Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Mostly, I read fiction, but I've always loved Jon Krakauer's gritty journalism-type writing in Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven, so when I heard about his latest book, Missoula Rape and the
Justice System in a College Town, I figured I should read it. I also have a book idea that I'm playing with that has to do with rape, well a woman who decides to make a difference in the world by eradicating rape, so reading Krakauer's book is like doing research
Here's the intro:
Office Solutions & Services, a Missoula office-products company, didn't have its 2011 Christmas party until January 6, 2012. As a counterpoint to the chilly Montana evening, the staff decorated the place in a Hawaiian motif. Around 9:00 p.m., thirty or forty people -- employees and their families, mostly -- were chatting, playing party games, and sipping beverages from red plastic cups in a room overlooking the parking lot when a shiny Chrysler 300 sedan pulled up and rolled to a stop in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, attracting the attention of the revelers. Two well-dressed men with dour expressions got out of the vehicle and stood beside it. "It was a really nice black car," recalls Kevin Huguet, the owner of Office Solutions.
I look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading.
I'm a fervent football fan, and the NFL draft takes place this week.
That's where professional teams choose college players to join their teams.
Last fall, the NFL made the viewing public a promise, via a series of public service commercials. The NFL joined with NoMore.org, vowing "to say NO MORE to domestic violence and sexual assault."
The public service announcements were prompted by the behavior of players like Ray Rice, who was videotaped knocking out his fiance in an elevator, and Adrian Peterson, who was accused of child abuse after he whipped his child with a switch.
And now, as the draft begins, we wait to see if the NFL supports the No More program, along with these players and former players who stepped up to say there's no excuse for domestic violence or sexual assault. Treating family members or women with violence is not a normal part of growing up, something that drunk athletes should be allowed to do.
And we'll know pretty quickly into the draft whether the NFL stands by its principles because the number-one ranked draft pick is Jameis Winston, quarterback for Florida State University for two years and Heisman Trophy winner in the 2013 season.
Winston was accused of raping a drunk female FSU student in December 2012. The case wasn't vigorously investigated until November 2013 when the press found out about it.
The prosecutor determined not to go forward with charges, even though Winston's DNA was found when the woman underwent rape testing.
It just so happens that a Florida team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have the first-round draft pick this year, and the prediction is that they'll choose Winston.
But whether he's picked first or in a later round, the NFL will have turned its back on the faux public service announcements by drafting a man who already has a murky past with rape.
The NFL could change the announcements to "No More... unless he's a really good football player."
But Winston wasn't found guilty of rape, so the teams can't hold that against him, right?
Well, they can feign ignorance if they want. But the evidence is strong, whether or not the state of Florida was willing to prosecute.
In an extensive New York Times article, Walt Bogdanich breaks down the timeline of the rape and how it was investigated by both the police and the university. The article, "A Star Player Accused, and a Flawed Rape Investigation" points out that the 19-year-old rape victim called a friend within hours of the rape. The friend called 911 to report it (Bogdanich).
This wasn't a woman who saw a football star rise to fame who hoped to get in on some fame or money. She didn't know the man who raped her in December 2012, and Winston wasn't the starting quarterback at that point.
Part of the article is chilling:
After partially blacking out, the woman said, she found herself in an apartment with a man on top of her, sexually assaulting her. She said she tried unsuccessfully to push him away, but he pinned down her arms. Meanwhile, according to her account, another man walked in and told her assailant to stop. He did not. Instead, she said, he carried her into the bathroom, locked the door and continued his assault. (Bogdanich)
Those same roommates admitted that they taped part of the sexual assault, but later erased it.
Pretty strong evidence, huh? I've heard commentators on ESPN say things like, "We all make mistakes when we're young." Rape is outside those parameters of boys will be boys. It's not okay. Ever.
And drafting Jameis Winston means that the NFL was just giving lip service to their vows of No More.
Well, only this time, they may argue, cause he's a really good football player.
If you love football, like I do, then urge your team to skip drafting Winston and send a message that no means no, whether she's drunk, whether she's dressed provocatively, whether she admits she had sex with her boyfriend earlier... You can't rape her and now you face the consequences. No More.
My schedule this quarter has me getting up early and leaving the house while everyone else is still asleep. I get to campus and find a primo parking space. My classes start at 7 or 7:30 a.m., which means I arrive on campus any time between 6:30and 7. I lock my car with a beep and walk across the parking lot to the brick walkway. Sometimes I'll see delivery trucks backing up to the cafeteria. An occasional maintenance worker hovers near an outdoor trashcan with a cigarette in hand. The campus is dark and my heels echo against the bricks before I climb a few steps and enter the building that houses the English department. This morning, I had a substitute because I'm in North Carolina for a conference. This morning at 7 a.m., the police were called because a woman was raped in the women's bathroom in that building that I walk into every morning. "...10 mins bf i got there," texted Marcus who subbed for me. "good thing u weret @ wrk 2da. Teribl." I don't want to minimize the awful thing that happened to this woman by saying it was a close call for all the other women who did or did not walk in that same door after her. Rape is one of those weapons that men continue to use against women. No matter how equal we are. No matter how smart or how successful, a woman is always at risk. I imagine for the next few weeks campus security will be more of a presence for those early morning and late night classes.
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