Bullying: No Laughing Matter

Georgia Sherman is one of nearly six million teens involved in bullying—as either a bully or a target of bullying—in the U.S. each year, according to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center. This common act of violence is often overlooked, but as the new-age trend of cyberbullying continues to increase, several states have signed cyberbullying bills into law, according to news.discovery.com.

            A bill that would have added cyberbullying to the state’s anti-bullying laws of Oklahoma failed to pass the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2011, according to newsok.com. While Oklahoma does not currently have any state cyberbullying laws, states such as Arkansas, Louisiana and California are just three of 14 U.S. states to have a bullying law that includes cyberbullying, according to www.cyberbullying.us.

            Since the development of MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, cyberbullying has drastically increased. Students who spend more than 3 hours per school day on social networks were said to be 110 percent more likely to be a victim of cyberbullying, according to the 2012 bullying statistics from Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability and Filtering.

     Girls are more likely to be involved in cyberbullying than boys, according to bullystatistics.org. Midwest City High School senior Georgia Sherman knows just how cruel teens can be.

            “Girls are more prone to be bullies over boys because boys are physical and can get over it, but girls are mean and hold grudges. I’ve seen a lot of girls change schools just because of bullying,” Sherman said.

          Midwest City High School Assistant Principal Daryla Combs feels that Facebook and Twitter have allowed students to be more open about being mean. Her school has created new strategies to try to prevent bullying.

            “We’ve identified through surveys some of our dangerous areas, so we’ve installed more cameras in stairwells and put more teachers in hallways in some of those hot spots,” Combs said. 

            Jamie Butler, a counselor at Midwest City High School, has noticed the growing epidemic of school bullying due to technology and is working towards creating a program to change mean behavior.

            “Students are aware that they’re not supposed to bully. We touch on it every chance we get, but with all the technology, bullying has really blown up…we’ve talked about creating a kindness program to promote being kind, and hopefully it would help offset any bullying,” Butler said.

            Midwest City High School has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying and is working towards preventing acts of school violence to protect the students and to help create a safe environment. While they are on the right track to finding ways to stop bullying, hopefully more schools and states will recognize this problem as a major issue and will work towards implementing more laws nationwide to put a stop to cyberbullying. 



Georgia Sherman, Jamie Butler, and Daryla Combs
discuss the bullying epidemic at Midwest City High 
School in Midwest City, Okla., on April 27, 2012.

OU Says "Hello" to Hellogoodbye

Hellogoodbye visits the University of Oklahoma

for a free outdoor concert in Norman, Okla., on Friday,

April 20, 2012.The event is put on by the Union

Programming Board on the east lawn of the Oklahoma 

Memorial Union. Hellogoodbye's drummer, Aaron Flora, 

says this is the first time the band has played at OU, and 

this is just one of many stops the band is making on their 

college campus tour. Auggie Rampolla, the band's bass 

player, says he enjoys playing college campus crowds, 

because since students are always looking for a break 

from their busy school schedules, they tend to bring a fun, 

different vibe to the show. For more information and tour 

dates, visit the band's website at www.hellogoodbye.net.

Going Raw

            The art of sushi is still a relatively new concept in many countries, and sushi chefs in Japan have recently been packing their knives to head to those less-charted territories. Students at the Tokyo Sushi Academy in Tokyo plan to join the growing ranks of professional Japanese chefs eager to serve a growing overseas appetite for sushi, according to the New York Times article written by Miki Tanikawa, “Japanese Sushi Students Aim for a Job Overseas.” With Japan’s declining success in the restaurant market, students training in sushi culinary schools are ready to tackle markets in other countries, where sushi is less saturated.

                  “Here in the U.S., especially in Oklahoma, you can see a steakhouse on every corner. Sushi is still an unfamiliar idea to many Americans, so there’s plenty of potential for growth in this market,” Beaux Mitcham, sushi manager at In the Raw Norman, said.

                  Many people in countries like America and Germany may be aware of the sushi craze, but may have never tried the Japanese delicacy. There are plenty of food lovers that are just not keen on the idea of eating raw fish. Perhaps with more and more sushi houses popping up, more people will be willing to give sushi a chance.

                  “I think a lot of people are skeptical of sushi, and as a result they end up missing out on something they’ve never even tried,” Joe Coscia, sushi chef at In the Raw Norman, said.

                The potential for getting food poisoning is also a factor in why some people steer clear of eating sushi. What a lot of people do not know is that the majority of fish you get in sushi restaurants is extremely fresh, making it safer to consume.

              “Even though we aren’t on the coast, we still are able to get fish really quickly after it has been caught,” Mitcham said.

                    “If people knew more about sushi and developed the type of respect for it that people familiar with it have, they’d probably discover that they actually like it,” Coscia said.

               As consumers become more acquainted with sushi, the demand will certainly become higher. As a result, Japanese sushi chefs looking to go abroad with their skills will have much more success in markets where sushi is only beginning to emerge.

Sushi chefs Beaux Mitcham and Joe Coscia discuss
the art of sushi at In the Raw in Norman, Okla., on 
Thursday, April 12, 2012.

Norman Music Festival 2012

           Norman Music Festival (NMF) will be rocking Oklahoma April 26-28, marking its fifth year as a legitimate music destination for local and national touring bands. For those three days, the typically sluggish downtown Norman will be transformed into a full-on dance party equipped with 13 stages, six venues, 44 sponsors, and countless artists from all over the country. This year’s festival is expected to bring in an estimated 40,000 attendees--10,000 more than last year’s event.

            Chrome Pony, a Norman Music Festival crowd favorite since NMF 3, will be the last performance of the 3-day event, playing at the Blackwatch Stage. Dark dance pop with an 80s sound is how the band is described. Steven Battles, Chrome Pony’s front man, is especially excited about this year’s festival.

            “Norman Music Festival is like a combination of Christmas and my birthday for my band. It has been the best show for us because the crowds that come out to support local music make our performance a really incredible experience,” Battles said.

            New to the stages of Norman Music Festival will be Tulsa’s own The Moai Broadcast. Members of The Moai Broadcast describe their sound as “rocktronica”—rock with electronic overtones. Cody Brewer, The Moai Broadcast’s guitarist, says the band is ready to join the ranks of NMF’s veterans.

          “We’re no strangers to playing bars and other venues in Norman, so we’re really excited that we are getting the opportunity to play this year’s festival.”

               The Moai Broadcast will be hitting the stage of the Sooner Theatre the last day of the festival at 3 p.m.

               A festival map for all the stages is available on NMF’s website. Ticket prices and music passes for Norman Music Festival vary. For more information and everything you need to know about Norman Music Festival, visit the festival’s website at www.normanmusicfestival.com. 

Steven Battles of Chrome Pony plays a melancholy
guitar riff in Norman Okla., on Thursday, April 5,
2012.

Modesty is More

The hijab worn by Muslim women is just one of the many misconstrued teachings of Islam by non-Muslims. The hijab has multiple meanings as a religious and social symbol; it provides a clear identity marker at a life-course transitional time, and it provides culturally legitimate space for young women who are formulating Muslim-American identities, according to Rhys H. Williams. Although many non-Muslims look at the hijab--also called a headscarf--as a way of oppressing women, they may be surprised to find out that it is quite the opposite. The hijab functions to define Muslim identity, perform a behavior check, resist sexual objectification, afford more respect, preserve intimate relationships, and provide freedom, according to Rachel Anderson Droogsma.

The biggest misconception of the hijab is that Muslim women are forced to wear one either by their fathers or husbands. In fact, women choose to wear the hijab themselves.

“I wear the hijab because it is a command from Allah, not because a man makes me,” 20-year-old Muslim-American Heba Hammami said.

“I cannot force her to wear it, even if I wanted her to, because it’s her choice to either follow the Qur’an or not to,” Heba Hammami’s father, Saba Hammami, said.

Only a portion of the female Muslim population in America wears the hijab or other Islamic dress, and not all religiously observant women feel that it is required, according to Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad.

Dressing modestly when out in public is very important to Muslim women, and wearing the hijab actually makes them feel more secure and empowered, rather than subjugated.

“Wearing the hijab instantly gives a woman more respect, and is a way of saying ‘you have no right to stare at me inappropriately,’” converted Muslim-American Teresa Mallak said.

Muslim women feel that the relationship between a man and wife is extremely sacred, and veiling oneself is a way to preserve the intimacy in their relationship. Showing their beauty to only their husband creates a strong bond and love between the couple.

“It creates something very special between a woman and her husband, because you’re only letting that one man see the most beautiful parts of yourself when you dress modestly around others,” Heba Hammami said.

Many non-Muslims believe that Islam is a sexist religion, where women are treated on a less-than-human level. This is where wrong ideas about the hijab are formulated. Women and men are seen as equal, and it is only a very small minority that practice Islam on an extreme basis that give Muslims a bad wrap. These individuals take parts of the Qur’an and twist them into very literal translations of the Word.

“Men that treat their wives on an unequal level are not true Muslims,” Heba Hammami said.

The hijab is not a way of bringing women down, it is a way of women holding themselves to a higher standard and commanding esteem from men. For more information on the hijab and status of women in Islam, visit www.whyislam.org.

Heba Hammami, Teresa Mallak, Saba Hammami,
and Karla Shannon discuss the misconceptions
of Muslim women and the hijab in Tulsa, Okla.,
on Friday, March 9, 2012.

The Teen Mom Trend

                    Teen pregnancy has become a hot-button issue that seems to be evolving into a glorified epidemic.

                  With TV shows like MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” putting high school-aged pregnant and parenting girls in the spotlight, the issue of teen pregnancy not only seems to be running more rampant, but also becoming more acceptable.

                  However, one may be shocked to find out that according to the Guttmacher Institute-- an independent, nonprofit organization that focuses on sexual and reproductive health--teen pregnancy is at its lowest level in nearly 40 years. Perhaps then it is the media giving viewers a glimpse into the lives of these pregnant and parenting teens that makes it seem like the issue of teen pregnancy is becoming more prevalent than ever.

Union High School counselor, Mike Roark, points out family
living and child development class options in the school's
course offerings catalog in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday, Feb. 17, 2012.

                  According to guttmacher.org, Oklahoma has the seventh highest rate of teenagers who give birth in the country. Mike Roark, a counselor at Union High School in Tulsa, said he has seen the number of pregnant students fluctuate throughout his 17-year-long career.

                  “I don’t necessarily believe that the number of pregnant girls I see in my school has increased dramatically over the past couple of years. Some years I only see one or two, and other years it’s more. But it’s more of a pattern that comes and goes in waves,” Roark said.

                  According to Roark, Hispanics make up the majority of pregnant teens at Union High School. Blacks and whites make up the rest for the most part, and are about equal to each other.

               “I believe the reason for this is because it is more acceptable in the Hispanic culture to start thinking about having children and getting married at a much younger age,” Roark stated.

                  Courtney Roach, a now 24-year-old married mother of two, knows all too well about the hardships of being a teen mom.

                  “I became pregnant at 15. I was in complete shock and denial. I hid the fact that I was pregnant from everyone except my boyfriend for four months. When I finally told my mom, she kicked me out of the house and pretty much abandoned me until my baby was about 2 months old,” Roach said.

                  When asked about their opinions on the TV shows “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom,” neither Roark nor Roach had positive things to say.

                  “Girls these days might watch these shows and think, ‘That’s an easy way to get on TV and make money,’ and do something completely life changing for all the wrong reasons,“ Roark said.

                  “I absolutely can’t stand those shows,” Roach said. “They glorify the stereotype of being a teen mom.”             

                  When it comes to the issue of preventing teen pregnancy, education is the key.

                  “You’d be so shocked to hear all of the crazy questions I get from students about sex. It blows my mind how they listen to the stupid advice and tips they get from their friends, who also know nothing about what they are talking about,” Roark said.

                  “I think the best way to educate kids on safe sex is to basically scare them to death. They need to have it drilled into their minds that it only takes one time. That‘s how many times it took me before I found myself pregnant--just once,“ Roach stated.

                  Educating our youth on safe sex is critical to the reduction of teen pregnancy. The only sure-fire way to prevent pregnancy is abstinence. However, schools do not necessarily feel comfortable with the notion of preaching a moral issue to students.

                  “Unfortunately, kids are going to do what they’re going to do, so we need to educate them on safe sex and protecting themselves,” Roark said. “They can’t really grasp the concept that if you play with fire, it’s not a matter of if you’re going to get burned--it’s just a matter of when.”

                  For more information and statistics on sexual health, visit the Guttmacher Institute’s website at www.guttmacher.org.

Working on the Wild Side

Two Grant's Zebras hanging out at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

Last Tuesday evening, the University of Oklahoma’s Pre-Vet Club invited Dr. Jennifer D’Agostino, head veterinarian at the Oklahoma City Zoo, to speak at Sutton Hall.

“We’ve never had a zoo veterinarian speak at our meetings, so I thought inviting Dr. D’Agostino to share her experiences dealing with exotic animals would be something new and interesting,” said Katie Fenwick, the Pre-Vet Club’s president.

            Dr. D’Agostino has worked for the Oklahoma City Zoo for nearly ten years, since she began her residency there in 2003.

            “I’ve known that I wanted to be a zoo vet since I was seven years old. I don’t really know why though. My family hardly ever went to the zoo when I was growing up. Sometimes you just know that this is what you were made to do,” said Dr. D’Agostino.

            Although the rewards of being a zoo veterinarian are very fulfilling, it was a long, hard road to get to where she is today.  According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (aza.org), the total number of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums in the U.S. is 225. Therefore, the zoological medicine field is a very competitive and not-so-high in-demand job market to get into.

            In addition to speaking about how she got started in zoological medicine, Dr. D’Agostino also talked about the challenges of her job as head veterinarian.

            “Working with dangerous animals, having limited information about rare species, and having limited examination ability on large animals are just a few of the main hurdles I come across every day at the zoo,” said Dr. D’Agostino.

            Dr. D’Agostino describes herself as being a generalist in her profession—she knows a little bit about a lot of animals.

            “There are thousands of species I work with, so it’s impossible to know everything about every single animal. If I at least know a little about each animal, that’s extremely helpful in my job. When we need to treat exotic animals for a disease, we just look at a more common animal closest in species. For example, if we need to treat an exotic cat for a disease, we find out what works in domestic cats, and usually we can use that same treatment for the exotic cat,” said Dr. D’Agostino.

            Zoo veterinarian’s roles range from the animals’ general health to conservation to reproduction. According to Dr. D’Agostino, most of the breeding that occurs at the zoo is intentional.  The newest addition to the zoo is a three-week old giraffe male, named Sergeant Peppers.

            “Sergeant Peppers is the son of Bogy and Ellie. He was born on January 17 of this year with no complications,” said Dr. D’Agostino.

            The new giraffe is not old enough to be seen yet by zoo visitors. However, his parents are able to be viewed, weather permitting.

            “If it is at least 40 degrees, the giraffes will be let out of their indoor homes. Unfortunately if it is below 40 degrees, the giraffes may develop hypothermia, so they can’t be viewed in those cold weather conditions,” said John, a giraffe zookeeper at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

            “The numbers vary, but there tends to be a good handful of baby animals born every year at the zoo,” said Dr. D’Agostino.

            Although new births are not something that occur every day at the zoo, Dr. D’Agostino loves her job because every single day is different.

            “In order to have my job, you need to be adaptable and able to think on your feet. That’s what I love about being a zoo veterinarian. Every day I get to experience something unique and exciting. There’s definitely never a dull moment,” said Dr. D’Agostino.

            The Oklahoma City Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information and special events, visit the zoo’s website at okczoo.com.