2 Defiant Michigan: National Defense Authorization Act Joel Campbell3 Study Abroad: Tourism or Cultural Fraud? Graham Liddell

5 Escalations in Decade-Old Occupation Katie Nix6 Schools of Hope Fight Drop-out Rates Carly Simpson

7 The Internet Generation: Coming of Age in the Cloud Dave Leins

JANUARY 2013

2 THE LAKER SENTINEL JANUARY 2013

D E F I A N T M I C H I G A N

The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States. – Section 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012

As the Michigan House of Representatives was ending their legislative session in Decem-

ber 2012, House Bill 5768 was passed. It forbids the National Guard from working with the feder-al government to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely. Supported by 107 representatives, the bill passed December 5, 2012. However, because it was the end of the two year session, the bill will not make it into the Senate in this form. Discus-sions between Senator Rick Jones, R – District 24, and Representative Tom McMillin, R – District 45, to jointly re-introduce the bill in their respec-tive chambers. “I think it’s important that citizens have their habeas corpus rights,” said Jones. He ex-pects that their joint re-introduction of the bill will happen as soon as possible. The writ of habeas cor-pus is one of the oldest rights held in western civ-ilization, extending back to early English history. House Bill 5768 would have disallowed any state, county or city employee or agency from aid-ing “an agency of the armed forces of the Unit-ed States in any investigation, prosecution or de-tention of any person pursuant to section 1021...” It further states that this does not prohibit aid-ing the federal government as long as it is within the confines of the federal and state constitutions. Representative Greg MacMasters, R- Dis-trict 105, said that the bill was designed to pro-tect Michigan citizens from the loss of due pro-cess. “Many people signed it without reading it,” he said in reference to the NDAA. “It vio-lates our constitutional rights.” MacMasters co-sponsored HB 5768 along with McMillin, the au-thor of the bill, and four other representatives. As part of a move to add pressure to passing HB 5768, Allegan and Oakland counties passed res-olutions condemning the NDAA and offering their support to McMillin’s bill. In Oakland County, Commissioner Jim Runestad, R – District 6, orig-inally proposed the resolution. In Miscellaneous Resolution 12208, he outlined 22 points about the National Defense Authorization Act. Runestad dis-cussed how Senator Lindsey Graham, R – South

Carolina, deemed the whole world as the battle-field in the war on terror, including American soil. Other points included the violation of Posse Co-mitatus; a law passed after the American Civil War ended that would disallow the military from be-ing used as a police force, and the commission-ers’ oaths to uphold both the Michigan and U.S. constitutions. The resolution passed 25-0 in fa-vor. “Our resolution condemning the unconstitu-tional provisions was unanimous,” he said. Runes-tad also said that there were no doubts regarding those provisions and how they felt about them.Representatives and senators in Lansing are not the only Michiganders who think that the author-ity granted in the NDAA is sweeping and uncon-stitutional. Evan Wilder, head of Detroit’s People Against the NDAA, said that he wanted to be part of the solution. There are four chapters of PAN-DA currently active in Michigan. The others are lo-cated in Muskegon, New Buffalo and Bloomfield. Wilder said that his chapter is focused on provid-ing solutions to people rather than focusing on the problems at hand. “People are more focused on FEMA than their next door neighbor,” he said. Ray Kirkus, head of the New Buffalo chapter, went and spoke before Berrien County’s Commissioners. During the discussions of November 30, 2011 on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Graham said “To those American citizens thinking about helping al-Qae-da, please know what will come your way: death, de-tention and prosecution.” He was discussing section 1031 of S. 1867. This section is the same as section 1021 of House Resolution 1540, almost per verbatim. After the bill had been passed and signed into law by President Obama, Christopher Hedges, along with other activists and journalists, filed a complaint against Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panet-ta. The case was heard by U.S. District Judge Kath-erine Forrest. She issued a permanent injunction September 12, 2012 against the use of section 1021.The transcript of the injunction stated that the plaintiffs had standing because the federal govern-ment was unwilling to state whether or not their

by Joel Campbelladditional research by Ian Post

ISSUE 1 LAKERSENTINEL.COM 3

STUDY ABROAD:Tourism or Cultural Immersion?

by Graham Liddell

Created in a post-World War I environment, study abroad programs were meant to foster

global understanding. In recent years, The Onion, among others, now refer to them as “dick-around abroad.” According to the Institute of Internation-al Education, over 270,000 U.S. students study abroad each year, and that number is rising. U.S. study abroad programs have their roots in IIE, which, according to its website, was founded in 1919 by two Nobel Peace prize winners who “be-lieved that we could not achieve lasting peace with-out greater understanding between nations—and that international educational exchange formed the strongest basis for fostering such understanding.” However, according to a study published in Psy-chology of Addictive Behaviors students “more than doubled their drinking during study abroad trips.”   “It hasn’t always been like this,” said Rebec-ca Hambleton, Director of Study Abroad at GVSU’s Padnos International Center. She said that study abroad programs that emphasized tourism, large groups of American students, and U.S.-style living

arrangements are a relatively recent phenomenon. Hambleton made a distinction be-tween the “international exchanges” more com-mon in the past and the study abroad pro-grams that are popular today. “I was old school,” she said, referring to her own exchange. Hambleton said that with exchanges students are completely immersed, usually isolated from oth-er Americans, and are forced to interact with lo-cals to meet their basic, everyday needs. They also have to deal with the stresses of immigration forms, housing, university applications, medical insur-ance, and transportation.   The plus side is that in-ternational exchanges are without the “convenience fees” of study abroad programs. She said that study abroad programs are offering students and parents what they have been demanding: no stressful bu-reaucratic issues, high class housing situations, and no-hassle tours for the entire group of Americans.  It’s beneficial “if that’s the comfort zone you need for your first time abroad,” said Alis-sa Lane, outreach coordinator at Grand

conduct fell within the confines of section 1021. Forrest argued that by definition, section 1021 con-stitutes a criminal statue and therefore must de-fine what crimes must be committed. Howev-er, she stated that section 1021 contained wording that was too vague for an ordinary citizen to un-derstand. “Section 1021 is certainly far from a ver-batim reprise of the AUMF. This Court assumes, as it must, that Congress acted intentionally when crafting the differences as between the two statues.” This is not the first time that the debate over in-definite detention of American citizens has aris-en. For five years U.S. citizen José Padilla was de-tained without charge under the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists. Padilla was arrested in Chicago and declared an enemy com-batant June 9, 2002 by the Bush administration. In November 2012, this injunction would be over-turned by a motions panel in favor of the U.S. government. The panel concluded that the orig-inal plaintiffs, Hedges, Noam Chomsky among others, did not have standing because the Obama

- DEFIANT MICHIGAN -

administration does not include journalists and ac-tivists in their definition of “associated force.” On February 22, 2012, Jeh Johnson, general con-sul of the Department of Defense, spoke at Yale Law School. His speech was published by the Council on Foreign Relations. In it, Johnson de-fined the Obama administration’s use of “associ-ated force” as an armed group aligned with al-Qa-eda and is fighting against the U.S. and its allies. The Obama administration’s definition will leave when it leaves the White House. However, the law will remain on the books. It is important to note that Anwar al-Awlaki was a U.S. citizen and killed by a drone strike in Yemen, which, as Senator Gra-ham pointed out “is pretty indefinite.” The Nation-al Defense Authorization Act allows for two things to come to America’s shores: indefinite detention for citizens, regardless of innocence or guilt, and U.S. boots on a new battlefield. House Bill 5768 aims to prevent those from affecting Michigan citizens.

4 THE LAKER SENTINEL JANUARY 2013

Valley State’s Padnos International Center. Rather than blame the programs, Hamble-ton stressed individual responsibility.   “It’s up to you to figure it out and have a great experience.” While international exchanges are not widely advertised, the option remains avail-able.   Marian Whitaker, junior at Beloit Col-lege in Wisconsin, studied abroad without a pro-gram in London in the winter of 2012, and said she loved the independent aspects of her experience. “I didn’t have any American friends in Lon-don,” Whitaker said. “I hear about people that study abroad and don’t have any friends from that country, and I’m shocked. Plus, when I hear how much they’re paying—it’s crazy.” While Whita-ker criticized these aspects of study abroad pro-grams, she admitted that handling bu-reaucratic issues was stressful at times. “It took a lot of energy,” she said.   “I can see how it would have been nice to have trips set up in advance for you.   Sometimes I didn’t have the ener-gy to go through the hassle of setting up a trip.   No one was holding my hand through that process.” Whitaker will soon be starting a second semester abroad, this time in a group of a Americans with Col-lege Year in Athens program. “I’ll get to see both sides,” she said.   “I’m excited to have connections when I get there, but I’m appre-hensive of being surrounded by Americans.   I want to be a part of the culture.   I want to learn Greek.” A semester abroad with Whitaker’s program, College Year in Athens, is $18,200, along with $50 application fee, according to their website. $1,050 of that amount goes to “board” which provides a “mid-day meal” on “Monday through Friday (ex-cept on field trips, holidays, and recesses).”   Stu-dents are in Athens for just less than four months, and thus spend approximately $12.35 per week-day on lunch.   $3,500 is designated for “room,” which equates to approximately $875 per month on rent, with “a few” students living in each apart-ment.   If “a few” means three students, each apart-ment costs $2,625 per month. Costs are high be-cause of student/parent demand, Hambleton said. “If you were a program director, imagine the po-sition you’re in if parents are unhappy.”   She said that websites like RateMyStudyAbroad.com have created a global accountability that hasn’t exist-ed before. “One complaint can change policy,”

- STUDY ABROAD -

Hambleton said.   “It’s just how society works.” GVSU alumna Kendall Gilbert said she expe-rienced difficulties with her study abroad program in Costa Rica. “None of the GV faculty-led programs interested me,” Gilbert said, but on the internet, she found a program through International Studies Abroad, that would focus on environmental studies. “We were supposed to be in San José for about three days, then travel to this rural area and attend a field school called Casa Verde Research Center.” When she arrived in Costa Rica and there were only three oth-er ISA students, “it seemed a little sketchy,” she said. Instead of traveling to Casa Verde, Gil-bert said the four of them stayed in a hotel in San Ramón for one-and-a-half months, going to Span-ish class for one hour a day with no environmen-

tal studies courses, “waiting for the field school to be ready.” “But af-ter one-and-a-half months,” she said, “our Spanish professor left, and we weren’t taking any classes.” Gilbert said she started to get frustrated, and wrote a long email to an ISA staff member saying that the program hadn’t given her what she paid for.   “I think I even said some-thing about getting a lawyer in-volved,” she said, “and he must have gotten nervous, because he ended up

flying down to Costa Rica to try to calm us down.” The representative from ISA was apologetic, Gilbert said, and offered to refund half of the stu-dents’ program fees.   He also sent them on an all-expense-paid trip to Panama. “It later came out that they knew the program wouldn’t be ready by the time we went, but let us go anyway,” she said. Gilbert never made it to Casa Verde Research Center.   Instead, “we did every touristy thing pos-sible and missed out on every environmental stud-ies opportunity.” “This is a conversation that is happening in the field of study abroad,” Ham-bleton said. “How do we make study abroad pro-grams more organic?   How do we build a com-munity of students going all over the world?” While the knowledge of this “conversation” and the continuing evolution of study abroad, Ham-bleton recommended that students share their indi-vidual wants and needs with the study abroad office when looking for a program or exchange. “Commu-nication is key at a study abroad office,” she said.

ISSUE 1 LAKERSENTINEL.COM 5

ESCALATIONS IN DECADE-OLD OCCUPATIONby Kate Nix

A tentative calm swept over Palestine and Isra el on Nov. 21, 2012 as leaders from Egypt and

America successfully arranged a cease-fire in the vi-olence-ridden territory. Operation Pillar of Cloud had come to an end, leaving 155 Palestinians and six Israelis dead. The cease-fire allowed both sides to begin cleaning up after another destructive esca-lation in the conflict. Despite the calm of the cease-fire, there is no return to normal for the citizens of Gaza, just the return to a life under occupation. Operation Pillar of Cloud began on Nov. 14, 2012 with the surgeon attack on a car transporting the commander of the military wing of Hamas, Ahmed Al-Jaabari. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is-sued a report on the operation the day after stating, “In recent days and weeks Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza have made nor-mal life impossible for over one million Israelis.” “I would argue that you can’t disassoci-ate [the Hamas rocket fire] from the long his-tory of the conflict,” said Coeli Fitzpatrick, the advisor to the Grand Valley student organi-zation Peace M.E.ans. “The root of this con-flict is not just Hamas shooting rockets. If you look at Gaza it is really a large open-air prison. It is a huge population cut off from engagement with Israelis on any normalized level,” she said. The conflict continued to escalate with rockets steadily fired from both sides. However, the major dif-ference between the two was the effectiveness. Five days into the operation, 50 Palestinians, about half were ci-vilians, had been killed. Israel had launched more than 950 airstrikes, targeting weaponry and flattening mil-itant homes and headquarters. 500 rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip, killing three Israeli civilians. Nisha Jagannathan, a Kalamazoo College stu-dent, is currently attending the Ben-Gurion Univer-sity of the Negev in southern Israel and was forced to flee the university on November 15. “The missiles [fired from Gaza] never really land where they want it to go; as far as I know, the two sent to Tel Aviv landed in the sea. Mostly they land in semi-populat-ed areas,” she said. A major reason behind the ineffec-tiveness of Gaza missiles is the Israeli defense system known as Iron Dome. Created in 2011 jointly with Israel and the United States, Iron Dome had a 90 per-cent efficiency rate during Operation Pillar of Cloud. The operation continued on November 18. Among the hundreds of Palestinians injured during the operation, a significant amount were journalists. The Al Sharuk building suffered a direct missile attack

that morning. The Al Sharuk building, or common-ly known as “the reporter’s building,” was complete-ly destroyed and left two journalists dead. The assas-sination of a journalist is considered a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. With the ruins of Al Sha-ruk still ablaze in Gaza, Netanyahu prepared for his weekly cabinet meeting in which he made statements on the future possibilities of the operation. “The Is-raeli army is ready to significantly expand its opera-tion in Gaza” he said. To most civilians in Palestine and Israel this most clearly meant the possibility of a ground operation. This statement brought many back to Operation Cast Lead, which took place in Decem-ber 2008. The operation was a combination of Isra-el air strikes and an Israeli Defense Force ground in-

vasion. The operation lasted 22 days and took the lives of more than 1,400 Gaza citizens. “As much as people believe in the self-defense idea, it is also very personal to send Israelis to fight,” said Jagannathan. Opposition for a ground in-vasion from Gaza citizens only seems natu-ral, as it would no doubt halt any normalcy of life and innocent citizens would be caught in harmful crossfires. Israel officials have stat-ed that a ground invasion would allow Israe-li Defense Forces to target the terrorists they are after with less collateral damage. How-

ever, there are two major flaws with this assertion. First, the ground invasion of 2008 led to the death of 1,167 civilians according to the Unit-ed Nations Office for the Coordination of Hu-manitarian Affairs. 318 of these deaths were under the age of 18 in a report by B’Tselem, an Is-raeli human rights group. This was the highest rate of civilian casualties in the four recent operations. Second, on Nov. 19, 2012 Maj. Gen. Dan Harel of the Israeli Defense Forces said that after launching more than 1,300 coordinated attacks on terrorist entities and weapons facilities in the Gaza Strip since the start of Operation Pillar of Cloud Is-rael is “running out of targets.” It seems irresponsi-ble of Israel to contemplate a ground invasion with-out a strategy of attack. It puts civilians in Gaza at risk and the soldiers they send in danger as well. For-tunately, international pressure to resolve the conflict before the nightmare of the 2008 was made a reality was strong and on Nov. 20, 2012, U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton stated, “The rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside Gaza on Israeli cities and towns must end, and a broader calm restored.” Hours after the ceasefire was signed into action on November

6 THE LAKER SENTINEL JANUARY 2013

21, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, told CNN, “I understand now that [the cease-fire] has taken hold. There hasn’t been fire for a while and, of course, we are not firing, so there is a cease-fire.” After his Dec. 4, 2012 visit to Gaza, Rich-ard Falk, a U.N. independent expert, said, “Ex-perience has also shown that Israel is not likely to carry out its obligations under the ceasefire agree-ment; indeed during our visit we heard Israeli war-planes flying directly overhead and received reports of Israeli military incursions into the Gaza Strip.” With diminutive efforts to enforce internation-al law, there is almost nothing holding Israel back from escalating the conflict once more. It seems the only way to guarantee that another escalation does not occur would be ending the occupation all together, which at the present seems a distant possibility. “The cause of the violence is the occupation,” said Fitzpatrick. So the symptoms are the rockets and the Israeli respons-es, but the root cause is the occupation itself.”

- ESCALATIONS -

Grand Rapids Public Schools had a 20 percent high school dropout rate in 2011. The program Schools

of Hope is working to reduce that statistic. Schools of Hope was started through Heart of West Michigan Unit-ed Way, an organization that focuses on the areas of ed-ucation, income, and health. It includes an in school tu-toring program that focuses on reading with students in the first through third grade. Volunteers work one-on-one with the same student for 30 minutes each week. “We have 18 schools participating; 15 in the Grand Rapids Public Schools and one each in Godfrey-Lee, Godwin and Cedar Springs,” said Fritz Crabb, the di-rector of literacy initiatives at United Way. “Grand Val-ley has been a valued partner with Schools of Hope, providing both staff and student volunteers for the pro-gram.” Schools of Hope is currently working with vol-unteers from English 308 and from the National Soci-ety of Collegiate Scholars, NSCS. The tutoring program has approximately 750 volunteers; their goal is 1,000. Grand Valley sophomore Kane Marciniak is a re-cent member of NSCS and learned about the tutoring program through the group’s advisors. “Access to knowl-edge is something that people take for granted,” Marcin-iak said. “I enjoy learning new things, and I want to share that love of learning with other people who may not ap-preciate it as much as I do or may not have had the same opportunities.” Schools of Hope began with the Help One Student to Succeed program in 2001. The program

worked under a grant received by Grand Rapids Pub-lic Schools and partnered with Heart of West Michigan United Way to recruit and train volunteers. When the grant ended the name was changed to Schools of Hope. Kevin Konarska, Kent ISD superintendent, describes the importance of the program on Unit-ed Way’s website; “Schools of Hope is making a differ-ence in our community, and Schools of Hope volun-teers are making a difference in the lives of children. The time spent with these children can literally make or break their future, because reading at grade lev-el is a powerful predictor of future success in life.” According to a report done by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, millions of fourth grade stu-dents in America are unable to read proficient-ly. This is linked to higher rates of high school drop-out. The trend is especially pronounced in children from low income families. “Research shows that chil-dren learn to read by the end of third grade,”said Crabb. “From fourth-grade on, children read to learn. That means if they are not good readers they will not un-derstand the subject matter and fall further behind.” The National Assessment of Educational Prog-ress is a periodical evaluation of students’ knowledge in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. The test is given uniformly throughout the nation and the results provide a guideline to compare student’s progress in each state. In 2011, 66 percent of fourth-grade students in Michigan were at or above the basic reading lev-el. 31 percent were at or above proficiency and only 6 percent were at an advanced level. “Recent research also shows that children in poverty often lose reading abili-ty over the summer while children from middle or high-er income homes hold or increase their reading skills,” Crabb said. The Kids Count Special Report found that in 2009, 83 percent of children from low-income fami-lies failed to reach the proficient level in reading based on the NAEP reading test. In 2011, the National Center for Education Statistics found that children in Michigan eligible for the national school lunch program scored an average of 205 on the NAEP. Those who were not eligible had an average score of 231, a difference of 26 points. “There is no one reason why it is difficult to keep children in school through graduation,” Crabb said. However academic difficulty, especially in read-ing is a large factor. Other influences according to the non-profit organization EduGuide are poor attendance, retention, disengagement from school, a transition to a new school, or life factors such as pregnancy, family problems, and financial difficulties. “Everyone knows something you don’t,” said Marciniak. “I think that of-tentimes we forget that we can learn just as much from those who we set out to help as they learn from us.”

SCHOOLS OF HOPEby Carly Simpson

ISSUE 1 LAKERSENTINEL.COM 7

The internet started out as an idea. In 1962 the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(DARPA) was formed, allowing computers to share scientific and military information. Initial inter-net use was restricted to code specialists, research-ers, and the military, but information transmission was a complex and infantile venture at that point. The internet as we know it really began over two de-cades later in 1993 when Mosaic, the first graphi-cal browser, was launched. Within two years of Mosaic’s launch, the National Science Foundation—who had funded a country-wide 56kbs ‘backbone’ for the internet—ended their sponsorship. That same year, AOL, Prodigy, CompuServe, Yahoo! and eBay were all launched. Three years later Google was incorporated. The rest, as they say, is history. The birth of the internet for public use would change the world in ways nobody could imagine at

the time, especially clay-digging kindergarteners like myself. As it turns out, we would come of age alongside the internet—technology and youth grow-ing up in a spiraling web. We would would influ-ence one another through the formative years and into adulthood. Older millennials had already be-gun coping with adulthood when the internet ex-ploded, to say nothing of the baby boomers. For the Internet Generation, this simultaneous matura-tion process has been one of mutual influence—in-formation sharing affects our understanding of cul-ture and at the same time, our culture changes the face of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. A sub-demographic of the millennials, the Internet Generation can basically be defined as twenty-somethings with internet access, and we oc-cupy a very unique position in world history. We are

THE INTERNET GENERATION:Coming of Age In The Cloud

by Dave Leins

H U M A N I T I E S

8 THE LAKER SENTINEL JANUARY 2013

the last generation to have lived in a world without widespread internet access, and the first to experi-ence it as young adults. Our perception of informa-tion sharing and access has developed around the experience of AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace, YouTube, and the like. It no longer takes a stretch of the imagination to recognize that information is available instantaneously. While some might com-plain about information overload, I would more accurately call it an abundance, an abundance which has created an expectation that informa-tion should be, and generally is fast, free, and easy. Its important to understand that in the con-text of the internet, various forms of information such as photos, video, and audio communication are all fundamentally language. Culture exists through language, so information on the internet is essen-tially instant culture. While the Internet Genera-tion is inherently connected to this instant culture, the Television Generation is an onlooking parent, not sure what to make of this new phenomenon. The massive amount of ever-perpetuating data, language, and symbols on the internet pro-vides the opportunity for an unprecedented state of cultural self-awareness. Such effects were also prevalent with the introduction of radio and lat-er television, but never before has it been possible for someone in one part of the world to instantly share this information, and in such detail. Photos, videos, audio, and text enable an extremely accu-rate representation of time and place, marking the context of culture beautifully. Before the internet, television was the best means for large-scale com-munication of images and audio, but it was, and still is, severely limited in the content available. Among the channels available to a cable viewer, almost all are owned by a short list of me-dia conglomerates such as: Comcast/General Elec-tric, News Corporation, The Walt Disney Compa-ny, Viacom, Time Warner, and Sony Corporation. These six corporations own most of broadcast tele-vision, movies and cable news. While all of these corporations have commercial interests on the in-ternet, they can’t control internet-user’s con-tent. Various bills such as the Stop Online Pira-cy Act (SOPA) have been supported by these large corporations, often facing backlash from inde-pendent media and general internet users alike. The television generation lived in the time when twenty-four hour news was born. The twen-ty-four hour news channel was, and in many cases still is, taken as truth by countless millions of peo-ple. Conversely, the internet enables anyone with a webcam or a keyboard to communicate directly

and instantly to any number of people at the same time, side-stepping the commercial interests of me-dia companies and governments; the internet doesn’t play favorites. The result is the possibility for per-son-to-person communication of data, information, culture, and in varying degrees class consciousness. There are many (certainly not all) baby boomers who hold to the notion that journalists and news outlets are automatically reporting the truth. (How could they lie about a war in Iraq or Afghan-istan when there are pictures of Al-Qaeda members with guns on the screen?) The millennial generation came of age not only with the internet, but also in the context of pre- and post-9/11 ideologies. A tsu-nami of pro-America, pro-capitalism, pro-Western thought swept through America at this time, right when the Internet Generation was encountering its first responsibilities as workers, college students, and most importantly, self-aware individuals. Age-old questions such as “Who am I?” and “What does it mean to be an adult?” were inevitably asked at the same time as “What is a terrorist?”, “Where is Iraq, exactly?” and “What are the twin towers?”. Teenagers who grew up during World War I, II and Vietnam were confronted with similar questions. At a time in life when psychological development was reaching the adult stage, Western ideologies were undergoing a dynamic shift, making it hard to determine exact-ly what to believe in. This time around, however, the blossoming internet was ready to provide a sound-ing board and encyclopedia of insight for these ques-tions. Young adults encountering these problems in a post-9/11 world could now log in to a message board and ask a community of people with similar questions. In effect, there was some place that could provide information that the Arab-fearing news me-dia couldn’t infiltrate. Now, countless alternative and international news sites are only a click away from providing a new perspective on a particular issue. Our lives will continue to change and de-velop alongside the internet. The next big thing for internet users is the cloud—invisible storage space more accessible than ever, floating about our heads. Will it hang drearily, overcast, and blot out the sun-light of experience? Or will it bring much-need-ed rainfall—a torrential downpour of culture and ideas as members of the Internet Generation come into their own as agents of cultural change?

ACKNOWLEDGMENT SIllustrations....................................Grace CarpenterDesign & Layout......................................Dave LeinsResearch.....................................................Ian PostEditing..............J. Campbell, G. Liddell, Andrea Kooiker

COHESION JANUARY 2013

The following is a winning piecee from a creative writing competition put on by Student Reading Series. For more information on the organization, visit their Facebook page or e-mai them at srsgvsu@gmail.com.

A grain filled video projects to a classA distant country of distant people.Yet it is An ephemeral line- between here and thereA mental block of stone.A murder just a death, to us.A sultry sun of exact size.

A tape measure used to condense our heart.

The only distinctions are drawn on a map.Magellan crafted a fallacyConstantly we narrow into confinesCreated by the architects of time. Even the circle of a clock restricts what may have been realized.

Space shuttle dreams dwindle.I feel we are “post” everything.

I was a child, given to dream.I dreamt and the bastards took it away.Like a man stealing candy,But picking my mind.

We are living in the era of Post- hope.

How suppressing to feel infinite But be roped to wood in a Finite Forest.Rope of links-Of dynasty, heritage, and blood. Why?

Do we craft a tree into a log-A lake to a bottle-The world to homes.Only concepts we conceive in proportion to our minds.ClosedClosed minds of restricted perception. Our peripherals blinded with the curtains knit by the hands of textbook gods.

We are post relativity

I want to be a giant!Pick trees into toothpicks And oceans as baths.What existence could be more suited?

Absorb the excess the human mind leaves to waste.

This is current and this is nowI am nowhere, and it’s here.Not a carbon copy of my ancestors bones.

Or perhaps, let me be a mouseThat nibbles at the corridors of “trash”I’ll venture the margins left aside.

The people left at the corner in the darkness of night.Let me cross that ephemeral line.Let me be the stray mouse that nibbles at their story.Stories covered by charity dollar bills.

Let us make it a generation of post- ignorance.

If the desert grain is a rough texture-I will feel it myself.Against the cuts, burns, and scars of existence.Incinerate rigid ideas of what “is” and what’s “not.”I can take a match to the constitution itself.

However.There is a sinister plot behind each breath.Our bodies are our only consecrated entities.

The earth’s word pours through meLike wine on communion day.I go for aesthetics- Give me your blood, and we may reconcile.

The blood of Robspierre himself, the truth distort-ed for a function. A republic of virtue outlined by gore. A generation of post deceptions contradicts itself. So much honesty simply supplies the deceit.It is the plight of man that good and bad do not lay on separate beds.

There is something tragic connected with Truth,Nothing left to search for.I was an explorer, now chained by the gold I found.

I became queen, only to find my velvet sleeves re-stricted your touch.

I cut the strings of a bourgeoisie status And fall to the tangible earth.I simply pray the fall dents the soil.

“You Are What You Read” 1st Place Winner – Katie NixPost-Living in the Modern World

Creative Writing

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COHESION JANUARY 2013

The following column was found on Ja-cob’s desk around the end of the world along with a note that read “I’m out of here!” with Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” repeating on his laptop in the background. We here at Cohe-sion feel that much of this applies to the cur-rent season, as well. Jacob has been missing ever since.If you’re like me, then Autumn can be daunt-ing. The pumpkin patches have opened up and all of your friends want to go pick out the perfect one. A pumpkin patch is no place for cute shoes. The cold weather dries out my skin. Let’s not forget, ladies and gents, its football season: a time when most men are at their worst. It’ll be cute for a while, until he buys you a team jersey for your birthday and asks you to make a sandwich for him and his bros. I’m generally in a cranky mood for most of the fall season. You, no doubt, have been invited on countless escapades to haunt-ed houses and harvest festivals with promis-es of “good times,” and “great friends.” Me too, and I assure you, there are ways to sur-vive. Follow these tips on how to have a gay ol’ time this autumn. If you are attending a Harvest Festival this year, remember: this is an event that takes place mostly outside, so you will be freezing your ass off. Wear appropriate attire. I know how important it is to look cute, but that’s why we have hats and scarves. Thank Aphro-dite for accessories, right? I always tell girls just to wear a crew neck sweater to a harvest fest. Even better, wear one of your boyfriend’s sweaters—that’ll make him feel good. Do not wear leggings. Read that again. Go back, read it like three more times. Have I made myself

clear? Wear a nice pair of jeans. Rips in the knees are fine. This is where our accessories come in. If you have a cute scarf and hat—they do not have to be part of a matching set: this is a common misconception—wear them. I do not usually advocate for more than one accessory per outfit, but you can most likely get away with it. Try and make sure they are made from the same materi-al, however. Mixing textures can look weird. Wear some sensible shoes. You read the word sensible and I know you’re all thinking ugly, but that is not what that means. You can wear a cute pair of boots that are not made for hiking. Nothing with a heel: it will sink into the ground. Avoid tennis shoes altogeth-er: tennis shoes are for tennis, and I mean it. If I see one more lady thinking she’s pulling off a cute new pair of tennis shoes with her leggings and Aztec print shirt, I’m going to vomit.So what have we learned? Dress down for the harvest festival: this isn’t a night on the town. Accessorizing is a must.Here are a few more tips before I let you all out on your own:When bobbing for apples, wear waterproof mascara. Your Halloween costume should have one type of cleavage, not both. Lim-it yourself to one kind of dessert at Thanks-giving because, “The pumpkin pie was deli-cious!” sounds a whole lot better than, “No, these are all for me.” If you have a question or want me to address a topic please e-mail me at askcohesion@gmail.com

Gay Advice ColumnGay Tips for your Harvest

by Jacob Guajardo

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The Emergency Systems TestThe following was announced by Campus Security Systems around

the noon hour on September 4, 2012. Cohesion has reprint-ed a text version of the announcement for your awareness:

This is a test. This is a test to determine whether, if tested, you can distinguish if a test is really a test. This is not a test. This test is intended to recog-nize, from the body of subjects polled, the abil-ity to recognize the char-acteristics of tests. This test relies heavily upon the English language, and is thus inherent-ly flawed. This is just a test. This test does not pool data by visible mea-surements, and the data will not be released to the public. All persons who come in contact with this test are hence-forth considered subjects of the testing pool. Af-ter this test is complete, the pool will be closed due to lack of aides. No consent is necessary or available for this test. This is not a test. The study guide for this test will not be available be-fore or after 7pm to-night. The standards for this test are double blind, vacuum-sealed, and fully confidential. If you need to seek Disabilities Support Ser-vices to assist in test-taking, they will not be available to tell you if this test is a test. The flaws of this test reflect your understanding and not the language composition, sentence

structures, syntax of terms used, nor the rep-etition of the word test. This is only a test. This test was developed by professionals: the

same professionals who designed the phras-es, “This is an emer-gency test of the public broadcasting system,” “The Error-Proof Test,” and “This will be on the test.” This test is not intended to reflect the reliability of those tests, but it will inevita-bly critique them. This was never a test. The results of this test will be immediately observ-able based on your re-actions to the sentenc-es herein. Vomiting, nosebleeds, screaming, itchy elbows, spoiled milk, howling dogs, general anxiety, specific anxiety, car alarm dis-ruption, ruined naps, testing disillusionment, testy personalities, tes-tes personal allergies,

ten-speed test analogies, and new memes may result as side-effects of this test. Campus Se-curity Systems is not responsible for test-re-lated side effects, nor are they responsible for answering questions about whether this test was a test. This was always a test. Every text is a test. Orthodoxy is unconscious.

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ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19)So you survived the end of the world and you’re so excited to be alive. In fact, your New Year’s resolu-tion was to live like you were dying with that Tim McGraw song as your 2013 anthem. And you never even listened to country before! Well, you’ll discov-er why this month. They may say that tequila makes your clothes fall off, but it also affects your skin. You’d better start moisturizing now, or you’ll have more cracks than a bar in the south (See: tequila makes your pants fall off). In case you thought this was your year: no. You’re going to have to exercise that holiday ham off. Eat less meat and live like you’re living.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20)Oh my God, what happened to your hair?! There’s a fine line between finals and the rest of civilized soci-ety, and you’re going to have to draw that line. Split ends are dead ends, my friend. You were blessed with the gift of beautiful locks: now you just need to show them off. Go to Sports Clips or the salon or wherever you go, and ask them for the Laker Locks Special. Trust me, they’ll know what you mean. The weather outside is weather, but your hair is what can pull it all together. Besides, once you get that new look, it won’t matter if the sun is out because you’ll be the one shining. The alternative is social suicide.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 21)Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, al-right, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, okay now ladies. No, really: ladies. And this goes for both women and men. For some rea-son this cycle, ladies trust you more. So you can put away your poker face because you seem more hon-est. Even when you’re lying. Even when you can’t

tell if you’re lying to yourself. You’re going to be a social hit. The downside is that, when the cycle comes back around, the ladies you meet in this peri-od will trust you less. Additionally, the relationships you had before now will seem less genuine to you, even if everyone thinks you’re so great. But we’re all dying every day, so live like it. (And don’t tell the Aries).

CANCER (JUNE 22-JULY 22)What happens when you leave a bunch of bananas on your desk over break? The black death. You know how your grandma says they can still be used to make banana bread? Well they’re also useful for attracting black mold, and those pencil grips are made from a very spongy material. Of course, when you toss those deathly fruits, you won’t realize this fatal fact right away. But weeks later, after you’ve been chewing on your pencil because you’re bored in lecture or you’re buying into popular ideas of be-ing sexy or you’re trying to apply kinesthetic learn-ing to the Freudian concepts in your psych class, you will become violently ill in the middle of the night. Not sleeping quietly in your bed, but at a party: the kind where everybody was invited, “But no puking or we’ll toss you into the cold, sukkas!” Well, good luck surviving this semester.

LEO (JULY 23-AUGUST 22)The snow is gone and it’s basically summer. Basical-ly, because you need sunscreen and sunglasses, but you think a winter coat will suffice. Well, after the sun’s rays burn sufficient areas around your eyes and you have to drive into the sun to Family Fare in or-der to get some things for the recipe you pinned for a special occasion, your eyes will suddenly decide to spasm from all the stress. Do you know what the median is for? Accidents.

Horoscopes

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VIRGO (AUGUST 23-SEPTEMBER 22)You remember when you dated that Scorpio last se-mester? Well the venom is still in you. Go get test-ed. Now.

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 23-OCTOBER 23)After break, your mom packed you leftovers from the last meal you ate. Well, rather the food left over from a meal you didn’t want to eat the first time. But in the excitement of moving back in, you shoved this to the back of your fridge. Well you’d better hope that you don’t forget to throw that out, or it will grow. Not mold or sprouts or anything you’ve seen before, but something moving. Remember when your mom said, “I’m trying something new with this, so tell me if you like it.”? Well she should’ve read the box. Just be glad you didn’t eat any.

SCORPIO (OCTOBER 24-NOVEMBER 21)Grand Valley has SWS courses to improve your writing skills, and to try and force you to use their many services and programs for personal improve-ment. This semester, you should check out the Re-cyclemania program the university has in place, be-cause you’re gonna be recycling A LOT of papers. Including your first paper, from a different course. Did you know that teachers check sometimes to see if papers are plagiarized? Did you know you can plagiarize yourself? Well you’d better learn that les-son before you’re kicked out of that course you’re taking… and Grand Valley… and your parents’ house. Best of luck this year!

SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 22-DECEMBER 21)The last thing you’ll remember, before you get hit by the car, is that you have to finish your math work tonight. The first thing you’ll remember, as you wake up months later, is that people stop for pedes-trians at Grand Valley out of courtesy. Just be thank-ful that Disabilities Support Resources are so plenti-ful at our university.

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 22-JANUARY 19)In the summer, you have to deal with the sprinklers going off in the rain and at other inopportune mo-ments. But during the winter, you’re free to run around on the grass and the sidewalks without wor-ry. Well, without worry of the sprinklers. You do know that black ice isn’t just a racial slur, right? It’s a natural phenomenon that doesn’t discriminate against anybody, because nature doesn’t care if you’re late to class: you shouldn’t be running on ice, dummy.

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 20-FEBRUARY 18)Your birthday is a special day that you should cele-brate with all of your friends. The ones who have homework or previous plans or group projects or early classes. Well, the best part about less people showing up to your party is that there’s more alcohol for you to drink. How much alcohol? Enough to make your liver smell like burnt broccoli when the coroner opens it up. Just take it easy, champ: there’s always next year… if you survive.

PISCES (FEBRUARY 19-MARCH 20)Well aren’t you prepared? You bought all of the right things you’ll need for this semester as far as materials for class. You even went a step further and pur-chased the books your professors suggested beyond the required texts, and you read this great book over break about improving your study techniques. You’re one step ahead of the rest of the pack, and you’re proud. But zebras with this kind of behavior in the wild get eaten by lions, and your teacher isn’t looking for shining stars. You’d better pull your neck back into your shell, Michaelangelo, because that pizza you’re eating will not hold up well against the shredder: the one your teacher got for Christmas and can’t wait to use to administer ‘feedback.’

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COHESION WARNING:Cohesion is not responsible for the consumption of Fla-vor Aid in response to its reading, either alone in a coffee shop or organized by external forces who misinter-pret the writings herein. We never said that anybody was a communist, nor do we as-sociate with Soviets, Mayans,

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a wholly democratic publication dedicated to empowering the student voice to ac-cess diverse and creative perspectives through the collective avenues of text. Want to promote your student organization? Want to write an article for us? Have an opinion piece? Want to respond to an article you read? Email us at CohesionGV@gmail.com

terrorists, Westboro Baptists, police officers, or any other good people. Furthermore, the zombie apocalypse cannot be confirmed or denied, but the contents of our publications are meant as precautions. If you feel yourself becoming closer to Enlightenment upon your read-ing, just let it happen, yo. Just let it happen.

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Dear Cohesion, I’m scared. My friend gave me a copy of your booklet about zombies, and now I can’t sleep. I almost punched my roommate in the face because she moaned into our dorm late one night with blood-shot eyes. The whole first week back I made my mom talk to me on my cell all the way to class because I was afraid that the apocalypse had happened. Now I don’t know who to trust! I got everything on your checklist (in fact, my mom had to put more debit dollars into my account so I would have more money for ice cream later). What is next? When are the zom-bies coming?! Please help!

Frantically,Katie D.

Dear Katie, Can I call you Kate? I think you’d function better in a post-apocalyptic world with a shorter name. The first thing I want to say is, WHAT ARE YOU DOING CALLING YOUR MOM? Your mother isn’t going to be able to help you when walkers are “noshing your brains,” as they say on the streets. You need to get your lanyard-carrying tuckus to the gym and take some endurance classes. Maybe TurboKick. Are you running every day? EVERY day? Have you checked out additional sources of information from the library? Have you seen every episode of The Waking Dead? This is no time to panic, Katherine. You are a survivor, and you’re right to be afraid of your roommate: she sounds like she’s smoking pot. You know how they say it’s safer than alcohol? What do you think made zombies a reality? No wonder they’re so hungry! Stick to your guns, pump up the volume, and head for the hills.

Seriously, Run!Little Sister

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GRAND VALLEY’SALTERN AT IVE NEWS

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