News
Occupy Oak Tree: Clay People Protest Nature Neglect
Have you noticed the
little clay people in and around
the large tree between Joyner
and the library? If you haven’t,
you’ve missed out on a cute
and mysterious art project that
has been the source of much
wondering. They’ll only be
there for a little while longer,
so go take a look! Jackie
Manning managed to track
down the creator, Katherine
Grayson, who had this to say
about her project:
The project is part of
my honors thesis. A studio
portion will come later, but
I have a couple more of
these installations to go. I
went to Iceland this summer
and studied history and
environmental issues with Dr.
Grathwohl and Dr. Grimes.
Iceland is largely without
trees--1-2% remains forested.
I felt kind of empty without
trees around everywhere and
I thought about it and talked
about it a lot while we were
there. When we got back it
was like walking into a crazy,
diverse jungle. I loved it.
However, there has
been some drama in my
hometown involving the
grocery industry, of all things.
Brand new stores are being
opened where forests once
stood and existing storefronts
are being abandoned and left
vacant. It hasn’t happened
once, but several times.
Frankly, it makes my heart
sick.
Particularly with hurricane
Matthew this year, it appears
that when people notice
nature, it tends to be only
as a destructive force or as
something that gets in the way
of advancement. The drive is
to control it.
I desperately want people
to see a different side to the
story. I want us to work toward
keeping as many existing
trees as we can, and planting
some to make up for what
we’ve already destroyed-a
hippie’s dream, I know.
However, I’m not
totally insane. I know that no
amount of convincing chatter
will change people’s hearts.
Many people don’t have
positive experiences in nature
to draw from. I can’t expect
that anyone would commit to
preserving our forests when
they don’t notice the trees
(and as a result, don’t notice
them disappear)-or worse,
notice in a negative way and
are only relieved when the
trees are gone. By hopefully
giving people a positive
experience in nature and
encouraging people to look
at some really fabulous trees.
the goal of these little people
is to open a doorway for
conversation about our forests.
Photos courtesy of Jacquelyn Manning
Meredith Ensemble Theatre Presents Suddenly Lost Summer
From meredtih.edu
Meredith Ensemble
Theatre will present Sudden
ly Last Summer by Tennes
see Williams, November 8-13,
2016. Performances are Tues
day, Nov. 8-Saturday, Nov. 12
at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov.
13 at 3 p.m. in Studio Theatre
of Jones Hall.
In this modern clas
sic tragedy told by one of the
South’s greatest writers, the
only son of wealthy widow Vio
let Venable dies while on vaca
tion with his cousin Catherine.
What the girl saw was so hor
rible that she went insane. Now
Mrs. Venable wants Catherine
lobotomized to cover up the
truth.
Tickets are free for Mer
edith students, faculty, and
staff, $10 for adults, $5 for se
nior citizens and students.
Reservations may be made by
calling the box office at 919-
760-2840 or boxoffice@mer-
edith.edu.
Voter Registration Problems
Yessy Anorve-Basoria, Staff Writer
Whenever elections take
place, whether they are state,
town, or especially presiden
tial elections, the United States
encounters some kind of com
plaint. This year’s complaint
was about the touch screen
voting machines. North Caro
linians have spoken out about
the problems that they encoun
tered where the machine mis-
identifies the voter’s choice.
According to WRAL, counties
that have were encountering
the mishap included Cumber
land, New Hanover, Iredell,
Mecklenburg, and Catawba.
North Carolina Public
Radio, a media outlet that al
lows NC residents to report
and listen to news, reported,
“It can be unnerving for vot
ers and often leads to allega
tions that the machines have
been ‘rigged’ to favor one can
didate over another.” However,
NCPR reassured the state that
although “some machines are
flipping votes...that doesn’t
mean they’re rigged.”
So what was the cause
of this problem? Many of these
computers are old and even if
they were calibrated daily, they
were still not in top condition.
On the bright side, vot
ers were highly encouraged to
view their ballots and make cor
rections if necessary; no other
problems other than technical
problems were reported when
casting a vote.