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Zander Myers - Culture Shocked

Culture Shocked: Camping still worthwhile despite challenges

By Zander Myers | Sep. 14, 2014

The following statement may disappoint some people, especially since Athens is such an outdoorsy part of the country, but I feel very strongly about it and I feel that it must be said:I hate camping and other extended outdoor adventures.I do not make this statement lightly, and I really wish I did enjoy outings like this, but my reasons are very legitimate. Every time I have gone on an outdoor excursion, something bad has inexplicably happened. On my first weekend camping trip in seventh grade, I forgot that my very first cell phone was in my pocket (which I had only owned for a week) and I went swimming in the creek. Naturally, my phone was ruined and I spent the rest of the trip freaking out and worried that my parents would think something awful happened since they couldn’t call me.All in all, things worked out, at least until the next time I took another outdoor trip. In eighth grade, my class took a rafting trip; a tradition that the eighth graders do every year. It was a week-long trip and everyone always described it as a very enriching, life-changing experience. I was fated to be the outlier, apparently. After two days of general information about raft safety, environmental etiquette and such, we finally embarked on the river. Everything about the trip was exciting until my raft capsized and I was trapped under the water in a whirlpool. Being the third day of the trip, I was in no mood to step foot in a raft the next four days. Maybe it was the near-death experience, but I was 100 percent done.These trips would lull me into a false sense of security where I thought that the next time would be different…but alas, it never was. So, I decided just to give up and remain indoors.These aren’t the only two stories about how Mother Nature does not enjoy my company, but I will leave you with this: please, no one ask me to go camping or hiking or whatever-ing with you, because if you have read this, then you already know how I feel about trips of this nature (see what I did there?).One lesson I have learned though, is that in spite of how bad travelling and trips can turn out, we still embark, we take the gamble and roll the dice.Zander Myers is a senior studying English. How do you feel about camping? Email her at am154312@ohio.edu.

Jordan Williams

The Good-isms: Educational activists receives some justice

By Jordan Williams | Sep. 14, 2014

This week, something wonderful made its way into national news; one of my heroes (or she-roes, as I occasionally like to call them), Malala Yousafzai, was finally delivered some justice from the 2012 attack that brought her to the forefront of the international women and children’s education movement. On Sept. 12 CNN reported that all of her attackers were arrested at last.For those who are unaware of what transpired, allow me to summarize: Malala attended a school for girls (founded by her father) in her home of Mingora, Pakistan. Once a fruitful spot for tourism, this city’s prosperity gradually declined due to the increasing control of the Taliban. At the time, the Taliban was constantly terrorizing girls’ schools. At the young age of eleven, Malala gave her first speech, imploring, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” Less than a year later, Malala posed online as a BBC blogger to let the the world know how the Taliban was taking over and denying the education of young girls.When Malala’s identity from the blog was revealed, she immediately became a target of assassination. On the morning of Oct. 9, 2012, members of the Taliban stopped the bus headed to Malala’s school. One man entered and demanded to know where Malala was. The other girls on the bus looked in her direction, and the man shot fifteen-year-old Malala in the head. She survived miraculously, and soon after her recovery, her role as a women’s and children’s education activist began.With the full knowledge that she could be targeted again any day, she never gives up what she started before she was even a teenager. She published her autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban in October 2013, a year after the attack. Malala has been nominated for multiple national activism awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize. She has also developed her own organizations. Learn more at Malala.org and TheMalalaProject.org.I found it difficult to relate this topic to current happenings at Ohio University. However, when I read of the capture of Malala’s attackers, I just had to share her story. She is the epitome of what I want this column to be about. With Malala’s everyday fight in mind, let me say this: What I love about our campus in relation to this issue is that everyone truly does have equal opportunity. Just in the past couple of weeks, I have discovered countless organizations and honor societies for any student on campus from any background or anywhere in the world.From my own experience, I know that education is the most valuable thing that can be acquired. My education has always been of primary importance to me. Education does more than enrich your mind and future; it enriches understanding, compassion and the drive to be something more.Like Malala says, “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”jw719111@ohio.edu

Sophie Kruse

Gamer Girl: iPod classic still reins supreme despite being discontinued

By Sophie Kruse | Sep. 14, 2014

I received some really bad news last week.Apple announced on Sept. 9 that they’re discontinuing the iPod classic—the original iPod created with the largest storage space available on their devices.To me, this news was nothing short of heartbreaking. My iPod is one of my most cherished devices that I can’t leave home without. Currently, it’s in great condition, but now I’ll be living in fear that anything could happen to it because I won’t be able to replace it.The first generation iPod was released in 2001 and was capable of storing 1,000 songs—making it have a 5 GB hard drive.Before the iPod, I did all my listening on a Walkman—forcing me to carry around all the CDs I wanted to use around with me. It’s safe to say the iPod was a big step up for me.The first iPod classic I bought was the 5th generation, released in 2005, when my pink iPod Mini met its fate. I loved my first classic until its death, which was when I replaced it with the 6th generation—the one I still use.There’s something refreshing about using a simplistic device like an iPod. There’s no touchscreen or fancy features—just the standard click wheel, a ton of music and even a few videos, if that’s what your heart desires.The battery life on the iPod is insane—I feel I can regularly listen to mine for a week or two before I have to charge it again.The main reason I’ve held on to my iPod for so long, instead of making the “sensible” choice to moving toward listening from my phone, is the battery life factor. My phone is used so much during the day that I end the evening with minimal battery life left. I really can’t afford much more usage on my phone. I also like having the devices separated. There’s been many times that my iPod has saved me from many long evenings alone in Alden—but also saved me from the distraction of constantly looking at my phone when the song changes.It also holds a TON of music. My current iPod is 160 GB, and I have 18,500 songs on it. It might sound like overkill, but I love being able to keep all of my music on it and not have to worry about going through and choosing a few to have on my device.The other thing I hate about streaming through a phone is that the ad-free, unlimited streaming apps (be it Google Music, Spotify or Pandora) cost money. Sure, it’s a small monthly fee, but I’ll just stick with my trusty iPod—it never charges me to listen.Sophie Kruse is a junior studying journalism and is a staff writer for The Post. Were you sad about the iPod news? Email her at sk139011@ohio.edu or tweet her at @kruseco.

The Post

Letter: Marzec violated ethics of her office in ALS challenge

Sep. 14, 2014

President McDavis,I am writing this letter asking that you demand the resignation of Megan Marzec as Student Senate president. The reason I am asking for her resignation is because she violated the ethics of her office when she used the challenge you set forth to her to raise awareness for ALS and instead used it as a way to further her own political agenda. She abused a power of office and for that she should be held accountable, but instead she still remains president of a student body, a leadership role that requires the leader to be a person who is fair and tolerant of all students, but Megan has shown she is not free of open bias against the state of Israel and the students and alumni who believe and support Israel. Mr. President, why are her actions not being challenged? Why is she allowed to make a statement as president of the student body in blood demanding Ohio University divest its ties with Israel and face no consequence? This is not an issue of free speech or suppressing a student’s right to protest, it is about allowing a president of the student body to violate her office and face no penalty. Being a president of OU must be very difficult and I am sure you never imagined that your challenge would result in this, but it did. As a president, it is your responsibility to make sure all students are being represented and that actions have consequences. I understand you are trying hard to resolve this matter and that you have the welfare of all your students in mind, but Mr. President, you also have a job to teach your students that, although protest and free speech should never be suppressed, what Megan Marzec did was not about free speech and everything about abusing an opportunity and breaking her ethical code of president. President McDavis, until the pouring of blood, I have always been proud and supported my school, but until the time that you, as leader of OU, request for the resignation of Megan Marzec, I am asking for every alumni and donor to stop funding OU. I call for alumni and visitors to cancel their trips and parents consider not sending their children to a school which promotes a message that rules don’t apply to all and anti-Semitism is an accepted practice. I call for the boycott of OU, absolutely and completely. Not a patron or penny should be given to a university which allows intolerance to spread and students in high positions of office to abuse their authority. Jacqueline Sicherman is an Ohio University alumnus.

The Post

Letter: Past letter didn't reveal the whole truth

Sep. 14, 2014

To the Editor (your paper has done an exemplary job), So I didn’t go to Ohio University and I am also not a professor emeritus there, but after reading Steven Safran’s noxious letter I feel compelled to respond lest it not be given the thoughtful response it merits.

The Post

Letter: Bobcat for Israel was physically intimidating Megan Marzec

Sep. 14, 2014

I must object, in the strongest possible terms, to The Post’s story by Alisa Warren, entitled “Chaos leads to arrests” published in the online edition on September 11 at 12:33 am. The story contains numerous distortions and omissions and it gives a false impression of what I saw at the Student Senate meeting. I am the man in the green shirt in the photograph that you used to promote the story. The way the story describes Sebo’s violation of senate protocol does not make it clear that she was bound by the rules of the senate to wait for the meeting to be called to order before speaking and that she and the other Bobcats for Israel were not attempting to express themselves, so much as attempting to scuttle the meeting. The story reads as if a general melee broke out with fault on both sides. In fact, all of the aggression came from the Bobcats.Instead of a lead, the story begins with a comparison between the protest at the trustees meeting in 2013 and the Bobcats’ action at the senate meeting. That comparison fails to mention that the protestors at the trustees meeting were arrested within 50 seconds of interrupting the meeting while the Bobcats were allowed two minutes each before being escorted out.Your failure to analyze the photograph in which I appear, is the most egregious omission in the story. Readers may wonder why my comrades and I are standing in front of the second Bobcat for Israel to interrupt the meeting while he yells his text. Any competent journalist would know that the image calls for a forensic reading. We were there because that BFI was physically intimidating President Marzec. He strode up to Megan Marzec aggressively, and started screaming in her face. He carried himself in a menacing manner. It is widely known that Marzec had received multiple death threats and rape threats from around the country in response to the video in days leading up to the meeting. That man either knew, or should have known, this before behaving in a way that threatened violence against Marzec. Intentionally or not, his actions were an extension of the lethal and sexual threats against her. The story displays unmistakable bias in not mentioning this. It is a serious breach of journalistic ethics. That out of impatience, unprofessionalism, or laziness, Warren did not interview anyone in the incident before filing the story is unacceptable. By leaving that man’s aggression out of the story, The Post has normalized violence against women on a campus where it is an ongoing problem. By not analyzing the photograph, the story harms every woman on campus, and every person vulnerable to violence on campus. This does not speak well for your journalistic training. Louis-Georges Schwartz is an Associate Professor at Ohio University’s Film Division

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