The Carolinian [October 2, 2012]

              T H E C A R O L I N I A N
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The student newspaper of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
October 2-8, 2012
Established 1919
Vol. XCIII No. 7
twitter.com/thecarolinian
Opinions Page 4 Features Page 11 Sports Page 13
Tuition hikes not a black and
white issue, Preventing overdose
deaths with good samaritan
laws, Romney needs to fi ght like
Regan.
The Technology Issue: Apple
release of iphone 5, Marlon
Nichols profi le, Tesla Motor’s
fully electric car, vintage
to modern video games.
Arguing with the Editor:
Simmons or Kearney? Fans
and players superstitions, mens
soccer edges past Mountaineers,
Tebow time in New York.
A&E Page 7
Beatles cover band, Moogfest
preview, J.K. Rowling: The
Casual Vacancy, Film review:
Looper, Most overlooked
records of 2012.
cHEck oUT oUR NEW WEbPAGE! WWW.UNcGcARolINIAN.coM
www.uncgcarolinian.com
Devon Lail
Staff Writer
Campus programs combat obesity
Leaving home and making
independent decisions can be a
stressful for many new students.
With busy schedules, high
prices, and limited choices, it is
easy to choose a quick snack or
a cheap meal. As a result, many
new college students (and some
not so new) are gaining weight.
College lifestyles have a major
infl uence on obesity. Some
students call it the “Freshman
15,” a familiar reference to
the weight gain new students
typically pack on. Studies have
shown that three-quarters
of students gain weight their
freshman year of college. Th ese
students can easily form a habit
of overeating and overlooking
regular exercise. Th ese habits
continue to impact their weight
for years to come.
Th e percent of overweight and
obese American college students
increased from 27.4 percent in
fall 2006 to 29.2 percent in fall
2011, according to the American
College Health Association. Th e
organization based its fi ndings
on body mass index (BMI) which
is calculated from an individual’s
self-reported height and weight,
and is a standard indicator of
obesity. A BMI in the range of 25
to 29.9 is considered overweight,
while a BMI between 30 and 34.9
is obese.
While there are many options
on campus, health professionals
consider what would be the most
healthy, such as picking a low
calorie sub at Subway instead
of Taco Bell nachos a few nights
a week. Healthier options are
available in the cafeteria near
the alternate entrance where the
salad bar, heart healthy meats and
sides, and many more vegetarian
options reside. Professionals
advise students to fi ght the
siren call for soft drinks from
the tempting dispensers around
campus and drink more water
instead. Recommendations also
include avoiding the dessert bar
in the cafeteria and the candy bar
sections in the convenient stores
on campus. Choose a piece (or
bowl) of fruit instead. Sleep is
also a major factor, where late
nights and all-nighters coupled
with energy drinks, candy, and
salty snacks to help one stay
awake only add up to extra
weight. Nutritional specialists
suggest sticking with the energy
drinks that have no sugar and
protein bars instead of sweets.
UNCG’s Gove Wellness center
provides programs and services
to help students stay in better
health and understand how to
take better care of them. Some
of these programs include
Edible Wisdom, Acupuncture
Clinics, and Th e Clothesline
Project. Edible Wisdom is a
series of nutrition discussions
made for students to hear the
professional recommendations
of a Registered Dietitian advice
of fellow peers to gain the
know-how to promote good
eating habits. Acupuncture
clinics are available on select
Th ursdays and can only be done
by appointment. Contact the
health center for details.
Th e Clothesline Project is
way of letting people know
the eff ects of Violence against
women. Materials are provided
to make t-shirts. During the
public display, a clothesline is
hung with shirts. Each shirt
is decorated to represent a
particular woman’s experience,
by the survivor herself, or by
someone who cares about
her. Purposes include bearing
witness to the survivors as well
as the victims of violence against
women, helping with the healing
process for people who have
Graphic displaying nutrition buzz words.
SuSan von StruenSeef/fliCkr
bearman2007/fliCkr
Political cartoon satirizes the use of civil rights discrimination against the LGBT community.
Campus NAACP discusses LGBT rights in forum
Alaina Monts
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, Sept. 25, Th e
Offi ce of Multicultural Aff airs
held the fi rst Contemporary
Issues Forum of the year. Th e
topic of Tuesday’s forum was
“Th e Question of Gay Marriage
in the Black Community.”
Th e forum was moderated by
two graduate student assistants
in the OMA. Over the ninety
minute duration, about 100
students, faculty members, and
community members came and
contributed to the discussion.
To start off the discussion, a
news clip was shown shedding
light on some of the controversy.
Th is year the NAACP offi cially
endorsed same-sex marriage. In
a statement issued in May they
said, “Th e African American
community and the LGBT
community are not separate. Th e
NAACP has always opposed any
practice, tradition, custom, or
law that denies rights, privileges,
or opportunities to any person
which can be legally extended to
others.”
However, very quickly
aft erwards, one member
resigned. Th e Rev. Keith Ratliff ,
representative from Iowa and
Nebraska, has been outspoken
in his beliefs about marriage,
and says NAACP’s endorsement
went against both his personal
and religious beliefs.
Rev. Ratliff also said that the
NAACP has far more important
issues to deal with that aff ect
the Black community instead of
spending time focusing on gay
marriage.
Students began their
discussion aft er viewing this
clip. Th ere were many who had
trouble fully disagreeing with
the pastor, saying that he had a
right to his opinion, and many
believed it would be hypocritical
of him to preach against same
sex marriage while being a part
of an organization that supports
it.
Still, while many agreed with
his decision to resign, there were
See lGbT, page 3
lost a loved one or are survivors
of violence, and educating the
campus community of the
extent of the problem of violence
against women.
Students are also encouraged
to make use of their access to
the recreation center on campus
and the various exercise classes
made available at varying times
such as fencing, water aerobics,
and Cycling classes. Visit the
recreation center’s website or the
rec itself for more classes and
information.
News | The Carolinian
Box N1 EUC
UNCG
Greensboro, NC, 27413
Phone: (336) 334-5752
Fax: (336) 334-3518
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of the Publisher, Editor-in-Chief,
and Section Editors.
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Publisher
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Editor-in-Chief
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publishes any mistakes.
Please promptly notify us of any
errors by e-mailing the Editor-in-
Chief at Editor.Carolinian@
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Mission Statement
The Carolinian is a teach-ing
newspaper that is organized
and produced by students of the
University of North Carolina at
Greensboro. It is our objective to
teach young writers journalistic
skills while emphasizing the im-portance
of honesty and integrity
in campus media.
2 | October 2-8, 2012
Weekly
Forecast
Today
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Wednesday
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Thursday
H: 78°
L: 53°
Friday
H: 75°
L: 57°
Cloudy
Weekend
H: 68°
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Partly Cloudy
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T’storms
Faculty resignation sheds light on distance
between alumni and undergraduates
Aaron Bryant
Staff Writer
The recent resignation of
alumni association Executive
Director Linda Carter was
subtle, with many in and around
campus unaware of the change.
The Alumni Association quickly
replaced Carter, and a brief
letter was released to explain,
in little detail, what happened.
While the situation shed little
light on why she resigned, it put
a bigger problem squarely in the
spotlight: the minimum levels of
interaction between the alumni
association and undergraduate
students.
Carter, who worked as the
Executive Director for the UNCG
alumni association, submitted a
verbal resignation over a week
ago, according to a letter released
within the alumni association by
Michael K. Garrett, the current
president of the UNCG alumni
association.
In the letter, Garrett wished her
well, and promised the association
would stay committed to its
goals. Garrett said, “Please know
that your Board of Directors
are steadfast in continuing with
our exciting initiatives: The
Spartan Legislative Network,
Regional Alumni Clubs, website
redeployment, The Spartan
Recruitment Initiative and the
development of our strategic
plan.”
Garrett also said the
organization would work with the
university to find a new leader.
Still, many questions remain
after the discreet and sudden
resignation. For an organization
with a respectable prestige and
precedence, this kind of activity
is highly atypical.
However, while the resignation
itself is a source of controversy,
the lack of direct involvement
with the alumni association and
its potential future members,
undergrads, is far more alarming.
Undergraduates frequently
do not see many of the
positive aspects of the Alumni
Association.
A UNCG junior, Carla, who
did not disclose her last name,
expressed her opinion on the
matter. “It’s puzzling. Much of
what we as undergraduates do
daily is simply not affected by
actions taken by the Alumni,”
said Carla.
The Alumni association
primarily deals with raising
money via donations from
graduates, supports the university
by the development of regional
alumni clubs, and brings alumni
to work together and achieve a
common goal.
Undergraduates simply do not
see that.
Another major concern voiced
was the message this kind of action
sends to the rest of the university
and UNCG community. Carla
said, “Handling business in
a respectful and professional
manner is one thing; making
backroom deals without student
consent, approval or knowledge
is neither professional or
respectable.”
The hasty message sent within
the organization about Carter’s
verbal resignation surprised the
junior undergrad, who feels this
type of information should be
open to the rest of the UNCG
community.
“As a student, I pay tuition.
I’m on the UNCG payroll, and
I am a part of different clubs
and organizations. I don’t think
it is too much to ask of any
organization, including ones
routinely regarded as prestigious
ones, to keep students, staff and
faculty updated on events such as
these.”
According to the official
website, the Alumni Association
was founded in 1893 and
“continues to be the foundation
of University support. The
Association helps to provide
quality programs and services
to alumni, students, faculty, and
staff.”
As a part of the mission
statement, the association
also “seeks to draw each and
every graduate into a lifelong
connection with UNCG and
to inspire alumni to serve and
advocate on behalf of their
alma mater. We will do this by
promoting continued cultural,
educational, and relationship-building
opportunities for
alumni, and sharing the UNCG
story through regular and
meaningful communication and
advancing the interests of the
University.”
The Alumni association helps
the university as a whole with a
variety of initiatives. However,
undergraduates, while by
definition not associated with the
alumni, see little involvement in
their own academic lives from
the organization.
The association itself adapted
through its history to become
accessible, meaningful and
helpful. This should be no
different.
Student Success Fair educates students on
information technology, small turnout
Olivia Cline
Staff Writer
Several workshops were offered
during a three hour event in the
EUC last Thursday, covering in-formation
regarding everything
from financial aid to studying
abroad. Tables and booths were
also set up to provide students
with the opportunity to ask in-depth
questions about individual
departments.
Unfortunately, the event was
somewhat sparsely-attended,
something organizer Lisa Mc-
Guire, Assistant Director for
Adult, Transfer, and Commuter
Students Programs, hopes to
change for the future.
McGuire said the idea for the
Success Fair was born out of a set
of workshops offered for adult
and transfer students in the past
that helped participants build
and/or regain skills and informa-tional
bases that they needed for
the university experience.
Student requests for a bi-annual
semester repeat of the workshops
combined with a collaboration
with several other programs on
campus led McGuire to structure
a hybrid event that combined the
workshops that her students had
requested with a second chance
for freshmen and other students
to interact with departments out-side
the hectic environment of
SOAR.
McGuire worked with the Stu-dent
Government Association
and Students First to organize the
event. Students First, the organi-zation
that provides the Starfish
alert system, sent information
about the event to students who
are doing poorly in classes in
hopes that it would provide them
with the information they needed
to turn their semester around,
and the SGA provided advertis-ing
and volunteers.
Groups present included three
academic departments (The
School of Health and Human
Sciences, the School of Educa-tion,
and the School of Nursing),
the Jackson Library, Students
First, the UNCG International
Programs Center, and the Infor-mation
and Technology center,
among many others.
Many of these departments and
their representatives were burst-ing
with new sets of information
for students at the event. Freed
from their obligation to intro-duce
students to their particular
organization and its objective,
they were able to give more in-depth
and personalized attention
to students already lightly famil-iar
with their purpose.
In this vein, many of the groups
present offered answers to the
question “What’s one thing about
your department you believe not
enough students know about?”
The Information and Technology
Center emphasized the recently
redesigned Blackboard applica-tion,
for iOS and Android plat-forms,
while The International
Programs Center representative
spoke about the multitude of fi-nancial
options open to students
wishing to study abroad.
Students First, one of the or-ganizing
groups, spoke about its
desire to help students with any
advising issue they may be fac-ing,
including graduation plans,
course overload requests, explor-ing
different majors, and financial
aid issues.
The booth with the most sur-prises
to offer turned out to be
the University Libraries table.
The women representing vari-ous
components of the library
system, which includes Jackson
Library, the music library, and a
plethora of online libraries and
databases, said that they feel the
library has dozens of services to
offer that the average student is
not aware of.
Their most recent development
is the Digital Media Commons,
a lounge/study area in the base-ment
of Jackson Library which
offers private computer rooms,
group study rooms with desktop
computers and large monitor
screens, and dozens of couches,
chairs and tables for students to
use.
However, other tidbits high-lighted
included the library’s
personal librarian for each aca-demic
department, the extensive
inter-library loan system, and the
system in place for a professor to
place a book on reserve specifi-cally
for his or her academic class,
helping to ensure that there are
copies available when students
need them.
The Student Success Fair will
hopefully return in the spring
semester, with even more de-partments
and organizations
participating.
Goodbye, Linda Carter
The Carolinian | News October 2-8, 2012 | 3
Local News Briefs
Greensboro Aquatic
Center to host JO’s
NC A&T enrollment
numbers drops
Dudley High student
assaults teacher
Compiled By: Stephanie Cistrunk
A 17-year-old Dudley High
school student was arrested
Wednesday afternoon for assault-ing
her substitute math teacher.
Police say Khavasia Vaughn at-tacked
her math teacher, Wole
Ajala in class. According to the
North Carolina Baptist Web-site,
Ajala had just started a local
Baptist Church, and is currently
working towards becoming a full-time
math teacher. Investigators
are still determining what lead to
the attack. Frustrations through-out
the school and community
have been vocalized on how inci-dents
like these are affecting the
reputation of their school.
Freshman Dudley student
Christian Waters was stunned.
“It’s crazy, I didn’t expect that,”
said Waters, in reference to
Vaughn’s assault.
Other students and parents
voiced their concern regarding
the behavior of certain students’
influence on their schools.
“It’s sad, actually for a student
to be beating up a teacher. That’s
uncalled for,” said parent Keisha
Young, who’s son attends Dudley.
According to statistics from
the Department for Children,
Schools and Families, expul-sions
due to student assaults on
their teachers and other students
have been on the rise since 2007.
Many of these events involve
very young students, beginning
in lower elementary (kindergar-ten)
and continuing up into high
school.
The Department of Justice and
the Department of Education
released a report (Indicators of
School Crime and Safety: 2010)
indicating that 145,100 public
school teachers had been physi-cally
attacked by students at their
schools in the course of a single
school year and that another
276,700 public school teachers
had been threatened with injury
by a student in that school year,”
making this in recent years more
of a national crisis issue.
North Carolina A&T school
officials say that the lack of fi-nancial
resources for students is
the main reason behind the uni-versity
failing to meet their en-rollment
goal of 11037 students
this semester. A&T currently has
10,659 students, a decrease from
10,905 last Fall. The university
fell short on class enrollment as
well, with 1,858 freshmen this se-mester,
79 fewer than what they
aimed for. There was also a drop
in the number of new candidates
for masters and doctoral degrees,
496 this semester, 51 less than
they expected.
Akura Matherson, A&T inter-im
associate vice chancellor for
enrollment management, agrees
that having less available finan-cial
aid is to students is a likely
cause of the significant drops. She
noted other recent changes in the
financial aid program that have
affected the students and parents
pockets. One such situation is
the component of the FAFSA ap-plication
that requires families to
submit tax transcripts, instead of
copies of their tax returns.
She continued to say that A&T’s
numbers were higher at the start
of the semester, when students
were eligible to return to school,
and that students became unable
to come up with the money to re-main
enrolled.
“We are working very closely
with the schools and colleges to
try and identify financial support
and other ways to reach out to
our students and have them re-turn,”
she said.
In this vein, A&T has been try-ing
to develop strategies working
with the university’s fundraising
offices to identify more scholar-ship
money. Surrounding schools
in Greensboro and Winston have
also reported enrollment drops.
UNCG enrollment decreased,
though freshman and transfers
number increased. Winston Sa-lem
State had an eight percent
decrease, as reported by the Win-ston
Salem Journal last week.
Swim fans, gets pumped! The
Greensboro Aquatic center will
be hosting the USA Swimming
2013 Speedo Winter Junior Na-tional
Championships December
12-14. The event will be showcas-ing
the best young swimming tal-ents
across the U.S.
“USA Swimming is excited to
bring the 2013 Speedo Winter
Junior National Championships
to the Greensboro Aquatic Cen-ter,”
said Dean Ekeren, National
Events & Marketing Director
for USA Swimming, according
to a prepared statement. “We
look forward to exposing young
athletes and new fans from the
North Carolina area to world-class
swimming.”
This month also marks the
one-year anniversary of the
GAC’s opening to the public. The
facility has been very success-ful
and busy over the past year,
having hosted 36 meets featur-ing
15,215 participants, with a
total of 120,820 attending. Swim
meets like the 2012 YMCA Na-tional
Short Course Champion-ships
(which recently announced
it will return in 2013 and 2014),
2012 U.S. Masters Swimming
Spring National Championships,
U.S. Synchronized Swimming
2012 Olympic Team trials and the
AT&T National Diving Champi-onships
have all been hosted at
the GAC, which has brought sig-nificant
economic gain to the city.
The Greensboro Area Conven-tion
& Visitors Bureau had proj-ects
that the economic impact
of these events (through mid-
September 2012) to be nearly
$42 million, while the economic
impact entirely of the GAC book-ings
(through 2016) is over $76
million.
More information about what
else the GAC can offer can be
found at greensboroaqauticcen-ter.
com. Hours are 5 a.m. to 9
p.m., Monday through Friday,
Saturday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and
Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
LGBT
from page 1
those who didn’t agree with his
opinion.
The debate rose between
those who let Biblical opinions
shape their political opinions.
For some, the church plays an
important part in their lives,
a factor that was emphatically
stated throughout the forum. I t
was deduced from the comments
that many black Americans find
difficulty making the separation
in their lives.
One of the conclusions
made was that in order for
the Black church to make a
political decision about same
sex marriage, they would have
to separate their religious from
their political opinions.
Another prevalent issue
brought up during the forum was
the need to connect struggles.
Some students expressed
the belief that there was no
need to connect the civil rights
movement of the 1960s to the
LGBTQ civil rights movement
occurring right now.
Many believe that the problem
some members of the Black
community may have with the
LGBTQ civil rights movement
rests in this comparison.
Some students also felt that
LGBTQ individuals cannot fully
understand what it was like to
be a Black person during that
time period because unlike
Black people, LGBTQ people
have the opportunity to “pass”
as straight—Blacks could rarely
pass as white.
Touching again on the issue
of civil rights, the question
was brought up about what
Americans perceive civil rights
to mean. Primarily, civil rights
have been associated with Black
rights. But according to some
students, civil rights are human
rights granted to someone
simply because they are a citizen.
Participants included
examples of various civil rights
movements that did not directly
target Black Americans—the
women’s suffrage movement
of the 1920s was one specific
example.
Some argued that civil
rights are not specific to Black
Campaign Trail Weekly
Candidates prepare strategies
for last opportunity to reach
large voter audiences
Elisbeth Wise
Staff Writer
In a little over a week, the two
Presidential candidates will take
part in the first of three debates
during the month of October: 3,
16, and 22, with a Vice Presiden-tial
debate to take place on Oct.
11.
These debates will be the last
chance the candidates will have
to reach large TV audiences of
undecided voters.
Both campaigns are working
tirelessly to prepare their debate
strategies and ways in which they
can take advantage of these de-bate
opportunities that will have
a significant impact on the race.
To help prepare and prac-tice
for the debates, both sides
have stand-ins who will portray
the candidates’ rivals. Sen. John
Kerry of Massachusetts will play
Romney in Obama’s preparation
sessions, while Sen. Rob Portman
of Ohio, will portray Obama.
President Obama has not par-ticipated
in a debate since 2008,
while Romney has participated
in a multitude of debates over
the past year during the Repub-lican
primaries. As a result, part
of the President’s preparation is
learning to train himself to “talk
shorter”.
As David Axelrod, a campaign
senior adviser said, “He’s got to
speak shorter, that’s all. He just
hasn’t had to do that for the last
four years so that’s a part of the
discipline of preparing for these
debates.”
As a result of this discrep-ancy
in debate participation, the
Obama campaign has been try-ing
to lower expectations for the
President, because it has been so
long since he has taken part in a
debate.
Robert Gibbs, Romney cam-paign
senior advisor, said he
thinks that Romney “starts with
an advantage” because he has
been through the debate process
much more recently.
The debates will provide Rom-ney
a crucial chance to “win”
some votes, as recent polls have
shown that the President has
widened his lead over Romney,
particularly in the most impor-tant
battleground states; Ohio,
Virginia, Florida, and Wiscon-sin.
This will also be an opportu-nity
for Romney to shift attention
from the perceived gaffes he has
made throughout his campaign
trail.
Analysts and various Republi-can
officials believe that Romney
needs to tell the people how he is
going to make the country better
in order to win these key votes.
Republican pollster Whit Ayre
has said that “the most important
thing that Mitt Romney can do
is give people confidence that he
knows how to fix this economy.”
While many voters do not be-lieve
President Obama has ac-complished
this, they do not yet
believe Romney is capable of this
either.
President Obama will have the
chance to prove to these doubt-ers,
including those that were
supporters in 2008, that his poli-cies
will succeed in helping the
economy but that they just need
a little more time.
USA Today Washington bu-reau
chief Susan Page notes that
there is “an electorate that is dis-appointed
in the president they
elected in 2008, but not at all con-vinced
that the Republican chal-lenger
offers a good alternative”,
and the President faces a chance
to capitalize on this.
Prior to the first debate on Oc-tober
3, Romney will be spending
part of the week on a bus tour in
Ohio, while the president will be
making campaign stops in Ohio
and Virginia after speaking to the
U.N. General Assembly on Tues-day,
Sept. 25.
Americans and marriage is one
that should be granted to all
United States citizens, regardless
of one’s personal or religious
opinion of the matter.
“UNCG’s chapter of NAACP
supports the National chapter’s
decision to endorse same sex
marriage. As an organization, we
were founded to fight injustices,
and the fight for same sex
marriage equality is a current
injustice we are working to fight,”
said William Britto, president of
the UNCG NAACP chapter.
Overall, students seemed
to learn a lot and enjoy
the lively discussion of the
afternoon. Marina Moldovez,
an international student,
particularly enjoyed the event.
“I really liked the discussion…I
was surprised at the way it
went…[but] I liked that we
could talk about gay marriage so
openly,” Moldovez said.
Students have the opportunity
to attend Contemporary Issues
Forums two more times in the
2012-2013 school year. The next
forum will be held on Nov. 6
from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the
Multicultural Resource Center.
The topic is American Indians
and Public Health.
The office of Multicultural
Affairs and the Multicultural
Resource Center (MRC) hosts
many similar events. Students
can visit oma.uncg.edu to learn
more about opportunities
to interact with the office of
Multicultural Affairs and the
MRC.
4 October 2-8, 2012 Opinions
With tuition hikes looming
overhead, and slogans like, “Is
Debt Your Second Major?”
plastered to Facebook walls,
higher education is an uphill
battle. Maintaining a college
education is a second major,
and between loans and multiple
jobs, something is being lost
in translation. These degrees
become a series of hoops to jump
through, and a box to check on
the way to a paycheck that will
satisfy ever-growing student
loans. The day-to-day stress of
this lifestyle can be grueling,
and it just keeps getting harder.
True education and the joy of
learning are being strangled by
the rising prices and the risk of
a department being cut because
“money ran out.” Money does
run out, for students everywhere,
and it is a shame. The promise
of a higher education is one
that comes with a price tag, and
a commitment, both personal
and financial. At UNCG, tuition
is expected to increase 6.5
percent with an added “quality
enhancement tuition increase” of
3.5 percent. Student fees are also
set to raise 12.1 percent. That is a
increase that should cause a buzz,
and it has.
The same deep rooted “black
or white” attitudes that exist in
the U.S. government are very
much alive in public universities.
With student groups like Occupy
UNCG and the North Carolina
Student Power Union, it is
obvious that many students do
not feel heard. Many students
feel that decisions, that very
much effect them, are not made
in a fair and unbiased way. On
the flip side, many administrators
and students feel that the way
in which these decisions are
made are fair and that angry
conclusions are being reached.
The lack of communication is
astounding, and while almost
every student knows about
tuition hikes, very few know
about the specifics. The majestic
Board of Governors will have a
chance to approve proposals that
the magical UNCG Trustees drew
up, and tuition will yet again be
raised by monsters hiding behind
the curtain. Students assumed
to be over-political and under
informed will act against these
hikes, and for most, there will be
an accepted misunderstanding of
the situation.
It garners attention, that for
most, there will be a general lack
of understanding. These might
be the hikes that force someone
to drop out and this might be
the money crunch that cuts a
program. It is important to
strive to understand both sides,
and it is vital for there to stop
being “sides.” There would be
no university without students,
and there would be no students
without a university. We are all
in the trenches and there is no
good view from the trenches.
The blame game does not solve
issues and it does not expose
corruption. What does resolve
issues is discussion, dialogue,
and a willingness to compromise.
It is important for students to
be able to band together and
speak out, and it is important
for administration to provide
clear information. The ill-will
towards student groups that are,
in the simplest terms, striving
for equality is unacceptable. The
ill-will towards administration
that is providing information is
equally problematic. On paper
these attitudes seem harsh,
but they are rampant at this
university. There needs to be a
lot more listening, and a lot less
judging.
The ever-rising price of a
degree is disheartening. Nothing
will make working full-time and
being a full-time student easier,
and the economy will not be
repaired over night. It is a time
to work together and it is a time
to be critical. As a student it is
important to be aware and to not
expect information to rain down
from overhead. It is important
for administration to know that
these choices impact students
and tuition hikes mean more
semesters, less sleep, more loans,
and less satisfaction. There is
a lot more gray area than there
is “black and white,” and there
are no enemies. There is only a
harsh reality and a chance to look
past initial reactions. President
Obama said that, “No family
should have to set aside a college
acceptance letter because they
don’t have the money.” Maybe,
one day, that will be true. For
now, there is a lot of trudging
through and a lot of stress on
both “sides.”
Tuition hikes not a black and white issue
Emily Ritter
Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy Andrew Mos Photography/flickr
Across the globe students are protesting tuition hikes. Is there a better way?
Preventing overdose deaths with Good Samaritan laws
Samantha Korb
Staff Writer
When we see an emergency
happen, we are told to call 911
for help. In the case of overdoses,
calling 911 might not be that
simple. Thirty-eight states
(including North Carolina)
and all but two universities
in North Carolina (Duke and
Elon University) have no law
protecting those who call in
overdoses to 911 from arrest
due to drug and/or alcohol
possession. These laws, Good
Samaritan laws, protect the caller
from arrest, but also help prevent
accidental death by overdoses.
In a nation where less than 50
percent of overdoses are called
in to 911, we can simply see why
Good Samaritan laws are life-saving
and necessary policies to
have.
From 1980 to 2008, the
number of accidental deaths due
to overdose increased nearly six
times over from 6,100 in 1980
to 35,600 in 2008. With this
enormous increase in accidental
deaths from overdose over the
past three decades, overdose is
now the number one cause of
accidental death in the United
States, surpassing car accidents
for the first time ever. Did the
number of illicit drugs usage and
access increase? Not necessarily.
One of the drugs of choice
increasing the occurrence of
overdoses are the very legal
prescription drugs that are being
misused and abused across the
country.
Mostly, prescription painkill-ers
such as oxytocin and hy-drocodone
are increasing this
enormous number of overdoses.
Increased access and the abuse
of hydrocodone and oxytocin
are driving the overdose problem
and require a whole new set of
laws that will require the collabo-ration
of providers, law enforce-ment,
and the community itself.
Meanwhile, as a nation, we have
got to respond directly to the
problem of people dying unnec-essarily
from these drugs without
any chance.
In 91 campuses across the
country, Good Samaritan laws
have increased calls for help, and
have helped create the image
that these universities are more
concerned with helping protect
their students from death instead
of punishing those who call for
help. Duke and Elon’s Good
Samaritan laws only protect
against alcohol in regards to
overdose, not drugs, but it is a
start. Each university’s policy
is different, but no policy on
the books is irresponsible and
dangerous to students.
Concerns about the
implementation of Good
Samaritan laws abound. One
of the biggest concerns about
the law is that it will be used
as a way to continue drinking
and using drugs without any
consequence. This is simply not
the case. Students are going to
drink and use drugs regardless
of the law being in place or not;
however, with these laws on the
books, students can make the
responsible decision to call 911
to help save someone’s life in case
of an overdose.
In 12 states across the union,
Good Samaritan laws are being
implemented, with the most
recent state being Florida, the
only state in the South to have
these laws. In Washington
State, the access and usage of
Naloxone/Narcan, an extremely
effective opioid overdose
reversal drug is covered in the
law as well. Naloxone has been
around for nearly four decades
in the United States, and it
is usually only available via
prescription. However, in some
police departments, community
based organizations, and service
providers across the country,
third-party prescriptions are in
effect to distribute the drug to
those who need it most: active
opioid drug users. On the surface,
many would have conflict with
giving drug users anything but
rehabilitation services, but the
health and safety of drug users
are important too, regardless of
how one might feel about the
activity of drug use.
It is my sincere hope that all
states, all colleges, including
UNCG; reconsider their
positions on these lifesaving
laws. Each state and university
has their own twist to the law,
so no one law is going to be a
one size fits all law, but a guide
to how each respective entity
chooses to draft and enact these
laws. We cannot ignore the
growing problem of overdose
in this country, with 911 Good
Samaritan laws; we can protect
and help those who call in the
overdose and those experiencing
overdoses themselves. These laws
enable all of us to do what were
told as kids: call for help.
Photo Courtesy pasa47/flickr
Without Good Samaritan laws, 911 is not always called to report emergencies.
The Carolinian | Opinions October 2-8, 2012 | 5
Romney’s comment
symbol of disconnect
Caleb Patterson
Staff Writer
Currently in the media, the
narrative for the 2012 presidential
race is decidedly in favor of
Barack Obama. Commentators
on liberal networks like MSNBC
and CNN seem to be constantly
harping on the fact that Romney
is behind by a few points in most
recent polling data.
Conservatives on Fox News
seem to be going on and on
about a theory that left-leaning
pollsters have somehow rigged
the polls in order to dissuade
conservatives from voting. In any
case, the current narrative is not
the one that is going to drive Mitt
Romney to victory.
According to some liberal
websites out there, there are
several reasons why the public
does not like the Republican
presidential contender. On the
Daily Kos, one story presents
an out-of- context quote where
Romney said that he “cried” after
tithing to his church due to the
costs.
According to the site’s
commentary, “Ann is being
melodramatic here, but Mittens?
What kind of person is a bishop
in his church, yet cries when he
tithes—particularly when you’re
worth hundreds of millions of
dollars? If you believe in your
church and your faith, you give
freely and happily to further its
mission.”
CNN contributor LZ
Granderson also wrote an article
on the subject a few weeks ago. “It
can’t be because he’s rich, because
there are a lot of rich people we
like. Hell, President Obama’s rich
and 56 percent of the country
views him favorably… It can’t be
because he’s Republican, because
Republicans don’t like him
either.” Granderson was finally
able to conclude that the reason
people did not like Mitt Romney
was because of arrogance. “There
are moments in some of
Romney’s speeches in which
he comes across like the guy who
doesn’t wave when you let him
into traffic, because in his mind,
he was able to merge on his own.”
Recent polls seem to confirm
the basic truth that Romney is
receiving a lukewarm response.
According to Real Clear
Politics, a website that tracks
most major political polls and
averages them together, Obama
is ahead by about four points,
which is just outside the margin
of error. This is quite impressive
for an incumbent president
that has swelled the national
debt, maintained abhorrent
unemployment numbers, and
publicly lied about a terrorist
attack, among other things.
Rasmussen Reports, which is
often cited by conservatives,
shows Obama up by two points.
National Journal has him up by
seven points.
I have another theory on why
Romney does not seem to be
gaining any traction.
In 1980, the Republican
primary content was a heated
and bitter affair, and it featured
George H.W. Bush of the
moderate wing of the party
going up against Ronald Reagan
of the more conservative wing.
At the time, the public was very
skeptical Reagan. Was he too
radical? Would his crazy ideas to
change the tax structure bankrupt
the middle class? And did he
have what it would take to be the
President of the United States?
Reagan desperately needed to
win the state of New Hampshire
in the contest, and so he self-financed
a debate against
George H.W. Bush. At the time,
Bush wanted to square off against
Reagan one-on-one, while
Reagan preferred to go up against
every Republican challenger. In a
less-than-honest political stunt,
the Reagan campaign contacted
each challenger the morning
of the debate and invited them
to the debate without Bush’s
knowledge. When Reagan invited
the challengers on stage, the
moderator attempted to cut his
microphone.
“I am paying for this
microphone, Mr. Green!” the
visibly upset Reagan yelled. The
exclamation drew wild applause,
and was a pivotal moment in
helping Reagan secure both the
nomination and the presidency.
In order to gain the respect
and confidence of the American
people, Mitt Romney does not
need to burn all of his money
or show the middle class that he
knows what it is like to
struggle financially. He also
does not need to break away
from his own personality to
become more “likeable” in the
eyes of liberal commentators.
Instead, Romney and his
campaign should take a page
from Reagan’s playbook: angrily
let the American people know
who is paying for the follies
of the incompetent Obama
administration.
Chris McCracken
Features Editor
George W. Bush, the last
Republican president, had
a presidency filled with
catastrophe. The Sept. 11
attacks, the failed Iraq War,
the government’s incompetent
response to hurricane Katrina,
and the second most severe
financial collapse in U.S. history
all took place during his watch.
Despite all the epic failures of
the Bush administration, Bush
ironically told ABC’s Matt Lauer
that the lowest moment of his
presidency was when the great
rap artist Kanye West went on
national television just after
Katrina and said, “George Bush
doesn’t care about black people.”
Now, symbolic of the devolution
of the Republican Party in recent
years, their presidential nominee
openly admits to a room full of
$50,000-per-plate plutocrats that
he does not care about half of
the American people. Of course
Mitt Romney, author of a self-promotion
book entitled No
Apologies, has no regrets that he
has written off 47 percent of the
American public.
In a recent video acquired
and published by Mother Jones,
Mitt Romney (a man who pays
very, very little in traditional
federal income taxes) is seen at
a high-end fundraiser belittling
the 47 percent of Americans
who pay no federal income tax.
Romney bizarrely suggested
that the 47 percent which, in his
words, will “never take personal
responsibility,” are going to vote
for Barack Obama so he has
no reason to court their votes.
Leaving aside the electoral
malpractice of dismissing 47
percent of the population, let us
look at who actually comprises
the 47 percent that Mitt Romney
disparages.
The taxpayers who avoid
paying any federal income taxes
are overwhelmingly toward
the lower end of the income
distribution; the majority are
households making under
$30,000 a year. These people
pay other kinds of taxes such
as payroll taxes and sales taxes
which disproportionately affect
low income earners. Ironically,
in 2011 there were 29,000
households making over half
a million dollars and 7,000
millionaires who paid zero
federal income taxes. These
millionaires who get away with
paying zero in federal income
taxes are Romney’s base of
political support; maybe he
should write them a letter saying
he did not really mean those
hurtful things he said about
them.
Of the 47 percent in 2011,
two-thirds were working and
thus paying payroll taxes. One-fifth
of the 47 percent are senior
citizens whose only source of
income is Social Security which
is not subject to federal income
taxes. A small percentage of the
47 percent is college students.
Financial aid and scholarships
are not subject to federal income
tax. One of the other groups of
takers that Mitt Romney does not
like is military personnel serving
in a combat zone who are thus
not required to pay any income
taxes. Mitt Romney infamously
said that “corporations are
people, too, my friend,” but these
fictive persons pay no personal
income taxes and many of the
largest corporations avoid paying
any taxes.
A principle reason that low
income earners pay no federal
income taxes is a result of policies
such as the Earned Income Tax
Credit and Child Tax Credit,
which were pushed for and
passed by Republican politicians.
Oftentimes to make tax cuts for
the rich, the Republican Party
modus operandi, more politically
palpable they add tax credits for
low income earners to tax cut
legislation. Romney does not
address in any specific ways these
tax credits that underpin the 47
percent. Does he want to end the
Earned Income Tax Credit?
The secret video of Romney
deriding the 47 percent shows
how comfortable he is at waging
class warfare. Sadly, many
individuals within the 47 percent
such as the military, students,
elderly, and the poor will cast
ballots for Romney despite his
disregard for them. However,
Romney’s recent slide in the
polls is a result of a failed RNC,
his poorly timed and poorly
reasoned comments in the wake
of the Libyan attack, and the
new 47 percent video. People
need to realize that if you are in
a room with three other people,
it is statistically likely that Mitt
Romney does not care about two
of you. As we enter the debate
stage of this election, people will
get more opportunities to see just
how out of touch Mitt Romney
really is.
Romney needs to
fight like Reagan
Photo Courtesy carl lender/flickr
A sign shows some people fed up with Obama.
Photo Courtesy cory m. grenier/flickr
Romney’s comment as shown in a political cartoon.
“Of the 47
percent in 2011,
two-thirds were
working and thus
paying payroll
taxes. .“
6 | October 2-8, 2012 Opinions | The Carolinian
To anyone who can recall the
eighties and nineties, the name
Bill Watterson elicits thoughts
of a little boy lost in intellectual
thoughts, a stuffed tiger that can
come to life, and a comic strip
that redefined the art. Watterson,
the author of Calvin and Hobbes,
spent ten years drawing and
writing one of the most successful
comic strips of all time. Then,
in 1995, with Coolidge-esque
resolve, Watterson shocked the
world by announcing that he
was done with his strip. Since
then, Watterson has kept himself
boarded away in his northern
Ohio home, refusing pictures,
autographs, and any inclination of
future projects. While Watterson
sightings have become a sport for
some, I see Watterson’s ability to
keep hidden as an allegorical hat-tip
to a time before the internet,
face-recognition software, and
modern tracking technology.
We live in a world very
different than the one Watterson
grew up in. We can, and often do,
get on Facebook to keep track
of friends on the other side of
the country, or on the other side
of the globe. If we are looking
to have a Romeo moment, we
can use Google Earth to find
the window it would be best to
proclaim our love to our crush
under. The government has been
able to use tracking technology
and a multitude of cameras to
smoke out criminals that have
been hiding in the cracks of
society for decades.
Obviously, these technological
advances have several benefits.
My mother, who was adopted
at birth, was able to find her
birth mother fairly easily using
social media. Research papers
that in the past required several
trips to and long hours in the
library have been generally
reduced thanks to the wealth
of information available using
almost any search engine. The
lives of everyday Americans have
been enriched with laughter and
learning thanks to sites ranging
from Newsvine to Reddit. Still,
the rise of technology and global
communication via the internet
has not come without cost, some
of which are quite heavy. Privacy
is the biggest of these.
To many, Bill Watterson may
seem like an enigma. Most
would say it is because of his
intensely introverted personality.
I would say it was because even if
celebrities (or average Americans
for that matter) wanted to do
what he has done, it would be
impossible. If you are not on
social media, you know someone
who is and they likely have a
picture of you available to the
world on their homepage. I
once spoke to a privacy-minded
professor who did not even own
a computer due, among other
reasons, to the breaches of privacy
that were unthinkable just a few
decades previously. Still, despite
his computer caution, I found
multiple Facebook pages of this
individual, pictures and all. Even
those of us who do not want to
be involved in the social media
movement are.
Beyond social media sites like
Facebook and Twitter, which
recently agreed to hand over all
“tweets” past, present, and future
to the National Archives, there
are other avenues of privacy loss
available thanks to are increasing
connectivity. You cannot make
a purchase, add a comment, or
(in some cases) search around
without creating a username and
handing over sensitive material
to a webmaster. As information
becomes increasingly shared, and
spread, throughout the internet,
the chances of compromise
increase significantly. Then there
is the government.
Following the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, our government felt
compelled to gain additional
control over our information and
whereabouts. The Patriot Act,
signed by President Bush and
renewed on multiple occasions
by President Obama, gives the
U.S. Government unprecedented
and totally legal reach into
our lives and business through
surveillance, wiretapping, and
home or office searches. Despite
the facts that the attacks occurred
more than a decade ago, the War
on Terrorism is winding down,
and that Osama Bin Laden is
dead, the acts continue to be
on the books and will be until
at least 2015. Other gains in
government surveillance have
occurred thanks to the use of
drones, unmanned aircrafts that
take pictures or video feed, which
have been used domestically, and
a recent law that states that all
new cars must be fitted with a
“black box” saving all location
information by 2015. Privacy,
as we know it, is going out the
window.
Some have argued that
the government changes are
necessary and that the social
media ones are unavoidable with
the changing times. That is up for
the reader to decide. I believe,
however, that these changes need
not be as encompassing and as
invasive as they have become.
Steps should be taken to protect
privacy on Capitol Hill and in the
hearts of Americans across the
country. Washington, as ironic
as it might seem, should pass
legislation protecting innocent
people from the gleaming eye of
their government. The Patriot
Act needs to be repealed or
amended to provide Americans
with more protection. Also,
all efforts monitor the people
purely for accountability’s sake
should be stopped immediately.
Americans should be able to
go get a blue raspberry slurpee
from 7-11 at two o’clock in
the morning without some
bureaucrat asking why. On the
other hand, consumers must do
more to demand privacy from
the companies they do business
with. There have been some
social media sites created with
the intention of protecting user
privacy in a way that Facebook or
Twitter does not. Unfortunately,
these attempts have failed
up to now. Users should do
more to demand protection
not just in social media but in
transportation, communication,
and other fields as well.
Privacy is not something that is
going to go away overnight; it will
leave us piece by piece. Before
we know it, we will be like the
emperor with no clothes- stripped
of our dignity and embarrassed.
It is up for each us to hold our
government and businesses to
a higher standard. We may be
living in a different world than
the one Bill Watterson grew up
in, but the one we have created
for ourselves is almost cartoonish
in its all-encompassing nature.
Is our privacy slowly slipping away?
Joseph Winberry
Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy alan cleaver/flickr
Is our privacy being erased?
The importance of third party candidates
Emily Brown
Staff Writer
There are a lot of reasons to
vote. Our classmates, campus
groups and instructors pressure
us. John Legend says it is
important. Sometimes, though,
we vote because we feel like we
are actually making the first
small step in changing the world.
Many voters feel disenchanted by
the voting process, until a viable
third party candidate gives them
a reason to believe that change
can happen. The mass media will
not validate that belief, because
the candidate probably will not
be in any of the televised debates.
Celebrities will not introduce
them before a speech, but their
name being on the ballot is
enough to make a citizen feel like
there is a reason to participate in
the democratic process.
The problem is that a majority
of Americans only stay interested
long enough for a President to be
sworn in, and then we lose their
attention for another four years.
If they would care about their
public officials as much as their
football team, we could decrease
the income gap twice and still
have time in our afternoon to
discuss why Nancy Grace is
still on the air. They care about
the presidential election only
because they associate it with
competition, similar to a Super
Bowl. However, if this were a
football game, we would be
doing it completely wrong. These
two teams start at the 50 yard
line. Their offensive lines wear
the same jerseys, their playbooks
are public domain, and the same
runs were made four years ago.
People feel like they have only
the two choices on the field,
and it is absolutely vital to pick
the winning team. The average
person becomes a pundit, pundits
become political scientists, and
political scientists soothe their
depression by creating ironic
internet memes (in the Alanis
Morisette way.) To be fair,
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney
are philosophically different.
Their opinions about marriage
equality, immigration and the
federal government’s role in
education and energy investment
are clearly different. However,
they are actors on the same
stage, and beholden to similar
citizens groups or corporations
because their campaigns rely
on those donations. Third party
candidates are not a different
breed of politician. If they were
able to get that kind of national
attention, their willingness to
compromise with Congress
and their interest in hearing
what corporations and interest
groups would increase. They are
essential for American politics.
The relationship between the
major parties and third party
candidates has already been
established, but needs to be
nurtured. The Democratic Party
pleaded with Ralph Nader to
stop his campaign in 2000. In
2004, John Kerry reached out to
Nader in the hopes that Nader
would be determined enough
to defeat George Bush that he
would help Kerry rather than
run his own campaign. When
the official platform of the Kerry
campaign was released without
any of the issues that Nader
asked Kerry to run on, Nader
assembled his own campaign to
run. In 2012, Ron Paul took a
different approach by running
as a Republican. Being in the
primary gave him the national
spotlight in debates, which many
third party candidates struggle
for. The problem is that many
people perceive third party
candidates in a box. While Nader
was running, people perceived
anyone interested in a third
party candidate as radically
progressive or liberal. Now that
Ron Paul is so popular, people
associate third party candidates
with constitutional conservatives
that want to shut down the
Federal Reserve.
I resent the small and
unenlightened box that people
try to tailor for me when I
express discontent with the
major political parties. The
Libertarian Party is not the voice
for everyone disenchanted by the
Democrats and Republicans. The
last time this nation ran in the
way that Libertarians envision it,
economic panics and depressions
were recurring themes.
Unemployment was nearly a
quarter of the nation. The era of
Andrew Carnegie philanthropy,
in which the individually wealthy
and faith-based organizations
take care of the impoverished
on their own, is over. This new
generation of wealth and the
ever-increasing community
of the impoverished make
their philosophy impractical.
Further, those who identify as a
constitutional conservative are, if
anything, insulting the founders
and their constitution more than
either of the two major parties.
The constitution is a living
document, and the founders
developed a way to amend it.
The land-owning, privileged
white men that authored the
constitution could not even agree
on a compromise that would end
slavery. I find it impractical, if not
insulting, that someone would
suggest we remain beholden to
their ideas in its original print.
Thankfully, the realm of
minority political parties is
actually pretty broad, and I am
not limited to Libertarians when
I decide to look beyond the
front door of the Democratic
Party. The Green Party and
its presidential candidate this
year, Jill Stein, represent a truly
progressive platform that would
restructure the way we talk about
immigration in this nation. Jill
Stein supports marriage equality,
minimizing the income gap
rather than simply cutting taxes,
investing in sustainable energy
and the exploration of new
technologies and science, and
represents a forward-thinking
platform for progressive
citizens as an intelligent and
compassionate female politician.
Being interested in a candidate
that is neither a Democrat nor
a Republican does not have to
mean you vote for Gary Johnson,
write in Ron Paul, or even
limit yourself to Jill Stein. Gary
Johnson was the Governor of
New Mexico, and Barbara Howe
is a gubernatorial candidate in
North Carolina this year. Third
party candidates are increasingly
achieving legitimacy in the
political realm, but have not
yet been able to crack in to
presidential races.
It is not a broken system that
we should blame, but our own
inability to think freely and make
courageous votes that we base on
our conscious and our interest
in the future of this nation,
rather than flashy conventions
or our loyalty to tradition. This is
probably the last time I will ever
be able to execute a successful
sports metaphor, and you can
thank me by truly investigating
your options before heading to
the polls in November.
The Carolinian |A&E October 2-8, 2012 | 7
August of this year marked the
50-year anniversary of the most
influential musical group of all
time, The Beatles. The group’s
start was not very promising—
John, Paul, George and their
initial drum player, Pete Best, did
not quite mesh together, resulting
in Best’s expulsion from the
band. Soon after around August
of 1962, Ringo Starr joined
the group, which marked the
start of a musical, and cultural
revolution. The Beatles’ music is
still intensely listened to today
and continues to inspire masses
of fans. Many tribute bands
have risen to honor the band’s
brilliancy and on the evening of
Sept. 29, our Greensboro relived
the essence of The Beatles.
The Blind Tiger in Greensboro
traveled back in time to the 60s
and 70s for a night of twisting,
shagging and most of all, a night
of Beatlemania. Yesterday, is
a tribute band that dedicated
themselves to performing all eras
of Beatles music as they were
originally sung. The band, based
in Las Vegas, performs wearing
Beatles attire and using authentic
instruments, perfectly portraying
each band member. On Saturday
night, they brought John, Paul,
George, and Ringo back from
the past and re-created the songs
and melodies that influenced
the entire world; they made The
Blind Tiger crowd remember The
Beatles era as if it were “yesterday.”
Music from the 60s and 70s
filled the venue prior to the
beginning of the show. As people
started to arrive and settle in
front of the stage, Led Zeppelin,
The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan
and others started the night’s
voyage in time. The crowd
was comprised of all ages; yet,
the generations from the past
who occupied the room, were
perhaps the most content and
were smiling and jumping at the
recognition of every song that
brought them back to their youth.
However, this was only the
beginning; the venue was filled
with anticipation as people would
sway, dance, or sing along to
songs that defined their younger
years.
As the lights were dimmed,
the room fell silent, and footage
from the Beatles was projected on
stage followed by four men with
“mop heads” making their way
towards their instruments. The
band Yesterday was dressed in all
black and soon the guitar intro
to “Twist and Shout” from The
Beatles’ first album “Please Please
Me” hit the crowd, followed by
screams and cries of excitement
through the room.
The crowd seemed to be in
shock, as the band on stage
moved, sang, swayed, and danced
just like John, Paul, George, and
Ringo. Everyone was already
twisting and shouting with the
first song and was even more
impressed once Frank Mendonca
who channeled Paul McCartney
introduced himself and the band
talking just like his character,
imitating the British accent,
jokes and movements of Paul.
Songs like “Roll Over Beethoven”,
“Yesterday” and “Love Me Do”
were impeccably played through
the first part of the performance.
The crowd was certainly
entertained and blown away as
if they were actually witnessing
a live Beatles performance
themselves.
The performers left the stage
for a brief break to change into
the British tan, military jackets
known as Shea jackets, very
similar to what The Beatles once
wore. They kept their “mop
head” wigs on and rocked out
to songs like “I Feel Fine” and
“Day tripper,” with the room
singing along to every single
word. Between the tunes being
played by Frank Mendonca
(Paul McCartney) and Don
Bellezo (John Lennon) the band
exchanged a number of words
amongst themselves that made
one feel welcomed and included.
Jim Lett (George Harrison) and
Dick Cunico (Ringo Starr) played
their role too. Cunico imitated
Ringo’s “left-handed” drummer
style perfectly and Lett portrayed
the reserved but immensely
talented George Harrison to the
tee— with his incredible guitar
solos and melodic backgrounds.
As the night went on, the crowd
loosened up and very soon
enough everyone was on their
feet.
Many members of the crowd
bopped along doing “the
monkey” or twisting, and an “air
guitar” was performed from time
to time. It was as if as the music
transported the mind, body, and
soul of each attendee. “Lennon”
then announced an intermission
and jokingly suggested the people
to “get drunk and meet someone”
followed by throwing the peace
sign in the air and leaving the
stage.
When the band members
emerged once again, their “mop
heads” were gone and they now
sported more unruly mops and
added facial hair to match their
evolved personas. Their outfits
fully resembled the cover of the
influential Beatles’ album “Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Band.” The group wore military
style outfits made of satin
dyed in vivid colors, accurately
portraying the garments worn
by the band. “I don’t have a name
for this next song yet, but it’s
gotta be something” announced
Jim Lett (Harrison) as the group
performed the last selection of
the night. At this point their show
was about two hours in but the
energy in the room was far from
declined.
They finished the night off with
songs of love and rebellion, “Can’t
Buy Me Love’ and “Revolution”
which made the crowd go wild
as the band said their good-bye’s
and deeply bowed; a traditional
custom done by the original
Beatles after a performance. John,
Paul, George, and Ringo walked
off the stage with peace signs,
leaving a satisfied crowd and an
unforgettable performance.
The Beatles undoubtedly
brought a sense of unity to
the world. From generation to
generation, they influenced art,
culture, fashion, music, and
humanity in ways still seen today.
Their songs of love, politics,
rebellion, life, protest and a
united society, truly made them
an icon that will forever be in the
hearts of the individuals.
Maria Perdomo
Special to The Carolinian
maria perdomo/the carolinian maria perdomo/the carolinian maria perdomo/the carolinian
The band wore British tan, military jackets known as Shea jackets, very similar
to The Beatles.
Their outfits fully resembled the cover of the influential Beatles’ album “Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
The Beatles sung songs of peace.
As if it were ‘yesterday’.... a cover band’s tribute to the beatles
The first of October for any
serious music fanatic in North
Carolina means one thing and
one thing only: it is time to
begin your preparations for
Moogfest Yes, it is finally here,
the yearly music festival created
to honor the late Robert Moog
is preparing its third edition
on Oct. 26 and 27 in the noble
mountains of Asheville, North
Carolina.
For those unfamiliar with the
festival or its history, Moogfest
is put up by AC Entertainment,
the same folks that bring your
beloved Bonaroo, in conjunction
with Moog synthesizers and
the Robert Moog Foundation.
The idea behind the festival is
to commemorate the legacy
of Robert Moog, the creator
of the Moog synthesizer and a
pioneer in the field of electronic
instruments. If you think this is
irrelevant to the type of music
you listen to, think again. Just
about every other genre of
music has been benefitted by
the creations that Robert Moog
worked on over a lifetime and
there is no doubt that music
today would not sound the same
if it was not for the first Moog
synthesizer he created.
The best way to see the
impact of his work is to attend
Moogfest and delight your ears,
eyes and taste to the festival, its
performers and the enchanting
city of Asheville. Since first
attending the festival in 2010,
going for my repeat on 2011
and now preparing again myself
for a third time this year, I can
tell you that the festival’s lineup
never disappoints. This year’s
lineup includes: Primus, Nas,
Miike Snow, Santigold, Orbital,
Squarepusher, Fourtet, Black
Moth Super Rainbow, Explosions
in the Sky, GZA, and many more.
Not only is this one of the most
diversified lineups out there, but
interestingly enough, most of
the headliner names are or were
pioneers in the type of music that
they make. Moogfest artists also
bring out something different
for the festival every year. It
is not your average concert—
there is something memorable
to fall in love with in practically
every show and if you do not
believe me ask your friends. The
number of attendees has grown
exponentially every year, with
last year’s festival gathering over
14,000 listeners, simply thirsty
for a good time.
This year will also showcase two
very important performances,
one by Morton Subtonick, a
great forerunner of electronic
sound who will be playing
his special show “From Silver
Apples to a Sky of Cloudless
Sulfur.” Subtonick’s concert may
be unfamiliar to some, but it
recently entered the National
Registry of Recorded Works at
the Library of Congress; only
300 recordings out of the entire
history of recordings have been
chosen. The second performance
is by legendary rapper/producer
GZA, original member of
the legendary hip-hop group
Wu Tang Clan who will be
presenting his new album Liquid
Swords. With the mention of
these two features, do I need to
say anything else?
There it is folks, go break your
piggy bank and start saving up
because Moogfest is absolutely
worth your money and most
importantly the experience
of an unforgettable weekend
in Asheville. This festival is
priceless, and it will define your
musical self for years to come.
it’s time to get your moog on!
Camilo Perdomo
Special to The Carolinian
Moogfest is absolutely worth your money. photo courtesy of qthrul/flickr
Arts and Entertainment
8 | October 2-8, 2012 A&E| The Carolinian
“The ambulance had come
from the neighboring city
of Yarvil, and it took twenty
minutes to reach them. By the
time the pulsing blue light slid
over the scene, Barry was lying
motionless and unresponsive
on the ground in a pool of his
own vomit; Mary was crouching
beside him, the knees of her
tights ripped, clutching his
hand, sobbing and whispering
his name.”
J. K. Rowling takes a whole new
turn in her writing with her first
adult novel, The Casual Vacancy.
A story of determination,
jealousy and rivalry, the novel
narrates the civic warfare
sparked in the fictional town of
Pagford when the unexpected
death of a town official leaves a
vacancy in the governing body.
In an interview, Rowling
explained that her idea for the
book came while she was on
a tour in America with Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hollows.
“I had the idea on a plane. It’s
funny really. Something about
me and vehicles—I have to
always be moving to have a good
idea. I’m moving up in regards
to transportation in my book,
though. Harry had a train, this
one has a car…the next one I
write will be about a space ship or
something!”
Just hiting the bookshelves,
the novel has sparked some
controversy with fans of her past
work with the Harry Potter series.
Sex and swearing in Rowling’s
new novel has shocked many
of her readers. Discouraging
comments by unhappy readers
do not offend Rowling, however.
“People have burned my books
before,” comment Rowling, “The
Harry Potter series did not go
over well will some Christian
groups who thought my books
were Satanist writings. I’ve
got quite a way to go to upset
people that much with A Casual
Vacancy.”
There are also mixed reviews
by book critics of various
magazines. Time magazine
reviewed this book as “a big,
ambitious, brilliant, profane,
funny, deeply upsetting and
magnificently eloquent novel of
contemporary England, rich with
literary intelligence and entirely
bereft of bull-explicit, and if it
weren’t for Rowling’s stringent
security measures it would or at
least should have contended for
the Booker Prize. This is a deeply
moving book by somebody who
understands both human beings
and novels very, very deeply.”
The notorious confrontational
reviewer, Michiko Kakutani ,
of NY Times says, “This isn’t a
book that’s easy to fall in love
with, the way Harry Potter was
with its charming, winning hero
and his plucky friends, saving the
world from evil with the help of a
powerful spell or two. Even with
its moments of humor, it’s a hard
story where some people just
don’t get saved, because really,
they never had a chance. It’s
filled with often unlikable people,
some of whom cross the line into
terrible. They’re all unhappy in
one way or another, even if the
only people who know that are
themselves, if that.”
Some who already read the
book are generally pleased with
the new work by Rowling. The
night the book was released in
the United Kingdom, thousands
of people flocked to bookstores
everywhere to get their personal
copy of the book. Rowling even
spent time at a book signing
to which many adoring fans
congregated to.
“I generally think this is a
humorous book,” stated Rowling,
“Some of the humor may be
rather dark in some places, but,
yes, it is life in a small town with
everything that that may entail.”
The Causal Vacancy has already
topped the U.S. Amazon charts.
It is projected to do very well,
especially during the Christmas
season.
Megan Christy
Staff Writer
J.K Rowling presents new adult novel: The Casual Vacancy
photo courtesy of Portal NE10/flickr
J.K Rowling takes a whole new turn in her writing with her first adult
novel “The Casual Vacancy”
Soundtracks, while cohesive
both in theme and presentation,
are rarely digestible without the
aid of their source of inspiration.
Consider the last five films you
have viewed, and then mull over
the idea of listening to the entire
soundtrack from that film in the
same way you might with one of
your favorite records—it is not
that all soundtracks exist in this
way, but it is unlikely that you will
find one worthy of the attention
span it can take to sit and
consume it as an independent
release.
“Fez” is an independant
video game that toys with the
idea of throwing the player in
a puzzle-filled two dimentional
world that actually exists in
three-dimensional space, and
it just happens to boast one of
the most impressive ambient
albums released this year. If the
term “video game” has already
caused you to set aside the idea of
even listening to Disasterpeace’s
work, then the era-old synth
that permeates opening track
“Adventure” may not convince
you otherwise, but the smartly
composed beat that follows
might. Further down the record’s
depths (the album is composed
of an astounding twenty-six
songs) and you find “Flow,”
where electronic wind chimes
command peace, woodblock
percussion aids the atmosphere,
and a circuital whistle penetrates
the small symphony of sounds.
Disasterpeace is not only
responsible for crafting a
reasonably listenable soundtrack,
but one of the most impressive
releases this year.
Electronic music is
typically focused on reaching
a very inhumane idea, be it
space, robotics, or another
mechanically-focused idea, but
Laurel Halo’s “Quarantine” is
a reverse of that idea. Halo’s
filtered voice sounds thoroughly
robotic, clawing and chewing at
different elements of humanity:
the departure of a loved one,
emotional progression, and clear,
audible agony. The effect is eerie,
and “Quarantine” sounds horrific
even when it is at its quietest, with
the best example being the song
“Nerve,” a two minute piece awash
in random beeps and sounds that
are all incredibly similar to the
atmosphere one might encounter
in a hospital room.
Air-tight pressure dominates
the production surrounding the
drawn out notes issued from
Halo, sculpting “Quarantine”
to be a narrow tunnel of dark,
brooding sounds. Repeated
listening sessions with the record
can spur images of Halo with
dark, steely digits, beckoning
you to her wiry embrace to the
forefront of the mind—a horrific,
if appropriate image for Halo’s
latest work.
Floridian indie-rock outfit
Hundred Waters may sound
like cousins of the exotic Dirty
Projectors (which may be a
comparison worthy of its own
acclaim) but the group possesses
a wealth of unique digital knobs
and whistles that decorate the
already-elaborate compositions
of their eponymous debut. When
the track “Visitor” becomes slowly
filled with a series of raindrop
synth notes, Nicole Migilis’ lush
tones, and a feathery flute, there is
a true feeling of completeness that
most bands in this nascent stage
of development could not hope
to produce. Thankfully, Hundred
Waters heeded the necessary
lesson of restraint during
recording, and the debut refrains
from overloading the listener
with a litany of random sounds to
compensate for anything it may
lack; Migilis knows the power
of her high pitch, the percussion
section is aware of a less-is-more
approach, and the band has an
unnerving sense of style through
it all. Rewarding multiple listens
with layered compositions that
can take hours to unwind and
revel in, “Hundred Waters” is
gentle, moving, and astounding
in scope.
Shlohmo’s three track follow-up
to 2010’s “Bad Vibes” arrives
the same year famed hip-hop
producer Clams Casino
releases the second issue of his
instrumental collection and yet,
the “Vacation EP” trumps Clams
as being one of this year’s most
impressive examples of doing
ambient focused instrumental
hip-hop.
Largely aquatic based, the EP
leaks and drips through nearly
every single track, often flooding
the listener in the watery template
that Shlohmo employs here. The
result is an intricate beat, often
swerving around gentle loops
that chime in on minor notes, like
shattering tiny shards of glassy
rhythm. The tone is somber,
the effect is subtle, and the curt
execution is well-worthy the nine
minutes it takes to consume the
entire EP.
Elvis Depressedly exists only as
an alter-ego to indie-rock artist
Mat Cothran, the angst-ridden
individual behind indie-pop
project Coma Cinema. Primarily
armed with cutting words and an
acoustic guitar, Cothran issues
a Bright Eyes-like collection of
intimate thoughts and feelings for
his audience to invade and peruse.
Cothran is apparently aware that
simple self-deprecating acoustics
will not hold people to Elvis
Depressedly, so “Mickey’s Dead”
features a wealth of aural variety,
such as the sudden descent into
auto-tuned vocals near the end
of opener “Daughter of a Cop,”
the underwater vocal-filter of
“My Lai (Amy’s Version),” and
Cothran dipping his toes ever
so slightly into genre of freak-folk
with “Exhaustion Prevails.”
Inappropriate for everything
from sunny days to your own
personal catharsis, “Mickey’s
Dead” is precisely whatever
Cothran aspires it to be.
1. Disaterpeace’s
“Fez Soundtrack”
2. Laurel Halo’s
“Quarantine”
3. Hundred Waters’
“Hundred Waters”
4. Shlohmo’s
“Vacation EP”
5. Elvis Depressedly’s
“Mickey’s Dead”
Most overlooked records of 2012
Kyle Minton
Staff Writer
“One of the most
impressive pieces of
the year.”
“The tone is
somber, the effect
is subtle...”
photo courtesy of disonantobjective/flickr
Laurel Halo’s filtered voice sounds thorougly robotic
photo courtesy of Brock Brake/flickr
Shlohmo creates an intricate beat
The Carolinian |A&E Octber 2-8, 2012 | 9
The theatrical poster for
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The
Master” resembles an image one
would see if they look through
a kaleidoscope. The three
main characters pose as if in a
family portrait, but the image
is distorted and multiplied,
creating a mesmerizing,
hypnotic effect that is carried
throughout this film, which is
like a kaleidoscope of issues
that have obsessed Anderson
throughout his career.
“The Master’s” rather
straightforward narrative makes
it considerably more accessible
than Anderson’s previous
film: the visually stunning
and unbelievably ambitious
“There Will Be Blood.” Yet, that
straightforwardness ends with
the narrative, as the film finds
Anderson at his most playful,
and most inquisitive.
It helps that the two leads are
perfect fits for their roles, with
Joaquin Phoenix hunching,
and grunting his way towards
what should be an Oscar win.
Phoenix’s recent eccentric
behavior, well documented in
the faux-documentary “I’m Still
Here,” has established just how
unorthodox Phoenix can be, and
yet, impossibly, he still surprises
with the places he is willing to go.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also
fantastic, playing a sleazy, yet
charming founder of The Cause,
a religion/healing process that
some viewers believe is meant to
be a parallel to L. Ron Hubbard’s
founding of Scientology.
Scientology is a red herring
though, as the film is really about
the father-son relationship that
forms between Hoffman and
Phoenix’s characters. Phoenix
plays Freddie Quell, a Naval
veteran who arrives home from
war unsettled and uncertain of
his future – until he is tantalized
by the leader of The Cause,
Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman).
That theme of hypnotism plays
heavily into the film, as not
only does Dodd use hypnotism
as part of his method, that he
claims to have the potential to
cure cancer and bring about
world peace, but Anderson’s
methodical filmmaking puts the
spectators in a trance, especially
in the first half of the film, which
uses elliptical fades to black to
quickly take us through the end
of the war and Freddie’s post-war
struggles.
Jonny Greenwood’s score is
most noticeable in these early
scenes. It is menacing, and
creeping, suggesting something
evil lurking just beneath the
surface. That evil is not so easily
defined, as Anderson provides
no easy answers to just exactly
what his aim is. One might
consider then that “The Master”
is a portrait of the dynamics
of familial relationships, with
both Freddie and Dodd in
need of validation. Both men
are aimless, lost, and confused,
making their relationship all the
more complex.
“The Master” plays like an
amalgam of a Douglas Sirk
melodrama, a Terrence Malick
sweeping period piece, and a
Stanley Kubrick character study.
Anderson holds nothing back,
and “The Master” becomes an
interesting companion piece to
“There Will Be Blood.” A portrait
of megalomania, “The Master”
is less outwardly explosive and
emotionally impactful than its
predecessor, but it may end up
being a more affecting film. There
are several fiery, head-to-head
showdown’s between Phoenix
and Hoffman in the film, but
the film’s defining moment, and
perhaps Anderson’s crowning
achievement, comes towards
the end of the film, as Dodd
sweetly serenades his prodigal
son with a rendition of “(I’d Like
to Get You on a) Slow Boat to
China.” It becomes obvious that
these are two broken men, who
need, and want to be accepted
by society, but, tragically, only
gain acceptance from each
other. “The Master” is profound
cinema, the work of a director
who may just be this generation’s
most gifted auteur.
Brad Dillard
Staff Writer
The Master: A Film Review
photo courtesy of MacGuffinPodcast/flickr
Could Paul Thomas Anderson be this generations most gifted auteur?
Rian Johnson’s (“Brick,” “The
Brother’s Bloom”) new film,
“Looper,” is filled with clichés.
From an unlikely relationship
with a precocious child, to an
aimless assassin in need of a
father figure, right down to the
exotic Western woman coming
to the aid of a broken man, and
helping to fix him. It is despite
all of these clichés, or perhaps
because he manages to use them
to create something wholly
fascinating and exhilarating,
that Johnson crafted what will
soon become a classic of the Sci-
Fi genre.
Describing “Looper” to
someone is tough. In short,
you can describe the plot like
this: it’s 2042, and time travel
has not yet been invented, but
30 years into the future it will
have been; and when the mob
wants to get rid of someone
they send them back 30 years
into the past where a hired gun,
called a Looper, awaits. Yet, only
detailing the plot when talking
about “Looper” would be doing
a disservice to Johnson, since he
is so clearly pulling a Tarantino
and aping as many films as he
can in order to inform his own.
“Looper” could be described
as a mixture of “Blade Runner,”
“A History of Violence,” “The
Night of the Hunter,” “The
Wizard of Oz,” “Terminator 2,”
“Carrie,” and “Inception.” One
argument against Johnson is that
he is too aware of his subtext,
and that by combining themes
and ideas from all these films,
he is in a way undercutting the
impact of his own film. This
never becomes an issue though,
because Johnson, much like
Tarantino, uses homage and
pastiche to create something
new, insofar as a film can be
different.
“Looper” doesn’t want its
audience to be concerned, or
to get hung up on the details of
time travel. In one of the films
several expertly crafted scenes,
Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
sits in a diner having a tense
conversation with his older self
(Bruce Willis), whom he should
have already killed in order to
“close his loop,” pressing him
for details about time travel and
how it all works. That is, until
Willis pretty much screams “It
doesn’t matter!” and the film
can get down to more important
concerns. This is not to say that
Johnson has not planned out
his narrative, because he has,
and everything makes sense in
the context of the film. Johnson
created a detailed, rundown,
and depressing future, where
hovercrafts exist but only the rich
can afford them, and everybody
else drives old, beaten up cars.
“Looper,” which is set in
Kansas, may ultimately be
defined as a melding of western
and science fiction tropes.
Though this is nothing new, and
many of the movies Johnson
is referencing uses this idea to
great effect, Johnson manages
to somehow one-up them all,
and create a movie that is just as
unsettling as it is heartbreaking.
The film is ultra-violent, and
stylistically sleek, and like the
best westerns, it understands the
visual power of violence, while
also being deeply critical of it.
Some critics say that
filmmakers like Tarantino and
Christopher Nolan glorify
violence, showing their
characters looking cool, doling
out unspeakable violence, but
never showing that this violence
is in any way wrong. Johnson
could not be accused of this, as
his film is a portrait of violent
loners, and the pain that they
inflict upon them. The only way
they know to release this pain is
to torture others, and Johnson’s
future is one that is decayed
by guns and murder, and the
weak men that do not have the
conviction to do any better than
a life of violence. They may
think they are killing for noble
reasons, but their violence is
merely a means of pacifying
themselves. This is why the film’s
climax works so well, because it
suggests that the only way to end
the vicious cycle is by choice,
not chance. Though the
ending may be telegraphed
from the very opening shot, it is
nonetheless extremely effective,
highlighting that singular
moment where a cold-hearted
man faces a revelation; that he
must, for the first time in his life,
put the needs of the community
(in this case the whole world’s
future well being) over his own.
“Looper” is astounding, and it
is not only Johnson’s best film
to date, but arguably, one of the
best movies of the year. photo courtesy of Lyricis/flickr
Brad Dillard
Staff Writer
Looper could become a classic of the Sci-Fi genre
A Look inside Looper
10 Features October 2 - 8, 2012
the technology issue: invention of the
mac, video games, and the new iphone 5
Apple releases its new and wildly popular
iPhone 5... but does the device really innovate?
Bonnie Landaverdy
Staff Writer
Profile: Marlon Nichols and the Intel Corporation
Charlena Wynn
Staff Writer
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER coldsleeper
The new iPhone promises to be a wild success commercially.
The new iPhone was released
on Sept. 21 and has many
consumers in awe. Apple released
the iPhone 4s just less than a year
ago, in October 2011. So what
are the new features of the new
phone? Are consumers actually
purchasing the new phone, even
if they have had the iPhone
4s for less than a year? Sales
reports show that the iPhone 5
has been on back order and that
many people with an iPhone 4s
have indeed upgraded; at the
same time, many consumers
who have never had an iPhone
before bought into the improved
product. However, how does
the new release compare to its
predecessor and other smart
phones?
Some of the immediate features
one will notice from looking and
holding the phone includes how
much lighter and thinner it is as
well as how the screen is bigger.
With a bigger screen, there are
more rows to fit the icons, yet
the screen has the same retina
display as the old iPhone. The
iPhone 5 is faster, having dual
band Wi-Fi and LTE. The three
main carriers, Verizon, Sprint,
and AT&T supports LTE which
means faster browsing speeds,
app downloads, and less waiting
time. Although the camera has
eight megapixels as the iPhone
4 does too, the iSight camera
on the iPhone 5 captures photos
quicker, preforms better in
low-lights, and has a panorama
mode. The hardware is sleeker,
with an aluminum back, coming
in black and slate or white and
silver.
Mentioned above are the
positive features, but the new
iPhone has some drawbacks.
Apple Maps has a few issues,
feeling unfinished, which Apple
has formally apologized for; in
addition, Verizon and Sprint
models cannot use voice and
data at the same time. The new
phone has a smaller connector,
which makes current accessories
unusable, unless one purchases
an adapter. One of the biggest
letdowns from the new phone
is that it did not feature near
field communication, or NFC,
as many other brands of smart
phones now yield. Consumers
anticipated the NFC feature,
which would allow them to have
contactless transactions and data
exchange.
Other smart phones, such as
the Galaxy s3 have many features
that are a favorite in today’s
technology. The Samsung Galaxy
s3 has expandable memory,
NFC, and a much bigger screen,
in addition to a processor that is
just as fast as the iPhone 5. The
most popular feature that people
admire in the new iPhone is the
fact that the screen is bigger and
that the phone is faster; other
phones such as Android have
these features too, but Apple has
developed a very loyal customer
base.
Although the hardware,
screen, and processing system is
much more improved compared
to the iPhone 4s, there are not
that many features with that
wow factor that consumers look
As young adults of the 21st
century, technology and its
advancements as well as the
conveniences that it has afforded
us have become a norm. We live
in a digital age and it can be
difficult to remember life without
social networks, mobile phones,
GPS and digital music players.
Though we use these products
daily, we tend to forget or even
know who invented the very
things we have come to rely on.
Intel is a corporation
that specializes in creating
computing technology. In
1971, they introduced the first
microprocessor. Have you
heard of Intel Core i3, i4, and i7
processors? This is the company
that has created the processor
that allows your computer
to run faster while allowing
for a number of programs to
run simultaneously. As a part
of the bigger corporation of
Intel, Intel Capital invests in
global innovations meaning
all products we receive as a
consumer were selected and
invested to mass produce based
on their potential. Their goal is
to become the greatest global
investing corporation. Currently,
Marlon Nichols is the Associate
Director at Intel Capital. It is his
duty to identify, invest and advise
in the early stages in companies
that operate in digital media,
consumer internet and education
technology. Meaning, Mr. Nichols
makes decisions about investing
in products that he feels may be
a valuable asset to our society.
These things could include
software and programming that
makes learning in the classroom
easier and more user friendly
as well as products that could
reinvent the way we go about our
daily life.
Before beginning at Intel
Capital, Marlon Nichols
obtained his Bachelor of Science
from Northwestern University
and a Master of Business
Administration from Cornell
University in 2011, in which
afterward he was selected as one
of fifteen to into their Accelerated
Leadership Program. He started
in the software industry as a
technologist and helped expand
a Cambridge based software
company. This led to the
improvement initiatives Fortune
100 enterprises. Afterwards,
he returned to the United
States and became a principal
strategist and senior manager
for a strategy consulting firm. He
placed his focus on new business
developments as well as began
to work on a personal education
based nonprofit called Rise to
College. Rise to College works to
help students from working class
families have a chance at going to
and excelling in college. They offer
test preparation and pre-college
counseling. Marlon Nichols is
the founder and acts as Co-Chair
of the nonprofit organization. At
The Johnson School, Mr. Nichols
studied Entrepreneurship and
Private Equity where is served as
a Roy H. Park Leadership Fellow
and President/Chief Operating
Officer of BR Venture Fund –
Cornell University’s 1.2 million
dollar evergreen venture capital
fund. The BR Venture fund is
composed of MBA student fund
managers who have complete
control over the fund. They work
to realize the potential of startups’
potential and creative vision. In
addition, Marlon Nichols is a
mentor for Black Founders. Black
Founders is an organization that
helps other Black professionals
and entrepreneurs make smart
decisions and invests in the begin
stages of their business ventures.
Mr. Nichols expertise expands
across the board. After dabbling
in big business and nonprofits, he
consciously made the decision to
play all of his cards. So far, this
has proven beneficial to him and
his success as a technologist and
entrepreneur. Working with Intel
Capital, Marlon Nichols will be
an asset in continuing a tradition
of providing technological
advancement in the fast pace
A messy Intel motherboard. world that we live in.
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER asim bijarni
for in their products. Much of
the hype surrounding the release
of the phone is because in today’s
society, consumers are expected
to keep up with the latest
technology. So should you buy
the iPhone 5? It is totally up to
the preferences of the consumer.
Some may recommend it if one
has not had a smart pone before,
however, people with smart
phones already might want to
wait for the next release of a
product.
The Carolinian |Features October 2 - 8, 2012| 11
Tesla Motors and its commitment to innovation
The old and the new: comparing vintage
video games with what we enjoy today
Jonathan Waye
Staff Writer
Ashley Northup
Opinions Editor
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER randychiu
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER methodshop.com
Tesla Motors is among the most innovative car companies on earth.
A screen shot of the public school classic, “Oregon Trail.”
Although the development
of “clean” cars is not a recent
occurrence, Tesla Motor’s brand
new vehicle, the Model S, is a
game changer. And even better,
Tesla unveiled their super charger
stations, which will allow Model
S drivers to essentially fill up
for free. This enormous leap
in alternative, vehicular fuel
sources could revolutionize travel
in the United States, as well as
world-wide.
First of all, what makes the
Model S different from other
electric and hybrid vehicles?
The most obvious advantage is
that it is 100% environmentally
friendly. The vehicle produces
absolutely zero emissions,
and zero emissions mean zero
pollution. Running solely on
electricity, the Model S features
one of the most advanced battery
packs to date. And at that, they
offer three different battery pack
options, including 40 kwh, 60
kwh, and 85 kwh packs. There is
also a “performance” version of
the 85 kwh battery pack, which
boasts some impressive specs. For
example, on a single charge, this
battery pack has a range of 300
miles when driving at a constant
rate of 55 miles per hour. It is able
to propel the vehicle from 0 miles
per hour to 60 in just 4.4 seconds,
and has a top speed of 130 miles
per hour. Do you still love your
Prius?
If the performance battery
pack itself still does not sell you
on the Model S, its convenience
might. Able to charge from any
old 120 volt outlet, you can charge
literally anywhere you are able to
plug in. If charging on a standard
120 volt outlet, the battery pack
will restore at a rate of 31 miles
of driving distance per hour
charged. Further, if outfitted with
dual chargers, the restoration rate
is doubled, yielding 62 miles of
range for every hour it is plugged
in. Although unnecessary for
everyday commutes, Tesla Motors
also encourages the use of their
High Power Wall Connectors,
which can be integrated into
garages and home exteriors.
While surely the Model S
can handle city driving, what
can be said of its long range
capabilities? Thankfully, due to
recent Government construction,
public electric charging stations
have, and will, become more
and more common on roadways
and interstates in the coming
years. Tesla Motors has already
constructed some of its own
Supercharger stations, which
will be capable of recharging
nearly half the battery in only 30
minutes. Tesla’s research indicates
that a pit stop on a family road
trip takes about thirty minutes
to an hour, which would fit
perfectly into the Supercharger’s
restorative timeframe. It is also
recommended for drivers that
travel long distances regularly to
outfit their Model S with twin
chargers, which allows the battery
to recharge more quickly.
While it is nice to be able to
charge right there at your home,
what is the potential cost of
plugging in your car every night?
Tesla’s website, www.teslamotors.
com, offers several unique tools
for which you can calculate
As technology grows, people
become nostalgic for “retro”
items. This is particularly true
when it comes to video games.
People enjoy owning older
consoles for the nostalgia and
coolness of it. These old consoles
come with physical cartridges,
the kind that blowing into was
the biggest technical fix for.
Computer gaming used to come
with a box containing the game’s
CD (or, often, CDs,) and a
guidebook to the world you were
booting up.
Because of technological
innovation, video games today
do not look like the video games
of the past. Console games run on
CDs, but also have a downloading
component to them with things
like the X-box Live Arcade or
the PlayStation Network. When
it comes to computer games,
popular services like Steam, with
an estimated 25 million users
as of two years ago and likely
many more now, provide easy
downloads with an interface that
allows automatic patching and a
list of games you have purchased
with the ability to install and
uninstall with a right click. That
is a long cry from the day of using
six CDs to install one game, and
always needing the first CD to
boot up the game after installing
it. Steam also runs sales that
provide cheap games, including
annual summer and Christmas
sales. (During the last summer
sale, the site traffic peaked at over
four million concurrent users.)
However, as the technology has
increased, the rules of the game
have changed as well. When you
owned a cartridge, or even CDs
for your computer, that game was
yours. The games on websites like
Steam are not actually owned
by those who purchase them.
Instead, you give your money
to Steam for the service they
provide and buy the right to a
license, which they can then
revoke. The legality of it remains
murky, as everything does when
it is still relatively new. In the case
of Steam, there was recently a
gamer who owned 250 games on
his Steam account. That amounts
to well over $1,500. He bought
these games legally, but Steam
banned his account. For days,
they would not tell him what rule
he had broken or why his account
was banned. He could not access
the games he spent his money
on, because without his Steam
account he did not have any of
those games.
In his case he was given his
account back, but it has become
a cautionary tale of the setbacks
involved with technological
advancements that should make
things easier. In fact, something
not often noticed by the many
users of Steam is that it is just
a fancy form of Digital Rights
Management (DRM.)
DRM is the way gaming
companies have evolved to fight
piracy, another byproduct of the
technological advancements of
today. In this case, Steam is an
extreme form of DRM – thought
it is not often seen as such.
Another form of DRM came
recently in an eagerly anticipated
game, Diablo III. In the third
installment of Diablo you always
have to be online and connected
to the server when you play. This
is designed to stop cheating, but if
the servers are down (as they were
the first few days after launch,) or
if your own internet goes down,
you do not have access to the
game you paid full price for.
There are some websites that
offer DRM-free copies of games,
but these are not mainstream.
Steam is mainstream. Other
services like Steam are
mainstream. Technology has
allowed video games to become
something no one could have
imagined just twenty years
ago, but unfortunately it also
has brought in complications.
If video games continue down
this DRM-laden path, and many
experts predict that is exactly the
path they will continue on, soon
video game nostalgia may be for
a time when the technology was
simply a cartridge you actually
owned, instead of an icon on a
computer that can be taken away
at any time.
the average cost per charge of
plugging in. Simply input the
approximate miles your drive per
day, your cost per kilowatt hour
of electricity, as well as the type of
outlet you’ll be using. Once this
step is completed, it will display
not only how long it will take to
replenish the battery pack, but
also the total cost and energy
used of a single charge.
Tesla Motors is actively
renovating our modern ideas
of clean transportation, and
has produced one of the most
advanced electric vehicles
available to consumers. With
its incredible range and
environmentally friendly battery
package, the Model S looks to
innovate and radically change the
way we travel.
Sudoku
12 | October 2 - 8, 2012 Features| The Carolinian
The short, important history of Apple Computers
Chris McCracken
Features Editor
photo courtesy of fLICKR/ USER fhisa
A very vintage Mac side-by-side with an also now-dated computer.
Few technological innovations
have had such a profound impact
on the American way of life as
the Macintosh computer. Almost
every student in college today
can look back on elementary
school with nostalgia as they
think about the clear plastic
machines with the flat screens.
“Oregon Trail” and dial-up
modems should come to mind
for most. Many Americans also
own iPhones that help them to
access the internet from nearly
anywhere, and virtually everyone
watches television shows or
reads newspapers edited on the
high-powered devices. While
the machines are now an integral
part of our culture, few realize
the humble origins from which
the Macintosh was born.
According to CNET.com,
“When Apple Computer was
founded in 1976, its flagship
product was the clunky Apple
I, Gerald Ford was in the White
House, and Steven Spielberg
was one of the hottest directors
in Hollywood.” The primitive-looking
device resembles a
typewriter, and features a
wooden frame encasing old
computer buttons. The product
was released in 1976, soon after
the founding of the company by
Ron Wayne, Steve Jobs and Steve
Wozniak.
From there, CNET’s timeline
of Macintosh computer features
a series of advancements for the
company. In 1977, Rob Janoff
designed the companies’ iconic
logo in the same year that Elvis
Presley passed away. The Apple
II was also released, and it
resembled a small, inexpensive
television mounted to a
typewriter. In 1979, the company
was able to release its first home
printer, the Apple Silentype, and
in 1980, it released its Apple III
computer.
During this period, the
geniuses at Macintosh had quite
a creative streak when it came
to advertising the products.
According to About.com writer
Mary Bellis, “In December, 1983,
Apple Computers ran its’ famous
“1984” Macintosh television
commercial, on a small unknown
station solely to make the
commercial eligible for awards
during 1984. The commercial
cost 1.5 million and only ran once
in 1983, but news and talk shows
everywhere replayed it, making
TV history.” The commercial
featured a group of men in grey
outfits being commanded by a
Hitler-like figure playing on a
television screen, a homage to
George Orwell’s classic novel.
An All-American woman runs
into the room like an Olympic
athlete and tosses a mallet at the
screen displaying the man and
the room turns brighter. The
company announced that it will
be releasing Macintosh, and tells
viewers that “You’ll see why 1984
won’t be like “1984.””
The company also aggressively
marketed the burgeoning home
computer market, which in this
era was just being pioneered.
One headline in an ad showed a
computer in a small bag, being
held by a hand. “Of the 235
million people in America,” it
said, “only a fraction can use a
computer.” Another ad featured
a short column placed as an
advertisement. It stated that in
the “olden days,” not many people
had used computer because they
did not know how. The column
went on to note that some
“bright engineers” had made
the decision to teach computers
about people, implying that the
new home computers were user
friendly. This can arguably be
called the start of the personal
computing era, when computers
began to enter more workplaces
and almost all homes.
As the personal computing
era begins to fade away, making
way for smartphones and tablets,
the memory of the pre-home
computing era will slowly begin
to fade. Some adults have no idea
what it is like to live in a world
largely absent of these kinds
of technologies. However, the
story of how home computers
and specifically the Macintosh
entered the American home is a
miraculous and very important
one.
Calvin Walters
Staff Writer
When Kelsey Kearney
graduated last year the Spartans
were faced with a big question.
Who would fi ll the shoes for one
of the greatest players in school
history?
Enter Jamie Simmons.
Simmons has three shutouts
on the year while posting a solid
1.86 goals against average.
It all started with a bang
in the season opener where
Simmons made 14 saves against
Coach Nugent’s former team the
Georgia Bulldogs. Th e soccer
world took notice at the young
goalkeeper’s fi rst career start.
Her performance earned her the
Southern Conference player of
the week award.
She followed that up with an
equally impressive performance
against Seventh ranked Wake
Forest, making fi ve saves in the
Spartans 1-0 upset victory. Once
again Simmons earned some
high praise for her performance.
Simmons was named to the
Perhaps it is ridiculous to
compare a goalkeeper who has
played all of twelve matches to
UNCG’s all-time goalkeeping
legend. Coach Steve Nugent
certainly thinks it is. “How can
you compare somebody’s four-year
career where they were
the most dominant goalkeeper
in the conference and in the
country to someone who has
played basically ten games in her
career?” he asked me during an
interview last week.
I may be subject to a small
amount of bias. Simmons is
the goalie during the season in
which I am sports editor. I have
interviewed her a couple of times
aft er matches for Th e Carolinian,
whereas the only time I talked to
Kearney was for the Sports Cycle
last year.
Th at being said, Simmons
sounds less like someone who
graduated from Clear Brook
High School in Houston, Texas
a few months ago and more like
the commander of the 18-yard
box the young team needs her to
be.“
Th ey’re diff erent
personalities,” said goalkeeper
coach Bill Steff en of the two,
“Kelsey’s very competitive and
very driven. Jamie’s very driven,
she’s a little bit more refl ective
and introspective.”
Goalkeepers, especially
UNCG goalkeepers, have to be
ruthless. Simmons’s fi rst action
this season happened on a rainy
exhibition against Carolina at
UNCG Soccer Stadium. For
those unfamiliar with NCAA
women’s soccer, Carolina is the
dominant program. Actually,
to call them dominant would
be an understatement. Of the
28 women’s soccer national
championship games played,
UNC has played in 23, winning
20.
When those Carolina blue
shirts come running at you, it
is understandable to get a little
nervous, maybe even anxious.
But despite those nerves,
Simmons shut down the Heels
for 29 minutes before the match
was called due to lightning.
When Dean Smith started
building up the UNC basketball
program, Kentucky was the most
feared name in the region, if not
the country. While preparing his
players for a game against the
Wildcats, Smith encouraged his
players to “imagine the name on
the front says ‘Tennessee.’”
Simmons seemed to do just
that in the exhibition. She held
off the rush of Carolina blue,
allowing sophomore Ashley
Stokes to score the lone goal of
the contest, giving the Spartans
the abbreviated preseason
victory.
UNCG used a similar formula
to beat then 7th-ranked Wake
Forest in Winston-Salem. Th at
upset came on the heels of a
double-overtime 1-0 penalty loss
to Georgia in which Simmons
emphatically announced her
existence, recording 14 saves.
Against stronger opponents,
such as Kentucky, Louisville,
Santa Clara, and Stanford,
Simmons was the reason UNCG
stayed in ball games for as long as
they did. She made several point-blank
saves to preserve a 1-0
victory over High Point. She did
the same to keep the Charleston
match this last weekend level
heading into overtime.
However, to make the
Simmons argument, one cannot
rely on statistics. Why not?
Because Kearney would win
that on principle. Her ridiculous
junior season alone sets the bar
seemingly impossibly high for
Simmons. Calvin Walters can
make the statistical arguments.
As such, the easier argument
to make is that Simmons fi ts
Nugent’s style better than
Kearney did. Th is makes sense
for various reasons, the fi rst being
that Nugent recruited Simmons
to play his style. “In terms of
their playing,” said Steff en in
comparing their respective
playing styles “Kelsey was a lot
more aggressive but she wasn’t as
technically strong as Jamie.”
Th ere is more to goalkeeping
than acrobatic diving saves.
UNCG plays a high pressure,
possession oriented style
of soccer that requires the
goalkeeper to organize her
defense and smartly distribute
possession to start attacks.
“She’s starting to play higher off
her line,” said Steff en “and she’s
becoming more involved in the
play instead of just being a shot-stopper…
As Jamie starts to do
that on a more consistent basis,
you’ll see some growth. It’s very
mature for a freshman to see her
winning these balls and playing
as well as she did.”
Kearney’s terrifi c career ended
in disappointment last season.
Th e fi nal regular season match
against App State saw her sent
off for an 89th minute challenge.
Th at left her suspended for senior
night against Elon. Th e following
weekend, Georgia Southern upset
the Spartans at UNCG Soccer
Stadium to put a premature end
to Kearney’s career.
“I would say that Jamie as
a freshman is as good as any
goalkeeper that I’ve come across
right now,” said Nugent. “She
is making saves to save games.
And that’s the mark of any great
goalkeeper. Today (against
Charleston) she made two saves
that saved the game and kept the
game 1-1. Right now, based on
that, she’s pretty darn good.”
It is very odd to watch an
American soccer team play with
its keeper consistently out of
the box. It is not odd to watch
a European soccer team do
this, however, and it is precisely
this style which Simmons is
executing. Her shot stopping is
already top notch. As she grows
into her role over the next three
years, her career may end up
surpassing that of the legendary
Kelsey Kearney.
CS360 Primetime Performers
Weekly Honor Roll and College
Sports Madness named her their
SoCon player of the week.
Th e freshman goalkeeper
has burst onto the scene with a
rookie campaign that can only
be compared to one person, her
predecessor.
Kelsey Kearney set the
standard that all goalkeepers will
be judged by in the future. Th e
phenomenon from just up the
road in Durham made waves as
a freshman as well going 13-2-
3 as a starter in her fi rst year on
campus.
She set the school record
for goals against average with
a stunning .48 allowing only
nine goals on the season. She
recorded nine shutouts in her
freshman campaign and made
63 saves good enough for 14th in
school history.
Th e Southern Conference took
note of the young goalkeeper’s
play and Kearney earned All-
First team SoCon honors, the
SoCon All-Freshman team, and
SoCon All-Tournament team.
Indeed, Charleston nearly
capitalized on UNCG’s
missed chances when Cougar
midfi elder Michaela Herrmann
found herself one-on-one with
Simmons in the 86th minute.
Simmons was equal to the task,
snuffi ng out the breakaway in
dramatic fashion and keeping
the score level for the fi nal few
minutes of regulation.
“We said we were not going to
leave this fi eld without getting
a win,” said Simmons aft er
the match. “It was a horrible
feeling [aft er the loss to Western
Carolina]. We were all really
disappointed. We thought we had
played hard. But that’s when we
all looked at each other and said
this is not going to happen again.”
UNCG had the clear
momentum going into overtime,
and this time it would not be
wasted.
Senior Lauren Hein and
freshman Chesney White
exploited a hole between the
Charleston centerbacks in
the 94th minute when Hein’s
fl icked header freed White.
Unlike Herrmann, White
made no mistake with the
rushing goalkeeper, in this
case Charleston’s Eli Sarasola,
stepping around her and passing
the ball into the net for the
overtime winner.
“Once I hit it by the keeper, at
that point I knew I had to fi nish,”
said White of her game-winning
goal. “All game Hein had been
fl icking balls on with her head
and we just weren’t getting on the
end of them.”
Hein, who had previously
been used to anchor a veteran
backline, was moved up for this
match, a decision that proved
fruitful. “Lauren Hein for three
years has been an off ensive force
at this school. She did us a solid
when we moved her in preseason
to a position she had never played
before. As far as I’m concerned,
our team is better with her up
front.”
Th e Spartans take their two-match
winning streak on the
road to South Carolina as they
take on Furman and Woff ord
next weekend before returning
home for Davidson and Georgia
Southern on Oct. 12 and 14
respectively.
Arguing with the Editor
Walters and Foster engage in a discussion regarding where freshman goalkeeper
Jamie Simmons stands with respect to her predecessor, Kelsey Kearney
coUGARS
from page 15
Ian Foster
Sports Editor
It did not stop aft er her
freshman campaign either as she
posted impressive campaigns
each year aft er, including an
amazing junior season which
saw the Spartans go 19-2-1 only
allowing 12 goals for a .55 goals
against average, the 11th best in
Division 1 soccer that season.
Th at junior season earned
Kearney a slew of awards
including third team NSCAA
Women’s Collegiate Scholar
All-America, second-team
NSCAA/Performance Subaru
All-Southeast Region, fi rst-team
All-Southern Conference, SoCon
Championship All-Tournament,
and SoCon Championship MVP.
It was not just her stats and
results that made Kearney a great
Spartan though, no one was a
better leader or as fearless as her.
“Kelsey was a diff erent
goalkeeper as a senior. She
was more mature, she had the
experience. Her leadership,
her organization, that is what
separates Kelsey,” Head Coach
Steve Nugent said.
She was one of the main reasons
for UNCG’s success over the last
several years and commanded
respect from her teammates and
opponents.
With such a resume it is hard
for anyone to measure up.
With her great start it is easy
to stack Simmons and Kearney
up and see how each measure
up, but it is hard to look at what
a freshman only twelve games
into her fi rst season has done
and compare to four years of
greatness. Although it is not
possible, the great thing for
UNCG fans is that we get to
watch Simmons grow into her
own role.
Simmons is right on the cusp
of surpassing Kearney’s save
total for her freshman campaign
with 61 saves already with seven
regular season games to play.
It is not only the stats though
that will determine the success
of Simmons, those intangibles
that made Kearney so great will
determine how good Simmons
can be. Th ose will be learned
over time as Simmons becomes
more comfortable and takes on
more leadership roles with the
team.
Although she has hit some
bumps in the road against some
very good teams, the goalkeeper
has shown great promise.
No one can replace or replicate
what Kelsey Kearney did, she
stands as not only the best
goalkeeper in UNCG history, but
one of the most dominant players
in school history.
Jamie Simmons, though, is
well on her way to creating her
own legacy at UNCG.
emma barker/the Carolinian
Jamie Simmons pushes the ball upfi eld, one of her many responsibilities in Nugent’s system.
The Carolinian |Sports October 2-8, 2012 | 13
Jose Torres
Staff Writer
Superstition is as essential as
players and fans are to sports. No
matter how silly, fans and players
alike have their ways of avoiding
bad luck towards their respective
teams. We laugh at the extremely
ridiculous rituals, yet somehow
ignore other subtle, unnecessary
things players and fans do to
ensure a win.
For instance, in 2008, I made
it a point to start a tradition
that would will the Philadelphia
Eagles into victory. Whenever
the Eagles played on Sunday,
I would begin my ritual after I
had gone to church early in the
morning. After eating breakfast,
I’d come back to my dorm, take
off my church clothes and put on
all of my Eagles affiliated attire.
First I put on my jersey, then the
shoes, then the hat to top it all off.
Joseph Abraham
Staff Writer
There is currently a storm
brewing in New York. Sometimes
the term “make it rain,” refers
to throwing large amounts of
cash just to show you have it.
However, this storm in New York
is not Donald Trump throwing
his millions to the residents of
America’s largest city. Instead,
the storm is Mark Sanchez’s
mediocre play, which has not
harmed the Jets too much in
their first three games, seeing
as they had a relatively easy
schedule. Considering three of
the next four games for the Jets
are against former playoff teams,
it may be do or die for Sanchez in
terms of securing his position as
starting quarterback of the New
York Jets.
This is not to say that Tim
Tebow would lead them to the
Promised Land as the likes of Jon
Gruden and Skip Bayless preach
whenever given the opportunity.
It can be said that Tebow would
do better for the Jets than
Sanchez. Losing three of the next
four games would cause the Jets
to be at risk to miss the playoffs
if they do not put a rally together
to secure a spot.
Mark Sanchez has always had
issues as starting quarterback
of the New York Jets, at least
in terms of leadership and
mental toughness. In any city, a
quarterback who lacks mental
toughness will have a tough go
at things with the media. That
effect is exemplified when it is
displayed on the biggest sports
stage in the world, New York City.
The Jets locker room collapsed
last season because of the lack
of leadership. If Sanchez would
have done the quarterback’s job
of stepping up and adding a
leader on the offensive end, the
collapse may not have happened.
While the Jets claim trading
for Tebow was not to replace
Sanchez at quarterback, the fact
that they gave up a draft pick
for a QB who actually made the
playoffs last season and won a
game says otherwise. Tebow does
add a viable offensive weapon in
many facets besides throwing
the football, but the main reason
he was brought in was for his
leadership skills. Since Rex Ryan
and Sanchez missed the playoffs
last year, this year would be
important in terms of evaluating
what kind of future both men
have with the Jets organization.
The season started with a home
game against the Buffalo Bills.
The Jets blew the Bills out 48-28
with a good overall team effort.
The next week, the Jets played the
Steelers in what was an absolutely
horrific performance by Mark
Sanchez. He completed 10 of
his 27 passing attempts, picking
up a quarterback rating of 66.6,
which was a major factor in the
Jets losing that game. Last week,
the Jets went down to Miami to
face the Dolphins, a division
rival. The Jets barely pulled
out an overtime victory 23-20,
thanks to a Dolphins punt being
blocked. Sanchez had another
terrible game, going 21 for 45
and throwing two interceptions.
This has been a major flaw
of Sanchez over the years. Even
though the Jets are usually a
run-first team, when giving the
opportunity to throw, Sanchez
does not perform at a highly
consistent level. Sanchez has
been known to be somewhat of a
turnover machine.
This leads to the discussion
on whether or not Tebow would
be a better option at the starting
quarterback position. I believe
Tebow would give the Jets more
success, but not as a “normal”
pocket passing quarterback,
rather a clock management,
ground and pound option.
Tebow may have trouble with
accuracy, but I would rather
have a quarterback occasionally
throw into the ground, instead
of throwing gifts to the opposing
team. In addition, Tebow has
a rub off effect, which Sanchez
seems to lack, which allows
Tebow to bring the best out of his
teammates by demanding effort.
While Sanchez can be a good
NFL quarterback, he would
probably be more successful in
a city not as demanding as New
York, where it seems he cannot
take the pressure. One thing is
for sure, the saying that “when
you have two quarterbacks, you
have none” is reigning true in
New York. With Darelle Revis
currently on his island nursing
various injuries, the Jets defense
will struggle, not allowing
them to blitz as often, putting
more pressure on the offense to
succeed. This will be an astute
challenge for the Jets as they face
San Francisco, New England and
Houston in the coming weeks,
all with very tough defenses. At
2-1 there is no need for panic,
but if the Jets do not meet this
challenge, the losses will build
up and Rex Ryan will feel the
pressure. Once the pressure is
felt, the coach will fear for his
safety and changes will have to
be made, giving Mark Sanchez a
small window of time to prove he
belongs at the head of Jets nation.
Everything was ready for me
to cheer on the Eagles. I even
owned a miniature size midnight
green football with the Eagles
logo on it. I was all in when it
came to my favorite team.
During the game I’d fidget with
the ball, hoping that somehow it
would make a difference. At the
half, if the Eagles were losing I
would toss the ball and never
touch it again, for fear it would
jinx the team. At the end of the
game, if the Eagles lost, I would
throw my jersey in the laundry
basket to “wash away the loss”
over the week. If they won, I
would keep the jersey on until
night time and hang it up, to wear
again the next game.
The week after, I would do the
exact same thing. Deep down I
knew my ritual was trivial but I
kept doing it. I needed a reason
to feel like I was not only a part
of the organization but that I was
making a difference.
Putting on my Eagles attire a
certain way was my way of making
sure Donovan McNabb would
not throw any interceptions that
game.
Players are known for their
rituals before, during, and
after games. Baseball players
are stereotypically the worst
offenders when it comes to
superstition.
A good example of this is when
a pitcher is throwing a perfect
game or a no-hitter. Players do
not speak of what’s going on;
for fear that they will jinx it.
Many even ignore the pitcher
altogether. The idea was that if
a player mentioned the perfect
game to the pitcher, then that
would be on his mind all game
and somehow his nerves would
get the better of him, thus ruining
the perfect game.
This does not explain why fans
do not talk about it either. In the
ballpark, though some who watch
from the comfort of their homes
do this as well, fans do not speak
of the perfect game because they
do not want to jinx it. This again
comes from the idea that fans
believe their actions can either
help or hurt their respective
favorite teams.
Superstition will forever be a
big part of sports. The idea that
our actions affect the actions
of our sports team originates
from this philosophical idea of
karma and basic principles of
Christianity.
The idea that good things
happen to good people is
prevalent in these ideals. A “good
person” is one who does “good
things.” Fans and players alike
believe that rituals, superstitions,
and sometimes prayers are good
things. So when a baseball player
goes up to bat and adjusts his shin
guards a certain way, it is because
he believes something good will
come of it. The same goes for the
fan in the ballpark experiencing
a perfect game being played. We
must not talk about it because it
is not the right thing to do.
No matter how inconsequential,
superstition and rituals remain a
significant part of sports. The
idea that we control the outcome
of a game is a façade, though an
important one. It gives fans a
reason to become emotionally
invested in their team.
How else can you explain the
torment we get as fans whenever
our favorite team loses? After
all, if we cannot control what is
going on, then we should not
feel bad. Yet we do. It is because
we as fans believe we could have
done something to change the
outcome of the game. As silly as
it sounds, it is true, and it is why
we continue to watch sports.
Calvin Walters
Staff Writer
UNCG took their annual
mountain road trip this past
week earning a split with the
two Southern Conference foes
located high above sea level. The
weekend swing began with a trip
to Cullowhee to take on Western
Carolina. Despite entering
the match winless in Southern
Conference play, the Catamounts
came out aggressive and proved
too much for the Spartans
earning an efficient 3-0 sweep.
WCU opened the scoring in
the first set with back to back
kills followed by a Spartan attack
error to quickly jump out to a
3-0 lead that they would never
relinquish. The Catamounts
controlled the play throughout
the