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(12/08/09 4:57am)
Winter break is all I have. I don’t know about you, but this has been one of the hardest semesters of my college career. I have spent way too many Friday nights in front of my computer, in a library or in a lab, and I’m sick of it.But around this time of year, no matter how many carpal tunnel scares I have, I get through it.All I have to do is think about that glorious month in December or January when the only obligation I have is to finish re-watching all five seasons of “Lost” before the season six premiere.But not this year.This year, there is no solid month of bliss. We have about three weeks. And after four months of academic agony, there’s a big difference between one month and three weeks.The last day of exams at UNC is Dec. 18. And if you have fantastic exam luck like me, you have an exam that day.We start classes again for the spring semester Jan. 11.That’s 24 days.Thanks for that long, relaxing break, UNC. After giving you my soul this semester, I really appreciate what you’ve given me in return.When I first figured this out, I thought that perhaps I was just being delusional and that last year’s break was the same amount of time.Nope. Last year we ended fall exams Dec. 12, and we started spring classes Jan. 12.And next year’s students will have to deal with this mockery of a break again. They’ll end fall exams Dec. 17 and start spring classes Jan. 10.I don’t know what brought on this sudden scheduling conflict, but it’s not right.So where did our week go?In 2008, we ended spring exams April 6 and started fall classes Aug. 19. In 2009, we ended spring exams April 7, but we started fall classes Aug. 25.It looks like we gained a week in the summer. Well, you can have it back, UNC.Interim Registrar Roberta Kelley said calendar guidelines state, “It is important to start as late in August as possible. Students and faculty want to avoid the summer heat. Students and faculty want time to complete summer work and other summer commitments.”Well, this student thinks she can handle it. Last time I checked, the sweltering North Carolina heat doesn’t vary much from Aug. 19 to Aug. 25.It makes little sense to me to tack on an extra week to a three-and-a-half-month break and take it away from a one-month break. I value much more highly the short break I get between grueling semesters than the extra week added on to an already long summer.Other guidelines say that UNC should try to sync its calendar with Duke’s, since so many students take classes at both universities. Well, that didn’t happen this year.Duke ends fall exams Dec. 13 and starts spring classes Jan. 14. That’s a 32-day long break. This may be the one time I’ll ever be jealous of Duke.Because it looks like Duke understands the value of a break between semesters to relax and celebrate the holidays.And it’s not just a break for students. It’s a break for faculty and staff (that means you, registrar).And no one has time to fit in five seasons of “Lost” in 24 days.
(11/20/09 5:29am)
I hate the StairMaster. It hurts, and it’s not fun. And seeing as I usually don’t intentionally inflict pain upon myself while doing things I don’t enjoy, I don’t use it.That seems pretty logical to me.But every day, many of us deliberately engage in activities that are awkward, painful and unenjoyable, all for the sake of exercise. I have a hard time understanding why.Guidelines suggested by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine say that healthy adults ages 18 to 65 should engage in at least 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise five days a week.But who says that has to involve the StairMaster?There is a reason why so many people hate exercise. They exercise when they don’t want to, and they engage in activities they hate.Pavlov’s dog drooled when it heard the bell because it knew food was coming — not because it was about to get punched in the face.If you create that negative association for yourself, you’ll never like exercising. But it doesn’t have to be that way.There is a way to get your 30 minutes without hating every second of it.First, we shouldn’t work out if we really, really don’t want to work out.I don’t mean you should lead a completely sedentary life and justify it by saying you aren’t in the mood to stand up.I mean that if you are relatively active and typically get your 30 minutes, and one day you’re just not in the right mindset for exercise, give yourself a break.Second, we should consider the kind of exercise we’re doing and ask ourselves if we actually like it.The answer shouldn’t be no.Thumbs up for working out at all, but if “no” is your answer, perhaps you should reconsider your methods.There are so many ways to get the right amount of exercise. Pick one that interests you.Instead of meeting friends for coffee, meet them for a walk around campus. Thirty minutes could turn into an hour.Play basketball with your hallmates from freshman year. It could be a tearful reunion and a workout session, all in one.Join an intramural team. You might even get a blue shirt out of it.Rent one of Carmen Electra’s “Aerobic Striptease” DVDs. Healthy and practical.Or if you haven’t already, maybe you could even give the gym a try.Note: I do work as a fitness monitor and a group fitness instructor at the SRC — and no, I was neither paid nor promoted to write this column.But as of last spring, an average of 2,973 people used the SRC, Rams Head Recreation Center, Fetzer Gym and Woollen Gym every day.It’s fantastic that so many people utilize these resources, but considering there are 28,700 undergraduate, graduate, dental, medical and law students at UNC, that number could be a lot higher.And maybe not everybody hates the StairMaster as much as me.
(11/06/09 3:50am)
I had a Facebook identity crisis last week.After submitting my application for a competitive post-graduate opportunity, I decided it might be a good idea to deactivate my Facebook account.To the best of my knowledge, there are no tagged photos of me robbing convenience stores or smuggling illegal immigrants across the border, but who knows what might have slipped past my privacy settings over the years.Just five minutes later, the problem loomed larger when I was deciding who to ask to write me letters of recommendation.Once I’d decided, I contacted a former coworker for our former boss’ e-mail address.“No,” she text-messaged back. “But you can find him on Facebook.” The irony.So there I was, with one option for contacting him and one glaring question: Is it better to stick with strict privacy settings and hope for the best, or deactivate and lose the site as a networking tool?There’s little doubt anymore that job applicants’ Facebook pages are something employers consider in the hiring process.Tim Stiles, associate director of University Career Services, said 10 to 20 percent of employers use Google or social networking sites to check on student applicants.It’s no majority, but it’s certainly something.Employers invest a great deal of time, energy and money into new employees, so they have every right to utilize any reasonable tool to find out what they can about applicants.But when it comes to the relationship status between employers and “reasonable” tools, well … it’s complicated.My first concern was whether it’s possible for resourceful techies to get past my preferences.I’d heard ominous rumors that there are underground programs capable of penetrating even the most protective privacy settings.A quick Google search will give you quite a few, many of which ask for passwords, and all of which I consider too illegitimate to test.And unfortunately, Facebook is a tricky beast to get in touch with to confirm.I was told in a personal e-mail from a Facebook press hotline representative that Facebook did “not have a spokesperson available to visit” with me. Friend request denied.But Stiles said that he’s never heard of employers implementing such clandestine tactics.“That could cross the line between what’s in the public domain and what’s accessible to someone else, and intentionally trying to break into someone’s privacy,” he said.And that’s the conclusion to which I ultimately came.Employers should feel justified in Googling and Facebooking until their fingers go numb. But it’s the applicant’s responsibility to limit what they can find.If you don’t want potential employers to see pictures of you dressed as what you consider an adorably risqué version of Little Red Riding Hood, make your tagged photos private.But at the same time, I hope employers will be respectful of the privacy settings Facebook users employ. If applicants are smart enough to use them, I hope employers will be respectful enough to stay away from things like www.spyonfacebook.com.So I’m back on the ’Book.And what’s even more ironic is that halfway through writing this column, I searched for my former boss. He’s not even on there.Abbey Caldwell is a senior journalism and international studies major from Charlotte. Contact Abbey at abbey.caldwell@gmail.com.
(10/09/09 4:10am)
I love North Carolina basketball. I just want to say that before I start.But although the 2009 team will live in my heart forever, something must be said about this new AT&T commercial starring Tyler Hansbrough.Many somethings must be said.The commercial chronicles the journey of a sweet little girl who has lost her dog. Through a string of text messages that seems to be held together by a giant game of six-degrees-of-Tyler-Hansbrough, the national champion ends up returning the dog to the child.How sweet.Let’s start with the opening scene, which documents a strange man following around a nine-year-old girl with a camera phone.Something about that doesn’t sit right with me. Perhaps it’s the image of stalkers of yore, or the subtle undertones of pedophilia.I know, I know. He was “helping a girl find her dog.”Right. “I swear, officer. She told me she was 18.”And this mystery man has Tyler Hansbrough’s phone number. If it was Danny Green texting pictures of little girls’ homemade “lost dog” posters to Tyler, maybe I could get on board.But an unknown man — who clearly has stalker tendencies — texting him at all hours of the day and night? I’d love to know how he got his number and why Tyler has yet to get a restraining order.But then again, Hansbrough does respond. He even forwards the message to 100 or so of his closest friends, using his handy dandy, no-name AT&T phone, which I highly doubt is his. (The man just signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Indiana Pacers.)In my three years at UNC, maybe I’ve missed this soft spot Tyler Hansbrough seems to have for random children with lost pets. But who am I to judge a Good Samaritan?What I will judge, however, is why a first-round NBA draft pick is put in charge of finding a fourth-grader’s dog.Hey, I lost my dog. Oh, I know. I’ll just call Tyler Hansbrough.Anyone who has watched a North Carolina men’s basketball game in the past four years knows that Hansbrough can ball. But he’s not your man for tracking down tiny things.The ad folks at AT&T obviously have never tuned in.Because for some reason, they have chosen Tyler Hansbrough, a man who can barely be put in charge of finding his own contact lenses, to be in charge of finding a missing Jack Russell Terrier.For the next commercial, they should put John Bunting in charge of not losing a game, all while checking his e-mail on his iPhone.Please, Tyler. Defend yourself. I’m a big fan, and I’d love to hear your take.Really, I’d like to hear you say anything. But if this commercial is indicative of how often you speak, it doesn’t look like we’ll be hearing a peep out of you.But above all, I’m concerned about the welfare of the girl. She must not be the smartest of children if she decided that “Sarah” was a good name for a dog.Maybe “Karen,” “Debbie,” or some other wildly inappropriate person name would fit better.Don’t forget — I love our team.But if Sarah doesn’t watch her back when she’s in the hands of Tyler Hansbrough, she might find herself free-falling off the roof of a frat house into a baby pool.And I think she’d rather be lost.
(09/30/09 3:58am)
When I walked to the women’s restroom at Foster’s Market before sitting down, there was a woman standing outside who stopped me and said, “You can’t go in there.”“Pardon?” I said.“There’s a man changing his daughter in there,” she said. “There’s no changing table in the men’s room.”Immediately I thought of the fantastic column I could write about how the oppressive society we live in is perpetuated by the assumption that only the “fairer sex” could possibly be charged with changing babies’ diapers.And I was right … sort of.I still believe the part about living in an oppressive society.But the part about the changing tables is what got in the way of my brilliant prose.To test my little theory, I recruited my friend Gray to help me explore the men’s restrooms in some of the restaurants on Franklin Street.So, on Tuesday afternoon, we started at the intersection of Church Street and Franklin Street and headed east.The first place we went was Caribou Coffee: Changing table in the women’s restroom, but not in the men’s.Yes! That, plus Foster’s, equals two points for Abbey.But the more we uncomfortably walked through restaurants, feigning to look for “friends we’re meeting,” the fewer points I racked up.Qdoba: Yes for women, yes for men. Starbucks: Yes for women, yes for men. Jack Sprat and McAlister’s, too.There went my theory. Perhaps our society isn’t as misogynistic as I thought? Maybe sexism is a thing of the past? Hey, if Hillary did it, so can we!But I’m not so sure about that.We mustn’t forget about Caribou and Foster’s. I love Caribou, and Foster’s is great. But despite their irresistible menus, neither one has a changing table in the men’s room, while they indeed have one in the women’s.Out of the 12 restaurants Gray and I slipped into, plus Foster’s, we found seven that didn’t have them in the men’s or women’s restrooms, four that had them in both, and two that had them in only the women’s restroom.But out of 13, none of them had a changing table in only the men’s room.It might not be as damning as my original hypothesis, but it’s certainly something to think about. I’m not advocating for restaurants to install changing tables in the men’s room and rip them out of women’s rooms just to prove a point.What I am saying is that there should never be one without the other. But clearly Franklin Street is slightly more equal than I presumed. However, it’s not quite there yet.This could serve as a metaphor for us.We (women and men) shouldn’t be satisfied with “we’re getting there,” “at least it’s something” or “that’s good enough.”If people had said that in years past, we wouldn’t be even close to where we are today.Maybe they’re just changing tables, and maybe you, like me, don’t want to think about changing babies’ diapers for a long, long time.But there are lots of people who do.And without those who refused to settle for four out of 13, the wait to use the women’s room would be even longer.
(09/11/09 4:05am)
The priorities of the Harris Teeter in Carrboro are a little out of whack.The store keeps its condoms behind the customer service desk, so customers have to ask an employee for assistance to purchase them.There’s something terribly wrong with that.I’d heard rumors that condoms are where they are because they’re a “high-theft item.”So when I decided to look into the issue further, I thought it might be a fruitless search. It’s tough to argue with corporate measures combating petty larceny.But Scott Riley, store director of the Carrboro location, soon helped me realize that sticky fingers aren’t the problem.“They’re not a high-theft item,” he said. “There’s tons of high-theft items in a supermarket.”I was racked with suspense.“There’s not enough room for them on the floor,” Riley said, adding that Harris Teeter’s corporate offices in Charlotte determine the store’s layout.That first part sounded a little off to me, too.It’s not right that people should feel like they must ask for permission to buy a product that helps protect them from unsafe sex and unwanted pregnancies.Embarrassed kids with raging hormones won’t risk seeing parents or teachers while they’re buying condoms. Having space constraints is no excuse. And I don’t buy that it’s the real one.However, Riley said Harris Teeter does offer travel-size packages of condoms on the floor.I went to aisle eight to see for myself. It took me almost five minutes to find them.On the very top shelf, above the maxi pads and bordered by feminine cooling wipes and deodorant spray, laying flat and almost invisible on the shelf, was one package of two Trojan 2Go Ultra Thin Condoms.When it’s 2 a.m., and people have to choose between scrounging through shelves and not using condoms at all, they might not make the right choice.But despite the meager stock, I thought perhaps it was a glimmer of corporate responsibility shining through. My hopes were dashed by a surprisingly candid moment of honesty.“The only reason they’re out there is because we offer a travel section,” Riley said.Jennifer Thompson, director of communication at Harris Teeter’s corporate office in Charlotte, confirmed that the store doesn’t have space to put all the varieties of condoms on the floor.“A schematic plan is developed by Harris Teeter corporate office, but the store has the ability to adjust the plan to better serve their customer base,” Thompson stated in an e-mail.I’m no expert on commercial layout, but I suggest that Harris Teeter revisit its schematic plan as soon as possible.Because on the same aisle as the modest selection of condoms, there’s quite a bit of room.There is about a 5 feet by 5 feet section of shoe insoles, toe spacers and callus cushions.There is an even bigger section of socks and nylon knee-highs.There is “Boil Ease” for “fast relief from the pain of boils.”As sympathetic as I am toward those plagued with the evils of sore feet, infected hair follicles and runs in their stockings, I’m more concerned about those with unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.And Harris Teeter should be, too.
(08/28/09 3:55am)
Friday, Sept. 4 marks the first day of sorority rush. And though it pains me to say it, I love every blessed minute of the process.
(05/29/08 4:00am)
Records pertaining to the March 5 killing of former Student Body President Eve Carson still are being sealed by authorities despite a motion filed by The (Raleigh) News & Observer to release them.
Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said the sealed autopsy and search warrant records could compromise the investigation if released to the public.
He said the autopsy report contains information about the cause and manner of Carson's death.
Woodall said Carson's family did not request that the records be sealed. He said the autopsy report is being sealed at his request, and the search warrants are being sealed at both his request and the request of the defense attorney for the case.
He said if the records are released, it might discredit the reliability of the testimonies of witnesses who may come forward.
"The state has never alleged that there were witnesses other than the defendants," he said.
"A lot of the investigation has been looking into people who have said they have information on it."
Keeping the records sealed can help validate eyewitness accounts in similar cases, Woodall said.
If a witness says he knows who committed a crime and the exact weapon used, authorities would be able to confirm his testimony if the weapon he described matched that listed in the autopsy report.
"One of the ways you determine whether they have information or whether they're just saying they do is if they have the facts," Woodall said.
He said the records are being kept confidential until interviews are completed, which will be toward the end of next month.
"The reason I've given for keeping autopsy reports sealed will cease to exist at the end of June," he said, referring to the potential of false witnesses coming forward.
Michael Tadych, attorney for the N&O, said the paper filed the motion to release the records May 12. He said the autopsy reports are public record and should be unsealed.
"The General Assembly made autopsy reports done at request of the district attorney or medical examiner public record as a matter of law," he said.
"It's a matter of public access and providing information to the public, which may or may not be pertinent to the public trial."
Woodall said he has not considered partially releasing information or releasing the documents with the confidential portions blacked out.
He said that the judge will rule on the matter June 11 and that the judge could decide to make all of the information public.
"It's the judge's call, not mine."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(05/22/08 4:00am)
Volunteer Nancie McDermott looked onto about 80 activists and Rogers-Eubanks community residents Saturday afternoon at the Faith Tabernacle Oasis of Love International Church community party and said three words.
(05/15/08 4:00am)
Freezers and prepackaged meat take a back seat to hand-cut french fries and fresh Angus beef at Buns, North Columbia Street's latest restaurant addition.
The new hamburger restaurant, run by co-owners Michael Namour and George Ash, stresses fresh, locally produced ingredients.
"We don't even have a freezer here," Namour said. "When the meat comes in, we patty it ourselves."
He said even the restaurant's buns are fresh-baked locally.
"We're trying to bring in more of a quality type product, but at the same time, we're very reasonable," he said.
(04/16/08 4:00am)
Central campus restaurants can be a quick and convenient stop for hungry students on the go, but it's up to patrons to make healthy choices.
Amanda Holliday, a registered dietitian in the School of Public Health, toured Lenoir Dining Hall and Alpine Bagel Cafe with The Daily Tar Heel to examine the nutritional value of various restaurant options.
Alpine Bagel Cafe
Holliday said the bagel shop is overall one of the best dining options offered on campus.
"If it's a hamburger or a bagel, go for the bagel," she said.
(03/17/08 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The tunes playing through your ear buds might make a big difference in personality definition.
Jason Rentfrow, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge in England, began research about five years ago to find out just how much.
"People generally believe that the music they listen to reflects the type of person they are and that they can find things out about other people from the music they like to listen to," he said.
His study, conducted at the University of Texas with psychology professor Sam Gosling, began with UT students' self-reported descriptions of their own personalities.
Rentfrow said the study found that those who enjoyed classical, jazz and folk music, for example, described themselves as curious, creative and artistic, and those who preferred dance, rap and soul music described themselves as extroverted and socially outgoing.
Rentfrow said he and Gosling also looked at people's online music collections through a downloading vehicle that allowed them to see what users were downloading throughout the country.
The data helped develop four dimensions of music preference:
(02/29/08 5:00am)
Today is a big day for sophomore Afshin Humayun.
It's his fifth birthday.
Born Feb. 29, 1988, Humayun is one of the rare few born on the leap year day.
Because of celestial movements, people born on that day only have true birthdays every four years.
"Kids used to try to make fun of me and say that I should be sad that I don't have a birthday," Humayun said.
To make him feel better, Humayun said, his family had ways of making his birthday special when he was growing up.
"When I turned 8, instead of having eight candles on the cake, they had two," he said.
He also said his parents put two and a half candles on his birthday cake when he turned 10 years old.
Though hard numbers are hard to come by, about 187,000 people in the United States call this anomaly their birthday.
Leap years are caused by the imperfection of the Gregorian calendar used by most countries.
It takes 365.2422 days for Earth to rotate around the sun. Because the calendar year only has 365 days, every year would experience a loss of about one-fourth of a day.
An extra day is added every four years to make up for the fraction of the day lost by each rotation.
Humayun said he never feels short-changed by his irregular birthday.
"I guess you could think about it like my birthday doesn't exist, but I would like to think about it like there's actually two days to celebrate it," he said. "I can do it on Feb. 29 or March 1 or both if I wanted to."
Corey Johnson, a sophomore with a February 29 birthday, said the concept of a leap year was hard for him to understand as a child.
"I don't think I really knew what it was until I was 12," he said. "That was when I first realized that it didn't come every year for real."
He said that because he used to get jealous of other children and their regularly occurring birthdays, his family let him celebrate on Feb. 28 and March 1 until he was about 10 years old.
But now he gets to catch up on old childhood birthdays.
Johnson said he plans to go with his parents to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh to celebrate his 20th birthday.
"It's kind of like a 5-year-old birthday party type thing," he said.
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(02/11/08 5:00am)
Flashing lights ushered pulsing beats and shaking hips on stage Friday night in a crowded Memorial Hall at the 12th annual Masala Fashion Show.
"Masala," a Hindi word for "a mixture of spices," is an organization that unites 16 of the University's multicultural student groups, including the Black Student Movement and the Carolina Indian Circle.
The event originated as strictly a showcase for fashion, but it has evolved into more of a variety show that includes dancing and skits.
The show has packed the Great Hall to its full capacity in the past, so the group was able to perform in Memorial Hall for the first time this year.
"In addition to a diversity of groups, you get a diversity of acts and what those groups represent," said Masala President Gerard Anthony.
Anthony said the goal of the show was to introduce new cultures and practices to the University community.
"We want the audience to go home having an open mind and realize there's a lot of cultures they haven't been exposed to yet," he said.
Qué Rico, a subgroup of the Carolina Hispanic Association, kicked off the show with a co-ed performance full of daring flips and flying kicks as the men rapidly threw the women over their shoulders.
And after a sultry dance performance by the Persian Cultural Society, the crowd addressed questions that candidates posed in a mock presidential debate presented by Psi Sigma Phi Multicultural Fraternity, Inc.
Among the fictitious topics were "Why is the Michelin tire man white when tires are black?" and "Fruity Pebbles are America - Fruity Pebbles have all colors - even brown ones."
Josh Thompson, a sophomore biology major from Raleigh, said his favorite part of the night was getting a firsthand look at the diversity represented by Masala.
"It's an organization where students get to express where they're from and their cultural heritage."
Mezmerhythm dance team awed the crowd Friday by bringing out its hip-hop performers with clouds of smoke. The group choreographs its own dances, including the tap performance that followed.
Anthony referred to Masala as UNC's version of the United Nations because of its role in bringing together so many diverse campus organizations.
Freshman Latisha Catchatoorian, one of the show's masters of ceremonies, said it was the promotion of cultural diversity that made her want to be a part of the show.
"It brings people together in a fun and educational environment at the same time," she said.
She said the goal of the event is to unite all races and cultures and to give people a better sense of what Carolina is all about in regards to diversity.
Anthony said the show adds something more to the learning experience for UNC students.
"It's one thing to sit in a classroom and learn about what's going on in Africa," he said.
"But it's another thing to actually watch a show about these different cultures."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(01/30/08 5:00am)
Abercrombie & Fitch, known for its risque catalogues boasting scantily clothed models, is turning heads again with its new brand of loungewear and intimate apparel, Gilly Hicks Sydney.
In the wake of the rise in loungewear and intimate apparel marketed toward a younger generation, brands like Gilly Hicks Sydney are breeding debate.
The brand's Web site contains nothing but a video featuring frontal shots of young, topless women and back views of young men swimming, lounging and hanging certain delicates out to dry.
According to the site, the video "shows a lot of skin" and requires its viewers to enter their dates of birth before viewing and seeing "what we're wearing under our clothes."
But A&F spokesman Tom Lennox said he does not think the brand is controversial.
"It's just a bit provocative, undeniably sexy, the signature of all-American cool," he said. "If you were to suggest 'irreverent,' I would agree."
The company produces five brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie, Hollister Co., RUEHL No. 925 and Gilly Hicks Sydney.
He said Gilly Hicks Sydney - officially marketed to people older than 18 - is a completely separate brand and marketing platform from abercrombie, A&F's kids label.
"The kids brand is the brand that's for 12-year-olds," he said. "It aspires to be its older sibling."
Feminist Students United co-chairwoman Stephanie Holmes said girls looking up to the women they see in sexual intimate apparel advertisements is an unbreakable cycle.
"Given that especially adolescent girls are expected to be sexy but are simultaneously condemned if they look like a whore, I wouldn't say this is something to look up to," she said. "I definitely think they'll be part of the market and the consumer."
And Stephanie Knott, assistant to the superintendent for community relations for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said although most students typically abide by the dress code in area schools, enforcement has become increasingly difficult in recent years.
"In general, fashions that are popular have been, perhaps, a bit more revealing," she said.
"There is frustration among parents who go the mall and try to find things for students that aren't revealing and suggestive, but they have a hard time."
Although other companies are making efforts to develop similar lines, some blaze trails in a different direction.
In late 2006 the clothing company American Eagle Outfitters developed Aerie, a line of dormwear and intimates, including bras, camisoles, hooded sweat shirts and sweat pants.
AEO spokeswoman Beth Barney said the "American Eagle girl" is in the 15- to 25-year-old range and is "comfortable and natural."
She declined to comment on A&F's Gilly Hicks Sydney, but she said Aerie creates a sort of balance for young women.
"The Aerie collection is comfortable and natural and hang-out-with-friends-and-family," she said.
"We recognize that the Aerie customer has a sexy side to her, and that's represented in the collection."
Victoria's Secret is another company that designed a similar type of line, PINK, in 2004.
Although PINK, which sells T-shirts with slogans like "Phi Beta PINK," is primarily targeted toward college students, questions still arise regarding its exposure to a younger generation.
"I have a younger cousin who is 16, and she'd most likely shop there and see those clothes as being sexy," Holmes said.
But Lennox said that comparing abercrombie to Gilly Hicks Sydney is a "slow-minded way to look at this."
He also said that any media outlet has yet to call the Gilly Hicks Sydney brand "controversial," and that potential future reports surrounding the matter will not be an issue.
If the media does report on claims of indecency, Lennox said he does not think the public will be concerned.
"Nobody cares," he said. "Nobody's going to read it.
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(11/16/07 5:00am)
Your tan is fading , your eyeliner pencil is dulling and your lip gloss is all but at tube's end.
It might just be time to revamp the ol' bathroom sink and dive headfirst into beauty product overload. As the temperature drops and the everyday stressors of academic life soar, makeup and skincare products aren't always No. 1 on a busy girl's list of priorities.
But, with the perfect, low-maintenance products at hand, they don't have to be.
Bobbi Brown Foundation Stick
(10/29/07 4:00am)
Chase Martin spent his 21st birthday surrounded by a group of friends clutching a gleaming pair of scissors.
For Martin, a junior, donating 10 inches of his hair to Locks of Love last month was No. 1 on his list of priorities.
"I invited all my friends and just stuck my head in a trash can and let them go at it," he said.
"All my different friends got to take a swipe at my head."
Locks of Love is a nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to children younger than 18 who suffer from long-term medical hair loss.
Most of the children who receive hairpieces suffer from alopecia areata, a non-life-threatening autoimmune disorder.
Lauren Kukkamaa, communication director for Locks of Love, said the disease has no known cause or cure and is permanent in most cases.
"They can still go to school and lead a normal life, but many children stop doing these things because of their hair loss," she said.
Kukkamaa said many of the hair pieces go to children suffering from cancer as well.
Krista Pool, a junior who has donated her hair to Locks of Love twice, said she was inspired to give when her mother died of cancer.
"I thought it was a good way (to give back), and I wanted to get my hair cut anyway," she said.
Pool said she donated for the first time when she was a senior in high school. It took more than a year for her hair to reach the 10-inch minimum donation length.
Kukkamaa said the organization receives donations from diverse groups.
"Families and children who might not have the resources otherwise see this as a way to get involved and give back that's a little less traditional," she said.
College students fit into that mold as well.
Martin said that donating to Locks of Love was rewarding, but that he was relieved when he was finally able to cut his "massive head of black hair."
"I think that it's pretty cool to have a chance to be outwardly focused on other people," Martin said.
"This is an example of a time you can do it without trying very hard, and it's an opportunity to help people and still be lazy. That sounds great to college students."
Junior Ivan Stojanov is growing his hair with the intention of donating it to Locks of Love.
"College can be kind of busy, and I only have so much time to give out," he said.
"Growing out the hair is not hard to do, and it's not time-consuming, so it's a good way to have time to help people."
But some of his friends said his 10 inches might not grow fast enough.
Stojanov said some people have warned him that he might get sick of having all of his thick, heavy hair.
"Right now I'm having fun with it by trying new hairdos," he said.
"But it does get annoying when I'm showering."
And though Pool said her first haircut was shorter than she expected, she was still pleased with her decision.
"I didn't regret it because I thought, 'I still have hair and some people don't.' So, I didn't let it bother me too much."
She said she plans to donate her hair a third time.
But Martin's motivations for donating his hair were a bit different.
"In high school I wrestled, so I wasn't allowed to grow my hair very long," he said.
"So after I graduated I decided I wanted to grow my hair out, and my parents didn't care for the idea much. So Locks of Love gave me a good excuse to do it."
Locks of Love has only six full-time staff members and hosts between 15 and 20 volunteers at a time.
All the hairpieces go to children in the U.S. and Canada.
But Locks of Love receives donations from all over the world.
"It's a neat thing when you see that it's spreading that far," Kukkamaa said.
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(09/27/07 4:00am)
A classic look and attention to detail helped make UNC alumnus Byron Wilson one of Esquire magazine's top five Best Dressed Real Men in America.
Wilson, who graduated in 2002, said tailoring and small accents can make a big difference.
"Part of being a man is taking your appearance seriously," Wilson said.
Creativity helps, too.
"I had an unfortunate accident where I ripped a hole in the upper left thigh of my jeans," he said. "So I took an old tie I didn't wear much and cut out a square for a patch."
In the past two years of the annual contest, Esquire editors traveled to the country's biggest cities to look for winners, according to the magazine's Web site.
But this year they asked subscribers to enter themselves to have a more diverse pool of applicants.
The main criterion is that the man not be famous.
Wilson, originally from Pinehurst, now studies dentistry at a Northeastern university.
He described the Esquire honor as "one of the better compliments I've ever received."
He said he was coaxed by friends and family into answering the call put out by the magazine for subsribers to send in photos of themselves.
"I really wasn't going to," he said. "The deadline was midnight on a Sunday, and I submitted it at 11:47."
But Wilson said he has always been told that he had a recognizable style.
"I was always interested in style and clothing as a hobby, but I didn't use it as an identifying aspect," he said.
Wilson said having a distinctive style helps men to take themselves more seriously.
"It's an opportunity to further who you are and to make a statement about yourself," he said.
Wilson said one of the biggest influences on his personal style is Ralph Lauren.
"He has guts, and he takes chances," he said. "He does things differently."
Another figure who Wilson said has left a lasting impact on his day-to-day attire is Miles Davis.
He said the musician's "ability to effortlessly express who he is and where he is in life" is admirable.
Wilson, who said he read his first GQ magazine when he was 13, said one of the most important things for college men is to learn the basics of style.
"Understand what everyone needs to know and what you need to be doing," he said.
"Once you get a firm grasp, you can manipulate your style and get a personal flavor."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(09/10/07 4:00am)
UNC students look up to their professors for institutional knowledge and academic guidance. Few can say they go to office hours for fashion advice.
But "fashionable professor" does not have to be an oxymoron.
For some UNC professors and teaching assistants, distinct attire is an everyday must.
"I know you're not supposed to judge a person by what they look like, but it's human nature," business professor C.J. Skender said.
The sharply dressed professor said wearing a suit reflects that you care about who you're meeting.
He even maintains a schedule for which accessories he wears on a given day.
"I wear a bow tie on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and a necktie on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays," he said.
And one of his former students, Ilene Sheehy, a senior business major, agreed, saying "snazzy" pieces like his memorable pink bowtie left a lasting impact on her.
"Not many people could actually entertain me at 8 a.m., but he always did," she said.
But as English teaching assistant Euan Griffiths demonstrates, there is more than one way to bring style to the classroom.
Griffiths, originally from England, said his students comment on his clothing regularly.
"Maybe it's because I'm European," he said.
Griffiths said his favorite thing to wear is his brown corduroy jacket, which junior Tom Martin also took note of.
"It's timeless," Martin said. "If you saw him in any decade, you could say, 'Oh, there's our professor.'"
Griffiths said that he has heard students describe his style as "fresh" but that he does not know exactly what the word means.
"I don't know if it's good or bad," he said.
And professor fashion has crossed another border for journalism professor Sri Kalyanarama, who gets many of his clothes custom-stitched in his home country of India, with the effect of blending Western and Eastern styles.
"I don't really conform to the so-called 'rules of fashion,'" he said.
Senior journalism major Torie Robinette described Kalyanarama's style as "a professional, cultured look."
"He's really expressive," she said. "He's got a very open, free teaching style where his personality comes through."
Kalyanarama said one of his favorite items of clothing is his silk Beatles vest.
He also wears a variety of '60s-era prayer beads that he said hold a sentimental significance to him.
"But my only religion is the Beatles," he said.
Contact the Features editor at features@unc.edu.
(08/28/07 4:00am)
Sweat-soaked shirts, sticky jeans and unmanageable hair - sounds like a typical late-summer day in Chapel Hill.
Welcome to the South.
"The challenge is everything about the clothing you wear, from the amount and number of layers to the design and fit, in addition to fabric material," said N.C. State University textile expert Roger Barker.
No matter where you're from, shielding yourself from the heat seems like an endless battle in the dog days. Six days out of the next nine are forecasted to break the 90-degree mark.
The Daily Tar Heel talked to students to get their advice on keeping cool and stylish.
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.