UWC- USA FEBRUARY 2015

Good People at the Top

CHARLIE THOMPSON(CANADA ‘16)

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On Friday morning I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Xochitl Torres (pronounced Sochi), who is Chair of the American selection committee for UWC. I walked up to the c a s t l e w i t h t h e t a s k o f interviewing a person who is important to the organisation, but left with a warm feeling in my heart that usually accompanies the realisation (and re-realisation)

that there are good people in positions of power who care about the world we live in.

Xoch i t l f i r s t became involved with UWC on the opposite side of the application process that she now — to some degree — governs. She was accepted into the Waterford K amh l aba UWC schoo l i n Swaziland, and has taken an active role in the organization since. She has been an active alum for ten years, and on the USA selection committee for approximately six.

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CAMPUS NEWS

This week, the US National Committee was on campus and so the literati took the opportunity to interview the perspective of the Chair of the committee, Xotchitl Torres.

WORLD NEWS

T h i s i s s u e , w e c o ve r everything from the Chinese New Year to the atrocities committed by ISIS.

OPINION

Flip to the back for our take on dog laws as well as your weekly dose of good advice.

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UWC- USA FEBRUARY 2015

A message from the Editors

Hello readers,

Flip through this issue to read about everything from the ISIS issue to an exclusive interview from the Chair of the National Committee. See you all in MIND.

Best,

The Editors

KATERINA YANG (CHINA ’16)

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LITERATI STAFF

THE EDITORS

Blake Anderson USA-KS

Ojaswee Rajbhandary Nepal ‘15

Katerina Yang China ‘16

Izabella Pastrana USA-MO ’15

Sage de Brum Marshall Islands ’15

FACULTY SPONSOR

Parris Bushong

Tengliang He Japan ’16

Isabel Skye USA - WI ‘16

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Charlie Thompson Canada ‘16

UWC- USA FEBRUARY 2015

Prior to her role on the selection committee, Xochitl was an office field representative for NM Senator Tom Udall. Udall is known for being a good representative and a genuine person, and his stance on internet neutrality (among other things) gives the impression that he holds the interest of his constituents at heart. I asked her what drew her to Tom Udall, and she echoed my feelings — He came across as genuine and honest, and voted with his conscience. He was one of the few senators at the time that voted against the war in Iraq.

I then asked Xochitl what policy issues in particular were most important to her. Before answering, she clarified that her political efforts are centered around the notion that change is best undertaken by caring people who are already inside communities, rather than by an outside force. She said that she is aware of many international issues, but has been giving particular attention to local issues like police brutality (which is particularly bad in New Mexico), minimum wage (providing a livable and dignifying wage while ensuring businesses can remain healthy), and immigration reform. In her eyes, there should be a more clear-cut process towards citizenship, and there should not be as much arbitrary, murky decision-making undertaken by a single person when it concerns the life of an individual and their family.

On the subject of applications, I asked if the ideal UWC candidate could be distilled into a few key traits. According to Xochitl, the first and most important point to consider is “what they have done with what they have”. I got the sense that context is

crucial in the selection process, and that there cannot be many broad and all-encompassing rules without removing great candidates from consideration. The committee is also interested in initiative and leadership, but she noted that leadership can take many forms. Overall, they are looking for well rounded and open minded people — good grades are a baseline requirement, but in her eyes they are far from the most important aspect.

Xochitl ’s overall goal for the committee is to be transparent and to facilitate communication between all levels of the UWC family — including current students, faculty, alumni, and parents. She would like to hear from American students regarding their thoughts on the new interview process, and anything else that students would like to ask or say. One of her concerns is that too often, students only hear about UWC by chance, and the message and promise of this unique educational experience is not reaching the corners of the world or the depths of inner cities.

Xochitl studies law, and in her spare time enjoys running and spending time with her husband. She is a kind and intelligent woman, and we are lucky to have her on our side.

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Egyptian Airstrikes on

Libya ISABEL SKYE(USA - WI ‘16)

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On Monday the 16th it was announced by the general command in Cairo, Egypt that there would be airstrikes on militant weapons caches and training camps in Libya. This announcement and the bombings in Libya that followed shortly thereafter were a response to a video released on social media titled, “A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross.” The video showed 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians dressed in orange being led along a beach only to be concurrently lied down and beheaded by Jihadist militants.

While there have been multiple air raid campaigns in Libya by the Egyptian government within the last few months, these bombings on Libyan militants marked the first time Egypt has acknowledged any foreign military intervention since 1991. It was reported that between forty and fifty of the targeted militants died. According to a couple security officers there were also civilians killed in the bombings which included two women and three children.

The militants in question are reported to call themselves the Tripoli Province of Islamic State, a group claiming links with ISIS. They have taken credit for multiple terrorist attacks in Tripoli this year including a terrorist attack on a Tripoli luxury hotel that killed 10 people last January. This was the deadliest attack on

Western interests in Libya since the American Diplomatic assault in 2012.

In contemporary times Egypt’s Coptic Christians have been a specific target of militant killings. Jihadist statements have said the killings are retribution for what they claim to be forced conversion of Muslims to Christianity. The responses by the Coptic Christian Church have been mere disclaims stating these claims are “absurd, i l l- informed, misinformed propaganda.”

Reports from officials say that there will most definitely be more strikes against Jihadists in the following days. Libya has since joined in the airstrikes and plans to take necessary future actions against the militants, military or otherwise.Italy has even stated that they may help with military intervention after the video released had within it direct threats to Europe and Rome. Expansion is becoming an ever increasing worry among the world community in regards to ISIs and its cells. This specific instance is bringing the issue evermore to a head due to it location in a place not within ISIS’s major sphere of influence. There have been Jihadist terrorist activity in Libya for a while now, but what worries the world community is that now they are identifying with ISIS.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/egypt-hits-isis-targets-in-libya-with-airstrikes/ 4

UWC- USA FEBRUARY 2015

Chinese New Year: The World’s Maddest

Dash KATERINA YANG

(CHINA ’16)—————————-

Hundreds of millions of Chinese people are celebrating the grandest festival, Chinese New Year, in the China Town of America, including New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Boston.

Chinese New Year Menu Specials

Health and prosperity are the defining themes of almost any New Year celebration around the world, but  Chinese cuisine offers meals that channel  these aspirations cleverly, dishes with long beans or long noodles symbolize longevity. But Buddakan  executive chef Brian Ray particularly enjoys the playfulness of Mandarin homonyms.

“In Mandarin, the  word for fish is like ‘surplus,’ he said. “So eating fish symbolizes that you will always have more than you need.” Citrus is frequently used.  The Mandarin word for “orange” is a homonym for success, and “pomelo” is similar to the Mandarin verb “to

have,” so it alludes to prosperity. “Tangerine” is similar to “luck,” which explains the gesture of giving someone a tangerine for the New Year.

“Dumplings are always big,” Ray  said. “The shape is supposed to look like golden and silver ingots. So the theory is if you eat a lot of dumplings. It means big wealth in the New Year.”

A veteran of fine dining  restaurants outside Philadelphia and Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, Ray “took a step back eight years ago because I knew nothing about Asian food” and devoted himself to mastering  the complex dishes of Buddakan’s Chinese menu.

Chinese New Year Parade

This year, as always, Disneyland had a traditional dragon parade, and people watched fireworks in Victoria’s Harbor. You may very well meet the same excited faces that you met at the parade or the fireworks display, but only at the  Hong Kong Disneyland  will you see the iconic Disney festooned in the traditional burst of red and gold. Grab a pair of Mouse Ears and spend a day celebrating a different sort of Chinese New Year. With one-of-a-kind Chinese New-Year-themed food and souvenirs, remember to drop by i f you want a unique Disneyland experience.

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Photo Credit: wisemovesdance.co.uk

UWC- USA FEBRUARY 2015

New Mexico Dog Biting Law

TEINGLING HE(JAPAN ‘16)

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Some people love dogs, some are scared of them, and some prefer cats. This article is for future dog owners. Generally, the United States of America has strict laws for dogs since it’s one of the largest dog-owning countries. If you want to own a dog, some complicated paper work and medical work is unavoidable. Sometimes a dog’s medical record can be even thicker than its owner’s.

As you probably know, one of the most harmful things a dog can do to a human is biting. Rabies from dogs was a big problem up until a vaccine was developed in 1885 by Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux. Almost all human cases of rabies were fatal before. I suppose that is one of the reasons America, which emphasizes human rights, has developed strict laws against it. However, in the U.S. each state has its own laws which are slightly different from the general American constitution. Let’s look at the dog bite law for where we live, New Mexico.

The "one bite" rule focuses on the dog owner's knowledge. In order to hold a dog owner liable for injuries that the dog causes, the injured person must show that the dog's owner knew the dog was aggressive. One way to show this is by proving that the dog has already committed its "one bite" against someone else. However, a prior bite is not required if evidence exists that the dog has acted aggressively in other ways and that the owner knew or should have known about that behavior.

New Mexico law requires that a dog's previous aggression be acted out toward a human being. Evidence that a dog has acted aggressively toward other animals is not enough to establish the knowledge of aggression required to hold the dog's owner liable for injuries.

Negligence cases focus on a slightly different question: whether or not the dog's owner or another person used  reasonable care to prevent a dog bite injury. New Mexico allows people injured by dog bites to bring negligence-based cases to court. In a negligence dog bite case, the injured person must demonstrate that the owner knew or should have known about the dog's aggressiveness but failed to use reasonable care to control or restrain the dog in a way that would prevent injury.

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Source: www.movieplot.com

Photo Credit:www.aboutdogfacts.com 6

UWC- USA FEBRUARY 2015

Negligence cases focus on a slightly different question: whether or not the dog's owner or another person used reasonable care to prevent a dog bite injury. New Mexico allows people injured by dog bites to bring negligence-based cases to court. In a negligence dog bite case, the injured person must demonstrate that the owner knew or should have known about the dog's aggressiveness but failed to use reasonable care to control or restrain the dog in a way that would prevent injury.

In New Mexico, the dog laws are not as strict as other states. The law gives dog owners space to defend themselves. “New Mexico law gives dog owners several ways to argue that they should not be liable for injuries their dogs cause. Because Mexico is a ‘one bite’ state, the first defense most dog owners raise is that they did not know and could not have known that their dog had any aggressive tendencies.”

Overall, America has some strong laws for owning a dog and it provides humans a well- protected environment from dogs. When you’re bit by a dog, don’t panic, check with the owner and make sure the dog has received rabies shots. And if not, please go see a doctor and get required treatment.

Ask Sir E Brum SAGE DE BRUM

(MARSHALL ISLANDS ’15)—————————-

1. Is there any such thing as a dumb question?

-If Batman's parents are dead, how was it possible for Batman to be born?

-How do people get that bottle-shaped ice inside the water bottle even though the nozzle is so small?

-What if all the Ancient Greek sculptures are just victims of Medusa? (quickmeme.com)

-There are no dumb questions, just dumb people who ask dumb questions

-Smart people are ones who ask dumb questions that no one asks; dumb people are ones who ask smart questions that have already been answered.

2. A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays for three days, then leaves on Friday. How is this possible?

-the Horse's name is Friday

-this was on a planet with three day weeks

-the cowboy's watch ran out of battery that day

Sources: http://dogbitelaw.com/one-bite-state/new-mexico-dog-bite-law

http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/personal-injury/dog-bite-laws-liability-new-mexico.html

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UWC- USA FEBRUARY 2015

3. Why is the answer to life 42 in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?

-Possibly because 42 is the score we need in the IB to really live life. Without a 42, who knows, we probably won't get into college, won't get a job, and would be too underqualified to even be a homeless person (I only joke)

-The high school that Douglas Adams went to (Brentwood School, in the UK) does actually offer the IB curriculum, among other curricula.

-The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams. If we do a tally of each letter in this line, we get 3+5+6+5+2+3+6+7+5=42

-In one part of it, there is a mention of 6 being multiplied by 9and some people thus feel that this was a foreshadowing of the answer to everything if one were to work in base 13 (i.e. 6 with base 13 multiplied by 9 with base 13).

-Adams does address this at a later point saying “I may be a sorry case, but I don't write jokes in base 13."(h2g2.com)

4. Imagine you're driving a bus of 30 people. The bus stops at A where 3 get on and 8 get off. Then the bus gets to B and 12 get off and 19 get on. Finally, at C, 27 people get on, and 30 get off. What is the bus driver’s name?

-Sir E Brum

5. Will I enjoy my project week trip?

-in the end, dear writer, it’s all up to you. If you expect it to be bad, then you'll spend time during your trip trying to prove yourself right. Try to be open and expect it to be great - that's why they're options in the first place – and it'll turn out just fine. Good luck, it's a mere few weeks away!

6. Manipulating decays (like beta decays) of particles and such, can I keep making gold based off of other particles?

-At the moment, I can't really say no…if you are able to, I imagine that you'd only be able to have a small resulting amount of Au, if anything.

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