The Carolinian [March 28, 2006]

              MAR 78 APR 17006
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PAGE 12
Senioritis is
In
Melissa Westmoreland
laments her progressive
senioritis as graduation
approaches.
PAGE 5
The Flying Anvil
Greensboro's new music
venue is set to open at the
end of April. Here's a sneak
peek of what to expect.
PAGE 6
To New
Beginnings
The new UNCG 'Softball
stadium officially opened
Saturday.
PAGE 9
PostSecret -
Art or Therapy?
Web Junkie takes a look
at confession in the Internet
age. What's your secret?
PAGE 10
ON THE WEB
www.carolinianonline.com
DIRECTORY
News 2-3, 12
Classifieds 2
Corrections 4
Opinions 4-5
A&E 6-7, 13
Sports 8-9
Life 10-11
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THE CAROLINIAN
ESTABLISHED 1919
VOL LXXXVI
ISSUE 25
'- J Q - -
The 2006 Carolinian
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THEaronnian
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF UNCG
www.carolinianonline.com
Journalist Speaks Out about America's
Anthony Ridge
News Editor
An African American man who has
issues with Black History Month and
is a multi-award winning journalist
with "no sacred cows in his writing,"
packed-out the UNCG Elliott Uni-versity
Center (EUC) Auditorium
Monday evening, March 20.
Pulitzer Prize winner Leonard
Pitts Jr. was the main speaker for the
Friends of the UNCG Libraries An-nual
Dinner, which according to Ned
Cline, the re-appointed chairperson
of the Friends of UNCG Libraries, it
was the most "outstanding turn-out"
and the best they had ever had.
The preliminary reception dinner
in the Cone Ballroom saw the an-nouncement
of the Friends of the
UNCG Libraries new board mem-bers.
Pitts said the dinner left him
feeling as though he had shook hands
with every single guest.
The presenting sponsor of the eve-ning
was Greensboro's very own pub-lication
the News & Record, where
Pitts has a syndicated column. Since
1976, Pitts has been writing profes-sionally
as a freelance journalist and
author. In May, 1999, his most recent
book, Becoming a Dad: Black Men
and the Journey of Fatherhood, was
released.
The evening speeches included
UNCG Chancellor Patricia Sulli-van
and Rosann Bazirjian who has
been the university librarian for 18
months.
Sullivan announced UNCG's new
Racial Immaturity
classification as a "High Research Ac-tivity
University," which was received
by applause from the audience. Sul-livan
went on to publicize the new
library and EUC connector; she said
that it joins both the hub of UNCG's
academic center and the hub of
UNCG's activity center.
Finally, Pitts was invited to the
stand, where he said he was told he
could talk about anything, but of
course he had to give a plug for the
Libraries. Over a rumble of audience
laughter he said,
"I spend many hours in libraries.. .1
would consider myself as a friend of
libraries."
And with more laughter he left it at
that.
It was clear from the outset that
Pitts had chosen to talk about race.
What was uncommon about his
speech was his stance as an African
American man on African American
issues.
Pitts said he has a problem with
Black History Month and that Black
history is American history, and it
LUKASZ WITCZAK/THE CAROLINIAN
Leonard Pitts, journalist, speaking in the EUC Auditorium for the annual
Friends of the UNCG Libraries dinner.
should be a bigger part of general
education and curriculum, not segre-gated
by devoting an entire month to
it. Pitts continued to say he was tired
of hearing about "Black American
icons."
"The people [African American
icons] and their achievements didn't
live in a bubble," said Pitts.
By this Pitts was keen to only high-light
truly great African Americans,
although not as African Americans,
but simply as Americans. Pitts said
that the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission was the only organiza-tion
in the U.S. willing to have the
"racial immaturity discussion," which
is a discussion that Pitts is keen to
bring into the public arena.
Pitts was careful to point out that he
wasn't trying to invalidate the atroci-ties
that black men and women had
suffered in the past at the hands of
"white Christians," such as the trade
of the body parts of black people and
slavery. But he was keen for the anger
of African Americans and the bond-age
of guilt of white Americans to be
lifted.
"Black folks feeling righteous and
angry - white folks feeling shamed,"
said Pitts, continuing to say that feel-ings
of anger can feel good, as can
"being the victim."
Seeing guilt in another person feels
good, but anger is a corrosive thing
and we as people do not examine our
own anger, Pitts said.
SEE LEONARD PITTS PAGE TWO
Six Men Swim for Their Lives,
Only Two Survive
Melissa Kurland
Staff Writer
This past week, six Banner Elk Fire
Department men opted to go fishing
for their Spring Break. On Wednes-day,
March 15, they left on their 18-
foot catamaran at approximately
12:30 in the afternoon. They set off
the coast of Ocean Isle Beach and at
2:30 p.m. caught rough waters. As
the winds became stronger, the men's
boat capsized. Unable to make a suc-cessful
mayday call, the men strapped
themselves to the boat. As nightfall
approached, the six men decided to
attempt swimming back to shore.
The water at that time was 58 degrees.
According to the Brunswick Beacon,
Ocean Isle Beach Police Chief Curt
Pritchard reported that,
"The men put on life jackets and
tried to tie their shoe strings together
to avoid being separated." Tragically,
of the six men only two survived.
Nathan "Griff" Lyerly, 22, a senior
from Mooresville, Michael Shope,
21, a junior from Raleigh, Archibald
"Arch" McFadyen, 20, a sophomore
from Raleigh and Kevin Bell, 38, a
resident from Banner Elk, were found
the next day by the US Coast Guard.
The three younger men were all stu-dents
attending Lees McRae College
in Banner Elk, NC. Bell was serving as
Assistant Fire Chief under his father,
Chief Mickey Bell.
The news of the tragedy spread
quickly, leaving the small town of
Banner Elk in complete shock and
dismay. Not only were a majority of
the men college students, but they
were also firefighters and rescuers as
well. By the abundance of gratitude
and regret shown from the many
flowers, mourners, prayers, and tears
shed, it is easy to see that these men
were greatly loved and respected.
Lees McRae hosted two services
for their fallen heroes. On Monday,
March 20 a prayer service was held,
allowing their peers to bow their
heads to grieve with one another in
prayer as well as openly share their
fond memories and reflections of
their lost friends. One Lees McRae
student remarked that the men were
often perceived as "the big brothers
on campus."
On Wednesday, March 22, a me-morial
service was held in the Hayes
Auditorium.
Two Banner Elk fire trucks hoisted
their ladders high holding the Ameri-can
flag. All other flags across town
were lowered at half-staff.
Candles lit up the stage where the
podium was located for the speakers
and in the middle of the candles lay
the helmets of the four men.
The mayor of Banner Elk, Ms. Deka
Tate was one of the first to speak. She
announced that the local brick maker
had already made and laid the bricks
in honor of the fallen men. On each
brick are the men's names and call
numbers and they are placed in the
sidewalk in front of the Banner Elk
Fire Department.
A tearful Alan Bradford spoke in
Bell's honor.
"Kevin's life meant something. It
meant something when a young girl
stopped breathing and when a man
went into cardiac arrest... because of
Kevin, they are alive."
SEE TWO SURVIVORS PAGE TWO
UNCG UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
Award winning Dr. Mark Smith-Soto of UNCG publishes new poetry.
UNCG
Professor
Publishes
a Second
Poetry
Collection
Sarah Benedek
Staff Writer
Dr. Mark Smith-Soto moved to
Greensboro thinking he would live
here a year and has ended up staying
for 30.
"Astonishing," Dr. Smith-Soto
says with a half-smile. "He looks so
young."
Dr. Smith-Soto has just published,
through Main Street Rag Press, his
second book of poetry entitled Any
Second Now. His first book, he said,
took 30 years to get published, but
since he "[didn't] have anything bet-ter
to do," he stuck with his craft.
He has since won several awards
for his work, poetry and plays alike,
including a National Endowment for
the Arts fellowship in creative writ-ing,
first prize in the Randall Jarrell-
Harperprints Poetry Competition,
and he was one of ten winners in
the 2003 Ten by Ten in the Triangle
Competition.
Dr. Smith-Soto, who says he learned
a great deal of English by. reading
Shakespearian plays, was born in
Washington, DC but was raised until
the age of eleven in Costa Rica where
SEE SMITH S0T0 PAGE TWO