The Cotillion Ball and the Ebony Ball

This past weekend was New Triers Homecoming dance. I was talking to a friend about the dance and asked him what his dances were like. He goes to Evanston Township High School and told me something really interesting. Homecoming for ETHS is not really a dance. Students show up in jeans and t-shirts. At ETHS they have two "real" dances: The Cotillion Ball and the Ebony Ball.

My friend told me "the Cotillion Ball is for the white kids, and the Ebony ball is for the black kids." I didn't believe him at first. Any student can attend the any dance but the majority of African American students are not invited to Cotillion, and a majority of White students aren’t invited to Ebony Ball.

New Trier is just so overwhelmingly white that the idea of separate dances for white and black high schoolers never crossed my mind. In Evanston, where the population is much more diverse, the idea of separate dances makes more sense to me, but still seems odd.

Why do they need two dances? What do you think about this? Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?

The Man Who Could Do What His Government Couldn't

The American government has been shut down, and many government employees are being left without work or pay. This includes, the workers who maintain our memorials and monuments. So this South Carolina man decided to mow the lawn of the Lincoln Memorial and try to keep its majestic image intact during the government shutdown.

I first found this hilarious. I was surprised that a man would want to do that at first, and that he would eventually not be allowed to continue doing it. He held a strong position saying that he wasn't trying to create a radical political viewpoint on the situation in the government right now.He instead just wanted to maintain our monuments because they are a "moral compass" and "at the end of the day, we are the stewards of these monuments." He says "These are our memorials. Do they think that we're just going to let them go to hell? No."

Chris Cox, the man mowing the lawn, was told by park staff to stop. While I found it annoying that he was told to stop, I understand that the park staff don't want a possible lunatic giving the Lincoln Memorial a home makeover.

I found this to be very patriotic. While his government is down, he is helping maintain some of the countries most iconic and monumental memorials. The American citizen helping his country out in a time of need. Maybe it doesn't have the greatest affect on the country, but it is a duty and a service to maintaining the image of the country.

Do you think this man should be allowed to continue mowing the lawn of the Lincoln Memorial? Do you see this act as being patriotic? How else can it be interpreted?