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(09/29/04 12:00pm)
Autumn is the perfect season to spend outside. The sun is shining, the humidity is gone and the leaves are turning out symphonies of color. So when you feel the need to commune with nature on the weekends or your day off from classes, look no further than our own Mercer County area for fun fall activities.
For better or worse fall is associated with back to school. But what better way to start off the new academic year than picking an apple for your teacher?
Going apple-picking is an experience unique to fall that is a great way to spend an afternoon. The unmistakable scent of fresh Macintosh and golden delicious apples wafts through the tree-lined avenues of area farms during the months of September and October. Apple-picking is also inexpensive, and when you're done you'll have all the apples you can eat.
A good place to start is Terhune Orchard in Princeton (330 Cold Soil Road; 609-924-2310; terhuneorchards.com). Farm Festival weekends began with Apple Day last weekend and run until late October.
Picking your own apples from the tree is much more enjoyable than shifting through Sodexho's supply of produce.
"The apples are a lot fresher here and they're cheaper than buying them in the store," Paul Sheak, an employee at Turhune Orchards, said.
Terhune Orchards is more than just apples, with other fresh produce and flowers to buy along with homemade pies and cider.
The farm also sells apple cider doughnuts - a Terhune Orchard speciality
"Everyone seems to get them when they come," Sheak said. "People just love them."
Another staple of autumn is of course Halloween. And no Halloween would be complete without pumpkins. Whether they be in the form of jack-o-lanterns, pies or pancakes, pumpkins are best when you pick them yourself.
West Windsor U-Pick (1220 Windsor Road, 609-443-9379) is a nearby farm that specializes in pumpkin-picking during the fall season. After you've found the pumpkin perfect for you, refrain from hacking away at its waxy exterior and try painting it instead, another option offered at the farm.
Once you've finished your masterpiece you'll be just in time to head off on a spooky Halloween hayride. (But if you're a scaredy-cat at heart, you can just blame your allergies and hang out by the petting zoo - which offers a much less intimidating milieu).
When you think of fall, the colors red and orange pop into your head for other reasons than just apples and pumpkins. The leaves are changing not only to crimson and auburn, but gold and indigo as well. And of course there's no place that has more trees than an arboretum.
One is on site at Longstreet Farm in Holmdel, Monmouth County (Longstreet Road, 732-842-4000). Along with the tree preserve, the farm features nature trails and a farmhouse restored to its 1890 appearance.
Stone Brook Millstone Watershed (31 Titus Mill Rd. Pennington, 609-737-7592, thewatershed.org) is another nature preserve alive with fall color. Its 585 acres hold an education center and nature trails, on which, if you walk quietly enough, you might see snakes and turtles.
Visit its Web site to learn about upcoming fall events such as the "Walk through the Solar System" and "Stuff Ye'r Scarecrow" programs that are either free or reasonably priced.
If you're willing to stray into Pennsylvania, visit Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve (1635 River Road - Route 32 New Hope, PA, bhwp.org). Just two and a half miles from New Hope, this 100-acre preserve offers over 1,000 species of native plants, all of which feature riots of color in the fall months.
Easy nature trails offer views of the river and if you're up for a challenge, you can hike up to Bowman's Tower, a Revolutionary War oupost.
Walk quietly and you'll find fish swimming in the river, snakes, turtles and frogs in the pond, and maybe a wild turkey will cross your path.
After a day of nature, New Hope, with its stores and food, is just down the road (complete with witches and costume shops for your Halloween needs).
So this fall, don't let another weekend afternoon pass without stepping out into nature. With winter coming, you're going to be spending a lot of time in your dorm room, but your fall outings will help tide you over until the spring.
(09/22/04 12:00pm)
Being an upperclassman certainly has its perks - having a car, getting to take courses that pertain to your career, maybe living in a single or at least with people of your choice.
There are responsibilities, however, that come with this move up the totem pole, perhaps the most important of which is making the choice between diving into the working pool or going on to further education.
For seniors, and even juniors and sophomores, the time to think about graduate school is now. Much like the process of applying to college in high school, the search starts well before you fill out the first page of an application. It starts when you take an active role in researching graduate programs and institutions and making connections with faculty at the school of your choice.
The office of Career Services recommends that at the latest, the process should begin one full year and a half before the start of professional school. Again, like college, there is the early decision option, and these applications can be due even before your senior academic year begins. A number of other schools require applications to be in before the end of the fall semester, with a few in the winter and early spring and some that have rolling applications for students who want to start classes in the spring.
Most graduate programs will have open houses or other forums when potential students are invited to come tour the school and meet the faculty. If you can't make it to the date, you can call the office of your program of interest and try to arrange another date when you would be allowed to view the facilities and talk to some of the faculty.
If your school of choice is too far away to visit easily, still make it a point to contact the school so that you can have a connection with some of the faculty in the program to make yourself stand out from the thousands of other applicants.
Applications are only the beginning. You will also need to procure at least a few letters of recommendation from your professors. Make sure to approach the professors who you would like to write you a letter of recommendation far in advance and provide them with any supplemental materials that they needs to fill out.
Expect that some specialized programs will require a portfolio of work or an interview, in most other areas you will be required to write a personal statement, and perhaps submit other examples of your work. Graduate schools will judge your personal statement on how concisely you present your ideas and how clearly you have thought through your graduate school career and life goals beyond.
What would applying to school be without standardized testing? While some schools and programs have their own subject-specific tests that you are required to take, most applicants will have a throw-back to SATs when they register for the general Graduate Record Exam (GRE). The GREs are flexible, as computer testing is offered almost daily in testing centers at various times.
When you register you will receive a study package, but there are also additional books and online resources to help you study as well as classes to take to prepare for the exam.
Other tests for specific professions include the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Some programs require a GRE subject test, similar to the SAT IIs, focused on an area of study.
Of course you don't have to travel this road alone. Your advisor, professors and the office of Career Services are all important resources to utilize when researching, choosing and applying to graduate school. The Career Services Web site has a number of helpful tips, as well as links to graduate schools and available scholarships. For more information, visit petersons.com, fastweb.com and princetonreview.com.
(04/07/04 12:00pm)
Paris-born Louise Bourgeois' anthropomorphic work "Eyes" is a large marble sculpture that shows the persistence of Surrealist ideals in her late work. Bourgeois's work is characterized by an idiosyncratic style infused with sexual allusions.
According to art historians, the eye, a recurring motif in Surrealism, served as both a symbol for the act of perception and as an allusion to female sexual anatomy. Atop the marble block chiseled in various places to resemble a house (a recurring theme in her work) are two highly polished round balls with a carved circular opening at each center. As a unit they suggest a bold abstract head, a female torso or the symbolic marriage of woman to home and family.
"Eyes" is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
(03/31/04 12:00pm)
National Parks are one of the nation's most valuable resources. They provide sanctuary for millions of animals, many of whom are endangered, and preserve the land's natural beauty. They also provide people with a place to wind down and get away from urban sprawl and hectic city life.
However, these national treasures are themselves endangered by recent budget restrictions that caused the Park Service to tell superintendents of national parks to cut down on services without letting the public know.
These cuts call for closing certain small, historic sites a couple days a week, shutting visitor centers on federal holidays and winter months, closing parks Sundays and Mondays and eliminating all guided ranger tours and lifeguards at some beaches.
The Associated Press reported that the message to superintendents was disclosed by an association of retired National Park Service employees. The group released a memo e-mailed last month to park superintendents in the Northeast from the Park Service's Boston office.
The disclosure came when a parks advocacy group issued a report claiming that America's national parks are being underfunded by as much as $600 million a year, forcing severe cuts that threaten resources and undermine visitors' enjoyment.
Also in the memo was a plea from officials asking for employees to advise them if any controversy over the cuts arise, in an effort to avoid public backlash. According to the Associated Press, the Feb. 20 memo sent by Chrysandra Walter, the Park Service's deputy director for the Northeast region, read, "If you think that some of your specific plans will cause a public or political controversy, Marie and I need to know which ones are likely to end up in the media or result in a congressional inquiry."
Walter was referring to Marie Rust, the Park Service's director for the Northeast region, who is based in Philadelphia. Walter also wrote that she was relaying instructions from Randy Jones, the Park Service's deputy director.
"Randy felt that the issuance of a press release was the most problematic," she wrote.
"He suggested that if you feel you must inform the public ... not to directly indicate that 'this is a cut' in comparison to last year's operation," she continued. "We all agreed to use the terminology of 'service level adjustment' due to fiscal constraints as a means of describing what actions we are taking."
Although the Park Service's budget has steadily increased during the Bush, Clinton and previous administrations, it has had serious set backs in the past few years. It has had to pay $50 million in firefighting costs and $150 million in repair costs from Hurricane Isabel last year.
Also, the cost of Homeland Security is taking its toll. Each change in the color-coded threat level from yellow to orange costs the Park Service $1 million a month. That pays for 200 law enforcement rangers from the West to guard monuments and memorials in the East, according the National Park Service spokesman, Dave Barna. Barna does not deny the authenticity of the memo, or denounce its approach to quieter cutbacks, as he said he only wished to avoid a public relations fiasco.
In mid-March, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) issued a report entitled "Endangered Rangers," which estimated that the parks are getting just two-thirds of the funding they need, leading to staffing shortages and the deterioration of park facilities.
However, the problems are more serious than a few cancelled nature tours and leaky roofs. Animals and artifacts are endangered by this lack of staff and security in parks where hundreds of positions are unstaffed.
According to the report, American Indian artifacts are being stolen from Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico while museum collections are piled in offices at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana or in a basement at Acadia National Park in Maine.
Black bears are being poached in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, rare plants are being stolen from Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Mount Rainer National Park in Washington does not have the funding to monitor its endangered species.
School groups are turned away from parks, including Yellowstone. Some parks are so understaffed that a lottery system decides which children will be privy to park lectures and tours.
Illegal drugs are trafficked through Coronado National Memorial in Arizona and cultivated at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks in California.
The report also added that other facilities suffer. The lack of funds also hinders law enforcement, detracts from ranger-guided programs and is forcing some parks to close visitor centers or clean bathrooms less often.
NPCA recommended a number of short-term possibilities to alleviate problems, including seeking donations from private companies, partnering with volunteer groups and allowing parks to keep more of the fees they collect at entry gates.
But in the longterm, the group said Congress will have to increase annual funding by at least $600 million, provide homeland security funding to offset costs that have been incurred since 9/11 and The National Park Service must make available the tools and training needed to maximize the effectiveness of park managers.
The Web site, npca.org, has a copy of the report that can be viewed online, and a link for people to e-mail Congress and the current administration, urging them to give this issue much-needed attention.
(03/31/04 12:00pm)
Women are given a number of choices today as to the medications they can to take for various health reasons, but many times are not given the information to make the wisest decision.
One of the top 25 censored stories of 2003 concerned the drug Premarin, a top-selling hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which is made from the urine of pregnant female horses (mares) and used in birth control and menopausal treatment.
As reported by Susan Wagner in her April 2000 story, "Pissing Their Lives Away: How the Drug Industry Harms Horses," the pharmaceutical conglomerate Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has used its superior financial position to hide the controversy surrounding this drug.
Premarin was first approved for menopause treatment in 1942. Wagner said Wyteth Pharmaceuticals, formally Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, has been exploiting horses and women for over 60 years.
There are currently over 60,000 horses, mostly in Canada, which are used as "four-legged drug machines" who are repeatedly impregnated and confined to narrow stalls to collect their urine.
Horses are tied with a short rope so that they cannot lay down or take more than one step in any direction. They are given only small amounts of water to keep the estrogen levels in their urine high, as farmers are paid on the concentration, not volume of urine.
The urine collection devices are both painful and unhygienic, causing severe infections and lesions.
After several years the mares are shipped off to slaughter houses to provide meat for human consumption in Europe and Asia, a demand that has grown increasingly over the past few years due to Hoof-and-mouth and mad cow disease.
Every spring, the mares give birth to a foal. The foals are only allowed to spend the first few months with their mothers before the mares rejoin the "pee lines" and the foals are shipped to feed lots to be fattened up and slaughtered for human consumption in Europe and Asia. However, Premarin is not the only choice when it comes to HRT, and other alternatives are safer for both humans and animals.
It is possible to produce this drug successfully in a lab. This would not only be less expensive for the consumer, but would also be healthier, as it would not contain the more than 30 impurities that are found in estrogens produced from the urine of horses.
Women currently spend around $300 a year on HRT drugs. That figure could be greatly reduced by a generic, non-animal Premarin that is just as effective and begin the important process of switching to non-animal estrogens.
After a drug is approved, the company is granted a limited patent on it for a number of years before smaller companies are allowed to create their own generic versions of the product.
Yet when the Duramed pharmaceutical company applied for approval for its generic soy-based version of the drug, Cenestin, over 25 years after the patent had expired, Wyeth-Ayrest pressured Washington lawmakers to prevent Duramed from obtaining approval.
At that time, the only requirement to market a generic version was to have identical active ingredients. However, due to Wyeth-Ayrest's financial clout, the law was changed to require testing for total active chemical similarity.
Duramed was denied approval for its generic drug because in over 60 years, not all the chemicals in Premarin have been clarified. The basis for the rejection was Duramed's lack of a chemical DHES, an ambiguous animal element in Premarin that has never been proven to play an active role in the drug and was previously classified as one of the over 30 "impurities" in Premarin.
Although Premarin has gone from being the most prescribed drug in the United States to the second most, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals made a record $2 billion from the products, Premarin, Prempro and Premphase, all made from pregnant mare's urine (PMU), in 2002. This is because it has expanded its market to the Third World, where women are hardly given a choice as to what is prescribed to them.
This is not a new phenomenon, as poor women in this country have often been the victims of drug companies. Clinics often buy drugs and distribute them without offering women a choice or informing them of the origins of the ingredients.
Another setback is Ontario's lift of its ban on PMU farming, while many of the new farmers are Amish. Wagner, who was once president of Equine Advocates, said the Amish farmers have a history of maltreating their horses and selling them at slaughter auctions when they can no longer work.
Wagner's full article, "Pissing Their Lives Away," can be found in the March/April edition of The Animals' Agenda. The report "Horses Face Lives of Unnecessary Abuse for Drug Company Profits" is in Censored 2003 The Top 25 Censored Stories.
(02/04/04 12:00pm)
September 11th has created a number of heroes in America's psyche - police officers, firefighters, soldiers, rescue workers, etc. However, a recovering nation is now turning its eyes to a new breed of hero: the architect.
With the January unveiling of Spanish architect Santigo Calatrava's transportation hub design, the tripartite site plan for the World Trade Center location was completed. The site will consist of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower (along with other smaller towers), transportation center and memorial "footprints" of the former Twin Towers.
The Freedom Tower, a concept created by Daniel Libeskind, will have 70 floors of occupancy and 2.6 million square feet of space for commercial use, which will be for sale when the building is completed, in 2009.
The tower will also house wind turbines, which will be used to generate some of the building's power.
The structure will be 1,500 feet tall, but a 276-foot spire will bring the building to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet. However, a broadcast antenna will bring the total height to over 2,000 feet.
Above the office space, an indoor observation deck will look out over the city, a restaurant will be above that and event space will top the building.
The concept for the edifice, with a parallelogram base and twisting sides, is meant to be reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty.
Charles Gargano, the vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said the tower will cost an estimated $1.5 billion dollars, or $1 million per 500 square feet.
The Freedom Tower will be the crowning jewel of the World Trade Center complex with surrounding buildings, like those in the previous model, which have yet to be completely planned.
The memorial, designed by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, will consist of two large recessed reflecting pools in the footprints of the former Twin Towers surrounded by a grove of trees. The pools will be fed by a continuous stream of water, and visitors can descend into the memorial via the surrounding ramps, escaping the bustle of the city to ruminate upon the immense void left by the former structures. The names of the victims of both the 2001 and 1993 tragedies will be arranged randomly around the pools, to echo the arbitrary brutality of the attacks.
As early as next year, construction could begin on the $2 billion transportation center. Calatrava said the inspiration for the design is a child releasing a bird.
A rib-arched roof will be covered by two wing-shaped structures of glass and steel, rising 150 feet. The themes of the new World Trade Center site, Calatrava said at a news conference, are "a new world, life, flight and hope."
The roof will retract to allow light into the mezzanine and about 60 feet underground to the track platforms for the Port Authority Trans-Hudson subway lines to New Jersey.
Pedestrian tunnels will link the station with 14 New York City subway lines and nearby ferry service. Construction should be complete by 2009.
However, these designs are not perfect, and leave room for plaudits and criticism.
While the twisting design of the Freedom Tower, inspiring the ascent of progress and human triumph, is suited for the spirit of the project, it may be argued that planning the proportions to be reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty takes away from the structure, making it less original.
Although tipping your hat to freedom in the face of adversity is a welcome gesture, the proximity of the two structures will prevent any real connection between the two. In this case, innovation - not imitation - should be the best form of flattery.
Also, by making only 70 stories of occupiable space when more are possible, there is an admission of defeat and fear.
While the wind turbines are a green alternative to power the building, the difference is somewhat negligible. In the face of what else could be made of the space they are a poor cover for the truth that potential buyers are still edgy and nervous. If we do not feel that freedom will overcome and good will triumph as we proclaim, why are we building these edifices?
Aesthetically, with the skeleton continuing around the turbines, the building will look unfinished even after completion. The design may also be said to have its vision truncated, since the concepts have been so compromised with the number of people involved in the design. Libeskind, although the progenitor of the concept, will not have control over his own idea; the whole of the new World Trade Center will be made from a hodgepodge of architectural opinions.
The memorial center, by recreating the enormity of the buildings and the loss experienced in both attacks, has captured the great void left in the wake of the attack.
In the most superficial sense, the pools represent the architectural loss of the twin towers. On a deeper level, though, their size does justice to not only the loss of life, but the loss of confidence, of security and the cavalier attitude with which many Americans viewed their place in the world.
By placing them next to the new structures, it shows that we can remember without forgetting, and real recovery begins not with the rubble clean-up but by breaking ground on a new vision.
Those who would argue that the memorial does not resemble a typical memorial enough should remember that this was not a typical situation. In addition, a simple description of a memorial is never as powerful as the real thing. A large wall of alternating heights is hardly an apt description of the Vietnam Memorial. A memorial is a symbol that needs to be experienced.
However, by putting in trees, a demand made by the committee, there is a sense that as these great memorials are scaled down and hidden from the city, their impact lessened.
The uncompromised design of the transportation hub is reflected in the design's great innovation and beauty. Calatrava's belief in mankind and great heights of progress combines movement with architecture, creating a seamless synthesis between human achievement and nature.
The aesthetic nature of the building is in fact the concept itself, so that it is the structure that is beautiful. The expression can be found in the architecture, and this artistic medium is allowed to keep its vision, without being hidden or covered by laboring heavy design or immobile, imposing structures.
While initial plans are promising, the eyes of the world are upon these architects. Only time will determine the outcome of this ambitious project and the fate of these new heroes.
(09/23/03 12:00pm)
Ah, the '80s. While some people may write this decade off to spandex, big hair, and voodoo economics, there is something about this decade that makes it the best in history - we were born in it.
Sure, we've grown up and out of our legwarmers and Transformers pajamas, but many children of the '80s still carry a special part of this decade with them in their heart.
And some people go a little further. (Like this reporter, who has 80 My Little Ponies and everything "Garfield and Friends").
Collecting '80s memorabilia has become increasingly popular with students as we start feeling nostalgic for a world in which our most pressing engagement was the premiere of "The Secret of the Ooze."
Stores such as Hot Topic cater to our memories, and the phenomenon of Thundercats T-shirts and Rainbow Brite bags grows more mainstream each year.
Play With This, a Pensauken store that sells toys from the '60s to the '90s, said that the '80s are especially popular, since most toys take about 20 years to become hot collectibles.
So what speaks most to your soul?
Junior English major Linda Gallant's screenname is based on Fraggle Rock, and she has been collecting memorabilia since 1986. She has stuffed toys, books and T-shirts, but her most prized possession is her collection of episodes.
"Since it's not on TV anymore I'm glad my mom taped the HBO Family Showcase episodes when I was young," she said.
Nicole Moinhos, sophomore psychology major, loved the Care Bears, and about a year ago, decided to start collecting. While she had some things saved from her childhood, she has since collected five pairs of pajamas, notepads, pens and T-shirts.
Patrick Shea, junior communication studies major, has collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle memorabilia since the show's beginning. He also owns Batman figures from the old series with Adam West and the Michael Keaton movie.
He also has a Turtle van, a Batmobile and a Batcycle, but his most disturbing purchase was "the ooze."
"I don't even know what went into that stuff, but it probably came from an animal somewhere," Shea said.
Shea is looking forward to the new Christian Bale Batman movie. However, the new Turtles just aren't his style, since they appear to be lacking eyes, and, as Shea explains, "It's like the turtles got replaced by Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Helen Keller, and Andrea Bocelli, and I don't know how they would fare in a fight."
Jonathan Tran, junior English major, believes in "Turtle Power" too. He has about two dozen figures, from the first production line (that came with the cheesy break-off weapon rack) to the "theme" Turtles. He also has the later ones, including those that were transformers and morphed from regular turtles to the fighting ones - his favorite - and keeps them in a collector's case.
He had a talking Michelangelo. His favorite accessory was the pizza thrower that shot out rapid-fire plastic pizzas, along with a warning not to aim it at people or animals. "Of course my brother and I always tried to get each other in the eyes, which totally hurt and ruled," Tran said.
Christine Brozyna, sophomore journalism major, had about 30 My Little Ponies, with a stable, which she started collecting before she could even talk. While the ones with jewels for eyes scared her, her favorites were the ones with the hair that grew when it was pulled.
"I don't really remember this, but my mom said I would line them up by color and I would name them all," Brozyna said.
Though not as beloved as the ponies, she also had a troll collection, and one year every one of her friends bought her a troll for her birthday. She liked the large plush troll doll, but looking back, Brozyna realizes that they were ugly. She remembers she must have always thought so, since she never kept them out.
"I still have all ponies," Brozyna said. "It's nostalgic for me, but I could care less about the trolls."
Bill Bruno, junior information systems major, bought the first two seasons of "Saved By The Bell" on DVD. "I started collecting because the show is one of my memories from being younger and it's not on TV much anymore, so I had to find some way to watch it," Bruno said.
While more seasons have yet to be released on DVD, Bruno said he would purchase more when they become available. "But not that 'Saved By The Bell: New Class' or 'the College Years,'" he said. "That was crap."
So, for many people who may occasionally feel similar malcontent for 'TCNJ: the College Years,' a little dose of '80s comfort sounds just like what Dr. Huxtable would order.
(09/16/03 12:00pm)
Hey handsome, if you're looking for a good time, look no further than the great state of New Jersey.
You know us wild Jersey girls, we're such entrepreneurs and are always looking for a good time. You can bet that if more than a few of us are living together, we'll eventually mix business with pleasure.
Well it must be true, right? Why else would New Jersey have a law that constitutes more than four women living together under the same lease as a brothel?
According to Etta Kimborough, acting municipal clerk of Ewing Township, this "law" is nothing more than an urban legend.
"It's a ridiculous idea," she said. "There is no sexist mentality behind it."
Kimborough said that it makes financial sense for any group of people, men, women or mixed, to have control over their economic affairs. It makes them responsible for their own leases by not unfairly tying them to their landlord or other renters. The motivation is to try to promote mature and conscientious behavior in tenants by treating them as individual adults.
"We are trying to say that college students are no different from any other adults acting responsibly," Kimborough said. "It would be easier for them to enter into financially ugly situations, where they are responsible for their housemate's rent as well as their own if they all signed the same lease. Any sensible adult would demand individual control, so we feel students should have the same rights."
However, the myth continues, and most people have at least heard of it, even if they don't believe that was the reason behind their renting agreements. Since most boarders are never told why they are asked to sign separately, the legend continues to be kept alive by people who know no other explanation.
Most women have the experience of signing separate leases. Such was the case of Maria Nuori, junior nursing major, who moved off-campus this year with seven of her friends. Her landlord never told Nuori the reason why each of the tenants had to sign a separate lease. Since it does not affect her daily life, Nuori does not have any problem with it, though she was never informed of the rationale behind signing separate leases.
Juniors Julia Dancik and Maria DeFillipo, business management and early education majors respectively, live in a house of nine girls had a similar experience. They too were unaware of the reason for having to sign separately, but are also indifferent, because it does not cause any inconvenience for them now.
Some cases lend themselves more readily to misinterpretation, such as that of Bettina Lefonto, junior elementary education and psychology major. She had to take an extra step to make sure her house wouldn't be construed as "a house of ill repute".
She is one of 10 housemates who signed separate leases. However, her landlord took the locks off their doors as well.
"I don't really mind, since we wouldn't have used locks anyway," she explained, but there are large unsightly gray patches on their doors where locks used to be.
Pennsylvania has similar laws, requiring renters to sign separate leases. In a state notorious for its strict Blue Laws, the rumor that girls are forced into this arrangement to avoid being classified as a bordello is alive and well there, too.
However, Ewing Township insists that there is no sexist or antiquated motivation behind students of either gender signing separate leases. Kimborough is committed to helping students make financially wise decisions and hopes that the urban legend will one day be dispelled.
As for now, women from the College who chose to live in Ewing will have to adjust their leases accordingly, for whatever reason.
(09/09/03 12:00pm)
It's a day 20 years and 364 days in the making (that's 183,936 hours, but who's counting) - your 21st birthday.
Your last few birthdays were downhill since you got your driver's license. With 18 years under your belt you could vote, join the army, even purchase tobacco and pornography. This is a sensible combination, since new recruits need to smoke while reading Playboy (for the articles only) as to be well informed for the next election, in case Miss January decides to challenge Arnold Schwarzenegger. And 19 and 20 passed by without any milestones.
But this is your 21st birthday, a joyous celebration when you get your first taste of alcohol.
But what if you can't wait for the day when you can legitimately walk into your DMV and have your hideous license photograph taken, not looking forlornly to the side, but facing your new and exciting future head on?
Well, you didn't hear it from me, but there is a black market for fake ID's.
We all have our reasons. Perhaps you have being dying to try the slots at Caesar's, or purchase rapid-fire automatic weapons.
But most people want fake ID's so they can purchase alcohol. They want to buy it and they want to be let into clubs that sell it.
One anonymous junior economics major has had lots of success with his fake N.J. ID. His friend had the template for the driver's license in his computer. Once they were printed out, he laminated them and used tinfoil to obtain the correct thickness.
He bought his during his junior year of high school. He was only denied with it once and it was given back, but he stopped using it because of the risk. His friend has perfected his technique, and his ID's have worked at several casinos in Atlantic City.
One junior information systems major got his fake ID at a souvenir and card shop in New York City. He was 18 and paid $50 for a Pennsylvania driver's license. That shop, like many on the block, was small in the front had back rooms full of scanners, computers and printers where the ID's are made.
His ID was perfect, except for the hologram. Real Pennsylvania licenses have a hologram of different counties, while his simply had a hologram of "authentic," which ran the length of the card. The back was a swipe card with writing. Even though the writing was wrong, it was correctly placed, and the license worked in bars in New York City, Rhode Island, New Jersey and in a Florida liquor store.
He was finally caught two years after purchasing the license in Seaside, trying to buy alcohol at a bar/liquor store called The Sandpiper. They took the ID but did not call the police.
Other students aren't so lucky. One sophomore English major obtained her fake ID from her friend who went to school in South Carolina, and when he was caught, the police confiscated the hard drive of his computer.
The clubs and liquor stores near the College have policies about IDs ranging from lackadaisical to strict about how to handle license fraud.
Kat Man Du, a popular Trenton club, is known for being strict concerning fake ID's. Every member of its staff is trained to spot fake ID's, after attending a class. If someone tries to use a fake ID, it is taken and turned into the state. The club plans to get a scanner to check ID's once the state implements this code, according to a General Manager.
Deli Delight Liquors, on Ewingville Road, also has a stricter policy. They require two forms of identification, one a photo ID. If they suspect one or more is fake, they will hold the identification in question and call the police.
Deli Delight reports no incidents this year but have called the police on several occasions in the past, some incidents even occured last year. The people caught were believed to be were students from the College. Being located near a college, Deli Delight tries to have strict security and tries rigorously scrutinize ID's.
H and K Liquors on Olden Avenue has a similar policy. When one senior finance major tried to use his fake ID there, the clerk handed it back to him saying it wasn't real, and would not let him purchase alcohol.
Whether lenient or strict, creating fake ID's is a serious crime. Most students would rather wait out the time until their 21st birthday. For a 20 year old, that's only 8,760 hours away - not that anyone's counting.
(08/25/03 12:00pm)
The end of August is a time of intense heat, humidity and mosquitoes. But for many people this last stretch of summer holds an even more ominous undertone.
Lurking on the horizon are the three words everyone has dreaded since the first September they learned the alphabet song, the nutritional value of crayons and the joy of snack time - back to school.
It grows worse every year. We long for the days when finger painting was a major subject and the most anyone expected of you was earning a gold star.
However, now that those days are over, most people cringe at the thought of going back to school. They cling to August's end like the dying rays of the sun in an ever-earlier sunset, heralding the oncoming winter.
But not us. Why? Because for us, back to school means back to college, and as we all know, college is very different from any other school experience.
We all remember high school - the 6 a.m. wake up call, the pointless classes, the curfews, the college applications and of course, the endless melodrama.
All right, maybe we'll never be rid of the melodrama, but nonetheless, the return to college can be a joyous time, whereas high school only held sorrow.
How so? Well there is the obvious. You get to schedule your classes so you can sleep until 3:30 p.m. whenever you want and there won't be any phone calls home if you're still in bed by 4 p.m.
Also, there is the distinct possibility that the classes you've signed yourself up for may actually be interesting, as you, the responsible college student, have committed yourself to learning the foundations and nuances of a vocation.
Then there is life in the residence halls. Of course we all love and cherish our parents, but sometimes they are so much easier to love and cherish from afar.
With limited parental interaction, those authority figures will be happier to see you when you go home. That means they will not waste their time telling you to clean your room, be back by midnight, drink nothing stronger than a wine spritzer or wear clothes at all times around members of the opposite sex.
They also may feel the need to remind you of their love in monetary form.
In the mean time, you will be living with your friends, without the effort of riding your bike or finding a ride to their house. You will be constantly surrounded by kindred spirits who will commiserate with you the night before your term paper is due, introduce you to the wonders of 2 a.m. take out and forgo their own studying to watch "Press Your Luck" on the Game Show Network the night before finals.
You may still be bored, but at least now you have company.
You learn what foods are microwaveable and which have a risk of explosion.
You learn how to type 60 words a minute when you talk to five people online while simultaneously writing a research paper.
You learn exactly how loose the term "research" can be.
You get to have snowball fights, and finger paint is optional.
College is a great time. You get to live away from home without paying for the bulk of it. You get to stay up and watch the Late Late Show when the rest of the world has to get up for its morning commute.
You get to eat pizza whenever you want before your metabolism gives out and you start shopping at the health food store with your mother. Low-fat soy substitute, yum.
You feel like an adult, so that when you really are grown up you are prepared. You had fun getting there, but always knew that home was waiting for you if you ever needed a break.
Now all you have to do is remember your shower shoes and your bathroom code. It's better than those damn locker combinations.
(04/29/03 12:00pm)
In an effort to raise awareness on campus about sweatshop abuses, an information table staffed by volunteers was set up in the in the student center all day last Thursday for Sweat-Free Day.
The table, borrowed from the Progressive Student Alliance (PSA), held information about companies who use sweatshops, sweatshop abuses, Web sites and things people on campus can do to help.
The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness of the problem and ways in which individuals can act to work towards positive solutions.
Rocky Citro, senior psychology and sociology major, organized the awareness campaign and recruited volunteers.
Citro first had to educate himself on the issue before he could teach others. He presented formally to nine classes of varying subject matter, Golden Key and informally to individual students to gather support.
The volunteers wore orange shirts made by Bienestar International (BI), a fully unionized manufacturing company that has a sweat-free mission and puts out a line of clothing called No Sweat Apparel (www.nosweatapparel.com). Citro distributed the shirts for a contribution to the cause and raised over $340 for the company.
"I believe it is important to support corporations like BI so that they can grow," Citro said. "There is a market for socially conscious clothing, as evident by many surveys that have been conducted over the past decade. If we can help these companies grow, they will be able to put out a wider variety of styles."
Citro is doing the campaign as part of his application for the Fred and Mae Rummel Scholarship. He worked extensively with Nino Scarpati, director of Service Learning, to develop the final idea.
Citro also found supporters in campus organizations, such as Progressive Student Alliance, the Women's Center, Women in Learning and Leadership (WILL), the Asian American Association and Golden Key, along with many individual recruits.
Citro said that he "became interested in this issue through an anthropology course called 'Global Urbanization' and an honors history class called 'Sex, Class & Race,' taught by Dr. Dawley of the History Department, and head of the Center for Social Justice at TCNJ."
There are many ways in which sweatshops abuse their workers. Wages are often below what is needed to meet the basic living needs of the worker to support a family and are often times illegal.
Some employees are forced to work overtime, as much as 14-18 hour days or more for 6-7 days a week. Even then, many workers are not paid correctly for the amount they produce.
Workers may be physically and sexually abused while working in unsanitary conditions, which pose serious health risks. They are also in danger of being trapped in case of emergency such as a fire by improper confinement to their workstation.
Overly strict rules prohibit bathroom breaks and force women to physically prove menstruation. Workers are without protection since companies use threat of dismissal, incarceration or violence to keep unions from forming.
Many people are misinformed about sweatshops. For example, they are found in the United States as well as abroad and many domestic sweatshops are located in Los Angeles.
Also, looking for "Made in USA" on the tag of an article of clothing does not guarantee the shirt is sweat-free. Instead, look for the "UNITE" label. Most startling, while some corporations are more progressive than others, basically all name brand companies use sweatshops at this point.
Citro said, however, that it was not hopeless. "I have faith that eventually, just as we developed national labor regulations in the early 1900s, we will develop the national and international regulations that are needed to drastically reduce sweatshop abuses on a global scale."
Students can help by buying union clothing, buying less frequently, writing to congressmen and cutting or covering labels on their clothing. However, often just boycotting is not optimal because then workers will lose their jobs, and the goal is to improve working conditions and unionization, not cause more harm.
Justin Barliar, senior information systems management major, was motivated to volunteer after Citro presented in one of his classes.
"I wasn't aware there was such a problem because you don't hear about it much in the news anymore," Barliar said. "I was surprised by the horrific conditions of the factories and how almost everything we buy is actually made by sweatshops."
Citro thinks the issue is so pressing because it is of global impact, and is especially relevant not only to human rights, but women and children's rights, who are often most cruelly exploited. But he sees hope in the response he has gotten and the growing option and support of "sweat-free" clothing.
"However long the process may take, it will be worth any amount of time and effort because ensuring the fulfillment of everyone's basic human rights is a cause of the utmost importance," he said.
To purchase a sweat-free t-shirt visit www.tcnj.edu/~citro2/sweat-free.html http://www.tcnj.edu/~citro2/sweat-free.html.
(04/15/03 12:00pm)
To promote awareness of eating disorders, Delta Phi Epsilon gathered on the steps of Green Hall last Saturday, April 12, to hold a vigil.
One of the sorority's philanthropies is ANAD (Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders) and the theme of the second annual vigil was "accept yourself, accept others."
Kelly Lesch, junior math secondary education major, organized the vigil.
"The purpose of this event is to promote awareness about eating disorders, remember those affected by eating disorders and celebrate those who have overcome the battle of an eating disorder," Lesch said.
Although the Bod Squad normally handles promotion of eating disorder awareness, Lesch said that Delta Phi Epsilon has had a history of supporting ANAD and held the same vigil last year.
Although some members of the Bod Squad helped, the sorority hoped to involve more people from different groups in the future.
Saturday was chosen as the date, despite the weather, because ANAD held similar vigils across the nation on the same day.
About 50 sisters gathered in front of the clock tower for about a half hour. They gave out purple ribbons to promote awareness for a dollar donation.
The sorority hoped that the community environment would foster a more positive body image, not only for their members, but for all women who may be susceptible to eating disorders.
Carol Kriegner, junior international business major and president of Delta Phi Epsilon, spoke about ANAD at the beginning of the vigil. ANAD was founded in 1976 and has been dedicated to helping the victims of eating disorders ever since.
"They have been actively working, having support groups, sponsoring hotlines and distributing information in pamphlets to schools across the nation," Kriegner said.
The sorority believes that, while recent campus activities have made great strides in promoting awareness about eating disorders, there is much work to be done.
"We need a vigil and other activities to raise awareness about eating disorders, because, although people may know they exist, they don't know much beyond that," DiGioia-Laird, junior women's and genderstudies and art education major, said. "Eating disorders are a very personal issue, so many people who are sick or know someone who is, are afraid to talk about it. But even though it's painful, it's a serious matter that affects everyone and must be addressed."
(04/01/03 12:00pm)
Looking for Jennifer Lopez? No need to search the Caribbean for J. Lo and Ben sunbathing on a yacht. Jennifer Lopez is still "On the 6" - on the sixth floor of Travers Hall, that is.
Lopez, a freshman law and justice major from Burnfield, thinks her famous counterpart J. Lo is a good performer and dancer and has also enjoyed her movies.
"I thought 'Enough' was pretty good. But she can't sing," she quips. "When someone first told me in high school she was going to be a singer, I thought they were joking. Now I wish they were." This Jennifer prefers to be called Jen. She sits atop her cheerfully clad bed, with long, wavy dark hair and a bright smile. Her room is adorned with posters, pictures of friends and magazine pages featuring male models and actors attractive enough to be next in line to marry the celebrity J. Lo, but conspicuously absent is Ben Affleck.
She does, however, agree that Ben Affleck is a catch.
"I think he's cute, but they make such an odd couple," she said. "She seems so urban and he seems so clean-cut."
When asked whether she was enjoying her first year on campus she said she was having a great time.
"I chose TCNJ because it was a small community, like my high school," she said. "I wanted to feel safe my first time away from home, and I really liked the friendly atmosphere here. It offered my major, and I also thought it was a beautiful campus."
The construction was not here when Lopez first visited, but she still maintains that the campus is a nice place to live. She just looks forward to the day when the orange plastic fences and cavernous holes are gone.
Lopez says she's happy with the law and justice department. As a high school senior, she felt pressured to pick a career, which is how she decided she wanted to be a lawyer. However, she now realizes it was the right decision because she thinks her major is satisfying and believes being a lawyer suits her personality.
In her spare time, Lopez likes to read and hang out with her friends. Like the famous Lopez, she loves to dance, but she hasn't been able to join any clubs on campus yet. Lopez was also in the school choir and drama club in high school, and said that people always felt the need to compare her performances to those of the better-known singer and actress.
"They would always tell me, oh, you're even better than the real Jennifer Lopez."
But she will always be her own Jenny from the block.
"People first started calling me Selena, actually, since that was Jennifer Lopez's first movie," Lopez said.
"Now people call me J. Lo. I really don't mind, since I never had a nickname other than Jen, which isn't very exciting. People call me both. I think it's funny. I even put J. Lo on the back of my Welcome Week t-shirt," she added.
The name does have its benefits. "During Welcome Week when no one could remember anyone's name, they always remembered mine. 'Oh, you're Jennifer Lopez.' Teachers remember it easily, too, which is good since they only see you once or twice a week."
She's also a celebrity in her own right. "My little sister has J. Lo jeans and she thinks it's cool to tell her friends about me. They always joke about wanting my autograph."
The name is a good icebreaker, too, Lopez says. "People always have some comment when they first meet me. Sometimes they ask if I'm related to her or if I am named after her, and some people tell me, 'Hey, did you know you have the same name as a famous actress?' As if I didn't know."
However, fame comes with a price and Lopez if often accused of making up her John Hancock in social situations as well as in more serious manners, like signing her credit card bill.
Lopez has never tried to capitalize on its reputation to get better restaurant or hotel reservations, though. She said that when she feels like slipping by undetected, she'll often includes her middle name, Sarah. "The information on my housing said Jennifer Sarah Lopez, and my roommate didn't even realize it."
(03/25/03 12:00pm)
Four women pioneers in the field of journalism, who left an indelible mark on the profession, were honored on commemorative stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office. Ida M. Tarbell, Nellie Bly, Ethel L. Payne and Marguerite Higgins were celebrated by the release of the stamps on Sept. 14, 2002.
Each stamp, designed by Fred Otnes of West Redding, Conn., features a collage of a black-and-white photographs merged with headlines and mastheads from each woman's career.
Tarbell (1857 - 1944) was one of the original "muckraking" investigative journalists, renowned for her work both domestically and abroad. Born in a log cabin in Erie, Pa., Tarbell was fascinated by the sciences at an early age and was the only woman in Allegheny College's 1880 graduating class to major in biology.
She is best known for her expos? "History of the Standard Oil Company," a two-volume set published in 1904, which led to the downfall of John D. Rockefeller's monopoly and its stranglehold on the American oil history.
She interviewed Benito Mussolini in 1926, and wrote about other famous historical figures, including Napoleon and Abraham Lincoln. She also published an autobiography, "All in the Day's Work."
Bly (1867-1922), another muckraker, was born Elizabeth Cochrane in Cochran Mills, Pa. She began her journalism career writing about the lives of ordinary women, but it soon expanded to exposing problems of marriage and divorce laws.
Bly went on to investigate corruption in the Mexican government before working for Joseph Pulitzer's "New York World." She feigned mental illness to reveal abuse and mistreatment at Blackwell Island, a mental institution. She was the first woman to cover the Eastern Front of World War I.
Payne (1911-1991) was known as the first lady of the black press. Born in Chicago, she wrote for "The Chicago Defender" for 27 years about the rights of minorities, especially civil rights.
Payne earned her title as first lady of the black press by aggressively reporting events in Washington, D.C. She was the first African-American to work for a National Network, CBS, as a commentator on both radio and television.
Payne revealed scandals such as segregation in the military and the abandoned Japanese babies fathered by American troops. She said that journalists should renounce objectivity in the face of such crucial issues affecting so many people.
Higgins (1920 - 1966) earned her masters in journalism at Columbia University. She worked for the New York Tribune, where she covered World War II. She documented the atrocities of war and the concentration camps as well as the war's aftermath, including the Nuremberg Trials and tension between East and West Europe.
She covered the Korean War as well, convincing General Douglas MacArthur to make an exception for her when all women were banned from the front lines. She followed troops behind enemy lines and her stories gave a different spin to the war.
For her courage, she was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetary.
- Information obtained from mwhp.org.
(03/18/03 12:00pm)
Q&A with Naomi Tutu
Teresa Rivas: Why did you come to the College to speak?
Naomi Tutu: I came here to take the opportunity to speak to college students, since you are the ones who are going to be taking over the leadership. I wanted to offer you the opportunity to hear my perspective, my story, that you might not normally hear. I want more to raise questions in your minds, not so much as present answers. I want young people to think in different ways.
TR: What message would you like to send those who attend your lecture today?
NT: Today, I present a program called "Truth and Reconciliation." It is based on the committee set up in South Africa after apartheid to investigate human rights abuses. I use this as a jumping off point to get people to think about finding the greater truth in their own lives. Particularly in the United States, the conversation about racism is not at a level of truth - everyone has already assumed a position and rarely is concerned about speaking or listening to the truth. The truth heals. It may not be comfortable for us to hear - politically, socially and economically, but it gives us the opportunity to move forward.
TR: You have fought racism and sexism, helping women get educations and professional opportunities. What experience led you to do this?
NT: Obviously, I was born a black woman under apartheid in South Africa, so I was born into a racist country and have always been struggling against racism and sexism. As a woman, I've experienced sexism together with racism, and I believe it not only limits women of color, but the potential for the whole world. I struggle not just because I'm a woman and black, but also as a mother with a dream for her children to live in a better world, where my daughter can walk alone anywhere and not fear gender-based violence. I don't want my children to experience preparing for battle every time they go to a bank or a meeting, because the energy it takes to do this takes away from energy they could use for creation.
TR: Many feminists of color think the fight against racism does little or is even counterproductive to their cause. How do you feel about this?
NT: I don't see a conflict, because for me any struggle against oppression won is a victory for everyone oppressed. And the same mindset and system that puts in place racism institutes sexism, so as I see it, it is all the same struggle.
TR: What did you do when you worked at the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University?
NT: I worked to bring programming that focused on global race and racism to campus, to expose students to social activism. We were one of the Nongovernmental Organizations at the World Conference Against Racism in South Africa two years ago. We wanted to challenge students to think.
TR: How are you continuing this work as associate director of the Office of International Relations at Tennessee State University?
NT: It's not quite the same - I am helping to establish the new office and expand international campus programs.
TR: You have won numerous awards from the California State Legislature, the Kentucky chapters of the NAACP and the Boston City Council, to name a few. Is there any that hold a special significance for you?
NT: The award I'm most attached to is from Fisk's mini-college for elementary school children. During the summer, I gave a presentation there and it was very special for me to know that these young people voted to give me an award.
TR: Your father fought against apartheid, winning the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his boycott of International Investment in South Africa. What doors has this opened for you and how has he inspired you personally?
NT: The name, the daughter of, has actually literally opened doors into places where I would not normally be given the opportunity to speak. It has opened the doors to speak with young people and offer them my experience and perspective. My father has personally inspired me most strongly with his respect for all human beings. He always treated everyone with the utmost respect when in their company, and that is the core of any hope - to see one another as human beings deserving of respect and to be heard.
TR: How can people who hear your message today help?
NR: You can stay informed about what's going on in the world and to ask questions of everyone, even me. Don't accept what I say as gospel, always ask. Research history as well. I cannot say there is a formula. You should be doing this, because everyone has a gift or passion that we may not even know for most of our lives. In order to truthfully get involved in this world you must use this gift to help. I cannot say you should write letters or feed the homeless, because that may not be your gift. You must find your gift and use it to benefit the world.
(03/18/03 12:00pm)
Naomi Tutu, activist against global racism and sexism, presented "Truth and Reconciliation: Healing the Wounds of Race" to over 200 people in Kendall Hall.
Tutu is the daughter of Archbishop of South Africa Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Peace Prize.
He won the prize for boycotting international investment in South Africa to end apartheid and champion human rights.
Tutu's theme was the model of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was set up after the end of apartheid to heal the new South Africa.
This end to apartheid is applicable to the global healing of the wounds of racism.
Tutu also claimed that this model begs further examination and discussion before the United States possibly attacks Iraq in its war on terror.
"The most important thing I learned from the TRC was that all people have hopes, dreams, fears and aspirations," Tutu said. She explained that after apartheid there were two opposing views in South Africa.
One was to offer amnesty to everyone, which was countered by those supporting a version of the Nuremberg Trials to punish those who perpetrated human rights violations under apartheid.
TRC's three branches were a compromise that offers us a model.
The Human Rights Committee heard cases of victims seeking reparations from the government, and the Reparations Commission decided the amount, Tutu said.
The Amnesty Committee was the most controversial, however.
It offered complete amnesty to perpetrators of human rights violations if they truthfully admitted their crimes. Tutu said she thought this was too lenient.
"How hard is it to tell the truth if you can go free?" she asked.
But after listening to perpetrator after perpetrator caught in a lie and sentenced to jail, she realized the truth was hard because, "people had to admit the truth to themselves, to their families and friends about who they had become."
Tutu said it was hard for everyone to hear the truth.
"We had to face the truth of who we had become as a nation, the hatred that apartheid had built," she said.
She said she learned two things from TRC.
The first is to always ask "What would it take to turn me into them, to know I would not have been a torturer and murder?" she said.
Tutu admits it is hard for her to answer, and she can see how whites who were born into the system and taught it was God's will could easily lack the courage to oppose apartheid.
The second is to always seek the truth about who we are, what we do and who we have become.
TRC put the issue of race on the international table where it is always talked about, while in the United States everyone is afraid to speak of race.
Tutu said people must face their role in history. Because racism is a part of history, she said people need to be open to discussion or wounds will go unhealed.
This self-aware truth led into her question of the United States' involvement in Iraq.
"The world is a place of great challenge and opportunity," she said.
"We refuse to look at our history, and act as if events in 2003 have no connection to 1980, as if there is not foundation in the past," she said.
"But the truth is we keep laying those foundations," she added.
Tutu said that in South Africa the United States was known to stand against communism, so whites used this label to get American support.
She sees the same thing happening with the United States' war on terror.
Every country can label its internal opposition as terrorist so America will blindly support those in power and not listen to why these people oppose their government.
Tutu asked why the history of the United States' decision to support, arm and look the other way at human rights violations committed by the Taliban and Saddam Hussein is never considered.
"We continue to sow seeds to challenge new generations, because we don't tell the truth to ourselves and hear other people's truth and concerns," Tutu said. "Why speak of justice and democracy in a world where people live with dignity if we are unwilling to hear the fears and aspirations of others?" she said.
(03/04/03 12:00pm)
One of the most influential of the second wave feminists was Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer and philosopher associated with the existentialist movement and the lifelong partner of French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
Though her main concerns were social and abortion rights for women, she also advocated extensively for the rights of the elderly and the safety of factory workers.
Her two-volume treatise, "Le deuxi?me sexe" (The Second Sex), published in 1949, is one of the most widely read feminists works and contains her most famous aphorism, "One is not born a woman; one becomes one." It delves deeply into the role of women as the disenfranchised "other" to borrow Sartre's philosophical term, meaning "those who do not define the norm." While its lasting truth is debated among feminist and philosophical scholars, it remains an respected and influential work in both fields.
Existentialism is a popular genre of twentieth-century philosophy which stresses metaphysical existence over corporal essence.
In the past, many of de Beauvoir's philosophical and literary accomplishments were ignored because of her self-admitted dependency on Sartre's intellect and writing, though in recent years many scholars have come to the conclusion that she contributed invaluably to Sartre's works in both philosophy and literature. While his theories were more abstract, she helped ground them, apply them to contemporary society and expanded upon them in these contexts.
Born in 1908 in Paris to a quasi-noble bourgeois family. She would remain lifelong friends with her half sister, Poupette, born when she was two.
As a young adult she developed a solitary attitude which would follow her throughout her life. She began writing at age 8, drifting from her religious upbringing and would by the end of her life be an avowed atheist, like Sartre, claiming religion provided a reason to avoid truth.
In 1929 at the age of 21, she passed difficult final examinations at Sorbonne, where she met Sartre, joining his circle of friends and maintaining intimate ties with him for the rest of her life. From 1931 to 1943, she taught philosophy in several schools in Marseille, Rouen and Paris, and was professor at the Sorbonne from 1941 to 1943.
De Beauvoir's first book, "L'Invit?e," was published in 1943. It was a fictionalized rendition of Sartre's affair with Olga Kosakievicz, and one of the several works dealing with her relationship with Sartre.
Their relationship became famous for their two vows, to remain free to love other people and to practice complete honesty about everything so nothing would be secret between them, though at times it caused them both great pain. Many of her subsequent works had autobiographical undertones.
During the occupation of Paris, she continued to write with immunity from the Germans. In 1945, she published "Le Sang des Autres," a novel reflecting on the question of political involvement and the French Resistance. After the war, de Beauvoir founded the monthly review "Les Temps modernes" with Sartre.
"The Ethics of Ambiguity," published in 1947, was highlighted by the post-war disillusionment in Europe and provides the foundation for her leftist political leanings in supporting the worker's plight, turning away from an aristocratic, wealthy society.
The Roman Catholic Church banned "The Second Sex" and although her feminist interest was at first intellectual, it began to grow and she became active. She wrote and voiced strong opinions for women's rights, focusing on the right of choice, sexual violence and the way the French institutionalized poor unmarried mothers.
After her mother's death, she dealt with society's apathy toward the aging in 1964's "A Very Easy Death." Her four-volume memoir was published in 1958 and dealt with her happy childhood, intellectual development, leftist political views, her complicated relationship to Sartre and her existentialist perspective.
In 1981, de Beauvoir wrote "Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre," her memoirs of Sartre before her death in Paris, on April 14, 1986. She was buried in the same grave as Sartre. Her enduring legacy spans the feminist, literary and philosophical worlds.
- Information from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/beauvoir.htm and http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/beauvoir.html.
(02/25/03 12:00pm)
The nation celebrated the use of condoms as well as other types of birth control from Feb. 14 (just in time for Valentine's Day) until Feb. 21 during National Condom Week.
To college students, condoms seem like common sense, but other forms of birth control may not be. Next time sex comes into play, consider some of the alternative options and know the unstretched truth about condoms.
Condoms are effective because they block contact between bodily fluids that cause pregnancy, disease and infection during sex.
Condoms are an effective form of birth control. They are inexpensive, easily accessible, simply disposed of, cause minimal side effects and prolong sex-play.
They were also the earliest form of birth control. The first known illustration of a man using a condom dates back to a French cave painting of 12,000-15,000 years ago. Condoms have since been used as protection against sexually transmitted diseases and infections (STDs and STIs, respectively) since the 16th century, and to prevent pregnancy since the 18th century.
Condoms can fail to prevent pregnancy when used incorrectly, inconsistently, are broken during sex, manufactured improperly, damaged after manufacture or expired. The majority of times a condom tears is due to human error, including microscopic rips by rings, or jagged fingernails. If used properly, they will fail only two out of 100 times.
Condoms help prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by preventing the exchange of body fluids and prevent the transmission of bacterial infections. They are an especially effective defense against HIV. While condoms do not cover all areas which may be infected by human papilloma virus (HPV) or herpes simplex virus (HSV), they vastly decrease the risk of infection.
The most common condom materials are Latex, lambskin and polyurethane. Latex condoms are widely available and inexpensive, and come in a variety of sizes, colors, textures, shapes and flavors. While some are coated with the spermicide, Nonoxynol-9, the slight amount has proven ineffective in pregnancy protection and may facilitate HIV transmission.
New polyurethane condoms are thinner, stronger, fit less constrictively and are more resistant to deterioration. They also transmit heat better for increased pleasure and are available in male and female versions.
Lambskin condoms are the oldest on the market, made from intestinal membrane of a lamb. Small pores make them less effective in protection against STIs, but the pores are too small for sperm to pass through, so they do prevent pregnancy.
David Nostrant, junior international business major, said he uses condoms because they are "easily accessible and less expensive" than other forms of contraception.
Women have a number of contraceptive options as well.
Female condoms are a reversible barrier method. A pouch with flexible rings at each end, it is inserted into the vagina like a diaphragm. It collects semen before, during and after ejaculation, and it reduces risk of STIs and, if used perfectly, only five out of 100 women will become pregnant in one year of use.
The birth control pill is a more common alternative method for women.
The Pill is a monthly series in which one pill is taken daily with active ingredients of synthetic hormones, such as progestin and estrogen, similar to those made by the ovaries. Pills usually work by preventing the ovaries from releasing an egg.
It is the most effective means of birth control as less than 1 percent of women become pregnant in the first year with perfect use, 5 percent with typical use. It works best when taken at the same time every day, and can fail when the pill cycle is messed up. They offer no protection against STIs.
"Its easy to take everyday and you don't have to worry about getting a condom," Kara Andersen, sophomore open options major, said. "In addition to being birth control, it has medical benefits."
The Pill offers advantages such as more regular periods, less menstrual flow and cramping, less iron deficiency, fewer ectopic (tubal) pregnancies, less pelvic inflammatory disease, acne and premenstrual tension. It offers a significant reduction of risk for ovarian and endometrial cancers, and may protect against osteoporosis.
Spermicide is available in number of forms including foams, creams, jellies, film and suppositories, which are liquids or solids that melt after they are inserted into the vagina. The chemical spermicide prevents the sperm from joining the egg by immobilizing them.
With perfect use, only six of 100 women will become pregnant in the first year of use, 26 with typical use. Using Latex condoms in conjunction is recommended to decrease risk, as well as to protect against STIs.
Its disadvantage is that it requires being insterted at least 10 minutes before intercourse.
Periodic abstinence and fertility awareness methods (FAMs) prevent pregnancy using the woman's fertility pattern. Predicting ovulation, when the egg is released, can help you become pregnant or avoid it.
Women do not have sex or use other protection during unsafe days, or fertile periods, which last about nine days since sperm can live 2-7 days, and an egg 1-3 days. These nine days are approximately 6-7 days before, and 2-3 days after ovulation. Fertilization is most likely to take place during the six days that end in ovulation.
Out of 100 women, 25 will become pregnant using periodic abstinence, though perfect use decreases the number.
Advantages are the lack of medical or hormonal side effects, calendars, thermometers and charts are easy to get, and most religious groups accept these methods. Unfortunately, it requires months of training and can cause illness, lack of sleep and vaginal infection.
Also for condom week, Planned Parenthood is delivering condoms to Congress and Africa, in an effort to raise awareness about AIDS prevention. The organization estimates 1.1 billion condoms are needed in sub-Sahara Africa for AIDS/HIV prevention.
"Planned Parenthood is committed to ensuring full access to truthful information about condoms and their effectiveness in preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections," Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood, said.
- Information obtained from www.plannedparenthood.org.
(02/18/03 12:00pm)
Vaginas of the College united, along with those who lacked the muscle of the evening, to fill the Music Building's auditorium for the second annual presentation of "The Vagina Monologues."
Thirty women participated in eloquently displaying the many layers of this often hidden and mysterious body part. They brought their captivated audience from the height of comedic observation on a subject - formerly too taboo to mention - into sobered silence at the dangerous realities that are entwined with this part of the female identity.
The experiences of over 200 women from all socio-economic backgrounds were given a voice, and as the author, Eve Ensler, originally discovered, it is something women love to talk about.
The actors were dressed in black, red and pink, on a stage to match. They were surrounded by taffeta and rose petals as they read their stories from pink notecards for two hours broken only by thunderous applause.
Though they would disdain the smell of an onion being associated with the vagina, it revealed itself through their stories as sharing the layers that onions have.
Their stories were heartfelt, amusing and shocking. The show opened with a warning to anyone who wished to separate the qualities of the muscle. "Love me, love my vagina, love its hair," it proclaimed. They are one package.
Various women identified what exactly their vaginas would say, wear and smell like, ranging from everything to nothing at all.
One story chronicled a 72-year-old woman who had never experienced an orgasm for fear of the "flood" which would accompany her excitement. From her first scarring experience in 1953 to her dreams haunted by soggy Rat Pack members wading in her tide, she had closed her vagina, and it would stay that way for the rest of her life.
The beauty of self-discovery and wonder which accompany seeing your vagina for the first time was explored in a Vagina Workshop, and the lesson to be learned was that your vagina cannot be lost.
There were many uncommon medical facts told about the vagina that are rarely known, including that the concentration of its nerve endings is twice the number than in the penis. "Why use a hand gun when you've got a semi-automatic?" they asked.
The sobering truth echoed through the silence pierced only by the soft, quivering voices of abused Native American women who suffer 3.5 times the domestic violence faced by most American women.
A woman learned from an ordinary man the extraordinary lesson of loving her vagina, and not covering what she thinks is repulsive with thoughts of furniture.
Every woman remembers the day of her first period, as recounted by the women on stage, both early and late bloomers, as an exciting event or a stark embarrassment. They described the ways this monthly flow appears to each woman, likening the drops in the toilet to drops of paint.
The angry vagina of a southern belle bellowed about the tortures made up for the vagina. "Tampons - what the hell is that?" Her vagina shuns the constant attempts to cleanse it, the "cold duck lips" of exams and the ever-wandering thong, for a life of luxury and desires.
There was only bitter desolation left after the savage rape of a Bosnian woman. It caused her to remove herself from her vagina, her home and live forever as a refugee in a strange world, never to return to her desecrated native land.
A skit, "My Short Skirt," revealed the proper response for catcalls, setting the record straight that the skirt and everything under it belonged to her, alone, in an empowered refutation to degrading excuses for rape and harassment.
The pain and abuse of a young girl's vagina was transformed into beauty and pleasure by her encounter with a lesbian mentor.
The darkness, isolation and abuse of life in the Burqa was related to a woman drowning in cloth, for lack of light and not noticing her own insanity, only a redundancy of death.
The word "cunt" was reclaimed by the virtues of the individual letters, syllables and sounds which comprise the formerly pejorative term.
A 6-year-old, not yet tainted by society's views, described her vagina in red high tops and in its uniqueness lying in a "really, really smart brain" somewhere deep inside.
A dominatrix was portrayed well. She worked solely for women's moans after abandoning tax law, but keeping the suits for certain uses in her new career. Men couldn't handle her moans, but she extracts women"s moans of varying variety depending on ethnicity, empowerment and sexual satisfaction.
The performance closed with final description of the vagina in all the pain, beauty and majesty of birth.