The Woods

By Britt Simmerman
Guest Columnist

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” –e.e. cummings
When I read these 12 words now I realize the truth in them. With the recent flux of teenage suicides related to bullying, it is hard to dispute the existence of this growing problem.
In the past few months the media has shed light on the deaths of many young men and women. Numerous stories center on the students’ sexual orientation, as more and more of today’s homosexual, bisexual, or transgender youth are taking their own lives.
As a homosexual, my heart aches for these teens. As a human being, my stomach turns with guilt at a society that condones the acts that lead to these events.
When I hear of these acts of bullying, violence, and suicide, my mind flashes back to the summer after my freshman year of college.
I had returned home for the summer months, full of excitement for the free time ahead  but my excitement would not last long.
My friends from high school were not answering my calls and plans to hang out were being cancelled for no reason.  I wasn’t sure what was happening until my phone rang one morning.
I answered the phone to a disguised voice on the other end simply stating, “We don’t hang out with gays.” Short. Simple.
I was shocked for two reasons: I had not come out to any of my friends from high school at this time and I never thought my “friends” would treat someone that way.
The calls kept coming, increasing in severity, until the day I received my first death threat. I didn’t understand why or how people could react in this manner, especially since I had never publicly even acknowledged my orientation. Thankfully, just as quickly as the harassment started, it abruptly ended. However, this did not change the effect on my life that the bullying would have.
My experiences of bullying are based on my sexuality, as are many of the stories featured in news reports today.
Other recent cases are based on other factors though.  Children, teenagers, and young adults alike are dodging attacks of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse for traits such as intelligence, weight, income level, and many other facets of one’s life.
While I empathize and sympathize with the victims of bullying, I have to ask: What makes it seem okay for bullies to engage in their abusive behavior?
I am afraid that the answer lies in each of us. We are all guilty, in some way, shape, or form, of bullying. I will openly and honestly admit that I have made fun of people, whether to their faces or behind their backs. I have told others stories before I knew the validity of the information.
The sad truth is this: we are all guilty. I wholeheartedly feel that, in the same way that it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a social culture to raise a bully.
Bullying stems primarily from the societal standards that we have put upon ourselves.  We want to be well-liked, successful, beautiful, and more or less “normal.” We push ourselves to these limits and shun those who we think do not live up to these standards as well as we do.
Bullies are targeting those who they feel skew these standards.
It’s okay to be smart, but not too smart. If you’re overweight, you must be lazy. If you’re homosexual, you just don’t fit into our social scheme. Whatever the attack, it all seems to stem from an unwillingness to budge from these views in which we have all been indoctrinated. I am not saying that we are all horribly doomed as a society by any means. I am saying that we have the power to change it.
We all have a responsibility now.  These teenagers who have suffered at the hands of bullies cannot be forgotten. We should not sweep this problem, along with their stories, their humiliation, or their deaths, under the rug. It is time to take it upon our selves, as the future leaders of our world, to change the way we think and act toward one another.
Whether we agree with another’s life decisions, feel threatened or jealous of another’s talents, or just feel a general dislike toward another person, we must remember that every person has the basic human right to respect.  Every person, regardless of orientation, race, religion, intelligence or income level, has the right to live a life free of fear. Bullying rips this right away from them.
Now, more than ever, it takes a great deal of courage for a person to grow up and become who they really are. It’s time to stop making it more difficult, and time to start applauding the courage it takes to be your self.

Popularity: 32% [?]

By Jena Thralls
Staff Writer

She sat in class feeling confused and frustrated for the majority of her days in elementary and junior high school years. She was segregated from the “normal kids” with a group of other disabled students.
“They treated us as if we all had the same disability,” says Jennifer Richards, a senior at Saint Mary-of-the Woods College. Born with a detached retina in one eye, Richards has dealt with a life-long experience of vision impairment.  She says she believes her teachers lied to her parents about her behavior in class. Teachers told her parents that she wasn’t asking for help when she needed it.
“I was asking for help, but they would refuse me,” Richards says.
But when Richards was 10 things changed. On Aug. 1, 1990 the American Disabilities Act was passed. The Act legally protected Americans with disabilities from discrimination. The ADA also promised equal opportunity for employment and proper accommodation for those who are disabled in schools or on work sites.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 36 million Americans have a disability.
“When the disabilities act passed, things got a lot easier,” she said.
Today, a child with vision impairment would not be segregated from an average class of students.
“Because of this act I have the right to more time on tests and assignments, and the right to request ‘accommodations as needed’,” she says.
She also has the right to be treated as any other student.
“When I auditioned for the music department at SMWC, everyone made me feel that I belong here and they wanted me,” Richards says.
Music is her passion. She dreams of being a professional recitalist one day. For a challenge, she has most recently taken up piano lessons.  She spends most of her spare time reading.
SMWC Learning Resource Center assures that Richards and other students with disabilities have the accommodations they need. Students meet with Kimberly LaComba, ADA Advisor, in order to discuss proper accommodations.
“We recognize these needs and support them,” LaComba says.
Students receive a letter to present to their instructors.
“It is very important for a student to submit this information so that she receives the accommodations she deserves,” LaComba says.
Richards says Saint Mary-of-the Woods, the fourth college she has studied at, has been willing to work with and understand her. She says she has earned a valuable education.
“In 7th or 8th grade they told me I would never make it through high school, and then in high school I was told I would never make it through college,” Richards says. “It has taken me longer than most other people, but I have made it through, and I have learned more than I ever did even in high school.”

Popularity: 26% [?]

By Robin Plank
Guest Columnist
It has been a month since I started the Woods External Degree Program at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, and this 57-year-old brain is panting and sweating like an aging baby boomer at the gym.
Sometimes a person just has to take the plunge. But diving back into college work that you haven’t done since the 1970’s is not easy. It’s kind of like trying to get back into those old bell-bottom jeans you once wore—not going look the same way.  That is if you can get them on, and that’s a real big “if.”
I like to listen to the radio when doing mindless activities like washing dishes, driving, etc. If I am in the doctor’s office I will always pick up the newspaper and see what is going on because I am interested in news and commentary. If someone comments on current events, I smile and plunge into the conversation. It is one of my pleasures in life.
But that is not the case since I started the WED program; my brain is full.
I do not want to hear any more about Obama’s foibles. I do not want to hear about Jon Stewart bashing FOX News. And I do not want to hear about the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress slinging mud and then wrestling in it—I just want peace. Blessed peace.
It is one thing to be stimulated, it’s another to be inundated, and boy, have I let myself in for it by taking 12 credit hours of classes.
It is really the short-term memory problems that are bothering me the most, as well as decreased comprehension. I have to work so much harder at this than I used to in order to make anything stick.
My mental post-it-notes have just been used too many times—they keep falling on the floor!
I must admit though, I am enjoying the class work even if it is challenging for me. But after studying several hours a day my head just needs a rest! Just some mindless girlfriend chatter on the phone or even Japanese anime cartoons with my daughter.  Whatever it takes so I just don’t have to think!
Also, I appear to be at war with my new laptop.  It is a good thing that there is not a gun lying around the house because I have been provoked beyond reason to commit “cyber murder”.
I have made more than one call to Gizmos Galore’s nerd patrol trying to gain insight into how to talk some reason into my laptop. But no, if I solve one problem, another emerges.
My laptop excels at being a difficult and I can just imagine it smirking whenever it hears me muttering under my breath and threatening to run magnets over its hard drive.
It is not like I am new to computers but why put in all those keyboard shortcuts that I am always hitting inadvertently, causing hanging indents, line spacing changes, and other unknown (to me) formatting problems!
And the touchpad, don’t get me started on the touchpad! I am constantly hitting it, setting off more fireworks. Can anyone explain why “help” doesn’t actually help half the time? Who designs these things? Don’t they ever test drive them with real people? We are not software engineers! We are just poor dumb schmucks with fumbling fingers!
I need my geek right beside me, not 100 miles away. If Gizmos Galore really wanted to please their customers, they would offer us a “geek for a week.”
Or, do you remember, “soap on a rope?” Well, how about “geek on a leash?” Instead of a service dog, I would have an IT service professional who would go everywhere with me, even to the WiFi hot spots.
Well, I do feel better now. A good whine is sometimes just what a girl needs to get going again; that and chocolate.
Now where did I hide that Halloween candy I just bought with the chocolate tarantulas and extra squishy gummy brains? Maybe under the bed? Sigh—maybe while I’m on my hands and knees looking for it, I’ll find that mental sticky note that will tell me where I hid it!

Popularity: 29% [?]

By Juliette Faraone
Staff Writer

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is now sponsoring outings to the Honey Creek Mall and Wal-Mart, rides included.
Student Development Specialist Deb Light and Administrative Assistant for Student Development Lisa Behringer arrived at this idea after much discussion over the difficulty some students have finding rides into town.
Light said, “There have been a number of faculty and staff that have volunteered to drive. We ended up having about 15 people volunteer.”
The goal of campus-coordinated shopping trips is to provide a service otherwise inaccessible to most students without cars, and especially International students.
A total of eight trips have been scheduled over the course of this semester, the next on Oct. 19.
Various faculty and staff members are scheduled to drive the school vans to shopping destinations on different dates. The first faculty member to participate was Assistant Professor of Journalism Lori Henson.
“You take for granted how easy it is to run errands when you have a car, so I think this is a good service for the college to provide,” Henson said.
Space is limited to six students, and each student is required to pay a $5 at the time of registration.  This deposit will be returned to the student immediately before departure.
Those interested in signing up may do so through Behringer at the front desk in Le Fer.  Before trips, students will meet at the console at 6:30 p.m., with each shopping trip ending at 9 p.m.

Popularity: 22% [?]

By Zahra Adni
Staff Writer

The fire in Guerin on Aug. 31 caused a lot of speculation as to when the 97 year old building would be properly restored.
The fire was caused by electrical problems in the basement of Guerin.
Are other buildings on campus in danger of the same thing occurring?
Gordon Afdahl, vice president for Finance and Administration said, “The fire was an isolated case and the other historic buildings on campus are not in any danger.”
While school was out for fall break (Oct. 6-10) Guerin was fully tended to.
The clean-up and restoration was completed and the building was put back to normal. The flooring of the Master of Leadership Development office was completely removed and restored due to damage from the fire.
With all of this replacement and restoration of Guerin the overall cost was taken into consideration.
“There is no final number as to how much the repairs cost”, Afdahl said; “updates [to Guerin] would be extra.”
Precautions have been made to prevent another fire of this kind by cleaning out storage areas in the Conservatory and Guerin basements.
However, there are still areas that need to be addressed.
“If there hadn’t been things in the basement of Guerin then nothing would have burned”, Afdahl said.
Currently all of the offices that had been displaced to the library have gone back to working in Guerin.
IT relocated all of the computers and IKON copiers/printers during fall break.
Guerin is now back to “normal” or at least back to working condition.

Popularity: 17% [?]

By Emma Campbell
Staff Writer

For the past two years, citizens of Terre Haute have been working towards creating a local food co-op.
Terre Foods Cooperative Market will be a community-owned, full-service grocery store that specializes in locally grown produced food, organics food, and bulk dry goods.
So what exactly is a foods co-op?
According to the Terre Foods website, a co-op is “a business owned by a large number of community members or patrons who have come together to run the store.”
Citizens become members by buying equity in the store.
Buying equity gives the individual certain rights and responsibilities. Members of a co-op can vote and run for the Board of Directors of Terre Foods, vote on other issues, and they may receive refunds or special discounts in the store.
The business currently stands at a total of 354 members.
Terre Foods has a goal of 500 members before taking out their loans, and a goal of 800 members before the doors actually open and the co-op becomes open for business.
Some food co-ops can only be used by members who have bought equity. Terre Foods, however, will be accessible to the entire community once it opens its doors.
President of Terre Foods, Robyn Morton, explains the benefits of a local Food Co-op.
“We want a store where our eggs, meats, dairy, and produce come from nearby farms, with a more humane, cleaner, and healthier overall production system” she said.
Furthermore, in light of the recent nationwide egg recall in August, food co-ops would be quicker and more efficient at recalling any defective products.
“As a local producer, the farmer is more likely to recall eggs quickly and efficiently if contamination is suspected, rather than waiting until the cost of the damages exceed the cost of the recall” Morton said.
For more information or to find out how to become a member of Terre Foods, visit their website at www.terrefoods.org.

Popularity: 22% [?]

By Emma Campbell
Staff Writer

The White Violet Center for Eco Justice has stepped into the online era by selling their alpaca wool and other organic products on the popular website, Etsy.
The White Violet Center joined this online community in Aug. of 2009.
Etsy is an online store and community where users create an account and may buy or sell items which are, in most cases, hand-made. The shop is entitled The White Violet Center Alpacas.
In their shop, the White Violet Center is selling yarn spun from alpaca fleece, ornaments, knitted hats, and beeswax lip balm.
All products sold in their shop are made from the alpacas and bees located on campus, with the exception of some yarn being made from donated fleece from the   Forsythe Family Farm in Marshall, Ill.
When someone buys a product from the White Violet Center’s shop, they also receive information about where the product came from. Each garment purchase includes a picture of the animal and the name of the fiber artist who created it and most yarn labels have a picture of the animal whose fleece was used.
By creating an online store, the WVC is able to spread their message of the importance of organic and ‘green’ projects to help our environment, with a much larger audience.
According to an article on Newsweek, Etsy has proven to be financially beneficial to its store owners. In 2009, four years after Etsy’s launch, customers bought $180.6 million worth of merchandise.
Sales in 2010 have already exceeded that figure.  The White Violet Center’s Etsy store may be found at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WhiteVioletAlpacas

Popularity: 20% [?]

By Jade Scott
Editor-in-Chief
Controversies over an Islamic cultural center proposed near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the local protest by the hate group, Wesboro Baptist Church, dominated an Oct. 4 Peace and Justice club open forum.
The forum was open to all students, faculty, and staff.  The topic of the forum was “Religious Freedom,” and recent news events took center stage.
Zahra Adni, president of Peace and Justice, opened the forum with the topic of the Islamic community center that is to be built in New York City, two blocks north of Ground Zero, hence the name opponents use, “Ground Zero Mosque.”
Many people are upset at the thought of this community center being built so close to ground center, but Adni told the group at the forum that the community center will have an auditorium, a gym, a fitness room, a fully functional kitchen for cooking classes, and many more accomadations along with the prayer center.
Patricia McIntyre, assistant profesor of theology, said she thought the center represented an important mark of progress for New York in recovering from Sept. 11.
“There is a point when a city needs to move on or the city will die,” McIntyre said. The Peace and Justice forum also addressed the Westboro Baptist Church that came to Terre Haute to protest at two church services.
Margy Frazier and Heather Ennis, both members of Peace and Justice gave background information on who and what the Westboro Baptist Church was and what they did at the protests that have made the group so infamous.


Popularity: 22% [?]

By Jade Scott and Annie Jones
Staff Writers
On Oct. 3 at 8 a.m. about six adults and two children from the Westboro Baptist Church arrived at the the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church to protest.
The event got extensive coverage from local media, but the discussion of their impact on Terre Haute and American religious freedom continued after the event.
The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Peace and Justice club used the protest as a jumping off point to talk about larger issues of religious freedom.
Members of the club reacted with shock and disbelief as club members Margy Fraizer and Heather Ennis read several press releases available on Westboro’s website. Those in the meeting gasped at the way Wesboro phrases its beliefs on protest signs, with slogans such as “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”
Freshman Shelby Richardson attended the protest and said she felt the group’s actions crossed the line of protected speech into harassment.
“They can believe what they want. [But] they were yelling at people as they were going into church and stuff. It just wasn’t right,” Richardson said.
Richardson’s reaction to Westboro was typical of most who oppose the group.
“I believe what those people were doing is wrong. They should accept people the way they are because God created all of us the way we are,” she said.
Richardson and her friends arrived at 8 a.m. at St. Patrick’s and were immediately greeted by the angry shouting of the Westboro.
“I had nasty comments from the second I got out of the car. They kept using the same words over and over again, like ‘fag’ or ‘everyone’s going to Hell’,” Richardson said. “They said something about Jews, but I don’t remember  exactly what.”
Richardson and her friends were glad to see a crowd of an estimated 80 counter-protestors at the event. She said the most disturbing sight was the small children in Westboro’s group carrying hateful signs and shouting.
“They shouldn’t have brought their kids with them. I’m pretty sure they didn’t want to be there,” she said, estimating the childrens’ ages at 5 and 8 yaers-old.
Since November 1955 Pastor Fred Phelps has been heading the Westboro Baptist Church, which consists of 70 members, the majority of them the Phelps family.
Westboro is a church in its own category. Even though the name has the word “church” in it, they are not considered a church. Westboro is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League and classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Westboro has no affiliation with any larger religious denomination, although they call themselves Primitive Baptists and Calvinists.
The majority of Christians reject Phelps’s theory and logic behind their religion.
During the service at St. Patrick’s on Oct. 3, police oficers lined South 19th Street to keep peace between Westboro and the counter-protestors.
Phelps said his group has been engaging in daily “peaceful demonstrations,” as Phelps calls it, against homosexuality and the damning of the never-dying soul since June 1991. They have conducted 44,298 of these demonstrations in the years since.
After the protest at St. Patrick’s in Terre Haute, Westboro packed up their stuff and moved on to the Baptist Bible Church at 2500 Margaret Ave. to protest during the morning service.  The group of counter-protestors was not as large at the second protest, but the crowd was still 50 people strong, according to the Tribune-Star’s coverage.
Westboro protests at events such as homosexual parades, funerals of gays, and over 400 military funerals of troops who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed hear a case against Westboro during this month’s term, brought by Albert Snyder, the father of a Marine killed in Iraq in 2006. Westboro protested at his son Matthew’s funeral with signs including Thank God for 9/11.” The case is expected to have significant impact on First Amendment speech protections.
Westboro attempts to distance themselves from racism or bias, but the group has been compared to neo-Nazis, the Klu Klux Klan, and other violent extremist groups.
Phelps responded with, “We don’t believe in physical violence of any kind, and the Scripture doesn’t support racism.”
The WBC’s sermons are open to the public who are interested in joining.  Their sermons are held weekly at 3701 W. 12th St. in Topeka, Kansas on Sunday’s at 12 p.m. central time. For more information on the Phelps Family and the Westboro Baptist Church you can visit godhatesfags.com.

Popularity: 45% [?]

By Emma Cambell
Staff Writer

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College welcomed to the stage guest actress Delia Taylor, in the role of Bernarda Alba on Thursday night.
Taylor began her current full-time job as director of business and marketing for the Source Theatre Company in 1999 in Washington, D.C.
There her work involves every aspect of managing a theater.  She creates a budget and financial development work, she then shifts to directing plays, and she can even be found doing house keeping on the theater.  Taylor can be found crawling around the basement of the theater searching for the source of plumbing problems.

Since Taylor graduated with a bachelor degree of fine arts from University of Colorado in 1990 she has been in the D.C. area in the theater scene.
Taylor has acted and directed at Source Theater, Washington Shakespeare Company, Wooly Mammoth, Round House, and MetroStage, all located in D.C.
Having an experienced actress was an asset to the girls in the play.
“Delia was absolutely amazing to work with. At the first rehearsal she attended, she was sitting backstage, memorizing our names,” said Kelsie Uselman, who played Adela.  “She’s very caring and generous and really bonded with all of us. It was really an amazing opportunity and privilege to work with such a humble and talented person.”
Taylor works as a professional actress, stage manager and director and is currently the producing manager of The Jewish Center Professional Theatre in Washington D.C.

Popularity: 20% [?]