Triangle Photo by Dave Hernandez

Phil Shecter, UPenn senior, protesting in the crosswalk at 15th and Market streets Nov. 15. Media credit: Jamie Thomson

When I changed my Facebook status to report that I was protesting Prop. 8 at City Hall Nov. 15, a surprising amount of people asked me what good protesting in Philadelphia would do for a decision made in California.

My answer?

Freedom to love who you wish is not just a state issue — it’s a human issue.

There were protests in around 300 cities that day in the U.S. and a few other countries, as an estimated total of around 1 million people turned out to show opposition to Prop. 8 and the other anti-marriage measures that were passed on Nov. 4.

But what did that accomplish?

What it was meant to.

Protests aren’t about directly making change — they’re about spreading awareness of a message and demonstrating support to foster change. The average person has no power to change the law directly — we can only protest, write commentary, call our congressmen, and occasionally file a lawsuit, if we have the time and money to devote.

This afternoon I’m attending an event with David Codell, lead council for the anti-Prop. 8 lawsuit as well as the original California Supreme Court In Re Marriage case, so check back later for the inside story on the legal saga, and some video from the protest.

Photos by The Triangle photographers

By Lynn Riley

To an appreciative Drexel community crowd including students, faculty, friends, alumni and family, the Drexel Fusion Band held a CD release party celebrating their new album “Cold Duck Sauce: The Best of Drexel Fusion Band” Nov. 11 in the lobby of Creese. 

Recorded last spring by Drexel Music Industry students, the performers are former and current members of the Drexel Fusion Band.  It includes 12 original arrangements by Director Lynn Riley (Adjunct Instructor in the Performing Arts Department) of Jazz, R&B, Latin and Rock songs such as “Summertime,” “What’s Going On,” “Ran Kan Kan” and “Moondance.”  On this festive night with pizza for all, the Band performed cuts from the new CD as well as some newer arrangements. 

The title “Cold Duck Sauce” derives from a recording session of the Eddie Harris jazz standard “Cold Duck Time,” another of the tracks on the CD, accidentally labeled as Cold Duck Sauce by a probably hungry engineer who performs in the group. 

The CDs are available for $10 by contacting Lynn Riley at mcr27@drexel.edu or calling 215 895-2451.

***Media courtesy Michael Donnella

The article also said that Anderton made an emotional, self-abasing 20-minutes statement to the judge in which he apologized to his victims, his parents and family, and others that he said his conduct harmed.

Probably the most surprising apology was the one that Anderton made to Jocelyn Kirsch, the “Bonnie” of the “Bonnie and Clyde” duo.

“To a large part I was her downfall. If the two of us hadn’t met I don’t think that any of her crimes would have escalated to that point,” Anderton said.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno.

Media credit: fisherwy.blogspot.com.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gives a thumbs-up during her speech at the 2008 Republican Governors Association Annual Conference Nov. 13. (Media credit: Marsha Halper/Miami Herald/MCT)

The moment Barack Obama’s presidency became a sure thing, a wave of relief came over me. This was not merely because I voted for him or because it marked a major turning point for our nation, but because finally the bitter campaigning had ended.

While some may feel that the time leading up to this historic presidential election was exciting and sensational, I felt the exact opposite. As someone who cared about the election, it was important to me to make my own decision about it. However, I am also someone who does not care to invest all her time and energy into politics, and after being repeatedly solicited to join the Obama campaign, I was getting fed up. It was not only on campus either — I received at least 10 phone calls from different Democratic groups asking me to sign up and join the campaign.

Although it is clear that every presidential election is important, and of course everyone who can exercise their right to vote should do so, to me politics in general is just one big dirty game.
The aggressive campaigning that felt like it would never end did the opposite of what it was supposed to do. Instead of the candidates highlighting their merits, what makes them qualified and what makes them trustworthy enough to run the country, all the focus seemed to be on controversy surrounding their personal lives.

The craziness that arose around Sarah Palin was ridiculous, and I could not help but wonder, what was John McCain thinking? If he wanted to get the nation’s attention, he sure grabbed it, but teaming up with Palin only seemed to backfire.

There were several things about Palin that I think stunned and outraged Americans. First of all, there was her 17-year-old pregnant daughter, supposedly engaged to the father of the unborn child. Secondly, her youngest, a baby she gave birth to despite knowing beforehand he would be plagued with Down syndrome. This was hardly a traditional “all-American” type family to introduce to us, and Palin’s family factors had trouble written all over them for the campaign.

McCain and his advisers should have known that in the dirty realm of politics, Palin was not going to appeal to Americans. She referred to herself as a hockey mom, but then again most hockey moms do not have pregnant teenage daughters, right? That sort of hasty negative opinion that so many Americans jump to is why the game of politics needs to be played carefully all the way through Although we had to endure several months of painful political campaigning, many of us had our minds made up much sooner — perhaps even based on our first impressions of the candidates.

And while Obama found himself amid political controversy as well, it seemed less of a problem because neither he nor Biden made outlandish comments giving Americans even more to talk about and react to. When comments surfaced to the American public from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor, concern arose about Wright’s several denunciations and damnations of the U.S. government. However, Obama addressed this concern seriously, because after all, it was a serious matter that was not going to be ignored.
Americans had a legitimate reason to be concerned about Wright’s views because this man had been a role model to Obama. Handled differently and taken less seriously — or even worse, ignored — I have the feeling that Obama would not currently be the president-elect.

Palin, on the other hand, had a tendency to get herself into trouble when speaking and addressing the controversy around her and her family. Her statement, “The only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? …Lipstick!” was supposed to appeal to American moms, but it really just made it impossible for them to take her seriously or view her as a viable political figure. To me that line will always be remembered, but as a funny episode told around the dinner table in the years to come.

When deciding whom to vote for, there was sufficient reasoning for not supporting Obama or McCain. The decision is only made harder by the media’s circus-like coverage of the campaign, and the painfully obvious bias written all over it. Each individual has the right to make this decision on his or her own, based on objective information. Voting for the president should not be like deciding what to wear in middle school: it’s not about what everyone else around you is doing.

There were also those so emotionally invested in the election that it became all they could manage to talk about, and they always had an agenda to push in support of one candidate or the other. The focus should not be on trying to persuade others to vote a certain way — the focus should be on getting people registered to vote, because if they can exercise that right they will be forced to actively think about whom to vote for.

That is another factor which granted Obama’s victory — the turnout for voting in this election was at its highest especially for young voters like us. Now that the election is done, there is no turning back. Those who are unhappy and threatening to move to Canada can either pack their bags and head north or stay and deal with reality. After all, time will fly by as it always does, and in just four years we will get to see the dirty game of politics played out again in the next presidential election, and perhaps it will get even dirtier.

What happens to modesty on Halloween? (Media credit: Costume Alibi/Amazon.com)

by Michael McGurk

This past Halloween, something beautiful and brutal, something ugly and magical happened. It was the kind of magic when drunken bike punk meets drunken frat guy, the kind of magic that only happens on Halloween. Hopefully, it’s the kind of thing that most people will just shrug off. But after that night, it may take a few days for some students of Drexel University to heal their dignity.

It started innocently enough — guessing people’s costumes in front of California Pizza. But soon enough, the costume guessing turned into costume bashing. Next came the character insults. It was all in good fun though. The dirtiest, most basic kind of fun one can have. It was the faceless mob game.

At some point earlier in the night, I ended up at a friend’s house next to California Pizza. It was normal for a while, everyone hanging out on the porch or in the basement. Someone had the idea to start throwing out insults at passers-by, and everyone inside of the house came outside to join. Who’d want to miss that kind of fun?

The insults grew more personal. By the time the fifth or sixth female bumblebee walked by, clutching her tough-guy boyfriend’s arm, the blood was already in the streets, figuratively. When you have your skirt hiked up to your butt cheeks, wearing only a bikini, trying to pass as something “cute,” it just doesn’t make you look very classy.  Do you expect to retain any sense of dignity after deliberately mooning a faceless mob that just insulted you for being dressed so skimpily?

I prayed that no one I knew would walk down Powelton Avenue that night, for their own sake.

Lesson 1: Even on Halloween, take pride in your appearance, it’s the only thing strangers have to judge you.

Girls, even on Halloween, it is not okay to show your body off just for attention. Those frat guys that you hang out with may enjoy you at their party, but once you decide to walk home, you have to walk through WEST PHILADELPHIA. You can’t honestly expect to walk around dressed skimpier than a prostitute and not get heckled. And for the drunken frat-guy escorts, when you try to defend the girl that you are obviously objectifying, and then you insult a mob of 30 people that you don’t know, don’t expect to come out with a shred of self-respect.

It was better than a TV show being on the porch, watching the madness unfold.  But TV shows generally have a pretty clear lesson. The lessons from this Halloween night were not so obvious. These are the lessons learned through real life, not through television — the kind of lessons that you learn from watching the way people interact and respond to each other.

For example, one anonymous “bro” that passed by, I’ll refer to him as “the Dude,” got heckled just like everyone else. But the Dude decided that he was tougher than the 30 kids standing outside Cali Pizza, not to mention the 15 in the back of a pickup truck across the street, all against him.
I could see in his eyes that he was blackout drunk. He may not have even have remembered the scene the next day.

His first mistake was that he listened to the insults, and retaliated.

Lesson 2: Do not pick fights with massive, drunken mobs of college kids. JUST KEEP WALKING BY. Turning the other cheek is not a hard concept. But the Dude stayed, trying to fight his way back to being one of the “cool guys.” But even when the Dude’s friends started trying to get him to leave, he was steadfast. He would not leave until he insulted every one of the 40+ people insulting him, telling him he needed to go home.
After hanging around, being insulted systematically for about an hour, eventually the Dude got picked up off the ground jokingly. This was when I realized that the fun would be ending soon.

Lesson 3: The faceless mob game is fun to play, until things start getting physical.

The Dude was obviously looking for a fight on Halloween. One of the Dude’s friends showed up with a concealed knife and showed it to us threateningly. The faceless mob, I’m sure, was not opposed to a fight either, but no one on our team was willing to make the first move. We were just in it for the fun, until the Dude decided that he had to stick around and offer to fight all 40+ of us. I could see that he wasn’t leaving anytime soon, and it was only a matter of time before things got out of hand. Now, I’ve had my share of run-ins with the police, so when things start getting out of hand, I’m generally the first in line for the exit. Tonight was no exception.

I heard from a friend who stayed that eventually the Dude pushed somebody’s girlfriend, and then a fight broke out. Glass was broken and bodies hit the ground, but soon DPS broke everything up. I’m not sure if anyone got hurt — I certainly hope not.

To all the people that were insulted walking down Powelton Avenue that night, don’t take it too hard. I’m sure that when classes began on Monday, no one took what was said seriously. Unless, of course, you were one of the barely dressed females showing off your body to random guys that were insulting your low-class attire anyway. Have some self respect.