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Congratulations, grads!

All commencement ceremonies are held in the P.E. Complex on Baytree Road. Parking nearest to the ceremony is available at the Complex, Oak Street Parking Deck, Oak Street Parking Lot, and Sustella Parking Lot. The times for Spring 2012 Commencement are as follows:

Graduate School:

Friday, May 4 at 6 p.m.

Undergraduate Ceremonies:

Dewar College of Education and Air Force ROTC

Saturday, May 5 at 10 a.m.

College of the Arts, Langdale College of Business Administration and the College of Nursing

Saturday, May 5 at 1 p.m.

College of Arts and Sciences 

Saturday, May 5 at 4 p.m.

Remember: 

All graduates are required to arrive at least one hour prior to their respective ceremonies. Additional information regarding commencement schedules, directions to the ceremonies and seating can be found at http://valdosta.edu/commencement or by calling Event Services at 229-333-5998.

Guns For Hire is lead singer Cody Gibson, drummer Luke Morgan, lead guitarist Johnathon Miller and bassist Hunter Gregg.

Two VSU students have aimed to make a name for themselves with their band “Guns for Hire.”

The band consists of four members.

Lead singer Cody Gibson, a junior mass media major, plays guitar and writes some of the band’s songs along with Hunter Gregg, a sophomore biology major.

Johnathon Miller is the lead guitarist, and Luke Morgan plays as drummer.

Morgan and Gregg both played in two other bands together prior to Guns for Hire.

Gibson formed the band in January on his own.

He got the idea for the group name from a song by Bruce Springsteen titled “Dancing in the Dark.”

In the song, there’s a line that says, “This gun’s for hire even if we’re just dancing in the dark.”

The band has performed at places such as Blue Pub, 6 Shooters Saloon and Mellow.  They also play at private parties and biker rallies.

Gregg and Gibson described their sound as being “cow-punk.” This is punk music with a “twang.”

According to them, famous bands that also fall under this category are Social Distortion, Flat Tires, Lucero and Drive-By Truckers.

The band’s influences vary depending on the member. Some like Machine Head, Pantera and Primus, and some like Hank Williams.

Guns for Hire has a mixture of songs with topics ranging from relationship issues to violence.

The band said that their lyrics are more like stories than typical song lyrics.

One of their favorite parts about performing is the fact that people actually know some of their songs.

“It’s fun to have people singing along,” Gibson said.

Gregg agreed that one of the benefits was fame.

“We like to show off,” he said. “We’re a super group.”

They hope to one day begin touring and get their music out to more of the public.

Guns for Hire isn’t just a band; they’re a family of brothers,” Gregg said. “We’re all pretty close.”

These four brothers feel passionately about what they do as they love the rebellious nature of their music.

Gibson has one thing to say about it.

“Music is like having sex,” he said. “It’s personal.”

 The Valdosta Symphony is comprised of professional musicians and VSU students that will play a variety of instruments including violins, cellos, flutes, trumpets, and trombones.

 “There will also be a wide array of percussion instruments including tympani, bass drum and castanets,” Dr. Howard Hsu, assistant professor of music, and director of orchestra studies, said.

 The concerts consist of a Youth Concert and a Family Concert.

 The Youth Concert will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m.

 “This concert is specially designed to be a musical and educational experience for younger students ranging from elementary school through high school,” Hsu said.

 The program will include many different types of music that will be played by the orchestra.

 “Feature selections include classical music composed by Rossini, Wagner, Debussy, Vivaldi and Ravel, and this vivid music will evoke images in the minds of the audience,” he said.

  “For example, in the Vivaldi Four Seasons (featuring VSO Concertmaster Nina Lutz and violin soloist), you can hear birdcalls, a bubbling stream and thunder and lightning.”

 Youth concerts are held four times per year by VSO.

 “Every year, the VSO invites music educators throughout South Georgia to bring their students to attend,” he said. “This free youth concert will be a delight for all in attendance.”

 The Family Concert will be performed on Sunday at 3 p.m. and is free to all VSU students.

 “This concert is a performance for families,” Hsu said. “Our audience is primarily from the Valdosta area, though we do draw from throughout Southern Georgia and Northern Florida as well.”

 Also one of the main features, the concert will showcase artwork by local children projected in video during the performance.

 The film will leave you spent, disturbed and sorrowful–and all too aware of ugly truths about human tendencies.

 But buckle up. With its desired rating now official –the MPAA ordered an R at first for a couple of barely discernible F bombs but has since acquiesced to director Lee Hirsch’s refusal to cut a pivotal scene and agreed to a PG-13–”Bully” is mandatory viewing for kids, parents, teachers, administrators, school liaison officers –anyone connected with education as well as anyone who believes today’s kids are just too coddled.

 Hirsch, known for the anti-apartheid documentary “Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony,” chose families in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Georgia and Iowa for the project, and he opens the film with David Long, a Murray County, Ga., father with a haunted air, talking about his son Tyler, who had a form of Asperger’s syndrome and suffered years of teasing at school– until he hanged himself in a closet at 17.

From there, Hirsch introduces us to other kids, notably 12-year-old Alex from Sioux City, Iowa, oldest in a family of five children.

 Alex also has Asperger’s and endures physical and psychological torture aboard his school bus. Other kids threaten to kill him, stab him with pencils. Alex, though, doesn’t let on to his parents what’s happening; he calls the boys who pick on him his friends.

 “People call me fish face,” he tells the camera matter of factly. “I don’t mind.” You will mind, though.

 Hirsch obtained surprising access to Alex’s school and bus, and what happens to Alex there is the stuff of every child’s nightmares.

 When pressed by Alex’s worried parents, school officials prove shockingly clueless or inept. If you wonder why East Middle allowed such access and then behaved so cavalierly:   A Sioux City superintendent recently told the Washington Post that the filmmaking was approved because of a school system partnership with the Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention and that administrators hoped the movie would showcase the school’s successes. Instead, its staff comes off as villains or imbeciles.

 Hirsch also introduces Kelby, a teenage lesbian who had to quit her Oklahoma high school basketball team because no one would play with her, and Ja’Maya, a baby-faced 14-year-old stuck in the juvenile justice system because she brought her mother’s gun on the bus and threatened the students who were picking on her. (Yes, parents: Your fed-up teenager knows where you keep that gun.)

 Hirsch had no access to Kelby’s school, but her father’s admission that discovering he had a gay child “has made me completely re-evaluate who and what I am” resonates deeply. Ja’Maya’s story is the least effective dramatically; despite some grainy footage of what happened on her bus, there’s no real, immediate narrative. Hirsch uses her as a cautionary tale of what might happen when a child is pushed too far, but purely from a audience’s viewpoint, her segments feel dragged out and repetitive.

 As probing as it is, “Bully” raises disquieting questions it doesn’t attempt to answer.  Are kids who live in urban areas equally as susceptible to bullying?What about the parents of the bullies?
 Are they uncaring, overprotective, ignorant? Is there any hope that a society that rewards aggressive male behavior can change to become more compassionate?

 Can an openly gay teenager ever be safe from ridicule when religious figures and politicians continue to demonize homosexuality publically?

 There’s no way to come up with solid conclusions in one small documentary.

 But at least Hirsch, who tries hard to end on a hopeful note, has insisted on a vital discussion.

 If you approach breaking up with a partner carefully and maturely, you’ll lessen the chances for fighting and a broken heart.

 It’s hard for people to hear that their partners want to end the relationship. With these few easy steps, you can make it not only easier on the other person, but yourself, as well.

 1.Know why you are breaking up.
 People like answers—especially people who are hurting. They want to know why you want to end the relationship—no matter how long or how short it is.
 In order to end the relationship, you have to know how to explain why you don’t want to be in it anymore.
 Knowing why benefits both of you; that way you can both learn from the experience. A person can use your break-up reasons to help them know what and what not to do in his or her next relationship.
 The best way to understand your reasons, if you are still debating whether breaking up is worth the trouble or not, is to make a pros and cons list. Develop a list that examines everything that is good in the relationship as well as everything that is bad.

 2.Make sure the break-up is done FACE-TO-FACE.
 Sending text messages or leaving voicemails is childish, immature and should be frowned upon.�
 You’re already risking hurting that person by breaking up with him or her, so at least have the courage to do it in person.
 In our eyes, being a coward is equivalent to breaking up with that person any other way but in person.
  You have to do it face-to-face if you’re in a serious relationship,” Rich Santos, dating blogger for Marie Claire, said. “Taking the easy way out is pretty lame.”
 Keep in mind that any form of written or recorded communication may come back to haunt you as text messages can be showed to other people and voicemails can be played again.

 3. Don’t be cruel while telling that person that you want to break up.
 Now that you know why you want to break up, figure out how you want to tell that person.
 Being cruel and thoughtless in your break-up has the potential to damage that person severely. Remember that you once cared, or you still care about, this person. He or she is a human and has feelings that may be a little sensitive at this point.
 Being ruthless is not a good trait to have.
You wouldn’t want someone to be harsh to you, so don’t be harsh to someone else.

 4. Get rid of evidence of the relationship.
 Anything and everything that reminds you of your partner should be hidden, or thrown away, if you choose.
 It will be harder to get through the pain and shock of that person not being in your life anymore if you still have pictures of them and gifts from them strewn around the room.
 If you make the decision to keep things from the relationship, keep it out-of-sight. Don’t look at it again until you feel you have gotten over the break-up. Keep in mind that memories are memories—lessons learned and all that jazz.

 5. Remember, the pain doesn’t last forever and you will get over it, eventually.
 Well, that’s self-explanatory.

 A lot of graduating students I’ve known have spoken of their overwhelming sense of sadness at leaving college.

 They expressed how un-adult they felt, and how fearful they were of taking care of themselves without the safety net of school.

 I don’t share their sadness. I’m ready to move on.

 The Spectator has been a learning experience, one full of kind people and grueling schedules. It taught me about teamwork, resilience, and working on a deadline.

 But I’m looking forward to finding new outlets for my creativity and energy.

 I liked being a college student. But I love being an adventurer so much more.

 If I stayed in Valdosta, my growth as an artist and a person would be more stunted than the economy. Be happy for me when you read this.

 Leonard Cohen once sang, “There’s a blaze of light in every word/It doesn’t matter which you heard.” I took what I could from this college, this town, and its people. I’ll miss you. Peace.

Mikayla Beyer
Opinions Editor

   Ross was a pure-blooded TV guy. He had a long, successful stint running the Disney Channel, which is a huge profit center in the Disney universe. Then, in fall 2009, Disney chief Bob Iger unceremoniously showed studio head Dick Cook the door, ending his four-decade career at the company. People in showbiz were amazed when Iger plucked Ross from relative obscurity to take over the studio. But the message from Iger was clear: Disney needs new blood.

   Actors, directors and other talent may move between TV and film with ease these days. But showbiz executives tend to become specialists at an early age; TV is TV and film is film. And in a business where relationships make the world go ’round, Ross had no real juice with any top Hollywood talent.

   Iger, however, believed it was time to shake up the cobwebby confines of Disney. It’s been clear for years that Iger, a onetime TV guy himself, is impatient with all of the old ways of doing business in Hollywood, which is why he was the first studio chief to butt heads with theater owners over moving up the release dates of DVDs.

   Unlike a host of top executives who have lost their jobs because they made bad movies, Ross, I’d argue, is out on the street largely because he’s the fall guy for a series of questionable executive hirings at the studio.

   After all, Ross was only doing Iger’s bidding by shaking up the studio. All sorts of executives have come and gone, leaving the place in the hands of people who had no real experience doing the jobs they were asked to do.

   People who did business at Disney often came away asking the same question–who actually had the institutional memory to know what they were doing?   Ross was head of the studio, but had no experience running a movie studio.

   He hired (and then fired) MT Carney as the studio’s head of marketing, even though Carney, who’d run a small marketing boutique in New York, had no experience running a big studio marketing machine.

   Still on board is Sean Bailey, the studio’s head of production, who has earned mixed reviews. A former producer, he has had no experience overseeing a studio slate.

   Having a bunch of rookies running a studio has stymied Disney’s reinvention efforts. This was especially evident in the handling of “John Carter,” the costly live-action adventure film directed by Andrew Stanton that was greenlighted under Cook and released this March to a chorus of bad buzz and lousy reviews. It quickly ended up as the studio’s biggest flop in years.

   Stanton had unparalleled success as a Pixar writer-director, with films including “Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E.” But he’d never made a live-action film before, and seemed miscast as a director of a $200 million-plus epic adventure.

   If “John Carter” had been made at a studio with experienced studio executives, Stanton might have gotten some push back before he plunged off the cliff. But no one in the Disney hierarchy, certainly not Ross, had the credibility to tell the filmmaker that he was running off the rails. Disney made things worse when Carney decided to shorten the film’s title to “John Carter” from “John Carter of Mars,” making it feel less magical and more mundane.

I suspect there are a lot of other issues that helped bring Ross’ brief tenure to a close. When he got around to greenlighting a film, the result was “Prom,” a forgettable piece of teen fluff that barely grossed $10 million. He has a few tent-pole movies in the works, notably “The Lone Ranger” and “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” but he hasn’t appeared especially decisive when it came to stepping up to the plate and pushing product through the system. “Alice in Wonderland,” started during the Cook administration, was a huge hit, but it took Ross and Co. nearly a year to move ahead with a sequel, something that should’ve been a no-brainer.

   It would be silly to claim that Ross’ departure portends the downfall of Disney. The studio is poised to enjoy what may be its biggest hit in years with the arrival of “The Avengers” in May. Of course, it’s a Marvel film, not a Disney project, but give Iger the credit for bringing Marvel into the Disney fold, a deal that looks like a long-term winner. Disney’s ABC network is also in the midst of a turnaround, and its ESPN is easily the most valuable brand in sports.

   It says a lot about the shrinking importance of movie studios that the $200 million write-off for “John Carter” made hardly a blip on the stock market radar screen. Disney has the kind of deep pockets that will allow it to survive and flourish for years. But now that Iger has another bite at the apple, what will he do to bring some new life to the movie studio?

   Is it time to put an old hand at the tiller, someone with decades of experience and finely tuned creative instincts? Or will Iger double down on another newcomer?

   If you study the history of Hollywood, the track record for outsiders isn’t especially good, especially ones like Ross who had a touch of arrogance about their own gifts.

   It was hard to find anyone in the business who was rooting for him to succeed, in part because he made it so clear when he arrived that he didn’t think running a studio was really that hard.

   As it turns out, he was wrong. It is a brutally tough job, which is why so few people have done it well. If I were Bob Iger, I’d be very wary of making another bad choice. If his next pick doesn’t pan out, the person getting the blame will be Iger himself.

 Ladies, R&B singer Brian McKnight wants to show you how your lady parts work. McKnight is doing an adult mixtape.   He has previewed a new track called “If you’re ready to learn.”

Here is the chorus: “Let me show you how your (lady parts work) since you didn’t bring it to me first”. I cannot quote anymore due to the craziness of the song.

 We all know McKnight for his timeless ballads. This song sounds like a bad YouTube cover of a Gucci Mane song.

 My advice to Mr. McKnight: stick to BET plays and love songs. One Last Cry will never be the same.

 Click.

 Football Legend Deion Sanders and his wife Pilar are going through a nasty divorce with both refusing to move out of their Dallas mansion. Both have been spotted on the red carpet with other celebrities.

 Deion attended the Broadway Revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” with Tracey Edmonds, ex-wife of Babyface and ex-girlfriend of Eddie Murphy.

Pilar attended the “Think Like a Man” premiere.

 Click.

 Monday night on twitter, Deion tweeted that his wife and her cousin Dee came and jumped him in front of his sons. He also tweeted a photo of him and his sons filling out police reports.     Pilar was arrested and her step-daughter Deiondra Sanders posted her mug shot on twitter. Pilar has a busted lip in the mug shot.

 Let’s hope these two can work it out. On to the next.

 Click.

 Jennifer Williams of Basketball Wives: Miami wants you to know that she doesn’t fight with her hands; she fights with the judicil system.

 Williams’ is suing Nia Crooks, assistant to William’s former BFF, Evelyn Lozada, for assault and battery.

 I can’t say I’m mad at Jenn for hitting her purse and not her face.

 Nia might want to ask Evelyn for a raise.

 Click.

 Rosie O’Donnell is not supporting Lindsay Lohan’s decision to play Elizabeth Taylor in a Lifetime biopic.

 Tuesday on the Today Show, in an interview with Matt Lauer and Donny Deutsch, Deutsch alluded to Lohan being the Liz of this generation.

 Rosie replied: “You’re out of your mind! You’re a crackhead! The last thing she did good she was sixteen. I don’t think she’s right for the role and I don’t think she’s capable at this point to portray that character.”

 I guess we know who will NOT be watching the biopic.

 Click.

 Chelsea Handler believes that Angelina Jolie can’t be trusted. Handler, who is very close with Jennifer Aniston, is clearly “Team Aniston”.

  In a recent interview with More Magazine, Handler said this about Jolie:
 “She doesn’t strike me as someone I would have a close friendship with. You just know as a woman, when you see another woman, if that’s a woman you can trust.”

 This isn’t the first time Handler has something to say about Jolie. She has called her a homewrecker in the past. This feud doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.

 Click.

 Nicki Minaj wants all you Kenz and Barbz to know that she deleted her Twitter because a voice in her head told her to.   Dear old Nicki, where art thou?

 Click.

 Dick Clark passed on April 18 at the age of 82 after suffering a massive stroke. Clark was known as the world’s oldest teenager.

 Click.

 Speaking of Dick Clark, his mini me, Ryan Seacrest, has just signed a $30 million deal with American Idol to continue to host the show. I wonder if he could use a co-host.

 Click.

 Steve Harvey has something to celebrate. His film “Think Like a Man” has knocked off Hunger Games as the #1 movie in America.

 The movie reached $33 million at the box office. Congratulations to Mr. Harvey and his moustache.

 Click.

 Megan Fox is pregnant with her first child by her hubby Brian Austin Green.

 Green has son Kassius, 10, with his former girlfriend actress Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo. Congrats to Fox on her first pregnancy.

 Click.

 Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were spotted together in a small beach town called Carpinteria, CA. Could this be more than a “That’s 70’s Show” reunion?

 Click.

 Keeping up the Kardashians is going to be on your tube for three more years. The Kardashian family signed a $40 million dollar deal with E! Do you guys still want to keep up with the Kardashians?

 Click.

 On Tuesday, Glee did an episode dedicated to the late and great Whitney Houston. The highlight was an acapella version of “How Will I Know.”

 To be honest they should have allowed Amber Riley’s character Mercedes to sing every song. I love Glee, but this episode did not live up to the hype.

 This tweet perfectly describes a lot of the “gleeks” opinion: “why doesn’t @MsAmberPRiley have any solos??? I was banking on her opening the floodgates of my soul.”

 It has been a fun ride with you my guys and dolls. Now make sure you come out to 1.5 minutes of fame today.

   As you leave Valdosta State for the summer (or maybe for good), you might not even be worrying about those around you. Speaking from experience, this is a mistake.

   I was coming back to VSU early because I needed to work on a group project, when I got distracted. I looked to the left and saw a huge crowd of people outside a school, and when I got my eyes back on the road, I was six inches from piling into the back of a Ford Explorer.

   I still recall the impact, and I remember it as if it happened just a few minutes ago. The memory of you smashing into a parked SUV at 45 mph probably wouldn’t leave the mind very easily. I recall my glasses being knocked off, and the bruises from where the seatbelt was, and the pain.

   But I was lucky. Damn lucky.

A lot of people aren’t quite so lucky. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2010, over 3,000 people were killed in accident when the driver was distracted, and that’s far too many.

   Of course, it doesn’t just involve just moving your eyes from the road.

   As someone who has survived an accident caused by distracted driving, I cringe whenever I see someone on their cell phone talking, or worse, texting. There are few phone calls in this world that are worth the trouble of risking your own life, and there are a hell of a lot less texts – none, I would say – that are worth the risk.

   You and you alone can stop yourself from this. Keep your eyes on the road. Put away the cell phone – or better yet, unless you have to take a phone call that is life threatening or urgent to those close to you, turn the damn thing off. You can talk to people later. You can respond to your texts later.

   Besides, you are behind the wheel of a lethal weapon. Nothing more, nothing less. You are not superman, and you are not invincible.

   One moment of distraction, one moment of reading a text from your friend and responding “OMG LOL”, one moment of having to calm down the kids in the back seat, one moment of looking elsewhere from the road, and you could wind up in the back of another car, or around a tree, or worse- dead.

   Don’t let that happen to you as you head home and enjoy your summer. Don’t become another statistic, and if you are indeed returning to Valdosta State in August, be able to make it back in one piece.

   All Student Organizations are given the same opportunities when it comes to reserving spaces on campus; each reserving office has a set date in which Student Organizations may begin requesting for the following semester. While the author claims “simple student interest groups get run over by those with more power, or those with a pitiable cause”, this claim is completely invalid. All Student Organizations are treated with the same respect, regardless of their type, platform, member number, etc.   While the larger groups tend to submit their requests farther in advance, it is not a testament of the treatment of the reserving offices in terms of these Student Organizations, but simply an instance in which they tend to plan farther in advance than other Student Organizations.
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  With regards to the campus advertisement opinions, I believe the Student Life Office has been more than accommodating to Student Organizations when approving their flyers and campus marketing tools. A Student Organization can simply visit the Student Life Office for five minutes and have a sheet sign, fliers and anything else approved. Trish Taylor in the Student Life Office, has seen it as her duty to ensure the process is clean and simple for Student Organizations seeking to market their events. At this point, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the Student Organization to begin marketing their event in advance to ensure a successful turn out for their event.

   Lastly, in regards to the reserving offices and the other parties involved in “loosening the leash”, policies are set in place not to control Student Organizations, as the author would believe, but to ensure all Student Organizations are able to be successful at VSU. I believe the Student Union and Event Services has been more than accommodating to the needs of Student Organizations, and understand where those needs stem from, as many of us have been involved in Student Organizations at VSU or are continuing to advise several Student Organizations. We allow Student Organizations to submit their event requests online, email us revisions or cancellations, call us with concerns, at the point of signing the contract, is the only time the student has to visit our offices, but it is in no way the only time we
want students to visit our offices.   We encourage feedback from students and Student Organizations. If there is a more efficient way in which our offices can provide services to the Student Organizations of VSU, we all would be more than happy to listen and engage in conversation with any student. But the simple request of getting rid of a policy in which a Student Organizations does not like, is not a viable solution.

   In response to the author, while I can see they have spoken to a fellow student regarding the issues they may be facing when reserving locations on campus, it would be appreciated if they would validate their facts with either the Student Union or Event Services before they attack our policies and procedures.   Feeding fuel to the flame with unwarranted or false accusations is not a professional or accurate procedure to writing an article of opinion within any type of publication. I hope to hear from a writer in the future and would be more than willing to answer any questions regarding reserving policies or procedures at VSU.

Thank you for your time,
Alisha Stabler
Program Coordinator-Student Life, VSU