April 2009

RI AL celebrating the Duke & UNC-CH connection

You know your limit when it comes to alcohol, but what about with coffee or energy drinks?

WAKE-UP CALL

INSIDE: When landlords and students clash, Duke professor’s memoir to hit the big screen, local spots to pitch a tent

volume 4, issue 2 • April 2009

RI AL

letter from the editor april 2009

RIVAL SENIORS

p.o. box 99318 durham, nc, 27708

To Lucia Parker, creative director: Our near-lethal combination of perfectionism had to be tamed at times, but Rival wouldn’t be what it is today, if not for your design expertise and attention to detail. From legendary listserv faux pas to “talkRival” chats at 3 a.m., you’ve enriched my experience inexplicably, and I’m blessed to have come out the other side with a dear friend.

I

McMillan is a senior journalism major at UNC. Reach her via e-mail at cbmcmill@email.unc.edu.

’m no fan of the doomsday, this-is-thelast-time-I’ll-ever-do-[blank] routine.

On principle, I never made Facebook albums with Kenny Chesney lyrics and pictures of my high-school spring breaks, and I laughed at the grads who built shrines with their senior-year Solo cups and used tissues.

But as my graduation clock ticks away, I’ll admit I’m getting sappy about passing the torch and saying goodbye to the two-toned “V” that framed my college years.

Don’t worry —I won’t regale you with my Rival memories or reminisce about working across party lines during basketball season.

But I will tell you that there’s something intensely gratifying about joining a start-up operation, about building a tradition, about knowing you’ve left an imprint.

In a matter of four years and as the first student publication of its kind, Rival has forged collaborations between universities renowned for their hatred of each another.

And it has done so without losing the passion that pulses through the eight-mile strip.

I’m glad such a bold endeavor has blossomed into a quality publication, and I’m honored to have spent three years working with so many extraordinary people. Thanks for your continued support and for allowing Rival to tie my phenomenal college experience with a big blue bow.

Best Wishes,

Caroline McMillan Editor in Chief 2

To Erin Lewis, managing editor: You’ve been an amazing editor and administrator.

Thanks for running a tight ship and for keeping the Robertson-bus driver busy.

To Dan Houghton and Morgan Castner, president and vice president of business operations: Thank you for stepping up in such a transitional period and for keeping us financially sound. I know you Blue Devils were outnumbered, so I appreciate your patience.

To Caitlin Connell, treasurer: Your mental math and mastery of all things statistical have been indispensible to this all-letters-no-numbers girl.

U = lifesaver x 2.

To Andrew Otey, former art director: Thanks for being an extraordinary visionary and my unfailing graphics tutor. Let’s make that DDC party happen soon.

business president vice president marketing director treasurer unc faculty adviser

dan houghton morgan castner monica palmiera caitlin connell bill cloud

Rival is a joint publication between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that seeks to reinforce and redefine the historic rivalry.

To Marianna King, former PR director: If you hadn’t dragged me to the first Rival interest meeting our freshman year, my life would be a different story. Thank you for your level-headedness and sage advice in all the rough patches.

And to all readers and our staff members, former and current: Thanks for believing that an operation this electric could stand the test of time. It has been a wonderful ride.

brad piland courtney roller kaitlin atkinson joanna ng

staff designers mary pell lea amanda michelson

contributing photographers carly brantmeyer

griffin kenemer caroline mcmillan kristin wilson

To Robin Hilmantel, former UNC managing editor: Thanks to your genius, Rival has staple sections and an in-house production process.

Our late-night e-mail threads made the growing pains fun.

To Nick Anderson and Susie Baker, founding editor in chief and UNC managing editor: If not for your initiative, charisma and trust in Rival’s potential, the operation would have been Tobacco Road-kill. Thanks for giving me your baby.

caroline mcmillan erin lewis lucia parker

unc contributing writers robin hilmantel elizabeth lilly mary lide parker courtney roller claire schmitt emily williams emily wilson

duke contributing writers brett aresco kemi chukwuka marie pantojan joanna ng

columnists laura stroud daniel lerman

Rival is independently recognized at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is also a member of the Duke University Undergraduate Publication Board.

All content, pictures, graphics and design are the property of Rival Magazine © 2008-2009. All rights reserved.

COVER PHOTO BY GRIFFIN KENEMER

caroline mcmillan

content

editor-in-chief

managing editor

creative director

features editor

university editor

duke section ediors

This issue is funded in part by UNC Student Congress and the Duke University Publications Board.

For advertising, e-mail daniel.houghton@duke.edu

THE MAILBAG

Love it? Hate it?

Either way, we want to know what you think. Send your feedback to rivalunc@gmail.com

In This Issue 18 COVER: Energy Drinks

How much is too much when it comes to caffeine consumption? Learn about the adverse side effects of your favorite energy drinks.

06 All’s fair in leases and wars Read how students draw the line when they’re dealing with the bottom line.

13 Local history hits the big screen Duke professor Tim Tyson discusses the upcoming release of the movie adaption of “Blood Done Sign My Name,” his award-winning memoir.

Also, check out our timeline of how the Civil Rights movement played out along Tobacco Road.

18

23 Back on this side of the Pond Read about how your fellow students dealt with the dreaded transition back to the States after studying abroad.

26 Tent Sense

26

Whether you’re a seasoned camper or just ready to test out those new hiking boots, we’ve got some tips for you. Find out where to go and what to bring.

10 Simone Scott

The daughter of Charlie Scott, UNC’s first black student to get an athletic scholarship, junior Simone Scott dishes on growing up in and stepping out of her father’s shadow.

13

10

In Every Issue 4 Pre-game Learn how a love of music led three UNC students to start a DJ group. Plus, find out how the Duke Chamber Players are doing things their way.

31 Athletes’ Corner En Garde! Fencers Jennifer Clark from UNC and Allison Putterman from Duke tell about their favorite techniques, time-management skills, and match-day superstitions.

29 Tar Tracks UNC sophomore Laura Stroud talks about the difference a new pair of shoes can make.

30 Devil’s Advocate Duke’s Daniel Lerman describes how stepping out of his comfort zone and on to the stage changed his life.

35 Out of the Blue Tired of the seeing the same old people? Get to know some campus faces you won’t want to forget.

3

pre-game > Mixing it up

BY EMILY WILLIAMS, UNC

W

hat’s in a name? For DJs, a name isn’t self-appointed. It has to come to you. The Crush Mixers, a DJ group made up of three UNC sophomores, got its name at a sorority’s function. “When we got our check, it said it was the crush mixer,” said David Hutcheson of Rocky Mount, N.C. “We decided that was an appropriate name for us. It sounds tough, like ‘We’re going to crush you,’ and it also brings in the mixing-songs part.”

The group formed when Hutcheson met Sara Soltau in a class on DJ culture. A Louisville, Ky. native, Soltau knew Andrew Hamlet from Atlanta, Ga., through the Out-of-State Student Association.

The idea of starting a group first surfaced when they were all sitting in a resturant, discussing the role of the DJ. A few weeks later, the trio found a good deal on a DJ table and mixer.

Thus, the Crush Mixers were born.

Next thing you know, each of them had adopted a DJ name. Solatu is “DJ Sereal” because her brother couldn’t pronounce her name when he was younger and and because her favorite food is cereal.

Andrew ended up as “DJ GJ” — GJ short for

“green jacket,” his favorite blazer.

David is “DJ Gooberghan” because Soltau’s mom yells, “Gooberghan!” when she calls for their animals. Soltau started yelling that to get David’s attention in a crowd, and the name stuck.

Their first gigs were impromptu and unpaid. And unlike most DJs, they honed their crowd skills before their technical skills.

“We didn’t want to become the type of DJs who spend hours in their room, getting awesome at the technical stuff but have no idea how to work a crowd,” Hutcheson said.

According to the trio, the most important parts of working a crowd are balancing the art of mixing songs with similar beats, choosing the right music and paying attention to the mood of the group.

The group prides itself on knowing how to conduct the party. They arrange music by sound and pace, not genre.

“The great things about being a DJ is that you are in control of the party,” Hutcheson said. “You can speed it up, you can slow it down. You just have to keep them dancing.”

PHOTO BY MATT NEIMKIN

The Crush Mixers have scratched and beatmatched their way up the partying success ladder.

4

quick, pick-me-up shorts

PHOTO BY AILEEN LIU

The Duke Chamber Players wind section from right to left: Paul Henson, TJ young, Sara Leiman, Karna Mital, Meg Williams, Oshri Hakak and Michelle Kwak

Chamber players strike a chord

B

BY JOANNA NG, DUKE

etween hetic schedules and hours of homework, it’s often difficult to find the time to participate in university-sponsored arts programs. So some students create their own. The recently-founded Duke Chamber Players started as a result of student initiative, and the group successfully operates without University sponsorship.

“Although there are a lot of Duke students who are really talented in music and the arts, they often have to sacrifice their time for academics,” said Oshri Hakak, a senior psychology major from Los Angeles and the founder of the Duke Chamber Players.

When Hakak first created the group two years ago, he found it challenging to convince others that the group was viable and that its members were committed to music despite Duke’s challenging academic curriculum.

Music professor Jonathan Bagg serves as the independent group’s faculty advisor, but he plays a minimal role. Members have complete autonomy when choosing their repertoire and performances.

“You have more say in how you want to play the part and more control of how the group sounds overall,” said Mary Ashton Inglis, president of Duke Chamber Players.

Inglis, a junior music major from Traveler’s Rest, S.C., also serves as president of the Duke Student Orchestra. She said that many members of Duke Chamber Players are also members of the Duke Student Orchestra or Wind Symphony, which are both sponsored by the University.

“We really don’t want to detract from the music department,” Inglis said. She said Chamber Players’ practice times are set so as not to conflict with other university-sponsored music groups.

“We see ourselves as an addition to what’s going on with Duke Arts, not as a substitution,” said Michael Wood, a senior from Jensen Beach, Fla., and the group’s musical director.

The chamber orchestra performs four times a year and often collaborates with other groups. In its most well-attended concert last year, Duke Chamber Players performed Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” while defMo, a student dance group, presented an interpretive dance to the music.

Wood emphasized the importance of reaching as much of the Duke community as possible with its music. “We hold the majority of our concerts on West Campus in easily recognizable venues,” he said. “We made it really easy for people to come or just pass by to hear some classical music.”

5

6

RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

LANDLORDS & LEGAL-LEASE Students forced to draw the line when they’re dealing with the bottom line

By Mary Lide Parker, UNC

L

ast July, with barely a month left until classes started, UNC student Colin Moore had nowhere to live.

But it wasn’t for lack of trying. The rising senior chemistry major had lived on south campus for the three years, so he began looking at off-campus housing the previous January.

Through a friend, he heard of a man who renovated old houses for students. Moore contacted a landlord who showed him an old house on Lindsay Street the next week.

When the landlord first showed Moore the house, it had no appliances or doors. All of the rooms needed new floors and new paint on the walls. The entire house needed new electrical wiring.

Originally, the landlord said that by April, the house would be renovated and ready for Moore and his two roommates to move in.

But the month of April came and went — no work had been done.

After school ended in May, Moore’s landlord painted the walls

The roof started to leak and the ceiling over Muller’s room collapsed. It took a week and a half to get the ceiling fixed.

Forced to get creative, Muller patched the hole in his ceiling with a beer box and duct tape.

and rewired the electrical outlets and light fixtures. Moore and his roommates signed a lease for the house later that month, when it appeared as though the house would be

finished by the end of the summer.

During the month of June, Moore called his landlord daily to get updates on the house. The landlord only returned his calls about once a week.

“I felt ignored,” Moore said. “I couldn’t actually get in touch with anyone for quite a while. We already had all this money in the house, and we couldn’t just leave. They had the upper hand in the situation.”

Moore paid $800 for the month of June, and only minimal electrical work had been completed. Including the security deposit, Moore and his two roommates paid a total of $2,100 for a house they couldn’t live in.

March 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 7

Tar Heel town

It doesn’t take much to see that Chapel Hill is a college town. With 51,000 residents in Chapel Hill, 28,000 of them are students at the University. Including the sorority and fraternity houses, about 9,000 students live on campus, which leaves 19,000 students to find apartments or houses in the area.

For a college student, living in a house with friends for the first time is an exciting experience — but a bad landlord can change the equation quickly.

“The landlord wants to rent the place. They will promise you the moon, but unless that promise is in writing, it’s worthless.”

Dorothy Bernholtz, Student Legal Services

The ties that bind

At the beginning of July, Moore found a new house and contacted Dorothy Bernholtz at Student Legal Services to try to get his money back. A lawyer at Student Legal Services since its inception in 1976, Bernholtz said the majority of the cases she sees are student-landlord disputes.

“She has seen the same story a million times,” Moore said. “She’s very experienced in dealing with landlords and she understands they have all the power in the landlord-tenant relationship. That was a good experience, at least. And it was free.”

Donald Michaels*, a senior at UNC, is currently involved in a lawsuit with his landlord from sophomore year. At the beginning of the summer after his sophomore year, the landlord showed Michaels and his roommate a unit they both liked. The landlord then gave them a lease for another unit in substantially poorer condition for the same rent.

Michaels and his roommate lived in the apartment for one month before they moved out and sued the landlord to get their security deposit back.

8

RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

‘Do your homework’

Bernholtz recommended that students get renting-savvy by visiting Student Legal Services on campus.

“We’re always busy in June because we’re cleaning up all the security deposits,” she said.

Bernholtz said Student Legal Services tries to work with the local landlord community to develop working relationships with many area landlords and realtors.

Students should always read their contracts to make sure they really understand them, she said. If they don’t understand anything in the lease or contract, they should

“Students are a transient population, but they have community responsibilites just like everyone else. They should be good neighbors.” C R , C H arlo

obustelli landlord in

They will promise you the moon,” Bernholtz said. “But unless that promise is in writing, it’s worthless.”

That personal touch

Illustration

by

Lucia Parker

take them to Student Legal Services.

She also recommended that students write down on the lease itself any verbal promises the landlord makes. She said it’s generally a good idea to keep some kind of written record of promises, complaints and negotiations.

“The landlord wants to rent the place.

Moore’s current landlord is Carlo Robustelli. An alumnus of UNC, Robustelli said he had issues with his landlord as an undergraduate. Now that he’s a landlord himself, as well as an aid to the mayor of Chapel Hill, Robustelli said he’s working to improve student-landlord relations.

“I don’t approach entering into a contract with a student any differently than I do with anybody else,” he said.

Since this is the first time most students have dealt with paperwork, such as leases and utility bills, Robustelli said it’s important that they familiarize themselves with the process.

He hopes students will remember that they’re a part of the community and not just part of the University.

“Students are a transient population, but they have community responsibilities just like everyone else,” Robustelli said. They should be good neighbors.”

Arne Gray, a landlord that owns and rents 13 houses to college students in downtown Carrboro said he likes the hands-on approach of a small rental operation.

“We don’t rent hundreds of places, so we can pay attention to detail because it’s not a huge operation,” he said.

Gray said he likes renting to college students because the market is dependable, even during an economic recession. He also said renting to students is more profitable than renting to families because students split the rent by rooms. But it has its downsides, as well.

“Renters don’t usually take care of property as well as owners do,” Gray said. “Student renters have a tendency to take care of them even less. I’ve just gotten used to that.”

‘The bottom line: Negotiate’

But many students don’t have direct contact with their landlord, which can exacerbate renter-landlord issues.

Alden Muller, a junior at UNC, lives on

hapel

ill

Lindsay Street in a house owned by a private individual but managed by Southeast Realty. Whenever Muller and roommates have a complaint, they have to talk to an account manager who then talks to the property manager who then talks to the owner of the house.

Muller said that they’ve experienced multiple problems from the beginning. When he and his roommates signed the lease, they had to pay rent for March and April, even though they didn’t move in until May. “As a renter I think what I’ve learned is that I have a lot more power to bargain with them than I thought,” Muller said. “Having gone through that, I know more about compromising.”

Just weeks after moving into the house, the roof started to leak and the ceiling over Muller’s room collapsed. It took a week and a half to get the ceiling fixed.

Forced to get creative, Muller patched the hole in his ceiling with a beer box and duct tape.

“It was just a saga,” he said. “Three different people were sent out to look at it. It was a problem that started in June and didn’t get taken care of until Halloween.”

Muller said despite all the problems with the house, he has learned a lot about renting and negotiating.

“As a renter, you have a lot more rights than these companies tend to want you to think you do,” he said. “Next time I rent a property, I’ll be a lot savvier about what I can and can’t do and about what my landlord should be doing.” *Name has been changed

UNC Student Legal Services: Office: Suite 3407 of the Student Union Telephone: (919)962-1303 E-mail: csls@unc.edu Because information disclosed via e-mail is not confidential, University attorneys do not give advice over the Internet.

April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 9

IN HER DADDY’S

PHO TOS

COU RTES Y

OF U

NC

ARCHIV

ES

PHOTO C OURTESY

10 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

OF SIMO

NE SCOTT

world

Daughter of basketball legend Charlie Scott blazes her own trail —but not on the court

PHOTO C OURTESY

OF SIMO

NE SCOTT

BY COURTNEY ROLLER, UNC

I

t doesn’t take long to find out UNC junior Simone Scott loves a good tennis match, SportsCenter and argyle sweaters. Without much prompting she’ll tell you that she hates spiders, calls her mom too much and won’t pose for a picture without applying lip gloss. But if you want to know who her dad is, you’re going to have to ask.

“He’s just my dad,” Simone Scott says in reference to her father, Charlie Scott, a former UNC-Chapel Hill All-American basketball player. In 1966, he was the first black student to receive an athletic scholarship at UNC. “I usually don’t tell people that often,” Simone Scott said. “It’s just a fun little tidbit to throw out there.”

As a journalism major at her father’s alma mater ,with aspirations of being a sports reporter, Scott said that her identity is linked to her father’s by default.

“My dad and I have a lot of similarities personality-wise and through our love of sports,” she said.

“If had a different passion like fashion — which would be nice, too — I could be known not as ‘Charlie’s Daughter.’ I feel like since I am in sports, it kind of comes with the territory. I’m getting into his territory.”

But Scott said transitioning into the territory has been a touchy subject with her family, even as a child, growing up in At-

lanta, Ga. At a slender 6 feet dressed in Carolina-blue athletic wear from her headband down to her socks, she looks like your typical basketball player.

Far from the truth, she said she has never played in a single game.

“When I was younger my parents didn’t want me to,” she said. “They thought everyone would expect me to play basketball, so I did ballet and tap, and when I picked a sport, I did tennis.”

She said it’s pretty common for random people to approach her to talk about her father. “I like the older folks,” she said. “They’re kind of funny. If they’re older, they’ll come up to me and say something like, ‘This one game he had against Davidson, I relive that shot every night in my dreams.’

“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” Simone Scott said, shrugging. “I didn’t do anything, so I’m just like ‘Yeah, that’s really cool.’”

Not everyone is so friendly, though, and Simone Scott said she gets paranoid when people are talking about her and when she feels like she’s being used.

“She just always needs to be cautious about who she associates with,” Charlie Scott said.

“I just wanted her to have a regular Carolina experience. I didn’t want to have to worry about people trying to be her friend just to get basketball tickets or to meet the team.”

But as she’s grown older, Simone Scott said she has learned how to identify the “friends” who are trying to use her. And luckily, it doesn’t happen that often, she said — despite the benefits of her family tree.

“There are perks,” she said. “A lot of it has to do with basketball.”

Last year, Simone Scott had tickets to all the men’s basketball games, including the April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 11

“I just want her to have a regular Carolina experience. I didn’t want her to have to worry about people trying to be her friend just to get basketball tickets or to meet the team.” charlie scott

Scott started playing tennis in middle school and still enjoys a quick match between classes, when she has the time.

Since she’s most interested in the journalistic side of basketball, Simone Scott said her father is fine with her staying on the sidelines. As an aspiring sports reporter, she plans to stay in the middle of the action, even though she won’t be playing. Plus, she said her parents just want her to have a normal college experience.

Well, as normal as it can be for the daughter of a campus icon.

With her father’s Olympic gold medal, his 1970 ABA Rookie-of-the-Year award and a1972 NBA championship win with the Boston Celtics, all attached to the family name, Simone Scott is no wallflower.

“He’s just my dad.”

simone scott

tournaments and the Final Four game in San Antonio, Texas. Not to mention the brothers-and-sister relationship Simone Scott has with the team.

“They look out for me,” she said, mentioning that first-year Tyler Zeller, one of the newest additions to the team, came over to kill a spider in her apartment once.

Scott knows that to meet people’s standards, she has a lot to live up to. But rather than reject her identity, she has accepted her father’s notoriety and how it affects public perception of her.

“I do think people think the only reason I got in here is because of my dad,” she said.

“But I’m OK with that. If they want to think that, go ahead. I know it’s not true.”

So say what you will about Simone Scott ­— just don’t ask her for basketball tickets.

BELOW: A young Simone Scott (left) poses with her family. “[My parents] thought everyone would expect me to play basketball,” she said, “so I did ballet and tap, and when I picked a sport, I did tennis.”

12 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

OTT NE SC

IMO Y OF S URTES

S CO PHOTO

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMONE SCOTT

Local history hits the

BIG SCREEN

North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

Duke professor Tim Tyson discusses the upcoming release of the movie adaption of his award-winning memoir,“Blood Done Sign My Name.”

13

Civil Rights along Tobacco Road

BY CLAIRE SCHMITT, UNC

1795

UNC-Chapel Hill is founded as the first public university in the nation.

“After the fatal shot, there was s quickly locked up the businesses family. After the Teels left Four C the dirt behind the Tidewater Se battered body of Dickie Morrow

—from “Blood Done Sign My Name” by Timothy B. Tyson, Page

BY ELIZABETH LILLY, UNC North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

c. 1886

1924 1938

ABOVE: Throughout the antebellum period and after the Civil War, UNC-CH relied on black servants to perform manual labor and other tasks. Servants constructed many of the University’s first buildings, including Old East, Old West and the first President’s house. Eli Merritt (forground) was a servant in Old West.

1924: Duke University is founded by an endowment from James Buchanan Duke at the site of the former Trinity College.

BELOW: “Under the laws of North Carolina, and under the resolutions of the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina, members of your race are not admitted to the University.” This was the explanation given to Pauli Murray (pictured above), a young black writer, when she was denied admission to graduate school solely based on the color of her skin.

North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

14 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

A

lmost four decades after living through the racial turmoil of a small Eastern North Carolina town, area historian and professor Timothy B. Tyson spends his time teaching students at Duke University about race and history. He offers his story and the opinions to any audience willing to listen. In 2004, he offered his views to a national readership in the form of his history-framed memoir, “Blood Done Sign My Name.”

His views on race relations have reached a wider audience since the adaptation of the book into a one-man play by Frank Wiley in 2008, and later this year his story will expand to the movie screens.

“If you think something’s important,” Tyson said “then you can’t turn away from potential audiences.”

The memoir is told from the perspective of an adult Tyson reflecting back to his experience as a white ten-year-old boy in Oxford, NC. In 1970, three white men beat a black man to death in his town and were acquitted of the crime despite numerous eyewitnesses to the deed.

“I knew that what happened wasn’t right,” Tyson said. I could see that it had consequences and that the consequences had no part in it. ” The event evidently impacted Tyson as a 10-year-old, but it also served as a seminal experience of his professional career.

“If it was obvious, it wasn’t to me until so much later,” Tyson said.

“For me there is nothing quite so profound and telling as the African American saga. I think people all around the world feel that way, so I’m not sure that I’m so odd in that respect.”

“If you’ll understand one thing very well and one place very deeply, you can understand the whole human condition. That’s been the prism through which I’ve seen things.”

Since its publication, “Blood Done Sign My Name” has been chosen for many reading programs, including the UNC Summer Reading Program in 2005. Shaniqua McClendon, president of UNC’s Black Student Movement, read the book as an incoming first-year.

She asked her grandmother about the impact the incident had in the community.

“She said at that point in the county everything was tense,” Mc-

1938

BELOW: Eleanor Roosevelt meets with UNC-CH President Frank Porter Graham to discuss civil rights at the Southern Conference for Human Welfare. President of the University from 1930 to 1934, Graham was an advocate of racial equality and desegregation.

silence. And then Robert Teel s and went home with his Corners, Boo Chavis knelt in eafood Market, holding the w in his arms.”

e 125

Clendon said. “There was a division because of what happened. It’s such a contrast, things aren’t like that now. It’s something that I truly don’t have a grasp on.”

The story didn’t take on a new form until Tyson approached Apex actor and UNC graduate Mike Wiley after he saw his play “Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till.” Wiley acted out multiple parts about a 14-year-old boy who was hung in 1955 after he allegedly whistled at a white woman.

“I thought it was the most powerful thing I’d ever seen on stage,” Tyson said.

Wiley told Tyson that many people had recommended his book to him and the two went out for a beer. Tyson doesn’t recall whose idea the play was, but Wiley quickly delved into his research and reinterviewed people from the book to glean additional information.

“The play stands on its own and I was lucky to be a part of it,” Wiley said. “I’m convinced that film and theatre have a magic of their own and can do histories well if we’re careful.”

While Tyson had few doubts about Wiley’s vision for the play, he had some initial doubts about trusting his memoir with Jeb Stuart Stuart, a UNC graduate, is known for writing screenplays for the fastpaced action thrillers such as “Die Hard” and “The Fugitive.” However, after talking with Stuart, Tyson came to trust him with the film adaptation.

“I discovered a master storyteller,” Tyson said, “with a real respect for history that I was trying to analyze and teach in my book.”

Both Stuart and Tyson agreed filming in North Carolina was necessary to capture the appropriate atmosphere. Tyson pulled for filming in Oxford, but Shelby, Monroe, Statesville and Gastonia provided backdrops Oxford couldn’t offer.

“I knew that what happened wasn’t right. I could see that it had consequences and that the consequences had no part in it.”

Timothy Tyson

North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

1951

1954

The first black law students are admitted to the UNC-CH law school. A federal court had deemed the law school at the North Carolina College for Negroes, now known as N.C. Central University, unequal to the UNC-CH law school.

Brown v. Board of Education rules segregation unconstitutional in public schools.

North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

1955

ABOVE: UNC-CH’s first three black undergraduates to enroll – Leroy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon, and Ralph Frasier (left to right) – on the steps of South Building.

1963

1968

BELOW: Members of the UNC-CH Student Peace Union hold a sit-in protest join with Chapel Hill residents. During the early 1960s, UNC-CH students of all races began openly protesting segregation.

“I’m not a playwright and I’m not a filmmaker,” Tyson said. “You have to let somebody who knows what they’re doing ply their craft and yet I do feel like both of them listened to me as a historian. I know I’ll like the end result.”

The movie is currently in postproduction and is expected to be released later within the year.

So while Tyson awaits the release of his movie on a national stage, he continues to reach audiences in the Triangle as the Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. He also holds positions in the Duke Divinity School, the department of history and in the department of American studies at UNC. According to Tyson, race relations vary across the state but the differences that exist between Chapel Hill and Durham are related to the roles that Duke and UNC play in their locations.

“Durham talks and fights and bickers and celebrates diversity,” he said. “There’s North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives a freshness and openness there that I admire. Durham’s an industrial city with very typical urban problems that don’t revolve around the college.

“Chapel Hill is a bit smug and self-congratulatory. That’s very typiBELOW: Beginning as a protest march in cal of college towns. People tend to think things are great, do comresponse to the assassination of Martin Luther munity service and think they’re progressive. It’s not without some King, Jr., Ph.D, “The Silent Vigil” ended with basis. thousands of Duke students, faculty and trustees “People [in Chapel Hill] tend to forget certain parts about and camping out on the lawn in front of the Chapel. then occasionally are shocked when hard things happen in a way that people aren’t in Durham.”

Brandon Roane, the Duke Black Student Alliance president, said race relations at Duke are generally good but problems that exist in the “real world” are also present.

“Duke administration and other student organizations do a lot to bring up the issues around race relations on campus,” Roane said.

“However, until Duke students go out into Durham and get to know the people and until the community takes time to get to know the Duke students, people will harbor sometimes unfounded opinions due to lack of actual interactions.”

McClendon has little interaction with people in Chapel Hill outside of the university but began to notice race relations more upon arriving at UNC. “My first realization at UNC of race relations,” McClendon said, “was pointing out things that I thought were normal and showing how these things Timothy Tyson are normal, but it isn’t

“Durham talks and fights and bickers and celebrates diversity.”

Duke University Archives

16 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

1969

right.”

However, McClendon cites the crowd of UNC students who rushed Franklin Street to celebrate Barack Obama’s presidential victory as an example of good race relations.

“I was on Franklin Street,” McClendon said, Timothy Tyson “and there were definitely more white students than black students. It was just amazing to see everyone come together for that.”

Tyson echoes McClendon’s sentiments by citing Obama’s “thumping and decisive” victory in the democratic primary and presidential race in North Carolina as a glimpse of improvement.

“That’s not necessarily a meter on race relations,” Tyson said, “but it is does suggest to me that we are more willing to rethink some of our more compound traditional ways of thinking.”

There are obviously still civil rights issues at hand even though “Blood” shocks and young people who read it almost four decades later. In Tyson’s opinion the most “glaring” are the economic disparity between the rich and the poor in the U.S., the freedom to marry who one chooses and equality for women.

He’s especially interested in is how the U.S. will continue to respond its largest minority, Hispanic Americans, which he says isn’t necessarily a civil rights question but “a decisive historical moment.”

“Many of them cannot vote. Many are undocumented immigrants that do our dirtiest and most demanding labor for the lowest wages that we pay. And the question [is], what the relationship is between African Americans and Hispanic Americans will be and how white people who believe in strong public institutions and equal rights for all will respond to that. I think that’s in many ways the crossroads where our future will be hammered out.”

Tyson acknowledges the recognition he’s received for his work, but recognizes a need “for honest histories and significant stories” for children. He aims to remedy that with a graphic novel he was still working on at press time with artist, University of Iowa associate professor and Washington, NC native Rachel Marie-Crane, called “The Great Who.” “I feel a deep resonance between the best parts of our historic struggle for human rights in this country and in the aspirations of this coming generation. That gives me a wonderful, delicious optimism today.”

BELOW: In the “Allen Building Takeover,” a group of 60 Duke students in the Afro-American society occupied main the administration building, demanding that University officials address the needs of black students. Although the protesters left the building peacefully, the police had to use tear gas to control the crowd gathered outside.

“I discovered a master storyteller with a real respect for history that I was trying to analyze and teach in my book.”

“I feel a deep resonance between the best parts of our historic struggle for human rights in this country and in the aspirations of this coming generation. That gives me a wonderful, delicious optimism today.” T T imothy

yson

Duke University Archives

1972

Richard Epps was the first black student body president at UNC-CH. In the 1970s, many black students were elected to campus leadership positions.

1992

The UNC-CH admissions building is renamed the Blyden and Roberta H. Jackson Hall in honor of the University’s first tenured black faculty members. Jackson Hall is the first building on campus named after black individuals.

Dan Sears UNC Chapel Hill

2004

ABOVE: The Sonja Hayes Stone Center for Black History and Culture was named in memory of Sonja Haynes Stone, Ph.D, a former UNC-CH faculty member who founded and directed the Southeastern Black Press Institute and served as an adviser to the Black Student Movement on campus. In 1981, the NAACP named her Woman of the Year.

WAKE-UP CALL

You know your limit when it comes to alcohol, but what about with coffee or energy drinks?

18 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

BY ROBIN HILMANTEL, UNC

N

ikki Rumley wanted to do it all.

As a first-year, she’d stay up until dawn with friends one night and then pull an all-nighter to maintain her grades the next.

“I didn’t really know how to manage my time,” said the UNC English and public policy double major. So Rumley turned to coffee and energy drinks to make time.

“Any kind of caffeinated substance I could get was just amazing,” she said.

Now a senior, Rumley has since learned how to better manage her schedule. But caffeinated beverages are still a mainstay in her diet. She drinks three or four cups of coffee a day and the same number of energy drinks each week.

Rumley worries about the health effects of consuming too much caffeine, but that doesn’t stop her from drinking her four cups of coffee a day.

Rumley’s experience is practically the norm on college campuses.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

According to the Mayo Clinic, the world’s largest not-for-profit medical practice, nine out of 10 people in the U.S. consume some type of caffeine regularly.

Americans’ preference for caffeinated drinks is evident in the products available on the market today.

During Super Bowl 2008, Pepsi pushed Pepsi Max, which offers 50 percent more caffeine than regular Pepsi.

Five-Hour Energy Shots recently became available, entering the lucrative energy drink market.

And more than 3 billion cans of Red Bull were consumed worldwide in 2007, according to company figures. The list of caffeinecharged drinks goes on.

While there are no recently published statistics about the overall caffeine consumption of college students, anecdotal evidence suggests that caffeine consumption is particularly pronounced on college campuses, where students face the demands of school work, jobs and extracurricular activities in addition to their social lives. Just more than half of undergrads in the U.S. drink at least one energy drink in the average month, according to a study in Nutrition Journal.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY AND ART BY GRIFFIN KENEMER

April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 19

What’s more, leading energy drink brands market themselves directly to college students. Both Monster and Red Bull have paid student representatives to promote the brand and to give out their product to students who attend events at UNC and Duke, among other places.

As a Monster college ambassador, Kevin Murach, a senior exercise and sports science major at UNC, gets paid to distribute about 600 cans of Monster on campus each month.

“I’ll sponsor parties, I’ll give stuff out in the Pit,” he said.

school when he was jet lagged after flying back home from India. He was up at 5 a.m. and decided to visit some of his friends who worked at a local café. When he got there, they decided to test out some of the café’s new drinks.

“By noon, I drank 10 or 12 shots of espresso,” he said. “I couldn’t calm down. I was very jittery, and my heart was pounding a lot. It wasn’t pleasant.”

Armed with that negative experience and with a working knowledge of caffeine’s side effects from reading articles in medical journals, Patel tries to stick to one 16-ounce cup

papers due within the span of two days, and all of them had to be 16 pages or longer.

“I pulled an all-nighter Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night and got about three hours of sleep in the course of those days,” she said.

She consumed more caffeine during that three-day period than she has at any other point.

“One of my roommates came to visit me in the library, and I had four different types of liquids. One was water, one was some kind of energy drink, and then I had the Alpine

Comparing Energy Drinks By Amount of Caffeine Amp Tall Boy Energy Drink (16oz.)

Enviga (12oz.)

Full Throttle (16oz.)

Full Throttle Fury (16oz.)

Monster Energy (16 oz.)

No Name (8.4 oz.)

Red Bull (8.3oz.)

Rockstar (16 oz.)

SoBe Adrenaline Rush (16oz.)

SoBe No Fear (16oz.)

Vault (8oz.)

0

75

150

225

300

Milligrams of Caffeine

*5 Hour Energy Drink (2oz.) equals the amount of a 12oz cup of coffee www.mayoclinic.com Grpahic

Source: mayoclinic.com His most memorable experience was a party that Sigma Nu fraternity threw at the beginning of the year where the brothers used Monster to make the party’s alcoholic punch — 150 gallons’ worth. Murach attended the event and gave out 200 more cans throughout the night.

“It must have been at least 1,000 people at that party,” he said.

Murach said there is someone with his job at just about every major university in the U.S.

‘It wasn’t pleasant’

Sahil Patel, a senior biomedical engineering and electrical engineering double major at Duke, remembers the time during high 20 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

of coffee and a double of espresso a day. But with his double major, the research he’s taken on, the two dance teams he’s joined and the lung cancer nonprofits he works with, the rules often get left by the wayside. Finals are a particularly challenging time.

At one point during his sophomore year, Patel pulled three all-nighters in a row to finish the final assignment for his design project class.

“I was having like six or eight shots of espresso a day at that point,” he said. “At a certain point, it just physically keeps you up. … You can’t really think. You’re not really awake, you’re just physically awake.”

Rumley has never met Patel, but she shares an eerily similar experience.

During her junior year, she had four final

by

Amanda Michelson

coffee and a bottle of juice. That was kind of constant.”

Caffeine’s effects

Caffeine’s benefits are well known to college students. It helps the sleep-deprived stay awake to study longer, to party later, or to make it through a late-night drive.

In addition to increasing alertness, caffeine can help you focus. In the competitive college atmosphere, caffeinated beverages are a mainstay.

For most people, one or two 8-oz. cups of coffee a day are harmless. But heavy daily caffeine use — defined as four to seven cups a day, or more than 500 or 600 mg of caffeine

— can lead to a variety of health problems, including restlessness, anxiety, irritability, muscle tremors, sleeplessness, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, gastrointestinal problems or abnormal heart rhythms, according to the Mayo Clinic. Caffeine-sensitive individuals might experience those symptoms after having as little as one cup of coffee or tea.

“A lot depends on the particular person and whether they have any sort of health problems,” said Alice Ammerman, professor of nutrition and director of the center for health promotion and disease prevention.

People with a smaller body mass, those who don’t often drink caffeine and people experiencing stress are typically more susceptible to the adverse effects of caffeine.

In addition, some medications, including some antibiotics, can interact negatively with caffeine.

Ammerman also warns that, while energy drinks market themselves to athletes by touting that their ingredients boost performance, they are actually a poor choice because they tend to have a dehydrating effect.

“That’s kind of the opposite of what you want to be doing when you’re doing some kind of athletic event,” Ammerman said.

But for the average person, Ammerman said the consequences of caffeine might not be anything to worry about.

“I think generally speaking there aren’t a lot of harms to it unless you happen to be a sensitive individual,” she said.

Unexpected consequences

But some of the biggest issues with drinking caffeine-heavy drinks have nothing to do with their caffeine content.

“Those can be very caloric, both the energy drinks and then especially the designer-type Starbuck drinks — especially if they have the cream and the sugar,” Ammerman said. “I think a lot of people tend to ignore the liquid calories.”

A blended Frappuccino from Starbucks can have as many as 480 calories, and a tall pumpkin spice latte has 300 calories. Soft drinks and Red Bull both pack about 150 calories per 12-ounce can.

When it comes to energy drinks, what they’re mixed with can be just as important as what’s in the energy drink. Alcoholic beverages that mix liquor and energy drinks have become increasingly popular at bars and parties. And while students will typically drink one energy drink to increase energy or to stay awake on little sleep, that number jumps to three when the energy drinks are combined with alcohol while partying, according to Nutrition Journal.

“The caffeine and the other stimulants and the energy drink can kind of mask the degree of intoxication,” Ammerman said.

To Kick Your Caffeine Habit:

* Don’t quit cold turkey.

When you first decide to cut caffeine from your diet, drink one fewer cups of coffee a day, or order a smaller size than you’re used to. By gradual-

ly decreasing the amount of caffeine you consume, you reduce the risk of experiencing symptoms of withdrawal.

G

* rab decaffeinated versions of your favorite drinks.

Coffees,

teas and sodas come in decaf versions that look and taste almost exactly the same.

It

*

Brew tea for less time.

might seem too easy to be true, but brewing teas for a shorter period of time means less caffeine. Another option: Stick with herbal teas, which are naturally caffeine-free.

W

* atch out for unlikely sources of caffeine.

Did you Excedrin

know that Extra-Strength contains more caffeine in one dose than a cup of coffee?

Most people don’t. Examine all your food and medications for caffeine, if you’re intent on eliminating it from your diet. This can be a tricky standard since nutrition facts labels don’t list caffeine content. But they will list caffeine as an ingredient.

SOURCE: MayoClinic.com

April April2009 2009••RIVAL RIVALMAGAZINE MAGAZINE 21

“Your reflexes may be adversely affected, but because you’ve kind of got the buzz from the caffeine, you might not be able to judge the level of intoxication.”

So what does Ammerman suggest for students worried about their caffeine consumption?

“This is probably a no-brainer, but clearly trying to get enough sleep, so that you don’t have to rely on caffeine to stay awake is important,” she said.

In addition, learn how your body reacts to caffeine so that you can adjust your intake accordingly. If you start showing symptoms of anxiety, indigestion, increased heart rate or insomnia, cut back. Eventually you will learn your “limit,” figure out if you’re the type of person who can’t consume caffeine on an empty stomach and will realize if you need to order decaf after noon.

22 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

BOUNCING BACK from ABROAD

BY MARIE PANTOJAN, DUKE

F

lying back to the U.S. after a semester abroad in Paris, Mara Herrmann dreaded returning to the daily routine of student life. The senior public policy major wondered how Duke would ever compare to her experience overseas.

“In Paris, even going to lunch was an adventure,” she said. “So when you come here, not everything is as exciting anymore.”

After spending time abroad, students often find the return as difficult as the departure. Students returning from abroad can suffer from reverse culture shock, or re-entry syndrome. The UNC-Chapel Hill study abroad department describes reverse culture shock as the unexpectedly stressful and difficult transition back home after a prolonged stay in a foreign culture.

After spending a semester in Seville, Spain, Chelsea Smith, a junior philosophy

“Home is what’s familiar, but you find out when coming back that it’s not as familiar as you remember.”

Chelsea Smith, UNC

junior

and history double major at UNC, said that the adjustment back to school was smooth at first but that it became more difficult. She said she began to feel a tremendous homesickness for Spain after three months of transitioning.

Even when she was with her family, rem-

nants of her time abroad would emerge occasionally. “For the first two weeks, I had problems speaking English because I was so immersed in the Spanish language,” Smith said. “Communicating with my parents was hard because sometimes it was hard to find the words in English.”

Relationship dynamics frequently change when spending a semester apart from friends, and Smith said she found it challenging to revive old friendships.

“It’s been so long. Where do we even start? What’s the first conversation to have?

Do you tell every story that’s happened to you, or do you just enjoy the moment?” she said.

“A lot happens in six months, but you do your best.”

In France, Herrmann started dating someone, who lived in Paris. She said they tried April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 23

not to get too serious, knowing all the while that she would only be there for a semester.

Returning to old friends made coming home a little easier for her, but it was still hard to know she was leaving someone behind.

“Usually when people are coming back from abroad, they’re not leaving someone behind,” she said. “They’re coming back to someone.”

Although they aren’t dating anymore, Herrmann said they still keep in touch via e-mail — in French, of course.

Counselors at Duke’s Counseling and Psychological Services have identified three main stages of reverse culture shock: initial

short and structured program prevented him from being really immersed in the Parisian culture.

“It was very insulated,” he said. We did very touristy things.”

For Smith, who was in Spain for an entire semester, becoming immersed in the local culture was much easier but made the return home more difficult. “[It] wasn’t as traumatic as going to Spain, but it wasn’t as easy as coming home from a two-week vacation,” she said.

“My dreams were in Spanish, and I’d be back in Seville with my friends and then I’d wake up depressed. Home is what’s familiar, but you find out when coming back that it’s not as familiar as you remember.”

“My dreams were in Spanish, and I’d be back in Seville with my friends and then I’d wake up depressed.” C S , UNC

24 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

helsea

mith

junior

euphoria; irritability or hostility; and gradual adjustment and adaptation.

Symptoms range from mild to severe, though students might not experience all three stages. Counselors at Duke’s CAPS said there’s a direct correlation between reverse culture shock and the student’s level of immersion in the foreign culture.

David Weisberg, a senior physics major at Duke, said that coming back from a sixweek summer program in Paris felt similar to returning from a vacation. He said the

PHOTO BY CAROLINE MCMILLAN

But some find the transition home less difficult than others. Courtney Moser, Mara Herrmann, Duke senior a senior exercise and sports science major at UNC studied abroad in Florence, Italy for fall semester in 2007, said she had no proboffers a program known as Easing Abroad lem returning to her life at home.

Students’ Entry, a student-run organization “I didn’t need to talk anything through,” whose mission is to help returning study she said. “There was no depression, just a abroad students re-adjust to life on camlonging to be back.” pus.

Moser found it helpful to meet with Through social events, group outings and friends who had also studied abroad. mentoring relationships organized by the “There was reassurance from the rest of us Study Abroad Office, EASE helps students that studied abroad that, ‘Oh, it’s OK, I feel deal with transitioning issues that they may that way, too.’” not have expected to be troubled by.

For student who do have a difficult time For instance, Herrmann said she didn’t readjusting, the study abroad office at UNC

expect that re-adjusting to Duke’s nightlife would be so challenging.

“Here at Duke there are only about five bars to go to, so the options there were exciting.”

But Herman said navigating a sprawling city like Paris was no small feat. “You had to take the metro everywhere,” she said. “Getting home was even more challenging, since sometimes you forget the metro schedule, and you have to take a cab.

“Duke is less exciting, but it’s more convenient.”

“Duke is less exciting, but it’s more convenient.”

April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 25

tent sense

By Kemi Chukwuka, Duke

Though best known for its prominent universities and RTP, the Triangle is more than an academic and technological haven. It’s also home to some of the nation’s most respected natural parks. University campers weighed in on some of the hottest campsites around.

Jordan Lake Located west of Raleigh and south of Chapel Hill, Jordan Lake operates nine recreation areas and over 1,600 campsites for both recreational vehicles and tent camping. There are also opportunities for hiking, boating, eaglewatching, picnicking and swimming. “I like that it’s near the water for swimming,” said Duke Sophomore Natalie Como, the backpacking director of the Duke Outing Club.

“I just spend time in the water when there.”

But if roughing it isn’t your idea of an enjoyable stay, no worries. Many of the sites come equipped with electric hookups, picnic tables, grills, lantern holders, showers, restrooms and trash containers.

Eno-River State Park Impromptu campers will appreciate the freespirited atmosphere of Eno River State Park.

Located conveniently just minutes away from both Durham and Chapel Hill, it’s the perfect destination for a spontaneous night away. The park offers 13 different group and individual campsites. No reservations are required for the individual sites, and the cost is a mere $9 per night. Campers can spend their days canoeing, fishing and hiking along the 24-mile, secluded wilderness trails that flank the river.

The 3,900-acre park also offers educational tours about the Eno River.

Source: http://www.tarpo.org/images/rpowebmap.gif 26 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

Uwharrie Forest

2 hours from UNC and Duke Great for camping, horseback riding and and other outdoor adventures.

PHOTO BY GRIFFIN KENEMER

The Camping Scene Despite being known as an area of academia and a technological haven, Duke University and the University of North Carolina are also home to some of the nation’s most respected parks. Jordan Lake, Eno River State Park, and the Uwharrie Forest are all renowned as famous areas of the state.

Krzyzewski-ville, though not a state or national park, is just as famous, due to the popularity of the Blue Devils.

Orange Eno River State Park

25 minutes from Chapel Hill, 15 minutes from Duke Free-spirited and great for shing, canoeing, and camping

Durham Duke

K-Ville

Duke Campus A Blue Devil’sFavorite location for tailgating and camping before big games.

UNC-CH

Wake JORDAN LAKE

Chatham

35 minutes from Chapel Hill 45 minutes from Duke Great place to swim and boat nearby.

Graphic

by

Mary Pell Lea

April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 27

Campsite Must-Haves Uwharrie Forest Often referred to as one of North Carolina’s best-kept secrets, Uwharrie Forest is one of the state’s smaller forests. Nestled on 50,369 acres, Uwharrie is roughly a twohour drive from the Duke and UNC-CH campuses. With opportunities for horseback riding, hunting and panning for gold, Uwharrie Forest offers the perfect backdrop for some much-need time away with friends or a romantic weekend.

K-ville But maybe you prefer the sight of build-

ings and cars to that of trees and wild animals. If so, then K-ville is the place to be.

Named after Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, K-ville becomes home to many Duke students during the spring semester. Eager to score seats at some of Duke’s biggest basketball games, Cameron Crazies set up group tents and wait in line for months, anticipating the big game. Even though there aren’t any rivers and mountains nearby, there’s still plenty to do at this unconventional campground.

Camping months at a time, students find creative ways to entertain themselves and keep warm, all without losing their place in line. Talk about roughing it.

A few things will make any tent stay more pleasant. Be sure to check your packing list to include the following because let’s face it, any campsite loses its luster if mosquitos take over.

Insect repellent Water bottle Lightweight portable chair

NO BUGS!

DEEPWOODS

ID

ST A

FIR

First Aid kit Campfire Illustration

by

Mary Pell Lea

PHOTO BY GRIFFIN KENEMER

28 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

tar tracks If the shoe fits

“You should get them,” my friend urged.

“No, I’d never wear them. They’re all yours,” I replied.

“You take ‘em. They don’t fit me anyway,” she said and walked away with a glint in her eye.

I slowly bent down to pick up the pair of tawny leather moccasins from the pile of dejected thrift store shoes. They had no soles and flopped over in my hands. The clean bottoms told they’d only been worn once, maybe twice. A fringe hung down from where they tied just below the ankle.

Well, would have tied, that is. Only one of them had a lace.

I loved them.The price tag said five dollars.

Deal.

I didn’t know where or when or if ever I’d wear this outlandish footwear. But buying those moccasins felt good.

I’ve never been regarded as a particularly fashionable individual. I am ambivalent by choice, mostly. I would say that overall, my noncommittal attitude to fashion has worked out fairly well for me. For one thing, with a limited selection of clothing, it’s pretty easy to choose an outfit in the morning.

Right?

Well, I was ready to commit to those moccasins. And I did.

I wasn’t used to wearing my heart on my feet, so I thought carefully about our début. I wore them to a square dance. I figured there would be a pretty moccasin friendly crowd. As the band started someone walked over to me.

“Sweet mocs,” someone said.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Wanna dance,” someone said.

I looked down at my feet, but not with uncertainty.

“Sure do,” I said.

My feet didn’t miss a step.

I wasn’t sure how those closest to me would respond to my new attitude of impulsive decisiveness. My answer came one day during a phone conversation with my mom. She was asking me what outfit I’d worn to some event, and I decided to test the waters.

“And I wore my moccasins,” too, I said.

“Your what,” she said.

Laura Stroud Laura Stroud is a sophomore geography major at UNC-CH. She can be reached via e-mail at lstroud@email.unc.edu.

“Oh, some new moccasins I got.”

“Moccasins, huh? Where did you get them?”

She sounded suspicious.

“Just some thrift store.”

“You’re telling me you bought shoes secondhand?”

“Yes.” I figured I would just be direct.

“You know, the only two things you should never buy second hand are shoes and hats.”

“Okay, mom.” There was a pause. I was about to gush about how they were practically new, how I always wore socks anyway, and other concessions that would further compromise the joy my moccasin commitment was bringing me when she said something.

“You know, I had a pair of moccasins when I was your age.”

As time has gone by, other wardrobe specialties have made more frequent appearances. My wool, tartan scarf, my brown gingham button up, and my white polka-dotted navy skirt have all gotten more wear than ever before.

At the time, it crossed my mind that I might be overspending for some ratty pieces of leather that would leave me with nothing other than a nasty case of athlete’s foot. But I lucked out.

They’re my reminder that impulses are sometimes meant to be followed and that people will stick with you if you stick with your decisions.

The leather bottoms are beginning to wear, the yarn laces have been replaced a couple of times and some of the stitching in the right toe is coming loose, but I’ll continue to wear my moccasins proudly. You see, those shoes weren’t really made for walking, but just having them has taken me places I wouldn’t have otherwise adventured.

But buying those moccasins felt good.

April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 29

advocate devil’s

Take a bow

I

felt ready to try something new when I began my second semester of senior year at Duke.

I had a light academic schedule, and I found myself wanting to do something to branch out and meet new people during my final days at Duke. When I saw a flyer for Hoof ‘n Horn, the Duke’s student-run theater organization, a light bulb went off in my head. They were putting on a production of “Grease” that spring. It’s one of my favorite musicals of all time.

The one problem: I had no theater experience. I hadn’t even seen a single show at Duke, let alone tried out for one. This wasn’t really surprising. The arts scene at Duke is somewhat muffled by Greek life, basketball, and finance (in that order). But I had already experienced all three of those things to some degree, and I was ready for something new.

I scrapped together a song and a monologue, and I tried out. My audition was mediocre (I maintain that I am the worst dancer at Duke University). But I think the directors saw that I really wanted to do the show, so I got a part.

I was cast as Eugene Florczyk, the prototypical nose-picking valedictorian of Rydell High.

I never thought I’d enjoy acting as much as I did.

It was an entirely new way to have fun — one that didn’t involve bars, clubs or alcohol. Theater provides a natural high through the art of creation.

There’s also an unbelievable sense of camaraderie gained through the process of putting on a show, one that can only be gained by being completely invested in something alongside other people. I made some of my best friends in the theater program, despite the fact that we didn’t meet until my senior year. This was because we went through so much together — countless hours of rehearsal, live performances and publicity efforts.

I also found there was a surprisingly scientific side to the art of acting. If I said my line with a stress on one word, it would come off funny; if I stressed another word, it wouldn’t. As a traditionally math and science-oriented student, there was something refreshing about being able to be so precise in an art form.

At the end of “Grease,” I was a changed man. I’d signed up for the show expecting to do something fun during my last semester, and I wound up fall-

Daniel Lerman

Daniel graduated from Duke in May 2008. He can be reached via e-mail at daniel.lerman@duke.edu

ing in love with theater. When I was working and living in Durham as a recent graduate, I continued my exploration of the Duke theater scene. In October, Hoof ‘n Horn asked me to direct their winter show, “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman!”

I had to tirelessly think about the show non-stop for three months. But I found myself craving a creative venture, so I took on the challenge.

The show became my baby.

Fairly obsessive by nature, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I slept with the script in my bed, I told all my friends and family about it and I’d even sing the songs out loud at the gym (“How I wish I weren’t in love with Superman = a little awkward in public).

Directing provided me with a whole new angle on theater: I had much more power, creative freedom and responsibility. But the main reason I fell in love with theater in the first place remained. I was invested in a big creative project with many other energetic people. And as the spring theater season rolls around, I find myself still addicted to theater. I got the role of “King Berenger” in the Theater Studies Departement’s “Exit the King,” which goes up in April.

While my personal story may or may not interest you, the general idea should: theater is an unbelievably rewarding experience, and there’s so much to be learned from it. I could try to explain why I love it so much, but it would take much more than this column to do so. Maybe it has something to do with how unexpectedly scientific and calculated the art of theater is. Maybe it’s the feeling of being part of a group that has a concrete goal. Or maybe it’s because it’s just plain fun. Either way, I urge you to get involved and discover those reasons for yourself.

It was an entirely new way to have fun.

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RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

UNC Women’s fencing team huddles before a meet at the Duke Duals in spring 2007. Photograph taken by a friend of a fencer.

athlete’s corner UNC

J

BY EMILY WILSON, UNC

ennifer Clark, the UNC-Chapel Hill sabre co-captain is completing her fourth-year on the Women’s Fencing team. Named “most improved” after her first-year, Jennifer recently won the Sabre Cup at the 2008 Duke dual meet and has finished 13th and 12th at the MidAtlantic Regional Championship her junior and sophomore years, respectively. JEnnifer took time out of her busy schedule to speak with Rival’s Emily Wilson about future goals, fencing basics and why team trips to Maryland.

How did you get involved in fencing?

Jennifer: I know this sounds kind of weird, but I just woke up one day and I was like, ‘I think I want to try fencing,’ when I was in middle school. So then I tried it, and I liked it, and I kept doing it and then I decided I wanted to fence in college, so I continued fencing, and here I am now!

Why did you continue to fence?

I don’t know, I guess it was sort of like an individual sport, but it is a team sport. I do fence on a team, as a team effort. I’ve always

been into the individual-type sports in the past, so I guess that’s why I liked it…I did ballet and Tae Kwan Do when I was young.

What are the most common student reactions upon learning that you fence?

They think it’s really cool. ‘Oh, that’s so cool.’ So that’s fun, I really like that.

Do you have any fencing role models?

My coach back home, at my club, where I started fencing and his name’s Jeff Callio, April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 31

and my coaches here at school, Ron Miller and Josh Webb and Wes Newkirk.

What advice do your coaches give you?

Enjoy it.’ ‘Have fun.’ ‘Focus.’ It’s always just, ‘Enjoy yourself.’

Can you explain your use of the sabre?

There are three different weapons, and I use the sabre. That’s a cutting weapon; the other two weapons are thrusts. You score with the tip. With [the sabre] you can score with the tip and the side of the blade. For sabre, the target area is from the waist up, so everything except for your hands. It’s the faster of the three. I think it’s the most exciting. I think it’s the best, of course. I think it’s the most fun, too, to watch

What does a bout typically consist of (protocol, action, length, etc)?

Typically, a bout is five touches. So, the first person to score five touches wins. And that’s in a normal pullout. And then in certain types of tournament styles, you’ll fence a group of people, round-robin, everyone to five touches. Then, you’ll be seeded according to how well you did, and then you’ll fence everyone and you’ll be matched up and it goes like a tableau, so you fence 15 touch bouts, and the first person to 15 wins.

Usually, it’s five touches in the dual meets that we fence, NCAA style, it’s five touch bouts. We fence nine bouts, each weapon squad. To win the dual meet, each weapons squad fences nine bouts, so you have to win 14 of the 27 bouts to win the dual meet. It’s three on three, like nine

What is a practice like? Do you have runs, weight sessions, etc? Do you have to eat a special diet?

We go and we have practice pre-season four times a week, three hours a day, and we’ll have weights twice a week in the mornings, maybe Monday and Wednesday and we have practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday during the afternoons. We have a warm up, we’ll have drills, footwork, private lessons, group lessons, open bouting, electric bouting, we’ll all go for runs outside. We’ll do conditioning, and core, we do a lot of stuff. It’s a lot more than just fencing, a lot more goes into it.

Do you have any rivals?

Fencing isn’t in the ACC, but Duke’s our big rivalry, and they have been for a really long time, so there’s a lot of history with that. And the women beat them last year, and the men lost by one touch, so that was really exciting that we won.

32 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

How does the team interact outside of practice or meets?

I don’t know, a lot of the squads do hang out together and bond and make cookies or just do whatever. The other night, the women’s sabre squad went and got YoPo and that was really fun, to just hang out outside of practice and talk. At practice, we really try to focus and not socialize. We hang out a lot together.

“I’ll feint and they’ll go for my arm, and then they’ll miss, and I will hit them.”

Jennifer Clark, UNC Fencing

What else do you like to do in your free time?

Do you have any team traveling traditions?

Our coach likes to stop in Maryland a lot, I don’t know why, when we go up north, it’s not really a tradition, it’s just what he likes.

Do you have a favorite or signature move?

I guess, when I fence, I like to let people miss and then I like to hit them. I’ll feint and they’ll go for my arm, and then they’ll miss and I will hit them. I like to do that.

I joined a sorority my sophomore year.

I just wanted something more, I wanted something else to add to my college experience, so I’m really glad I did that. I have fencing and my sorority, they’re two different things. I’m really glad I have those two different things. I really enjoy both of them, but I’m really glad I have those two separate things to go to.

Did you come to UNC knowing that you would be a member of the team?

I was recruited. I came when I was a senior on a recruiting trip with three other girls, and that was really fun. I got to stay with one of the members of the fencing team and I went to a class and they took me to one of the soccer games and I got to go a practice and watch everybody practice and I got to carve pumpkins with one of the squads. That was really fun, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to come here.’

I knew I wanted to come to UNC after that.

Would you mind sharing a fencing goal you set for yourself this year?

I’d like to make it to the NCAA Championships. It’s been a goal of mine every year. I’ve been kind of close. You have to be top six at Regionals, and I’ve been top 12, or 13th, so that’s something I’d really, really like to do, that’s like my ultimate goal. I’ve been pretty close each year, but that’s definitely something I want as a senior, it’s my last year to do it.

Do you have any future plans for fencing? In life?

I’m definitely fence after I graduate.

Wherever I go, I’ll find a club somewhere.

Jennifer Clark, left, photographed by a teammate, fencing an opponen

Duke

F

BY BRETT ARESCO, DUKE

encer Allison Putterman made the NCAA tournament last year as a first-year. The only female fencer to make the tournament, Putterman had the highest winning percentage on the foil squad with a mark of 41-20. She has been to the Junior Olympics multiple times and made it onto the ACC Academic Honor Roll last year. So, what makes Allison so successful? Rival sat down with the rising star to discuss the tournament, family support and Kanye West.

When did you begin fencing competitively?

Probably when I was 12 years old. I started when I was nine, just taking lessons and stuff, and then started getting into competitions a couple years later.

Why foil (over epee or saber)?

I don’t know, that was just the weapon I started with, and I’m too short for epee. I like the style, I think it’s graceful. I danced when I was younger and it’s kind of like that.

A lot of people have told me that while I fence I look like a dancer. Saber is very violent in a different way, but I like foil.

Why did you choose Duke?

Both my dad and my brother went here, so initially I thought that I didn’t want to go to Duke at all because I want to make my own path ... I realized there’s no place like Duke because of the academics and the extracurriculars and athletics. I really liked the fencing program also and our coach, and I think it’s just a good balance of everything for a college education.

What are your gameday superstitions?

I try not to have superstitions but by not trying, I do have superstitions. Wearing two hair ties on my wrist, wearing a plain white t-shirt. I used to wear just the same t-shirt but last year I switched to just a plain white t-shirt to make it kind of neutral.

What was it like going to the NCAA tournament last year as a first-year?

It was scary. I was the only girl from the team, and the boys weren’t competing then.

It was just me by myself with my parents and my coach, which is a bit nerve racking because there was no one to warm up with and not many people to cheer me on. It’s a good experience ... to be able to block other things out and concentrate and do things on your own.

What was it like going to the Junior Olympics?

That’s extremely independent, also. It’s very tense because you really want to do well and sometimes it’s disappointing when you don’t do as well as you want to, but it gives you motivation to work harder for the next time. It’s cool, not as cool as other people think it might be. In the fencing world there are a lot of national competitions. You have Junior Olympics, you have Nationals, and other competitions to go through at the end of the year.

What athletes, in fencing or other sports, do you truly admire?

I admire Becca Ward a lot; she’s on the fencing team. For an Olympic athlete she’s very down to Earth and not stuck up as many Olympic athletes would be, especially at such a young age. I admire her because she makes fencing look so effortless and so beautiful and I wish that I could do that. I want to work to be able to do that. And she has such motivation; that’s a good quality to always have.

Even though you’re in an individual sport, do you still feel like you’re pretty close with your teammates here?

Extremely close. You spend so much time with them at practice and when we travel, you spend eight hours on the bus with them. There was always someone there, and a lot of people would gather around and just cheer you on. You build a lot of respect and you learn a lot about other people just by sitting with them and talking with them in that environment.

What is your favorite non-fencing sport to play?

Either European handball, or… I haven’t played another sport in so long except for in gym class. I always really wanted to play ice hockey but my parents wouldn’t let me because they said I’d be used as the puck instead of a player. But my brother plays ice hockey so I always enjoy playing with him.

What non-athletes do you really admire?

My parents and my brother. My parents came to every single meet last year. They flew to Chicago to see me.

nt from Drew University at the Penn State University duals last spring.

April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 33

What is your favorite place you’ve ever traveled and why?

Australia. I went on a team tour one summer when I was in high school. I really loved Sydney, it was a good atmosphere.

And it’s such a unique place. Not many people get to go to Australia and to say I went there is really cool.

If you could be any place in the world where would it be?

I’ve always wanted to go to Greece for some reason.

What is one thing that not a lot of people know about you that you would like to share with them?

I can do the wave with my tongue. And I have a fused bone in my foot.

Complete this sentence, “I feel naked without…”

My watch and rings.

Do you have any pets?

I used to; I had two dogs: a chocolate lab and a black lab.

Favorite musical artist or type of music?

I like hip hop and rap like Kanye and T.I. and Timbaland. But I also like Snow Patrol and Red Hot Chili Peppers and Coldplay. It ranges, depends on what mood I’m in.

Favorite movie?

V for Vendetta. Although I do have a lot of favorites, that’s my favorite favorite.

What is the biggest thing you think Duke students and Chapel Hill students should do to find common ground?

DUKE PHOTOGRAPHY

Sophomore Allison Putterman (above) was the only female fencer to make the 2008 NCAA tournament from Duke.

Do you feel like it’s difficult to manage your time effectively as an athlete at Duke?

Sometimes, yeah. We have practice everyday for two and a half hours and just going there, showering after, then going to dinner.

I know a lot of people are busy with things; you just don’t get started with your work until nine or ten o’clock at night and you’re busy the entire day and tired from classes.

And then especially when we travel on the weekends, there’s no downtime. But, in a 34 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 4 • issue 2

way, that also balances you to make sure that you get your work done. If you had so much free time, you wouldn’t do anything.

What is the best class you’ve taken at Duke so far and why?

OK, don’t laugh at me. Orgo two. I really enjoyed it. I thought my professor made it an actual subject rather than a dreaded thrasher course. And it made me decide that I wanted to major in chemistry,

I feel like Chapel Hill is a more established town area and I feel like more Duke students go to Chapel Hill just for the sake of being in another place rather than Chapel Hill students coming to Duke. I think it’d be fun just to have events together to get to meet people. I mean, it’d be difficult but unless you have friends at UNC or UNC kids have friends here I feel like we don’t interact much for schools that are so close.

out

ofthe

BLUE

Get acquainted with some campus faces you won’t want to forget

Courtney Roller will spend a lot of time behind enemy lines next year. A junior journalism major at UNC, Roller will be Rival’s 2009-10 fearless leader and editor in chief, working alongside the staff ’s counterparts at Duke. After joining the Rival staff in fall 2008, she served as the magazine’s university editor.

A stickler for grammar with a pension for feature-writing (check out her profile of Simone Scott in this issue), Roller has plans for the magazine that could fill a book. “I have so many plans,” she said, “but I’d to focus on Rival’s Web site next year. I would like to use bloggers and online exclusive stories to engage with Rival readers,” she said. “I’m very passionate about this magazine and what we can do with it in the future. I can’t wait to get started.” By Caroline McMillan, UNC

Emily Hadden, a Duke sophomore and linguistics major, didn’t always think she was going to college.

The Tenafly, N.J. native used to dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer. “I love how dancing allows you to get lost in the movement,” she said. Hadden started dancing at age 7 and began studying at the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York City at age 15. She originally applied to college as a back-up and deferred her acceptance to Duke for one year in order to continue her ballet studies. But when a broken foot kept her out of dance studio, Hadden began rethink her plans. “I realized that there’s a lot more out there than just ballet,” she said. “Duke has been such a more rewarding experience.” In her final ballet performance, Hadden danced with the New York City Ballet in the “Serenade.” The ballet is Hadden’s personal favorite. “Performing “Serenade” was such a great way to end everything,” she said.

“It was like ending on a high note.” By Erin Lewis, Duke

Carly Brantmeyer has a second pair of eyes. Call them a Canon 1D Mark III. A junior journalism major with a concentration in multimedia, Brantmeyer spends a lot of time behind the lens — just ask everyone tagged in her 311 Facebook albums. But the all-American pastime actually became Brantmeyer’s chief advertisement in May 2007, when she started her own photography business (carlybrantmeyer.com). “I never really intended to pursue photography as a career,” she said. “It just evolved through encouragement and feedback from Facebook.” Last summer, she took her passion for photography to the international stage in Ghana, W. Africa. Before leaving the U.S., she started “Project Polaroid.” Through donations from friends and family, she purchased lots of Polaroid film so that she could give each child she met a picture of himself. “For most of them, it was their first photo,” Brantmeyer said. “I also hoped my photography would bring light to the social injustice that I experienced.” By Caroline McMillan, UNC

Charles “Chuck” Abolt has a sweet tooth. Last summer, Abolt helped harvest 60 pounds of honey from beehives kept in the Duke Gardens as a part of the Duke Apiary Club. The Duke sophomore co-founded the Duke Apiary Club during his sophomore year. “At that point I honesty knew nothing about beekeeping,” he said. “But it’s been a great time learning about it.” With the help of local Durham beekeepers, the Duke Apiary Club keeps two beehives on the edge of the Duke Gardens. Abolt said that the bees can roam up to five miles from the hives. “Whenever I see one on campus, I think that’s probably one of mine,” he said. The Apiary Club sells its honey at the Terrace Café in the Duke Gardens. The group plans to add two more hives next year and begin making mead, an alcoholic beverage made from honey. Abolt said mead is one of the perks. “Man, that stuff ’s pretty tasty.” By Erin Lewis, Duke April 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 35

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