The Blue Banner

Volume 53, Issue 4

News Blue Echo relaunches after two-year silence page 7

Arts & Features Blue Ridge Rollergirls gain popularity page 10

Sports UNCA Athletics receives funding from charity golf tournament page 17

Photo by Sally Garner

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Weaver intertwines art and life page 9

News Page 2

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

UNC Asheville celebrates 83rd anniversary Teresa Linn

tclinn@unca.edu

U

staff writer

NC Asheville celebrates the 83rd year of its small liberal arts feel and sense of community despite the amazing growth it has undergone, according to Associate Vice Chancellor for alumni relations Kevan Frazier.

“If I brought somebody back from when I was here in the late ’80s and early ’90s, or a decade before, or even a decade before that, I don’t think they’re going to find it unfamiliar,” he said. “There will be new things, but I think there’s still a really wonderful consistency and sense of place at UNCA.” According to Frazier, UNCA has grown since the school’s founding on Sept. 12, 1927.

“There were 86 students in that first class,” he said. “The first graduating class was the class of 1929, and there were 29 graduates that year. We now have about 3,200.”

Professor of chemistry John Stevens said the school was quite different for him when he began teaching at the university 42 years ago.

“It was a time when everybody knew everybody,” he said. “It was really a Photo courtesy UNC Asheville, Ramsey Library, Special Collections family. There was not much in the way UNCA’s campus between 1975 and 1983 only featured a small number of buildings. Professor of chemisof buildings and not much in the way try John Stevens said the school was much smaller when he began teaching 42 years ago. of students. It was very experimental.

That’s what attracted me here.” programs improve in quality,” he said. to be able to pay for their education.” conference and we expected we were Shirley Browning, professor of “It is a combination of having more Stevens said chancellors introduced going to have 50 to 100 people,” he economics, joined the UNCA faculty faculty that would allow more topic the biggest changes in the institution, said. “We had 500. The campus realjust one year after Stevens and said he subjects and issues within disciplines specifically Chancellor David Brown ized there was something going on feared the growth in numbers because to be explored by students. I think that from 1984 to 1990. nationally, and we were in the center he didn’t want to lose the connection has been one of the nicer things I’ve “He identified three areas he wanted of it.” between students and faculty. seen in our growth.” to focus on,” Stevens said. “One was Stevens said he is devoted to his stu“I am afraid that the institution, in According to Frazier, professors’ fo- the humanities program. We were go- dents and their lives. fact, has run the risk of becoming so cus on the success and development of ing to continue to focus on humanities “I have enjoyed impacting society in large that the ability of faculty and their students dates back to the univer- and move it along. The second one a number of different ways, like workstudents to work closely together in sity’s beginnings. was undergraduate research, and the ing on the grand challenges of sustainsmaller groups, whether it’s in teach“In the first two years there was no third one was health promotion.” ability to help change and impact the ing or research or service, is becoming tuition,” Frazier said. “Once the Great UNCA held the first national con- lives of students,” he said. “They’re endangered,” he said.

Depression was in full swing, they had ference on undergraduate research in in a very informative stage. They’re Browning said despite UNCA’s to start charging $100 a semester for 1986, and its surprisingly positive re- trying to figure out who they are and growth in numbers, he enjoyed watchtuition. The faculty members were so sponse energized the campus, accord- where they’re going. I feel like that’s ing opportunities grow for students committed to their students that they ing to Stevens, who worked closely on part of where I make a difference in throughout the years. would accept butter, eggs, chickens or the project. society in terms of helping the students “I have enjoyed seeing the academic whatever students might have at home “We organized the first year of the in that way.”

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

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UNCA student life in 1974

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Illegal downloading comes with consequences Jessie Lovelace jlovelac@unca.edu staff writer

Students gather on campus in 1974.

Photos courtesy UNCA Ramsey Library, Special Collections.

Illegally downloading media through UNC Asheville’s network may result in legal ramifications.

“Our policy is to follow fairly much exactly what the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires,” said Jim Kuhlman, university librarian and chief information officer.

According to Kuhlman, the DMCA gave safe harbor to Internet service providers. As long as the provider follows procedure, the provider isn’t responsible for what its users have on their computers.

UNCA is a service provider for the school’s network. When an illegal file is found on someone’s computer, the company that found the illegal file contacts Kuhlman.

“What happens is I get an e-mail from people usually who are legally representing the copyright owner,” he said.

Kuhlman said in their e-mail, the company representing the copyright owner states their belief that they have found an illegal file in a shared folder.

The company also gives the IP address from the source of the alleged file and the date and time it was found.

Using the IP address and time, the university is able to track down the media access control address of the computer, according to Kuhlman.

“I actually don’t know at that point who the person is,” Kuhlman said.

“But the way our system works, the law requires us, when we receive this notification, to block access to the computer because there’s a question of the legality of a file.”

That file is usually found in a shared folder through peer-to-peer software.

“It actually doesn’t matter if you’ve downloaded it legally or illegally if it’s in that shared file, because nobody has given anybody permission to make copies and let other people have

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On the Quad

What do you think about the presence of illegal drugs on UNCA’s campus?

“I feel like it’s probably the same in terms of drug use on college campuses. I think the stereotype is that UNCA is this huge druggie campus, but it’s probably all about the same.”

Baily Griffith Senior literature student

“I do think we have a lot

Amanda Wilkerson Senior literature student

of stereotypes about being a hippie school and all the implications that we have a lot of drug use to go along with that, but I don’t think it’s that bad or as bad as people think it is.”

“I went to other schools and they have a lot more drinking. I was at another orientation and I could see kegs through windows and stuff.”

Chase Newsom Freshman undecided student

Illegal drugs have presence on campus

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Jess Peete, Alicia Adcox

jdpeete@unca.edu, aradcox@unca.edu staff writers

It’s not uncommon for students to experiment with drugs and alcohol while living in the dorms.

“I think college is a time to experiment. That’s nothing new, but the prevalence of drugs in society is also nothing new, nor is college kids taking them. There shouldn’t be severe punishment, but there also shouldn’t be no punishment,” said UNCA senior history student Brandon Bond.

UNC Asheville policies regarding underage drinking and drug use reflect the understanding that the early years of college serve as a transition for students as they learn to balance newly found freedom with newly found responsibility.

Director of Residential Education Melanie Rhodarmer said the first time a student is caught with marijuana, they are put on probation for at least three months, have to complete 10 to 15 hours of community service on campus and are encouraged to take an Effective Decision Making course.

If the student is younger than 21, their parents are contacted.

Rhodarmer said the consequences are similar at most schools in North Carolina.

“From what I’ve reviewed, especially as it related the North Carolina institutions, the sanctions are pretty similar in nature,” she said.

Rhodamer said there are different consequences if a student is caught more than once.

The consequences escalate if the student is caught a second time while on probation, she said.

“If that’s the case, a student can be removed from the residence halls as well as suspended from the institution,” she said.

Rhodamer said the most she has seen is three violations for one student.

“After that many violations, the likelihood is that the student will no longer be a member of the campus community for a period of time until they provide necessary documentation indicating they have taken steps to change their substance behaviors,” she said.

Freshman Nathaniel Davilla lives on campus in Founders Hall. He said students usually aren’t blatant with their drug or alcohol use, but it’s not

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

tricky to get things inside.

“It’s not like it’s too hard to get things into the dorms. People just put things in their backpacks and walk to their room,” he said.

Davilla said even though students are experimenting, they usually stay away from the hard drugs.

“The majority of people that are doing drugs are smoking pot. Obviously, people drink too, and some people trip occasionally. But for the most part, it’s just pot,” he said.

Use or possession of marijuana, narcotics, other controlled substances, and drug paraphernalia is a violation of UNCA’s Student Code of Community Standards.

Any violations of this code can result in a student’s suspension or expulsion from the university as well as outside consequences if the student has also violated civil or criminal laws.

“Whatever you do, if you get caught you should pretty much already know what’s going to happen,” Davilla said.

Consequences of a student’s actions can have long-term consequences as well. Serious misdemeanors or felonies on a student’s record can affect them for years after the incident, even preventing them from obtaining jobs.

Overall, Davilla said he thinks the school’s drug policy is pretty laid back, especially for pot.

“Since so many people here smoke (marijuana), campus police would have to arrest the majority of people on campus every time they saw anything,” he said.

He said although students here smoke, it’s definitely easier to abstain than it was in high school.

“There’s less peer pressure to fit in than there was in high school. Everybody here is just doing their own thing.

You’re not just confined to your room.

You can go out and do whatever you want,” he said.

Davilla said the school’s drug policies help freshmen while still holding them accountable.

“Especially for freshmen, there’s a pretty big change coming to school.

You’re not sitting in your parents’ basement knowing that you probably won’t get arrested even if you get caught,” he said.

John Mark Herring, 19, lived on campus last year. He said giving stu-

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ACLU participates in anti-death penalty press conference Wednesday, September 22, 2010

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Trevor Metcalfe tometcal@unca.edu staff writer

North Carolina’s flawed justice system and support of the death penalty wrongly imprisons and executes the innocent, according to speakers at a press conference held at the Buncombe County courthouse.

“Nobody’s life should be at stake with a system so flawed,” said Glen Edward Chapman, a man who spent 15 years on death row in North Carolina before being exonerated in 2008.

The press conference, held Sept. 14 at the Buncombe County Courthouse, drew the support of local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union, People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation and UNC Asheville faculty and students. The conference focused on a new report released in August detailing improper procedures in the State Bureau of Investigation’s crime laboratory.

“Our crime lab cannot be trusted right now, and it has to be revamped,” said the Rev. Joe Hoffman of First Congregational United Church of Christ.

Two former FBI agents completed the report, which highlights how SBI serology analysts mishandled blood tests and how certain test results were omitted from final reports during a span of 16 years.

The report estimates more than 200 cases could be effected, with three of the convicted executed and four still on death row. These questioned cases include the murder of James Jordan, father of NBA star Michael Jordan.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper called for the report after a SBI agent testified on the lab’s policy of submitting incomplete blood tests.

“We do not bring justice to anyone when we manipulate the evidence to support our case or our theory,” Hoffman said.

These findings failed to surprise Pam Laughon, chair of the UNCA psychology department and a member of Chapman’s defense team. The lies and omissions present in the SBI report strongly resemble those made in Chapman’s case, according to Laughon.

“Ed’s case is a good example of what the SBI is accused of, but these are local cops that are engaged in some similar kinds of practices,” Laughon said.

Megan Dombroski/photography editor

Alex Holston, president of UNCA ACLU chapter, speaks at a press conference held at the Buncombe County courthouse. Below, Pam Laughon, chair of the psychology department, and Edward Chapman speak at the press conference. Laughon worked with Chapman’s defense team to release him from prison.

Hickory police omitted important witness statements in Chapman’s 1994 murder trial, Laughon said. From 2002 to 2007, Laughon and Chapman’s defense team re-investigated both of Chapman’s murder charges until his eventual exoneration.

“The court simply said, ‘Your trial back in ’94 was not fair,”’ Laughon said.

Laughon applauded the state’s recent passage of the Racial Justice Act. The bill, signed into law by Gov. Bev Perdue in August, prohibits race from becoming a deciding factor in the death penalty. The law makes North Carolina the second state to pass an article considering race in a death penalty decision.

“It gives us the right to say, ‘Race may have played a role in this conviction and this sentence,”’ Laughon said.

Laughon said cases like Chapman’s played a large role in the passage of the bill. Chapman became the seventh man exonerated from death row in North Carolina, and the 128th man in the United States.

“It’s an opportunity for people on death row to use evidence and other

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

eGuest lecturer speaks about former UNCA professor University of Arizona professor speaks about the community Squibb created Caitlin Halloran cmhallor@unca.edu staff writer

The 13th Annual Dexter Squibb lecture series hosted special guest George Atkinson this year, who was brought to UNC Asheville for more than just his scientific research.

“Dexter Squibb was my freshman chemistry professor. After a semester of dealing with me, he came here (to UNCA),” Atkinson said.

“We invite prominent scientists who we feel would add something to our department and university and that are experts on a particular topic or issue that would be of interest,” said Sally Wasileski, an assistant chemistry professor at UNCA, who sat on the committee for this year’s series.

This year was special, she said, because they also name a general chemistry lab in Zeis Hall after Squibb.

The committee invited a prominent former student of Squibb’s to add a personal touch to the ceremony.

Professor of chemistry John Stevens spoke about the influence Squibb held in the department and at the university as a whole.

“We were really a family,” he said of the department circa 1968. “Everybody knew everybody. (Squibb) had already established a reputation.”

That reputation included the high standards Squibb expected and a personal connection with students.

Squibb dedicated a large portion of his time to one-on-one sessions with students.

Stevens said Squibb routinely attended the school’s baseball games.

“It had nothing to do with chemistry, but it was part of who UNCA was at the time,” Stevens said. “He was there on several fronts.”

That relationship, and the attention of dedicated faculty like Squibb, inspired students and staff, Stevens said.

“It epitomizes what we’re about here at UNCA,” he said. “It’s harder now, but it’s still a core value.”

Part of the department’s dedication to Squibb’s legacy allows students to have a faculty-free luncheon with the year’s lecturer.

Atkinson appeared right at home with the students, conversing about their lives and majors and remembering where every student said they were

Dustin Stuart/staff photographer

George Atkinson speaks at the 13th Annual Dexter Squibb lecture series. Atkinson is a former student of Squibb’s.

from.

Twenty-six students attended the lunch on Thursday, seven hours before the first lecture.

“I’m open for business, and I may or may not survive this experience,” Atkinson said to the students, opening the floor for questions or dialogue.

The University of Arizona professor highlighted his scientific resume and

explained what it meant to the field of science.

One of the highlights included an eight-year stint advising the secretary of state from 2000 to 2008.

Atkinson spoke of his early teaching years and described how they coincided with the U.S. military draft.

“I thought I’d be working for the government with a rifle,” he said.

His government experience started when an unfavorable report surfaced in 1999 about the relationship between physical sciences and political scientists.

Atkinson said a big problem was the inability to differentiate between a lobbyist and a scientist promoting his research.

“Science as a force of political opinion has hit an all-time low, in my opinion,” he said.

The message of Atkinson’s first lecture was that the secretary of state should not read much about the sciences.

Thursday night’s lecture targeted community members, according to Wasileski. It focused on the theme of this year’s lecture series, science and global policy.

The Friday afternoon lecture was about science itself, and focused on an audience of science undergraduate students.

Biology student Justin Ford attended the community lecture. “Sometimes you need years and years of experience to understand (a topic),” the 21-yearold said. “The lecture wasn’t chemistry based.”

Ford said he enjoyed the lecture, but had concerns about the plausibility of action.

Sometimes an idea forms, but no progress ever happens, he said.

Atkinson said a long, intricate scientific article the general public will not understand is inadequate.

“Everybody writes about it, but nobody reads those articles,” said Ford, a junior concentrating in secular and molecular biology. Atkinson said a major difficulty with policy and political science is there will be 24,000 policymakers and a solitary scientist.

However, Ford said he felt Atkinson had the determination to accomplish his goal of writing readable articles.

“He sounds like he’s best to actually change something, actually roll a ball,” he said. “One step forward is great as long as we don’t take two steps back.”

Atkinson’s overarching point was to synthesize actual practice into terminology everybody will understand.

“Because you’ve been educated, you should be respected (in your field).

What they do with that information is personal, and a tender issue,” Atkinson said.

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Local author entertains crowd with stories Campus radio station set to relaunch Sarah Hinson

sbhinson@unca.edu staff writer

From deep depression to laugh-outloud encounters with crazy Southern characters, award-winning writer and syndicated Asheville CitizenTimes columnist Susan Reinhardt lives and tells her stories, using her writing to entertain as well as to heal.

Reinhardt entertained listeners with personal anecdotes about humor and hardships on Sept. 14 as the first guest speaker for Ramsey Library’s regional author talks.

“Thanks for taking a risk having me here knowing I’m a PG-13-type of speaker, and not the type that can tell you what to grow in your yard and eat, though I wish I could,” the author said as she gathered books and papers for her presentation.

What followed were stories about everything, from an alcoholic cat to her sister’s opossum fur coat to the “mee maw” panties Reinhardt accidentally left behind at her Hollywood hosts’ house.

Reinhardt may focus on the funnier aspects of life in her books and columns, but writing, she said, has always been a way for her to heal from life’s challenges. She said her work sometimes takes on a darker tone.

“Even growing up, when I’d get upset, I’d go write,” Reinhardt said.

“I’ve always used writing as a means of making things right in my mind, and I’ve been writing humor for maybe 20 years or more.”

In her second book, Don’t Sleep with a Bubba: Unless your Eggs are in Wheelchairs, Reinhardt chronicles her journey through depression following her divorce from her first husband. After the hospital stay where she met her second husband, Reinhardt turned to writing humor again.

“Humor helped heal me,” Reinhardt said. “I can find something funny in almost everything.”

Erica Abrams Locklear, an assistant professor at UNC Asheville who teaches courses on Southern and Appalachian literature, has read Reinhardt’s column for several years, and said Reinhardt often takes deeper, more disturbing subjects and writes about them in an entertaining way.

“The thing that Susan does is she’ll take those darker topics and twist them a little bit so that you’re slightly uncomfortable, but you’re laughing, and

Jeremiah Reed jjreed@unca.edu staff writer

Sally Garner/staff photographer

Author and columnist Susan Reinhardt entertained listeners at the first regional author talk Sept. 14 in Ramsey Library. Reinhardt draws from personal experiences in her writings.

then you feel guilty about laughing at something that’s really serious,” Abrams Locklear said.

Reinhardt said there is no shortage of material in the South, and her stories frequently depict her family members’ eccentricities as well as the crazy Southern characters she encounters.

“Half the people in the South are insane, but they’re benignly insane, they’re colorfully crazy, and you don’t have a limitation of material, you just venture out and you find it in the South,” she said. “I think that our colorful crazy characters do wonderful things for people, and they have very compassionate hearts, but they also have that ‘touched in the head’ effect, in a good way. When I find somebody

who’s a little off-center, I’m all over them.”

Abrams Locklear said some Southern writers, including Reinhardt, are good at pointing out specific qualities of the South and poking fun in a way that makes readers laugh rather than offending them. Though humanity as a whole is a little crazy, she said, the way craziness manifests in the South might be more peculiar or exciting to read and write about.

“Something else she really hones in on is gossip, that sort of communal nature in small town life, and that’s not contained to the South, but Southern writers have written about that for

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After nearly two years of silence and countless hours of work from students, UNC Asheville’s student radio station, the Blue Echo, is set to return to the air this fall.

Ian Hayes, a disk jockey and technician for the Blue Echo, has been a part of the station since he came to UNCA four years ago as a freshman.

He said the hard work and commitment of students made it possible to get the Blue Echo back up and running.

“It’s been more organized in the past year than it has ever been, and we’re not even on the air yet. So once we get started, I think everything will run smoothly. We’ve got a lot of people really committed to making this happen,” said Hayes, a senior multimedia arts student.

According to those close to the Blue Echo, a lack of commitment led to the station’s demise.

Rick Brophy, associate director of UNCA’s Student Activities & Integrative Learning department, said students were always eager to sign up for a DJ slot, but the follow-through was a constant problem.

“Once the students figured out the amount of work required, they didn’t want to do it,” Brophy said. “They thought it was just getting in there, picking your favorite record and having fun, which it is, but there’s a lot of work that goes into everything ahead of time.”

Brophy also said once a large portion of the station’s staff and DJs graduated or left school, nobody stepped up to fill those positions and the station slowly began to decline.

Since then, attempts to revive the Blue Echo have been mostly the volunteer efforts of a few students dedicated to bringing radio back to the Asheville community.

Caitlin Halloran, a junior mass communication student, has invested

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Echo

time into the station since her freshman year at no pay.

She said she hopes the Blue Echo can be a social medium for everyone at UNCA. “We want the Blue Echo to be the forum for the campus community,” Halloran said.

Duncan Belew, a sophomore who also works with the Blue Echo, said he thought the station could be a good tool to help students stay informed about campus events and activites.

“During my freshman year, I really didn’t know about campus events except through word of mouth. I wished there was a place to hear about those things, and hopefully the Blue Echo can do that,” Belew said.

To find out what their audience wanted, the Blue Echo posted an online survey for listeners to fill out. The results of that survey were used to determine formatting as well as content. Halloran

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said more than 80 people filled out the survey during the past few months.

“From what we’ve been getting back so far, people really want to hear local acts, indie, things that you can’t get on your everyday station,” Halloran said.

Halloran also said a political talk program is currently on the table, as well as smaller segments that would focus on world, local and campus news.

The station is now funded through the university with a budget of a couple thousand dollars, but Halloran said once the station gets established, they hope to rely on just community funding. Halloran also said other than promotional items and equipment, the operating costs for the station were relatively low.

Besides selecting music and formatting, students had to work to drum up interest in the Blue Echo, both on campus and in the community.

Maren McGlashan, a sophomore,

Author so long that it seems like a Southern thing, and she really capitalizes on that,” Abrams Locklear said.

Though Reinhardt has been writing for most of her life, her initial career path involved nursing school, a decision prompted by her father’s comment that she needed a career to fall back on since finding a husband was unlikely.

“I worked in hospitals, and one day I walked in, and this was a pivotal moment, I furiously tried to get the blood pressure of a woman,” Reinhardt said.

“And the head nurse said to me, ‘Honey, that woman has been dead for four

Drugs

dents a break on simple drug charges in definitely a good thing.

“It does help with the transition period, especially freshmen. Really they (campus police) are doing students a really big favor by not giving out a lot of state citations,” he said.

Herring said he also supported the Effective Decision Making course.

“The school is really doing a job with kids who have actual drug prob-

hours.’”

That experience, followed by the more traumatic task of unexpectedly arousing a comatose patient with a sponge bath, motivated Reinhardt to strive for a career in writing instead.

The mother of two, who has been with the Asheville Citizen-Times for 23 years and is proud to call Asheville her home, has published three humor books with a New York agent and is in the process of trying to publish a fourth novel with a regional publisher.

“If you want to write, you have to write every day, even if it’s crap,” Reinhardt said. “It’s a matter of, ‘Are you

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willing to do the work, and are you willing to face the rejections?’”

Jasmine Kimmel, an adjunct research librarian at Ramsey Library who hosted the regional author talk, said the event was a success and elicited only positive feedback.

“She has managed to carve out a piece of the publishing world and leave her mark nationally,” Kimmel said about Reinhardt. “She entertains her audience, enrages some and inspires others. I think the audience that attended our Tuesday night reception thoroughly enjoyed her presentation.”

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lems by providing free substance abuse counselors,” he said.

However, the number of incidents on campus involving possession or use of illegal substances is declining. Oncampus arrests due to drug law violations fell from 26 in 2005 to eight in 2008, according to Campus Police.

This decline could be due to any number of factors, though students’ attitudes about drug use could influence

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has been working to bring the Blue Echo back to the public light and to introduce students to the station for the first time.

“I’ve mostly been doing promotional work so far. I’ve just been trying to stir up interest in the Blue Echo, especially among students who have never heard of it before,” McGlashan said.

The hard work seems to be paying off. According to Halloran, the Blue Echo’s Facebook page jumped from around 100 to more than 250 friends in one month.

Hayes said he felt there was excitement building around the launch of the Blue Echo.

“There’s been anticipation on my end. There’s anticipation from the DJs that want to join in. We’ve been getting lots of e-mails from listeners who are really anxious to see what we can do,” Hayes said.

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Music

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this.

“I feel like if any student, administrator, or faculty member caught with an illegal substance should be held accountable and receive the appropriate punishment. The university’s policy on illegal drugs is clearly stated online, so there should be no excuse for anyone saying ‘I didn’t know,’” said UNCA education student Sarah Parks.

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it,” Kuhlman said. “It doesn’t matter whether you charge for it or give it away if it’s in that shared folder.”

It is at this point the university blocks a computer’s access to the Internet.

“So the first time a person who has that computer with that MAC address tries to sign on to the network, they get a screen that says, ‘Your access has been blocked,’ and it asks for their name and e-mail address,” Kuhlman said. “Then I get a message back telling me who it is and it also tells them to contact me.”

He said once that has happened, the student whose computer the file was found on has two choices, either to state that the claim was a misidentification or accept the charges.

If the student chooses to say the claim was a misidentification, then their computer must be kept off the network for 10 working days.

“What that does is give the people who sent the complaint two weeks in which to go to court, get a subpoena and come back and say, ‘OK, who’s the person that owns this computer?’ in which case we’d have to tell,” Kuhlman said. “Then it becomes between the complainant and whoever owns the computer.”

Millions of people don’t find illegally obtaining media an issue.

“Most of the time people seem not concerned because it’s so common and nonchalant. Most people can do it without being caught,” said junior music technology student Calvin Beveridege.

ACLU

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examples of bias to have their sentence changed to life without parole,” said Alex Holsten, president of the UNCA chapter of the ACLU and another speaker at the local press conference.

Holsten criticized the state government for their failures and hypocrisies.

He demanded the crime labs become their own organization, completely independent of the SBI, but still acknowledged the success of the Racial Justice Act. “It is at this time we must achieve consensus and recognition that the death penalty is archaic, and is only useful as a tool of political oppression -unfit for any democracy, and especially unfit for the United States,” Holsten said.

Arts & Features

Fabric time capsule weaves lives together through art Wednesday, September 22, 2010

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An artist’s one-week residency explores the memories tied to objects Caitlin Byrd

mcbyrd@unca.edu arts and features editor

Ballet pointe shoes hang in a weaving surrounded by black and red material, a stark contrast to the soft presence of the pink satin shoes.

Artist Victoria Hyatt Sowers said she remembers the days when those pointe shoes molded to her feet. She remembers when she started dancing at age 3. She remembers when she begged for more dance lessons. She remembers the day she lost hope, the day she lost dance.

“It was so tragic. I didn’t know anything like I knew dance at that time in my life,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was going to live for anymore.”

During an afternoon of swimming, Sowers agitated her back after doing a swan dive. Doctors told her she might walk, but they did not know. From that day onward, dance was out of the question and out of her life. She said it took her years before she attended a recital or ballet.

However, the dance shoes remained a constant reminder of the more than 20 years she spent as a dancer.

“Even though it’s just a few ballet shoes, it means just as much to me as these items do to students,” Sowers said.

During her one-week art residency with the university, students contributed items that represented a significant time in their lives.

They brought rolls of film, sheet music and birth control. They brought peacock feathers, nametags and seashells. They brought chemistry homework and sewing needles. They brought these items so that they would never be forgotten.

Sowers said as she weaved the objects together, students told her stories about the items and their deeper meaning.

One girl brought a pencil and an unexpected story.

“When she handed me the pencil, I thought she’d just forgotten to bring something,” Sowers said. “It so happens that her father was a contractor and he always wore a pencil behind his ear and when she was a little girl, she would wear pencils behind her ears to show her daddy.”

Anthropology and women’s gender and sexuality student Allison Schad brought in a piece of fabric from her car for the tapestry.

Schad said her item represented society’s dependence on cars for transportation, an

Photo by Megan Dombroski/photography editor

Artist Victoria Hyatt Sowers weaves various donated objects together as part of the fabric time capusle. issue she studied while in Amsterdam.

However, the fabric from her 1975 Buick symbolized another aspect of her life.

Shortly before Schad got her car, she was raped.

“I remember deciding at that point that I wasn’t going to walk around and mope anymore. In a way, this car was part of my liberation,” she said.

The 26-year-old did not talk about her experience with tears, vengeance or hate.

She said the experience remains a part of her life and who she is, but it does not control her.

Schad left this part of her life woven together with the other objects from her classmates and peers. Her story is just one in the tapestry.

“By putting this in the weaving, it’s leaving part of that experience behind,” she said.

“To leave a piece of that story behind and

just have that there and really celebrate it, leave it and have it represented at the same time, means so much. In a way, it was a chance for me to give homage and peace.”

Some students kept the reason behind their item a secret, but Sowers said she still felt a responsibility to tell a story even if she did not know an object’s entire significance.

“I need to feel confident while I’m weaving, or I would not be able to do it,” Sowers said.

Her hands danced in the air as she threaded the material over and under, just like her mother Emily Hyatt taught her.

Hyatt learned how to weave from an instructor on the Cherokee Indian Reservation when she was 18 years old.

“We’ve always had a loom in the house, and when Victoria was about 8 years old, she announced that she wanted to weave.

So, she’s been fooling around with it on and off all of her life. Now, she does it fulltime,” Hyatt said.

During the past 12 years, Sowers completed an average of 28 one-week residencies and weaved with more than 120,000 children and adults. At the end of each residency, the weaving remains.

“I take these objects and I weave them together. I never know what I’m going to get, and I don’t know what to expect when I go places. But, at the end of the day, whether the weaving is for a school or for a commission, it tells a story of a community for that one moment in time,” Sowers said.

Sowers said she hopes that each weaving lasts forever. And, just like the sheen of Sowers’ pink satin pointe ballet shoes, the memories woven together in the fabric of time never fade.

Roller derby team draws crowd at Civic Center Page 10

{The Blue Banner}

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Kelly Drake

k_drake694@webmail.blueridge.edu freelance writer

When the Blue Ridge Rollergirls first started competing in 2007 at South Asheville’s Carrier Park, only a few hundred fans showed up to watch them zip nimbly around the track, deftly knocking their opponents to the ground.

Since moving to the Asheville Civic Center in April 2008, their popularity exploded, and they now draw huge crowds, like the 3,000 people who showed up to watch them face off against the Texas Hell Marys on July 31.

On Saturday, the Blue Ridge Rollergirls took on Atlanta’s B-team, the Rumble Bs, beating them 139-99 to the delight of 1,530 fans. First time derby-goer Angie Cole came out to Saturday’s match not knowing exactly what to expect, and she left thoroughly impressed.

“Roller derby is complex and actually way more organized and bound by rules than I’d imagined,” Cole said. “I think it’s such a great sport for women to feel proud of and for young girls to see women being tough and strong and sexy as legitimate athletes.”

With names like Drag’n SlayHer, Coma N. Ducer, Ima Cravin’ Pain and Rigor Morticia, it’s easy to understand why someone might get the impression that roller derby is a rough and tumble game, but it is actually a sport with very specific rules.

The Blue Ridge Rollergirls follow the guidelines of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, although the league is not yet certified.

“There’s a process you have to go through, and we are in that process, but we play very strictly by those rules,” said Lauren Garcia, 27, known around the circuit as Sugar Magmaulya, a name she based on the famous Grateful Dead song “Sugar Magnolia.”

During a bout, two teams each have five players on the track at a time. One player on each team is known as a jammer and scores points by lapping the other team’s blockers during a two-minute jam. The other four team members are blockers who help their jammer through the pack and block the opposing team’s jammer. After each two-minute jam, the teams have 30 seconds to change their lineup. The entire bout lasts for two 30-minute periods.

The sport is well structured but still quite rough, and protection is required. The girls must wear knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, helmets and mouth guards to be eligible to play, and some skaters opt to wear even more protection.

“We try to train girls to play and fall safely, but just like any full contact sport, injuries are going to happen, and they do,” Garcia said.

“Blue Ridge Rollergirls have become known as a physical team which we are quite proud of – lots of hard hitters. I think sometimes bigger teams come to Asheville

Kimala Bougha-Burklow/staff photographer

A team member on the Blue Ridge Rollergirls remains focused during a bout against the Atlanta’s Bteam, the Rumble Bs last Saturday. The Blue Ridge Rollergirls beat the Rumble Bs with a score of 139-99. not expecting much and are faced with a big surprise,” said Garcia, who has been with the Blue Ridge Rollergirls since they started competing in 2007.

Daron James, owner of Diamond Thieves Body Piercing, which sponsors the Blue Ridge Rollergirls, attended Saturday’s bout and said he is starting to see many familiar faces around the circuit as more and more people are catching roller derby fever.

“I have attended roller derby in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Atlanta and Florida, and I am super proud to be involved with the Blue Ridge Rollergirls, as the local scene here is a whole lot more supportive than anywhere else,” he said.

Garcia said she agreed with James’ sentiment. “I think Asheville is a roller derby town. People around here crave things that are different,” she said. “Roller derby is a sport for people who don’t like sports.”

UNC Asheville political science student, Ulana Holtz, played for the Blue Ridge Rollergirls from September 2009 until last summer. At 21, she was the youngest member of the league at the time,

and she looked up to the other skaters as big sisters. Now a senior, she said the time commitment and expenses made it too difficult to be both a rollergirl and a student.

In addition to the cost of equipment and insurance, each skater is required to pay $30 in monthly dues to cover the team’s rent at Skater’s Choice Family Skating Center in Hendersonville, where they practice three times a week for two intense hours.

“When I graduate, I’m probably going to do it again, especially if I move somewhere new because it’s a really good way to meet people,” said Holtz, who is known to her roller derby fans as Anne Frankenstein.

The entire league is skater run and operated, so in addition to bouts and practices, most skaters are involved in committees which handle things like public relations and marketing, sponsorship, recruitment, procurement of merchandise, training, artwork design and management of the league’s website and social media pages.

“We are not only skating, but we are running a business as well,” Garcia said. “We

do it all.”

In the past, anyone who wanted to be a rollergirl could simply join the team, but as of this year, players must try out for the team. On Sunday, the Blue Ridge Rollergirls held their first official tryout and added 20 new ladies to the team.

To prepare the new recruits for tryouts, the experienced rollergirls organized a summer boot camp to teach the new girls, who they refer to as “fresh meat,” the basics of skating.

They are hoping to have both an A-team and a B-team by next season, which will begin in March.

The Blue Ridge Rollergirls will face the Molly Rogers Rollergirls of Melbourne, Fla., on Nov. 6 at the Asheville Civic Center for their final home game of the season.

Jennifer Ownbey of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College has been attending Blue Ridge Rollergirl home games since March, when this year’s season began. She recommends roller derby to anyone who’s never been.

“It’s the most fun you can have for 10 bucks,” she said.

Local movie premieres after three years of filming Wednesday, September 22, 2010

{The Blue Banner}

Auburn Petty alpetty@unca.edu staff writer

After years of traveling, filming, skating and occasionally crashing, PUSH skate shop finally premiered its film, PUSH, which according to director Ramon Hess, represents the passion he has for skateboarding.

“It really doesn’t feel like I can ever stop being involved with skateboarding,” he said. “Once you’ve been skateboarding for as long as I have, or doing anything passionately, there’s a flame inside you that just doesn’t go out.”

The film, which premiered at the Asheville Pizza and Brewery Company on Sept. 16, drew a large crowd, according to Justin Fyle, a PUSH skateboarder.

Fyle said he was surprised so many people showed up to the screenings. The theaters were packed during both showings of the film. The film took years to create, according to PUSH skate shop owner Rob Sebrell.

Sebrell, 30, said the project began in 2005 to show off the sponsored skaters’ talent.

“We have a team of guys that have been

“We had to focus a lot on filming and getting as much done as possible.”

– Ramon Hess, riding for the shop that we help sponsor,” Sebrell said. “They’ve been on the team since the beginning. We just wanted to create something to show how talented they are at skateboarding and do something creative.”

Hess and Sebrell said they agree the film took hard work on both sides of the camera.

“It’s a film showing the talents of a bunch of local skateboarders here in Asheville. It’s all street skateboarding pretty much,” Sebrell said. “It’s all around Asheville, and we did some traveling for it as well.”

Fashioning

“The video took about three years of local traveling,” Hess said. “We had to focus a lot on filming and getting as much done as possible.”

Many people were involved in the production of the film, Hess said.

“There were 12 people being filmed in the video,” he said. “There are a handful of friends and family who have footage in the video as well, including people we met through traveling and people who traveled to Asheville.”

Hess also said PUSH was a collaborative effort, mainly involving Sebrell, Eric Hunt and himself.

Page 11

“This was three years in the making,” Hess said. “I’ve been a part of this project for a year and a half. By no means am I completely the director of the film.

It is a collaborative effort of everyone involved.”

Fyle said the idea of making a film like this is not foreign to the industry.

“A lot of skate shops make skateboard videos displaying what they do as a team, so that shops can see what everyone else is up to,” he said.

Fyle, who started skating at age 13, said making the film had its ups and downs.

Hess said working on the film helped him gain deeper perspectives about Asheville.

“We’re always looking for new spots all over Asheville,” he said. “You gain a sense of direction just from skating so much.”

Fyle, Hess and Sebrell said skateboarding affects their lives daily.

“It allowed me to look at things independently. On these trips, we would take and gain some perspective on the city we live in,” said Hess.

He said working on the film opened many doors.“I wouldn’t have the relationships I have now had I not been skateboarding.” he said.

Asheville

Technology transforms fashion accessibility Chris Kane

cmkane@unca.edu staff writer

A decade ago, fashion shows were exclusive events. Only magazine editors, buyers and top-priority clients had access. Today, anyone can view them online on a variety of websites.

The Internet has become a major way for people to shop for clothing and accessories. The idea of online commerce is a fairly new one, but it has created a truely international marketplace for fashion and revolutionized the industry.

It is substantial that women in, say, Pigeon Forge, Tenn., can not only see Marc Jacobs’ runway show, but also purchase pieces from the collection without driving to a large city. It was not always this way.

The last 10 years have been good to online retailers, such as Net-A-Porter, which was sold this summer to the Megan Dombroski/photography French fashion conglomerate Compagnie editor Financière Richemont for $534 million.

Math student Hilary Arthur The website also benefited from celebsaid she prefers to buy rity endorsements, including praise from clothing online.

Gwyneth Paltrow in her 2008 interview

for Vogue magazine.

Still, many people resist buying denim, for example, without first testing the fit.

“I don’t have a problem buying accessories, jewelry, or even tops,” said UNC Asheville sophomore Shelby Lott. “But I’m not going to buy pants online.”

Most online clothing retailers include specific measurements for individual items of clothing, which enables men and women to shop without sizing errors and frustrating returns.

Many students feel their wardrobes are more unique because of online pieces.

“I’ve been buying clothes and shoes online for years,” said UNCA sophomore Hilary Arthur. “I have found novelty tees and Keds that I haven’t seen anywhere else. When so many people my age stick to three or four different stores, finding items online is a way to avoid buying something that several of your classmates already have.”

Some popular websites feature clothing that is otherwise inaccessible for students living in Asheville.

Topshop and Topman are stores based in the UK which feature fashionable and affordable clothing, shoes and accesso-

ries. Shopping via their websites is the only way to access their merchandise and the only stateside retail outlet is in New York City.

The Melrose Avenue-based boutique Ron Herman carries many labels confined to the Los Angeles area, along with bargain-priced and more expensive fashions. The boutique’s designer labels and vintage items are available via their website.

The advance in technology has also made it easier to keep up with fashion.

“I watch fashion shows on Style.com every season,” said sophomore Roberta Neuhausler. “It’s so easy for me to keep up. I don’t know what people did before the Internet.”

Some believe that the advance of the Internet and its impact on fashion, has some negative effects. It can be argued that the intimate setting of fashion shows in the past is the best venue for a designer to showcase work. Brands struggle to maintain an exclusive image when their merchandise can be purchased online.

It is now up to public relations and marketing departments of fashion labels to handle online retailing.

Look Homeward {THE BLUE BANNER}

Page 12

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Asheville Shaped thomas wolfe and american literature

Hali Ledford

HDLEDFOR@UNCA.EDU

W

ASSISTANT ARTS AND FEATURES EDITOR

riters who were born in Asheville, some who visited and drew inspiration from the mountains for their work and others who were laid to rest in the city remain part of Asheville’s literary history.

“Asheville has always claimed the identity of a small Southern city which attracts talented people,” said literature and language professor Gwen Ashburn. “In the early part of the 1900s, up until the Depression, there were people making a living boosting the image of the city and the region and marketing its beauty and its attraction of a cultured resort town where people with money often came to summer and sometimes to be healed.”

Born in Asheville in October of 1900, Thomas Wolfe put Asheville on the literary map, according to Ashburn, who specializes in Southern literature.

“Wolfe is the most prominent writer that Asheville lays claim to,” Ashburn said.

“None yet have built the reputation Wolfe did.”

His father, an alcoholic, worked as a stonecutter carving mainly gravestones.

Aside from being a homemaker and raising eight children, Wolfe’s mother invested in real estate in Asheville and opened up a boarding house, Old Kentucky Home, which is now open to the public as the

Thomas Wolfe memorial, according to Chris Morton, operations manager at the memorial.

Wolfe lived in the boarding house with his mother and grew up among the many different travelers who stayed at Old Kentucky Home, according to Morton, who has worked there for 15 years.

“From the perspective of adulthood he looked back on his childhood and saw this as unsettling, that he was growing up in a situation where he did not have a functioning family life and everything that was done was done for these boarders,” Morton said.

Wolfe’s first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, tells the story of a young man growing up in the small town of Altamont. Wolfe’s descriptions of Altamont and the town’s residents bear a similarity to Asheville during Wolfe’s time, according to Morton.

“It’s well-established as part of the town’s lure that Asheville was not happy with Look Homeward, Angel,” Morton said. “Asheville was a small town, Asheville is still a small town, but in 1929 there were approximately 32 to 33,000 year-round inhabitants.

People in this town knew each other. They knew the grocers, they knew the various members of the clergy and the town’s political leaders.”

Reacting to some of the criticism of his first novel, Wolfe downplayed his portrayal of Asheville as Libya Hill in his following novels, The Web and the Rock and You Can’t Go Home Again, Morton said.

Asheville’s native son hated the city that he described in his writings, according to

Erica Abrams Locklear, assistant literature and language professor, who teaches Southern literature courses.

“He was so critical and so derogatory,” Abrams Locklear said. “One of his plays was about the mountains and he had this awful quote about how the mountains are like these monsters that hem the people in and keep them from developing.”

Wolfe died in September 1938, two weeks before he turned 38, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery in his hometown, according to Morton.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, spent time in Asheville at the Grove Park Inn, drinking and carousing, while his wife, Zelda, remained a patient at Highlands Hospital, according to Ashburn.

“Essentially, Fitzgerald was past his literary prime by the time he came to Asheville,” Ashburn said. “He had been to Hollywood as a screenwriter already and all of his best works were past him.”

The Grove Park Inn still celebrates Fitzgerald’s visits to Asheville with “A Salute to F. Scott Fitzgerald” weekend, which occurs every year around his birthday in September.

This year, the tribute weekend will start this Friday and end Sunday with tours of Fitzgerald’s rooms, jazz music and foxtrot lessons, according to the Grove Park Inn. Short story writer William Sydney Porter, also known as O. Henry, lived in Asheville for a short time. He didn’t write much about living in the area but his short stories achieved national prominence. Porter’s “Let

Me Feel Your Pulse” is an autobiographical story about seeking a cure in the mountains, according to Ashburn in her contribution to The Companion to Southern Literature.

After his death in 1910, Porter’s wife buried him in Riverside Cemetery, not far from where Wolfe would later be buried, Ashburn said.

“Generally, when we talk about Asheville as a literary venue, we either think that the writer spent a quantity of his or her life here or used it as a place, and O. Henry doesn’t really qualify for either of those but we get to claim him because he is buried here,” Ashburn said. “It was the right time and right place for O. Henry.”

Other writers such as Christian Reid, who wrote In the Land of the Sky, a phrase that Asheville still uses to promote the region, Fenimore Woolson, Wilma Dykeman, John Ehle and Fred Chappell, to name a few, used Asheville as the setting for their novels, according to Ashburn.

“Even if not native sons or long-term residents, it was good for developers to be able to promote the city as where the rich and famous liked to hang out. So O. Henry’s and Fitzgerald’s residencies would have been reported nationally and certainly are included now in their biographies. Asheville thus still takes pride in them as artists and writers of national prominence who lived here, albeit in the latter stages of their careers,” Ashburn said. “I think it is a very common trait with people and places to want to share in the fame of celebrities and to establish ties with them, no matter how tenuous.”

“The mountains were his masters. They rimmed in life. They were the cup of reality, beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his absolute unity in the midst of eternal change.”

Thomas Wolfe LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL

{THE BLUE BANNER}

Page 13

Photos by Katie Saylors/assistant photography editor Famous American novelist Thomas Wolfe grew up in Asheville on 48 Spruce St. at “Old Kentucky Home.”

All photos are of this national historic landmark.

Page 14

{The Blue Banner}

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Adam Gross/staff photographer

Mark Koven observes his work on display in the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery. His work is a part of the Annual Studio Art Faculty Exhibit.

Art faculty members showcase their work for students and community Anne Louise Bouchard alboucha@unca.edu staff writer

Assistant professor of art Mark Koven said he participates in the Annual Studio Art Faculty Exhibition to lead by example.

“I think it is important for art students, or any students, to know that teachers are active in research,” the Los Angeles native said. “It is not all about telling, but also about showing.”

Koven, who came to UNC Asheville last year from Florida State University, also said students should know that their teachers are a part of the art community.

“It is a good way to introduce ourselves every academic year to new students and faculty, and to show our students what we do in our various areas of concentration,” said Robert Tynes, professor of art at UNCA. Tynes, who is also the director of the gallery, has been contributing to the exhibition since 1987, when he began teaching here.

“Sometimes it is easy to forget that before our professors started teaching, they were artists first,” said Lilly Scharf, an art history and painting student at UNCA.

The sophomore said she looks forward to the exhibit every year. “There are some really spectacular pieces on display,” she said. “It definitely makes me want to strive hard to impress them.”

Scharf also likes the event because it shows how much talent the UNCA faculty has to offer. Tynes and Koven have both gotten positive feedback from not only students, but others in the community.

“It is usually very positive, and comes in the forms of verbal comments made by students, faculty and the general public who attend the show either at the opening reception or during the run of the show,” Tynes said.

An opening reception was held on Sept.

3 for people to stop by and meet some of the exhibit’s participants.

The S. Tucker Cooke Gallery hosts the exhibit every year. Located on the bottom floor of Owen Hall, the gallery contains different forms of art, ranging from digital photos to oil paintings.

In the corner of the room hangs a microphone with a projection screen behind it.

Koven’s piece “Hear on the 7th Planet,” focuses on the children’s book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Koven created this interactive piece to ad-

dress different fields like science and literature.

“For me, art needs to retain its playfulness,” said Koven, who teaches sculpture and extended media.

“It is important to retain a childlike curiosity,” he said.

The exhibit has come a long way since its beginnings. Originally, it was held in the lobby of Owen Hall. Soon after the building was constructed in the 1980s, Tucker Cooke, the gallery’s namesake, made the show the tradition it is today.

To recruit faculty, Tynes e-mails them several months ahead of time to let them know the dates of the exhibit.

“I think this may be the largest group of studio art faculty represented in the annual art faculty exhibition,” Tynes said.

There are 13 members of the art department’s faculty in the show, and six of them also teach art history.

“Faculty members like to share with students and the general public what new artworks they have created and usually have no problem complying with this request,” Tynes said.

He said what the faculty showcased in the exhibit is completely up to them.

Koven actively worked on his piece for

the show for about a month. However, he has had the piece in mind for a year now.

“As an artist, you are either stuck, happily or unhappily, constantly thinking about your art,” Koven said. “My brother is an accountant and doesn’t go home at the end of the night thinking about his accounting work.”

He said he found the materials he would use to begin the creative process.

“Bubbles were something I had worked with before, but I liked that they weren’t permanent,” he said. Koven also said he enjoyed working with sound as a medium and enjoyed pairing it with the bubbles. “I want to move the viewer from observer to participant,” Koven said.

Koven joined the faculty to assist the sculpture program, and he said he feels supported here. He said he saw the move as a chance to get back to the liberal arts curriculum.

“I was looking forward to a whirlistic approach to combine art and teaching,” Koven said.

“I think this appeals to anyone,” Scharf said.

The exhibition started Sept. 3 and runs until Sept. 28. The gallery is open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

{The Blue Banner}

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Page 15

Campus Spotlight

Health and wellness student discovers her passion in clogging

Alyssa Spencer afspence@unca.edu managing editor

W

hen clogger Stephanie Keys leaves her dorm room in the morning, she stuffs textbooks, notebooks and three types of dance shoes into her bag.

“The days I dance, I’m exhausted because I wake up at 6:45,” said Keys, a senior health and wellness student. “I spend my time going to class, studying, dancing and trying to remember to grab food in between.”

Keys is a member of the Asheville Clogging and Dance Company. She said she began taking clogging classes more than a year ago on a whim and recently started Irish step dancing.

“It was really random that I started getting into clogging,” Keys said. “I saw a flyer in New Hall that my instructor, Ashley Shimberg, had put up, because she went to UNC Asheville. So I thought, ‘Oh, this sounds cool,’ and I took the flyer, not thinking I was really going to go for it. But then I e-mailed Ashley and she convinced me to come.”

Keys said she began taking tap, jazz and ballet lessons when she was 3, but felt more of an interest for team sports as she grew up.

“I switched over to basketball and softball when I was 8 or 9, and I did ROTC in high school,” she said. “I don’t even know how I got into dance when I was little. My passion toward dance is newly developed.”

Her calendar and daily schedule reflect this passion. In addition to being in the studio two nights a week, Keys takes a beginner’s jazz class on campus.

“I like learning different genres of dance every week,” Keys said. “I don’t think I prefer one style of dance over another. Irish dance is very strict. You are on your tiptoes the entire time and your knees are always supposed to be touching each other. It helps me have great balance. Clogging is a little more relaxed, more impromptu.”

Irish step dance requires two types of shoes, according to Keys. She wears a soft shoe to develop balance and grip the floor and switches to a hard shoe to create tapping noises.

“We use ballet shoes and tap shoes for Irish dancing, and it’s important to keep your posture and stay up on your toes while using both pairs of shoes,” Keys said. “One is not easier than the other.”

Keys said one of her favorite aspects of dancing is performing with her fellow dancers and gaining energy from responsive crowds.

“We usually have one or two local performances a month as a company,” she

“I like learning different genres of dance every week.”

– Stephanie Keys, clogger and health and wellness student said. “We’ve performed at Fiddlin’ Pig, Fletcher Park and Johnson Farm. Anyone from the company can participate in the performances.”

Keys danced in her first clogging competition at the Mountain State Fair Sept.

11. She said being judged was stressful, but the competition got her excited to participate in others.

“We’re currently working on getting ready for the Hickory Hoedown, which is Nov. 19 to 21,” Keys said. “It’s a competition, and clogging instructors from all over the state come to give teaching workshops.”

Keys said parades are among some of her most memorable dance performances because they are physically exhausting.

Her dance company performed at last year’s Hendersonville Christmas Parade, and on Labor Day weekend they performed in the North Carolina Apple Festival.

“Every movement in a parade is difficult,” she said. “We have to simultaneously focus on our steps while making sure we are moving forward. One time, we danced to the same song six or seven times and only had about 30 seconds to catch our breath in between.”

Dancing is very demanding, according to Keys, who said she has had her fair share of injuries while practicing. She regularly endures bruised and calloused feet, and suffered a gash on her ankle when her Irish tap shoe dug into her skin.

Still, Keys said the positives outweigh the negatives by far.

“I love getting off campus and getting social interaction with people who share my passion,” Keys said. “Even after I graduate, I’d love to continue taking lessons and performing.”

Keys’s next performance takes place Oct. 9 at the Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville.For more information on the Asheville Clogging and Dance Company, contact Director Ashley Shimberg at 828-329-3856.

Photo courtesey of Stephanie Keys

Stephanie Keys smiles while she dances at the Fiddlin’Pig. Keys knows many styles of dance and takes a weekly jazz class.

Etc. . .

Page 16

Photo Corner

{The Blue Banner}

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Campus Events Latin American Film Screening Karpen Hall 139 Thursday, 6 - 8:30 p.m.

Medicare Made Easy Reuter Center 206 Friday, 2 - 4 p.m.

Art Exhibit: Arrington Williams Paintings Ramsey Library, Blowers Gallery Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Chayon-Ryu Martial Arts Club Highsmith Union 223 Monday, 6 p.m.

Anna Kiser / design editor

WLOS Channel 13 News visits UNCA on Monday to interview students about a light saber war on the Quad. Underdog Productions hosted the event as part of Space Week to bring the campus together.

Author talk with Michael Cogsdill Ramsey Library Tuesday, Noon - 1 p.m.

For more campus activities, visit: www.unca.edu/barker

Sports Wednesday, September 22, 2010

{The Blue Banner}

Page 17

Photo Courtesy of UNCA Athletics

Men’s basketball assistant coach Nicholas McDevitt, second from left, looks on at his team at the Eddie Biedenbach Golf Classic.

Charity golf tournament raises $50,000 for UNCA Athletics

Justin Stewart jastewar@unca.edu staff writer

The Cliffs at Walnut Cove once again hosted men’s basketball Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach’s yearly golf tournament to benefit UNC Asheville athletic programs.

Biedenbach invited more than 30 of his closest friends to the fundraising event last Tuesday, where a star-studded field of personalities known throughout the national sports landscape participated in the second annual Eddie Biedenbach Golf Classic.

“Biedenbach has a lot of contacts in the athletic world, as he’s been involved with intercollegiate athletics for over 40 years,” said Mike Gore, UNCA’s associate athletics director for external affairs.

This year’s tournament featured some of the more recognizable names in college basketball. Many have been in acquaintance with Biedenbach throughout his longstanding career as a player, assistant and coach.

College of Charleston’s coach, Bobby Cremins, who played and coached against

“It was just a fantastic group of people. We had a lot of great guys and a lot of great players.”

– Eddie Biedenbach,

men’s basketball head coach Biedenbach, as well as Davidson’s Bob McKillop, highlighted the college coaches in attendance.

Former North Carolina State University basketball icons David Thompson and Tom Burleson also participated in the event. Thompson and Burleson were a pivotal pair in N.C. State’s 1974 National Championship squad, when they played for Biedenbach, who was the Wolfpack’s assistant coach.

“Most of these people played in the ’60’s and ’70’s,” said Ken Hogue, UNCA direc-

tor for development and alumni affairs.

“It was like going back in time for most of the attendees. They just love hearing the stories told about games that were played in the old days.”

“It was just a fantastic group of people,” Biedenbach said. “We had a lot of great guys and a lot of great players.”

CBS Sports’ longtime college basketball staple Bill Packer, as well as former NBA player-turned-ESPN analyst Jon Barry, also took part in the tournament. According to Hogue, Packer was among those

who stole the stage at the event’s reception on Monday night at The Ramble’s Living Well Center.

“Billy Packer is just an entertainer,” Hogue said. “He’s unbelievable.”

The reception, which Hogue referred to as the “Night of Legends,” allowed the celebrity guests to take the podium and roast Biedenbach, as well as answer questions from the numerous local supporters of Bulldog athletics.

Jack Nicklaus designed the Cliffs Walnut Cove establishment, located south of Asheville. According to Hogue, the course also fielded the legion of local UNCA backers, who pledged $500 each to golf alongside Biedenbach and his celebrity invitees.

“We had just over 100 players, which was a little short of a full field, but we’re pleased with what we did,” Hogue said.

Biedenbach, who will enter his 15th season as the men’s head basketball coach this year, said he was equally satisfied with the outpouring of support from the community.

See GOLF Page 20

{The Blue Banner}

Page 18

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Sports Profile

Former Bulldog soccer players continue to succeed Three Bulldog Alumni take on new challenges after college soccer Justin Greenwood jsgreenw@unca.edu staff writer

Photo Courtesy of UNCA Athletics

Patrick Tate works the defense as a Bulldog for UNCA in 2008.

Three teammates saw the doors close on the soccer program at East Carolina University at the end of 2005, but that didn’t stop them from continuing their careers on the field.

Alex Morrow was the first of the three teammates to transfer to UNC Asheville in January of 2006. He was a big part of the Bulldogs’ roster until 2009, when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history.

“I ended up at UNC Asheville after the soccer program at ECU was dropped due to monetary issues,” Morrow said.

His career choice, however, didn’t have anything to do with his degree or playing on the soccer field. Instead, he had something else in mind.

After being a leader on the soccer field, Morrow decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps, where he currently holds the rank of second lieutenant.

“I never really considered playing soccer after college,” Morrow said. “I think there were some possibilities out there for me, but I had already made up my mind, and I began talking with my recruiter before my senior season began.”

Like most people who join the Marines, Morrow said he was frequently asked why he decided to enlist.

“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Morrow said. “I believe that it’s everyone’s, not just males’, duty to service this country in some form.”

Even though it was something he wanted to do, Morrow said he started to have second thoughts about joining after his sergeant instructors kicked in his squad bay doors.

“I remember trying to jump out of my rack at 4 in the morning to get dressed with the S.I.s storming up and down the hallway, thinking, ‘I can’t do another day of this,’” Morrow said. “But I realized that I wasn’t the only one who lost 25 pounds and was half crazy. The day I was commissioned was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.”

Currently stationed in Pensacola, Fla., Morrow is preparing for flight school while trying to adjust to a lifestyle not quite as laid back as Asheville.

Morrow was responsible for bringing two of his teammates from ECU to UNCA, including fellow midfielder Patrick Tate.

“I knew I wanted to continue to play soccer, and Alex had already transferred the semester before I did,” Tate said. “He played a big part in getting me in contact with UNCA’s Head Coach Cornish, and after that, everything lined up.”

Similar to Morrow, Tate began to have an idea of what he wanted to do with his future during his senior year of college when his coach put professional soccer thoughts in his head.

“Coach Cornish mentioned something to me about how he thought that I should try out and how he was going to help me out,” Tate said. “After that, I began to think about it seriously and work hard to get on a team.”

Tate earned his degree in management in May 2009, but instead of filling out job applications, he went to an open tryout for the Charleston Battery football club.

After impressing the coaches, Tate was offered a contract with the Battery, but was loaned to the Wilmington Hammerheads for his rookie season.

“I was very excited to get loaned out to the Hammerheads in my rookie year because I was not getting much playing time in Charleston and it was an opportunity for me to gain experience,” Tate said.

Tate had four goals and two assists as a Bulldog. The biggest goal of his career

See BULLDOG Page 20

Water rafting trip makes a splash for UNCA Outdoor Recreation Amari Clements aclement@unca.edu

staff writer

UNC Asheville’s Campus Recreation spent last weekend giving back to nature .

On Saturday, members had a water rafting trip, and on Sunday there was a service trip at Mount Mitchell, according to Nolan LaVoie, assistant director of Outdoor

Recreation and Education.

Their rafting trip took place down section 9 of the French Broad River, which is one of the oldest rivers in the Eastern United States.

“All in all, it is a beautiful place close to home,” said student supervisor Georgia Lee Tryon.

The river may also be the home to the largest population of great blue herons in

North America.

Seven students went on the trip. Junior trip leaders Rachel Taylor and Dana Middleton said they were excited to accomopany the students.

“Rafting is fun for me. I have done the water kayaking and canoeing, and I feel rafting is less technical,” Middleton said.

Rafting is considered to be less dangerous than kayaking or canoeing because the

raft is bigger than a kayak and a canoe, and many people can fit into one.

“It was great. Everyone really enjoyed it,” Middleton said.

Middleton has worked with Outdoor Recreation as a trip leader since her freshman year. She also works in the program’s office and is part of the Traveling Initia-

See RAFTING Page 19

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Page 19

{The Blue Banner}

Women’s soccer team clinches first season win Natalie Pearson ngpearso@unca.edu sports editor

Frankie Camacho/ staff photographer

Volleyball dominates Western tournament The Bulldogs practice at home for the Western Carolina Invitational, in which they went undefeated.

Rush Masten

ramasten@unca.edu staff writer

In volleyball action last weekend, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs cleaned up at the Western Carolina Invitational Tournament.

The Bulldogs dominated Western Carolina University and North Carolina A&T, playing only seven sets in total.

Cindi Miller, Rachel Guinane and Kelsey Benordan received All-Tournament team status.

The wins set the record at 6-6 for the season.

According to junior outside hitter Miller, the victories can be attributed to their skill levels.

“Individual skills put together made a good team effort,” she said.

The first game of the tournament for UNCA was against North Carolina A&T. They won three heavy attacking sets with scores of 25-6, 25-13 and 25-9 against the Aggies.

Miller contributed 10 kills in the course

“Individual skills put together made a good team effort.”

– Cindi Miller,

junior volleyball player

of the match. Hallie Morose linked 15 assists and Guinane had 13 throughout the game while Rachel Wells organized nine digs for the defense.

The second match of the afternoon against host WCU consisted of four sets. The Bulldogs took the first set 25-17, a strong pace for the games to come. However, they lost

Rafting

tives program.

Outdoor Recreation’s goals include team building and teaching skills such as cooperation, communication, trust, decisionmaking and teamwork.

“Our role is to teach the skills necessary to go out and do a trip on your own. I think that on the longer trips that we do, like the Everglades, we fall into more of a facilitating role. We plan for months so students who aren’t comfortable or knowledgeable

the second set 22-25. The Bulldogs rallied for the last two sets, which ended in victory. The scores for the sets were 25-17 and 25-19.

Although the tournament was a major improvement from the 0-3 outing at the East Tennessee Invitational a week before, Miller said she thinks they still have work to do.

“I’ve learned that we have lots of work to do to get to the top of our conference,” she said.

Miller said the end of the games is the source of their weakness.

“Finishing matches is our biggest problem,” she said.

Head Coach Julie Torbett attributes the losses to a slow start.

“We are starting matches too slow. We need to be tougher mentally,” Torbett said.

The Bulldogs began their Big South Conference Champions chase yesterday at home against the Runnin’ Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb.

“I think the team is doing well. I‘m excited,” Miller said.

Continued

enough to plan their own extended canoe trips can experience what it’s like to spend six days out in the wilderness with alligators, whales, dolphins and tons of other wildlife,” Tryon said.

Although the trip leaders said they would like to go on all the trips, there is a selection process. They sign up for the trips they are interested in, and then they are assigned to two or three a semester.

Students needed $75, tennis shoes or wa-

from

Page 18

ter shoes and a change of clothes to be part of the rafting experience. The rafting company they chose took care of the rest.

“Working with commercial companies, I have yet to have a bad experience,” Tryon said.

Sunday’s service trip was a free event for students. It gave them the opportunity to give back to the park system. They did trail maintenance on top of Mount Mitchell, which is the highest peak in the area.

After six tough losses, the women’s soccer team ended its losing streak and defeated the Francis Marion Patriots.

The 2-1 victory against the Division II School from South Carolina marked the teams first win of the season and pushed the season record to 1-6.

“I was happy with this win,” Head Coach Michelle Demko said. “I think it’s really important the players feel the success of their two months of hard work. We have adjusted our mentality.”

Suffering a Patriot goal just 25 minutes into the game, the Bulldogs walked off the field at halftime down 1-0.

However, UNC Asheville rallied hard in the second half and controlled the play, determined not to add another notch to their L column.

In the 61st minute, their hard work paid off.

Off a corner kick, junior midfielder Leilani Halkiotis dropped the ball straight into the box, finding fellow junior Mary Beale. Beale, who normally plays as a goalkeeper, jumped on the loose ball and sneaked it around the Patriot keeper to earn her first career goal.

“I was really excited,” Beale said. “I wasn’t expecting it.”

Finding themselves 1-1, UNCA continued the pressure, and five minutes later the Bulldogs struck again.

Breaking away from the Patriot defense, senior forward Dana Stroka looped the ball over the head and out of reach of FMU’s goalie’s desperate attempt at a save to secure the Bulldog’s lead in the 65th minute.

The goal marked her first of the season.

“I did not know the ball was going in and I was really excited when I saw it go over the goalie’s hands,” Stroka said. “I saw an opportunity to shoot and I’m so glad that I did.”

The Bulldogs then switched into defense mode, holding off seven shots from Frances Marion to win the game.

According to Stroka, the win can be attributed to hard work.

“We were aggressive and we challenged every ball. We kept up our intensity for the entire game and everyone worked extremely hard. I was so proud of my teammates,” she said.

Golf

Page 20

Continued

Photo Courtesy of UNCA Athletics

Men’s basketball Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach takes a swing at his golf tournament held at the Cliffs at Walnut Cove last week.

Bulldog came in 2007 when he made a game winning overtime free kick against ACC giants Clemson.

“My first appearance in a professional game was one of the best feelings that I have ever had,” Tate said. “It was a lowkey game for the Battery, but I was still nervous. But once the game started I was in my element.”

In March, Tate’s professional career came to an end when he was released from the Battery. However, the former Bulldog wasn’t done with soccer for good.

“Not being around soccer was really getting to me and I knew I had to do something to get back into it, because it is what I love to do,” Tate said. “I was looking on a coaching website one day and saw that the same school as Coach Cornish moved to was looking for an assistant soccer coach, so I immediately called Cornish to see if it

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

{The Blue Banner} Page 17

“We had better participation and turnout than we did last year,” Biedenbach said.

“Under the economic situation, I was real pleased last year, but more pleased this year that we were able to do it again a little bit better.”

Biedenbach stressed the importance of the annual outing’s fundraising efforts, not only for the contributions to the UNCA Student-Athlete Scholarship Fund, but also the bonds fortified with those area donors.

“Of course, the financial contributions from the sponsors and participants were very significant for us. However, the relationships of people in the community, interacting with the important folks coming here, was really, really great,” Biedenbach said. “For them to take the time out of their busy schedules to do something like this for UNC Asheville is great.”

Resources for UNCA’s athletic department have been on the decline in recent years, so the money generated from Biedenbach’s friendly annual round of golf should be of great assistance to the school’s various sports teams. According to Biedenbach, proceeds from the event assist the new athletic facilities on campus.

“The fund helps us with the new basketball arena,” Biedenbach said.

The Eddie Biedenbach Celebrity Golf Classic has contributed to all facets of UNCA’s athletic programs, not just men’s basketball.

According to Hogue, one of the individuals behind the tournament’s organization and conception, last year’s tournament collected more than $50,000, and this year’s venture has produced similar numbers.

“It was really successful,” Biedenbach said.

Continued

was something that I should get into.”

Former UNCA coach Cornish hired Tate as an assistant coach at Shattuck-St. Mary’s school in Faribault, Minn., in August. Tate said he is settling in as part of his former coach’s staff.

John Gallagher, the third player that made the switch from ECU to UNCA in 2006, quickly became an important part of the Bulldogs offense.

Unfortunately, a series of injuries plagued him for a big part of his career at John UNCA. Gallagher “One thing I would do differently is train harder,” Gallagher said. “I was breaded with injuries. If I would have come in in-shape to preseason, these injuries could have been solved.”

from

from

Page 17

Despite the injuries, Gallagher had a successful career as a Bulldog and even went on to try out for professional teams at the Info Sports Combine after he graduated in December 2008 with a degree in psychology.

“I played very well, making it to the final game of the combine where they picked 30 players to play out of about 300,” Gallagher said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t picked up.”

After more unsuccessful tryouts, Gallagher decided try his luck in the U.K. at a series of tryouts.

“After being out of soccer for two years, I have decided I miss playing too much,” Gallagher said. “Soccer has been such a major part of my life. I have been lost without playing. England has a lot more pro teams, so hopefully it will help my chances.”

Bulldog Scorecard Men’s soccer Friday vs. Lipscomb 0-2 (L) Sunday vs. Belmont 1-2 (L)

Women’s soccer

Wednesday vs. Furman 1-4 (L) Sunday vs. Francis Marion 2-1 (W)

Volleyball

Saturday vs. North Carolina A&T 3-0 (W) vs. Western Carolina 3-1 (W) Tuesday vs. Gardener-Webb 3-0 (W)

Mary Beale

Women’s soccer player Mary Beale scored her first career goal Sunday vs. Francis Marion.

Campus Voice

Turning 21 prompts dangerous fun in unwary drinkers Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Renee Bindewald RMBINDEW@UNCA.EDU

STAFF WRITER

In America, the day a person turns 18 is the day they become an adult, but no one actually becomes an adult until they turn 21.

“I completely agree that 21 is the real passage into adulthood because you can partake in adult behaviors and activities, such as going out for a drink with someone,” said Jon Griffin, a 23-year-old UNC Asheville senior.

Griffin said he did not feel the need to go out and party on his 21st birthday.

“It’s not like it was the first time I had ever consumed alcohol,” Griffin said. “I didn’t go out, but I did have people over for a few bottles of the trashiest wine I could find.”

James Phillips, a 21-year-old senior, said he wanted his 21st birthday to be a night to remember.

“I definitely see the night of turning 21 as a night where you are finally accepted as an adult because the main restriction of your college career has been lifted,” Phillips said.

“For my 21st birthday, I made sure that I went out, but I was done in 30 minutes,” Phillips said. “With my new freedom, it was the first time I ever got

{THE BLUE BANNER}

Page 21

carried away.”

With their birthdays falling during the school year, some students find themselves caught battling whether or not to go out.

Senior physics student Klint Davis, 21, said he was unable to drink on his birthday.

“I had a test in quantum mechanics and a test in differential equations on my actual birthday, and the day after I had a test in both fluid mechanics and modern physics,” Davis said. “That was not a good two days.”

Davis said going out was not an option for him because of the amount of work he had to do.

“Some things are just more important than drinking,” Davis said. “A birthday is just another day in the year. I’ll be able to drink for the rest of my life, but with being a physics major, I just don’t have time to drink.”

There are also students who can go out but simply choose not to drink.

Stephen Welch, a 21-year-old literature student, said he does not drink at all, so to him turning 21 was just another birthday.

“I had a lot of friends over and we had root beer and had an awesome time sober,” Welch said. “I think drinking is stupid in general, but I don’t really care

what other people choose to do.”

Even without drinking, Welch said he found an upside to his birthday.

“The only cool thing about turning 21 was that I could go to all the shows I wanted to and didn’t have to pay more to do so,” Welch said.

Though Welch does not drink, he still does not agree with the legal drinking age being 21.

“I don’t see why the drinking needs to be at 21. There is no logical argument to keep it there instead of 18,” Welch said.

“People are going to overdo it no matter what.”

There are dangers involved with going and throwing caution to the wind, even for just one night.

“I think the 21 issue is that it seems to be very student specific. If students already drink, they want to drink more on their 21st birthday. They think they have to do more on their 21st birthday,” said Jay Cutspec, director of student health and counseling at UNCA. Cutspec works with Peers Advocating Wellness Strategies, an organization that encourages healthy living on campus and helps students transition from living at home to living on their own.

“We want students to remember that they can go out and have a good time without going too far. There is the ex-

pectation of, ‘Oh now you’re 21 and have to go all out,’” Cutspec said.

PAWS works with resident assistants and other student organizations to remind students to be responsible when they go out drinking.

“We also don’t want you to drink and drive, so make sure you have a nondrinking person in the group,” Cutspec said. “Don’t go off on your own or with strangers, and keep your drink with you at all times.”

In any situation, Cutspec reminds students to monitor the number of drinks they have and to make sure they have plenty to eat beforehand.

“Decide well before your birthday what you are going to do and how much you’re going to drink so you don’t get sucked into the peer expectations that may be out there. If you have never had alcohol before 21, then you have to use extra caution because your body has not developed a tolerance to it and you don’t know how your body is going to react to it.”

Yes, at 18 someone can vote, join the military, be called for jury duty, buy cigarettes and be tried as an adult in a court of law, but they can’t go buy a beer. So, a drinking age of 21 leaves that one facet of society out of many students’ legal reach.

with sites such as Craigslist and BetterAshevilleJobs. A CareerBuilder survey of more than 2,500 employers found that 35 percent of companies use social media as marketing or advertising tools.

There are a wide variety of outlets available to peruse the job market, but many request the most informal and impersonal means of communication, an e-mail.

They specify “no phone calls” and “no drop-ins,” leaving a small window for those who may not have their credentials up to par on paper.

“I think these businesses lose out on people that could have been the right fit by filtering out who they think is right on paper,” Distephano said. “While I might not be the best applicant in writing, my appearance and personality might be the right fit for your company.”

It is a prevailing feeling among many as communication sinks deeper into electronic devices and depends less on

the personal and interactive. Today’s applicants are judged not only by the quality of their online application, but on Facebook statistics, Myspace photos and a plethora of other online goodies.

UNC Asheville Career Center Director Eileen Buecher said there is more technology involved in today’s job search, but students’ frustrations are not based in technological hysteria.

“The frustration is in the economy,” Buecher said. “If you’re transitioning into the career field for the first time, you must do everything you’re supposed to do. This includes writing a resume and sending it out online. This dip in the economy will rise and fall again, and students must be aware of that.”

With a reported 14.9 million Americans unemployed as of August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is undoubtedly a reasonable response to both the economy and a growing decrease in personal interac-

tion.

“I’m glad that students want more personal communication,” Buecher said.

“They should. And what you should know is that liberal arts students usually don’t have direct career paths because they are creative and good at networking and have the potential to fit into almost any field.”

Although that may seem a little too “over the rainbow” for some, the statistics from the class of 2006-07 support her opinion.

“Based on an 82.9 percent survey response rate, 72.4 percent of the class of 2006-07 class secured employment or pursued additional education within one year of education,” she said.

Although endless online job searches and long nights on the computer are not the tools the educated want to employ in their job hunt, hopefully a winning liberal arts personality will ultimately shine through.

Computer skills ease entry to crowded job market

Tiffany Narron

TIPHANYPHAITH@YAHOO.COM STAFF WRITER

Society is lingering in the midpoint of a technological time portal. Many are questioning where it is heading and to what extent society will take its electronic obsession, while others seem content to ride the techno-current.

Love it or hate it, an increasingly controversial communication breakdown affects graduating students in one of the most important areas: the overwhelming task of landing their ultimate job.

“If you don’t have a solid job history leaving college, then you lose employment chances these days,” said senior psychology student Brittany Distephano. “A lot of employers base their decisions on what they have on paper.”

The science behind the employment industry is, of course, up to date with the current technological relationship

Students buy passes for limited number of parking spaces Page 22

Josh Robinson JRROBINS@UNCA.EDU STAFF WRITER

The mantra, “There’s nowehere to park,” is stronger than ever.

During the past two years, campus parking options have taken a major blow. In fact, it’s getting a little ridiculous.

The lot above the Justice Center is now gone to make room for the new North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness building, which also includes the Kimmel Arena.

A large chunk of spaces in the parking lot just outside of Zeis Hall have been blocked off and designated for construction work.

A number of spots in the parking garage underneath the cafeteria have been designated for service vehicles, further taking away from the already dwindling available spaces for people to park.

Add that to the number of parking spots taken from faculty lots and there are even fewer places for students to park, since many faculty and staff now have to park in areas designated for students.

So now, students and faculty have to compete for parking.

{THE BLUE BANNER}

According to the parking information page on UNC Asheville’s website, “Faculty and staff may park in nonresidential student lots after normal business hours from 5 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., Monday through Friday and on weekends, campus breaks and holidays.”

It’s difficult to believe this is being enforced when so many vehicles with “Faculty/Staff” parking permits are sitting in nonresidential student lots during normal business hours.

Students sure don’t seem to be getting the same consideration, though.

At least, that’s what comes to mind when rows of nonresidential students’ cars are decorated with parking tickets tucked in between the windshield and wipers.

It’s understood this is only a temporary problem, but that doesn’t make it any easier for students to find a place to park.

Yes, students at UNCA are lucky to have such a conveniently small campus. Having a class across campus usually means a five-minute walk, unlike even the closest university, Western Carolina University, where it could take 15 to 20 minutes.

But, considering more than half of

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UNCA’s students live off campus, it seems there should be a stronger focus on making sure parking spaces are available to students.

There is no easy fix, but considering everyone pays $70 for a parking pass, the hunt for a parking spot shouldn’t be all-out war.

What’s the point in paying for a parking permit when it’s not even guaranteed a space can be found?

UNCA alumna Anna-Grace Deierlein said arriving to campus an hour before her scheduled class rarely helped her find a spot.

“I shouldn’t have had to get up that much earlier just so I could circle and circle and circle until somebody decided to leave their spot. It’s ridiculous,” she said. “I felt like a vulture until somebody would leave and I could get a spot.”

The parking situation hasn’t gotten any better this semester.

“I have to be there a few minutes before 9 a.m. just to find a parking spot,” said junior Scott Evans.“What’s worse is my class doesn’t start until 10 a.m.”

It’s not uncommon for large sections of parking lots to be blocked off for oncampus events, such as guest speaker

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

lectures that the public is invited to attend.

These types of events are vital to UNCA’s culture and identity, but why must students suffer because of it?

They are, after all, the ones paying for their education, in addition to paying to park on campus.

“I understand that it’s not realistic to expect that paying for a parking pass will guarantee you a spot every single day of the semester, but when I say that 80 percent of the time I could not find parking when leaving almost an hour ahead of schedule, I am not exaggerating,” Deierlein said. “It is absolutely ludicrous.”

Not all the blame can be put on the administration. It’s not fair, and, ultimately, it’s not all their fault. There is only so much that can be done to alleviate the problem.

But the issue still remains, and it appears nothing is being done to improve the situation.

Musical parking spaces sounds like a fun game to play, but it loses its appeal when students are trying to get to class.

Until jetpacks are a viable option, it seems students will simply have to do their best to wait out the parking wars.

Call for submissions: The International Photo Contest sponsored by Study Abroad/Away and the international studies department is calling for student, faculty and staff submissions from their travels abroad.

Submissions may be entered electronically at www.unca.edu/studyabroad.

The deadline is Sept. 30.

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{The Blue Banner}

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Page 23

The Blue Banner’s View

Bound books remain superior to e-books

Dwight Schrute threw a watermelon, a baby stroller and a dozen eggs off various surfaces in “The Office.”

His tendency to launch things from great heights to test their durability means he would have destroyed an ereader, and the e-library stored on it, in seconds.

Like the newest digital devices, an ereader is expensive and remarkably susceptible to damage from everyday use. It also quickly becomes obsolete once the newest version arrives in stores.

It has been touted as a revolution in reading, but it cannot compete with bound books in terms of cost and environmental impact. Unlike e-books, traditional books can be re-sold, traded and loaned.

Sales of e-books increased 200 percent since last year, but the American Association of Publishers reported that e-books represent only 3 to 5 percent of total sales for publishers.

According to environmentalists, the relatively small number of e-books in the publishing industry means that their environmental benefits are basically nonexistent.

E-book supporters claim they save

It has been touted as a revolution in reading, but it cannot compete with bound books in terms of cost and environmental impact. Unlike e-books, traditional books can be re-sold, traded and loaned. paper and preserve trees, but many do not realize that bound books have less impact on the earth.

According to Cleantech, an environmental consulting firm, production of a bound book generates 7.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions while the average e-reader produces 168 kilograms. It only takes 2 gallons of water to produce a bound book, but it requires 79 gallons to make one e-reader. The manufacture of one book also emits 100 times fewer greenhouse gases than one e-reader.

E-book proponents argue that more people purchase them because they are cheaper. They must have forgotten about

libraries and used bookstores, which offer books for half the cover price. The cheapest e-books cost $9.99, but e-readers are expensive and can range from $140 to nearly $500.

Not only do traditional books save consumers money and preserve the environment, they also cause less adverse health effects than e-readers. According to Cleantech, negative health impacts from the manufacture of one e-reader are 70 times greater than those from traditional book production.

Even in terms of shipping and transportation, bound books have less environmental impact than e-readers. A con-

The Blue Banner Editorial Board Karpen Hall 019

(828) 251-6586

www.thebluebanner.net

Erin McWhorter, Editor-in-Chief

Anna Kiser, Design Editor, Business Manager

Alyssa Spencer, Managing Editor

Nicolas Robinson, Web Editor

emmcwhor@unca.edu afspence@unca.edu

Ashleigh Joyner, News Editor amjoyner@unca.edu

aekiser@unca.edu

nrrobins@unca.edu

Kendall Brooks, Investigative Reporter

Caitlin Byrd, Arts & Features Editor

Jessica Yee, Copy Desk Chief

Natalie Pearson, Sports Editor

Katherine Walker, Assistant News Editor

mcbyrd@unca.edu

ngpearso@unca.edu

Hali Ledford, Assistant Arts & Features Editor

jayancey@unca.edu

Katie Saylors, Assistant Photography Editor

Jacob Yancey, Campus Voice Editor Megan Dombroski, Photography Editor mkdombro@unca.edu

Isabel Maxwell, Advertising Director inmaxwel@unca.edu

Jordan Paris, Assistant Web Editor Michael Gouge, Faculty Adviser mgouge@unca.edu

sumer would need to drive to a store 300 miles away in order to produce the same dangerous toxins that are emitted during production of one e-reader, according to Cleantech.

E-readers also damage the environment in the disposal and recycling process. If e-readers are recycled illegally and dumped in developing countries, workers dismantling them will be exposed to a significant amount of toxic substances.

Personal preference, though, is also a significant factor when choosing between bound books or e-books. There are so many beautiful and historical copies of print books that are more than just words on a page. Curling up on a couch with an inviting paperback simply cannot compare to spending a day with a cold, metal e-reader.

Like the watermelon Dwight launched off the roof in “The Office,” an e-reader would be damaged if it fell from even a short distance. A bound book, however, would remain intact and readable.

For all the libraries, technophobes, print book lovers and Dwights in the world, traditional bound books remain the best choice.

Have a news tip?

send to emmcwhor@unca.edu The Blue Banner is UNC Asheville’s student newspaper.

We publish each Wednesday except during summer sessions, finals week and holiday breaks.

Our office is located in Karpen Hall 019.

The Blue Banner is a designated forum for free speech and welcomes letters to the editor, considering them on basis of interest, space and timeliness.

Letters and articles should be e-mailed to the editor-in-chief or the appropriate section editor.

Letters should include the writer’s name, year in school, and major or other relationship to UNCA. Include a telephone number to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing.

Consider a in

career

Pharmacy

NEARLY LEAR king lear,retold

UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in Asheville Open House and Admission Information Session Wednesday, September 29

Shakespeare’s King Lear is transformed when Susanna Hamnett as the King’s closest companion, his Fool, retells the story from his point of view.

Nearly Lear will entrance lovers of Shakespeare as well as newcomers.

6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Highsmith Union at UNC Asheville, Rooms 223 and 224 The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host an open house and admission information session on September 29 in Asheville. The session will cover pharmacy as a career, the doctor of pharmacy degree, admission criteria, and the application process.

In fall 2011, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is adding up to twenty-five students based in Asheville to its doctor of pharmacy program enrollment. Come learn more about one of the top-ranked pharmacy programs in the nation.

“...fresh and inspiring, accessible and brave, witty and true.”

—Emma Rice, Kneehigh Theatre

8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24 Lipinsky Auditorium

www.pharmacy.unc.edu

CLICK IT

New lower student price! $5 All area students (limit one per student) $15 Fac/staff/alumni/NCCR/WCU $20 General public

• www.unca.edu/culturalarts • uncatickets.com

Serve your community Earn money for your education Apply to be a 2010-2011 NC-ACTS! AmeriCorps Fellow For more information and to download an application, visit our website, www.unca.edu/keycenter or stop by our office, HU 248

Application Deadline: September 20th, 2010

UNC Asheville Key Center for Community Citizenship and Service Learning

Serve 300 hours at a non-profit (one you already know or one that we help you identify) Attend team meetings every other Tuesday at 12:15 p.m. (these count towards your 300 hours) Have the chance to go to a student conference in Charlotte (expenses paid) Earn an $1132 education grant

Location: Highsmith 248 Phone: 828.251.6400 E-mail: keyctr@unca.edu Website: www.unca.edu/keycenter