The Daily Thursday,

September 30, 2010

‘Let Me In’ in Theaters Friday
Remake of
Swedish

Helmsman
Vol. 78 No. 026
vampire flick
hits with a
bite
n see page 9

INKED
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis www.dailyhelmsman.com

Tattoos: cool or taboo?

BY SCOTT HALL
News Reporter
American author Jack London once
said, “Show me a man with a tattoo, and
I’ll show you a man with an interesting
past.” For some, this is a literal truth.
“My tattoos are a timeline of my life,”
said senior political science major Julie
Hoffman, who has eight tattoos and at
least five more planned.
Tattoos are a great way to express one-
self in a permanent way, she said.
“For good or bad, they remind me of
where I was, where I came from, what I
loved at the time and why those things
meant so much to me,” she said. “I don’t
think I could part with any of them.”
see Tattoo, page 4

photos by Brian Wilson

Dave Vernon of Trilogy Tattoos and Body Piercing inks up a customer Tuesday afternoon. He says a significant chunk of his customer base is U of M students.

World Campus Events

Congo peace efforts
reach The U of M
BY AARON TURNER
Contributing Writer
They were too small to hold
guns, so they were sent to the
students at The University of
Memphis in the University
Center Theatre about these
acts of violence and abuse.
Though only about 10 stu-
Student-run dance class
retains African roots
BY ERICA HORTON
News Reporter
spiritual,” he said. “Every step New York. He said the hour-
means a different thing.” and-a-half long class, which
Hurt is considered a master is free and open to students,

front lines with whistles to
scare off the enemies and act as
human shields.
That is what five small boys,
kidnapped by a rebel army
and forced to fight and kill in
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo’s civil war, told activist
Sean Carasso during his 2008
trip to Africa.
Carasso, 28, is the founder
of Falling Whistles, a nonprof-
it organization committed to
raising awareness about the
use of child soldiers, as well as
kidnapping and rape, occur-
ring in the Congo’s civil war.
Monday night, he spoke to
dents attended, Carasso said
he was happy his message was
being received.
“If you start with the right
10, next time you come back, it
will be a thousand,” he said.
Carasso originally traveled
to Africa with TOMS to give
shoes to South Africans but
said that he was inspired to
“get lost” and explore after
their campaign was over.
“I kept getting lost and kept
getting lost and kept getting
more lost until I ended up in
the Democratic Republic of the
see Congo, page 5
“P
When senior education teaches pride and African
major Marcus Hurt goes culture, but students of all
to the University Center eople really ethnicities have attended the
tonight, he will share a tra- class.
dition he was introduced to need to realize that “People really need to real-
in Mali, Africa, when he was there is an African ize that there is an African
3 years old. culture that can be applied to
Hurt will teach an culture that can their everyday life,” he said.
Aminifu dance class tonight
at 8 p.m. in the UC, room
be applied to their “We teach African history
through the dance.”
363, hosted by the African everyday life.” He said dance styles like
Student Association. hip-hop and crumping stem
Hurt, who has been
— Marcus Hurt from African dance.
teaching dance since he was 14 Senior Emy Ufot, junior biology
years old, said Aminifu means major and president of ASA,
“light of God.” junior teacher of African dance has parents who hail from West
“The reason we call it that is in the United States, per the Les
because African dance is very Ballet Soleil dance company in see Dance, page 8
2 • Thursday, September 30, 2010 www.dailyhelmsman.com

The Daily AARON KARO’S

Helmsman Volume 78 Number 026 Ruminations.com
Editor-in-Chief
Megan Harris “Writing What You’re Thinking”
Managing Editor
Scott Carroll

News Editors “I sure am glad baking instructions end in ‘Serve’ or

Brent Fisackerly
Cole Epley ‘Enjoy,’ or else I’d be left with two dozen cookies
Amber Crawford and no clue what to do with them.”
Sports Editor
Joseph Russell
— by mattbane
Copy Editors
Amy Barnette
Christina Hessling
“I overheard a kid adamantly explain to
General Manager
his friends that the plural of ‘chameleon’ is
Candy Justice ‘chamillionaire.’ That was the moment I accepted
Advertising Manager
Bob Willis
that we’re screwed as a nation.”
Admin. Sales
— by bethgoldstein
Sharon Whitaker

Adv. Production
Rachelle Pavelko
“What do you mean you won’t tell me your weight?

YOU REALLY LIKE US!

Rachel Rufenacht You’re not going to surprise me — I have eyes.”
Adv. Sales — by thescreamingfish
Robyn Nickell

Yesterday’s Top-Read Stories

CJ Kelman
Michael Parker
“Thank God pistachios have those shells to slow me
Contact Information
Ads: News:
down because the only thing stopping me from eating
(901) 6 78-2191 (901) 678-2193 1. Tigers’ main focus: touchdowns 12 pounds of them is that there aren’t enough hours
Fax: Sports:
(901) 678-4792 (901) 678-2192
by Adam Douglas in the day.”
dailyhelmsman@gmail.com 2. In brief: tennis, soccer, golf — by butta99
The University of Memphis by Joseph Russell
The Daily Helmsman
113 Meeman Journalism Building
3. Orr Center celebrates Latin liberation “Everyone cheats at Marco Polo.”
Memphis, TN 38152 by Erica Horton — by teamfox
The Daily Helmsman is a “designated public
forum.” Student editors have authority to make 4. Student NAACP to register voters
all content decisions without censorship or
advance approval. The Daily Helmsman is pleased by Danielle Wilburn “Every cell phone I’ve ever owned has been like
to make a maximum of 10 copies from each issue
available to a reader for free, after which $1 will a girlfriend to me. I absolutely adored it in the
be charged per copy.
beginning. Then it started to become a nuisance.
Then I grew to hate everything about it and had to
upgrade to a newer model.”
— by dustinyo

“I think I know what I want for my birthday. I

want a new birthday suit. My old one is too big for
me now.”
— by Jerrod

Across
Have opinions?
1 Bouillabaisse base
6 “Coffee Cantata” composer Care to share?
Send us
10 “Once I had ... love and it was
__”: Blondie lyric
14 So out it’s in

a letter
15 In unison, musically
16 Caffeine source
17 One of Israel’s 12 tribes
18 Bird bonnet?
20 Shows scorn dailyhelmsman@gmail.com
22 Director Wertmüller
23 Hound over a debt

Solutions on page 7
24 Bird boo-boo?
26 Ruby of “A Raisin in the Sun”
27 Favorable times, as for pics
28 Marshland

S
29 Afternoon services
31 Mazda MX-5, familiarly
33 Granola grains
34 Bird brain?

u
39 Author Silverstein
40 First first name in Olympic gym-
nastic tens
41 Cardinal Cooke

d
2 Close again, as a change purse 32 Landers with advice
45 1,000 G’s 3 Unlisted ones 34 Wonderland cat
46 Free TV ad 4 Cornered, in a way 35 Finder’s cry
49 Suffix with expert 5 Frightful 36 Title

o
50 Bird backpackers? 6 Milky Way, e.g. 37 Keats or Shelley
53 Cubs, on scoreboards 7 “Be __”: “Help me out” 38 Artist’s choice
54 Morlock haters 8 Georges Braque, for one 39 Price that’s rarely paid
55 Clawed

k
9 Bum 42 Depilatory brand
56 Bird bottoms? 10 Oberhausen “Oh!” 43 French city near a Chunnel ter-
59 “Tootsie” Oscar winner 11 Considerable amount minus
60 Ireland, to poets 12 Traditional song with the line “Je 44 Diva, stereotypically

u
61 Cuba, to Castro te plumerai” 46 Mambo bandleader Tito
62 Polecat relative 13 Blue state 47 Faked, as a fight
63 Something to take lying down 19 Zola novel 48 Autumn blooms
64 It helps you get up 21 Furtive type 51 Former French textile city
65 Orchestra section 25 Get in the game 52 Use the soapbox
30 16-Across, e.g. 57 Tolkien’s Treebeard is one Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3—by—
Down 31 Miss’s equal? 58 Doofus 3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.
1 1997 Depp title role
The University of Memphis Thursday, September 30, 2010 • 3

Science

Sifting through
South Africa’s
archaeological
antiquities
BY ROBYN DIXON
Los Angeles Times
When Morris Sutton picks a
chipped, ordinary-looking rock
from the soil, he’s the first to
touch the stone tool since an
ancestor of man used it nearly
two million years ago.
In his dim, cool cavern at the
bottom of a 30-foot ladder, he
feels the wonder of it, breath-
who grew tired of the flat hori-
zon of commerce and manufac-
turing and of laying off fellow
employees.
So he quit to pursue his hobby:
hunting for fossils and Stone Age
tools. He went back to college
to study archaeology and later
moved to South Africa, where he
is a postdoctoral researcher with
the Institute for Human Evolution
at Witwatersrand University.

MCT
ing in the loamy smell, peer-
Morris Sutton, seen above with his collection of primitive stone tools, once managed a ing through a window deep into
plant in Memphis — until he got bored. Sutton followed his passion of studying Stone Age time.
tools and became qualified as an archeologist. He now works in South Africa, in the rich Sutton, 47, an archaeologist,
fossil beds in the Sterkfontein Valley. was a Memphis factory manager
South Africa is a mecca for
archaeologists from around the
world; its fossils cover an unbro-
see Fossils, page 7

OPEN 24 HOURS
WiFi Hotspot

Applications for this

committee are now available
in the Office of Student
Leadership & Involvement,
Receive 10% Discount on Any Entree UC 211
with valid U of M ID
- Breakfast Served All Day -
Valid Only at:
3455 Poplar Ave.
Memphis, TN 38111
323-5300

Coming Up
Tomorrow Tuesday 10/5
Friday Film Series Golden Dragon
“Talladega Nights” Acrobats
7 p.m. • UC Theatre 6:30 p.m.
Rose Theatre
4 • Thursday, September 30, 2010
Opinion
Art, culture, conformity and the
tattoo: a complex web of ‘cool’
BY SCOTT CARROLL
Managing Editor
Some things just aren’t for
everybody. Tattoos are one of
them. But over the last decade,
they’ve become so mainstream
that everything a tattoo repre-
sents — rebellion, art, the coun-
terculture — has been diluted.
These days, you’re just as like-
ly to see one on little Wayne the
orthodontist as you are on Lil’
Wayne the rapper.
Gone is the edginess. Gone is
the “cool.”
Full disclosure: I have no tat-
toos. I came close to getting one my
freshman year but lost my nerve
after the Jack Daniel’s wore off.
Still, I like them in the right
context.
They’re cool on the grizzled,
sweaty biker who looks like his
gang just finished curb-stomping
someone.
On a soldier who has sealed
his company’s bond of brother-
hood by tattooing its crest on his
forearm, they’re meaningful.
In a lot of cases, they’re pains-
takingly detailed, beautiful pieces
of art crafted on a human canvas.
With the appropriate image,
the appropriate lifestyle, a tattoo
can define a part of you in a way
that most will never know.
But a tattoo on a suburban,
middle-class, degree-chasing col-
lege student (like myself) just
does not work.
I’m sure you’re Daddy’s little
angel, but he probably wanted to
take that halo around your head
and strangle you with it after
you got wings tattooed on your
shoulders.
And I believe wholeheartedly
that being in a fraternity can be
a great experience, but getting
your letters inked on your bicep
will scream “jackass” a few years
from now.
The glory days of the tattoo,
when it represented the anti-con-
formist ideals of the subculture,
were when Henry and Martha
Middleclass would cross the
street to avoid somebody who
had one.
They were when seeing one
conjured up images of criminal
mischief and danger.
In this sense, they used to be
an unashamed middle finger to
the establishment.
Now they’re more like a wet
willy.
The tattoo’s transition from
symbol of rebellion to accepted
marker of the everyman is no
surprise, though.
The middle class is always
looking for the next cultural pool
to dip its toes into, and it was
only a matter of time before iden-
tity-seeking suburbanites tried
tattoos.
For those of you that have
them, don’t take this editorial as
ridicule.
One day, when a tattoo could
commemorate, say, my wedding
or the birth of my child, I might
get one.
Until then, my white-bread
suburban brothers, I’ll leave
tattoos alone.
We’ve bastardized enough
subcultures already.
TaTToo
from page 1
Tattoos are becoming more
socially acceptable, according
to a 2007 Pew Research Center
poll. The study found that 36
percent of Americans between
18 and 25 years old have at
least one tattoo, as do 40 per-
cent of those between 26 and
40.
Erica Stone, a manager at
Trilogy Tattoos on Highland
Avenue, said University of
Memphis students make up
a significant portion of their
business.
“There’s really no way to
know for sure, but they’re
maybe 70 percent of our cli-
ents,” she said. “We get lots of
repeat customers.”
Melanie McCann, sopho-
more earth science major, said
she thinks tattoos are becom-
ing more acceptable because
more people have them.
“It’s tough to discriminate
against people because they
have them,” she said. “So
many people have them these
days, and it’s hard to deny
them something because they
have a tattoo.”
Tattoos are becoming more
popular because they’re so
common, said Wesley James,
assistant professor of sociol-
ogy at The U of M.
“A lot of the negative stig-
ma has gone away because
we see so many people with
them,” he said. “It’s kind of
a fad, a popular trend now.
It’s the cool thing to do, and
I think they probably have, in
some cases, a lot of personal
meaning.”
Most people get tattoos
because they represent some-
thing significant to them,
McCann said.
“I got a couple of mine to
represent significant things in
my life, and others because
they’re pretty,” she said.
Hoffman got her first tattoo,
a bass clef, to show her love
for marching band.
“It wasn’t something I had
to think a lot about,” she said.
“I knew that I wanted to get
it because being in the band
meant so much to me.”
McCann said each one of
her tattoos has a different
meaning.
“I was very angry at one
point, so I got my dragon tat-
too on my shoulder,” she said.
“Once, I was feeling betrayed,
so I got the word ‘loyalty.’ It’s
a pretty serious way to lash
out against someone, getting
something stuck permanently
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on your body.”
Heike Polster, assistant pro-
fessor of German, has one tat-
too and said that getting inked
is an empowering experience.
“People get them to show a
part of their identity on their
skin in a way that they can’t
express through clothes or
hairstyle,” she said. “Good tat-
toos are really cool. I believe
that if done right, they’re quite
beautiful.”
Despite the generational
prevalence of tattoos, col-
lege graduates with tattoos
might find it difficult to land
a job after school, said Clay
Woemmel, associate director of
career services at The U of M.
“The primary thing is not
so much that the person has
tattoos but if they’re in high-
ly visible locations,” he said.
“Tattoos that are in areas that
would normally be covered
aren’t an issue. When people
have tattoos that extend down
the arm, if they’re on the face
or neck, or on the hands, those
things really tend to create
issues.”
Woemmel said students
don’t often think about the
consequences beforehand.
“Students say to me after
the fact that they wish they
hadn’t done it,” he said. “I
think students should think
about the location, and if it’s
something that is always vis-
ible, ask themselves if it aligns
with their goals.”
It depends on the profes-
sion a student is pursuing,
McCann said.
“As long as you can cover
them up, it’s not that big of a
deal,” she said.
There are a variety of health
risks associated with tattoos,
including infections, allergic
reactions and MRI complica-
tions. However, avoiding tat-
too parlors that don’t take
measures to prevent them can
avert these problems.
“I go to a pretty upstanding
place,” Hoffman said. “When
people go for cheap tattoos,
they end up at places that
reuse needles and don’t take
safety precautions, and they
are the ones who end up with
the problems in the end, just
because they wanted to save a
few bucks.”
Despite the potential career
difficulties of having a tat-
too, many who have them
said they wouldn’t have it any
other way.
“When I look at my tattoos,
it reminds me of a time in my
life and the lessons I learned
from it,” McCann said. “It’s
worth the pain.”
NORTH
Poplar Ave.
Mt. Moriah
Park Ave.
The University of Memphis Thursday, September 30, 2010 • 5

Walk&Talk How do we stop Justin

Bieber?

“Buy more water bottles — “You can’t stop him.” “Go on Facebook and say “Make artists have to “Foolish humans. I
remember the concert where R.I.P. Justin Bieber — do a year in college cannot be stopped.”
he got hit?”  — Desmond Bounds, and wait for the rumor to before they can sign a
freshman, undecided spread!” contract.” — Justin Bieber,
— Chris Baker, junior, pop music sensation,
management information — Jesse Gillespie, junior, — Xavier Jones, junior,
cybernetic organism
systems pre-nursing  management
by Brian Wilson and Malcolm Regester

Congo
from page 1
Congo,” he said.
When he eventually landed
in the Congo, Carasso said
his group “began to discover
things we weren’t supposed
to.”
There, he found the five

TONIGHT
boys, one Rwandan and the
rest Congolese, being held at
a National Army encampment,
where they were being beaten
and treated as enemies of the
state.
Carasso said one boy was
sure he had fought against
another.
After asking the boys if that
made them enemies, Carasso
said one looked at him, kissed
one of the other boys and said,
“We are only boys. How can
we be enemies?”
After hearing the children’s
stories, Carasso wrote a blog
called “Falling Whistles” and
sent it to everyone on his
e-mail list.
“They literally forwarded it
around the world,” Carasso
said.
The next day, he woke up
with thousands of e-mails from
people asking how they could
help.
Since then, Falling Whistles
has drawn attention to the
Congo by visiting college cam-
puses and building mini-muse-
ums, displays aimed at educat-
ing the public about the war, in
department stores across the
United States.
The mini-museums also
raise money by selling whis-
tles, with 100 percent of the
proceeds going toward bring-
ing peace to the Congo.
“Make their weapons your
voice, and be a whistleblower
for peace in Congo,” he said,
explaining the meaning behind
the whistle.
Carasso said the ultimate
goal of Falling Whistles is
bringing peace to the Congo.
“We are not about charity
but solidarity,” Carasso said.
“We don’t want people to feel
sorry for those in Congo. We
just need help to bring peace
in Congo.”
6 • Thursday, September 30, 2010
Music Review
The Hold Steady plays to its strengths
BY WALTER TUNIS
McClatchy Newspapers
Usually, when a pioneering,
popular music force is asked to
come clean about his musical
heroes, the answer becomes a
bit of a balk.
Maybe he prefers not to
let on to the artistic tricks
he might have picked up
from them. Maybe he doesn’t
want to be pigeonholed sty-
listically by the admission.
Maybe he doesn’t know who
his heroes are.
Craig Finn, vocalist, lyri-
cist and co-guitarist for the
pop-savvy Brooklyn, N.Y.,
rock troupe The Hold Steady,
doesn’t subscribe to any of
that. He’s proud to claim The
Replacements as the band that
forever changed the course of
his rock ‘n’ roll journey.
Like The Replacements, Finn,
39, hails from Minneapolis. And
like the band, he doesn’t fit the
glammed-up stereotype of a rock-
band frontman. And like chief
Replacement Paul Westerberg,
his songs are alert, literate and
ferociously rocking, yet full of
pure pop accessibility.
“Before The Replacements,
I didn’t even know I could be
in a rock band,” Finn said. “I
didn’t know that dudes who
looked like me or like the peo-
ple in my neighborhood could
be in a band. I thought they all
had to be Steven Tyler descend-
ing from some rock mountain.
The Replacements were these
charming but very believable
guys playing music that was
really poignant and exciting
and smart. And kind of wild.”
Poignant, exciting, smart
and kind of wild — those are
integral ingredients of what
has distinguished The Hold
Steady’s music over the course
of five albums. Buzz on an
international level kicked in
for the band after the release of
the 2008 album “Stay Positive.”
That’s also when touring alli-
ances with the Dave Matthews
Band, Counting Crows (which
Finn often echoes in his more
overtly poppish moments),
Drive-By Truckers and Kings
of Leon noticeably raised The
Hold Steady’s already hearty
performance profile.
But at the heart of The
Hold Steady are Finn’s lyrics.
Actually, they’re more like full
cinematic stories, with char-
acters ranging from the hap-
less to the heartbroken to the
just plain boozed. Finn’s sense
of narrative has been regu-
larly compared to the writ-
ing of such major leaguers
as Bruce Springsteen. That’s
certainly true on the band’s
The Brooklyn, N.Y., rock group claim The Replacements are
a major influence on their sound.
newest album, “Heaven Is
Whenever.” Though the band
was pared down to a quartet
with the departure of found-
ing keyboardist Franz Nicolay,
“Heaven” offers a more varied
and expansive sound for Finn’s
songs to move about in.
“I think we’re all just getting
better at staying out of each
other’s way,” Finn said with a
laugh. “Obviously, storytelling
is a big part of what I want to
do vocally. So every time we
MCT
make a record, we’re always
hoping to evolve and play to
those strengths. This album is
but one example of that.
“We were already looking
for a little more space in the
music. Franz was an incred-
ible musician who could play
just about any instrument. But
sometimes, we couldn’t resist
the opportunity to fill up every
available space within the
music. So we wanted to make
these new songs a little more
www.dailyhelmsman.com
wide open.”
Among the fine examples of
such song design on “Heaven
Is Whenever” is “Barely
Breathing,” a composition
lyrically inspired by punkish
bands Finn knew in his youth,
bands that triggered violent
turns from their audience. But
quirky twists abound. In terms
of the story, the band Finn sings
about dissolves and re-forms as
promoters of the Hare Krishna
movement. Musically, the
song’s huge, anthemic hooks
take a detour into swing with
colors of brass and clarinet.
“The idea of a band con-
verting people to the Hare
Krishnas seemed like such a
strange and weird thing. At 38,
when I wrote the song, it just
seemed too ridiculous to even
be in a song,” he said. “But this
is a huge part of my lyric writ-
ing. It involves looking back
to when I was younger and
trying to understand what was
important and unusual about
these situations. I’ve been a
New Yorker now for 10 years.
But the stories in my songs are
all about Minneapolis. It just
took moving to Brooklyn to
appreciate what was unique
and special about living in
Minneapolis. Sometimes you
need that distance as you look
back.”
The University of Memphis Thursday, September 30, 2010 • 7

Find us in
from a different angle, bring a the others continued to evolve. used fire,” Phaswana said. In the
Fossils new perspective.”
It’s now possible, for exam-
Sutton gestures with quiet
pride at an excavated area not
study of mankind’s ancestors and
related species, blind alleys, con-
from page 3
ken sweep of prehistoric time,
ple, to analyze the microscopic
residue of meat or plants left on
much bigger than a double bed:
That’s five years’ digging there.
tested theories and revisions are
the norm. So Sutton is cautious
the aviary.
from the first smudge of life stone tools nearly two million He and his South African assis- about jumping to conclusions.
through the dinosaur era to early years old and learn what the tant, Andrew Phaswana, 35, The fossils of burned bones
hominids and beyond. Some of tools were used for. scrape away the soil layer by found at Swartkrans don’t prove
the world’s most significant fos- More than a third of the world’s layer, unearthing as many riddles that man’s ancestors cooked their
sils were discovered here: the hominid fossils were found in one as answers. meat. Sutton would want clearer
Taung child, Little Foot and, in small area at Sterkfontein. The Phaswana sits in the sunshine, evidence, like bones that had been
April, a young male hominid, stone tools here are from the era using tweezers to sort through a butchered as well as burned.
believed to be a new species, when humankind’s predecessors chunky pile that looks like break- He’s also on the lookout for
Australopithecus sediba, whose and related primates were evolv- fast cereal. It’s run-of-the-mill proof that robustus used stone
remains appear to be nearly two ing, a million years ago and more. stuff: thousands of bones and tools. The earliest stone tools pre-
million years old. Homo ergaster is one such prede- teeth of tiny mouse-like rodents date the earliest Homo species by
“You can look at the latest cessor, whereas Australopethicus and chips of stone that went fly- several hundred thousand years.
forms of life and the first evidence robustus was a chunky, large- ing as the ancients fashioned “It could be that we haven’t
of life and all the way through the jawed branch on the same family their tools. He classifies them found the earliest Homo yet. Or
dinosaurs, all the way through tree that died out. and bags them up. it could be that robustus were
the first emergence of hominids “This is a very important Like Sutton, Phaswana once using tools,” he said.
and our ancestors, right through phase in humankind’s evolution. had an unsatisfying job, as a gas Swartkrans contains at least
to today. There’s nowhere else It’s like our adolescence,” Sutton station attendant. He loves the three Stone Age-era deposits.
in the world where you can find said. thrill of finding huge, flat robus- Sutton needs funding to excavate
that,” said Andrea Leenen, head In past decades, scientists at tus molars, probably used for the two older areas, which have
of the Paleontological Scientific Swartkrans turned up evidence grinding fibrous vegetation such both yielded hominid fossils.
Trust, a South Africa nonprofit of some of the earliest controlled as roots. “As an archaeologist, there’s a twitter.com/
organization that sponsors pale- use of fire, as much as 1.5 million “I like this job because I learn huge attraction that you are pick- dailyhelmsman
ontological research. years ago. They found evidence more every day. I learn where ing up something like a stone
At Witwatersrand University, that robustus coexisted with I come from and how the old tool that maybe some hominid
the fossil treasures include sev- early humans. Scientists can only people were behaving and how dropped a million years ago,”
eral eggs of a small dinosaur guess why they died out while they were eating and how they he said.
species, preserved just as they
were hatching. Thousands more
items sit on shelves and in boxes,
not yet chipped out of their rock
casings. It will take decades to
process them.
Fossil hunters are famous for
their egos, jostling for media
attention and research funds
and holding sniffy debates about
whose find is the oldest or the
closest ancestor of man.
The soft-spoken Sutton
doesn’t fit the stereotype of an
Indiana Jones-style wunderkind,
desperate to unearth the oldest
human ancestor. He calibrates his
assertions cautiously as he clam-
bers over a rough, dry landscape
pocked with caves.
He’s excavating at Swartkrans
in the Sterkfontein Valley, pulling
out specimens more than a mil-
lion years old. He’s the kind of
man who gets excited about an
almost imperceptible layering of
different-colored soils — depos-
its from different millenniums,
windows into different times.
Yet he could dig here for years
without finding that once-in-a-
lifetime breakthrough — a miss-
ing link, a new species, evidence
of early cooking. The hole might
yield nothing new.
“Well,” he pauses hesitantly.
“You don’t have to discover any-
thing new. You can look at things

Solutions
8 • Thursday, September 30, 2010
Lifestyle
Book clubs lend an ear to audio books
BY EDWARD M. EVELD
McClatchy Newspapers
When Teresa Steinert and
friends gathered recently for
their book club meeting, only
one member had actually read
the selection, “The Abstinence
Teacher” by Tom Perrotta.
That sounds unenthused, but
they weren’t being summertime
slouches. As planned, rather than
reading the book, the women
had listened to the audio version
of the novel. It was an experi-
ment that revised their view of
book club reading: If members
want to listen instead, that’s OK.
“I wouldn’t say they were
‘cheating’ anymore,”
Steinert of Kansas City, Mo.
said
The audio book prompted a
different kind of book club dis-
cussion, they found. And while
listening had its plusses — a
time-saver, in some cases — it
also had its minuses.
Steinert’s club, which has met
for 10 years and has a dozen
members across the area, was
participating in a Macmillan
Audio program that provided
CDs of various titles to 45 books
clubs in 30 states.
Stephanie Hargadon, who orga-
nized the project for Macmillan,
said reading groups were more
open to trying audio books than
she had expected. For a major-
ity of the participating book club
members, it was their first experi-
ence with audio books, she said.
And none of the clubs had ever
planned a discussion based on the
audio version of a book.
“These are devoted readers,
serious book club members,”
Hargadon said. “They all seemed
open to the experience.”
No doubt the appetite for
audio books is strong. Audio
Publishers Association, an indus-
try group, reported recently that the effects of the recession, plus
sales for audio book “units” — discounted prices, reduced over-
“Icould see
all revenue. Still, consumers and
libraries spent nearly $1 billion
on audio books last year. It’s esti-
listening to an mated recorded books account
for five to six percent of the total
audio book that book market.
the kids and I Steinert said everyone in
the group liked the audio idea,
would like, although one member started
listening to the recording and
sitting out on disliked the experience so much
the porch. I she decided instead to read the
book on her iPad.
think they would Steinert found out about
find that relaxing the audio opportunity through
Reading Group Choices, a web-
at the end of the site and newsletter.
night.” Most of the women had had
some experience with audio
— Laurie Smith books. Several with children had
Mother listened to the award-winning
“Harry Potter” recordings.
CDs and digital downloads — The discussion went on longer
increased 4.7 percent in 2009. But than usual, Steinert said, and it
October 1
7 p.m.
UC Theatre
PG-13
www.dailyhelmsman.com
started with an assessment of the
reader, Campbell Scott. Nobody
liked him. He lacked expression
overall, they thought, and his char-
acter voices weren’t distinctive.
“When he did the female voic-
es, it was kind of awkward,”
Steinert said.
Members were less than
enthralled with the two main
characters in “The Abstinence
Teacher.” They tried to assess
whether their dissatisfaction with
the narration colored their views
of the characters and the story.
One upside of the audio book,
which ran 10 over hours, was
that the women could listen
while accomplishing other tasks,
including house cleaning and
walking. Several downloaded
the audio recording onto their
music players.
A downside for busy people:
It wasn’t easy to pick up and put
down — like a book — for short
periods.
“Nobody felt you could do
that with the audio,” Steinert
said. “You needed a stretch of
time.”
Steinert’s sister, Laurie Smith
of Lee’s Summit, Mo., was tak-
ing a vacation trip to France just
before the meeting. She bought
an inexpensive music player
and, being “on the tail end of
technology,” she said, had her
12-year-old daughter download
the recording. Smith listened to
most of it on the return flight.
“It reminded me that this is a
good option,” she said. “I could
see listening to an audio book
that the kids and I would like,
sitting out on the porch. I think
they would find that relaxing at
the end of the night.”
Dance
from page 1
Africa.
She said the classes take her
back to her roots, as Aminifu rep-
resents a “humble” and “social”
culture from a “totally different
world.”
Hurt said he was surprised to
see how much people enjoyed
the class when it began last
semester with 20 participants.
This year, 33 people have already
signed up, and Hurt said he has
high hopes for them.
“If they don’t learn anything
else from the class, I want them
to have pride and respect for
themselves,” he said.
He and his co-teacher, junior
psychology major and ASA vice
president Analecia Guthrie,
began the class last semester
through ASA.
Guthrie said the idea came
to her last summer. She said
she noticed that there are other
forms of dance on campus, such
as ballet and salsa, and thought
ASA should do something too.
Introduced to African dance
by her mother, Guthrie said she
uses African dance as a way to
express herself.
She said she wants students to
have the opportunity to experi-
ence something new.
“I came out of the womb
dancing,” she said. “Just like you
need to eat and breathe, I need
to dance.”
The University of Memphis Thursday, September 30, 2010 • 9

Film Review

‘Let Me In’ the rare, stunning remake in Hollywood

BY RANDY MYERS
Contra Costa Times
Remakes are the margarine
of the film industry, bland sub-
stitutes lacking in a certain rich-
ness and flavor.
Anyone who wasted money
on Gus Van Sant’s ridiculous
shot-for-shot remake of Alfred
Hitchcock’s “Psycho” knows
this to be true.
When word got out that Matt
Reeves, director of the jitterfest
“Cloverfield,” had signed up to
redo the Swedish vampire film
“Let the Right One In,” fans
of the original and the novel
it’s based on rebelled with Tea
Party-like outrage.
How dare this bozo mess with
a nearly perfect flick? And why
do it so soon, just two years after
the original swept in to become
a hit with critics and movie buffs
alike?
Not surprisingly, loyal-
ists are itching to savage the
“Let Me In” cleverly trans-
fers its small-town setting to Los
Alamos in 1983, with a scaredy-
cat nation in the grips of the Cold
War’s big chill. Setting the tone
is President Reagan on the air-
waves, opining about America’s
inherent goodness and how we
all must resist outside evil.
Reaching adolescence at
that anxiously unstable time is
12-year-old Owen, a weird kid
struggling both at school and at
a home where his mom (Cara
Buono of “The Sopranos”) is
drinking wine, preoccupied by
her impending divorce. Scrawny
and awkward, Owen (Kodi Smit-
McPhee of “The Road”) makes
a conveniently easy target for
abuse by bigger brutish boys,
especially when wearing the
nerdy and oversized gray jacket
that swallows him whole.
When an odd girl named
Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz)
moves into the apartment next
door with her guardian (Richard

Americanized version of the
unconventional horror tale
about a 12-year-old vampire’s
relationship with a bullied boy.
They wish nothing more than to
see “Let Me In” fade faster than
a bloodsucker at Venice Beach.
But listen up haters, a tribe
to which I once belonged: “Let
Me In” bucks the odds, making
it that rare and risky adapta-
tion that pays off. It succeeds
in the same way that Martin
Scorsese’s 2006 “The Departed”
did, respecting the integrity of
its inspiration — 2002’s “Infernal
Affairs” — and infusing it with
its own maker’s mark.
Jenkins), Owen feels he’s met a
kindred spirit — someone who’s
equally uncomfortable in her
skin and has her own demons
to battle. It’s easy for Owen to
see something’s up with Abby,
who walks shoeless in the snow,
smells stinky and doesn’t show
up during daylight. It’s no sur-
prise to any of us when it’s
revealed she’s a vampire.
What’s most unexpected
about “Let Me In” is how
sensitively and heartbreak-
ingly the relationship plays
out between the two outcasts.
That’s a credit not just to the
two amazing young actors but
Chloe Moretz stars in Overture Films’ “Let Me In,” based on the Swedish flick “Let the
Right One In.”
to Reeves himself.
Moretz, who gave “Kick-Ass”
its kick, continues on her streak,
showing range and an age-defy-
ing ability to handle complex
roles. She and Reeves — who
also wrote the screenplay —
convincingly make Abby both
waifish and frightening. Smit-
McPhee keeps up with her as
best he can, tapping into that
volatile pre-adolescent angst.
As in the original, “Let Me
In” benefits hugely from the cre-
ation of an ominous and mes-
merizing atmosphere. This time
out, Reeves, thankfully, aban-
dons the Tilt-a-Whirl camera
maneuvers of “Cloverfield.”
He also ramps up the gore and
scares more than the original
did, a shrewd choice that height-
ens the tension between his two
young star-crossed characters.
In his most startlingly well-cho-
reographed scene, he films a car
accident from a back seat per-
spective — a stunner of a direc-
MCT
torial feat. Reeves even tosses in
“Romeo and Juliet” references
— and they work.
On the downside, he sidesteps
one of the original film’s most
discussed scenes, perhaps out of
respect. Whatever the reasoning,
I missed that crucial, blink-and-
you’ll-miss-it surprise.
Which just goes to show that
with remakes, you simply can’t
have everything. However, “Let
Me In” comes very close to
achieving that goal.

Dreamers. Thinkers. Doers.

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4:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 4
10 • Thursday, September 30, 2010
Opinion
Per-seat donation policy last necessary and inevitable
BY JOHN MARTIN
Sports Reporter
Last week, associate athletic
director Bill Lansden was in the
penultimate awkward position
of announcing The University
of Memphis athletic depart-
ment needs more money.
The University, he said, is
considering instituting a seat-
licensing program at Liberty
Bowl Memorial Stadium,
like the basketball team’s at
FedExForum.
He stood at the athletic
department office in front of
an assortment of befuddled,
angry and anxious season tick-
et holders to present the still-
unfinished policy.
If they want to purchase sea-
son tickets next year, he told
them, they will have to make
a donation for their seat, any-
where from $25 to $250.
He took tough questions in
a vicious 35-minute eternity
— a “Q&A session,” he called
it — that took on the form of a
public criminal interrogation.
Fans wanted to know why
they were being forced to
spend more money on a pro-
gram that’s only gotten worse
since its last bowl appearance
While U of M fans may dispute the athletic department’s per-seat donation policy, it’s a necessary step to increase revenue.
in 2008. They questioned the
timing of the announcement.
By the meeting’s end,
they’d given their willing and
unabashed criticism of every-
thing short of Lansden’s ward-
robe.
“The first two or three fans
who spoke were against it, and
everyone else kind of start-
ed nodding and saying, ‘That
makes sense.’ It steamrolled
a bit, but that’s the reason we
had it. I’m not upset at all,”
he said.
Only a bit, huh? If nothing
else, respect the man for his
zeal.
He knows The U of M foot-
ball program is historically
bad. He knows that he works
at a university where basket-
ball is king.
He knows that there are
holes in the proposal, starting
with the fact that the revenue
generated from the per-seat
donations won’t go solely to
football.
“I can’t guarantee all of
the money goes to football,”
Lansden said. “Football, men’s
www.dailyhelmsman.com
by David C. Minkin
basketball and women’s bas-
ketball drive revenue.”
Fair enough. As much as it’s
improved, The U of M women’s
basketball team isn’t exactly a
cash cow. And he knows the
athletic department can’t take
in more revenue and stiff the
premiere program at The U
of M — men’s basketball. Of
course, they’ve got to spread
the wealth.
But The U of M, as far-fetched
as it sounds, wants to improve
its football team’s laughable
state of affairs. Athletic depart-
ment officials want to make
things better for football sea-
son ticket holders — the same
ones who were foaming at the
mouth and ready to attack Bill
Lansden last Thursday.
The U of M wants its athletic
programs to be able to compete
at a national level.
And, realistically, the only
way anyone can find out if they
can is by improving facilities,
which takes revenue.
If not — if this is some ploy
to milk more money out of an
already financially lame duck
for R.C. Johnson and Shirley
Raines to enjoy more vacation
time — I’d suggest a wholesale
proposal renovation.
But with a recession, a fledg-
ling football team and con-
stant cries for athletic facil-
ity improvement, a $35-million
athletic budget doesn’t exactly
stretch.
Which is why I can’t be mad
at The U of M or its athlet-
ic department. They can’t sit
around, cross their fingers and
hope that the football program
starts winning games under
our current, often abysmal, cir-
cumstances.
They’ve got to do something
now to prepare for the future.
While fans might not have
liked the business approach,
they should take solace in the
fact that it was, at the very
least, a brutally — almost pain-
fully — honest one.
The University of Memphis Thursday, September 30, 2010 • 11

Russell’s Take

‘Reggie’s Prayer:’ greatest sports film ever?

BY JOSEPH RUSSELL
Sports Editor
Movies have become a pow-
erful thing in today’s culture.
Sports movies are only an
extension of that, combining two
things Americans cannot get
enough of.
I stumbled upon a sports
movie recently that I doubt any-
one reading this has heard of,
let alone seen. But it is perhaps
one of the most moving films
I’ve ever seen, complete with an
amazing script and an even bet-
ter cast of well-known actors to
bring the movie to life.
“Reggie’s Prayer” is the story
of a professional football player,
played by Reggie White, who
at the peak of his career opts to
by distrust of one another, per- And he doesn’t even say “wax
sonal problems and even gang- on, wax off.”
related issues. And worst of all, Working alongside Reggie
they don’t even want to listen to as an assistant coach is Cylk
him in practice. Cozart, who you might remem-
So what does he do? ber as that guy who isn’t Wesley
As plainly evidenced in the Snipes or Woody Harrelson in
Youtube trailer, he decides to “White Men Can’t Jump.” In
slam down his clipboard and do addition, midway through the
push-ups. That’s right. When kids movie, the team receives some
don’t listen, just start exercising. much-needed advice, which
In a clearly calculated move, they get from an unlikely pair of
the push-ups pay off. One by janitors — Ed, played by Mike
one, the players stop their bick- Holmgren, and Burt, played by
ering and join in, as one big Brett Favre.
team. It makes perfect sense. M.C. Hammer also makes an
But just as the team gets on appearance as one of Reggie’s
the right page, something else neighbors.
comes up to threaten their well- It’s almost as if the casting
being — gangs. When two play- director made a board of every-
ers argue over a sweatshirt in one you would never expect to
the locker room after practice, be in a movie, closed his eyes

courtesy of imdb.com
retire instead of cashing in on a what they don’t notice is the gun and threw darts just to see who
supposed $8-million extension in its pouch, brought by a gang- to call. And somehow, they all
(it was filmed in 1996, and back affiliated member of the team. agreed to it.
then, $8 million was actually a One of the kids ends up getting Don’t get me wrong, Reggie is
lot of money) or a career in the shot, dying a bloodless death in one of my favorite players of all
broadcasting booth. the locker room (rated PG, blood time, and definitely deserving of
Why, you ask? doesn’t happen). Don’t judge a movie by its cover. Although there’s not much his Hall of Fame enshrinement
Because he had a bad dream Reggie goes on a rampage to see here other than Reggie White’s teaching sweater, in 2006, but this movie wasn’t
that told him to coach a high and, after seeking help from the one of his best works.
“Reggie’s Prayer” should be on everyone’s watch list.
school football team in Portland. school’s principal, played by It’s the most random film ever
Seriously. Mr. Miyagi (I refuse to call him The only thing that doesn’t of help, especially since he created, but definitely worth
But as is the case with every anything else), tracks down the make sense is why Miyagi kicked the crap out of Cobra watching. Even if it’s just to see
high school sports movie ever gang lord’s hideout. decides to call the cops instead Kai at the end of “Karate Kid 3.” Brett Favre play a janitor.
created, things don’t go as While Miyagi leaves to call
smoothly as planned. Instead, the police, Reggie takes matters
Reggie finds himself at the helm into his own hands, which leads
of a program in ruins, with a to a showdown with gun-toting
team full of players who look Paul “Big Show” Wight.
like they’ve never played foot- I’m not sure what was fun-
ball in their lives. nier about this scene — the fact
In addition to coaching duties, that Wight’s hands are so big
as he announced in his press it makes the gun seem puny,
conference at the beginning of the line he delivers (“It looks
the movie, he will also teach his- like you’re not having a very
tory classes in the school. good day,” followed by an awful
There’s nothing I would rath- laugh) or that the entire time
er see than Reggie White trying Wight holds the gun sideways
to teach high schoolers about the like he’s the newest member of
American Revolution. NWA.
Hollywood could even make I promise this is a real movie.
a sequel for 2011.
Imagine this: Reggie White,
after multiple years of coach-
ing success in Portland, leaves
Oregon for Los Angeles because
an old coach of his (played by
Mike Ditka) is now a high school
athletic director and needs help
starting a new program. But in
order for the troubled inner-
city students to meet eligibil-
ity requirements to play, Reggie
must first take over in the class-
room and become their men-
tor. The climax of the movie
comes when Reggie’s students
are forced to take a standardized
history test presented by the
California Board of Education
because of a stipulation that
states he needs an official teach-
ing degree to operate in the
classroom.
Kind of like “Stand and
Deliver” meets that new TV
show where Tony Danza teaches
kids English.
Then at the end of the sequel
(after the happy ending and
credits roll), Reggie can sign on
as the general manager of the
NFL’s newest expansion team in
Los Angeles, leaving room for a
trilogy.
Don’t try to steal my idea,
either. It’s already in the works
for a copyright.
Anyway, back to the original
movie.
When Reggie gets to campus,
he finds out his squad is plagued
12 • Thursday, September 30, 2010
NFL
Vick’s back: harder, better, faster, stronger
Michael Vick’s reemergence to the NFL this season has
fans and critics questioning what he may be able to accom-
plish in Philadelphia.
C s
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BY JONATHAN TAMARI
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The big things were always
what made Michael Vick remark-
able: turbocharged runs, perfect-
ly arcing deep throws, dynamic
athleticism.
It’s little things, though, that
have elevated his play so far this
year.
The resurgent Vick has
improved his footwork, the way
he bends his knees, the way he
angles his shoulders and his
vision, according to his coaches.
The results have made Vick the
talk of the NFL and a different
passer from the one who mixed
astounding plays with frustrat-
ing mistakes earlier in his career.
One key has been using a reli-
able physical “platform” when
he throws.
“If you move three feet to the
left in the pocket, or three feet to
the right, you still want, in his
case, your right shoulder in the
same position, your knees bent
the right way, and you want to be
able to step into the throw, and
so on,” Eagles coach Andy Reid
said this week. “He’s worked
very hard on that, all the way
from the feet to the arms and the
shoulders. And what that does is
AP
that increases your accuracy and
consistency. Consistency is the
key word.”
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Through three games, Vick has
thrown six touchdowns and no
interceptions. The big, seemingly
effortless bombs are still there,
but so are precision throws.
Vick’s progression under Reid
is similar in some ways to that
of his friend and this Sunday’s
opponent, Donovan McNabb, a
mobile quarterback with a big
arm who, as time went on, began
to rely more on his throws than
runs.
Vick is one of three start-
ing quarterbacks yet to throw
an interception this season. His
110.2 passer rating is second
best in the NFL, after Peyton
Manning’s 116.9.
Vick can still uncork a gor-
geous deep ball, and his speed
appears to be close to, if not
equal to, that of his younger
years. Those weapons, though,
have been used judiciously.
Now when Vick runs, Reid
said, he keeps his eyes down-
field, looking for a throw.
“I see a guy who is more
patient, more willing to sit inside
the pocket and wait for things to
develop down the field before
he takes off,” Jim Mora, who
coached Vick in Atlanta, said
recently on the NFL Network.
Perhaps the best illustration
of Vick’s changed methods came
Sunday when, with the first half
winding down, Vick held the
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ball for three, four, five seconds
in the pocket as he waited for
a receiver to come open. The
result of his patience: a touch-
down strike.
He is completing 60.7 percent
of his throws.
In Atlanta, Vick never com-
pleted more than 56.4 percent of
his passes. His best passer rating
was 81.6.
He carried his teams, but in
his last three years as a Falcon —
2004, 2005 and 2006 — he turned
the ball over 19, 18 and 16 times.
Last year, four teams had 19
or fewer giveaways.
In addition to working on
mechanics, Vick has studied hard
since coming to Philadelphia,
Reid said.
“We have to kind of kick
him out of the building here,”
the coach said. “I don’t know if
that’s the way it was always in
his career.”
Vick confirmed as much
Tuesday. Speaking to high school
students at Imhotep Charter
School as part of his agreement
to work against dogfighting,
Vick weaved together stories
about how his fame and early
success led to problems off the
field, as well as on it.
“I didn’t work out, didn’t
study films ... It set me back,”
Vick said.
Now, he says, there is less
time for Xbox, golf and fishing.
“I have to spend more time
being well-prepared and showing
the guys around me that I’m as
committed as they are,” Vick said.
It will take more than three
weeks to measure Vick’s actual
improvements and whether he is
a better option this season than
McNabb would have been.
Much of his outstanding play
has come against two of the
worst defenses in the NFL, the
Lions and Jaguars. This week he
faces the Redskins, who rank last
in yards allowed.
The early returns, though,
have been strong and surpris-
ing.
Vick had a difficult offsea-
son, frequently spraying errant
passes during training camp and
committing four turnovers in
preseason games.
Few, if anyone, who watched
those contests expected to see
Vick play like this. Even Reid
said Vick has exceeded expecta-
tions.
Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin
noted this week that Vick didn’t
have the advantage of working
with the first team in the pre-
season, making it harder on the
quarterback.
Indeed, part of Vick’s improve-
ment with the Eagles can be
attributed to the array of skilled
players around him, including
Maclin, DeSean Jackson, Brent
Celek and LeSean McCoy.
Many of those teammates
remember watching Vick as they
grew up, using his likeness in
video games. In the rout of the
Jaguars, they had to encourage
him to run more after a tense
start to the game that found the
offense sluggish. He eventually
obliged, and after passing for
three scores, he added a final
17-yard touchdown burst.
It was a touch of the old Vick
to go along with the new.