by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief On February 7th, 2018, the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga woke up to flyers on top of Freshman Senate’s Black History Month posters. The posters featured quotes by famous African Americans. There were three flyers posted on top of the posters from a group called Vanguard America. The stickers featured words such as “Hitler was right,” “Death to Black Families,” “White Power” as well as information about the group. Someone alerted the Dean of Students Office about the situation by bringing one of the vandalized posters to the office, the second poster was taken down, near the UC like the first one, by the Dean of Students Office, and the third poster, situated near the Alumni House and the Honors College House, by a faculty member of the Honors College. The Dean of Students Office spoke with Freshman Senate at their weekly meeting that occurred after the vandalism about the nature of the event and security. Emails were sent out from Chancellor Angle, SGA President Emond, and allegedly, another one from the UT system as well.
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by Simone E., Editor-in-Chief Once the week ends, and Friday night begins, people start looking for ways to entertain themselves. Sometimes you find a party, or you may have planned to go to a concert downtown. But that takes a few hours doesn’t it? If you don’t manage to find some interesting and different way to entertain yourself, what do you do then?
Alternatively, every time you get on social media you see someone trying to sell something or start their new creative venture. You may want to listen to this person’s song, but there are so many different mixtapes to listen to. It can get easy to promise to listen to it, and then manage to forget because the link can only be found on someone’s twitter that you can’t find. What if there was a way to merge both of these ideas? What if you wanted to get on one source and get connected to artists and various shows in your area? What if you wanted to kickstart your career as an artist, and get connected with other artists? The solution lies in Opus, the hub for creativity and connection. According to the founder of Opus, Jeremy Jones, the inspiration for the company came two years ago at a UTC leadership institute, LeaderShape. The participants of the institute were given the challenge of coming up with an idea and imagining if said idea actually happened. Jones was met with enthusiasm to his idea, which, after working on it, designing and asking a graphic designer to help with the initial sketch, became Opus. Jones described the process of coming up with Opus as trial and error. He had to narrow the idea down to what it is today. So what is it? Opus is a hub where artists of different forms have the opportunity to connect. The company philosophy states that, “it is our job to give exposure to artistic acts in hopes that those who visit this page may be inspired to go out and create works themselves.” At the moment, it is a website, listed below, although Jones described that eventually, he wants it to be a place where all artists will be able to go to create their art form and find out about other artists and their projects. On the website, under the ‘Creative Content’ tab, there will be up-and-coming artists’ information and interviews so that you can learn more about them and contact them. Jones described an ideal situation where a poet gets connected with a band for an event that they may be planning through this tab. Under the ‘News’ tab, you can find information about upcoming events and shows in Tennessee and surrounding states. Jones encourages any and every one that he knows to subscribe to the website to be notified about updates. Additionally, he suggests following the company on social media through the tag: @worldofopus. There’s currently an Instagram, Twitter, and a Facebook. By subscribing, you not only have the opportunity to find out about various artistic endeavors, but you’ll also find out about different ways to join Opus in giving back to the community. Jones is hoping to donate to charities and different schools, and there are also particular fundraising events that are in the works. Jones has had this dream for awhile, and now, it’s a reality. He’s hoping to continue working on it after he attends graduate school. With the help of Terry Hervery, Opus’ Chief Financial Officer, and Zachary Lee, Opus' Creative Director, he hopes to expand his dream to become a physical company for all who want to connect with artists, become an artist, or appreciate an artists’ work. This is exactly the solution for an evolving, artist-filled city like Chattanooga, and any other city full of citizens who want to get more involved in the arts. For more information, visit https://www.worldofopus.com/. Subscribe and follow the company on social media so that you’ll finally be able to find something to do on that Friday night, or find out about that artist that you promised to listen to. |
Author's Note:Welcome to The Torch: Reborn, your multicultural newspaper. Archives
December 2018
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Photo used under Creative Commons from J-T-M