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Columns, Forum, Sports

Local colleges look to exceed expectations

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By Luke Geraghty

The 2011-2012 college basketball season was a great year for the local teams. Louisville and Kentucky each went to the Final Four with UK winning the championship. Indiana also had a nice run in the tournament by making it to the Sweet 16. Watching these teams make a run in the tournament seemed very unconventional. But with many polls having these teams in their preseason top five, people may start to grow accustomed to seeing these teams at the top of the polls.

For IU, they go into next year with practically the same team and then some. Point guard Yogi Ferrell and forwards Jeremy Hollowell and Hanner Perea will be a big contribution for the Hoosiers as freshmen next year. The Hoosiers also will get a boost from sophomore Cody Zeller, who decided to to return to school rather than entering the NBA draft. Zeller led the team in scoring and rebounding as a freshman. Joining Zeller will be seniors Christian Watford and Jordan Hulls as well as junior Victor Oladipo. The Hoosiers roster will have plenty of talent and depth. If they can stay healthy and get a boost from some of their younger players, a Final Four berth is possible.

U of L enters the next season with plenty of experience. The Cardinals will miss Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith, but everyone else returns, including some players who missed last year due to injuries. Rakeem Buckles, Mike Marra, and Stephan Van Treese all missed games due to injuries last year and they are expected to give big minutes off the bench next year. Senior point guard Peyton Siva may be the Preseason Big East Player of the Year and they will probably go as far as Siva takes them. Siva’s partner-in-crime, Russ Smith isn’t afraid to shoot and/or drive to the basket. Both Smith and Siva’s stealing ability will cause chaos for their opponents when they bring the ball up the floor. Sophomores Wayne Blackshear and Chane Behanan and junior Gorgui Dieng look to round out the starting line up while freshman Terry Rozier also looks to gain big minutes off the bench. If U of L can stay healthy, then they will certainly be a tough out in the NCAA tournament.

Coming off a national championship, UK will come into the next season with plenty of talent. Centers Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley, forward Alex Poythress, and guard Archie Goodwin are apart of another top notch recruiting class for the Wildcats. UK’s strong recruiting class will make them a very talented team, but it is hard to pinpoint how good UK will be. UK’s top six scorers from last year’s team are gone. Freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Marquis Teague, as well as sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones, declared for the NBA draft, while Darius Miller graduated. Kyle Wiltjer will be team’s best returning player, averaging 5 points per game last year. With the majority of the team from last year gone and a lot of new faces coming in, it appears UK may have a rebuilding year for their standards. UK’s weaknesses will be the lack of experience and also the lack of a true legit player at the point guard position. If UK can withstand these weaknesses, another deep run may be in sight for the defending champs.

IU, UK and UL have always had passionate fan bases, but they have each had hardships pretty recently. Kelvin Sampson turned a winning IU program to a Big Ten bottom-dweller. While UK faced an unheard of NIT berth just four years ago. While U of L faced distractions from their head coach Rick Pitino’s off-the-court problems as well as back-to-back first round exits in 2010 and 2011. However, each of them have bounced back to the peak of their game, making Kentuckiana the best place to be for the college basketball season next year and maybe for years to come.

Columns, Forum

Students’ words do little for troubled

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By Meghan Poff

In light of recent events, I’d find it correct to say there has been a sharp increase in the number of political/peace activist experts in the Floyd County area. It is almost meritorious how quickly local students seem to have caught world peace fever.

(*insert sarcasm here)

It all started last week when the tornado hit Henryville. The town, almost never before acknowledged by the students of our school, was suddenly thrust into the spotlight by the destruction that occurred there. Suddenly, it seemed that the only decently human thing to do would be to volunteer their time.

And apparently, the best way to help out Henryville was to get it trending on Twitter. I am not trying to insinuate that feeling sympathy for tornado victims is a bad thing, but I’m sure the people would appreciate a couple hours of cleaning up over “Omg this is so horrible #HelpHenryville.”

Yes indeed, Henryville was the talk of the town for about three whole days, until Kony arrived.

As we all know, knowledge of turmoil in Africa could never really exist in the minds of high school students until it was circulated on Facebook. But I must say I’m surprised at the number of people who had the attention span long enough to watch the 30-minute video, because you sure have never read a book for that long.

And if one is able to watch a video about troubles in Africa, then nothing is to stop them from becoming a diplomatic expert on the subject.

“Like, can you believe this Kony guy? Forreal though, the army needs to stop all this #AmericaIsDumb.”

How intelligent.

Though for many, problems abroad took a back seat to the troubles still occurring in Henryville. During the tornado, a mother, Reese Decker, lost her legs protecting her child. The hashtag #GiveReeseHope is an effort to get singer Justin Bieber to come meet the little girl.

Let me make sure I understand. Because Reese’s mom lost her legs, this girl for some reason needs to meet Justin Bieber? Hmmm, maybe if we really wanted to give Reese hope, people could donate money to help her mother with hospital bills. But that is just me being crazy.

When it comes to causes, there is nothing more important than positivity and enthusiasm, things that the members of our community are not lacking. But perhaps, we could double the impact of our good intentions by being a little informed about the issues we claim to care so deeply about. And as they say, actions speak louder than words. Try to get out of the virtual world to make a difference because frankly, a tweet or a status is not helping anybody.

Blake Dykes, Chase Palmer, Columns, Forum

Experience with suicide opens columnist’s eyes

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By Blake Dykes

Graphic by Chase Palmer

Names of the people in this story has been changed for privacy reasons.

You hear about people dying because of car accidents, shootings, and fires. It never occurred to me until this incident that someone would actually take their own life.

It all happened Sept. 17, 2007.

I start the day off waking up bright and early, even before I need to get ready for school. That is typical for me, waking up so I can get dressed in time to watch an episode of Spongebob before heading off to school. However, today is different.

I stumble into the kitchen, wiping the sleep out of my eyes, waiting for my mom to give me my cheerful morning greeting.

Not today. Instead, mom gazes out the window into the neighbors house. I decide to break the silence.

“Good morning, Mom.”

Mom draws her head away from the window just long enough to give me an emotionless glance.

A feeling of dread boils up in my stomach.

I tiptoe to the window at which my mom is staring out of. That is when I know something horrible has happened.

Multiple cars are parked up the driveway of the house next door. A fire truck, ambulance, and two police cars are also entangled in the chaos. People gather in clusters by the double door garage.

“Mom, what’s going on?” I hear myself ask in a hushed whisper.

“It’s Kelly,” she says flatly.

My brain instantly rushes with a hundred scenarios.

Kelly is the woman next door, in her late 30’s. She also has a husband and son. Kelly is suffering from depression and is very socially withdrawn. At all the neighborhood get-togethers everyone in her family comes, except her.

“Did something bad happen?”

I frown at myself for asking such a stupid question.

Mom nods and takes a breath, “Kelly…passed away.”

My heart speeds up to an explosive rate, a rage of panic and unexplained anger wash over me.

“How? What do you mean? She was so… young,” my voice fades off.

Mom is silent.

I begin my questioning,

“A car accident? Fire? Was she…murdered?”

Mom shakes her head to all of my proposals.

I feel very confused.

“Kelly hung herself.”

She seems to think about what she is going to say before she continues.

“This morning around five.”

The remaining time before catching the bus seems to drag by in a blur.

This morning, mom walks me and my younger brother to the bus.

As we are walking up the road, to the bus stop, I hear something that will scar me for the rest of my life. Max’s, Kelly’s teenage son, shrill sobs coming from his cracked bedroom window. My heart aches for him.

****************************************************************************************

Hours turn into days, days into weeks, and weeks into months. As the time passes the grass next door continues to grow into a jungle. Kelly’s husband and son up and left the house. They left everything in it, the only thing they took was the clothes on their backs.

There is an eerie quietness throughout the neighborhood. It seems as though everyone is afraid to move on with their lives, afraid to even laugh.

As for me, I have been affected by this tragedy in a drastic way. I dread sleeping, my dreams have turned into nightmares. Suicide has poisoned my dreams, making me have the same nightmare every night, reliving that September 17 morning. These horrifying thoughts lead me into seeing a counselor to learn to let it go. It took me two years to recover from that horrific day.

I guess, the most important thing I hope for people to gain from this story, is to realize suicide is the most selfish act someone can commit. Kelly left this earth leaving her family devastated, confused, and angry.

Next time you are kidding around and say,“Ugh, I hate homework, I’m gonna shoot myself.”

Realize what you are saying really does happen and is not something to kid about.

Spotlight

Columnist holds beliefs of accepting others for their differences

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By: Claire Gapsis

Growing up I have attended a Unitarian church. The basic idea of Unitarians is to create your own belief and ideas, accept people and their beliefs, and to respect everything. As I progressed through the religious education classes I learned about world religions and the stories of the bible. Once a month the church would come together as a whole and have a Celebration of Life service; sometimes taking form of a Day of the Dead service. For Christmas we would light all the candles on the Menorah, sing holiday songs, carry out a Yule Log and have a moment of silence in a darkened sanctuary that was lit by everyone’s candle. Sounds accepting, loving, and just fabulous, right? It was! I felt I was living the life; I was not being told how to believe or what to believe in.

Things changed, though; in seventh and eighth grade the kids enter a program called Coming of Age that helps us identify our beliefs. I had a hard time because growing up in such an open environment I had no input or direction for what I should believe in. That was the point, though, to figure out what I believed in. It was just too hard for me to pinpoint what exactly pushed me forward and woke me up everyday; what I looked to in my troubling times. In the end I just slapped different religions together – mostly Buddhism and what now seems to be Native American beliefs.

What changed me, though, was not the struggle or the self-reflection but the acceptance my church gave me, embracing my ideas and loving me even more for them. This is when a new belief fell into place. Variety and individualism are beautiful and necessary. It also is not limited to religion but includes the people I meet and my every day happenings. I search for the differences in people and learn to love them for the beauty their difference gives them. People often say uniqueness is good but they hardly ever look at it and say, ‘This is beautiful.’

Everyday I find something different and say to myself, ‘I accept this unconventional beauty.’  This, I believe.

Columns, Danielle Rehor, Forum

Value of speaking honestly discovered

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By Danielle Rehor

Acoustic Thoughts

Synonyms of my favorite pastime include brazen, unabashed, and vivacious. Sounds down right delightful, right? It is, when done in the right way. Often times we say exactly what we think, but for the most part what our brain tells us to say has become diluted. Perhaps you are ok with that, but for me, I am not. Do not settle for saying a half-truth because it will not offend. It is lame.

I am here today to teach you a lost art in today’s world. That is speaking brashly. Now this is a tool that can help you out, or completely hinder your ability to make and sustain friendships.

Point One. Do not use this as a technique to make first impressions. That comes off bad. You are often seen as a self-conceited, careless, rude person whom people would like to sling names at.

Point Two. This is an art best used for finding out information you are afraid to ask. Essentially, if you like someone and want to find out if they like you too, ask them. Yes, it does seem rudimentary and practical, but few have the guts to do it. Additionally, if someone is clearly crushing on you, do not leave them guessing, do the right thing, just tell them no.

Point Three. This is a good technique for getting out things that just need to be said. I have saved my mother a few times from a terrible fashion mistake just by speaking the truth. You all know, you have wanted to tell that girl in the hallway to wear a whole shirt or offer to buy some guy a belt just for your own sanity. That is perfectly fine to do, when you say these things, though they may sound crude, they need to be said.

Point Four. This can be a complementary note. There is a way to just straight up tell someone. “Hey, you are extraordinarily good looking.” Or “Hey, if you would like to sit by me, I would be perfectly fine with it.” Without fear, it is called speaking brashly.

Speaking brashly is not hard to do, provided you are not obsessed with what others think of you. Be yourself, say what is appropriate and comes to your head. It works.

When you speak free of fear of what others might think about you, it is enjoyable. People think highly of those who speak without fear of repercussions. There is a time and a place, but it is admirable to be true to you.

Two of the most common deathbed regrets are not living a life you want, and not having the courage to express your feelings. Are you going to be one of those people?

The most courageous thing is speaking truth, aloud.