Every superhero is a leader and needs a good sidekick.

Michael Atkinson, political science senior, has a Slinky as his sidekick. Atkinson is easy to recognize on campus because he always has a Slinky.

He began playing with a Slinky when homeschooled. He’s been homeschooled since the first grade and just brought the Slinky with him to college.

“Some people have a favorite hat to wear, and I carry a Slinky,” Atkinson said.

He said he prefers plastic Slinkies rather than metal Slinkies because they stretch further without bending. He said he keeps a Slinky until it breaks down to one or two rings.

He said he currently owns 11 Slinkies and received 10 for Christmas.

Atkinson said he doesn’t carry his Slinky because it is a good luck charm, but because he said he considers it somewhere between nervous habit and a brainstorming help.

Atkinson bounces it from hand to hand and twirls it around as he thinks and speaks.

Rebecca Yeager, English senior, said she knows Atkinson. “I’ve never seen Michael without his Slinky,” Yeager said. “He told me once that it helps him to think clearly if he is doing something with his hands.”

Atkinson uses his Slinky to brainstorm while writing superhero novels in his free time.

Last year, he said he began writing his fi rst superhero novel, but about 40 pages into the story, he realized it had no plot and had

to restart the novel.He began writing another novel for the National Novel Writing Month which began on Nov.1 and ended Nov. 30, 2009. This challenge encourages a participant to write 50,000 words in a 30- day period.

“I have to sit down at least an hour a day and write 1,600 words,” Atkinson said.

He wrote “Hailfire” during the challenge, and he said he hopes it will be published this year.

“Hailfire” is a about a woman who has the ability to shoot freeze and heat beams.

“Most superheroes can shoot one or the other but rarely shoot both,” Atkinson said. “My character uses

both to blow up tanks.”

Atkinson is also president of the Students for Life organization, a prolife group helping to raise awareness for the idea of personhood.

“A person’s a person no matter how small,” he said.

Yeager said Atkinson’s commitment to the cause was so great that he took on the role of president last fall.

“Since then, he’s been a loyal, punctual and steady leader, rallying the other members of the group more with his actions than his words,” Yea- ger said.

Since he’s been president the organization, Atkinson has been to a number of on campus events.

Atkinson said he takes pride in the October event the National Day of Silent Solidarity for the Unborn.

On this day, the group stayed silent for a day and wore red armbands and T-shirts in order to raise awareness.

They had set up a table outside the IUS Bookstore to get other students involved.

“We had about 30 or 40 students who took arm bands and several more who were supportive, so, allin-all, we were happy with how the event turned out,” Atkinson said.

In October, the group collected items for single mothers to be donated to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in New Albany. They have enough supplies to help out six mothers.

“I think Michael personally contributed about half the items we collected,” Yeager said, “I could not be more impressed with his representation of what it means to be pro-life.”

Whether Atkinson is being recognized as a novelist or a president, he will always be noticed as the smiling guy with a Slinky.

By CHASTITY HILGERT
Staff Writer
chilgert@ius.edu