December 2010 by The Yeti

02 2010

DECEMBER

The

Yeti Local News. Monster Coverage.

Why So Socialist?

Gamers vs. California

A Vegetarian Holiday

Tallahassee Thrift Stores The Yetiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Review ON CAMPUS

Budget Cuts Break the Bank at FSU

www.TheYetiOnline.com

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

The

Yeti Local News. Monster Coverage.

Yeti Editorial Staff EDITOR IN CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR NEWS EDITOR ARTS AND LIFE EDITOR VIEWS EDITOR ASSISTANT VIEWS EDITOR DESIGN EDITOR

Morgan Kayser Emily Ostermeyer Marcello Iaia Erika Sloop Phillip Garami Ian Thomas Jordan Staniscia

FACULTY ADVISOR

Paul Rutkovsky

FRONT COVER ART

David Tarafa Erika Sloop

BACK COVER ART

The Yeti operates only with the help of a dedicated staff of volunteer writers. We thank them for their hard work and support. If you’d like to get involved with The Yeti, e-mail fsuyeti@gmail.com or visit our website: www.theyetionline.com.

Want to Advertise with The Yeti? We love supporting local businesses and Tallahassee events. Contact us at fsuyeti@gmail.com for pricing and other information.

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Letter from the Editor A few of our articles this issue focus on technology. Within these inky pages you will find a defense of Wikipedia and coverage of lawsuits against video games. These articles and others just show that even though the Internet is the same age as most of our staff, there are still new advances in technology. Print media is changing with these advances, and the Yeti is no exception. Yes, we have a website and post articles online, but much of our strongest writing goes to our print editions. Some say print is dying, but we like to think it still breathes strongly in printed publications like the Yeti you hold in your hands right now. There’s a certain power in holding information in your hands instead of seeing it on a computer screen, a power in artwork and photographs printed in black and white ink that smudges your fingers, a spark in the excitement of physically passing information around campus. That power is what The Yeti tries to bring to Tallahassee in its print editions, and our readers like you are the ones who empower us. Morgan Kayser Editor in Chief

Mission The Yeti is a student-run, conversation-driven media outlet in Tallahassee that serves our readership by providing an alternative to corporately funded, commercial media. We publish in print twice a semester and online twice a week. We focus on providing new perspectives on current events and investigating under-represented and under-reported local issues. Our aim is to convey the voice of the community in hopes of sparking a dialogue between students and community members, and to create an educated exchange of information that will motivate our readership to be aware and active members of society.

Campus Progress works to help young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org.

The opinions expressed in the Views section are those of the writers, and do not necessarily represent the views of The Yeti itself.

Table of Contents

News

Views

Arts & Life

Secure 04 Turnstiles Strozier 10

Gamers VS California

So 05 Why Socialist?

Movies You Should Never See

Cannibal Holocaust

20 Love to LARP

An Open Letter To Campus Construction

Wikipedia: A Much Needed Defense

22 For Sale: Nostalgia

New security measures implemented

Controversial jokerface is an FSU student’s original work.

Cuts Break 06 Budget the Bank at FSU 13 Tuition increases hoped to restore faculty losses

Retrofit and Remediation in Frenchtown

Carter-Howell-Strong Park is closed for drainage rerouting

The choice to attend FSU can be harder than one might think

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God…

Why do children send us things in the mail?

09 Arias Pitts: From 16 GEM to Seminole Focus on Yetifolk

Supreme Court censorship discussion gets serious

There are many merits to the oft-challenged site.

A Very Vegetarian Holiday

Vegetarian/Vegan alternatives to the traditional holiday feast

A peek at Tallahassee’s live action role play community

The Surf-Ari Family

This bus never drove you to school.

A writer reviews Tallahassee’s best vintage

Tales From Tampa, FL

Mysterious postcards we received in the mail... and they keep coming.

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

News

Turnstiles Secure Strozier PHOTOGRAPHY BY Vincent Dale

Jennifer Kane STAFF WRITER Turnstiles with cardswipe access installed in Strozier and Dirac in spring 2010 have tracked an increase in library usage and aided ramped up security. The new turnstiles require all current faculty and students to swipe their FSU ID as they enter and exit the two libraries and for members of the community to provide their license number at the front entrance security desk. This extra step is largely viewed as necessary for its deterrent and informational uses. “The turnstiles make students feel comfortable, but also they are a huge inconvenience, especially when you have to swipe it repeatedly before it works.” said Alexander Kaplan, an FSU senior. Hunter Glassie, an FSU Finance major who works as a card access team member for University LIbraries, said that the installation of turnstiles has reduced searching time by FSU PD. They are able to look at swipe time and compare people in the library at the time in which an incident occurs. According to Nick O’Brien, facilities and security specialist for University Libraries, the turnstiles help identify people FSU PD lists as property trespassers, and increase catch rates. “The turnstiles make it harder, but there will always be a way for people to get through,” said A.J. Deasy, a sophomore at FSU who works at the concierge station in Strozier. O’Brien acknowledges students’ unfamiliarity with the new system. “There was some initial discomfort with the system, but I think people are adjusting,”

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Students pass through turnstiles Strozier library, November 17, 2010.

said O’Brien. “They understand the security changes are for them.” Not all students, however, are convinced that the turnstiles are effective security measures. “I feel the turnstiles do not have a huge effect on safety, but I support the good intention behind them,” said Katie Boué, an English major at FSU. O’Brien says statistical information about library use will be gathered from the turnstiles in the near future. He believes the information will give the libraries a better idea of how to accommodate students’ needs. In an effort to protect patrons’ privacy, information made available will not include names. Besides the information and crime prevention, the turnstiles will allow Florida State,

An FSU student swipes Florida A&M, her ID as she enters and TallahasStrozier library. see Community College libraries to share access. Students will be able to go to any of the three institutions and swipe their card and be able to access information the libraries have to offer. O’Brien said that the three schools are currently collaborating on the project.

Obama Jokerface is an FSU Original Students’ Poster Preceded Controversial Depiction Seen Nationwide Rebecca Hertz

CONTRIBUTING WRITER A politically charged poster featuring presidential Candidate Barack Obama in Joker make-up debuted during a campus rally when Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden visited FSU in November 2008. Members of the FSU College Republicans Tom Bortnyk and R.J. Keeth turned the widely popularized Obama Hope Poster into a political statement protesting Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden’s campus rally just before the election. The poster featured Obama’s face painted as the Joker, a villainous character played by late actor Heath Ledger in the 2008 film The Dark Knight. The poster carried the tagline “Why so socialist?” as a play on the Joker’s infamous line “Why so serious?” Bortnyk and Keeth intended to show support for Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin. “We wanted to get the attention of a college audience, so we made a pop culture reference,” Bortnyk and Keeth explained. “The Dark Knight had just come out, and even Biden gave us a shout out during the rally.” The following January, a similarly “jokerized” image of Obama was digitally produced by Firas Alkhateeb, a student attending the University of Illinois at Chicago. This version was missing the tagline of “Why so socialist?” but it sparked a heated debate after it was taken from the website by a third party and the word “socialism” added. This

“

Tom Bortnyk holds the Jokerface poster at the FSU Joe Biden rally on Nov. 2, 2008. He and R.J. Keeth made the iconic poster the night before.

new joker poster has spread across America, attracting the attention of critics and media outlets everywhere. Critics of the poster claim it is disrespectful and inappropriate. Joe Schweitzer, President of FSU’s College Democrats, calls the poster a scare tactic of the extreme right and “the defacing of our President.” Chris Lacey, an FSU Political Science major who considers himself a moderate and politics junkie, described the poster as “clever and funny.” “It definitely speaks to a college audience,” said Lacey. “I am not offended by it. I mean it’s obviously Republican propaganda, but demeaning cartoon images of Politicians have always been around.” The jokerized poster with the “socialism” tagline has appeared at many rallies and

We wanted to get the attention of a college audience, so we made a pop culture reference.

protests throughout the United Sates since its viral discovery during the summer months of 2009. The Tea Party, a conservative movement, has used the Obama joker poster rallying at the mall in Washington D.C. and throughout the U.S. to protest the current Obama administration’s fiscal and social policies. Members of some activist organizations have used the term “socialism” or “socialist” when referring to President Obama’s Health Care Reform Bill. Bortnyk and Keeth feel this title is not unwarranted. They, like many conservative Americans, refer to President Obama’s bill as “Obamacare” and are concerned with the administration’s stimulus and healthcare legislation because of the increased level of government spending and involvement they entail. “It is easy to call anyone a socialist because it is simple and many people believe simple is right,” said Schweitzer. “It is unfortunate images like this work.”

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

News

Budget Cuts BREAK T H E Bank at FSU

Emily Ostermeyer MANAGING EDITOR

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Last

semester,

Stephanie Hernandez

Taylor

Barnett’s World Theatre History I course would have been taught with 20 to 25 other students. She now sits in a lecture style classroom with 65 other students, making it difficult to discuss and ask questions about the course material. “I’m cool with taking astronomy in a giant person class,” said Barnett, a junior pursuing a B.A. in Theater. “I can still learn that way, but when it comes to any kind of English or that kind of thing, I think you really got to talk about that kind of stuff.” In the past three years, FSU has lost $85 million in state appropriations and sustained a 25 percent cut in the university budget, resulting in what will be a loss of 200 university faculty members in the past three years come July 1. “We have fewer faculty members for the size of our student body then we’ve ever had in terms of a ratio

» of faculty to students,” said Dr. Joseph Travis, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Florida State University. According to Dr. Kirby Kemper, Vice President for Research at FSU, these faculty voids are creating severe holes in liberal arts departments, leaving many programs in a precarious position. Programs such as -Dr. Kirby Kemper the nuclear physics program at FSU, ranked among the nation’s best, is dependent on a small faculty.

If two people leave, it’s gone. It’s taken us 50 years to get here.

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Students wait in the Conradi studio theater for their History of Text Technologies class to begin. Last spring, it had 27 seats, whereas this fall it has 179.

“I’ve got the top nuclear physics program in the United States right here,” said Kemper. “If two people leave, it’s gone. It’s taken us 50 years to get here.” Dr. R.M. Berry, chair of the FSU English Department, reports that the English department alone has experienced a faculty decrease of 10 percent since 2007. Faculty members have started to leave and the department lacks the funds to replace them. “I’ve seen myself taking more and more of the same teachers, over and over again, because there’s no one else to teach

Students on the Budget Shortfall Suck it Up

Legislature Should Reexamine Priorities

Increase Tuition. Hire Faculty.

“If the university can’t handle it, we shouldn’t go at it with the wrong tool. We should just wait it out.”

“They should focus more on higher education...it’s really essential for teachers at every level. And also for the students, because you have students who get financial aid who really don’t get affected by the fifteen percent increase. But for the students whose parents pay for their tuition, they deserve just as much right as we do.”

“It definitely creates more jobs, which is what we need right now.”

Terrance Mangram

Greg Robinson

Molly Elison

JAPANESE AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION

TEACHING AND MATHEMATICS

the courses,” said Faran Foy, a senior Editing, Writing and Media major. Foy is taking a lecture course called the History of Text Technologies with 179 other students. Last semester she would have taken it with 27 other students. Administrators have also eliminated all luxuries in an effort to cut extra expenses, from telephones to paper rationing. Berry sees the budget cuts affecting not only the size of the faculty, but risking the established national reputation for excellence that the English department has gained. “One of the things that we’re very proud of here is that the English department is now nationally recognized as one of the finest in the country,” said Berry. “We’ve really had to fight over a period of 25 years to create that, and, at a time like this, you start to worry you’re going to lose it.” Contributing to this fragility is the overall negative morale that the stress of the budget cuts are placing on all members of the department. “At a time like this, there’s a real tendency for everybody—students, faculty, staff—to start to focus on just how are we

going to make it through today, and no longer thinking, how are we going to create something

the sciences, which have fewer students. “Let’s not forget that,” said Travis. “The humanities were protected, because they’re strong in scholarship, they’re strong in teaching and they’re kind of essential.” As the university seeks to keep all of its programs strong, Dr. Kemper views tuition increases as a viable option to strengthen departments left weakened by the frugality of the budget cuts. Right now, of the 60 percent of in-state undergraduates that owe something in tuition and fees, half of those students pay less than $750 per year. Additionally, less than 10 percent of the 27,000 in-state student body pay near the $4,566 cost of tuition and fees. The university has proposed a tuition increase of 15 percent a year for the next two years. If approved, two years from now, the tuition would increase by $700 a year, but FSU would be able to hire 100 more faculty, and Kemper sees that as the key. “We can’t keep taking budget cuts,” said Kemper. “Something has to be done, and our number one priority as far as I’m concerned is getting back the 200 faculty that we’re down.”

Of the 60 percent of in-state undergraduates that owe something in tuition and fees, half of those students pay less than $750 per year. here that’s wonderful and that’s going to last for years and that we can be proud of,” said Berry. Though the English department has been seriously affected by them, the budget cut’s effects are not isolated to the humanities. Kemper says the mechanical engineering department has gone from 27 faculty down to 19, and the computer science department from 26 to 18. “Everybody’s getting hit,” said Kemper. “There isn’t a single department that you would go to that hasn’t been affected.” Dr. Travis says that none of the biggest budget cuts were in any of the humanities, but

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

News

Frenchtown Stormwater Facility Undergoes Retrofit The drained ponds of the Frenchtown Stormwater Facility lay barren. Most of the surrounding park is closed off to visitors and covered in dirt.

Katherine Brennan & Alan Schulz CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

The Frenchtown Stormwater Facility is closed down, dug up and undergoing extensive renovation in accordance with phase 1 of a substantial retrofit project aimed at alleviating the area’s terrible flooding and storm water runoff problem. At the center of Carter-Howell-Strong Park, the holding ponds lie just beyond the Tennessee strip, off the corner of West Carolina and North Copeland Street. The project involves a new drainage system being installed under surrounding roads and the removal of sediment buildup and pollutants on the pond floor by the truckload. This process, overseen by Frenchtown Stormwater Management, is intended to facilitate the cleaning of storm water runoff that eventually drains into Lake Munson by increasing the capacity of the ponds. Where a third of Tallahassee’s urban storm water is drained, Lake Munson was ranked the seventh most degraded lake in the state in 1982 by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, according to a 2006 ecological report on Lake Munson by McGlynn Laboratories. The Frenchtown Stormwater Facility is one of several upstream water quality facilities that were created in order to pretreat the water that drains into Lake Munson. However, as the

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ponds at the Frenchtown Stormwater Facility became more and more polluted they also became less successful at treating the runoff. Every fifteen to twenty years these ponds are supposed to undergo a major cleaning and sediment removal project, such as the one occurring now. The cost of phase 1 of the project is projected at $3,500,000 and will be partially funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. It began in May 2010 and is scheduled for completion in August 2011. Sam Cook, who visits the park every other Sunday, speculated that the project is moving slow because it lacks funds. But Project Manager Chuck Blum is confident the park will reopen next spring. “Rain does cause minor delays, however we have a pump that removes water out of the pond so it does not pose a serious problem,” said Blum. “Plus we’ve had a recent dry spell that allowed us get a lot of work done.”

Besides the inconvenience of the detours created by the routing of the drainage system, many locals seemed to be supportive of the project, citing the flooding problem and anticipated improvements. “It’s been flooded from Carolina Street all the way to Georgia Street,” said Brendan Paul, who lives nearby. “You can’t drive down the road, that’s how bad it flooded. It was a much needed project, for it to be deeper.” Park goer Harold Hardwick said the entire park flooded “several times in the past,” including St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church, which sits on the corner of the park. Many who use the park regularly said they heard through word of mouth that amenities are going to be added. References were made to Lake Ella, which not only underwent recent reconstruction of its ponds, but also had new bathrooms installed. Marcello Iaia contributed reporting.

Focus on Yetifolk

Arias Pitts: From GEM to Seminole Patrice Guthrie

CONTRIBUTING WRITER It is 2008, the senior year of high school for Arias Pitts. Arias is patiently waiting for the panel of women dressed in crimson, pearls, 5-inch pumps and red lipstick to call her into the room where the interview will begin. Each year, the Gamma Pi Sigma chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. interviews African American female seniors in Palm Beach County for the GEMS scholarship. This is Arias’ year. The panel’s last question sticks with Arias the most: Why aren’t you attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University instead of Florida State University? This was a daunting, but not unfamiliar question for Arias. She comes from a family of strong advocates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) prepared to purchase Rattler paraphernalia for their third generation HBCU student. Arias is now a 20-year-old Sociology major, with a 3.8 GPA, an active member of Black Student Union, Black Female Development Circle, and the W.E.B. Dubois Honor society, as well as other organizations tailored to a well-rounded educational experience. Arias is also a proud Seminole – a decision she still

feels the need to defend from time to time. “I wanted to attend an integrated college even though I come from a family that strongly believes in the HBCU tradition and education,” Arias says. “I have access to the same opportunities as I would at an HBCU as far as organizations that I have joined that cater to the black student.” According to ThinkHBCU.org, HBCUs nationally enroll 370,000 and produce approximately 23 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned by African Americans annually. These numbers may be stunning, especially in light of the fact that HBCUs were developed in order to provide African American students with an Ivy League education during the “separate but equal” period, but they also show that more than 70 percent of African Americans’ bachelor’s degrees are earned at integrated institutions. “Even though HBCUs have these undying customs, I felt that it was all I had been exposed to my entire life,” Arias said. “When deciding to attend FSU, I knew I would have the opportunity to gain a wholesome collegiate experience, learn about underlying traditions Arias Pitts - Delta GEM and Seminole.

beyond the HBCU forum, while at the same time being involved in organizations that are the core of my family. And that solidified my decision to attend an integrated university.” Arias remembers the transition from high school to college being difficult for her because of expectations from family, peers, and instructors that she attend an HBCU. “When I told my mom I wanted to experience college at an integrated institution, she looked at me as if I was breaking the family allegiance to the same universities that allowed my grandparents to get a college education,” Arias said. For many African American families, HBCUs are more than just academic institutions, they are home to a culture over 200 years old. The idea behind attending an HBCU is that black students will be educated with students who look like them, who share history of the black experience in an African American setting, conducive to encouraging academia. “Now that I am in Tallahassee where FAMU is in close proximity to my home school, I feel the two schools do encompass completely different experiences,” Arias says. “I admit that it is different from my mother’s experience at Spelman College, but different is good and different is what I had to be to get the education I wanted, in the setting I wanted, my way.” The purpose of the Delta GEMS scholarships is to first “instill the need to excel academically, and then to provide tools that enable girls to sharpen and enhance their skills to achieve high levels of academic success.” For Arias Pitts, this not only meant she would be an asset to any university, it meant that she could go against a heritage so deeply rooted in her family and still be successful. Arias walked out of her GEMS interview confident with the decision she made. Not an easy decision, but a decision she owns and one that sets her apart from other GEM scholars. That year, Arias Pitts was a Delta GEM scholarship recipient and a Seminole.

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

Views

Gamers Ev Malcolm

California S V

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

he long-standing debate over the effects of violent video games on those who play them seems to be coming to a head as California Senator Leiland Yee has brought it to the attention of the Supreme Court. This apparent climax came only after Yee’s case had been overturned in numerous lower courts on the grounds that it violates the industry’s 1st amendment right to freedom of expression. However, many would argue that video games are not an art form, and therefore do not possess the same rights as more traditional forms such as literature or painting. Supporters of California’s case even went so far as to claim that since video games could not have been a consideration during the framing of the amendment, that they should not receive immunity under it. But as you can well imagine, the thousands of developers around the world who spend years crafting such technologically complex experiences might beg to differ. Nowadays games are beginning to rival the more traditional art forms in terms of depth, character, and emotional impact. They have come a long way since the days of the first Mortal Kombat and are now more like interactive movies than mindless beat-em-ups. Granted, Yee and Schwarzenegger are only going after explicitly violent video games, and are only concerning themselves with sales to minors. The amendment doesn’t allow them to

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restrict the sale of such content to adults. Basically Yee doesn’t want children playing games that “enable the player to virtually inflict serious injury upon images of human beings or characters with substantially human characteristics.” But there are many arguments as to how such content can be effectively measured. Currently there is a rating system in place to keep mature or “M-rated” games out of the hands of minors. Yee and his colleagues argue that the system is ineffective and that children are still getting their hands on these titles. He aims to crack down on retailers by fining them approximately $1,000 per illegal sale under his statute. Joshua Law of Tallahassee’s Games4-Less says that it’s not necessary to card everyone who tries to buy a Mature-rated game.

“Usually you can tell if someone’s of age, and if they’re not a parent is usually present,” he explained. He also claimed that most parents that come in refuse to purchase M-rated titles for their children and many only allow their children to possess tamer E-rated titles. “It would be a nightmare to have to card every single person that came to a midnight release for games like Call of Duty or Halo,” Law said. “The line wraps around the store during those times.” He also noted that modern gaming is moving to an online interface. Physical box sales are starting to decrease, eventually making Yee’s restrictions obsolete anyway. But how long will it be before censors come after online gaming as well? Game developers are already under enough pressure as it is to create games that retailers won’t be afraid to carry. If Yee and his colleagues succeed in stripping gaming of its 1st amendment protection, the censorship might not stop there. President of the Entertainment Consumers Association, Jennifer Mercurio, claims that there’s more at stake than just the future of gaming. “Ultimately,” Mercurio explained, “the case is about whether video games will be protected like other artistic content such as movies, music and books. If the Supreme Court finds that violent content is not protected in video games, it’ll only be a matter of time before the question is reopened for the other entertainment media as well.” Oral debates in the court began on November 2nd, and results are expected soon.

GAMING

AROUND THE

WORLD Phillip Garami

VIEWS EDITOR

America

Australia

Japan

Right now we either like our expensive action games or the ones that make you look like a dick because you have to flail your arms around in order to play. Forget platformers, all our U.S. developed blockbusters involve shooting bad mans or chasing down other sweaty dudes because they have the ball (no girls allowed). The motion control games are the new kids on the block but the time honored tradition of ultramasculine videogames here in the states will carry on well past the next installment of Call of Honor: Battlefield Medal Duty 3: Bad Corps.

Australia has it pretty rough. Their release dates are delayed by months and when they can finally buy the games the rest of the world has been playing for ages, they pay out of the ass for it. Buying the new Call of Duty game over there means dropping roughly the equivalent of 100 US dollars. To top it off, the Australian censors like get uppity sometimes. If you’re a gamer in Australia, I’ve got only one piece of advice: Move somewhere else.

The gaming mecca of the far east has opted out of trying to push cutting edge graphics on its consumer base. These days, handheld systems and the underpowered Wii are the highest sellers while shiny new blockbusters with plenty of fancy lighting effects lag behind. Could the continued high sales of games with simple, cutesy graphics lead to a decline of the nation’s high standards for tentacle-rape dating-simulators that feature the latest advancements in bump-mapping? I hope not.

Europe

South Korea All you need to know is that in South Korea, Starcraft is the de-facto national sport. They take it seriously over there. Matches are often televised and famous players are accosted on the street like Hollywood celebrities.

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

Views

Movies You Should Never See

Cannibal Holocaust I watch it so you don’t have to!

Phillip Garami VIEWS EDITOR

For this installment of Movies You Should Never See I’ve chosen a less obscure movie that hails from Italy, the country that really knows how to make a horror movie. They usually incorporate lots of female nudity into their bloodshed while never explaining the plot, which is just how God intended it. Cannibal Holocaust has a well-earned reputation as one of the most shocking exploitation films ever made. Shot deep in the forests of South America, far away from PETA and the Screen Actors Guild, the film features plenty of gore and non-simulated acts of animal cruelty. Oh and there’s rape, lots and lots of rape. The plot revolves around the “found” footage of a documentary crew who were killed while filming a tribe of cannibals; so much of the movie was shot in a realistic way. There was enough film grain and shaky camera work to convince the Italian courts that the movie’s director might not have faked the on-screen murders. The ensuing trial proved that only the animal killings were real but the whole controversy gave Cannibal Holocaust a reputation from Hell that still sticks to this day. There are plenty of scenes in this movie that warrant a mention for their pure shock value only. Some girl gets raped with a rock, genitalia are exposed and depending on the scene they’re either fondled or chopped off. There’s even a forced abortion scene where the native surgeons bury the fetus and then murder the patient right afterwards, prompting the question: why even bother with the operation in the first place? The best part is that most of it is set to calming string instrumentals that contrast the horrible images on-screen. What people talk about the most is the animal violence so I won’t go into too much detail about that. All you really need to know is that a pig, a monkey, a turtle, a spider, a snake and some muskrat

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looking thing don’t make it to the end of this movie alive. The nice side of me says that I can’t recommend Cannibal Holocaust to anyone and that no one should ever see it, but there’s the provocateur in me that can’t resist screening it to some half-suspecting friend of mine. So yes, I’ve seen it on multiple occasions, all of which were out of my own free will. I see different things in it every time. Like many people, it was only the shocking bits that stuck with me when I first saw it. But after a while I found moments in the film that were almost beautiful in their own strange way. Like when the ruthless documentary crew is burning down a village so they can make it look like some cannibal tribe did it on film. The frenetic movement of all the burning palm leaves and the rippling heat on-screen mixes with the long orchestral swells of the music to form this wonderful moment that transcends the movie it was placed in. Just for a minute, the documentary crew looks like a bunch of exuberant kids having fun at the beach. Watching this scene reminds me of why

I love movies in the first place. Hell, it almost makes the emotional damage from repeated viewings worth it, am I right?

An Open Letter to

Campus Construction Dear Campus Construction, When I came with my dad and mom to visit my sister at FSU, I made my parents take me to get ice cream first. Ice cream was really hard to find, my dad had a map that did us no good. I looked behind buildings and fountains. I climbed a tree and looked even farther. I even thought that the ice cream was too far away to see without my red binoculars that I left back home. I grabbed my mommy’s hand. “To Dairy Queen!” I said. Around a corner was a fence with lots of black stuff hanging from it and I wanted to see behind it. So I found a hole and went through it when no one was looking. Right away, the dirt smell made me think of the bathrooms at the baseball field or a petting zoo. There was lots of things that I’d never seen before but I knew a jungle gym when I saw one and I ran to it. There was a big machine there, just like my Tonka at home and right next to it was a white van that was just like the one this weird guy who wanted to sell me puppies had. I sunk my hands into sawdust and a nail poked me. Two big black tubes that lay across a deep square pit made my voice echo when I yelled into one end. There were some rocks around so I threw some at that huge jungle gym in the middle. I heard my dad shouting. He was on top of the fence waving his arm with one leg on each side. I hadn’t forgotten about Dairy Queen and I was afraid he might not take me. I kicked this really cool looking cardboard box on my way out. I never imagined that a huge jungle gym could be found right in the middle of a college campus! It’s the best thing around because the rest of FSU is just brick buildings, which are kind of boring. I hope I can get back there even when a lot of older kids are walking around the outside of the fence. Thank you campus construction. I’ll see you next time my sister gets pregnant!

People like to send us things sometimes that confuse the hell out of us. Apparently some kid felt compelled to write a letter to all the construction on campus and sent it to us instead. Good job kid, we love getting hand-written notes from toddlers in the mail. Unfortunately, the construction can’t reply because it’s not a person. Also, I think that “jungle gym” you saw might just be a giant crane.

Sincerely, Levi

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

Wikipedia A Much Needed Defense We’ve all probably been guilty of bashing Wikipedia for publishing unreliable content at some point. Maybe we’ve said that it’s poorly written, somewhat incompetent or just plain out of its league when compared to other highly recognized and credible online sources. But just how sure are we about these accusations? Have we really done our research or have we combined what we’ve heard from the media, along with the opinions of others and assumed the worst about Wikipedia? The latter may be true for many of us; I know it was for me. So right now, at this very instant, at this very moment in the article, I think we all should let go and lighten up a little on one of the most popular references on the web according to Alexa popularity rankings rankings. As a Wiki, which means “quick” and “a site that can be modified or contributed by users,” Wikipedia must openly accept the work of all of its users in order to uphold its standard as an open encyclopedia. Just about any and

everyone is invited to write with the site. The guest list includes seasoned truck drivers, bartenders, unlicensed babysitters, associates of Wal-Mart (of which I was one) and the like. This is not to say in any way that these individuals are not knowledgeable, but that everyone, even those who may not be trained writers or specialists can edit a page on Wikipedia. Without this “all welcome” policy, it’s probable that Wikipedia could be capable of achieving a status similar if not equaled to that of Encyclopedia Britannica. Because wikipedians (or the users) are the writers and editors of the site, articles don’t undergo an initial review stage and content is published immediately after edits, which ensures that the website upholds the “quick” part of the wiki definition mentioned above. This is only one of many reasons why so many of us rely on Wikipedia in the first place. Although some errors are destined to crop up in a system like this, it doesn’t necessarily translate to unreliability. Actually, the site may be more dependable than most would care to realize.

This is not to say in any way that these individuals are not knowledgeable, but that everyone, even those who may not be trained writers or specialists can edit a page on Wikipedia. 14

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To help with reliability, all users are encouraged to look at certain guidelines before manipulating articles. This includes familiarizing themselves with an editing tutorial, a style manual and an informational on “the five pillars of Wikipedia”. If that’s not enough, while users edit, automated filters warn when information has been entered that is less than ideal. The site also employs some anti-vandalism measures. Due to a high level of defacement, some articles are protected and can only be changed by trusted users who’ve proven themselves through legitimate edits in the

Author

Jackquelyn Givens

Position

Staff Writer

Section

Views

URL

Wikipedia.org

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike 3.0 (most text also dual-licensed under GFDL) Media licensing varies

past. But for content that’s not under this type of protection, “changes made are registered in a page history so that any defacement can be replaced by an older version of the page.” Automated systems called “bots” are also used to immediately remove incorrect data. Not to mention there are many people responsible for watching the site for these kinds of disruptive changes every day. We understand that anyone can try to mess with Wikipedia’s content and yet many of us continue to use the site, which speaks volumes about ourselves. We’re in the Information Age, we want answers as fast as they can be thrown at us, but it all comes down to the bottom line. Is the reputation of something like the Encyclopedia Britannica worth the cost of a membership? The Alexa rankings clearly show that Wikipedia is reliable enough for most people’s taste, not to mention it’s completely free. But a direct comparison The Encyclopedia Britannica isn’t really fair. Wikipedia is trying to be something completely different, something that’s faster, more open and more accessible. Ideally, it’s a place where everyone can have an opportunity to share their knowledge, while being as credible as possible. Considering all of the limitations and troubles that are inherent in this kind of system, I think it’s doing just fine.

The Top 15 Viewed Articles in 2009

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The Beatles

Wiki 6

Favicon

Michael Jackson

Wikipedia

YouTube

Barack Obama

United States

Deaths in 2009

Facebook

12 World War II

Portal: Current Events

Transformers (film)

Twitter

15 Slumdog Millionaire Issue 2, December 2010

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Views

Tales from Tampa, FL We started receiving postcards at our home about a year ago. The address line only read “Tales from Tampa, FL 33647” and each signed by a John Fisher with a simple drawing of a fish between his first and last name. Each postcard’s front was defaced in some manner, so our uneasiness was certainly not without warrant; especially noting how strange they were. In any event, the post cards have since ceased and there now remains a collection of about at least sixty of these “Tales from Tampa, FL”.

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Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

A Very

Arts & Life

Vegetarian H liday

Casey Jerez and Molly McGilvary CONTRIBUTING WRITERS The holidays are the perfect time for college students to take a break from school and hang out with family and friends. Of course, it’s also time to loosen up that belt and pig out on stuffing, mashed potatoes and turkey. But not everyone is excited about grabbing a carving of Thanksgiving’s signature bird or a hunk of Christmas ham. Vegans and vegetarians have to get a little creative for the holidays. If you’re thinking of giving up meat or animal products as a whole or hosting a party with such guests, there are many alternatives available to make the holiday special for everyone. For many people, the most important element of the holiday lineup is the turkey. If you want to go meat-free this year, one of the most popular choices is Tofurkey, a tofu product made by Turtle Island Foods, Inc. This product, made with organic soybeans, mimics real turkey in its texture and flavor. While real turkey can take all day to cook, Tofurkey only takes an hour. In addition to turkey substitutes, some people go for everyday standbys. “I usually have some kind of meat substitute like veggie chicken patties,” said freshman Jackie Bethune, a 10 year vegetarian. Vegan site Gentle Thanksgiving also recommended a tofu alternative: vegetable roasts. These sausage-style roasts are stuffed with apples, mushrooms, squash, and other vegetables. With delicious foods like these, Rachel Rice, a senior English major, doesn’t worry about having a traditional holiday. “I don’t even go get a Tofurkey or anything,” Rice said. Instead, she eats side dishes. “I grew up in a Southern family. There is normally lots of meat at the family holiday dinners, but my cousin is a vegetarian too, so we normally bring a pretty hearty side dish, like a casserole or soup. My grandma always makes sure there’s a veggie platter and fruit salad too,” added Rice.

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A traditional Vegan-friendly Thanksgiving Dinner that includes Tofurkey, Vegetables, Cranberry Sauce, and a safe gravy made of Tofurkey cubes and unbleached flour.

Rice isn’t alone. Hannah Bowen, a freshman and 7 month Vegan, opts for no meat. “I mostly eat everything that doesn’t contain meat like mashed potatoes, vegetables, etc.” said Bowen. Then there’s the issue of Thanksgiving’s famous topping: gravy. The fact that one of gravy’s ingredients is the juice from meat throws a wrench in a vegan or vegetarian diet. Fear not, herbivores; a very tasty version of gravy can be

made from mushrooms. This dressing is simple to make, with the main ingredients being dried mushrooms, vegetable broth, and margarine (which can be substituted with Earth Balance, if desired). The last hurdle is dessert. Vegetarians don’t have to worry too much about this part of the meal, but dessert can get a little tricky for vegans. Eggs and milk can’t be on the ingredient list, which may seem limiting at first. Vegans who have a sweet tooth need not worry, though. From pumpkin pie to cheesecake, there are plenty of vegan options available. Any of these can be paired with vegan ice cream, which can be found at stores like New Leaf. Check out

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Michael Cornelius

brands like Purely Decadent or ricebased Rice Dream. Your desserts will be healthy and veganfriendly while still tasting totally sinful. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let a vegan and vegetarian friendly holiday make you nervous this year. With these dietary lifestyles growing in popularity, there are plenty of resources to help you be the perfect chef and host. Check out www.gentlethanksgiving. com or grocers like New Leaf if you need more recipe ideas or a little help in the kitchen.

A more creative take on Thanksgiving: Apple Persimmon Salad with a Mustard and Citrus Vinaigrette.

A cooked Tofurky, complete with stuffing. PHOTOGRAPH BY

Candice Eisner

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

Arts & Life

Love to LARP

Kristy McDaniel CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Tallahassee Locals Sink Their Teeth into an Alternate Reality Characters stand in the weekly gathering Conclave, to hear news, issues, and directives from the Prince.

to let that energy out,” said Stephanie Holden, a Tallahassee local. Josh Levine, a student at FSU, likes LARP for the escape it provides. Krystal Hall (right) throws a test to see through her opponent’s “It lets me not be myself for (left) mask, as indicated by holding his fist under his chin. a night,” said Levine. “I can get In the background, Brianne Apolinar stands Obfuscated (or away from any problems I’m invisible), symbolized by crossing her arms over her chest. having.” While in the real world, Tucked away in a world within our players may spend up to five days developing own, there is another world that is ruled by a new character for the next game. When game creatures of the night: vampires, werewolves, night arrives, a player takes on his character’s and demons. These creatures came to power background and personality. The players don’t after the end of the first world, when Cain was roam rampantly, however. Scenarios and rules plagued by three angels (or four depending are written by the narrators, who act more like on the folklore) who damned him to become a god figures than storytellers. However, the vampire after he refused to repent for killing his narrators do not write scripts, rather the experibrother, Abel. ence is more akin to improv. Of course, these creatures do not really “There is no script,” said Holden. exist. They are mortals who meet every Friday “Basically, the players write the script, though to improvise the lives of vampires in a modern it’s not written.” day world. It is like the Sims; the gamer (the The game, known as Live Action Role narrator) puts the character (the player) in a Play (LARP), has been growing in popularity for situation, but there is no direct control over different types of people in Tallahassee, from the character. The players use their characters’ paralegals to political science grad students personality traits to play their character. to members of the Marching Chiefs. LARPing “I was really into acting, and that was allows a person to remove themselves from the pretty much how it was brought up to me; it pressures of modern society and venture into was improv theater,” said Krystal Hall, one of another world. the narrators. “You’re thinking on your feet. “[The game] basically allows people to You’re really developing a character. When you express their individuality. It basically allows sit there and you act … you sometimes have to people with a lot of pent up energy who don’t delve into the character which can be very hard really get to put their ideas out very much … or very easy.”

The game itself is a lot like high school. There are clans (cliques) and the prince (the queen bee). There are elite clans, artistic clans, grungy clans, etc. Within each clan, there are power plays and sometimes coups to gain status. According to player Zach Chaney, it’s roughly 80 percent politics and 20 percent playing. The game is primarily spent discovering who did what to whom and making alliances and conspiracies. Only after much anticipated build up does action take place. Sometimes the action can simulate violence, which is why Jason Smith, the chief narrator of the LARP that follows Vampire: the Masquerade folklore, does not allow weapons, even faux weapons like water guns, at his LARP. In addition, there are a few rules regarding safety. “One is no drugs or alcohol at the game and no bringing weapons,” said Holden. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a nerf gun. [You] can’t have them. A lot of the characters get a little bit carried away, which is why Jason doesn’t allow any kind of weapon, even if it’s fake. Any weapons we use are invisible.” The players do not allow fights that transpire in the game to affect their relationships in the real world. In fact, most of the players become very good friends and jest with each other about what happens in the game. “People are really nice,” said Levine. “This is where I have developed my big group of friends. I know a lot of great friends through this. We have nearly fifty people on the roster.” For more information about game times and place, as well as general questions, email interdimensional@hotmail.com.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

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Jason Smith

The Surf-Ari Family Riya Resheidat & Katherine Brennan CONTRIBUTING WRITERS It’s the beginning of November and the corner of Woodward Avenue and Jefferson Street looks like Christmas. A retired school bus has been revamped with pink and blue paint, zebra print siding and white Christmas tree lights. The bus, nicknamed The Surf-Ari, is driving around campus carrying four best friends and a lot of liquor. Roly Magnus, Joshua Davis, Phillip Mangan and Skyler McCarthy are out for a night of fun. Although The Surf-Ari, which was originally purchased for friends to use, is now hired by club promoters to shuttle partygoers to their events, the four guys are still doing this for the fun. All agree that the money is a bonus. They have a great time partying together, driving new friends around on the bus. This is the second school bus Joshua Davis has owned. He says the first broke down all of the time, but after some consideration he decided to buy another bus from a friend’s father. The seats in the bus have been placed along the walls and covered in red velvet.

The Surf-Ari family leans against the bus they use for road trips and late nights of bush-diving and drinking games. Magnus is walking up and down the zebra print-painted wooden plank covering the floor center aisle. With a microphone attached to a stereo in hand, he is singing Party in the USA as a group of girls celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday sing along in unison. When the bus reaches the girls’ destination, Magnus leaves the group with a word of advice: “Go get drunk, lower your standards, and find someone”. The bus is off and on its way for it’s fourth and final pick-up of the night. The guys are pounding on the ceiling of the bus, singing and dancing together. The man driving the bus seems oblivious to the noise. Ray Brown, one of the two bus drivers the four guys have hired for The Surf-Ari, is a school bus driver full time and has taken up driving for Magnus and his friends as a part time job. “It’s a little bit different from driving little kids in the day time, but I am used to the noise,” said Brown. “It gets pretty wild as far as banging and screaming and hollering.” The following day Magnus, a philosophy major at FSU, is getting ready to DJ at Potbellies for happy hour. Dressed in a long fur coat with swim trunks and flip-flops, he sits down to

talk about the friends he calls family. “I met Josh last year at the West 10 pool and apparently we bonded really well,” said Magnus. The group of friends went on a bus trip to Secret Beach soon after, and spent their time snowboarding down sand dunes. “After Secret Beach, it was sealed. We were family.” The Surf-Ari sometimes travels around Tallahassee with animals, such as a Great Dane named Tiger, a few cats and a cockatoo named C.J. “We are thinking of getting another because a cockatoo completes us,” said Magnus. Awaiting his graduation in December, Magnus says he receives A’s in all of his classes. “My personality is very sporadic, because I am very organized but at the same time out at night I am very wild,” said Magnus. But his explanation of how he maintains his high GPA with all of the partying is simple: “I am intelligent. I am a smart guy. I know what I study and I love what I study, so in that aspect it’s really easy to balance school and my studies.”

The Surf-Ari Family: from left to right, Roly Aguirre, Phillip Mangan, Skyler Mccarthy and Josh Davis.

Issue 2, December 2010

The Yeti

Nostalgia Lurvin Miladis CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Tallahassee is a town with timeless yet modern locations that satisfy a spectrum of interests from art galleries to Mom and Pop restaurants. Personal favorites of some students at Florida State are the vintage stores surrounding campus. All the vintage stores are unique in their own aspects but all strive to bring the past to the present and create unique style.

Avant Garb Avant Garb is on West Gaines St. next to Euphoria tattoos and What’s the Point. This store has jewelry, records and men and women’s vintage clothing ranging from the 1920s to the 1990s. And for those needing a daily vintage fix, the shop is open seven days a week. The owner, Heather Wade, opened the store in February of 2006 and has stocked it with items that she has found on buying trips. A certain percentage is consigned items. Avant Garb also has a wide selection of jewelry made by local artists and Wade herself. “The cool thing is that I’m one of those people, and we make our jewelry from vintage items and finds. I out right buy most of my things,” said Wade. Even the store’s atmosphere is vintage, inspired by Wade’s own memory. “I collected vintage stuff most of my life and what inspired me was the vintage store where I worked that used to be down the street in 1986,” Wade said.

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The

Other Side

Sick Boy Sick Boy is located on Gaines St. that sells exclusively clothing and accessories. The store also has an in-house seamstress that can tailor anything either bought in the store or somewhere else. All you have to do is make an appointment. Most of the inventory is collected by buyers that the store has hired to collect a larger variety of vintage items. “We have people who live out of state that find stuff and send it over in boxes. It comes in throughout the week but we put out new stuff on Mondays,” said Devon Pyles, the owner. Sick Boy is also tailored for college students looking for interesting fashionable pieces at a reasonable price. “We’re all about clothing and fashion-shoes, hats, accessories, and everything from our bags to our clothing is recyclable and reused,” said Devon Pyles, the owner. Sick Boy has been in business since Pyles decided to discontinue law school and use saved money that could’ve gone to a graduation trip to Europe to open her store instead.

The Other Side Vintage, located several yards from the entrance of Railroad Square Art Park, comes close to a three dimensional I Spy book. This store has a little of everything, from adorable necklaces to a full suit of armor, and other unique clothing and accessories. What sets this store apart from other vintage competitors is their large amount of knick knacks to decorate a dorm (or apartment or house) and repurposed furniture, lamps and a bust of Elvis Presley perfect for a new apartment.

Quarter Moon Imports Quarter Moon Imports is a store among The Cottages at Lake Ella. Though at first glance it appears merely a quaint cottage, the alluring, fashionable mannequins lead into a colorful interior filled with paper lanterns, clothing, accessories and items from candles to journals. The happy faces of the sales people and the shop’s overall laid-back environment provide a great atmosphere for shopping and browsing. Nicole Aoford found it a fun store to visit often. “It’s just fun to look around,” said Aoford. The clothing in the store is not used or repurposed, however they have a vintage feel and the items such as the journals are created by artisans. Think of it like a vintage inspired Hallmark store.

Issue 2, December 2010