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October 2014 News SAB puts on Halloween Dance The Stentorian | NCSSM By Addy Liu Feature Editor A longstanding NCSSM tradition, the Halloween Dance is an informal social event that tends to fall on an exam week end, just as it does this year. For this reason, it is designed to be a low-key, stress-reliev ing event where students can forget about looming exams for an evening. Jennifer Ashe, the Assistant Director of Student Services, discussed this and said, “The point of the Halloween Dance is for it to essentially be a study break. Lots of other dances during the year, like prom and semi-formal, take up a good part of the day: getting dressed, taking pictures, and going out to dinner ... the Halloween Dance is supposed to just be very casual and fun.” Ashe also commented that she tries to keep the Halloween dance close to the actual date of Halloween. This way, the dance still occurs during the time of greatest holiday spirit. However, due to exams it was impossible to schedule it dur ing October this year. Possible themes for the dance are still being debated but one strong contender so far is a Ghostbusters theme, which would happen to tie into the summer reading, since this classic ‘80s cult film was men tioned in “Ready Player One” as one of the book’s many ref erences to ‘80s pop culture. When asked, Ashe was rather invigorated about this possible theme, having already begun preliminaiy work on constructing part of the red and white no-ghosts signs emblem atic of the movie. Besides the dance itself, which will play music typi cal to that of the other dances during the year and not Hal loween-themed music, there is a possibility of vintage Hal loween movies being shown during the dance. Such movies could include “Teen Wolf’, the 1985 fantasy comedy star ring Michael J. Fox or “Hocus Pocus”, a 1993 horror comedy about a trio of witches, one of whom is played by Sarah Jes sica Parker. Ashe and the Student Activ ities Board will also be hosting a Halloween costume contest, with winners that will be cho sen according to the following categories: most creative, most school spirit, scariest, and best group costume. The judges of this competition are tradition ally chosen fi'om NCSSM fac ulty but given interest, there is potential for there to be student judges this year. Tying in to this Hallow een weekend, there was cam- pus-wide trick-or-treating on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.. During this time, students could dress up and go to participating faculty and staff members’ doors to get candy and/or other treats. Those participating had a pumpkin on their door. The Halloween Dance will be held in the PEC on Satur day, Nov. 1, from 9 p.m. to midnight. The costume contest will take place at 10:30 p.m. in the PEC classroom. Refreshments at the dance will include candy, punch and water. Seattle changes Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day By Max Schlknkbr staff Writer Columbus Day, celebrated for the first time in 1905 be fore being declared a national holiday in 1934, used to be known as a day to celebrate the “founder of America,” center ing around a nostalgic idea of Christopher Columbus sailing the ocean blue and discovering the New World in 1492. It was not until the late 20"’ century that American children would begin to hear the real story of how Columbus ac cidentally stumbled upon the island of Hispaniola and over saw the genocide that led to the extermination of the native Taino people. To acknowledge this, the people of Seattle, Washing ton, recently worked with in digenous tribes in the area to change the name of Columbus Day to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in the hopes of being more conscientious of the damage Columbus caused and the true nature of the bloody beginnings of America This name change honors the large presence of Native American tribes in and around Washington. The treatment of Native Americans had already been a point of controversy due to the name of the other Washing ton’s NFL team, the Washing ton (D.C.) Redskins. The term ‘redskin’ is widely considered a pejorative and an offensive slur for Native Americans. The motion to change the name of the holiday was voted in unanimously by the Seattle City Council this summer fol lowing large protests organized by activist groups in the area. “This action will allow us to bring into current present day our valuable and rich history, and it’s there for future gen erations to learn,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the Affiliat ed Tribes of Northwest Indians and of the Quinona. The change has been op posed by Seattle’s Italian- American community, who viewed Columbus Day as way of honoring the Italian ex plorer. Italian immigrants were those who originally pushed for the creation of the holiday. Italian-American council- member Nick Licata disagreed, arguing the change would not take away anything, but would allow everyone to celebrate a new day where everyone’s strength is recognized. “This is about taking a stand against racism and discrimi nation,” Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant said. “Learning about the history of Columbus and transforming this day into a celebration of indigenous people and a cel ebration of social justice... al lows us to make a connection between this painful history and the ongoing marginaliza tion, discrimination and pov erty that indigenous communi ties face to this day.” The change in Washington is only one of a recent trend of American states altering the holiday to better reflect early American history. South Da kota celebrates Native Ameri can Day and Hawaii celebrates Discoverers’ Day. California, Alaska, and Oregon are also taking measures to either re name or discontinue the holi day altogether. While a few select groups are still in full support of Co lumbus Day, its prominence in American culture is dwindling quickly as more and more people become aware of the problematic historical context involved. Although a federal holiday, Columbus Day is one of the least celebrated holidays in the country already, with only 23 states giving employees the day off to celebrate. Columbus Day has become less of a celebration of Christo pher Columbus, than an excuse to have an extra holiday, such as Labor Day. This, combined with the prejudiced implica tions of the holiday, is leading to a trend of states not honor ing the holiday. Seattle mayor Ed Mur ray signed the resolution on Oct,. 14. West African Ebola epidemic spreads to United States By Caroline Liu News Editor The ongoing Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic be gan in Guinea. The outbreak is traced to a 2-year-old child who died on Dec. 28, 2013. Eventually spreading to Li beria and Sierra Leone, smaller subsidiary outbreaks have oc curred elsewhere. Outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal have been successfully contained and the two countries are now free of the disease. In addition, secondary in fections have occurred among medical workers with very low case numbers in the United States and Spain, neither of which have shown any signs of spreading in the general popu health officials identified all close contacts of the person for further daily monitoring for 21 days after exposure. Duncan died of Ebola on Oct. 8 and was cremated. On Oct. 10, Nina Pham, a healthcare worker at Texas Presbyterian Hospital who had provided care for Duncan, re ported a low-grade fever and was referred for testing. The healthcare worker tested posi tive for Ebola according to preliminary tests by the Texas Department of State Health Services’ laboratory. Hospital officials said the nurse wore the recommended protective gear when treating Duncan on his second visit to this Dallas hospital, and she Nancy Writebol, 59, the second American hospitalized from the current Ebola outbreak. The North Carolinian is shown above arriving at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. lation. The current epidemic of EVD is the most severe outbreak of Ebola since the discovery of the virus in 1976. The epidemic has caused sig nificant mortality, with a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) reported as 71% according to the CDC. On Sept. 30,2014, the CDC acknowledged the first labora tory-confirmed case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the United States. Thomas Eric Duncan of Dallas, Texas had worked as a personal driver for the general manager of Safeway Cargo, a FedEx contractor in Liberia. On Sept. 15, 2014, the fam ily of Ebola patient Marhalene Williams was unable to sum mon an ambulance to transfer Williams to the hospital. Their tenant, Duncan, helped to transfer Williams by taxi to an Ebola Treatment Ward in Mon rovia, Liberia. Although Dun can did not have symptoms when leaving West Africa, symptoms began to develop approximately four days after arriving in the United States. When Duncan tested posi tive for Ebola, local public had “extensive contact” with him on “multiple occasions”. Pham was cured of Ebola and released on Oct. 24. The nurse’s infection was the first case contracted on U.S. soil. Although the threat of the Ebola virus may seem immi nent, there is no need for wide spread panic. Ebola is not as contagious as more common viruses like colds, influenza, or measles^. It only spreads to people who directly contact the skin or bodily fluids of those infect ed by the virus. A person who has Ebola but has no symp toms can’t spread the disease. ■^You cannot get Ebola from air, water, or food.* Despite this, planes, boats and buses have been quaran tined when a person aboard showed symptoms of'Ebola, which can bear incredible similarity to diseases such as the common cold. The best defense against Ebola is to not panic, since it is not a highly contagious disease. t. according to WebMD and CDC information
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