Uni High Gargoyle Staff Blog

This is Jono talking. I don’t know what the rest of you think about this really, but I’ve been considering Saddam Hussein’s execution, and I can’t settle on an opinion. On the one hand, he was a maniac, right? He killed and tortured G-d knows how many innocent people as an insane dictator who was in possession of WMD’s (at some point, at least). But on the other hand, the humanitarian argument aside, I’m not sure executing him was a good tactical move.

Considering that, when we entered Iraq, the plan was to secure a quick victory—once Saddam was captured, especially, there would be no real resistance to US forces; what little there was would quickly decentralize and collapse. But as we all now know (and as some of us were saying back then), that was about as far from the reality of the situation as the Bush Administration could’ve gotten.

So when I consider Saddam’s execution, I don’t really see it as proving (and certainly not curing) anything. I’ll admit that I’m not an expert on the Middle East, but the way I see it, the best-case scenario here is that nothing changes, because none of the guerrillas combating US troops in Iraq really care about Saddam Hussein’s survival; the worst-case is an immense backlash.

Granted, events could play out completely differently, and I could look back on this post in six months and scoff at my stupidity. But while I admit that’s a possibility, I don’t really believe it. Maybe Saddam truly did deserve to die—I really don’t know and it’s not my place to make those decisions—but I don’t think that it was necessarily a good move.

— Jono

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Some of you may know of Toothpastefordinner.com as an online webcomic. I was looking through it today I found this particular entry from a few days ago. I think it’s kind of funny:

http://toothpastefordinner.com/121606/found-to-do-list.gif

The end.

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dana and I have interviewed Patton and Kovacs for an article about diversity vs. standards at Uni, and we have basically found that they’re claiming that standards are not being compromised for achieving diversity (minorities, and low-income students), which is fine but I think it means that that we should change the focus of the article.

Instead we should write about this from the perspective of the changes to application for incoming students. The essay questions are difficult/harder and the teacher recommendations are different and discuss how diversity is now a larger priority with Patton when it comes to admissions than it was with previous directors.

Patton and Kovacs both raised interesting points that they wouldn’t ever accept a student to fill a “diversity quota” who they didn’t think could graduate. Sarah’s doing a really interesting story about GPAs of minorities and how in the ’80s there was a surge of kids who weren’t qualified who got accepted, and I think that would tie in really nicely.

— Shivani Khanna

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I told 4th hour about this article. It was in the New York Times Magazine recently. Everyone should read this whether or not they have an interest in writing about anorexia.

Here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/magazine/26anorexia.html?ex=1166072400&en=6a1c1b04e6eae757&ei=5070

— Devika Bagchi

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yeah, I know! But the support group thing can be seen in two totally different ways. On one hand, it’s terrible that they exist. Anorexia is not something anyone should be helped with. But on the other hand, is it better for these girls that they’re not going through it alone? Wouldn’t it be a lot harder for them emotionally if they had to hide it from everyone, and then not have anyone to turn to?

And these girls are so caught in this mindset that they’re fat, ugly people that they would keep going with the eating disorder even if they didn’t have support.

I mean, I agree with Devika completely that it’s terrifying that girls are being told by other girls that anorexia is okay, but a common theme that I’ve seen on several xangas is something along the lines of, “K, if you’re ana, then I’ve got awesome tips for you. But if you’re not, you probably shouldn’t start,” or something like that. So I guess in their own little messed up way, they’re trying to discourage others? I don’t know.

But ALSO (this is turning out to be really long, I’m sorry), I get the feeling that lots of these girls really want attention. If you’re anorexic, your self-esteem has got to be pretty low already; I mean, the disease makes you think you’re fat even if you look like a skeleton. The communities let them think, “Oh, other people are going through this too, and they support me. I have people I can turn to for help.”

The only problem is that they’re being supported for the wrong reasons.

— Michelle Gao

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well the fact that there are these support systems is the very issue that scares me. This isn’t good support. This is incredibly unhealthy support. I mean, if you have an eating disorder, listening to people tell you that it’s okay to be starving yourself is not going to help. I don’t really personally know, but I feel like if someone had an ed, they wouldn’t want to hear how wrong they were… that wouldn’t help. But friends, family, doctors, etc. can support them with love and positive support. The fact that there are online communities where people are hearing that it’s ok for them to hurt their bodies and themselves is incredibly scary. Now they have somewhere to turn without anyone else’s knowledge (I mean anyone else in their circle of friends, etc.), to get encouragement to continue hurting themselves.

All that was kind of redundant. Sorry.

— Devika Bagchi

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It scares me how they call anorexia “Ana” and Bulimia “Mia.” I don’t think I’m ever going to like those two names very much for a while. And the girls in these groups… I’m not sure what they want more, the attention and support that they’re getting, or thinness. It’s probably both.

I mean, the fact that there’s a support system so that they don’t have to go through it alone is good, but it’s… not.

— Michelle Gao

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For anyone interested in the legal issues surrounding Gossip Girl: this is an article from the Christian Science Monitor I saw a while back (February ‘06). It talks about the role schools should play in addressing offensive content on students’ online postings:

Schools grapple with policing students’ online journals

In an accompanying poll of about 400 readers, a little over half said that schools should allow student blogging, claiming that students have the same right to free speech as adults. 31.9% said that schools should step in if a student posts something offensive; 15.9% were in favor of banning students’ online postings altogether.

— Jason He

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don’t know how I really feel about the whole issue with some schools being 50% Asian. I do think, however, that this is a good issue to address, since diversity has become a huge issue in Uni. It’s really interesting to me that Bethany just wrote a column about coming from an all-white community to a diverse one at Uni, and that now we’re hearing about communities where the majority is Asian students.

Compared to both situations, I feel more and more like Uni is an incredibly diverse school, racially if not socioeconomically.

I don’t really know what my point is… I guess just the fact that diversity has become a hot topic at Uni this year with the MSA and USEA and everything, but in all honesty, we do have a pretty wide range of students.

What do you guys think? Comment please.

— Devika Bagchi

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In an earlier entry, Andrea wrote:

“Why do I feel so uncomfortable with the fact that 50% of some school populations are Asian?”

Actually, I feel a little odd about it, too. Asians are supposed to be a minority. The fact that the population of Asians at schools is 50% is kind of an odd feeling, like WHOA! Asians really are taking over the world!

I don’t know. I mean, I do feel weird about it, I just can’t figure out exactly why.

— Michelle Gao

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just looked at that xanga site… and i cannot even begin to comprehend what i just saw. This girl’s life revolves completely around her weight. I read the first couple of posts, and every single one lists how much her calorie intake is and how much she burned off, and of course how much she weighs. Apparently she wants to get down to 100 lbs before her boyfriend comes back, and right now she’s at 106, so we should “PRAYYYYY for me haha.”

So after I looked at her blog, I started flipping through the different groups or rings that this girl is in, and there are some really scary things. One girl says:

“I want to be thin, I need legs that don’t touch, a tummy that does not stick out, and hip bones so sharp they can cut butter.”

I know I’m stating the obvious, but that is NOT healthy.

Oh and here’s the link to another girl’s blog:

www.xanga.com/FastingDiary

Scroll down past all the pictures to the “Ana alphabet”, which, from what I gathered, is the Anorexia Alphabet.

I didn’t even know that there were essentially communities online where people could trade eating disorder tips and give other people with anorexia, bulemia, etc. support for what they’re doing. This is probably fueling their disorder, not to mention giving them encouragement for hurting themselves.

What do you guys think?

— Devika Bagchi

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Erin and I are doing a pretty big story package on body-image, and how to define healthy. I went and Googled “thinspiration,” and I found this girl’s xanga website. If you click on her friends, they’re basically an anorexic community. They have tips on how to suppress your appetite, pictures of really REALLY thin people, and I basically I feel like I need to go order a large pizza right now, and eat it all myself. I’m in…. I don’t know, total shock? That sounds about right.

Here is the link: www.xanga.com/ItsNotTheEnd

— Michelle Gao

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check this article out: Surge in Asian Enrollment Alters Schools

Why do I feel so uncomfortable with the fact that 50% of some school populations are Asian? Isn’t it a good thing that finally white students/people are in the minority? Having 50% of the school population Asian probably reflects the world’s race population breakdown better than other schools where over 50% of the population is white…right? It’s especially weird that I’m weirded (haha) out about this because I am asian.

Please give me your input—do you feel the same way? Is it “racist” of me to be uncomfortable (and almost disturbed) that 50% of school populations are Asian?

Comments would be much appreciated. spanks!

— Andrea Park

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)