David Hensley. Staff photo.

Remember when Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon was winning back-to-back championships for Clutch City? Remember when the quote “Never underestimate the heart of a champion,” by Rudy Tomjanovich the former Rockets head coach, was commonplace?

This year’s Houston Rockets are trying to bring a championship back to Houston with a new coach and an offense that is scoring points no matter who’s on the court.
For the 2011 season, the Rockets brought in new head coach Kevin McHale, a former Boston Celtic legend and Minnesota Timberwolves head coach. During McHale’s playing career, he has won three NBA titles and was elected to the hall of fame in 1999.

McHale’s performance as head coach in Minnesota was not as profitable as his playing days in Boston; he finished with a 55-66 record as a head coach over the three years he coached there. When he was hired as the Rockets head coach this past year, many fans had their doubts on how it would turn out.

Because McHale was a great player, he has knowledge of the game, but his previous head coaching record indicates that he wouldn’t be able to get the job done as a head coach. There were still many loyal Rockets fans that stood by the hiring choice and wanted to give McHale a shot.

McHale has answered the call and has the Rockets playing great basketball this season. The Rockets are seventh in the NBA in scoring, averaging 98 points a game, and fifth in the NBA in rebounding averaging, 44 a game this year.

Much of the team’s offensive success can be attributed to the way the bench is playing right now. The players are not getting caught up in how many minutes they are playing; instead, they are solely concerned with winning games and doing whatever it takes to bring a title back to Houston.

The Rockets bench is one of the main reasons the team is having some success now. The Rockets bench is sixth in the league in bench scoring, averaging 36 points a game, and shooting 47 percent from the field puts them second in the league for shooting percentage.

McHale has also had to adapt to a condensed season due to the NBA lockout. The Rockets are playing as many as three games in as many nights, and the presence of a good bench allows the players to remain fresh and healthy.

The Rockets are a top five team in the Western Conference and are moving up the standings. McHale has the Rockets team believing they can compete with anyone in the league and has shown he’s not afraid of sticking with his bench to get the job done.

The Rockets look poised to get into the playoffs this year and make a run for the NBA championship. The NBA is “where amazing happens,” and the Rockets are sure to finish this amazing season strong.

The Signal

Every morning after my shower, I stand in front of the bathroom mirror, and try to force myself to look at my reflection for 10 seconds. I have never lasted the full 10 seconds.

When I look into the mirror, I see the muffin top that has become my stomach, my sagging breasts, the stretch marks on my sides from past weight loss followed by rapid weight gain, the jiggling arm fat that hangs down, the double chin and the short stumpy fingers that remind me every moment of my day of one fact: I’m fat.

“I’m fat” is a small statement, but it can elicit completely opposite reactions – from the empathetic “oh honey, no, you’re pretty,” to the apathetic, “well, you did it to yourself; go eat a salad.”

Why does being fat have to be such a negative thing that needs to be fixed? There was a time when being heavier was seen as beautiful and worthy of praise. Artists like Botticelli or Rubens sought out fat men and women to paint as the epitome of beauty. These same paintings are now worth millions. One Botticelli painting has an estimated worth of $12 million.

Ideal beauty changes as society changes, and in this day and time, fat is worthy of ridicule. Facebook is full of fat-hating groups with pages like “I wanted to burn some calories, so I set a fat kid on fire,” and “Beautiful girls all over the world, except you fat bitch.” Each of these pages have more than 200,000 “likes.”

There are hundreds of pages similar to these and more created every day. Where it seems society has become more politically correct in some aspects – like race, religion and sexuality – it has become socially acceptable to make fun of, or even shun, heavier members of society because “they deserve it.”

This concept of ideal beauty has become convoluted, always something to be reached for but never achieved.

Even those we look up to as epitomizing the idea of perfection, i.e. celebrities, are not perfect enough for society. They go through plastic surgery, extreme dieting, fake tanning and, if that isn’t enough, photoshopping to obtain society’s approval.

A recent example is Britney Spears, a spokesperson for Candie’s footwear, who posed for a Candie’s ad and then released the original untouched pictures. Comparing the final ad to the originals, Candie’s removed cellulite from Spears’ legs, flattened her stomach and evened out her skin tone.

What are these actions saying to little girls who see these images? It’s telling these girls that you are not beautiful enough naturally; you have to enhance every aspect of yourself to get attention.

When no one can live up to society’s idea of beautiful, even those society sets its standards by, something is very wrong.

I have dealt with my weight since I hit puberty; struggling between doing everything I can to lose it and accepting myself for who I am. I’ve had members of my own family tell me that I had the potential to be pretty if only I would lose weight.

Losing weight would not change the look of my eyes, make my hair thicker or bouncier, or make my freckles disappear. More importantly, it wouldn’t change who I am as a person.

How people react to my weight sent me into a dark place not too long ago. I became so obsessed with how I looked and how I would never be “pretty enough” that I decided I wasn’t worthy of life. It took me hitting rock bottom to finally understand that beauty has to come from within or a person will never be truly happy.

My weight doesn’t affect any part of my life; I’m still able to get up every morning and go to class; I can drive my car, do my job; I am able to hang out with my friends and family, and it doesn’t keep me from doing anything I want to do; expect maybe squeezing into a size eight dress. The average size of a woman is 10-12, not 0-2 as society would have us believe. It shouldn’t even matter what size our clothes are, a number doesn’t define who we are.

On the outside we are just cells, fused together in random ways to make us look how we look. True beauty is not how we manipulate ourselves on the outside. What’s important and truly beautiful is who we are on the inside and how our life experiences have shaped our personalities. Judging people by who they are on the inside instead of what they look like is a beautiful sentiment, but in reality, until society changes, I will continue to be seen as fat above anything else.

The looks I get as I eat in public, the whispers I hear as I sit in a chair that squeaks when I put my weight on it, and the shame I feel as I go for another cookie continue to hurt me everyday. I still struggle with accepting myself for who I am and what I look like, but I am a work in progress and one day I’ll make the full 10 seconds.

So yes, I’m fat. I’m also a sister, a daughter and a friend. I’m, by turns, compassionate, funny, caring and sarcastic. I’m a self-professed movie nerd, a student and writer. Not one of those attributes has anything to do with weight.

The Signal

Somewhere in America, right now, a self-proclaimed “hip-hop head” sits at a sticker-decorated Macbook exhausting 140 characters on why hip-hop is dead. With the age of the social media came the casual critic.

Rachel Miranda

Social-networking tools like Tumblr and Twitter provide a platform to appease the human ego’s assumption that people care what you think. And so, we tell you. It is here that the hip-hop music community rears its ugly head as a mirror to the social class system of a capitalistic American society.

Snobbery in hip-hop invites polarization because the essence of the term induces a separation. What hip-hop elites do in terms of placing exclusionary boundaries on the music they deem acceptable illustrates a need for respectability and division from those with less authenticity. These are the bourgeoisies. They pick over each and every line, as regulated by a fictional “Lyrical Accountant’s Guide to Discernment.” The more conscious, the more lyrical and the less commercial equals the more hip-hop. Any deviation from this self-regarding, ideological formula is instantly deemed ignorant. It’s just not “real hip-hop.”

But who and what is “real” hip-hop?

“Hip-Hop Music is Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Gang Starr, Wu-Tang Clan, Pharcyde, Hieroglyphics, Aceyalone, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Public Enemy, Common, Mobb Deep, Nas, Rakim and many more old school and underground acts,” asserts the Urban Dictionary.

Well, sure, these artists are undeniable staples in hip-hop music, but they are also the top 1 percent. How unfair.

I find it a little difficult to clearly define an art form that has only existed for three decades. I can, however, say that hip-hop is the voice of urban America. Historically, the music was the voice of the disadvantaged. It told compelling socioeconomic stories of the lower-class neighborhoods and provided insight to political, social and personal struggles.

“There’s a war going on outside, no man is safe from,” wrote Prodigy of Mobb Deep in the duo’s critically acclaimed song, “Survival of the Fittest,” where he also compared life in the streets of New York with the Vietnam War. These lyrics have been echoed by various rappers ever since, to illustrate the upward battle to make something of themselves from nothing in a world that is a bucket full of crabs.

As the art form grew, so did the diversity of its artists, fan base and subject matter. I think it is very important to understand that at this point, the state of hip-hop is too diverse and complex to compartmentalize and ascertain what is best. Every song cannot be a “Survival of the Fittest;” every album not an “Illmatic.” And guess what: that’s okay.

I can only imagine how many iPhones and snapbacks were thrown at televisions when Esperanza Spalding won her Grammy for best New Artist over “the realest in the [rap] game right now” – Drake. My Twitter timeline was instantly filled with “Who IS that?” – as if by dubbing yourself a knight of hip-hop templar, you forbade anything without familiarity to be considered great by others. That just goes to show that music is bigger than what one person likes.

The fact of the matter is everything has its lane. Every class of artists and fans serve a purpose in a collective – something more fulfilling than self-regarding agenda. For every politically apt, socially conscious fan who wants to hear Lupe Fiasco rap about the Gaza strip, there is a girl in the club ready to shake her hips and her hair on cue with an 808-heavy Lex Luger beat, while her boyfriend whines in tune with the newest Wale ‘rap-n-b’ song at home. I have unapologetically been all three of these people.

Try not to put everything in a box. Allow your mind to be a clean canvas and let the artist paint the ideas you derive from what you hear. Music is designed to give you feeling, not only generate thoughts. There is no offense taken by Talib Kweli because you have chosen to listen to Waka Flocka while working out. (He sure knows how to get your heart rate up!)

Ultimately, by turning up a nose to what is not readily identified as hip-hop, we have separated ourselves from one another. There is no answer to who’s right and who’s wrong. Whether you are a drug dealer trying to make it from the most desolate of neighborhoods, or an educated young professional trying to climb the ranks of the corporate ladder, you are one of us. You are the culture of hip-hop. You are a fan.

And we are the 99 percent. And there is still a war going on outside from which we are not safe.

The Signal

The Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys are a disgrace to the NFL and an embarrassment to the state of Texas.

Whether you just laughed, felt a twinge of anger, wanted to argue – it doesn’t matter; what matters is that I just sparked an emotion with one short, simple, uneducated, biased sentence.

And that’s fine. That’s why we watch sports and root or don’t root for certain teams.

What’s not fine, however, is when people take this emotion and turn it into physical or verbal violence.

There are two things I fully understand about violence: it’s a normal human emotion and it draws attention. Why do you think gladiators, boxers and mixed martial artists have been so popular since the near beginning of mankind?

The concept I’m having trouble grasping is the degree to which people are taking violence for such petty reasons.

Take a glance at Brian Stow, who was beaten into a coma and now suffers brain damage for wearing the “wrong” jersey; or look into the case of Cowboy fan Leroy McKelvey, who had to use a Taser for protection against hostile Jets fans; or think back to the recent Vancouver riots after their NHL team, Canucks, lost game seven in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The list can easily continue, but the disturbing trend has to stop.

Though rivalries and friendly trash-talking make the game that much more interesting, when harm is inflicted, it’s time to re-evaluate the importance of what’s at stake.

In its rawest form, it is literally a person bouncing a ball and throwing it into a hoop, a person hitting a ball or puck with a stick, and/or a person throwing a ball to his teammate who is hoping to walk away from the inevitable punishment that he’s about to be dealt.

These simple, physical actions are not the reason we parents enroll our children into these sports.

We put them in sports to learn the only real meanings sports have – the meanings and lessons learned on the field that coincide with life off the field. i.e., good sportsmanship, teamwork and respect.

Parents should focus their understanding on this and enforce these lessons, not turn their kids into their own personal gladiators to “do whatever it takes” to win every bout they face.

Now, it’s expected that most parents will begin to live vicariously through their kids in time; you just can’t let the vicariousness consume and take over your logic and sensibility.

My increased resentment toward sports-related violence is sparked solely on one incident: a recent T-ball game I unfortunately witnessed.

Before we delve into this, let’s be clear that most T-ball leagues now accept 3-year-old children. T-h-r-e-e.

This is the age when kids are usually going to T-ball games to watch their older siblings play and to break the ice for what’s to come. Shoot, this is the age where it’s not uncommon to have some children still potty training.

This is absolutely not the age where they should be witnessing “F-bombs” being dropped and fists flying wildly because of a simple rule that didn’t matter.

To make matters a bit worse, the rule was not allowing a child who arrived late to be put in the lineup; however, the coach wanted him in the lineup so he could at least have an at-bat. He wasn’t trying to sneak him in; he wanted the child to get to play.

Allowing a child to play is what irked the opposing team’s coach and started the whole debacle.

Take a second to let that soak in. These children had to watch two grown men get separated by their fathers and police because of a technicality in the rules that benefited the children.

That is precisely what I saw that day, and that day will live with me forever in both principle and fact. Whether the kids will remember, who knows?

Relax. Chill. Breathe.

That is all I can ask. Before lashing out at the children, other parents, opposing fans or umpires, take a step back and remember what it’s all for.

You owe that to them.

Graphic created by Wardah Ajaz: The Signal.

Daniel Agee

The Signal

It seems that the only thing you can see at a movie theater this year are remakes, reboots, sequels or prequels.

Daniel Agee

In fact, IMDB.com has just released an article that there are nearly 100 movies being released over the next two years consisting of either a franchise reboot, remake of a classic or just adding more sequels to an existing franchise.

Has Hollywood lost all creativity? Where is the originality? I want to see a movie where I can’t predict what happens next. Hollywood directors have become flat out lazy and lack the ambition to create something new.

There is a reason why it is hard to remake a classic. It’s called a classic because it has separated itself from all other films at that time. So, what does that leave the audience of 2011 with?

Let’s go ahead and crash right into these examples of how bad this year’s movies are with “Fast Five.” “Fast Five” is the fifth installment of the “Fast and The Furious” franchise. How many times can they tell this story? With the combination of bad acting from Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, Hollywood juiced up the franchise by adding “The Rock” or excuse me, now known by his acting name, “Dwayne Johnson.” “Fast Five” opened at more than $86 million. Come on people, quit giving this franchise money.

Where do I begin with “Transformers 3?” Wait, I mean “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” Michael Bay, who apparently didn’t want the movie to be known as “Transformers 3,” needs to know changing the title does not improve the movie.

If you have seen the movie, it’s basically “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen,” but with a five-minute clip of Neil Armstrong finding a buried Transformer on the moon.

How do you cast Patrick Dempsey as the villain? Dempsey has already stereotyped his image as Dr. McDreamy on ABC’s hit show “Grey’s Anatomy,” to think he could even pull off a bad guy made the movie quite laughable. Bay has branded himself in Hollywood as the guy who uses lots of explosions and no plot development.

I have to give him credit, however, replacing Megan Fox with supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley who quickly made me forget Fox was even in the first two films.

How could they possibly make a “Paranormal Activity 3?” By telling the story from a prequel point of view, from the beginning when the two sisters were young. Basically we will tell the same story for a third time, in a different house, at a different time, and no one will know the difference. This is ridiculous. The sad part is it will probably open at around $30 million. Chances are next year they will make “Paranormal Activity 4” in 3D. Because 3D is so cool. It’s like the move is right in your face.

How cool is 3D? There is nothing worse than watching a BAD movie in 3D. I walked out of the movie theater because “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” in 3D was so bad. I thought for sure after walking out that it would be last of the Pirate films. But sure enough, I read an article where Johnny Depp just signed on for Pirates 5 and 6.

It doesn’t get any better, folks, with many more prequels, sequels, remakes and reboots to come. I feel sorry for the people who paid to watch “Footloose,” “Scream 4,” “Fright Night” and “The Hangover 2.”

What can we do to change this? Well, first of all, we can stop endorsing these bad movies. If these franchises keep producing profit at the box office then they will never fade away. Second of all, Hollywood directors need to sit back and reexamine the future of films. When will be the next time we can consider a film a classic?

Hollywood needs to produce stories where the audience can get lost with something we have never seen before. Movies are supposed to help people escape from their own reality and forget they are even sitting in a movie theater to begin with. And STOP, please STOP, making SAWS. I’ve seen all the “SAWS” I can see.

The Signal

October is breast cancer awareness month, but for many, especially women, awareness and prevention cost money they don’t have for a problem they can’t afford to fix even if they know they have cancer.

The U.S. Census Bureau report, “Small Area Health Insurance Estimates,” indicated that for 2007, there were 168,910 women, aged 40 – 64 years, with no insurance.

Cindy Marquez

I understand what it’s like to need medical treatment, but not be able to afford the ridiculous costs. In 1997, I was diagnosed with a chronic condition at the age of 20, and I was uninsured. Knowing that I would need proper health care the rest of my life, my mom researched some private health insurance carriers.

After finding out most of the carriers wouldn’t cover me with a pre-existing condition and the ones that would, I couldn’t afford, my gastroenterologist recommended that I apply for the Harris County Gold Card. Fortunately, I was approved.

Unfortunately, many people fall through the cracks and never receive the medical attention they need.

Uninsured women living in the U.S. don’t get the necessary preventative screenings due to the lack of affordable private insurance or do not qualify for medical assistance programs.

The alarming fact is there will be an estimated 39,520 female deaths caused by recently diagnosed breast cancer in 2011-2012, indicated on The American Cancer Society (ACS) website.

I’m sure the availability of health care for these women will vary, if any was provided at all. It’s very frightening to think about the potential loss of a woman’s life that could have possibly been prevented simply by accessibility to the appropriate health care.

Patients screened through the Project VALET (PV) program deeply express how grateful they are for the chance to have a screening mammogram, who otherwise may never receive one or receive one when it’s too late.

With such a high volume of uninsured women, there is clearly a need for programs that offer preventative screenings such as PV. With initial funding from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, development began in January 2008 to create PV, a program formed to address the needs of Houston Department of Health and Human Services patients (HDHHS).

PV provides mammograms at no cost to patients of HDHHS who are 40 – 65 years old, do not have health insurance or the Harris County Gold Card, and are referred for a screening mammogram by their doctor or nurse practitioner.

PV arranges for MD Anderson’s Mobile Mammography unit to regularly visit several of the city’s participating health centers. Participating clinics that provide a pap and clinical breast exams are La Nueva Casa De Amigos Health Center, Northside Health Center and Sunnyside Health Center.

In order to receive a no-cost screening mammogram, a pap test and a clinical breast exam must be scheduled at an HDHHS Family Planning and Pap Clinic. The appointment phone line is 832-393-5428, and the cost is $3. This is the only cost patients incur in the entire screening process.

Eligible participants attend an educational session at one of the city’s health and multi-service centers to learn what to expect on the day of the mammogram screening and the importance of early detection for breast cancer.

Follow-up diagnostic evaluations are provided by PV and coordinated through The Rose, a Houston non-profit breast cancer organization that provides services to low-income and uninsured women. Women diagnosed with breast cancer will receive assistance in obtaining treatment from navigators from The Rose, along with PV personnel.

Currently, only four out of 890 women who have received a mammography screening through PV have been diagnosed with breast cancer and received treatment for their breast cancer through either the Harris County Hospital District or at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

ACS states on its website that although breast cancer in men is a rare disease, it accounts for approximately one percent of breast cancer cases in the U.S. The death rate for male breast cancer has decreased by 3.3 percent per year since 2000.

Other facts and figures from ACS point out that only 28.6 percent of uninsured women 40 and older received a mammogram and a clinical breast exam in Texas during 2010. Additional programs such as Project V are crucial for uninsured woman in order to have the opportunity to receive these types of preventative screenings, who may not be able to afford it otherwise.

The Signal

With all the information at your fingertips today, a person can pretty much become an instant expert on anything, right? Wrong. It appears it is going to take much more than a series of books and YouTube videos to teach my husband and myself how to prepare and care for our upcoming baby.

It is not like we can blame our ignorance on our “young” age. We stopped qualifying to appear on “Sixteen and
Pregnant” more than a decade ago. This whole experience is just so new and unexpected to us. While we are both extremely excited about becoming parents, there is also a slight feeling of terror.

The other day we made a simple visit to Babies “R” Us to browse the aisles and familiarize ourselves with the overabundant choices of baby products. Talk about information overload.
Every baby product we came across is available in so many sizes, shapes and prices. How the heck are first-time parents supposed to choose?

As we walked by a stroller that caught our attention, we stopped to examine it more closely.

“Let’s see how this works,” I said to my husband as I tried to fold the stroller. It wouldn’t fold.

After seeing me fail miserably, my husband decided to put some muscle into it. He had a smirk on his face, like the big strong man was going to show his damsel in distress how it’s done. That stupid stroller did not even budge.

Remembering that we were still in the public eye, we tried to act cool and put the stroller back in its original place. We agreed perhaps it would be wise to return to the store and attempt these gadgets at a later time when fewer people were around. Needless to say, we are still in the market for a stroller that is more user friendly.

Since my husband had agreed to my idea of going to Babies “R” Us, he convinced me to go to another place to shop for a baby “necessity.” Imagine my surprise when we pulled into a car dealership. He tried to justify himself by explaining how his current vehicle would not have the room and accessibility for a baby. Leave it to a man to utilize this opportunity to buy a new truck.

Perhaps his incentive for this new vehicle began growing when we were looking at baby monitors. Long gone are the days when a baby only required a sound monitor to hear them in the other room. Nowadays, there are video monitors, which come with all kinds of resolution, touch screens and screen preferences.

I think I better be in charge of selecting the monitor or my husband might bring home a new 80” plasma television.

I am supposed to begin registering for my baby shower soon, and I have no idea where to begin. How can there be so many items for one baby? How can something so tiny occupy so much space and require so many things?

Although we have so much to learn about becoming parents, my husband and I are prepared to work together as a team and embrace it with a positive outlook. We may need to attend some preparation courses on some of the essentials, such as how to properly install a car seat so our son’s head doesn’t end up in his lap.

Our baby is due to make his appearance in about three months. As we continue preparing for his debut, we keep telling ourselves the same thing to ease the process: it could have been twins.

The Signal

The end of the world is near; no stores carry their items anymore and their shelves are bare.  This is only the beginning of the end … for video games to be sold in stores.

Now that the Internet has become the tool for global networking and communication, it has also become a medium to transfer video games among gamers, forever transforming the industry.

I used to buy games from the store just like anyone else.  Stores like Electronics Boutique (now EB Games), Gamestop, Circuit City and Best Buy used to be the only places around that would distribute games.

Walmart added video games into its electronics section and games became even easier to come by, until digital distribution started on the Internet.
Recently, more and more software companies have cut out the middle man and moved to digital distribution.  Instead of the business paying to create artwork for the box, full-color manuals and other accessories, they just upload the game files directly to your computer or gaming system.

Although this means that the video game company saves tons of money, it also causes the product to lose some of its original flavor.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, PC game design was at an all-time high and some of the products were extremely competitive.  Product design evolved into giant limited-edition packages complete with maps, figurines, cards and tons of other collectibles.

There were full-color, 200-page manuals to some of the more in-depth genres, and the amount of money that the game’s producing company put into the packaging showed.

Now that the Internet is capable of transferring multiple gigabytes within a reasonable amount of time, gaming consoles have changed forever.

Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox have online networks where players can download games, demos and videos right to their hard drive.  Some larger games aren’t available for direct download yet, but still offer add-on content online.

This issue is reminiscent of another digital evolution – when CDs began replacing record albums.  Record album covers were once a popular culture art form. Album covers such as  Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” are still collectors items.

The gamers that still believe in the artistry behind their video game of choice will most likely become collectors of those games as well.

As far as PC gaming goes, the market of distribution is nearly deceased.  You can still find decade-old games at Walmart, but the rest are just about all online.  Networks like Steam, Gamespy and EA Games all have download clients, which saves games you’ve bought online.

This means that instead of having a unique CD or DVD with anti-hacking encryption, serial numbers and other expensive-to-make codes, the game you buy is forever saved to a login account you create on their network.

There’s no box, artwork or accessories, and only an Adobe Acrobat manual saved to your computer.  The trade-off, that you don’t have to worry about scratching a disc and ruining your game, is enough to make it worthwhile.

Video games in general are continually forced to evolve in order to entice audiences.  By having entire games ready to download, gaming companies are able to distribute more numbers more quickly.  Also, instead of spending funds on the packaging, they are focusing their time on designing the game itself. It is unfortunate that the level of artistry in video games’ packaging design will never be the same, but I would rather have developers focus on creating the game than the box it comes in any day.

The Signal

July 15, 2011, my best friend will suddenly pass on; just like the turn of the last page in a book, it will be quick, expected, but unwanted.

My best friend’s name is Harry Potter.

As with the conception of most of my friendships, I was intimidated by Harry Potter at first and ignored him to avoid the awkward vulnerability of meeting someone for the first time.

Only when faced with extreme boredom during the hot summer months did I first open a Harry Potter book and fall unconditionally in love.

I was 15 years old.

With Harry Potter, I could escape the teenage pressures of my life and explore the magical world of Hogwarts with my new friend; for the first time, I yearned to read.

As Harry grew throughout the series, I grew older and emotionally stronger with him. We entered into similar challenges and experienced joys together that no words can explain. Only within my mind could our story be heard.

I remember the moment when the seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” first touched my nervous hands. Years of anticipation and dread entered my hands at the same time.

Despite squeezing my fingers around it, I knew, just as the sound of sirens plague a hopeful spirit, that the end was near, and my wish for more books would go ignored.

Throughout author J.K. Rowling’s book series, protagonist Harry Potter’s seven milestones of conquering evil have taught lessons of strength, honesty and the magical powers of love.

Harry’s themes and symbols announced truths that perplexed and angered our world, warranting research from scholars to answer their significance and revolts from religions with book burnings.

Scholars have found the magic in Harry Potter to be instrumental, like technology, and not at all mystical. Frostburg State University offers a class where they use the basic principles of physics to explain the magic events in the Harry Potter books.

Harry’s magic has contradicted some religious stances, most commonly on the grounds that it is used at all, yet it has also been used by others to exemplify the sacrificial love that parallels biblical heroes in the Bible.

Through every angle perceived within our “muggle” world, within every religious argument praising or loathing, and past all the scholarly analysis, there lays a vastly important character that has proven to give purpose to its readers lives. Regardless of your stance, the undeniable truth is that Harry Potter is important.

I am grateful to my parents for not ignorantly protesting my reading of the Harry Potter books. The lessons I have learned from Harry Potter are presents, and no one but Harry could have pointed out for me to learn. Lessons on unfailing trust, sacrificial love and the importance of fighting to do what is good.

One story that resonated with me was in the last book. Harry learns that in order to save the world, he must sacrifice himself. As he bravely walks toward what he thinks will be his final destiny, stands at the edge of his peril, the memories of his parents and friends that died appear around him in a surge of love which gives him the strength needed to take that last step over the edge to face his death.

The power of love is the true magic in Harry Potter, and I did not realize that phenomenon until then.

“Will you stay with me,” Harry asked his father.

“Until the very end,” Harry’s father replied.

Support.

That is the present Harry gave me, and in the same moment that I perceived that, I realized that I, too, was Harry’s support. I stayed with Harry until the very end.

This July 15, an era will appear to end with the second and final installment of Harry Potter, in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two.”
There will be no more anticipated books or movie releases, no more hasty strikes upon the calendar, and no more midnight lines.

Though the last movie brings this fictional series to an end, our nonfictional inheritance from young Harry will not die, but will live on for future generations. Like the scar upon a forehead, Harry Potter will never truly vanish.

The Signal

Rape is an extremely touchy subject. It is almost treated as taboo due to its violent and degrading nature.

The recent gang rape of an 11-year-old Cleveland girl has caused a number of mixed emotions among the community.

Some locals have voiced anger, shock and sympathy while others have expressed apathy, denial and skepticism. Accusations such as “where was this child’s mother?” and “what do you expect, the girl was dressed provocatively?” have been thrown around, seemingly as a way to shift blame onto the middle-school victim.

The girl’s relatives have been torn apart as a result of this tragedy. Threats against the family forced them to move out of Cleveland, and the girl has been placed in foster care.

No matter what the girl was wearing and regardless of whether or not this child made comments about “wanting to have sex,” the fact remains that this child was just that – a child. An 11 year old cannot consent to having sex with an adult or even another 11 year old.

To make this heinous violation more horrific, police claim it wasn’t just one man who committed the offense; it was a multitude of men over a course of several months on several different occasions.

Eighteen suspects – 13 adults and 5 juveniles – have been arrested in the case, ranging in age from 14 to 27.

You have to wonder if any of these men had the slightest bit of a moral compass telling them that what they were doing was wrong. Where were their mothers? If parents are to blame here, then maybe these mothers and fathers should also be on trial for raising sons who rape juveniles.

The U.S. Department of Justice completed a National Crime Victimization Study in 2005 and found rape to be one of the most under-reported crimes. Victims commonly experience shame, guilt, depression and fear. For a child to have experienced this callous act and then for people to try to hold her partially responsible is revolting.

Victim blaming is, unfortunately, not unusual in our society, teaching us that we need to focus on “not getting raped” rather than teaching us NOT to rape. In January, a Toronto police officer who was invited to participate in a safety education program at York University advised students that they could avoid being raped by not dressing like “sluts.”

In response to this officer’s ignorant remark, thousands of people rallied together April 3 in an organized SlutWalk to protest abuse of victim’s rights and raise awareness. Men, women and children marched the streets of Toronto in hopes of changing the mentality that victims willingly attract rapists.

Rape is rape, no matter how you candy-coat it. If consent is not absolutely, positively given, if your partner is under 17, or if your partner is intoxicated or incoherent, having sex with her or him is a crime.

Instead of blaming a child for rape, we need to come together and support her. We should try to find out what we can do to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again. Not only should we teach sex education in schools, maybe we should teach rape defense classes as well.

Yes, we shouldn’t mark “He Done It” on the forehead of an accused rapist before he has his day in court, but neither should we try to hold the victim accountable in any way by implying “she asked for it.” As for the child, hopefully she and her family will be able to somehow, someday, move past this nightmare.

If you are the victim of rape and need someone to talk to, please don’t hesitate to visit the UHCL counseling center. You can also anonymously call the national RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE or visit RAINN online at http://www.rainn.org.