Michael Brennan first met fellow ophthalmologist Tara B. Rashid in her conflicted hometown of Baghdad. Now she is visiting Brennan’s home in Burlington to share stories about the many obstacles she and Brennan have been trying to overcome in the Iraqi medical system.

In addition to being a local doctor, Brennan is the director and chairman of the Medical Alliance for Iraq. His work with Rashid started in 2003, when he formed the non-profit organization hoping to help train Iraqi doctors to today’s standards.

Brennan invited Rashid to come speak to his local Rotary Club group, and raised the money for her 6,000-mile journey. Here he introduced her as a valuable friend and colleague.

“When she acts, it’s not out of her self-interest. It’s for the benefit of others,” Brennan says.  

For Rashid, being a doctor in a war-torn nation is tough, especially when the country lacks technological, institutional and educational know-how.

Rashid had both good news and bad news for the Rotary Club, but she chose to break the bad news first by describing Iraq’s suffering medical system.

“The ministry of health is what we call the biggest dictator in Iraq, next to Saddam Hussein,” she joked. “It controls the resources, society, and everything,” Rashid said.

Earning a medical degree is difficult in her country. Rashid said that students must first get all A’s in high school, since the Iraqi government pays for students to go to its medical college. After eight years of medical college, students can choose to become general practitioners or take several more years to learn specialties.

Afterward, the doctor must get two licenses: one from the Ministry of Health and another from the Iraqi Medical Syndicate, which is similar to the

American Medical Association. Whereas the Ministry of Health is too controlling, Rashid says the Iraqi Medical Syndicate doesn’t do enough.

“It’s just like a country club,” Rashid said. “You go there, you register, you get your license, and that’s it. It will never back you up, it will never help you, and it has no rules whatsoever.”

This lack of rules is opening the door to more specific problems like malpractice and a lack of accreditation. The Ministry of Health, she adds, uses an outdated set of practices.

“The guidelines we are still working with are the 1942 British curriculum guidelines. No upgrades, no changes,” Rashid said.

Also, the introduction of new medicine is difficult because the nation lacks the laws that allow them a budget for more advanced drugs and equipment.

Then there’s the physical danger. When the war hit in 2003, doctors were threatened, some even kidnapped and killed. Many hospitals shut down all together.

“You could count all the hospitals in Iraq who could give at least emergency care. One, two, three. That’s it,” Rashid said.

Then Rashid shared the good news from Iraq.

The country sent out a cry for help, and support began to materialize. Help from neighboring nations led to an increase in the number of hospitals. Rashid said the Italians built a hospital for burn victims, the Japanese built a large multi-purpose hospital and the United Arab Emirates built a small hospital in addition to donating funds and drugs.

The U.S. Army fortified these health facilities against looting and attacks. The Army offered some of its own medicine in addition to funding hospital rehabilitation projects, said Rashid.

Then came the financial and physical aid of NGO’s like Brennan’s Medical Alliance for Iraq. He and his fellow doctors brought equipment Iraq had never seen before, in addition to new surgery procedures and training. 

“The alliance has built good attitudes and results, and it’s percolating up,” Brennan said. We’ve learned some lessons of what to do and what not to do and that personal relationships are the most important.”

The strong relationships seemed apparent to even those attending the Rotary Club meeting. When a question was raised as to whether the people of Iraq appreciated the help of America’s troops, Rashid’s answer was resounding.

“Yes!” she said. “Let me tell you one thing. Iraq has been under invasion since the day it was put on the map of the universe. But you are the best invasion we have had.”

After pausing for a laugh, she added, “I mean it! Not one of your soldiers broke a door, not one of your soldiers has raped a woman and not one of your soldiers has looted anything! They were there in the streets carrying plastic bags and cleaning the streets of Baghdad of garbage.”

Rashid is still hoping for more permanent internal reform.

“We need to upgrade our system, because now we are open to the world,” Rashid said. “We need to start catching up with the countries around us.”

 

The tension felt like a thick and giddy curtain draping over the La Rose business theatre, as a packed room of Elon students and citizens awaited the two credentialed debaters that would be leading the “Great Marijuana Debate.”

Ten minutes before the speakers arrived the anticipation of the situation set in, as everyone fell silent in one sweeping hush. The nervous silence passed, but the excitement still intensified. Tonight would definitely push some borders.

On the pro-side of legalization was Kris Krane, director of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which is an organization that fights punitive drug policies.

Across from Krane was Dr. Paul Chabot, a recently returned Iraqi war veteran who has worked extensively in governmental administration as well as the law enforcement of narcotics.

When the moderator asked the gentlemen who would like to start the night’s arguments, Krane quipped, “Let the establishment start,” with a smile and a wave to Chabot.

As a father of two, Chabot urged the audience to primarily think about the responsibilities they will one day owe to their families. He mentioned overcoming his own drug addictions at the early age of 12, and his subsequent trip to rehab.

“I used to be on the same side as Kris,” Chabot said. But now he claims that he fights on the minority’s side versus a majority of rich pro-drug organizations.

Chabot claims that many of the war on drug’s problems are stemming from these organizations. “They stand on the backs of the sick people to prove that marijuana is good. But the opposite is quite true,” Chabot said.

Krane responded by saying that the two men had similar goals but very different ways of going about them. He used prohibition as a starting point by saying that the movement began with the noble idea of getting rid of alcoholism, but suppressing alcohol’s consumption actually made things much worse. The rise of pro-drug organizations today is not too dissimilar.

When Chabot mentioned a 30,000 person marijuana festival that had recently occurred in his community “backyard,” Krane responded by saying, “This is a testament to the fact that prohibition is not working.”

Chabot later warned of a possible “Amsterdam effect” that could invade and corrupt the U.S. economy and moral system.

Krane disagreed with this viewpoint and clarified his position. To him, responsible management of legalization would improve the U.S. economy in a safe way.

“The idea that we want a weed smoking utopia with everyone smoking all the time is simply not true. Rather we want a more regulated market that controls its distribution,” Krane said.

Chabot’s concerns quickly turned back to the safety of children, especially in parks and playgrounds. “Parks were made for kids, not drug addicts. That’s a fact,” Chabot said.

He also addressed marijuana as being a gateway drug to other drugs’ physical abuse, as well as their potential legislative legalization.

Krane argued that it is only associated thus because of marijuana’s illegal status. He claims it is currently clumped with worse drugs by the government’s own drug scheduling policies, as well as the illegal drug dealer’s own tendency to sell more than one drug.

“If we are going to give marijuana a legally regulated market like we have for alcohol, we need to take it out of the black market’s hands,” Krane said.

For Chabot and traditional law enforcement it’s a continuous fight for removal without considering the substance’s relocation in society. For Krane it’s a battle for relocation and regulation. Both sides agree however, that it’s a debate that will be reoccurring for quite some time to come.

 

Three years ago Erin Mahn was just a student in an Elon journalism class. Now she’s a full-fledged journalist that has written for the Daily Banner, a publication that is based in Cambridge, Maryland.

“It’s something I wanted to do since I was really little. I’ve always wanted to write,” Erin said.

After graduating from Elon, Mahn went to New York looking for a job. She applied from Alaska to Singapore, but ironically ended up a short ways from her home in Salisbury, Maryland.

She says it’s the experiences that keep her going. She has flown a plane, covered a death penalty hearing, and witnessed a muskrat-skinning exhibition.

But she warns today’s journalism students that journalists aren’t always welcomed by other people. “People won’t like you. It’s not you, people just don’t like the media,” Mahn said.

And the hours and pay aren’t the best either. Mahn says she has had to write stories at 1:00 in the morning on a tight 30 minute deadline. But she still stays upbeat and determined about her trade.

“I think I was well preparedw by Elon. But I also wanted to be that way. I stayed after class and asked questions,” Mahn said.

Although she is currently a free-lance journalist, Mahn is looking forward to what her job has in store.

The Powell Manor will be a stately sight with its rose garden, its life size chessboard and the graceful green lawns that spill down to its swan house and pond. But for now, the future inn and wedding venue is still in the muddy stages of construction.

Proprietor Annabelle “Beth” Powell, the youngest daughter of the famous Elon teacher and businessman Thomas E. Powell, has been working hard the past two years to add on to her father’s old place. The construction crew is staying busy at the manor to see the project through.

“We don’t have an opening date yet,” said construction contractor Gary Moore, “but we’re trying to work on everything in the backyard at the same time.”

The Powell’s former residence is located at 2400 York Road, a quick right turn off of East Haggard Avenue. Inside the house, rolled blueprints are stacked like treasure maps in the various rooms that Beth Powell remembers walking through as a child.

Her plans are to turn the estate into a wedding getaway that has everything a couple could ask for. Wedding tents will be pitched in the new brick pavilion behind the house’s east side.  Right beside it, a nearly completed kitchen will provide amenities for caterers. And across the yard next to the rose garden, the oversized, granite chess court will have two elevated umpire chairs so players can calculate their strategies from above.

For Beth, it’s an exciting future to a house with a familiar past. Her father built the estate in 1963 on farmland he bought in 1939.

 “It was a stroke of luck that he got all this land for so cheap,” she said. “He collected some of his supplies from the pond out back.”

These supplies would become the foundation to the successful entrepreneurship known as the Carolina Biological Supply Company. In Powell’s day teachers had to find their own biological teaching tools, and often he sold his surplus materials to his fellow colleagues.

What started as a side gig while he taught science at Elon College soon turned into a full-blown business. Powell taught for 17 years despite several devastating setbacks. The Elon fire struck in 1923, soon to be followed by the Great Depression in the 1930s.

“He persevered right through, but the fire really devastated Elon,” Powell said. “I don’t know how he coped with all the stress in his life.”

Thomas Powell taught for 13 more years before deciding to run the biological company fulltime. His management of the company made the Powell Manor possible, and the company’s still going strong two decades after his departure, even in the face of a newer recession.

Daniel James, the current vice president of business development, hardly notices any effects on the private company’s business.

“Last year was a record year for the company. We’ve been on a growth track for several years,” James said.

Like his former boss, James and the company are riding out another recession. And like her father, Beth Powell is starting her own side-business. It’s a cycle that’s not too different from those taught in biology classrooms.

Powell taught science at Wellesley College and is now the president of Omni Resources, a local map company that sells more than a million maps. She is also the original member of Elon’s Love School of Business Advisory Board, which was started in 1985.

“The board has now grown to represent a diverse slice of people,” Powell said.

The Powells also have three buildings on campus named after family members. Thomas Powell’s son, James B. Powell, dedicated the Jimmy Powell tennis courts to a son who died of brain cancer. Across the street is the Powell house that is home today to the school’s environmental center.

Elon’s main Powell building was named after Caroline E. Powell, the sister of Thomas Powell. The family’s strong presence in Elon’s affairs and architecture represents Thomas Powell’s devotion to teaching.

“I think my father’s main statement was education. His education at Elon was the foundation for both his and our own lives,” Beth Powell said.

Like his farming father, Thomas Powell cultivated the soil around the Elon community to make it a rich place for business and growth. His foresight built the legacy that graces Elon’s buildings, local businesses, and families.

Now his daughter is taking up the charge and opening up the future for a new wave of development.

Hearst: Higher Education I was astonished after reading “Higher Education,” the story of two homeless journalists with a heroin addiction. It detailed their struggle with balancing school, survival, day-to-day addictions, and conflicting emotions. Two friends, with two very different personalities, were all each other had left. School was one of the few things keeping them connected to the often cruel real world.

A great story gives you that feeling of raw emotion, unease, and concern for the characters involved. This award-winning piece grabbed my attention from the get-go, and refused to let go until I had reached the end. The description in the beginning sucked me into a world unlike my own, but yet one that still seemed so identifiable. The quotes captured the characters flawlessly by showing their street strengths and their own misguided flaws. Descriptions of Rex the faltering revolutionary and Steve the quiet stoic, made you want to pull for them as a team as you felt their desolation. The author did a wonderful job of balancing their daily routine, with more significant anecdotes and events from the past. His writing was direct but also intuitive. A subtle creativity ran throughout, from the title to the final sentence describing life among the foggy streets of San Francisco. This story’s gift is its ability to concern and inspire, a thin balance that was beautifully well done.

The inspiring article I chose to write about comes from the independent Christian Science Monitor, a publication that tackles stories on a global level. In recent news, a story was run about the decline in  the funding and health for our U.S. park system.  Titled “America’s national parks face challenges,” the article uses a very balanced and thorough approach to explaining the danger our parks are facing. 

While it highlights funding issues for upkeep, the article is very expressive about the climate problems that seem to be impacting the parks the most. The story makes you feel the urgency of dying plants or watersheds through the offering of examples from parks across the nation. The story is both factual and opinionated in this regard.

The imagery in the lede tends to really suck the nature enthusiast in as well. Mr. Lamb writes, “Park ranger Matt Holly stands atop the bald, rounded top of Cadillac Mountain as a small knot of tourists huddles around him. At just over 1,500 feet, Cadillac is the highest point along the US Atlantic coastline. On this late summer day, the vista is spectacular: Lush green forests and azure ocean spread from the Porcupine Islands in Frenchman Bay to the east to the Cranberry Islands in the south and Seal Cove to the west on the Gulf of Maine.” Such a lede inspires me to do something about the problems that are happening in the park, or at least to find out more by reading the article. It quickly transitions from imagery to ominous predictions and facts.

The last dimension this story carries is one of entertainment. It covers Ken Burn’s newest show about national parks and film that shows some of the disappearing watersheds in Florida. Having the tie-in to another entertainment article fills out the story well. 

The article is inspiring not so much for being beautifully written, though it sounds and reads well. But for the extensive fact finding and opinion getting regarding a very broad nation-wide issue. Such a story in my eyes would be hard to even begin, and it shows the success of someone who followed the story to the end.

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/09/29/americas-national-parks-face-challenges/

A French name using a French metaphor, Elon Junior Camille DeMere won the Most Remarkable Poem Award with her piece “Apples of the Earth.”

Her title comes from the French phrase, pomme de terre, which translated literally means  “potato,” but can also be more figuratively referred to as an earth-apple.

“I wanted it to be that thing that they might not have grabbed otherwise,” DeMere said, while explaining her title.

But grab she did. In a competition that was meant to apply poetry to journalism, DeMere grasped the very roots, so to speak, of what it’s like to be a journalist.

In her poem she relates the life of a potato farmer to the trade of a journalist. These vegetables happened to be her choice metaphor for the crude gems a journalist digs up.

“There’s stuff deep down in the growths of the dark, but even after you get it out of the ground you can’t just give it to someone, you have to clean it up and slice it,” DeMere said.

In the same way potato farmers polish their potatoes, journalists hone and cut their own life’s work. For this more figurative assignment DeMere had to work somewhat differently.

“I shut off the filter between my brain and my mouth, and my mouth and my fingers,” DeMere said.

The last time DeMere chose to write poetry was in her sophomore year of high school, going to the coffee shop with her friends. It was a very cliché experience, she said.

But now she’s thinking about writing poetry again, and like the wandering peddler in her poem, who knows where it will take her.

She may wear silver framed glasses, but Lisa Kobrin sure doesn’t act like the stern and prudish librarian of Hollywood-movie infamy.

For 19 years, Kobrin has worked as the head reference librarian at May Memorial library in downtown Burlington. It’s a routine job, but it’s what she loves most.

“I enjoy the printed word, and the hours didn’t seem to be as bad as when I was a journalist,” Kobrin said laughing.

Before becoming a librarian, Kobrin got her bachelors degree studying journalism at the University of North Carolina. After deciding she wanted to do something different, she went back to school to gain her master’s degree in library science.

Four different universities in the North Carolina area offer this uncommon degree. It took Kobrin two additional years of research training and cataloging to become qualified as a full-time librarian.

But now Kobrin enjoys her job most when things are running smoothly, and she’s able to help everyone looking for answers.

“A good day is when all the equipment works well or there aren’t any massive school assignments,” Kobrin said. Technology problems often interfere with the research process.

Other times, the libraries resources just aren’t enough.

“Sometimes we’ll have 200 students come in at once because they’ve all been given the same assignment and sadly we’ll only have resources for 25 of them,” Kobrin said.

Kobrin likes working at the May Memorial library  because it is the most community oriented out of the Alamance county chain. It also has the largest local history collection in the county.

The other libraries in the area have different areas of expertise, such as academia or law. Families mill about in the friendly atmosphere of May Memorial looking for both entertainment and information.

As the afternoon sunshine streams through the high vaulted windows, a steady line of people come to Kobrin’s desk for help.

A man complains that the copier isn’t working, as he clumsily drops his coins on the counter. Kobrin sighs and heads for the malfunction.

Kobrin says her favorite part of the job however, is when she hears a really interesting question, and the challenge she gets from trying to answer it.

20 minutes before the library closes, she gets one of these questions. A high school student with a poetry assignment comes to Kobrin’s desk for recommendations. Kobrin smiles and begins firing questions right back at the student as she waves for the girl to follow her into the stacks.

“Are you looking for American poetry, or any adult poetry?” Kobrin asked as she tried to narrow the search.

Examples like these show that somehow the movies got it wrong. Librarians do more than shush students and bury their noses in books. In reality, they can be some of the friendliest and highest educated people a community knows.

The elements of journalism come from a series of studies on what journalists believe to be their profession’s core values. These elements are both guiding principles in the way journalists write and the way citizens read news articles. The one that I felt was the most important in this day and age, was number 7. “It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant. ” In other words, how effectively does the journalist relate to his audience? 

I chose this element because in today’s high-paced lifestyle of instant stimulation it’s hard to get readers to sit down long enough to read a story. If the story has an interesting angle or jumps out at the reader and touches them personally, it is much more likely that your story will be read. And isn’t getting read one of the most important thing’s to a journalist’s livelihood? 

Showing the reader you care enough to tailor a story to their liking is  considerate, because it’s telling them what they need to know. This also allows you to use that little creative creature inside of you that sets you apart from everybody else.

 

There’s an exciting, wild world beyond the lawns of Elon, and journalist John Owen wants to be sure students see it.

Owen insists that observing the media of the wide world is crucial to improving the journalism world. To him, bad reporting comes from distance writers, or those who cower behind their local news desk. 

“They don’t care because they’re not there. That’s something you can’t do from afar. You have to be there and talk to people,” said Owen.

Better stories come from first hand experience. Owen believes reporters benefit from human interest and the emotions they feel during close contact reporting.

Though with frontline reporting comes certain risk.  Owen calculated that 172 journalists are currently being held captive in various regions of the globe, and countless others have died while searching for the truth. 

“Journalists have made the decision it is worth their life,” said Owen, but they can still protect their life if given the proper training.

After naively endangering himself and several fellow reporters as a young journalist in Lebanon, Owen decided it was his responsibility to train university students before throwing them into war-filled arenas. 

Safety training provides his students with the skills necessary to survive injuries in the field and to become more diplomatic in hostile situations.  

In addition to adopting safety protocol, Owen believes that “transparency is the new objectivity.”   In other words, journalists receive more cooperation from sources when they share their reporting methods with their viewers.

Transparent reporting opens the door for a form of collaborative journalism between writers and their sources. By giving ordinary citizens cheap cameras, journalists have received amazing first-hand accounts, which they can later write about.

Owen thinks that these stories are much more important than the celebrity news trend of today. Stories like Paris Hilton’s imprisonment or Madonna’s adoption are gaining more airtime than genocide in Darfur or the sexual violence in the Congo.

“You have to decide whether you want to be a part of a journalism that matters or a journalism that is simply boring and titillating,” Owen said.

Owen has been involved in the leadership of many well-known news publications including the Canadian Broadcasting Company and the European Center of the Freedom Forum. He currently resides in London where he teaches journalism to today’s emerging journalists.

To Owen it’s devastating when a journalist puts his life on the line for a story that never gets published. But Owen seems confident that proper training and an interest for global story telling can strengthen journalistic lifelines and bylines.