Dr. Stephenson is the Chair of the Physics Department at Gettysburg College. She was gracious enough to share the below story with The Forum, with the consent of the student involved, and we are grateful for the opportunity to publish it. 

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving I met with a frazzled first-year physics student who had been juggling her ambitious courseload with her cheerleading obligations.   I assumed she was in my office, wringing her scarf and talking fast, because she was running on fumes like so many of her fellow students at this time of year.  But Alana Allen was not fatigued. She was amped up, wired. She couldn’t shake three incidents that happened to her over the past few weeks and she needed to share.

I took notes, asked questions, preparing to inform appropriate parties in College Life, giving them in this case a first-year male (a self-proclaimed Southerner) and another white male student dressed as a Civil War reenactor to scold for inappropriate comments to students of color.   I could have tracked down the students she would not name (in the first case) and could not name (in the second) and scold them myself, but the Thanksgiving break gave me perspective.  A one-on-one meeting with a white 43 year-old female professor is easy for any 18 to 21 year-old to rationalize away.  I am a meddling freakshow, one shrill voice in the wilderness.

The self-proclaimed Southern boy lives in Alana’s residence hall, a building with common spaces where she was studies with him and others.   Tired one night, she slipped and said “axed” for “asked.”  The first-year student told her she sounded like a “Southern Darkie.”

Now one would think that a white male student raised in the South would fully appreciate the outrageous nature of his comment, but as one who was also raised in the South (albeit two decades earlier), his comment informs me that he is a typical member of the self-segregated South where whites and blacks live next to each other, go to the same schools, but carry a deep suspicion of the Other, handed down from generation to generation. Perhaps this student has come so far from his Southern home because he is wants to know who he is and what man he might become.  Perhaps his mouth has no filter because his own relationship with race itches at him like a rash.  He has good reason to be captivated by his residence hallmate; she is charismatic, witty, generous, larger than life.  Perhaps in his segregated South he has never allowed himself to meet a self-actualized black woman.

Perhaps he is tired of posing, putting on his UnderArmor and his Axe deodorant and parading around like he belongs here or anywhere.  Maybe he will understand one day that this feeling, of being simultaneously invisible and hypervisible is what Alana Allen has known her entire life.   Now she is a Francis Drake, navigating her world with precision, while the Southern Boy has only just realized he’s on the high seas.   This unsettled feeling he has might make him jealous.  And perhaps even mean.

The Civil War reenactor has a similar tale.  Alana was sitting with a group of prospective high-school students in our large campus dining hall.  All of the students were either African-American or Hispanic.  The reenactor approaches them and proclaims, “We fought the war.  Now you slaves are free.”  It is safe to say that none of these high-school students are prospective students for Gettysburg College any longer.  Perhaps the reenactor is new to the hobby and has rarely worn his costume in front of modern civilians.  Did he feel too many eyes pan up and down his uniform and feel shame?  Did he get angry over his self-consciousness, leading him to offer up the stupidest comment ever said to a table of diners?

Alana has had the opportunity to interface with her hallmate since he made the “Southern Darkie” comment.  She even had the honest grace to tell him that his comment was hurtful.  He defended himself, leaving Alana in a position where she either attempted to school him in race relations or just shut up.  She chose the latter since she, like me, understands that the only people who can really school this young man are his white male peers, some who were standing right next to Alana when she had this second conversation.  They said nothing to their Southern comrade, but instead texted Alana to say they supported her and how sorry they were over the entire thing.

As a physicist I know the limitations of the material world, but at times I wish I could take the energy spent on all of this, the energy of my writing, the energy of those text messages, the energy of Alana’s racing mind, and harness the energy; when the next racially-ignorant comment flies out of some boy’s mouth, this energy field surrounding Alana will glow silver-white and he will tremble and be mightly afraid.  Of course, it would be even better and a tad more plausible if when the next racially-ignorant comment flies out of some boy’s mouth, another white boy steps up, speaks out, and talks back.

The evening officially began at 6:00 with an introduction by the Provost of Hood College, who then led a brief interview session with Hosseini. Questions she asked pertained to his founding of the Khaled Hosseini Foundation, his books’ familial themes, and his approach to writing.

“I rarely make concrete decisions on my writing ahead of time,” The author confessed. “Things happen accidentally, and then I find the purpose in them.”

Following the one-on-one session, the Provost opened up the opportunity for audience members to ask questions. Many audience members jumped at the chance to address their favorite author. One asked for Khaled’s book recommendations; another inquired about his writing career in relation to his success as a doctor. All were eager to learn from this esteemed author.

Finally, the Provost concluded the lecture with everyone’s final question: What was Khaled’s advice to college students wanting to pursue writing?

“I’m not going to tell you to [write]; if you have that bug, you’re not going to be able resist it anyway,” He stated bluntly. He also emphasized the importance of reading.

“You can’t be a writer without reading,” He asserted. “The mark of the amateur is the writer who writes more than he reads,”

For more information on Khaled Hosseini or the Khaled Hosseini Foundation, visit www.khaledhosseini.com or www.khaledhosseinifoundation.org.

Last Wednesday, October 26 at 4:15 p.m. fifty lucky Gettysburg students were bused to Hood College for a very special lecture. Given by none other than Khaled Hosseini, author of international bestsellers The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the lecture addressed not just the success of his books, but also his background, his acquired writing process, and the current state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Hosseini grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan. In 1965 at age eleven, he and his family were relocated to France, and a few years later were granted political asylum in the United States. Growing up, he loved storytelling, though his parents never encouraged him to pursue writing as a career. He attended high school in San Jose, California and eventually enrolled at Santa Clara University, where in 1984 he received his bachelor’s degree in Biology. Soon after, he earned his Medical Degree at the University of California at San Diego. He wrote his first novel The Kite Runner while working in medical practice. The book became an international bestseller in 2003.

While waiting for the lecture to start, audience members could watch a slideshow on the The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a charity organization founded by the author. The concept was inspired by the author’s return trip to Afghanistan in 2007 with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The organization builds shelters for refugee families in Afghanistan and provides economic and education opportunities for women and children.

Jamey joins a number of other young gay teens in the US that have committed suicide within the last few years, including Seth Walsh, Tyler Clementi, Raymond Chase, Cody J. Barker, Billy (William) Lucas, and Asher Brown. These kids were driven to death by homophobia and cruelty that can only be defined as a hate crime, and it needs to be punished as such. In some places legislation is being put into action in attempts to curb this bullying, such “Seth’s Law” in California. But is this enough?

Instead of laws to punish after it’s already too late, what society desperately needs is to change its attitude to one of total and unconditional equality. Parents need to teach their children to be accepting, or at least tolerant, or else homophobia, and other plagues of humanity like racism and sexism, will only perpetuate through generations.

ABC news states that Jamey’s counselor’s recommended that he not post about his sexuality on the internet. This makes a sad statement about the world we live in. Instead of telling children “don’t bully,” we tell them to hide who they are so they don’t get bullied.

Things will never improve until the root of the problem is addressed, and it is the ignorance that pervades America, in homes, in schools, in the workplace. It is not political or religious, it is simply the matter of treating all human beings like people, regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, creed, religion, or ethnicity.

Need Help?

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

1-800-273-8255

The Trevor Project (Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention for LGBTQ Youth)

866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386)

Recently in Williamsville, New York, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer took his life because of bullying about his sexual orientation.

ABC news reports that Jamey had been the target of gay slurs and harassment for at least a year before his death, and was attacked by comments such as “JAMEY IS STUPID, FAT, GAY, AND UGLY, HE MUST DIE!” and “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) it would make everyone WAY more happier” on a social networking site called Formspring . Jamey was faced with bullying for most of his life, and had been seeing a counselor and a social worker, as stated by the WKBW news in Buffalo.

It appeared that Jamey was actually doing better before his death and was in high spirits,. He posted a video to Youtube for the It Gets Better project, saying “I promise you it will get better. I have so much support from people I don’t even know online. I know that sounds creepy, but they’re so nice and caring, they don’t ever want me to die.”

However, despite Jamey’s hopeful exterior, his cries for help continued. According to ABC news, on September 9^th Jamey posted to a website: “I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens…what do I have to do to make people listen to me?” He also said, “no one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you’re the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing my down.”

Jamey’s last Facebook post was a lyric by Lady Gaga, his idol, reading “Don’t forget me when I come crying to heaven’s door,” from her song “The Queen,” as recorded by ABC news.  He later expressed on his blog a wish to see his recently deceased Grandmother. Not long after, Jamey committed suicide.

(continued from Interview with Prof. Amer Kobaslija, part II) 

Q8. It is great to have a professor like you at Gettysburg! What is your favorite part of being a professor here?

There are many hardworking, passionate students in the studio art classes that I teach at Gettysburg, and there is something wonderful about working with individuals who are genuinely interested in what they do. Helping these students get better at it and watching them grow I find to be truly inspirational.

Q9. Why did you choose to teach at Gettysburg? What do you like about our little town?

It is a renowned college to start with. The history of the place is quite startling. Also, the facilities in the Art department are excellent. The fact that the advanced Art students have their own studios tells me how serious the school is about the Visual Arts.  The position itself is an ideal fit for me – professor in painting and drawing, the subject I deeply care about and enjoy teaching.

Q10. What courses are you teaching this year?

Painting and Drawing.

Q11. Have you taught at any other schools, perhaps internationally? Any thoughts about the education system in the United States?

I taught at Bowdoin College in New England before coming to Gettysburg.

Q12. Before we go, any advice that you may want to give to a Gettysburg student that you wish you knew as a student yourself?

Find something that matters and stick to it.  Work and persevere. Nothing happens on its own. You are the master of your fate.

(continued from Interview with Pro. Amer Kobaslija, part I) 

Q5. I attended the recent exhibition you had in the Schmucker Art Gallery. Landscapes seem to be your specialty. I saw that you had a lot of paintings of natural catastrophes. What motivates you to depict natural disasters?

My wife’s family is from Japan and I feel a strong connection to the people of this far-east nation. In the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the northern coast of Japan earlier this year, I decided to visit the region and chronicle the rebuilding process through a series of paintings. Having grown up in the war-torn Bosnia of the early nineties, I cannot help but now draw parallels between the human-caused destruction in the land of my ancestors and the ongoing catastrophe in Japan, with its confluence of natural disaster and human failings.

Q6. I noticed that your paintings were very meticulously done. Are there any specific techniques you use to attain that incredible level of detail?

These days I work in oil on copper plates. Oil paints are an excellent medium if you are a hardcore painter like me, a traditional but timeless technique. The copper that I paint on is what makes the color in these paintings particularly luminous, as if the paintings were lit from within – not reflecting but projecting light of their own.

As for being meticulous, the details in these paintings are essential. Specifics matter a great deal if my intent is to suggest a sense of life as it may have been before the devastation. I was always intrigued by the idea of absence with evidence. In that sea of oblivion, amidst the debris and all the destruction lie the lingering remains of everyday life.  Children’s toys and family albums linger in the cracks, glimpsed as the ghostly remains of days gone by and life perished. How do you capture that in a painting without paying attention to the specifics?

Q7. I heard that you have an art gallery in Japan. Is that true? Do you have any art exhibitions around the world? Please tell us about them.

The gallery that represents my work, the George Adams Gallery, is located in New York. The gallery handles the scheduling of the exhibitions both in the States and elsewhere. Usually, my gallery loans the work to the international galleries expressing interest in the work.

Q1. Good morning. Thank you for accepting our interview request. I have a lot of questions, so I will delve right into them. Let’s begin with your background. Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Where are you originally from? How long have you been in the United States?

Born in Bosnia. Fled the war-ravaged country and moved to Germany in the early nineties. Subsequently, I immigrated to the States about twelve years ago.

Q2. How do you compare United States to Bosnia? Any similarities? Differences? Was it hard to settle into the United States?

A friend told me that immigration is like a silent trial that never ends and one is never completely at home neither here or there. I very much love America and see it as home, but I also know that there is a void somewhere inside that may never be filled.

Q3. As an international student here at Gettysburg, I can relate to that feeling. I would like to know what drove you to become a Professor of Art?  Was this something you envisioned of becoming as a child?

While in Art school, several of my professors inspired me.  One of them was Leslie Lerner. He helped me grow as an artist and also as a human being. Even to this day, from time to time, I find myself having internal conversations with Leslie while working in my studio. As if he is helping me find a solution to whatever formal or conceptual problem I may be encountering in a painting that I am working on at the moment. Years have passed since I graduated from college; yet, Leslie is still teaching me. If that’s something I can ever do for any of my students, then I will know that I am succeeding.

Q4. What were the major influences on you as you were growing up?

Artists whom I admire most are those who gave a lifetime pursuing a single idea, pursuing it to the point of obsession. That single-mindedness is what led them to become true masters. Total devotion to your craft matters a great deal. Something very moving about that. That is why I love Lucien Freud, Antonio Garcia Lopez, Alice Neel, Rackstraw Downes, among many others. The traditional Chinese landscape painting is timeless. So is Hiroshige.

Continued at Interview with Prof. Amer Kobaslija, part II

Gettysburg College is staying up later this year.

New this year is an exciting and inventive form of night-time programming sponsored by CAB. “Late Night Gettysburg” is Gettysburg College’s most recent initiative to give students a place to go in the wee hours of the night on weekends.

As a result of much feedback gathered from students, the College realized that most students were clamoring for, simply, somewhere to go on weekends. The College has attempted to answer the call.

On Friday and Saturday nights, the Junction will remain open until 2 a.m. offering board games, television, a newly refurbished pool table, and sometimes even musical entertainment. The hope is that this programming will turn the Junction into an underutilized common area into hip and exciting hang-out for those students looking for a change of scenery on weekend nights.

As for those craving late night munchies, the Bullet Hole will remain open until late as well. Offering a new style of service, students order at the cash register, take a number, and find a place at one of the many tables. Once the food is prepared, it is brought out and served hot from the kitchen. Offerings include chicken wings, quesadillas, and the new pizza line, including many more nightly specials that vary from time to time.

Movie Nights, perhaps the favorite and most well attended late night programming, has been improved and expanded. Now, each monthly movie will be shown one night in the Junction as usual, and one night in the Majestic Theater. Movies at the theater remain free of admission with a student I.D., but plans to open the snack bar at the theater as well could entice some students to make the short walk to the theater for a showing, and grab some popcorn along the way.

Gettysburg College has taken heed of the advice from students who just want a change of scenery on the weekends, and they have performed admirably. Students now have many more destinations and hang-outs, and the school is well utilizing its facilities to encourage a break from the monotony that can occasionally plague the routine lives of college students.

Catch the movie at the Majestic, a bite at Bullet, shoot some pool in the Junction. Whatever suits your fancy, Gettysburg College is trying to develop a thriving night life in order to make some noise of its own as the night grows long. That can only mean one thing:

Don’t let your school stay up later than you!

Bloggers beware, the anonymous internet universe is not as safe as it was once thought to be.

Just last week in Mexico a young man and woman were brutally murdered by a powerful drug cartel, and they bore a chilling warning: “This is going to happen to all those posting funny things on the internet. You better (expletive) pay attention. I’m about to get you.”

The signs left by the bodies also named two websites that report on the incidents surrounding the drug cartel’s actions, sometimes including graphic photographs of victims.

In Mexico, the internet has seen a wave of reporting on, and even outright resistance to, drug-violence and crime, which is becoming increasingly important in areas where other media sources and even politicians live in fear and silence. Twitter, blogs, and other social networking sites are picking up speed, and the cartels are taking notice.

Now that the internet is such a central part of life, it is imperative to observe the underlying messages here, be you a hidden blogger denouncing Mexican crime, or a teen tweeting about dinner.

It is clear that the internet is not safe. It has been clear for years—from the stories of pedophiles preying on children they find on Myspace to the bullies on formspring, anonymity is becoming scarcer and danger is becoming greater.

Although these two individuals are certainly not the first to die because of something they’ve written or some truth they’ve exposed, the factor of the web cannot be ignored. Things are called “viral” for a reason, and even something as small and effortless as a tweet has consequences.

Not only is the internet dangerous, but it can be infinitely powerful. One positive thing to gather from this gruesome tragedy is that these people were making a difference, and the drug lords knew it.

A lot of good is being done through this reporting, and this good is budding in all places, especially where terror and oppression reign supreme. One voice can make a real and lasting impact, and the internet can amplify and immortalize this voice in a thousand ways. Though there are always consequences, that does not mean that one must remain silent.

The loss of these two individuals is scary and very sad, to be sure. It leaves terrible implications for the online community, namely, that what is said online will affect you outside cyberspace, and that sometimes the effects are greater than we can imagine.

However, we must also remember that the words and images we leave are powerful and may live on much longer than we will ourselves, and that we have the potential to do incredible things with the tools we take for granted.