IN THIS ISSUE:
BEAT FROM THE STREET PG. 18
IS VAPING BETTER THAN CIGS? PG. 6
NOBLE KAVA RELOCATES PG. 4
T h e st u d en t vo i c e o f U N C As h ev i lle | w e c o u ld b e h ero es s i n c e 1 9 82 | t h eb lu eba n n er.n et
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NEWS 2 JANUARY 19, 2015
Section Editor: Larisa Karr lakarr@unca.edu
Editor-In-Chief James Neal, jneal@unca.edu
What type of residence hall would you want to live in?
News Editor Larisa Karr, lakarr@unca.edu Sports Editor Harrison Slaughter, jslaught@unca.edu
Project management firm sizes up potential new options for new dormitory on campus. CALLIE JENNINGS Staff News Writer
The spring 2016 semester just began, but renovations for old residence halls are already in the works, as well as tentative plans for a brand new residence hall, hopefully ready to open fall of 2018. “It is still a proposal. In fact, we just presented some of it to the University Planning Council, or UPC, on Thursday,” said Nancy Yeager, associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs Administration. “The most important thing is that this needs to be a residence hall that students want to live in. I always want to make sure that the student is at the center of our decisions.” Brailsford & Dunlavey, a program management firm, conducted a market study last spring both on and off campus to determine what type of residence halls students want. Brailsford & Dunlavey considered overall demand, price comparisons, peer reviews with other UNC systems and student surveys, Yeager said. Additionally, they conducted individual meetings with students, staff and some faculty in order to generate a report showcasing the need for a new residence hall. “They felt that we could easily accommodate a 300-bed residence hall, but this time what our students are looking for are apartments,” Yeager said. “We don’t have any apartments on campus, and that is one area where we are at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the schools in our system.”
The Blue Banner Spring 2015 Editorial Board
If an apartment-style residence hall were built, each unit would likely have full kitchens, four bedrooms and two bathrooms, or some variation of these options. Initial thoughts from Yeager also gear this hall to be a primary upperclassman residence hall, not for freshmen. “None of the design has happened yet,” Yeager said. “So, what the buildings would look like, whether or not it would be multiple smaller buildings as opposed to one large building, is still undecided.” Ideas about the new residence hall, however, have been vast, such as the creation of a living learning community or yearround housing, Yeager said. Additionally, the possibility of opening them to faculty for summer use, having parking near the buildings and the overall level of sustainability have been considered. The board of trustees already approved the new residence hall proposal,, followed by advanced planning approval by the board of governors. Currently, the UPC, comprising students, faculty and staff, is reviewing the 13 bids received from an open ad. From there, the design process can begin. “The UPC are sending me their evaluations, and I am consolidating them to invite between six to eight bids to give presentations,” Yeager said. “From that group, the UPC would narrow it down again to three in priority order, which would be sent back to the board of trustees for their FebruRead more on page 9
Arts & Features Editor Phillip Wyatt, pwyatt@unca.edu Copy Desk Chief Barbie Byrd, bbyrd1@unca.edu Layout & Design Editor Makeda Sandford, msandfor@unca.edu Photography Editor Johnny Condon, jcondon@unca.edu Multimedia Editor Neve Pollard, npollar1@unca.edu Social Media Editor
Meredith Bumgarner, mbumgarn@unca.edu
Voice Editor John Mallow, jmallow@unca.edu Opinion Editor June Bunch, kbunch@unca.edu Copy Editors Shanee Simhoni, ssimhoni@unca.edu Rebecca Andrews, randrew1@unca.edu Advertising Manager Amber Abunassar, aabunass@unca.edu Faculty Adviser Michael Gouge, mgouge@unca.edu Distribution Manager Carson Wall, cwall1@unca.edu Staff
Callie Jennings, Josh Alexander, Zena Zangwill, Charles Heard, Eli Choplin, Wyatt Manlove, Drew Heinz, Lee Elliott, Will Quastrom, Megan Authement, Erika Williams, Roan Farb, Ayneric Assemat, Calla Hinton, Nick Haseloff, Phillip Carwane, Emily Henderson, Joshua Shuford, Forest Lyons. Follow Us: @TheBlueBanner The Blue Banner @thebluebanner
Have a news tip? Send to jneal@unca.edu
Photos by Callie Jennings - Staff News Writer NEW BEGINNINGS: Mills Hall encouraged students to write any and all ideas they had for upgrades. Some, like new filtered water fountains, have already been added.
The Blue Banner is UNC Asheville’s student newspaper. We publish each Wednesday except during summer sessions, finals week and holiday breaks. Our office is located in Karpen Hall 019. The Blue Banner is a designated forum for free speech and welcomes letters to the editor, considering them on basis of interest, space and timeliness. Letters and articles should be emailed to the editor-in-chief or the appropriate section editor. Letters should include the writer’s name, year in school, and major or other relationship to UNCA. Include a telephone number to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing.
THEBLUEBANNER.NET
3 JANUARY 19, 2015
jan. 19-26
mlk week events
Tuesday Jan. 19
12pm - 1pm Lunch-N-Learn: Social Justice and Service Learning Where: Intercultural Center, Room 114 6pm - 8pm State of Black Asheville Lecture Where: Highsmith Union, Room 221-222
Wednesday Jan. 20
6pm - 8pm Tested Film Screening/Q&A with Filmmaker Curtis Chin Where: Alumni Hall
Thursday Jan. 21
12pm - 1:30pm Lunchtime Q&A with Terry Bellamy Where: Intercultural Center
Expansion presents problems on UNC Asheville’s campus EMILY HENDERSON Sports Staff Writer
UNC Asheville students struggle with housing and parking issues due to lack of space. The university, built in 1927 and hidden between Interstate 26 and Merrimon Avenue, attracts a large amount of interest due to the unique, centralized community; however, the campus is surrounded by residential areas and thriving businesses, complicating expansion. The student body of the small, compact university has increased by 40 percent within the past 17 years, and continues to expand. Renee Ambroso, a daughter of two graduates from large state schools, chose UNCA because she, along with other students, said she liked the idea of a small, liberal arts university located in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains. According to university data, class sizes range from 13 to 35 students. “If they keep adding more
you a parking space. “It’s mocking me, because, you know, I can’t find anywhere to park and I’m paying, too,” Slatton said. The university converted former faculty/staff lots into visitor parking within the last few years. “They took away a lot of our spots,” Slatton said. She explains how frustrating it can be, on an Asheville winter day, to drive by cars in the faculty/ staff lots marked with a student parking sticker. Students commuting to campus for early classes factor in enough time to defrost their cars, find a parking spot and walk to class. Many commuting students have all-day schedules, leaving their cars in all available spots. Students commuting to campus for classes a couple hours later, on the other hand, end up having to risk the possible $10 to $15 parking ticket to avoid being late to class. Kristin Langan, a sophomore
non-resident student, along with many other non-resident students, commutes to campus from the outskirts of Asheville. Langan said she feels parking should not be such an issue for a small university, but continues to factor in time searching for a parking spot along with time set aside for the commute. UNCA’s student policy mandates all incoming freshman must spend their first year living on campus, with some exceptions. This policy remains effective, because it assists in properly transitioning students into their first year of college. As freshman students eventually become upperclassmen who gain the opportunity to live off campus, parking will continue to present problems at this secluded university. “It’s usually worth it to risk a parking ticket rather than being late to class,” Langan said, with a last reminder to pay off the parking tickets in order to avoid a booted tire.
Lay down the ground rules, and other words of advice for roommate success ERIKA WILLIAMS Contributing Writer
7pm - 9:30pm MLK Keynote Where: Lipinsky Auditorium
Friday, Jan. 22
8pm - 10pm Selma Film Screening Where: The Grotto, Highsmith
on the cover: photo on the blue ridge parkway by megan authement
and more students, obviously, that’s gonna change,” said Ambroso, a sophomore interested in studying literature. The university's policy allows all eligible members of the campus community to buy a parking pass at the price of $50 per semester. Out of the 33 parking lots on campus, only eight lots allow entry of students with a nonresident ‘parking pass; however, undergraduate students commuting to campus comprise 59 percent of the student body. The number of classrooms in use on Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. rises to 96 percent, according to university data for the 2014-15 academic year, leaving students struggling to find a parking spot before class. Anne Slatton, a lecturer in the mass communication department, reflects on the differences between parking in 2004 and now, saying getting to campus extra early no longer promises
Photo illustration by James Neal, Editor-in-Chief
UNC Asheville students say roommates can be detrimental to schoolwork if they do not carefully consider with whom to live. “Your relationship with your roommate definitely has a significant impact on your study habits,” said Dalton Nickerson, resident assistant at UNCA. Nickerson, 20, said he recommends students choose to live with a friend. Currently in his first year as an R.A. in Governor's Hall, he has not encountered much trouble regarding roommate disagreements; however, they do often happen while students live in residence halls, he said. “Make sure it is the right friend,” Nickerson said. “Friends are not always compatible as roommates. They may have different definitions of ‘clean and organized.’”
Magnolia Cumby and Taylor Vali, sophomores, shared a room on campus last semester. They said they became friends when they arrived at UNCA as freshmen. Cumby said her grades suffered after she tried to live with a friend. “It is very important that everyone is aware of each other’s limits and habits in order to have a successful roommateship,” Cumby said. Cumby said establishing ground rules in the beginning carries a great significance. “I wish I had never roomed with my last friend, because we would probably still be friends,” Vali said. “You find a lot about someone living with them, and sometimes you are not as compatible as roommates as you are friends, which is very sad.” . Cumby said she studies more and is more productive because of her new living situation with Vali. Both roommates said they agree
living with a friend can be a productive, scholarly decision as long as they are academically compatible. “It is better because you are not constantly having to find new study places,” Cumby said. “We can both stay in the room and study because we respect each other.” A lot of students choose to live in single rooms on campus, and students may also live in community clusters with their friends nearby, said Shannon Norman, the office manager of the Housing Department at UNCA. According to the Office of Residential Education and Housing, students can inhabit a suite or even an entire floor with friends if they apply on time. “It is never too early to think about who you want to live with,” Norman said. Students can apply online for Fall semester housing in residence halls beginning Feb. 1.
November 11, 2015. | Issue 11, Volume 63 | thebluebanner.net
page 4
NEWS
Noble Kava: New Beginnings WYATT MANLOVE
Photo by Josh Alexander - News Staff Writer Noble Kava’s new location on Haywood Road, in West Asheville. The bar is popular among UNCA students, and known for it’s open mic nights, and unique atmosphere.
News Staff Writer Poets and artists alike spent one of their last times performing at Noble Kava, Asheville’s local kava bar. Every Wednesday night, the bar held an open mic night, hosted by Caleb Beissert, a local poet and bartender at the Kava bar. Attendees hear poetry, and all other forms of artistic expression. Unfortunately, this past November was the bar’s last month tucked away on Eagle Street in downtown Asheville. The owners of Noble Kava plan to move to a location on Haywood Street in West Asheville, a place they purchased as a result of the progress they made. Justin Blackburn, a local artist, said he feels the atmosphere
at Noble Kava aids to the flow of creativity and performance. “It’s a great place. I love Caleb,” Blackburn said. “ The audience is usually great.” Blackburn said he began to attend the open-mic events six years ago, even though he hasn't lived in Asheville that long. He made the trip on Wednesday evenings even when he was living elsewhere in North Carolina such as Charlotte, Winston Salem and the Coastal regions of the Carolinas. “I am worried about them moving. I think that I probably won’t come here if it’s somewhere else,” said Elena Borne, a patron attending the performances. “Eagle Street is just kinda perfect for the kava bar. There is a smoke shop right across the street and piz-
Rising Asheville real estate prices force many out LEE ELLIOTT Contributor As Asheville continues to grow, so does property rental prices in the formerly quaint mountain town. According to Zillow, a real estate aggregate website, Asheville’s rental prices have risen by approximately 8.4 percent in the last year. The housing prices pose a serious problem for those working minimum wage jobs and living on fixed incomes. As housing becomes less affordable, they face the choice of living in subpar Asheville housing or looking for housing in the less expensive Asheville suburbs. “My search for affordable housing in this area has been one of the most demoralizing experiences of my life,” said Angie Song, a 54-year-old sign language interpreter. Song lived in a 1,400 square foot home in Jackson County, North Carolina before selling it
and moving to Asheville to be close to her grandchild. Unable to afford a home of a similar size in Asheville, Song settled on renting a home, but said she soon found she would pay $1,500 a month in rent for even the most modest one bedroom apartment. “It looks like I will have housemates for the first time in my life if things don't improve,” Song said. Rising real estate prices during the past decade force many people to resort to transience in their search for affordable housing, sleeping on friends’ or family’s couches instead of finding a permanent place to reside. “I have moved about every six months on average in three years, and I'm looking for a place right now,” said Chelsea Myers, who works multiple jobs in Asheville to make ends meet. “It is really difficult to
find a place and the prices are definitely rising.” Myers lived in a house with seven other service professionals until the recent spike in housing prices. When her landlady learned she could profit by selling her rental properties, she put the house on the market and evicted her tenants, Myers said. “Those of us that work service jobs keep the tourism alive in this town,” Myers said. “If we have nowhere affordable to live, who is going to work these jobs?” In addition to high rental prices, Asheville’s property prices continue to increase at a fast pace. According to Trulia, another aggregate website, the median price of real estate in Asheville rose to just almost $500,000 in recent years. Myers said this has skewed the real estate market.. Lisa Jackson, a real estate agent at Nest Realty, said Ashe-
“My search for affordable housing in this area has been one of the most demoralizing experiences of my life,” said Angie Song, a 54-yearold sign language interpreter.
ville’s real estate market recovered quickly from the credit crunch, a recent financial crisis that caused banks and lending firms to be more stringent in their lending practices. The city’s destination status brought in tourists and retirees who want to live among the beautiful mountain vistas. “We are actually back to the numbers we saw at the top of the market in 2006,” Jackson said. Disabled and elderly espeRead more on page 9
za around the corner. It couldn't get better.” People like Borne, as well as the artists, said they worry the new establishment will not have the same atmosphere as the old one, an aspect they value. Despite these concerns,, Tom Scheve, a bartender at Noble Kava, said that the kava bar currently hosts their open-mics at the Altamont Theatre. With a capacity of 150 people, this venue holds a far bigger crowd than the location on Eagle Street. “Caleb Beissert has been doing fantastic with the new venue. We’ve been doing it since the start of December, and it’s been growing every week,” Scheve said. “It’s a beautiful theatre, the acoustics are great, and the performance space is wonderful.”
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November 11, 2015. | Issue 11, Volume 63 | thebluebanner.net
Jill Stein: LARISA KARR
News Editor lakarr@unca.edu
Are you tired from your trip throughout North Carolina? “Well, it’s been like an unending trip for four or five months. I just have very little time in between trips, and I was just in Maryland. Before that, I was in Texas, and it’s been almost nonstop for the last...I did have like a week break a ways back.” It sounds like you’ve had a very busy schedule. “It is busy but it’s really fun. It’s very, very fun. When you’re doing campaign travelling, it’s not like you get to sightsee (laughs) or anything. It’s more just meeting with people but it’s been so exciting how there’s a real sea change going on right now.” One of the things that a lot of people are very passionate about is voting for Bernie Sanders, but few of them have heard of you. They’re like, ‘Yeah, I agree more with Jill,’ particularly on your military policy, not giving money to Israel for weapons, but they’ll say that, kind of what you were saying, voting for Bernie is the lesser evil compared to Republicans. What would you say to them? Why would you encourage them to not go be trapped between those two parties? “Yeah, in terms of Bernie, I think what Bernie is doing is great inside the Democratic Party and he’s really stirring up a hornet’s nest of discontent that was already there. He’s just really elevating that discussion and that’s really wonderful. The downside is that the Democratic party has a kill switch for rebellious candidates, and they’ve done this for decades ever since George McGovern managed to get the nomination since 1972. Democrats created Super Tues-
page 5
doctor, activist and a villain to corporate America. Find out why. Dr. Jill Stein is tireless, fearless and just won’t stop. In between campaigning in the United States and going to Paris to attend the recent COP21 conference, the Green Party Presidential Candidate sat down with the Banner last semester to discuss student loans, America’s foreign policy, and why she was handcuffed to a chair for hours during the last Presidential debate. day and Super Delegates, which are both things that ensure that the nomination will go to an insider, not to a reformer. So, it’s unfortunate that Bernie’s going to get knocked out, and you can see the resistance growing now, and Bill Clinton is recruiting the Super Delegates, which are basically delegates that ensure that Hillary has the margin of difference, if she should need it. So it virtually ensures that Bernie is going to be knocked out of contention. I think it’s great for people to support his campaign, but at some point they’re going to need a plan B, so that all their work doesn’t get dumped down the drain. Bernie has already said he’s going to support Hillary when she gets the nomination and I think most of his really ardent supporters don’t want to go there. They don’t want to support the banks. They don’t want to support this--” Wal-Mart? “Yes, Hillary, board member of Wal-Mart, and they don’t want to support the devastating foreign policies that have created failed states and have created ISIS to start with the blowback of terrorism from the beginning. I think people with insight don’t want to go there, so people need a plan B with Bernie’s campaign, and I say go for it. Give Bernie his best shot. Fingers crossed that he gets it, but I wouldn’t hold my breath and if he doesn’t get it, you’ve got a place to go. So, I don’t feel like we have an argument with Bernie supporters. It’s a different strategy. So, I think your question had two parts. It was sort of, what’s our relationship to
Bernie? And why not the lesser evil? Bernie aside, why should young people not support the lesser evil? Well, one reason is that the lesser evil is not going to get them out of debt. The lesser evil, you know, Hillary is not really proposing free public higher education, which is what we’re calling for. Why is that? Because we shouldn’t treat the younger generation like a cash cow to squeeze maximum dollars out of. Young people should have a secure start in life, which is what a high school degree used to represent. Now, you need a college degree, so, in my view, that is the responsibility of the older generation. However, it’s an investment that pays for itself. We know that from the GI Bill, every dollar that we put into college education for returning soldiers following the Second World War. We get back seven dollars in return for every dollar we put in. So, this is not just like a nice thing to do. This is the really profitable and practical thing to do. So, there is another reason why young people should not support the lesser evil. The expanding wars and the chaos that’s being created, that is blowing back at us in a very personal way. We’re not going to see that get better under Hillary. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, Hillary may be talking the talk. However, she has decades worth of walking the walk, and it’s clear what Hillary’s policies are. Hillary and her husband brought us NAFTA, that closed tens of thousands of factories and sent millions of jobs overseas. The Trans-Pacific Part-
Photo by Larisa Karr - News Editor
Jill Stein speaks at UNC Asheville on November 15, 2015 at a forum organized by the International Socialist Organization.
nership is more of the same. Hillary might tweak something about it, but she’s a supporter of these corporate trade deals. So, you know, if you want a job, if you want to get out of debt and have a future, and if you want to do something about the climate so that we actually have a planet we can inhabit, those are all reasons why you don’t want to settle for the lesser evil. The lesser evil is getting lesser all the time, and we say, you know, it’s time to forget the lesser evil and fight for the greater good.”
So in terms of the attacks in Paris, what do you think was behind Europe’s failure to close their borders or not recognize that these attacks were imminent and that they were a threat? “It reflects how the security state totally misses the target. In this country, the security state has been challenged actually by a Congressional committee to exactly identify what terrorist threats have been aborted thanks to the security state, and they couldn’t come up with Read more on page 12
THEBLUEBANNER.NET
6 JANUARY 19, 2015
NEWS
Protecting the Environment through Cultural Traditions EMILY HENDERSON Sports Staff Writer
Photo by Josh Alexander - News Staff Writer Gordon Gellatly, a senior from D.C. blows a vape cloud outside of New Hall between classes.
Va Va Vape: Is everyone’s favorite new pasttime better than its deadlier older cousin? ELI CHOPLIN
News Staff Writer s alternatives to traditional cigarettes gain traction in the U.S., the end of burning tobacco could be fast approaching. Chris Mriscin, owner of Vapor World, said vaping has been on the rise since arriving in the U.S. in 2007. “2014 was about $7 billion in sales in the United States, up from $3 billion in 2013,” Mriscin said. “So, it’s more than doubled.” Mriscin said vape pens use only three or four ingredients, as opposed to the many chemicals in cigarettes. The local business owner said long-term studies are not yet available to show how vaping can affect a user’s health over time, but he said he is optimistic about the eventual results. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, high-intensity vaping produces
A
formaldehyde, a material linked to cancer; however, the study faced criticism from figures like Clive Bates, former head of the Action on Smoking and Health charity, and Gregory Conley, head of the American Vaping Association. According to Bates and Conley, the study tested the vaporizers at a higher-than-average voltage, overheating the liquid and producing what is called the dry puff phenomenon. While the vaporizers did produce formaldehyde when used as such, Bates and Conley believe no actual vape user would operate it at this temperature, as the vapor produced this way tastes bitter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet regulated e-cigarettes or vape pens. It does have a section on its website listing adverse effects related to e-cigarettes, but states that the effects were reported by citizens and could have been
caused by other, unmentioned medical conditions. Jay Cutspec, director of the UNC Asheville Health and Counseling Center, said the research he found does not point to e-cigarettes being better or worse than traditional cigarettes, but said he still believes the new technology could help smokers. Cutspec said he estimates a quarter of Americans smoke, and mentioned smoking represents one of the largest costs to the U.S. healthcare system. He said he supports vaping and e-cigarettes as a way to reduce healthcare costs for current and future smokers. “They are particularly helpful in getting people to quit,” Cutspec said. Mechal Harward, a sophomore art student from Charlotte, said she prefers vaping to cigarettes for the taste, low cost, and lack of a lingering tobacco scent on her clothes. Read more on page 11
Alison Ormsby said she aims to reveal the link between cultural traditions and environmental protection efforts using research and photography. Photographs by the adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies can now be viewed in her exhibit entitled “Protecting the Environment through Cultural Traditions: Sacred Groves of Sierra Leone and India,” located in Blowers Gallery at UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library Ormsby travelled to both countries to research alternative conservation efforts, specifically sacred groves. “I brought these photographs here to open people up to a different culture and to show how respectful this culture is,” Ormsby said. “This respect is so important. It has kept these forests alive.” The exhibit features images related to Ormsby’s studies until Feb. 26. Ormsby will give a lecture in the library’s Whitman Room at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, followed by a reception in the gallery. “Sacred forests, often referred to as sacred groves, are sites that have cultural or spiritual significance for the people who live around them,” Ormsby wrote in her article published in “Conservation and Society.” While working with the Peace Corps twenty years ago, in the Tonkolili District of Sierra Leone, Ormsby had her first encounter with a sacred grove.
“It looked untouched and not maintained,” Ormsby said. “I wondered what kind of land it was.” When she returned years later, she became the first to carry out community research regarding this grove. Sacred groves are preserved by community members and serve as spaces for rituals or sometimes large festivals, according to Ormsby. “Traditionally, each forest is thought to host the presence of different deities,” Ormsby said, “ None are used for individual recreation.” Since the forests are protected by these communities, there is a great amount of biodiversity and plants found nowhere else in the world, Ormsby said. In Sierra Leone, she was not permitted to enter the sacred grove due to secrecy and the deep spirituality of local peoples. “They had three kinds of groves there, which only members of a society may enter,” Ormsby said. “One for men, one for women and one for chiefs.” While the sacred groves in Sierra Leone were not accessible to Ormsby, she found the groves in Southern and Northeastern India more open to visitors. “You still had to be very respectful by bathing and making sure you were clean before entering,” she said. The sacred groves of Northeastern India are larger and located in a less populated area than the smaller groves in the South. Preservation and use Read more on page 14
THEBLUEBANNER.NET
7 JANUARY 19, 2015
A day devoted to reptiles! Reptiday comes to Asheville on Jan. 23.
WILL QUANSTROM News Staff Writer
ReptiDay, a one-day reptile expo coming to Asheville on Jan. 23, will showcase snakes, spiders, amphibians and other small exotic animals at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center. “Western North Carolina doesn’t have really high snake diversity, but they have some endangered snakes here,” said Landon Ward, a herpetology professor at UNC Asheville. “They have pine snakes. They have timber rattlesnakes, which are becoming less and less common every year. Those species are important to the environment.” Students who attend his traveling field herpetology class during the summer always say snakes are a lot easier to handle and less scary than they thought, Ward said. “People think everything’s ven-
omous. I think a lot of snakes get killed a year,” Ward said. Bonnie Miller, promotions team leader of Repticon, said attendees of Reptiday will have the chance to purchase reptiles from vendors hosted on the premises. “I’m not a real big fan of capturing and importing lots of species.” Ward said. “Sometimes you see people selling animals they caught, and that’s not really good for the environment.” According to the ReptiDay’s website, no restrictions on selling wild-caught animals are imposed on vendors at their conventions, but they must disclose whether the animals fall into the category of wild-caught or captive-bred. “Well, I think most of them are captive bred. I don’t think you can import reptiles,” said Jeff Sansouci, a public relations officer for Exo Terra USA, a sponsor of ReptiDay.
Exo Terra builds and sells terrariums and accessories that replicate the natural environment of the animals they house, Sansouci said. “We don’t just build things we think they need. We actually go out and study their natural environment,” Sansouci said. “We have the exact same moss, the exact same plants, the exact same lighting. We’re actually recreating the animals’ environment.” ReptiDay formed as a one-day version of the larger Repticon conventions held across the U.S., Miller said. “We are in a lot of areas that simply will not support a two-day show,” Miller said. According to Reptiday’s website, all animals must be healthy and legal within the state. A veterinarian provides assistance and checks out the animals in many of Repticon’s larger
events, Miller said. “For the most part, we have well-established vendors. They are trustworthy. They know what they’re allowed to bring in the show and what they’re not,” Miller said. “I totally support captive breeding of reptiles,” said Ward, who is a snake-breeder. According to Reptiles Magazine, wild-caught reptiles are more likely to be highly stressed and to harbor parasites and/or disease than captive-bred reptiles. The organizers of ReptiDay sell their merchandise independant of the event’s participating vendors. “We are the host,” said Miller “We don’t sell anything other than T-shirts. It’s just a great time for everybody and you get to see a whole lot of things you’ll never see in the wild.”
SPORTS
THEBLUEBANNER.NET
8 JANUARY 19, 2015
Section Editor: Harrison Slaughter jslaught@unca.edu
BULLDOGS DOMINATE LANCERS
Photo by Phillip Carwane - Staff Sports Writer WINNING STREAK Although defense is their main focus, the women offensively push toward the basket at Tuesday’s game.
PHILLIP CARWANE Staff Sports Writer pcarwane@unca.edu
The UNC Asheville women’s basketball team continued its winning streak Tuesday with an 81-42 victory over Longwood University. The win takes the Bulldogs’ record to 13-3 overall and 6-1 in the Big South Conference. “I feel like we played really well in the first two quarters,” said Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, UNC Asheville’s head coach. The Bulldogs shot a blazing 66.7 percent from the field in the first half. Tianna Knuckles,
a junior guard, hit three 3-pointers in a row and added a fourth as the team went 7-of-10 from behind the arc in the first half. “Get my mind focused before the game, and getting extra shots up before the game really gave me more confidence,” Knuckles said. “Plus my teammates had my back and would get me the ball to give me more confidence as well.” The Bulldogs combined their skillful shooting with a smothering defense that held the Longwood Lancers to 21.9 percent shooting from the field in the first half. The Lancers
also committed 11 team fouls leading to 11 Bulldog points from the free throw line. Longwood struggled to a 54-17 deficit at halftime. “Defense is our main focus, actually,” Knuckles said. “We have the mindset that defense leads to offense or transition points, and if we play good defense, the offense will come.” UNCA finished with 26 points from turnovers and four off the fast break. The Bulldog’s shooting cooled in the second half, and they finished with 52.6 percent from the field. Their defense
remained aggressive and held the Lancers to 29.7 percent shooting for the game. “I feel good about our effort. I feel good about our preparation,” Kirkpatrick said. “In this conference, you’ve gotta protect home court.” The Bulldogs remain undefeated at home and will face Gardner-Webb on Saturday in Kimmel Arena. Gardner-Webb defeated nationally ranked UNC Chapel Hill in November. “I told our kids, ‘we’ve got to have a short memory on this one,’”Kirkpatrick said. “We did a good job tonight, but we’ve
got another one coming in on Saturday that is going to be really tough” The Bulldogs play at 2 p.m. Saturday as part of a double header with the men’s team playing at 4:30 p.m. “Hopefully on Saturday, with the doubleheader, there will be a little more excitement,” Kirkpatrick said. Tuesday’s game saw a light turnout. “These women are having a great season and deserve the support,” said Hunter Scaggs, a sophomore at UNCA who attended the game.
9 JANUARY 19, 2015
Bulldogs run Gardner-Webb down PHILLIP CARWANE Staff Sports Writer pcarwane@unca.edu
UNC Asheville’s basketball doubleheader against Gardner-Webb University looked to be a complete disappointment at halftime of the men’s game Saturday. UNCA limped to a 9-point deficit after their first 20 minutes, following a missed buzzer beater at the end of the women’s game earlier in the afternoon at Kimmel Arena. “We were down at halftime, but I didn’t think it was because of effort or what we were doing on the defensive end. We were shooting poorly,” said Nick McDevitt, coach of the men’s basketball team. The Bulldogs started the second half with the scoreboard reading 23-32. A quick turnover and fast break dunk foretold of the excitement ahead, but a good comeback needs a moment of doubt. GWU upped their lead to 13 points, 38-25 with 18:10 remaining. “We knew our shooting percentages couldn’t do anything but go up,” McDevitt said. “We’ve got guys that can make shots, and when we made shots and continued to defend, the scoreboard changed.” UNCA used the next four minutes to go on a 10-0 run to bring the score to 35-38. GWU responded and maintained the lead until Dylan Smith, freshman Bulldogs guard, made a 3-pointer and tied the score at 47 with ten minutes remaining. On the Bulldogs next possession, Ahmad Thomas, sophomore Bulldogs guard, was fouled while getting the offensive rebound from a missed jumper by Dylan Smith, freshman Bulldogs guard. Thomas hit both free throws to pull UNCA ahead for the first time since nine minutes to go in the
first half. “It’s great coming back like that,” Thomas said. . Thomas ended the game with a game-high 21 points, 12 of which came from the free throw line, and 12 rebounds. Thomas even bled for the win. “He got elbowed in the mouth and cut his gum up,” said Tim White, UNCA’s head athletic trainer. “I was able to get him back quick.” The game’s most contentious moment came at the 6:11 mark of the second half when, with UNCA trailing again at 53-54, Kevin Vannatta gave a hard foul on Isaiah Ivey, a GWU guard. The referee originally called it a flagrant foul which could remove Vannatta from the game. After the referee team watched the replay, Vannatta remained in the game, but the refs levied an additional technical foul on UNCA’s bench. Gardner-Webb missed both technical foul shots, and McDevitt showed his vindication by waving for the crowd to increase the volume as his team increased their resolve. “Tonight was an emotional game. Gardner-Webb is a good team,” McDevitt said. “We hung in there and made some plays down the stretch that were important for us.” UNCA outscored GWU 2213 during the rest of the game, making the final score a 75-69 win. Sam Hughes, Kevin Vannatta and Dylan Smith joined Thomas with double-digit points for the game. UNCA finished the night at 74.4 percent from the free throw line. The Bulldogs travel next to High Point University Wednesday night. “Each game in league play is important,” McDevitt said. “The one coming Wednesday at High Point is really tough.”
WINTER
BREAK
ROUND-UP PHILLIP CARWANE Staff Sports Writer pcarwane@unca.edu
UNC Asheville men’s and women’s basketball teams both hold first place in the Big South Conference as the spring semester gets under way. The men earned eight wins and only one loss from December 13 to January 9. High Point University matches their undefeated conference record at 5-0. The women find themselves alone atop the conference standings with a record of 6-1, including Tuesday’s win against Longwood. The women’s overall record stands at 13-3, also best in the conference.
MEN’S RECAP
Dwayne Sutton, a freshman at UNCA, led the way in scoring against the Campbell Camels as the team took the conference opener 80-60. Sutton earned Big South Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors during the break. UNCA upped their record against the Southern conference to 2-1 with wins over East Tennessee State University and Furman University. The Bulldogs lost earlier in the season to Western Carolina University. In the battle of the bulldog mascots, UNCA defeated perennial power Georgetown on their home court in Washington, D.C. Dylan Smith, Ahmad Thomas, Dwayne Sutton, Kevin Vannatta and Will Weeks all scored in double digits. UNCA earned Big South Conference road wins against Longwood University, Liberty University and Charleston Southern University. Six away games and seven home games remain on the schedule beginning Thursday at Radford University, who sit at 2-3 in conference play.
WOMEN’S RECAP
During the break, the women defeated Big South Conference opponents Coastal Carolina University, Winthrop University, Campbell University and Charleston Southern University. The Liberty Lady Flames handed the Bulldogs their only conference loss to this point. Chatori Major won Big South Conference Women’s Player of the Week and received another nomination by delivering career high and team high point performances. UNCA ranks no. 1 in scoring offense for the Big South Conference. The women hold a 4-1 season record against the Southern Conference with the only loss being the season opener at East Tennessee State University. Sonora Dengokl, freshman guard, scored 14 points in a win against Coastal Carolina University and earned a Big South Freshman of the Week nomination. The women eclipsed their 2014-2015 win total of nine games by defeating Winthrop at home in Kimmel Arena.
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10 JANUARY 19, 2015
Residence Halls ary meeting.” John O’Neil, a senior residential assistant in Mills Hall and member of the UPC, said a team visited an apartment-style hall on NC State’s campus that helped shape the idea of the newly proposed hall at UNC Asheville. “I was on a video conference call with the architects when they were proposing sites,” O’Neil said. “We really talked about how the planners want to build the residence hall, the apartment type style and the locations of where they would go.” Two spots that are final contenders as the location for the new hall include the field behind Highsmith, or the Vivian parking lot, an expansive area
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reaching across W.T Weaver Boulevard. “There are cost implications and none of that has been decided. There still will be a lot of discussions about the sites, pros and cons,” Yeager said. “But I am so excited and I know everyone in our division is so excited about this, and I think we’ve had really good student participation in the surveys and market studies.” While the new residence hall plans remain far in the future, students who reside in Mills Hall have some more immediate building upgrades to look forward to, said Robin Hamilton, community director of Mills Hall. “It’s a rotating cycle and Mills is up,” Hamilton said.
“Next summer it could be Governors. It could be Overlook. Every summer a building goes through some type of renovation in a cycle that is already preset.” The Mills Hall Council organized a program last November called “Food for Thought,” where, in exchange for pizza, wings and drinks provided by Hall Council, residents were asked to share their ideas on what upgrades and changes they would like to see in Mills Hall, Hamilton said. “Hall Council always focuses on the improvement of the hall,” Hamilton said, “and it just so happens that Vollie and I, Vollie Barnwell the director over Housing Operations and Student Life, were interested
Real Estate cially affected Michael Menut, 27, holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology. However, he suffers from a debilitating disability that prevents him from holding down a steady job. “I am reliant on social security for my income,” Menut said. “My usual rent when I was living in Asheville was a significant portion of my income.” Menut found reasonably priced housing after a long search, but said the house he moved into was infested with insects and other pests. Forced to move out, Menut said he was unable to find other affordable housing and moved back to Anson County with his parents. Still looking to return to Asheville, Menut said he sought help from the Department of Social Services to find reasonably priced housing, but came up short. “I tried my best to find new apartments,” Menut said. “I was given a rental guide by an orga-
in getting ideas from students about the renovations.” The turnout was great and the sky was the limit for ideas presented during the program. Students showed that they had some creative ideas. “There were outlandish ideas like a hot tub in Mills and then simpler things like additional water fountains with purification bottle spouts,” Hamilton said. Some of the most popular ideas are the addition of an ice machine, as Mills has numerous athletes residing in it, lights above the showers, and locks for the bathroom doors. The showers are one thing that will definitely be upgraded, as will new bathroom floors, lighting and the possibility of a
new kitchen on the fourth floor, Hamilton said. “The big conversation is about the kitchen. We currently only have one small kitchen on the first floor,” Hamilton said. “The idea is taking one of the lounges, specifically the fourth floor lounge that already has plumbing access, and creating that into a really open space of a kitchen/lounge area to somewhat mirror what they have in Overlook.” O’Neil agrees with the need to expand student common areas. “I think it is a priority and is important that students have places that they will want to hang out and socialize and not just go to study in,” said O’Neil.
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nization that works with people with disabilities, but I haven’t found anything I can afford yet.” Ed Stein works as a maintenance technician at Carson’s Creek apartments on Hendersonville Road. The apartments came under new ownership last month. Stein said the new owners are increasing monthly rent by at least $200 after existing leases expire, which may force out many of their elderly tenants whose sole income comes from social security checks. “Before our general manager was dismissed, she was told that the reason we had full occupancy and long term tenants was because our rents are ‘too low,’” Stein said. “Our one bedroom apartment is nearly $900 before the rent increase.” Stein said the new management’s plan will be implemented suddenly. The apartments’ owners are anticipating potential conflict with tenants, so much so that they hired an
off-duty Asheville police officer to keep the peace in the complex office. “The two company reps here are apparently used to this,” Stein said. “ It's business as usual, right down to wanting a cop handy. Their attitude is ‘change happens’ and you can't please everyone.” Housing turned to vacation rentals David Donoghue moved to Asheville when he was 8 years old, and maintained residency in town ever since. Now a hibachi chef at Mikado Japanese Steakhouse, the 30-year-old Donoghue has difficulty finding affordable housing in his hometown. “A lot of places get bought up and used for vacation rentals, as opposed to housing for folks like us,” Donoghue said. Donoghue said several property management companies bought up real estate to use on temporary rental websites like Airbnb, a popular new way for
owners to rent to tourists. Airbnb boasts more than 300 rentals in the Asheville area on its website. Many are on the Merrimon Avenue corridor and in West Asheville, previously occupied primarily by service industry professionals and students, according to Donoghue. Well versed in the Asheville real estate market, realtor Lisa Jackson said she has seen the rise in rentals over the past decade. “Buyers who may want to live in Asheville only four to six months out of the year are buying and renting out their vacation homes part time to help them afford to own a home in Asheville,” Jackson said. When asked about finding affordable housing in Asheville proper, Jackson said the situation is grim for many who do not earn the high wages necessary to rent many of the available properties. “My advice would be to look for a home that needs renova-
tion in a good location,” Jackson said. “But that’s easier said than done.” Taylor Harold relocated to Asheville to become a massage therapist this past fall. The apartment he rented was sufficient for his needs and reasonably priced, but he said his landlord disclosed a catch. “The first two months, it had already been rented out almost every weekend on Airbnb,” Harold said. “I had to move in and out of my place several times, once for an entire week.” According to Harold, the landlord discounted his rent for displacing him, but stated Harold might need to vacate the premises in future weeks with little to no notice. “It’s an insane situation,” Harold said. “I have friends that live in $600 a month studios with no heat or air and constantly broken toilets. One friend lives in a bathroom that's been turned into an apartment.”
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11 JANUARY 19, 2015
SPORTS stats
Vaping From page 4
By Harrison Slaughter, Sports Editor
Photo by Phillip Carwane
women’s tennis
Women’s basketball
Jan. 16 Mars Hill UNC Asheville
Jan. 12 Longwood UNC Asheville
Final 42 81
men’s basketball
Jan. 16 Gardner-Webb UNC Asheville
Final 56 58
Jan. 14 UNC Asheville Radford
Women’s Swimming
Jan. 16 Gardner-Webb UNC Asheville
Final 1 6
Final 86 91 Final 69 75
Jan. 16 UNC Asheville Liberty University
Final 132 166
FDA regulations would help ensure the safety of vaping, but the resulting tax could raise prices. Low cost is one of the biggest advantages of vaping, Harward said. Despite this, Cutspec said he is still skeptical about the future of vaping and e-cigarettes because the technology is young and the tobacco companies’ political power could influence its trajectory. “We know they have a lot of power in Congress, um, and the CDC.” Cutspec said. “I mean, those are two of the probably the most influential special interest groups that could impact that.” Yet Mriscin said he expects vaping to overtake cigarettes in the coming decades. Mriscin also said many of his customers are smokers looking for a way to quit, or a healthier alternative to smoking. “We have very ... very few people walk in the door who haven’t smoked before and want to start vaping,” Mriscin said. “I would say probably one in a hundred people walk in the door who hadn’t smoked. Ninety-nine outta hundred people who walk in my door have smoked cigarettes and are
THE NUMBERS
A cigarette smoker can spend $2,250 on cigarettes annually just one e-liquid cartridge will typically last for about 360 puffs, or the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes, and this is far more economical than buying carton after carton each month. from www.vapor4life.com
jan. 19-25
calendar
Jan. 19 Kickboxing Express Sherrill Center Room 306 7 a.m.
Jan. 21 Fit in 5 Sherrill Center Room 306 12:15
Jan. 23 Men’s Tennis vs. Mars Hill Asheville Racquet Club 3 p.m.
Jan. 20 Brazilian Jiu Jitzu Sherrill Center Room 306 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 22 Spin Express Student Recreation Center Room 213-B 11:30 a.m.
Men’s Basketball vs. Presbyterian College Kimmel Arena 4:30 p.m.
Jan. 24 Men’s Tennis vs. Lees McRae Asheville Racquet Club 3 p.m. Jan. 25 Slow Flow Yin Yoga Sherrill Center Room 468 5:30 p.m.
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12 JANUARY 19, 2015
Jill Stein any. The NSA couldn’t come up with any examples of success. Basically, it creates a much larger haystack in which to try to find the needle. So I think there are two points here, which is that, you know, we need old-fashioned intelligence but blanket surveillance, dragnet surveillance of everybody, is not effective and it’s extremely expensive. We’re barking up the wrong tree here. We should raise questions and investigate people for whom we have warrants, for whom there is reason to suspect that they are engaged in illegal or dangerous activity and who are actually threats. But to consider everyday citizens a threat basically annihilates the essential tenets of democracy, and we’ve seen that it makes finding the valuable information even more impossible. So, it’s a failed system. But I think the other point here is that the answer here is not simply find the bad guys before they attack, but let’s actually pull the rug out from them to start with. We can dismantle ISIS. We created ISIS. We can dismantle ISIS and we can dismantle further, future security threats by undoing what is creating ISIS. So that means these horrific wars and massive slaughter of civilians, just the horror that just took place in Paris, is much like the horror that’s been taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria on a daily basis. That is the best recruiting tool imaginable for the terrorist groups. So, our current foreign policy is our own greatest enemy right now, and, furthermore, our allies have been funding ISIS. So, we need to get the Saudis to stop funding ISIS. We ourselves have been directly or indirectly supplying arms to ISIS. The people that we train then defect and move over. Yes, they are the troops in ISIS. We supply 80 percent of the weapons to the Middle East, so we could lead an arms embargo to basically
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Photo by Larisa Karr - News Editor Members of the International Socialist Organization gathered outside Asheville City Hall to hear Jill Stein and other political figures speak about ballot access on November 15, 2015.
disarm ISIS. We can do that now. We can ask our friends, Turkey, to please close their border to the flow of militias to support and reinforce ISIS. We can ask our allies in Iraq to please stop buying the oil of ISIS on the black market and that is a pretty complete plan to essentially cut the legs out from under of ISIS and dismantle it. To go in with more bombs and drones or special-ops, which are all in practice right now, is to ensure that we are guaranteeing the next ISIS. You have to ask, how much amnesia do these guys have on Capitol Hill? Democrats and Republicans, who are talking about doing more of what has
been failing us since Vietnam, going in and shooting ‘em up when you’re talking about, you know, not your old-fashioned army that’s dressed in their red coats. That doesn’t work. You cannot assault a guerilla army using old-fashioned techniques. You have to stop funding them. You have to stop arming them. You have to stop allowing reinforcements to cross the border. It’s not rocket science how to do this. Unfortunately, we have a foreign policy, and that is to sell weapons.” To wreak havoc. “Wreak havoc and therefore sell more weapons for the weapons industry and likewise to ensure routes of fossil fuel,
either supply or transportation. So between the weapons industry and the fossil fuel industry, we’ve got the wrong guys calling the shots in Washington, D.C. on foreign policy. We need a foreign policy that actually serves the American people. Our plan for the Green New Deal basically ensures that wars for oil become a thing of the past. It ensures that we will have abundant, healthy energy resources here — wind, water and sun — by 2030. So it takes the momentum out. It takes the steam out from this disastrous foreign policy aimed towards total economic and military domination, which is blowing back at us madly, creating failed
states and terrorism and massive refugee migrations, all of which is coming home to roost. So, we don’t have a choice now. We really need to stand up and do the right thing and join the community of nations that has been trying to do the right thing in spite of the hammer and the U.S. and the largest military — more than the next seven biggest all combined world-over — this hammer that we have been bringing down over the rest of the world that is destroying the climate, that is destroying any semblance of peace and security, and has also now rendered nuclear confrontation another real and present danger. Read more on next page
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13 JANUARY 19, 2015
Jill Stein So, on the basis of those three really dramatic dangers, we need an about-face to a policy based on international law, human rights and diplomacy.” What would you say to someone who’s thinking about moving? Why would you encourage them not to move? Or would you encourage them to move and be an activist from the outside? “So, one thing I would say is that you can move away geographically but you cannot move away politically. The problems that are raging inside of America are really raging everywhere else and on the pathway that we’re on, you know, you have a multi-national corporate government, which is essentially taking over everywhere. If it’s allowed to continue, you’re not going to have free education around the world or healthcare. So, it’s not like you can leave this battle behind. This battle has dimensions that not go far beyond our borders. So, it’s not as though that’s even an option. “But the other one I would say is really important, is, well, a couple of them. One is that we have to fight this battle here because the corporate predators, these multinational predators, are really coming out of America and they have to be conquered here in America. We have to regain human rights and end the usurping of human rights by corporate rights. We need to restore our rights and put an end to the rights of corporate personhood and, just the political battles that have to be fought anywhere have to be fought here as well. So, we need you here, and, furthermore, let me say this, you know, people have been brow-beaten into thinking that we’re powerless. In the words of Alice Walker, ‘The biggest way people give up power is by not knowing we have it to start with.’ One out of every two Americans now is in poverty or low-income, heading into poverty.
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Photo by Larisa Karr - News Editor Jill Stein speaks about the importance of third-party ballot access on November 15, 2015, outside Asheville City Hall.
40 million young people are in debt, with no way out. One in three African-American men is held hostage by the prison state. Latinos and immigrants in general are facing the threat of deportation, and, yes, terrible mistreatment. Likewise, in the Black Lives Matter movement, police violence is an issue. You start adding these numbers up, and we have not just a quorum. You know, we have a majority here, potentially even a supermajority. There are 40 million young people alone, if they get into their rebellious heads the idea that they can come out and check the green box to end debt, because there’s only one campaign in the presidential race that will put an end to student debt. 40 million young people
is actually enough to take over the election. I can’t fault young people at all for apathy in a system that has basically thrown you under the bus, so why should people pay attention? However, it’s really important to get the word out that you don’t have to get thrown under the bus, in fact you can take over the bus. You do not need to be under the bus. You can be in the bus. You can be driving the bus. You can own the bus. You have the numbers to do that and we want to get that simple message out to young people. Just come out and vote. Register to vote now. Register green because that’s where debt liberation is. Register now. It’s not only debt liberation. It’s free public higher education. It’s health care as a human right and it’s the right
to a job, a full-time job and a living wage job. So, we can bring the decency and security that they used to have over in Europe. We can ensure that we have it here by standing up now because we have the numbers. This is a wake-up moment. It’s a transformative moment. This is the Hail Mary moment. We’re going over the waterfall if we don’t act now. If we do act now, we have the numbers and we have the solutions to actually make this work, on jobs, on the climate, on global peace and security, on education and health care. This is not rocket science. This is about standing up, forgetting the lesser evil, and fighting for the greater good.” There was an article in the Syracuse, New York newspaper about when you were
handcuffed when you attended the Democratic debate. Would you go into detail more about what happened to you? “Sure, and this is what they didn’t want you to know, and this is why we were taken to a dark site and held there until the press had all gone home. They’re terrified that people should get word that they actually have a choice. We were at the Presidential debate. It might have been the last one. I think it was the last one. It was at Hofstra University on Long Island and my running mate and I attended with the hope of getting in to just be in the audience and bear witness because we should have been IN the debate. We were on the ballot for 85 percent of voters. Voters deserve to know that they had a range of choices. They weren’t locked down to these two business-as-usual political parties that had minor differences around the margins. But if you listen to that debate, they basically agreed with each other on almost all counts, on warmongering, on more coal plants and pipelines. Obama was bragging about how many pipelines he built and miles of pipeline to wrap around the Earth, once or more, I don’t know. So we thought voters had a right. So, we tried to get into the campus to listen to the debate and we were arrested for trying to get in. They need to control their audience. They need an audience that’s going to cheer madly. So, they can’t, won’t, let any old member of the public come out and witness these debates, and certainly not a presidential candidate that represented another option. So we were arrested trying to get in. We were handcuffed. We were taken by the security forces and Secret Service, actually, Secret Service and police, to a dark site and actually our campaign was able to find out by talking to undisclosed sources. They were able to track Read more on next page
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Jill Stein
down where we were and they called a lot of police stations and found out where it was and they were able to sort of hone in on us. They showed up and they were told that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave the premises. They were not even allowed to stay in the parking lot or be anywhere near because they weren’t supposed to know where we were and they didn’t want anybody else to know. So, we were taken to this dark site. There were approximately 16 Secret Service and police. It was a huge, converted police facility. It looked like an old gym or something that had been converted. My running mate and I were the only people there initially and eventually they brought in a reporter, a journalist and independent media journalist, who was supposed to be covering Chelsea Manning’s trial the next day. They arrested this journalist for taking pictures of Secret Service taking pictures. So, this journalist was taking pictures back at the spy state that didn’t want pictures taken, so they arrested him. So it was the three of us, basically political prisoners that were being held in this dark site. We
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were handcuffed to these metal chairs tightly for seven hours and we were released without cell phones, without jackets. We were basically turned out into the street without any way to contact anyone late at night in November out in the freezing cold, just sort of walking the streets until we could find some kind person that allowed us to use their cell phones for us to get back in touch. That’s how scared they are that word should get out that people actually have a choice that is of, by and for the people.” What did you say earlier about the press, like their mission, about the affliction and the oppressed? It’s to comfort the afflicted, and-“Afflict the comfortable. Right. That is supposed to be sort of the moral mission of a free press. If a free press simply comforts the comfortable and afflicts the afflicted, that’s oligarchy. That’s aristocracy.” It’s pointless. “Really. A free press is supposed to ensure that the questions are asked to the powerful all the time. They’re not supposed to empower the power-
ful, but that’s what they do. So, that’s how, it’s not just independent campaigns that are locked out. It’s young people that are locked out. It’s African-Americans who are trying to walk down the street without being assaulted, or to drive a car without being shot. These are the kind of questions that should be asked, that, you know, where the press has given up the goat, and when people say to me, ‘Isn’t it hopeless? Why are you bothering running?,’ I say, well, change the pronoun there. It’s not me. It’s not me that’s at stake. What about young people who are at stake? Is it hopeless for them? You know, is it hopeless for African-Americans who want to end police violence? Is it hopeless for people who can’t afford health care, even through Obamacare? Are you telling us it’s hopeless? If you’re saying that, you are telling us that we do not have a democracy, which is reason for us all to rise up right now and fight against what you appear to be defending. ‘If you think it’s hopeless, Mr. representative of the corporate press, isn’t it your responsibility to make it hopeful by opening up this discus-
Environment of every grove depends on the belief systems adopted by each community, “Each sacred grove has its own taboo, different rules and rituals,” Ormsby said. Inside, she discovered some had temples hidden in the center, while others were used to perform rituals. Ormsby said community conservation is not likely in the United States, because many people are focused on individual rights to own land freely. “I do not think it is a result of religion that affects environmental efforts, but an attitude toward nature,” Ormsby said. “We have the whole idea of my
sion?’ In terms of universities and colleges, even with the UNC system, we can’t even have a free press here. We’re pretty much under the grasp and control of the administration, and then colleges all across the country have corporate deals that are funded. It just seems like a twisted web of bureaucracy and money. What do you think has to happen in order for the system to be dismantled? “That’s exactly what they want you to think. They want you to think that you are marginal, that your values and your vision is at the fringe, and that it’s hopeless. That is their game plan. Because if you’re hopeless, then you’re powerless. But the reality is to reject the lesser evil, to reject their propaganda, to reject the powerlessness and the hopelessness that they’re trying so hard to convince you of, because they are quaking in their boots. When I was tricked into running for office for the first time, back in 2002, running against Mitt Romney for governor, we were able to fight our way into a debate and inside that debate hall, which didn’t have an audi-
ence — it was just the candidates and the moderator — I spoke up for the everyday public interest agenda: jobs, healthcare and education as a human right, cutting the military, greening our energy system, even back then, educating the whole student for lifetime learning, not through a standardized high-stakes test. Those ideas went over like a lead balloon, inside this debate hall, which were just the candidates and moderator. But when we walked out, I was mobbed by the press for the first time and the last time. They have since been otherwise instructed, and what they said to me was that, ‘You’ve won the debate on the instant online viewer poll’ and that completely changed my thinking about this whole process. I had the sense I was doing this out of kind of my moral responsibility, but felt like, oh, it was pretty hopeless, and then I realized, oh my god, it’s not hopeless at all. We have won in the court of public opinion, which is the hardest place to win. We have two public relations agents that you could not buy for billions of dollars. One is the climate, and the other Read more on page 22
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yard, my house, my fence.” Erin Walker, an environmental science student, said Ormsby’s exhibit reveals how cultures with different beliefs in India work collaboratively to protect the forests while allowing room for diverse traditions. “In our country, a lot of our conservation of the environment is governmental. There are a lot of policies and laws,” Walker said. “Whereas those people are looking after the forest as a community, and there is a sense of pride behind it.” Religious influence by missionaries on the peoples of this area changed the spiritual significance of some sacred
groves, Ormsby said. As the Christian belief system became more prominent, community members began to forget some traditional rituals related to the groves . Despite a redirection in spirituality in this area, the communities continue to preserve the land. “The reason for conservation efforts kind of evolve as belief systems change,” she said. She focuses on this correlation between culture and environmental conservation in her work. “If this cultural respect for the forests doesn’t continue, they may be chopped down eventually,” she said. Ormsby said she does not be-
lieve governmental protection of India’s sacred land to be the solution; rather, it will depend on individuals and communities. Walker said she thinks we have a lot to learn from cultures that live in harmony with nature. “They live in small communities, so it’s simpler for them to take care of those areas,” Walker said. “But we have spread out so much that we need laws in order to preserve the environment.” Mariah Keogh, a psychology student at UNCA, said she wants to travel and discover places similar to those featured
in the exhibit. “My favorite photograph is ‘Grove and Clothesline,’ because the colors are beautiful and it shows how close they are to nature,” Keogh said. “I have not really thought about this connection between culture and environmental protection before, but I think they are more connected to nature and aware of their dependence on it than we are. We are not as immersed in it as they are, and I think that affects our attitudes toward it.” Ormsby (far right) conducts an interview in Mythadi village in India
Arts & Features
15 JANUARY 19, 2015
LOSING A LEGEND
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Section Editor: Phillip Wyatt pwyatt@unca.edu
“I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring.” - David Bowie ROAN FARB
A&F Staff Writer rfarb@unca.edu
David Robert Jones, more commonly known as David Bowie, died on Jan. 10. According to CNN, Bowie had been fighting an 18-month battle with cancer, still actively recording his last album, “Blackstar”, as his illness worsened. The deaths of a celebrity as influential as Bowie sparks a wide range of emotions from people of all backgrounds. Following Bowie’s death, social media sites received a flood of mourning, and conflicting opinions emerged. Jimmy Jackson, a DJ for On Your Feet Productions from Canton, North Carolina, is a devoted David Bowie fan and articulated what he believes made Bowie a crucial artist of the past four decades. “David changed personas many times over the course of his career,” Jackson said. “He was extremely ahead of his time; he didn’t care what your views on his sexuality, identity, gender or anything else were.” Jackson explained that David Bowie was a very independent artist. “He went through a lot of managers. He spent lots and lots of money buying out their contracts, terminating them, hiring new ones,” Jackson said. “He was always doing things outside of the box.” Sam Tomaka, a 21-year-old philosophy student at UNC Asheville, explained how Bowie’s art was constantly evolving and widely influential. “One thing I think is particularly fascinating is his affinity for German culture. He lived in West Berlin from 1977 to 1979, already quite famous and reportedly fell in love with the German people while there,” Tomaka said. “I think that’s an important context to keep in mind if you’re trying to understand his life and his work.” Tomaka also noted Bowie’s acknowledgements of racial inequality in the music industry.
“He was also a huge rap fan, apparently, and gave a great interview on MTV during which he railed the network for its persistent exclusion of black artists,” Tomaka said, “He even cited Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ as an artistic inspiration for his ‘Blackstar’ album.” Mark West, a mass communication professor at UNCA, said Bowie’s mastery of reinvention was what made him such a cultural figurehead during the last few decades. “Bowie was, to my mind, an artist who was always reaching for something different,” West said. “I wasn’t one of those people who saw him as a foremost artist in my own personal estimation, but he always had the capacity to surprise by whom he picked to work with.” West said Bowie first caught his attention when working with Brian Eno on the Berlin Trilogy. “I really came to listen to Bowie later than a lot of people,” West said, “I particularly liked his tribute to Florian Schneider, on V2 Schneider, and his work with Nile Rodgers, ‘Let’s Dance,’ that was a very different Bowie.” West said out of all the material Bowie’s produced, his latest work was the most fascinating. “His last album was a real different mood,” West said. “His last work was really astonishing, it was so evocative and astonishing that he really kind of found an area to work in that I thought was really important.” West said Bowie was particularly notable, because, unlike many of his contemporaries, he was able to avoid entering a cycle of doing nothing but replaying his biggest hits during live performances. “Bowie, of all those musicians, was able to break free of that repetition, not by leaving the playing field like The Beatles did, but by reinvention, and I think that’s what made him special in people’s minds.”
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Arts & Features
Former cafeteria worker Howie Cobb: “A man who has seen and been through it all, and managed to come out in one piece” JOSH ALEXANDER News Staff Writer jalexan1@unca.edu
Howie’s mother slipped him a $10 bill and told him to put it in a safe place. She told him to use it for a cab the next time he needed to go to the hospital. “I couldn’t tell if she was serious at the time,” Howie said. Howard “Howie” Cobb, a former worker at Brown Hall, had just left the hospital after running into a tree while playing blind man’s bluff on top of a mountain. “The area above my eye,” Howie said, “looked like a softball had been thrown into it and was popping out.” Howie was no stranger to the emergency room. Before he was 10 years old, he had been there more than 18 times. “My pediatrician told me I had a frequent faller card,” Howie said. Born in Roanoke, Virginia, to a first-generation Irish-American father, Howie said he was two years old when his family moved to Atlanta. Howie would spend the next 48 years bouncing backing back and forth from Asheville to Atlanta. By the time he was 14, Howie racked up a record as a trouble maker. He spent his entire sophomore year of high school institutionalized at the Peachford Mental Hospital in Atlanta. Howie said he ended up there for doing morphine and raising hell. He had also become a committed thief.
“I was a bad kid,” Howie said. “I’d steal it if it wasn’t nailed down, and if I could pry it up then it wasn’t nailed down.” In 1983, just before his 19th birthday, Howie was arrested for trafficking cocaine. He spent 58 days in lockup, an event he said he will never forget. He was sentenced to five years of probation, and graduated high school in 1984, one year behind his classmates. Howie enrolled in Haywood Tech, now Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, that spring. He worked his way through school. At one restaurant, he said he was promoted from busing tables to day kitchen manager in six short weeks. He eventually started running the bar at a private club called The Greenhouse. While working at The Greenhouse, he began earning more money. He said he felt no need to continue college, and dropped out of school. In 1985, he moved back to Atlanta and started managing kitchens. Then his life took a downward turn. In 1985, Howie got pneumonia. He became too sick to keep his job. “I was on death’s door for a while, man,” Howie said. Without an income, he lost his apartment and had to move into a warehouse across from the Metroplex, one of Atlanta’s more notorious venues. Fights and overdoses were common. It was a crazy time and place to be alive, Howie said.
Howie said he fell back on skills he had picked up in sound engineering classes, and began to run sound for venues in Atlanta. At one point, he worked the booth for the Indigo Girls. He saw notorious punk acts like Black Flag and Suicidal Tendencies. His hell-raising days, however, were about to be interrupted. In 1987, Howie said he visited an ex-girlfriend’s home. When no one had any rolling papers, he took her car to the gas station to get more. While he was out, he made a copy of her key. The next day, while she was at a movie, he stole the car and drove to Asheville. He was quickly arrested. “I got arrested for possession of stolen goods, the vehicle,” Howie said, “and for the mushrooms and pot I had in the car.” He spent the next eight months locked up in a turn-of-the-century style jail on top of the Asheville courthouse, Howie said. “I was lucky I spent most of my time there as a trustee,” Howie said. “I got taken out of gen pop and moved with the other trustees and spent my time cooking.” Trustees are prisoners who have a record of good behavior, and are permitted more privileges while locked up. Howie said he then returned to Atlanta and began doing kitchen work again. In December of 1988, he started his own company, a wholesale produce
business called Green Grocers. “A buddy of mine’s girlfriend was from England, and that’s what they call the guys who sell food out of the back of their trucks over there,” Howie said, “I thought it sounded cool.” After a few years selling produce, Howie found another profitable pastime. A spelunking trip inspired him to make harnesses. Soon enough, he bought an industrial sewing machine, and started making his own custom gear. In December of 1990, Howie’s Harnesses was born. Howie said he sold his share in Green Grocers in order to manage the harness business full time. He began touring at spelunking events and sewing custom gear on-site for customers. A house fire in 1992 destroyed most of his possessions; however, Howie said he kept the harness business afloat until 2010, when the company stopped making enough money to remain profitable. He sold it and began working in the UNC Asheville cafeteria. Currently, he runs a part-time embroidery company from the home he shares with his wife, Amanda, and their son, Andy. Though his days of getting into trouble are over, Howie still maintains the air of a man who has seen and been through it all, and managed to come out in one piece. “I’m a survivor,” Howie said.
A SURVIVOR. It was Howard “Howie” Cobb’s wedding day, and Amanda, his bride-to-be, hadn’t found any shoes. “So, she had been talking about going barefoot,” Howie said. “The problem was, there was deer shit everywhere, I mean, we were outside in a state park.” The ceremony was outdoors, in a Virginia state
park. Howie had no idea what shoes she would be wearing or if she would be going barefoot. As Amanda came down the three steps leading to the altar, something caught his eye underneath her long flowing dress. What he saw proved to Howie that he had made the right decision. “And she goes to step down and she’s wearing
her Birks, Birkenstocks,” Howie said. “I was probably the only one who noticed, underneath that massive dress, but it was, you know, a gentle reminder of who I was marrying.” He said it was the second proudest day of his life, after his son’s birth. The woman he was marrying was a survivor too.
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Follow The Blue Banner on Instagram to see more ‘Beat from the Street’ posts of vivid people of Asheville’s downtown, live event coverage, and previews of stories and people featured in our upcoming issues.
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Arts & Features beat Many stories lurk throughout Asheville, whether they are behind the Vaudevillian jazz-folk played by buskers around Pritchard Park, the from colorful businesses decorated with funky, hand-made crafts or the laughter echoing from a patio as locals and tourists alike enjoy delicious beer. the Street By Larisa Karr | Features Editor | lakarr@unca.edu TIMBI SHEPHERD Editor-In-Chief
Karly Hartzman, undeclared freshman student from Greensboro, NC
Karly Hartzman
How would you describe your style? “Affordable in a positive way? I dunno, Goodwill. Let’s see, comfort first, definitely, and baby buns.” Baby buns, yeah. It’s a very 90’s aesthetic. “Oh yeah, 90’s for sure. I just watched this documentary on Riot Grrrl culture and I’m like trying to incorporate them in every aspect of my life, including style.” Nice. Who’s your favorite Riot Grrrl or Riot Grrrl band? “Well, Kathleen Hanna was who the documentary was about, but I just got into, oh, what was it called? I can’t remember the name of the band, but I’ve read the Sleater-Kinney memoir…‘Be Yr Mama’ by them is so, mmmm, that’s my song.” It’s very emotional and energy-charged. “Mmm-hmmm. For sure.” If you were to describe what inspires you artistically, including Riot Grrrl, what else would you say? “I mean, hmmm, definitely just girl power in general. When I draw, I’m always drawing usually the feminine body and feminine, girly shit, possible tattoos, stuff that will help girls be empowered and create themselves, enhance themselves, in creative, spiritual, whatever ways they can. Especially as a girl in college, just, like every time I make something, I’m just doing it for the ladies.” Hell yeah. That’s so important because it feels women are still undermined in all aspects of our society and not taken seriously. “What’s really scaring me is the whole, ‘you have to be crazy to be a successful artist, psychologically,’ and it’s really scaring me because I don’t want to be, like, I mean, you look at Basquiat, Warhol, and they’re all just like, uh, what’s the word—?” Eccentric?
“Yeah, and I guess I’ve either got to step my personality game up or I’ve just got to make awesome art and be true to whatever and I think I’ve got to just get really good at what I’m doing and I’ll kill it, instead of having to make up some persona.” Just go with who you are and that’ll communicate itself through your art. It’ll make it more genuine. “Yeah, it’s rough out there, and it’s also hard as an art student in college, like, comparing yourself, as it is in any academic setting. They’re there for what you’re there for. You’re not in a high school art class or whatever. It’s not just for an easy grade. This is what people want to do with their lives and you’re so easily comparing yourself with other people.” Yeah, it’s, ugh. “Oh my god, yeah, it’s the same with music snobs, like I’m really proud of the music I listen to, but when people give people shit about listening to what they love…” Yeah. “Like if they’re jamming to it, let them listen to it. People judge so easily on that, especially like the music students I’ve encountered honestly, that are like ‘Ah, have you listened to this new jazz album?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s great,’ and someone else is like ‘Yeah, I’m listening to this,’ and then they’re like, ‘That sucks.’ Like this one kid was talking about John Mayer, and this other kid was like, ‘Not to stop you in the middle of your liking John Mayer, but John Mayer really fucking sucks.’ He was just like, ‘It’s what I like!’ I personally don’t like him either but…” ...you’re not going to say that to someone and make them hurt. “Yeah. I’m just encountering so much difficulty with that kind of snobbery and this university setting.” If you were to have a personal motto that you live by day-to-day, just like a couple sentences or a sentence, what would you say it would be? “Um, so there’s this anime called ‘Cowboy
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Bebop.’ It’s definitely like a Hallmark saying, but for some reason in there, in the show, it has a lot of meaning to me and I just see religion and my interactions with people in this way. His whole philosophy is just like, ‘whatever happens, happens,’ so that’s kind of my view with life and the afterlife and god and art and just everything.” That’s awesome. It’s very ‘c’est la vie.’ “Yeah.” What would you say you like about
Kristen Winstead, graphic designer, originally from Massachusetts
“I just moved here.” Oh wow. What brought you here? “I just felt drawn to it.” That’s awesome. Was it because you had visited here before and liked the vibe? “Yeah, well, I had a friend who moved here, which put it on the map for me, and then, I don’t know. I just kept thinking about it, and then I visited in June, and then with my husband and we really loved it, so then we sold our house and we moved here.” Wow. That’s crazy. “Six months later…” That’s the way to do it, though, just make the plunge. “Yeah.” Where do you work? “I work for myself at a design firm.” So you’re independent. “Yeah. Sund Studio is the name.” How would you describe your style? “Hmmmm. How would you describe my style?” Very comfy but also urban in a way.
Asheville so far and what do you dislike? “Dislike is definitely the snobbery. Like is people-watching, like interacting with people on a daily basis is always more interesting than in Greensboro, because not everyone’s like a copy of a copy of a copy. People come here because they are doing what they want and they feel more comfortable with that way here.” Yeah, you meet some strange people…
“Yeah. I don’t know how I’d describe it. I tend to like solid colors, simple jewelry. I usually tend to wear lots of dark blacks, browns, burgundies, blues.” Yeah, so you would lean toward more of the darker side of the palate, not like neons or pastels. “Right, exactly.” So if you were to cite any creative influences, especially ones that inspire your work, who would you say, or movements or whatever? “Probably more modern.” Okay, like modern art? “Modern design, modern fashion, modern home decorating.” Okay, something clean? “Yeah.” That makes sense. If you were to cite a motto, a daily motto for your life, when you wake up in the morning, a philosophy that you hold, what would you say it would be? “Life is always working out for me.” That’s good. It’s positive. “You gotta repeat that. When you’re having a bad day, and you’re like, ‘why is this happening?’ It’s like looking at the bright side. Everything’s gonna work out for the best.” Yeah. “That’s what I do.”
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Arts & Features
GRIMES Review PHILLIP WYATT A&F Staff Writer pwyatt@unca.edu
Canadian artist Claire Boucher, better known by her moniker Grimes, released her highly anticipated fourth album “Art Angels” in November. The 14-track album received immediate critical praise, landing on the 2015 top 10 albums lists of publications like Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Slant, the New York Times and Billboard. As a die-hard Grimes fan, “Art Angels” quickly became my favorite album of 2015. Her unique style of lo-fi goth pop mixed with her signature wispy, falsetto vocals captured my attention and abruptly stole my heart forever. Grimes breakthrough hit album, “Visions,” became an overnight sensation
Experimental electronica artist Grimes curates, shares vision of pop music’s future
in 2012. The artist’s adamant opposition to hard drugs spawn from the album’s recording sessions. She created the entire album in her apartment during a drug-fueled, three-week span with little sleep or communication with the outside world. Boucher is completely self-sufficient, exercising total control of her music. She records and mixes her own material, playing every instrument featured in her songs. She even directs her music videos and creates art used for her single and album covers. After touring the world in support of “Visions,” Grimes seized the opportunity to learn how to really perform and sing live, she said. Last summer I had the pleasure of seeing Grimes open for Lana Del Ray in
Charlotte. The sea of teenage girls clad in high-waisted cutoff shorts, crop tops and floral headbands had no clue how to react to Boucher’s eclectic and unusual sound. My friends and I were seemingly the only people singing, dancing and actually enjoying ourselves amongst the horde of Coachella wannabes. Grimes easily stole the show from Lana with her barbaric, high-energy performance as the audience gawked with wide-eyes of disbelief and confusion. Even if the majority of the crowd was oblivious to Grimes’ mere existence, she seemed unscathed, sharing her creative arrangements of both organic and unnatural sounds with a smile on her face. In 2014, Grimes released “Go,” a song initially written for Rihanna. After she
rejected the song, Boucher decided to release it as her own. The track received significant backlash from outraged fans who believed Grimes had sold out, succumbing to the sound of mainstream music with her dubstep-heavy song. Consequently, she scrapped her entire fourth album and started over. “Art Angels” begins with “laughing and not being normal,” a majestic yet dark track brimming with violin and piano. The intro tune perfectly depicts Grimes’ evolution in music, straying away from arranging songs exclusively in GarageBand by adding notes played from tangible instruments such as guitar, drums, piano and violin. The track “California” serves as commentary on Grimes recent move from Read more on next page Montreal
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to Los Angeles, incorporating two-beat claps with lively guitar and pulsating drum beats, creating an upbeat theme for the sunny shores of the Golden State. “California, you only like me when you think I’m looking sad. California, I didn’t think you’d end up treating me so bad,” she sings, perhaps referencing the shallowness and unrealistic, ruthless expectations of the West coast and the music industry itself. “The things they see in me, I cannot see myself. When you get bored of me, I’ll be back on the shelf,” she laments. Grimes changes direction with the violently aggressive “Scream,” featuring Aristophanes, a Taiwanese artist who performs in her native language. The song begins with a twangy guitar riff worthy of placement on any soundtrack curated by Quentin Tarantino. Ravaging roars and raucous screams
mark the arrival of the song’s chorus, sending one’s state of mind into a ferocious frenzy filled with aggressive panting and destruction, leaving a bloody scene of carnage on the dance floor. “Flesh without Blood” is hands-down my favorite pop song of 2015. Grimes took the formulaic design of mainstream bubblegum pop music, shoved it in her mouth, chewed vigorously and spat it in all of our faces. The track serves as the ultimate fuck you anthem for a previous boyfriend who clearly did something to piss her off. “You claw, you fight, you lose, got a doll that looks just like you. Remember when we used to say, ‘I love you’ almost every day? I saw the light in you, going out as I closed our window. You never liked me anyway,” she professes. Eighties drum and bass layered with pop-punk
guitar and breezy vocal loops create this superbly crafted, feel-good tune. Written from the perspective of Al Pacino’s character from The Godfather Part II, “Kill V. Maim” portrays the mobster as a vampire who can switch gender and travel through space. “B-E-H-AV-E, arrest us,” she cheers, capitalizing Top 40 pop’s current obsession with spelling out words in hooks of songs. “Italiana mobster looking so precious. B-E-H-A-V-E, never more, you gave up being good when you declared a state of war.” R&B innovator Janelle Monae joins Grimes on “Venus Fly,” a ditty rooted deep within feminist empowerment. The track hits hard almost instantaneously, bringing booming bass and drum within the first verse. “Why you looking at me now? What you looking at me again? What if I pulled my teeth? Cut my hair underneath my chin? Wrap
my curls all around the world. Throw my pearls all across the floor. Feeling my beat like a sniper girl,” Monae declares. Boucher and Monae alternate complimentary vocals throughout the song with Monae spitting verses in between choruses packed with Boucher’s highpitched croons. A violin solo arrives with the outro, superbly juxtaposing the harshness of the song’s overall beat with eerie string chords. “Art Angels” sold 11,000 copies in its first week of release, landing at number one on Billboard’s Top Alternative Album chart and number two on the Independent Albums chart with her best selling album to date. Boucher presents fans with a more contemporary image of her artistry, reimagining the future of pop music and coining the remarkably bizarre next chapter in the Grimes saga.
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Jill Stein one is the economy and they have been persuading people to win them over to the right side of history, and people have been won over. So, the fact that the political establishment works so hard to silence us is evidence of their fear and how powerful we are. In my view, this is all about communicating to each other, mobilizing each other. 40 million strong, we are unstoppable. 40 million is the number of young people who are in debt. If we can just get the word out to young people in debt, come on out. Have a party. Go to your voting booth. Cancel your debt by voting green and let’s have an afterparty, a victory party. If 40 million people come out, debt is over, free public higher education is around the corner and all kinds of other things. But we can win a three-wayrace with a little more than 40 million votes. It depends on turnout. Normally it’s around 120 million, possibly a little bit more. So 40 million is sort of what it takes. Throw in 25 million Latinos that have learned that--” The Democrats are not the party for them? “Really. The Democrats are the party of deportation. Republicans are the party of hate and fearmongering. That’s 25 million Latinos who vote, and once students lead the charge, and students are always the ones who lead the charge, in a time of transformation and social upheaval. It’s always the younger generation that finds our way forward, which is why it’s so important that we liberate our younger generation from debt peonage right now because it knocks you out of political activity. Without the younger generation to re-envision and re-imagine our society and our future, all hope is lost. So it’s not good for the students. It’s good for all of us and it can actually win this race, and can change our political dynamics
From page 3
right now. Starting on November 8th, we actually can have that political revolution. It won’t happen inside the Democratic Party, but it will happen because young people wake up to their power. It’s powerlessness that makes them indifferent. Once word gets out that the power is in your hands, we will see that turn on its head overnight.” What is your position on banks? Would you bring back the Glass-Steagall Act if you could? “And more. So the Glass-Steagall Act is a very important protection so that the investment bankers are not gambling with public money. Right now, they can do that and they can do all kinds of other abuses that are, well, they’re doing that. They’re doing that big time. In fact, the banks are bigger and more consolidated than they were before the crash in 2007. So, there’s every reason for us to bring back Glass-Steagall but not only that. We should break up the big banks right now. We need public ownership of the banks. We need banks in the public interest, not banks for the private interest. The same goes for the Federal Reserve, which needs to be a public institution, which is transparent and run on behalf of taxpayers and America, not on behalf of private banks and their profits, and we need to create those public banks, not only at the national level, but at the community level. We need public banks which will be transformative in terms of our public budgets to basically reduce borrowing, essentially to the size of the loan and not have to pay enormous interest rates for municipalities, for public interests and state budgets. To be able to draw on our own banking system, not on a predatory banking system, will save us so much money and put dollars back into our budgets that enable us to meet human
needs. This is a win-win. The Post Office used to provide this and there’s a movement now to restore public banking through the Post Office, which is one that we could get up and running right now.” The Post Office has been kind of on the decline for a while. It’s really sad. “Because it’s under attack. This is no failing of the Post Office. This was a specific attack by Congress to again privatize a public resource.” If you were to say what the number one problem in America was, which one would you choose and why? “I think we have two crises that come together. One is the climate crisis, and the other one is the economic crisis, and they are inseparable. Contrary to the mythology out there, you can’t just choose one, because you’ve got to fix them both. You can’t fix the economy without also fixing the climate and the ecosystems that the economy depends on and likewise, you can’t fix the climate unless you take care of the people and the economy, so they need to be fixed together. That’s what our Green New Deal is about. The Green New Deal basically creates 20 million jobs, fulltime jobs, living wage jobs that green our economy to 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2030. That means declaring an emergency, as we did after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It took us six months to transform the economy to a wartime footing. In 15 years, we can transform the economy to a totally green footing, 100 percent. Phase out nuclear and fossil fuel. Decommission them safely, now, while it can still be done and before the floodwaters seriously start rising and detonate the nuclear power plants, or by way of drought. There are just so many ways that they can become another Chernobyl. So, these are catastrophes
that are all sort of bound up in this one issue of the climate in our energy crisis, which can be fixed through the Green New Deal, creating the jobs that move us to 100 percent clean, renewable energy, also, to a healthy, sustainable food system and public transportation. Those are three areas of focus and we include in that meeting human needs as well, so we have social services, child care, home care, elderly care, etc. We train people up and we provide the funding for that, and it turns out to pay for itself, and I’ll explain in a minute. But in one fell swoop we revive the economy, we turn the tide on climate change, and, more importantly, we make wars for oil obsolete by moving to 100 percent clean renewable energy. There is no longer a justification or a rationale for these horrific, immoral, catastrophic wars that are blowing back at us. So this is many solutions rolled into one, and the windfall from this is that our health gets so much better the minute we end the use of these toxic fossil fuels and all of their derivatives and pollutants. That savings alone from sickcare we don’t have to do is enough to actually pay the costs of the green energy conversion. It’s actually rather staggering. This has been worked out in detail, both by modelling studies but it’s also in real-world development that actually happened in Cuba when their oil pipeline went down when the Soviet Union collapsed.They got so much healthier. Their death rates from diabetes went down 50 percent. Their death rates from heart attacks and strokes went down 25 to 35 percent. Their obesity rates went down 50 percent. All these amazing things happened when they had to transform overnight to a healthy diet, a healthy energy system, and a system of transportation that allowed them to integrate activity into getting where they were
going. Again, we can do all of that. It cost them zero dollars to have a health revolution we cannot buy. Three trillion dollars a year is what we spend. It’s not a healthcare system. It’s a sickcare system that we’re spending $3 trillion a year on. So the Green New Deal, it’s many solutions wrapped into one. If I’d have to say there’s one crisis, that is it. It’s this economic, ecological crisis, a systemic crisis of a predatory system. We can change that to a system that puts people over profit, that puts the planet over profit, and peace over profit.” The Divestment Coalition on campus is very much against the university investing in fossil fuels. They went to speak to the Chancellor during her open office hours, and they confronted her not in an aggressive way, but in a very cordial way and they proposed divesting and how it would be good for the school because a lot of the schools, particularly in Asheville, promote green energy. But, it’s kind of like a pseudo-campaign and she said, ‘Well, that’s nice, but no.’ They were kind of discouraged by that, obviously, and said, ‘Yeah, I don’t know about our campaign,’ but after awhile, they got motivated again. What do you think it’s going to take for students to realize they have to fight for the environment at all costs? “I think the name of the game is linking these issues, and, for example, in the Green New Deal, we link jobs and the economy with the climate and we also bring in the need to liberate students in debt, so that we can get to that place. So, it’s very hard for people to think about the climate when they can hardly figure out where their next meal is coming from, and how they’re going to stay off the streets. This is why this system right now of debt peonage for young people is so dangerous politically. Read more on next page
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23 JANUARY 19, 2015
Jill Stein So, it’s not so much to activate students, but rather to liberate students. We need to liberate students from debt and then they can take on all kinds of things, and they will take on all kinds of things. So, I will be supporting your efforts on campus. In fact, we’re really encouraging campus efforts for the campaign that allow us to bring this message there, this message of empowerment to young people that point out there’s a solution, and it’s not very many months away. We can actually end student debt on Nov. 8th. Come out and end student debt and then we can deal with a whole bunch of other solutions for these problems they tell you just can’t be solved. ‘Please go home. Go to bed. Be depressed. Don’t get out. Because, it’s hopeless. Please believe me. I’m a politician. Trust me. It’s hopeless.’ That’s kind of the line that they are feeding young people. That needs to be rejected.” It’s like fast food. “Exactly. That’s our motto. Reject the lesser evil. Fight for the greater good and we need to liberate young people in order to do that.” Thank you so much. “Thank you. Bring some of those apathetic young people and challenge them. The solution to apathy and depression is power.” At football games, even, you sit in the seats and realize the power of people in numbers. They were shoving fast food in their faces and painting their faces different colors for the team. It was an energy beyond so many other experiences. If people could actually be fighting in these numbers for their rights… “Well, you know, what’s really interesting, I mean, football is a really good example, because that’s how the University of Missouri just showed their chancellor and their chairman of the board or the president,
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I think, showed them the door after all these horrible, racist developments on campus and the failure of the administration to take racism as a serious issue. The students stood up and then the football team stood up, which really gets to the pocket book, and it’s very interesting that you bring this up, because we’re seeing on the ground mobilization of the African-American community on climate change, recognizing that it’s African-Americans that paid the price with Katrina, who still haven’t come back. 100,000 have not been able to come. You know, this environmental racism is what’s going on with the climate crisis. I think to start a dialogue with the football team, that’s another aspect of racism that we need their help on, that we need to engage them in the fight not only against racism and police violence, but racism in the climate crisis that is coming down on the heads of the community of color all over the world, harder than anywhere else. That would be a wonderful dialogue to begin.” . This is where we become that unstoppable force that can take our future back and build the world that we deserve that puts people, planet and peace over profit. We can create that now. It’s not just in our hopes. It’s not just in our dreams. It’s in our hands.” Drawing upon, especially our generation, their tentativeness toward the two-party system and just toward our country, in general, there are so many people who… “Who want to engage? Yeah, and they are staying home in record numbers and I think for people to know that whether we get five percent or 25 or 55, in a three-way race, technically, 34 percent can win the vote. So, I mean, there are all kinds of ways that we can win. But, you can even win in a rigged system. You may not win the vote count
around first time, you know, and there are all kinds of ways it’s rigged. But, you can establish a base from which you then really challenge power. Richard Nixon gave all kinds of concessions to the movement. He was a very repressive, oppressive warhawk President, but he, you know, he brought the troops home from Vietnam, he passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and established the EPA and OSHA, and we got the women’s right to choose from the Supreme Court. How do we do that? Not by the lesser evil, but by standing up for who we are and what it is that we believe in. Democracy needs a moral compass. Silencing yourself and allowing a corporate, lesser evil to speak for you is a prescription for disaster because people will not come out and vote for the lesser evil. So, it’s either evil, or it’s good, and I don’t mean that in sort of religious terms, but as a practical matter, we’re told to support the lesser evil all the time and it’s an absolute disaster. We need to stand up for the public good. We need to stand up for the greater good. It’s us or no one. Democracy needs that moral compass. If we silence ourselves, we’ve basically thrown in the towel and said, ‘Here, corporate America, who runs the corporate parties. You decide.’ In the words of Frederick Douglas, ‘Power concedes nothing without a demand.’ It never has and it never will. We need to stand up and be that demand. Then, we can build on that demand, and whether we get five percent or 55 percent, we have won the day. Once we stand up and we stand together, we will be an unstoppable force.” It’s good to look forward and to be positive. “--and to know our power.” Thank you for your time. “Yes, and thank you for leading the charge.”
Watch Larisa Karr’s interview with presidential candidate Jill Stein on our website: www.thebluebanner.net
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