Prospectus News
Wednesday February 6, 2013 Volume 5, Number 6 Your source for Parkland College news, sports, features and opinions.
www.prospectusnews.com
Free
News
Top Stories
Tales from abroad: Hawaii Rotary Peace Forum
News - Page 2
Opinions
Ensuring safety at Parkland
Coming back to life after the Holocaust
Opinions - Page 4
Photo Illustration by Briana Kay Stodden/Prospectus News
Lifestyle
Spencer Brown Staff Writer “The shotgun effect” is a phrase that a math professor here on campus used to describe a mathematical concept. His next statement expressed regret over his choice of words. The December shooting in Newtown, Conn. had a direct impact on the professor’s sensitivity toward a phrase that referenced a firearm. Adam Lanza’s massacre of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School was the latest school shooting massacre and second largest in American history by one gunman. From Sandy Hook Elementary to Virginia Tech University to Columbine High,
Black History Month faculty profile: Dr. Willie Fowler
FOLIO LINE
FOLIO LINE
THE SINGER Mamie Smith, 1883-1946
She was born Sarah Breedlove, daughter of a poor farm couple who died while she was still a little girl. She was married at 14; when her husband died, she supported herself as a washerwoman. In 1905, Walker perfected a formula for straightening the hair of black women; it was the beginning of a cosmetics empire that, by the time of her death would make her a millionaire — one of the first black Americans to achieve that status, if not the first. Walker denied herself no luxury — her mansion at Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., is said to have been a regal showplace. But the hair-care magnate was also a generous contributor to good causes; she funded scholarships and gave to the indigent and the needy.
Bessie Smith was better known, but Mamie got there first. Her hit, “Crazy Blues,” recorded in 1920, was the first blues vocal ever recorded and also the first recording by an African-American woman. Despite that distinction, Smith did not think of herself primarily as a blues singer — she was a vaudevillian who sang many different styles. The Cincinnati-born vocalist spent the ‘20s and ‘30s barnstorming across the United States with her Jazz Hounds, a band that included such luminaries as James “Bubber’’ Miley and Willie “The Lion” Smith.
Black History
THE ENTREPRENEUR Madame C.J. Walker, 1867-1919
M c C l a t c h y - Tr i b u n e
THE EXPLORER
THE ACTIVIST
Matthew Alexander Henson, 1866-1955
A. Philip Randolph, 1889-1979
On the day in 1887 that he first met Robert Peary, Henson, though only about 21 years old, already had experience as a stevedore, seaman, bellhop and coachman. Peary thought Henson might make a valuable valet on Peary’s attempt to become the first man to reach the North Pole. But Peary soon discovered that Henson’s abilities and experiences made him even more valuable as a colleague. As Peary once put it, “I couldn’t get along without him.” The men mounted seven expeditions to the Arctic, including the last, in 1908 and 1909, when they finally stood together at the top of the world, the first explorers to do so.
His courtly, Sphinx-like demeanor belied the soul of a fighter. Randolph, a leader of the “New Negro” movement of the early 20th century, was tapped by black railroad workers to lead their fledgling union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925. It would take years for the union to even get the Pullman Co. to recognize them, years more before an agreement was hammered out, but when it was over, Randolph and his union had won workplace concessions once unthinkable for black employees. In later years, Randolph was instrumental in pushing President Franklin Roosevelt to do away with segregation in the defense industry. He was also an organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
Lifestyle - Page 3
THE JOURNALIST
THE PREACHER
John Russwurm, 1799-1851
Adam Clayton Powell Sr., 1865-1953
Although he was technically born a slave in Jamaica, Russwurm enjoyed many privileges of freedom because his father was a white American bachelor. His father, also named John Russwurm, provided a quality education for his son at Bowdoin College in Maine (he graduated in 1826, the third African-American to graduate from an American college). When the elder Russwurm relocated to Massachusetts, he took the boy with him. In 1827, this child of privilege took up the plight of the American slave. With his partner, Samuel Cornish, he founded Freedom’s Journal, the first black newspaper published in the United States. The paper’s then-controversial credo: Complete freedom and equality for African slaves. As the editors put it in their first editorial, it was time for black people to plead “our own cause.”
He was the grandson of slaves, the father of a flamboyant namesake congressman and a towering figure in his own right. As a boy, Powell, a Virginia native, is said to have learned the alphabet in a day. A year later, he was reading from the Bible. A grandfather nudged Powell toward the ministry and he eventually served as pastor of churches in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The pastorate that made him famous, however, was at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City. Under Powell’s leadership, Abyssinian practiced a social gospel that did not limit itself to the pulpit and pews; the church operated a facility for the aged, helped feed the poor, and agitated for racial and economic justice. By the mid-1930s, Abyssinian claimed 14,000 members, making it the largest Protestant congregation in the United States.
ometimes, history forgets. Sometimes, the big names everyone knows crowd out the smaller ones fewer people recall. Sometimes, when it is time to apportion honor and assign recognition, men and women who ought to be singled out are not. And so, those who inspired the dreams, fanned the flames and stood in the thick of revolutionary change can find themselves left out of the books, short-changed in the reminiscences. In this annual season of black history’s celebration, much will be said, and deservedly so, about giants such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois. But here, in 10 fields of American endeavor, are 10 other names, lesser-known women and men whose contributions and heroism we should — Leonard Pitts Jr., The Miami Herald remember, always.
Famous African Americans in History
“We do firearms training, we do control tactics training,” Young said. “We do active shooter training here on the campus. We shut down the campus and our officers train on how to respond to different parts of the campus under duress,” he explained. “We get role players involved so that we have different people screaming and yelling so that we can keep our skill levels up.” This training is not a direct reaction to the Newtown shooting. “We’ve been doing it for 10 years,” Sergeant Yvonne Meyer commented. “It’s not a classroom setting where we sit for 50 minutes and go over new material. It’s an all-day thing; different groups, different scenarios.” The officers are trained
The past couple of months have been a confusing time for the students at Parkland College. What they have been experiencing recently is a series of unauthorized emails sent to the entire student email system. “It wasn’t that bad until everybody thought it was funny and just kept replying to it and filled up the inbox,” said Skyler Crank, second year Music major. “Everybody just kept pouncing on the problem, they were just like ‘I’m going to respond to all of these emails.’ It was just annoying.” No matter how secure the internet becomes, there will always those who find a way to break the system. This has been happening since the very early days of the computer and unless someone invents a foolproof way to secure it, there will be no end to it. What happened was someone responded to an official Parkland mass email using the “reply to all” function. They sent the entire student body
THE FILMMAKER
THE SOLDIER
THE FIGHTER
P.B.S. Pinchback, 1837-1921
Oscar Micheaux, 1884-1951
Henry Johnson, 1897*-1929
Jack Johnson, 1878-1946
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was the free-born son of a white planter and a woman the planter owned and later freed. In 1862, he was assigned the duty of recruiting African-American volunteers for the Union Army forces, but resigned his captain’s commission in protest of the discriminatory treatment of his men. During Reconstruction, he was a leader in the founding of the Louisiana Republican Party and was elected president pro tempore of the state Senate in 1871. Pinchback became lieutenant governor when the incumbent died. Then, the governor was suspended during impeachment proceedings, and Pinchback succeeded him, too, serving as acting governor of Louisiana from December 1872 to January 1873. He was the first African-American governor in history and, until L. Douglas Wilder became chief executive of Virginia in 1989, the only one.
Oscar Micheaux came of age during the days when filmmakers routinely ignored African-Americans or confined them to subservient, demeaning roles. This was, paradoxically, the key to his success. During the ’20s and ’30s, Micheaux wrote, directed and produced about 30 films keyed to black audiences. Micheaux operated on a budget of next to nothing, raising money directly from his audiences. Thus, there was no such thing as “Take two” in a Micheaux movie — not even when an actor blew his lines. Not surprisingly, the movies were usually awful. Also not surprisingly, an audience starving to see itself reflected on screen flocked to his films. Micheaux, a consummate promoter, would travel from town to town, screening his current movie while raising funds for the next.
Early on the morning of May 14, 1918, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were standing sentry on a bridge near the Aisne River in France when, without warning, they were attacked by a force of 32 Germans. Cut off from their regimental headquarters and armed only with pistols, knives and a few hand grenades, the two black soldiers somehow stood off the much larger force, pressing the fight even though Johnson was wounded three times and Roberts twice. At one point, the Germans rushed the pair and took Roberts prisoner. By now reduced to using only a bolo knife and the butt of his empty pistol, Johnson nevertheless charged the Germans. He managed to wound as many as 10 of them and to kill at least four more. The startled Germans dropped their prisoner and ran. Johnson and Roberts were both awarded France’s highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre.
Before there was Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis or Jackie Robinson, there was John Arthur Johnson, a boxer who became history’s first black heavyweight champion in 1908 with a victory over Tommy Burns. Johnson spent 15 rounds whipping Burns, carrying on a running dialogue with him as he did so. Finally police stopped the bout. The victory was all the more impressive in light of the fact that Burns’ manager served as referee — a concession Johnson had to make in order to get Burns to agree to the fight. Johnson’s victory polarized the nation — a state of tension made worse by the fact that he was a swaggering, boastful champion given to publicly romancing and marrying white women. Proponents of white supremacy seized upon former champion Jim Jeffries as their “great white hope” for snatching the title back from this unruly black man. But the overweight Jeffries, who returned from retirement for the bout, was no match for Johnson, who toyed with him for 15 rounds before knocking him out.
P H OTO C R E D I T S : P H OTO S O F P. B . S . P I N C H B AC K A N D A DA M C L AY TO N P OW E L L S R . C O U RT E S Y O F T H E O H I O H I S TO R I C A L S O C I E T Y; A . P H I L I P R A N D O LP H C O U RT E S Y O F T H E N AT I O N A L A R C H I V E S ; M A DA M E C. J. WA L K E R C O U RT E S Y O F T H E C H I C AG O T R I B U N E ; P H OTO O F O S C A R M I C H E AU X C O U T E S Y O F S O U T H DA KOTA S TAT E A R C H I V E S ; J O H N RU S S W U R M C O U RT E S Y O F B OW D O I N C O L L E G E ; J AC K J O H N S O N C O U RT E S Y O F M I K E D E L I S A ; H E N RY J O H N S O N C O U RT E S Y O F T H E H E N RY J O H N S O N M E M O R I A L ; P H OTO O F M A M I E S M I T H C O U RT E S Y O F F R A N K D R I G G S ; M AT T H E W A L E X A N D E R H E N S O N C O U RT E S Y O F T H E N AT I O N A L A R C H I V E S
BLACK HISTORY MONTH — ICONS MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Local video game company here to stay
Full Story - Page 8
- Newsroom (217) 351-2216 prospectus@parkland.edu
Contact
- Publications Mgr. Sean Hermann (217) 351-2216
prospectus.editor@gmail.com
- Advisor John Eby (217) 353-2627
jeby@parkland.edu
Photo Illustration by Craig Towsley/Prospectus News
Students have become frustrated with continuing flood of email. what appeared to be a picture of an owl. Next to the image was some obscene text. This started a chain of replies that lasted for a couple of weeks, mostly from confused students who did not know what was happening. “I have one account called
“students,” which I use to send to the entire student population, and only I have access to that,” Doug Brooks, Associate Director of Network Support Services at Parkland said. “So when the first email came through, we were baffled on how it could even work. So
- Advertising Linda Tichenor (217) 351-2206
Index
prospectusads@parkland.edu
News - 2 Lifestyle - 3 Opinions - 4 Puzzles/Comics - 6 Black History - 7 Entertainment - 8
in law enforcement and are licensed EMT’s. In addition to that, there are mutual aid agreements in place with state and local police, fire and ambulance services in the case of a large-scale event. Public safety isn’t the only entity involved in the event of a campus emergency. Patty Lehn, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, is part of a group that has a very important role. “The Crisis Management Team strives to prepare the college for that worst-casescenario event that might be difficult to think about, but must be considered and managed,” Lehn explained. “The team implements the services necessary to manage the situation at hand See SAFETY on P. 5
Student email confusion reaches end
THE POLITICIAN
Entertainment
those areas to assist with any needs.” For security purpose, Burgess could not reveal specifics in regards to what changes would occur in the evacuation plan in the event of a gunman, but mentioned that the plan alters and there is a lockdown/shelter procedure in place. Even with the lockdown procedures, some would argue for a proactive measure requiring metal detectors at exit doors. “For every metal detector that you put in place, you would need two employees to be there at any one time,” Director of Public Safety Von Young said. That’s a lot of manpower. Instead they rely on not only the procedures put in place but their training as well.
Ted Setterlund Staff Writer
Full Story - Page 7
*Approximate year of birth
these school shootings raise many questions. No one could have predicted any of these school tragedies and it is important that all schools be on alert. No school is immune to attack, not even Parkland. While that may be true, the school is aptly prepared to deal with any and all emergencies. “Evacuation maps are posted on the walls in each wing showing evacuation routes in the event of an emergency,” Bonita Burgess, Associate Director of Public Safety, explained. “Each department in the college has primary and secondary rally points to meet in the event of an evacuation. For students with functional needs, we have areas of rescue on the second floor of each building. Police officers check
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” won the four most prestigious Academy Awards in 1975: Best Picture, Actor, Actress and Director. (Answer on page 5)
we tried to make some changes, trying to figure out what was going on, because our belief was that there was a flaw in the student email system.” During winter break, the responses slowed to a stop, but with a return to campus, the reply messages have
resurfaced. This time, it was people asking other people to quit replying to the email. Another mysterious email that ended up being forwarded was a Humanities 101 letter sent to a student. Like the last email, several confused students replied to the email asking why this was being sent to them, some of them including obscenities. What makes this somewhat bizarre is that the emails happened shortly after a similar situation occurred in a very large and better known university. This past November, a sophomore student at NYU accidently replied to a message that he had intended to send to his mother to the entire student system, which is estimated to consist of 44,000 students. The email eventually got the attention of the media, including ABC. The sophomore who sent the email, Max Wiseltier, has since stated that what he did was a complete accident, and that it was the fault of his old See SPAM on P. 5
News
Page 2 - Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Prospectus News www.prospectusnews.com
Tales from abroad: Hawaii Rotary Peace Forum JoJo Rhinehart Staff Writer The Rotary Global Peace Forum was held January 25-27 in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Hawaii Convention Center. Its main goal was to bring people together from many different parts of the world, to share ideas and exchange customs. They also met to promote a new and peaceful way of thinking to benefit the whole forum. According to Rotary’s website, Rotary club is a group of over 1.2 million business men and women working to promote world peace. This is done by the club’s active service projects at home and abroad. The Rotary club works to provide clean water, end world hunger, support education, eradicate polio, and maintain a healthier lifestyle for the underprivileged. The Rotary club also works to encourage the next generation of leaders with programs such as Interact for the high school level and Rotaract for college students. Parkland College has a Rotaract club of their own, which all students are welcomed to join. The club provides many service project opportunities, and gives students a chance to meet others with similar interests in helping others through volunteer opportunities. Rotary also puts on the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program, which invites top students in each high school to attend a two day workshop that promotes peaceful thinking and leadership qualities. Young and old people alike were invited to attend this forum. They focused on empowering the next generationofyouthtotakealeadership role within their community and be collaborators for peace. Sakuji Tanaka, Rotary International’s President, encouraged fellow Rotarians and those involved with the Rotary Club to take part in the Peace Forum in a video posted on the Peace Forum’s page. “Together we will empower a new generation’s vision of world peace and understanding,” Tanaka said.
When attending this forum, one might come to the conclusion that the truest and easiest way to make peace would be to take off your shoes and lay on the beach or catch some waves on Hawaii’s famously blue oceans. In fact, after attending the forum, one might even conclude that the only way to actually achieve world
peace would be to gather up everyone in the world and ship them off to the islands of Hawaii, to live out their day’s sun bathing and enjoying the constantly warm weather. Unfortunately, the idea of piling everyone in the world onto this small island is not possible, even if it would put an end to the violence. The Peace Forum offered many different workshops and lectures that attendees were welcomed to sit in on and participate in. These workshops were focused on
topics concerning the well-being of the impoverished, the hungry and those lacking basic educational needs. The workshops also touched on
Nicholas Daniels commented on the workshops he chose to attend, saying, “I chose workshops that most closely related to what I am interested in.” “There was a workshop on music and its role in bringing peace, studying abroad opportunities and guides, and a three session forum called ‘Dream it, Do it.’ They were all really interesting,” he explained. Daniels and many of the other youth attendees
remarked that their time at the forum was a lot of fun and they were excited to take what they learned back to their own G r a p h i c communities. “I thought it was courtesy of the Rotary International cool that most of the workshops were ideas that focused on young promoted taking care of the environment and understanding people. It was exciting to meet people other cultures in order to avoid my age from all over the world that conflict between different groups of were interested in changing the world, like me,” Daniels remarked. people. Saturday morning saw more Rotaract and past Rotary Youth Leadership Awards member workshops, but Saturday night was
the time many attendees were most looking forward to. The Peace Forum’s fourth plenary session welcomed Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to speak about her work in Burma and what world peace meant to her. This was only Dr. Suu Kyi’s second time on United States soil since her house arrest term ended on 13 November 2010. Suu Kyi has been most concerned with the brutality in Burma, and has led nonviolent movements against its dictator in order to achieve democracy and human rights. “If you’re feeling helpless, help someone.” Suu Kyi stated in her book “Freedom from Fear,” which greatly reflects many of the points she spoke about during Saturday night’s dinner. The forum introduced many new ideas and projects that the attendees had the chance to take a part in or bring home to share with their own Rotary Clubs. The forum’s speakers insisted that all those in attendance remember that they are a vital part in the making of peace within one’s own community. According to Rotary’s website, it has been Tanaka’s vision to gather Rotarians in areas that have been impacted most by WWII and that have healed most visibly over the years. The Rotary Peace Forum has also had gatherings in Berlin, Germany and Hiroshima, Japan. According to the Hawaii Rotary Peace Conference’s website, Honolulu was chosen for the forum in January because of the example Hawaii gives of bringing together people of all different ethnicities that can live in peace together. Rotary invites all youth to become involved with their local Rotary Clubs, high school Interact Clubs and college Rotaract Clubs. To get involved in Parkland’s Rotaract club, or to get more information, contact JoJo Rhinehart at brhinehart1@stu.parkland.edu or visit advisor Joe Walwik in his office at D-170. For more information on the Rotary club, visit www.rotary.org.
Republican, Democratic lawmakers will meet separately on budget cuts David Lightman and Kevin G. Hall McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON Lawmakers for both major political parties will huddle separately behind closed doors starting Tuesday, plotting strategy for the coming fight over how to prevent deep, across-the-board automatic federal spending cuts scheduled to begin on March 1. That the parties are meeting separately and sometimes far from Washington says much about the current mood. Unless an alternative is adopted, some $85 billion in automatic spending cuts take effect in 24 days because of what’s known as the budget sequester. As members of Congress head for the congressional retreats, which traditionally are intense, private sessions that aim not only to set the agenda for the coming year but also to promote party unity, they also appear headed on a path for familiar, intractable battles later this month. The automatic cuts are part of the 2011 debt ceiling deal, which mandates the spending reductions unless lawmakers agree otherwise. The thinking had been to join the parties at the hip, and that they’d reach some sort of compromise because the cuts would be so politically unpalatable. Instead, as $109 billion in automatic cuts were due to take effect on Jan. 2, Congress passed a compromise postponing the cuts until March 1 as part of a deal that raised taxes on the richest 1 percent of Americans. The deal lowered the sequester figure to $85 billion, still a number that, if cut out of federal spending this year, would drag against an already anemic economic recovery. But with the sequester deadline looming, it’s still Groundhog Day for rhetoric. Each side appears stuck in the same themes of the November
elections and the New Year’s deal that avoided steeper tax hikes on 99 percent of Americans. Democrats again are calling for higher taxes on big corporations and the wealthy to raise revenue and avoid deep spending cuts that would slow the economy. Republicans insist that the nation faces a spending problem. “There are a lot of things we can do out there, and we’re going to make an effort to make sure that ... sequestration involves revenue,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “Part of it, the American people agree, should be the wealthiest people in America paying a little bit more, and there should be a balance of spending cuts and revenue.” On the Senate floor Monday, Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky criticized the Democrats’ approach. “If you were to listen to the Democrats, you’d think all of our ills could be solved by raising taxes on private jets or energy companies,” he said. These aren’t real solutions. ... They’re poll-tested gimmicks.” The sequester has the potential to have more immediate impact on constituents. The cuts would affect a wide range of popular policies involving education, the arts, transportation, housing and other domestic programs. And the Pentagon is warning that the effects could be felt immediately. Senate Democrats plan to meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Annapolis, Md., and House Democrats will meet for three days, beginning Wednesday, at a Virginia resort. President Barack Obama is expected to address both gatherings, and Democrats are expected to discuss raising revenue through loophole closing, as well as possibly capping income tax deductions. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman
Carl Levin, D-Mich., is circulating a memo among colleagues that would seek to raise new revenues by closing some tax loopholes for energy companies, going after multinational corporations that shield their foreign earnings, and doing away with a tax break that allows hedge fund owners to skirt paying ordinary income taxes on their income; it permits them to pay the lower rate at which capital gains are taxed. Democrats are likely to discuss the Levin memo at their meetings this week. Business groups don’t like being targeted under the Levin plan. “Discriminatory tax increases, that certainly is not way to solve the problem, and we are very opposed to using tax increases to address this,” said Dorothy Coleman, vice president of tax policy for the influential National Association of Manufacturers. She said that raising taxes on business was “absolutely the wrong direction.” Senate Republicans will meet Tuesday at the Library of Congress. House Republicans met last month in Williamsburg, Va. Republicans have been adamant that revenue should not be part of the mix. They support spending cuts and want to look beyond the immediate problem to find a longrange solution. In the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, reiterated his view that the lack of spending cuts would hurt the economy. “The sooner we solve our spending problem, the sooner we solve our jobs problem,” he said. The House has passed legislation to delay the
State mental health budgets
States with the biggest cuts and increases in mental heath budgets, FY2009-12, percent change and amount, in millions:
Biggest cuts S. Carolina
-39.3% ($73.6) -36.0 (36.1)
Alabama
-32.6 (40.9) -31.7 (187.0) -28.1 (49.3) -23.9 (50.8) -21.2 (764.8) -17.9 (10.2) -12.4 (14.3) -10.4 (27.2)
Biggest increases
Alaska Illinois
Nevada
Washington, D.C. California Idaho
Kansas
Mississippi
N. Dakota
Georgia
Oregon Maine
W. Virginia
Rhode Island Wyoming
Minnesota
New Mexico Tennessee
sequester with offsetting spending cuts instead of indiscriminate cuts, but the Senate has balked. The biggest question to be resolved at the retreats involves the politics of dealing with sequestration. Washington endured an ugly fight to avoid the fiscal cliff
48.1% ($24.0) 21.9 (86.1) 20.9 (63.0) 15.4 (10.7) 11.5 (16.4) 10.6 (9.3) 8.9 (4.7) 6.8 (13.1) © 2013 MCT Source: National Alliance 6.5 (6.4) on Mental Illness Graphic: Judy Treible 5.9 (9.7)
in January, and then smoothly worked a deal to increase the nation’s debt limit. “The biggest concern I have, frankly, right now, is the uncertainty, the budget uncertainty on Capitol Hill,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told CNN on Sunday, “because if the sequester is
allowed to go into effect, I think it could seriously impact on the readiness in the United States, and that’s a serious issue.” --(c)2013 McClatchy Washington Bureau
Lifestyle
Prospectus News www.prospectusnews.com
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 Page 3
Black History Month faculty profile: Dr. Willie Fowler
Photo courtesy of Dr. Willie Fowler
Mont.
Fast growth means celebration and pain
North Dakota is the nation's fastest-growing state, fueled by the oil boom in the western part of the state that is drawing workers seeking to cash in on the prosperity. • Population grew 2.2 percent to 699,628 in the year ending July 1
Ground zero: Williston, N.D.
100 km
N. Dakota Bismarck
N. Dakota
Airport boardings
2,500
*Year end estimate
166
5,594
1,079
15,642*
*Oct. YTD
Fargo
94
• Williston’s taxable sales and purchases for the third quarter of 2012 were $953 million compared to the much larger city of Fargo’s $712 million EMS/fire calls for service
6,089
*Estimate
Police calls
2,300*
Housing units built
Williston
29
100 miles
North Dakota quick facts
• Unemployment rate in December was 3.2 percent, compared to the nation’s 7.8 percent
Oil fields
enjoyed the course. So I’ve had not just one very good moment here,” Fowler explained. Fowler is a tremendous teacher in many ways. One is that he expects the best out of all his students on every assignment. “Recently, one of the counselors said that she thought that every student needed to take my course. As I read my teacher evaluations, several students wrote that they thought every student needs to study, to work hard, to interact with their teacher and to ask good questions,” Fowler said. These are just the traits that Fowler seeks to encourage in the students of his class. And it is these traits that will serve them well in further courses and in their professional life, as well. Fowler is not only an exceptional teacher, but as mentioned earlier, he brings a different style of teaching to the plate. He embodies a fun style in the classroom and encourages his students to do the same.
Minn.
Black History Month is a time dedicated to recognizing the accomplishments of Africans, both American and otherwise, that is celebrated all throughout the world. Dr. Willie Fowler, Political Science professor at Parkland, is considered by many to be one of the most admired instructors that the school has to offer. The thing that students admire most about him is his style of teaching. He’s very engaged in each and every topic. Even as a professor, Fowler maintains the enthusiasm and excitement for the subject matter more often attributed to students new to the field. Fowler is not only a terrific instructor, but also someone that any student at Parkland would benefit from knowing. Not just because of his nature, but because his knowledge of politics in and out of the state is phenomenal. It is almost as if the man
I was crossing the street to catch a bus and a young lady ran a light, a drunk driver, and she smashed me; broke my ribs and put me in a hospital,” Fowler recounted. “After experiencing that, it made me want to get involved in changing laws and changing lives and so I decided I wanted to teach political science from that point on.” Overall, Fowler has had many memorable moments as an instructor and has had a great teaching career that will continue into the future. “I’ve had several very good moments at Parkland. My first, naturally, greatest moment was when I was hired here at Parkland when I was in law school.” “Another great moment I had was when I received the rank of tenure. Another great moment was when I was promoted to full professor recently.” “And finally, another good moment was when I received my results pack from my teacher evaluation, which told me that students really
was born to teach. Fowler brings out a different aspect of teaching, and is unlike some teachers in that he offers ample opportunities for students to engage with each other just as he engages with his students. “I just always like to share information, my brother was a teacher. Technology was also another reason, but it all falls down to the fact that I’ve always enjoyed sharing information, interacting with students, working with students and dispensing information,” Fowler said. Sharing information is something that Fowler does well. It all comes down to how much knowledge you have and how well you can disperse it to the class as a whole. People may ask, why Political Science? Why teach about something that gets more complex each and every day? For Fowler, it all comes down to what you love to do and what you feel you are suited for the most. “I was on my way to baseball practice at Whitney Young High School in Chicago and
38,000*
Alex Wallner Staff Writer
’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13
’09
’10
’11
’12
’09
Source: City of Williston, U.S. Census Bureau, N. Dakota Tax Commissioner Graphic: Ray Grumney, Minneapolis Star Tribune
’10
’11
’12
’09
’10
’11
’12 © 2013 MCT
Opinions
Page 4 - Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Prospectus Prospectus News News
Prospectus News www.prospectusnews.com
Coming back to life after the Holocaust
Rm. X-155 2400 W. Bradley Ave. Champaign, Il 61821 217-351-2216
Find us online: www.prospectusnews.com facebook.com/prospectusnews twitter.com/the_prospectus
Originally created as the Parkland College Prospectus in 1969 in Champaign, IL, Prospectus News is a student produced news source in print, Web, and design media formats. Prospectus News is published weekly during the semester and monthly during the summer.
Editorial Policy and Letter to the Editor - All content is subject to review by the editorial staff. - All submissions must follow the Parkland College code of conduct. All violations of said code will be turned over to Parkland College Administration and Public Safety. - All content, once published, becomes property of Prospectus News. - All submitted content must be original work. - All submissions must also include up to date contact information. - View expressed are not necessarily that of Prospectus News or Parkland College. - E-mail prospectus@parkland. edu, subject “Letter to the Editor.”
Advertising Interested in placing an ad? Contact us: 217-351-2206 prospectusads@parkland.edu
- Advertising is accepted which is non-discriminatory and not in violation of any laws. Prospectus News reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Publication of advertising constitutes final acceptance. - Advertisers must verify ads for accuracy. - Prospectus News deadline for all advertising is 5 p.m. of the Friday immediately before the upcoming edition. - The advertiser pays for all advertising and views expressed in ads are not necessarily that of Prospectus News or Parkland College.
Prospectus News Staff: Advisor: John Eby Publications Manager: Sean Hermann Production Supervisor: Briana Stodden Editor: Shane Rogers Photo Editor: Chanelle Stokes Copy Editor: Madison Eddy Staff Writers: Spencer Brown Mark Roughton Mace Mackiewicz Alex Wallner Ted Setterlund Photographers: JoJo Rhinehart Craig Towsley Graphic Designers: Burke Stanion Alisha Kirkley Ad Manager: Linda Tichenor
Did you know? All unused issues of Prospectus News are donated to the Parkland College Veterinary Technology program or the Champaign County Humane Society.
Photo courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Visitors to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum pass under this gate, a cast taken from the original entrance to the Auschwitz death camp, inscribed with the ironic phrase Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes One Free). Allan Chernoff Los Angeles Times “Happy birthday!” my mom and her first cousin wished each other on Sunday, even though neither was born on Jan. 27. Rather, it’s the anniversary of their new lease on life, of the day the Soviet Red Army liberated them from behind the barbed wire of AuschwitzBirkenau in 1945. My mom, Rena Margulies Chernoff, was 11 then, and her cousin Frieda Tenenbaum was 10. They were among the very few children who somehow survived the infamous death camp, where more than a million people - mostly Jews, including more than 200,000 children, but also gays, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) - were slaughtered. For many years after their liberation, Rena, Frieda and a few other Auschwitz child survivors gathered to celebrate their “birthday,” sharing tears and laughter, flowers, food and drink. Together, they explored their tragic past, and in doing so helped each other to heal. It didn’t seem likely, in those last days before the Soviets
arrived, that my mother and her cousin would survive. Nazi guards ordered prisoners to line up by the camp’s gates for evacuation marches. Rena, Frieda and their mothers, convinced they couldn’t survive a death march, sneaked off to a deserted barracks to hide under the wood slats of the lowest bunk. They quietly cowered against the frozen ground as Nazi guards screamed “Alle Juden Raus!” (“All Jews Out!”) and scoured the camp for stragglers, who were then shot to death. Silence eventually replaced the sounds of violence. The guards had evacuated, allowing the girls and their mothers to return to the hospital barracks that had been their most recent shelter. Even so, death surrounded them. Starving musselmen, a term for the most physically and emotionally spent prisoners, collapsed and died before their eyes. Those who retained a bit of strength raided the kitchen and broke into a warehouse, where they found blankets and layers of clothing to protect against the cold. But the situation was still desperate.
A week later, Jan. 27, 1945, dawned clear and brilliantly sunny at Auschwitz. Prisoners first noticed what appeared to be dogs off in the distance, tramping through deep snow. But as the figures approached it became clear they were soldiers, bundled in coats and fur hats, approaching the camp. When they realized it was the Soviets, who had come to liberate them, many of the survivors hugged one another and cried with joy. But some of the inmates, including my mother, weren’t capable of elation. She describes feeling numb, ill with tuberculosis and struggling to come to terms with all she had endured. Indeed, the Soviet soldiers themselves were unprepared for the pitiful sights they encountered in the camps. Their leader, Gen. Vasily Petrenko, entered the hospital barracks and broke down in tears. An army film crew soon afterward handed Rena a striped prisoner’s uniform to wear, then recorded her and other children walking past a barbed-wire fence. That widely aired footage left
the misimpression children in the camp had worn such uniforms. In fact, striped uniforms were for the slave laborers who worked outside the camp in brigades known as Aussenkomandos. (Upon arrival at Auschwitz, most female prisoners, including Rena, Frieda and their mothers, received dresses taken from murdered prisoners.) Liberation did not instantly free my mother to regain her humanity. It returned gradually. At a displaced persons camp, among a community of survivors, she filled in gaps in her education and played with friends, free from fear that her laughter and cheer could get her killed. Upon arrival in the United States, she found the love of a larger family, which embraced her and assisted in her adjustment to a new country. She learned to live by living life again, eventually starting a career and a family. To be sure, the effect of Auschwitz on a survivor never disappears; it merely recedes. But celebrating one’s liberation as a birthday has been an effective way for these miracle children - now among
the last remaining Holocaust survivors - to reaffirm life and move beyond trauma. Rena and Frieda’s group of Auschwitz survivors no longer gathers each year to celebrate the anniversary of their rescue. Age, illness and physical distance make that impossible. And before long, even the youngest of them will be gone. Their “birthday,” though, must be remembered. In declaring Jan. 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United Nations General Assembly urged its member states “to develop educational programs that will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the Holocaust in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide.” Remembering and educating others about the importance of remembrance - is the best possible tribute to the victims and survivors, the best tool we have to give power to our cry, “Never again!” --(c)2013 Los Angeles Times
Cellphone firms stretch copyright law to deter competition Los Angeles Times Cellphone users know that when they sign a contract with a mobile phone company, they’re locked into that network for the duration of the deal. What they may not know is that their phone is digitally locked to that network forever. And as of this week, they may no longer have the legal right to unlock it, even after the contract has expired. It’s just the latest example of how companies have stretched copyright law to deter competition and innovation, not protect the creators of copyrighted works. At issue is Section 1201 of the 1998 Digital Millennium
Copyright Act, which bars people from circumventing a “technological measure” - e.g., a digital lock - that restricts access to a copyrighted work. Recognizing how sweeping the prohibition was, Congress instructed the Librarian of Congress to grant exemptions every three years for circumventions that enabled non-infringing uses of locked works. The government granted exemptions for mobile phone unlocking in 2006 and 2010 but not last year, ruling that consumers who wanted an unlocked phone could buy a new one or seek permission from their phone company. The industry’s trade
association contends that the locks help prevent people from taking heavily subsidized phones to rival networks before they’ve fulfilled their contracts and (presumably) repaid the subsidies. It also argues that the locks help stop middlemen from buying prepaid phones in bulk, unlocking them and then reselling them overseas. But mobile phone companies already charge hefty early termination fees for users who break their contracts, and they sell prepaid phones with considerably lower subsidies, if any. For example, Verizon gives away the HTC Rhyme smartphone with a two-year contract, but it charges $440
for a Rhyme without one. More fundamentally, it’s hard to see the connection between the locks and the software creators that copyright law were supposed to protect. Consumers were allowed to unlock phones before the smartphone market exploded, and yet Apple went on to develop the iPhone and Google developed the rival Android software. Clearly, the point of the locks isn’t to protect Apple, Google and other creators of copyrighted phone software; it’s to protect the phone companies’ revenue streams. That’s not what copyright law is for. Yet that’s how
companies have repeatedly tried to use it in the digital era, when so many services and devices can claim copyright protection based on the software they rely on. The courts have turned back some of the more egregious efforts, such as the attempt by a printer manufacturer to use the anticircumvention law to block a rival supplier of ink cartridges. But the government’s flub on the cellphone issue shows that it’s time for Congress to clarify that companies will have to find a more appropriate tool than copyright law to enforce their business models. --(c)2013 Los Angeles Times
Prospectus News www.prospectusnews.com
SAFETY continued from page 1
and return the campus to normal function.” As with the evacuation measures, the Crisis Management Team makes sure the staff is prepared. “Faculty has resources and procedures for keeping themselves and their student’s safe,” Lehn said. “In a crisis they are expected to follow the directives of Public Safety and the Crisis Management Team. We also provide them with a reporting system that makes it fairly simple to let us know if they have concerns about an individual’s safety or wellbeing,” she explained. Public Safety and the Crisis Management Team are very well versed in the techniques for ensuring the safety of the school. One downfall is that the tactics appear somewhat reactive. The presence of security cameras helps put away any doubts that the tactics appear reactive. They are more than just a deterrent. “We are using them to solve crimes and punish people that commit crimes,” Sgt. Meyer acknowledged. In the past few weeks, the cameras were used to recover a stolen phone and identify the individual responsible for a hit and
run. Another group taking a proactive stance is the Behavioral Intervention Team. The BIT is an assorted group of Parkland’s officials that are involved in a different form of school safety. This team discusses possible safety measures as well as assesses anyone who may be a constant issue on campus. On the school’s website, there is a form called the Person of Concern form. It is designed for the students to report odd, bothersome or dangerous behavior to the administration anonymously. If a single person constantly has a form submitted for them, it is cause for review. In this instance, the BIT decides what the appropriate action to take with this individual is to ensure safety on campus. The form can be found at ww.parkland.edu/ resources/safecampus/ personOfConcern.aspx. It is the hope of all involved with the safety of the school and students alike, that none of these actions are needed. It does however ease the mind of those that inhabit the hallways. For more information on safety procedures or evacuation information, visit Public Safety in Room X-109.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 - Page 5
Fact or Fiction? Fact: In addition to Best Picture, the winners were Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher and Milos Forman.
SPAM continued from page 1
computer, according to ABC News. The University of Illinois is also experiencing similar problems with their system. Last January, a U of I student was arrested for hacking into a certain number of university email accounts. The student collected private information and sent a letter to students from a professor’s account. This situation has had the effect of raising concerns about the security of the network. At first glance, none of the staff knew what was going on, assuming that all of this was part of their email system. They were unable to find information on how the student got into the system.
“We finally found the problem about a week ago. Turns out it had absolutely nothing to do the student email system at all; it had not been hacked at all,” Brooks continued. “What happened was that we have another system that we put into place called “PaperCut,” which is the current printing service that Parkland has. That was where the problem was happening.” “That group that manages all of the accounts was also called “students,” and when a student was sending in a reply, it was actually catching that in the directory structure, and it was being broadcasted to every student from there,” he concluded. According to Brooks, now that the source of the problem has been found, there should be no further issues with the system.
SUBS SO
FAST
YOU’LL FREAK!
FREAKY FAST
DELIVERY! ©2011 JIMMY JOHN’S FRANCHISE, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
At SIU Carbondale, we think you should never miss an opportunity. Why take the summer off, when you can take the summer on?
Summer session: June 10th–August 2nd For a short-term, intensive course, try Intersession, a summer semester crammed into a few weeks. May 13th–June 7th.
deterMInAtIon never tAkeS A breAk
summer.siu.edu
Page 6 - Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Puzzles & Comics
Bliss
Prospectus News www.prospectusnews.com
Tough Sudoku Puzzles, Volume 3, Book 50
Sudoku #7 Sudoku (hard)
YOUR AD HERE
1 9 3 2 7 8 6 2 5 8 2 3 9 4 1 1 2 3 4 1 4 3 3 5 7 7 8 6
Place your classified here for only $5 per week. Ads must be less than three lines or 30 words. Contact our ad department today! 217-351-2206 or prospectusads@parkland.edu
HIRING: The Ultimate Tan - accepting applications for part- time sales associates with open availability including days. Apply in person at 1909 W. Springfield
© 2012 KrazyDad.com
BREWSTER ROCKIT
scratch area
The TV Crossword Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 14, 2011
By Jacqueline Edited by Rich NorrisE. andMathews Joyce Lewis
xkcd.com
ACROSS 1 One of the ABC islands 6 Nail remover 10 Loaf, with “off” 14 Any “Friends” episode, now 15 Kunlun Mountains locale 16 Toothed whale 17 *Retro viewer 20 Stand-up routine, usually 21 Lotion additive 22 Demond’s co-star in a ’70s sitcom 24 Mud nest builders 28 *Retro imager 33 Aroused 34 Forward progress 35 New Jersey casino, with “The” 36 __-bitsy 37 Tums targets 39 SEAL’s school 40 Printer resolution meas. 41 Lie flush with 42 In need of a tow 43 *Retro recorder 47 Oscar winner Zellweger 48 Path to the pins 49 Drawn-out story 52 Hive material 57 *Retro dialer 61 Morales of “Jericho” 62 Seward Peninsula city 63 Frozen rope, in baseball 64 Pounds in London 65 Shih __: Tibetan dogs 66 Online periodicals DOWN 1 Wall St. traders 2 Move, in Realtor lingo 3 Russian river 4 Osso __ 5 One of more than four million Turks 6 Isn’t capable of 7 Trip starter 8 Bygone Japanese audio brand 9 Big name in grooming products
12/14/11
By Richard F. Mausser
10 Cheerleader’s cry 11 It’s found in veins 12 Last full U.S. DST month 13 Best-liked, in chat rooms 18 Service expert 19 Hawkeye 23 Word that can bring the ends of the starred answers up to date 25 Frames badly? 26 Horse’s strut 27 “I’ll give the wheel a final spin” speaker 28 Meal with a crust 29 Thumbs-up 30 Pewter with 80% tin 31 Paternal palindrome 32 Sue Grafton’s “__ for Corpse” 33 Hygienist’s request 37 NYC dance co. 38 Junkyard dog 39 Hagen of Broadway
Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved
(c)2011 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
41 Go on __: rampage 42 Place for a belfry 44 Half a lover’s quarrel 45 San Francisco transit features 46 Support for a proposal? 50 Ibsen’s “Peer __” 51 It covers everything
12/14/11
53 Carpentry leveler 54 Words with trophy or prize 55 Uncommon blood type: Abbr. 56 Boomers’ followers 57 Not opt. 58 Buckeyes’ sch. 59 __ chi 60 Ostrich kin
A bird in the hand might.
Classifieds
FOLIO LINE
FOLIO LINE
M c C l a t c h y - Tr i b u n e
THE ENTREPRENEUR
THE SINGER
THE EXPLORER
THE ACTIVIST
Madame C.J. Walker, 1867-1919
Mamie Smith, 1883-1946
She was born Sarah Breedlove, daughter of a poor farm couple who died while she was still a little girl. She was married at 14; when her husband died, she supported herself as a washerwoman. In 1905, Walker perfected a formula for straightening the hair of black women; it was the beginning of a cosmetics empire that, by the time of her death would make her a millionaire — one of the first black Americans to achieve that status, if not the first. Walker denied herself no luxury — her mansion at Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., is said to have been a regal showplace. But the hair-care magnate was also a generous contributor to good causes; she funded scholarships and gave to the indigent and the needy.
Bessie Smith was better known, but Mamie got there first. Her hit, “Crazy Blues,” recorded in 1920, was the first blues vocal ever recorded and also the first recording by an African-American woman. Despite that distinction, Smith did not think of herself primarily as a blues singer — she was a vaudevillian who sang many different styles. The Cincinnati-born vocalist spent the ‘20s and ‘30s barnstorming across the United States with her Jazz Hounds, a band that included such luminaries as James “Bubber’’ Miley and Willie “The Lion” Smith.
Matthew Alexander Henson, 1866-1955
A. Philip Randolph, 1889-1979
On the day in 1887 that he first met Robert Peary, Henson, though only about 21 years old, already had experience as a stevedore, seaman, bellhop and coachman. Peary thought Henson might make a valuable valet on Peary’s attempt to become the first man to reach the North Pole. But Peary soon discovered that Henson’s abilities and experiences made him even more valuable as a colleague. As Peary once put it, “I couldn’t get along without him.” The men mounted seven expeditions to the Arctic, including the last, in 1908 and 1909, when they finally stood together at the top of the world, the first explorers to do so.
His courtly, Sphinx-like demeanor belied the soul of a fighter. Randolph, a leader of the “New Negro” movement of the early 20th century, was tapped by black railroad workers to lead their fledgling union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925. It would take years for the union to even get the Pullman Co. to recognize them, years more before an agreement was hammered out, but when it was over, Randolph and his union had won workplace concessions once unthinkable for black employees. In later years, Randolph was instrumental in pushing President Franklin Roosevelt to do away with segregation in the defense industry. He was also an organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
THE JOURNALIST
THE PREACHER
John Russwurm, 1799-1851
Adam Clayton Powell Sr., 1865-1953
Although he was technically born a slave in Jamaica, Russwurm enjoyed many privileges of freedom because his father was a white American bachelor. His father, also named John Russwurm, provided a quality education for his son at Bowdoin College in Maine (he graduated in 1826, the third African-American to graduate from an American college). When the elder Russwurm relocated to Massachusetts, he took the boy with him. In 1827, this child of privilege took up the plight of the American slave. With his partner, Samuel Cornish, he founded Freedom’s Journal, the first black newspaper published in the United States. The paper’s then-controversial credo: Complete freedom and equality for African slaves. As the editors put it in their first editorial, it was time for black people to plead “our own cause.”
He was the grandson of slaves, the father of a flamboyant namesake congressman and a towering figure in his own right. As a boy, Powell, a Virginia native, is said to have learned the alphabet in a day. A year later, he was reading from the Bible. A grandfather nudged Powell toward the ministry and he eventually served as pastor of churches in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The pastorate that made him famous, however, was at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City. Under Powell’s leadership, Abyssinian practiced a social gospel that did not limit itself to the pulpit and pews; the church operated a facility for the aged, helped feed the poor, and agitated for racial and economic justice. By the mid-1930s, Abyssinian claimed 14,000 members, making it the largest Protestant congregation in the United States.
ometimes, history forgets. Sometimes, the big names everyone knows crowd out the smaller ones fewer people recall. Sometimes, when it is time to apportion honor and assign recognition, men and women who ought to be singled out are not. And so, those who inspired the dreams, fanned the flames and stood in the thick of revolutionary change can find themselves left out of the books, short-changed in the reminiscences. In this annual season of black history’s celebration, much will be said, and deservedly so, about giants such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois. But here, in 10 fields of American endeavor, are 10 other names, lesser-known women and men whose contributions and heroism we should — Leonard Pitts Jr., The Miami Herald remember, always.
THE POLITICIAN
THE FILMMAKER
THE SOLDIER
THE FIGHTER
P.B.S. Pinchback, 1837-1921
Oscar Micheaux, 1884-1951
Henry Johnson, 1897*-1929
Jack Johnson, 1878-1946
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was the free-born son of a white planter and a woman the planter owned and later freed. In 1862, he was assigned the duty of recruiting African-American volunteers for the Union Army forces, but resigned his captain’s commission in protest of the discriminatory treatment of his men. During Reconstruction, he was a leader in the founding of the Louisiana Republican Party and was elected president pro tempore of the state Senate in 1871. Pinchback became lieutenant governor when the incumbent died. Then, the governor was suspended during impeachment proceedings, and Pinchback succeeded him, too, serving as acting governor of Louisiana from December 1872 to January 1873. He was the first African-American governor in history and, until L. Douglas Wilder became chief executive of Virginia in 1989, the only one.
Oscar Micheaux came of age during the days when filmmakers routinely ignored African-Americans or confined them to subservient, demeaning roles. This was, paradoxically, the key to his success. During the ’20s and ’30s, Micheaux wrote, directed and produced about 30 films keyed to black audiences. Micheaux operated on a budget of next to nothing, raising money directly from his audiences. Thus, there was no such thing as “Take two” in a Micheaux movie — not even when an actor blew his lines. Not surprisingly, the movies were usually awful. Also not surprisingly, an audience starving to see itself reflected on screen flocked to his films. Micheaux, a consummate promoter, would travel from town to town, screening his current movie while raising funds for the next.
Early on the morning of May 14, 1918, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were standing sentry on a bridge near the Aisne River in France when, without warning, they were attacked by a force of 32 Germans. Cut off from their regimental headquarters and armed only with pistols, knives and a few hand grenades, the two black soldiers somehow stood off the much larger force, pressing the fight even though Johnson was wounded three times and Roberts twice. At one point, the Germans rushed the pair and took Roberts prisoner. By now reduced to using only a bolo knife and the butt of his empty pistol, Johnson nevertheless charged the Germans. He managed to wound as many as 10 of them and to kill at least four more. The startled Germans dropped their prisoner and ran. Johnson and Roberts were both awarded France’s highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre.
Before there was Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis or Jackie Robinson, there was John Arthur Johnson, a boxer who became history’s first black heavyweight champion in 1908 with a victory over Tommy Burns. Johnson spent 15 rounds whipping Burns, carrying on a running dialogue with him as he did so. Finally police stopped the bout. The victory was all the more impressive in light of the fact that Burns’ manager served as referee — a concession Johnson had to make in order to get Burns to agree to the fight. Johnson’s victory polarized the nation — a state of tension made worse by the fact that he was a swaggering, boastful champion given to publicly romancing and marrying white women. Proponents of white supremacy seized upon former champion Jim Jeffries as their “great white hope” for snatching the title back from this unruly black man. But the overweight Jeffries, who returned from retirement for the bout, was no match for Johnson, who toyed with him for 15 rounds before knocking him out.
*Approximate year of birth
P H OTO C R E D I T S : P H OTO S O F P. B . S . P I N C H B AC K A N D A DA M C L AY TO N P OW E L L S R . C O U RT E S Y O F T H E O H I O H I S TO R I C A L S O C I E T Y; A . P H I L I P R A N D O LP H C O U RT E S Y O F T H E N AT I O N A L A R C H I V E S ; M A DA M E C. J. WA L K E R C O U RT E S Y O F T H E C H I C AG O T R I B U N E ; P H OTO O F O S C A R M I C H E AU X C O U T E S Y O F S O U T H DA KOTA S TAT E A R C H I V E S ; J O H N RU S S W U R M C O U RT E S Y O F B OW D O I N C O L L E G E ; J AC K J O H N S O N C O U RT E S Y O F M I K E D E L I S A ; H E N RY J O H N S O N C O U RT E S Y O F T H E H E N RY J O H N S O N M E M O R I A L ; P H OTO O F M A M I E S M I T H C O U RT E S Y O F F R A N K D R I G G S ; M AT T H E W A L E X A N D E R H E N S O N C O U RT E S Y O F T H E N AT I O N A L A R C H I V E S
BLACK HISTORY MONTH — ICONS
Page 8 - Wednesday, February 6, 2013 Prospectus News www.prospectusnews.com
Entertainment
Local video game company here to stay Mace Mackiewicz Staff Writer Local video game company Volition was recently sold by parent company THQ as part of bankruptcy proceedings. Volition was sold to a company known as Koch media. THQ had been having problems financially ever since the commercial failure of their uDraw tablet. The tablet saw some success on the Wii but when the company tried to market it to the PS3 and Xbox 360, it was a financial failure. Koch recently released a press release in regards to its acquisition of Volition. “’These franchises hold a special place in the hearts and minds of anyone who loves exceptional video games,’ said Geoff Mulligan, COO of Deep Silver Inc. ‘We’re thrilled to usher in a new era for these franchises and are proud to welcome the visionaries and talented forces at Volition on board.’” The employees of Volition have a lot to prepare for in the coming months. Dan Cermak, the general manager at Volition and employee of 10 years, had this to say about the company being acquired by Koch Media. “At the time of acquisition we did not know much about Koch Media, we knew they distributed THQ games in Spain and Italy and they did other distribution but we did not know much else other than they were the publisher of Dead Island through their
IPs that we have created in the past.” Kircher said. “THQ still owns thosefor example, Red Factionand they may be sold to someone else at some later point in time.” The company is still strong and has goals and plans in place as it moves forward. Although changes are inevitable, the group is still as strong as ever. Cermak had this to say about the future of the company, “I expect to continue to make console games for the core gaming audience.” “We have a strength in regards to developing for the open-world gaming genre and we will continue to make games for that genre, including for the Saints Row franchise,” he explained. The company is also known for hiring local people to test their video games before they’re Photo courtesy of Volition Inc. released. According to both Cermak and Kircher Volition offices will remain at the corner of Neil and Main Streets after being bought out by Koch Media. this will still be happening CEO and CFO had to say, I even after the buyout. Game Label: Deep Silver,” some concerns that the firm factors during the buyout. Kircher had this to say about “During THQ’s bankruptcy am optimistic about Volition’s would be relocated. Cermak said. the future of Volition under Many employees of Volition proceedings I was a little future under Deep Silver.” “Having met them and talked Koch Media acquired rights Koch Media, “I am excited to them extensively-their CEO were relieved to learn that the concerned about my family’s Dr. Klemens Kundratitz and company will be staying in ability to stay in Champaign, to Volition and their Saints Row about the fact that Volition their CFO Dr. Reinhard Gratl Champaign according to both since the outcome was far from intellectual property. They did now has more stable financial came to the offices-we were Dan and Senior Programmer certain. We were reasonably not, however, purchase the backing and we can continue confident that someone would rights to other games made by to make the kinds of awesome relieved to see how much we Scott Kircher. core games we are known for.” Kircher, an employee of buy Volition if Clearlake was Volition. had in common and how much For further information on Kircher explained the they enjoyed our games and Volition for over five years unsuccessful in buying all of situation as follows, “Koch Volition, including how to sign we look forward to working has ties to Parkland College, THQ,” Kircher explained. “But we did not know who Media bought the Saints Row up to test their future games, as he is married to Physics with them. “ With news of Volition being Professor Keiko Kircher. The that entity would be. However, intellectual property along visit www.volition-inc.com. bought-out by a new company programmer had concerns after being acquired by Koch with Volition itself. However, there were understandably about relocation and other Media and hearing what their they did not buy any of the other
Where the cobra lives.
WPCD is currently looking for an intern and/or volunteer to help with daily operations of the radio station. If you are interested in this opportunity please email
40 Spring Semester Leases Available!
wpcdradio@parkland.edu and tell us why you’d like to intern or volunteer with us!
CONTACT US:
2002 W. Bradley Ave. - Champaign, IL 61821 (217) 531-3838 - www.ParklandPoint.com