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POLITICS on PaGe 3

Hunter FitHen

reporter

With the Presidential election swiftly a p p r o a c h i n g ,

citizens among every political party across the nation are considering which candidate to vote for. At WTAMU, though the search for a political party may not be too hard to come by, the quest for a student political organization is.

“I’m not sure why there are no student political organizations on campus at this time,” Dr. Dave Rausch, Teel Bivins Professor of Political Science, said. “Students may be served by similar organizations that exist out in the larger community of Canyon and Amarillo. It is also possible that with classes, work, and other social organizations, students do not have time for a College Republicans group, for example. Some social organizations may be providing that political outlet.”

For some students, political organizations would not be

worth the time or effort put into creating and being a part of them.

“I think most students are disinterested in politics because they are very busy and don’t have time to spend with an organization focused on those types of issues,” Aaron Davidson, a junior Secondary Science

major, said. “They also may feel that their voice will not be heard and their opinion doesn’t matter much anyway. I’m sure there is a mixed perspective of views on campus, but I think many students see such a group as just one more thing that they will have to deal with.”

Aside from lack of time, lack

of knowledge also plays a role in the disinterest of starting political organizations on campus.

2 NEWS October 23, 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.

Megan Moore

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Delta Zeta sorority to host Color Run

alex gonzalez

reporter

The Delta Zeta sorority of WTAMU will be holding their first color run at the

Buffalo Sports Park on Oct. 27. The 1.6-mile race will begin at 9 a.m.

The entry fee for the race is $10 and participants can regis-ter up until Saturday morning before the race. Registration forms can be found in residence halls, the JBK Student Center or from any Delta Zeta member. Forms will also be posted on Facebook so participants can print it off and turn it in to one of the members. Once racers are registered, they will need to wear all-white clothes for the

paint splashing. “There will be markers

where three sections will be set up: mild, moderate, and heavy. It depends on the person’s prefer-ence and how much paint they want on them to which line they will choose to go through,” Lo-gan Strownmat, Delta Zeta Pres-ident said.

All campus organizations have the chance to sponsor a color for 75 dollars. This means they will be able to name the color and bring any of their ad-vertisements to the race. The organization will be assigned a checkpoint. They will be respon-sible for throwing their particu-lar color at the participants.

All proceeds for the event will

go to The Painted Turtle Camp. The camp is a summer camp for chronically ill children and their families.

Briana Harvell, Delta Zeta philanthropy chair, said the camp is designed for the chil-dren to foster personal growth as well as build relationships with other children and families who are in the same situation.

The Delta Zetas adopted The Painted Turtle camp as their national philanthropy in 2006. They have 58 active women who will all be helping at the Color Run.

“The Painted Turtle Camp was a perfect fit for us because number one we like helping people and secondly their turtle

mascot matches our mascot, so they are definitely a perfect fit for us,” Delta Zeta College Chap-ter Director Farrah Shah said.

The camp is funded strictly from donations and volunteers. It is one of the many camps sponsored by Paul Newman and his Hole in the Wall camps. Tu-ition for the families attending the camp is paid for in full and there is a full-time staff of doc-tors and nurses available for the children.

“The kids get to experience a whole week of feeling as nor-mal as they can and be sur-rounded by others that are just like them,” Shah said. “It’s one thing that they can experience all together as a family unit with

doctors and nurses who are all specialized in their fields.”

In addition to the race, the Delta Zetas will be holding a school supply donation drive. All supplies will be sent to The Painted Turtle Camp. Delta Zeta members will be in the JBK Oct. 23 handing out flyers for the event and registration forms for the Color Run. They will be col-lecting supplies in JBK on Oct. 24 and 25. Necessary supplies include six-packs of crayons, Ziploc bags of all sizes, multiple colors of duct tape, washable markers, masking tape, glue, multiple colors of permanent markers, non-latex gloves, sun-screen, clear tape, hand sani-tizer, and gift cards to Wal-Mart.

Upward Bound is a feder-ally-funded college pre-paratory program that

is aimed for lower income, first generation students that gener-ates skills and motivates quali-fiers to pursue a higher educa-tion. Starting off in sixth grade through college preparation,

Upward Bound helps under-privileged students get excited about college opportunities.

The organization targets surrounding schools such as Caprock High school and high schools in Dimmit, Hereford and Tulia. Recently, the pro-gram was awarded a 1.6 million renewal grant from the Unites States Department of Educa-tion.

“Upward Bound started as one of the [Federal] TRIO Pro-grams in which include Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Stu-dent Support Services,” Director of Upward Bound Martin Lopez said. The TRIO programs pro-vide services for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Lopez also said Talent Search and Student Support Services lost its grants two years ago.

“This is why we’re so excited about this renewal,” said Lopez.

It was very competitive and around 18 percent of existing Upward Bound programs lost their funding, according to Up-ward Bound Coordinator Pyxa Sovilay.

“With the funding renewal, it guarantees that this program will be [around] for the next five years and will serve around 80

students,” Sovilay said. “[Upward Bound] allowed

me to make new friends and to be more social,” pre-vet major Kourtney Hancock said, who participated in Upward Bound from 2008 to 2010. “It gave me the opportunity to have more knowledge of what professors expected to me.”

Upward Bound program gets $1.6 million from grantRebekah St. ClaiR

RepoRteR

3NEWSOctober 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

POLITICS from PAGE 1“I probably wouldn’t join a political or-

ganization because I don’t feel like I have researched political parties enough to de-cide which one I want to be a part of,” Cara Acciaioli, a junior Advertising and Public Relations major, said. “I call myself con-servative because that’s what my parents are, but honestly I don’t really know what all being a conservative entails.”

Though students may not be extremely interested in politics, they are interested in political issues according to Rausch.

“Politics as an activity seems like a for-eign activity to many students,” Rausch said. “Students would like to participate in campaigns, but real campaigns are hard

to find around here. Political issues can be discussed outside of formal organizations. Where two or more are gathered, they probably are talking about something po-litical, even if they don’t admit it.”

If students would like to become more involved with politics, Rausch said to sim-ply get involved.

“The easiest way to become more in-volved in politics is to become involved in politics,” Rausch said. “I’ve always won-dered what would happen if a student ran for one of the seats on the Canyon City Commission. Such an action would cause some controversy because we haven’t had an election for the Canyon City Commis-sion in a number of years.”

Ability Awareness Week is starting up on Oct. 23 and 24 to allow stu-dents to understand what it is like

to have a disability. Activity booths will be held in the JBK Student Center demon-strating learning comprehension, hearing and visual disabilities.

“We basically want to make students more aware of our disability students,” Di-rector of Student Disability Services Kerri Allen said.

The activities demonstrate how diffi-cult it can be to do well in classes when a person has disabilities, whether they are physical or mental.

One booth is dedicated to learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. One of the activities shows students how a dyslexic

student may actually see a text with a clear translation after the student has tried to decipher what the text is suppose to say. Another booth is dedicated to vi-sual impairment with goggles provided by the Division of Blind Services to create difficulty seeing while playing the chil-dren’s game Perfection. One more booth is dedicated to hearing impairment where students have to lip read and put on head-phones and attempt to take notes.

All of the booths will have information-al handouts along with the activities to let students know more about disabilities and how to approach those who need ac-commodations.

“I have never helped with Ability Week before, but I will help man the booths this year” Administrative Secretary Paige Far-ley said. “It is going to be a lot of fun.”

Ability Awareness Week

4 NEWS October 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

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International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

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Oct. 17 was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. It was designated by the United

Nations General Assembly and has been observed every year since 1993. Dr. Donald Lee is the head of the World Pov-erty Day committee for this year.

“Throughout the world, the poorest are forced to live in shame,” Lee said. “The World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty should enable them to show their dignity and to free themselves from dependence on handouts.”

The WTAMU Department of Com-munication has been actively involved in bringing awareness of poverty to the campus community. Department of Communication Head Dr. Trudy Hanson allowed her freshman IDS class decide how they were going to help.

“We came up with something simple so we could all have an impact,” said freshman Broadcast Journalism major Aaron Alcozer.

He and his classmates gathered in the Pedestrian Mall on Oct. 17, holding signs in a silent demonstration to in-form people about poverty around the world and in the panhandle community.

“[I feel] more aware about poverty, particularly here in the panhandle,” said freshman Mass Communication major Jenna Harrison.

The students kept the silent demon-stration a secret. The students in the IDS class hoped to attract the curiosity of other people on campus.

“If people had known, they might have ignored it,” Isaac Gallegos, a fresh-man Sports and Exercise Science major, said.

Instructor of Communication Mona Gregory has been selling Patience Bracelets made by a woman in Niger named Oumou as another way to raise awareness about poverty. With the help of students, WT organizations and oth-er professors, Gregory has managed to raise $461.10 in sales and donations to send to Oumou.

There was also a food drive over the past month within the Communication department to collect food for the High Plains Food Bank. It was a contest be-tween various major and organizations within the Communication department. The High Plains Food banks serves 29 counties in the panhandle and distrib-utes food to 165 agencies.

5NEWSOctober 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Rudy Giuliani speaks about leadershipPhoebe Sinclair

rePorter

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Former New York City may-or Rudy Giuliani spoke at the Amarillo Civic Center

on Oct. 16. The Underwood Law Firm presented him in honor of their 100-year anniversary. Topics of his speech included six qualities of being a leader.

The evening started off with Alan Rhodes, a lawyer at the Underwood Law Firm, introducing Rudy Giuliani. He wanted the audience to know that the work they do is about the public.

“It’s not about us, it’s about our town. It’s about Laura, Susan, Bobby and Jack. We want you to know it’s not about us, or me it’s about you; the commu-nity,” Rhodes said.

Many members in the com-munity joined the Underwood Law Firm to hear Giuliani speak.

Giuliani began his speech by pointing out his appearances in various television shows and his recent encounter on NBC.

“I have to get out of New York City, because I appear a lot on Fox, CNN and NBC; which no one has the courage to go on, except me because I like to fight,” said Giuliani.

He then went on to talk about the six qualities of being a leader.

“I’m going to talk to you about leadership. I wrote a book about leadership and I re-alized I took what other people knew about it and applied it to my own life,” said Giuliani.

Giuliani said the first quality of being a leader was to have a strong set of beliefs.

“You can’t lead unless you have a goal,” he said. “People can’t follow you if you don’t know where you’re going. Figure out where you want to take your business, life, etc. and spend time thinking about what your goal is.”

According to Giuliani, the second quality of being a leader was that you have to be an optimist.

“The real leaders are people who become problem solver,”

he said. “You want to be a lead-er, come with a solution. I can always spot the young people who are going to succeed by their attitude.”

The third leadership quality was having courage.

“You have to be able to take a risk, because every successful person in history has had fail-ures,” said Giuliani. “You’re go-ing to fall over and over, but you can use your failures to learn from them. It takes courage to be willing to risk failure.”

Giuliani’s fourth quality of being a leader is being pre-pared.

“You don’t win a case in court; you win a case in the office preparing,” he said. “If you’re going for a job have someone play the inter-viewer and ask you questions. Relentlessly prepare. If you’ve pre-pared enough, you’ve proba-bly anticipated

the unexpected.” His fifth leadership quality

was teamwork.“You can’t do anything with-

out really good people around you,” said Giuliani. “When I was governor of New York City, I had strengths and weaknesses. I didn’t know very much about the economy so I had to go and find people that did. A team is a combination of strengths and weaknesses but a leader has to realize that in order for it to work.”

Communication was the sixth leadership quality Giuliani talked about.

Giuliani mentioned a situa-tion that occurred when he was the mayor Of New York City. He said that crime was happening

in the subways of New York, so they placed police officers on the subways to prevent the crimes. This however did not work, because the crimes weren’t happening on the subways themselves, but on the platforms.

“Crime went down 70 per-cent because police were now on the platforms where the crimes were really being com-mitted,” said Giuliani.

Giuliani ended the evening by saying that loving people is essential to having a great organization.

Proceeds from the speaking event went to the Center City of Amarillo and Amarillo City College.

6 SportS October 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Finally, sweet justiceKeltin Wiens

KWts sports Director

WT defeats ENMU

John lee

sports reporter

Matt WatKins

sports eDitor

Lady Buffs volleyball triumphs over Commerce, TWU

Finally, it looks like there might be a little sense in the National Football

League after all. On Friday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced that his predecessor, Paul Tagliabue, would take over the hearings on the appeals by suspended New Orleans Saints players. This is the next chapter in the Saints’ bounty program.

In May, Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Scott Fujita and Anthony Hargrove were all suspended by the NFL for their participation in the Saints’ alleged bounty program. The NFL alleges that the program was to reward players for big, crippling hits on offensive players. Vilma was suspended for the entire season for his role, Smith was suspended for four games, Fujita, who now plays for the Cleveland Browns, was canned for three games and Hargrove, now a free agent, for eight games.

The suspensions were briefly lifted when the players appealed. Those stood until Goodell, who was given exclusive power to hear and rule on appeals in August 2011, rejected the players’ appeals in July. Citing a lack of reasoning for suspension, a three-member committee recommended to Goodell that he start from the beginning. After going through the whole process again, Goodell still came to the same basic result: suspensions.

The four players, and the players union, have asked U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan to throw out Goodell’s suspension because it violated the players’ right to have due process. They argued that Goodell could not be a fair and balanced arbitrator.

In a move made to appease the union, Goodell appointed Tagliabue, the NFL commissioner from 1989-2006, to help arbitrate and come to the final decision.

This is small step in the right direction and it serves as a small victory for the players.

The NFL always tries to make itself look good. Some of their attempts do look good, such as the League’s philanthropy. But the NFL didn’t get to a $9 billion machine just by helping and encouraging kids to play outside. Instead, the NFL got where it is today on the backs of the players.

Roger Goodell, with his exclusive power to rule on appeals, has made a name for himself on taking advantage of the players. Finally, the commissioner has listened to cries that he is not fair in the appeals process. If Goodell wants to suspend players, he will regardless of how many appeals they file. It is great for the players now that Goodell has removed himself from this high-profile case. With all the work the players put in to making the NFL entertaining, the players deserve some sweet justice.

The Lady Buffs won both of their Lone Star Confer-ences games this weekend

against Texas Woman’s University and TAMU Commerce in The Box.

The first match had the Lady Buffs taking on a 15-5 Texas Wom-an’s squad. The match would go to four sets as the Lady Buffs would outlast the Pioneers 3-1. Junior Hallie Harton and sophomore Kameryn Hayes combined for 31 kills at 17 and 14 respectively.

The Lady Buffs carried the suc-cess over into the next day as they returned to The Box on Saturday

to take on the 16-6 TAMUC Li-ons, who had won four straight matches before visiting. The Lady Buffs would sweep the Lions in three sets making short work of them in the first set 25-13. The Lions would test the Lady Buffs in the next two sets, but the Lady Buffs were too much for them as they won both, 25-17 and 25-19.

“Commerce did some good things, credit to them. But what’s upsetting is we did not have the right aggressive kind of mindset,” Head Coach Jason Skoch said. “We won and I don’t want to diffuse that.”

Blocking was a key component

Saturday, as the team would com-bine for eight total team blocks.

“Actually it’s lot better than it has been,” Senior Lauren Beville said. “That’s one thing that we have been focusing on in practice a lot is spending a lot of time on our blocking. I think our blockers are showing lots of improvement especially on our outside block-ing.”

The Lady Buffs had four play-ers with eight or more kills on Saturday. Hayes led the team with 11 kills; senior Stormi Lancaster had 10 kills, with Harton and se-nior Erin Dougherty each having eight kills.

“Finishing games is another thing we have been working on in practice, and I think slowly we are getting better at trying to just putting them away as soon as we can” Beville said. “But every team we play, they play so hard against us that we have to make our stand against them and not let them even have hope, and some-times we just let them have hope of getting back in there and having a chance to beat us.”

The Lady Buffs will return to The Box today to take on the Cam-eron Aggies. This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season and Skoch does not

want his team to get comfortable. “We haven’t seen film yet

because we’re trying to not get ahead of ourselves, you know, but we have been watching scores and their record doesn’t show that, [they are] sort of like Commerce, I mean Commerce cleans up a few things, they could scare some peo-ple in the playoffs.” Skoch said. “And then that’s actually how Cameron looks because [they have] taken a set [every match]. I don’t think Cameron has been swept. [They have] taken at least a set off of every top team and other sets in there have been pretty close...so we better be careful.”

The No. 17 WTAMU Buffalo football team ventured to Portales, New Mexico to

take on the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds in the annual Wagon Wheel Game on Oct. 20. The Buffs defeated ENMU 44-21 to win their seventh-straight game in the Wag-on Wheel series with the help of a career-high four rushing touch-downs by senior back Khiry Rob-inson.

Robinson carried the ball 16 times for 137 yards and had three catches for 30 yards. Robinson has a total of 675 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the season.

“We got the win and that’s all that matters to me,” Robinson said. “I give all the credit to our o-line.”

WT scored first on a one-yard run by Robinson to take a 7-0 lead with 13:27 remaining in the first quarter. The Buffs scored again when junior Dustin Vaughn hit fel-low junior Nathan Slaughter for a 27-yard touchdown that gave WT a 14-0 lead that lasted until the sec-ond quarter.

The Greyhounds cut the lead to

14-7 when Wesley Wood threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Chase Kyser with 9:38 left in the half. The Buffs answered with a 58-yard scoring pass from Vaughn to red-shirt freshman Jarrian Rhone to put WT back on top by 14 at 21-7. ENMU found the end zone again on a 34-yard run by Wood to make the score 21-14 in favor of WT going into the locker room.

The Buffs would score twice in the third quarter on runs of eight and 12-yards, respectively, by Rob-inson giving WT a 35-14 lead en-tering the fourth. The Greyhounds made a last stand when Wood found Kyser for a 32-yard score to make the score 35-21. After junior Eric Finefeuiaki blocked a punt through the end zone for a safety, Robinson completed the scoring with another one-yard TD run.

The Buffs now stand at 7-1 over-all and 6-0 in the Lone Star Confer-ence. WT is 14-11 all-time in the Wagon Wheel Game and 15-11 versus ENMU. The Buffs will take a break from LSC action, as they play West Georgia in Carrollton, Geor-gia on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.

7SPORTSOctober 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

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Men’s soccer holds steady with a 2-1 weekend

The WTAMU Men’s Soccer squad posted a 2-1 re-cord over the past week,

starting with a victory over UT-Permian Basin 3-1 on Oct. 16 in Odessa before dropping a 3-2 decision to Incarnate Word on Friday and scoring an emotional 2-1 win over Midwestern State on Sunday at The Pitch.

“It’s hard to be down on the players and hard to be down on the way we played because we played so well and sometimes soccer just goes against you,” Head Coach Butch Lauffer said. “It’s a crazy game, like life. You

do everything right and it bites you in the butt. We still have two regular season games to play and we’re going to try to stay healthy and keep the players as fresh as possible.”

Senior midfielder Dominic Furness had a big day on Oct. 16, scoring two goals for the Buffs while sophomore striker Martin Fuentes knocked a goal off of a low cross to handily defeat the Falcons. Sophomore midfielder Conrod Goulbourne provided two assists, as fellow sopho-more midfielder George Beas-ley had one assist. UTPB’s lone score came in the first half with an Oscar Reyes goal and Giovan-ni Gomez’s assist. With the ini-

tial victory, Lauffer achieved his 450th career win as coach of both the women’s and men’s soccer programs.

Returning home to The Pitch on Friday, the Buffaloes found themselves in for a rude awak-ening against Lone Star archri-val Incarnate Word. Despite run-ning ahead early with a Fuentes goal and senior midfielder Abel Olivas’ assist, the Cardinals equalized with a James Nero score and a Tenny Adebowale corner kick assist. Before the half, the home side retook the lead with sophomore striker Wayne Bruton knocked in a header off senior midfielder Lu-kas Garcia’s near-midfield free

kick. While the Buffs dominated the first half, Incarnate Word stormed back and captured a season sweep of the Buffs be-hind a Dylan Kelly score and a goal and assist by Abraham Campos and Leon Taylor respec-tively.

Moving forward from their second loss in the 2012 cam-paign, the Buffs took to the field on Sunday in the first of two games against no. 21-ranked Midwestern State. While the Mustangs struck first blood with a Ben Clarvis goal and Fernando Garza assist in the first half, the second half would provide a Buf-falo equalizer in the form of Bru-ton’s fifth goal of the year and an

Olivas assist in the 64th minute. The two sides would hold to-gether defensively until the sec-ond overtime, when senior de-fender Colin Bjostad tapped his sixth goal of the season as Fur-ness gave his sixth assist overall to give the Buffaloes their 11th victory of the campaign.

“It was a tough weekend. There were a lot of tired bodies out there and it was a grind - a very epic battle,” Furness said.

The Buffs improve to .500 in the LSC with a steady 2-2 and 11-2-2 overall. They will defend The Pitch once more when they host Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.

8 ENTERTAINMENT October 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Preston thomas

rePorter

robin mosier

rePorter

Game Review: Dark Souls is a thriller

‘Best of Amarillo’ celebrates community businesses

After a furious fight, you round the corner only to be launched off the edge

into a chasm by a rolling boul-der. You find yourself surround-ed by skeletons that reform and rise again every time you strike them down and eventually, they overwhelm you. You are face to face with a black knight, whose sword alone is longer than your whole body. A massive dragon bears down upon you spewing fire.

Welcome to Dark Souls, pre-pare to die. Recently ported from consoles to PC, Dark Souls is the incredibly difficult succes-sor to the 2009 title Demon’s Souls and it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to pun-ishing mistakes and weakness.

The story of the game is sparse, and apart from the in-troductory cut scene, little is

directly explained. Much of the tale is told by interacting with other characters and exploring the grim fantasy world of Lor-dran and the areas surrounding it.

Players take on the role of an undead, chosen by fate to alter the course of history. Players begin weak, underequipped and locked in an asylum for the un-dead, who have an unfortunate tendency to turn into hollow berserkers. Your chosen class determines starting equipment and attributes, but beyond that, you are free to upgrade any stats and use whatever armor, weap-ons or spells take your fancy. From the moment you step out of the asylum, you are free to go to any area you can access, but your fresh hero will be unpre-pared to meet the challenges of some paths.

Scattered around the world are bonfires that serve as check-points and upgrade stations

where you can level up and im-prove your equipment. Both of these actions require souls, the main currency of the game, which can be gathered by killing enemies or found around the world on bodies and in chests.

Though players begin as an undead, they can restore them-selves to a human form by using humanity at bonfires, which in-creases your resistance to dam-age and raises the chances of en-emies dropping an item. While in human form, players can also access the multiplayer compo-nent of the game; summoning players into their world to help in a fight or jumping into some-one else’s game to assist them.

Players with a malicious mindset can also invade anoth-er’s world as a black phantom to hunt down and kill others for fun and profit, but be wary as you can also be invaded. Outside of the active multiplayer, heroes can leave behind helpful or de-

ceiving messages, and occasion-ally players will see the ghostly image of another player’s death. When a hero inevitably meets an untimely demise, they lose all their souls and humanity they were holding and leave behind a bloodstain where they died. Touching the bloodstain can re-claim these but if the player dies once more before reaching it, they will be lost forever.

The gameplay on the whole is solid, the controls don’t feel too clunky and nothing beats the feeling of parrying an attack then following up with a devas-tating counter. Boss fights feel appropriately epic and are pun-ishing to a fault; one mistimed dodge or greedy attack and you quickly become a red smear on the floor.

Aesthetically, the design of the world is wonderful. Each area has a unique feel to it, the enemies look frightening, and the wonderful orchestral score

completes the mood. Unfortu-nately, the physics engine will sometimes fall flat and you will find yourself sliding off of an edge or stuck on a wall, though these instances are few and far between.

It isn’t always apparent where you are supposed to be going or what your next objective is, and the logic behind some solutions to progressing can be confus-ing. Players have to be mindful of avoiding tunnel vision. If one strategy isn’t working against a particular enemy, you can try different weapons and tactics, or even find an alternate path that allows you to avoid the fight altogether.

While the game isn’t for ev-eryone, Dark Souls is a well-designed game with great depth and complexity that I would rec-ommend to anyone that enjoys a challenge.

Feathers, dice and faux card dealers greeted hundreds of Amarillo

residents on Oct. 18 for the 11th Amarillo Globe News Best of Amarillo party, the finale to an AGN reader’s choice an-nual contest that gives the community an opportunity to nominate and vote for their favorite local businesses. More than 70 vendors dressed up and glitzed out the Civic Center Heritage Ballroom with poker chips, slot machines, samples of food, giveaways and live music, transforming the space into a miniature Las Vegas in accor-dance with the night’s theme.

“This is one of [AGN’s] most

fun events,” AGN Special Event Coordinator Susie Self said.

“People really like it. Every ven-dor who’s in there is a winner, so they’re happy to be here. Its’ a good opportunity for them to thank all of their loyal custom-ers who voted for them.”

According to Self, the planning process for Best of Amarillo began in July with con-struction of the voting ballot, followed by hours of tallying the over 8,000 votes and deter-mining winners, who Self said are all encouraged by AGN sales representatives to participate in the festivities.

“For the vendors, it’s great recognition,” Self said. “For people who come out, $15 gets them everything they want to

eat, they get to listen to great music, win giveaways, it’s just a really affordable, fun thing for them. Plus, it’s their favor-ite restaurants, their favorite music, it’s truly the best of Amarillo.”

For business owners and em-ployees such as Mevanee Dixon, Business Manager of Cosmetic Dermatologist Dr. Elaine Cook who won best dermatologist for the first year, gratitude was abundant and evident in both energy and elaborate booth decorations.

“It’s very exciting [winning] because people have a choice,” Dixon said. “There are several other dermatologists in town, it’s just an honor that people nominated [Dr. Cook’s practice]

and then voted her best.”Veteran Best of Amarillo

business owner, president of Pack-a-Sak Terry McKee, whose business has claimed Best Convenience Store eight years running, says he accredits their continued success with their

“excellent employees, clean stores, and great customer service.”

“From the top down, you treat people the way you would want to be treated,” McKee said.

“It’s an easy model that we have, go above and beyond to treat everyone good.”

Joining the ranks of long-time winners was Belmar Bak-ery, who has swept Best Bakery for the eleventh year in a row, according to Head Cake Decora-

tor Ali Willbur, who says Belmar Bakery “bakes with love.”

“[Belmar Bakery] definitely has the heart of the town,” Willbur said. “We’ve been here forever, we’re a staple. We con-sistently put out great product and do a lot of it with love.”

Wilbur said this was her first year to personally attend the Best Of party, because she is usually working at the bakery, but said she fully enjoyed the event.

“It’s really cool getting to see all the different businesses and companies out here,” Willbur said. “Serving at the booth and mingling with everybody, hear-ing their experiences at Belmar, has been an awesome experi-ence.”

9GAMESOctober 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Can YOU finish first?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

10 FEATURE October 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Balloon Glow lights up faces of localsConnor Woodsreporter

The Ladybug hot air balloon .Danie Fierro/ The Prairie

Both young and old en-joyed two days of balloon festivities over the week-

end at the annual Hot Air Bal-loon Rally put on by the Black Sheep Squadron and the Fam-ily Care Foundation in Amarillo Oct. 18 and 19.

“This event is a weekend-long hot air balloon rally put on by the Texas Black Sheep Squadron, a ballooning organi-zation that supports the sport of ballooning,” David Jones, chair-man of The Family Care Foun-dation, said. “Friday night, we had Balloon Glow where locals could come out to the Discov-ery Center and enjoy the many activities and of course the bal-loons. On Saturday morning, we had the mass ascension for High Plains Children’s Homes and the fundraising banquet Saturday night. So it was a weekend full

of events.” The proceeds for the balloon

festivities went to The Family Care Foundation, an organiza-tion that gives medical aid to people in need in the Amarillo community.

“Specifically, we have worked with Amarillo [Independent School District] and we step in for one time gap needs for chil-dren in need of medical atten-tion,” Jones said. “We also have an eyeglass program and we do medical equipment,” Jones said.

When it comes to in-spiring kids to reach their goals, perhaps not many pilots can do it quite like hot air balloon pilot Michael Glen, who has talked to several schools.

“We talk to them about achieving your dreams and reaching your goals,” Glen said. “I was brought here for the Fam-ily Care Foundation three years ago and over the past three

years, we have spoken to twenty different schools, and we have talked to over 5,000 kids.”

Part of inspiring kids is through telling his story.

“I am in a wheelchair,” Glen said. “I became paralyzed in a single-car rollover at 21 years old that left me paralyzed from the waist down. One of my goals was to become a hot air balloon pilot. With that goal in mind and hard work I received my license in 2006 which made me the only and first paraplegic balloon pilot in the world.”

Hot air balloon pilot Pauline Baker, who holds high altitude records, said that she gains a lot from these types events.

“I absolutely love to see the look on the kids’ faces and I love to make friends,” Baker said. “I make friends all over the world.”

The packed parking lot of the Discovery Center was full of families having fun, including

Annette Eckels’ and her grand-children.

“They were so excited about the balloons that we had to come see it in person,” Eckels said. “Unless you go to Albu-querque, this is the closest that we are going to get.”

Michael Glen said the balloon

glow is about allowing people to become the little kid they all have inside.

“It’s about making sure kids have a smile on their faces and the balloon Glow also allows adults to turn into the five year old kid that we are all inside.”

Junior Andrew Santos volunteers with setting up the ladybug hot air balloon.Danie Fierro/ The Prairie

Long-running publication goes digital 11opinionOctober 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

Question of the Week

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 Prairie.

“Are you planning to vote in the Nov. 6 elec-tion? Why or why not?”

“You bet your boots I’m going to vote! Every student should cast their vote! Education is a hot topic right now, and students need to make sure their voices are heard! Who knows issues in education better than the student?!” -- Ashley Farren

Newsweek announced in a statement Oct. 18 that it would be transitioning

to a digital-only product, in early 2013. The publication has been in print for 80 years and is plan-ning its last print edition to fall on Dec. 31.

The new digital publication will be called Newsweek Global for its consolidation into a sin-gle worldwide edition. It will be supported by paid subscription, commonly known as a paywall in the news industry.

Newsweek should be com-

mended for adopting the sub-scription format from the start. One of the biggest mistakes the news industry made years ago was allowing online content to be free. Now, news organiza-tions are laying off workers and trying to find ways to produce content and still make money.

Not only that, but the switch to digital makes sense. Increas-ingly, more publications are re-ducing or abandoning the print format in favor of tablets and e-readers because of market trends. According to a report by

the Pew Research Center’s Proj-ect of Excellence in Journalism, 64 percent of tablet owners and 62 percent of smartphone own-ers use their devices for news weekly.

Smartphones are becoming ubiquitous in the mobile market. However, how many people own tablets? The same PEJ study re-ported 22 percent of adults own a tablet. 64 percent of those us-ers consume news on their de-vices. 23 percent of the group who did not have a tablet would like to purchase one soon.

Well, that’s good for tablet owners, but what about those who can’t afford a tablet? Does that exclude them from getting news? The digital divide that still exists around the world and in the U.S. must be acknowledged as well. Although the increased tablet purchases are causing news organizations to jump at the opportunity – and they rightfully should – they must be prepared for slow adoption.

Also, the idea of having a single worldwide edition may come with problems. Usually,

large magazines have a variety of editions for each country they publish in, such as Vogue Korea for example. Consolidating into one edition can potentially wa-ter down content for readers in other countries. Asian and Latin American subscribers of News-week may be getting the publi-cation in their language, but will they be getting the content that is specific to their country and culture?

It remains to be seen how this will pan out. News organi-zations will be keeping a close eye on Newsweek to see how the transition will work because frankly, the whole industry has been in flux for a while and no one has it figured out yet.

12 PHOTOS October 23, 2012 | theprairienews.com

This Week in Photos: Student Activism

@The_Prairiefacebook.com/theprairiewt

Mason Wright (junior) and Shelbi Cooper bag up goodies to hand out.

Members of Delta Zeta hand out lemonade during the speaker event held on Oct. 18.

Alex MontoyA

Photo editor

Mark Richards speaks on Oct. 18 about the effects of alcohol in the JBK, hosted by PULSE and Delta Zeta.

Senior Amanda Kraemer hands out pamphlets during Alcohol Awareness Week.

Project leader Betheny Wilcox (center) helps SIFE stuff goodie bags.