The Daily Friday,

October 1, 2010
Facing the Golden Hurricane
Tigers take
on Tulsa in

Helmsman
Vol. 78 No. 027
C-USA home
opener

n see page 6
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis www.dailyhelmsman.com

Entertainment

U of M auteur’s
new production
delves deep
into darkness
BY louis goggans
News Reporter
A play telling the story of an underprivileged teen
who has been abused sexually, physically and emo-
tionally will be presented tonight at 6 p.m. at U of M’s
Michael D. Rose Theatre.
courtesy of Yanjun Hao “Bitter Sweet 16,” on stage Oct. 1-3, centers on Zuri,
a 15-year-old orphan who finds herself pregnant after
being gang-raped by her foster brothers.
Junior communications major Nadia Matthews, the
play’s writer, director and producer, said the play high-
lights something that happens in many teens’ lives but
goes unnoticed by their communities.
“A lot of people fail to realize this type of stuff hap-
Memphis researcher Maria Beatrice Magnani uses her equipment to map a segment of the Meeman-
pens every day,” Matthews said. “We hear about some
Shelby Fault outside Marion, Ark., among a team of local scientists early last month. rape cases on the news, but not the majority of them.

All shook up: new fault found

BY chelsea boozer
News Reporter
University of Memphis scientists
have discovered a new fault in the
Mid-South that, if active, may produce
an earthquake of 6.9 to 7.0 magnitude.
Maria Beatrice Magnani, research
associate professor with The U of
M’s Center for Earthquake Research
Information, and a crew of other
researchers and graduate students are
analyzing the Meeman-Shelby fault,
which runs along the Mississippi River
to the outskirts of Marion, Ark.
The Meeman-Shelby fault could
have been active in the recent past,
Magnani said. She and her researchers
determined this by studying young
Mississippi River sediments that have
been deformed, with an earthquake in
the past the likely cause.
“The fault today isn’t showing any
seismicity,” she said. “So there is no
reason to believe that the fault is active.
However, it is very young on a geolog-
ical time scale, and we know that faults
in the middle of continents behave
differently.”
According to Magnani, these mid-
continental faults tend to slip and cre-
ate large earthquakes. Afterward, they
may become dormant for several thou-
sand years, not moving at all, or even
creating small earthquakes, which she
said are under a 3.0 magnitude and
generally aren’t felt by a population.
“What worries me is that this fault
could be one of those,” she said. “That
it is quiescent today but may be just
simply accumulating stress and strain,
and it will release that strain one day.”
The fault was actually discovered in
2001, but scientists couldn’t determine
whether it had been active in the past.
“Now, we could actually tell that,
yes, it has been active recently, which
is the real catch,” Magnani said.
“Finding a fault is not really a big
deal. The problem is when you find
a fault that moves sediments that are
young because it means that fault has
been active yesterday, geologically
speaking.”
Magnani and the research team said
see Earthquake, page 4
This is because a lot of teens that have been raped are
silent, and they’re embarrassed to tell anybody about
the situation.”
Matthews said she wanted to make the play as real-
istic as possible to convey the abuse and neglect some
teens experience accurately.
“This isn’t a Disney fairytale,” she said. “In the play,
we wanted to face real challenges and put it in the per-
spective of redemption and hope. I wanted to put that
on a stage.”
Matthews said she wants students to familiarize
themselves with this issue and take action because it’s
preventable.
“I hope students will be inspired to get involved on
campus,” she said. “I hope the play will cause a lot of
networking. It’s so many people in organizations that
can collectively make a change in the city.”
Charisse Norment, 20, who plays the main character
Zuri, said she took time off from obtaining her theater
degree at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville for the
play.
see Play, page 4

Campus Events

Students fast for

understanding
courtesy of Mehreen Khan

BY Erica horton on educating non-Muslims about Islam, a religion

News Reporter
Students can break bread with The University
of Memphis’ Muslim Student Association at the
fourth annual Fast-A-Thon at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Featuring guest speaker Bashar Shala, chair-
man of the new Memphis Islamic Center, and a
free Mediterranean feast in the University Center
Ballroom, the event is free and open to the public.
This year’s theme, “The Roots of Islam,” focuses
with more than 1.5 billion followers worldwide.
Before the upcoming festivities take place, stu-
dents can pledge join the fast by e-mailing the
president of MSA, Zeenan Pathan, at zeenan23@
gmail.com or by requesting a form on the Facebook
group “Muslim Student Association of Memphis.” Tasnia Hoque, Tasmia Noor and May Lee gather in Brister Hall with
The fasting commitment would last the day of other members of the Muslim Student Association for the 2008 Fast-A-
the Fast-A-Thon, from sunrise to sunset. Thon. This year, interested students are encouraged to join in the sun-
rise-to-sunset fast by pledging in advance to benefit the Metropolitan
see Fast-A-Thon, page 7 Inter-Faith Association’s emergency services program.