Page 2
The Compass
November 14, 2003
THE OPINION PAGE
Thousands of life size terra-cotta
warriors and horses stand ready to de
fend the Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who
ruled over two thousand years ago. With
their armor in place and weapons at the
ready they present a formidable force
that would discourage any foreign or
domestic army.
Twenty years ago when I en
tered the building that covers a section
of the archaeological site of the tomb of
China’s first emperor, I was over
whelmed with the history it represented.
The terra-cotta warriors and horses, lo
cated the Shaanxi province of China and
were found by local farmers while dig
ging a well, inspired me to appreciate a
civilization that existed many years ago.
There were ancient minds, hands and
eyes that were responsible for the
sculpting of those historical figures.
This history was not a distant concept
for me to study from a book; it was right
in front of me and I had no doubt that it
^aCk
Who would you like to see
perform at future ECSU
Homecoming concerts?
“Beyonce,Mya,
Lox,Jay-Z, or
Ludacris"
Darrien Jerman, Freshman
Seabord, NC
Lir Jon and the
Eastside Boyz,
T.I., Da Band, or
Beyonce’
Nicole Burton, Sophomore
Winston Saiem, NC
“Whoever they
can afford
to get.”
Gregory Ackles, Senior
Wiliingboro, New Jersey
M « «««!««%«
“Ifyou are going
to go big, go big,
Lir Jon and the
Eastside Boyz."
Wyatt Jordan, Senior
Elizabeth City^ NC
Compiled by Delra Stith
Editorial: Travel is good for the soul
was real. An energy was emitted from
the site that was as palatable as walk
ing into a home, where the Thanksgiv
ing turkey has been roasting for hours,
and the aroma engulfs you and reminds
you of all Thanksgivings past. My sense
of being was changed forever. I was
now connected to the ancient past,
where as before it was something that
happened long ago, to people to which
I didn’t relate. Before the present was
what I understood best, so I chose com
fort over a deeper meaning to life.
I observed a mentality in the
people of the China I visited to be simi
lar to that of their ancestors, who were
forced to construct a vast army out of
terra-cotta that would protect a dead
emperor. Their liberties were sup
pressed and their acceptance of mun
dane jobs was evidence of that fact. I
remember traveling to a mountain re
sort where the Chinese vacationed. Few
foreigners went there. On the way up
the mountain I saw men and women
sitting on the side of the gravel road,
with hammer and chisel in hand, break
ing up rocks to make gravel for the road.
I thought to myself, what was this
person’s view of life, what did they look
forward to? Then I realized that their job
was not the extent of who they were.
They had to have other fulfilling facets to
their life.
At that time of my life, I was com-
pletely immersed in my career and
found little time for much else. Satis
faction in my job was the motivating force
of my life. Finding myself questioning
the purpose of my life and being given
the gift of seeing others so completely
different than I, created a path to my be
coming a wife and mother. I did not covet
these two roles before my trip; I was
never going to marry or have children.
When I returned home and was
back performing my job with less pas
sion and enjoyment than before, I real
ized I had changed. My basic ideas
about what I needed from life had
evolved from those I had observed in
my parents to those that were completely
my own. My mother had always been a
career woman at heart, but she grew up
in a time when women were expected
to be housewives with families. She
succumbed to the social pressures to
have children, but always worked or
owned a business. She once told me
that she wished she had not had chil
dren. She thought a childless life for
her daughter was best, and for a while I
had taken her wish for my own. Travel
ing to China presented to me a feast of
delicious alternatives to my previous
life’s ambitions.
Within a year of returning from
China I quit my job, got married, sold
most of my possessions, and moved from
California to North Carolina. That was a
long time ago and I am still enjoying the
leftovers from my trip to China. I am still
married to the same man, 1 have a 17-
year-old son, and I continue to challenge
my perceptions of the people and events
around me, as well as my limited expe
rience and knowledge.
Take advantage of any oppor
tunity to travel that you can and while in
distant lands make an effort to under
stand the people there and the circum
stances of their lives. You will see your
self and others differently when you re
turn.
Susan Correll-Hankinson
Fame—could you handle it?
Jabari Young
jtyoung@mail.ecsu.com
Staff Writer
Imagine being the president of
the United States of America. How
about being an N.B.A. All-Star, N.F.L.
Pro-Bowl linebacker or the world
heavyweight boxing champion? Living
a lavish lifestyle as a world renowned
recording artist wouldn’t be too
shabby, either You would always be
in the public’s eye. Anyone with ac
cess to a television, the Internet, and
other media publications would know
your name, and possibly, praise your
accomplishments. The only downside
I can think of would be saying goodbye
to your personal privacy Neverthe
less, I think life would be great.
Let me mention a few names
that might grab your attention, Kobe
Bryant, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson,
O.J. Simpson, R. Kelly, Ray Lewis,
and Mike Tyson. Do these names ring
a bell? All have achieved success in
their profound careers. They also share
something else in common: accusa
tion of criminal behavior Guilty or not,
these allegations will never be forgot
ten. Will these claims outweigh or
overshadow their triumphs? I think it
depends on each situation and out
come.
It seems as if every time you tum
around, someone famous is being
accused of doing something shock
ing or profane.
I’ve heard the saying “What
goes up, must come down” numer
ous times in my lifetime. Maybe that
old cliche is concrete truth. All of these
men mentioned are viewed as “role
models” to young men and women
around the world. Role model is de
fined in Merriam-Webster's dictionary
as “a person whose behavior in a par
ticular role is being imitated by oth
ers.”
Most people consider these per
sons superhuman. We all sometimes
forget that these individuals are only
^
X uciry
V. ^—
v^UlllCI
Imprisoned Soul
It’s hard for her to walk with her head held high
When the child within does nothing but cry.
For years of pain and suffering
Has left her feeling like her soul is dying.
Always the rotten apple of her mother’s eye
Who wished not for her children to succeed but for
them to die
And the forbidding, wandering hands of her father
Caused her to end her childhood and take the role of a
mother
Though still young, she was the mother and protector
Of her younger sister and brothers.
Giving them the love not given by their mother
And sacrificing her body to keep her sisters from
being raped by their father
Such a heavy load to carry upon her young shoulders
The misery led her to commit murder
But never was she seen as a murderer
For her genius mind devised a killer
Who could never be caught
Since he could not be sought.
But this woman is still not free.
Her life is still filled with misery.
For the blood of that night stains her memory.
Holding her soul in captivity.
-Kimberly Hockaday-
human and imperfect, just as the rest
of us. True, they earn large sums of
money and are privileged to enjoy the
finer things in life. True also, they
should set an example for others.
However we must realize that they
are entitled to make mistakes be
cause they are human beings.
Everyone and their mama is
looking at what they do and listening
to what they say. If I were in the posi
tion of Kobe, Bill, Mike or any of the
others, I would place strong empha
sis on keeping my “business” out of
the media. Everyone and their mama
is looking at what they do and listen
ing to what they say. As a matter of
fact, I would hire professionals to help
me hide my skeletons in the closet!
Let's be honest, everyone has secrets
that they keep only to themselves. If
you ask me, keeping secrets should
be the right of every human being.
Dogs, pigs, goats, rats and other life
forms have studies and documenta
tion to explain their behavior. I doubt
that animals keep secrets. But we
aren’t animals.
We all came to ECSU to one
day be “somebody” in life, correct? We
might not reach the status of the rich
and famous, but people notice what
we do and say. Be careful. Critics run
rampant. Remember no matter what
one may accomplish in life, there is
always an obstacle waiting to take us
off course. The weak will perish, but
the strong will survive.
qS^ss
Editor-in- Chief. : Susan Correll-Hankinson
Co-Ordinating Editor. Kymber Lee Taylor
Copy Editor DeTra Stith
Assistant News Editors Toby Tate, Jamica Ashley,
Danielle Harrigan, Jennifer Fueston, Margaret Fisher
Photographers Rich Harvey, Damien Lewis,
Susan Correll-Hankinson, DeTra Stith, Golar Newby
Graphic Designers Kymber Taylor, Susan
Correll-Hankinson, Margaret Fisher
Advisers Dr. John Luton and Dr. Joseph
Lisowski
Financial Adviser. , Mr. Stephen March
The Compass is published by Elizabeth City State University students under the
direction of the Department of Language, Literature and Communication, Dr. Emmanuel
Ngwainmbi, Chairperson, and Dr. John Luton, staff adviser. The editors would like to
recognize the Journalism class for its contributions.
VIKI VIKING
Dear Viki Viking,
I am a junior and taking 18 credit
hours. I have a part-time job along with
church commitments. I feel like I’m
going to have to give something up.
There’s not enough time in the day to
get everything done. I’m about ready
to lose it! Can you help?
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
You are feeling as we all do from
time to time. A lot of students have
jobs, children, and a spouse, along
with various civic activities. It’s hard
to balance your time when you have
tests to study for, papers to write, and
projects to get done. Being a student
is not easy even without these other
commitments. So, at times, having
so many things to do can make us
feel overwhelmed.
In order to get everything accom
plished you have to have a plan. Make
lists of what you have to accomplish
and set aside so much time for each
thing on those to-do lists and above
all, DO THEM! Some weeks, as you
know, will bring about more work than
others. Some of your instructors have
probably given you a heads-up on
assignments that will be due in weeks
to come. Go ahead and get a jump-
start on those items due in the future,
taking advantage of those slack days.
This way they do not pile up. Make
sure that you are not avoiding tasks
that you have to do.
As we are now past midterm,
you have made it to the downhill side
of the semester. Don’t stop now. It
won’t be long before you can look back
at this time and be proud of yourself
for sticking with it and adding those
18 units to your credit.
Good luck!
Viki Viking
You may leave comments or
questions for Viki Viking in the sub
missions folder on the door of Rm 111
in Johnson Hall.
mas 1913 edition, published
on 21 December he could
have no idea that he would
be starting a worldwide
craze.
The puzzle page had
previously featured plenty of
word squares, rebuses, hid
den words, anagrams and
connect-the-dots drawings.
For this edition Wynne de
cided he would have some
thing new.
He sketched out a dia
mond-shaped grid, wrote
FUN, the name of the comic
section, across the top
squares, and started filling
in the rest of the grid. He
numbered the squares at
the start and end of each
word, and wrote definition
clues for the words he had
filled in. The puzzle was
printed with the instruction
to the solver: “Fill in the small
squares with words which agree
with the following definitions.” Thus,
the crossword was born. The new
puzzle became popular immedi-
14
l»
IX
11
U
N
30
34
31
25
13
17
History of world’s first crossword—
can you figure it out?
Courtesy of: http://thinks.com/crosswords/first1 .htm
Arthur Wynne had the job of ately, and continued to appear every that the hyphen was dropped, and
devising the weekly puzzle page for week. One change was that after a ^(10 Cross-word became a Crossword.
Fun, the eight-page comic section few weeks the name was changed From the very first readers
oftheNewYorkWorld.Whenhede- from Word-cross to Cross-word. began sending in crosswords they
vised what he called a ^ad composed, and by
Word-cross for the Christ- m _ February 1914, Wynne
was regularly using these
readers’ submissions.
There was a problem, how
ever: the weekly crossword
was plagued by typesetting
errors, and as a result it
was decided to drop the
crossword. An immediate
howl of outrage came from
the readers, and the cross
word was reinstated, after
an absence of only one
week.
Surprisingly, despite their
popularity, crosswords ap
peared nowhere else but
the New York World. Then
in 1924, a couple of newly-
qualified graduates of the
Columbia School of Jour
nalism, called Dick Simon
and Lincoln Schuster, set
up in business as publish
ers. Looking for something
to publish, they settled on
a book of the puzzles from the New
York World. This book was an im
mediate massive hit, and launched
the crossword craze worldwide.
Fill in the
small squares with words which agree with the following definitions.
2-3.
What bargain hunters enjoy.
6-22.
What we all should be.
4-5.
A written acknowledgment.
4-26.
A day dream.
6-7.
Such and nothing more.
2-11.
A talon.
10-11.
A bird.
19-28.
A pigeon.
14-15.
Opposed to less.
F-7.
Part of your head.
18-19.
What this puzzle is.
23.30.
A river in Russia.
22-23.
An animal of prey.
1-32.
To govern.
26-27.
The close of a day.
33-34.
An aromatic plant.
28-29.
To elude.
N-8.
A fist.
30-31.
The plural of Is.
24-31.
To agree with.
8-9.
To cultivate.
3-12.
Part of a ship.
12-13.
A bar of wood or iron.
20.-29.
One.
16-17.
What artists learn to do.
5-27.
Exchanging.
20>2l.
Fastened.
9-25.
To sink in mud.
24-25.
Found on the seashore.
13-21.
A boy.
10-18.
The fibre of the gomuti palm.
After experimenting with differ
ent shapes, including a circular
puzzle, Wynne eventually settled on
a rectangular pattern.
It was not until some time later