The Circus Issue

Now at 17 Subscribers

The Greatest Show On Earth MAY 2013

BUZZSAW

News & Views

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Buzzsaw  presents...

EDITORS’ COMMENT

The Cricus Issue

Step right up ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, chil-­ dren of all ages. It’s a dog and pony show — in the maga-­ zine realm at least. We’re under the big top for this issue.

The circus is an intricate show of dazzling acts and per-­ IRUPDQFHV WKDW DOO ZRUN WRJHWKHU WR EDIĂ H DQG DPD]H LWV eager audience. In this Buzzsaw Circus, we have many show-­stopping acts we are sure will wow you. Our tight-­ rope walker explores the balance between developing ar-­ chitecture and green technology in his article “It’s Not Easy Being Greenâ€? (pg. 19). Our very own Ithaca College aerialist acrobat tells her own personal story about tak-­ ing part in a youth circus in the article “Stories from the Big Topâ€? (pg. 14).

It is easy to let the glamour and sensationalism cloud our judgement. This appealing and charismatic lens in which we can view the world can be dangerous when ap-­ plied to certain instances, like the Boston Marathon ex-­ plosions explored in the article “Coverage in a Time of Crisis� (pg. 20), and other right violations explained in the article “A Disappearing Act� (pg. 16).

6RPHWLPHV DIWHU JUDGXDWLRQ ZH Ă€QG RXUVHOYHV KHDGHG down a path least expected, as in the case of Daniel Dan-­ broff who contorted his talents as a psychology major at ,& LQWR KLV FDUHHU DFWLQJ LQ LQGHSHQGHQW Ă€OPV DV H[SORUHG in “A Brilliant Riskâ€? (pg. 32). In “I Ink, Therefore I am,â€? (pg. 30) we take you through the evolution of body modi-­ Ă€FDWLRQ IURP WKH IUHDNLVK IULQJH RI VRFLHW\ WR LWV SODFH LQ modern culture.

We hope you enjoyed our ballyhoo. Now sit back, relax and enjoy the show. <3 the editors

BUZZSAW News & Views Upfront Ministry of Cool Prose & Cons Sawdust Design Art Website Haircut Seesaw

David Andersen Meagan McGinnes Kacey Deamer Mariana Garces Karen Muller Robert S. Hummell Catherine Fisher Danielle West Chelsea Hartman Anika Steppe David Lurvey Jenni Zellner Emily Miles Carly Sitzer Rachael Lewis-­Krisky

Kaley Belval

Production

Adviser Founders

Jessica Corbett

Jeff Cohen Abby Bertumen Kelly Burdick Bryan Chambala Sam Costello Thom Denick Cole Louison James Sigman

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

Buzzsaw is also funded by the Ithaca College Student Government Association and the Park School of Communications.

Our Press is our press. (Binghamton, NY) Buzzsaw uses student-generated art and photography and royalty-free images.

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editorial staff or of Ithaca College.

Feedback and contributions should be sent to buzzsawmag@gmail.com.

Front & back cover by Evan Spitzer Table of Contents image by Emily Miles Center spread by Rachael Lewis-Krisky Upfront divider by Kacey Deamer Ministry of Cool divider by Rachael Lewis-Krisky Prose & Cons divider by Emily Miles Sawdust divider by Emily Miles

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Write Us Our magazine exists to inspire thoughtful debate and open up the channels through which information is shared. Your comments and feedback are all a part of this process. Reach the editors by email at: buzzsawmag@gmail.com

News & Views .................................................4 Current events, local news & quasi-­educated opinions.

Seesaw .........................................................12 Print media is dead, check out multimedia on the web.

Upfront .......................................................13 Selected dis-­education of the month.

Ministry.of.Cool ........................................28 N Bews UZZSAW & Views

Arts, entertainment and other things cooler than us.

Prose & Cons ............................................38 6KRUW Ă&#x20AC;FWLRQ SHUVRQDO HVVD\ DQG RWKHU DVVRUWHG OLHV

Sawdust .......................................................42 Threatening the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s credibility since 1856.

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buzzcuts

ALL ABOUT CIRCUSES

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The number of shows per season the Big Apple Circus usually performs.

g pe Walkin

Funambulism - n. walking along a thin wire or rope; tightrope walking

- pbs.org

It is harder to get into The Ringling Brothers School of Clowning than it is to The greatest distance for an unsupported tightrope walk is get into Harvard Law School.

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429 feet.

- artscentremelbourne.com.au

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Clown/comedian Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest and came in 3rd place.

The world record for longest tightrope crossing by bicycle is 235 feet.

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BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

CIRCUS ANIMALS

- artscentremelbourne.com.au

Since 1990, there have been over 123 cases of lion attacks - dosomething.org

Every major circus that uses animals LEW FIIR GMXIH JSV violating the minimal standards of care WIX JSVXL MR XLI 9RMXIH 7XEXIW %RMQEP ;IPJEVI %GX

Animals in circuses spend roughly 11 months of the year traveling.

- bornfreeusa.org

- dosomething.org

CIRCUS HISTORY 8LI ½VWX GMVGYW XSSO TPEGI MR 'LMRE HYVMRK XLI 5YMR (]REWX] SJ & ' ) -artscentremelbourne.com.au

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8LI ½VWX GPS[RW HEXI FEGO XS ERGMIRX )K]TX EVSYRH & ' ) - happyscircus.co.uk

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By Brittany Romano

I

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports are an established entity with a high level of talent â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the only thing missing is the respect that they have long ago earned.

the two,â&#x20AC;? Mullins said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but an edu-­ cated fan will take the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game for what it is and not try to compare the two.â&#x20AC;?

According to Mullins, the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tournament really needs to be mar-­ keted differently. The two have vastly different audiences, and using the same marketing strategies is unfair. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The best fans that really appreciate the [womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s] game, besides the wom-­ en, are the 40 and over crowd,â&#x20AC;? Mul-­ lins said, adding that these are usu-­ ally the men with daughters that are interested in basketball. The target audience for menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball games are males in the 15-­40 age group.

Ithaca College womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball coach Dan Raymond agreed that the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tournament should focus on building their existing fan base in young women and the older popula-­ tions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Older generations can relate to the female athletes better,â&#x20AC;? Raymond said.

Raymond also said that womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball should not bother trying to break into the present menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s au-­ dience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think they will ever make enough headway into the exist-­ ing menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s audience,â&#x20AC;? Raymond said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is like pounding your head against a brick wall.â&#x20AC;?

One promising note is that ESPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coverage of the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tournament has come miles over the last decade, according to Ithaca College sport management and media professor Stephen Mosher. â&#x20AC;&#x153;ESPN is getting bet-­ ter at covering the product they own,â&#x20AC;?

Mosher said, referring to the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NCAA tournament. He commended ESPN for telecasting every game of the tournament, having female play-­ by-­play announcers and having an analyst desk dominated by the female perspective.

7KH VSRUWLQJ FXOWXUH KDV GHĂ&#x20AC;QLWHO\ made some headway in supporting womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball. Some have even

begun to prefer the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game to the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People who actually understand basketball, and not just the spectacle, appreciate the way the women are playing because it is a much more in-­ teresting game,â&#x20AC;? Mosher said.

Despite the small victories seen in the coverage and attention given to womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports, it still seems that the general public pays no mind to the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s side. Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports seem to continue to dominate athletics at all levels. This is an antiquated imbal-­ ance that should have been eliminat-­ ed decades ago. Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports are an established entity with a high level of talent â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the only thing missing is the respect that they have long ago earned.

The difference in coverage, atten-­ tion and marketing between menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collegiate athletics is pretty much the same across the board. When is the last time you at-­ tended a womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collegiate event?

For about 400 Ithaca College stu-­ dents, it was a recent womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s la-­ crosse game promoted by a sports marketing class. The class had to get at least 400 people to attend the match as a project. With the prom-­ LVH RI IUHH IRRG DQG WKH JXLOH RI UDIĂ HV and prizes, they met their goal. But what does this say about the culture surrounding womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports here at Ithaca College? It took weeks of pro-­ PRWLRQ SODQQLQJ DQG SURPLVHV WR Ă&#x20AC;OO seats.

Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need a perk for people to attend games and appreciate the athletes. This is 2013, Title IX was passed more than 40 years ago and the days of gender in-­ equality in athletics should be gone. ____________________________________ Brittany Romano is a junior journal-­ ism major who thinks talent should be recognized. Email her at bromano1@ ithaca.edu.

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News & Views

f someone told you that Louisville lost in the 2013 NCAA basketball tournament, you would probably correct him or her by saying that they won 82-­76 over the Michigan Wolver-­ ines. But Louisvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball team did in fact lose in the NCAA champi-­ onship game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team, that is.

In case you werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t one of the 3.2 million people that tuned into the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s championship game, the UConn Huskies crushed Louisville 93-­60. Both teams played through injuries, with UConnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading scor-­ er Kaleena Mosqueda-­Lewis playing through a stress fracture and a foot injury yet managing to add 18 points to the board.

There were plenty of compelling story lines that should have gener-­ ated more interest in the game, but failed to gain any attention. Louisville was attempting to become the second school to win the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s championship in the same season.

The only other school to do that was none other than their opponent, UCo-­ nn, who completed that feat in 2004.

UConnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s win gave coach Geno Au-­ riemma his eighth title, tying him with the legendary Pat Summitt for the most NCAA womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball titles won by a head coach. History was to be made no matter which team won.

7KH JDPHV GLG QRW KDYH FRQĂ LFWLQJ airtimes, since the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game was the night before the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. So why did the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game yield about 20 million fewer viewers?

Ithaca College menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball coach Jim Mullins feels that the hype around the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tournament is what creates the difference in viewers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you think March Madness, the women are not usually included in that category,â&#x20AC;? Mullins said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is almost like the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game is a footnote.â&#x20AC;?

Mullins, an alum of UConn with sig-­ QLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW WLHV WR LWV ZRPHQ¡V EDVNHWEDOO program, agreed that both tourna-­ ments had interesting story lines, but said that menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basket-­ ball are sometimes regarded as differ-­ ent sports. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There will always be the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bigger, faster, strongerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; argument between

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

The Other Championship

Modern-day Muckraker % 5 % [MXL (EZMH 'SVR

By Meagan McGinnes

MM:

You unearthed the au-­ diotape of a private meet-­ ing in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and his aides mocked a would-­be political rival, the actress Ashley Judd, and plotted tac-­ tics to undermine her. An unidenti-­ Ă&#x20AC;HG VRXUFH OHDNHG WKH UHFRUGLQJ RI WKH February meeting to you. What were the processes to make sure the video was authentic before publishing?

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

DC:

These days thanks to Pho-­ toshop and other types of programs, you can never have 100-­percent certainty about any digi-­ WDO PHGLDÂŤ , ZDV DEOH WR Ă&#x20AC;QG VRPH-­ one that was sort of a witness to the recording. So it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just coming to me working with a single source. So you try to collaborate as much as you can from all this. And then of course I called Mitch McConnellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campaign, FDOOHG KLV 6HQDWH RIĂ&#x20AC;FH DQG HPDLOHG directly with his campaign manager, saying â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I have questions about this Feb. 2 meeting in which they talk about this,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and gave quotes from the tape, and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hear back from themâ&#x20AC;Ś So the silence from their side was almost a positive sign. But you put that all together and I was able to be relatively assured that indeed this was accurate and not a hoax.

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MM:

This was your second major bombshell in sev-­ en months. The Ă&#x20AC;UVW RI FRXUVH was one of the most consequen-­ tial scoops of the presidential cam-­ paign â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a leaked video recording of Republican presidential can-­ didate Mitt Rom-­ ney saying at a small fundraiser last May that 47 percent of voters were â&#x20AC;&#x153;dependentâ&#x20AC;? on the government.

Can you explain how the aftermath of that video affected you and Mother Jones?

DC:

I think for Mother Jones it reinforced the reputation that we have developed which is being a go-­to media outlet for independent NLFN DVV MRXUQDOLVPÂŤ ,W GHĂ&#x20AC;QLWHO\ showed our reporting chops to a larg-­ er audience, and it led to us having a bigger and deeper footprint in the media universe. A lot of people have been following Mother Jones for the past few years and know we do sub-­ stantial, solid investigative enterpris-­ ing reporting every day, but with this story we reached a wider audience, a gigantic audience. With this story, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also our own story of what we are and what we do.

MM:

What advice can you give students looking to get into political reporting and aspir-­ ing to the same quality of work that you have been producing?

DC:

Some of the best early training I had for this job was working for a college-­run alter-­ native weekly when I was in college covering local city state politics. And at that time we had a corrupt mayor named Buddy Cianci, and we had a lot of hijinks going on in the state cap-­ itol. I felt like a kid at the candy store.

DC:

Image by Jessica Corbett

D

avid Corn, Washington Bureau Chief for Mother Jones and MSNBC analyst, was at Ithaca College on Wednesday, April 17, for the Izzy Awards for outstanding achieve-­ ment in independent media. He, as well as IC alum and Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard and Mother Jones publisher Steve Katz, accepted the award for Mother Jones. Corn has broken stories on presidents, politi-­ cians, and other Washington players.

He has written for numerous publica-­ tions and is a talk show regular. His best-­selling books include â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Selling of the Iraq War,â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Show-­ down: The Inside Story of How Obama Fought Back Against Boehner, Cantor & the Tea Party.â&#x20AC;? Cornâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest story was breaking the Mitt Romney 47-­per-­ cent video.

Journalism is a wonderful craft that you can study and learn how to do, but just doing a lot of it will also give you the skills and the instincts you need to be successful down the road.

MM:

You have worked with both mainstream and independent media outlets. What does independent media mean to you? How are these outlets important to the news industry in your mind?

DC:

I do think mainstream media, traditional media, are often more limited by certain ob-­ ligations they have existing within a corporate structure. They have to PDNH SURĂ&#x20AC;WV RWKHUZLVH ÂŤ WKH\ KDYH WR PDNH SURĂ&#x20AC;WV WKH\ KDYH WR EULQJ LQ ratings, they have to have good circu-­ lation, otherwise they will be put out of business. Independent media, free of these corporate obligations means you are also free to pursue stories and topics that may not be guaran-­ teed to bring in ratings or big bucks. It means you are also not obligated the way mainstream news outlets are to FRYHU DOO WKH RIĂ&#x20AC;FLDO SURFHHGLQJV DQG to cover things with sort of the myth of objectivity and the myth of moral equivalency so that you frame stories as always having two sides, each side being equal. ____________________________________ Meagan McGinnes is a junior journal-­ ism major who gives 100 percent 47 percent of the time. Email her at mmc-­ ginn1@ithaca.edu.

Fighting for Clean Investment -RWMHI XLI ³6EPP] XS (MZIWX -'´

By Kaela Bamberger

“

ate professor of sociology at IC, Dan Apfel, the executive director of the Re-­ sponsible Endowments Coalition, and Allison Currier, an active member of ELAN. The request for IC to engage in So-­ cially Responsible Investing, or SRI,

“

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stranger comes up and stands beside me. His expression is asking me what’s going on, and how can I address his question except to invite him forward — invite him from a safe space into an uncer-­ tain one. The uncertain space evokes

for mysterious reasons the higher-ups have resisted a transparency we deserve as students and patrons of the college.

would seem uncontroversial. The Park Foundation, which funds the Roy H. Park School of Communications and the Dorothy D. and Roy H. Park Cen-­ ter for Business and Sustainable En-­ terprise, divested years ago out of an ethical pull, trying to avoid an esca-­ ODWLQJ FRQÁLFW ZLWK VWXGHQWV %XW IRU mysterious reasons the higher-­ups have resisted a transparency we de-­ serve as students and patrons of the college.

The number of participants at the rally (more than 100) and the number

News & Views

scrutiny from all those outside it, a skepticism laced with curiosity.

It’s that wavering skepticism’s transition into genuine interest that , ÀQG PRVW LQVSLULQJ DERXW D UDOO\ The transition is a mark of bravery, of a willingness to be vulnerable to two things: the scrutiny of others and information you might not want to hear. Will this bore me? Is someone about to make me feel bad? Taking that leap from passerby to participant is an incredible thing, and I saw it at the Rally to Divest IC, held by the En-­ vironmental Leadership and Actions Network last Thursday, April 18.

The rally, as the stranger beside me soon found out, was being held to encourage the Ithaca College Board of Trustees to divest the college’s endowment from the fossil fuel in-­ dustry. Ithaca College, like most in-­ stitutions of higher education, has a pool of money that is made up of our tuition and donations which is then invested as stocks in any number of institutions. The returns on these investments are then spent by the school. ELAN, in solidarity with col-­ lege divestment campaigns all over the country, is engaged in a discourse with IC’s Board of Trustees to make their investments public and shift their money away from fossil fuels.

Speakers at the rally included Devon James, a member of Spit That! Spo-­ ken Word, Alicia Swords, an associ-­

of signatures on the petition to divest IC (more than 1000) must have made it clear to the administration on the WKLUG ÁRRU RI WKH 3HJJ\ 5\DQ :LOOLDPV Center that the movement’s support-­ ers are not just a group of tree-­hug-­ ging kooks clinging to their orange felt squares. They are faculty. They are community members. They are Cornellians, members of Spit That! and members of IC Feminists.

On April 22, 2013, the City of Ithaca became the second city in the country to publically announce its promise to never invest in fossil fuels.

It couldn’t technically divest because Ithaca hadn’t had money invested in unsustainable energy sources to begin with. Not only is it the college administration’s responsibility to respond to the concerns of its liveli-­ hood — its students — it also has at OHDVW DQ REOLJDWLRQ WR UHÁHFW WKH YDO-­ ues of the community that supplies its name and its land. This rally was an exciting milestone on the path to a sustainable way of living, and we can’t wait to continue our negotiation with the administration on how to get the college divested from fossil fuels. ____________________________________ Kaela Bamberger is a junior drama major with a soft spot for trees. Email her at kbamber1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Ryan Butler

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Tourist’s Survival Guide 8LI HS´W ERH HSR´XW SJ WXYH]MRK EFVSEH

By Brittany Smith

A

s an outsider in another country it can sometimes feel like you’re in the ring of a circus being watched or critiqued because your cultural differences are not only noticeable, but amusing to native peoples. So if you’re looking WR WUDYHO RU VWXG\ DEURDG IRU WKH ÀUVW time, keep reading. If you’ve been abroad before and believe you are a savant of international affairs and a connoisseur of culture, then keep reading too. You’ve surely made at least one of these mistakes, so get ready to laugh –– or cringe –– because some nostalgia’s heading your way.

-­ -­ -­ You’re on a plane taking off to Munich with your face SUHVVHG DJDLQVW WKH ÀQJHU-­ print-­riddled window, gravity

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

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nestling you into the seat’s cushion, and out of nowhere turbulence starts jostling the McDonald’s you had for dinner. Motion sickness strikes at the most inconvenient times, but here are a few things to ease the nausea and embarrassment. Sit in the aisle if you get nauseated easily. You may trap some passengers, but at this point it’s every man for himself. Plus you’ll have easy access to the bathroom and the stewardess can get you new barf bags if you’re going through ’em like hot cakes. Point the air vent on you. The cool air will help soothe the nausea, as will deep breaths. To be safe, take 'UDPDPLQH EHIRUH Á\LQJ DQG SUD\ IRU sleep to avoid forming an intimate re-­ lationship with a Germanwings airline toilet. And next time, eat light prior to lift-­off.

2

You’re strolling over the cob-­ blestone streets of Venice, marveling at the scrolling architecture of St. Mark’s Basilica. Cradling a slice of pizza to your face, you’re oblivious that the adorable pigeons perched on tourists’ arms like one of the marble statues adorning the Piazza are about to as-­ semble into an A-­line attack for your lunch. Before you can run, mozzarel-­ OD DQG WRPDWR DUH EHLQJ ÁXQJ LQWR WKH air and inhaled by squawking scav-­ engers. Pigeon punting is a favorable pastime for tourists. Just make sure no one’s watching –– it’s probably frowned upon.

Image by Anne Carlin

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Nothing screams â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m American, kick me out of the Vaticanâ&#x20AC;? like LSPHMRK ]SYV ½ZI TSYRH 2MOSR MR front of your face.

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While youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re journeying through Dublin, Ireland, the Guinness Storehouse will inevitably be a stop along the way. If you get a hankering for a unique souvenir during your tour and decide a couple handfuls of barley will do the trick, make sure you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t put it in a moist bag. Fun fact: put-­ ting barley in a humid environment makes the perfect breeding ground for bugs to hatch and hatch and hatch.

Stick to buying your souvenirs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; try a personalized pint glass with a family crest, or venture to Berlin to purchase a piece of the Berlin Wall, because nothing ruins a great weekend of trav-­ eling like unpacking a bug-­infested bag of barley onto your bed. Think be-­ IRUH \RX VWHDO RU Ă&#x20AC;QG DQ DQFLHQW ULWXDO to ward off bad karma.

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Be wary of pick pocketing; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a myth. One minute youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re enjoying an unusually warm April day on a Barce-­ lona beach, leaving your valuables unattended to frolic through the surf,

the next youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re digging in the sand and emptying your backpack on the rented chair you spent â&#x201A;Ź7 on. This is typical, as are frantic calls home and to the bank. Moral of the story: donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t put anything down â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ever.

5

This tip may be futile, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s making the list anyway. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to eat gelato at every shop you pass in Italy, and just because some hulking Swiss offers you a beer every time he gulps one down at the bar doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean you have to as well. Some say you can never have enough gelato and alcohol makes everything better, but take a look at your wallet and your waistline after a week and then decide.

6

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re feeling greedy, muti-­ nous and unable to defy the one rule in the Sistine Cha-­ pel by snapping away at its illustrious ceiling, then try to do so with discretion. Nothing screams â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m American, kick me out of the Vaticanâ&#x20AC;?

OLNH KROGLQJ \RXU Ă&#x20AC;YH SRXQG 1LNRQ LQ front of your face. This is illegal, mind

you, but if you must rally your inner UHEHO WKHQ SOHDVH PDNH VXUH WKH Ă DVK is off and your camera is concealed.

7

Do people drive on the right side of the road in England?

Do pedestrians have the right of way? If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re answering â&#x20AC;&#x153;noâ&#x20AC;? to these questions with a smile as haughty as the Cheshire Catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, then kudos to you. Will you remember this when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re reading a map or a news-­ paper or your cell phone? Probably not. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not in Kansas anymore, so please stop pretending you are. Get-­ ting hit by a double-­decker bus is not as good a story as you may think.

-­ -­ -­ If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re American, you might as well be a bearded lady because Europeans can detect us no matter how big the crowd. Expensive clothes wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mask your nationality so donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bother try-­ ing. Remember, American culture is not the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture and travelling should be enlightening, not embar-­ rassing. So follow these tips the next time youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re departing from the good olâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; United States and hope you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say something stupid. Nothing like trying to compliment a new friend by calling him a gentleman (caballero) and accidentally blurting out that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a horse (caballo). Rosetta Stone is a wise investment. _________________________________ Brittany Smith is a junior journalism major who learned the hard way.

Email her at bsmith7@ithaca.edu.

9

News & Views

Campus Progress works to help young people â&#x20AC;&#x201D; advocates, activists, journalists, artists â&#x20AC;&#x201D; make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org.

The Man Behind the Mop ,SSH EPP´W JEGMPMXMIW EXXIRHERX NYKKPIW QER] XEPIRXW

By Jessica Corbett

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

T

errence Flanigan is an anthro-­ LQFLGHQWV )ODQLJDQ Ă&#x20AC;OHV DQ LQFLGHQW pology major, a drummer and report and the building is charged. All a black belt in karate. He at-­ the incident charges that cannot be tends a weekly book club and enjoys traced back to individual students â&#x20AC;&#x201D; C-­SPAN, though he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get the which is most of them â&#x20AC;&#x201D; pull money chance to watch it as much as he from a fund established solely for the would like. Most students at Ithaca SXUSRVH RI SD\LQJ IRU GDPDJHV LQĂ LFW-­ College will never know Flanigan by ed on residential buildings. name, but his presence can be seen If students are caught damaging in the freshly swept staircases or the WKH GRUPV Ă&#x20AC;QHV DQG D MXGLFLDO UHIHU-­ spotless mirrors in the communal ral may not be the only penalty. Some bathrooms of incidents, like UHOHDVLQJ D Ă&#x20AC;UH Hood Hall. They will merely see extinguisher him as a man in when there is his late thirties, QR Ă&#x20AC;UH FDQ his long brown lead to crimi-­ hair concealing nal charges. half of his face The reason for as he pushes the these regular vacuum clean-­ incidents is a er across the mystery not tiled entrance, only to Fla-­ where count-­ nigan and his less current fellow facilities and prospective attendants, but students pass also to many through each students. day.

Last year, Flanigan is Image courtesy of Terrence Flanigan sophomore a facilities at-­ Greg Johnson tendant at IC. Hood Hall is one of OLYHG RQ WKH JURXQG Ă RRU RI %RRWKUR\G 26 residence buildings on campus, and encountered what Flanigan con-­ all of which are maintained by facili-­ siders a typical holiday mess over ties attendants like Flanigan. He has Halloween weekend. Earlier that Fri-­ cleaned many of the residential build-­ day afternoon, Johnson observed a ings on campus for the last eleven pumpkin sitting in the hallway of the years and has encountered a vari-­ Ă&#x20AC;UVW Ă RRU ety of student-­made messes. He said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saturday morning, after obvious the worst times of year for excessive festivities, the pumpkin was muti-­ messes are holidays, midterms, Cor-­ lated, for lack of a better word, and WDFD DQG Ă&#x20AC;QDOV ZHHN its innards were literally all over the He has faced everything from hallway and remained there until ear-­ smashed-­in paper towel holders ly Sunday,â&#x20AC;? Johnson said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;at which and toilets clogged with beer cans point Jerry, the Boothroyd custodian, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though never in Hood Hall, the was forced to clean it up, even though substance-­free residence on campus it was clearly not his responsibility. It â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to vomit spewed down the carpeted should have been the students who hallways. Though scrubbing vomit murdered it.â&#x20AC;? out of the rug or mopping up bath-­ â&#x20AC;&#x153;A similar situation erupted a week URRP Ă RRUV DUH UHJXODU H[SHULHQFHV ago with packing peanuts,â&#x20AC;? he said. for many facilities attendants, Flani-­ â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yet again, Jerry cleaned it up and gan said the worst clean up jobs are not whoever did it. There were pack-­ when students release the pin on a ing peanuts everywhere. We repeat-­ Ă&#x20AC;UH H[WLQJXLVKHU MXVW WR Ă&#x20AC;OO WKH KDOOV edly get emails about situations like with an unnecessary coating of the this from RAs.â&#x20AC;? white substance conventionally used The cleanup crew at Ithaca is the IRU FRQWUROOLQJ VPDOO Ă DPHV largest department on campus, but )RU HYHU\ Ă&#x20AC;UH H[WLQJXLVKHU XQQHF-­ often receives the least attention. essarily set off, and for other similar Many students donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even know the

10

names of the people who clean their buildings before they wake up each morning, or while they are in classes.

Johnson said he believes most stu-­ dents donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t respect the facilities at-­ tendants, whom they expect to clean up after their messes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of them are taking advantage of the fact that there is a custodian there to clean up the building,â&#x20AC;? John-­ son said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Their purpose is to keep the building sanitary, not to clean up after [studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;] drunken escapades.â&#x20AC;?

Despite the frequent unnecessary messes, Flanigan is grateful for his job cleaning up after students because he has job security. He also said that Hood Hall is the cleanest residential building he has experienced on cam-­ pus. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They give us all we need,â&#x20AC;? he said, from a comprehensive training ses-­ sion and environmentally friendly cleaning products to special no-­slip shoes that resemble Converse.

The staff of facilities attendants is close-­knit, and Flanigan considers many of them his friends. He has at-­ tended weekly Spanish lessons taught

by Monica, another facilities atten-­ dant, and has taught a yoga class to his fellow attendants on Wednesday mornings. The weekly book club he attends is also composed of facilities attendants, but it is open to students as well.

In addition to these activities, Fla-­ nigan takes two to three classes each semester, balancing his full-­time job and his pursuit of an anthropology degree. He has accumulated about 75 credits, but said he is in no rush to complete the degree.

Flanigan experiences a high level of VDWLVIDFWLRQ ZKHQ KH Ă&#x20AC;QLVKHV FOHDQ-­ ing his building, and said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I keep this place as clean as I possibly can to get respect.â&#x20AC;?

Occasionally, students will ac-­ knowledge the hard work and share their appreciation with Flanigan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not looking for it,â&#x20AC;? he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but it sure is nice.â&#x20AC;? ____________________________________ Jessica Corbett is a sophomore jour-­ nalism and politics major who keeps her escapades clean. Email her at jcor-­ bet2@ithaca.edu

Buzzsaw Takes A Bite...

SJ GMVGYW WREGOW

By Kait Hulbert

A

s a general rule, most people don’t go to the circus for the food. But when a show starts at 7 p.m. and is mainly frequented by small children and their families, staying away from the concession VWDQG FDQ EH DV GLIÀFXOW DV VWD\LQJ

away from the woman selling light-­ up swords. Buzzsaw Takes a Bite got a chance to experience both the food and the swords at the 80th Annual Tygris Shriner’s Circus in Syracuse on April 5. The Shriner’s prides itself on making all concession items on

Hot Dogs $3

The hot dogs were easily the most attractive option at the Shriner’s Circus concession stand — that is, if you’ve al-­ ready gotten past any natural aversion to meat-­mush. These certainly weren’t the all-­beef franks you can pick up at Weg-­ mans, but they were warm and tasted good. If you were lucky,

the man serving them let you pick which hot dog you want-­ ed. Even if you weren’t, you got a good hot dog served on one of those delightful buns that’s actually bread folded in half.

I’m not sure if it is worth three dollars, but it certainly wasn’t awful.

Pretzels with Cheese $4

Keeping with this circus theme, never in my life have I seen a concession stand so knowingly violate the rights of cheese. The very nature of WKH SURFHVVHG FKHHVH ÁDYRUHG semi-­liquid sauce served up next to pretzels was nachos is debatable; Shriner’s Circus

$3

$3 saleswomen said the pizza was by far the most popular item. It’s also the only addi-­ tion to the menu in as long as concession manger Steve Bosco can remember.

The concession stand also sells cot-­ ton candy, popcorn, pretzels and a handful of Coca-­Cola products. Ac-­ cording to Bosco, the Shriner’s Circus has sold Coca-­Cola exclusivity since it’s opening. The arena the circus is held in was formerly sponsored by Coca-­Cola. Despite a name change and several decades, Coca-­Cola re-­

called it cheese, but it looked and tasted too much like melted plastic for me to call it anything but sludge. The pretzels were okay at least.

They were a bit over-­salted, but not in a necessarily bad way — unless you’re not in the mood for a heart attack.

Nachos

Pizza Admittedly, none of the Buzz-­ saw staff that journeyed to Shriner’s had the pizza, but it was clearly one of the more popular concession treats. One of Shriner’s veteran concession

site. Whether it’s an indication of quality remains to be seen, but at the very least Shriner’s presented a decent number of offerings at the concession stands. They may not hold up to the (late) Garcia’s, but some of them were worth trying, if only for the experience.

Surprisingly, the nachos were one of the better circus treats.

Supposedly, the nacho cheese served with them was the same concoction served with the pretzels. But this cheese tasted H[DFWO\ DV SURFHVVHG FKHHVH ÁD-­ vored semi-­liquid sauce should

mains the beverage of choice for the Shriners.

Ample supply of Diet Coke aside, the food at Shriner’s Circus wasn’t any-­ thing to brag about; but then again, it’s concession food at an eighty year old circus. The food clearly wasn’t in-­ tended to cater to a discerning pal-­ ate. With this circus at least, the food

(i.e. like neither cheese nor plastic). And the chips were deliciously unhealthy and salty and crispy. Again, the nachos may have been an-­ other heart attack risk; but at least they tasted good.

lives up only to expectations of what it should be. And if you don’t like it, you can always take the clown’s advice and eat the pretty little girls. ____________________________________ Kait Hulbert is a sophomore CMD ma-­ jor and a vegan. Email her at khul-­ ber2@ithaca.edu.

News & Views

11

CIRCUS LIFE

Amy Cohen, a 2008 graduate of Ithaca College, has pursued circus her entire life. She started ICircus on campus, received a Fullbright Fellowship to study contemporary circus, and now works for the American Youth Circus Organization. Observe her talents and watch as she teaches Seesaw member Abbey Eichorn a trick or two from the circus life!

Pale White Aliens

They’re loud creatures with intentions to harm, wearing painted white faces that are sure to alarm. They like to make jokes, bringing children to tears. You know they represent the worst of your fears. Clowns, Clowns, Clowns galore! Come challenge your terrors you cannot ignore.

www.buzzsawmag.org/seesaw

CHECK IT OUT: THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

8LMW WLSVX ½PQ MW ER EQE^MRK QEKMGEP WXSV] SJ WXVYKKPI ERH triumph that brought this editor to tears. At the height of the Great Depression, the showman (Eduardo Verastegui) SJ XLI VIRS[RIH &YXXIV¾] 'MVGYW PIEHW LMW XVSYTI XLVSYKL the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels they discover Will (Nick Vujicic), a man without limbs who has lived an exploited life at a carnival sideshow. But after an intriguing encounter with the showman he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed.

8LMW ½PQ LEW [SR E[EVHW EX XLI ,IEVXPERH *MPQ *IWXMZEP 4EPQ 7TVMRKW 7LSVX *IWX (SSVTSWX *MPQ 4VSNIGX %WLPERH Independent Film Festival, Carmel Art and Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, Cincinnati International Film Festival, Maui International Film Festival, Method Fest, Temecula Valley International Film Festival, Feel Good Film Festival, Grand Rapids Film Festival and Sedona International Film Festival. It is a work of art where every shot could be LYRK YT SR E [EPP EW E TMGXYVI 8LVSYKL QEKRM½GIRX QYWMG ERH EQE^MRK EGXMRK XLMW ½PQ XYKW EX ]SYV LIEVXWXVMRKW ERH makes you believe in hope again. Director and Writers, Joshua and Rebekah Weigel, are in the process of turning XLI WLSVX ½PQ MRXS E QSXMSR TMGXYVI QSZMI To watch this incredible story please go to vimeo.com/17150524 ERH JSV QSVI MRJSVQEXMSR KS XS XLI SJ½GMEP website, XLIFYXXIV¾]GMVGYW GSQ.

12

Upfront

UPFRONT. UPFRONT. UPFRON

13

Stories from the Big Top

1] ]IEVW MR XLI GMVGYW [LIVI - PIEVRIH XS WX]PI WQMPI ERH ž]

By Moriah Petty

T

he wind tugged at my hair as I swished through the air on WKH &ORXG 6ZLQJ D KLJK Ă \LQJ circus act. I pushed my toes upwards, visualizing kicking straight through the roof of the big top. Pumping on Cloud Swing is similar to standing on a playground swing, only 50 feet off the ground and I wore a safety belt.

I slipped my feet into a secure wrap

FOH DQG FRPSOHWH D SDVV RQ WKH Ă \LQJ trapeze from the swinging bar to the catcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arms. While my classmates strapped on soccer cleats after school, I changed into a leotard, and as they headed onto the turf, I strapped on a safety belt and climbed into the raf-­ ters of the big top. &LUFXV -XYHQWDV LV D QRQ SURĂ&#x20AC;W SHU-­ forming arts school in my hometown

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

For much of my youth, I felt more comfortable upside down than right side up and am completely at home perched on the thin bar of a trapeze. and at the peak of the swing, released my hands from the ropes and leaped.

With arms outstretched I dropped for-­ ward into the open air.

After a moment of weightlessness, I felt the tight jerk as the wrap caught my feet and I rode the swing one more time, suspended upside down. People in the audience may think the leap was the hardest part of the trick, but climbing back up is the real chal-­ lenge. I spent hours conditioning and WUDLQLQJ P\ ERG\ WR Ă&#x20AC;JKW WKH SXOO RI gravity and inch back up to standing position in a hopefully graceful man-­ ner. By the time I returned to the re-­ DVVXULQJ Ă&#x20AC;UPQHVV RI VROLG JURXQG P\ arms were shaky from exhaustion.

This is a typical practice session I experienced during 12 years as a member of a youth circus. I started as a 7-­year-­old performing on tra-­ peze and did not leave until I turned 18 and moved away to college. Being in the circus made for an odd child-­ hood. I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spiral a football correctly DQG UHPDLQ EDIĂ HG E\ WKH UXOHV RI 8O-­ timate Frisbee, but I can jump rope while walking on a ball, ride a unicy-­

14

of St. Paul, Minnesota. When Circus -XYHQWDV Ă&#x20AC;UVW RSHQHG LQ LW ZDV a small collection of local kids that met in the gymnasium of the local rec center. In 2001 they expanded to a custom-­built, permanent big top tent. ,W LV D QRQ SURĂ&#x20AC;W FRPPXQLW\ RUJDQL-­ zation that provides after school pro-­ gramming for youth in the area.

Training takes place throughout the afternoon and evening with per-­ formances staged a few times a year.

There are over 800 students between the ages of three and 21 banking on the chance to run away to join the cir-­ cus but be home for dinner. Coaches come from all over the world and have RIWHQ ZRUNHG ZLWK Ă&#x20AC;UVW FODVV FRP-­ panies such as Cirque du Soleil and Ringling Brothers. Most participants take classes recreationally as I did, but a few advanced students do at-­ tempt pursuing circus professionally.

The acts offered include wall tram-­ poline, teeterboard, contortion, triple trapeze, unicycle, acrobatics, hoops, VLONV DQG à \LQJ WUDSH]H As a modern performing arts com-­ pany, Circus Juventas is very dif-­

ferent from a pop-­up sideshow. We have choreographed routines, large audiences and sparkly costumes, but there are no animals, no traveling and we go to school like everyone else. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In WKH V WKHUH ZDV D UHQDLVVDQFH LI you will, of a more intimate style of performance,â&#x20AC;? Janet Davis, author of The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top and chair RI $PHULFDQ 6WXGLHV 87 $XVWLQ VDLG The Canadian company, Cirque du Soleil, emphasized the theatrical side of circus and aimed to honor the spec-­ tacle of constant activity while show-­ casing individual artists. In this cur-­ rent trend, a narrative loosely joins the whole show that targets adult au-­ diences and animal acts play a small-­ er role, if any role at all.

American circus performers have found this a tough market to enter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Circus arts in America are more stig-­ matized in a way they are not in Eu-­ ropean countries or Asia and some Latin American countries too ... There have been some American stars but the majority come from elsewhere and even the Americans are usually de-­ scended from a long line of perform-­ ers of European origin,â&#x20AC;? Davis said. In addition, the circus is usually a family business, an institution you are born and raised in so that performers may be the tenth generation working an DFW 7KH 8 6 LV VR \RXQJ WKDW $PHUL-­ can artists simply do not have that legacy.

As of yet, nothing can compare to the elite, state-­sponsored circus training school in Montreal, but the 8 6 LV JUDGXDOO\ EXLOGLQJ D UHSXWD-­ tion of its own. Youth circus schools are increasing in popularity and have popped up in many American cities from Circus Harmony in St. Louis to Circus Smirkus in Greensboro, Vt. The American Youth Circus Organiza-­ tion counts more than 270 members across the country. Several of my coaches came from the Sailor Circus school in Sarasota, Fla., which is the ROGHVW FLUFXV VFKRRO LQ WKH 86 DFFRUG-­ ing to their website. It is nicknamed the Greatest â&#x20AC;&#x153;Littleâ&#x20AC;? Show on Earth. ,OOLQRLV DQG )ORULGD 6WDWH 8QLYHUVLWLHV

even offer the option of circus training paired with college curriculum.

For much of my youth, I felt more comfortable upside down than right side up and am completely at home perched on the thin bar of a tra-­ peze. For shows, I performed choreo-­ graphed routines while dressed in a tight costume and nearly blinded by spotlights. The adrenaline of perform-­ ing is fun, but I much preferred the hours of practice sessions. I liked having no audience and just focusing on the coachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s directions in order to work towards the next harder trick in my act.

I basically grew up in the circus, since I started at such a young age.

I knew some coaches from childhood and became incredibly close with teammates. I put my life in the hands of these friends and spent hours hud-­ dled with them backstage anticipating our turn on stage, not to mention col-­ lapsing in a heap while attempting a human pyramid or spotting each oth-­ er on a trapeze. My two older sisters were also in the circus so it became a family affair, just as circus ought to be. To my motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dismay we con-­ stantly practiced in the living room â&#x20AC;&#x201D; endangering nearby picture frames

15

Upfront

Photo provided by Moriah Petty

and china plates â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and experimented on the monkey bars in the backyard.

As performers, circus kids are in-­ clined to be dramatic, and there was always a good amount of gossip. The environment creates tension and competition as students vie for spots on an upper-­level performing team, though the circus was without a for-­ malized structure for advancement.

As a younger performer you idolize the older kids. It was incredibly re-­ warding when I started coaching be-­ ginnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classes and passed on my knowledge to younger students.

I am primarily an aerialist, which means I trained in acts where the per-­ former is suspended in the air. I am a pretty terrible acrobat, so I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pull a spontaneous back tuck as a party trick and generally require equipment to perform. Besides â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cloud Swing,â&#x20AC;?

I focused on an act called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Span-­ ish Web,â&#x20AC;? a rope you climb and tie a hand or foot into while someone below spins it in a circle. The force of the circular motion brings your body up horizontally midair. If the spinner was very fast, the skin on my face would smush forwards and my toes would JR QXPE 2Q WKH Ă RRU , ZRUNHG RQ German Wheel where the performer stands inside a round, metal frame and rolls rapidly across the stage. It is an unmatchable feeling to complete an entire routine in these acts, ex-­ ecuting every trick with perfect form and timing. Resigning myself to work-­ ing out at a gym is not particularly appealing in comparison, though at least no one will tell me to style and smile when I step off the elliptical.

By the time I graduated from circus, I felt ready to move on and had grown tired of some of the drama and inter-­ nal politics over who got to perform in which act and when. It had become just another thing I did along with Habitat for Humanity and Hebrew School. I realize now that I only par-­ tially recognized how special it was. I JHW Ă DVKEDFNV WR WKH ZHLJKWOHVV IHHO-­ ing of leaping from the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cloud Swingâ&#x20AC;? and realize I will never again be so FORVH WR Ă \LQJ ____________________________________ Moriah Petty is a junior TV-­R major who can never hang up her leotard for good. Email her at mpetty1@ithaca. edu.

The Vanishing Act

A visit to the circus showed this writer every rights violation

By Kait Hulbert

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

I

went to the circus every year with my family until I was 12. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remember it being a particular-­ ly enjoyable experience, but I also donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remember it being a torturous, avoid-­at-­all-­costs family bonding ex-­ WUDYDJDQ]D 8S XQWLO ODVW ZHHN , ZDV pretty neutral on the circus. And then , ZHQW WR WKH FLUFXV IRU WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW WLPH as a cognizant adult, and found neu-­ trality to be a wholly misplaced reac-­ tion to the creative choices made by whomever planned the 80th Annual Tigris Shrine Circus in Syracuse, NY. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure if they were trying to break some sort of twisted record, but during the two-­hour performance the Shrinerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s managed to violate not only women and animal rights, but nearly all of the rights afforded to sentient beings.

The most obvious and oft-­refer-­ enced citation stemmed from concern about the treatment of the animals in the circus. Shrinerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s had many ani-­ mals: tigers, lions, puppies, small po-­ nies, large ponies, a donkey and an elephant. They all had sad eyes. But I would have sad eyes too, if I were an elephant that had seemingly been mistaken for a jungle gym, or a don-­ key employed quite literally to play the â&#x20AC;&#x153;assâ&#x20AC;? among a group of ponies trained solely to walk in a circle. I un-­ derstand that circuses like Shrinerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have pledged that given their circum-­ stances, they provide their animals with comfortable and safe living con-­ ditions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just not sure how shov-­ LQJ IRXU OLRQV LQWR D [ ZRRGHQ FDJH for transport meets that standard.

Moreover, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not entirely sure why WKHUH QHHGHG WR EH IRXU OLRQV LQ D [ cage. At some point watching animals perform tricks they were in no way naturally inclined to do got confused with entertainment. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2013, and if I wanted to watch an animal do VRPHWKLQJ ,¡G Ă&#x20AC;QG D FDW JLI RQ 7XP-­ blr. I would not transport an animal thousands of miles from its home, force it into a small box with strangers and force it to jump through a hoop RI Ă&#x20AC;UH If I were running a circus, I would make an attempt to recognize some aspects of the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights move-­ ment by providing my female employ-­ HHV ZLWK RXWĂ&#x20AC;WV WKDW FRYHUHG PRUH than 15 percent of their bodies. I

16

ZRXOG QRW FUDIW P\ JUDQG Ă&#x20AC;QDOH WR LQ-­ FOXGH URXJKO\ Ă&#x20AC;IWHHQ ZRPHQ LQ EORQGH wigs and star-­spangled bikinis dan-­ gling from ropes to Miley Cyrusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Par-­ W\ LQ WKH 86$ Âľ $QG UHDOO\ , ZDV VR YHU\ VDGGHQHG E\ WKH WXUQ WKDW Ă&#x20AC;QDOH took, since it started off so promis-­ ingly with an oddly mis-­appropriated

the circus featured three children un-­ der the age of 12, one of whom was an 11-­year-­old trapeze artist and she was held to the same sexualized stan-­ dard as her adult counterparts.

The ethnically diverse performance troupe was constantly stereotyped, by grouping all the Latino performers

What I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand what possible use sex appeal could serve at a family-centered event designed primarily to entertain children. What entertainment effect would be lost if the women performing werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wearing heels the entire time? audio recording of JFK giving his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ask not what your country can do for youâ&#x20AC;? speech.

Nearly every woman who performed in the circus was clad in a skin tight leotard and heels. The only exception was the dog trainer and the trapeze artist â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the trainer wore a suit and the trapeze artists took off their heels before beginning their act, but made sure to put them on as soon as theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d dismounted the bars.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m an advertising student, so I understand the value of sex appeal.

What I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand what pos-­ sible use sex appeal could serve at a family-­centered event designed pri-­ marily to entertain children. What entertainment effect would be lost if the women performing werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wear-­ ing heels the entire time? The men too were dressed in a way that empha-­ sized their sexuality and exuded mas-­ culinity. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure that this is the appropriate venue to dissect accept-­ ability of using gender roles to contin-­ ue perpetuating discrimination; but be it appropriate in certain situations or not, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the value of sexualizing a circus?

Beyond the grown men and women,

together, giving their act a spanish sounding name, playing some mari-­ achi-­style music and pandering to a lowest common denominator mockery of a diverse Latino culture.

Truly though, the most worrisome aspect of the circus was their disre-­ gard of their primary audience: young children. Circuses were meant to be an entertaining, low-­cost, low-­involve-­ ment family show. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible that when the Tigris Shrine Circus start-­ ed 80 years ago the stereotypes they were perpetuating werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as harshly attacked as they are today. But is there a place in society for a group that rests their judgment on 80-­year-­ old ideals?

They may be steeped in history and insulated from recourse by their connection to childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health, but a charitable mission doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t equate to carte blanche. The Shinerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s either QHHG WR XSGDWH WKHLU YDOXHV WR UHĂ HFW 21st century norms, or call it a day. ____________________________________ Kait Hulbert is a sophomore CMD ma-­ jor who will never again dream of run-­ ning away to the circus. Email her at khulber2@ithaca.edu.

Clowning Around

By Kacey Deamer

U

nder the big top lions are WDPHG DQG JUDYLW\ LV GHÀHG The circus holds the wonders of the world, big and small. From el-­ ephants to poodles, tightrope walk-­ ers to motorcycle stunt men, there’s something for everyone. It truly brings out the children of all ages, as the audience at the 80th Annual Ti-­ gris Shrine Circus spanned from age

one to 100.

Frank Sinatra made an appear-­ ance. Children cried and laughed and oohed and awed. The circus can be traced back to Ancient Rome — though not in the manifestation we know today. “Circus” referred to the building that housed chariot races and staged battles. The “Big Top” cir-­ cuses came into being during the late

WK FHQWXU\ The Shrine Circus in Syracuse was not under a Big Top, and didn’t in-­ clude chariot races, but it delighted (most) its audience just the same.

Only a sampling of the circus’ many offerings, these images are true to the Shriner’s experience.

Upfront

17

Flexible Features

Aesthetic sports generate body image issues for young women

By Taryn Pire

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

F

rom a very young age, people LQ WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV DUH VXEMHFW to the pressures of an unat-­ tainable goal: perfection. Athletes are challenged more than most to improve their bodies and their physical perfor-­ mances. While improving the body is DW Ă&#x20AC;UVW D SRVLWLYH DFWLRQ VRPH EHFRPH consumed by the idea of altering their physicality. This intense concern with body image results in a desire to turn oneself into a person she is not, a con-­ tortion of the self.

In the sports of dance, gymnas-­ tics and cheerleading, aesthetics are important not only for health, but skill improvement. Andie Stolting, a sophomore at Ithaca College and competitive dancer of 16 years, agrees that appearance and skill are both equally important in her sport. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In other sports it seems to me that the stronger you are, the better you are,â&#x20AC;?

Stolting said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In dance you have to be strong, but you have to have lean muscles. You have to be skinny, but strong at the same time.â&#x20AC;?

The ideal body type in dance, however, is a bit more rigid than in cheerleading. Britni Miller, an ex-­ cheerleader for Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey, said that body type didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter as much as its con-­ dition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think physical appearance is a big part of it, because everyone wants to stay in shape,â&#x20AC;? Miller said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that we want to stay in shape to be able to do what we do, not so much â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I need to look great for when everyone else sees me.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Even though physical appearance is an inherent concern in aesthetic sports, it is not always used as a cata-­ lyst for negative body image. Dana Er-­ gas, a former competitive gymnast of \HDUV IURP 1HZ -HUVH\ VDLG WKDW her coach never would have allowed her or her teammates to feel badly about their bodies. But outside the gym, Ergas sees how some gymnasts may feel insecure about their athletic builds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think outside of the sport [insecurities can arise] because in the sport all your friends basically look the same,â&#x20AC;? Ergas said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you put on a nice dress and go to a party and you have these massive muscles, you stand out whereas in the gym you

18

donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.â&#x20AC;?

Some issues may not bother an ath-­ lete, but for some they can turn into crash dieting, excessive exercising, calorie deprivation or taking supple-­ ments to lose weight at a rapid rate.

Rick Suddaby, the head coach of the IC gymnastics team for 27 years, believes that any strength to excess is a weakness in an athlete, and that eating disorders are much more prominent than he likes to believe due to this reason. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If their strengths are being very organized, very moti-­ vated, [and] very disciplined, those are all really good things, but they can also build an anorexic or a bulim-­ ic,â&#x20AC;? Suddaby said. At the same token, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think the sport causes those things as much as those personalities are attracted to the sport,â&#x20AC;? Suddaby added.

For instance, Suddaby said a suc-­ cessful gymnast is often a perfection-­ ist, incredibly motivated, compulsive and has both a deep desire to please others and high expectations of self.

An anorexic shares many of these same traits. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We basically do the same [skills] every single day and the goal is to get [them] perfect,â&#x20AC;? Ergas said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do see those traits as similar, but just because it takes the same traits I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to be a gymnast, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have an eating disorder.â&#x20AC;?

Stolting recounts the time when one of her close friends from dance got mononucleosis when she was 13, causing her to be out of practice for months. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She was so sick that she would only eat a saltine every day â&#x20AC;Ś when she came back she looked sickly â&#x20AC;Ś she had lost almost twenty pounds, and our teacher said â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;you look great, keep it up,â&#x20AC;? Stolting said.

Miller, who has learned about eat-­ ing disorders throughout her aca-­ demic career, believes that body im-­ age issues could largely come from the sport as opposed to society. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think [poor] body image comes from high levels of stress and being over-­ whelmed, not being able to cope prop-­ erly with that,â&#x20AC;? Miller said.

Eating disorders and extremism aside, being more slender has its ben-­ HĂ&#x20AC;WV 0RVW SODLQO\ QXWULWLRQ DQG H[HU-­

cise will keep a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body healthy and typically slimmer, but for athletes LW KDV PRUH VSHFLĂ&#x20AC;F EHQHĂ&#x20AC;WV *\PQDV-­ tics, for instance, caters to more petite bodies.

Suddaby said that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier to do skills while being smaller and more slender. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Anyone can be a gymnast, [but some are] just going to be less competitive. Generally speaking their potential will be held back, as in how good they can be. If theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re heavy, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to run into more overuse injuries, tooâ&#x20AC;Śthereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a much greater chance of getting hurt,â&#x20AC;? Suddaby said.

Cheerleaders deal with this frustra-­ tion, too, as they need to be very pre-­ cise and in sync with the rest of their squad to achieve success. Miller said to do so, they need to remain in their best personal shape. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re worrying about your physical appearance, it should be in order to be Ă&#x20AC;W DQG KHDOWK\ QRW DERXW WU\LQJ WR EH the thinnest that you can be,â&#x20AC;? Miller VDLG ´)RFXV RQ EHLQJ KHDOWK\ DQG Ă&#x20AC;W and the body weight that will give you the best success in your sport, not so much make you look the best.â&#x20AC;?

6WROWLQJ UHĂ HFWV RQ HQGLQJ KHU GDQFH career due to herniating a disc in her spine after being dropped by a part-­ ner at practice, and said that â&#x20AC;&#x153;my big-­ gest regret is just not enjoying [dance] when I was there â&#x20AC;Ś sometimes I was too worried about the little details that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see the big picture.â&#x20AC;?

Suddaby also believes that athletes need to learn the realities of their own bodies, and coaches need to be able to teach them to do that healthfully. He said rehabilitation should be focused on the solution, not the problem; coaches should use the sport to teach kids there are better ways to succeed than by abusing their bodies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It takes time and it takes caring, and we try re-­ ally hard to create an environment on the team where you can really be you and not hide who you are,â&#x20AC;? Suddaby said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a place where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relatively safe to fail and pick yourself up.â&#x20AC;? ____________________________________ Taryn Pire is a sophomore writing ma-­ jor who may not be able to do a back handspring but has a killer somer-­ sault. Email her at tpire1@ithaca.edu.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Not Easy Being Green?

Finding a sustainable balance for architecture of the future

By Andreas Jonathan

S

Image by

Karen R

ich

sustainability. Architects also argue that LEED only offers a very rigid SDWK WR FHUWLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ ZKLFK LV RIWHQ expensive and technology intensive.

Many believe the conversation in ar-­ chitecture should be more intensive and holistic, looking at how build-­ ings can work more intuitively with nature. LEED has cornered the mar-­ ket on green building, positioning it as almost the only way to go green in building. As of now, once a build-­ LQJ DFKLHYHV /((' LW¡V FHUWLĂ&#x20AC;HG IRU life; there are no protocols for backup checks, making sure these buildings are actually saving energy and no way to take back awards if buildings arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t performing up to par.

Mark Darling, Ithaca Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sus-­ tainability programs coordinator, pointed out major positives and un-­ intended negatives regarding LEED. According to Darling, LEED provides streamline standards that are ingrati-­ ated into the existing building code, KRZHYHU JHWWLQJ FHUWLĂ&#x20AC;HG LV H[SHQ-­ sive. A phenomenon that has devel-­ oped as a response is buildings being designed to LEED standards but not JRLQJ IRU FHUWLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ WKDW DGGV DGGL-­ tional costs to the project. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a MXVWLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ D ORW RI SHRSOH DUH XVLQJÂľ Darling said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But how do you sup-­ SRUW WKH SURJUDP" 7KDW¡V KRZ 86*%& gets the money to do research and de-­ velopment. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a matter of community as far as Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m concerned. This is about sharing; if you pay for your building that means this [LEED] can contin-­ ue to go, if you value that then you should pay for the value.â&#x20AC;?

The next major issue is educating occupants of the project on how to work with the building technology to ensure maximum performance. Ac-­ cording to Darling, in one of the LEED build-­ ings on campus there were spe-­ FLĂ&#x20AC;F RXWOHWV GH-­ signed into the building where you were supposed to put computers, because they were separately monitored. People then came into that space and

plugged other things into those out-­ lets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been this whole learning curve of learning how to adjust the systems and make people understand how to work with the system.â&#x20AC;?

Architecture is naturally a disci-­ pline that often takes part in intro-­ spective analysis of its purpose and praxis, but economic downturn and recent increased frequency of major weather events have brought climate change to the forefront of public dis-­ course, causing architects to rethink what it means to design with the en-­ vironment in mind. Symposiums like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sustaining Sustainabilityâ&#x20AC;? that took SODFH DW &RUQHOO 8QLYHUVLW\ ODVW \HDU are becoming all the more necessary considering that the fundamental purpose of architecture is separat-­ ing humans from the environment or from â&#x20AC;&#x153;extremesâ&#x20AC;? and that must now be rethought. Sustaining Sustainability re-­envisioned the â&#x20AC;&#x153;homeâ&#x20AC;? as zone for interaction between humans, plant and animal life, and experimental bio materials that would allow a building to react to changes in climate like a living organism.

As needed as these imaginings of new sustainabilities are, the world needs buildings now and we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait for theory. We need accessible replicable codes that can be applied to the renovation of existing build-­ ings and instituted in new buildings now. Streamlined systems like LEED provide this and make great starting points 7KH Ă&#x20AC;QDO IURQWLHU ZLOO EH QHJRWLDWLQJ green design systems with the behav-­ iors of people on a daily basis which is always a variable. This is the last and most essential key: we need to not only normalize sustainability but also design to ensure sustainable deci-­ sion-­making. If we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t engage in the social and monitor our personal re-­ sponsibility than nothing will change. ____________________________________ Andreas Jonathon is a junior archi-­ tectural studies major who knew he wanted to get into green architecture when he only built cities with green legos as a child. Email him at ajona-­ th1@ithaca.edu.

19

Upfront

ustainability is the goal of today.

Achieving it, means addressing it in all parts of our lives: our everyday behaviors, how much mate-­ rials we demand, how many things we have and how we make those things from.

We need to begin to redesign vari-­ ous systems, moving them away from carbon intensive processes while pre-­ paring for impending consequences of climate change. According to Ar-­ FKLWHFWXUH EXLOGLQJV LQ WKH 8 6 DFFRXQW IRU SHUFHQW RI HPLVVLRQV When people think green building it is LEED, an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, immediately comes to mind. LEED is D FHUWLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ V\VWHP GHYHORSHG E\ WKH QRQ SURĂ&#x20AC;W FRUSRUDWLRQ WKH 8 6 Green Building Council. The program offers several standards based on the type of building project and depend-­ ing on how many standards a proj-­ HFW FDQ PHHW WKH 86*%& DZDUGV WKH FHUWLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ RI /((' *ROG 6LOYHU DQG Platinum. The goal of LEED and of WKH 86*%& LV WR SURYLGH LQFHQWLYHV for people working at different scales from residential to large scale com-­ mercial to plan for sustainability form the drawing board. Over 10,000 cer-­ WLĂ&#x20AC;HG EXLOGLQJV ODWHU WKH SURJUDP LV HYHQ LQĂ XHQFLQJ SROLF\ ,Q :DVKLQJ-­ ton D.C. for example, all public build-­ LQJV PXVW QRZ EH /((' FHUWLĂ&#x20AC;HG 7KH success of LEED has even led to the development of SEED, an urban plan-­ ning counterpart that provides tactics and standards for planners and de-­ velopers to strive for on a sustainable urban development scale.

However, LEED is contending with many criticisms. Many architects argue that LEED has become more about attaining acclaim than a b o u t attaining

Coverage In A Time Of Crisis An analysis of the reporting of the Boston Marathon

By Jessica Corbett

T

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

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which was published mere hours after KH ÁHG WKH ÀQLVK OLQH WR WKH SDUHQWV RI D %8 VWXGHQW IURP &KLQD ZKRVH \HDU ROG GDXJKWHU /LQJ]X /X ZDV NLOOHG LQ WKH ERPELQJ ,W VHHPV WKDW LQ WKH ODVW IHZ ZHHNV the media has approached the bomb-­ LQJ IURP HYHU\ DQJOH LPDJLQDEOH EXW DV IRU WKH LPPHGLDWH UHVSRQVH WKH %RVWRQ 0DUDWKRQ ERPELQJ DQG WKH H[SORVLRQ DW D IHUWLOL]HU SODQW LQ :HVW 7H[DV WKDW KDSSHQHG WZR GD\V ODWHU DUH MXVW WKH ODWHVW LQ ZKDW PD\ VRPH-­ WLPHV VHHP OLNH D SUHZULWWHQ QDUUD-­ WLYH WKH PHGLD KDV GHYHORSHG IRU FULVLV FRYHUDJH )RU WKH FULVHV WKLV FRXQWU\ KDV H[-­ SHULHQFHG LQ UHFHQW PRQWKV WKH PH-­ GLD DSSHDUV WR KDYH DGRSWHG D VWDQ-­ GDUG UHVSRQVH V\VWHP -RXUQDOLVWV DQG REVHUYHUV DOLNH ÀOO QHZV QHWZRUNV DQG VRFLDO PHGLD VLWHV ZLWK LPPHGL-­ DWH XSGDWHV ³ HYHU\WKLQJ IURP SKR-­

“We’re always going to remember, ‘oh CNN slipped up.’ As opposed to ‘okay, this station was the second or third to report it, but hey, they got me the right information and I’m relieved now.’’

- Alexa Dragoumis Boston University Student ,Q IDFW WZR ERPEV KDG H[SORGHG QHDU WKH ÀQLVK OLQH DURXQG S P &KDRV HQVXHG DW WKH ÀQLVK OLQH DQG LQ WKH PHGLD LQ WKH GD\V WKDW IROORZHG 7KH PHGLD KDV SRUWUD\HG WKH VFHQH WKURXJK WKH H\HV RI HYHU\ W\SH RI LQ-­ GLYLGXDO ³ IURP The Boston Globe re-­ SRUWHU 'DYLG $EHO·V ÀUVWKDQG DFFRXQW

20

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Photo by Sean Wandrei

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.UROO VDLG ´7KH VDPH OHYHO RI VNHS-­ WLFLVP QHHGV WR EH EURXJKW WR 5HG-­ GLW DQG )DFHERRN DQG 7ZLWWHU DQG FKDQ DQG DOO WKHVH SODFHV MXVW DV LW ZRXOG EH LI LW ZHUH D VRXUFH RQ WKH JURXQG RU D VRXUFH RQ WKH SKRQH µ :KLOH WKH PHGLD FHUWDLQO\ KDV VRPH LPSURYHPHQWV WR FRQVLGHU LQ LWV IXWXUH RI UHSRUWLQJ RQ WUDJHGLHV 'UDJRXPLV VDLG DV D EXGGLQJ EURDGFDVW MRXUQDO-­ LVW VKH XQGHUVWDQGV WKH SUHVVXUH WR SURYLGH QHZ LQIRUPDWLRQ LQ D FRQVWDQW FRYHUDJH QHZV V\VWHP 0DQ\ UHSRUW-­ HUV FRYHULQJ WKH HYHQW KDG QRW FRYHUHG WUDJHGLHV OLNH WKLV EHIRUH 'UDJRXPLV GHVFULEHG LW DV D ´OHDUQ DV \RX JRµ H[-­ SHULHQFH $V ERWK D FLWL]HQ RI WKH FLW\ DQG D MRXUQDOLVW WKH H[SHULHQFH ZDV HPR-­ WLRQDOO\ FKDOOHQJLQJ IRU KHU 'UDJRXPLV VDLG VKH UHPHPEHUHG WR VWD\ V\PSDWKHWLF GXULQJ LQWHUYLHZV EHFDXVH ´SHRSOH DUH VFDUHG DQG SHR-­ SOH DUH IHHOLQJ DOO VRUWV RI HPRWLRQV µ 6KH YLYLGO\ UHFDOOV D FRQYHUVDWLRQ ZLWK D ÀUVW UHVSRQGHU ZKR WUHDWHG DQ eight-­year old boy who was struck by D QDLO IURP WKH H[SORVLRQ ´<RX MXVW KDYH WR NHHS LQWR FRQVLG-­ HUDWLRQ WKDW WKLV LV D QHZV HYHQW EXW WKLV LV DOVR D YHU\ KXPDQ WKLQJ µ 'UD-­ JRXPLV VDLG ____________________________________ Jessica Corbett is a sophomore journal-­ ism major who sends her thoughts to all the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, as well as the city of Boston.

Email her at jcorbet@ithaca.edu.

21

Upfront

DWKRQ ERPELQJ LQGHSHQGHQW DQG ZDWFKGRJ RUJDQL]DWLRQV OLNH Mother Jones DQG 3R\QWHU EHJDQ FULWLFL]LQJ WKH PDLQVWUHDP PHGLD·V FULVLV FRYHU-­ DJH ³ GHEXQNLQJ P\WKV DQG GLVFXVV-­ LQJ WKH IUHTXHQW IDX[ SDV RI PRGHUQ UHSRUWLQJ 6RPH RI WKH FRPPRQ P\WKV UHSRUW-­ HG E\ PXOWLSOH VRXUFHV LQFOXGHG VWR-­ ULHV WKDW D ERPELQJ KDG RFFXUUHG DW WKH -). OLEUDU\ ÀYH DGGLWLRQDO XQH[-­ SORGHG GHYLFHV ZHUH IRXQG DQG 6XQLO 7ULSDWKL D PLVVLQJ SHUVRQ DQG VWX-­ GHQW DW %URZQ 8QLYHUVLW\ ZDV VRPH-­ KRZ LQYROYHG LQ WKH ERPELQJ The New York Post LQDFFXUDWHO\ UHSRUWHG WKDW WKH H[SORVLRQV NLOOHG SHRSOH DQG WKDW D 6DXGL QDWLRQDO ZDV WDNHQ LQWR FXVWRG\ DV D VXVSHFW 3ROLFH HQFRXQWHUHG WKH DFWXDO VXV-­ SHFWV ODWHU LQ WKH ZHHN 7ZHQW\ VL[ \HDU ROG 7DPHUODQ 7VDUQDHY ZDV VKRW DQG NLOOHG ZKHQ KH DQG KLV \RXQJHU EURWKHU H[FKDQJHG JXQÀUH ZLWK SR-­ OLFH HDUO\ $SULO 7KDW HYHQLQJ WKH PDQKXQW FDPH WR D FORVH 1LQHWHHQ \HDU ROG ']KRNDU 7VDUQDHY ZDV DS-­ SUHKHQGHG LQ :DWHUWRZQ 0DVV DQG EURXJKW WR D QHDUE\ KRVSLWDO $V WKH DUPRUHG YHKLFOHV UROOHG RXW RI :DWHUWRZQ ORFDOV SRXUHG LQWR WKH VWUHHWV DSSODXGLQJ RIÀFHUV DQG FKDQWLQJ ´8 6 $µ %RVWRQ 0D\RU 7KRPDV 0HQLQR JUDEEHG D SROLFH UD-­ GLR WR WKDQN KLV RIÀFHUV DQG WKHQ WRRN WR 7ZLWWHU 5HSRUWHUV DQG FDP-­ HUDPHQ VFXUULHG WKH VWUHHWV FDSWXU-­ LQJ VRXQGELWHV IURP HQWKXVHG PHP-­ EHUV RI WKH FURZG 6WDWH DQG IHGHUDO DXWKRULWLHV WRRN WXUQV VSHDNLQJ WR WKH PRE RI FDPHUDV DQG PLFURSKRQHV 1%& ZDV FUHGLWHG ZLWK EUHDNLQJ WKH QHZV ÀUVW ³ ZKLFK EHFDPH D QHZV VWRU\ LWVHOI 7KH KHDGOLQH RQ WKH Huff-­ ington Post UHDG ´1%&·V %RVWRQ 5H-­ SRUWLQJ (QGV ,Q 7ULXPSK $V 1HWZRUN ,V )LUVW 7R 5HSRUW &DSWXUH RI ']KRNDU 7VDUQDHY µ 1%& FXW WR LWV ORFDO DIÀOLDWH LQ %RVWRQ :+'+ DURXQG S P ZKHQ QHWZRUN FRUUHVSRQGHQWV VWDUWHG GHFODULQJ WKH VXVSHFW FDSWXUHG %XW ZKDW LI OLNH &11 ZLWK LWV PLV-­ UHSRUW RI D VXVSHFW 1%& KDG EHHQ ZURQJ" 7KH GD\ DIWHU WKH ERPELQJ, Mother Jones published a piece by staff writer $QG\ .UROO WLWOHG ´4XHVWLRQ (YHU\WKLQJ <RX +HDU $ERXW WKH %RVWRQ 0DUDWKRQ %RPELQJ µ 7KH VWRU\ H[DPLQHG HLJKW LQVWDQF-­ HV RI HDUO\ UHSRUWLQJ PLVWDNHV LQ WKH PLGVW RI FULVHV UDQJLQJ IURP WKH 2NODKRPD &LW\ ERPELQJ WR WKH WHUURULVW DWWDFNV WR WKH UHFHQW 6DQG\ +RRN (OHPHQWDU\ 6FKRRO VKRRWLQJ

Media Mirage

Does objectivity exist in modern day media conglomerates?

By Kyle Robertson

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

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22

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“The idea that there was ever a ‘golden age’ of media is a popular misconception. News is and has always been a corporate effort no matter what, even if it’s a small mom-and-pop operation.”

- Steve R endall Analyst for FAIR ÀQDQFLDO LQWHUHVWV VR WKH GHFLVLRQ RQ ZKHWKHU RU QRW WR SXEOLVK EHFRPHV D ORW PRUH FRPSOLFDWHG µ $FFRUGLQJ WR DQ LQIRJUDSKLF FRP-­ SLOHG E\ WKH ZHEVLWH %XVLQHVV ,QVLGHU VL[ ODUJH FRPSDQLHV FXUUHQWO\ RZQ RYHU SHUFHQW RI PHGLD RXWOHWV LQ WKH 8 6 LQ RQO\ \HDUV DJR WKHUH ZHUH QHDUO\ FRPSDQLHV FRPSHWLQJ IRU GRPLQDQFH LQ WKH ÀHOG 2QH RI WKH PRVW ZHOO NQRZQ RI WKHVH FRQJORPHUDWHV LV 1HZV &RUS RZQHG E\ ELOOLRQDLUH PHGLD W\FRRQ 5XSHUW 0XUGRFK 7KH FRPSDQ\·V SURSHUWLHV LQFOXGLQJ )R[ 1HZV WKH Wall Street Journal DQG WKH New York Post DUH SURQH WR UHÁHFWLQJ WKH FRQVHUYDWLYH SROLWLFDO OHDQLQJV RI LWV RZQHU 2WKHU FRPSDQLHV RQ WKH OLVW LQFOXGH *HQHUDO (OHFWULF ZKLFK RZQV WKH PH-­ GLD HPSLUH RI WKH PDMRULW\ RI 1%& 7LPH :DUQHU RZQHU RI &11 DQG 'LV-­ QH\ ZKRVH SURSHUWLHV LQFOXGH (631 DQG $%& (VSHFLDOO\ LQ WKH FDVH RI *( D FRPSDQ\ NQRZQ IRU SURGXFLQJ ZLGHO\ XVHG FRPPHUFLDO SURGXFWV DQG ZLWK D UHFRUG RI HQYLURQPHQWDO YLROD-­ WLRQV WKH SRVVLELOLW\ RI D FRQÁLFW RI LQ-­ WHUHVW DULVLQJ DQG UHSRUWHUV EHLQJ SLW-­ WHG DJDLQVW WKHLU SDUHQW FRPSDQ\ RQ D PDWWHU RI SULQFLSOH JUHDWO\ LQFUHDVHV

23

Upfront

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CRACKING THE WHIP A breakdown on the leadership of President Rochon

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

By Patrick Feeney

24

O

25

Upfront

n Feb. 21, Ithaca College launched a “Comprehensive Presidential Assessment” to review Thomas Rochon’s, president of the college, performance in the position. Utilizing hour-long brief interviews conducted between March 26 and 28, the assessment would “highlight areas of positive performance and to contribute suggestions to improve the effectiveness of the work of the President in advancing the goals and mission of the college,” according to an Intercom message by Thomas Grape ‘80, chairman of the board of trustees.

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

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26

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With such a large bureaucracy running the college, the question remains: who is really running this massive, confusing circus that is our mid-sized liberal-arts college?

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27

Upfront

D PHPEHU RI WKH JURXS·V H[HFXWLYH ERDUG VDLG WKH JURXS·V OHWWHUV WR WKH ERDUG RI WUXVWHHV DUH UHVSRQGHG WR VSRUDGLFDOO\ DQG ZLWK PL[HG UHVXOWV $FFRUGLQJ WR &XUULHU UHVSRQVHV IURP 3UHVLGHQW 5RFKRQ KDYH EHHQ ´YHU\ VXJDU FRDWHG µ &DUO 6JUHFFL YLFH SUHV-­ LGHQW RI ÀQDQFH DQG DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ KDV DWWHPSWHG WR HQG FRUUHVSRQGHQFH ZLWK 'LYHVW ,& E\ SRLQWLQJ RXW WKDW OHVV WKDQ SHUFHQW RI ,& HQGRZPHQW IXQGV JR WRZDUGV WKH IRVVLO IXHO LQGXV-­ WU\ *UDSH %27 FKDLU KDV QRW \HW UH-­ VSRQGHG WR 'LYHVW ,&·V HPDLOV 6FKRRO DGPLQLVWUDWRUV DFURVV WKH ERDUG KDYH IDLOHG WR DGGUHVV FRQFHUQV IRU VWXGHQWV DQG IDFXOW\ RQ VLPLODU HQYLURQPHQWDO LVVXHV 7KHUH LV \HW WR EH D VWDWHPHQW UHOHDVHG RQ K\GUR-­ IUDFNLQJ DIWHU 6*$ SDVVHG D PRWLRQ WR HQFRXUDJH WKH VFKRRO WR SUHYHQW WKH SUDFWLFH RQ FROOHJH RZQHG SURSHUW\ 2Q WKH VWDWH OHYHO WKH 1HZ <RUN VWDWH $VVHPEO\ SDVVHG D WZR \HDU PRUD-­ WRULXP RQ JDV H[WUDFWLRQ SHUPLWV LQ 0DUFK 3ROLFLHV RULJLQDWLQJ IURP WKH %27 DQG WKH DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ DUH DQRWKHU VRXUFH RI GLVJUXQWOHPHQW IRU VWXGHQWV DQG IDFXOW\ 7KH $ ( &HQWHU D PLOOLRQ VWUXFWXUH WKDW FRPSOHWHG FRQ-­ VWUXFWLRQ ODVW \HDU ZDV FULWLFL]HG IRU LWV ODFN RI DFFHVV WR QRQ DWKOHWLFV VWX-­ GHQWV ³ WKH LQGRRU WUDFN DQG ODS SRRO

WKDW DPELYDOHQFH WRZDUGV WKH ÀQDO-­ LVWV ´VHUYHG DV D ZHGJH LVVXH WR GLYLGH XV µ 5RFKRQ VDLG LQ D SRVW WR WKH ,& PDVFRW VHDUFK EORJ %\ WKH VSULQJ RI WKH VHDUFK KDG EHHQ FDOOHG RII FRPSOHWHO\ 7KHVH SUREOHPV DUH LQFUHGLEO\ GL-­ YHUVH UDQJLQJ IURP FRPPXQLFD-­ WLRQ WR DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ WR ÀQDQFHV WR EUDQGLQJ DQG EH\RQG 1R DUWLFOH FDQ SURSHUO\ WRXFK RQ DOO RI WKHVH LVVXHV RU JLYH WKH IDFXOW\ ERWK WHDFKLQJ DQG DGPLQLVWUDWLYH WKH SURSHU FUHGLW IRU WKH WUHPHQGRXV DPRXQW RI ZRUN WKH\ GR WR NHHS WKH FROOHJH UXQQLQJ +RZHYHU IURP ZKDW DQDO\VLV ZH FDQ DFWXDOO\ PDNH LW VHHPV LPSRVVLEOH WR FDOO DQ\RQH ´ULQJOHDGHUµ DW WKH FRO-­ OHJH 5RFKRQ PD\ VLW RQ WRS EXW KH MXJJOHV WKH ERDUG WKH VWXGHQWV WKH SURIHVVRUV DQG D ODUJH DOXPQL FRP-­ PXQLW\ 7KH ERDUG PD\ ÀQDOL]H DQ\ PDMRU GHFLVLRQV EXW WKHLU H[WUHPHO\ EULHI PHHWLQJ ZLQGRZV DQG RFFDVLRQ-­ DO ODFN RI FRPPXQLFDWLRQ SOXV WKHLU GDXQWLQJ VL]H PXVW PDNH LW GLIÀFXOW IRU PDQ\ PDMRU FKDQJHV WR EH PDGH $QG DOWKRXJK WKH VWXGHQWV DQG DOXP-­ QL PD\ KDYH OLWWOH YRLFH RU LQÁXHQFH RQ WKH GHFLVLRQV RU SURFHVVHV RI WKH DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ DW D WLPH ZKHQ WKH %RPEHUV DUH KDUG VWUDSSHG IRU FDVK WKH IRUPHU DQG SUHVHQW VWXGHQW ERG\ KROGV WKH XOWLPDWH ZHDSRQV ³ WKH WX-­ LWLRQ FKHFNV DQG GRQDWLRQV The college is a clustered mess of EXUHDXFUDF\ LGHDOV H[WUD LQWHUHVWV DQG PRUH 3HUKDSV WKH LVVXH DW KDQG GLYHV GHHSHU WKDQ WKH FXUUHQW PDQ-­ DJHPHQW 3HUKDSV WKH YHU\ VWUXFWXUH RI WKH VFKRRO WKH YHU\ GLYLGHG DQG FOLTXLVK G\QDPLFV EHWZHHQ DGPLQ-­ LVWUDWLRQ DQG FDPSXV FRPPXQLW\ are what ultimately lead the school WRZDUGV LQGHFLVLRQ DQG VWDOHPDWH 7KHUH PD\ EH QR ULQJOHDGHU LQ WKLV WKUHH ULQJ FLUFXV MXVW D PL[ RI DXGL-­ HQFH DQG SHUIRUPHUV WU\LQJ WR PDNH VRPHWKLQJ FRKHUHQW RXW RI LW DOO ____________________________________ Patrick Feeney is a junior journalism major who wouldn’t mind being the ringmaster of IC if he gets the awe-­ some costume. Email him at pfee-­ ney1@ithaca.edu.

28

OL. MINISTRYofCOOL. MI

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

Performing

By Eric Dobesh

I

to perform in this new, bizarre world of continuing education. I learned to juggle multiple partners at once, perform oral gymnastics between the thighs of another, and even explored a profound interest in the â&#x20AC;Ś tightropes.

Although I always knew that true happiness for me lay in making these discoveries and enjoying these acts within the bounds of a relationship, I became more and more infatuated with my role as a performer, and the reputation and ego boost that came with my growing skill. By the summer before senior year, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d become so focused on my talents as a performer, DQG P\ DELOLWLHV DW Ă&#x20AC;QGLQJ QHZ DQG different people to perform with, that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d forgotten my original purpose.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d gotten so lost in living up to my character that I forgot about my own happiness.

But last summer, a girl and I decided to leave the circus together. , ZDV H[FLWHG WR Ă&#x20AC;QDOO\ KDQJ XS P\ mask for senior year. We spent the summer apart, her in Ithaca and me in New York, and I was so ready to get EDFN WR VSHQG P\ Ă&#x20AC;QDO \HDU OLYLQJ RXW all my dreams from before the circus clouded my perception of myself. Then she broke up with me a week before I got back.

With all my plans for senior year suddenly dashed, and my emotions frayed and torn, I plunged into a self-­destructive freefall. I performed with anyone I could, trying to use the surge of immediate ecstasy to blot out the emptiness that followed. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

work, but my performances were at their best yet. I was a gifted ringleader with a painted-­on smile.

Someone tried to catch me. I held out a hand to her, knowing that she was someone for whom I could leave the performerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, and she took it, with faith and trust that I would understand how much better I was with the circus life behind me. But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d grown so attached to the life, so convinced that it was the only way to avoid heartbreak, that I shined the VSRWOLJKW RQ DQ\ Ă DZV , FRXOG Ă&#x20AC;QG DQG some that werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even there. I came up with reasons to rejoin the circus without ever really knowing why, and I followed that momentum right back into the big top, looking around once I JRW WKHUH WU\LQJ WR Ă&#x20AC;JXUH RXW KRZ P\ feet had led me back to this place.

It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until after I joined up again that I realized how tired the other performers were, and how empty it all felt. It was then that I realized what the circus really was for me. I had thrown away something real for something that was all just pretend.

But painting a smile on my face didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t PHDQ , ZRUH D UHDO RQH DQG ,¡YH Ă&#x20AC;QDOO\ learned what I need to do to in order to Ă&#x20AC;QDOO\ DFKLHYH WKH NLQG RI KDSSLQHVV Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m looking for: I need to pack up and leave the circus.

29

Ministry of Cool

never actually planned on joining the circus.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d planned on going through high school with one girl, who I could covertly get to second base with in movie theatres and clumsily hook up with in my momâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house while she was out of town. I would get high with KHU IRU P\ Ă&#x20AC;UVW WLPH DQG ZKHQ RXU school had a dance, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d have someone to go with, to watch the other horny teenagers.

But wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you know it, a parental divorce in eighth grade can stunt oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotional growth. While some girls probably wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have minded seeing me from the child I was to the lesser child I would be in four years, Lane (the girl of my thoughts, affections, and literally my dreams) did. Drifting into the ranks of those whose feelings were unreturned, I did what everyone else did: I joined the circus.

By the end of high school Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been the in a few sword-­swallowing acts, ZLWK P\ Ă&#x20AC;QJHUV SHUIRUPHG YDULRXV acts of ventriloquism that produced words of praise, guided directions, and outright confusion. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d even found a partner for the acrobatics. I was no skilled performer yet, and had only become halfway decent at â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Excited Labradorâ&#x20AC;? by the time college started.

In college, I discovered performers far more talented than myself. I was still in the grips of a different HPRWLRQDO Ă&#x20AC;[DWLRQ DQG VLQFH DOO hope for romance was tied up, I stepped up my game, and learned

I Ink, Therefore I am

&SH] QSHM½GEXMSR JVSQ XLI JVMRKI XS RS[

By Amanda Hutchinson

F

+RZHYHU ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ KDV existed for millennia for purposes of self-­expression and aesthetics, group DIĂ&#x20AC;OLDWLRQ RU VKRFN YDOXH Evidence of ear piercing, which is the most common type of body PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ KDV EHHQ IRXQG LQ Sumerian graves dating back more than 5300 years. Ă&#x2013;tzi the Iceman, a mummy found in the glaciers of the Alps, had ear piercings stretched to about 9 millimeters, about the same as a size 00 plug, and 57 line tattoos.

Roman and Arabic explorers described many European cultures as being heavily and extensively tattooed with dark blue designs, and the Samoan tradition of peâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;a would WDNH Ă&#x20AC;YH VHVVLRQV PRUH WKDQ GD\V to complete a tattoo that stretched from a manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s navel to his knees. Most RI WKHVH ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ WUDGLWLRQV

ZHUH EURXJKW IURP $VLD DQG WKH 3DFLĂ&#x20AC;F back to European and American audiences by explorers, whether by wearing the body art themselves or by bringing back natives.

0DQ\ IRUPV RI ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ came about from religious practices.

Tiffany Hahn, a minister with the Pennsylvania-­based Church of %RG\ 0RGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ VDLG WKDW ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ IRU VSLULWXDO SXUSRVHV has existed since the beginning of humankind. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you look up any piercing or other ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ WKHUH LV DOPRVW always a citation as to the religious DQG KLVWRULFDO VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQFH WR WKH JLYHQ piercing, tattoo, cutting, suspension, et cetera,â&#x20AC;? Hahn said.

Hahn cited tongue piercing as an example, as Aztec and Mayan tribes would put holes in their tongues to

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

rom begging our mothers to let us get our ears pierced in elementary school to the rite of passage that is the 18th ELUWKGD\ WDWWRR ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ LV engrained in many human cultures, including American society. Body PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ KDV ODVWHG WKH WHVWV RI time and developed independently in societies around the world, and while some look down on it for its bad connotations, many others embrace it as a means of expression, community and spirituality.

Tattoos, piercings and other body PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQV KDYH EHFRPH PRUH prevalent amongst adolescents in the US; for example, a 2007 study done by the American Osteopathic Association showed that 56 percent of undergraduate students surveyed had some sort of body piercing.

Photo by Karissa Breuer

30

honor the gods.

In modern times, spiritual body PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ LV RIWHQ DQ LQGLYLGXDOL]HG process, and Hahn assists in writing and performing the rituals. Hahn said that tattoos and piercings in

desire to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;part of the clubâ&#x20AC;? while still standing apart. Each piece is different. Spiers has done â&#x20AC;&#x153;everything from a kitchen sink on a guyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ankle WR D Ă DPLQJ JUHDV\ FKHHVHEXUJHU on a guyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foot.â&#x20AC;? However, trends

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you look up any piercing or other FSH] QSHM½GEXMSR XLIVI MW EPQSWX EP[E]W a citation as to the religious and historical WMKRM½GERGI ² - Tiffany Hahn 1MRMWXIV 'LYVGL SJ &SH] 1SHM½GEXMSR particular can serve as protection against evil spirits; many piercings are located at openings of the body, so a nose piercing would prevent the spirits from entering there. Similarly, members of the Church may perform a ritual as a reminder of something. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A frequent ritual performed [by members of the Church] is to pierce the tongue or lip to remind the practitioner to mind their words,â&#x20AC;?

Hahn said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;or pierce their ear to remind themselves to listen more.â&#x20AC;?

Commemorative tattoos are also popular outside of the Church.

James Spiers, owner of Model Citizen Tattoo in downtown Ithaca, said that everyone will have a different reason, but some of the more common reasons have been to memorialize a loved one or celebrate a momentous event in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some get tattoos for their weddings, they get tattoos because they lost weight, they got a new job or they got their taxes back and they thought it would look cool,â&#x20AC;? Spiers said.

Spiers also said the underlying reason for many tattoos is the

emerge over time, including the tribal patterns in the 1990s and the current theme of larger blocks of text, such as songs. Tattoos on the ribcage and behind the ear have been requested more frequently in the shop as well, though the outer arm is still the most common. )RU VWLOO RWKHUV ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ is social: More than 400 conventions are held worldwide to celebrate it. The New York City Tattoo Convention, for example, draws visitors from around the world to the Roseland Ballroom in Times Square.

Clayton Patterson, president of the New York Tattoo Society and an organizer of the convention, said the event was started in 1997 after the 36-­year ban on tattooing in New York City was lifted. Since then, it has become an international event that has drawn people from Asia, South America and Europe. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The idea wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really to have the biggest convention in the world or the most artists or anything,â&#x20AC;? said Patterson. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was to try to have a really sophisticated, great

international tattoo convention with top-­shelf artists.â&#x20AC;?

The convention draws a full crowd for the whole weekend, which falls on 0D\ WKLV \HDU $Ă&#x20AC;FLRQDGRV DQG general public alike enjoy a weekend of vendors, entertainment and the opportunity to get a tattoo from world-­ renowned tattoo artists, such as Jack Rudy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because of what they are and how anyone in the public can go to them, [conventions] kind of work like a car show. People are excited to come and see whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in the world of tattoos,â&#x20AC;? Patterson said.

Though it started as an underground practice characterized historically by criminals and lower-­class workers, ERG\ PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ KDV JURZQ LQWR DQ accepted art form, especially in the last decade. It has been highlighted more as of late, including features in high fashion, television, and sports, and while its popularity has Ă XFWXDWHG WKH LQĂ X[ RI DUWLVWU\ LQWR it has transformed it into an art form WKDW KDV EHHQ GLVSOD\HG LQ Ă&#x20AC;QH DUW galleries worldwide.

As the appreciation of body PRGLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQ JURZV LQ VFRSH LW remains a community-­based culture.

Spiers said Model Citizen was broken into recently, and the Ithaca community, both artists and civilians, raised money to buy the thousands of dollars of equipment lost in the burglary. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People really love their tattoo artists,â&#x20AC;? Spiers said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overwhelming to me the output of emotion and love that people have, whether youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re tattooed or not. They accept us for what we do, and they appreciate what we do.â&#x20AC;? ____________________________________ Amanda Hutchinson is a sophomore journalism major who is thinking about getting a neck tattoo of Chris Brown.

Email her at ahutchi2@ithaca.edu.

Ministry of Cool

31

A Brilliant Risk

-' TW]GLSPSK] KVEH QEOIW PIET XS ½PQ EGXMRK

By Karen Muller

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

T

he stuffy July air buzzed with nervous excitement as Ithaca College graduate Daniel Dambroff (College of Humanities and Sciences â&#x20AC;&#x2122;09) surveyed the makeshift holding space of the New Haven, Conn. studio. He was surrounded by hundreds of other hopeful actors and actresses, crowded onto couches, scripts in hand, some practicing lines, some chatting, some napping.

All were auditioning in hopes of landing a role in local director Paul %ULJKWRQ¡V LQGHSHQGHQW Ă&#x20AC;OP Brilliant Mistakes.

Dambroff quickly realized it would EH GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW WR VL]H XS WKH FRPSHWLWLRQ since the crowd was full of actors and actresses auditioning for every SDUW LQ WKH Ă&#x20AC;OP +H KDG KLV KHDUW VHW on the lead: Marcus Wright, a young teacher who struggles to deal with love and loyalty in the aftermath of an accident that leaves his girlfriend in a vegetative state. The role sounded like a perfect match to the sort of boy-­next-­door roles that Dambroff felt best suited his acting style. The casting call had described Wright as â&#x20AC;&#x153;easygoingâ&#x20AC;? with â&#x20AC;&#x153;boyish good looks.â&#x20AC;?

Dressed in a skinny tie and light blue button-­down shirt that offset his dark hair and eyes, Dambroff hoped that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d achieved the look they were searching for. He took a bit of comfort in knowing that he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t possibly have done any more to prepare for the audition.

Now all he could do was wait.

Focused on keeping his nerves at bay, he occupied himself by attempting a puzzle, listening to music, and occasionally getting up to stretch his legs. He knew that the odds of booking work were always slim given the nature of the business.

Beyond that, he knew that compared to much of his competition, he came from a relatively unconventional acting background. Two years before, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d received a degree from IC with honors, but had spent his time there studying psychology, rather than pursuing his passion for acting. If this audition turned RXW LQ KLV IDYRU LW ZRXOG Ă&#x20AC;QDOO\

32

prove that all his risks had been worth the trouble. Still, knowing the odds of landing a lead role, Dambroff hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mentioned the audition to anyone other than his parents. He didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need the extra pressure.

While Dambroff knew his decision to attempt professional acting rather than pursuing a career in psychology was risky, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d thought it through carefully. Though heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d both enjoyed and excelled in his college studies, as his senior week had approached, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d felt torn about where his next steps should lead. Shortly before graduation he realized that his love for creative pursuits, particularly acting, outweighed the future that he saw for himself in psychology. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The thought in my mind that I should pursue acting kind of got greater and greater and greater, and then eventually I realized that I needed to at least give this a shot, because if I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d always regret it,â&#x20AC;? Dambroff said.

It was a daring choice, but wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come as a complete surprise to those who knew him best, and had seen his love for the art develop through the years. +H ZDV Ă&#x20AC;UVW FDSWLYDWHG E\ VWDJH DFWLQJ at the age of eight, while sitting in the audience as his father performed in an Irvington Town Hall Theater production of 6RXWK 3DFLĂ&#x20AC;F. The experience pushed him to audition for a community theater play himself, and he took his Ă&#x20AC;UVW UROH LQ The King and I shortly after, staying involved with local productions throughout high school.

However, when the time came to investigate colleges, the pressure to PDMRU LQ D PRUH FRQYHQWLRQDO Ă&#x20AC;HOG pushed him to consider other options.

While heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d initially been intrigued by ICâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s acting program, he ultimately decided against it. Instead, he entered college as an exploratory student, then settled on a psychology major by his sophomore year. He explained that the reasons that led him to take an interest in psychology were similar to the reasons heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d found his passion in acting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The study of psychology is really the study of individual differences and

how people vary from one scenario to the next, from one person to the next.

And those differences between people fascinated me, and I really wanted to know more about that, and then also, to understand how people interact with one another rather than just within themselves,â&#x20AC;? Dambroff said.

At the same time, he realized that while adjusting to college life freshman year, his artistic pursuits had become less of a priority. By sophomore year, however, he found a new creative outlet when he took up a capella singing with IC Voicestream. +H DOVR IRXQG D ZD\ WR Ă&#x20AC;W DFWLQJ LQWR his busy schedule, and found time to enroll in both Acting I and Acting II with Professor Barbara Anger of the Department of Theatre Arts. Anger noted his talent immediately, but says she saw a dramatic change in his level of involvement between his time in Acting I and Acting II. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I could see a talent before, but now I could see he had kind of more of a passion or a committment to it [in Acting II]. He worked harder with it, and he went deeper into the character.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting, because heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of a very sweet guy, but heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also willing to take risks. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a certain honesty which he uses in his work. And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s UHDOO\ JRRG LQ WHUPV RI Ă&#x20AC;OP ZRUN because heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of low key,â&#x20AC;? Anger said.

While Dambroff further developed his talent for acting and recalls the classes as a great experience, at the time, his major in psychology remained D SULRULW\ $QJHU EHOLHYHV WKLV Ă&#x20AC;HOG RI study may have complemented his acting ability by giving him a unique angle on performance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so many things that you have to understand about a script, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the subtext, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the undertone of something, how the characters operate, what kind of actions they take to get what they want,â&#x20AC;? Anger said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you get that psychological understanding, then you can play something in a more realistic way instead of just trying to act. And weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re always trying to get students not to act, but to be in that moment. So if you have the

ŠStarportal Productions, LLC 2013

FRPELQDWLRQ RI KLV FRQĂ&#x20AC;GHQFH LQ KLV decision and the camaraderie heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d found at the studio helped support him through the unsure times he faced. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was pretty overwhelming. I mean, I was certain that my mind was made up, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a transition like anything.

[But] when you surround yourself in a studio in a supportive environment, it makes it easier to allow yourself to fail artistically, because you have WKDW VDIHW\ QHW 2QFH , Ă&#x20AC;QLVKHG >WKH conservatory program] I was like, I think I can do this, I think I have a good shot at this,â&#x20AC;? Dambroff said.

He was right to think so. A few days after his New Haven audition, Dambroff received a phone call with the best possible news: heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d gotten WKH SDUW ,W ZRXOG EH KLV Ă&#x20AC;UVW IHDWXUH Ă&#x20AC;OP DQG KH ZRXOG EH WKH lead. A rush of relief and happiness came over him, and with it, recognition of the work that lay ahead.

7KH Ă&#x20AC;OP ZDV VKRW LQ &RQQHFWLFXW LQ 2011 with a process far different from the stage acting Dambroff had grown up with, 12-­hour days on set, and a majority of that time being spent just setting up the shots. Those rigorous GD\V RI Ă&#x20AC;OPLQJ DOO SDLG RII ZKHQ Brilliant Mistakes made its premier at the Rhode Island International Film

Festival in August 2012, then later appeared in the Toronto Independent )LOP )HVWLYDO 7KH Ă&#x20AC;OP ZDV RIĂ&#x20AC;FLDOO\ released on April 9, and recently received a worldwide distribution deal.

6HHLQJ WKH Ă&#x20AC;OP¡V VXFFHVV KDV EHHQ a surreal experience for Dambroff, DQG RQH WKDW UHDIĂ&#x20AC;UPV KLV GHFLVLRQ WR take a risk and jump into professional DFWLQJ 6WLOO QRZ WKDW KLV Ă&#x20AC;UVW IHDWXUH Ă&#x20AC;OP LV EHKLQG KLP KH¡V EDFN WR working a day job doing administrative ZRUN DW D Ă&#x20AC;QDQFLDO Ă&#x20AC;UP DV KH ORRNV for his next role. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an unpredictable lifestyle, but he looks forward to the adventure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to continue to work in LQGHSHQGHQW Ă&#x20AC;OP D OLWWOH ELW DQG WU\ to build myself that way in hope that I can get some parts in big-­budgeted IHDWXUH Ă&#x20AC;OPV $QG WKHQ XOWLPDWHO\ hopefully create somewhat of a name for myself so I can get involved in theater in NY again. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my ideal picture,â&#x20AC;? Dambroff said. ____________________________________ Karen Muller is a junior IMC major who also has hopes to end up on IMDB after graduation. Email her at kmuller1@ ithaca.edu.

Ministry of Cool

understanding of it, then youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not putting it on, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re living through it.â&#x20AC;?

Others were quick to see a similar FRQQHFWLRQ 'DPEURII Ă&#x20AC;UVW EURNH WKH news to his mother while volunteering DW D OXQFKHRQ DW KHU RIĂ&#x20AC;FH DQG ZDV pleasantly surprised by both his parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; immediate acceptance of his new path. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My parents were very supportive.

My dad being a creative type himself, really, was supportive, and my mom was supportive â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all around everyone said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;you know, you should follow your dreams.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Still, no amount of support could smooth out some of the challenges that came along with such an abrupt change to an artistic path. For example, rather than applying his GHJUHH 'DPEURII¡V Ă&#x20AC;UVW MRE RXW RI college was at a local Panera Bread near his hometown in Westchester County [â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not entirely thrilled about that,â&#x20AC;? he joked], then becoming a waiter at a local restaurant in order to save up extra money. All the while, he was investigating the reputations of acting programs in New York City.

Eventually he auditioned for and was accepted by the three-­month Conservatory Program at the T. Shriver Studio, where he found a community of aspiring actors and actresses. The

33

Every Street a Stage

*SVQIV QYWMG QENSV ½RHW NS] FYWOMRK MR XLI 'SQQSRW

Image by Anika Steppe

&] /VMWXMR 0IJžIV

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

I

tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a cold day on the Ithaca Commons and everyone seems to be running from something.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a short, dark-­haired woman watching her hurried feet as if willing them to move faster toward her destination. She passes Beverly Stokes on the corner of State Street and Tioga Street as if she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even exist. The woman tugs on the door of a nearby building, hurries in empty-­ handed and hurries out holding a jacket that she punches her arms through as she walks by the open guitar case. Nothing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nothing, nothing, nothing left,â&#x20AC;?

Stokes sang. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some sand in your shoes, a stone in your chest.â&#x20AC;?

A little boy around the age of three walks between his parents, trapped

34

in a conversation that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not part of. He slows down and looks over his shoulder at the green-­velvet insides of the guitar case cushioning a few crinkled dollars. His eyes move up to where Beverly keeps tempo with her black-­shoed foot, up to where KHU Ă&#x20AC;QJHUV SOXFN DW WKH VWULQJV XS to where her brow scrunches above closed-­eyes squeezed shut by the high pitch of the note she just released in the air. At this point, the little boy has all but stopped walking. His parents continue ahead of him enthralled in a conversation about what to make for dinner tonight. The father walks with his hand open-­palmed, outstretched behind him, waiting for reassurance that his son is still there. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s far behind, jaw-­dropped, brown eyes

open wide watching Stokes play. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Come on,â&#x20AC;? his father said, stopping and tugging at his sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hand. The boy obeyed, but not without one last look at the lonely spectacle on the street corner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kids are great.

They do what everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doing inside their brain.

They just havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been ruined yet,â&#x20AC;?

Stokes said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nobody is walking down the street and not noticing that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music.

Clearly, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s somebody playing.

The idea that people just arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seeing you is ridiculous, so I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand why some people pretend theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re unaware.â&#x20AC;?

Stokes plays music on the street for money, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;busks,â&#x20AC;? ten hours a week. The only permanent audience she has on the Ithaca Commons on any given day is nine trees that grow between concrete slabs, providing a shifting shade and a slight rustle backing each note that springs from her guitar. Her lyrics about trains, and back roads, and ERRNV RQ VKHOYHV Ă RDW RYHU WKH FOLFN clacks of a passerbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heels and the roar of a cart that threatens to drown her out as it is rolled over bricks.

Everyone is heading somewhere, and sometimes anywhere else but toward her.

A young man carrying a black-­ and-­white printed backpack rounded the corner sharply, saw Beverly and sidestepped her as if she were toxic.

He veered off and took the long route around.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some people will cross the Commons to get away from you,â&#x20AC;?

Stokes said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They feel bad because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to give me money and then they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be near me. If you like the music and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the money, RU GRQ¡W IHHO OLNH JLYLQJ LW WKDW¡V Ă&#x20AC;QH , like when people arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t self-­conscious about that and they say thank you with their face.â&#x20AC;?

A woman approached the corner quickly, slowed down when she saw Stokes and gave a slight smile and nod. A man in a tan trench coat started digging in his deep pockets IURP D EORFN RYHU UDFLQJ WR Ă&#x20AC;QG PRQH\ before he whisks by her. With no time to slow down, he chucked cash and a few coins in the case, and continues to look straight ahead.

Stokes spoke of her old worries and insecurities as if they were clothes she had outgrown. Although she used to IHHO DVKDPHG EXVNLQJ VKH QRZ Ă&#x20AC;QGV dignity in it. But there is one memory that seemed to pinch at the back of her mind. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I was younger, my family and I would be walking around a part of my hometown where there were often area street performers and my dad would always say when he would hear musicians, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ucck, I hope they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a music degreeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a thing he says,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My dad doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say much about it. I think heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proud of me, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a different thing. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s weird that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m doing music, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in a black sheep situation in my family of very classical musicians. I try not to think about that too much.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not trained to play in the street and play guitar and sing Bob Dylan, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s VIEPP] JYR JSV QI -X´W [LEX -´Q QSVI HVE[R XS ²

- Beverly Stokes She grew up playing the trumpet, keeping it as her main instrument WKURXJKRXW FROOHJH :KHQ VKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW picked up a guitar halfway through her junior year, however, her musical path changed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The trumpet is all this internal stuff itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how your mouth is, your breath.

There arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t many visual components, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of a crap shoot,â&#x20AC;? Stokes said, scrunching up her face and bending KHU Ă&#x20AC;QJHUV XQFRPIRUWDEO\ SOD\LQJ an imaginary trumpet in front of her face. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But with guitar, you can see the whole mechanism. I just found an LQVWUXPHQW WKDW¡V D EHWWHU Ă&#x20AC;W Âľ An older man stood under the overhang of a nearby building, tapping his foot in time with the folksy, mellow song Stokes plays. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Ministry of Cool

Stokes grew up in Virginia in a family of classically trained musicians.

She graduated two and a half years ago with a degree in music education from Ithaca College. Now, she works at the Ithaca Youth Bureau during the day, bartending at night and busking when the sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still out to make some extra money. At the beginning, she would get nervous, worrying about how others viewed her. ´:KHQ , Ă&#x20AC;UVW ZHQW RXW EXVNLQJ , ZDV like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh my god,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; what if music majors see me? Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to be so upset at me because this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re classically trained to do. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not trained to play in the street and play guitar and sing Bob Dylan, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really fun for me. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m more drawn to,â&#x20AC;? she said.

smiling slightly, and his presence sits heavily behind her. As she squeezes KHU Ă&#x20AC;QJHUV DJDLQVW WKH IUHWV DQG strums one last time, the man walks up in front of her and asks about her guitar. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can I try it?â&#x20AC;? He asked. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You know, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even let my brother try it,â&#x20AC;? Stokes said.

The man nodded, understandingly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been playing since I was 18. I play country,â&#x20AC;? he said as he walked away. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nice,â&#x20AC;? Stokes said, in her casual-­ polite way.

Stokes blows on her chilled hands, rubs them together then through her short hair. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just a couple more.â&#x20AC;?

The setting sun makes the south hill glow golden. A young woman walks by with headphones plugging her ears. Men in suits crisscross the central area. Just as things seem to be winding down, a man with a denim vest and jeans walks straight toward her, drops a dollar in the case and said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sounds nice.â&#x20AC;?

A woman prematurely dropped a dollar so that it fell on the concrete and was taken in the breeze with Beverlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s falsetto. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Woops,â&#x20AC;? the woman said, smiling and walking on. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even if the idea of making coffee money is what gets me out the door, once I start playing Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just so happy to play and at the end of the day itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so nice to say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hey, I got this handful of cash by actually doing what I love,â&#x20AC;?

Stokes said.

After 30 minutes of performing, she swung her guitarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shoulder strap over her head and squatted in front of the guitar case, examining her dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earnings. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whoa, a twenty!â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wow. Those twenties just sneak up on you.â&#x20AC;?

Even after she is packed up, a young man comes up behind her to give her a wad of cash. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have a nice voice,â&#x20AC;? the girl with him said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thanks.â&#x20AC;?

Stokes took her cash, coins and her cased guitar. She walked from the corner of State and Tioga, joining the rest of the passersby as they walk amidst a recently fallen silence. ____________________________________ .ULVWLQ /HIĂ HU LV MXQLRU MRXUQDOLVP major who personally prefers street PDJLF (PDLO KHU DW NOHIĂ H #LWKDFD edu.

35

RAW SAW

Album Review

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

Justin Timberlake

FROM THE

36

After much speculation about whether he would retire from music during his four-­ year break between 2006’s smash album Future Sex/Love Sounds and his budding acting career, Justin Timberlake shows us exactly why good things come to those who wait.

The 20/20 Experience evokes the feeling of a dormant phoenix rising from the ash. Unlike Future Sex/Love Sounds, an exclusively pop affair, Timberlake employs multiple genres and grand horn and string ensembles that add new dimensions to his music. The majority of songs are 7-­8 minutes, which for some artists would signal a Top 40 death sentence — but this isn’t a Top 40 album.

Fans expecting a pop album from a pop man will be shocked that Timberlake has departed from such conventions and moved onto a new concept album that’s only part one of the entire Experience he promises to deliver.

“Pusher Love Girl” opens with a string orchestra before diving into a crunching half-­ WHPSR UK\WKP FRPSOHWH ZLWK RUJDQ ÁRXULVKHV and a merging of electronic and human chorus. The girl in the song is called many different drugs: “my cocaine, my heroin, my red plum, my MDMA.” Don’t fool the drug imagery bombardment with an endorsement, however; after all, he’s “just a ja-­ja-­ja-­ja-­ junkie for your love.”

“Suit & Tie” and “Mirrors” are the album’s breakout singles, which come closest to comparison to his previous “SexyBack” and “Cry Me A River” hits in respect to the former’s insane catchiness and the latter’s deep contemplation. “Suit & Tie” has a continuance of “Pusher Love Girl’s” slow, screwed-­and-­ chopped tempo, adding an augmented sotto voce harmony before going into an upbeat rhythm. The majority of “Mirrors” has an overdrive guitar riff over a drum machine, a simple platform that becomes the album’s greatest showcase of his vocals. The bridge of the song is a profound moment, starting at

the 5:24 mark, where everything is reduced to an electronic acapella mantra of “you are, you are, the love of my life,” gradually picking up again with the inclusion of clave-­and-­bass hits.

Timberlake’s strongest asset is his musical GLYHUVLW\ DQG XQZLOOLQJQHVV WR FRQÀQH himself to one niche of music. “Strawberry Bubblegum” begins with vinyl crackle and assorted ambiances, building up to its apex at the 5:00 mark, where it takes a decisively jazzy turn with shakers and electric piano (the chorus will be stuck in your head long after listening). “Let the Groove In” burns with a straight salsa-­and-­pop featuring a monstrous horn section, and JT opts for the real deal instead of cutting corners like many in the pop industry do in this age of studio loop wizardry.

Other exotic and unconventional usages include tablas and Bangra backings featured in “Don’t Hold The Wall” and syncopated reverse-­looping along with string orchestration in “Tunnel Vision.” While “That Girl” can be seen as the safest song on, it harkens back to the old crooner that everyone fell in love with back in the ‘NSYNC days. “Blue Ocean Floor” ends the album and brings back “Tunnel Vision’s” reverse loops and a sublime sense of closure to the spectrum of Timberlake’s versatility.

Timberlake’s disdain for contractual deadlines pays off in a massive way here. As a modern Renaissance man, Timberlake’s approach to life allows him to come and go in the studio on his terms, when his inspiration is ready to come out. While many emerging artists aren’t yet fortunate to have this advantage, Timberlake’s triumphant return inspires a model for a fresh outlook on the ailing recording industry.

-­ Cory Healy

Bates Motel The Strokes

TV Series Review

Album Review

Critically-­acclaimed television producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin recently teamed up to create A&Eâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest original series, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bates Motel,â&#x20AC;? a modern-­day prequel WR +LWFKFRFN¡V FODVVLF WKULOOHU Ă&#x20AC;OP Psycho. The series premiered in March.

In this edgy new drama, viewers travel into the twisted mind of teenager Norman Bates as he and his mother Norma attempt to adjust to their not-­so-­welcoming new neighborhood.

After deciding to reinvent their lives by moving into an abandoned motel (which they rename Bates Motel) in the small and charming beach town of White Pine Bay, Ore., Norman and Norma run into a number of dangers which put their lives on the line. In addition to Normanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alcoholic half brother, Dylan, abruptly returning to the family, and a violent break-­in to the Batesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; new home, Norman begins to experience unusual personality FRQĂ LFWV RI KLV RZQ +LV LQFOLQDWLRQ WR JHW himself into trouble, including his decision WR WUHVSDVV LQWR 2IĂ&#x20AC;FHU 5RPHUR¡V KRXVH WR â&#x20AC;&#x153;investigate for his mother,â&#x20AC;? leads him to uncover more skeletons in the closet than he can handle, and he comes to realize that at 17 years old, ignorance may in fact be bliss.

As the series unfolds, it becomes increasingly GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW IRU 1RUPDQ WR VHSDUDWH KLV XQUXO\ imagination from reality, and that struggle drives him towards madness.

Character development is one of the showâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strongest aspects. While Norman does his best to protect his mother and new friends, their characters are revealed through

their songs will sound like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re straight off of Is This It, (Comedown Machineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highlight, ´$OO WKH 7LPH Âľ LV WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW VRQJ LQ D ORQJ WLPH thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s had me playing air guitar and drums simultaneously) while some will present us with Casablancas doing his best Thom Yorke impersonation, hitting falsetto notes that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never quite realized were possible.

Regardless of the few missteps that Comedown has (â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Comedown Machine,â&#x20AC;? slows down the whole pace of the album; Julian needs to keep his spacey, synthey, new wave songs to his solo albums,) itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still The Strokes through and through. Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi always sound like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re having a blast with their respective guitar parts, jamming and interweaving through back to back highlights â&#x20AC;&#x153;50/50â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Slow Animals.â&#x20AC;?

In 2001, The Strokes were basically given the job of bringing back rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;roll. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pretty big task for a bunch of New York kids with an attitude that screamed, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fuck you, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just here to make music.â&#x20AC;? In a way, they did their job and have moved on, yet their attitude remains the same. And while I may not love everything from Comedown Machine, I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another interesting step in the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career, and for me, one that merits the continued use of the title â&#x20AC;&#x153;favorite band.â&#x20AC;?

-­ Sam Colleran

Ministry of Cool

â&#x20AC;&#x153;You asked me to stay, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a million reasons to leave.â&#x20AC;? So sings Julian Casablancas on â&#x20AC;&#x153;One Way Trigger,â&#x20AC;? the Ă&#x20AC;UVW VLQJOH RII RI 7KH 6WURNHV¡ QHZ DOEXP Comedown Machine. Trust me, I know the feeling.

Being a fan of the Strokes is what I imagine it must be like for Chicago Cubs fans; through all of the frustration and anger, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s some kind of hopeless faith that keeps you coming back year after year. I used to say that the Strokes were my favorite band because it seemed like the cool, edgy thing to do. Now I say it nostalgically, hopeful for the day when my faith in Casablancas and the boys will be fully restored. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure that today is that day.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get me wrong; Comedown Machine is lightyears ahead of the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous album, Angles. A large part of that has to do with Casablancas. Whereas Angles split up WKH VRQJZULWLQJ HTXDOO\ DPRQJ WKH Ă&#x20AC;YH EDQG members and had Casablancas recording his vocals at a separate time, Comedown brings him back to the front and center, writing a majority of the songs and recording with his bandmates. The result is an album that sounds more cohesive, incorporating all elements from all of their previous efforts.

At this point, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just accepted that The Strokes are an ever-­evolving band. Some of

their reactions to his strained efforts. The overwhelming interdependence of Norma and Normanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother-­son relationship is unusual and detrimental to both of them. Their heavy reliance on each other is crippling, as they adjust to life without the estranged Mr. Bates, Normaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sketchy relationship with RYHUO\ SURWHFWLYH RIĂ&#x20AC;FHU VKHULII 5RPHUR DQG the return of formally emancipated Dylan.

1RUPDQ¡V VRFLDO VNLOOV DUH FOHDUO\ GHĂ&#x20AC;QHG E\ his rocky past; at his new school he constantly Ă LWV EHWZHHQ ORYH LQWHUHVWV VWUXJJOHV WR IRUP friendships and spending his free time with his mother.

Another strength of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bates Motelâ&#x20AC;? is the producersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cinematographic decisions. Cuse and Ehrin designed each scene to heighten White Pine Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mysterious mood, using dim lighting, deep contrast and low color saturation. This washed-­out look sets a dreary and enigmatic tone for the show.

While â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bates Motelâ&#x20AC;? is exciting and loaded with thrilling plot twists, the characters are DOVR YHU\ EHOLHYDEOH HDFK ZLWK VWURQJO\ GHĂ&#x20AC;QHG personalities and characteristics. Watching the plot and characters develop and White Pine Bay secrets continue to unravel, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bates Motelâ&#x20AC;? fans (myself included) are looking forward to the rest of the season. I strongly recommend it to all thrill-­seekers who think they can brave the twisted nightmares hidden beneath the surface of a small town.

-­ Lizzy Rosenberg

37

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

ONS. PROSE&CONS. PROSE

38

Adamantine

By Sam Kamenetz

I don’t know you very well.

Your barriers are strong, and you are loved, and even if you weren’t, well then that’d be okay, because you’d deserve it anyways, and that’s good enough for you.

Stable in your own skin, when the rest of the world is falling apart at the seams, and even in my dreams, I hardly know the mask I wear, so I can’t help but stare, and see you, unshakeable, unbreakable, an iron spirit in a world of paper on a rainy day.

No shepherd could make you stray, neither false creed nor unrequited need.

Implacable in your contentedness. =SYV XVMEP MW SZIV ERH XLI ½VI JSVKIH ]SY WXVSRKIV

39

Prose & Cons

All I know is your mother’s womb was a kiln, and the rest of the world would be burning before you ever felt a bead of sweat.

Anomaly

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

By Alec Kaden 'LEVPIW WEX MR XLI PMZMRK VSSQ TVSHHMRK XLI EVXM½GMEP PIEJ WTVSYXMRK JVSQ XLI KEVHIR MR XLI QMHHPI SJ LMW QSQ´W ETEVXQIRX -X [EW ZIV] HMJ½GYPX XS QEMRXEMR EGXYEP TPERX PMJI [MXLSYX WYRPMKLX ERH XLIVI [EWR´X QYGL sunlight a half of a mile below sea level. The fake plant was squirming from Charles’s boredom as if it was itching itself when his mother Lily walked into the apartment.

“Hey sweetie, I’m home!” huffed Lily.

Not amused, Charles continued dribbling the banana leaf. Lily peered over at her only child as she unloaded the groceries into the cooling chamber. The large steel door closed with a hiss and a temperature appeared on a screen above the fridge.

“Charles how was your school session?”

The boy looked up from his herbology and glanced at his mother.

“Mom, is it true that people used to actually go to school with other kids?” asked Charles enthusiastically. ±=IW 'LEVPIW WXYHIRXW [SYPH KS XS WGLSSP XSKIXLIV FYX MX [EW E PSX LEVHIV XS PIEVR -X [EW ½PPIH [MXL distractions and there was very little personal attention for the kids,” replied Lily.

“I think I would like it. I think I would like old school,” Charles said.

“Yeah, you might have,” Lily said, glancing down at her shirt.

“Why do I go to school on a computer? Why can’t I go to a classroom with other kids?” Charles inquired. ±'LEVPIW XLI RI[ IHYGEXMSR QSHYPIW EVI QYGL QSVI IJ½GMIRX =SY KIX XS KVEHYEXI E ]IEV IEVP] ² 0MP] responded.

The words hit Charles like a feather on metal. Charles often found himself wondering, like many before him, about his own existence and its circumstances. He knew why his broken family lived underground, yet he still wondered why. He could comprehend how humans had built his home with their machines and technology, but he still wondered how.

Charles got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen. The kitchen was much more impressive than its cousin from the 21st century. Even lower-middle-class families like that of Charles and Lily had large silver machines with buttons and touch screens. It looked like the control room of a spaceship. He pressed a blue button with a raindrop on it and a metal claw descended from the ceiling, picked up a glass and held it under a shiny silver spout. Charles watched the machine work like one would watch the inside of the clock; everything that happens in front of you makes sense, but is still mesmerizing. On top of his slight hypnosis, Charles felt resentment towards the machine, as if its quality of being necessary was in question.

8LI WTSYX ½PPIH XLI GYT WIZIR IMKLXLW SJ XLI [E] ERH GEVIJYPP] PS[IVIH MX XS XLI GSYRXIVXST “Enjoy,” rang an electronic female voice.

Charles took the water and sat at the kitchen table. Lily brushed off a crumb from her shirt and looked SZIV EX 'LEVPIW FMXMRK LIV ½RKIVREMP 'LEVPIW WPEQQIH XLI KPEWW HS[R SR XLI XEFPI WTMPPMRK [EXIV SRXS XLI teal surface.

“Mom, I can get my own water. I can read my own books. I hate machines!”

8LI ½IV] ]SYXL TYWLIH E[E] JVSQ LMW WIEX ERH [EPOIH SYX SJ XLI ETEVXQIRX 0MP] [EXGLIH SR EW LIV only child left his home for reasons unknown to explore the dangers yet contained in the world of their underground community. After she was certain he would not return for some time, she let go, buried her face in her hands. Aside from the water machine letting out the occasional metallic clink or hiss, the dungeon-like dwelling fell to an eerie silence.

Excerpted from a larger piece.

40

Innocent Girl

By Gabriella DeGennaro 7YGL E ½PXL] habit.

Such a pity, they will all say SRGI XLI] ½RH LIV sneaking outside.

Such an innocent girl.

Such an addiction, too strong in theory to stop.

Such a drag that this is the only thing that can set her at ease.

Prose & Cons

Such beautiful smoke.

Such harmful, toxic, air.

Such a drag that this is the only thing that can make her breathe easy.

41

42

DUST. SAWDUST. SAWDU

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

Waldo Comes Out in Open Letter Vows for his whereabouts to be more black and white

By Lizzy Rosenberg

T

o my fellow professional hiders, seekers, lost-­and-­ founders, and fans ranging from ages 5-­9: Recently, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve realized something UDWKHU VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW DERXW P\VHOI something I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like I could express before. After doing some major soul searching and life evaluating, I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time that I show everyone my true colorsâ&#x20AC;Śor, lack thereof.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no easy way to say this, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just going to come out andâ&#x20AC;Ś uh, gesticulate it: I want to end my career in professional hiding to become a mime. In every coming out letter, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the part where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve read Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m supposed to say â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; loud and proud, but my vow of silence allows me to only gesture my euphoric pride, in KRSH WKDW P\ DXGLHQFH LV SURĂ&#x20AC;FLHQW LQ reading kinesics.

I realized my true calling during my debut in the hit interactive computer game, Whereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Waldo at the Circus in November of 1995. I was so seemingly concealed, hiding behind Krazy Kronkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kosher pickle stand, waiting IRU VRPHRQH WR FRPH Ă&#x20AC;QG PH $ODV my long time spent hiding was worth the wait; was it destiny? It was no illiterate or overly observant child who found me that day, but Marta Mime.

In fact, she tripped over my feet in the middle of her â&#x20AC;&#x153;stuck in a boxâ&#x20AC;? act, and right into my arms. I know itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cheesy, but in that

moment, I swear ZH ZHUH LQĂ&#x20AC;QLWH VKH uncovered the key to my heart and unlocked the cage to my soul. At the time, I was worried that an outsider would unfairly discover me, but then I realized that hiding no longer mattered to me.

Right there, we decided to make sweet and wordless love right behind that pickle stand. Despite being immediately arrested for public intercourse and nudity, along with losing my book deal for the Zoo Edition, all that mattered was that we were in love, and all of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s secrets subsided; my years in hiding were Ă&#x20AC;QDOO\ RYHU I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t regret my thirty years working i n the hiding profession, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m n o t

saying that I wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss it. You have probably all noticed that I have seemed tired with my current life path, choosing more conspicuous locations to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and overtly waving at all my scrutinizing fans, which is exactly why Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m leaving it. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a completely open person now; maybe not so open to have sex in public again, but I am breaking this wall of secrets. I know you have always loved me, and that you always will, even if \RX PLVV Ă&#x20AC;QGLQJ PH LQ P\ UHG VWULSHV DQG VLOO\ KDW 7KLV LV GHĂ&#x20AC;QLWHO\ RQH of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but certainly one of the best.

Although you may not understand my true calling as a mime, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still the same person I was, though slightly more monochromatic and without a voice. In time, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll realize that a body language centered life better showcases my true identity, rather than searching for me in various crowded environments.

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t doubt youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need time for this news to sink in, but when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re ready, please come to one of my shows. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re only 25 cents. We can have a one-­sided conversation afterwards.

Love,

Waldo

43

Sawdust

____________________________________ Lizzy Rosenberg is a freshman IMC major who sometimes hides in amusement parks for fun. Email her at erosenb3@ithaca.edu

Mr. Kite Admits Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s No Show Tonight No trampolines, no waltzes, just angry beatniks

By Rachel Maus

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

T

icketholders are scrambling for a refund after being duped out of what is being called the Biggest PR Scam since whatever the KHOO ´8QĂ&#x20AC;QLVKHG 0XVLF 9RO Âľ ZDV Mr. Kite, the ever-­shocking circus performer from Norway, who has been NQRZQ LQ WKH SDVW WR Ă&#x20AC;QG KLPVHOI LQ compromising positions with not only men, but also with horses and hogsheads, has announced that the VSHFXODWHG VKRZ LQ KLV EHQHĂ&#x20AC;W ZRXOG not be occurring tonight. Rumored performers included the Hendersons and Henry the Horse, who we recently discovered is refusing to waltz. While Kite did not release details about the misunderstanding, he suggested that those who had been duped into purchasing tickets should instead purchase tickets for Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance at Bishopsgate.

Had those who acquired tickets actually shown up to the venue, they ZRXOG KDYH EHHQ WUHDWHG WR D Ă HD ELW peanut monkey and chicken dancing to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dancing in the Street.â&#x20AC;?

Fans are outraged, reporting that they had waited in the rain for tickets to see Mr. Kite perform his signature interpretive play in which he dresses as a walrus and throws strawberries at the audience. While critics have trashed the skit, calling it â&#x20AC;&#x153;no more HQMR\DEOH WKDQ VQLIĂ&#x20AC;QJ DQ ROG EURZQ shoe,â&#x20AC;? Kite has developed quite the cult following in the avant-­garde art community.

In spite of all the danger associated with circus life, Kite has been able to live a relatively normal life with his wife and daughter. Though he knew that one day someone would come along and try and take him out.

The root of the scam has not been FRQĂ&#x20AC;UPHG EXW VRXUFHV KDYH DOOXGHG to a possible sabotage attempt by Kiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nemesis, L.S. Diamonds.

The source goes on to explain that Diamonds commissioned a local band to spread the word about the show, in order to help diminish the circus performerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;From me to you,â&#x20AC;? the source said in a phone interview, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Diamonds told me to drive my car down the long and winding road to Penny Lane and get

44

everyone to come together for this grand show that wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exist.â&#x20AC;?

Reporters were unable to catch the sourceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name since every time the speaker completed a sentence, a chorus of â&#x20AC;&#x153;yeah yeah yeahsâ&#x20AC;? chimed in.

Over the years, Kite has garnered a number of enemies within the circus community. His feud with Diamonds, however, has been the most public, with several instances of attempted sabotage throughout the years.

Kite has a l s o admitted to feuds with the elusive elephant trainer, Bungalow Bill, who could not be contacted for an interview due to a tiger hunting FRQĂ LFW Mutual friends also mentioned f e l l o w oddball Mr. Mustard, who was once engaged to the very sexy Sadie until Kite swooped in and stole her heart. Devastated, Mustardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performances stalled and he was forced to reture from the circus and now works as a paperback writer.

When asked for further comment on the scandal, Mustard became rather mean and requested that we let him be.

In the past several months, there have been similar scams in the Liverpool area amongst circus performers, with the culprit never being caught. Much of the evidence seems to point to Diamonds in this case, but there seems to be an inconsistency in each instance. Four bearded men in marching band suits have been seen in press pictures at

all of the protests standing slyly off to the side. Now, they could very well just be mega-­fans of the circus scene, or there could be a more startling explanation. Perhaps these men know more than they appear. Associates at Capitol Records stated that fans should take warning and only buy tickets to their favorite shows from the source directly.

As for Kite, he has carried on preparing for his show this weekend,

Image by Rachael Lewis-Krisky

which guarantees to be a splendid time for all. He has been known to shock audiences in the past with lewd acts such as pulling down his pants and exposing his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Norwegian wood.â&#x20AC;?

This time, he promises that this new act will be even more superb. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to spoil the party,â&#x20AC;? he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a feeling it will be revolutionary.â&#x20AC;? ____________________________________ Rachel Maus is a sophomore Cinema & Photography major who knows it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be long till she sees Mr. Kite again.

Email her at rmaus1@ithaca.edu

Friends Suspect Lion Tamer Depressed Life-threatening job on the verge of becoming too real

By Chris Thomas

H

ring when a fan yelled “You suck Lionman!” said Stimpy the Trapeze Artist.

For those who do not know, the word “L*****n” is perhaps the worst possible phrase to call a lion tamer. It has been known as a derogatory slur to all lion tamers and can bring down even the most confident feline wrangler. Edwards was instantly in tears.

“It was absolutely horrible,” said Blobby the Bearded Lady who was up to perform her signature fishtail braid routine.

Since then, Tomco Circus has been horrified with the consequences of the incident.

Statistically, the odds are not in the lion tamer’s favor. Just last year, 45 of the 58 lion tamers to be called L*****n were no longer able to continue with their occupation, half of those took to self-­decapitation, most popularly by tickling the roof of the lion’s mouth while their head is inside.

Even Edwards’ family has not heard a word from him.

“We are concerned about him.

We’ve tried to send him a care package via hot air balloon, but he must be too ashamed to even talk to his parents.”

Reports from various circus performers have been less than optimistic that Edwards will return to normal and they suspect that Edwards’ depression may be cause for concern. One performer claimed Edwards tried to launch himself from the human cannonball’s cannon. Edwards, though, stated he was just trying to clean it as a way to distract himself.

In his second apparent ‘attempt’, Edwards supposedly contracted Igneius, Tomco’s mime, to bury him alive.

Reports say Igneius tried repeatedly, but Edwards kept breaking free of the invisible box.

Frustrated, Igneius demonstrated the routine himself by physically putting himself in the box. When Igneius tried to escape however, he was unable to succeed.

In other news, Igneius is now

trapped inside his own box, and Tomco is desperately searching for the invisible key to open it.

“This entire Edwards incident is starting to destroy my beloved circus!” remarked Tomco’s ringmaster, “Blingmaster” Jones With Edwards preoccupied, no one has taken to feeding the lions, who have resorted to eating the other circus performers.

“One of the lions ate my trapeze artist’s legs.

Stimpy literally became Stimpy,” said Jones. “My first stint was at the Bronx Zoo man. I’ve seen errything. Gang violence, whack-­ ass taxis, Islanders games, but I’ve never seen something this bad.”

Blingmaster Jones continued, “The lions are out of control, we had to hide the clowns, hide the bearded lady, and hide the otha’ lion tamers cuz they be eatin err body out here.”

Jones concluded that Edwards is taking time off to forget about the harsh words targeted at him, as well as wallow over the fact that Tamrya has not eaten him yet.

We wish Liam the best in recovery, and if you would like to help Edwards get back on his feet, contact your nearest Tomco Circus associate for details on how to help. If you have seen an invisible key, please consult Tomco immediately, for their mime is suffocating quickly. _________________________________ Chris Thomas is a freshman TVR major who is transferring to Clown College in the fall. Email him at cthomas5@ithaca.edu

45

Sawdust

ave you ever had one of the those days where nothing seems to be going right and you just want to put your head inside a lion’s maw? That’s precisely how Liam Edwards has felt lately, but with his head literally placed inside a lion’s maw.

Edwards has been Tomco Circus’ premier lion tamer since 2009. Friends of Edwards eagerly encouraged him to join the circus after several years of sticking his head inside dangerous dark places such as manoles, tree knots and toilets.

Edwards’ circus career began in middle school when the school ferret got loose. Edwards subdued the beast using his belt as a makeshift whip, effectively and controversially taming the animal.

Tomco recruits saw Edwards’ potential that day and he hasn’t looked back since.

But recent reports from Tomco state that Edwards looks downright depressed lately and fellow circus performers state that Edwards has not been his usual bubbly self over the past couple months.

Gonzo the Clown, Edwards’ best friend at Tomco, claimed that he tried his signature pie to the face routine to no avail.

“I usually cheer Liam up when he gets a little frightened or stressed about putting his life in danger, but lately he hasn’t been that concerned about the moral peril that comes with his job,” said Gonzo. “I squirted water in his face and even made him a balloon lion, but this time he just shrugged and walked away.”

Edwards’ troubles first started when he was performing last month at the Godney Center in Stubbensville, Idaho.

He was getting his lion, Tamrya, to stand on both hind feet and yodel. After the successful trick, Edwards was feeling very high in spirits when suddenly a fan heckled him from the bleachers.

“I was just watching from the side, waiting for my turn in the

Gigolo Attends Juggalo Convention

Learns about community and Faygo, but mostly about Faygo

By Mariana Garces

BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue

L

ast week local gigolo â&#x20AC;&#x153;Magic Markâ&#x20AC;?

D e s a n t o s thought he was attending the annual Gigolo Convention, an orgy tradeshow showcasing the whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who of sex workers and newest sex toys.

What Desantos hoped would be a weekend for fellow gigolos and escorts like himself, was actually a 3-­day long festival for the large yet tight-­ knit community of Juggalos in the Midwest (Juggalos being the face-­painted, hatchet-­wielding, die-­ hard fans of the horrorcore rap/rock band Insane Clown Posse). The Gathering is notorious for its alligator duels, naked swamp wrestling, raucous concerts and surprise guest appearances by celebrities like Gary Busey, Haylie Duff, Dave Coulier, Andrew Dice Clay and Coolio.

Long-­time attendee of the Gathering DQG OHDGHU RI WKH DQQXDO JDUEDJH Ă&#x20AC;UH â&#x20AC;&#x153;Taintface Derrickâ&#x20AC;? claimed that he GLG QRW QRWLFH DW Ă&#x20AC;UVW WKDW 'HVDQWRV stood out from the crowd. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yo, Magic Mark? Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of my ninjas now! As soon as I heard his dope-­ass name I thought he was a fellow Juggalo FOR SURE,â&#x20AC;? Taintface said.

'HVDQWRV EOHQGHG LQ GXULQJ WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW day of the festival as he was shirtless like the rest of the attendees, only wearing his aviators and black velvet hot pants. Hours into the event, Desantos was still searching for anyone he could talk to that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the signature clown-­like, black and white face paint of the Juggalos. ´, WKRXJKW , KDG Ă&#x20AC;QDOO\ IRXQG WKH right place when I stumbled into a tent with a sign for a seminar on Body

Slamminâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 101,â&#x20AC;? Desantos said.

But Desantos found out the seminar was run

by Hulk Hoganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s l e s s e r -­ k n o w n cousin and e x -­ b a c k y a r d wrestler David ´9LROHQW 'DYHÂľ Hogan.

After sitting through the seminar, going on a â&#x20AC;&#x153;titty slapâ&#x20AC;? hayride, and witnessing one Juggalo launch a flaming bees nest into a mosh pit, Desantos decided to embrace the experience.

On the f f a zst morning of the z u B second day of by e ag the Gathering, after Im Juggalos awoke on the

roofs of their respective Porta-­Johns to search for their breakfasts of PCP and Doritos, Juggalos DickRatz and Dead Monkey Sammy baptized Desantos as one of their own. In a NLGGLH SRRO Ă&#x20AC;OOHG ZLWK UHG Ă DYRUHG )D\JR VRGD 'HVDQWRV ZDV RIĂ&#x20AC;FLDOO\ made into a Juggalo and renounced his former life as a gigolo. He pledged to turn in his black Mercedes Benz IRU D \HOORZ 37 &UXLVHU ZLWK Ă DPHV painted on the side and to trade in his hoards of rich female clients for the bare breasted Juggahoes and the undying brotherhood of the Juggalo community. After being removed from the sticky, red bath, Desantos ZDV RIĂ&#x20AC;FLDOO\ LQLWLDWHG E\ KDYLQJ KLV face professionally painted by fellow Juggalette Pyscho Cracka Phreak.

The latest news from the incident is that Magic Mark was allowed to keep his name after promising to teach the other Juggalos how to read. ____________________________________ Mariana is a senior journalism major whose Juggalo name is Freaky %XWWHUĂ \ 7LW] (PDLO KHU DW PJDUFHV # ithaca.edu

Image by Brittany Longhetano

46

Buzzsaw Asks Why...

?

Someone would ever mistake Buzzsaw for Buzzfeed? Ever?

Sometime between ‘47 Reasons Why Joseph Gordon Levitt is the Perfect Man’ and ‘The Difference Between Freshman Year and Senior Year,’ I told a friend of mine I was an editor on Buzzsaw and they responded with, ‘oh is that part of Buzzfeed?’ Apparently, there’s a small portion of the Ithaca student population who, for God knows what reason, confuses Buzzsaw Magazine with the GIF-friendly Buzzfeed rather than the much less student publication. Perhaps it’s because we both have ‘Buzz’ in the title (or have just as many people on the editorial staff). But if folks haven’t noticed by our physical print issues and lack of a presence on everyone’s News Feed, that sadly isn’t true.Just in case some fools are still confused, here is an example of what Buzzsaw would look like if it were in fact the viral site.

Sawdust

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BUZZSAW: The Circus Issue