AWOL - Issue 3

///‘Forgotten’ Issue 003, Spring 2009

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MISSION: AWOL is a vehicle for alternative media that seeks to ignite political and cultural discussions on campus and provide a space for students to question the structural and social framework of American University in an attempt to make the campus more egalitarian and socially conscious. The publication serves as a resource to grassroots movements by writing and reporting on local and global efforts toward a more just society. Bridging gaps and making connections between people of different ethnicities and ways of thinking are goals of the publication. Providing extensive, in-depth reporting on issues that do not make the headlines of mainstream publications while creating a forum for activists to write, analyze, and organize, AWOL is a publication that strives toward a more progressive future without compromising issues of today.

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fV “My new roommate and I found this while mouing around the furniture in my old roommate’s room” -Ariel, Philadelphia, PA sec fo u n d intemieui, pg 8. for more forgotten treasures

EDITORS:

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Bobby Allyn <bobby,allyn@gmail.com> MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Lewis <cl8843a@american.edu> DESIGN EDITOR; Jessica Taich <jtl495a@student.american.edu> SECTION EDITOR: Amberley Romo <ar5457a@american.edu> SECTION EDITOR: Jacob Strauss <jacob.strauss@american.edu>

OBITUARIES

COPY EDITORS:

April 4*, 1968............................

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John Bly <johnrbly@gmail.com> ■ ,-r

■PHOTOGI^PHERS:

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The Death of Print Journalism..:.................................4 AWOL Current Events Blurbs....................................^5

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Foster Care: Futile Without Funding.......................... 6 Forgotten Monuments.................................................6

. AWOL COLUMNISTS:,

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CLASSIFIEDS

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Sarah Allen <sa2993a@student.american.edu> Alex Burchfield <ab9438a@student;american.edu> Mary Donoghue <md3251a@student.american.edu> Bronwyn Flores <bf8597a@student.american.edu> 'Nicole Glass <ng2844a@student.american.edu> Amy Goldman <agl944a@student.american.edu> Madeleine Kuhn <mk8789a@student.american.edu> Kekie Pegher <kp2551a@student.american.edu> Becky Sotello <rs8015a@student.american.edu> Julie Szymqszek <js7126a@student.american.edu>

Mitch Snyder’s Ghost...................................................7 Confronting Division:Racial Realities........................ 9

CASUAL ENCOUNTERS

Like a story? Hate a story? Want to join AWOL? Write to us: awolau@gmail.com & also visit us at http://awoldc.org

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Support/Affiliations:

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AWOL is made possible through the support of Campus Progress, a project for Center for American Progress.

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www.campusprogress.org AWOL is also proud to have the support of the AU Media Board 1/ / / AWOL

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The Trail of Tears Continues....................................... :.4

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Samantfja Bardn <sbl245a@student.american.edu> Amber Jolla <amber.jolla@student.ainerican.edu>

' Richard Phillips <rp7282a@american.edu>

Unpopular Progressive Opinions Column.............. ...2 Private Mercenaries Abandon Name, History............3

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■ CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS:

Arriberley Romo'<ar5457a@student.arnerican.edu> ■ Russ Schubert <rS5644a@student.american.edu>

Editors’ Note.................................................... ,............2

The Ghost of Kreeger’s Past.................................. ;...12 ^ Orwell Deleted His Facebook.................................... 12 ■ FOUND Interview........................................................13

Obituaries is dedicated to topics th a t escape the headlines bu t deserve attention. Keeping it succinct yet hard-hitting, this section captures the issues we w ant you to know about, offering new s bites with an editorial twist.

/// Cover Photograph & description By Jacob Strauss The cover photo is of Moten Elementary School in the Anacostia neigh­ borhood of Washington, D.C. It was temporarily closed in 2008 by public school Chancellor Michelle Rhee in order to “reallocate school resources” as part of the No Child Left Behind-mandated restructuring process. In a letter to the parents of Moten's students Chancellor Rhee wrote, “while Moten is not listed as a school for closure, next year it will be consoli­ dated with another school pending the modernization or rebuilding of your school.” Its restructuring plan includes the replacement of “school staff relevant to AYP [adequate yearly progress] failure” and “other major re­ structuring.” In 2008, only 17.32% of students were proficient in reading and 11.17% were proficient in math. There were 58 crimes reported at the school between Aug. 2005 and May 2007, including 33 violent crimes, 15 as­ saults, and one case each of corporal punishment and child abuse. All 244 students are black and 86.5% qualify as low-income. Students of Moten Elementary have been moved to Wilkinson Elementary School as part of an apparently permanent merger. According to the D.C. Public Schools’ time­ line, “development of draft implementation plans at school sites” should have occurred between June and October of 2008 and though the DCPS claims that Moten is only “temporarily” closed for renovation during the 2008-2009 school year, the building has remained untouched since its last student walked out the front door one year ago.____________

Editors’ Note

F o rg o tte n Living in a digitizing, globalizing world, knowledge abounds.

But the information flows through tubes controlled by wellfinanced moguls and investor-beholden global companies. To be sure, the Web has spawned a movement of independent watchdogs and whistle-blowers, but mainstream media re­ mains a corporate cabal -- not necessarily diabolical. However, information proprietors have neglected and forgotten critical social and political issues, and our collective memory contin­ ues to be distorted and manipulated. Politicians successfully wiggle and weasel out of legal scrutiny with claims of “state secrecy” and “national security.” Headlines focus on miss­ ing children and Hollywood debauchery. News is spoon-fed through tweets, sound bites, and sensational stories. What’s more, new Web-equipped handheld technology renders re­ membering anything at all useless. If you can’t remember, don’t worry, just Google it! Check it out on Wikipedia! The Web has become our second, more reliable memory bank, and for all its transformative and network-connecting abilities, it has made us lazy. This issue reminds readers about, well, remem­ bering. Like George Orwell said, “Who controls the past con­ trols the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

Let the topics in this issue both remind and inform, because it is easy to forge ideas out of context. But the context, past and present conditions, begets the future.

Whether it is examining youth in segregated D.C. schools, soldiers-for-hire, or vacant buildings on campus, we hope this issue inspires you to think in new ways, giving long-ignored people, ideas, and narratives critical exposure.

///OBITUARIES

Unpopular Progressive Opinions Column Forget Your Priorities and Principles /// By Richard Phillips

With the economy tanking at the end of 2008 and the Republican Party being dragged down with it, the mandate for progressive econom­ ic change in government could not have been clearer.

With this in mind, even before President Obama entered office, the preparations began for an economic stimulus package of historic pro­ portions to fight economic recession and invest in the economic future of our country.

Considering Obama’s high approval ratings (hovering around 70%) and his mandate for economic recovery, the passage of Obama’s stimu­ lus package came as no surprise.

The contents of the bill itself, however, should come as a surprise.

Instead of the package every progressive economist and think tank has been calling for, the Obama administration watered down the bill by lowering its size and adding tax cuts. He did this in order to gain Re­ publican votes, yet no House Republicans voted for the bill and it only garnered the support of a few Senate Republicans.

President Obama’s push to the middle was not only politically em­ barrassing, but, the now weakened bill may have serious economic consequences.

The best example of how compromise weakened the bill is the ex­ orbitant 70 billion dollars being spent for the Alternative Minimum Tax Relief provision. This stipulation was added to please the Senate Re­ publican moderates. Not only was the 70 billion dollars given to mostly high-income individuals, but according to a Urban Institute-Brookings Institution report, it provides “virtually no economic stimulus.”

These efforts to reach out to Republicans are not only unsuccessful, but they waste billions of dollars that could go toward programs that actually stimulate the economy. Even more devastating is the rela­ tively small size of the stimulus package compared to the amount that would be necessary to fill in the production gap caused by the recession over the next several years.

A report by the economic analysis team at Goldman Sachs (certainly not a leftist institution) argued that the stimulus package passed could “prove insufficient” and that current economic conditions would “jus­ tify a stimulus totaling $2 trillion.”

At only $787 billion, a decrease of $100 billion after negotiations, the stimulus package is less than half the size needed to effectively com­ bat a deep recession. This means more job losses and lower economic growth over the long term.

Many moderate supporters of the Obama administration argue that it was pragmatic to include these changes in the face of a potential Senate Republican filibuster. This outlook ignores the severe conse­ quences of enacting bad legislation. If Obama hadn’t compromised, moderate Republicans would have either crumbled under the pressure of the president’s popularity and his package, or faced serious electoral consequences in 2010.

President Obama’s mistaken approach on the stimulus was laid out succinctly by economist Paul Krugman, who wrote that the stimulus debate with the Republican Party “isn’t a brainstorming session — it’s a collision of fundamentally incompatible world views.” In other words.

Democrats either believe in Keynesian economics or not. If they stick to their principles, then it would require that they drop any pretense that they have to embrace economic policies that are diametrically opposed to their own.

If the Obama administration does not remain true to its own eco­ nomic values, we can all forget about economic recovery and the Obama administration can forget about its progressive base.* Spring 2009 III 2

most im portant leader in the Civil Rights movement. The rioters—mostly high school and college students —looted the shuttered stores while SNCC workers tried their best to pull them out.

Despite the 20,000 participants and the profound effect these riots had on Washington, D.C., the events of April 4 are rarely, if ever, discussed.

Edward Comstock, a CAS professor who teaches a course on “The Real D.C.,’’ life-long Washingtonian and current neighborhood resident, says that this event is left out of public discourse because people place full responsibil­ ity on the rioters. "Although we blame them for these things, we don’t think it is very polite to do so in public,” he said. “Of course, this kind of reasoning ignores the real meanings the rioters gave to their actions, and the centuries of structural inequality that actually caused them'.” esy of the Libr

Beyond being quite literally forgotten in history, the 1968 race riots led to the destruction of entire neighborhoods, which sat as ghost towns for over thirty years. After the riots, whites and middle-class blacks fled to the sub­ urbs, virtually abandoning the thriving cultural center on U St., often referred to as “Black Broadway.”

It started when rioters shattered the windows of People’s Drug Store at the corner of U St. and 14th, and entered Sam’s Pawnbrokers and Rhodes Five-and-Ten, both on the corner of 14 and T streets. Within the span of a few days, over 1200 fires were set, 700 small businesses were scared off for good, 13 people were killed and 1200 others injured, and the District of Columbia faced $24 million dollars in damages.

The riots were sparked by evening news reports of assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Thursday, Apr. 4,1968.

Shocked and saddened by the assassination, thousands of Washingto­ nians, including members of the Shaw community, took to the streets, led by former Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael. They peacefully asked businesses along the U Street corridor to close out of respect for Dr. King, and remain closed until after his funeral.

Most obliged these requests, and closed, with the notable exception of Ben’s Chili Bowl, which served as a haven for rioters and police alike, and was undamaged because it’s “Soul Brother’’ sign in the window identified it as a black-owned business.

While moving down U Street, anger mounted in the crowd as many of Carmichael’s followers felt helpless and slighted by the death of arguably the

Private Mercenaries Abandon Name, History /// By Bronwyn Flores

In an attempt to mend their forever tarnished reputation, Blackwater changed its name to Xe (pronounced “zee”) this February. The US private security firm made the decision hoping to divert international attention from the September 2007 shooting in Iraq involving some of its American contractors. The shooting, in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, killed 17 civilians.

In addition, the subsidiary that conducted most of its domestic training changed its name from Blackwater Lodge and Training Centre to just US Training Centre, Inc. Hailed by his former naval officers and the GOP as a hard worker and dedicated leader, Erik Prince created Blackwater Worldwide out of 6,000 acres of swamp land in North Carolina before the age of 35. The private company evolved into an international fleet of legally immune mercenaries. . Responding to attacks. Prince claimed that Blackwater only engages in de­ fensive operations. Itrvesfigative journalist Jeremy Scahill contests Prince’s claim. On Democracy Now!, Scahill said, “I mean, give me a break. What is more offensive than invading and occupying a country? Blackwater is at the vanguard of the US occupation of Iraq. They’re protecting the people *■

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Along with this came a dearth of businesses along the U Street Corridor out of fear on the part of potential business owners and skyrocketing post­ riot insurance rates. To their credit, the D.C. government made some effort to help, building Section 8 housing (subsidized homes for low-income ten­ ants), but because of the the severity of riot damage, this pittance didn’t solve much. Repairing damage of this magnitude required more than just money, it needed creativity, ingenuity and persistence.

Problems that arose in other parts of the city at this time—particularly drugs and violence—were exacerbated in the neighborhoods devastated by the riots. Comstock, w ho’s lived in Shaw for over ten years, described the area as “an open-air drug market” until change came to the neighborhood with the expansion of the Yellow/Green Metro lines, the Reeves Center at 14 and U (housing government offices), and apartment/condo developments.

While the area is now thriving again, it’s thriving in a much different way than before the riots. A sense of authentic District culture has been lost to gentrification, “a loss of the amazing community spirit, a sense of place and purpose, that was so definitive of the black cultures in D.C. before the riots,” Comstock said. •

the Bush administration has sent in to implement the White House agenda in Iraq,” he said in May 2007. “I mean, that is an inherently offensive operation.” ' Also in Februrary, five of the former Blackwater security guards involved in the shooting plead not guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter. A sixth guard plead.guilty. The company itself does not face any charges; how­ ever, the unresolved attack in 2007 exacerbated what many believed to be anti-Iraqi sentiments by hired American personnel. The official death count was 14 civilians, but the Iraqi government alleges it was actually 17. In the same he-said-she-said fashion reminiscent of the Boston Massacre, an Iraqi probe deemed the attack was premeditated, whereas Prince testified that his team was defending itself in a heavily guarded area of the country.

Numerous Iraqi complaints have been filed against the Blackwater troops, claiming they are aggressive and act offensively, rather than defensively.

In response, the current US-Iraqi security agreement specifies that civilian contractors no longer be immune from persecution for crimes committed on Iraqi soil, as Blackwater has been since they stepped foot in Iraq..

However, the firm’s hard line tactics have since earned its employees the nickname of “mercenary men.” This term is not taken lightly by those it targets. Prince points out that mercenaries are soldiers for a foreign govern-' ment, whereas, his men are “Americans working for America’s government.”

The key difference between the two interpretations of Blackwater’s mission is that Americans believe that the group does not act in their best interests, but Blackwater maintains that it is an embodiment of American willpower. ■ While the cause was not explicitly stated. Prince resigned from his posi­ tion on March 2. The resignation was effective immediately and Prince an­ nounced in an email that he would hand the reigns of chief operating officer and executive vice president to a Blackwater staffer of 10 years. In the same email. Prince also announced that the company’s president, Gary Jackson, would be retiring, leaving the position of CEO open. While the future of Xe still remains unclear, what is unmistakable is that Xe is still Blackwater, despite their facelift.*

///OBITUARIES The Trail of Tears Continues /// By Madeline Kuhn Relocated to an arid plot of land and given little to no governmental funding for community development, many Native Americans are still suf­ fering, more than three centuries after the beginning of European expan­ sion and exploitation.

Families unable to farm for an aggregate profit are forced to sell their crafts in urban areas, often confronted with xenophobia and racism. This is the story of Native American Reservations. While many individuals recog­ nize the grievances America’s indigenous peoples have endured, few know about the reservations or Native American livelihoods today.

Senior Carrie Johnson and sophomore Ryan Dubois recognize the wide­ spread ignorance about Native Americans and have sought a form of oncampus education and activism. Student Advocates of Native Communi­ ties (SANC).

SANC has hosted speakers and documentary film nights on campus to generate interest in the indigenous forgotten community. SANC’s current president, Ryan Dubois, hopes to get SANC politically active. Dubois is or­ ganizing a petition drive to urge the United States to sign an international treaty that would recognize the rights of native communities. The US is currently one of four countries that hasn’t formally recognized the rights of its indigenous peoples. On campus, SANC was able to get AU to sponsor an Indigenous People Day Resolution that took place during Columbus Day

to highlight the abuses Native Americans endured during colonization and how it still affects them to this day.

Asked why SANC’s mission was so important, Carrie Johnson answered: “This is a politically active school. I’m going to be very cliche, but a lot of people at AU will be future leaders, w hether that with NGO’s or executives of companies. Being in such a position of power and being well aware of what is going on in the country, especially concerning individuals such as the Native Americans, can greatly effect the decisions they make,” she said. “Campus is the place to start.”

Bringing their message to the AU community isn’t always easy for SANC. One mom ent stands out in Johnson’s mind from the early days of the organization. While she was perched on the quad with pamphlets, a girl approached her abashedly and asked, “Why are you doing this? Do we even have Native Americans anymore?”

SANC’s campaign has brought organizations together. SANC has col­ laborated with Women’s Initiative to raise awareness about the role of women in various cultures. Ryan Dubois, an SIS major who hopes to forge a career addressing sustainable economical development within indig­ enous communities, explained the rationale behind SANC’s partnership with other student groups. He said that the issues facing native communi­ ties encompass a host of broader economic, social, and political concerns.

For that reason, the work being done by SANC should be on everyone’s mind.

SANC meets Tbesdays at 7:30 in them at sanc.american@gmail.com

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Lobby. For more in fo rm a tio n contact

The Death of Print Journalism /// By Sarah Allen

The newspaper industry is undeniably transforming, bolstering Web models while barely hanging on to hard copy. But, whatever the form, news will always have readers.

Newsrooms have experienced traumatizing cuts. The New York Times, her­ alded as country’s most esteemed and lucrative paper, cut 100 newsroom posi­ tions last year and cut salaries for the rest of the year by 5 percent. They even have sold their Manhattan headquarters for $225 million to pay debt as print advertising revenue declines. ..Changing with the times, the paper’s Web content has reached all new heights. Last October, their website topped 20 million users, while the hard copy sold a mere 1.4 million copies. Revenue cutbacks coupled with the eco­ nomic meltdown have led to decreased circulation for not just the august New York times, but for papers nationwide.

Yet more people are reading than ever before. Readers go online to read the morning news and supplement their Times content with their favorite blogs, in addition to checking RSS aggregation and by-the-minute Tvitter updates.

(As of last December, Tlvitter brags of 4.43 million users and grew 752% in the year 2008.)

But print journalism is changing beyond the format. The way news is pre­ sented stylistically is undergoing a makeover, as most hard news stories read more like feature pieces than the straightforward cut-and-dry hard news. “It seems to be what the reader is requesting and what we’ve become in our news, television, and radio,” said SOC professor Menke-Fish. “People seem to like it delivered in a different style than hard news.” Hard news writing has an in­ verted-pyramid format, where news is presented in the order of importance, with the most important news first. But this style, in light of new forms of Web writing, feels stodgy and antiquated. Stories today have less words, more nu­ ance, and depend on anecdotal leads to pull readers in.

And indeed, newspaper jobs are disappearing as fast as you update your Tvitter account. Accordingly, colleges and universities have been preparing for the changing industry. At AU, new programs are burgeoning with an emphasis on new social media forms. For instance, journalism professor Charles Lewis has launched the Investigative Reporting Workshop at SOC to study and in­ cubate new business models for serious journalism, according to Dean Larry Kirkman. In the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, Lewis looks back on the evolution of journalism from the year 2014 and maps the emer­ gence of sustainable non-profit news organizations with a social mission that will provide the investigative reporting we need for a strong democracy. He notes that ProPublica, a 29-strong web-based team of investigative journal­ ists with an annual philanthropic budget of $10m, has created a non-profit newsroom in order to preserve investigative journalism in the public inter­

est. The ProPublica Web site claims that this non-profit model of journalism will help uphold democratic institutions. Maryland Senator Benjamin Cardin introduced legislation in March that would allow newspapers to organize as nonprofits, kind of like NPR or PBS. In a speech on the Senate floor, Cardin remarked, “Newspaper reporters forge relationships with people: they build a network which creates avenues to information. 'These relationships and the information that follows are essential to a free democratic society.” And as Re­ claim The Media’s David Westphal asked, “But if Sam Zell [a billionaire who is the head of media conglomerate Tribune Company] can figure out how to run a billion-dollar company and pay no taxes, can’t someone figure out a way to do that with a non-profit?”

Journalism students worry about post-graduation job prospects, - and jus­ tifiably so. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Rick Ed­ monds of the Poynter Institute, the total job loss between 2001 arid 2009 will reach 10,000, which was 20% of news industry employees in 2001. But Dean Kirkman has confidence that the AU curriculum will equip students with a marketable skill set. “Our students are getting jobs because we are training them not only to be excellent writers and reporters, which is still what employ­ ers value most, but also because they leave here with the essential digital skills to work across media platforms and in 2.0 social media.” So perhaps getting a job in print journalism these days means something different; perhaps online is the new print. Whatever the case, news is here, to stay.

Spring 2009 /// 4

AWOL current EVENTS BLURBS

i CEASEFIRE IN PALESTINE fter the 2008/2009 war in Gaza, Israel and Palestine remain in contention, but rela­ tively peaceful; however, aggressive Ameri­ can public discourse is omnipresent. Talking heads consistently frame Palestinian parties as the aggressors in the conflict; Israel’s mili­ tary action is merely a response. In Decem ­ ber 2008, the claim that rockets launched by Hamas sparked the recent conflict was of­ ten made, and rarely challenged. But the six month ceasefire that existed before the war w asn’t broken by Hamas’s rockets. On Novem­ ber 4th, when the United States was lost in the , frenzy of election day, Israel carried out a raid into the Gaza Strip, Six Palestinian militiamen .were killed. The rocket fire, which had been almost nonexistent since the ceasefire began in June, promptly resumed. When Israel began its massive military campaign in December, the country’s leaders justified the action by citing th e rockets as Palestinian aggression. In the United States, few disagreed, CL

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HUGO CHAVEZ ost Americans believe Venezuelan Presi­ dent Hugo Chavez is, for all intents and purposes, a dictator. Little is heard of his string of electoral victories, beginning with his 1998 election. Critics dismiss the elections as m eaningless frauds, but the Venezuelan elec­ toral process has been consistently approved by independent observers, including Jimmy Carter’s Carter Center. The passage of the referendum this February—initiated and sup­ ported by C havez-that removed term limits for all elected positions, including the Presi­ dency, was dismissed in the West as yet an­ other sham. But the vote—which gave Chavez the chance to be reelected indefinitely-w as certified by representatives from other Latin American nations, as well as European legis­ lators. Even the hostile US State Department gave its approval, saying that “for the moSt part, this was a process that w as fully consis­ tent with [the] democratic process.” CL

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In keeping with the theme Forgotten, lue’ue compiled news highlights that have been tossed to the uiayside by mainstream political discourse. In each brief capsule, w e’ve tried to cqpture a current event that hasn't gotten suffi­ cient attention, or a past issue that has been undeservingly ignored.

Compiled by Broniuyn Fiores. Chris Leuiis, Bobby Allyn

IMMIGRATION REFORM AND ADAM SMITH emember w hen the US passed comprehensive immigration legislation? Neither do any Amer­ icans. Immigration reform was hotly debated dur­ ing both of George W. Bush’s terms, but to no avail.

Bush called for a “guest worker program" in 2003, but the subsequent invasion of Iraq overshadowed the immigration debate. In 2005, The Republicancontrolled House passed a bill that called for the deportation of all illegal immigrants, which failed.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators put forth a bill that would grant many illegal im m i­ grants a path toward citizenship. It collapsed, as many Republicans denounced it as an “am nesty” plan. In the absence of an exhaustive plan, smaller measures moved to the fore. Congress agreed to provide funds to build a security fence along the Mexican border, and federal officials stepped up prosecutions of immigration crime, mostly for misdemeanors like illegal entry. More than 70,000 such cases were prosecuted in the 2008 fiscal year, double the level of the year before. In April 2008, the US Justice Department announced it would spend $7 million to send more than 60 more pros­ ecutors to border districts to prosecute border crimes. Congress increased spending and passed new laws, including the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act in 2004, which autho­ rized adding 10,000 new agents. These agents are expected to nearly double the Border Patrol force from 11,000 to 21,000 by 2010. US Homeland Secu­ rity Secretary Janet Napolitano’s announcement late March that nearly 500 agents and support personnel will be sent to the US-Mexico border.

About $30 million in stimulus money will go to lo­ cal and state law enforcement agencies along the border. X-ray equipment is to be installed at most points of entry. It seem s that neo-liberals are no longer orthodox Adam Smith adherents, or else they need to revisit The Wealth of Nations, where Smith calls for the “free circulation of labor.” Real liberalization is not just about the flow of goods between countries, but also people. With Hispanic voters turning out in unprecedented numbers for Obama, all eyes are on the current administration and whether or not Obama will unveil a plan that tackles immigration policy head-on, not a one of militarization and status quo maintenance. BA

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MUMBAI he terrorist attacks in Mumbai made front page news and top-of-the-hour broadcasts in November, but were forgotten by media and m ost Americans weeks later. Indian officials accused Pakistan of orchestrated the attacks, yet the neighboring country denied any such claim. While America shifted its focus to the stimulus bill and the Chris Brown scandal, the CIA got to work. Taking on an investigation of the two former enem ies, the CIA acted as neu­ tral arbitrator in the exchange of information between India and Pakistan. Eventually, Paki­ stani officials admitted that the attacks were, at least partially, planned on Pakistani soil.

As of February, Pakistan announced it would carry out criminal proceedings against eight suspects. In India, the lone surviving gun­ man, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was formally charged with “wagging war against India” and murder.

However, Kasab, a Pakistani, is the first to be formally charged for the attacks. The sam e or­ ganization that is accused of carrying out the Mumbai attacks, the Al-Qaeda linked Lashkaee-Taiba (Let), is suspected of the commando raid on the Sri Lanaka cricket team in Pakistan in early March (Six policemen and a driver were killed in the ambush in Lahore, Pakistan, and seven Sri Lankan cricket players, an as­ sistant coach and match official were injured.)

A spokesman for Let said the group will carry out more “lethal” attacks in the near future. BF

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IRAQINVASIONWAS ILLEGAL he US invaded Iraq after the September 11 attacks under the pretense of the War Powers Resolution, which states that President Bush was “authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, orga­ nizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terror­ ist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, ■ or harbored such organizations or persons.”

However, som etime after the invasion began, it became clear that there was no link between Saddam Hussein’s regime and the terrorist at­ tacks, Thus, the invasion, as outlined by Bush, was illegal. There has yet to be a Congressional investigation on the legality of the invasion.

Even Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion was illegal. In 2003 he said, “I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing.” Addition­ ally, according to the Hague Regulations, laws!' governing international war, it is illegal for one! country to invade another over its natural r e -| sources. Is the war in Iraq about oil? Ask AlanB Greenspan, who in 2007 said, “I am saddened! that it is politically inconvenient to acknowl-^.. edge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is-,^,l| largely about oil.” BF

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///OBITUARIES Foster Care: Futile W ithout Funding /// By Becky Sotello In a country deep in recession and buried in two wars, half a million children are without stable homes and adequate education programs.

They have been largely ignored.

“It’s hard,” says Kathi Crowe, executive director of the National Foster Care Coalition, a coalition of national organizations that works to improve the foster care system in the United States through public engagement, political power, and educational training. She examines the economic vulnerability of families who would otherwise help out with care. The rise of adoption overseas is another part of the foster care equation. “You see all these people talking about adopting children from other countries, but there are kids here that need adopting.”

But the biggest issue facing foster care is lack of public awareness. Sim­ ply put, other issues, more pertinent issues to everyday citizens, outshine the problems in the foster care system. Citizens deal with the struggling economy on a daily basis, but when faced with children without homes, it is easy to look away Many organizations, such as the National Foster Care Coalition, are working to solve the issue of silence and put foster care in the public’s consciousness. The biggest hurtle they have encountered while work­ ing during National Foster Care Month is an economic one. Crowe has

been laboring on a “campaign that needs to be funded to capacity,” she said. The campaign also needs to flood the public with information about the institution of foster care and empower citizens to help, according to Crowe.

Thankfully, foster care has a voice in Congress. Jim McDermott (D-WA), has twice proposed the “Investing Kids Act,” which would provide aid to foster care organizations nationwide. Another advocate, Dan Lips, Edu­ cation Analyst at The Heritage Foundation, has proposed scholarships which would economically stabilize foster children, keeping them in one school, as opposed to moving from school to school — often a socially, academically devastating move.

Scholarships could also find kids better schools, thereby bolstering academic achievment. “But it’s an ongoing struggle,” Crowe sighed when brainstorming possible solutions to the underfunded system.

Here are the facts: over 513,000 children are currently in the foster care system. Once these kids are out of the program, 54 percent will earn a high school diploma, 2 percent will obtain a bachelor’s degree or higher, 84 percent will became a parent; 51 percent will be unemployed; 30 per­ cent will have no health insurance; 25 percent will be homeless; and 30 percent will be receiving public assistance These kids will perpetuate the cycles of poverty if foster care programs remained underfunded. While the nation’s legislators are focused on re­ pairing a economy in the dumps, homeless children are waiting.

Washington, DC. is home to a host of overlooked monuments and memorials, most not con­ veniently located near a metro stop or The National Mall. Here’s a look at a few of our favorite forgotten monuments. ^

CO

Einstein Memorial The Einstein Memorial located on the south end of the National Acad­ emy of Sciences is one of the many disregarded. The 21-foot Albert Ein­ stein statue holds in his left hand the mathematical equations that epito­ mize his most esteemed achieve­ ments, and at his feet is a circular sky map embedded with studs repre­ senting the planets, sun, moon, and stars. Engraved in the back panel of the granite reads: “As long as I have any choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance, and equality of all citizens before the law prevail.”

2101 Constitution Ave NW,Washington, DC 20037

Coast Guard M onum ent

Iwo Jima Memorial

The Coast Guard Monument, about a half-hour walk from the main en­ trance of Arlington National Cem­ etery, is dedicated to Coast Guards­ men who lost their lives in World War I. The long walk is discouraging to many, but it’s worth the effort. It features a bronze gull with wings up­ lifted and poised below the Semper Paratus, “always ready,” engraving, a symbol of Guardsmen vigilance.

Also near the Arlington Cemetery metro stop, the United States Ma­ rine Corps War Memorial depicts one of the most historic battles of World War II, the battle of Iwo Jima.It was the first American attack on Japanese soil that claimed the lives of over 20,000 soldiers. The memorial is dedicated to all marines who have given their lives in battle. Its daunt­ ing 32-feet tall figure and 60-foot bronze flagpole staffs art American flag 24 hours a day, in accordance with Presidential proclamation, of June 12,1961.

Arlington National Cemetary Arlington, VA 22211

US Marine Corps Memorial Circle Arlington, VA 22209

Spring 2009 /// 6

Over 1,000 homeless Washingtonians inhabit a haunted building. Some say that the spirit of a prominent 1980s homeless activist roams the hallways of the homeless shelter at 2nd and D Streets at night. Mitch Snyder was a fierce­ ly-devoted member of the Community for Creative Nonviolence (CCNV), the group that has operated the now-troubled shelter since its opening. Snyder’s life and death characterizes the inspiring rise and troubling fall of one of the most transformative efforts to combat homelessness in the District.

CCNV, founded as an antiwar group in the 1970s, scored a victory for D.C. homeless in 1984. The idealistic organization convinced Ronald Reagan to let homeless people occupy an abandoned federal building for the winter of 198,4.

And whten the winter season formally ended on April 1, CCNV and shel­ ter .residents conducted takeovers df federal offices, disrupted Congress, and fasted for 51 days. 1\vo days before the 1984 elections, Reagan turned over the building for good.

CCNV’s battle against homelessness was multifaceted. Activists collected 35,000 signatures in order to put a proposal on all District ballots. In 1984, "Initiative 17” passed wil;h an unprecedented 85% approval, creating a legallybinding mandate that D.C. government -must provide emergency shelter to any dnd all of its residents.

In response, then-Mayor Marion Barry’s administration scrambled to find shelter for hundreds of men and women living on the streets, gathering them

in vans and rushing them to makeshift converted shelters.

Next, CCNV brought suit against the Bariy administration for its inadequate maintenance of the emergency shelters. A judge fined the government $5,000 for every violation—leaking roofs, broken windows, lack of bathrooms, hot water, clean sheets, or resident storage space. Between 1985 and 1987, the Barry regime was forced to fork over $4 million in fines. The money paid for massive increases in the services provided to the homeless. * ^ *

^

At the heart of CCNV’s movement was Mitch Snyder. Bom in Brooklyn, Sny­ der struggled to find direction as a child, and fell into petty crime. When he was , ! in his mid-twenties, he was arrested for stealing a car. In jail, he met Philip and Daniel Berrigan, radical Catholic priests imprisoned for their civil disobedience j against the Vietnam War. Snyder adopted their religious philosophy and radi- . j cal dedication, joining them in fasts against the war and the mistreatment of • fellow prisoners.

Snyder’s passion became clear when his family grew concerned about his fasting. In a note to his mother from prison, Snyder wrote; “I would like you to , . , be proud that your son believes strongly enough in justice, to oppose injustice with all the strength at his disposal.”After being released, Snyder moved to D.C. 1 and immersed himself in a community of committed activists.

“Mitch was one of the most dedicated people, the most creative, thoughtful, j confrontational, manically insane human beings I have ever met. He had an

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uncanny ability to understand that when things were wrong, you need ti? stand up and say what needs to be said to correct the injustice,” said Brian Anders, a former member of CCNV who worked with Snyder in the 1980s.

“He was willing to as far, if not further, than anyone else, so that injustice could be stopped.”

Snyder often fasted in Support of his causes. For weeks, he stood up in con­ gregation at the Holy Trinity Parish in Georgetown to protest their expensive renovations while homeless people lacked basic services. He organized public funerals for people who froze to death on the street. His acts often attracted national media attention—he was the subject of an Oscar-nominated docu­ mentary as well as Martin Sheen’s lead role in a 1986 movie.

Snyder and CCNV’s crown jewel was the Federal City Shelter. By wrestling the building away from Reagan, the group tackled Goliath. They were able to go further, transforming the abandoned building into an inspiring, cooperative community of homeless people and activists.

Anders portrays CCNV in the 1980s as “a multiglot of people learning from each other, living together.” CCNV prided itself on its communal meals of staff and residents, its twice-weekly spiritual meetings, and its system of internal governance that gave its homeless residents an active role.

He describes a community where people who had never left D.C. were able to meet people from all over the world. "We were able to learn from each oth­ ers’ experiences, living together in a harmonious way,” he says. “We had a common enemy—the systerh that disenfranchised us, kept us poor, kept us impoverished.”

* * + “The spirit of that died after Mitch killed himself,”Anders Said.

Snyder was found dead in his room at CCNV on July 5,1990. According td a note found by police, he hung himself out of frustration with his romance with partner Catol Fennelly.

Shortly after, the atmosphere at CCNV began to change. The list of rules grew longer. Time limits were placed on resident stays. “The spirit of the community fell apart, and core people left. CCNV and the shelter became an institution," said An­ ders. The staff began to pursue their own power, and grow corrupt with it, he said.

The atmosphere at CCNV became oppressive. “The shelter has deteriorated to a cruel, unhealthy environment.”

Mitch Snyder and the core CCNV activists of his time created a true communion with the homeless people they were advocating for. At CCNV today, this cooperative, compassionate approach is missing.

An AU graduate who volunteered at the shelter tells the story of one former CCNV resident she remembers meeting. "(The woman] was blind and in a wheel­ chair, and the staff didn’t like her because she was always asking questions of th?m and demanding better treatment.”

One night, CCNV had a fire drill. “When the fire alarm went off, she was left upstairs in her wheelchair, and when other residents tried to help her dbvm, the staff chastised them and told others not to help her.” Left alone in the building as the alarms blared, and uninformed that there was no actual fire, she tried to escape on her own. She stumbled, fell down the stairs, and couldn’t get up. She simply laid there, assuming her fiery death was imminent, until a shelter staffer found her when the drill was over.

“CCNV today lacks compassion,” said Anders.

Residents say that they hear the ghost of Mitch Snyder wandering the halls at night Since 1990, the city has closed several shelters, booting homeless men and wom­ en into the street—despite fierce opposition from activists and advocates. Initiative 17 has been overturned. And bold efforts to help the homeless—protests, occupa­ tions, and pleas—^have attracted little media attention.

Today, the District is being overrun by gentrification. The city is giving away pub­ lic property (including former homeless shelters) to teal estate developers, public

housing projects are being demolished, poor people are being forced out by rising rents, and rich people are moving in. The homeless and their allies often feel over­ powered, seeing the tide of rich white newcomers flow into the city.

Anders issues a challenge to those who doubt the ability for ordinary people to enact extraordinary change. “People always say that we need another Mitch Snyder to come and save us,”he said. “We don’t need another Mitch because all of us can be Mitch Snyder. We need to quit looking outside of ourselves for the hero." .

Mitch Snyder was an selfless, spirited, and laudable individual, but CCNV was able to combat unjust economic practices with their intrepid dedicated activists.

“I think Mitch would be embarrassed if he knew people were still talking about him twenty years after his suicide, because he knew he -was nothing without the community,”Anders said.

“We need everyday, regular people, not another Mitch Snyder. We all need to be Gandhi, be Malcolm X, be Mitch Snyder. If we could do that, it wouldn’t be perfect or Utopian, but it would be better than doing nothing.”* -

/ / / By Alex Burchfield Photographs By Amber Jolla

irney Elementary School loom s over the Anacostia Metro stop, casting a pitiful shadow on the Berry Farm neighborhood. The metal cages and bars on the w indows give the school the appearance of a prison. Inside, the sweltering heat suffocates. Children run amok up and down the hallways screaming and shouting; for teachers, the environment could not be less appealing.

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Not a single w hite face dots the sea of black children. Painted on the auditorium’s walls, the faces of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Junior serve as a reminder of how far the African-American community has com e in its struggle for equality. But 55 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, and just m onths after the election of Barack Obama vindicated hundreds of years fighting against injustice, the pinnacles of African-American pride painted on the walls of Birney Elementary are still looking down in despair. In Washington D.C. public schools, African-Americans remain the victims of a long history of segregation. Today, integration has yet to be achieved.

Danisha Blount is a first grader at Birney who participates in Heads Up, an after school literacy program started by AmeriCorps in 1996 for public schools in low-income neighborhoods. During a session with her tutor, Blount sits staring at the word “as,” digging her palms into her face trying to get the sounds to fall out of her mouth. Frustrated, tears well up in her eyes as her tutor calmly reminds her what the short “a” vowel sounds like. After several attempts, and som e hints, she finally pronounces the word correctly and moves on to the next.

On the other side of the room, ly m el Wheeler, a second grader with an unknown learning disability, still cannot perform on the sam e level as his peers, and remains at or below the kindergarten reading level; he still struggles to recite the alphabet. Jayquan Brown is in fifth grade, and will m ost likely not finish middle school. According to his “Heads Up” literacy assessm ent, he is still reading below the kindergarten level.

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Programs such as Heads Up have been popping up all around the District to try and level the playing field for low-income, mostly minority students.

“One of the largest issues we look to focus on is to lower the achievement gap between different neighborhoods within the District of Columbia,” said Jason Maglaughlin, the development manager for Heads Up. “There is a lot of statistical evidence that suggests that demographic data and poverty has a negative effect on the academic performance of these stu­ dents. We’re looking mainly to try and mitigate that and provide students with positive role models so they can gain access to information about college going culture and understanding of different activities that could benefit them in the future.”

Despite the efforts of various volunteer organizations around D.C. attem pt­ ing to help under-resourced students, performance in reading and m athem at­ ics is shockingly low. According to the District of Columbia Comprehensive As­ sessment System (DC CAS), which measures student competence in reading and math, 31 percent of students at Bimey scored “proficiently” in reading, and only 20 percent in math. These scores, which are typical of most public schools in DC., result in even more appalling high school graduation rates: 43 percent of high school freshmen will graduate within five years, and only nine percent will receive a college degree. # * *

In the world of education, there are two competing philosophies concerning how to remedy the plights of the public school system. Some argue that teach­ ers are the single most important factor in improving the performance of inner city students. Michelle Rhee, the fiery Chancellor of DCPS, is the newest highprofile proponent of this approach. Rhee made national news by dumping 250 teachers and 500 teaching aids immediately upon entering office.

The second side of public school reform philosophy take^ into account the undeniable impediments of race and socioeconomic status on children's edu­ cational development. Many, including Dr. Stacie Tate, a professor at American University and a specialist in urban education and literacy, argue that in or­ der to narrow the achievement gap, it is necessary to address issues of class, poverty, and health. “Basic needs issues [must be] taken care of such as ‘Can I afford to go to a doctor?’ 'Can I afford a meal?’ Those kinds of things all affect how students learn." other educators, such as Delphia Parker, the site coordinator for Heads Up at Birney Elementary, point to similar environmental factors such as contem­ porary pop culture and its influence on the attitude of children toward educa­ tion. “It’s like a vicious cycle,” said Parker. “Our kids have been robbed by things like MTV, 'bling bling’ and the hip-hop scene. The family nucleus has deterio­ rated because of these vices.”

Chancellor Rhee sat down recently with a group of American University stu­ dents who volunteered in D.C. schools. She told the students that she thought desegregating D.C. schools wasn’t important. Making sure schools were achiev­ ing was. She argued that some schools in the city are more integrated, and students aren’t performing any better at these schools than students at the fully-segregated schools.

But unfortunately, teachers can’t overcome everything, as Rhee’s policies forgo socioeconomic status and race as key factors in educational 4cvelopment.

Considering that 94 percent of DCPS students are black or Hispanic, most white students never have a chance to learn side by side with blacks; the public education system is a segregator by definition. Rhee’s attitude has lost ground in the minds of weathered social workers and educators such as Maglaughlin, Tate and Parker, who have battled against and seen the deleterious effects of urban poverty and race on the performance of their students.

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From the third floor of Bimey Elementary, Washington’s skyline is visible; the timeless marble buildings and ornate neoclassical columns that represent our nation’s ideals of equality, democracy and justice dot the background. As the first city in the United States to have a black majority it’s hard to imagine D.C. plagued by racism. But the contrasting scene of boarded up houses and glinting office buildings on K Street is another stark reminder that racial segre­ gation is still very much present.

Judging by graduation rates and the number of African-Americans who at­ tend public schools, there is no question^who ends up on which'side of the Anacostia River. Longtime D.C. residents are not fooled by the fagade of racial integration since Brown vs. Board of Education was passed. The awful stink of segregation still Ungers around the city streets - its residue will be hard to wash away.

Frank Rich, a columnist for the New York Times, described his own experi­ ence growing up in Montgomery County, Ma’ryland', the neighborhood occupied

by Sidwell Friends, a prestigious private school. “My mother, a public school teacher, decreed that her children would instead enroll in the public system that had been desegregated a half-dozen years' earlier, after Brown v. Board of Education,” writes Rich. “In reality de facto segregation remained in place.

Spring 2009 // / 1 0

///CLASSIFIEDS Though a few African-Americans and embassy Africans provided the window dressing of ‘integration,’ my mostly white elementary, junior high and high schools had roughly.the same diversity as, say, today’s G.O.P.” ♦ ♦ ♦

In 19-52, the ’Walter-McCarran Act was ratified, stating, “The right of a person to become a naturalized citizen of the United States shall not be denied or abridged because of race.” It has been 162 years since the first naturalization law was passed. Over those 162 years, African-Americans were considered less than equal men\bers of Society. The monumental legislation of the 1960s that placed African-Americans on an equal playing field with whites has yet to be manifested within urban communities.

In public education, the history of racial segregation has created problems such as low literacy rates, a widening achievement gap, and bureaucratic mal­ functions. The issues fester and perpetuate themselves into problems that are akin to those in third world countries. Whatever the course of action, or m eth­ ods employed to solve this problem, it must be acknowledged that equality is still a goal to be achieved.

The faces painted bn Bimey Elementary’s walls may have accomplished a great deal, but even the election of the first black president cannot correct the glaring contrast seen through Bimey Elementary’s third floor window.

Frank Rich postulates that history tends to move slowly. The Civil Rights Act, The Voting Rights Act, The Walter-McCarran Act, and Brown vs. Board of Education were all milestones in the fight against racial inequality. But neigh­ borhoods such as Anacostia continue to draw low-income African-Americans who, by default, end up stuck in the same situation with limited social and economic mobility.

Dr. Tate says that even if politicians wanted to forcefully desegregate public schools again, the laws set in place would make it a bureaucratic nightmare.

“A lot of states have passed laws saying that the school system is ok as it is.

Even for desegregation to happen again, you would have to go through a lot of loopholes and red tape.”

The self-perpetuating system of racial segregation has left public schools in a rut. Students in Southeast D.C. remain without resources, and their parents are frustrated as their students continue- to underachieve. Michelle Rhee may have good intentions for her students, but by cracking down on teachers she is not addressing the entire jssue that D.C.’s schools face. The question of how to reform D.C. public schools is just as much a racial dilemma as an educational dilemma.

The windows in the Heads Up room are smudged with paint, and the roars of city buses fill the room. Delphia Parker sums up the environment. “How can you dream when you’re constantly looking at this?” •

Rhee-form in D.C.r After only a year and a h alf as Chancellor, M ichelle Rhee h as put the national spotlight on W ashington w ith her adm i­ rable - y e t con ten tiou s - attack on closin g th e ach ievem en t gap. Her p osition s on m erit pay and teachers un ions have sparked h eated debate.

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Merit pay, w h ich rewards teach ers based on their stu ­ d e n ts’ perform ance on sta n ­ dardized testing, h as drawn criticism due to the m yriad of factors that determ ine a teach ­ er’s efficiency and effectiven ess in the classroom : su ccessfu l stu d en ts can usually list o ff a num ber o f their favorite tea ch ­ ers, w h ile th ose w h o drop out d o n ’t understand th e concep t o f “favorite teacher.”Therefore it is hard to quantitatively m easure the influence o f a certain teacher on h is or her student. An ada­ m ant op p on en t o f R hee’s policies. Dr. Stacie Tate, said Rhee’s h o s­ tility to teachers un ions h as drawn a lot o f fire from teachers w ho have b een accu stom ed to the “90 day plan,” w h ich stipu lates that teachers have 90 days to im prove their perform ance before they are fired. For Rhee, the 90 day plan is an obstruction to an effective learning environ m en t th at sh ould be abolished.

Em ploym ent conditions are ju st on e o f m any controversies surrounding Rhee. She h as also drawn fire for closin g 23 schools last year and for introducing a program that gives paychecks to m iddle-schoolers for good grades.

Rhee, w ith her im placable reform ist m ovem en t behind her, has d ism issed the im pact o f urban poverty, and h o m e life on stu dent achievem en t. In the N ovem ber issu e o f The Atlantic, Rhee w as quoted d efending her p osition saying, “As a teacher in this system , you have to be w illin g to take personal responsibility for ensur­ ing your children are su ccessfu l d esp ite obstacles,” sh e said. “You ca n ’t say, ‘My stu d en ts did n’t get any breakfast today,’ or ‘No one put th em to bed last night,’ or ‘Their electricity got cut o ff in the hou se, so they c ou ld n ’t do their hom ew ork.” Her tw enty m on th s in office have attracted glow ing national press, but the results o f her approach rem ain to be seen.

Casual Encounters is a place for innovation, new creations, and th e arts. W hether comical, satirical, playful, or weird, this section delivers a smorgasbord of expressive pieces th at are quirky yet thematic.

///CASUAL ENCOUNTERS

Orwell Deleted His Facebook /// By Kelcie Pegher When logging into Facebook, the illusion of privacy is given with the password-protected page that no one should be able to unlock.

However, once logged into Facebook, all privacy is lost.

I wake up every morning to the behemoth known as Miller & Long's crane, swinging from one end to the other of the new SIS building's construction site.

With so much emphasis placed on innovation with new buildings like the SIS building or the recently opened Kogod wing, I turn my attention to one of AU’s abandoned structures - the Kreeger Music Hall.

Kreeger Music Building sits in the southwest corner of campus. It is nonde­ script and obscured by trees and construction trailers. On prospective student tours, 1doubt any student ambassador takes groups past the Southside shuttle stop. “Nevermind that bland, supposedly-haunted building behind all of the construction in the corner,” I can imagine them saying. However, all of that might soon change.

Opened in 1966, the Kreeger Music Hall is named after David Lloyd Kreeger, an art collector and philanthropist and former Geico chairman. Mr.Kreeger, who died in 1990, was a trustee emeritus to American University. Originally from New Jersey, he was a prominent figure in Washington, D.C., working in the Justice Department'Until 1967 and until 1979 was involved with Geico. From 1970-78, he was president of the National Symphony Orchestra, and in 1980, he founded the Washington Opera. .Kreeger Music hall opened in the fall of 1966. According to James Heintze’s Perspectives on American Music Since 1950, the 168-seat McDonald Recital Hall is “an intimate and acoustically-tuned concert setting particularly ideal for chamber music performances. The raised stage is beautifully framed by plush ceiling-to-floor blue velvet drapes." Kreeger enjoyed housing AU’s various recitals and performance classes until 2003, when Katzen was built. According to a January 1981 Eagle article, Kreeger is supposedly haunted by a benevolent ghost, affectionately named Jeri.

Kreeger’s beautifully framed raised stage, moth-eaten blue velvet drapes and the rest of its three floors now sit in various states of dilapidation, leaving Jeri to haunt an abandoned structure. What plans does AU have for Kreeger?

I contacted Public Safety to gain entry into the building, but was told in an email from Risk Management and Safety Services that, “due to renovation for construction, no one may enter Kreeger under any circumstances until those renovations are complete.”Through navigation of AU’s website, it would appear that Kreeger is currently undergoing remodeling to become the new home for Audio Tech. The Office of University Architect site states, “The basic building systems and exterior envelope need repairs. OUA is working with FM to identify the scope of repairs needed to the base building such as roofing, structural pointing of the brick and asbestos abatement.”

Will Kreeger one day be hailed as the next SIS building? Are AU’s bragging rights going to one day extend to include Kreeger Hall, the new Audio Technol­ ogy building? Are we going to wake up one morning to an impressive Miller & Long crane digging up ditches and receive e-mails encouraging us all to check out the “newly renovated Kreeger building!” ? Maybe, only time will tell. For now though, Kreeger remains tucked away.

Because you have no idea where in the hell Kreeger Music Building is, tuell, let me be your navigator. Simple directions: Start in the LA Quad, and walk towards the South Side Shuttle stop. Facing you tuill be the Financial Aid building and the playingfields on. your right. Walk in between these two structures, past the parking lots until you reach the Watkins building on your left, and on your right are construction trailers and the bleak sans-seri//ont on grey stone greets you - Music Building. •

A recent report in theconsumerist.org called Facebook’s new terms of service, the ‘We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content.

Forever’” provision. The changes caused uproar within the Facebook community. The Terms of Service that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, attem pted to change stated that “You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, re­ format, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute.”

It also allowed Facebook to keep deleted information in its ar­ chives. The only way to protest this was, of course, a mass organiza­ tion of Facebook groups. There were three major ones, totaling with over 158,000 members. The largest group contains 147,000 members, even today after the controversy, has subsided. Administrator and creator of the largest group, Anne Katherine Pettero, wrote in an email, “The new ToS didn’t affect me personally much. I always think twice before I upload anything onto Facebook. That still doesn’t mean I agreed with the new ToS, which was the reason why I started the group. For me it was more about making people aware of w hat they sign up for.” Facebook owns all the writing, photos, and any other con­ tent uploaded on the personal pages. Even prospective employers and the government could have a window into the dark realms of our per­ sonal past. Assuaging the users’ outrage, Zuckerberg went back to the old terms of service, realizing the line of privacy had been crossed.

This is a valuable lesson, even a telling snapshot, of w hat could happen when a Big Brother type oversteps e-boundaries. Internet us­ ers have lost all sense of privacy — sharing photos publicly, writing online journals open to millions of viewers, and using whitepages. com to reverse search or search any phone number. Yet according to a poll taken in 2006 by MSNBC, 60% of Americans feel as though they are losing their privacy, and only 7% change any of their informa­ tion in order to protect their privacy. Privacy, a term that was once cherished as a Constitu­ tionally protected right, is no longer a concern, at least with the major­ ity of social networkers.

The future of e-privacy is a legally and socially interesting. But however the new carnation of privacy emerges, a new conceptualization of privacy needs to replace the old: more guarded dignity and less blind sharing. •

Spring 2009 I II 12

AG;What are some of the strangest finds you’ve reviewed?

BW: There was a find in California from a Iraq War protest march in 2003.

It was a note from a police officer and it said something like, “We have the crowd, and I hit the guy with my baton.” Sometimes we wonder if people are making it up just so they can get it into the magazine. Another thing that was interesting: right on the day of 9/11, there was a kid in class and some­ one found this piece of notebook paper he was writing on. It went from class notes about a love poem to “We are under attack! The world trade center is gone! I’m scared” and then “Practice is canceled.” He changed his homework into a diary. Some of them are funny, some are sad, and some are whacked out and crazy. A friend of ours was in Chicago on the L train and there was this homeless guy who had artwork with him. Police came on the train and removed him without letting him get his artwork. His art was on the backs of traitrit cards and Dunkin’ Donut napkins. It was pretty decent stuff Little does he know that his stuff has been printed in our magazine. Oh yeah, somebody sent in a dead.mouse once. That was pretty strange.

AG:What has the public’s reaction been to Found?

BW: We’ve been really happy with the public reaction. We’ve done a tour ev­ ery year to keep it fresh in people’s minds - since the magazine only comes out once a year. We have a Web site, and a find of the day. 'When we come out with a new magazine, people flock to stores to get it. We’re doing pretty well, and we don’t have real advertising and th at’s the backbone to most magazines. If it wasn’t for the advertising, they wouldn’t exist. And we don’t have them, so we gotta sell magazines.

AG:What do you like about for working for Found?

BW:I like that it’s new and exciting. We get so many people around the world sending finds in. Sometimes we have to get it translated from German, French, or Japanese. Maybe someone’s in a computer lab and finds Chinese characters written on paper. They’ll tell their Chinese-speaking friehd to translate it and they’ll start laughing, making a whole discussion over it.

Then we get it and publish it in English. We have little projects we do, too.

We’re working on video projects. Davy has a video about love. Basically, it’s his own personal experience and how he’s not very good at it. It’s called “My Heart is an Idiot." It’s kind of fucked up, actually.'

Amy Goldman: Explain Found magazine for those who aren’t familiar with it.

Brande Wix: My friend Davy was living in Chicago and found a note that read, “Mario, why is your car here?" It was from an angry wpman who thought the car was her boyfriend’s. It ended with, “RS. call me later.” Davy loved it. He's collected notes his whole life. This magazine started as just a collection of notes and things we all had. We made 3000 copies at Kinko’s and people bought them. Before we knew it, we started getting mail from fans. We were really surprised that there were so many people out there who .were into sharing found notes. It shows we’re not alone in the world and howpeople are curious about other people’s lives. Now we get five pieces of mail a day. We get so many love letters and sometimes you get desensitized to it; it starts to get common, but then it shows we all go through those feelings.

AGiWhat’s your job at Found?

BW:I do a lot of organizing, go through a lot of mail and finds. And I help put together th,e magazine and tours. I also work for a media company called Quak. ‘ ‘ AG:'\A?hat does the concept of forgotten mean to you in terms of Found?

BW:A lot of people misplace things - sometimes inadvertently putting notes in the hands of our contributors. There was a found note that was probably intended for the garbage can. It was from a schoolr “AJ, we have your binder, you will never see it again unless you leave a sum of $3.50 by the bathroom.” .Things like that. You’re pretty sure they weren’t m eant to be found, but peo­ ple find them and send it to us.Things like “please tear after reading.” There are countless spots where people find personal things.

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AG:What’s the criteria for including finds on the Web site or in the maga­ zine?

BW:lt’s kind of random. I have drawers here with photos, paperwork, bizarre finds,'funny ones, serious ones, love ones, sad ones, angry ones, family ori­ ented ones, poetry, rap, lists, postcards and greeting cards. We get four or five people together and go through the mail. We’ll each read a letter or look af' a photo and grade them A, B, C. Some of the stuff is like, why do people send this in? It’s just a candy wrapper. We’ll throw away stuff th at’s just crap.

Sometimes we’ll actually decorate covers. With issue #3 there isn’t much on the front, so we’ll physically tape finds on the cover.

AG:Why do you think it made sense to tour with Post Secret?

BW; Post Secret is kind of similar, in the same vein. Post Secret contributors are revealing secrets they don’t want t tell anyone else, yet, ironally, they want it published. But with Found, we don’t have people sending directly.

Our submissions are from people stumbling upon secrets of sorts. But they’re not usually writing them.

AG:What has been your favorite find?

BW: Justin, this Portland kid, wasn’t doing very well in his geometry class.

So when he had a test, he made fun of the test. He wrote, “I sit in class all day and I don’t know what he has to say. I will never pass this class.” This was hilarious, you know. He drew a picture of an old man saying, “Get off my property!” for the question “Describe a property.” If I were a teacher, I’d give him a chance to do it over. The teacher gave him a 0 out of 100. There was another- find: a letter to an airline complaining about a bad seat next to the bathroom. It was a long-winded and funny account. Some guy groaning and smelling feces. There are a lot of good ones. Now, after working here for a while, I tear up and destroy everything I w rite-I don’t want my stuff to get out thqre.

AG; What do you think inspires people to submit finds?

BW: They just want to be a part of it. Found by Amy Goldman in a DC. park, things like that. And they also probably feel the same way we do, kind of voy­ euristic. People are intrigued with other people. Do you look into open win-

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dows? Do you listen in to people arguing? It’s like paying attention to detail, to know you’re not alone in the world. There are so many people out there with so many problems that can be very similar to yours. If not, they make for great entertainment.

AG: How do you think college students can relate to Found?

BW:I don’t think it’s just college students. But I think a lot of college students get into Found magazine because it’s a fun distraction. Davy’s actually gone to a lot of high schools and elementary schools, and everybody really enjoys it. I remember we did an event at Politics and Prose in D.C. There was an old man who came up to us with a briefcase full of items he had been collecting over the years. He extracted a note he found in a cup of ice by boiling the water. He pieced the parts together. He was able to make sense of it. This is what our contribitors are like.

AG:What are the staffers of Found like? W hat makes you w ant to work for Found?

BW:We're just people. 1 graduated from college and moved around the coun­ try. My friend Davy moved around quite a bit. We really enjoy life and what makes people tick.

AG:Where can people get Found magazine?

BW:lf you go to the Web site and click on “bookstores” there will be a list of bookstores all over the country, some even in England. Generally small inde­ pendent bookstores carry it. Politics and Prose would have it!

AG: How can people contribute to Found?

BW: By sending their finds and by coming to our events when we go on tour.

We’re booked with people on staff right now, but there are occasional intern­ ships that we have where kids come and help out for the summer. It’s a small magazine, but students can see what goes into putting together a magazine.

On our next tour we’ll be at the Warehouse Theater in D.C. Come check us out!

Brande Wix is editor and co-founder of Found. Check them out online at www.foundmagazine.com.

Examples o/FOUND notes and photographs. fro m their Flicfer group & luebsite; http://w w w .flickr.com /photos/foundm agazine/ & w w w .foundm agazine.com

Spring 2009 III 14

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