When I walked into Memorial Hall, there was a clear plastic podium with an unobtrusive mic attached to it onstage. When I got back from meeting with my photographer, that podium was gone.

And I was kind of confused. But Carolina Union Activities Board President Erika Stallings set the tone for the evening by saying that the podium wouldn’t be representative of lecturer Spike Lee’s style.

This was, she said, going to be a Spike Lee joint at Memorial Hall.

What follows are brief quotes — what I was able to gather in between blips of being awestruck in the second row — from Lee’s lecture.

“A funny thing happens when you wait by the phone — the phone gets turned off.”
Spike said this in reference to his time spent immediately after his graduation from New York University’s film school and after his student Academy Award win. He waited for the call for a gig, but nothing ever came. He later said that one must get out there and work to make their dreams a reality.

“Parents kill more dreams than anybody. No need to applaud that.”
Spike urged everyone in the audience to follow their dreams so that they can be happy and, as he said, sometimes this entails going against the traditional grain.

“Ghetto is really a state of mind. That’s why they call it a ghetto mentality.”
In his discussion of gangsta rap versus hip hop, Spike made mention of how many aspire to be “ghetto.” In dispelling this aspiration, he broke down the idea by saying it merely was something trivial, a figment.

“The days of ‘I know he’s callin’ me a bitch and a ho, but I like the beat’ are over. We have to start listening to lyrics, to substance.”
Lee railed against gangsta rap particularly for what it stood for in his eyes. This sentance was used a means to dispell the notion that he finds social value in the genre.

“We’re going to hell in a handbasket.”
Lee on the state of the United States, particularly in reference to the denegration of society and the government’s involvement in the Middle East.

“Don’t be hoodwinked into thinking everything’s alright. It’s still messed up down there.”
Lee has garnered critical acclaim for his documentary on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The documentary, “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,” was Lee’s segue into discussing the situation in New Orleans following Katrina, and this statement from the ensuing question-and-answer session spoke volumes about Lee’s dedication to the relief effort.

“HBO wants to continue it, the process. The story is not dead. One criticism that I find particularly true is that it’s too New Orleans-centric. We have to focus on other areas.”
Spike Lee fielded a question about the status of his cinematic work in New Orleans. His response offers the hope that his work in the Gulf Coast isn’t done yet.

“We still don’t know the real deal.”
Spike said this in reference to two current issues of race in America. Its most immediate reference was to the Tawana Brawley case, in which a black New York woman claimed a a number of white men raped her. This incident was mentioned briefly in Lee’s Oscar-nominated film “Do the Right Thing.” Lee also used this as a segue into his (very brief) discussion of the Duke University lacrosse scandal. The statement, he said, applies to both cases.

“Technology has leveled the playing field in terms of filmmaking.”
When asked about how filmmaking has changed since Spike began his career at New York University, Spike had a simple answer. People now can edit their films on their computers. When Spike was in film school, he said people went to school to get access to equipment and cheap crews. Now, he said, that’s not an issue.

“Baseball is a tough place.”
Lee said this in response to whether or not he thought Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier, would be disappointed that his vision of a fully integrated league hasn’t survived. Lee also pointed out that only seven percent of the MLB is black.

“You have to be better than other races if you’re a minority. You can’t use racism as a crutch.”
This was Lee’s advice to a Hispanic woman who asked him how to succeed in life in the face of racial discrimination.

“Anybody that says (that historically black colleges and universities merely are a continuation of high school) is someone who’s not intelligent. HBCUs are still essential. Look at Notre Dame. Loot at Yeshiva. Hell, look at Brigham Young.”
An audience member from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University asked Lee what he thought of the idea that some people view HBCUs as a continuation of high school. Lee, a graduate of Morehouse College, an HBCU, promptly refuted the claim.

“That’s why diversity is so important. The impact that colleges and universities make on students is immeasurable.
Lee said this in response to an audience member’s question on how to effectively bridge the racial divide in a collegiate atmosphere. Understanding diversity, he said, is the key.

“The more we can learn about each other, the better. You really can’t give lip service to diversity.”
Again, here Spike Lee mentions why diversity is the key to helping to eliminate the racial divide. It isn’t something to pay minimal attention to, he said. According to Lee, it’s the crux of the matter.

Harry Kaplowitz
Arts Editor

From DTH senior writer Jessica Schonberg:

Booking it to Blacksburg

I had about five seconds to decide if I wanted to go to Blacksburg. State and National Editor Erin France screamed at me to get out of the newsroom so I grabbed a stack of notebooks and ran out the door. I didn’t grab the bag with my keys, my wallet or any other of my personal belongings in it. When we left we didn’t know very much about what was going on at Virginia Tech except that about 20 people were dead. We listened to news coverage the whole way there and it became apparent that this was going to take way more than an afternoon to report so we went ahead and booked a hotel room.

Day 1

When we got there the media was just starting to flood in. The folks at the Collegiate Times were generous enough to let us use their newsroom in the student union to set up camp.

The first day was a frenzy of trying to figure out the story. Each press conference was more packed than the last and security got tighter every time. By the end of the night the room was so packed people were locked out and had to watch the conference in an overflow room on TV. The huge parking lot was completely full of news trucks and so was every spare patch of grass. We didn’t have official media credentials and the folks working the door were starting to give us a hard time about it. First thing the next morning our ad director e-mailed us some homemade press passes that Timothy, the photographer with us, took to a copy shop and got laminated. It’s amazing that your own little Photoshop project is legitimate enough to get you through the door, but it was.

We worked on our story until well after midnight. We never stopped. As a journalist, it is exhilarating when major news breaks. As a human, it is very difficult to suppress your feelings about the situation so you can effectively do your job. We didn’t get to our hotel until after 3 a.m. and probably slept less than three hours, but when we woke up the next day the adrenaline was pumping and we were ready to go.

Day 2

Our second day there I spent almost the entire day on campus talking to people and immersing myself in the student body. As I did this, the adrenaline started to wear off and it became harder and harder to focus on doing my job.

Administrators on campus planned a big Convocation ceremony for Tuesday afternoon to give the community an opportunity to come together and grieve. I showed up two hours early because I was concerned about getting through security and the line was already wrapped around the building that houses the basketball arena.

The tears were flowing inside that stadium. And it wasn’t a show for TV and it wasn’t because people were just a little bit upset, it was because people were truly aching from the devastation on their campus. I can’t imagine how scarred I would be if my own fond memories of Carolina were tainted by such bloody and horrific incidents as those at Virginia Tech. I cannot begin to tell you how hard it was to look at those faces of pain and anguish and keep a straight face. That could have been our campus. That ceremony could have been to grieve our friends and community members. Sitting there with my notebook and pen, furiously scribbling down the sights and sounds taking place around me, I have never felt more heartless. People around me were grieving and I was pushing away grief that I know doesn’t even begin to compare to what they were going through. I positively hate the color orange, but Tuesday at that convocation there is nothing I wanted more than to be wearing a Virginia Tech T-shirt.

Back home

Now that I have had a chance to watch a little more TV coverage of the tragedy, there is something I think is being misrepresented. The way that many news outlets are talking about campus makes it sound like the spirit of Virginia Tech will never recover. In contrast, the feeling I got walking around that campus was one of resilience. People are bound and determined to overcome this tragedy and to continue to love Virginia Tech as much as they always have. The spirit of the school will never be exactly the same as it was, but the spirit isn’t broken either. There is a very powerful feeling of unity and strength that can only be experienced by walking around and talking to those who are dealing with this horrific incident firsthand. People have remained amazingly positive in the face of great tragedy.

Another thing is the generalization that everyone is mad at the Virginia Tech administration. They aren’t. Feelings are very mixed about the way the situation was handled. I urge everyone reading and watching the news to use caution before jumping to conclusions about who is at fault. From talking to students at Virginia Tech I can tell that they are taking their time in passing judgment.

It wasn’t until I got home that everything really started to sink in and the emotions started to flow. I think some people have the idea that journalists are story-hungry workers with no compassion. We are story-hungry, but we are emotional as well. We have to strike a balance between being reporters and being people and sometimes that balance is hard to find. For me personally, it involved setting my feelings aside until I got home. I can assure you, however, that it all came out when I got back. My heart goes out to the entire Virginia Tech community. Blacksburg is a community just like Chapel Hill where people are bound together by their love of a university. Their love is being put to the test right now and I wish them the best of luck.

We decided to follow a student body president campaign because we wanted to show students just how much it takes to run for the position. When I sat down with Joe Schwartz and some of my peers in the middle of January to decide who to pick, our main criteria was a candidate who would put up no walls between the reporter and the campaign.

We wanted to show students the life behind a campaign, what it’s like to devote 24 hours a day to something you only have 25 percent of achieving. We wanted to show the behind-the-scenes politcs. We especially wanted to show the campaign staff, those who devoted the same amount of time but will never have the SBP title.

We narrowed our selection to two: Eve Carson and Nick Neptune. We felt that they were the two who would be most open to having a reporter tail them for a month and also were the most intriguing candidates as they already had a steady buzz behind them.

Carson had the interesting angle of being a candidate who had never been involved in student government. She was a fresh face, which would make an interesting story.

However we ultimately chose Neptune because of his perceived public persona. We wanted to know if that politician persona was actually him. Was Neptune always “on”? Or was that really him. In the end, we thought that would make a better story.

Neptune opened his campaign to me completely. I went dormstorming with him seven times. I went to five forums with his staff. I sat in on countless meetings in the first floor loung of Old East Residence Hall. I know the details of his life and his campaigner’s lives. In total, I spent more than 70 hours with him and his team and have more than 45 pages of Word document notes.

Neptune told me after the election that he was sorry I hadn’t picked a winning campaign to follow. But that wasn’t the point of the story. In fact, I think it made the story more compelling. The point of the story was to follow a campaign to see what it’s like to run for SBP. And for the majority of all SBP candidates, losing the election is part of the experience.

I wrote a story that was 43 inches long. Our average story at The Daily Tar Heel is about 13 to 15 inches. However, in that large amount of space, I don’t think I was even able to scrape at the amount of hard work that goes into any campaign. I hope that everyone who reads the story can understand and appreciate the effort that went into each campaign.

The Chapel Hill Police Department has issued two warrants for the sexual assault that occurred Jan. 9.
The victim was walking on the sidewalk on Hillsborough street when a man walking in the opposite direction groped her and continued walking. The victim identified the suspect from a photo line-up.
Daniel Anthony Berarducci, 26, of Mebane, is wanted on charges of assault on a female and sexual battery.
Berarducci’s whereabouts are unknown at this time.

Today we ran a couple of stories about inspections of downtown Chapel Hill restaurants. We wanted to do this story in light of the recent E. coli outbreak that has sickened nine locals - seven of whom reported eating at McAlister’s Deli on Franklin Street.
What we wanted you to take away from these articles - one on inspections and one on the McAlister’s link to a foodborne illness - was a better understanding of those inspection grades that are posted in each restaurant. We also wanted to shed light on an inspectors’ duties and flaws within the system. And, of course, we wanted to tell you the top violations in area restaurants.
For this story, we analyzed inspection records for about 70 downtown restaurants (didn’t know there were that many in the downtown area?). We obtained these records, which are public according to the N.C. Public Records law, from the Orange County Health Department’s Environmental Health Services Division. There were some difficulties in acquiring these records at both the state and local levels. First, I thought it would be simple. I knew the county’s environmental health department kept some sort of database on their computers. I have a right to that, since it is public record. However, I was told they weren’t able to pull the data I needed electronically. This was on Monday, and I needed the data to begin analyzing by Tuesday evening. So, I put in a request with the state department, hoping they would get back to me in a timely manner. Then I went down to the department in Hillsborough and physically sorted through their filing cabinets for records of the 69 restaurants I needed. After that I was told that the copying of these hard-copy records could take up to a week, since the department is short-staffed. That was Tuesday, and I needed this story to run today (Monday). So, I did something I wasn’t expected to do and something that was beyond my duties - I went back the next day and made the copies of the past four inspections for each restaurant myself using their copier (which had several flaws, such as cutting off half of the pages and inspection dates). On Friday, after I had spent hours entering the hard-copy data into an Excel spreadsheet for sorting and analyzing, I received an e-mail from someone at the state department who told me they could send me electronic records of the county’s restaurants, but not sorted by city. I received that data Friday. I rejoiced for a moment, thinking I could do a lot more with this data - such as posting it in a database online. That was until I discovered that their spreadsheet did not include many of the restaurants’ most recent inspection data. So I stuck with what I had.
Had I had more time and wasn’t planning to run this story today, I would have fought for better electronic records that fulfilled my requests. In the computer-assisted reporting world, I’ve always been told, “Where there’s a data, there’s a database,” and “Where there’s a database, there’s access to it.” Time was merely of the essence in this case.
At the end of my copying “duties” I told the kind interim director at the Orange County environmental health department that he should find a way to keep better records online. Luckily, WRAL-TV and other major newspapers and stations have compiled such data online for consumers to access. That’s not their jobs. Some states, such as Florida, provide their data on their government’s homepage (GOOD IDEA!) With most all government agencies using computers every day, there has been a tremendous move to keeping data online or at least in the computer - and that also means having to share it to the public.

-Shannan M. Bowen,
Investigative Team Editor

A lot of good inventions have come out of the fine country of Finland over the years. But I think the Finns have finally topped their previous number one gift to the world (it’s the sauna, if you don’t know as much about Finnish innovation as you should, and you don’t like being taken to random Wikipedia articles).

That’s right: Last Monday, Finnish mathematician Arto Inkala announced he had created the world’s hardest Sudoku. It’s called AI Escargot, after the 37-year old’s initials and the fact that it kinda looks like a snail. It took three months to create.

Feeling like giving it a spin? Well, print it off and give it a go. Best of luck to you! It requires the solver to consider eight casual relationships at a time (whereas your normal “Evil” level puzzle might have three at most). I’ll post the solution in a week or two.

Deborah Shaw has worked at the polls since 1978. This year she is one of the chief judges at the Weaver Dairy Road polling place, held at the Chapel Hill Fire Department.

Poll workers are paid a minimum of $115, with pay depending on the job they perform, Shaw said. Assistant poll workers must be at least 18 years of age.  At polling places there are three “judges” - a Republican judge, a Democrat judge and a chief judge. The three judges must remain at the polling station the entire day - from opening at 6 a.m. until the station closes and things are packed up. Sometimes that can be a 19-hour day, especially during Presidential elections, Shaw said.

Charles Adams, a poll worker at the Estes Hills (Chapel Hill Public Library) polling station, said he receives $120 for about 13 hours of work, which includes checking in voters, handing them their ballots and answering any questions they might have. Although he gets some monetary gain, Adams said, “But I would do it for free. … I think it’s my civic duty, but if they want to pay me, that’s O.K.”  Adams has worked at the polls for five years and began his shift at 6 a.m. today.

Interested in how poll workers are trained? The North Carolina State Board of Elections has training videos here: http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/video/video.htm

Interested in becomming a poll worker? According to the United States Election Assistance Commission’s Web site, contact Gary Bartlett, executive director for the State Board of Elections, at 919-733-7173.  http://www.eac.gov/state_poll.asp?states=nc

The Asheville Citizen-Times ran an interesting story about poll workers. Here: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200661029012

-Shannan Bowen

I voted at 2:30 p.m. today at Carolina Spring Apartments, 600 Poplar Ave. in Carrboro. The polling place was a spacious room with a few voting stations - stands with privacy guards around them - and a few tables, also with privacy guards.

I registered to vote in Chapel Hill when I was a freshman - four years ago. Two years ago, when I lived in a house in Carrboro, I changed my address for voting purposes. That’s why my polling place was in Carrboro, even though I have since moved to downtown Chapel Hill. I should have changed my voter registration to reflect my current address. When I approached the poll worker at the check-in table I gave her my name, and she then asked for my address. Oops. I had only lived at my former Carrboro address for one school year, and couldn’t remember anything besides the road name. She let me sign in anyway. In North Carolina, the voter only has to state his name and address. The only time any type of ID would be requested would be if a voter is challenged.  Want information on voting in North Carolina? See: http://govote.ncvotered.com/FAQ.htm#bring

After I received the ballot I walked over to a privacy station to circle in pen my choices. It took 10 minutes or less.  I knew I had to put my finished ballot into the “ballot machine.” That’s when I had a problem. I saw a machine that said “insert ballot here” and figured that’s where I was to put my finished ballot. Oops. That was the “automated ballot machine” - a machine that allows you to scan your ballot and use a computer screen to choose your candidates by touching a button on the screen. A poll worker came over and said, “Oh, no! You’re putting it in the wrong machine!” Luckily, it didn’t mess up. The “finished ballot machine” was just next to it and I placed it in there after the “automated ballot machine” finished scanning my ballot. She said it wasn’t my fault and that there should have been a sign instructing people that that machine was for voting purposes only - not for finished ballots. At some of the other voting places, poll workers said others had the same confusion about the two machines, so I don’t feel too embarrassed about it!

-Shannan Bowen

Today we are going to be sending people out to the polls to see what kind of action’s going on. Stay tuned for more updates!

From Assistant State and National Editor Allison Nichols:

The debate I attended Monday between Rep. David Price, D-N.C., and his Republican challenger Col. Steve Acuff never got nasty, but it was fairly informative. Despite the lack of mudslinging, yelling, protesting or rioting, the forum was pretty interesting.

The candidates articulated in their two-and-a-half minute responses to questions asked by Vote Carolina moderators and the audience their very different visions for the course of the state and the nation after the midterm elections.

In my 12-inch story in Tuesday’s paper I was not able to fully hash out their differences, their plans and their criticisms of the status quo. So, on the off-chance that someone, maybe a first-time voter or a student new to politics in this state or just a concerned citizen, turns to The Daily Tar Heel to arm them with the knowledge necessary to be an educated voter, I decided to use this blog to write more about the platforms of Price and Acuff.

Background

Price has been a U.S. Congressman for almost 18 years. He serves on the House Appropriations Committee. A UNC graduate, he likes to mention when speaking on campus that being in Chapel Hill during the era of sit-ins and the Civil Rights movement made a great impact in shaping his political awareness and beliefs.

Acuff, a graduate of Carson Newman College in Tennessee, joined the Air Force during the Vietnam War and served for 30 years. He then was the operations manager for Express Food Group. Acuff said he is not a professional politician, and even if elected he still will not be a professional politician when working on Capitol Hill.

Jobs for college graduates

Acuff said college graduates benefit when the economy is healthy. He thinks that the economy and the job market works best when Americans are turned loose. He thinks Americans are very good at growing the economy through entrepreneurship and innovation when they are freed of government regulations.

Price agreed that an overall strong economy will benefit job-seeking college graduates. He said public policy in North Carolina has made a huge difference and been part of the state’s success story. But, he added that several policies need to be amended at the federal level, including more support of small businesses and ending the practice of rewarding companies for moving offshore.

Illegal immigration

Price advocates a balanced approach to illegal immigration. He said there must be more serious enforcement of laws in existence — including a more significant effort at the border. He said the underlying problem with our immigration policy is that there is a mismatch between official policy and America’s employment needs. Price favors a program that will allow, on a case-by-case basis, immigrants to receive legal status.

Acuff frames the immigration debate in the context of the war on terror, saying he brings military eyes to the problem. His priority is securing the border immediately, and his greatest concern is that we do not know who is coming into the country.

Ethical standards for politicians

Price said he has been part of a “gang of four” legislators who have proposed new rules for ethical standards. He said not only are new guidelines needed, but the rules already in existence must be enforced.

Acuff observed that corruption is an equal opportunity employer, meaning that it has affected both major parties. He facetiously quipped that the best way to handle the problem would be to shoot a corrupt politician and put his or her head on a stick.

Free trade and the North Carolina economy

Both candidates agree that the clock cannot be turned back on globalization. Acuff said he’s sympathetic to folks who have lost jobs because of free trade agreements, and his priority is educating them so they can find another line of work.

Price said the state and the country are both well-served by aggressive and responsible free trade policy. He emphasized that we should not make trade agreements that put American workers and firms at a disadvantage.

Stem-cell research

Acuff said he does not believe in saving a life by killing another. He supports adult and umbilical cord stem-cell research, but does not support research in which fetuses are terminated.

Price was very passionate in his defense of stem-cell research. He said that in his extended family he has had relatives with three major diseases that scientists say might benefit from stem cell research. He also criticized Bush for vetoing “lifesaving research” as the first and to-date only veto of his presidency.

Federal government’s role in education

Price said that although the government should serve a role in easing the financial needs in higher education, he does not want to see it micromanaging universities or their budgets. He said there is a federal role but it should be a supportive role.

Acuff commended school teachers for their work, but he thinks there is far too much bureaucracy in education. He said he would shut down the U.S. Department of Education in an instant.

For more info, you can visit the candidates’ Web sites. And remember to vote on Nov. 7.