The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 31, 2005, Image 1
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wivw.dailygamecock.com MONDAY, JANUARY 31,2005_ Since 1908
V-Day carnival to benefit women’s shelter
By THOMAS CHANDLER
THE GAMECOCK
Nobody plays the vagina game.
“People love to say the word ‘penis,’”
said fourth-year print journalism
student and V-Day organizer Gabrielle
Sinclair.
“I mean, guys play the penis game
because it’s fun. And people need to
realize that the word ‘vagina’ is just as
fun.”
Armed with vagina balloons, vagina
cookies and vagina coloring books, USC
student volunteers are working to raise
awareness of violence against women
with USC’s first Vagina Carnival.
The celebration of V-Day — the V
stands for Valentine’s, victory and vagina
— began as a complement to Eve Ensler’s
“The Vagina Monologues,” an Obie
award-winning play based on hundreds
of interviews with women, dealing with
everything from menstruation to gang
rape to triple orgasms. It’s since taken on
a life of its own, as colleges and
community groups across the country
and around the world have celebrated V
Day as part of a growing movement to
end violence against women.
Performances of “The Vagina
Monologues” will be Feb. 12, 13 and 14
at 7 p.m. at Gambrell Hall Auditorium.
The production is student directed, with
about 20 students and faculty
performers.
The Vagina Carnival will offer a
variety of craft activities, informational
booths and games on Greene Street Feb.
9 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Students will be able to finger paint
in vagina coloring books, sample vagina
themed baked goods and buy T-shirts
and tickets for “The Vagina
Monologues.”
The Women Students Association,
Student Government and several local
businesses are sponsoring the event in
conjunction with the V-Day campaign
and “The Vagina Monologues.” All
proceeds from the carnival and the
performance will benefit The Women’s
Shelter on North Main Street. Kathy
Riley, who runs the shelter, will
represent the beneficiary, and students
can make Valentine’s Day cards for the
women and children who stay there.
South Carolina was recently ranked
first in the nation in rates of domestic
abuse.
Co-organizer Elyn Blackman, a first
year graduate English literature and
library science student, said the Vagina
Carnival is just what USC needs.
“The play itself is very shocking but
you have to buy a ticket to be shocked
by it. Because of the fact that everyone is
not going to see the play, it’s important
to get this in-your-face,” Blackman said.
“The approach is not to be brash or
politically shocking. It’s supposed to be
a fun thing. The vagina and women’s
issues shouldn’t shock people, and we
should be able to discuss them.”
USC has played host to the
“Monologues” three times and raised
about $20,000 for different
organizations helping women. They
group hopes to raise $6,000 this year.
This is the first time the carnival, along
with a free self-defense class, trivia night
in Five Points and an open mic night,
have been incorporated on campus.
Sinclair said one goal is to extend the
international V-Day movement into a
“V-Week” on campus and set a
precedent for a wider celebration of V
Day, since USC is “already pretty vagina
friendly.”
“We need to have more events every
year, do something that takes this to the
next level, gets people talking.”
WSA president Rachel Bowman, a
third-year biology student, said she
♦ Please see CARNIVAL, page 4
" .. ._
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Second-year biology student Rachel Bowman puts the finishing
touches on a giant fabric vagina to be used during the carnival.
Student abroad
finds comfort,
culture in France
^ By MEGAN MOXIE
THE GAMECOCK
GRENOBLE, France — Second-year
economics and history student Austin
Bersinger said he always thought that by
studying abroad he was going to have to
adapt to a new culture. Little did he
know this adjustment would begin in
the United States.
He first tasted the passive bureaucracy
of the French culture while applying for
his student visa. After receiving his visa
two days late, he caught the next flight
out of the United States and was finally
on his way to France.
Landing in Paris, he had barely
enough time to walk down the Champs
D’Elysee before meeting with the other
students participating in the EU Study
Abroad Program. The group then
caught a train for the final leg of its trip
here, a small city in the Rhone-Alps
region near the Italy’s border.
After a hectic three days, Bersinger
arrived at his home for the next five
months, ready to relax.
“All I wanted was a shower,” he said.
“I felt like I was giving a dog a bath, but
really it was me.” French showers
resemble tubs with removable
showerheads. Bersinger went to bed
feeling a little disoriented.
The feeling wore off as he began to
get used to his new environment. By the
end of the first weekend in Grenoble, he
even discovered a rough equivalent to
Five Points.
Bersinger said one bar in particular,
the London Pub, made him feel at home
with its friendly, English-speaking
environment.
Although he is beginning his life in
France, Bersinger still wonders what he
is missing at USC this semester. But he
said he thinks the toughest paif is over.
“The hardest part was getting here,”
he said. “Now that that’s over, I have
thoroughly enjoyed every moment. The
people are really nice. The scenery is
picturesque and the boarding is to die
for. I have really learned an extreme
amount in a short amount of time.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu
USC alumnus shoots
horror movie in L.A.
By LIZ SKELLY
thegamec«x:k
With numerous locally produced
films under his belt, USC alumnus Jeff
Miller has just finished shooting his first
movie made in Los Angeles, Calif.
“It's probably going to be R-rated”
Miller said of Jolly Roger,” his new
horror film.
Miller, who graduated from USC in
1992 with a degree in media arts, was
involved in several projects during his
college career, including the short film
“Effugium” which played at Columbia’s
Colossal Film Crawl in the early 1990s.
Jeff Miller’s latest film, Jolly Roger,
is a ghost pirate movie set in the modern
day. It is the story of a pirate who comes
back from the dead to terrorize a small
coastal town. With funding just less
than 5500,000, the film is a kind of
“low budget alternative to ‘Pirates of the
Caribbean, Miller said.
7 he movie’s main director, Gary
Jones, also co-wrote the film with
Miller. Jones directed episodes of TV
shows such as Xena” and “Hercules,” as
well as movies such as “Mosquito,”
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
S.C. native Jeff Miller just
finished filming “Jolly Roger."
“Spiders,” and “Crocodile 2.” Miller
said Jones was a good guy to work with.
Miller also said it’s easier to become
involved with filmography in Los
Angeles, Calif., than Columbia, but it’s
still hard to sell scripts.
With “Jolly Roger” now in the
editing stages, Miller feels the feature
will be released soon.
We’re told by the company that it
will come out July 26 to video,” he said.
His next project, “The Last Horror
Picture Show,” is a take-off of the 1971
film, “The Last Picture Show.”
♦ Please see MILLER, page 5
ICE, ICE BABY
JASON STEELMANfl-HE GAMECOCK
Icicles dangled from this statue's eyes at Maxcy-Gregg Park after Friday's storm. The ice created hazardous driving conditions.
Class cancellation too late
for Saturday commuters
By TAYLOR SMITH
S^AFF WRITER
A late notice of class cancellation
left some USC students out in the
cold Saturday morning, as they
drove to classes through the
remnants of Friday night’s ice storm.
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, USC
released a “hazardous weather
notification” which notified students
and faculty that all university
campuses (excluding Beaufort) were
closed. Half an hour earlier, the last
regularly scheduled class had started.
Some professors were able to alert
students of specific class closures via
Blackboard or e-mail, but some were
not.
Lauren Vincent, a fourth-year
public relations student, had a class
in the Jones Physical Science
building at 9 *a.m., so she woke up
half an hour earlier and checked to
see if her English 463 class was
cancelled.
“I looked online and looked at
the USC Web site and it didn’t say
anything,” Vincent said. “There was
stuff on W1S about church activity
closures, but nothing about USC
classes.”
Vincent walked to class, and after
noticing ice patches on the road,
talked to students in her class who
told her about the wrecked vehicles
they saw on the roadways.
“They said they saw accidents,
but they came anyway,” she said.
Despite the absence of almost half
her class, Vincent said the four-hour
session went smoothly.
“There was stuff online when I
got back after class at about 1:30,”
Vincent said. “I saw the advisory,
and I am just a little bitter about it. I
don’t understand why it was an hour
and a half late.”
Vincent said she doesn’t hold the
professor accountable for what
happened, but she wonders why the
school didn’t notify her until she
returned from her class.
“What is the point of it,” Vincent
said. “Most people had already made
a point to come or not by 10:30.”
First-year graduate student
Jeremy Whitmire decided not to
come to USC on Saturday.
Whitmire, who has a class every
other Saturday, was thankful not to
go anywhere.
“I did feel glad to not drive,”
Whitmire said. “I am not sure what
the conditions were, but I know I
would not have wanted to.”
Whitmire is attending the Social
Work graduate school while living in
Chester, S.C. He said the hour-long
drive is close enough to take a chance
on classes being cancelled, but he
would appreciate warning.
“If I would have gone Saturday, I
would have wanted there to be a
delay,” Whitmire said. “A little more
advance notice in the future would
definitely be helpful.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknews@gTrm.se. edu
IN THIS ISSUE
♦ THE MIX
Ready or not
Does “Hide and Seek” live up
to the hype? Marjorie Riddle
explores the pros and cons of
this thriller starring Robert De
Niro and Dakota Fanning.
t 4
Page 8
♦ SPORTS
Gatorbait in
Sunshine State
USC continues to struggle
on the road, losing to the
Florida in Gainesville and
remaining winless away
from home.
Page 10
WEATHER
♦ TODAY ♦TUE.
High 52 High 50
Low 31 Low 28
FOR EXTENDED FORECAST. SEE PAGE 2.
INDEX
Comics and Crossword..9
Classifieds.12
Horoscopes...9
Letters to the Editor..6
Online Poll..6
Police Report..!. 2