Prostitution Ring

Yesterday I read this in my favorite part of The Daily Tar Heel - the opinion page. I love that page because to me it highlights one of the crucial functions of newspapers - community building. The opinion page is a forum for people to not just passively read about the world around them, but to engage with it. (For those who don't know, I also work on ad staff for the DTH. I love the paper, and I love ads...what could be better?)

If you haven't already followed that link, do it. Go. Now. Read this "investigative" column that busts a prostitution ring right here in Chapel Hill.

I'm not kidding, either. Yesterday this column sparked conversation amongst people who didn't even know each other as we were waiting for the bus down at the B-school. But the conversation largely consisted of, "Did you read that?" "Oh my goodness that's terrible!" "He's right, we all knew about it, but we're not going to do anything."

And while I was pleased at the interaction, I am utterly frustrated at the shallowness of that conversation and the lack of desire to enact CHANGE. Now we know something illegal is going on - let's DO something about it...

I know I, too, sit here wrapped up in my own world of class and work and selfish existence. But if people like us could just take a few minutes out of our busy days to care about someone who feels like they have to sell themselves to make money, think of what good could be done. So today after class, I'm checking up with the Chapel Hill Police Department after reading up on some local laws. My heart breaks for these women and longs to see some change...not idle talk.