Big Sean headlined the Homecoming concert at the Siegel Center last Friday alongside Kendrick Lamar and Outasight.
Investigators knocked on Bennett S. Barbour’s door on Valentine’s Day 1978 and arrested him on a charge of raping a College of William and Mary student at gunpoint a week earlier.
Now, the state has proof that he is innocent.
Tests conducted in 2010 on material from Barbour’s old case file as part of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science’s post-conviction DNA project identified the DNA of a known offender in biological evidence taken from the scene and failed to find Barbour’s DNA.
The DNA report has been in the hands of authorities for 18 months, but Barbour learned about his ticket to exoneration only two weeks ago.
Matthew Engle, legal director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law, plans to petition the Virginia Supreme Court for a writ of actual innocence on Barbour’s behalf.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Man sentenced in wreck that killed Richmond nun
Carlos Martinelly Montano’s history of drunken driving, driving without a license, previous jail time and a catastrophic fatal collision in 2010 overwhelmed Friday his self-described reformation and sorrow over the death of a beloved Richmond nun from the head-on crash.
A Prince William County judge sentenced the illegal immigrant from Bolivia to two 20-year active terms on a range of charges, including felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, malicious wounding and a third-offense DUI, ordering that the two sentences run concurrently.
The sentence means that Martinelly, 24, likely will serve 20 years, even if his appeal of the felony murder conviction is successful, his lawyer, Michael Arif, said after the hearing Friday.
Arif said he will appeal the conviction for felony murder because it represents a matter of double jeopardy.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
After the initial shock of last year’s magnitude-5.8 earthquake wore off, hundreds of Louisa County residents whose homes were damaged called their insurance companies, assuming that their crumbled chimneys and cracked walls were covered.
Almost all of them were wrong.
At the end of January, 5,976 Virginia homeowners from nine localities had reported damage to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Of those, only 344 – less than 6 percent – had either a homeowner’s policy with an earthquake rider or a separate earthquake policy.
Should another earthquake strike, Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to make sure Virginia homeowners know if they are covered.
Legislation before the General Assembly, introduced on the governor’s behalf, would require insurance companies to notify homeowners who have not purchased earthquake coverage.
Home and business damage from the earthquake, centered in Louisa southwest of Mineral, is estimated to be well in excess of $20 million. As of Friday, federal authorities had disbursed $10.6 million in relief to Virginians who sustained property damage in the quake.
An additional $3.2 million will go to the Louisa County School Board to help pay to replace quake-damaged Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, FEMA announced Friday.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Dozens of U.S. Park Police officers in riot gear and on horseback converged before dawn Saturday on one of the nation’s last remaining Occupy sites, with police clearing away tents they said were banned under park rules.
At least seven people were arrested. Officials said it was relatively peaceful but got tense late in the day when an officer was hit in the face with a brick as police pushed protesters out of the last section of McPherson Square. The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Protesters held a general assembly Saturday evening and vowed to continue the movement. One of the speakers acknowledged the injured officer and urged everyone to practice nonviolence.
Police insisted they were not evicting the protesters. Those whose tents conformed to regulations were allowed to stay, and protesters can stay 24 hours a day as long as they don’t camp there with blankets or other bedding. Police threatened to seize tents that broke the rules and arrest the owners.
By Saturday afternoon, seven were arrested, including four who refused to move from beneath a statue and three who crossed a police line.
Brief by the Associated Press
The U.N. Security Council failed again Saturday to take decisive action to stop the escalating violence in Syria as Russia and China blocked a resolution backing an Arab League plan that calls for President Bashar Assad to step down. The double-veto outraged the U.S. and European council members who feared it would embolden the Assad regime.
In an unusual weekend session, 13 members of the council, including the United States, Britain and France, voted in favor of the resolution aimed at stopping the brutal crackdown in Syria that has killed thousands of people since anti-government protests erupted a year ago.
It was the second time in four months that Russia and China used their veto power to block a Security Council resolution condemning the violence in Syria. Damascus has been a key Russian ally since Soviet times and Moscow has opposed any U.N. call that could be interpreted as advocating military intervention or regime change.
Brief by the Associated Press
Fidel Castro spent six hours presenting a two-volume memoir to an audience at a Havana convention center, state media said Saturday. It was a rare appearance for the retired and increasingly reclusive former Cuban leader.
Images on state television showed a smiling, animated Castro wearing a dark track suit over a blue plaid button-up shirt. Audio of him speaking was not broadcast, but Communist Party newspaper Granma said he told attendees Friday that they would hear about “two books that you haven’t had any news of.”
Granma said the two-tome memoir, “Guerrilla of Time,” fills nearly 1,000 pages and covers Castro’s life from childhood until December 1958, the eve of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. It is based on interviews with journalist Katiuska Blanco.
Castro, 85, stepped aside provisionally in 2006 due to a lifethreatening illness and retired permanently two years later, clearing the way for his younger brother and long-designated successor Raul to take over.
Brief by the Associated Press
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Nearly 300 security officers become state-certified • 5
In 2007, VCU recycled 25 tons of electronic-scrap waste. By 2010, the amount nearly doubled.
VCU’s Green Unity club is working to sustain the trend of electronicrecycling, or e-cycling, in the VCU community.
The first Thursday or Friday of each month, Green Unity holds a monthly e-cycling collection day. The group sets up a table outside of the library by Floyd Street and accepts electronic waste like old computers, cell phones, DVD players, kitchen appliances, batteries – anything electronic.
The donated materials are taken to the VCU Physical Plant Department, where the scrap is broken down so the
reusable parts can be salvaged.
Many of the donated items contain heavy metals which, if not disposed of properly, can end up in landfills. Once there, toxins from the metals seep down into the earth, harming the soil.
“All of these precious metals are hard to mine, (and) it’s very expensive to mine them,” said Sean Williams, a senior psychology major working on the e-cycling initiative with Green Unity. “If we can recycle them, we can reduce the need for mining and reduce the degradation to the earth and soil.”
Green Unity works closely with the Office of Sustainability on the e-cycling initiative as a part of the larger VCU Goes Green initiative.
According to Jacek Ghosh, director of sustainability at VCU, the amount of e-waste recycled at VCU has been
steadily climbing since 2007. In 2008, 34 tons were recycled. In 2009, the amount reached 37 tons. In 2010, VCU recycled 47 tons of electronic scrap.
Ghosh said he credits the increases to Green Unity’s work on the e-cycling initiative for the last few years.
“The support has been growing every time. We get more and more stuff somehow every time we come out,” Williams said. “It’s awesome.”
Green Unity member Melissa Lesh, a junior painting and printmaking major, said the e-cycling initiative is receiving support from the greater Richmond community.
“Now, we get whole offices that come out (to donate),” Lesh said. “It’s branched far beyond just the VCU community and students.”
Both Williams and Lesh said they
hope to host the event once a month so people can come to expect to have an outlet to recycle their unused electronics.
Students like Brady Rall, an international studies major, have bolstered Green Unity’s efforts by donating whatever they can. In Rall’s case, it was an old blender.
“Recycling is important because people just accumulate junk. It’s the nature of our culture,” Rall said. “I think with (e-cycling) Green Unity is trying to suggest an alternative lifestyle to accumulation.”
Green Unity will continue to hold community cleanups and host the e-cycling donations once a month, Lesh said. Currently, the club is working to host a community market on Earth Day. CT
Five years after Virginia Tech made campus safety the focus of lawmakers across the nation, the school seems to be shying away from the issue during this year’s General Assembly session.
While VCU students made campus safety an explicit priority at their “Rams Day on the Hill,” Virginia Tech students participating in “Hokie Day 2012” were hesitant to say the school was focusing on anything except higher education funding.
Students from both schools visited Capital Square last week to present their legislative priorities to state lawmakers.
VCU’s Student Government Association provided participating students a list of talking points and bills on topics ranging from funding to concealed
weapons on campus. Tech provided participating students with a folder including an itinerary, two pages of financial figures and a list of legislators and their phone numbers.
VCU’s SGA president, Asif Bhavnagri, said recent events at campuses across the country and specifically at Tech have made student safety an important issue for the urban university in Richmond.
“The dynamic way our university is laid out, it is important that (campus safety) is not forgotten,” Bhavnagri said.
A.J. Palmer, a student senator with the Virginia Tech Student Government Association, said Tech has always made funding the main focus for Hokie Day.
“It has always been about the funding,” said Palmer, who has attended the event the past three years. “I guess there’s this perception that it’s OK to cut higher education funding because we can just raise tuition.”
Tech’s state legislative liaison, Elizabeth Hooper, said students are the driving force behind what issues the university chooses to pursue during any
legislative session.
“We like them to set their own agenda and talk about the things that are important to them,” Hooper said. “This is really their day.”
Tech SGA leaders said students help the association choose what issues to pursue. Campus security was not an issue brought to the SGA by students, they said.
“There’s a lot being done, and students feel like the campus community is really safe because we all depend on each other,” said the Tech SGA Speaker of the House Naomi Dam. “We have this environment where we all feel like members of the family, willing to reach out and extend our help to each other.”
Tech SGA members declined to comment on the omission of campus safety issues from Hokie Day.
According to Hooper, the Tech administration gives students information about the General Assembly session but does not push the students to pursue any issue.
Although it wasn’t addressed at
Here are House and Senate bills that VCU's Student Government Association is tracking:
Hokie Day, Hooper said the school opposes bills that would allow concealed weapons on campus, but officials are “letting the process work itself out.”
“We don’t want to make this about (Tech); this is about all of higher education being safe,” said Hooper, who was at Virginia Tech in 2007 when a student shot and killed 32 people and wounded 25 others before committing suicide.
In addition to campus safety, VCU students focused on telling legislators not to raise tuitions, asking for no discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation and increasing bike lanes and roads in Richmond.
According to SGA legislative issues and civic action chair Virag Patel, VCU also wanted to focus on legislation that would grant money to VCU to help fund Cabell Library renovations.
“Our current library, it was made to only hold 15,000 students, (and) now we have over 30,000 students on campus,” Patel said before the event. “(The) library hasn’t kept up the progress that VCU itself has made.” CT
HB 191, by Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas: Allows full-time faculty members of public institutions of higher education who possess a valid Virginia concealed handgun permit to carry a concealed handgun on campus.
HB 697, by Filler-Corn: Requires the governing board of each college or university to ask students to identify points of contact to be notified if the student experiences a mental health crisis. The policy may require students to waive certain privacy or confidentiality privileges.
HB 701, by Delegate E. Filler-Corn, D-Springfield: Requires the chief law-enforcement officer of a public or private institution of higher education to report the death or an alleged rape of any person on campus property to the law-enforcement agency of the locality in which the institution is located. The local law-enforcement agency would assume responsibility for leading the investigation with cooperation from the college or university.
HB 852, by Delegate J.R. Yost, R-Blacksburg: Makes it clear that an institution of higher education may require students to provide mental health records not only from their high school but also from any other college or university they attended.
HB 853, also by Yost: Requires public community colleges to advise students, faculty and staff how to identify and help students exhibiting suicidal tendencies.Provides that any licensed health professional treating a student may determine to withhold parental notification of a dependent student’s mental health treatment if such professional determines that the notification may result in substantial harm. Currently, only a physician or clinical psychologist could make such a determination.
HB 965, by Delegate Robert B. Bell, R-Charlottesville: Requires campus police to work with a local law-enforcement agency or the State Police in investigating deaths and alleged rapes on college campuses.
HB 967, also by Bell: Includes campus police in various definitions of “law-enforcement officers.”
HB 969, also by Bell: Requires each commonwealth’s attorney to invite campus police chiefs to meetings of sexual assault response teams.
SB 623, by Sen. Chap Peterson, D-Fairfax: Requires public colleges and universities to have agreements with local mentalhealth facilities to coordinate the care of students. The bill would help ensure that school officials are notified when a student is involuntarily committed or is discharged.
SB 624, also by Peterson: Requires public colleges and universities to alert parents whenever the institution receives notification from any source that a student may be suicidal, to the extent permitted by the federal law.
VCU’s security forces are now better equipped to serve students as mandated by the state after completing year-long state training.
Emergency legislation and state mandates required the certification of all campus security officers at VCU.
Nearly 300 officers at VCU, which make up the complete force of security officers at the university, spent the last year training in first aid, homeland security and the requirements of the Jeanne Clery Act that was updated in 2010.
VCU has a police force much larger than other campuses which, according to Mike Porter of VCU communications, makes this training and certification such “a big deal.”
In 2010 the Clery Act was updated in response to high-profile campus crimes in the past few years including the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. The updates included new missing-student guidelines, how campuses report crimes to outside authorities, requirements for the reporting hate crimes and requirements for reporting fire incidents.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or the Cleary act was established in 1989 in response to the rape and murder of college student Jeanne Clery.
The act at the time mandated the full disclosure of crimes on campus to local authorities. Colleges that do not abide to the act would be removed from eligibility for federal financial aid. CT
“Nearly 300 officers at VCU ... spent the last year training in first aid, homeland security and the requirements of the Jeanne Clery Act.”
In this section:
Troy Daniels lights up Northeastern • 7 VCU vs. Northeastern photo essay • 8 Juvonte Reddic maturing on schedule • 9
VCU (20-5 overall, 11-2 CAA) beat Northeastern (11-12 overall, 7-6 CAA) 59-56 in Saturday night’s homecoming game thanks to five three-pointers from Troy Daniels and a team-wide defensive effort which resulted in 15 Northeastern turnovers.
“That’s too many if you expect to come up with a win on the road,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen on his team’s ball-control issues.
VCU had 21 points off the 15 turnovers, nine of which were credited as steals. Jonathan Lee, Northeastern’s leading scorer at 14.8 ppg, had six turnovers on his own but also led all scorers with 16 points, 10 of which came in a furious but ultimately unsuccessful Huskies comeback in the game’s final three minutes.
Despite ultimately winning the game by just one possession, VCU had a comfortable lead for most of the second half after ending the first half on a 14-2 run, going into the intermission with a six point lead. Daniels hit three pointers on consecutive attempts during the run, which took defensive attention away from Juvonte Reddic later on. The sophomore big man picked up two early fouls and played only nine minutes in the first half, but once the shooters opened things up for him he exploded for his third double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
“It opens things up for me a lot,” said Reddic on Daniels’ hot shooting. “… that helps me get more open because I’m one-on-one in the paint.”
Reddic, Bradford Burgess and Briante Weber each picked up two quick fouls in what was a tightly officiated contest which saw 37 personal fouls. As a result, DJ Haley, Teddy Okereafor and Treveon Graham each saw a few extra minutes and gave the Rams what Smart said was the difference between the two teams.
“We’ve just got to hold it down until Juvonte and Brad get back in the game,” said point guard Darius Theus. “We’ve got a lot of great players who can step up any night.”
With whistles coming at a rate of nearly one per minute, both teams slashed into the lane at will, hoping to draw contact and get to the free-throw line. Although he was in foul trouble from the opening minutes of the game, Reddic said he didn’t shy away from his aggressive game plan defensively.
“When the ref’s blowing the whistle, that’s one of the things I can’t control,” said Reddic. “Coach (Smart) is big on that – he wants us to focus on what we can control … I’ve got to just keep fighting through it.”
Reddic played all but one minute of the second half and helped shut down the Huskies’ penetration without picking up another foul the rest of the night.
On the other side however, it was the Rams’ inability to make free throws that allowed Northeastern to climb back into the game at the end. VCU made just 12-of-24 free throws, several of which came in the final minutes.
“It was obviously closer than we wanted it to be at the end,” said Smart. “We’ll be shooting a lot of free throws over the next few days.”
Saturday’s win was VCU’s 20th of the season, which makes it six straight 20-win seasons for the program. The current Rams have not lost a game since falling to Drexel 64-58 in Philadelphia back on Jan. 8. Smart said after the game that although it feels good to win nine straight, it is vital to keep getting learning and getting better even while you’re winning.
“We have the X on our backs so a lot of teams are going to give us their best shot,” added Daniels. “We just have to stay aggressive and not play on our heels.” CT
Jim Swing Sports Editor
Troy Daniels was overlooked. Perhaps he wasn’t even examined at all. Whatever the case may be, VCU’s junior sharpshooter buried Northeastern. Badly.
“Certainly wasn’t on the scouting report,” Huskies’ head coach Bill Coen said.
Daniels shot 50 percent from threepoint territory for the second-straight game, this time going 5-for-10 from deep for 15 points to lead VCU to a 59-56 win over Northeastern.
“We know that he’s a dead-eye shooter, and I thought he got way too many looks whether we played man or zone,” Coen added. “We wanted to stay attached to him a little bit better, and that’s one of the things I didn’t think we did a very good job of this evening.”
At times, his shooting makes Daniels appear as a man possessed. He’ll creep around the corner, occasionally come off a screen and stare down a three-pointer with the look of an assassin. Daniels’ five deep balls Saturday night seemingly felt like 10 or 12. Is he even aware of the clinic he’s displaying during the game?
“No, not at all,” Daniels said. “I just keep shooting, my teammates keep telling me keep shooting so that’s what I do, anything I can do to help my team out.”
Midway through the second half Northeastern put together an 11-3 run that had VCU on its heels. Turnovers allowed the Huskies to jump back into the game all the while the Rams were playing plain sloppy. VCU badly needed a boost. It was in a spot where deadly shooters usually step in and turn a game a different direction for good. And that’s what Daniels did. This time, a trey came
from the corner with just under eight minutes to go, giving the Rams an eightpoint lead and a little cushion to work with.
On a young team that, at times, has had trouble finding its shooting touch this season, Daniels has had the only reliable hand.
“Over this stretch in the past month and a half, he’s been or only guy that’s been consistent threat from outside,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said. “We’ve got other guys that are good shooters, but they’ve struggled at times, so it’s nice to have Troy when you can put him in the game and he can shoot it in.”
Daniels’ 69 three-pointers are tied for first in the Colonial Athletic Association with James Madison’s Humpty Hitchens. He’s on pace to contend with a single-season record for treys set by B.A. Walker in 2006-2007.
“He’s one of the best shooters in our league,” teammate Juvonte Reddic said. “I think he’s the best shooter in our league.”
Like many players, Daniels hit a seasonal rough patch a little over a week ago against Towson. Smart said he didn’t think Daniels came ready to play and didn’t like his performance. Daniels went 1-for-4 and received a season-low 12 minutes on the floor. Since that night, Daniels has hit 14 of his last 30 threepoint attempts. His five deep balls tied a single game career-high, something Daniels has now done five times.
He’s turned over a new leaf in a big way.
“I’m always hard on Troy – assistants say I’m too hard on him,” Smart said. “He’s a terrific shooter; he’s as good as any shooter I’ve had the opportunity to coach as a head or assistant coach.” CT
There are few people who have had the opportunity to be on the court with the VCU men’s basketball team as often as I have been able to this season. A 15th-consecutive sellout crowd surrounded the court Saturday night and once again I found myself, camera in hand, at the baseline in the VCU Siegel Center. Being on the baseline as a photographer is an experience like no other. The energy and intensity of the crowd, players and coaches is right there waiting to be captured.
Shaka Smart was walking down a long hallowed hallway in William & Mary’s Kaplan Arena when he called for Juvonte Reddic, walking about 20 feet ahead of him.
“Ju!” the third-year head coach of VCU yelled up the hall following the Rams 87-78 win over the Tribe. Reddic, the Rams’ lanky sophomore forward, stopped in his tracks, looked back and allowed his 34-year-old coach to catch up.
“You know why I’m so hard on you?” Smart asked as he wrapped his around the towering shoulders next to him. Reddic, typically quiet and shy in context shook his head.
“It’s because you can be so good,” Smart said as the two trailed off into the locker rooms.
Reddic had just walked out of his 12th double-digit scoring performance of the season. He had bumped, bodied and buried William & Mary for the second time in the last two weeks, this one with 20 points and seven rebounds.
“I think after last game playing them it boosted my confidence,” Reddic said, “and helped me play pretty good again.”
Reddic followed up his performance in Williamsburg with a double-double against Northeastern Saturday, recording 11 points and 11 rebounds.
When it comes to press conferences, sometimes Smart can sound a bit repetitive, or a tad like a preacher perhaps. One line he’s dropped over and over this season is how high the ceiling is for Reddic, who has stepped into a much
larger role in his second season.
After the graduation of Jamie Skeen, Reddic has transformed into VCU’s premier big-man in the paint, averaging 27.4 minutes per game, over 16 more than last season. He’s not dirty, he’s not nasty and he most definitely isn’t a showboat. If anything Reddic is diffident and reticent in nature; he’d rather let his numbers do the talking.
And they have.
Reddic is VCU’s second-leading scorer, averaging 10.9 points per game to go with his 6.8 rebounds per outing. He’s third in the Colonial Athletic Association in field goal percentage, shooting 54.6 percent, behind the likes of upperclassmen Keith Rendleman and Eric Buckner.
On offense Reddic has all the makings of an NBA power forward. He carries a pure mid-range jumper in the arsenal that’s all but automatic. He has a notable awareness for the basket and a killer hook that’s progressing by the day.
On defense Reddic is solid defender, who is working his way into becoming an dependable shot-blocker in the paint. His 1.4 steals per game make him one of the CAA’s top 15 thieves and one of only three forwards on that list.
And that’s not to say Reddic is perfect – or on the verge of declaring for the NBA Draft – by any means. He’s just a sophomore and sophomores have their moments, just ask Smart or any other coach for that matter. But Smart believes in Reddic and is convinced the sky is the limit for him.
Just how high is the ceiling for Reddic? Only time will tell, but he’s climbing his way to the top. CT
In this section:
Slam poets advance to national competition • 11 Filmmakers raising funds to document “treasure troves of abandonment” • 12
Dan Radcliffe's underwhelming rite of passage • 13
“It was mutual love,” he added.
Slam Nahuatl, Richmond’s own slampoetry collective, emerged victorious at this past weekend’s Association of College Unions International competition at Virginia Tech, winning first prize against collegiate teams from across the east coast.
In succeeding against university slam poetry teams from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, Slam Nahuatl secured their spot in the national competition – the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) – in La Verne, Calif. this April.
“They brought a lot of competition,” said Faisal Ilyas, junior information sciences major and poet with Slam Nahuatl. “But they showed us mad love, and in return we showed them mad love.”
Kristine Hadeed, senior mass communications major and fellow poet, said that Slam Nahuatl formed fast bonds with the teams they beat out for top prize.
“Even though it was a competition, and there’s a certain sense of skepticism and rivalry that goes with that, there was also a sense of community and respect for each others’ craft,” she said.
“I think they appreciated the diversity of our group, too. ... (The other teams commented on) how sometimes it’s easy to fall in ruts when you’re around all the same kind of lifestyles.”
“Some of them had accents on them, a little twang in the words,” said Rob Gibson, the senior communication arts major who won a second place individual prize in addition to the team’s collective first place. “It embodied where they were from, using the words
that they did.”
The team was made up entirely of the winners of Slam Nahuatl’s Ram Slam nights – smaller slam competitions held over the past several months at Shafer Street Playhouse. Competitors at each Ram Slam entered for the chance to join Slam Nahuatl’s traveling competition team.
Two of the team members, freshmen Saidu Tejan-Thomas (undeclared) and Josh Braunstein (English), competed as first-time Slam Nahuatl members last weekend after earning their spots last semester. Both learned about the group through Gibson, who was a resident adviser on Tejan-Thomas’ floor.
Braunstein said that even as a new member, his experience with Slam Nahuatl was “judgemental-free”: “At the end of the day, we just like poetry. I want to hear other people do poetry and hear people from other parts of the
country do poetry.”
“People who write poetry, but ... think that it’s not good enough to share ... (should know that) we don’t judge,” he said.
The Slam Nahuatl competition team will travel to La Verne, Calif. on April 18 to compete against college slam poets from across the country. Until then, they will continue to work with coaches Gaiya Giuseppe, Dr. Tawnya PettifordWates of Theatre VCU and Hamilton Graziano, Slam Nahuatl’s official Slam Master. CT
Slam Nahuatl, which takes its name in part from the Aztec word for “good clear sound,” celebrates the art of spoken word with monthly competitions like Ram Slam, while also holding fundraising events like their End Hunger Slam. For more information and ways to get involved, visit www. goodclearsound.org.
Decayed Richmond was founded in 2010 as a photo blog, but is now making a documentary about their adventures capturing the abandoned buildings of Richmond on film.
Decayed Richmond is a collective of 10 to 15 artists, photographers and videographers.
“People pop in and help for a while, but they might not have as much to contribute,” said Decayed Richmond founder, J, who requested that his name not be published.
Decayed Richmond began as a photo blog, which is still used, but the website gained a lot of attention very quickly, J said. They then started interviewing people about these “treasure troves of abandonment” and posting the videos to their blog. The idea to create a documentary arose out of the want to combine their photography and interviews.
“We recently just funneled it all into one idea,” J said.
“I was taking photography classes and was looking for different things to photograph,” J said of his first experiences with these abandoned buildings.
“I always had an affinity for abandoned buildings and with my history with graffiti,” said P, a cofounder. “I would hear about these places just through word of mouth.”
Decayed Richmond is no longer affiliated with doing graffiti, however.
Decayed Richmond discovers these abandoned buildings through word of mouth, but also through looking on
Google Maps.
“We drive around looking,” J said.
“We also use Google Maps satellite. You look for vacant parking lots and broken windows.”
J and P said they do not consider what Decayed Richmond does to be illegal.
“I don’t see trespassing into an abandoned building as a crime,” J said. “We don’t forcibly enter buildings. We don’t damage property. We leave it the way we find it.”
P agreed.
“I think that there is a big hysteria around abandoned buildings that since they are neglected, they are dangerous,” P said. “There aren’t crack heads trying to stab you with needles.”
For their upcoming documentary, Decayed Richmond is raising money through Kickstarter.com, a website that helps creative groups to raise money for projects. Rewards for donations are offered.
Decayed Richmond said they hope to raise $3,000 by Feb. 29. This funding will help them buy sound equipment and finish shooting the film.
“It’s a do-it-yourself documentary, but we want it to look professional. DIY doesn’t necessarily mean low quality,” J said.
The Decayed Richmond documentary hopes to be completed by December 2012. They are also hoping to premiere their documentary at The Byrd Theatre.
“We’re not going to make any money off (the documentary),” P said. “It’s basically why the artist does art: We feel like we should be doing it.” CT
Radcliffe's role as a legal clerk-turned-paranormal investigator in “The Woman in Black” is his first film role since the debut of the “Harry Potter” series. Clockwise from top, Radcliffe expresses: “inquisitive,” “tortured,” and “apprehensive.”
In “The Woman in Black,” former “Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe successfully makes the jump from a world of spells and wizards – and into the world of disappointing horror movies.
In this remake of a made-for-TV film from 1989, Radcliffe plays widower Arthur Kipps, who is sent to sort through the haphazardly-stored legal documents of a recently deceased widow. He travels to a remote English village populated with anxious residents who are strangely hesitant to assist him with his tasks.
As Kipps digs deeper into the mysteries of the village and the house he investigates, he begins to encounter the image of a fearful woman in black – a vengeful ghost terrorizing the town and targeting its children.
A conventional ghost story with an equally conventional (and flimsy) plot unfolds. No questions are left unanswered by the time the closing
credits roll: nothing from the setting to the characters’ motives to the denouement and finale are left for the audience to ponder or interpret on their own.
With weak foundations in the element of surprise, the movie relies almost entirely on loud noises and things jumping suddenly out of nowhere at predictably quiet, tense moments to rouse screams out of easily startled theatergoers.
Radcliffe’s acting, albeit reminiscent of his wizard-hero doppelganger near the movie’s climax and decline, seemed appropriately up to par despite the overall lackluster quality of the film. A majority of his performance, however, remained static and required only Radcliffe’s ability to appear apprehensive, inquisitive or tortured at any one point during any scene.
For those looking for Radcliffe to make a smooth transition into his post-Potter career, the overall success of the actor is debatable. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for “The Woman in Black.” CT
In this section:
ACTA: worse than SOPA, worse than PIPA • 14
What the DSM-V says about our system • 15
Unless you’ve been living on a remote, uncharted island unknown to the rest of the world with only a bloodstained volleyball to keep you company a la Tom Hanks in “Cast Away,” chances are you’ve heard of the recent attempts by lawmakers to censor and monitor copyrighted material through IP addresses in the U.S.
The Stop Online Piracy Act and
Protect IP Act (commonly known as SOPA and PIPA, respectively) aim to stringently criminalize actions ranging from streaming a song to downloading the most recent episode of your favorite show from a third-party site. Carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison, both have been hailed as necessary legislation to enhance protection by supporters and a proverbial guillotine to creativity and innovation by its critics.
Despite a recent blackout across
thousands of popular websites including Wikipedia and Reddit which effectively sidelined both bills for the interim, the fight for a free Internet isn’t over. The European Union has recently ushered the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) into final negotiations with several supporting countries, with global repercussions.
Tracing back to talks between Japan and the U.S. in 2006, the agreement is slated to go into effect pending final approval from the European Parliament in June of this year. If enacted, its scope will not only include pirated films and music, but will expand in scope to penalize intellectual property in virtually all forms, affecting fan fiction, healthcare, economics, surveillance, trade agreements, airport security and even the belongings you carry on your person.
Think of it as SOPA and PIPA’s burly, boozed-up father with a pair of steel-toe boots and a nasty grudge.
Choosing to ignore ACTA and the potential devastation it could cause is one of the most detrimental pronouncements anyone who believes in free speech to any degree could possibly make. Already, countries including Ja-
pan, Canada, Poland, Australia, Finland and even the U.S. have ratified ACTA with little fanfare, keeping the public eye staunchly out of deliberations.
The time to rise against backdoor capital motives and hushed dealings is overwhelmingly upon us. The civil rights movement of the digital age is at our doorstep. We must not buckle or turn away for convenience’s sake.
Though I understand the plight of artists seeking compensation for their work and respect the underlying frustrations of copyright holders who lose out in these scenarios, I cannot help but lament the stubborn nature of legislators to progress with the times.
If the current model is truly broken, then wouldn’t their efforts be best spent drafting a modern, rational solution over an outdated, excessive one? It’s as if they’re saying it’s better to expect duct tape and a stern finger to fix a leaky pipe than actually replacing it.
On net neutrality, Tim Berners Lee, creator of HTML and the World Wide Web as we know it, stated “When I invented the web, I didn’t ask anyone’s permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it for free. I’m afraid that’s going to end in the USA.” If the
Maintaining our health is one of the most important things we can do, both as individuals and as a society. To do so, most of us rely on the health system around us, made up of nurses, doctors and pharmacies. We hope – and, perhaps too often, assume – that those that make up this system are objective and have our best interest in mind.
But is our collective trust in health professionals misplaced?
It is this public trust that makes what is occurring with the DSM-V so terrible.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, better known as DSM, is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is widely used as a source for the criteria for diagnosing mental disorders. The first edition was published in 1952; the most recent version, DSM-IV, was last revised in 2000. The APA has been working on the next update, DSM-V, for years.
There are a number of changes in the pipeline for DSM, some of which are incredibly controversial. It is not these shifting criteria, however, with which I have a problem. Rather, it is the method through which the DSM-V is being fully compiled.
In the more than four years in which the APA has been drafting DSM-V,
most of the process has been closed off from the public and interested parties. Members of the DSM-V task force, charged with developing the new guide, had to sign non-disclosure agreements. More unsettling is the fact that 70 percent of those tasked with developing DSM-V have industry connections.
The DSM-V development process reeks of back room deals. While the APA and the task force deny any wrong doing, there was never any need for the lack of transparency.
On the surface, these all seem rather innocuous. But even a small diagnostic change could have rippling effects throughout our mental health system, and even the greater health system.
For instance, one of the proposed changes will classify the grief following the death of a loved one as a symptom of depression. Is this really depression, or is it just mourning? Or is it an attempt to secure the ability to sell more anti-depressants to the American public? These kinds of questions continually pop up while reading through the proposed changes.
And, despite what many may think, these changes affect everyone. Even an apparently minor change in diagnostic criteria can spur the need for a new drug or could limit the help in-need individuals can receive. It can only seem that the public trust - that need for objectivity and empathy - is missing.
mastermind behind the technology itself is concerned, don’t we have reason to be concerned as well?
Though I hardly see this particular facet of lawmaking disappearing any time soon, it’s important for us as students to understand the impact and ramifications of issues of this scale. Without the concern of the people to serve as a check to the agendas of politicians at large, we can be certain that such acts could become plausible truths, a dangerous and scary reality.
Do yourself a favor, VCU. Read the fact sheets. Write your congressperson. Get off the island and join the fight for a free Internet and a better tomorrow.
Or, at the very least, hand your favorite artist a $5 spot next time you see them live for that album you downloaded last week. CT
Opinions expressed are those of individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Commonwealth Times or Virginia Commonwealth University. Unsigned editorials represent the institutional opinion of The CT.
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What’s more disturbing is the evergrowing role of money in medicine.
I understand it’s always been important, but with pharmaceutical advertisements constantly pervading and peppering our lives, who’s really making the health decisions? Are doctors treating us when we go in and ask for the newest little pill because we diagnosed ourselves based on a minute-long commercial? I don’t mean to vilify doctors in any respect, as I know they are more pressed for time than ever. But something has to be done to curtail the influence of spending on things as important as our health.
The DSM-V will likely be released in May of 2013. Regardless of the process that went into its development, its release will forever shake and shift our mental health system. But this is just a representative of what seems to be quickly becoming the norm: big bucks pushing medicine we never needed with disorders we never had. CT
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