Social Entrepreneurship Class Goes International

International students representing four countries helped a social entrepreneurship class develop solutions to water and sanitation problems near their homes. Alex Xulu represented his country, South Africa.

Alex Xulu, graduate student in Chemistry
PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

"Many girls probably don't see this side of men"

        An all-male student organization held an event on Wednesday, April 27 to show women that its members appreciate them and their contributions to society.

        Students of African American Brotherhood hosted its third annual Women’s Appreciation event, which lasted for two hours. The evening consisted of food, door prizes, cupcakes, a speaker and entertainment.

        The purpose of the event was for women to spend an evening relaxing and be shown they are appreciated in the community, said Daron Stallworth, president of Students of African American Brotherhood.

        “The event is important because many times, especially with how society is now, sometimes men don’t always let women know that they are appreciated for everything they do. That is the purpose of Women’s Appreciation, just to let women know we appreciate them for everything they do not just for the community and who they are but even things they do for us that we may not realize,” Stallworth said.

        Members of the student organization served as escorts throughout the night, walking guests to their chairs, serving them drinks, either tea, water or lemonade and serving the meal.

        While the event was held at the University of Oklahoma, women from nearby universities were also invited to attend.

        Skye Hammond, public relations junior at Oklahoma Christian University, said the event provided a great environment, adding it was definitely worth the drive and cost of gas from Edmond, and saying that she felt like a princess when the escorts walked her in and then would not let any of the women lift a finger.

        “This might be kind of silly, but I loved the giggles and smiles on the girls’ faces when they were escorted in and their chairs were pulled back for them. That’s definitely not an everyday occurrence,” Hammond said.

        Summer Randall, accounting sophomore, called the event lovely and said it was improved from last year’s, adding that the men of the student organization created a great atmosphere for the women.

        Also, Randall appreciated the initiative the men took to host the event.

        “I think it is so commendable that the men at this university take the time once a year to acknowledge us and appreciate women which a lot of times are not always treated the way they should be by college men,” Randall said.

        For the meal, members of the student organization served salad, bread and their choice of chicken Alfredo or lasagna. For dessert, there were chocolate, strawberry, lemon and vanilla cupcakes from Cookies & Cards, a Campus Corner favorite.

        Jennifer Cox from the Women’s Outreach Center led a discussion about domestic violence and ways to overcome it.

        Each woman in attendance received a raffle ticket, and the tickets were drawn in order to determine the winners of the door prizes.

        At the end of the event, the men of the student organization offered three-minute neck and shoulder massages to the women.

        While the organization planned for 60 women, close to a hundred attended the event, Stallworth said.

        Keyonte Leggins, University College freshman, said the event gave women an opportunity to see men in a different light.

        “Many girls probably don’t see this side of men, so it may open their horizons…they might come here and change their perspective and see that dudes, they aren’t all the same,” Leggins said.

        The student organization’s effort was co-sponsored by the Student Alumni Association, Student Affairs and the President’s Office for this year’s event, and Stallworth said the sponsorships allowed the men’s group to purchase better food, door prizes and decorations.

        While the student organization that held the event is aimed toward African Americans, the night was intended to show appreciation for all women, Stallworth said.

        For Hammond, this was an appealing aspect of the evening.

       “Being an African American, it was especially touching to see chocolate guys showing love and appreciation to women of all races. I could definitely tell they put a lot of thought and effort into the event,” Hammond said. “I appreciate them for appreciating us.”

Info Box

Door prizes given to guests attending the Women’s Appreciation event included:

• hand soap
• chocolates
• body lotion
• towel set
• make-up brushes
• make-up mirror
• shower rack
• showerhead

Story By: Chelsey Kraft

Two female students enter the Henderson-Tolson Cultural Center for Women's Appreciation Night. The event was hosted by the African American Brotherhood organization to show appreciation for women.
PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

Taylor Jackson, entrepreneurship and marketing sophomore, and Trey McCarrell, broadcast and electronic media sophomore, wait at the window for plates of lasagna and chicken Alfredo to serve women guests. The Students of African American Brotherhood organization hosted its third annual Women's Appreciation event, where they served the women food and entertained them throughout the event.
PHOTO: COURTNEY GOFORTH

Sam Nobles Hosts Science In Action

            A skull of an ancient mammal, a fur coat and beaded pieces from South Africa all have one thing in common—they were brought in nationwide from the closets of people who visited Norman Sunday, Feb. 13.

            The free event that has been compared to a giant show and tell and antique road show, brought together curators and staff from the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, as well as experts from a variety of other organizations to observe the private collections. The artifacts that were brought in varied from bones, fossils, fur, rocks and even languages that all participants hoped to be identified. However, the scientists also engaged in the show and tell by displaying their own relics.  

             

PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

Sam Noble Hosts Native American Youth Fair

            More than 1,000 students from pre-K to twelfth grade traveled from all over the country to the museum in Norman with the ambition to preserve their languages.

            The ninth annual Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair was held at The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, where students performed over 20 Native American languages.

            The three main goals of the youth fair are to provide students a safe place to present and speak their native languages in a public setting, support the native language teachers in their efforts and bring awareness to the diversity of native languages, according to Mary Linn, curator of Native American languages, prior to the event.  Every one must support the languages so that they do not die, Linn said.

            “I personally think that it is one of the best ways in which the museum collaboratively supports the efforts of the tribes and tribal people to maintain and revitalize their languages,” Linn said.

            After Mary Linn was hired 11 years ago as the curator of Native American languages, she wanted a way for the museum to exhibit the native languages in Oklahoma in a way that would show them as living dialects, not something of the past. It would also give the teachers a way to showcase their students and programs, Linn said. 

             It gives them a way to show their cultures for them. The Fair supports the museum’s mission to develop awareness, appreciation and understanding of the rich cultural contributions of indigenous languages to the general public and supports the ongoing use of these languages in daily life, Linn said.

            Students from Oklahoma, North Dakota, Arizona and various states participated according to age in different categories. Spoken language performance, performance incorporating music and dance, poster art, book and literature, language film/video, language with PowerPoint presentation, language advocacy essay and language masters performance were among the categories the students participated in, according to the event flyer.

            “I had fun doing everything,” Martisha Dixon, Riverside Indian School student said. “I had to sing, read a story and dance. Reading the story was my favorite part because I have been studying the story for a long time and I got first place. The story was, “Shokkni Apelaluski”, which means, “helping the turtle.”

            One of the first place winners in spoken language performance, Dale Shackleford, an 11-year-old from Lexington, Okla., performed a scene in Chickasaw with his three sisters. 

            “I like to see what other people come up with,” Shackleford said. “I enjoy watching just about everybody. This event helps us preserve our languages in ways books cannot.”

            The students were judged by the amount of language used, fluency, spirit of the performance and their stage presence, according to the event flyer. Some of the judges for the day represented the Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw and Kiowa nations.

            “I judge them mostly on how well they speak, how well they carry themselves, how much knowledge they have about what they are speaking about and traditional clothing if their act requires it,” Carlin Thompson, Chickasaw nation judge said. “Basically how well they do overall.”

            Thompson has judged the youth fair for five years, even when the event was held at the fairgrounds in Norman off of E. Robinson Street.

            “I think it is a very important cause and I like to help and give support to the Indian people and tribes and encourage them as well,” Thompson said. “I think it is a very special event for young Indian people. We have almost lost all of our languages at one time. Some tribes still maintain their language pretty well, but every generation we lose languages. I think this helps promote and encourage children to carry on our tradition. Without our language, we are nobody.”

            One volunteer from the Chipota Chikashshanonpolu, “Child-speaking language” organization has volunteered at the youth fair for four years and adapted the nickname “granny” among the students. Lynie Richardson from Ada, Okla. brought her three grandchildren to perform in the event, because of the appreciation she has developed for her Chickasaw language.

            “When I was a child, my mom didn’t encourage us to speak the language,” Richardson said. “My mom couldn’t speak English until she started school when she was nine years old. She did not want me to go through the embarrassment that she went through of going to a ‘white school’ and not knowing how to speak the language... She wanted us to be able to make it in a ‘white man’s world’ and leave that behind.

            “I’ve turned it around to where I’ve realized I have missed out on not learning our language,” Richardson said. “So, my grandkids are learning it now and it is important that they just keep going with it. They don’t know they are speaking Chickasaw language-- it is just a word to them, but they are learning. I’m going to keep doing these events until they kick me out.”

By: Courtney Goforth

Tyson Killspotted, a Standing Rock Sioux tribe member from Ft. Yates, N.D., admires his medal after performing during the Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. PHOTO: Zach Herring

Sooner Nation's Light-hearted Heckler

Geoff Roughface is a Broadcast and Electronic Media senior that has grown up loving the University of Oklahoma. Roughface exhibits his passion for the Sooners by supporting most of the athletic teams through a zealous and identifiable manner. 

         After all of his heckling at regular-season games, playoffs and championships, he has managed to not only accumulate several threats, but prizes and ESPNU Campus Connection gigs.

         Fans and players either love him or hate him, but they have to at least acknowledge his dedication to consistently painting his face half red and half white. The self-proclaimed “light-hearted heckler” has become a familiar face among the Sooner Nation.    

Video by: Courtney Goforth

Runtime:1:45  

Josh Sallee is Probably 'Cooler than You'

            The 21^st century has propelled society into an innovative world of technology, which conjures accessibility and convenience in almost all aspects of daily life. Nonetheless, even music fans have experienced many ways of listening to their favorite artists and once again the industry is no exception to modernization. Music digitization exudes the ridiculous availability to produce or access new music and Josh Sallee has mastered it.

Sallee performing for the Honor Roll
Accolades release party in Okla. City.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Baleout Photos

            According to “The Dawn of Commercial Digital Recording,” by Thomas Fine, digital audio uses pulse-code modulation and digital signals for sound reproduction. Additionally, this is not a recent development; by the beginning of the 1980s, all major record companies had embraced digital recording in one form or another, which ushered in a new consumer mass medium. However, modern technology has evolved the development into a silky process of recording, manipulation, mass-production and distribution of sound by storing, retrieving and transmitting signals without any loss of quality.

            Edmond native Josh Sallee is not only a student at the University of Central Oklahoma, but a twenty-two year old recording artist who has already conquered and benefitted from the music digitization process. According to his personal Web site, Sallee has already shared the stage with Paul Wall, Bizzy Bone, The Cool Kids, Cypress Hill, Kidz in the Hall, XV, Ke$ha, Mickey Avalon, 88-Keyz, Donnis, Mr. Dibbs, Cubic Zirconia and Mac Miller.

            “Music digitization has made it possible for anyone to pursue a career,” said Sallee. “There are now avenues for anyone to post a song up to or find music to use. Without it, I would still be doing music, but it wouldn’t have reached a national scale as quickly.”

Cover for Sallee's mixtape "Honor Roll Accolades."
PHOTO: Courtesy of Josh Sallee

            Sallee’s remix of Mike Posner’s “Cooler Than Me,” appropriately titled, “Cooler Than Me (Now Remix),” propelled him to his YouTube stardom, which accumulated over 350,000 hits. A 15-song mixtape is ready for download on his Web site, where you can also watch his two music videos and look for upcoming events.

            “Music digitization has positive and negative effects dependent upon how you look at it,” said Sallee. “For labels, it is a huge negative. They no longer have the music industry monopolized. Hardcopy CD sales are lower than they have ever been, but it is positive for people trying to get recognized. People are lazy now; they don’t want to go to the store. They want to click a button and have the music on the iPod. Convenience over innovation.”

            Check out Josh’s Web site for his free mixtape, music videos and update on upcoming events. Also, become his fan on Facebook!

Sallee performing in front of a crowd at The Hidden Castle in Norman in late July.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Josh Sallee

The Concert Series for Students

             The Concert Series provides free live music for students at the University of Oklahoma at least once per semester. It is a yearlong event that is part of the Campus Activities Council (CAC), which leads 12 other events throughout the year.

            The University of Oklahoma Student Association founded CAC in 1971, in order to create a board that plans and initiates campus-wide events for all students. According to the CAC Web site, it is made up of 23 council members and more than 300 committee members headed by a chairperson elected annually by the student body. Therefore, anyone can join the meetings to help out where volunteers are needed, but there is a small process to become an official member.

            “It takes a bit of work,” said Concert Series Chair Staley Stidham. “You have to fill out an application and go through an interview. Students are chosen based on combined scores of the two. It allows CAC to acquire students who are truly passionate about their branch of the organization.”

            Stidham has helped bring in many bands in the last couple of years including: Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Jonezetta, Manchester Orchestra, Rocket Summer, Amos Lee, Copeland, Lovedrug, Matt and Kim, Camera Obscura, Owl City, Octopus Project and Yellow Fever.  The shows have been conducted mainly in Meacham Auditorium in the Student Union, but have also been outdoors in front of the Union.  Each show is unique in presentation, derived from the differentiation in performance by the bands.

            “I think my favorite concert was Matt and Kim,” said Stidham. “The energy of the band seemed to permeate the atmosphere of the concert. The crowd was really involved in the show and made it an actual experience rather than a ‘stand and watch’ kind of concert. It didn’t hurt that they were incredibly nice people on top of the great show.”

            The Concert Series gives students an exciting opportunity to see a live show several times throughout the semester, but the students are not the only ones who benefit.

            “I love seeing the end result come together and the happiness it brings the audience,” said Stidham. “Watching a show that you organized and seeing the crowd loving it as much as you do, it kind of unites you with other people. You form a weird, inexplicable connection with everyone there.”

            Stidham also commented about the music scene in Norman outside of the Concert Series.

            “I am really proud of the way Norman has progressed since I was a freshman,” said Stidham. “We now have the Norman Music Festival and great venues like The Opolis. Norman is really lucky to have a few people who are really passionate about music and making things happen.”

Matt and Kim perform in Meacham Auditorium in Fall of 2009. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

The Early Beat opens up for Matt and Kim in Meacham Auditorium. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

Local Students Listen for Non-Local Talent

            Whether someone grew up here, came here to attend college, or came because he or she always yearned to be a part of the Sooner nation- if they stuck around long enough, they would discover many places to get their fix of live music in Norman. Campus Corner is drenched with cafes, bars and restaurants that host live music weekly, along with venues such as the Opolis in downtown. Nevertheless, many of the students at the University of Oklahoma remain unimpressed.

            Several places around the OU campus have racks of local publications such as Boyd St and the school paper, The Oklahoma Daily, which serve as great sources for upcoming events around the area. As well as, posters sloppily stapled up to the event posts, music events chalked onto the campus sidewalks, and Web sites such as Oklahomarock.com lists 20 venues in Norman that host live music. However, to some students these advertising methods are forgetful and ineffective.

Journalism senior and contributing writer
 for Sooners Illustrated Jono Greco. PHOTO: Sarah Davies

            “Honestly, I only pick up [Boyd St.] to look at the little bar pictures to see if I know anyone in them,” said journalism senior Jono Greco. “I don’t really look at those flyers, posters, or whatever either. But I remember in the past when Modest Mouse was on campus seeing a bunch of flyers for that and I thought it was pretty cool.” 

            Greco has never attended a concert or live show in Norman, along with many other students who claim to be “uninterested.” Students like Greco mentioned ticket prices, location, venue and popularity of the band as essential elements in deciding whether or not they should attend a show.

            “There hasn’t been many shows that interest me in Norman,” said communication sophomore Matt Hebert. “If a ‘big name’ artist like the Rolling Stones, Muse, Coldplay or Bruce Springsteen came I would definitely be enticed to go. But, I prefer bigger venues that would cost under $100 per ticket. The only way I would take a chance on an unknown band that was playing would be if I had heard their music before or if it was a free show.”

            The problem does not seem to be minimal advertising or venue deficiency, but a lack of interest in local talent and modest venues. Norman retains at least 20 venues, normanmusicscene.com provides information on upcoming shows- along with 18 other Web sites that supply similar information, Guestroom Records’ store windows are covered with flyers for local shows, and magazines such as Boyd St. provide readers with monthly calendars of entertainment in the area. If students want to entice “bigger bands” to come to their slightly picky college town, they first need to prove there is enough people that support and care about the local music scene and are willing to take a chance on artists that may not be touring with Lady Gaga or repetitively playing on popular radio stations.

            If you would like to experience the local Norman music scene for yourself or perhaps take a chance on an unknown aspiring artist, you can visit any of the links in this post for more information on upcoming events.

Facebook event invitation for CAC Concert Series and
the Opolis' next music event. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

Advertisement chalked on a campus sidewalk for an international music
concert being held at Catlett Music Center. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

One of several posts around campus for organizations
to advertise their event. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

Newsstands in Gaylord Hall that are always filled with new editions of
The Oklahoma Daily, So6ix Magazine, and Boyd St. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

Ray Bribiesca, the "Crazy" Camerman

            Whenever people watch an interesting news segment or some sort of gripping documentary, they usually remember the people who were on the screen- the reporters, anchors, interviewers or interviewees. But it is the man or woman behind the camera that is telling the story through the images and videos and is responsible for bringing the story to life for the viewers. Ray Bribiesca, 60 Minutes cameraman, who has worked at CBS for more than three decades, has dedicated his life to visually telling a story through the lens of a camera and asking himself, “What does a face look like?”

            Bribiesca, an ex-Marines combat cameraman in the Vietnam War and military photographer, claims to always execute his work manually and “turn off the zoom.” However, Bribiesca has developed a reputation for what he calls his “crazy shots.”  Bribiesca admitted that the name of his footage derived from how he predicted the people close to him would respond to his scary ways of capturing the subject's emotions. “Once my friends, my family sees it, they’ll say ‘crazy shots’, they really will,” said Bribiesca. One look at the footage the daring cameraman documented of the firefight he and CBS correspondent Lara Logan witnessed while in Afghanistan, would almost immediately evoke the same response, or what his friends back home have actually said to him, “You are really f’ed up.”

            Nevertheless, in all aspects of media, the person telling the story has to concede their boundaries and determine where they would cross the line. Unsurprisingly, Bribiesca does not adhere to such a thing.

            “You’ve got to forget the lines,” said Bribiesca. “[The American soldiers] told us if we ask you to hand us ammunition, you hand us ammunition… You don’t think, you don’t. You just react. If anything tragic happens to you, that’s part of the deal.”

            Although the footage Bribiesca has captured is daring and perhaps a little “crazy”, he purports that being a good photographer is through “practice and just being lucky.” CBS correspondent Lara Logan accompanied Bribiesca on the trip to Afghanistan, and although she did not follow suit with exposing herself to open fire, she asserted in a 60 Minutes segment that “He wasn’t reckless, he wasn’t stupid, he just wasn’t afraid.” In fact, before heading to Afghanistan, Bribiesca and his crew were required to take a three-week intensive first-aid course. He found the course essential because he believes that “We can’t do our jobs and call ourselves journalists if you can’t protect your source.”

            Bribiesca mentioned in his lecture that hardly anything could happen anymore without someone recording it. The 60 Minutes cameraman has directed his footage around the emotion of people’s faces instead of point-of-view shots, and removed any boundaries that would stifle his storytelling. Despite Bribiesca’s courageous efforts in documenting the American soldiers, he is already on the move again, this time to Yemen. “You’re only as good as your last story,” said Bribiesca. “As a journalist, I listen, I watch, because everyone has a story to tell.”

           To watch Ray Bribiesca and CBS correspondent Lara Logan's full report, A Relentless Enemy, go to http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6902810n&tag=contentMain;contentBody.

Bribiesca explaining his background before students watched his 60 Minutes segment. PHOTO: Ana Lastra

           

            

Boyd Street Gives You Wings

            Welcome to Boyd St. Magazine, where as soon as you walk in the door, your eyes will pan to stacks of papers and boxes, and you will probably be offered your choice of Red Bull. This is where John Montgomery, the 28-year-old publisher and editor-in-chief of Boyd St. makes sure everything, including your four-beers-in picture from Campus Corner, is complete and ready to print. 

            Montgomery first entered into print journalism as an assistant editor of the Purcell Register, the oldest newspaper in Oklahoma, that his family has published for the last 21 years.  In 2006, Montgomery bought Boyd St. after the two Norman men who created the magazine three years prior, wanted out and the publication had already cycled through another publisher.  Montgomery took on the magazine, but had to make a few changes, while maintaining its distinct appeal.

            “The main step that we took right when we got it was to try to, on the backend, up the professionalism a little bit,” said Montgomery. “There were some loose ends in accounting and things such as that… We just kind of needed to strengthen that. We generally try to keep the content straightforward and about the same as it has been, it has its identity and we don’t want to stray too far from that.”

            So who are the popular features such as On the Scene, Norman Nightlife, and College Cribs created for? Montgomery undoubtedly replied that their target audience was the University of Oklahoma campus and the sales pitch was for an 18 to 24 year old demographic. Surprisingly, the staff consists of only about 15 members, depending on the time of year, that are mostly freelance writers; only three are full-time employees. 

            The magazine has a knack for creating articles and blurbs that are straightforward with effortless sarcastic flair. The witty jargon is prevalent throughout the magazine, as well as their social networking Web sites. You can experience their unique style simply by reading their “About me” section on Myspace: “I am a magazine that conveys important collegiate lifestyle information. Every two weeks you can expect hard-hitting journalism with a conservative slant. Just kidding, we do none of those things. Mostly because we are pieces of paper and some staples.”

        The laid-back and sarcastic team at Boyd St. Magazine is fueled by Red Bull, but motivated by students. Montgomery believes that even though some sectors of print journalism have suffered, niche magazines are doing better than ever. Journalism students should not be frightened by the status of print journalism; Montgomery thinks that if your publication is intended for a certain audience and they are interested in what you are saying, then you will have a winning combination. 

       To keep up with the witty contributors of Boyd St., check out their blog at boydstreet.blogspot.com or http://www.myspace.com/boydstreetmagazine or www.facebook.com/BoydStreetMagazine.