Portland Jobs Vigil

Sarah Levy

August 18, 2010

Nearly 20 un- and underemployed workers and allies demonstrated in front of Portland’s City Hall on August 18 in the first of what is to become a weekly vigil demanding living wage jobs for all and a security net that doesn’t let anyone fall through the cracks.

Organized by a coalition consisting of the Sunnyside Self Help Employment Group; the Coalition of Unemployed, Underemployed and Marginalized Workers; and Jobs with Justice, the weekly vigils are meant to raise awareness and visibility of unemployed and underemployed workers in the Portland metro area—a group that is being pushed further and further under the radar.

“Only in America can you have a full-time job, be poor, live on the streets, and have no benefits,” organizer Ted Pyle announced through a megaphone to downtown passersby.

Oregon’s unemployment rate is now officially at 10.6 percent, over one percentage point above the national average. In addition, the rate of Oregon’s unemployed has continued to increase, as opposed to Washington D.C.’s recent decline, and in the midst of a national economy that is reportedly “recovering” (though for some reason the recovery has nothing to do with jobs creation). According to the Oregon Employment Dept. and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, when those who have given up job hunting and those working less hours than desired are included, the rate jumps up to 20.6 percent, compared to 16.5 percent nationally. And of course, it’s still much worse for minorities.

“It’s not our fault that we are unemployed,” said Eleyna Fugman, one of the main organizers of the coalition. “We are looking for jobs. We want to work.” With an Ivy League degree and plenty of experience working in the non-profit sector, Fugman is among the growing ranks of a well-educated and qualified workforce finding an increasingly bleak employment outlook ahead. She hopes that the vigils will make the unemployed more visible, and make it easier to connect with other groups, such as Oregon People Activating Leaders (OPAL), which came out in solidarity and to promote an upcoming march and rally against bus service cuts.

The visibility is also part of eliminating the shame and isolation that many people feel regarding unemployment. “There should be no such thing as the ‘working poor,’” Fugman said. “A jobless recovery is like a foodless meal.”

The coalition began in summer of 2009 when a group of four un- and underemployed neighbors started having monthly meetings. George Slanina, Jr., one of the founding four, said that the group shaped their goals in the first few meetings, and then focused on organizing a support network for those in need. Until now this had mainly evolved into a monthly potluck. Slanina said he envisions having more neighborhood groups so that people don’t have to spend money to go to a meeting. The groups can then help people get by on a daily basis, as well as provide a way to organize around a larger political struggle.

“Ultimately we want to build a nation-wide movement,” said Slanina. “Like back in the 30’s. You know that slogan, ‘start local, think global.’” For outreach, the coalition has put out an Unemployment/Underemployment Survey, with the hope that people will fill one out and then contact the group and get more involved.

For now, he said, the goal is for each person who comes to one of the vigils to bring another person to the next one. “We want to get enough people here to get noticed.”

Paul Dean, a member of the coalition, said that the next step is to get the unions involved, to make sure that the city doesn’t contract out jobs while undercutting the jobs that exist.

Also outside of City Hall on Wednesday were several mainstream media representatives, though to cover a different story. They were interested in the fact that city representatives were in the midst of rushing through a deal for the wind turbine company Vestas to expand in Portland. The [now in place] deal includes a fifteen-year $8 million interest-free loan—consisting of tax-payer dollars—from the city council to the company, with the added stipulation that they create 100 jobs over five years. That’s 20 jobs a year—barely crumbs when compared to the over 220,000 Oregonians in need. Possible reasons for the secrecy and speed behind the deal could be that the company’s stock value has recently plummeted, or the fact that Vestas is widely known throughout the UK as the Danish company that last year, after soaking up government money, closed their Isle of Wight plant, laying off 700 workers (http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=18566). While this led to a worker-led occupation of the plant, it is a bad sign for Oregon, and a poor reflection on City Council that indicates at best inadequate research and at worst misguided or biased interests.

It is also a sign of the enormous corporate welfare the city is capable of, and that the money exists, just not for the people who desperately need it.

-------------------------------

The vigils are set to continue every Wednesday from noon to 1pm in front of City Hall, at least through the November elections.

(more info)--

http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/08/16/daily22.html?page=1

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=18566

http://bojack.org/2010/08/taxpayers_shell_out_millions_t.html

Cut Backs That Will Kill in Detroit

Sarah Levy

June 26, 2010

Dozens of Detroit Paramedics protested June 25 because they want to be able to come to your assistance in the case of an emergency. Raising signs that said “Save Us So We Can Save You” and “Don’t Get Injured—EMS Can’t Respond,” the Paramedic workers withstood the 90-degree heat in order to raise awareness of cuts that are about to take place that will affect the safety of Detroit as well as anyone who happens to pass through.

Alarmingly, seventy-five percent of the demonstrators had worked all night, their shifts having only ended at 7am, and they would return to another full night on the job at 7pm.

“That’s how big of an issue this is,” said paramedic of 15 years Tim Goodman.

The issue is that in less than a week the city’s Fire Commissioner, James Mack, is planning to cut 75 Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Paramedic positions from the Detroit Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division as well as cut 33 active members—a cut that would leave only 12 ambulances to cover the entire city of Detroit. As it stands, the city only has 24 ambulances available at any time, a total the paramedics say is devastatingly inadequate.

“Some people are actually dying,” said Kent Hammer, one of the paramedic workers. “This can’t go on.”

Hammer explained that the national standard for response time is four minutes—the time it takes for an untreated brain injury to leave permanent damage.

“Our response time is already over 10 minutes,” he said. “And that’s [before the cuts] with 24 ambulances.”

For reference, Detroit is larger geographically than the city of Chicago, although it is less populated. However, Chicago runs 62 paramedics at any time—almost six times more than Detroit will be left with if the fire commissioner gets his way.

One of the paramedics said he has had to drive more than 20 miles to get to a call, and that those in need are often forced to wait for over an hour.

There have already been many cuts that have hindered the ability of the workers to respond in the case of an emergency. Recently five advanced life support units were reduced to basic units, making them less effective. The basic units only include stretchers to transport people, but aren’t equipped with any of the materials to actually treat them.

Goodman said that on top of this, the city already doesn’t have a first response system in place—the system that allows the fire department to come to the scene of an emergency in most other cities before the ambulance can get there.

“Sometimes calls are backed up for four hours and we’re left showing up hours after calls,” said Hammer. “We’ve even had to take other forms of transportation.”

In illustration of the absurdly drastic nature of the situation, the police driving by the demo enthusiastically honked and shouted in support of the protesters—not a typical reaction to street-side protests.

“You know the cops are in support of us because every time they call for us, we’re not there,” said Jim Atkinson, a paramedic of 14 years.

He explained that (for example in the case of a shooting) because the police don’t want to just sit there and watch someone die, they are often forced to handle bloody bodies—something they are not trained to do.

Goodman gave an example to demonstrate the horrifying result of this lack of proper treatment.

“Even when we had 24 ambulances, there was one case—that wasn’t out of the ordinary—where there was a man in critical condition with a spinal cord injury only four blocks away from Medic 17’s quarters. Even four blocks away, we didn’t have anyone available, so the police had to put the man in their car [without any proper medical treatment or handling]. Because the man wasn’t handled properly, his spinal cord was permanently damaged. Now he will never be able to walk again. If we had been able to reach him, we could have handled him correctly and he could have been saved.”

Craig Mancini gave his own explanation for the police solidarity.

“They need us as much as we need them,” he said. “It’s the same with the firefighters. If they get hurt on the job, they want us to be there. That’s why they’re supporting us out here today.”

While a particularly ugly example, the proposed EMS cuts reflect the budget cuts that have been occurring across the nation, in everything from education to affordable housing, even as corporations and banking bandits continue to rake in obscene profits and bonuses. These upside-down priorities were clearly a source of anger among the protesters.

“Lots of administration could be cut, as well as other things that are not necessary,” said Hammer. “But instead they’re cutting the things that are essential.”

According to Goodman, the mayor put out a memo proposing cuts in administration as a way to balance the city’s budget. Goodman said that there are 19 various administrative Chiefs on duty at any time, who are paid lavishly but don’t actually do anything tangible for the citizens of Detroit.

Instead, Fire Commissioner James Mack—who is in the position to make the final decision on the issue—has disregarded the mayor’s proposal and is moving to cut the most necessary positions almost by half starting July 1^st. Although both the city council and the mayor say they are opposed to the EMS cuts, neither of them have actually done anything to stand up to Mack.

“We think there’s a deliberate misinformation campaign regarding where they want the cuts to come from,” Paramedic Jesse Rangel said. “The council proposed the cuts to areas that were not essential [but that’s not what the fire commissioner is trying to do].” Rangel said he thinks the city council is placing too much trust in the fire administration and that in return it is deliberately misleading the city administration.

Hence the paramedics took it upon themselves to profile the issue to the community and media. Rangel said the paramedic union has given presentations to various religious groups in the city as well as other community groups.

“People don’t have any clue of how bad things are,” he said.

In fact it’s hard to imagine how things could get much worse. Besides resulting in unnecessary deaths and forcing the paramedics to work insanely long hours, the cuts make it so that any time off from work is emotionally burdened with the knowledge that people are dying because not enough EMTs are on call to save them.

“The moral of the story is, when you’re in town, be careful,” said Rangel.

There is another moral to be gotten out of the story of the EMS cuts in Detroit. And that is that as long as profit is the driving force of society and carries the most weight in deciding what is necessary for a community, the lives of regular people will continue to be completely disregarded. Detroit shows that this is the case even when those profits compromise the safety of everyone—rich and poor—who could ever possibly get into an accident. And the story shows us how incredibly important it is that we organize to challenge these backward priorities.

Fire Commissioner James Mack can be reached at (313) 596-2901.

The New Face of Blackface

Sarah Levy

May 30, 2010

Following the creation of Arizona’s SB1070, the last thing the world needs is more “whitewashing” from the film industry.

In the midst of the new Arizona bill that makes being off-white a crime, Hollywood has essentially endorsed an all white America with two new films, The Last Airbender and Prince of Persia. But grassroots struggles are emerging to challenge these “whitewashing” efforts on behalf of the film industry.

Opening July 2, Paramount Pictures’ movie The Last Airbender is based on the popular children’s cartoon television series about a group of Asian and Inuit martial artists, “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” The series is noticeable for its widespread and genuine incorporation of Inuit and Korean culture, from (animated) costume design, written language, landscapes, philosophy, spirituality, and even eating utensils, with many fans (http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html) seeing it as an “evocative… re-imagining of ancient Asia.” However, when it comes to the movie adaptation, more noticeable than its feature length or use of actors instead of animation is the film’s choice of cast: dominantly white, as opposed to the ethnically Asian characters depicted in the cartoon. In fact, three of the four main characters in the movie are white—Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, and Jackson Rathbone—and while the fourth is played by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire, directors had originally wanted Jesse McCartney (white) to play the role. Patel’s character also happens to be the antagonist.

Rightfully outraged, a largely internet-based grassroots coalition (mainly consisting of fans of the TV series) has organized to challenge Hollywood’s attempt to erase the face of minorities from its screens. For starts, they are calling for a boycott of the film.

"People need to realize that recasting Asian actors as white actors is institutionalized discrimination,” said Loraine Sammy, public relations coordinator for Racebending.com—a website which has attracted over 6,000 supporters since it was formed in 2008 with the intention of spreading the boycott. (As of now, the petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/racebend/petition.html) to Protest the Unethical Casting of "The Last Airbender”, directed to the president of Paramount Film Group, has upwards of 8,500 signatures.) Sammy continued, saying it is particularly harmful to minority children who are being told that “white [i]s the norm, even in a [fantasy] world that is Asian-based." (http://pacificcitizen.org/site/details/tabid/55/selectmoduleid/373/ArticleID/287/reftab/87/Default.aspx?title=APA_Groups:_Casting_in_'The_Last_Airbender'_is_'Whitewashing')

Asian American artist Derek Kirk Kim, author or Same Difference and Other Stories, created a petition of industry professionals who plan to boycott the film. In a 2009 blog entry (http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html), Kim wrote:

What if someone made a ‘fantasy’ movie in which the entire world was built around African culture? Everyone is wearing ancient African clothes, African hats, eating traditional African food, writing in an African language, living in African homes, all encompassed in an African landscape…but everyone is white. How offensive, insulting, and disrespectful would that be toward Africans and African Americans? How much more offensive would it be if only the heroes were white and all the villains and background characters were African American?

Unfortunately, when it opens, Airbender will not stand alone in its fashion of “whitewashing”—the new term for having white actors play the roles of non-white characters. This past week saw the release of the video-game-turned-feature-film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as, fans claimed, the clearly and should-have-been Iranian main character.

Amidst the current Obama era of “colorblindness” this seems to be the new form of blackface— it’s as if Hollywood is thinking, ‘rather than have white people pretend to be other ethnicities, let’s just pretend that everyone is actually white.’ In this bipolar time when race is supposed to no longer matter (see Obama,) but you can simultaneously get pulled over for “looking illegal,” Hollywood’s blatant racism makes clear that they don’t just want viewers to look past a person’s race, but they want them to look past the non-white races entirely. As Gene Yang, author of the graphic novel American Born Chinese and National Book Award nomineed, described it, (http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html) the casting is like “a white Asian fetishist's wet dream. All the Asian culture they want, without any of the Asian people."

Luckily, the power of internet organizing makes it look like by the time the movie hits theatres, Airbender will be met with a loud voice of dissent. As Racebender.com states,

We know we cannot change the casting of The Last Airbender, but working on this project [will not be] the end of our movement. We will continue to monitor other projects in Hollywood and advocate on behalf of artists of color.

This is a pivotal moment. We can help Hollywood see that Americans care about treating everyone fairly – and about showing our children that prejudice shouldn’t profit.

Global Citizenship— Brought to You by… Apartheid?

Sarah Levy

November 13, 2009

I’m going to start off by saying that yes, I know the new Institute was paid for with specific donations for said Institute. But what I want to get at is this: while so much of our campus and the supposed ideals we aspire to revolve around being Good Global Citizens, how can we continue our business relations with, let alone prosper financially from, international atrocities?

Right now Macalester’s endowment is kept largely in hedge funds—much like mutual funds,—which the Macalester Investment Board chooses outside investors to be in charge of. Each year tuition pays for about 60% of the college’s expenditures, and money from the endowment pays for the remaining 40%. The details of the endowment are kept classified, and on top of this the complex web of people and funds we pass our money to makes it so that not even Brian Rosenberg is fully aware of the companies we are invested in. While we have a Social Responsibility Committee and the Board of Trustees is supposedly allowed to “take non-economic factors into consideration when making investment decisions,” ultimately the only instruction we give our investors—and the only one they are likely to follow—is to maximize the earnings on our money. Period.

For instance, despite seeking to avoid investments that cause “grave social harm,” right now we are invested in the S&P 500, America’s top 500 companies, indirectly through an index fund. As of September of this year, the S&P 500 included Boeing, Caterpillar, Coca Cola, Citigroup, General Electric, Halliburton, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart, all and all making it a very socially irresponsible package.

This means that while Café Mac serves Fair Trade coffee (thanks to an effort by the students of MPIRG), Macalester is simultaneously supporting and benefiting from companies such as Knight Ridder that rely on the work of slaves in the Amazon state of Para to produce their wood products. Or, while MacCARES and other student groups push to make our college and the greater community energy efficient and environmentally friendly, we are still funding and profiting from the oil and coal giants who are deterring global efforts against climate change.

But besides the distressing hypocrisy of the issue, why does any of this matter?

Divestment from corporations we don’t want to be invested in is often seen as dogmatic—a way to put weight behind the principles we stand for as a school.

However, divestment can and has also been used successfully as a direct tactic to stop injustices around the world, most famously being South African Apartheid which was finally ended after a widespread campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) that involved many campuses across the U.S.

Which brings us to the situation today.

In 2005 Palestinians put out a call for “boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.” They call for Israel to 1.) End its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; 2.) Recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and 3.) Respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

It is precisely that the BDS movement comes from within Palestinian civil society that makes it so powerful and effective, and the fact that we are in the U.S. makes it all the more important to respond to the call. Each year the U.S. gives Israel $3 billion in the form of both military and economic aid, which is crucial to continuing its policy of territorial expansion and repression of Palestinians. Being in this economically dependent relationship with the U.S. necessarily makes Israel’s actions far more accountable to the international community—and thus makes divestment a crucial tactic—more so than with places like Sudan.

Yet as long as we are invested in companies such as Caterpillar, Motorolla, General Electric, and ITT Corp, (to name a few), Macalester College is indirectly supporting Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian people. (For more information, check out http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.php) And with our endowment assembled the way it is, we are essentially making the statement that although we may say we stand for Higher Global Social Principles, when it comes down to it, we care about money first.

If we truly want Mac to be both sustainable and socially responsible, we need to approach the issue from a deeper level and expand the frame of our global consciousness. We’ve already taken a lead in sustainable building, let’s not be left in the dust when it comes to the sustainability of where our money comes from.

Macalester Joins the Masses as they Demand Full Equality for LGBT People

Sarah Levy
October 14, 2009

Last Sunday, October 11, while the majority of Macalester was enjoying a typical weekend, 16 students were in Washington, D.C., marching along with over 200,000 people to demand equal rights for all LGBT people under the 14^th amendment.

The march was called by Cleve Jones, a close collaborator of the late Harvey Milk, after he received thousands of letters and messages from mostly young activists who wanted something to be done following Proposition Eight’s loss last November. The intention was to get people from all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts to the capital, in a new effort to make the struggle a national one.

“I am sick and tired of fighting state by state, county by county, city by city, for fractions of equality--for impermanent victories that can be done away with by a popular vote of 50 percent-plus-one, and we're returned to second-class citizenship again,” said Jones in a rally on the lawn of the capital following the march. “Because the most important and significant rights granted to heterosexuals through marriage are determined not by the states, but by the federal government.”

This is a crucial point to be made.

Currently LGBT couples are denied over 1,100 basic rights that are attached to the legality of the word “marriage.” These include things such as: the legal rights to visit a spouse in the hospital; the right to special consideration for the immigration of a spouse when from a foreign country; being eligible to receive a spouse’s healthcare benefits; the right to filing taxes jointly (resulting in significantly higher taxes for LGBT couples); the right to inheritance of property; and many other basic rights that most heterosexual couples take for granted.

Of note Sunday was the prevalence of young people. With an actual rainbow in the sky above them and enough sun to qualify the day as “hot,” a student contingent of hundreds led the march from McPherson Square to the U.S. Capitol, chanting “Hey! Obama! Let Mamma marry Mamma!” and “Get Up! Get Down! There’s a Civil Rights Movement in this Town!”

In addition, according to Time Magazine, the average age of the people behind most of the organizing effort wasn’t above 30.

“You young people really have a hand up on what we’re trying to do here,” said Catharine Marino Thomas of Marriage Equality New York, addressing the packed and overflowing capital lawn.

In a message to students prior to the march, Glenn Omatsu, Professor at California State University, Northridge had expressed a similar sentiment.

"Students around the world have been at the forefront of movements to promote democracy and human rights,” he said. “Student movements have toppled powerful dictatorships and military juntas. Student movements have ended wars. And student activism has often served as the conscience for nations, reminding people in times of turmoil of the founding ideals of their countries and the aspirations of all people for justice, dignity, and equality."

Brett Srader, a Macalester student, was affected by this conscience and took home a sense of motivation from the march, saying that it gave him new knowledge and insight into the LGBT struggle. He said he saw it as a call to action, particularly for those who consider themselves allies.

“It is hard at times to motivate yourself to fight for the causes of others, and unfortunately [before the march] I had fallen into this trap,” said Srader. “[However,] the march stressed the importance of [straight] allies in pushing for change. Speaker after speaker reminded me that my country cannot consider itself the land of the free until all people are truly equal under law in all 50 states.”

Another theme of the rally was that the day was by no means an end in and of itself, but rather a point from which to strategize and grow as a movement.

“[There was the main idea that] during the march, the National Mall belonged to LGBT Americans and the Struggle for Equality, but that we all must continue the fight in our own "backyards" -- geographically, socially, politically, in our workplace, etc.,” said Kevin Schaeffer ’13. “The purpose of the NEM was not just to show the nation that we fight together for equality, but also to show those who feel alone that they are very much NOT alone.”

Srader said he could envision several ways Macalester could bring the fight into its backyard, focusing on the importance of the upcoming vote in Maine that could repeal marriage equality in the same way as Prop 8.

“Phone banks should be set up on campus for Mac students to make calls to voters in Maine to garner support for voting No on 1,” he said. “Or fundraisers could be another possible route, because the Equality movement in Maine is being out fundraised by huge margins.”

Back in Washington, Jones ended his speech by addressing the importance of mass demonstrations, besides just lobbying and letter-writing.

“Protest confirms dignity,” he said. “This march is an act of self-respect—that we will settle for nothing less than full equality under the law. We must take our president’s advice and command the audacity of hope.”

The Consequences of Coming to College

Sarah Levy
November 17, 2008

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Though pretty much every other topic is addressed, there is one aspect of how life changes upon leaving for college that never comes up, even with all the pamphlets and weeks of organized introductory activities.

Masturbation.

“I definitely thought about it before coming,” said Stefan Mathews ‘12. He said he was worried about how he would be affected by the lack of privacy that dorm life would bring.

Mathews is not the only first year that worried about personal changes that would come with college life. For many it was an issue.

Rosa Montague ’12 said she thought about the change beforehand, but wasn’t worried about it.

“I wondered if I would have time, what if my roommate were to find out, that kind of thing,” said Montague.

Montague said her habits have changed since college, because they are more random and more rushed. However, she said she does not do it any less than at home. And she does not really plan it out.

“I’ve learned [my roommate’s] schedule,” she said. “It’s just like, ooh, she’s left. This will be fun.”

Not everyone has been able to so easily cope with the burdens of dorm life.

“Yeah [my masturbatory habits] have changed!” said Alister Korb ‘12. “How have they changed? I don’t.”

Korb said that he did not realize until he got here that things would be different than at home. He said he cannot masturbate in his room because his roommate is usually there, and he does not feel comfortable doing it in the bathroom.

“I feel like it’s gross to do in a public shower and I think how I would feel if I were in the shower next to mine,” he said. “That would suck.”

Korb is not the only male who held off from this practice because of college. Gabriel Sutherland ’12 said the first time he masturbated after coming to Macalester was almost two months after leaving home. But for him this was not that big of a deal, even though he described his habits since coming to college as “somewhat moderately different” than at home.

“There are a lot more things to keep me occupied here,” he said. Sutherland said he has not really been affected by the change and that on average he does it less than once a week.

“I guess I just keep it all bottled up,” he said.

Another issue that comes with dorm life is that of walking in on people having sex, or being walked in on.

Suzanne Li, a senior, said that sophomore year she and her roommate would draw a “5” on their white board as a sign of “Do not enter.”

“If there was a 5 and you really wanted to go in, you knocked once and waited and if no one answered you still wouldn’t go in,” she said.

As for Montague, she said she has worried about someone walking in on her. But she does not lock the door.

“If I’m in there alone with the door locked, I’m worried about what someone walking by will think,” she said. “Because I don’t want them assuming I’m doing that.”

While some students have found ways to cope, for others relative problems have arisen. One such issue is stress.

“Masturbation is a mood-booster and if you can’t do it as often [as you would like], it does make you a bit grumpier,” said Mathews. He said that since college, he has been masturbating much less frequently than before and only during certain planned out times, which he said at times affects his stress-level.

The lack of privacy can also affect students in ways beyond just the emotional.

“I keep getting urinary tract infections because I don’t go pee after sex because it’s too much effort to go down the hall [of Dupre],” said Cece Harkins, a sophomore. “And I don’t want to have to see my RA, or that girl I have class with, or that neighbor who just heard me having sex.”

But generally students learn to cope.

“The first week or two was pretty bad,” said Jon Royce ‘12. “Then I figured out [my roommate’s] schedule.”

Montague said she doesn’t worry about walking in on her roommate or visa versa.

“We knock. I figure if you give it like two seconds, anything that’s going on can stop.”

Li said she hasn’t been walked in on, or walked in on anyone in her time at Macalester.

“But I have done things while other people were in the room and I’m not sure if they woke up or not,” she said. Li shed some light on the issue as someone with more collegiate experience.

“As you get older it gets a lot less awkward,” she said. “Because everyone, by the time they’re a senior, has been in a room while other people are having sex. They call it ‘being caught in the wing.’”

Harkin offered advice to first years regarding what she has learned.


“You learn to be silent,” she said. “You learn to do it when it’s convenient for your roommate and not for you.” She added that she has been walked in on a couple times in awkward positions.

“To make sure you get to the end, you’ve got to make it fast sometimes even though you don’t want to,” she said.

With two more years’ experience under her belt, Li continued.

“It’s just kind of like, look, we’re in a cramped space. When I say ‘Go,’ go. People understand.”

She paused to think.

“People don’t get more mature, though.”

20,000 Travel to Georgia to Say, "Shut Down the SOA"

Sarah Levy
November 24, 2008

On Sunday the 23rd, upwards of 20,000 people attended a Georgia vigil to commemorate those who have died as result of School of the Americas violence.

“We are here once again to say, ‘Basta. No mas. No More,’” said Father Roy Bourgeois, who started the School of the Americas Watch 18 years ago. The yearly event takes place outside the gates of Fort Benning, the military training site for the school.

“The problem is that most Americans don’t know it exists, or don’t know the terrors that have resulted because of it,” he said.

Father Jon Sobrino, one of the only survivors of his Jesuit community in El Salvador because of SOA-incited murder, explained the reason to be there.

“Any school in which violence and torture is being taught should be closed,” he said. “Any school in which lies are being taught, should be closed. Any school in which the accumulation of wealth as the main joy of life is being taught, should be closed.”

The funeral procession consisted of the names and ages of those who had died as result of SOA violence, being sung off, one by one, alternating Spanish and English. Following each name, a sea of voices solemnly sang back “Pre-sen-te,” each holding up a white cross to represent one person. A single drumbeat followed every name.

“It feels really powerful to remember the names of the dead and to bring that to the doors of the people that murdered them,” said Zeph Fishlyn, an artist who was attending the event for the first time.

Earlier that morning, six people had crossed the border onto the military base in an attempt to bring the protest down to the school. They were arrested and are facing up to six months in federal prison.

The night before, Brian Derouen, who served four months in jail for crossing the line in 2006, addressed a crowd regarding why this protest is important.

“This weekend is not what matters,” said Derouen. “If everyone goes home and tells one person and writes one letter to congress, the school could be shut down in a year. People can’t just be here and then go home and feel good about themselves.”

After putting their crosses on the fence as the culmination of the procession, people stood crying, hugging, and simply staring at the scene in silence. On a patch of grass near the fence, dozens of actors with white face paint lay in black cloths strewn with red paint to represent the dead.

Police loudspeakers didn’t seem to notice the sentiment, and proceeded to blare their message.

“Anyone who crosses the line is subject to fine and imprisonment,” a recording projected for the umpteenth time throughout the weekend. “The sole purpose of this institution is to provide military training of soldiers. It is a non-partisan operation. As a democratic institution it is upholding the constitution.”

Luckily, the weekend’s events, which consisted of many speakers and educational panels, had taught the crowd what a lie this was.

Said Deroen, “In the end, change happens when good people break bad laws and accept the consequences.”