Rip Curl: The Surfer’s Company

The surfing company was created in 1969 in Torquay, Victoria, Australia.

In 1969, surfers Doug “Claw” Warbrick and Brian “Sing Ding” Singer created their own surf company in the small surfing town of Torquay, Victoria, Australia called “Rip Curl.” They did well selling surfboards, but realized there were too many people selling the same product in Torquay. In 1970 they decided to do something no one else was doing: selling wetsuits. Torquay is located in the southeastern part of Australia where the water is always cold. Selling wetsuits made Rip Curl a huge profit because they created something that surfers wanted and needed. The two friends actually bought a sewing machine and got a crew of people to sew the wetsuits with them. Adding wetsuits to Rip Curl’s product line made the company the number one surfing wetsuit company. While Rip Curl was getting started the two founders made sure they concentrated on soul surfing and staying true to their roots, instead of only worrying about money and their products and being consumed by business like their competitors. Their soul surfing became known as “The Search” and is a big part of the company’s ideas and goals.

Rip Curl has now expanded from Torquay to the rest of Australia and has retailers in several countries around the world. After Rip Curl blew up in Australia Warbrick and Singer were able to sell their products to professional surfers who would come to surf in Australia. In 1978, Singer went to California to try and make Rip Curl a powerhouse in the US surfing market. His trip was a success and for three to four years Rip Curl was able to make the products in Torquay and ship them to the California and eventually setup stores in the US. During one of his trips to Southern California he met Yves Bessas who wanted to be the agent for Rip Curl wetsuits in France. In 1979 Singer traveled to Germany and made contact with another future agent who began selling in Europe. Rip Curl sold their technology, designs and ideas so their product could be sold under a license in these countries. Rip Curl’s first corporate Licensee was Lowers, located in Southern California, in 1981. Four years later in 1985 Rip Curl welcomed its second Licensee, Frogs, located in Hossegor, France.

They now have nine corporate licensees that sell their products internationally in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Israel, Indonesia, Mauritius, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa and the USA. Rip Curl has also expanded the products they sell for men and women. They now offer everything from surfboards and wetsuits to shirts, shorts, bathing suits, watches, wakeboarding apparel, mountainwear such as snowboards and skiing clothes and accessories.

Rip Curl’s major competition is Billabong and Quiksilver. All three companies have very similar products so they are always trying to gain an edge over the other. Billabong is a surf company founded in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia in 1973. Quiksilver was formed in Torquay as well, by two surfers in 1970 and made its way to the US in 1976, making Rip Curl the first major surf company to start in Australia. All three companies have branched out to include skateboarding, sailing and snowboarding products in their arsenal. Another way these companies make money is through surfing sponsorships of individual surfers and by holding surfing tournaments.

Rip Curl was named after the surfing move of ripping the curl of the wave, as seen here.

According to Gary Dunne, Team and Promotions Manager at Rip Curl, the key marketing strategy is to focus on the core sports and the quality of the products. One of the strategies used in Rip Curl’s marketing is to reflect the preferences of local markets and reflect that in their brand. This means they try and keep the Australian influence as a part of their brand worldwide, while also catering towards the specific region of international stores. However, this may have hurt Rip Curl in the US market because Billabong and Quicksilver both do not focus on their origin and cater specifically to the US without worrying about the Australian influence. Rip Curl also is constantly enhancing their logo in order to stay fresh and attractive to fans of their products.

In 1973 the first Rip Curl Pro was held at Bells Beach in Torquay after Warbrick and Singer went to the Australian Surfriders’ Association requesting to make the annual Bell’s Beach Easter Championship Australia’s first professional surfing competition and for Rip Curl to be the main sponsor. It was a small tournament, but acted as a platform for the next year. In 1974 the first Australian professional surfing tour was created and sponsored by Rip Curl and Coca-Cola. The best professional surfers from around the world competed in the tour, making it very well known in the surfing community. Another reason it was such a big deal was because the Rip Curl Pro was always held at Bells Beach, which is the Wimbledon for surfers because the beach has the biggest waves in Australia and comes the closest to matching the surf in Hawaii.

Rip Curl has been known as the surfer’s company since the early 1970s and has continued to be a major force in the surfing industry by expanding internationally and staying true to its grass roots.

Company history. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ripcurl.com.au/index.php?thebegining

Quiksilver, inc.. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Quiksilver-Inc-Company-History.html

Rusch, R. (2001, September 24). Riding the next wave. Retrieved from http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=58

The Aussie Film Industry

The Australian film industry was home to one of the first films ever made. The movie was “The Kelly Gang,” created in 1906, and was a silent film about the infamous Ned Kelly, an Australian outlaw. This also sparked the popularity of bushranger films in Australia.

In 1955 color production hit the Australian film industry. “Jedda” was the first Australian movie made in color. This movie marked several other “firsts” for Australian film such as the first movie to use Aboriginal actors and was the first Australian movie to be screened at Cannes Film Festival. Also, between 1953 and 1958 the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit became popular in Sydney and was the first film production unit to be a part of a trade union in the world.  During the later part of the 1950s and 60s the film industry was basically non-existent.

Happy Feet won the Oscar in 2006 for Best Animated Feature Film.

However, between 1970 and 1985 there were approximately 400 films made, marking the renaissance period in Australian film.In the 1980s Australian films started making their way into international markets and became popular in the United States. Films like this include “Mad Max,” which propelled Mel Gibson into the spotlight, and “Crocodile Dundee.” Australia saw the emergence of actors such as Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, and Sam Worthington in the 1990s and 2000s.

As technology has advanced, the Australian film industry has been able to tackle high budget films. However, the biggest reason Australia has been a part of high budget Hollywood films is because of Fox Studios, which is located in Sydney. The studio has been the home to filming movies such as Babe, The Matrix Trilogy, Star Wars Episodes II & III, Moulin Rouge, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Australia, and Mission Impossible 2.

In 2006, “Happy Feet,” which was also created in Fox Studios Sydney, was released. It became the most expensive Australian film ever made. It also became one of the most acclaimed Australian movies of all time because it won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. Some of the actors who lent their voice to the film include Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Robin Williams and Elijah Wood.

Film in australia. (2007, November 22). Retrieved from http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/film/

Filming in australia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.foxstudiosaustralia.com/filming-in-australia.asp

Happy feet. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366548/

Australia: Media, Culture & History

By Nolan Elingburg

Media

There are three government owned publicly funded media outlets in Australia: ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) and NITV (National Indigenous Television).  ABC is Australia’s “leading source of information and entertainment” according to their website.

ABC seems to have the best selection of shows to watch, from entertainment to news.  Some of the main things I noticed during my time in Australia that were broadcast on ABC were cricket, the news, American television shows and movies.  Cricket matches take up a large part of the airtime because they last so long.  They can last up to five days, although each day usually only consists of around three hours of play.

ABC consists of three separate channels, two of which broadcast mainly Australian shows and news, while the other channel includes several American television shows, which are mainly aired in the evening.  Popular American shows on ABC include Dirty Jobs, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  Other shows airing on ABC include the United States’ “Wipeout” game show and the Australian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”  The Australians have put a new twist onto their version that they call “Hot Seat.”  In their version, people play as a group.  Once someone misses a question the next person gets to go onto the hot seat and start where the last person left off.  The last person in the chair wins all of the money, even if they were only in the hot seat for one question.

An interesting aspect of Australian news on ABC is that a lot of the focus is on American events, ranging from President Obama’s actions to celebrity gossip.  While I was in Australia the weather would always make me laugh because all they would ever say was “Melbourne…sunny, Brisbane…sunny, Sydney…sunny, pretty much sunny everywhere.”

Abc. (2010, March 30). Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/

Culture

In 2009 the United Nations accused Australia of having an “entrenched racism” problem in their country.  The UN found that the aboriginals have are the most impoverished and unhealthiest minority in Australia and have an average life expectancy that is 17 years lower than the average Australian.  The Australian government put restrictions on how aboriginals could spend their welfare checks, making them the only people to have these restrictions in the country.  The government believes this is only helping the aboriginals; however, many people believe these restrictions are racist because they are restricting the purchase of things such as alcohol, insinuating that aboriginals have drinking problems.

Being able to see the culture of Australians firsthand was eye opening.  It was very interesting to see the interaction between white Australians and the black aboriginals.  When we were in the city of Cairns it seemed like every aboriginal I saw was homeless or just hanging out on the sidewalk not doing anything.  The worst part about this was no one seemed to care about them.

On one account I overheard two Australian men, who might have even been homeless themselves, bashing the aboriginals and making absurdly derogatory and racist remarks.  This racist exchange took place at a Hungry Jack’s (the Australian Burger King) with children and families around and no one seemed to care about what they were saying.  This experience, combined with the scene in Cairns, made me feel like I was in the Deep South in the 1950s.  I know not all Australians have ill will towards the aboriginals; it was just shocking to see such neglect towards a group of people.  On the other hand, one of our tour guides on the Great Ocean Road was aboriginal and the white Australian tour guides treated him with respect and as an equal.

Un accuses Australia of ‘entrenched racism’ towards aborigines. (2009, August 27). Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/27/aborigines-un-racism-australia

History

Australia has an interesting history as far as how it was inhabited by white people.  However, there is an even more interesting part of Australian history that needs to be looked at: the Stolen Generation.  Between 1869 and 1969 the Australian government stole aboriginal children away from their families.  During this time an approximated 100,000 children were taken from their homes, which is equal to 1 out of every 10 aboriginal children in the country.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with an aboriginal woman during the ceremony where he offered an official apology for the Stolen Generation.

There have been many different speculations as to why the government thought it was necessary to take these children away from their homes and families.  One theory is the government was trying to protect the aboriginals because they believed their race was dying out and this was their attempt to preserve it.  By taking them away from their poor living conditions and poor health they thought they could help save them.  Another theory is they were taken in order to make them more civilized and a part of white society.  There is also a theory that only aboriginal children who were suspected of having mixed race were stolen so that they could mate with whites in order to produce a racially pure white society.

Surprisingly, not all families were upset by their children being stolen.  Although many people were outraged, some believed it gave their sons and daughters an opportunity to get a good education and get a job, which they probably would never have had if they had grown up in an aboriginal household.

On February 12, 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologized to aboriginals for what the Australian government had done to them during the 100 years of the Stolen Generation.

Mccarthy, T. (2000, October 2). The stolen generation. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998067,00.html

Where do Elon students come from?

By Nolan Elingburg

Elon University has a unique mix of students, but most of them come from a small group of states.  Students at Elon are from all over the country, ranging from Hawaii to Maine.

There are 47 states represented at Elon, but many of those states are not very well represented because only a small number of students from these states attend Elon.

North Carolina has the most students at Elon, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. On the other end of the spectrum are the states that have little representation, like states in the Deep South and Midwest.  Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Minnesota all have less than 10 students who attend Elon.

Kathleen Freeze, a junior at Elon, is one of the few students from Arkansas.  She believes a big reason no one goes to Elon from the Deep South is because everyone is content to stay in state.

“No one in Arkansas has ever heard of Elon,” Freeze said.  “Every time someone asks me where I go to school they have no idea where Elon even is.”

According to Greg Zaiser, dean of admissions, it’s because Elon does not advertise itself, save for a recent ad in Private Colleges and Universities Magazine.

“We just don’t have enough human or financial resources to travel to every state to promote the school,” Zaiser said.

Admissions staff members spend most of their time traveling to states where a lot of students have come from in the past.

“The east coast is our primary target,” Zaiser said.  “But we always want North Carolina to have the most students here because it’s our home state.”

North Carolina will remain the top state again this year with 1,410 applications, an increase from last year.

One of the ways Elon gets it’s name out there is through word of mouth.  This is exactly how junior Annie Hellweg heard about Elon.

“I’m from Kansas but went to boarding school in Boston for high school and my roommate told me about Elon,” Hellweg said.  “Elon is very popular in the north.”

Freeze only heard about Elon because it was listed in the Princeton Review’s “The Best 371 Colleges.”

Elon has built up its reputation over the last several years and has been able to make it on a lot of these top college lists.  Zaiser believes this not only gives Elon a better reputation, but also legitimizes the university and attracts students from all over the country.

Freeze and Hellweg both agree that it seems like most students they know at Elon are from the Northeast.  Zaiser believes Elon is popular in the Northeast for three reasons: reputation, cost and weather.

“Students and parents in the Northeast think Elon is just as good of a school as Boston College or Lehigh, but it’s $10,000 cheaper,” Zaiser said.  “The cheaper cost combined with the warmer weather brings in a lot of students from the Northeast.”

Zaiser also thinks that there are just some states that do not have much of an interest for Elon, like those in the Deep South.  Everyone in the admissions office has been down to New Orleans for several years, but can’t get anything going because students are content to not leave their home state.  He also believes the economy of the South is a large factor.

Another reason Elon has a hard time getting students from the south is because states like Florida and Georgia offer special scholarships for students who stay in state.  If students in these two states stay, they can get a full tuition scholarship, which is something Elon has a hard time competing with.

Elon targets high school students from private schools.  When representatives go to states that you don’t necessarily associate with Elon, they tend to go to private schools because private school students are more likely to go to a private university, according to Zaiser.  Twenty-six percent of this year’s freshman class came from private high schools.

Zaiser thinks the most surprising states Elon has students from are California and Texas, 38 and 48 respectively.  Each year there is an increase with the number of applications from both of these states.  There were 140 applications from Texas this year, while California had 81.  Another recent surprise in the last three to four years has been the amount of students who have started applying from New York City.

Elon is looking to stay on the course they have been on for the last few years promoting the university while continuing to push westward.  The school is also pushing for more money in order to give out of state scholarships.

Tebow’s favorite wide receiver? God.

By Nolan Elingburg

Dear Tim Tebow:

We get it.  You don’t have to keep talking about it.  Everyone knows you love God, and frankly, I’m getting tired of hearing about it.

On Saturday night I turned on the television to watch college football.  As I was flipping channels I realized that the Florida vs. Florida State game was on so I turned it to CBS to check the score.  As expected, the Gators were killing the Seminoles in the fourth quarter.

Not having anything else to do, I left the game on until it ended because I couldn’t get enough of Verne Lundquist talking about the “two legends of college football” (Tebow and FSU coach Bobby Bowden).  Once the game was over Tebow and Bowden met each other at midfield to talk.

Once the two parted ways the CBS sideline reporter called Tebow over to get the post-game interview.  She proceeded to ask him what he and the coach said.

Tebow’s response?  “’God bless.’  I told him ‘God bless,’ and he said ‘He’s an awesome God.’”

Tebow then went on to say a few more things about God and I turned the channel, not wanting to hear anymore.

Once again Tim Tebow decided to tell the country that all of his success is because of God.  At the beginning of the interview, no less, so everyone knows how he feels from the start and has to hear it before hearing anything about the actual game just played.  Definitely don’t start off talking about how it was your last home game in your college career, or how you’re going to miss having the home crowd back you up on every play.

For the last three years I have watched Tebow give all of his credit to God.  After every game it seems like he has said something about God and how great he is and that they would not have won without God.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have no problem, or any beef with God.  I may not be religious, but I have no problems with God, or people believing in God.  And I do know that Tebow’s faith is actually genuine and it’s not just an act, so that’s okay too.

Having said that, can athletes, Tebow in particular, please start giving themselves credit for their achievements?

Working hard in the off-season to get ready for the regular season has nothing to do with God.  Making a great throw or catch has nothing to do with God.  It has everything to do with being committed to your sport and concentrating at a key point during the game.

And Tebow’s not the only athlete broadcasting their love for God.  I also noticed Texas quarterback Colt McCoy give a shout-out to God after his last game, and after the New York Yankees won the World Series first baseman Mark Teixiera felt it was appropriate to thank God for letting them win.

If everyone loved God as much as these athletes then I wouldn’t have a problem with them talking about it, but not everyone shares these beliefs so not everyone wants to hear about it while trying to enjoy watching a sporting event.

Why can’t more athletes be like baseball’s National League Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan?  He’s very religious, but chooses not to talk about how much he loves God because it has nothing to do with his sport.

Tebow, by all means give credit to God if you make a tough throw and it turns out that the receiver who caught the ball was actually God.  But let’s face the facts, God is not one of your wide receivers.

Give some credit to yourself, teammates, coaches, fans and parents.

Rainy days don’t faze Elon Maintenance

11/18/09

Elon’s campus is cold, rainy and deserted.  Students aren’t enjoying the usual sunny weather at their favorite spots around campus, like the Fonville Fountain outside of Alamance.

But one thing is the same: the presence of the Elon maintenance staff.

Even on rainy days they are hard at work around campus.  One maintenance member was busy blowing leaves off of the lawn in front of Alamance, while another maintenance member had to take care of a broken window in West dormitory.

Elon maintenance member Danny Cross says the weather does not faze them.  They continue to do their daily tasks and usually don’t have anything special designated for cold, rainy days.

“The weather doesn’t really slow us down,” Cross said.  “We have to go whether it’s raining or not.”

The weather today reached 57 degrees, but at times was as low as 50 degrees.  The low temperature combined with the slight rain made it seem even colder.

Glow ball golf raises money for charity

By Nolan Elingburg

Students in Hal Walker’s Event Planning Management course, a service learning class, planned a charity fundraiser this past weekend.  The “Glow Ball” Golf in The Dark Fundraiser in motion for over a month and finally reached its date.

Students were assigned to plan an event on their own with the supervision of Walker.

“I let them make most major decisions,” Walker said. “I play Dr. Phil and throw things back at them, and they can bounce ideas off me.”

Walker, a professor in the Leisure & Sport Management department, believes event planning embraces everything.  Students have to work in groups and deal with any administrative function from booking to budgeting to communication.

The groups divide themselves into three smaller groups: operations, sponsorship and marketing.

“This is really applicable to the real world because the students can take ownership of what they do,” Walker said. “They learn more when they are responsible for everything.”

Walker said the process has been scary for students and himself because they are on their own and he is letting them make their own decisions.  However, according to Walker, students typically rate this class as one of their most valuable because it gets them ready for the real world.

The service goal for the class is to put on a professional event, break even or make a profit and then have the proceeds go to a specific cause.  The class brainstormed ideas for events and then narrowed them down to two: glow ball golf tournament and a tennis tournament.

Once these events were chosen the students then joined whichever groups they liked more.  After this the groups selected which cause their event was going to benefit.

The money made at the golf outing will be going to brain cancer patient Nicholas Simon, brother of Elon University student Sam Simon.  The other group is doing a tennis event for the Kopper Top Life Learning Center, a place for rehabilitation using animal interaction for therapy.

Elon student Sam Mason, who is friends with Sam Simon, introduced this idea in class.

“Simon was in my fraternity (Sigma Chi) so I have been able to know how this has affected him and his family for the past couple of years,” Mason said. But with it being such a touchy subject you have to make sure you pick the right moment or event.”

Everyone in the group agreed that it was a great cause because it directly affected someone in the Elon community.

Since Walker has been teaching the course, students have raised an average of $2,000 each semester, meaning most groups average making $1,000 for their respective charities or causes.  So far his  events students have produced about $30,000.

Senior Derek DeAndrade is part of the marketing team for this event.

“The hardest part about marketing this is getting people to register and then pay,” DeAndrade said.

Mason believes the most difficult part pf the process was taking a group of people who have never worked together before and try and put together an actual event and make it successful.

DeAndrade and Mason both filmed a golf commercial for the event, which aired on the Elon channel (ESTV). They also made and distributed fliers.

“I think it’s going to be a success because it’s such a unique event,” DeAndrade said.

The sponsorship group had to either send letters asking for funding or go out and convince companies to become sponsors for the event.  Some of the big contributors were “Mr. J’s” who donated free towels for each golfer and Fat Frogg Bar & Grill who provided food.

The group is now going to invite the sponsoring agencies to campus to show their gratitude.  The course group will also present a check to Nicholas.

Now to the actual event: “glow ball” is golf at night using glow-in-the-dark balls, pin flags and holes.  The tournament consisted of four-man teams playing captain’s choice.  After the first nine holes foursomes came back to the hole they started on and replay the same nine holes but this time using the glow-in-the-dark objects.

The tournament took place on Sunday November 15 at Indian Valley Golf Course.  The check-in began at 2:00 pm and the first tee time began at 3:00.  The cost was $25 for Elon students and $30 for non-students.

The first place trophies were taken home by Burlington locals Sean Nelson, Shane Nelson, Jared Hopkins, and Ryan Wilson who shot a combined eight under par.

High Times at Elon University

By Nolan Elingburg

Legalizing marijuana has been a hot and controversial topic recently because the federal government has chosen not to pursue certain prosecution. This week the controversy made it to the Elon University campus where experts debated on its benefits and detriments to society.

Students, faculty and locals gathered in Koury Business Center Monday evening to hear “The Great Marijuana Debate.” Kris Krane, former director of Students for Safety, took the pro-legalization side while Paul Chabot of the Freestyle Foundation took the opposing side. The debate was moderated by sophomore chemistry major Jeremy Burr.

“We need to stop criminalizing responsible adults for wanting to use something less harmful than alcohol,” Krane said.

Chabot and Krane argued over the legalization of marijuana, the use of medical marijuana and how marijuana laws are currently enforced.

“We need to ask ourselves: are we better off with alcohol? Would we be better off with marijuana?” Chabot said.

Some of the major reasons given during the debate for why marijuana should or should not be legalized included:

Krane (Pro)
1. If alcohol is legal marijuana should be too.
2. If marijuana is legalized, it might be used less like in the Netherlands.
3. Marijuana would be taken out of the black market and have high restrictions.
4. It would become harder for high school kids to get than alcohol.
5. The majority of weed users don’t go on to use higher drugs

Chabot (Con)
1. The need for a safe country for children to grow up in.
2. If marijuana is legalized then harder drugs could become legalized too.
3. More kids already go to rehab for marijuana than any other drug.
4. Weed is a gateway drug.
5. Marijuana is already easy to get for medical reasons, especially in California.

Ten years from now Krane wants to see marijuana legal but regulated while Chabot believes Americans should be getting “high on life” instead of weed.

The Reconstruction of American Journalism

Newspapers and television news are losing their popularity due to the increase in popularity and accessibility of the Internet; however, just because the newspapers are shrinking does not mean that they are going to completely disappear anytime soon.

The Internet has allowed for more people to become independent journalists to contribute as citizens without even being professional journalists. The increase in watchdog journalism with the use of the Internet has taken away from local news reporting because information can be accessed and issued on websites much faster than they can be put in a newspaper or on television. The goal of this reconstruction is to enhance independent reporting as long as it is credible.

Newspapers tried to compensate for the increase in Internet news by allowing free access to the news on their websites, which from a business and economic standpoint hurt most papers. This has now led to most newspaper staffs being reduced over the past few years. A lot of newspapers in smaller towns and cities are still thriving because they face no competition from other papers. The authors of this article also believe public broadcasting outlets should be required to focus mainly on local news and events.

The new advances in technology, specifically the Internet, have meant that journalists have to be competent in several different skills besides writing and interviewing. Now they also have to be able to take pictures or record events and understand how to use computer programs that deal with videos and graphics. The increase in technology also helps journalists. It gives them more access to information allowing them to have the most factually correct information possible.

Right now there are several wealthy philanthropists and organizations donating money to non-profit news organizations, such as the Knight Foundation, so that they can survive these hard times.

Women are the future of Afghanistan

By Nolan Elingburg
10/13/09

Afghanistan native Khaled Hosseini believes his country is facing harsh times for several reasons: the oppression of women, poverty and the Taliban.

“It’s as much a war on poverty as a war on the Taliban,” Hosseini said.

Hosseini sat down on Tuesday afternoon for a conversation with Associate Dean of Communications Connie Book in front of students and faculty in Alumni Gym for Elon University’s fall convocation. Book used previously submitted questions from different classes to stimulate the dialogue for the event.

The best-selling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns spent most of the time answering questions about his two novels, but also spent time educating the audience on the current problems facing Afghanistan and what people could be doing to help.

“The world is smaller now,” Hosseini said. “What happens across the world affects everyone.”

One of the problems he analyzed was the lack of a role women play in their society. Hosseini said, despite what most people think, women in Afghanistan have been oppressed for longer than the Taliban has been around.

Poverty plays a role here because families do not have the proper food or shelter that they need to survive. Hosseini said over 25,000 women die each year during childbirth, while the life expectancy is only around 43 years old.

Hosseini said one of his favorite quotes from author Graham Norton, Three Cups of Tea, is “When you educate a boy you educate an individual. When you educate a girl you educate a community” because he has seen this firsthand in Afghanistan.

Hosseini believes women are the key to future success in Afghanistan and it all starts with their education. In 2002 seven million children went back to school with 40 to 45 percent of those being female.

Hosseini is now a goodwill envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Regufees, which helped him establish The Khaled Hosseini Foundation. His organization builds shelters and housing for families in Afghanistan, along with providing education for women and economic relief.

He believes he can help his country more this way than through his writing.

“Reading fiction is not exactly at the top of their priorities,” Hosseini said. “It is more meaningful if I tell them I work with the UN.”

In his attempt to educate the rest of the world on how women are treated in Afghanistan, Hosseini based his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, around two main female characters. He said representing the view of women was a challenge, and jokingly said he accomplished this by watching a “steady diet of The View and Oprah.”

Hosseini said he failed on his first attempt because he did not know how to represent the women correctly. He then focused on writing the story about two human beings and not just Afghan women.

Unlike most Afghanis, Hosseini was able to escape his country in 1980 and sought political asylum in the United States. So far he has made the most of his opportunity and on Tuesday said Americans should do what they can to help.

“Travel,” Hosseni said. “Learn about each other.”