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WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM NEWS GLBTQA film series serves an imporantant role By Alex Thibadeau Staff Writer Dating back to 1974, GLBTQA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, allied) student activism has bubbled on Guilford's campus. In 1977, on the opposite coast, Harvey Milk, became one of America's first openly gay elected officials. Milk's avant-garde methodology and hard work won him a position as a San Francisco city supervisor. His assassination less than a year later sent waves across America. Milk remains one of the most significant figures of the gay rights movement. On Oct. 7, "Milk," the award-winning 2008 film depicting the efforts and era of Harvey Milk, was screened in the Bryan Auditorium, beginning Guilford's GLBTQA film series. Milner hall director Dermis Scott started the series in response to last month's bias incident. "I think the film series is great for the Guilford community because it allows students who identify with GLBTQA to have resources and ways to have dialogue about hot topics and issues within the community, and it brings awareness to others," said Scott. Students attending the event similarly spoke of the necessity for events like the GLBTQA series. "Given recent events on campus, it's especially important to have a place for people to get together to discuss relevant GLBTQA issues in a non threatening environment," said senior Shelly Fanguy, a member of Pride and the GLBTQA community. "The gay rights movement is not something you learn about growing up in school, so I think it is very important for Guilford to recognize its significance." Sophomore Bennie Rosfenstein acknowledged the series' purpose of addressing the prevalence of prejudice and bigotry. "In light of the incident, the series reinforces that there are so many more people becoming involved in speaking out against hate crimes," said Rosenstein. And this isn't just about being gay, it's about eliminating hate." Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Martha Lang introduced the event with a brief history of Harvey Milk in the context of the gay rights movement. "Milk was able to reach out to multi-ethnic, multi-sexual, multi-class, and multi-religious groups through coalition," said Lang. "He was the first to articulate to us that not only is it our right to get protection under the law and speak out, but it's our obligation." Before the film began, Lang probed the audience with thought-provoking questions and observations, attempting to give viewers the tools to draw relevant connections between the climate of society now and that of the late 1970s. "In what ways has the meaning of 'outness' changed?" asked Lang. "How is coalition-building a lesson that still remains important?" After the film, students expressed both reverence and frustration, while Lang responded and mediated. "I get angry," said Rosenstein in the post-movie discussion. "There's all this negative energy coming towards the gay community, and it's hard not to lower yourself to that level and act like an animal in return. It's so powerful that so many people connected to Milk and wanted to celebrate him as a person." "You must understand that people operate on deep levels of fear and love," said Lang in response. "It's an on-going discipline to look for that potential light of the divine in each person, which will lead to transformation. Building the community of people who are out and proud makes it easier for all of us. However, one should make sure to only come out when it is safe to do so." While Milk rallied for "coming out" as a part of his political strategy, Guilford students expressed its liberating values. "Coming out is a freedom," said Rosenstein. "It's a way to embrace yourself and say 'this is who I am, I can't help it, and I can't change it." Junior Brian Daniel, president of Pride and co-organizer of the GLBTQA film series, came out four years ago, during October, the national GLBTQA History Month. "I haven't looked back ever since," Daniel said. "My coming-out experience has been a never-ending journey, but it has been a great experience because I know I am true with myself. I was able to become true with others after becoming true with myself, and that is something I have learned from Harvey Milk." Daniel directly applied Milk's philosophy to Guilford's community and greater community. "If all GLBTQA students at Guilford 'come out,' then the tremendous presence of GLBTQA people will become more apparent, which will put faces with the labels," Daniel said. "If people know someone who is gay, there is a far greater chance of people accepting and understanding homosexuality." Lang similarly analyzed Milk's peaceful method as a template for creating successful change. "Milk believed that the only way to get rights is to build respect, build outness, and to build coalitions," Lang said. "Coalitions have a profound advantage in making change on the national and local levels. It's very important for minority groups to work together, so that no single person has to carry the load, and different groups have different strengths." As a part of the faculty connection series, the films not only address relevant topics on campus, but work to unite faculty and students. "The programs are designed to allow faculty and students to connect outside of the classroom in less structured environments that are not specific to the faculty's disciplines," said Scott. Overall the series created a space for thought and discussion on GLBTQA topics between both faculty and students. Health services move out of Founders By Chris Matteo Staff Writer The basement of Found ers Hall is now the target for Guilford's next big renovation project. Due to the work being done there, health services have been moved to the Milner Guest House. The move to the Guest House has affected a lot of the students and also the work ers in the health center. The building is not as centrally lo cated as Founders is, so while this is an advantage for stu dents who are living in Milner and the apartments, the health center is on the opposite side of campus for students living in the other housing options. Senior Ali Farnham is the only student who works at the health services currently. She says that the space is definitely nice and she is not opposed to the move, but that things have changed. "In the other building I would take people's tempera tures and sign them in," said TRUDEAU Farnham. Her job has now changed to looking for files and organiz ing things in the new building. She said that they only had one month to move everything and this was not sufficient time. "(We) took one examination room away and now (the cen ter) is spread over two floors," Farnham said when asked if there were any major differ ences between the two spaces. "We like the new area," said Helen Rice, director of Student Health. "It provides more con fidentiality for both student health and counseling." Rice also said that they are fully functioning now. "Fa cilities was most accommo dating and did all our needed upgrades very quickly," said Rice. Founders' transformation has been complicated but nec essary. Associate Vice Presi dent of Operations and Fa cilities Jonathan Varnell says that for the seven years he has been at Guilford, Founders has needed renovation. "Founders has refurbish ment needs and has been a target of fundraising for many years," Vamell says. Unfortunately, additional funding was not the reason for the new construction. It was because of a problem that oc curred. "This fall, during school move-in, we had another pipe issue," said Varnell. It was the final straw." This is why the project will begin now rather than over the summer. Varnell said this is a dreadful thing to happen at the time it did because it is a busy time for the facilities division. But on the bright side, Var nell believes, this will benefit students because of the new- additions and the problems that are being fixed. The renovation of Founders has been delayed because the Career and Community Learn ing offices have to be moved to King Hall. Varnell said that this project will be done later in the fall because of their busy schedule. After that they can begin the needed construction. Garry Trudeau opens Bryan series Continued from page I He showed drawings of B.D. as a soldier in the first Gulf War and then moved to panels of the Bush cabinet during the lead-up to the 2003 inva sion of Iraq. Then he paused to explain his fellow Yalie. "The younger Bush's entire life gives fresh meaning to the phrase 'assisted living," he said After the invasion of Iraq, Trudeau contin ued to satirize the Bush administration and the mainstream media in the character of faux Fox News Reporter Roland Hedley. So he said he was surprised when Pentagon officials invited him to visit the Walter Reed Army Medical Center after "Doonesbury" showed B.D. losing a leg in Iraq. He told of meeting a former student basketball star at Walter Reed who had lost a hand and her forearm in an explosion. "She was sent to secure the roof of an Iraqi police station," said Trudeau. "Her most vivid memory was of her teammates going to the roof against orders and digging through sand to find her hand and remove her engagement ring. They brought it to her and put it in her other hand." Trudeau features a military blog on his Doonesbury Web site called "The Sandbox." The week he spoke in Greensboro, "Sandbox" bloggers wrote about Afghan women in burqas, the morale-busting effects of broken toasters in Iraq and choosing a baby name when the other parent is in a war on the other side of the world. A month-long Hege Library exhibit of Trudeau drawings (also called, "Doonesbury in a Time of War") set the political stage for the war in Iraq and told the stories of three wounded warriors, B.D., Melissa and Toggle. The afternoon of the Bryan lecture, Trudeau visited the campus and spoke with students sur rounded by his cartoon panels in the Hege Li brary gallery. People arriving early for that event moved slowly from one drawing to the next. Two Guil ford women stopped in front of the same "Me lissa" panels and praised the talent that could make them laugh and cry at the grim topic of command rape. Junior Matt Clausen called Trudeau's campus session with journalism and political science stu dents "a great talk." He was interested in Trudeau's answers to questions about media standards and news re porting now that so much news is distributed online. Trudeau told the students, "The news indus try is going over a cliff." "I pray for a miracle." he said. "Either a ma jor media figure like (Rupert) Murdoch, who would make some news enterprise on the Web that people would pay for, like a news utility. Or, new platforms like Kindle that could create new (reading) habits." That night at the War Memorial Auditorium, the man whose "Doonesbury" cartoon strip ap pears around the world in over 1,400 newspa pers said, "My son doesn't know anyone who reads newspapers." Toward the end of his talk, Trudeau drew ap plause from the War Memorial crowd when he said "A patriot is someone who loves his country all the time and his government when they de serve it." Stacks of "Doonesbury" books disappeared from tables in the lobby when the lecture ended. Freshman Nora Stork waited happily in a long line for Trudeau to autograph books she bought for Christmas presents. ^ "My parents love him," Stork said. Junior Alex Knox said, "I appreciate ’Doones bury' for showing the evil character of the Bush administration." "Trudeau brought that out in a way that we were thinking about but not seeing in the news," said Knox.
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