This Saturday, the slogan “For the Love of New Orleans,” emphasized community pride, as the event coincided with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The Center for Public Service, the Community Action Council of Tulane University Students and the Community Service Scholars Program worked together to coordinate Outreach 2010.

Students clean and organize beads as part of various Outreach activities across the city. PHOTO (2) | MIKE LAMB

Heavy rainfall and flash flood warnings threatened to derail the day of service. Despite the inclement weather, almost 1,000 students arrived in Fogelman Arena. Approximately 1,400 students pre-registered to take part in Outreach this year.

After the check-in period, registration was opened to students who wanted to participate but had not pre-registered. The final count of participating students reached 983, approximately the same number of participants as in recent years. The 1,400 registered students, however, exceeded the usual number.

“During past events with similar bad weather and pre-registration numbers of [more than] 1,000, actual attendance was only near 300 and at most 400,” said community service program manager Avery Brewton. “Considering how the weather was, the turnout was amazing and inspiring. It showed the character of the student body.”

Outreach 2010 scheduled events with 26 different organizations and 34 different sites. Six sites, however, canceled. The Metropolitian Women’s Shelter canceled before Saturday because they lacked adequate supplies. Broad Community Connections, St. Paul’s, Hollygrove, Save our Cemeteries and Jericho Road canceled on the day of Outreach due to the inclement weather. Students who had signed up for these locations ultimately volunteered at other sites. Overcrowding did not become a problem at any of these sites.

“Overall, at the majority of sites, volunteers were able to go and do work with no problems,” Outreach service site organizer Alex Bernadett said.

A student still finds time to have fun during his day of service. PHOTO | MIKE LAMB

Outreach went relatively smoothly despite minor incidents, Outreach administration and leadership chair Matthew Peters said.

“There were flat tires on buses and accidents, but everyone still got where they were supposed to go,” Peters said. “There was also a fire alarm that went off in the gym but we were still able to get those remaining onto buses in an orderly fashion. Despite the difficulties, we think it went very well.”

The Outreach after-party was originally scheduled to take place on the Lavin-Bernick Center Quad, but was moved into the LBC. Tulane President Scott Cowen and Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, gave speeches at the party concerning public service and praised the students for their volunteerism.

“I just want to say how impressed I am with the Tulane community and with how eager they were to help in the New Orleans community,” Peters said. “Despite torrential rain, we were still able to get [more than] 900 participants.”

PHOTO | MIKE LAMB

The BP oil spill, economic downturn and recovery from Hurricane Katrina will serve as key factors in the race. The 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana includes parts of both Jefferson and Orleans Parishes. Demographically, Democrats and black people compose the majority of the region’s registered voters. Jefferson Parish, however, still includes a significant number of Republican voters.

Richmond (left) and Cao (right) will face off in the runoff election Nov. 2. PHOTOS | MCT CAMPUS

Republican Party

Republican Representative Anh “Joseph” Quang Cao currently holds the seat. Cao’s historic 2008 win marked the first time since 1889 that voters elected a Republican representative to the 2nd Congressional District. Cao is also the only Vietnamese American to date, and the first Vietnam native to serve in the U.S. Congress. Cao is seeking another term as congressman. Cao ran unopposed in the primaries, but this year he faces four challengers in the general election.

“I would like the people to look beyond my party affiliation and judge me based on the job we’ve done and my character,” Cao said. “I don’t know Cedric Richmond personally or professionally, but blogs and other media have not shown him to be a man of good character.” Cao said his team has worked extremely hard to bring more than $1 billion into the district. He said that a lot of his success results from his ability to maintain good relationships with federal leaders.

“I have a great personal and professional relationship with President [Barack] Obama and his cabinet,” Cao said. “Obama overlooks my party affiliation and respects my work. He has personally told me that I am doing a great job.”

Democratic Party

Democrat Cedric Richmond, current Louisiana State Representative for District 101, will face Cao in November. Richmond won overwhelmingly in last week’s Democratic primaries with 60 percent of the vote, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s election results.

“We need someone to put the needs and desires of the people before politics and special interests,” Richmond said. “Voting against such bills as fair and equal pay for women and health care shows that Congressman Cao is out of touch with his constituency.”

Richmond said he has the necessary experience and feels prepared to serve in Congress. “I’ve been a state representative for more than 10 years. The state legislature is the best training ground for a future congressman. The other candidates simply lack the experience,” Richmond said.

Independent Candidates

“When I looked into the field of candidates, I didn’t like the choices,” said Independent candidate Ron Austin said. Austin, a practicing attorney with a private practice on the West Bank, specializes in personal injury and environmental litigation.

“Cao is a nice guy, but his party’s politics aren’t consistent with the values of his constituency,” Austin said. “I proved myself long ago through hard work and dedication. I’m a doer, not a talker.” Austin said that all he’s heard his opponents do is talk, but he is not convinced that they will actually perform for residents of the second district.

Two other independent candidates, Jack Radosta of New Orleans and long-time minister Anthony Marquize of St. Bernard Parish, said they are passionate about the upcoming election. Radosta said that his motivation to run stemmed from the government’s poor handling of the latest BP oil spill disaster. “I am running because I want to take away the power of corporations and corrupt politicians,” Radosta said. “We need someone to work for the people, not the corporations.”

Marquize, a conservative, chose to run as an independent because he has lost faith in the Republican Party, which he said, “doesn’t identify with him.”

“I see our country going in the wrong direction,” Marquize said. “We are addicted to getting things ‘right now’ despite all costs.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to continue peace-building discussions between their nations. Following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s diplomatic involvement, the two parties agreed to meet again Sept. 14 and 15. The leaders also agreed to meet every two weeks following the initial peace talk. The United States intends to remain actively involved in brokering peace in the Middle East.

Kim Jong-Il prepares to extend power to his son

For the first time in the history of communism, a ruling party will pass political authority to a third generation. North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il will soon convene a closed meeting to formally pass his position to his son.

Raid by Congo rebels included more than 240 rapes

More than 242 victims in the eastern Congo have reported cases of sexual assault following a four-day raid by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. The raid took place in early August, and the United Nations responded by claiming that peacekeepers in the region were unaware of the raid.

Biden, Gates and Odierno open Operation New Dawn in Iraq

In a ceremony marking the conclusion of the combat phase of the United States’ operation in Iraq, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Gen. Ray Odierno officially commenced Operation New Dawn. Aside from commemorating the efforts of those who served, each speaker emphasized the continued role of the United States in rebuilding the nation.

Information compiled from nytimes.com.

The exhibit in the James Lounge contains photos and artifacts from the aftermath of Katrina on campus. PHOTO | NICOLE HARVEY | INTERIM PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Wave decals fill the windows of the exhibit, and a light blue banner with the words “rebuild, restore, renew” runs along one wall. On the opposite wall are four panels, each decorated with photographs and newspaper articles denoting a specific step of the recovery process: “Leaving NOLA,” “Survive,” “Rebuild,” and “Renew.”

Kathryn Hobgood Ray, assistant director of public relations and web communications, was one of the administrators responsible for creating the exhibit. She said it allows students who were not here when Katrina hit to get a glimpse of the atmosphere on campus at the time.

“[The exhibit] gives students an idea of what the experience was like in that surreal time,” Hobgood Ray said. “When the city was flooded, campus was closed, and our students were scattered to [more than] 600 colleges around the country.”

Sophomore Jessica Levitan said she had no idea how badly the campus had been flooded until she saw the photos at the exhibit.

“I knew that there was a lot of damage and flooding,” Levitan said. “But the extent of it never occurred to me until I saw the photo of Reily [Student Recreation Center] with boats floating in the water outside.”

One corner of the exhibit contains an eight-minute video featuring interviews with administrators and photos and videos of hurricane damage and of the school’s reopening in January 2006.

Hobgood Ray said that the video gives students a look into the minds of some of the administrators who played crucial roles in evacuating and reopening the school after Katrina.

“Something I hope students will take away is feeling like they know a little more about President Scott Cowen and other administrators,” Hobgood Ray said. “We have some extraordinary people leading Tulane.”

A floor-to-ceiling map, in which pushpins indicate all of the places Tulane students evacuated to in August 2005, occupies one wall. Students can use extra pins to mark where they evacuated to as well. Two display cases house items left over from the storm, including the satellite phone Cowen used, the checkbook Tulane used immediately after Katrina, photographs and newspaper clippings.

Sophomore Zack Beal said the items left over from the storm added a sense of reality to the exhibit. “It was really cool to see what was left of the American flag that flew over campus during Katrina,” Beal said. “It shows that Katrina is not just something we talk about but an actual disaster that caused a lot of damage and destruction.”

The idea for creating a multimedia exhibit came from Tulane communications and Yvette Jones, executive vice president for university relations and development. In addition to Hobgood Ray, Graphic Design Manager Melinda Viles, and Departmental Administrator Zack Weaver helped to create the exhibit.

“It was a department-wide effort,” Hobgood Ray said. “Most everyone in Tulane communications played a role, as others helped by creating movies, gathering photos and building the memorial website.”

T-WORD held its first meeting Wednesday to discuss executive board elections, National Coming Out Week and Southern Decadence volunteer opportunities.

While the organization is aimed toward women said Megan Karbley, , assistant director for student development and facilities, there is no “check box” for gender identity.

“Ally participation is an essential part of making the organization successful, and allies can be in the form of straight or queer-identified males,” said Karbley, who co-advises T-WORD with Newcomb student programs director Cordelia Heaney.

Furthermore, Undergraduate Student Government dictates that any organization wishing to be recognized must open membership to all Tulane University students, faculty and staff, regardless of gender.

The Queer Student Alliance, formerly MOSAIC, is Tulane’s LGBTQ student issues group serving students of any gender. The organization coordinates Tulane’s annual Rocky Horror Picture Show and participated in the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. last October.

“QSA is a more general organization,” said QSA Vice President of Administration Andrew Duke. “T-WORD began out of QSA not adequately serving the social needs of the lesbians in the group.”

While T-WORD and QSA are separate organizations, the two groups share regular members and leadership. Alexandra Stork, Executive Vice President of QSA for the 2010-2011 academic year, is a junior who also helped compose T-WORD’s constitution.

“In my time at Tulane, there has never been a cohesive community amongst gay, bisexual, queer and trans- women,” Stork said. “MOSAIC was very male dominated with only one or two women showing up to most meetings.”

Karbley said that queer, gay, and transgender students have a variety of needs.

“It is virtually impossible for one organization to speak for the needs of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students,” Karbley said.

There has been no formal discussion about creating a male-specific LGBTQ organization.

T-WORD hopes to expand its activity from small social meetings to campus programming and collaboration with QSA. Stork said the group will also work to “reclaim the word ‘dyke’ so that it may no longer be used as a tool of oppression by heteronormative societies.”

Other resources available to LGBTQ students include the Lambda Law Alliance, addressing queer issues in the Tulane Law School community.

The 2010 - 2011 academic year marks T-WORD’s first full year as a student organization. The group will hold bi-weekly meetings at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays in the Lavin-Bernick Center, Room 208.

Marking his sixth visit to the Gulf Coast since the BP oil spill, Obama discussed the consequences of Hurricane Katrina and his plans for the future of the city. In addition to visiting several important landmarks in New Orleans, Obama’s trip culminated in a nationally-televised speech at Xavier University.

The president’s talk focused on the city’s continuing recovery from Hurricane Katrina. PHOTO | IRVING JOHNSON III

Tulane political science professor Rosalind Cook said that the overall tone of his visit was fitting for the occasion, as he effectively affirmed his faith in the city.

“His approach was correct for most of the individuals in New Orleans,” Cook said. “Especially for the average citizen, making his first stop Parkway [Bakery and Tavern] was a smart move. It’s an institution here. That definitely said something about his view of the seafood in the Gulf and his confidence in the city,” Cook said.

In addition to outlining his plans for continued recovery, Obama said that New Orleans’ revival warranted commendation.

“The work ahead will not be easy,” Obama said. “There will be setbacks. There will be challenges along the way. But today, thanks to you and the people of this great city, New Orleans is blossoming once more.”

Cook said that aside from commemorating the horrors of Katrina, Obama’s journey to New Orleans provided important details on the continued recovery effort.

“Obama’s promises seem to be realistic,” Cook said. “His administration is certainly working alongside local schools. With the $1.8 billion for public education in New Orleans, it looks like the federal government is working to break down the red tape.”

Despite successfully focusing on Katrina’s implications in the past and present, Obama’s speech may have left the public with lingering questions about how his administration will continue to deal with the disaster, sophomore Sydney Zorowitz said.

“Considering the audience and the occasion, he did a pretty good job of generally addressing both what he has already done and what he plans on doing,” Zorowitz said. “He could have gone into more detail, but this speech may not have been the best time for that.”

Cook said that while Obama’s speech may not have addressed all of the current concerns regarding Katrina and the oil spill, doing so may not have been the intention.

“I know he has been criticized by [Gov.] Bobby Jindal,” Cook said. “I think there are a number of members of the elite who are focused on issues like fortifying the levees. This was probably not the right venue to talk about issues like coastal restoration. This visit was about showing his faith in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.”

Cook said that another trip to New Orleans could be on the horizon as Obama shifts his focus back to the oil spill.

“I wouldn’t rule out his making another trip to the Gulf Coast in the near future whether it is in New Orleans or somewhere else in the Gulf like Alabama or Florida,” Cook said.

Buses line up to transport volunteers to the 34 service sites. PHOTO | MIKE LAMB

Participants — who included staff, alumni and faculty — took buses to their sites and worked from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Event organizers said it ran smoothly, and volunteers eagerly participated in their service activities, said Zack Weaver, departmental administrator of Tulane University communications and marketing.

“We are discussing whether to make it an annual event since we got such an enthusiastic response from the Wave of Green volunteers and our community partners,” Weaver said.

Weaver participated in the Steering Committee that spent six months planning the project. The steering committee included Debbie Grant, vice president of university communications and marketing; Anne Banos, vice president for administrative services, and Vincent Ilustre, executive director for the Center for Public Service.

Grant came up with the idea as a way to commemorate the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina while demonstrating one of the university’s fundamental ideals.

“Tulane has three distinct aspects to its mission: teaching, research and community engagement,” Banos said. “In the past five years, our students, faculty and staff have played a major role and vital role in the renewal and rebuilding of New Orleans.”

Many other members of the Tulane community would have liked to participate but could not because of other university responsibilities, but the turnout remained high, Banos said.

“I worked at Habitat and in our group — putting up siding, working on the roof — was a law professor, a child care teacher, a budget coordinator in the School of Medicine, our general counsel, [and] a financial aid counselor, just to name a few, all working very hard, and very happy to be doing it,” Banos said.

The event made a statement about Tulane’s ideals through its placement on a weekday, said Katie Houck, assistant director of student training and leadership development at the Center for Public Service.

“To actually put work time toward it says a lot of Tulane’s commitment,” Houck said.

Idan Mark’s psychology major and frequent trips to Hillel might make him indistinguishable among the student body, but he is not like most Tulane sophomores. The varsity tennis athlete traveled about 6,800 miles to arrive for the first day of school last Monday.

Born and raised in Hod HaSharon, Israel, Mark is just one of the many international students who make up Tulane’s student body. International students have shown an increased interest in Tulane after Hurricane Katrina. Thirty-seven international students enrolled in this year’s freshmen class.

Mark came to Tulane at the urging of his friend, fellow Israeli Michael Kogan. Kogan played tennis for Tulane 2000-2004, and he became Tulane’s all-time leader in singles and doubles victories by the time he graduated with records of 97-23 and 80-13, respectively.

After taking up tennis at the age of seven, Mark quickly battled his way to the top of the Israeli junior ranks. As one of the top five players in the country, Mark earned the right to represented Israel in tennis tournaments during his mandatory three-year stint with the Israeli military.

After completing his military service, Mark knew he wanted to continue his tennis career but not at the cost of his education.

“You need to decide, in Israel, whether to get a degree or continue with tennis and here I can do both,” Mark said.

He began learning English at eight years old, but he still notices a language barrier between himself and his peers, especially in the classroom.

“Of course, it’s not easy to try to speak fluently in another language and to study for a grade not in your native language,” Mark said.

After a tough fall semester last year, Mark said his grades improved in the second semester with the help of his coach and academic adviser.

Sophomore Patrick Yibang had an even longer flight to New Orleans than Mark; the psychology and economics double-major hails from Shanghai, China. Yibang began learning English at 13 and still struggles to comfortably his second language in the classroom.

Yibang said that English classes are particularly challenging, as he must translate from Chinese to English inside his head before volunteering comments.

“I feel like it takes [more] time for me to comprehend everybody’s remarks and figure out what I’m going to say,” Yibang said.

Sophomore Jiameng Li - a native of Wuhan, China - thinks language becomes more of a barrier in social settings than in the classroom.

“I have no problem about doing my work, but [with] peers [it] is hard. [There are] some specific phrases I may not know,” Li said.

Tulane English professor Kathleen Carlin offers a solution to students like Mark, Yibang and Li with her English as a Second Language class.

“It’s an advanced composition class to get students ready [for American college classes], especially to write compositions at the level that their college professors expect,” Carlin said.

Carlin is teaching two sections of the course this semester. She said the majority of her students are Chinese and a few are Latin American. All are freshman except for a French graduate student who wants to improve her English.

Fiona Long took Carlin’s class last spring during her first semester at Tulane. Born and raised in Hengyang, China, the finance major’s first experience on American soil was when she landed in New Orleans. Long began learning English at age 10 and took advantage of the ESL class to improve her grammar and composition skills. A semester later, Long sees marked improvement in her English.

“It’s really hard listening and communicating but it’s getting better,” Long said.

Despite the difficulties of navigating a foreign locale while speaking a new language, Long and her peers express an overall satisfaction with the freedom that attending college in the United States affords them.

“Everything is up to me and I can arrange my life [in America],” said Long.

Yibang has visited New York City twice and compared the Big Apple’s skyscrapers and busy, big-city culture to his native Shanghai. He sees New Orleans as quieter and slower-paced than Manhattan or Shanghai, and said that New Orleans’ residents are friendlier.

“New Orleans is basically a city you can have fun [in] for awhile,” Yibang said. “The only reason I think I wouldn’t stay here after graduation is I still belong to big cities like New York City for some reason. I’m used to the big city life, like in Shanghai.”

Li also compared the Big Easy to the Big Apple, but prefers the New Orleans’ easy-going southern culture. She said New Yorkers’ coldness is similar to people’s attitudes in China. The angry reaction she provoked from a man she accidentally bumped into on the subway while visiting New York would never occur on the less-than-reliable streetcar, she said.

“I am not a party animal but I have experience from Halloween, and people are really crazy here, but really nice and friendly,” Li said.

When asked what he liked about New Orleans, Mark said “Mardi Gras” with a laugh.

“It’s really different and special,” Mark said. “The people really know how to enjoy life.”

MURDER MYSTERY: HORROR AT HOMECOMING
9 P.M. TO 11 P.M. TODAY
KENDALL CRAM LECTURE HALL, LBC
Leg warmers and neon track suits are encouraged at the 80s-themed murder mystery party. Please e-mail Sarah McAllister at smcallis@tulane.edu if you want a part a part.

STEVE KAPLAN SPEAKS
5 P.M. TUESDAY
GOLDRING/WOLDENBERG HALL II
The A.B. Freeman School of Business is sponsoring a talk by the bestselling author and business adviser. He is visiting Tulane on his University Tour entitled, “Bag the Elephant Unplugged.”

ANDREW YOUNG LECTURE
7 P.M. WEDNESDAY
DIXON HALL
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young will give a talk commemorating an exhibition celebration New Orleans playwright Tom Dent. Young is a native of New Orleans and grew up with Dent.

FRESHMAN FRIDAYS! NIGHT GAMES AND PIZZA
8 P.M. TO 11 P.M. FRIDAY
PJS COFFEE UNDER STERN HALL
Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship sponsors an alcohol-optional night for freshmen with night-time games and adventures. Free pizza is included.

Controversy concerning TULAP, which provides civil and criminal legal assistance to Tulane students and employees at a nominal fee, arose last academic year after the law school considered discontinuing pro-bono credit for the law school students who participate in the program.

Proponents of the change said that Tulane students could afford private legal counsel, therefore defeating the purpose of pro-bono work.

Tulane students and employees can rest assured that they can continue to count on strong legal assistance for the remainder of this academic year, said Julie Jackson, assistant dean for public interest programs.

“Each year, we reassess every pro-bono placement, so there’s nothing truly permanent because things change,” Jackson said.

Despite the decision to grant pro-bono credit, many of TULAP’s leaders said that denying credit would not have negatively impacted the program.

“I don’t think that [pro-bono credit] was a key incentive, but [it is] a bonus for the law students,” Jackson said.

Erica Woodley, the new director of TULAP, said that many students cannot afford to obtain proper counsel.

“I don’t think the majority of Tulane students can afford private counsel, and sometimes students need legal counsel for issues that are confidential,” Woodley said. “As adults, they may not feel comfortable going to their parents.”

TULAP Supervising Attorney Fred King said few students can afford tuition without assistance, and therefore many students cannot afford legal assistance.

“In the long run, we actually end up representing students that cannot afford attorneys,” King said. King said that the majority of clients who can afford to hire a private attorney do so with the misconception that TULAP lawyers are subpar because of the nominal fees of their services.

“One of the things that you have to appreciate about the program, besides that we’re the best thing since sliced bread for the student body’s legal issues, is that colleges and universities around the country have modeled their programs after ours,” King said.

Despite the protest’s peaceful beginnings, the demonstration ended in minor violence. PHOTO | NAOMI MARTIN | SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Charges against the two detained students include resisting arrest and assault and battery of a police officer. UNO Police Chief Tom Harrington said the students punched him as he tried to prevent them from storming the university chancellor’s office on the second floor of the administration building.

“The situation was becoming unsafe and disruptive, and so [Harrington] told them they had to turn around and leave,” UNO Public Relations Director Adam Norris said. He also said the chief had “sustained some injuries to his knee and ankle, but… no bones were broken.”

Students were protesting the effects of massive state budget cuts beginning at approximately 6 a.m., when eight UNO students used tables to barricade themselves in Milneberg Hall, the building in which the Dean of Students’ office is located.

Police managed to enter the building Two-and-a half hours later through an open window. After forcing the protesters onto the floor with their guns drawn, they allowed the students to speak with the university provost about their concerns.

Protestor and UNO senior Dylan Barr helped organize the demonstration. He said that protests will continue until their message reaches politicians in Baton Rouge. “Their interest is in getting elected and balancing the budget in the short term, even if it increases social problems in the long term,” Barr said.

An estimated 150 - 200 students walked out of class at 10 a.m to join the protest on UNO’s main quad, a cause some of them said their professors supported.

The university has had to slash $14.5 million from their overall budget since 2009, Norris said. “These are not inconsequential cuts,” Norris said. “We’re trying to do it in a way that least affects programs we do best.”

For the next fiscal year, the Louisiana State University System proposed increasing UNO losses by up to 35 percent of their budget, Norris said.

So far, students have seen larger class sizes, fewer available professors and entire departments merge or disappear.

“We all have to wear many hats now,” said Juana Ibáñez, a professor in the recently merged department of geography and anthropology. “Our department hasn’t been allowed to hire new faculty since before Katrina, even though four people have left.”

UNO will either eliminate or downsize several departments, including women’s studies, physics, legal studies, music, business, foreign language and art history.

“We’re having to kill off programs that are 100 percent healthy,” Ibáñez said. “I make more money working one night in a restaurant than I do working a week here,” said Sam Ray, a Spanish teaching assistant at UNO. “We don’t even have a Spanish department anymore; now it’s ‘romance language’ with an emphasis on Spanish.”

UNO student body president John Mineo said he gets the feeling many students have lost hope that anyone cares about them.

“I don’t agree with today’s protestors taking over buildings, but I like their passion,” Mineo said. He plans to mobilize student protesters to show up at Bobby Jindal’s doorstep in Baton Rouge. “We can give them truth and sincerity, but our basic plan is to use numbers because that’s all politicians care about,” he said.

Tania Ross, a UNO sophomore studying urban studies, participated in Wednesday’s protests. “I have a three-year-old daughter and I want her to have the same opportunities I had —growing up in New Orleans and then going to a good public university,” Ross said.

Yesterday’s explosion, spread a mile-long oil sheen across the Gulf. Gov. Bobby Jindal said all seven production wells at the site were shut down by the company after the fire. Federal officials have cited the company that owns the rig, Mariner Energy, for 10 accidents in the past four years. All 13 members of the crew are being treated in a Houma hospital.

Police dog dies because of negligence

A New Orleans police dog died of heat stroke last summer after being left in a police car. Jason Lewis, the officer responsible, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge Wednesday. The case became public after released photos showed that the interior of the car had been ripped to shreds, presumably because of stress caused by the rising temperatures.

BP spends $93 million on advertising

In the wake of the BP oil spill, the company spent three times as much on advertising this fiscal year than it had last year. Officials said they increased advertising to keep Gulf Coast residents informed of issues relating to the oil spill. Critics, however, said the company was only trying to maintain its corporate image.

Superdome receives cleaning

Stadium officials are spending $87,500 to clean the roof of the Superdome in time for the Saints’ regular season opener Sept. 9. While the roof normally goes 18 -24 months between cleanings, managers decided to clean it after only 14 months, as it had become dirty more quickly than usual.

Dardenne leads in lieutenant governor fundraising

Secretary of State Jay Dardenne added more than $137,000 to his campaign account in order to end the fund raising period with $747,447 in the bank, easily outpacing his rivals. The primary for the special election will take place Oct. 2, with a runoff on Nov. 2. The office became vacant when Mitch Landrieu resigned to serve as mayor of New Orleans.

Many students receive federal work-study awards as part of their financial aid package. These awards guarantee on-campus employment to a designated group of students.

Director of Student Employment Junius Kaufman said that his office facilitates the job search and placement process.

“Our objective is to assist those who actively want employment,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman said that students who said they cannot find jobs need to continue looking. He said that his office recommends that students attend a job fair, such as Hire Tulane’s recent fair for part-time jobs; refer to HireTulaneGrads.com, the career center’s website; and to go on multiple interviews to keep their options open.

Federal work-study employed approximately 1,136 students last year, Kaufman said. “We anticipate about the same number by the end of this year,” he said.

Michael Goodman, associate vice president of university financial aid, said federal work-study allocation is based on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that each student completes prior to matriculating at Tulane. Tulane receives money from the United States Department of Education based on the FAFSA results for the student population. That amount has come out to approximately $2 million in recent years, Goodman said.

Work-study positions differ from other on-campus jobs because the Department of Education grant covers 70 percent of the student workers’ wages, Goodman said. Students in work-study positions cannot work during their scheduled classes.

“Departments are flexible with scheduling. We realize that students come to Tulane to get an education, not work,” Goodman said. “Every department understands academic obligations. We understand why you’re here.”

Goodman said the average work-study award amount is approximately $3,000 per year, or $1,500 per semester. This money, unlike other loans or financial aid awards, is deposited directly in the student’s personal bank account and can be used for any purpose.

Sophomore Emmi Aguillard said that she was awarded work-study last year and did not use it so that she could get acclimated to college life. She decided to use her work-study award this year and said she has had difficulty finding a position.

Aguillard, however, said that she did not attend the job fair Hire Tulane recently held for student employment.

“It’s partly my fault,” she said. “I’m hoping something will turn up soon. I’m still waiting to hear back from places.”

PHOTO | Distutbed1.com

You pop the compact disc into your compact disc player and settle into a comfortable chair (made of wicker, probably). You get back up as you have forgotten to press the play button. As you settle back down and the first song begins, you notice something. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what happens next. As the first song, “Remnants,” begins, your ears start to bleed. You grab a tissue from the box you always keep right beside your wicker chair and dab at your ears. Sure enough, for some odd reason, your ears will not stop gushing human motor oil. It’s hard to pay attention to the song while this happens, but you do your best. You think you like what you hear, but that could just be the sound of the flowing blood.

As the next few songs play, you start to thoroughly enjoy the album. It is much more relaxing than you expected, which is not at all a result of your massive blood loss. The rest of the album becomes kind of a blur as you stagger between consciousness and a light coma. As a strike on the drums ends the album, you begin to see a light. And, then, in a flash…

You wake up. It was all a dream. You sit in your wicker chair holding an unopened copy of the album you thought you had just heard. You decide to listen for the first time, again. After listening to the album you say to yourself, “Boy, I preferred Asylum when it was muffled by all the blood in my ears.”

PHOTO | PantheonBooks.com

For the generation after us, the e-book will likely become the natural way to consume literature. Steven King wrote a book specifically for the Kindle when it debuted, but even that was limited by the Kindle itself and King’s attitude toward e-readers — it was still a plain text novel. With the advent of the touch-screen e-reader, books will take on a whole new meaning. Hidden Easter eggs will pop up when you tap certain words or phrases, moving illustrations will become part of the text Harry-Potter style, and we may even see a choose-your-own-ending book that’s not really lame and doesn’t involve counting pages until you lose your place. Books on the e-reader will soon be affected by the Age of the Internet, where everything is about interaction between user and media. An e-reader will offer the opportunity to create an entirely new art form to authors willing to seize it.

But not everything can be retroactively fitted to e-reader form. House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski, is a cult classic in the literary world and, more importantly, one of the last works of experimental, paper-bound literature. Explaining House of Leaves is like trying to watch Inception on LSD. There are stories within stories within stories, and often in this sculpture-like work of fiction, text appears within text within footnotes within text on the same page. Johnny Truant, our Courier narrator, finds a manuscript written by his dead neighbor Zampano, but the manuscript is a scholarly book about a film called The Navidson Record, in which a photographer named Will Navidson makes a documentary about his house, which is larger on the inside.

This book is constrained to paper and always will be. When Will Navidson climbs a ladder, the words on the page arrange themselves in the shape of a ladder, going sideways up the page, so you have to turn the book sideways to read it. During a passage in which Zampano describes mirrors, the text appears mirrored on the other side of the page. Text goes from run-of-the-mill left-to-right to scrawled crazily in corners, descending diagonally down the pages, becoming smaller and smaller as the characters crawl into tighter spaces, adding to the reader’s agoraphobia (claustrophobia? the line is blurred). In House of Leaves, Danielewski realized the full potential of the physical book. He embraced the limitations and, by playing with text and story with the finesse of a sculptor, wrote experimental fiction that defined what a physical book can and can’t do.

E-readers are brand new. All the books on them are, as of yet, just like real books, but text on a screen. There will always be plain text stories that can be scribbled in a notebook, between hard covers, stuffed into a paperback or projected onto a screen. Words alone will never lose the power to move a reader. But, in the age of touch-screen, Internet-accessible, full-cover e-readers, someday (maybe soon) we will see an e-book that transcends the lines. Maybe it feels more like a videogame, or a blog post, incorporating video and puzzles in order to enhance your reading experience. Maybe they’ll start out gimmicky, for children, the way comic books did. But someday, an author will see the potential of the e-reader as the first real multimedia experience in literature, and from that will come a work of art that redefines the e-reader genre and sets the bar for the e-books that come after it.

When that happens, maybe I’ll even buy myself an iPad.