Articles by: jdavis15

 

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  New Club Helps Curb Hunger in Fairfax

  News1 October 24, 2011 at 7:02 pm Comments are Disabled

  Members of Mason Meals, a new club on campus, are actively working hand-in-hand with Mason Dining to end hunger in the Fairfax area by donating students’ leftover meal plans at the end of each semester. “I noticed a lot of the food waste Mason goes through,” said sophomore Jordan Bivings, president and founder of Mason Meals. “If we can waste as much as we do, we can give as much as we do.” Mason Meals started as a cornerstone project for Bivings. Her class had the opportunity to work with FACETS, a Fairfax County organization that helps families and individuals suffering from the effects of poverty. Based on the feedback Bivings and her classmates received, Mason Meals was created in May. Bivings said she had no trouble assembling a group of students who wanted to make an impact as much as she did; she even decided to give the title and duties of vice president to two students instead of the traditional one. “They were the main two people who were really hands-on in organizing this. They are extremely passionate about Mason Meals and working with FACETS,” Bivings said. One of the vice presidents, sophomore integrative studies major Andrew Lyon, […]

   

• Athlete of the Week: Quarterback Jack Langley

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 4:21 pm Comments are Disabled

  In football, the quarterback is often seen as the star of the team. Senior quarterback Jack Langley, known by friends as “Quarterback Jack” or “Simple Jack” by his teammates — a “Tropic Thunder” reference — has been on the George Mason University club football team since his freshman year. Now that his final season is upon him, there is still much this quarterback hopes to achieve. Fans can’t help but feel excited when watching Langley and his teammates play. Mason’s football team may only be a club team, but the energy is still electric and thriving in the stands, which are always filled at every home game by fans blazing school spirit. Langley’s biggest supporters can be found holding signs that read “Marry Me Quarterback Jack!” — ironically by most of his male friends — or “Lets go #14!”. The spotlight doesn’t only shine on him, though. “This team, the players and coaches, make it fun every day for me,” Langley said. “Not only do we have a variety of very skilled athletes, but great guys who have extraordinary camaraderie, a great sense of humor and pride.” Being the leader of the team isn’t always easy. “Some negatives would include […]

   
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  Are the risks of Red Bull Worth the Wings?

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 4:21 pm Comments are Disabled

  Red Bull gives you wings. At least that’s what the commercials say. As endorsed by celebrity sponsors Rickie Fowler, Sebastian Vettel and Travis Rice, who support the effects caused by the controversial drink, it gives you the energy to succeed. George Mason University athletes, however, are well aware of the risks that come with drinking Red Bull and other energy drinks. The most common and popular stimulant found in energy drinks is caffeine, but most drinks also contain other harmful energy-inducing ingredients that can cause a variety of negative nutritional, physical and psychological effects. According to Theresa Logan, the sports dietitian for the Center for Sports Performance at Mason, the ingredients in energy drinks stimulate the central nervous system, increase mental acuity, blood pressure and heart rate, as well as cause dental erosion and dehydration. “For a student athlete, consuming energy drinks throughout the day creates a jittery feeling, upset stomach and insomnia,” Logan said. “This situation cascades into poor diet and sleep habits and sudden energy crashes.” On average, a student athlete can lose approximately three liters of fluid per day through exercise, and by adding energy drinks to their daily diet, they put themselves at risk for dehydration, […]

   
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  Rookie Striker Hungry for Success

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 3:55 pm Comments are Disabled

  For a high school soccer player, a serious leg injury can be career ending. Scholarships can fly out the window. Offers themselves can disintegrate faster than they appeared. And if they ever recover, they may only be a shadow of their former selves. But when Liz Hodges tore her ACL she found a vote of confidence in the head coach from just up the street. Diane Drake had been looking at the young forward since her early days at South County High School in Lorton, Va. and gave Hodges her first vote of confidence after the injury. “She was actually at the game where I got hurt,” Hodges said. “Instantly I knew I wanted to go here because she emailed me from her blackberry on her way home asking how I was doing, if I was okay.” Usually injuries like that are hard to come back from. They have ended college careers and killed professional hopes for some. Hodges wanted nothing more to get on the field, though, to play for someone who had apparently limitless confidence in her scoring power. “Whenever I watched her play, she was always scoring goals,” Drake said. “Unorthodox goals, too, that other girls couldn’t […]

   

• Senior VP Makes Tough Decisions on and off the Field

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 3:52 pm Comments are Disabled

  In the world of sports, which is filled with pageantry, spectacle and uncertainty, the referees are the select few who maintain order — or at least attempt to. They are faced with difficult decisions in every game that they call and are always subjected to extreme scrutiny. George Mason University’s Senior Vice President Maurice Scherrens has taken the bulk of the scrutiny in his 21 years as a Division I NCAA football official. “Sports have always been a big part of my life,” Scherrens said. “I played sports through high school but wasn’t good enough to play any sports in college. A neighbor officiated sports and he got me interested in it. And once I started, I got hooked on it.” Scherrens began officiating basketball and football in a career that has spanned 30 years. “The progression from 8- and 10-year-olds, through junior high, JV, high school was about eight years or so, and then I worked Division III for a few years before Division I,” Scherrens said. “You’ve got to work your way up and, to be honest, you’ve got to be lucky. Somebody’s got to see you and like the way you officiate and then you get a […]

   

• Mason Madness Was One for the History Books

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 3:50 pm Comments are Disabled

  Two words: I’m mad. Crazy mad for the basketball season to finally get underway after the incredible performance put on by a variety of acts on Friday night. It was, by far, the best Mason Madness I have been a part of since 2009. The best introduction (see below); the best performances all the way down the line – from Urbanknowlogy to the Masonettes to Snap Boogie and Peter Rabbit; the most memorable display of coaching attire from Doc Hewitt; and the most phenomenal kickoff to the Mason basketball season.The party was rockin’ right from the start, as Doc Nix and the Green Machine performed an incredible brand of LMFAO’s hit Party Rock Anthem. Even the senior men’s and women’s basketball players came out to “shake that” for the crowd of several thousand. (I must say, though, the women’s players showed much better in the dancing category. Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson had a whole lot of snap, but no boogie. Don’t believe me? Watch the video). Then, after all of the great entertainment, new Patriots’ coach Paul Hewitt won over the crowd by walking out of the tunnel dressed as the beloved director of the Green Machine, Doc Nix. […]

   

• How Do You Spell Google?

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  Google was recently on trial for potentially owning two-thirds of the cyber market. Ken Auletta’s “Googled: The End of the World as We Know It” was an accurate premonition of the heat Google is now receiving for monopolizing the web. Just last June, the Federal Trade Commission began investigating the web monster to see if it’s been promoting its own products in searches and whether its behavior has been legally sound. The government has developed concerns that the search engine has become the threat that Auletta warned it could be in his book. Auletta described the two faces of Google; the possible violation of antitrust law has shined a spotlight on the more nasty one. Last month Google Chairman Eric Schmidt testified in front of the Senate, claiming that the company has yet to abuse a dominant business position and is therefore not violating any specific law. He also said that Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has been having an influx of traffic and Google’s perceived dominance. Schmidt did admit, however, that his company is teetering on the border of a monopoly, but it wouldn’t matter either way because monopolies are legal. I do like how Auletta’s book discussed both pros […]

   

• Television Ignores Black Culture

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  With the arrival of the new television lineup a few weeks ago came a slew of new shows that eased their way into my viewing queue. One that particularly caught my eye was ABC’s historical drama “Pan Am,” which follows the lives of stewardesses and airline pilots during the iconic era of flight in the 1960s. Hoping it would be somewhat similar to the airline nostalgia found in the film, “Catch Me If You Can,” I tuned in. Not surprisingly, the show glamorized the innocuous, joyful escapades of the characters, devoid of any major worries, including small quips of romance and mystery along the way. The thing that did surprise me was the complete lack of blacks portrayed, except for a few extras in the background. Flipping around on other TV channels, I realized that most major network shows (excluding law and criminal genres), are void of any central black characters, especially in historical fiction. For some shows such as “The Tudors,” it’s more understandable, seeing as the slave trade hadn’t happened at full-scale yet. However for others, the opportunity is obviously there to include black culture and society. Networks, producers and scriptwriters often fear backlash from viewers regarding the […]

   

• Poor Taste And Poor Judgement From Williams Jr.

  News1 October 19, 2011 at 3:47 pm Comments are Disabled

  “This country sure as hell been goin’ down the drain/ We know what we need/ We know who to blame/ United Socialist States of America/ How do ya like that name?/ I’ll keep the USA and y’all can keep the change.” In the words of Hank Williams Jr.’s new song, “Keep the Change,” Obama is an awful lot like Hitler if Boehner is a lot like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And before someone freaks out and says, “It was only an analogy. Chill out!” I’m going to retort that I fully understand the definition of an analogy and how it compares two things that are otherwise dissimilar. What I don’t understand is how someone so well-accustomed to constant transparency concerning the things that he says can be so stupid when it comes to being accountable for his actions. We all have free speech, but if I represent ESPN and compare the president of the U.S. to the most hated man in all of history, I should expect to quickly lose my affiliation: How could anyone with such a controversial opinion not see that one coming? Songs and analogies like these reinforce a bizarre kind of ignorance in America and […]

   

• Playing Dress Up

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:46 pm Comments are Disabled

  Can we buy sexy? Can we simply blanket our insecurities and sell our sexy? We can paint our faces every morning, drown our clothes in perfume and dress ostentatiously, but strip it all away and we’re rough-skinned little girls with no heart. Isn’t the purpose of performing all these circus acts to compensate for the lack of confidence and hide our physical “flaws”? All the clown makeup and big hair is supposed to make up for the lack of self-love; unfortunately, it’s not that easy. I was at work earlier today and I saw a shirt with a provocative picture of the infamous Marilyn Monroe plastered on it. I’ve always felt a slight sourness from the mention of her name. She simply exuded “whore.” Then it dawned on me that I was mistaken. She’s just like most women: She had a natural beauty, wore an extensive amount of makeup and was the epitome of desirability when it came to men, or at least she aspired to be that way. But Monroe was a sad, lonely girl who battled depression, loved reading novels and poetry, and spent a lot of time in deep thought. She was and still is an icon […]