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The Daily
FRIDAY, February 20, 2015
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Volume 119 · No. 93
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Feminist and queer zines join Women and Gender Studies Library BY caitie burkes cburkes@lsureveille.com
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opinion Oscar nominations dominated by white males page 8
A decade characterized by third-wave feminism and the Riot grrrl movement managed to fit into a 36-inch-by-12-inch cardboard box. This box, full of cultural and historical significance, sits in the Women’s and Gender Studies Library in Himes Hall. Last week, new WGS Director Jacqueline Bach unveiled the gold inside this treasure chest, which came in the form of feminist and queer comics and “zines,” or self-published magazines. “The purpose behind people writing zines isn’t necessarily to sell or make money,” Bach said. “It’s just a personal need to express oneself through print.” In the past, zines were typically homemade or run off on copier machines. Today, most of them are presented as online blogs and cater to readers’ specific interests. “It’s not quite the same as what you can experience holding one in your hand,” Bach said. She said when the WGS program started at the University in 1991, faculty members who belonged to the organization donated books to the library they thought students should read. From there, WGS accumulated a small collection. Erin Rice, one of the first department graduates from the University, donated the materials to the library. Rice started building her collection when she was a student, obtaining feminist and queer journals, articles and stories from a newsstand in downtown Baton Rouge. Rice continued collecting for 10 years before she decided to pack her belongings and give it all away. She said she did it as a way to give back to
see zines, page 11
Professor researches lake water quality
BY rose velazquez rvelazquez@lsureveille.com For hydrology professor Jun Xu, the issues plaguing University Lake — like shallow depth, pollutant accumulation and excess sediment and nutrients — could be water under the gate. Xu and his graduate students study the quality of several major Louisiana bodies of water, including University Lake, the largest of the Baton Rouge lakes. Xu said a sluice gate, a gate that controls the flow of water, could serve as an alternative to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s proposal to dredge University Lake as parts of its master plan. “People want to dredge, which would be certainly helpful, but it is not a long-term solution, and that is because after they dredge, the material will accumulate again,” Xu said. “The lakes were dredged many times before in the past 70 to 80 years.” The lake is a man-made and artificially maintained ecosystem,
see lakes, page 11
religion
Mormon Church announces support of LGBT rights BY hayley franklin hfranklin@lsureveille.com
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Jan. 27 its support of anti-discrimination laws regarding both LGBT and religious rights. Though some University professors and students view the statement as a social or political issue, two Mormon missionaries said it was really about love. Sister Alexis Pearson and Sister Whitney Carpenter are often in Free Speech Plaza inviting students to write on their inspirational white board. The missionaries volunteer at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints near campus and are dedicating 18 months to the Mormon Church before continuing college.
Pearson related the announcement to parental love. “It reminds me of my parents when I was going to school,” Pearson said. “My parents wanted us to be treated fairly and be treated with respect by all the other kids at the playground.” Others at the University didn’t believe the announcement was so simple. Religious studies professor Stephen C. Finley understood the recent announcement as a reaction to the social acceptance of the LGBT community across the U.S. Gay marriage is currently legal in 37 states. Finley compared the LGBT announcement to the Mormons’ stances on African-American priesthood during the 1960s. In 1969, Mormon Church leaders
voted to allow African-Americans to become priests. The motion did not pass, but in 1978, Mormon leader Spencer W. Kimball claimed to experience a revelation instructing a reversal of the racial policy. Finley said he did not believe the recent announcement represented a movement to include more LGBT members within the church. “If it’s more than just rhetoric, it would seem to me that they would have to be more open and inclusive to members who were LGBTQ,” Finley said. “And I’m skeptical because some of their most important doctrines, including marriage, are heterosexual.” In the Mormon Church, a marriage can only be sealed in a Mormon temple between a man and a
see mormons, page 11
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Sister Whitney Carpenter [left] and Sister Alexis Pearson [right] encourage students to share acts of kindness on a whiteboard Feb. 11 in Free Speech Plaza.