Hate Walls and Ballparks

Show #3 is an episode of Ferris State Live produced by the fall 2009 TVPR 499 class at Ferris State University. Produced on September 28th and aired on October 1st of 2009, it is the third show of the 2009-2010 season.

The Wall of Hate
Bryan Lochan, an RA in Brophy/McNerney Halls, discussed a diversity program on campus that involved the building and subsequent tearing down of a "wall of hate," where students would get to write on the blocks various slurs they've been hurt with, so that eventually, the wall could be torn down. The wall was an open event to the entire community, not just to Ferris students.

Battle at the Ballpark
Brandi came on to talk about the 5th/3rd Bank-sponsored Battle at the Ballpark, which was scheduled for October 3rd. Scott and Leah wondered how that was coordinated, and Brandi assured them that 5th/3rd was actually very cooperative. Leah ensured former Ferris students that the event was ideal for Grand Rapids residents. Brandi eventually gave a plug for the Alumni Office home page, saying it was the ideal place to go to check for various sponsored alumni-relevant events.

Ticket prices for Battle at the Ballpark were $5 for students and $10 for the general public.

Sports
Focus on the sports end of things switched to Women's Tennis; and Sandy commented on them having good seating. Scott also mentioned that volleyball was doing well, to which Sandy replied that he believed volleyball would be "a roller coaster" for Ferris.

What's a dig, y'all?
Katie Edwards, a senior volleyball player, came on to talk about building wells in Africa. She claimed she was raising a donation asking for a penny for each well.

Let's talk about...love?
Sex and the College Student specialist Dr. Robert Friar came on to talk about sex; but also to talk about brain chemistry on love. He claimed that he first got into the program because the college wanted someone to teach a course on STDs. However, Friar got into the psychology of love and lust and started teaching on those subjects as well, since he found students were desperate for answers on these topics and on their own dysfunctionality in relationships. Compared to that topic, STDs alone were "boring."

Tapping into neurobiology for answers, Friar recalls discussing how the hypothalamus works. He relates that to how susceptible a brain in love with the idea of being in love can become to suggestion when under the influence of hypothalamus-dominant thinking and brain wiring. When asked if students are facing the same issues concerning their sexuality as what they did 20 years ago, Friar responded that it's taken on new dimensions. However, while the issues have taken on new dimensions and students face them to a greater extent than before, the same core issues are still in place.

Friar blames this on teen-aimed programs in TV and advertising primarily, but also elsewhere, that send mixed messages to teens. No message is worse than the mixed message. He also blames it on the fact that parents are too embarrassed to be forthcoming with their almost-grown kids about sex, including all the little details of it. Therefore, kids seeking answers look to the streets for information. They may get a lot from the streets, but with any sort of sound values system filtered out long in advance.

After a long detour, Friar was able to state the obvious to audiences: What many who are young think is love, when analyzed, is really little more than lust.

And in sports...
The Wyoming Whitecaps allowed their baseball field, Fifth/Third Stadium, to be temporarily transformed from a baseball park into a football field so Ferris could play there for a special event.

Not quite 20
Carla Miller came on to talk about the Ferris Foundation, what it is, and that it had been in operation for 19 years already.

Call the Ferris Foundation: ext. 2365

Building houses for the poor
Sandra Winchell, a biology major, came on to talk about organizing Box City. It had something to do with Habitat for Humanity. She went on describing how hard it is to build a house. She also states that where a normal construction worker would put one nail, HfH puts five. Much of the time as she talked, her tongue ring provided a distraction to viewers.

http://ferrishabitat.org

Yup. More about Homecoming.
"Homecoming's here for real this time!" is all Scott had to say.

"Yeah! A lot's gonna happen!" Sandy replied.

There was also some interspersed footage of a dancing Spider-Man and a bonfire. A parade added to the excitement.

One of many, many, many mindless yips about diversity
Lo and behold, Michael Wade showed up. He was Assistant Director at the Office of Multicultural Students Services. And he came to talk about...da da da da! Diversity. Yep. What else?

Where the Mild Things Are
Feell chill, and mellow, as Director Dr. Jospeph Lipar of the Card Wildlife Education Center rattles on about the oodles of preserved wild critters on display in what most students call simply: "the stuffed animal museum." He gives hours open, days a week open, etc.

ext. 5387

The beatings will continue until sunrise
Take Back the Night is discussed. It's a program where women with pickett signs shout: "Give money, so men stop raping and beating us." It's a good thing because...they can speak as a mob. They're scared that speaking individually will just bring on more beatings and rape; by some unknown mythical hood who's out for revenge, apparently. Scott complained about the days getting shorter.

Bulldog Hall of Fame
Bill Scheible was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The kids did it
Music Industry Management Association Vice President Chris Jane showed up. He looked more like a bouncer than a VP. Chris likes Ferris' music program because students organize almost every part of a concert themselves; not common at most music schools.

Wall of Hills
Scott and Sandy chit-chatted some more about the Wall of Hate, where students got to write on bricks a the slurs that have ever applied to them. Meanwhile, Ferris is about to have a tough time. They've gotta face Hillsdale. And Hillsdale is no easy win.

A dull pill to swallow
Dr. Ellen Haneline, Dean of the College of Allied Health Sciences, came on to be guest speaker. She mentioned all the myriad ways that her program can help students, since health care was considered at the time to be the single most-booming industry. She seemed optimistic of the school acquiring a molecular diagnostics program, as well as the growth of administratium.

Bugs and Geography
Prof. Dr. Phillip Watson came on to talk about bugs, and the place they hold in forensic science. He first had to clarify to Leah where Qatar is.

Hillsdale pwns
In sports news, the Bulldogs got their clocks cleaned by Hillsdale's football team. Sandy put the best spin on it he could: the former-Ferris-coach-turned-Hillsdale-coach was on his way to great things, supposedly.

Any veterans out there?
Veteran's Program Specialist Paul Langdon spits and sputters his way through a discussion of how Ferris is "good for war veterans." Apparently, a man not at all afraid of running around in a field with machine guns surrounding him is completely terrified of being in front of a camera.

We want yer money
Sara Dew of the Financial Aid Office came on to introduce how to fill out a FAFSA.

We've got volleyball
Sandy praises some lady for showing kids pamphlets that only vaguely give them a vauge notion of what it's like to go to Ferris. Then they talked sports. Ladies' Volleyball was going okay.