Anti-war group debates plans for pullout

Gwen Kehr, Staff Writer

Student group… Anti-war group debates plans for pullout

Gwen Kehr, Staff Writer

Student group Pitt Against War held a debate and discussion Thursday, assessing the immediate and staged plans of withdrawal of American military troops from Iraq.

The question wasn’t whether the United States should pull out of Iraq, but when. The opposing sides were immediate versus phased.

Vanessa Wills and Jonah McAllister-Erickson, both Pitt graduate students, presented points for both arguments in the William Pitt Union to a group of supporters.

McAllister-Erickson, who spoke in support of staged withdrawal, mentioned that analysts fear an Iraqi civil war if the United States pulls its troops out too quickly.

Wills, arguing for the immediate withdrawal, said, “The deadliest forces in Iraq are U.S. troops. We should end that and end that immediately.”

The Thomas Merton Center – a local progressive organization – endorses PAW, and meets weekly on Thursday nights on the sixth floor of the William Pitt Union.

4-Square screens movie, gives out pizza

Mac Booker, Staff Writer

Pitt 4-Square’s second semi-annual movie night in David Lawrence Hall opened with a Wagnerian tribute to the playground game.

Classical music played over slow-motion footage of the club’s games and animated bouncing balls before a screening of “Captain Blasto,” a locally produced independent film about a high school student turned pretend superhero.

Director Christopher Preksta’s film replaced “Fight Club,” the scheduled film, because of trouble securing the rights to the Hollywood movie.

“It was a big mess,” 4-Square member Ashley Leonzo said. She blamed the last minute change for the small turnout, saying that club members did not have time to advertise the screening properly.

“Usually everyone on campus knows,” she said of 4-Square events.

By the end of the movie, the David Lawrence auditorium was about one-quarter full.

Justin Keogh, 4-Square president, said they hoped for between three and four hundred attendees.

Some students attending were drawn less by the movie than by the 50 pizzas provided by an Alcohol Alternative Mini-Grant and cases of Huggs provided by event-sponsor Daly’s.

Pitt seniors Arienne Pazzaglini and Kristin Strannigan came together.

“Food is actually a big part,” Strannigan said.

“I don’t even know what movie they’re playing,” Pazzaglini added.

One Pitt student standing off to the side was attending a fraternity meeting when he grabbed a slice and a Hugg.

“I didn’t show up,” he said before hustling back to his meeting without giving his name. “I just got some food.”

Prekstra produced Captain Blasto for $7,000 in the Monongahela Valley. Pittsburghers are featured prominently, including actor Aaron Kleiber, who plays a Pittsburghese-speaking school janitor who becomes a fake super villain.

This was the second 4-Square movie night. Last semester, they showed the teen-angst sci-fi movie “Donnie Darko.”

The 4-Square club has existed since last October, according to Leonzio, when it was formed following a discussion about the game in her dorm room.

The rules of 4-square may not be as established as those who played the game as children might imagine. Even the name is subject to regional debate.

“I’m from Philadelphia,” Pitt student Jason Kosempel said, “so we called it boxball.”

The club accompanied the screening with a game of 4-Square in the David Lawrence lobby on a court marked out by painter’s tape.

Although the 4-Square club has stopped playing for the semester, they have two non-4-square events remaining. They will be playing dodgeball in Bellefield Hall tonight and will host an ice-skating event in Schenley Park next Monday.

Film raises awareness for dead activist

Nana Ama Sarfo, Staff Writer

Students and community members came together in David Lawrence Hall Friday to remember the life of an American peace activist killed in Palestine.

Twenty-three-year-old Rachel Corrie, a non-violent protestor, was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003, while participating in an International Solidarity Movement protest attempting to protect a Palestinian home about to be destroyed in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah.

Rachel’s story, combined with the commentary of other Palestinian activists, was showcased in a documentary, “Rachel: an American Conscience,” which was followed by a discussion panel.

Sponsored by the Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee, Pitt’s Students for Justice in Palestine, Middle East Peace Forum and Solidarity, the showing was the last in the month and a half-long, community-wide Palestinian film series.

Before the showing of the documentary, Rachel’s parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie, gave a presentation about Rachel’s life and untimely death, an event they said was largely ignored by the U.S. media.

“What Rachel went through wasn’t covered as much as it should have been,” said Nur Azlina, a Carnegie Mellon University member of Students for Justice in Palestine.

“We wanted to let people know that systematic human rights abuse is not an accident,” Azlina said. “And the only way to do this is to educate ourselves and others.”