Issue 12 of the Blue Banner

Travelogue PAGE 22

Soccer star plans comeback

festival season heats

up

3page 12

page

PAGE 16

News Thursday, April 30, 2009

University receives anonymous $1.5 million donation

By Rhys Baker Staff Writer

rdbaker@unca.edu

A mystery donor gave UNC Asheville $1.5 million from a growing pool of donations now totaling $60 million given to universities around the country since March, according to the university.

“The gift is among the largest ever made to UNCA,” said Merianne Epstein, director of news information.

Scholarships made possible by the donation will be available next semester, according to Epstein.

“I read in the Citizen-Times that there were more than a dozen donations, and they all went to colleges led by women,” said freshman biology major Violet Silwedel.

“I think it’s great (female chancellors and university administrators) are getting help running colleges because I can imagine it is hard to get that sort of a position as a woman.”

Upon finding out about the donation on March 20, UNCA’s chancellor made a statement. By that time, nine donations totaling $45 million were already distributed, with more to come.

“This is a wonderful gift to our university, to our students and to the public that we serve,” said Chancellor Anne Ponder. “It’s as if this donor read our strategic plan and priorities and knew how important it is for us to invest in scholarships, in faculty expertise and in equipment to ensure that we continue to provide outstanding academic quality.”

In the current economic climate, when investments in our academic programs are

See DONATION Page 8

Inner voices inspire community garden {The Blue Banner}

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Hope remains after 36-year-old homicide UNCA’s only on-campus murder still under investigation

By Cassady Sharp Assistant News Editor cbsharp@unca.edu

It was the perfect day for a Sunday picnic, exactly what Thomas Guthrie and Larry O’Kelly were enjoying before they discovered UNCA student Virginia Olson’s bound and murdered body.

After 36 years, literature professor and UNCA alumna Deborah James’s voice still quivers when she talks about the fear she felt as an upcoming graduate dealing with the murder of a fellow student. The hand that slew Olson is still a mystery.

“The young women were hysterical.

Girls were sleeping in my room and on my floor until the end of the semester,” James said. “People were afraid to go to the bathroom.”

Guthrie and Kelley, high school students at the time, found the 19-year-old’s body near the forest service building across from the Botanical gardens at about 3 p.m., according to the police report. An autopsy revealed Olson was gagged with her own shirt, raped and stabbed twice in the heart.

James and Olson were both drama students living in Governor’s Village along with the other 200 residents students living on campus in 1973. James was a dormitory proctor, leaving her responsible for residential students after 5 p.m.

“After they published the news of Ginger’s murder in the paper, pranksters would call in threats on the one hall phone,” James said. “It was a terrible and terrifying time.”

Olson’s murder occured against a backdrop of 1970s hippie culture, a flower-child era, as James called it. Watergate’s scandalous waters were beginning to boil, dominating the front page of The Asheville Citizen for weeks following Olson’s April death.

The Citizen mostly printed updates about the case toward the back of the paper. The follow-up coverage did not reveal anything but stale leads, reward money and a scholarship fund.

Olson’s was the only homicide of a

UNCA student, although retired UNCA faculty member Arnold Wengrow said he remembered other deaths and suicides during his 28 years of teaching.

“I remember saying to my female theater drama students after our night rehearsals, ‘Please don’t walk down to the dorms by yourself,’” recalls Wengrow, who worked with Olson in a campus production of U.S.A., and was one of only two faculty members in the theater department.

Olson’s case is one of about 20 cold cases assigned to Asheville detectives Yvonne Cobourn and Kevin Taylor.

Although Asheville police and the State Bureau of Investigation continued to investigate the Olson case, the poVirginia Olson lice department did not establish a specific cold case unit until last summer.

“We have hope with all our cases,” Cobourn said. “This is not the coldest one we’re working on.”

Applying modern technology, Cobourn and Taylor hope to find new leads in the nearly 40-year-old case, according to Melissa Williams, Asheville Police Department’s community relations manager.

The forensic technology in 1973 basically consisted of identifying a suspect’s blood type, Cobourn said.

“The detectives in 1973 had the vision to save things, but simply had no use for them,” Williams said.

Justice, especially for the family, resonates as primary motivation for detectives working on cold cases, according to Cobourn.

“We just have to keep working, “ Cobourn said. “The smallest detail could break the case wide open.”

Although Cobourn said that she and Taylor have not talked to Olson’s remaining family, they conducted extensive research on locating connected people and tried recreate the distant era.

“The original investigators provided the base,” Cobourn said. “They started painting the picture. We added the color.”

After nearly 40 years of investigation on the Olson case, the police have yet to make an arrest despite following a few leads, which a lack of solid evidence halted.

“Before we had a cold case unit, detectives who were working on more current cases also had a pile of cold cases to work on when they had time,” Cobourn said.

The Asheville Citizen published an anonymous account a few weeks after police discovered Olson’s body. The man, who was in town for work, said he recognized Olson’s picture as a girl he witnessed getting into a car with two young men on Broadway Avenue.

This anonymous account did little to generate possible leads, however.

Ten years after Olson’s death, police reported they were close to arresting a man who fled Asheville after police questioned him. They just needed more evidence before arresting the man who had a history of mental health problems. More evidence never surfaced, a familiar story at this point.

“Nobody would have believed that it wouldn’t be solved immediately,” James said. “We thought sure that at any minute, they would know.”

Detectives relentlessly interviewed individual students for the remainder of the semester, according to James.

“Asheville police did a very poor job of handling it, from my perspective, which was only that of a young girl. The head detective would tell us that we should all be really careful because it was probably someone who lived on campus,” James said. “All that did was create more fear.

We were all looking around in the cafeteria thinking, ‘Could it be that person?’”

James said she remembered a rumor that the suspect was the son of a prominent citizen so the police squashed the

See OLSON Page 8

{The Blue

By David Milton Staff Writer

T

demilton@unca.edu

his summer’s local area music and arts festival lineup began last weekend with MerleFest 2009, a festival to commemorate the loss of Doc Watson’s son, on the campus of Wilkes Community College, in Wilkesboro, N.C. “The magic of MerleFest is the unique, eclectic mixture of all the artists who’re there over the course of the weekend,” said Karen Byrd, media relations spokesperson for MerleFest. “There are performances and collaborations here you just can’t see anywhere else.”

MerleFest ran from April 23 to April 26. This year the festival featured 95 artists over the four-day festival, Byrd said.

The lineup of artists included guitarist Doc Watson, who’s receiving an honorary degree from UNCA during commencement, among others, combined with the seasonal weather, made conditions for a successful festival, Byrd said.

“People are out in force and enjoying the nice weather, which really helps atten-

dance,” Byrd said.

Before the first day of the festvial, the musicians branched out to the community, Byrd said.

“Yesterday was the outreach program where several of the performing artists did performances at local schools, churches and community centers as a way of exposing the music of MerleFest to other members of the community,” Byrd said.

Another area festival, Lake Eden Arts Festival kicks off May 7 and continues until May 10. The weekend festival is held twice annually, in the spring and in the fall, at Camp Rockmount in Black Mountain.

In past festivals LEAF attracted Toubab Krewe, Les Nubians, Billy Jonas and Michael Franti. This year, guitarist Martin Sexton is among the headliners, according to LEAF officials.

LEAF is more than music. The festival offers an array of culinary attractions, including a booth run by Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria. The festival also holds a poetry contest and handicraft booths.

“I’ve been to LEAF twice,” said Adam Kelly, 23, a literature major at UNC Asheville. “Other festivals always advertise themselves as family-oriented, but aren’t really geared towards family or children. LEAF really is family oriented.”

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Location is a crucial aspect to any festival, and LEAF’s location makes it particularly attractive, Kelly said.

Emily Nolan, 20, an Asheville native who currently attends Johnson and Wales University, started going to LEAF as a child, she said.

“I have been going to LEAF since it was called Black Mountain Festival,” Nolan said. “LEAF is my favorite, just because I have been going for so long.”

Nolan will maintain tradition, and attend the arts and music festival this spring, she said.

Tickets for LEAF vary in price. A threeday, two-night adult festival ticket costs $139. A three-and-a-half day, three-night adult ticket, which allows festival-goers to arrive Thursday afternoon, costs $161.

LEAF offers discounts for those buying two tickets.

Just across the stateline in Manchester, Tenn., Bonnarooo Music and Arts Festivals kicks off Thursday, June 11 on a 700acre farm.

Across the Tennessee stateline, Bonnaroo kicks off Thursday, June 11. The an-

Three festival options

Lollapalooza

Austin City Limits

Date: Aug. 7-9

Date: Oct. 2-4

Location: Chicago

Location: Austin, TX

Price: 3 day pass, $190

Price: 3 day pass, $185

Headliners: Depeche Mode, Tool, The Killers, Jane’s Addiction, Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon, Lou Reed, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Thievery Corporation, Snoop Dogg, Rise Against, Andrew Bird, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend and many more

Headliners: Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Thievery Corporation, John Legend, The Dead Weather, The Levon Helm Band, Ghostland Observatory, Flogging Molly, The B-52s and many more

See FESTIVAL Page 8

All Good Music Festival Date: July 9-12 Location: Masontown, WV Price: Weekend pass, $125 Headliners: Ben Harper and Relentless7, Bob Weir & Rat Dog, Moe, STS9, Umphrey’s McGee, Dark Star Orchestra, Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Galatic, Lotus and many more

Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Economist predicts economic growth despite poor job market

By Michelle Peck Staff Writer mwpeck@unca.edu

With a record audience of 400 people, UNC Asheville’s 25th annual Economic Crystal Ball Seminar filled Lipinsky Auditorium as students and Asheville residents listened to the predictions of our current economic recession.

“By the end of this year, we will be out of this recession; we will see positive economic growth at the end of the fourth quarter,” economist David W. Berson said. “The bad news is things like unemployment rate won’t look like it’s over.

The unemployment rate could get to 9.5 percent or so at its peak and could go a little higher.”

Noted economists Berson and James F. Smith spoke. The economics department and Parsec Financial sponsored the seminar, which began with a reception, followed by the speakers and a questionSulkiro Song - Staff Photographer and-answer period.

Sophomore Andrew Wertheim, senior Nermin Vehabovic and junior James The event was free and open to the Phillips mingle at the 25th annual Economic Crystal Ball reception at Lipinsky public.

Auditorium last Thursday.

Master of Ceremonies for the night economics professor Joe Sulock, intro- it cards,” Bruder said. “Small amounts versity, but now he works with money duced the speakers, and said Berson and can help. For instance, Starbucks cof- management.

Smith are to economics as Huntley and fee, wonderful coffee, but if you give “Right now to pay down debt, do not Brinkley were to newspapers. it up, take that money and put it aside, take any risks. Put your money in a savMichael E. Bruder, senior financial you may be able to use that money for ings account, money market, checking advisor at Parsec Financial, attended the monthly payments.” account or a certificate. You’re not after event and offered advice to students tryBruder received his undergraduate getting a high interest if your interesting to pay loans. degree in social work and a master’s in ed in keeping the money safe,” Bruder “Don’t get into anymore debt, no cred- counseling from Western Carolina Uni- said.

Our society says to spend, spend, spend, according to Bruder, and students should not fall into the habit of spending.

Berson of the PMI Group explained to the audience his cell phone was on vibrate, waiting for the New York Times to call him for an interview.

Later he walked off the stage, and took the call, as James F. Smith was talking.

“The recession that we are in now began in December of 2007,” Berson said while talking about his last forecast.

The economic outlook portion of the program focused on inflation, employment, interest rates and the strength of the dollar and housing market.

“We have a huge excess of inventory of homes for sale. The last thing we want is for builders to build more,” Berson said.

Berson, a former vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, was the president of the National Association of Business Economists. He was also chief financial economist at Wharton Econometrics Forecasting Associates and a visiting scholar with the Federal Reserve.

“Home sales have probably already bottomed,” Berson said. “The trend is now upward. The housing market can recover before the job market does, but it usually doesn’t recover strongly until the job market does.”

See SEMINAR Page 7

UNCA gains alternative, above-ground fuel tanks this summer

By Hannah Doyle Contributing Writer hdoyle@unca.edu

Thanks to a $70,000 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Grant from the North Carolina Division of Air Quality, the UNC Asheville Transportation Office will begin construction this summer on three aboveground fuel storage tanks and 2,000 gallons of B50 (50 percent biodiesel, 50 percent petroleum diesel), 2,000 gallons of E10 (10 percent ethanol, 90 percent gasoline) and 1,000 gallons of E85 (85 percent ethanol, 10 percent gasoline).

“In light of budget cuts, it’s really important that we try to get as much funding available. We would not be able to do this project if not for this grant,” said Chris Miller, environmental health and safety

officer. “Back in 2005 state legislature required that we reduce dependency on petroleum by 20 percent. We’re already at 38 percent, so this project will help us further that goal.”

Currently, the transportation office runs its vehicles on B20 (20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent petroleum diesel). The grant money will first replace the two aging 300 gallon tanks (one diesel, one gasoline) with three above-ground fuel dispensers for a centralized fueling station outside of the Sam Millar Complex.

UNCA has 84 vehicles for university use, 14 of which are Flex Fuel (E85) vehicles; four of these use B20 and belong to the transportation office. Vehicles that currently burn regular gasoline will start out on E10, and as the demand for the E85

motor fleet increases, the transportation office will phase out of E10 and move to E85, according to Miller.

“With this new fuel dispensing system, it integrates directly with Raleigh’s motor fleet fueling system, so it will allow not only our motor fleets but also those from other state institutions in Raleigh and other areas to come here and use our system,” Miller said. “There are not many alternative fuel stations across the state available to alternative fuel vehicles. Ours will allow other areas like city of Woodfin, city of Asheville, city of Weaverville, town of Weaverville and more to utilize this system.”

The transportation office ordered the grant in March. Senior environmental studies student Corey Scheip, who interned at

the transportation office this summer, researched, developed plans and wrote the application.

“We asked for $96,000 for an ethanol, biodiesel and compressed natural gas station,” Scheip said. “The ethanol and biodiesel got approved, the CNG rejected. This is the first time UNC Asheville has received a Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Grant, which is put out every year.”

Miller plans to keep the fueling station on campus open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. It will be the first alternative fueling station in north Asheville, open to other state and local government agencies and to the public.

The station allows the possibility of sig-

See GRANT Page 7

Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Ice cream shop thrives in improved location Obesity remains an issue in U.S.

By Ryan Burtner Staff Writer

rrburtne@unca.edu

Sulkiro Song - Staff Photographer

Cristina Webb shares ice cream with her daughter Grace. Julie and Aimee, right, Diefenbach enjoy ice cream on a Sunday afternoon at The Hop. Owned by UNC Asheville alumni, the ice cream shop attracts many of the university’s faculty and students. The girls’ father is Mass Communication professor Don Diefenbach.

UNCA alumni use education to prepare for small business world

By Heide Penner Staff Writer

hmpenner@unca.edu

Locally-owned retro ice cream cafe The Hop invites students and other Asheville residents to enjoy a scoop of homemade ice cream in a funky environment.

“The Hop was a retro building, a retro name, and it just makes people think of a simple time when you could eat ice cream and twist the night away,” said owners and UNC Asheville alumni Ashley and Greg Garrison.

Disrepair along with costly cooling prompted the move of The Hop to its present location in Merrimon Square.

“The previous building was a rental space,” Ashley said. “Unfortunately, the property was neglected a fair amount of time after the last renovation in the mid’90s. There was no air conditioning – temperatures would easily reach 100 degrees in the summer with hot exhaust pouring in from the drive-through and the coolers blowing hot air on us – and we had very little indoor seating and little parking.”

The space also proved hard to keep clean because of a bad roof.

“We scooped with buckets littering the floor to catch the water if it was raining so we wouldn’t slip in puddles,” she said.

“The previous owners were approached about moving to Merrimon Square and decided it was a good decision when they were faced with the property owner asking them to replace the roof.”

In August, the Garrisons became the fifth owners of The Hop in 31 years.

“I had been employed by the previous owners since August 2003. Greg was also employed in 2005-06 for about 18 months,” she said.

Because of the move, the past owners held a mural contest for the interior of the new location, adding to the theme.

“Larkin Ford, a then-UNCA art student, submitted a unique and fun rendition of a sock-hop in our old location,” Greg said.

“The details of the mural were left up to him, and in December of 2007, he finished the now-funky ice cream-inspired animal dance scene.”

The names of the flavors, such as the Jitterbug, a milkshake with espresso, also stem from the general sock-hop theme.

“They make really great milkshakes,” said Courtney Metz, a senior double majoring in mass communication and management.

The Hop uses natural ingredients such as Madagascar pure vanilla extract, contributing to the quality of their ice cream.

“The amount of flavors is limitless, but we typically keep in 14 to 16 regular flavors, one to three vegan/gluten-free flavors, as well as sorbet, sherbet and sugar free,” Greg said.

The Hop offers various discounts, including 10 percent off if patrons bring in their own container.

“Save resources, since we unfortunately have to use disposables,” he said.

“We also offer 10 percent off to all UNCA and North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement staff, faculty and students everyday.”

The café also provides an additional 20 percent off every Thursday for Bulldog Day and 10 percent off if patrons eat at Urban Burrito.

“The liberal arts education we received from UNCA has prepared us for the small business community with an open mind and the ability to communicate comfortably,” the owners said. “We love interaction, talking to people and making them happy with our ice cream.”

Students say convenience is one of their favorite things about The Hop. “I live in Pinnacle Ridge, so I can take a two minute walk and I’m there,” Metz said. “I love that I can get great ice cream that’s really close.”

Obese Americans continue to indulge in fast food at not only their expense, but that of the fast food industry, according to local health officials.

“Blaming fast food companies is an excuse for poor choices,” said Jill Moffit, director of campus recreation at UNC Asheville.

People need to start taking responsibility for their actions, instead of blaming others, Moffitt said.

In order to reduce the number of obesity lawsuits, Congress passed the Cheeseburger Bill in October 2005, according to Project Vote Smart. The bill prohibits lawsuits against anyone engaged in the food industry on claims that the food caused obesity or weight gain to the plaintiff.

Moffit said this won’t last long.

“I think most people who are serious with going forward with a lawsuit against fast food companies regarding their obesity are going to look for loopholes,” Moffit said. “Legislature will help, but most times legislature creates unintended consequences that we can’t foresee.”

Such acts should make the fast food industry re-examine their practices, she said.

“The message for fast food companies is, ‘Maybe we should care about how we make our food,’” Moffit said. “Not that it’s their fault. I don’t believe that one bit.”

She said children are often victims of their parents’ poor nutrition choices. This creates future plaintiffs for future obesity cases, she said.

“When we talk about children and their parents being sort of the people that are making these decisions for them, it’s really easy to go there and say, ‘What were those parents thinking?’” Moffit said. “There’s so many issues that are involved with those kinds of decisions. I think each unique case is very reliant on the individual.”

See OBESITY Page 7

Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Photos courtesy of Charlotte Huggins

Ash “Devine” Krauss, UNCA senior drama major and class clown, tends to a child in Haiti. Krauss hugs a patient in Guatemala, center. Danielle Chynoweth, right, poses

in Peru with a patient and a bunny puppet.

Group clowns around to deliver alternative form of health care

By Lorin Mallorie Staff Writer lmmallor@unca.edu

With the semester coming to a close, UNC Asheville is sending in the clowns, encouraging students and local residents to get active and spread some joy within the community this summer.

UNC Asheville’s class clowns, the Geshundheit Institute and the School for Designing a Society will host a day of workshops aimed to generate ideas and think playfully on incorporating passions for community and creativity into careers and everyday lives, said Ash “Devine” Krauss, UNCA senior drama major and class clown.

“We can live our dreams, if we know how to,” Krauss said. “This is a day dedicated to community building, networking and having fun. We want to explore the possibilities of creating jobs for ourselves and for enhancing our lives through the actualization of our desires.”

Patch Adams, made famous by the 1998 Universal Studios film, founded the Geshundheit Institute. Officials said they aim to provide a positive global model of health care delivery.

“If I were a student in the month of April, I would be wondering what I was going to do this summer,” said Danielle Chynoweth, 39, community organizer from the Urbana, Ill. society-design

school. “And, I would be worrying about how to support my dreams, while supporting my stomach, and paying basic bills.”

Representing the School for Designing a Society, Chynoweth helps lead this weekend’s discussions on a number of affordable projects UNCA students can engage in this summer.

“We will be discussing how to bridge work, as in one’s life passion, and one’s job,” said Chynoweth, who taught at the school since 1995. “We will also talk about bridging school with life, and the campus with community organizing.”

Campus clown Charlotte Huggins said the club wanted to help the campus-community bridge, and received $500 to sponsor the event.

“We wanted to make it about social justice and fun,” Huggins said. “The main idea is incorporating social justice into your life, however you want it.”

Concerned with the American corporate job market, Huggins said she hopes to steer students toward keeping their belief systems while succeeding financialy.

According to Huggins, the morning kicks off with Chynoweth’s workshop on integrating community into the classroom and society design, followed by a panel discussion featuring community members, students and faculty. After lunch there will be an introduction to the Geshundheit Institute, and Huggins and Krauss will

finish the day with a hands-on clowning workshop.

Designing a New Health Care Model “The Society for Designing a Society is an ongoing project in formulating the society we would like to live in,” said Chynoweth, a former Urbana City Council member. “I became passionate about social transformation on the scale of a city, which is a great laboratory and learning space for democracy.”

Motivated by her sense of how possible it is to live in a world where all human needs are met, Chynoweth said the fact that society does not yet meet this challenge, haunts her.

“We are well-versed in the problems of the world and in the world of criticism and complaint, but we lack the ability to describe the world we want to live in,” she said. “The School for Designing a Society offers time, tools and company to formulate what we want. Every social change project has started from this premise – the vision of what we want.”

The school helps seed social change projects throughout the world by providing a thoughtful, creative and challenging input to its largely international student body, Chynoweth said.

“This is about really coming to a clear and concise way to say what your goals

are, then link up with other people in order to achieve those goals,” Huggins explained.

Chynoweth, a self-proclaimed socialchange artist, said she first visited the Geshundheit Institute six years before Patch Adams debuted. She began to work closely with the Institute in 2004 and saw health care practitioners and students in health professions eager to change doctor and patient relationships.

“We, the teachers, saw that the ideas of the School for Designing a Society were needed in health care, which was in need of artists, designers and composers to help it get out of the terrible ‘disease management’ cycle it is in,” Chynoweth said.

Clowning for a Cause “The last workshop of the day is dedicated to humanitarian clowning – exploring living life joyfully and using joy as a tool for social activism,” said graduating drama major Krauss.

Clowning is a way to combat what Patch Adams calls “global depression,” Huggins said, which she described as loneliness and boredom, or your own personal sinkhole. It’s an epidemic, she said, that affects rich and poor alike.

It is direct client care, Huggins said,

See CLOWNS Page 8

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Obesity

She said this isn’t always intentional, especially with children from poor, single parent households, who are just trying to make ends meet.

“Their parents have to make really hard decisions on how their money is going to be spent,” Moffit said. “Eating healthy is not going to be the thing they spend money on, because they’re just overwhelmed trying to pay bills and put food on the table, much less what kind of food.”

Moffit said such scenarios leave her with more questions than answers.

“With children who come from those kinds of backgrounds or those who have the means to do that and still make poor choices for their families, the challenge is, ‘How do we educate to prevent this?’”

Moffit said. “How do we get them what they need to know on how to make better choices?”

She said the challenge she and others face is to educate and give people different resources. This will help them make better choices, regardless of their situation, she said.

“Part of my job is to make people aware that we have to make tough decisions,” Moffit said. “Nobody should be, in my opinion, branded as inconsiderate or uncaring of their child because they’re choosing to not feed them well. I’m one of those people that really tries to look at the individual’s situation before I put any blame on anything. I just focus on getting

{The Blue Banner}

Continued

prevention and education materials out, so that we can do the best to help them.”

According to Terri March, nutrition coordinator for Buncombe County and the Healthy Buncombe Coalition, the major contributor in obesity lawsuits is the result of people looking for meals at a value price.

For some families, this is all they can afford, she said.

“They’re not going in to this with the understanding or concept of the huge amount of calories involved in supersized or value-added meals,” March said. “When you are in families who are poor, they’re just worJill Moffitt ried about getting something on the table to feed their child. The less nutritious products are cheaper and they can afford them and they keep folks from going hungry. So then you can’t really blame a parent for trying to get food on the table.”

She said it’s important to make nutritious foods available to those who can’t otherwise afford it.

“Perhaps there is a pricing structure that can be put in to place, where nutrient rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are more affordable,” March said. “That might be a valuable strategy that we can put in to place.”

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Many families don’t have access to healthy food options because they can’t afford it, she said.

“In many lower income neighborhoods, especially those with transportation issues, the closest place to find food is a convenience store,” March said. “You’re not going to find fresh fruits and vegetables there and if you do they’re not going to be quality products.”

She said parental responsibility is certainly a key element in addressing obesity.

“There have been numerous studies that have shown that it’s very difficult for parents to recognize the extent of the problem in their kids,” March said. “We can’t put the blame entirely on them. We need to educate and support our parents.”

For Danny Dawkins, lawsuits in relation to obesity are not an issue for his company.

They avoid such issues by doing what’s necessary, he said.

“From being in the industry, we have an obligation to listen to our customers and what our customers are saying,” said Dawkins, senior director of UNC Asheville’s Chartwells Dining Service. “We’re always cognizant of all demographics. That’s why we have our own registered dietitian on staff, who does nothing but handle those kind of concerns.”

He said some people rely on such food for comfort without realizing the effects it can have.

Grant nificantly improving local and regional air quality, Miller said.

“Using cleaner fuels help the environment. It’s part of our plan with the university to be environmentally sustainable,” Miller said. “Allowing the public to utilize these fuels will make it easy for everyone to reduce their contributions to air pollution.”

Miller estimates this project will result in a 20 to 25 percent reduction of emissions in one year. The amount of emissions reduced in 10 years using E10, E85 and B50 would be 550 tons, according to estimations in the grant application.

“The funds are only to install the fuel system and will be available for one year,” Miller said. “Just because we applied and won doesn’t mean we won’t be eligible in

Seminar Continued

U.S. Department of Energy’s “Clean Cities” designation for the Asheville region.

Mark Combs, director of public works for the city of Asheville, believes the project will strengthen the commitment among the city of Asheville, the university and the community at large to promote environmental stewardship.

“A tree grows large from a sea,” Combs said.

Corey Scheip “All of these new technologies and fuels require training and knowledge, so even starting out with a small number of vehicles is a way to get the staff and the city council thinking that way. UNCA is absolutely pushing to

Page 4

Smith, the chief economist at Parsec Financial, resides in Arden and says he and his wife love living in the Asheville area. The Wall Street Journal named him the best economic forecaster twice.

“U.S. voters are impatient. If the current guys in office do not fix this mess in two years, we will have a Republican president after the next election,” Smith said.

Smith noted that when consumers feel better, they spend more, and that will be the job of small business owners’ positive attitudes. He has more than 25 years Joe Sulock of experience as an economics forecaster and his career spans private industry, government and academic institutions including tenures with Wharton Economics, Union Carbide and the Federal Reserve.

“Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. There are about 27 million of them,” Smith said.

Smith predicts the U.S. will bounce back from the recession first, China second and then Canada, but Europe has a long way to go.

“If you think it’s bad here, go somewhere else in the world; its far worse.”

Continued

the future. If we want to buy alternate fuel vehicles or electric vehicles, we can ask for those in the next grant. We’re not making new plans yet, though. First I want to get this one bedded down.”

Miller hopes UNCA will serve as an example to other universities and state institutions. Bill Eaker, environmental services manager of the Land-of-Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition, supports the university’s endeavors.

“The CVC is thrilled that UNCA is expanding its use of alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles,” Eaker said.

“Through the installation of this multi-fuel station, we encourage other public and private fleets to follow their examples.”

Miller hopes the switch to alternative fuels will assist the LOSRC in obtaining the

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be a leader in reducing mobile source emissions, which is something everyone needs to pay attention to because we all drive.”

Steve Baxley, associate vice chancellor of campus operations, wrote a letter of support for the grant application, commending the project as an important step in keeping with the university’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

“Our challenge is to do what’s right for us,” Baxley said. “If that becomes a model for other folks, then great. Plenty of universities in the U.S. are doing far more than we are; unfortunately, plenty also aren’t doing as much as we are. We’re all blessed here at UNCA to have faculty and students that are concerned about the environment and responsible stewardship. We do the best we can with what we have.”

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Clowns Continued

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and clowns often work with the injured, hurt, old and downtrodden confined to beds or wheelchairs.

“It’s about feeling people’s energies, understanding direct eye contact and approach,” she said. “You have to approach them and feel if they are scared, or not into what you’re doing.”

You make it a game, she said, creeping forward and pulling back. It is about the dance, and the clown has to base progression on the other person.

“You have to get outside of yourself enough to see what other people want,” Huggins said. “You have to notice what’s going on around you and feel how to be with people.”

Volunteering at a local nursing home last Friday, Krauss led a group sing-a-long with her ukulele while Huggins sat quietly, holding a patients hand and talking.

Global Outreach Through their work with the Geshundheit institute, Krauss and Huggins have combated ‘global depression’ all over the world.

On Aug. 4 through the 18 the clowns will travel to Peru for two weeks of clowning in the Amazon, Huggins said.

An “international gathering of joyful social justice advocates,” Huggins said over 15 countries were represented in the same trip last year.

Olson

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lead. Wengrow also said he recalled a rumor that it had been a mental health patient from the Highland Hospital nearby on Montford Avenue.

There are no planted trees or stoic benches in memory of Virginia “Ginger” Olson. Evidence of her exists only in the buried pages of the Ridge Runner, The Blue Banner’s predecessor, or in pictures of theater productions only identifiable by the disappearing group of people who knew Olson.

Most have forgotten Olson’s death, or never even knew about it. Detective Cobourn, however, said she’s not giving up.

“Even though I never knew Ginger, I become attached to her pictures. All she was doing was studying for a Spanish test on a beautiful afternoon, just like today. I will see it through to the end,” Cobourn said.

Festival Continued

{The Blue Banner}

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nual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is held in Manchester on a 700-acre farm.

“Bonnaroo is one of the biggest festivals around, period,” said Sam Everest, 19, a business major at UNCA. “There’s so many people at the festival, like 80 or 90 thousand people.”

Bonnaroo’s list of performers for summer 2009 includes Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Al Green, Snoop Dogg, Nine Inch Nails, Ben Harper, Toubab Krewe and dozens more. Bonnaroo is not atop Everest’s list this summer because of its massive attendance and its increasingly “corporate” nature.

But one band could invigorate the festival this summer, he said.

“This year Phish is playing for two nights, and that is going to bring them so much attention,” Everest said.

Remaining tickets to Bonnaroo cost $249.50 per person. All tickets are fullweekend passes and cover camping and parking.

There is an extra $125 dollar fee for RV parking.

There are two must-see festivals this summer: All Good Music Festival and Campout and Rothbury Festival, which will both require some traveling, Everest said.

Rothbury Festival, held in Rothbury, Mich., hosts a lineup of artists that includes Damian Marley, The Dead, Bob Dylan and rappers Nas and Gift of Gab, among others.

“Rothbury definitely tops off the list of summer festivals,” Everest said. “It tops the lists of most people I know, too.”

The Michigan festival runs from July 2 to July 5. A weekend-long ticket equals the price of Bonnaroo’s admission at $249.50 per person.

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Donation being deferred or eliminated, the donation matches our needs perfectly and is incredibly timely and valuable, according to Ponder.

“The donor might be anonymous, but their intention, to help out universities during this recession, was clear,” said junior Josh Robinson.

The UNC system had its budget cut by 7 percent this semester, according to Robinson.

“I heard some of the schools were asked to sign contracts saying they wouldn’t try to learn the identity of the donor,” Robinson said. “It’s somebody or a group that just doesn’t want any recognition for their actions. I don’t see how it could be anything bad.”

The school contacted the IRS and Department of Homeland Security to make sure the donation was legal, according to William Massey, vice chancellor for alumni and development.

“It is odd that the donations are only going to schools with female leadership, but I suppose it’s alright, as long as they don’t try to dictate where the money goes,” Robinson said.

Robinson hopes there are no stipulations on how the money is spent, especially not on who the scholarships go to because he wants the scholarships to be accessible to everybody, including men.

“At the anonymous donor’s request, $1 million will go toward scholarships

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and $500,000 toward operating support,” Epstein said.

UNCA will use $250,000 to purchase equipment needed for the new Zeis Science & Multimedia Building that will be dedicated this fall.

The remaining $250,000 will be set aside to help create a new endowed faculty chair. Private funds and the state’s Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund will match those funds in the future.

A portion of the financial aid dollars will be available to qualifying students beginning in fall 2009, and the remainder will be invested in scholarship endowments to provide continuing financial aid to undergraduate students in the future, according to Epstein.

“I could do with some financial help,” said junior Delaney Brown. “I work at a gas station, pay most of my expenses and go to school. With the state of the economy, a lot of students, including myself, will need the money soon.”

Thirteen universities received money from the mysterious donor since March.

“At a time when a college education has never been more important and economic challenges face us at every turn, this kind of gift is transformational for our university and for the students who will attend UNCA next year and in the years to come,” said UNCA Board of Trustees Chair Al Whitesides.

Weekend Weather Thursday High: 77

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Low: 58 40 percent chance scattered thunderstorms

High: 74 Low: 52 40 percent chance scattered thunderstorms

High: 76 Low: 55 40 percent chance scattered thunderstorms

High: 66 Low: 52 40 percent chance scattered thunderstorms

Arts & Features Thursday, April 30, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

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Peeing is a privilege

10th annual Lawn Party hosts comedy and music

By Taliaferro Pollock Staff Writer

mtpolloc@unca.edu

Susan Terry - Staff Photographer

“Urinetown” featured drama students, professors and other UNCA students. The play ran through last weekend.

UNCA theatre performed last play of spring semester

By Alyssa Spencer Staff Writer afspence@unca.edu

Last week, the UNC Asheville drama department performed their final spring show Urinetown, selling out its first night.

“What a good production,” said psychology student China Whiteside. “Usually in theater, one part of the performance is lacking. But in this show, the acting, singing and dancing were all great.”

The cast portrayed characters living in Urinetown, a town suffering from a drought and enforcing laws prohibiting urinating without paying a fee. The cast and crew created a pleasant working environment from the beginning, according to Robert Bowen, the director of the play and

chair of the UNCA drama department.

“I started in earnest with the casting in January, and we have been rehearsing since the first week of March,” Bowen said. “My favorite part and biggest challenge was working with a cast this large. I have never done that before, but I was lucky to have some tremendous talent, both on and offstage to help. It has been one of the most positive production processes that I have ever been involved with. We were always moving forward and making new discoveries.”

Bowen said the audition process was swift, efficient and different from any he did before.

“They had to sing, do a dance and read a scene. I made it very professional, but I held no callbacks and cast from what I

saw,” Bowen said.

Bowen said he sought out the advice of music director Ruth Seber-Johnson and choreographer Cherie Holmes for the best fits in casting the play “Auditions at Theatre UNCA are open to the UNCA community as a whole. Not all performers are drama majors, and faculty members played two roles,” he said.

Skyler Goff, a cast member pursuing a major in literature and a minor in drama, said this performance gave him an outlet for expressing himself.

“I release my demons and my energy to people who are there to see just that,” Goff said. “The best part was going through the rehearsal process. That

See URINETOWN Page 11

UNC Asheville hosted their 10th annual Lawn Party with a retro theme last Saturday, representing each generation dating back to the ‘50s.

“The main purpose of the (Lawn Party) is for students to have as much fun as possible and get their minds off of the stress of exam time coming up,” said Cassady Burke, president of Underdog Productions. We are also hoping that open house (falling on the same weekend) will attract new students to the Lawn Party and give them a chance to see how awesome UNCA is.”

The party featured a combination of activities such as blow-up obstacle courses and slides, sumo wrestling with body suits for participants, a Michael Jackson cover band known as “Who’s Bad?” and the comedian Dave Coulier, also know as Uncle Joey from the hit TV show Full House.

“The sumo wrestling is definitely one of the most popular games that we provide,” said Keshia Freeman, a junior psychology student, and an event volunteer. “This is my third year to attend, and the sumo wrestling is worth having each time. Even though it doesn’t relate to the theme, people love it.”

The event welcomed all members of the UNCA community, including their families and upcoming freshmen.

The Lawn Party offered guests a variety of food corresponding with the “retro” theme and a fact sheet to explain the relevance of each dish.

See LAWN

PARTY Page 15

Avant-garde music comes to Bobo Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Poetry festival celebrates its second year in Asheville

By Erin McWhorter Staff Writer

emmcwhor@unca.edu

Photo Courtesy of The Orange Tulip Conspiracy

The Orange Tulip Conspiracy plays the Bobo Gallery downtown on May 15. The band experiments with traditional jazz, world music and heavy metal. They originate in Seattle and are playing a string of Eastcoast dates.

West Coast band delivers diverse stylings to intimate venue

By John Lauterbach Contributing Writer hubar3@yahoo.com

Avant-garde music comes alive May 15 at the Bobo Gallery in downtown Asheville.

The Orange Tulip Conspiracy, a West Coast blend of traditional jazz, world music and heavy metal styles, will perform alongside the Southeast’s own twisted version of rock ‘n’ roll Ahleuchatistas.

“I have actually played with Ahluechatistas before back in ’04 or ’05 at Vincent’s Ear,” said Jason Schimmel, guitarist and composer of The Orange Tulip Conspiracy. “Though it wasn’t with this particular project, all in all I might have played in Asheville nine or so times and have always enjoyed the crowd there.”

According to Schimmel, his first solo project once again teams him up with saxophonist and former band mate John Whooley. Their first project together was with the Balkan jazz metal group Estradasphere.

“I was actually at two of the shows Estradasphere played in Asheville in the past,” said UNC Asheville Spanish major Rama Malinak. “Both times it was incredible. It’s exciting that Asheville continues to attract those kinds of acts.”

But pinning down exactly what kind of act that is can bit a little bit difficult, ac-

cording to Schimmel.

“We play a sort of psyched-out jazz, with some Greek stuff, some odd timing stuff, and we play a little metal. It’s not easy to describe,” Schimmel said.

Both Schimmel and Whooley performed with Secret Chiefs 3, a name that few may have heard, but has created an intense following.

“I actually went to New York City to see the Secret Chiefs 3 play compositions by John Zorn, and Jason Schimmel was playing guitar for them,” Malinak said. “I also went to see the Secret Chiefs play at the Grey Eagle in Asheville, but Jason was playing the bass guitar at the time.”

“It was great being able to perform Zorn’s material in New York,” Schimmel said. “Not only was I performing music originally written by one of the great jazz artists of our time, but I was playing it for him in his own nonprofit club.”

As for The Orange Tulip Conspiracy, Schimmel said the live show differs quite a bit from the material in the debut album.

“What we do live is sort of a strippeddown version of the CD,” Schimmel said. “It’s a lot more intense, and we try to change things up. We also have about an entire CD’s worth of new material that hasn’t been recorded yet, so we’re playing a lot of that as well.”

The Orange Tulip Conspiracy’s latest tour won’t leave much time for sightseeing in the mountains, however, according to the band’s Web site. Playing 23 shows in 23 days will keep them busy enough as it is.

“We’ll be playing before Ahleuchatistas at that show because we have to drive to New Orleans to play a show the next night,” Schimmel said. “I’ve always wanted to just check out the town but it seems like every time I come through we just have to rush off to the next place.”

The Orange Tulip Conspiracy’s set will begin at about 10 p.m. with a cover charge at the door. The price had not been set at the time of this interview, according to Schimmel.

“UNCA students would enjoy this kind of music if they actually knew that it was out there,” Malinak said. “For such an artsy town, Asheville has always seemed to have a lackluster music scene to me.

It would be great if bands like this came around more often.”

Schimmel took a more pragmatic approach.

“We just try to keep it interesting and hope that everyone enjoys what they hear,” Schimmel said.

For more information on The Orange Tulip Conspiracy, visit www.myspace. com/orangetulipconspiracy.

In an effort to spark community connection and interaction with poetry, the upcoming Wordfest poetry festival hosts renowned poets from around the world.

“I see poetry as a stem cell,” said Laura Hope-Gill, Wordfest executive director. “In and of itself, poetry can be all things to all people. I envision Wordfest as an instrument for allowing people to discover what poetry can be to them, far beyond the limits that get placed on it in most high school textbooks.”

In 2008, the concept for a Wordfest poetry festival materialized after a group of about 14 local poets met in Malaprop’s Bookstore and explored the idea of hosting such a festival in Asheville. HopeGill serves as director of the event.

“I program the festival to make sure that every event is a highlight,” HopeGill said. “We only book outstanding, high-intensity poets. We’re thrilled to have Li-Young Lee, Quincy Troupe and Valzhyna Mort coming. Each of these poets could easily headline three separate festivals. We have all of them.”

The 2009 Wordfest poetry festival, free to the public, is set to begin April 3 and last until May 3. Locations such as Jubilee, the Bobo Gallery, Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center and the LaZoom bus tour, as well as other downtown locations, are slated to host the festival. The festival consists of 11 different readings spread across four days.

“We have three poets reading at each reading this year, which means three different groups, voices and perspectives at each reading,” she said. “The potential for resonance and harmony is greater!”

From the global down to the personal aspects of life, Hope-Gill assures that the selected poets use their poetry to ask questions.

The latest collection of Li-Young Lee’s

See POETRY Page 11

Thursday, April 30, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Spontaneous plans yield community garden

By Rachel Letcher Staff Writer

reletcher@gmail.com

Not knowing the impact his Pisgah View Community Peace Garden would have on the Asheville youth community, Bob White planted a few seeds two years ago, purchased with the $2 he had in his pocket.

“I was in my house listening to music, and a little voice came into my head that said, ‘Start a community garden,’” White said with a serious look in his eyes. “I had no earthly idea about gardening, but I knew something needed to happen to make this a better place.”

Two weeks later he said he debated with the voice in his head until he asked Rachel Letcher - Contributing Photographer the manager of Pisgah View apartment Brooke Rogers, head of healthy cooking classes for the Pisgah View comcomplex, one of Asheville’s public hous- munity peace garden helps two-year old Elijah Rogers water plants. ing projects, if he could use a 10-by-30 A church donated a chicken coop, situfoot piece of land near the outskirts of the and, about two weeks later, this woman came by and said she could help and conated in the greenhouse made of plastic, property. nected me with some people.” where White plans on selling eggs and, “It was like a movie. The manager A student from Warren Wilson College eventually, the chickens. Community looked at the supervisor and then looked encouraged White to ask for donations and members donated their time and spare at me and said, ‘OK,’” he said, laughing. took him out to the college, where he bortools to White’s project.

“They said I could take the ball field.”

“When I started to get to work tilling White, a carpenter by trade, had no rowed a tiller and other equipment.

“That’s when it got magic, when that the field, a bunch of kids were standing source of income at the time and started lady came to help me,” he said. by the fence and were asking to help,” his garden by planting a package of seeds A nursery in Swannanoa donated a thouhe said.

“I said ‘Yeah, it’s your garden.’” he purchased with the only money he had. sand different types of tomato plants, more They started breaking up the soil and the “I felt lost when I first got out there,” than 400 pepper plants, herbs like basil rows were all zigzagged, but everything he said. “I had no tools, no money and and parsley and a variety of flowers to the nobody to help me. I just went home. But See GARDEN Page 15 that voice kept coming back in my head up-and-coming organic garden.

Poetry

works explores the impact of his father’s exile from China and political imprisonment on Lee’s own private life, according to Hope-Gill. The Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort’s work bears witness to political oppression in her homeland.

“Each reading presents a variety of cultures and aesthetics because the poets who dreamed this up wanted a festival that truly is about diversity in all directions—male, female, cultural, racial, physical ability, tradition and context,” Hope-Gill said.

Funded by the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina Humanities Council, Wordfest also allows local organizations and individuals the opportunity to sponsor a specific poet of interest.

“By this we mean if you like a certain poet, or share the values and passions of a poet, you can pull together a donation

Continued

that will go toward bringing that poet to Asheville,” Hope-Gill explains. “For instance, local publisher Grateful Steps Press is sponsoring Ekiwah Adler Belendez’s reading, because his being here reflects the press’ interest in multiculturalism and celebrating difference.”

Poets Ross Gay and Patrick Rosal were co-sponsored by the undergraduate creative writing program at Warren Wilson College to support the rising poet’s works, according to Hope-Gill.

“The essential purpose is to bring people together from many different communities. We present a poet lineup that reflects the real population, from 20 different cultural and aesthetic backgrounds,” HopeGill said. “I think that, through the sponsor-a-poet idea, the community can use the festival as a way of magnifying their

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ideas and values.”

Wordfest’s sponsors include the Mountain Area Information Network, the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center, Hookah Joe’s, UNC Asheville, Bobo Gallery, Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café, Book Works and Rivendell.

“We’re taking poetry high-tech with the live webcast. We were the first festival to do this,” Hope-Gill said.

Hope-Gill anticipates views from Africa, Britain and Spain for this year’s Wordfest Internet coverage, due to recent promotion of the festival on both Facebook and Twitter.

“Asheville Wordfest brings together amazing poets both local and national, and the people who write for their own personal pleasure and survival,” Hope-Gill said.

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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Bonnaroo 2009 promises greatness

By Dylan Schepps Arts & Features Editor dcschepp@unca.edu

Last year’s Bonnaroo music and arts festival featured a near-dawn performance

by Kanye West, a classics-filled set from Metallica, new material from Chris Rock and a taste of nearly every musical genre imaginable. This year’s lineup once again proves the annual event hosts some of the most diverse talent in the festival circuit.

“Bonnaroo has so many different types of music, and there is such an overlap in audiences that it’s a cool thing for us to be able to perform for all these music fans,” said comedian and actor Aziz Ansari.

The upcoming festival in Manchester, Tenn., marks Ansari’s second time performing comedy at the weekend-long festival.

Ansari, a Columbia, S.C. native, writes and helps produce the sketch comedy series Human Giant on MTV and is featured in Flight of the Conchords as well as the recent movies I Love You, Man, Observe and Report and the upcoming Funny People with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.

Ansari brings his stand-up comedy to this year’s Bonnaroo, and he said the festival remains one of his favorite places to perform.

“There is this energy that you get from the sheer number of people,” he said.

“Bonnaroo is definitely one of the best audiences you get to perform for, and it is always super fun.”

In addition to comedy talent such as Ansari, Jimmy Fallon and The Daily Show correspondents John Oliver, Rob Riggle and Rory Albanese, the festival features musicians and artists from all over the world.

As one of the largest active festivals in the country, Bonnaroo features a broad range of talent, arts, food and vending for a collectively-shared experience, according to multi-instrumentalist and singersongwriter Andrew Bird, performing at this year’s event. “(Bonnaroo) is this communal experience, and everyone is out in the middle of nowhere. The festival gets people out of their little communities and brings them together,” Bird said.

Bird is currently on tour in Europe, but said he looks forward to the summer festival season.

Photo Courtesy of Big Hassle Publicity “It’s becoming kind of part of an annual M.I.A., above, and Chris Rock performed at Bonnaroo 2008. Actor and comecultural thing for the summer,” he said, dian Aziz Ansari will perform comedy at Bonnaroo 2009. Phish, Beastie Boys See FESTIVAL Page 15 and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band headline the 2009 weekend-long festival.

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Scottish rock clashes with Orange Peel audience Thursday, April 30, 2009

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By Sam Hunt

Assistant Arts & Features Editor schunt@unca.edu

Instrumental rock legends Mogwai delivered an extra dose of their patented wall of noise to Thursday’s Orange Peel crowd. The encore, a 25-minute version of the epic “My Father My King,” forced the sizeable crowd to stand still and soak in over 10 minutes of pure Concert guitar noise at the song’s Review end.

Many in the front row of spectators covered their ears for protection, while others seemed to gladly bask in the ear-splitting cascade of drones.

“Let’s put all our cards on the table.

Who here is a hippie?” asked lead guitarist Stuart Braithwaite after returning to the stage for the encore.

“Vietnam is over,” Braithwaite said with a chuckle after the majority of the crowd raised their hands to acknowledge that they were, indeed, hippies.

To be fair, Braithwaite’s deep Scottish accent made the word “hippie” sound like “happy,” so perhaps there was some miscommunication.

For a band whose songs range from near Photo Courtesy of Mogwai silence to jet-engine volume, concentration Mogwai made their second appearance at the Orange Peel on April 23, is essential onstage. Apparently, the playing to an eager crowd of Asheville noise enthusiasts.

Glasgow, Scotland five-piece was taken aback by the crowd’s loud between-song the band signaled to the sound men to “turn others’ differences. During “Batcat,” the banter. up,” as if to deafen the pesky crowd. lone single from the band’s latest fullBraithwaite and bassist Dominic Although the band and the audience length The Hawk Is Howling, Braithwaite Aitchison seemed disappointed when the clashed, unlike at most Orange Peel laughed out loud and made flying motions crowd yelled during the quiet intro of shows, everyone, Mogwai included, with his arms, as if he were some kind of “Christmas Steps.” On a few occasions, seemed in good spirits and embraced each winged monster.

Asheville summer festival schedule

By Brad Lovejoy

macrobrad@gmail.com

French Broad River Festival: May 1-3, $75

Hot Springs Campground and Spa, located in beautiful Hot Springs, N.C., just 45 minutes north of Asheville. Don’t forget

to reserve a hot tub in advance! www. frenchbroadriverfestival.com

The Bele Chere Festival: July 24-26, FREE The Bele Chere Festival an annual threeday festival on the streets of Downtown Asheville features four stages of live music and a variety of other activities. www. belecherefestival.com

Downtown After Five (DTA5), FREE

Celebrating its 21st year, the event takes place every third Friday of the month, May- September. The event’s location is Lexington Avenue and I-240, and will be more environmentally responsible through the use of compostable cups, plates and utensils.

The Hawk Is Howling could be the band’s best album to date. All of Mogwai’s facets can be found somewhere on the new record: the quiet-loud dynamic, gorgeous electronic beats and epic guitar-andkeyboard crescendos.

The diversity of sound on the new album translated into a crowd-pleasing Orange Peel show. Raw Mogwai classics kept the die-hards honest, while the more recent material kept fifth man Barry Burns switching between guitar, keyboard and laptop.

Burns, who joined Mogwai before they began recording 1999’s Come on Die Young, has played a crucial role in expanding the band’s sound from guitar rock to something more lush and synthetic.

Known for being one of the loudest live bands on the planet, Mogwai plays at absurd decibel levels, but also uses silence to stun its audiences. Several songs transition from silence to utter guitar chaos within a split second.

“Mogwai Fear Satan,” a frequent shoutout request from the band’s 1997 debut, Young Team, was especially jolting inside the venue. After a few minutes of tranquil echoes, the band’s three-guitar onslaught kicked in all at once with distortion pedals turned to max volume.

Brilliantly textured new songs, such as the bizarrely titled “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead” and “I Love You, I’m Going to Blow Up Your School,” ensured a great show for Asheville fans, who could not have asked for a more well-rounded Mogwai experience.

Free live music and dancing starts at 5 p.m. with food and drink available for purchase. www.ashevilledowntown.org

Shindig on the Green: July-September, FREE

Bring your instruments, families, friends, lawn chairs and blankets for good times at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. www.folkheritage.org/shindigonthegreen.htm

The Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF): May 7-10, $29-$140

LEAF’s goal is to connect its festival-goer with culturally important, international and homegrown musical acts that are both entertaining and inspiring. www.theleaf.com

{The Blue Banner}

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Festival

Continued

referring to music festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.

Bird performed during Bonnaroo 2006 and sat in with Georgia-based My Morning Jacket. He said he is open to the idea of sitting in with other musicians at this year’s festival.

“Nothing is planned as of yet, and I haven’t taken a good look at who is playing. But if it’s the right people, I’d sure do it,” said the Chicago native.

While artists such as Bird, Band of Horses and The Decemberists cater to more mellow, songwriting junkies, artists such as Pretty Lights, Animal Collective and Girl Talk provide the inspiration to dance to thousands of concertgoers, said Greg Gillis of Girl Talk.

“People (at Bonnaroo) are ready to party, ready to jam,” he said. “My music is kind of celebration music that you can party and dance to and, at a festival, it’s almost easier to engage the crowd.”

Bonnaroo began in 2002 with headliners Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio, The Stringcheese Incident and Phil Lesh and Friends. Over the years, promoters AC Entertainment and Superfly Productions diversified the talent recruitment, recognizing the evolution in summer music festivals, according to Brad Lovejoy, UNC Asheville student and coauthor of Guerilla Street Team Marketing.

“The diversity of genres in recent years reflects society’s diverse tastes and will, in theory, bring us all closer together,”

Urinetown Garden Continued

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is where all the discovery lies. People were learning so much about their characters and beginning to do some pretty funny things. Every night was hysterical because every person there loves what they are doing.”

Faculty member Jim Driggers of the literature department said being a cast member was a challenging experience.

“I wanted to be a part of the play because I knew the music and thought it would be great fun to sing in those big group numbers,” Driggers said.

Collaborating with a group of passionate people was very rewarding, Goff said.

“The drama department is a family,” Goff said.

“Working in the conditions we have to, you really have no choice. Many of us take on different jobs — lights, set construction, costume, acting. We have to work together in situations where there are literally lives at stake.”

Driggers said he wanted to see what he was made of while involved in the play.

“I am always amazed by the scope and depth of talent of the students and faculty at UNCA,” said Driggers.

“We were given a wide range to explore and develop our characters, and most nights I just felt like a lamp post standing on stage while all this creative buzz was happening around me,” Driggers said.

grew. Broccoli, cabbages, everybody was trippin’. No pattern, everything was just random.”

The children of the Pisgah View complex ran out onto the field and started digging away, White recalls. The complex, one of Asheville’s most dangerous public housing projects, threatened the younger community members’ safety, White said.

“A lot of the media came over here to film the dead body laying in the street or somebody with their hands behind their back in handcuffs. But here is this garden in the middle of this horrible place where gunfights are breaking out all of the time and people are selling dope everywhere, but here is this garden that is flourishing.”

Now, the garden has all the ingredients for a salad: arugula, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, Chinese cabbage and, in the summertime, watermelon.

“Last summer, my watermelons were bangin’,” White said. “One dude came down and wanted to trade crack for those watermelons.”

AmeriCorps’ Project March dedicates their mission to aiding children of the community housing projects of Asheville.

A homework club meets every afternoon from 3 until 5 p.m. with a snack, homework help and an activity. Anna-Marie Smith, activity specialist for Project March says the Pisgah View Community Peace Garden encourages children to eat healthier.

Lovejoy said. “Music festivals are about being who you really are, without being restricted by rules, ethnicity or musical preference. The jam scene has known this for decades, and now other types of music fans will have a chance to experience it for themselves.”

This year’s headliners include Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Beastie Boys and Phish, playing their first festival since the farewell performance in Coventry, Vt., five years ago.

In addition to a rock ‘n’ roll legend in Springsteen, hip-hop legends in the Beastie Boys and experimental legends in Phish, the festival features soul legends Al Green and Erykah Badu, along with rap legends Public Enemy and Snoop Dogg,

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“They are very curious about what is new to them,” Smith said. “It is so important for them to know how to eat healthy.

It is another resource we can give to them which will spring into eating right at home.”

White recently received a $3,500 grant for a youth summer gardening camp. He also provides healthy eating demonstrations for after school programs like Project March.

“When the tomato plants were just starting to flower, there were a bunch of kids standing around the raised bed. A little boy asked me, ‘What’s that?’ I said, ‘That’s a tomato plant.’ His response was ‘I thought tomatoes grew in cans,’” he said. “Everybody I tell that story to laughed about it, and so did I, but then it hit me how pitiful it was that a child didn’t know that things don’t grow in cans.”

Terri Zimmerman March, Health Promotion Program and Healthy Buncombe program coordinator at the Buncombe County Health Center acknowledges that many Americans are overweight and practice unhealthy lifestyles. But, she said, with the growth of local farms and gardens like the Pisgah View Community Peace Garden, more positive outcomes will arise.

Community members receive boxes of fresh produce along with quick and easy recipes, March said.

“It’s a great way for families to teach each other about different types of fruits and vegetables,” she said.

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according to Lovejoy.

Entertainment options don’t stop with music and comedy, according to the festival’s promoters.

An air-conditioned tent located in the Centeroo stage and vending area rotate a variety of movies 24 hours a day.

Screenings include documentaries, world cinema, short films, animated films and the NBA playoff games.

The festival also features a beer tent, a silent auction, various workshops and kids’ activities among a multitude of other amenities.

For information on ticket prices, the complete lineup, volunteer opportunities and anything else regarding the festival, visit www.bonnaroo.com.

Lawn Party Continued

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“I feel that the event has been really well done, especially the food,” said Renee Binderwald, a freshman whose major is currently undecided. “Unfortunately many people I know couldn’t make it because they are too busy studying for next week. I try to explain to them that it is healthy to take a break.

It’s a shame, because this is a lot of fun, and like I said, the food rocks,” Binderwald said.

The festival featured decade-inspired themes for food, such as 1970s fondue, 1980s Jello and 1990s raw foods, among others.

Rosebud Video Largest and Most Diverse Collection of Films in WNC

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Sports

Track and field season wrap-up online at

www.thebluebanner.net

UNCA soccer standout plans comeback Thursday,

April 30, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

By Ryan Burtner Staff Writer

rrburtne@unca.edu

On September 6, 2008, UNC Asheville men’s soccer senior defenseman Edwin Wotortsi lost more than just the game against the visiting Appalachian State Mountaineers.

“From what I can remember, we were playing pretty well,” Wotortsi said. “Ten minutes to go, they had a corner kick and they scored off of it, and, in turn, we tried to push up to tie the game. We got a corner kick, and we sent Edwin Wotortsi everybody up, including myself.”

Those final minutes would be the longest of his life, he said.

“On the flight of the ball, I remember, I saw it and the goalkeeper looking at it, but I didn’t see him coming out for it,” Wotortsi said. “It was coming toward me, and so I jumped up. By the time I was in mid air, I realized it was a big mistake because I saw the goalkeeper coming out with his knee up.”

It just happened. Everything just happened so fast, he said.

“I could not brace for impact. His knee just went right through my stomach,” Wotortsi said. “I just collapsed and didn’t see the ball or anything after that. I was on the ground in pain, and it just didn’t feel right.”

The trainer came on the field shortly after to check on him and narrow down where the pain was, according to Wotortsi.

He said it was one of the worst pains he ever felt. To him, he said it didn’t feel like a typical muscle pain or anything of that nature.

“I couldn’t move because every movement just hurt,” Wotortsi said. “The only comfortable position was on my knees and hunched over.”

Later, they took him off the field into the training room, where the ambulance soon arrived and took him to the hospital, he said.

Page 16

Youthful tennis season filled with surprise, talent

By Randi Kitts Staff Writer

rjkitts@unca.edu

Ryan Burtner- Staff Writer

Wotortsi shows the scar left behind from his surgery to remove his spleen.

“It was a pretty fast ride,” Wotortsi said.

“My girlfriend was with me the whole time, and she told me stories about how I was screaming from the pain. A couple of times I passed out from it because it was that extreme. They gave me the normal dose for morphine, and I asked for more, which they did, but eventually they couldn’t give me any more.”

He said the hospital staff, following procedure, took X-rays that returned inconclusive results. This led the doctors to speculate over his condition, which made him question their ability, he said.

“They got the X-rays back and said there’s nothing broken,” Wotortsi said.

“They said it was probably a deep abdominal tissue bruise and I was like, ‘Are you serious? Because I’ve had bruises and this doesn’t feel like it.’ They should’ve done more tests, but they said they couldn’t do anything more. They gave me a prescription for oxycodone and sent me home.”

The next morning he said pain was a recurring theme. He said he spent most of his time looking down a prescription bottle.

“They told me to follow-up in a couple of days if the pain had not improved,” Wotortsi said. “My girlfriend got me the

prescription filled, and that whole day I was just on pain medicine, taking two oxycodones every four to six hours. I went through half a bottle.”

Wanting some fresh air, he said he went downtown to a festival with some friends and walked around. He said it took all the strength in his body to simply do that.

“The pain was just unbearable,” Wotortsi said. “I was taking half a step every time. I just wanted to get some fresh air and just breathe and get out. I’m not a person who, when they get sick, likes to stay indoors. I remember I would walk, and every 50 yards, I would have to sit and rest because I was fatigued already.”

He said the pain and fatigue are all he remembers from that day.

The next day, he said his roommate gave him a ride to campus to see the athletic trainer for a follow-up.

“I talked to Cory, the trainer, about how I was feeling and how the day before was,” Wotortsi said. “She told me to go see her superior, Dr. Watts. I went

See Wotortsi Page 17

The UNC Asheville women’s tennis team finished its season 12-9 overall and 3-5 in the Big South Conference after falling to Coastal Carolina in the 2009 Big South Women’s Tennis Championship.

In reflecting upon the season, the women said, above all, they learned the importance of solidarity among the team.

“Every time I watch my teammates play I learn something from them,” said junior Tania Mateva. “I learned that having a close team can lead to some great wins, and with our hard work, anything is possible.”

The team went 68-55 overall in their singles matches for the season. Freshman Devon Cavanaugh led the women, finishing 14-6.

“I wanted to go out this season and prove myself to my teammates and my coach,” Cavanaugh said. “I wanted to prove that I was a dedicated, hardworking teammate, and I feel like I accomplished those personal goals.”

The women finished 34-28 in doubles matches, with Cavanaugh and junior Louise Bottomley leading 12-8 for the season.

“We definitely achieved a lot as a team this season,” Bottomley said. “I was the captain of a young team, so it was a new experience for me to try and offer some leadership to the team.”

The team said in order to improve the women ought to continue on the path they set this season.

“We need to continue working as hard as we did on a daily basis this year, and just come into the start of next season in better shape than ever before,” Cavanaugh said.

Sophomore Stephanie Schon said the women need to bring more intensity to their game in the future.

“It is important to start out with an aggressive mentality from the very begin-

See Tennis Page 17

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Wotortsi

there and she checked up on me, again, by pressing around to see where the pain is so she could determine what’s going on.

She told me it wasn’t looking good and I needed to go back to Mission.”

Following the doctor’s orders, he went back to Mission Hospital, and they put him back in the ER. That’s when the pace began to pick up.

“They gave me a MRI, and to do that, you have to drink the highlighter, so they can see your organs,” Wotortsi said. “I had to sit there and drink this awful tasting highlighter for an hour. When the results came back, everything went even faster.

They rushed me back to the hospital room and all I remember is I had four or five nurses around me, telling me they need to get me ready for surgery.”

Doctors proceeded to hook him up to machines to check his vitals, he said. They soon returned with the MRI results.

He said the results showed when the knee struck him in his midsection, it crushed his spleen, which smashed into his pancreas and his pancreas smashed into his backbone, in that order. Doctors told him 80 percent of his pancreas was damaged, and they would try to save as much as they could.

“When he was explaining it to me, I was asking, ‘Am I going to be alright? Is this safe?’” Wotortsi said. “They said they would try to take care of it and not complicate it in any way and that they only see this injury from car accidents. This was a freak accident. The doctors told me that I have a high pain threshold because people who would’ve gone through this, their vital signs wouldn’t have been normal. Their heart rate would’ve been going crazy and their blood pressure would be off the

Tennis ning,” she said. “Coach always tells us to play to win, don’t play not to lose.”

The women finished with an 8-2 record at home.

“My personal goal for the season was to go out and give 100 percent every single time, and I gained a bit of confidence from our results this year,” Mateva said.

The team said the collective conference victories, in particular, helped make this season unforgettable.

“Beating Charleston Southern in the first conference match of my college tennis career was unreal,” said Cavanaugh. “It was the best feeling in the world celebrat-

{The Blue Banner}

Continued

charts.”

Wotortsi said the doctors sent him into surgery around 2 a.m. the next morning.

He said he had a few surgeries, but they were really just all part of one complete surgery.

“It really was just one big surgery that I had and a few other procedures to go along with it,” Wotortsi said. “I was very lucky because diabetics use 15 percent of their pancreas, and I was able to retain about roughly 20 percent of my pancreas. I got tested everyday at the hospital to make sure I wasn’t diabetic.”

When he awoke, he could see the results of surgery: 25 staples and three drainage tubes with one leading to his pancreas, to leak out the fluids. Because he only has a small percentage of his pancreas, he said he must receive a booster shot for his immune system every five years.

His stay in the hospital lasted for two weeks, he said. When he left, he said they removed both drains from his stomach, leaving only the single tube to his pancreas.

“I had the one to my pancreas in, and I had to get it checked out to make sure it didn’t get infected,” Wotortsi said. “I got the last tube out on my birthday, November 12.”

The most important question for Wotortsi after his surgery, he said, was whether he would play again. Like most athletes returning from a serious injury, it was the only one that mattered.

“I had to get it clear because in my hospital bed, the only question I was asking was, ‘Can I play?’” Wotortsi said. “The doctors said it’s possible. There are a lot of athletes in the NFL that play without a spleen. They said I should be back to

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ing that victory with my team and coaches, and you can’t trade memories like that.”

The Charleston Southern victory meant a lot to Mateva for a more personal reason.

“As a junior, this was the first conference match we had ever won,” Mateva said. “Winning that match was unbelievable, and it gave us some confidence and the belief that we would continue to do well throughout the season.”

“We improved tremendously this season,” she said. “If we just keep doing what we did next year, then we can only expect to improve just as much.”

Page 17

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normal, but to allow 6-10 months. I got back to training, kicking around without contact gradually within two months of my surgery, which is amazing.”

Wotortsi said he is cautious with his training so he doesn’t irritate his injury.

“I try not to push myself because certain movements kind of irritate my scar tissue,” he said. “Sometimes I have to take a week off if I irritate the scar tissue. I’ve done it once during the school week and another time during spring break. That whole week I was on pain medicine.”

He said he’s really thankful for Dr. Watts and UNCA’s athletic trainers.

However, he said Mission Hospitals could stand to learn from their diagnosis error.

“I’m glad everything worked out, but I wish for Mission to be a lot more attentive to patients than just patch them up and send them home,” Wotortsi said.

Last semester, he said he took a leave of absence in order to recuperate from the injury. Although he was able to receive incomplete grades in some classes, he couldn’t do that in others, he said.

He said he was really looking forward to playing with his fellow seniors last year, and he is currently in the process of getting his eligibility back for next season.

With an even stronger appreciation for the game, he said this time around he’ll play it safe in order to achieve his true goal: finishing with a college education.

“I just can’t wait,” Wotortsi said. “I’m really excited for the fall. My last year, I’m just going to play safe, finish up and graduate. I just want to get my degree.”

Comics, Etc... {The Blue Banner}

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Page 18

lues you can

B

What Killed the Dinosaurs

by Sandy Igel

Use by Jason Howell

cartoons and videos in the Comics, Etc

see more

section online at

www.thebluebanner.net

Thursday, April 30, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

The Beach

Find and circle all of the beach words that are hidden in the grid.

The remaining letters spell an additional beach word.

BARE FEET BEACH BALL BOAT CLOUDS DRIFTWOOD HAT KITE LIFEGUARD

OCEAN PAIL PIER SAILING SAND SEAGULL SEASHELL SEASHORE

SKY STARFISH SUNGLASSES SUNSCREEN SUNSHINE SURFBOARD SURFING SWIMMING

Mind

*!$%

Logic puzzles

SWIMSUIT T - SHIRT TOWEL VOLLEYBALL WADING WATER WAVES

Page 19

Sudoku

The rules to play Sudoku are quite simple. Fill in the blanks so that each row, each column, and each of the nine 3x3 grids contain one instance of each of the numbers 1 through 9.

Puzzle answers published in the

Comics, Etc

online section weekly at

thebluebanner.net

A number pyramid is composed of the 10 different numbers 0-9 with a top row of 1 number resting on a second row of 2 sitting on a third row of 3 supported by a bottom row of 4. For example, a Number Pyramid could be: 0 12 345 6789

Given the clues below, can you determine the composition of the number pyramid?

1. The four numbers in row 4 sum to 28.

2. The biggest number in row 3 is in the middle of the row.

3. The 3rd number from the left in the bottom row isn’t 7.

4. The right most numbers in the four rows total 11.

5. 0 and 5 are in different rows of Number Pyramid 13.

6. The number at the apex minus the left most number in row 2 equals 4.

7. The left most numbers in the four rows sum to 20.

Campus Voice Thursday, April 30, 2009

Page 20

{The Blue Banner}

Ineffective anti-plastic bag policies damage environment While San Francisco’s plastic bag ban looks like it helps the environment, the lower energy costs and recycling ability of plastic prove otherwise.

San Francisco’s legislature passed an ordinance in 2007 banning plastic bags from grocery stores and pharmacies.

By doing so, they remain the exception and not the rule, according to the American Chemistry Council.

The ban prohibits stores with more than $2 million in sales or pharmacies with five or more locations from offering traditional plastic bags to customers. Affected stores can only use compostable plastic bags, recyclable paper or reusable bags, according to the San Francisco ordinance.

Robert Lilienfeld, editor of the Use Less Stuff Report, visited San Francisco after the legislators passed the ban. He went to several different chains affected by the ban including Kroger, Whole Foods and Walgreens.

Lilienfeld found several retailers went back to using paper bags, which if recyclable, the ordinance allows.

Additionally, he found customers didn’t bring their own bags regularly.

Further, he reported plastic recycling bins were almost nonexistent or the employees of some stores were unaware of the bins.

Asheville grocery stores are embracing this idea. Earthfare allows customers to bring in their own bags or use store boxes to pack groceries. If customers still want plastic, they pay 5 cents per bag.

“We are trying to do our part to go green,” said Kipp McDermott, assistant store manager of Earthfare.

Paper bags require more energy to produce. The ACC reports recyclable plastic bags use 70 percent less energy to make than paper bags. Additionally, they report plastic bags require 91 percent less energy to recycle than paper bags.

So San Francisco doesn’t help the environment by banning plastic bags

By Tom McLean Staff Writer

tjmclean@unca.edu

70 percent

Even though plastic bags require less energy to produce than paper bags, people might want to argue plastic bags hurt the environment. and allowing paper bags, and this runs against the national trend.

Most cities across the nation, including Los Angeles and Chicago, promote plastic bag recycling because they see the value it holds, according to the ACC. From recycled plastic we get construction materials, fencing and more bags, according to the ACC. But this also presents a problem.

“They take over 1,000 years to breakdown in the landfill, and only 1 to 3 percent of plastic bags actually get recycled,” McDermott said.

Even though plastic bags require less energy to produce than paper bags, people might want to argue plastic bags hurt the environment.

Actually, the impact doesn’t hurt quite as much as people might think.

Plastic bags make up a small part of the waste included in the U.S. municipal solid waste stream, according to the ACC. The EPA reports the waste stream to be collected garbage, and what doesn’t get recycled, like paper and yard waste ends up in the landfill.

It takes 70 percent less energy to make plastic bags than paper bags, according to the American Chemistry Council.

91 percent

Plastic bags require 91 percent less energy to recycle than paper bags, according to the ACC.

500 billion

Experts estimate the world’s population uses at least 500 billion plastic bags each year, according to www.reusablebags.com.

1 million

Experts estimate the world’s population uses almost 1 million bags per minute, according to www.reusablebags.com.

The ACC reported grocery store and retail plastic bags make up less than .5 percent of the total waste stream. The group also reports more than 90 percent of Americans reuse their plastic bags, which is a form of recycling.

The San Francisco ordinance lists compostable plastic bags as one type of plastic bag grocery stores can use.

“They’ll breakdown if you put them in an industrial size landfill,” McDermott said.

So reusable bags, which must be made of certain materials, remain the final kind of bag people can use.

The ordinance defines a reusable bag as one made of cloth or other washable fabric or plastic that is at least 2.25 mm thick.

Realistically, this benefits the environment the most. Once people start

using a cloth bag to carry their groceries in, they can be used for quite a while.

Also, Earthfare allows customers to use leftover boxes from grocery shipments to pack groceries, or they can bring their own bag, according to McDermott.

“We’ve had a really high success rate with the way we’re doing it,” McDermott said. “And we have cloth bags.”

On the local level, you can do the same thing as well if you want to cut down on the number of bags you use.

But you have to remember to take them into the store.

With Lilienfeld reporting fewer people taking in their own bags, perhaps people need an incentive.

Although Earthfare charges for plastic bags, the environment can still benefit.

“We do offer them. There is a 5 cent charge per plastic bag,” McDermott said, adding the store donates this revenue to a nonprofit, which customers may choose. “We have one for clean energy, one for environmental and one for animal and wildlife.”

In terms of the environment, cities need to go ahead and start banning paper bags. They require a lot of energy to create, and even though they might be recyclable, as the ordinance requires, people can do a lot better through plastic or their own bags.

We need to continue the national trend of recycling plastic bags and the promotion of cloth bags. Start making a difference by asking retailers about incentives for such an action.

By thinking about the environment, and by looking at the actual numbers, we not only educate ourselves on how we can improve ourselves, we also see what fails.

“We’re not really doing it to compete with anyone,” McDermott said.

“We’re just doing it because it’s the right thing to do. And hopefully other businesses will see it’s the right thing to do and will follow suit.”

Thursday, April 30, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 21

As economy shrinks, gardens grow Consumers grow backyard plants to supplement diet With the economy still struggling and unemployment rising in many parts of the country, being able to afford food is a growing concern for many people.

The lack of a steady source of income can make it difficult for individuals and families to afford food, and it can also lead to unhealthy diets.

Fruits and vegetables tend to be expensive. Fast food, on the other hand, is cheap and widely available.

There are various ways people and the companies selling food are dealing with the economic downturn.

In states like Pennsylvania, Utah and Michigan, food auctions, where people bid on unsold food from local stores, are becoming popular. They give people the opportunity to buy items that are nearing their sell-by date for hugely discounted prices.

Despite the recent development of these food auctions, and even before our most recent economic woes, food prices were up.

When gas prices across the country went above $4 per gallon, the price of food rose. As gas prices have gone down, the price of food has not.

In response to the economic times, at least one local supermarket chain is lowering prices on many of their items.

The Matthews, N.C.-based Harris Teeter supermarket chain is advertising new, lower prices on many of the most popular items, including staples such as bread, milk, cheese, pasta and non-perishables.

Harris Teeter’s weekly ad usually contains a pullout section featuring “Unreal Deals,” which are items that feature lower prices that are not a part of the regular weekly sales.

Aside from auctions and supermarket sales, “recession gardens” are sprouting up throughout the country.

Many people today are turning to backyard gardens for different reasons, one of which is that gardens are a relatively inexpensive way to provide healthy and nutritious food. Gardening can be both fun and rewarding.

A well-maintained garden can provide, on average, half a pound of food per square foot of garden area, according to the National Gardening Association. The median food garden is 96 square feet and

By Patrick Zarcone Staff Writer

pwzarcon@unca.edu

A well-maintained garden can provide, on average, half a pound of food per square foot, according to the National Garden Association.

the average is 600 square feet, according to the NGA. Even some UNC Asheville commuter students are growing their own gardens.

Junior Noah Carlson and his three roommates planted a garden featuring two varieties of tomatoes along with basil, cilantro and bell peppers in the backyard of their Weaverville house.

Cost is the biggest factor.

“Tomatoes and basil are much cheaper to grow yourself and they taste better than what you can buy at the store,” said Carlson, 21.

“I grew tomatoes in my apartment last Patrick Zarcone — Staff Writer year, and it was pretty easy, so I figured Junior Parker Green, 22, works in his garden. Green planted heirloom tomatoes, if we have the garden space here at the onions, mint, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers and watermelons. house, we’d just do a whole garden,” he added.

Even one local apartment complex has plant a community garden are out of luck. vegetables, but it would also be a great caught gardening fever. The Grove ApartWith just a small plot of land, some way for commuter students to feel more a ments, located just across from The Botan- simple gardening tools, a little research part of campus life and to save some sigical Gardens at Asheville near the UNCA and a couple dollars, a garden can begin to nificant money at the grocery store. campus, have a small community garden grow and this is something the university While the details would need to be growing near the upper level parking area should consider. fleshed out, it’s definitely something that by their clubhouse.

While we don’t have a large campus, can be done.

For those who live in an off-campus we certainly have a large enough one that UNCA continues to make an effort to house or happen to live at The Grove, a a substantial garden could be planted. A be more environmentally “green” when it garden can be a realistic option. Those university garden would be great, not only comes to the energy in campus buildings, that live on campus during the year or in for students living on campus who want to but maybe the university should show they apartments that don’t have enough room to grow and pick their own fresh fruits and have a green thumb as well.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 22

to

Megan Rawls — Contributing Writer

Above, Trier is one of the oldest cities in Germany, founded in 16 BC along the banks of the Moselle River. Top right, senior mass communication student and former Blue Banner editor-in-chief Megan Rawls tries on some fancy hats out of her cousin’s collection. Bottom right, a shot of the German town of Heidelberg.

Travel abroad helps puts perspective on American life

By Megan Rawls Contributing Writer mwrawls@unca.edu

Studying social theory at the University of Sunderland in England, it’s like a puzzle learning the social perceptions in another country, but secretly and constantly applying them to American culture.

A lot of people tell me it’s culture shock, but it’s really not. There’s nothing shocking here, but I feel like Alice, only my looking glass is the Atlantic Ocean, and the most nonsensical thing I’ve encountered is not a smiling cat or a wicked queen (I’ve heard quite good things about her, to be fair), but the flow of traffic.

I look left when I should right and right when I should look left. I’ve regressed to the status of a six-year-old; I need someone to hold my hand and help me cross the street.

It’s the little things that are so staggeringly different here. The shape of milk jugs; the texture of snow, thick and watery as if someone sucked all the cherry juice from their slushy and dumped the remains on the ground; the way the sun rises quietly behind the clouds and sets the same way.

A little about Sunderland: most people from around here grudgingly call it a city.

I get my insider information from one of the bus drivers. His name is Paul. For Paul and a lot of other people, Sunderland will always be a town. It has none of the bustle of Newcastle or the glamorous appeal of London. I like the giant seagulls and how sometimes there are rainbows without any rain.

A lot of exchange students feel disappointed they haven’t found the big rocks on the beach or the weird bowl sculptures

that dot the harbor. There are secret, hidden doors all over and one amazing stone replica of a house in ruins with a stone comfy chair, a quaint, detailed kitchen with stone potatoes boiling in a stone pot and a realistic roll-top desk beside the stone fireplace. The marina is small and looks kind of abandoned. We saw a dead seagull floating beside a buoy one day. There are things about this town a lot of people don’t bother to find out or notice.

Some streets are unimpressive, cluttered with small shops and houses that push together like too many people in an elevator. Much of it is so common, but there are these spots that steal my breath and inspire an urgent need to share it with as many people as possible. Some pathways stretch for miles, but it’s hard to get far when all you want to do is stop and take in everything.

The walk from my flat to my classes, all of which are by the river, is about 45 minutes, longer if I stop for coffee. I like school as much as anyone can really like school in another country, by which I mean I am really very confused all the time but constantly hoping for the best.

I like crossing the bridge. I do it daily, and I try to notice new things every time on my way to class or on my way back home. There’s something awkward about the way people shuffle out of the way, backwards like the flow of traffic. The river is mostly brown, but some days it looks almost greenish-blue in the sun.

I always thought my passion was writing because I can express myself better on paper than I ever can with my excited stutter and bad habit of spitting when I talk.

One class, Race, Identity and Culture, chalSee England Page 23

Thursday, April 30, 2009

England lenges us to look at racism locally, globally and personally. Our professor, Amir, sometimes pushes me to make a point in my incoherent rush to win the debates we have during seminar, but I always feel accomplished when I say something that makes people stop and maybe agree or at least consider conceding my point.

I’m beginning to think that my opinions aren’t obsolete just because infinitely smarter and eloquent people surround me.

So maybe England is more validating than shocking.

I try to use cash for everything because it helps me not think about conversion rates. There’s only the queasy feeling I get when I gut my bank account at the ATM every couple of weeks. Some things are cheaper here and others are wildly expensive. Brie is cheap but milk is not. Sometimes there is meat in the pie, and I think things like that should just be free.

I hope to buy a fishing pole soon and see what happens over by the lighthouse.

Traveling is inexpensive, but only if you don’t really go anywhere. So many people go on weekend trips, and maybe it’s just an excuse, but I don’t know if I can really experience a place in a span of three days.

It seems like cheating, like how people

The

{The Blue Banner}

Page 23

A Word from Student Government Continued

from

Page 22

cheat themselves out of seeing the really amazing parts of this small, sometimes dingy, town. That being said, I do plan to travel. I have these dreams about the kind of backpacking I’ll do, a kind of mix between my own childlike expectations and clips I’ve seen on The Travel Channel.

In case I didn’t mention it, being in another country is humbling. America is so, so big, and it’s sometimes easy to forget that. It’s like those movie scenes where people in outer space look at Earth and our huge planet looks so, so tiny. It’s just about getting a new perspective and realizing you have to leave a place before you can really see it.

I really needed to get away for a while, but I never say that when people ask why I chose England. I’m finding out what other countries think about politics and problems in society, and even though America is this vast expanse of land, a lot of people don’t really think outside the squiggly lines that surround our country on a map. Like that thick, bold line is a tangible thing, a wall that only people from the outside are brave enough to look over.

I’m not shocked, but I kind of feel like I’m in outer space right now. And I can see everything from up here.

Blue Banner Editorial Board

Karpen Hall 019 (828) 251-6586 banner@unca.edu www.thebluebanner.net Aaron Dahlstrom, Editor-in-Chief

Emily Gray, Business Manager

Jonathan Walczak, Managing Editor

Cassidy Culbertson, Photo Editor

Pam Stringer, News Editor

Cassady Sharp, Assistant News Editor

Dylan Schepps, Arts&Features Editor Sam Hunt, Assistant Arts&Features Editor Greg Hicks, Sports Editor

Matt Starkey, Assistant Web Editor

Jason Herring, Design&Web Editor

Michael Gouge, Faculty Adviser

The Blue Banner is UNC Asheville’s student newspaper. We publish each Thursday except during summer sessions, finals week and holiday breaks. Our office is located in Karpen Hall 019.

The Blue Banner is a designated forum for free speech and welcomes letters to the editor, considering them on basis of interest, space and timeliness. Letters and articles should be e-mailed to banner@unca.edu. They should be signed with the writer’s name, followed by year in school, major or other relationship to UNCA. Include a telephone number to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing.

Administration fails to consult students on calendar change

By Cortland Mercer & Steven Haas Student Body President & Senior Senator & snhaas@unca.edu

camercer@unca.edu

READ THIS ARTICLE. It has been written to inform the student body of a major adjustment in the academic calendar for the 2009-10 academic year. This change has been initiated by Provost Fernandes and ratified by the faculty senate as an attempt to decrease operational days without losing instructional days in light of the current economic climate.

To give context to this new decision, it is important to understand the history of our academic calendar year. A year ago the university made the choice to change from a 15-week schedule to a 16week schedule for the 2008-09 academic year, effectively adding one week of instructional days. The change was made to allow students and faculty more time to discuss and process academic information.

Now the administration is once again changing the schedule, but this time they are taking away days most valuable to students. The new changes involve: one, the removal of the move-in day on the Monday before the start of both the fall and spring semesters; two, the removal of a reading day before exams and now labeling Saturday and Sunday as “reading days”; three, the movement of exams to one week the week after the end of classes; four, the requirement for graduating seniors to take their exams during that week, instead of early (a perk most seniors enjoyed).

These changes have been made retroactively, without the consultation of students, and are an offense to all those paying tuition and fees.

The Student Government Association has written legislation in response to this change. We request that the administration reconsider its current action and return to the 15-week system that was in effect as recently as the 2007-08 academic year and had been for many previous decades. If it is so important we save money, then we should return to the schedule that has always worked before, instead of depriving students of the days important to their education. In this legislation, SGA cites the several

difficulties that will arise from this calendar change.

The loss of the move-in day poses the problem that new students will not have enough time to adjust to a brand new campus. When we are talking about 50% of a graduating class being transfer students, this is a problem. In addition, returning students will have less than 24 hours on campus before the start of classes to get settled into their rooms and buy books.

In regards to the elimination of reading days, SGA is worried about the decreased study time for students before final exams. The weekend has always been available for students to prepare for their exams, so the claim that students still have a reading day is misleading.

We are also concerned about the availability of faculty and staff if the reading days are placed on a weekend, since students need to be able to consult with their professors about their finals.

Another issue is that graduating seniors will not have sufficient time after final exams to be informed of their final grades and thus their graduation date.

These reasons and the many decades of successful and fruitful learning that took place under the old 15-week academic calendar are why we as students recommend the return to the previous 15-week schedule.

SGA was never informed of the change by any faculty member, staff member or administrator. Only by attending the faculty senate meeting, did student representatives become aware of the substantial change being made to their class schedule.

The administration, as of two weeks ago, made alterations to the calendar that will go into affect for the next academic year. SGA is disappointed that students were not consulted in the change of the academic calendar and feel disrespected that faculty members are the only entity on campus worthy of consultation in regards to our education.

SGA has been told by administrators in Academic Affairs that students will have a place in future dialogues, but given the action taken the past two years, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe this.

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