Serving the CCRI Student Body Since 2007 VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011 The Unfiltered Lens www.TheUnfilteredLens.org REC CCTV forum, talks and troubles A public forum was held on Thursday, March 31st at the CCRI Knight campus regarding issues re- lated to the 21st Century Workforce Report and security improvement in CCRI’s campuses. The forum was proctored by President DiPasquale, who also answered student, faculty and staff questions. In an e-mail sent out to faculty and students, DiPasquale mentioned that he was “seeking [...] feedback as we [the administration] make de- cisions that will affect the future of the college.” The e-mail continued with “I will provide an overview of each topic, answer questions and gather your feedback during the fo- rums.” The e-mail provided dates, times, and locations of the public forums which were held over two days in all four campuses. The March 29th forums were held on the Lincoln SERVIO GOMEZ ONLINE EDITOR Read more about the Administration’s restriction of recording the open forum on pg. 13, SuPRESSed and Providence campuses, followed by two forums held two days after on the 31st at the Newport and War- wick campuses. The first part of these forums was geared towards discussing the 21st Century Workforce Report and the latter half was intended to “explore whether security cameras are a worthwhile investment for increas- ing safety to protect the members of our [the CCRI] community.” The forum held at the Knight Cam- pus had a fair turn out, with most attendees being faculty and staff. There was a moderate student turn- out, with even a group seemingly coming in as a class. While the forum was held public- ly, some students were met with op- position when attempting to record the open forum. Before the forum formally began, an editor from The Unfiltered Lens, Brittany Gooding, prepared to record the session. Within the first five minutes of the publicly-held forum, Louis Rai- none of the Physical Plant, asked if the open discussion was being recorded. In response, President DiPasquale affirmed “officially no[...]” When asked by Professor Steve Forleo about other public fo- rums, regarding the arming of cam- pus police, that have been recorded, President DiPasquale expressed, “this isn’t a parliamentary proce- dure meeting [...]” Previous forums were not governed by Roberts’ Rules. DiPasquale then called for a motion for those in objection to the recording. While no official record was kept as far as votes, Gooding, as well as Professor Forleo noticed a small number of people (less than ten) opposing to her recording. [Note: I arrived 30 minutes into the session and was preparing to record the forum myself until informed by a CCRI public relations photogra- pher that I was not allowed.] continued on pg 5, Forum
Transcript
Serving the CCRI Student Body Since 2007 VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
The Unfiltered Lenswww.TheUnfilteredLens.org
REC
CCTV forum, talks and troubles
A public forum was held on Thursday, March 31st at the CCRI Knight campus regarding issues re-lated to the 21st Century Workforce Report and security improvement in CCRI’s campuses. The forum was proctored by President DiPasquale, who also answered student, faculty and staff questions.
In an e-mail sent out to faculty and students, DiPasquale mentioned that he was “seeking [...] feedback as we [the administration] make de-cisions that will affect the future of the college.” The e-mail continued with “I will provide an overview of each topic, answer questions and gather your feedback during the fo-rums.” The e-mail provided dates, times, and locations of the public forums which were held over two days in all four campuses. The March 29th forums were held on the Lincoln
Servio Gomez
Online editOr
Read more about the Administration’s restriction of recording the open forum on pg. 13, SuPRESSed
and Providence campuses, followed by two forums held two days after on the 31st at the Newport and War-wick campuses. The first part of these forums was geared towards discussing the 21st Century Workforce Report and the latter half was intended to “explore whether security cameras are a worthwhile investment for increas-ing safety to protect the members of our [the CCRI] community.” The forum held at the Knight Cam-pus had a fair turn out, with most attendees being faculty and staff. There was a moderate student turn-out, with even a group seemingly coming in as a class. While the forum was held public-ly, some students were met with op-position when attempting to record the open forum. Before the forum formally began, an editor from The Unfiltered Lens, Brittany Gooding, prepared to record the session.
Within the first five minutes of
the publicly-held forum, Louis Rai-none of the Physical Plant, asked if the open discussion was being recorded. In response, President DiPasquale affirmed “officially no[...]” When asked by Professor Steve Forleo about other public fo-rums, regarding the arming of cam-pus police, that have been recorded, President DiPasquale expressed, “this isn’t a parliamentary proce-dure meeting [...]” Previous forums were not governed by Roberts’ Rules. DiPasquale then called for a
motion for those in objection to the recording. While no official record was kept as far as votes, Gooding, as well as Professor Forleo noticed a small number of people (less than ten) opposing to her recording.
[Note: I arrived 30 minutes into the session and was preparing to record the forum myself until informed by a CCRI public relations photogra-pher that I was not allowed.]
continued on pg 5, Forum
Student News2
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
THE
One day on my way into school, I was making my way up the hill and when I came to the main intersec-tion (where the road splits to go to the parking lots and under the school) I was greeted by a good old fash-ion New England one-finger wave.
The reason I received such a traditional “good morn-ing” is because I had the audacity to drive with the flow of traffic to the parking lot and not yield to some person (who lacks common sense) who came barreling out from under the school without stopping.
So I will explain how the right of way works coming into school. To do this I will explain what to do if you are following the yellow
Right of way at CCRIStefan CaSuCCi
Staff Writer
line, what to do if you have a stop sign, and how the two work together to form a safe driving environment.
The yellow line on any road, whether it is solid, dashed, double, or single, means the same thing. The yellow line signifies the nor-mal flow of traffic. On cam-pus the yellow line curves to the left in the front of the school and heads down to the parking lots.
This means that the path the yellow line takes is the normal flow of traffic. So if a person were driving following that yellow line, they would not have to yield to any other vehicle.
That red octagon seen when coming out from un-der the school is actually a stop sign. Proof of this is the fact that the sign says “STOP” on it in big letters.
The stop sign means to stop until it is safe to proceed.
So if a person was ap-proaching the stop sign from under the school, they should stop, and wait until the chosen path they would like to take is clear and safe.
When paths with yellow lines and stop signs are put together they actually form a phenomenon called traf-fic. The rules of how traffic works and flows are called ‘traffic laws’.
One purpose that traffic laws serve is to dictate who is taking a path that has the highest priority of travel (or who has the “right of way”). If person A were driving up the hill on their way into school and was approaching the front of the school and is heading straight or towards the parking lot they would have the right of way.
If person B was coming out from under the school and is approaching the stop sign, they would have no right of way, and could ac-tually sit there for as long as it takes for their chosen path to become clear and safe for use.
Although driving may be more difficult for some people, the rules of the road are not that difficult to un-derstand.
I have explained how to decipher what to do if you are following the yellow line, what to do if you are at a stop sign, and how the two work together to create a safe driving environment. I do apologize if I came off as condescending, but if you already know the rules of the road, and what con-descending means, then this article is not for you.
We Want to knoW What you think!Visit our website at www.theunfilteredlens.org, click this
article, and respond today!
Student Government Elections
Presidential Elections will be held from 12am on 21 April until 11:59pm on 22 April. All voting will take place electronically. A debate session will take place prior to the elections, but a date has yet to be determined.
Elected candidates will be notified on 25 April.
Knight Campus Student Government
The next meeting will be held on 14 April 2011 behind the cafeteria at 2pm.
KCSG also request that all clubs, if they have not done so already, submit their budget requests for next year immediately.
Student Art Sale
There will be a student art sale held at the Flanagan Campus (Lincoln) on 19 April. It will be held in the cafeteria, and all students are welcome to participate.
There is no charge to participate, and all proceeds may be kept by the students.
For further information, contact The Lens’ Art Director, Jon Montalbano at [email protected]
Textbook Buyback
The CCRI Bookstores will have textbook buybacks on the following dates:
Friday, 6 May, 9am-3pm Monday, 9 May, 9am-7pm Tuesday, 10 May, 9am-7pm Wednesday, 11 May, 9am-7pm Thursday, 12 May, 9am-7pm Friday, 13 May, 9am-3pm Monday, 16, May, 9am-3pm
Advertise your club and events
Use The Unfiltered Lens to promote your club and club events. Each club has one free, full color, quarter page advertisement for the life of their club.
Also, club officials can set up a calendar on our website, www.theunfilteredlens.org, which will be sent out with each e-mail version of the newspaper.
For further information on either of these, contact The Unfiltered Lens at [email protected] or call (401) 825-1215.
**To have your notices posted in The Skinny, please e-mail The Unfiltered Lens at [email protected] subject Skinny.
Student News3
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
Are you a student veteran attending the Community College of Rhode Island?
Are you struggling with balancing schoolwork and classes, supporting family, and keeping a social life, while still in the service?
Do you sometimes wish you could talk to a fellow veteran about your experi-ences within the service and having them be able to re-late? As a veteran, do you hope that someday there will be a way to make the transition into schools much easier?
If you answered yes to any of the previous questions, or you wish to support the stu-dent veterans, then you are in luck!
As of this month, all four campuses at CCRI will be introducing a new club called Student Veterans of America.
This club was organized by Anthony Paolino and is part of a non-profit, nation-
SVO returns to Knight campusBrittany GoodinG
aSSOciate editOr
wide group that advocates for all student veterans. Although this club used to be established at CCRI, it became inactive for several semesters and many con-tacts were lost from all of the previous members.
After realizing the need for a SVO, Paolino spoke with the secretary of veteran affairs, Eric Shineski, Sena-tor Jack Reed, Senator Shel-don Whitehouse, and Presi-dent Raymond DiPasquale, along with a board of sev-eral student veterans who discussed veteran issues and how to better student veteran lives and benefits.
Shortly following, the op-portunity arose for the re-organization of the Student Veteran’s club at CCRI and Paolino has been working extremely hard at rebuild-ing this group and making it much stronger and involved than ever before. The main goal of this club is to create school policies that refer to veteran life by working out the needs of student veterans to help make attending school eas-ier.
The club would also serve as outreach within the com-munity to build a solid rela-tionship between the school and local community and non-profit military groups, such as: VFW, Legion Chapters, the Veteran Cen-ter, and many others. This community outreach will include fund raisers and other important factors.
Another important aspect of this club is to increase awareness of veteran life and give student veterans somewhere to go where there are other individu-als who can relate and help them through their issues by sharing success and failure stories.
All students are capable of joining this club as long as they hold at least on credit on any of the CCRI cam-puses; although, non-veter-an students will not be able to hold an office position.
There was an event held where students were able to join the Student Veterans club.
The SVO would like to hear your thoughts, con-
cerns, and ideas. Please join them at their first meeting on Friday, April 29, so your voice can be heard.
This club will be held bi-weekly and will utilized to discuss upcoming events, issues student veteran mem-bers are having, socializing and networking with veter-ans and supporters, infor-mation for those who wish to contact administration,
and how to improve a stu-dent veteran’s experience on campus.
If there are any questions about this club, you may contact that club President, Anthony Paolino at [email protected].
For further information on the club’s description, you may look into studentvet-erans.org/ccri, or facebook.com/ccrivets.
Photo: Knight Field Day ‘11
UFL staff goes to Cali for JACCevanGeline WeSt
editOr in chief
The 56th annual Journalism Association of Community College’s (JACC) confer-ence was held on April 7th-10th this year in Sacra-mento, CA. The Unfiltered Lens, the only newspaper represented from outside of California, made the twelve hour trek through deserts and layovers to attend this crucial event that consist-ed of various workshops, speakers, and the chance to meet and network with other junior college news-papers. We stayed at the Doubletree Inn, conveniently located in downtown Sacramento, where the conference was held. The first day kicked off with keynote speaker Joyce Terhaar, managing editor for the Sacramento Bee, who discussed different forms of journalism. After the speaker, students were welcomed to participate in a scavenger hunt involving journalism trivia and tasks such as jumping into the ho-tel pool fully clothed. A 60’s theme dance followed the hunt where winners where announced. The next day kicked off the majority of workshops, including specific ones for
photographers, editors, and writers alike. Each work-shop featured a speaker involved with a Califor-nia newspaper, examples of their work, and a ques-tion and answer portion for inquisitive students. The workshops typically ran for an hour and lasted all day. Contests for participants were also held, involving writing, cartooning and photography. Saturday marked the fi-nal full day of events for the conference. The last set of workshops and con-tests occurred, and then the night ended with a banquet announcing a new set of JACC board members and contest winners. We were then treated to a dinner and given the chance to see oth-er school’s work. Apart from the vital infor-mation given in the work-shops, the JACC confer-ence provided a chance to network with other junior colleges from California, and a glance into the inner workings of their respective papers. The hotel provided many locations to make friends and converse with our fellow future journal-ists.
We left California starry-eyed and motivated, our
brains full of new ideas and a Golden State experience that we are likely to never forget.
Here’s what the Unfiltered Lens staff had to say about the JACC conference.
“More than just serving as a vehicle to gather informa-tion on how our paper can be better, the trip served to re-ignite my desire for the work the paper does. Inspi-ration and passion, that is what I brought back from Sacramento. I’ve set a few goals for myself to achieve for Burbank’s conference next year.”-Ian Armitstead
“I feel that attending the JACC served as a rich learn-ing experience not only for myself, but also for the rest of the Unfiltered Lens team. The workshops I attended inspired me to step up and improve the distribution of the newspaper for the ben-efit of the student body.”-Servio Gomez
“Although I learned a lot of new information from the workshops, the part of the trip that really interested me and inspired my many new ideas for the Lens, was meeting different students and learning about the dif-ferent atmospheres and
styles of other junior col-lege papers. By doing so, I was able to trade experi-ences and receive feedback to help better newspapers. I gained all sorts of new ideas for our paper, and got to know different people in the meantime. Overall, the trip was a fabulous experience, and I honestly cannot wait to go back!”-Brittany Gooding
“Through the various JACC workshops I learned all sorts of relevant info about making the most out of journalism, but the great-est impact was that of the fellow students I met who showed me our true poten-tial for societal influence - a power that I never knew a college newspaper could possess.” - Alexandra Johnson
“I thought this year’s JACC convention was very helpful. As with last year’s convention, there were a wide variety of workshops to choose from. One of the most helpful workshops I attended dealt with legal ad-vice for journalists. While we do have free speech in this country, it is very im-portant to practice ethical behavior in journalism. The most inspiring part of the convention was actu-ally the other students in
attendance. Everyone who I encountered was enthusi-astic, friendly, and seemed like they truly wanted to improve their college news-papers.” - Mike Malczyn
“My focuses were the pho-tography/photojournalism and multimedia workshops. My goal was to gain insight of the picturesque fortune a journalistic photographer, as well as the plights. Each workshop I attended of-fered me something inspir-ing. The speakers I listened to gave me something of their own to take from their workshops, whether it was a skill, experience, or a com-bination of both. I felt more knowledgeable, confident, and more ambitious in my future contributions for The Unfiltered Lens using what I learned from the JACC. I am very pleased with the results from the conference, and found that the energy from the JACC coordina-tors was extraordinarily mo-tivating and encouraging. I believe that CCRI should continue to fund such a use-ful and prestigious event to enhance and further im-prove the voice of their in-stitution.” - Michelle St. Onge
“I didn’t know what to ex-pect out of my first JACC conference, but I left Cali-fornia a more positive and determined writer. The workshops provided ideas for possible careers, and the networking with Cali-fornia schools turned out to be a priceless and beneficial part of the conference. Part of me wishes I could stay on the Lens to attend next years conference in Bur-bank, but this weekend I fell in love with Sacramento and plan on applying to as many schools as I can on the West Coast.” -Evangeline West
Student News4
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
media credit: Michelle St. Onge
Student News5
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
Mention of security cam-eras being installed on the campuses began two years ago in the Spring of 2009 after a violent incident in-volving a female student.
The incident, which oc-curred on March 18th, in-volved a woman at the Fla-nagan Campus being forced into the bathroom by a man with a knife. This incident encouraged some faculty and staff to petition for im-provement on the campuses of CCRI.
The petition for security cameras saw “more than 100 signatures” from the Flanagan campus, signed by faculty, staff, and students. Another incident that was cited as a reason for concern was one relating to a group of armed gang members that entered the Liston campus in Providence on January of 2010, militantly search-ing for a CCRI student. Suspects in these incidents were never apprehended. In his overview of the plan, President DiPasquale mentioned that talks of se-curity cameras as of now are not final. He also added that the cost for the security cameras came out to be ap-proximately $600,000 for systems in the Providence and Lincoln campuses alone.
It was pointed out that the idea for this was more of a “bottom-up” approach driv-en by the petition in the Fla-nagan campus, after which talks of security cameras escalated within faculty and administration. The question-and-answer section of the Knight fo-rum was primarily led by concerned faculty and staff. While a good number of students attended, ques-tions asked by those who attended were entertained, but noticeably given less consideration.
In response to several ques-tions President DiPasquale, as well as other administra-
continued from cover
tors, revealed opinions and reasoning behind the cur-rent plans. It was revealed that current plans are pri-marily for the installation of security cameras on the Lis-ton and Flanagan campuses. When asked about wheth-er planned security cameras were to be an act of surveil-lance or simply a means of recording, DiPasquale et al., including CCRI Acting Di-rector of Security Richard Robinson, described that current plans for the secu-rity cameras are for record-ing and reviewing purposes only.
Footage, said DiPasquale, would facilitate in identify-ing suspects should a victim
report an incident to campus security. Security person-nel would then be able to remotely access necessary footage. The system cur-rently being investigated would be capable of storing 30 or 90 days worth of foot-age. Forum attendees brought up the idea of active sur-veillance. Response to this confirmed that the possibil-ity that active surveillance, including personnel such as more security officers, would be too costly when compared to recording cam-eras and certainly would not be happening.
Mentioned costs estimated that more personnel would
Surveillance forums
cost about $50,000 per ex-tra employee. Patronage in support of the camera secu-rity measure expressed that the extra sense of security did justify the cost because it was going to be a one-time expense. [Note: For only two campuses]. Funding for camera se-curity, said DiPasquale, will have to be taken out “in a systematic [manner] within our budget.” Also mentioned was the fact that politicians do not have to be informed and will not pro-vide funding. Student questions that were thoroughly respond-ed to brought about debate concerning alternative to
camera security that would make more sense. Rather than passively recording for possible occurrences, a wired relay emergency sys-tem was suggested, similar to those found on URI and RIC campuses.
This suggestion was met with support by other at-tendees. In response, Presi-dent DiPasquale mentioned that plans regarding secu-rity did indeed include a more complete solution. At this point, it was noted that CCRI is the only public higher-institution without security cameras on cam-puses. Costs and official details regarding that pos-sible solution were lightly discussed. Other concerns, in terms of prevention, included talks about building a better sense of community at the college (often regarded to during the forum as “business”). There was also reasonable mention of improvement of security personnel’s access to resources. More student questions brought about concerns re-lated to the morality and placement of security cam-eras. Tentative locations of these security cameras, according to DiPasquale et. al in administration, are for public locations such as parking lots, entrances, common areas, and seclud-ed hallways.
Placement in these loca-tions, they said, would serve as a deterrent to criminal ac-tivity and help collect evi-dence for theft and mischief reports. Several attendees expressed agreement, citing that cameras would have helped identify and pros-ecute suspects in both ex-treme incidents such as the ones in Flanagan and Lis-ton. DiPasquale later said that nothing would have prevented gangsters from entering the building in the incident in Providence. There are several peti-tions circulating the CCRI campuses expressing mas-sive opposition to the instal-lation of cameras in public areas, as well as another against installation in the interior of the campuses.
media credit: urlybits.com
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InterNational/Local News6
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
It was just last month that the small island nation on Japan suffered what may very well be the worst natu-ral disaster in the country’s history.
For those who have not been keeping up with the news, on March 11 an earth-quake of 8.9 magnitude on the Richter scale hit off the northeast coast of Japan – the world’s fifth largest earthquake since 1900. The quake was followed shortly thereafter by a tsunami; a series of massive waves caused by disruption of the continental plates under the ocean.
Tsunamis are fast, with traveling speeds as great as those of commercial jets; thus, the people of Japan – in particular, the small coastal fishing village of Sendai where the waves
struck – only had about an 8-10 minute forewarning of the impending disaster.
The outcome? At least 13,228 people are dead, 14,529 are missing, more than 150,000 have been left homeless and there is tens of billions of dollars worth of damage.
To top off the insane amounts of havoc and trag-edy consuming the coun-try, the earthquake caused several discrepancies at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Japan’s coast. The cooling systems of multiple reactors failed, and a few days later at least one of them exploded.
As a result, tens of thou-sands were evacuated from the area as a precaution to potential radioactivity; but with so much of the country in ruin, there was not exact-ly a vast selection of places to flee to.
Over the past month, workers in Japan have been striving tirelessly to get the situation under control. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been do-ing his utmost to promote calmness and unity amongst his people after what he claimed was “the most se-vere crisis…since World War II.”
Nevertheless, the world has been quick to help as millions of dollars have been donated to the cause, and international rescue teams are flying in to trans-port a variety of relief sup-plies to the survivors.
This is an arduous time for the small nation, and one that will forever plague the memories of those involved. Hopefully the world will continue to work together to lessen the load and help Ja-pan rebuild that which was lost.
If you want to help, check online for various donation and volunteer opportunities –anything you can do would be greatly appreciated.
One month later: Japan’s disasteralexandra JohnSon
Managing editOr
media credit: spreadshirt.com
Arts & Entertainment7
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
Wendy Wahl was unload-ing what appeared to be large paper balls wrapped in a protective plastic sheet out from the back of her S.U.V. They each had been pierced by a single, thin metal rod.
“Hold them from the base of the rod and lightly on the top (of the ball). They may be solid but they are still quite fragile.” She hands one off to Viera, the Knight Campus Gallery Director. Looking to me, she asked, “Do you want one of the big ones or the small ones?”
I nervously took hold of one of the two spheres she held up. “The rods are re-movable, but it isn’t easy putting them back in.” Wendy began to mention to Viera that she would oc-casionally suspend them by wire.
We made our way to the elevator, which we would take four more trips up on our way to the gallery. While waiting for the eleva-tor, Wendy asks, “Which one do you have? C or L?” I look around and eventual-ly find a large letter L on the plastic covering. “It says “L” on top.”
“The plastic isn’t labeled. Each sphere is a letter from the alphabet. I think your holding C.” On the way up she clears up some of my confusion.
These “paper balls” were Wendy’s’ “Spheres of Knowledge.” Each Sphere contains a set of letters from a re-purposed, and other-wise out of date (A 1961 Edition), version of the World Book Encyclopedia. “Some have three letters, some have four. That’s why some have greater mass.”
While setting up the pieces it became clear that each metal rod was a differ-ent length, allowing some spheres to appear on a lower
Spheres of Knowledge: A Look Into Sculpture, Re-purposing, & SymbolismJohn deiGnan
Staff Writer
plane as to that of the others. I ask, “What do these sym-bolize? Is there any other point of view or meaning to this that I am not seeing?”
“There are many things that come to mind when I look at these. What I’m really interested in is what comes to your mind.” I could not help but see an association with planets, each differing in size, seeming to line up in a purposeful manner and at different intervals.
This theory was only strengthened by the ad-dition of an audio track. Looping every few minutes was a windy, white noise-like sound; what one would imagine an empty void would sound like.
Looking at the complete show, a group of spheres stand together in the other-wise almost empty gallery, their only accompaniment taking up a small, four-panel area. One section displays a bookshelf housing rows of hard covered Encyclopedia volumes, their contents re-moved.
Another two sections are occupied by four small
pieces, each a pattern of strangely shaped folded pa-per arranged on a black col-ored background. The last section has what appears to be a window planter filled with long strips of encyclo-pedia pages.
The work is stunningly simplistic, yet conveys in-formation and symbolism in a way hardly seen before, and could very well be the first of its kind in modern sculpture.
It’s hard to imagine the ex-tensive amount of time and effort that went into such an incredibly large undertak-ing.
During the opening recep-tion I asked a number of guests what their impression was. Many, such as myself, said they saw planets.
An occasional few were baffled, saying they only saw large paper balls. One or two even said they saw dandelions, which to my surprise was not too far from the view of Wendy herself.
Addressing the guests, Wendy revealed her view
as that of different un-tapped worlds of knowl-edge, spreading as seeds in the winds until they could grab hold of someone’s mind, where they can fi-nally grow and flourish. It is a testimony to the power of knowledge and a simple idea; the way a single idea can change into something truly dramatic.
As the speech ended, Wendy began to take ques-tions; one of the most sur-prising of which pertaining to the smell of each piece, which someone decided to investigate, stating that they smelled “very industrial.”
From start to finish, Wen-dy could be seen answering questions and going from
group to group. Her family was there to support her and there were constant smiles and laughs throughout the room.
Overall, the show was a huge success and definitely not the last from Wendy Wahl. To any longtime art admirers and newcomers to the art world alike, you are sure to get something out of it. You never know what you might learn.
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Arts & Entertainment8
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
Black’s “Friday”- no, not the day after Thanksgiving that consists of ridiculous amounts of shopping at discount prices across the nation- this “Friday” is a song performed by 13 year old amateur singer Re-becca Black. “Friday” was written by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson and produced by the ARK Music Factory.
The video for the song, starring Black herself who was also accom-panied by her friends and family, was released on YouTube on March 11th, 2011.
It was instantly a viral video and climbed from 3,000 views to 18 million views within the first week, and then from 18 million to 66.6 million views in the second week.
Even now, the number of views is still climbing. What is even more shocking are the 1.1 million com-ments that have been made by the viewers. Unbelievable, right?
Black Friday, FridaymiChelle St.onGe
Staff Writer
However, this viral sensation is not because it has been deemed fan-tastic, but has instead claimed ev-eryone’s attention for many nega-tive reasons.
I am writing this article based on what I have observed on YouTube through the commentary, as well as what has been shared along my con-nections on Facebook. I have mini-mal knowledge on what is “real” music, for I am not a musician, but as a person I possess my own mu-sical taste and opinions. Therefore, my angle for this article is going to be a non-biased perspective on Re-becca Black’s talent.
The song has received dreadful-ly appalling remarks about its lyr-ics, along the overkill of auto-tune. Some viewers left comments telling Black that she should “cut herself and die”, and masses have judged this to be the “worst song ever” due to its cliché, shallow, bubble gum pop style.
It was questioned if Black could even sing, which she has justified that she “isn’t the best singer, but
she does have talent”. I have taken the time out to listen to her sing a capella the National Anthem, as well as an acoustic version of “Fri-day”. The fact is, for a 13 year old with only three years of singing les-sons behind her, she is capable of hitting all of the notes.
We should also take into consid-eration that she is starting puberty, and does consider herself an ama-teur. She is also not going around pretending she is a professional. Her popularity is rooted from the social media that allows the sharing of her song and video.
“Friday” may not be something we enjoy listening to, and I know I do not really care for it, but when look-ing deeper into Rebecca Black’s in-
tentions it is obvious that she tried her best, and had the courage to put herself out there. In reality, all she did was what she loved to do, and that was sing.
Despite the songs declaration for being distasteful music, the contro-versy it has caused, and how it gave a new meaning to auto tuning, it is selling. It must be doing something right, even if it is for its hysterical nature.
Her heart is in her work, rather than her ego, and that is respectable and should not be overlooked. Per-haps in the future, Black will com-pose songs that are more successful, but for now she is just a kid who wants to enjoy her weekend.
media credit: popdirt.com
Arts & Entertainment9
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
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Narrow spacesAnd I find myself pinnedStuck in a conflictListening to screaming windToo many argumentsLocked in my headQuiet is what I wantFor that I am deadBlank are my eyesLacking all emotionBlackened is the angry skyThat cried into the oceanTowering mountainsThe snowy tops I can seeReaching high aboveThey are too far away from mePounding thunderStillness all aroundThe eye of the stormIs where I am boundPassively I argueStill I am beaten smallI see arms outstretched to helpBut still, the wind forces me to fall.
Untitledby Horacio Oliveira
Inquisitive promiscuity;We united half-waywhere the huesoccasionally meet
Intense dragon’s blood’ssole purposeto bewilder connotationsI once held abouta not-so-typical girl like you
Inebriatedin the sweet nothingsI barely remember—I’ve yet to understand what this is.
I might not be like those who died and paved the way,
But I can still have a dream.
A dream to make my own history.
I want to be a successful writer.
I want to be a successful advocate for autism.
I want everyone to love one another.
I want to graduate from CCRI when the time is right.
In other words, education is important.
It’s important for me to keep praying so God can bless me
And allow me to be a blessing to others.
I want to have people in my life who are positive.
But the most important dream is to let God use me
And let me be the person I need to be.
So, it seems that my incessant requests for creative writing are paying off... we currently have too many submissions to fit into print. To see all of the writ-ings from your talented classmates, visit our website www.theunfilteredlens.org and read through the TWOTW tab.
Empty my trash, bitch!Bug-eyed vacuum contender...
Do you miss Wayne Knight?
“Like” me on FacebookSomebody’s feeling my slaveWe’re all made equal
we has them
Arts & Entertainment10
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
For YouBy Catherine Liebherr
We all have the same secret but nobody speaks it.And if you die, I die.When no one is left, who will die?And if no one dies, who shall live?Who shall I dance with if you’re all dead?We all choose to let someone die at some point,but I refuse to let you die on me.I would die for love and I would die for you.What would you die for?
***
I am not hiding from you,And I will live in a world where everyone is a coward,And every coward becomes a hero.A windowless paradise for the faint-hearted is where you hide,Willow trees composed of music-notes-this is where I wish to die.We must never forget that time is a circle and we are a square.And know that life is only a fraction of eternity,With the ultimatum of creating or dying.Die in your freedom, for what else is there?Let the chills run rampant and the floodgates disintegrate,Time is waiting for nothing to begin.And nature shall end you too, but what of that?You have to remember that fear is nothing but a basement with winding hallways And a pulsing heart in the center room.
***The end will never come with you.Nor shall it come with me.The end is nonexistent, even nothing is chaotic.And even nothing has a purpose.Nothing is always on the brink of being something.All creation awaits the coming of tragedy,All tragedy desires is blood.It has to only linger like the reaper and watch the panic spread.Blood is life.We all crave the blood of others.But nevertheless, we must be wary of whose blood stains the soles of our shoes.We must learn immediately that tolerance won’t save the world from tearing itself apart.We were a virus then, we are a virus now.Can’t we take a hint?The world is so talented at ruining everything.We never learn from our mistakes and this is our deadliest trait.No one ever knows what they’re doing.People and their damned pride- I wish I knew what they stayed up at night thinking about.You scare me because I love you.So I talk to these pictures instead of you.People break my heart, but I want you to know,That even though your face may be blank, your eyes sing of willow treesAnd gardens in the dead of winter.
***If you outnumber the brave for long enough,the majority moves into the rightand the minority of morality becomes the coward and the shunned.These words are an extension of my soulAnd so I am a sacrifice for you in the hope thatYou will begin to fear what it is you will never do,In the hope that you shall live and do it.Is it the world that drives people crazyOr do people drive the world crazy?This world lacks compassion (just like conservative republicans).The things it could be capable of would make anyone pull the covers around tighter.Be a slave to no one and nothing, this is a war,Fighting to save myself and you.What will happen if I can’t do it.
***Mirror, mirror on the wall, will I be the one to fall?I want nothing more than to swallow the contents of that pill bottleAnd go upstairs to tell you to take care of me.To tell me that I won’t end up alone.But I could never tell you this, And I will always, always regret that.How sad that death approaching is the only situation in which we would say everything.
If only he had left me to wait.If only this beating heart could cease to beAnd the waves of a world so deep and real could wash away a world so far goneAnd show them life with fear for it’s all they respond to.I feel a breeze and I feel weightless, like I’m preparing to float away.I always wanted to fly, now if only I had my little green broom.And I feel in love and this love wishes for me to stayBut I don’t think I can comply.At my funeral, I want everyone to wear purple.I want black candles burning bright blue teardrops in candlestick holders of green.And everyone should listen to Nirvana and Guns ‘n Roses.
***In the woods, youth is all that mattersAnd young is what everyone is.Burn my willow tree, put me on the streets.Tragedy is beautiful and beauty is tragic.I’m afraid of love for it could mistake me for someone else.Is that the reason I write these words and you write yours?Because we are afraid?And all the reasons we give for writing these words is just a way to appear brave?
***The wind carries the whispers of wise men to earsThat never listen to tell that the wisest thing of allIs to constantly accept your ignoranceBecause it is never-ending and forever expanding.In the silence lives the whispers of souls,Souls of long ago.They speak of tantalizing rhymes, rhymes older than they.In the silence they tell you to believe everything.In this soundless state, only fools believe in nothing.Temptation is just a word to make your instincts seem wrong,But you should listen to your instincts, they know what they are talking about.We never get our ending until the heart stops beating.And even I am not foolish enough to think that I could captureWhatever it is that you are on this page.Words are beautiful, but they can only go so far,And they can never quite reach you.I may hate myself but remember that I have always loved you.Why not give up everything for love?Is it so wrong to die for you?
Untitledby Dickie Murphy
Squares of land as far as I can seeGreen and brown like a winter quiltBroken by diagonals sometimes ellipticals Mostly square, boring, unimaginativeI like the random diagonals and ellipticalsGives me a sense of a rebellious designerIt’s probably not the case, but I don’t careThe squares run to the mountainsWhere they go away, gobbled up by the rising earthMother Nature’s way of telling us “Fuck off! I don’t likeyour symmetry and grids. I will raise mountains in your pathshake and quake until your building collapse.”Bizarre the way humans work to destroy the planet that gives us lifeI say shake, mother, shakeShake us off your back Wipe us out with floods and earthquakes, mudslides and genocideTake yourself back to your original beautyRaise your mountains in the way of our development Spare none, humans are doomed to repeat historyIf you choose to spare a few destroy our technologyStop us from hurting you Force us to show you the love and respect we once did
Arts & Entertainment Arts & Entertainment11
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
Many screenwriters have tried to do the child-soldier story combined with the sci-fi twist of genetically manipulated perfection laced, se-cretly, into DNA. It is a well-known strategy to hook an audience. You are not expected to leave your con-science at the door no matter how brutal and lethal this child acts, the audience still embraces the child and wishes them safe keeping by the films end. Hanna takes that concept, runs with it, breaks some long-distance records, and keeps going far past where any other film makers have stopped. Director Joe Wright out-wits nearly every action director of the last 2 years by creatively whip-ping up a flurry of emotional drives and tumbles that throw the viewers into terror, glee, excitement, and absolute sympathy.
This film not only nails it, it raises the bar and challenges other film makers to take a chance and re-minds them that action flicks can still be a work of art.
Hanna 5/5Rated PG-13, Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, and Jason Flemyng. Directed: Joe Wright, Focus Features/Sony Pictures Entertainment. Run Time: 111 min.
tyler duGan
Staff Writer
Marissa Wiegler (Blanchett) is an overbearing, potentially cor-rupted and very self-involved CIA operative who uses devious meth-ods to get what she wants. She has climbed the ranks and earned a sub-stantial place in the upper manage-ment. However; a single loose end that could fracture her entire career has recently showed up and that loose end is Hanna (Ronan).
Product of a disturbing genetics project to create a perfect soldier and daughter to ex-operative Erik Heller (Bana) and his lover, Hanna is a perfect killing machine in the mind and body of an innocent 16 year old girl.
Erik has trained Hanna, alone in the Siberian forests, to become an untouchable assassin so Hanna may get close to the woman who killed her mother, Erik’s lover. The killer is, naturally, Marissa Wiegler. The story is jam-packed with hid-den secrets, pockets of great char-acter development, and tremendous story telling. Unfortunately for the audience, the story has some loose ends as well, but nothing so over-whelming that it shadows the qual-ity of the storytelling.
The ending to the film is an ending that labels the movie as being differ-ent from all the other scrap-pieces chucked at us from “The Shit Fac-tory”. It matches the story and style
the film was made in: unique, quiet, chilling, and thought-provoking. The Chemical Brothers were in charge of the soundtrack and they did a splendid job. It is fairly remi-niscent to Daft Punk’s music in the recent sequel Tron: Legacy, how-ever; The Chemical Brothers have a certain originality and class that they apply to the soundtrack.
The score is not just racing music, chase themes, or fight songs. It is a wildly unique array of sounds and club mixing that produces a score that really puts this movie on the “WINNING” shelf. The most in-triguing part of the score is the in-teresting way Joe Wright matches simple things like the whistling of Marissa’s henchman to the track be-ing played in the film. Other interesting aspects of this film are of course the setting and cinematography. Alwin H. Kuchler was in charge of bringing story writer Seth Lochhead’s imagination to life and with Joe Wright’s rebel-lious film-making style the result is an incredibly artistic approach to what is essentially an action flick. Hanna uses dramatic symbolism in set design, intense, tight, cam-era work and edgy, new-age music to hook audiences and throw them around in a maze of story develop-ment and splendidly choreographed action.
To miss this movie in theaters would be a shame and to miss it all together would be a pity. This mov-ie has so many great high-points and so few lows that I can’t imagine anyone walking out and not being at least somewhat satisfied. Forget Sucker Punch, forget Fast Five, see Joe Wright’s Hanna and see for yourself what is so awesome about this little girl who kicks big ass.
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
On Thursday, March 31st, I entered room 4090 for the 9:00 am open forum on the 21st Century Workforce and Surveillance Cameras. As an editor for the student newspaper, The Unfiltered Lens, I had an obligation to record the meeting in order to obtain factual and accu-rate information for the ar-ticle that would be written afterwards.
But before the proceed-ings even began, I was faced with opposition from some individuals attending the meeting.
Let me just add that this is the first meeting I had ever covered, and also I had nev-er been in charge of record-ing anything. So naturally, I was a little bit nervous about whether everything was go-ing to work out correctly.
suPRESSed
Brittany GoodinG
aSSOciate editOr
As President DiPasquale began speaking, Lou Rai-none raised his hand and asked if anyone was re-cording the meeting and proceeded to discuss that a recording of the meeting would make him feel un-comfortable.
Right away, I kind of freaked out and thought that I had done something seri-ously wrong. At that point in time I was completely unaware of my rights and I honestly could not defend myself, and I was also afraid that I was going to get into some kind of trouble.
Then the President stated that he was not informed that the meeting was being recorded and that nobody should be recording unless he was told in advance. Af-ter a vote to see who was uncomfortable with me re-
cording the meeting, only about five individuals of the fifty or so in attendance raised their hands to have me stop. I was told that I had to turn the recorder off, and that next time Adminis-tration must be given prior notification.
Without a trace of anger I complied with the wishes of Administration, and I then sat through the entire meet-ing while adding my own input when I saw necessary; after all, the topic of the meeting is one that I found myself quite involved with, and one day it could impact my student life on the CCRI campus.
It was not until I began telling my fellow comrades from the Lens about what happened in the meeting that I discovered how big of an issue it was that Ad-ministration did not let me
record the meeting.
Being told I could not re-cord was both inaccurate and wrong [Ed note: Ian quote the damned statute], and was a clear violation of my First Amendment rights as a free-press reporter, since my job is to report on public information that is of public concern. We, the Unfiltered Lens, considered this a violation because I as a reporter was singled out as not being able to record.
However, this was not the only reason I found the con-cept of being told to stop recording such a big deal. When I think about the top-ic of the meeting, the place-ment of security cameras in the school, I find it a bit funny that I was told to stop my recorder.
You see, if our Admin-istration were to put secu-
rity cameras inside of our school, they will have vid-eos of us going about our daily life. Yet I was shunned and pushed around by them for wanting a simple record-ing of a meeting so that I could get accurate details on a very important and openly public meeting.
How does any of this make sense? In my opinion, it seems a little bit hypo-critical.
Truth is, I have tried to make sense of the entire sit-uation, and none has come out of it. Both the individu-als that I work with on the student newspaper and my-self are angered by all that has happened, and as read-ers, you will most definitely be hearing more on this is-sue.
by Brittany Gooding
Opinion/Editorial14
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
In the chaotic and war-torn world that we live in today, violence is a part of our ev-eryday lives. We hear about it incessantly, we read about it in books and magazines, we see it on television, and in the new age of technol-ogy we can even live it in videogames. Many believe that with all of these various forms of media shoveling graphic depictions of vio-lence into the minds of our nation’s youth, the result is a generation of callous fiends fueled by aggression and prone to violent behav-ior.
Violence in the media is one of the most common arguments of our time, and there has been much con-troversy as to the supposed resultant increase of aggres-sive and violent behavior by viewers. Many assert to have ample evidence to support such claims, and although I admit I will buy the fact of increased media violence possibly leading to increased levels of aggres-sion, there is no factual ba-sis whatsoever to prove that violence on television leads to viewers committing vio-lent acts in real life.
In regards to aggression levels, research has shown that “Over the years, labo-ratory experiments…have consistently shown that exposure to violence is as-sociated with increased heartbeat, blood pressure and respiration rate, and a greater willingness…to in-flict pain or punishment on others”. However, the key words in that observation are “greater willingness”, as opposed to saying some-thing more along the lines of “increased tendency.”
As it is with essentially ev-erything in life, the thought of doing something is en-tirely different from actually doing it. Just because see-ing violence on TV might make people more willing to display violent behavior, there is nothing to suggest that it leads to an increase of
A view on violence in the media:alexandra JohnSon
Managing editOr
viewers actually practicing acts of violence in real life. Quite to the contrary, there is in fact statistical evidence proving that there is no cor-relation between media vio-lence and the rate of crime.
To delve deeper into this topic, lets look at Japanese media vs. American media. In 1981, there was a study comparing television from these two nations, the pri-
well as scenes depicting se-vere mutilation and torture; this included a man being suspended from a ceiling by dozens of metals hooks sticking through the skin of his back. Quite frankly, nothing that I have seen in American media has even come close to reaching that level of violence.
This is interesting though, because statistical analysis
haps the most controversial form of perceived media vi-olence is videogames. For the past few decades, this revolutionary interactive form of media has flour-ished into a multi-billion dollar business, steadily in-creasing in its technologi-cal capabilities and thus its popularity as well. With this influx of gamers play-ing highly realistic games, naturally the issue has been
game that means that I am going to go out and shoot someone in real life too. I guess that also means that the other estimated 70% of Americans who play video-games are destined to kill in real life as well. If this is the case, then how come we haven’t? The answer is simple: because that is quite possibly one of the most uneducated and ignorant theories ever to have been thought up.
Videogames, no matter how violent, generally do not cause violence. I love videogames, I have been playing them for well over a decade, and shockingly, I have not gone out and killed anyone. My brother also plays videogames, and he has not killed anyone ei-ther. My cousins, my close friends, and nearly all of my acquaintances have at some point played videogames recreationally, and lo and behold! Not one of them has turned into a murderer!
Quite to the contrary, in fact, I believe that video-games actually have posi-tive effects on those who play them, such as improv-ing reflexes and even serv-ing as sufficient tools of teaching (for example, the Assassin’s Creed games, in addition to being fun and exciting, somehow man-age to also leave you with an exponentially increased knowledge of world his-tory).
Playing videogames is also highly cathartic; an al-ternative and safe means of releasing ones stress. Per-sonally, videogames have helped me a great amount in that respect. I will ad-mit that sometimes when I get very angry, yes, I would like to hit someone to re-lease my tension; and the invention of videogames has saved some poor person from a black eye by giving me a structured and virtual way to focus my energies. There has even been valid research to disprove this un-sound theory of videogames
continued on next page
mary focus being on each country’s differing portray-al of violence. Although one of the major discov-eries was that both Japan and America had roughly the same amount of media violence, the nature of the two were very different, with research showing that “Violent scenes are less fre-quent in Japanese-produced programs, yet tend to last longer, are more realistic and place a much greater emphasis on physical suf-fering”.
I myself, being an avid watcher of international films, agree with this analy-sis of Japanese media. In fact, the most violent film I have ever seen is a Japanese movie titled Ichi the Killer. This film, which was about a sadomasochistic yakuza member trying to hunt down another extremely psychot-ic, sadomasochistic man, was by far the most disturb-ing movie I have ever seen. There are countless graphic scenes of women brutally beaten, raped and killed, as
of world crime rates show that the United States has nearly five times the amount of crime as Japan; in fact the United States has the high-est crime rate in the world, more than double that of the country with the sec-ond highest ranking. With this in mind, I do not think that any such correlation be-tween violent TV and vio-lent behavior can be drawn.
Even if we were to get rid of such programs, we would still be exposed to violence in the news on a daily ba-sis. Research has shown that not only are crime and violent world events among the most frequently covered news topics, but that major news networks tend to over-emphasize brutal crime and heavily rely on sensational presentations of violence. Nevertheless, I do not con-sider it either reasonable of logical to assume that view-ing violence on a screen will undoubtedly cause one to become a violent person.
The most recent and per-
sparked as to whether or not such games are as bad as, if not worse than, TV when it comes to causing violent behavior in it’s participants.
Once again, the majority of those with ‘professional opinions’ on the subject preach the ridiculous theory that videogames are hor-rible inventions that lead to lives of crime and murder (yet interestingly enough none of these profession-als seem to have ever tried playing a videogame them-selves). Some authors on the topic have even gone so far as the blame the horrific events of Columbine on videogames, claiming that because the shooters liked to play the popular game Doom, then that was both their inspiration as well as the cause of their violent behavior, which ultimately led to them going on a mur-derous rampage throughout their high school.
So, according to this the-ory, since I have shot some-one in a fictitious video-
media credit: readthespirit.com
Opinion/Editorial15
THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 29 APRIL 13, 2011
WHAT WILL YOU DO?Originally from Ghana, Dzifa fell in love with New England and RWU on a summer visit when he was in high school. Following in the footsteps of his aunt and uncle, Dzifa majored in Legal Studies, which prepared him for internships with the attorney general’s office and at the Norton Rose law firm in Paris, France. Of course, Dzifa was as busy on campus as he was off campus as a member of Mock Trial, SOAR Leadership training, a writing tutor and a DJ on WQRI. Dzifa is putting his hands-on knowledge to work. What will you do?
causing violence, showing that since the early 90’s when videogames have in-creased in popularity among the younger generations, violent crime has decreased.
One argument against videogames is that, unlike real-life, there are no stimu-lus discriminators built in to condition players to know right from wrong as well as when to stop. Although I will not deny that there are some games that cross the line (such as Grand Theft Auto, in which one receives points for robbing and kill-ing innocent bystanders), others, such as the various Call of Duty games, do not glorify war, but rather show the terrifying circumstances surrounding it and the bru-tal consequences for those involved.
As one man brilliantly put it, “I think it is great if our biggest concern is that chil-
dren are playing shoot-’em-ups. A couple of thousand years ago, families went to the Colosseum in Rome to cheer as gladiators sliced their opponents’ limbs or were eaten by lions.”
In addition to potential in-creased aggression and vio-lent behavior as perceived effects of witnessing/par-taking in violence in the media, there is also the sub-ject of desensitization. This is defined as the diminished emotional responsiveness to a negative or an adverse stimulus after repeated ex-posure to it, and according to professionals, initial ex-posure to media violence typically produces adverse responses like increased heart rate, perspiration and disgust; however after pro-longed exposure we simply stop caring.
As a member of the younger generation upon whom all of these accusa-
tions of desensitization and increased aggression are di-rected, I firmly disagree and am quite frankly, somewhat offended. I have been ex-posed to much media vio-lence in my life, and I do not think that the majority of my peers or I are any less sympathetic because of it.
Those in support of this argument avidly claim that we are learning to associate killing and suffering with entertainment, our favorite snacks, and the intimacy of our dates. However, what these so-called profession-als on the topic seem to overlook is that, apparently contrary to popular thought, we are not stupid!
We know that we are watch-ing fiction, and we possess enough brain cells to tell the difference between such fic-titious displays and reality. Yes, there are some horrible things in the media, and yes we do watch them, but that
does not mean that if we were to see someone killed right in front of us then we would just stand there star-ing blankly like a bunch of apathetic Neanderthals. In fact, a number of studies have shown that rather than desensitizing, watching me-dia violence actually fright-ens its viewers, the effects of which often being long-lasting.
One 1998 study in Ohio even proved that the inci-dences of various psycho-logical trauma experienced by viewers increased pro-portionally to the number of hours they spent watching such media violence each day. Media violence does not desensitize us: if any-thing it disturbs us.
As I said before, I have been watching violent tele-vision for years. I saw Mor-tal Kombat when I was five-years-old and Aliens when I was four, and yet, despite all
the media violence I have been exposed to, I was still horrified this past spring when I watched King Henry VIII behead yet another one of his wives on Showtime’s The Tudors.
In conclusion, those who constantly claim that vio-lence in the media is cor-rupting the nation’s youth need to stop preaching the-ories that have no basis in fact, and actually do some-thing constructive with their time – such as finding a cure for cancer or achieving peace in the Middle East. In the meantime, leave my generation alone.
We are not apathetic, we are not corrupt, and we certainly are not running around murdering people left and right. Sure, there is the occasional oddball who might break the rules, but generally speaking, society really needn’t worry.
Does it lead to violent consumers?continued from prev page
Staff WritersIan Armitstead, Daniel DiCicco, Tyler Dugan, Catherine Liebherr, Mike Malc-zyn, Jon Montalbano, Richard “Dickie” Murphy, Michelle St. Onge
Ian Armitstead Website Administrator
Steve Forleo Faculty Advisor
Official Member Journalism
Association of Community
CollegesSince 2010
The opinions and views expressed in The Unfiltered Lens student newspaper are solely those of their writers and are no way, shape, or form, the opinions or views of CCRI and/or of its affiliates.
Official MemberStudent Press Law Center
Since 2010
Jon Montalbano Art Director
Mike Malczyn Distribution Manager
Ian Armitstead Lead Designer
PhotographersMichelle St. Onge
Design TeamIan Armitstead, John Deignan, David M. Gannon Jr., Alexandra Johnson, Michael Malczyn
Bureau Chief - Liston
Bureau Chief - Newport
David M. Gannon Jr. Chief Executor
Evangeline West Editor-in-Chief
Alexandra Johnson Managing Editor
Brittany GoodingAssociate Editor
Tony Behit Bureau Chief - Flanagan
Advertisement Manager
Servio Gomez Online Editor
Jorge Medina Professional Advisor - The Orange County Register
Kyle Connolly is a CCRI student with bright blue eyes, an ever-present smile, and a punk-rock style straight out of 1978. On April 5th, Kyle was ap-proached and pulled out of art class by a CCRI security guard. The reason? A vin-tage bullet belt that Kyle wore as an accessory.
He was interrogated by the officer, identified and re-corded, and told that his belt would be taken until he re-ceived a call from the Dean. When he questioned the reasons for such, the secu-rity officer mumbled some-thing about “making people nervous...Columbine.” The security guard then went out of his way to storm into the Unfiltered Lens publication office and dis-played the belt before blunt-ly saying, “This is why we need security cameras” to professor Steve Forleo. As advocates of human rights and freedom of expression, we at The Unfiltered Lens were outraged by this inci-dent.
In a college environment, especially a school that prides itself on being lib-
eral and accepting, students’ fashion choices should not be stifled. A similar incident occurred a few semesters ago when a female student was approached in the com-mon area and told to remove her studded choker.
Just like a strict dress code instated in most high schools after the sudden rash of school shootings in the 2000’s, students are be-ing oppressed and punished merely for their choice of wardrobe. I empathized all too strongly with Kyle’s plight. In high school, I had dyed black hair and wore Marilyn Manson t-shirts.
One day near the end of my Sophomore year, my fellow Hot Topic dressed friend Dustin and I walked through the hallway and no-ticed people holding squirt guns. An innocent comment
was made along the lines of “I thought guns weren’t al-lowed in school.”
The next day, Dustin was pulled into the front office and searched by a police officer, and I was called out of class and questioned about our plan to “shoot up the school.” After years, we can laugh about it, but the humiliation and outrage regarding the incident still burns strongly in our brains. It is the plight of the mis-fit — anyone who does not adhere to the norm of Aber-crombie and Fitch apparel is shunned, teased and feared by their peers and authority.
“It’s something you learn to deal with,” Kyle said. “But why do I have to?”
Why do we still have to be singled out for our choices in attire? It’s 2011, and we are in college; a place to dis-
evanGeline WeSt
editOr-in-chief
Opinion/EditorialTHE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/VOL. VII ISSUE 26 FEBRUARY 16, 2011
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search & s e i z u r e
media credit: Evangeline West
cover who we truly are and our calling in life.
We worry too much about our grades and social life to be concerned about the strain over what we should wear in order to not be has-sled by security. I would like to say Kyle was issued an apology and his belt was returned, but sadly that is not the case.
Kyle attempted to retrieve his accessory from the school and was told that he was not allowed to reclaim his own property. Now the issue has gone from a hassle and an outrage to downright theft.
Section 5 of Article II of CCRI’s Student Handbook states: “A student shall be free from searches and sei-zures of person and pos-sessions while on College property unless there is a
case of imminent danger or when there are reasonable grounds upon which to be-lieve it is necessary to con-duct a search immediately in order to protect life or property.”
How this applies to Kyle’s case has yet to be explained by the college, though in-quiries have been made through security and the of-fice of the Dean of Students.
The ACLU has been alert-ed of this case and actions will be taken against the school. We cannot let such a display of abuse of power and discrimination go unno-ticed.
[Ed note: Kyle’s property was returned to him on Monday, April 11th. As of publication, he is still await-ing a copy of his police re-port.]
