TECHNICIAN
tuesday april
9
2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Rep. Price meets with Raleigh voters Kevin Schaefer Staff Writer
While visiting constituents during a town hall meeting in Raleigh Monday, Democratic Congressman David Price called for bipartisan efforts in Congress — focusing on jobs and infrastructure, not the deficit — to improve the nation’s economy. William Peace University host-
ed the forum Monday evening in Kenan Recital Hall. Price’s talk addressed the implications of the budget sequester and upcoming legislation when the House reconvenes today after two weeks of constituent work weeks. The upcoming legislation Price expects to handle now includes bills ranging from comprehensive immigration overhaul, gun violence safety reform, an “overdue” farm
bill and a bill to improve highway infrastructure. “There is some uncertainty surrounding some of these measures,” Price said. “Many things have fallen victim to partisan division and polarization in Washington.” The most basic point of uncertainty Price mentioned was “the constant turmoil over the federal budget.” The U.S. House and Senate have
passed budget resolutions and President Barack Obama will submit his budget for deliberation this week. Though Price considers the budget an opportunity to decisively make plans and evaluate the nation’s resources, it is “too often superseded by lurching from crisis to crisis.” Price cited the Government Shutdown Crisis, the Debt Ceiling Crisis, Fiscal Cliff and the sequestration legislation as examples of unhealthy
leadership in the Republican-controlled House. “This is not the way the government of a great country does a budget,” Price said. Price represents most of the Triangle, including all of UNC-Chapel Hill and most of N.C. State, with his district’s line coming close to the boundary of Duke University’s
PRICE continued page 2
Documentary predicts energy transition Brittany Bynum Staff Writer
The United States hit a low point with the economic recession in 2009. The conversation on energy conservation dwindled as Harry Lynch released a documentary titled Switch discussing just that. Four years later, the award-winning documentary is shown around the country to educate students about an inevitable world energy transition. Monday night it played at N.C. State. Switch displays that a transition from fossil fuels is a matter of when, not if. Information in the film is based on the scientific investigation and discovery of the practical realities of energy worldwide. Switch is showcased all around the world. The Switch Energy Project plans to change the use of energy through its film. Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, was the film’s primary interviewer. He started his research on energy by observing his own use of it. Tinker noted in the documentary how much energy is used for daily activities like factory-made clothes shipped daily, the use of technological gadgets, power in people’s homes, car travel, heating, cooling and building. The documentary stated that coal provides half of the energy emission for the United States. Coal is globally used and easy to produce. Problems related to coal include the release of carbon dioxide in the air, which is harmful to the environment. Coal could probably be
SWITCH continued page 2
RYAN PARRY/TECHNICIAN
Freshman in textile engineering Lisa Hoang’s collection entitled “So Impolite” is showcased at the African American Textile Society Fashion Expose in the College of Textiles atrium Monday, April 8, 2013.
Fashion headlines Pan Afrikan Week Taylor O’Quinn Staff Writer
Seventeen N.C. State student designers competed in the African-American Textile Society’s 16th Annual Fashion Exposé Monday evening. Students ranging from freshmen to seniors showcased their designs in three different categories: exhibit, novice and intermediate. Exhibit designers showcased their work on mannequins, while novice and intermediate competitors took to the runway. “The AATS Fashion Exposé has served student designers
for the past 16 years as a true nonrestrictive outlet for creativity,” Fashion Exposé Coordinator Lisa Redfearn said. Seniors Joelle Purifoy, Alexis Bethea, Jasmine Rhodes and Elizabeth Croom said the show was a bittersweet “send-off ” from their undergraduate college career. Purifoy was the $100 grand prize winner in the intermediate category, incorporating a mixture of hand beading and authentic African mud cloth — thick material with geometric patterns — into her collection this year. She said she has also won the previous two AATS Fashion Exposé competitions. “My inspiration comes from
Dante’s Inferno,” Croom said. “Each of my garments represents the nine circles of hell.” Croom said each outfit represents specific features of its given circle, although they all share a certain destructed and worn look that represents the idea that “each model has been searching for something in hell.” Every outfit in Croom’s collection is burned and ripped in specific places to represent the darkness that Dante found himself in. Alexis Bethea said her “Continuum” collection in the intermediate category incorporates a hard and soft aspect and involves the mysterious and romantic elements of space.
Bethea is excited to finally showcase her designs after “living in the apparel labs” lately. This is her first collection. Rhodes entered her collection “Turks and Caicos” in the novice category. She said she wanted to go for a more “girly and flowy” approach to her collection. “In the middle of winter, all I could think about was summer,” Rhodes said. “This is why I was inspired by the colors of the islands of Turks and Caicos.” Charnessa Hamlett, a sophomore in fashion and textile management, won the $250 grand prize in the
FASHION continued page 3
The farm at Black Mountain: Closed, but not forgotten Alex Kenney Staff Writer
PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.ARCHIVES.NCDRC.GOV
Students of Black Mountain College return to school barns after a day of farming.
Black Mountain College, one of the birthplaces of the Avant-garde movement, was founded in 1933 and closed in 1957. The Asheville liberal arts college had a small attendance but deep impact that still resonates within universities today. David Silver, an associate professor of urban agriculture at the University of San Francisco, is studying Black Mountain College. He spoke Monday at Hunt Library Auditorium about the college, particularly its farm. Students grew their own food
on the college’s farm. It provided a unique learning experience that some universities are imitating today. “During my research, I noticed that when the students talked most passionately about the school, they spoke about the farm,” Silver said. “When the farm was thriving, the school was thriving.” Silver said when the farm declined, it correlated directly with the school’s eventual closing. Students attempted to start a farm in the fall of 1933 when the school opened. By 1947, it was a full-scale farm that provided 65 percent of the vegetables eaten at the college.
Milk, cheese and meat were also produced on the farm. The farmers at Black Mountain College became experts in sustainable agriculture, which Silver says is crucial to the future of agriculture. It provided healthy food to a selfsustaining population. “Imagine if more colleges were like this. Imagine how much healthier our students would be and how much less we would waste,” Silver said. John Andrew Rice founded the college with the mission to educate
FARM continued page 2