The Daily Beacon

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Issue 37, Volume 121

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Greeks give back during fall break Sororities, fraternities work with ministry to help Kentucky’s poorest RJ Vogt News Editor UT Greek organizations have had a tough year so far, with two fraternities kicked off campus and several more under social probation. This past fall break, however, a mission trip with over 100 Greek-affiliated students showed the town of Pineville, Ky., a different side of Greek life. “I wanted to do something bigger than myself,” said Taylor Hathorn, a junior in journalism and a sister of Zeta Tau Alpha. “It gave me the opportunity to give back to a community that really needs help.” The Cross, UT’s Greek-focused Christian ministry, hosted the mission trip. Pineville, a small mountain town just past the Cumberland Gap, has the most government subsidized housing per population in the nation, making it one of the poorest areas in the U.S. Emily Mastin, senior in religious studies, expe-

rienced that housing first hand. “The poverty of Pineville was more extreme than most that I’ve encountered,” Mastin said. “It wasn’t until I actually went into their homes that I realized how bad things really are for them.” Jeff Bailey, executive director of The Cross, said the fall break trip started about six years ago in partnership with The Mission of Hope, an Appalachian ministry based in Knoxville. The students build disability ramps and weather proof houses, and also paint various buildings throughout the area while staying in the Bell County volunteer fire department. “We work hand-inhand with the community action council up there,” Bailey said. The mission trip provides Greek students an opportunity to return to their foundational roots. Most of the Greek organizations’ charters refer to Christian values.

• Photo courtesy of Margaret Ingram

Students participate in community service during Alternative Fall Break from Oct. 11 to Oct. 14.

See FALL BREAK on Page 3

Debuting novelist presents at ‘Writers’ library program

Around Rocky Top

Holly Patton Staff Writer

Jennifer Gibson • The Daily Beacon

A student prepares to letterpress during the College of Architecture and Design open house on Oct. 5. The letterpress shop is open daily for students to attend a tutorial or work on projects.

Length of break debated Evan Ford Staff Writer Students looking forward to their next break at Thanksgiving may notice that it is not as long as they might expect, as classes are paused only for Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday. This comes as quite a surprise to many students, although this two-day deal has been the standard at UTK for nearly a decade. Opinions on the matter are diverse, although most feel that lengthening the break would be heavily beneficial for students whose families live some distance from the

university. Adam Roddy, student body president of SGA and a senior in political science, said that he has plans to try to add Wednesday to the break in the near future. He does realize that the university will want to maintain the same number of school days, so he believes that a compromise may be necessary. “This proposal will include having the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off while still having fall break,” Roddy said. “The compromise that may have to be made would be to add on an extra day at the end of the semester.

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“I feel that students would like this idea, but I am still trying to gauge student opinion on that matter before any final decisions are reached,” Roddy added. Students such as Luke Dyson, sophomore in logistics, agreed. “It makes sense,” Dyson said. He added that they could start a day earlier, if it wouldn’t affect Welcome Week activities. Dyson’s friend, Ben McKerley, a sophomore in industrial engineering, agreed about the straightforwardness of the proposition. See THANKSGIVING on Page 3

As Monday came to a close, Hodges Library not only welcomed students hitting the books after their short fall break, but also played host to novelist Natalie Bakopoulos debuting her new book, “The Green Shore.” This visit was highlighted in Ready for the World’s fall lineup and was cosponsored by Writers in the Library. Set in the late 1960s, Bakopoulos offers a fictional approach to a very non-fictional uprising. Channeling this history through the developing story of a woman and her two daughters, Bakopoulos illustrates the political, societal and economic changes in Greece as it became the grounds for unrest and rebellion among the people. Bakopoulos read three excerpts from her work, giving listeners a brief taste of the action, romance and drama that fills the pages. In the time she allowed for questions, she explained some of the surprises she discovered when researching the history. “Right in the center of Athens, there was this building that was the detention center where people would just get brought in and get tortured right in there,” Bakopoulos said. “But it was the center of a neighborhood, a really busy area, and the screams were so loud. So they ran motorcycle engines all day long to drown out the sounds ... that was kind of horrifying.” While teaching full-time and working in “spurts” of condensed writing time and periodic writing hiatuses, “The Green Shore” is the product of around seven years of work.

Basketball practice in full swing page 6

“(It was) pretty consistent over seven years. But every so often, I’d have to back away like, ‘Step away from the machine, you’re too drunk to drive,’” she said. Bakopoulos laughed when asked how many hours it took her to complete the book. “I don’t think I like thinking about how many hours because I’ll get depressed,” she said. Bakopoulos’s reading addressed the beginning of the 1960s turmoil in Greece, giving the attendees a historical, as well as a literary, experience. “I like that she used a true story and intertwined it with fictional characters,” Courtney Seward, undecided freshman, said. “I went in without the book, not knowing much about it. But now I definitely want to read it.” She tied fiction with reality by creating a story inside of history, two categories which share some similarities as she noted when asked about her method of separating the fiction from the nonfiction. “I kept thinking of Aristotle’s poetics when he says the role of the poet or poetry, or fiction in this case, is not did it happen, but could it have happened, because I think fiction is creating its own history next to the real one,” Bakopoulos said. While her resume, which includes being a contributing editor for FictionWritersReview.com, is extensive, “The Green Shore” is her debut novel and has received critical acclaim. As stated in The Chicago Tribune, “Bakapoulos has an enormous heart, and she is a writer to watch.” Bakopoulos is both a graduate of and current professor at the University of Michigan.

The Daily Beacon is printed using soy based ink on newsprint containing recycled content, utilizing renewable sources and produced in a sustainable, environmentally responsible manner.

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