The Carolinian [September 18, 2012]

              T h e C a r o l i n i a n
The student newspaper of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Established 1919
Vol. XCIII No. 5 www.uncgcarolinian.com September 18-24, 2012
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Opinions Page 4 A&E Page 6 Features Page 8 Sports Page 10
Should America apologize?
Coming out in the NFL, CTU
strike shows flaws, Affordable
Care Act helps women, LGBT
activism wanes.
The Food Issue: Eating around
the world, how your brain affects
food choices; Hispanic Heratige
Month; Quiditch at UNCG
Spartans strike gold against
49ers, Jamaica troubles U.S.
Men’s National team, WNBA:
Reviving a lost league.
WAM Jam, SPARKcon ignites
talent in Raleigh, U.S. Army
Presents: Spirit of America, The
final season of Jersey Shore,
Film review: Arbitrage.
New York Fashion Week: Spring 2013 trends are in!
Laura Brewer
News Editor
Summer is barely fad-ing
away but New York
officially welcomed the
fashion trends for next
spring last week during
Mercedes-Benz Fashion
Week, otherwise referred
to as New York Fashion
Week (NYFW). Thousands
of attendees, from celebrity
stylists to the urban fashion
elites, grabbed their seats at
over 300 exhibits and run-way
shows showcasing top
designers’ latest collections.
While Fashion Week is
the most important artistic
showcase of creative blood,
sweat, and tears for the fash-ion
junkie, it also makes a
direct economic impact on
the average consumer.
“The events such as Fash-ion
Night Out and Fash-ion
Week provide a good
snapshot of the seasonal
trend for consumers and
retailers. These events cre-ate
consumers’ demand for
fashion items which in turn
enhance the economy for
fashion industry as well
as other industries such as
hotel and restaurant busi-nesses.
Such events also
educate consumers about
fashion and enhance their
shopping interests,” Dr. Kit-tichai
Watchravesringkan in
the Consumer Apparel Re-tail
Studies (CARS) depart-ment.
The runway shows aimed
to please consumers and
editors who watch eagerly
to stay on top of the current
“ins and outs” and trends for
next season. Faculty mem-bers
of the CARS depart-ment
defended the fashion
industry against stereotypes
of luxury frivolity and gen-der
bias.
“Many people consider
fashion to be frivolous and
symbolic of material excess.
However, fashion is also an
everyday necessity, not just
in terms of the clothing we
wear but as far as the contri-butions
it makes to the glob-al
economy… Tens of thou-sands
of jobs are created by
the fashion industry… The
fashion industry is global,
it impacts the economies of
many, many countries as it
provides export revenues as
well as jobs. Fashion rep-resents
mass market mer-chandise
as well as hand
crafted fabrics, apparel, and
accessories, so it is equally
important to understand
its contributions to a local
economy through the small
business as it is to recognize
how multi-national apparel
corporations contribute to
the global economy. Grant-ed,
the stereotype of the
high maintenance, overly
dramatic haute couture de-signer
may be, in part, based
on real life, in the end every-one
needs to wear clothing.
If they don’t, they will find
themselves on the wrong
side of the law”
“A lot of this misconcep-tion
is based on clothing’s
association with the fem-inine--
throughout history
women have been responsi-ble
for dressing the family,”
said another CARS faculty
member, “but the truth is
that fashion is everywhere,
even in masculine things
like electronics and auto-motives.
That is why cell
phones and cars that are de-signed
in one year look very
similar. It is a reflection of
our culture at a particular
point in time. What people
wear can tell us a lot about
their values and lifestyles.”
For the fourth year in a
row, NYFW kicked off
with Fashion’s Night Out
on Thursday, Sep. 6. Thou-sands
of stores across the
country kept their doors
open late to host exclusive
giveaways and promotions,
complete with trendy mu-sic
and refreshments to en-tice
shoppers. The events
invited crowds of savvy
shoppers and fashionistas to
strut their style amongst one
another and bring their pas-sion
to the register. In New
York, Manhattan boutiques
and shops transformed into
chic galas with exclusive
designer brand giveaways,
surprise celebrity appear-ances,
and fashion moguls
on site to offer style advice.
As the runway shows took
full force from morning
Yannis Vlamos/GoRunway.com
Marc Jacobs Spring 2013 collection emulates vintage 60’s era.
Teri saylor/North Carolina Railroads
Faculty members and North Carolina Railroads Staff break ground to begin construction for a Pedestrian Underpass to Lee Street,
The Railroad Company, school and city
collaborate on expansion of campus
Aaron Bryant
Staff Writer
The University of North
Carolina at Greensboro held
a groundbreaking ceremony
for the Pedestrian Under-pass
which will safely link
UNCG’s main campus with
the expanded campus on
West Lee Street last week as
a collaborative effort with
the North Carolina Railroad
company. The Underpass is
scheduled to be completed
by the start of the Fall 2013
semester. Among those in
attendance were Chancellor
Brady, the North Carolina
Railroad company presi-dent
Scott Saylor, and City
Council member Nancy
Hoffman.
In an interview conducted
before the ceremony started,
President of the Railroad
Company Scott Saylor
spoke about the importance
of the railroad system.
Saylor said, “Railroads are
at the forefront now, because
of their efficiency, contribu-tion
to the economy. What’s
interesting is this line is part
of the main line from Wash-ington
D.C. to Atlanta. This
is just more than just local
transportation of people and
cargo; this is the economy
of our state moving on those
tracks.”
During the ceremony, Say-lor
said, “Greensboro is the
birth of the North Caro-lina
Railroad. For over 160
years, it has advanced the
economy of the state, and
it has generated a lot of
growth, much like with the
current development of this
underpass. It is so important
for this kind of growth to be
done safely, which is why
the company has pledged to
offer financial support for
the underpass.”
President Saylor, who
grew up in the Triad and
lived in Henshaw, began his
academic career at UNCG.
Chancellor Brady began the
Ceremony by addressing the
See fashion, page3
See underpass, page 3
See bartender, page 3
Bartender shows students how
he turned “wine into water” to
help thousands with charity
Alaina Monts
Staff Writer
Each year, first-year stu-dents
at UNCG have the op-portunity
to participate in a
summer reading project.
This year the students
read Wine to Water: A Bar-tender’s
Quest to Bring
Clean Water to the World.
On Wednesday, Sep. 12
the author of the book, Doc
Hendley, spoke in Aycock
Auditorium about his ex-periences
working to bring
clean water to impoverished
and war-stricken parts of the
world.
Hundreds of students sat
in what turned out to be a
casual affair in Aycock lis-tening
to Hendley talk about
his experiences.
	
The author began as a bar-tender
in Raleigh and felt
that he was not doing much
with his life
He remembered the day
when he first thought of
creating a charity He was
sitting in the basement of
his parent’s home and the
phrase “wine to water”
came to mind.
It reminded him of his
favorite miracle in the Bi-ble—
Jesus turning water
into wine. At first he thought
it might be some song lyric
that came to mind, but then
believed it to be something
bigger.
He decided to do a Google
search on water and discov-ered
that around 1.1 billion
people in the world didn’t
have access to clean drink-ing
water. This was in the
1990’s.
“I stared at that screen and
I knew I had to do some-thing,”
Hendley said.
So he did.
“In the beginning I wanted
to do one thing…do some-thing
for someone other
than myself.”
Hendley decided to hold
a fundraiser to raise money
for clean drinking water. He
already had a venue (the bar
he worked at), and because
of his career, he knew and
was able to invite a lot of
people.
The event was a success
and he raised somewhere
around five to six thousand
dollars at his first event
alone.
After hosting four or five
fundraisers, Hendley ac-cumulated
around $20,000,
did not know who to give
the money to. He decided
2 | September 18-24, 2012 News | The Carolinian Box N1 EUC
UNCG
Greensboro, NC, 27413
Phone: (336) 334-5752
Fax: (336) 334-3518
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up of the Publisher, Edi-tor-
in-Chief, and Section
Editors.
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Staff
Derrick Foust
Publisher
Publisher.Carolinian@gmail.
com
Kaycie Coy
Editor-in-Chief
Editor.Carolinian@gmail.com
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News Editor
News.Carolinian@gmail.com
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Opinions Editor
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Arts & Entertainment Editor
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Sports Editor
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Features Editor
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com
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knowingly publishes any
mistakes. Please prompt-ly
notify us of any errors
by e-mailing the Editor-in-
Chief at Editor.Caro-linian@
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calling (336) 334-5752.
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Carolinian.
Mission Statement
The Carolinian is a
teaching newspaper that
is organized and pro-duced
by students of the
University of North Car-olina
at Greensboro. It
is our objective to teach
young writers journal-istic
skills while empha-sizing
the importance of
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campus media.
Weekly
Forecast
Today Wednesday Thursday Friday Weekend
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National News Briefs
Compiled By: Stephanie Cistrunk
US Ambassador to Libya
Chris Stevens, among a for-mer
navy seal nd two secu-rity
officers was killed in a
fire In Libya Tuesday, Sep.
11 by Islamist militants at
the Benghazi Consulate.
The Jihadist mob broke into
the consulate compound
with grenades and antiair-craft
weapons and set it
ablaze 15 minutes later.
Stevens was a demonstra-tor
during the Libyan revo-lution.
He arrived on a cargo
ship in the port of Benghazi
and began building our rela-tionships
with Libya’s revo-lutionaries.
Secretary of state Clinton
said Wednesday: “He risked
his life to stop a tyrant, and
then gave his life trying to
build a better Libya.”
Stevens died from suffo-cation
from the explosion.
The US and people of Lib-ya
mourned the victims on
Wednesday and vowed for
justice. Libyan demonstra-tors
condemned the kill-ings,
and said the assailants
marked as “thugs” and “kill-ers”
do not represent them.
“Make no mistake, we will
work with the Libyan gov-ernment
to bring to justice
the killers who attacked
our people” said President
Obama.
The US warned Ameri-cans
to not travel to Libya,
because of recent Jihadist
activity and camps in Libya,
according to a report by a
senior Libyan official in
June. Obama administration
also sent more security in
to Libya as to prevent any
future attacks on other dip-lomatic
installations. The
four hour attack at Benghazi
was planned and could be
a result of an Anti-Muslim
online film, which caused
protests at the Consulate.
The film criticizes Muslim
culture, depicts the Prophet
Muhammad as a child mo-lester,
womanizer, and mass
murderer. There has been a
backlash from Muslims af-ter
the films releasing, and
it could possibly stand as
a motive for Tuesday’s at-tacks.
US ambassador
killed during
protests in Libya
Apple releases
larger, faster
iPhone 5
Americans come
together to
remember 9/11
Apple CEO Tim Cook
spoke at the Yerba Buena
Center for the Arts in San
Francisco on Wednesday
announcing the iPhone5.
The fifth installation of the
globally in-demand product
is thinner and faster than
before. Consumers are won-dering
why they should re-place
their iPhone 4S with
the iPhone 5. Weighing at
an one hundred and twelve
grams, its eighteen percent
thinner and twenty percent
lighter, which being in the
technological movement of
the twenty-first century, is
considered a pleasure.
Customers complained
about the smallness of the
iPhone screens.
“One thing I did not like
about the iPhone4 was that
the screen was too small,
making it hard for me to
type,” said Greensboro resi-dent
Dennis Lopez.
The iPhone5 screen is
larger than ever, at 1136
x 640, making it easier to
type on the keyboard with
one hand. The 4- inch ret-ina
display gives a eighteen
percent more pixels, mak-ing
phone display more
vibrant and lifelike. The
iPhone5 is packed with all
new apps like the Apple de-signed
Map app cartography
with turn-by-turn naviga-tion;
Facebook integration;
Passbook® organization;
and even more Siri® fea-tures
and languages. This
new apple installment has
the most advanced technol-ogy
than any other iPhone,
and is quite the beauty. It
is a faster gadget, with
clearer graphics, eight hours
of talk-time, more phone
app’s, eight hours of brows-ing
time, enhanced audio
and higher speed 4G inter-nets.
Everything consumers
wanted in the 4S is in this
phone.
Pricing did not change, yet
the accessories are slightly
higher than before, but so
classically revamped. Pre-
Orders for the IPhone start
Friday, and ships to antici-pating
customers September
21.
Tuesday, Sep. 11, 2012
marked the eleventh year
anniversary of the most hor-rific
terrorist attack against
our nation. Americans treat
Sep. 11 as a special day to
take a moment out of busy
schedules and remember
those hard-working and
brave citizens who became
victims eleven years ago
this month.
An anniversary ceremony
was held in New York City
at the site of the World Trade
Center, where family mem-bers
and friends gathered in
silence to mourn their loved
ones who were killed in the
dreadful terrorist attacks.
Small ceremonies were also
held at the other two hijack-ing
sites, The Pentagon and
the Pennsylvania Memorial,
for people to remember and
pray for those lost.
At the Ground Zero site
in Lower Manhattan, fam-ily
members and others
read the names of the 2,753
people killed there. No poli-ticians
were included in this
ceremony, just those closest
to the victims.
President Obama and Gov.
Mitt Romney pulled all neg-ative
campaign ads and set
aside the politics for the mo-ment
to honor the historic
day, with the President and
governor visiting wounded
soldiers in hospitals.
The small community of
Middletown, NJ held a
small visual, laying a wreath
in the town park. The town
lost more than thirty of
their people in the attacks.
Although 11 years have
passed since the nation’s
darkest day, the events and
its consequential outcome
may never be forgotten by
Americans.
A few places around the
country refrained from their
usual 9/11 ceremonies, like
in NYC suburb of Glen
Rock, N.J.
“We felt it was right to
shift the balance a bit from
the observance of loss to a
commemoration of how the
community came together
to heal” said Brad Jordan, of
Glen Rock community.
Grammy nominated folk music singer and song writer charms audience
Devon Lail
Staff Writer
Campaign Trail
Weekly
Attack on U.S. Consulate
brings foreign policy to
forefront of campaigns
Elisabeth Wise
Staff Writer
In the wake of the devas-tating
siege of the U.S. Con-sulate
in Benghazi, Libya,
the political campaigns have
shifted their focus to foreign
policy. The U.S. ambas-sador
to Libya along with
another diplomat and two
state department security
officers were killed Tuesday
night when the consulate
was stormed by a mob and
set ablaze.
Presidential candidate Mitt
Romney released a state-ment
late on Tuesday, Sept.
11, criticizing the Obama
administration’s handling
of the attack in Benghazi.
Romney’s statement was re-leased
before the news that
the American ambassador
to Libya, J. Christopher Ste-vens,
had been killed in the
attack.
In the statement Romney
said “It’s disgraceful that
the Obama administration’s
first response was not to
condemn attacks on our
diplomatic missions, but to
sympathize with those who
waged the attacks.”
Both Romney and his
running mate Paul Ryan
have criticized Obama and
his administration in their
handling of the crises in
Egypt and Libya. Romney
and Ryan have accused the
Obama administration of
sending “mixed signals”
and “projecting a weak
America” abroad.
Romney’s statement has
received mixed reviews
from Republicans and wide-spread
condemnation from
Democrats. Some Repub-licans
feel that Romney
was “too quick to politicize
faulty reporting initially.
Too quick to politicize the
death of foreign service of-ficers”
and that this “makes
him appear not ready.”
Others, however, feel that
Romney’s swift condem-nation
of the administra-tion’s
handling of the crisis
could be a “game changer”
as long as Romney makes
it clear that his statement is
not about political gain but
“because weak, apologetic
leadership is dangerous for
the country.”
The democrats criticized
Romney for being too quick
to politicize the tragedy
for his own political gain
instead of trying to show
unity during this crisis.
Former Ambassador Nick
Burns who served under
the George W. Bush and
Bill Clinton administrations
said he was “dismayed” by
Romney’s choice to inter-ject
politics into the crisis
and difficulties the country
is facing.
During an interview with
CBS, President Obama said
“Gov. Romney seems to
have a tendency to shoot
first and aim later, and as
president, one of the things
I’ve learned is you can’t do
that. It’s important for you
to make sure that the state-ments
that you make are
backed up by the facts and
that you’ve thought through
the ramifications before you
make them.”
The campaigns have been
primarily focused on jobs
and the economy, but turned
to foreign policy for a short
period of time when demo-crats
criticized Romney for
not mentioning Afghanistan
in his speech accepting the
Republican nomination.
The issue of foreign pol-icy
was last a major focus
in late July when Romney
traveled to England, Israel,
and Poland as part of his
2012 presidential campaign
to meet with leaders and
tour historic sights. Though
Romney had some suc-cesses
during his trip, what
is remembered primarily are
a series of the GOP candi-date’s
gaffes, including one
where implied that London
was not well-prepared for
the Summer Olympics.
Polls consistently show that
voters say Obama would
better handle foreign poli-cy
issues and relationships
with other countries if he is
re-elected.
Folk music artist John Mc-
Cutcheon performed in the
EUC auditorium on Mon-day,
Sep. 10 for students
and the general public as
part of his tour for his lat-est
CD.
McCutcheon is a Grammy
nominated musical artist
and storyteller from Wis-consin
but Southerner by
choice for over 40 years.
He plays a dozen different
instruments which took up
the entire stage of the audi-torium,
including the piano,
the banjo, the guitar, and the
hammer dulcimer.
While played music for
the audience, he told stories
about his life, including how
he came to the south and
why he thinks it is so much
better than anywhere else.
He shared stories about his
childhood, raising his own
children, and even recited
a poem he wrote about how
great Krispy Kreme donuts
are. He also received re-quests
from the audience to
sing a couple songs from an
album he had done entirely
about baseball.
The first story he share de-picted
how he became in-terested
in folk music in the
first place. He received a
guitar for Christmas when
he was 14 years old. In-spired
to learn, he went
to the library to check out
books on folk music. When
he got there, he discovered
they only had one book
called “Woody Guthrie
Folksongs.”
“Now when I was 14 I had
no idea who Woody Guth-rie
was,” said McCutch-eon.
“I mean, we sang his
songs in school, but no one
knew who wrote them. And
because this book was ar-ranged
alphabetically, it was
not until I got to three quar-ters
of the way through that
this was the man who wrote
‘This Land is Your Land.’”
McCuthceon checked the
book out and renewed it
several times and said now
the book is now about 45
years overdue because he
still has it.
Another popular tale with
the audience was McCutch-eon’s
story about how he
arrived in the South. While
attending school in Michi-gan
his sophomore year,
he overheard his friends
talking about junior year
abroad.
“Well I found out what that
was,” said McCutcheon.
“That meant that my best
friends were not going to be
in college that year.”
To remedy this, he went
to his counselor to discuss
studying abroad. While his
friends were all preparing to
go to Rome, London, and
Paris, he found himself in
Kentucky his junior year.
“I knew I would have
just as many foreign experi-ences
as my friends were in
other countries,” he joked.
“I certainly didn’t know that
when I crossed The Mason-
Dixon line, that that was it.
I would never think about
crossing back.”
McCutcheon then went on
to talk about how he fell in
love with the people, the
music, and especially the
food.
The audience was very in-volved
in his stories, clap-ping
and even singing along
when a song had repetition
to it. McCutcheon made
sure to keep the audience
laughing and having a good
time. He also paid special
attention to the young chil-dren
in the front and made
sure they were entertained
as well. McCutcheon, be-ing
a father as well, always
found children’s music to be
silly and condescending. In
1983, he released his own
children’s album with the
intention of being the only
one However, he gained a
reputation as a children’s
storyteller on top of being a
folksinger.
A table was set up outside
the auditorium with cd’s and
updates about McCutcheon
that they could take home
with them as souvenirs.
His appearance on campus
was sponsored by the Uni-versity
Libraries at UNCG
through the generosity of
the Pam and David Sprinkle
Children’s Book Author and
Storyteller Series Fund, as
well as the O. Henry Hotel
and the Green Valley Grill.
Coming on the centennial
year of Woody Guthrie’s
birth, McCutcheon’s “This
Land: Woody Guthrie’s
America” tribute CD will
be released on Saturday,
Sep. 15.
For more information
about his cd or his upcom-ing
performances, visit
http://www.folkmusic.com.
News | The Carolinian September 18-24, 2012 |3
Sociology department head introduces
research on “cultural pedagogy”
Stephanie Cistrunk
Staff Writer
Tuesday, Sep. 11, 2012,
the Multicultural Resource
Center hosted a Book Talk
with UNCG. Dr. Shelly
Brown-Jeffy. Director of
under graduate studies,
Brown-Jeffy is currently
conducting research on how
different cultures are mak-ing
an influence on the edu-cational
system.
Brown-Jeffy published an
article co-authored with Dr.
Jill Cooper titled, “Toward
a conceptual framework of
culturally relevant pedago-gy:
An overview of the con-ceptual
& theoretical litera-ture”.
Published in Teacher
Education Quarterly, the
article points out how “the
US is a diverse country with
constantly changing demo-graphics.”
Brown-Jeffy pre-sented
her path for writing
the piece, the earlier influ-ences
that created it, as well
as the current research topic
she’s working on today.
In her article, Brown-Jeffy
stated that she began the re-search
to find what was cul-turally
relevant in the Amer-ican
society. Earlier topics
in the article were based
upon Cultural Anthropology
studies. She studied how a
typical/white middle-class
teacher would go to a class-room
of students from total-ly
different social/economi-cal
type cultures, and make
adjustments in his/her style
of teaching; making the stu-dents
learn more efficiently.
This method has been seen
in real life, as well as in
films like Freedom Writers.
This has been proved to al-low
teachers who were from
different surroundings, to be
embedded in a different cul-ture,
and ultimately under-stand
his/her student’s chal-lenges
more. It is one of the
many incidences Brown-
Jeffy uses to display cultural
differences in our society.
“Lining up” is another ex-ample
of humans showing
cultural contrast. Brown-
Jeffy used her trip from Italy
to demonstrate how Italians
would skip the lines in the
bathrooms, because they do
not line up in Italy, unlike
many students in America,
that were taught it is im-polite
to skip someone in a
line.
Before she discussed her
research, Brown-Brown-
Jeffy defines Critical Race
Theory.
“It changes the approach
to American life of soci-ety,
analyzes and examines
everyday experiences, and
forces you to look at the ev-eryday
experiences through
a different frame…looking
at the racial dynamics in a
society”said Brown-Jeffy.
The second segment of the
hour ended with what an
elaboration of her research,
affirmative action in high-schools
and universities.
Brown-Brown-Jeffy dis-cussed
why schools need
affirmative action policies
as well as why many Ameri-cans
do not like the ideal of
present day Affirmative Ac-tion.
Brown-Brown-Jeffy ar-gues
that the need for affir-mative
action comes from
the facts that we still live
in a society that is highly
racially charged.In 1961,
when John F. Kennedy im-plemented
the affirmative
action program, his goal
was to achieve non- dis-crimination.
In 1965, Presi-dent
Johnson enacted an ex-ecutive
order that required
government employers to
take “affirmative action” to
hire without regards to race,
religion and national origin.
In 1968, gender was added
to the anti-discrimination
list. The US implemented
these policies because being
a minority in America about
40 years ago was much
like having a “deficit, said
Brown-Jeffy , meaning min-iorities
were given equal op-portunities
in schooling, be-cause
they were not white.
Shelly said that people think
of Affirmative action as a
hassle, as if they have to
either include minorities or
not exclude minorities when
hiring.
The question Brown-Jeffy
posed in her findings, is
that if the businesses really
wanted to hire a few mi-norities,
they were capable
of this, but do these same
businesses who claim they
could not find any minority
applicants really want to
hire them? Not so much.
Brown-Jeffy’s current re-search
on cultural pedagogy
hits the trend universities
that are replacing the affir-mative
action program with
the percent program.
The percent plan was
replaced with the Affirma-tive
Action policies, be-cause
universities thought
by taking the top percent
of every high school’s stu-dents,
would result in diver-sity.
Colleges nationwide
like the University of Cali-fornia,
University of Texas,
University of Florida, and
University of Michigan
have imputed the percent
plan.
The purpose of this is
to create a diverse learn-ing
environment in college
universities, but Dr. Shelly
Brown- Brown-Jeffy won-ders
how the plan can be
effective at the high-school
level Brown-Brown-Jeffy’s
research analyzes how ap-pearing
more racially inte-grated
can affect the lack of
resources in lower end high
schools.
Brown-Jeffy also asks if
they are accepting the top
20 percent, no one knows if
that percent are the minor-ity,
so how could this help
integrate and diversify U.S
schools.
Brown-Jeffy posed three
scenarios for causing inte-gration
stem from three op-tions.
The first option is the
“race is dead in America”
theory that after the inau-guration
of the first Black
president, race is no longer
an issue. The second op-tion
is “folks are losing their
dream homes, in their dream
neighborhoods, and have to
move into formally minority
based neighborhoods. And
for third, we have the middle
class-educated parents, who
say they don’t have to move
into the “perfect” neighbor-hoods
to get their children
a good education, but yet a
“good” neighborhood, and
have their kid do their best
in that situation. The three
case scenario Brown-Jeffy
used set ground to why
families in this economic
climate have to integrate in
schools.
The remainder of Brown-
Brown-Jeffy’s research
aims to find the percent
plan’s trend and ultimately
see if the program is effec-tive
for miniority students.
Olivia Cline
Staff Writer
A court ruling threw Iraq
into turmoil last week after
sentencing the vice presi-dent
to death for running
death squads.
According to prosecutors,
the vice-president, Tariq al-
Hashimi, is guilty of over
150 killings. He and his son-in-
law were found guilty of
two murders.
The sentence sparked com-plete
chaos in the country.
Prime Minister Nouri al-
Maliki, who is Shia, is be-ing
denounced by Sunni
politicians as a dictator for
his issuance of al-Hashimi’s
arrest warrant. Many Sun-nis
agree, and believe that
they are being ignored by
the Shia-controlled govern-ment.
Iraq has been in the hands
of Shia politicians since the
US invasion, and al-Hashi-mi
is the first Sunni leader in
Iraq since Suddam Hussein.
Sunni discontent has led
to a wave of protests and
acts of violence over the last
few days, including dozens
of car bombs and shootings
in and outside the capital.
Hashimi rejected his sen-tence,
saying that it was
“politically motivated” and
therefore invalid. He cur-rently
resides in Turkey, and
has since he was charged.
Turkey’s Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan vowed to
protect Hashimi rather than
turn him over so that his sen-tence
can be carried out. He
says he believes it is “out of
the question” that Hashimi
is guilty, and that Hashimi is
welcome in the country for
as long as he wants.
Hashimi says that he is
willing to undergo a fair
trial, but that he believes
Iraq’s current court system
is under the control of Prime
Minister Maliki.
UK foreign secretary Wil-liam
Hague pledged his full
support to Iraq’s govern-ment
and to Maliki, saying
that he looks forward to
reinforcing the relationship
between the UK and Iraq
and to offering any help that
he could.
Hashimi is not the only
Middle Eastern government
official to face legal action
this week. Egypt’s ex-prime
minister Ahmed Nazif was
jailed Thursday on counts
of corruption and unlawful
business transactions.
The debate surrounding
Hashimi’s sentence is not
the first issue to hit Iraq in
the last few weeks. While
Iraqi violence has decreased
since its worst in 2006 and
2007, the withdrawal of US
troops late last year has esca-lated
tensions and increased
the number of incidents, in-cluding
a slew of anti-gay
attacks and killings.
Media recently revealed
that the situation for gay
men and women in the
country has been atrocious
for years, with these indi-viduals
facing almost cer-tain
death.
In many cases, this death
sentence is carried out by
the person’s own family in
what is called an “honor
killing” for religious rea-sons.
If this is not the case,
the militia and even the law
enforcement agencies will
seal the individual’s fate.
While these killings are
well-documented, as is the
government’s involvement,
officials have refused to ad-mit
their existence and in-stead
blame outside militia
groups.
Iraq’s Human Rights de-partment
said it cannot in-tervene
in cases of persecu-tion
due to the fact that gay
people are not considered an
Iraqi minority.
The attacks are especially
notable considering their
frequency and severity as
compared to those in Iran,
where homosexuality is il-legal.
Homosexuality is not
mentioned in Iraq’s laws.
Iraqi courts sentence vice
president to death, country reacts
fashion
from page 1
until night, fashion blog-gers
and experts posted
photos and videos for each
show, grading each designer
on their newest collection
based on originality and
versatility. Social media
channels posted nonstop,
tagging #NYFW for easy to
follow updates.
Day One began as usual,
with BCMG Max Azaria
dominating the runway with
style inspired by strong
women. Tadashi Shoji fol-lowed
by transporting back
in time a few centuries with
Silk Road influences and
oriental style. Nicholas and
Christopher Kunz continued
their multi-faceted influ-ence
from Nicholas’s mixed
experience working for dif-ferent
brands to create ultra-modern
approaches to clas-sic
staples.
Day Two continued the
show stopping excitement
from designers such as Pe-ter
Som with his floral prints
and midriff cutoffs, Jason
Wu’s sheer and contrasting
white and black schemes,
dominating a sleek, sophis-ticated
taste, and Nicole
Miller’s futuristic crop tops
and skinny, printed pants.
The prints and partiality to
sheer material appeared no-tably
often throughout the
week, stapling a theme for
both fall and spring trends.
The most excitement from
Day Two revolved around
the runway show determin-ing
Project Runway’s 10th
season winner who will be
officially revealed during
the finale airing Oct. 18.
In regards to pinning an
overall theme for Spring,
Marc Jacobs made the state-ment
loud and clear: in with
the old, with a touch of
new. Jacobs’s collection is
strictly sixties in length and
cut with a dash of modern
stripes in design. Michael
Kors and Rebecca Minkoff
also reached back into the
era and brought vintage de-signs
and prints into their
collections. Other designers
such as Siriano and Zang
Toi echoed the era with soft
solids while designers such
as Chris Benz, Walter Bak-er,
and Gretchen Jones emu-lated
the free flowing style
of the hippie movement.
This fall’s Fashion Week
revealed another interesting
turn in theme as designers
favored the landscape of
pants over the usual femi-nine
go-to skirt or dress.
Watchravesringkan said
that fashion trends reflect
political issues and defining
points of history.
“Culturally now in the
U.S., there is a lot of po-larization....
the presidential
election is coming up.... the
divergent patterns reflect the
zeitgeist of the times.”
Several celebrities at-tended
the shows and a few
crossed over from spotlight
to behind the scenes as de-signers,
including Katie
Holmes, who debuted her
collection with partner de-signer
Jeanne Yang.
The week’s evenings were
spotted with various after-parties
and galas, all with
guest lists as fabulous as the
days’ shows. Always noto-rious
and most notable for
Fashion Week festivities,
Alexander Wang picked a
bank robbery theme, com-plete
with metal detectors at
the door and jail bars inside.
Wang arrived late as a bank
robbing nun, spooking some
of his attendees and exciting
many others.
Now that Fashion Week is
over, retailers and experts
can move forward with
catering to the consumer
population on the how-to’s
for keeping in step with the
seasons without following
Wang’s lead and breaking
the bank.
“Many consumers want to
emulate the couture designs
worn by celebrities and be-cause
of this, manufactur-ers
pay close attention to
designs shown at Fashion
Week in order to develop
styles affordable to the aver-age
consumer, Watchraves-ringkan
said.
Every runway show and
exhibit is available with
galleries and videos at the
official New York Fashion
Week website www.mb-fashionweek.
com.
bartender
from page 1
underpass
from page 1
crowd of around 65 people.
Brady mentioned how the
project will impact the cam-pus
and surrounding area.
“The project that brings us
together today not only cre-ates
a critical, visible con-nection
point between our
established campus and an
area of campus underde-velopment,
but also to go
beyond yesterday’s bound-aries
and bring us closer to
our students and this com-munity.”
Brady said “The
underpass will allow for
efficient foot and biking
passage from the mixed use
village and the main body of
campus.”
The underpass is one of
many projects the university
began in recent years, along
with Jefferson Suites, the
newly renovated Quad, and
the Caf which is undergoing
a major overhaul. The un-derpass
is part of the devel-opment
of the mixed use vil-lage
planned on Lee Street.
The mixed use village will
be a combination of upper
class housing, including
an 800 bed apartment style
dorm opening fall of 2013,
a 600 bed dorm opening in
spring of 2016, a new recre-ational
center, a new UNCG
police station, a mixture of
office space and restaurants
and the underpass which
will connect all of this to the
existing campus.
Brady said, “These are just
a few examples of commu-nity-
university partnerships
that will enhance the civic
engagement and learning
opportunities available to
our students and our neigh-bors.
The mixed use village
aligns closely with Greens-boro’s
revitalization ef-forts.”
Brady acknowledged both
the local and state govern-ment
and thanked them for
their help and support of the
project.
The underpass was autho-rized
for state funding by
the state legislature in 2010,
thanks to our legislature,
who understands the impor-tance
of safe travel to and
from the university’s cam-pus,”
she said.
Brady also thanked the city
council for its unanimous
9-0 vote last September ap-proving
the project.
Nancy Hoffman, who repre-sents
District 4 on city coun-cil,
talked about the impor-tance
of the underpass to the
city of Greensboro as well
as the schools surrounding
neighborhoods.
Hoffman said “The under-pass
is just part of a larger
effort. It’s changing the face
of the city; it’s changing the
face of this neighborhood.
One thing that I really like
about it is that it is integrat-ing
the university with the
neighborhood. The mixed
use village will be the fu-ture
of West Lee Street and
the underpass is literally the
gateway to that future. The
university is just such an in-tegral
part of the city along
with the other universities
in the city. We are the Gate
city, and this opens up the
gate and invites the commu-nity
to enjoy the wonders of
the university just like its
students do.”
Some critics have wondered
how the university can
spend money on new facili-ties
at a time when budgets
are being cut at the univer-sity.
Brady said that the vil-lage
is being funded many
different ways including
state appropriations, student
tuition and fees and self-funding
services. Taxes will
pay for the underpass, and
the railroad company has
provided 1 million dollars
towards the creation of the
underpass. The university
will borrow money to pay
for the new UNCG police
station and new recreation
center and new housing.
The mixed village will be
rented out to vendors, who
will pay money to the uni-versity.
The university believes
the underpass will bring in
revenue of up to 590 mil-lion
dollars between 2014
and 2023, with the major-ity
coming from the new
housing space. The under-pass
not only represents the
school, but also represents
the continued importance of
the North Carolina railroad
system as well as the contin-ued
expansion and growth
of the city of Greensboro.
on a charity called Samari-tans
First because they had
a track record of giving
at least ninety percent of
money donated to actively
put clean water in places
that needed it. He planned
to donate his money to
them and set up a plan so
that they would receive any
other funds he raised for his
cause, but the founder of the
charity had a different plan.
He told Hendley to finish
his degree and then sent him
to Darfur to help give clean
water to the people there
who were going through a
civil war.
He worked with a refugee
camp in a UN no-go zone
which meant that he would
receive no outside aid—he
was literally alone.
The sights in Darfur in-spired
his work.
“I realized the water crisis
was taking away these kids’
childhoods.”
Upon returning to the
states, Hendley got right to
work. He worked under the
chair of Samaritans First for
a while before setting up his
own charity, Wine to Water.
He continued to work as a
bartender and continued to
host fundraisers.
He even made segweyed
into talking about meeting
his wife. After returning to
the states, he was depressed
after seeing the devastation
that civil war can do to a
country. He was at a bar
one night when what he de-scribed
as “the most smok-ing-
est woman” came up to
him. She encouraged him to
continue with what was ob-viously
his passion.
According to his website, it
was in 2007, after working
two jobs and volunteering
his time for over three years,
that Wine To Water became
an official 501 (c) (3) and
what Hendley had been
trying to accomplish for so
long finally became real.
“When the idea came to me
to start Wine to Water the
only real world job experi-ence
I had was tending bar.
I dreamed of building an or-ganization
that fought water
related death and disease
using completely different
methods than anyone else.
So I started raising money
to fight this water epidemic
the best way I knew how, by
pouring wine and playing
music.”
Hendley continued talk-ing
to the crowd of first
year students, occasion-ally
charming them with his
genteel southern wit. After
speaking, he was greeted
with thunderous applause
from the audience.
4 September 18-24, 2012 Opinions
The United States has suf-fered
a great loss in the past
week. The embassies in Lib-ya
and Tunis were attacked
by protestors. The first ca-sualty
in these protests was
Ambassador John Christo-pher
(“Chris”) Stevens, 52,
in Libya. Stevens recently
begun a new chapter in his
career, helping to build a de-mocratized
Libya after the
fall of Gaddafi. When we
talk about Stevens in a pa-triotic
rhetoric that explores
only the Americanized view
of what makes a great lead-er,
defined by his ambition
to spread his democratic
principles to another na-tion,
the loss feels personal.
Americans everywhere feel
heavy-hearted. The prob-lem
with that perspective
is that this conflict began
before the protests. Muslims
around the world have felt
heavy-hearted for about 11
years.
The YouTube video that
inspired the protests is en-titled,
“The Innocence of
Islam.” You should watch
it to appreciate how abso-lutely
anti-Islamic it is. It
demeans the entire history
of Islam and Muslim culture
by depicting Muhammed
as a womanizing brute.
The thing I like the most
about the discomfort that
right wing Christians have
for Muslims in America
is that the people they feel
uncomfortable around are
the ones who most look like
the Christ they pretend to
honor. This YouTube video
was endorsed by religious
and community figures in
the Southeast United States.
Libya is in a fragile state
and America has played an
integral role in their day to
day life after the gruesome,
public execution of Gaddafi.
Since 9/11, Islamic culture
has been demonized by
Western, Judeo-Christian
culture. Muslims living in
some of the most advanced
and supposedly enlightened
nations around the world
have had to battle the ongo-ing
mindset that “terrorist”
means Islamic. If Ameri-cans
were treated as though
the core of our world views
and the basis for our reli-gious
devotion was a vio-lent,
non-sensical practice
that was founded in misog-yny
and lies, would we not
protest? Despite what Mitt
Romney would like you to
believe, Barack Obama did
not apologize to anyone for
the behavior of Americans
surrounding this YouTube
video. Now I have a radi-cal
idea to propose: Barack
Obama should have apolo-gized.
The idea of us apologizing
to any other nation makes
Americans more uncom-fortable
than discussing
their religious beliefs, the
mortality of Betty White,
the future of the Dallas
Cowboys franchise if Texas
actually does secede, and
the economic partnership
we have with China - com-bined.
Mitt Romney wants
voters to believe that Barack
Obama began his adminis-tration
with a tour around
the world apologizing for
the United States, even
though multiple sources
for fact checking have as-sured
the public that no
such thing happened. Politi-
Fact, winner of the Pulitzer
Price, rated the claim to be a
“pants on fire”, which means
that it so completely lacks
credibility that their writers
could not even find an in-nocent
misunderstanding.
While the embassies were
still under attack, Mitt Rom-ney
was already on camera
(smirking, no less) trying to
convince voters that Barack
Obama had the audacity to
apologize to Libya even af-ter
they attacked our embas-sy.
When Romney spoke,
there was not a single press
release on the matter from
the White House. The em-bassy
in Cairo had issued a
statement condemning the
original YouTube video that
instigated the protests to be-gin
with, but multiple pro-fessors
and political pundits
on conflict and communi-cation
studies have reported
that nothing in that state-ment
appears to convey an
apology or remorse. Many
of my left-wing counter-parts
are happy to report
that Romney lied, and no
apologies have been made.
We as Americans have plen-ty
of reasons to feel sorry.
If this becomes a religious
war, it is our fault. Muslims
in Libya have staged peace-ful
protests to express their
remorse to American citi-zens
for the loss we suffered
at our embassies. Although
it lacks a single ounce of
critical thinking, we some-how
appreciate the thought-fulness
in Libyan citizens
apologizing for something
they did not commit, but
would be so infuriated by
Barack Obama apologizing
that Romney thinks it could
win him the election. I for
one am ill with remorse and
shame to know that since
9/11, a mission driven by
pride appears more im-portant
than dedicating a
decade to improving our
healthcare or education sys-tems.
I am saddened that an
entire spiritual community
has been treated like sec-ond-
class citizens, or like we
woke up on 9/12 and had es-tablished
a national religion
over night. I want to believe
that Barack Obama wishes
this were a political climate
Emily Brown
Staff Writer
Should America apologize?
President Obama signs a condolence book for Chris Stevens.
Photo Courtesy pete souza/wikimedia commons
CTU strike shows flaws
On Monday, Sept. 10, the
Chicago Teachers Union
(CTU) began a historic
strike with 30,000 teachers
and educational personnel
staying off the job. In total,
350,000 students were
affected, causing parents to
scramble to find someone
to take care of their kids
during the day. Newly
elected Chicago Mayor
Rahm Emanuel, former
advisor to President Bill
Clinton and then President
Obama’s Chief-of-Staff,
was determined to take on
the teachers union. Mayor
Emanuel, most famous for
his foul mouth and being
a very business-friendly
Democrat, wanted to
enact neoliberal school
“reforms,” turning Chicago
into the latest battleground
in the nationwide school
reform movement. Reform
advocates want to increase
the amount of charter
schools, close neighborhood
schools, increase merit
pay, and transition away
from public education. In
Chicago, the teachers and
their community took a
stand for public education.
After Rahm Emanuel’s
election to mayor, he
appointed pro-reform
members to the board
of the Chicago Public
Schools (CPS). A necessary
precondition to enact
these regressive reforms
is to decrease the power
of teachers unions. Many
within the Democratic
Party elite have started to
side with the school-reform
movement, embracing polls
over sound policy and seeing
school choice as tailor-made
issue for triangulation.
The teachers unions are
the most powerful entity
defending public education
and by proxy representing
the interests of students. An
astonishing 98 percent of
ballots cast, and 90 percent
of overall teachers, voted to
authorize the CTU strike. As
the Sept. 10 strike date got
closer, it was clear that the
two sides were too far apart
to reach a new contract, so
the strike began.
According to the law
the public employees are
only allowed to strike over
compensation (benefits,
pay, hours, etc). This anti-union
law has been used
to paint the strike as only
about pay, but if you look
at the demands of the
CTU and what teachers
were saying, the strike was
about so much more. The
myth perpetuated by the
right (no fans of unions or
public education) is that
the teachers are greedy
and against students. The
teachers union wants public
education to be made a
priority; smaller classes and
better resources not just fair
compensation.
Chicago schools still lack
air-conditioning, with a
recent school day reaching
96 degrees Fahrenheit.
There is no library in 160
Chicago Public Schools,
there are only 202 school
nurses to serve 684 public
schools, and there are close
to 16,000 homeless kids
in the school system yet
only 370 social workers.
Rather than address these
issues, the Emanuel-backed
school board wanted
to increase the effect of
flawed standardize testing
in evaluating teachers.
They pushed to increase
the school day without
increasing teacher pay at
the same rate. They pushed
a “school turnaround”
plan that allows under-performing
schools to be
closed and turned into a
charter school.
The overarching theme
of the school reform
movement nationwide is this
emphasis on school choice.
Just as Paul Ryan wants to
voucherize Medicare, school
reform advocates want
to voucherize education.
They want to funnel public
dollars into charter schools,
whose primary purpose
and the concept behind
them is to circumvent
public accountability.
School choice is a canard,
which implies inequality
and that some stakeholders
would voluntarily choose
an inferior school. Rather
than universally funding
public education, it will
be allocated based off of
another means; most likely
either the ability to pay or
the mobility to move. As a
country we have to decide
whether we will provide a
good public education for
everyone or a great private
education for a few.
After a five-day strike, it
appears the CTU and CPS
are close to reaching a new
contract. The same CPS
board that tried to call the
teachers selfish became
more willing to negotiate
once the teachers harnessed
their collective power. The
final details of the new
contract are unknown as
of this writing, but the last
disagreement was over what
extent standardized testing
will have in determining
teacher evaluations.
Early reports are
suggesting that the contract
will be viewed as a win
for the Chicago Teachers
Union. Hopefully, this is
the case and this outcome
will provide momentum
for defenders of public
education around the
country. Massive rallies in
Chicago and large pickets
showed the power of the
local community against
business forces that want
a piece of the education
pie. As long as education
spending makes up such
a sizable percentage of
our overall economy, it
should not be surprising
that private interests try
to pry away some of the
market share. However, it is
surprising that so many are
duped into supporting their
efforts under the guise of
that would allow him to
apologize for the obvious
mistakes we have made over
the past 11 years in basic
human discourse. If we are
a nation that only believes
in apologies when we are on
the receiving end, the great-est
apology we will ever owe
will be to our children.
Caleb Patterson
Staff Writer
Coming out in the NFL
Sexuality and sport have
a long and complicated
history, especially when
it centers on the gay
community and its long
struggle for equality, or at the
very least, tolerance. While
professional sports have not
been entirely comfortable
with active players coming
out, it seems that it is
much more acceptable for
allies in sports to be vocal
about their support of the
gay community. Lately,
the support for same sex
marriage has converged
on our politics, our news,
and in the last few weeks
and through one of the
more unlikely sports to
be supportive, American
football.
Recently, Baltimore
Ravens linebacker Brendon
Ayanbadejo added his
voice to the fray of many
NFL players, including new
rookie quarterback Robert
Griffin III, that have voiced
their support for same
sex marriage. Ayanbadejo
estimated that nearly 70
percent of NFL players
are in support of same sex
marriage, with many players
having gay family members
and gay friends. There is
also a generational thing
going on here as well. With
many of the current NFL
players becoming younger
and younger, it is bound
to be a situation where
there is less opposition to
the idea of an openly gay
player, same sex marriage,
and ultimately acceptance
of gays and lesbians within
sport.
Ayanbadejo’s “coming
out” in support for same
sex marriage was received
well by organizations like
OutSports, who work to
promote acceptance of
the gay community in
sports; but not all were
happy about Ayanbadejo’s
support. Maryland state
representative Emmitt C.
Burns Jr. wrote a letter to
Baltimore Ravens owner
Steve Biscotti asking him to
silence, or rather “inhibit”
Ayanbadejo’s vocal support
of same sex marriage.
However, the Ravens did not
budge. Since then, Burns has
backed off, and let cooler
heads prevail. NFL players
across the league and from
many different teams were
not letting Burns off the
hook. Minnesota Vikings
punter Chris Kluwe later
sent Burns a letter, in which
he stated, “Why do you hate
the fact that other people
want a chance to live their
lives and be happy, even
though they may believe
in something different
than you, or act different
than you? How does gay
marriage, in any way, shape
or form, affect your life?”
In the short term, this
improves the NFL’s likability
and image overall. It might
upset some conservative
fans, but for the NFL, gay
spectators and (maybe
some gay players) are
beginning to see that the
NFL might be the sport
that welcomes them rather
than shuns them away. It is
hard to think that the NFL
would be the American
professional sport that takes
the bait in its support for
same sex marriage, but, it is;
and it is a welcome change.
As an avid NFL fan and as
someone who identifies as a
lesbian, the NFL has gained
a lot of respect for me as a
fan and as someone who
one day wants to marry her
partner in the state of North
Carolina.
The NBA has started to
break out of its hyper
masculine shell, with
players like Grant Hill, on
the behalf of the NBA doing
ad campaigns for the Gay,
Lesbian, Straight, Education
Network (GLSEN)
about inflammatory and
derogatory used in the game.
Sadly this was back dropped
against Kobe Bryant calling
a player a faggot in a 2011
game; the NBA fined him
$100,000 showing Bryant
that they were serious about
keeping the court clean of
such hateful remarks.
The lesson we can learn
from Ayanbadejo is not to
judge a book by its cover. We
might have assumed that
NFL players are nothing but
jocks with little between the
ears, but that is certainly
not the case. With players
like Ayanbadejo and Kluwe
leading the way (among
others), I hope to see
more support of all people
coming from a number of
NFL players. My hope is that
other sports, like the MLB,
NHL, and the NBA come
out or further their support
of equality, and maybe one
day an active player will feel
comfortable to come out of
the closet; just maybe.
Samantha Korb
Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy keith allison/flickr
Brendon Ayanbadejo came out in favor of same sex marriage
“Chicago
schools still
lack air-conditioning,
with a recent
school day
reaching
96 degrees
Fahrenheit.“
Opinions | The Carolinian September 18-24, 2012 |5
If there is one word that
succinctly sums up the
twenty-first century thus
far, it is change. From the
rhetoric of our politicians
to the realities of our
economy and pop culture,
it is evident that the United
States is in a transitional
period. Nowhere is this
change more apparent than
in the university setting.
The challenge of Higher
Education in this country
is to maintain a university’s
integrity as a center of
learning, debate, and
intellectual growth, while
acknowledging and meeting
the educational needs of
the future. This is a difficult
and complex assignment,
but one which a university
is fully capable of doing by
bringing together the best
of its past and combining it
with the innovations of the
future.
A brief history overview
will help illuminate the
university’s role in the
community. Since the days
of Plato and Aristotle, and
likely before, people have
gotten together with the
expectations of solving
problems, answering
difficult questions, and
learning more about the
world around them by
sharing ideas, confronting
arguments, and establishing
theories. In the modern
world, professors have
played an important role
in developing and guiding
the country through their
service in the government
or other leadership
organizations, through
excellent and enthusiastic
teaching, and through
widely read or understood
writings and speeches.
Where would America
be without the role that
intellectuals Raymond
Moley, Henry Kissinger,
and Elizabeth Warren have
played? These thinkers,
writers, teachers, and so
many more, helped build
and shape this great country
through their questions,
analyses, and propositions.
As America moves further
into a future of innovation
and creativity, the
involvement of these kinds
of leaders will be more
imperative than ever. Their
continued role, however,
seems questionable at best.
America is changing. A
college education was once
only available to the rich
or extremely intelligent.
Increasingly, Americans
of all backgrounds are
expected to receive
college instruction before
embarking on a career.
The country is changing
in more ways than just
educational expectations.
The manufacturing jobs
that provided a comfortable
living for “unskilled”
workers are gone and do
not seem to becoming back
in mass. Its replacement,
the service economy, has
gutted the pay and benefits
for millions of middle class
workers. Additionally,
globalization has upped the
stakes for college-educated
people; getting a job is not
the guarantee it once was.
The university must rise
and meet the needs of the
modern economy. The
liberal arts education, once
seen as the cornerstone of
democracy, is becoming
increasingly irrelevant.
During last year’s Occupy
Movement, one of the
largest complaints came
from liberal arts students
who had spent 100,000
dollars to obtain a degree,
but who were in no better
a position during their
job search than the lead
burger flipper at their local
McDonalds. The American
economy is becoming more
technical and as nice as
your senior thesis on how
Shakespeare’s writing was
affected by the relationship
he had with his father was;
it will not get you a well
paying job in the modern
world.
Community colleges
are on the rise since they
offer technical programs
that teach you a specific
job such as welding or
sonogramming for a
fraction of the time and
cost. Universities should
begin to invest more in
technical programs that
ready students for real life
jobs. This, however, does
not have to come at the
total expense of liberal arts
education. We will always
need the thinkers, writers,
and teachers. By combining
a liberal arts background
to a certain set of skills, we
can prepare tomorrow’s
leaders for democracy while
also preparing tomorrow’s
workers. For those who are
dead set on a liberal arts
career (such as myself),
programs such as UNCG
in 3 or multidisciplinary
classes such as the ones
found at Arizona State
University, can be cost
effective ways of going the
liberal arts route.
While tomorrow’s uni-versity
must be financially
conscious, the treatment of
higher education as a busi-ness
is the wrong approach
for its future. In a recent
address at Columbia Uni-versity,
Professor Mark Von
Hagen lamented the dis-cussion
of the university in
the terms of “efficiencies.”
We must not banish to the
history books the image of
Plato teaching Aristotle and
other students under a fig
tree. The future of ideas, in-tellectual
growth, and per-sonal
development require
a budget process that is flex-ible
and understanding of
the university’s unique role
in society.
Professors must have the
opportunity to interact with
their students inside and
outside of the classroom.
This will likely require more
teaching assistants and less
administrational obliga-tions.
Also, in an era when
political correctness is ram-pant,
there should be a push
to use the tenure system as a
way of protecting necessary,
although unpopular ideas
and discussions. Instead,
tenure is being ridiculed as
a fossil and is in a historic
decline. A report from the
U.S. Department of Edu-cation
indicates that from
1975 to 2007, the numbered
of tenured professors fell
from 57 percent to 31 per-cent.
Although Deans find
it more financially astute to
appoint a series of adjuncts
for the costs of what a single
tenure track professor does,
this budgetary shortcut is
inevitably accompanied
by a stifled approach to re-search
and teaching. It is
hard to see how overworked
and underpaid adjuncts
could play the kinds of roles
nationally that professors
ranging from Jeane Kirkpat-rick
to Larry Summers have
played over the past several
decades.
In his book, The Fall of the
Faculty: The Rise of the All-
Administrative University
and Why It Matters,
John Hopkins Professor
Benjamin Ginsberg, lays the
problems faced by Higher
Education over the past few
decades squarely at the feet
of administrators. Their
rise, in numbers as well as
in the scope of their power,
has, Ginsberg argues, led
to increase in university
costs for students, led
the university away from
higher learning and onto
a cynical path of revenue
boosting, and weakened
academic freedom. The
facts speak for themselves.
Administrators have seen
their ranks swell by eighty-five
percent between 1975
and 2005, a number that
dwarfs professorial growth
by over thirty percent.
Universities should consider
this the next time they are
thinking about appointing
someone assistant dean of
paper pushing instead of
putting this funding in the
classroom, the lifeblood of
the university.
The problems facing the
university are daunting
in their number and
complexity. However, just
as many solutions await
to be implemented. At the
federal level, the end of
FASFA would likely lead
to a decrease in university
costs as well as help to
lower the national deficit.
It would stop the inflation
of the four year degree and
force people to give more
thought to their future
educations and careers.
Shifts in spending from
empire to education could
dramatically improve the
university going forward.
At the state level, politicians
and parents could become
more supportive of
university spending with
either education taxes or
by cutting funding in other
programs. At the university
level, administrators could
look to cut their numbers
and responsibilities, freeing
up much needed funds and
forcing college students to
do what higher education
should do anyway: make
them grow up. Universities
should recommit to its time-tested
pillars such as: fierce
but fair debate, tenured
citizen educators, and
student-oriented education.
By doing these things, and
coming to grips with the
changes in the American
economy, the University
can continue its role as a
leading national institution
that prepares the students of
today to face and meet the
challenges of tomorrow.
The University of the Future
Joseph Winberry
Staff Writer
The Affordable Care
Act has wide reaching
and potentially powerful
benefits for women in
North Carolina, but has
not received the attention
it deserves. North Carolina
has received $13.3 million
in grants to implement new
programs and to further
support basic medical
access, and many of the
initiatives are geared toward
women and children.
Effective since Aug. 1, this
act provides preventative
health care services to
women in North Carolina
and nationwide. This act
will help an estimated 1.3
million women in NC gain
access to important medical
support. According to NC
Policy Watch, this act will
include: “Well-woman”
visits (annual wellness
exams), breastfeeding
support, supplies and
counseling, FDA-approved
contraceptive methods
and counseling, gestational
diabetes screening,
domestic and interpersonal
screening and counseling,
HPV DNA testing for
women 30 or older, sexually
transmitted infections
counseling, and HIV
screening and counseling.
This act also promotes
increasing support for
community health centers,
including $5.7 million
towards Maternal, Infant,
and Early Childhood Home
Visiting Programs which
assist children and parents
of at-risk families with early
childhood development. It
also includes $3.5 million
towards the Pregnancy
Assistance Fund which
provides support to
pregnant and parenting
Affordable
Care Act helps
women
teens and women.
Not only has this act
made birth control more
affordable, and in many
cases free to those insured,
it sets into motion a positive
change for women’s health
care. NC Policy Watch
states that “The Affordable
Care Act has already made
mammograms, cholesterol
screenings, flu shots and
other cancer screenings
available without co-pays or
deductibles.” The benefits
reach beyond women
and provide children and
seniors with broader access
and allow more coverage for
mother and child. Parents
can keep children under age
26, without job provided
coverage, on their plans.
According to HealthCare.
gov this has allowed 3.1
million young adults to gain
coverage. There are also
potential changes to come in
2014, including a provision
prohibiting insurance
companies from charging
women more than men for
coverage. Meaning, that
while these provisions will
benefit many, the insurance
companies have been able to
legally discriminate against
women seeking coverage.
It has been accepted that
healthcare should be less
affordable for women in
the U.S., shocking for a
country that places such an
emphasis on mothers and
their families.
This act begins the
arduous task of breaking
down barriers between
patient and doctor. Many
provisions refer to insurance
companies and limit their
ability to interfere with
treatment. It prohibits an
insurance company from
dropping a policy holder if
they become ill, enforcing
annual or lifetime policy
limits, and soon from
denying coverage to an
individual with a pre-existing
condition. These
changes are important to
take note of and important
to publicize and support. It
is also vital to keep in mind
that these changes apply
to those that have access
to insurance. Healthcare
in NC and in the U.S. is
a battle against access
and restrictions. These
provisions set forth by the
Affordable Health Care Act
are positive, but it is also
alarming to realize that
insurance companies were
not under these restrictions
prior. Healthcare is at the
mercy of corporations and
not in the hands of doctors
and patients. Treatment is
often tied up in paperwork
and phone calls, and even
with insurance a sudden
illness or accident can
financially devastate. This
act will have a hugely
positive impact, and while
there is still a lot of progress
to be made, this is an action
to be celebrated.
Emily Ritter
Staff Writer
For many of us, we can
still remember where we
were sitting on May 8
when the final vote for the
marriage amendment was
passed. Popularly referred to
as “Amendment One,” this
controversial bill ignited
political activism in almost
every category of life here at
UNCG. The last time that a
marriage amendment was
passed in North Carolina,
it was to codify that blacks
and whites could not enter
in to matrimony. Although
North Carolina now has yet
another amendment that
treats rights as though they
are subject to opinion, it
is important to remember
that roughly 30 percent of
the state participated in
the primary, so it does not
communicate that North
Carolina is quickly spinning
its wheels backward in
social justice.
The coalitions such as
Protect NC Families and
We Are Greensboro did
not merely pack up and exit
the state. In fact, the people
that packed up and called it
quits were the people who
were most directly affected.
The primary leaders of the
local coalitions against
the marriage amendment
were straight allies to the
LGBT community. The
leaders of the partisan
political groups on campus
and the individuals that
compelled the Student
Government Association to
pass a resolution against the
amendment for the campus
as a whole were primarily
straight allies to the LGBT
community. These are the
people that are still on the
ground, working for local
campaigns and organizing
voter registration drives.
During the fight, UNCG
PRIDE mobilized
an auxiliary of their
organization that was
dedicated to political
activism and civic
engagement, primarily
to join forces with the
local coalitions against
the amendment and the
partisan groups on campus.
However, now that we
are into a semester post-
Amendment One, and
despite the fact that well
over 60 students showed up
to the first PRIDE meeting,
they have been unable to find
students who will commit to
a similar auxiliary. Despite
what they may claim about
their willingness to fight
for equal rights in some
unidentifiable future, not
seeing the dire need to
continue screaming at the
top of their lungs leading up
to an election communicates
that they have completely
missed the boat. You do not
fight pieces of paper, you do
not vote against legislation.
Amendment One should
have never been on the ballot
for the people to begin with,
and it is likely we will not
ever see it again. You fight
for the candidates that write
the legislation to begin with.
You fight for the people
in the General Assembly
to be good human beings
that actually represent their
varied constituents.
Marcus Brandon is
an openly homosexual
representative in the
General Assembly, who
did his best to at least
compel the rest of the
General Assembly to offer
a less radical version of the
marriage amendment when
it was originally presented.
He failed because he did not
have enough allies in the
General Assembly. To stop
because of an amendment
that was introduced on a
primary ballot is to beg
for defeat, as far as I am
concerned. November is
when you get an opportunity
to change the faces in your
General Assembly. You take
what seats you can get, and
then you remain mobilized
to help field and service
future candidates for the
job in upcoming races.
Leaving Marcus Brandon
in the General Assembly by
himself means that you lose,
and it does not look like
the LGBT community on
campus has figured that out.
As a straight ally, I am
willing to offend colleagues
and classmates by holding
them accountable for
their beliefs surrounding a
human right – but I am sick
of only being surrounded
by other straight allies. The
LGBT community has been
left out of important pieces
of legislation regarding civil
rights for too long, and it
should not merely appease
any of them to know that
they can openly serve in the
military or that the Matthew
Shepherd Act of 2009 finally
compelled states to include
sexual orientation in their
definition of a hate crime.
Any individual of a sexual
minority or an a-normative
gender identity should take
offense to the idea that
Barack Obama believing in
marriage equality means
it is going to happen. It is
not going to happen unless
people get out there and
fight for it. And no matter
how strongly I believe in
those rights, I remain an
outsider to that community.
I will inevitably reach a point
in the discussion in which I
cannot relate, or I am unsure
of what is politically correct,
or I am simply unaware
of the personal battle. You
have to mobilize your own
voter registration drives,
you need to be informed
about which candidates
care about overturning that
terrible piece of legislation,
and you need to fight harder
than you ever did leading
up to May 8 to get a better
turnout for the candidates
that will write better
legislation in the first place.
There is an LGBT caucus
in one of the state political
parties that is dedicated to
these issues, and there are
community coalitions that
are still ready to put boots
on the ground. The LGBT
community on this campus
has allies, resources and
the opportunity to make a
change. What they do not
have are excuses.
LGBT activism wanes
Emily Brown
Staff Writer
“ It has been
accepted that
healthcare
should be less
affordable
for women
in the U.S.,
shocking for a
country that
places such an
emphasis on
mothers and
families.“
6 | September 18-24, 2012 A&E| The Carolinian
Weatherspoon Art
Museum is known for
hosting a variety of events
for the local community
to promote new exhibits,
with everything from
special tours of the museum
to a visit from artist
Catherine Murphy. To top
off their reputation for
hosting grandiose affairs,
Weatherspoon opened it is
artistic space to a concert
from two of the hottest a
capella groups on campus –
the Sapphires and Spartones.
WAM Jam, or Weather-spoon
Art Museum Jam,
took place on Sept. 13 in
the lobby of the museum.
“I really love singing in the
Weatherspoom Muesum,”
remarked Evan O’Neal,
“The acoustics are amaz-ing!”
The Spartones took the
stage first and performed
a jaw-dropping a capella
lineup: “Mortal Kombat,”
“Rhythm of Love” by the
Plain White T’s, “I Get
Around” by the Beach Boys,
“Stereohearts” by Gym Class
Heros, “Ocean Avenue” by
Yellowcard, a barber-shop
rendition of “I Can’t Help
Falling in Love with You,”
and crowd favorite “Whip-ping
Post” by the Allman
Brothers. Before the last
song “Whipping Post,” solo-ist
David Boyd jokingly told
a member of the audience,
“Don’t worry! Our last song
is straight-up happy.”
Shockingly and
unbelievably, the Spartones
actually composed a list
of songs to perform only
minutes before the show.
Boyd confessed, “I don’t
really know what we’ll be
singing tonight. Ethan
Price, our music director,
usually figures out what we
do based on how we sound
that day. It all depends on
who’s there. We’re putting
trust into the new guys to
see if they know our music
on their own, because we
haven’t had many rehearsals
with them. This gig will
hopefully prove that our
new guys are already part of
the group and have put time
into learning their music so
we can sound good. It’s the
new sound of the Spartones.”
The Sapphires followed
with their renditions of
songs like “Settle Down”
by Kimbra, “When I’m
Alone” by Lisse, “Wannabe”
by the Spice Girls, and
“The Bird and the Worm”
by the Used featuring
Ashlie Acevedo, the public
relations coordinator of
the Sapphires. They even
welcomed two of their
alumni to join them in the
final song which brought the
house down. Both groups
received a standing ovation
and held a meet-and greet
after the show.
The Spartones, founded
in 1997, is an all-male a
cappella group comprised of
15 undergraduates who have
been featured in many local
concerts and competitions.
David Boyd, a four-year
participant and assistant
music director of the
Spartones, best described
the group as “just a group of
guys who come together and
sing…a lot!” “I really love
this group of guys. They are
my best friends. I’m singing
with my family!” O’Neal,
a 3rd semester Spartone
commented, “It’s built-in
stress relief for me because
rehearsals aren’t something
I dread going to.” The group
has a new CD celebrating
their 15 years a group that is
projected to come out just in
time for the Spring Concert.
Other plans include
bringing back Spartone
Alumni who in the past
composed arrangements for
the group and have them
create new material for the
Spartones to do this year.
Their female counterparts,
the Sapphires, originated in
2001 and have since then
performed and competed
as well. “We’ve done a
lot of stuff and been in a
lot of competitions,” said
Haley Rollins, a 5-semester
participant of the Sapphires,
“Recently, we competed in
So-Jam, or Southern Jam,
and we won ‘Fan Favorite!”
The Sapphires also do a
lot of concerts on campus
and work with a variety
of charities. Samantha
MacReynolds who has
dedicated seven semesters of
her vocals to the Sapphires
humorously elaborated,
“we want to spread women
power!” The group is also
expecting a CD release in
December.
Anyone interested in more
information these groups
can access their webpages
online: The Spartones
at www.facebook.com/
UNCGspartones as well
as www.theuncgspartones.
com, and The Sapphires
a t w w w . f a c e b o o k .
c om / p a g e s / U N C - G -
Sapphires/8583414462 and
http://www.uncgsapphires.
com. Both groups post
upcoming events and links
to downloads of their songs
on their websites.
Megan Christy
Staff Writer
wam jam : a showcase of the Spartones and the Sapphires
The Sapphires sung renditions songs like “Settle Down” by Kimbra and “Wannabe” by Spice Girls.
Emma Barker/the carolinian Emma Barker/the carolinian
The Spartones performed a jaw dropping a- capella line-up.
On Thursday, Sept. 13,
the streets of Raleigh
welcomed SPARKcon to
ignite the next four days
in the city with art, music,
film, fashion and everything
in between. SPARKcon is
a non-profit event lead by
volunteers of the Triad“ to
support emerging artists
and connect the community
to the arts.” It’s a process that
started in 2006 and has come
back every year bigger and
stronger. SPARKcon is an
event held “for the people,
by the people” displaying
showcases from artists all
around the Piedmont Triad.
With Raleigh as its host,
SPARKcon’s opening day
showed impeccable talent
from young, dedicated
artists who live and breathe
the meaning of art and
completely indulge in
expression.
The Red Hat Amphitheater
hosted the opening
ceremony to this four
day extravaganza with
poetry, theater, and skilled
skateboarders leading up
to what most were looking
forward to, SPARKcon’s
7th Annual Fashion Show.
The show’s diversity kept
everyone alert, with eyes
wide open full of interest.
For those who couldn’t
attend Fashion Week in
NYC, this was indeed the
next best thing: a Fashion
Show made up of hundreds
of volunteers from our very
own Triad, what’s not to
like?
A multiplicity of fashion
was represented on the
runway and the oh-so
talented models had
the perfect attitude and
displayed their clothing
with energy that fed off
into the crowd. From 60s
to modern or chic, every
style was represented and
accompanied by different
kinds of music. Beats and
melodies were played in
accordance to the bravura
being shown, which gave the
crowd a deeper look inside
the designers’ personality.
From long, flowing summer
skirts to beautiful night
gowns, to work appropriate
clothes to party outfits,
the early fall breeze swam
through the many faces of
fashion that night.
Following this opening
display, a group of dancers
from Code f.a.d. Company
made their way on the stage.
Code f.a.d. Company is a
“group of artists committed
to combining film, visual
art, and dance into precisely
designed performance ex-periences.”
They performed
sections of their vogue-like
routine called “Indulge”
which involved a num-ber
of contemporary and
abrupt movements full of
energy and rhythm. While
the dancers performed, two
projecting screens behind
them displayed images of
colorful and inviting des-serts
which were connected
to the end of their routine. A
cake was placed on a corner
of the stage and by the end of
the song, a performer took a
bite of it, alluding to the title
of the enactment itself.
As the dancers left the
stage, an enthusiastic circus
announcer arose on the
scene to announce the
Cirque de Vol’s Fashion
Show. The crowd was
entertained by stilt-walking
circus acrobats who strutted
through the runway
displaying circus-like attire.
All kinds of carnival styled
clothing were displayed
from designers like Head to
Toe Boutique and Cherry
Cherry Bang Bang! From
gymnasts wearing glitter
unitards made of former
prom dresses to models
who seemed to be wearing
clothes but wore body
paint instead, the spectacle
displayed great variety and
creativity of the circus crew.
The night was topped off
with fire outfits and skilled
performers played with fire
saying goodbye to the Red
Hat Amphitheater crowd.
The night was far from
over at this point. Swarms
of people walked over to
Kings Barcade on Martin
St. to hear the beautiful
voice of Valerie Wood
accompanied by the strong
base and guitar players, Eric
Smith and Garth Robertson.
This Chapel Hill based trio
known as A Mad Affair
was the perfect way to end
SPARKcon’s opening night.
Acoustic melodies, vocal,
and guitar solos assimilated
the entire crowd at Kings
into one gigantic mass of
dancing souls. The visual
and performing arts of this
festival brought forth a sense
of unified equality
Maria Perdomo
Special to The Carolinian
maria perdomo/the carolinian maria perdomo/the carolinian
the spectacle displayed a great variety and creativity of the circus
crew.
From 60s modern or chic, every
style was represented
maria perdomo/the carolinian
sparkcon ignites tallent in Raleigh
Often times, we find
ourselves bored or
unresponsive to the facts we
read in our history books
that tell us stories of war. It
is often impersonal to us,
therefore it rarely moves us
and makes us proud of how
we came to be or where we
are today as a nation. “Spirit
of America” brought to life
the stories we so often read
in our history books and
made it more personal to an
intrigued audience of why it
is important to be proud of
our history and never take
advantage of the freedom
we have today.
On the opening weekend
of the Central Carolina Fair,
the Greensboro Coliseum
Complex featured over
300 active-duty Soldiers of
the U.S. Army in “Spirit of
America.” The show told the
history of America through
the eyes of soldiers and had
a total of four performances
over the course of
Friday and Saturday. The
demonstration celebrated
“the spirit, strength and
history of the nation with
a unique combination of
stirring music, historical
narration and live action
dramatization” by telling
the true story of men and
women who left friends and
families behind to protect
and defend the United
States of America and make
us the nation we are today.
Active-duty soldiers
from the 3rd U.S. Infantry
Regiment (The Old Guard)
and The U.S. Army Band
“Pershing’s Own” put on
a show that brought out
the American spirit in
everyone and brought
to life the history of our
nation through the lements
of song and dramatization.
Elements of The Old
Guard included the U.S.
Army Old Guard Fife and
Drum Corps, the Caisson
Platoon, the Commander-in-
Chief ’s Guard and the
U.S. Army Drill Team. Men
and women in uniform
performed as actors, in the
orchestra, and behind the
scenes.
Fifteen minutes prior to
the spectacle, four of the
actors came out to liven
up the crowd with strobe
lights, t-shirt tosses, and
audience participation
with songs like “We Will
Rock You” and the “Space
Jam Theme Song.” Veterans
and active-duty soldiers
were recognized and
applauded by a coliseum
full of appreciative people.
“Do you have the spirit?”
shouted one of the actors
to which the audience
responded with cheers and
applause. The orchestra
then introduced the
beginning of the show with a
compellation of American-spirited
songs including a
beautiful rendition of “I’m
Proud to Be an American”
which enticed the entire
audience to sing along.
Special guest Ivan Castro, a
wounded solider, provided
an opening warm welcome
to all who came out to
support their troops. “The
story that we tell defines
what it means to be a
solider,” Castro concluded
and the manifestation
began with a variety of live-action
reenactments such
as the midnight ride of
Paul Revere. Through song,
music, drum lines, and short
dialogues in the first act, the
soldiers told a brief story
of how the Constitution
was established and
how everything up
to the Emancipation
Proclamation changed the
course of history forever. A
special emphasis was put on
the Civil War as the actors
portrayed fighting brother
against brother. The first act
concluded with a fantastic
presentation by the
President’s “official escort”
drum line and a moving
song about what it means to
be a solider.
Following a 15-mintue
intermission, the display
began with a recording
of President Roosevelt’s
declaration of war which
brought us into World
War II. There were various
presentations of the various
wars leading up to today
such as the Vietnam and
Korean War. A Grande
finale contained a “Service
Medley” featuring “Stars
and Stripes Forever”
to which the audience
receptively stood in
applause.
Megan Christy
Staff Writer
Megan christy/the carolinian
The U.S Army Band brought out the Megan christy/the carolinian
American spirit in everyone.
The demonstration celebrated the “spirit,
strength, and history of the nation.”
U.S Army Presents : Spirit of America
The Carolinian |A&E September 18-24, 2012 | 7
There is a certain attribute
of garage-tinged indie rock
that must appeal to the
essence of campus radio
station WUAG. I distinctly
remember standing in the
sweat-glazed darkness of
The Blind Tiger during
the spring semester of last
year, witnessing the death
of my hearing to the hands
of the two greasy shmucks
known as No Age. Months
have passed since that
incredible, decibel-defying
performance; WUAG still
has that God-forsaken Black
Keys record in rotation and
have now come together
with local art and record
co-op CFBG to bring even
looser guitar jangles to The
Blind Tiger’s stage.
Boone, NC act Naked Gods
were the known quantity
of the night, having played
in Greensboro numerous
times before. They
showcased their titanic
indie-rock sound in a
manner more violent than
anyone fresh to their sound
could have anticipated. On
their record “No James,”
lead singer Seth Sullivan
sounds pleasant, complete
with a southern-tinged
plate of manners and a well-managed
temperament
to his band’s leisurely-delivered
sound. Sullivan
ditches this restraint in a live
setting, choosing instead to
be one of the most violent
examples of a tambourine-wielding
vocalist I had ever
seen in performance.
There was certainly nothing
cacophonous about it, but
Sullivan towered over the
crowd in an oft-wild display
of adrenaline and passion,
slamming the simplistic
instrument against his
palm with glazed eyes
and a slackened jaw—a
combination of rollicking
riffs and a ferocious vocal
performance made Naked
Gods’ talent one of the
easiest sights to swallow
during the three-band
show. No matter how hard
I focused on the bands
performing afterward,
I continuously heard
whispers from audience
members behind me about
Naked Gods stealing the
show. Those statements
probably speak more to the
polarizing nature of follow-up
act Fergus and Geronimo
than to the quality of the
show in general.
Where to begin with
Fergus and Geronimo?
The Texas duo was joined
on stage by a dynamically
dressed guitarist and bassist
(the two were wearing
completely black and white
outfits respectively) and
immediately transformed
the landscape of the show
from heartfelt indie-rock
showcase to a post-punk
dance event. Andrew
Savage led a combination
of guitar and biting synth
rhythms, sharing the brunt,
abrasive vocal work with
drummer Jason Kelly.
While Naked Gods doled
out smiles and familiar
performances, Andrew
Savage led a crusade of
mocking severity on his
face at all times, edging
dangerously to a punk
frontman tinged with the
same otherworldliness the
Butthole Surfers possessed
an era ago. Audience
members danced without
question or wonder at the
spectacle in front of their
eyes, but the question had
to be asked: Were we being
mocked? Was it a joke or
nothing at all?
Fergus and Geronimo
challenged as often as they
instigated the shuffling of
bodies and feet, channeling
their mixed messages
through the compellingly
brusque rhythm that
drew both irritation and
acclaim from the crowd. If
you attended the show for
headliner Jaill, there was
a good chance that Fergus
and Geronimo caught your
interest and curiosity with
twice the aggression and
Brad Dillard
Staff Writer
Local Bands Roar at The Blind Tiger
21 years ago the minds
of George Lucas and Steven
Spielberg unleashed upon
movie going audiences
everywhere a character that
would come to be known as
one of the most notorious
protagonists in film history.
This character was Indiana
Jones, and the movie was
“Raiders of the Lost Ark,”
an action-adventure that
would change the landscape
of blockbuster cinema.
Planned initially as a
re-release in IMAX only
theaters, “Raiders of the Lost
Ark” is now being expanded
in limited release to
conventional cinemas, with
all of this celebrating the
Sept. 18 Blu-Ray release of
the Indiana Jones films. It is
refreshing to see a re-issue of
a film that chooses to stay in
its original format (no doubt
if George Lucas had any say-so
the film would have been
re-cut and converted to 3D).
This is especially the case
since a spate of movies are
being re-released in 3D for
the sole purpose of making
more money (“Titanic 3D,”
“Finding Nemo 3D,” “The
Phantom Menace 3D,” and
soon all of the “Star Wars”
movies).
“Raiders of the Lost Ark”
needs no gimmicks or cheap
parlor tricks to make it any
better, as Spielberg’s film
holds up as not only one of
the best Action-Adventure
movies ever made, but
as pure, unadulterated
entertainment. The phrase
“They don’t make ‘em like
that anymore” seems to
have been created for this
movie, as this is at heart a
kid’s movie, yet it is dark,
disturbing, violent, funny,
and exhilarating all at once.
Indeed, upon revisiting
the film it is surprising just
how far it goes in terms of
violence. People are impaled,
shot, dismembered, set on
fire, and melted, and yet the
film never leaves the realm
of childhood fantasy.
This speaks as much to the
poor state of modern kids
films as it does to Spielberg’s
mastery. Coming off of
the seminal films “Jaws”
and “Close Encounters of
the Third Kind,” Spielberg
managed to one up himself
with this story of an
archeologist hired by the
U.S. government to find
the Ark of the Covenant
before the Nazis. It is
staggering how many scenes
in “Raiders of the Lost
Ark” have been spoofed,
duplicated, and paid
homage to. When a movie’s
opening scene, climax, and
closing images are among
the most recognizable in
film iconography, there is
little doubt about its place in
movie lore.
The climax of the film
deserves some extra
attention, as it is an oddity
in the realm of Hollywood
blockbusters. Our hero,
Indiana Jones (famously,
and perfectly, played by
Harrison Ford) fails to save
the girl, and fails to save
Kyle Minton
Staff Writer
Kyle Minton
Staff Writer
Raiders of the lost ark
Film Review: arbitrage
photo courtesy of moviesinla/flickr
photo courtesy of The Chic Spot/flickr
the day, surrendering and
allowing himself to be tied
up while the Nazis steal away
the Ark. When the Nazis
open the Ark, Spielberg
sets loose a sequence that
may have given birth to the
summer blockbusters of
nearly every year since they
rely heavily on visual and
aural trickery. It is basically
a twisted fireworks show,
featuring fire, smoke, skull
faces swirling through the
air, and, eventually, bad guy’s
faces violently melting, and
exploding. This is a perfectly
suiting end to a film that
shows a kid’s movie does
not need to coddle or speak
down to its target audience.
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” is
an ode to the spirit, and the
ingenuity of the childhood
imagination, and it remains
arguably Spielberg’s best
film.
“Raiders of the Lost
Ark” is currently playing at
Carousel Luxury Cinemas.
“Arbitrage” treads pretty
familiar ground, with its
Gordon Gekko-esque cen-tral
figure, to its moral-ity
tale of how deception
and greed can lead to ones
downfall. Yet, Nicholas Jar-ecki
directs all of this with
pinpoint accuracy, never
missing an opportunity to
draw tension out of a narra-tive
full of well-worn ideas.
Jarecki shows a great deal
of improvement since his
last outing as screenwriter
for the disastrous Brett
Easton Ellis adaptation “The
Informers.” Where that
thriller was all sheen and
sleaze with an empty void
lying beneath the surface,
Jarecki classes things up a
bit with “Arbitrage,” while
still maintaining a level of
fun-to-watch sleaziness. It
also helps that Jarecki is di-recting
his own script, prov-ing
that perhaps his brand
of thriller is only effective
when he has complete con-trol.
Richard Gere, in an Oscar-worthy
performance, plays
Robert Miller, a troubled
hedge fund magnate des-perate
to complete the sale
of his trading empire, only
to make a grave error along
the way that forces him to
turn to an unlikely person
for help. The whole cast is
excellent, with Susan Saran-don
looking and sounding
appropriately burned out as
Miller’s wife Ellen, Brit Mar-ling
as Miller’s innocent,
naïve daughter Brooke, and
Tim Roth hamming it up
as a detective looking in to
Miller’s devious behavior.
The movie knows what
it is, and that’s part of the
charm of “Arbitrage.” It’s a
standard thriller, and Jar-ecki
doesn’t try to reinvent
the wheel, instead opting
to throw his main character
into one bad situation after
another, only to see him
escape every time. It brings
about a rush of adrenaline
seeing Miller squirm out
of situation after situation,
wondering all along if he
will ever get what’s coming
to him. The most effective
scenes, and the most un-settling
ones, come when
Miller is manipulating his
daughter Brooke, the acting
CFO of his failing company.
Jarecki’s script is particular-ly
sharp in these situations,
with their pivotal standoff
in Central Park burning
with intensity and Jarecki
focusing on every, sharp
cutting word, showing that,
in Miller’s life, family comes
second to money.
This is particularly effec-tive
considering that earlier
in the movie Miller deliv-ered
a speech about the im-portance
of family, quoting
Mark Twain, and being gen-erally
loveable. Miller is not
a good guy. He is not even
an anti-hero, he is a straight
up scumbag, and that is a
bold move for Jarecki to
have the central figure in
his film be such an unlike-able
character. It is one that
pays off though, as most of
the fun of “Arbitrage” comes
from watching just how low
Miller can sink, just how
morally bankrupt he can
get, and yet still continue to
get away with it.
All this goodwill could
have been lost with an end-ing
that was too preachy
or that suddenly had huge
revelations after a film full
of ambiguous goings-on.
Jarecki maintains his con-trol
over the film though,
and delivers an ending that
muddies things even fur-ther,
seemingly letting Mill-er
off the hook. Yet, though
Miller may not be faced
with significant monetary
losses, he faces the destruc-tion
of his familial life, and
of his personal legacy.
The final images do not
give any easy answers to
what will ultimately hap-pen
to Miller, or if he even
cares about losing his fami-ly.
These images suggest that
Miller will keep up his out-er-
disguise, and that, as long
as he can keep manipulating
people, he will be okay.
on limited release at the carousel cinemas
appeal—there was simply
no averting your gaze from
that sort of novelty.
An open microphone
is a death sentence for a
personality ill-equipped to
handle the responsibility.
Even Jaill’s cheery riffs
could not amend the
damage done by Vincent
Kircher’s inability to
stop ruining his band’s
performance with
obnoxious tirades. Rather
than choose to be an affable
host, Kircher employed his
precious, nasally tone to
boast of weed and other
mind-altering substances,
reiterating the joke so
often that it became easy
to suspect the singer of
being stoned before the
night had even began.
With a voice already on
the precipice of irritation,
Kircher’s personality did
the psychedelic-twang of
the band no favor. He even
managed to overpower the
simplicity of his songs with
flamboyant gestures that
symbolized whatever lyric
was being thrown from
his mouth at that point.
Kircher’s band members
smiled uncomfortably at
his actions, as if they too
were put-off by his blatantly
stoned performance. There
was competence within
the performance itself,
but with Andrew Savage
of Fergus and Geronimo
standing only feet away
with his intrepid mask of
severity worn so proudly,
no comparison could be
made to such consistent
devotion and sycophantic,
drug-addled rants.
Jaill ended the show as
one might expect: warbled
psychedelia injected into
perfunctory garage pop,
but I found myself wishing
for a different encore: one
boasting truncated riffs,
barked vocals, and the
other post-punk oddities
that made Fergus and
Geronimo the mightiest
appeal of the night.
On Dec. 3 2009 in the
United States of America a
miniscule part of the Atlantic
coastline propelled itself into
a frenzy through the avenue
of Television. New Jersey’s
Shore became a petree
dish that cultivated and
created a new generation,
almost species of youth.
This area of the country
was basically colonized
by a grand population of
Italian Americans or self
a cknowl e dg e d“Guido s
and Guidettes.” Through
America’s need for incessant
drama and a cacophony of
background noise an icon
of reality television called
Jersey Shore was born. Even
though reality television
as a genre was already
established in America,
Jersey Shore could be the
attributive factor to why
reality television has grown
exponentially in frequency
and also in melodramatic
and graphic content.
Throughout the last three
years the public has grown
to at least be intrigued by
the original cast of “The
Shore.” Viewers have
followed characters as
Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi,
Mike “the Situation”
Sorrentino, and Pauly “D.”
Even though these names
might stimulate the image of
a meaty pizza topping, there
is not too much of a “hearty”
atmosphere when it comes
to one’s sickly viewing
party of the show. Let’s
be honest with ourselves
when we look back to the
history or the chronology
of mankind as it pertains
to Jersey Shore. Most of
the episodes included some
form of projectile vomite or
wizz, violence between the
sexes, and sterotypical guido
and guidette mannerisms
and language which created
a lot of controversy within
the Italian American
community. Ultimately,
the media accepted the
characters’ fate of being
blunt badgers of citizens
who love booze in the
morning and bigger breasts
than is recommended for
most mammals.
And after three years
of horrorific yet entising
imagery of extremely orange
and muscular people, The
Jersey Shore is coming to a
close with the end of its sixth
season. Part of this is due to
the arrival of Snooki’s new
moderately orange baby but
a lot of also has to do with the
other cast members going
their own separate ways in
life. The end of Jersey has
led people to contemplate
on how this specific
and monumental show
(whether that may be the
creation postive or negative
monuments) has affected
reality shows and how the
younger generation in the
country has established itself
in front of their elders. Have
we as a vast community of a
media saturated individuals
learned anything from
televised drunken escapades
or rage filled encounters
with strangers? Jersey
Shore certainly upped the
anty with reality television
and it really allowed for the
growth of a more grotesque
nature of television. This is
something that, in 2012 is
controversial, yes, but is also
the nature of the beast when
is comes to evolutions.
Brittany Cannino
Staff Writer
Film classics, much like other expressive outlets, are making a
comeback with the current college generation.
The Fall of the Guido Empire:
Sixth and final season of Jersey Shore
After 3 years, the show is coming to an end.
photo courtesy of Philip Nelson/flickr
Fans across the globe had a deep facination with the life
experiences and interaction of the Jersey Shore cast.
Entertained?
Send us your content suggestions at
AE.Carolinian@gmail.com
8 Features September 18 - 24, 2012
THE FOOD ISSUE: EATING AROUND
THE WORLD, HOW YOUR BRAIN
AFFECTS FOOD CHOICES, AND MORE
The psychological processes behind food choices
Charlena Wynn
Staff Writer
Food is more than
nourishment for our bodies.
Food can have cultural
connotations for different
groups of people. It can be
used as a sign of love to those
grieving and reason to gather
with family during holidays
and special occasions. The
psychology of food and
how and why we eat is
interesting to say the least.
Let’s begin with the basics
– food is delicious. That is
one reason why we eat other
than acquiring nutrition to
live. What happens when
we eat? Besides succumbing
to the wants of the
hypothalamus- a portion
of the brain that controls
body temperature, hunger,
thirst, sleep and fatigue- we
eat to satisfy other desires
such as boredom, pain and
loneliness.
Our brain is capable
of many things. When
stressed, we crave richer
foods. For example, during
finals week, some students
may crave chocolate or
ice cream. According to
scientists, the reason for this
is our bodys attempt to stop
chronic stress. The stress
response system is helpful in
preventing our bodies from
experiencing continued
stress. When we experience
danger, our brain signals our
body to turn out a hormone
named cortisol. It then
sends a message to our body
to send out a life saving
response. For example, if
someone accidently throws
a baseball towards your face
or stomach, the cortisol
would send a message to
your brain thus prompting
you to move out of the way
of the flying ball. How does
this relate to food? For most
people, after the cortisol is
sent to the brain, no more
cortisol is produced. Those
who have chronic stress
continue producing cortisol,
and then in turn, turns the
body into overdrive, thus
“nodes” of long time stress is
activated and the search for
foods with high energy fat
and sugar begins. Thus the
term comfort food.
While food may be a great
stress reliever, we often eat
while multi-tasking .As
a result we are not aware
of the amount of food we
consume. Most of us have
done it. We might spend a
day catching up on television
series or YouTube videos
and go for a snack. We are
so enraptured with what
we are watching that we do
not notice the snack is gone.
Then we think to ourselves
that we will have just one
more brownie or more chips
all the while fully aware of
our actions at this point.
What does this say about
our eating habits? Why is
this habit so common in the
United States? According to
Dr. Jan Chozen Bays, M.D.
we do not engage in mindful
eating as often as we should.
We lack awareness of what
our bodies are telling us. Fat
cells store energy for later,
very similar to the people
we see on T.V., who shop
for non perishable foods
to stock when they hear
the possibility of a winter
snow storm. Dr. Bays feels
that with mindful eating,
one would pay attention to
what they are consuming
and enjoy the experience of
eating and how our bodies
react. In addition, we are not
criticizing ourselves and we
notice how eating affects our
mood and emotions. This
will allow some control and
ease some anxiety
Regardless of our feelings
about food and eating,
we all have a relationship
with food. Whether it is
negative or positive, the
most important part of
eating is understanding
our relationship with food
and why we eat. Stress and
unawareness are just a few
contributions to our reasons
for eating.
The differences in foods throughought the world
A guide to eating in Friendly Center for freshmen
Chris McCracken
Features Editor
In college, one of the
most popular ideas is to
someday travel the world.
At UNCG, residence halls
are loaded with students
who are attending as foreign
exchange students, and
study abroad programs tend
to flourish as young students
seek new adventures.
Why do people come
and go? For many, the idea
of traveling thousands of
miles away from home is
appealing, before they are
forced to settle down and
become chained to a single
location. For others, the idea
of visiting museums and
attractions, going shopping,
and making new friends
in a distant land sounds
like a unique opportunity.
For many more, one of the
most popular concepts is to
indulge in the delicious food
of a foreign land.
How does food vary from
place to place throughout
the world?
Locally, the traditional
American diet is what the
vast majority of people
tend to eat. According
to an online infograph
produced as a collaborative
project between the blog
Civil Eats and the UC
Berkeley Graduate School
of Journalism, the majority
of the diet that Americans
enjoy is comprised of meat,
eggs, and nuts. Over the
past 40 years, the American
diet has expanded in every
nutritional category, and
its major components also
consist of grains, added
sugar, and added fat.
Think of foods like
hamburgers, hot dogs, and
French fries, washed down
with a can of Coca-Cola.
The food is delicious and
well-received across the
world, but it has also led to
a major obesity epidemic
that has plagued the nation’s
citizens.
Another major
demographic of worldwide
eaters is Asia, which holds
the vast majority of the
world’s population. Here,
there has been a long
history of problems related
to hunger, and historically,
items like meat have been an
extreme luxury.
According to Old Ways,
which describes itself as, “A
nonprofit food and nutrition
education organization,
with a mission to guide
people to good health
through heritage,” the Asian
diet is mainly comprised of
non-meats.
The blog states that, “The
traditional diet in many
Asian countries also is
often closely tied to both
religious practices and
long-standing customs,
and the record of these
eating habits is an excellent
source of information and
culinary inspiration. The
Asian Diet’s geographical
base is very broad. It
includes (but is not limited
to) Bangladesh, Cambodia,
China, India, Indonesian,
Japan, Laos, Malaysia,
Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal,
North Korea, South Korea,
Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand, and Vietnam.”
Here, staples like rice are
used to provide cheap and
nutritional calories, and
have helped each of these
nations survive famines
and other sources of food
shortage.
Finally, a third major
demographic is the
Hispanic diet, which is
featured prominently in
areas like South America
and Mexico. Like the Asian
countries, which use rice as
a staple, and the Americans,
who use wheat, the Hispanic
diet is based on two cheap,
nutrient-rich foods. Corn
and beans are found in
almost every single popular
dish in these countries.
Other foods include
avocados, mangoes, and
papayas; fruits which help
to demonstrate the warm,
tropical climate found in
areas within South America.
Popular dishes in these
locations can be found on
the menu of any American
restaurant which purports
to serve “Mexican” food.
Tacos are very popular, as
are burritos, enchiladas, and
tostadas. The difference is
that the traditional Mexican
taco is well-seasoned, and
is generally served on a soft
shell with higher-quality
ingredients than restaurants
like Taco Bell.
Around the world,
different foods can provide
a satisfying and nutritional
experience for travelers.
For many, trying new foods
can be among the most
unique and interesting
ways to explore a new
culture. to allow for those
undocumented immigrants
who are under thirty and
in the United States before
sixteen for five continuous
years, have a high school
diploma, no criminal
history, or has served in
the military, to apply for a
two year work permit. The
executive order is the closest
we have come to in anything
that resembles amnesty
since 1986.
Immigration has been a
difficult topic for the United
States throughout its history,
and from the 1980s to now
several different steps of
varying effectiveness and
ideology have been taken
to addresses complications
associated with it.
Jonathan Waye
Staff Writer
For those new to UNCG,
getting out and exploring
the campus as well as the
surrounding community
is an absolute necessity.
Whether it be for groceries
or clothes shopping, it is
always good to know what
your location has to offer.
There is one fundamental
facet of college life that
rivals or surpasses, all else:
the incessant search for
food. Regardless of the
“freshman fifteen,” we all
need to vary up our diet
every once in a while. Let’s
be honest, macaroni and
cheese is not quite as great
as it used to be when you eat
it every night.
How does a new UNCG
student combat this
menacing threat? Simply
take a HEAT bus to Friendly
Center. The local retail
attracts tons of attention,
and thus there are plenty
of restaurant options. The
commute is a short one by
bus or car, which makes
The Shops at Friendly an
even more desirable dining
location. Ranging from
savory, back-yard burgers
to exquisite Italian cuisine,
Friendly Center really has
it all.
Say, for instance, that
your parents have come to
visit and want to take you
out to eat. Seeing this as a
miracle, I would suggest
seizing the day and going
for something a little better
than Taco Bell. I would
further advise heading to
either Mimi’s Café or P.F.
Chang’s Chinese Bistro.
Mimi’s offers a wide variety
of southern, New Orleans
food. The Chick Cordon
Bleu was fantastic the last
time I had it, and, as an
added plus, they serve
breakfast all day. Desert
options range from muffins
to apple crisps, and are
equally satisfying. P.F.
Chang’s, on the other hand,
offers diners several options
for those seeking some
upscale Chinese food. The
Mongolian Beef is always
my first choice; however,
the Kung Pao Chicken is
also an excellent choice,
especially if you have a
craving for something spicy.
There are also more than a
few Italian options, such as
Bravo! Cucina Italiana and
Romano’s Macaroni Grill.
Both have a wide selection
of traditional favorites, as
well as their own signature
entrees.
If your parents are not
around for monetary
assistance, however, eating
on a budget can be a very
limiting factor. If value is
your main concern, you
may turn to McDonald’s
or Chick-fil-a for some fast
food options. However,
if you have a little extra
money to splurge with, a
burger from Five Guys is
definitely the way to go.
Not only are their burgers
cooked to order with no
topping limitation, they also
give you a mountain of fries
to accompany it. For those
that have not been, they
even have shelled peanuts
out to snack on while you
wait for your sweet, juicy
bacon cheeseburger.
There are also more than
enough selections for those
with a sweet tooth. Ice
cream is readily available,
and Cold Stone Creamery
or Ben & Jerry’s would
be happy to serve. If you
had something fresh on
your mind, check out Red
Mango for smoothies and
frozen yogurt. However, for
the absolute most sugar-deprived,
your final candy
stop might be The Sugar
Shack. The store is filled to
the brim with containers
full of every candy you have
ever heard of and more.
At checkout, they simply
weigh out your candy (you
are even able to buy it by
the pound), and you are on
your merry way.
As you can see, Friendly
Center has much more to
offer than just strip mall
shopping. It is the perfect
destination for breakfast,
lunch, or dinner, and is
suitable for any celebration.
Even if it is just to hang
around at the Barnes &
Noble Café to do homework,
The Shops at Friendly have
an innumerable amount of
options to choose from, and
offers a welcoming dining
experience.
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER Euromagic
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER the dlc
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER jkbrooks85
Psychological processes affect our cravings for chocolate.
Authentic Mexican tacos.
You local Five Guys can be found at The Shops at Friendly Center.
The Carolinian |Features September 18-24, 2012 | 9
Wheat, a crop that has dramatically affected us
Quiddich presents a new opportunity for UNCG
Special for this issue: Hispanic Heritage month
Chris McCracken
Features Editor
Ian Foster
Sports Editor
Bonnie Landaverdy
Staff Writer
In the history of civiliza-tion,
few foods have shaped
the destiny of the human
race as much as wheat. Since
people left Africa and trav-eled
to West Asia in 70,000
B.C., the food has provided
a rich and plentiful source
of vital nutrients to societ-ies’
the world over.
According to The Econo-mist
Magazine, “In 10,000
years, the earth’s population
has doubled ten times, from
less than 10 million to more
than six billion now and ten
billion soon. Most of the
calories that made that in-crease
possible have come
from three plants: maize,
rice and wheat.”
The story of wheat began
12,000 years ago, when a
melting ice sheet created an
ice age that lasted for eleven
centuries. People of the era
started to subsist by hunting
and gathering, and eventu-ally
caught on to the concept
of food production. The first
crops that were farmed for
human consumption were
grown around 11,000 years
ago.
Today, the popular view
of the farmer is the all-
American Midwestern man.
He is rugged and strong,
and knows his way around
the natural environment as
well as he does the engine
to his tractor. Who were the
farmers of yesteryear? How
did these rugged outdoors-men
cope without the mod-ern
convenience of tools like
tractors and plowshares?
How were they able to with-stand
the grueling hours
outside?
Contrary to popular no-tions,
the first farmers ac-tually
were women. As The
Economist explains in a
separate article: “On the
whole the men hunted and
the women gathered: a sex-ual
division of labour is still
universal among non-farm-ing
people and was probably
not shared by their Homo
erectus predecessors. This
enabled them to eat both
meat and veg, a clever trick
because it combines qual-ity
with reliability.” Despite
popular stereotypes within
our society today, the truth
is that women actually had
a major hand in both influ-encing
and producing the
human diet for centuries to
come.
Today, there is a major
crisis within the food in-dustry,
and it specifically
has to do with wheat. With
the economy in a seemingly
endless whirlwind, and with
natural disaster after natu-ral
disaster affecting crops,
wheat production has been
trending downward. This,
combined with recent sum-mer
droughts, has led to
grim economic news for
many Americans.
According to an article
found in the New York
Times, an un-named author
stated that, “On July 25, the
United States government
said it expected the record-breaking
weather to drive
up the price for groceries
in 2013, including milk,
beef, chicken and pork. The
drought has affected 88 per-cent
of the corn crop, a sta-ple
of processed foods and
animal feed as well as the na-tion’s
leading farm export.”
This could mean terrible
news for the U.S. economy.
Food assistance program
spending has already dou-bled
since 2008, and accord-ing
to statistics produced by
the charity “Feeding Amer-ica,”
more than one in six
Americans can be classified
as suffering from hunger.
Of the entire world’s popu-lation,
and according to a
disputed statistic produced
by the U.N. Food and Agri-cultural
Organization, more
than 1 billion people suffer
from hunger globally.
Wheat is among the most
important staples in the hu-man
diet. It can be used
to create almost any food,
from the bun of a grilled
hamburger to a cold beer.
Very few people recognize
its long and important his-tory
in helping to shape hu-man
civilization; even fewer
probably realize the trouble
it could bring to our stan-dard
of living if its produc-tion
continues to decline.
A man clad in Carolina
blue threw down a Spartan
attacker while several
dodgeballs descended upon
him, ceasing his siege on
the Tar Heel goal. Then
the Heels embarked on
a fast break, the likes of
which Roy Williams would
have been proud, which
culminated in a Chapel
Hill player emphatically
dunking through UNCG’s
goal. The rout was on in
game one, a rout from
which UNCG never fully
recovered as they dropped
two of three against the Tar
Heels Saturday at UNCG’s
Rec Field with scores of 140-
30, 70-20, and 60-60.
“The first game is always
brutal,” said UNCG junior
Jackie Ross after the match,
“I was anticipating us having
some kind of losses. We’re
out of sync, we need more
scrimmaging, but we’re
going to be fine.” Fortunately
for the Spartans, their
prospects look bright for the
future as they were within
a catch of winning game
two while managing a game
three draw. According to
Ross, they hope to improve
their communication
before the upcoming
annual Blacksburg Brawl
tournament. The Spartans’
next home game is Oct 6
against UNC Wilmington.
The sport being recapped
above is none other than
the ancient fictional sport
of Quidditch. Quidditch
is the game invented by
JK Rowling to foreshadow
fictional character Harry
Potter’s importance to
the wizarding world in
the Harry Potter series.
However, Quidditch is no
longer for those who can
cast patroni.
Ross is president and
co-founder of UNCG’s
quidditch team. She
explained the team’s
genesis before their season
opener against Carolina
last weekend. “I got the
idea watching Harry Potter
the summer before my
freshman year and [junior
team captain Amanda
Wilson] decided she wanted
to do it with me.”
UNCG’s program is one
of the biggest and most
organized in North Carolina.
Thirty people showed up to
the first practice in August
and about that many suited
up for the Spartans on
Saturday. The team has
official club recognition
from UNCG and the
International Quidditch
Association. UNCG,
considered to have North
Carolina’s best facilities,
will even host the Carolinas
Championship in March for
the second straight year.
I was first introduced to the
fine sport of Quidditch for
the magically challenged
on a chilly November
afternoon at Fletcher Park
in Raleigh. Raleigh Charter
High School had recently
moved to a building near
my childhood park and a
few of their students were
participating in a bizarre
looking game involving
broomsticks, several balls,
and just general chaos.
While the practical version,
invented at Middlebury
College in 2005, played
by mortals is played on
broomsticks, flying is not
yet permitted. However,
there are still three chasers
who throw around a slightly
deflated volleyball and
try to fit it into three hula
hoops. The beaters, while
not equipped with beaters’
clubs, use dodgeballs to
stop attacks and knock off
seekers. The keeper position
is self-explanatory. Each
team has a seeker that runs
around trying to catch a
Snitch, which in this case is
a person who runs around
with a yellow shirt and a
tennis ball attached to them
like a flag in flag football.
I observed from my perch
atop what was then called
“Jordan’s Hill.” It was
certainly intriguing. Then
I was invited to play. It was
fun, I was apparently a good
chaser and a poor keeper.
Various former hosts of
WUAG’s Sports Cycle and
former Carolinian sports
editors mocked me after I
told them of my quidditch
adventure, calling me a dork.
To them, quidditch was just
the latest nerd distraction,
like Dungeons and Dragons
or World of Warcraft.
After watching UNCG
practice and talking to
Wilson, I learned that could
not have been further from
the truth. Muggle quidditch
is an intense, physical
sport. Chasers are allowed
to drag their opponents
to the ground by virtually
any means necessary
Hispanic Heritage
Month is held from Sept
15 until Oct 15. Hispanic
Heritage Month celebrates
the independence days
of various countries,
influential Hispanics and
Latinos in America, and
Columbus Day, which falls
within the month. Sept15
is Independence Day for
Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras
and Nicaragua. Sept 16
is Independence Day for
Mexico and Sept 18 is
Chile’s. Columbus Day, also
known as Di de la Raza, is
Oct 12, which celebrates the
discovery of the Americas.
The observation first
began in 1968 under
President Lyndon Johnson;
Hispanic Heritage Week
was celebrated until 1988.
President Ronald Reagan
converted the celebration
to cover a thirty-day period.
On Aug 17 1988, Hispanic
Heritage Month was enacted
into law. Today, Hispanic
Heritage Month serves to
celebrate the culture here
in America and the strides
that Hispanics have made in
history.
The Hispanic and
Latino population has
been growing at a steady
rate. Every year, Hispanic
Heritage Month becomes
bigger and bigger, with more
cities having events. Here
at UNCG, the Latino and
Hispanic population has
increased. The University
had recorded 771 Latino
students in Fall 2011, which
is an immense jump from
just 275 students in Fall
2005. Not only does this
number reflect a increase
in the Hispanic population,
it also shows an increase in
Hispanic students pursuing
higher education.
There are several events
going on through out the
month in Greensboro. One
of the first events is taking
place Sept 19 at Kathleen
Clay Edwards Library for
children to enjoy crafts and
folklores from for in the
afternoon until 5pm. The
Civil Rights Museum in
downtown Greensboro will
honor Hispanic heritage
and have a schedule full
of events. One of the
events intertwines with
the upcoming election.
On Saturday Sept 22 from
3p.m. until 4:30p.m. The
community will discuss
the impact of the Latino/
Hispanic vote for Fall 2012.
Carolina Theatre is also
in on the festivities and
has announced a Hispanic
Heritage Festival taking
place Sunday Sept 30 at
5:30 p.m. The event will
have music by Los Grupos
Morales and the showing of
Alla en el Rancho Grande
Out in the Big Ranch, which
was one of the top box-office
movies Mexico had during
the golden era of films.
Casa Azul, which is an
initiative created by artists
and professionals from
Latino culture, is designated
to promote Latin American
art and culture in the
Greensboro area. They too
will have events dedicated
to Hispanic Heritage Month
along with Greensboro’s
17 Days Arts & Culture
Festival.
The 17 Days Festival is a
celebration of culture and
art here in Greensboro. It
coincides with Hispanic
Heritage month and runs
from Sept 21 to Oct 7 and
celebrates the music, art,
theatre, and dance of many
cultures. Everyday of those
17 days, several events will
be held throughout the
community in collaboration
with the other events
mentioned above. For more
information on upcoming
events, visit http://
www.17daysgreensboro.
o r g / f r e e / .
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER mrpbps
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER usace europe district
Wheat is a staple in the human diet.
A small girl celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month.
(the only fouls Saturday
called involved an off-the-ball
incident and a horse
collar tackle). Snitches are
allowed even more leeway,
as Carolina’s snitch used the
UNCG seeker’s own broom
to trip him up. Pelting
everyone with dodgeballs
is arguably the least violent
thing that happens.
“It’s very intense,” said
Wilson. “I’ve gotten two
concussions out of this
sport. Last year, in our
second practice, a guy tried
to tackle me and dislocated
his shoulder.” Ross added, “A
lot of people underestimate
the aggressiveness of the
sport.”
“This is like a chess
match,” said every sports
commentator about every
sport. Never, however, is
that sentiment truer than
in Quidditch. There are
several different positions,
working on several different
objectives at the same time.
As Carolina sophomore
captain Alex Drose put it,
“It’s not like football where
there’s just the one thing
going on. There’s kind of like
three different games going
on at once which is why you
need so many referees. It’s
complicated.”
Indeed, not even my novice
experience prepared me
for the awesome chaos that
ensued over the match’s 90
minutes. Luckily, I had a
guide in UNC Charlotte’s
Meg Stevens, a former
UNCG student who was
with the quidditch team
before transferring to
Charlotte and starting her
own team. Apparently, it
is a huge advantage to be
the team in possession of
two bludgers (there are a
total of three), an advantage
which UNCG mostly failed
to capitalize on. Like in
basketball, power forwards
can muscle themselves into
great position in front of
the goal and score a lot. The
Spartans did this to score a
few times.
However, especially in
the first game, there was
no stopping Carolina’s
transition offense. The Tar
Heels built a 110-30 lead.
The muggle version is a
little fairer than Rowling’s
version, as the Snitch catch
is worth only thirty points.
The change made it no less