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“Literary Magazine to Determine True University Status of UMBC”

The headline in the February 10, 1969 edition of The Retriever seems a bit grandiose, as do the brash pronouncements of its editor, quoted in the article:

The staff of the magazine anticipates a lot of excitement on its debut. Editor Michael Jacobs stated in an interview that “the response to this magazine will be a kind of gauge on how far UMBC has approached being a true university.”
By Richard Byrne ’86

As The Retriever’s editor at the time, Diane Juknelis Tichnell ’70 knew what was coming: the new magazine featured a series of soft focus nude photographs of a duet between a male and female dancer, taken by Washington, D.C. photographer Robert Stark.

Stark’s photographs were not explicit. Indeed, they were hanging in an exhibit in The Corcoran Gallery of Art when the magazine was published. Yet Jacobs and the magazine’s staff knew it was a risky move in the Baltimore County of the late 1960s which had produced Spiro T. Agnew – the nation’s new vice president and most prominent conservative cultural warrior.

The literary magazine was distributed in a plain manila envelope to students who showed an ID card. Stark was punningly credited as “M.E. Nage” on the inside cover of the magazine.

“Michael did understand it was going to cause a firestorm,” Tichnell recalls. “But he believed that they had the right to showcase this kind of thing.”

Local media eagerly fanned the flames, egged on by the reaction of outraged state and county legislators. (One of them dubbed UMBC an “institution of pornography.”) Faculty and students quickly united against Albin O. Kuhn, UMBC’s first president, who first denied the magazine access to student activity funds and then ended its affiliation with the university.

“Those were the innocent days,” says former UMBC professor Wallace Shugg, who had an excerpt from his travel journal published in the controversial magazine. “But radicalization was growing. In the first two years [of the university], there was no politicization. It was rather quiescent.”

For a few months in 1969, UMBC’s literary magazine did define the campus and its image – vexing its leaders and ending the relative calm of the university’s early years.

Read the full story in the Winter 2012 issue of UMBC Magazine here.

In Science Studio:

“Carbohydrates – Keith & Russ talk to C. Allen Bush, Professor of Biochemistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Bush studies carbohydrates, and in this program he’ll explain how carbohydrates are crucial in cell interaction, and how they can be helpful in developing polysaccharide vaccines for bacterial diseases.”

Listen to the audio

From Bukhari Vol. 1, #490

Narrated 'Aisha: "The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, "Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people)." I said, "You have made us (i.e. women) dogs. I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away, for I disliked to face him.""

From Muslim Number 1032

Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of 'Allah said: When any one of you stands for prayer and there is a thing before him equal to the back of the saddle that covers him and in case there is not before him (a thing) equal to the back of the saddle, his prayer would be cut off by (passing of an) ass, woman, and black Dog. I said: O Abu Dharr, what feature is there in a black dog which distinguish it from the red dog and the yellow dog? He said: O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil.
*******************************

There you have it, folks. If a muslim is praying and a dog, donkey, OR A GIRL passes in between him and Mecca, his prayer doesn't count--and he has to start over, I guess. One would imagine that the probability of a dog crossing one's path increases tremendously as one's distance from Mecca increases. But with this distance, it becomes impossible to verify if the space between oneself and Mecca is clear of canines or females, so it appears that an untold number of muslim prayers must surely fail to connect due to interference every single day. Perhaps that explains why muslims pray so frequently--gotta make sure at least one of your many prayers gets through every day....

It is not uncommon for muslims to curse Christians and Jews in their prayers, and ask Allah to withdraw his blessings from them, or even to utterly annihilate them. See the first two links in the Further Reading section for more details.

TODAY'S ISLAMIC AWARENESS STORY: IRAQI GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS ONGOING GENOCIDE OF HUNDREDS OF LGBTQ PERSONS.

Why would a queer person have anything but hatred for such a religion?

Further Reading on Islamic Prayer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPr8xRAHAy0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curses_in_Islam
http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/dogs.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Gilchrist/Vol1/7c.html

Q: What is your year and major at UMBC?

A: I am a second year graduate student in the Intercultural Communication Master's program.

Q: How is your major applicable to diversity education?

A: Well…in my program we discuss and apply the concepts and definitions within culture to current events, personal experiences, and many other places.  What I am learning in my program directly relates to diversity and the conflicts that arise and what can be done.

Q: Why did you decide to apply for the Diversity Educator Internship?

A: I applied for two main reasons: (1) to apply the skills I have learned in my master's program to the facilitation and presentation of diversity concepts and campus workshops.  (2) to contribute to an environment that is accepting, appreciative, and understanding of diverse populations.

Q: How would you define diversity?

A: For me, diversity is a state, a state that is composed of many different races and ethnicities functioning and working together.  Within these different races and ethnicities exists distinct practices, behaviors, and customs.  In turn, functioning in a state of diversity signifies enrichment of knowledge and information that would not otherwise be known, recognized, or acknowledged.

Q: How does UMBC foster an appreciation for diversity?

A: Many offices and departments at UMBC provide opportunities for observation, participation, and leadership in a multitude of programs.  The Office of Student Life creates and implements programs, events and workshops, in which students and faculty can take part.  In addition, this office serves to educate and involve all departments on campus, such as the Modern Language department and the Gender studies department, to host events that encourage appreciation and discussion of diversity topics and issues.              

Q: What are ways that students can participate in advocacy for diversity?

A: The opportunities to act as an advocate are endless.  Students who desire to participate but do not want to take on the responsibility that being a leader entails can attend any dialogue, workshop, or event that is hosted.  However, being an advocate does not simply imply attending and participating in specific events.  Being an advocate is a daily act that is fulfilled everywhere someone goes.  An advocate is a representative of and model for diverse appreciation and understanding.  An advocate stands up for the beliefs, practices, and customs of others in that no one individual should be discriminated against or stereotyped.  Therefore, being advocate means having a security in one's own beliefs but a simultaneous mindfulness and appreciation for the beliefs of others, and the acting upon this.

Q: After graduating how will you continue to be an advocate for diversity?

A: Of course, whatever field I go into should have something to do with Intercultural Communication.  I would love to be a diversity trainer or a Spanish teacher.  Either way, I will carry out what I have learned while at UMBC and during this internship into all aspects of my life after graduation.  I will continue to act as an advocate no matter who I am with and where I am.  In my opinion, every situation and every moment provides a possibility for diversity education, however small the lesson.