FORUM
Guilford's unique environment will leave lasting impression
vides are exceptional because of the compas- handy in the classroom — patience, under-
sion and understanding that this commu- standing, thoughtfulness — these are the
nity both embraces and projects. same skills that will guide us through life,
I believe that we learn more from our and enable us to remember that there will
mistakes than we do from anything else, and always be bumps in the road, that things are
that our success is ultimately contingent on not always supposed to be easy, and that we
how we react to our mistakes and change aren't always going to be happy,
our behavior in their wake. Enduring stress, uncertainty, and unhap-
We will all inevitably continue to make piness is not fun. But had I not gone through
mistakes for the rest of our lives. At the those rougher periods of time in this environ-
same time, many of the insecurities that ment, I do not think I would have fully real-
plagued us during college and caused us to ized the power of community. Roommates,
procrastinate on papers, drink and smoke professors, caf workers, folks whose names
excessively, and convince ourselves that our I don't know but who I still smile at every
day — the amalgamation of these
people's presences in my everyday
life, ultimately made me realize
what matters to me.
Even though 1 will be in grad
uate school next year studying
something that 1 am very inter
ested in, 1 still do not know exactly
what 1 would like to do for a living,
nor do 1 see myself approaching a
certain stage of life over another in
five years.
Lnstead, I see myself yearning to
re-create or re-discover the same
kind of everyday life that I was
lucky enough to encounter here
enough to encounter was not random — in lives were miserable (even if only for several — one that is less personal and more corn-
fact, it was very specific. This luck was a hours at a time), will continue to pop up at munal. And for that intangible desire that 1
product of the unique environment that varying levels for the rest of our lives. will now incessantly pursue for the rest of
Guilford's sense of community perpetuates. But the difference will lie in how we deal my life, I cannot help but end on a positive
College is real life with training wheels, with our insecurities and feelings of fear note and say, 'Thank you, Guilford College,
and the training wheels that Guilford pro- and groundlessness. The skills that came in youVe been good to me."
APRIL 23, 2010
By Joanna Bernstein
Forum Editor
Approximately 24 hours before my senior
English capstone last semester, 1 took LSD
for the first time. Under the poor guidance
of a friend of mine, 1 took too much
and wound up not sleeping that
night and hallucinating through
the capstone presentation the next
day. Despite my being under the
influence of powerful psychedelic
drugs, the presentation went rela
tively well.
After my professor some
how found out that I had tripped
through the presentation, she con
fronted me about it, and I was
embarrassed. The fact that I was left
embarrassed, and not with a dam
aged reputation, was lucky.
The luck that I was fortunate
College is real life with training wheels,
and the training wheels that Guilford pro
vides are exceptional because of the com
passion and understanding that this com
munity both embraces and projects.
The sun never sets on Sarah Palin's Alaska
nature show. This is the same Alaskan who consistently fights
against expanding the endangered species list to include her
home state's wildlife, enthusiastically supports offshore drilling,
ancHfenies environmentally-based causes of global warming.
In a 2008 op-ed piece for The New York Times, Palin wrote,
"(Polar bears) are worthy of our utmost efforts to protect them
and their Arctic habitat. But adding polar bears to the nation's
list of endangered species, as some are now proposing, should
not be part of those efforts."
It seems that the hunter is Palin's cause, her endangered
species of choice. The former governor's efforts against the
polar bear are only slightly less obvious than her support for
aerial hunting. In this sport, pilots take to the sky and chase
fleeing wolves to exhaustion while hunters shoot at the animals
from the safety of the helicopter. Palin has promoted legislation
and even offered bounties to uphold this decades-old tradition.
An educational documentary series should be a welcomed
addition to the nature-programming scene. But for a politician
who sides with oil companies in discussions of endangered
species, this show is yet another exploitation of Alaska's natural
beauty.
Since leaving her post as Alaska's governor in July 2009,
Palin would seem to have put her political drive on the back
burner. But many speculate that Palin is utilizing the blurring
separation of Hollywood and state to her political advantage.
In the time since her summer resignation, Palin published a
best-selling autobiography, joined the right-wing ranks of Fox
News as a regular contributor, and made numerous television
appearances, perhaps most notably on the "Oprah Winfrey
Show."
Creeping her way into the mainstream consciousness,
nothing Palin does between now and the 2012 election (in which
she is speculated to run) will be politically neutral. And "Sarah
Palin's Alaska" is just another kissed baby in the course of her
political career.
This nature series will work to erase an environmentally
unfriendly political history from the minds of TLC's family
viewers. The campaign trail begins here.
As Palin's name becomes a brand bought by an increasing
number of networks, it is less likely that the sun will ever set on
Sarah Palin's Alaska. Viewer, beware.
By Hannah Sherk
Staff Writer
"Sarah Palin's Alaska" conjures images of taxidermy-
endangered species, Zambonis over frozen lakes, and drills off
the Pacific — not the stuff of ideal nature programming. This
fall, "Sarah Palin's Alaska" will not only be an ecologist's worst
nightmare, but also a new reality show starring everyone's
favorite ex-vice presidential candidate.
In the documentary-style series, Palin will do what she does
best: deliver scripted, prompted, heavily-edited rhetoric while
propped against a background of Alaskan wilderness.
Environmentalist, Palin is not. But what the former Alaskan
governor, of "Drill baby, drill" fame, lacks in a sense of ecological
responsibility she makes up in opportunism.
Discovery bought the rights to the eight-episode series at a
reported $1 million a pop, said Reuters. "Sarah Palin's Alaska"
will join the ranks of The Learning Channel's (TLC) family-
friendly programming, including "Jon and Kate Plus Eight"
and "Little People, Big World."
TLC's Web site released a statement from Discovery's
Chief Operating Officer Peter Ligouri, who said, "Discovery
Communications is so excited to help Sarah Palin tell the
story of Alaska ... to reveal Alaska's powerful beauty as it has
never been filmed, and as told by one of the state's proudest
daughters."
Palin is famous for shooting Alaskan wildlife, just not with
cameras. In her family home in Wasilla, animal skins cover the
furniture, an assortment of antlers guard the walls, and stuffed
wildlife grace the coffee table.
Putting aside Palin's campy taste in home-decor, her political
resume makes her an even less likely candidate for hosting a
GAY AFIER OBAMA
1le.pot of gold at the
end of the rainbow
>• • W  •'-
President Obama recently began to show
opinion of homosexual relationships
•^to.-be unlike those of past presidents. He
ordered a change in America's hospital
visiting rights. He wants to grant same-sex
® partners the right to visit their loved one
sin the hospital when they once could not,
because they were not considered family.
My mother, a doctor, saw the first cases
of HIV/ AIDS to appear in gay patients in
Los Angeles. Even then, same-sex partners
were sneaking in to see their loved ones
who were dying of these horrific diseases.
Though many patients can have their
loved ones visit in the hospitals, there are
countless others who are denied visitation
rights to loved ones who are sick or dying.
The President has also vowed, to reverse
the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which
prohibits gays and lesbians from being
"out" in the military.
Finally, Obama is also working towards
creating anti-discrimination legislation
which will secure the rights of gay, le.s-
bian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT)
employees.
Gays don't have to look far to see the dis
crimination that lies ahead of them. Living
in the South, we often hear how "wrong" it
is to "lay with" someone of the same sex —
that we are going to hell for our sins. Being
discriminated against is a heavy burden to
bear for the GLBT community, forcing some
to grow up repressed and feeling unloved
and disrespected-
The GLBT community has suffered at
|,,,the hands of bigots — which sometimes
{ include their families and friends — for
l^decades. Unspoken on this campus are the
stones of families,who have stopped sup-
fi^p^rtihg their kids once they learn their kid
l^is jjay Imagine if an unsupported gay man
|Vor , wom^ is denied visitation from their
I ', significant other just because of their sexual
Obama has the insight to say "hell no"
to this discrimination. He has made it clear
gay Americans will not be dem'ed medical
Ji-yisitatiph nghts^"^*'':'
When! hear the slanderous poison being
spewed by the, anti-gay movement, 1 wish
they were in my head as I stroke the hair
4" of me person I love, watching him with an
affinity that is unobstructed by gender-bias
‘ md unmoved by the bigots of my time.
/ Ail types of Americans deserve rights,
even if they happen to be gay. The
-s President's memo is a start, which I'm
hopeful will cause a domino effect.