Northeastern student dies in NY car crash
Huntington News/January 2, 2010

A Northeastern student died in an early-morning car crash in upstate New York this morning, according to New York TV station WIVB.

Scott Herr, an 18-year-old freshman engineering major, died in the 1:15 a.m. crash in Elma, N.Y., which police believe was caused by “a mixture of snow and speed,” according to WIVB.

Herr was ejected from the front seat during the crash. Three other teens were in the car at the time, including a 15-year-old girl who entered Erie County Medical Center’s Trauma Intensive Care Unit listed in critical condition, according to WIVB. The driver, 18-year-old Ashley Hill, and another girl were not seriously injured in the crash. Hill attends Northeasthern, according to Facebook, and was identified by WIVB as Herr’s girlfriend.

Huntington-news.com will have ongoing coverage of the tragic crash.

Iranian Filmmakers Keep Focus on the Turmoil
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN/NYT – January 3, 2010

[The Boston Festival of Film from Iran starts this Friday, Jan. 8, at the MFA, and runs for 9 days. -ed]
CAIRO — Iran’s government cannot silence the filmmakers.

It keeps trying. Films are censored. Directors are prohibited to leave the country and prohibited to return home, forced to cancel projects and threatened with punishment if their films are too probing or too critical of life in the Islamic Republic.

But the films keep coming, and so do the filmmakers.

Bahman Ghobadi’s latest work, “No One Knows About Persian Cats,” is banned in Iran but is being passed around for free, offering a searing portrait of life through the prism of a vibrant underground music scene. The movie has songs with lyrics like these: “This is Tehran, a city where everything you see entices you, entices your soul till you realize that you are not human, just trash.”

The film took the Jury’s Special Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, turning the red carpet of an international film festival into a platform to draw attention to the political crisis in Iran. Similar events occurred in Montreal, Berlin, Nuremberg, Mumbai and London, where Iranian filmmakers — by either their presence or their government-forced absence — have used their celebrity to keep the public focused on the turmoil that has roiled Iran since the presidential election in June, which opponents of the government have denounced as fraudulent.

First Person – Back to school
By Christina Pazzanese – January 3, 2010

Between hit records and world tours, Wyclef Jean, 37, Grammy Award-winning producer/rapper and Haitian activist, has added Berklee College of Music student to his repertoire.

You’re already successful. Why go back to school? I remember being 17 years old and not doing too well in school, and they were like “Yo, what you want to do?” and I was like “I’m almost finished. I want to go to Berklee.” Then I got with the Fugees, so Berklee was always in the back of my head. The reason I’m back is I’ve been doing a lot of scoring films. I wanted to study theory.

What has it been like so far? They interviewed me to see how serious I was. And my commitment is driving three hours up here [from New York] to make sure that I get the proper courses. The instructors, they worked with me in the sense of knowing how crazy my schedule is. But there’s really no shortcut to getting a degree. I’m struggling a little bit with my online classes. I have to find a way next semester to be on campus a little more. Despite my crazy schedule, it might take me a little longer, but I’ll really feel satisfied when I’m done.

What’s your impression of Boston? I’m no stranger to Boston. My brother actually went to Eastern Nazarene College and I used to come see him. And then he went on to Boston University. One of the places I do want to go — because I’m all about helping kids change their lives — I want to get out to Mattapan and have a talk with kids in the different parts of Boston where it’s kind of rough.