The October 19th edition of The Southern Digest

NEWS

obama: math, science ed key

SPORTS

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

SU sees positives after tough loss. pg. 5

Hot seller, but not best work. pg. 6

weezy drops new Cd

Jags not holding heads down

Also: SCLC squabble continues. pg. 3

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2010

VOL. 56, ISSUE 11

Students startled by lewd remarks, image etched on Lawless Auditorium wall; SUPD investigating

by Christie Carral DiGEST CONTRiBUTiNG WRiTER

Southern University students made awkward glances Monday at obscene grafitti drawn on the northern face of W.W. Stewart Hall’s Lawless Auditorium.

The nearly 30-by-10 foot display appeared to have been made with a charcoallike substance, contained lude remarks and a phallic image.

Students passed by Southern University Police officers gathering evidence and taking photographs of the offensive drawings. Some students said they did not notice the vandalism until later in the day.

Sophomore Fantasia Cormier said the grafitti makes no sense and it shows a lack of pride in the university.

“Why would students do such degrading things to the school?”

Cormier asked.

Sophomore Kayla Trahan agreed with Cormier, calling the display ridiculous.

“Whoever participated in this act should definitely be fined,” Trahan said.

SUPD Chief Terry Landry said no one initially contacted SUPD about the grafitti at Stewart, but officers were aware of another act of on-campus vandalism.

Fires were set in dumpsters near U.S. Jones Hall Sunday night.

“This is a crime. Vandalism is a crime,” Landry said.

The person, or persons, responsible for the dumpster fires may also be responsible for the grafitti at Stewart, Landry said.

“I’m hoping that it’s not a student, but what they did was wrong,” he said.

If a student committed these acts, the penalty could range from disciplinary probation up to expulsion from the university as well as legal action. According to the university’s handbook, the acts could be considered as destruction or misuse of property, a “Code One” offense, or negligent destruction of property, a “Code Two” offense.

photo by david Clark iii/digest

Vandals drew crude remarks and images on a wall of W.W. Stewart Hall’s Lawless Auditorium Monday to the surprise of students. SU Police is currently seeking information in connection to the act.

Code One offenses include acts like hazing, academic dishonesty, bribery, sexual assault and weapons possession. Code Ones may result in disciplinary probation, suspension or expulsion.

According to the handbook, destruction or misuse of property is defined as “damaging, destroying, defacing, abusing, tampering or misusing property

belonging to another person or entity; or attempting to do so.”

The act includes any attempt to destroy or alter the function or performance of university equipment or property, and includes misuse of the university name, seal or logos.

Code Twos — punishable by disciplinary probation or suspension — include such as offcampus incidents, possession of

stolen property and violations of university housing regulations.

Negligent destruction of property is defined as “careless or reckless behavior resulting in damages, defacement or destruction of property belonging to another person or entity.

Anyone with information regarding either the grafitti or the dumpster fires is asked to contact SUPD at 225.771.2770.

Grad school student leader seeks to improve SU by breanna paul DiGEST OPiNiONS EDiTOR

“I believe that Southern University can dig itself out of the hole and be put on top of a big hill,” said Victor Onuoha, the president of the Southern University Graduate Students Association.

The former criminal justice major has seen the university at its peak and now at its bottom. He believes that the university is now paying for its transgressions from previous administrations in the 1990s and 2000s.

“There was a lot of frivolous spending and unnecessary things going on,” Onuoha said. He feels that current Chancellor Kofi Lomotey has put an end to it and is trying to curve the course of past ways. “I see the changes the administration is in the process

MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH

of making and I feel those are things that are proper for the undergraduate and graduate populations,” he said.

“We are slowly digging ourselves out of this hole that past administrations (specifically former Chancellor Edward Jackson),” he said.

“It just sucks that it has to be during our time.”

Onuoha wants to increase the enrollment and retention of males in the Graduate School.

“A lot of graduate schools are saturated with women,” he said. “The numbers are totally disproportionate,” Onuoha continued. He feels that this will strengthen the image of SU. He also wants to strengthen the relationship between the faculty and students and between graduate and undergraduate students.

“The students feel they can’t

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trust the administration,” Onuoha said. “There is also a loss of morale and spirit. We have lost that old Southern spirit,” he continued. Onuoha mentioned times when students were mislead from one semester to the next; such as LiveText and the refund check process.

Onuoha also wants to strengthen the alumni relations. He feels that although alumni were “burned” at their alma mater, it is necessary for them to give back for it to continue.

“You have to remember that this is your alma mater. period,” he said. “Even though you might feel bad about your alma mater, you are a product of this institution.”

Increasing effective communication is also on Onuoha’s list of goals he wants to accomplish before his tenure

of the graduate school comes to an end. He feels that customer service here at SU is horrible.

“This needs to change in order for this institution to be in the forefront of being considered ‘an institution of higher education,’” he continued.

Onuoha asks students, “What was your purpose for coming to college?” He feels that some students, especially the males go to college to live up to their parents expectations. He also said that most males who attend college are just here “for the experience.” He said that most females who attend college are here for bettering themselves.

The former track student athlete is frustrated with the complaints about rising cost of tuition. “People have to be realistic and look at what (they’re) given,” he said.

Onuoha said that you cannot

find institutions where a person who lives in-state can get a degree in nursing or engineering for cheaper than $20,000. The Chancellor’s graduate assistant simply stated, “You won’t find it.”

Onuoha is working with undergraduate Student Government Association President Demetrius Sumner on his goals. “He’s busy keeping the undergraduate students happy,” Onuoha said.

Onuoha doesn’t want a reward for the work he is doing with the graduation school. “I just want to know for sure that when I come back in five, 10 and 20 years from now that the university is not in its current state,” he said. “I want to know that people are grumbling and complaining over the same issues that I was when I was in college,” he continued.

CAMPUS BRIEFS...............2  SPORTS.....................5 VIEWPOINTS......................7 NEWS.............................3  A & E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 U N I V E R S I T Y ,

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THE SOUTHERN DIGEST 4 - DAY WEATHER OUTLOOK WEDNESDAY, OCT. 20

partly Cloudy HI - 86° / LO - 61° 20% CHANCE OF RAIN

THURSDAY, OCT. 21

Mostly sunny

HI - 87°/ LO - 58° 10% CHANCE OF RAIN

Campus Briefs

OCTOBER 20

TODAY

national soCiety oF leadership & suCCess

graduate student assoCiation

The Graduate School Association, which represents graduate students, will hold meetings on the first and third Thursdays of the month in Suite 1055 Harris Hall. For more information, contact the Graduate School or call 281.795.7235.

MuMFord stadiuM notiCe

Gate No. 3 at A.W. Mumford Stadium will be closed for the remainder of Southern University home football games. Students will only be able to enter through Gate No. 6. ebr Casa

CASA of East Baton Rouge Parish is currently looking for volunteers.

CASA, the Court Appointed Special Advocates, trains and supervises volunteers to speak up for the best interests of abused and neglected children living in foster care.

Volunteers must be 21 or older and must complete a 32-hour training course held on evenings and weekends. No special experience other than the desire to help a child is needed.

The first step is to learn more at a 45-minute orientation session, which provides an overview of the CASA program and requirements of being a CASA volunteer.

Upcoming orientation dates are Oct. 20, Oct. 26, Nov. 4 and Nov. 13.

For more information, please call 225.379.8598.

The Southern University chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success will be holding three information interest meetings for general membership for the 2010 semester.

The meetings will be Oct. 20 and 21 in Classroom No. 1 on John B. Cade Library’s second floor. All three meetings are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. grad prep days

Order caps and gowns, official invitations and class rings at the SU Bookstore Oct. 20-21 9 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, contact the bookstore at 771.4330 or go to www.subkstr.com. national Collegiate alCohol awareness week

The Southern University Counseling Center will hold events in conjunction with National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week.

“Drunk Goggles” and “BYOB (Bring Your Own Banana)” will be held Wednesday, Oct. 20 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on the front lawn of the SmithBrown Memorial Union.

A “mocktails” competition will be held Thursday, Oct. 20 from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. at the Cotillion Ballroom.

Contact the UCC at 771.2480 for more information.

OCTOBER 21 writing proFiCienCy eXaMination

The Writing Proficiency

FRIDAY, OCT. 22

SATURDAY, OCT. 23

Mostly sunny

partly Cloudy

HI - 87° / LO - 58° 10% CHANCE OF RAIN

HI - 84° / LO - 63° 10% CHANCE OF RAIN

Examination is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 21.

Only those students who have officially registered (the WPE must appear of the student’s class schedule) will be allowed to take the test.

Additionally, those students who registered for the WPE and are currently enrolled in Freshman Composition 111 will take the WPE as their final examination during the last week of classes.

Students taking the WPE on Oct. 21 can begin signing in at 3:15 p.m. at their appointed sites. To ensure the test begins on time, no students will be admitted after 3:45 p.m.

Please report as follows: •A-E: School of Nursing Auditorium •F-L: Lee Hall Auditorium •M-P: Harris Hall/ Classrooms •Q-Z: Stewart Hall Auditorium “My hoMetown” leCture series

Southern University’s Foreign Language Department will host three presentations in the “My Hometown” lecture series by Fulbright Scholar Language Teaching Assistants.

The lecture series provides the Fulbright Scholars the opportunity to share with students and faculty their insight into the culture and customs of their respective homelands.

All presentations are free and open to the public and will be held in room 323 of T.T. Allain Hall.

Yu Cao, an instructor of

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Chinese, will begin the series with a lecture Thursday, Oct. 21 at 11 a.m.

Tanzania native Mchanga Saleh, who teaches Swahili, will give a presentation Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. Senegal native Oumar Camara, who teaches Wolof, will give a presentation Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.

OCTOBER 22 soCial & behavioral sCienCes undergraduate researCh ConFerenCe

The Department of Psychology is pleased to sponsor the 12th Annual Social and Behavioral Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference Nov. 19 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Smith-Brown Memorial Union’s Cotillion Ballroom.

The conference will feature oral presentations of students’ empirical and theoretical research papers. Students in the Departments of Criminal Justice, Economics, History, Political Science, Psychology, Rehabilitation & Disability Studies, Social Work, Sociology, and Speech Pathology are encouraged to submit abstracts by Oct. 22. For more information please contact Dr. Reginald Rackley at 771.2990 or Quinton Tatum at quinton_ tatum_00@subr.edu.

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Obama: Math, science ed key

SCLC squabbles continue by the associated press

By darlene superville associated press writer

WASHINGTON — A device to discourage texting while driving.

A self-powered hydroelectric water purification device. A test of whether foam really is the best material to pad the inside of a safety helmet.

These projects weren’t put together by some of the country’s best scientists, but were assembled by up-and-comers who won a range of science, technology, engineering and math competitions. They brought their projects to a science fair at the White House on Monday.

President Barack Obama reveled in it. He spent nearly an hour viewing 11 science projects on display in the State Dining Room, ranging from cancer therapies to solar-power cars, water purification systems and robotic wheelchairs. And he intensely questioned the presenters.

“It’s hard to describe just how impressive these young people are,” Obama, who is emphasizing math and science education, said afterward at a reception. Their work “is a testament to the potential that awaits when we inspire

photo by susan walsh/ap photo

President Barack Obama talks with Diego Vazquez and Antonio Hernandez from Cesar Chavez High School in Laveen, Ariz., as they demonstrate the motorized chair for positioning medically fragile students during therapies and daily living activities, on display with other science projects, in the State Dining Room of the White House iMonday. Obama hosted the White House Science Fair to showcase the winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions.

young people to take part in the scientific enterprise.”

Obama, who shows a personal fascination with science, said these victories often go unnoticed.

“You know, when you win first place at a science fair, nobody’s rushing the field or dumping Gatorade over your head,” said Obama, who has welcomed many championship professional and college athletic teams to the White House.

“But in many ways, our future depends on what happens in those contests, what happens

Administration lays out construction cuts by the associated press

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s facilities planning chief said Monday his office sidelined construction projects for this year that didn’t have much money to advance the work, as part of its efforts to cobble together $30 million for steelmaker Nucor.

Jerry Jones, whose office supervises state-funded building projects, said his office didn’t propose money for any projects that were slated for so little funding that it wouldn’t really make a dent in the work.

For example, a project that will cost $10 million, but was only slated to receive $20,000, didn’t make the Jindal administration list.

“Those little bitty pots of money, you can’t do anything with,” Jones told lawmakers on a joint House and Senate panel.

After that, the administration prioritized among the remaining projects, he said.

The Bond Commission, which meets Thursday, must agree to the spending plans before they can begin.

Louisiana has a cap on annual borrowing that will limit construction spending to $320 million in the current 2010-11 budget year. Lawmakers had passed the budget with just enough projects to eat up all the available cash.

But Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret asked to use $30 million for Nucor, as part of the state’s incentive package for the company. The planned iron and steel facility in St. James Parish could total $3.4 billion and create 1,250 jobs.

To give Nucor construction budget money, other lawmakerapproved plans have to be derailed.

Lawmakers questioned how the decisions were made and asked why projects they supported for local communities seemed to take the brunt of the cuts.

“It doesn’t seem to necessarily be objective or in the open,” Rep. Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said of the decision-making process.

when a young person is engaged in conducting an experiment or writing a piece of software or solving a hard math problem or designing a new gadget,” he said.

Obama said the U.S. is being outpaced by other countries and he wants American students to move from the middle to the top in science and math over the decade.

He also announced his appearance in an episode of “Mythbusters,” a Discovery Channel program that uses science to uncover the truth

behind urban legends. Obama has already taped his appearance and the episode is scheduled to air Dec. 8. Discovery said that episode will consider whether Greek scientist Archimedes set fire to an invading Roman fleet using only mirrors and the reflected rays of the sun.

Now about those helmets.

Three boys from Los Angeles explained their testing method to Obama and said they concluded that foam isn’t the best material to protect the head in a bike or other safety helmet.

ATLANTA — A faction that lost a lawsuit over who should lead the civil rights group cofounded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. filed an appeal Monday, accusing rival board members of “hijacking” the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Several leaders from the SCLC — including ousted Treasurer Spiver Gordon — gathered at a church in southwest Atlanta to announce the appeal of a Sept. 1 ruling by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey. The ruling effectively placed control of the group with a faction siding with King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, who was elected last October as its leader.

Gordon maintained his innocence when he spoke for the first time publicly since his ouster over accusations he and Chairman Raleigh Trammell mismanaged at least $569,000 of the group’s money.

“I’ve never stolen anything from this organization — not one penny,” Gordon said, flanked by a handful of current and former SCLC board members. “I’ve been vilified. It’s terrible what has happened.”

The attorney for current SCLC Chairwoman Sylvia Tucker and others called the appeal “frivolous” and “without merit.”

“We will prevail in the end,” said Charles Mathis.

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Groups say Vitter ad stereotypes Hispanics By kevin Mcgill associated press writer

NEW ORLEANS — About two dozen New Orleans-area community leaders representing various ethnic and public interest groups demanded an apology from U.S. Sen. David Vitter on Monday for a television ad they said perpetuates a racist image of Latino immigrants.

African-Americans, Latinos and Vietnamese were among those represented at Monday’s news conference to denounce the ad, which shows darkskinned men pouring through a hole in a chain-link fence. Welcoming the men is a group holding a sign saying “Bienvenidos” and “Charlie Melancon welcomes you to the USA.” Rep. Charlie Melancon is Vitter’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 2 election.

“We believe Sen. Vitter was illadvised in the use of this campaign.

We are sorry that he approved it,” said Martin Gutierrez, executive director of neighborhood and community services for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, a church nonprofit that provides health and human services. Gutierrez added that Archbishop Gregory Aymond has “reached out” to Vitter about the ad.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey confirmed that Aymond and Vitter have had a telephone conversation about the ad but what they said has not been disclosed.

Vitter’s campaign did not respond to phone and e-mailed requests for comment Monday afternoon. The senator’s

spokesman, Luke Bolar, has defended the ads in the past. It was unclear whether the ad is still running in any Louisiana markets. It was still available through links on Vitter’s campaign website Monday.

The ad has drawn fire not only for its portrayal of Latinos but also for its interpretation of the effect of various Melancon votes on obscure amendments or procedural matters. The ad says the votes “made it easier for illegals to get taxpayer-funded benefits” and shows a giant check drawn on the United States Treasury made out to “all illegal aliens.”

Melancon and Vitter both get high marks from NumbersUSA, a group that grades members of Congress based on key votes on immigration matters. Vitter has an A career rating from the group; Melancon, a B. “As a U.S. senator, Sen. Vitter knows that undocumented immigrants are not eligible for any federal benefit program — welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, Social Security,” said Sue Weishar of the Jesuit Society Research Institute at Loyola University.

The Latino organization Puentes organized Monday’s news conference that also included the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, the NAACP, Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association and other individuals and groups who said the ad contributes to racial stereotypes. The groups added that immigrant workers played a major role in rebuilding areas of Louisiana devastated

by Hurricane Katrina.

Education chairman pushes tax hikes for education by the associated press

The head of the state Senate’s education committee said Monday he supports temporary tax increases or delays in tax breaks to stop budget cuts to public colleges and other educational programs.

Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, said he favors a reversal of tax breaks for middleand upper-income taxpayers that were instituted before the national recession.

The tax breaks reversed the so-called “Stelly Plan” that had raised state income taxes for certain filers in exchange for getting rid of state sales tax on food and utilities. Lawmakers in recent years removed the Stelly tax hikes, but didn’t reinstate the sales taxes.

Nevers, who voted to repeal the Stelly Plan, told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that he supports reinstating Stelly taxes for two to three years, until the economy improves — and dedicating the money to education programs.

State House leaders and Gov. Bobby Jindal oppose such ideas, saying the state should reduce its spending instead

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of raising taxes or delaying tax cuts, and similar proposals have failed to gain traction in the House.

Nevers argued the types of budget cuts proposed, particularly for colleges, would be devastating to education in the poverty-stricken state. Without a new revenue source, he said, “The dismantling of education is the coffin to bury Louisiana for decades to come.”

A spokesman for the governor repeated his stance against tax increases Monday, saying Louisiana ranks high for the money it spends on higher education as a percentage of state taxes but still has poor graduation results.

“So the answer is certainly not to raise taxes on the backs of Louisianians,” Jindal press secretary Kyle Plotkin said in a statement.

Higher education has been hit with two years of state budget cuts, faces another round of midyear cuts and is bracing for cuts next year. Spending in elementary and secondary education, outside the funding formula to local school districts, also has taken a reduction, although a smaller one.

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SPORTS

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - Page 5

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Jaguars not hanging heads By morrIs DILLarD digest sports writer

Dwelling on what might have been was not high on Southern head coach Stump Mitchell’s agenda during Monday’s Southwestern Athletic Conference media conference call.

Instead, applying lessons learned from the Jaguars’ heartbreaking 49-45 loss at rival Jackson State Saturday to this weekend’s clash with Prairie View in Shreveport was at the top of the list.

“You come out and there are more games to be played,” Mitchell said. “You come out and you work hard on the things you were not as sharp on, you come out and try to improve on those things. If enough improvement is made, you’ll find yourself on the winning edge in games like that.”

The 42,053 in attendance at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium saw a quarterback duel between Southern’s Jeremiah McGinty at JSU’s Casey Therriault. Although Therriault got the win — his fifth TD pass

was the game-winner — McGinty put together his best game as a starter. The sophomore finished the night with 293 yards, three touchdown passes and no interceptions on 17-of-34 passing. He also rushed 11 times for 63 yards, leading SU in that category as well.

Combined, McGinty and Therriault threw for 610 yards and eight scoring passes to six different players. Sixteen total players — seven for SU, nine for JSU — notched a reception in the shootout.

Among those SU receivers is junior LaQuinton Evans. Evans broke off his second 60-plusyard catch-and-run in as many weeks as his 73-yard score with 19 seconds left in regulation gave the Jags a 45-41 lead.

“They’re just getting used to being in the system and understanding what we’re trying to do,” Mitchell said. “Those guys have worked extremely hard.”

Despite McGinty’s improved play, the twin bugaboos of penalties and not finishing off drives with touchdowns hurt

PHoTo By aPrIL BUFFINGToN/DIGEsT southern’s laQuinton evans (82) has begun to emerge as a big-play receiver for the Jags in recent weeks. evans averaged 28 yards per catch in southern’s last two contests.

the Jaguars again. Three SU drives bogged down deep in JSU territory, forcing the Jags to settle for 37-, 38- and 43-yard field goals from freshman kicker William Griswold.

Southern (2-4, 1-3), one of Division I FCS’ most-penalized ball clubs, finished the night

with 16 penalties for 195 yards.

“Well, for the most part, we shot ourselves in the foot again,” Mitchell said. “We had too many penalties. Playing these teams, you cannot have as many penalties as we’ve had in our games and expect to come out (on top) against good football teams.”

JSU picked up five additional yards after SU jumped offsides, ultimately leading to Therriault’s game-winning toss.

“We have to get rid of the penalties,” Mitchell said. “It’s no question about that, we had some unnecessary penalties, and that’s discipline.”

arts & entertainment Page 6 - Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Wayne hopes new CD keeps fans interested By sam ross digest staff writer

Rapper Lil’ Wayne has released his eighth studio album “I Am Not a Human Being” as a stop-gap effort to keep fans interested during an unplanned hiatus due to being in jail on weapons charges.

The physical version of “I Am Not a Human Being” dropped this Tuesday; however, the album had been released digitally on September 27, which happens to be Carter’s birthday. The digital version of the album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and number one on US Digital Albums, US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and US Rap Albums Charts.

Material for “I Am Not a Human Being” was recorded earlier this year before Carter’s sentencing began.

The album, originally speculated to be released as an extended play album, is a prelude of Carter’s highly anticipated “Tha Carter IV”, slated for release in 2011.

Carter is regarded as one of the best emcees alive and has a great work ethic, which has helped him excel past other artists not only in hip-hop, but all across the board in music. So, it comes as no surprise that Carter put in extra work to ready a makeshift album.

On the album, Carter abandons

autotune. This is notable because the rapper had been largely credited for the surge of the autotune use, along with fellow rapper T-Pain.

“I Am Not a Human Being” is packed with features. Guests featured on the album include Drake, Nicki Minaj, Jay Sean, Lil’ Twist, Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, Lil’ Chuckee, T-Streets, and Tyga, who performed here last week during homecoming festivities.

“Gonorrhea”, the album’s bluntly-titled opening track features a clever guest spot from Drake. The song is not Carter’s best work but suffices with a thumping beat produced by Kane Beatz. The next two songs “Hold Up” and “With You” (also featuring Drake) are reminiscent of some of Carter’s material from his past few albums.

Next up, the title track “I Am Not a Human Being” rocks out with a heavy guitar chorus but sounds like a leftover track from Carter’s rock-rap album, “Rebirth”, released earlier this year.

“Right Above It”, the album’s lead single is perhaps the strongest track on the album. It has a good chorus and topnotch production, which is the key to any successful rap song.

Another standout track on the album is “What’s Wrong With Them” which features top female emcee and Lil’ Wayne

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Bassett, storytellers push tolerance by the associated press

lil’ wayne protégé, Nicki Minaj.

The physical copy of “I Am Not a Human Being” features three exclusive tracks (“YM Banger”, “YM Salute”, and “I Don’t Like the Look of It”) not available on the digital download version of the album.

Overall, the album has received positive to mixed reviews from music critics. The beats, guests, and hooks are all good, but Carter delivers lackluster verses on the album.

A Los Angeles Times music reviewer said, “Wayne’s done this shtick better before. He might want to repudiate his own humanity, but on [the album], Wayne reveals he’s mortal after all.”

NEW ORLEANS — Angela Bassett says one thing is paramount when she tackles a new project: the story.

Bassett was in New Orleans Monday to join five men and women who will share stories of survival and triumph as part of USA Network’s “Characters Unite” public service campaign.

The campaign kicked off what is planned as a five-city tour in New Orleans during a meeting of the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing. The tour’s next stop is New York in December and plans are in the works to bring “A More Perfect Union: Stories of Prejudice and Power” to Chicago, Denver and Seattle next year.

“By nature and by profession, I’m a storyteller,” Bassett said, when asked why she got involved with the project. “I illuminate the human experience on film. But most successful films start with the story. So I just have a natural affinity for something like this. ... Not everyone can act, but everyone has a story, has experiences and relationships. This type of sharing shows how we’re more alike than not.”

Jacqui Vines, senior vice president and general manager of Cox Louisiana, said she’s looking forward to her stage debut. Vines is scheduled to share her journey through the foster care system both as a client and a provider. She fostered three young girls — biological sisters — and has since adopted them.

“It’s been really kind of fun, a real journey for the four of us,” Vines said. “We’re creating our story together now as a family.”

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Chivarly isn’t dead ... not yet, at least According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, one definition of the word chivalry is “gallant or distinguished gentlemen.”

These “distinguished gentlemen” are a dying breed, well at least on the campus of Southern University.

Males on campus rarely give up their seats on the Southern Shuttle. There was an incident where a guy almost knocked down a female for her seat. Seriously!?

Let her sit down!

Males hardly ever open doors for females anymore either. Most males on campus will slide through a door as it’s closing so they don’t have to open it for a female or anyone else for that matter.

However these are the same males that will be quick to fight someone because they disrespected their mother.

Seems kind of backwards, huh?

I’m not saying come in and swoop

BREANNA PAUL anyone off her feet on a white horse like Sir Lancelot or King Arthur, just open a door and give up your seat. Is that asking too much? Just a little a R-E-S-P-E-C-T, that’s all.

On the MTV hit reality show “Jersey Shore”, a male bar patron punched Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi in the face because she got in his face and started yelling about drinks.

Why would a man hit a woman in a public venue? Were they that mad about

not receiving beers? Not to mention that Snooki is under five feet tall, that’s like hitting a little child.

This is not chivalrous behavior – to stoop so low that you have to punch someone with so much force that they fall back on the ground over a beer is just unnecessary.

On VH1’s “Charm School” hosted by Mo’Nique, the women attended a prom where there were different types of guys that fit stereotypes. There was a “macho man,” a “player” and a man who exemplified chivalrous characteristics.

All of the women chose the other men who were eventually going to be detrimental to their lifestyles and not the man who opened doors, asked about their life and did not try to get in their pants on the first night.

Some women prefer to be “independent” and do things for

themselves. They want to open doors for themselves and stand while the Southern Shuttle bus driver goes down hills and around curves at 40 miles per hour, almost losing their balance. This is not the case for most.

Guys, you’d be surprised as to how giving up your seat for a woman on campus will brighten her day. I’m sure you could get the number that way instead of saying, “aye ma.”

I just wanted to be able to give the males on campus a view into how some if not all women view the dying breed of “distinguished gentlemen” on the campus of Southern University. I’m not saying that chivalry is dead and completely extinct, because there are a few good guys out there.

However, they are sure becoming an endangered species.

Barack Obama’s many faces, all useful WASHINGTON —The biracial American kid with a Kenyan father who went from place to place, who struggled to put down roots and figure out where he fit in? He’s Barack Obama.

The street-savvy, distinctly African-American hoops player who talks a smooth game and plays a smoother one? He’s Barack Obama. The Harvard law grad, community organizer and besuited Chicago pol with workaday roots in middle America? He’s Barack Obama, too.

Now we, the people can add another Barack Obama to the mix: the presidential one who is quickly making the 21st-century bully pulpit his own and is able, through his diverse life experiences, to deploy carefully curated crosssections of his own history as a potent consensus-building tool.

“I contain multitudes,” wrote Walt Whitman, whose poetry played no small role in defining how Americans see themselves.

The same could be said for the new president, who’s doing a little shaping of the national psyche himself these days.

Even as he took office, Obama carved out versions of himself in defined relief, harnessing them to hammer home key points and showing he is unafraid to use the

qualities associated with being, as he has often put it, a “mutt.”

“We know,” he said in his inaugural address, “that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.” And while he was talking about the nation, he might well have been describing himself.

In the address, he was “a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant.” In the oath itself, he was “Barack Hussein Obama,” multicultural icon. In his biography on the new White House Web site, he is someone with “values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead.”

None of these contradicts the others. Nor is any of them inaccurate. Yet together, they suggest a nimble approach designed to frame Obama for maximum appeal across multiple demographics - a packaging strategy based on a unique, melting-pot reality unlike any previous president.

After all, how many other chief executives have felt, simultaneously, the sting of American racism, the pride of a Harvard law degree and the firsthand memory of growing up in a poor and developing Asian nation?

“He’s Kenya, he’s Kansas. He’s Harvard, he’s Chicago. He’s black, he’s white,” said Republican consultant Alex Castellanos, a CNN political analyst.

This approach helped Obama broaden his appeal during the campaign, when he consciously tried to harness his various roots and branches. At one point, visiting Kansas, where his mother’s grandparents lived, he told a British newspaper that he wanted to “talk about the roots of my life that directly connect to the broader story of the country.”

But that was the campaign.

Will the same approach help him govern? And can it ultimately be pushed too far? Politicians who try to be everything to everyone can eventually face accusations that, behind it all, they’re really no one at all.

“This is a man who has experienced a lot of different pieces of America,” says Leila Brammer, an expert on inaugural addresses who teaches communications at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota.

“Cynics might think it wears thin, but it is indeed who he is,” she says. “And he is able to weave these different experiences together into a really clear vision. If he stays

on this same track, I don’t see anybody being able to say, `Who is the real Barack Obama?’”

The ability to connect with the American public, a visualage talent that has only grown more pronounced with the dawn of the 24-hour news cycle, has played out in the personality traits of recent presidents and how they’re framed. Bill Clinton forged a connection with millions of constituents who were children of divorce and grew up poor. George W. Bush found understanding among Americans who had struggled with addiction.

But Obama notches that up big-time; he is a self-contained buffet of potential entry points for constituent connection.

Anne Heineman Batory, an expert in behavioral marketing, predicts that Obama’s authenticity credentials — the fact that these are his actual experiences, not political poses — will help the president maintain what is effectively the strength of his brand.

“When you think about the people he goes to church with versus the people he practices law with, it’s so broad. So it’s natural for him to adjust to the audience,” says Batory, a professor at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.

“There’s a part you can relate to no matter where you come from,” she says. “You can look at his life and experiences and say, `There’s a piece of that that relates to me. Maybe he can understand where I’m coming from.’”

Since Obama’s election, many Americans have expressed hope that an Obama administration might create a post-racial nation where we can finally get past some of the pain created by our ancestors.

Those folks can look to the president’s life experiences as evidence that such things are possible. We all contain multitudes; that’s part of the American experience.

To many Americans, the kind of many-faceted human being that Barack Obama represents is less an “other” than any time in our history.

How Obama handles his selfcontained multiplicity - shrewd and calculating or inclusive and productive - will set a tone that dictates how entrenched this attitude becomes. But now more than ever, one thing seems clear: We have met the president, and he is us.

——— Ted Anthony covers politics and culture for The Associated Press.

Comments about Measure of a Nation can be sent to measure@ap.org.

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