desire was not to teach, but to do.

NinJah said that she had always known that she wanted to be involved in art in some manner, but thought it would be painting or sculpting.

However, when her husband — who has been honing his glass working skill for 16 years — introduced her to glass working, she said she found her niche.

“I have found an absolute passion in this art. I never thought in a million years that I would be a glass artist,” NinJah said.

NinJah said that getting to work and share her creations with her partner has helped inspire her artistry.

“That’s definitely a huge morale boost for me, having my partner in my shop with me. We’re both working toward the same goal, doing the same art and working for each other and ourselves.”

NinJah said that while she was learning how to work with glass, she figured out what she wanted to make by making the simplest things she could first.

Now with five years of experience, NinJah specializes in intricately made terrarium pendants which she fills with moss and crystals.

While she tries to put out products that cover the full price spectrum, she says her passion lies in the projects that can take her five days straight to produce.

Her favorite piece of was a coral reef inspired pendant that was covered in a detailed menagerie of miniature starfish, sand dollars, seashells and coral.

“Sometimes these pieces that take more time and that you care more about, you hold on to them for longer. Then, when you do finally find a collector that wants it, their mind is blown, they will keep it forever, they’re never selling it, they love it more than anything, they’ll never even wear it, they’ll put it on the shelf and they’re not even gonna touch it,” she said.

NinJah said that whenever she is making glass, it’s like she is meditating and putting a piece of her artistic soul into the piece. Whenever a piece calls to someone, NinJah said it makes her happy because it means they have seen her art soul and appreciated it.

NinJah said that her work is rewarding to her because she likes knowing that she is helping people heal and feel good about themselves.

“I thought I wanted to be a beautician for

a while because I wanted to make people feel prettier and feel more confident. People tell me all the time ‘When I wear these amulets I get so many compliments and it makes me feel so happy. I love it so much and I feel so pretty when I wear it.’ It makes me want to keep creating these special items because people really cherish it.”

Speaking on the glassware aspect of her and her husband’s business, NinJah said it also felt good to know she was helping people who needed medicinal marijuana take their medicine and feel better with her products.

NinJah and her husband sell their products in smoke shops across Russellville, Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Hot Springs. The pair sells throughout Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Colorado.

NinJah and her husband also frequent music festivals, cannabis festivals and glass blowing competitions.

The pair won best rig, best pipe, and best pendant at the 2022 Cowboy Cup in Oklahoma.

They have also vended and performed live glassblowing at Harvest Fest and Chronic Palooza in Oklahoma and frequent Circle R Ranch in Hartman, AR and Flux Music Festival in Arkansas, as well.

In the future, NinJah and her husband plan to create more large-scale, mobile glass art installations that they can display at festivals and galleries and plan to have a gallery of their own at the end of the year. NinJah and her husband’s art can be found @bufoglassworks and @ninjahglass on Instagram where they also take commissions and inquiries.

Family business brings happiness to community

by Gabe White

Sports Editor

On scorching hot Sunday afternoons, when church services have ended and baseball games have come to a close, North Little Rock families look for delicious treats to begin their weeks on a sweet note.

Locally-owned custard and hot dog shop, Scoop Dog, has been the backbone of the community, offering everyone their sugary fix for decades.

Restaurant owner Joe Yanosick has been the man behind the magic for 24 years and has loved every second of it.

“Seeing the community embrace us so much, that’s why it’s important because you see the people grow up. Kids that have gone to school and come here with their parents are now bringing their kids,” Yanosick said.

Yanosick opened the restaurant in 1999 originally as “Shake’s,” a chain of custard shops throughout the South and Midwest.

“Before this, I was a hotel manager. I worked a lot of hours and didn’t get

The switch from Shake’s to Scoop Dog occurred in 2009 when Yanosick began to desire serving more than just custard.

Upon thinking of different options, Yanosick discovered a love for hot dogs that was just as strong as his love for custard.

“It’s like the Fourth of July all year long,” Yanosick said.

Unlike popular competitors like Andy’s, Yanosick believes that simplicity is key.

In a world where frozen custard is now defined by many different base flavors and strange combinations, Scoop Dog serves up a cup of classic Americana.

The restaurant only offers two flavors, chocolate and vanilla, along with 30 beloved toppings, such as Strawberries and M&Ms, and even more unique Yanosick has this same sentiment for Hot Dogs as well, serving up all of

In case customers don’t want to have to worry about building a concrete,

doors during the pandemic, fears of Scoop Dog’s closure were high, yet the Yanosick clan proved everyone wrong.

The business not only continued to prosper under COVID-19 but saw an increase in sales.

Employee Ginger Cyr said, “When the community is celebrating they want to come here, and when the community is sad, like throughout the recession and COVID-19, our business is still booming.”

After 24 years behind the counter, Yanosick has not only mastered the restaurant business but has crafted a legacy full of memories and delicious foods.

“The fond memories are just watching not only the business grow, but my family grow as well,” Yanosick said. “We still have some customers from when my children were very little still coming by today. I’m watching my children grow up, go to college and some of them back to work here.”

As Yanosick continues to grow older, he hopes that one day his three sons, Andrew, Alec and Anthony, will continue on the Scoop Dog business

“We still get new customers every day and we love that. When people move out of state or out of town, they look forward to coming back here,”

Scoop Dog is located at 5508 John F Kennedy Blvd, North Little Rock.

The restaurant is open Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to to

“It’s like the Fourth of July all year long.”

photo by Brenna Metts

Staff

Scoop Dog is a custard and hot dog shop, locally-owned and operated by the Yanosick family in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The shop offers five premade sundaes, all of which have dog-themed names, and

toppings for custard.

photos by Annalee Drain

photo by Gabe White

NinJah, a glassbowing artist located in Clinton, Arkansas, believes glassblowing to be a form of meditation. She said she puts a piece of her soul into the art that she makes.