Mylo Xyloto Review

     Coldplay’s front man Chris Martin clad in a gray elephant suit riding a unicycle, Chris Martin and the other band members in elephant suits playing in the middle of a field. If this sounds a bit unusual for the musical philosophers, that’s because it is. Reaching back to their first album, Parachutes, British superstar group Coldplay has lightened their musical style considerably since their debut. A comedian once joked that listening to Coldplay made him want to “slit his wrists;” not an unfair statement to make considering the quartet’s first two melancholy, piano centric albums. Over their next three albums, the group changed up their style with lighter, more synthetic sounds, less suicide-friendly sounds.

Their new, more buoyant sound has reached its pinnacle with their latest and fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto. Lead singles “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” and “Paradise” are accurate markers of the depth of the album, which reaches about as deep as the kid’s pool at Club Med. Example: the opening lyrics to “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” are, “I turn the music up, I’ve got my records on…” Second single “Paradise” features the group members in elephant costumes, and leaves fans with a cringing, gimmicky feeling.

A far cry from moving hits such as “The Scientist” and “Clocks,” Mylo Xyloto’s contents are more beach party than rainy day. As with many musical acts that have reached such elevated levels of success as Coldplay, the pressure to duplicate such success can lead to formulaic music. Utilizing the synthetic sound of the group’s last two albums that was well received by the masses and peppering in some of their early downcast sound, Mylo Xyloto plays on the formula that has brought them past success. Only this time it feels much less heartfelt, as though the band is simply going through the motions.  

The album has been received with mixed reviews. While fun and pleasant to listen to, it isn’t exactly the hard-hitting music we are used to from Coldplay that tugs on our heartstrings. Now a father, celebrity, husband, and best friend to rapper Jay-Z, perhaps Chris Martin and the rest of his band are simply happy, but we can’t help but miss their darker days.

*This article was written for my Narrative Non-Fiction course.

HU Dean runs for re-election

Over the past few weeks, HU students may have begun to notice a number of bright yellow and black signs peppering the lawns of Hampton residents. Reminiscent of oversized bumble bees, the vivid signs bear the name of the current District 2 Virginia State Senator. There has been a great deal of buzz around this candidate’s election among Hampton Roads residents, but what many students may not know is that this candidate walks among us each day. Mamie Locke, Ph.D., is the Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Education, as well as a Virginia State Senator.

Born and raised in Jackson, Miss., Dr. Locke first realized that she wanted to make a difference while earning her B.A. at Tougaloo College, where professors would take students along with them on protests to get them involved. While in graduate school, Dr. Locke continued her move into politics by working on political campaigns. She moved to Hampton to begin teaching in 1981, began to get involved in city council meetings, and secured her first political office in 1996 when she was elected to the Hampton City Council. In 2000, Dr. Locke was elected mayor of Hampton, where she served until 2004 when she became a state senator. 

The current election has presented a new set of challenges for the incumbent candidate. “Last election, I didn’t have any opposition,” she says. ‘This year I do and it makes a difference when you have an opponent. It means you have to spend even more time raising money and putting together an election. We basically had to start from scratch.” However, she welcomes the challenges, as they keep her on her toes.  “It’s been good in a way because it keeps me honed in on what the real needs of the community are. Sometimes you take for granted what the community needs are but in a bona fide election campaign you get to be out there knocking on doors.”

Her opponent, Tom Harmon, holds a number of ideologies that are practically the antithesis of those of Dr. Locke’s. As a tea party Republican, he may be viewed as a beacon of hope for fellow Virginia tea partiers fed up with the Obama administration and local liberal policies.

Regarding the tea party movement, Dr. Locke says, “It’s out of touch with the reality of what really impacts people’s lives.” Due to redistricting, Dr. Locke’s area has also become more Republican and less Democratic, another challenge she cites as part of the reason she has campaigned so hard in this election.

Nevertheless, Dr. Locke shows no signs of backing down. “I think I have a good chance of winning. I certainly don’t take it for granted,” she says.

Dr. Locke’s top priorities are education, transportation, and unemployment; the latter of which she believes are connected. Another important issue close to Dr. Locke’s heart is Virginia’s drug court system. She knows firsthand the importance of the drug courts, as her own sister has a substance abuse problem.

Although the majority of Hampton University students hail from other states, Dr. Locke encourages students to still exercise their right to vote and become involved in this election as well as the upcoming presidential election.

“I think there has been an overall apathy among the entire population since after the Obama election,” she says. “I liked that it energized a lot of people who never voted before. Then after he was in office for a year it kind of went away, but the issues are still there. Whatever you felt in terms of being energized in that election, you need to reach down. We have a national government that’s pretty much dysfunctional.”

As for students hoping to enter the world of politics, Dr. Locke shares this advice: “Begin by being good community servants, giving community service, becoming involved in organizations in the community. You don’t know whose watching. Also keep your nose clean, once you put yourself out there for office you’re living in a glass house and any and everything becomes fodder for the media.”

As a mayor, dean, senator, and caretaker of her sister’s children, Dr. Locke has and will continue to serve her community beyond this November 8 election. Now as you pass lawns lined with those yellow and black signs, just remember that you can say the name emblazed across it is a part of your campus community.

*This article was published in Hampton University's student newspaper, The Hampton Script.

A look into HU's LGBT Community

The much celebrated repeal of the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The suicide of Tyler Clementi and the subsequent “It Gets Better” campaign it helped to inspire. Garnering comparisons to the Civil Rights Movement, it seems the gay rights movement is in full effect and gaining momentum everyday. Be you religious, or not so much, we all have our own opinions on the gay community.  Here on the campus of Hampton University, there appears to be a significant LGBT community present. As students walk around campus, it is easy to judge based on appearances. But behind every face there is a story and a chain of experiences and memories that have shaped that person into who they are today.

Many students have traveled similar roads to their places in the LGBT community. There has always been debate over the issue of “nature versus nurture” dealing with homosexuality. Some people believe that being gay is not an individual’s choice, but rather a biological occurrence, like being born with red hair or brown eyes. Others insist that homosexuality is a result of how an individual is raised. Jasmine McGill, a sophomore nursing major from Prince George County, Md., said she first realized she was attracted to girls in elementary school, although she didn’t come out until her junior year of high school. “I told my closest friends that I was talking to my then girlfriend and from there the whole, ‘I'm gay’ thing happened,” she said. “Over that summer I became more open about it. My friends’ reactions differed. Some knew. Some were shocked. Some thought it was a phase because, ‘I could get a guy if I wanted’ or ‘I was too cute to be gay.’ Out of my friends, that was probably the worst reaction that I heard.”

Je’Taughn Burrell, a senior marketing major from Largo, Md., said, “I felt like I’ve always been attracted to girls. I just never woke up and was like, ‘I’m attracted to females.’ I always had that low-key attraction, and as I grew older I started to embrace it and then I acted on it.” She had dated multiple guys in the past, and had her first girlfriend when she was in her sophomore year of high school.

And still some have not yet fully traveled the length of that road. Alain Lucas, a senior communicative sciences and disorders major from Miramar, Fla., says he has always known he was gay, and has never officially came out to anyone. “I never really came out to anyone,” he said. “It was just a concrete ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if someone would ask me. Nobody cared and I didn’t care to tell anyone.” Regarding his family’s opinion on the matter, he said, “My family, I think ultimately they would want me to be happy. But I haven’t really brought anyone around my family. That is probably when I will come out to them.”

Burrell has also yet to officially come out to her parents. I haven’t come out to my family, and my friends still accept me and love me for who I am. “My family is very religious,” she said. “I have an aunt that knows and she’s like the only person that I ever told in my family, and my grandma has also hinted. I tried to come out to my mother and father twice but that didn’t work out so I left it alone.”

McGill didn’t receive the opportunity to tell her family. Her mother found out from other people that she was dating girls. “After senior year and no boyfriends or any male interest, we discussed my sexual orientation,” she said. “This was probably the most awkward talk of my life. My mom doesn't like that I am gay. However, she loves me so she does not accept it but she tolerates my lifestyle. She is a lot more worried about other people's perception of me and my safety. My grandmother has only commented on my orientation once. ‘Be safe and be myself don't be a stereotype,’ was the only thing she said.”

College is known as a time to experiment, and many students have done such since arriving. Others prefer not to put labels on their sexuality, and instead choose to focus on the individual attraction in relationships, regardless of gender. Catherine Anstead, a senior interdisciplinary studies major from Chesapeake, Va., falls under that category. Anstead met Burrell through her roommate, who was hanging out with Burrell at their apartment one night when Anstead came home from work. Being her first relationship with a girl, she doesn’t consider herself to be gay; the person whom she wants to be with just happens to be female. “I often notice people staring or taking a second glance when they see us holding hands walking around the campus because they aren’t used to seeing me with another female in that way,” Anstead says. “It doesn’t bother me one bit because I honestly don’t care what people think or have to say about our relationship. She’s perfect for me.”

Anthony Hayes, a sophomore psychology major from Richmond, Va., has a similar story. Hayes first realized he was bisexual when he was 16. The first person he came out to was his older brother, who is gay and married. Attracted to both males and females, he has very lax views on sexuality and doesn’t believe people should be so judgmental. “I just want people to understand at the end of the day we are still human,” he said. “All people who respect me, I respect them and people who don’t I could care less. It’s not right to judge anybody.”

Stereotypically, the African-American community tends to be very church-oriented, which many believe results in the community being less accepting of homosexuality.

“Homosexuality in the black community is hard, especially for men. Church in particular is the toughest place for an African-American homosexual to be accepted,” said McGill. “The black community still has a hard time accepting interracial couples so accepting same sex relationships is a giant step.”

According to students, the gay community at HU needs to be just that: a community. “I feel like a lot of gay people here hate on each other for no reason, it’s a lot of hostility,” said Burrell. “It’s more hostility among the gays than there is between the straights and the gays.” Hayes agrees. Adam Lee Navarro, a freshman interdisciplinary studies major from Newport News, Va., expresses hopes for an organized club for gay students.

Times are changing. Most students say they haven’t faced any blatant prejudice at school against them for their sexual orientation. Navarro said, “Most of my friends are girls around campus, and I feel they are more than accepting of me. Though I do feel uncomfortable around males on campus so I am unaware if they accept me or not. And I have always been comfortable with being openly gay, I feel that if I remain open and happy that maybe someone else will get the courage to do the same.”

*This was an article published in Hampton University's student newspaper, The Hampton Script.

One For All and All For One

Heather Callahan spends her days running towards what others flee from. She has been a firefighter for over 12 years, and has spent the last eight at Chesapeake’s Portlock station.

Although not the only woman at the fire station, she is the only woman on her shift, shift A. From a military family, Callahan was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and relocated to Hampton Roads with her mother for work.

Callahan says she has always wanted to help people. Initially, she wanted to become a nurse. But after beginning training as a firefighter in order to become an EMT, she was hooked.  “Once I got into the academy, I realized there was nothing else I would rather do.”

In 2011, Callahan was forced to put fighting fires on hold to fight something far more frightening. After returning to her doctor for a follow-up on a lump in her breast she had found four months earlier, she was sent to have another ultrasound and mammogram. Her doctor at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center told her it was “very suspicious of breast cancer,” and she was advised to stay and have a biopsy that very day.

“I held my breath for a week. The doctor told me if it were benign, a staff member would call. When the phone rang and I heard her voice I knew what it was and I was in shock. My husband was in the hallway, he saw the expression on my face and he knew. He was kind of speechless at first, then it was, ‘Okay, that’s what it is, what are we going to do to get rid of it.’”

A mother of two, Callahan and her husband had to inform their eight-year-old daughter Kaila and their four-year-old son Liam of the news.

She also had to inform her crew.

“I called my captain here. They knew the biopsy was going on, everybody was kind of waiting. As soon as I found out, I called.”

And so began the greatest outpour of support she could have ever imagined.

Members of her crew were at every appointment and her two surgeries. After her first chemotherapy session was scheduled and it became apparent that Callhan would lose all of her hair, her lietenant told her, “One for all and all for one. We’re all shaving our heads.”

“It started with just my crew, then the rest of the area’s firefighters heard about it,” she says. January 29 was the date scheduled. They had anticipated about 50 firefighters to shave their heads in support.

After her first chemotherapy session in early January, her mid-length, strawberry blonde hair began to fall out in clumps, so she shaved her head before the event. Her crew followed suit.

The day of the event, expectations were far exceeded when over 300 firefighters showed up at Station 2 to shave their heads.

When asked how the tremendous amount of support feels, Callahan stops and beams. “Speechless. Overwhelming. I just can’t…words can’t explain…” She laughs. “Can’t explain the feeling. They took a very scary and hard time for me and made it an enjoyable moment.

Captain Bryan Fancher says, “It just brought us all together. We’re a tight unit anyway, but it was good to be able to show support for one of ours.”

Callahan is on hiatus from her life of peril until the chemotherapy and radiation are complete. She anticipates she’ll be back on the job in mid to late fall, and until then she’ll just be hanging out with her crew at the station.

*This article was published on HRMagonline.com as a web exclusive for my internship.

Brother Knows Best

On the sunniest day Hampton Roads has seen in a while, Mary Miller is planting pink flowers.

She brushes her hands, requests a rinse off from her brother, Luke Miller, who is on standby with the hose in hand, and gets back to work.

“Come on! Let’s go!”

The gloveless gardening is new for Mary, who has Down syndrome. Months ago the 10-year-old would have had to have her gardening gloves present to shield her tiny hands from the dirt, and years before that her therapists never would have thought she would enjoy playing in the dirt.

Working in the garden helps the kids with Down syndrome in multiple ways including improving their handwriting skills by writing their names to label their plants and improving physical strength. Since incorporating the gardening into her therapy, Maggie Jarvela, Mary’s occupational therapist at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters Health and Surgery Center in Newport News, and Mary’s mom, Billie Miller, say they have seen the biggest improvement in Mary’s speech.

It’s hard for kids with Down syndrome to put complete sentences together, as Jarvela explains.

From entering the garden, to closing up shop, Jarvela and speech pathologist Maegan Branton are working on Mary’s speech. Every interaction serves as an opportunity to help Mary speak in full sentences. “The keys please.” “Open the door please.”

Mary asks Luke to fill up the watering can. Mrs. Miller beams from the sideline as Mary tilts the big green watering can over the flowers. “Uh-oh,” she says when it’s empty.   

“He is just too good of a brother,” Jarvela says.

Too good is right. The CHKD therapy garden is Luke’s Eagle Scout project, the result of months of hard work by the 16-year-old Kecoughtan High School sophomore. Last year, Luke was in search of community service project ideas. When he and Mrs. Miller asked CHKD for suggestions, they learned the hospital had wanted a therapy garden for the longest and Luke set to work drawing up plans, making presentations to community groups and soliciting funds.

Luke raised the $3,500 for the project, and collected an additional $1,000 to donate to the hospital for garden maintenance. Memorial Day weekend, Luke, his 15-member Troop 31, his father, Col. Frank Miller, and friends of Luke built the garden.

“Now the VA Beach hospital wants one too, they’ve gotten kind of jealous,” he smiles.

Surrounded by an 8-foot tall fence, the garden is designed and built for children with many different needs. Flowerbeds are raised at different levels to accommodate children of all ages as well as wheelchairs.

“At first it was really time-consuming,” says Luke. “But my parents were very influential and I knew it was for a good purpose.”

Luke has won numerous awards for the project, including the Phil Everhart Youth Award, and it has even inspired a possible future career. “Now that I’ve seen Mary in action, I like the idea of therapy,” he says.

During the spring and summer, the garden may see up to eight kids of varying ages a day. As the warm weather approaches, CHKD therapists are looking forward to spending more time in the garden and planting a wider variety of plants and vegetables alongside the current pansies, lemon balm, thyme, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

Luke may be “too good of a big brother,” but like any big brother, he still likes to pester. “Look Mary, a butterfly,” he calls out. She scrunches up her face, she’s scared of butterflies. Everyone laughs.

*This article was published on HRMagonline.com as a web exclusive for my internship.