Los Angeles

May 20 2010

The exotification of lesbianism

While attending a fashion show hosted by a campus modeling troupe something stuck out to me. There were many scenes involving girl-on-girl interaction but no scenes involving male-on-male interaction. Mentally, I made a note of this because one has to wonder why homosexuality in women is acceptable on a college campus but when it comes to men, it’s unacceptable.
It’s not just modeling troupes who perpetuate the double-standard of homosexuality, either, as on campus, I have seen dance groups guilty of this as well.

C. Alexander Haywood   |   OW Staff Writer
May 20 2010

No practice equals no perfection

In addition to being arguably some of the greatest players in the history of basketball, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Kobe Bean Bryant and numerous others, all have something in common that is widely considered to be old-fashioned, yet still needed in today’s game.
Let me enlighten you: Modern ball players—at the collegiate and professional level—lack (yes, lack) a firm grasp of the offensive and defensive fundamentals of the game.

May 20 2010

Words Can Describe

My hearts been lifted, she is so beautiful
It’s as if she existed before things were written
If love was a prison, give me a life sentence
It would take a lifetime to describe her existence
Some kinda love, something warm, something beautiful
She’s the eclipse in the sky
I don’t use a box with the hole cut out to observe
I’m blind due to her love
I’ll use my heart instead of my eyes
She obscures the ills of the world
With her divine intervention

C. Alexander Haywood   |   OW Staff Writer
May 13 2010

President picks Elena Kagan

President Barack Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court on Monday, declaring her “one of the nation’s foremost legal minds.”

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
May 13 2010

The consequences of perception

Two fourth grade twin boys Jacen and Jorden Edwards were suspended from school recently because of their haircuts. They both have a line shaved into their heads, which their parents identify as a part, but Randolph Howell Elementary School in Tennessee considered the line a gang symbol.
In different cities across the country, specifically Mansfield and Decambre, Louisiana, the first state to enact the law, you can now be fined, and/or arrested for sagging pants.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.