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The Pilot Wednesday, April 16, 2008 Page A3 Opinions Plans not work the way you want? Something better lies ahead By Rebecca Clark Pilot editor As we near the end of the semester, I always find it a tirne of introspection and reflection on the past year. This spring, I find myself thinking about my time at Gardner-Webb and how it is almost finished after nearly three years here. I have never looked forward to something so much, though at the same time I feel sad at the things and people I will be leaving behind. I have learned many things at GWU, and they didn’t all come from books. I will receive my degree with a sense of independence and self-sufficiency that I know will carry me through The Pilot Nancy-Pat Dire Faculty Advisor Rebecca Clark Editor in Chief Stephanie Kay Designer Asliley Carter and Haley Black Photo Editors Jacob Conley Sports Editor Patrice Blackmon MiChaela Bryson Blake DuDonis Kory McNair Lanny Newton Christopher Shaver Lauren Taylor Staff Writers Kate Gazaway Mariee Harris Jessica Jones Tyler Kucifer Staff Photographers Phone Number: 704-406-3844 P.O. Box 5192 pilot@gardner-webb.edu Shopping for people online is not a foolproof process By Ali Adler The Diamondback (U. Maryland) (U-WIRE) COLLEGE PARK, Md. - As a culture, we love to shop. According to a September 2007 survey by the Pew Internet & Amer ican Life Project, 66 percent of Internet users reported buying products online. With the proliferation of the Inter net, we can shop anytime, anywhere, for anything. We e-shop for clothes, food, houses, cars and ... people. Yes, people. The Internet has redefined the basic human necessity of social interaction and has allowed us to concep tualize self-promotion. Amer- icanSingles and eHarmony, MySpace and, of course, Facebook are registers of hu man advertisements. Meeting people has be come analogous to, say, shopping for a car. You see a car, and you think it’s cool, so you go online to read about it, look at pictures of it and compare it to other cars. Similarly, if you meet some one who seems interesting to you, you can go online and read about her interests, learn her favorite books and mov ies, see who her friends are and judge her sense of style - and there’s even a Facebook application called “Compare People.” The problem with both of these scenarios is that by sifting through images and information about cars and people, you may learn a lot about them, but you won’t really know them. The idio syncrasies of a car - the hum of its engine, the speed of the windshield wipers, the com fort of the seats - are all things we can’t leam until we’ve test driven it at least once. The same goes for people shopping; you can’t really get to know someone - his personality, mannerisms or quirky habits - by scanning his Facebook page. What you can leam on the Internet, whether on Facebook or Cars.com, is information limited by the venue in which it is being marketed. Just as car com panies can project a select image through their advertis ing, we can hide a lot on our Facebook profiles by only allowing others to see what we choose to advertise about ourselves. Take a look at the appli cations, photos and informa tion on your page or that of a friend; does this image define the entirety of your identity? Facebook can serve as a social aid, easing the diffi culty of face-to-face interac tion by allowing us to know at least a little more about a person (for example, rela tionship status) before we approach. But because of this, the Internet has created new social taboos. In our busy lives, Face book saves us socializing time - why call a friend when you can post on her wall? But does this kind of socializa tion fulfill our basic need for interaction? If it is a tempo rary substitute, maybe that’s why it’s so addicting. In a 2003 poll conducted for the Center for a New American Dream, 83 per cent of Americans said they wished they had more time to spend with family. The aver age Facebook user - there are more than 70 million active ones - spends 25 minutes on the Web site daily. If we can take that time out of our day to stare at two- dimensional photos of insig nificant people, why not de vote it to those we know and love or to getting to know people who intrigue us? pJust as we cannot find real happiness through drugs and alcohol, the void of so cial interaction our fast- paced lives have opened up cannot be filled through the infinite stream of virtual so cialization. It’s time we reclaim our basic interpersonal human needs and discover a balance between the book and the face by spending more of it 'with our friends and family. whatever jobs and places I will arrive at. I am confi dent in my abilities and have many people to thank for help along the way. One of the greatest les sons I have learned in the past couple of years is that life is rarely static, and always un predictable. Plans might be made, but life can intervene and completely change your course and what you had in tended on doing. Flexibility in following a new path is a valuable skill to leam. I also believe there is a reason behind everything, even if things do not turn out as you had originally hoped. Many seniors are prepar ing for new jobs or setting up interviews, while others are applying to graduate school. This spring I made plans to go on in my education and confidently applied to UNC Charlotte’s Communications Studies program for the fall semester. I found out last week that I did not make it in. It was a disappointment to learn I had not been ac cepted, and it completely changed my plans for the coming year; but it also gives me a chance to pursue some thing new. I plan on plotting a new course and enjoying whatev er else life brings my way. I hope that everyone’s plans for this summer - and beyond - go the way you want them to. But if they don’t, I hope that something even better takes their place. Wisdom on Wheels At last, a door finally opens automatically for me By Jacob Conley Sports editor As I prepare to graduate and look back on my college career, I think about how many doors have opened for me. I’ve had the chance to attend a Division I school and be a normal college stu dent. I’ve seen great feats of athleticism on the gridiron, hardwood and diamond, and as a result I have shed tears of joy and disappointment. I have been to many places I never would have expected, and fulfilled a dream that I have had since I first saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark”; to go on expeditions with Dr. Jones. I have even become a somewhat successful writer, as evidenced by the fact that you are reading this. Yes Gardner-Webb has opened a lot of doors for me and now, just before gradua tion, GWU has allowed me to open some for myself As you may have noticed the Dover Library now has automatic doors. Let the cel ebration begin! When I first realized this fact I had the same reaction as the guy on the Staples commercial when he pushes the big, red “easy” button and says, “Hey, that was easy.” I then proceeded to make the door open and close for five minutes. I honestly don’t Conley know if it was because I was mak ing up for lost time or if I just have a fascination with big, shiny, new buttons. Speaking of doors be ing opened and closed, I still don’t have a date for the for mal and it is not for a lack of asking. I’m not mad, just a little disappointed. One of my good friends has invited me to eat with him and his fiancee before the dance and 1 don’t want to be a third wheel - or in my case, a sev enth wheel. Oh well, if I don’t go to the formal, I can always watch the NFL draft when I get back from the Big South Video Game Tournament, where I hope to bring a tro phy back to Boiling Springs. Hopefully it will be the first of many championships GWU will capture as mem bers of the new conference. Speaking of champion ships, move over Kansas, GWU has its own national champion. Congratulations, Mac. But I digress. Even though the door of the spring formal might be shut. I’m sure oth ers will open and hopeftilly I can open them via a big, bright, shiny, new button. Newton Knows End of the year nears, but sports action continues By Lanny Newton Pilot sports writer As finals approach and due dates come closer, sev eral sports are still going strong. This past weekend I wit nessed something I’d never seen before; A pitcher threw 18 2/3 scoreless innings of softball against the Bulldog offense that had scored 11 runs the day before. This made me wonder what the Atlanta Braves’ situ ation would look like if they had a pitcher that could ac complish that feat. Of course. I’ve since been reminded multiple times that she is a softball pitcher and therefore will probably not be drafted by the Braves anytime soon. This is probably for the best, as the New York Yankees would probably buy her con tract as soon as possible for some extraordinary amount of money that no other team could muster. Speaking of baseball, the weekend also offered up some excellent offensive performances around the At lantic Sun. Besides the 56 runs scored by the Bulldogs in their of fensive explosion against East Tennessee State Uni versity which my esteemed colleague writes about, Ken- nesaw State managed to put up 32 runs on Saturday in a game against USC-Upstate. As I looked over the stats from the Gardner-Webb games and the KSU-USC- Upstate game, my jaw con tinued to drop steadily to the floor. Two of the numbers stood out in particular. KSU put up seven mns in three differ ent innings in the game and failed to score only in the eighth inning. The Bulldogs took a different approach; In the second game of the series they scored 12 mns in the top of the sixth. While for pitching purists this is probably a disgusting display of bad location, ve locity and poor pitch selec tion, for the average fan these are the games that keep,you on your feet and cheering to the thunder of the bats. Track and field is also only reaching midseason, as the NCAA championships for the sport won’t be held until just before the Olympic trials in late June. Several student on the team also have a good chance of qualifying for the NC AAs and, in one or two cases, possibly qualify ing in the Olympic trials and representing Gardner-Webb in Beijing. Topping this list is junior Elliot Haynie, who tied yet another meet record at Ten nessee last weekend. Haynie, along with former GWU standout swimmer Terra Wil son, both look to be on the inside track for the Summer Games based on their num ber so far. Letter to the Editor GWU students present an art show that stirs Dear Editor: After exploring the Com munication Studies Hall, I, like many students and fac ulty, can understand how the 2008 Gardner-Webb juried student art show is an expe rience full of variety, talent and controversy. As you enter through the front doors you are greeted by the comical and light hearted faces of Brad Lail’s pottery on the right. Wlien you turn, you can observe abstracted sculptures of the human form to your left. Finally, you look forward, captured by a powerful tex ture piece created by Stephen Calabrese, the Best in Show winner. The viewers have an opportunity to experience Stephen’s creation called “Trumpet One” as they work through his use of unique materials like cigarette butts and animal’s teeth. Many viewers stretch their necks to get a better view of the Bible references written on the top, hoping the connection will explain the somewhat unsettled and mysterious emotion that it makes you feel. This unique piece exem plifies how Gardner-Webb’s art department has freed its students to tmly express themselves and, in doing so, has presented us with an im pressive and strong collec tion of works. This includes multiple pieces of responsive drawing, along with design pieces and paintings. However, this show is not without controversy. Two pieces, both by Stephen Ca labrese, were censored from this show and placed in a pri vate office for limited view ing. The two specific works, both containing frontal nudi ty, were approved by a panel of faculty members, but still placed outside of the show. The question raised by many viewers and students because of this situation is, “Is this censorship acceptable within an artistic and schol arly university setting?” I spoke with two view ers about how they felt about the art show, and specifically what their reactions were to the censored pieces. Mathilde Peaud, a na tive of Europe, expressed shock at the idea of censor ing pieces. She did not real ize that the reason they were placed separately from the show was because they were deemed inappropriate. She spoke of how she felt that the human body is beautiful, and even described one of the pieces as “angelic.” Bryan Cooper, a fresh man, said that the works didn’t bother him, that he looked at them as art, not something vulgar. It is obvious that the frame of mind that one ap proaches a piece of art with makes a difference in how one views it. When I spoke with Ste phen Calabrese about how he felt, he said, “You know. I’m happy that I was able to cause a reaction. Being able to pro duce a work that the viewer reacts to is art to me. I don’t think it’s right to remove it, but it is OK to react.” The censorship that has taken place in this year’s art show is a great opportunity for each of us to question and reflect. Is it right to limit what we consider viewable because we may react nega tively to a piece of work? When expressing ourselves in healthy outlets such as art, do we always have to be “ap propriate”? As students and faculty of Gardner-Webb, how do we want to be a part in the setting of standards? Just by walking through the show, it’s obvious that Gardner-Webb harbors peo ple with great capabilities to portray this world and themselves through art. The issue of censorship may not be able to be fixed overnight or agreed upon by all; but it should be considered and talked about for the sake of these great artists who are full of potential to make a difference. The 2008 juried student art show not only displayed a large body of strong works, but it raised an important is sue for each of us to intemal- ize and reflect on. - Nikki Rice Rice is a GWU student majoring in English and mi- noring in studio art. Students, don’t forget to vote in the SGA elections today and Thursday!
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