ARIZONA SUMMER
Street eats Monsoon gastronomically investigates Tucson’s street food scene. page 11
JUNE 30-JULY 6, 2010 dailywildcat.com
Canceled summer courses present obstacles for students By Bethany Barnes ARIZONA SUMMER WILDCAT For some students, getting into summer courses can be crucial in order to graduate. “Contrary to belief, the campus is not dormant over the summer. There are many other programs happening each day,”said Debbie Miller, program director of the Office of Summer and Winter Session. This summer, 11,683 students are enrolled in summer courses at the UA. So when a summer course is canceled, it can leave both students and professors in a bind. Art history and Italian major Kate Callahan and John Guffey, an East Asian studies and general busi-
ness major, both graduated with a deficit and enrolled in a summer session course to fulfill their remaining tier two NATS requirement. The course was canceled and the students were not notified until they went to the atmospheric sciences department and asked about the problem. “I was greatly, greatly inconvenienced by this cancellation,” Guffey said.
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“I was greatly, greatly inconvenienced by this cancellation.” — John Guffey
East Asian studies major
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This was Guffey’s first canceled course and Callahan’s second. “The first time, I was slated to take Italian during the summer before studying abroad in Orvieto, Italy. For that class I was given adequate notification, at least a few weeks, and I received an e-mail notifying me as well as seeing it adjusted in the system,”Callahan said. Callahan said she believed the biggest inconvenience was not that her class was canceled, but that she was not given any advance notice. The lack of notice left Guffey with few options. “When I made an appointment with my adviser to ask for advice or other options, I was told to take a correspondence course at Pima which started a week ago, and costs $1,000. My only other option was to ‘keep checking UAccess,’” Guffey said. Discouraged, Guffey got into contact with other departments to try and find more options, with no success. CANCELED, page 2
Gordon Bates/Arizona Summer Wildcat
UA grad What's on your summer book list? student witnessed oil spill By Rebecca Rillos ARIZONA SUMMER WILDCAT
By Eli MacKinnon ARIZONA SUMMER WILDCAT Embedded in a Mississippi community of offshore oil workers and their families at the time of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, UA anthropology graduate student Preetam Prakash saw firsthand the burgeoning socioeconomic effects of the worst man-made environmental disaster in U.S. history. Prakash was conducting research for a UA-backed anthropological study on the socioeconomic impacts of the offshore oil industry on the Gulf Coast region when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 platform Preetam Prakash workers and casting a pall over the futures and livelihoods of a group of Gulf Coast residents. At the time of the explosion, he was stationed in Meridian, Miss., a south-central city noted for being an inland hub of offshore oil workers. “In that part of the state, a lot of local communities are pretty heavily dependent on offshore oil work because there aren’t a whole lot OIL SPILL, page 2
In between the bustle of summer classes, students can be seen around campus passing the time buried deep in a novel. From The New York Times Bestseller List to the classics, the literary interests students are exploring this summer are very diverse. Alex Baker, a creative writing junior, said he has been revisiting the American classics this summer, such as “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger and Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” “I really like the character in ‘Catcher in the Rye,’” Baker said, “I wouldn’t necessarily say the plot interests me, because there isn’t much of one, but I find the character very interesting.” Veterinary science senior Karyn Wesley has been reading “Thorn in My Heart” and other novels by historical fiction author Liz Curtis Higgs. Wesley said she finds Higgs’ books in the Christian fiction section of bookstores. “I love this book because it has a lot of drama and captures your attention without making you feel like you’re reading something naughty,” Wesley said of “Thorn in My Heart.” “It’s a good romantic novel but isn’t dirty.” Even through the stress and excitement of New Student Orientation, incoming freshman Bailey Saville found the time to finish the bestselling dramatic novel “The Lovely Bones” by Alice
Gordon Bates/Arizona Summer Wildcat
Melissa Kiguwa, a political science senior, enjoys the leisure of the shaded area east of the SUMC food court as she reads and enjoys her cool refreshment.
Sebold. “It was really sad, but a good book. I don’t know why it originally sparked my attention, but I kind of like the fact that it was so sad,”Saville said. Students are not the only Wildcats to catch up on their reading this season. UA President Robert Shelton shared his personal reading list for the summer with the Summer Wildcat. Among the books on his list is the third novel in Stieg Larsson’s highly acclaimed Millennium trilogy, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.”Shelton commented via e-mail that Larsson’s third
novel intrigued him because of the “complex characters and suspense.” The late Swedish author’s renowned trilogy has already been adapted into a film in Sweden, and an American adaptation of the books has been rumored. Also on Shelton’s list is the futuristic novel “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. “(‘Ender’s Game’) is recommended for the Honors College incoming students,” Shelton said. “It is one of my son’s favorite books, so I’m a bit behind the times here.” Shelton also recommends “The
Palace Council” by Stephen Carter. This novel centers on a national conspiracy and the main character, Eddie Wesley, a writer from Harlem. “I’ve read a number of (Carter’s) books,” Shelton said. “Always great character development.” A few other books from his personal library that Shelton recommends for a light summer read are “This Time Together” by comedian Carol Burnett and the nonfiction book by Malcolm Gladwell, “Outliers: The Story of Success.”Shelton called“Outliers” a “continuation of Gladwell’s insightful treatises.”