the .edu issue

the .edu issue

get schooled december 2018

buzzsaw’s .edu

It’s like the Scholastic Book Fair in the beginning of the year. It’s like getting your locker combination right on the first try. It’s like making it to class right as the bell rings. It’s like ripping off all of the price tags from your brand new school supplies. It’s like knowing you’ll have a seat on the back of the bus. It’s like wearing the latest Abercrombie and Fitch trend on the first day of school. It’s like getting the extra credit right on a really hard test. It’s like signing your crush’s yearbook with a heartfelt “H.A.G.S.” It’s like the feeling of breaking the last sealed section on your standardized testing packet. It’s like graduating from one thing and going head first into the next.

It’s like the smell of freshly printed pages. It’s like a perfectly used em dash. It’s like checking off that last thing in your color coded agenda.

It’s like any other on campus student publication — but better than that.

Buzzsaw Magazine presents .edu.

Multimedia Editor News & Views Upfront Ministry of Cool Prose & Cons Sawdust Layout Art Website Social Media Production Advisor Founders

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Julia Tricolla Anna Lamb Owen Walsh Alexis Morillo Audra Joiner Alex Coburn Kimberly Morgan Will Cohan Brianna Pulver Rachael Geary Christine McKinnie Emma Rothschild Mateo Flores James Baratta Carlos Figueroa Abby Bertumen Kelly Burdick Bryan Chambala Sam Costello Thom Denick Cole Louison Arnold Printing Co

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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.

Photo by Sam Fuller Cover by Sam Fuller

News & Views

Current events, local news & quasi-educated opinions.

Selected dis-education of the month.

Ministry of Cool

Arts, entertainment and other things cooler than us.

Prose & Cons

Short fiction, personal essay and other assorted lies.

Sawdust

Threatening the magazine’s credibility since 1856.

“POV of a WOC”

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“Know Your Nine”

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Upfront

“It’s Time to Fix the Broken Window”

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ews. News & Views. N ews & View s. News & Views. New 4

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Education Nation

How the system is broken and needs to be fixed

By Isabel Brooke, Staff Writer

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n a perfect world, all students would be liberated, enlightened and transformed through their education. It would be their opportunity to learn about and then contribute to the world in a meaningful way. A standard for success wouldn’t be thrust on students, but rather they would be encouraged to discover and define success for themselves. In a perfect world, education would be a liberating, equalizing and non-discriminatory force.

But ours isn’t a perfect world. The education system both reinforces a specific status quo and, more darkly, perpetuates systemic poverty and churns out uninspired, overworked and oppressed people.

The United States does more to perpetuate cyclical poverty than it does to provide a pathway to that elusive “American Dream.”

The American Dream is the story that, through tenacity, hard work and dedication, prosperity is possible for anyone.

If this story of freedom and success were true, the U.S. would have to have a high socioeconomic mobility rate, because this line of thinking implies and requires the entire burden of success to fall to the individual, no matter their background or environment. And if success were truly up to the individual, we should see people who were born into poverty being able to rise to the middle or upper classes, and kids born into wealthy families having no guarantee of maintaining that status.

So, what is the evidence that poverty in our so-called Land of Opportunity is cyclical, and how does this relate to education?

Here, your parents’ income is the biggest determinant of your success. An article from The Economist reported this strong correlation between parental income and likelihood of reaching the top 1/5th income bracket. In other words, a child born into extreme poverty has less than a 10 percent chance of rising to the top -- three times less likely than a kid born into wealth.

Among comparable countries though, this isn’t normal.

American mobility rates are consistently lower, and the same Economist article identified that “in Denmark, a poor child has twice as much chance of making it to the top quintile as in America.”

Education should be the force that mobilizes and frees people from this imprisonment of poverty and inopportunity, because it shapes how we see and who we are in the world. If it’s done right, the ability to think critically and the cultivation of empathy can equip kids to affect our world, rather than be affected by it.

And the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Devlopement’s Economic Policy Reform report from 2010, this lack of mobility is linked to education. It says, “Policies that facilitate access to education of individuals from disadvantaged family backgrounds promote intergenerational wage mobility, and are also likely to be good for economic growth.” In other words, not only is our education system limiting the potential of kids, but the economy suffers as a result as well.

In our modern caste system, your worth as a student is

pre-determined by your parents. And the more you’re worth, the better your chances are for success. A 2016 NPR story reported that the national average is to spend $11,841 on each student, but poor schools have the resources to spend only a little over $5,000 on students, while some wealthy school spend between $30-40,000 per student. That is a huge difference. It determines the quality of the educators, the state of facilities and the potential of individualized attention that you will get.

In the poor district, “one nurse commutes between three schools,” they “share an art and a music teacher” with nearby schools and they can’t afford luxuries that a lot of other districts might have. In the wealthy district on the other hand, “class sizes … are small, and every student has an individualized learning plan. Nearly all teachers have a decade of experience, [and] kids have at least one daily break for ‘mindful movement.’” This is the difference between setting someone up for success and setting someone up for failure.

Conditions matter. If your school is falling apart, your teacher is overwhelmed and you’re one of about 60 kids in a single classroom, you start to understand and internalize the message that you are worthless – that your education is not a priority. This is not a matter of students lacking dedication, it’s a matter of kids being told that they lack inherent value before they have been given a fair chance to prove themselves.

It’s the poorer school districts that fall through the cracks, and not by accident it’s people of color who have been boxed into occupying those poorer districts.

The GI bill in 1944, racist government practices like redlining and discriminatory developers ensured that the suburbs which were created to get people out of the industrialized inner-cities were exclusively for white people, and non-whites were openly prevented from moving there.

They were denied bank loans, or they were just flat-out denied housing in the suburbs.

And now today, wealthier school districts are most frequently found in suburbs where non-whites were systematically prevented from moving into.

Yet, the still-common rhetoric supporting the story of American individualism heaves all the blame (which includes but is not limited to this tradition of racism, the inequities of the housing system, and systemic poverty) onto the kids as they take their first steps into their school. History, tradition,and structures far outside of their control guarantee their failure but blame their inability to succeed on character defects or psychology.

So it’s not surprising when our neighbors find themselves below the poverty line. Their poverty was planned, orchestrated and executed by the state. Nothing is an accident, but once we recognize that, we are not helpless. While these systems have a firm history, they are not stagnant. They can be changed, they can be evolved and they can be upended – if only we have the determination and the wherewithal to do so.

ew

Isabel Brooke is a junior Philosophy-Religion and Politics double major who was a teacher in a past life.

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

Do the cinebros at Ithaca College represent a bigger problem?

By Flavia Klaric, Contributing Writer

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n a parking lot a group of film students in color-blocked anoraks and button-up shirts unload film equipment out of the open trunk of a hatchback, struggling with the weight and fragility of the boxes. The only woman in the group approaches an orange case of reasonable size for her build, but is stopped by the hand of a male classmate.

“Wow, wow. Be careful there,” he says, handing her a Ziploc bag full of clothes pins. “Take these for the lighting. We can take all the big stuff.”

All she can do is roll her eyes and hold the little baggy as the male classmate realizes that he can’t lift the case, requiring the help of anyone but her. His struggling is not just unnecessary and stereotypical, but it’s comical in its accuracy.

Breaking the scene, Stephanie O’Brien, the director, shouts, “Cut!” The entire crew breaks out in laughter. Among the jokes and the compliments for the actors’ performances, one stands out: “You actually sounded like a cinebro!”

A cinebro, in the way some Ithaca College students use it, is a term that defines a typically white male film student who benefits from the latest equipment and the best contacts in the industry. As a result, he’s offensively oblivious of his privilege and often dismissive of other people’s perspectives or, you know, basic workplace etiquette.

“They’re everywhere. Every school has them,” says O’Brien, a senior film major at Ithaca College. “And the way they act is just so horrible that it’s funny. I had to make my junior nonfiction project about it.”

O’Brien’s film Working Title follows a cinema production class trying to produce its first films and hilariously represents the inexperience and chaos that tends to surround student sets. This mockumentary will make anyone who’s been near a student set laugh and shake their heads in disbelief—it will get too relatable.

“Sadly, all the scenes were inspired by real-life events.

Very specific ones,” O’Brien says with a smile that fades before she continues. “The mansplaining, dismissiveness and name-calling the female characters endure when they’re just trying to learn—we’ve all been there.”

Chances are that if you haven’t experienced an incident tinged with sexism, you’ve witnessed it happening to someone else. Perhaps that’s why almost nine months after the film’s release, Working Title received an “Honorable Mention” by the Hollywood New Directors, won the platinum award for “Best Student Film” at the L.A Shorts Awards and has been officially selected for both the Women’s Only Entertainment Film Festival and the Muscatine Independent Film Festival.

The experiences O’Brien depicts have clearly struck a nerve.

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Stephen Nunley, a senior film major, talks about a set for a production class in Fall 2017. “We had a female producer on set and we were two hours behind schedule,” Nunley says “This guy, the camera operator, was goofing around between shots and distracting the crew members, delaying the schedule.

She called him out firmly and professionally, but he refused to listen. He proceeded to argue with her all night and kept saying things like, ‘Shut up,’ ‘Fuck you,’ and ‘You bitch,’ every time she spoke, keeping her from doing her work.”

Nunley recalls that the female student producer, who asked to remain nameless, asked them to let it go. She was uncomfortable with complaining because she thought it would cause more harm for herself and hinder the project.

Alessia Di Nunno, a senior Writing for Film, TV, and Emerging Media major, believes that the behavior the student producer endured is quite common on student sets. “It usually starts with things that sound harmless, like being asked to take care of the food, the makeup or the cleaning up — even when you have a more integral role in production. Or, you know, they’ll call you ‘sweetheart’ instead of by your name.”

Nothing seems to be keeping this behavior from escalating. “On one occasion, I could hear [the student crew] making explicit comments about my body, about what they’d like to do to me,” Di Nunno says. “It made me uncomfortable to the point I wanted to leave. I told the [male] director of the film, who was shocked, but told me to shrug it off.”

Di Nunno recalls that she didn’t make a report, because she believes that the school doesn’t take this sexist behavior

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Photo by Erin Pendersen

seriously. “Most professors aren’t even empathetic. They act like things are the way they are, and that’s it.”

“It’s the world we live in,” says Professor Elisabeth Nonas, who teaches screenwriting for film production. “But in all my years teaching at the school, no student has come to me with any similar complaints, so I can’t speak from experience. I do know that in the industry, as in everyday life, when a man calls you ‘sweetie’ while you’re working, it’s easy for him to say that you’re exaggerating.”

According to Nonas, often times when women come forward, they get blamed in some type of way. “People will think they’re being difficult to work with, then that reputation doesn’t let them collaborate in other projects to get experience.”

In the case Nunley recalls, the student producer’s hesitation to report was rooted in this fear. She didn’t want to, “get in the way of the film’s completion.” So she waited

and took her complaint to the professor responsible for the project, but because the film had already been turned in and graded. “The professor just told me that it was best to let it go,” she said.

“I believe that for cases like this, faculty is mandated to report,” says Nicole Koshner, the director of the Park Scholar program and a film production teacher. “There’s a certain procedure for gender discrimination, but no one can do anything if things are kept in silence.”

Alex Coburn, a junior film major, went through this procedure herself. In a film production class in fall 2017, a simple in-class exercise about editing became the perfect opportunity for a male student to attack her. The student used footage of Coburn speaking, and layered it under a loud male voice that interrupted her with, “Shut up, bitch!” Coburn wrote a personal piece about her experience for The Ithacan.

“The case was being reviewed by the school for the

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longest time,” says Coburn. “In the meantime, the student kept trying to intimidate me during class. I was late sometimes because I would have panic attacks about what would happen if I showed up. It was really discouraging to feel unsafe. I even dreaded to be in the classroom.”

According to Coburn, the student that harassed her wasn’t made to withdraw from the class, but he got a warning.

She thinks that although the current mindset the school takes is, “taking care of harassment problems as they come instead of preventing them from happening,” the Title IX office was helpful in a situation that is difficult to navigate.

“I wish more people knew that the Title IX office takes cases of discrimination and gender-based harassment as well as sexual assault, and I strongly encourage anyone looking to pursue justice judicially to consider talking to them.” Coburn says, “They definitely made me feel less alone in the process.”

April Carroll, senior Writing for Film, TV, and Emerging Media major, is working on several projects that highlight the school’s passive approach to discrimination.“The only way of preventing these issues from happening, is to change the way we’re being taught to do film,” she says.“We have a diversity crisis. Film is a white boys club, and we’re tired.”

Prof. Koshner agrees with the lack of diversity in the industry. “It’s certainly true how the white male voice is privileged,” she says. “I worked in sets in New York City, and quickly realized that it was male dominated. I didn’t want to deal with the toxicity, so I avoided working in the industry.”

This is a reality that’s hard to swallow for many. It seems that you either deal with the treatment you receive, or you avoid it completely because in the industry, equipment and contacts can exempt you from the consequences of not being respectful or professional. It just so happens that white men in the industry tend to have both, and since Park prides itself for reflecting industry standards, so do cinebros at IC. Thanks to their industry-standard equipment, they have some of the best visuals, and thanks to their contacts, they get into festivals and win awards. Most people crave the experience of working on a film that has so many resources.

“For most people,” says Nunley, “it’s hard not to compromise in an industry made for the privileged few and still succeed. There’s a fear that you’ll miss your chance at an opportunity to make it if you don’t put yourself through hell.”

According to Carroll, this doesn’t just affect women. It’s often harder for people of color, and it keeps happening because, “Park doesn’t teach the importance of accountability and respect in the curriculum. We value the final result of the movie over anything. You see this in the industry too. How else was a man like Weinstein so successful?”

According to Rory Fraser, a film professor at Ithaca College, students focus on learning, “proper protocol and set etiquette in class, but most of this learning takes place as they begin to work on multiple sets throughout the production process.” In student sets, no teachers can moderate students or guide their learning. In fact, their treatment of their peers is not considered at all for the final grade. What is of more concern for the grading is whether the schedule, development and production expectations are met.

“Works of art are difficult to grade,” says Fraser. “So my grading standards have more to do with the amount of work put into the film.”

If this is true for all production classes, then cinebros aren’t

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seeing any consequences in their grades. Professor Koshner says that nothing about diversity, respect and professional etiquette is necessarily written into the curriculum. “I think it should definitely be part of it,” she says. “I take my responsibility as a faculty member to make the changes I can within my classroom, and I think everyone has the power to make change in a personal level.”

For Koshner, this personal aspect is essential in learning to produce film and faculty’s interference in sets could take that away. “That’s the good thing and the bad thing about students working on sets. You don’t get the same independent experience with a teacher there, but you also don’t get the same guidance and moderation that you get in a classroom.”

Professor Nonas takes this into consideration by grading students in participation and allowing students to grade each other through peer reviews. “What I see isn’t just what matters.

How students respond to their peers’ work is important for their own growth.”

O’ Brien agrees with this. “I believe that accountability is personal.” When talking about the precautions she takes to create a safe environment for her sets, she says, “I make myself check twice to see if everyone’s comfortable, if everyone’s satisfied with the experience they’re gaining on my set. You have that responsibility when you have a higher position on a production.”

O’Brien hasn’t learned to take these precautions in class.

“Professors don’t necessarily tell you, but for most of us, once people lose faith in your work ethic, there are consequences that don’t reflect in your grade, but in your professional development,” she says.

Carroll has an important point about this. “Park is supposed to teach us how to be professionals. Discriminatory behavior should be something professionally unacceptable and not something people of color or women have to learn to deal with,” she says.“These male students will graduate and they’ll perpetuate the crisis in the industry.”

If film production classes only emphasize the final product of a film over any professional development, students are left without guidance or accountability regarding the treatment of their peers. After several instances, the industry was led to question their ethical standards. However, Park hasn’t paused to look at the training they’re giving future filmmakers.

At the lack of change, students are questioning Park’s mindset.

“Every year more and more I see female students speaking up,” Professor Koshner said. But it doesn’t just fall on the students who are being a victim of the current system.

“We, as faculty have to continue calling people out and holding them accountable, but we also need to rethink the status quo. We need rethink how the industry should look. We have to turn Park into the example.”

Flavia Klaric is a senior Writing major who eats cinebros for breakfast. She can be reached at rchavarriaklaric@ithaca.edu

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POV of a WOC The journalism department needs to change

By Alyssa Curtis, Contributing Writer

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sit in my journalism classes and look around to see maybe one other student that looks like me, and by that I mean another black female. (Hot take: Not all black people look the same, so no she doesn’t actually look like me).

As a current senior, most of my schedule is comprised of major specific classes, so I don’t get out of my “Park bubble” very often. I’m surrounded by pretty much the same people day-to-day. Most of us journalism majors have had classes with the same people since freshman year. Out of my four years I can count the number of other black students I’ve had a journalism class with on one hand. There are currently no full time professors of color in the journalism department.

According to the Ithaca College Office of Analytics and Institutional Research only 348 of the 3,483 undergraduate students at Ithaca College identify as black or African American. There are 1,822 students in the Park School of Communications. These numbers suggest that there aren’t many people of color in Park, and probably an abysmal amount in the journalism department.

But his isn’t unusual. When looking at the bigger picture.

The New York Times reported in 2017 that even with affirmative action in place, “black and hispanic students are more underrepresented in the nation’s top colleges and universities than they were 35 years ago.” The publication reports that although the percentage of black student enrollment at top liberal arts colleges has increased between 1980 and 2015, so has the gap between college-aged black students and black student enrollment. The same trend can be seen with hispanic students.

A few years ago I wouldn’t have thought of this as a problem, it probably wouldn’t have even crossed my mind if we’re being honest. It wasn’t unusual for me to be the only black girl in the spaces I occupied growing up. I don’t know if it’s due to maturity, the social climate we live in today or my studies in Media Literacy that I’ve recently become hyperaware of my racial and ethnic status when I walk into a room.

The first week of classes I scan the room and quickly consider how my voice will affect the class discussions for the semester.

Will what I have to say become the only black opinion they will hear on this topic? In the journalism department — probably.

After exploring and covering beats that have ranged from business to sports, I’ve finally realized I love using my blackness in my role as a journalist and covering the intersection of race, culture, society and politics. My excitement of finding my passion, one that I’m rather good at if I do say so myself, was soon diminished when I realized it wouldn’t be matched with the same enthusiasm by the department. With a faculty comprised of mostly white males, I knew they wouldn’t always fully understand my pitches, stories, and the lens through which I report. This became obvious when I had to explain that

the use of “blackness” wasn’t an offensive term, especially when used in the context of black girl magic. I’ve been the target of microaggressions and jokes gone wrong. I’ve had to sit uncomfortably in classes while all eyes are on me, everyone, I’m sure, wondering what I’m going to do or say.

At times I’ve looked around the room and have been met by my classmates’ wide eyes and stretched out grins as if to say, “Yikes.” Looking at the world we live in today, the ignorance can sadly seem expected, but in a department that should be among the most socially aware, it’s disheartening.

The news media is responsible for how people view certain aspects of society. There’s been a big push for diversity in newsrooms and media outlets around the world.

Without diversity, our audiences look at the world through a single lens, one that doesn’t necessarily represent the whole.

The journalism department in Park needs to diversify their program if they want to mold the best journalists they can.

Students need to be learning from people whose walks of life have been different. A professor who is black or even hispanic will have different experiences not only in life but in the industry and will have different insight on how to report on certain topics.

My excitement for finding my passion would have been that much better if I could have gone to a professor of color to talk about it. They would have been able to understand, be excited and point me in the right direction, more so than any of the current professors could.

Diversity doesn’t just lie in race and ethnicity, though.

The department also lacks female professors. Fortunately, there are a few female adjunct professors, but we need some fulltime ones too. The department is comprised of mostly female students, and it’s true when they say representation matters. The industry is male-dominated and with plenty of strong females in Park learning and hoping to break that glass ceiling one day, we need people who can mentor us and teach us how.

Navigating this world as a black and hispanic female is hard enough, and I’m not ignorant to the fact that I chose a career path that is dominated by people whose identity is the exact opposite of mine, but my education shouldn’t be something that is making my journey through life and path to success harder. The Park School has given me an abundance of knowledge and opportunities, but if it wants to be as successful as possible, they need to do better. This little brown girl needs better.

Alyssa Curtis is a senior journalism major who wants to be the first journalist with a thousand bylines before she turns 25.

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Protect our Boys Why adolescent male victims of statutory rape are being let down by society

By Alma Guardado, Contributing Writer

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tatutory rape is a big deal. However, it isn’t widely reported, or talked about in society or mainstream media. Statutory rape is when someone above the age of consent (16 or 17 in most states) has sex with a minor. Most victims that we do hear about are females, but, do our perceptions change when we hear an adult female has engaged in sexual activity with a minor male?

Perhaps the most famous case is that of Mary Kay Letourneau, who made headlines in the 1990s for getting pregnant by her 13-year-old student, whom she later married.

Instead of being ousted from public life, Letorneau got a relatively short prison sentence, even making an appearance on Barbara Walters.

Would the outcome of this case have been different if a girl was abused?

Young boys who are victims of statutory rape are not able to receive the same support from society. Boys are considered “lucky” or a “hero” the moment an older woman has sexual intercourse with them; that is absolutely absurd.Boys experiences with statutory rape should be taken seriously. Isn’t that what the law guarantees? To have justice and fairness no matter your gender? Everyone needs to be protected under any situation.

There are serious harms that come with adolescent boys being in statutory relationships with adult females. According to a study by D.A. Hines, and D. Finkelhor, boys with these experiences had “more psychological, alcohol, and deliberate self-harming behavior problems than men without such experiences.” (308) Justice for male rape victims is not easy, since many of their cases are not considered legitimate crimes. In Sheboygan, Wisconsin, when Alan Jepsen had sex with his 14-year old girlfriend, the cops came knocking on his door; He was thrown into jail. When Norma Guthrie, a 17-year old, had sex with her 14-year old boyfriend, she was arrested. The difference is she was released immediately on a signature bond, charged with only with a misdemeanor -- a maximum of nine months in jail. Alan was fined with 1,000 cash bonds and charged with a Class C felony, a maximum prison sentence of 40 years.

Are gender stereotypes affecting our viewpoint on a situation that causes harm to an individual?

Males are typically stereotyped as wanting sex. When underage boys enter into these relationships, they have not yet reached the point of sexual maturity or mental capacity to be able to consent. They may think that sex is something they should want, but are perhaps not ready for the experience.

According to Hines and Finkelhor, youth’s decision making ability is not fully developed, preventing them from being able to meaningfully agree to sex. And that, “In other research adolescents who have sex often do not perceive it as a decision that they made, merely something that “just happened”, suggesting perhaps difficulties in projecting

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sequences of activity into the future.” Underage boys who are in statutory relationships often categorize their experiences like this, as something that “just happened” and therefore may suffer from weakened decision making abilities later on.

We are not helping; in fact, we are contributing to this problem. Why can’t we face the reality that an older woman can rape a minor boy? Rape is rape, regardless of gender.

These boys are adolescents and should have the ability to enjoy childhood and innocence. We should open up a dialogue to minimize the emotional harm these boys may suffer.

Parents believe their girls need protection, yet, when it comes to boys, there is still stigma surrounding their sexualities.

There is a wide array of assault perpetrated against boys and men largely being ignored. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that 5 million men and boys were being raped or sexually assaulted in some way.

We need justice. Boys deserve fairness in the face of statutory rape.

If you or anyone you know has experienced sexual assault you can call the national hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673). Alma Guardado is a first-year Social Studies major who can be reached at aguardado@ithaca.edu

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It’s Time to Fix the Broken Window How Investing in Social Infrastructure can Actually Reduce Crime and Increase Life Expectancy

By Jessica Dresch, Contributing Writer

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hink about your neighborhood. Are there sidewalks? How about any coffee shops, diners, or public libraries to visit?

Do you recall interacting with your neighbors more than twice a week when out and about on your daily routine? You can tell a lot about a neighborhood solely by looking at its accessible places for people to congregate or bump into one another.

Spaces like these are crucial for the wellbeing of community members, especially in urban and low-income areas.

Places to gather in your neighborhood matter, and there are a myriad of beneficial effects of creating green spaces out of vacant lots, or having a public library downtown. Parks, schools, libraries and even sidewalks are all examples of social infrastructure, places that tie communities together and inevitably drive social relationships.

Social infrastructure sustains healthy communities as well as create them. Sociologist and NYU Professor, Eric Klinenberg, writes in his recently published book, Palaces for the People, about the 1995 Chicago heat wave. Not only did lower income communities of color disproportionately suffer severe health issues, but among those communities, those lacking viable social infrastructure suffered the worst with—33 out of every 100,000 deaths due to heat related illnesses compared to socioeconomically similar communities with a rate of only 3 deaths per 100,000 people. Klinenberg concluded that communities where neighbors saw each other frequently, whether getting a coffee, sitting at a nearby park, or walking down a busy street with shops, were likely to check in on one another during the heatwave and look after people who lived alone—ultimately saving people’s lives.

The 1980s saw a rise in urban decay, as law enforcement cracked down on petty crime and left communities broken.

The “Broken Windows” tactic, popularized during that time, incentivized police officers to give out summonses and citations for minor offenses, as a means of preventing more serious crime. The policy was counterproductive in improving neighborhoods because it only served to worsen them. This oppressive and unscrupulous practice continues to burden impoverished people as well as feed tension between community members and the police.

Instead of this negative and consequential use of energy, cities and neighborhoods should just fix the broken window.

Transforming a once forgotten and abandoned lot can significantly decrease persistent crime. In a study conducted

by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, researchers found that by clearing trash and debris from an abandoned lot, planting new grass, and growing a garden can decrease crime by up to 29 percent.

In addition to public spaces lowering crime rates, the new gardens were even good for passerbys’ mental health.

In a study published by JAMA Network Open in July 2018, researchers found that the green spaces eased community members depression and they reported feeling safer in their neighborhood.

Low income neighborhoods have a disproportionate amount of underfunded infrastructure, and old corner spots where people can hang out run out of business, with cities abandoning them as just another empty lot. This fails people living in these communities, and when a low-budget project like creating a public garden can have exponential health benefits for community members, it makes sense to invest in social spaces. The fixed window method offers opportunities and viability that saves lives.

Social infrastructure is vital for a healthy community. It’s time the state and federal government start putting money into underfunded neighborhoods so that there is an emphasis on the benefits of interpersonal relationships and human connection through our shared spaces.

Jessica Dresch is a sophomore Culture and Communication major who loves finding a shady spot at the park for picnics.

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Where Do Pads Go When They Die? The disposal process of women’s sanitary products at Ithaca College

By Sarah Diggins, Contributing Writer

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shouldn’t be embarrassed, but I am. People will tell you that “it’s a natural thing” or, heaven forbid, “we’re all girls here!” But there’s still something so daunting about having to slam dunk your used sanitary product into the garbage can while someone is brushing their teeth a foot and a half away.

The disposal bags only make the situation worse, with their deafening crinkle and exaggerated graphics that do nothing but scream, “Look at me! I’m filled with BLOOD!” Perhaps I got too used to the boxes in the stall. Sure, there was still the crinkling and the creaking of opening the box, but at least there was no eye contact involved.

For those who don’t have to worry about this on a monthly basis, it is common for public women’s restrooms to have a small box in every stall designated for disposal of used pads and tampons. However, in a majority of Ithaca College residence hall bathrooms, there is an absence of these boxes.

Instead, small bags are provided, and we are expected to place it in the bag and then throw the bag in the general bathroom trash. The act of doing this takes less than a second but does not make it any less of an awkward time. Apparently, I am not alone in these feelings. Upon bringing the topic up to some of my friends, they shared similar sentiments.

“It’s awkward to make eye contact with someone else in the bathroom while holding a dirty sanitary product,” one shared.

“And sometimes they run out of the bags which can make it really embarrassing,” another adds.

Of course, maybe not everyone is embarrassed by this action. However, it is no secret that from a young age, girls are often made to feel ashamed of their periods. Starting from before we even get them, it becomes a taboo subject.

In fifth grade, rather than also educating boys on a perfectly normal process of the human body, we are whisked away to the nurse’s office and sent back to walk into a room full of whispering boys, menstrual “goody bags” clenched in our fists. Then the “it’s her time of the month” remarks every time we’re not smiling begin, making us girls feel as though it is something we need to feel guilty about. All of these effects from early on in our lives have the potential to cause our need for privacy surrounding our experiences with our menstrual cycles.

Upon arrival at the college and a quick tour of my freshman dorm’s bathroom, I immediately noticed the lack of boxes. In a scene straight out of a soap opera, I said to no one in particular, “Is this even sanitary?” I had always assumed there was a sort of health code requirement forcing sanitary waste to be separate from the rest of the trash in order to keep those handling the garbage safe, similar to the glass boxes present in our high school chemistry classrooms.

Upon further research of this, I discovered that, at least in the United States, there are no laws allowing sanitary products to fall under the umbrella of regulated waste. This essentially means each individual business or institution has to make the decision of how they want to dispose. So maybe there are no laws defining the most productive method of disposal, but I

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think there’s still an important factor we have not mentioned yet.

According to Be Prepared Period, 141,666 trees are used solely to supply the toilet paper we use to wrap up our tampons and pads. Many public bathrooms on campus have both the boxes and the bags, thus eliminating the excess toilet paper waste while also remaining discreet. Just having the bags alone with no box often requires us to still have to wrap up the product before putting it in the bag to avoid bleeding through, therefore leading to even more additional wasted resources. There was a time where I did see in my dorm’s bathroom that someone just threw their used pad, not even folded up, for the entire bathroom to see and all the power to you, but I’m not sure if that’s the move for most.

While the state of the environment is something I am quite passionate about, if I had to be completely honest, the main driving force in my support of installing boxes in all dorm bathrooms is the awkwardness of the situation. The big question for many may be: why do I care so much? Periods ARE natural things and are not something that should be labeled as “gross.” In addition to being better for the environment, due to the societal stigmas surrounding periods placed on us from a young age, many people are just used to being more discreet about it, and therefore being allowed to do so allows a level of comfort for residences in our living spaces.

The boxes are already offered in many of the bathrooms in Campus Center, academic buildings and other public places, so we especially deserve to feel comfortable in the place on campus we call home. Oh, and to elementary schools — start teaching your boys about periods too.

Sarah Diggins is a sophomore writing major who always disposes of her sanitary products in a neat and tidy fashion.

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What our Buzz-Editors Wished They Learned in School... female masturbation

skincare

that Sigmund Freud was a dumbass

how to marry rich my 12 times tables

your extremely religious classmate will get married first

that nothing matters

taxes

how to actually write a paper how to pack my own lunch

water is your friend alcohol doesn’t have to be bought in plastic bottles

my address on my fake ID how to properly ghost a man 13

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Upfront. U pfront. Upf ront. Upfro nt. Upfront Upfront. U pfront. Upf 14

U pf o nt U pf

Rittys, Addys, and the Like The Viability of ADHD Drugs on College Campuses

By James Baratta, Contributing Writer

T

hose looking for something to put a little pep in their step have been turning to one, unconventional method since the early 20th century. A culture has formed around a small assortment of pills that provide instant energy, hyperfocus and the hormone-fueled headspace to get things done.

This is especially prevalent on college campuses. When coffee and Red Bull aren’t enough, students may turn to unprescribed — or loosely prescribed — amphetamines or methylphenidates, also called “study drugs,” to aid in their academic success. Some of these include Focalin™, Concerta™, Dexedrine™, Vyvanse™, Ritalin™ and the king of kings: Adderall™.

Adderall™ has a similar makeup to another Schedule II drug, methamphetamine. Drugs that fall under this classification may lead to severe dependency and addiction.

Individuals who use study drugs when they aren’t prescribed them appear normal, while meth abusers are completely washed out and plagued with bloody or puss-filled sores (even though it’s virtually the same substance). Adderall™ and meth stimulate the body’s nervous system in a similar way— increasing neurotransmitters like dopamine and epinephrine.

“If other people are using Adderall™ and [are] doing better… good for them I guess,” said Valentina Loaiza, a freshman at Cornell University.

Cornell University has a low reported percentage of Adderall™ usage compared to other schools with the same standing. According to The Ranch of Dove Tree, 35 percent of 300 students said they used illegal drugs during the time they attended Yale as of 2016.

In the 2013 Cornell PULSE survey, one question asked the following: “How frequently have you used a prescription stimulant… to enhance your academic performance… without having your own prescription for the medication?”

Approximately 3% of students who answered the survey said they had used Adderall™ at least once that year. Despite Cornell’s Ivy league status and academic rigor, the numbers were quite low. They were so low, in fact, that in the 2017 Cornell PULSE Survey, the question was never asked — nor was it asked in the 2015 survey.

“The standard is much higher so we’re expected to perform better,” said Ashley Ahmed, also a freshman at Cornell.

According to a study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics, one in five students at Ivy League Universities are likely to misuse ADHD medication but this differs with private institutions that aren’t Ivy League.

“I jammed [the paper] out in eight hours, it was the fastest eight hours of my life,” said Cody, a freshman at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, after he purchased and used Adderall™ illegally.

Cody later expressed that his previous experience with drugs like marijuana and LSD inclined him to try Adderall™.

A prescribed dose of Adderall™ for adults, which can range from five to thirty milligrams, has an array of euphoric effects — many of which are similar to those of methamphetamine and cocaine. According to The Cabin, Adderall™ “can create feelings of euphoria and increased alertness and energy.”

Although meth is more potent, Adderall™ is also addictive. If the stimulant is snorted or injected, the user’s chances of becoming addicted increases greatly.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health released a study in 2009 that displayed the likelihood of full-time college students to wrongfully use ADHD medication. Fulltime college students at private universities were twice as likely to have taken study drugs in order to benefit themselves academically.

The punishments for those who possess Adderall™ without a prescription are harsher than those with possession of marijuana. In New York state, individuals who are caught in possession of under 25 grams of marijuana face no jail time but if someone is caught with unprescribed Adderall™ may face up to a year in prison and/or up to $1,000 in fines. According to RxList, Adderall comes in bottles of 100 capsules. In the popular Adderall™ XR, one orange-orange capsule contains 20 mg. If an individual has possession of 100 capsules, each containing 20 mg, that individual can sell each capsule for around $10 — that’s $1,000 in earnings. An individual who’s placed under arrest may not be able to buy that time back, but they can easily make enough money off of one bottle to put a dent in the maximum fine.

For a highly-addictive drug, Adderall™ is easily obtainable. Some websites like Thought Catalog have even detailed the steps an individual can take to have Adderall™ prescribed to them without having ADHD. According to a study by Johns Hopkins, between 2006 and 2011, Adderall misuse rose 67 percent in the U.S. Both men and women, between the ages of 18-25 hospitalized “made up 60 percent of those using Adderall™ for nonmedical reasons.”

However, Adderall™ misuse can be difficult to quantify for a variety of reasons. Much of the research conducted to determine the amount of Adderall™ in the hands of college students is based on surveys—surveys that can be easily falsified and include an insignificant number of participants.

This isn’t to say that the illegal usage of ADHD medication isn’t prescribed, bought, sold and used illegally.

James Baratta is a first-year journalism major who snorted Pixy Stix as a child. You can reach them at jbaratta@ithaca.edu.

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Steve-O Comes to Syracuse An interview with Steve-O

By Cole Louison, Buzzsaw Founder

This December 14 & 15, the performer and activist Steve-O will appear at the Funny Bone Komedy Klub in Syracuse NY. A regular at the Bone, he’d performed there last year, and was interviewed for a piece that’s only now seeing the light of day.

Here it is.

O

n a recent cloudy morning in Syracuse, NY, people browsing a certain wing of the six-story Destiny USA mall encountered something odd: A fit, scarred man with a buzzcut and old tattoos was attempting a handstand. On an escalator.

Another guy was filming him.

“One. Two. Three,” said the guy, and with that the man easily inverted himself onto a moving metal step. He held the pose, but wavered and came down on his feet, then jogged to the bottom and started over again.

People, then more people, stopped to watch. Most took out their phones. The crowd grew, and people young and old lined the railings around the open floors. One stroller-pushing lady summed it all up. Turning a corner, she slowed to take in the scene, and then reached for her purse.

“Oh. My. God,” she said. “It’s freakin’ Steve-O!” So it was. The 42-year-old performer and Jackass alumnus was in Syracuse for a four-night run of his stand-up show at the 300-seat venue the Funny Bone, which he sold out every night.

Originally famous for doing things no one else would, SteveO’s fans have seen his great highs and staggering lows. From fame, to arrests, to more arrests, to interventions and rehab, to sobriety, to veganism and activism for PETA, to becoming something of a one-man social media army, two decades of fans have seen it all, and seem to always want more.

Back at the escalator, the crowd grew. Security appeared, but just to watch.

Some thirty-tries later, Steve-O made it to the top, only to crumble onto the side of the moving rubber rail then land in a head-first pile as the escalator reached the next floor. With difficulty, he ran back down to his filmer, who took close-ups of the cuts on his hands and ankle.

Then he stood on a bench and held up his hands.

“All right. Everybody,” he said. “We’re trying to get to a movie and I’ve only got a few minutes. So put your phones on selfie and we’ll knock this out quick.”

People came from all directions and soon everyone had a photo. The filmer edited the short video. Edging back towards the escalator, Steve-O thanked everyone. Then they headed to the multiplex upstairs, where more fans were waiting, phones in hand.

Such was the mob that morning that Steve-O couldn’t be interviewed until that night at the venue. As a young wordsmith named Zach Martina warmed up the crowd, Steve-O drank lemon water, kicked a hackeysack, and discussed love, sobriety, performing, Bam Margera, and the life of a stand-up comedian.

So, why stand-up comedy?

It’s a good gig, and I’m an attention whore. I’ve had an easier time consistently booking stand-up than developing new TV shows. But I’ve never stopped trying to do everything.

It all depends on where your motivation is. For me, I just always had a strong urge to impress people. I wanted to be liked and loved.

You do have a huge fanbase, with *3.7 million subscribers on YouTube and **2.7 on Instagram. But the downside has to be that people always want pictures with you, like earlier today by the escalator.

In that case, I chose to do a stunt in a public spot, and it drew a crowd. And once the crowd was drawn, I felt like I should take photos with everybody. That was my choice. To create a situation like that. But it takes a lot out of you. By the time I got to the movie, I was burned out. But it was really my doing, so it’s all good.

Most people don’t think of you as a comic, but you’ve been at it a while, right?

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The first time I tried stand-up was over 10 years ago.

Someone asked me to do a stunt at a comedy club, and I couldn’t think of anything crazier than trying stand-up, so I made that my stunt. It was terrifying, but I went for it, and I got the sense people were rooting for me. I tried it a few more times and kinda bombed, then didn’t go back until 2010. In 2010 I dove in, and I’ve been on tour for seven years now.

How much of your act is writing vs. improv?

Almost all of what I do is material. It depends where I’m at in the process. When I taped the comedy special, I had to start over and do a whole new show. I needed new stuff. So I’d come out on stage and let people give suggestions, and just riff on it like that.

After we taped the special but before it aired, I would do half the stuff from the special and go off-script for half. It’s uncomfortable, going out there not having stuff that you know is gonna work. But if you want new material that works, you kind of have to do that. I tried some stuff last night for the first time. It worked alright.

In some ways, is it scarier to be alone onstage than to hump a whale shark, or backflip off the Mulholland Dam? Two-show nights are a dread. It’s a lot. Especially with the meet and greet. [note: Steve-O doesn’t leave a venue until every fan who wants a photo or/and autograph has one. He takes the photos with a hi-res camera and puts them on his website, where fans can have them for free.]

You’re involved in the relaunch of the XYZ brand, which ties back to Plan B and the early 90s skate scene in Encintas. And like a few of the Jackass guys, you have roots in skateboarding right?

Yeah. I started skating when I was 11 and got serious when I was 13. It was a tool to try and seek affection and validation.

Any kind of art for me is very much the same. There are a lot of artists who aren’t so insecure, and they just create stuff, but for me it’s very basic. I want to be liked and loved and validated.

It’s all the same motivation. Professionally or instinctually, everything I do is for attention and love and validation. That’s characterized most of my life. Sometimes I wonder for how much of that is related to alcohol and addiction. I think there’s certainly overlap there.

You got sober nine years ago, which we won’t go into because it’s so thoroughly and hideously portrayed in your documentary—particularly in the opening scene, where you sound like the devil. This is also around the time you went vegan, right?

streak. You’re in a place where you’re beat-up, you’re defeated, you’re ashamed. You don’t feel good about yourself. For me making choices based on being more compassionate was something I felt good about. And boy, I needed things to feel good about when I was in rehab. We build self-esteem through esteemable acts, and that was a big reward for me: feeling good about myself more making choices that I believe are worthy. I built self-esteem through that. It’s good to not be a cruel piece of shit. It helps.

Did getting sober back then change anything with the Jackass crew? Your first two movies had a beer sponsor.

No, it was fine. Nothing about those guys was a hindrance to my sobriety, at all.

It seems like you were ahead of the curve. Ryan Dunn died, then Bam Margera had a rehab show, and now Grind TV is reporting that he’s newly sober, skating around Spain.

Bam is not sober at all. He’s skateboarding, and everyone is happy to see that, which is great. He’s doing his best to kind of reel it in and do better, but the thing is, with alcoholism, there’s really no such thing as shades of gray. You’re either loaded or you’re sober. And you can reel it in, you can do a little bit better for a while, but you’re always gonna wind up in the same fuckin’ place, completely off your ass. And maybe Bam isn’t drinking, who knows? But it’s frustrating, because everyone wants Bam to be super healthy and happy, and to see him floundering and fucked up… It sucks.

Could there be a Jackass reunion? Your audience spans a couple generations now.

I wouldn’t say there’s much momentum unfolding from the Jackass audience. We haven’t done anything in a long time. But I’ve certainly kept active and I like the idea of doing silly shit for as long as I can possibly get away with it. If projects take off, I’ll be thrilled. If not, whatever. I’ll live.

-*At the time of publication, this number is now 4 million. **At the time of publication, this number is now 3.9 million.

Cole Louison is a Buzzsaw founder and the research editor of Bleacher Report. He does all his own stunts.

I started becoming more conscious of animal rights before getting sober. But then getting sober expedited the process.

Because there’s so many drugs in processed foods?

It’s not that. It’s that nobody goes into rehab on a winning

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Tattoos in the Ivory Tower The stigma surrounding tattoos

By Rae Harris, Staff Writer

T

attooing has evolved quite a bit since the first tattoo shop opened in New York City in 1870.

Nowadays, tattoos are more common, with 38 percent of people ages 18 to 29 having at least one tattoo, according to a Pew Research Center study. Among the tattooed include students, staff and faculty at universities around the United States.

In the past, tattoos were often seen as taboo in the world of academia.

Many university students, staff and faculty challenge stereotypes about appearance in the professional world by having visible tattoos. Andrew Thompson, assistant professor of sociology at Ithaca College, has tattoos.

“My tattoos corresponded with what felt like significant benchmarks in my life,” Thompson said. “The tattoo on my arm I got when I began my Ph.D., and I have a tattoo on my back I got after publishing my first book, and so on. So in a way, they’re kind of related to an intellectual biography or an employment history.”

Thompson said he sees the increase in tattooing in correspondence with the rise of globalization in the post1960s world and the transformation of consumer society.

“You have the adventive, niche markets and an ideology, in a sense, that people discover themselves through their consumption patterns and consumer choices,” Thompson said. “And this was cynical in some

respects, as a way to sell more, but at the same time it provided opportunities for self-expression that hadn’t existed previously.”

Tattooing has long been associated with self-expression and as a way to take autonomy over one’s body. People’s reasons for getting tattoos exist across a broad spectrum. Some of these include an act of rebellion, spontaneity or self expression.

Tattoos can also be a path to body acceptance. Both men and women had a higher body appreciation, higher selfesteem and lower levels of anxiety after getting tattoos, according to a study in Body Image Journal.

Mike Ortolaza is a tattoo artist in Ithaca. The veteran tattoo artist began his career in Rochester, NY about 14 years ago and has been tattooing at Medusa Tattoo in Ithaca for the past three years.

“I mostly get people who work at the colleges,” Ortolaza said. “Not necessarily professors, but employed by the colleges. I have a handful of students and teachers, but mostly people who just work there and are locals.”

Ortolaza, who got into the job after a stint in graphic design, said Rochester is a busier market in comparison to Ithaca. There are five studios in Ithaca, whereas there are over 20 studios in Rochester.

“Ithaca is a lot smaller, and everyone thinks there’s a lot of tattoo shops around here,” Ortolaza said. “I think

18

there isn’t. There’s just a little handful of them, and they’re all pretty decent. In Rochester, there were over 20 shops and probably only about 10 of them were respectable.”

Emily Hess, a senior at Ithaca College, got her first tattoo during her freshman year of college.

“I got my first tattoo when my friend was giving stick-and-pokes in his dorm room,” she said. “I paid him 5 dollars and randomly chose a peace sign because he said it would be easy.

My most recent tattoo is a little more meaningful. It’s an anatomical heart with flowers coming out of the arteries, like ‘I wear my heart on my sleeve.’ I got it here in Ithaca.”

Thompson said he doesn’t see much of a difference in the attitudes of colleagues and students towards his tattoos between working at Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y. and at Ithaca College. At Fordham, he said he made efforts to clean up for work but as more of an issue with job insecurity than being self-conscious of his tattoos. In his final years there, he gave up trying to be squeaky clean.

“What was significant to me was that the students didn’t blink,” Thompson said. “They didn’t register a difference. And for those colleagues

Photo by Julia Tricolla

who did notice that something had changed, it was sort of an observation and a casual conversation that then had no consequences.”

Hess isn’t worried about her tattoos affecting her career plans.

“I plan on getting my Ph.D. in clinical psychology,” she said. “I’m not nervous about having tattoos, but my dad is constantly warning me that grad school admissions might care. I’m more worried about having facial piercings though.”

However, those who subscribe to the stigma around body modification may see tattooing through a different lens.

“A lot of people start with a conception of bodily integrity,” Thompson said. “That the body is a temple, and what else. Then, if you start from that presumption, modifying it in some way is like defacing it … But if you think that ‘I have bodily integrity, but that means that I have ownership over my body,’ then, you know, it is what I do with it, the first conception seems less tenable.”

Thompson said he believes body modification within the academic world is becoming more common. He cites a consistency with broader social patterns in the United States.

Ortolaza agrees that there is a shift in popular conceptions of tattoos.

“I personally think that within my lifetime, maybe even within the next 10 to 15 years, you’ll start seeing either politicians or people in higher power that will have tattoos, and it won’t even be a big thing,” Ortolaza said. “It’s definitely less taboo now than it was for a long time. And definitely, it’s more lenient now on an employment scale.”

Tattooing is expanding. The millennial generation and the age groups preceding them are less likely to express concern about increasing numbers of people getting tattoos in comparison to those age 50 and older, according to a Pew Research Center study. And as the millennial generation begins to take their professional places in the world of academia, they will be more likely to have tattoos than their Generation X counterparts. Whether it’s

19

the permanence, the process or the artistry behind them, tattooing has withstood time.

Hess thinks that tattoos are becoming more acceptable. “I think judging a person based on body modifications is an old-fashioned way of thinking,” she said.

Thompson said he sees what he refers to as a “limited pathway to selfrealization” as a ritual that will stick around.

“So much of our world is a finished piece of work,” Thompson said. “It feels locked down, and the field of our action is pretty constrained in a whole number of respects, but we have this. Like, this is our compensation.”

Rae Harris is a senior journalism major who has a tattoo of the Captain Morgan pirate on their right thigh. You can reach them at rharris3@ithaca.edu.

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Know Your Nine HOW TO KEEP YOURSELF SAFE WHEN DeVos TAKES YOUR RIGHTS AWAY

BY ALEX COBURN, MINISTRY OF COOL EDITOR

“D

o you know what a mandated reporter is?”

As I sat across from my professor after recounting an incident that happened to me earlier that day, I realized that, despite being on the e-board of Feminists United, I had absolutely no idea what the Title IX process really entailed. I had marched in rallies for sexual assault victims, helped my best friends process their sexual traumas, but when it came to getting justice for myself, I didn’t know where to start.

Title IX, which was passed as part of the Education Amendment of 1972, is a federal civil rights law that initially applied to equal opportunity in sports. The original text states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program receiving Federal financial assistance.” While this law wasn’t intended to apply to private schools, many followed suit because it became the standard at the time. In the 1990s, Title IX expanded to include sexual harassment and assault, meaning that schools had to provide resources and judicial process for anyone who experienced sexual violence or gender discrimination.

However, it wasn’t until the Obama administration’s Dear Colleague letter in 2011 that addressing issues of sexual assault on campus became a huge conversation.

With the addition of this Dear Colleague letter, any college or university that receives federal funding became required to have a designated Title IX coordinator. Additionally, this letter gave more detailed language as to how colleges should understand discrimination on the basis of sex — specifically, that any act of sexual violence would fall under this umbrella.

Later, “Discrimination on the basis of sex” expanded to also include discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. So, while it initially started as a law to integrate sports, it became much more than that, evolving into a sort of catchall civil rights law for anything that lay on the intersection of education and gender.

But all of this seems incredibly esoteric in the moment.

When someone experiences an incident of sexual assault or gender discrimination, justice is often the last thing they think of. The priority for a lot of survivors is healing. The Title IX office at Ithaca recognizes this, and trauma counseling has become a huge part of what they do. Lara Hamburger, Campus Educator for the Advocacy Center, explained that speaking to a Title IX coordinator does not have to end in a case being filed. Instead, students can use the Title IX office as a resource to figure out their next steps.

“I think that there’s a lot of misconception that [if you speak with a mandated reporter] a case is opened and an

investigation begins, but that’s not what it means,” Hamburger clarified. “In fact, at Ithaca College, the Title IX coordinators [...] take very seriously allowing the student to make that choice about what happens with the information.”

When a student decides to meet with a Title IX coordinator, whether it be on their own or at the suggestion of a mandated reporter, they are doing exactly that: having a meeting. The student will not be forced into making a decision they’re uncomfortable with, and they don’t have to open an investigation. They can even choose to file a report and take no action on it immediately, but return to it later.

Because the student’s agency has already been taken away to some degree as a result of the incident they experienced, the Title IX coordinators give students full autonomy to choose their next step, unless the perpetrator has threatened harm to the campus community.

“A lot of what people can use Title IX for, and end up using Title IX for, is just as a resource for getting connected to other resources,” Hamburger explained. “They can be used for getting support without going through a process.”

Hamburger gave the example of housing as a way in which a student might use Title IX as a resource. If a student has faced assault and wants to change their on-campus housing, Title IX could help them with that process. Or, if a student needs to be excused from class, Title IX could get in contact with the professor. Where it becomes tricky is when the student needs to request specifically to be away from the perpetrator; then, a formal process has to begin.

Once a student decides to open an investigation, meetings ensue. I remember from my own Title IX process that I was attending meetings almost weekly to help build my case. It can be traumatizing and exhausting to constantly relive the details, but students are welcome to take a friend with them to help alleviate some of that stress. In these meetings, the student will never be forced to be face-to-face with the accused. Both parties will supply witnesses, and each witness will give their record of the event. Unfortunately, the idea of gathering evidence is another thing that can dissuade students from reporting incidents of assault and harassment.

It can feel dehumanizing and invalidating to try and prove something happened when that same something can affect a student’s daily life in ways no one else could ever detect.

However, thanks to the Enough is Enough law that has been adopted by New York and California, the language has changed in an attempt to remove some of this burden.

“This is a law that has the language of affirmative consent and says that any college receiving state funding must use [this language],” Hamburger said. “It’s not ‘no means no’, but rather you have to look for that affirmative yes. It’s a much

21

more humanizing and well-rounded standard.”

Once the case is built by the Title IX coordinator, both the accuser and the accused attend a hearing with Judicial Affairs.

The hearings will be held at separate times, and the two parties will not have to come into contact with one another.

Unfortunately, it can take a long time for Judicial Affairs to make a decision, but once a decision is made, they will notify both parties by email. Additionally, there is an appeals process if the outcome isn’t what one of the parties wanted.

The formal judicial process is one of the most intimidating parts about opening an investigation. After working for months to strengthen your case, it can be crushing to realize that despite your efforts, justice may not be served. Even though the climate surrounding conversations on sexual violence has changed, thanks in part to the #MeToo movement, it doesn’t mean that the actual process has changed. Survivors are coming forward more often, but that doesn’t mean they are always getting justice. Just look at the case of Kesha v. Dr. Luke: even after years of legal battle, the New York Supreme Court dismissed the case because the statute of limitations had run out on two of the rape allegations. If even someone as high-profile as Kesha can’t get justice despite overwhelming public support, then how can a college-aged survivor feel confident enough to trust the notoriously-shaky college judicial system?

“There are so many anecdotal circumstances that we can see of people coming out with sharing their experiences and being mis-believed or being blamed,” Hamburger said.

“That’s changing a little bit with #MeToo… Reports on college campuses are increasing somewhat. We know that there’s a lot of internalized blame that survivors experience, and that may be an attitude of, ‘I don’t deserve the time and energy that someone else would put into this’ or, ‘What happened to me isn’t as bad as what happened to someone else.’”

And with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ proposed revisions, which she announced just a couple weeks prior to the publication of this article, students who wish to file Title IX reports may face even more barriers. While Secretary DeVos proposed many changes, several of them fall under the umbrella of protecting the rights of the accused. While the U.S. legal system operates on the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, that doesn’t mean that the accuser shouldn’t receive just as much support. One of the most damaging changes DeVos proposed would give the accused the right to cross-examine their accuser. This change has the potential to be so triggering to the victim that it would stymy people from coming forward. Additionally, DeVos’ changes would narrow the definition of sexual harassment that the school has to respond to, making it harder for students experiencing harassment rather than assault to get justice and support.

“One really big thing is that the scope of what they consider sexual harassment would change,” Hamburger explained. “The things that would be reportable would change quite a lot… The thing that Title IX, as it stands now, allows for is that someone who feels harassed can explore that within Title IX and say, ‘Here’s the impact this has had on me.’ With the change, it might not include some verbal harassment.”

One of the best things that Title IX does in its current state is provide a sort of rulebook for how any mandated reporter should deal with incidents of assault or harassment.

Some professors may be naturally more adept than others at recognizing harassment and assault and addressing the impact; others may be more uncomfortable with it. Title IX accounts for this disparity by including a broader definition of harassment and assault that needs to be reported That way, even if the student and Title IX coordinator decide that the incident doesn’t require judicial action, at least all of the options are explored. If DeVos’ changes are cemented into the actual education law, then two professors could hear about the same incident from the same student and either report or not report based on their biases.

“It’s not so professors become tattletales for their students, but rather because there were many, many reported inconsistencies with how faculty and staff were responding,” Hamburger said. “Some people have very natural skills around this and have experience, and many don’t. So those folks who were left saying, ‘Well, I don’t even know what to do with this information,’ or even victim blaming would leave the student in a worse-off situation.”

Following Secretary DeVos’ announcement, there is a 60 day comment period in which people can express their agreement or dissent with the proposed changes. It will be open until January 28. Students may feel powerless right now, but it is pivotal that anyone who sees issue with the proposed changes writes or signs onto another comment. Additionally, those who are able should be prepared to organize protests and demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction. Title IX may not be a perfect system, but DeVos’ changes would make it even more difficult and triggering for survivors to get the support they need.

Above all, it is important to remember that Title IX in its current state is in place to provide resources to students. No one should be afraid to talk to their professor because of the misconception that a mandated reporter’s referral to Title IX means a case will be opened. No one should hesitate to set up a meeting with a Title IX coordinator simply because they fear the resources are not for them, and no one should be subjected to a judicial process that leaves them in a worse place mentally than when they began.

Alex Coburn is a junior Cinema and Photography BS who wants you to protect your Title IX rights by commenting on DeVos’s proposal at www.regulations.gov. You can reach them acoburn@ithaca.edu.

22

420 Blaze It

How students use marijuana in their daily lives

By Julia Batista, Contributing Writer

52%

of Americans over the age of 18 have experienced what it’s like smoking marijuana, whether it’s because they were looking for the opportunity or peer pressured to try it. Many claim that marijuana is a gateway drug and would open doors of curiosity for adolescents to try other drugs. But perhaps it can be the gateway to an enhanced tranquil lifestyle and improved grades.

Chris Reyes, the co-founder and director of business development of NY Medical Marijuana Associates, said that THC travels quickly through the lungs and into the bloodstream, affecting everybody regardless of age. Marijuana is composed of many extracts, the biggest ones being THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol).

The blood carries these chemicals into the brain and the other organs, the THC getting to the brain quickly and attaching to cannabinoid receptors. These receptors interact with the psychosis part of the brain, causing the initial effects of euphoria high and ultra-senses. Some see visions, experience alterations in their moods or body movement, have problems with thinking and problem-solving, impaired memory and maybe even hallucinations.

“Everyone is different, and the body reacts differently,” Reyes said. “Will they be able to tell you what was in the marijuana, where it came from? If you ask how much they took, such as the gram amount, they could probably tell you, but won’t be able to tell you the dosage.”

This means that although someone knows the gram amount they’re smoking, depending on the dosage or strain, two people might react differently. One person’s body may be able to handle it while others can’t. Even when it’s the first time someone smokes, one might experience relaxation while another can feel paranoia. When it’s not being prescribed by a licensed doctor, there’s no guessing what someone might feel according to the dosage of marijuana they’re intaking.

According to Cannabis Information & Support, smoking before classes makes it harder for the brain to think, making the user feel lazy and unmotivated. However, according to some students, smoking weed before class gives them a heightened focus during a lecture. Students can sleep or lose focus during any class that doesn’t capture their attention, but some say that if it’s intriguing enough, they’ll fixate on what the professor says.

Reyes said that it’s because some people can handle the amount of THC in their body, and it even acts as a remedy to help with focus. Therefore, an interesting class sharpens their concentration, making the topic of discussion much more fascinating compared. According to Jose Rojas, a Centenary University student, smoking before class makes him feel more attentive towards the subject, “slowing everything down to a

suitable pace,” for his concentration rate.

“I can remember a lot more about what’s being said in class when I’m high compared to being sober because later on it’ll pop into my head,” Rojas said. “If I plan on doing homework I’ll smoke beforehand and concentrate on it, but if I have to study for a test then I won’t.”

Although Rojas feels this way only about one of his classes, he said that in classes such as art, he’s easily bored or tired while he’s under the influence. His tunnel-like vision is only effective in courses that pique his interest, stimulating his brain to concentrate more definitively.

On the opposite spectrum, Daniel Tamayo, a student from SUNY Sullivan, said that when he smokes, it makes him lazy, lowering his work ethic so that he’s less willing to do his work. Just like Rojas though, he also said that depending on the class, he will focus specifically on what the professor says, too. Both can agree that if they didn’t smoke in their everyday life as they currently do, their grades would excel a little more than they do currently. This claim can be parallel to the findings of Health24, claiming that the increased amount of pot smoking resulted in a dropping GPA. After smoking weed for the first time, depending on the person, smoking can easily become part of your lifestyle. Due to variations — such as how much free time someone has, how often they have possession of marijuana and where and when people smoke — some might say that it’s part of their everyday routine even though it’s still classified as illegal in New York.

Rojas and Tamayo alike started smoking around the same time, their habits stemming from eighth and ninth grade.

Both were influenced by their friends, eager to try something new with their peers. While Rojas felt relaxed the first time he smoked, Tamayo thought that everything was amusing, giving both of them stress relief. Besides this, Rojas believes that overtime he’s lost weight and reined in his anger issues due to smoking. They spend a lot of their money on buying weed and will sometimes concede by putting their habits aside to save some money — after all, we’re all broke college students.

Cannabis has been found to affect people in different ways. Since starting its legalization journey in Colorado, marijuana begins to make its way across the country for all to try, while illegal drug use inevitably still exists. Whether it’s to have a good time, to feel relaxed or to laugh at a couple of jokes, weed may quite possibly lead the user to smoke again, adopting it into their lifestyles.

Julia Batista is a first year journalism major who sends her HUF socks to the dry cleaner. You can reach them at jbatista@ ithaca.edu.

23

Ministry o f Cool. Min istry of Co ol. Ministr y of Cool. M inistry of 24

o n o r M

Film, in Theory

I

No, Quentin Tarantino didn’t invent film theory

By Mateo Flores, Staff Writer

’m not sure who said it, but when I first came to Ithaca with the intention of majoring in Writing for Film, TV, & Emerging Media, I remember hearing at least twice that I was picking a great place to study film. People would tell me, “Watching movies and TV is just a part of homework here. You’re going to be encouraged to do so.” It’s a nice sentiment, and even as a high school senior, that resonated with me. It’s not just that I wanted to understand how to write and produce movies and television, I wanted to understand movies and television. I wanted English class but with media. I wanted a deep rooted understanding of film through framed analysis and understanding of film periods and genres. And I wanted a lot of it. As a current sophomore, I’ve only taken one class in media analysis. I’m registered to take another next semester.

Most film analysis courses in Park are taught through the Cinema and Photo program and students in other programs, including the Media Arts Science & Studies (MASS) department and Doc Studies program, are encouraged to take these film analysis classes. There is about one class centered around film analysis per year and a few mini-courses that pop up that focus on film analysis. Although, this begs the question: why not more? Park is often called one of the best schools to study film at, but isn’t it kind of ironic that there isn’t a film studies major or minor?

Although, if we look at classes centered around film as a whole, it’s important to acknowledge that other departments outside of Park have classes centered around film analysis.

The Center for Race, Culture, and Ethnicity Studies offers a Watching Race course and the Jewish Studies Department has an Israeli Culture Through Film course and a Witnessing and Representing the Holocaust through Literature and Film class. The Anthropology Department also has a course about how archaeology is looked at in film and pop culture. Even though these opportunities exist, they do not, and cannot, count for Park credit in any way, shape or form.

If you look at other film schools, most offer more film theory classes as a result of having a film studies major. Frankly, a film studies major isn’t something unique to only film schools; schools that don’t really place an emphasis on film production do have film studies major like Barnard College. While most schools with film production majors do also have film studies majors, it’s strange to think that Ithaca College, a school with a sizable population of film students, does not have a film studies major or minor.

An understanding of film is something that all film majors have in common. While the level of understanding varies from person to person, it is that understanding that

serves as a foundation for us to want to pursue film production into our collegiate and professional careers. We connect with film; our eyes widen in excitement when we find ourselves in the sometimes uncomfortable chairs of a movie theater. It’s that understanding that helps us answer the first question we are immediately asked in any film-related class: “What’s your favorite movie?”

However, this understanding of film is not the same from person to person, and film is an art form, not a science. There are important theories, practices and histories behind all films, and from an understanding of this, we can improve on how we go out into the industry to actualize our own passion projects.

We study film in production classes, but is that enough? Can one or two movies per semester really emulate all there is to learn about Cinema Production, Selected Genres, Selected Topics or Writing the Feature Film?

It’s hard to say for sure, as I’ve said before, film is an art form and not a science. I can’t say for sure how advanced film studies and theory classes would impact our filmmaking.

However, if we want to avoid the problematic, and often offensive, past of filmmaking, we need to understand where those tropes originate from so we can avoid them. It’s no secret that film and media can have an impact on the public’s perception of social constructs and expectations, so in order to subvert these often harmful and detrimental fabrications, there needs to be an understanding of where they come from.

I do know that film students are passionate about the art of filmmaking and that passion definitely expands beyond production classes. To be the best filmmaker possible, I’d like to know all that I can, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

But in the meantime, I’ll keep watching movies and TV for homework.

25

Art by Rachael Geary

The Highkey Benefits of // L O - F I \\ Beats

How a music subculture helps you study and makes you friends

By Alexis Morillo, Upfront Editor

I

sit in the library, right foot tapping with a daunting amount of work (that I definitely procrastinated on) ahead of me.

Almost everyone around me has earbuds in, listening to their own personal choice of study music. My routine is the same: I make my way up to the quiet floor and meticulously lay out my spread of study materials.

To the amusement of my friends, I always have a playlist of assorted lo-fi beats that lasts for hours with accompanying vaporwave-esque cover art (think Bart Simpson with a grainy, patel overlap that any Tumblr boy sufficient at Tumblr would consider artsy). I’ll put my headphones on, raise the volume and tune out while simultaneously tuning in to focus on the work I have cut out for me.

I know I’m not alone in this niche music of choice, as lo-fi beats fans have developed their own sort of internet subculture in recent years. The music genre itself is described as, “a genre that runs introspective and jazzy old school hip hop beats through the crackly sounds of an old cassette or vinyl record. Wistful movie quotes frequently bookend the tracks on the playlists,” according to a Dazed article from June 2018.

Oftentimes these tracks include minimal or no vocal elements at all layered over the quirky, repetitive instrumentals as to not be distracting when trying to focus on that essay you’re procrastinating.

This is one of the main draws to this music for the online lo-fi community, and according to an Engadget article, there is science behind the reason these beats can be so calming for listeners. It partially has to do with the combination of sounds and what are known as “salient events” or sounds that we are able to tune out once they become repetitive. “A baby crying or a dog barking are salient because they’re piercing and change volume. A steady drone is easy to ignore because after a certain point the brain tunes it out. The sound doesn’t disappear — you just stop noticing it.”

The songs become almost like white noise, allowing

listeners to focus on their work rather than what they’re listening to. In recent years, studies have shown that listening to any music while studying may not be as beneficial as was once believed. Of course, this all depends on the student and the type of work being done, and while music can soothe or improve mood, it can also interfere with the task if it’s stimulating similar parts of the brain. For example, a lyrical song could be distracting if you’re working on an essay because the language part of the brain is triggered, according to USA Today.

Study benefits aside, the online culture of lo-fi beats’ listeners is what makes this genre so intriguing. I first encountered lo-fi beats and vapor waves freshman year when my friend told me that it’s what he uses to “set the vibe” of the night, and while I prefer my dank vapor waves with a side of writing assignments and a double-shot of espresso, there’s an online subculture of listeners that all have this one genre in common. Youtube accounts will livestream their latest drop, and listeners all tune in to share the experience through their computer screens. Dazed wrote that a true lo-fi beat account can be easily picked from a line up.

“The stations should be recognisable to anyone familiar with internet aesthetics, from YouTube to Tumblr to different Chans, where a picture of a lethargic Bart Simpson, or an anime character with their pointed face buried in a pile of books, will converge with the colour palettes and stylised text (“C A L M R A D I O 2 4 / 7”) of vaporwave.”

So whether you’re in it for the study productivity, the humor of photoshopped cover art or the online community, this music choice might be for you. And if it’s not, then don’t mind me while I ~chill the fuck out~.

Alexis Morillo is a senior journalism major who didn’t not listen to lo-fi beats while writing this. You can reach them at amorillo@ithaca.edu

26

The Rut of Film School

While film has changed so much in the last 100 years, film school has not

By Julia LaCava, Staff Writer

I

thought I would die if I didn’t get into film school. If I had to get a degree in something, I wanted it to be something I loved, like filmmaking. But film schools are one of the hardest forms of higher education to be accepted into. I worked tirelessly, keeping my grades up in high school and making videos with my friends in the hopes that I would be accepted, that I would be let into that club that would help me get everything I wanted. Why the fuck did I think that was appropriate?

Film school and programs are presented and sold to young people as the route to success — a place to hone your talents and take you where you want to be. But film school acts as an extension of the film industry, perpetuating the same ideas and mantras that have kept the industry alive for over a hundred years.

When I got into Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications, I thought I had hit the jackpot. Majors in screenwriting, film and photography! All the famous alumni!

Bob Iger went here! I was so excited and ready to create screenplays and tell the stories I wanted to tell. But when I stepped into my first production class, I knew something was wrong. The projects for the class were already laid out with no room for adjustment. When we had to present our projects, it was as if I had watched an entire class remake something over and over again. Shouldn’t film school be the ideal place to experiment with your work? In film school, students feel pressured and are almost encouraged to create films, scripts, and content based on topics and stories the public already knows. The film industry has a habit of this — barfing out the same films and shows audiences are familiar with. It’s repetitive, safe, and — more importantly — toxic. The industry has created a gatekeeper out of film schools by reminding students that if they want to be successful in their world, they must conform.

Take the concept of film schools touting their alumni.

The names are well-known people who took the mainstream route into the industry. Why are students only exposed to the “famous” alumni? What about the ones working in independent film, running their own production companies or are in any other facet of the entertainment industry besides making blockbusters and running Disney? Film school is all about selling fame and success. To sell that image, film school must cultivate that image.

The Park School, much like other film schools, has a mantra of assuring its students that an undergraduate degree from their institution is the key to success. Without it, students can forget about a future in entertainment. This promise is how film schools and programs can justify their high prices of tuition. This is worrisome because it seems convincing to students. Successful filmmakers have masters, undergraduate or otherwise no degree in filmmaking.

Film schools tend to keep an air of exclusivity around them. Lucrative tuition costs keep low-income students out and those individuals in the upper and middle-class in. As I walk around the Park School, I see predominantly white students and especially male students. These male students represent a not-so-stereotypical stereotype: white college students that go to an expensive liberal-arts school because their parents can afford to send them there. While not every person is the same, keeping the same kind of individual in film school leads to only hearing stories from the same voice.

Besides income separating students, there are more barriers in the form of organizations. The Park School has a chapter of Delta Kappa Alpha, otherwise known as DKA, an all gender film fraternity focused on helping its members achieve success and employment after college. While this may sound like a no-brainer for film students, those who attempt to join DKA go through an extensive vetting process, sometimes not getting in until their last year in school.

So what does this all mean? In my opinion, I don’t believe there is a right path into the film industry. A piece of paper issued by a school should not be the factor that lands an aspiring filmmaker a job, because that piece of paper can only get a person so far. But film school, like Hollywood, is in a rut. Hollywood may be stagnant, but the industry as a whole is changing at a rapid pace. Independent film is on the rise.

Young, diverse voices are fighting to be heard. Institutions must be more flexible and opening to changing practices like costs and admissions. Professors and instructors are only hurting their students by keeping their curriculums in the past.

You cannot teach change but you can embrace it.

Julia LaCava is a sophomore Writing for Film, TV, and Emerging Media major who is so sick of watching party scenes in every CP2 film. You can reach them at jlacava@ithaca.edu

27

A Mute Point: Taylor Swift’s Political Statement Comes Too Late

Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Because she’s avoiding political discourse.

N

aturally, the most difficult things invoke some hesitation.

Very few can stand with their toes spilling off of the high dive and jump into the swimming pool below without a second thought. The human survival instinct in all of us demands a moment’s notice; however, Taylor Swift’s political views have had plenty of fair criticism.

Swift posted a lengthy Instagram caption outlining her choice to publicly support, “the candidate that will protect and fight for human rights,” in this year’s midterm elections in Tennessee after being notoriously silent on all things politics for most of her career. Her change of heart comes in sharp contrast to her cosmic rival Kanye West who has been loudly using his platform in support of (and recently against?)

President Donald Trump, and more controversially, in support of Trump’s divisive campaign to Make America Great Again.

The infamous Swift versus West optics may be calling into question a more overarching dilema about political activism and support: who do we expect to speak up?

Although those of us who have enjoyed the legacy of Kanye West have been hypercritical of his current political opinions, these proclamations don’t go against Kanye’s character, who famously demanded that, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” after Hurricane Katrina left folks without homes or help and left the rest of America with a harsh picture of what life is like on the other side of the privilege line. Kanye West is no stranger to crossing this very line—speaking out against racial injustice in his music, in interviews, and even financially supporting his own forgotten community on Chicago’s Southside. All of these activities— like his most recent shift to red— have not come without backlash. Swift’s political proclamation comes years too late, and frankly comes from behind the shield of her own white privilege.

In these last few years surrounding the 2016 Presidential Election, countless public figures whose careers are a far cry from politics have stepped into the limelight and adopted a range of mantras from urging young people to vote this November like Rihanna, to celebs like Danny Devito taking tougher shots at our administration’s lack of empathy (and plenty else). All the same, these celebrities are following in the footsteps of folks like West who are active in their careers as people that speak up and speak out against the oppression they themselves may face or they have witnessed in their communities.

Swift falls short in her delayed statement, which undoubtedly comes out of hesitation and fear, but also a sense of privilege and exemption that she has enjoyed her entire career as a public figure. As a white woman, it is easier for Swift to stay silent. She enjoys a comfort called “staying neutral,” that in polarizing and frightening times for countless Americans is a comfortable way of saying that her personal has not been politicized. Women of color do not have this luxury. The LGBTQ+ community does not have this luxury.

The Jewish community does not have this luxury. Immigrants

By Jordan Szymanski, Staff Writer

do not have this luxury. And yet, with a heightened sense of fear instilled daily by belonging to these groups, it is exactly these oppressed people, and others in close proximity, that have risked the few luxuries they do have to speak out against their oppressors.

Taylor Swift has hid behind her predominantly white female fan base by staying silent on issues that seemingly do not affect her or her listeners. Except that is where white women’s silence is more than a personal choice, it becomes political when in Texas this midterms, 59% of the voters who elected Ted Cruz, a Republican candidate that has repeatedly aligned himself with the same anti-immigrant, anti-women’s rights, racist rhetoric trickling down from the 2016 election, were white women. This is a demographic that stays complacent in the regression we are seeing in office across the country. Taylor Swift had the power for at least 10 years now to influence this demographic and has not, until it became way less frightening (and more trendy) to do so.

Ellen Pompeo, Grey’s Anatomy star, recently spoke out during a roundtable interview for Net-A-Porter saying that in professional spaces that she is a part of she doesn’t, “see enough color.” She went on to critique her work space, challenge her environment and industry, while also herself and other white people to be the ones to say what everyone can see: there isn’t enough people of color in the entertainment world. She wished that when she walks onto set she’d like the spaces to “[look] like the world [she] walks around in every day.” Pompeo’s interview comes after Taylor Swift’s announcement, but its predecessors come years before Swift in the form of the exact underrepresented groups Pompeo is talking about. It was trans women of color who carried the message of inclusive women’s rights.

It is decades of work the Black and Brown people living in America’s neighborhoods plagued by gun violence have been doing to call for tougher gun control laws. If we, as white women, wait until the path is well-paved and welltraveled to begin our journey toward justice, we must remember with whom we stuck the hard labor.

Swift’s political message comes on the backs of every group she attempts to ally. She waited until it was safe to jump in and fails to acknowledge the hundreds of affected individuals who cushion her fall. Ultimately, Taylor Swift made a political statement that urged her demographic of white women to vote “aligned with their values,” which judging by election results in 2016 and 2018, may tell us exactly why Swift has been so hesitant for years to take the plunge into politics: she knows her message may fall on deaf ears, leaving behind something personal—her career—as collateral.

Jordan Szymanski is a sophomore Writing for Film, TV, and Emerging Media major who thinks the real “Blank Space” is Taylor Swift’s political views.

28

RAW SAW FROM THE

Beautiful Boy

By Rae Harris, Staff Writer

A

dapted from a pair of father-son memoirs, director Felix Van Graehingen’s Beautiful Boy is about Nic (Timothée Chalamet), a charismatic, bright, young man who reveals that he’s been experimenting with marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and acid, but consistently uses crystal meth. The film explores not only Nic’s drug use, but the profound effect his use has on his family. The focus on the effect of addiction on those close to him, and the father-son relationship between Nic and his father, David (Steve Carell) is what sets Beautiful Boy apart.

The dual perspectives of Nic and David are complicated; David flip-flops between trying to help his son and shutting him out to protect the rest of the family. On the other hand, Nic is tormented by the depths of his addiction and his desire to get clean. The film examines not only drug addiction, but the responsibilities and limitations of parenthood.

Chalamet beautifully embodies all of the convoluted emotions that stem from drug abuse, from anger and hostility, to fear and remorse. Chalamet’s raw, vulnerable performance turns Nic’s pain into a tangible feeling, one that lingers with

the audience after the credits roll. While Chalamet shines in his role, Carrell stands in his shadow. He is a sympathetic and sensitive character, but during more serious scenes, he can come off as disconnected and ingenuine when contrasted against Chalamet’s performance. This is evident early on in the film, when Nic reveals to David all the drugs he’s abused and ultimately, his addiction to meth. Chalamet shows how tormented Nic is, with a defeated demeanor, tear-rimmed eyes, and shaky words. Carrell, however, inserts little emotion into the scene and falls short.

Beautiful Boy is profound because it doesn’t simplify. It shows exactly how complex the cycle of recovery and relapse can be. Graehingen’s closing shot showcases this. There is no closure in the film. It simply ends with a wide shot of Nic and David sitting in lawn chairs at a rehabilitation facility. Nic is sobbing. No happy ending. Just a father and son trying to mend their relationship, and a young man, deciding to try recovery again.

Suspirira

By Julia LaCava, Staff Writer

I

walked into Suspiria with no expectations. I had not seen the original film released in 1977 and knew nothing of the plot, characters, or supernatural elements it contained.

And honestly, it might have been for the better.

Luca Guadagino’s homage to the cult horror classic directed by Dario Argento is as beautiful as it is gruesome and manages to interweave the two in a way that makes the experience otherworldly. Audiences are introduced to Susie (Dakota Johnson) who joins a mysterious dance company in Berlin. Susie gives a performance during rehearsal and her movements are juxtapositioned with another dancer who is contorting her body as if possessed by something. Numerous editing choices in that vein make Suspiria the kind of film you cannot look away from. Fear of what will appear next on the screen is outweighed by the sheer beauty of what you see.

The cinematography relies heavily on the use of mirrors to bend angles and play with the audience’s perception. Scenes of dancers running away in fear are laced in tension as the angles make viewers unsure of the path ahead. Numerous uses of a wonderfully dated slow zoom gives the effect of the audience slowly creeping in on a scene or character.

Red light is almost a signal of mood and slowly seeps its way into the film, like blood. The film begins with muted colors in a gray setting until it culminates in its final scene during which the film has been enveloped in a bloody red.

Combined with Thom Yorke’s spellbinding score, Suspiria becomes less about the story being told and more about how the story looks and feels.

What might be the most shocking takeaway from Suspiria is Dakota Johnson’s performance as Susie. Susie begins the film with a certain naivete but ends in something powerful — far more powerful than Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) could have ever dreamed. Susie turns the horror film trope of the “final girl” on its head. Instead of running away from the evil forces in the film, Susie walks towards them as if it was her only purpose. In the dinner scene towards the end of the film, Madame Blanc looks to see Susie’s gaze, with unflinching and knowing eyes. Unlike other “final girls,” Susie is enthralled rather than afraid — and so was I. Suspiria is messy from a story standpoint but a spectacle in every other.

29

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

By Tessa More, Staff Writer

W

ho asked for the following: a half-witch / half-mortal, two witch aunties, a warlock cousin under house arrest, and a non-talking cat? Were people begging for a darker take on the ABC/The WB classic Sabrina the Teenage Witch? The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is not a revival of the Melissa Joan Hart sitcom. Instead it’s based off the 2014 comic of the same name, detailing the darker origins of Sabrina. And it’s to die for, or maybe just worth writing your name in the Book of the Beast to view Part 2 sooner.

As someone who watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I tried to set aside expectations while watching The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. It wasn’t difficult, as the Netflix show only shares the character names. The original Sabrina didn’t know she was a witch until her sixteenth birthday. In the 2018 show, Sabrina Spellman, played by Kiernan Shipka, already knows her origins. Sabrina must embrace one of her halves: remain in the mortal world with her friends and boyfriend Harvey Kinkle or have her dark baptism and pledge her devotion to Satan.

That’s where the similarities end. In the new Sabrina, Salem the cat is Sabrina’s familiar. He serves as her companion and protector, and he does not speak at all; he doesn’t say a sassy quip once. In the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the sardonic Salem encourages Sabrina to make poor decisions, often driving the plot of each episode. In the new Sabrina, Salem is a 500-year-old warlock turned into a talking cat because of his plans to take over the world. Cousin Ambrose steps in as the sass replacement, played by the charming Chance Perdomo, and later in the season it’s revealed why.

The new show is much darker than expected, and straight up nightmare-inducing at some points. It’s also infused with social commentary that tactfully addresses topical issues: one of her best friends is a transgender girl, and Sabrina defends her and starts a new club on campus to include her. And yet the show is still funny thanks to Sabrina’s aunties Hilda and Zelda, played by Lucy Davis and Miranda Otto. They provide much needed dark humor without being the butt of the joke.

The show is enticing. Sabrina attends mortal high school and The School of Unseen Arts to study witchcraft. Throughout Part 1 Sabrina is faced with evil forces, all working to push her towards her “fate.” It’s a bingeable plot-driven show that has a fluid, dark, romantic aesthetic throughout.

The show can be improved upon in its writing of Sabrina’s mortal friends. They exist purely to further the plot. They are set up with intriguing mystical backgrounds, but they are barely explored and explained.

The series also name drops the neighboring town of Riverdale multiple times — not surprising as the show creator also created the CW hit. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was also intended to air on The CW as a companion series to Riverdale, but eventually was moved to Netflix. People are itching for Netflix to Part 2 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, particularly to see if there’s a Riverdale crossover.

A date hasn’t dropped for Part 2, but there will be a Holiday installation coming to Netflix December 14.

Simulation Theory

By Sydney Joyce, Contributing Writer

O

ver their long career, Muse has matured and developed their sound while maintaining the raw power and precision their early songs held. However, their eighth album, Simulation Theory, fell flat of the usual power their songs pack. As an arena rock band that has always embraced electronic elements, Muse took it a little too far on their latest album, creating an over-produced and artificial sound. Muse has jumped on the 80s pop-culture craze (the cover art was designed by Stranger Things artist Kyle Lambert), but instead of a well-incorporated mix of the old and the new, Muse ended up with an album that at times sounded like a Tron knock off, especially the song “The Dark Side,” which consists of an uninspired synthesizer solo.

Simulation Theory also reaches a wider range of genres than most previous Muse albums. “Propaganda” sounds like a mix of Prince and Skrillex with country-sounding guitar in the bridge,“Break it to Me” has a mix of hip-hop and EDM, and “Get Up and Fight” is a pure pop rock anthem. While fans have come to expect experimentation from Muse, many of the songs on this album sound like a haphazard attempt to strive for a new genre for the band. One glaring example

of this is “Something Human,” which sounds like aliens are invading an acoustic ballad.

The highlights of the album are among the singles that were released prior to the album: “Pressure,” “Dig Down,” and “Thought Contagion.” “Thought Contagion” and “Dig Down” are also among the songs on the album that contain lyrics with political undertones, “Dig Down” using the lyrics “when a clown takes the thrones we must find a way.”

“Thought Contagion,” one of the few songs on the album with a more traditional Muse sound, takes an especially bleak look at the political climate, with lyrics like “brian cleansed fractured identity” and “brace for the final solution.”

While not altogether a bad album, Simulation Theory, lacks some of the combination of raw power, precision, and cohesiveness that fans have come to expect from Muse albums.

30

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

By Tessa More, Staff Writer

T

he 1975 have earned their place as a reputable pop band with their third album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. It is an evolution of the band’s previous sound, which makes sense as it’s the first album not produced by previous producer Mike Crossey. Band members and cosongwriters Matthew Healy and George Daniel are the producers this go-around. The 1975 has been accused of being pretentious and unimaginative in the past, but those critics seem out of the loop. This album doesn’t wipe the slate clean; it paints over it with vibrant strokes of amber audio, violet vocals, and fuschia funk.

The internet, and all of its nooks and crannies, is The 1975’s newest muse. This is most evident in the song “The Man Who Married A Robot/ Love Theme” which is a dystopian poem completely narrated by Siri with music reminiscent of a ballet crescendoing in the background. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships features more vocal manipulation than past albums, something Matt Healy is fond of. But it is fitting, as the album is an ode to technology’s influence on our relationships.

“Love It If We Made It” critiques much about the way we treat modern romances masked by an optimistic beat but, oh honey, the lyrics are brutally honest. The song “Inside Your Mind” explores morbid romanticism, like wanting to know what your partner is thinking so much that you’ll smash their head open.

The 1975 is loved for their dance-your-ass-off tunes. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships has three put-yourphone-down-it’s-time-to-move-it-to-the-dance-floor tracks: “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME,” “Give Yourself a Try,” and “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You).” But at the end of the day, The 1975 slows down and gives us songs to fall asleep to as our phone still glows in our hand connecting us to our social web, like “Surrounded by Heads and Bodies,”“Mine,” and “Sincerity Is Scary.”

The 1975 have a way of burrowing under your skin and tapping into the well of emotions that has been simmering waiting for release. The song “Mine” in particular evokes a nostalgia for a part of my life I haven’t lived yet, as if time isn’t linear, and I can feel my future anguish and longing. “I Couldn’t Be More In Love” hides under a facade of romanticism, but it’s really a song for formerly I’m happy in my relationship people, as Matt Healey said in an article with Vulture, “It’s about what happens when no one cares anymore.”

This album lingers long after you finish listening like a delicious dessert at the end of an expensive meal that you can actually afford with an adequate tip. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationship ends on a cinematic note with “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes).” It would be the perfect last song of any bittersweet movie, and years from now it’s possible “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” will be the song the band is most known for.

Originally The 1975 thought this would be their last album, wrapping up the decade, but Matt Healy said they weren’t actually good enough to quit yet. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is now streaming on music platforms.

Do yourself a favor and listen to it. I recommend turning your notifications off and taking a dog for a walk in a light snow storm.

31

Fuck You, God buzzsex

anonymous

I

t’s March of 2015. I’m graduating high school in a matter of weeks. I still don’t know where I’m going to college (or if I’m going to college), or where I’m going to be otherwise in the next six months. Zach, Timmy, Jordan, Amanda and I were at a senior event after school. The gym was filled with bubble blowers and a couple big speakers bumping ‘07 We the Kings and Timbaland. There were bouncy houses set up alongside buckets of apple juice, and a game of Twister was commencing under the bleachers. The popular girls were braiding each other’s fried platinum hair and taking pictures on their iPhone 4s’ in their cheetah-print mini skirts. Meanwhile, the five of us were stoned next to a pile of stale donuts from Mariano’s that the after-school tutoring program had left over.

There isn’t much fun to be had at a private Catholic high school (vomit), and everybody who went to my school made me want to choke, so I only stuck around for the people I could actually consider my friends. (Shout out to the real ones.)

Zach tapped me on the shoulder mid-thrust of the powdered sugar munchkin into my mouth and asked me if I wanted to walk around upstairs. I said “Hell yeah,” and swallowed the last of the donut, “let’s smoke your bowl in the teacher’s lounge.”

We snuck up the stairwell and rattled the lockers with our hands all the way down the hall. He asked me about the art project I had been working on at the time and asked if I would to show it to him in the studio. (It was a bust of Salvador Dali — and yes, I do hate myself.) I guess showing him a clay bust of a giant curling mustache must have really got him going

because within seconds we were making out on top of the work tables (sorry, Mr. G). Something the art kids knew that the rest of the students didn’t was the hidden hallway behind the storage closet in the studio that led our school’s chapel a couple doors down — naturally, I wanted to show off, so I took him back there, guiding him with my hand in his. We pried open the door of the chapel and walked out into the room where the priests get ready and robe themselves or whatever.

We broke into their wine stash. It wasn’t great. Too fruity.

Sitting in the pew, we were silent apart from our giggles every few minutes at the situation we put ourselves into. I got on top of him, and we kissed again. He grabbed my back with his hands and rubbed my nipples under my shirt, telling me we were so bad and how much he loved it. He asked if we should really do this. “Are we crazy?”

“Yes.” “Do you want to?”

“Yes.” He slid my panties off, and we fucked right in the pew of my lame-ass Catholic high school’s chapel — wet, hot, and hard.

Fuck you, God. I nutted on your holy chair.

32

rose & Cons. P ose & Cons. Pr e & Cons. Pro & Cons. Pros

33

d e h Words—how I love

sc

Re

d e l u

by

And fear them simultaneously

Ga

br

Reciting forty lines of poetry from memory In front of the entire class is terrifying

iel

le

To p

I continuously practiced, the lines As I walked to class, in the shower, in front of the mirror

pin

Stanza by stanza, the rhymes becoming familiar Almost comforting—knowing what came next I anxiously waited throughout the hour-and-fifteen-minute class, Craving relief to be freed from the responsibility of this assignment I’m falling, barreling towards earth without a parachute And then my reading is postponed to next class I stressed myself out unnecessarily, spend all day worrying About this memorization for no reason

Why is it so consuming?

This fear of public speaking, this fear of public humiliation My fear of not succeeding is greater than my desire to succeed Routinely early to the next class, I sat in my usual seat and waited The other girl who was reciting today looked just as nervous A strange comfort in knowing she was experiencing The same panic and anxiety With a reserved confidence, I recited the poem word for word As if my foot was on the accelerator I got to the destination safely And that’s all that matters 34

g

I’m going to throw up. My teacher paces, her eyebrows pinched and nose scrunched up like always when she lectures, and now, she’ goes on and on about choosing the perfect husband. Even though I’m the princess of Cevania, I’m not safe from Lesha’s lectures.

“Annabelle,” she chimes. “Are you listening?”

I straighten, though my stomach turns. “Yes, ma’am.” Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“Good. Now, remember he must have the best interests of the kingdom at heart,” she says, completing another lap across the floor. She turns and begins a new round of pacing. “Maybe Duke Erian’s son, Dorian. He’s good with money, has excellent saving skills.” She taps her chin. “Though he does have a problem with prostitutes, so maybe not.” She shakes her head with a chuckle. “Perhaps Mavius? He’s a cousin of Lady Helena, and a fine lad. Handsome, too.” She winks. I swallow bile in my mouth. “And he has won the royal archery contest the last three years in a row. I’m sure he’d make an excellent general. He’s not very bright though, is he?” She turns and crosses my desk again. “Lord Horvek’s son might be a better choice. He is smart—”

I stand so fast my chair clatters to the floor. “I’m sorry, Lesha,” I say, voice shaking. “I’m not feeling well. I’m afraid we must finish for today.”

“Of course, Your Highness. We—”

I’m out the door before she finishes. I race down the hallway, running past confused servants carrying out the wishes of my family. I hate being royalty. Does Lesha have to go on about boys all the time? Even Mother and Father insist I’m going to marry a man and have many children. Is that all I’m good for?

I stop outside the royal gardens, slamming the door open and running out into the sunlight. Rows of roses and lilies, orchids and tulips, trimmed shrubbery, and fountains stretch before me. I scramble over to a bush shaped like my father and throw up.

“Oh, gods,” I wipe my mouth with a rose-colored silk sleeve. Mother’s going to yell at me for getting vomit on my court dress, but I don’t care. Tears overflow my eyes, dripping down to the earth.

“Annabelle?” a voice asks behind me. I jump, turning around, though calm at the night of my brother. He stands before me, pale-skinned, blonde, and blue-eyed.

“Lucian,” I smile. He kneels down beside me and puts a hand on my shoulder, reaching forward with the other to brush some strands of long dirt-brown hair that fell out of my braid out of my face.

“Annie. What happened?” His face is the picture of concern. I bow my head.

“Lesha. She talked about getting married again.” I sniffle. “Apparently because I’m the princess, I have to have a man in my life.”

“Oh, Annie.” I fall forward, shoving my head into the crook of his neck, tears coming anew. He lets me cry into his jacket, patting my back. “It’ll be okay.”

“How do you know?” I say, voice small. “At least you get to…you know.”

“What?”

“Marry a girl.” I lose the words in a sob. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair! I want girls, too. Is that so bad?”

Lucian sighs and helps me stand. He leans back and puts a hand on my face. “It’s not fair, Annabelle. I hate the rules here, too. You think I wouldn’t rather be in a dress right now? But no, boys have to wear suits.” He chuckles. “But someday, I’ll be king, and you’ll be next in line, and then everything will change. Okay?”

“Yeah.” I can’t wait to see my brother in a dress. He’ll look so happy. And for once, I’ll be happy too. For a moment I allow myself to picture marrying a girl. It’ll be amazing. Still… “ I don’t want to wait that long. Why can’t it be now?”

Lucian glances away. “I wish it were. But we just have to wait a little. Still…” He looks back at me. “We’ve got each other, right?” He reaches his smallest finger out, and I hook my own around it, in a gesture we’ve done since we were small.

“Always,” I agree, and wipe my eyes. “Gods, I’m a mess.”

He laughs. “Yeah, you’ve got to get cleaned up. There’s a foreign princess visiting at three o’clock…” He raises his eyebrows suggestively and winks.

“Gross!” I grin and shove him away, blushing.

“Hey, you never know.” He shrugs.

I roll my eyes but chuckle. “Okay.” I put my hand on the inside of his elbow. “But let’s stay in the garden awhile longer?”

He nods. “Of course, Annie.”

“Thank you, brother.”

They Don’t Know Us

by Katherine Langford 35

ten she enjoys the simple luxuries: coke in a can, yellow straw, from the musty smelling cellar her grandmother keeps clean. twelve playgrounds still excite her— the blood blisters left from the monkey bars, less visible than her first stretch mark. fourteen she discovers how to take the head out of a razor, how she can take more than two painkillers, and she is weightless.

Realizations in Time

sixteen she learns to grieve through writing and scratching herself with the back of a pen— deep enough to hurt, not enough to scar.

eighteen she is officially two months on Zoloft. she is a petrified zombie, frozen by the concept of time, limping through the daily motions. twenty her pills mimic a rainbow as one too many slide down her throat. she is a sexual assault survivor, a burden, just another item to add to the laundry list check.

by Meredith Nash

today she realizes she is not a monster; she is human. her illness is a burden on herself, but she, she is not.

36

Sea Urchin

by Dariene Seifert

Immersed in the black cauldron I’m soaking in a boiling hell My sea witch hair Surrounds me like tangled fishnets They try to cut it. They can’t see Since the stars have been swallowed whole by the darkness They can’t keep me in this pot forever Your thalidomide won’t sedate for long The Queen of Scorpios Will take me in her godly hand and release me back Into the depths of the great ocean Where you will never find me Her voice stings, and sometimes When I stare into her eyes, I burn But, for now, I am free.

An eternity of sea awaits me.

37

Lich Occupying My Sunshine

You—abysmal, undead—sulk within my tired mind, Beg to be held by her empathy, so warm and kind.

You wrap my garden in dreams, turn my vision hollow, Try to find closure, without any guide to follow.

Her lovely sunshine is lost under the shade of your weeds.

My flowers wither as her absence corrupts the last seeds.

Her epitaph you read to relive days in the orchard, Chilling my eyes that now feel nothing, broken and tortured.

So remove my rainbow, pluck the pansy that sprouts from my nail.

Continue to decay, bury my ladybugs who were frail.

“I don’t want you putting all of your happiness in me.” Don’t worry, I won’t.

by Adam Dee

38

Are we ever really lost, or are we just waiting?

Biding time, Counting hours, counting days, counting planets Delaying til the last moment, when, like the sun behind a cloud, Epiphany! Yes, yes, yes.

Found objects become more meaningful, Gaining significance because you discovered them at the right time How is it a found object If it was clearly left for me?

Just days later I forget it even exists Kneeling at the altar of all the other things I’ve found Like my grandmother said: when it rains, it pours Maybe the idiom was right all along Not a day goes by that I don’t wish for the pouring to stop One year ago I might have felt very differently Past, as my grandmother said, is past Quick to come, wretched to go Realize the epiphanies were never really epiphanies Stars cross all the time, and no one cares until it is above them Though I am grateful for presence, I long for absence Understand it wasn’t always this way Very recently, I haven’t found any objects at all Whether stars cross or not is not my cross to bear X marks the spot, but what spot?

You yearn for an answer that will never materialize Zipping the object into your bag to never be looked at again

Found Objects

an abecedarian

39

by Alex Coburn

Count to Ten

by Mae McDermott

Close my eyes and count to ten Over and over and over again As words slide on the slate of my mind, And don’t take hold, and drift again, Drift away, those thoughts unread Those words unspoken, soaked with dread Those details that cannot be faced Those answers that could not be said; Shifting and sliding, the very ground The earth on which i stand and sound My horn into the bitter air While expecting quiet to come around, I’m standing still while lit aflame, Seeking calmly still to tame The things that already have destroyed, The world that i still try to name The world that i still call my own That ended long ago, the throne That toppled long ago, the bone And flesh that sunk me like a stone.

Here i count and rhyme and write Speak proverbs so quaint and trite Sit at a desk that falls from the sky And soon will fall beyond your sight— Is all i do a desperate try To blind myself to what my eye Will always see—the blinding truth The only thing that’s not a lie: The fact that time has dug a hole That who i am is a withered soul That i count and count and hum and stroll To have some semblance of control

resume builders intelligent. thriving 4.0 you’re not considered mediocre 3.4 intelligent you’re just considered smart average.

determined. pages soften between our fingers take our own notes because we read their books write. motivated.

3:00 a.m. caffeine-induced you’re not considered 7:00 p.m. adderall-popping motivated you’re just considered desperate lazy.

defeated. pages crumble between our fingers make our own narratives because we throw away their books write. creative. well-published and original you’re not considered loosely-based and cliche you’re just considered untalented worthless.

by erin e. shuster

(Note: Now read the poem bottom to top) 41

Sawdust. S awdust. Sa wdust. Saw dust. Sawd ust. Sawdu st. Sawdus 42

S a w d u s

Man Runs Out of the Same Pair of Jeans and Gray T-shirt Forced to actually dress nicely

By Sydney Joyce, Contributing Writer

O

n Friday, October 13, an attack occurred against the film student community at Ithaca College that rocked the entire city: John Smith, a twenty-two year old film student, showed up to class wearing a suit. The class affected by this horrific event, Advanced Film Aesthetics and Analysis, meets every Friday at 1:00 pm in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. A class of fifteen seniors were already in the room when John Smith arrived on the fateful day, barely sliding in before class started, as usual. The horrific sight of Smith’s attire injured three individuals who are now at Cayuga Medical Center, one of whom is said to be in critical condition, though all three are stable.

The injured students were so appalled by what they saw that they began to vomit uncontrollably. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said professor Stan Fillmore. “I’m lucky that I’m still breathing.”

The attack is not thought to be part of a larger movement, and the motivations behind it are still under investigation.

The perpetrator, John Smith, is a senior film student at Ithaca College who has shown no prior signs of any violence. He has blended in with his fellow film students well, wearing only jeans and a gray T-shirt almost every day, except for his

Fight Club T-shirt he wears at least once a week. He has also become a respected part of the community, even joining the film fraternity Omega Delta. Friend of Smith, George Johnson said, “I never saw this coming. He was always such a nice kid.”

After being removed from the premises by campus police, Smith was detained for 24 hours before being released.

After being released Smith apologized and explained his actions saying, “I am deeply sorry for all those I hurt. I know it’s no excuse, but I had not done my laundry in over a month, and the suit was the only thing I could find to wear that did not make me heave from its smell. I only had it because I planned to be James Bond for Halloween. I cannot apologize enough nor adequately express the guilt and shame I feel. I hope someday I might be forgiven, but I know that is a lot to ask.”

To prevent future attacks, Ithaca College is planning to add a guard at every entrance of the Roy H. Park School of Communications during class hours.

Sydney Joyce is a second-year writing major who is still recovering from seeing a Park boy not covered in trash. You can reach them at sjoyce@ithaca.edu.

Meet Chad Mozart, Disappointment of the Mozart Family He’s like Wolfgang, except worse

By Brianna Pulver, Layout Editor

“C

had is so hot,” Melissa whispered to her roommate Diane on a late Thursday night.

Diane looked over at her from the other side of the dorm.

“Mel, you don’t even know him that well. He seems like such a dipshit. He’s always screaming at people on Twitter to listen to his new Soundcloud singles. Like what is that about? And everything he does is just for the clout. Did you see his Filas?

Anybody who wears those things is begging for help. He looks like a gym teacher from the Great Depression.”

“There’s just something about his full bottomed periwig that makes my colonial side get all hot and bothered.”

“You’re disgusting. What even is a periwig?” Diane made a barfing noise and left the room with her headphones.

The next morning Melissa went up to Chad in their Music Theory Since the 1800s class and asked for a pen.

“Hey! So I guess we have a quiz today. Bogus right?

Haha. Yeah.” She tried to make eye contact with him. “I totally blanked on bringing a pen—I was just wondering if you had a pen, Chad.”

He softened his wig with a finger and blew the vapor from his Juul into her face. “Were you talking to me?”

“I need a pen, if you have an extra. For the quiz. I just explained this to you.”

“Woah—bitch we have a quiz today?”

“Did you just call me a bitch?”

“I’m gonna fail AF!! I don’t know anything about concertos or whatever!”

“I’m not a bitch, okay? I just wanted a pen. And the quiz is on tonic and dominant chords. Were you even here the last

five classes?”

“I can’t believe this is happening to me.”

“I can’t believe you called me a bitch. Do you even know what class you’re in?” she snickered. “Idiot.”

A week passed and Melissa realized she could survive without his full-bottomed periwig and his Cool Mint Juul Pods™. Who needs Chad? Not her. On Melissa’s walk back to her dorm, Diane caught sight of her and ran over, calling out her name, “Mel! Have you talked to ~Chad~ recently, huh?

Huh?” Melissa didn’t look over at Diane; she didn’t react at all except for the pressure of her tongue between her teeth to stop herself from yelling. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”

“Whoa, I thought you were totally into him.”

“OVER IT, DIANE!” Diane stepped back.

“I can’t believe I almost fell in love with a Mozart! I mean, as if! He wasn’t even a musician like Wolfgang Amadeus. Even Wolf was a douchebag! Everyone knows their sister Maria was the true music genius in the family. Wolf wasn’t even that great at all! He was just cute, like his dumb brother Chad. Could Wolf even play his own sonata, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”?

Fucking doubt it. He’s a loser like Chad. Fuck the Mozarts. I mean I bet Maria is cool. But screw those bros.” Screw those bros, Melissa. Chad sucks.

Brianna Pulver is a fourth-year writing major whose favorite Chad Mozart single is “Requiem for a Keg Stand.” You can reach them at bpulver@ithaca.edu.

43

Math is Bad, Just Don’t Do It Anti-math movement emerges

By Phoebe Harms, Contributing Writer

“I

don’t like it,” said six-year-old Emily Robertson from Glen Falls, New York. “It’s dumb! I don’t want to do it anymore.”

Emily, of course, was talking about her math class. Across the globe, more and more individuals are starting to listen to what the kids have been saying for years: math sucks.

“They just don’t like it,” Amelia Smith, a second-grade teacher from Bolton, Connecticut, said. “Honestly, I don’t really blame them. I don’t want to do it anymore, either.”

As this opinion gains popularity and traction, more institutions have been following suit. More and more schools are starting to write math out of the curriculum in order to spare any detriment to students.

“The only reason we all think kids have to do math is because that’s the way it’s been done traditionally,” said Bridget Robertson, Emily’s mother. “I would rather have my child be happy than have her ever do math again.”

Robertson also mentioned being forced to assist Emily with her math homework had caused irreversible damage to her and her husband’s marriage.

“He’s still staying at a motel across town,” Robertson said. “I can’t take Emily to visit him, because I don’t want her to be scared by the number in the Motel 6 sign. It’ll remind her of math.”

The largest motivators in this movement are parents with opinions like Robertson. Parents are pulling out all of the stops to keep their children safe from the dangers of math.

The anti-math campaign has its fair share of extremist supporters. Some angry parents and teachers fight for legal repercussions for those who still attempt to use math, or mention numbers of any kind.

“Yesterday at the supermarket, Daniel started crying when the cashier read us our total,” said Beth Framer, a mother from Ithaca, New York. “I can’t risk dealing with him breaking down all the time. Numbers have to go.”

There has been some argument against the extraction of math from traditional curriculum. Esteemed mathematician Marco Rodriguez recently appeared on Good Morning America to argue that without math, our society would crumble completely.

“If we did away with math, we could not truly function as a society the way we do now,” said Rodriguez. “Everything we know about life would change, and all technology would cease to exist.”

Supporters of the anti-math campaign attempted to storm Good Morning America the morning directly after Rodriguez spoke but had some trouble organizing their protest.

“We had no way of estimating how many people were going to show up,” Brian Henderson, a High School Principal from Virginia said. “My buddy from school was going to come up and support, but we couldn’t ask him to make the trip. Too many highway and exit numbers to figure out.”

A small number—or rather group—of individuals made it to New York for the protest. They’re still currently protesting, as they have no way of gauging how many days they’ve been there.

“I don’t care what I have to do or how long I have to be here,” Henderson said. “All I know is that math sucks.”

Phoebe Harms is a second-year journalism major who has been trying to eliminate math for an unknown amount of time.

You can reach them at pharms@ithaca.edu.

44

How to Avoid Relatives at Family Gatherings Just go to Narnia

By Isabel Murray, Contributing Writer

W

Art by Rachael Geary

hen you’re home for the holidays, back in the arms of family after long months at school, there is only one event that can rock everything to its core. Thanksgiving, that living succubus, comes back every year to test newly cultivated patience and tease out old forgotten feuds. But no more – there is a solution. Like most problems, Thanksgiving, Christmas, weddings, and even funerals can be avoided quickly and easily with the help of a portal fantasy.

Going to Narnia to avoid relatives at Thanksgiving can be an easy and tempting fix, but it should be used as a last resort.

Try to remember that once in Narnia, you will live a full and enriching life as ruler of your land before coming home to find that no time has passed. Overdoing this isn’t risky, per se, but it is certainly draining.

Every awkward family gathering has a portal fantasy escape built into it. It’s important, even if you aren’t sure that you’ll need to retreat to another realm this holiday, to begin looking for the portal early. It isn’t always in a wardrobe (don’t let the movies fool you!) but can actually be in any closed-off and dark space. Washing machines, linen closets, crawl spaces and your Uncle Daryl’s office are all possible portal openings.

When you’re stepping out of the car and waiting for your dad to hand you a stack of presents or a plate of hors d’oeuvres from the trunk, take a mental map of the outside of the house. Notice any sheds, water wells, basement doors, unusually wooded areas, or abandoned garages. On your way inside, peer over relatives’ shoulders while hugging them, surveying the entryway and main living space for clues. Make sure you have a moment alone to put your coat down in the guest bedroom and use this time to mentally mark off any possible enchanted gateways. Use the restroom before you rejoin the party, so you can save that much-needed excuse for later in the evening, when it becomes clear that you’ll need to make a break for it.

Once joining the party, assess the situation: how many invasive questions have your relatives asked? How embarrassing is this year’s Christmas sweater or matching family ensemble? Can you find refuge in any other cousins or siblings who also want to disappear? If you can, either try to

hold down the fort with them, or take them with you. If they won’t come to Narnia, then you’ll have to leave them behind.

I’m sorry. Remember Susan? I don’t make the rules.

If your attempts to make polite conversation skirting divisive politics fail, remember that Narnia is not the best escape from this. Changing location to a fantasy dinner table will simply place you in the hands of Narnians debating the White Witch’s oppressive regime, whose dinner table damage nears the scope of Trump’s. If this is your biggest issue, I suggest brushing up on your debate skills, as there are no well-built fantasy worlds without complex politics, and therefore no escape. It’s best in this case to stay in our realm and stand your ground.

On the other hand, questions about your dating life, rude remarks about your friends, casserole-related violence, being misgendered, uncomfortable shoes and all forced social situations can be left behind in the real world. You’re much too old to mistake uncomfortable silences for chewing and passive aggressive remarks for lighthearted jabs. You can either accept that there is nothing left for you in this realm or settle for the mediocrity of an unexamined life. If you would, in fact, like to forget learning how painful the holidays are, consider revisiting our article “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Pill, Blue Pill.” Otherwise, read on.

Make a break for “the bathroom” and walk quickly to each of your possible portal openings. Crawl into the opening and continue. If you hit a wall, go back. If, on the other hand, you are able to keep going, then relax, you’ve found the entrance.

Don’t waste too much time looking for buttons and levers; if children can fall into these things by mistake, there’s no reason for you to bother checking for a more complex opening. Once in Narnia, make sure to find a mentor, save the world, and rule as king/queen/overlord for years to come.

We’ll be here with leftovers when you come back.

Isabel Murray is a third-year writing major who found a portal to Narnia in a filing cabinet in their grandparents house. You can reach them at imurray@ithaca.edu.

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IC Gen-Ed Program Requires Students to Visit Hell Still better than the ICC

By Maddy Martins, Contributing Writer

A

scientific report published last year revealed that Generation Z is the laziest generation that has existed in the entire history of the world, the universe, and everything.

According to the report, refusing to engage in mortal combat every Black Friday and purchasing gifts online has had a significant impact on the muscular strength of those in Gen Z. Since the report came out, schools and organizations have been brainstorming ways to combat what has now be called “the noodle arm epidemic.”

As the population of Gen Z students increases with new students coming in each year, Ithaca College has begun brainstorming its own methods to eliminate weakness among the younger generations. Last spring, administration introduced a new academic theme focused on physical and psychological strength called “Muscling Into the Future.”

“Kids just aren’t as strong as they used to be,” said administrator Bronny Armstrong. “I blame it on all the participation trophies.”

The Muscling Into the Future theme doesn’t have any classes and only requires students to study abroad in Hell.

“There’s no better workout than trudging through the nine circles of Hell,” Armstrong said. “It’s like one of those get fit camps for fat kids but with fewer salads and more screaming.”

As it turns out, Dante’s Inferno was completely accurate in its description of Hell. Hell is actually contrived of nine circles starting with Limbo, descending through the seven deadly sins all the way down to the frozen lake of the ninth circle where the souls of traitors are eternally encased in ice. The students who visited Hell last spring spent one week in each of Hell’s nine circles, hiking through flaming deserts, listening to the screams of the damned while floating down the River Styx, and facing monsters like Cerberus.

“My favorite part was the River Styx,” said student Sandra Pickins. “I was on the rowing team in high school, and I’d never been on a river of souls before. The cries of pain remind me of songs from my favorite heavy metal bands. Ten out of ten.”

So far, every student who has visited Hell has enjoyed their trip. According to most of the students, Hell is a pretty chill place. The drinking age is eighteen, it doesn’t snow or get below a toasty 120 degrees even on the frozen lake, and the lava pits exfoliate the skin better than any lotion in the mortal world.

“I actually got to meet Satan himself,” said student Marcus Ludwood. “He’s a cool dude for a goat-furry. We discussed social issues over a few beers one night while I was there. I used to be exploratory, but talking to Satan made me realize that I have a real

passion for social justice. The guy changed my outlook on life.”

Despite how much students on the Hell trip may have enjoyed themselves, a rift has formed on the Ithaca campus since they returned. Ever since the Muscling Into the Future students have come back on campus, they have been endlessly complaining about how everything was better in Hell, and it is annoying the crap out of other students and faculty.

“I used to enjoy going to concerts with Sandra every weekend,” said Lily Winston, student and friend of Pickins.

“Now whenever we go, she just whines about how the music couldn’t compare to the screams of the dead in Hell.”

Last weeks, students from the program established the Ithaca is Hell Club in attempt to teach interested students about Hell and its culture and propose ways to make the Ithaca campus more like Hell. Some of the propositions put forward by the club included replacing the water in the fountain with lava, summoning real-life ghosts to live in the natural lands, and inviting Satan to speak at the baccalaureate. The club, however, was short lived due to the Ithaca administration shutting it down after only three days.

“We just can’t take it anymore,” said Armstrong.

“Everywhere I look it’s Hell this and Hell that. It’s like they didn’t suffer at all. If anything, they came back worse than they left. Do they even recognize how much a lava fountain would cost the school? Did they even research how much ghostsummoning mediums charge? Although, I guess we could arrange for Satan to speak at the baccalaureate.”

Armstrong is displeased with how the trip to Hell panned out, but she is determined to keep the Muscling Into the Future theme around. Instead of visiting Hell next semester, students in the theme will be trapped in a dark, unsolvable maze for a semester with a pack of starving wolves and a hundred venomous snakes.

“I’d like to see them try to enjoy themselves while they’re slowly dying of poison with wolves ripping off their limbs,” Armstrong said. “I should have known Hell would have been soft on them with all the damn liberals they’ve been shoving down there in the past century.”

Maddy Martins is a first-year writing major who is currently looking for an E-Portfolio artifact from their semester in Hell. You can reach them at mmartins5@ithaca.edu.

46 Art by Sarah Kane

Pulp Fiction as told by Park Film Students Everyone should watch this underrated gem

By Tessa More, Staff Writer

T

he first time I heard about Pulp Fiction was during orientation for Ithaca College back in the summer of 2015.

I’ve never seen Pulp Fiction. I’ve been a non-film Park student for four years now and I think I have enough information that, when Buzzsaw asked me to write a reflection for the 25th anniversary of the movie, I said yes. So here it goes.

Question Tortellini has done it again — made an evocative musical with some A-list cast members. Sam ‘the man’ Jackson, a member of the original Jackson 5, leads the film to thought-provoking heights. I mean, it has to be thought provoking, otherwise why would these Park ‘filmmakers’ never shut up about it. There has to be some sort of debate that brews within the film, right? Jackson is the featured vocalist in this film singing songs like “Motherfucker” (The Main Theme of Pulp Fiction), “Does He Look Like a Bitch? The McDonald Song: A Quarter Pounder With Cheese,” “A Big Mac, and Royale with Cheese,” and “Ezekiel 25:17.” He does say motherfucker a lot, which is totally outside of Sam Jackson’s typical acting scope.

Fun fact: According to one particularly vocal cinebro who has yet to be credited in any student films, the line, “You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

They call it a Royale with cheese,” was voted #81 of “The 100 Greatest Movie Line” in 2007. However, he said it should be #2 only behind, “If you ain’t first you’re last.”

No one thought a mainstream musical could gain the cult status among the straight male population. Perhaps theses boys have always had a secret love of bussing to broadway to see Cats or The Music Man, but they have hid it in shame, never to discuss with their other bros.

John Transylvania, best known for his work in Grease, belts his lungs out in every musical number including “Don’t Hate the Hitman,” “Put That Briefcase Back Where it Came From or So Help Me,” “Uma Thurman’s Dancing Real Cool I’ll Twist with Her,” “WAIT Don’t OD!,” and more. One Park film student said, “The score of Pulp Fiction is beyond brilliant.”

One senior working on his thesis film about “the struggle of getting that perfect shot, a struggle I deal with constantly but no one ever understands” said, “Have you ever seen music entwined into the plot of a film the way it is Pulp Fiction? It’s a genius collaboration between picture and sound. I’d call it a masterpiece, but The Godfather is the only film that could ever be considered a masterpiece.”

Uno Thermopolis’ character Mia overdoses on heroin by snorting it, but as a boom operator on the set of a student film about “Dudes who smoke an unknown substance but we all know it’s weed because we’re basing the characters off of ourselves” astutely pointed out, “It’s way easier to overdose if you shoot up. Snorting heroin gets you the good kind of high.” Fascinating.

The film starts off with a discussion of robbery between Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, but who the fuck are they? No one will tell me. Were they wearing pumpkin masks and a bunny mask covered in honey? The only thing I do know about Honey Bunny came from one very enthusiastic film student working on his friend’s film portraying, “Just real real life, you know, like some people will be sick and others will be sad, I’m not sugar coating it. It’s going to be just like real life is. So what if we only cast white people? That’s my life.” Anyways, he said that Honey Bunny’s character was named after an actual rabbit belonging to Linda Chen (he didn’t actually include her name but referred to her as a “chick on set”) who typed Tortellini’s handwritten script for the film. Chen asked Question Tortellini to watch her rabbit while she was on location. He said no and the rabbit died so, using his white boy guilt, he named a sadistic character after the dead rabbit. How touching. It should be noted Honey Bunny did not get a musical number.

After a long discussion Honey Bunny tells Pumpkin, “I like to shoot guns. Don’t stop me from shooting my gun,” and begins to rob the diner they’re at. I don’t really know what happens next because the timeline in this movie makes absolutely no sense. True, I’ve never seen it, but if a Park film student says, “It took me four viewings to understand the order of events,” you know it’s a convoluted structure. If the movie was edited in order of events, would it still be a cult phenomena? Is the convoluted structure a device employed by filmmakers like Tortellini to get audience members to pay to see their films multiple times in order to figure it out, therefore putting more money in their pocket? Or are editors just bad at their jobs?

Tessa More is a fourth-year journalism major whose favorite David Finchman movie is Frat Club. You can reach them at tmore@ithaca.edu

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buzzsaw asks why... we’re supposed to like god?

First of all, I’m using a lowercase “g” because god has done nothing to deserve the uppercase letter. Some people are very insistent that god is great, and we’re all supposed to love them. Not only do I not love god, I don’t even like them.

So basically, god’s whole claim to fame is that they made the universe and humans and everything. Okay, I guess. The universe is pretty cool from a human’s perspective. But how do we know god even did a good job? We have no frame of reference. Maybe our universe is the one god threw together at the last minute, and it’s actually a pile of garbage compared to some of the other universes out there. The possibility that I’m missing out on a much cooler universe is mildly infuriating to me.

What’s legitimately infuriating is that god just expects everyone to like and obey them all the time. God’s ideal vision was to just have a bunch of humans “in their image” wandering around naked in the Garden of Eden with very little self-awareness.

Then, when humans ate from the Tree of Knowledge, god got all pissed and was like, “I’m kicking you out of my garden. You guys are trash. Humans are trash.” Alright, weirdo. Maybe you shouldn’t have put your important trees in the middle of a public garden if you didn’t want people snacking on them.

Also, I guess Heaven is just super bright all the time. Is there no day/night cycle?

Whatever, god, enjoy your fucked up sleep schedule.

Your editor in Hell, Will Cohan

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show us your report card @buzzsawmagazine

buzzsawmag@gmail.com

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