t n i r P e u l B CAMPUS
I FALL MIN
2011
CONTENTS
FROM THE EDITOR
06
A BID FOR PALESTINE
THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT
08
OCCUPY WALL STREET, PHOTOS
HIV/AIDS has created a global public-health epidemic that has persisted since the 1980s. Although the disease has become manageable thanks to anti-retroviral drugs, we still lack a cure. As medical research inches ever closer to achieving this major step in the fight against HIV/AIDS across the globe, we must not forget those who continue to struggle daily with the disease for their survival. Working with The Aids Support Organization in Masaka, Uganda two summers ago, I saw firsthand how incapacitating an HIV diagnosis can be on both an individual and their family, especially in developing countries that lack the health infrastructure and economic stability to deal with such a health issue. But I also saw how the strength of an individual, when supported by a loving community, can overcome the debilitating effects of the disease to live a long, happy life. In this edition, we look at HIV/ AIDS from a holistic approach in hopes of addressing an issue that is as pertinent as it’s ever been.
20
DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD A Bid for Palestine Famine in Somalia Progressive Grassroots Town Council Elections Local Farm Gives Back Changing the Climate Message STAFF chelsea phipps editor-in-chief sarah bufkin assistant editor carey hanlin managing editor sally fry creative director cari jeffries photo editor hayley fahey, troy homesley, molly hrudka, alice martin, dinesh mccoy, rachel myrick, jenn nowicki, libby rodenbough, sarah rutherford, kyle sebastian, luda shtessel, kyle villemain, peter vogel, kelly yahner staff writers carey hanlin, jasmine lamb, cassie mcmillan production and design
anne brenneman, molly hrudka, cari jeffries, alice martin, kyle sebastian, saurav sethia, kelly yahner copy editors kevin diao, gihani dissanayake, stefanie schwemlein, cary simpson, renee sullender, jennifer tran photographers rachel allen, hayley fahey, charlotte lindemanis, aaron lutkowitz, bloggers
Happy reading, Chelsea Phipps Editor-in-Chief 2 • OCTOBER2011
On the cover: “Abstract Austumn” by Tom Parker, www.tparkerart.com
03 04 10 11 12 13
HIV Criminalization HIV/AIDS Drugs Obesity as a Chronic Disease Challenging the Gender Binary Women and Globalization Poem: Love Letter The Right Occupation
14 16 17 18 21 22 23
After decades of attempts to find a peaceful end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations, the Palestinians have now turned their attention toward a UN recognition of their statehood. Many worry, however, that such a move could damage any hope of peace negotiations between the two groups over the territories of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Today, many Israeli settlements are continuing to expand within the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, sparking further recourse for conflict. This past October, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, appealed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for a bid for membership – the first step in the PNA’s larger plan to gain recognition as a state by the United Nations Security Council. Despite opposition from several countries including the United States, UNESCO’s executive board voted 40-4 in favor of the bid. According to the New York Times, Abbas is steadfast in his plan. “It is a moment of truth, and my people are waiting to hear the answer of the world,” he said. “Will it allow Israel to continue its occupation, the only occupation in the world?” He later said that he did not believe that “anyone with a shred of conscience” could reject the Palestinian application for UNC admission. But Jacob Plitman, a UNC student who does advocacy work for a proIsrael organization on campus, felt the move was “desperate.” “This is the time bomb that Abbas is sitting on,” Plitman said. “The more settlements that are built, the less likely
that a Palestinian state will ever exist because they are getting pushed off their land. That is why he’s desperate.” The organization Plitman works with, J Street U, pushes for a two-state solution in which Palestine and Israel would both exist as independent states. Yet despite this affiliation, Plitman describes himself as both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. “Am I happy about the bid to the UN? No,” Plitman said. “But it is a symptom of a larger problem. Destabilization of the West Bank is, in the short term, hugely detrimental to the Palestinians, and in the long term, just as detrimental to the Israelis. The resumption of trilateral talks requires legitimization of both the Israeli and Palestinian points of view. To reach a pluralistic conclusion to this conflict, we need to consider the concerns and demands of all parties involved.” Since UNESCO’s passing of the Palestinian bid, the United States has acted in keeping with its pro-Israeli policies and kept up a staunch opposition; Congress even threatened to end all funding to UNESCO and all aid to Palestinians. But Plitman fears this will be detrimental to any potential peace negotiations. “The problem is that what they are doing is perfectly legal,” Plitman said. “To strip aid from the West Bank as a response to a legal – if disagreeable – political action is immoral and destructive to the peace process.” Later this month, UNESCO’s General Conference will vote on whether or not to fully grant Palestine membership. Whether American funding will cease has yet to be seen. •
CAREY HANLIN
OCTOBER2011 • 3
FAMINE IN SOMALIA: RUNNING OUT OF TIME SARAH RUTHERFORD
NOVEMBER 2010 The Famine Early Warning Systems Network forecasts a potential famine in Somalia. FEBRUARY 2011 Thirty percent of Somalia’s population is considered to be in a state of crisis. JUNE 2011 The Dabaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya became overcrowded with Somalians refugees fleeing the harsh famine conditions. JULY 2011 The United Nations finally declared a famine in southern Somalia. OCTOBER 2011 More than $2.4 billion is still needed to bring relief to the victims of the drought.
“The famine, especially in the early days, mostly stops at the border”
4 • OCTOBER2011
This short timeline of events doesn’t begin to explain the magnanimity of the famine in Somalia. Since the first hint of famine back in November, time has become the most desirable commodity. Somalis, the UN and aid organizations are hoping for more time to raise funds, more time to reconstruct agriculture and more time to prolong the lives of the over 2.8 million people who are in need of immediate emergency care. As the clock ticks, four children out of every 10,000 die daily. Rapid population growth, insufficient farming and agriculture, expansion of desertification and political strife combined in this particular instance with a dearth of rainfall to create a serious food shortage. But while horrible, the present famine conditions and the chain of events that led to them are not a new occurrence. Somalia has experienced droughts,
militant oppression and overpopulation multiple times in the last two decades. Some would argue that compared to the famine of the early 1990s and the widespread international response it engendered, the world is less likely to intervene now than it was less than twenty years ago. The present global economic downturn may preclude substantial donations of food and money from heavyweights like Brazil, Germany and the United States. Even though international aid is making a concerted effort, Al-Shabaab, an Islamic militia and terrorist group, is hindering relief efforts to southern parts of Somalia by banning food aid. Unable to grow their own food or get food from relief centers, more than 166,000 Somalis fled the country and sought refuge in neighboring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia. “The famine, especially in the early
days, mostly stops at the border,” said Dr. Amy Cooke, a lecturer in the Environmental Studies Department at UNC-Chapel Hill. “ The Islamic extremist group, Al-Shabaab, htas taken over the area around Mogadishu and are not letting aid workers or humanitarian aid in as well as disrupting commerce. The really catastrophic areas are in Somalia in the Al-Shabaab areas.” But moving from one economicallydeprived country to another does not always produce positive results. The refugees are having to compete with the natives for resources and they are spreading diseases. Rival pastoral clans are also forcing the native agriculturalists off their land. “The thing about famine is that even in the vast majority of markets, there is food available for those with the social capital to get it,” Cooke said. “If you can make sure poorer people can get access to food as well, there won’t be a famine.” For Luca Alinovi of the UN Food and Agriculture Board, aid efforts, while necessary, will not be enough to permanently ameliorate the crisis. “The current situation will only be alleviated if people remain where they are and go back to producing their own food,” Alinovi said to Al-Jazeera. “If we don’t give hope to the people, people will move out and the disaster will spread around and multiply by a factor that we will never be in a condition to control.” Because famine is a politically-driven force that is more determined by resource distribution than by food availability, efforts can be made to prevent its occurrence in the first place. “The key thing is to have a robust enough agricultural system before the famine hits,” Cooke said. “Somalia
is a really dry place that is traditionally pastoralist. It’s difficult to have the flexibility and mobility that you need to manage the risks of dry weather if you are restricted by the civil conflict.” But in hopes of providing at least some help to those currently suffering, one UNC-Chapel Hill student group in particular has decided to take action. In its inaugural year, Save the Horn, a service-based organization seeking to provide education, advocacy and aid to the African Horn countries, has decided to focus its first semester efforts on a “Saving Somalia” campaign. Through its “Save the Youth” and “Save the Orphans” programs, Save the Horn aims to develop on-theground leadership potential among the local Somoalian community members. It also is attempting to equip women with the knowledge and skills they’ll need to be successful. Save the Horn partnered with the Muslim Student Association to facilitate the “Go Hungry for a Change” fasta-thon. They encouraged students to fast from sunrise to sunset on Sept. 21, 2011 and to donate their lunch money to help support relief efforts for drought victims in East Africa. Students that participated in the day-long fast were invited to a free dinner from Baba Ghannouj Mediterranean Bistro in the Great Hall of the Student Union. Even though Somalia may seem like a world away for many college students in the U.S., Save the Horn co-president Fekir Negussie believes groups like Save the Horn can play a vital role in the relief efforts. “[You may] see a lot of stuff on the news and you may become numb to it,” Negussie said. “But it is real and is happening right now. And we are the ones that can do something about it.” •
“It’s difficult to have the flexibility and mobility that you need to manage the risks of dry weather if you are restricted by the civil conflict.”
OCTOBER2011 • 5
How the American Jobs Act is dividing Republicans and Democrats in Washington
“This isn’t a question of disagreement about how to reach a common goal; it is fundamentally different goals.”
6 • OCTOBER2011
As the post-recession recovery fails to generate the job growth needed to address the nation’s pervasive unemployment, President Barack Obama has attempted to take charge by proposing the American Jobs Act--legislation aimed at combating the jobs crisis both nationwide and in North Carolina. Congressional Republicans, however, have been vocal in their resistance to his plan; House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) recently characterized the bill as “dead on arrival.” “Half of the issue is that Republicans don’t agree on how to produce a recovery,” UNC political science professor James Stimson said. “The other half -and maybe more than half -- is that they don’t want a recovery while Obama is in the White House. This isn’t a question of disagreement about how to reach a common goal; it is fundamentally different goals.” Obama in turn has tried to force Republicans to publicly identify what parts of the bill they are against, given that many aspects of the legislation are difficult to openly oppose. For instance, one proposal would create additional grants for teachers and schools. North Carolina alone stands to gain over $163 million for its community colleges, over $900 million for educator and first-responder jobs and close to $700 million to modernize public schools. While it is easy to decry out-of-control government spending, it is much harder to deny a first-grade teacher her paycheck. Still, UNC political science professor Tom Carsey believes the proposal with the best chance of surviving Congress and becoming law is a payroll tax cut.
KYLE VILLEMAIN
Obama included a payroll tax-cut extension that would further enlarge upon the existing payroll tax cut that will soon expire. A payroll tax cut serves a dual purpose; businesses, especially small businesses, would keep more money that they can further invest, and workers would keep a larger portion of their earnings that they can then spend. The White House estimates that over 45 million people under the age of 30 would see their paychecks increase due to a payroll tax cut. Other initiatives are targeted at the youth. The Pathways Back to Work Fund would allocate $1.5 billion to states to support summer job programs in an attempt to lower the national youth unemployment rate of a staggering 17.7 percent. The White House estimates that the Pathways Back to Work Fund would create 12,700 youth jobs in North Carolina alone. Obama’s plan also looks specifically at unique plans already in place in North Carolina. Opportunity North Carolina, a program that allows employers to train unemployed, potential workers at no cost to the company, is cited as a potential nationwide solution to longterm unemployment. Under this program, which has been implemented in six different counties in North Carolina, anyone receiving unemployment insurance is eligible to be placed in a six-week trial training period to essentially interview for a job. The state then foots the bill, which allows the company to evaluate new employees at no financial obligation to them. But on top of the Republican opposition, some Democrats are also hesitant
PHOTO FROM WHITEHOUSE.GOV
THE COST OF WORKING
President Barack Obama pushes the American Jobs Act in Congress.
about voting for the bill. Most of their criticism stems not from the proposals in the bill, but instead from the decision to fund the measure through tax increases on the wealthy. Senate Democrats have proposed that instead of raising taxes on families making over $250,000 a year, the government should instead implement a surtax on those making over a million dollars a year--a distinction that they say would exclude some middleclass families from having to pay higher taxes. UNC professor of economics Richard Froyen, however, pointed out that any tax increases likely would not go into effect until 2013 or even 2014. The “time horizon,” therefore, is far enough away that the economy should be recovering strongly when the changes take effect, and any negative impact would be minor. The American Jobs Act is facing limited support from North Carolina senators. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) expressed little support after Obama’s initial jobs speech. “I fully intend to consider all of the
suggestions the President laid out in his speech,” Burr said at the time. He later added, “that are just a repackaged temporary program should be and will be discarded.” After Obama’s visit to Raleigh on Sept. 14, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) hinted at giving her support but didn’t promise anything. “I’m going to have to look at it.” Hagan said. Hagan did note that she was “pleased the President included a similar proposal” to her Hire-a-Hero tax credit, which aims at decreasing unemployment among veterans. Rep. David Price (D-NC), on the other hand, voiced more explicit support for the bill, especially the money provided for schools. He represents North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, which includes the town of Chapel Hill and the UNC campus. “The American Jobs Act will improve the economy by putting workers back on the job rebuilding our infrastructure, by retaining teachers and firefighters and by giving a tax cut to every family,” Price said. •
While it is easy to decry out-of-control government spending, it is much harder to deny a first-grade teacher her paycheck.
OCTOBER2011 • 7
SARAH BUFKIN Deluded. Jobless because they don’t want to work. Don’t know why they’re there. Half-wits who talk much but say little. Woodstock wannabees. Smelly white people. To hear the mainstream media tell it, the Occupy Wall Street protests now active in New York City and across the nation resemble some sort of weed-smoking, dreadlock-bedazzled drum circle rather than an actual movement. Again and again, pundits and newspaper editorials alike deride those currently camped out in Zuccotti Park (which the occupiers have renamed Liberty Plaza) as at worst, lazy anarchists, and at best, directionless. And while my brief stint among the Wall Street protesters last weekend did reveal a greater prevalence of dreadlocks than marks the general population as a whole, the ways in which the media has so far chosen to portray this group of discontents has denied the two aspects of the movement that make it so exciting—first, that legitimate grounds for protest exist in our country on multiple fronts, and second, that the collective mobilization of the passions and energies of so many disparate segments of the population is a force that should be nourished and harnessed rather than squashed. In the narrative so far constructed by the major news outlets of this protest movement, which began with only a few hundred college students in early September and has since grown to thousands of people in cities across the U.S., these discontents represent only a splinter of Americans who are in many ways threatening what it means to be American. Yet the foundational mantra of the 8 • OCTOBER2011
movement sets itself up in direct opposition to such a characterization—“We are the 99 percent.” These protesters have gathered across the United States, in parks and street corners and town squares, carrying signs and sleeping bags and stacks of ungraded middleschool essays, to take a vocal stand against the wealthiest of America. The corporations and the cronyism that control our economic and political systems. The top one percent. The 99 percent should be raising hell. The top one percent holds 42 percent of the nation’s wealth and takes in 24 percent of the national income. Just over thirty years ago, they only laid claim to nine percent of the U.S. livelihood. To establish the comparison, the bottom 80 percent of Americans holds only seven percent of the nation’s wealth. Such a distribution subjects Americans to greater income inequality than both Pakistanis and Ethiopians and puts us on par with Ugandan citizens. But the top one percent’s extra income doesn’t just sit tamely in Swiss bank accounts; after the loosening of campaign finance laws under the controversial Citizens United decision last year, money has poured into political races across the nation, ranging from the high-profile national campaigns to local school board candidacies. Conservatives are donating millions to push a host of ideologically-motivated initiatives in the state legislatures--constitutional bans on gay marriage, measures defunding Planned Parenthood, school voucher programs—and corporations are working through lobbyists and the American Legislative Exchange Council to enact legislation that makes it easier
for them to turn a profit—tort reform, environmental deregulation, lower taxes, health-care laws supportive of insurers. And to top it all off, state lawmakers nationwide are advocating for stringent voter photo-ID laws that will disenfranchise minorities. Not only do our votes mean less in a political system saturated with cash, but some Americans may be kept from casting their ballots altogether. I cannot deny that the occupiers currently lack the cohesion we come to expect of effective political actors, but such a direction could very well coalesce out of the vast spectrum of anger as the protests mature. But more importantly, the media’s decision to harp on this lack of a mission statement misses the fundamental element of the 99 percent movement—its vital activity. Countless groups write mission statements every day; countless mission statements are posted on websites that receive no traffic. Modern America has for too long allowed itself to fragment into an assortment of individuals, each occupied with the daily toils and troubles of his or her particular experience. What is so promising about the 99 percent protest is that it has managed to permeate the thick wall of individual concern that we have erected around ourselves, that it speaks to people from across the broad swath of the population, that it mobilizes. And so instead of denigrating those hippies camped out on Wall Street for not knowing what they want, we should be participating in the discourse over what we, as the 99 percent of Americans, would want to see happen. •
PHOTOS BY SARAH BUFKIN AND RENEE SULLENDEER
OCCUPY WALL STREET
OCTOBER2011 • 9
PROGRESSIVE GRASSROOTS HAYLEY FAHEY
Although UNC students comprise about a quarter of Chapel Hill’s 57,000 residents, only a few hundred voted in local elections in 2009.
10 • OCTOBER2011
Ranked 37th nationwide for voter turnout in the 2010 general elections, North Carolina has a lot of ground to recover in terms of civic engagement. Throughout the state, progressive groups and students are working to protect the right to vote and to increase participation in elections, steps they say are necessary to ensuring government accountability. A nonpartisan and progressive organization, Democracy North Carolina is one such group that uses research, training, advocacy and coalition-building to remove barriers to voting for North Carolinians. “Rather than focusing on specific issues, our broader focus is on the political process itself,” said Jenn Frye, Democracy NC’s associate director. Many challenges to their mission, however, have originated within the state. In March, Republican representatives pushed for a bill to require photo identification to vote. Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the bill in June, but the legislature could still reconsider it until the end of 2012. Should the bill pass, about 450,000 active, registered voters of traditionally marginalized groups are likely to be left out at the polls. “We know the majority of those are not registered Republicans,” Frye said. “Thirty-two percent are elderly, 32 percent [are] African American and the majority are women.” Democracy NC also works to expand voter-owned elections, preserve measures like same-day registration and educate the public about the importance of civic engagement. “Regardless of which party is in power, that party needs to represent the majority of North Carolinians,” Frye said. “Things will just get worse if we don’t participate. What happens then is
a minority of people make decisions for the rest of us.” In Chapel Hill, UNC junior Zaina Alsous is making similar efforts to increase student voting. Although UNC students comprise about a quarter of Chapel Hill’s 57,000 residents, only a few hundred voted in local elections in 2009. “We’re often taken for granted and left out of local decisions that affect our lives, like decisions on parking, housing developments and business developments,” Alsous said. Alsous’ voting initiative began as a coalition of student groups, including the Campus Y, UNC Young Democrats, Student Government and the College Republicans. Through campus networking, Alsous hopes to spread the importance of local, and especially early, voting, which runs from Oct. 20 to Nov. 5. “Early voting is the key to getting students involved,” Alsous said. “It’s significant because of how polling places are divided in Orange County. In some cases, they’re inaccessible to students if they wait until election day.” Thanks to Alsous and the voting coalition, students can find registration forms at the Campus Y and join a Facebook group for more information about local elections. Also, a candidate forum will be held in late October where Lee Storrow, a recent UNC graduate and town council candidate, will participate. Alsous is hopeful that Storrow’s campaign will energize students to vote this season. “Four thousand votes basically guarantees you a seat on town council,” Alsous said. “That’s not even [the size of] our first-year class. It’s a discourse of empowerment. If you truly love Chapel Hill, then you have the responsibility to commit your time to vote.” •
VOICE OF
THE RESIDENTS
CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL ELECTIONS JENN NOWICKI Four of the eight Chapel Hill Town Council seats as well as the office of mayor are up for election this November. All of the candidates vying for these positions have the unique task of not only catering to Chapel Hill’s permanent residents, but also to the around 29,000 strong student population of UNC. And yet, despite the overwhelming number of students who could potentially contribute to the elections, most haven’t even heard of the Chapel Hill Town Council. Past Town Council initiatives include regulations of the Franklin Street Halloween and basketball celebration festivities as well as the passage of sales-tax proposals. Over the past few weeks, Greg Steele, Chairman of the UNC College Republicans, has advocated for voter registration among students in anticipation of the upcoming elections. “We’ve got to stress the issue that we live here for at least four years,” Steele said. “These policies do affect us, the taxes do affect us, and we enjoy the services that the community provides.” Lee Storrow, a 2011 UNC graduate, sees his candidacy for Town Council as a chance for more students to become invested in the elections. “This is a chance to elect a 22 yearold to Town Council, which is something that hasn’t been done in 20 years,” Storrow said. Storrow’s platform focuses on improv-
ing the public-transportation system and promoting sustainability throughout the region. Storrow sees himself as an innovator and expressed disappointment in the councils of previous years, especially with regard to listening to the needs of Chapel Hill’s residents. “They’ve been late to the party,” Storrow said. For University Florist owner Charles House, the innovation can’t come soon enough. One problem House deals with is the lack of available parking for potential customers, an issue he says previous councils have not addressed adequately over the years. “There is parking available, but it fills up pretty quickly,” House said. “It limits the shopping opportunities that customers can have if they have to rely on either public transportation or bicycles and things of that nature.” Steele says the parking issue is a burden for students as well. “It’s ridiculous in Chapel Hill; I can’t figure it out,” Steele said. “We have got to find a better option [for] providing more parking off-campus.” A bigger issue for House, however, consists of the panhandlers commonly found along Franklin Street. Panhandlers drive away customers, which harms business profits. According to House, the panhandlers also have an adverse effect on potential students scoping out UNC.
“One father was bringing his daughter down to Carolina to look at the school, and by the time he had walked down Franklin Street, from the post office to Spanky’s, he had been approached by two, three or four different individuals asking for spare change or money,” House said. “He made the decision then and there not to send his daughter here.” Craig Samuels, owner of Franklin Pizza and Pasta, agrees. He would like to see the issue of panhandling become the number-one priority for new members of the Town Council, as the issue has not improved over the 18 years he’s spent working on Franklin Street. “I think it’s getting worse,” Samuels said. “We have panhandlers coming into restaurants asking people for money and using the bathroom without asking. It’s pretty rude.” In addition to the pan-handling issue, Samuels also wants a greater presence of Town Council members in the downtown Chapel Hill area, including Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. “I’ve seen him once at the grand opening for Krispy Kreme,” Samuels said. “I think it is his duty as an elected official to come downtown and visit small businesses. He doesn’t have to come here [to Franklin Pizza and Pasta], but he should come down and spend money.” •
OCTOBER2011 • 11
First Lady Michelle Obama and famed chef Jamie Oliver have both taken up national campaigns to teach children where their food comes from, but North Carolina’s own Maple View Farms is also contributing to the cause on a local level. Bob Nutter, the semi-retired owner of Maple View, helped create an agricultural center on some of his family’s unused land in order to teach children how their fruits, vegetables and dairy products get onto their plates. “These kids didn’t have any concept of where their food came from except the grocery store,” Nutter said. The agricultural center in Hillsborough is divided up into four separate classrooms to educate local schoolchildren: insects, plants, dairy and energy. Visitors to the center watch the process of making milk, receive lessons on which veggies are which and why we should eat them and learn about the importance of insects in crop farming. Nutter even explains the farm’s solar energy initiative. Maple View’s center also educates children on sources of energy. Duke Power rents a one-acre tract of solar panels on Nutter’s land, and the readouts from the solar panels are used in the agricultural center to teach students about the benefits of sustainable energy sources. Maple View’s focus on sustainability extends to their in-house bottling plant, the only one in North Carolina that uses reusable glass bottles consumers can return to any of the 50 local stores that sell Maple View’s milk for a deposit. Maple View has been a longtime contributor to the local community, and Nutter, a fifth generation farmer, wants to keep it that way. “We don’t want to get any bigger, 12 • OCTOBER2011
CHANGING THE CLIMATE MESSAGE
KELLY YAHNER
PHOTOS BY KELLY YAHNER
LOCAL FARM GIVES BACK
Maple Vew Farms, famous for their ice cream, also educates children about Food sources, insects and sustainable energy.
we’re big enough,” Nutter said. “Getting bigger just causes us more headaches. We try to be a contributor to the area, and the local community has been good to us.” Nutter makes a point to give back to the community with what his farm can offer. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2006, the three Maple View ice cream shops donated their entire profit from Labor Day sales to the
Red Cross. Nutter has also donated 187 acres of land to the Triangle Land Conservancy, meaning that the land will be used for agricultural purposes or be open land forever. For Nutter, his business and his philanthropy both represent his approach to the world. “I was born in agriculture, I never did anything else,” he said. “I haven’t done anything different.” •
Only 36 percent of American adults believe that climate change and human activity have any relation, according to a May Pew Research Center poll. Among the staunchest conservatives, that percentage of believers dwindles to just five percent. In order to combat such an atmosphere of ignorance and indifference towards environmental issues, Al Gore created The Climate Reality Project, which focuses on raising awareness about climate disasters around the world. The project’s kick-off event on Sept. 14 streamed online and received over 8.5 million hits as presenters discussed climate-related disasters and the potential threats in 24 different locations around the world. Gore highlighted the flooding in Pakistan and hurricanes along the U.S. Atlantic coast by correlating these disasters to the human carbon footprint. Time magazine’s “Ecocentric” blog writer Bryan Walsh critiqued Gore’s event for focusing on raising awareness rather than framing climate change in a way that inspires action. “We’re still stuck on policy—what to actually do about climate change, aside from being worried about it— and I’m not sure Gore’s approach will be effective on that question,” Walsh wrote. UNC Environmental Policy Professor Dr. Richard “Pete” Andrews said that one possible method of shifting the national perspective is replacing controversial and confusing projections with a greater public focus on adapting to current issues, citing the work of ECU geologist Professor Stanley Riggs. “[Dr. Riggs] is not relying on models, he’s just showing the data about how sea level rise is in fact happening in
North Carolina. It’s a fact. It’s not just a projection,” Andrews said. Noting the increasing intensity of hurricanes, Andrews posed a question that emphasizes the need for Americans to think differently about environmental changes. “How much more should we invest in constantly rebuilding the road along the Outer Banks when we know that every big hurricane is just going to put it under water again?” Andrews said. According to Andrews, some political machines have framed sustainable actions as directly in conflict with economic growth. Some policymakers, however, see alternative clean-energy sources as job creators and cost reducers. “There is a huge argument for supplementing our energy efficiency [with clean resources],” Andrews said. “That’s a case that should sell well during a recession… More and more people are spending 20, 30, 40 percent on just their energy; that competes with food, it competes with paying their rent, it competes with health care.” Students in the UNC Sierra Student Coalition are taking an action-based approach to the issue of climate change, advocating not only a switch to cleaner energy sources, but also pressuring UNC’s administration to end funding of coal companies through its large endowment. “As a whole the university is doing a good job right now,” Katie Orndahl, the media coordinator for their Beyond Coal Campaign, said. “It just needs to follow through with the things that have been promised. Coal is dirty and dangerous, and we don’t want our reputation as the university stained by it.” •
DINESH MCCOY
“...Sea level rise is in fact happening in North Carolina. It’s a fact. It’s not just a projection.”
OCTOBER2011 • 13
MOLLY HRUDKA
14 • OCTOBER2011
A Ugandan immigrant, Johnson Aziga, of Hamilton, Ontario, was found guilty on April 4, 2009 of two counts of firstdegree murder, ten counts of aggravated sexual assault, and one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault. Considered a high risk to society, Aziga was jailed indefinitely under the provisions of the Dangerous Offenders Act. While at first glance it seems like any other homicide, the Aziga case has sparked international controversy because it was the first to charge and convict someone with first-degree murder for knowingly spreading HIV. After he was diagnosed with the disease in 1996, Aziga concealed his HIV status and proceeded to have unprotected sex with 11 women, seven of whom later tested positive for HIV and two of whom died as a result of AIDS-associated illnesses. In Canada alone, there have been over 104 criminal charges in relation to HIV non-disclosure. But Canada is not the only country pursuing legal action for intentional HIV transmission. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, among others, also have passed laws criminalizing the spread of HIV. While the criminal justice system’s intent to punish those who display reckless sexual behavior is certainly honorable in its intentions, it may actually weaken, rather than strengthen,
the worldwide battle against HIV transmission. The issue has incited outrage among many circles including public health officials, human-rights activists, HIV/AIDS advocates and the HIVpositive community. They fear that the prosecution of HIV transmission will increase stigma, cultivate negative media attention that demonizes the HIVpositive community, incite a culture of blame within the positive community and discourage people from getting tested and talking candidly with their doctors. A study on HIV-positive gay men in Sydney and Melbourne conducted by Dean Murphey of the National Centre of HIV Social research in Sydney, Australia, revealed that many members of the HIV-positive community are apprehensive about the criminalization of HIV. Respondents acknowledged that the media plays an important role in criminalization because it seizes upon sensational cases like the Aziga case and portrays it as if it’s a fair representation of the HIV-positive community’s actions when in reality, it only represents a small percentage of HIV transmission cases. “But you know, is he a criminal and do you need to demonize the entire HIV-positive body as a result?”one respondent said. Respondents also took issue with the culture of blame that criminaliza-
PHOTO BY KEVIN DIAO
HIV CRIMINALIZATION HIV criminalization could lead to cultivation of a culture of blame amongst the HIV-positive community.
tion gives rise to amid the HIV-positive community. “But then as a broader culture, we then have the notion that one person is to blame for the irresponsibility that occurs. And it’s like, well, no. This is actually a collective responsibility to ensure prevention occurs,” another respondent said. Similar responses pointed out that legal proceedings and cultural tendencies tend to gravitate toward singling out one person to blame for transmitting HIV. They disagreed with this mindset and reiterated that you cannot just blame one person for transmission because HIV prevention is the responsibility of both partners. This obviously clashes with the idea of legal criminal cases, as the whole point of their existence it to discern the ‘guilty’ party and punish him or her accordingly. The criminalization of HIV also questions the right to privacy, especially with regard to the confidentiality of medical records. “The prosecution sought and succeeded in forcing some medical practices… to turn over records,” said Dr. Jeanne Ellard, a Research Fellow at the
National Centre in HIV Social Research. Concerns over privacy rights were evident in interviews with some men who stated that they would be less likely to discuss their sexual practices with their doctors if they knew their medical records could be seized. It was also evident that people would be less inclined to get themselves tested if there existed the possibility of legal implications. The question remains: how do public health officials fulfill their obligations to serve clients while protecting the broader population? Dr. Martin French, a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in Queen’s University’s Department of Sociology, uses the term, ‘viral politics,’ in reference to this question. “When a patient’s case-management file – filled with information ostensibly meant to guide that patient’s counseling and treatment – is subpoenaed as evidence for a criminal trial concerning HIV non-disclosure, we witness a viropolitical [re]encoding of this information, as well as the practices and relationships that produced it in the first place,” French said. As more laws criminalizing the purposeful transmission of HIV are cre-
ated, several workshops, conferences and trainings are being organized to raise public awareness about the issue. Organizations such as the HIV/AIDS Legal Network are working to produce material that informs HIV/AIDS service organizations of their rights and obligations. The focus on education will help to narrow the scope of the application of the law and rid communities of the culture of blame. One survey respondent sees the transcendence of blame as a key hurdle for those who are HIV positive. “I think my understanding is that, to get over HIV, you kind of have to let go of blame. I feel like the phylogenetic pathway is one of, ‘you gave it to me,’ ‘who gave it to who,’ let’s create the HIV family tree. You know, I’m not sure how much value there is in it.” •
OCTOBER2011 • 15
HIV/AIDS
DRUGS LUDA SHTESSEL
“There is more viral diversity in one individual than in the entire Spanish influenza epidemic.”
16 • OCTOBER2011
Extensive research looks at how the human immunodeficiency virus debilitates the body’s immune system while evading detection, but much of the studies have only provided therapies to help those infected cope with the symptoms of the disease. Could a cure be within reach? Problematically, HIV--similar to the common cold--mutates rapidly. Once the virus enters a target cell, a unique reverse transcriptase enzyme converts the viral RNA to DNA. This RNA-to-DNA conversion is crucial for the virus to insert itself into the host cell’s DNA, which is what ultimately allows for it to evade detection. It is during this conversion step that mutations are introduced to the newly replicated HIV DNA. RT introduces an error every 10,000 bases as opposed to only one error in one million bases made by the enzyme that replicates our DNA. “There is more viral diversity in one individual than in the entire Spanish influenza epidemic,” said Dr. Joseph Eron, the Director of the Clinical Core at the UNC Center for AIDS Research. HIV mutations introduced by the RT are problematic for developing both therapies and vaccines. Even minor changes to the viral DNA can result in slightly different viral proteins unrecognizable to the body’s immune system. Additionally, the rapid mutation rate of HIV allows it to adapt to drugs relatively quickly, forcing the use of combination therapies of three or more drugs. During the first decade of treatment, drugs were used singly and resulted in poor patient outcomes. “In 1996, we finally had enough active drugs to provide an effective combination,” Eron said. Most HIV therapies, known as antiretrovirals (ARVs), target the HIV RT. These therapies are commonly combined with other treatments that inter-
fere with different aspects of HIV’s function. For example, protease inhibitors prevent HIV from maturing, rendering it incapable of infecting other cells, and drugs like maraviroc interfere with HIV’s ability to use receptors on the surface of cells for entry. Currently, there are 35 FDA-approved ARVs for combating HIV. Offering an easy drug-taking regimen is one of the main obstacles in providing effective treatment options. While simpler, less toxic and easier-totolerate therapies are the three main hurdles in developing ARVs, Eron explained that adherence is the biggest problem. A number of social and health factors can impact a patient’s access to medication. Ashley Hedges, a UNC PharmD student, experienced firsthand the social obstacles that come with life-long ARV treatment through her interactions with locals in Lilongwe, Malawi during a summer service internship with the World Camp, Inc. “Their government provides free ARVs, which should help with compliance, but that doesn’t remove the stigma associated with taking these drugs,” Ashley said. “Even appearancerelated side-effects [such as a “buffalo hump”—an unnatural redistribution of fat to the upper back] can deter people from taking ARVs.” Although ARV development has dramatically improved in the last decade, an effective cure remains elusive. Recently, a group of UNC researchers, one of nine groups in the U.S., were awarded a shared $32-million federal grant dedicated to research aimed at developing a cure. “The connection between the basic biology and the clinic is incredibly close here. That’s what makes it exciting for me,” Eron said. “It’s an incredible rush.” •
OBESITY AS A CHRONIC DISEASE Looking at How Socioeconomic Status Relates KYLE SEBASTIAN Obesity is on the rise worldwide, with recent estimations counting 502 billion adults as obese. The United States alone is home to 99 million obese adults, who make up close to 34 percent of the total population and almost one fifth of those battling obesity globally. Researchers have predicted obesity could affect as much as 50 percent of Americans by 2030 if these current trends continue. On a regional level, the South has the highest occurrence of obesity, given that close to 30 percent of Southerners have a Body Mass Index of 30 or more. North Carolina is right in line with the regional average--29 percent of its adults were considered obese in 2007. This explosion of waistlines has serious implications for the health of the American public. But the obesity epidemic has not hit all segments of the population equally; it is most prevalent in lowincome minority groups, the most marginalized of American society. The highest rates of obesity are found among African Americans and Mexican Americans, at 44.1 and 39.3 percent, respectively. Also telling is that 62 percent of black children and 63 percent of Hispanic children live in low-income households. Income level seems to have a greatest impact on health; according to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, “the most reliable predictor of obesity in America today is a person’s wealth.”
Nationally, 14.3 percent of low-income children aged two to four are obese; in North Carolina, that number jumps to between 15 and 20 percent. The link between income and obesity can be traced back to a variety of factors, one of which is access to healthy food. Low-income families are more likely to live in a “food desert,” an area where there is limited or no access to affordable healthy food. Low-income neighborhoods often have a dearth of supermarkets and excess of convenience stores, fast food restaurants and liquor stores. Poorer families aren’t helped by the huge disparity between the cost of fresh produce and processed foods. The U.S. government provides $25 billion annually in subsidies for corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton. These subsidies encourage farmers to produce more crops than would normally be profitable, flooding the market and driving the price down (thus encouraging the use of subsidies). The low market prices of corn, soy and wheat mean that meat, dairy and especially processed foods are cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables. Between 1985 and 2000, the real price of fresh produce increased by 40 percent while the cost of most processed foods decreased. Adam Drewnowksi, a researcher at the University of Washington, found that for one dollar, consumers can either buy 1200 calories of potato chips or 250 calories of carrots.
For many low-income families, the option to buy fresh produce simply does not exist, either due to physical or budgetary constraints. Consequently they end up getting most of their calories from “energy-dense” processed foods, which are high in fat and sugar and which put them at a higher risk of becoming obese. Paying special attention to transportation and offering incentives for supermarkets to establish franchises in urban areas or food trucks that could travel to food deserts to sell fresh produce would serve to decrease rates of obesity among low-income families by giving them access to healthier options. The weight-gain crisis, however, isn’t receiving the attention it deserves because obesity is seen as an affliction of the uneducated poor, and consequently is ignored. But what many discount is that obesity generates enormous societal costs that affect all American citizens. Obesity is responsible for a number of non-infectious chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, liver and gallbladder disease and endometrial, breast and colon cancer. Treatment of obesity-linked medical problems is incredibly expensive, totaling $147 billion in 2008 alone. Preventable diseases linked to obesity put an enormous strain on the United States health care system, one that could be alleviated through increased education and preventative medical care. • OCTOBER2011 • 17
CHALLENGING
THE GENDER BINARY
“The challenge is that the society we live in is so fixated on this idea of the binary: male and female.”
18 • OCTOBER2011
Cigarette smoke swirls in the bright stage lights at the 2011 Video Music Awards as Jo Calderone exhales. He is dressed in black men’s slacks and a loose white shirt, his black hair greased back. Everyone watching knows something about him that a stranger on the street might never have guessed; Calderone is actually a woman. Lady Gaga identifies Calderone as her male alter ego, but the exact statement Gaga was making with this performance piece is hard to pin down; however, no matter what her intended message was, it brought public attention to the issues facing transex, intersex, and transgender individuals. Despite popular rumors of Gaga identifying as a hermaphrodite being false, Gaga has a history of making statements raising the awareness about the intersexual community, a group largely overlooked in modern society. “I would like to see a world where intersex individuals were safe and could express their sex and gender in ways that are socially accepted,” said Emily Burrill, a professor in the Women’s Studies Department of UNC-Chapel Hill. “The challenge is that the society that we live in is so fixated on this idea of the binary: male and female.” In her 1993 article, “The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough,” Anne Fausto-Sterling, a professor of Biology and Women’s Studies in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University, stated that modern society as a whole operates on a binary view of sexual beings, or restricting the sexual options
to being male and female; however, this view excludes three other types of sexes. It is important to note that, despite common belief, sex and gender do not mean the same thing. Sex refers primarily to biological determination, male and female reproductive organs. Gender, on the other hand, refers to societal norms associated with particular sexes and the way society views an individual. This also differentiates transgender from transsexual, as transgender is changing one’s image and actions to be more associated with the opposite gender while transsexual means going through a physical transformation to become the opposite sex. The other types of sexes, hybrids between the extremities of male and female, are known as intersexual individuals. According to Fausto-Sterling, sexuality should be viewed as a spectrum rather than being limited to the two categories of male and female. Within this spectrum there are at least three other types of sexes: hermaphrodites (herms), ferms and merms. Hermaphrodites, the most well-known of the three, are defined by having both testes and ovaries. These can form separately or as the same organ. Ferms and merms are considered pseudohermaphrodites. Ferms can have ovaries and a uterus but must also have some kind of external male genitalia. Ferms are also associated with more masculine qualities such as having a deeper voice and growing facial hair. Meanwhile, merms have
PHOTO BY PHILIP NELSON FROM SAN ANTONIO, TX
ALICE MARTIN
“It is extremely difficult to estimate the frequency of intersexuality. It is not the sort of information one volunteers on a job application.”
Lady Gaga at the MTV Video Music Awards 2011.
testes and no ovaries but may have a vagina and can develop more feminine traits such as breasts. While knowing the exact frequency of intersex births is impossible, Fausto-Sterling estimated that intersex individuals could make up four percent of births. “It is extremely difficult to estimate the frequency of intersexuality, much less the frequency of each of the three additional sexes,” Fausto-Sterling wrote. “It is not the sort of information one volunteers on a job application.” While the discrimination against intersex individuals in society can cause a slew of problems for an individual, including emotional problems and prejudice, there are also a series of important, practical issues that society’s binary view of sex creates. Danny Depuy, the assistant director at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Center, cited a study done by The National Center of Transgender Equality in reference to problems faced by intersexual individuals. “The survey addresses what is most important and what is most needed,”
Depuy said. “Health care is one really big issue. Employment is another big one.” While today it is possible for many intersexual individuals to go through medical surgeries or treatments to become more female or male, it is still technically impossible for a person to change his or her chromosomal sex. This can complicate determination of sex governed by state laws but it also affects day-to-day choices based on sexual identity. “What, for example, would happen to the intersexual child amid the unrelenting cruelty of the school yard?” Fausto-Sterling wrote. “When the time came to shower in gym class, what horrors and humiliations would await the intersexual as his/her anatomy was displayed in all its nontraditional glory? In whose gym class would s/he register to begin with? What bathroom would s/he use?” This binary focus is so firm in society today that, according to Burrill, there would have to be a major “social overhaul” for the sexual spectrum to be accepted. On the University of North Car-
olina campus, efforts are already being made to bring about this change. “We can look at places where there’s a gender binary, where men go here and women go there, or where you have to check ‘male’ or ‘female’ in a box. We can look at how folks who may not fit this are left out of this system,” Depuy said. Currently, facilities at UNC have an agreement with the LGBTQ Center that every new renovation or building on campus will include at least one gender nonspecific bathroom to accommodate intersex individuals. In addition to active steps like this, awareness is thought to be a key element in initiating change for intersex individuals. “Around UNC, we can start talking about it,” Burrill said. “The first thing we could do is increase our awareness of intersexual existence. This is a category of people that are around us. Because of the stigma attached, [intersexuality] is seen as something to be kept a secret, as a bad thing. But colleges are innovative, culturally rich places. There are different awareness practices we can engage in.” • OCTOBER2011 • 19
DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD A federal judge ordered an injunction on the recently-passed North Carolina law defunding Planned Parenthood on Aug. 19, effectively reinstating the state funds until the family-planning organization’s lawsuit against the ban can be decided in court. North Carolina is the third state nationwide to pass a measure blocking the use of public money to support Planned Parenthood and then to see such a ban overturned--at least temporarily--by the courts. The main debate over the state law centers on the morality of abortion. Many GOP lawmakers considered the measure as another win for the prolife movement. Yet, considering that the 1976 federal Hyde Amendment already prevents the use of federal funds for abortion, many wondered why the defunding of Planned Parenthood was necessary. “This legislation is meant to punish abortion providers,” said Paige Johnson, Vice President of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood in central North Carolina. Without the injunction, Planned Parenthood claims their center in Durham, which receives federal funding, would have been forced to close. Lawmakers insisted that patients could simply go to regular health clinics to receive care instead. “These health clinics are already overbooked with patients,” Johnson said. “We called health clinics in surrounding counties, and the average wait was 12 to 14 weeks. Here we can usually get them in the same day, definitely within the week.” Planned Parenthood launched a lawsuit against the state after the North Carolina General Assembly defunded 20 • OCTOBER2011
WOMEN & GLOBALIZATION JENN NOWICKI
PHOTO BY JENNIFER TRAN
the organization on June, 16, and Judge James Beaty, Jr. granted an injunction on Aug. 19 until the suit can be resolved. “Based on the evidence before the court, it appears that Section 10.19 was adopted specifically to penalize Planned Parenthood,” Beaty said in his decision. Despite the state’s argument that the legislation falls in line with North Carolina’s policy of favoring childbirth over abortions, Beaty wrote the state “has not presented any evidence or even contention to establish how [the bill’s] ban on using [Planned Parenthood] for non-abortion-related projects is rationally related to a legislative policy of funding childbirth services over abortion services.” Not everyone believes this ruling will stand. Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, argues that states do have the right to withdraw funding from private organizations as long as it doesn’t interfere with federal rights.
“North Carolina cannot go out of its way to violate [federal] rights,” Gerhardt said. “However, it is also not obliged to fund those acts, or any private activity, period.” Although Gerhardt suspects that the defunding of Planned Parenthood did serve as political punishment, he said that it must be shown that it constituted a violation of a federal right. In Gerhardt’s opinion, it doesn’t; in fact, if the case reaches the Supreme Court, he anticipates Planned Parenthood will lose. “The Supreme Court has said that the refusal to fund something does not create an obstacle to that right,” Gerhardt said. “The legislators can act differently, but as far as constitutional law is concerned, this issue is very well settled.” The 2010 landslide victories of Tea Party-backed Republicans may have given the pro-life movement more momentum. Johnson believes that if the election outcomes had been otherwise, Planned Parenthood would never have been defunded. •
Two-thirds of the illiterate population are women, according to the United Nations Statistical Division. Women are more likely to be impoverished. Women continue to bear the majority of household and familial duties in addition to new roles as workers. Women perform two-thirds of all work, including unpaid labor, but receive only ten percent of the total wages paid worldwide. Women own merely one percent of assets in all countries. Only 14 women in the world hold the highest position in their governments. Only a few top corporations are led by women. These statistics may come across as grim and overwhelming; it is important, however, to look at them within their historical context. In 1960s India, only two percent of women were literate, and the average life span for women was 27 years. Today, 65 percent of females are literate and, on average, women live 105 percent longer than men in India. Representing similar improvements being made in other developing countries, these changes paint a more hopeful picture. The international system is beginning to shift. In Africa, women are beginning to work in new sectors. In India, women are starting to drive cars, become economically autonomous and sometimes leading charitable organizations and fighting for political justice. Following the Arab Spring in early 2011, women in Arab states have chosen to fight for their freedom, along with the freedom of their people, from dictatorial governments. Witnessing these cultural shifts firsthand this past summer, I lived with a host family in India who had a daughter working in London. Only 20 years ago, this would have been nearly impossible. The backlash from family members and the culturally skewed interpretation of
women’s rights would have relegated her to marriage at a young age, economic dependency and, ultimately, a loss of independence. Today, her parents understood the importance of economic freedom and have allowed her to pursue her dreams. Of course, there are still reservations amongst her family and community about her choice, but the view of the position of women in modern society has begun. In India, it used to be culturally unacceptable for women to drive cars, and society even looked down upon women who drove mopeds or motorcycles. Thus, women had been forced to do all of their daily activities in the presence of their husband. Today, women are overcoming this limit by choosing to drive without the permission of their husbands or brothers. Although this may seem to be minor step forward, it shows that women are beginning to brazenly flout cultural norms in hopes of achieving independence. As women find their footing outside of the traditional home, they are also realizing the power of economic freedom, and, as a natural result, also political freedom - a fact being manifested in India by an upsurge in the number of women participating in local elections and national politics. Globalization has the ability to open up new avenues for women by allowing for economic freedom and the experience of new ideologies. But we must be cognizant of the fact that globalization also contains the risk of relegating women and other oppressed groups to constant states of inequality vis-a-vis overpowering global institutions. It is imperative that we continue to work towards providing opportunities for women to assert themselves in all spheres of life. •
TROY HOMESLEY
Globalization has the ability to open up new avenues for women by allowing for economic freedom and the experience of new ideologies.
OCTOBER2011 • 21
LOVE LETTER, 8 AM SARAH EDWARDS
I awake to my curtains tempesting themselves in spring tremor: they are Shakespeare, they are like swans that twist and turn, content to mingle unwarily in the morning. There is nothing they are afraid of but allow themselves be carried out, like boats, more malleable than wind itself. I am transfixed by the capability of light and by the capacity of my heart to accept light: thin as litmus paper and heavy as sand, filling me more than the promise of a lover, simply because there is nothing broken, or to be broken here. I think I could wear these traveler hats forever; I could ride trains and smell oranges in every day, I could forgive everyone (even you), I could resurrect like winter-colored curtains each day and forget, never once, to rejoice. •
22 • OCTOBER2011
THE RIGHT OCCUPATION I can only commend the Wall Street Occupiers. To link arms as a people empowered, to stand boldly before the entrenched powers of the modern world, to express outrage physically and at indomitable decibels--this is the flesh of the democratic spirit. All this is well and good, but while the Wall Street hooligans have the right attitude and tactics, there is a part of me that feels they may have chosen the wrong street. Sure, Wall Street represents (and houses) the financial establishment that is largely responsible for the virtually conscienceless obliteration of the American economy, but to me there is a more glaring target, one that better epitomizes the depths of human depravity: the film industry. Before you balk, consider some of the offenses of just the last decade. “Freddy Got Fingered”, Tom Green’s bestiality-tinged magnum opus; “From Justin To Kelly”, whose leading man’s highest acting credential was not winning but coming in second on a televised singing competition; “Kickin’ It Old School”, which proved that Jamie Kennedy is just as offensive to humanity as Tom Green; and a whole host of other barbarities starring people like Mariah Carey. If this were not enough, the last several years have given rise to a painfully prolific genre of “films” with no other aspiration than to lampoon other appalling movies, running the gamut of imaginative titling from “Date Movie” to “Scary Movie.” It is inconceivable that any script writer, director, producer or boom boy could have ever seen artistic potential in these movies (from this list I must exclude the talent; those idiots will believe anything). They have therefore continued to generate such filth to the sole advantage of their
own wallets. Bernie Madoff would nod approvingly at the degeneracy. It is with such crimes against leisure in mind that I urge you, nay, beseech you to leave your “Goldman Sachs Sucks A Big One” picket sign on the ground and hop the next train to Hollywood. Surely the film industry is equally or more deserving of your scorn, and think of the plethora of concomitant benefits: considerably nicer weather, great shopping and, plus, it would be too cool to see Cameron Diaz in real life!!!!! Not sold on the Wall Street/Hollywood Boulevard parallel? If you feel like hurling over corporate salaries, it grieves me to inform you that Martin Lawrence was reportedly paid $20 million for his gripping role in “National Security” (one of the few instances in which Steve Zahn upstaged his costar). If corporate rankings and credit ratings boil your blood, consider the sorts of illusory laurels placed on Hollywood’s least commendable. Among the stars on the Walk of Fame you will find, it turns my stomach to say, Paula Abdul, David Spade, Judge Judy, Vanna White, John Stamos and the country music band, Alabama. If you are yet unmoved, there is nothing left for me to do but write you off as the sort of establishment stiff who convinces himself that Kevin James is funny and Kristen Stewart is emotive. To anyone whose soul I have stirred, however, I wish you fortitude and steadfast allegiance to this righteous cause as you make your westward journey. And seriously, while you’re on Hollywood Boulevard, give my fondest regards to David Spade’s star on the Walk of Fame. I have never seen a superior Michael J. Fox impression. •
LIBBY RODENBOUGH
If corporate rankings and credit ratings boil your blood, consider the sort of illusory laurels placed on Hollywood’s least commendable.
OCTOBER2011 • 23
Published with support from: Campus Progress, a division of the Center for American Progress. Campus Progress works to help young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org Also paid for in part by student fees.
Campus BluePrint is a non-partisan student publication that aims to provide a forum for open
dialogue on progressive ideals at UNC-Chapel Hill and in the greater community.