The Fine Print, Spring 2013

www.thefineprintuf.org

SPRING 2013 FREE

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VOLUME V, ISSUE III

Watching the Watchmen A close look at surveillance in Gainesville p. 18

NO BOSS, NO DAIRY, NO PROBLEM: NOT JUST YOUR STANDARD COFFEE SHOP, P.14

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this issue The Passion Behind TEDx

(pictured right) Ideas Worth Spreading shared at TEDxUF

Published with support from Campus Progress/Center for American Progress (online at CampusProgress.org).

Print Editors

Ashira Morris Lily Wan

Art Director

Emma Roulette

Layout Director

Isabel Branstrom

Creative Writing Editor

Danny Ennis

Photo Editor

Melanie Brkick

Copy Editor

Hyesu Kim

Web Editor

Ashira Morris Lily Wan

Distribution

Ellen McHugh

Page Designers

Isabel Branstrom Korrie Francis Chelsea Hetelson Kelley Taksier Trisha Tucker

p. 28

MISSION STATEMENT

The V Word

(pictured above) Past the frills and chocolates, valentines day brought domestic violence awareness to the center stage

p. 18 Cover art by Emma Roulette.

COLUMNS For the Record, p. 10 Our column returns to review the latest and loveliest local tunes

SPOTLIGHTS

FINE PRINT|

CONTACT US

Email us at editors@thefineprintuf.org.

FREELANCE SUBMISSIONS

The Fine Print accepts freelance writing, photography and illustration. Submissions should be sent to editors@thefineprintuf.org.

ADVERTISING

Mayors, p. 12 Brush up on the mayoral candidates before you vote

The Fine Print distributes 5,000 copies of each bimonthly issue and is currently looking for advertisers. For more information, email editors@ thefineprintuf.org.

FEATURES

LETTERS

Gunpolicy, p. 22 The president laid down recommendations, our governor Wagetheft, p. 24 Task force working to stop wage theft Breaking Silence, p. 26 Society’s socialized perception of rape and the ignored minority

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The Fine Print reserves the right to deny or accept the publication of articles or advertisements according to the decisions of its editorial board. The views of our writers do not necessarily express those of The Fine Print.

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LETTERS, ETC.

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ISSUE II VOLUME V,

2 WINTER 201 FREE

thefineprintuf.org

EDITORIAL DESK

by Ashira Morris

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ter Testing theseiWa smic What do for airguns mean marine life? p. 30

We’re especially excited about this issue of The Fine NUIPC S : O P Print. It’s full of fresh voices and A N D new columns printed alongside K R I SF RHO M T H E G R O U N our trusted, seasoned writers and features.

S, P. 26 NOMIC BENEFIT ACT AND ITS ECO OF THE DREAM Printing this magazine is the AM: THE FUTURE NOT JUST A DRE closest us editors are going to come any time soon to birthing a baby. Like any baby, it consumes its makers until it is completed. It starts off barely noticeable, a little bump.

Deadline approaches and it swells larger. Now that it’s in your hands, we can take a deep breath and look back on the whole process.

We’ve spent the past couple of months progressively concerned that there will be complication in its final days. We’ve gone to a few yoga classes to reduce our stress.

Heck, we’ve even been eating weird foods at irregular hours.

This metaphorical baby of ours is a labor of love. We’re all volunteers. None of us get a paycheck at the end of the week (but we will take a penny for your thoughts). We’re here because we want to bring you the most intriguing stories we can find. There’s a lot going on in Gainesville when you start digging below the surface. The stories we choose to follow take a deeper look at everything, from local food to wage theft.

The world around us is infinitely fascinating. Our staff takes the time to go out into that vast world and ask questions, make observations and take notes. We’re curious. We want answers. But above all, we want stories. A nice narrative yarn than you can cozy up next to a fire with. The type of tale that you settle down with, like an old friend, served with a mug of tea.

So we proudly present our Spring issue Kyle Hayes to you, dear reader, and hope you enjoy.

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Cheers, Ashira Morris Co-Editor

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Multimedia, more stories, blogs and a community calendar.

PLUS! Comment on stories, see photos from the printed issue (and more!) IN COLOR, flip through a digital version of the printed edition and much, much more, all updated throughout the month.

+ facebook.com/thefineprintuf twitter.com/thefineprintuf

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FEATURED STAFFER Kyle Hayes

is a freshman at UF, majoring in spends his days reading, making mediocre cups of coffee, and trying to learn French. After graduation, he wants to travel and do whatever it is one does with an English degree. He is happy when he is writing, and will continue to do so every chance he gets.

Spring 2013 | T H E

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COLUMN/PAPER CUTS

Paper Cuts ATTENTION: GENIUS MISSING America may be the land of opportunity, but that opportunity sure isn’t evenly distributed.

A “critical mass” of our country’s most intelligent students are concentrated in just a few of the denser and richer regions: New England, coastal California and southern Florida. Top-tier colleges are loaded with the bright minds of these high-achieving, highincome students, but surely genius comes in many forms.

A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the vast majority of high-achieving, low-income students are not only more geographically dispersed, but also do not apply to any selective colleges universities.

The study used family incomes, data from College Board and ACT and students’ average high school course grades to define their study population of low-income, high-achievers; these students come from the poorest 25% of families but have the brainpower to shoot ‘em to the top 10% of American students academically.

So why aren’t more of these geniuses out nose-deep in beer and books at America’s top schools like their high-income counterparts?

Being accepted isn’t the problem. Financially discouraged and ignored by college recruitment teams, these students often don’t even apply.

Many of them would be well-qualified for financial aid and supplemental scholarships from these deep-pocket universities.

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Ouch! That hurts doesn’t it? Paper Cuts are our short, erratic and sometimes painful updates on current local and national news.

For more and past Paper Cuts, visit our website at www.thefineprintuf.org Image courtesy of the Government Pr ess Office by Milner Moshe via Flick r Commons.

Researchers Caroline Hoxby and Christopher Avery liken the colleges’ efforts to “searching under the lamp-post” — while many colleges do look for low-income students, their search is centered around their campus rather than around the students they’re searching for.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that all talented, poorer students don’t reach for the Ivies. Those who do apply, though, tend to be highly concentrated in high schools with grade- or test-score-based admission. These selective high schools have a greater wealth of resources and mentors who are better networked.

Without better college advisors to provide students with encouragement and guidance, these genius minds could be forever obscured. These are the minds essential to greater social mobility and a more diverse workforce, not to mention a less homogeneous, over-privileged student body.

You know that whole “shoot for the moon, miss and you’ll land on some stars or other-cool-celestial-body” saying? Yeah, that’s what these off-the-radar geniuses need to do. Never know until you try.

By Lily Wan

PIGS STILL CAN’T FLY, BUT...

It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, and it’s about four times cooler than Superman.

It’s a squid. And further inflating its badassity status, it’s neon.

The Todarodes pacificus’ airborne abilities were merely rumors until Japanese Scientist Jun Yamamoto and his research team wit-

nessed a group of these eight-inch squids soaring around off the Tokyo coast in 2011 (OK, “soaring” is a slight exaggeration, but cool visual, right?), The squid itself is not a newly discovered species, but the confirmation that these species are indeed flying — not jumping (how utterly pedestrian) — is a fresh catch.

The squid can only remain airborne for about three seconds, but they sure make the most of it. In these three seconds, a Neon Flying Squid can propel itself 98 feet through the air. At that rate, these squid are hitting speeds faster than what Usain Bolt averaged at the London Olympics.

Yamamoto and his team tracked and studied this shoal of squid to determine the exact mechanism responsible for their flight.

In just three seconds, a Neon Flying Squid can propel itself 98 feet through the air.

And, stranger yet, these molluscs are flying backwards.

The squid launches itself from the water by blasting a high pressure water jet from its stems. Once airborne, it spreads out its fins to expose an aerodynamic membrane essential for the stable arc necessary for flight. The squid is also able to direct its fins to steer itself through the air. It is this posture and control that distinguish flight from leap, epic from “meh.”

While the squids resort to flight to escape (CONT’D ON TOP OF NEXT PAGE)

COLUMN/COPY CATS (PAPER CUTS CONT’D)

their aquatic predators, those fleeting moments of safety don’t guarantee them full protection.

After all, it only takes for a hungry bird a few seconds to snatch up a quick lunch.

“We should no longer consider squid as things that live only in the water,” said Yamamoto in an interview with Agence FrenchPresse. “It is highly possible that they are also a source of food for seabirds.”

So, yeah, just sayin’ — squids can fly now. My day/life (and probably yours, too) just got real weird, real fast.

By Lily Wan

COPY CATS What articles, gadgets, and things TFP editors are reading, discovering, and listening to now.

Listening to:

Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland, Australia via Flickr Commons.

PODCAST

TED Radio Hour Description: TED Radio Hour does the hard (and sometimes intimidating) work of sorting through the wealth of available TED Talks for you by picking three TED talks all based on a central theme (like gaming or education) and interviews each speaker, playing clips of their TED talk in between.

Bonus: If you hear a subject or speaker you really like, you can go to the TED Radio Hour website and find the whole TED talk.

Quote from “Fixing our Broken Systems”: “If we want to solve problems like hunger, poverty, climate change, global conflict, obesity, I believe we need to aspire to play games online for at least 21B hours a week by the end of the next decade. No, I’m serious.

I am.”

If reading IRL, Google: TED Radio Hour If reading virtually: http://n.pr/JOw0fq

PODCAST

A History of the World in 100 Objects Description: The British Museum combed through its massive collection of extremely important items and whittled down our entire global history to 100 pieces. From the mummy of Hornedjitef to a solar-powered lamp, the BBC takes listeners on the epic journey of 2 million years of human civilization in 15-minute episodes. Plus, it’s narrated in the venerable British voice of Neil MacGregor, the museum’s director.

Quote: “It [the mummy case] carries all the different kinds of messages across the millennia, signals from the past if you like, that things can communicate to us.”

If reading IRL, Google: BBC A History of the World in 100 Objects If reading virtually: http://bbc.in/5RfM3P

Eating from: FOOD BLOG

The Vegan Stoner Description: This simple, yet creative and tasty meat- and dairy-free food and snack blog is beautifully illustrated, clean and clutter-free. The Vegan Stoner features snack, meal and drink recipes like carrot-matzoh soup, melon fresca and baked banana cake and frequently updates with new recipes.

Bonus: If reading from food blogs isn’t your style, you can also purchase their newly printed Vegan Stoner Snack Book with 40 full color pages and 14 never-before-seen recipes.

If reading IRL, go to: theveganstoner.com If reading virtually: theveganstoner.com

Reading: MENTAL HEALTH

There’s More to Life Than Being Happy Description: If you’re thinking about embarking on some pursuit of happiness, well, bad news: you’re not going to get there. And that’s because it’s not a destination.

Quote: “‘It is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to ‘be happy.’”

If reading IRL, Google: More to Life Than Happy The Atlantic If reading virtually: http://bit.ly/UKnlq1 Spring 2013 | T H E

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COLUMN/MONTHLY MANIFESTO

GATORS COALITION FOR AN

INCLUSIVE CAMPUS

Campus group aims to bring more diversity and less discrimnatory practices to UF’s housing program.

BY MARLA MUNRO The Gators Coalition for an Inclusive Campus (GCIC) is an organization that was formed with the intentions of making the University of Florida a more safe and welcoming place for all students, staff and community members. As a university that prides itself on diversity, our founding members were unsettled by the high number of instances of non-inclusive (and downright discriminatory) behavior on our campus.

As a collective of social justice-minded and passionate individuals, we set out to create positive change at UF. The first big project that pulled on our heartstrings and drove us to act was inclusive housing. Inclusive housing, which would allow students to opt in and mutually select roommates of any gender in designated

GCIC believes that all students should be able to live with people that they feel safe and comfortable with, regardless of gender, and we want to create a policy that would allow for that freedom. halls on campus, really stuck out to us as something we needed to bring to our university. Inclusive housing rejects the adultist, heteronormative and cissexist policies currently in place by the UF Department of Housing and Residence Education, and puts the choice in the hands of students. GCIC believes that all students should be able to live with people that they feel safe and comfortable with, regardless of gender, and we wanted to create a policy that would allow for that freedom. We researched hundreds of universities’ policies and networked with student leaders across the country about inclusive housing. All of that work culminated in January with the release of our proposal

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for the creation of an inclusive housing option at the University of Florida.

The creation of an inclusive housing option would provide siblings of different genders with the ability to live together on campus, which we believe would make the transition into college life a lot easier for students and therefore increase retention. Additionally, transgender students who feel that their gender identity does not match their assigned biological sex may find this option to suit their needs better than the current housing offerings. LGBQ students also may find this option to be helpful in assuring they can select roommates who create a safe and affirming environment for them.

The proposal details the suggested plan for how to implement inclusive housing. The inclusive housing option would be offered for a trial period during the Fall 2014-Spring 2015 school year. Lakeside Residential Complex would serve as the home for this community and 31 students, including a resident assistant, would be able to choose the inclusive housing option.

Inclusive housing is offered in some form at over 125 schools around the country, including many top public and private schools with strong foundations in research. GCIC believes that the University of Florida has the potential to join this elite group of universities.

We are currently circulating a Change.org petition entitled “University of Florida: Create an inclusive housing option on campus!” As of now, we have about 450 signatures on the petition but are aiming to get at least 5,000 signatures. You can join our movement and sign the petition today at http://chn.ge/Vu6X9X. The full proposal is posted on the Gators Coalition for an Inclusive Campus website at ufgcic.blogspot.com.

We believe all Gators should be able to have a welcoming home in the heart of the Gator Nation, and with your support we can make this goal a reality.

COLUMN/FRANKLY SPEAKING

New column, Frankly Speaking, explores the Gainesville scene, our odd social cues and living in a transient town.

BY TYLER FRANCISCHINE Wake up. Check your Facebook. That meme you reposted sparked some conversation. Feel good about it. Change your profile picture. It gets a couple near-instant likes. Feel even better. Check your Tumblr. Scroll through your Instagram. Tweet tweet.

I’m not the first to say it — we exist online a lot more than we used to. We spend hours crafting our online personalities to most accurately represent how we feel at each moment. We gather information about ourselves by uploading photos and videos and seeing how others respond. But how much is this supplanting the effort to improve ourselves and our relationships in real life?

A few years ago, we’d talk about girls with “the angles,” MySpace queens with names like ForBiddeN and Tina Tiara™ who had thousands of “friends” and even more picture comments.

But today, in this age of “Catfish” and what the hip digital magazine Thought Catalog keeps referring to as the “New Disconnectedness,” nearly everyone finds gratification from connecting through social networks.

Today we meet people at parties, add them on Facebook and then creep incessantly on their interests and photos. Instead of asking to meet them for coffee, we send picture messages of what we made for dinner. Instead of taking them to shows, we send YouTube links. And of course, at 1 a.m., when that post-$2 single-wells loneliness sets in, we shoot our crush a Facebook IM. Because showing up at his or her door would be so desperate.

I’ve noticed myself falling into this trap in the last two years. I used to call friends or boyfriends out of the blue, ask what their plans were for the evening and then try to meet up. But now, I find myself charting their activity on Facebook and Twitter. If they’ve posted some vague status about fun, I immediately feel bad that I’m not having fun

yet, and I won’t contact them. Even worse, I have occasionally posted a “Who wants to go to suchand-such with me?” status. And we all know those only end badly, when that one strange boy who comments on all your pictures says he would love to, and what time should he pick you up.

Of course, there are benefits to having a mostly online identity. We emphasize certain aspects of our lives so we can offer up an image of our best selves. I sure as hell don’t upload pictures of myself on days when I look anything less than impossibly fresh and radiant. And I don’t post videos or links to topics that I don’t want people to know I’m interested in.

But the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.

Existing online breeds passivity to communication IRL. When I stand outside of a show and people tell jokes, I get an urge to “like” what they say instead of engaging. This passivity hinders us in our abilities to meet people whilst out and about, to gauge interest and to fall in love. It used to be that people got to know each other slowly — through asking questions and sharing experiences.

People grew closer and shed their layers like two little onions. Now, a quick scroll through someone’s Tumblr is all it takes to peg his or her personality.

But the Internet is not going to disappear, so a solution is necessary. I propose a balance of two mostly congruent personalities, online and inperson, that take turns holding center stage in our quest for self-betterment. We don’t need to delete our Facebooks, but we need to know when to close our laptops. We need to use online networks to become closer to people we’re close with IRL. We don’t need to use the Internet as the only means of connecting with other humans. I’ve started writing letters with my long-distance friends — it’s a refreshing change to read a narrative without any ads or hashtags. Plus, it feels great to open a mailbox and pull out that envelope with your name on it.

Trust me, there’s no app for that.

“When people tell jokes, I get an urge to ‘like’what they say instead of engaging.”

Spring 2013 | T H E

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COLUMN / READ UP, CHOW DOWN

TEMPO BISTRO TO GO 1516 NW 13th St., Gainesville, FL P: 352-336-5834 F: 352-336-5833 BistroTempo.com Facebook: Tempo Bistro To Go

THE LIST 1/4 cup olive oil 2 large yellow or sweet onion 12 cloves of garlic 1/4 cup vegetable base 4 quarts local sweet potatoes (cubed) 12 cups crushed Roma tomato 2 cups unsalted peanut butter 8 cups filtered water 1/2 cups cumin 2 tablespoons coriander 1 tablespoon cayenne salt/pepper to taste

read up,chow down FEATURED RECIPE: TEMPO BISTRO’S VEGAN MAFE-AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP TEXT BY RAAMISH KARATELA/PHOTO BY MELANIE BRKICK The word “tempo” is not just the speed at which a melody is played. It has another meaning for co-owners John Drum and Debra Pour of the local Gainesville restaurant Tempo Bistro To Go. Although they play a healthy amount of acid jazz, downtempo, funk, and soul (John used to be a DJ in Orlando), for them, “tempo” also has to do with slow food. This is evident from the the colorful chalkboard they keep on the far wall of their restaurant. It has on it the names of all the Gainesville farmers that are the sources of their ingredients. If you ask John about the board, he’ll say that “the board tells a story, and we found that stories taste good.” Check out this recipe for Mafe-African Peanut Soup that Tempo Bistro shared with us.

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F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

THE STEPS 1. Saute oil, onion and garlic until clear and caramelized.

2. Peel all sweet potatoes and cube 2 1/2 quarts into 1-inch pieces, and then remaining 1 1/2 quarts into 1/4-inch pieces.

3. Add vegetable base, spices, water, peanut butter and Roma tomatoes. Cover and bring to boil.

4. Add large sweet potato cubes to boiling soup and cook until tender.

5. Remove from heat and allow soup to rest.

6. Puree soup in blender or with immersion blender until silky smooth.

7. Add remaining smaller sweet potato pieces and simmer — heat for 20-30 minutes.

8. Try some yummy toppings such as crispy fried onions, roasted peanuts, plain yogurt or garden fresh organic cilantro.

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eat me! i’m in season & fresh Broccoli Parsley Celery Beets Kale

Brussel sprouts Bok choy Cilantro Cauliflower Carrots

Turnips Radishes Spinach Cadidicchio Strawberries

COLUMN / CAMPUS

office SPACE TEXT AND PHOTO BY LAUREN JADOTTE

:

PROFESSOR: Dr. Trysh Travis OFFICE: 305 Ustler Hall DEPARTMENT: Women’s Studies CLASSES THIS SEMESTER: The Gendered History of American Medicine (WST 3930)

Step into Dr. Trysh Travis’ office in Ustler 305 and you’ll be greeted by nostalgic relics from American culture. A 1960s Barbie, a print of Jacob Lawrence’s painting “The Library,”a photo from HBO’s “The Wire.” Much like Travis, a tenured Women’s Studies at the University of Florida, the office is most accurately described as multifaceted. Her research is equally diverse, encompassing issues from Alcoholics Anonymous to the anti-drug practices of groups like the Black Panther Party.

Travis was born in Dallas, Texas, and fled from the southern mega-state at the age of 17 to the city lights of New York. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in a self-made major of Media Studies and American Culture at New York University. In 2004 she made her way to UF, where she focuses on breaking the stigmas that are generally associated with her field. She does this by inviting students to begin using their brains in the classroom rather than passively consuming.

"Finding the pleasure in thinking is fun and empowering,” Travis said. I want my students to get an education rather than a credential."

While traveling home from a REM concert in New York City, the Springsteen poster was swept right to Travis’s feet. It was one of many plastered across New York City to advertise Springsteen’s arrival to New York. Travis took the unexpected discovery of the poster as fate and attended the concert.

In the 1990s Travis taught a class on American Masculinity and Post-War Pop Culture, and used Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” as an example of white American working class masculinity.

Over time, the poster has had many homes: undergrad apartments, a storage unit during her time in graduate’s school and office walls. When Travis was offered tenure at UF in 2004, the poster was the first thing she removed from storage.

“It is a talisman of my undergraduate life,” Travis said. “A time where all I cared about was the next show that I was going to go to.”

Travis takes pride in the fact that she has held on to an original cut out of this comic since it was first published in 1987. The comic depicts a teacher and student in the classroom, but with a twist: both the student and the teacher are wearing a dunce hats.

The student’s hat is labelled “dunce” and teacher’s hat is labelled “bitch.” For Travis, the comic recognizes that name-calling in the classroom can go both ways.

“At the end of the day this is what we should strive for – a balanced relationship between student and teacher,” she said.

“This comic reminds me to keep it real.”

The art of playing is very close to Travis’ heart. She uses the toys as an aid for spatial and visual learners during office hours. These “toys for teaching” allow the students to have a more analytic and playful approach toward revising a paper. Travis’ aspirations are centered around students having fun while thinking.

“The students that have gone through the Florida public school system have been FCAT-ed to death,” Travis said. “They have forgotten the pleasure in thinking. It is an important life skill.”

Spring 2013 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | 09

FOR THE RECORD Reviews of local bands, the next big thing, and all your friends.

Leela and the Rams in Loblolley Woods Nature Park, Gainesville Fl. Photo by Melanie Brkich

If you’d like to see your band reviewed in For The Record or if you want to be considered to play at our next benefit show, email editors@thefineprintuf.org and let us know.

STRAWBERRY

FINGERS // Leela and the Rams Leela Dawson// vocals, piano & guitar Jaime Tucker// guitar Justin Stirrat// drums

soulful indie rock Released// Jan. 30 Recorded at// A spare room in Emily’s house Sounds like// Modest Mouse, Florence & the Machine Inspiration// Paul McCartney, Islands, Rubblebucket Key tracks// “No Troubles,” “Watches & Clocks” Where to get it// $5 download at leelaedawsongmailcom.bandcamp.com Upcoming shows// See facebook.com/LeelaAndTheRams

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Leela and the Rams is a soulful and eclectic indie rock group with angelic vocals backed by harmonies reminiscent of a mixture of Queen and Fleet Foxes. “We all have completely different musical influences,” says Jaime. Each member draws from his or her own unique background, dipping into genres such as jazz, blues, 70s pop and contemporary indie. The result? A delightful, layered auditory concoction that is guaranteed to make your heart sing like a migratory field sparrow.

Strawberry Fingers is a re-

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

Alejandro Ellis// bass Emily Price// saxophone & back Patrick Oberlin// trumpet

splendent EP spanning themes of prophecy, rapture, love and loss.

In “No Troubles,” you can practically feel your heart breaking. “I can’t lose you/I can’t live with the thought in my head,” Leela sings, inspiring goosebumps and a profound evocation of youthful and everlasting love.

What is most remarkable about Leela and the Rams is their ability to produce a complex and mature record, despite their limited resources and time. Strawberry Fingers was mastered, mixed and produced by the band members

themselves. “Everything is very DIY. We recorded the EP in a studio we built using our own equipment in a spare room in Emily’s house.” The band unofficially formed in October 2012, started playing shows and acquiring a couple of new members in November and then recorded their EP in a less than a month.

With talent rawer than a bag of Ward’s baby carrots, Leela and the Rams is definitely a band to watch. “This is all we’ve ever wanted to do,” said Leela. It shows.

BY EMMA ROULETTE

COLUMN/FOR THE RECORD

EUGLOSSINE DANCE DISTRICT

fantasy nostalgic electronica Release Date// March 2013 Recorded at// Church of Holy Colors Sounds like// Royksopp, Aphex Twin Inspiration// Tangerine Dream, Stereolab Key tracks// “Fauna Soiree,” “Tetrasporangia”

FLAT LAND

groovy & funky Release Date// March 16, 2013 Recorded at// Goldentone Studio Sounds like// The Black Keys, Fleetwood Mac Inspiration// Led Zeppelin, The Budos Band Key tracks// “Hypnotize Me,” “Everything You Wanted” Where to get it// Name your price at flatland.bandcamp.com

// Euglossine Tristan Whitehill

If you like psychedelic electronica that is “fun for your mind,” wait until you hear Euglossine.

Drawing inspiration from electronic music from the 1960s and 70s, as well as the fascinating and complex realm of biology, Tristan Whitehill seeks to create music that takes the listener to a beautiful, unfamiliar place. “Reality is an important part of life,” he said, “but I want to be able to craft things that don’t or couldn’t possibly exist, like impossible imaginary environments. Every song is dedicated to summoning that place.”

While his music is lush with cosmic experimental vibes, it is grounded with terrestrial sounds, as well.

Interdimensional birds digitally chirp throughout “Holy Days (Thankful waves)”, and “Church Trax” conjures images of prismatic crystal waterfalls rushing to your ears. “My music really used to be influ-

enced by the cosmos, but then I realized... there’s no sound in space,” Tristan chuckled. “After that, I started thinking about life on Earth and getting inspired by that.”

Euglossine also relies upon friends and family for inspiration, by whom he is constantly humbled.

He is affiliated with The Church of Holy Colors, where he frequently performs, surrounding himself with “people who make art the way I make music.”

The name Euglossine refers to the scientific name of orchid bees, a group of insects with which his father closely worked.

Creating a mixture of new age tropicalia and playful, synesthetic melodies, Euglossine certainly has a style like no other. “It’s not just music to me anymore,” he said. “It’s art.”

BY EMMA ROULETTE

// Flat Land Zach Tucker// guitar and vocals Fae Nageon De Lestang// vocals & violin Grant McLeod// drums

Chris Pyle// bass Chris Storey// guitar

Flat Land is a southern funk group whose lively rhythms will surely move your soul and your feet.

Many of their songs build until the end, beginning with a subtle but catchy melody and crescendoing into an elaborate, groovy finale.

“We want people to be able to dance and have a good time when we play,” said Fae. It’s true – using complex percussion, gritty guitar riffs, fiery vocals, and a dash of mysterious violin, these talented musicians are able to create irresistibly danceable jams.

Formed in 2011, Flatland is composed of artists with vastly different influences like afrobeat, 1970’s psychedelic, and contemporary alternative. Flatland stays true to their roots, deriving inspiration from southern folk and blues artists as well. Even their name is a reference to the Flor-

ida’s level topography.

With a sound groovier than James Brown at a hoedown, Flat Land is a band you don’t want to miss.

BY EMMA ROULETTE

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SPOTLIGHT

May(or) may not.

BY CHRISTINE CSENCSITZ ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMMA ROULETTE Confused about who to cast your vote for in Gainesville’s mayoral elections on March 19?

Confused because you didn’t realize we had mayoral elections on March 19? Either way, The Fine Print is here to help. Read up on this election season’s candidates, then exercise your right to make an educated vote!

MARK VENZKE www.markformayor.us Mark Venzke, who ran unsuccessfully for city commissioner last year, is largely a proponent of environmental activism. Venzke worked for a number of years in the landscape industry based in Chicago and later worked in Indiana and Colorado before eventually moving to Gainesville. Though his campaign focuses are broad, ranging from establishing “open and responsive government” to furthering Gainesville’s current transportation systems, Venzke has a keen interest in pursuing a “fully responsible energy policy,” as per his campaign website. Taking stances against the biomass plant contract, which he says is too expensive and not well-suited for Gainesville, and the currently operating solar feed-in tariff program, Venzke seems focused on opening new avenues of renewable energy in Gainesville.

ED BRADDY

edbraddy.com After serving two terms as a Gainesville city commissioner, Ed Braddy entered the mayoral race in early January. Aside from his tenure as city commissioner, Braddy has also served as a co-host of the conservative Talk of The Town radio program. His work as director of the American Dream Coalition, a nonprofit group focusing on “the American dream of freedom, mobility and affordable homeownership” heavily influences his mayoral goals. Braddy has his sights set on a plan of fiscal conservatism and... [continued on next page] 12 | T H E

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SPOTLIGHT

[continued from previous page] ...to oppose rising utility rates and taxes and promote affordable homeownership.

Beyond this, he is working to “promote mobility,” as per his campaign website. What this comes down to is his desire to reject plans for a “bus rapid transit system,” a new plan circling in Gainesville city government, and focus instead on refining current RTS (Regional Transit System) service.

SCHERWIN HENRY scherwinhenry.com Scherwin Henry is a senior biological scientist at the University of Florida, former city commissioner and a Gainesville native. Running his campaign on the concept of Gainesville as “a tale of two cities,” Henry looks to unite and promote growth throughout the city. His plans for his hometown include a focus on economic and community development, including a myriad of sub-issues, such as promoting plans to end homelessness, improvement to the existing infrastructure and environmental protection policies.

CRAIG LOWE www.craiglowe.com Gainesville’s current mayor, Craig Lowe, a hands-on official who can often be found at student events at UF and downtown, is running for reelection.

Previously, Lowe has worked as a biological scientist at UF and served as a city commissioner. Though not a Gainesville native, Lowe is finely tuned to workings of the city. His platform consists mostly of job creation through the promotion of new businesses — especially local businesses — and building projects. He hopes to create an environmentinwhich,ashesaysonhiscampaignwebsite,“all residents…can find a job and put down roots.” He has some emphasis on environmental concerns, neighborhood safety and promotion of a budgetary policy that would make his other plans possible. It seems Lowe, if afforded more time as mayor, would work to further the strides he has made in office so far.

PETER LARS JOHNSON peteformayor.com Peter Lars Johnson first declared his intent to run for mayor in August of last year. A former chairman of the Gainesville Alachua County Regional Airport Authority, Johnson is hoping to “[lead] Gainesville from Good to Great,” as he describes on his campaign website.

Deeply involved in Gainesville, Johnson’s resume hosts a wide range of tenures, from a term as president of the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra board to co-founder of UF’s Leadership Development Institute. His stances seem to cling to the idea of fiscal responsibility and communitydevelopment.Itisclearthathewantstopromote Gainesville’s reputation as a great place to raise a family, but his plans for what he would do exactly, if elected, are more vague.

For more information on voting in Alachua County see votealachua.com.

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SPOTLIGHT

Motivated by

$ PASSION, Lured by TUITION

RICK SCOTT OUTLINES EDUCATION REFORM TO BASE TUITION ON “STRATEGIC” AND “NON-STRATEGIC” DEGREES

BY MARISSA GOLDBERG Total student debt currently clocks in at over $1.06 trillion. In the time it took to type this sentence, the debt clock ticked up over $300,000 more. As if securing a job after graduation and maintaining a high GPA isn’t stressful enough, students nationwide are now being haunted with the debt of student loans well into their professional careers. Florida Governor Rick Scott doesn’t seem to think this mountain of debt is crippling enough.

In May of 2012, Governor Scott created the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform. Recently, the task force introduced the idea of “differentiated tuition” – Florida students’ new worst nightmare.

This proposal stipulates that students pursuing STEM degrees — degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics — would be graced with a tuition freeze, meaning tuition for these bachelor’s degree programs would not increase over the next three years. On the contrary, students pursuing non-STEM degrees (degrees in anthropology, psychology, or English, to name a few) would face a hefty tuition increase. The Task Force labels many of these nonSTEM programs “non-strategic,” whereas “strategic” degrees are “high-skill, high-wage, high-demand,” according to the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s proposal.

It may seem counterintuitive, but STEM courses are actually among the most expensive to teach due to the cost of lab facilities and the much smaller class sizes. The tuition freeze will therefore be offset by the tuition increase

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shouldered by non-STEM students.

In 2011, University of Florida President Machen requested to raise tuition for STEM degrees due to their increased demand, as well as the potentially higher salaries for STEM graduates. This starkly contrasts with Governor Scott’s recent proposal. Nothing has changed regarding Machen’s request from two years ago; but the future, if the Task Force’s recommendations are executed, may look quite different.

Though Governor Scott and his cronies have not formally implemented the proposal, they will reconvene for the upcoming legislative session in March to inch the effort forward.

In what seems to be his attempt to privatize higher education in Florida, Scott hopes to make these “strategic” degree programs more attractive. To promote job growth in these areas, he is attempting to lure students into these degrees by offering STEM tuition at a fixed price. Tuition for “non-strategic” programs, however, would steadily continue to increase. The lower cost of tuition may be enough to lure some students into pursuing a STEM degree.

THE TASK FORCE LABELS MANY OF THESE NON-STEM PROGRAMS “NON-STRATEGIC,” WHEREAS “STRATEGIC” DEGREES ARE “HIGH-SKILL, HIGH-WAGE, HIGH-DEMAND.”

SPOTLIGHT

Governor Scott is essentially diminishing the value of degrees in non-STEM areas. Most, if not all, of these degrees cultivate skills in students that would be useful in a variety of job settings. The value of non-STEM degrees is evident in the broad array of majors pursued by students studying law, for example.

“There is no “set” curriculum that a person aspiring to law school must follow,” Levin College of Law Dean Robert Jerry said. “A typical law school class will have a broad array of diverse academic backgrounds represented...[and] there will also be strong representation from engineering, fine arts, health sciences and other colleges.”

The set of skills that students cultivate in their college careers is far-reaching and versatile. Educational value does not lie solely with STEM degrees.

Scott also hopes to sway faculty to the STEM departments, though this hope may be in vain. Budget cuts speak loudly to faculty; many professors and researchers have recently been leaving Florida universities in high numbers because of the perceived devaluation of Florida’s education system. Florida State University has lost 50 faculty members in each of the past two years, for example. The differentiated tuition proposal would just perpetuate this decline.

Shortly after the proposal was published, a group of University of Florida history professors banded together to

“STRATEGIC” MAJORS

create a petition on Change.org against the differentiated tuition proposal. tuition proposal. They posit that “the punitive tuition model will lead not only to a decimation of the liberal arts in Florida...it will also have a destructive impact on the essential and transferrable skills that these disciplines teach.”

Additionally, College of Fine Arts Dean Lucinda Lavelli leads an effort called UF SEA Change, the purpose of which is to “develop and disseminate innovative ideas for research, teaching and service to enhance the campus intellectual environment.” Binding together Science, Engineering and the Arts, SEA Change stands as a remonstration against the idea of a purely STEM-centered educational environment.

“In first review, it does not appear that the benefits of differential tuition would be realized, and there would be many negative consequences,” Dean Lavelli said.

Lavelli, whose graduate education was in theater, dance and nonprofits, holds that students majoring in the Fine Arts are pursuing careers in law and medicine, not just the arts. Even some engineers, as she pointed out, are having trouble finding a job in today’s struggling economy.

“We don’t have a controlled economy, so we can’t manipulate it,” Dean Lavelli said. “It’s a simplistic plan for a very complex problem.”

Check out the petition: http://bit.ly/Z0Cq2r

Tuition for these degrees would be held steady for at least three years, while tuition for “non-strategic” would continue to increase.

37% of degrees granted within the Florida undergraduate education system 111

programs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)

21

programs in the health professions

19

programs in education-critical (math, science)

28

programs in globalization

9

programs in security and emergency services

“NON-STRATEGIC” MAJORS Classified as humanities and social science degrees, but have not been as explicitly outlined by the Blue Ribbon Task Force as “strategic” degrees.

MORE FACTS 27.7 %

increase in Florida university enrollment from 2006 - 2011

26 %

amount Florida’s spending per student decreased from 2006 - 2011

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THE TEXT BY BRITTANY BOKZAM ILLUSTRATION BY KELLI MCADAMS February was a big month for women’s rights in Gainesville, as the V-Day campaign returned to the community aftera two-year absence. V-Day is a global movement to raise awareness about ending violence against women, and the centerpiece of the movement is “The Vagina Monologues,” a play by Eve Ensler about the experience of being female.

Typically produced through the University of Florida, Directors Emily Snider, Dean Carvalho and Keri Johnson handled this year’s production independently, allowing the broader Gainesville community to get involved rather than just UF students and faculty.

“Every time in the past, it had been done through the University of Florida,” said Carvalho. “This is the first time it’s been done through the city, rather than the school.”

The UF student organization that usually coordinates it, Victory Over Violence, was unable to follow through on the project last year; but after its two-year absence, “The Vagina Monologues” came back to a warm welcome of a packed theater.

Days before opening night on Feb. 11, the show was completely sold out for each of its three performances.

“I didn’t expect that it would happen this fast,” said Snider. “Obviously, we hoped that we would sell out, but I had no idea.”

They attributed the success to Gainesville’s strong arts and activist communities. They had reached out to local artists and asked them to contribute pieces for a gallery viewing and silent auction that were held an hour before the show each night. Their contributions, along with private donations and support from local businesses, helped make this year’s V-Day a stunning success.

Ten percent of all profits went back to the V-Day campaign, but everything else, said Carvalho, went to Peaceful Paths, Gainesville’s domestic violence support, education and advocacy center.

At one point during the play, one actress shared a statistic with the audience: in 2010-2011, 124 forcible sex offenses were reported in Alachua. That number, however, only tells part of the story. Two16 | T H E

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V WORD thirds of all sex crimes go unreported. Even when they do get reported and pursued within the judicial system, Snider added, the results are frequently more harm than help.

“A lot of times, I see reports of sexual violence get taken into a criminal arena, and often, the case doesn’t proceed to the kind of resolution that anyone wants,” Snider said.

The problematic way that the criminal justice system handles sexual offenses has led many to stay silent rather than facing the complicated, draining and frequently ineffectual process of reporting the crime to the authorities.

Snider has found that people are often more willing to talk about abuse they’ve suffered in private spaces, where they feel safe from the judgment or stigma that they may encounter elsewhere. That free and open discussion has helped many victims work through their trauma and heal.

Likewise, the core purpose of V-Day and “The Vagina Monologues” is to encourage people to talk openly about the things that society typically won’t talk about. As Snider said, a simple willingness to say the word “vagina” and discuss the reality of your body without shame is a first step that paves the way to discussion of other issues — up to, and including, abuse or violence.

“If we talk about the vagina, we won’t be afraid to talk about rape. If we talk about the vagina, we won’t be afraid to talk about shaving my pubic hair and how [we] hate it,” she said, referencing one of the monologues. “If we talk about the vagina, we won’t be afraid to talk about lesbian sex — if we talk about the vagina, all these things.”

Silence is definitely a contributing factor to violence, as emphasised by V-Day’s partnership with One Billion Rising this year. The campaign is a celebration of ending violence against women around the world, its name referring to the one billion women that will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. On V-Day, the campaign encouraged men and women around the world to stand up and dance in celebration of raising awareness.

“We made the editorial decision not to try to make everyone in the audience dance,” Snider laughed.

watchi

ng the

WATCH ME

N

TEXT BY CHARLENE HEWITT AND RACHEL JONES ILLUSTRATION BY EMMA ROULETTE Traffic cameras overhead, the bus driving by, the convenience store across the street, that ATM you just withdrew money from — surveillance is everywhere.

But who’s watching? Law enforcement, you’d assume, but they’re only a pixel of the full picture.

Each RTS bus has four to five video cameras recording not just the inside, but the outside, as well.

Audio within the bus is also recorded.

Florida Statute 812.173(1)(a) requires every convenience store to have a security camera system and the U.S. Bank Protection Act of 1968 mandates a camera inside every ATM. Private businesses usually comply to share footage from their own cameras, often without a subpoena or a warrant, according to Ben Tobias, Gainesville Police Department’s public information officer.

Best Buy released surveillance that helped determine the clothes UF student Christian Aguilar wore the day he went missing last September. The matching clothes indicated it was his body that was found 22 days later, before he could be properly identified by an autopsy.

The traffic cameras that are used as part of Gainesville’s traffic management system, a high-tech solution to traffic congestion, can also be utilized by law enforcement to track a person of interest or a suspicious vehicle — but not to ticket drivers.

Since they don’t record, they aren’t considered surveillance cameras, said Matthew Weisman, an Intelligent Transportation Services engineer at the Public Works Department.

But the Intelligent Transportation Services’ Strategic Plan states that the Florida Department of Transportation “collects a significant amount of realtime information, such as video.”

“Generally speaking, this information is not archived,” the document states. “In part, this is to avoid the workload and potential legal implications of third parties seeking access to this information.”

For roughly the past 13 years, police cars in Alachua County have had audio and video recording technology to record interactions between cops and citizens, said Lt. Todd Kelly, public information officer for the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

More than 80,000 license plates, along with the location, date and time, have been captured by just one patrol car using the VeriPlate Automated License Plate Recognition System, a technology the

sheriff’s office started using in June 2011. This does not mean 80,000 distinct tags — it could include multiple recordings of the same tag at different times, as Lt. Kelly explained.

The black and white infrared camera can capture up to 1,440 license plates a day, from vehicles parked or moving in either direction of traffic. Another camera takes a high-resolution color photo of the vehicle to accompany its tag number.

The $20,000 system is used to find stolen vehicles, wanted persons, and people driving with suspended or revoked licenses. It’s also used for “domestic security purposes,” according to its purchase order, and to “aid in the continued protection of the motoring public of Florida.”

Storage is purchased on demand and grows as needed, Denise Rodenbough, chief of service support for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said. “The data is stored for 3 years and is accessible on a ‘need to know’ basis.”

The records are stored and backed up at one of the state’s primary data centers in Tallahassee, a secure disaster recovery facility, according to Rodenbough.

“You have to assume that you’re being recorded 24/7,” Kelly said. “As an agency, we welcome that.”

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FEATURE ....continued from p.17

Traffic Cameras How is it stored? Not permanently recorded.

Who has access? Public Works Department and Gainesville Police. Public can view the public stills on the website.

What info can they get from it? Live view of traffic conditions.

VeriPlate Readers

Private Cameras How is it stored? Depends on the company.

Who has access? The private business.

What info can they get from it?

Image of offender.

Bus Cameras How is it stored? Depends on the age of the bus/system. Sometimes it’s deleted within 12 hours. Bus drivers can flag video to be saved if needed.

Who has access? RTS. What info can they get from it? Audio and video feed of the inside and outside of the bus.

How is it stored? Storage is purchased on demand at one of the state’s primary data centers at the rate of $0.001374 per GB per day, and grows as needed. This center is in Tallahassee; data is stored for 3 years and is accessible on a ‘need to know’ basis to a limited number of FHP/DHSMV employees,” said Rodenbough.

Who has access? Cop of the patrol car, and anyone with access to the designated computer at Alachua County Sheriff’s office.

What info can they get from it? - Date, time, location, and license plate number of vehicle.

University Avenue

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Union Road

O’Connell Center

Stadium Road

Inner Road

Reitz Union Museum Road Newell Drive

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Center Drive

Gale Lemerand Drive

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13th Street

TYPES OF CAMERAS

FEATURE Main Street

Follow our theoretical Jane Doe through her typical day. Let’s see

how how many surveillance systems she encounters!

Driving

Walking

6th Street

<<< Begin

University Avenue

2nd Avenue

4th Avenue

enue Depot Av

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FEATURE

Rusti Pee, one of the co-founders and baristas at Radical Press Coffee Collective, brews up a strong cup of locally roasted coffee using the cafeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new AeroPress coffee maker.

NO BOSS, NO DAIRY, NO PROBLEM

New Worker-run Radical Press Coffee Collective

BY RAIN ARANEDA, PHOTO BY MARIA CORREA

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FEATURE

What do you do when you are tired of working in environments where you “don’t have creative control,” “feel powerless,” or that your “opinions aren’t as valuable as the higher-ups’”? You get creative, partner with people and empower each other, and make an inspiring and collaborative work environment. In the words of famous architect Buckminster Fuller, “To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

So what does this new model look like, and where is it?

It’s right in our backyard, at the artists’ block off south Main Street. This past fall, some young coffee-loving entrepreneurs pegged down Gainesville’s creativity hub for their new business model.

Entrepreneurs? Yes. Conventional?

Hardly.

These eight founders were determined to build something better than the business-as-usual capitalist model. It would be a cooperatively run café — no bosses, anti-profit and community-focused.

And with this mission, the Radical Press Coffee Collective was born.

Radical Press “dream[s] of a world where cooperative models are the norm and not an oddity,” where the management and production systems are “based on cooperation and not coercion,” said Rusti, Radical Press’s foam-forming barista artista. At Radical Press, decisions are made laterally, meaning the decisionmaking process is non-hierarchical and entirely consensus-based. Additionally, all workers are self-employed and equally paid, allowing them to reduce management costs and additional overhead. Being selfemployed, they have a personal interest in the success of the project as well, even if the interest is not driven by a profit motive.

One of the goals of Radical Press is to build upon the artists’ block and community that has been organically

growing on south Main Street for several years.

For a start, Radical Press launched an Indiegogo campaign in December to raise funds for its opening.The campaign’s goal? $15,000. $15,000? Repeat that? A bit of a tall order for an anti-profit business model, no?

This type of speculative retort is something the collective has heard before.

The donations are for the coffee shop’s grand opening and for reinvestment back into the space, the project and partnership, as well as the community. This money will also go towards purchasing equipment and supplies, such as organic locally roasted coffee from roasters like Strongtree, Sweetwater and Tree City.

So far, the community has been supportive of the venture, donating their time, money and resources to get the collective up and running.

The founders believe that if the community wants the collective to thrive, they will keep coming back and donating for coffee and a comfortable, creative environment where they know they are truly valued as a customer.

“Our relationship with the CMC is symbiotic,” said Quinn Martin of Radical Press. “Our neighbors at the Co-op have been extremely generous in sharing their resources. We’ve been working with them to reduce our own overhead by using some of their facilities, while supporting them by purchasing most of our goods wholesale through the Co-op.”

Radical Press promises all surplus after paychecks, equipment maintenance and ingredients will go directly back into the community. Some of the campaign money and any monthly profit will be donated to the CMC for shared use of the space and utilities expenses, said Quinn.

Kenzie Cooke, another one of the Radical Press’s barista artista founders, is

excited about the collective venture.

“Since we don’t have any boss or owner concerned with profits influencing the space, the shop will be a real reflection of the community,” she said.

RADICAL PRESS “DREAM[S] OF A WORLD WHERE COOPERATIVE MODELS ARE THE NORM AND NOT AN ODDITY.” After several years of collaborating and community building, the A-block is now a hub for collective organizing, arts shows, workshops and music shows. It seems well on its way to being a sustainable and exemplary alternative business model, but how is success measured outside the traditional monetary metric utilized in capitalist business structures? How will the collective gauge success?

“One of our main objectives in forming this collective is to bring new energy into the CMC and revitalize it as a community space, so I think even if we can stay open as an all volunteer-run venture, I would call our project successful,” says Kenzie. “We want to be a real alternative and hope to share our process (what went horribly wrong, what we learned from it, etc.) and inspire similar collectives.”

By empowering each other, Radical Press and its A-block neighbors hope to empower others to create similar new models and to give back to the community that helps support them in their venture.

This is the kind of collaboration that builds jobs and community, economy and real long-term equity. This is the collaboration that has helped the A-block flourish.

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FEATURE

GUN POLICY SHOWDOWN

THE PRESIDENT’S PROPOSAL,

OUR GOVERNOR’S CHOICE

BY ANJALI GOSWAMI ILLUSTRATION BY SUSIE BIJAN

Over the 20 years of the Vietnam War, 58,000 Americans lost their lives in the line of battle. An average two-year period in the United States sees more than 58,000 deaths — not in the face of war, but instead, due to domestic gun violence.

The violent reality of today’s society has prompted mass shootings in all corners of the country in recent years. On Dec. 14, 2012, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. reignited the gun debate in America.

On Jan. 16, President Barack Obama signed 23 executive orders that edged toward gun control, sparking outrage from conservatives, particularly the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Under these executive orders, all states would be

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FEATURE

forced to implement stricter background checks, abolish unnecessary limitations on what information is provided in a background check, encourage the publicity of this information and use it to bar criminals from buying guns on the black market.

The executive orders also aimed to clarify the extent of Medicaid plans’ mental health coverage and provide law enforcement with more adequate training for active mass shootings.

These proposals challenge state legislatures to review their gun laws, allowing for state jurisdiction to address the issue of gun reform. So, how does Florida stack up in the debate?

Florida got slapped with a “D-” in a 2012 study of gun safety by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a non-profit organization dedicated to indepth research on gun laws in America.

The study examined 29 distinct firearm policy areas, including the state’s enforcement of background checks on firearm sales, use of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines and the ease at which citizens can obtain a gun.

How did Florida end up in such a poor position?

Under Florida’s current gun laws, no regulation, registration or background check is required to own a gun if received from a private dealer. Firearm dealers themselves require no state license. These dealers can purchase and obtain unlimited amounts of firearms without ever encountering a background check. Since firearms can be legally obtained without registration, law enforcement is left oblivious to the population owning and actively using guns.

Florida also does not regulate assault weapons, .50-caliber rifles, or large capacity ammunition magazines — the very weapons used in massacres such as Columbine High School, the Aurora movie theater and now Sandy Hook Elementary School Presented with President Obama’s requests, the governor of our “D-” state seems to think we’re just fine how we are and maintains his strong stance behind the Second Amendment. Scott — or his press secretary, rather, since he won’t speak out much about the issue — has expressed support for a reevaluation of Florida schools’ security measures, but that’s as far as he’ll budge in the realm of gun reform.

While Florida’s stuck with a “D-”, Gov. Scott was awarded an “A” by the Second Amendment’s truly, the NRA.

The NRA bases their grading system on how progun a politician’s proposed policies are and typically allocates the most campaign funds to those who rank well.

John Kennedy, manager of Gator Skeet and Trap Club, believes that President Obama’s stance on gun laws has actually increased business at his sports shooting range recently. Kennedy thinks people are interpreting it as reason to assert their Second Amendment right.

Although Kennedy believes that the President’s plan infringes too far upon gun owners’ rights, he does agree that stricter laws may become necessary.

“I can sympathize with someone who wants a gun because it’s our right, but there should be stricter background checks without the elimination of faceto-face sale,” said Kennedy.

“It’s ridiculous that it’s more difficult to vote than it is to purchase a gun in this state,” said Rachel McGovern, vice president of UF College Democrats.

McGovern, too, sees background checks as a necessary step that Florida’s current legislature ignores.

The president’s proposals would help, McGovern agreed, but they are just the first step in a greater

“It’s ridiculous that it’s more difficult to vote than it is to purchase a gun in this state.” and more complex plan toward improving safety across the country.

But can America change? Huddled around our television screens, flooded by the never-ending headlines of lives lost due to gun violence, we constantly ask ourselves, “When will this end?”

Our elected officials can certainly motion for change, as President Obama has, but implementing and enforcing that change requires the signature of our governor. And that signature requires citizens’ voices to speak louder than lobbyists’ money, especially in Florida’s case.

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TA K I N G B A C K

> > P AY D AY < <

BY SAMANTHA SCHUYLER

Downtown in the Labor Party Headquarters, the steady hum of The Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force at work has thinned. The task force is a coalition of activists formed with the intention of working through the local government to prevent the illicit practice of wage theft. Its goal is specific: pass an ordinance that provides for a local wage recovery program.

Five sets of eyes turn to the front, seeking direction. Jeremiah Tattersal stands at the head of the conference table, studying his notes closely for this evening’s meeting. He looks up at fellow member James Ingle and asks if there’s been any news on NECA. Ingle pauses. The task force waits. The official endorsement of the National Electrical Contractor’s Association, a multi-million dollar organization, is the weighty support they need to show small businesses that preventing wage theft does not restrict profit.

“We got NECA,” he says, and grins. The members around the table let out a collective cheer.

While the task force celebrates, one member shuffles through a stack of recently-acquired endorsements. The task force has been methodically meeting with small businesses, organizations and local government officials who also believe that a wage

PAYC HECK

DIFFERENT FORMS

THE

>>>

OF WAGE THEFT

Employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately. Often after an employer is fired or quit it is never given to them.

>> THE LAST PAYCHECK METHOD 24 | T H E

theft ordinance would benefit the community. The task force member quickly rifles through the support of businesses like Satchel’s Pizza, Miller Electrical Company and Hear Again Music — tangible signs of community agreement.

Wage theft, the illegal withholding of wages or benefits to employees, occurs frequently in the United States. Wage theft comes in many forms, and it hits low wage workers the hardest. The numbers in Alachua County closely follow the rest of the state, where tourist and service industry employees, laborers and immigrant workers are affected the most. Often these workers are also single parents or working students.

“The people who need a consistent paycheck the most,” Diana Moreno, task force spokeswoman, said at a recent public hearing, “are the ones who are being taken advantage of the most.”

A 2008 study at UCLA showed that $2.9 billion in wages were never paid to surveyed employees in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. According to Department of Labor statistics, Alachua County has seen over 2,000 wage theft violations from 2000 to 2010, leading to about $1 million in owed wages.

The task force hopes to reduce these numbers by implementing an ordinance that provides for a simple and effective system for addressing wage theft violations. The current state system, argues the

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

>> ILLEGAL BARGAINING METHOD A person is paid “under the table,” in an illegal contract which precludes both employer and employee from paying taxes and being paid by piecework instead of by the hour. In this case one does not have to pay minimum wage.

RD TIME CA

>> THE WAL-MART PINCH Managers in places like WalMart will tamper with time cards when under pressure to meet a certain profit margin.

FEATURE

HOW

WAGE THEFT

1. A loss of over 60 dollars

>>>

2. The work was done in the county in the last year

>>

>>> >>>

Worker files details of all circumstances (pay stubs, anything to help their case)

>>>

>>> >>>

>>> There is a hearing

>>> Wage theft is found to be committed

>>> Employer has to pay wages and 2 times the hearing costs to the county

Employer and employee encouraged to reach a conciliatory agreement to resolve the complaint

>>>

If conciliation does not work, the employer will be notified by the staff by mail

Not Eligible vs. Eligible

>>>

>>> Worker is alerted by phone

Eligibility determined by 3 main criteria

No further investigation occurs

3. Worker cannot be taking any legal actions or have any judgments against current wage claim Accepted

Worker files a complaint

>>>

WORKS >> >>

task force, is neither. State wage theft complaints are currently handled by investigators in the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Florida has a total of six investigators. That’s 1.2 million employees per investigator. Usually, it takes between 8 to 10 months for an investigation to even begin.

In contrast, Miami-Dade county recently passed an ordinance that can solve a wage theft violation in 103 days on average, does not involve the courts and from 2010 to 2012 has accrued about $500,000 in lost wages. The task force hopes to follow the MiamiDade model closely to achieve similar results.

Despite community support and the inefficiency of the current system, the ordinance faces resistance.

Small businesses fear that government intervention will reduce profit. State Representative Keith Perry is one of the more vocal sources of opposition, having experience as both a part of the local government and business owner of Perry Roofing, Inc. “We have several state laws that make it illegal to steal from employees. Do we need [another] government system now?” Perry said. “Instead of expending energy on a local ordinance, what you might want to do is expend those energies on fixing the current [wage theft processes].”

Perry admitted that he did not know how the current processes worked.

“I’ve never filed [a wage theft complaint],” he said.

“I can’t answer you that. It’s certainly worth looking into.”

Tattersal, member and spokesman of the task force, does not believe fixing the current state system would be effective.

“Under Bush, there [were] four Wage and Hourly Division investigators for the whole state; under Obama, there are six. This slight improvement isn’t near what is needed.”

Tattersal also points out that Florida does not even have a state Department of Labor. Mississippi is the only other state not to have one.

“It’d be a long way to go before we could even start to address the problem on a state level,” he said.

In the meantime, workers who do not receive their full wages struggle to pay the rent and buy groceries.

Subsequently, the use of government-funded programs increases, despite the fact that the workers are technically employed.

“People need relief now,” Tattersal said, “and that’s what we’re offering.”

If concilation works, the employer becomes immune from future litigation; there is no judgment or wrongdoing AND Employee gets their wages back

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FEATURE

BREAKING SILENCE

BY MIRELLA FLORES ILLUSTRATION BY SUSIE BIJAN

Silence and exclusion have the power to make a struggle invisible.

This past November, a man was raped by his acquaintance, also male, here in Gainesville. We hear news like this and find ourselves surprised, but why? We are socialized to perceive rape as a “female issue,” making maleon-male rape fall out of the norm. A statistical anomaly, yet male survivors share similarities with female survivors in their experiences. Gender socializations, however, stir up stark differences and misconceptions.

Most survivors, regardless of gender, know their rapist on some level — a family member, a partner, a friend or acquaintance.

Another similarity is victim-blaming. Survivors may consider themselves responsible for the rape, believing they “should have known better”; oftentimes others, including family, partners, friends, police or the aggressor, put the blame and responsibility onto the survivors.

Some survivors are too intimidated to report the rape, deterred by the court system or fearing retaliation from the rapist. In the Gainesville rape case mentioned earlier, the rapist was arrested and charged with a second degree felony.

“Even when an arrest is made,” said Rita Lawrence, Sexual Assault Program Manager at the Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center, “it doesn’t mean the case will go forward.”

Fortunately, this case is moving forward, but that is not the case for most rape charges.

Additionally, the issue of victim-blaming in male-male rape cases is further complicated by victims’ fear of their sexuality being questioned. The rapist capitalizes on this fear and will often try to get the victim to ejaculate during the assault. The ejaculation often confuses them as they misinterpret it as an orgasm. If he had an orgasm, it must

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mean he enjoyed it, right? This is a common misconception.

“Body parts do their own thing, and it doesn’t mean he enjoyed it,” Lawrence said.

Ejaculation occurs from penile stimulation; unlike orgasms, it does not necessarily mean it was a pleasurable experience.

If a male survivor confuses his ejaculation to be an orgasm, he may be discouraged from reporting the assault for fear his sexuality may be suspect. Lawrence still remembers a male survivor whose friends laughed when he confided in them about being raped. They asked, “So, you liked it?”

Rape is not solely, if at all, about the sex; it is about asserting domination, power, strength and, in most cases, manhood. Most anthropologists view rape as an exertion of control by disempowering another, making male-male rape the ultimate form of power and disempowerment.

The scars and emotional damage of rape do not discriminate between genders, yet it is women who live oppressed by the fear. According to the National Institute of Justice Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that 14.8 percent of women — as opposed to 3 percent of men — will experience rape in their lifetime; this statistic and similar studies heavily weigh rape as a “female issue.” The exclusion of men in discussions of rape prevention and defense is a form of male privilege because it constructs rape as something not of their concern. Yet, according to the study above, around 92,748 men are raped each year in the United States. We can’t know for sure how many male-male rapes really occur since it’s highly under-reported.

FEATURE We are socialized to address and focus on rape as a women’s issue, but it is a human issue.

Both women and men need to be educated about it, and rape crisis centers and similar help centers need to better publicize support for male survivors. The Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center has a support group, Male Survivors of Rape Trauma, ready to go when men start reaching out for this resource.

“Men need to come forward to break the silence and shame that surrounds being a male survivor,” Lawrence said. Breaking this silence can be very empowering for the survivor, helping him regain control over his life and pave the way for other male survivors to do the same.

Searching for Help?

The Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center offers free programs to all victims and their families to help through the process. They are available 24/7 and can be reached at (352) 2646760.

The Midnight

223 S. Main St. Downtown Gainesville (352) 672-6113

trivia monday trivia begins at 9pm pitchers of Yuengling and Shocktop for $6

tankard tuesday DJ Dillon Rose 25 oz. domestic drafts for $3 25 oz. craft and import tdrafts for $5 $2 cover at 10pm

wino wednesday BOGO glasses of wine, Sangria and wine cocktails

thirsty thursday $2 domestic pints $3 tankards of Amber Bock, Yuengling, and Shock Top all night

Extensive craft and import beer selection Food served ‘til 1:30am Open 7 days/week, 5pm-2am

sunday schoolin’ DJ Bada and DJ Adikt- reggae psych. lounge $2 pints of Yuengling and Shock Top all night Glassware giveaway

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BEHIND

THE PASSION

BY KYLE HAYES PHOTOS BY MELANIE BRKICK When Rebecca Brown was a student in California, she found herself constantly being labeled as overly passionate. She was surrounded by laidback people who preferred calm discussion over fervent action.

“I don’t know how many times it was said to me, ‘My, you’re passionate,” Brown said. “I can’t help it, I get worked up about whatever has gotten me on fire.”

Since coming to Gainesville, however, the people around her value her energy. Brown is the founder and director of Streetlight, a local program that partners students with young people with a chronic illness or disease. Recently, her dedication was recognized when she was selected to be a speaker at TEDxUF 2013.

She received a standing ovation after her talk about how society deals with death.

The event was held on Feb. 23 at the Phillips Center, and was the fourth iteration of TEDxUF, a testament to the idea of passionate living. Once a year, it showcases live speakers, performers, artists and entrepreneurs.

Organized locally, TEDx events are created in the spirit of TED, a nonprofit organization designed to promote “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

This year’s theme, “Pursuing Passion,” was chosen by curator Stefan Wolff as the concise expression of everything the TED talks are about.

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“A TED talk is a vehicle for ideas,” Wolff said. “The context and specific situations discussed might change, but the passion behind it doesn’t.”

Wolff, a junior at UF majoring in economics, has witnessed the growth of TEDxUF through the hard work of its organizers. He remembers the first year of the event as a work in progress.

It was set in Pugh Hall and held only 70 people, but it also set the stage for what TEDxUF would become.

“The lighting was horrible, the videography sucked, but everything about it was organic and real,” Wolff said.

Since then, the event has grown to become one of the top 10 percent of TEDx events in terms of attendance, serving an audience of around 1,600 people. It is also one of the few events that holds the TED brand and yet is still able to remain free to the public. This is done through donations from businesses and organizations around Gainesville.

The decision to keep the event free was important to the people behind it.

“We know that a lot of people in college are eating Ramen noodles and Chipotle every day,” Wolff said. “We don’t want people to have to break the bank to come participate.”

Wolff first became involved as an ambassador to the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the organization responsible for putting together the event. Once he heard about TEDxUF, he knew he wanted to help out

in any way he could. He started out as House Manager, and by the next year was promoted to Head of Sponsorship. This year as Curator, he is in charge of putting the event together with the help of a core group of about fifteen people.

Wolff believes in the work he’s put in. “I wanted to make a difference and do something that matters, and I was lucky enough to be put in positions to do so,” he said.

Part of his job with the event was finding the speakers, who ranged from college students and professors to startup founders and charity organizers. His search criteria included finding people with enthusiasm, presence in the community and a tendency toward pushing ideas outside of the status quo.

Ken Staab was one of the speakers that Wolff found who this description. Through his work as an “Ambassador of Hope” for Tyler’s Hope, a non-profit organization designated to finding a cure for the neurological movement disorder Dystonia, Staab has seen his passion lead to concrete results. The culmination of his efforts was a $1 million donation to the UF College of Medicine for research. This happened after Staab was driven to leave his successful career in corporate banking to devote all he could to the organization.

“I had always wanted to do more, and I found myself in a job taking me away,” Staab said. “There’s no way to relax once you see this thing is curable and within our grasp.”

Staab’s TED talk utilized the example of

Tyler’s Hope to advocate his unorthodox approach to funding, communicating that “high-risk, high reward research” is better off this way than in the hands of government or managed care. More than this, however, his talk stressed the importance of putting passions into actions that affect change.

The people on stage weren’t the only entrepreneurs and artists given the chance to show their passion. Part of the event included a Lab made up of innovative people from around Gainesville.

Chris Cano and Steven Kanner started the business Gainesville Compost, which uses their newly invented bicycle trailers to compost food scraps without using any gas or electricity. They brought one of their bikes to the event to show people how they’re using innovative ways to pursue what they believe in.

“We’re in a field that has yet to be developed,” Cano said. “We’re working on a mission that demands a lot of passion every day.”

This year, many new aspects were added to the event, including an art exhibit showcasing artists from the university. Noel Kassewitz, a who is majoring in painting, showcased some of her works that took concepts on the multiverse theory and expressed them through the repeated use of rabbits.

“A lot of the art here really goes along with what TED is about,” Kassewitz said. “We’re trying to take the realms of science and art, which are usually disparate, and connect them.”

Another new component of the event was an app for iPhones and androids. The app was powered by Feathr, a local startup that specializes in connecting people at events like these. The company was a part of the Lab at last year’s TEDxUF, and this year they took their participation a step further.

“I’ve been involved with TEDxUF for a while,” Feathr’s co-founder, Aidan Agustin, said. “This year was a cool way to give back to something that I’ve gotten a lot out of.”

This idea of contribution and collaboration was a present feeling at the event. While everyone had something to offer, they also could find something to take out of it.

Ken Staab viewed TEDxUF as a gift.

Speaking of his job in corporate banking, he said, “It got to the point where I wasn’t getting any butterflies anymore. When I was told I could do a TED talk, I had butterflies for the first time in twenty years.”

FEATURE

Dayna Lazarowitz, 20, a junior graphic design student at UF, demonstrates how individual images she hung from a repurposed lamp illustrate the theme and title of the piece, “Electric,” which was shown in the upstairs art gallery of TEDxUF at the Philips Center on February 23.

(Above) Jasmine Aldershoff, 19, an art major at UF, displays her work in the TEDxUF art exhibit on the second floor of the Philips Center on Saturday, February 23 (Previous page) Founder of the Streetlight program at Shands Hospital, Rebecca Brown spoke of her experiences helping others handle life, death, and being human in the face of illness during TEDxUF at the Philips Center on February 23. Her talk, which ended the first portion of the day, was met with a standing ovation. (Photo by Melanie Brkich)

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PROSE+POETRY

STRANGEST

By Nadia Sheikh My mom died today. Or yesterday, maybe. I don’t know. I got a text from home: “Mom passed.

Funeral 2morrow.” Maybe it was yesterday.

If you feel bad for me, I’m sorry. It was only a joke. If you haven’t read Albert Camus’ The Stranger, you probably think I’ve just written the greatest literary opening in history. If you haven’t read Albert Camus’ The Stranger, you should.

I’m only being existential. I’m okay, except that there’s nothing wrong. You know what I mean?

Maybe that’s what’s wrong: chasing bad luck.

When I’m running it’s the same: chasing a fast heartbeat, a dizzy head, weak knees until I am beyond ragged.

When I fantasize about being whipped, it’s never the kinky kind that I still don’t understand.

It’s the Flying Dutchman from a pirate cartoon I’ve seen, and he lashes his whip in cracks that sting my ankles. He shouts no direction and lets me wander as long as I go and go faster.

He glows in a white aura like a moon temptress might. It’s a trick. I know not to love him, even: When I run faster When I can’t feel my knees When I see black and it’s just road under my feet When my back aches When my head floats When I’m falling When I feel warm right before the chill.

I have to run because I hate the gym. All I see there is the sweaty guy on a bike that won’t move, the girl dripping sweat on an endless staircase, sweat splattered in a breadcrumb trail between the weights and the mirror, everyone watching each other sweat.

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A slew of hamsters trapped on wheels. I row robot oars but never get any farther away, no matter how many thousand strokes. It all makes me so existential.

Because what is the meaning of it all?

Mersault would tell me there’s no meaning to find besides the meaning I give it. Mersault might tell me that what happens, just happens. Mersault might say, that’s life. If you haven’t read Albert Camus’ The Stranger then you don’t know my friend Mersault.

I keep running. I’ll call The Dutchman my friend. I’ll stay away from the gym and rewrite the ending so Mersault survives to shrug at me when I can’t sleep, because I am existentially emancipated.

I have an extra copy of The Stranger if you need it.

Illustration by Sam Schuyler

PROSE+POETRY

ROAD TRIP

By Lindsey Skillen

Illustration by Kelli McAdams

Every week the wife hauls out an old trash can and graffitis it with messages to the trash guys.

Every week they leave it lying in the middle of her street.

She chases her frightened pets and children around the house with her Kirby vacuum cleaner.

They scream in horror, jumping up and down on the couches, but she cannot hear them over Kirby’s roar.

The husband takes the kids to the pool. He drops dimes in the deep end and tells the children that they are very valuable and he needs them back. Then he goes around the corner to have a smoke. Dimes are the hardest coins to find in the deep end.

The husband cleans out his office desk every year between Christmas and New Year’s because there is nothing to do. He secretly always wanted to be a Denny’s fry cook, but he had mouths to feed, and you can’t put food on the table as a fry cook.

He got bored earlier this year and cleaned his desk out before Christmas. He also decided he was sick of Christmas, so he canceled it. Then he dropped the kids and pets off at his mother’s.

She had a very old and very loud and very scary vacuum.

The husband told his wife they were going on a trip.

But you’re cheap, she said.

Not a problem. I’ve got it all planned out. We can take the car and sleep in it and park at Wal-

Mart at night and then if you have to pee you can just go inside, they’re always open. And we’ll eat fast food and you don’t eat much, so we can share it and there are water fountains in Wal-Mart so you won’t get thirsty. We can go anywhere you like!

The wife said nothing.

I want to see the Grand Canyon. We’ll go there, he said.

The next morning the trash can was lying in the middle of the street. The wife dragged it through the snow and tied it to the top of their car. The husband didn’t argue.

He marked their map with all the Wal-Marts between them and the Grand Canyon. All she had to do was pick which Wal-Marts she wanted to visit and draw a line through them.

They didn’t say much to each other while racing sunsets and touring Wal-Marts. Twice they lost the trash can and had to go back for it.

Finally they made it. The gash in the desert resembled all the skies they had driven through.

Their bodies felt small compared to the majesty of the great planet they toiled in. The wife untied the trash can from the car and chucked it into the canyon. They stood with their toes teetering on the edge.

The Fine Print is currently accepting submissions for a creative writing zine that will feature prose, poetry, and art to be released in late spring. Email all submissions to creativewriting@thefineprintuf.org

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