Issue 66, Volume 121
Friday, November 30, 2012 1
Christmas initiative to help needy children Samantha Smoak Staff Writer
Every December, the winter holidays breathe new life into the spirit of giving. At the Helen Ross McNabb Center in downtown Knoxville, the giving will continue with “Christmas for the Children” and Beth Haynes’ “12 Days of Christmas.” The McNabb Center is a community mental health agency that provides mental health care, addiction treatment and social services to around 12,000 children, adults and families in East Tennessee. “The ‘Christmas for the Children’ program is a program that allows us to help children around the holidays that we serve that are in need,” said Emily Scheuneman, the Public Relations Coordinator for the McNabb Center. “Our staff identifies children that are in need and then work with them to come up with a wish list, and then individuals from the community will be partnered with (the kids) and they’ll go and shop for them. They go and
get presents for (the kids) and then bring them (to) us and our staff will help distribute those,” Scheuneman said. Beth Haynes’ “12 Days of Christmas” supports the “Christmas for the Children” program. Haynes is the co-anchor for WBIR’s “Live at Five at Four,” and the anchor for “Ten News at Five.” Over 60 businesses are sponsoring the auction. “(The auction) is online from Dec 1 through 12. All the items align with the 12 days of Christmas … (For example), for ten lords a leaping we have UT men’s basketball tickets, because there are ten guys on the court … everything we raise through the auction benefits the ‘Christmas for the Children’ program,” Scheuneman said. Kristen Bradley, the early intervention and prevention services coordinator at the McNabb Center, said that one of her favorite parts of “Christmas for the Children” is when Santa comes to visit the children in the therapeutic preschool program.
• Photo courtesy of Helen Ross Mcnabb Center
Julianne Hough, country music singer and ballroom dancer, visits the children at the Helen Ross McNabb Center during “Christmas with the Children” in 2011.
See CHRISTMAS on Page 2
Art show highlights disability Humanities scholar discusses Samantha Smoak Staff Writer
Those who have never experienced a physical or mental disability are hard-pressed to understand the unique journey of individuals impacted by such conditions. Campus Disability Advocates, a newly recognized organization at UT, will be hosting an art show tonight from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Market Square, with the hopes of shedding more light on disability. The CDA was inspired to organize this event, and the other events of “Disability Awareness Week,” because of how people with disabilities are often viewed by society. “The discourse surrounding disability — when it occurs at all — almost always orients itself around the perspective of an able audience: How can thinking about disability inspire them? How (it can) keep them from getting sued (and) how (it can) improve
their bottom line,” said Hunter McKnight, a founding member for the CDA and senior in linguistics and African studies. McKnight said that the week’s programming is a way to showcase the experiences of students with disabilities. “This art show, along with the rest of this week’s programming, is our way of rejecting this discourse and introducing a new one. This week is about our experiences, our voices and our struggle,” he said. Lindsey Lee, president of the CDA and a junior in math and Spanish, said she hopes this event will shed new light on how the community views disability. “The reason we are doing this is that we want people to see disability in a creative sort of way,” said Lee. “Like the rest of the events of the week, we want people to understand that disability is a really common thing. Twenty percent of Americans have some sort of disability. But people still see
it as a foreign, sort of scary, … thing, and it shouldn’t be thought of in that way … art is one way to kind of express that, to show people’s personhood through the art they create,” she said. Lee submitted a piece, saying that a drawing class she took to fulfill a general education requirement during her freshman year was in the back of her mind while planning the event. “I think that art class had a really big effect on me … that class is always in the back of my mind … when we were planning this whole thing I was like, we have to do something art related,” Lee said. “I hope (people) look at the pieces and … start to understand disability isn’t a death sentence … it’s just something different.” Allison Gose, vice president of the CDA and junior in history and political science, agreed with Lee. See DISABILITY on Page 2
Jalynn Baker • The Daily Beacon
A panel of various speakers discuss disability issues during a public forum in the Baker Center on Tuesday. The last event for “Disability Awareness Week” will be an art show held in Market Square from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
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European attitudes on sexuality Justin Joo
Staff Writer The 267-seat auditorium in the McClung Museum was nearly full as Dr. Dagmar Herzog began discussing sexuality in 20th century Europe. “Sexuality in Europe: A 20th-Century History and a History of the Present” was the title of Herzog’s lecture Wednesday night. Herzog is a distinguished professor from City University of New York. Her lecture was based on her 2011 book, “Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History,” and is a part of UT’s “Distinguished Visiting Scholars in the Humanities” series. Herzog’s lecture focused on how the 20th century was a period of great sexual liberation, but also a period with much backlash to the rising sexuality and uncertainty within the liberalizing movements themselves. “To only tell a narrative of steady progress would be to misunderstand how truly complicated the sexual politics of the 20th century really were,” Herzog said. Herzog’s lecture first covered Europe’s sexuality through the 20th century, and then how that history has led to Europe’s sexuality in the first decade of the present day. Herzog divided the 20th century into five phases, each with a very distinct contribution to European sexuality. The first phase spanned between 1900 through 1920, and Herzog described it as a time of “yearning from below.” Sparked by sexual scandals involving royalty and celebrities of the day, everyday Europeans started to discuss sexuality more openly. Birth control and sexual pleasure
within marriage also became more prominent in the day-today culture as well. The second phase went from the mid-1920s to 1945, when the state got involved with sexuality. “If the early years of the 20th century are an uprising from below, with people having a sexual interest in pleasure and talking about it,” Herzog said, “the next move is when the state government tried to take control.” With an increased sexuality in the public, the state began to open and operate health clinics and clinics for marital counseling. This was also the start of backlash against more liberalized sexuality. The third phase spanned much of the mid-20th century. Herzog said that it was marked by a turn to a more conservative view of sexuality. Promotion of marriage and keeping sex within the marital bounds increased, but marketing using sexuality began at the same time. This was also the start of political activism for sexual rights. The fourth phase, starting in the 1960s and lasting until the ‘80s, was described by Herzog as a period of “rebellion.” The “make love, not war” movement was in full swing. The feminist movement also began, and the pill became available. But with this period also came backlash against feminism, promiscuity and homosexuality. The final phase started with the era of the AIDS virus. Despite the horror that AIDS brought to the world, it did bring some benefits by forcing everyone to discuss sexuality. Because everyone was vulnerable to AIDS, barriers came down, the state increased education and sexuality became
less taboo. In the 21st century, Herzog described Europe’s sexuality as both liberal but still restricting. In many western European countries, for example, LGBT rights have come to the forefront of legislation and public support. It’s gotten to the point that the European Union will pressure less LGBT-friendly nations to ease their restrictions before gaining access to the EU. “Homophobia is no longer cool in the higher courts of Western Europe,” Herzog said. Herzog also notes that sexuality has become more inclusive. Advertisements feature a variety of groups, and Herzog used examples which included an amputee being used as an underwear model and a woman with Down syndrome seen catching a wedding bouquet in another ad. But there are problems. Herzog noted that the rise in Islam and its stricter code on sexuality often clashes with Western Europe’s more liberal lifestyle. Abortion rights have recently come under fire as well in Europe. Anti-abortion supporters, both from religious and secular movements, have started playing Europe’s increased inclusion of the disabled as a means to condemn abortion. With doctors taking tests that can indicate whether an unborn child will be disabled, anti-abortionists claim that Europe is using these tests as motivators to get abortions and prevent giving birth to disabled children, which the anti-abortionists claim is prejudice. See SEXUALITY on Page 2
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