Collide Issue 10 by Kaitlin Schluter

BEHIND THE STRIPED TENT | OBAMA VS. ROMNEY | AN INTERNATIONAL SPECTACLE

collide

FOR STUDENTS, BY STUDENTS | NOVEMBER 2012 | ISSUE 10

editor's note In his book, Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord says, “All of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles.” In Collide’s themed “Spectacle” issue, we attempt to describe and define the spectacles that simultaneously contribute to and define our lives. In this issue of Collide, we explore the darker side of the spectacle in an in-depth article evaluating the reality of modern circuses. We interview a political artist who expresses her passion for social justice in the form of steel art, photography, and writing. And we take a look at the ethical issues of the death penalty, a decision many California voters will make November 6. As one of the ultimate spectacles, you will find several pieces on politics. The center spread offers a breakdown of both presidential candidates’ platforms. We hope that our articles will encourage readers to

head to the polls and exercise their right to vote. Another writer explores the spectacle of reality TV and its function as a form of escape. She examines how viewers evade the chaos of their own lives by delving into that of others. As a society set on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, we look at why more viewers tuned into Honey Boo Boo than the presidential debates. Debord also describes the spectacle as an “instrument of unification.” In the production of this magazine alone, we as writers and editors experienced the unifying nature of chaos as we sought to write pieces that would both inspire and impact readers. As we transition to fall and traverse the second half of the semester, we will find ourselves in a season of constant spectacle: a man in a cape on the cougar walk, a new presidential term, and a time for reflection on the past year. Although Debord criticized the spectacle, in these moments of constant change, we seek to welcome the crazy and the chaotic. We seek to explore the spectacle.

Featured Artists:

Chelsea Johnson | English major Editor-in-Chief

various cultures she was surrounded with.

Danica Bowers is a senior graphic design major who recently revisited the question, “Who let the dogs out?” Woof? Maya Kendres is a junior graphic design major who grew up in several different countries overseas, and draws inspiration for her art from the

Arica Leach is a sophomore studio art major who has always been amazed by art. The more she invests in it, the more she sees its intrisic value. She was thankful for the opportunity to create our cover for this issue.

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Collide Student Magazine • November 2012 • Issue 10 Editor-in-Chief ✳ Chelsea Johnson | cjohnson09@apu.edu Design Editor ✳ Megan Laber | mlaber11@apu.edu Online Editor ✳ Mark Miller | mdmiller09@apu.edu Publicist ✳ Chelsey Barmore | cbarmore09@apu.edu Copy Editor ✳ C. Amaris Felton | cfelton09@apu.edu Advertising Representative ✳ Danielle Ahn | collideads@gmail.com Adviser ✳ Tim Posada | tposada@apu.edu

Contributing Writers ✳ Maddie Shook, Joshua Bligh, Ashley Cameron, Jennifer Cline, Lauren Williams, Kelsey O’Brien

Mission Statement Collide is a publication of The Clause, a multi-media student voice of undergraduate Azusa Pacific University. Our stories seek to bring people together on our pages where our ideas collide and stories impact readers. We provide narratives, inquiries, and dialogue in a Christian academic setting that values individual's stories as well as community concerns. Our writers are student-journalists interested in crafting articles that connect with readers and challenge them to grow as people and reporters.

Like our magazine? Want to put your advertisement in our pages? Please contact: Advertising Representative ✳ Danielle Ahn | collideads@gmail.com

contents 5 6

POLITILIST

THE STATE OF RELIGION

OBSESSION WITH THE OCCULT

POLITICAL ARTISTRY

THREADS

SPECTATING LIKE YOU SHOULD

AN INTERNATIONAL DISPLAY

POV: WHO WOULD JESUS VOTE FOR?

@apucollide

17 Make sure to check out Collide online for even more great stories.

theclause.org/collide

the list

Politilist

With the 2012 presidential campaign coming to a close it seems a ripe time to pay tribute to some of the greatest gaffes our politicians, both Democratic and Republican, have made over the years. “In America, anybody may become president, and I suppose it’s just one of the risks you take.”

1. 3.

–Adlai Stevenson (D), 1956

“From what I understand from doctors…If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

—Todd Akin (R), 2012

“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.”

–Newt Gingrich (R), 2012

“I am working for the time when unqualified blacks, browns and women join the unqualified men in running the government.”

–Frances “Sissy” Farenthold (D), 1972

“For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times.”

“I may not have been the greatest president, but I’ve had the most fun eight years.”

–Bill Clinton (D), 2001

Compiled by Joshua Bligh

–George W. Bush (R), 2002

And for our 2012 presidential candidates “PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air.” —On strapping his dog to the top of the car, Presidential hopeful,

–Mitt Romney (R), 2007

“In the last few months we have traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states. I think one left to go. One left to go. Alaska and Hawaii I was not allowed to go to.”

–President Barack Obama (D), 2004

threads

By the numbers:

3: The number of years Van Thu Tran was sentenced to prison for trying

to cheat casinos across the country out of millions of dollars. She admitted to creating the “Tran Organization” with the purpose of participating in gambling cheats across America. Tran and her co-conspirators illegally obtained $7 million in their scheme.

7: The number of states in the U.S. where suing your husband/wife’s lover for “Alienation of Affection” is legal.

30: The percentage of Americans who are satisfied with the way things

are going in the U.S. The highest it has been since 2009.

10,000: The amount of money John Gibson owes his mobile

provider after his kids used his mobile broadband card to stream movies on Netflix while he was on vacation.

Apple’s digital personal assistant Siri records everything iPhone owners say and sends the file to an Apple data center. The requests Siri receives are converted into text. No one knows exactly what Apple does with this information. As a result, many business and companies have banned the use of Siri by their employees with the concern for protection of confidential information. An angry woman decided to post her husband’s affair on the “for sale” sign in front of their home. The custom sign stated: “Husband left us for a 22 year old…House for sale by scorned, slightly bitter, newly single owner. Adulterers need not apply.”

1,000: The number of pigs a Nebraskan farmer let die because he

“got lazy” after getting a full-time job. He pleaded no contest to the charge of animal cruelty.

820,000: The number of Civics and Pilots Honda dealers recalled because of failed headlights. Honda said wires connected to headlights could overheat and melt. No injuries have been reported because of the issue.

19.6: The percentage of Americans who describe themselves as

religiously unaffiliated according to the Pew Research Center. This is up from 15.3 percent in 2007. 5 • Collide / November 2012

Recent studies done by the University of Wisconsin-Madison have shown that men who used pacifiers as toddlers wind up being emotionally unavailable later in life. The use of pacifiers reportedly inhibits the toddler’s ability to mimic adult facial expressions.

Contestants on Million Dollar Money Drop, Andrew and Patricia Murray, sued Fox and the game show with the claims of being cheated out of $580,000. They claim they won the game on the question: “According to the data security firm IMPERCA, what is the most common computer password?” A) Password B) 123456 C) I Love You. The Murrays answered a confident A. Host Kevin Pollack revealed the answer was B. The couple stands strong behind their answer and their suit, also claiming they were humiliated on TV. Good news Harry Potter Fans -J.K. Rowling is considering writing a prequel series to her hit Harry Potter novel. Rowling’s first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy was published Oct. 4, 2012. Next, she wants to write a book for a younger audience that is set at Hogwarts. Oklahoma City mother, Katherine Ashowo, went into Mcdonalds with her children to purchase a cookie. After biting into the cookie, she spit out blood. Filled with pieces of sharp plastic, the cookie serrated her tongue. After a talk with the manager, she was informed that these shards were found in many of the recent shipments of cookies. Ashowo decided not to press charges in the hopes of receiving an apology from McDonalds. She is still waiting.

Ervin McKinnes, an up-and-coming rapper, died in a drunk driving accident on Sept. 3, 2012, after tweeting “YOLO.” According to his tweet, he was driving 120 mph in San Bernardino, Calif. while drunk. He had previously posted YOLO related tweets concerning drunk driving. He, along with four of his passengers, was killed. In America, gender selection is a $100 million a year industry. Doctors perform a “sperm spinning” and “pre-implantation genetic diagnosis” to create females and rule out illnesses. One procedure costs about $18,000. Each year, there are 4,000-6,000 procedures performed to insure the female sex of the child.

Can’t get enough of our news bites?

@apucollide TheClause.org /Collide • 6

The State of Religion By Jennifer Cline

Despite the opportunity for religious debate, presidential candidates have been relatively silent about the topic of religion.

olitical spectators following the presidential campaign may have noticed the deliberate exclusion of one hot topic: religion. Religion became a hot topic in the 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Kennedy, a devout Catholic, caused America to consider whether it was more important to vote for a candidate based on their religion or on their political views. In the end, Kennedy became the first Catholic president. Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith had the potential to spark the same controversy in the 2012 campaign as Kennedy’s Catholicism in the 1960s election. Despite the opportunity for religious debate, the topic of religion has been largely ignored. Professor Mark Rozell of George Mason University, an author of several books concerning politics and religion, said, “Discussion of religion is significantly less than it had been in ‘08 and especially ‘04. There’s not much controversy anymore about having a faith based party in the White House.” Religious debates concerning political candidates have been relatively absent. Though religion has hardly been discussed, many voters would gain clarity about the candidates through discussion. “Some Republican leaning groups who strongly oppose Obama question the authenticity of [his] personal faith,” said Ro-

zell, “And polling data shows that there is a small portion of evangelicals that are wary about voting for a Mormon.” Religious discussion could sway the election for voters who are still on the fence. In the article “‘Nones’ on the Rise,” the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life said, “In the last five years, the unaffiliated have risen from 17 percent to 24 percent of all registered voters who are Democrats or lean Democratic.” Obama’s lack of religious dialogue could actually be earning him the votes of the religiously unaffiliated who believe that religion has played too big of a role in American politics in the past. One reason for the neglect of religious conversation is the state of the economy. The Rev. Dr. David Gushee of Mercer University said, “Now we’ve been kind of sunk in economic distress for four years. The presidential candidates are worried, strictly, about how to get unemployment down and how to decrease our budget deficit.” Candidates are less focused on religion. Instead they highlight how their faith and values affect their position on essential issues. “In general, this feels like an election that is really about issues like the economy, the deficit and health care, issues that are probably more relevant

to everyday Americans than religious debates,” said Gushee. In the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s article “Little Voter Discomfort with Romney’s Mormon Religion,” research showed that “two-thirds of adults (67 percent) said it is important for the president to have strong religious beliefs.” However, 65

percent of polled adults believed religion is losing its influence in the everyday lives of Americans. Though there is not much Godtalk in this campaign, both candidates have instead emphasized their values and how they directly impact their views on how to run the country.

Obsession with the

Occult

ABCDE By Chelsea Johnson

Parapsychologist Dr. Andrew Nichols chimes in on mass culture’s obsession with the occult. Modern media is flooded with occult themes. The CW alone has three shows that center on the paranormal including its new addition, Beauty and the Beast, a paranormal Hulk-meets-Disneymovie adaptation. Barnes and Noble even has a young adult section dedicated to “Paranormal Romance.” It’s hard to avoid the movement when many popular books, movies and TV shows are covering the topic. Psychologist, parapsychologist and expert on paranormal phenomena, Dr. Andrew Nichols discusses why many are so drawn to the occult. Nichols spent over 30 years counseling individuals who have encountered paranormal experiences. The origin of the term “occult” derives from secrecy, or the idea of something that is hidden. “It originally referred to teachings that were kept secret. That’s why it got a sinister reputation,” said Nichols. “People become suspicious of things that are kept hidden.” Nichols explained that many mainstream psychologists often reduce occult experiences to wishful or magical thinking. “We are taught to dispose of this thinking. But it’s a part of who we are,” said Nichols. Yet, he maintained that this trend or interest in the occult isn’t new. “There has always been a widespread interest in occultism throughout

human history. This waxes and wanes to some degree,” said Nichols. There has been a noticeable increase in interest of alternative religions, the occult and the paranormal since the ‘60s. “Millions of people, especially young people, were increasingly dissatisfied with mainstream religion,” Nichols said. “It lacked an experiential component. People want to experience things for themselves.” There are several connections between many modern religions and occultism. “The Bible is full of paranormal experiences,” said Nichols. “What Christians refer to as miraculous experiences are paranormal experiences. Without them, there are very few religions that would exist.” Many continue to be critical or suspicious of experiential religions and occultism. Nichols said that we are often encouraged to infer rather than experience. The growth of the charismatic movement among Christianity and Islam points to the need for more experiential religion. “You can’t separate the paranormal from religion. It’s a fundamental part of the religious experience,” said Nichols. Nichols mentioned that careful consideration of the occult is also essential. “The reality is that there is a dark side. They [skeptics] are right to be cautious. But the media tends to exaggerate those experiences,” Nichols said. Nichols maintains that certain people shouldn’t become involved in occult practices. But those who have a grounded faith and worldview can normally experiment with occultism. “I think it’s important for people to be able to explore the mystical and spiritual aspects of themselves. I think it’s important. I think it’s real. I think it’s meaningful,” said Nichols. “We can argue about what the meaning is…but the reality is that it’s an important part of the human condition.”

“You can’t separate the paranormal from religion. It’s a fundamental part of the religious experience.” –Dr. Andrew Nichols

TheClause.org / Collide • 8

October 31

The day behind the mask By Mark Miller

Many see Oct. 31 as a candy-laden holiday for kids, but there is more to Halloween than meets the eye. Whether through the lens of Protestant history, the Catholic calendar or Celtic tradition, Oct. 31 proves to be something quite different from the norm.

t’s the last day of October. You know what that means: trick-or-treating, right? Going from house to house, wielding a large bag that you expect to overflow with sugary delight? How about instead of knocking on the neighbors' doors, you start nailing down a long list of religious statements disagreeing with their beliefs? If that last suggestion seems out of place on a day like this, it shouldn’t. After all, the spark that would lead to a worldwide protest in the Christian Church started on this very day almost half a millennium ago.

At the Bulletin Board: Reformation Day

On Oct. 31, 1517, the German monk and priest Martin Luther fastened 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg with a nail and hammer, in an attempt to tackle the excesses and kinks in the Roman Catholic Church. From that day onward, Protestantism took off and spurred an abundance of denominational identities within the Christian faith. Why did Luther pick Oct. 31? “In the Germany of Luther’s day, Oct. 31 had no significance except that it was the day before All Saints Day,” said R. Guy Erwin, professor of religion and history at California Lutheran University. Back then, the new semesters at most universities started on All Saints Day, Nov. 1. Luther, as a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, nailed his theses to the church door for all of the students to see. “He was 9 • Collide /November 2012

doing the ordinary thing,” Erwin said. “It was the bulletin board for them.” Erwin said Oct. 31 is an actual national holiday in fve of the 16 German states solely “because of what Luther did, having nothing to do with Halloween.” From his recollection of living in Germany in the late 60s, Erwin said Halloween was mainly a popular holiday for adults. Only in the last 40 years has the holiday gained popularity with a larger crowd of people. “[Halloween] is not really a religious holiday,” said Erwin. “It’s really just meant for fun.” Erwin noted that in Catholic communities, especially among Latinos, All Saints Day and All Souls Day (Nov. 2) are simply happy days of remembrance, whereas the Celtic influences have made the celebration around this time of year seem more “spooky.”

Remembering Them All: All Hallows Eve

Originally considered “All Hallows Eve” by the Catholic church calendar, Oct. 31 merely preceded All Saints Day (or “All Hallows”) and All Souls Day. But over time “All Hallows Eve” shortened into the name that we know today: Halloween. “The people of Europe were used to remembering the dead around this time of year,” said Lesley Bannatyne, a Halloween expert who has authored several books on the holiday. There were some mentions of “otherworldly” ac-

tivities, but “all of that faded away” in light of what the people were really celebrating. As found in All Saints Day and Other Sermons, Charles Kingsley, a British reverend in the late 1800s, shared about All Saints Day, “On this day we commemorate — and, as far as our dull minds will let us, contemplate — the saints.... They are the holy ones, the heroes and heroines of mankind, the elect, the aristocracy of grace.” Communion and remembrance of the dead has held a popular place in cultures throughout history. In medieval times, Bannatyne wrote in Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, “[Christians] celebrated a halfpagan, half-Catholic All Hallows’ Eve with fires, games, prayers, divinations, soul cakes and superstitious tales of the spirit world.” Even after the Protestant Revolution, “In 17th-century England, revolutionary Protestants used bonfires, masquerades and itinerant mischief for their celebration of Guy Fawkes Day,” which commemorated the triumph over a few Catholics who conspired to blow up the House of Lords in England in 1605. As a result of changing needs, Halloween continued to undergo alterations as the historical context progressed. In the late 18th century, the Scottish poet Robert Burns, known as “The Bard” in Scotland, wrote a poem titled “Halloween,” which narrates a small story set in a rural Scot town. According to Bannatyne, in the late 1800s after the American Civil War, little items about Halloween, inspired by Burns’ poem, appeared in different magazines in the U.S. Around the turn of the 20th century, people started celebrating Halloween like a themed party. Bannatyne said, Halloween has a folk-art basis with games associated with it. The holiday as we know it today didn't really exist in America until after the Civil War.

A Summer Finale: Samhain

Maybe something more in line with what many think of as the “Halloween spirit” would be Samhain (pronounced like “Saw-wane” or “Saw-win”), which means “summer’s end” in Old Irish. Today, Samhain lives on as a celebration where ancient Celtic traditions blend with contemporary cultic practices. Current knowledge about Samhain comes from the Irish sagas passed from one generation to the next by medieval Irish monks. “In the stories, Samhain was the night that monsters emerged from the mounds and that men could go missing in the world of spirit,” Bannatyne said. While not much has surfaced about the existence of ancient religious rites connected to Samhain, Irish folklorists and other writers of the 19th century began to reference the holiday in their literary works. Samhain’s popularity gained even more momentum as it won acceptance in modern paganism. As neo-pagan priest and author Raven Digitalis wrote in the chapter on

Samhain in Llewellyn's 2013 Sabbats Almanac, Gerald Gardner adopted the practice of Samhain along with other earth-centric celebrations when he founded Wicca in the late 1940s. “Halloween comes from Samhain,” Digitalis said. While Samhain occurs on Nov. 1, the beginning of the Celtic calendar, it still retains many connections with Oct. 31. Different traditional activities on Halloween, such as bobbing for apples and donning costumes, were originally part of cultic customs, such as divination and scaring away evil spirits. Digitalis sees Halloween as the “veil between the world and the spiritual realm,” but more importantly as “the time to celebrate our ancestors.” According to Digitalis’ chapter on Samhain, “It is the time to celebrate renewal, generation and all those who have walked the path of life before us. The inevitability of death is something to celebrate rather than fear or push into the recesses of our minds.” Digitalis explained that autumn or fall brings the death of the season, which parallels the death of people or animals. Currently, Digitalis said he and other neo-pagans celebrate Samhain at his temple in Montana. After forming a circle, they call out to the elements, to the directions and to “the god and goddess,” which he described as “the yin and yang force of reality.” Digitalis said they also invoke Azrael, the archangel of death — something not everyone chooses to do. Other activities include the creation of poppets, which can include voodoo dolls. “[Poppets] represent the side of our psyche we wish to banish,” Digitalis said. Often they use herbs that represent the banishment of illness, poverty, insecurity or prejudice. “We put them into the poppets, burn them and send them into the underworld.” Derived from traditional practices in Celtic history as well as from the Day of the Dead (or “Día de los Muertos” ), which normally takes place on Nov. 2, Samhain often accompanies a parade and charity work. “I encourage people not to fear the holiday,” said Digitalis, pointing out that Halloween is “the most overt pagan holiday.” Instead of letting ignorance lead to fear, Digitalis recommends that those unfamiliar to Samhain research the holiday to find out what it is really like.

A Reason to Celebrate

Whether focusing on candy, theses, relatives or Celtic customs, those choosing to celebrate on Oct. 31 have found a reason to come together. “I see Halloween as a great, big, social holiday,” said Bannatyne. “Halloween isn't celebrating a person, ethnicity or event…but there isn’t any reason we can’t give it meaning now in our own day.”

TheClause.org / Collide • 10

feature

Voice Your Vote

Abortion

Pro-choice. Obama says that abortion will not be covered in the Preexisting Condition Insurance Plan unless it pertains to rape or incest, or if the mother's life is at risk. Supports Roe v. Wade.

Budget

Obama plans on balancing spending cuts and revenue increases to help reduce the national deficit. He also maintains that households making more than $1 million each year should not pay smaller shares of their income in taxes than the middle class.

Education

Obama believes that higher education must be within the sights of every American. He aims to lead the world in college graduates by 2020 in addition to cutting the growth of college tuition in half in the next 10 years.

Energy

Healthcare

Obama plans to continue his Obamacare solution to the national healthcare crisis. It aims to protect citizens from financially motivated actions of major healthcare companies. This plan also ensures that young adults can stay on their parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; insurance plans until the age of 26.

OBAMA

Same Sex Marriage

Obama is largely supportive toward the LGBT community. On May 9, 2012 President Obama publicly stated his support of same-sex marriage.

Immigration

Obama aims to focus on steps to legalize the American residents who are not yet citizens. He supports educational grants for the children of illegal immigrants. He also believes that deporting the majority of illegal immigrants â&#x20AC;&#x153; would tear at the very fabric of this nation.â&#x20AC;?

Name: Barack Obama Age: 51 Party Affiliation: Democratic Party Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii Religion: Evangelical Christian

Information compiled by 2012.candidate-comparison.org

Obama plans to continue the development of a near 100-year natural gas supply to limit foreign dependency on energy resources. He also plans to increase the use of clean energy sources, like wind and solar energy.

November 6 gives you another chance to choose our future leader. We have compiled this list of where the candidates stand so you can feel confident in your choice. Don’t forget that democracy only functions if everyone participates. Voice your vote. This is your time to make a difference.

Abortion

Pro-life. He strongly combats abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is at risk. He maintains that abortion laws should be handled at state-level. Supports an appeal of Roe v. Wade.

Budget

Romney strongly upholds the principles of Reaganomics which maintains that tax cuts bring financial growth to a nation. He wants to continue Bush-era tax cuts and lower the corporate tax rate. He believes that job growth takes place in the private sector rather than in government bureaucracies.

Education

Romney strongly upholds that education is a fundamental part of the American Dream. Nonetheless, he believes that the oversight of the federal government has made America's education system ineffective. He also maintains that teachers unions have too much power to be effective.

Energy

Romney supports investing in renewable energy, especially the burning of clean coal. He also encourages private investment in energy technology. He maintains that as long as China and India continue their massive output of greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. shouldn’t instate policies to reduce their own.

Information compiled by 2012.candidate-comparison.org

ROMNEY

Healthcare

Mitt Romney believes in the privatization of healthcare in the U.S. amidst each state. He plans to enhance health savings accounts and utilize technological innovations to increase program efficiency.

Same Sex Marriage Name: Mitt Romney Age: 65 Party Affiliation: GOP Hometown: Detroit, Michigan Religion: Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Mitt Romney believes that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. He favors a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.

Immigration

Romney believes that border security is a top priority. He does not support amnesty solutions and plans to implement an employer verification system to ensure that only legal citizens are employed.

politcal artistry By C. Amaris Felton Janet Goldner discuses her lifelong journey as a political artist.

Where did you grow up?

“I [Janet Goldner] grew up in and around Washington D.C.”

What about your schooling?

“I have a B.A. from Antioch College in art and I have a Masters from NYU, also in art.”

Would you consider yourself a political artist?

“Politics [and] social justice has always informed my artwork and my life.”

When did you begin creating art? What was your inspiration?

“When I was growing up, I was always involved in different sorts of art. All through school, I actually was a dancer. When I got to college, I stopped dancing and began taking art. In college, I’d always done art after school, after my academic classes, but I began to realize that I could do art as my main focus. It was when I was in college that I started my journey toward taking it more seriously and putting it in the center of what I was doing.”

13 • Collide / November 2012

As you were in college, what kind of art did you begin making? “I was a fiber artist, a weaver. I wove cloth on a loom and then I used armatures and stuffing to make it three-dimensional. It was never wearable; it was always to make sculptures. While I was at Antioch, I spent a semester at Penland which is a craft school in North Carolina, where I learned to weave. And actually, before that, I had gone to a craft school in Denmark the summer after my first year in college.”

Why did you choose to create the art you have on your website?

“While I was in college, I spent a year traveling around in West Africa. I started in Ghana with a program from The Experiment and International Living. I was in Ghana for three months, and then I traveled around in West Africa for the rest of the year and fell in love with Mali, which always felt like home, for reasons I’m still exploring. My work and my life [have] been very inspired by West Africa in general and Mali in particular.”

“I moved from weaving to welding. I was using wire mesh, chicken wire, and different kinds of metals to make my weavings three-dimensional. I started wanting to have more control over the forms that I was using, so I stopped weaving, which was the skin over the armature, and I started using metal as the visual element. Slowly, from there, I got into welding. It’s because it…would do what I needed it to do.”

200 South African women of all races. The exhibition has toured for several years in the U.S. I made a sculpture for an outdoor museum, ‘Parkas Europas,’ in Lithuania and I've participated in many projects in Mali including collaborating with Malian artists and developing and directing a study abroad program for American undergraduate art students. I worked with Malian artists on a collaborative public sculpture for the city of Ségou.”

After traveling to West Africa, what was your inspiration to engage in Malian art?

What is the message you’re trying to bring forth through your steel books?

“Artists get inspired by what’s around them and what speaks to them and so I found great humanity and skill and resonance and resilience in Mali.”

Out of all the mediums you work with, what would you consider your favorite?

“It’s really not about the medium. What’s important is: what’s the best way to express what I need to express? Sometimes that’s in sculpture, sometimes that’s in video, sometimes that’s in photography and sometimes that’s in writing. I just do what is appropriate for whatever is the particular thing I need to work on. I think that these days, video and photography are a little bit easier for audiences to understand, and to appreciate what I’m trying to impart to them because they’re more contemporary. People are more used to looking at photography and video than sculptures, or even reading. So, it just depends on what I’m trying to get out and who I’m trying to reach.”

Are there any new projects or pieces you’re working on now?

“In each of these areas, I’m working on different things. There’s been a very long-term, kind of slowly proceeding sculptural installation that I’m working on. It’s kind of an elaboration of the zigzag pieces that are on my website. The photography and video that I do are mainly documentary and pretty much about Mali. I have thousands of images and hundreds of hours of video that I’ve taken in Mali. I’m working on making coherent statements out of those things, out of the backlog of that. In writing, there’s a big crisis going on in Mali right now and I’ve been doing a lot of writing about that.”

Have you done any artwork in other countries?

“I've worked in many communities around the U.S. I curated an exhibition from South Africa at the end of the apartheid era called ‘South African Mail: Messages from Inside.’ Working with artists groups in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the result is an exhibition reflecting the life circumstances, hopes and dreams of over

“Each individual [steel] book would have a particular meaning. Back in the early ’90s, I was using a lot of text in my steel work. I was using a welding torch to write with, almost like drawing with the welding torch, and cutting words into the steel. This was at the end of the Reagan/Bush years and I was really mad and I really wanted to just talk about social justice. And so I was using these page forms and then I wanted to get more layering and more depth to what I was doing. So I started making the pages into books. These days, sometimes I use text, but I don’t use it as much as I used to.”

What drove you to become an activist?

“I was born into a family of activists and in my childhood, I was quite involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Very early on, I was on picket lines and went to demonstrations with my parents. So, the activism is really a part of my upbringing.” “One chooses a form of activism because of whatever seems important to [them]. For a long time, I was very involved in feminism, and I’m still a feminist, but at a certain point it seemed like race and racism was more important to me. So since about the mid-’90s, I would say that my work is about looking at privilege and lack of privilege ― it could be about sexism, it could be about racism, it could be about class. They’re really all aspects of the same thing. But all of this really comes out of my childhood and what I’ve done with what I was raised with.”

As a political artist, do you have any words for other artists like yourself?

“[There are] so many things to work on that you need to decide what you’re most passionate about and work on that. There [isn’t] time, energy, money for an artist to do art and activism separately, at least for me there wasn’t, and so slowly the art becomes the activism. And it’s a little hard because art and culture are so marginalized in the U.S., but [artists] need to work on what’s most important to them. These things are aspects of the same things and eventually, I hope they’ll come together.”

aesthetics

Vacation From Real

By Maddie Shook | Art by Maya Kenderes

With the increasing popularity of shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, experts reflect on why viewers are so drawn to reality TV.

hat is it about the life of a 6-year-old pageant queen and her self-proclaimed redneck family that receives more viewers than the speeches from the potential political leaders of the United States? For TV viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, Nielsen Media Research reported that more people watched the TLC reality show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo than the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Honey Boo Boo Child is far from the only perplexing reality TV phenomenon. Nielsen also reported that approximately 10.5 million people tuned in to watch Kim [Kardashian]'s Fairytale Wedding, which aired months after she already filed for divorce. So why is reality TV so popular? Reality TV has two specific subgenres: competition and “celebreality.” When the average person initially thinks of reality TV, competition reality programs are most likely what come 15 • Collide / November 2012

to mind. This subgenre includes popular shows such as American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and Project Runway. Celebreality follows closer to the model of Keeping Up With The Kardashians or Real Housewives. Michael Slezak, senior editor of TVLine.com, said the reason both forms of reality TV are so prevalent is because, "Networks love a good reality shows since they’re less expensive to produce. They don't require drawing in big stars like Claire Danes or Juliana Margulies, but instead people who are seeking the exposure the show could give them.” Identification is also another element that draws audiences to reality TV. A teenage girl in a small Midwest town who only sings in the shower may watch American Idol and think that superstardom could be in her grasp. Likewise, a woman who loves to party and who gets in bar brawls may think that she could appear on Bad Girls Club. A man who loves the outdoors may watch Man vs. Wild and think he could survive in the wilderness like Bear Grylls. “There is a lot of fascination with these shows since most viewers watch them and think, ‘That could be me.’ There is an element of watching your neighbor or watching yourself on television that is interesting to consider,” said Slezak. Moreover, audiences often enjoy seeing how different they themselves are compared to the stars of celebreality shows. Slezak believes a morbid curiosity draws audiences to watch “trainwreck”

“There is a lot of fascination with these shows since most viewers watch them and think, 'That could be me.’” –Michael Slezak

reality TV. Identification can work in reverse as well. The vast number of reality TV shows displays a variety of lifestyles both ordinary and exotic. Audiences are drawn to seeing glimpses into lives different than their own. Erin Pulver, a freshmen at Grand Canyon University, watches Breaking Amish to step out of the bounds of her reality. “I enjoy getting to see a lifestyle completely different than mine. I find it interesting to see how other people live," said Pulver. In short, sometimes people just want to be like someone else. Debra Fraser, general manager for the TV station KTLN understands the draw to reality TV. "Reality television, dependent upon content, is a venue that relates to our secret interests in other lifestyles, our inner desire to be rich and famous, or our curiosity to someday switch lives," said Fraser. Audiences may have struggles in their lives, but they don't seem as bad as the extreme situations on reality TV. “We are dealing with hard times right now and all too often people try to find escapism in a variety of arenas, and entertainment is an inexpensive, mindless way to escape even if just for an hour or two,” said Fraser. The popularity of trainwreck reality shows raises the question: Do reality shows exploit their "stars" or is it right for audiences to place judgment on the people who signed up to be followed around by a camera crew? It is difficult to determine where judgment should be placed since reality TV displays the lives of such a broad variety

of people. Some shows document the lives of the rich and famous like the Kardashians and the women of Real Housewives of Orange County, people who clearly are seeking the exposure. While others feature the lives of people like the Gosselin family on Kate Plus 8, an average family that wasn’t originally seeking fame and saw the negative effects of having their life on display for all to see. Fraser said, "I believe some judgment falls on the stars who sign up but we can't ignore the part played by viewers who catch every episode and create the frantic notoriety that suddenly surrounds them." Shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo wouldn't exist if there wasn’t such a large and passionate response to Alana Thompson from audiences of Toddlers & Tiaras. The true reality of the popularity of reality TV and its influence on society is that seemingly everyone wants and can have fame and celebrity. Reality TV brings about the democratization of such things. Fame is no longer exclusive to the Brads and Angelinas of the world. A teenage mom can end up on the cover of Us Weekly. A group of dancers under the age of 12 can win an award at the Teen Choice Awards. An 18-year-old nursing student can get a $5 million recording contract. Fame, a goal so desirable in our society, can be reached by just about anyone: a socialite, a housewife, a dance teacher and even a 6-year-old from rural Georgia.

TheClause.org / Collide • 16

Behind The Striped Tent By Joshua Bligh | Art by Danica Bowers

Many modern circuses make for animal welfare cases. A few organizations stand up to stop a legacy of cruelty.

or most people, from the time they are children the circus most likely seemed quite the wonderful spectacle: humans performing acrobatic feats, elephants balancing on their front legs and unfathomable amounts of cotton candy. Unless you are terrified by clowns and oddly costumed creatures, the circus at the surface appears a wild dream molded into reality. However, behind many colorful curtains is a hidden nightmarish reality. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claims that as many as 29 elephants, including four babies, have died since 1992 as a result of mistreatment and abuse at the hands of Ringling Brother’s Circus alone. Most of the mistreatment results from the training methods used on the animals. Instruments including blowtorches, electric prods and bullhooks are all used to beat, shock and gouge in an effort to bend the animal to their will in order to perform tricks for the amusement of human spectators. Such violence is not limited to elephants, but bears, tigers, lions, and primates are all trained to perform tricks through abuse. This past summer APU senior sociology major Sophia Horton campaigned with PETA across the country to protest against the Ringling Bros. Circus. Whenever the circus would arrive at a town, groups of protesters stood outside the entrance and attempt to persuade families not to patronize the circus. “We talked at least five to six big families to turn away and it was so empowering to see that,” Horton said.

17 • Collide / November 2012

“They smack them, stab them until they do what they want. They are forced to do all these tricks and things that aren’t natural for them. Basically, they just break their spirits and don’t let them live a normal life.” –Sophia Horton. She also mentioned that when the Ringling Bros. Circus arrives in town they often stop their trains about 10 to 12 miles from the performance area and proceed to force the chained elephants to walk the entire distance without any bathroom breaks or feeding. This is usually done late at night to avoid witnesses. “Last year [Ringling Bros.] told PETA they would get there around midnight, but they didn’t get there until five in the morning,” Horton said. “So they had to stay up all night,

because [Ringling Bros.] don’t want people to see what they do.” In raising awareness about the mistreatment during training, one of the main abuses PETA protesters such as Horton discussed was the use of bullhooks. These are sharp devices that resemble pokers used for fireplaces. “They smack them, stab them until they to do what they want. They are forced to do all these tricks and things that aren’t natural for them. Basically, they just break their spirits and don’t let them live a normal life,” said Horton. Organizations such as the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and PETA, among many others, work to raise awareness of circus animal welfare and provide protection for rescued animals. Every year PAWS puts on several major events dedicated to the causes. One of the largest events is the Circus PAWS. It provides an entirely animalfree entertainment experience. Two of the major acts at this year’s show were Natalie Yves Gaulthier’s Le Petit Cirque and The Silhouettes. Le Petit Cirque is a group of acrobats and performers between the ages of 7 and 14. The Silhouettes is an experimental dance group made famous by their appearance on America’s Got Talent. PAWS also relocates animals to the PAWS ARK 200, a 2,300 acre reservation in San Andreas, Calif. Here employees shelter rescued or retired performing animals in a healthy and safe environment. Janice Clark, the Communications Director at PAWS, expounded on several major animal rescues the organization completed over the past several years. A fully grown and overweight black bear was rescued

“When you rescue an animal that has never been on grass or had access to water, and see it splashing around in the pool like a little kid, you know you’ve done something right.” –Janice Clark

from a 15-square-foot enclosure. In addition, a total of 39 tigers were rescued from a man who, under the pretense of breeding them, instead hoarded the pelts of many dead tigers. In addition, several tiger corpses were found on his property. A third rescue included a group of lions from a Bolivian circus after the country banned the use of animals in circuses. Clark mentioned that animal rescue is often difficult due to the legal process of it all. “It is a big legal issue most of the time. [The animals] are classified sort of as livestock, not domestic,” said Clark. This means that the laws governing exotic animals will often place them in the same category as personal possessions, thus making the extraction process difficult even if the conditions are not suitable to animal’s health. However, once the process is complete and the animals are safe in the ARK, the results are worth it. “When you rescue an animal that has never been on grass or had access to water, and see it splashing around in the pool like a little kid, you know you’ve done something right,” said Clark. Although there are still abused animals in circus groups, several countries such as Bolivia, Bosnia, and Greece have already banned exotic and domestic animal performances. Whether America will join their ranks is still unknown. In the mean time alternative circuses like Cirque du Soleil, Le Petit Cirque and Circus Finelli are available without the use or mistreatment of animals.

Hear ye, Hear ye What a [Spec]tacular Trend By C. Amaris Felton When a person thinks of glasses, it isn’t common to think of them as products of wood. On the contrary, wood is used to produce stylish eyeglasses and sunglasses for consumers worldwide. Surprisingly enough, wooden glasses have been produced for many years. According to The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, wooden glasses were used by the middle and lower classes after the invention of the printing press in 1452. The foundation’s website states: “The growing availability of books prompted the mass production of spectacles that were sold in cities by peddlers.” Wooden frames were among the first materials used for glasses, but weren’t the preferred material in earlier times. Chris Erven, co-founder of Sires Eyewear in Los Angeles, said, “Wooden glasses have been around forever.… [But] no one was able to create a wooden frame that would sustain a prescription without breaking.” Although wooden frames were used, wood was seen as an unsustainable product for eyeglasses. It wasn’t until a few centuries later that wooden glasses would become the unique product they are today. “One of the intriguing things about wood being an actual element [is] you never get two frames that are alike. That’s what I think makes it very special,” said Erven. Very special indeed, wooden frames now come in all shapes and sizes. Stephen McMenamin, owner and founder of iWood: Ecodesign, recalled a time when he was shown a pair of wooden glasses. These dated glasses were from the ‘80s and its age was reflected in the design. McMenamin founded his company in the late 1990s which may be the approximate time stylish, wooden glasses began modern production. “I didn’t know of anybody who started doing more stylish wooden glasses until we did,” said McMenamin. 19 • Collide / November 2012

Wooden spectacles make a comeback as the new eco-friendly, retro trend Other optical companies have adopted their own styles of wooden frames. Companies such as California-based Kayu offer sunglasses made from bamboo. Capital, based in San Francisco, also sells wooden specs. They currently offer a new product line called “Bonnie/Clyde,” which features sunglasses with bio-plastic frames made from plants. Yet, stylish wooden glasses come with a higher price tag than standard plastic glasses. Consumers can expect to pay the same amount for wooden glasses as they would a pair of standard Versace glasses from LensCrafters. “Plastics don’t really cost much of anything,” said McMenamin. “The real cost in your plastic [glasses] is dependent on how they’re made, but if they’re made from molds, which some of them are, it’s very expensive.” According to McMenamin, plastic is typically inexpensive in the production of eyewear. When customers buy wooden glasses, they pay for the cost of natural material. However for many, the retro-styled wooden specs are worth the price. According to Nathalie Mariano, writer for “The Design Tree,” a blog that follows design, travel, food and culture, “People no longer wear glasses because they have to. Now they wear them because they want to. Eyewear has become less about vision, but more about selfexpression and fashion.” Glasses were objects previously associated with nerds or anyone who looked like Steve Urkel from the ‘90s sitcom “Family Matters.” Now they are desirable accessories for nerds and fashion-followers alike. These unique specs are sold worldwide. According to TheOpticalVisionSite.com, some of the top-rated companies that offer wooden eyewear are located in Hong Kong, Germany, France, Italy and Japan. U.S. shoppers can purchase wooden eyewear on the Web.

Spectating Like You Should By Mark Miller

In early September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that exacts professional sports venues in California to post security phone numbers for fans to report violence. This legislation, penned by Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gatto of Los Angeles, came in the wake of a previously proposed law that would have banned violent sports fans from attending any professional game in the state for up to five years. While some spectators can take sports to the extreme — like those who nearly beat a San Francisco Giants fan to death just outside Dodger Stadium last year — others merely come for the experience of the game itself. Why such a difference between two people watching the same game a few seats apart? Fandom. Ryan Zaplac, associate professor of health at Sam Houston State University, divides sports spectators into two basic categories: the people in the stands who are not necessarily connected to something in the game and the fans who have “a strong psychological connection” with a team, logo or player. What makes sports spectators distinct from spectators in other realms of entertainment, like film or theater, is the context. In the context of watching sports, “the way in which emotions are elicited in the environment” can determine a spectator’s behavior, Zaplac said. The cheers, shouts, leaps and other forms of vibrant expression make sports spectatorship a truly unique experience. “Fans really believe that what they're doing before or during a game actually af-

fects the outcome of the game,” Zaplac said, pointing to the way in which superstition can drive fans. Zaplac explained that when fans are “highly identified” with an athlete or a team, the likelihood increases for the fan not only to spend more money but also to perform acts of aggression. Aggressive actions, such as “blasting behaviors” (e.g. yelling, “Your team stinks!” to a person nearby), emerge when insults to a particular team become personal insults to the fan. “This idea of identification…underpins so much of what fans do and why they do it,” said Zaplac. According to Lawrence Wenner, Von der Ahe professor of communication and ethics at Loyola Marymount University and contributing author in Sports Mania: Essays on Fandom and the Media in the 21st Century, some sports fans erupt in violence “mostly because they have had too much to drink and have lost perspective on this being a game, [which] in the scheme of things really doesn’t matter much.” Wenner wrote that spectators, in contrast to fans, can be involved in different ways and to different degrees “depending on their knowledge of the nuance of the game and rules.” Daniel Pawley, associate professor of communication at APU, said that spectators can be extremely intense. In fact, “They can even be more intense than fans.” According to Pawley, the intensity spectators experience occurs on an individual level since they generally lack interest in socialization. Spectators are simply followers, focusing on “something they want to take away from the experience,” Pawley said. “They are just in it for the object of interest.… It can be something they really love to do, like a sport.” Fans, on the other hand, are essentially social creatures, according to Pawley. But they share a psychological experience with spectators nonetheless. Pawley mentioned that the Motivational Quadrilateral (MQ), as laid out in Steven Reiss’s book Who Am I?, applies to both sets of enthusiasts. The MQ defines the four underlying reasons why people spectate: attachment, catharsis, identification and empowerment. Pawley said he has found football fans to be very cathartic in their spectatorship. In light of California’s new focus on diminishing excessively cathartic actions, fans are allowed to release their emotions at sports games — but only with due caution.

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An International Display By Lauren Williams | Art by Danica Bowers Students share their experiences of being ‘on display’ in foreign countries. Think back to the major first days of your life. The first day of school, starting a new job, or even hanging out with a new group of friends; there’s a sense of anxiety and uncertainty. Imagine those same emotions taking place in a different country, with a different language and completely different cultural norms. Sisters Julie and Paige Iwema studied in Sevilla, Spain during the 2012 summer semester. “My sister and I were almost the only blondes there,” said Julie Iwema, a senior social work major at Trinity Christian College. “We had a lot of stares.” Paige Iwema, a sophomore Spanish and welding major at Moraine Valley Community College, described an event on a school field trip to a Mosque in Córdoba, Spain. “We were sitting eating the sack lunches our Señoras had made,” Iwema said. “They, [a couple], weren’t even from Spain. They were from an Asian country. They just came up to us and they sat on our laps and they were just taking pictures with us without getting our permission. It was awkward and nobody understood it.” She described the frustration of having this kind of attention. “It was cool at first to be recognized, but after a while it kind of got old,” Iwema said. Brian Miller, a transfer student and Spanish major at APU, has spent 14 years of his life living abroad. He spent 10 of those years living as a missionary kid with his family in Ivory Coast, Africa. “In Africa I was obviously very different,” said Miller, who is white and blond. “I was definitely the minority.” Miller attended public schools in whichever country he was living in to become assimilated with the culture and language. 21 • Collide / November 2012

“I think every single day I got beat up. My dad came to school one time to see how I was doing at lunch. Me and the only other white kid at school had backed our backs up to this corner,” said Miller. “One had a stick, and we would hit kids in the head when they came at us. The other one would eat, and then we would circle the wagons so the other one could have a turn.” In addition to Ivory Coast, Miller lived briefly in Costa Rica and South Korea. In South Korea, “Everyone wants to practice their English with you,” said Miller. “So everyone wants to talk to you all of the time…to practice whatever English phrase they’ve just learned.” Feeling different in a new country may not be the only problem. Chris Hausner, a sophomore studying pre-law at Bond University in Australia, is from Germany but spent most of his life in Hong Kong. Hausner didn’t feel out of place until he went back to Germany. “I feel exposed,” Hausner said. “I feel like I look differently than [Germans]. Walking around as a European in Asia, I feel completely comfortable. When I go to Europe I worry that people are staring at me.” With the exception of a few terrible stories, most international students simply feel like they don’t belong. Rebecca Anderson, program manager for Globalinks Learning Abroad has worked with countless students who choose to study abroad. “Students are going to have the feeling of being uncomfortable, maybe because they are different or because they are from a different country,” said Anderson. This feeling of discomfort, though, comes in part from being in an unfamiliar environment. Every person has, at one point in his or her life, had a feeling of uncertainty about what they should do when presented with something new. “I can go ahead and tell you I’m sending you off to Washington D.C. for a work trip, and you’ve never been there be-

fore,” Anderson said. “You’re probably going to be pretty uncomfortable trying to get used to the [Metro] system.” Unfortunate as it may seem, these feelings are part of the experience. Although unsettling, they can also be necessary. “If [we] are uncomfortable, those are the times in our lives when we have that choice of what it is that we do. What do we do when we’re in that uncomfortable situation? Do we kind of go with it or do we go and do something about it?” said Anderson. APU has over 300 international students, with almost 120 of them being undergraduate students. Most of these students do not come from English speaking countries. Almost all of these students have experienced similar feelings of isolation or being on display. Unai Bell Rincon, a freshman applied exercise science major at APU, is from Spain and has encountered similar obstacles. “People here, I guess, really like foreigners,” said Rincon. “There is especially a lot of interest in accents. They make me say so many words just to hear my accent.” Rincon plays for the university soccer team and has had to adapt to the American ways of doing things. “I’ve been with the other Freshmen, that was a bit crazy,” said Rincon. “In the beginning everyone was very excited, but then straight away they go with their own groups. I do miss speaking Spanish. I do miss people from Europe, especially from the West side of Europe where they have a similar culture to mine. We are actually very different from Americans so I sometimes miss the European traditions.” Vijay Jacob, assistant director for International Students and Scholars, believes that APU students can help improve the experiences of international students on and off campus. “If you’re a person who hasn’t even travelled to a different

“One had a stick, and we would hit kids in the head when they came at us. The other one would eat, and then we would circle the wagons so the other one could have a turn.”

–Brian Miller part of the world, but you see someone who comes from a different cultural background, let healthy curiosity be the starting point as opposed to assumptions,” said Jacob. Jacob encourages students to reach out to the international students on campus and all around. He admits that he sometimes asks dumb questions while trying to get to know someone. “You kind of move from that ‘PC-ness’ [political correctness] of thinking you will offend someone if you ask them the wrong question,” said Jacob. “Instead, you move onto this sense of curiosity and wanting to know.” When it comes to meeting and hanging out with international students, Jacob says that the best way to go about it is to have “a healthy attitude of curiosity and also a sincere wanting to know” and understand. TheClause.org / Collide • 22

Execution Ethics

An Issue of Money or Morality? By Jennifer Cline

This November, voters have the opportunity to decide the fate of the death penalty in California.

n Nov. 6, 2012, Californians can stream to the voting booth to decide the fate of Proposition 34: the End the Death Penalty Initiative. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978, the number of inmates on death row has risen to 725, with only 13 people executed in the past 34 years. If Proposition 34 does not pass, that number will gradually rise as there is a current moratorium on executions. Executions were halted in 2006 due to the belief that the current method of execution, the three drug cocktail, was inhumane. Vauhini Vara and Nathan Koppel of the Wall Street Journal explained in “Spotlight on Injection Drug as Judge Stays Execution” that one of the drugs, thiopental sodium, could cause a painful death if wrongly administered. Thiopental sodium is an anesthetic that rapidly renders the patient unconscious. If the other two drugs—pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride—are administered before the patient is fully unconscious, there remains the possibility that the inmate might feel an excruciating amount of pain. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens of Orange County, Calif., an opponent of Proposition 34, said, “Is it humane, the three-drug cocktail? I think

23 • Collide / November 2012

we’re getting closer to a solution on that. There are many [inmates] that are ready, they’ve exhausted all their appeals, and it’s just figuring out a humane method.” Proposition 34, if passed, would change the sentence of all death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Hutchens said, “I think it’s important to look at the crimes they’ve committed and the heinous nature of those crimes; and that we follow the sentence that the juries have decided on.” One such death row inmate is Richard Ramirez—dubbed the “Night Stalker”—who was convicted on 43 counts of murder, rape, sodomy and burglary. “One of the things that this proposition would do is to negate all of these things that the juries have decided—it’s not just for the future convictions but for the past convictions as well,” said Hutchens. Another component of Proposition 34 is its allocation of $100 million over the course of three years to go toward unsolved rape and murder cases—46 percent of murder cases and 56 percent of all reported rape cases go unsolved. Hutchens said, “The $100 million is not new money; it still comes out of the state general fund. If you divide that money among every

law enforcement agency in the state of California, that’s only $14,000 per agency.” However, it has not yet been said how the money will be allocated. “I think that the proponents are throwing it around because it seems like such a big number, but as a whole it won’t do that much,” Hutchens said. The proposition also raises the issue of the lengthy, and costly, appeal process of death row inmates. Generally, the process of appeal is drawn out to ensure that the convicted actually committed the crime. Many cases are appealed to the Supreme Court, though few are seen each year. Even when an inmate exhausts all options of appeal, execution could take more than five years. This is a special burden on the state because many inmates require public defenders in addition to the cost of living on death row. Defense attorney Donald Heller, who drafted the ’78 ballot to reinstate the death penalty, is now a proponent of Proposition 34. He is still not against the death penalty, in theory. “If it could be done to be efficient, that could have promise, but from my perspective it is beyond repair and, in the most significant way, is a major cost to the state,” said Heller. He explained that, on average, it costs $100,000 more to house an inmate on death row than a general population inmate. This is because death row

inmates are given private cells with 24/7 access to anyone who wants to visit them. Visits are supervised by no less than three guards and all meals are taken directly to their cells. Also, death row inmates have access to private exercise yards four days out of the week for up to six hours a day. Former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti said, “That’s about $34 million a year to house inmates on death row and that doesn’t deter future criminals.” The average amount of time an inmate spends on death row is 25 years. With the current hold on executions, that number will only continue to rise. “That’s why the leading cause of death for inmates is old age and the second is suicide,” Garcetti said. “In a recent poll, it was shown that more people favor the death penalty than not. However, if you ask the question differently, factoring in the monetary costs, 54 percent of people polled prefer life in prison without possibility of parole over the death penalty,” said Garcetti. The question remains: Should the death penalty be a question of morality or of money? This November, voters will decide on two main issues. First, whether the cost of housing inmates on death row is worth the expense. And second, whether or not the death penalty is morally sound.

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Who Would Jesus Vote For? By Chelsea Johnson

o maybe they aren’t putting the phrase on a rubber bracelet anytime soon, but it’s a worthy question: If Jesus Christ were headed to the polls this November 6, whose name would he bubble in? If you’re one of the people who jokingly deflect this question by saying, “I’ll vote for Jesus,” well, you’re in luck. There’s a political movement encouraging Christians to “Say no to Satan this November” by putting in Jesus’ name at the ballot. They cite President Obama as a “true enemy of God” and Romney as the Mormon anti-Christ attempting to fulfill “his cult’s” prophecy. I’ll assume that Jesus Christ would never describe either candidate that way. Sometimes Christians get tossed into the same spiritual/political ballot box — lovingly referred to as the religious right. But not all Christians or spiritual people have Reagan posters plastered to their Facebook and dorm room walls. Maybe the Christian vote isn’t as predictable as it may seem to some. In fact, both presidential forerunners are self-proclaimed Christians. Obama subscribes to the evangelical faith and Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. With two Christians running for office, the decision shouldn’t be an easy one. Many refer to Obama as a socialist, and in many ways he is. But since when is affordable healthcare for all American citizens, nationalizing immigrant students and cutting loopholes for the rich something Christians are against? Didn’t Jesus tell the man who fell at his knees in Mark 21 to “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”? Many don’t interpret this literally, but even so, why do so many Christians support the Republican Party that is known for protecting the upper class and cutting aid to the impoverished? In an article titled “Lift Every Voice,” economist.com reported that more than half of Republican voters iden-

tify as evangelical. Furthermore, the same article states that 70 percent of white evangelicals support the Republican Party. Even worse, a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute conducted in 2010 reported that nearly half of white evangelical Christians favor the deportation of illegal immigrants. Jesus Christ taught acceptance and inclusion in a time where people were still considered property. In the age of iPhones, blogs, and self-publishing, why is it so difficult for Christians to raise their voices to represent the same thing? Does Romans 12:5 not say, “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others”? Mitt Romney recently announced his own economic plan for his presidency, now saying that his budget will support the middle class without adding to the national deficit. The problem is, he hasn’t identified where cuts will be made to generate this revenue. If we take clues from his Republican predecessor, former President George W. Bush, whose tax reforms he plans to extend, the majority of cuts will benefit the rich. The Tax Policy Center reported that Romney’s plan would cut corporate taxes by 10 percent in addition to allowing the American Opportunity tax credit for education to expire. This is the credit that allowed millions of students to fund college educations. Chelsea is a senior English major. She enjoys poetry that isn’t about love, Harry Potter, and is convinced that one day she will become a Jedi Master. Her spare time is spent petting her cat and acquiring useless information — for example, a ragamuffin is a type of cat.

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