Study Breaks Magazine Austin Issue

W H Y Y OUR MEN TA L HE A LT H IS NO T Y OUR S CHOOL’S RE S P ONSIBIL I T Y STUDENT DRUG DEALERS WEIGH IN ON THE SHIFTING LANDSCAPE OF COLLEGE NARCOTICS pg. 34

pg.10

Three Ivy League Students and Two Self-Proclaimed Hangover Cures— Which One Works? pg. 40

This University of Florida Professor’s App Could Reduce Police Brutality pg. 16

POP CULTURE, You

With a Major in Can Live in the Now Forever pg. 22

ME ET T E X A S S TAT E’S N E W S T U DE N T BODY PRESIDENT CONNOR CLEGG pg. 48

Kevin Lee and Brooke Evans, two of the fifty thousand homeless students in college, are working to change a system that was built to overlook them.

PAGE 28

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july TA B L E

O F

C O N T E N T S

LIVING IN THE LIBR ARY Kevin Lee and Evan Brooks, t wo homeless college students, are working to change the system that ’s failed them PAGE 10

T HE TA B L E OF C ON T E N T S JULY 2017 • S TUDY BRE AKS.COM

ONLINE THIS MONTH

STUDENT ISSUES Universities have no

COV E R SP O T L IGH T

obligation to provide

LIVING IN THE LIBR ARY

students mental health

Photography by

GROUP WORK

services, but their

Roberto Hernandez

PAGE 14

insistence on doing so sets a

At UC Boulder, members

dangerous precedent

of the Psychedelic Club

By Jonat ha n K i m

PAGE 8

PAGE 20

are working to show the benefits of hallucinogenics

found a way to reduce

DRUGS ON CAMPUS

THE CURE

PAGE 34

end of hangovers?

the danger of routine

With the increasing legalization

By L i nd say Biondy

traf f ic stops

of marijuana and rising use of

By Va la r ie K iel

recreational drugs, progressive

By Gw y n n Lyon s

OFFICE HOURS PAGE 16 A Universit y of Florida professor may have

PAGE 40 Three Ivy League students, two miracle cures and one dauntless guinea pig.

Could student-created Mentis or Thrive + be the

drug laws are being birthed on college campuses

UNIVERSIT Y REPORT

By Liam Chan Hodges

PAGE 18 The biggest news from colleges across the country

By Mig uel Roble s

THE MEAL PL A N

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// JULY 2017

EXTR A CREDIT PAGE 46

PAGE 24

Fordham student Samuel

At your next barbecue,

Robbins took his travel

impress the cousins who

grant on the road to

thought you couldn’t cook

capture the modern,

with simple, sexy elotes

Californian surf culture

By Tyla h Si lva

By L i nd say Biondy

WHAT’S YOUR MAJOR?

#COLLEGEHACKS

PAGE 22

PAGE 26

MEET THE PRESIDENT

Turn your thirst for

With these

PAGE 48

celebrity gossip into a

#FourthofJulyHacks, Abe

Texas State’s Connor

college career by majoring

Lincoln himself couldn’t

Clegg opens up about his

in Pop Culture

touch your patriotism

fear of the dark and love

By K ayla K ibbe

By Liam Chan Hodges

of cracking a cold one

july T A B L E

O F

C O N T E N T S

STUDENT EXHIBITION PAGE 10 Meet the SCAD student and South Korean transplant whose animation has piqued the interest of Pixar

STUDYBREAKS.COM

JULY 2017 //

3

CONTRIBUTORS

STUDENT WRITERS Study Breaks is written exclusively by a team of student interns from across the country.

These writers work with the editorial team to pitch and submit one piece a week for the website, in addition to writing for the monthly print magazine.

VAL AR IE K IEL

LINDSAY BIONDY

GW Y NN LYONS

@valkiel6

@lindsay_biondy

Stanford University

Texas State University

University of Pittsburgh

Linguistics

Advertising

English Writing & Legal Studies

Group Work

Office Hours

Extra Credit and The Cure

PAGE 14

PAGE 16

PAGE 46 & 40

T Y L AH SILVA

MADDIE NGO

MIGUEL ROBLES

@queencyclops

@maddiengo

@miguel.robles96

Emerson College

University of Florida

UC Denver

Writing, Literature and Publishing

English & Economics

English & Journalism

The Meal Plan

Student Exhibition

Around Campus

PAGE 24

PAGE 10

PAGE 18

JONATHA N K IM

LI A M CHA N HODGES

K AY L A K IBBE

University of Texas at Dallas

@mauimongol

Connecticut College

Chemistry

Franklin and Marshall College

English

Student Issues

Government

What’s Your Major?

PAGE 20

#CollegeHacks and Campus Drug

PAGE 22

Fall internships run from September 28 to January 28, and applications close January 14. If interested, email editorial@studybreaks. com with “Student Writing Internship” in the Subject.

Introduce yourself in the body, making sure to include your name, school and major. Please attach at least two samples of your work. Ideal writers are intelligent, funny and talented, though no formal experience is necessary.

Culture PAGE 26 & 34

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// JULY 2017

BEN ZHA NG

R ACHEL MUR R AY

NATALIE DY ER

Duke University

@rach_murr

@natdyerrr

Computer Science

SCAD

Colorado State University

Living in the Library

Fashion marketing

Music Composition

PAGE 28

Student Exhibition

Group Work

PAGE 10

PAGE 14

K ATIE SCHEIDT

ROBERTO HER NA NDEZ

ROBBIE SHORT

@kscheidtphoto

@rhernandez759

@thetallestshort

UW Madison

Paul Quinn College

Yale University

Journalism

Business Management

History

Living in the Library

Living in the Library

The Cure

PAGE 28

PAGE 28

PAGE 40

JASON BOIT

JUSTIN LEAL

@jasonboit

@justleal

Fordham University

Texas State University

Visual Arts

Photography

Extra Credit Photography

Meet the President

PAGE 46

PAGE 48

STUDYBREAKS.COM

FOUNDER: GAL SHWEIKI ART DIRECTOR: IAN FRIEDEL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: MARK STENBERG DIGITAL EDITOR: EMILY BOWEN, VANESSA MARTINEZ, ISABELLE PFEFFER GRAPHIC DESIGNER: BRYAN RAYNES MARKETING: RALPH CHAPLIN ACCOUNTING: ELIZABETH CASTRO DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: MARCUS FLORES DISTRIBUTION: FRANK HARTFIELD, JOSE ESPINOZA, ERNEST WARD PRODUCTION: SHWEIKI MEDIA Study Breaks magazine is published twelve times per year by Shweiki Media, Inc. copyright 2012.

All rights reserved. This magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented without written permission from the publisher. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents of this magazine or of the trademarks of Study Breaks Magazine, Inc., without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for care and return of unsolicited materials. Return postage must accompany material if it is to be returned. In no event shall such material subject this magazine to any claim for holding fees or similar charges. Study Breaks Magazine is an entertainment magazine for the students of San Antonio, San Marcos, Austin and Lubbock, published 12 times a year. CORPORATE OFFICE: STUDY BREAKS MAGAZINE INC., 4954 SPACE CENTER DR., SAN ANTONIO, TX 78218 • CONTACT STUDY BREAKS: EDITORIAL: MARK STENBERG, 210-705-3284 ED I TO R I A L@ S T U DY B R E A K S .

COM • STUDY BREAKS MAGAZINE IS EXCITED TO HELP YOUR BRAND REACH OUR AUDIENCE THROUGH VIDEO AND WRITTEN CONTENT. SALES: RALPH CHAPLIN, 210-892-0951 /// CONTACT@ STUDYBREAKS.COM

JULY 2017 //

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EDITOR’S NOTE

A NOTE FROM THE EDI TOR

LESSONS FROM FROGS friend of mine who goes to law school in San Antonio texted me recently with a question about an idiom he had just heard. He and I share a mutual love for linguistic idiosyncrasies, and we routinely text each other with whatever verbal oddities we encounter. Idioms, though, have something of a special place in my heart, to the extent that, at one point, I very nearly turned my thesis into a compendium of Texan idioms, though, at the last minute, I changed my mind. (Fun fact: I then entertained the idea of interviewing the famous Japanese cannibal, Issei Sagawa, but, ultimately, as I wrote in my foreword, I found that neither topic suited my taste.)

In his message, my friend asked me if I had ever heard the idiom that explained how a frog, if dropped into boiling water, will immediately jump out, but, that if the animal is placed in tepid water, which is then brought to a boil, the frog will fail to notice the gradual increase in temperature and eventually be boiled alive. Custom dictates that, first, I should make it clear that the science behind the boiling frog, as the parable is called, has been proven false, and that you should not engage in animal torture to test the hypothesis yourself. Second, I should note that I had heard the idiom before, and am in fact quite a fan of its philosophy and use the phrase often. I responded to my friend telling him as much, but his question piqued an interesting train of thought.

As with so many things, the idiom has a fresh pertinence in the politics of today. But, as an individual hoping to enjoy a career in the publishing industry, a line of work that has been forced to adapt to the radically shifting ways in which the world consumes its media, I am especially aware of the dangers of stagnation; no one, after all, wants to be the next taxi industry. The protean nature of the publishing world necessitates constant innovation, so I find myself routinely double-checking whether or not the water “Study Breaks” swims in has gotten any warmer without my noticing.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on the week, the magazine you have in your hands is a very young one, which means that continual change is both easy and inevitable. We take pride in augmenting our writing program every four months, critiquing our website habitually and embracing the creative freedom our production system allows us. Change, for “Study Breaks,” is built into the system.

Still, that’s what you’d imagine every frog is saying right up until it croaks. The idea that you have to constantly reevaluate yourself, to check and recheck the temperature of the water, is a concept not unlike UCLA professor and author Jared Diamond’s “constructive paranoia.” Nowadays, the world moves too fast to believe that being fine five minutes ago means that you’re still fine now.

The concept isn’t a novel one, but it’s one that students would do well to take to heart more earnestly than ever. The reality that undergrads of today face is a Red Queen scenario as only the information age could create—you have to re-learn as fast as you can just to stay in one place. Now more than ever, complacency spells failure. The thought can be terrifying, but only if you find yourself on the wrong end of the equation, which is all the more reason to work harder, a mantra that will never serve you poorly in school. So, this summer and in the coming fall, channel your inner frog; test the water every so often, and, if you feel it getting hotter, move.

A

MARK STENBERG,

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EDITOR IN CHIEF | @MarkStenberg3

STUDYBREAKS.COM

JULY 2017 //

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ONE-LINERS FROM THE VAULTS

“At this point, Cleopatra is left utterly speechless, and Antony can now

people.com

casually retreat to his man cave to crack open a cold one with the boys.”

Terry Mooney, Ohio State University William Shakespeare: The Original Fuck-

“Everyone, when

boy?

applying for jobs, for better or worse, becomes that self-conscious friend who feels compelled to exaggerate their sex life.”

Joshua Castro, Penn State University Why You Should Be Lying on Your Resume

“STRANGER THINGS” IS HAPPENING IN A REALLY BIG WAY Remember last summer, when life was simpler, global warming was one year less advanced and an obscure Netflix series called “Stranger Things” was all anyone could talk about? An article from back then, written by Michelle Criqui, a student at James Madison, channeled the excitement the show caused, and acts as a near-perfect primer for the second series, which premieres this fall on October 31.

“So, that’s the conceptual evolution of the alien over the last thirty-eight years: An unknowable cosmic horror becomes an android’s science project.”

Daniel DeAngelo, University of Tampa

ONLINE CLASSES

Why the “Alien” Series Needs to Die

This month on the website, learn how to: Explain why the NBA playoffs sucked • Write like an English major • Get lit safely • Save your favorite show from cancellation • Sneak an emotional support animal on-campus • Talk to Catholics about Trump • Make money off of your worst essays • Mitigate senioritis • Rent your house

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“So yes, the Red Wedding did have

“While my pow-

the unwanted effect

er-trip-inducing

of making you hate

reassurance, ‘It’s

David Bradley, the

okay, I’m on the pill,’

man formerly known

has never invoked

as Filch, but it also

any skepticism from a

introduced a plot line

male partner, I would

so tantalizing that

certainly find myself

maybe Arya should

a lot less willing to

have served it instead

take a guy’s word for

of her fingernail-lad-

it that he’s ‘on the

en puff pastry.”

shot.’”

Karen Juarez, Univer-

Kayla Kibbe, Con-

sity of Illinois Chicago

necticut College

5 Reasons to Binge-

Why Male Birth

watch “Game of

Control Will Never

Thrones” Before

Replace the Pill

July 16

pinterest

SPOTLIGHT

1. quora.com • 2. aviva.com • 3. James Rogers Production • 4.Mercury Tickets • 5. OK-Tho • 6. The Story Board

Fidget Spinners in the Age of Donald Trump As any freshman half way through Intro to Psych can tell you, correlation is not causation. Just because fidget spinners, a toy whose appeal lies in transforming your ner vous energy into personal enter tainment, rose to prominence in the midst of an era rife with political anxiet y, by no means implies that their popularit y has any thing to do with Trump’s elec tion. But, it is curious.

6 RAPPERS WHO SHOULD BE WAY MORE FAMOUS THAN THEY ARE

By Christian Zeitler, Carnegie Mellon

KIRK KNIGHT

STUDYBREAKS.COM

BLU

MICHAEL CHRISTMAS

OPEN MIKE EAGLE

THE PALMER SQUARES

KA

JULY 2017 //

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STUDENT EXHIBITION

JANGYONG LEE A IDE N

By Maddie Ngo, Universit y of Florida /// Photography by Rachel Murray, SCAD

MADDIE NGO: What s teps do you take before you create something?

AIDEN JANGYONG LEE: Before I draw any thing, I visualize the finished painting in my head. If I’m happy with it, I jus t s tar t sketching, which usually takes about three hours to finish.

Af ter I have a rough sketch done, I like to incorporate and add more details later on. Sometimes I implement cer tain moods in my drawings by adjus ting the lighting and hue through dif ferent tools in computer programs.

MN: What is your favorite medium?

AJL: I use the digital brush tool in Corel Painter frequently, because it allows you to utilize various brush sizes, like the Real 2B pencil brush and the blunt sof t pas tel.

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Before moving to America, AIDEN JANGYONG LEE, a sophomore at the Savannah College of Art and Design studying Animation, studied fashion design in Korea and launched his own clothing brand. Now, Lee mostly focuses on digital illustrations and concept drawings that reflect certain moods. His work has over 13,000 project views on his website, which features over 200 original drawings. After completing his studies, Lee hopes to pursue a career as a visual development artist for an animation studio like DreamWorks.

I recently bought a tablet, so that has definitely given me more freedom to create ar t through dif ferent format s.

I think the digital ar t indus tr y has huge potential, so I’m always

tr ying to prac tice creating digital illus trations with dif ferent computer programs.

MN: What inspires your work?

AJL: I’m inspired by sof t

and s trong light, mood and figure. I’ve been drawing ever since I was a kid, and I’ve never s topped enjoying it. I love line, and I respond to light. I’m inspired when I watch

scenes from movies with unique s tories and compositions.

MN: Is there a message you tr y to convey through your work?

AJL: I don’t really incorporate a specific political or social message, but I hope my work implicitly conveys that all humans are the same and that we should be kind to each other. I like creating ar t work that doesn’t have a specific meaning behind it; viewers can feel their own emotions and develop their own interpretations through my illustrations. Naturally, I think I ref lec t cer tain moods or intentions in my drawings, but I hope people can formulate their own diverse messages and themes through my work.

MN: Who are your favorite ar tis t s?

AJL: Jin Kim was the firs t Korean animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios and worked there until 1995. He has such brilliant drawing skills, especially because of

“Thread”

By Aiden Jangyong Lee

STUDYBREAKS.COM

JULY 2017 //

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STUDENT EXHIBITION CONTINUED

his unique and impressive use of line. Kim also lived an incredibly brave life.

Even though he was colorblind, he s till continued to create ar t he was passionate about. I hope through my work I can emulate his perseverance and work ethic.

MN: What is life at SCAD like? Are there are a lot of oppor tunities for Animation majors?

AJL: A lot of animation s tudios visit SCAD each year to hire s tudent s for internship programs.

Many famous animators also come to SCAD for lec tures and dif ferent event s throughout the semes ter. I’m s till an ESL s tudent, which means that I’m s tudying English as my second language, but I’ll be able to of ficially s tar t the animation program in three months.

MN: What are your future plans?

AJL: I’ve always liked set ting big goals for myself; by 2019, I hope to win an international animation prize. By 2020, I hope to work for an animation s tudio like DreamWorks. It would

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also be pret t y amazing if my team and I would eventually be nominated for an Oscar award. By 2025, I hope to return to SCAD and become a professor here. I know I have high hopes, but it pushes me even more to achieve

my dreams.

MN: What ar t classes have you enjoyed the mos t?

AJL: I majored in Fashion Design in Korea and had my own fashion brand for several years. Before I moved to Amer-

ica, I never s tudied animation.

I’ve worked as a fashion illus trator and a film concept ar tis t, but this is the firs t time I’ve delved into this form of ar t. I hope to pursue a career as a visual development ar tis t; they ’re usually

responsible for the digital-design aspec t s of animated film scenes, ranging from charac ters, backgrounds and prop design.

They make s tories and composition while incorporating cer tain moods in each scene.

Above: “Untitled”

By Aiden Jangyong Lee

MN: How did you become interes ted in animation?

AJL: As everyone probably does, I loved watching animated films when I was a kid.

While manag-

STUDYBREAKS.COM

ing my fashion business, I was upset because I didn’t really have enough time just to draw for myself.

I recently watched “Zootopia” and “Inside Out,” and at the end of each

I was moved to tears. I enjoyed managing my fashion business, so I don’t regret the years I spent working in the industry, but I’m excited to pursue some-

thing completely new. I hope I can someday connect to others and make them feel emotions just from watching the stories I bring to life through my drawings.

Clockwise from top left:: “Feel Like a Child”, “Adventure”, “Breathe”, “Coloring”

By Aiden Jangyong Lee

JULY 2017 //

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GROUP WORK

TURN ON, TUNE IN, STAY IN SCHOOL

At the University of Colorado Boulder, members of the Psychedelic Club are working to dismantle the taboos surrounding LSD, shrooms and ecstasy.

By Gwynn Lyons, Stanford University Photography by Natalie Dyer, Colorado State University n popular culture, LSD calls to mind stoned hippies, surrealist art and a Zen-inspired life philosophy. But for the Psychedelic Club at the University of Colorado Boulder, psychedelics are more than just recreational drugs; they are a solution to mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and PTSD. Through weekly meetings, the club promotes awareness about the therapeutic uses of psychedelics, which include LSD, shrooms and ecstasy. Speakers are invited to present on a variety of topics related to psychedelics, from their effects on the brain’s chemistry to strategies to reduce bad trips. The club also does outreach, including handing out leaflets about the positive effects of LSD. “We go up to anyone from a family with two young kids all the way up to people in their nineties,” Nick Morris, founder of the group, says. “We think it’s a universal message that shouldn’t be age, race or gender discriminated.”

People are generally receptive, but not everyone shares the Psychedelic Club’s enthusiastic attitude toward these controversial drugs. “Every once in a while you get someone who tries to argue with you,” Morris says.

“Honestly, if you just listen to them and hear out their viewpoints, you can give them a little reassurance that [psychedelics] are not nearly as bad as they think.” Morris saw first-hand how psychedelics can change peoples’ lives for the better. One of his close friends, after unsuccessfully trying conventional therapies to treat his combat-induced PTSD, finally found relief in ecstasy. “It basically gave him his life back,” says Morris.

Witnessing his friend’s positive experience with psychedelics, as well as wanting to dive into activism around a controversial topic, inspired Morris to start the club. Though most psychedelics are illegal in the United States, the club focuses on education and community rather than consumption. This focus has helped them avoid conflict with the administration and local law enforcement.

However, the university shut down some of the club’s initiatives, including a “trip-sitting” program, where people trained in psychedelic harm-reduction watched over others as they took psychedelics, and a drug testing program, which provided people with kits to test their drugs to make sure they were consuming what they thought they were.

The group prohibits transactions during meetings, but, even so, it is not uncommon for students to come asking to buy or deal drugs. These students are always turned away. According to Morris, “If something were to happen, we would get shut down.”

The Psychedelic Club sustains interest in the group by changing up their events each year. “We don’t want people to think we’re predictable, so that keeps people coming back,” Morris says. The club has gotten so popular—some meetings number over a hundred people, while the average meeting has thirty—that its leadership started a non-profit centered around psychedelic awareness, which has branches on college campuses at the University of Georgia and the University of North Dakota, as well as other non-university affiliated chapters in Denver, Chicago, Sacramento and New Mexico.

Getting a 501(c)3 status was a major achievement for the group, Morris says. Though he and the staff managing the non-profit aren’t paid, they believe so strongly in its mission that they do it on their own time. In Morris’s words, the best thing about being involved in the Psychedelic Club is the people who come up and thank them for what they’re doing. “Honestly, that’s what keeps us going,” he says.

I

L-R: James Gould and Nick Morris

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T H E ST U DY BR E A K S DOSSIER NAME: Psychedelic Club UNIVERSITY: University of Colorado Boulder NUMBER OF MEMBERS: 30 PRESIDENT: James Gould OTHER POSITIONS WITHIN THE GROUP: Vice President, Student Ambassador, Event Planner, Outreach Coordinator DRUG USE: Forbidden at group events FOUNDING DATE: September 2014 LOCATION OF OTHER CHAPTERS: University of Georgia, University of Nor th Dakota; Denver, Chicago, Sacramento, New Mexico

Juan E. Gilbert, Photography via College of Public Health & Health Professions - University of Florida

OFFICE HOURS

POLICE BRUTALITY? THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT It’s not a can of Pepsi, but Professor Juan E. Gilbert’s app “Traffic Stop” aims to reduce the likelihood of violence in routine traffic violations.

By Valarie Kiel, Texas State University

T

he relationship between African Americans and law enforcement has always been a checkered one, but recently, the dynamic has become even more chaotic, leading to multiple deaths across the country.

As a result, Dr. Juan E. Gilbert, chair of the Computer Information Science and Engineering Department and professor at the University of Florida, has found a potential solution to curbing police violence. Dr. Gilbert developed Traffic Stop, an app aimed at “keep[ing] all persons safe during a traffic stop” by means of a

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simple videoconference. Using his creation, instead of a windowside conversation, both parties could communicate with each other from the safety of their cars. Gilbert hopes that Traffic Stop will allow each group to feel much safer in the interaction, which should drastically reduce the danger of routine traffic violations.

Could you tell me how you came up with the idea for a virtual traffic-stop app?

In the past few years, it was frustrating for my students and I to witness these horrific events in the media regarding law-enforcement officers and civilians, so we asked ourselves if there was anything we could do to keep the community safe and keep both parties protected.

As a result, we noted some issues between the parties, namely, that both were scared for their lives and afraid of how the other would act. My students and I then realized that in some areas, like Washington D.C. for example, I could get a speeding ticket without getting pulled over. So, why couldn’t we implement something like that when you’re pulled over for other reasons?

What locations does the virtual traffic-stop app work in?

We want it to be accessible everywhere across the U.S. I think because of previous altercations between civilians and police officers have happened in multiple locations, it’s important that we make the Traffic Stop app available to everyone.

So, how does it work?

For civilians, first you add vehicles that you drive to the app. Users can then take a picture of their driver’s license, proof of insurance and vehicle registration for each car. There will also be a sticker given to people who downloaded the app to put on the rear of the vehicle, so law enforcement knows that you are linked with the software.

Police officers will then have access to the app through their car’s laptop. From there, the cop can log in the vehicle’s license plate number, which will allow him to see the vehicle registration, driver’s license and proof of insurance from the owner. The app can also identify if there might be a language barrier or any disabilities of the driver.

Then, the officer can have a videoconference with the driver, explaining to the driver the reason for pulling them over. Officers can also issue tickets through the app.

What do police officers think about the app?

Some of the officers had technical questions, and a few had questions about liability, but, overall, support was split pretty evenly.

When do you plan to release the app?

Although the product is still in the works, we plan to release it this summer once a pilot is complete.

How do you think it will impact the driver/officer relationship?

I think it doesn’t change much; it just keeps both parties safe, which is what’s most important. Some of the most common concerns we hear from both parties are “I was scared for my life” or “I felt threatened.” The idea behind the app is that it doesn’t prohibit you from getting out of the car; it just says that you don’t really need a reason to. Now, obviously, there are other cases more serious where an officer must get out of the car, but for miniscule reasons, this can be a beneficial option for both parties.

T H E C .V. NAME: Juan E. Gilber t UNIVERSIT Y: Universit y of Florida APP: Traf fic Stop MINI WEB-SERIES NAME: Lab Daze (labdaze.com) EDUCATION: Clemson UNIVERSIT Y ACADEMIC FOCUS: Computer Information Science

Let us take care of all your printing needs Maga zines C at alogs Pos tc ards C alendar s & Broc hures

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JULY 2017 //

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UNIVERSITY REPORT

AROUND CAMPUS

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

The biggest news from colleges across the country.

By Miguel Robles, University of Colorado Denver

QUOTE OF THE MONTH “Even if the graduate would enjoy hearing the speaker trash the president, grandpa or grandma—who keep Fox News on all day— might not. And it’s his day, too.”

Rick Hampson, USA Today

THE SPOTLIGHT: SANCTUARY NO MORE n the midst of anti-immigration fervor, Texas has passed a law that effectively bans sanctuary cities.

Under the infamous SB4, Texas law enforcement are required to comply with federal immigration policy; failure to comply could result in termination or even jail time. The controversial bill steps up the deportation effort by allowing law enforcement to question the immigration status of anyone they detain.

In addition to law enforcement, SB4 forces college administrators to comply, which could result in college students being deported for minor discretions, such as underage drinking.

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Ferrell in Charge In the midst of a graduation season rife with politics, Will Ferrell put the fun back in walking the stage. The legendar y comedian and USC alum delivered the commencement speech at his alma mater, an oration that included a lit tle bit of ever y thing: jabs at President Trump, moments of insight and scat terings of his self-deprecating humor. The cherr y on top was Ferrell’s breaking into song to conclude the speech, as he belted out “I Will Always Love You” to the California crowd.

Hear t Guard Eckerd College became only the twenty-fif th college to receive the designation of “Hear tSafe Campus,” an award bestowed by the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Ser vices Foundation (NCEMSF). The achievement, which has been handed out since 2013, acknowledges campuses with an emergency medicalresponse organization. At Eckerd, any medical emergency is handled by on-site professionals who ac t as the first line of defense for sick students.

Image via Washington Post

Loaded and Packing A new Georgia law allows those with a concealed firearm permit to carry concealed handguns at tailgating events at public universities.

Wikimedia Commons

THE BUZZ

Class Politics Binghamton University professor Patrick Madden has announced his candidacy for the United States Congress in New York’s 22nd congressional district.

Bad Noose A noose was found hanging at the National Museum of African-American History, joining similar noose hangings at sites representing AfricanAmerican history at D.C. universities, American University and George Washington University.

SODA POMP

An online petition, signed by alumni and students, is going around Brown University in an effort to halt the school’s plan to award PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi an honorary award, due to her support of President Trump.

IN MEMORIAM Sam Houston State freshman Dakota Renee Goss, who tragically passed away after a car accident, was honored with a candlelight vigil last month.

SURVIVOR Michaela Bradshaw

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT The murder charges filed against Reginald Kimbro, who is charged with killing former TCU student Molly Matheson, have been upgraded to capital murder af ter prosecutors found evidence of sexual assault.

FOCUS ON THE STARS Six students from South Plains College were selec ted to par ticipate in NASA’s Communit y College Aerospace Scholars program. SURVIVOR MICHAEL A BR ADSHAW, a recent TCU alumna, said her study abroad experience helped her advance in her appearance on “Sur vivor.”

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STUDENT ISSUES

YOUR MENTAL HEALTH IS NOT YOUR SCHOOL’S RESPONSIBILITY

Universities across the country are increasingly being held responsible for the psychological well-being of their students, which is a slippery, and misguided, slope.

By Jonathan Kim, University of Texas at Dallas he cold fact is that every college is essentially a business whose service is to provide an education, or rather to supply degrees, for a high price in a notoriously competitive market.

This fact is why colleges are increasingly tending toward a more capitalist attitude when dealing with finances, hence the upsizing in facilities, the waning in faculty salaries and the swelling of student costs. Even with governmental help, colleges have no obligation to provide resources, like those in mental-health care, that don’t contribute in some way to this degree-for-fee business.

Yet many, if not most, American colleges offer mental-health services, which actually isn’t legally required, in a keen response to the rising rates of depression among students. Though it’s true that the supply of professionals is too scant to properly meet the growing, and now burdening, demands of students seeking help, the blame for this supply-demand gap is often wrongfully placed on colleges as institutions, as if they are the ones responsible for causing, and thus treating, the various mental problems, which are usually outside collegiate control, that inflict their students.

Many of such problems are environmental. When students transition out of high school, they aren’t just moving up to a higher grade, but are being instantly confronted with impending adulthood. Students who have been too sheltered, by no fault of their own, in their pre-college years, are usually too callow to address the intense stressors associated with this real, yet unfamiliar, adult world. Adaptation is a learned skill that takes experience in failure and resilience, and many college students simply haven’t had the chance to develop that skill, while immediately being thrown into an autonomous role that mandates future planning, nearly finite decisions and clear-cut execution. Thus, from this unprepared college introduction erupts, unsurprisingly, one of life’s most universal watersheds—the “quarter-life crisis.”

And this “quarter-life crisis,” in varying degrees, usually well disguises itself with symptoms congruent with mental illness, namely depression and anxiety. Inhibited motivation and interest, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts and sometimes incapacitating angst, amongst others symptoms, are a natural occurrence among young adults who are in search for their life’s calling. But such crisis is indiscriminate of student status; it is beyond college jurisdiction, and those affected would’ve likely had their career-related depression and anxiety regardless of whether they were in school or not.

T

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Many articles, such as ones from “Newsweek” and the “Washington Post,” make anecdotal cases that a student’s mental suffering while in college is primarily caused by college. Clearly, this is an inappropriate relation; correlation doesn’t imply causation.

To blame college for causing certain mental illnesses is to ignore the societal considerations that colleges have no control over, and thus would be to cross over from immaturity to ignorance.

But the true fault doesn’t just lie in immaturity or ignorance, but rather in the harsher consequence when the two collide— self-entitlement. Even when colleges aren’t legally required to provide mental health services, they still do, especially with the help of governmental funding for programs like suicide prevention. Yet, students, even as featured in the “New York Times,” seem unappreciative of not only their colleges for the treatment provided, but also the professionals for offering a quality of service that students believe is inadequate. These students complain about long waits and involuntary hospital admissions, while simultaneously criticizing schools for under-marketing their services and not taking action when a student ends up committing a tragic act, suicidal or not.

In the past, when students commit suicide on campus, they were usually accountable for their actions, not the colleges.

Only recently, most notably since the 2000 death of Elizabeth Shin, who took her life by self-immolation at MIT, have movements begun to shift the blame for suicides onto schools, as if the students who committed the acts weren’t adults capable of making their own decisions. Most of these movements are in the form of distraught parents who not only seek reparation for their loved ones’ deaths, but also surreptitiously try to put colleges back in loco parentis, which legal scholars consider as part of a bygone age.

As more college students become depressed and anxious due to school or career-related stresses, relationship problems or even continuing treatment from high school, they should remember that colleges are businesses that they choose to pay for certain services, and be thankful when their institutions are willing to provide mental-health services, even when not obligated by legal contract.

Colleges are not the enemies in the war against mental health stigma, but rather immaturity and ignorance. The real battle comes not from the fact that colleges aren’t good enough, but from the self-entitlement among students that colleges should be good enough. Counselors aren’t babysitters who made promise to parents to take care of students’ every need. But most importantly, colleges aren’t substitute parents.

Darcy cartoon | cleveland.com

The Odysessey Online

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WH AT’S YOUR M A JOR

KEY TERMS CULTUR AL STUDIES: The most academic way to explain that you’re majoring in Not Academics.

ENTERTAINMENT: Preceded by “I work in,” this is the vague way you’ll refer to your future job when people at cocktail parties ask what you do.

AVERAGE SALARY

$

39,000

POP CULTURE This Month, We’re Studying:

By Kayla Kibbe, Connecticut College

ver wish academics were a little less academic? With a major in Pop Culture at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University, students can move away from tired subjects like arts and sciences, and instead focus their educational pursuits on the here and now and soon to be forgotten, devoting their undergrad years to the study of what really defines civilization as we know it. As the study of Kim Kardashian, social media and everything else your parents hate, it’s basically Millennial Studies, and getting a degree in it is the easiest way to graduate from college and still disappoint your family.

E

RYAN SEACREST: Omnipresent father, son and holy spirit of the entertainment biz.

Has a hand behind the scenes in pretty much everything you’ve seen on TV. Is rumored to have built the Kardashians in his basement lair.

SOCIAL MEDIA: The only textbooks you’ll need.

Forget eBooks, just download Twitter. Also your only skill on LinkedIn. MAINSTREAM: Your field of study is anything everyone else is into, whether it’s unicorn-flavored beverages or Kylie Lip Kits. Hipsters need not apply.

MYTH AND TRUTH MYTH: Pop culture is all about celebrities.

TRUTH: The Pop Culture major actually covers a wide range of topics and trends, including but not limited to celebs. If it’s basic AF, it’s on the syllabus.

MYTH: Pop culture is fleeting by definition. There’s no point in studying something that’s just going to be forgotten.

TRUTH: Exactly, pop culture moves fast, so we need trained professionals to archive our favorite memes while they’re hot. How else are we going to remember to tell our grandchildren about Harambe?

MYTH: Pop culture is low culture.

TRUTH: Well, yeah, there’s a reason it’s not considered high culture. But occasionally there’s some overlap, like when everyone gets really into a movie adaptation of an important book. #GatsbyParty.

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Fabrice Sommier 5

POT ENTIAL JOBS JOURNALIST: Ac tual journalists might disagree with you on this one, but with a degree in Pop Culture, you can be the one to give America answers to the real questions. Like whether or not Kim K has but t implants.

PSEUDO-CELEBRITY: This is what those actual journalists will probably call you instead if you’re breaking the latest hardhitting celebrity gossip every night on E! News.

Sometimes those Giuliana Rancic types manage to climb the ranks to their own heights of failed reality television.

PAPARAZZI: You know the ins and outs of the pop culture world, plus you already have several years of experience in internet stalking, why not put those skills to good use and stalk celebrities professionally?

CONVERSATION STARTERS “I, too, am interested in things that everyone else is also interested in.”

“Did you know that ‘pop’ stands for ‘popular?’ Wild, right? Most people don’t know that.”

“Team TMZ or E! News?”

“If you use Twitter to do your homework, what do you do to procrastinate?”

FUN FACT Shakespeare was kind of the world’s first pop star. If you’ve ever slept through a high school English class, you know good old Billy Shakespeare is credited with being one of the first to create enter tainment for the masses, paving the way for centuries of pop culture superstars to come.

Without Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have Britney.

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sharedappetite.com

THE MEAL PLAN

A-MAIZING MEXICAN STREET CORN Start grilling season right.

By Tylah Silva, Emerson College

ndependence Day is the only day of the year when it’s acceptable to wear stars-and-stripes shorts, and it’s the best day of the year for barbecue. It’s not a Fourth of July without a gathering of dads around the grill, each with a beer in hand, as they stare at the alpha dad while he pokes at the burgers and franks.

Whether you’re in a backyard or at a campsite, the aroma of sunscreen and mosquito repellent hangs heavily in the air. Back in the day, all you had to worry about bringing to the cookout was your water-wings and a towel, but now that you’re older, everyone’s looking to you to contribute to the festive smorgasbord.

You could go traditional with steak tips, but your vegetarian cousin is in town, and he’ll give you a weird look the entire night. Fruit salad’s cool, but why be ordinary with your food choice when you can dazzle the fam? Let grandma know that you’re not a little kid anymore by bringing a plate that says, “I’m an adult now, and I think for myself.” Mexican street corn says not only that, but that you’re worldly and original.

Mexican street corn, or elote, is actually corn on the cob grilled and slathered in a mayonnaise-and-sour-cream mix with all kinds of yummy spices. The maize dish is traditionally served on the streets of Mexico, and is either prepared with a stick through the center or with the husk pulled down to provide a grip. It’s possible to serve elote off the cob with all the fixings in a bowl, but it’s so much more fun to eat it with the stick. In the U.S., Mexican street corn can be found in a number of states and is eaten the same way.

Personally, I find that the dish tastes best when grilled by a sidewalk vendor; however, it’s a delicious snack in any situation, especially when camping. Prepare beforehand by shucking the corn and fixing the toppings in a separate bowl. Then, after starting the fire or sparking up the grill, cook the corn in a skillet or get out the tin foil to put it over the fire. Alternatively, and here’s where those sticks get fun, everyone can cook their own ear of corn over the campfire like they’re roasting marshmallows. Then just slather on the toppings, throw some parmesan cheese and chili powder on, and you’re good to go.

This spicier cousin to buttered corn on the cob is a great treat to share with the family, because, ultimately, the Fourth of July might be about celebrating a bunch of old, dead, slave owners on paper, but at its core, the holiday is about spending the day with family eating great food. And if you show up with Mexican street corn, you’re guaranteed to be doing just that.

I

STUDYBREAKS.COM

Grilled Mexican Street Corn Prep time 10 mins Cook time 15 mins Total time 25 mins Serves 4 Ingredients + 4 ears corn + ½ cup mayonnaise + 1½ cups sour cream + ¼ cup freshly chopped cilantro + 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan + 1 lime, juiced + Red chili powder, to taste + 2 limes cut into wedges, for garnish Instructions 1. Remove the husks of the corn, leaving the core attached. Grill the corn, turning once on a hot grill or cast iron pan, until it starts to get slightly charred.

2. In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, sour cream and cilantro.

Remove the corn from the grill and slather with the mayonnaise mix.

Squeeze the lime juice over the corn and heavily season with parmesan.

Sprinkle with chili powder.

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#COLLEGEH ACKS

STUDY BREAKS PRESENTS

#FOURTHOFJULYHACKS Love your country?

Use these #hacks to aggressively prove your patriotism.

By Liam Chan Hodges, Franklin and Marshall College

THE ENDORSEMENT:

ROOT BEER

Forget a passport, a driver’s license or a birth certificate—the only way to truly identify an American is by how they celebrate the Fourth of July. Now, some people may think that the best way to celebrate this great country’s independence is through time spent with family, appreciating the freedom and equality that this nation’s existence has granted its citizens. Here in America, these silly people are what we would refer to as communists. The world’s greatest holiday is not about the frivolous remembrance of those greats that came before us; instead, it is about the celebration of cheap beer, foreign-made fireworks and motherfucking eagles printed on motherfucking everything.

Real Talk Being born in America is an incredible gift. We have been blessed with far more freedom, equality and stability than the vast majority of other nations. So, it is important to remember, especially on the day that celebrates the formation of the United States, that it took an immense amount of sacrifice to create America as we know it.

So honor those who have fought, and continue to fight, the ongoing battle to ensure that every American is equal and able to pursue happiness in this great nation.

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If you really want to bleed red, white and blue, you need to pick up a beer of the non-alcoholic variety. As everyone knows, root beer is a deliciously sweet soda pop that was first made in 1875 from the extract of a sassafras plant. However, what you may not have considered is that the beverage is actually one of the most American drinks on the planet, in the sense that the rest of the world hates it. So if you’re driving this Fourth of July, leave your booze at home, and instead crack open this sweet, fizzy allegory for the worldwide distaste for America.

#COLLEGEHACKS

HOW

Fireworks There is nothing more American than blowing off the tips of your fingers. From professional athletes to famous actors, Americans everywhere celebrate their freedom by sending their digits skyward.

Beer Oh, the drink of the gods. Nothing singles you out as a true patriot quite like a cold can of beer decorated with America’s colors.

Double the points if you drink it like a frat star. Triple the points if you litter the cans out in nature.

BBQ Burgers and hotdogs, baby, this is what George Washington crossed the Delaware for.

Guns Lock and load, because if you’re a true, blue American cowboy, fireworks ain’t risky enough.

Defend your homestead, blast some squirrels or just pose for some pictures sporting your AR-15 and American flag swim trunks.

ARE YOU? Take this quick and easy quiz to find out if you really are a true patriot. Check all that apply. Throw back a cold one for every question that you answer yes to.

1.

The national anthem makes you cry.

2.

The only foods you eat are red, white and blue.

3.

The thought of a broken ice cream machine at McDonald’s scares you more than socialism.

4.

You sent a Mother’s Day card to the manufacturers of the MOAB.

5.

Your three favorite beasts are the bald eagle, the grizzly bear and the American military.

6.

You live in the greatest country in the world.

7.

You’ve chugged a beer for the last six questions and you’re not even buzzed.

VISUAL RULE A MOU N T OF A LCOHOL CONSU MED

HOW TO: FOURTH OF JULY LIKE AN AMERICAN

NU MBER OF FINGER S BLOW N OFF BY FIR EWOR K S STUDYBREAKS.COM

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More than fifty thousand college students are homeless, but for a variety of political reasons, the crisis rarely receives attention. Students Kevin Lee and Brooke Evans are working to fix that.

Written by:

By Ben Zhang, Duke University Photography by: Katie Schiedt, UW-Madison and Roberto Hernandez, Paul Quinn College

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UW-Madison student Brooke Evans STUDYBREAKS.COM

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Paul Quinn College student Kevin Lee

F

Earlier this year, the University of Wisconsin-Madison began work on a groundbreaking project, one that doesn’t involve constructing a new student union or expanding the school’s football stadium. Rather, it aims to make UWMadison the first college in the country to accept food stamps at markets and dining halls.

or McNair Scholar Brooke Evans, a first-generation homeless student and the project’s architect, the move was an important step in the right direction. Evans is part of the growing, college-going homeless population in the United States. For some, the statistics may be surprising. Data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) indicates that around fifty-nine thousand college students in the U.S. are homeless—and due to underreporting, the actual figure may be much higher.

Furthermore, a lab at UW-Madison, at which Evans previously worked as an undergraduate research assistant, recently released the results of a study that encompassed seventy community colleges in twenty-four different states; of the polled students, 14 percent were found to be homeless. Looking at the numbers, it is hard to fathom why student homelessness has only recently begun to accumulate attention in the media. Evans has a simple explanation: “Students like me didn’t use to go to college.”

When Evans was six, her father left her family home, leaving her mother to provide for her three children on her own. Money was tight, so Evans worked from elementary to high school to help pay the family bills.

Her relationship with her mother, who struggled with alcoholism and saw her daughter as little more than a nuisance, was always strained. After graduating from high school in 2010, Evans began college at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. During her first midterm exams, her mother informed her that she would no longer be able to return home. At the age of nineteen, Evans found herself without a place to live. And so, a seemingly unending quest for housing began.

What does it mean to be homeless?

It’s a simple question, but the answer is more complicated than one might expect. For many years, Evans says, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) carried a narrow definition for homelessness; only those residing in a community shelter would receive an official designation. Likewise, Evans notes that the FAFSA’s language was equally limited. She is especially critical of the dependency override process, which she calls an “inconsistent and sometimes ruthless

practice.”

Shelters, however, are simply one level on the hierarchy of homeless conditions.

“There are many other people who are homeless in the cracks of society that you don’t see,” Evans says. “Those people live in their car, garages, basements, storage units, with strangers or with people from work, maybe family if they’re lucky. And unfortunately, some of them end up in sex trafficking.”

Changes have been made. After receiving pushback from homeless advocates, HUD modified its definition of homelessness in 2012 to make it more inclusive.

Additionally, FAFSA revisions that simplify the process for verifying students’ homelessness will go into effect next year, thanks in large part to the efforts of Senator Patty Murray of Washington.

Kevin Lee knows what it feels like to lack a permanent residence, though it wasn’t always that way. Growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, his mother Tamara worked for the Federal Reserve Bank, and he had everything that a kid could ever want. Everything changed, however, when Lee was sixteen.

A bad snowstorm hit, leading to a flood that rendered his home uninhabitable. Lee and his mother reached out to family and friends, but received no assistance or support. Finding a place to sleep at night soon became a formidable challenge.

“We found ourselves living out of trash bags, staying at different places, day to day on people’s couches,” Lee recalls. All the while, he was still attending high school. Meanwhile, Lee’s mother was dealing with several health issues. Local doctors provided little relief, so a friend from Atlanta suggested that Tamara come down to Georgia and try the physicians there.

She obliged, taking her son with her.

Upon arriving in Atlanta, Lee and his mother began rooming with the friend who had invited them, only to find that he was a gambling addict who sometimes couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill. A search for a new place to live soon commenced, ultimately culminating in a home in Covington, Georgia. Finally, things were starting to look up.

When Lee tried to sign up for school, however, problems again arose. He was informed that some of the credits he had received in Pennsylvania would not transfer, so instead of entering his senior year, he would only be eligible to enroll as a sophomore. School officials informed Lee of a possible saving grace—the McKinney-Vento Act, a federal law that, among other things, helps homeless youth obtain transportation to and from school. When he told his mother, Lee says, she immediately said to him, “We’re going back to Pittsburgh so you can graduate.”

Lee began calling high schools as soon as he got back to his hometown. He found, however, that the vast majority of them would not accept him as a student without a permanent address. Mentioning the McKinney-Vento Act did not help— somehow, none of the schools he talked with had heard of the law. At one point, Lee’s old school, located in an affluent neighborhood, was ready to admit him, but balked when Lee gave an

STUDYBREAKS.COM

address in an urban neighborhood as a pickup spot.

Eventually, after spending some time in a homeless shelter, Lee and his mother were able to move to an apartment, allowing Lee to sign up for school. After being told that he would not be able to graduate on time, he did not give up. Lee searched around and discovered a program that would let him take online classes in addition to his normal coursework. He graduated two months later at the top of his class, to the amazement of the school administrators.

Homelessness, says Evans, is an endless series of tradeoffs, “almost like making a pros and cons list for every option.” She quickly learned that even an unsuspecting grandmother could become abusive and lead one into conditions of servitude—or worse. “Is having a space with fresh linen, a pillow, a bed, door, access to water and heat enough to justify me being sexually abused?” she says. “Sometimes, the answer was yes.”

Despite constantly suffering from conditions such as scabies and infestation, Evans was eventually able to transfer from UW-La Crosse to UW-Madison in the fall of 2012, hoping for more financial aid and a better academic fit. At her new school, however, a whole new set of challenges awaited her.

At UW-Madison, Evans was often the target of insensitive and judgmental comments. An associate dean, for example, once remarked, “Even if we have homeless students, they’re probably just mentally ill.” Moreover, Evans once attempted to enter the dating scene with an out-of-state student from Rochester, New York; he told her his mother had warned him that women like Evans just wanted to get pregnant so they could take all of his money. Needless to say, the relationship never really got off the ground. At this point, Evans says, “I lost faith in a lot of people.”

She continued to sleep wherever she could, spending many nights in her car, which lacked heating and A/C. Failing grades, however, would force Evans to drop out of UW-Madison in 2013. Before she left, an adviser said to her, “You know, Brooke,

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lots of women leave school. So why don’t you leave, take some time off, get a good job, get married, have some kids and then can come back when you can afford it?”

As a woman, Evans was hurt by the remark and its implications. Nevertheless, she applied for readmission a year later and was accepted. She returned to UW-Madison with a renewed vigor, ready to take on the system that had, in the words of one administrator, “failed” her.

Back at school, Evans created a task force to tackle housing and food insecurity that was subsequently replicated at several schools across the University of Wisconsin System. Working with the student government, she was also able to create a campus food pantry at UW-Madison.

One of Evans’ major breakthroughs involved the university’s FASTrack program, which uses grants to help economically disadvantaged in-state undergraduates pay for their tuition and cost of living. Previously, FASTrack only accepted FAFSA-dependent students—a tough break for students like Evans, who, by virtue of being homeless, are FAFSA independent.

After much campaigning and the hiring of a new financial-aid director, the financially dependent clause was removed. The retooled FASTrack program will commence this fall.

For Evans, who has racked up over $85,000 in student loan debt, the news was bittersweet. “You can do a lot of work in this area,” she says, “but by the time your changes get implemented, you’ll probably be gone.” Still, she has pushed on with her work.

In recent years, she has testified for the National Commission on Hunger and presented on student homelessness and food insecurity for the Obama administration. One day, Evans hopes to create the first national scholarship for homeless college students.

After a chance recommendation by a friend, Lee made his way to Paul Quinn College in the summer of 2014. During his first semester, he won a business-pitch competition to start a food truck venture in the area around campus, a federally recognized food desert. With the assistance of Paul Quinn president Michael Sorrell, whom he views as a mentor and father figure, Lee was able to participate in programs such as INROADS and DukeImmerse. In 2015, he was designated an HBCU AllStar, which enabled him to work with the White House on initiatives to assist homeless students.

Though Lee has received a full-ride Presidential Scholarship, the FAFSA still recognizes him as homeless. Over breaks, Paul Quinn College, which recognizes his condition, allows him to stay on campus, provided that he work while doing so.

Lee has a passion for entrepreneurship; along with majoring in Business, he hopes to go to law school and work in commercial real estate someday. He maintains a close relationship with his mother; when she spent some time in a shelter in Fort Worth, he made the half-hour drive to see her every day. Lee is currently working on an initiative he created called “Homeless to Hopeful,” which seeks to help homeless students become independent upon graduation by pairing them up with sponsor families.

When it comes to making sure that homeless students get the

same opportunities as others, Lee suggests that having homeless liaisons would be beneficial, as would more organizations such as the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY). But more importantly, he says, people need to realize that anyone can be homeless, not just “someone living on the street, someone panhandling for money,” as he himself once thought.

Students must also learn how to identify their own homelessness. Many of them, Lee says, fit the definition of homeless, such as those who sleep on the couches of friends, but fail to recognize their condition. Others, as Evans points out, still struggle to describe themselves as homeless, due to the associated stigma and stereotypes.

Schools can also do more. A change in philosophy may help; according to Evans, many colleges have adopted a utilitarian model that prioritizes small improvements in the quality of life for a majority of financially secure students over small improvements for a minority of low-income students. In addition, Evans says that schools are unwilling to acknowledge or research more into their homeless populations. “They don’t want to know,” she explains, “because knowing then entails a duty, and they don’t want to deal with it.”

Colleges would do well to pay more attention to students like Lee and Evans, who have much to tell. Of course, getting too caught up in individual stories, especially the successful ones, can be harmful. After all, no one person can represent the entirety of a movement on their own, and individual experiences vary greatly; for instance, Paul Quinn College has an enroll-

STUDYBREAKS.COM

ment of under five hundred students, while UW-Madison’s student population numbers more than forty-three thousand.

But taking the time to listen may inspire perhaps the most important qualities of all—compassion and empathy. It’s no secret that the homeless community is still heavily stigmatized in the United States. As Evans notes, for example, she was alive when the New York Supreme Court helped guarantee homeless citizens the right to vote in 1992. And who hasn’t heard the classic story of a small child who sees a homeless person outside and hands them money for a meal? The trouble is, says Evans, these tales usually just garner praise for the donor, and the individual in need becomes lost in the picture.

In the end, we must remember that those who are homeless are regular people; they look many different ways, they do many different things, they work jobs and they have talents. As Lee puts it, “Don’t treat me a certain way just because of my circumstance. Don’t just assume. Really get the backstory of individuals’ lives and help them from there.”

Evans, who has accepted a fellowship after graduating in May, is currently searching for her next living situation, and Lee is moving into his final year of college. Though their futures are uncertain, one thing is for sure: They, and thousands of other homeless students across the country, will continue to fight on for a better life and a more equitable future.

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3 4 • S T U D Y B R E A K S M A G A Z I N E /// D R U G S O N C A M P U S

More students are using recreational drugs than ever before, so we spoke with several dealers to better understand the college drug-bubble and the role it plays in shaping national drug policy.

B Y L I A M C H A N HOD GE S , F R A N K L I N A N D M A R SH A L L C OL L E GE

3 5 • S T U D Y B R E A K S M A G A Z I N E /// D R U G S O N C A M P U S

DRUG USE ON CAMPUS, ACCORDING TO THE DEALERS

In terms of drug culture, the United States has entered into a bizarre era, one characterized by a discrepancy between policy and reality, as the country seems unable to decide where it stands in regard to its love/hate relationship with illicit substances.

On one hand, more Americans than ever are engaging in the consumption of both legal and illegal narcotics. According to researchers at the University of Michigan who conducted a nationwide study called “Monitoring the Future,” the daily use of marijuana by college students is the highest it’s been in thirty years, and an astounding one in twenty students smokes or digests some form of the substance every twenty-four hours.

And, according to the study, it’s not just marijuana usage that’s on the rise.

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THE

Michigan study found that 51 percent of full-time college students had used an illicit substance at some point in their lives, and that 39 percent of those surveyed had consumed such a substance within the last year. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, though Americans only account for about 4 percent of the world’s population, they consume nearly twothirds of its illegal drugs, a feat of hedonistic supremacy that is nothing short of mind boggling. From South American coca farms to Afghan poppy fields, drug cartels across the globe have Americans to thank for their booming business. However, the American thirst for narcotics doesn’t stop with the illicit, as demand for prescription drugs is on the rise as well. In a separate study, the National Institute on Drug Abuse announced that the U.S. consumes nearly 100 percent of the Vicodin produced worldwide and about 81 percent of the Percocet.

On the other hand, despite this love for drugs, or perhaps because of it, America is also home to a massive number of incarcerated individuals, the largest per capita of any country; and, according to the 2016 Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), one in every five of these prisoners is behind bars due to a nonviolent drug offense. Of those imprisoned for drug-related crimes, the majority of them are people of color from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

According to the PPI, though African Americans make up only 14 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 40 percent of the prison population; whereas Americans of Caucasian descent, who account for 65 percent of the nation’s population, represent only 39 percent of its incarcerated population. This is the harsh reality of prison disparity in America, and drugs and the laws that govern their usage happen to be a major vehicle for this inequality.

THE CAMPUS BUBBLE

One place that both personifies this inequality and, at the same time, offers an oasis from it, is the college campus. When it comes to drugs, universities hesitate to enforce laws that could potentially cast them or their students in a poor light. By employing campus police and setting their own administrative rules, colleges ensure that students rarely face prosecution for drug offenses. This is especially true for small private colleges that rely on the donations of wealthy parents and alumni to support their endowments. According to Inside Higher Ed (IHE), between 2012-13, the last available time frame for federal data on the topic, small, prestigious, private colleges across the nation exhibited large discrepancies between students referred for disciplinary action for drug-abuse violations and those who were actually arrested for such violations. In one year, at Wesleyan, over five hundred students were referred for disciplinary action involving illegal-narcotics abuse on campus, but only four students were arrested. In the same year, at Colgate University, nearly two hundred-fifty students were referred and only six were arrested. During those same years, at Oberlin College, Kenyon College, Reed College and Occidental College, the discrepancies were similar—disciplinary referrals in the hundreds and arrests in the single digits. This reality illustrates the disparity between individuals of color from low-income backgrounds who face jail time for use or possession of narcotics, and the college users who may face only a short suspension.

As a result of this insularity, finding and obtaining drugs on a college campus is absurdly easy. Whether it’s soft like weed, prescription like ADDERALL and Xanax or party-oriented like molly, coke and acid, the market for drugs is booming. And, as a student, I am familiar, in a general sense, with the drug culture and the extent to which a bubble of sovereignty protects it on campus. Still, I wanted to get a better understanding of just how protected college kids are from the laws that send thousands of young people of lower socioeconomic standing to prison. To do so, I spoke with two local, student dealers, who I’ll call Lee and Reynolds. Both young men sell drugs, but they look far different than the typical image you might associate with the term “drug dealer.” The truth of the matter is, though they hail from different backgrounds—Reynolds comes from an upper-class Caucasian family, whereas Lee is of Asian descent and grew up without financial security—they’re both just typical college kids. Two typical college kids who make money selling narcotics.

Of course, the reason that drugs are so profitable is because those who sell them take on a sizable risk. However, strangely enough, neither Reynolds nor Lee seems particularly worried about the consequences that they could face. Their insouciance stems from a combination of two factors, the first of which is the normalization of drug use within college culture, and the second is the perception of safety that the college bubble provides. Lee shared this view, saying, “There have been a handful of times when I was nervous about the possibility of getting caught. For the most part though, as long as you’re not an idiot, administration and campus police don’t come after you.

A drug bust is almost worse for the school’s publicity than it would be for me.”

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says that he’s never had anything that he’d consider a close call, and that even if the school caught him, that it wouldn’t mean much. “Worse comes to worse,” he says, “I’d get suspended for a semester or two, which would obviously suck, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I mean my parents would be pissed, but I’d live.”

Explanatory factors aside, I was still stunned by their nonchalance. Had I only been talking with Reynolds, I might have been able to attribute his confidence to the privilege his family’s wealth has afforded him. However, Lee had an almost-identical attitude.

Not only did the two students seem unworried about the possible legal repercussions of their actions, they also seemed unfazed by the health consequences of drug use. It’s not as though they don’t care about the wellbeing of others though; rather, they seemed to believe that if students want to introduce unhealthy substances into their bodies, then that was their prerogative. Lee, in particular, felt unremorseful, because he considers the drugs he sells to be relatively safe. “It’s weed and Adderall,” he says. “Worst case scenario, they sleep through a class or study a little too hard. I never sell anything that I wouldn’t take myself. Of course I don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but if they want to do drugs, that’s their problem.” When asked, Reynolds became visibly annoyed. “Fuck that,” he says, “kids die from alcohol poisoning all the time. The majority of what I sell is weed, and no one dies off weed. I’ll feel guilty the day liquor stores do.”

The bottom line is that, for better or worse, drugs are no longer as taboo as they used to be.

Both the students who buy and those who sell seem to see narcotics not as something criminal, but as a personal choice. This viewpoint doesn’t seem to be limited to students alone. The past few years have seen recreational marijuana become legal in multiple U.S. states, and a handful of progressive countries have gone so far as to decriminalize drugs altogether. Indeed, the nonchalance of Lee, Reynolds and other university users toward narcotics appears to be not an attitude confined to college campuses, but one becoming pervasive in modern culture. However, even such an admission is a privileged sentiment. Prisons in the United States are filled with young men who are the same age as Lee and Reynolds, many of whom are serving harsh sentences for selling the same drugs that my two friends do. The only difference? The young men behind bars are not in college.

THE FUTURE OF USAGE

In light of the updated statistics on drug usage in college, in combination with the anecdotal evidence the two dealers I spoke with, I am inclined to make two conclusions. The first is that college campuses, whether intentionally or inadvertently, create an environment in which students feel above the law, at least to some extent. Through their use of private, campus security and their autonomy to mete out consequences as they see fit, schools create an atmosphere in which students have little to fear in terms of legitimate legal consequences.

Second, drugs have become normalized on college campuses. The way that Lee and Reynolds viewed the products they were selling was simply as that—products. Granted, both acknowledged the negative health effects of the narcotics they sold, but in a culture that increasingly sees drug use as a personal choice and not a symptom of criminality, dealers feel as scrupulous about their merchandise as convenience stores feel about theirs. On a positive note, there is reason to believe that these changing attitudes toward drug use will eventually find their way beyond undergraduate bong hits and into courts of higher law. Hopefully, the privilege that university students enjoy to be able to dabble in narcotic use will help shape their attitudes toward other users, and eventually lead those who have benefitted from the socioeconomic disparity to work to end it, or rather, extend it to others.

With any luck, these privileged individuals can push the U.S. to follow the lead of countries such as Portugal, Spain and Italy, all of which have liberalized drug usage, as doing so would positively impact American citizens, in addition to having beneficial repercussions globally. As the number-one consumer of illegal narcotics, the United States is responsible for supporting the efforts of drug cartels across the planet, organizations that are responsible for loss of life, the destabilization of governments and the exploitation of thousands. To liberalize drug usage would be to sever the lifeline of these organizations and drain them of their resources. Liberalization would also undo the shackles of the countless non-violent drug offenders who crowd our prisons. A modernized drug policy has the potential to do away with the fear of incarceration that hangs over the heads of millions of people of color, and it would save taxpayers millions by reducing prison and law-enforcement expenses.

If you believe such a shift in drug policy is possible, you have to believe that it can spring from the privileged college bubble that exists today. However, in order for this to happen, those who experience this privilege, this ability to sell and use drugs with near impunity, must be self aware enough to understand that the advantage they have enjoyed is unjust. Privileged students must be willing to work so that all Americans can enjoy the privilege that they have, so that this nation may at last put an end to the barbaric conflict that is the war on drugs.

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REYNOLDS

COULD THIS BE THE END OF HANGOVERS? Two groups of students, one from Princeton and the other from Yale, have both created products that they claim can seriously reduce your afterdrinking grog. So, I put them to the test.

By Lindsay Biondy Universit y of P it tsburgh Photography by Robbie Short Yale Universit y

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Photography by Shelby Powell

Thrive +, Princeton student Brooks Powell’s anti-hangover supplement

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42 Imagine you wake up Sunday morning to the shrill whir of the blender as your roommate makes their morning smoothie before heading to the library for a day of productive studying. The noise grinds against your brain like nails on a chalkboard, and you want to yell at them to shut up, but you’re too thirsty. You try and look for your water bottle, but you forgot to take your contacts out last night, so it hurts to open your eyes.

Liam McClintock and Margaret Morse, the inventors of Mentis

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YOU look at the time—9:30 a.m.— and you curse yourself for leaving your ten-page paper until the day before it’s due. You almost curse yourself for going out drinking the night before, but nah, you had way too much fun to regret that. It’s really the choice for higher education that your hungover brain regrets the most.

And yet you persevere. You release yourself from the sweet embrace of your blankets, stumble into the shower and pray the cold water that beats against your neck will hydrate you. Afterward, you find the greasiest,

yet most affordable burger possible, and inhale it as fast as your poor stomach will allow you.

After all that, you’re desperate for a nap, but that tenpage paper looms over you, and despite your regrets, you’re dedicated to your education. So you pop some Advil, fill you water bottle and get to work.

It takes you twice as long as your non-hungover brain could have done it, but by the end of the day, you’ve finished, and you prepare yourself to do it all again the next weekend.

If only there was a way to enjoy all the fun of drinking, without the consequences of a hangover.

Well, you wouldn’t be the first person to wish that, and if you google “how to get rid of a hangover,” you’ll see pages and pages of at-home remedies you can try. If you look up “hangover cures” on Amazon, you’ll find plenty of products to buy. BrightDay. Mitadone. Toniiq.

Drinkwel. Blowfish.

But there are two products that stand above the rest: Thrive+, created by Princeton student Brooks Powell; and Mentis, created

by Yale students Margaret Morse and Liam McClin-

tock, all three of whom graduated in May. Both products have been thoroughly tested by focus groups, and all three students proudly proclaim, “I use [my product] every single time I drink.”

But why do people get hangovers anyway? Dehydration? Blood sugar deficit? Lack of sleep? According to the Mayo Clinic, these are only three of seven contributing factors. Alcohol also irritates the lining of your stomach by increasing the production of stomach acid and delaying the organ from emptying, and while it’s true that alcohol is a downer and makes you tired, your quality of sleep will decrease, which leaves you groggy and tired, meaning your body lacks the rest it needs to recuperate. Drinking also triggers an inflammatory response from your immune system, which causes a lack of concentration, memory problems and decreased appetite. Perhaps the most important cause of a hangover, however, are the congeners found in beer, liquor and wine, which give these drinks their flavor. Dark

liquor like brandy and whisky have a larger amount of congeners than clear liquors like vodka and gin, so do with that information what you will.

Hangover symptoms usually begin when your blood alcohol reaches zero, which happens before you wake up in the morning. The most common symptoms include fatigue, thirst, headaches, nausea, decreased sleep, sensitivity to light and sounds, dizziness and a decreased ability to concentrate. While there isn’t an abundant number of scientific studies about hangover prevention, Brooks Powell did find a particularly interesting one in January 2014 that laid the groundwork for the beginning of his company.

“I came across an article in the journal of neuroscience. In this study, they were looking at dihydromyricetin (DHM), and it essentially showed that if you injected it straight into the belly of a rat, right after it had the equivalent of fifteen beers for their body size, they’d instantly sober up. They also found that they showed no signs of hangovers. A third thing it showed is that rats that had DHM in their water never became alcoholics, as compared to all of the control group.”

STUDYBREAKS.COM

That was a really big deal. “I read this,” Powell continues, “and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is insane.’” He discussed his newfound discovery with his neuroscience professor Sam Wong who explained why DHM was so effective. According to Powell, “It binds to the same alcohol receptor that alcohol binds to, and by doing that, DHM reduced short-term alcohol withdrawal, which is the biggest cause of a hangover. This is why ‘Hair of the Dog’ or Bloody Marys work so well. It essentially reduces that short-term alcohol withdrawal by binding to the same brain receptor, without introducing more alcohol into the system, and, counter-intuitively, by doing that, it puts you at less risk for alcoholism.”

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THE more he thought about it, the more inspired Powell became. “We could start this as a company,” he said, “originally being a hangover cure. But also, hopefully, do some societal good through reducing alcoholism.” Powell took a year off from school, and using the $20,000 inheritance his grandfather left for him, he created Thrive+, an “after-alcohol aid.” Five months after his product was first on the market, he made back his $20,000, plus some. “That was pretty exciting,” he says.

Fast forward to the end of May 2017, when Margaret Morse and Liam McClintock released their first pre-order of their hangover-prevention supplement, Mentis, which comes from a Latin term meaning “of a sound mind.” They had raised almost $47,000 in their Indiegogo campaign, which was 226 percent over their original goal.

McClintock, a History major and Division 1 squash player, originally came up with the idea for Mentis. “It started as a personal problem, as a lot of start-up ideas do. I’m a big fan of supplements—I take about eight different ones on a daily basis—so the first thing I did was order some of the products on the market that claimed to help with hangovers, and nothing was too effective.

As a result, I figured there could be an opportunity to at least figure out what the science behind a hangover

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was, and to potentially develop a product that would do a better job of preventing one.”

It was then he called on Margaret Morse, a Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology major, for help. It may seem like an unlikely pairing at first, but the two have a great partnership and friendship. “We’ve known each other since the beginning of freshman year,” McClintock says.

“We’ve worked on other projects and taken some classes together. We get along pretty well as a team and friends, so it was a partnership that we knew would be successful. When I came to Maggie with this idea of a company, I needed someone with more of a science background, and since we both have different skills, it was a good match.”

Morse and McClintock made sure to do their research before officially launching their product, though.

They wanted a quality product that was as effective as possible. “We were able to look at the competitors out there,” Morse says, “and see what they were doing. With our understanding of the main processes that cause a hangover, we were able to come up with a formula that we thought was great to prevent these processes from happening.”

Even though their Indiegogo campaign was successful, they still needed people to test their original product and a place to create it, so they used what they had at their disposal.

“We mixed [our original product] in our apartments on campus and gave it to a trial panel of volunteers. We gave them a few samples, got their feedback and adjusted the ingredients a little bit. By testing our ingredients individually, we were able to come up with a formula that we were happy with. Then, when

we reached out to a pharmaceutical manufacture, we worked with them to really nail down the exact quantities that we wanted to use.”

Simply put, the final product of Mentis helps produce enzymes to break down the byproduct of alcohol and replenishes lost nutrients your body needs in order to feel good and function on a basic level. Mentis also provides additional liver protection, because it works to prevent the processes from happening in the first place.

Of course, neither Thrive+ nor Mentis is a cure-all solution. They’re supplements and aids to help you feel good. Morse described how he thinks about their product, saying, “You can sort of look at it like sunscreen. Just because sunscreen exists, doesn’t mean that people should spend countless hours in the sun and expose themselves to those cancerous rays. It’s a way to be in the sun, as they would have already been, and to protect themselves.”

So, it’s no surprise that there’s a

Photography by Shelby Powell

point where both these products become less effective. Mentis doesn’t guarantee its effectiveness after eight drinks, while Thrive+ offers a “50 percentage point reduction,” which basically means that it reduces hangover symptoms by fifty percentage points.

For example, say 100 percent is feeling amazing, and zero percent is feeling like death.

If your hangover usually makes you feel like you’re at 30 percent the next morning, Thrive+ will make you feel like you’re at 80 percent, but not a perfect hundred.

STUDYBREAKS.COM

I was fortunate enough to be able to test each of these products, and I took this responsibility very seriously. While I’m pretty familiar with how my body responds to alcohol, my tolerance has lowered quite a bit since school let out, so I decided to drink on three separate occasions, all in the name of science, of course.

The first would act as my “control.”

I had exactly six drinks over two hours, and I didn’t take any Advil or drink any extra water before bed.

And let me tell you, dear readers, I felt absolutely awful the next morning.

I can never sleep long when I’m hungover, and this time was no exception. I woke up around 6:30, my mouth dry as all heck, my head throbbing and my stomach less than thrilled to be attached to my body. I’m just happy I didn’t puke.

Only after I had a greasy breakfast, a shower and a nap did I feel like a person again.

After a week of recovery, I drank again, this time relying on Thrive+ to stop my hangover, or at least diminish it. Again, I had six drinks over two hours and forwent the Advil and water. Instead, I had

three pills, the normal dose one is supposed to take, before bed. I’ll admit—it was a bit hard to swallow three big pills, especially when I was drunk. But, the next morning was worth it.

I still woke up at 6:30 in the morning, and that sucked. I was still dehydrated, and that sucked. But I had no headache. Literally none.

And I had no stomachache. I felt so good, I spent the next hour cleaning up my apartment from the night before, which made my roommate very happy.

Two weeks later, it was time to try Mentis. I poured one of their packets into a glass of water with my dinner. Stir until orange. It smelled really good, like a combination of orange and mango. The taste, however, was a bit disappointing. Actually drinking it was fine—it had a vague orange flavor to it—even though it was a little chalky. The aftertaste, however, was pretty medicinal. I ended up washing it down with a chaser. But to be fair, it is medicine.

Nyquil doesn’t taste great, but you drink it for the health benefits, and I was happy with the benefits Mentis gave me the next morning.

I slept in a little later—until 9:30. While that’s still extremely early for me, it’s way better than 6:30. I wasn’t as dehydrated, either. I still wanted to drink a liter of water when I woke up, but it wasn’t unbearable. My headache was gone, and my stomach was completely fine, though.

No nausea, and no lack of energy. I didn’t feel a need to take a nap that day, and I didn’t need greasy food to feel human. Although I got greasy food anyway, because yay carbs.

Both of these products are effective, and both have their pros and cons. Thrive+ was great for me because I’d rather take pills than drink something I don’t like. It’s also a good idea if you weren’t originally planning on drinking a lot, but accidentally got wasted. You only need to take it when you see fit. However, you need to actively remember to take the pills, and once you take the pills, you’re effectively forcing yourself to stop drinking for the night.

Mentis is more of a preventive measure, and since you take it before drinking, you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the night, which is nice if you’re the type of person who doesn’t usually go back to their own house after a night of drinking. However, you run the risk of taking it when you don’t need to, and for a college student on a budget, that’s $5 down the drain.

So, Brook Powell’s Thrive+, or Maggie Morse and Liam McClintock ’s Mentis? I guess you’ll have to try them both and see what ’s best for you.

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EXTRA CREDIT

Get ting to Know:

SAMUELROBBINS

By Lindsay Biondy, University of Pittsburgh Photography by Jason Boit, Fordham University Twenty-one-year-old Samuel Robbins is a student photographer and artist who’s committed to his work and isn’t afraid to cross the United States to pursue it. This past summer, Robbins received a Fordham Summer Research Grant and a Butler Travel Grant for Photography. Maintaining a long-time interest in surfing, Robbins and a friend took a road trip to California to document the coast and surfing culture there. This summer, he will be featuring his work in an art gallery with four other students, all of whom were recipients of Butler Travel Grants.

Now a junior at Fordham University, Robbins is screen-printing shirts and hooded sweatshirts, trying to build his brand, LéTERNITé, which is a French word derived from a poem by Arthur Rimbaud. Hoping to “make the art thing happen,” Robbins plans to continue to follow his passion long after graduation.

“I wanted to travel to California and document the coast and surfing culture, because I’m very into surfing. Having grown up on the East Coast, there’s always been this mythical quality to the West Coast, where the weather is nicer and the waves are better. I had always wanted to do a road trip, so I figured, why fly out there when I could drive?”

“I was out skateboarding with my friends one time, and it was a public building, so we weren’t supposed to be there. There was no security guard, so this guy took it upon himself to try and kick us out. He was just dumbfounded that we were wasting our time skateboarding, and he said, ‘Why don’t you guys do something productive? Be artists or something.’ And I thought, ‘I could do that. Why not?’”

“Everything happens in time. Being prepared is incredibly important, but beyond that, you can’t really do much. Mentally, I’ve been preparing to do a longer-form road trip for so long, and it finally happened. I was shooting a lot of photography at the time, and I think I was ready to do it. It all kind of fell into place.”

“We got lost in the middle of Texas and had to go down these back dirt roads, and we found one of the coolest abandoned towns. It might have been one of those debunked train-station towns from when the railroads stopped existing. It was just so cool, and something we wouldn’t have found if we were just motoring on to the next city.”

“Since I took all the photos, I’ve been working on them pretty much nonstop. Not every day, or even every week, but I’ve worked on them a little bit here and there, editing and scanning and printing, since I’ve been back in June. It’s something that’s just been a part of my life. And there are times when I get so tired of looking at the photos that I just can’t do it for a couple weeks, but it’s exciting.”

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“I wanted to get into screen printing, so I built a screen printing press at my parents’ house. I’ve been trying to build a brand, LéTERNITé, which is derived from a French word from a poem that I’m super fond of by Arthur Rimbaud.”

“If you want to get somewhere, you’re at the mercy of the distance between where you are and where you want to be.

There’s not a lot you can do. Like, if you’re driving across Texas, you’re going for a couple days. What I learned is that you have to take things as they come, and be prepared for what you want to do.”

“I’m a really seasonal person. I really don’t like winter because I don’t like to be outside much then, but now that the weather has gotten nicer, I’m going to be taking photos much more, because it’s much more enjoyable to be outside. After Thanksgiving, it just drops off, then it’s like months of misery.”

“I feel like English, Visual Arts, Graphic Design and similar things are majors that are very passion-driven, meaning that if you’re not totally into it, or if you’re not really good or really prepared, you might not get a job. A lot of people suck. That’s blunt, I apologize, but I think to be interested in something, you have to really commit to it.”

“I want to be remembered as someone who worked very hard and enjoyed what they did, and enjoyed the people who were around them. That’s a little simplified, but that’s it.”

T H E FAC T F I L E NAME: Samuel Robbins AGE: 21 SCHOOL: Fordham Universit y MAJOR: Visual Ar ts and New Media Digital Design YEAR: Junior HOMETOWN: Long Beach Island, New Jersey WEBSITE: creativegraverobbins.com

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MEET THE PRESIDENT

What is your major?

Political Science with minors in Spanish and Political Communication

Photography by Justin L eal, Texas State University

What is your definition of failure?

Not amounting to greatness by my own standards

What is your favorite Instagram account?

I’m not sure, probably mine. I don’t Instagram that much.

What is your dream job?

Governor of Texas

What’s your biggest struggle as a student?

Getting to class on time—I like to stop and talk to everybody.

What academic focus most interests you?

South and Central American politics, as well as Russian literature

What is your most treasured possession?

My grandma’s cast iron skillet.

What are your intellectual strengths?

This is a tough one, but level-headedness, probably.

Objectivity may be a fancier way to say that.

What is your favorite alcoholic beverage?

Either Budweiser or good scotch What’s the best class you’ve taken in college?

I had a great class on the psychological aspects of politics and politicians, which was really interesting.

What will you never understand?

Math What qualities do you most admire in a person?

Loyalty and honesty

What is your favorite place to eat?

Los Vega Mexican restaurant— very good migas.

What is your most marked characteristic?

Probably my accent or my voice

What’s a secret talent of yours?

I do great impersonations of the past six presidents.

What angers you?

Cyclists What is currently on your mind?

I’ve never seen Harry Potter before, and I just finished the second-to-last movie, so I’m wondering how the whole thing wraps up.

What historical figure do you admire?

Napoleon, or Ronald Reagan

Where do you want to go most in the world?

I really want to go to Spain, see the bullfights and take in the marvelous culture.

CONNOR H. CLEGG Student Body President of Texas State University

What are your summer plans?

Working to better this great university Who are some of your favorite authors?

Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and Leo Tolstoy

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What is your go-to meal?

A rib-eye steak, medium rare, with a Caesar salad, steamed broccoli and a tall, cool Budweiser

What is your motto?

“Trust, but verify.”

What music are you into at the moment?

Kendrick ’s new album

What is your typical outfit?

Chinos, brown shoes and a blue button-down of some sort.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Probably my smile. I can’t figure out how to smile real well.

Where would you be if not in college?

Washington D.C. What makes you nervous?

The dark, tbh

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W H Y Y OUR MEN TA L HE A LT H IS NO T Y OUR S CHOOL’S RE S P ONSIBIL I T Y STUDENT DRUG DEALERS WEIGH IN ON THE SHIFTING LANDSCAPE OF COLLEGE NARCOTICS pg. 34

pg.10

Three Ivy League Students and Two Self-Proclaimed Hangover Cures— Which One Works? pg. 40

This University of Florida Professor’s App Could Reduce Police Brutality pg. 16

POP CULTURE, You

With a Major in Can Live in the Now Forever pg. 22

ME ET T E X A S S TAT E’S N E W S T U DE N T BODY PRESIDENT CONNOR CLEGG pg. 48

Kevin Lee and Brooke Evans, two of the fifty thousand homeless students in college, are working to change a system that was built to overlook them.

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