Volume 29 Issue 4

er 14, 2011 b o t c O e in Magaz Generation

EDITOR’S

LETTER

One thing I begrudgingly think about whenever I hear of Occupy Wall Street and all the other Occupiers around the country is whether I should participate.

Wall Street may be far away but Occupy Buffalo isn’t. The Brooklyn Bridge may be too packed for me but Founder’s Plaza is right there. I know quite a few people who go to these things, all of whom seem to be dedicated to the grand old causes of justice and equality or something like that. One organizer of the UB Walkout/Teach-In two weeks ago approached me to promote the event in Generation – and this guy had only been in UB for two months.

The more I think about it, the more pressure I feel to march, hold up signs and shout slogans against the capitalist bourgeois, which, really, is doing a number on our country (just ask Žižek).

But I don’t, which inevitably leads me to this question: Am I a bad person?

I don’t mean this rhetorically. I wrote in my book review last issue (“Springtime for Hitler”) that inaction is a form of action. Granted, I don’t think I’m supporting the Third Reich by staying at home but I do think I can do more to protest the incredible flaws of our current system. In a time when a silent majoritytype portion of the population is furious

with inconvenient truths like unemployment, the lack of social mobility, and the fact that the top 20 percent of the country owns 85 percent of the wealth (as seen in the cover of Time magazine a few weeks ago), social action is needed more than ever. It’s fair to say that we haven’t seen this much discontent from the public since the 1960s – a cliché, perhaps (when is something contentious not compared to the 1960s?), but still relevant. My father’s generation took to the streets, burning draft cards and sticking it to LBJ and later Tricky Dick over an unjust war, inherent racism, etc. It caused a social revolution that still casts a shadow. I dislike hippies as much as the next guy but they set an invaluable standard in modern American history: if you don’t like something, pick up a sign and march, yell, jeer, sing in front of the pillars of government and civilization until you get your point across.

Yet I’ve never been in a protest before and I’m not warming up to the idea any time soon. Why? The only answer I can come up with is that it’s, well, too loud.

Protests have, as Mozart was once told about his opera, “too many notes.” I don’t believe that yelling is a good way to get a point across. I just don’t believe in yelling. I don’t even believe in yelling on a page, which, no doubt, you can find in any blog, liberal news mag, or John Irving novel. There are such things as “tone-it-down” protests, as in Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” stint, but even that was ironically loud and obnoxious – much like Stewart.

The point is, it seems no matter what position you’re holding, no matter how right and just it is – and these guys are undoubtedly on the right – protesting to me seems like a gathering of abrasiveness, wind pressing against windbags, a rant rather than a poem.

budget legislation, and common sense policies. (Generally, people who can afford to be taxed more, as opposed to those that cannot, should be.) I’m not opposed to Occupy ________ but then again, its volume is set at eleven when I enjoy a cool, mellow six.

I have a modest proposal. My vision of Occupy ________ would be much sedated. Instead of tents, there will be tables and swivel chairs. Instead of garments of the proletariat, protestors would wear suits and ties. Sandwiches will be served, as would coffee and hors d’oeuvres and those minicupcakes you find in Starbucks. Protestors would talk politely and quietly.

They would make their points about social justice and economic equality known to the public through measured written statements. No microphones or bullhorns allowed; anyone caught making a snide comment about a businessman or politician would be asked to leave – politely, of course, and they may choose to stay. No signs or banners. No clever catch phrases. The protests would be heard, but only as a droll murmur.

That’s the America I want to live in. Unfortunately, due to the unfair distribution of political influence and wealth and the tenacity of people who like to hear their own voices, this is unlikely to happen. But much like the goals of Occupy Wall Street, wouldn’t it be nice?

See you there.

Sincerely,

eneration Magazine Staff

Editor in Chief

Josh Newman

Managing Editor

Ally Balcerzak

Creative Director

Bonnie Wan

Copy Editor

Erin Willis

Associate Editors

Claire Brown Raïssa Huntley Catherine Prendergast

Photo Editor

Benny Higo

Circulation Director

Rashid Dakhil-Rivera

Business Manager

Brian Kalish

Contributing Staff

Mark Davis Allison Ruiz Alexander Smith

Ad Manager

Jeremy Wolocki

Asst. Ad Manager Henry Lu

Josh Newman.

Of course, there are exceptions to any rule. One that sticks out is Martin Luther King’s 1963 march on Washington.

Still, he and his followers were fighting draconian social injustice prevalent for centuries. The problems we face today can be fixed through tax reform,

Submit your letters and articles at ubgeneration. com, or e-mail us at ubgeneration@gmail.com.

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AGENDA MUSIC | Fall Fest. | OCTOBER 20

Finally Fall Fest has arrived after a long wait and an even longer argument over the acts. Taking the stage this year is The Fray with The White Panda and 2am Club. Tickets are free at the door for undergrads with their UB I.D. and available at Ticketmaster for all others. Doors open at 5 P.M., show starts at 6 P.M. in Alumni Arena.

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MOVIE | Buffalo International Film Festival | OCTOBER 23

Don’t miss the Buffalo International Film Festival, which takes place in several venues depending on the event, including the Lancaster Opera House and the Screening Room in Amherst. Get the exclusive look at the United States premiere of Black Eve, or get spooked by films like Edison’s Frankenstein and House on Haunted Hill. Tickets are cheap; get them while they last!

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PARTY| Prom of the Dead! |OCTOBER 22

9 P.M. at Dnipro Ukranian Cultural Center, 562 Genessee St. A costume ball fundraiser for Torn Space Theater. Tickets are $15 at Talking Leaves, Rustbelt Books and online, $20 at the door.

Featuring local bands and DJs, cash bar, photo booth and cash prizes for Dead Prom King and Queen. Free drinks from 9-10 P.M. More info at tornspacetheater.com.

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MOVIE | The Rum Diary | OCTOBER 28

Johnny Depp is yet again playing a Hunter S. Thompsonesque character in the adaptation of Thompson’s novel. Playing a reporter in 1950s Puerto Rico, Depp gets into deep trouble (get it?) and does crazy, off-the-wall things – basically what he did in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but with beaches!

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BOOK | Nightwoods | OCTOBER

Charles Frazier’s new novel Nightwoods is supposedly in the vein of his masterpiece, Cold Mountain. A murder mystery and horror story in the unforgiving Carolina rural woods, the novel is considered one of the best to come out in October. Perfect for Halloween literary lovers.

or

Mini hit Desserts Topeka Kansas Decriminalizing Domestic Violence

BS Steve Jobs’hit Legacy The Pilipino BS Superman

P. Diddyit h

We’ve all been there, that sudden urge for something sweet hits and next thing you know you’ve consumed half a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. The newest fad to hit the dessert world is bite sized treats. You can find them at restaurants such as Applebee’s and Fridays, and now in your freezer.

Baskin Robbins just announced they’re hopping on the bandwagon by rolling out a new line of desserts you can eat in four bites. Although, judging by the size you could probably do it in two.

The Topeka City Council voted to repeal the city’s misdemeanor domestic battery law. The county no longer wants to pay for prosecuting domestic violence cases and the city doesn’t want to foot the bill either. Approximately 30 people have been released from jail since the law was revoked. While Kansas does have a state law criminalizing domestic violence, it is going to be the job of the prosecutor to enforce it. If you want to decriminalize something, take marijuana off the books, not the law that locks up wife -beaters.

Despite the terrible loss that the world is still mourning, Steve Jobs left blueprints for future iPods, iPads, and MacBooks, safeguarding the company’s future. He also left plans for a possible new megastore in California. Jobs has made modern technology accessible to the point that anyone can text, video chat, get directions, edit photos, and do anything and everything by a touch of the finger. We are all very appreciative.

Rest in Peace, Steve.

A man from the Philippines has been getting plastic surgery since 1995 to look like Superman.

This includes thigh implants, chin augmentation, and nose jobs. Someone should have shown him all the “you are beautiful” and “All you need is Love” graffiti in the girl’s bathrooms.

Diddy saved the Harlem Boys and Girls Club with a donation of $60,000. The club was facing a tough decision between closing one of its locations or cutting back on its programming. Thanks P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, Diddy, etc.!

Planting Drugs on Innocent People BS

Former New York City Police Department narcotics detective Stephen Anderson testified that it has been a common practice for officers to plant drugs on innocent people in order to meet arrest quotas. Anderson made the admission during the corruption trial of another officer and said that the practice is “widespread.” Arrest quotas?

What is this, Stalinist Russia? ubgeneration.com | 7

Interview with

Jayme Coxx

by Ally Balcerzak

photos by Benny Higo

Anyone that happened to be walking through the Student Union during the early afternoon on October 12 was able to catch a glimpse of the annual LGBTA Professional Drag Show. It has become an event many students look forward to each year thanks to its uniqueness and high energy performers. I had a chance to sit down with the host of this year’s show, Jayme Coxx, after her fantastic performance. If you’ve never chatted with a drag queen, I highly recommend it, and if you’ve never seen a drag show, then I suggest you get down to Club Marcella on November 3rd to support UB at college night while having a truly unique experience.

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What inspired you to become a drag queen?

JC: Actually I started doing drag as a dare. I worked at a gay bar in Connecticut before I moved to Buffalo, almost nine and a half years ago. They were doing a competition one night and they didn’t have enough contestants to do the competition. They asked me, “Oh will you throw on a wig and make up and just do it?” And I did it. Then from then on I got the “drag bug” like we call it. I’ve been doing it ever since. I’ve been doing drag just about nine and a half years.

How does someone become a professional drag queen?

JC: There are many ways to do it. You either have the ability to entertain or you learn. It’s all about becoming something like an actress or a singer. You have to do it well. It’s not something that you’re just going to jump into. Practice makes perfect.

You mentioned that you’ve done UB’s show before. Is there anything specifically about UB that made you decide to come back?

JC: I know many of the people in the LGBTA, I know a lot of students that go here, and even when we have UB night it’s one of the most receptive crowds.

It’s one where people are most willing to accept difference. The students are definitely different than others. They know there’s a world of difference out there, they’re willing to explore it and check it out, and not walk around and talk negatively of others. Even today, when I’m walking up on the balcony, hosting from way up in the crowd, people were actually talking to me when I’m not on the mic saying, “Oh my God, I love it, I love it.” People you know have never seen a drag show before. It’s a way to open the horizons. UB is definitely a school that is amazing at it.

Where do you typically shop for your stage clothes? Are there certain items that are more difficult to find than others?

JC: [Laughs] undergarments that fit men correctly are probably the hardest things because we’re trying to be a woman and they’re made to fit a woman’s body, which is completely different than a man’s. But actual clothing, usually, you put the fake hips on, you put the fake boobs on and stuff like that and you end up being like a woman. You get a woman’s form, so once you put the clothes on it’s basically easy to find. I like doing the “mall girl” kind of thing but I also do get a lot of my costumes made.

Do you feel that society is becoming more accepting of the LGBT community? Do you find Buffalo to be more or less supportive compared to cities such as NYC and L.A.?

JC: I believe that the LGBT community is becoming more accepted and it is becoming accepted in the smaller communities, but not as quickly. It’s taken a little bit more teaching the public how to accept it. But it is making definite strides. Obviously big cities like New York, L.A. or Miami are much more ahead than we are. But I’ve definitely noticed a difference in just the nine years I’ve been here.

What is your routine to get ready for a show? How long does it take you to get prepared to go on stage?

JC: I have a dressing room at Club Marcella, and usually I get to the club probably about three to three and a half hours [early] to get ready and to kind of just get in the zone. I usually play the music that I’m going to perform that night over and over so that way I know it second nature.

What do you think about NY being one of the few states to legally recognize same sex marriage?

JC: I never thought it would happen. I’m so excited that it did and I actually think it moved us leaps and bounds ahead of where I even thought we were. I think it’s the right step for NY, being the power state that it is, to actually make such a big move. Yeah, you have people that are against it, but it’s the way the world is changing. Nothing is what we remember from the fifties or sixties.

What is your favorite memory from performing?

JC: I would have to say it’s probably a collection of memories. My favorite memories would be performing at places like colleges because they’re people that aren’t exposed to it. There have been many people that have come to me throughout that years that have said, “You know what? You’re an inspiration.”

That’s ultimately what drag turned into for me. It kind of turned into something that you just did for the passion of it and to help others. For people that are uncomfortable with coming out, it says there is a support system out there and we are loud and proud.

How would you describe the culture at a drag show in a club rather as opposed to a college?

JC: People that come to the club, used to be just people in the know of the gay crowd. But nowadays it’s so versatile. There’s so many straight people, people that go for the first time and usually become repeat customers. Gay in the past ten years has definitely taken a turn where it’s so much more common. So it’s easier to be accepted by others

How old were you when you came out? What was the reaction of your family and closest friends?

JC: I came out when I was fifteen and that’s why I had such an issue. I did almost commit suicide and I could have been this Jamey Rodemeyer in the news today. But I buckled down on my own and basically said, “I’m not done.”

It was tough. I met a few people in high school that actually accepted me and then it kind of just spiraled from there where I made tons of friends. I ended up going to hairdressing school and I became a hairdresser. So that definitely put me in a gay environment. Then on top of that, I ended up dating someone right when I got out of high school, at the age of eighteen and we were together for three years. So it definitely put me into the mode of, “You know what? I did make the right decision.” That was back in ’95-’96 and here we are 2011, and I’m at the point where I’m happy with the decisions I’ve made and what I’ve done to this point.

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WALK IT OUT

by Erin Willis photos courtesy of Shasti O’Leary Soudant

If you were anywhere on campus on Wednesday, October 5th, chances are you saw (or better, heard) the long line of students protesting tuition increases and high administrative salaries. The group marched through UB’s halls, drumming on empty buckets, singing a very catchy, “Hey, hey! Ho, ho.

Tuition hikes have got to go!” The march disrupted classes and lunches, giving students something to really talk about. And that, say organizers of the protest, was exactly the point of the spectacle.

The protest itself was known as the Student WalkOut/Teach-In, meant to encourage students to leave their classes and join in, advocating for their own interests and rights as students. The ‘Teach-In’ portion of the event was to bring students together into collaborative groups to discuss their wishes and goals. New York Students Rising (NYSR), a group of student activists that bring up problems with university and SUNY policies to administrators and politicians, organized the event. The group encouraged students and faculty to participate, and used the ‘Teach-In’ to discuss their own solutions to SUNY cuts to programs and tuition increases.

Students participating in the event all had one thing in common: they f e l t that UB

“I see the protest as a necessary wake up call; for too long, students have remained passive and complacent to tuition increases, despite being frustrated with them.”

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students were too complacent in accepting tuition hikes. Lucas Nelson, a graduate student in English, said that he feels student “voices aren’t being heard…[and] these tuition hikes are being pushed down our throats.” Organizers from NYSR agreed, and found it frustrating to have no say in the future of the SUNY system. While top-ranking administrators continue to make more, students are expected to make up the funds; at the same time, programs in the arts and sciences are being cut, all in the name of making UB a nationally recognized research institution.

Nelson, who is also an out-of-state student, feels that the tuition increases only punish non-residents: “I have many friends who are international students and they’re paying exorbitant amounts of money,” he said, “They can justify charging out-of-state and international students more, so the hikes affect us on top of already paying a higher rate.” And he’s right: non-SUNY residents have to pay double what in-staters pay. With the tuition hikes, out-ofstate students can expect to

pay some $600 more every year in tuition alone.

Add to that the cost of housing and travel, and attending UB is very expensive indeed.

Nelson, like others, participated in the Walk-Out to let administrators know that UB students will not just accept these hikes. But others participated because their academic programs were being cut.

Liz Rywelski, who helped organize the event, believes that raising tuition and cutting programs is just plain wrong. “This is a real problem, this isn’t a constructed issue about a bunch of kids wailing for burger money,” she said, “It’s a real, real issue about our futures and the quality of our education right now. To pay more for tuition where we’re getting less is not how public higher education is structured.” She’s referring to the university cutting academic programs in the humanities, leaving students of these programs high and dry.

At the Teach-In, Rywelski rallied students with a megaphone, encouraging them

to voice their frustrations with the administration.

“The administrators are making more and more,” she said, “Where’s their budget cuts?”

The plan that NYSR is proposing is a simple one: ask high-ranking administrators to take a two-tofive percent pay cut to help make up some of the money students are being asked to pay. The plan, called ‘Chop From the Top,’ could save an estimated two million dollars at UB and eight million dollars for the whole CUNY system. Those millions could easily be redistributed throughout the SUNY system. For President Tripathi, who makes over six hundred thousand dollars a year, a two percent pay cut is a little over twelve thousand dollars: and since the university provides him with both a home and a car, that money should be easy to part with.

But NYSR has heard little response from administrators, despite attempts to get in touch with them.

Will Richardson, a senior Sociology major and campus activist, says he just assumes the university “doesn’t give a damn.” The protest on October 5th was meant to be a way to put pressure on administrators and to show students that they, too, deserve to have a voice. The Walk-Out/Teach-In was supposed “to get the administration to hear the concerns of students and start acting on them,” said Richardson. Yet they have remained silent.

But the protest got students talking: as the march went across campus and spread its message, students noticed. Kara Fitzpatrick, who was working in the Union at the time of the protest, said that the protest went through the Union twice and obviously had gathered support. “It was definitely shocking,” she said, “There were a lot of people saying, ‘What is this? What’s going on?’ I thought it was pretty cool, I kind of wish I was out there with them because I don’t agree with the tuition increases.” And that is exactly what NYSR wanted from students.

They wanted students to want to stand up for their education and future, to think seriously about the problems within the university, and to consider how those problems can be resolved. “What’s really important is that students take five, ten, fifteen minutes, one hour, three hours to advocate for their own self-interest,” said Rywelski, “For anyone that…had a personal response to it, that’s function, and that’s what we aim for.”

Still, a number of students were unwilling to participate. When I met up with the Walk-Out in the Center for the Arts, onlookers watched sardonically, looking annoyed with all of the commotion.

These students seemed to think that this was just another group of disenfranchised rabble-rousers whining about policies that couldn’t be changed.

Even at the Teach-In, I witnessed a student leave, shaking his head. He seemed to think that everyone participating was a “socialist.” He was disgust-

ed by the calls for more accessible education, and did not stay to here the sweeping plans organizers proposed.

Indeed, by the time the Walk-Out took place, they were used to hearing about cries from the margins of society. The protest came at the same time that Occupy Wall Street was gaining serious national attention, and some have compared it to that. Certainly, NYSR is a group of students fed up with the one percent on UB’s campus who hold most of the wealth. But I felt that this protest was more focused; Occupy Wall St. has been criticized for having no clear universal goal that all protestors can agree upon. Despite the fact that the Teach-In was meant to generate ideas from students, the “Cut From the Top” plan received most of the attention throughout the day, a plan that was well-thought and coherent, the true rallying point of the entire protest.

Students weren’t the only ones that noticed the march: press from across Western New York attended, interviewing organizers and participants.

Across the state, a number of other Walk-Outs occurred, from Oneonta to New York City. Hundreds of students took part, calling for a more rational tuition plan that does not punish students for attending a state school. The state-wide Walk-Out made it into The Wall Street Journal, student magazines and newspapers, and local news broadcasts. The attention it received locally was mostly positive: reactions to the event in The Buffalo News were strongly in favor of the students’ right to protest.

Among other comments on the site, this received a lot of attention: “People in my generation have had it hammered into our heads from as far back as we can remember that we MUST go to college,” it reads, “The result has been a watering down of the value of a college degree, skyrocketing tuition, and crushing debt, all while college administrators…get filthy rich.” This community support will certainly help NYSR in the future should more protests be necessary.

There was one thing missing from the protest though: faculty. NYSR had encouraged faculty to attend, but only one faculty member arrived at

the protest. Students told me that their professors talked about the protest with them during class that day, said that they supported it, and even encouraged their students to join, but their absence was obvious. One student I spoke to, who wishes to remain anonymous, told me that her professor thought it would be a disservice to his students to cancel class. “He felt that it wasn’t fair to us [to pay] for him to cancel class,” she said, “And he didn’t feel like it was fair to ask us to go.” For Rywelski, faculty absence was puzzling, especially for those faculty of programs in danger of budget cuts. But, at the same time, some faculty have expressed support through encouragement and the like. “I just think that they don’t know how to best participate yet,” she said.

From my perspective, I see the protest as a necessary wake up call; for too long, students have remained passive and complacent to tuition increases, despite being frustrated with them. Things like Fall Fest seem more important than the public education problem presented to us now: we are paying more out of our own empty pockets while senior administrators make ungodly amounts of money. We have been asked to take up the burden that comes from the administrators themselves. As students of a public university, we have a right to question why we must help to pay monstrous salaries while the job market looks bleaker, while loans pile on. Demonstrating in the name of an entire university population should not be looked down upon. These tuition hikes should frustrate us, but we should also turn that frustration into a plan. And NYSR has channeled that discontent into statewide goals. They have, and will continue to, take these ideas all the way to Albany. “At some point, you can only do so much with your administration at your university,” says Rywelski, “Where change needs to happen is at the state level and we need to build a strong student voice to speak to the state.”

And to those students who remain cynical? NYSR will continue to fight for everyone’s right to an affordable education, but they hope that others will join in the fight. Says Richardson, “If we don’t fight for our futures, who will?” ubgeneration.com | 11

Photos From The Drag Queen Show photos by Benny Higo

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Car Crash City Back in the seventh season of South Park, there was an episode called “Grey Dawn,” where elderly drivers began crashing into buildings. Of course, in true South Park fashion, this led to the town being besieged by angry elderly people with guns, only to be saved by Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny at a Country Kitchen, but there is a certain irony about that episode now. Over the past month there have been approximately twelve reported accidents involving cars being driven into buildings.

The accident that seemed to spark it all occurred on Saturday, September 17th. At approximately 9:30 P.M., a 74 year old woman was pulling into a parking space outside Cheeburger Cheeburger on Niagara Falls Boulevard, when her van went through the window and into a family of three eating dinner inside. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, sadly, lost their lives that night while their son was sent to the hospital and released a few days later.

The sudden surge in building related car accidents has been a top news story in Buffalo over the past few weeks, even making national headlines. This leads us to the question, why has it suddenly become common to see a car crash into a building?

The truth is it’s actually more common than most people would guess. According to storefrontcrash-

es.com there were at least 25 across the country this past summer, and those were just crashes that made the media. Sorry to burst the bubble of anyone hoping Buffalo and WNY had a new claim to fame other than snow and sports teams perpetually screwed by bad officiating. It turns out that twelve buildings getting unwanted renovations by drivers is actually something seen across in the U.S. However, the current events in Western New York are still worth noting and investigating. When twelve similar accidents occur within three weeks of one another in a specific area, it’s tough to believe it’s just a coincidence. According to a WKBW interview with Psychologist Dr. Amy Beth Taublib, there is most likely a certain psychological mindset of the drivers in each accident. Meaning something such as decreasing faculties/reflexes along with age could be behind the cause of these terrible accidents. Taublib also mentioned the “copy-cat phenomenon” which is the concept that once something occurs it is more likely to occur again since it’s in people’s minds.

Physical and psychological influences or not, all of these accidents have sparked a discussion over what can be done to prevent them from happening and to diminish their effects when they do. By September 27th, the Town of Amherst Town Board had

WE the

INTERNET

by Raïssa Huntley

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by Allison Balcerzak

passed an ordinance requiring new businesses to install concrete filled barriers in front of their building if they are within so many feet of the road or have parking spaces directly in front of it. Some businesses already have these pillars out front, such as Target, whose giant red balls out front have baffled people until recently (it all makes sense now!). Any building already constructed or under construction prior to the ordinance won’t be expected to install them, but they may want to consider it since these buildings could be doomed.

While the ordinance has already passed, there has been some dissent among businesses and town residents. One such argument against the pillars is that the cost, $250-$750 each depending on size and color requirements, is too high for small businesses to be able to comply with the ordinance. As with all town legislation, a hearing is expected to occur by December so town residents can voice their opinions.

For as long as there have been cars, there have been car accidents. With cars becoming more powerful and the average age of drivers increasing due to the aging baby boomers, there are bound to be more stories of buildings getting driven into.

The Obama administration has launched a new online petition platform called “We the People” that encourages citizens over the age of thirteen to organize and solicit signatures for petitions on issues that they would like to see the federal government respond to. When the platform was first launched on September 22nd of this year, a minimum of 5,000 signatures gathered within thirty days was required for the administration to guarantee that it would direct the petition to the appropriate policy experts (whoever they are…) and issue an official response in a “timely manner.” As of October 3rd, that threshold was increased to 25,000 signatures needed within 30 days.

The terms of use for the platform ask that the petitions not be violent or lewd, be relevant to the functioning of the federal government, and not involve requests for the purchasing of commercial goods or federal assistance in the election of any person to public office. The terms also state that petitions and user accounts will be disabled if it is suspected that “automated systems or bulk processes” are being used to fill up signature slots. The administration also stated that it would reserve its right to “change the time limits and signature thresholds and apply them to petitions created after the change has been published.”

It is too early to tell whether or not “We the People” will turn out to be a step for-

BUILDING CRASH COUNT 14 September 13th: A 63-year-old man crashed into the Walgreens at Kensington and Harlem. No injuries were reported but repairs are expected to take time. The driver is said to have hit the gar instead of the brake.

September 20th: A 59-year-old man drove into Darrow’s, a bar and restaurant in Alden.

Officials say he kept going straight when the road turned. The driver and his wife had minor injuries and were treated at ECMC.

October 3rd: A 78-year-old woman drove into a Jos. A. Banks clothing store on N. Buffalo Street in Orchard Park. No one was injured but an investigation is in the works according to officials.

September 14th: A 75-year-old woman drove into the Burger King on Foote Avenue in Jamestown. The report states that the driver became disoriented when pulling into a handicap space and mistakenly hit the accelerator instead of the break.

September 23rd: A 62-year-old woman drove in the Family Dollar on Kensington Avenue.

No one was injured. An investigation is taking place to determine if there was a mechanical malfunction that caused the crash.

October 6th: A 19-year-old woman pulled into the Wilson Farms on Tacoma and Delaware at about 10pm. No one was injured. An investigation is taking place.

September 24 : A woman in her early seventies crashed into the Senior citizens complex, Union Square in West Seneca. She was pulling into a parking space when her foot clipped the gas while she was breaking. th

September 17 : A 74-year-old woman crashed into Cheeburger Cheeburger on Niagara Falls Boulevard, killing a man and his wife, while injuring their 13 year old son and a waitress. th

September 20 : A 73-year-old woman crashed into Kenwin Liquor on Kensington Avenue in Buffalo. The driver tested above the legal BAC limit and has been charged with a DWI. The owner of the liquor store was taken to ECMC with leg lacerations and possible broken bones. th

ward for the democratic process in the U.S. President Obama has said before that he wants a more open, responsive and transparent government, but while “We the People” makes it easier to petition the administration, there is nothing that obligates the administration to take the petitions seriously.

What the online platform does do is give citizens an easy-to-access view of what other people consider important issues. Petition creators may find out that the administration does not respond in a more timely and effective manner to online petitions than it did to paper petitions or to online petitions that were not part of its new platform. The “We the People” website states that it was created because the administration “want[s] to hear from you,” but many of the issues showing up on the website have long been visible issues of public outcry.

By far the most popular petition on “We the People” is one to “Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol” which has over 55,000

September 30th: A 49-year-old woman drove into Dessert Deli on Maple Road. She is suspected of being on drugs, potentially for a psychological condition, at the time of the accident.

September 30th: An elderly man crashed into Immediate Care on Transit Road. No one was injured but the building was damaged substantially.

signatures. There are also many duplicate petitions relating to marijuana legalization with slightly different wording. This brings up an issue for users of “We the People”; efforts to collect signatures on an issue could be attacked by opponents who could generate false petitions with different wording in order to confuse petition signers.

A survey of the petitions that have gathered enough signatures to surpass the 25,000 threshold includes petitions to “Call an Investigation into Allegations of Prosecutorial and Judicial Misconduct in the Case of Sholom Rubashkin,” “Forgive Student Loan Debt to Stimulate Economy and Usher in a New Era of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Prosperity,” and “Abolish the TSA and Use Its Monstrous Budget to Fund More Sophisticated, Less Intrusive Counter-Terrorism Intelligence.” Other prominent petitions include requests for: the creation of a federal amendment to legalize same-sex marriage, the legalization of industrial hemp production, removal

October 6th: A 75-year-old woman drove into the front glass window of a Nail Express in Amherst. The woman stepped on the gas instead of the break.

October 8th: A driver in his twenties crashed into the Broadway Market early in the morning. Of the four people in the car at the time of the crash, one was pronounced dead at the scene, another died at the hospital, and two are listed in critical condition at ECMC. October 9th: A car crashed into an apartment complex on Town hall Terrace on Grand Island. The two people in the car were not injured. The driver blamed it on his foot slipping.

of the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance and from currency, a dissolution of the electoral college, repeal of the Patriot Act, an end to software patents, an end to corporate personhood, and government disclosure of the existence of extraterrestrial beings. There are also many petitions regarding animal abuse and the freedom to carry firearms but they have gathered smaller numbers of signatures.

So far, no responses have been issued to petitions that have reached the 25,000 signature threshold.

You can check out “We the People” at www.whitehouse.gov/wethepeople. To start a petition, you must create an account and give your name, email and home address.

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Halloween

Edition I’m a lady, and I’m looking for an innovative Halloween costume, but I don’t want to go the traditional “sexy costume” route. Any suggestions for a good costume that won’t strip me of my dignity?

You mean you don’t want to be a “sexy” firefighter? How about a “sexy” zombie (yum, brains!)? No? Not even “sexy” Abraham Lincoln (aka “Babe-raham Lincoln”)? Well, aren’t you the party poop- er. Honestly, I agree with you that when it comes to lady’s Halloween costumes (at least the ones that are sold online and in stores), ideas can get pretty predictable and lazy. Don’t get me wrong, I love a sexy zombie/vampire/nondescript monster as much as the next girl, but you don’t want to spend an entire Halloween party adjusting your hemline or teetering on high heels. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. So after I scoured the internet for good leads, here are a few suggestions of more creative costume ideas. Some of them are pretty conceptual, but bear with me.

Tetris: Glue a few old beer boxes together so that they make an angular shape.

Cover them with bright construction paper and with a black marker, cover the paper in squares. Attach this shape to your body with string, tape, a harness, etc., and voila! You are now a walking Tetris piece.

Time Traveler: Pick your favorite historical period (Ice Age, 1950s, Victorian Era, whatever floats your boat), and dress accordingly.

The catch: you have to stay in character the whole time. Spending an entire night grunting like a caveman might sound difficult, but we all have to make sacrifices for our art.

Formal Apology: Dress in an old prom dress or ballgown. Put your hair in a complicated updo, and apply heavy makeup. Then put a sign around your neck that says in capital letters, “I’M SORRY.” Get it? A formal apology!

by Claire Brown photos by Benny Higo

I have this friend who really likes playing pranks on people on Halloween—especially when “people” are me. This year, I really want to get him back. He’s having a get-together on Halloween, so how do I prank him before he pranks me?

To be honest, I might be the wrong person to answer this, since I always manage to find myself on the wrong end of Halloween pranks. At the very least, I’m sympathetic to your plight. I’ve wracked my brain to try to come up with some good ways to get your friend, but since you didn’t really provide me with examples of his pranks, I don’t know whether or not what I came up would be too over the top. Nevertheless, here’s my suggestion. It requires some effort, but I think it’s worth it.

Buy a large bottle of apple juice and a water bottle with a squeeze-able head. Show up to his party dressed as a ghost, with the water bottle full of apple juice underneath the sheet. If possible, act very drunk and stumble around his place for a bit, to make it convincing. Then, when everything seems to have calmed down, calmly walk over to his favorite piece of furniture (it could be a couch, a table, or just the floor) and proceed to “pee” all over it, using the apple juice water bottle. If you’re a lady, this will look even crazier, and everyone will freak out appropriately, including your friend. Try “peeing” on him for good measure. This actually sounds like fun. What’s the address of the party? I might just have to see this.

I’m 20, but I still really want to go trick-or-treating. Am I too old?

If it were up to me, there would be no age limit to trickor-treating. How ridiculous is it that after a certain age, I’m no longer entitled to collect massive amounts of free candy from strangers? It’s madness, MADNESS I TELL YOU! But alas, unless you pretend you’re a third-grader with a glandular disorder, chances are you won’t be too successful if you try to go trick-or-treating. That is, unless you get creative.

Last year, a group of college kids in Massachusetts went trick-or-treating around their college town, dressed as treat-givers. People would open their doors only to find another cardboard “door” standing on their steps, with the students standing behind it, dressed as little old ladies with bowls of candy. They’d then hand the person some candy and run away. It was like reverse trick-or-treating!

(Those students were probably all philosophy majors.) I dare you to try that. You might end up giving out more candy than you receive, but who wouldn’t want to seize any opportunity to dress up like a little old lady?…Or is it just me?

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I hate Halloween. I hate the stupid costumes. I hate the loud, obnoxious parties. I hate the constant horror movie marathons on every single TV channel. But most of all, I HATE trick-or-treaters.

They’re immature, loud little creeps who always ruin my night every Halloween. Usually, when the trick-or-treaters go around my neighborhood, I make sure to turn off all my lights and put a sign out that says “NO CANDY HERE,” but I’m tired of it. Why should I have to stay in a dark house all night just so I can avoid annoying little kids in costumes? How can I have a good time on Halloween without participating in all the stupid traditions?

(Continued from page 17)

I think I have a really good idea for a Halloween costume, but all my friends keep telling me it’s a stupid idea. Here’s my idea: I want to be a pimp. Classic, right? Why is everyone giving me so much shit for it?

Let me guess: by “pimp,” you mean dressing up in a huge, lavish fur coat, rocking some gold chains, wearing a fedora with an enormous feather in it, and maybe wearing an outrageous three piece suit. Am I right? (Oh, also the walking stick! I always forget about the walking stick.) I can see where you’re coming from: there’s never a wrong time to wear a huge, lavish fur coat and carry around a walking stick. It’s a great costume, you’re not wrong. But guess what? On any given Halloween over the past, say, five years, I have always gone to a party where there are AT LEAST five guys dressed up as pimps (one year, a guy even convinced a few girls to follow him around wearing skimpy clothing. I didn’t approve, but I’ll admit I was impressed). A “pimp” is a really popular Halloween costume – be original, dude! If you insist on dressing up that way, I dare you to do it the day after Halloween. Then you’ll get some attention.

I love Halloween, and Halloween candy. The problem is, I love it a bit too much. How do I stop myself from over-indulging?

I bet your parents were those dentists who handed out apples and dental floss to trick-or-treaters instead of king-size candy bars (your house probably got egged a lot). I hate to break it to you, but you seem to be completely missing the point of Halloween. On Halloween, all bets are off. You can dress however you want, watch as many horror movies as you want, and (this is the most important part) EAT as much candy as you want. It’s totally acceptable to wake up to a horrendous candy hangover the morning after Halloween, surrounded by Milky Way wrappers and empty boxes of Nerds, still wearing your Sarah Palin mask (uh, I’m not speaking from personal experience or anything). And chances are good that you won’t even have made a dent in your candy stash, so you can spend the next few weeks in a sugar-induced bliss. What’s the downside here? Live a little! Sometimes we all need to eat an entire bag of M&Ms, and Halloween is the one-day when that’s socially acceptable, so go forth and indulge.

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Well, bah humbug to you too, Mr. Scrooge! I’m detecting some suppressed childhood memories surrounding past Halloweens for you.

What happened to make you so bitter, man? Food poisoning from badly wrapped candy? Too many Halloween pranks? Did your elementary school crush tell you she hated your Power Rangers costume? I think it’s time to lighten up, Ebenezer. I agree, you shouldn’t have to participate in the Halloween traditions if you don’t want to, and you also shouldn’t have to sit all alone with the lights all night to avoid trick-or-treaters, but I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself here. You’re also being a little too hard on the (by and large) harmless Halloween customs.

Don’t like horror movies? Buck the system and spend the whole night watching romantic comedies! Hate the costumes? Spend the whole day dressed in your plainest outfit. And if you think it’s unfair that you have to avoid the trick-or-treaters, then don’t! You don’t have to answer the door every time they come calling. Just set out a huge bowl of candy on your front porch with a sign that says, “FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE, SUCKERS.” That way you can chill in your house in whatever way you choose, and won’t have to deal with any part of Halloween that bothers you. But, I mean, COME ON! Your least favorite holiday is the one where it’s acceptable (nay, expected) to ingest obscene amounts of candy and chocolate, and wear outrageous clothing? I think you might need some therapy.

The Curious Case of Sarah Palin

The Rogue, Searching for the Real Sarah Palin Joe McGinniss Crown Publishers, Random House, 2011 336 pp., $25

by Mark Davis

Sarah Palin has excited every corner of the political spectrum for the last four years. In The Rogue, Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, author Joe McGinniss parades a collection of revelations seeking to squash the excitement for sanity’s sake. The Palin juggernaut (the whole family included) races towards a storm of a character study by McGinniss, deepening some holes in Palin’s credibility but only accompanied with holes for McGinniss and his journalism.

“Saturday, May 22, 2010: I moved in next door to Sarah Palin today.” McGinniss caused a media frenzy during that spring; right-wing supporters of Palin, particularly Glenn Beck, quickly chided McGinniss for being the Palin family’s new neighbor and “stalker.” McGinniss explains that he moved up to Alaska to begin writing a book on the former governor when he miraculously received a phone call from Catherine Taylor, a woman who owned a house next door to the Palins’ and was offering the space for rent.

Whatever your take on McGinniss’ methods in doing research in this tell-all book is, they are quickly defended by McGinniss as he explains up until the last chapter: “I moved in, I moved out: nothing newsworthy happened in between. But Sarah could not get over the fact that I’d been there at all.” It does seem obvious that Sarah sensationalized the threat of her new neighbor. There is not one piece of material in The Rogue that seems to have been achieved by McGinniss living next door.

So no, he was not guilty of the peeping-tom character that Sarah Palin and Todd expressed to the media. But that simply begs the question of its relevance at all.

The story of The Rogue features a tale that culminated before one word was even typed (something

McGinniss himself is quick to articulate upon). McGinniss missed a great opportunity to make The Rogue about himself in a style more graceful in its pummeling of Sarah Palin’s character. The book leaves out a McGinniss that could have exhibited comprehensive ideas on Palin’s political and cultural clout and their tremendous detriment to our country. Instead, those chances are replaced with a story about a story that gets tiring in its breath.

Being “the writer next door” seems to serve McGinniss when Todd Palin comes around the side of the fence separating their property and confronts McGinniss about his arrival. This encounter highlights and then segways in to the bullying characters of Todd and Sarah. Todd Palin, wearing a t-shirt with the title “FIRST DUDE” sprayed across his chest inquires upon McGinniss’ motives, ending with, ‘“We’ll just see how long you stay here.’ Then he stalks back across my yard and around the bottom of his fence.”

The Rogue comes across in many forms. There’s The Rogue of claims and allegations, presented to shape Palin as a monster of her own narcissism and hypocrisy. Pointing to her family history, McGinniss tells of a Palin in her youth as a godobsessed geek, the ugly middle-sister, and the daughter of anti-intellectual and negligent parents.

McGinniss describes a couple of bizarre forms of behavior from Palin in her youth, for example when Sarah insisted on walking around and sleeping naked in front of her entire high-school basketball team. In college, McGinniss asserts that Palin was uncomfortable in the first three schools she attended because of their minority student populations, but goes on to say: “Her attitude toward people of color was evolving. In Anchorage, she even dated black men. A friend says, ‘Sarah and her sisters had a fetish for black guys for a while.’”

The Sarah Palin story is obviously not complete without the Todd Palin story in tow. McGinniss portrays Todd as a reckless bachelor in his youth, as a man who consistently sleeps with other women while staying in Dillingham, AK to fish, but at the same time, the only available parent for the Palin children to rely upon. Sarah Palin is constantly identified as a negligent mother, at some points perhaps criminally, as she often refuses to properly feed her children.

Potentially the most peripheral claim in The Rogue involves the weekend romance of Sarah Palin and former University of Michigan basketball star, Glen Rice. McGinniss details their relationship including Palin’s supposed racist remarks following their sexual encounter: ‘“She hauled his ass down,’ a friend says, ‘but she freaked out afterward. Hysterical, crying, totally flipped out. The thing that people remember is her freak-out, how completely crazy she got: I fucked a black man! She was just horrified.

She couldn’t believe that she’d done it.’”

(Continued on page 20)

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(Continued from page 19) McGinniss begins the book

with his character assaults. In these pages the heresay claims of her poor moral fabric are supported by a shoddy foundation at best. The investigation in to the real Sarah Palin produces information that can often seem irrelevant in contrast to her real threat as a national icon. The entire structure of these claims hold together in the book with minor significance accompanied by too many uncited sources.

Where McGinniss does his best work in The Rogue occurs in his detail of life within the Palin political drama. There is the contrast of the very trivial (ex: Sarah Palin’s poor grammar) with McGinniss’ greatest contribution to his book, the portrayal of Sarah Palin as a public servant. In what are the best-cited portions of The Rogue, McGinniss describes Palin’s years in Juneau as a show of complete insincerity.

As a right-wing conservative, preaching the barbarity of big, meddling government, Palin did a lot to refute her own ideology. Her gross mishandling of AGIA, an Alaskan oil pipeline contract that cost the state $500 million dollars, helped drag Alaska from its state surplus in to a deficit. Palin also raised the income tax rate 2.5% while in office. Palin’s obsessive (and illegal) attempt to fire her former brother-in-

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law from his job as a state-trooper is an obsession of McGinniss’ as well. Most chapters revert back to Todd and Sarah’s unyielding efforts, which at times seems trifling in its consequence. Yet the direction of the spotlight on to the Palin political life is where McGinniss seems most credible and is most connected to the leverage that Palin weighs as a national figure.

The Rogue as a story of a reckless teenage son, a marriage on the verge of falling apart, and three very disobedient daughters is a great disparity to the family we watch on The Learning Channel. A claim that McGinniss seems only to be imparting as the voices of others is the chance that Todd and Sarah’s three-year old son Trig, who has Down Syndrome, is not their child, and was perhaps adopted to progress her anti-abortion agenda. McGinniss includes the outlandishness of the assertion, but quotes the popular right-wing columnist Andrew Sullivan as saying: “If her giving birth to a Down Syndrome child is a complete hoax, then she’s simply psychotic…

What’s their excuse for not investigating or even asking? Their first is Palin’s alleged family privacy.

But there is not family privacy once you have deliberately forced an infant with special needs into

the bewildering public space…and used him as the central prop in the construction of a political identity.”

Yet here was another chance that McGinniss missed in creating powerful commentary on the Palin family. He fails to offer his own narrative that puts the Palin’s into the bigger picture of American politics.

There were many connections McGinniss could have made to refute the family values agenda that Palin is at the helm of and then expound upon them.

Instead, The Rogue often reads like a scandalous tabloid instead of pursuing a greater catch.

The Rogue has not been received well critically, regardless of reviewers’ opinions on Palin. Readers will quickly begin to wonder what The Rogue could have been had the content not mirrored so much attention to itself. McGinniss moving in next-door, the many uncited sources, and the sensational behavior documented from every Palin family member generated a book more defined by its instability than through the clarity that it wished to achieve.

Del Matadero In Memory of His Highness’ Son Today died the son of President John F. Kennedy.

News reached the world at the precise moment that I decided to go to the bathroom.

A member of U.S. royalty has died.

And my black dog took a shit in the middle of my living room.

Two tragedies in a single day.

Shouldn’t that be too much for the world at the end of the twentieth century?

Wandering around in Public Remember when you leave the house to put on clothing but do not dress in white. The rain will reveal your body.

Your nakedness perfectly wrinkled into your undulating imperfection. This is prohibited, and should be avoided at all costs.

For this reason, they make you paint your face.

They hide you from sight and never allow you into the light.

by Raïssa Huntley

The following are translations by Raïssa Huntley from the chapbook Del Matadero by Nicaraguan poet Abelardo Baldizón, printed in Managua in 2000 by 400 Elefantes.

A Soldier Asks In a war camp, after gunfire, a soldier asked his general: “My general, who carries the fault for this cursed war?” The general, unable to answer such a question, kept the soldier in his gaze. He failed to pronounce a word. An exploding bomb interrupted the silence. The soldier and his general went running to find the dead in the darkness of the forest.

If you would like to write something for the Literary Section, submit your piece to ubgeneratiion@gmail.com.

You must avoid scandalizing the monotonous succession of days.

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Life Lessons #9

by Allison Ruiz

Don’t let the jealousy Of a dress Consume Your soul and body.

One day far from Now You’ll realize how young And naïve you truly were Back when jealousy Was the only thing On your Mind.

Life Lessons #12

by Allison Ruiz

Impatient punctuality Nevermore responsible Early is on time On time is late Late is unacceptable.

Stupid

by Allison Ruiz

A child once asked me “What’s it like to know everything?”

My response was humble, I claimed I did not.

That question has stuck with me Throughout my adult life And now I wonder, What’s it like to be stupid?

Cocky or not, I honestly don’t know.

When people don’t grasp concepts Within a few seconds I get frustrated.

And yes, I’m that person in the back of the room Rolling their eyes and muttering Under their breath.

So again I ask, What’s it like to be stupid?

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12 PM

Saturday

October 22nd

Parting Shots Now, Walk it out. No Food?! No Service.

by Alex Smith

To start off, I’d just like to say that I’m the first person to preach about all the great qualities of UB. It’s got a great student body, a large selection of classes, plenty of off-campus opportunities, and good food (with the exception of the Dining Halls, thank God for meal exchange!). But there’s one thing that I cannot stand, and that is the fact that some people just do not know how to walk properly. Yes I said walk, like the basic human function that most of us learned like twenty years ago. There isn’t a day that goes by where I have not been bumped into, knocked over, ran into, or been late to a class because of someone’s inability to walk.

Therefore, I’ve decided to share a couple of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to people strutting the many halls of UB: 1. People that walk like they’ve just been placed into a vat of molasses.

Please consider walking at a reasonable pace and if that’s too difficult, keep to the sides of the walls so others can pass you. Nothing irks me more than a group of slow walkers talking up the majority of the hallway, allowing no one else to pass. It’s like being on the thruway: no one want’s to encounter the car that pulls out from the right lane, only to slow down in the passing lane. You do not want to be that car.

2. People who walk in large groups, and manage to take up the entire hallway. I’m pretty sure you and your friends can be separated for the 5 minutes that it takes you to get to class or back to the Union. If not, you must be a horribly clingy person.

3. People that read the paper while they walk. I’m pretty sure that’s what chairs and benches are for. This applies to all types of papers, whether it’s newspapers, tests, textbooks, notes, etc. In my opinion, there’s no worse walker than the student who just got out of a test and is frantically flipping through his or her notes and textbooks. If you really need to go through your notes after a test, wait until your home and in the privacy of your own room. Then you can cry and drown your sorrows in a bottle of Jose Cuervo, rather than in front of the entire UB population.

4. People that hold a full-fledged conversation in the middle of the hallway. This only creates more congestion when people are trying to make their way to classes. Save the conversation for lunch at Pistachio’s, while enjoying a nice bowl of Bravo Pasta. If you really need to talk to the person, just move to the sides of the hallways, allowing other people to pass you. Otherwise, a simple hello or slap-up should suffice.

By pointing some of these things out, I’m really hoping that students will become more aware of their surroundings, and realize that they are not the only people navigating their way around campus. There are currently over 20,000 undergraduates on campus, along with large numbers of graduate students, professors, and other campus employees. With this many people, accidents and large amounts of walking traffic are bound to happen, but I’m sure I’m not the only one sick of being knocked around and bumped into on a daily basis.

So how about it UB, let’s give it another shot. If not we may see UB’s next greatest creation: UB Walking 101, and no, it would not be an easy A.

by Catherine Prendergast

I really dislike the library. Really. I don’t find it useful for studying. When it’s quiet, it’s distracting, and when it’s noisy, it’s annoying. When I have work to do, I do it at home, on my bed, at my desk, or on the couch watching Parks & Recreation. I hate transporting myself to a barren land where I am limited to my carry-on possessions. At home, I have everything I could ever need – a private bathroom, a kitchen, a change of clothes.

My already palpable distaste for the libraries only increased when I heard they now outlaw any food or beverage. Oh, and they actually enforce it too, unlike some other B.S. UB policies. I really cannot believe this. Apparently there are “new keyboards” or something like that. I’m not buying it. Those ain’t Macs, people! And I like to think that UB students would be careful when they eat anyway. They’ll nibble over their lap or keep their coffee a good foot away from the computer. When was the last time you saw a freshman spill a burrito all over a monitor? It happened maybe once, and we have all moved on.

I absolutely love food. It is one of my favorite things, and banning it should be a crime. Students need food and hello, water, to fuel up while they write papers and whatnot. I mean, okay, fine, be a hater and ban food, but water? Is water even banned in jail? WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!

I have heard enough horror stories to officially boycott the libraries until this nutty policy gets repealed. One girl was yelled at for taking a sip from her water bottle. Another student had a thermos in his bag and when an official saw it, he was told to keep it away. This poor kid didn’t even take it out and he was still scolded! This policy is insulting, abusing, and cruel. We are basically being told we are bound to ruin these precious Dells because we are less responsible than toddlers, unable to eat without getting food on the walls, the floor, the keyboards. We need food and water to stay alive while we are chained to college assignments. This policy is ridiculous: during the first week of class, when I was forced to enter this terrible place because of printing emergency, the kid at the computer next to me was asleep, drooling away on the keyboard. I didn’t see him getting punished.

UB libraries, a message: no food, no Catie. Try not to miss me too much.

CLASSIFIED UNDER ADOPTION Happy, secure family of three eager to welcome a 2nd child into our loving home.

Open plans are welcome. 716-239-5876 ubgeneration.com | 23