Issue 7

an alternative voice since 1984 an SBI publication 11126013 Vol. 31 Issue: 07

GENERATION MAGAZINE

E C I F F O T E K C

SBI TI

 s u p s m u a p m C a C h t th r r o o N N n o n  of operatio 17, 2013 at 1pm

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Table of Contents 05............ EIC Letter 06............Intern Uprising 07............ Agenda

Hit or Bullshit What’s on our Playlist

08............New Consoles,

09

New Games

09............E-Cigarettes 10............Mental Health Reform 11............NYS Needs GENDA

A Call Against Inaction 12............Digital Humans 15............He Said/She Said

Six Reasons to Not be

Thankful ............Photography

11

16 18............Drunksgiving 19............Drysgiving 20............Literary

Conversations 21............Literary

No Apology 22............Parting Shots

Master Chef Junior

The Science of Keggers

Cover designed by Emily Butler, Steve Bernhardt, Babita Persaud. Photos taken by Steve Bernhardt. Photo source from all credits goes to respective photographer. thenextweb.com (3) Generation Magazine is owned by Sub-Board I, Inc., the student service corporation at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The Sub-Board I, Inc. Board of Directors grants editorial autonomy to the editorial board of Generation. Sub-Board I, Inc. (the publisher) provides funding through mandatory student activity fees and is in no way responsible for the editorial content, editorial structure or editorial policy of the magazine.

Editorial and business offices for Generation are located in Suite 315 in the Student Union on North Campus. The telephoane numbers are (716) 645-6131 or (716) 645-2674 (FAX). Address mail c/o Room 315 Student Union University at Buffalo, Amherst, NY 14260.

Submissions to Generation Magazine should be e-mailed to ubgeneration@gmail.com by 1p.m. Tuesday, a week before each issue’s publication. This publication and its contents are the property of the students of the State University of New York at Buffalo 2013 by Generation Magazine, all rights reserved. The first 10 copies of Generation Magazine are free. Each additional copy must be approved by the editor in chief. Requests for reprints should be directed to the editor in chief. Generation Magazine neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any claims made by our advertisers.

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Editor’s Letter

I

remember the clouds were perfect and succulent, fat with air and wind and aspirations for the summer to come. I remember dangling my legs off the edge of the pier, lying back and looking up and up and up. Cloud shaped like turtle, cloud shaped like car, cloud shaped like hand, fingers of God. I remember the water catching sunbeams and turning them to diamonds, an entire lake of jewels just for me to dip my toes in. I sat up and felt my head spin, felt my face warm, so I closed my eyes and turned my face to the sun, smiling. Something told me today would be a good day.

When I opened my eyes I could feel that there was someone else with me, so I looked over my shoulder and stopped breathing. About ten feet behind me was a woman, dressed in nothing but her underwear and a fur coat, holding a cinder block and staring at me manically. When I finally was able to inhale again, I started to reach one hand forward, started to say “Wait,” but she had already broken in to a full sprint. I covered my head and closed my eyes, praying that I didn’t hear a splash, but when I did, it came up and soaked me to the bone. I jumped to my feet, peeling off my soggy business jacket and frantically undoing my tie, and as I dove in to the water after her, everything got very slow, very quiet. I swam as hard as I could down and down and down, leaving the rest of my expectations for my life above the surface, thinking only “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” I finally caught up to her, and watched as the stream of bubbles sliding from her lips slowly came to a halt. I almost choked on my own precious supply of air, but got to work immediately, tearing her out of the fur coat and pulling myself down the rope tied to her ankle. I pulled at the knot around the block itself, cursing in my brain as I felt the oxygen slowly leaving my body.

I thought I was about to die when the knot finally came loose, and as quickly as I would ever have thought possible, I grabbed the girl around her waist and kicked off as hard as I could. When I broke the surface, I accepted air as a gift, swam clumsily to the shore and dragged her into the shallows. Half naked in the water, she almost looked majestic, with her pale skin and her dark hair swimming swirls around her restful face, but it broke immediately as she vomited a gallon of water on to my arms. She gasped for air, looked around for some kind of clue as to what had happened, instead she found me, holding her head, my arm around her waist, grinning from ear to ear at the sight that she was alive. She looked me up and down, breathing heavily, bare

chest rising and falling, in and out of the water. I had hardly said the word “You” when she punched me straight in the nose, I felt it break under the unexpected strength of her fist, tasted the blood fill my mouth.

“You stupid little shit!” She hissed. She tried to stand but the ankle with the rope cracked as she stood, causing her to topple back in to the water. This only made her angrier, which I learned quickly, made her want to hit me some more. She threw punches hard and fast, to my head, to my shoulders, to my chest, and I finally thought to grab her wrists to stop the constant blows.

STAFF 2013 Editor in Chief Keighley Farrell Managing Editor Angelina Bruno Creative Director Emily Butler

“Jesus, I thought I was helping!” I yelled over the string of obscenities spewing from her as she writhed against my grip. I saw now that she was crying, deep painful sobs of fury as she tried to stand or hit me repeat. She finally gave up, letting her arms drop limp in my hands. We were quiet for a minute, blood gushing from her face, tears gushing from hers, and I finally trusted myself to let her wrists go. A minute or two passed before I could speak.

Assistant Creative Director Babita Persaud

“Why?” I whispered, wiping my face with my wrist and wincing. She didn’t look up from her arms, which now lay lifeless in the water, but she laughed bitterly, which made her start crying again. I looked up to stop the blood from pouring down my face, and I saw the clouds above me again, giant white hands, fingers of God. I stood up and looked down at her, holding my nose.

“Wait here.”

Copy Editor Audrey Foppes

She nodded pitifully as I sloshed up the shore, climbing clumsily on to the pier and retrieving my jacket. I brought it back to the shallow water and wrapped it around her bare shoulders, picked her up and began the long, damp walk to my car. She kept one hand on my chest as she cried, the other holding the jacket around her naked chest, ankle bruised beneath the rope that trailed below it, wrists covered in my blood. I fell in love with her then, for reasons I would never quite be able to understand.

But as I lay her in the passenger seat of my car, saw her soaking in to the upholstery, shivering against the window as I shut the door, I knew that the sun was shining for us that day. I looked up at the clouds, up, and up, and up.

Photo Editor Steve Bernhardt Web Editor Gabi Gosset

Associate Editors Laura Borschel Jori Breslawski Sushmita Sircar Circulation Director Matt Benevento Business Manager Nick Robin Assistant Ad Manager Adinda Anggriadipta Contributing Staff Adam Johnson Patrick Collins 05

C

ondé Nast is a publishing powerhouse. It is inevitable that you have read or seen one of their publications. Responsible for famous brands including Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, and over twenty other high profile publications, they practically own the newsstands scattered throughout cities and lining supermarket checkout lines. Interning for this company is the dream position for many aspiring students who hope to break into the communications field as journalists, writers and editors. Many found their dreams shattered when the company announced that as of 2014, their unpaid internship program will no longer exist.

Former interns, Lauren Ballinger, intern at W magazine, and Matthew Leib, intern at The New Yorker, filed lawsuits this past June in Manhattan’s Federal District Court. They joined in what has been coined “The Unpaid Intern Uprising.”

Former interns from other media outlets including Hearst Magazines and Fox Searchlight Pictures have also filed suits with varying degrees of success.

This “uprising” is based on supposed employer violation of the United States Department of Labor’s six-step law, which determines the legal status of an unpaid internship. If any of the steps are violated, the employer must pay the intern at least minimum wage.

The six criteria include: 1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;

Intern Uprising Article By: Angelina Bruno

2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern; 3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff; 4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded; 5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and 6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

The cases, represented by Justin Schwartz of the New York Law firm Outten & Golden, focus on the premise that these interns were not working in a learning environment. Instead they were tasked with assignments and activities solely for

the benefit of the company and not compensated for their work. They aim to paint their case as simple injustice—their work as interns benefitted the company so they, like all unpaid interns, should be paid instead of subjected to what amounts to slave labor.

Some hold up the interns’ actions as brave; their legal steps as the voice of fellow interns everywhere marked by the injustice of having to juggle coffee orders, dry cleaning slips, and other grunt work that the editors would otherwise have to pay someone to do. Others see them as foolish, quibbling over a small sum, and using lawyers paid for by mommy and daddy.

It is true that it is nearly impossible to live in New York, or any other major city, while making next to nothing without some form of support. There has long been controversy over the issue of unpaid internships and the privileged students who tend to fill the spaces. Remember “The Hills” and the guilty pleasure of watching Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port in action at the glamorous Teen Vogue offices. If MTV had not already supported their lifestyle, then their parents would have.

Despite the class controversy, idealistically these internships are not meant to provide a source of income for the student or the company, but to provide an educational experience for the intern.

Many believe the interns’ small complaints cannot compare with the enormous benefits such internships have had for other students. Their actions, instead of helping fellow interns, have prevented students from similar experiences at Condé Nast in the future.

There has been much speculation as to how the actions of the interns and the publisher’s response will affect the publishing industry and its internship programs. Some feel Condé Nast’s actions were rash and the possibility that other publications will follow suit is frightening to already crushed hopefuls.

In an age where lawsuits are commonplace, businesses increasingly feel the need to cover themselves legally. While Condé Nast’s publications may be guilty of overworking and undereducating their interns, the programs at smaller companies and not-for-profit organizations may also have to protect themselves. While switching to paid internships or entry-level positions may be possible for large companies, smaller organizations may cut valuable positions all together.

Barred from publications like Condé Nast, a large number of young graduates will need to fight harder in the already competitive industry. The right experience and resume boosters can mean the difference between being hired or unemployed. The already oversaturated market of students attempting to break into the publishing industry has experienced a blow, whether from their fellow interns or the executive positions they covet.

t T I i H ullsh HIT

B

OR

Snow! Recently, our very own University at Buffalo English Department was ranked among the top 20 English departments in the country! How cool is that? The article in the Spectrum outlined the opinions of the professors from our department who were interviewed and almost all agree that the major reason for our excellence is our superb staff! We all hear too many complaints about professors, here and from our friends on other campuses.

It’s also important to remember the intelligent, engaging, ambitious individuals we are all so fortunate to interact with everyday. Go English!

T I H S ULL

B

In a quality piece of journalistic screw-up, 60 Minutes is currently undergoing a ‘journalistic review’ after an October 27th interview with a supposed witness of the Benghazi tragedy turned out to be pretty much the opposite of everything that supposed witness had told the FBI. Oh 60 Minutes, thank you for legitimizing all of my lazy journalistic endeavors with your lazy journalistic endeavors!

23- Miley Cyrus Atlas Genius-Trojans Black Leaf Falls-Sea Wolf A Perfect Circle-By and Down Breezeblocks- Alt-J Subdivisions-Rush Timber- Kesha ft. Pitbull My Hitta-YG & Jay-Z Rap God-Eminem Monster-Eminem ft. Rihanna

AGENDA

HIT

There’s only one week between Thanksgiving Break and the end of the semester. This would be a bullshit, but we’re going to be too exhausted to notice that this filler week even happened.

B

T I H S ULL

Puff Daddy has his own TV channel. As if we weren’t already bombarded with enough homogenized music and brainless social media updates. The last thing we need is another channel dedicated turning the next generation into fame and money obsessed cretins whose life goal is to be a reality TV star.

November 28th: French Toast Day!

Who cares about Turkey!? Make yourself some delicious sugary egg bread! French Toast is also the best way to use up any leftover staple groceries you’ve got lying around. Do it up. 07

New Consoles, New Games T

PS4 Exclusives

Killzone: Shadowfall (Nov. 15) is the next game in the exclusive franchise for PlayStation consoles. While the Killzone franchise has not continued the momentum it once held, the new addition to the series is another beautiful, futuristic first-person shooter. The new graphic capabilities of the system will be showcased with this game, but hopefully, the gameplay evolves as well.

Infamous: Second Son (Mar. 21) is another addition to an exclusive franchise for the PS4. With a “Big Brother” government and a huge city to explore, this game seems like a promising addition to the rather short list of exciting PS4 exclusives. The conduit powers will surely look even more amazing with the new graphics card.

Drive Club (early 2014) is Sony’s answer to Forza with incredibly detailed cars and insane races. You can join a club and then organize tournaments and challenges with your team. Will it live up to the Forza-level realism? We will see.

The Order: 1886 (TBA) is a game that seems like it’s flying a little under the radar although the graphics and story seem intriguing.

Set in a Victorian-era London where humans are at war with a powerful inhuman enemy, you use steampunk weaponry to fight the supernatural.

Article By: Gabrielle Gosset

Xbox One Exclusives

he release of the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft are exciting with the new graphics, hardware, and motion gaming possibilities, but what about the real excitement: the games.

With the PS4 already being released last week and selling more than 1 million consoles in the first 24 hours, some gamers out there have already gotten a little taste of the next generation of gaming. There are some games that are being rereleased for the new systems like Call of Duty Ghosts and Battlefield 4, but there are also some new games coming at launch and in the coming months. While not all the games announced have been released for the new console, with most of the best being saved for the holiday season, here’s a little list of games to keep an eye on and maybe add to your holiday list.

Dead Rising 3 (Nov. 22) is another continuation to a franchise, this time on Microsoft’s side of exclusives. The creative zombie-killing goes even farther into madness with the ability to create even more ridiculous contraptions to kick your undead killing rampages up a notch.

Killer Instinct (Nov. 22) is revived series from the early nineties that will be bringing intense, colorful graphics and brutal fighting scenes.

It’s a resurgence of arcade style fighting brought into the next decade on the next gen console.

Ryse (Nov. 22) is a hack and slash cinematic adventure game set in ancient Rome. The graphics are incredible, but the gameplay seems rather simplistic due to its cinematic style. Either way, it seems like a great launch title that is an interesting new kind of game.

Titanfall (Mar. 13) is a mix of first person shooter and mech fighter with insane graphics and intriguing gameplay that makes it a huge exclusive seller for the Xbox One system. While it’s a bit further out in terms of release, it will be well worth the wait.

Halo 5 (TBA) was not a surprising announcement as it has been known that Halo 4 was the start of a new trilogy of games. While not much has been announced besides the E3 trailer, Halo continues to be a powerful franchise for the Xbox and gamers can only imagine how amazing the graphics will be after seeing how far 343 Industries pushed the Xbox 360 to the limit with Halo 4.

Sunset Overdrive (TBA) is a stylized open world shooter that looks amazing and has an almost indie feel to it while being a bigger title than that. As an exclusive produced by Microsoft Studios, it has a lot of promise, even though not much of it has been seen yet.

Quantum Break (TBA) is an interesting action game that involves quantum physics and amazing cutscenes. The most exciting aspect of the game is that it will be accompanied by a TV series that will impact what happens in the game and vice versa.

These are just some of the exclusives for both systems to look out for during launch and in the coming months into the holiday season.

It’s no surprise that the Xbox One has more titles than the PS4, as that is how it has been for the last generation of consoles, but both consoles have promising titles coming out and a lot of potential for many more amazing games in the year to come.

08

E

lectronic cigarettes have become a billion dollar industry. Their presence has steadily increased over the last few years as more people switch to them from traditional tobacco products.

Like any new technology, fact and myth become fused together. Are e-cigarettes really a safe alternative to tobacco smoking or do they pose a risk to our health?

Electronic cigarettes operate by vaporizing a liquid often referred to as E-liquid or juice. The main component in juice is generally Propylene Glycol (PG) and or Vegetable Glycerin (VG). Natural and artificial flavors ranging from tobacco to ice cream sundae are added along with an option of varying nicotine levels. PG is used as a flavoring carrier in food products, as an ingredient in food coloring and also used as an additive in various medicines.

VG is a sweet, thick vegetable based liquid; both are non-toxic.

So, what are the possible benefits? E-cigarettes can be a great tool to help quit smoking traditional tobacco. E-cigs containing nicotine can help or stop the cravings of nicotine from regular tobacco. Because the user can choose their level of nicotine it is possible to gradually drop the level until the user no longer craves the substance. It has been reported that the sweet taste of E-cigs can make traditional cigarettes start to taste as they would to a non-smoker, encouraging the desire to quit.

In the United States you can smoke an E-cig just about anywhere. There are few or no laws in most states regarding where and when you can smoke.

That means smokers won’t be forced to endure harsh climates or be forced to leave the room.

Bars, movie theaters, restaurants, and many other places can be fair game. Unlike tobacco and second hand smoke, E-cigs don’t produce the infamous “ash tray smell.” To the contrary, most people seem to like the aromatic vapors of E-cigs especially the sweeter flavors like that smell like fruit or candy.

E-cigs are generally cheaper than traditional cigarettes in the medium to long term. Prices range from a few dollars for disposable E-cigs to over $100 for some of the high end kits. The medium range kits are generally the best option for people who are unfamiliar with the products. Batteries

like the Ego T range from $10-$15, are rechargeable, and can last for many months. They can plug into wall outlets or USB, with a charge that lasts for a day or two. The cartridges or clearomizers screw into the batteries and hold the E-juice.

They cost about $5, are disposable, and last for a few weeks.

The cheapest batteries should be avoided unless the user wants the skinniest battery possible.

They are often faulty and though many claim to be rechargeable they don’t usually last longer than a few weeks. Many of their cartridges come with pre-filled juice that could be old or half full. It is recommended to choose a model that allows you to add your own juice so you can guarantee freshness and be able mix your juices. Buying pre-filled cartridges is also often much more expensive.

Article By: Matt Benevento

“E-cigarettes can be a great tool to help quit smoking traditional tobacco.

E-cigs containing nicotine can help or stop the cravings of nicotine from regular tobacco. “

Finding the right juice is possibly the biggest challenge for a new E-smoker. Like traditional cigarettes users often find a brand they like and stick with it. Be prepared to try a few bad juices before you find the one that is right for you. Quality is just as important as flavor. Many juice manufacturers produce substandard tasting products so you might have to try a few different makers before you find the right juice. E-juice is one of the few instances where online reviews are generally unhelpful because juice preference can vary greatly between people. Some stores will let you test their juices. Having friends and family who E-smoke is also great opportunity to try new juices.

Although E-cigs have been praised as a safer alternative to smoking, many health and government agencies have not officially backed up this claim. The truth is that though many people have said they feel better or healthier since switching, the long term effects have yet to be determined.

Many doctors and health agencies have spoken out against the use of E-cigs because of the lack of data and fear that they could cause health problems in the future.

Though the future of E-cigs may be uncertain, they currently provide a cheaper, easier, and relatively safer option to traditional tobacco. Traditional smokers should consider giving this new technology a chance and hopefully be able to live healthier.

09

I

interact with a lot of people who I think undervalue the benefits of counseling and psychotherapy. I guess some people think that anxiety and depression aren’t real things, or if they are, they can’t be cured by talking to a therapist. I’m kind of appalled when I hear these opinions because mental health has a huge impact on our society. From school shootings to performance in the workplace, mental health is something that affects all of us, whether it be personally, by way of a loved one, or on an abstract level. Mental health is undoubtedly a pervasive issue in our country; one in five adults has experienced a mental health issue, and one in 20 Americans have lived with some kind of serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.

“It isn’t a rare phenomenon for mental health to be put on the back burner—there are lots of people who go without access to services that could save their sanity and sometimes, their lives.”

In our culture especially, I would think that Americans would be concerned now more than ever about mental health. We are reminded all too often of the devastating impacts mental illness can have when there is an incident such as the shooting in the Navy Yard. Instead of trying to pick up the pieces after these catastrophic events happen, we should be trying to preemptively strike to solve the problems before they occur.

It isn’t a rare phenomenon for mental health to be put on the back burner—there are lots of people who go without access to services that could save their sanity and sometimes, their lives. Although many group insurance plans include some services for mental health and substance use illnesses, there are still a lot of gaps. What’s more, approximately one third of those who are now covered in the individual market have absolutely no coverage for substance use disorders and nearly 20% have no coverage for mental health services, such as outpatient therapy visits and inpatient crisis intervention. A few years ago, the federal mental health parity law was passed, which required many (but not all) insurers to treat mental disorders with the same coverage limits as any other disease. However, this passage didn’t have any impact whatsoever on the poor, who didn’t have insurance in the first place.

ing. We are supposed to be a world leader. We preach equality and human rights to the rest of the world but Americans suffer and die due to lack of care. I am not saying that the current plan is perfect, in fact, it’s quite the contrary. However, establishing universal healthcare in the U.S. was a monumental moment in our history, one that I don’t think Americans are taking pride in or seeing as a good thing. It will be a long process of trial and error, which will be quite the adventure given how harmoniously our government works together, but ACA is a step in the right direction.

Mental healthcare is improved in two ways under the Affordable Care Act. First, the coverage of behavioral health services must be relatively equal to the coverage of medical and surgical care, signifying the new value being placed on the importance of mental health.

Second, plans must offer preventative services without charging customers a co-payment or coinsurance even if they haven’t met their yearly deductible. Preventive services are key to the issue because it is far easier to prevent mental health disasters than recover them.

There are a lot of kinks in our first draft of universal healthcare, but it’s a struggle we need to go through to catch up to our allies in terms of human rights. Mental health is one of the most important aspects of anyone’s health and it is finally starting to be treated as such.

I hope that in the future we will see the problems get ironed out as we strive to achieve a universal healthcare that doesn’t leave anyone out in the cold.

Going

Fortunately, all of that is about to change. The Affordable Care Act makes it necessary for insurance plans offered in the new market places to include a core set of services called “essential health benefits”. These range from emergency services to maternity and newborn care. Included as well are “mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment (this includes counseling and psychotherapy). Plans will also be covering alcohol-misuse screening and counseling, depression screening for both adults and adolescents, domestic and interpersonal violence screening for women, and behavioral assessments for children. One of the best aspects is that people won’t be denied coverage based upon their pre-existing conditions, which is a huge victory for many people with mental health concerns. Now, chancing employers or insurance providers does not require pretending that a pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis doesn’t exist.

These new requirements push our healthcare system ahead leaps and bounds, giving mental health the attention it deserves and so often does not receive. They comprise one of the largest expansions to mental health and substance use disorder coverage in a generation. The expansion could mean preventing tragedies and saving lives.

I was thrilled to hear these improvements to our healthcare system, because up until now, we were the only developed country without universal healthcare. That’s pretty embarrass-

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Article By: Jori Breslawski

New York State Needs

GENDA A

s American states go, New York is a pretty good to place to live the life you want to live. Sure, the taxes are high, a significant chunk of state revenue goes towards New York City and the public schools aren’t always the best, but at least you can live your life without massive institutionalized hate (the Stop and Frisk policy of the NYPD is a huge, awful exception).

An important reason for this atmosphere of tolerance (besides a liberal tradition and a diverse population) is that New York State has a powerful human rights law. The IvesQueen Anti-Discrimination Bill was enacted

by Governor Dewey in 1945 (the first of its kind in the nation), prohibiting discrimination based upon race, color, national origin and creed, and has been subsequently updated to include in the prohibition disabilities, religious practices, and sexual orientation.

Three years before the United States had signed the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, New York State was pushing a legal response to rampant discrimination and institutionalized hatred.

Yet, there exists a major absence in this bill, and that is the stated protection of the transgendered community from discrimination and hate crimes. While gender anti-discrimination laws exist in certain county and city legal codes (including Buffalo’s), no statewide gender anti-discrimination law is currently in effect.

For the past ten years, a legal response to this loophole, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) has been floating in the nether region between the State Assembly and Senate. As seems to be common in two house systems, GENDA has passed the Assembly floor multiple times but has as of yet not been discussed in the Senate.

PULSE Article By: Adam Johnson

A Call Against Inaction

GENDA specifically looks to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression, a complex phrase which it defines as “having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or expression whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.” It is here that some of the difficulty of the law can be seen, and may perhaps explain why the Senate has been reluctant to bring forth the bill for discussion.

“GENDA specifically looks to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression...”

Gender identity is vague and diffusive: it exists both within itself and within society at large. Masculinity, femininity, androgyny and all those other labels are not solid definitions but swirling bits of relative ideas, constantly changing to fit new thoughts and symbols.

Unlike biological sex, nothing physically about you makes you a specific gender (and even sex has been argued to not be as stable as it seems). Much like ‘race’, gender is the result of an infinite amount of little influences personal and societal, relational and symbolic. So when confronted by the legal system and its need to solidly define, gender can be problematic.

GENDA tries to address this difficulty by being as broad as it possibly can. It tries to halt prejudice towards those with different gender identities, but fails to elucidate just what gender identity is. Yes, gender identity

can emerge from behavior or image (i.e. how a person is ‘read’ by others) but gender must exist prior to both for it to be a part of someone’s being. Thus, while GENDA focuses on the results of gender, it doesn’t attempt to establish a set definition of a gendered being.

Such an uncertainty may seem a bit scary (for all uncertainty creates at least a little bit of fear in our neurotic minds), but I argue that this can actually be the legislation’s strength.

The law, like all those other structures that help to define our lives, is a living, breathing organism- it needs to be vague to accurately deal with ever-changing conditions. Human rights are vague on purpose; when so many things are relative, setting something down in stone can cause a lot of problems. GENDA would in no way solve all the discrimination transgendered folk face, but it would be a step in the right direction to provide a way out from institutionalized bias.

But why should you, the reader, care? Well, transgender is not some alien concept separate from your life. In a world where the concept of gender is constantly afloat, we cannot have a set gender; there is no ‘right’ way for someone to behave. What defines masculine now may be feminine later and so on. Thus, we are all in a sense open to gendered discrimination- no one is immune.

Gender discrimination is not something that can be ignored, placed as the problem of a few outsiders. When someone is discriminated against for not acting or looking like what the discriminator thinks that someone should be, the very essence of American defined liberty is threatened.

We are all free in this nation to be who we wish to be. It now falls to the New York State Senate to legally protect this hallowed principle.

11

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oday you have probably checked your texts, read your multiple e-mail accounts, checked Facebook, skimmed Reddit, scrolled through Tumblr, and made a tweet. Perhaps you rolled out of bed to slouch over your laptop to meet your morning social networking quota, but more likely, you probably did it from the comfort of your still-warm comforters as you gazed at the glowing screen of your phone. And all before breakfast, a shower, or brushing your teeth. By the time you are actually en route to class or work, you have probably rinsed and repeated this ritual several times over, eventually limiting your scanning to your favorite two or three pages.

A favorite page for over 1 million people on Facebook is the Humans of New York page, or HONY, for short. This page chronicles the interaction between one Brandon Stanton and the rest of the humans living in New York City by posting photographs (taken by Brandon), coupled with quotes from the people in the photographs. What began as a personal hobby for Brandon became an instant sensation and is currently “liked” by 1.7 million people. The stories that are shared on the HONY page are short, long, personal, vague, optimistic, pessimistic, and every shade in between. For many people, this page encompasses the full range of human emotions in this divine experience we call life and is, therefore, an inspiring and intimate facet of the world wide web.

For others, however, this page is merely further evidence of the decline of our society. We are collectively developing increasingly digital interactions with one another. We make dinner dates via text, we send birthday wishes through Facebook, and we send gifts through Amazon. Our lives have become so engulfed in our multi-media that real, human interactions are preceded by our virtual actions.

Conversations are cut short because they “already saw that on Facebook” and phones are out and texting even in the midst of living, breathing company.

The HONY page, then, is paradoxical: a distant, virtual page on the internet that documents and promotes the intimate connections of strangers. Even as it encourages human-to-human interaction, the HONY page, by the very act of being a page on Facebook, is viewed most often by individuals, scanning the page like any other social networking site, on their phone, on their laptop, at work, at school, everywhere.

What makes HONY unique, however, is it’s ability to eloquently share stories of love, strife, failure, and triumph, which are not only beautiful in their own right, but are made all the more real by putting a face to the stories (or sometimes, a pair of shoes or a diary). Thus, viewers are left with much the same feeling as that of an audience after a movie: the feeling of emotional stirring, a momentary philosophical shift, a very slight (and perhaps fleeting) expansion of one’s world view.

But in reality, you are still sitting alone, plugged into your phone as the UB Stampede careens towards South Campus, or perhaps you are plugged into your laptop, curled up and procrastinating in a fifth-floor

The Importance of Connections Article By: Audrey Foppes

carrel. Yet you still feel as though you have expanded your capacity to connect with others.

This sensation of growth is not completely unfounded. Our ability to empathize makes it possible for human beings to relate to situations we have never personally experienced.

We are able to read news stories about loss that make us appreciate our own dry homes and living families or watch movies that shape our opinions about the morality of war and genocide without ever experiencing a tsunami or fighting overseas.

In the same way, our empathy allows us to care, if only momentarily, for the people featured in HONY’s photography. For a moment, we care about them as we try to understand their stories. This illusion is broken, however, the minute we click away to scroll through Reddit or laugh at the latest Buzzfeed link. Try to remember in five minutes, an hour, or at the end of the day what you found so moving, and you have to strain to remember all the details, or may not remember at all.

“Making an actual connection, not just experiencing the sensation of being connected, via the internet requires effort, just as it does in real life.”

This phenomenon, this ephemeral, yet intense connection we feel during our interactions over the internet speaks to the parallel between the virtual and the real world. Making an actual connection, not just experiencing the sensation of being connected, via the internet requires effort, just as it does in real life. As its name would suggest, the world wide web connects the international community, the majority of its inhabitants, and therefore, networking to make connections is quite possible and made astoundingly easy. It does, however, require an active participation in the social platforms available on the internet, rather than the passivity that most social networking sites promote.

This passivity is founded in the fact that surfing the web is almost never a group activity, especially with the advent of smartphones, iPods and Pads, laptops, tablets, and so on. Technology is becoming more individualized, even as our global connectivity increases, and one’s actions on them are subsequently made more solitary. Therefore, the very act of surfing the internet is made into an individual, passive activity.

Furthermore, there are more and more social networking sites and apps available to the tech-savvy consumer. Therefore, less time is spent on each platform and we become observers, quickly skimming our bookmarked pages to stay “up to date” on the latest fads, vines, and viral videos, never truly investing ourselves in the purpose of a single site. Indeed, many sites are not meant to be invested in and have instead marketed themselves exclusively for the mindless page-scanner. Sites like Buzzfeed, Funny or Die, and Cheezburger capitalize on the idea of instant gratification: simple wording and image-heavy features make these sites popular for those of us who are looking for a quick distraction.

Moreover, these and similar sites manipulate the sensation of connectivity by featuring stories about other people, shared experiences, or relatable stories. By sharing stories

to which most of us can relate, especially when they are featured in order to make fun of whatever outburst or mishap is documented and we as the audience are invited to make comments, the sense of a community is created because the majority of viewers will have a similar reaction. Similarly, those whose reactions differ from the majority of the comments are then deemed virtually as outcasts. In this way, very real feelings of comradery, disconnect, and rejection can be generated by participating (even by reflexively leaving comments) in a social networking platform. In reality, however, you are merely interacting with the disconnected thoughts of other faceless identities on the internet, and therefore, any sense of community you feel is only the sensation of connection, not a real connection.

That is why HONY is so exceptional among the many virtual communities. By focusing exclusively on the intimate connection that can be made between strangers and documenting that interaction, HONY becomes inspiring. In a world wherein most of us make largely digital connections with people, Brandon Stanton is stepping out to really ask, to really know people.

What’s more surprising is how willing Brandon’s interviewees seem to be to open up about very personal stories (including abortion, divorce, lost love, regret, death, and personal fears). Furthermore, the people featured on HONY’s page encompass a range of culture, race, class, gender, and age, yet all of them are willing to share, perhaps not all to the same length, but they all share, thereby creating a diverse page of stories.

HONY’s message is exceptional to us because it illustrates what has become a lost art to many of us. The majority of people no longer feel comfortable striking up friendly and sincere conversation with complete strangers, yet HONY shows us that those can be some of the most intimate moments we experience. In publishing these interactions, Brandon is proving that people are not less willing to share, but that we are less willing to ask.

Our passivity in life could be argued to be a result of our daily saturation in passive “social networking” sites. We have honed our capability to leave a snappy comment or make a wry joke (generally, at the expense of someone else), but we have lost our capability to function comfortably in the company of other living, breathing human beings. We have become dependent on that distance that the internet offers. We have become emboldened by the anonymity that our virtual communities provide.

Yet Brandon’s page provides an exemplary glimpse of the possibilities of social networking. Dozens of individuals and organizations have been aided by Kickstarter campaigns that Brandon has organized after posting a picture and sharing a story. It is truly amazing and touching how quickly and in what numbers people can and will rally around a cause they feel is worthy. Yet, those people who donated had to consciously process those stories, take them to heart, and actively pursue the Kickstarter page in order to make a contribution. They did not accept merely “liking” a page as sufficient participation. And while it could be argued that electronically submitting funds to a cause still reeks of passivity, it’s impossible to dismiss the pride one feels when Brandon posts, days later, the smiling result of HONY’s latest act of charity.

As our computers shrink to our pockets, as our messages are simplified to text abbreviations and emoticons, as the world we live in is reduced to stereotypes for the sake of generalized humor, we must remember there are people on the other side of the web page. Our technological advances have yielded tools that can be used for extraordinary good and empowerment, yet they can also lead to the continued division and individualization of our society. But by putting a face to stories which reconnect us with our human experiences, HONY and similar sites are reminding us that even a virtual community can have real and wonderful impacts.

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Final day to get your prescriptions before break: December 17, 2013 at 5pm Re-Open on Wednesday January 14, 2014 8:30am SOUTH CAMPUS 17 MICHAEL HALL (LOCATED IN THE BASEMENT) 716.829.2368 sbi.buffalo.edu/pharmacy sbi-pharmacy@buffalo.edu

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d i a S e H he Said S

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Six Reasons To Not Be Thankful

It’s almost Thanksgiving and my grandma always gets shit faced and hits on my boyfriend. How do I diffuse the situation?

HS

You should start by suggesting a threesome. Your grandmother will probably back off after that. Worst case scenario; you might have to see your grandma naked.

SS

control pills for dinner mints. I’m sure she will get that message loud and clear.

I want to break up with my girlfriend but her mom makes the best stuffing and homemade gravy. What’s an appropriate waiting time to break up with her after Thanksgiving but not too close to Christmas?

Clearly, you should give up. Your grandma has more game than bingo and you can’t measure up. You need to get used to calling him “grandpa” now.

HS

My parents have a tradition every year to party super hard on Thanksgiving and then have loud crazy sex at night. I don’t want to go home this year if this is going to happen again but I don’t have the courage to talk to them about it.

SS

HS

Don’t try to talk to them about it or they will probably just have louder sex out of spite. After they think you have gone to bed for the night, call the police and report them for domestic violence.

SS

Switch out their KY Jelly for cranberry sauce for a holiday themed message. If that doesn’t work, feel free to switch out your mom’s birth

Unfortunately Christmas started a few weeks ago so you are going to have to wait. If you can make it past Christmas and New Years then you can properly dump her right before Valentines day.

I think the real answer to this question is: Just date her mom. It sounds like she has a lot to offer.

She can cook… yeah, that’s really all you need.

Last year I caught my brother having sex with the Thanksgiving turkey. I didn’t tell anyone because he swore would never do anything like that again. He has kept his word so far but, everytime he looks in the refrigerator he gets a perverse look on his face. What should I do?

HS

Talk to your mom about the benefits of hot spices and suggest a spicy

cajun Thanksgiving theme. Your brother will think twice before breaking his promise again.

work, you can always try the old North Face switch.

Direct him towards the jello mould, statistically it is the least consumed food product on Thanksgiving.

Either that, or tell him to aim for the mashed potatoes, they are already the same color as his baby gravy, so he won’t be caught.

Every year I am forced to watch hours of football games when my family comes to town for Thanksgiving. The odd thing is most of them don’t even regularly watch it, they just feel that it’s a tradition. How can I stop the suffering?

SS

I’m going to be really sad when various pumpkin flavored everything is off the market next month. How can I get my fix for the rest of the year?

HS

The only way to chase that high is to replace it with another. I have read that certain types of crystal meth possess a rich pumpkin aftertaste.

So get out there and start sampling, to find the sweet stuff that will keep you going for the next eleven months.

SS

What you need to do is start eating the flesh of Long Island girls. Their genes are 25% Starbucks, which means 10% of their makeup is pumpkin spice flavored lattes, iced fraps, and bagels. You will be able to absorb their essence this way and also get your fix. I recommend setting an Ugg Boot trap so you can snare them effectively. If that doesn’t

HS

Start reading up on the sport and find out which teams your relatives like. When the games are on make it a point to religiously support the opposing team and cite every personal demon of the players on your relatives’ team. Soon, they will get sick of watching and you can change the channel to a proper sport like curling.

SS

You need to become a super fan equipped with war paint and unbridled rage, that way you can trash the T.V. and no one will second-guess you. Make sure to get drunk off of bud light, eat shitty hot dogs, and yell things like “that wasn’t from the three point line” and “you call that a f*cking goal?!”, to solidify the fact that you are on your relatives’ side.

Send your questions to ubgeneration@gmail.com!

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“Our ability to empathize makes it possible for human beings to relate to situations we have never personally experienced.�

Photos By: Steve Bernhardt

“...we have lost our capability to function comfortably in the company of other living, breathing human beings.�

Drunksgiving 18

BuffaLove Article By: Laura Borschel As I sit here writing slightly drunk, I am reflecting on the tales and experiences of drunksgiving past. Tales involving turkeys, cranberry sauce, tequila, and gravy ending up in places that I would rather not say. But I digress, and look to the future of the current drunksgiving events.

Drunksgiving, or the day before Thanksgiving, is basically a national holiday for those who enjoy consuming copious amounts of alcohol. Because of the long weekend and time off of work, the day before Thanksgiving has emerged as one of the biggest drinking day of the entire year, right next to New Years. Buffalo in particular, always sees a huge turn out on the night before the omnipotent and all knowing turkey rises from the dead to share its bounty with us.

Every year there are cases of people getting way too sloshed on the wrong kind of cranberry based products and getting DUI’s. That being said, there are police check points and drunk driving check points all across the city.

Many of you may be wondering, what are the benefits of participating in Drunksgiving if the cops are everywhere policing everyone’s behavior? Well the first obvious rule to any drunken activities is that you never drink and drive. All you have to do is get someone else who is sober to do it for you, that sounds much better doesn’t it?

Now that you have all the rules, allow me to help all of you navigate what I like to call the Turkey Trot Bar Crawl. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the annual race on Thanksgiving day that is no fun and makes you want to dry heave after you cross the finish line. While I have never participated in the race, I feel that way after watching it, so I can only imagine that is what it is like to experience it.

Anyways, the basic rules of this particular bar crawl, is that you have to go to every single gay or gay friendly bar in buffalo on foot and order a festive holiday drink.

The rules however are not that simple, on top of that while at each bar one has to perform the chicken dance and recite lines from the Peanuts Thanksgiving Day Special on the bar top. In addition to this, you also have to consume whatever bar food each bar has on their menu to fulfill a grand Thanksgiving Frankenstein feast.

After going to every queer bar and buffalo and completing the challenge you get a golden turkey belt covered in rainbows and sunshine. Ok, so I may have made the last part up, but if you win, you get bragging rights and are the Queen of the Queen city.

At this point, it is pretty guaranteed that you will be either black out drunk or at the very least need someone to carry you home, so make sure you have friends with you to properly take

care of you during your drunken state.

The next morning you will no doubt feel like absolute crap, so I recommend getting some basic supplies beforehand to ease your hangover and other undesirable effects.

It is important to go out the night before and stock up on a few basic items. Water will of course be your best friend, so pop a couple of bottles in the fridge or buy a few gallon jugs.

You will also want to invest in aspirin so your inevitable morning headache can be quelled quickly. Investing in crackers and some sort of dry food that will be easy to digest is also a must when considering hangovers.

Thinking back on my own past adventures I have to say that participating in Drunksgiving is a serious must. It allows you to not only bond with your fellow Buffalonians, but allows you to expand your palate of drunken experiences into a whole new realm. You get to see friends that you have not seen since the summer, bond over your different experiences in a new shared one, and most importantly you get to bond as a family.

Overall, I suggest that all of you and peer pressure you (all of you that are 21+ of course) to participate and get to know your fellow neighbors in this wonderful city.

Although the vast majority of students head eagerly to holiday parties serving spiced rum and eggnog, there are those who decline alcoholic drinks for countless reasons, many of which are valid, but who, nevertheless, feel intimidated by the idea of attending social gatherings wherein they will be the odd one out. This anxiety is most often associated with parties and dinners thrown by collegiate peers, but it can also occur when one faces the thought of a Thanksgiving feast with the extended family.

There are many social stigmas associated with the act of alcoholic abstinence, but which don’t necessarily reflect the true position of those who do not drink. Oftentimes, those who do not drink get labeled as being a “square,” someone who dampens the life of the party (and are, therefore, often not included on future guest lists). Ironically, they are then pegged as “antisocial” because they stop coming to parties.

Furthermore, they are often assumed to be judgmental of those who are drinking, as someone who thinks they are above the “vice” of alcohol.

The problem with these assumptions (other than the fact that they are assumptions) is that they are often founded in a misinterpreted truth. The fact of the matter is that those who do not drink do tend to act a

little differently at parties. This is namely because it is intimidating to be the only person (or one of a few) not participating in a social action that is uniting everyone else in the room (not to mention the fact that your brain is one of the few not being chemically altered). Everyone else is sharing an experience that you are not a part of. It’s like going to a dinner party and not eating. Since most parties generally center around the act of drinking, it is difficult and awkward to attend a party without participating in its main purpose.

Furthermore, there is often no alternative activity planned.

The entertainment is expected to come later, when everyone is a little tipsier—invariably, stories will be received as more hysterical than they actually are, laughs become louder and longer, despite the fact that jokes often get repeated.

And almost certainly, someone will say or do something that everyone will find hilarious.

Although these parties can be wonderful fun, as the person on the sidelines not drinking, it does become increasingly more difficult to find humor in whatever story or situation is at hand. So, with no drink and no activity, you are left to socialize. But we all know how quickly coherent conversation disappears when alcohol is involved. Therefore, with no drink, no activity, and no conversation, what are you left to do but thank the host and retire early?

This scenario is, of course, describing most closely a typical college house party, or some other such drinking event. Family get-togethers

are even trickier, since they are not a house full of people you’ve never met, but your family, and you are, presumably, more interested in visiting with them and more invested in not offending them.

BuffaLove

The key to navigating these differences, which are not merely different actions, but allude to a deeper difference of opinion and attitude, is respect. The assumptions we make about the position of the people around us are almost never true, even if their actions are different from our own.

The problem here is that those who do not drink tend to be (or appear to be) judgmental and defensive in anticipation of the judgment they expect to receive from those who are drinking.

Furthermore, those who drink tend to seem judgmental of those who do not drink in anticipation of the criticism they expect to receive. And both these expectations are based on the assumptions that one is a square and one is obnoxious, one is relaxed and one will criticize.

Drysgiving

T

hanksgiving is, for most of us, is the first of many celebrations during this festive holiday season. The holidays mean being with family, and being with family means parties, parties mean food, and food means drinking (and I don’t mean milk).

Therefore, even in the face of peer (or family) pressure, remember you have the right to drink or not drink whatever you choose. Be confident in your actions, BUT, at the same time, make it clear to those around you that you respect their decisions as adults to drink, just as you expect them to respect your decision to not drink. After all, the old adage is true: you really can only control your own actions. Remember that they are doing what makes them happy.

Therefore, do what makes you comfortable, relax, enjoy their company, and appreciate the friends and family you are Article By: Audrey Foppes fortunate to have in your life.

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Conversations II Article By: Sushmita Sircar

P

eople are interchangeable, places less so. I move into the house- windows painted blue, overhanging trees- and in its desolation it represents every life that I have not wanted to inhabit. The falling apart of families is not hard to read, even when the language is unfamiliar, and the muted quarrels, quiet growing apart, wordless withdrawals of trust, fermenting rancor, of every family I’ve lived with since my parents’ divorce leaves me no illusions of the structures people hide behind.

Aparna is unhappy. The accumulated odds and ends of life are overabundant here- greeting cards piled carelessly, address books by the table, bookshelves documenting a life devoted to work- all indicators of an absence that calls forth overcompensation. And indeed, when we talk over dinner, her conversation is scripted, a stilted reiteration of past stories. I wonder briefly, if she speaks Bengali, as her name would suggest, but the cutting edge to her voice when she addresses me offers me no room to steer the conversation. In her brusque responses, curt recital of the city’s landmarks, I sense that I am trespassing into unwanted terrain, and do not want to proffer a few broken phrases as a gesture of intimacy that would be surely unwelcome.

The gravity of Lidis’ silences make the strained measure of our weighted replies bearable. The cropped hair frames the darting eyes that lean into the nuances of idle chatter, convey amusement when she briefly meets my eyes as Aparna turns away from the table, then polite detachment as she offers to help Aparna. It is her nottelling of the stories behind the languages she speaks, her gliding over personal connotations to the facts I try to elicit from her, that draws me to the meanings that her words obscure amidst the daily plethora of words that hold no implications, no thought processes, nothing but self-referentiality in an ever perpetuating longing to communicate with nothing to say.

Teaching pre-schoolers started out as a means of escaping the adult world, grown-up platitudes of work and drudgery. In Nadia’s tumbling over on the ground in her excitement at seeing me, in the ingenuity that naming oneself “Doremi” for English class involves, in the first glimpses of interest that storytelling provokes in Rebecca’s eyes, I can escape the mundane conversations of adult life.

It is also a means to fund my own language learning, to travel recklessly with all ties automatically dated to end with the academic year. It is the one post that schools are always looking to fill, and the repetition involved in teaching five year olds about cats, clouds and greetings repeatedly is obscured by my being in their exact position every year as well.

From conflating the five tones in Chinese and seeking meaning in monosyllabic spurts, to eliding consonants for their neighboring vowels in the softened cadences of Bengali, to the exaggerated musicality of Finnish- every new start is a jumble of reversed syntax, muddled phonetics, cobbled-together grammar. The routine these sentences navigate, the words they refer to, are just as banal, as trite, as their counterparts in English. But their novelty obfuscates this standard for a while, and while it lasts, I find myself listening with delight to a squabbling couple on the pavement for the ways they contort their insults, convey their hatred, suppress any semblance of authenticity in their avowal of affections.

“Szia,” I let slip to Lidis one morning, as she leaves the house mid-afternoon.

Hungarian was one of those languages I had fiddled with for a time, for the sake of unfurling conversations in cavernous bars and frosty evenings, but had never gotten the chance to crystallize into lasting knowledge.

Lidis looks up startled, mid-step. “Oh, hi, you’re back early,” she murmurs, before rushing past me. I hear a drifting, “I’m late for class,” as she turns the corner, having paid no attention to the perfunctory salutation offered as an opening. I wonder if I had pronounced the word wrong- I pronounce it a few times in quick succession, comparing it against recalled memories. Or perhaps the word intimates a connection, a common attachment to a language that she considers alien to me. English is not her first language, but the ease with which she speaks it must only leave condescension for my own feeble efforts to slip in other languages.

Later in the evening she asks me if I speak Hungarian. I shrug an inconclusive assent.

NO APOLOGY:

I will not apologize for my religion

E

Article By: Zainab Alkhamis

veryone can relate; the news about the Boston bombings was unexpected. After hearing the news about the bombing (which injured approximately 260 people, taking the life of three), Amani Abuhamra, a current student at UB, was very touched by the Muslim community’s reaction towards the event. She noticed how Muslims were becoming more afraid, more distant, all because of the negative backlight of how the media represented, and continues to represent, acts committed by a Muslim – based on the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. Thus, she felt inspired to gather a group of students to produce a short film, titled “No Apology.” Abuhamra, with a sponsorship from Western New York Muslims managed to gather 21 participants to speak up about how they felt about the definite stigma against Muslims in the media.

“I felt in order to get the message out, if people saw young students in college living their lives and actually are Muslims saying, “this is my religion and I’m not ashamed of it.”

She, and the rest of WNYMuslims team were very happy with the results and how big the outcome was. Due to the success of the film, after the initial screening at UB, “No Apology” will be screened around universities and communities in the region (such as Niagara University, Rochester Islamic Community Center, and SUNY at Binghamton), in order to promote and spread awareness.

The film’s main message intended to portray the opinions of student Muslims condemning the mainstream media for facilitating the continued hate and ethnocentrism of Muslims - simply by focusing on religion and ethnicity, rather than the crime alone. One of the participants in the film, Hadeal Attal a sophomore psychology major, stated “I chose (to get involved with) this film because I wanted to be a part of something bigger, something that portrays Muslims in a better light - even if I was a small part! I also like to believe I’m someone who is very proud of my religion and I wanted to express proudly, ‘I’m a Muslim!’

Unfortunately, WNYMuslim’s main office, in downtown Buffalo, received a hateful, anonymous message against the film, but in such big events it’s expected. As Abuhamra said, “When someone takes a stand to get a message across there’s always someone who doesn’t agree and it’s a good thing. We took it as a good sign that we’re doing a good thing.”

Dr. Faizan Haq, a current professor at UB (who teaches history of Islamic culture history) spoke at the UB premiere, and quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: “In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” With this quote, he conveyed that silence is a deadly disease; it kills communities and that the best time to speak up about who you are, what you stand for, is NOW. No one should be afraid to be who they’re. No one should be ashamed of their religion – just because someone else chose to label it, based on preconceived and ignorant judgments.

As long as there’s ignorance, the hatred continues. Speaking up about something wrong is merely the beginning to a journey of a thousand miles; it begins with a single step.

Subscribe today to WNY newsletter for more upcoming films and events at www.wnymuslims.org, and keep an eye out for the final screening of the short film “No Apology,” sometime in January 2014.

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Parting Shots Article By: Nick Robin

A

surprising number of college students lack what I consider basic skills such as public speaking, personal hygiene, and how to take care of their credit score. However nothing breaks my heart more than going to a party and observing thirty kids surrounding a keg of beer, pumping it till their arms are sore, and wondering why they are getting half-foam cups of beer. How to properly take care of a keg should be a gen-ed requirement so consider this a course summary.

Allow me to begin with basics: A “full keg” is actually a ½ barrel standard keg; these are most commonly what you see at parties. For reference these are about

23 inches tall and spit out around 165 12oz servings.

Don’t get it confused with its smaller brother, the quarter keg, which some people incorrectly refer to as a “half keg.” Half barrel kegs of “discount” beer such as Pabst or Coors will run you approximately $70-90 but if you’re looking to spoil your guests with a nice Hefeweizen or IPA you’re looking at dropping upwards of $120. Locally, Consumers Beverages on Sheridan Drive (just east of Niagara Falls Blvd) has a wide selection, and even Wegmans carries a couple of half and quarter kegs. While you’re there, make sure to pick up a tap (pump)—the deposit is around $30 and not having one will kill the party.

So you’ve decided on a half of Miller High Life for your frat rager tonight, dragged it out of the store and down the stairs into your basement. I know you’re anxious, but you are going to have to let that baby sit for a while and settle, at least two hours to be safe.

While you wait for the foam to settle, go out and grab a couple of bags of ice and a round tub. A warm keg equals foamy beer which will certainly result in a bad party.

MasterChef Junior

A

nd so concludes one of the most riveting TV shows my wide eyes have ever experienced.

At first glance, MasterChef Junior looks like just another pile of reality television garbage, only this time, they got the young’uns involved. When I saw the previews, I rolled my eyes and said a little prayer for the kids who would be caught in Gordon Ramsay’s f-bomb crossfire.

But I would be lying if I said I didn’t have every intention to watch it happen.

And I did.

And I was shocked.

Though I knew the premise of the program was that these peanuts were the crème de la crème of baby chefs, I was thoroughly unprepared for the amount of mastery these kids were about to dish out. Even in the first challenge, which was technically still an extension of the audition process, they were thinking up meals I didn’t even know existed. The execution had me drooling and holding my heart, full of a ridiculous pride that only comes with hoping your own kids will

22

The Science of Keggers

After settling for a couple hours the keg will be ready to tap. Grab your tap, making sure the handle is in the up and unlocked position. Align the tap with the tabs at the mouth of the keg and in one smooth motion give the tap a clockwise turn while applying downward pressure. Once you have turned it all the way, pull the handle out and push down to lock your tap in. At this point there is no need to pump the tap as there is ample carbonation in the keg. Again, you want to let the keg sit for another twenty minutes or so before starting to pour. It is inevitable that the first few cups will be all foam so go ahead and toss these out. Once you have a steady flow make sure to pour with the nozzle below the tap and let gravity assist the flow. The biggest cause of foam is due to over pumping so pump sparingly only when there is a weak flow.

The keg is now tapped with a good flow and everyone is having a good time but be sure to remember some basic keg etiquette: Be patient, ladies first and for the love of god if you are going to pull a keg stand, hold onto the keg itself. Grabbing the bucket that holds the keg is a quick way to slip and break your neck.

Article By: Keighley Farrell someday be this incredible.

The entire series wasn’t just a testament to the talent of these young home-cooks, but also highlighted their unbelievable maturity and sense of camaraderie.

Whenever someone was in danger of being eliminated, every contestant would offer helpful words of support, hugging the weeping fallen warrior and holding their hand through the pain of rejection. Each eliminated hopeful would leave with a statement of wisdom and pride in their craft, always looking forward to the incredible things they would do as adults.

Perhaps more surprising than the talent and grace of the children, the sincerity and kindness of Ramsay himself was evident in every episode. When the kids were overwhelmed by (oh I don’t know) the crushing pressure of a national television competition, a construct that not even the most well-adjusted adults could fathom, Gordon would rush to the rescue.

When Sofia, age twelve, started crying during the layer-cake challenge, Ramsay ran over to get her back on track, cooing about how she need not cry, and that he would help her get where she needs to be.

His attitude with the children was astounding; he was always finding ways to help and encourage them without belittling their talent or disrespecting their struggle. After seeing him tear adults apart for years, I had a new respect for him and his craft while watching him mentor these young prodigies.

I won’t tell you who wins, because I really recommend marathoning this gem with some friends. (And a full stomach.) But I will say that I can’t wait for the next season, and until then, I will be burning cereal in the hopes that I, too, may become America’s next Junior MasterChef.

1. country between Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea 2. “not Sacajawea” 4. Something Juno didn’t have 5. Bobby Moynihan’s character 6. confusing side dish 8. your grandmother’s automobile 9. funnier in fiction 10. Columbus was a little lost 12. Topher Grace’s younger brother 13. popular 90’s metal band, known for their classic holiday 14. *see title 15. Mel Gibson’s finest role 17. giant Snoopy invades NY 19. white people shouldn’t wear headdresses because…

23. Do people still shop here?

3. April showers…

7. bring on the _______ Train 11. the international art of running back and forth chasing a ball because America 13. “Wah waah wah wah waaaah” 14. the original American farmer 16. foul inception 18. cylindrical-gelatinous-maroon-flavored-“food”product 20. Life of ________ 21. Charles Manson had one 22. John Wayne’s famous line as read by Peter Griffin’s

Tiffin Room Crystal Rock

UB Bookstore Paula's Donuts Coles Laughlin's

Holiday Inn

Status Limos

Ted's Hot Dogs

Buffalo Chophouse

Eatons

SBI DAY 2013

November 19th Located in the Student Union Lobby

10am to 2pm

Tim Hortons

Red Osier Landmark Wendy's

Banchetti's D'Arcy McGee's

Adventure Landing

Hard Rock CafĂŠ Buffalo Wild Wings

Besta Pizza Loughran's B&R

European Wax Center

SBI would like to extend a sincere THANK YOU to all of the sponsors that donated to SBI DAY 2013