Pollen for you
The (North Carolina State University) campus has been covered by record amounts of pollen this week; Wednesday’s level was 3,524 pollen grains per cubic meter.
As bad as the pollen is, it will soon be swept away by spring showers. The litter and other campus pollutants, like cigarette butts, will remain unless students and the entire university community make a real effort to eliminate them.
Raleigh’s (N.C.) pollen count hit the highest level in recorded history Wednesday with 3,524 pollen grains per cubic meter. The trees released their wrath on the campus — it was anything but good. Students and faculty alike have walked about sneezing, with running noses and blood-shot eyes, due to nature’s version of a hot and fast, reproductive romance.
There’s not much students can do about pollen, though Thursday night’s thunderstorms may help a little. But, we can clean up the rest of campus.
When the tree pollen finally clears in a couple weeks, the campus will return to its normal self; its normal litter and cigarette-butt-covered self.
The university consistently ranks well in sustainability competitions and recyclable collecting with programs like WE Recycle, but we still struggle with some basic littering issues. A walk around campus — or worse, its fringes — easily exemplifies this problem and shows the necessity for some basic campus renewal.
Service Raleigh and other programs like it during the year are great steps to keep these problems down, but they shouldn’t have to be solutions. Students and administration must make a better effort to facilitate the cleanliness of campus in its most basic sense.
It you’re smoking a cigarette — 25 feet from the nearest building, of course — make an effort to put the butt in one of the receptacles; if one isn’t readily available, request one be put there.
If you see trash lying on the ground, don’t just walk over it as if you hadn’t seen it. Pick it up.
Large campus beautification projects are long and complex processes. Cleaning up the campus doesn’t take nearly the same amount of time.
The awful yellow sheet on the ground will soon be gone, but the litter in students’ midst won’t unless they make an effort to be the change.
“”The pollen is just the cover,””
North Carolina State University Technician’s editorial board, April 9
Badu romance
Erykah Badu. Her name is synonymous with good music, alternative thought processes, and now, a naked stunt. Most students can admit to growing up listening to Badu’s profound, thought-provoking music, and hearing about her unusual behavior, for example, her unconventional fashion sense, or the fact that she named her first-born son “”Seven”” in honor of “”the divine number which can’t be divided.”” There’s no denying that the woman is a fascinating individual and an extremely talented artist. In a time when the vast majority of musical artists look and sound the same, she stands out as a real talent.
After enduring her achingly long hiatus, fans were excited to learn she was releasing her first studio album in years and even more excited to see what she would decided to film for her first video to “”Window Seat,”” a track on her recently released album. In what she explained to the press after the video’s release as a dedication to one of her heroes, John F. Kennedy, Badu walked through Dallas’s crowded Dealey Plaza, stripping naked and falling to the ground as if she’d been shot. The five minute video was shot guerilla style, meaning there was no permit, closed set or warning for the shoppers and bystanders witnessing her strip show.
Initially, no one pressed charges for her naked demonstration. But at the persistent urging of Dallas officials, a witness whose two small children saw the show decided to go ahead and press charges on the grounds that Badu’s nudity offended her children. Badu has been fined $500 for her performance.
The controversial video was shot March 13. Her album was released March 30. The press and attention, whether positive or negative, is huge when you strip naked and fall on the ground in the middle of a public shopping area. Everyone from hosts of morning radio shows to hip-hop gossip bloggers to national news networks were talking about it.
We’re not saying Badu wasn’t attempting to prove a point with her naked demonstration. We’re just saying that it was perfectly timed to coincide with the release of her first album in two years. People would’ve bought her album regardless of whether or not she decided to strip in front of innocent pedestrians. It was a blatant publicity stunt; people all over the country who might have never heard her name before this now know exactly who she is.
She doesn’t have to act like she was simply paying homage to one of her heroes. We know she also did it to get some easy publicity, and a $500 fine is a small price to pay for the huge amount of attention she’s received, and more importantly, potentially higher album sales.
“”Staff Editorial: Artist’s Nudity for Protest or Publicity?,””
The Howard University Hilltop editorial board, April 7
