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Volume CXVI, No. 4
National Since September, Republicans and Democrats haven’t been able to agree on a full year of funding –- instead, twice since then they’ve agreed to fund DHS for a couple of months, each time hoping to reach a deal on a full year of funding. Time runs out again Friday night, but no deal is in sight. Republicans irked by President Obama’s plan to give legal status to 5 million illegal immigrants say this time they’ll let DHS “shut down” unless the Obama administration backs down from its immigration plan. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald apologized today for mistakenly saying in a videotaped exchange with a homeless man that he had served in the special forces, though his service was entirely with the 82nd Airborne Division. “Secretary McDonald has apologized for the misstatement and noted that he never intended to misrepresent his military service,” a White House official told ABC News. “We take him at his word and expect that this will not impact the important work he’s doing to promote the health and well-being of our nation’s veterans.”
International Islamic State militants have moved a large group of Christians they abducted to one of their strongholds as fighting raged on Wednesday between the extremists and Kurdish and Christian militiamen for control of a chain of villages along a strategic river in northeastern Syria, activists and state-run media said. The Khabur River in Hassakeh province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, has become the latest battleground in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. It is predominantly Kurdish but also has populations of Arabs and predominantly Christian Assyrians and Armenians. In pre-dawn attacks, the IS on Monday attacked communities nestled along the river, seizing at least 70 people, including many women and children. Thousands of others fled to safer areas.
This week’s “Top Stories” were compiled by Brendan Raleigh with information from abc.go.com.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
FREE
CPS prepares to launch spring immersion trips CPS will send students to Haiti, Dominican Republic, and other locations over spring break B y N ora T idey S taff W riter The Center for Public Service (CPS) has been working for over twenty years to engage students, faculty, community members, and staff to foster social justice and promote positive institutional, personal, and community change. One of CPS’s major program areas is Immersion Projects in which students travel in the U.S. and abroad to engage with a community and deepen their understandings of social justice issues. Five of these educational service opportunities are being offered over the upcoming spring break. March 2015 will mark the 50th anniversary of the historic marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama for voting rights. These marches led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark achievement in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. CPS will be traveling to Selma from March 6th-10th to commemorate this anniversary and join in the Bridge Crossing Jubilee Celebration on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Students will also get to participate in workshops, concerts, banquets, educational summits, parades, and more. Healthcare and Education in Haiti is the focus of another one of CPS’s spring break immersion trips. Participants will be traveling to Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, and will be hosted by Outreach to Haiti. Outreach to Haiti provides health care
services, supports two orphanages, and helps students to achieve success through sponsorships, scholarships, and numerous other programs. Participants will get to explore the state of healthcare and education in Haiti and meet with government officials and families who are working towards solutions to the challenges they still face. The immersion project LGBTQ Rights in America will be held in New York City and is centered on the continued fight for LGBTQ equality. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the history of the struggle for LGBTQ rights, as well as the challenges that still exist. They will also be able to get to know some of the organizations and individuals that are making a difference for those who experience issues related to their sexual orientations and identities, including those who have HIV and those who are bullied because of their status. In 2010, a new immersion project was established after the film The Price of Sugar sparked interest in students. The film documents the Haitian immigrant involvement in sugar production in the Dominican Republic, and how the poor working and living conditions and cultural discrimination impact Haitians. Over spring break, students will be traveling to the San Cristobal region of the Dominican Republic to learn
Photo Credit: www.gettysburg.edu
This Spring Break, students will be visiting Haiti (pictured top), the Dominican Republic (bottom left) and Baltimore for CPS-sponsored immersion trips about the Haitian struggle for human rights in the Dominican Republic. Participants will visit schools and communities that have been impacted by the tensions between Dominicans and Haitians. They will also have the opportunity to learn about efforts to address these tensions and the cultural tradi-
tions that help in the fight for social justice. The fifth immersion trip for the upcoming spring break is Models of Urban Education Reform in Baltimore. Participants will spend a week in Baltimore, Maryland to learn about both the pros and cons of urban education. Students will travel
to several schools to explore education reform and even lead an after-school program at Midtown Academy in which Gettysburg students will present Midtown students with information on the many college and career options available after high school. Continued on page 2
Emily Fox Gordon speaks to students in Lyceum
Acclaimed nonfiction writer delineates the difference between “confessing and “confiding” B y B rendan R aleigh N ews E ditor
Nonfiction writer Emily Fox Gordon came to Gettysburg College last Thursday, Feb. 19. Gordon read an essay of hers in the Lyceum of Pennsylvania Hall at 8 p.m. to a room crowded with students and faculty. Gordon is the author of two memoirs, “Mockingbird Years: A Life in and out of Therapy” and “Are You Happy? A Childhood Remembered.” In her reading, Fox recounted a particular instance during her time as a professor in which she challenged to write a “confessional” piece. Her students descended into chaos when one student read a story about being sexually-assaulted,
however, and began to focus entirely on the event, rather than the writing. This event led to the focus of Fox’s essay: the difference between “confiding” and “confessing.” Fox criticized the latter for implying that the audience or the reader is somehow in a place to judge the writer. “Confiding,” her suggested alternative, suggests a sort of intimacy and secrecy. This debate led to another of the focuses of her piece: the difference between writing as art and writing as therapy. The latter she sees as problematic, as shown in the essay “The Love of My Life” by Cheryl Strayed, which tells the true story of the author’s repeated marital infidelity following her mother’s death.
Fox’s students loved the piece, but Fox knew that the adoration was based more in the risque subject matter, rather than the writing or the point of the writing. Fox read only one essay throughout the night before the floor was opened for questions and answers. In addition to publising her two memoirs, Emily Fox Gordon has also published a comic novel about academic life called “It Will come to Me.” Her most recent work is “Book of Days: Personal Essays.” Her essays have been awarded two Pushcart Prizes and one has been reprinted in “Best American Essays 2014.” The event was sponsored by the Writing House, EPACC, College Life and The Gettysburg Review. Photo Credit: Emilyfoxgordon.com
Inside This Issue
This Week’s Top Stories
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Weird News, pg. 2
Eisenhower Train your Steps for Exhibit in Special brain to glowing skin, Collections, focus better, pg. 5 pg. 3 pg. 4
CAB Events, pg. 6
Men’s swim team wins championship, pg. 10