June Bug introduces bassist Marky Mark, who sits downstage left. Marky Mark nods his glistening head at the early-evening crowd before tossing back a swig of liquor from the bottle at his side. Big Paul perches on the edge of a bench in front of a grand piano. Grant, a young professional musician and Boston Conservatory graduate, struts onstage with his saxophone in hand and his head held high. Like the others, he has come to HR-57 for two reasons: to experience jazz and to prove that he is one of the best musicians in DC.

Chatter simmers as music electrifies the air. Musicians shuffle seamlessly on and off stage, trading places with newcomers and regulars. This Thursday night typifies weeknight jam sessions. Performers challenge their skills as they battle to keep up with the established musicians. The intense competition intimidates the talented players who frequent the club.

While waiting for his turn, guitarist Bill Freed admits he still gets nervous when playing here, despite extensive experience playing jazz. Illustrating his veteran status, he points to a canvas on the wall.

“That’s me in that painting,” he says. In lively hues, it depicts a jam session at the club’s former location 10 years ago.

The club was first established in 1993 as a center for jazz preservation. In early 2011, HR-57 moved from Dupont Circle to its current location on H Street, in the Atlas District. According to one musician, the Dupont club was large and ritzy. Owner Tony Puesan sought a venue closer to HR-57’s community of players and listeners after his lease expired on the former location.

House Resolution 57, passed by Congress in 1987, inspired the HR-57 Center for the Preservation of Jazz and Blues. The document legally affirms jazz’s status as a national treasure. The resolution deems jazz as a unifying force that transcends cultural boundaries, a statement reinforced by the club’s clientele.

Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) introduced the resolution in an effort to sustain and advance the culture of jazz. It emphasizes youth involvement as an imperative factor in the perpetuation of jazz as an art form. Young adults struggling to express themselves often find jazz an effective vehicle for communication. This universal language allows individuals not only to participate in this art but also to become connected to one another.

Although jazz began as a distinctly African-American art form, modern jazz culture transcends national and ethnic boundaries. It has evolved as a consequence of historical events and has served as an anthem for the oppressed. African-American slaves, South Africans suffering under Apartheid, and European Jews during the Holocaust sang soulful ballads as they yearned for freedom.

Dr. Clarence Lusane, an SIS professor, discusses the historical interpretations of jazz across cultures in his course, Jazz and International Relations, which he teaches in the spring. Lusane explains jazz culture expanded rapidly and, by the 1930s, had become a global phenomenon. Lusane attributes jazz’s immediate globalization to its “universal appeal.”

All over the world jazz has represented and continues to represent not only freedom, says Lusane, but the voice of the people. Lusane explains, jazz has taken different forms representing “working class interests, anti-Apartheid interests [and] aspiring middle class interests.” In almost all cases, jazz has served as a means of passive resistance. It has proven to be an irrepressible expression of freedom and hope in times of desolation.

The beauty of jazz is its ability to fuse cultural influences. “[It operates] as a collective but [allows] for individuality,” says Lusane. By examining the evolution of jazz, one discovers the values of a nation. At the root of the music lies a cause, a dream or a goal. That root is one small but vital piece of a much larger identity. Jazz is a type of peaceful activism, which generates effective international communication.

Washingtonians and Eagles alike can immerse themselves in jazz culture and hear legends like Wynton Marsalis, Hank Jones, Lionel Hampton, Donald Byrd, McCoy Tyner, and Antonio Parker at HR-57. Entry to the club is $8 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (informal jam sessions) and $15 on Fridays and Saturdays (organized performances). Musicians hint an HR-57 blues club might be on the horizon. News about the jazz club and the HR-57 foundation can be found at www.hr57.org. Visit the club by walking to 816 H Street NE from the Union Station Metro stop or by taking the X2 bus from Chinatown toward Minnesota Ave.

Photos by Emily Martin

Uniting under their slogan, Beautiful Edifices Actually Really Don’t Save Society, or BEARDSS, passionate members hope to modify the city’s unattractive image of students. Unlike an alarming number of AU students, BEARDSS members are not lulled by the charm and convenience of the big box stores and brands of Tenleytown (or the Target in Columbia Heights). Passionately aware of underappreciated, colorful areas of the city, BEARDSS fears precious local culture is at risk of being displaced by hasty attempts to spruce up neighborhoods. The urgency of BEARDSS lies in protecting these areas from mainstream culture. By strategically patronizing specific venues, BEARDSS’ mission is to simultaneously re-educate fellow students while protesting the negative effects of gentrification.

As few have encountered an organization like BEARDSS before, BEARDSS is accustomed to explaining its agenda to the uninformed masses. Unlike tedious “tried and true” approaches to counteract reckless gentrification, BEARDSS methods are pointed and immediate. Dated concepts based on community involvement and building, which unnecessarily waste time and effort, pale in comparison to BEARDSS revolutionary “flash occupation” method, which requires only tasteful discretion and two free nights a week.

In order to instigate its “flash occupation” method, BEARDSS first meticulously combed the entire city for at-risk venues. An at-risk venue is defined as one in distinct disrepair and eccentric charm, surrounded by a disaffected neighborhood that is unable to fully appreciate its character. Initial reports indicate that BEARDSS bolsters businesses, stressing their importance—without their patronage, it is evident that cultural treasures would be in danger of unnecessary demolition.

For maximum efficiency, BEARDSS trimmed the final selection to three or fewer at-risk venues across the city. In the final step, BEARDSS members descend upon the selected sites every weekend—flooding off-campus locations for the night, and then cabbing it back to re-group and debrief. This patented “flash demonstrating”—enhanced by their preferred uniform of protective plastic eyewear, durable canvas slippers and reinforced jeans of a particular tightness—is executed to exhibit BEARDSS dedication to at-risk neighborhoods and the primacy of cultural preservation.

BEARDSS’s current campaign on U Street epitomizes the movement. In order to maintain the charm of the four-block neighborhood, including such attractions as Town, the 9:30 Club and Ben’s Chili Bowl, BEARDSS members fist pump, queue for indie bands and wipe chili from their chins with perfectly synchronized determination. If it were not for BEARDSS, the surrounding U Street area would simply disregard the cultural importance of these venues, as evidenced by the fact that BEARDSS hardly ever encounters locals while they demonstrate on the dance floor, at a concert, or while eating their vegetarian chilidogs.

BEARDSS activists maintain that the selfless surrender of their weekends is hardly a sacrifice—the cause comes first in their hearts and social calendars. The preservation of at-risk cultural sites, keeping the bulldozers of change at bay, is far more valuable to BEARDSS members than studying or folding laundry. Re-defining what it means to be invested in a community, BEARDSS intends to continue employing its members to send a signal to any student, citizen or city official who cares to notice; they appreciate the unacknowledged DC just the way it is.

The Seven Billion Club

The United Nations Population Fund stated the world’s population reached seven billion people on Halloween of 2011. Such a milestone marks both an awesome occasion for the celebration of humankind and a chilling indicator of the global need for food, water and shelter. Despite these concerns, on November 3, NPR blogger Bill Chappell explained that many other species have reached seven billion, and are reportedly doing quite fine. For example, there are 18.6 billion chickens recorded ruffling their feathers on the face of the earth. Marine fish don’t even have a population, but we know that somewhere between eight hundred million and two billion tons of fish populate the world’s oceans. The next time you feel guilty squishing an ant, don’t fret; ten billion billion ants populate the planet (that’s not a typo—literally, ten billion billion). Humans are number nine on the list, edged out by termites, whose global tonnage outweighs the entire human population by over one hundred million tons. Let’s not forget the global bacteria population of four quadrillion quadrillion, or one trillion tons worth of microscopic organisms living everywhere around us. Perhaps, then, doomsday-ers might be well served to consider the context of the human population before condemning humanity to apocalyptic overpopulation. Instead, we should be proud of our achievement, joining the “Seven Billion Club” as one of the more (but hardly the most) populous species on the planet.

-Zac Deibel

More Money, More Problems

The proportion of graduates with debt in 2010 in Washington DC is 96 percent, according to a report called the Project on Student Debt. American University’s Class of 2010 graduated, on average, in $36,206 of debt. The national average for college students who had student loans was $25,250, which is up 5 percent from the previous year. According to the report, about two-thirds of the most recent graduating class graduated with student debt. American University intends to raise their tuition by 3.8 percent for next year, according to the 2012–2013 budget plan. Washington DC ranks number 17  nationally among students with the most debt.

-Kelcie Pegher

Global Climate Threat

After acknowledging in 2009 that global climate change poses a national security threat, the Defense Department’s science panel recently urged the CIA to reveal its classified climate research to the public, according to a recent report by The Guardian. The increase of greenhouse gasses directly influences the economic, political and social conditions of countries—particularly in the third world—within the international security purview of the US. The report even suggests creating an independent federal agency—a move that would circumvent the CIA’s cagey communication. This year’s array of abnormal weather patterns, hurricanes and drought makes the withheld CIA information especially pertinent, as scientists and university researchers continue digging for more information.

-Alex Burchfield

Red Red Wine

Despite assertions that red wine strengthens the heart, a new study suggests that drinking may be just as bad as it’s cracked up to be. In a study of 10,000 nurses, researchers found that women who drank alcohol regularly had a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who stayed sober. For women who drink every day, that means the cancer risk is about 15% greater than nondrinkers. The extra risk increased to 50% in women who averaged more than 30 drinks a week. More troubling: the risk is associated with long-term drinking habits, not drinking heavily over a few months. The study also shows no difference in risk among different kinds of alcohol. Scientists theorize that alcohol may boost the level of hormones like estrogen in the blood, which could raise the risk of cancer. There’s no evidence, however, that drinking less than three times a week had any adverse affects on breast cancer risk. So raise a glass for heart health, but not too many for breast cancer risk.

-Lori McCue

Associate Physics Professor Nate Harshman is a theoretical physicist who focuses on particle physics and quantum information theory. He has published over 20 articles in scientific journals, has written for the Chicago Tribune, and has appeared on the Discovery Channel for a segment on science in pop culture.
Harshman sat down with AWOL writer Ean Marshall to talk about Google searches, Scrabble tournaments and quantum physics.

What first made you interested in theoretical physics?

I first fell in love with physics when I was five years old, and I saw the television program “The Cosmos” by Carl Sagan. It was a PBS documentary series, and it talked about the universe, relativity,  quantum mechanics and evolution—all sorts of science. But in particular, there was a section on twin paradoxes, which is a problem in modern physics. Even though I didn’t understand it, and actually I didn’t really understand it until I was in college, I was hooked in that when you do physics, it transforms the way you see the world. And what I really liked about physics was that based on these assumptions, since I do mathematical physics, you can say that this is a true answer. That’s not easy to do in most disciplines, where you can precisely define a problem and say the true and false of it.

What is entanglement in terms of quantum physics?

It’s a special way in which a whole system can contain more information than the parts. In classical mechanics, if you have a system, the different parts of that system may be correlated: if you measure widget A, you may learn about widget B, if you make measurements of the different parts of the same system. In quantum mechanics, those different parts of the system may share information that cannot be explained; there’s just too much information for classical physics to explain. Typically, we talk about this in the context of different atoms being entangled. This really means that if you have an atom on one side of a river and an atom on the other side of a river, and you’re making measurements on one atom, that atom has an effect on the atom on the other side of the river. The only way this works is that sometime in the past the atoms interacted with each other. So even though they are spatially separated, they share the same quantum state. Since they have the same quantum state, they have quantum correlations, or entanglement, and by measuring them with classical physics measurement, it seems very paradoxical.

Any biological or physical applications of this concept?

There’s a debate right now whether we need entanglement and quantum correlation to explain photosynthesis, because photosynthesis is a remarkably efficient process for converting light into chemical potential energy. Can we understand that energy without the use of quantum mechanics? In terms of physical applications, one of the reasons people study this is that they’re hoping to make a new generation of information processing devices. For example, people talk about quantum computers, which solve certain kinds of problems regular computers can’t do; they’re called hard problems. For example, the way we encrypt financial transactions over the Internet is using something called RSA encryption, which is based on the fact that it’s really hard to write a computer program to factor large numbers into primes. If you have a big enough number, like a number with hundred digits, the computer can’t figure out its prime factors. It just takes too long. So you can use a code system based on secret knowledge of prime numbers of these big things. If you had a quantum computer, which could exploit quantum coherence and quantum entanglement, then it could factor these numbers exponentially faster. People also want to build quantum computers because you can do a more precise simulation of quantum mechanics, and there are many quantum mechanical systems. Every single computer is built on transistors that were designed using quantum theories. So if we can model quantum mechanics better, we can make better materials.

How long do you think we have until this becomes a reality?

Quantum computers have been fifteen years in the future for the last fifteen years, so there has been progress, but progress hasn’t been as fast as people expected. Now there’s been recent progress on things like quantum sensors, where you use entanglement to make precise measurements. But the biggest quantum computers are still not big enough to really solve problems. The system has to be isolated from its environment, but you still have to control the interactions externally; then you want the computers to have a bunch more quantum systems, because the more atoms and electrons there are, the more efficient they will be. So you’re trying to make it big but isolated, yet still able to control it. There are about seven or eight competing systems, and the computer is not sure which one will solve the problem first.

Are Microsoft and Apple investing a little bit in these technologies?

Well, Apple has at least one quantum project. IBM has a history of funding this kind of stuff. There was recently an article by someone who said that if you had a quantum computer, you could speed Google’s search algorithm, so Google is certainly paying attention.

So the search engine would be even faster and more precise?

Yeah, you could do a Google search with better precision and at a much faster time.

What made you come to AU?

I’ve been here since 2003. Before this I was at Rice, where I had a temporary job. I applied to 50 jobs, and I got the one at AU. I’m very happy. DC is a great place to be. AU is a research university, but has a great liberal arts department and great professors.

Is there any way AU could improve the representation of the physics department?

Yeah, definitely. They’ve improved a lot the past few years. We have a new building, even though it’s the Sports Center Annex, it means new facilities for us, and that feels nice. I think what we need to do is get more students. We need more professors, and to get more students, we need to get more people, more applicants in the sciences and raise the profiles of sciences on AU’s campus.

I read on your personal profile about the Scrabble Tournaments. So what were some of the winning words?

Oh, well. It’s so hard to go back. I actually have records of them all.  I haven’t played in tournaments since 2001. I figured out that I could be a good physicist, a good husband, and a good Scrabble player, but I could only do two out of three, and so I chose husband and Scrabble player. So in this particular game, my words are not particularly good, not a bingo. A bingo is when you have a pile. Oh I had two, ‘sliming’ and ‘tilting,’ those aren’t very good. But they’re worth a lot of points. That word was worth 72. The key in Scrabble is to play bingos, you want to play all tiles at once, because you get a 50 point bonus. If you want to do well, you have to know all the two-letter words and three-letter words. There are about 96 two letter words and three hundred and some three letter words. You need to know all of the j, q, x, z and k words up to four letters. And then you need to know the bingo words. The way I would study it is, for example, if you have the six letters ‘tirade,’ and if you have anything from this sentence: ‘Angry talk by PMS hag,’ any letter from there and you add ‘tirade,’ and you have a seven-letter word. I didn’t make up that particular mnemonic device—that was not a very flattering one.

So there’s actually a mathematical component to this linguistic game.

Oh yeah, absolutely. It’s all about finding patterns. Here’s another one: ‘bizzess’ is an acceptable Scrabble word.

MOCK TRIAL: WHAT IS IT?

Do you know what it’s like to dedicate your life to the preparation of a trial over an incident that both sides know never happened? Well, there’s an activity on campus where exactly this takes place: Mock Trial. AU managed to field an unprecedented three teams of people who sacrificed many sleepless nights to the committed head coach, Professor Jessica Waters. The case this year was a civil case in which Andy Davis sued Happyland Toy Company for making a toy laced with GHB that his child swallowed. Each of the three teams prepared for a role as both the plaintiff and defense, and faced pitched battles in the courtroom over minute intricacies of the case. After months of practice, each team went to a regional competition where every team placed higher than any AU team in history. Our B team managed to rank high enough to go on to the Opening Round Championship Series, an accomplishment never before achieved by AU’s Mock Trial Team. After two intense days over the March 19 weekend, AU’s lawyers-in-training placed 24th and are now armed with the experience to beat next years’ competition and make a solid run at the national title.

– Matthias McCoy-Thompson

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR BURMA

Kirk Acevedo is not your average AU senior. While most in his class are planning to get a job in the sector of their choice, Acevedo will trek 450 miles through Burma. Starting on Oct 15, 2011, Acevedo will walk from Mandalay to Rangoon, a trip that will take one month. Acevedo has dedicated the past few years of his life to Burma, and he is committed to making a statement for education in the country.
In conjunction with his walk, Acevedo has started Scholarships for Burma, a non-profit organization through the Human Rights Action Center. He aims to raise $26,220 to provide college tuition for Ying Kawn Tai, a Burmese refugee who wishes to return to Burma as a teacher.
Burma is a country that has suffered under dictatorial rule for decades, and by helping Acevedo help Ying, we can begin to make Burma a better place for all of its citizens. Scholarships for Burma is seeking donations large and small. But the best thing you can give us is your vocal support. Tell your friends about this campaign.
At upcoming events hosted by Scholarships for Burma, we will be selling posters designed by Shepard Fairey (the man who brought you Obama’s HOPE posters and the OBEY Giant) of famous Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi for only $10. All proceeds go toward sending Ying to college and bringing Burma one step closer to freedom. More information about Scholarships for Burma can be found at www.scholarshipsforburma.com. Please like us on Facebook by searching Scholarships for Burma and follow us on Twitter @S4B2011.

– Zachary Cohen

NEW CLUB ALERT: AU POR COLOMBIA

AU PorColombia is a new student organization whose overall goal is to shine a positive light on the beautiful country of Colombia. We want to raise awareness of the situation in Colombia, both positive and negative aspects alike, through academic, cultural and social events. In raising awareness, PorColombia seeks to break stereotypes and to share with both the AU and DC communities the diversity of Colombia. One of our many goals is to create and support networking activities with substantial involvement on academic, social, cultural and philanthropic activities. We aim to educate and raise awareness of present and future opportunities to build from abroad a stronger, safer and more dynamic Colombia. We hope to see you at our future events and meetings!

– Cassie Morgan

RUDE MECHANICALS SEASON WRAP-UP

Rude Mechanicals has had a very strong 2010-2011 season. The season launched with Just the Two of Us: Shakespeare’s Best Pairs, the Rude Mechanicals’ variety show bringing together six scenes that highlight the relationships between some of the Bard’s most famous duos. E-Board Technical Director Becky Mezzanotte then directed The Maltese Bodkin, a thrilling modern Shakespearean adaptation that combined the film noir style à la Maltese Falcon with Shakespeare’s characters. Director Shannon Schenk brought together the annual winter show right before winter break. This year’s holiday play was Almost, Maine, a cute collection of loosely connected vignettes that provided a little insight into the heart of a small area in Maine too unorganized to incorporate itself into an actual town, hence the name “Almost.” Spring semester started with a bang with Rude Mechanicals’ only full Shakespeare play of the season. Director Eliza Bertrand set her rendition of Twelfth Night in 1950s America in order to play with ideas of gender roles and expectations during an era that finally began addressing such taboo topics. And finally, as the grand finale of the season, David Marshall Bradshaw will be presenting his interpretation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This postmodern play follows the two minor courtiers in Hamlet, of whom nothing is heard after their very downplayed deaths, announced in the eponymous title of this play. This finale of the Rude Mechanicals’ 2010-2011 season will be performed in Kreeger Recital Hall on April 14, 15 and 16 at 9 p.m. with an additional matinee show at 2 p.m. on April 16.

– Medha Marsten

UP ALL NIGHT: AU RELAY FOR LIFE

The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life is an inspiring event during which communities unite for a common goal: to find a cure for cancer. The events are held at high schools, colleges and other community locations and are between 12 and 24 hours long. At AU, the annual event is from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. in Bender Arena, and students stay up all night enjoying music, activities and friends, with at least one representative from each team walking the track the entire night. Why? Because cancer never sleeps, and so for one night, neither do we. It is a reminder that people who battle cancer do so 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is for these strong people that we relay. Although filled with constant music and activities, the night is centered around celebration, remembrance and the desire to fight back. The evening progresses from a “survivor lap,” celebrating the victories of all cancer survivors, to a powerful luminaria ceremony, when participants take silent laps and remember those lost to cancer, to a final closing ceremony, reflecting our hope to inspire people to continue the fight against cancer. This year marked the third annual AU Relay For Life, which continues to grow each year. Over 700 students and community members united with a common hope in this truly inspiring event. Although there were many different reasons to be at the event, on Relay night, this campus came together to make a huge difference in one of the most important fights of our generation.
“Imagine a world with more birthdays. We’re making it happen.”

– Corinne Abolafia

ANONYMOUS MAKES A NAME FOR ITSELF

For members of a group that has adopted the moniker “Anonymous,” the world’s most powerful computer hackers have certainly taken on a higher profile role lately. Regarded as nothing more than a bunch of Internet pranksters until recently, a series of high-profile hacktivist attacks and public statements forced many pundits to take the group seriously. When MasterCard, Visa and PayPal ceased donation transactions to WikiLeaks, Anonymous briefly took down their websites and services in retribution. To show solidarity during the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, the websites of said governments were the frequent targets of attacks. Then a cyber-security firm claimed to have identified the leaders of the group, but Anonymous responded swiftly and harshly. The firm and employees’ internal emails, confidential information and financial data were all publicized and sabotaged, prompting some employees of the company to go into hiding. More recently, Anonymous published confidential data from Bank of America detailing their efforts to stop WikiLeaks and Anonymous from releasing information about the company. Much is unclear about Anonymous, except that they are stepping into the political arena, and the use of the Internet as a tool of free expression and organization is central to their fight. As their recently published manifesto says, “Information is Power. Share the Power of the Information with other like-minded individuals. The more people we represent, the more Power we have, both as individuals and as Anonymous.”  – Mike Lally

GOOGLE GOES TOO FAR?

The process of writing a research paper in college has been revolutionized with the advent of the Internet. While college students of previous generations would have pored over physical books for hours, it is possible today to conduct almost any research without leaving a computer. Google has recognized this trend as potential profit — they’ve uploaded fifteen million books onto GoogleBooks, an eBook database first launched in 2005. The Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers sued Google almost immediately after GoogleBooks was launched, claiming that Google’s “digitalization of books” would infringe countless copyright laws, according to NPR. Google eventually settled with the Guild, offering $125 million for rights to continue building a digital, online library while providing a cut of the money to copyright holders. Following the settlement, however, New York Circuit Judge Denny Chin stated that the settlement would “simply go too far,” affording Google a sizeable competitive advantage. Chin cited no specific infringement, indicating instead that, in general, the settlement condoned Google’s “wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission” and could potentially damage many copyright agreements. Google has said it will work toward a different settlement with the Guild, one that will be accepted by the federal court system and will prevent the issue from going to trial. – Zac Deibel

WORLD’S SMARTEST DOG

A psychologist in South Carolina and his border collie, Chaser, are pushing the limits of the possible, as they continue to expand the dog’s lexicon and syntax. The dog’s owner, John Pilley, began giving her new toys in 2004, and would name each one. Years later, when Chaser had learned over 1,000 names of different toys, Pilley moved on to more complicated grammar. He taught her three verbs (paw, nose and take), and demonstrated that when given a command to act on a certain toy, she succeeded. Chaser also learned three common nouns (“ball,” “toy” and “Frisbee”) and was able to differentiate between the command to bring back a ball, toy or Frisbee from a collection of many toys and non-toys. Her success in attributing multiple names (i.e. “toy,” “ball” and whatever name for each specific ball) to individual objects is only overshadowed by her ability to logically deduce the names of unknown toys through the process of elimination. This calls not only for a re-thinking of the mental capabilities of dogs, but of all animals. Perhaps our perception of their intelligence has been hindered by our own inabilities to come up with innovative ways to communicate with other four-footed, feathered or finned friends. -John Bly

MLK MEMORIAL

A new memorial dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is being constructed on the National Mall. The memorial will be located near the Tidal Basin, directly between the Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson memorials. The final dedication of the memorial, set to take place in August, will come more than 40 years after Alpha Phi Alpha, King’s fraternity at Boston University, proposed the idea following his assassination in 1968. Ever since Congress and President Clinton authorized Alpha Phi Alpha to build the monument in 1998, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial Foundation has faced a great deal of red tape. Many protested the foundation’s choice of sculptor, Lei Yixin, from China, on the grounds that an American should be selected for the job and because of China’s poor human rights record. Furthermore, in order for the foundation to use his name, likeness and writings in the memorial, King’s family requested that royalties be paid to the King Center, the group dedicated to the advancement of Dr. King’s legacy. Despite these concerns, over $110 million has been raised by the foundation, as it works to preserve King’s legacy in our nation’s capital. -Ethan Miller

If the rumors are true, AU students graduate having survived at least one year of laxative-laced cafeteria food served by drug-addled ex-convicts. Scott Krajna, a sophomore, told us that federal law requires cafeterias serving over 5,000 people to add laxatives to check the risk of food poisoning. And not just laxatives. Baby laxatives. Of the rumor, Tariq Coles, a freshman, said, “I have reason to believe it.” For the record, there is no such law and Bon Appétit denied the rumor.

Does Bon Appétit employ ex-convicts? Workers I interviewed acknowledged that there are some with a criminal past, but temporary and full-time employees submit to a background check. The persistence of that rumor speaks to a serious divide between Bon Appétit workers and the students they serve every day.

In an attempt to bridge that divide, I spoke to three Bon Appétit workers about their jobs, ambitions and gripes.

Ana Carolina Ebanks Rodriguez

In her native Honduras, Rodriguez was a public defender for the national government. For 12 years, she defended the accused until, in 2003, gang members threatened her and her family. She fled to Miami and, fearing for her life, ultimately sought political asylum in the US. Before she started at Bon Appétit, she spent two years working as a housekeeper for  a family in Potomac, MD. When she asked for a day off, she was fired.

Through a Honduran friend, Rodriguez found a job at Salsa, where she makes about $16,000 in a seven month session. With help from Cristina Rodriguez, an AU student she met through the CLASE program, she is gradually improving her English. She hopes to take an English equivalency exam on her way to pursuing a law degree.

Rodriguez lives with her seven year-old son in Maryland.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Lewis works in the back, washing pots and pans, but his attitude is up front. “I know all the basketball teams, volleyball teams, everybody knows me,” he said. Lewis gets close to students partly as a survival instinct. “A student can email and you get fired the next day,” he said, “but I’m good with all the students. I know their parents, their friends.”

Three years ago, Lewis signed on with a temp agency, which is how most Bon Appétit employees start. Lewis pointed out that the workers in red are full-time while those in white are temps. Full-time seniority means priority when it comes to picking a job with Bon Appétit. TDR workers choose new positions every year, with different pay rates and responsibilities attached.

Walter

The self-proclaimed “best player in the game,” Walter has been a sort of union representative for the temporary workers at Bon Appétit since 2008. Walter said he enjoys good relationships with full-time workers and management of the company, but complained that permanent workers look down on temps. He admits that many temps last only a few days, here for the “free check.” Walter wants to help Bon Appétit improve their temp training classes.

Distanced politeness dominates the student-worker interaction. Neither party asks for a deeper relationship. Sure, students often complain that Tavern workers are cranky and workers sometimes feel that students are ungrateful. But for the most part, everything clicks along smoothly.

There is potential for more. For a university striving for diversity, it doesn’t make sense to ignore the food service employees who interact with every student, every day. Starting conversations with people who seem invisible most of the time will build mutual respect and improve a currently lukewarm relationship.

Photo by Colin Crane.

Want to see a woman who changes how feminists think and act? Meet Iris Krasnow, a professor at AU for the past 23 years. Her first book, Surrendering to Motherhood, described Krasnow’s decision to end her career as a national features writer at United Press International in order to spend time with her children at home and continue as a freelance writer. Krasnow has published four books, and has a fifth coming out in October. The scope of her work is broad: she’s interviewed Yoko Ono, Queen Noor of Jordan, Ted Kennedy and Billy Graham, among others.

AWOL’s Kelcie Pegher sat down with Krasnow as she frantically spoke about journalism, what it means to be a feminist and snacking with Queen Noor.

So how did you become a professor at AU?

When I was a national features writer for United Press International, I sat on an airplane next to an AU professor — John Doolittle. Louis Farrakhan was on our plane, and I went and talked to him. I met John Doolittle and he said, ‘What do you do?’ And I replied, ‘Oh, I’m a journalist,’ because I brought back all this information about these people; I’m just trained as a journalist — you just go up to people. So he said, ‘You have to come speak to my journalism class.’  That was in 1985 — so by 1988 I was teaching here as an adjunct. From 1988 to 1994 I taught almost every class you can imagine for SOC undergrads. My favorite, obviously, was feature article writing, so I started teaching feature article writing in 1994 and I kind of never left. In 1994 I became the academic director of Washington Journalism Semester and have been at that ever since.

What is Washington Journalism Semester?

It’s the oldest experiential learning program in the country. Students from all over the world come to Washington for one semester from their home schools to be immersed in journalism by me. I have students this semester from Korea, Germany, from France, from South America and about twenty other schools in this country.

Many of your books focus on the idea of “psycho journalism.” What does that mean?

After all the stories I’ve heard about relationships, I joke — but I’m very serious — that I’ve gone psycho from all these crazy stories. But early on in my journalism career, when I was at UPI, and even before that when I was at the Dallas Times Herald, I was always really fascinated by trends. Like tattooing, dating, monogamy is in, monogamy is out, speed dating. So I just started writing about relationships and started writing for the Washington Post regularly and I got such a great response from the Washington Post that those stories really turned into my books.
I’m just really interested in relationships. When you get to the heart of people, it’s not about the fact that they’re lawyers or doctors. It’s about who they really are. I think that’s what I love about journalism: the ability to really excavate and get to the heart of the human spirit.

What makes a good story?

The best journalism — and this is not going to change, no matter how the newspaper industry keeps evolving — is when you tell a story that is riveting and truthful and heartfelt. And that’s the heart of our field, and that’s why I really love to teach budding journalists. All you’re giving them is permission to be curious, painfully aware of what’s going on in the world — to be bold, to be adventurous, to be honest and to really live a life on the edge, and that’s sometimes where you want to be.

Your first non-fiction book, Surrendering to Motherhood, prompted a lot of criticism among the feminist community. How has that affected your writing?

Well, the truth about controversy is it’s a wonderful thing. I mean, I was accused of abandoning feminism. I shared a podium with Betty Friedan here at AU and we had a very testy exchange, and she said something to me about setting the women’s movement back 50 years. The core of Surrendering to Motherhood is that when we as liberated, smart, professional women make the choice to have children, then we can choose to stay home for a few years and raise those children and still not be abandoning feminism.

So for me to get a lot of feminist critique was good because it caused all the journalists to want to write about it. And also it really gave me an opportunity to get my point across, which is: I’m a committed feminist and I am to this day. When I was staying home with those four little children, I also kept a finger on the artery of my life. I wrote books, and I didn’t, like, abandon my career and bake cookies. But if I had abandoned my career and baked cookies for three or four years, the core principle of feminism is not to look to society to define you. It’s about an independent choice defined by your own self and soul that makes you feel powerful as a woman.

What have you found to be the secret to your success as a journalist?

There are really only two questions in life. Here’s the deal: do you want more money or do you want more time? And for me I always wanted more time. Really the root of my success is a strong support system of family. Family is however you define family — it might be a structure of best friends or it might be a warm and loving community from your university — but the most successful people come from a really solid anchor and core of support and love.

Do you think you would be equally successful without that family structure?

My family has been the core of my writing. You know, I’m interested in a lot of things. I’m interested in empowering women, and I think one of the secrets of empowering women is to have work you love and people you love. Motherhood — for me at least — has been the most empowering. And teaching. Being able to give people this self-knowledge and self-esteem to go, ‘Wow! I can do journalism!’

What’s the difference between journalism 30 years ago and journalism today?

Well, my Twitter-freak, social networking friends are going to shoot me, but I feel that the core tenets of journalism are not going to change: tell the truth, the truth takes time, ask great questions and listen hard for the answers. Be skeptical, be curious, be accurate, be responsible, be passionate. And know the worst thing you can be in journalism is wrong.

How have you found writing about trending topics and relationships is different than daily journalism?

I’ve done it all — I’ve written daily beat, I’ve covered plane crashes, drug busts. But I think what’s different is I get to think about not what people are doing but why people are doing it. I’m not a five W’s, ‘Who, what, when, where, why,’ type of person. I’m a ‘Who, what, when, where, why, and who the hell are you?’

What is your favorite interview as a journalist?

I will always think of Queen Noor and sitting in the palace of Amman, and she was pregnant with her fourth child. Her husband was with Yassar Arafat in the next room and she didn’t like him at all. The King of Jordan was having a really important political conversation 12 feet from us and I was sitting with the Queen of Jordan, our feet tucked underneath our tushes, drinking orange juice from silver goblets and eating almonds. I was talking to her about where she shopped and how she feels about motherhood and how she sometimes flies in McDonald’s for the kids and I remember thinking ‘Wow, I just can’t believe this is my job. I can’t believe I do this for a living.’ Some people sit on their butts and do legal briefs. I’m not knocking their professions, but I’d rather be drinking orange juice with the Queen.

Tell me about your next book.

I have a fifth book coming out in October from Penguin Books called The Secret Lives of Wives. I interviewed 200 women across the country over the course of two years who had been married anywhere from 15 to 70 years and asked them, ‘What does it take to be married?’ Some of them revert to naughty behavior, but most of them were like ‘You need these five things to be married.’

Photo by Ashley Dejean.

SCORE ONE FOR FOOD SAFETY

You may remember the salmonella outbreak from alfalfa sprouts in December—or you may not. The bacterial infection struck 94 people in 16 different states. In response, the FDA Food and Safety Modernization Act, a bill two years in the making, finally passed in December. The bi-partisan bill will improve the prevention of food contamination, allow the FDA to issue food recalls when a company fails to do so, require grocery stores to state if they have sold food that was recalled and improve disease surveillance to find outbreaks faster. This is the first piece of US food safety legislation to be passed in 70 years, and it’s much needed. Last year, 76 million Americans suffered from preventable food-borne illnesses. According to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, “Preventing food-borne illness is a core public health principle that is especially critical in an increasingly complex and globalized world.”

Kelcie Pegher

VACCINE RUMORS PERSIST

Eighteen percent of Americans believe that a childhood vaccine may cause autism, according to a recent poll by Harris Interactive/HealthDay. Another 30 percent of Americans are uncertain, despite a dearth of scientific evidence to support the claim. In 1998 a study published in The Lancet, a respected British medical journal, made a casual assertion that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. A public health scare ensued. Andrew Wakefield, the British gastroenterologist who conducted the study, denies allegations that he intentionally manipulated the data to reflect these findings. But after numerous studies failed to confirm the findings, The Lancet fully retracted the study in February 2010, and Wakefield lost his medical license. In the meantime, a decade of media coverage and celebrity endorsement lending weight to the claims (looking at you, Oprah and Jenny McCarthy) have perpetuated public belief in the myth, resulting in a decline in vaccination rates and, unsurprisingly, new cases of mumps and measles, diseases that had been all but eradicated.

Amberley Romo

BEE AWARE

An inexplicable phenomenon called colony collapse disorder began affecting bee colonies in the US in 2006, causing whole colonies to leave their hives and disappear. Scientists and beekeepers alike had no idea what was causing the rapid decline in bee populations around the country. Last October, The New York Times cited a recent study that claimed to have solved the mystery; apparently, a fungus and virus were infesting hives in tandem, causing a variety of strange behaviors in the bees, and likely their death. Yet the article failed to mention that the lead researcher received a large grant from the agrochemical company Bayer, which has been accused of producing insecticides harmful to beneficial pollinators like bees. Independent studies have found large varieties of synthetic agrochemicals — much like those produced by Bayer — in the abandoned hives of collapsed colonies. These may be disrupting the normal functioning of colonies. Since bees are responsible for pollinating billions of dollars worth of crops in the US alone, beekeepers and researchers are looking to the EPA to seriously regulate the production and use of pesticides in order to keep ourselves, our bees and our economy healthy.

John Bly

TRAINING TERRORISTS

US diplomatic cables disclosed by whistleblower organization Wikileaks revealed that the US and United Kingdom support the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Bangladesh, an agency condemned by human rights organizations as “a government death squad.” The human rights record of the group restricted the US and UK from aiding or providing training to the RAB in 2008. The cables, however, detail the UK breaking these restrictions nine months later without any investigation into past violations or recent improvements. The US Ambassador to Bangladesh describes RAB — which is alleged to have carried out at least 1,000 extrajudicial killings — as “the country’s premier counter-terrorism force…the enforcement organization best positioned to one day become a Bangladeshi version of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The RAB, however, seems more like a force of state terrorism than anything else, instilling fear into the Bangleshi people who come across them.

Ashley Dejean

]]> http://www.awolau.org/2011/02/15/awol-newswire-february-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.awolau.org/2011/02/15/an-immigrants-recipe-for-success-julias-empanadas/ http://www.awolau.org/2011/02/15/an-immigrants-recipe-for-success-julias-empanadas/#comments Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:00:43 +0000 Alexandra Gordon http://www.awolau.org/?p=1758 Julia Hohman sits in her ornate Adams Morgan apartment. Pictures of her family hang from the walls. Sounds of playing toddlers echo from the back of the unit and a patio table sits on the front porch. While there may not be a white picket fence, Hohman has achieved her American dream, the prosperity sought by legions of immigrants to the US.

Julia’s Empanadas, Hohman’s popular restaurant chain, has supported her and her family since its opening 17 years ago. On any given Saturday night, the small shop in Dupont Circle is packed with hungry and eager customers. Hohman, who emigrated from Chile in 1971, has worked hard to achieve the comfortable life she has today.

“I am what you call here, a workaholic,” Hohman said. She has put in years of 80-hour work weeks. “I think if you’re a hard worker no matter what, you’re going to make it. Some people don’t want to make it.”

Unfortunately, Hohman’s remarkable story belies the tales of millions of other Latin American immigrants. With the worst US economy in decades, The New York Times has reported several anecdotal stories of reverse migration—immigrants returning to their home countries.

While Hohman’s life has meandered through plenty of hard times and struggles, her love for cooking has always been a constant and the key to her success.

“I always liked to cook,” Hohman said. “Even when I was 10 or 11 years old, my mother was sick and I used to cook for her.”

Hohman’s parents both died when she was young, leaving her to care for her younger sister and brother. In 1971, she decided to travel to the US for a few months to look for work. Those few months turned into a lifetime when Hohman’s sister called from Chile, advising her not to return because of political uncertainty. President Salvador Allende had become the first elected Marxist head of state in the western hemisphere, creating a chaotic atmosphere and, according to Hohman, a lack of opportunities back home.

Feeling a greater sense of urgency, Hohman was able to learn English quickly by always carrying around a dictionary. This — along with English classes from Chilean grade school — made adapting much easier. Hohman was soon able to find a job in a hotel restaurant in Silver Spring, where she lived for six years.

“The chef was teaching me preparation for a buffet, and banquet preparation,” she said. “That’s how I started learning.”

While working in Silver Spring, Hohman was introduced to the man who would become her husband and Julia’s Empanadas co-owner, William Hohman.

“It was like a blind date,” said Hohman. “My friend asked me if I had a boyfriend, and I said ‘boyfriend?’ I didn’t even remember what that was. I was working 80 hours a week, so I seldom had a chance to meet anyone. And my friends, I lost them. I never went anywhere, only work.”

Years later, Hohman and her husband opened Julia’s Empanadas, which eventually grew into a chain of four restaurants. Hohman was working at another hotel when the restaurant started up and traveled to Julia’s Empanadas late at night to chop up onions and other ingredients for the empanadas. Now the restaurant has electric machines, a bigger staff and produces over 5,000 empanadas a day. Hohman’s success story has even reached two of Chile’s major newspapers, El Mercurio and La Tercera.

Hohman’s success distinguishes her from the many immigrants in the US who struggle to make ends meet. For immigrants lucky enough to have migrated through legal channels, there’s some structural support that may help. Bryan Griffith, spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies, explains that documented immigrants now have the support of a social safety net, unlike the great wave of immigrants who came from Europe in the early 1900s.

“The answer for immigrants back then was: be successful, or go home,” Griffith said.

But the success of immigrants in the US is now highly dependent on education level, according to Amy Oliver, a philosophy professor at AU who specializes in Latin American thought. “For skilled and educated immigrants, I think success is as attainable or more so than it was 30 years ago,” Oliver said. “Unskilled immigrants have always had a more difficult experience, perhaps more so now because of the economic recession.”

Hohman maintains that her success did not happen by chance. Rather, it resulted from her sheer determination. “A lot of people say I’m lucky,” she said. “But I worked hard. I continue to work hard. I haven’t taken a vacation in 20 years.”

Photo by Amberley Romo