When class assignments outlive college

It’s finals week.  As students cram and pull all-nighters, they have the relief of knowing soon they can finally say goodbye to semester projects.  Yet for the 2010 Periclean scholars’ class, the work doesn’t end with the semester.  It may not even end with graduation.

“We’re Periclean scholars for life,” announces Mica McCullough as she leads the class the morning of December 8.  The class meets once a week during college coffee, the only time guaranteed not to conflict with anyone’s schedule.  While the class has a faculty advisor, a different student leads the class each week.  This week, the class is discussing how to continue their efforts in Ghana after they have graduated.

Each class at Elon University has a group of Periclean scholars.  Each class chooses an impoverished country to fundraise for in order to improve its citizens’ lives.  Periclean scholars 2010 have been fundraising for Ghana since 2007.  Through their efforts they have successfully opened the Kpoeta Community Clinic, which provides the 10,000 people of Kpoeta, Ghana with healthcare otherwise unavailable during the rainy seasons.  The clinic opened in January of 2010.  The next step for the Periclean scholars is to raise enough money for the clinic’s staff housing, a crucial part of the clinic.  As graduation inches closer, the students are struggling to find a plan to raise the money.  With resources and time limited, the students are now faced with the prospect of continuing to fundraise or donate after graduation, a responsibility some may be unable to fulfill.

While leading the class, McCullough suggested they each make a $20 dollar monthly donation after graduation, either through fundraising or out of their own wallet.

“It should be based on a case by case basis,” says Lauren Taylor.  “Some of us will have jobs, and some of us will be living out of a hut.”

Taylor, among other in the class plans on joining the Peace Corps upon graduation.

Others simply felt uncomfortable with the possibility paying for the project with their own money.

“It’s always been about fundraising,” says Kristine Silverstri.  “I don’t want to feel like an ATM.”

It was the 2009 Periclean scholars who originally took on the Ghana project.  When graduation arrived, they had not finished, and it was passed down to the 2010 class.  Now the 2010 class is in the same predicament.

“I feel like it’s half finished,” said Ryan Mihajlov.

The length of an Elon college coffee was not enough time to figure out a solution.  For the clinic to be able to function, the staff needs housing.  For the staff housing to be built, the Periclean scholars need more money.  Raising that much money is a daunting task.

Upon graduation the problem may be solved, the staff housing built.  Or perhaps as the class of 2010 graduates, throws their caps into the air with a carefree joy knowing they have finished college, the Periclean scholars in the crowd will know that unlike their classmates, they started an assignment in college that may take many more years to complete.

An unusual engagement

Russian dolls

Lauren Griffith hates Russian dolls.  An upsetting childhood experience left her with a fear of the painted wooden trinkets.  She found it eerie how they screwed open only to reveal an identical smaller doll, and another, and another.  When she was getting ready to visit her boyfriend Greg Kail in his hometown Pittsburgh in August of 2009, a Russian doll was the last thing on her mind.

Greg Kail bought Griffith three gifts to give her during her visit.   He saved the last gift for the romantic dinner he had planned for Friday, August 8.

“I want to guess what’s inside the box,” said Griffith, sitting across from Kail at the restaurant.

Kail handed it to Griffith, and watched as she gently shook the wrapped box and listened.

“It sounds like a Russian doll,” said Griffith, and proceeded to rant about her hatred.

“Oh boy, this is going to be good,” thought Kail sarcastically.

The time came for Griffith to unwrap the box.  It was a Russian doll.  Wrapped around the first inside layer was a note that said “I.”  A note marked “Love” surrounded the second layer.  The note in the third layer read “You.” Inside the last, smallest doll was a diamond engagement ring.

“She likes Russian dolls now,” says Kail.

Family reacts

Griffith and Kail are both seniors at Elon University.  Dating since sophomore year, Kail asked Griffith to marry him the summer before they entered senior year.   They are part of the small percentage of couples that choose to get engaged while still students.  With the excitement of the engagement came anxiety about how the people around them would react.  Family, friends, teachers, even strangers, all had an opinion about their engagement.

“I’m pretty sensitive to how others around me feel,” said Griffith.

For Griffith, telling her family was the biggest hurdle.  She felt embarrassed to tell her parents.

“My family is not very traditional, they’re totally career woman oriented and believe that if you are going to get married you are hindering your future,” says Griffith.

Griffith disagrees.

“I still think that you can work and do whatever you want to do, but you’re just married at the same time,” says Griffith.

Kail comes from a family with seven children, and his parents married young.  Three of his older brothers are already married, so his family was more supportive of the decision.

“We’re going to question him to make sure he’s making the right decision, but as long as he’s not doing anything wrong, we’re happy,” said Greg’s father Robert Kail.

The next step was telling their friends.  Given the couple’s history, they expected their announcement to cause jaws to drop.

Dominican Republic

Griffith and Kail first met freshman year through a mutual friend whom Griffith plays soccer with on the women’s soccer team.  Greg came over to borrow the friend’s car, but she was sleeping.  Greg met Lauren who was over, then tried to borrow the car anyway.

“I told him that was really rude,” laughs Griffith.  “And that’s the first time we met.”

Over the next two years they became close friends.  While she enjoyed his friendship, Griffith didn’t see any possibility of a romantic relationship.

“He wasn’t my type, too intellectual.  I always made fun of Greg to everyone else.  Looking back, it was a subconscious cover,” says Griffith.

They both shared a unique double major, business and Spanish.  After sophomore year they found a summer internship in the Dominican Republic perfect for their majors.  They decided to spend the summer doing the internship together – as friends.  During the course of the summer, they became more than friends.

“We had to learn to stick together since we weren’t that good at Spanish, and in a country where only the top elite really spoke English,” said Griffith.

Their days were spent together in a tiny office.

“The internship was pretty useless,” said Kail.  “Sitting in a room together all day trying to stay awake forced us to be together and get over any awkward period.”

Soon the summer ended, and they were faced with returning back to Elon, this time as a couple.  They wondered if the relationship would translate to a college environment, and how friends would react to the news.

“Oh boy. Greg, sorry, I used to make fun of you to all of my girlfriends and now we’re coming back as a couple,” said Griffith, on the flight back to U.S.

Reality

Everyone was initially shocked when the heard about their relationship.  Yet friends embraced it, and Griffith and Kail fell deeper in love.  By the end of junior year, they both knew what the next step would be.

“I knew it would be this year,” said Griffith.

Griffith and Kail were worried people would find them strange for being engaged while in college, yet the engagement had the opposite effect.  With their double major the two share many classes, and are so close they never want to be apart.

“Our engagement seems to have made how much time we spend together normal,” says Griffith. “People understand now.”

Senior year of college is a time that represents change and instability for most students.  In a few months reality kicks in and the responsibilities of life become inescapable.   Griffith and Kail have found two things many college seniors wonder if they will ever find: the love of their life, and a job.  After graduation they will move to Atlanta and begin working for accounting firm Price Water House Coopers.  While they have the big things figured out, of course they still have the stress of planning a wedding.  Their date is set for September 5, 2010.

The more common reaction to their engagement from those who don’t know the couple well is, “Why now, while still in college? Why not wait”

“I guess the reason we have accelerated steps we’ve taken in comparison is because how close friends we were before,” says Griffith.

For Griffith and Kail the question wasn’t “Why not wait?” but rather “Why wait?”  And on September 5, 2010, there will only be one answer – “I do.”

World AIDS Day events aim to raise student awareness

Sophie Duensing

ELON, NC – If you’re not infected, you’re affected. This is the motto chosen by Dr. Kristen Sullivan’s senior seminar class of Elon University for their World AIDS Day campaign.

World AIDS Day fell on Tuesday, December 1. This Monday night, the human services senior seminar class held a concert featuring A cappella group Sweet Signatures to raise HIV/AIDS awareness in students.

“It’s rarely talked about because of the taboo, even in college campuses, where it should be talked about,” said senior Jake Scott, member of Dr. Sullivan’s senior seminar class. Scott says changing stereotypes about the disease in a even just a few people will be an improvement.

A documentary created by Elon students was shown, titled “My Name is Anita.” The film follows a Namibian woman infected with the disease who has devoted herself to AIDS activism. Students also passed out free condoms and information, and showed a slideshow offering more information.

On Tuesday, World AIDS Day, the class set up a table in Elon University’s Mosely center to hand out free condoms and information. With the help of Alamance Cares, a local non-profit HIV/AIDS agency they offered free oral HIV testing for students. Very few people came to the testing.

“People are scared to be tested,” said Scott.

Dr. Sullivan’s senior seminar class is entirely focused on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Scott chose to take the class because he is interested in community organizing and international development. Currently applying for the Peace Corps, he felt learning about the epidemic would help him with future goals.

Senior Ashley Day also took the course to better prepare her for life after college.

“It’s always interested me, and I want to go to nursing school after college,” said Day. She knew expanding her knowledge on HIV/AIDS would better prepare her for a nursing career.

The class is spent mostly discussing what has been done to fight the problem, and what still needs to be done to fight the problem. Raising awareness about the severity of the epidemic was a priority of the AIDS Day events.

“I think when you just allow people to hear the facts, it can be shocking for sure,” said Jake.

One of facts that students found most surprising was that 2.1 million children are currently infected with HIV. The ignorance of this fact demonstrates how easily people forget the disease can be passed in means outside one’s control. Today, there is an estimated 33.4 million people living worldwide with HIV/AIDS. For more information, visit http://www.avert.org/.

Graduate scores first suit

Black Friday is over.

Game day is here.

While all of Charlottesville tailgates for the annual football battle between the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, Brendan O’Connor, 23, stands in the empty Jos. A. Bank store. His eyes, lit with nervous excitement scroll over the suit racks.

Over the Christmas music, sales associate Merriann Nesbit’s voice calls “Sir, those are the short suits. You’re a long.”

With her measuring tape draped over her forest green Christmas sweater, Nesbit leads O’Connor to the correct rack and begins discussing why she thinks he would look best in a pleated, rather than straight suit.

O’Connor graduated from Elon University in spring of 2009. He then moved to a small apartment in Washington, D.C., with three friends. After six months of the job-hunt, the graduation money O’Connor was living on had nearly run dry. He was the only roommate unemployed.

As newspapers across America were reporting the jobless rate had climbed to 15 percent in some states, O’Connor landed a job. Starting December 1, he will be working as a staff assistant with a lobbying firm in D.C.

Holiday sale signs dot the store. Above the suit reads “2 for $299.” In O’Connor’s wallet sits his debit card, containing $500 dollars his mother gave him to buy clothes for work. This is the last time his parents will help him out. Starting Tuesday, O’Connor is officially an employed, financially independent adult.

“I wasn’t going to be able to pay for my apartment’s rent if this didn’t come along,” says O’Connor.

In Charlottesville for Thanksgiving, O’Connor shops for his first business suit while the town is united at the Virginia football game. O’Connor wanted to go, but he understands his little remaining money is better spent for his job than on the expensive game tickets. Besides, Duke is his one true love. O’Connor would rather miss the Virginia football game and the shop in an empty shop on Saturday than come on Friday, amongst the masses when he risks missing the Duke vs. Connecticut basketball game on ESPN.

As the match drudged on, O’Connor picked out his first two suits, a black pinstripe, and a gray pinstripe. He picked pinstripes because Nesbit explained he would be able to get away with buying fewer dress shirts.

“Pinstripes are more versatile,” says Nesbit. “A man should build up his suit collection with a few pinstripes, then work on solids.”

“I didn’t know about the pinstripe at first because I hate the Yankees,” says O’Connor.

Two suits, three dress shirts, two ties. The total is $551.95 with tax.

“I guess I won’t go grocery shopping on Sunday,” says O’Connor.

Virginia lost to Tech, 42-13.  As Nesbit rings him up, she explains how he will need to go to the Jos. A. Banks store in D.C. when he gets back so they can fit his suits.

“It will be about $12.50 for each cuff per suit, $7.50 for each sleeve per suit,” says Nesbit, continuing to list off prices for the various adjustments.

O’Connor is out of money.

“And it will take them about two weeks.”

He starts work on Tuesday.

Untailored suits: the fashion statement of a wrecked economy.

McEwen’s hot cocoa warms the soul on a dreary day

Directly to the left of the door to the downstairs McEwen student pit stop, sits two Starbucks hot beverage thermos containers.

Due to the sleep deprivation of students, these coffee pots are pumped often.  Yet only on a drizzling, numbing day are the warm beverage containers pumped dry.

Tuesday, November 17 was just that sort of day.  Foggy, with a high of 63 degrees and a low of 40 degrees, sympathy to the tour groups trudging through the usually pristine campus.

Elon dining service employee Pat McCaskill says on rainy days downstairs McEwen gets a lot more customers. The students’ purchases, along with their mood, change with the weather.

“They do buy more hot stuff like hot cocoa and hot tea,” says McCaskill.

As for the poor high school students touring the campus, seen taking refuge in McEwen, let’s hope Elon’s hot chocolate was delectable enough to make up for the depressing weather.

 

Ann Jones photography

Although the concentration of our “Reality Journalists” presentations is the written word of our candidates, Jones’ photography is so stunning it must be viewed, even if it did not fit the realms of the assignment to make it into my in class presentation.

View her haunting photography, focused on women in Afghanistan here.

Ann Jones visits Elon, discusses women in Afghanistan

For the past eight years photographer and writer Ann Jones has lived out of a duffel bag within the Afghan community, reporting on her experience and analysis of the situation to sources such as the Huffington Post and the Nation. On Thursday, she spoke to a packed LaRose Digital Theater for Elon’s series of speakers from Afghanistan.

After a brief yet thorough explanation on Afghanistan’s political history, Jones moved to the topic of the night, women in Afghanistan.

Ann Jones lectures on women in Afghanistan at Elon University's LaRose Digital Theatre

“Sold out and shut down,” said Jones, describing the lives of Afghan women.  Jones explained how the democracy America is attempting to create in Afghanistan is comprised of only men.  While there have been small progress, such as a few women in Parliament, even they are at total control of their male superiors, she said.

Jones said there are advocacy groups who are pushing for women’s rights in Afghanistan but these groups fight for women as a separate entity.

“We keep talking about special treatment for women, apart from what we’re doing for the country,” Jones said. “Women are part of the country.”

The future for women in Afghanistan is grim, Jones said.  Messy, corrupt politics, and wars with no end in sight have pushed the women’s rights onto the back burner.

“Her lecture was incredibly moving, but very depressing, senior Heidi Lewis said.  “I feel useless after hearing these women’s plights and knowing there’s not much I can do to help.”

Jones said she feels connected to these women.

“It’s difficult to talk about these things because I have worked so close with them, Jones said. “I see their faces in my mind.  I see what they have to go through.”

Click above to view Jones introduce herself during the Q&A session at Elon University’s LaRose Digital Theatre

The gossip fruit is still being juiced

While University of Miami student Hannah Holdren was applying for summer internships last spring, she received an upsetting phone call from her parents.  They wanted to know why when they googled her name, they found a plethora of defamatory statements about her, many sexually explicit, from a website called “Juicy Campus.”  Her parents asked, how she could obtain a reputable internship or future career when a simple Google search brought up such terrible connotations with her name?

Described by Chief Information Officer of Pepperdine University Timothy Chester as a “virtual bathroom wall’ for abusive, degrading, and hateful speech,” JuicyCampus allowed users to anonymously post gossip and rumors on their college’s page, without moderation.  Those posted about had no way to remove the hurtful information.

Luckily for Holdren, and thousands of other college students, Juicy Campus was removed offline last spring.  Despite failed attempts by university students and faculty to take it down, it was the economy that finally tackled the monster.  Lack of advertising revenue forced the site to shut down

Yet, a week before Halloween, the monster has risen from the dead in a new body and is attacking more reputations. Now students looking for an outlet to rant, rave, and gossip have found a home at http://collegeacb.com/, dubbed the “New Juicy Campus.”  The ACB stands for “Anonymous Confession Board.”

Andrew Mann of JHU and Aaron Larner of Wesleyan University developed the “ACB”.  Peter Frank, a freshman at Wesleyan currently owns the site.  The site’s developers claim that CollegeACB is a classier version of JuicyCampus, unsuccessfully urging students to discuss less offensive manners such as politics, professor and course reviews.  Gossip won the battle and dominates the sights.

Yes, Elon has a page on collegeacb.com.  The most recent topics, all which list individuals’ names include:

• Opinions on the best and worse Greek organizations

• Speculation on closet gays

• “Chick you wish you never f*****.”

• Opinions on male students’ genital size

“It’s just bad for the soul,” says Elon senior Katie Griffith.

The defense of sites such as Juicy Campus and CollegeACB is the first amendment right of free speech.  Yet unlike traditional media that must conform to a standard of ethics and are held accountable for publishing defamatory information, the rules are difficult, if not impossible to apply to gossip websites with user-generated content.

• Comments are submitted by anonymous users.  Those posting the comments are unable to be identified and held accountable for their libelous statements.

• Such websites are not held accountable to the rules laid out by the Society for Professional Journalists.

•  Once it’s out there, there’s not coming back.  Think of the Internet as a virus with no cure, once something has been posted, there is no way to know how far the information has spread or how to stop it.

In a perfect world, students would respect their peers and restrain from tarring reputations by posting nasty gossip and rumors.  Since we don’t live in a perfect world, here are some tips for those who want to stop the juice flowing.

• Avoid the temptation to eat the fruit.  The more hits such sites get, the more advertisers they get.  If we want such sites to go away, we must ignore them.

•Remember the golden rule, treat others as you want to be treated.  Before posting something mean about someone who has offended you, stop and think how it would feel if you read the same statement about yourself.

•Write to CollegeACB’s creators.  If you are passionate about getting a post removed (or even the whole website) get your voice heard.  Contact Peter Frank at:

Peter Frank

CollegeACB.com

45 Wyllys Ave

Wesbox 92522

Middletown, CT 06459

Phone: (424) 222-9781

http://www.CollegeACB.com

collegeacb@gmail.com

Before posting, ask yourself, is the juice worth the squeeze?  Probably not.

Elon grad Erin Mahn speaks to journalism students, offers advice and shares stories

Dreams of big city life drew Elon graduate and journalist Erin Mahn to New York City, the city that never sleeps.  Mahn did sleep, on a friend’s couch for three months while she searched for newspaper jobs.

When New York City life fell short from her expectations, Mahn broadened her horizons.  Applying to jobs in places from Alaska to Singapore, she ended up in Cambridge, Md. working as a staff writer for the Daily Banner just 45 minutes from her hometown Salisbury.

While Cambridge lacks the bright lights of New York City, her press pass has given Mahn very unusual experiences.  Mahn says her favorite story she’s covered  would have to be the Outdoor Show. The 64^th National Outdoor Show included a beauty pageant contestant who skinned muskrats for her talent, and a family of muskrat skinners desperately defending their title for fastest skinning time.

Work as a staff writer isn’t always as exciting as the bloody excitement exhumed at the Outdoor Show.  Mahn often covers  such as  town hall meetings, which last hours and keep her out until midnight.  Mahn must use skills you don’t learn in a journalism class to get through such difficult assignments. “You have to be a good actor or actress,” says Mahn.  “Sometimes I’ll sit doodling in my notebook, knowing that nothing they’re talking about will be published, but you have to look interested.”

Back for homecoming, Mahn visited Elon University Friday to speak to journalism students.  She offered wisdom and advised students to  with their future career.  Besides from learning how to act, Mahn suggested:

• ·Treat everyone with respect.  It’s the golden rule; you’ll never know when you’ll need someone as a source
• ·Spell people’s name’s right.  Ask them to spell it for you twice, once at the start of the interview, again at the end
• ·Check your attitude at the door

Mahn is currently working freelance while she browses new opportunities.  The advice she gave that hit home strongest with the students was to take advantage of all Elon has to offer.

“It’s up to you,” says Mahn.  “Even if I got an A on a paper, I would ask what I could have done to make it better. “

The Reconstruction of American Journalism

In “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” by Leonard Downie, Jr., and Michael Schudson, the idea of codependence was woven throughout the lengthy piece.

Traditional news sources must rely on non-traditional sources such as blogs to report as timely as possible, and keep up to date on what the public is interested in at a certain time period.  Vice versa, blogs and other new news sources must rely on the traditional sources to get their facts straight, and often link to sources such as the New York Times to promote their reputation.

Students and universities are also part of this co-dependable relationship existing between new and traditional news sources.    The use of blogging and linking to major news sources allows students to learn and develop their journalism skills.  For the professional news sources, the students’ work brings them more attention, and often they even use and publish students’ work.

A piece of information that grabbed my attention was the figures that showed how news was changing.  People are less interested in international news, yet reporting on business and sports has increased.  The majority of American bloggers are not well educated in international affairs, besides from what they hear from major news sources.  However, subjects like sports and business news are subjects that magnitudes of amateur reporters know a lot about.  Therefore, blogs and other new styles of reporting promote these subjects, as more people know about them.

The best conclusion I can draw, that is also touched upon by the article is that in order for journalism to succeed and change, sides must join forces.  Rather than fear different news, traditional ways must embrace the change.  A new world order of news must rule, one focused on multimedia that merges all facets of reporting.  As for how to fund it financially, I still have no insights into that problem.