Student housing at 10th and Diamond to be completed by August 2012

Members of Metamorphosis Community Development corporation, Mosaic Development Partners, and Orenes Brothers Real Estate Inc. are partnering in a $20 million student housing complex which is estimated to be completed by next August. The building will be named Diamond Green. Developers are attempting to attract football players by the building’s proximity to the practice field. The complex will include retail, a deli, a daycare center, a fitness center, and indoor parking. The community hopes that the project will bring students out of surrounding neighborhoods and into more designated student housing. Estimated rates are $650/month.

Open call for essays

In honor of National Coming Out Day, Residence Housing Association and Queer Student Union are hosting National Coming Out Week at TU, starting Wednesday, Oct. 5. The Living section of The Temple News is searching for personal essays about being a GLBT person. Topics can include experiences in coming out, GLBT and religion, community acceptance, etc. All essays should be 600 words or more and can be forwarded to Living Editor Alexis Sachdev at asachdev@temple.edu.

With state funding in question, companies seek to help students in need

With the future of state funding in the hands of men and women who don’t attend college, tuition rates for students at Temple, Penn State University and University of Pittsburgh could peak significantly. Luckily, The New York Times wants to help.

NYT is offering a writing contest for all college-age students to write an essay about love in the era of technology. For the fourth consecutive year in a row, NYT is asking college students to “tell [them] the truth about what love was like for [you] in this age of 24/7 communication, blurred gender roles and new attitudes about sex and dating,” according to its website. The grand prize is a $1,000 scholarship, and submissions are due by March 31st. Visit NYT’s website for more information.

For more information on state-related funding, see Angelo Fichera’s coverage of student government-led rallies in Harrisburg to increase funding here.

Become one of those people who work for The Temple News

The Temple News is having a writer’s workshop Thursday, Feb. 24 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Ritter Hall in Walk Auditorium. It’ll be a great opportunity for reporters, photographers and videographers to learn more about the process at the paper as well as start writing/shooting/editing if they haven’t already. And, since not everyone will have written or shot photos before, the staff will review basic reporting and photography concepts in smaller groups for those interested.

The section editors for news, opinion, living, arts and entertainment, sports, photography and multimedia will also be there to help brainstorm and develop ideas, talk about what’s missing from the paper and how everyone can contribute. Haven’t heard of The Temple News? It’s OK, come anyway! And look for a big red thing with papers inside of it and pick one up or visit us at temple-news.com.

Sending secrets via the Web

In honor of Frank Warren, the creator of online phenomenon PostSecrets, coming to the Baptist Temple Thursday, Oct. 14, The Temple News wants to know your PostSecrets, tech-style. Direct Message @TheTempleNews on Twitter, e-mail us at letters@temple-news.com or just comment on this blog post with your never-before-told secrets. We won’t blast your secrets all over Main Campus with your name attached, but we will blast your secrets all over The Temple News without your name. After all, the best secrets slip out when you don’t have to own up to them.

Fred Phelps, meet the Supreme Court

TTN Slideshow: Westboro Baptist Church Counter-Protest, April 1, 2010

HILLARY PETROZZIELLO TTN FILE PHOTO

Last April, the Westboro Baptist Church said its members  – Fred Phelps’ clan – were coming to protest Temple’s production of “Rent” and the showing of “The Laramie Project.” As hundreds of student and community protesters lined 13th Street and Montgomery Avenue waiting, it became clear the WBC had bailed.

But when it comes to the Supreme Court, there’s no such thing as bowing out.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court held its first hearing for Snyder v. Phelps. Though this isn’t Phelps’ first brush with the law, it is a particularly important case. In 2006, the WBC protested the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died while serving in Iraq. Snyder’s death, the Phelpses said, was the United States’ punishment for tolerating homosexuality.

The Snyder family announced the funeral in its local paper, which is how the Phelpses knew about the service. The Phelpses are using this as their defense, claiming the Snyder family made themselves public figures by putting the funeral announcement in the paper.

Though the WBC has protested approximately 200 funerals, Snyder’s father, Alfred Snyder, took the Phelpses to court. A federal jury in Baltimore sided with Snyder, awarding the family $10 million. In an appeal to the 4th Circuit in Richmond, the ruling was reversed, which is why it has landed in the hands of the Supreme Court.

According to the Washington Post article reporting the case’s day in court yesterday, the decision of Snyder v. Phelps “could offer outright protection to protesters; or the justices could deem that funerals deserve special exception and that protesters cannot rely on the First Amendment to justify harassment at a funeral.”

It’s not that moldy

That turkey sandwich may look two weeks too old to consume, but it’s really not that moldy – not at all, actually. And unless you live with the hey-this-six-week-old-milk-doesn’t-taste-that-bad type, that baggy could be your new little, plastic (lunch) savior.

The anti-theft sandwich bags appear to be spotted with dark-green mold and are designed to make that freshly made sandwich a lot less attractive to the watering mouths of hungry co-workers (or roommates), deterring them from lifting what’s rightfully yours. The sandwich bags, which are available in 25-bag packs for $8 at thinkofthe.com, are pricier than your average Ziploc baggies. But if you splurged on fresh-sliced provolone this week instead of buying the ol’ Kraft Singles standbys, they just might be worth it, especially if your packed lunch has a habit of disappearing.

For more office-lunch etiquette – plus our favorite Main Campus munchies and more – check out the annual Lunchies insert in this week’s issue, which includes humor columnist Samantha Krotzer’s tips for maintaining a healthy and peaceful office refrigerator.

Free screening of ‘The Social Network’

Before you read this, you were probably frantically scrolling through your news feed, wondering why “Person X” always puts sappy country song lyrics as his or her status and why “Person Y” writes out his or her schedule for you every day. Well, now’s your time to meet the person who let people X and Y trash your news feed. Kind of.

An advance screening of the “The Social Network,” a film depicting the validity behind Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s business, will be playing at the Pearl Theater Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. Advance screening passes are located at the Information Desk in the Student Center. One pass allows two people.

Don’t forget to check out The Temple News’ exclusive interview with “The Social Network” screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and Matt Flocco’s review of the film.

Editorial correction

Though we wrote Theresa Powell is former Dean of Students Ainsley Carry’s replacement in today’s editorial, we meant to say she is the vice president of student affairs that hired Carry. Please read the revised editorial here, and again – and especially to Dr. Powell, who we admire and respect – we apologize for the error.

Relic hipster icon bashes Fourteenth Street mag on blog

Ironic though, isn’t it?

After reporter Josh Fernandez gave Philebrity.com editor and co-founder Joey Sweeney ample opportunity to put in his expert hipster two cents for his Fourteenth Street magazine (inserted in this week’s issue of TTN) cover article on hipsters adopting queer style, the blog, true to its form, published a barely-there, almost-funny-but-not-quite post attempting to ridicule the mag.

In its post, Philebrity boasts Sweeney’s response to Fernandez’s request for comment, saying, “Instead, he forwarded the email to all of his friends with the subject header “PLEASE KILL ME.” A decision, for the record, he still stands by.”

Funny, because Sweeney’s actual response to the request went something like this: “Hi Josh- I’m gonna pass on this one. Good luck!”

Read: I would respond to you, but I’m too busy hanging out and posting comments here.

Fourteenth Street thanks you for the free publicity, Philebrity. How are ad sales these days?

As a kind sidenote, your “hip” use of Yiddish words is facacta in itself. If you’re going to muddle other tongues, at least have the decency to learn to spell the words correctly. Or are you too cool for that?