Change to CoreyInscoe.com

You may have noticed that when you go to the Web site now it redirects you to "thenoisebazaar.blogspot.com." This is because my Google domain account ran out and I decided to move it over to GoDaddy.

For some reason, I can't get into my DNS settings to change where the site is hosted, so the best I can do is just use domain forwarding. It shouldn't really affect anything, except anything linked to this won't be coreyinscoe.com/whatever but thenoisebazaar.blogspot.com/whatever.

Just thought I would let everyone know. And write a little bit on here. If you have any idea how to help me fix the DNS settings on GoDaddy, I'd love some help.

It's Monday, the Arctic Monkeys are on, and I'm eating green seedless grapes.

I'm really sad that I haven't been writing as much.

Honestly.

It's a awful truth that when you're getting paid to write, writing for free suddenly loses appeal. Even though I haven't actually had anything published yet -- a fact that continues to befuddle friends and family alike ("What the heck have you been doing for over a month??) -- I've spent most of my days on the ground doing prep work, preparing stories for the launch, training and editing.

Needless to say, the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit in front of a computer screen. But there's such a satisfying release that comes with personal writing, as opposed to reporting and story writing.

I'm realizing this more as I read the insane collection of essays by Chuck Klosterman in "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs." This guy combines the hilarious and opinionated story-telling of David Sedaris with the clinical insanity of Hunter S. Thompson. Right up my alley.

But the point is that most of his essays are late night rants that he wrote down. If you've read this blog long enough, you know that I've had my share of opinionated rants, many of which came during the months leading up to the election. I eventually decided that it was better for my readers -- and my employability -- if I stopped being so opinionated and just presented facts and remained fairly objective.

What's the fun in that?

Reading this book has made me realize that there is inherent value in hearing/reading some guy rant about everyday life, making outrageous claims -- like that the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry in the '70s can be used to describe everything about human life or that soccer is a sport created by and for outcasts and should be banned (two actual claims in Klosterman's book) -- and backing up with creative, though sometimes faulty logic.

Now I'm not sure I can start doing that again on my blog. I worry that my current employers won't be terribly happy about me spouting off insane hypotheses about politics, sports and the music industry.

I also don't plan on putting all these into a word file to be made into a book later so that I can become the next over-the-top and edgy social commenter. OK, maybe I will. But I'm not doing it for the money. OK, maybe I am.

Anyway, I guess what this rambling is leading up to is that I want to come back to writing for pleasure more. I keep telling myself that I don't have time to write up well thought out posts for this blog, but obviously this didn't take me very long.... So maybe I'm right.

Whatever happens, I want to at least get my favorite post series back running: Tuesday Guilty Pleasure. It's been far too long since you guys got to make fun of me for some really random crap that I've fallen in love with.

As soon as I hit "Publish Post," I'm going to craft a TGP for the four (maybe less?) people that actually check this often enough to notice my absence. It will publish tomorrow at 9 a.m., the exact time I'll be walking into my office, where my writing means a pay check.

Can you believe that people would actually pay me to write? I can't either, but I'm not going to say anything.

Good News

If you read my blog a lot, you may have noticed two changes this week.

For a few weeks I was shamelessly promoting myself in my sidebar in the hopes of landing a job. You might notice that's gone. Also, you'll notice my location is slightly different.

That's because this week I'll be lugging all my still-packed boxes down to a one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte so that I can start work at the Charlotte Observer!!!

That's right, despite the bad economy and the troubles in journalism, I managed to get a job at a big metro paper.

They are starting a special project that involves publishing weekly local inserts into the Observer. Eventually, this will spread to 12 zones, but the first two will be Lake Norman and Cabarrus County. My job will be to cover the sports (mostly prep) in these two zones!

I'm super excited and can't wait to get started. But now that I have a legit writing job, the posting on this blog might start to waver. I'll do my best to keep it going -- especially the Tuesday Guilty Pleasure series -- but a lot of the will most likely focus on issues around Charlotte and local sports.

Once the Web sites go up and the publications are released, I will give you more information about them here!!

I hope you'll keep following along and see where this job takes me.

Quite Contrary Farm after-school camp

When I was working for the Carrboro Commons last semester, I had the privilege of doing a story on Marianne Prince's farming kids camp in Carrboro. When I first met her, she had yet to start the camp but had a beautiful vegetable garden and some plump chickens running around the front yard. Since then, it seems that she has gotten goats and has quite a few camps under her belt.

Now it looks like she's trying to expand with an after-school program. From her e-mail:

Also, I will be having an after school program at my house starting in the fall. If you are interested please talk to me. I am planning to offer Monday-Thursdays, 2:30-5:30. Fridays will be reserved for home school groups.

There are details on my blog, and more to come. I am currently enjoying having August to experiment with cheese-making and canning. We are also building a screened porch off of the back of our house, which should be finished by the end of August. It will become our outdoor classroom, and will allow the kids to be surrounded by animals even while inside.

Cheese making?? Sign me up!! It sounds like tons of fun.

Get more information about the farm and the camps at her website, quitecontraryfarm.blogspot.com.

Two totally different worlds...

This is the perfect example of what's wrong with the American mindset when it comes to transportation policy. 

Today in the New York Times there is a great article about a river in South Korea that was once covered by a highway but is now thriving. Not only is it pretty to look at, but it's helping the environment and the economy.

The recovery project, which removed three miles of elevated highway as well, also substantially cut air pollution from cars along the corridor and reduced air temperatures. Small-particle air pollution dropped to 48 micrograms per cubic meter from 74 along the corridor, and summer temperatures are now often five degrees cooler than those of nearby areas, according to data cited by city officials.

And even with the loss of some vehicle lanes in this city of 10 million people, traffic speeds have picked up because of related transportation changes like expanded bus service, restrictions on cars and higher parking fees.

“We’ve basically gone from a car-oriented city to a human-oriented city,” said Lee In-keun, Seoul’s assistant mayor for infrastructure, who has been invited to places as distant as Los Angeles to describe the project to other urban planners.

Those are some pretty sweet results if you ask me. We talked about this a lot in my environment and society class last semester with regards to urban sprawl. It seems that everyone wins when society moves from car-centric to people-centric, but lawmakers can't get past the price tag and little words like "initial ridership" for public transportation. But think about how much we spend on road construction each year! 

Which brings me to my next point.

From the Raleigh News and Observer: 

It turns out that Wendi Johnson, a Wilson-based construction engineer for the state Department of Transportation, was right all along. And the central office experts were wrong.

North Carolina will spend $13 million to correct their mistake, DOT officials said today, and to implement a recommendation Johnson made six years ago.

In 2003 and 2004, Johnson urged DOT honchos in Raleigh not to scrimp on the thickness of pavement for the new 18-mile Interstate 795, a truck shortcut from Goldsboro to I-95 at Wilson.

Citing her experience with other road projects in Eastern North Carolina, Johnson warned that DOT’s planned 5-inch pavement would be too thin and too weak to support the expected freeway traffic.

Senior DOT planners rejected her plea to add 3 more inches of asphalt. They objected to the cost – an extra $2.8 million for a $196 million project.

Wow. Really? I see we have our priorities in the right place. So that puts the total cost (as of now) for this 18-mile stretch at $209 million. That's almost half of what it cost to build the LYNX light rail system in Charlotte. Wanna bet which one will last longer? Or which one is going to be more beneficial in the long run? 

And for all those who complain that initial readership is low? Let me throw some figures at you: for the first year the initial weekday ridership was predicted to be 9,100. By March of 2008 it was already up to 18,600, a level it wasn't predicted to be at until 2025. 

Public transportation is useful, as the people in Charlotte found out. Now it's time the rest of the country figures it out. 

Hookah Bliss on the ropes

When I first learned of N.C.'s smoking ban, I was really excited. I was so tired of going to crowded bars that allowed smoking where I felt like I couldn't even breathe (cough Goodfellows). But then I visited one of my favorite bars on Franklin Street, Hookah Bliss, where I saw posters all over the walls calling on customers to fight the ban. 

Adam Bliss opened up Hookah Bliss a couple of summers ago down on West Franklin and the place has taken off. It had a great vibe, quality shisha and a knowledgeable and friendly owner in Bliss. My friends and I took to it and it quickly became one of our favorite hang outs. 

Unfortunately, the N.C. smoking ban means that his business will become illegal when the law goes into effect in January. 

But something is wrong here. The law makes an exception for "private clubs" and "cigar bars," but no one else. Why these two? Well according to Bliss (and I agree) it's because the rich, white legislators like to go there and they don't want to see their favorite pastime put out of business. But where does this leave the hookah bars? 

It makes no sense that this ban should put them out of business. The purpose of the regulation is to protect people from second hand smoke in public places, like bars and restaurants. I'm pretty sure if you're going into Hookah Bliss, you're OK with second hand smoke. The reason you go there is to smoke or hang out with friends who are going to smoke. Obviously people in there don't care about second hand smoke, just like the patrons of cigar bars. 

Bliss and other hookah bar owners are working to figure out where to go from here, but it looks like one of my favorite hang outs is doomed. Maybe he'll keep the bar open there. I sure hope so. 

The Daily Tar Heel put together a nice little video about the issue, which is what reminded me of this. You can check that out below. 

If you're in Chapel Hill, make sure to stop by Hookah Bliss before January and do what you can to support them. 

Banned Bliss from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

"When it all, yeah, all falls down..." UPDATED

I haven't been totally into what's going on around the world for the last few days because of a much needed visit up north, but I just can't help but think that all the crap that has happened this week is a definite sign of the apocalypse.

First, this whole crazy thing in Iran. Not only was the election controversial, but then you have the killing of Neda that was caught on video (which wasn't the Basij's fault, but apparently a master plot by the CIA according to the Iranian ambassador to Mexico).

Then you have the deaths of Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett, which, while sad, were not entirely unexpected. But then we see two beloved fifty-year-olds leave us: Billy Mays and Michael Jackson. You may think it's weird for me to put those two on the same level, but let's be honest, over the last few years, who would you rather see on TV? I love me some Jackson 5 and "Billie Jean" era MJ, but anything after he turned into a white woman child molester kind of turns me off. And who doesn't love OxiClean? 

Anyway, I guess I'll give the latter two a tiny tribute by posting some of their best work right here on my prestigious Web site. I know they would want it that way. 

ADDENDUM: Last night, I forgot about a couple of other things that have happened recently that have really make me wonder "What the hell is going on??" 

The Varsity Theatre, a Franklin Street and UNC-Chapel Hill staple, went dark this weekend. I was in D.C. so I wasn't even able to catch a last minute movie during it's last weekend. Owner Bruce Stone cited various reasons for closing the movie house, but the bottom line was that it was no longer making money and with this economy it didn't look like things were going to get better. If there is a silver lining it's that the Chelsea, also owned by Stone, will remain open as of now. But, as Jordan Lawrence over at the Daily Tar Heel Blog said, "the Chelsea is an ugly little runt of a theater in a shopping center far off campus and it doesn’t have anything like the history of the deceased Varsity. But it’s got free parking, and that’s enough to bring in the kind of business needed to stay alive."

Finally, in world news, what the hell is going on down in Honduras?? Maybe it's my naivete of international politics, but this came out of nowhere! 

Apparently UNC loves me

So thanks to a tip from my lovely girlfriend, I found out that the UNC-Chapel Hill website has a picture of me for their header. If it doesn't come up the first time, just keep refreshing it. It's a great picture of me marching down South Rd. during Fall Fest. I'm rocking my aviators and Terrass is in the background. It's pretty sweet. I wonder how long it will stay up there. My 15 minutes of fame??? We'll see. I guess my university does care about me some.

Birmingham PD...far from America's finest

Today, my roommate pointed me to this video of police brutality that surfaced recently. I never fail to be amazed at how angry, violent and unnecessarily cruel people can be to each other. 

Birmingham police beating video

Now I'm not defending this guy at all. He's an idiot for running from the cops and endangering innocent civilians on the highway. He even tries to run over one of the police officers that is setting the spike strip at the very beginning of the video. This guy deserves some punishment, but not a beating from the cops. I'll defend the initial action of the first police officer. Initially there's no way to tell if the suspect is unconscious or might try to run, so he jumps in to keep the guy on the ground. I can get behind that. Maybe a bit too much force, but he was probably emotional. 

What is inexcusable is that the cop continues to hit the guy with his night stick. Once you get him on the ground, the violence has to stop. Then all the other cops jump in and start punching and kicking him. He obviously isn't going anywhere. He is unconscious and cannot defend himself. This video is disgusting to watch. Even more disgusting is that they knew what they were doing and quickly cut off the video camera. 

According to the article, these officers were veteran cops. They should know better. It's easy to get emotional in that job, but you have to be able to control yourself. These lawmen were out of control. 

But here's the kicker: look at the time stamp at the top of the video. Yep, January 2008. This happened over a year ago and the video is just coming out. Completely inexcusable. I'm glad they got fired, but I want these guys to be charged for what they did. 

What is my UNC degree really worth?

A degree from UNC-Chapel Hill is prestigious. The school one of the best public universities in the nation. When you graduate from this institution, you feel like you have really accomplished something and worked hard for a valuable degree. 

I was sure that this was all true until I was shown the worst paper I've ever seen in my entire life. 

Chris, on his first day back from Chapel Hill happened to be in Davis Library when he saw a paper sitting beside one of the computers. He brought it back to Eve's apartment with him and we took a look at it. I honestly couldn't believe what I was reading. I just knew it had to be a joke. 

No joke. Janet Cooke overcame all odds and managed to write the worst paper I've ever seen for her Poli150 class. I'm not really sure where to start. First, the font seems well above the standard 12 pt. The spacing looks more like triple rather than double. The margins are questionable. But let's put that all aside right now and focus on the content. 

As far as I can tell, the paper is comparing two articles, one by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the other by  Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the United Nations. I say "as far as I can tell" because the introduction might as well have been written by a 10-year-old just learning English. Here's a taste:

Author and politician Condoleezza Rice "The Promise of Democratic Peace" and author Susan Rice "Beyond Democratic Peace" both believe that the platform outlined by democracy is the fundamental aspect to rebuild the US's crumbling economy. Condoleezza Rice thinks the best way to secure democratic nations and to support the democratic institutions within the nations, while Susan Rice critiques Condoleezza of her methods to ensure democratic peace. Although their arguments equally parallel and contrast, could it be possible that there is another way to go about democratic peace.

There is nothing of substance in that entire paragraph. And it just gets worse. Not only does she fail to make any concrete point throughout the entire essay, she has a complete disregard for basic grammatical rules: "On the other hand, a financially and stable economy is willing and able to help falling states does." "This could possibly be considered Susan Rice's strongest point, however, at the same time could room for questioning her judgment." "Condoleezza Rice and Susan RIce emphasized the importance of the democratic foundation, nevertheless, they both contrast each other as to concluding should immediately be done."

I can't make this up. The whole paper is like that. Now it would be one thing if this paper had been given the failing grade it deserved. But no. Despite notes like "What?" and "Did you read the articles?" this joke of a professor professor or -- more likely -- TA gave this paper a 70. Are you serious? Not only is that a passing grade, that's a C-. How can you read this paper and believe that it is worth anything more than a 10? 

Janet Cooke is a sophomore which means that she has passed four semesters of college at UNC with, I assume, that type of work. Unless something changes (or people start giving her the grades she deserves) she is going to graduate with the same Carolina degree that I should be getting soon. That sure seems to take away some of the value, doesn't it? I can't help but be a little upset. 

At first I wasn't sure whether I wanted to post the paper and its author's name on this Web site. But if Janet Cooke is willing to put her name on this garbage, turn it into a professor and then to leave it in a public place, she should face the consequences. In a perfect world, she would see this post or her friends would all make fun of her for it and she would make a change for the better. Either that or drop out of school. 

Either way, you can download and read the entire paper here [pdf]. Please, especially if you graduated from or are attending Carolina, please try not to cry.

Questioning the Bible

I've always loved a good conspiracy or the debunking of long-held myths and beliefs. That's why I watch "Mythbusters," read a couple books on the JFK conspiracy, tore through Dan Brown's books "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons," and why I'm going to see the movie of the latter tonight. So it's awesome to me that someone right here at my own (now former) university is doing work just like the fictional Robert Langdon and digging deeper into the truth of the Bible. 

UNC-Chapel Hill religious studies professor Bart Ehrman is profiled in an article on CNN.com today, where he talks about his new book, "Jesus, Interrupted" and his transition from an evangelical Christian to a "happy agnostic." This guy is a big name in the religious world, appearing on various TV shows, including stuff on the History Channel and Discovery Channel and, if I'm not mistaken, a couple appearances on the "Colbert Report." 

It's an well written article about an interesting guy. Maybe I'll go back to school and get another major.... Ok, maybe not. But I do think I might be picking up one or two of his books over the next few weeks. You know, a little light summer reading about destroying the foundations of the Holy Bible. 

Pomp and Uncertain Circumstances

That's it. Dozens of essays, countless exams and quite a few parties later, I'm done with college. Where have the four years gone? It still hasn't really hit me. Even when I was standing in Kenan Stadium at the large commencement ceremony, it just felt like I was just at some random event. But at about 8 p.m. on Sunday, after all my family had gone and I was alone in the apartment again, I had my first minor panic moment. I sat down on the couch and the first thing I thought was, "What now?" 

But I've gotten over that and it's starting to feel like just another summer. A good number of my friends are in town (minus one who I really wish was in town) and the past few days have been spent hanging out, eating and drinking a little. Sure, I should probably start looking at jobs soon, but not yet. I've had an interview and there's another opportunity coming up at the end of the month, but other than that I'm not worried. I'll start looking more, but right now I'm going to enjoy myself. I'll be working the rest of my life, I might as well enjoy my last summer.

That's why I'm going to Europe in just under two weeks. My friend Thomas and I will be flying into Frankfurt, Germany, and traveling to Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Florence, Switzerland and Munich, and probably some other random places in between. We haven't exactly decided if we're bringing my old laptop or not, but I'm going to find someway to keep this blog updated, much like I did during my road trip last summer. And we got a Flip video camera, which means you'll be finding some fun and interesting videos. 

Until then, I'll continue to update the blog, probably more often than I have in the past since I'm nowhere near as busy anymore. 

So this is it. I'm no longer a poor college student but unemployed. Good times....

Speaking of graduation, the large ceremony in Kenan was great. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was better than I ever could have imagined (despite the diss from News 14 Carolina: "One local college has an important speaker at their ceremony today. Oprah will be speaking at Duke"). I was expecting a very somber and serious speech, but instead got one that included jokes, Archbishop Tutu laughing at himself, and the words "orgy" and "scintillating." He had everyone in the stadium laughing. He even fit in a jab at Michigan State and the Tar Heels winning the basketball national championship. Check out the video below for the highlights.  

Bring it on, real world.

It's the flu, people!

That's it. That's all I have to say. Call it what you want: the swine flu, the H1N1 flu, whatever. It's the friggin' flu. Calm down!

I get it. I'm a journalism major. The media likes to take big news and run with it. They assume they're doing the public good when they keep feeding us with information about how many cases there are in the U.S. and how many are "probable," but, frankly, this is getting ridiculous. I can't even turn on the TV, open a newspaper or cut on the radio without hearing something about it. It is even taking over SportsCenter!!

I know we all love a good pandemic, but let's calm down and think this thing out a little bit. First, it's nothing but a different strain of the flu. Yeah, it might be a little more dangerous but nothing a doctor visit, some drugs and staying home from work won't cure. Only several hundred people in the U.S. even have confirmed cases of the strain. That's a minuscule proportion.

You might be saying, "But Corey, someone in the U.S. died!!" No, some little Mexican kid (I don't mean that to be derogatory...he was from Mexico) came across the border and happened to die here. Slightly different. All the other confirmed deaths have happened in Mexico. See a trend?

That's why I was glad to read this article from the New York Times this morning. It tried to take the subject seriously, but it seemed a little tongue in cheek at times, like when the writer talked about people strapping on face masks and whole school systems in Texas being shut down "indefinitely." Here is my favorite part:

In Fort Worth, where three cases have been confirmed and more are suspected, Paula Batts ran errands on Thursday. Few people, she said, seemed to be venturing out at all, and almost no children. In one store, Ms. Batts said, her allergies acted up.

“When I coughed once,” she said, “six people cleared the aisle.”

I even saw a bus driver in Chapel Hill wearing a mask. Seriously?

Let the kids go back to school and let the sports teams continue playing. I promise you, when this is all said and done, people will laugh at us. Besides, being fat and lazy and smoking all the time is killing us faster.... Where's the panic about that?

Carrboro Farming Kid's Camp

Thursday morning I had the pleasure of spending time with one of the coolest people I've met in Carrboro, Marianne Prince. She is starting a kids camp in Carrboro out of her home that focuses on gardening and farming.

When I pulled up she was outside painting her house. There were splashes of yellow on the door and an olive green was being applied to the siding. Marianne, clad in grey cordorouys, plaid shirt and faded purple sweater with glasses and short hair pulled back, hopped down the steps and quickly introduced herself. Then I got the grand tour.

The side of the house is a huge garden with every fruit and vegetable you can imagine waiting to spring out of the ground. Four dogs of varying sizes barked at us from behind the chainlink fence that separated the back yard from the side. The other side of the yard was taken up by a chicken coop, but I didn't see any chickens inside. The door was wide open. They're free-ranging chickens that prance around the yard and the neighbor's yard like they own the place.

It's such a surreal scene, but so much fun. The neighborhood is a great community and one of the reasons why Marianne decided to do the camp. I hope I have a chance to go back and see her when she has some kids around!! Check out her website for the camp here.

Oh, and the best part? The farm is called "Quite Contrary Farm." Yep, from the song "Mary Mary Quite Contrary." You can see the full story about this in the next issue of the Carrboro Commons which should be up next week. I'll post the link here when it comes up.

----------

Don't expect to hear anything else from me this weekend. Right now I'm in a little bakery in Asheville, but soon I'll be here:

It should prove to be a nice weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hallie Lipsey for SBP Part III: The Results

When I walked through the Pit on Wednesday, Hallie Lipsey's sign was on its side propped up against a tree. I thought about setting it back up, but decided against it. For one, I was already 10 minutes late for my 10 a.m. English class. But I also realized that there was no point. It was over. For five of the seven candidates (yes, I counted right) Wednesday meant the end of weeks of long and hard work. Maybe not so long and hard in Lipsey's case, but it was tough nonetheless.

Despite the valiant effort that the Hallie Lipsey for SBP group and I put forth over the last few days, our beloved candidate didn't make it to the run-off. In a record turnout election, Thomas Edwards and Jasmine Jones recieved the most votes and will run in a run-off election next Tuesday.

Despite my harsh words and general loathing of Edwards, he managed to garner a whopping 41% of the vote, a good 20% more than Jones.

So what happened with out beloved Lipsey? That's what I've been working to find out. I've asked people at the Daily Tar Heel and scoured the UNC Board of Elections website looking for clues about the results for the write-in candidate. I'm not even sure if they count write-in votes, but I sure hope they do. With some of the candidates recieving just over 400 votes, Lipsey couldn't have been far behind.

Several people talked to me about the blog on Wednesday and many more told me that they voted for Lipsey. The Facebook group had about 130 members last time I checked. Of course that doesn't really mean anything. There's no telling how many people in the group actually voted for her.If you have any inside information about the actual results for Hallie, I would love to have it.

I've been e-mailing back and forth with the "campaign manager" for Lipsey and he or she or they are working to find some exact numbers. As of now, the geniuses behind this campaign are keeping their identity hidden, but I have been promised a revelation sometime next week. I'll post the story as soon as I find out something.

I appreciate everyone who took the time to vote for Lipsey on Tuesday. I hope that you know your vote wasn't a waste. In my four years here I have never seen a write-in candidate that caused such a stir as Hallie did. That's something to be proud of.

But I ask you now to do your civic duty and vote for one of the run-off candidates on Tuesday and make your voice heard. And don't just vote based on a DTH endorsement or large multi-colored signs and obnoxious chants. Check out the platforms and don't get caught up in empty promises. Think about what the candidates can realistically accomplish.

Hallie Lipsey for SBP Part II: The Follow-up

I didn't realize exactly what I would be getting into when I typed my post on Friday. To me, it was just an interesting sign in the Pit: a refreshing break from the obnoxious student body president campaigning that has been going on the past few weeks. Fourteen comments, several "tweets," a couple of Facebook messages and a Facebook group later, I think we've started a revolution.

Soon after my post was published, comments started trickling in giving me more information about the mysterious Hallie. Yes, she was a real person. No, she had nothing to do with the sign. So I wanted to dig a little deeper. What else do people know about her? That's when the fun comments started flooding in:

"Hallie Lipsey can do the moonwalk!"
"Manu, you're crazy insane, lol. Hallie, I loves you!!"
"I'm writing in Hallie Lipsey, even though her sign keeps falling over. If you see it fall, do the right thing. Either right it, or knock over all the other signs. Seriously."

And my personal favorite:

"Her environmental platform promises an orange monkey habitat in the arboretum and her safety platform has a plan for a velociraptor awareness day. they sound like great ideas to me! plus, hallie is very sweet, smart, and hardworking."

The next thing I know, there is a Facebook group, Heels for Hallie, which claims that she was featured on a "nationally recognized weblog." Yeah, they meant me. I'll take it. On the group's page they listed even more and better platform points than those that were on the sign in the Pit.

Hallie promises to:

- Allow jousting in the quad
- Promote Velociraptor Awareness Day
- Enforce mandatory 5-second rule
- Help the Greeks defeat the Trojans
- Create P3P (even better than P2P)
- Put an Alpine Bagel in every building
- Annex Carrboro
- Fine the Board of Elections 12 dollars
- Create a flat-rate rickshaw service
- Fix the uneven bricks on campus
- Look remarkably like J.J. Raynor
- Not be obnoxious

On Sunday, there was a quick blurb about her on the Daily Tar Heel blog by our esteemed university editor, Andrew Dunn. Of course, it had nothing on my in-depth coverage.

My pictures of the signs started popping up as Facebook profile pictures and the Heels for Hallie group encouraged members to invite all their friends and make the movement 1,000,000 strong for the write-in candidate.

At this point, I felt it was necessary to get in touch with the center of this perfect storm. After just enough Facebook stalking to get the information I needed but not enough to be like that guy you met at the frat party who keeps sending you creepy bumper stickers, I found Hallie and sent her a short message asking what she knew about the signs.

Her response:

"Haha. Wow. I cannot believe this has gotten this huge. Unfortunately, I had nothing to do with the sign or the fantastic platform. I have a couple of suspicions about who is actually responsible but no hard proof. Until then, though, I'm just enjoying the laughs, especially in the last few days of an overhyped debate for SBP. At least it gives life a little perspective.

"Thank you so much for sending me a message! I hope I have satisfied at least a bit of your curiosity! ;)"

So the identity of the sign maker is still a mystery. But I'm glad that Hallie is rolling with it and having as much fun as I am.

Tomorrow is election day. Make the right choice. Not Michael Betts, the young'n that thinks Alpine Bagel in Davis Library is a good idea. Not Ashley Klein, the one whose signs have crazy triangles hell-bent on cutting your legs when you walk by. Not Ron Bilbao, the one that looks like a creep in his mugshot-esque picture that is in the DTH. Not Jazmine Jones, who already knows she can't do what she promised. Not Matt Wohlford, whose platform is full of things that UNC has already done. And definitely not Thomas Edwards, who is unashamedly frat-tastic in his douche baggery (thanks Betsy and Courtney). Successfully spelling your name is not enough to make you SBP.

Do the right thing on election day and write in Hallie Lipsey. Sure, she can't actually win, but it will send a great message to our candidates and all candidates in the future: stop being obnoxoius, no one cares.

Anna said...

COREY!

less time on academia, MORE TIME ON THE BLOG!


Ye haven't updated in epochs! :D

Well, she has a point. It seems that this semester has been more demanding on me then I originally thought it would be. I guess that's what happens when you take two English classes and other classes that make you read a crap-ton of books all the time. I've barely had time to think about the blog, much less write up an entry. Even as I'm typing this, I'm sitting in my Environment and Society class not paying attention to some old video about Microcredit.

Not to say that microcredit is boring. I think Muhammad Yunus is on the right track with his Grameen Bank. What really strikes me is the similarity to the global economic situation that we are in now. Both Yunus and the U.S. government have the same idea: throw money at the problem. People need money to run their businesses and make them grow. But here's the problem, once you hand out a little money, people expect a little more later. And then more. Until you have too many people who need the money and there's no money left to give. Where does it stop? Or where does this extra money come from?

Speaking of Environment and Society, if you really want to put yourself into a state of depression that makes you want to stop using water all together, read When the Rivers Run Dry. This book, written by Fred Pearce, gives far too many examples of the water crisis that is haunting our world. The way he makes it sound, there's no guarantee that water will come out of my faucet tomorrow.

A taste:

"It takes between 250 and 650 gallons of water to grow a pound of rice. That is more water than many households use in a week. For just a bag of rice. Keep going. It takes 130 gallons to grow a pund of wheat and 65 gallons for a pound of potatoes....
We are all used to reading detailed technical information about the nutritional content of most food. Maybe it's time that we were given some clues as to how much water it took to grow and process the food. As the world's rivers run dry, it matters."

Yeah, I told you. It goes on to tell you about lakes that have completely dried up, how farmers are taking all of the water out of the ground that will not be replaced and how the Rio Grande is barely even a river anymore. Important to know, but not fun to read.

But class is coming to an end and that means that I must leave you. But I will leave you with a list of my favorite albums from 2008. A very short list, but if you haven't bought these CDs yet, do it now.

Okkervil River, The Stand Ins
She & Him, Volume I
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes

It snowed today. And some other unlikely news

As a long time central-North Carolina resident, I have a habit of not believing local weathermen when they tell me it's going to snow. The area has a long history of mocking the hundreds of closed schools, dozens of salt trucks and thousands of pounds of salt that await that blustery winter storm by bringing small flurries or often nothing at all. So when the wizards of weather said that we would get up to four inches of snow last night, I thought "OK, that means there might be some ice on my car tomorrow. No worries." Imagine my surprise when I woke up to this:



Yep, that's right. We got our four inches. But here's the best part: UNC stayed open. The bookstore stayed open. Instead of enjoying the first good snow that I've seen since high school, I was in the bookstore selling books to students who had no business being on campus in the first place. UNC and our buddies in Durham were the only two universities in the area that I know of that stayed open. Even N.C. State closed. I guess they figured that if the busses could still run everyone could get to class.

But wait. One of the girls that was supposed to work today couldn't come in because her bus stopped running. Why did it stop running, you ask? Because a bus that route wasn't able to make it up the steep hill on Hillsborough Street and ended up sliding back down. But that's not enough reason to cancel classes apparently.

UNC eventually did come to its senses and closed school at 3:30 p.m. and delayed tomorrow's opening until 10 a.m. But while most of the other businesses (including Student Stores) closed their doors early today because of the weather, the Tarheel Book Store soldiered on, which means I had to work until 5 p.m. No snow playing for me.

Maybe next time, assuming there is a next time anywhere in the near future.

----

In other news, I was selected as a co-editor for the Carrboro Commons, a twice-monthly online publication that is published by my Community Journalism class. I'm not sure how I got the job, but I'll take it. I'm very excited and it should be an interesting endeavor. Check out the site over the next few weeks to see how it progresses.

What I learned on my first day of class

It's the first day of my last semester of undergraduate classes. I shudder as I type that. But I won't get into my post-graduation fear. I decided to take a hodge-podge of classes this semester just to see what was out there, and mostly because I only needed one for my major and UNC won't let me underload and be a full-time student any more.

So here's what the schedule looks like: 10 a.m., American Novel; 12 a.m., Environment and Society; 3 p.m., Chaucer; 4 p.m., Community Journalism. I don't have Tuesday and Thursday classes, so I get to enjoy everything in the span of seven hours.

Here is what I learned in each class. Remember, this is only the first day.

American Novel: if you walk into the first class 10 minutes late, you will have to sit in the last available desk wedged in a corner in the back of the room after being shown the seat by a student waving their arms like one of those guys on an airport runway with the glow sticks.

Environment and Society: Despite the fact that I like all the work he is doing for the environment and global warming, Al Gore is a pompous ass. We watched the special features of his move "An Inconvenient Truth," and it was basically 20 minutes of him talking about how the world is going to melt in the next 50 years, broken up with condescending chuckles.

Chaucer: Not only are we reading Chaucer, but we're reading Chaucer in the original Middle English. Ha ha. No seriously. It's honestly not as hard as it sounds. It's easier to read than it is to unerstand it spoken. Here's a taste: "O our Scots nables wer richt laith/To weet their cork-heiled schoone;/Bot lang owre a' the play wer playd,/Their hats they swam aboone." I'll let you think about that one for a little bit.

Community Journalism: Over 97% of newspapers in the U.S. are considered small (less than 50,000 circulation). And they're thriving. Apparently Asheville has a bunch of them. There are 190 in North Carolina. I guess that's where I'll be looking for a job in a few months.

Overall, a pretty good day. It's not going to be as easy as last semester, but I think I can handle that.

On a quick sidenote, check out this headline from the Washington Post: Economy Made Few Gains in Bush Years. No.... Way to break that big story, WaPo!!!

Now I need to get to all that reading. Yay classes!

Picture from www.backoftheclass.net

Yes, I am still alive

In this internet age, it's scary how disconnected and alone you can feel when you don't have a functioning computer for a few weeks. I feel like I haven't talked to my friends, have no idea what is going on in the world and have neglected all of my loyal followers on this wonderful blog.

But never fear, my computer is back and so am I.

Here is a quick rundown of the end of 2008 and the very beginning of 2009:

Dec. 21 - Dec. 24: Scrambled like a mad man trying to get last minute Christmas shopping done, because of course I wait until the last minute along with every other male in America.

Dec. 25: Christmas with the family. Promised a MacBook, but not sure when I'll ever get it. It's looking like it will be around graduation.

Dec. 26: Left for Charlotte to meet the band and get ready for the Meineke Car Care Bowl where UNC played West Virginia.

Dec. 27: Watched an exciting game that Carolina gave away in the last five minutes with a fumble and an interception. Typical. Sang karaoke with the band. Kinda.

Dec. 28-31: Went to my girlfriend's house in Charlotte. Had great fun. Saw "Marley and Me." Only shed one tear. Got the original Star Wars movies on DVD, a sweet wallet and Obama's book. Watched football. Threw a football. Went ice skating. Ended up staying a lot longer than I planned to.

Dec. 31-Jan. 1: Went to a friend's house in Charlotte with my girlfriend to celebrate the New Year. Felt good after quite a few Knob Creek on the rocks. Kissed at the New Year. Met fun people. Shot myself in the stomach with a roman candle. Had a roman candle war with my girlfriend. She totally owned me. Finally left Charlotte on New Years Day.

Jan. 3: Went to Greensboro with the girlfriend to have Christmas with my mom's family. Got a tent. Played dirty santa. Started out with a pressure cooker, but it got stolen and ended up with a beautiful painting of the bell tower in Chapel Hill. Ate good food. Played a lot of Guitar Hero with my cousins.

Jan. 4: Came back to Chapel Hill. Watched the UNC basketball team fall apart against Boston College. Cussed a lot. Went out to Franklin Street with some friends to make it all better.

And here we are, back in the present. I have pictures of some of this stuff, but I just got the computer back and haven't taken the time to put them all on here. It will happen soon enough and they will show up on my Flickr.

I'll be updating regularly again, assuming that I don't collapse under the stress of a new semester. Or the stress of graduating. Or the stress of finding a job.

I will leave you with the link to a very interesting story that I found in the News and Observer today. It's about a teacher who marries a homeless man. Hilarity ensues. Enjoy.

Merry New Year.