ASUA announces 2010-2011 candidates

My buddy and fellow Wildcat news reporter Jazmine Woodberry did an excellent job with her news piece revealing the 2010-2011 candidates for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona executive board:

Candidates for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona executive board announced their intentions to run for ASUA’s thriteen available seats on Monday. The executive vice presidential and presidential candidate spots remain unopposed, and none of the senators are running for reelection for senate seats.

Emily Fritze, the current executive vice president, is running for president, and Sen. Katherine Weingartner is gunning for Fritze’s seat as executive vice president.

Two candidates, Sen. Hillary Davidson and sophomore Brett Ponton, will be battling it out for the only non-senate seat in contention, administrative vice president.

Seventeen students are running for the 10 open senate seats.

A mandatory candidate meeting will be held tonight at 5 in the Rincon Room of the Student Union Memorial Center. Candidates will meet-and-greet there before official campaigning begins Feb. 15.

There are lower numbers of contenders this year, although the administrative vice president and the executive vice president spots have been unopposed in previous years, said Justine Piscitello, ASUA elections commissioner.

Piscitello noted she will be having a meeting with a write-in presidential candidate, but has no details about names or whether they will make it onto the ballot.

The first chance for students to make their voices heard at the ballot boxes will be during primary elections, held March 2 and 3. Voting will be held on the ASUA Web site.

Should be an awesome election! Now, who are the students running for senate? I foresee an intense election like last year’s.

Props to Emily Fritze for running for president, this is something I think we all predicted. She’s been heavily involved with campus activities since her first semester at the UA, and she accomplished a lot during her time as senator and EVP. The College Readership program may not have been as successful as she hoped it would be, but it was a great test run and something that all UA students appreciated while it lasted. It will be nice to have another female ASUA president if Fritze is elected.

The true battle will more than likely be among the senators as well as the administrative vice president applicants.

Good luck to everyone. This will surely be an exciting time on the UA campus.

Oh boy.

One thing is certain-this Wildcat mailbag writer will not appreciate Brother Jed Smock’s visit to the UA campus next week:

Didn’t come to college for the barkers

Oh my god. That’s how I feel about walking down the mall these days. Ever since the preacher came here in January, the man with the dog has been more invasive and preachy. It’s not just him, either: today there are two people holding signs and one person preaching very loudly near the library. I came to the university to learn about science and communication and how to be a responsible citizen of the world. I did not come here to be proselytized by people who always have the same, unwelcome messages. It is unfortunate that such a wonderful freedom of expression has such a downside. That said, I’d rather have the freedom than not. Alas.

Ray Flores
East Asian studies junior

I understand this man’s frustration, but he can’t have it both ways. If you want freedom of expression, you have to accept the downsides.

Like we learned at a young age, you just can’t have it all.

RA Agreement for 2010-11 academic year.

Read my news story on RA weekend building duty expanding to 24 hours. I’ve been given the residence hall beat, so I’ll be writing about more dorm stories in the near future. Stay tuned.

How I Met Jerry Rice

In light of Jerry Rice’s NFL Hall of Fame induction, my mother suggested I blog about the time I unknowingly encountered the famous 49er’s football legend. I wouldn’t usually blog this type of story, but it’s kind of funny, especially since I essentially know nothing about sports.

In June 2008, I took a Southwest Airlines flight from Burbank to San Jose, California. My mom had printed out our boarding passes just an hour earlier, and she was set to board with the B group while I had to board C. She promised to save a seat for me because I got on the plane a few minutes later than her.

As I was walking through the aisle, this man (Jerry Rice) taps me on the shoulder and asks me to sit next to him. I immediately knew something was different about him, but I had no idea who he was. He wasn’t like anyone else I’d ever seen, but I assumed he was just extremely attractive, exceptionally wealthy based on his fancy attire, and in perfect physical shape. As far as I was concerned, he was just a really hot old guy. Typical southern California investment banker, I thought.

“You look like you need somewhere to sit!”

“No thank you, sir, I think my mom saved me a spot in the back!” I said, moving forward and feeling kind of rude.

Sure enough, my mom was unable to reserve a seat for me, so I begged Jerry Rice for the seat he had originally wanted to give to me.

“Um, I think he wants to sit alone,” said the blond flight attendant, who had been flirting like crazy with Jerry.

“No, it’s fine, she can sit here,” he said, stepping out into the aisle to give me the window seat.

We talked about college and learning foreign languages, and then the woman behind us started screaming at the stewardess about not wanting to fulfill the emergency exit seating requirements. The two of us kept laughing at the crazy neurotic lady and clapped when she was escorted off the plane in tears.

We continued chatting about college and he said he missed his daughter, who was off at Georgetown University and looking to study abroad. I told him about my plans to go to Paris in a year. When the flight attendant brought him a tomato juice cocktail, he asked if I was getting anything.

“I’m not old enough,” I said. “Besides, I don’t drink.”

“That’s really, really cool. Good for you.”

Five minutes later, a woman approached Jerry for his autograph, and I started to suspect that maybe he was someone important.

“Wait,” I asked. “Are you famous?”

“I played football for twenty years,” he said after a moment of silence.

“That’s awesome. Sorry I didn’t know, I literally know nothing about sports,” I said and felt slightly embarrassed.

The men sitting in front of me turned around, shook their heads, and glared at me for at least ten seconds.

At the end of the flight, he pulled down my bag from the overhead bin and said it was a real pleasure to meet me.

Jerry Rice is a genuinely good person, and I’m glad to hear he’s making a name for himself in the NFL Hall of Fame. He’s been known to make friends on Southwest Airline flights and at Bay Area fitness centers (my brother met Jerry while lifting weights at a San Jose gym). Cheers to Jerry Rice for his accomplishments, and props to him for remaining down-to-earth all the while.

One more week until Judgment Day.

It’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since Brother Jed Smock visited the UA campus and I started my Brother Jed Chronicles, which have gotten an insane amount of traffic.

With that, Jed Smock will be back on campus in exactly one week’s time.

Let’s hope the weather permits him to speak up and incite chaos from the student body.

ASUA Pride Alliance has already created a Facebook event page for Smock’s arrival, and they’re looking for volunteers to don angel wings in protest of Smock’s preachings.

I’m expecting a lot of insanity on campus those days, and it’s truly a shame that I will only be able to cover two of the five days that Smock is on campus.

Expect to see reports from me on February 15 and 16 for sure.

Sadly, I will be flying to Washington, D.C. on February 17 for CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference). Let’s just pray that the D.C. snowstorm subsides by then.

Anyway, get excited for Brother Jed’s presence on campus.

Love him or hate him, he’s an incredible entertainer and fascinating evangelist. I definitely don’t agree with everything he says, but I cannot doubt his effectiveness. Even his haters remember him. He’s someone that will never disappear from your thoughts.

Stay tuned for Jed Smock reports and stories.

News Clips by LD

Don’t forget to read my Students Seek More Counseling in February news piece, which was definitely inspired by recent events.

As most of you can probably agree, January is a terrible month. Christmas is over, the holiday weight gain becomes a reality, the outdoors are rainy and wet, and students have to go back to school.

With all this in mind, it makes sense that students seek more counseling services in February, just a month later.

This story means a lot to me because this is definitely a difficult time of year for citizens and students alike.

Also, don’t forget to read my Students to Drink for Haiti news blurb. These days, who isn’t doing Haiti fundraisers?

Peace Corps Story in the Daily Wildcat

Be sure to read my Peace Corps story in today’s issue of the Arizona Daily Wildcat. Unfortunately, it was sort of a rushed piece, so some of my best sources could not comment on time for my deadline.

Regardless, I’d like to expand upon the article in this blog. Arizona Student Media director Mark Woodhams said that he would have liked to know more about the story behind the UA Peace Corps alumni rather than just the Peace Corps Fellows program at this university. A personal anecdote is much more riveting than a program blurb, so I’ll focus on the people rather than the program in this post.

Rachel Gotschall, a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova, shared this interesting information with me,

“The Peace Corps is not for everyone. The amazing thing about volunteerism is that you don’t have to travel to another country to help spread peace and friendship (which is the main goal of Peace Corps). Important volunteer work can be found in every community and in every town. The Peace Corps however is a unique program for those individuals who have a specific interest in volunteering overseas and learning and integrating into a different culture. My suggestion is that if you are interested in the Peace Corps, definitely take a look and get all the information you can. However, by no means should you feel that you are a selfish, unadventurous or uncaring person if you know that it is not the program for you. Like I said, the beauty of volunteerism is that there is no lack of need anywhere. But the experience I am having now has been amazing and eye opening.”

Gotschall continued,

“My experience so far teaching English here in Eastern Europe has been far from what I expected. Part of the reason is that when one thinks of Peace Corps, visions of living in a mud hut in the middle of a remote African village probably come to mind…I know for me that’s what I imagined my service would be like. But here I am in Europe of all places, with running water (not heated but water non-the-less) electricity, a cell phone, and even Internet! However, I quickly found that although on the surface Moldova doesn’t feel that much different from America or extremely exotic, the school system and way of life here is far from what I grew up with in sunny Arizona. I live in a village of about 5,000 people and I teach English classes ranging from second grade to eleventh grade. The main goal of my project as an English teacher in Moldova is to work side-by-side with my fellow Moldovan English Teachers and help them to develop more creative and student-centered lessons. I also have an opportunity to work outside of the school and develop secondary activities/clubs in any area that is needed or wanted by my community. To sum up all that I have learned and am learning here in Moldova; humility, patience, open-mindedness, and flexibility are all traits that are indispensable to a Peace Corps volunteer and I believe are traits that will enrich my life once I get back to America.”

I also interview Nickolaus Eichmann, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Peru, and I wish I’d included more of his personal experience stories in my news article. Some of the memorable comments he made were,

“You get back way more than you give in the Peace Corps. Once you live in a foreign country for an extended period of time, you really see that the only barrier between people is language and that’s it. I would recommend the Peace Corps to anyone and everyone.”

Eichmann also noted that the Peace Corps will give the volunteers the same living conditions that the locals in the area live in. His friend, who lived in Mongolia, lived in a tent just like the people from the area.

Eichmann was able to use the internet in the community he was in, and he also had a satellite phone connection not too far away.

Both of these individuals have positive Peace Corps stories to share with the UA community, and it’s only fair to explain these experiences a little further in the context of my news article.

More news stories by LD

Be sure to read my HPV vaccination story and Greek tees for Haiti report.

Bullying now a serious issue.

After the cyber bully sparked suicides of Megan Meier and Phoebe Prince, it seems that the media and schools alike are finally starting to take harassment seriously, or it’s at least being recognized as it should.

Yahoo recently reported on a study about why certain kids are picked on, and Phoebe Prince’s suicide resulted in a call for the school administration’s resignation.

I’d like to conclude that technology is the reason why so everyone is more aware of teasing and harassment. As someone who was relentlessly bullied in junior high, I know that schools have been known to take a blind eye to bullying, and I never appreciated such apathy. Though I was harassed via AOL Instant Messenger in 8th grade, I am old and privileged enough to have basically missed the age of cyber bullying, which is pervasive for today’s junior high and high school students.

Cyber bullying has shown adults that teasing is a serious issue. With cyber harassment, bullies are now able to menace their victims 24/7. Students cannot go home and feel relieved to be away from their tormentors. There’s no longer a safe haven for the bullied, so of course they’re going to turn to suicide and other drastic measures.

I’m hoping that this semi-new phenomenon will influence school officials to enforce harsher punishment on mean kids. These harassers have been getting away with this unacceptable behavior for far too long, and they’ve destroyed self esteems, lives, and futures for the innocent. It’s time that they finally learn that mistreating others is not okay and will not be tolerated.

Recent news stories by LD

Check out my most recent news articles in this week’s Daily Wildcat:

Eighth Wettest January in Tucson
Fake ID a Bad Idea
UA Tech Park to House Solar Plant, Flowers
Dorm Construction Update

Also, be sure to read my opinions column on the suicide of Phoebe Prince.

Unfortunately, my column was heavily edited by copy, which I’ll admit that I did not appreciate because the original was much punchier, spiteful, and, well, opinionated. I have posted the unedited version on this blog because I truly believe the watered down version does not do my column, or Phoebe Prince, any proper justice. So, here is my column as it was, as I believe it should have run:

What exactly do school bullies intend to achieve? Perhaps a veteran harasser or mean girl can help me out here, or at least answer this question: Do bullies actually want that their victims will commit suicide?

It seems like a dramatic question to ask, but it’s perfectly valid these days, especially considering the Phoebe Prince case. Prince, who’d recently moved from Ireland to western Massachusetts, took her own life after being cyber bullied and relentlessly teased at South Hadley High School. In addition to enduring harassment at school, 15-year-old Prince was tormented via text message, cell phone, and Facebook. The Boston Herald reported in a Jan. 26 article that Prince had been menaced by “a foul-mouthed teenage girl who was among teens who bullied her constantly…and told Prince to ‘go kill yourself.’”

Imagine the lifelong guilt that a normal, compassionate person would feel upon learning that someone actually committed suicide after being instructed to do so.

Then again, this particular mean girl was more than likely a full blown sociopath, or at least someone with absolutely no soul or respect for human life, so why would she regret her fateful orders? Is she happy that Prince was driven to self destruction?

Even in death, Prince is still haunted by high school demons. Many of her harassers mocked Prince on her Facebook memorial page and returned to school as if nothing had happened. According to the Boston Globe, the mean girls “told State Police detectives they did nothing wrong, had nothing to do with Phoebe killing herself.” If these kids can’t learn from suicide, there’s really no hope for their personal development or acquisition of compassion.

A lot of commentators are unsatisfied with the way that Prince was treated, and it’s easy to assume that her death was solely a result of harassment. There is, however, a real possibility that there was something else going on in Prince’s life. Most people will be picked on at some point in life, and some children unfortunately have to deal with more harassment than the lucky ones who are inexplicably left alone. The reality is that not all of these victims hurt themselves or others simply because of school bullying. There must have been further internal suffering than Prince’s friends or family members will ever know the full extent of, and the high school teasing just led to her ultimate breaking point.

With that in mind, it’s important for bullied teens and preteens to speak up when they are being harassed in school. Most schools have counseling resources, and students can always approach a teacher or principal if harassment persists.

One has to wonder if Prince had mentioned any of the teasing incidents to the South Hadley High administration. Was she a sufferer in silence? Prince’s close friend, who remained anonymous, told CBS that Prince hid her pain. It’s likely that she expected the teasing to subside, or she just decided to tough out the hard times.

Regardless, where were all the observant adults? Even if Prince wasn’t vocal about her harassment, her teachers were probably aware that it was going on since Prince was often terrorized in school. The Boston Herald also reported that Prince was seen running out of her algebra classroom in tears. Where was her algebra teacher during all this? A responsible instructor would have followed Prince out the door or at least have phoned the school counselor to handle the situation. It’s rather hard to believe that Prince’s teachers didn’t know about Prince’s unhappiness, or at least her standing with the mean girls.

At the end of the day, Prince is still deceased, and her harassers will probably never fully understand the damage they have done. In a day and age where cyber bullying is sparking more and more suicides, schools need to take bigger steps to preventing harassment. Disciplinary action should be enforced, and students should face expulsion and suspension when constantly picking on a particular individual. Call it extreme and harsh, but what could be worse than a young girl hanging from a rope?