Discussion of the Civil Rights Era Leads to Life Lessons about Being a Hero 

Courageous men and women from the Civil Rights Movement were the main focus of the series, “Life of the Mind: What is a Hero?”

On Feb. 29, a group of panelists discussed the concept of heroism and the panel included John Hayes, assistant professor of history, Roscoe Williams, former dean of students, Grady Abrams, former Augusta City councilman, Hodges Usry, filmmaker and Banks Pappas, filmmaker and Augusta State University graduate.

The panel and its audience discussed amongst themselves the traits of heroism and specifically what it meant during the Civil Rights Movement in Augusta, Ga., during the 1960s and 1970s.

“For some people the Civil Rights Movement is a strong living memory and for others, given that we are at a college campus and people weren’t born before 1990, this is going to seem like ancient history,” Hayes said.  “It’s hard to believe segregation was the law and not just a practice but the law of Georgia and other southern states in the 1960s, and it’s hard for younger people to believe that.”

Some of the well-known heroes talked about were Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, Rosa Parks and the students of Paine College who demonstrated at a sit-in in the 1970s.

Williams, who was the first black hired for professional purposes at Augusta State, said he was present at the time of the riots downtown and even took photographs of the aftermath.

“Wow that was 42 years ago,” Williams said.  “But there was an awful lot of discussion about the riot of 1970, and in fact, it probably dominated the panel discussion in terms of time.”

Williams said a sizeable crowd of the black community gathered on the corner of 9^th  Street and, what was then, Gweneth Street, enraged because of the unjust killing of a 16-year-old named Charles Oatman in the jailhouse.

“You can imagine what happened then… all hell broke loose, in terms of looting and burning, typical of what would happen in any riot in the city,” Williams said.

Others concluded the young boy’s death was just the catalyst for the riot to finally unfold.

“Keep in mind it did have a political component,” Williams said.  “The way I define politics is a group of people that have an interest, and they counter together around their interest and push that agenda. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not good but nevertheless, that’s their politics.”

The talk brought up stories of these well-known and not so well-known heroes of the Civil Rights

Movement, and similarly, both Hayes and Pappas said two of the men sitting in the Dome Room of Washington Hall, Grady and Williams, played a part within the Civil Rights Movement.

“Two of the men are basically heroes from the Civil Rights era, but they’re very humble so they didn’t want to say so,” Hayes said.  “Just simply them talking and sharing their experiences without calling themselves heroes (had people), especially the students, (see) their heroism as they talked about the past.”

As discussion continued about the activism of civil rights, the topic of the youth today was brought up amongst the panelists.

When asked about today’s youth, Williams explained about Martin Luther King Jr., and his experience in jail for seven days with nothing but a newspaper to write on.

“They jailed his body, but they couldn’t jail his soul,” Williams said.  “That is the outcome, I think, (should) be for the same for the young people.”

Yet, two of the panelists, Pappas and Usry, are amongst this “youth” and gave credit to the heroes and heroines of the Civil Rights Movement by filming documentaries about them in Augusta.

“Whereas, I did my research through carousing old news film and old articles, Roscoe Williams and Grady Abrams lived it,” Pappas said.  “They did their research through life experience, whereas mine was between the pages of books and carousing old news films. I definitely felt out of place and was very honored and very humbled to be speaking besides those gentlemen as a member of the panel.”

It’s a showcase of the best of the best and their bright ideas.

The 13^th Annual Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) Conference is March 21 and will be held at Augusta State University in the Jaguar Student Activities Center.

This year’s theme is “Bright Ideas,” and the conference features 45 student presenters and their faculty advisers from all colleges at Augusta State and their research projects.  The students and their faculty advisers worked together on researching topics ranging from health care costs to fish populations off the coast of Georgia to gender roles and Shakespeare.

Harry Reed, senior biology and chemistry major, researched along with his adviser Chad Stephens, assistant professor of chemistry, the synthesis of benzothiadiazine sulfone derivatives as potential HHV-6 Inhibitors.  In layman’s terms, benzothiadiazine is a chemical compound and HHV-6 is the human herpes virus six, which is found in nearly 90 percent of the population.  HHV-6 affects children in the first two years of life and is the cause of roseola, a rash and fever most infants get in the first three months of life, but a person carries the virus for life.

“It (the virus) becomes latent,” Reed said. “If you become immuno-compromised, if you need an organ transplant or you have HIV, it can be deadly.”

Reed’s research focuses on finding an anti-viral medication that will be more effective against the virus.  He said the process is complicated, and there are some medications in phase testing; however, the drugs are being tested on adults who are immune-compromised.

“Anti-virals is a game of numbers,” Reed said.  “Viruses are so small, and they replicate so much more, so there’s opportunity for natural selection. They accumulate mutations more, and they develop immunity to drugs a lot faster.  The name of the game is to have as many anti-virals as possible and cycle through them when the virus comes up.”

As Reed and Stephens wrote in their abstract for the PKP Conference, they have sent six benzothiadiazine derivatives produced to the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Leuven, Belgium for testing against HHV-6, and their research was funded in part by the HHV-6 Foundation.

The numbers game was also part of the research for two other students, but the numbers in their research pertained to health care costs and the bottom line for hospital and clinic care.

Gordon Jackson and Krutiben Zemse, post-graduate students in the Hull College of Business, along with their faculty adviser Diane Robillard, associate instructor in the College of Nursing, developed a business plan for the Greater Augusta Healthcare Network (GAHN) called EZConnect, which is a simply a model plan for GAHN to consider as part of its business operation.

According to Zemse and Jackson’s research, in 2011, 44,000 people in the Augusta, Ga., area were uninsured.  Instead of utilizing clinics for low-income or uninsured patients, most use the emergency room as an alternative, which in turn increases the medical costs for the hospital.  Zemse and Jackson incorporated into their business plan funding for staffing, advertising and managing a network within GAHN’s stakeholders, which, as they wrote in their abstract, would consist of five hospitals and seven community healthcare centers. The operation would serve patient needs with the intent of saving money for the local hospitals with a portion of the money saved being donated to the clinics.

“The goal is to turn it into a working entity,” Jackson said. “(So there is a) return on investments for hospitals when they refer chronically ill patients to a local community clinic, so they can get the on-going care if they don’t have health insurance or they’re under-insured to get treatment.  Instead of waiting until they degenerate and they’re in a lot of pain; they go to the hospital and that ends up costing the hospitals a whole lot of money. Of course, everyone else has to pay.”

As of now, as Zemse and Jackson point out in their abstract, there is no central coordinating entity to manage patient appointments and referrals to clinics, which is where EZConnect comes in.  The plan would allow for funding to pair patients with a clinic that best suits them for medical treatments and geographical locations.

“It affects the quality of care too,” Zemse said. “If we can deviate some of the patients who don’t need to go to the emergency room, they just need to have their blood pressure checked, or get some pain pills, they go to the clinic during regular hours and it would create less of a load in the ER. They can get seen sooner and the quality of care improves.”

With much emphasis placed on healthcare and its importance in society, another student chose to research a topic that recently received attention for its importance, internet access and political rights.

Richard Ledbetter, senior political science major, chose to research the effects of Internet access on political rights as part of his research methods class. As he wrote in his abstract, his study looks at the relationship between Internet access and the political rights of individuals in states. In Ledbetter’s research, states refers to countries.  His reasons for choosing Internet access and rights had to do with the Arab Spring, which were the uprisings in Arab countries in 2011.

He said he discussed the demographic makeup of Internet users, the ways in which the Internet can and has been utilized by users as a tool for political influence, and the approach of several authoritarian states toward Internet use. He looked at more than 200 countries, and his state population estimates came from the CIA World Factbook. He used the Freedom House data on political rights by state to assess the relationship between Internet access and political rights.

“China and other authoritarian states, and some of these distant terrorist organizations, like Anonymous, hacked into and did a distributed a denial of service attack on the CIA’s Webpage recently,” Ledbetter said.  “The states are attacking Websites, and they will do a distributed denial of service attack so people can’t access content, but there’s also filtering by authoritarian states where they block access.”

Ledbetter will present his research and its findings in more detail during the Poster Session of the conference from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the JSAC Ballroom.  Reed will discuss his research in Session 2 from 2-3 p.m. in the Hardy Room in the JSAC, and Jackson and Zemse will present their project during Session 7 from 3:15-4:15 p.m. in University Hall, room 170.

They put on their dancing shoes for good cause.

On March 1, Le Chat Noir hosted a Latino dance fundraiser to benefit the American Heart Association. During the evening-long event, attendees were able to participate in a salsa dance demonstration, where they could put their new salsa skills to the test afterward. The salsa lessons were provided by instructors from Superior Academy, and it was asked to instruct the class because it is one of the few locations in town that teaches social salsa, said Jason Herrera, the owner of Superior Academy.

The fundraiser was organized by Analia Loria, a junior faculty member at Georgia Health Sciences University and a team captain for the American Heart Walk. She said she planned the benefit as a way to raise money for the American Heart Association walk on March 3. For the past three months, there were a slew of fundraisers to raise money, and this event was the final one before the walk. The choice of what kind of fundraiser to have was a fairly simple one for Loria because she herself is Latino and knows a lot about the dance.

The two days before the event, Loria said she hit the pavement and went all around downtown with flyers asking for donations for the fundraiser and was able to get close to 12 donations. The donations allowed them to give every attendee a raffle ticket when they entered the establishment. Le Chat Noir was chosen because of its location to the downtown area.

“We were (looking at) several locations, like (asking) quotes for how much to rent, and we got a good deal here,” Loria said. “They were not picky about many, many things regarding details and (were) helpful. Obviously we had to negotiate what we can do, what we cannot, what they are suppose to be doing (and) what we are suppose to be doing. But it was the most accessible place that we had to deal with, so finally we decided to just (have it) here. Also because I used to come here (for) different events, I was familiar with many people, the manager, the DJ, so it was just perfect.”

The event included a disc jockey, but the night was completed by free salsa lessons taught by instructors from Superior Academy. One of the instructors was the salsa director of Superior Academy, James McIver, who said teaching the Caribbean-rooted dance at fundraisers is enjoyable.

“It’s the best thing because it allows us to share with people who ordinarily wouldn’t walk into the salsa school,” McIver said. “Being able to go into the general public and different venues and (have) different opportunities (that) give people who really are open-minded (a chance) to try something new and have a good time.”

When it comes to teaching people salsa for the first time, McIver and Herrera said it is pretty simple.

“Salsa is very easy to learn,” Herrera said. “Individuals will partner up with anybody around them and we will direct them through basic steps, basic turns (and) basic musicality. People will be dancing by the end of the first class.”

For Simone Kennard, one of the patrons in attendance and a member of Lorias’ team for the heart walk, the combining of steps and rhythm was more difficult than learning them individually. Kennard said it was a fun event, so she was happy to volunteer and participate in the salsa lesson, even though she was apprehensive at first. But despite this nervousness, she said she would pursue salsa lessons in the future and has already discussed signing up for more lessons with her husband.

Loria said there were about 65 people in attendance, and the event raised nearly $1,200.

Just as they did almost four years ago in Beijing, as part of the jaw-dropping opening ceremony for the Olympics, Ballet Folklórico de Antioquia Colombia captivated Maxwell Theatre patrons Saturday night, staging for the local community unstinted dances and inexhaustible energy.

Ballet Folklórico de Antioquia Colombia is a company of dancers, musicians and artists who work together to project expressions of Colombian folklore and promote intercultural dialogues by using dance as a common language.

The event was the overwhelmingly successful realization of a conscious effort for Hispanic associations and the Lyceum Series, promoting international culture to first Augusta, then the United States, and finally abroad.

Through snapshots of the country’s musical and dance prowess, the show brings light to the indigenous, European and African roots, cutting out the modern image of drugs and violence that has framed the South American nation.

“The stereotype people have made, is that being Colombian is equal to a problem with drugs,” said associate professor of Spanish, Pedro Hoyos-Salcedo, who came to the states in pursuit of what he termed unlimited academic resources. “They are legends that are out there. Black or false legends as we call them. I feel well represented as a Colombian when I hear of the Ballet, and the same is true for people from of all levels, whom I talk to.”

National pride does not fault the Colombian.

Contrary to their American counterparts, Colombians are usually much more aggressive conversationally, like the Valdesian punch in coffee of whose production they are second in the world. Speech patterns for natives favor a quicker rate and a more in-your-face approach, opposite the American “space bubble”, leading to something Hoyos-Salcedo called, a “choque cultural”, or a culture shock when he arrived here 20 years ago.

In Colombia, he said, believe it or not, the sun has do to a lot do with they way they carry themselves. Two seasons – wet and dry – are all Colombia gets.

“There are sidewalks everywhere, he said. “It’s not like here where no one can walk to get where they want to go. I am not saying these things are bad, they are just different from our culture.”

Even more different, and a growing field of study for linguist and sociologist alike, is the emergent subculture of “broken-Spanish” speaking Latino’s born to immigrant parents, fighting to understand their brand of the language and their roots.

In recent bilingual studies from the Penn State University Center for Language Science, researchers discovered that not only does the first language influence the second and vice versa, but also knowledge of a speaker’s ability to switch gives them more control of their linguistic environment and an advantage culturally in terms of juggling information.

This was true for another Colombian-rooted professor on campus.

Christopher Botero, assistant professor of Spanish, spent five years living in Colombia and some summers, after his parents, who gave birth to him in New York hoped that speaking the language at home and being around family in Bogota or Medellin, Colombia would help solidify any rough edges culturally or linguistically.

He was young when he traveled, reuniting with family and friends, never dipping too far into the formal school setting for his language acquisition.

It first hit home to him that the Spanish he spoke and the Colombian he was wasn’t of standard when in passing conversations many noticed something was off.

“They called me gringo,” he said. “Something that I just had to accept. Everybody has their accent, and natives pick up on it. I say something one way and they look at me and say, ‘ you are not from here.’”

Not only did native Colombians pick up his accent, but they also noticed his customs.

Once when shopping, Botero went to pay for his items with a credit card.  After the cashier had rung up the goods, she took the card and proceeded to ask for identification. Now in Colombia and in several nations worldwide, it is typical for no one to be able to purchase items with credit unless they obtain what is called a cédula, or identification card.

When the cashier told him and later the manager that there was no way they could accept his payment he said he was confused about the irrationality of the situation and why they could not just take his card.

“It was just me being my version of gringo,” he said. “Displaying yourself in that manner just isn’t very Colombian. It wasn’t trying to fight, but just to give my point.”

It wasn’t necessarily that he caused a scene with his actions either, but implied it in his body language and tone.

Back home, and in the office walled on the third floor of Allgood Hall, between colleagues, Hoyos-Salcedo and Wes Kisting, Botero, is labeled a heritage speaker, a term stuck to all Latino’s who learned Spanish from the a place outside the homeland, and a misnomer Botero isn’t necessarily proud of.

The term, he says, and its inferior connation has caused something of an attitude for Latinos. Nationwide, in the Bronx or Washington Heights, or Chicano groups in the Southwest or even locally, awareness of their culture is growing, and they are not flattered by attempts from cultural purists who say what they are is not genuine.

The easiest place to notice sprouts of amalgamation, for Botero, is linguistics, where anyone with even a fundamental knowledge of Spanish can spot terms that demonstrate the effect of cultural proximities. For instance, many Caribbean populations influenced by American culture have adopted the verb, “guachar,” meaning to watch; a clear stretch from the traditional verb, “mirar.”

These developments are not bad, contrary to purist thought, just proof of contact with other cultures, not unlike ethnic mixes in Spain among Castilian and Basque populations, and a reality that language and culture are forever changing.

Botero said growing up he thought being less accepted on either side was comical and took relief in that fact that to his American peers he wasn’t all white and to Hispanic friends he wasn’t 100 percent gringo.

For him, a Colombian family, or any other Hispanic group living in an American city, the cultural values are still different from a resident of Bogota, and what the Ballet offers still has its place.

“First, above all, to listen to Latinos and others, and have people think that our cultures are all the same is interesting,” he said. “Being Colombian, even though I’m not directly from the nation, is especially and specifically important to be aware of.  These ballets, the poetry and the music are all showing things that we cannot demonstrate well enough in our classes. They are important, but they don’t necessarily represent the communities of Latinos born in the United States.”

The continued study and honest representation, artistic or academic, of Latino culture and of historic truths in and out of Latin America is, for both professors, imperative to combating ignorance and furthering a conscious understanding of language and identity.

Hoyos-Salcedo says the growth he has seen since 2000 in the CSRA is proof Augusta is getting where it needs to be concerning Hispanics.

“Augusta is putting itself in a good place for the future,” Hoyos-Salcedo said. “Growth of Latinos here is very strong; a perfect example of what it takes to be an ample and complete representative of the culture.”

Concealed weapons may soon be allowed on college campuses if a new bill is passed.

House bill 55 proposes to change the current law, which states no one is allowed to bring a gun on any school campus whether it is an elementary school, middle school, high school or college.  The change would make it legal to bring a concealed weapon on college campuses, with the proper license, said Amanda Bryant, senator for the College of Education and sophomore political science major.

The Board of Regents urged the Student Government Association along with other college student governments in Georgia to stand with them in opposing this bill, said Barinaadaa Kara, SGA president and senior political science major.

However, there is a disagreement among the SGA about the bill, Kara said, leaving it hard to move forward with any actions.  Senators from both stances have pleaded their cases, trying to give insight on why it would be beneficial or not to have concealed weapons allowed on campuses.

“There have been too many school shootings in the news for us not to be able to protect ourselves,” Bryant said.  “People say that’s the job of the police officers, and it is to an extent, but we have personal responsibility for ourselves.”

With the proper education, classes and knowledge, Bryant added there is no reason students should not be able to protect themselves.

“You need the education,” Bryant said.  “If you wait until there is a problem, then you’ve waited too long.”

Bryant said although it may be the job of public safety to protect the student body, there is doubt the department could handle such a highly intense situation without outside help.

“I don’t believe there are enough public safety officers in a school to protect all of the students,” Bryant said.  “That’s why I think it should be our job and our responsibility to protect ourselves.”

However, the other side argued public safety does have enough officers to protect the student body and it’s the department’s obligation to do so, said JoAnna Molina, senator for the College of Education and senior psychology and professional writing major.

“We actually have no history of gun violence on our campus, so the argument of it being for the students’ protection is invalid in this situation,” Molina said.

Being able to carry a gun on campus would do more than just cause fear for the students on campus, she said.

“You are going to have a whole new demographic of the campus that, if eligible, have weapons while the other part of the campus doesn’t,” Molina said.  “It creates an atmosphere of inequality.”

Molina also argued about the influence of stress levels, hormone levels and emotions on college students and allowing students to carry guns during such an unstable age could cause more harm than good.

“As college students it’s our job to get into arguments, educated arguments and debates without fear of being hurt for it,” Molina said.

More awareness could be made with public safety and more preventative measures could be taken to ensure Public Safety is aware and ready for extreme situations.

“Assuming that violence can be solved with more violence is something that rarely works, we see it in history all the time,” Molina said. “Adding more gun fire to a situation that has gun fire isn’t going to help.”

For the student body to be able to give input on the bill, the student government must first make a stand on one side or another, Kara said.

“A lot of people are not educated enough in the topic to really make an educational decision,” Bryant said.  “It’s all based on emotion, and this is not an emotional situation.”

Eagerness to participate in the men’s golf team’s spring tournaments was met with disappointment for newcomer Maverick Antcliff.

The latest Australian addition to the Jaguars is noted for finishing second in the Greg Norman Junior Masters in 2010 and third in the 2010 Australian Junior. Antcliff has experienced difficulty with NCAA concerns regarding his Australian transcripts. Coach Kevin McPherson said if it were up to him, Antcliff would have already garnered a spot on this season’s starting lineup.

“It’s been difficult for him coming in midway through the season,” McPherson said. “Right now, things have been moving at a snail’s pace trying to get him fully cleared through the NCAA clearinghouse. I would have had him playing in San Diego (Calif.) and in Charleston (S.C.) if it weren’t for the NCAA delay.”

McPherson’s faith in Antcliff’s ability has been constantly reinforced by the Aussie’s sheer skill and grip on the game, which the coach said he witnesses on a daily basis. Arriving in Augusta from Hills International College – a well-known school with a prestigious golf academy located in Queensland, Australia – where he became a three-time all-collegiate, Antcliff said he is still in awe of his beginnings in the sport.

“When I was younger, growing up, I always wanted to go school there (at Hills),” Antcliff recalled from his youth. “It was like a premiere golf school; Jason Day and other great players went there, so I was honored to follow in their footsteps.”

McPherson said that he first heard word of the Hills International alum from one of Augusta State University’s former players, Mitchell Krywulycz, also an Australian, who met Antcliff last summer in Houston at a national camp. Antcliff was part of Australia’s national team, which was composed of the country’s top six players.

“I got the lead from Mitch, who said ‘Listen, this kid is extremely good, he’s got a lot of talent and he’s interested in coming over here to pursue his college career,’ and so that kind of got the ball rolling,” McPherson said. “From that point, I kind of took over and stayed in contact with Maverick and tried to make things work for him leading up into the spring.”

Since coming to Augusta, Antcliff said that his ball-striking – which McPherson describes as being “second-to-none” and “very impressive” – among other techniques has improved, but the freshman golfer admitted that playing on some of Augusta’s terrain will take a little getting used to.

“I see my game improving mostly by adjusting to different things around here,” Antcliff noted. “We’re constantly playing different courses, which is good. You’re not just playing one course all the time. You have to adjust and adapt to the courses you’re playing that day.”

McPherson agreed and stated that as far as Antcliff’s short game is concerned, adaptation to the local environment is key. At the moment, putting provides a challenge for Antcliff, something McPherson attributes to Augusta’s coarse variety of grasses.

“We play on a different type of green surface here,” McPherson said. “We have grain in our greens for Bermuda grass and he’s not familiar with grain. So, it’s one of those things he has to be able to adapt to, but he’s continuing to get better and better.”

Joining Antcliff and the men’s golf program in the fall is Viktor Edin, a new addition to the team from Bro, Sweden. Edin, who is poised to play in the 2012-13 season, is noted for having won the 2011 Swedish School Championship as well as the 2010 Junior Masters Invitational Tour Final in his home country.

McPherson said that after enjoying success with Swedish golfers in the past, he decided to visit the Czech Republic last summer for the European Boys’ Team Championship to see what the Swedish team had to offer. It was there that McPherson discovered Edin, who, like Augusta State’s Swedish players before him, did not fail impress the men’s golf coach.

“One of the biggest things we notice when we’re looking at some of the Swedes there is that they’ve always got their ducks in a row, so to speak,” McPherson said. “They’re very mature, they’re very good with time management, they seem do very well in the classroom and they work hard on the golf course.”

While in the Czech Republic, McPherson also met with Edin’s parents, who told the coach that Viktor’s sister, Emma Edin, was currently in the states playing for the women’s golf team at the University of Texas at El Paso.

“So he’s got some sense of what’s going on in the U.S.,” McPherson said. “Overall, he’s a very good kid with a good head on his shoulders, not to mention a great player. For me, it was just a matter of selling him on what we had here at Augusta State and how he could actually improve himself, so it was a win-win on both sides. I think he’s really excited to come here and, at the same time, we’re really excited to have him here as a freshmen in the fall.”

I’m from Utah: A fact I think is cool and unique.  It’s not every day I meet someone this far east who is from Utah, although I am certain there are many.  Often, when I read about events in the news that are happening in Utah, I take extra care.  It catches my eye because that is part of my personal and unique culture.

My friend and colleague JoBen is Hispanic.  He often writes article for the newspaper that focus on Hispanic culture and events.  I applaud him for this.  He has such a passion for these things, as he should because of the close connection with his culture and roots.

What’s my point to this?  My point is, we often embrace and focus on things with which we share a common thread.  This, I believe, is our nature as humans.  It makes sense.  On the other hand, while he and I are from different parts of the country and have diverse cultural backgrounds, we are still people with thoughts, and opinions, and likes, and dislikes for much more than just all things Hispanic and Utah.

¿Claro?

This long, narrative analogy is just a simple way of explaining it is perfectly acceptable to embrace your roots and be passionate about them, but also it’s important to look beyond to more.

I have a secret love for Hispanic culture.  I have a sympathetic heart for third-world countries.  I love Italian food, geology, train rides, wine and Star Trek. I think everyone should learn a second language and not judge others by their color, religion, creed, sex or anything that makes a person different.

Not much of that has to do with me being from Utah, maybe something, but I like to think while I do embrace my roots and will always hold a place in my heart for the “Mormon state” with all four seasons and the most beautiful snow you will ever see, I will not allow it to confine me to just that culture.  I cannot let it confine me, and neither should anyone else from Kentucky, anyone who is gay, or black or Baptist or a Democrat.

I wouldn’t vote for Mit Romney because he’s Mormon, and Mormons are traditionally from Utah.  I wouldn’t befriend a white female over a Jewish male because we are the same in color and sex. I would inform myself with all the knowledge and information I could and then make an informed decision on what is truly right or wrong.

So why don’t other share my independently obtained epiphany?

Search me.  But, my hope by writing this is that some, at least one person will be inspired to always embrace your roots and remember who you are and where you came from, but also embrace humanity and ALL it has to offer.

There is so much in the world to experience and learn. Do not close yourself off from becoming a better individual because something is foreign, different or unknown.

Hell-raiser and bad boy Johnny Cash led a paradoxical life living as the ‘man in black’ and the Christian family man.

On Feb. 28, John Hayes, assistant professor of history, presented a lecture on the ‘man in black’ and the different phases of his career. Hayes said he believes Cash lived a paradoxical life of a drug-addicted, Christian bad boy of country music that could be linked back to his native region, the American South.

Pamela Hayward, associate professor of communications and chair of the Department of Communications and Professional Writing, invited Hayes to speak at the Phi Kappa Phi Arsenal Lecture Series. Hayward said she thought Hayes’ interest in Cash would appeal to a wide variety of people and not just to people in one area of study.

“There was a breakfast to introduce new faculty to the University, and I was sitting at the same table and heard about his research area,” Hayward said.

The South’s deep rooting Christian values may have influenced the contradictory lifestyle Cash led, Hayes said.

“We have both romanticized and demonized versions of southern history,” Hayes said. “I prefer to let the contradictions stand. The South I would say, in mere echo of Flannery O’Connor, is a deeply paradoxical place, but getting back to Johnny Cash. We might ask is there any relation between Johnny Cash’s paradoxes and those of the South. Was it just coincidental that Cash, who grew up and lived (a) majority of his adult life in the South, was a visibly and contradictory figure? This talk will suggest that yes, they do.”

After raising the question of a correlation between the paradoxes of the historical South and Cash, Hayes gave a brief biography on Cash.  In 1932 Arkansas, Cash was born to a family of sharecroppers who worked fields it did not own. The Cash family struggled to acquire land, which was an ongoing struggle throughout his youth. He worked diligently in the fields picking cotton from when he was 6 until leaving the farm at 18.

“In the South during the ‘30s and ‘40s millions of people did the same,” Hayes said. “About half of them owned the land they worked. The other halves were landless.”

With such poverty, Cash and his family became strongly devoted to a religion with a Baptist and Methodist framework, Hayes said, with storytelling and song being the backbone of it.

Cash made his way out of the cotton fields by joining the Air Force.  When he returned, Cash found himself in the city of Memphis, Tenn., where his music career began. He started his first band while working as an appliance salesman and began to frequent a studio where a delivery truck driver, Elvis Presley, was also recording.

After many failed attempts in publicity, Cash found success when a local radio station began playing his first hit, “Folsom Prison Blues.” In 1956, his next song, “I Walk the Line,” was played nationally and Cash became a full-time recording artist.

During the lecture, Hayes said Cash’s music career can be separated into phases.  In the first phase, Cash was influenced by Presley and his rock and roll style, yet he moved into an older form of music known as country.  His persona was recognized as an old outlaw of the West, and he was the face of country music throughout phase one of his career.

Hayes said his popularity began to decline in the early ‘70s and started phase two of his career. Cash’s decline in popularity coincided with his newfound interest in evangelical Christianity. He performed at evangelical rallies and wrote a religious autobiography. Cash continued to record songs throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s but hits were few and far between.  Paradoxically, by the third phase of Cash’s career, the drug-addicted Christian looked exhaustedly old and withered at the age of 70, Hayes said.

The image of a train was focused on around the first and last song of Cash’s career. Hayes said he used the train imagery to take the listener to different places and would sing of the olden years from his youth. From this, Cash composed a concept album where he sang of sharecroppers and working in the fields.

During the years of Cash’s composition of these archaic pieces, the South was undergoing a shift from an agricultural society to a more industrial one. The ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s marked an era of change where machines were replacing men.

“The South, during the very decades when Cash was producing all this music, was under revolutionary, forward-looking and past-erasing changes,” Hayes said.

Cash’s response to the modernization can be linked to the traditions of the South and its resistance to change. Paradoxically, with his transformation from a sharecropper to a recording artist, Cash chose to speak out against the modernizations.

Following the end of the lecture, many students and faculty questioned about the life and music of Cash.

“I didn’t exactly know a lot about Johnny Cash before the lecture,” said Mitchell Toomey, sophomore psychology major.  “I had no idea that he played for inmates. I think it’s awesome that he appealed to such a diverse crowd as a country music artist.”

Michael Searles, assistant professor of history, dressed in all black for the occasion and went into the appealing aspects about the topic of choice.  He said Hayes presented Cash in a way that allowed people to see past the surface.

“The southern folk tradition played such an important role,” Searles said. “I was fascinated. He used visual images as well as the sound. Not only did you see images of Johnny Cash in various albums at different times in his life but also you could hear the music he was singing and what those words were saying.”

What do frustrated magnets, ancient cartography, standards-based education, technology and Johnny Cash all have in common? These are all topics from this year’s Arsenal Lecture Series hosted by Phi Kappa Phi.

Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) is an honor society at colleges across the United States. With an acceptance by invitation only for the top 10 percent of students, PKP has an outstanding reputation for excellence and initiative. Out of these honorable qualities the Arsenal Lecture Series was born, said Pamela Hayward, associate professor of communications and chair of the Department of Communications and Professional Writing.

“As an academic honors organization, PKP hosts the lecture series to highlight a wide variety of intellectual interests,” Hayward said.  “The series brings together a diverse audience that is open to learning more about a topic.”

Hayward said she has been part of PKP for the past 10 years, helping with the student research and fine arts conference, but this is her first year on the PKP board.

“As president-elect, I am responsible for planning the Arsenal Lecture Series and the A-Day Lecture,” she said.  “I also assist with meetings if the president is unavailable.”

She chose the lecturers by recommendation of department chairs, interesting qualities of the lecturer’s area of study or simply from her own knowledge of the potential lecture’s content.  Hayward said the lectures covered a wide base of controversial topics in attempt to attract a wide audience.

For more than a decade, Phi Kappa Phi has hosted the series during the fall semester, which is sometimes stretched out to cover the spring semester. This year, the lectures began in October 2011 with Trinanjan Datta, assistant professor of physics, and his lecture covering a new frontier in material science. The series closed with a lecture given by John Hayes, assistant professor of history, covering Johnny Cash.  Hayes said he was excited to speak on the mysteries and the paradoxical character of Johnny Cash in the South.

Shannon Byrd-Jones, instructor in the College of Education, said her presentation covering technology integration in the classroom was an opportunity to speak at a college lecture series. She spoke on her experience during her doctorate work in a classroom involving one laptop for every student as part of the grant “Laptop Initiative.”

This experience opened up possibilities for her to make different types of presentations, projects and assignments with the readily available technology, she said.

“Technology is the new literacy and anyone who can’t use technology efficiently (is) just as bad off as students who can’t read,” Byrd-Jones said.

Byrd-Jones said her specific area of study was special education and technology integration, but the lecture covered all types of education and technology integration in classrooms.

“The lecture series is very interesting,” Byrd-Jones said.  “It’s like the professional development that you actually want to go to.”

Edgar Johnson, associate professor of communications, lectured about his new book “What about Us?: Standards Based Education and the Dilemma of Student Subjectivity.”  In his lecture, Johnson said he discussed his views on the state of modern middle and high school public education.

“(The education system) wants to standardize the process of education so that every student is able to learn the same things … and (the University) does not allow the students a chance to foster adult responsibilities or have a certain level of autonomy,” Johnson said.

In his book and lecture, Johnson observed the different types of learners functioning in their controlled school setting. The basis of Johnson’s book consists of these observations and his thoughts on how to modify the current U.S. education system.

The final lecture in the Arsenal Lecture series was hosted by Hayes. While he had given lectures and research presentations before, he never gave one as part of a college lecture series, Hayes said. His lecture featured Johnny Cash and, in what he called, “the South’s own strange paradoxes.”  If he were asked back to the lecture series, his next lecture would be titled “Flannery O’Connor and the Christ-Haunted South”.

“Cash is a more visible figure (than O’Connor),” Hayes said.  “He lived a longer life in the public eye and is a way to talk about some of the stuff that I learned from O’Connor.”

Creating child-friendly events to promote family involvement among the homosexual community has been a point of emphasis during planning for June’s Augusta Pride week.

“It really celebrates everyone regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression,” said Augusta Pride public relations coordinator Chris Bannoochie. “So, straight people are as welcome as gay people or transgendered people.”

Those who go to the event don’t necessarily have a problem with the event as a whole or what it is supporting, and not only gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender attend, said Lynsi Morris, an Augusta Pride supporter. There are some heterosexuals who attend the event in support of their friends and family members. Some also celebrate the event together as a family and make a day of the festivities.

A growing concern with Augusta Pride viewing itself a family event is the appropriateness for children. Community members have expressed feelings that the activities and people who attend may be inappropriate for children. In past events, there have been cross-dressers, extended public displays of affection, in addition to minimal clothing worn by supporters such as backless chaps and thong underwear.

“It’s a good festival to go to if you’re open-minded about things, and embrace different cultures,” said Jessica Rogers, a junior nursing major. “Just like any other festival there is a time and point at the event where kids no longer need to be there.  This does not make it a bad event.”

Others feel there is no problem with bringing children.  Morris said it’s a good opportunity for youth to learn about different things, and it helps to introduce your child to the variety of people and lifestyles in the world.

“You can bring your kids,” said Sheena Gavlinski, 25, Augusta,Ga. “Though there are people walking around in their underwear , I feel like Pride wouldn’t be Pride if there weren’t people doing that, and you have to be willing to explain this to your kids.”

The event is intended for a broad spectrum of people, of all different ages and sexual orientation Bannoochie said.

“It’s making more people aware of what’s going on around them, as well as bringing in larger revenue,” Morris said.  “It shows that we are not out to harm other people.”

Augusta Pride has many different attractions aimed at the younger audience. There are booths with different dress-up items such as wigs and other toys. This gives the children a chance to get involved with other children and different families.

“The younger you start bringing your kids out into this environment, the better understanding they will have about the situation, as opposed to keeping them sheltered from it,” Morris said. “This could stop them from forming negative options about these sorts of events.”

Perri Gullet, 23, Waynesboro, Ga., said those who attend the event have to be aware of what they are really supporting and becoming involved with.

“Yes, you may be at a family sanctioned event, but there may be things that go on there you do not see fit for your children’s eyes,” he said. “This is something that should be taken into consideration beforehand, and people should also be aware there will be kids in attendance.”

Gullett said in comparison, the Augusta Pride event is calm compared to other cities’ events.

“Those (other cities) are much more flamboyant, and the outfits are much racier,” he said.  “Augusta’s even seems to be very low key in comparison to others out there. The community has done a great job in keeping everyone involved and reaching out into the community.”

This year will be Augusta Pride’s third year celebrating. Those planning said they hope even more people will come out to support this event and get the community more involved.