By Lingfeng Li
Vanity Fair recently published an 8-page scathing feature on Sarah Palin.  In it, Palin is portrayed as a duplicitous, self-serving politician/self-marketer.  The reporter provides examples of Palin’s temper (one anecdote describes Palin’s fights with husband Todd as violent, the two tossing canned food items at each other with such intensity that their stainless steel refrigerator was damaged), and explores the controversial relationship between Palin and groups like SarahPAC and Conservatives4Palin.  Palin is also described as an all-around mean-spirited lady, yelling at campaign volunteers and refusing to thank the kitchen staff at an event.  Her speaking …

By Lingfeng Li
As we look forward to the 2010 elections, The Gothic Guardian sat down with BJ Lawson, a Republican candidate for the United States Congress representing North Carolina, for an interview.Our interview with Frank Roche, Lawson’s opponent in the Republican primary, can be found here.

“I’m not trying to fit into anyone’s box, in terms of labels,” William “BJ” Lawson says.
At age 36, Lawson, a Republican Congressional candidate for North Carolina’s fourth district, has already fit and outgrown many labels. He has been an engineer, a doctor, an …

By The Gothic Guardian staff
The executive board of The Gothic Guardian met on April 22 to elect Trent Serwetz the publication’s new Editor-in-Chief. The 2009-2010 editor, Lingfeng Li, stepped down in accordance with the Guardian‘s new one-year term limit for editors-in-chief.
Serwetz served as the magazine’s Production Editor this year and was the editor of his high school newspaper. He has also worked at Duke’s Multimedia Project Studio as a media consultant specializing in InDesign and Photoshop for the past three years.
During his tenure as editor, Serwetz hopes to expand the …

By Lingfeng Li
Not content to merely spend money it doesn’t have, our government wants you to join in the spending too.
The health care reform bill, recently passed in both the House and Senate, will require all Americans to buy insurance, even if they would rather spend their money on other ventures.  The bill is especially pertinent to young adults, who have the highest uninsured rates of any age group.
Based on Census Bureau data covering 2006-2007, there are roughly 19 million young adults adults (aged 18-34) without insurance number, about 41 …

In case you weren’t following political news this first week of the new year, we’re starting a new weekly summary series to help you catch up.

Top Democrats drop out of 2010 election races
Dorgan (D-ND), Dodd out (D-CT) (Politico)
Democratic majority still looks safe (Politico)
CO Governor Bill Ritter (D) drops out (WSJ), CO Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will not run for Governor (Washington Post)
NJ State Senate rejects gay marriage proposal in a 20-14 vote.  The bill’s supporters had hoped it would be passed before Governor Corzine left office.  (NY Times)
Improvements in security policies ordered after …

By Lingfeng Li
Happy New Year’s everyone!  Now that it’s another year and another decade, take some time to recap on the biggest events in recent history.

10 Biggest Political Scandals of the Past Decade (NY Post)
Biggest Political Winners and Losers of 2009 (USA Today)
Biggest Political Disappointments of 2009 (Huffington Post) … talk about the liberal media slant…
Top 5 Outrageous Political Videos of 2009 (Politics Daily)
Most Read Stories of 2009 (Wall Street Journal)
Top 9 Political Flubs of 2009 (ABC News)
Top 40 Political Quotes of 2009 (Fox4kc)
TIME’s Person of the Year: Ben Bernanke
Frank …

By Lingfeng Li
Here’s another article related to the Duke Lacrosse incident and the need for more universities to follow due process in cases related to sexual assault.

Amanda Auerbach, a contributor for The Gothic Guardian, also wrote about sexual assault at Duke in our first issue for 2009-2010.

By Lingfeng Li
A grad student at Duke recently published a story on Salon.com documenting his experience living in a van to better afford tuition.  An interesting read for anyone that needs a break from studying during finals week!
http://www.salon.com/life/pinched/2009/12/06/living_in_a_van/index.html

By Lingfeng Li
Whoever said that Sarah Palin’s star was on the decline?
Apparently 1500 people showed up to Palin’s first book tour stop in Michigan — at 7 a.m. [Free Press]  The book is also #1 on Amazon right now, though admittedly at a 50% discount.
The New York Times also has a renewed interest in Palin.  Check out yet another article on her Election 2008 wardrobe.

By Lingfeng Li
White House Communications Anita Dunn’s (who is stepping down at the end of the month) recent attacks on Fox News for being the “communications arm of the Republican Party” have only helped fuel more conversation about mass media and its liberal/conservative slants.
Well, here is a report that claims Fox News is indeed fair and balanced.  Apparently, Fox is harsh on Obama during the election season last year, but the controversial network treated McCain with almost equal numbers of negative comments.  And now that Obama has been in power …