The Gadfly Vol. XV, Iss. V
“To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
November 30, 2011
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Urges Major Economic Reform* This is what various media sources reported on when the Vatican issued a note last week entitled, TOWARDS REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND MONETARY SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL PUBLIC AUTHORITY. It seems that these various media sources took time to report that there may be a tie between the Church and the actual events that are going on in the world that pertain to the wellbeing of the global population. I would like to discuss with you three things: 1) What some of the things are that the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace are talking about; 2) How this ties into the events going on around the world in connection with ‘Occupy Wall Street’; and 3) The
value, and sometimes, lack of value behind what the media (at all levels) report. If you google the document that was put out by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace you would be able to find a few things that are seemingly unheard of, yet, desired by a majority of people, specifically a call for radical reform of the world’s financial and monetary systems. The document also seems to ask for a type of global authority or overseer who will set and keep moral standards when it comes to the economy and the exchange of money (for various goods). Many of us know of people who are without jobs, are overworked, under-worked, underpaid, or simply thrown into subpar working conditions. At the same time, we see CEO’s making
over a hundred times more than the average employee. Whether or not people see this as just, it appears that the Vatican itself is taking a stand. Cardinal Peter Turkson explains, “We are talking about finding solutions to issues, finding solutions to problems.” The Council reminds us that we, like Christ, are here to serve, and not be served. I am quite sure from having read this that the Council isn’t condemning ‘making a buck’ or two, though it seems to be calling for an ethical approach, one that is quick to rebuke greed. The Council also makes a quick note to point to the mass migration going on throughout the world. People are not finding places with financial security and stability. More and more are on Continued on page 8
To Love One, Is To Love All - A Call to Hear, See and Act – Many people have found that living, worshipping, studying and loving as a student at Franciscan University is an approach to life that is pretty, personal, and fun. This life we enjoy is very beautiful and convenient. We have the opportunity to study things we like and pray with very supportive communities. However, this life of great leisure (i.e. steady paced life, not necessarily a life of minute difficulty), has perhaps led many of us to unintentionally forsake a major part of our personhood, the political part. I think that when one has let go of the political part of our person, we have in our love, a type of imperfection that keeps us from loving at the
more perfect state. Of course, this would imply that we are talking about a Christian love, the love that is most perfect as it is God Himself, as opposed to the secular understanding of love. Christian love requires us to do more than to go about our days remaining focused on the task at hand while dealing with studentship here at Franciscan. To Love one, I say, is to Love all. Love makes “all mankind … brothers and sisters in Christ”. This, though, is more than just appreciating people at a distance. Christian love, instead, “leads to denunciation, proposals and a commitment to cultural and social
projects; [love] prompts positive activity that inspires all who sincerely have the good of man at heart to make their contribution.” (Certainly, political commentators such as Glenn Beck have called the aforementioned activities of love: ‘Nazism’. This is why I highly encourage putting politicians [including Mr. President] and political commentators on the back burner and picking up your copy of the ‘Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church’ instead.) Love “faces a vast field of work.” This work includes realizing that “many needy brothers and sisters are waiting for help, so many who Continued on page 4
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St. Moses the Black, pray for us!
Staff: Writers: Keith Michael Estrada (K.M.E.) Sarah Hartung (S.H.) Mary Kineke (M.K.) Jacob Popcak (J.P.) Alexander Pyles (A.S.P.) Joseph Stallings (J.S.) Anne Tulloch (A.T.)
Business Manager: Alexander Pyles (A.S.P.)
Layout Editor: Anna Schiedermayer
Assistant Editor: Victoria Bonutti
Editor in Chief: Daniel Romeyn Davis (D.R.D.) Interested in joining our staff? Email us at notestothegadfly@gmail.com
~Mission Statement~ The Gadfly is an attempt to “bite the sleeping horse” in the spirit of Socrates. It is a student publication whose purpose is to facilitate discussion concerning campus and cultural issues as they pertain to students of Franciscan University. It aims to be a forum for open, wellthought out, and honest discussion towards the end of knowing and loving truth in its most robust sense.
Advisor:
Dr. John White Advisor Extraordinaire *Image on front cover: Jaque-Louis David’s The Death of Socrates
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Dear Gadflies (because you all like to bite me in the butt), To begin this week, I would like to affirm that nothing other than my sheer neurosis and egotism fuels me to write this letter from the editor in each issue of the Gadfly. Although the above statement is a partial exaggeration, it is true that I have often wondered as to what to include in my letters to our reading audience. For a change, I thought that I would inform the readers as to what to expect in the coming pages. However, I figured that that option would be too mainstream. Instead, I have decided to bother my reading audience with some more irrelevant musings. I would like to begin by asking the question Quo Vadis (where are you going)? As Christians our hope is that we are going to Heaven in order to be united in the full presence of the Triune God. This leads me to the question, why are we all at Franciscan University? Where are we going? Are we at Franciscan to be better students, better Christians, or to be better human beings? Whatever the causes may be that have brought us all together at this University, we must all confront the question: where are we going from here? Personally, I know that I am at this University in order to become a more well-rounded and balanced individual and a better scholar. However, I have often heard people around campus assert that they are at Franciscan only because of the faith life here and because they want to become better Christians. I was upset by this notion. Essentially, the whole orientation of our lives should be to become better Christians. One should not merely choose a university upon that singular qualification. Rather, a university should be chosen upon how well it fulfills its terminal goals. A university, by definition, is an institution for the education of individuals. Thus, Franciscan should be measured not by how easy it is be a Christian on campus, but rather by how well it educates
its students to become productive, functioning members of society. Franciscan, as a Liberal Arts university, should have its primary goal as producing well-rounded individuals prepared to work and live in a diverse global environment. However, to form good Catholics to go out and to evangelize the world is not the primary goal of a Liberal Arts university. Franciscan University in its mission statement clearly states that: “The purpose of Franciscan University is to further the higher education of men and women through programs of liberal, professional, and pre-professional studies…” (http://franciscan.edu/ AboutFUS/Mission/) This is an admirable mission and I would love to see my Alma Mater fulfill this mission in its academic formation of young men and women in the Liberal Arts. Franciscan University is an exceptional Liberal Arts university insofar as it also places an important secondary focus on the spiritual growth and formation of its students. However, students must recognize that their primary vocation at Franciscan University is to be students. As students our primary vocation at Franciscan University is not to be good Catholics. Rather, to be good Catholics, and furthermore to be good Christians, should be the primary vocation of our entire lives. Therefore, it is important that at Franciscan, which is a selfproclaimed Liberal Arts university, that academic standards take a primary role, and spirituality and student-life play an important secondary function to support students as students whilst at Franciscan. With this assertion I shall end my diatribe. May we all remember where we are going and let us never hesitate to ask Quo Vadis? In Christ, — D.R.D.
St. Felicity, pray for us!
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Letter to the Editor: To begin, we run a small nondenominational mission in Steubenville, and a farm and mission in West Virginia. The Internet has lots of sound information about the reality of this drilling...in rural Wetzel county animals have died, including massive death of deer and other animals, due to contaminated water. The local vet has a freezer of tissue samples from farm animals. People only have well and spring water in the county so we are encouraging the building of rain water systems. The request to expand the apex landfill is a linked issue… drilling produces waste including mud mixed with chrome 6. We were able to save a baby by testing the water...without clean water, air, and land, life becomes impossible. Deeply disturbing is the growing rate of cancer, birth defects and deaths, not only in the drilling areas, but in areas of dumping and production and assem-
bly of the chemicals. Magnablend blew up in Texas this fall contaminating two colleges and a small town. There should not and must not be a separation between the concept of protecting life and the work to ensure the conditions needed for life. The Ohio River has been contaminated by dumping. The Steubenville water department reports yearly increases in Barium, with the statement that drilling waste is the source. Drinking bottled water is not a solution because skin and lungs absorb many of these chemicals. Some politicians deny the truth but you can look up the donations quite easily and can see why they are doing this. Greed is surely not Franciscan or Christian.
Don’t be Squished.
Have your say.
Professor Quote of the Week:
~ Marilyn Hunt 304 775-2484, 740 264-1445 (Please see www.libertyandjusticewv.org)
Letter to the Editor: Dear fellow Citizens of this Planet, I am writing to wish you a pleasant holiday season, full of goodness, kindness, and sharing. My you be comforted by warmth, sparkles, and nice feelings. Take care that your holiday does not offend anyone and remember the golden rule. I hope Santa Clause (excuse me, Mr. or Ms. Clause) brings you things that make your life more convenient. Don’t forget to buy things for the people you like so you can stay on the nice list! We can look to the good example of the historical role model Jesus who taught us how to be kind to others before he started making people feel bad. Celebrate your
freedom to be happy and not offended on this day of celebration of whatever is important to you. I hope this holiday brings you tolerance, emotional security and anything else you desire. I wish you have a good time with your family bonding around the holiday tree and topping the tree with whatever is most important to you. Maybe start a slideshow with your iPad! Make all of your holiday dreams come true… as long as they don’t offend anyone. Be yourself, just like everyone else. Carpe diem, ~ P. C. Wellwisher
You have to be small in stature to be a true Machiavellian. ~Dr. Benjamin Alexander
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St. Raphael the Archangel, pray for us!
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are oppressed are waiting for justice, so many who are unemployed are waiting for a job, so many people are waiting for respect.” Or as my patron John Paul II writes, “How can it be that even today there are still people dying of hunger? Condemned to illiteracy? Lacking the most basic medical care? Without a roof over their head?” The great saint continues, “The scenario of poverty can extend indefinitely, if in addition to its traditional forms we think of its newer patterns. These latter often affect financially affluent sectors and groups which are nevertheless threatened by despair at the lack of meaning in their lives, by drug addiction, by fear of abandonment in old age or sickness, by marginalization or social discrimination … And how can we remain indifferent to the prospect of an ecological crisis which is making vast areas of our planet uninhabitable and hostile to humanity? Or by the problems of peace, so often threatened by the specter of catastrophic wars” (emphasis is mine)? So now the question arises. ‘What am I wasting your time reading this article for’, you ask? The truth of it is: I want you to love, perhaps, to a more perfect level. I want you to know that love requires even a little bit more than what we are already giving. Love requires, as mentioned above, are reaching out to not just one, but all. Love requires our holding not just our ‘accountability partners’ accountable, but the whole world, starting with ourselves, the Church, our communities and nations. “Humanity is coming to understand ever more clearly that it is linked by one sole destiny that requires joint acceptance of responsibility … imposed by technological and economic factors…”. We must learn to balance our lives. Those of us who are in households must learn to share the
growth of our spiritual life amongst our brothers (and in some cases sisters) with participation in the life of all people for the sake of the common good. This leads me, dear friends, to some hot button issues on campus: Homosexuality (LGBTQA) in general, Inter-faith dialogue (esp. with Islam), and the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. I will expound on these topics, hopefully, in a greater depth in future articles, as space here is limited. I will also, in later articles, talk about them from a different perspective, as they are brought up in this article in regard to our call to love one and all. It may or may not be true that person(s) have been asked to abstain from participating in various household activities, living on campus, limit their ‘free speech’ by being identifiable as one with a ‘different’ sexual orientation. There has been, in our community, what many would consider to be unjustified slander and discrimination when it comes to these people. My question to you is this: Love wants you to reach out to one and all. Therefore, why are we not educating ourselves to an even greater capacity when it comes to various sexual orientations, in order to not come off as biased, uneducated, ignorant or bigot-like. Questions you may ask yourself include, but are not limited to: How would Christ see this person? Who is this person? Is the person especially evil? Am I acting in accord with what the Church prescribes? I highly suggest that you refrain from compromising your integrity as University students. I suggest that you throw away presuppositions and biased approaches to life and question what everyone shares with you. Islam comes off to many here as the evil religion filled with warmongering terrorists that hate all that is good. Seeing as those who
abide by this approach to Islam know what I am talking about, and those that don’t, don’t, I won’t describe it further. But I ask you, should you be, or should you encounter one who is ardently opposed to Islam, to read the Koran for yourself. Wouldn’t this be a greater attempt to be honest with yourself and refrain from judging the entire religion? Do you know any Muslims? How do you know what they teach and believe? Find out what the Bishops and the Vicar of Peter say! Do not default to the popular (mis-) conception provided here or elsewhere. The Church has a Magisterium for a reason. Love requires you to find things out, to use reason, and to rebuke the ‘herd mentality’. Occupy Wall Street. Many men and women have come together to fight for an equal say, fair share, peace and justice for wrongdoers. On campus, should you read/hear about it, I (almost) promise you that each person you encounter will have not actually researched this movement and tell you things that aren’t true. Love provides us no choice, but to act in the positive. The millions, yes, millions of people all coming together to fight for what the Church believes in, is doing what they were made to do, in accordance with Church doctrine. Do not buy into a conservative mentality that was handed on to you and nourished here. Do not confuse people who fight for truth with the radical liberals who will eventually want to marry their pets. Realize that people who stand with the Church (and the Church itself) call for economic reform and justice, peace and truth. Do not be afraid to stand with people who are ostracized for their belief in a real democracy, economic and social justice and world peace. Two-thousand years ago, Jesus Christ was this person. Would you have stood with Him? ~ K.M.E.
notestothegadfly@gmail.com
St. Anthony, pray for us!
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Life In All Specters The culture of life has made its mark on society. It has become the counter cultural movement against the wave of death that has been the product of Roe v. Wade. Yet, despite the fighting on the front against abortion, we must ask, how much attention is given to euthanasia and the death penalty? The appalling reality of society is that the culture of death has permeated all sides of life beyond the womb. Here on campus it makes
sense to put emphasis on the abortion/choice/life issue, since we are the youth of this period of history, and yet recognition of humanity in all its stages of life would indeed be beneficial. How many of us have sick grandparents or parents? Rather than give into hypotheticals let’s look at the tangible reality of both of these life issues. Most conservatives consider the death penalty justifiable in America and one that should be kept and used even more prevalent
than in other cases. Yet, these conflicts with the Churches’ teaching on this subject, “if this [the death penalty] is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor…the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity...” (Para. 2267 CCC). In America’s justice system, especially with the new forms of helping the imprisoned and the like, the death penalty should never have to be on the table. Therefore, we should use the Continued on page 6
Inappropriate “Romance” Movies Are Unromantic The movie was getting romantic. After taking the girl on a date, the man chivalrously took her back to her apartment, talking sweetly with her on the way. But then... bam! They are spending the night together. There goes any hope for something romantic. What is left is animalistic. Animals are not romantic, although they appear so in animated films (Disney/Pixar even has cars flirting with each other and robots falling in love- but that is a different topic). We know that the lack of chastity in most relationships portrayed on screen is against God’s Will and is not moral. But also, it simply is not romantic.
Why do most girls enjoy watching romantic movies? One reason is that we like to think and dream about our own future relationships, hoping for beautiful love stories of our own. But when a relationship in a movie is immoral, I do not think longingly, “This is so wonderful. I hope this happens to me someday.” To have romance, there has to be purity. A true lady does not give herself as an object to be used and a gentleman does not allow her to be harmed by unchastity. So what are some of the bothersome aspects of most “romantic” films? The camera angles, the wardrobes, and the scripts are designed to emphasize the physi-
cal features of the man and the woman. The filmmakers ignore the truth that the characters are human persons and not assortments of body parts. Also, the couple usually gets too affectionate too soon in the relationship, and the viewer is expected to consider the relationship romantic solely because of its physical aspect. Another problem is that in many movies, the unmarried couple is living together and does not see this as an issue. Sometimes the movie ends with neither a true and chaste love between the couple nor with a marriage, but rather, with cohabitation. Hollywood’s assumption is that if the man and woman have moved in with each other, they Continued on page 6
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ever increasing technology of forensics, instead of possibly putting innocent persons to death. In another sense, where is the Christian virtue of forgiveness or mercy? Might sound like ‘soft’ Christianity, but isn’t forgiveness harder than vengeance, do not the virtues of charity and mercy begin with forgiveness? In other cases solitary confinement seems to be effective in our locking away of criminals, as opposed to killing them in a cold sterile room. Continued from page 5
must have a good relationship and thus there is a happy ending. I am not satisfied with such a conclusion to a film. This is not to say that if the couple is married, their life will be a blissful fairy tale. But in marriage, the man and woman are committing their entire lives to each other, vowing to remain together regardless of the challenges in life. That is more romantic than a selfish and immoral relationship. Movies do not often give us the positive example of a faithful husband and wife loving each other and sacrificing for one another amidst day-to-day life. It may be said that movies are just portraying society as it is. Maybe so. But that does not mean that things should be, or have to be, the way they are. More films should show pure relationships. Whether or not people realize it, many movies encourage the attitude that reserving physical inti-
St. Nicholas, pray for us!
The euthanasia issue is one that is also wrong, but why is there no petitioning to outlaw this practice? Despite the similarity to assisted suicide, can this assailment to humanity just go by completely ignored? Where is the information on what is going on with this movement? The culture of death is so successful, precisely because it pervades all aspects of our society and therefore we must hold our defenses against all sides. I am not putting babies on the
back burner here, nor throwing them out with the bath water. What I am asking for is a more recognized, wellrounded stance concerning life. One would think that something as expansive as the concept of human life would encompass all things and indeed it does. We must protect it in all its stages.
macy and sex for marriage is completely impossible, abnormal, or unhealthy. By repeatedly seeing impure relationships, people can become desensitized to their immorality. This is especially true when the inappropriate behavior is portrayed as natural or glamorous and when the characters show no remorse for their actions. Even if you are not going to engage in the sin you see on screen, it is unwise to watch inappropriate movies. Purity is not a virtue regarding the body alone. We are also called to keep our minds and hearts pure. Why should we fill our minds with sinful scenes when we could allow God to fill them with the things of Heaven? Why should we let our hearts be touched by unchaste emotions when the Lord of the Universe is touching our hearts with true love?
Physical affection loses its significance and becomes unromantic if it is given too casually. Sometimes, when watching a movie, I want to (and occasionally do) yell at a character, “No! Don’t kiss her! You hardly know her!” If a man has kissed every woman he somewhat liked, then what is so meaningful about the fact that he is kissing another? The affection one person gives to another carries greater meaning and romance if it is reserved for someone loved on a level deeper than just physical attraction. When a man and a woman love each other sincerely, they do all they can to protect each other’s purity. The most beautiful romances are chaste.
~Bryan Watson
~
Julie Ebiner Gavit
St. Lucy, pray for us!
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To Occupy Society... What exactly is happening in New York City, in Washington D.C., in Oakland or in Atlanta? What is with these crowds of sign wielding persons? These random assemblies in parks and city squares are all part of a movement that has recently swept the societal mentality into a frenzy. This movement is ‘Occupy Wall Street’ that emerged in mid-September. The media may be painting Occupy Wall Street up as some flashy trend or freak show, but the reality is that the Occupy phenomenon is real. The seeming misdirection or lack of direction in the thousands of protesters may be the first obvious judgment the majority of us have made, but that is essentially mistaken. The reality is that each Occupy protest is autonomous in the sense that they rise up from the people of their various cities, organically. They may share the same principles, but they only
model Wall Street’s example by the mode of General Assembly. Even the lack of a real face for the movement may seem disconcerting for the outsider, since every corporation, organization, and spokesperson has had a logo or calling card. Yet, the beauty of this movement is that the face of Occupy is the people. Occupy is the product of cyber communication, swift organization, available knowledge and a people that have yearned for a voice and justification. Why should we not at the very least support a movement that collectively coincides closely with the Catholic Church? What is it that is allegedly wrong with straightening out this blurring of Business and State? The people have become entirely subsumed into a handful of persons that represent a conglomerate of the population over hundreds of square miles. And after decades of frustrated at-
tempts with politicians that will not listen nor correct a system that has become stagnant and dogmatic, a more radical resolution is begging to be found. While for most, standing alongside these Occupiers is difficult, the spread and education of the movement should occur outside the parks and city squares. The media can trivialize the movement and even mock it, but what good is that? Are we naively waiting for the politicians to change guard in the next election? We remember how that worked in the 2008 election and after just a few months, many of us remain unsatisfied with the results. It is on these grounds that we should stand by Occupy Wall Street and the sister movements across the nation, in the hope of bringing change for the good of all. ~A.S.P.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! T ell us what y ou th ink by email ing : n otestothegadfl y@gma il .com
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the move becoming immigrants subject to harassment. Xenophobic people, instead of welcoming their neighbor as the Church prescribe, keep the migrant from receiving what they need in order to support their families’ in their homelands. Lastly, while the Council expounds the need to remember the principle of subsidiarity, the document asks us to consider a different approach to taxing: perhaps a tax that is much fairer and respects all people’s effort to contribute to the economy. This, the Council reminds us, would be of great benefit to economies worldwide. On Wall Street, the Occupy movement has been up and running since September 17th, this year. The movement and its members have been accused of many negative things. These things include: no foundation, no real idea of what is going on, no unity, simply a mass youth hippy movement, a bunch of bums not knowing what to do, a movement without knowledge, and the last really does go on when you listen to various media stations. At first the movement was ignored, and other silly things were being talked about. But as soon as many US cities, including New York City, Washington DC, Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Oakland and hundreds in between, started rising up, the movement was no longer ignored, but downplayed, trashed,
St. Idisdore the Farmer, pray for us!
thrown under the bus, and inaccurate information was being shared by the media, as it tends to do most of the time anyway. However, about 500 cities across the globe, and counting, are stepping up, united with Occupy Wall Street. Their cry is justice. Their accusation (as they put it on their website), §[The un-check corporations and government] have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. §They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. §They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. §They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. §They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices. §They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. §They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. §They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut work-
ers’ healthcare and pay. §They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. §They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. §They have sold our privacy as a commodity. §They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. §They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. §They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. §They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them. §They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. §They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit. §They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. §They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. Continued on page 9
The Classics?! You quote an isolated sentence from my lecture, and appear to have some difficulty in understanding it. I should have thought that only a sub-human intelligence could have failed to grasp the point, but if it really needs amplification I shall consent to see you at the hour named. ~ The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!
Alpha
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cÉxàÜç VÉÜÇxÜ
It began with a small twinkle In an eye so large, that saw it encompassing infinity Immense was this plan, laid down with design Intricately set, with only all knowing could A drama that could play out, in His favor A solution to save those that had fallen away A cure to a disease incurable A final goal that was permanent from the first breath More grace filled the void as this one sighed Mighty is His Love, Compassion and Mercy Monumental to have the blessings poured forth Most astounding to be a piece of this plan that ends in the, Omega ~Alexander Pyles
Want to Write again
I want to feel the passion unfold like it once did. I want this feeling to pursue all the way to the end of time. I want to just let my mind think in colors and images again. I want to throb and thrash since words cannot even describe the feeling. I want to have those energies back again, so there is something to live for. I want the encouragement in my blood to become more of who I was. I want to be human again and let the flesh become warm to the touch. I want my soul back. -Alexander Pyles
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§They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. §They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. §They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. §They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*” So it seems that they know what they are asking for. There you go, happy to help. I know it has been difficult to find out seeing as many people usually are misinformed and then try to tell you about how things are. I am sure if you want to find out about their reasons and the foundation to their cry, I
highly suggest using Google. Now how does this relate to the media? Well to be honest, unless you know that going to one media source is not a wise choice then I can’t really help you. But to give you an example, we shall start locally. Our very own The Troubadour, takes part in providing our campus with news that is a) not relevant, b) (unfortunately) poorly written, c) not persuasive, or d) a waste of time. I’m sure this list isn’t exhaustive but I am trying to play nice and am only giving examples. For example, an issue or two ago of The Troubadour had an article entitled, “Gangsta dance draws on Charisms.” I am not one to cuss, but Double-U, Tea, 6th letter of the Alphabet. It really is a poor exam-
ple of reporting, of fact finding, and of providing information on things that matter. If this school is going to cry about babies being slaughtered and report about every successful thing we do in the realm of prolife, why not report things that have to do with it? Like the living people who want to change things for the good of everyone else. Yes, like the people on Wall Street and throughout the world! Just food for thought. ~ Nikolai Vlahakis **(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the Gadfly staff)
j|Çx? j|à tÇw jtzzxÜç Rhetorical Question of the day: Why does Mona Lisa smile like that? For centuries, the 77 cm x 53 cm masterpiece has been acclaimed for a million things...the expressive synthesis between the sitter and the landscape, the novel use of aerial perspective...the depiction of an ideal, virtuous woman...without eyebrows, and, of course, that disconcerting smile of hers. Since the dawn of my acquaintance with dear Lisa 15ish years ago, her smile has never failed to perplex me. Until recently, that is, when it occurred to me that perhaps Lisa is not just an enigma, she’s a case study! So for this rhetorical question about that cryptic smile, I now propose three rhetorical anOne: Mona may not have front teeth. A careful observation of the lip region reveals a mysterious scar similar to one that might be left after a blunt force. Like, for instance, incisors penetrating through the skin in some sort of application of blunt force application. In addition, her preoral anatomy is consistent with patients who lack front teeth. While I can’t wrap my head around something so traumatic or bloody happening to our fair Lisa, I’m under the impression that anatomy doesTwo: Mona once had Bell’s Palsy. An inflamma-
tion of the seventh cranial nerve where it passes through the skull is thought to be the cause of this facial paralysis. It’s usually not permanent, but since neurons can’t regenerate like the rest of our body’s cells, post-Bell’s patients often suffer from synkinesis, or a disconnect between voluntary and involuntary motor movements. Might Da Vince have captured a post-Bell’s Three: Mona Lisa was hard of hearing. Or Da Vinci had laryngitis when he did the portrait. Or a parade of horse-and-buggies was passing through Florence during the sitting. Somehow, Lisa couldn't hear what Leonardo had to say while she was posing for him, and thus had to strain herself to listen, while still sitting peaceSo why does Lisa smile like that? Maybe it’s like trying to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. The world may never know...but darn it, it’s fascinating to
~ M.K.
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