Updates During TBC Online Redesign

Over the past week, the staff of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online has been implementing the first of a series of changes to our site design. Frequent visitors to the site may have noticed that portions of the site have been gradually taking on a new graphical look and a streamlined navigational structure. The planned changes will continue throughout the month, coinciding with the release of the newest issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine.

Meanwhile, we continue to update both the main site with new features and our job bank with opportunities, as well as maintaining ongoing postings by our featured bloggers Kim R Wells and Al The Insipiration Duncan, as well as new film, book and DVD reviews and other entertainment features by columnist Kam Williams in our Extracurricular Department.

While we're changing our navigation structure, we wated to call attention to some other recently added features that may have been temporarily harder to spot this past week:

• Thousands Demand, "Free the Jena Six"
  Black T-shirts, purple ribbons, the U.S. and black liberation flags swinging high, handmade posters, picket signs and fists clenched while rising to the sky: This was the uniform for many of the thousands who marched two miles to the LaSalle Parish courthouse declaring, "Free the Jena Six."
• HBCUs Figure in Obama's Campaign Strategy
  Singled out in Vibe magazine, dropped in some of hip-hop's hottest songs of the summer from the likes of Talib Kweli to Common, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination are focusing strongly on the student population, including those at historically black colleges and universities.
• Shayla Price: The $100,000 Scholarship Queen
  Earning money for college has become an art form for Shayla Price who began her journey at the age of 18 searching for a way to pay for college, and ended up as a college and career prep adviser helping students across the country make their dreams come true
• INTERNS WANTED! Opportunities in Washington, DC
  If you’ve been wondering how to get your foot in the door of some of the leading government and industry employers in Washington, DC, regardless of where you live, then you’ll want to take notes.
• Q&A: Post-Maternity Leave Job Re-entry; Financial Aid; more
• 2007 HBCU Homecoming Dates

During our site changes, and as always, we invite all of our visitors to send us feedback on the site design and features they'd like to see.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online Site Maintenance

Starting today, the main BLACK COLLEGIAN Online site at http://www.black-collegian.com/ will be undergoing the first stage of a network redesign. During the maintenance, users may experience periods in which the site is noticeably slower or temporarily inaccessible. We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you visiting.

Meanwhile, the jobs portion of our site will still be accessible and fully operational at the direct URL http://jobs.blackcollegian.com/.

Four Views of Vick

Two student writers from Black College Wire go at the Vick question from different angles:

For Kai Beasley, a recent graduate of Emory, the Vick Case Raises Question of Personal Responsibility. Yes, "'The System' has been a source of worry and woe for black men, since Africans in America learned how to pronounce the word 'system'," Beasley acknowledges. But, while "the system is flawed, [at] what point do we ask ourselves what role we play in our own demise?"

At the same time, Brian Browley, a student at Tennessee State University, urges that Before Condemning Michael Vick, Consider Ignorance, Stupidity — and Insanity. Observing that dog-fighting events "take place on the lowest rungs of society, in the slums and dirt-poor rural communities of America -- places where the living conditions of people mirror that of dogs," Browley is disturbed by the intense media scrutiny given to the case, which may be tinged with class bias. "You won't find [dog fights] on Park Avenue or in the suburbs."

Between the two commentators, though, they are tackling the same question: Can a person be both highly condemning of Michael Vick's actions while also being wary of the intensity and outrage in how the case has been reported?

Elsewhere, on our IMDiversity sister site, Earl Ofari Hutchinson muses over the The Rehabilitation of Michael Vick. "Vick will pay and continue to pay two steep prices for his crime. He’ll do jail time, cough up a load in fines and restitution, and be canned indefinitely by the NFL. That price is fair and warranted," Hutchinson says. "The other price he’ll pay is that he’ll be the permanent poster boy for animal abuse and the bad behaving celebrity. That price is questionable."

However, Kam Williams believes that the Disgraced QB Still Needs Serious Help. Sure, Vick needs counseling and rehabilitation. But Williams is disgusted that instead, a slick PR machine has rolled out the announcement that Vick has abruptly found Jesus, "selling the notion that his shedding crocodile tears and converting to Christianity on the courthouse steps means that his high crimes and misdemeanors are already behind him."

We don't expect this discussion to go away soon, and welcome your thoughts, as well as encourage you to check out any comments posted on the Black College Wire article.

Today, a Sight to See: HANDS AROUND THE DOME

As we head into the last day of this week's Hurricane Katrina anniversary remembrances in New Orleans, our roving reporter NOLASon is on his way to what promises to be the most spectacular in a whirlwind of events and actions somber and inspirational, angering and reflective, uplifting and mournful.



THE BLACK COLLEGIAN encourages everyone in the area to head on down to the "HANDS AROUND THE DOME CEREMONY" this afternoon, with a full schedule of civic and cultural events programming starting at 12:30 PM, culminating in the Circling of the Dome at 3:30 PM.


Organized by the African American Leadership Project, the HADC intends to symbolize "healing from the suffering and losses, and affirmation of the future." The program consists of rituals, prayers, brief speeches, cultural events, reflections, music and song, and reading a partial roll of the deceased. To close the program, participants form a powerful and dramatic hand to hand human circle around the Dome as each person calls out and names their loss.


"When that circle is formed reflecting a diversity of human hands, and the Dome is surrounded and encircled, there is a dramatic feeling that we are together, and that we will prevail no matter what has happened," said Gail Glapion, AALP Chairperson.


The AALP Project Manager, Mtangulizi Sanyika, continued, "We try to overcome the pain and suffering that occurred in this building which along with the Convention Center has become symbolic of the general pain and suffering caused by human error and neglect during Katrina."

For the AALP this year's Ceremony as the closing and "crowning event" of the 2nd Katrina Anniversary Observance and commemoration.



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st

LOUISIANA SUPERDOME PLAZA LEVEL (click for map)

Read the AALP release from NewOrleansAgenda.com


ABOUT THE IMAGES HERE


Top - Louisiana Superdome from AALP/NewOrleansAgenda.com release; Middle and Bottom - Two extraordinary views of the damaged Superdome immediately after the hurricane, from a photo essay by a then-student journalist Nikki Bannister called "Welcome to New Orleans". The photo essay was part of a special collaborative project by Black College Wire, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN, and IMDiversity.com, Hurricane Katrina - Views from America's HBCUs. It appeared as an extended online/offline feature in the First Semester 2005 Super Issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine. For larger, uncropped versions of the images, see the essay.