UWIRE asked an illustrious group to sound off on what mere mortals should do and not do on Valentine’s Day in order to score at the end of the night.
General Tips
DO These Things: Sex columnists’ tips for a successful Valentine’s Day
DO — discuss your sexual fantasies. Chances are you’re both feeling lovey-dovey, which also means you’re more apt to be open with one another. Use this time to discuss a fantasy you’ve kept to yourself. Maybe you can finally get her to dress up like your teacher and discipline you? Or vice-versa? Read more.
Advice to get laid on Valentine’s Day
For the love of lube, don’t give me chocolate. If I want candy, I’m sure there will be Valentine’s sweets a-plenty all up in my face at work and in my classes; I’ll find some, don’t worry. Read more.
Get a late-night reward for your Valentine’s Day gift
Consult your loved one’s friends before buying them a gift. Girls gab, a lot, so they know what the other one dislikes, loves and has to have. And sharing clothes means her friends know her sizes, i.e., you can avoid the possible minefield of buying her large sized lingerie when she needs a medium. Read more.
Don’t expect, make a grand gesture on Valentine’s Day
Though this is one of the big holidays that screams go big or go home, don’t expect your guy to show up with a diamond necklace. It’s college. Most people barely bring in enough money to enjoy a few beers on the weekend. Whatever your lover concocts – they made the effort, and that really is what should count. Read more.
Tips to spice up Valentine’s Day
Everyone talks about what to do on Valentine’s Day for newly happy couples, but what about those couples who have been together for so long that Valentine’s Day is getting kind of boring. Want to spice it up? Read more.
Tips to survive Valentine’s Day unscathed
I am not a hopeless romantic so I always greet the Valentine’s holiday with a tinge of cynicism. So the following are a few do’s and don’ts for those of us that are single or attached to make it through the day unscathed. Read more.
Don’t push sex boundaries only because of St. Valentine
On a holiday that is all about love and romance, asking to knock on the backdoor for the first time might not go over so well…and you don’t want this holiday to turn into a horror story that gets passed around to all of her friends! Read more.
How to become the ultimate stud on Valentine’s Day
One tip: Take your date somewhere unique, like a place with stellar food, exotic decor and ultimate class. Trust me, the next morning, she’ll be recounting every single detail of her night to all her friends, and you want to make sure you give her a good story to share, thus making you the ultimate stud in the eyes of her and all her girlfriends. Read more.
Be careful with lingerie on Valentine’s Day
Keep in mind that if you expect her to wear lingerie for you (because it’s really not a gift for her as much as it is for you), be prepared to wear some of your own… fair is fair after all. Read more.
Harold Pinter, a Nobel laureate and one of Britain’s most celebrated playwrights, died in London Wednesday after a long battle with cancer.
The University of Tampa’s Frank Gillen, a Dana professor of English and founding editor of the Pinter Review, is among the people who nominated Pinter and said after the 2005 win, “It’s a very happy day. I feel like my faith and the University’s faith in Pinter have been acknowledged.”
Gillen, who met with Pinter often and corresponded with the playwright for many years, had been invited by the Swedish Academy three years before to write a nomination, his second for Pinter.
The first, written in 1997, said the playwright “is concerned with the transformation of the human spirit” and “has stood against the misuse of authority and called attention to social and political injustice.”
Since 1987, the U.T. Press has published the Pinter Review, an acclaimed semi-annual academic journal devoted to Pinter.
“Even in the dark days when there wasn’t much interest in his work, we published faithfully, and the University supported us. I’ll always be very grateful for that. There is no other university in the world that publishes a journal devoted specifically to the works of Harold Pinter.”
One issue published Pinter’s first full draft of “The Homecoming” with handwritten revisions and an essay on its significance. The Pinter Review editor and the UT Press also sponsored the Pinter Review Prize for Drama.
“Harold Pinter is generally seen as the foremost representative of British drama in the second half of the 20th century,” the Academy said in the 2005 announcement. “That he occupies a position as a modern classic is illustrated by his name entering the language as an adjective used to describe a particular atmosphere and environment in drama: ‘Pinteresque.’”
Czech playwright and former president Vaclav Havel described Pinter’s award as “absolutely deserved.”
“You don’t really know how happy I am,” Havel wrote in a congratulatory telegram to his friend Pinter.
Pinter’s plays are stark and spare explorations of the human condition, and his finest work captures what critics have described as the poetry of everyday language. Early in his career, he perfected a style of pregnant pauses, a style that would be widely imitated and quickly came to be known as “Pinteresque.”
His best-known works are “The Caretaker” (1960), “The Homecoming” (1965) and “The Birthday Party (1960)–dark dramas in which the real action seems to be lurking in some subconscious space beneath the surface of the dialogue.
In addition to his 29 plays, Pinter also took turns as an actor, director and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” and for one of his own plays, “Betrayal.” Both were nominated for Oscars.
Harold Pinter in "Krapp's Last Tape"
The academy also praised Pinter’s continuing analysis of “threat and injustice” and his work, since 1973, “as a fighter for human rights,” taking “stands seen as controversial.” In his later years, he became known for his political activism and for his often strident criticism of the U.S. government.
In 2005, after being treated for the throat cancer that eventually killed him, Pinter told friends that he had written his last play and would devote his energies to poetry and political activism.
It was later that year that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He was too ill to travel to Stockholm to accept the prize but he used the occasion to film a scathing attack on U.S. foreign policy.
“The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them,” said the frail playwright who delivered his lecture while seated in a wheelchair with a blanket over his knees.
He castigated the U.S. for supporting “every right-wing military dictatorship in the world after the Second World War” and ridiculed Americans for their “self-love.”
“Listen to all American presidents on television say the words ‘the American people,’ as in the sentence, ‘I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.’
“It’s a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words ‘the American people’ provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don’t need to think. Just lie back on the cushion,” he said.
Pinter delivered his indictment in a raspy voice, full of dramatic pauses and bitter irony. Michael Billington, theater critic for the Guardian newspaper and Pinter’s biographer, wrote that the Nobel lecture could have been staged by Samuel Beckett. Certainly, it was Pinteresque.
Born Oct. 10, 1930, in London’s East End, Harold Pinter was the son of Jewish immigrants who ran a dressmaker’s shop. When World War II broke out, he and other children from that heavily bombed district of London were separated from their parents and evacuated to the countryside, an experience that would traumatize the boy and color his writing as an adult.
After returning to London and discovering a talent for acting, he was accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. But he dropped out after two years and then risked a jail sentence when he refused military service. He was fined instead.
Pinter’s first full-length play, “The Birthday Party” is widely admired today but was a flop when it was first produced in London’s West End, closing after only a week.
His second play, “The Caretaker,” secured his reputation as a serious artist. The play is a spare psychological drama in which two brothers, Mick and Ashton, invite a manipulative stranger into their household and soon find themselves in a delusional struggle for power and space. The play regarded by many as Pinter’s masterpiece is “The Homecoming.” It tells the story of Teddy, a professor at an American college, who returns with his wife to the London home of his unhappy working-class family. In this work, Pinter perfected the style of pregnant pauses that eventually became synonymous with his name.
Also characteristic of his work are the stark settings–typically a bare room, a seedy boarding house or forlorn bed-sit. Pinter used bleak physical spaces to draw out the bleak interiors of his characters.
As a playwright, Pinter was at the height of his powers and his fame in the 1960s and early ’70s. He continued to write though the next two decades, turning out a dozen plays between 1980 and 2000, but none that achieved the stature or success of his earlier works.
In his later years, his plays took on a more political aspect. “Mountain Language” (1988) deals with the oppression of the Kurds by the Turkish government, while “One for the Road” (1984) tells the story of Nicolas, a self-proclaimed civilized man who earns his living as a torturer for an unnamed government. In a 2001 production of the play in London, Pinter played the role of Nicolas to huge acclaim.
“As an artist, Pinter has an alarming range,” wrote follow playwright David Hare. “He can play great, big major chords made up only of anger, indignation and contempt. But at the other end of the instrument, he can also unbalance you by reaching humor, grace and intense personal warmth.”
Pinter became an active campaigner for human rights in the early 1970s and rarely missed an opportunity to denounce the dishonesty and hypocrisy of political leaders. Americans were his favorite target.
Addressing a peace rally in London’s Hyde Park on the eve of the Iraq war, Pinter denounced the Bush administration as a “monster out of control.”
“The country is run by a bunch of criminal lunatics, with [Prime Minister Tony] Blair as their hired Christian thug. The planned attack on Iraq is an act of premeditated mass murder,” he said.
A few months later, during a poetry reading at the National Theater, Pinter said: “The U.S. is really beyond reason now. It is beyond our imagining to know what they are going to do next and what they are prepared to do. There is only one comparison: Nazi Germany.”
Pinter’s animus toward the U.S. predates the Bush administration. He was an outspoken critic of former President Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy and once in 1985, while traveling with American playwright Arthur Miller, he was thrown out of a U.S. Embassy function for denouncing the Turkish government’s flagrant human-rights violations.
Despite his criticism of the British government–he once refused a knighthood–Pinter has expressed a passion for England, its countryside and especially for cricket, which he described as “the greatest thing that God ever created on Earth–certainly greater than sex, although sex isn’t too bad either.”
Pinter married Fraser, a biographer, in 1980. His first marriage to actress Vivien Merchant collapsed in a highly publicized scandal in 1977 after he began an affair with Fraser. Pinter and Merchant had a son, Daniel. Merchant died in 1982.
“It was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years. He will never be forgotten,” Fraser said.
Story from Tom Hundley(MCT) with information from the UT and Tampa Press Web sites.
By Student Press Law Center, Special to The Minaret
New education privacy regulations slipping into effect at the eleventh hour of the Bush administration will make it much more difficult for journalists and parents to investigate the performance of schools and colleges, according to the Student Press Law Center, the nation’s leading authority on the legal rights of student journalists.
The U.S. Department of Education has just enacted significant changes to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, a 1974 statute intended to penalize schools that fail to adopt and enforce policies to safeguard the confidentiality of student education records. The changes are set to take effect January 8, 12 days before the end of the Bush administration.
The new rules would greatly expand the definition of what qualifies as a confidential “education record” to include even records with all names, Social Security numbers and other individually identifying information blacked out (”redacted”). This change will frustrate the ability of parents and journalists to use state open-records laws to obtain basic statistical information about school safety, discipline, academic performance and other essential matters, said attorney Frank D. LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.
“By its own admission, the DOE made no attempt to strike a balance between legitimate privacy interests and the public’s right to hold schools accountable. The DOE simply said that accountability doesn’t matter and that its only concern is secrecy,” LoMonte said. “DOE’s interpretation flies in the face of every court ruling to interpret FERPA, and it goes well beyond what Congress intended in enacting the law.”
The Student Press Law Center (SPLC) is a Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit whose mission is to advocate for free-press rights for high school and college journalists nationwide. The Center provides legal information and referral assistance at no charge to students and the educators who work with them.
Historically, schools and colleges have been instructed under FERPA to redact the names, Social Security numbers and other identifying information from student records before releasing them in compliance with an open-records request. But under the new DOE rule, schools and colleges are directed to withhold documents even if all identifying information is removed, if the school believes that the requester knows, or can figure out, the students to whom a document pertains.
As an example of how it intends the rule to work, the DOE stated that the rules will prevent a school even from confirming whether it had disciplined any student for bringing a gun onto campus, because the identity of the gun-wielding student probably would be known to people within the school.
“The public has a right to know essential safety information such as what steps administrators take when they catch a student carrying a gun into a high school. There is no legitimate ‘privacy’ interest in committing a felony on school grounds, and the Department’s insistence on protecting the ‘privacy’ of a would-be school shooter over the safety interests of the public shows just how arbitrary and irrational these rules are,” LoMonte said.
The DOE circulated a draft of its new FERPA rules on March 24. The SPLC joined other open-government advocates in urging the Department to refrain from expanding the scope of FERPA, noting that FERPA already is being widely abused to withhold non-confidential documents, including audit reports and jail logs, from public scrutiny. DOE refused to make any reforms to the draft rules, and reissued them in final form in the December 9, 2008, edition of the Federal Register.
“DOE’s rules respond to a ‘problem’ that just isn’t there. Not a single person came forward with evidence that any student’s legitimate privacy interests have ever been compromised by an open-records request for statistical information,” LoMonte said. “On the other hand, DOE is well aware that schools are routinely misapplying FERPA to deny requests for documents that cannot rationally be considered private ‘education records.’”
Just last month, the DOE itself issued a ruling that the University of Virginia had misapplied FERPA in requiring victims of sexual assaults to sign confidentiality agreements under which the victims agreed — under threat of discipline — that they could not discuss the outcome of disciplinary proceedings against their attackers with anyone, to protect the privacy of the rapists.
The SPLC and its volunteer attorneys successfully sued the Department of Education in 1991 on behalf of journalists at the University of Tennessee and Colorado State University, to overturn the DOE’s irrational interpretation that FERPA prevented colleges from releasing campus police reports to the media. In response, Congress amended FERPA to clarify that the DOE’s interpretation was wrong and that police reports are public records.
The Dec. 9 Federal Register posting is viewable at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-28864.pdf.
For more information on the SPLC, go to www.splc.org.
Tina Fey (center) says she's retiring Palin to foucs on "30 Rock" which stars, from left, Tracy Morgan, Alec Baldwin, Fey, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer. The show took home Emmys this year for best comedy, writing (Fey) and acting (Fey and Baldwin). (NBC)
By Elizabeth Bercovci, Journalism I
Sarah Palin’s future in politics is unclear, but Tina Fey is fairly clear about her future impersonating the former running mate.
Fey told Oprah Winfrey that she is retiring her Palin impression, leaving fans and SNL executives thinking, “Oh, gosh darn.”Thanks to Fey’s Palin, SNL’s ratings have soared more than 70 percent, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Fey is the writer and star of “30 Rock,” which she based on her stint at SNL. She retired there in 2006 to create “30 Rock.” Fey returned this fall as Palin.
“I am really happy I did it. For me it was this wonderful chance to go kind of go home again and be with all of my friends on SNL,” she recently told CBS.
“It’s just the strangest thing that ever happened to have been a part of the excitement of the election. SNL was a really big part of that.”
The New York Times called Fey’s impersonation “deliciously dead-on,” leaving some to wonder about its political ramifications.
“Does she influence me? Yeah,” junior Mike Zeolla said before the election.“If I was a Republican, her impersonations of Sarah Palin would turn me away from the Republican party all together.”
Others were less influenced and simply find her humorous.
“I think she’s funny in her imitations of Sarah Palin,” junior Celeste Judge said.“I don’t think that they’re all necessarily accurate, so I can’t take what she says or imitates seriously. But, at the same time, I don’t pay much attention because I’m a huge Obama fan myself.”
Judge’s attitude seemed to be the norm for most students.
“I find it to be humorous,” junior David Leess said.“If I wanted to take Sarah Palin seriously, I could… Just because I laugh at her, (and Fey’s impersonation) doesn’t mean I can’t take her seriously.I laugh at McCain all the time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take him seriously.”
One undecided voter said she was swayed.
“After watching Tina Fey’s impersonations, it made me lean towards Obama,” senior Jen Cintron said.“She makes her look like a complete idiot.”
Chris De Cosimo, a junior, was influenced by Palin’s joke about the difference between a pit-bull and a hockey mom: lipstick.
”[That] was it for me,” he said.“That makes her look … like she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Others seemed to be somewhat offended by Fey’s impersonations of Palin.
“I think Tina Fey’s impressions are completely bogus, and she needs to perform more comedic material,” junior Shelly Dibble said.“Too much about Palin for me.”
Palin says if more skits call for Palin, that regular SNL actress Kristin Wiig can take over.
“I think Wiig would do a really good job,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
Just hours after the nation elected the first black president, news outlets were flooded with recounts of the night. Many articles that covered President-Elect Barack Obama’s address from Chicago were more focused on the new First Lady’s dress than the inspiring words of her husband. Dozens of online discussion boards have had thousands of hits.
Yahoo! News ran a story on Michelle Obama’s red and black Narciso Rodriguez dress. It had 21,000 comments just twelve hours after being published. An article discussing Obama’s address received less than 14,000 comments in the same amount of time.
Fashion in politics has been a hot topic since the news broke that the GOP budgeted $150,000 for Sarah Palin’s campaign wardrobe.
Many University of Tampa students agree that fashion is a real issue in politics.
“Fashion is an inevitable part of politics. Politics are about image and therefore, about the way you present yourself,” explained junior, Greta Van Collie. “I think it is unfortunate that voters become so distracted by what someone is wearing that they forget what a candidate said.”
Jill Biden, foreground, and Michelle Obama, rear, come out on stage after President-elect Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech after it was announced he has won the presidential election at his Election Night Rally in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, November 4, 2008. (Chuck Kennedy/MCT)
Van Collie mentioned the most recent Vice Presidential debate as a perfect case. “Media coverage talked more about her perfectly quaffed hair and sharp suit than what she said and how she responded to important questions.”
Even students who do not follow fashion believe it has a regrettable part in the political playground.
“I do not follow fashion at all, so I don’t particularly notice what candidates are wearing but I know other people do.” Junior Laura Olds continued, “I wish it wasn’t the case but people rely a lot on how our leaders look.”
Junior Sarah Strickland agreed, “It is important that our leaders look put together and that they present themselves well. I do not necessarily think that a put together image and a fashionable one are the same thing, however.”
Strickland also noted that there is rarely any discussion on male politician’s style. “I definitely think there is a double standard when it comes to fashion in the public eye. Male politicians can be overweight, balding, and in a plain suit and that is fine. They can also spend thousands of dollars on a suit, and be perfectly manicured and there is no mention.”
“Hillary Clinton is criticized for being frumpy and too matronly. Sarah Palin is the other end of that spectrum and is criticized for being too concerned with her appearance. There is no common ground for women.”
This focus on fashion and image can certainly overshadow bigger issues for our country’s leaders. In a poll done by CBS, 76 percent of the survey participants believed it was just as important for a candidate to look presentable and to speak well than it is to have experience. Fifty-six percent believed they had been influenced by a candidate’s fashion choice.
Now, as the country gives props to Michelle Obama’s fashion choices, let’s hope they pay the same attention to her husband’s plans for America.
Northern students flock to UT in part for its warm weather, but according to some, there can be too much of a good thing.
Students like Billy Caldeira miss the fall foliage, cooling temperatures and traditional winter activities.
“I miss carving pumpkins and seeing the leaves change colors,” the senior said.
For Emily Olson, Autumn is more about style than weather.
“I miss the changing of the seasons because I miss fall fashion,” said the junior. “I miss my fall clothes and winter clothes.”
Although many feel they are missing out, others are happy to be in the Sunshine State while their friends and families back north are freezing.
“The reason why I came down here was so I could wear bikinis and flip flops every day,” said freshman Mia Palatano, who would rather give blustery weather the cold shoulder.
“I would rather be surfing down here.”
And all that sand and sunshine can add some spice to phone calls back home, Olson said.
“I do like to make my parents jealous when I tell them I’m at the beach and they’re in the snow.”
In mid-December, just when many snowbirds are heading to Florida for the winter, some of UT’s Northerners are headed home to get their cold-weather fixes.
“I get enough of my winter activities when I’m home for the one month over winter break,” Caldeira said.“I ski, sled, skate on the pond and throw snowballs.”
During her break,Olson has plenty of wintery adventures when she heads back to her hometown of Southampton, N.Y.
“I go to the city to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and go ice-skating there.”
Some students from the Northeast say the beach gets old and they need other activities. Caldeira said the feeling started in his junior year.
“This year I miss it a lot more,” the Massachusetts senior said. During his freshman year, he didn’t really miss it much, “But now it seems like it has been a long time, so I feel like I am starting to miss it more and more.”
Students from colder climates say they most miss skiing, snowboarding, building snowmen and ice-skating.
But most feel thankful to only have to bear winter for a month, and once again, it’s back to tropical Florida.
A few ways to incorporate Northern traditions into Florida life:
By Rick Nease, Detroit Free Press (MCT)
-Go to Walt Disney World’sThanksgiving Day Parade
-Make smores on the stove.
-Carve a pumpkin.
-Drink some apple cider or egg nog.
-Have your family mail you some colorful fall foliage
-Go to the mall and sit on Santa’s lap.
-Crank up the AC and put all of your sweaters on.
-Go to a local ice-skating rink
-Get a garbage can lid and sled down the local dump, Mt. Trashmore.
-Bribe a Sodexo employee to let you sit in the Caf’s walk-in freezer for a few hours.
One night every year entire neighborhoods are taken over by dinosaurs, witches and super heroes.
For an elementary student, Halloween is one of the greatest holidays of the year, but for but for college students, October 31 involves lot more partying, dangerous fun and some very risque wardrobes.
“People always get out of hand on Halloween,” says UT junior Ellanna Schreep who once witnessed a pirate and a cow get into a heated argument. “Half the fun is seeing crazy guys do stupid things in funny costumes.”
Not only is this spooky night a time to drink, but the correct attire is imperative.
“It’s a great way to express yourself and show off your humor,” said Tim Russell, a UT sophomore. “Guys always want to have the most original costume.”
Russell plans to be Elf for Halloween because he knew that it would get a lot more attention than being the attractive Captain Jack Sparrow.
For some women, sex sells with naughty nurses and lusty librarians. The essential theme is costumes that start with the words “sexy,,” “slutty” or “naughty.”
Some men go shirtless or have sexy costumes of their own.
UT sophomore Liz Shamy says Halloween is about freedom.
“I personally don’t dress slutty,” she said, “but you want to impress other girls and show off to guys. It’s the one night of the year you can.”
Even classic high school movies of this generation such as, “Mean Girls”, have been caught mocking how girls dress for the occasion: “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it,” said Lindsay Lohan’s character.
Even though it might be fun and games to drink and dress up, the truth is the combination of the two can also be dangerous.
According to statistics on forbes.com the popularity of Halloween for adults has been increasing every year along with its fatalities. In a stretch of three days in the year 2007, Halloween alone resulted in 239 deaths, 129 of which were alcohol related.
Part of the issue could be students take the drinking to a whole different level because it is a holiday.
“Aside from St. Patrick’s day, it’s the only holiday college students really get, so I guess people go all out,” says Schreep.
Though the intentions of some young women on Halloween are to get a little romantic attention, it can be detrimental to a woman’s reputation or safety.
“You want to be careful of how far you take it,” Shamy said, “because even though you want to be noticed, you don’t want it to be for the wrong reasons.”
Lyndsay Magid, a junior, said her roommate once walked all the way from Dale Mabry back to campus alone on Halloween dressed as “Poc-a-hotass,” a take-off on Pocahontas.
“It’s dangerous enough to walk back to UT from that distance,” said Magid. “It’s another thing to walk back alone without decent clothes.”
Some Halloween party-goers put themselves in dangerous situations without realizing it because they are intoxicated.
A way for women—and all revelers–to stay safe would be to bring an extra pair of clothes, charge their cell phones before going out and always stay with their friends in big groups of people.
“Halloween is a great time of year for college students,” Magrid said, “but everyone needs to be conscious that things can go wrong too.”
According to one Halloween Web site, there are a number of hot costumes this year for both sexes (scroll down and click more):
Annie Griffiths Belt views the world one photo at a time.
The National Geographic photographer, who has traveled the world, visited UT Wednesday (Oct. 22) to discuss her travel experiences and exhilarating career.
“What we do at National Geographic is we try to come up with a picture compelling enough for people to read,” Belt said.
Starting her career in the late 1980s, she has visited several countries around the world such as Jordan, Pakistan and Mozambique.
Everything from scorching hot deserts to blistering cold blizzards have challenged Belt.
“Though I’ve never been up against The World Series before,” Belt said, acknowledging that Game One of The World Series began that night.
The stories Belt told about her experiences displayed the true passion she has for her job.
“What I do with the camera is I tell stories. I use the pictures to tell stories,” Belt said.
Belt expressed how divergent the people and cultures were in the different countries and described some of the struggles people go through, just to get food in South Africa, for example, where no form of food would be wasted.
“These people could survive in unbelievably hostile environments. If they were lucky enough to kill an animal, every piece was useful,” Belt said.
On several of her journeys, Belt has grown close to people that have completely different lifestyles.
“People that have nothing, give everything,” Belt said.
Being able to connect with people does not come easy to some photographers. Belt said that at first photographers may feel embarrassed or nervous to approach someone.
“Once you get out of your comfort zone, it’s fabulous,” she said.
Belt also appeared on “Oprah” recently. Her work is displayed in the book “Last Stand: America’s Virgin Lands.” Belt, who often has her husband and children travel with her, shares her stories in her new memoir, “A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel.”
Belt is originally from Minnesota and she earned her degree in photojournalism from the University of Minnesota. Before she started working for National Geographic, she worked as a staff photographer for the Minnesota Daily while she was still in school.
Jennifer Hudson (bottom) and Dakota Fanning star in
Hudson in Tampa at time of slayings
By Robert Mitchum, Angela Rozas and Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune (MCT)
CHICAGO _ Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson considered her mother’s Chicago home a haven, a place where she could find respite from Hollywood’s occasionally brutal and superficial ways.
That South Side sanctuary, however, was violently shattered Friday when her mother and brother were gunned down during a domestic disturbance, law-enforcement officials said. The actress’ 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, remained missing late Friday night. A suspect in the killings was believed to have abducted the boy, but when the man was arrested Friday night, the boy was not with him.
“I just can’t fathom something like this happening,” said Ethel Grisom, a longtime family friend. “The entire family were just real friendly people who enjoyed being together. This is going to be devastating for them.”
At about 3 p.m., a relative found Darnell Donerson, 57, fatally shot in her living room, law enforcement officials said. The family member notified authorities, who then found Jason Hudson, 29, dead in a bedroom.
Neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 9 a.m. There were no signs of forced entry to the home.
Donerson had been shot in the head, while Jason Hudson suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Police said at least one of the victims had suffered defensive wounds.
A law-enforcement source said police had a suspect in custody but still had not located the boy. King is described as 4-foot-11 and weighing 130 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair and was last seen wearing a striped polo shirt and khaki pants.
The actress’ sister, Julia, reported the boy missing from the home Friday afternoon, a police source said. Family friends said the boy was her son, but police did not confirm that. Authorities had issued an Amber Alert for the suspect and the boy earlier in the day.
The Tribune is not naming the suspect because he has not been charged. Public records list one of his previous addresses as the Donerson’s home in the 7000 block of South Yale Avenue in Chicago.
Cook County court records show the suspect pleaded guilty in 1999 to attempted murder and vehicular hijacking. He also was convicted in a 1998 case of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, records show.
The man was released from the Illinois River Correctional Center in Downstate Canton in May 2006 after serving seven years in prison. He is still on probation, state records show.
On Friday afternoon, scores of onlookers flocked to the street corner nearest to the Hudson home. They pressed up against yellow police tape for a glimpse of the white house three doors down. Evidence technicians and police officers came and went, and the house’s lights stayed on as the sky grew darker and rain squalls scattered the dwindling onlookers.
Many neighbors’ thoughts turned to Jennifer Hudson, who returned home to visit her mother as often as twice a month if her schedule allowed. A 1999 graduate of the Dunbar Vocational Career Center, she could walk through the Englewood neighborhood without anyone hassling her or following her with a camera.
“She never had no problems with fans stalking her,” neighbor Vanessa Stanton said. “She didn’t even need a bodyguard (though she did have one). The whole neighborhood block would look out for her.”
Hudson famously left her Burger King job to compete in the 2004 season of “American Idol.” She finished seventh and endured harsh words from judge Simon Cowell, but her powerful, five-octave range helped win her the role of Effie White in the musical “Dreamgirls.”
Her show-stopping on-screen rendition of “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going” led to widespread critical praise and the 2007 Academy Award for best supporting actress.
Upon winning the Oscar, she became emotional as she thanked her mother for traveling to Los Angeles to celebrate the nomination. Since that time, her family and their large, white home has been her touchstone, a place that could pull her back to Earth should her self-importance skyrocket.
“My faith in God and my family, they’re very realistic and very normal, they’re not into the whole limelight kind of thing, so when I go home to Chicago that’s just another place that’s home,” she recently told the Associated Press. “I stand in line with everybody else, or, when I go home to my mom I’m just Jennifer, (so she says), ‘You get up and you take care of your own stuff.’ And I love that; I don’t like when people tell you everything you want to hear, I want to hear the truth, you know what I mean.”
Donerson mostly kept out of the spotlight. When asked if she’d like to attend a recent taping of Oprah Winfey’s show, on which Hudson would be publicizing “The Secret Life of Bees,” Donerson declined.
“She doesn’t welcome the attention at all,” Hudson told Australia’s Sunday Telegraph recently. “She’s the complete opposite of those stage mothers who say, ‘Oh, that’s my daughter, aren’t I great?’ She doesn’t want the attention, while at the same time, she’s extremely proud and happy for me.”
Jennifer Hudson was in the Tampa area at the time of the murders, and planned to immediately head to Chicago. Her sister, Julia, met police at Wentworth Area late Friday night.
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(Chicago Tribune reporters James Janega, Robert K. Elder, Deanese Williams-Harris, David Heinzmann and Stacy St. Clair contributed to this report.)
When “Gossip Girl” protagonist Serena van der Woodsen declared on Monday night that she wanted to take Yale’s “Great Hoaxes in Archaeology” lecture, 13 students watching the show in the Saybrook TV room erupted in applause.
“That was the best class ever!” one girl yelled. “I took it last semester.”
A passing reference to the Blue Book, however, may have been one of the few similarities between Yale College and the glossy, high-drama world of backstabbing socialites at Manhattan prep schools. Compared to the somewhat more realistic attempts made by the “Gilmore Girls” crew — complete with the Whiffenpoofs singing on Parent’s Weekend, for example — “Gossip Girl’s” rendition was riddled with myths, especially with regards to college admissions.
Yalies crowded into residential-college common areas and TV rooms around campus yesterday to watch the latest episode, titled “New Haven Can Wait,” of the hit one-hour CW drama. The episode centered around the characters’ fall pre-frosh weekend on Yale’s campus — or at least, under an ivy-strewn archway resembling Yale. Although the plot of Monday night’s episode alluded to Skull and Bones and the Harvard-Yale football game, many students said they were disappointed with the misleading references to Yale. Instead of bringing the filming cast and crew to New Haven, “Gossip Girl” producers chose to film the episode next door to their original set in Manhattan, at Columbia University.
Yale Licensing Manager Denise Castellano said the University never received any inquiries from the producers of “Gossip Girl” about filming on Yale’s campus. If they had, University officials would have asked for a copy of the script before they approved any requests to use the campus for filming purposes, Castellano explained.
Students interviewed said last night’s installment of “Gossip Girl” was especially erroneous in its portrayal of the Yale admissions process.
In the episode, three of the main characters met privately with the Yale dean of admissions, but the real admissions dean, Jeff Brenzel ’75, said such meetings could never have occurred beyond the realm of the television series.
Brenzel said he does not counsel students or conduct evaluative interviews, although his role, like that of any admissions officer, leads to conversations with candidates regarding Yale or the application process.
“I don’t do any interviews of applicants or potential applicants, so I’m not in the position of advising anyone,” he said over the phone Monday night.
While admissions officers are expected to answer students’ questions, he said the office does not arrange for any private counseling sessions between admissions officers and students.
He also said the admissions office gives no preference to any school groups over others.
But last night, the show’s rivals Blair Waldorf, played by actress Leighton Meester, and Serena, played by actress Blake Lively — students at an elite private school — backstabbed and bribed their way to get an invitation for a dinner party hosted by the dean of admissions. Sporting designer suits and revealing necklines, the wealthy seniors schmoozed with administrators and professors throughout the evening.
“I certainly do not hold or attend private dinners for candidates,” Brenzel wrote in a follow-up e-mail Monday night.
In the spirit of “Gossip Girl” mania, Jonathan Edwards freshman counselor Katie Zimmerman ’09 said she and three other freshman counselors threw a “Gossip Girl”-watching party in their suite for all the freshmen in their college. Zimmerman said she has been an avid watcher of the show since it began in the fall of 2007, but this week’s episode fell short of what she had anticipated. After the initial wave of freshmen left halfway during the episode, Zimmerman said the remaining five students in her suite did not seem to notice the differences between Yale and the “Gossip Girl” version of the University during the rest of the show. But after three years as an Eli, she said it was hard to ignore the discrepancies between fact and fiction.
“It didn’t bring out the Yale that we all know and love, but instead just used stereotypes about Yale,” Zimmerman said. “And all the characters were just focusing on getting in [to Yale].”
On the whole, she concluded: “It was kind of a failure.”
Zimmerman said she was surprised by the numerous disparities between the fictitious and the real-world Yale.
In reality, the Dean of Admissions does not send out exclusive invitations to ritzy early-admissions soirees. Skull and Bones does not tap pre-frosh. And under no circumstances do high school students approach Yale upperclassmen with romantic propositions.
But perhaps it’s still up for debate whether, as Serena put it, “Yale is for overachieving bookworms and preppies.”
