Art by Amber Sliter It took only a three-game win streak in 2012 for Athletic Director Danny White to grant head football coach Jeff Quinn a contract extension through 2017.
It took only a three-game win streak in 2012 for Athletic Director Danny White to grant head football coach Jeff Quinn a contract extension through 2017.
The lights in the locker room suddenly shut off, and upperclassmen pinned down a freshman football player, lifted him to his feet while forcing a finger in his rectum ? afterwards, the same finger would sometimes be pushed into the freshman?s mouth. This horrifying tradition allegedly happened almost every day in the school?s locker room. That?s the ugly ? the reprehensible, the repulsive, the ?how could this have been happening in a high school locker room? ? the details of the sexual violence that became ritual among senior members of Sayreville War Memorial High School?s football team. Seven players have been charged with crimes ranging from aggravated sexual assault to criminal restraint for their roles in the violent, ritualistic attacks ? let?s not reduce it to ?hazing,? because this goes beyond connotations of teasing and pranks, and veers closer to rape. And now, the bad: Players would change in the hallway before practice.
I had planned on publishing a column very similar to this for Wednesday?s issue of The Spectrum.
When 42-year-old Omar Gonzalez, an Iraq War veteran with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder, scaled a fence and made it into the White House, he could not have known his intrusion would become emblematic of the troubling failures of an agency, which, given its task, should never falter. The recent security breach at the White House ended up breaking open the floodgates on the Secret Service?s competency, transparency and management.
Art by Amber Sliter One out of every four children born in Buffalo?s East Side is the result of a teenage pregnancy.
Spectrum File Photo The football team?s 36-35 loss to Bowling Green last Saturday should have been the Bulls? low point of the season.
Spectrum File Photo ?THE WORLD IS ENDING. HOW ABOUT NO,? is the Facebook message I woke up to Thursday afternoon from my best friend, Katie. On Wednesday night, 18-year-old Vonderitt Deondre Myers was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer in his native St.
The football team?s 36-35 loss to Bowling Green last Saturday should have been the Bulls? low point of the season.
Spectrum File Photo Last Friday, I went to the police department for the first (and hopefully last) time in my life.
Spectrum File Photo Last Friday, I went to the police department for the first (and hopefully last) time in my life.
As pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong charm the media with their dedication to pristine streets and completed homework assignments even as authorities douse them with pepper gas, it appears that the students? commendable efforts will likely be for naught. After two weeks of dramatic, large-scale demonstrations, the protests have largely petered out, though the demand for democracy is just as pressing.
Art by Amber Sliter Buffalo?s public school system is riddled with problems and everyone knows it ? now discriminatory policy poses yet another obstacle to providing children in Buffalo with effective ? and equal ? educational experiences. Last year, three parents filed discrimination complaints with the U.S.
Spectrum File Photo Jack O?Shea?s wailing guitar solo filled the open dance floor of Club Infinity and lights flashed red and gold across the stage as my fellow cult members head banged, fist pumped and two-stepped along to his hard rhythmic sound. Everything went black. The stage lights went out and the power to the band?s monitors were cut. In the midst of a crowd of sweaty dancers, the sudden ending of the set was jarring.
Spectrum File Photo Do you shower with your scarf on? No, I do not shower in my headscarf, nor do I wear it all the time. Yes, it does get hot in the summer and no I am not bald. I am not a terrorist; I swear I was sitting behind you all throughout school. That tennis-ball-sized bump at the back of my head is my stubborn hair tied into a bun and I am only at H&M shopping for a dress that touches the floor. No, my family did not beat me into it and yes, I am allowed to go out. Unfortunately, these are the questions that I am forced to endure for wearing a headscarf. Hijab literally means ?veil? and it is a concept that encompasses and symbolizes a variety of modest attire worn by Muslim women (will be referred to as Muslimas from here on) so that only their face, hands and feet are visible.
As UB expands its presence downtown with its much-touted medical campus, there is still a glaring omission from the university?s involvement in the city: The presence of undergraduates exploring and enjoying what downtown Buffalo has to offer. Despite the thriving and expanding cultural hub of downtown, which features a vast array of restaurants, theaters, sports arenas and concerts, too many UB students don?t make it off of North Campus.
Spectrum File Photo I went downtown to the Anchor Bar Saturday evening. While I was sitting there, staring at a pile of conquered wings with bits of meat and skin hanging off the bones, it occurred to me that I often act, or feel, like a tourist in my hometown.
Spectrum File Photo Buffalo is often dubbed ?Queen City,? but when I first got here, many years ago, this city was more akin to poverty than royalty. I first arrived in Buffalo as a 7-year-old, moving from Minnesota and from everything familiar and comfortable to me. Needless to say, I despised this town from the second the moving truck pulled into the driveway of what would become my home. Eventually, Buffalo did become my true home, but not for quite a while. My hatred of this place was founded on the stubbornness of a spurned child ? a similar type of stubbornness that appears when children refuse to go to sleep or fight with another sibling ? unyielding and one-sided. Time went on and the childish bias of my boyhood became adolescent scorn in my teenage years. Nothing escaped the teenage angst of my rebellious youth, including Buffalo.
Transforming sections of a historic church garnished with stained glass windows and Romanesque architecture into modern apartment units may seem unorthodox. But in Buffalo, renovating and repurposing historic buildings is actually a booming business ? one which is accomplishing the admirable task of preserving the city?s impressive architecture and ensuring the public gets to enjoy the space, rather than just the view. The project at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church is the most recent of an influx of these developments.
Solutions by The State News
