BGLSA students at USC discuss Sochi, LGBT issues

By Jennifer Iler 
February 28, 2014
Last Edited: March 5, 2014

The Winter Olympics brought plenty of Bronze, Silver, and Gold medal winners, but it also brought pages of news stories and articles about Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law and other discriminatory acts against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community.

 Some of the latest news to come out of Sochi, before the closing ceremony, were about the detainment of LGBTQ activists, like former Italian MP Vladimir Luxuria.

Two of the most prominent LGBTQ students on campus spoke about what Sochi means for the LGBTQ community locally and as a whole.

Mason Branham, a senior at USC and former President of the Bisexual Gay Lesbian Straight Alliance (BGLSA), identifies as queer, and said the only label he’d prefer to go by is his full name. 

“I think of [queer] as almost a label without a label,” he said. Branham thinks there was too much coverage of LGBTQ issues in Sochi, with some human rights violations obviously being more newsworthy than others.

“We’re sort of a culture here that is saturated with LGBT news, both positive and negative,” said Branham, who locally advocates for LGBTQ rights. “People love to talk about gay stuff, it’s polarizing.”

      One subject that isn’t getting a lot of media coverage, according to Branham, is gender identity, particularly transgender and transsexual identities. Equality for trans* people is something the BGLSA has been working on with the Residence Hall Association through the concept of gender neutral housing.

“I doubt an individual on the street could tell you the difference between a transsexual and transgender individual. You say Pre-Op and Post-Op to someone, and they would probably ask you to define that.” he said. 

“A lot of real change is always kind of an upheaval, and it’s realistic to know and to recognize that you’ll probably take two steps back for that one step forward,” said Kaitlyn Jones, current President of BGLSA. “And you have to be patient and keep persevering and eventually it will become three steps forward and maybe a half step backwards. And it’s just… it’s a realistic way to get to our goal.”

Jones thinks the key to achieving equality for LGBTQ individuals is by finding more allies - people who are willing to stand with the movement and be supporters regardless of their sexual orientation or personal preferences.

Branham also said the Olympics should be about the talents of the Olympians, not about anyone’s sexual identity. Jones agrees that the Olympics should have been centered more on the athletes than equality issues.

LGBTQ and heterosexual students alike here at the University of South Carolina can choose to join BGLSA where they can receive support from other students of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and allies. The student organization is a safe place to celebrate LGBTQ history and learn a multitude of skills to help deal with sexual health, identity issues, and other problems they may encounter while attending the university, while building a community among the LGBTQ individuals. 

USC prides itself on being an inclusive and diverse campus which abides by its Carolinian Creed. Last year, the BGLSA won the Student Organization of the Year Award.

A One-Two Punch

Goose Creek recovers from back to back loss of soldiers, friends

Jennifer Iler
November 26, 2012
Last Edited: February 22, 2014

            Two Goose Creek High School graduates and United States Army servicemen died this year, stunning the Goose Creek Gator Battalion cadets. Both Private First Class Julian Colvin, 21, and Specialist Francisco Serrano, 21, participated in GCHS's JROTC and served in the United States Army after graduation. Goose Creek is a community right next to the Joint Base Naval Weapons Station. The high school is only a few minutes away from the base, so military sacrifices are a usual part of the community. Losing two very young men, however, was exceptionally hard.       

               “I was extremely upset,” said Julianna O’Shields, a Booster Club Member for the Gator Battalion. “To hear that one of our cadets had lost their life defending our freedom, hit very hard.” Her son, Sean O’Shields, graduated with Colvin from GCHS in 2010, and also participated in the JROTC program as the school’s cadet battalion commander. He’s leaving for his first deployment to Afghanistan in a couple of weeks.


          "We've been putting all these kids in the military for all these years and I'm starting to think that it's not the right thing," said Lt. Col. John McInerney, Senior Army Instructor for the Gator Battalion.

            Colvin (shown right) joined the military out of Birmingham, Al. in 2011. He went to basic training in March. Afterwards, he went to Ft. Benning to Airborne School. Colvin was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) while conducting a dismounted patrol in Afghanistan in July.

            “I still saw him as the little kid I used to play with,” said Alfred Colvin III, Julian’s brother, who also participated at GCHS’s JROTC program. “I couldn’t believe it. I can’t begin to tell you where it has led my life.”

          "He was a favorite of the children around the camp," said Lt. Col. McInerney. "He'd use extra money to buy candy and share with the kids."

          Alfred says Julian loved children and was a camp counselor at Camp North Star in Birmingham, Al. He also volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club and at the Naval Weapons Station’s Teen Center.

            Sergeant E5 JaChristopher Thompson graduated with Colvin in 2010 and was also a member of the Gator Battalion as the cadet battalion executive officer. He said, “[Julian] was the most respectful and humble person. Always smiling. He is a true hero and I wish I could be half the person he was.”

            Serrano (shown right) served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. He was home on leave when he died in a motorcycle accident.

            “Just because he didn’t die in combat doesn’t mean we weren’t going to include him [on Veteran’s Day],” said McInerney.

           The first cadet the Gator Battalion lost was Private First Class Dustin Yancey in 2007. His sister Kimberly was still in the JROTC program when her brother died, so it had a large impact on all of the kids.  Yancey was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Since Colvin died in July, many of the students at Goose Creek and members of the Gator Battalion didn’t feel the full impact until the Veteran’s Day assembly, said McInerney.

            About half of the Gator Battalion is ruled out of joining the military due to medical conditions, such as asthma and heart murmurs. The other half will typically enlist after graduation or college, if they enlist at all. A select few will get ROTC scholarships, but it doesn’t happen very often.

         “The JROTC is not a funnel program for the service; the mission is to make better citizens,” said McInerney.

          The cadets of Gator Battalion have used the loss as a wake-up call. Senior Joshua Binnarr is worried about the possible sacrifice as he gets ready to attend Basic in June. Another GCHS graduate and four year ROTC scholarship recipient at the University of South Carolina, AJ Needler, said that he’s prepared to die doing what he loves and lives for. The heavy military presence in Goose Creek is also reflected at the school itself. McInerney said, “Those flags we hang out in front of the school - If they’re not up correctly, or up on time, the principal will get quite a few phone calls.” 


            “Mr. Huskey is a veteran. Most of the teachers are veterans.” he said.

            This year the Gator Battalion is made up of 380 cadets. It usually is made up of 450, but the new seven-block schedule required the program to drop a class. Last year, the GCHS JROTC was the largest battalion in S.C.

          Lt. Col. McInerney said the community has been very fortunate to have lost so few soldiers compared to the number of soldiers they’ve put into the military.

Media Habits From a Slightly Different Time

An interview with 74 year-old Thomas Kern

By Jennifer Iler
Last Edited: February 22, 2014

            Charleston’s Thomas Kern, 74, is a man with all the gadgets: surround sound stereo system, XM Radio, Android Smart Phone, and updated HP computer. He has embraced the technology into his advancing years, but travels no farther, now, into the world of news than he did in his youth.

Thomas, or Tom, was born in Tonopah, Nevada in 1938. The first time Tom should have noticed the impact of the news media in the world would have been the droppings of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, or the red scare with the Soviet Union. But he couldn’t even pinpoint a moment in his childhood when he realized what news was.

            When asked about himself, thinking in terms of a “news consumer”, Tom said, “I am not much of a news consumer other than for weather…”

            But was he always this disassociated with the news world? I asked Tom what news media he found most important to him as a news consumer in his youth. He said, “I delivered papers in Toledo Ohio in the 1940s so I guess it was the Toledo Blade and the radio. I still use satellite radio on the way to and from work.”

           Along with this question, I asked him to tell about what he likes or doesn’t like about the news media he currently uses.

            “What I don’t like is the way some newscasters broadcast information with their view on the item – not just the news [itself]. It is biased sometimes," Tom said.

            When it comes to his news habits, he told me he barely has any. “[Rosalie, my wife] did [develop habits]. She still reads the paper every day. I will watch the news very seldom because I catch most of it on the car radio.”

It’s interesting to find a man of such an older generation that can still keep up with the fast pace of today’s best technologies. To find out what drives Tom to keep the pace, I asked him how he felt about the new wave of technology and if he’ll ever stop pushing to keep up with modern generations.

            “I guess we just go with the flow. I know there are people [out there] that still want to use horse and buggies. Life with technology is so much easier and better. Sometimes it can be much more dangerous, [when] used incorrectly. [People need to] stop and think.”  

            But what does Tom really think about the fast-moving, web-browsing, 4G Network-ing of the latest gadgets? What does he think about the young people who use them? He simply said, “Sometimes I just wish the world would just slow down and smell the rose[s]. What I mean is – stop, look, and listen. Don’t jump to immediate conclusions. Think before reacting.”

            This kind of advice hits hard with a mobile quick shooter like me. When it comes to my news, I typically scan one source and one source only. Unless I hear it in public discussion, I barely analyze what information I’m taking in. The facts I’m shoveling into my brain should be taken with a grain of salt, and Tom realizes this all too well when it comes to the younger generation of mobile news consumers.

            “I am concerned about some of our younger people and their ideas about news. They are not interested in news if it is not sports. And a lot of the sports idols that you are supposed to look up to and model yourself after have put themselves out in a way that young people shouldn’t see.” He added, “Most of the youth don’t even look or care about whom is running for president or any of the big issues confronting this country or this world.”

            This is where he would be showing his gray hair, if he had any. Actually being a member of that younger generation, I know the social media that consumes most of our time can be covered with political activists and real life point of views about the issues that young people care about. Unfortunately, I do agree that the “public forum” of discussion that takes place on social media sites tends to be based entirely on unchecked opinion, instead of facts.

            Even though he has a smart phone, Tom strays from the mobile news sources.

            “We don’t have any news apps on our phones. The newspaper and XM Radio is about all we use… and sometimes, [but] very rarely TV.” He does, however, believe that today’s technology does a better job of reporting the news than the days of just newspaper and radio.

            “...Technology has allowed them to move information faster and more reliably around the world.”

Tom said he hasn’t given much thought to the level of integrity found in today’s news media. He said, “… I hope they have more integrity now because the issues are more demanding [today].”

It seems that Thomas Kern is in much of the same position as many of today’s young people are: They are surrounded by new technologies that they don’t use to stay connected to the news media. They simply don’t invest their browsing time into the world around them. And for many people, that’s okay. For 74 year-old Tom Kern, that’s the way it’s going to be. Although news and connection seems to be important, living life in comfort and at his own pace seems to be even more important. This is just more evidence that to be technologically savvy is not necessarily equal to being engaged in news media.

It's Expensive to 'Go Hard in the Paint'

MUSC worker talks paintball, recommends the thrill

Jennifer Iler

November 16, 2012
Last Edited: February 22, 2014

                Gregory Dame sits cross legged surrounded by expensive equipment, pointing out paint stained skin from his last paintball scenario. It’s as if each hot pink splotch has a different story to tell.

            “My paintball mask stops at the chin, so when I looked up this guy just shot me right in the throat. That’s one of the places it hurts the worst,” he said.

            Dame works in transportation in the MUSC outpatient clinic in Charleston, S.C. He started playing paintball for the first time when he was 12 years old. After about two years, he quit playing the game to pursue other interests. Now he’s back again and just joined a team of 28 other active players (shown below) who avidly participate in scenario play around the state.

            
           “It’s like a really big adrenaline rush,” he said.

            Paintball is a game that’s become very popular among a variety of age groups, since its start in the 1980s. Players typically face off against another team to complete some type of objective, like capture the flag. Paintball Review lists over 1400 paintball fields across the country. However, it’s a pretty expensive hobby.

            “I’m buying a new gun on Wednesday that’s going to set me back $309. And that’s almost cheap for a paintball gun,” Greg said. “Not to mention you have to buy a case of paint each day you play a scenario. That’s $60 a day.”

            Greg estimates he’s spent about $900 already, and he’s only played two scenarios with his new teammates.

            “Scenarios are different than speedball,” he said. “In speedball you have smaller teams where you just try and shoot everyone else before you get shot. In scenarios you have really large teams and you have to complete different missions. It depends on the arena.”

            It isn’t required that individuals provide their own equipment. Arenas typically have guns, paint, air, and masks available for rent, but most people just want better gear.

            Greg (shown right) held up his $65 jersey, a part of his team uniform. “The paint comes off of my jersey pretty well. The only thing it really stains is my pants because they’re coarse to protect my legs,” he said.

            Even though the ammunition is just a ball of water-soluble polymer, the game can still be really dangerous. There are tons of rules players have to follow to make sure they don’t hurt themselves or anyone else with their guns. Players are restricted from shooting at a rate higher than 300 feet per second, to prevent injury. Wearing protective clothing like masks, which are required, and gloves makes it easier to enjoy the game without worrying about the sting of the shot. Having good quality equipment makes the game more enjoyable.

           “It’s a great game to get into. It’s just fun,” he said.

            Dame said that he likes the workout he gets playing paintball. The adrenaline rush, the anticipation of the shot, and the challenges the missions bring attracts plenty of players, of all sexes. The paintball industry saw a slight decline with the dip in the economy, but it’s hopeful that people will head to the arenas again when they have more spending money in their pockets.