A Drexel University shuttlebus caught on fire on the night of Jan. 23, at the corner of Market and South Juniper streets. The occupants, two students and the driver, escaped unharmed. The bus was traveling the usual route at 10:30 p.m. when it caught on fire.
According to an eyewitness who recorded the fire on video, Peter Zaleski, it took firefighters up to 45 minutes to arrive at the scene. “No one was injured but it left molten plastic and broken glass all over the street along with the smoke filling the entire block in the smell of burning plastic rubber,” he said to NBC Philadelphia, which also published the video of the incident.
The cause of the fire is being investigated by officials, and has yet been not released. The Triangle will release more information when available.
The Washington, D.C., Metro suffered a tragedy Jan. 12 after an electrical malfunction on the subway line filled the cars with smoke, putting 67 people in the hospital and killing Drexel University alumna Carol Glover.
The smoke filled the air, poisoning the passengers for 44 minutes until the transit authority shut off the power on the malfunctioning rail. Glover died from acute respiratory failure from the smoke while the other passengers attempted to perform CPR on her until emergency services arrived. She did not reach a hospital until almost an hour after the accident.
Glover, 61 years old and living in Alexandria, Virginia, was an information technology analyst at DKW Communications Inc. Before that, she was a government contractor. Glover graduated from Drexel University in 1976 with bachelor’s degrees in business administration and computer science.
According to the Office of Alumnia Relations, “Carol Inman earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration [in 1976]. She studied Administrative Systems Management. When she attended Drexel, she was a member of the Afro American Society, the Bowling Club, and the Japanese Karate Club. She also worked at the WKDU Radio Station.”
She was a woman of deep faith and was cherished by her family, now her death foreshadowing a positive change in passenger safety. According to Glover’s mother, Corrine Inman, Glover’s father had died the same day as Glover in a house fire from smoke inhalation.
Memorial services were held Jan. 19 at the Capitol Hill Baptist Church, which her family regularly attended.
The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the incident Jan. 16. The train stopped 1,100 feet short of the source of the smoke. At first, Metro attempted to ventilate the tunnel to push out the smoke, to no avail. The passengers were still exposed to the smoke, to the point where almost 200 people were evacuated afterward.Another train that arrived 20 minutes after the first also had its passengers affected by the smoke. According to the District of Columbia, emergency services were delayed because the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority failed to indicate whether the electrical third rail was shut down.
In its report, the NTSB said that it is still unaware of what could have caused the malfunction and is investigating further. It will also investigate Metro’s emergency preparedness and communications during the incident.
Passengers were told to stay in the train until emergency services arrived. However, some passengers refused to remain in the smoke-filled cars, got off and walked back to the platform. Jonathan Rogers, one of the passengers who had attempted to revive Glover, expressed his frustration with Metro’s procedures in the emergency to NBC Philadelphia. “It just kind of felt like, ‘Why were we trapped on that train that long?’” he said. “All we did was sit there and wait. Forty minutes seems like a long time.”
Rogers was with Glover in the front of the train, where the smoke was reported to be heaviest. He attempted to revive Glover for 20 minutes. “We know you do chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth, so that’s what we did,” he described. “Nothing was happening, and she was laying there unconscious. Somebody [tried to take] her pulse and said they couldn’t feel a pulse.” The conductor attempted to reverse the train, but it responded with only a few lurches.
According to NBC Philadelphia, NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher Hart spoke to the press, saying, “Metro has made a major improvement on safety culture … [but] there’s always room for more improvement.”
People experiencing the incident shared their experience on social media. Others, like Malbert Rich, composed their final words to their loved ones, according to CBS News. “I told my mother I loved being her son, and I told my kids I loved being their dad,” he said. Rich was released from Georgetown Hospital four days after the incident.
Rich also described how Metro was dealing with the situation, complaining about the constant and disorganized orders coming from the intercom. His lawyer, now suing Metro for its negligence in providing immediate help to the passengers, told reporters that they “should not have been trapped like rats stuck in a subway car filling with smoke.” Rich is one among several passengers who are suing Metro.
Metro released a letter to its riders in The Washington Post on Jan. 18. “We apologize to all Metro riders, and particularly to the family of Carol Glover and those injured or impacted by the events of Monday afternoon,” it read.
“Metro has committed its full resources and is actively participating in the NTSB investigation. Recognizing that our riders depend upon the region’s emergency responders, we have been steadfast in participating in drills with other agencies. … Our safety work is not complete; it will never be.”
A page on fundraising website GoFundMe was started by members of Glover’s church Jan. 16 in order to pay for her funeral, with a goal of $10,000. As of Jan. 20, it has already reached over $18,000. Information on donating can be found at http://www.gofundme.com/k6ebyk.
The Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, in the URBN Annex Building on 3401 Filbert St., opened a new exhibit on the works of sculptor and printmaker Chakaia Booker Jan. 13. The exhibit, “Are We There Yet?” included sculptures made from used tires, as well as paintings and prints. The display will be running until March 8.
Guest curator and professor of art history from Towson University Susan Isaacs worked with Drexel University professor of fine arts Orlando Pelliccia in order to organize the exhibit, after Pelliccia invited Isaacs to present the works at Drexel.
“I have known Ms. Booker’s work for many years as she is a well-known artist. I had heard her give a talk before too,” Isaacs said on what attracted her to Booker’s works. “I have always loved her work and contacted her to see if she might be interested in doing an exhibition at Towson U. It was a beautiful show and she agreed to move it to Drexel. However, the Drexel Gallery is much larger than the space we used at TU, so we enlarged the show,” she continued.
Booker graduated from Rutgers University in 1976 with a bachelor’s in sociology and went on to receive a master of fine arts agree from The City College of New York in 1993. Her wall sculpture It’s So Hard to Be Green received much attention during the 2000 Whitney Biennial and she received the Pollock-Krasner Grant in 2002 followed by a
Photo Credit: Kameron Welsh
Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. Her works have been featured all over the world.
At the gallery, there is posted a statement written by Isaacs on Booker’s work. “As an artist, she addresses these issues through visual metaphor, utilizing both abstract and recognizable elements that draw from the contemporary landscape, including graffiti and those ubiquitous discarded tires by the side of the rode,” it reads, “But her works are deeper and more mysterious that these obvious references. They are powerful images that command attention, at once fanciful and solemn. Her works stand as testimony to art’s transformative impact, pushing us to ask significant questions about the world around us.”
Bookers work involves sculptures made of black tires featured into different structures, some pieces large enough to cover entire walls and others tall enough to dwarf people. “I love all of the works. But, for me, there are four extremely powerful works in this show: Echoes in Black, Eminent Domain, Handle with Care and Industrial Perpetuosity II,” Isaacs continued. Talk about her experiences as an artist. Some of her works resembled known structures of bulls or a vagina. There are other structures that jut out and curve into the air.
Booker visited Drexel University Jan. 15 to give a presentation on her works and her life as an artist. She was introduced by Pelliccia and Isaacs. Laden in a large headdress, sweatpants and converse, she began speaking about her life in graduate school, beginning her studies in ceramics. She began to question her plan of study. After receiving advice from her professor, she decided that it was best for her to pursue art in sculptures.
Many of Booker’s works are from recycled materials, other than the tires she mostly used for the sculptures on display in URBN Annex. One of her sculptures uses old fruit that was turned into a piece that could also be used as a wearable vest. Booker commented on how she could still smell the tangerines and oranges that made up the piece. There are other pieces that she used in order to wear as pants. For some, she would make duplicate pieces in order to turn pieces into entire displays that would reach from the wall, all the way up to the ceiling.
Booker also made many pieces that were inspired by fairytales, taking images from “The Wizard of Oz” in order to make shoes made from recycled tires. Some of the pieces were inspired by her experience living in New York.
Booker took questions from the audience after her lecture, many of them asking questions about how she had come up with her work. “I should get paid to make titles,” she said answering one of the questions and the audience had to agree. The exhibit at the URBN Annex is open from now until March 8.
Almost 20 Drexel students staged a sit-in protest in 30th Street Station Dec. 4. in response to the grand jury decision to not indict Daniel Pantaleo, a 29-year-old New York Police Department officer who killed 43-year-old Eric Garner in a chokehold while attempting to arrest Garner for selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island. The incident was captured on video.
The protestors gathered on the 30th Street side of the large station, inciting the attention of many of the police officers patrolling the area. They lay down on the ground, holding signs saying “No Justice, No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter.”
The protest was organized by freshman photography major Costa Sardelis, inspired by the In Defense of Black Bodies protest on Dec. 3. He saw the protest on his social media feed and decided to walk with them to City Hall.
“I was there last night thinking, ‘No one from Drexel knew about this’ — Well, I presumed because most of the crowd was at least 25 years old,” Sardelis said. He returned home set on starting a Drexel protest, opening a Facebook page at 1:30 a.m. and inviting people to join; his main goal being to bring awareness on the situation.
This grand jury decision comes a little after the Nov. 22 grand jury decision to not indict now-retired 28-year-old St. Louis Police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old-Ferguson, Missouri, resident Michael Brown. According to the Drexel students, they were not only protesting the decision in Pantaleo’s allegations, but also the decision in Wilson’s allegations and the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice for waving an airsoft replica gun by 26-year-old Timothy Loehmann in Cleveland, Ohio Nov. 22, the same day the grand jury in Missouri chose not to indict Wilson. Surveillance footage released days later sparked more protests on that.
Photo Credit: Azwad Rahman
The protestors in 30th Street Station Dec. 4 lay on the ground for four and a half minutes, representing the amount of time that Brown’s body was left on the street by the St. Louis Police Department. This protest strongly resembled the one on the afternoon of Dec. 1 by the Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation group of the University of Pennsylvania. The Dec. 1 protest began only in response to the grand jury decision for Brown and began in City Hall and moved back to University City.
The Dec. 1 protesters, attempting to address the perceived injustice in the grand jury decision in the Brown shooting, had a sit-in along the streets from City Hall to 33rd and Market streets, lying down to stop traffic at 34th and Walnut streets and 33rd and Market streets for four minutes. They held up banners, one of which said, “No Justice No Peace.” They halted at 34th and Walnut streets.
Some people passing had joined and lay down on the ground with the Dec. 4 protestors. Others stood on and watched the people lie on the ground while other ignored them, continuing on to their scheduled train or checking the train listings past the protestors for their times. After their laying on the ground and grabbing the attention of every police officer in the station, with the officer numbers crowding around the protestors at a distance and watching, they got up without a word and left to go to City Hall, to continue their protest.
Photo Credit: Azwad Rahman
“Not going to lie, I was like ‘Holy sh-t, they’re expecting something as big as yesterday,’” Sardelis said, “At the same time, I felt good that it was getting that much attention … there was around five times as many police officers and Amtrak police as there were protestors.” The police, however, never interfered with the protest or address them. They simply watched from afar.
After leaving, the station seemed calm and collected, with an undertone of chatter about the protestors and the recent events that have been happening around the country surrounding even larger protests about the killings of African-American citizens around the country.
Sardelis and his group stationed themselves by the Christmas tree, where they were approached by many people, curious about they were doing, approving, or disapproving about their stance on the issue.
“I felt very accomplished, going. I felt that I personally talked to 15 or 20 people who genuinely didn’t know and then [agreed with us], which was the whole point,” Sardelis said.
Although In Defense of Black Bodies was where he got the inspiration for his protest, Sardelis had some disagreements with which they had conducted their protests, likening them to the Black Panthers. “It’s very, ‘This is an organization that’s run by African American citizens and decisions will be made by African-American citizens and all those participating need to shut up and go with it,’” he said, citing their Dec. 3 protest, where they asked all non-African-American protestors to only sit while the African-Americans lay down in respect of who the killings most seriously affect.
“Little things like that people get hesitant about like, ‘Okay, I don’t think this is how I agree with it,’ but for me, if you believe in the cause, there’s something out there you can do,” Sardelis continued, explaining to that’s why he organized his protest. However, he also credited the fact that they remained focused on the specific issues surrounding on the recent killings.
Michael Brown’s shooting had sparked protests all around the country challenging similar police shootings of African-American citizens. People taking sides with both Brown and Wilson have gained international attention. Similar protests were especially intense in the small town of Ferguson, where the shooting occurred. Protesters were accused of looting and property damage and the police were accused of excessive force, using tear gas and rubber bullets. After the grand jury made the decision not to indict Wilson on any charges, protests escalated, with accusations of people setting local properties and police cars on fire. Protests spread to almost every major city in the country, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” blowing up on social media.
The decision in Garner’s case had sparked even greater protests, especially in the city of New York, where the killing happened. The justice department of New York agreed to open a civil rights inquiry into the case. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a pilot program to put body cameras on police officers to record encounters on patrol. On Dec. 1, President Barack Obama met with civil rights leaders to start a three-year $263 million initiative on police reforming, expanding training for police officers and a $75 million project to equip 50,000 police officers with body cameras.
Photo Credit: Azwad Rahman
The protests were held all over NYC, with groups stopping down Grand Central Station, chanting “I can’t breathe,” the phrase repeated by Garner 11 times as he was put in a choke hold by Pantaleo. That same phrase also went viral on social media like “Black Lives Matter.” This also went on at several Christmas tree lightings around the city, including the one by the Rockefeller Center.
Jose Romero, a senior anthropology major from UPenn, said he had walked into the Dec. 1 protest after watching it pass by 38th Street, being inspired by a “collective sense of dissatisfaction with feeling like we belong on the sidewalk when these are our streets.”
Sardelis plans to continue more protests, trying to gain connection at other protests organized by other groups such as In Defense of Black Bodies in the future.
Self-described “Nu-Hula” band Vacationer opened for Bleachers at Union Transfer Nov. 26. Their latest album that was released in June, “Relief,” features the two top songs “The Wild Life” and “Go Anywhere.” The band released a music video for “Go Anywhere” a month ago, now with over 4,000 views, and they also have almost 120,000 views on the video for their most popular song, “The Wild Life.”
Formed in 2010 and originating from both Philadelphia and Brooklyn, the band consists of Philadelphia native lead singer and bassist Kenny Vasoli, vibraphone and backup singer Matthew Young, drummer Ryan Zimmaro, keyboardist and backup vocalist Michael Mullin, and guitarist and backup vocalist Greg Altman. The Triangle sat down with Vasoli to talk about the band and what to expect at the concert.
The Triangle: Could you tell us where you’re from? How did Vacationer start? What inspires your music interest?
Kenny Vasoli: Totally. I live in the outskirts of Philadelphia; I pretty much live in the town that I grew up in. I started Vacationer in 2010, around the summer time. I was deeply in love and coming off the heels of playing in a bunch of rock ’n’ roll bands. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something that wasn’t blowing out my voice all night. I wasn’t just into guitars and loud crashing cymbals. I was really interested in what went into electronically produced music. So I linked up with these guys called Body Language: Matt Young and Grant Wheeler. We started throwing things against the wall. We ended up starting a song that session and meeting up every other week and just keep making music … [It’s really about] escaping the mundane out of life and being towards relaxed all the time.
TT: What’s the deal with the new music video “Go Anywhere?”
KV: [They] wanted to shoot a music video in hot air balloon. It was pretty much pitched to me that way. “Hey, you want to shoot a video in a hot air balloon?” It sounded like a perfect adventure and I pretty much let Grant take the reins. The day it was shot was our third attempt at doing it; we had shot it a couple other times before that. I think one time there was just too much wind. It was all of our first time in a hot air balloon. I was really excited about how that came out. We pretty much did that thing guerilla style.
TT: Can you tell me about the “Wild Life” music video?
KV: Sure, that was a great experience man. I got to go down to Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The head of my label, Josh Doyte, he was down there for a trip last winter. Just as he got the announcement for our record, he basically had the vision of sending me down there to do the video for “Wild Life” and I had a feeling that Costa Rica would be a beautiful place but it’s just really amazing just how extremely gorgeous it was. So that look of wonder joyfulness and amazement on my face is completely genuine in that video. It was just such a magical time for me. I had a blast. To do things like that, I don’t really have to work at all.
TT: You’ve basically been in Philadelphia your entire life, have you played here before?
KV: Oh yeah! I’ve played many, many shows in Philadelphia.
TT: How many of them at Union Transfer?
KV: We’ve actually played our first ever show at Union Transfer. It was the first show of our first tour. It was with Asteroids Galaxy Tour. I may have been getting that confused but I know played there with them. We also played there with Niki and the Dove, and that was the first day of that tour as well. I’ve been really impressed with how beautiful [Union Transfer] is. I don’t know if anybody knows this, but they can move the stage, specifically on wheels, so they can make it like a 500 capacity place to 700 or like 1,000 or a 1,200 cap, so it’s really cool how they can just house so many levels of bands and all sound so great. It has really good amenities and a great bar. Anytime I get to see a show there, it’s very enjoyable and to play there is such an honor.
TT: Most of your songs are very summery, very tropical. Just like your name says, “Vacationer.” You’re playing this concert pretty much in the winter. How does that feel? How are you going to get the crowd up in the cold?
KV: You know, I like to think that it works sort of both ways. With our music being warmer climate complimentary, the thing about playing in the winter, in colder climates places, I think people are sort of looking for an escape from that. I don’t think that everybody is trying to listen to music made by a coal miner or something like that. I don’t think they want to magnify the feeling of cold. I think they’re trying to get away from it, so it works for our band in all seasons.
TT: So what’s it going to be like playing with Bleachers?
KV: We’ve never toured with them. This is a one show. Originally we were slotted to headline that night at Union Transfer and a few weeks later we got a call saying that Bleachers is looking to get into the room on that night and if we would take the same guarantee and support them. We were having a little bit of trouble of finding work for the show on such short notice and Jack [Antonoff, lead singer for Bleachers], he’s been a friend of mine since we were teens so, it’s nice to be able to reconnect with him. I’m stoked to be close to such success like the Fun, and the Bleachers project.
TT: So what’re you like on stage? What’s the kind of vibe your band likes to do?
KV: Aw man, show vibes! I’ve been trying to dial in vibes right away. For me, I’m not like a Bon Jovi or Bruce Springer [sic] kind of front man. I don’t really have that rock ’n’ roll persona to try and like work the crowd into a frenzy. If people were looking for that, they’re going to have a rude awakening, but what I do try is to be a person. I try to show my personality with everybody. I put a lot of humor in our songs. I try to keep people giggling and make people feel comfortable at the show. It’s really apparent how I’m enjoying myself playing live. The goal is really for everybody to heat up and have the show whatever they feel is appropriate. I love it when people dance to our music but I don’t like it when you’re force feeding the crowd like clapping at certain parts or just like doing the “Hokey Pokey” like “Everyone put their hands up right now!” That’s just not my style. I like letting the crowd be its own identity. I just try to have my own good time up there and connect with the crowd.
TT: What’s your favorite song to play in concert?
KV: I think it would be a little shortsighted on my part to say I just like one song. There isn’t really a stand-out one. Certain ones are definitely more effortless to monopolize and certain ones get a little bit more of a reaction than the other. It always shifts. It’s all about that moment after a song when you’re like, “Aw man, we just nailed that one tonight.” I can just see it on the crowd. Some nights that’s “Wild Life” and some nights “Shining,” but often times the band will just sort of come together after the show and be like, “Aw man, that one.”
TT: How do you guys mentally prepare yourselves to get in front of people? How do you guys prepare to rock out?
KV: We’ve got a small warm-up scale and Ryan, our drummer, makes a little practice kit with a practice pad and puts it up against the wall. He’ll be doing his little warm-ups. And then the singers, we’ll be doing out vocal scales. And after that, we say, “Let’s go get ’em!” and we grab some waters and go up there. We just have the whole day to chill. Once it gets to 15 minutes until, we just put our game faces on and do that stuff.
TT: Should the people going to concert expect any surprises from Vacationer and Bleachers?
KV: Aw man, I would like that a lot. With the hierarchy, it’s Bleachers’ call if they want to do that.
TT: How do you guys feel about yourselves right now in terms of the music scene and where you are?
KV: I really love it, man. I’m self-aware enough to realize that we’re not the biggest band out there. We’re probably not the most hyped about band, but everything that we’ve accomplished we’ve fought tooth and nail for it. Everything in store is an incline. Our success keeps trickling in. … To play in huge stadiums [however] is not exactly a life goal for me. I live a very comfortable lifestyle right now. It’s still a very successful and modest place to be.
TT: Anything you want to say to the fans before the concert?
KV: Thanks so much coming out! Anybody who’s giving us time, I really appreciate it, and it’s guaranteed good vibes.
On the afternoon of Dec. 1, over 100 people organized by the Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation group of the University of Pennsylvania began a protest in front of City Hall. Their mission was to protest the Nov. 22 grand jury decision to not indict now-retired 28-year-old St. Louis Police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old-Ferguson, Missouri, resident Michael Brown.
The protesters, attempting to address the perceived injustice in the grand jury decision, had a sit-in along the streets from City Hall to 33rd and Market streets, lying down to stop traffic at 34th and Walnut streets and 33rd and Market streets for four minutes in order to symbolize the four hours Brown’s body lay on the street on the day of the shooting. They held up banners, one of which said, “No Justice No Peace.” They halted at 34th and Walnut Streets.
Michael Brown’s shooting has sparked protests all around the country challenging similar police shootings of African-American citizens. People taking sides with both Brown and Wilson have gained international attention. Similar protests were especially intense in the small town of Ferguson, where the shooting occurred. Protesters were accused of looting and property damage and the police were accused of excessive force, using tear gas and rubber bullets. After the grand jury made the decision not to indict Wilson on any charges, protests escalated with accusation of people setting local properties and police cars on fire. Protests spread to almost every major city in the country, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” blowing up on social media.
Photo Courtesy: Cindy Lou
Mani, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the organizers of the protest, commented on the reasoning behind it. “Today we decided to do it because it was a national walkout,” he said. He said that this was in order to make “Penn stand still” (and along with it, Drexel, when they laid down at 33rd and Market streets).
One student, Jose Romero, a senior anthropology major from UPenn, said he had walked into the protest after watching it pass by 38th Street, being inspired by a “collective sense of dissatisfaction with feeling like we belong on the sidewalk when these are our streets.”
The police made a statement saying that no incidents were reported and that their presence was to simply safeguard the protestors as they made their way across the city.
SOUL, which started in 2012, had been holding visual protests on UPenn’s campus called “Ferguson Fridays” in October, where members would depicts incidences of unjust killings of African-Americans with cardboard cutouts of bodies. Papers showed information about the killings. There were also people in costume bearing years associated with the poor treatment of African-Americans. Additionally the group had lay-downs on red tarps, to portray people lying in their own blood.
SOUL’s mission, as stated on its Facebook page is, “To create a more conscious and active community at UPenn and in Philadelphia.”
At 12 p.m. Dec. 2 Penn students are planning their own protest in front of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
This past year, the Ebola death toll rose to over 4,600, mainly in West Africa, according to the Center for Disease Control. Despite this, Jonathan Gomez, a third year business and engineering major, spent two months of his co-op cycle in Sierra Leone, one of the countries struck hardest by the outbreak hitting the region. Sierra Leone is located just south of Guinea on the Western coast of Africa with a population of six million.
Gomez became interested in traveling to Sierra Leone for his co-op in the previous fall, after overhearing his instructor talking about the opportunity of working in the developing country. His instructor, former assistant clinical professor of Decision Sciences, Neil Desnoyers was to be the supervisor of the program in Sierra Leone.
“I was interested because I had never traveled before. It would have been my first time traveling outside the country and even outside of the tri-state area pretty much. I decided that I wanted to branch out. I wanted to try something new. I wanted to gain new perspectives on life,” Gomez said.
Gomez also spoke about his personal interest in Sierra Leone, because he himself grew up in poverty. “So, I wanted to see what poverty would be like in Sierra Leone [compared to] the United States, specifically in Philadelphia,” he said.
According to Peter Franks, Vice Provost for career education, students had been in 49 different countries across the world in the previous year, with more opportunities to increase as President Fry continues with his strategic plan.
“[In case of emergencies], we have in-place systems to get [students] out of there,” Franks continued. “[We] take very very seriously the health and safety of students.”
“We’re actually on the conservative side… I’d rather be more conservative than less conservative if there’s any question about a location for health issues or emergency issues or political kinds of things,” Franks said.
Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Gomez
The co-op was research and business based with a company called Palm to Palm, a palm oil and soap company that sold its products to the people of the Kono District, an eastern region of Sierra Leone that sits on the border of Guinea, where the outbreak occurred. The program started two years ago with enough funding to run until the end of the current co-op cycle — part of it taking place in Drexel and part of it in Sierra Leone. The main contact between Sierra Leone and Drexel was facilitated by Raphael Frankfurter, executive director of a clinic called the Wellbody Alliance in the Kono district.
The co-ops for developing countries often take a much more extensive application process, usually involving interviews at the International Co-op Program, two other offices, then the organization and then mandatory training throughout the winter term for things such as vaccinations and other health safety issues. For Gomez, he had to be interview by his supervisor as well as the Wellbody Alliance.
“We look for maturity, we look for other experiences that could somehow correlate. In this case, it was the perfect example of we picked the perfect student. He handled it with maturity and adaptability,” Tess Smith, manager of the International Co-Op Program, said.
Gomez had to be trained with Desnoyers, which included Gomez writing a 14-page research paper on the Ebola virus.
Photo Courtesy: World Health Organization
The current outbreak of Ebola began in December 2013 when a two-year-old child in southern Guinea became infected with the virus and died. It remained isolated in southern Guinea until February when a healthcare worker brought it to a neighboring province and died. The disease was officially confirmed to be Ebola in March after 87 infections, with 61 deaths. On March 31 Liberia, a country just south of Guinea and Sierra Leone, confirmed their first two cases of the virus.
Two months later, on May 26, Sierra Leone, confirmed their first deaths from the virus after a tribal healer brought it into the country.
Drexel became aware of the outbreak in March and has followed it ever since.
“We waited to see if anything had evolved,” Smith said, “because with Africa, you never know. Things change all the time.” The university monitored state department alerts, CDC alerts and other disease monitoring organizations. In case of emergencies, the University has insurance in place to evacuate students at any point in time.
According to Franks, the managers of the International Co-op Program constantly check for when things might go wrong in a country where co-op is located. “For example, Israel, we have some students that were going to go there in the fall, but because of what was happening in that country — which had nothing to do with health and everything to do with missiles flying there — we pulled all those jobs,” he said. Franks went on to institute a ban until things settle in Israel. There is now currently a ban on all co-ops in the West African region as well until the outbreak dies down.
Photo Courtesy: Reuters
The original flight date for Gomez was pushed back once there were confirmed cases of Ebola that began to show itself in Sierra Leone. It was pushed back a month later, which then got pushed back further when the outbreak continued to worsen in Sierra Leone. In June the outbreak had slowed to no new cases of Ebola for 21 days, which gave the University the confidence to allow Gomez to fly back on June 10 with Frankfurter, who kept updates on the conditions on the ground.
The main fears that Gomez had were about how to get back if the outbreak worsened and how to avoid traveler’s diarrhea, which he ended up getting once during his last week.
Gomez ended up being the only one out of his team to actually go to Sierra Leone, as well as the only Drexel student on co-op in the entire region. Desnoyers and the one other co-op student remained in the U.S. in order to pursue the research portion of the project. He also worked as a director of the company, helping the business flourish during his time there. Gomez, however, did keep in contact with them weekly to update them on progress of Palm to Palm and answer other questions.
Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Gomez
“Words do not fully describe the area; it is really one of those places that you would have to see for yourself to believe. In short, however, abject poverty,” Daniel Pinto, the student who previously had experienced this co-op the year prior, wrote in an e-mail. “Most people in my area, especially outside of the city, lived in mud huts with thatched roofs or possibly sheet metal shacks. They slept on mats and would retrieve their daily water from the nearest stream or water pump, sometimes miles away, especially in the bush villages.”
Gomez stayed until early August, returning to the U.S. to present on all of the work he had done for Smith and Franks.
The company had a staff of under ten people by the time Gomez had become a part of the company and when Gomez had left, it had increased to 14 people and its production had increased by 300 percent. He also advertised for the company, representing them on two radio stations.
Gomez lived in a “guest house,” that was considered much more upper class to the surrounding conditions. Yet, he still had to disinfect the water by boiling it or irradiating it with UV light and he only had electricity for only certain hours of the day, which further limited his already extremely restricted access to the Internet, cutting off much of his connection back to the States.
Gomez also shared his living quarters with members of the Wellbody Alliance, which allowed him to get updates on the spread of the Ebola virus, learning more of how it continued to get closer and closer to the Kono district.
Working 11 hours a day, six days a week, Gomez spent most of his time at the company striving to help it grow, often times talking and getting to know his coworkers.
For fun, Gomez often went into the city to local restaurants. Gomez also got to know the local people, including a group of boys that lived in the village with whom he often played soccer and wrestled
Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Gomez
“Sometimes, we would go into town and I would buy them food because they didn’t have food or their parents couldn’t buy food for them that day. We would get some together,” Gomez said, “I asked someone there, ‘How often do you get a day that you don’t get to eat?’ At least once a month, there’s a day where they don’t get to eat food, but most days they eat at least about two meals.”
Over 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line in Sierra Leone, according to World Bank, with a life expectancy of 45 years. According to Gomez, the food in Sierra Leone general consisted of very spicy fish, rice and mashed up vegetables, cooked on a pan over hot coals. Most of the time, however, he would go buy his food, frequently costing around a dollar.
When talking about the spread of Ebola, Gomez often found that people tended to joke about the illness or didn’t believe it existed.
“[People believed] that the Americans or Westerners created it and they’re just trying to scare people,” Gomez said. “They thought we were against them.”
“A lot of the conversations at work would be like, ‘Oh, Ebola exists.’ And they’d be like, ‘No, it doesn’t. People have been dying here. People have always been dying here. They’re going to die here. They’re going to die in the future. It’s nothing different. This is the same thing we’ve had before,’” Gomez continued.
The three leading causes of death for children under five in Sierra Leone are diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria, according to the World Health Organization.
“I attended two funerals for people that I had met while there, one of them I had dinner with just three days earlier,” Pinto wrote in an e-mail. “Though there is a period of grieving, life carries on and there is not really a sense of ‘fear’ of death, if you know what I mean. It is just unbelievably and unfortunately commonplace there.”
Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Gomez
One of the other conversations Gomez had involved the consumption of infected bush meat, which is a major cause of the spreading of the virus. His coworkers claimed that it hadn’t made them sick before, so there was no reason for them to get sick now. According to Gomez, there were even some doctors that ate bush meat during the spread in Sierra Leone.
However, as the spread of Ebola became more serious, precautions became more prominent. The restaurants that he would go into town for began to require customers washed their hands in water mixed with chlorine before entering. Servers were required to wear gloves while serving food.
The government, according to Gomez, had a large campaign to inform the people about the threat of Ebola, with several boards, flyers and other ways to warn people of the sign of Ebola and the mode of infection.
Photo Courtesy: Pardis C. Sabeti
“On July 29, everything changed,” Smith said, “There had been an unconfirmed cased in the Kono district.” July 29 was the same day that Sierra Leone’s only expert on hemorrhagic fevers, Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, had died from the virus in Kenema, the district just south of Kono.
Without time to say good-bye to his coworkers or the people he had met there, Gomez, Frankfurter and a few other employees took a private car to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to never go back.
The once weekly updates for Gomez turned to daily updates, in order to make sure that the situation did not go further out of control. On July 31, CDC upgraded the alert level to three, with cases skyrocketing too close to Kono to return. In the U.S., Smith and Desnoyers had been working very hard to organize the flight back for Gomez.
They finally understood the seriousness of the threat when the Peace Corp that had been stationed in Kono was evacuated. It was then that Frankfurter decided that they would definitely leave.
It was in August that Ebola truly hit the mass media when two United States missionaries were evacuated from Liberia after they became infected. They were treated and released a couple weeks later.
The main concern Gomez had under the threat of Ebola was that flights from Sierra Leone would have be suspended, forcing him to travel to an entirely differently country in order to return back to America. “I was really stressed out when British Airlines had canceled their flights,” Gomez said, but at no point did Gomez fear being infected by Ebola. Gomez had taken Brussels Airlines to return back to America.
Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Gomez
As the date for their flight approached, they took another private car to another beach hotel on the island that had Sierra Leone’s only airport.
When it was time for his flight, Gomez was screened for signs of the virus, mostly through a simple temperature check. He was also screened in Brussels before going back to the U.S. Gomez returned Aug. 10 after a 36-hour flight. It was only a couple days that he had been back in America that Gomez had come down with an illness.
“I wasn’t afraid that I had Ebola, I was afraid that people would think that I had Ebola,” Gomez said.
The inflammatory media attention that the Ebola outbreak had received since Aug. had caused most people to become hyper vigilant and cautionary towards anyone who had returned or was from West Africa. It did not help in Gomez’s case that he fell ill so soon after he had returned.
Friends and relatives refused to see Gomez after he had returned, in fear that he might possibly infect them. Gomez’s roommate actually moved out to avoid the risk of getting infected.
Photo Courtesy: Sage Ross
Gomez was only sick for less than an entire day, being nursed and helped by his girlfriend. The following day, Gomez went to the emergency room at the hospital at the University of Pennsylvania where he went into a special emergency room with purified air. He went through some blood tests and X-ray before he was cleared.
After being cleared by the hospital, his loved ones felt more comfortable.
It was in late in Aug. that all the airlines suspended their travel. Senegal, a country just north of Guinea confirmed its first case in the last days of Aug. as well.
The death toll would double in the following month of Sept. Sierra Leone would have a three-day shutdown in order to prevent the spread of the virus within their own borders. A Liberian man named Thomas Duncan was hospitalized in Texas Sept. 30, becoming the first person diagnosed in the U.S. He later died in Oct. Two of the healthcare workers helping him became infected as well.
Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Gomez
The media attention that has followed the outbreak was one of the main causes of flight suspension that Gomez feared during his stay in Sierra Leone. He also expressed concerns that the media attention would cause economic problems for the country that was already struggling to improve. “Their main source of income is from selling products that are imported. If we start stopping people from going to their country, if we stop trading with their country, can you imagine how many people are going to die just from that alone,” Gomez said, stating that the worry would hurt Sierra Leone more than it would help the U.S.
During his stay in Sierra Leone, Gomez witnessed the prices of certain imported products was starting rise, as the threat of Ebola caused more restrictions on trade. Gomez felt the effects of Ebola on the economy through the product manager of Palm to Palm with whom he kept in contact with, who complained about Ebola affecting their business.
“I feel like [the media coverage] was really blown out of proportion. I see a lot of people posting up facts about Ebola — about how it’s not airborne or whatever and I really respect those people,” Gomez said, “I think people are getting this impression that it’s really highly dangerous virus. That it’s really really deadly. I feel like they’re getting the impression that if you’re in the area at all, then you’re definitely going to get the virus.”
Photo Courtesy: WhiteHouse.gov
“The only people who get it right now,” Gomez said, “are people who are doctors, nurses, because those are the people that are directly handling the patients, who are directly handling the body fluids.”
Pinto also expressed his frustration with the stigma surrounding Ebola in the U.S. “I hate the fact that the death of thousands of poverty stricken people has once again been turned into a media sideshow act, causing completely unfounded fear that even had effects on our economy,” Pinto wrote. “I have seen the deaths of people I knew and worked with flippantly turned into a punch line by pop culture and an unfounded fear for [American] safety because of a disease we are completely prepared to contain.”
A week ago, a Haitian woman was seen vomiting with traces at a Boston train station. When emergency responders were called, they claimed a “Liberian woman” might have had Ebola, according to Boston Magazine. There are pages of articles of parents and people around the country pulling children out of school or denying contact with people who may look or be from countries afflicted with the outbreak.
Many news organizations have criticized the fear-mongering coverage of the Ebola outbreak, with CNN’s article Oct. 15 calling the paranoia “Fear-bola,” after weeks of coverage of people exposed to the virus in Texas and Fox News’ Shepard Smith calling the media’s response “hysterical” and “irresponsible” after their own coverage.
On Oct. 24, a physician who treated patients with Ebola in Guinea returned to New York City to confirmed to have Ebola. The situation is currently contained at Bellevue Hospital and there are slim chances of him spreading the infection.
Posted in UncategorizedComments Off on Working in West Africa as the Ebola virus closes in
Philanthropist Raymond G. Perelman donated $6 million for Drexel University’s future plans to build a Center for Jewish Life on the University City campus, it was announced Sept. 3. The center is set to be located at 118 N. 34th St., near the Lancaster Square construction site set to be completed in fall of 2015. The plans for the center, now to be named for Perelman, were originally announced in April 18 of 2013 and it will be completed by fall 2016.
The center was planned to include a chapel, dining hall, student lounge, meeting space, an outdoor patio that enables a construction of a sukkah (a temporary hut built during the week-long festival of Sukkot). Additionally there will be a kosher cafe open to the public, including a kosher kitchen for students in a three-story building providing 14,000 square feet. The budget for all this was set at $7 million. It will also be the site for Shabbat services and dinners, Jewish education programs and programs for opportunities in Israel. The kosher dining options are not something Drexel offers at the moment, so to some students this is a big up.
Jonathan Shoup, third-year history and science, technology and society student, agrees with that. “I’m not kosher but if I was I would probably go to Center City and spend an inordinate amount of money or get Rabbi Chaim [Goldstein, from the Chabad Serving Drexel University] or Rabbi Levi [Haskelevich, from the University of Pennsylvania Lubavitch House] to give me kosher food by sucking up to them and making funny comments.”
Currently, the committee overseeing the design of the center is looking for an architect to finalize the project and to start the construction in the middle of the coming year, according Kenneth Goldman, senior associate vice president and chief philanthropic officer of the Office of Institutional Advancement The budget, however, has also increased to $8 million.
Additionally, due to the donation from Perelman, the University has raised around $7.5 million for this project — and it expects to raise the last half million to reach its target goal before the construction begins. The construction, however, is set to continue despite the goal not being met yet. According to Goldman, the University hopes to make extra money above its target, so as to add extra things to the center.
“It may or may not be the original design. It won’t look like the pictures [we have now],” Goldman said, “but it’ll still have many of the same functions.” The process of picking a new architect, design and getting approval from both the University and the local government is predicted to last around six months, according to Goldman. The committee heading this process will compose of President John A. Fry and Senior Vice President of Administrative and Business Services James Tucker as well as many others. The Perelman family will also have a large say in the final design and can reject the design if they so choose.
The lead architect, once chosen, will organize an advisory committee that will involve the students as well as many other people involved in the current design in order to make changes if needed.
Currently, many of the functions that are to be provided by the upcoming center are provided on a smaller scale by the Drexel Hillel organization on campus, a branch of the Hillel of Greater Philadelphia. Based in the Paul Peck Problem Solving and Research Center in the Spiritual and Religious Life Hall right now, they will be moved to the Center for Jewish Life at its opening in 2016.
“In the Center for Jewish Life, they’ll be able to do everything in a much more organized and larger scale,” Goldman said. Hillel is working together with the Drexel Hillel Board of Overseers composed of Jewish alumni and parents to make the decisions going into the design of the center. They are also working with the Department of Planning, Design & Construction to ensure a high quality facility and the Office of Institutional Advancement to bring in funds for the construction.
To some students, however, the move of Drexel Hillel is not totally positive. “I already see a disadvantage when the Hillel office was moved. I’m not sure who ordered that but I think it was a bad thing. I kind of liked when all [the different faiths] were together in one building. It meant that I could see people from different communities and talk to them about their communities and now there’s just no [opportunity for that]. Especially when there’s people like, ‘Why would you want go from one building to another, just to see a religious community you have nothing to do with?’” Shoup said.
“You can see that at Penn,” he continued, “In some ways, the Muslim and Jewish communities — because those are the two smack dab in the middle of dietary habits — Penn Jewish and Muslim communities aren’t as tight. They could be tight[er]. They’re not that tight. Why? Because they’re in completely different parts of campus.” He also affirmed, however, that he was happy that the Drexel Jewish community would have a building dedicated to it.
Hillel’s office in the ICC was across the hall from both the offices for Christians and Muslims.
The generous donation came in second to Perelman’s first donation of $5 million for the creation of the Raymond G. Perelman Plaza, set to open officially Sept. 30, after a summer of construction. Perelman was also a recipient of an honorary degree from the College of Medicine in 2012, where he originally met with Fry, leading to Perelman’s two most recent gifts to the University, according to Goldman.
Another organization that holds a strong relationship with the Jewish student body is the Chabad House, which was not involved in the planning of the Center for Jewish Life due to their lack of formal affiliation with the University. There is, however, a Chabad student group on campus. Chabad is representative of a much more conservative sect of Judaism, while Hillel was seen as more intersectional. Both organizations are encouraged to be a part of the new center, but the Chabad House will remain in its house at the Rohr Jewish Student Center on 35th and Baring streets.
“I think Chabad is happy though there is going to Hillel House, because Chabad’s ultimate goal … which is to make sure that all Jewish people have a home away from home or have the access to Jewish culture, Jewish religion, Jewish life, which they might not necessarily be getting. Whether that’s in a Chabad House or somewhere else, I don’t think they really care,” Shoup said.
The current Jewish portion of the student body is thought to be around 900 to 1000, much smaller than other private universities according to Goldman. Although, he said, the University does not have a hard target to increase the amount of students.
“President Fry has been a real driver for this,” Goldman said. According to Goldman, it has been Fry’s intention to put more focus on the Jewish community at Drexel and bring more Jewish students to the University since the beginning of his presidency.
Posted in UncategorizedComments Off on Perelman jump-starts Jewish center
Millennium Hall residents were asked to evacuate the building around 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 3 after a chemical leak from an air conditioner set off the fire detection system. Fire fighters responded and had the situation under control by 9 a.m.
The leak was isolated to an unoccupied room on the 11th floor of the building. The room is adjacent to the floor’s common area and kitchen, according to the executive director of Drexel’s Environmental Health and Safety Department, Jonathan Chase.
Photo Credit: Adam Slawek
“It appears as though a piece of piping [connected to the cooling unit] ruptured and a chemical leaked out into the air in the form of a mist. The mist set off smoke detectors, the smoke detectors set off the fire alarm, the fire alarm [notifies] the Philadelphia Fire Department,” Chase said.
“The fire department notified their hazmat unit which then responded and tested all areas of the building for the refrigerant,” he continued.
The refrigerant that leaked is called R410A, a mixture that contains chemicals similar to Freon.
Freon, a moderately toxic but nonflammable chemical, is often times used in refrigerants and aerosol propellants and was released as a mist in the leak at Millennium. Toxicity to humans begins at over 11 percent concentration, resulting conditions such as dizziness, loss of concentration, central nervous system depression and even an irregular heartbeat. When inhaled, it tends not to remain within the human system because of exhalation.
“Because this very quickly volatizes, it quickly evaporated and was ventilated out of the building. There really wasn’t any detectable levels by the time the fire department got there,” Chase said.
The maintenance team fixed the cooling unit on-site. According to Chase, occupants were allowed back in the building when they were sure that is was safe for residents once again. Chase noted how reassuring the level of response was by first responders, including Drexel Public Safety and the Philadelphia Fire Department.
“It’s always good to see the way they help our students first,” Chase said.
The residence hall, which can be occupied by up to 480 students, had many fewer occupants due to summer quarter scheduling, as the normal residential freshmen were not attending school yet. According to Chase, the hall only had a few students who were involved in sports programs that the school offers. Students were allowed to return to by 9:40 a.m.
Drexel College of Medicine researchers Alessandro Fatatis and Joseph Salvino have developed a compound that helps prevent the metastatic spread of certain cancers, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer. Metastatic cancers are cancers that find a way to spread from one organ to another, and many are incurable. They are currently developing a new version of the compound to prepare it for clinical trials.
Fatatis, a professor of the college’s Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, also holds a leadership position in the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University. His lab developed the compound and specializes in experimental oncology.
“We are particularly interested in the dissemination of solid tumors in prostate and breast cancers — these are tumors that are very effectively treated when they are locally confined, but when they disseminate, the problem for the patient really starts. And we focus on the mechanism that allows these cells to disseminate from the primary location to secondary, distant locations,” Fatatis said.
The dissemination — such as in the case of breast cancer — can occur when the cells infiltrate different types of vessels, such as blood or lymph vessels, and spread through the body.
“The entire research enterprise is based on cellular and molecular biology techniques, those that are done in the lab on the bench, and I would say a significant amount of work with animals,” Fatatis continued.
The compound, according to Fatatis, blocks a target protein named CX3CR1, which is located on the cellular surface. Cells use CX3CR1 to migrate and attach to other cells, including those lining the interior surfaces of blood vessels. This is called metastasis.
Breast and prostate cancer cells overexpress CX3CR1, and therefore have more on their cell surface than is normal and use it to invade the bone marrow from the blood circulation. In order to do this, the protein must interact with another unique molecule, but the compound blocks CX3CR1 from being able to interact with the other molecule.
“The [compound] really blocks the ability of cancer cells to reach the bone marrow and make a new home there because cancer cells, despite being malignant and very aggressive, are not very happy when they are floating [through the blood]. They are not meant to be floating. They are meant to be attaching to [other cells]. Without attaching, they can cope with it, [but] after 48 hours if they don’t find another way to attach, they die a natural death,” Fatatis said.
One of the potentials of these new compounds, according to Fatatis, is not only its ability to block metastasis, but it will also lack the adverse side affects that current cancer treatments have, such as chemotherapy, which kills normal cells as well as cancer cells.
The compound would not affect any processes such as immune responses, according to Fatatis, because studies that used genetically modified animals found that those that do not express the receptors have normal immune systems.
Fatatis had previously worked on the target protein on the cancer cells that his compound acts on years prior when he worked at the University of Chicago. In 2004, Fatatis published a study on the target protein of human prostate cancer cells titled “CX3CR1-Fractalkine Expression Regulates Cellular Mechanisms Involved in Adhesion, Migration, and Survival of Human Prostate Cancer Cells” and found that the target protein was a useful target. It wasn’t until 2010, however, that he started looking into acting on it.
Photo Credit: Drexel College of Medicine
Fatatis met Salvino, another professor of pharmacology, who had extensive experience in chemistry and explained his target. According to Fatatis, he asked Salvino if it was plausible to conceive a molecule against the protein, Salvino said yes, and they began working together.
“He came back two weeks later with a vial and it was a compound, the beginning of the story,” Fatatis said.
The two researchers continued testing different compounds until they found one that worked the way they wanted.
Fatatis said, “This was the compound that did it, because this was the compound that was working beautifully in the animals.”
Fatatis and Salvino then applied for many grants for their compound, including the National Cancer Institute’s highly selective Experimental Therapeutics Program. Also called NExT, the grant would allow them access to a network of facilities and investigators to take a compound from the lab into the clinic. The resources, according to Fatatis, ranged in worth from $5 to $6 million, and their compound was selected.
“That, for us, was more than money. It was just a true pat on the back from the NCI saying, ‘We think there is really something here,’” Fatatis said.
Through this program, Fatatis estimates that the compound will enter clinical trials in three to four years. The time between then and now will be used to perfect the compound, which is currently cardiotoxic to humans (poisonous to heart and heart functions). Salvino has already been developing new compounds that are seen as just as efficient as the current one in experimental models, without the cardiotoxicity.
“The idea is that every breast cancer patient is cured when the tumor is localized. We don’t lose one single breast cancer patient from the primary tumor. The primary tumor is always treated successfully, but if these cells are able to disseminate, the disease takes a wrong turn,” Fatatis said.
He continued, “What we are planning to do with this drug is not necessarily blocking the dissemination from the primary tumor to secondary sites because that might be done for patients with particularly aggressive tumors, but most importantly we are trying to target those patients that eventually develop metastatic disease. And we are talking about eight, 10, 12 percent of breast cancer patients.”
He believes that the drug should be used in combination with chemotherapy and other treatments.
Fatatis also explained that although blocking this dissemination process would prevent only around 60 percent of the cancer cells from attaching to the bone marrow, the other 40 percent had been unable to produce tumors in experimental models. Thus, patients who are treated with the compound would have fewer cancer cells disseminating and would be likely to have fewer tumors developing.
Along with solving issues specific to breast and prostate cancers, Fatatis predicts that this compound could also be applied to other types of cancers, such as ovarian cancer. However, due to the different ways that those cancers disseminate, adjustments need to be made to the compound.
