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Volume 51, Issue 6TRANSCRIPT
N.C. community colleges now accept undocumented students
Japanese taiko ensemble performs tonight in Lipinsky Auditorium
Peace Corps attracts socially-conscious UNCA graduates
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PAGE 7Postcard courtesy of PostSecret
News
Arts & Features
Arts & Features
Volume 51, Issue 6 Wednesday, September 30,2009
A policy the N.C. Community College System passed allowing undocumented students to attend community colleges has the UNC Asheville Latino community ask-ing what changes the policy will bring.
“My feeling is it’s really a step back from where we were two years ago,” said Emily Rhyne, junior interdisciplinary studies stu-dent and public relations representative for HOLA, UNCA’s Hispanic student group. “Two years ago we had open doors at a lot of the community colleges that didn’t have stipulations (like those of the new policy).
Undocumented students historically paid out-of-state tuition, but removing undocu-mented students from full classes to create space for students who legally have papers is a new problem, Rhyne said.
The stipulations of the new policy, passed on Sept. 19, state undocumented students must have graduated from a U.S. high school, must pay out-of-state tuition, can not take the place of a U.S. student and can not apply for financial aid.
“It is a step forward from where we were in May 2008,” said Jensel Garcia-Robles, senior music technology student and co-president of HOLA. “In May 2008 the doors were closed completely to undocu-mented people seeking a higher education in the community college level. They still had to pay out-of-state tuition and the only access to education they were given was a university, but they had to pay out-of-state tuition making it pretty much impossible without government aid.”
UNCA accepts undocumented students, but they must pay out-of-state tuition and are not eligible for financial aid.
“They don’t have citizenship through not having a green card, visa or paperwork,” said Amanda Bullock, admissions coun-selor for WNC at UNCA. “Maybe their visa expired and they don’t have documen-tation yet. We never would let an illegal
immigrant have admission to UNCA.”Out-of-state tuition can cost significant-
ly more than in-state tuition. Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College charges $800 per semester for in-state resi-dents, and $3680 per semester for out-of-state residents.
“I think the high school dropout rates are a lot higher when they feel like they can’t go to college,” Rhyne said. “We tutor at Asheville High School in an ESL class. A lot of students are really into their work, but their question is, ‘Can I go to college? What’s the point of this if I can’t go to col-lege?’”
Those who are against the policy said the economy is not strong enough to sup-port undocumented students.
“I think the economy is sometimes given as an excuse because these people are pay-ing out-of-state tuition and a lot of people don’t know that,” Garcia-Robles said. “I think a lot of people just yell things they have been hearing, and things that they are not too sure about because if they subsi-dize the school for us they are making it cheaper for us, which would help us at this economic time. The people that say that, I’m assuming, think they’re getting gov-ernment help or in-state tuition.”
One positive outcome of this policy could be a lower crime rate, Bullock said.
“There’s a theory in sociology of devi-ance and crime that if a society fails its members and if they’re not allowed op-portunity to succeed and grow, then they will deviate and find ways to support themselves and its often through crime,” she said.
It is the responsibility of the college sys-tem to make sure everyone is educated, Bullock said. With education, undocu-mented citizens can go through the chan-nels necessary for citizenship or return to their original countries and make a differ-ence there, Bullock said.
This theory could impact the area, Bull-ock said.
“You’re disenfranchising a large group of people, and I think that you see things like crime and domestic violence. Those things increase when you cut off access to education, methods of mobility and em-powerment,” she said.
The Development, Relief and Educa-tion of Alien Minors Act passed into law in 2007. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin, attempts to assist undocu-mented students achieve legal status.
The DREAM Act would allow citizen-ship for those that serve a mandatory two years of higher education or military ser-vice. The act would also require that those seeking citizenship have good moral stand-ing.
Both sides discussing the issues will help to solve myths and fears of those that pro-test the policy, Garcia-Robles said.
“Please come out to any Latino advo-cacy events and have this discussion with us so that we can both see what each of us think,” he said. “There’s no reason for us to be afraid of each other because we’re both a part of the same community. I think that with us sitting down and talk-
ing to each other we will be able to edu-cate ourselves and what are concerns are, get rid of all these myths and work toward improving whatever cause we are working towards improving.”
An HOLA representative plans to sched-ule an event to discuss the issue.
“I have connections with people at Emma Elementary School in Asheville,” said Cris Tiongson, advocacy vice presi-dent for HOLA. “I’m hoping to have a fo-rum because it’s in the Latino community in West Asheville.
At UNCA, the diversity of the student body is important to the campus mission, Bullock said.
“It’s part of our mission to definitely al-ways try to increase diversity for the better of our campus and community in general,” Bullock said.
It’s important to get the opinions of the community that are affected by the policy change because it’s truly their opinion and it affects them directly, Tiongson said.
“We’re trying to get a community to-gether, which isn’t an easy thing to do,” he said.
NewsWednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 2
N.C. college system allows undocumented students access
Stephanie Schon-Staff PhotographerUNCA admissions counselor Amanda Bullock discusses the recent policy allowing undocumented students community college access.
Latino students at UNCA question legitimacy of new community college policyBy Ashleigh Joyner
Staff Writer
UNC Asheville hosted the first of two undergraduate research symposiums last weekend, where 18 students were chosen to present their work.
The students were selected from the undergraduate research program of the Appalachian College Association (ACA) and UNCA based on the merit of their projects.
Mark Harvey, director of the program at UNCA, said students presented many
creative works at the conference, and he is excited that the public could see the stu-dent’s work.
“The real value here is the exchange of ideas related to the person’s topic. Some of these people might want to publish their research in a professional journal. This will give them some good ideas for ques-tions they may not have thought of that they may want to address in their paper,” Harvey said.
Kim Gardner, program manager of the Appalachian College Association, said she also sees great value in the inter-school
conference. “The students who present at this con-
ference have an opportunity for faculty members and administrators to ask ques-tions and give feedback on the projects, which helps the students expand their re-search,” Gardner said.
The students discussed their research in a 15-minute presentation followed by five minutes for questions and answers. A few gave poster presentations, where they stood next to a display of their work for people to come up and ask them questions.
Harvey said UNCA will publish confer-
ence proceedings, which a faculty expert will review and give the students feed-back. They will then choose the best pa-pers for a professional electronic journal that will be accessible through a link from the undergraduate research web pages of UNCA and the ACA.
Tanya Widen, a sophomore biology and environmental science student, wrote her paper on economic inequality and how it is affecting the degradation of the forests of the Brazilian Amazon and Appalachia.
Despite a deep recession, the Student Government Association’s budget remains intact allowing campus organizations to contribute community outreach, according to SGA officials.
“The SGA’s budget has not been affect-ed, so I know the conference and retreat fund is the same,” Mercer said. “There are two different ways we give out money to student organizations. The most direct way, as far as having SGA’s name on it, is through conference and retreat alloca-tions.”
Last Friday night, Active Students for a Healthy Environment held their fall equi-nox festival at UNC Asheville, complete with meditations, food and a bonfire.
“We have around eight events like this each year, including our involvement with campus events like Greenfest,” said Beth Porter, chair member of ASHE.
According to Mercer, Campus Commis-sion sets the budget for student organiza-tions such as ASHE and National Society Collegiate Scholars, which SGA allocates.
“The way that all student organizations get their money is campus commission,” he said. “Funding for programming, group events, a myriad of different things comes from there. There is a lot of student repre-sentation on that.”
During last week’s SGA meeting, a rep-resentative from The National Society of Collegiate Scholars requested financing for a conference they wished to hold in the upcoming year.
“We create legislation for their requests and then vote on whether or not they should receive the amount requested,” said Rachel Whaley, SGA’s executive of public affairs. “We rarely, that I have ever seen, deny any request for funding, though we sometimes can’t give them all the money they request.”
The Senate apportions retreat money to assist with travel, advertising and various other expenses, Mercer said.
SGA attempts to reach consensus with the budget and, therefore, is very detailed in their standards of allocation, according to Mercer.
“We try to be evenhanded when we al-
locate funds, but we also look at the effec-tiveness and the activity of the organiza-tion,” he said. “For instance, if we gave an organization $3,000, and they only use $200 of it, we probably won’t give them that much money again.”
Porter said ASHE receives plenty of money from SGA and Campus Commis-sion.
“ASHE is a very frugal organization, and we can make any amount of money stretch,” Porter said. “We do a lot of fund-raisers for different causes but don’t usu-ally do them for ourselves, or need to.”
According to Mercer, SGA is very fair in their decision-making process and enlists
the help of Underdog Productions on oc-casion.
SGA reported Campus Commission allo-cated $35,650 for SGA to use for its needs and to distribute among the organization. They used nearly $11,000 of their budget for payroll.
“In my experience, we don’t always give people what they want, but the way we present it is by asking them to present their ideal budget,” he said. “From there we try to use the set standards we agreed upon. For example, if an organization is doing a small event and asks for $200, we might decide they only need $50.”
According to Mercer, SGA strives to equally allocate money to all the organiza-tions by sometimes reducing the amount requested.
UNCA officials report over 70 student organizations on campus.
“Last year we did a good job and came in under budget, saving a whole lot of money that we were able to roll forward for the next year,” he said.
At a budget forum meeting tomorrow evening, Vice Chancellor of Finance John Pierce and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Bill Haggard will discuss various aspects of the school budget, allowing stu-dents to ask questions and voice concerns.
“John Pierce is going to give you the hard facts about what’s going on downstate,” Mercer said. “But most students are go-ing to be interested in why the convenience store closed, and that’s why Dr. Haggard and John Bucher (Assistant Vice Chancel-lor for Budget) are going to be there as the experts in that area.”
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 3
Students practice for publication at research symposiumBy Dannielle Elms
staff writer
By Kendall Brooksstaff writer
SGA’S student organization fund unaffected by spending cutbacks
Ian Shannon-Assistant Photography EditorASHE members, from left, Azaria Miller, Griffen Payne, Beth Porter, Alyssa Newlan and Melody Miller attend their fall equinox festival.
See SYMPOSIUM Page 6
Robert EdwardsAge: 22Occupation: Night auditor at Sleep InnHometown: Candler Party Affiliation: RepublicanResponse: “I have no political experience, but my main focus is on listening and learning. Politics is not what I do. When it comes to special interest groups and making campaign promises, I’m not afraid of saying what needs to be said.”
Wednesday September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 4
City Council and mayoral candidates vie for general election spots
With the mayoral and city council elec-tion underway, the 12 candidates cannot stop talking about the issues in Asheville. Ideas range from the economy to the level of local political involvement, and the can-didates say the time for action and voting is now.
Early voting for the primaries began Sept. 17, and each campaign is being put to the test. Candidates answered basic ques-tions about themselves, and answered why voters should choose them in the upcom-ing primaries, regardless of party politics and fellow candidates.
By Caitlin ByrdStaff Writer
Asheville primary early voting ends on Oct. 3.
Regular primary voting is on Oct. 6.
There is no write-in option on the ballot.
Register at the Buncombe County Election Services headquarters, 189 College St.
Six Council candidates and two mayoral candi-dates will remain after the primaries.
On Tuesday, Oct. 13, Evergreen School will host a forum for City Council candidates at 7 p.m.
On Thursday, Oct. 15, early voting for the general election begins.
Saturday, Oct. 31, is the last day of early voting for the general election.
Regular voting for the general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Asheville Voting Fact BoxCandidates for Mayor
Shad MarshAge: 35Occupation: Page at Buncombe County LibrariesHometown: Little Valley, N.Y., but lived in Asheville for eight yearsParty Affiliation: NoneResponse: “Because, I’m awesome. Everyone else sucks. No, I probably shouldn’t say that.”
Terry BellamyAge: 37Occupation: Small-business ownerHometown: AshevilleParty Affiliation: DemocratResponse: Did not offer a response.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 5
Candidates for Asheville City CouncilCecil BothwellAge: 58Occupation: Publisher/builder/writerHometown: Oak Park, Ill.Party Affiliation: DemocratResponse: “I am the unquestioned and the most pro-gressive candidate running for Asheville City Council this year and have inspired the largest grassroots cam-paign in Asheville history. This is really grassroots politics, not a big money campaign.”
Esther ManheimerAge: 38Occupation: Land use attorney and real estate litigatorHometown: AshevilleParty Affiliation: DemocratResponse: “I am a mother of three and a wife of a pub-lic school teacher, and I would work to preserve our quality of life in Asheville and emphasize what makes us unique - and that is our community.”
Carl MumpowerAge: 56Occupation: PsychologistHometown: AshevilleParty Affiliation: RepublicanResponse: “I am a persistent and creative watchdog without obligations to party power brokers, special in-terests, moneyed influences or my own political well-being. I have refused to purchase my seat on council and am spending zero dollars on this campaign.”
Gordon SmithAge: 39Occupation: Child and Family TherapistHometown: Lakeland, Fla.Party Affiliation: DemocratResponse: “By raising the bar on energy efficiency in our new construction and offering low-interest loans for people to retrofit their homes and businesses, we can do our part to mitigate climate change, while spurring a new industrial base of solar, wind, retrofits and green construction.
Cesar RomeroAge: 46Occupation: Owner of Cesar’s Family ServicesHometown: Diríamba, NicaraguaParty Affiliation: NoneResponse: “I resemble the American dream. I came to this country with my luggage looking for freedom. I would like to pay back to America all that was given to me by serving as a city council member.”
Ryan D. CroftAge: 38Occupation: Engineering consultant and graphic art-istHometown: AshevilleParty affiliation: RepublicanResponse: “America needs regular people to run for office. You are the answer. That’s my message to Asheville. Not politicians, you, regular citizens. It takes regular folks. You are the answer, not the par-ties and not the politicians.”
Larry D. ChastainAge: 47Occupation: Buncombe County Christian Ministry supervisorHometown: CharlotteParty Affiliation: DemocratResponse: They (current City Council members) don’t vote for the people they’re representing. But I feel that if you’re spending my tax dollars, I’d like to know what’s going on every second of that meeting.”
Kelly MillerAge: 51Occupation: Asheville City Council MemberHometown: Juneau, AlaskaParty Affiliation: DemocratResponse: “When you compare my credentials and work with public policy and the building the economy, I am head and shoulders above the rest. I have a variety of life experiences and have worked in large, medium and small cities.
*City Council candidate J. Neal Jackson did not respond to photo or interview requests.
Wednesday September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 6
She has been working on the project since May, and said she put more than 40 hours into it.
“It is nice to have recognition and the practice of researching and writing a paper of this size and then presenting for 20 min-utes in front of academics. It is wonderful to know that your thoughts, what you find important, will be out there for other peo-ple to see,” said Widen, who presented at the conference.
Emily Cedzo, a sophomore environmen-tal studies student, presented her project on the protection of the red-cockaded wood-pecker. She started researching it at the be-ginning of the spring semester.
“I am honored to be able to participate in an undergraduate research conference as a sophomore. But, more importantly, I think it is an honor to present alongside my peers who have been working on their research for several months,” Cedzo said.
The conference was a part of the ACA-UNCA partnership, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to provide opportu-
nities and promote interest in undergradu-ate research.
Faculty said joining with the ACA makes the undergraduate research program more productive and has regional impact rather than in just one school.
“UNCA is known nationally as a leader
in undergraduate research. A partnership with UNCA provides our students an in-valuable opportunity as they are guided by the university’s expertise in this field,” Gardner said.
Harvey said the mission of the partner-ship is to support undergraduate research in the arts, humanities and humanistic social sciences because historically they received less funding than the other sci-ences.
“I think the undergraduate research program not only gives students a way to discover their own interests and to further their academic careers, but it also gives them the opportunity to really challenge themselves in an exciting way,” Cedzo said.
Small liberal-arts colleges in the cen-tral Appalachian region make up most of the 36 schools in the ACA. Of these, 10 were selected to show their work at last weekend’s conference.
UNCA will host the next undergraduate research symposium in fall 2010.
SymposiumC o n t i n u e d f r o m P a g e 3
UNC Asheville professors are making the best of a bad budget shortfall by mini-mizing the effects of an increased work-load, several faculty members said.
“Everyone in my department appears to have taken on the extra students without any complaint,” said Eileen Crowe, lecturer in the literature and language department. “It still makes for long hours of reading stu-dent work, but the administration has been careful not to let the freshman composition classes get bigger than 20.”
According to Student Government As-sociation senior senator Stephen Haas, the administration is asking faculty to increase the number of students they accept into their classes.
“The administration is asking faculty to increase the number of classes that they’re teaching, and also increase the average class size to 25. It’s going to be very dif-ficult for us to do and is counteractive to our liberal arts mission and who we are,”
he said.Typically, the number of students would
be limited to only 18 in composition class-es, Crowe said.
Many freshmen students and beginning literature students take a composition class, an introductory literature class.
“Our composition classes are a little big-ger than they have been for a couple of years, but I have had 20 or 21 students in earlier years. It’s not really a big problem” she said.
The money is not there to fill the faculty positions needed, said Dennis Lundblad, lecturer in humanities.
“I have not had to deal with it directly since I’m part-time. I’m not allowed to teach more than two classes, and courses in the humanities program are limited to 22 students, except in cases of dire need,” he said. “When the money problem goes away, I suspect the need for more students in classes will go away, as well.”
According to Crowe, full-time faculty members are required to teach 12 credit hours per semester, which can be anywhere from three to four classes.
“This has always been a hard-working campus with faculty devoting enormous amounts of time to service outside of their departments,” Crowe said.
Faculty are aware that everybody needs to share the extra workload throughout the budget crunch, Lundlbad said.
“From what I can see, the faculty con-tinue to contribute their various talents to keeping UNCA strong and moving for-ward,” Crowe said.
Matt Metcalf, senior multimedia student, said he hasn’t really felt the effects of the changes.
“The bulk of my classes are in the mul-timedia arts and sciences department. We almost always have small classes, which is mostly due to the fact that we only have a limited amount of computers in each lab,” he said. “I guess there do seem to be a few more students than usual in some of my classes.”
The large amount of work does not hin-der communication and constant contact with students, Crowe said.
“From my own experience and my ob-servations of colleagues, I would say there
are just as many face-to-face conferences going on this semester as before. Many of us are taking advantage of technology to stay in close touch with our students, so even in larger classes, there should be no dilution of instruction,” she said.
Metcalf said he still has frequent inter-actions with the professors in his depart-ment.
“Since we have a fairly small number of students and professors in the multimedia department, we have a pretty close com-munity of students within the major. I think that we would lose some of that closeness and friendship if we were to be stuck in classes much larger,” he said.
Crowe and Lundblad said they both suspect the economy will shape up and the burdens placed on the faculty will de-crease.
“I do think the economy of North Caro-lina will eventually improve and the situa-tion will ease. In the meantime, I have not heard too much grumbling among the fac-ulty. Everyone seems to be willing to do a part in keeping the educational standards high at UNCA,” Crowe said.
Budget crunch forces faculty to increase class size By Josh Robinson
Staff Writer
“I think it’s an honor to present along-
side my peers who have been working on their research for
several month.”– Emily Cedzo,
environmental studies student
Alumnus Paul Harbison almost didn’t go to college. Only Fayetteville State University accepted him at first, and he considered joining the Army. Now, he’s a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador work-ing on economic development and writing an environmental education manual.
“The whole idea of the Peace Corps is just to be creative in how you can help somebody in another country. It doesn’t really matter what your degree is in,” Har-bison said.
After building a good GPA at Fayette-ville State, Harbison transferred to UNC Asheville to pursue his degree in environ-mental studies with a minor in economics, he said.
“I took a class when I did my study abroad in Sydney on economic develop-ment, and we covered a lot of issues in the realm of poverty,” he said.
The approach left him wondering. Har-bison said the class concentrated on top-down development, throwing money at problems instead of helping people help themselves.
“I really wanted to get into development, but I felt like there was something missing
there,” he said.Harbison said the Peace Corps allows
him the chance to fill that gap.“What the Peace Corps allows is it al-
lows me the flexibility of choosing a pro-gram utilizing my degree, but also to be this type of social scientist. I can pretty much do whatever I want so long as it’s helping my community members. I can teach an art class,” he said.
Harbison said his personal projects are not art classes, though.
“I majored in a science, and now I’m assisting with the operation of two com-munity banks,” he said.
The community bank system, he said, takes funding control away from large groups and putting it in the hands of the people with whom he works. Members of the bank pay into a pool, then microloans are given to community members on a monthly basis.
“They can maybe improve their mar-kets, maybe buy a little pig or whatever. But after a month’s time, they have to pay this back with interest, and the interest is voted on by the community members,” he said.
Interest payments on the loans are paid back to bank members after a year or an-other simliar time period, Harbison said.
“The idea is to facilitate,” he said. “They
don’t have to go ask a bank for a loan, which a lot of them can’t do because they don’t have a lot of credentials.”
“You don’t try to change people’s be-havior, and tell them what to do. It’s a way of gaining trust,” he said.
Another of Harbison’s projects is a joint effort with the Cebia Foundation for Tropi-cal Conservation, based on the idea of teaching others how to conserve.
“My counterparts and I are currently working on an envi-ronmental education manual. This manual will be implement-ed in the upcom-
ing school year for all interested schools within Canton Jama that are interested in taking a field trip to our reserve,” he said.
Stephen Chapman, the Peace Corps’ mid-Atlantic region public affairs spe-cialist, said Harbison’s experience is, in a sense, typical.
“Peace Corps is looking for people from all kinds of backgrounds. It’s really a wide variety of different skills,” he said.
Chapman also said UNCA produces a lot of volunteers for the Peace Corps.
“We visit UNCA a few times a year,” he said. “We just had a couple of recruiters down at UNCA last week.”
Bonnie Parker, director of the study abroad office at UNCA, said the Peace Corps experience, or any study abroad ex-perience in college, gives students a leg up on other people entering the job market.
“It improves their soft skills, in a way. It makes them, I think, stronger applicants for jobs that are out there,” Parker said.
Harbison said job skills are a big part of why he applied for the Peace Corps.
“After college I got a couple job offers, but I was not thinking about grad school because you have to bring experience,” he said.
Parker said any such out-of-country ex-perience is good for students who are still in school.
“A program that went to Bolivia last spring break, there was a student there from the Asheville area, and she said that those ten days changed her life,” Parker said.
It is the best way for foreign language students to master a language and gives graduates a competitive edge, she said.
“A lot of times they might think about careers outside of the United States, and maybe now’s a good time to think about that.”
Arts Features&Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 7
Alumnus starts grant program in Ecuador
By Alex HammondStaff Writer
Paul Harbison’s Peace Corps activity reaches out to South AmericansPhotos courtesy of Paul Harbinson
Paul Harbison, a UNCA graduate, assists the operation of two Ecuador banks and strives to complete an environmental education manual.
Paul Harbison
Wednesday, September 30, 2009Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 8
Politically-charged hip-hop artist Im-mortal Technique brought The Recession Tour to Asheville last week to a nearly sold-out crowd at the Orange Peel.
“A lot of rappers take pride in flossing their diamonds, and right now, when I look at the majority of hip-hop fans, I don’t see them with money to throw out their win-dows,” Immortal Technique said, describ-ing the name of the tour. “So many people across a huge demographic are in the same economic situation. I thought I would ad-dress that specifically.”
Fans only paid $12 to see Technique along with fellow New York rappers Dia-bolic, Poison Pen and J Arch. The tour cut ticket prices to save fans money, Tech-nique said.
This group of rappers did not arrive in massive tour buses. They did not drape their necks in diamonds.
“I think that, more often than not, what I saw was just everyday people struggling, whether it was in Virginia, or in the east-ern part of North Carolina or Baltimore,” Technique said. “It was just people in the streets, looking like they was having a hard time.”
Technique’s lyrical subject matter cen-ters around economic and political in-equality, often on a global scale. The Afro-Peruvian penned rhymes about the ills and evils of poverty years before news chan-nels began screaming about recession.
Flashy hip-hop artists should learn from the economic struggles of their fans, Tech-nique said.
“I try to be as humble as possible when dealing with all situations,” he said. “I have paid a certain amount of dues, and that entitles me to certain things that I have earned, but it doesn’t entitle me to every-thing.”
A crowd composed mostly of white adoles-cents eagerly chanted the phrase, “Viva la revolucion!” back at Technique.
“Shows provide me with an opportu-nity to speak directly to people,” Technique said. “Hip-hop is the strongest art form in the world.”
Technique performed a select group of songs from his three-album catalogue, in a set that lasted several hours. The bilingual Technique pulled hits from Revolutionary Volume I, Volume II and The 3rd World, rhyming predominantly in English but also in Spanish.
Technique helped open an orphanage in Afghanistan with the help of Omeid Inter-
national. “We just completed the next round of
fundraising for the orphanage, during a sold out show in L.A., which is one of the strongest markets I have. It’s a hands-on process and one that requires a lot of focus and discipline, but it is a powerful contri-bution,” Technique said.
College is only as good as what you de-cide to invest into it, Technique said.
“Originally, I used to write songs to no beat. That just comes from being in jail,” he said. “I learned more in one year in prison than I learned in two years of col-lege. It was because my mind was more focused on learning, because there were no distractions, just time.”
Critical of the shifting reasons for the in-vasion of Iraq, Technique compared U.S. foreign policy to the thought process of a lying child constantly changing stories.
“Sometimes I don’t agree with my own people, even in a country like Venezuela, where everyone is talking about revolu-tion. I say, ‘let’s have a conversation about the history of revolution in Latin Ameri-ca,’” Technique said.
Diabolic, who gained notoriety in the independent hip-hop community for his freestyle skills, said The Recession Tour was properly labeled.
The New York rapper spent his summer working “a shitty job” to pay the bills and feed his child.
The content of commercial hip-hop and independent hip-hop split the genre in two, according to Diabolic.
“Everything has it’s place,” Diabolic said. “But you don’t necessarily want to hear a club joint when you’re driving around in your car. What are you doing? You dancing in your whip? You want to hear the new Ne-Yo song every fucking
five minutes? No. I wouldn’t even say we’re the same genre as them, not even the same kind of music.”
The movement of independent New York hip-hop was the theme of the night. On stage, all four artists called for the con-tinuing support of independent artists and labels.
“I have turned down lots and lots of deals,” Technique said, referring to po-tential corporate contracts. “I really could make a lot of money, if I decided to pros-titute myself. But looking at the hip-hop game, I realized that independents make more money, on average, the people who are in the commercial game.
Artists themselves suffer financially when they sign to major labels more often than not, Technique said. This problem is not “indigenous to hip-hop,” but rather to all music.
“I dare you to go home and burn it off the Internet. If you really feel like helpin’ me, go buy a CD,” Technique said.
Steven Hall - Staff PhotographerImmortal Technique, Diabolic and Poison Pen brought aggressive and shameless hip-hop to the Orange Peel last Wednesday.
Immortal Technique raps on politicsBy Eric Lanno
Staff Writer
&David Milton
aSSiStant neWS editor
By Erica GrabonStaff Writer
Jews across the globe gather once a year to celebrate Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement,” which begins ten days after the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.
“It’s the last chance we have to apologize for all the sins we may or may not have committed during the year, intentionally or unintentionally,” said Scott Sherman, a UNC Asheville alumnus.
Normally in the Jewish religion, it is customary to ask forgiveness from the people sinned against before asking forgiveness from God, said Sherman.
“It (Yom Kippur) is really the closest Jews look at sin throughout the year. Where other religions, Christianity for example, focus on sin constantly, Juda-ism only really focuses heavily on it at this time of year,” Sherman said.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for observant Jews. Not only is it a day for forgiveness, but it is also the day when God writes out the book of death and the book of life for the com-ing year, according to Sherman.
“There is a prayer uttered on Yom Kippur: Viddui. What you are doing with this prayer is confessing your sins and the sins of the community. It is very much a communal activity, where you discuss basically any sin possible and how we may or may not have done it,“ Sherman said.
Mike Neuer, 21, spent his first 15 years growing up in Israel. The cul-ture difference, he said, is most noted by the loss of community.
“Beyond the religious aspect, there was also the social aspect. In Israel, when you grow up, you normally fast with people. So you find solace through other people and, with their help, you can make it through the fast because it is very tough,” Neuer said.
In Israel, nearly the entire state clos-es businesses, restaurants and streets from car traffic. The transition from that environment to America is diffi-
Yom Kippuris a sacredholiday to the Jewish faith
Immortal Technique
See YOM KIPPUR Page 11
Combining body and spirit, the Nagata Shachu taiko drumming ensemble fuses traditional Japanese rhythms with modern world beats to unite audiences around the globe.
“People just love the sound. You can feel the vibrations through your whole body,” said founder Kiyoshi Nagata, 40. “It’s such a visual and physical way of playing music that people of all ages can really get into it.”
Physical aspects of the performance in-clude the use of arms, facial expressions and really low and arduous stances, Na-gata said. Ensemble members also swing their whole bodies back and forth with the drums as they create the taiko rhythms.
“It’s really about using our whole body and entire spirit when we play,” he said.
The ensemble will bring their strongest concert to Lipinsky, featuring their big-gest and best songs to impress the audi-ence, Nagata said.
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Na-gata discovered taiko drumming through a local Japanese-Canadian community center he volunteered at in his youth.
Beginning at age 13, he studied in To-ronto for 10 years, then professionally in Japan for two years before moving back to Canada in his mid-twenties to create the Nagata Shachu ensemble.
“The roots of our music come from traditional folk music and festival music that has existed in Japan for hundreds of years,” Nagata said. “What we’re trying to do is take these traditional instruments and music and adapt them for the stage.”
While the music has a traditional feel, the compositions are original, he said. The ensemble does not play strictly Japa-nese folk rhythms but takes influence from all around the world, including African and Latin music.
“The spirit and heart of our music is still Japanese,” Nagata said. “But we add cho-reography to the show and try to present it in such a way that it’s a little bit more theatrical. It’s very physical.”
At 12:45 p.m., the Nagata Shachu en-semble will give a demonstration and lec-ture on the art of taiko in the auditorium.
Gary Nallan, associate psychology professor at UNC Asheville, teaches two Japanese culture classes offered on cam-pus. Nallan studied in Japan twice through university fellowships, and, on both oc-casions, watched taiko drumming perfor-mances and participated in workshops.
As an athlete who runs 30 miles a week, Nallan said he was surprised to be sore in the days following the workshops.
“It’s the fact that very different muscles were used,” he said of taiko drumming.
Nagata said taiko shares many similari-
ties to the martial arts, like the low stanc-es. Before practice, members do 45 min-utes of stretching and warm-ups to avoid injury.
“You’ll hear a lot of shouting in our performance, also a similar feature to martial arts,” he said. “We shout to give ourselves extra energy and encourage fel-low performers to keep on fighting, even as you’re getting tired.”
His first teacher had a philosophy: the sound of the drum can bring people to-gether. Rhythm can be used as a way to instill peace in the world because it is such a universal language, Nagata said.
“It doesn’t matter your age, your gen-der, your culture, or nationality,” Nagata said. “When everyone’s in the theater and they’re experiencing this music, somehow we can all find a connection with each oth-er despite any differences we have. I think that’s the real power of what I do.”
UNCA wants to be a campus that de-livers a high-quality, global liberal arts education, which is why many professors from a variety of departments have taken advantage of fellowships and studied in Japan, according to Nallan.
The professors hope to offer students a Japanese studies topical cluster within a year and a half. From there, they will strive toward eventually offering a minor in Japanese studies, he said.
Literature professors Margaret Downes and Cynthia Ho currently work to devel-op courses in Japanese literature, while Charles Mcknight develops a class on Japanese music and theater, Nallan said.
Nallan’s own Japanese culture courses, LS 179 and LS 379, are currently of-
fered every fall semester. The course fo-cuses on topics like Japanese history, film and literature.
He encouraged all students to come to the show on Wednesday to experience something new and learn about a different culture.
John Buscarino, a music technology stu-dent and live events manager for Lipinsky Auditorium, will oversee recording to-night’s performance.
Though he does not have much former knowledge of taiko drumming, he said he is interested to see this cultural event be-cause it is outside of Lipinsky’s standard concert repertoire.
Sometimes this can make people reluc-tant to attend, Nagata said, because they don’t know what to expect.
“It’s not going to be two hours of con-tinuous pounding,” he said. “You’re not going to leave with a headache.”
The performance is dispersed with qui-eter moments utilizing bamboo flutes, a Japanese lute, and even some quieter drum songs. However, there will also be plenty of boisterous rhythms throughout the eve-ning’s event, he said.
“In particular, people love when we bring out our big drum, which is thunder-ous and impressive to look at,” he said. “That’s kind of our show piece.”
Both Nallan and Nagata acknowledge the kami, or spirit, of the drum when they talk about playing taiko.
“The Shinto religion is the native reli-gion of Japan. It’s a very positive and very nature-oriented religion,” Nallan said. “People who adhere to Shintoism believe that there are spirits in everything. They call them kami.”
Living things, as well as inanimate ob-jects like the drum, have a kami, he said.
“There’s a saying, that playing the taiko is a battle between the drummer and the drum,” Nagata said. “Sometimes the drummer wins, sometimes the drum wins.”
The drummer’s duty is to drum with all his heart and all his might to unleash the spirit of the drum, he said.
“And when that happens, you are really in the moment, and the entire concert flies by – you don’t even know what you just did,” Nagata said. “We always try to un-leash that spirit when we drum.”
The Nagata Shachu drumming ensem-ble opens UNC Asheville’s 2009-10 Cul-tural and Special Events season tonight at 8 p.m. in Lipinsky Auditorium. Tickets $18. Students $6.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 9Page 8
Japanese drumming to rattle Lipinsky walls
Photos courtesy of Nagata ShachuThe Nagata Shachu taiko ensemble brings their full-bodied percussive music to Lipinsky Auditorium tonight.
By Lorin MallorieManaging Editor
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 10 Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Asheville Art in the Park kicks off Satur-day, and it is not a normal crafts show. All artists in the show are local, and 10 percent of the proceeds go to Mountain BizWorks.
“This town has so much talent,” said Jason Probstein, director and artist in the crafts show. “This show allows artists a chance to make money in their backyard.”
Mountain BizWorks is a nonprofit orga-nization that provides training, coaching and lending services to start up-and-com-ing businesses in Western North Carolina.
Probstein, along with Andrew Mon-trie, planned the crafts show in only two months. He said that along with Montrie, they recruited artists at different shows by offering low booth fees, putting the show in a good location and giving a percentage to a good cause.
“I wanted to give artists an opportunity to sell their work surrounded by other art-ists that were at the same level of craft,” he said. “At the same time, they’re contrib-uting to the community by having a per-centage of sales go to a local nonprofit. It wasn’t being done, so we decided to do it ourselves.”
Jason Janow, a local metalsmith, said he was invited by Probstein and decided to participate in the show for a number of reasons.
“I felt like it could be lucrative for me. It’s a nice local show with low expenses and a great way to represent arts and crafts in our area, while meeting my customers,” Janow said.
Janow starts his work process by find-ing nature objects such as a river stone or branch.
“After I find an object, the wood branch-es get cast into silver and matched with complimentary river stones. Then the tech-nical part of the process begins by utilizing metalsmithing techniques, such as casting, fabricating and forming,” he said.
Andrew Craig of Appalachian Crafts said that he saw the show as a good oppor-tunity for his business and Asheville.
“It looked like a good opportunity for sales and to support what looks like a real-ly good project for downtown Asheville,” Craig said.
Montrie invited Sharon Bass, a local jewelry artist, to the show. When she cre-ates her work, she says it rarely starts on paper.
“I sit down with a basic design idea and when I have the wire and other elements in front of me that will suit the piece, I start building. Sometimes the idea takes on a
direction of its own, and I just go with it,” she said.
Janow says that he loves creating art and strives to be a craftsman.
“It’s a challenge, and I like that aspect of it. I’m drawn to creating art naturally. I’ve collected things in nature for as long as I can remember. In a sense, I feel that I am meant to create,” the metalsmith said. “I enjoy the process from the beginning when inspiration hits, to the end when a well-thought-out piece has evolved, taken shape and sparks emotion.”
Bass said creating art is very personal to her.
“You’re translating what came into the depths of your mind into a medium for others to see, which makes creating art so
honest and real,” she said. “For that rea-son, despite the sore fingers and tired eyes, I walk away from the work table each day fulfilled and accomplished.”
Other artists and businesses participat-ing in the show include: Muddy Knees Ceramic Design, Probstein Studios, Emily Reason, Jessica Stoddart, River District Artists, Dory Brown, Orb Clothing and Design, Haw Creek Forge, Claysmith Pot-tery, Kim Thompson and many others.
There will be no music or food at the crafts show, Probstein said, because he doesn’t want anything to be taken away from the artists and their craft.
When the artists went through the jury process for the crafts show, Probstein said the only critique he and Montrie looked for was if everything was handmade.
“We didn’t have much critique, but that was one important factor,” he said. “We couldn’t just accept art that only we liked.”
Probstein hopes this show will help new artists in the show gain experience and net-work with other artists.
“It’s all about networking, communicat-ing and building relationships with other artists, and getting that ‘hands-on experi-ence’ for the new artists that you can’t get anywhere else,” he said.
Along with Saturday, the show will also be held Oct. 10 and Oct. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville. Mediums will range from pot-tery to two-dimensional art.
CampusEvents
Free Yoga ClassHighsmith 222Wednesday,5:30 p.m.
Peter Turchi:Maps of theImagination LectureKarpen Hall 139Thursday,7 - 9p.m.
BSA Fashion Show Against DomesticViolence Alumni Hall Saturday,7 p.m.
Doubles DiscGolf TournamentMullen ParkSunday,2 p.m.
Exploring Majors and Internships FairAlumni HallTuesday,1 - 3 p.m.
For more campus activities, visit:
www.unca.edu/barker/
By Katherine LancasterStaff Writer
‘Art in the Park’ promotes artists, raises funds for local nonprofit
Megan Dombroski - Contributing PhotographerArtist Jason Probstein crafts a wine glass in his studio space.
“I wanted to give artists an opportunity to sell their work. At
the same time, they’re contributing to the
community by having a percentage of sales
go to a non profit.”
– Jason Probstein
Page 10 Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 11
Amid sing-a-longs, epic love songs and a stunning light show, the Decemberists proved Wednesday that the only way to perform a rock opera is to go big or go home.
The Decemberists, critically acclaimed for music that could be described as his-torical drama, played their entire new al-bum The Hazards of Love chronologically at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
The performance depicts the doomed love story of William (Colin Meloy) and Margaret (Becky Stark), the main charac-ters and starstruck lovers whose romance is doomed by William’s vengeful queen of a mother.
Sound lofty? The record, ambitious even for a band whose past subject matter in-cludes chimney sweeps and evil mariners, was executed to perfection onstage as the band strummed, drummed and accordion-ed their way into the hearts of the audi-ence, literally bringing them to their feet on the album’s first single, “The Rake’s Song.”
From then on, the crowd did not sit back down. The distinguished Wolfe audito-rium became the liveliest of dance halls. The audience swayed and rocked in time with Shara Worden of My Brightest Dia-mond, who spoke the part of the evil and angry queen in a way that sounded much more Stevie Nicks than overbearing ma-triarch.
Margaret, an innocent crooner impreg-nated by and madly in love with Meloy’s William, countered the queen’s blues-rock vocals.
The lovers’ demise occurs at the end of the concert with “The Wanting Comes in Waves Reprise,” a sped-up version of a song of the same title. William and Mar-garet still in love, but drowning, sing their lament as the final country-tinged guitars sway, a moment resonant of the band’s
early work.The early work was the focus of the sec-
ond set, as Meloy and company bantered their way through folksy, poppy favorites like “The Crane Wife” and “O Valencia.”
Indeed, Meloy was much more genial in this “best of” set. He joked during his last solo tour he thought Asheville consisted of the Orange Peel, a co-op and a coffee shop. The band rollicked their way through a var-ied array of little-known tracks and popu-lar singles such as “Leslie Ann Levine”
and “The Chimbley Sweep.”The real highlight was the last song of
the encore, the optimistic “Sons & Daugh-ters.” Meloy led the crowd in a rousing sing-a-long of the ending bridge “Here all the bombs fade away,” asking them to sing and hum with enough devotion to send them all the way home.
The Decemberists continue to demon-strate that even storytelling indie-folk can be accessible, enjoyable and downright rocking.
that environment to America is difficult, Neuer said.
“Here the sense of community is gone. When there are Jews everywhere, there is more of that sense that you belong some-where,” he said. “Over here, yes, you can have friends and you can talk to people and explain what Yom Kippur is, but that sense of community is gone.”
Due to the solemn nature of the holiday, there are five things Jews refrain from: food or drink, anointing the body, marital acts, bathing and wearing leather clothes.
“I thought it was very interesting. I see a lot of similarities between Judaism and
Christianity but, at the same time, I see even more differences. I like the fact that, throughout the decades, they have kept the same traditions and the same language,” said 22-year-old Lucy Patton.
Patton is a practicing Wiccan, and this is her first time experiencing the High Holy Days. This year she is baby-sitting at Beth Israel on Murdock Avenue.
“It was awkward for me since I’ve never been in a synagogue and the first time I am, I’m taking care of children,” she said. “There were a couple of the women who made me feel comfortable.
By the time I actually set foot into the
sanctuary, it felt like I was stepping into a church again. You get this somber presence about yourself, and you are calm, attentive and trying to participate in the parts in Eng-lish.”
The most important part of the service on the High Holy days is the Shofar blast. The Shofar is a ram’s horn that has died of natural causes and been cleaned during the service.
“The shofar made me aware of these people’s strong tie to tradition, and that is just one of the things I can really connect with,” Patton said. “I went from awkward to feeling still awkward yet connected.”
Yom KippurC o n t i n u e d f r o m P a g e 8
Decemberists perform rock operaBy Noor Al-Sibai
Staff Writer
Taliaferro Pollock - Staff PhotographerThe Decemberists played their rock opera, The Hazards of Love, in its entirety at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
STUDENT MODELS NEEDED:
A Fletcher, NC manufacturer of Tote Bags and Accessories sold in col-
lege bookstores is looking for UNCA student models (male and female) for an on-site photo shoot in mid-October for their 2010 product catalog. Email full-length, ¾ body, and headshot to [email protected]
(professional photos not required). Pay starting at $15/hour.
They can be embarrassing, shocking, hi-larious or insightful, but what the essence of the PostSecret project amounts to is honesty presented at its best on a postcard, creatively expressed and addressed to a stranger in Maryland.
More than 400,000 postcards have found their way to the mailbox of PostSecret founder Frank Warren. Many make it onto the PostSecret Web site, into book pages and displayed on projectors across the na-tion.
“The kind of secrets I see the most are for people, in different ways, expressing the feeling that so many of us have - that journey to find the one person we can share all of our secrets with,” Warren, 45, said. “I hope that through PostSecret we can recog-nize some of the secrets we keep from our-selves and find the courage to share them with the people we trust.”
The PostSecret project, Web site and books stemmed from a seemingly small-scale art project in which Warren was in-terested.
“I started by printing up a few thousand postcards, inviting strangers to write down a secret and mail them to me,” he said. “I passed them out in Washington, D.C., and slowly secrets began to find their way to my mailbox.”
Of the 3,000 Warren originally printed and handed out, he estimated 100 came back to him.
The PostSecret project is based in Ger-mantown, Md.,where Warren, a graduate of the University of California Berkeley, landed to be closer to world-class libraries for his job.
“I had a pretty boring job,” Warren said. “I was working in libraries copying docu-ments, so maybe the monotony of my work caused me to look for something with more meaning or more creativity in it. Some-times, having a boring job can be a good thing.”
Warren said he thought the project would end after the postcards in Washington D.C. had been passed out and mailed back, but the idea spread virally around the world.
“People began to buy their own postcards and make their own postcards. They’ve never stopped coming even though I stopped passing out the postcards years ago,” Warren said. “They kept coming and that’s when I wanted to keep sharing them with people. So, I started the blog, and the blog was very popular right from the start. It gets millions of visitors every month.”
The first book, titled PostSecret, emerged in 2005, published by William Morrow. Follow-up books include My Secret: A PostSecret Book, A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book and The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book.
“The blog was so popular that publish-
ers were contacting me asking me to put the cards in book form and I thought that was a great way to tell a longer story using our secrets,” Warren said.
The latest book, PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God, is scheduled to hit bookshelves Tuesday. On page 103, Warren placed two of his own secrets, put in post-card form, in the book.
“It has never-before-seen secrets and two of my secrets,” Warren said. “I have some of my secrets, usually one in every book, but in this book I have two.”
Each Sunday, Warren updates the Post-Secret blog site with a new selection of postcards. He said approximately 200 new postcards arrive at his house every day.
“Every secret is mailed to my home. I read every secret and keep every secret. I think it’s a very precious singular archive,” Warren said. “I don’t have the best organiz-ing method, but I do keep them all in a safe, secure location.”
When selecting the PostSecret cards that make it to the weekly blog and into the books, Warren’s choices are based on sev-eral factors.
“I search for the cards that really have that ring of authenticity to them and that really make the sender seem vulnerable,” he said. “I think those are the truly trust-
ing secrets and the most honest. I also like to include secrets that are funny, sexual, shocking or hopeful and just try and tell a story that we can all relate to through dif-ferent scenes from people’s lives they share with me on postcards.”
Warren received postcards from all over the world, including Iraq, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.
“Sometimes they come written in lan-guages that I don’t even recognize,” he said.
International interest in the PostSecret project sparked the creation of PostSecret blog sites in French, German and Spanish. The PostSecret communities abroad were launched by friends of Warren who con-tacted and worked with him on their cre-ation.
“I do read the French PostSecrets, as well,” said Madeline Jaekle, a French and political science student. “It’s interesting how secrets are cross-cultural and inter-national in their essence. I think it kind of alludes to the universal consciousness of people in general because a lot of the Post-Secrets, regardless of their language, are the same.”
Jaekle, who visited the site regularly over the past two years, said she has read a lot of secrets she feels have been significant to
her.“I think it’s a really good artistic out-
let for people who mail in secrets,” said Jaekle, a junior at UNC Asheville. “It’s just like a form of therapy really, because you can be really burdened by the secrets that you keep. Some of the PostSecrets are a little bit too dramatic for my taste. But, at the same time, there are a lot of really gen-uine ones that I feel are universal secrets that everyone has. It’s like a cultural thing to keep those things secrets, and it keeps people from expressing them and taking off a burden.”
Warren said, overall, everybody has been pretty positive about the PostSecret project, blog and books.
“When I started PostSecret, I was a vol-unteer answering the phones for 1-800-SUI-CIDE,” Warren said. “I knew firsthand the good work that they did, and so when Post-Secret got popular, I knew I wanted to use the Web site to raise awareness and funds for Hopeline.”
Warren is delighted to say that he has never taken a single dollar for a paid ad-vertisement, but the Web site has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the National Hopeline Network, the Kristin Brooks Hope Center’s crisis and suicide prevention hotline.
In 2005, The All American Rejects made a contribution to Hopeline in order to use original PostSecret postcards in the music video “Dirty Little Secret.”
“I was contacted by the director for the music video ‘Dirty Little Secret,’ and they asked me to use PostSecret postcards in the video. I said no,” Warren said. “But, I said if they made a $2,000 donation to Hope-line, I would give them permission. So they made the donation, and now you see that music video. Those are actual PostSecret postcards.”
Warren is scheduled to appear at 20 dif-ferent universities and performing arts cen-ters throughout the fall season, sharing the PostSecret experience.
“I share some of the inspiring and fun-ny stories behind the postcards,” Warren said. “I project on a screen images of se-crets.”
The PostSecret event in Greenville, S.C., will take place at the Peace Center
for the Performing Arts tomorrow. At the show, Warren will discuss the latest book and the project, as well as postcard se-crets the publisher banned from the book and never-before-seen cards.
“My favorite part is opening the con-versation to the full audience to have an uncensored discussion about all of our secrets,” he said. “Some very inspiring, emotional things can happen at that, and funny, too. People stand up and share all kinds of secrets.”
At the Found vs. PostSecret event, hosted by The Grey Eagle in 2007, at-tendee Lauren Foster, a UNCA senior, said the setting was intimate with Warren at the front projecting the secrets.
“He showed secrets that he’s never shown before and he talked about the project,” Foster said. “He told us about how the project started, and how he had no idea that it would be that big of a deal.”
Foster, who reads the PostSecret blog weekly, said being able to meet Warren as he talked to people in the audience before the event started was a great way to get a sense of his mannerisms and the kind of person he was.
“It was a fun thing to do and it was cool to see the guy who started it all, to put a face to the name,” she said. “For him to talk so passionately about the project was really cool. It just kind of made the whole PostSecret experience more tan-gible with more of a humanity to it and the secrets that are really personal.”
With 400,000 to choose from, Warren said a favorite postcard of his was made from a Starbucks cup which said, “I serve decaf to customers who are rude to me.”
As far as the future of PostSecret, War-ren said he just makes goals for the proj-ect and follows it wherever it leads.
“I hope it gives people more empathy, knowing that other people have secrets
just as heavy as their own,” he said. “That we can all appreciate the hidden lives that other people have and that we have in ways that make us feel more con-nected.”
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 13Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 12
PostSecret creator Frank Warren comes to Greenville By Erin McWhorter
AssistAnt Arts & FeAtures editor
Warren said a favorite postcard of his was made from a Starbucks cup which said, “I serve decaf to customers who are rude to me.”
Graphics and photos courtesy of Frank WarrenLeft, the cover of the latest PostSecret book. Above, postcards submitted anonymously to PostSecret. Below, Frank Warren at a book signing.
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With two meets under their belt and the bulk of the season left, the men’s and women’s cross country teams hope for success and look to make some noise in the Big South Conference.
“I feel like the team as a whole is on a completely new level of competi-tion this year,” said sophomore Emma Bussard. “We have five truly motivat-ed and enthusiastic freshmen that have brought us to the point where we will be strong contenders for placing in the top five in the conference this year and surprising our competition.”
Both the womens’ and mens’ teams finished fourth out of seven teams in the Big South Preview on Sept. 19, sparking confidence in the Bulldogs for the season ahead.
“After our first two performances I feel pretty good about both teams,” said senior Adam Vick. “The guys have their work cut out for them in or-der to place as high as we did last year, but we are remaining confident that we can be there.”
The top performer for the men’s team in the 8k run at the Big South Preview, sophomore Eliud Chirchir, finished in eighth place with a time of 27:14. Sophomore Sam Maynard grabbed 21st place with a time of 28:11.
Sophomores Kent Rankin and Adam Schnapp, junior Jay Barringer and Vick rounded out the strong per-formance for the Bulldogs.
Freshmen Melanie Kulesz and Clair Powel spearheaded the women’s suc-cess at the Big South Preview with a ninth and 10th place finish in the 5k, respectively.
They led all UNCA women with times of 19:49 and 19:50.
Coming in behind them were fresh-men Kylie Smith and Alyska Kalmei-jer, sophomore Mackenzie Wheaton, seniors Rachael Ambrosia and Katie
Olert.Bussard was also very confident
that the strong performance of the re-turners contributed to a solid women’s team.
“All of our returners have stepped it up in terms of training and racing,” she said. “We probably currently have one of the strongest girl’s teams that UNCA has had in awhile.”
The Bulldogs also competed in the Western Carolina Invitational on Sept. 4, where the women placed fourth and the men placed third out of four teams.
Kalmeijer led the women’s side with a 15th place finish in the two mile run with a time of 12:34.
Behind her finished Wheaton, Am-brosia, Bussard, freshman Jennifer Black, sophomore Allison Shields and
sophomore Aurelia Baca.The men’s 5k run at the Western
Carolina Invitational saw a fourth place finish by Chirchir at a time of 16:19. Rankin, Barringer, Schnapp and freshman Chris Murray finished behind Chirchir to secure a third place finish at the meet.
The Bulldogs compete next at the Charlotte Invitational on Oct. 2. UNCA prepares extensively each week for their next meet.
Vick said the team holds the deter-mination and desire to finish in the top half of the conference.
“As far as preparation for every meet, every workout holds its purpose with the main goal being to place high at the conference meet,” Vick said. “Outside of running, we have to make sure we are sleeping a good amount
and eating the right stuff. Coach Nor-man prepares us with the workouts we do, but, at the end of the day, taking care of our bodies so that we can per-form at the top level is something that we have to take responsibility for.”
That responsibility will determine how well the Bulldogs perform when they hit their stride. Both teams have established what they want to accom-plish for the season.
“I absolutely love our team this year,” Bussard said. “The girls are so dedicated, and we are set on our goals.”
“Both teams are absolutely better than last year,” Vick said. “But the Big South has gotten much more competi-tive as well. We have to advance along with the other teams in order to remain competitive.”
Susan Israel - Photography EditorSam Maynard, Jay Barringer, Adam Vick and Adam Schnapp prepare for the Charlotte Invitational.
SportsWednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 14
Cross country teams determined for strong seasonBy Dan Weller
Staff Writer
Bulldogs unable to contain high-powered Wildcats
See page 15
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 15
Second half surge gives Wildcats 3-1 victory over UNCA
In a tough away game against nationally ranked University of Ken-tucky, the men’s soccer team settled with a 3-1 loss, conceding two goals in the span of 39 seconds.
Battling through muddy conditions, UNC Asheville kept with Kentucky until giving up three goals to the Wildcats during the last 30 minutes of the game.
“I thought we competed very well,” said Head Coach Steve Cor-nish. “It was disappointing in the manner the game was played because we couldn’t hold on, but overall a good performance.”
The game against the 20th ranked Wildcats was battled at the Wildcat Stadium in Kentucky on a less than desirable soccer field.
“We played in a mud hole,” said Nick Stemkowski, a sophomore mid-fielder from Charlotte. “It was gross and disgusting.”
Freshman forward David Wood was also not impressed.
“The field wasn’t wet. It was just soft mud, slippery,” he said. “It was difficult to run, like running in sand, and difficult to keep your footing.”
This did not phase the Bulldogs in the first half of the game as UNCA stayed strong, saving all six of the Wildcats shots on goal and clearing out their two corner kicks.
UNCA also managed to get off three shots on goal and goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen was not forced to make any difficult saves.
“In the first half we gave as much as we got,” Cornish said. “We had a couple of good chances and with a 0-0 end to the first half, we were in a great position to get something out.”
This “something” came in the form of the Bulldogs’ first goal, scored right after halftime by sophomore forward Bryan Bartels at the 50-minute mark.
A diagonal ball was crossed to David Wood on the right who, after some quick dribbling up field, made an early ball across the box finding Bartels at the near post. Finishing it off perfectly, Bartels struck an unstop-
pable line drive header straight to the back of the net.
“It was a perfect cross,” said Bar-tels on Wood’s assist.
However, exploiting UNCA’s slackened defense from their quick goal, the Wildcats were fast to retali-ate and scored their first goal three minutes later.
Wood took down a Wildcat for-ward hard in the box and officials awarded UK a penalty kick that nar-rowly slipped by Hurskainen to tie the game.
“You’re always vulnerable to con-ceding a goal right after making one because you’re on a high,” Cornish said. “We got sloppy defensively and probably shouldn’t have tackled in the box. It was mistimed and at a poor angle. Lassi (Hurskainen) got close though.”
As if the equalizer wasn’t enough,
43 seconds later, the Wildcats struck again, belting a ball from 35 yards out across the field straight to the near post.
“It was a screamer,” Stemkowski said. “The dude just ripped it.”
Aside from coping with the shock of seeing their advantage snatched away from them within the space of four minutes, the game settled down for Asheville and the score remained constant at 2-1 Kentucky.
Although UK outshone Asheville in shots on goal in the second half with 18-4, it wasn’t until the 82nd minute, just eight minutes shy of the full time whistle, that the Wildcats struck again, scoring their third and final goal.
The goal came from a corner kick that shot to the far post and was picked up by UK’s Chad Hagerty, who headed it straight into the corner
of the net.However, the Bulldogs had one
last surge and although sophomore forward Bryan George made a final attempt in the 87th minute to get the ball past the keeper, no more goals materialized and the score was final-ized at 3-1 Kentucky.
One of the reasons for UK’s sud-den goal surge, according to Cornish, may have been a change in the team’s formation that happened midway through the second half.
“We changed formation to 3-4-3 as we were looking for the equalizer,” he said. “We were able to withstand a whole lot of their pressure, but it was when we pushed forward that they got their third.”
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs were not too disappointed, knowing that they were up against a nationally ranked team.
“We played all right, it’s just hard to hold the ball up against such good players,” he said. “We thought we could contest them, but it’s hard against such a good team.”
Stemkowski agrees with Bartels’ viewpoint.
“We all played pretty well. We all tried to do our jobs, we just got unlucky,” Stemkowski said.
However, Wood is not so forgiving.“Overall they deserved to win, they
were good. Very physical, tough and athletic, but we did have chances that we should have scored,” he said.
Even Cornish was not overly dismayed, pointing out the only teams that the Bulldogs have lost to this year, aside from USC Upstate, are very highly acclaimed.
“If you think about who we’ve lost to, there’s Davidson who has a record of something like 6-1, Georgetown who’s similar and Carolina who are number two in the nation. It’s very difficult to go to Kentucky and get anything, so it was a good perfor-mance,” he said.
The Bulldogs play at home on Saturday at 4 p.m. against High Point University. The match kicks off the first of eight conference games lead-ing up to the Big South Conference tournament in November.
Ian Shannon - Assistant Photograhy EditorAlex Koslick (15) breaks toward goal in the Bulldogs first home loss.
“We had a couple of good chances and with a 0-0 end to the first half we were in
great position to get something out.”
– Head Coach Steve Cornish
By Natalie PearsonStaff Writer
Page 16{T h e B l u e B a n n e r }Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Photo Corner: Women’s Volleyball
Emily Kerr -- Contributing PhotographerClockwise from upper left,Holly Shelton and Cindi Miller block a Gardner-Webb spike. Lauren Ficker and Bridget Holliday serve the Runnin’ Bulldogs. UNCA celebrates their home victory. Ficker seals the win with a late block.
Comics,Etc...Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 17
For more Blundergrads comics, go to www.blundergrads.com
Cookies
The Twisted Tales of Timmy and His Amazing Action Contraption by: Robin Devitt-Ryder
For more Fatawesome comics, go to www.fatawesome.com
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 18
Astronomy
Puzzle answers published in the Comics, Etc
online section weekly at
thebluebanner.net
ANDROMEDA- GALAXYAPOGEEASTEROIDASTRONOMERATMOSPHEREAURORABINARY STARBLACK HOLECONSTELLATIONCORONACRATER
DEEP SPACEECLIPSEEQUINOXGALAXIESGALILEOGRAVITYHUBBLEKEPLERLIGHT YEARMETEORMILKY WAY
MOONNEBULAORBITPARSECPERIGEEPOLARISPROXIMA- CENTAURIPULSARSQUASARSRED GIANTSATELLITE
SOLAR SYSTEMSOLAR WINDSPACE SHUTTLESPACECRAFTSTARSSUNSUPERNOVATELESCOPETIDESUNIVERSEWHITE DWARF
CampusVoiceFitting into society today means being yourself
You’re “acting white.”You’re “acting black.”The behavior of “being black”
became apparent to me in grade school.
As a child, “acting white” meant getting good grades, speak-ing with proper English and danc-ing without rhythm. “Acting black” meant making bad grades, using slang and wearing braided hair.
Only people of my own race accused me of “acting white.”
I now realize these are damag-ing stereotypes about the black and white races.
No individual of any ethnic-ity should be accused of acting outside of his or her race. Stereo-types are harsh generalizations that only describe a group accord-ing to appearance and behavior, not individual character.
UNC Asheville junior Melissa Talley is one of many students accused of acting outside of her race.
“I have been accused of try-ing to talk ‘white.’ At that time, I didn’t understand then what I know now,” Talley said. “Being raised in a predominantly white neighborhood, I have been ex-posed to an entirely different en-vironment than those who grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood.”
The number of black high school dropouts decreased, but the number of black students in college increased since 1990, ac-cording to the U.S. Census Bu-reau.
Because we can all agree going to college is a favorable choice in our society, more black people to-day of the upper and lower classes obtain degrees.
“I believe the influence to our people, the black community, is not always positive,” Talley said. “It’s all right to encourage our young generation that education is important. However, in order to obtain this, we must abide to their standard of acceptance.”
Talley refers to the standards of “being black” as looking, speak-ing and acting “ethnic” or “ghet-to.”
If some black people do not project a stereotype that would apply to them, they should not be criticized.
Many black stereotypes only seem to refer to those of the lower class, which include things like being criminal, poor, lazy and ig-norant.
Society won’t take a black per-son seriously if they dress, sound and act like a criminal on the street.
Therefore, “acting black” around other races encourages these stereotypes.
For example, if a black person said, “I like watermelon because I am black,” it justifies the stereo-type. Saying, “I like watermelon because it’s tasty,” justifies an in-dividual belief.
Based on experience, perform-ing black stereotypes is not al-ways accepted, especially if you are the minority.
Due to the low percentage of black students at UNCA, “acting
black” seems unnecessary.This doesn’t mean minorities
should disregard the cultural tra-ditions of their race, but if a black person walked into an important interview with baggy jeans and without speaking proper Eng-lish, they’re not going to get the job.
According to junior Adam Bryant, no one ever accuses him of not “acting white” or “acting black.”
“Whenever I see people trying to portray stereotypes, it is done as a joke. Even though it seems comical, it also seems very seri-ous,” Bryant said.
Some black people find it fun-ny to speak articulate, like a ste-reotypical white person, and some white people find it funny to use slang, like a stereotypical black person. In any case, these gener-alizations are not comical when used to insult a whole race.
“I think people hold on to ra-cial stereotypes to try to cover up the fact that they might be racist,” Bryant said. “Most people feel ac-cepted within their own environ-ment of people who look, talk and act like them.”
In other words, some minori-ties try to act according to the standards of their society.
If white people listen to hip-hop or if black people shop at Hollister to fit in, so be it. Everyone should express themselves according to their own self-interest, not others.
“I think the media plays an
extreme role in reference to ra-cial identity,” Bryant said. “You always see the portrayal of a ste-reotypical black, Asian, Hispanic or white person. Why should one person be responsible to represent their entire race?”
A lot of people don’t recog-nize the extreme measures some people perform to feel socially ac-cepted.
The amount of cosmetic proce-dures among all minority races in-creases as the number of cosmetic procedures for whites decreases, according to the American Soci-ety of Plastic Surgeons.
Cosmetic procedures for all races include rhinoplasty, skin-lightening treatment, lip, breast and buttock augmentation, ac-cording to the ASPS.
Getting cosmetic surgery to enhance beauty is ridiculous. No one should do anything this dras-tic to alter their beauty.
Many minorities may say they don’t fulfill Americans’ notion of beauty, but everyone should be content with the way they were created.
The media tells society what they should and should not look like based on stereotypes. This needs to stop.
The stereotypes portrayed do not represent everyone in a race.
Stereotypes all around are negative and should not be used. There are too many people in this world to generalize and put every-one in a box.
By Precious BarksdaleStaff Writer
The media tells society what they should and should not look like based on
stereotypes. This needs to stop.
Page 20{T h e B l u e B a n n e r }Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Students should focus on self-expression rather than the shallow eye of society
Natural gas offers America a green futurePage 21{T h e B l u e B a n n e r }Wednesday, September 30, 2009
For the past several years, envi-ronmentally concerned Americans spoke about biodiesel and hybrid vehicles as the best alternative fuel source, while natural gas is cleaner than both of them.
Many people recognize natural gas as a common source of resi-dential heating and don’t know this same clean energy successful-ly powers vehicles all around the world, but only a handful of cars in America.
Currently, the Honda Civic GX is the only compressed natural gas vehicle produced by a major auto-maker in the United States, and its numbers don’t disappoint.
“The Honda Civic GX is the cleanest internal combustion ve-hicle made by an auto manufactur-er,” said Par Neiburger, research and regulation specialist at Tran-seco Energy Corporation.
The vehicle is 90 percent cleaner than the average gasoline-powered vehicle on the road today, concern-ing emissions, and averages 36 miles per gallon on the highway, according to Honda.
Of course, like a hybrid, num-bers this large put a more expen-sive price tag on the vehicle. In this case, the U.S. government helps buyers with the bill.
“The majority of the extra cost you get back as a tax credit of $4,000 from the government,” said Bill Eaker, coordinator of the Clean Vehicles Coalition.
Whatever price difference the tax credit doesn’t pay off imme-diately, the gas prices will cover soon enough. The average price for compressed natural gas, or CNG, is $1 less than regular gaso-line per gallon, according to Eaker.
“When gasoline was $4 a gal-lon, natural gas was $2 a gallon,” he said. The current price at the CNG station downtown is $1.39 per gallon.
Moreover, CNG’s efficiency at powering heavy-duty vehicles also sets it apart from the hybrid-vehi-
cle industry. Buses, 18-wheelers and even trains already success-fully implement this technology around the world.
There is no legitimate reason America should not be buzzing with CNG vehicles. Ironically, the Environmental Protection Agency is the biggest barrier between this paramount alternative energy and a greener America.
The EPA is responsible for regu-lating greenhouse gas emissions in automobiles in the United States and sets the certified standard that all automotive emissions systems must meet. This makes converting an emissions system nearly impos-sible.
Transeco Energy Corporation in Arden is dedicated to the growth and development of alternative energy for transportation, making CNG conversion systems for gas-oline-powered vehicles.
According to Transeco Energy, while a 1998 Ford Focus may use the exact same engine as the 1997 model, the EPA requires a separate $100,000 certification for each ve-hicle year.
This relegates the CNG vehicle industry to a fleet-based market, where a company or government agency orders a particular vehicle model and year in bulk.
“We can’t spend $100,000 to certify a conversion system if we aren’t going to sell it in bulk,” Nei-burger said.
This way, the EPA regulations strangle the market for CNG vehi-
cles in America, while both Europe and South America show thriving CNG vehicle markets, subsidized by the government and free of fed-eral restrictions.
Reform must come to the cur-rent restrictions that prevent the country from utilizing its most vi-able alternative-energy resource.
Drillers recently discovered how to tap into shale rock basins more than a mile below the earth’s surface and effectively extract natural gas embedded in the rock. This new resource drastically in-creases our estimated domestic supply, now 35 percent higher than just two years ago.
“We’ve got hundreds of years of domestic supply of natural gas,” 30-year-old Neiburger said.
This puts the issue into a fuller political perspective, beyond en-vironmental conservation. Natu-ral gas could play a crucial role in gaining independence from for-eign oil in the Middle East.
This will not happen until the administration follows through with policy and action.
The Natural Gas Act, presented before Congress in April, initiated the first step toward real adminis-trative support. If passed, the bill will modify the tax-credit policy to significantly benefit all CNG expenditures, providing greater incentive for vehicle purchases, manufacturing and installation of fueling stations, among other things.
The dilemma of successfully
working natural gas into the au-tomotive infrastructure is a true catch-22. The demand for CNG vehicles will not increase until the number of CNG fueling stations increases, and fueling stations will not be built until more CNG ve-hicles occupy the street.
The government must put pres-sure on the CNG vehicle market. But how can the U.S. government implement an alternative-energy agenda into a private industry?
Maybe the government could fork over billions and billions of dollars to the three biggest Ameri-can automakers and then allocate at least a percentage of the funds to CNG innovation. But who could imagine the government giving that much money to private indus-try, even with stipulations?
The federal government clearly missed out on this golden oppor-tunity to act first and put pressure on the alternative-energy market. At least North Carolina is doing its part.
The Department of Energy re-cently implemented grants that will build five or six new natural gas stations across the state, dou-bling the number of stations in the Asheville area from two to four within the next two years.
“The grant will also help fund five separate projects for fleets of natural gas vehicles,” Eaker said. Locally, UNC Asheville already has a small fleet, along with Mis-sion Hospital and the city of Ashe-ville.
According to Eaker, the growth of CNG as an industry brings a fourth benefit to the nation by stimulating the hurting job market.
Natural gas can help provide more jobs, freedom from foreign oil, cheaper prices at the pump and cleaner greenhouse gas emissions. It sounds like enough dynamic benefits to neutralize the parti-sanship and polarized agendas in Congress and truly work toward a brighter future for America.
Please visit www.transecoenergy.com for information on converting your car or buying a CNG vehicle.
By Timothy MeinchStaff Writer
Taliaferro Pollock - Staff PhotographerBiodiesel, like what is produced by Blue Ridge BioFuels, is more environmen-tally friendly than gasoline, but natural gas is an even cleaner burning fuel.
Letter to the EditorPage 22{T h e B l u e B a n n e r }Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Jonathan, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Stephen Bava, and I am a junior at UNCA. I was recently reading the Blue Banner when I came across an article you wrote titled “Madame speaker, the clown from Columbia.”
Through the entire article you used personal attacks that are not relevant to Joe Wilson’s politics, and used incredibly mis-leading information, aka, you lie.
First if you could, please ex-plain to me why you attack him on a personal level by calling him a clown, and ignorant? Do you know anything about poli-tics? Clearly not, because all you can do is call names and whine. Second, your cute little title you made “by ignoring Wilson, Obama retained the high ground and denied dignity and legitimacy to the congressman.” You do real-ize that Obama is currently being viewed as a coward don’t you? He couldn’t even prove then and there that what Wilson said was false. Which Wilson wasn’t lying, in the bill it doesn’t include immi-grants from not getting in on the health care. (Do you seriously get information from the A.A.? They
are incredibly biased, and opin-ionated like you, is that why you use them?)
Next, Obama outsmarted the Republicans and the media, ha ha, do you think that the right side was sitting outside saying “okay Wilson, you yell something in his speech, and then we will add on” OH but no, Obama didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say any-thing at all, and people like you perceived it as outsmarting the right side.... You can’t be seri-ous...
Next, you talk about S.C. hav-ing so many uninsured people and then you carelessly throw out some random numbers trying to support your point. Consider this, if every state spent $2.5 billion a year in tax-payer money that would be amazing compared to Obama’s health care reform. Let’s say the EVERY state payed $5 billion a year for their citizens (and illegals) that would be $250 billion a year, that is nothing compared to what Obama wants to do. Obama wants to pump $1 trillion in the reform at the start. AT THE START!!! Who knows what will be next?!?!? And insurance premiums will rise.
Also, a little fact that you can take to the bank, since you have no facts of your own. Of the 40 some million uninsured Ameri-cans, ONLY around 10 million can’t actually get it, the rest don’t want it, or simply don’t realize they can get it. Maybe if you take this fact to the bank and invest it, it will mutiply and give you more facts, because you need some my friend.
Lastly, I challenge you to pub-lish the facts you are about to read, and keep in mind, these rejected amendments are real, not fake, and Obama and his group have rejected them all! All the amend-ments can be found in the link, please read them all carefully, and notice the Democrats are also in-volved in this amendments.
Get back to me after you have done your research.
- Steven Bava, junior
Letter to the Editor:Editorial cites wrong facts
Dear Editor,
An article from your Wednes-day, Sept. 23 issue contained fac-tual errors.
In the article “Something smells, and it might just be you,” Precious Barksdale said, “Ath-lete’s foot, herpes and lice are common bacterial infections transmitted through direct con-tact, according to the CDC.” All three of those claims are false.
The American Heritage Dic-tionary states that athlete’s foot is a type of fungus, herpes is a virus and lice are small insects. The claim that they are “bacterial infections” is flawed because al-though they are indeed transmit-ted from personal contact, they are not forms of bacteria.
If there are to be articles per-taining to our health and wellness, care needs to be taken to be sure that they are actually true.
- Concerned freshman
Editorial uses biased information to condemn Rep. Joe Wilson
Editor’s note: In an effort to pre-serve the original intent of this letter, it ran unedited. A link in-cluded in the letter will be posted at www.thebluebanner.net.
Photo illustration courtesy of Jonathan Walczak
President Obama spoke in Asheville last year to 28,000 people less than a month before the election.
?
The Blue Banner’s ViewNew position raises questions about hiring, not Farrington
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 {T h e B l u e B a n n e r } Page 23
While The Blue Banner doesn’t question Emergency Management Coordinator Sylvia Farrington’s qualifications, the editorial staff does question her hiring process.
Farrington seems to have bona fide experience, and early signs show she is friendly and willing to work with students. We have confidence in her ability to per-form her duties.
However, the way campus of-ficials hired Farrington as quickly as possible to fill the vacant seat raises several interesting points.
Since the position is intended to organize safety resources and planning, it stands to reason the better thing for administrators to do would be to hire the most qual-ified person rather than the first available candidate.
This is not a critique of Far-rington, but rather of the hiring process. She may be the most qualified candidate, but there is no way to know since the univer-sity bypassed a proper search.
In last week’s issue, Bill Hag-
gard, vice chancellor for student affairs, reported the hire was a precautionary measure against emergencies, which include the H1N1 virus.
Administrators seem slightly paranoid. A news release an-nouncing Farrington’s appoint-ment cited, among other emergen-cies, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Avian Flu scares of recent years. SARS only infected 27 people in the United States and the much-hyped Avian Flu never spread far beyond Asia.
UNC Asheville shouldn’t be overly concerned with vague threats, but should instead focus on realistic risks, including poten-tial shootings.
With practically no major emergencies in the past decade
and a low crime rate, administra-tors should also focus on provid-ing more educational resources.
We don’t intend to minimize the threats UNCA faces. Yet it is necessary to turn an objective and critical eye on Farrington’s ap-pointment.
Does UNCA expect an emer-gency coordinator to personally protect students from everything?
Expecting Farrington, or any other individual, to bear the bur-den of thousands of students’ safety is not realistic.
There are three reasons we believe administrators hired Far-rington.
First, they genuinely care about student safety.
Second, filling the position gives students and their parents
peace of mind.Finally, in the event of a major
emergency, Farrington will be the first person critics target if things go wrong. Like her former boss, FEMA Director Michael Brown, who coordinated the federal gov-ernment’s response to Hurricane Katrina, Farrington could make an easy scapegoat.
Perhaps Farrington is a insur-ance policy against critics who will inevitably scrutinize UNCA’s administration in the event of an emergency. Let’s hope this is not the case.
Again, our concern rests pri-marily with the way administra-tors hired Farrington and with their rationale for filling her po-sition the way they did, not with Farrington herself.
It’s not about ignoring emer-gencies or pretending they don’t happen; it’s about questioning what’s best for students. Admin-istrators acted negligently by fill-ing the position without a proper candidate search.
The Blue Banner is UNC Asheville’s student newspaper. We publish each Wednesday except during summer ses-sions, finals week and holiday breaks. Our office is located in Karpen Hall 019.
The Blue Banner is a designated fo-rum for free speech and welcomes let-ters to the editor, considering them on basis of interest, space and timeliness. Letters and articles should be e-mailed to [email protected]. They should be signed with the writer’s name, fol-lowed by year in school, major or other relationship to UNCA. Include a tele-phone number to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing.
The Blue Banner Editorial BoardKarpen Hall 019 (828) 251-6586 www.thebluebanner.net
Jonathan Walczak, Editor-in-Chief
Lorin Mallorie, Managing Editor
Cassady Sharp, News Editor
Sam Hunt, Arts & Features Editor
Greg Hicks, Sports Editor
Susan Israel, Photography Editor
Tom McLean, Co-Campus Voice Editor
Patrick Zarcone, Co-Campus Voice Editor
Matt Starkey, Web Editor
Jesse Michel, Design Editor
David Milton, Assistant News Editor
Erin McWhorter, Assistant Arts & Features Editor
Ian Shannon, Assistant Photography Editor
Anna Kiser, Business Manager
Patricia Furnish, Copy Desk Chief
Jason Howell, Promotions Director
Alyssa Spencer, Distribution Director
Michael Gouge, Faculty Adviser
Have a tip?
Jonathan WalczakEditor-in-Chief
We have complete confidence in Sylvia Farrington’s ability to perform her duties.
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