Blog 8

A 45-year-old tradition, the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts took place from April 24 to April 29 in downtown OKC.

Amongst various booths filled with paintings, sculptures and foods, Collin Rosebrook’s Paseo Pottery returned to the festival with a paint-your-own pottery stand.

As part of the Paseo Arts District, Paseo Pottery opened in 1989, selling pottery of all types as well as offering pottery-making classes.

Paseo Pottery makes its presence at the fair annually, attracting customers of all ages, including OU freshman Bailey Sanders.

“I think it’s a great idea to have this stand at the fair,” Sanders said.

“Even though it’s an arts fest, there are very few do-it-yourself type booths. So its cool that they give the opportunity to make something on your own.”

Paseo Pottery is open Monday through Saturday in Oklahoma City. Information about classes and studio hours can be found on their Facebook page. 

Blog 7

Freshman Catherine Holtmyer practices her dance at Kappa Hall for the talent portion of the upcoming Lambda Chi Alpha White Rose Pageant.

     Eleven freshman sorority members prepare to serve as representatives of each Greek house in Lambda Chi Alpha’s annual White Rose Pageant, on Wednesday, April 18.

     The pageant was started in 1986 by Matt Hamilton and his fellow fraternity brothers, and continues today as one of Lambda’s biggest fundraising event, according to the OU Lambda Chi Alpha Alum website.
     All fundraising proceeds from the White Rose Pageant go to the Big Brothers of Cleveland
County.
      Like most pageants, White Rose is comprised of various sections, including a questionnaire and talent portion.
     Whether it is tumbling, playing an instrument or dancing, a wide variety of talents from each sorority are expected to take the stage in this year’s pageant.
     Freshman Catherine Holtmyer has selected a familiar ballet piece to use for her talent section.
     “I think a ballet variation, especially on pointe, is a good talent representative because it shows such beauty and strength in each movement. I’m really excited to have the chance to perform this and show my friends how pretty of a piece it is,” Holtmyer said.
     Last year’s winner, Kappa Alpha Theta Sarah Klein, won the pageant with her talent of a piano and song piece. Delta Delta Delta Alicia Clifton was first runner up, with her originally choreographed dance, all according to OU’s Lambda Chi Alumn website.
     Sophomore Claire Henson, Holtmyer’s sorority “big sister”, attended the pageant in 2011 and plans to go to this year’s event.
     “I know there’ll be some good competition this year, but I think Catherine will be great in the pageant because of how poised she is. She handles herself very well and I don’t think it will come across any different on stage,” Henson said.
     The pageant will begin at 7 p.m. in Holmberg Hall. Tickets will be sold prior to the event and at the door for 10 dollars.

Blog 6

Students in OU’s Printmaking classes in the School of Art and Art History are adding final touches to their latest projects in preparation for the upcoming “print swap.”
 All intermediate level lithography classes are required to take part in the now annual print swap. Students are instructed to create an original print project based on a pre-determined theme and make multiple replicas of their work. Once the work period of the project is over, the prints are submitted to the professors, who then assign each print a number. Then, each student comes and draws a series of numbers and keeps the prints that correspond to their number.
 According to OU’s School of Art website, students are allowed access 24 hours a day, every day, to work on their print swap pieces, among many others,
 “I’m up here all the time honestly,” junior Courtney Creedon said.
“This is one of our most enjoyable projects so far though so I don’t mind that I practically live at the studio.”
The theme to this year’s print swap is “Fables and Fairytales,” so creativity was abound as students produced prints with detailed fire-breathing dragons, prehistoric fish, and many other imagined images.
 “This is a really cool theme that we were given this year to work with,” senior Alex Fuller said.
 “It’s not incredibly difficult, but at the same time it forces you to think a little further to create something that wouldn’t be expected from your basic childhood fables.”
 Creedon’s creation, which is a simple print of three fish with a thick, dark edging, is part of the greater portion of student prints that do not have the look of a typical fairytale or fable.
 “I wanted to go with something different than what was expected. I think it’ll be a unique piece to add to someone’s print collections,” Creedon said.
 The print swap will be held before the end of April in the third floor of the Charles M. Russell Center in the Lithography classroom.

Midterm project: Breaking the Stereotype

The September 11, 2001 attacks created problems for more than just the United States: Muslim-American citizens became one of the most discriminated groups in the country. But with time has come a slow following of acceptance for the Islamic culture.

                Over the past 10 to 20 years, attacks and threats to the United States led by organized Middle-Eastern terrorist groups have led to widespread discrimination and stereotyping of Muslim-Americans. However, 56 percent of American Muslims polled said they were satisfied with the direction the country was headed, according to a 2011 Pew Research Study.

                “I think that Americans have started to understand that not all Muslims are bad. There is good and bad in every religious sect, not just Islam,” junior Amru Abualneel said.

                Although discrimination against Muslim-Americans has continued to be prevalent years after the September 11 attacks, the blatant hatred towards the religion and its following has seemed to begin to subside.

                Unlike many other American born Muslims, Abualneel and his family have not encountered the unfair instances of discrimination as many others have.

                “I’ve known Amru for a while, and for as long as I have known him I can’t think of a time where anybody has looked at him differently or been rude to him just because of his race,” University of Texas junior Jay Mariscal said.

                As wide-spread hatred and discriminatory actions have begun to diminish, Muslims have established a more secure and equal place in both American society, and amongst their religious community.

                Places of Islamic worship have climbed to 74 percent in the last decade and 91 percent of these mosque leaders said they believe Muslims should further their involvement in United States politics, according to “The American Mosque 2011” survey conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies and other Islamic civic and religious groups.

                “I think that even if Amru were ever falsely stereotyped, he would probably turn the other cheek. He’s not exactly 100 percent devout like other Muslim Americans I know, but he knows what he believes and is proud of his faith,” sophomore Rachel Krummanacher said.

                Although Muslim-American discrimination has not completely ceased, many Islamic followers like Abualneel have recognized its slow disappearance upon entering another decade, giving hope to breaking stereotypes in the future.

Unversity of Oklahoma junior Amru Abualneel discusses stereotypes of Muslim-Americans and how they have impacted his life.

News Story 3

Recent health inspections reveal that two restaurants in OU’s Oklahoma Memorial Union did not meet criteria for a clean bill of health.

                  Both Sbarro and Wendy’s were issued follow-up activities, according to reports by oudaily.com. Wendy’s was issued follow-ups with two health inspections prior to the most recent one.

                  Wendy’s received violations for rodent droppings on the floor and trashcan, excessive black residue in fryer baskets and having more than 10 items held at incorrect temperatures.

                  “Even though I really didn’t eat at Wendy’s too many times before, this definitely gives me a reason not to ever return,” sophomore Anna Prince said.

                  Similar to Wendy’s, Sbarro received violations for black residue in the ice machine, several food items held at wrong temperatures and live roaches found under the front counter.

                  According to an oudaily.com poll, 71 percent of students surveyed said that the restaurant’s health reports would keep them away.

                  “I really can’t see myself coming back to eat at the Union for a while. I’ll go to Starbucks, but besides that I’m going to try and keep the amount of food I eat from here to a bare minimum,” Prince said.

                  Although the restaurants did not formally receive citations, both were issued follow-up activity which is expected to be completed within ten days of receiving the violations, according to rules implemented by the Cleveland County Health Department.

                  Follow-up activities are issued when a problem can easily be resolved. Activity can include anything from a power-wash, to scheduling more frequent pest control visits.

                  “In regards to restaurants owned by the Union, Sbarro is a privately operated company. With respect to food services for the Union, Wendy’s food temperature and preparation works to follow the food temperature guidelines,” Marketing and Public Relations specialist Lauren Royston said.

                  No specific updates on follow-up activity for the two restaurants have been released.

Students wait for their orders at Wendy's in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. 

Sophomore Anna Prince chooses Starbucks' coffee over food items from the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Recent health reports of two Union restaurants have caused negative publicity for the food establishments.

Sbarro is one of two restaurants in the Oklahoma Memorial Union to receive violations from a recent health inspection.

News Story 2

            Freshman Kristen Stanley films a clip for her Film Festival submission about student life.

News Story 2

Campus Activities Council continues its Student Film Series with the third annual Student Film Festival. The festival will be held in the Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union on March 1. 

                CAC created the film series to give students a chance to showcase their creative writing and film directing skills to a small-scale audience. It also gives students the chance to have their scripts critiqued by professionals from OU’s film department.

                “I’m really excited to enter the film festival. It’s always been something I’ve been interested in, but never really had the chance to do before,” said Kristen Stanley, a freshman energy management major.

                According to ou.edu, to enter the Film Series, current OU students must create an original script and film less than 15 minutes long. The films are then reviewed by CAC Film Series Chair Sarah Foust, checked for length and any obscenity and are selected for the Student Film Festival.

                “The number of films to make it to the festival has varied every year. Last year I believe we had seven or eight, but it just depends on the length or if any get disqualified for obscenity,” said Foust.

                New to the Film series this year, the winners of the festival will have their film displayed on the OU website.

                Winners of the festival are chosen by a panel of judges who score each film based on its creativity, technique, equipment use and story line.

                “I think the added incentives to the festival will be encouraging to students to get their work out there, especially for freshman and sophomores. Showing their films to a smaller audience will hopefully give them the courage to eventually enter larger film festivals held nationally and even internationally,” said Foust.

                All contest rules and entry forms are available on ou.edu on the CAC homepage.

News Story 1

In honor of the first day of Black History month, Cate Center hosted a film showing of Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, followed by a discussion with Couch Center’s faculty resident Lupe Davidson.

                Students of all age, gender and race attended the event in the Cate Main Social Lounge hosted by the Black Student Association, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, the Couch and Cate Faculty-in-Residence Programs and the Cate Residents Student Association.

                Iota Phi Theta member Augustine Wiah says the even turn-out was better than they anticipated.

                “We had around 86 people come out to watch the film and stay for the discussion with Lupe Davidson, who put forth the idea of showing Traces of the Trade.” Wiah said.

                The film documents decedents of the DeWolf family, one of the most prominent slave-trading families in U.S. history, as they travel to the slave-trading posts where their ancestors once frequented.

                According to tracesofthetrade.org, the Dewolfs were the nation’s leading slave-traders, bringing approximately 10,000 Africans to the U.S. and parts of the Caribbean to be auctioned off.

                Junior Gabby Logan says that she attended the film not only to support fellow members of the Black Student Association, but also to get a better perspective on slavery and how it is viewed in today’s society from a white family’s point-of-view.

                “It was interesting to see people who genuinely feel bad about slavery and its effects, even if they are not directly accountable for it.” Logan said.

                The film captures the emotions experienced by the family members who took the journey through the Triangle Trade and walked the paths taken by slaves their own family had once forced to follow.

                Following the film, Davidson led a discussion amongst those who attended and encouraged students to give their honest feedback of the film and its meanings.

                “I feel as if the film started a spark at the very least. It sparked interest in the topic of racism and slavery for those who had little knowledge on the subject. You don’t really get to learn all of this in-depth information and have these discussions in your high school history classes.” Wiah said.

“The goal of this event wasn’t to necessarily promote Black History month, but rather to get students interested in black history so that we can have more events in the future like this that students would want to attend.”

The Black Student Association and the members of Iota Phi Theta plan to provide students more opportunities to learn about black history. Upcoming events can be found on the homepage of the OU website.

Portrait without a person

Sense of place