A Different Kind of Derby Girl: Midterm Project

Katie Hoff, or Hoff the Chain as she is called in the derby world, is team captain of the South Central Derby Girls of Davis and Ada, Oklahoma and the mother goose of her team. Organizing bouts, looking out for teammates and making it all flow are second-hand to her. However, she is not your typical mom. Bruises are her trophies, and she practices giving and taking hits. Teammate and close friend Pamela Chapman whose derby alias is Lolo Beach can testify to this. Every Sunday, the team practices at the Arbuckle Ballroom in Davis, Oklahoma. They graciously allowed me to watch them at work.


VIDEO: Catherine Combes, Runtime 1:39

Full Circle SOP Slide Show

VIDEO: Catherine Combes, Runtime 1:11

Full Circle Bookstore, one of my favorite places, is an independent bookstore in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This slide show takes viewers through the store through images and audio.

Internet Privacy Becoming Issue of Foreign Policy

Chris Soghoian urged companies to stop storing private data. He spoke Tuesday morning about the dangers of government surveillance through corporations and social media companies. The event was part of a symposium held at the University of Oklahoma titled “The Future of Privacy in a Socially Networked World”.

Soghoian works in Washington, D.C. to educate policy makers.
PHOTO: Matt Dyer

Soghoian, Principal Technologist and Senior Policy Analyst with the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, explained that the United States government legally requires companies to hand over any requested personal information that clients entrust to them in an effort to monitor criminal activity.

“Something that, 20 years ago, would have required an FBI agent to go out into the field to discover, can now be done from the comfort of [an agent’s] desk,” said Soghoian.

Soghoian claims the current Internet privacy policy is wrong because citizens have no option except to present their information to companies who have to release it to the government.

Specifically of Facebook, Soghoian says, “Their business model is to screw you, and then apologize later. You don’t have a choice. It’s Facebook or the highway. And that means not knowing what’s going on.

The issue is not just an infringement upon personal privacy. Soghoian pointed to China’s recent hacking of major U.S. companies as well as the 2005 Athen’s Affair where an outside force hacked the phones of several high-ranking Greek officials including the prime minister.

There was limited seating in the Gaylord Auditorium Tuesday.
PHOTO: Matt Dyer

According to socialbakers.com, over 163 million U.S. citizens have a Facebook profile. Alex Dean, a junior broadcasting major at OU, is one of them.

“I had just never thought about how our lack of privacy transcends borders,” says Dean. “Online, we really are all one nation.”

Soghoian pointed out near the end of Tuesday’s event that Internet privacy will become more question of foreign policy and less of civil liberties in the future. More information about Soghoian’s work can be found at www.aclu.org/protecting-civil-liberties-digital-age. 

Students seek employment at university career fair

Hundreds of hopeful students met with potential employers at the University of Oklahoma’s annual Spring Career Fair. Attracting over 1,100 participants, the fair gave students the opportunity to stand out to employers from the teeming crowd of candidates. This year, 97 organizations attended, an unusually high number according to the event’s co-sponsor OU Career Services.

This career fair comes at an imperative time. The United States Department of Labor reports that unemployment among Millenials rose in January 2013 to 13.1 percent, the highest the statistic has been since the summer of 2012.

Energy corporations such as Lyondell Basell attended
PHOTO: Catherine Combes

OU Career Services Director Bette Scott claims students cannot afford to be too specific in the current job market.

“Your first job is just your first job,” Scott states. “It’s not where you’ll end up when you’re retired. You take that [first job] and the activities you are a part of and go on to the next job”.

Though Career Services provides many helpful tools and information, the process of finding employment remains daunting for graduates.

“Students wait too long to start their job search,” notes Scott. “They should’ve spent their whole senior year learning about the job process. It’s scary, and they don’t know what they want to do. So they put it off.”

Senior general management major Isabel Nierwinski is an example. She did not begin her job search until the spring semester and came to Wednesday’s fair hoping to connect with her future employer.

“The biggest challenge is getting over the fear and intimidation of talking to all these people,” claims Nierwinski. “Once you do, though, it’s not such a big deal.”

General management continues to be a growing field. Nierwinski remains optimistic about finding her first job and is not worried about the possibility of looking to other fields for employment.

“[General management] is what I’ve been going to school for for the past four years,” she asserts. “If I had to [look into other career fields], I would, but I want to try to find something that matches my interests and what I stand for.”

Not everyone, however, is as fortunate. OU Career Services encourages all students, no matter what year or major, to come by their offices on the third floor of the Oklahoma Memorial Union for help in preparing for life after graduation. Students can also find helpful tools and information at their website www.ou.edu/career. 

PWOP/SOP Assignment

 Kaila's Armor PHOTO: Catherine Combes

Old Science Hall PHOTO: Catherine Combes

Visiting Medievalist Reminds Norman, History Is Still Important

A visiting Medievalist reminded audiences of the value of antiquity this past Friday evening. Dressed in medieval garb, Dr. Stephen Law presented a slide show of his trip to the Bygdøy Viking Ship Museum in Norway to an audience of about 50 at the Norman Public Library. Local Medieval scholars in conjunction with the Norman Medieval Fair organized the event as part of a free Medieval Fair lecture series.

Liberal arts education budgets have shrunk over the past five years across the country and in Oklahoma. Law, however, continues to study the ancient past, making it tangible for his students at the University of Central Oklahoma and in his personal life.

“There’s nothing like being there. People can tell you all about Delhi, but until you actually go, you won’t understand why it’s worth the pilgrimage.”

Law used several of the 660 pictures he took at the museum of its three Viking boats the Oseberg, the Gokstad and the Tune to explain the Vikings’ evolution in naval technology. He says, “It was an honor to stand in the awe and majesty of the boats themselves.”

A regular at the Norman Medieval Fair, Law often showcases the small Viking faering boat he built in his garage according to medieval models. A sommelier of Viking Age beer, Law hosts tastings at the fair and the annual meeting of the International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Event coordinator Dr. Joe Sullivan says Law is dedicated to “recapturing and reliving the past” as he “marries the book knowledge with the practical and hands-on.” Sullivan, a professor of German Medieval Literature at the University of Oklahoma, collaborates with Dr. Joyce Coleman, a Medieval Literature professor at the University of Oklahoma, to invite medieval scholars from around the state to share their knowledge with the Norman public.

Though the lecture series is free, many in Friday evening’s crowd were Medieval Fair cast members or local medieval scholars. Dr. Amber Rose, a Classics and Letters professor at the University of Oklahoma, attended because of her academic interest.

“Any investigation of the past is worthwhile. Understanding what our values are and what we share as a culture are important.”

The Norman Medieval Fair would like to encourage the public to get involved. More information about the next lecture event and the Medieval Fair can be found at www.medievalfair.org.

Idle No More Takes Protests to Oklahoma State Capitol

A local group of Idle No More protesters will march around the Oklahoma State Capitol this Monday, January 28. The group of Native Americans and environmentally conscious citizens will protest in solidarity with the international grassroots movement Idle No More as well as raise key local issues in an event titled Land of the Red Man. The procession will include Native hand drummers, singers and other participants and will begin at 11 a.m. at the corner of Northeast 16^th Street and Lincoln Boulevard. Land of the Red Man organizers predict the event to be the largest Idle No More event held in Oklahoma thus far. At the time of publication, over 380 participants had joined the event’s Facebook page.

Idle No More is a response to two major omnibus bills passed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his administration. Bill C-45, in particular, amends several pieces of Canadian legislation that directly relate to the indigenous First Nations. Its revision of the Navigable Waters Protection Act permits the construction of works including bridges and pipelines across and along navigable waterways with government approval. Additionally, it revises the Indian Act to allow tribes to lease their lands by a majority vote of the present members at any tribal meeting or referendum. Before the bill, tribes could only lease their lands by a majority vote of the majority of all voting tribal members. Prime Minister Harper has argued that Bill C-45 and his other omnibus bills are essential to stimulate Canada’s slumping economy. 

Idle No More protesters are not so certain. Land of the Red Man participant, Kimberly Roppolo says, “When I first heard of this going on in Canada, a major red flag went up for me. The tribes are going to lose their land. It’s like the Dawes Act here [in the United States]. It will force this land into private ownership.” Roppolo, a former Alberta resident, has several friends directly affected by Bill C-45 and first learned of the legislation via Facebook. Several Land of the Red Man participants are tying local issues to the movement and to Monday’s event. Brenda Golden, one of the primary event organizers, claims the water issue in Oklahoma remains a concern as tribes fight for the rights to the resources on their own lands. The Keystone XL pipeline is another major issue. TransCanada Corporation submitted a revised application for the pipeline that addresses major environmental concerns to the Obama administration in early September 2012. Bill C-45 may appear irrelevant to Oklahomans. However, the crude oil Keystone XL would transport is pumped from northern Alberta. The Keystone Pipeline System cannot be built across any Canadian waterways without the passage of Bill C-45. Native American protesters are concerned that the pipeline will cut across Midwestern tribal lands. The problem of receiving sufficient, balanced press coverage persists for Idle No More in both Canada and the U.S. Monday's protesters planned the march around the Oklahoma State Capitol to voice these issues. “There’s a captive audience,” says Golden. “They have no choice but to hear us.”

Rance Weryackwe, a citizen of the Comanche Nation and son of the late Suzanne Sockey Lester, former chair of the now defunct Oklahoma Human Rights Commission, claims the questions at stake affect all humanity, not just indigenous tribes, because they involve protecting accepted ways of living. “On Native lands, a lot of times, mines are on sacred sites. People can relate to that. Like if there was a historical church, and someone came and took everything and left just the frame.” For Weryackwe, the reason behind Land of the Red Man and other local protests is to serve posterity. “We’re not thinking about what we’re leaving our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” he claims. “I have a daughter, and what am I leaving her? A bunch of chaos.”

Oklahoma law makers will be confronted with the Land of the Red Man clamor as they go to lunch Monday. They and the state’s other citizens have several questions to consider. Though Oklahoma’s economy is currently better than most, is it in the state’s best interest to not consider the tribes’ rights to resources when the 38 tribes contribute an estimated $10.8 billion to the state economy every year? Is it a smart decision to allow a major petroleum pipeline to be built across Oklahoma when the state has experienced a dramatic increase in seismic activity in the last five years?  What are Oklahomans willing to sacrifice for the sake of making a profit?