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The Organ of Student Expression Since 1925
™ e MAROO
GER
Morehouse College • Atlanta, GA
January 18 - 24, 2012
Volume LXXXVI, issue 12
Buffett Returns Performing and Living With Passion
Christian L. Saint-Vil
Opinions Editor
w*
^Tremember my dad saying, ‘If
I
4
9
w
Lyou want to collect garbage,
I would love you just the same as if
you were a doctor,’ ” Peter Buffett,
an Emmy Award-winning musi
cian, author, philanthropist - and
son of billionaire investor War
ren Buffett - said as he recounted
living the life of a “middle class”
boy who wasn’t aware that he was
unique in his middle class neigh
borhood of Omaha, Neb.
One wouldn’t expect those
words to leave the mouth of an ac
complished man who was speak
ing to his son, but Peter Buffett’s
parents always insisted that he
find what he was passionate about
and do it. For Peter Buffett, that
was his music.
Buffett’s passion has taken him
on a sojourn across the world cre
ating music filled with wake-up
calls featuring renowned artists
such as Akon. More than a year
after his Morehouse debut on Oct.
11, 2010, he returns next Tues
day, Jan. 24, to perform his “Life
Is What You Make It: A Concert
& Conversation with Peter Buf
fett” for the Men of Morehouse
College. It will begin at 7 p.m. at
the Ray Charles Performing Arts
Center.
His performance and his pres
ence at Morehouse have much
more significance than expected
for both Buffett and the Men of
Morehouse. Buffett grew up in
the 1960s in the midst of the Civil
Rights Movement watching Afri
can Americans get hosed down
on television for defending their
rights, which makes it ironic that
Buffett can now say he is support
ing a Black presidential candi
date.
“I hope Obama sees his second
term as a chance to go out with
both guns blazing to change how
things are run in Washington,”
Buffett said.
His mother, also very socially
conscious, was heavily involved
in civil rights during his youth,
raising him on the foundation
that every life is equal.
“Martin Luther King was my
idol when I was 6, so all these
years later, to be at [this] college,
there is nothing like it,” Buffett
said. “It’s so deep. For me to be
invited back, it is really an honor.”
Yet, the honor of having him back
is not his alone.
“We are pleased to host artist
Peter Buffett for a return visit to
tm
Campus^>aid Julie Sills, Direc
tor of Corporate and Foundation
Relations at Morehouse College.
“Students who missed his first
concert will enjoy his high-tech-
multimedia presentation on envi
ronmental activism, social justice
and pop culture.”
Buffett would like the Men of
Morehouse to leave his concert
knowing that they are capable
of everything and anything, and
remembering that the heart is a
thinking organ - the best indica
tor of where they will be happiest.
He believes that people do not
allow their passions to lead them
because we have such a narrow
definition of success, shrinking
the possibilities for adventures
and all the places one could go.
“I was undecided when he came
to Morehouse and everyone was
telling me I had to pick a major,”
said Cydney Fisher, a sophomore,
Comparative Women Studies
major at Spelman College from
Middlesex, Va. “Hearing him
speak helped me figure out that
you have to take your own time
to figure things out for yourself.”
To those who stopped chasing’
their dreams in fear of not being
able to obtain a steady income
in today’s economy, Buffett said,
“Better to be safe than sorry, but
it’s worseto be"safe and sorry.”
A Meeting of the Minds
Christian L. Saint-Vil
Opinions Editor
csaintvil03@yahoo.com
D ontavious Taylor, a
Junior English major
from Atlanta, serves as this
year’s Chairman for the Stu
dent Welfare and Concerns
committee of the Student
Government Association
(SGA) Senate. He helped to
introduce a bill, originally
known as “Coffee Talk,” to
Morehouse College’s Stu
dent Senate this past Octo
ber. Taylor now identifies
Coffee Talk as a “Meeting
of the Minds.” The bill was
passed by the Senate at the
end of the fall semester, and
meetings will commence
once dates and locations
have been finalized with
Resident Hall Directors.
Oftentimes students ex
press their needs to indi
vidual Senate members, and
these concerns go undocu
mented and sometimes ig
nored. During President
town halls or SGA general
body meetings, some stu
66
WHAT’S HAPPENING
ON CAMPUS?
nail 4
Students habitually demand change, but
seldom provide possible solutions.
dents feel to intimidated
to approach a microphone
and express their concerns
aloud, while others feel ap
athetic about the process.
Coffee Talk allows students
to meet the Committee for
Student Welfare and Con
cerns in an informal en
vironment - sometimes
within their residence halls
- and an opportunity to
provide honest, much need
ed feedback to the SGA.
“I wouldn’t expect a per
son to walk down the aisle of
King Chapel and say every
thing on his mind in front
of 2,000 brothers,” Taylor
said. “My vision is that a
‘Meeting of the Minds’ will
allow students to feel more
comfortable expressing
their concerns being placed
amongst their peers in an
informal yet instructive
conversation.”
Students habitually de
mand change, but seldom
provide possible solutions.
The committee hopes this
initiative will provide a
space for students to express
not only their concerns, but
also possible solutions to
said issues of concern.
“Oftentimes Morehouse
puts office administrators
on stage and they just talk at
students and not with stu
dents,” Taylor said. “I want
this to be a conversation.”
When individuals express
their needs to the Senate,
the Senate has no idea how
many people are affected by
this, how many people are
saying the same things. A
‘Meeting of the Minds’ al
lows the Senate to gauge the
number of people saying the
same thing - a survey tool if
you will.
Then, as Taylor said, “You
have an idea; it’s [the Sen
ate’s] job to figure out how
[we] can mobilize people to
execute this idea, because
SGA has a responsibility to
its students to help orga
nize, mobilize and execute.”
The committee would
like to see SGA be more in
clusive. A “Meeting of the
Minds” could be the solu
tion, but students must be
willing to meet with their
senators for a mature con
versation.
Friday Jan. 20 End of Add/Drop Period
Tuesday jan 14 The Maroon Tiger General Body
Meeting
6 30 p.m.
Nabritt Mapp McBay Lecture Room
Wed . Ian. 25 G a ng to See the King: A Theatrical
Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
7 p.m. King Chapel
February
Wed, Feb I
Black History Month of Service
Ml month long; contact Bonner Office
of Community Service (Jackie Dugger)
at jdugger@morehouse.edu
interfaith Perspectives on a Man of
Peace Panel Discussion
12:30 p.m. African American Hall of
Fame, King Chapel
February 27-March 2 - Mid-term Week
To have your event placed here, email all information to anderson.tre.vell@-
yahoo.com by Saturday to have it printed in the following week’s issue.
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News 1 World & Local 3 Business & Tech 4 Features 6 Opinions 8 A&E 10 Sports.
.12
The Fall of the European Empire p. 4
Campus Look-a-likes p. 6
AUC Artist Spotlight p. 10
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