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4 NEWS WWW.GUILFORDlAN.COM Fruit of the Vine essays offer insights on Amish By Matt Boidette Staff Writer Don't be fooled by the flowing white locks of his beard — Max Carter, director of the Friends Center and campus ministry coordinator, is absolutely not Amish. Though the values of the electricity-shunning sect inspired his writings published in the Oc- tober-December issue of the peri odical Fruit of the Vine, Max is a resolute Quaker. "The reason people con fuse the Amish and the Quakers so much is because the Amish look like the way Quakers used to look like" Carter says of Quak er identity, one of the major is sues he approaches in the essays. In the seven short essays. Carter draws on his experiences taking Guilford students in his IDS 405 Communities class to Lancaster County, Pa. He focuses on issues of forgiveness, identity, community, boundary markers and "negotiation with moder nity." He continues to take his Quaker Communities and Commitment classes on annual sojourns to Amish communities in southern Virginia and Iredell and Yadkin counties in North Carolina. These trips began in the early 90s and have continued since. Students split wood and help clean up the communities. Some have even helped to raise barns, but they focus more time on understanding the Amish way of life. "It's not so much work proj ects anymore as it is getting ac quainted with the community and learning about their way life, their philosophy, their applica tion of their principles" he said of student visits to Amish com munities. "1 realized that they are just like us but a little more spiritual" said junior Brittany Varner, who visited an Amish community in Parkersburg, W. Va., with an FYE class. She described the experi ence as wonderful and the people as "extremely welcoming." The community is home to an exotic bird sanctuary run completely without modern technology. By capping edu cation at the eighth grade, re taining a traditional German language, maintaining strictly uniform dress codes, and of course limiting the use of tech nology, Amish communities such as Parkersburg are able to keep a distinct identity. Carter finds the clarity of Amish boundaries refreshing in modern society, where he sees basic values of simplicity, integrity, community, peace and equality dissolving. He feels some technologies, nota bly cell phones and the Inter net, can demean communities by reducing human contact and isolating people. "We 'moderns' tend to accept new technology with out question" he said. "What we fail to do is to investigate what impact it's going to have on quality of life - on core val ues. A simple walk through the quad or the cafeteria confirms the consequences of new technology. The clattering of keys and the trill of ringtones are rapidly replacing face-to-face conversation. Carter also finds that these devices tend to replace other core values such as commitments to simplicity and non violence. On the dissolution of simplicity. Carter says, "(In a) consumer econ omy, how do we respond to the ter rorists? Go shopping!" On popular culture's response to violence. Carter says, "You gotta pack heat! Peace is for wussies." In order to address the^e woes. Carter espouses a probationary ap proach to accepting new technolo gies, rather than accepting them without discrimination. Despite this wariness. Carter believes that technology can be beneficial if ap proached correctly, and so does not shun it completely. Annual trips to Amish communities help to expand upon these principles and allow stu dents to reevaluate how they use technology. Hosseini speaks about Afghanistan, writing By Noble Maxwell Van Pelt-Diller Staff Writer Tickets were sold out weeks before the event. The audience in the fully packed War Memo rial Auditorium awaited the ar rival of Khaled Hosseini, author of the bestselling novel, "The Kite Runner." The lights dimmed and he walked onto the stage with the moderator, Beverley Abel, a pro ducer for North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC. Finally, they began the in terview seated in comfortable chairs angled across from each other on a carpet. Hosseini spoke of his child hood in Afghanistan and how he longed for people to recognize the true beauty of his homeland and not the violence that seems to constantly plague it. "I never saw anyone fire a gun while I was in Afghanistan. There were tanks in the military barracks covered in dust that hadn't been used in years." According to Hosseini, Af ghanistan was a great place to grow up and was very peaceful. He also answered political questions about his homeland and how he felt about United States' presence in Afghanistan. He said that Americans are con sidered guests by most of the community and that Afghanis treat their guests with respect. "Stronger military presence is a good thing. The U.S. helps keep the Taliban out, which an overwhelming majority are in favor of," said Hosseini. "If the U.S. were to pull out their troops it would be very disconcerting for the Afghanis." Diya Abdo, assistant pro fessor of English, required her world literature class to attend Hosseni's interview. During a later class discus sion, some students, as well as Abdo, expressed disappoint ment about the audience's reac tion to Hosseini's comments; they said the crowd focused on Hos seini more as a representative of Afghanistan than a writer. "I think the moderator's question did not allow Hosseini to speak to the things which I went to the event for — more spe cifically, his ca reer as a writer and his novels," said Abdo. "The questions may have been better suited for a general discussion on Afghanistan. I was, overall, disappointed with the questions asked." "I did enjoy the event even though I felt he was being very diplomatic and in many ways his questions were measured," said Abdo. "I had been hoping for less deliberate and measured The entire program was organized to fit a certain audience perspective." Abdo continued to speak about experience as a whole: "It really presented a first-hand experience to examine the way writers from other countries are treated, interviewed, and read." Hosseini mentioned that he always knew he wanted to be a writer. However, he had no idea his book about the cancellation of one of his fa- vorite pastimes, kite running, would be so successful. Dur ing the section of the program where the mod erator collected the audience's questions, one member posed a question about the most surpris ing part of writ ing the book. "People were reading it," said Hosseini. "I sud denly realized this book is col lecting an audi ence. Word of clubs across answers. mouth and book the United States caused his novel to gain popu larity in contrast with the two book ahead on the bestseller list for 2005, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and "A Mil lion Little Pieces." This was his gift to America from his home land. ♦ * f ♦ I t . mm' ■ 4 i t '■ -a ■ ■ 3 }} with special guest Julia Easterlin Friday, November 7, at 8 pm Dana Auditorium at Guilford College Tickets for students and employees $5 in advance and $15 at the door. Advance tickets on sale Oct. 22,23,30 and Nov. 5 Founders Hall Lobby, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Advance tickets may also be purchased in the Alumni House, 1 -4 p.m. until Nov. 5. ♦ # 44 t f • » 4 # « « .« tr ♦ I ♦ I 4 t M 4 • ♦ • 4 ♦ 4 « 4 > 1 4 4 I « ¥ ¥ i * 9 i % * 4 1. f 4 4- 4 ««
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Oct. 31, 2008, edition 1
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