Not Returning as an RA

Well I am not returning as an RA next year and I am quite sad. Being an RA has been a part of me for the last two year and it is a job a take very seriously. I never really thought I would become this attached to a job but I have. It has been one of the best experiences that I have had and I am sad not to return next semester. The reason that I’m not returning is because of where I was placed. I was hired for Campus Court a Residence Hall that is about a half a mile or longer away from campus. I was hired there to help build a community and I am honored that they thought I could do that but Campus Court is not the place for me to live. I’m very socially driven and I believe living off campus like that will hamper my college experience. I don’t want to get disconnected from the place I love. Guess that next year will be a different year for me to find other things for me to do.

Summer, Hurry Up

Five weeks of school left. I am so ready for summer it is almost an unbearable wait. This is the first year that I have really wanted to get away from school and friends. Usually I hate when summer starts because I miss all my friends but lately I have been getting really aggravated with life and people in general. I don’t know why, I guess it is mainly because I’m growing older and don’t care for stupidity anymore. Summer cannot come soon enough, fun in the sun and interesting summer jobs are waiting. I want to play lots of disc golf and other fun sports. Do some fishing with friends and get an even better tan line than what I had last summer.

Life in Perspective: Roger Norman from Friend to Musician

Another article I did for a class assignment on a friend of mine.

Walking across campus for Roger Norman is not just the average student’s trip to class. He says “Hello” and stops to talk to multiple people along the way, leaving wherever he is a few minutes early just to make it to class on time. Roger has a charming smile, an all around inviting presence, and caring heart. He is one of those guys that everyone seems to know but do you actually know who Roger Norman is and who aspires to be one day.

            Wherever Roger has been you can bet that he has left his presence in some way; for many people outside of Arkansas Tech, Roger has left them in awe of his musical abilities. Roger acknowledges that a lot of his musical awareness is contributes from genetics; his mother is a choir teacher and his dad writes music and plays guitar as well.  He has gown up in a home where music was all around him. Playing drums since second grade and guitar since the eighth grade Roger started following in his parents’ footsteps from an early age.

Continuing his pursuit of music through high school, Roger is now involved with playing the drums and guitar for many different bands. From leading worship at various churches to the “Arkansas Tech Band of Distinction,” Roger is actively involved in a life centered on music.

Roger focuses on song writing and the artistic expression of music. The music he plays in greatly influenced by world instruments, especially those that are percussion based instruments. Roger says, “To me music is everywhere. In the moments I least expect it, something can come along and set off a spark inside of me which ignites my creativity.” He cites everyday noises as influences; from birds chirping to the beep from a truck backing up, he gets inspirations for anything.

Being a junior level college student, Roger is now starting to look into the future. He wants to continue his development of music on into grad school. Cities like Nashville, Austin, or other musically geared areas are where he is centering his search for a college.  Roger says that he would love to one day end up making music professionally but knows of that does not happen he still has that passion for music that has carried him this far.

Next time you see someone walking across campus remember that they have a story to tell, and there is more to them then what you might know. Look for Roger in the future, musically or professionally; with his desire and passion his career in whatever he chooses will be fruitful.

Whatta-Burger vs CJ's

For the longest time Feltner’s Whatta-Burger used to be the King of burger joints in the River Valley. Politicians, athletic stars, anyone of importance would always stop in Russellville to have one of the famous Whatta-Burgers. Feeding bus loads of kids during peak sports seasons and keeping the Russellville locals fed, Feltner’s has kept Russellville on the burger joint map. A few years ago a local Russellville resident opened CJ’s Butcher Boy. Promoting fresh never frozen beef and hand cut french fries. CJ’s instantly became a local hot spot. It wasn’t till a reporter for Southern Living came searching for a southern burger haven that CJ’s was put on the map. CJ’s burgers are fresh, juicy, and great examples of what a burger should be like. Feltner’s on the other hand has above average fast food hamburgers. They are very good but a different king has entered the burger market in Russellville. I will take a full order of fries at Feltner’s any day of the week though.

The Similarities Between Hitchcock’s Films and North by Northwest

North by Northwest is similar to many of Alfred Hitchcock’s other films. Like most of Hitchcock’s films, North By Northwest is a thriller and has a male protagonist that is seemingly in distress. For example in Read Window Lisa is the one that is put in danger but we do not see her distress, we see how much Jeffries suffers when Lisa is in distress. In North by Northwest Hitchcock uses this with Eve and Roger. Eve is the one that is put in the main part of the danger but she does not seem as worried about it as Roger does. Hitchcock uses this to show male suffering.

            Some minor things that pop up in Hitchcock’s films are cameos, idiotic cops, and meetings on public transportation. Hitchcock always has cameos in his films, most are so slight that if you are not paying attention you will miss him. Idiotic cops relate all the way back to a childhood problem that Hitchcock was involved in. These cops never see the true act of crime when it happens like in Blackmail when Alice is getting attacked and she has to kill the painter. Also the cops always seem to not realize what is going on at all, this is just a way for Hitchcock to show his dislike for cops. Many of the character meet on public transportation, trains and busses. Roger meets Eve on a train just like the characters in Shadow of a Doubt and The 39 Steps.

            The last thing that Hitchcock uses that I see in a lot of his movies is the stress on the ending male and female’s relationship. In the majority of his movies the ending couple relationship is somehow strained or put in a negative light. In North by Northwest at the end, Roger and Eve are more happily together than most of the other characters in his other movies. Eve though points out that marriages are not meant to last and Roger even is a good example since he has two ex-wives. In Blackmail Alice’s relationship ends up being strained with Frank at the end because of her ordeal. They are shown not separating from holding hands. In another movie at the end the two main characters are shown walking off screen holding hands but the male is shown with a pair of handcuffs on. The handcuffs stand for how the male will be tied down in his relationship with the female.

Matthew Robert's 3 Person Scramble

I played a disc golf tournament a few weekends ago and it went really well. It was a three-man scramble team format. I played with a couple friends that I often play disc golf recreationally with. We all played really well, the first round we shot three down which wasn’t terrible at all for the course we were on. Mistakes and lack of putting skills killed us though. If we could have made our putts we would have been seven down, including out bogies. If we did not have those bogies we would have been 12 down after the first round, which would have put us in the lead for our category. For the second round we just played decent and consistent. We shot two down but a lot of other teams did not shoot well either so we jumped a few spots and finished 12 out of 31 teams. Pretty good for only our first tournament.

Mid-Major Madness

It has been a crazy time for college basketball in the month of March. The saying “March Madness” has definitely lived up to its’ meaning. For the first time 68 teams were in the NCAA National Tournament. Instead of having one play-in game this year the tournament added three more play-in games, starting with the “First Four” and ending with the “Final Four.” I have never been more carefree with a NCAA Tournament before; usually I fill out a bracket and have at least one team in there that I route for. This year though I just kind of sat back and watched without much care. The caring part changed fairly quickly though. Early monumental upsets cleared the way for what could be one of the greatest tournament runs for mid-majors. VCU, one of the play-in teams, one of those “First Four” has made all the way to the Final Four. Ranked as an 11 seed VCU beat perennial powerhouses in basketball like Kansas and Georgetown. Butler, the 2010 NCAA Tournament Cinderella is making a sequel to their performance last year, again making it to the Final Four. It’s impressive to see teams like these two make it this far because in all reality they aren’t supposed to be able to compete with the teams that are; larger, have a higher revenue, and have a better recruiting base. Unfortunately Butler and VCU cannot meet in the championship game. They have to play each other in the semifinals. The good news though is that one mid-major for the second straight year will be in the championship game, maybe this year one of them can actually win it all. One of them winning it all could prove that in these modern times the gap between a mid-major and major program is not that far off.

Arkansas Tech Legends: Ed Meador from WonderBoy to NFL Pro Bowler

So the following is an article I wrote for a class of mine. It has the potential to be picked up by the ArkaTech sometime in the near future but that is a long shot. The article is about Russellville's own and former WonderBoy Ed Meador, who went on to play in the NFL. It's not my best work and it is my first attempt at any article written for media, so I'm sure it has some errors. Well here it is!! Pictures I have added for the blog they are not part of my original article.

It was 1955 and Ed Meador had just graduated from Russellville High School. Meador has been called “too small” by legendary coaches like Paul Bear Bryant, who at that time was the coach for the Texas A&M Aggies. Meador after trying to play for Bryant, traveled back to Arkansas and was offered a scholarship to play football at Arkansas Tech University, the college only a few miles from the high school he attended. He decided to accept that scholarship. Becoming a WonderBoy was only the first step in what would become an illustrious football career for Meador.

The four years that Meador played as a WonderBoy, his abilities were not just used for one position. He played not only tailback on offense, but also defensive back, and was a return specialist. Setting numerous records, 19 to be exact in conference and for Tech, Meador who wore number 44, would go on to rush for 3,410 yards while scoring 259 points. All the records that were set by Meador would later be surpassed by future WonderBoys or other conference players but those numbers are still are among the top numbers for Arkansas Tech football. He garnered such awards as being named All-Conference in the AIC three of his four seasons and also being named a Little All-American. Meador’s numerous awards and record caught the eyes of pro scouts, putting him in position to continue his football career after college.

After graduating from Arkansas Tech, Meador went on to be drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the seventh round of the 1959 NFL draft. Standing only 5’ 11” and weighing 190 lbs. the small statured Meador was playing with big boys. In a past interview with a local high school Meador was asked what it was like moving up and playing in the NFL, his answer was size, players were just bigger and stronger. Meador’s NFL career became just as award filled as his college career. He was chosen to the Pro Bowl six times, including a span of five straight seasons from 1964-1968. He holds the all-time interception record for the Rams’ organization at 46 career interceptions. Some say this is one of his greatest feats, not because of the number itself but because the number of interceptions he had in an era that was mainly dominated by running backs not passing quarterbacks. Was also named to the All-Time Rams Team and the NFL’s All-decade Team for the 1960’s. Ex-Baltimore Colts running back and Hall of Famer Lenny Moore was quoted as saying; “He’s one of the leagues good ones, Thinking back, I might have been gone a few more times if it hadn’t been for him.” Respected not only for his on the field actions, Meador was also awarded for his off the field actions as a father, receiving the NFL Father of the Year Award in 1967.

Never missing a game in 12 seasons, 163 straight games, Meador’s career in the NFL mirrors some of the all-time greats. Meador became one of the most respected and feared safeties in the league. Intercepting passes from the likes of Bart Starr and Don Meredith to stopping countless wide receivers and running backs, Meador made sure he was noticed on the field. Meador has been inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Tech University Hall of Distinction. Is Canton missing one player that should be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame? Ironically the Father of the Year Award that Meador received in 1967 was given to him by the NFL Hall of Fame Committee, the same committee that has never awarded Meador the most prestigious honor for a NFL football player, inducting him into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame would be a great ending to an illustrious career that started in small town Russellville, Ark and ended in the big city of Los Angeles, Cal as an NFL great. For more information on who Ed Meador is and how you can help him get into the NFL Hall of Fame, please check out www.edmeador21.com and help a fellow WonderBoy finish a dream.

Gulf South Conference Championship Tournament

This past weekend I went to Southaven, Mississippi with eight other fellow die-hard Arkansas Tech fans to attend the Gulf South Conference Tournament, where both boys and girls teams were playing. In the past couple of weeks we decided to take the student section on the road and support the WonderBoys and Golden Suns whenever possible. Southaven, Miss was awesome. There were so many fans for the Tech games there; it was such a great atmosphere. The girls ended up winning the whole tournament becoming back-to-back champions. The boys made it to the championship game but ended up losing to Harding University, which Tech had already beat two times this year. With the win by the Golden Suns, Arkansas Tech will host the South Region Tournament this upcoming weekend and of course I will be there in the student section cheering them on. I wish I could attend the WonderBoys’ games as well but I have to choose.