The gulf is in crisis, where’s Kanye?

Illustration by Arthur Ball

Where are all the “Save the Gulf” concerts? Where are the TV benefits with celebrities and musicians giving heartfelt speeches on the poor fisherman, wildlife, beaches, loss of income and sabotaged gulf economy? Why hasn’t Kanye West made an excited utterance claiming that President Obama doesn’t care about the gulf people? I find it rather strange that these people, sans Larry King, and our own government are quick to help Haiti and other countries, but sit on their butts for this one.

What’s that you say? “More than 200,000 people were killed, over 300,000 injured and 1.5 million are still homeless in Haiti. Yes, the oil spill is terrible, but comparing it to a disaster where human life was lost is disrespectful of the dead and suffering.”

Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely sensitive to loss of life and know that pain intimately. However, the bottom line is that our duty as American citizens  is to help Americans who are living and who are less fortunate. The BP oil spill’s effect on our environment has an immediate impact on the lives of the living. U.S. resources must be deployed in a way that not only sustains life, but also revives the environment and its people in a way that is consistent with the general American expectations of prosperity – the right to pursue it.

It is appalling that many of us are compelled to do nothing and, furthermore, there are some who remain clueless that an oil spill even exists. A catastrophe of this magnitude on American soil will have not only economic effects, but also sociological and ecological effects that are so far reaching, they cannot yet be quantified! A lackluster response from our government is to arguably deny citizens their right to pursue life and liberty.

To put this into context, as a country, we believe that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. SOUND FAMILIAR? These phrases are derived from the Declaration of Independence. Furthermore, the fundamental belief to American life was incorporated into the Bill of Rights via the 5th Amendment – no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

Basically, the less than adequate responses from both the federal and state governments are synonymous with denying our AMERICAN citizens their basic constitutional rights! Whether the crisis is an outcome of BP’s carelessness or an act of God like Hurricane Katrina, the government has a responsibility to its citizens.

Bradford Anderson, a law lecturer for Graduate Business Programs at the Orfalea College of Business at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, describes the situation best: “In the end, I envision that BP and the other entities responsible in the Gulf oil spill will pay for some of the cleanup costs and human damages. Meanwhile, natural habitats and harmed animals will recover little, because our legal system fails to adequately address long-term environmental injury. And all the money in the world cannot recreate a lost animal species.”

It’s sad that more of our citizens don’t see this issue as large as a natural disaster when the spill affects Americans on American soil and the effects will be much more devastating in the long run. Charity begins at home.

The End of the Road: Connector editor recalls her journey with student media

I have to admit, a Kleenex box was on standby as I wrote this article. My journey with The Connector has come to an end and it is a bit emotional. Along with Maken Imcha, the previous editor-in-chief, Saria Canady, the previous copy editor and John Nguyen, the previous art director, we’ll be bidding our farewell not only to The Connector, but to SCAD, when we throw our caps into the air this May.

It has been a real pleasure to work with the District, SCAD Savannah’s publication, and The Connector for the past four years. When I first joined the District in the fall of 2006 while at the Savannah campus, I merely observed the process of working for a publication. When the spring quarter rolled around, I did a few photography assignments. At that time, The Connector was part of the District as a pull out section.

The following year, I packed my bags and moved to the Atlanta campus. When I first joined the Connector in the fall of 2007 as a staff photographer and writer, Therese Mushock, the editor-in-chief at the time, pulled The Connector out of the District and made it its own newspaper. While it seemed to be a bad idea to have the District and The Connector separated at first, it turned out to be a brilliant move. The Connector was finally able to break out of District’s shadow to form its own personality and adopt a fresh design. We were awarded First Place for Layout/Design Excellence from the Georgia Collegiate Press Association that very same year.

Being able to see the fruit of our labor displayed every Friday on the newspaper racks around campus was an awe-aspiring experience. It was like picking up a free painting to display on our wall because the covers were beautifully done.

Fast forward to the fall of 2008 when I was studying in Lacoste. That is when I received the news that we were going to stop the printing press and make the transition to an online publication. I quietly mourned the loss of being able to touch those stunning, lightweight works of art every week but soon got over it as I realized there were new innovations that we could approach with a web site that we could not do with the newspaper. Now, we were finally able to publish as many photos as our little hearts desired without worrying about how it would all fit on the page. The web site also made it possible to incorporate video and audio clips to augment our stories.

At the same time we moved to the online publication, we formed a quarterly magazine called SCAN so that we could still have at least one form to hold, smell, and touch every quarter. The days of launching the latest issues are the most exciting time for The Connector staff members. Seeing the readers’ reactions in person is just priceless.

Back at the Connector office, we continue to adorn our office with new awards. We just won several Region 3 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards: Best Independent Online Student Publication, Non-Fiction Magazine Article, General News Photography. I couldn’t have been any more proud of the hard work our staff members put in the past four years. And those are just the latest in a string of 24 awards over the last three years!

Looking forward, I wish the new Connector staff the best of luck and I am confident The Connector and SCAN will continue to thrive.

Will the economic crisis affect your education?

Since the end of the last year, the world has been very scared. Even though signs of an economic crisis have been evident for years and years, 2008 was the year it chose to explode, and affect all our lives.

Now, the word “economy” has literally taken part of our daily activities, and has consequently gained a whole new, and negative meaning. If things go bad, it’s because “of the economy.” If one wants to justify avoiding a commitment, it is because “the economy turned life harder.” The economy is this big beast we fear, and which covers our future with a smoky and dark haze. Read more

Suffering clinical withdrawl

Exploring SCAD-Atlanta’s lack of health care clinic

Most colleges and universities have health facilities that are easily accessible on campus and provide free examinations and basic care. At SCAD-Atlanta, however, we are missing such a facility, and are in
need of one. SCAD-Savannah has one such facility and provides cheap, immediate health care that is
convenient for students. Read more

Respecting property and each other

What did you come to SCAD to learn about? If you asked any number of students, most of them would likely answer they came to learn the skills necessary to find quality jobs in the fields that interest them and to develop their work and their thematic visions as artists. But there is another lesson that can stem from studies at this institution, a lesson that might not immediately be readily obvious. Through critiques and workshops, we as peers work as a group to collectively help each other better understand the faults of our art in an effort to perfect ourselves as practitioners of our talents. Inside this process, as we examine and critique each other’s pieces, the lesson we learn is to respect each other as artists no matter our differences of opinion, style or attitude. Read more