Rain doesn't deter residents from coming to 15th annual Auburn CityFest
Barbecue smoke hung low in the humid air of the 15th annual Auburn CityFest.
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Barbecue smoke hung low in the humid air of the 15th annual Auburn CityFest.
A combat scenario in a faraway land, you are in an overwatch unit supporting a squad that is entering a building to take down a high-value target. You notice a child is sent out by the enemy to pick up a rifle from a corpse and bring it back. What do you do?
UPDATE: April 2: The University has approved a weeklong Humans vs Zombies game. The event will take place from April 6-10 between the hours of 7 a.m.-10 p.m. each day.
A weekly highlight of The Auburn Plainsman.
A weekly highlight of stories in The Auburn Plainsman.
A Birmingham artist gave a lecture at Biggin Hall to end her exhibition of painting and sculptures Thursday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m., and collaborated with Andrew Kozlowski, assistant professor of art, on prints of her work. The department of art hosted Amy Pleasant, whose exhibition ran from Dec. 14, 2014-Jan. 29, 2015. Pleasant received her bachelor's in fine arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her master's in fine arts at The Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Her work has been featured at Jeff Bailey Gallery in New York, Whitespace Gallery in Atlanta and the Birmingham Museum of Art and Candyland art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden. Pleasant spent her 45 minute lecture speaking about her progression as an artist in the 12 years since she finished graduate school. "I think it's important to see how an artist's work changes, why they change, different things they experiment with and failures," Pleasant said. "All of those things are a part of a lifetime of practice." Pleasant said she is interested in mundane, daily things and people's basic relationships with others. Pleasant makes tiny drawings with brush and ink that show people doing things such as getting out of bed, having a conversation or sitting in a chair. She combines many tiny images to create large, sweeping wall drawings. Her largest wall drawing, located in The Columbus Museum in Georgia, is 20 feet tall and 30 feet wide. "A lot of what I'm interested in is how all of our lives cross over each other at one point or another when we're all seemingly doing our own isolated things," Pleasant said, "and then what happens when we come into each other's lives and how that changes us and how that forms our decisions." Although her artwork focuses on drawing and painting, Pleasant said she has been interested in working with print for a long time. "There's a historic relationship between printers as facilitators," Kozlowski said. "There's this really great tradition of artists coming into print shops where the master printer or assistant printer is the go-between for the artist. They see something in the artist's work and they translate it into the print form." Jessye McDowell, assistant professor of art and exhibitions and lectures coordinator, is generally in charge of setting up and organizing the art in Biggin Gallery during exhibitions. "She clearly has a vision," McDowell said. "She basically designed the curation (in the gallery) ... She was very involved and had a clear idea where things should go. She is a very nice combination of someone who knows her work really well, has very clear ideas about how it should be shown, she's obviously very engaged in a deep way with her practice and she's also easy to work with and fun to be around."
Rice cookers are the quintessential college cooking contraption. They're ideal because you can head to Asian Super Market off of Opelika Road and pick up a 10-pound bag of rice when you're short on cash. It's just more than $10 and will help feed you for more than a month. First and foremost, there's a trick to cooking perfect rice every time without using a measuring cup, called the knuckle method. Place as much rice as you want into the ricepot, and then place your palm on top of the rice. Fill the cooker with water until it's almost past your knuckles. Turn the cooker on, wait (time depending on your cooker) and you're done. However, just making rice is a disservice to what a rice cooker is capable of cooking. Rice cookers essentially operate like a stovetop, which makes them perfect for Auburn's dorms, because technically, they're not stoves. A rice cooker will, generally, turn off after a set period of time or once it reaches a certain temperature. But rice cookers are easy to fool. Simply turning them back on will do the trick. With this in mind, I came up with macaroni and cheese and chili.
A weekly highlight of this week's Auburn Plainsman.
When Joshua Bell, senior in animal sciences pre-vet, and Jared Vaughn, senior in biomedical sciences, became assistant directors of UPC Special Projects, they asked themselves how they could reach a wider audience. Their answer was "Super Smash Bros. Brawl." Bell said almost every man has played the "Super Smash Bros." series at one point or another, so Special Projects set up their "Super Smash Bros." Tournament on Thursday, Oct. 23 in the Student Center Game Room. "We're supposed to be about the entire student body, but the people who normally come [to UPC events] are normally freshmen or people who are on campus," Bell said. "We don't really branch out too much." For the past few years, the Special Projects committee positions were held exclusively by women, according to Bell. He said this led to many events which many men found unappealing, such as jewelry workshops and Girls' Night Out, an event that gives makeup advice. "We want some testosterone in the system, if that's OK," Bell said. That's not to say the Special Projects committee didn't put on events appealing to men as well. An event by last year's all-female Special Projects committee inspired Bell to join UPC. The event was dart art, which is when darts are thrown at paint-filled balloons mounted on a canvas. "A lot of girls are more creative than a lot of the guys, myself included -- very much so," Bell said. "They can come up with these brilliant events. So it's nice to see that creative side and try and do my best to be as creative as I can." This was UPC's first attempt at a video game tournament. Bell said he expected to have approximately 20 people show up, but more than 40 people came to compete in the tournament. UPC received additional support from Button Mashers Anonymous when Kyle Jordan, president of Button Mashers Anonymous and graduate student in biological sciences, extended a helping hand after hearing about the event. "Thank the good Lord that they did," Bell said. "Praise Jesus for Button Mashers Anonymous, that's all I've got to say." Jordan kept track of the bracket and directed players to the proper station. Some contestants gave aliases, so Jordan was heard approximately every five minutes yelling names ranging from "Pig Norton," to "Nice One," to "Johnny Donut." "They definitely publicized this event very well," Jordan said. "I saw a lot of new faces and lot of people I didn't know but were still very good. That was really exciting. New competition is always great." Button Mashers Anonymous provided three of the five Wii systems and extra copies of the game used at the event. Bell said he originally planned to have a four-person free-for-all for each round. However, Jordan explained to Bell that these types of rounds lend themselves toward bad sportsmanship. In a free-for-all match, every player is pitted against each other, so three players can team up and immediately knock out the best player from the match. "We decided that one-on-one would keep the sportsmanship alive while keeping the competition flowing," Jordan said. In a tournament to decide the best player, free-for-all matches could prevent the best player from winning. That player was Philip McDaniel, senior in geography. "I beat a lot of people who weren't really good at the game, just to put it bluntly," McDaniel said. McDaniel is also a member of Button Mashers Anonymous, and he said he plays a lot of "Super Smash Bros." He has been playing "Super Smash Bros." since its original release in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. McDaniel said he was impressed overall by UPC's attempt at holding a video game tournament. "I think it's pretty cool, and I wish they would host more game tournaments and maybe collaborate with the other gaming clubs here," McDaniel said. "I've been to one in the past and it seemed like it took a long time. But I really wish they would host more UPC tournaments."
Students gather in the Student Center for this semester's Super Smash Bros. tournament hosted by UPC.
The annual Syrup Sopping Day event in Loachapoka, Alabama was this past Saturday, October 18th.Music by Zack Kamerman
Twenty degrees north and south of the equator, in regions known as the 20th parallels, natives harvest the fuel that keeps the world running - Coffee. It is in these regions where Wake Up Coffee Co. chooses to buy their coffee beans at a fair price. It's called fair and direct trade, according to Megan Preston, co-owner of Wake Up Coffee Co., and it beats the banana republic - a politically unstable area with an impoverished working class whose economy depends largely on exporting products - most coffee growers in the 20th parallels work. "When you create a market place for what people can produce, that could go on forever," Megan said. "It gives them more opportunity for continued income and gives them the pride of a job well-done and empowerment through meaningful work." From Ethiopia, Mexico, Liberia and straight into your coffee cup on Auburn University's campus; Wake Up Coffee will be selling their worldly coffee on campus among the ranks of the various other food trucks this coming fall semester next to Comer Hall off of Mell Street from morning through lunch. Wake Up Coffee will begin selling their coffee from a 1982 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia modified to into a coffee house on wheels, which they named Papercup Espresso. Equipped with most of the amenities the main store has to offer, Wake Up Coffee and Papercup Espresso will be able to satisfy the coffee craving students need fixed to wake up with lattes, espresso, mixed drinks and dripped coffee. Wake Up Coffee will begin roasting their own coffee beans locally once the van makes its debut on campus. "From what I've heard, Starbucks is always really crowded," Megan said. "It would be nice to have another option, so we might catch some of their overflow." Megan and Wade Preston, co-owner of Wake Up Coffee Co., purchased the van from Steady Hand Pour House, a coffee shop based in Atlanta. "It used to be a street coffee van, but it had been sitting out for three or four years, was rusty and busted up," Wade said. "We saw some potential in it and we thought it was made for a college town." The van's first adventure into coffee was at the 2013 Iron Bowl before Wake Up Coffee Co. ever opened. Megan and Wade set up Paper Cup Espresso next to Ander's Bookstore to advertise their soon-to-be coffee shop. "It's fun to look back and know that our first day of business, the first cup of coffee we ever sold was on the Iron Bowl 2013," Wade said. Now, the van is in good shape thanks to Auburn industrial design seniors Blaine McHale, Kathryn Klebenow, Joanna Waters, Madeline Sharp and Matt Severin. Wake Up Coffee contacted the industrial design department at Auburn to work on the interior design and layout of the van. "With one or two people working in the van, space can be at a premium," Severin said. "There are also certain things you are required to have for health standards, so making sure everything can fit into the van can be kind of a hard job." After measuring the van, brainstorming and consulted with Wade, the industrial design students were able to design an interior that was as efficient as possible from the standpoint of a barista. "It'll make it look like more of a coffee can, instead of like a 'let's all grab Shaggy and the gang and go camping' van," Severin said. Megan and Wade have begun a Kickstarter in order to get their van project off the ground. Wake Up Coffee's goal is $10,000 and will end on Aug. 17. Individuals who pledge money to Papercup Espresso's Kickstarter can receive anything form free coffee and T-shirts to full barista lessons. Backers who donate $1,000 or more will receive a private party from Wake Up Coffee with live music and unlimited free drinks at Wake Up Coffee Co. in Auburn or at a private location of the backer's choosing.
I am an advocate of self-defense. Proper self-defense and situational awareness are imperative when defending yourself, whether you're dodging a punch, a knife or a car. But then there are guns. I'm not a fan of guns. I am not completely comfortable around them, and I wish they were never invented. Guns are the great equalizer. Once, an enraged man weighing over 230 pounds of sheer muscle would have been insurmountable to the average woman. Now, with the use of a firearm, the tables can easily turn in the woman's favor with the pull of a trigger and a quarter-ounce of lead. Guns have made physical strength irrelevant and turn brave men cowards when staring down its barrel. And the way I see it, we need to know how to defend ourselves from the people behind them. A Kevlar or carbon fiber vest only covers a person's torso. Having some firearm training myself, I can tell you hitting a target the size of a small watermelon at 15 yards is relatively easy. Being generous, an attacker would have a minimum of seven bullets, which means they have seven chances to hit that watermelon. A person could run. In a setting such as Auburn University, the density of the crowd would put the odds of escaping unharmed in a person's favor. Unfortunately, chances are someone will be hit. For some, none of these options are agreeable. For some, gambling with chance is not an option. For some, the best option for protecting one's life, and the lives of those around them, would be to use offense as a form of self-defense. Namely, a gun. However, Auburn University is a gun-free campus. The University complies with Senate Bill 286, which states employees may keep properly secured firearms inside their car at their work. However, employers may still choose to ban guns within the business itself. Auburn University complies with this law and chooses to restrict guns inside its buildings. They are within their right to do so. It is the case, however, the University's department of public safety has provided students and faculty with a gun locker to store their guns while they remain on campus. With proper identification, an individual may store their weapon on campus. But what's the point? All this would be fine with me if we lived in a world where every person followed the rules agreed upon by society. If an individual intends to break the cardinal rule of society, to not take the life of another human, they would most certainly not follow its other rules. Storing guns in a locker, away from arms reach, defeats the purpose of owning a firearm for self-defense. Are all gun owners to rush to the public safety's gun locker in the event of an attack? Heaven forbid the assailants begin their assault at the locker itself. The locker is not for our benefit. It is a form of appeasement, a compromise, which achieves nothing other than to hush the outcries of a fraction of citizens. The University passively smothers the voice and opinions of the dissenting group with this amenity. In providing students and faculty with a gun locker, the University has done nothing at all.
Facebook has set up a toxic atmosphere of co-dependence and narcissism. It has taught us, not to become reliant on Facebook, but to become reliant on others. It's an environment where users are becoming excessively, and at times awkwardly, open about their lives with everyone on the internet at the risk of jeopardizing their own social well-being for individuals they may not even know. Facebook has entered the limelight of the Internet and, while its appeal is beginning to curb, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. The appeal of Facebook is understandable. It's a great way to keep up with friends, but also strangers. While having Facebook makes it easier to connect with anyone and everyone, it is actually slowly deteriorating how and who we communicate with. Individuals with over 500 friends, or even a thousand, are not uncommon on Facebook. It's fascinating how one person can keep track of over 1,000 people. Working under the premise: friendship requires a relationship, users with over a thousand friends must surely remember individual things about each person and, at the very least, their names. This would seem to be a tall task for any one person to handle; and as it turns out, most people cannot. In 2011, NPR's Rachel Martin interviewed Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Oxford, to gain insight on his findings regarding human networking. As it turns out, the average person can only keep track of around 150 people. This is called Dunbar's Number. With this information in mind, it would be rather absurd to think that one person could keep track of over 1,000 people. Thanks to Dunbar's Number, it is safe to assume that many of these people are complete strangers. Now, it's not far-fetched to assume many of these users may actually know most of the people they are Facebook friends with, however it is questionable they might actually be close. Perhaps they may only be acquaintances, or someone they've only met once. It's also not uncommon to see people become Facebook friends with strangers. Facebook is an environment that promotes users creating ambiguous connections with people, thus skewing the line between users' actual friends and complete strangers.
I've never lived on campus. So, when it comes to deciding whether or not to live there, I might not be the most reliable source. However, I have a perspective many ought to consider, especially since 80 percent of students live off campus. Now, this column is not intended to scare you, young freshman. I will speak of many things. Roommates, money, navel picking. However, I am not saying any of these things will happen to you. (Try not to take it too seriously.) I stayed on campus for two nights during Camp War Eagle in the Quad. That was enough for me. In hindsight, I've spent more than two nights on campus, but the library doesn't count. That's not to say my stay was traumatic. Frankly, I found the dorm itself to be quite tolerable. But what I found intolerable was having a roommate so close. We talked nonchalantly for about half an hour before we decided to cut off the lights. The conversation was productive. I learned we had virtually nothing in common. I also didn't want to bother him, and I didn't want him bothering me. What if he snores? Will he begin to smell bad? What if he catches me picking at something I ought not be picking at? Will I ever be able to fart casually in my bed again? Those questions all sound mighty melodramatic. I become too self-aware when someone eats, sleeps and lives in the same 16-by-12-foot room as me. I wouldn't be able to focus or sleep soundly, which prevents me from being able to buckle down and study when I need to. I realized it would only be for two nights, but I didn't want to roll the dice when it came to living with a stranger during the semester. So I moved into a trailer off campus with a friend from high school. It was one of the best decisions I made, not only for my study habits, but for my wallet as well. A double room in the Quad costs $3,100 per semester. With five months in a semester, that's $620 a month. The same room in the Hill will cost $550 a month, and you'll be paying $800 a month in the Village. It doesn't take much digging to find off campus housing offering twice the space of a dorm room at a fraction of the cost. My rent is $307.50, so don't say deals aren't out there. Oh, and many off campus housing options provide a refrigerator. That is a luxury not afforded to students in the Hill or Quad. Technically there is a communal refrigerator in the each dorm building's kitchen, but would you trust that? Four stolen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches later and you'll be stashing your food beneath your bed like a squirrel. If it's the commute you are concerned about, fear not. The Tiger Transit takes approximately 10-15 minutes to get on campus, depending where your bus stop is at. Though, the most important thing is they're reliable. I have never, not once, missed or even been late to class due to the Tiger Transit. Worried about making fewer friends by living off campus? Well, if you don't take the initiative to find them yourself, you probably won't find any, regardless of where you live. To me, the only perk of living on campus is you can throw a rock at your classroom.
Jordan's View: We have seen the writing on the wall, and it's a bomb threat. A bomb threat was once called into my middle school. The school was on an army base in Germany, so the threat was taken seriously by the military. We were removed from our classrooms and escorted to the nearby movie theater to take shelter. The military found out who the caller was. It was a student trying to get out of class. The military took action, and his father was heavily demoted and their family was sent back to the United States. What the military did might be construed as harsh. However, we do live in a post-9/11 society. Nowadays, everyone seems to fear bombs exploding in public places and airplanes falling out of the sky caused by terrorizing, foreign strangers. However, most of these claims are not realistic, in my opinion.. Nevertheless, citizens are being taught to fear these strangers as rumors of terror spread. So when Auburn University receives a message from an anonymous source threatening the lives thousands of students, the University will have to take it seriously. Even if those in power don't believe it is substantiated, they know they would be pressured from the fears and complaints of those they serve to take action. The University should continue to do whatever necessary to ensure the students, their families and faculty feel safe. This would involve closing the school to quell fears during a bomb threat. Students should not sit in Haley Center and pretend nothing is happening when they know there is threat of an attack. Furthermore, the University must make timely responses to these threats. Acknowledging their existence is the only way to prevent the spread of rumors and hysteria among the student body. This is especially necessary when these threats are made public on social media. But closing the University does not stop the threats. The threats will end with increased enforcement for fear of being caught. Hopefully, the $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the felon will be as far as enforcement will need to go. ____________________________________________________ Becky's View: Auburn University has opened Pandora's box. When I was in my junior year of high school, we had a bomb threat almost every week for a good month. The student who made those threats was sending them in as a joke to get out of class. The threats eventually stopped when the student turned himself in. Although bomb threats are a serious matter and should not be taken lightly, shutting down the University for a day only made matters worse. The University gave into fear, which is what the person who wrote the threat on the wall probably wanted. Now that the University has reacted this way, the perpetrator, or any other student, may think writing a threat on a bathroom wall is the way to get out of a test. The Auburn Police Division had been notified about the first threat weeks before Wednesday, April 16. Because they were aware of the threat, they made sure to have extra police and security on campus to monitor any suspicious activity until the person who wrote the threat was caught. Police Chief Paul Register said the police department did not think the threat was serious enough to shutdown campus for the day. Although I don't know all the protocol about handling a threat to campus, I know giving in to the threat was not the right way to go about it. This was not necessarily a better safe than sorry situation. With the most recent bomb threat found in another Haley Center bathroom, it only furthers my point that these threats may continue whenever someone wants class to be cancelled. The University did handle the Tuesday, April 22, bomb threat well because they only shutdown Haley for a few hours while they searched the building. If the University continues to handle threats like that, then students have a better chance of finishing finals without AU Alert taking over their phones.
I've lived in Germany for three years. I tell people that, and they begin firing typical questions at me. For the most part, the first question asked is if I speak German. I learned enough German to say I don't speak German. The next question, if it isn't the first question, is, "What was it like?" This varies from person to person. They ask me about castles and forts. Some ask me about the food. If they're brave, they'll ask me about WWII history museums or Nazi concentration camps. All the questions boil down to things a tourist would ask, what a tourist would experience, what a tourist would do. No one asks about everyday life. No one has ever approached me with questions that are framed outside the context of a few months. No one asks about buying groceries or gas. No one asks me about what it was like for me, as a child, to play outside there. No one asks about interacting with locals beyond ordering food. No one asks about walking down the street every morning in a country that doesn't speak English. Sure, many of them know English, but for the most part, it was easier to agree not to communicate beyond formal greetings. Living in Germany was a pleasant experience. In hindsight, it was the best three years of my life thus far. However, I began to see changes in the local children my age after a year of living there. I normally saw them playing with one another, just like I would with my friends, but they would grow silent when I walked past them to get to my bus stop in the morning. Then one day, they spoke to me. "Hey, come here," the fat one said in broken English. "Psst!" the others hissed. I stopped walking and looked at them. I thought about going over there. I thought about trying to communicate with them, perhaps leading to some sort of beautiful friendship where we could play games without needing words. But then the fat one spit in my direction. I walked away. When I lived in Germany, I did it wrong. I spent three years in a foreign land and failed at obtaining a real cultural experience. I saw the castles and ate the food, but I did not learn the language and communicate with the locals as a guest in their homeland. I didn't take the time to get to know them and communicate with them as people, not as Germans. We as Americans are privileged. We like to look abroad and experience the culture of foreign lands, but little time do we take to interact with the people who make up that culture. We act as if going to a big church or some castle Hitler spent his weekends at is enough to make us cultured; thinking they have experienced all that a foreign land has to offer. It's not. Those are history lessons given out by tour guides. History is an important element that defines culture, but people misinterpret that as THE culture. The best way to experience a culture is to share in it with the people who make up that culture. Not drinking buddies, not a tour guide, not a study abroad group. But we think it is, and we wonder why the rest of the rest of world doesn't like us when we turn their world into a vacation hotspot.
In 1994, the Alabama Council of Higher Education passed a statewide articulation agreement, which built partnerships between community colleges and universities, requiring all core credits transferred from a two-year college to fulfill requirements at four-year colleges. This agreement allows students to easily transfer between colleges without losing credit hours. In 2010, Auburn University rolled around to changing its core curriculum model to meet this standard. Before the revised model, students were required to take two literature courses and two history courses. Afterward, students were required to take either two literatures or a single history or vice versa. Presented with this option, students have overwhelmingly decided to opt out of taking two literature courses and instead take two history courses. This change resulted in a decline in the number of students enrolled in English courses and hampered the department's ability to fill classes. Now, those educators fear for their jobs, according to various English instructors. Less classes mean less instructors. With their year-long employee contracts expiring soon, instructors are left in a state of suspense on whether or not they will be asked to return. This situation, coupled with a tenure track inaccessible to most instructors, recently caused many to seek employment elsewhere or simply put their collegiate careers on hold. However, Jeremy Downes, chair for the department of English, stated these instructors' jobs are relatively safe, thanks to those who have already found jobs elsewhere. Yet, the English department still faces an issue: how to fill their classes? The solution: cut back on classes. We disagree. The process behind reading comprehension can be found in the fundamentals of our education. It makes students worldlier and establishes intangible connections among the past, the present and the distant. Core history courses seat approximately 200 students. As a result, students easily get away with not paying attention in class by texting, snoozing or daydreaming. History instructors are keen on this trend and enforce harsh penalties on students caught not paying attention, resulting in students viewing the professor as a ruthless despot rather than someone who is approachable. Additionally, these professors generally give multiple-choice exams, encouraging students to adopt "stuff and flush" study habits. We think this exam format is not conducive to learning or to a collegiate environment. Now, that's not to say we don't appreciate the history department. We probably wouldn't even know what despot means if not for them. History serves as a vital part of creating a well-rounded curriculum. We cannot plan for the future without understanding the pitfalls of the past. But we would like to make a case for literature courses. We understand translating thoughts onto a page does not come naturally for everyone. However, this skill can be learned though practice and is applicable in the professional world, regardless of job or major. The last thing you want is for an employer to think you read and write on a 7th grade level because you sent out a poor email. Literature classes also promote discussion during class, aiding in comprehension and promoting of analytical skills. You just don't get that in a history lecture, where information is crammed in bulk into your ear. We believe by reducing the history core classes' maximum capacity, students will inevitably be rerouted into literature. This change will reduce burdens on both department and instructors. It's mutually beneficial. It allows for potential of better rapport with students and history instructors while also reducing the workload on their graduate teaching assistants. To top it off, English department instructors will no longer face the impending doom of potentially losing their jobs at the esteemed Auburn University. We understand this might be an oversimplification of a complex issue, but as a journalistic body, you can't fault us for our commitment to the written word.
There we sat in Suite 1111 of the Student Center six months ago. We, the Fall 2014 Plainsman staff, were mainly confused. Our normal office routine of teaching ourselves to read by watching FOX News was interrupted by two questions, "Who are Eric Hutchinson and Gloriana?" and "Why are they playing at Auburn University?" We realized it didn't matter who they were. If we had to ask, they weren't big enough. The University Program Council had to do a better job at getting headliners. As a result, we wrote an editorial, "'Are you not entertained?' No, we aren't." But, was it pretentious of us to demand better bands to perform at Auburn? Well, we are going to throw some names at you. See if they sound familiar. The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, The Allman Brothers Band, Issac Hayes, Santana, Elton John, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Doobie Brothers, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Charlie Daniels Band and R.E.M. Do you know what they all have in common? They all performed at Auburn University. We wanted bands we actually care to see; bands that get us excited. Excitement that can only be felt from seeing your favorite artists in the flesh. From feeling the first wave of sound from the amps crash into you. The bliss of hearing the first few notes of your favorite song. The sadness of it ending. These are all things we expect from a concert. And nothing against Train, soul sister, but we would have been more excited to see them a decade ago. All past travesties aside, UPC has turned it around by communicating via social media. Or maybe they just turned on a radio. The Avett Brothers and B.o.B are as prominent in today's music scene as The Allman Brothers Band was in the 70s. We do not doubt the Auburn Arena will be filled with real fans, not just a bunch of students procrastinating their coursework on a Thursday night. Seeing these big headlining bands will give students' minds the break they need near the end of the semester. It's clear UPC is trying to do this with every event they throw. So what if the events are generally less than lackluster? These are fellow students putting on events to help entertain their fellow students. If that isn't admirable enough for you, you can stop reading. That said, we are still encouraging UPC to continue to make progress. We want to continue to see amazing artists like those who preformed here in the 70s. If we could get Elton John to perform back in 1973, we see no reason we can't get headliners like The Black Keys or Drake to perform here now. Keep the greats such as The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley in your heads, UPC, and aim high.
Newspapers strive to be objective, but we have a bias. We want to see Auburn succeed. We printed two editorials about Jay Jacobs last year, "We need a leader, not a loser" and "The high cost of losing," calling for Jacobs to be fired. We felt justified in our opinion, and we still feel it was the right call at the time. His decisions were an embarrassment to the University. Jacobs seemed to be going by a system of trial and error; hiring and firing coaches here and there on a whim. There almost seemed to be no logic or reason to his new hires. We saw this happen with Gene Chizik and Tony Barbee. Jacobs hired Chizik after the former defensive coordinator had only won five games in two years at Iowa State. His reasoning? Chizik was an Auburn guy, and he was cheap. Sure, he led us to a victory at the 2011 National Championship, but let's be honest, Cam Newton, Nick Fairley and several of Tommy Tuberville's recruits did all of the legwork. As for Barbee, Auburn built a new arena for the men's basketball team in 2010, expecting Barbee to come through and form a team fans would want see play. What Auburn got was a joke -- the worst four-year stretch in program history -- and the Auburn Arena quickly became a $92.5 million tombstone for our men's basketball team. Auburn Athletics was dead by 2012. Jacobs was burning the program to the ground with his incompetence. Auburn was in the Dark Age of athletics. But two years later, despite his past failures, Jacobs has potentially turned the Auburn Athletics program around. He has sifted through the ashes and found a few pearls--literally. Jacobs hired Gus Malzahn, who is one of the brightest offensive minds in football and brought the University to the BCS National Championship game in his first year. He brought in Clint Myers for softball, who had two national championships in the Pac-12 and who left a Top-5 program to coach here. Jacobs also got Sunny Golloway, who was the head coach of a consistent postseason contender at Oklahoma. And now, he has gotten Bruce Pearl, who took Tennessee from 14-17 to 25-7 in one year and made them the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament with the same roster. It will take a while for the basketball team to build themselves up to any sort of glory. Who knows, maybe Pearl will be able to pull off what Malzahn did in 2011. We now have some of the most incredible coaching minds in college sports. Auburn University is in a veritable athletic Renaissance, and Jay Jacobs is the Medici. Was it luck? Possibly. A miracle? Perhaps. All we really know is Jacobs gave us results, which is all we really care about. Jacobs might actually go down in Auburn history if all goes well these next few years. Now, this doesn't make us wrong for saying Jacobs should have been fired. He should have been. However, he didn't buckle under the tremendous pressure the fans placed on him. It is fair to say Jacobs has redeemed himself. Hopefully, he can keep it up.