muscle and add to the tender-ness, juiciness or flavor of the steak,” said Dr. Don Topliff, dean of the College of Agricul-ture, Science and Engineer-ing. “There is another criteria called yield grade. Yield grade goes from one to five with one having the most saleable meat and five having the least. Yield

grade one are relatively lean on the outside.”

Samples the size of a quarter are shipped off to Viagen where they insert the DNA into an egg that no longer contains a nucle-us and fuse them together. The next step is to insert the egg into a surrogate who will give birth to an identical clone to the

DNA sample nine months later. Viagen is the leading company in cloning and owns the patent.

Nov. 3 marked the second birth of a cloned calf to WTAMU, who has part-

nered with the company Via-gen, rancher Jason Abraham and local veterinarian Dr. Gregg Veneklasen to make this pos-sible.

The calves were not geneti-cally engineered but instead made to be a clone of a carcass with the desirable traits of being graded Prime and Yield Grade 1. These two characteristics are extremely rare in the beef in-dustry with only .003 percent of animals possessing these traits. The characteristic of Prime is based on the taste factor of beef and Yield Grade 1 is in refer-ence to the ratio of muscle to fat. These characteristics are highly sought after throughout the in-dustry and this project will lead to a new herd of cattle that will possess these traits.

“There are two things that make beef very valuable. One is what we call marbling or taste fat. That’s those little flecks of fat that are actually within the

WT debuts a new leadership organization.

PAGE 5

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CLonInG on PaGe 3

Megan Moore

reporter

The elections may be over, but the WTAMU Political Science Society is just get-

ting started. After a few semes-ters of absence, the old organi-zation is being re-established by students and faculty of the political science department.

“Periodically, we’ve had stu-dents show interest in a political science society or in particular political advocacies,” Andrew Garcia, instructor of Political Science, said. “But often times, when those students graduated, the society kind of went away.”

According to Reed Welch, head of the Department of Po-litical Science and Criminal Jus-tice, the reason for re-establish-ment was a need to educate the campus of political and govern-mental events and news.

“A lot of students who be-long to the society right now are there to, as they see, better educate the campus community about politics and government and why it matters.” Welch said.

Fifteen members make up the entire society, but Aurora Ortiz, the Political Science So-ciety president, said they hope

to spend the rest of the fall and spring semesters raising that number.

“We’re doing quite well for only being up and running for about less than two months,” Ortiz said. “We’re trying to gain more steam here on campus…and get more people to join and be aware of who we are.”

Even though the organization was developed and run by Po-litical Science students and fac-ulty, society members welcome students of all majors to join in on political discussions.

“One of the common miscon-ceptions we have already with the society is that people believe it’s only for majors and minors,” Ortiz said. “But it’s open to the entire community.”

For the recent political sea-son, society members gathered together to watch and discuss the presidential debates.

“The professors that were there not only watched with the students, but answered ques-tions and established a dialogue about the different types of things that were brought up,” Garcia said. “It was kind of a way to integrate campus participa-

tion and political advocacy and activism here at WT.”

Various Political Science pro-fessors and students are trying to institutionalize the organiza-tion for a more permanent exis-tence at WT.

“Politics, and government and policy affect all of us,” Welch said. “There are a lot of students out there that are interested in it and would like to join and discuss those kind of issues and learn more about those things.”

The society is young, but plans to expand po-litical knowledge and awareness are already in place.

“We’re actually go-ing to start a new ad push here in the com-ing semester,” Ortiz said. “I don’t want to give it away… the more that we inform other people of political sci-ence in general, the more the communities are informed on policy and what’s going on in our government which affect us every day, whether we like it or not.”

2 NEWS November 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

The Prairie is a student-operated newspaper at West Texas A&M University. It functions to inform, educate and entertain readers accurately and responsibly. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the administration, faculty or staff. The Prairie verifies the legitimacy of the advertising appearing in The Prairie, but cannot be held liable for any advertising claim made in this publication. The Prairie has a circulation of 1,500 and is printed by the Amarillo Globe-News.

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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AssistAnt editor

WT Political Society seeks to educate

Political Science Society watched the election results on Nov. 6. ALEx MontoYA/thE PrAiriE

3NEWSNovember 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

CLONING from PAGE 1“If you want to do this you become

their partner. They are extremely willing and have bent over backwards to help us in any way that we have needed,” said Dr. Ty Lawrence, associate professor of Animal Science.

Cloning was FDA-approved in 2008, so this new breed of cattle could be put into the food chain. The two cloned calves, on the other hand, will not be used for this purpose.

Around 40 students have been involved with the two-year project. Lawrence and Dr. David Lust, associate professor of Animal Science, had their students collect samples from carcasses with the traits they are looking for and take care of both the surrogate mothers and newborn calves.

“It’s a fantastic way to engage today’s students. Science really comes alive for the students,” said Lust. “It’s a way

to teach people about agriculture in general.”

The project not only improves the quality of meat but is also beneficial to the environment.

“Not only are these animals more valuable but they get to the point quicker. We are increasing the value and doing it in a shorter amount of time, which reduces the amount of resources required to get that animal to market,” Topliff said. “Not only that, but it has a benefit to the environment. If we can get these cattle to market in a shorter amount of time and have them be at least equal if not better in quality than the others, then that’s a win for everybody.”

The project will continue to move forward over the next few years with the students continuing to find samples of new cell lines to build the herds.

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4 NEWS November 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Alex GonzAlez

RepoRteR

“Lighting Up Lives” for the 20th year

For the past 20 years, The Social Work Club has done, in one way or

another, “Lighting Up Lives,” a Christmas project in which they donate gifts to the clients of DADS (Department of Aging and Disability Services). DADS is a department targeted primarily for adults who have development delays and nursing homes.

“In the beginning, we purchased gifts for one family,” Melody Loya, Social Work Club

sponsor, said. “About 10 years ago, we began buying gifts for DADS, then several years ago, a student came up with the present day ‘Lighting Up Lives’ theme, and it fit perfectly.”

The idea behind it is there are Christmas trees both in the

second floor lobby of Old Main and one in the Student Success Center. On the trees there are tags, shaped as Christmas lights, asking for a specific gift. People can choose one and go buy the specified gift on the tag. The gifts must be returned by

Dec. 3 for delivery.“The tree is a wonderful

tradition for the Social Work Club, with your help we will be able to provide to the elderly and disabled adults with a special gift for the holiday,” Marsha Fowler, junior Social Work major said. “Most of them do not have anyone in their lives anymore so this will be the only gift they receive.”

“Many of the ornaments ask for something small such as a pair of socks, picture frames and DVD’s,” Tiffani Garcia, senior Sports and Exercise Science major, said. “Some can choose

to take one of the ornaments asking for a small gift and for those college students who are cash-strapped, someone can volunteer their time.”

“I think about how I would feel if I had no one to send me something special. [It helps] to know that someone cares that can help them get throught the holidays.”-- Marsha Fowler Stock ExchangE

Is Christianity Intolerant?Presented by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM)

Thursday, November 29, 2012

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.Alumni Banquet Facility

West Texas A&M UniversityA lecture by Michael Ramsden: Is Christianity Intolerant?

Michael Ramsden will answer questions from Freethought Oasis, a group of agnostics, atheists and secularists. RZIM, headquartered in Atlanta, trains people to defend Christianity around the world

against attacks from other religions and world views. For more information about RZIM, go to www.rzim.org

The event at WTAMU is jointly sponsored by the West Texas A&M Ministerial Alliance and the Wilson

Lecture Series.

Michael Ramsden is one of the joint directors of the Oxford Center for Christian Apologists, which is an RZIM project and is a part of Oxford University. RZIM has established its training ground for Christian apologists at the same university whose faculty includes some of the most famous atheists in the world. Michael has spoken on Christianity at the White House, the British Parliament, the European Parliament, and in board rooms of major businesses across Asia, Europe, and the

United States, and is involved with various initiatives to equip and train emerging Christian leaders.

5NEWSNovember 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

WT welcomes new leadership groupConnor Woods

reporter

Just a few weeks ago our country was voting on its next leader. Likewise,

WTAMU is embarking on a similar voyage with the addition of a new leadership program.

“We have a new leadership program called BUILD [Buffs Uniting in Leadership Development]. BUILD is designed to meet a significant need that we have here on campus, that need is a leadership development program.” Matt Maples, Associate Director Of Student Activities, said.

By implementing BUILD, this need has been realized.

“Instead of having a program in which you go to one event and get a patchwork of different leadership training, we are trying to create a coordinated effort that would have you finish the leadership training after a specific number of years.” Maples said.

However, the existing leadership programs at WT will

not cease to exist but rather be used as a supplement.

“What we are working to do is to fold the other leadership programs into build and use them as supplements,” he said. “This is so students will have a clear track in order to develop their leadership skills.”

This clear track involves giving students the opportunity to utilize their skills as leaders.

“We are giving them tangible opportunities in order to utilize their leadership skills.” Maples said. “For instanc,e they will work with a leadership project each year; as well they will work with student council members from the region sixteen high schools during a conference in order to use those skills.”

However leaders are not just limited to a small few.

“We need leaders in every industry and every major so we encourage students to get involved with these programs, because we want to utilize those leaders and develop those students to do great

things on campus while they are still students.” Amber Black, program coordinator at WT Leadership Education and Development (LEAD), said.

Essentially, leaders need to be created in order to solve greater problems.

“Within the community, you are currently living in there are problems and issues that need to be solved,” Black said. “We need citizens that are committed to helping solve these problems, and students who have leadership experience can step up and say ‘I can solve that problem.’”

Skills taught in programs like BUILD set students apart when it comes to employment as well as school.

“You will develop a set of skills that will set you apart when you graduate. Our students have had the opportunity

to meet with some community leaders,” Black said. “We’ve had some unique experiences and we have gone to some interesting places through these leadership programs. You will be a better employee, you will be better once you are in the work force to take initiative and to utilize your skills and step up once opportunities present themselves.”

“The importance of leadership at WT is huge around campus,” Clara Sainz, a sophomore WT peer leader, said. “It’s a role the leader plays, being part of, in or out of WT. Peer leaders and many other leaders on campus has the opportunity to make a change

and we take that job seriously.” University Leadership is

held in highly in regard to the University’s mission as well.

“At West Texas A&M, leadership is part of our core values as well as mission statement which talks about our dedication to educating our future leaders, faculty and staff help prepare students for leadership roles.” Black said. “I would encourage students to get involved with leadership programs through the core office as soon as they come on campus and talk to Matt Maples There are a lot of great programs there.”

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6 SportS November 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

MLB MVP: A no brainerKeltin Wiens

KWts sports Director

Lady Buffs split basketball classic

The crowd was fierce as No. 2 seed WTAMU upset No. 1 seed and LSC Tournament

host Angelo State Rambelles in five sets (25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-12) Saturday, Nov. 17 for the Lone Star Conference Tourna-ment championship at The Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas.

The win is WT’s 14th overall conference title and the seventh consecutive championship. The Lady Buffs (30-4) also received the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA South Central Region Tournament.

The win also gave WT’s five seniors their fourth straight con-

ference title. “I think it’s such a good thing

for our team that we had to come in here,” senior middle blocker and tournament MVP Erin Dough-erty said. “We had to fight. We had to show who we were.”

The victory, the Lady Buffs’ 10th straight and the third in a row against a team that beat WT in the regular season, gives the Lady Buffs their second consecu-tive 30-win season and lifts them to 14-1 all-time in conference championship matches and 39-4 all-time in the LSC Tournament.

With the first set tied 18-18 late, a pair of WT points forced Angelo State head coach Chuck Waddington to call a time out with

the Lady Buffs up 20-18. The Lady Buffs continued on a 7-1 run after the break, to take the first set.

The Rambelles (27-5) came back to win sets two and three, with the two teams battling for the upper hand.

“[Angelo State] started push-ing and we looked shocked that they were pushing,” head coach Jason Skoch said. “Angelo is ex-ceptionally good and…I just felt like the biggest thing holding us back was ourselves.”

The Rambelles were dominat-ing through most of the fourth set, scoring seven of the first nine points to force a WT timeout. Later in the set, the Belles were up on WT 21-16 late in the set,

with Angelo just four points away from their first LSC Tournament Title since 1992. The Lady Buffs used three Dougherty kills and a service ace from senior defensive specialist Sophie McBride to cut the ASU lead to 21-20 and force an Angelo time out. The Lady Buffs scored five of the next six points to force a decisive fifth set.

“Midway in that fourth set, I told them to say, ‘the hell with it,’ we’ve got nothing to lose. Let’s go out aggressive,” Skoch said. “I think it just freed up some of the girls.”

Angelo State came out strong in the fifth set, leading WT 6-3 early. The Lady Buffs scored the next three points to tie the set

6-6 and force a Rambelle timeout. After the break, the Lady Buffs never looked back, with junior outside hitter Halie Harton get-ting the final kill and putting the exclamation point on a five-set victory for WT.

“The second game, we kind of started playing not to lose, third game same way,” senior libero and current all-time leader in career digs in WT history Lauren Beville said. “Going into game five, same thing, we started to play not to lose and then all of a sudden, I think I got back there serving.”

Over this past weekend, the Lady Buff Basketball squad participated in the Pak-A-

Sak Lady Buff Thanksgiving Clas-sic with a victory over McMurry University 82-23 on Friday before suffering a 79-51 loss on Saturday to Southwestern Oklahoma State.

On Friday, the Lady Buffs played a complete game as they dominated the Warhawks. While the first half was very much tipped in a 20 point favor for the Lady Buffs, it was the second half that defined the rout as the home team kept the Warhawks to only three points during the last fifteen minutes of the game. Leading the Lady Buffs was junior forward Devin Griffin, who scored 17 points. Sophomore center Chon-tiquah White posted 15 points, while junior forward Lacee Logan contributed with 12 points.

The next evening, the Bull-

dogs proved to be too much for the Lady Buffs as SWOSU led at halftime 38-16. Despite a 10-0 run to begin the second half, the Lady Buffs fell victim to a counter-run by the Bulldogs before SWOSU closed the game with a 32-20 stretch for the final tally. Griffin and White attained double-doubles with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 points, 16 points respectively. Laccee Logan added 11 points. However, the Bulldogs countered with Michelle Fisher’s 22 points, MaRiah Oyler’s 16 points, and Sarah Mendoza’s 13 points.

The Lady Buffs stumbles to 2-4 in the 2012-13 campaign, McMur-ry falls to 0-5 and Southwestern Oklahoma State improves to 4-1 on the season. WT women’s bas-ketball returns to the court on Wednesday, Nov. 28 as they host Abilene Christian to open Lone Star play at the First United Bank Center at 6 p.m.

tyler AnDerson

sports reporterIt was announced October 15 that San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and

Detroit Tigers third basemen Miguel Cabrera won their respec-tive league’s MVP. Posey won it for the National League and Ca-brera nabbed it for the American League.

First of all, congratulations to both men. Getting the MVP for both leagues is no small ac-complishment. Buster Posey, one of the best young players in the majors, is the first catcher in 70 years to win the hitting title. The 25 year-old Posey was the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year and helped the Gi-ants win their first World Series since 1954 over the Texas Rang-ers. This season, Posey hit career highs with a .336 batting average with 24 home runs and 103 RBIs. Posey’s efforts on the diamond this season helped the Giants win their second World Series title in

three years. In the American League,

Miguel Cabrera was selected as the overwhelming winner against Los Angeles Angels rookie sen-sation Mike Trout. Many of the baseball pundits across the na-tion figured that this race for the American League Most Valuable Player would be one of the clos-est in history. Instead, the margin was Cabrera getting 22 of 28 first place votes to win the MVP.

So, a big congratulations again to Cabrera and Posey on their selections. Posey was es-sentially a lock to win the MVP, so no surprises there. But, here’s what gets me: Miguel Cabrera is the reigning hitting Triple Crown winner after leading the Ameri-can League in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. In case you forgot my column from a few weeks ago, Cabrera is the first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski won it for the Boston Red Sox in 1967. That’s 45 years.

To say that Cabrera had stiff competition from Trout is ridicu-lous. That’s not to take anything away from Mike Trout; he had a fantastic season. Trout finished the year with a .326 average, 30 homers and 83 RBIs in addition to leading the majors in runs with 129 and stolen bases with 49. Still, Cabrera won baseball’s most coveted statistical award and he is the first player since my parents were six years old to win it.

I think the decision to give Cabrera the MVP was obvious. When a player wins the Triple Crown and doesn’t win the MVP, it is crazy. I would love to see the winner of Triple Crown be an automatic winner of the MVP. Given the current state of pitch-ing in the major leagues, it very well could be another 45 years until the Triple Crown is awarded again. Let’s give it to the guy led the American League in batting. I’m certainly glad the baseball writers got it right.

Lady Buffs volleyball wins Lone Star Conference titleKeltin Wiens

KWts sports Director

For more on this story, visit theprairienews.com

7SPORTSNovember 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Matt Watkins

sports Editor

Buffs basketball is 6-0 at season startThe No. 20-ranked WTAMU

Buffalo basketball team hosted the Missouri South-

ern Lions and the Colorado State-Pueblo Thunderwolves on Nov. 23-24 for the 2012 Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic. The Buffs escaped with a 57-55 buzzer beater win over the Lions and WT defeated Pueblo 79-65 to end a streak of three-straight games won by a buzzer beating shot.

MSU got off to a fast start on Nov. 23, taking an early 10-2 lead over the Buffs five minutes into the game. WT would begin to find their offensive stroke when

junior Barry Johnson drained a three-pointer that cut the Lion’s lead down to 12-6 and propelled a Buffs’ run of 11-5 that diminished MSU’s lead down to 17-14. The Lions would outscore WT 10-8 for the rest of the first half, taking a 27-22 lead into the break.

“We turned the ball over too many times and that’s probably the story of the game,” Head Coach Rick Cooper said.

The Buffs were nine of 20 shooting from the field for 45 percent. Senior Donald Sims led WT’s offense with 11 first half points and redshirt senior Mason White followed with five points.

MSU started the second half on a 13-5 run that give them a 40-27

lead with around 14 minutes to go in the game. The Buffs responded with a 20-7 run that tied the game at 47 all with 5:30 remaining. WT took their first lead of the game when senior Darnell Jackson made two free throws that gave the Buffs a 54-53 lead with 49 seconds on the clock. After White missed two free throws with two seconds left, a bad inbound pass by the Lions gave White another chance to answer the bell, which he did by making a lay-up as time expired giving WT the win.

“We got a big stop at the end and it was the execution that won it,” said White.

The Buffs finished 23 of 45 shooting field goals for 51 per-

cent. Sims tallied 19 points and 12 rebounds and White had 13 points.

Unlike the first game, the Buffs got a strong 12-3 start in the Nov. 24 game against CSU-Pueblo. WT would extend its lead to 39-25 into a Thunderwolves timeout with 1:06 left in the half. The Buffs would take a 41-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“It shows that when we get a good start and we maintain the strong play we can do good,” Jack-son said.

The Buffs were 14 of 25 from the field in the half, shooting 56 percent. Sophomore Tez Dumars led WT with nine points, while Jackson and Sims each had seven.

WT started the second half on an 8-2 run that gave them a 49-27 lead three minutes into the half. Pueblo, however, would outscore the Buffs 38-30 for the rest of the game, and a total of 40-38 in the second half even though WT got the 79-65 win.

WT shot 27 of 46 for an im-pressive 59 percent from the field. Sims led the Buffs offense with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Jackson and Dumars each had 14 points on the night.

WT is now 6-0 on the season, their best start since they went 13-0 in 2010-2011. The Buffs will host their first Lone Star Confer-ence game against Abilene Chris-tian on Nov. 28.

8 ENTERTAINMENT November 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Preston thomas

rePorter

Natural Selection 2: low cost, high value

COURTESY PHOTO

Despite the title, recent PC release Natural Selection 2 doesn’t have as much

to do with Charles Darwin as one would think. Beginning life as a mod for the first Half Life, Natural Selection pits the human Frontiersmen against the menacing alien Kharaa. Now developer Unknown Worlds have finally released the sequel as a standalone title on Steam and it is a brutal battle for survival of the fittest.

While on the surface Natural Selection 2 may look like an average Aliens vs. Marines shoot-em-up, the game has a few features that differentiates itself from others in the genre. The largest and most exciting feature is the commander. Each team has one player who must take up the role of commander by entering a central structure in their base. Once a player has done this, their perspective pulls back from the eyes of an individual marine to a near-omniscient bird’s eye view, and the gameplay becomes something resembling an RTS (real-time strategy). The commander of each team must build structures such as armories and equipment stations for the marines, and

growing structures that allow the alien menace to mutate and advance on the opposing side. Each side’s commander must also research new upgrades, equipment and mutations for their side to maintain supremacy. Both humans and aliens must compete over resource nodes scattered across the map, which provide their commanders with an increased flow of cash to build more structures and research more upgrades, and many battles will be focused on controlling these vital assets.

Another feature is the unique attributes each faction possesses. The Frontiersmen marines must build power nodes in each room containing their building, and if they are destroyed by enemies the room will be plunged into darkness until the node is repaired. Alien buildings must be attached to the creeping infestation, which the alien commander spreads using small buildings called cysts. The dynamic infection, which looks eerie and can spread over any surface on the map, is one feature touted by the game’s developers.

While many games struggle to bring new life to the story of conflict between humans and aliens, Natural Selection

2 pulls it off admirably. All the elements of gameplay combine to create engaging experiences both as a soldier on the ground and the commander up above. With the spreading of the alien infestation, the map will change over the course of a game as the balance of power shifts, and a losing team of humans can see a visible reminder of their impending failure as it crawls and spreads closer to home. The atmosphere and level design are both stellar; oftentimes players will be patrolling through dark hallways, pointing their flashlights frantically at sudden movement in the shadows as the aliens creep through claustrophobic ventilation ducts to stalk their prey. Playing to the end of each side’s tech tree is immensely s a t i s f y i n g ; with humans g a i n i n g access to flamethrowers and giant mech suits and the aliens growing into the elephant-like Onos or the terrifying Fade. The

community is one of the nicer groups out there, with old grizzled veterans of many games willing to lend helpful advice to fresh-faced players. Overall; the game is a fun and well-paced experience that grabs the player

and throws them head-first into a deep conflict where they must rely on their team to survive. At a price point of $24.99, it is well worth its value to anyone looking to pick up a great game on the cheaper side.

9GAMESNovember 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Can YOU finish first?Congratulations to last

week’s winner, Tyler Humphreys!

We are giving away $10 iTunes gift cards.

Finish the three puzzles with the correct answers and turn it

in at FAC room 103.

Last Week’s

ansWers

With the holiday season closing in, charities far and wide have been

getting an early start to help those in need. Every year around this time, organizations like Eveline Rivers and The Salvation Army are doing the best that they can to help out those who are less fortunate in the community. According to the Eveline Rivers Christmas Project website, their primary mission is to improve educational outcomes and supply basic childhood needs to economically disadvantaged children during the Christmas and winter season.

The project will be celebrating their 30th Christmas this year, and strives to promote literacy in homes where books are considered a luxury, provide warm coats to children in Amarillo and surrounding communities and enhance the spirit of giving during the Christmas season by providing toys, books and personal hygiene

items to economically-deprived children in the Amarillo area. Last year alone, the Christmas Project was able to give over 14,000 books to homes in Amarillo, and provided several children with a gift on Christmas morning.

“This project has grown from serving 43 children in 1979 to providing over 9,500 children and adolescents with Christmas gifts and over 4,000 children with warm coats in 2011. Of all donations received, approximately 92 percent of the funds are spent directly on goods and services for children and families. The Christmas project employs one clerical staff person. There are no other salaried positions within this organization,” states evlineriversproject.org.

Other organizations like The Salvation Army are doing their part as well. Each year, people turn to The Salvation Army for help during the holidays. They can help people with anything from providing food for a Thanksgiving dinner, to just wanting to see their

children’s eyes light up when they see presents under the Christmas tree.

“We do a few different programs, like the Angel Tree each year which helps any families that need Christmas assistance,” said Mary Sue Baab, community relations and resource development director for The

Salvation Army. “The Angel Tree has been able to help those who have been less fortunate when they need it most, and this year it will kick off on Nov. 17. We also do food and toy drives, and have bell ringers that collect any donations. The bell ringers actually started on Nov. 16 this year, and kicked off their fundraising season with

WT’s very own mascot, Bucky the Buffalo.”

The bell ringers can be found at various local businesses and locations, and simply collect any and all donations placed in their traditional red kettles. The bell ringing program is able to bring in millions of dollars in donations each year to assist needy families, senior citizens and the homeless.

According to the Salvation Army’s national website, “donations provide Christmas dinners, clothing, and toys for families in need. Financial assistance also helps with basic necessities, along with seasonal aid. Families of prisoners often are included.”

Volunteers distribute gifts to shut-ins in hospitals and nursing homes, and shelters are open for sit-down dinners. Many families receive aid over a period of months after the Christmas season as well, to help those struggling with difficult family, emotional or employment problems.

10 FEATURE November 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Charities get started on holiday season

Brooke SelfCopy editor

The Salvation Army bell-ringers will come back this holiday season.Hunter FitHen/ tHe Prairie

Hunter fitHenreporter

Holiday wishlist: Furbies, tablets and game consoles

Wi t h C h r i s t m a s approaching, it’s time to start compiling

holiday wish lists. Those who have yet to venture into the world of Christmas shopping this season might be unsure of what is on the list of popular gifts for the holidays. From getting gifts for children to searching for the perfect gift for a significant other, holiday gift shopping can be a contributing factor to holiday stresses and it is sometimes best to know what is out there before braving the battlefield of holiday

shopping.For the children, one item that

is making a big comeback from its initial debut in 1998 is the Furby. Furby was the most sought after Christmas gift that year and now Hasbro has recently launched the new Furby, which are expected to be a big seller for this holiday season.

“My little girl is almost three and I know she will absolutely love the Furby,” Cherylan Graham, a WTAMU alum, said. “The new Furby is so cool and they are just adorable. I might end up playing with Furby more than my daughter will.”

The new Furby comes in a variety of colors, with more choices than the original Furby. Hasbro has also added some more dynamic features to the reinvented Furby. Furby can still develop its own personality, but now Furby responds to more actions. Furby will create a response when its tail is pulled, it is tickled, turned upside down, shaken, tilted, or held. Furby also loves to dance and recognizes music and begins to dance around when music is played. The more technical side of Furby allows Furby owners to download a free app from the iPhone App Store to feed their

Furby. The app can also be used to translate “Furbish” into English.

Other popular gifts for children this year include the LeapPad 2, the Nintendo 3DS XL and of course, bicycles, tricycles, and electric cars for the kids to practice their driving skills.

As for popular gifts for people who have grown up and now enjoy other toys, video game consoles are an option and the Wii U is already making a lot of noise in the world of Christmas gift ideas and is expected to be a top seller this year.

“Tablets are going to be a big seller for Best Buy this year,”

Brian, assistant manager at Best Buy said. “Gaming consoles will also be a big seller.”

As technology continues to evolve, so do the items that are ideal for Christmas gifts.

“I remember when I used to be happy to get a Barbie Doll,” Keegan King, junior Advertising and Public Relations major, said. “Nowadays, kids want cell phones, iPads, Xboxes and laptops and all of that stuff. [It] is way expensive for college students on a budget. People should be thankful of getting anything at all in my opinion, because lots of people don’t [get anything].”

In the last few months, South Korean rapper PSY has experi-enced explosive popularity in

the U.S. His hit, “Gangnam Style,” has reached over 700 million views on Youtube. He has been featured on numerous talk shows, the cover of Billboard magazine and he closed the American Mu-sic Awards on Nov. 18 with MC Hammer.

PSY has previously released six albums in his 12-year music career in Korea. He is working on an international album that is slated to release in February or March and he has revealed on a UK talk show that his next single will have a sports concept.

Will PSY eventually drop from the American radar, or is this just the beginning of a potential wave of K-pop music in the States? Nu-merous news articles have been predicting this for a while, citing such top Korean acts like Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, 2NE1 and Big Bang to lead the K-pop wave.

Korean artists have tried, with varying levels of success. Girls’ Generation released a Korean

and English version of their sin-gle, “The Boys,” and performed the song on The Late Show With David Letterman and Live! With Kelly and Michael. K-pop queen BoA released an English album with little success. Fellow star Se7en was met with a similar fate. The Wonder Girls opened for The Jonas Brothers World Tour in 2009, but their time away from Korea caused a considerable dip in popularity at home and not much headway made here.

The anomaly in PSY’s case was that he wasn’t trying to break out in the U.S. He released his single in South Korea and the music video went viral. The song had a catchy dance that anyone could do. However, this is PSY’s style. If one checks out his past singles, such as “Right Now” and “Korea,” the same elements are there. PSY is not representative of what K-pop consists of. He’s considered somewhat controversial and a rather successful anomaly at home. Watch a music video by TVXQ or the Wonder Girls and one will see a drastically different style. Unlike the aforementioned

K-pop acts, PSY has complete con-trol over his image and music.

For a K-pop act to succeed in the U.S., they have a variety of is-sues to overcome.

Language The first, and obvious, skill a

K-pop act would need is strong English-speaking skills. They would not only need to be able to sing English songs, but be able to communicate with the press entirely in English. PSY had the advantage because he attended Boston University and Berklee College of Music and learned Eng-lish that way. K-pop acts would have to acculturate themselves and live in the States for a period of time to truly learn the language, something that their manage-ment companies may not want to risk. The Korean music industry is tough because tastes change quickly and popularity can rise or fall in a couple of months. Artists must be constantly in the spot-light in some way in order to stay relevant. The Wonder Girls faced this problem when returning home. When they left for the U.S., they were tied in popularity with

Girls’ Generation. Now, their rivals have eclipsed them in popularity and the Wonder Girls are playing catch-up.

Stage PreSence PSY is charisma with a

capital ‘C.’ How can a chubby Asian guy be able to do the horse dance with that much energy and not get tired? It’s a tiring dance. Korean art-ists must maintain that level of energy with each perfor-mance, no matter how tired they are, because they have to impress American view-ers quickly. What is consid-ered charismatic in Korea may look awkward or dif-ferent here because of the

culture. ‘Aegyo’ (cute) or sexy in Korea doesn’t always translate to cute or sexy in America. Many K-pop acts have choreographed dances, which are cool, but will they be able to mix it up for every performance or will they recycle the same routine for one song promotion cycle? If it’s the latter, Americans will get bored quickly.

cuLture Korean artists will have to

adapt to the culture differences in America. In Korea, Ministry of Gender Equality and Fam-ily (MOGEF), under the Juvenile Protection Act, can determine what is unsuitable for minors, similar to the American ratings system. How it differs is what is considered unsuitable. Songs that mention brand names, smoking, alcohol or subliminal sexual refer-ences are banned from being sold to consumers younger than 19 years of age. By those standards, most American songs couldn’t be sold in Korea. In fact, PSY’s song

“Right Now,” was banned because it contained “obscene lyrics.” The specific line in question was “life is like hard liquor.” By those stan-dards, K-pop acts will almost have to become borderline raunchy in order to have any relevancy here.

artiStic controL Most of the big K-pop acts

are completely at the mercy of their management companies. The Korean music scene mostly runs under a training system. A management company will invest thousands of dollars and train young kids for years, in which they will teach them how to sing, dance, act, model and maybe even another language in hopes of a music debut. The management company has a team of choreogra-phers, composers and stylists that take care of the music and image aspect. Manufactured acts can be

successful, but the level of control Korean management companies have over artists limits the art-ists’ ability to adapt. Korean acts will have to be ready to adapt and take control of their own image and music

Whether PSY will have a last-ing career in the U.S. remains to be seen. If he doesn’t, he won’t really lose because he has been successful in South Korea for a number of years. Will K-pop in general succeed? Only if the gen-eral public is willing to receive it with open arms, not expecting it to be a clone copy of “Gangnam Style.”

PSY just made it harder for K-pop acts 11opinionNovember 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

The Prairie will be asking a Question of the Week every Tuesday through Facebook and Twitter. Reply to our Question of the Week post on Facebook or use the hashtag #ThePrairieAsks on Twitter to respond. Student responses will be printed in the next edition of The

“What are you looking forward to

this holiday?”

QuesTion of The Week

“Sleep.” -- izaak chavez

“Spending time with fam-ily and relaxing.” -- Bekah Purl

“Spending time with fam-ily and lots of food and football games. Hopefully some rest and relaxing if my kiddos will let me.” -- Meredith Laurent

12 PHOTOS November 27, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Holiday Hashtag Project: Thanksgiving

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Sophomore Clara Saenz captures the table setting before her Thanksgiving dinner.

Junior Hope Chasco documents a family photoshoot after Thanksgiving.

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scenes photos of The Prairie!

Photo Editor Alex Montoya captures holiday decorations.