This story isn’t about the back-and-forth banter between politically conscious people and those who sling catch phrases around like a chimpanzee with fecal matter, debating how people protest instead of the content of their protest.

I won’t bother writing about my beliefs and how I think things should be run. I know damn well that if you’re reading this and you’re for the Iraq war, nothing I can say will convince you otherwise. You’ve heard what other, more articulate people have said about this and you’re still in denial about “their” reality. Instead, here’s the truth presented in its moonshine form, straight up, 200-proof and distilled in a bathtub.

If you go to http://www.costofwar.com, you can see, by the second, how much money has been spent on the War in Iraq. Not only that, you can see exactly how much money your individual community has spent. For example, my hometown of Portland has spent $43,904,378 and I’m watching it go up right now. Bangor has spent $17,941,605 in taxes for this war. Altogether, Maine has paid $910,074,000 in taxes for this war as of 12:47 p.m., Oct. 29.

I’ll provide you with some of the examples from the Web site to give you a better idea as to what these numbers mean: 44,188 Maine students could have their tuition paid for four years at a public university; we could have hired 15,771 new elementary school teachers for our overcrowded schools; 544,955 children could have health insurance for a year; 120,540 children could enroll in a Head Start program; 8,194 public housing units could be built for low-income families.

My point is that it’s no longer about political pride or power, but instead about our livelihood as a nation. I know supporters of the war are reading this and thinking, “he’d like to see Saddam back in power” or “sure, but if we didn’t fight this war, al-Qaida would be blowing up our schools.” This has been the same argument for four years now, and our strategy in Iraq is no longer to “stay the course,” or at least it’s not spoken explicitly anymore.

Is this it? Is this war worth all these costs and all the sacrifice? Look at what all this money has bought us. Our soldiers are dying, Iraq’s citizens are being slaughtered and the ire of the world is rising in opposition to our actions. Was it worth the $339 billion and rising?

As radio host and author Thom Hartmann points out, when you invest in schools, you get educated youth. When you invest in the environment, you get cleaner skies. But when you build bombs, you only destroy things. You do nothing to help create them.

Seamus McGrath recently defended his title of “Angriest Man North of Veazie.”

Despite the efforts of these two plans, it is not true, as Crabtree says, that “the world is as safe as it can be from unknowingly supporting insurgents in poorer countries.” The trade of conflict diamonds has not disappeared; the diamonds have just become harder to trace. In fact, as recently as last month, Reuters discussed the issue in an article titled “Conflict Diamonds may be entering the United States.” In the article, the Government Accountability Office stated: “Although many of these conflicts have now ended and the international community has taken steps to gain control of the rough diamond trade, the United Nations and other sources report that illicit trading of rough diamonds still exists, and could potentially finance civil conflicts as well as criminal and terrorist activities.”

This, of course, creates a stronger need for awareness and public pressure against the trade of conflict diamonds – and the conditions in which they are mined. The Reuters article stated that the United States is not thorough enough in its inspection of imported diamonds, which leaves the door open to unchecked conflict diamonds. This article addresses two problems: that a bill cannot work on its own without the constant awareness and enforcement of those in charge, and that the conflict diamond trade is still in business.

To assume that this is a “case closed” situation is completely off the mark. The previously mentioned article also stated that despite the passage of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme four years ago, the United States “only now is developing a plan to oversee” the U.S. Kimberly Process Authority. Liberia, another major participant in the trade of rough diamonds has yet to join the Kimberly Process.

According to its Web site, the United Nations Security Council “urged the Liberian Government to accelerate the implementation of the necessary reform measures,” in October of this year to create more accountability in the diamond trade and allow for Liberia to join the Kimberly Process. Though the United States has issued almost $8 million in aid to Sierra Leone and Liberia to improve operations, the Government Accountability Office’s official report to Congress states that the individual countries still lack the structure and capacity to effectively monitor diamond mining.

“Officials in both Sierra Leone and Liberia noted their lack of resources for monitoring large mining areas and highly porous borders, which contributed to illicit mining and trading,” the report states. Clearly, there is still much left to be done within the African mining countries as well as the United States, which stands as the seventh-highest exporter of rough diamonds.

While I appreciate the report’s suggestion to focus on helping Bono “try to fight AIDS in Africa,” might I also suggest that it is possible to step outside our lives and create a vested interest in improving conditions in more than one area in the lives of our fellow humans?

Sarah Woodman is an English major.

The University of Maine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture recently brought the efforts of the UMaine Solar Vehicle Team to a screeching halt by allocating its workspace in Perkins Hall to a new furniture-making program.

The Phantom Sol, which has won awards for its energy-efficient design, has been moved from place to place. Departmental politics have systematically cut off efforts to fund an alternative facility for the Solar Vehicle Team to continue work on the car. It now sits in a tow lot, where weather conditions threaten to destroy all the hard work that has gone into its development.

It is a shame that UMaine shows so little support for an organization that has brought the university recognition as a leader in alternative fuel research. The Solar Vehicle Team has received only minimal funding, frivolous citations and scorn in return for the positive publicity it has earned for UMaine. All politics aside, the University is only hurting itself by leaving one of its greatest assets out in the cold.

GSS passes trick-or-treat resolution

Here’s your chance to get something from the General Student Senate without the mandatory two-week waiting period. On Halloween GSS will give away candy like it was money.

At the Oct. 24 General Student Senate meeting, the organization passed a resolution for the student body to stop by and trick-or-treat at the next senate meeting on Oct. 31, in the Multi-Purpose Room of Memorial Union.

This bone-chilling resolution will have a positive effect on the student body, and hopefully the entire population of students who pay the activity fee will attend.

You could storm the meeting dressed as Darth Vader, or you could dress up as your favorite student senate member; it’s up to you.

But don’t “trick” the senators, because you might end up on the business end of a resolution decrying your name.

“Defense of the Bill of Rights is not a partisan issue,” she said at the lecture, titled “Disappearing Civil Liberties and the Abuse of Power Post 9/11″.

Bellows highlighted two general areas the American Civil Liberties Union and MCLU have been concerned about since Sept. 11 and the inception of the War on Terror: the use of unauthorized surveillance, and the torture of detainees to obtain information.

“Students have been talking to me and are very concerned about these issues,” said Douglas Allen, a professor of philosophy at the University of Maine who organizes the weekly Socialist and Marxist Studies Series.

Bellows highlighted a case that hits close to home for Maine residents, in which 22 customers of the Verizon Telephone Company, led by James Cowie, and nearly 400 members of the ACLU filed a complaint with the Maine Public Utilities Commission. The complaint urged the commission to investigate whether Verizon had been cooperating with the National Security Agency by allowing surveillance of Maine citizens without a warrant.

Verizon responded with a press release refusing to confirm or deny participation in the NSA’s program, citing “state secrets” and that MPUC lacks authority to investigate the matter.

In return, The MPUC made a request for Verizon to attest under oath to the truthfulness of statements it made in the press release. An hour after the deadline for Verizon to respond to this request the MCLU received notice of a lawsuit from the Department of Justice against the MPUC in an attempt to stop the inquiry into Verizon’s practices and to prevent any further investigation.

This comes on the heels of the discovery that the NSA engaged in wiretapping without a court order. “This sends a chilling message to the people of Maine,” said Bellows.

She also summarized the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, which would legalize NSA surveillance without a warrant for 45 days. After those initial 45 days, the NSA has three options: to cease surveillance, obtain a warrant to continue surveillance, or to tell select members of Congress why the monitoring must continue. Bellows said the problem with the third option is that Congress only has the “power of the purse” and is not legally able to relay information to the press.

The only limit Congress could place on the NSA is to cut funding. If the bill is passed, anyone in the administration who informs the media of secret programs may be imprisoned for up to 15 years and fined up to $1 million. This act passed in the House but not in the Senate, but has the opportunity to pass in the “lame duck” session after elections, before a new Congress is sworn in, Bellows said.

Bellows also summarized a Freedom of Information Act request that was submitted by the MCLU to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, asking for files on behalf of 15 individuals and seven peace groups in Maine. Intercepted e-mails and files regarding the activities of peace groups have been declassified and turned over to the MCLU, and documents continue to come in.

The attitude from Washington has been, “trust us, we’re the government,” and this is a cause for concern, Bellows said. “It strains credibility that the FBI has to open a file for every piece of information that crosses their desk.”

“Today it might be Maine Peace Action Committee, tomorrow it might be the Maine Democratic Party,” Bellows said, emphasizing the importance of First and Fourth Amendment rights. “What we’ve done is turn the Fourth Amendment on its head.”

Another issue that has been receiving national attention is the torture of detainees and the suspension of habeas corpus-the right of detainees to go before a court to determine if their imprisonment is unlawful. Habeas corpus has not been extended to those imprisoned on charges relating to the War on Terror. “The question is, when does the War on Terror end?” Bellows said.

The White House has denied allegations that Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed waterboarding. Waterboarding is when a suspect is restrained and their nose and mouth are covered with a water-soaked cloth, to induce the sensation of drowning. The ACLU is concerned with this and other accounts of prisoner abuse that may conflict with the Geneva Conventions, the standards in international law for humanitarian issues.

These and many other issues are wrapped up in a bill signed by President Bush on Oct. 17 called the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which suspends habeas corpus and allows the president to give his own interpretation of the Geneva Conventions, according to Bellows.

“Our concern is checks and balances,” Bellows said. “We have laid out this vision for a democratic republic . granted we’ve erred, but we have always moved forward.”

The ACLU believes these laws are unconstitutional. Currently, the ACLU is suing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight men who were allegedly tortured by U.S. military personnel under Rumsfeld’s command.

“Each of these battles we must fight step by step, piece by piece,” Bellows said.

But for those who don’t do it right, there are the repercussions of ticket fines to pay, ranging from $10 to $100. While there are more student parking spots available and thus more opportunity for student infractions, all members of the campus community are capable of receiving penalties. The office identifies a lack of permit as the most common violation.

Students who receive just one or two violations are the ones who voice their opinions the most; the ones who rack up the violations into the sky-high range ignore the issue due to a self-described philosophy of “trying to beat the system,” Stormann said. While others complain about the price of the $50-per-year permit, Administrative Assistant Gail Dyer-Martin pointed out that after an individual receives two citations, those fines “pay for the permit.”

Located in Room 523 of the Doris Twitchell Allen Village Center, the office staff concentrates on answering phones, tracking violations in a database, and processing appeals. Besides the daily operations, the office is currently busy making sure that it has effectively communicated the decree that between midnight and 6 a.m. from Nov. 1 to May 1, faculty-staff, commuter and visitor lots are closed to parking. Drivers caught breaking this rule will have their cars towed, unless they are parked in the clearly marked overnight lot or have obtained and displayed an overnight parking pass.

Stormann also mentioned that the parking situation is something that is “constantly being evaluated.” He explained that “plans to make the parking lot nearby Lord Hall smaller in order to create more green space are in the works.”

A survey conducted by the Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System has yielded changes for the good of the campus in the past; a new study specifically for the parking situation on campus is under way.

Quick to dismiss misconceptions of the program’s reputation as oppressive, all administrative workers stressed the importance of protecting and serving those who do abide by the rules. “We’re not out there to get people,” Dyer-Martin said.

Last year, 17 percent of all appeals made were successful, according to Jamie Boyd, an administrative assistant. Boyd said that she evaluates “40-ish” appeals per week. Whenever a ticket is issued, officers are instructed to photograph the violation for “proof in either direction,” Dyer-Martin said. That procedure is not always uniformly executed, as some police officers issuing tickets are not employees of Parking Services and work for Public Safety instead. For that reason, and because of the possibility of human error, violators have a viable chance to have their fine rescinded.

Dyer-Martin and Boyd agreed that the majority of violators seeking appeals are unpleasant. “When you’re asking for help from someone, you shouldn’t be rude about it,” Boyd advised.

On Oct. 21 at 8:49 p.m., an officer stopped a car on College Avenue by Farm Road for speeding. While the officer was issuing the driver a summons for speeding, he asked if he could check the vehicle. The officer had a previous complaint about someone who had been improperly using paintballs. When asked if there was anything in the car, the driver said no, and said the officer could look, but not search the car. The officer then asked if the driver and passenger would exit the vehicle and they did so without complaint. The officer noticed an empty rum bottle and an Altoids tin. Inside the tin, the officer found a straw, a razorblade and three white tablets. When asked what they were, neither young man responded. The passenger, identified as Paul Dube, 19, was issued a summons and charged with possession of marijuana.

Woman charged for refusing to leave nightclub

On Oct. 20 at 12:45 a.m., officers responded to a complaint from Ushuaia. Ushuaia was refusing entrance to a young woman and she became upset. She was visibly intoxicated, and someone had called the police. Because Ushuaia had already warned her, they asked that the officer remove her from the scene for criminal trespassing. The young woman was identified as Shirin Ansari, 20. A friend was unsuccessfully trying to escort Ansari off the premises, but Ansari continued to protest. Her friend finally convinced her to leave, but as she started leaving, Ansari turned back and yelled again. She was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Club rounds up fake IDs

On Oct. 22, the owner of Ushuaia confiscated six fake identification cards and turned them in to the Orono police. An officer following up on the cards found Thomas Cushing, 20. Cushing was charged with possession and display of a false identification card.

Minor charged for using false identification

On Oct. 25 at 6:40 p.m., a young man went into Thriftway and tried to purchase alcohol with a fake identification card. The clerk took the card and called the police. Kyle Hodgkins, 20, continued to tell the officer that he was 21. Hodgkins was charged with possession and display of a false identification card.

Police drawn by noise issue alcohol possession charge

On Oct. 19 at 11:45 p.m., an officer was contacted for a noise complaint on Pond Street. As the officer approached the scene, he noticed a young woman who looked too young to be holding the beer bottle she had in her hand. The officer identified the young woman as Mallory Cudlitz, 20. Cudlitz was charged with illegal possession of alcohol by a minor.

Minors drinking outdoors charged for alcohol possession

On Oct. 20 at 10:40 p.m., an officer noticed a group of people walking down the street near Washburn Apartments. As the officer approached, a young man quickly dropped a can. Nathan Gosselin, 20, was quickly identified and charged with illegal possession of alcohol by a minor.

Later at 11:50 p.m., an officer approached a group of people standing outside on Timberview Drive. As the officer approached, he saw a young woman who looked underage carrying a can of beer. The officer identified her as Kelly Neptune, 19, and charged her with illegal possession of alcohol by a minor.

Warrant arrest

On Oct. 25 at 5:46 p.m., Shannon Campbell, 23, was arrested for an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for theft, operating a vehicle after license revocation, and unpaid fines.

Green Candidate Talk

Pat LaMarche, Green Independent candidate for governor, will be speaking in DPC 100 at 7 p.m. about current issues in the gubernatorial campaign and will take questions from the audience.

Tuesday

Canadian Consul General

“The New Face of Canada’s Conservative Government,” by Canadian Consul General Neil LeBlanc, will be held at the Alfond Arena at noon. Luncheon will be provided. Contact Amy Morin at 581-4220 to R.S.V.P. Part of Canada Week.

Trick or Treat

The General Student Senate will be giving out candy to any interested (and costumed) trick-or-treaters during their Halloween meeting between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room of Memorial Union.

Wednesday

Study Abroad Fair

A Study Abroad Fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the ground floor of Memorial Union. Representatives of many study abroad programs, including off-campus sponsors and campus-based programs, will be present.

Graduate Lectures

Alice R. Stewart Graduate Lectures will present the following talks: “Canada in the ‘Historical Atlas of Maine’” by Stephen Hornsby; “The 1820 Joseph Treat Survey on the Saint John River;” “Maps, Maliseet Homeland and Petitions in the Disputed Territory” by Micah Pawling; and “Acadian Novels’ Many Languages” by Lise Pelletier. The event begins at noon in the Coe Room, Memorial Union.

Philosophy Lecture

Phi Sigma Tau will present Anna Lannsrom, professor of philosophy at Stonehill College, who will give a lecture titled “Responding to Terror: An Aristotelian Approach,” starting at 5 p.m. in the Totman Lounge, Memorial Union.

La Dia De Los Muertos

The Mexican holiday La Dia De Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) will be celebrated in the Hudson Museum from 10 a.m. to noon. Altars will be set up and traditional refreshments will be served.

Governor Debate

A debate between gubernatorial candidates Pat LaMarche, Barbara Merril, Phillip Morris NaPier, Chandler Woodcock and incumbent John Baldacci, hosted by MPBN’s Fred Bever, will be held at 8 p.m. in the MCA, Hutchins Concert Hall.

Tuesday

Venezuela Lecture

The Socialist-Marxist Studies Series presents Georges Kabache, a University of Maine student from Venezuela, who will give a lecture titled “From the Fourth to the Fifth Republic: Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela” in the Bangor Room of Memorial Union starting at 12:30 p.m.

Philosophy Colloquium Series

The Philosophy Colloquium Series presents “Myth and Education in Republic 3: Tradition and Subversion in the Purified City” by professor Patricia Fagan of the University of Windsor, starting at 4 p.m. in the Levinson Room of the Maples.

Poetry Reading

The New Writing Series will present a poetry reading from Christina Milletti and Dimitri Anastasopolous at 4:30 p.m. in the Soderberg Auditorium.

Book Signing

Robert Klose, associate professor of biological sciences at University College in Bangor and author of the new book “Small Worlds” will be discussing the essays in the book and signing copies at 5 p.m. in the Totman Lounge, Memorial Union.

Submitting information

Submissions for The Maine Campus Community Calendar are free and can be sent on FirstClass to Brian Sylvester or dropped off in The Maine Campus office located in the basement of Memorial Union. Please include all the important information about your event. Deadlines for submissions are 9 a.m. Sunday for Monday publication and 9 a.m. Wednesday for Thursday publication.

The birthday extravaganza is part of a public relations effort to “increase student awareness of The Maine Channel,” said Randy Perkins, promotional director for The Maine Channel. According to a recent survey, 36 percent of University of Maine students have never heard of The Maine Channel. The elaborate celebration will provide an entertaining, informal source of information that, in the words of Liz Boardman, another promotional coordinator, “shows off our capabilities.”

The event will feature segments from the upcoming news show, “The Today, Tonight and Tomorrow Show,” UMaine sports show “Black Bear Nation,” debate/boxing show “Mouthguard,” and talent program “Fame in 15.” Filming for the final program, “Misfortune,” a classic trivia production, will occur live at the actual event. It will consist of two contestants who compete to answer 10 questions with various challenges included.

The news crew will also be around reporting on the event, and other staff will be present to provide information for curious students and student organizations who may want to promote their institution on The Maine Channel for free.

To conclude the show, the audience will hear from local band The Bay State, with special guest Fly Upright Kite.

“We’re all wicked excited for this,” Boardman said. She also said organization for the birthday celebration has been the main topic of discussion among The Maine Channel staff for the last two months.

For Maine Channel Executive Producer Andrew Eldridge, who has endured the initial tumults of The Maine Channel – formed several years back with absolutely no funding – the birthday party stands for something more than fun and entertainment. It provides new direction for the organization and a chance to flex its communicative muscles as well as show continuous live footage of students walking through the mall on Channel 42.

“We’ve been doing a good job advertising,” Eldridge said. He expects it to be “pretty full,” with an estimated crowd of 150-200 people. “There’s been a lot of stuff gone in to planning this event,” he said. Eldridge hopes that students will have a terrific night of entertainment and Pat’s Pizza.

Storage costs, be it hard disks or CDs, have plummeted. There is plenty of software out there that will automate the process, including the upcoming version of Mac OS X due this spring, which will include automated data backup in the operating system. Finally, remote backup via the Internet has become an increasingly popular option, especially for the penny-pinchers among us. Today, I’ll be exploring some of these options.

The average price of storage has been in decline for several years, at about 40 percent per year. You can buy a 120GB internal desktop hard drive for about $60 – about 50 cents per gigabyte. For those afraid to open their computer’s case, or those with laptops, there are external hard drives. These tend to be more expensive, and run a little slower than their internal brethren. A 120GB external hard drive will be about $90. Of course, the more you are willing to pay, the more storage you will be able to get. Besides hard drives, CDs and DVDs are also popular forms of backing up. However, these forms of backup are not as good, namely because optical discs have the tendency to get lost or scratched up. It’s also difficult to stay motivated backing up things in this way: It’s more effort than simply dragging and dropping files onto a hard drive.

If you choose to use a hard drive for your backups, then it might be a good idea to invest in some kind of software. This software automates the process by periodically backing up selected files and folders to a specific location. Examples include ABC Backup and Genie Backup Manager, and a good free one is SyncBack. All of these can be found through a Google search.

The final form of backup I will mention is remote, Internet-based data backup. This type of data backup has become increasingly popular, because it can be done both cheaply and easily. There are many ways to find free storage online. Plenty of Web site offer free hosting; these can be used instead to store files via FTP, or file transfer protocol. Another popular, albeit less elegant solution, is to use Web mail for storage. A good service to use in this regard is Gmail, for its simple interface, fast load times and ample storage. Finally, there are companies emergin that offer automated, Internet-based backup. One example of this is the company Carbonite, which, for a $5 monthly fee, will automatically back up all of the data you desire to their servers. The data is even encrypted, so it’s more hacker-proof.

The only issue I’ve seen with subscription services is that many of them do not support multiple platforms with their client programs – it’s Windows only, so Mac and Linux users are left out in the cold. Hopefully this will be remedied soon.

If there is one thing you can take away from this column, it’s that you should back up, and back up often. The methods to do so are so easy that you can’t afford to not back up. As college students we tend to have more data than most, and it would suck most royally to lose an important paper, lab report or music collection. Get to it.

Yannick Miaffo, a senior computer engineering major who is originally from Cameroon, said Culturefest is “one of the most important times of year for international students. We feel like we’re home. Eat our food, dance our music, sing our songs. It’s like bringing the world into one place, all at one time. Most importantly, we get to be with people from other countries.”

Many students had been cooking for days, some staying up into the early morning.

“We always think we should do a cookbook,” Karen Bucias, director of International Programs, said. A chicken curry from India is spicy enough to require a glass of water, while rice and red beans wrapped in bamboo leaves – unwrap before you bite! – can transport your tastebuds to China. Saudi Arabia’s table had falafel, a fried chickpea patty eaten throughout the Middle East. There was also a sweet date sauce imported from Alwadi, which can be purchased at the Orono Pharmacy.

Some delicacies, however, are only available in large, cosmopolitan cities. The Asian Student Association sold sweets bought in Boston.

“We went to Super 88,” said Jose Cordero, director of the ALANA Center. “It’s like a huge Asian Sam’s Club. Anything and everything Asian you could possibly imagine. Best trip ever.”

Jing Ling, president of the ASA, said his personal favorites were shrimp crackers and yan yans, which are wafer sticks with a chocolate dip. Ling, a senior computer and electrical engineering major, was born in China. He grew up celebrating the Chinese New Year, when his whole family would get together and eat a vegetarian meal as a “cleansing type of thing.” He plans to return to China in the next few years. “I moved here at a young age. I don’t know a lot about the culture. I’d like to go back to my roots and learn more.”

Family ties are not the only reason people become involved in multicultural organizations. Sarah Joughlin, International Student and Scholar Adviser, put the program together with the help of students starting in mid-September. Increasing numbers of multicultural and international students made the event more exciting. “This year we actually had to turn people away from the talent show,” she said. Attendance has been steady over the past four years; the event usually draws 800-1,000 people from campus and the surrounding community. Echo Patenaude, a senior majoring in landscape horticulture and business, says Culturefest is her favorite international event.

Joughlin said Culturefest started out as a small potluck and then “just got bigger and bigger.”

Karen Bucias has been coming to the event since 1985. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for international students to share their countries,” she said. “It sounds trite, but there aren’t a lot of opportunities to do that.”

International Students are not the only ones who benefit. “Culturefest makes American students more aware of the rest of the world,” Bucias said. “It also gets them thinking about studying abroad.”

The climax of Culturefest was the talent show, which featured music and dancing from across three continents. The show opened with a song in Vietnamese. David Croteau sang with his girlfriend Yen Nguyen, even though his first language is English.

Next, a man from Russia and a woman from Uzbekistan performed a dramatic Spanish dance in a style called Basadoble. The mood intensified when they took the stage, and when he swished a red cloth against her shoulders, she came out of her frozen pose and they were on fire. “I’ve never seen Yana Kim so passionate about a dance before,” said Rachel Olivares, a junior education major and belly dancer, about one of the performers.

The soft, sweet strains of a solo in Chinese, which could have been a pop song about love or a lullaby, gave way to an active dance combined from East and West Africa. The dancers were in motion from head to toe-hips shaking, arms and legs in repetitive strokes in time with the rhythm of percussion playing in the background. Although most of the performers dressed in black and white, the result felt very colorful. A girl wearing a pink traditional dress sang a Korean song, while a student from Africa accompanied her playing a drum with his fingers. The show also contained more familiar, but no less stunning, dance styles like flamenco and break dancing.

After a break for a fire alarm was the international fashion show. The last entry was the United States, represented by a girl in jeans swinging a brand-name purse, and a guy dressed in matching black sweats and sporting several flashy metal necklaces. At the end of the runway, they whipped out their cell phones and left the stage dancing to strains of hip hop.