FORUM
SEPTEMBER 16, 2011
Hut builders ou the rise iu Guiiferd weeds
By James Williamson
Staff Writer
Back in Guilford College's
small wooded acreage, there
remain several abandoned
huts, fortresses, lean-tos,
and other odd constructions.
Molding beer cans, broken
glass, and soggy plastic
bags accompany these hard-
to-find wastelands. Students
have neglected the woods
just as much as they have
decorated it. The time spent
by "hut builders" becomes
no more than student litter
and abandonment.
Off trail, there exists
the "Mosaic," a decorative
bonfire pit of beer bottle caps
displaying a funky flower
design of blue and green.
Three years ago the pit had
a hut too. Now the hut's
wood has splintered to the
ground. On the outskirts
of the "Mosaic," vestiges
of good times. Old English
bottles and PBR cans, melt
into the damp leaves.
"If you build things in the
woods," said Sam Sklover
'09, "maintain the spot."
For example, a lean-to,
not trashed, lives on amid
new structural ventures.
Covered in cobwebs and
next to the old lean-to, a
board with four golden
commandments scrawled in
white tells of how to sustain
a well-to-do woods edifice.
"1. Clean up after
yourselves 2. Add one
positive contribution 3.
Don't burn the rules 4. Don't
let Skipper out after 6pm
(the neighbors get testy)
Thank you, - Kent C."
"There have been things
built back there that
have been standing for
years," said David Petree,
director of environmental
sustainability. "Though it's
not my call whether things
stay or get torn down. I only
take away obvious trash."
However, these getaways
like the "Mosaic," or the
more recent "Bar Pit,"
can become overused and
trashed. At one point the
"Bar Pit" had an actual
bar counter made from
the wood of the old rock
climbing wall.
"Places not covered
in trash were always my
favorite spots," said Sklover.
Some students spend full
afternoons in the woods.
building and creating until
dark.
"I'm here about every
day," said sophomore Kyle
Silber. "Maybe two hours or
sometimes six hours."
The select students who
work weeks as part-time
architects do so in order to
kick back their overbearing
homework and daily
stresses. As a result, a bond
formulates between the
builder and Guilford woods,
making it cathartic resort.
"The woods are a gift,"
said junior Will Kimmell.
"One reason I haven't
transferred is because I have
a calming and removed
spot. It's unlike anything
else."
Kimmell created what
he calls "the Shire," and
due to student negligence,
he took the Shire apart and
moved it to a new location.
The new Shire is all the
more comfortable. Students
or unfamiliar locals cannot
attract negative attention to
its foregrounds.
"For a liberal art Quaker
school, there's lot of talk
about environmentalism,
but (students) just don't
clean up after themselves,"
said Sklover.
Campus Life notes the
litter and safety of structures.
As soon as students make
an area of the woods awry.
Campus Life has no option
but to have structures taken
down.
"When we notice a safety
issue, we will respond,"
said Sandy Bowles, director
of student judicial affairs.
"Adding a bonfire and
substance also draws in our
attention."
While the bonfire pits
have been shunned and
the woods' constructions
have endured carelessness,
discussions for a safe and
monitored outdoor space
on campus has evolved.
Sophomores Kelsey Worthy
and Rebeca Bonilla have
begun to advocate for an
area that can be kept clean,
relaxing, and free.
"We are in need of a safe
place to socialize," said
Worthy. "A place where
we can be relaxed or even
rowdy and still monitor the
space."
Failing to follow the
golden rules found by
the ghostly "Lean-to"
gives reason for other hut
locations to be torn down.
Disrespecting the woods'
grounds disables us from
the privileges of assembling
and customizing our
backyard. Our backyard
can only tolerate so much of
Skipper.
9/11: We are learning but first we are healing
By Renee Leach
Staff Writer
This past Sunday marked a decade
since Sept. 11, and almost all media
allotted the event copious amounts of
coverage. Some of the top magazines,
newspapers, television, and radio net
works have more than enough resourc
es and talent to awaken any dormant,
raw emotions that 9/11 can always stir.
However, in return, critics have
cropped up accusing the media of using
all its tricl« for exploitation, more than
commemoration or shedding a new
light on the implications of the attack.
And this kind of coverage might
be completely appropriate. Maybe it is
America who is not ready to view 9/11
completely sober.
"It impacted all of us, including
people here in Greensboro," said A1
Bouldin, chairman of the Guilford
County GOP, in a phone interview. "It
was an attack on our whole country and
our whole way of life."
Although 9/11 is remembered as
uniting the country in a time of need,
this sense of attack on "our whole way
of life" can also be attributed to how
quickly and drastically America reacted.
"I think what happened at that point
is that people wanted to tell us what
it meant," said Phil Slaby, associate
professor of history. "People and leader
ship came in and said 'This is what it all
meant. Now we want you to do what
we want you to do.' Decisions were
made nationally in the wake of that war,
the war in Afghanistan, and the war in
Iraq. Those things are still going on."
So, does 10 years mark the time when
9/11 should be approached more objec
tively? For those that suffered personal
tragedy on that day, the attack is still
resonating.
"It's not about 'we need to go kill ter
rorists' and it's not about the national
security," said Associate Professor of
History Damon Akins. "It's about the
kid whose dad or the kid whose grand
father died, and those stories really
work at a human level."
"I know that one of the women
who went down in the airplane in
Pennsylvania was actually from
Greensboro, so I think that ties us a little
more closely to the tragedy of that day,"
said Bouldin.
All this commemoration can, in turn,
undermine the event.
The wound of 9/11 might still be
fresh, but rehashing atrocities ad nau-
seum can begin to downplay the extent
of what happened.
"I'm the kind of person who would
say, 'This is an image that I don't think
should be shown ever again,' as I watch
it over and over again on my own voli
tion," said Akins of footage of the World
Trade Towers. "I could just choose not
to watch it, but it's hard not to, because
it's a pretty phenomenally compelling
image."
However, it is still important to note
how much of a defining moment that
attack was.
"In some ways, it's been long enough
now that we don't remember that, that
was the point at which it shifted," Slaby
said. "Now this has kind of become, as
they say now, 'the new normal.'"
Many atrocities have happened and,
through the slow process of healing,
they can now be reflected back on with
objectivity.
However, 9/11 is still in the midsts
of that process. Therefore, possibly
the best way to commemorate is to
acknowledging without judgment the
personal meaning and emotions that
this day evoked.
Fashion sense should not
affect voting sense in the
upcoming election
Karen Turner
Staff Writer
Michele Bachmann wore open-backed sandals.
Who the bleep cares?
1 adore clothing, and 1 am currently conducting
a love affair with shoes, but my affair stops long
before the voting booth.
So I pose the question again: who on earth
actually cares? In a country with a failing econo
my, high unemployment rates, a poor education
system, a crashing environment, and a rapidly
approaching energy crisis, one would think that a
person's choice in fashion would be entirely incon
sequential.
I do not care what you wear or how you do your
hair; just take the multitude of burdens off the
back of this country.
Since when is high fashion a desirable quality
during a time of poor economic growth and such
high unemployment? It would make a world of
sense for Bachmann to shop at the lower end,
"ugly" department stores than to frivolously spend
money that could else wise be put to better use.
In the extreme opposite of high-class soci
ety, why shouldn't she shop at stores such as
Goodwill? Support the economy, help a charitable
cause, and prove she is no better than those who
are forced to shop second hand.
Bachmann is the mother of five and has brought
23 foster care children into her home. As if this is
not enough of a reason to want to wear reasonable
shoes, she has been touring non-stop, walking up
and down stairs, across stages, and all throughout
meet-and-greets.
Frankly, the criticism Bachmann has received
from the 24/7 media empire we currently live in
is nothing more than digging for anything to fill
time slots.
To be even more frank, demanding that all
female public figures parade and dance around
in four inch stiletto heels is absurd and overly
ridiculous.
Walk a mile in Bachmann's shoes before you
decide to criticize her choice of un-fancy footwear.
Her male criticizers should just try on a pair of
heels and their buck will stop there.
And do we even know who manufactured those
hideous shoes? I would much prefer a presidential
candidate to sport a low-fashion American pair
of shoes, than to step foot into a gorgeous pair of
imports.
Get real, America. There are more important
things going on.