The scenery on my way down to Marshall Street...beautiful isn't it. Also, for clarity's sake, most of these people are witnesses, not protestors.
If you look closely at the sign, it says “Islam is an Evil, Oppressive, Violent, Murderous Religion” and I can’t even begin to say how incredibly inaccurate this statement is. If you have any semblance of a brain and aren’t deluded by those hatemongers akin to Glenn Beck, you’ll already know. If you don’t, I have no way of convincing you because you clearly belong to a faction of American society that follows ignorant statements spewed by TV pundits pandering to the lowest common public fear for ratings. Coincidentally, this is exactly what Hitler did to get elected in Germany and then carry out the Holocaust.
On a side note, the gentleman in the black coat with his back turned to the camera followed me after I took this picture with my cellphone. He seems to believe that he can sue me if I post this on the Internet. He clearly doesn’t know his media law (thank you Professor Gutterman). He was in a public place, the sidewalk on the corner of University and Waverly Avenue in Syracuse. This locale is just outside the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, ripe full of budding journalists. Smart location if you want to keep your ignorant, protesting identity a secret.
Second side note, the guy holding the sign is changing it up. Last week his sign featured an aborted fetus. Someone needs a day job.
–Kate Holloway, Editor-at-Large
Update 3:10 PM – I forgot to mention that the man with the hateful sign was also holding another sign about Jesus and love and spewing out messages to the effect that Islam was spread on the hilt of a sword (I can’t remember the exact quote, so I won’t try to put it). I know we’re the ironic generation, but Crusades and American colonization anyone?
It’s the end of the 2009 NCAA basketball season and the premature loss of Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris to the NBA Draft is imminent. All three were starters and cornerstones of the team. Flynn, especially, was its heart and soul, and Jim Boeheim will be hard-pressed to replace such a prolific, durable, and amicable player. I won’t go into details, because even if you didn’t SEE Jonny Flynn and company in the six-overtime NCAA Tournament game against UConn, you heard about it – and you’re wearing the “Marathon Men” t-shirt anyway.
As Orangemen and Orangewomen, we’ve seen our fair share of basketball stars come and go recently. Remember Donte’ Green? I generally don’t, except for a ton of ill-advised three-point attempts and a diamond-like hand gesture he’d make to the crowd. What was it…”Dynasty”? Yeah, Donte’, you sure created a dynasty. One year of college and you jumped ship, leaving a Dome full of heartbroken fans. …Not the kind of dynasty I’d want to be a part of… (more…)
This month’s (April) issue of Jerk features a story by Kate Pennington on I-81’s future and it’s past. We here at the Jerk Blog would like to give you an opportunity to discuss the future of I-81 and how you think the city of Syracuse should handle the raised highway.
Here are the three options of the future of I-81 that did not make it into the magazine’s online post. They can be found printed in the April 2009 issue of Jerk and here.
The Re-Do
Put it back up! But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Since the configuration of I-81 in 1964, a lot has changed in highway construction. There are more people, and consequently more (and bigger) cars on the road. The Interstate will need to be widened with new access ramps and a whole slew of other construction changes to accommodate today’s fast-paced world.
Urban Boulevard
This concept relocates I-81 through-traffic to I-481, with corresponding improvements to the junctions of those routes. A Rodeo Drive in Syracuse would require a reconfiguration of the Almond Street corridor with fewer lanes and some streetscape improvements. This concept would increase pedestrian and bicycle traffic between downtown and the Hill with tree-lined streets and parks.
Central Park
Syracuse architect Steve Buechner’s baby. Buechner proposed replacing I-81 with an underground highway in a tunnel capped by an urban park of about 30 acres. The park would include a small pond, walking trails, picnic shelters, carousel, and children’s play area. “It would encourage people to buy land and build business around it,” Buechner explained.
Please leave your comments and thoughts and we look forward to a fruitful discussion.
Everyone has heard the arguments toward lowering the drinking age to 18. If you can go to war and die for your country, why can’t you drink a beer? In European countries, kids are introduced to alcohol at a very young age and don’t have much of a problem with binge drinking, so why wouldn’t that work for us? You’re legally an adult at 18, so why can you vote but you can’t drink?
My mom was always pretty lenient with drinking. It’s not that I was necessarily allowed to drink, but she always said she’d rather have me learn how to drink responsibly under her watch than never be exposed to it and go absolutely wild in college. She was right. How many people do you know that never drank in high school and got absolutely bombed the first weekend of college and had to go to the hospital? I can name at least seven.
As you can probably already tell, I’m an advocate of lowering the drinking age to 18. And it’s not just because I’m not 21 yet and just want to be able to legally buy alcohol and go into a bar. (more…)
I still remember the first mural I saw in Belfast.
Painted on the side of the Sinn Fein offices, in a Catholic-dominated neighborhood, is Bobby Sands oversized face. He was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and a hero after his publicized death in 1981. Covering the entire side of the office building the mural stretches two stories high; below his smiling face a sparrow breaks free of a chain; and above his head an eagle breaks freee. A famous quote said by Bobby borders the portrait: “Anyone republican or otherwise has their own particular role to play… our revenge will be the laughter of our children.”
Bobby’s mural is one of many. It can stand as an incredible visual image, but it’s also an integral part of a larger body of political, social, and historical murals in the city. The murals of Belfast, as a collective, are incredible for their ability to turn art into tools of awareness—an achievement that’s as impressive as it is lasting. (more…)
Armory Square hosted the world’s smallest Mardi Gras parade this weekend…so I’m told. Due to poor organization skills on our part (i.e. finding a sober and willing driver), my friends and I unceremoniously arrived downtown at 3:25 p.m. to find that the “parade” had started, paraded itself through town with beads and merriment galore, and ended in (apparently) less than 25 minutes.
Unperturbed, we marched to the source of our excursion: the bars offering Magic Hat drink specials in honor of the last weekend to indulge (theoretically) before Lent. Since I plan to give up chocolate for the sixth year in a row and continue my debaucherous ways, I took the event as an excuse to hold a marathon taste testing of the Vermont brewery’s offerings.
Below are my four favorites from the afternoon – or, if we’re being honest, the first four I tasted and have halfway legible notes for. (more…)
Just as soon as Syracuse is about to get pretty with snowflakes and Christmas lights, we’re all peacing out with visions of sugar plums and sleeping in dancing in our heads.
Most SU students will never realize that central New York is actually a kinda cool place for Christmastime cheer and merriment. But I suppose anyplace is a good time for Jesus’ birthday after a couple glass of ‘nog.
My favorite spectacle is the Dickens’ Christmas in nearby Skaneatles. Every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., you can stroll through this picturesque village, window shop the wicked-expensive boutiques, and do it all forty Victorian-dressed characters parade around.
Painted on the side of the Sinn Fein offices, in a Catholic-dominated neighborhood, is Bobby Sands oversized face. He was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and a hero after his publicized death in 1981. Covering the entire side of the office building the mural stretches two stories high; below his smiling face a sparrow breaks free of a chain; and above his head an eagle breaks freee. A famous quote said by Bobby borders the portrait: “Anyone republican or otherwise has their own particular role to play… our revenge will be the laughter of our children.”
