Volume IV, Issue I
www.thefineprintuf.org
FALL 2011 FREE
#occupy: from wall st. to gainesville, p. 22
{
in
this issue “WE ARE THE 99 PERCENT”
(pictured right) Just a few photos of ordinary people, united by the conviction that corporate money should stay out of politics.
p. 20
Published with support from Campus Progress/Center for American Progress (online at CampusProgress.org). Editorial Board
Kelley Antoniazzi Travis Epes Lydia Fiser Chelsea Hetelson Henry Taksier Jeremiah Tattersall
Photo Editor
Henry Taksier
Layout Director
Kelley Antoniazzi
Creative Writing Editor
David Eardley
Art Director
Susan Bijan
Web Editor
Travis Epes
Copy Editors
Lydia Fiser Hyesu Kim
Page Designers
Kelley Antoniazzi Isabel Branstrom Chelsea Hetelson Erica Hernandez Irina Wang
MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to serve the Gainesville community by providing an independent outlet for political, social and arts coverage through local, in-depth reporting.
GETTING INVOLVED
When the Springs Run Dry
(pictured above) Falling rain took millions of years to create over 900 artesian springs in Florida, and it’s only taking us a few decades to destroy them. In the face of budget cuts and apathetic politicians, independent researchers are fighting the system.
p. 24
columns Monthly Manifesto: indiegainesville, p. 09 A collective of independent local businesses takes on national chains and property owners downtown. City Farmer: DIY Sourdough Cultures + Chesnuts A’plenty, p. 10 A step-by-step guide to making your own sourdough starter (relax, you only need two ingredients). Plus, chesnuts are in season!
spotlights Masterpiece-of-sh*t?, p. 12 What’s the deal with those statues all over campus? Where do they come from? And who’s paying for them? An intrepid reporter investigates. A Streetcar Desired, p. 30 Gainesville-landia? Portland and Eugene, Oregon model a streetcar and public transit system for Gainesville’s future.
features On the Rise Again, p. 28 When UF raises tuition, students raise hell. But did Rick Scott’s administration leave our university with no other choice?
02 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
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LETTERS, ETC.
from The fine print’s
E D I T O RI A L D ES K by Chelsea Hetelson
In years past, Fine Printers have been nomads. We’ve wandered from coffee shop to coffee shop to hold meetings and discuss stories. We’ve camped out in living rooms and bedrooms to meet deadlines and then revise those deadlines and make new deadlines. We’ve been like roaming, wild cattle, graz-
thefineprintuf.org Multimedia, more stories, blogs and a community events calendar. PLUS! Comment on stories, see photos from the printed issue (and more!) IN COLOR, flip through a digital version of the printed issue and much, much more, all updated throughout the month.
ing with each other in search of a place to call our own. A place to call home. This ends now. Effective October 1st, 2011, The Fine Print is legally bound to an up-
stairs space with huge windows, white boards, lots of shelves and even a flower box. We have
an office!
No longer will we bother store owners by loudly moving tables so our enormous group of six or seven can sit together and only buy three drinks among us. No longer will we try the patience of our roommates who are awoken at 4:00am to the sound of upset pacing and
Untitled by Gracy Malkowski
Want to see your art in The Fine Print? Send it to editors@thefineprintuf. org. 300 dpi, please.
curt, irritated discussions hours and days after deadline. No longer will we be tempted to sleep
where we work.
We are real people now with an office building, one parking spot and a nameplate. Where does The Fine Print do our work you
ask? The Office, nbd.
We are currently accepting applications for the following positions: Dwight, Jim, Michael, Kelly Kapoor. Toby’s and Pam’s need not apply. If you’d like to come visit our new grown-up
space come visit us at 200 NE 1st St., Suite 201.
If you’d like to work with us, too, fill out our staff application on our website and we’ll get
back to you. If there’s one thing we always need it’s help. And money. So, two things. Help
and money. Wine, too.
Letter to the Editor | “A Closer look at TOMS” I’m writing because it appears the writer of “A Closer look at TOMS” had some unanswered questions that are easily answered. Some statements were, “TOMS is vague and unspecific when defining their own standards” or from the Jamaican human rights researcher, “They do not tell us much about how they select the communities that receive the donated shoes, and to a certain extent, this almost does not matter.” They seemed confused, which could have been solved simply by going on the Toms website, or had been asked during the interview. On the Toms website (www.toms. com) one can view ‘Our Movement’
which will share “How we Give.” This section should provided all the answers to the questions expressed. The page has videos, written statements, graph and charts, and even a Giving Blog and down-loadable Giving Report that go into even greater depth. It’s quite informative. Had I known this is what the reporter wanted to know, I would have gifted her a hard copy of the report. (I still have copies if you still want one.) Well, I hope that helps shine some light on subject and the article “A Closer Look At Toms.” - Berto Owner/Entrepreneur, Gifthorse Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 03
Paper Cuts
Ouch! The truth stings, doesn’t it? Paper Cuts are our short, erratic and slightly painful updates on current local and national events. See our website for more Paper Cuts at thefineprintuf.org
Bystander Intervention
Image courtesy of the Nationaal Arc hief via Flickr Co image can be foun mmons. The orig d at http://bit.ly/iA inal YOvR
This past April, Vice President Joe Biden, who wrote and helped pass into law the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, spoke at the University of New Hampshire to promote a new initiative set forth by the Obama administration. A 19-page “policy guid-
age for all women is one in six. The percentage for college males is 6 percent. Title IX works in conjunction with the Jeanne Clery Act of 1990, which requires schools to report three years worth of campus crime every Oct. 1 as well as certain security policies, includ-
STRIVE, UF’s rape awareness program, plans to expand into a model based on UNH’s Bringing in the Bystander program. ance” was sent by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to all school districts, colleges and universities that receive federal funding. The letter outlines and reinforces current requirements for handling sexual violence under Title IX, which was originally designed to protect students against sexual discrimination, including sexual harassment and assault. Twenty percent of all female college students will experience sexual assault. That’s one in five. The national aver04 |T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
ing sexual assault policies. UNH, where Biden made his speech, has been nationally recognized as having one of the most progressive rape awareness and prevention programs in the country. UNH has two initiatives that have served as models for other colleges: Know Your Power and Bringing in the Bystander. Know Your Power is a social marketing campaign encouraging students to intervene when they witness domestic violence or sexual assault. Bringing
in the Bystander is an education and awareness program that teaches students through interactive discussion and learning exercises that everyone has a role in ending violence against women. Beginning January, STRIVE, UF’s rape awareness program, plans to expand into a model based on UNH’s Bringing in the Bystander program. Bringing in the Bystander is a “90-minute, face-to-face educational program [...] of structured programming, interactive presentations and discussions, that teaches not only statistics, but skills for helping, too,” said Jennifer Stuart, the coordinator of STRIVE. “It’s a more direct effort to get out the education and prevention,” said Ron Del Moro, a peer educator. Look for the upcoming full-length article in the Winter issue of The Fine Print. by Chelsea Hetelson
COLUMN / PAPER CUTS
Not My Representative On Sept. 15, Rep. Cliff Stearns (RFla.) of Ocala, the chair of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, drew national attention when he challenged Planned Parenthood once again on its spending. Stearns launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s financial records, requesting documents that go back 12 years from locations across the country. Many, including Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the senior Democrat of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), the ranking member of Stearns’ subcommittee, accuse Stearns of having no “predicate that would justify a sweeping and invasive request to Planned Parenthood [who had] not identified any pattern of misuse of federal funds, illegal activity or other abuse that would justify a broad and invasive congressional investigation.” However, Stearns is still hung up on the now infamous “other money” riddle. “Although Planned Parenthood is barred from using federal funds to perform abortions, these funds are fungible and allow the group to use funds from other sources ostensibly for abortions,” Stearns said in a statement. Stearns is not only looking out for the well-being of federal money already spent but also for money in the future. “With a national debt exceeding $14 trillion, funding of Planned Parenthood should be evaluated with other expenditures to reduce the deficit,” Stearns added. In Planned Parenthood’s fiscal year of 2007-2008, according to their annual report, they received $363.2 million in government grants, which represents about a third of Planned Parenthood’s annual income. Stearns has also been making headlines with his new investigation into federal loans totaling $535 million made to Solyndra, a failed Californiabased solar panel manufacturer. This September they filed for bankruptcy and laid off 1,100 workers. Stearns was quoted as saying the U.S. can’t compete with China to make solar panels and wind turbines. When called out directly by President Obama on this statement, Stearns clarified he was referring to cheap labor. “We should invest in and provide incentives to companies that can ex-
ploit our competitive advantage in technology and innovation [...] and not subsidize industries when these other nations have cheaper labor, no environmental or safety standards, less regulation and easy access to raw materials,” Stearns said. Why waste U.S. money on American workers and companies that actually manufacture a product in the U.S. when it can be done more cheaply in China by exploited underpaid workers in unregulated conditions? What we should really be investing in is developing new technology. Technology research and development definitely deserve federal funding, especially when it’s for health care
result to a dragonfly (that’s you) splattered against the windshield of a truck (that’s Monsanto), and you’ll probably lose your farm. Then again, if an entire swarm of dragonflies descended on the truck at once, they may accomplish something. In July, Florida Organic Growers, a Gainesville-based nonprofit established in 1987 to promote sustainable agriculture, joined a coalition of family farmers, seed companies, and environmental organizations representing hundreds of thousands of individuals in a lawsuit against Monsanto, led by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. Shortly after the lawsuit began, Monsanto issued a statement saying they
If you happen to be a small farmer, and Monsanto decides to take you to court, you can reasonably compare the result to a dragonfly (that’s you) splattered against the windshield of a truck (that’s Monsanto), and you’ll probably lose your farm. for mothers and children, Head Start day care, public education and investing in American companies and laborers. Who these technologists will be in the future, what with a bunch of sick, under-supervised and under-educated children running around these days, is still unknown. Stearns represents Florida’s Sixth Congressional District, which include parts of Gainesville and Ocala. by Chelsea Hetelson
Florida Organic Growers take on the GMO Empire Since March, organic farmers across the country have been at legal war with Monsanto, the world’s leading producer of genetically altered seeds (and possibly the world’s leading producer of public outrage). The conflict emerges when pollen from modified crops produced by Monsanto gets carried by the wind and genetically contaminates organic farms. Plaintiffs claim Monsanto has sued over 100 farmers for patent infringement, even though their crops had been unwillingly contaminated. If you happen to be a small farmer, and Monsanto decides to take you to court, you can reasonably compare the
wouldn’t assert their patents against farmers who suffer “trace” amounts of transgenic contamination, but the promise wasn’t legally binding, and the plaintiffs aren’t convinced. And that’s all they want -- a legally binding promise that Monsanto will end its predatory use of patent enforcement to put smaller competitors out of business. In other news, a June 2011 ABC News poll reveals that 93 percent of Americans think genetically modified foods should be labelled, and that 57 percent of Americans would use those labels strictly for the purpose of avoiding them. Not everyone shares the same sentiment, though. The Center for Consumer Freedom prefers the term “genetically improved” and criticizes organic farmers for using “junk science” to market their products to a wealthy minority of suburban “elitists.” It should be noted that the Center for Consumer Freedom is a front group for Berman and Company, a public relations firm paid by tobacco companies, fast food restaurants, factory farms, and biotech producers, including Monsanto. by Henry Taksier
Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 05
FOR THE RECORD
Karl Seltzer, 24, Shaun Perira, 24 and Will Dueease, 24 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Photo by Bryce Lafoon.
Organic and locally grown record reviews steamed, lightly salted and with a dash of pepper.
Want to see your band here? Email digital music files or link to where we can hear your stuff to editors@thefineprintuf. org with the subject “For the Record.”
where
were we
// Greenland is Melting Shaun Perira// acoustic guitar and vocals Karl Seltzer// banjo and vocals
punk rock-infused Americana folk Released// Oct. 11 Recorded at// Medusa Productions Sounds like// The Avett Brothers Inspiration// Stories from their own lives Key tracks// “Always,” “For What It’s Worth,” “Daisy In The Field” Where to get it// free download at greenlandismelting. com and coming soon for order at paperandplastik.com
06 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
Greenland is Melting doesn’t just play bluegrass. And they certainly aren’t strumming high-fallutin’ “blu gras” with French accents. They prefer to define themselves as Americana grass. On their sophomore album, “Where Were We,” narrative lyrics blend with banjo and guitar-strumming for an appropriately swampy album. The band’s songwriting has come a long way since their first album, Seltzer said. The first full-length album, “Our Hearts Are Gold, Our Grass Is Blue,” was recorded in three days and mostly influenced by other bands. “Where Were We” is like
Will Dueease// upright bass, kick drum, rhythm section David Low// electric guitar
listening to a collection of short stories set to a unique folk music soundtrack. If you close your eyes, you’ll be transported to a wooden swing on the back porch, sipping sweet tea. The banjo chords on the opening track “For What It’s Worth” will keep your toes tapping. This year, the band, who are all 24-year-old UF graduates, have taken their Florida sound all over the country. They spent the first half of September playing a cross-country tour that ended at Awesomefest V in San Diego, Calif. Although the festival was their endpoint, it was “really just an excuse to go on a road
trip,” Dueease said. They put 5,500 miles on their ‘93 Ford Econoline van, which served as kitchen, bedroom and lounge. It is outfitted with flannel sheets, a laptop mounted in the TV cubby, a single burner stove and a bag full of orange candy slices. They spent 18 days on the road together - and still don’t hate each other. “It’s like I’ve been dating three dudes for four years now,” Dueease said. And they hope to continue their long-term relationship into the future. “We want to bring back the Gainesville music scene,” Perira said. by Ashira Morris
COLUMN / FOR THE RECORD
water on all sides
dance rock w/ some GNV flavor Released// Oct. 6 Recorded at// Black Bear Audio Maul in Gainesville Sounds like// Minus the Bear, Vampire Weekend Inspiration// Minus the Bear, Kings of Leon, Two Door Cinema Club Key tracks// “Stow Away” “Midnight” Where to get it// $5.94 download at iTunes; free downloads on the Far Away Planes Facebook page.
songs from
north america
psychadelic rock’n’roll shoegaze Released// Aug. 3 Recorded at// Their home Sounds like// Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix Inspiration// (for this album) Neil Young Key tracks// “Not Here,” “Solid Ground,” “Flood” Where to get it//$5 dowload at ancientriver. bandcamp.com or $10 CD at ancientrivermusic.com
// Far Away Planes Tim Anderson// bass and vocals Kevin Biegler// drums John Ketcham// guitar and vocals
Luke Spika// keyboard and synthesizer John Stolz// guitar
Far Away Planes makes a smooth landing with “Water on All Sides,” their newest dance-rock album. Though their first album, “Movie Night,” released in Feb. 2011, has the same catchy intros and spunky drumbeats, the band agreed that their previous recording experience allowed them to fine tune tracks on “Water on All Sides” in a new way. “When we went in to record the second time around, we knew what we wanted and weren’t afraid to ask for it,” Ketcham said. Strangely enough, the band’s solid vision of the final product rarely included lyrics. Biegler explained that most songs on the album began
with a basic keyboard riff. If everyone liked it, individual instrumental parts were added. Lyrics always came last - sometimes last-minute. “We’d go in to record and the guys would look at me like, ‘You do have lyrics for these songs, right?’,” Ketcham said. Even though each band member writes his own part based on the initial first riff, their individual styles blend together for a cohesive and structured sound. “It’s very boom-box-to-beachparty. Perfect for a chill weekend, yet up-beat enough to be your Monday morning upper,” Spika said. by Erica Kenick
// Ancient River TJ. Barretto// vocals Zach Veltheimr// bass
Chad Voight// drums
Ancient River breaks the Gainesville mold of hipster, punk rock by staying true to their love of classic rock. Their ‘60s and ‘70s American rock-and-roll sound manages to attract a diverse fan base. Older fans appreciate the reminiscent experience of the days of old rock-androll, while younger fans are excited to get a piece of that ‘60s lifestyle. “Songs from North America” features tracks inspired by traditional and classic Americana, but with a psychedelic edge. Think Bob Dylan meets Jimi Hendrix. Ancient River, who have been together for eight years, create a
unique viewer experience by combining their live music with projection slides, colored oil and smoke machines. Barreto explains that while other bands put out maybe one or two albums a year, they release between four and five. “We’re the most prolific and versatile [band]; our biggest strength is that we keep putting out records,” Bareto said. When working on new material, which is often, they say they naturally feed off one another. Their motto: “Less talk and more rock.” by Natalia Sieukaran Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 07
COLUMN / FOR THE RECORD
hello
hands
jazzy champer pop Released// Oct. 14 Recorded at// Travis Atria’s Experimentorium and Collin Whitlock’s The Warren Sounds like// Regina Spektor Inspiration// Department of Eagles, Billie Holiday Key tracks// “Cloud Dancing” “Warm Inside,” “Don’t Wait” Where to get it// theboswellians.bandcamp.com and Hear Again for $5
hanging fire
post-punk cinematic goth Released// Sept. 23 Recorded at// Various private residences Sounds like// The Cure Inspiration// The Cure, The Smiths, Clan of Xymox Key tracks// “Secret Manuscript” “0011001” Where to get it// free download at arsphoenix. bandcamp.com
08 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
// Boswellians Amy Lobasso// vocals and guitar Ryan Backman// piano, vocals
The heart and soul of 1920’s jazz and big band eras have caught on in modern-day Gainesville. On their new album, “Hello Hands,” the Boswellians give traditional jazz a catchy 1960s pop twist. The Boswellians, named after James Boswell, a famous biographer who was an ardent follower of others’ works, formed in April 2010 and have already gathered a large fan base. In the midst of heavy guitar- and bass-driven bands, their prominent piano sound is rare and distinguishable. Originally, Backman was hesitant to play piano for the band. “I felt weird about playing the piano, but in this band I appreciate it more,” he said. While most bands create new material when jamming together, bluesinspired Lobasso explains a piano demands a more meticulous approach
Collin Whitlock// drums Scott Kauffmann// bass
when creating new material; there needs to be structure and melody. For their new album, “Hello Hands,” the Boswellians were inspired by modern composers as well as French Impressionist music. The track “Cloud Dancing” has a vintage 30s-like vocal recording quality that’s reminiscent of Billie Holiday. It manages to capture the pathos of the time as Lobasso croons lyrics, “Mistakes are often made, perhaps we’ll find a way.” For a change of pace, “Don’t Wait” provides an upbeat melody with drum fills, cymbal crashes and heavy piano riffs that resonate well when the song slips into a gloomy trance as Lobasso chants, “Don’t wait for me.” The band says they are interested in “activities of a Boswellian quality,” an interest that is certainly evident in their era-spanning album. by Natalia Sieukaran
// Ars Phoenix Jon Glover// vocals, guitar, synthesizers, rhythm programming, five-string bass Paige Fowler// guitar
Fueled by 10 years of the FEST as well as a colorful punk rock history, Gainesville tends to produce and encourage punk angst and experimental hipsterdom among its musically inclined, often leaving other genres to fend for themselves. However, Gainesville’s own goth scene, though grossly undervalued and comparably smaller than others, is no less talented and productive. Ars Phoenix’s new release, “Hanging Fire,” has been in the works since its members Jon Glover and Paige Fowler first met in 2009 through the University of Florida’s English department. Both musicians were seeking doctoral degrees in English literature, as well as someone to jam with. Though Glover had previously released an album as a one-man band under the name Ars Phoenix, “Hang-
ing Fire” is the first album to feature both artists. According to Fowler, the addition of his guitar gives Ars Phoenix a “crunchier” sound. Building on material Glover had already prepared, the duo gradually pieced together a post-punk album with gothic flavor. Skilfully layered sounds of keyboard, guitar and synths give each track a haunting, cinematic feel comparable to the psychotronic film genre. Despite a dark sound, moments of suspense and track titles such as “Phantom Pain,” the album’s release a month before Halloween was merely a timely coincidence. “There’s nothing tame about what we do,” Fowler says. “We’re there to get people amped up and give a sonic boost.” by Erica Kenick
COLUMN / MONTHLY MANIFESTO
indiegainesville by Whitney Mutch Illustration by Susan Bijan Indiegainesville is a labor of love by locals (and for locals) to protect the interests of independent businesses in Gainesville. We are a collective of locally owned businesses that came together over the summer to celebrate Gainesville’s unique indie spirit and to ensure that the voices of local businesses would be heard in public forums and receive equal consideration. Prior to indiegainesville’s conception, we couldn’t shake the feeling that our voices were drowned out by the interests of national chains and property owners.
changed its mind about the issue and joined us in the fight for free parking. Another event that prompted us to organize was a series of pep rallies collectively known as United Downtown, sponsored by United Way and planned by the tenants association. To sum it up, every Friday night before a home football game, the central region of downtown gets closed off to make room for street parties, which involve corporate beer, food, gator gear and live music at Bo Diddley Plaza. We weren’t against the event in theory, but we were against the poor planning and lack of notification. Many small business owners learned
“We couldn’t shake the feeling that our voices were drowned out by the interests of national chains and property owners.” Our incentive to organize came in July when the City Commission proposed to install parking meters downtown and eliminate free parking for our customers. No one from the city consulted us about their decision. They had, apparently, consulted the Gainesville Downtown Owners and Tenants Association, which was not working with us at the time. We petitioned and successfully convinced the commissioners not to install parking meters downtown. The tenants association eventually
about United Downtown only two weeks before the first event. Preparation for United Downtown involved blocking off the streets around us early in the day, limiting access for customers. On United Downtown Fridays, local businesses suffered losses ranging from 20 to 50 percent of their usual income. And who is on the streets of United Downtown? National chains, including Macy’s, Belk and Zaxby’s. Our latest walk through United Downtown on Sept. 30 showcased a
sparse variety of vendors, the majority of which were not independent or local businesses. When the tenants association planned the United Downtown event, there was little outreach to the small business community, and what outreach did occur took the form of threats. More than one person was told something along the lines of, “If you don’t support United Downtown, we’ll put you out of business.” We were promised we would make more money and our skepticism was ignored. We differ from the tenants association in that membership to indiegainesville is free, and members of independent businesses from all over Gainesville are encouraged to join. We’re working on a few projects that will have a positive impact on Gainesville, including a bike rack installation project, which would involve the placement of bike racks, welded by local artists out of recycled bikes, in various locations downtown and, eventually, throughout the community. We hope that the new bike racks will increase bicycle traffic while highlighting local artists and the independent bike shops that sponsor them. We’re also talking to the City about making downtown more inviting by keeping it better lit at night, among other ideas. When you enter a locally owned, independent store, you see a selection of products based on the needs of your community. You get to influence the buyer, who’s usually the local business owner, rather than having the buyer push their products on you. As feminist Carol Hanisch wrote, “the personal is political.” Where we choose to shop is a ballot we cast. Our money is our weapon. The products we purchase are votes of confidence in the people who make and sell them. We support local jobs, progressive labor policies and living wages for all workers, and we want to see that support reflected in our purchases, no matter how small. The Monthly Manifesto is a podium for local organizations to tell Gainesville what they’re about. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to editors@thefineprintuf.org with the subject “Monthly Manifesto.” Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 09
the
City Farmer DIY
SOURDOUGH STARTER
AND CHESNUTS A’PLENTY
Text and Illustration by Krissy Abdullah
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As the weather begins to cool off, I find myself spending more time baking in the warmth of my kitchen. Lately, I’ve taken the opportunity to experiment with sourdough breads. Sourdough is a game entirely unlike bread baking with active dry yeast or a bread machine- it requires a little more time and attention. But, once you learn the basics of keeping a sourdough starter you’ll discover an infinite world of bread making. Sourdough bread has a rich history, dating back as far as the Ancient Egyptians of 1500 BC. Until only 130 years ago, all bread was leavened with a sourdough starter. A sourdough starter is a community of yeast in water that ferments carbohydrates to transform them into carbon dioxide and alcohol (Thus, the yeast used to leaven bread is the same for fermenting beer), and it is when the carbon dioxide bubbles expand and become trapped in the gluten network of the dough that the bread rises (the alcohol cooks out in the oven). Sourdough breads are generally considered sourer than breads made with commercial yeast due to the acids produced in the starter. But sourdough doesn’t have to be sour and some artesian bakeries even consider the sour flavor characteristic of negligence (although I love it). The major difference between wild yeast of sourdough and the store-bought kind is purity. When you buy yeast, you know exactly what is in it and its leavening characteristics. With wild fermented sourdough cultures, you encounter a diversity of yeast microorganisms. The benefits of sourdough are extra nutrients and B-vitamins, more thoroughly fermented gluten (thus more easily digestible for you), and a flavor and leavening properties entirely unique to your region and home. Sourdough starters are easy to create, and can last a lifetime, even being passed along through generations. A friend of mine has a sourdough starter that is 50 years old, passed from her grandmother, to mother, and finally to her. Immigrants would bring their sourdough starters with them to new lands, thus spread-
ing different strains of sourdough cultures around the world. Creating a sourdough starter requires only two ingredients: flour and water. I stick to fresh ground whole wheat but any kind of flour can be used. Make sure the water doesn’t smell heavily of chlorine (which could kill necessary yeast). The starch water from cooking pasta or potatoes is nutrient rich and great for the starter (cooled to room temperature). Here’s what you do: 1. Choose a container for your starter. I started with a 16-ounce glass jar, and later upgraded to a quart-size ceramic crock. Choose what feels best to you. 2. Mix two cups each of water and flour in your container, and stir vigorously. 3. Cover the container with cheesecloth (or a porous fabric) and secure with a rubber band. 4. Store the starter in a warm place (70-80 degree F is best, but it will survive cooler climates, too) with good air circulation. For the first week, investigate the batter for bubbling around the surface, and stir daily to stimulate yeast activity. The time it takes for the starter to become active will depend on environmental factors, and the coming winter months will surely slow the process. Some bakers suggest adding a little commercial yeast to enhance fermentation. I like the method of the miners of the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890’s who were nicknamed “sourdoughs” for hiding their starters under their jackets to keep warm. 5. Once your batter is thick and bubbly, it is ready for use. When baking, pour out what you need and save the rest to keep the sourdough going. Replenish after each use by adding 2 cups each of water and flour, and continue to feed it every few days if baking weekly. If you are not using it often, store in the refrigerator to slow yeast activity, replenishing once a week by pouring some starter out and adding fresh flour and water (ratio 1:1). Make sure to remove it from the fridge and put it somewhere warm the day before baking to reactivate the yeast. Since establishing my sourdough starter, I have virtually stopped using commercial yeast. Some of my favorite recipes with sourdough starter are pancakes, biscuits, and fruit breads.
10 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
COLUMN / CITY FARMER
Chestnuts
Castanea dentata
{ ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Check out Sandor Katz’s book, Wild Fermentation for some easy sourdough recipes. It and numerous other bread-baking resources are available at the Downtown Library, as well as online.
THE LOCAL HARESTER’S LIST
Some other native plants that are fruiting or ready to harvest now are... Pecans Persimmons Jamaican Sorrel Seminole Pumpkin Winged Sumac Sunchoke/ Jerusalem Artichoke
Can’t get enough of the City Farmer? Check out thefineprintuf.org for all of Krissy’s past columns! Just search “city farmer.”
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The American Chestnut has a long history in the United States, and 100 years ago was one of the most important commercially harvested trees in the eastern US. Chestnut wood was widely used throughout Appalachia in the 1800’s for everything from furniture to railroad ties, and the tree’s high tannin content was great for tanning leather. The nuts were also a major cash crop, and the smell of roasting chestnuts on the streets of many southeastern cities marked the coming of winter tide. In the early 1900s, American chestnut trees suffered a major blight from an Asian bark fungus that decimated over 3 billion chestnut trees in America. Since then, numerous groups and foundations have worked to reintroduce blight-resistant strains of American and European Chestnut trees, but it is difficult to find many of the ancient chestnut trees that used to populate Southeast America. Chestnuts are sweet and easy to harvest, and can be eaten raw or roasted. They also make a great chestnut butter and go well in salads, baked goods, soups, and more. Around Gainesville, there are some options for chestnuts: I have seen farmers selling chestnuts at the Downtown Farmers’ Market on Wednesday afternoons, the High Springs Orchard and Bakery has a sizeable grove of chestnut trees to pick from (call at 352-222-1343 for directions and information), and the Chestnut Hill Nursery (386-462-2820) even sells a hybrid between American and Chinese Chestnuts called the Dunstan Chestnut tree that have shown healthy results. An alternative to the chestnut is its cousin- the Florida native Chinquapin (Castanea pumila), with slightly smaller nuts that also bear the sweetness of American Chestnuts. The Chinquapin is drought resistant and grows well in sandy soils. Check out the Edible Plant Project’s website for more information on the Chinquapin and other native edibles.
Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 11
SPOTLIGHT
University Spends Provost Discretionary Funds on Traveling Statues Text by Amanda Cohen Illustration by Diana Moreno Neatly placed inside University of Florida spokeswoman Janine Sikes’ mailbox in Tigert Hall is a Facebook photo of a girl in front of a 20-foot statue at the Plaza of the Americas, giving the camera the middle finger as she holds up a monster-sized yellow price tag reading “$35,000.” Sikes and fellow UF spokesperson Steve Orlando confirmed the cost of the statues at $35,000 - and that’s only for the 15 on campus. Student opinion on the statues has been fierce, to say the least. And despite Sikes’ professional demeanor, the friction in the room was
Money gets funneled into the provost’s fund by donations, fees, corporations and alumni dues. undeniable. “If you’re asking me if I understand people are upset, then yes,” Sikes said. “Crossing Paths,” the traveling sculptures by Seward Johnson, were presented by the Creative Campus Committee, whose 16 members include Lucinda Lavelli, the dean of the College of Fine Arts. The statues were funded by the Provost Discretionary Fund. Dawn Riedy,
12 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
office of the provost budget coordinator, explained that the ways in which the funds are spent are not up to a committee but the sole discretion of provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, Joe Glover. According to Reidy, though, “there are rules.” “Could he have bought books from the library instead of putting up art? I guess so, but fine arts is as much of an education as anything else,” said Leslie Bram, the associate vice president of the University of Florida Foundation. Both spokespeople, Orlando and Sikes, confirmed no tuition or appropriated state money was used for funding the sculptures. Instead, the money came from donations made to the fundraising arm of UF, the University of Florida Foundation, which hosts 8,000 different funds. Riedy said the funds are non-restrictive, meaning they are given freely by donors. “Nobody makes a gift to the Provost Discretionary Fund – if they make a gift for a non-student financial aid scholarship that is not restricted to a college, it is managed by the provost,” Bram said. “It may go into the discretionary fund or it may go into one of the many other funds we have.” Money gets funneled into the provost’s fund by donations, fees, corporations and alumni dues. For example, in 2009 the provost received $2 million from University Athletic Association,
Bram said. Bram looked up the disbursement report for the Provost Discretionary Fund. It turns out within the last fiscal year the Provost Discretionary Fund has also given $80,000 in non-need based scholarships, $1,000 to faculty senate, and four separate disbursements towards Gator Nights at the Reitz Union. Riedy added that the Provost Discretionary Fund also finances faculty development functions, student organization functions and Education Celebration, an annual Homecoming event that awards distinguished professors and undergraduate research mentors at the University of Florida. Janine Sikes, speaking on behalf of Mr. Glover, said the Provost Discretionary Fund is meant to “help support programs that we do not believe should be paid for with state or tuition dollars.” The fund gives the provost the ability to support programs that “supplement campus life” or “enrich campus activities.” According to the director of the sculpture foundation, Paula Stoeke, the fees paid to sponsor an exhibition go toward the costs associated with the project, including transportation, conservation and insurance. “It’s not like it was decoration,” Bram said. “Why would you have a lecture series? Why would you have Gator Growl? Because it enhances the academic community.”
SPOTLIGHT
A Gainesville Zine by Danielle Peterson At the end of 2010, Matt Town released the first issue of “Speedball,” a local zine with raw and edgy aesthetics, influenced by graffiti, tattoo design and skateboarding. Town describes the zine as a visual stimulant and a literary depressant. Now, three issues later, the zine can be found in places like Anthem Tattoo Parlor and the Civic Media Center. Town serves as the publisher and editorial director of the zine, and with the help and support of his friends Nicholas Luvaul, Jason Henry, Karl Boardman, Carlos Jaramillo, Tyler DuMais and Margaret Dodds, the magazine enjoys a local reputation for its creative release parties and unique content. For the third issue’s release, Town and his friends organized a party at a local gallery. Graffiti and flash tattoo art covered the walls, giving readers a chance to directly witness what the artists featured in
“Speedball” were capable of. While skateboarding serves as the backbone of “Speedball,” Town also aims to showcase local art and to highlight topics that might otherwise go uncovered by the mainstream media. “It’s a cool way to express our-
Town’s goal is to create a tight-knit community of friends, artists, and musicians but always tie the zine back to Gainesville. selves without censorship,” he said. Although he gets inspiration from printed magazines like “Lowcard,” “Thrasher,” and “Vice,” Town said “Speedball” is a project unlike any other.
“We focus on visual aids rather than literary. Sure, there are going to be awesome interviews and articles to read, but I want to keep the idea that a picture says a thousand words.” As for the future of “Speedball,” Town and his friends agree they want to reach a greater audience and expand their content geographically. Town’s goal is to create a tight-knit community of friends, artists and musicians but always tie the zine back to Gainesville. “He’s not trying to show off,” Carlos Jaramillo, a photo contributor, said in reference to Town. “He’s not trying to become famous. He’s doing it because he loves it.” The zine is released quarterly, and you can view past issues, videos and photos that didn’t make it to print at http://speedballmagazine. tumblr.com/. (above) Art courtesy of Karl Boardman. See more of Karl’s work at hellsgnaw.tumblr.com Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 13
SPOTLIGHT
10 Local Meals
Under $10 by Sami Main
Illustrations by Irina Wang
It’s time to get fiscally responsible, folks. We can’t ignore the screaming of our tortured wallets any longer. Money’s tight, jobs are sparse and, oh yeah, we still have to pay for a college education. Sounds almost impossible, right? Wrong! There’s always a solution. So here’s what I’m presenting, take it or leave it: It’s time we become cheap dates. That’s right, you heard me. Suck it up. Dust off your nice pants and tuck in your paper napkin because it’s about to get cheap and delicious in here. Use this guide to plan your next meal accordingly.
Book Lover’s Café
The Book Lover’s Café changes its menu a few times a year. The restaurant buys local produce, so the cooks have to work with what’s available. But one sandwich has been on the menu for a while: the tempeh reuben. My grandfather, who is not a vegetarian by trade, loved this sandwich. So don’t worry about trying new things. Most sandwiches cost just under $6, including the homemade tofu burger. The best part is that because the café is located in a used bookstore, Book Lover’s sells a book of recipes so that we can try making the same dishes at home! Oh, and try a “Cowboy Bar” for dessert!
Boca Fiesta Time for a mouth party! Head to Boca Fiesta downtown for great atmosphere and great food. If you’re brave enough, you can try some gator in a taco or burrito. I, however, will be sticking with my usual: Tacos filled with tempeh for $3. There are plenty of adventurous food and drink specials here. They’re open late and often have live bands playing in the back. So grab some friends and try something new!
See p. 18-19 for a map with restaurant hours, location, phone number and website!
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Flaco’s If you’ve been out late at night near downtown, then you probably already know about Flaco’s. First of all, try the guava pastry. You’re welcome. Flaco’s specializes in delicious Cuban dishes, so the pressed sandwiches for about $7 are big hits. I love the “Sunshine” sandwich tempeh and vegetables with cheese, pickles, mayo and mustard. The arepas (cornmeal patties served with yummy toppings) are less than $5 but are more than delicious. Finally, every Thursday through Saturday, “Flaco’s has tacos” (their catch phrase, not mine) and burritos in the back. For $2 and $4, they’re a steal (cash only, though!).
La Tienda Ever heard of a burrito salad? I hadn’t either before La Tienda. This gem serves Mexican dishes like enchiladas and tacos, but it also serves “nopales con queso” (grilled cactus with cheese). Surprise! How cool is that? I also appreciate the fish options as well as the “chile poblano” (vegetarian stuffed pepper). Most dishes cost from $5 to $8, and everyone leaves full.
Mother’s Pub Here’s one of the best kept secrets in Gainesville: $2 burger baskets at Mother’s Pub. Yeah, you heard me. Every Wednesday, from 3 pm to 10 pm, you can get a burger and fries for only $2. The veggie burger also counts, which surprised me the first time I went there. It’s great food at a great price.
Chopstix You know how eating Chinese food often leaves you feeling hungry an hour later? That may be impossible at Chopstix. With a variety of noodle bowls and
Gator Dawgs More than just hot dogs, Gator Dawgs has a lot more variety than you might think. Between sandwiches and burgers for about $5 and crazy dawg flavors like the “Mac-n-Cheese” or the “Burrito” for less than $4, you can’t go wrong. Be sure to ask for a veggie dog or veggie chili.
bento boxes for $8 or $9, there’s something for everyone. Besides, if you’re like me, you’ll have leftovers a’plenty. Don’t be afraid if you can’t use chopsticks, by the way.
Tasty Buddha One of my favorite things
about Gainesville is Artie’s Tempeh. Luckily, at Tasty Buddha, you can get it as a burger for about $5 or in fried rice for about $8. Burgers from Tasty Buddha a bit too weird for you? Don’t worry! Tasty Buddha has plenty of curry dishes or salads to serve all taste buds.
Karma Cream To top off any of these meals, head El Indio If you’re looking for
cheap and delicious Mexican food, you have to try El Indio - burritos and tacos each for just about $3. Catch them for breakfast, too. There are two locations in Gainesville, so there’s no excuse not to stop by at least one of them. (Note: To veganize items, ask for “non-dairy.”)
over to Karma Cream! The only place I’ve ever heard of that sells both beer and ice cream. The ice cream is both organic and fair trade. Did I mention it was also the most delicious? Get a medium ice cream for under $5, but don’t forget the toppings! They’re only 50 cents each. Let me tell you, those folks at Karma Cream make a strawberry sauce that I could eat a whole bowl of all by myself. The toppings are just as delicious as Karma Cream’s unique ice cream flavors. Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 15
SPOTLIGHT
Socially Res ponsible
shopping in Gainesville
If money talks, then what do your purchases say? Ashira Morris interviews local shop owners about “socially responsible living” and gives you a day-to-night guide to get you started. by Ashira Morris Illustrations by Irina Wang Your purchases make a statement. Spending money in a store is casting a vote in its favor. You would research a candidate before voting for them, not make a blind endorsement - right? Buying a certain brand is supporting its business practices and company morals. “Socially responsible living” is the catchphrase given to a lifestyle of making informed decisions when you cast your consumer vote. It’s being aware of what you’re buying. It’s knowing the product’s journey from raw materials into your reusable shopping bag. “It’s about considering the relationships between everything,” said Jasmine Angelini-Knoll, an assistant manager at Citizens Co-op, Gainesville’s grocery cooperative. “It’s wanting to preserve and improve the resources we have and share.” There is no single formula for a socially responsible lifestyle. However, some organizations have codified the concept for businesses. Companies that are Fair Trade certified pay their workers a living wage. They must go through a thorough review process to ensure that they follow a set of social, economic and environmental requirements. B Corporations are businesses committed to solving social and environmental problems. Their goal is to harness the power of the private sector for public benefit. By shopping at local stores, money circulates within Gainesville’s economy instead of getting exported to a national corporation. Similarly, buying produce grown at one of the many farms in and around Alachua County supports 16 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
neighborhood farmers. Citizen’s Coop always prioritizes local growers, according to Angelini-Knoll. The Co-op is currently owned by 950 members. About one-third of its membership is students. Lasting changes come from events that resonate internally. For Roberto Evans, owner of downtown ethical clothing store Gifthorse, that moment happened on a family trip to Honduras. While driving through the countryside, he saw huge sweatshop warehouses at the base of the mountains.
“There are so many causes right now. How do you know what to do without going insane?” “They were my own countrymen,” Evans said. “If I kept going on as if everything was normal, it would feel wrong.” Gifthorse only stocks ethically produced brands. After the trip, he stopped carrying brands produced by sweatshop labor. “I don’t want to perpetuate that system,“ he said. “I would feel like a cannibal.” Awareness is the key to living responsibly. Know what business practices you are upholding with your purchases. Take the time to research production behind the product. “One of the best things you can do is listen to public radio,” said Lau-
rie Wilkins, owner of Alternatives Global Marketplace. “Be informed, then act.” Wilkins, a member of the Fair Trade Federation, fills her store with handcrafted goods from around the world. All of the companies are Fair Trade-certified or uphold the same economic and environmental standards. However, being informed is only the first step. As the old adage goes, actions speak louder than words. “Quit Tweeting about shit and change your buying habits,” Evans said. He feels that a person’s lifestyle, not words, will show their beliefs. Unsure of where to start? Even for the typical college student who lacks time and money, being socially responsible won’t drain either of your precious resources. Responsible shopping in Gainesville is simple. The city has stores that carry well-made, guilt-free products. “Make the choice to support local businesses,” Evans said. “You have to invest in it. It’s a symbiotic relationship.” You don’t have to adopt every single line as a new law. Do what you can. Do what aligns with your morals. “There are so many causes right now,” he said. “How do you know what to do without going in- sane?” In response to his own question, he quotSee p. 18-19 ed Mother fo r a map with Teresa, “No one can do store locati ons, hours, everything, p h o n e numbers so do what is in front and websites! of you.”
From morning to night, here are some easy changes you can make to your daily life It’s 8:30 a.m. and the alarm clock is ringing. For breakfast, reach for some local fruit from the Union Street Farmer’s Market*. The produce is from a nearby farm and free of pesticides. The money you spend will go directly to the farmer who shows you his freshest greens. After breakfast, brush those pearly whites with Tom’s of Maine toothpaste*. The company treats its employees and the environment as well as it treats your teeth. Closet Paralysis hits at 8:45 a.m. Don’t get stuck staring at rows of shirts, unable to move and actually put something on. Clothing by Alternative Apparel* is never produced in a sweatshop. Don’t forget to dress your feet. Ethletics* and Cri de Coeur both make vegan shoes. Before heading out the door at 9 a.m., try a face wash by J.R. Watkins, a company committed to natural ingredients that are “pure enough to eat.” If you ever wanted to take a bite out of your soap, this may be your chance. At 3 p.m., class is out and you’re heading off to your game of pick-up soccer. Kick around a ball from Fair Trade Sports. It’s guaranteed to be made by adults earning fair wages in healthy working conditions. Turn on the water for a shower at 5:30 p.m. Lather up with Dr. Bronner’s* liquid soap. One of the company’s guiding philosophies is constructive capitalism, in which “you share the profit with the workers and the earth from which you made it,” according to the company website.
In operation 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at Bo Diddley Community Plaza Available at Ward’s Supermarket Available at Gifthorse
Available at Gifthorse Available at Target
Available at www. bcorporation. net/fairtradesports
Available at Ward’s Supermarket, Mother Earth, etc.
After a 6:45 p.m. dinner, you’ve got a pile of dirty dishes and lingering leftovers. First, squirt some Seventh Generation* dish soap on your sponge. Rest assured that the company is committed to creating a sustainable supply chain. Store tomorrow’s lunch in a Preserve* container. These plastic containers are made from 100 percent recycled plastics and are all recyclable. And don’t forget Fido. He isn’t satisified with scraps you fed him under the table. Feed him one of the many “eco-nomical” brands of dog food from Earth Pets*. Take out your trash in If You Care* bags, which are chlorine-free and made from renewable resources. The brand also makes 100 percent recycled muffin papers, wax paper and aluminium products.
Seventh Generation available at Ward’s Supermarket, Mother Earth, Target, Fresh Market, Citizen’s Co-op
When you realize you have no clean underwear at 8:15 p.m., wash your clothes with Method* detergent. Using one-fourth the amount of traditional detergent, this plant-based formula will eradicate all those germs and stains. Bonus: it comes in a sleek, sexy bottle.
Available at Target and wEarth Origins Market
Finally, it’s time to fall asleep. Hopefully it’s 11:30 p.m. Realistically, it’s probably 2:30 a.m. Regardless of the time, Coyuchi bedding and pillowcases will feel heavenly. The sheets are made from 100 percent organic cotton and are held up to the Global Organic Textile Standard.
* = can find locally
Preserve available at Citizen’s Co-op “Eco-nomical” brands of pet food, toys and treats available at Earth Pets
Available at Citizen’s Co-op
F
Illustration by Irina Wang
1 Boca Fiesta
2 Book Lover’s Cafe
3 Tasty Buddha
4 Chopstix
5 El Indio
6 Flaco’s
7 Gator Dawgs
8 Karma Cream
232 SE 1st Street (352) 336-TACO bocafiesta.com/boca Su, 12-11p M-Th, 4p-2a F-Sa, 11a-2a
25 NW 16th Avenue (352) 377-0287 tastybuddha.com M-Sa, 11a-10p Su, 12-8p
407 NW 13th Street (352) 377-5828 M-F, 7a-10p Sa-Su, 9a-10p
1023 W University Avenue (352) 378-4353 gatordawgs.com M-Sa, 11a-10p Su, 12p-9p
9 La Tienda
2204 SW 13th Street (352) 367-0022 latiendagainesville.com M-Sa, 11a-10p Su, 11a-9p
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Citizen’s Co-Op
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Earth Origins
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Earth Pets
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Gifthorse
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Ward’s
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Alternative Global Marketplace
505 NW 13th Street (352) 384-0090 thebookloverscafe.com M-Th,11a-9p F-Su, 11a-8p
3500 SW 13th Street (352) 367-0003 chopstixcafe.com M-Th, 11a-10p F-Sa, 11a-11p Su, 12-8p
200 W University Avenue (352) 371-2000 flacosgainesville.com Su-M, Closed Tu, 11a-4p W-F, 11a-2:30a Sa, 12p-2:30a
1025 W University Avenue (352) 505-6566 karmacream.com M-F, 8a-1a Sa-Su, 12p-1a
10 Mother’s Pub
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1017 W University Avenue (352) 378-8135 motherspub.com M-Sa, 11a-2a Su, 1p-11p
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435 S Main Street (352) 505-6575 citizensco-op.com M-Sa, 10a-8p Su, 11a-6p
404 NW 10th Avenue (352) 377-1100 earthpetsorganic.com M-F, 10a-7p Sa, 10-5p Su, 1p-5p
515 NW 23rd Avenue (352) 372-1741 wardsgainesville.com M-Sa, 8a-8p Su, 9a-7p
521 NW 13th Street (352) 378-5244 naturalretail.com M-Sa, 9a-9p Su, 11a-7p
101 N Main Street (352) 762-3786 gifthorsedowntown.com M-Sa, 2-7p Su, 12-5p
4203 NW 16th Boulevard (352) 335-0806 alternativesfairtrade.com M-Sa, 11a-7p Su, 12-5p
Union Street Farmer’s Market
Bo Diddley Community Plaza W, 4p-7p
What's this map for? See p. What’s this map for? 16 for "10 (Local) Meals See p. 14 for “10 Local Meals under $10" and p. 18 for Under $10” and p. 16 for socially-responsible shop“Socially Responsible Shopping in pingGainesville.” around town.
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SPOTLIGHT
WE
ARE THE
99 percent PHOTOS BY HENRY TAKSIER MATT WALSH AND AMANDA COHEN
The occupation that began in Wall Street erupted into a worldwide “Day of Rage” Oct. 15 with demonstrations in more than 80 countries. Preconceived stereotypes suggest that young, angry, left-leaning revolutionaries are seeking to tear down global capitalism. The reality isn’t so simple. General assemblies in Gainesville showcased a wide array of political views and included participants from all walks of life, united by the common conviction that corporate money should stay out of politics. // // First row, left-to-right: (1) Ian Brandon Smith, 43, attends a general assembly Oct. 9. Smith was arrested Oct. 13 for civil disobedience. (2) Protesters gather downtown Oct. 12 as the occupation begins in Gainesville. (3) A dissident stands under the shadow of New York City’s financial sector three days before the occupation reaches Gainesville. // Second row, left-to-right: (4) Duane Schwingel, 53, identifies as a pro-life Christian conservative. He also writes defiant songs about the struggle to “tear down Wall Street” and restore democracy. (5) Ellas Anthony McDaniel, 56, son of the late Bo Diddley, attends a general assembly on Oct. 14, the day after he was arrested on the plaza named after his father. // Third row, left-to right: (6) + (7) Local organizers deliberate Oct. 9 at an “Occupy Gainesville” general assembly. (8) Maya Garner, 35, a small business owner and mother of two, attends an “Occupy Gainesville” general assembly Oct. 14. 20 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
FEATURE
#Occupy Photo by Jose Biblioni / M2 Collective
By Henry Taksier and Erik Knudsen The spark was lit with an article in Adbusters calling for a popular uprising against corporate greed and corruption, inspired by a wave of insurrections across the world: the Egyptian revolution in December, the Tunisian revolution in January, and finally the Greek and Spanish popular assemblies in May. Could it happen in a county as divided as the United States? Adbusters thought so: “On Sept. 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.” The magazine referred to Wall Street as the “financial Gomorrah of America” and “the greatest corrupter of our democracy.” The goal of the occupation, as originally stated, was simple: Remove money from politics. Two young anarchists and a sea22 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
soned community agitator joined forces to launch occupywallst.org, which would serve as an unofficial hub for the movement. “Our goal isn’t to be the lead-
ployee who worked with Justine to contact more than 100 sympathetic organizations, like Industrial Workers of the World, to promote the occupation.
“There’s this illusion that it makes a difference whether you’re red or blue, Democrat or Republican, leftist or libertarian. It doesn’t matter what side of the line you’re on, as long as we all work together.” ers of this movement, but rather to grant people the tools they need to rise against corporatocracy,” said Justine, 26, one of the website’s original creators. “My goal is to empower the people,” said Bill, 57, a retired U.S. Department of Labor em-
“I’m just trying to get 20,000 people to Wall Street on Sept. 17,” he added. “They can decide their own goals when they get there.” The interview took place in a public chat room on July 29, four days after occupywallst.org went public.
FEATURE
Photo by Henry Taksier
The “99 Percent” Awakens General assemblies occurred in New York City, and the attendees proceeded to rally others. #OccupyWallStreet became a popular hash tag on Twitter, followed by #TakeWallStreet, #Sept17, and #LibertySquare. By Sept. 17, up to 5,000 protesters gathered under the shadow of New York City’s financial sector. The mainstream media wasn’t impressed. It was Saturday, after all, and Wall Street wasn’t open for business. Two days later, the International Business Times reported, “The leaderless, generally peaceful protest disrupted Wall Street’s normal activity Monday as police barricades closed off several blocks near Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange for security.” Corporate media outlets portrayed the protesters as naive, aimless college kids, ignoring the presence of military veterans and blue-collar workers. New York City Mayor Bloomberg blasted the occupation for “trying to destroy jobs” shortly after he laid off 700 public workers. Despite hundreds of arrests, thousands of protesters formed a seemingly permanent community on Wall Street, complete with its own newspaper, the Occupied Wall Street Journal. Unions across the country marched in solidarity with the occupation. General assemblies and subsequent occupations popped up in hundreds of towns and more than a few major cities, including Washington, Austin, San Francisco, Baltimore, Seattle, Madison, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Diego. By Oct. 15, the movement spread into a global “Day of Rage” with demonstrations in more than 80 countries. President Obama said he sympathizes with the occupation’s concerns. Congressional Republicans seem to feel threatened. “We have to be careful not to allow this to get any legitimacy,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Oct. 7 on a conservative talk show. “I’m taking this seriously in that I’m old enough to remember what happened in the 1960s when the left-wing took to the streets and somehow the media glorified them and it ended up shaping policy.” But the movement isn’t political, at least not in the traditional sense. The Occupied Wall Street Journal
“Our goal isn’t to be the leaders of this movement,but rather to grant people the tools they need to rise against corporatocracy.” condemns the U.S. corporate sector for essentially buying out the presidency, Congress, Supreme Court, and Fourth Estate over the last two decades. The occupation includes leftists, socialists, anarchists, and environmentalists, but it also includes Ron Paul supporters and even former Tea Party members. Protesters call themselves the “99 percent,” rising up in defiance against the alleged “1 percent” that extract billions of dollars from working people through a crooked system of banking, trade and taxation. They assert that nothing will change in a system that allows corporate money to co-opt movements and purchase elections. Occupy Gainesville Florida is no exception: The movement has spread to Miami, Orlando, Pensacola, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and finally Gainesville. Four general assemblies occurred
downtown before the occupation began. More than 100 people from all walks of life — students, parents, workers, veterans, artists, teachers, radicals, public servants and local business owners — gathered at Bo Diddley Plaza to deliberate, organize and learn from each other. The occupation downtown began Oct. 12 at 8 a.m. Organizers hadn’t agreed on everything, but one of their central goals was to support — rather than stand in the way — of local workers and businesses. Protests took the form of street theater, workshops, open discussions and peaceful direct action toward banks and other centers of corporate influence. As expected, many protesters have lives, families and jobs, and their hope is that a flexible group of people will stay downtown at any given time. “Everyone has their own personal story,” said Maya Garner, 35, the elected facilitator for Gainesville’s general assembly on Oct. 9. Garner, a small business owner and mother of two, envisions a more pure form of democracy in which elected officials, free from corporate influence, can establish incentives for socially conscious businesses. “My main concern is for the environment and how corporations can act without liability for the destruction and bodily harm they inflict on their workers and the world as a whole.” Garner stressed that her personal viewpoints do not speak for the entire movement, which simply seeks to remove money from politics. “There’s this illusion that it makes a difference whether you’re red or blue, Democrat or Republican, leftist or libertarian,” she said. “ It doesn’t matter what side of the line you’re on, as long as we all work together.” Organizers voiced their frustration over a wide range of issues — health care, education, unemployment, budget cuts, tuition, foreclosures, climate change, pollution, labor, imperialism, the Federal Reserve and campaign contributions — and shared solidarity with the protesters on Wall Street. The general assemblies in Gainesville, like those of other communities, may address local concerns as well: the Cabot/Koppers Superfund site, the shortage of transitional Continued on p. 36 Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 23
WHEN THE SPRINGS
RUN DRY PHOTOS AND TEXT BY HENRY TAKSIER
As the sunlight fades over Adventure Outpost, a small shop along Highway 441, Lars Anderson returns his paddles, kayaks and canoes to their proper place after leading travelers down the Santa Fe River. Anderson, who wears a brimmed hat and speaks with a Florida accent, says he spent his childhood in Gainesville and explored the springs whenever he could. Back then, visiting the springs meant following a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and he always had to bring a few friends in case he got lost. These days, he leads tours along 60 different waterways throughout north and central Florida, and he gives three to four tours in a typical week. “I just want people to have a great time with nature,” he says. When Anderson isn’t managing his shop, leading tours or writing travel guides, he blogs about conservation issues affecting the springs. “The future looks pretty grim with Rick Scott and the likes,” he says, closing his shop for the night. “There are people in power who want to ignore science in favor of their own short-sighted agendas.” Anderson, who serves on the advisory board of the Florida Springs Institute, does whatever he can to educate others. Working groups throughout the state have gathered a solid collection of data, which indicates over-pumping, nitrate pollution, and irresponsible land use. They’ve also presented solutions. The next step is action, which at this point is lacking. “With legislators standing in the way, people are sitting at these working groups, coming out with all this great research,” he says. “But the solid action is up against a brick wall. We’ve reached a low point in recent decades.” Since 2001, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spent up to $2.4 million each year on its Florida Springs Initiative program, which sought to identify problems facing the springs and solve them through research, education, 24 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
outreach, and restoration. The initiative also funded working groups, which brought together shareholders to better understand the issues associated with individual springs. This year in July, state administrators abruptly ended funding for the Florida Springs Initiative. As a result, four of the most established working groups, which focused on Silver, Rainbow, Wakulla and Ichetucknee Springs, have been discontinued. A three-year contract to maintain the working groups and write restoration plans for each of the four springs has been prematurely terminated. Florida’s leaders spent up to $24 mil-
aquatic ecosystems. His famous study, published in 1957, focused on Silver Springs. Knight continued Odum’s work for decades, documenting changes over time in multiple springs throughout Florida. Silver Springs, the largest spring in the country, lost 30 percent of its output since 2001. Ichetucknee and Rainbow Springs lost 15 percent each, and Knight says the trend will continue. Almost every spring in Florida connects to the Floridan aquifer, where the state gets 60 percent of its usable water. “We need to reduce the amount of water we’re pumping out of the aquifer,” Knight said. “Water management districts are be-
“We won’t have a strong economy if we have a weak environment, and that’s been proven throughout Florida’s history.” lion to keep the Florida Springs Initiative running throughout its ten-year existence. Comparatively, Florida has at least 900 artesian springs, known for their clarity and vibrant color, which contribute more than $300 million to the state economy each year through recreation and ecotourism. A small group of springs in central Florida, which includes Ginnie Springs, the most popular freshwater diving spot in the world, generates $10 million a year for surrounding communities. One local dive shop saw visitors from 46 different countries. Ichetucknee Springs, which includes a famous pool where children get baptized, generates $23 million in visitor spending each year, including $5 million in wages for local workers. “We won’t have a strong economy if we have a weak environment, and that’s been proven throughout Florida’s history,” said Bob Knight, 63, director of the Florida Springs Institute. Knight began studying Florida’s springs more than 30 years ago. He worked under the mentorship of the late Howard T. Odum, the world’s first ecologist to document the flow of energy through
ginning to recognize this, but they’re still giving out permits for additional groundwater withdrawals. They’re handing them out like candy.” Where does all the water go? Over 1,500 golf courses exist in Florida, more than in any other state, and the number is growing each year. Combine that with about 3 million suburban lawns, which soak up nearly half of the public water supply. Then there’s industrial agriculture, which the Florida DEP lists as the second most prominent force depleting the aquifer. Laws exist limiting the amount of permits granted by water management districts based on the concept of minimum flow levels, defined as the amount of water that can be drawn from the aquifer without significantly harming springs and other natural bodies of water. Determining minimum flow levels is a scientific process, but the issue has been politicized, which opens the floodgates for reckless behavior. “It is likely that [almost] every major artesian spring in Florida… experiences declining flows as a result of human consumptive uses,” Knight wrote in 2008. “By
FEATURE
the time flow reductions become obvious in springs, they are often so great that significant ecological values and functions have already been lost.” To make matters worse, the statewide use of nitrogen fertilizers causes nitrates to enter the groundwater, contaminating the aquifer and spreading outward into the springs. Knight said Ginnie Springs is an exceptional example, with a nitrate concentration 30 times higher than what should naturally occur. Nitrate pollution triggers the growth of filamentous algae, otherwise known as “noxious algae,” which clouds the water, blocks sunlight, and decimates native plant life. As a result, all the animals higher up in the food chain — fish, turtles, birds, and otters, to name a few — begin to die off as well. In regions of north and central Florida where artesian springs are common, groundwater nitrate concentrations have increased from natural levels of 0.02 parts per million to widespread concentrations of more than 1.0 parts per million (that’s 50 times higher), according to estimates from 2008. Knight pointed out that 50 percent of the biomass in Silver Springs has been
overtaken by noxious algae. “The leaders of Florida are in denial that there’s a problem,” he said. “They say they’re dealing with it, but they just give out more permits. And the permits go against current laws, but nobody is challenging them. Because what you have to challenge is a very rich machine that is benefiting from these groundwater withdrawals and pollution. You have people that are benefiting at the
“We really do have springs that are drying up. There are holes in the ground where there used to be flowing springs.” expense of the whole public, and the public is not organized, aware, or well-funded enough to do anything about it.” Knight wrote in 2008 that the Florida Springs Initiative had “contributed to a much better understanding of the springs and the problems they face” but that current levels of funding were “inadequate to turn the tide away from continuing degra-
dation.” Two years later, instead of increasing efforts to protect the springs, state administrators slashed them from the budget completely. “It sounds like the sky is falling and, you know, it actually is,” Knight said. “We really do have springs that are drying up. There are holes in the ground where there used to be flowing springs.” In the face of recent setbacks, Knight is taking matters into his own hands. He started the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute last year, which aims to expand on the work of the Florida Springs Initiative, with or without state funding. Knight is both director and founder, and he’s in the process of gathering staff. Since the 1950s, Odum imagined a research center in Silver Springs, but nothing ever came of it in his lifetime. “It’s sort of a dream Dr. Odum had. We had it together, and I’m starting it now.”
(above) An egret swipes a fish out of the water at Ichetucknee Springs.
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SPOTLIGHT
ADVENTURE OUTPOST PHOTOS AND TEXT BY HENRY TAKSIER About 10 miles north of Alachua County, there’s a shop along Highway 441 called Adventure Outpost, where travelers can rent canoes, kayaks, and nature gear. Lars Anderson, one of its founders, leads tours along 60 different waterways in north and central Florida, and he gives three to four tours in a typical week. “I just want people to have a g reat time with nature,” he says. Anderson ser ves on the advisor y board of the Florida Springs Institute, an independent research organization for med in 2010 to reverse statewide trends of aquifer depletion and nitrate pollution threatening the springs (see page 24).
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SPOTLIGHT
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FEATURE
ON THE RISE AGAIN
UF raises tuition to the maximum allowed for third year in a row by Caitlin Luedke On Sept. 16, 40 students gathered near Turlington Hall, marched to the Plaza of the Americas and hung a $35,000 price tag on “Whispering Close,” a controversial 20-foot statue of two 19th-century socialites dancing (see page 12). The demonstration, organized by Students for a Democratic Society, was inspired by the University of Florida’s recent decision to raise tuition by 15 percent — the highest increase allowed by state law — thanks to Florida’s shrinking education budget. In the last week of April, the Florida Legislature granted university administrators permission to increase tuition by 8 percent. Shortly after, the Board of Governors approved individual requests from universities, including UF, to raise tuition by an additional 7 percent, marking this the third consecutive year that UF’s tuition increases have hit the state maximum. At the same time, student aid is moving in the opposite direction. The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship, which serves 98 percent of undergraduates at UF, has been unable to keep up with the rising number of college applicants. This Fall, students on average received 20 percent less aid from Bright Futures than they did last year. In Student Government elections on Sept. 27 and 28, the question, “Do you support repealing the 15 percent tuition increase at the University of 28 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
Florida?” appeared on the ballot after SDS turned in more than 1,200 signatures in favor of the question, and 87 percent of students voted to repeal the increase. Is Raising Tuition Necessary? Janine Sikes, UF’s director of public affairs, said she empathizes with students who oppose the tuition hike, but she also said they’re looking at this situation the wrong way. “Obviously, this is a business,” Sikes said. “But UF is a value, and they’re not recognizing that.” She pointed out that UF students pay a relatively low fee for the quality of the education they receive. Kiplinger’s “Best Values in Public Colleges 2011” ranked UF second in the country. An equivalent review from Princ-
research facilities, and holds one of the lowest tuition costs in the group. However, 36 percent of the 61 schools are private, placing the mean well above the national average. “It’s impossible to get the education you expect out of flagship institutions unless we invest back into the university,” Sikes said. UF President Bernie Machen has to balance costs to keep the school running while competing with other schools for faculty salaries and keeping programs afloat. Cuts from positions, salaries and resources have reached more than $200 million in the past four years. Sikes said that cutting salaries can result in the loss of valuable faculty to other schools, and it doesn’t solve the problem anyway. UF’s student-to-faculty ratio is poor,
Recent protests show that students want their voices heard about tuition, but rallies against the administration may not be enough. eton placed UF third. The national average for tuition at public universities is $7,600, while UF sits at $5,700. The university ranks 75 out of 594 in the nation for total tuition costs. Additionally, UF is part of the Association of American Universities, an organization of leading
she said, and overcrowding is becoming more of an issue, sometimes forcing students to sit on the floor in larger classes. Students at least have the opportunity to take advantage of numerous scholarships and financial aid programs, Sikes added. “We, as adminis-
FEATURE trators, went to school just like you guys, and I worked my way through it. And I didn’t have a Bright Futures scholarship.” The administration is trying to improve its understanding of students’ financial needs. For the upcoming application period, each applicant will be required to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. The hope is that the FAFSA forms will give the university a clearer picture of where students fall financially. The mean family income on record for UF students is $105,000. Sikes said she doesn’t know if new information from the FAFSA forms will inflate or deflate that number. Nor does she know if the president will continue to support a 15 percent increase each year. If the 15 percent increases continue, Sikes expects to see more protests like the Sept. 16 rally. “We try to balance the ability for students to speak their minds and share their opinions on tough topics.” She said this rally wasn’t the first of its kind, nor will it be the last. If students want change, they need to look farther west, she added. “They need to pay attention to what happens in Tallahassee and proposals going forward if they want their voices heard in the future.” “Chop from the Top” After the Sept. 16 rally, SDS organizers were promised a meeting with Machen to discuss their demands and financial solutions, none of which involve tuition hikes. But when they went to the meeting on Sept. 23, they found it had been canceled. “They gave us the run-around,” said Chrisley Carpio, an organizer for SDS. SDS found out they could not see Machen without a written proposal. Carpio said the demand came as a surprise. The group does plan to write a proposal, but not to place in Machen’s hands. Instead, its members are hoping to gain support from students. Another rally is planned for late
October, and this rally will occur in conjunction with other student groups opposed to the tuition hike. Carpio expects a much larger turnout as students begin to fully understand the impact of tuition hikes on their wallets. To alleviate UF’s financial problems, SDS wants administrators to “chop from the top.” The group believes six-figure salaries for faculty members are unnecessary and that Sikes’s claim follows a typical appeasement pattern. “Chop from the Top” also targets the president’s mansion. Built in 1953, the mansion’s main function was to serve as the president’s home and office. Nowadays, since Machen moved out in 2006, it stands vacant the majority of the time, punctu-
“If the administration is bragging about how UF is so affordable, let it stay that way.” The True “Top” Last May, Gov. Rick Scott proposed to slash Florida’s budget by $5 billion, including $3.3 billion in education cuts. That grinds down to $703 less in state funding per student than last year and pink slips for 8,700 state workers, teachers included. The UF Board of Trustees can only work with what its given. Since Scott cut funding to education, the university had to pick up where the budget left off, and it looked to the students. Tuition increases bring a bitterness to the student body, but the
State law caps the maximum increase at 15 percent a year, and this is the third year in a row increases have hit the ceiling. ated by a few social events. Still, it still needs money to be maintained. Programs are being cut, supplies can not be refilled and tuition keeps increasing, but the school pays to keep a vacant mansion’s doors open. “We don’t see them forced to make huge financial decisions, like making the sacrifices that they demand of the student body,” said Carpio. “Only students so far are carrying the burden.” SDS also wants administrators to acknowledge that 42 percent of students hold a part-time job, something the SERU survey, UF’s method of calculating students’ income, shies away from exploring. Tuition has undergone a 120 percent increase in the past 10 years, shown by university records. With a weak economy and state budget cuts, the university had to, and will continue to have to, find ways of generating money to keep the school running. Still, Carpio wants the administration to find other avenues than students’ wallets.
university has been left with little choice after the budget cuts made in Tallahassee. Recent protests show that students want their voices heard about tuition, but rallies against the administration may not be enough. Scott’s influence in education runs deep with the Board of Governors, the governing body of the state university system. He appoints 14 out of the 17 members, and these members appoint trustees to govern each of Florida’s universities. In January, multiple groups are planning to gather in Tallahassee to protest further education cuts during the Florida Governor’s Meeting. Participants are planning to come from across Florida. Gainesville’s chapter of SDS, Florida State University Progress Coalition, Fight Back Florida and The Tuition is Too Damn High Party all plan to converge in Tallahassee shortly after the annual state legislative session begins. Anyone who is tired of these education cuts is, of course, encouraged to go to the capitol and have their voice heard.
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SPOTLIGHT
Streetcars
and Gainesville’s Future
More than just hipster havens, Portland and Eugene are models of effective public transit for Gainesville by Lily Wan Gainesville already has enough quirky people and places to be a twin city to Eugene, Oregon. Home to the University of Oregon, this quintessential college town is very similar to Gainesville in terms of population dynamics and urban structure. So, what’s missing from Gainesville (aside from an awesome McMenamin’s)? A solid and effective transit system. Former mayor of Gaines-
visited Oregon, mainly Eugene and Portland, in late September to further develop Gainesville’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and streetcar plan. So far, Eugene and Portland’s transit systems are proving to be viable models for Gainesville. Eugene had its highly effective BRT network ready and running in 2007 with ridership in its first year exceeding the 20-year projection. And just two hours north, the widely recognized, urban-planning ideal, Portland,
“The Bus Rapid Transit system would transform Gainesville’s public transit into a fluid, bus network that is quick, convenient and reliable, facilitating a seamless commute to and from all centers of activity in Gainesville.” ville, David Coffey, along with City Commissioner Thomas Hawkins, chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MTPO),
began operating its successful streetcar network in 2001. Members of Gainesville’s MTPO are hopeful that the implementation of a system similar
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to Eugene’s BRT and Portland’s streetcar will be just as successful in Gainesville. MTPO is a committee dedicated to facilitating and furthering development of alternative transportation in the Gainesville metropolitan area. Traditionally, city planners have expanded roads to fix traffic problems. However, this solution is not permanent. With time, roads get re-clogged with the vehicles of a city’s growing population. To permanently improve and decongest streets, the local transit system needs a complete transformation. Instead of adding new lanes, the new plan designates lanes specifically for BRT buses - made possible by shifting medians and traffic lines. In some cases, along more crowded roads like Archer, BRT buses may share a lane with High Occupancy Vehicles. Via Archer Road, BRT routes have been mapped out to span from the airport to the interstate, connecting most of Gainesville. The airport and interstate are buzzing commuter hubs, con-
necting Gainesville with neighboring counties, the rest of the state and the country. These areas will harbor Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs), essentially glamorized park-and-rides, and will be key in decreasing traffic in town. In addition to a park-andride, a TOD is a compact community that includes shopping and dining, catering specifically to the commuter. There are four such centers planned for Gainesville’s transportation transformation. Coffey is now a land-use attorney representing the developers of three of the these TODs. Currently, more than 110,000 commuters per day travel the roughly 17-mile route representative of the planned BRT corridor. Surely, every car owner in Gainesville is familiar with Archer Road traffic. Integration of TODs would break down the city traffic congestion by granting commuters easy access to the BRT network. This envisioned system would transform Gainesville’s public
SPOTLIGHT “Heavy Rails,” as in actual railways, are intended to travel at fast speeds with less stops - think outside of Portland, in commute to downtown wherein the light rail changes to function as a streetcar. Gainesville’s modern streetcar, as with other cities’, will be purely electric, so there won’t be diesel spewing out along its neighborhood-winding journey between downtown and campus. MTPO is looking into technology developed in Spain and Japan that enables streetcars to recharge their ultra capacitors in 20 seconds when stopping at stations and briefly at the end of the line before looping back around. In addition to being a more aesthetically pleasing and quieter alternative to a bus, an electric streetcar is attractive because of its reliability and permanence. The streetcar gives assurance to nearby residents and business owners that there will always be public transportation near their living and working spaces. On the other hand, buses do not maintain such permanence - routes could easily change or be eliminated. This assurance provided by the streetcar does come with a price, though. There is, as Coffey explains, a potential for elevated rent in the areas surrounding the streetcar. The increase rent may drive students away from the current student neighborhood just east of campus. Hawkins said this elevation in property value would apply to the the actual land value, not necessarily the units on it - depending on how NW 39th Ave.
many units. A denser arrangement of units on the newly higher-valued property will diffuse the extra costs among more units. Hawkins is confident that if downtown proceeds with this high density development, Gainesville will maintain its ability to provide affordable housing. Again turning to Oregon for inspiration, Hawkins learned that land values in Portland’s Pearl District, home to the city’s streetcar system, are 15 times greater today than they were prior to the streetcar’s existence. Portland’s streetcar also stimulated the local economy by generating $3.5 billion of private investment within a three block radius from the streetcar line. The City of Gainesville has been progressing towards the comprehensive BRT network since the early 2000s, with talk of the streetcar surfacing just two or three years ago. Hawkins sees investment in alternative transit as a vital component of Gainesville’s success as a maturing city in the modern world and advocates for an increase in funding in the city’s transportation. Maybe one day in the moderately distant future Gainesville will become the Portland of the south. For now, we can only dream (...and invest in alternative transportation). (Top Right) Electric streetcars, like the one pictured here in Portland, Oregon, are the model and inspiration for the proposal of a new streamlined Gainesville public transit.
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transit into a fluid, bus network that is quick, convenient and reliable, facilitating a seamless commute to and from all centers of activity in Gainesville. With all of Gainesville’s future urban transit plans centered around BRT and a supplemental streetcar extension, our city could be looking more like Eugene or a miniature Portland by 2035, as conservatively projected by the city’s Long Range Transportation plan. Of course, University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College are two major hubs along the route. “Santa Fe and UF are two nodes that need to be connected. Crosspollination between the two is already happening, so let’s facilitate it,” Coffey said, who also has served as chair of MTPO. BRT routes will run from the Gainesville Regional Airport along Archer Road to Interstate-75, and then swing straight north to Santa Fe. So, where does the UF come into play? Enter streetcar. Our humble city’s modern streetcar would run along SW Second Ave. and SW Fourth Ave., wrapping around downtown, and continue onward through UF’s campus, passing by Shand’s. Like the BRT buses, this downtown-to-campus “urban circulator” will maintain a 10-minute headway, making public transportation less tedious and more convenient. BRT may be up and running as soon as 2020, on the optimistic side of the 2035 estimation. But, the streetcar won’t be in the picture until much later - an estimated additional five years. The streetcar augmentation is currently in an embryonic stage with the federally required feasibility study funded, but not yet started. A handful of other cities have streetcar and heritage trolley systems, but the type of modern streetcar deemed fit for Gainesville has only been seen three times before in the country; Seattle, Wash.,Tacoma, Wash., and Portland, Oregon. A trolley, cable car, light rail and streetcar may all seem synonymous, but each has its own distinction from the rest. Usually vintage, trolleys are open-aired and typically not as energy efficient as their cousins - think New Orleans. A cable car is powered by electricity fed up from underground, through the rails on which the car runs - think San Francisco. Light Rails, to be contrasted with
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PROSE
The Old Philanthropist A short story by Jamie Fisher Illustration by Kelli McAdams “A healthy performing arts community is music to our ears,” the advertisement said, and in the lower right-hand corner was a picture of the old philanthropist. Surely in her seventies in this one, I thought; the woman had gone vaguely Asian in appearance with the eye-narrowing effects of old age, lips mauved and stretched in a hidden-tooth smile that showed nothing but tooth-colored gums. Her hair—blatantly red now—was fixed in a long bob that drew its corners in around her ears. It made me sad to think that this was the image she would present to the world from now on, ten years past her death, and even twenty years later the philharmonic’s programs would show the same face. It had been so long since I returned to the cramped concert hall, with its lovingly uncomfortable red cushions, dark as her lipstick. It had been even longer since I returned to this small Southern town, where the air always smelled powerfully of new-cut grass and thick ripened palm-berries, where nothing comes quickly except hardship and gossip. Certainly we gossiped enough about the old philanthropist. Like Proust’s madeleine, the strong magazine smell of the program, the incandescent globes dimming on her dated photograph, the Sibelius quickening like a pulse in the first movement—all of these things together and even their separate pieces were enough to make me re-
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flect on the old woman: her life and circumstances and what we made of them, we young and foolish and old and clever Southerners, we with too much time on our hands, the Sibelius settling now like a large cool hand over my forehead and the meter jarring me, like the stroke of a canoe’s paddle, down memory. Mrs. Eders and the Old Philanthropist Our first encounter was unconsummated. Like the other girls at the strings camp, I had learned “Happy Birthday” in about ten minutes without sheet music; then Mrs. Eders had led the four of us from the camp’s performing space and up to the old philanthropist’s birthday function. Was it nearly twenty years ago since that August? She must have been turning fifty. We waited outside the ballroom for an hour as waiters passed with unnameable hors d’oeuvres on plates thin and silverly as compact discs. Four middle-schoolers in uncomfortable dresses and suits, the bass player supporting her instrument a little helplessly before giving up and laying it along the tile. We had nothing to say to each other; we barely knew each other at all, though the cellist would stalk me later. I studied the lovely wayward patterns of a red glass vase, like a flower collapsing in the middle from its own sensuality. The phi-
lanthropist knew, I think, the artist. When I paid attention to the world again, my pinky was cramping from dangling the rental bow and the strings of the viola pressed under my armpit had left grillmarks all along my forearm. The philanthropist never came. “Well, that’s how it happens, guys,” Mrs. Eders said to us with her good-natured smile and customary shrug. She was as trustable and fatalistic as a rabbi. Mrs. Eders was in those days infallible, grandmotherly with her grainy pale hair and golden spectacles, her stomach sagging through her black cocktail dress like a heap of slag drifting down a quieted volcano. With a smile she could make anything right. I was surprised later to learn that many of my classmates had found the woman intolerable. “You don’t remember how she was always telling stories?” Jordan asked me in high school. She was a pretty girl with a snub nose, an ovaline Mediterranean face, and a curtain of barretted brown hair. “We never got to play!” “They were good stories,” I said. I couldn’t remember any noticeable swathes of time being stolen and I often, in fact, doubted that Jordan genuinely liked anyone. They were all true stories, too. Mrs. Eders once pretended to vomit into a white paper bag after one class’s lackadaisical practice; Mrs. Eders and her cohorts once found a poorly-made Chinese violin in the music room’s closet and
PROSE the four women took turns stomping on it, right in front of their students’ eyes; Mrs. Eders didn’t speak a word until she was four years old, in the family sedan on the way to church. “When’s lunch?” Mrs. Eders asked. Her father nearly drove the car into a ditch. The woman was, simply, mythology. She patted us on the backs as we headed back down into the practice room, giving an especially hearty pat to the cellist and long-suffering bass. It was just as well. I had already forgotten how to play “Happy Birthday.” “Come on, folks,” Mrs. Eders said as we retreated down the stairs, her voice shouting off the sides of the stairwell. “There’s always next year, and you can play for your parents on their birthdays too.” We had the impression that Mrs. Eders and the old philanthropist did not get along well. Mrs. Eders had been one of the original quartet of musicians who founded what became our philharmonic; it was the old philanthropist who came late to the venture. She swept into town with her husband and injected it with capital in a single vicious thrust, like a mother stabbing her child’s thigh with an EpiPen. The quickness of it all made both sides uneasy. There were rumors when Mrs. Eders announced her retirement that the old philanthropist had done it, rumors which our teacher cheerfully rejected without addressing directly, flapping her veiny hand at the class. “Oh, no,” she said with a grin. “I’m tired of all this. My husband and I, we’re just going to head into the Canadian wilderness, hitch us to a few backpacks, and get our provisions helicoptered in once a week. That’s the last you’ll hear of us, folks.” “You won’t even bring your violin?” a student asked. “You know,” she said, stroking her chin. “I just might.” We had no doubt that she would do
it, too, except that another orchestra teacher died suddenly of cancer— sudden to us, probably less sudden to that shrewd and resourceful woman—and Mrs. Eders agreed to take
It was her pleasure and her burden to finance talent and never, by buying, get any closer to possessing it. Because the alternative, of course, was to find that the arts didn’t need people like her at all. her place for a year. After that, true to her word, we didn’t hear from her for years. The Voice of the Old Philanthropist The first time I heard the voice of the old philanthropist was at the philharmonic’s twenty-fifth anniversary. Famous aging personae were shipped in; one woman with blond Louis XIV tresses sang her an operatic “Happy Birthday,” comically run-
ning out of breath on her long and illustrious name. The music students and our families, free admission tickets crumpled in our fists, crowded the back seats and squinted at the stage, squinted at the squinting wealthy elderly in the balconies and front row. I was there with my mother. A long white screen crinkled down over the stage, the projector droning to life, and there in faint blue was the squat face of the old philanthropist, blinking with froggy disorientation at us all. “I just want to say what a pleasure this is,” she told us. She was presumably up in the balconies somewhere, beaming down at us in her severe red dress, her pink forearms sagging out of short sleeves and her neck bulging harmlessly out of the high Chinese collar. One of her eyes was higher than the other; the Hershey’s Kisscolored eyebrows were penciled in. She talked for a rambling while on important things. (“Art is a business,” for example. And, “A business both requires and deserves a great deal of money.”) Her voice was unexpectedly light, childlike, quick. We could barely hear her at all. “How ironic,” my mother whispered into my ear. “What?” I asked her. Her reply was lost in the sudden din of applause. Although, knowing my mother, it was possibly she never answered me at all, just moving her lips maddeningly to make me think she had spoken. The old philanthropist was retreating into the ceiling in a narrow blue slice, smiling with nervous benevolence as her forehead and nose and lips were eaten away. My mother was in those days a pretty woman. Never beautiful, it must be admitted, but pretty, and degenerating into tolerable in her later years. I have always, always been honest. She had my sunny cheeks and similar hair: curly, Continued on next page...
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PROSE, CONT’D
but easily persuaded otherwise. It was ginger-colored and lay limp across her face in those hot summer months, heat like a neighborhood in which we lived, always. Her eyes the size of thumbprints from small fingers, her raspy trustable voice. Though of course we couldn’t trust a word she said, my father and I, she being a housewife and unsuccessful poet, inclined to scare us with the words she chose. “The moon was howling green tonight,” she would say, clipping the screen door shut. “At the office today”—that was what she called it, at first drolly and then without interest, the separate bedroom where she slept and worked, with its robin’s egg walls and untouched white linens— “at the office today we had a pair of starlings wander in, like they’d lost the trick of flying. Just pecking at the window like the wind was weighing heavy on them. So I’ve let them in.” She would come in from the porch at ten o’clock or later with her flashlight and her notebook, the infinite circle of her cigarette, a long papery dimension, rolled up into her hand. I pitied my mother with the endless pity of the young. I assumed in those days that she was always lonely, always writing, always waiting for someone to answer in her own language. “Oh darling,” she said flatly. “You’re home. Did you find the Italian in the fridge?” The Memoirs of the Old Philanthropist I mention all this because of the memoirs and my mother’s response to them, which I think were particularly telling. The old philan-
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thropist released her memoirs when was just past sixty. Almost all the old rumors were proven true and expanded upon. Her husband had inspired “Mad Men,” she said; she had grown up the poor child of a ceiling-fan mogul, put out of work with the invention of air-conditioning and yet, she wrote movingly, “unwilling to acknowledge the persistent push of changing times”; she built the manatee preserve in her backyard after the terribly photogenic slaughter of eighty-three, when a hurricane came thrashing through and lifted several dozen sea-cows out of the water, their muzzles leering and dripping as they spun silver-whiskered through the air and broke every watching heart. The author’s photo showed her in the preserve with goggles and wet slices of red hair plastered to her forehead, smiling with her white teeth, her left arm circumnavigating the obese scarred side of Charlie, who looked at the camera with mournful eyes the size of scallops. Melanoma was the old philanthropist’s explanation; we had our own theories about her husband’s death. Some said uncharitably that she had personally bent down each night, uncapped her veneers, and sucked his neck bloodless as he slept. He died so young, the old people said, just in his forties. And look how vigorous and hale his widow was! In the middle section of the book were pictures of her with various retired presidents and South African leaders and manatees, but also a photograph of the old philanthropist, then quite young, with her husband on the beach. She was still short, if not shorter, but without vaguely Asiatic features; her face looked
small, sweet and pale, her hair dark curls lively. He was a tall man with a forehead like the prow of a cruise ship, a knob of skull protruding whitely forward from under the tanned skin, the skin beaten with enough gold and red to make melanoma believable. He wore a redand-white striped polo and khaki pants belted nearly to the armpits. He had a trusting nineteen-fifties smile. How could you kill a man like that? I asked my mother. I was home from college then, no longer a viola player but still a violist, still so certain that I had the right to judge the old philanthropist and everyone else. I showed her the picture. She traced the long strong line where their hands drew their arms close. Then she touched the cord of tendon jarring from his brown neck. “Oh, I have no doubt she killed him,” my mother said. “Look at his eyes. Look at the neck. He was dead from the moment he married her.” The Newspaper and the Old Philanthropist The day she retired the local newspaper ran three articles alongside her announcement: an announcement of the elementary school’s fundraiser; a warning of whales beaching themselves violently along the north coast; and a columnist asking plaintively, “Should Stupid Be a Crime?” But the paper wasn’t done with her yet. Several months later, Mrs. Eders began to send letters to the editor. They were quite possibly not by Mrs. Eders; we strongly suspected that she was long dead. The letters came in and in, my mother mailing
PROSE, CONT’D
them to me—the last two pages of the newspaper, neatly folded into thirds, and bound with a rubber band no bigger than the mouth of a beer bottle—and circling in blue pen Mrs. Eders’s reputed contributions. “I continue to question X’s commitment to the arts,” she wrote. “Can the community at this time afford to invest in diamond-encrusted bluebirds for the museum’s spring opening?” she wrote. “Why not spend the money on something long-lasting, something not intended merely to awe snowbirds?” “Why not invest in music?” she wrote. The sentiments were hers, but the vocabulary was not—the delicacy that didn’t seem anything like her plainspoken way—and I soon threw the newspapers out. Within a week, my mother was sending me the old philanthropist’s rebuttals. These were circled in cherry red. “No one has supported the arts more fervently than I,” she wrote. “Art is a business,” she wrote. “Businesses need money. Money comes from donors, and it shouldn’t matter where these donors come from. I pity Eders’s petty regionalism.” “I do invest in music,” she wrote. “I invest more than any retired music teacher could possibly understand, or be capable of providing.” These I could not throw away. I pored over them, pagelong diatribes, as if they were trashy novels. This was authentically her, that woman, these words peeling her open and showing her unflattering innards. I imagined the old philanthropist bent over her desk, writing angrily, impeccably dressed, the head of her desk lamp tilted close to her red hair. “A handsome woman,” my father once called her.
So worked up over old rivalries! Over false fire, too: what she must clearly have recognized as false fire and pursued anyway. Someone had known her well enough to know that Mrs. Eders would be enough to make her respond, even knowing that she knew it could not be a real Mrs. Eders at all. Here was the proof that, as we said, the old philanthropist was jealous of those who made things. Now I could see it all clearly. She sponsored them; she loved them; she hated them. She had attended a small nondescript college in the Deep South or perhaps some wayward school in the misbegotten dairy lands; she had never gotten any closer to the metropolis from the day she was born, nor did culture want anything to do with her except in the form of her supremely cultured husband. It was her pleasure and her burden to finance talent and never, by buying, get any closer to possessing it. Because the alternative, of course, was to find that the arts didn’t need people like her at all. “I do invest in music,” she wrote. “The arts, like young infants, must be encouraged. They need food, water, shelter. They would flounder on their own.” Death and the Old Philanthropist When she died at last of a long unexpected illness in a wet summer, the manatees came to bear her away. Dark bulbous blots in a shrouded sky, drifting heavily as crippled balloons, their bodies curled and coy as shrimps, their paddled feet wide as ladies’ fans. They came from nowhere at all, people said—clearly untrue, because the water level sank
ten inches in the bay, despite the rain, between that morning and the settling of night. If the trees had risen up we would have seen the dank holes in our lawns. The manatees were plucked out of the water, the self-healing river of grass which leaves no holes behind and seals its own wet wounds. Through the air, one by one like the beads of a rosary. A nurse opened the hospital windows and three of the smaller manatees floated through. One snuffled lightly at her dead face. Another lowered itself to the level of the starched white hospital bed; the third hustled her gently onto this manatee’s round patient back with its petal-like hands. The old philanthropist’s legs sprawled indecently. You could see the yellow stains along her fleshy inner thighs where she had wet herself, the nurse later told me. Out the window and into the curdled sky, flying in a gray tilting flock with the old philanthropist at the head of the V. Over the windless streets with their humidity clutched tight by the asphalt; over the cabbage palms and sagging park benches; over the tourists’ green-and-brown trolleys and the cars simmering in their own exhaust, shining red as lobsters in their clean boil; over the worst parts of town, where the model homes collapsed half-naked into the seaoats; over all of this and out into a flat pane of sea, her paper hospital gown slinking down to set on the surface of the ocean, the dense salty window where we never really saw anything anyway, and who are we to know?
Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 35
POETRY + JUMPS
SIX SIX SOUR by Jessica Cook We’re all rolling our rocks, working in crescendo one way or another. My niche? I throw, throwing fists to the wall, throwing me in your face. And I drip. Decrescendo. Here’s my drool, redundant tears. I am water torture there and there and there on your brow. I bother. But I don’t leave like _________, etc, et al. Fill your own fucking blank. I’m busy. My brain tastes like fish; eat me out. _
Published with support from
Campus Progress engages students in national issue campaigns on critical issues — from global warming to civil rights, student debt to academic freedom. Visit CampusProgress.org/issues for more. 36 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org
#OCCUPY, Cont’d from p. 23 housing facilities for troubled veterans, the struggle of local businesses against property developers and national chains, the Biomass controversy, government-imposed restrictions on feeding the homeless, and the fight to support sustainable food from local farms, to name a few. “Let us be undefined,” Garner said, referring to allegedly shallow media coverage. “So what? Our working groups are based on the Occupy Wall Street model. Within, it’s pure democracy. Everyone has a voice, and the group as a whole decides.” The Occupy movement’s central demand is broad and revolutionary, but it includes a few stepping stones, like bringing back the Glass-Steagall Act, which would separate investment and commercial banking, and repealing the Supreme Court’s ruling last year in favor of Citizens United, which granted an unprecedented level of First Amendment protection to corporate entities. “I want to be able to look at my kids one day and say I tried,” Garner said before the occupation began. “I won’t get attached to the outcome. I’m sensitive and it would destroy me if nothing changed. But I have to be able to look at them and say I tried.” On Oct. 11, Gainesville City Manager Russ Blackburn offered protesters a one-night permit to occupy downtown Wednesday night with a stipulation that the occupation would end the next day. At a general assembly that evening, organizers agreed that no government official has the right to call off a peaceful occupation. Beyond Left vs. Right On Oct. 13, the temporary permit expired. After the sun went down, 50 protesters lined the sidewalk surrounding Bo Diddley Plaza. Ellas Anthony McDaniel, 56, son of the late rhythm and blues musician Bo Diddley, decided to join them. “Big business and government should not mix,” he said. “We’re making history at a place that honors my father.” To show his support, McDaniel stood on top of a stone block with an imprint of the words “Freedom of Speech” and “Freedom of Assembly.” A Gainesville Police Department officer handcuffed him, wrote a citation, and threatened to put him in jail if he tried to set foot on the plaza again. Three other protesters were detained
and cited that night. McDaniel told The Alligator he would continue to support the occupation and bail out anyone who gets arrested. The event made international headlines, picked up by The Daily Kos and The Guardian and later mentioned on MSNBC by Keith Olbermann. Duane Schwingel, a local occupier who knew Bo Diddley personally, said McDaniel’s father would have been proud. Schwingel, 53, a neatly dressed copywriter and father of two, made it clear that he doesn’t like labels. Nonetheless, he identifies as a pro-life Christian conservative. He’s been a Republican most of his life, though now he leans toward libertarianism. “Bo Diddley may have thought this was a silly left-wing event if he had only listened to the sound bites,” he said. “But I think he would have supported the movement, like anyone else would, if he had actually checked it out.” At the “Occupy Gainesville” general assemblies, Schwingel made friends with atheists and socialists. “We all shared a common cause — social, economic, and environmental justice,” he said. “It may never be reached 100 percent, but a peaceful dialogue will help us get there.” Before “Occupy Gainesville” started, Schwingel wrote a defiant song about the Occupy movement’s struggle to “tear down Wall Street” and restore democracy. On Oct. 13, he attended the protest and brought his guitar, excited to share his song with others. If not for Schwingel, Bo Diddley’s son may not have appeared. “They were standing at Bo Diddley Plaza, and I realized I had to get my friend over there. So I came with my song and my buddy,” he said. Most people went home at some point after the arrests, but a few protesters stayed and slept on the sidewalk. Schwingel stayed awake, watched over them, and wrote a new song that night. “I wanted something to play for them when they woke up, yawned and stretched,” he said at a general assembly the next day. “This movement seems to be driven by social interaction rather than ideology,” he added. “It’s not saying, ‘Here’s the solution.’ It’s saying, ‘Here’s the problem. Let’s talk.’ And that’s why I’m optimistic.”
COMIC
yello/blu by Travis Epes
Look for more yello/blu comics on our website at fineprintuf.org Fall 2011 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 37
november Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
01
Natural Health Workshop Capt. Randall, author of Forbidden Healing, spells out the facts on nutrition, detoxing, lifestyle choices and how our institutionalized technologies are endangering life on Earth at the Citizen’s Co-op (435 S. Main St.) from 2 to 3PM.
06
Wednesday
07 {mon} Dismantling Racism
09
The City of Gainesville’s Office of Equal Opportunity and the Dismantling Racism Change Team is embarking upon the next phase of their initiative to go beyond race and address issues pertaining to various types of prejudice and bias from 6 to 8PM at the Lincoln Middle School Auditorium (1001 SE 12th St.).
{mon} 14
15
My Fair Lady
Former Fla. Governor Reubin Askew
Governor Askew will be discussing some of the highpoints of his governorship and the importance of being civically engaged at Pugh Hall from 6 to 8PM.
20 {sun}
22
Soaring Voices: Contemporary Japanese Women Ceramic Artists
A gallery talk. With guest speaker Jason Steuber, Cofrin Curator of Asian Art. At 3PM at the Harn Museum of Art. This event is free and open to the public.
27
02
7:30PM at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. General admission $40 60. Student tickets $20. Open to the public. Call 352-392-2787 for more information.
23
Test Sites: Experiments in Art & Technology 30 This lecture by Michelle Kuo, editor-in-chief of Artforum, is part of a six-part Art and Technology series sponsored by the the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere. This event is free and open to the public at 6PM in Chandler Auditorim in the Harn Museum.
{tues} 29
>>
lots more events online at thefineprintuf.org + Submit events to calendar@thefineprintuf.org
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
03 Oleanna 04 A play by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and
UF Center for Smell and Taste presents
Stem Cells and Smell Cells
12PM in the Lauretta and John DeWeese auditorium in the McKnight Brain Institute (100 S. Newell Drive).
05
playwright David Mamet. Playing at The Acrosstown Repertory Theatre, Oct. 28 thru Nov. 13. Performances Friday & Saturday nigh at 8PM and Sundays at 2PM. General admission $10, students/educators/military/ seniors $8.
{sat} 12
10 Downtown Festival & Arts Show
Beginning at 10AM in dowtown Gainesville the Art Show showcases juried fine art show with 250 of the nation’s best artists, three stages of entertainment, blues concert and free children’s hands-on art activity area.
{thurs} 17
THE FINE PRINT PRESENTS
A meet ‘n’ greet open house at our office at 200 NE 1st St., Suite 201 Check out our new space and meet our staff. From 6-9PM. Refreshments provided + we’re raffling off Karma Cream gift cards!
Weekly Poetry Jam
At 9PM every Thursday at the Civic Media Center (433 S. Main St.) since 1994. All styles of poetry, acoustic music and a cappella singing, spoken word, performance art and more.
01
“ T ra s h f o r m at i o n s ”
The Alachua County Office of Waste Alternatives and the Florida Museum of Natural History host the 13th annual juried student recycled art show and competition at Florida Museum of Natural History from 5:30 to 7:30PM. All artwork is comprised of 70% or more recycled/recyclable/reused materials.
18
19 Company Man + Far Away Planes
+ Greenland is Melting
Doors at 9PM, music at 10PM at Double Down Live (210 SW 2nd Ave) $6 (+2 under 21)
26 25 {dec} 02
This Wonderful Life 7:30PM at The Hippodrome (25 SE 2nd Pl.) playing from Nov. 25th to Dec. 23rd.
03
You just might be our type.