Auburnalternativemagazineprint by Cam Brantley-Rios

Auburn Alternative Inside:

UNEARTHING THE FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF AUBURN

Captain Kudzu ON

CREATING A WALL OF SOUND

ARE INSECTS THE FOOD OF THE FUTURE? modern alchemy

Students finding a way to turn trash into energy

MEET THE AUTHOR

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CONTENTS

4 UNEARTHING FORGOTTEN AUBURN HISTORY 6 TURNING TRASH INTO ENERGY 8 THE MAN BEHIND THE BRAND 10 OPINION: WHY WE SHOULD BITE BUGS BACK 14 CAPTAIN KUDZU ON BUILDING A WALL OF SOUND 16

AUBURN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: BALANCING FORM + FUNCTION

Auburn Industrial Design

Balancing Form + Function

fter finishing their bottles of Shiner Holiday Cheer at a small Auburn apartment, Kat and Jo are ready to head to the front porch for a cigarette. Kat’s face is barely visible as she lights an American Spirit in the dark.

“Being in this major has flipped the way I view life,” she says. Jo nods in agreement . The two young women are in their fourth year of Auburn’s industrial design program. Design Intelligence has consistently featured Auburn’s industrial design program in its list of America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools. Although Auburn industrial design is a nationally distinguished program, many students confuse it with industrial engineering.Kathryn Klebenow and Joanna Waters, seniors in the program, admit that they often have to explain what industrial design means to other students. Many assume that if they are not engineers, they must be artists. “Sometimes people think we just do arts and crafts,” Kathryn says.

By Camren Brantley-Rios

Ironically enough, what they do is find the perfect balance between engineering and art. Form follows function. This is their mantra. Industrial designers are charged with the duty of making products better. “We improve functionality, aesthetics and marketability,” Joanna explains. The scope of industrial design is limitless.

“You have to create something technical in order to get something beautiful.” “When I describe the program to non-majors, I always say ‘imagine yourself walking into Wal-Mart. Take away all the clothes and all the food. We design all of those products. Plus more,’” Joanna says. While that is a simple way to put it, Kat steers clear of explaining that way. In reality, Auburn’s industrial design students create more sophisticated products than what you would pull off a Wal-Mart shelf. Auburn

design studios have been sponsored by companies like Vanity Fair Imagewear and even NASA to design products. While Kathryn and Joanna have no major clients this semester, last year they created product designs for Char-Broil and Emerson. Their work also transcends the boundaries of their curriculum. Last summer, they revamped a 1982 Volkswagen, creating a coffee house on wheels for Wake Up Coffee Co. At the same time, their peers were designing solar-powered cellphone charging stations for Hangout Mus... in Gulf Shores, Alabama. These “fourth years” have designed skateboards, gloves, clocks, grills, furniture and everything in between. And with style. “For me, it’s a practical creative outlet,” says Kathryn. “It’s serving others with my ability to create. I think art comes down to a technical process. You have to be able to see colors, shapes and forms. It’s the same with product design. You have to create something technical in order to get something beautiful.”

But balancing form and function is not a simple task. Creating a functional product with visual appeal is sometimes like solving a long equation. For most designers, the first step is the same: sketching. Jo sketches a product based on how it will work. “The first sketches are always terrible,” she says. The aesthetics have yet to be injected. Once Jo knows how it will function, she imagines how it can look better. “But then that vision will change something about how it works. Sometimes you’ll want a curve there, but the internal component is square so that’s not going to work,” Jo explains. It’s a game of tug of war. “Sometimes my design doesn’t turn out as sexy as I want.”

Unearthing Forgotten Auburn History with Dale Coleman By Camren Brantley-Rios

ou’ve heard the War Eagle story. You’ve heard the Punt, Bama, Punt story. With over 150 years worth of stories, Auburn University is a campus rich in history. As each year passes, more stories are collected into the grand conglomerate of what we call the history of Auburn. Many of these stories can be found in the archives on the bottom floor of Ralph Brown Draughon Library in the Special Collections & Archives Department. Dr. Dale Coleman, a longtime animal science professor, is fascinated by those stories. Coleman became interested in Auburn history soon after his involvement with Camp War Eagle. As an advisor for an organization that met at night, Coleman would pass the time after work in the archives of the library. Coleman initially went to the archives to learn more about Auburn’s alma mater, but found a myriad of stories in old editions of the Glomerata and the Plainsman, which was formerly known as the ‘Orange & Blue’. “Every picture you see of Dr. Petrie is in black and white,” said Coleman. “Have you ever tried to think of Dr. Petrie in living color?”Coleman paints a picture of old Auburn in living color.

Elvis performsing on campus in 1974 Photo provided by the War E gle Reader

Senior Class Reign Originally, the Glomerata was made for the senior class by the seniors. “They might mention the juniors or throw in a picture of the freshmen, but it was all about the seniors,” said Coleman. According to Coleman, the Glomerata served as a “conglomeration” of their time while they were at Auburn. A look at early editions of the Glomerata reveals that all senior class members had their own biography. The senior class section even included senior prophecies, predictions of the future ahead.

The King of Rock and Roll In 1974, Elvis Presley came down to the Plains to perform an hour-long set on Auburn’s campus. The “Hound Dog” singer even said War Eagle. Elvis wasn’t the only big star to perform at Auburn. “Auburn had a lot of awesome concerts in the seventies,” said Coleman. A year earlier, Elton John also performed in the

Homecoming announcement fron 1913 Glomerata Photography by Camren Brantley-Rios

Homecoming in the Spring “It had nothing to do with football,” said Coleman. The alumni association decided that Auburn needed to have its first homecoming in the spring of 1913 at commencement. “It was for the alumni. It was to welcome them back home to Auburn,” said Coleman. Howard M. Hamill was an alumni of Auburn and writer. Under the presidency of Charles Thach, Hamill was charged with the duty of writing the original proclamation to alumni that announced the first homecoming. As time went on, Homecoming became more a football phenomenon and less of an alumni phenomenon. As Hamill puts it in his proclamation, homecoming is primarily meant for alumni to leave worries behind and come to gladden again the heart of our alma mater. “Auburn is full of stories,” said Coleman. “You just have to dig into the archives and find them.”

Beard-Eaves Memorial coliseum. Other notable performers include The Beach Boys, Björk, Crosby and Nash, Jimmy Buffet and Santana.

Photo provided by the War Eagle

A Miss Auburn Heifer In 1979, a Holstein cow named Bessie was nominated for Miss Auburn. Supposedly an active member of Mu Omega Omega (or MOO sorority), Bessie was the first and only non-human candidate for Miss Auburn. With the help of a 59-person team, Bessie’s campaign spread all over Auburn’s campus in posters, handouts, t-shirts and media attention. Some of her campaign slogans included “Not Just Another Drop In The Bucket” and “Bessie-She Won’t Steer You Wrong.” (Photo: The War Eagle Reader) Bessie’s campaign was so successful that she won the election, gaining 1,000 votes more than Cindy Murphy. “The cow had to defer its title to the runner-up who was an actual woman,” said Coleman. Bessie’s platform was “Legalize Grass.”

TURNING TRASH INTO ENERGY By Camren Brantley-Rios

he United Nations estimates the world population to reach 9 billion by the year 2050. Experts suggest we increase our food production by 60 percent. Although, some say it’s not all about the production. Nearly half of the world’s food is thrown away as waste, leaving many wondering if the answer to the food crisis is food waste management. Waste management is becoming a global topic of interest, including on our very own campus. Three Auburn University seniors are finding a way to properly utilize campus waste as not only a fertilizer, but also as an energy source. Simon Gregg, a biosystems engineer, Paul Drenning, a civil engineer and Cameron Cobb, an interdisciplinary studies major, are currently undertaking this project for a capstone course in sustainability. Simon Gregg is the president of Auburn University’s chapter of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Gregg recently led a collaborative initiative to secure $5,000 for Auburn’s Biosystems Engineering Department. His drive for biosystems engineering prompted him to look into how Auburn manages its waste. “We found that in 2013, there were a thousand tons of organic waste produced,” said Gregg. Much of this disposal was composed of landscaping waste such as tree trimmings, grass clippings and plant bedding.

“With our project, we are aiming to show the need for a proper waste management program to reinforce Auburn’s commitment to sustainability”

Gregg totes campus food waste to take back to his compost. Photo provided by Simon Gregg According to Gregg, campus food made up roughly 25% of the entire waste production. “We’re looking at the organic waste and trying to determine the best approach for utilizing it,” said Gregg. One of these approaches is traditional composting, in which microorganisms break up matter rich in carbon and nitrogen by aerobic digestion. This approach produces an organic fertilizer and is what many of us imagine when we think of compost. But Gregg and his peers are also considering different approaches. “We’re also gonna look at anaerobic digestion, which allows you to produce electricity,” said Gregg. What makes a digestion system anaerobic is the absence of oxygen. The set up cultivates microorganisms that don’t require free oxygen. “These microorganisms feed on the organic matter and produce a biogas composed of carbon dioxide and methane.” According to Gregg, with the right equipment, this biogas can be harnessed as energy in place of traditional fossil fuels.

“With our project, we are aiming to show the need for a proper waste management program to reinforce Auburn’s commitment to sustainability,” said Drenning. Chartwells Dining Service has taken efforts to bring sustainability to Auburn’s campus.” Gregg says that in his research, he also found that Chartwells has integrated compost programs on other university campuses. In 2013, Chartwells implemented a compost system at UNC Charlotte to reduce liquid and solid waste. Similar compost programs have launched at University of Utah and Trinity College. As for now, Gregg believes the first step to take is educating the campus community. “Students have to be educated, faculty have to be educated, people have to understand what is happening. We are talking about creating a new waste receptacle,” said Gregg. “We have to educate people so they know where this resource is going.”

THE MAN BEHIND THE BRAND By Camren Brantley-Rios

Photo provided by Carson Legg

t’s 5 p.m. and Carson Legg is hard at work designing a logo for a client in Wake Up Coffee Company. He’s seated comfortably next to a friend, others walk by, giving him high-fives, the baristas know him by name. He is in his element. I offer to buy him a drink, but he’s already beat me to the punch. Coffee is a familiar friend for Auburn architecture students. The 24-year-old designer has just been accepted into the program’s highlycompetitive Urban Studio program. “It’s one of Auburn’s thesis options. There are three. One in Auburn, one in Green County, the Rural Studio, and one in Birmingham called the Urban Studio,” he explains. He’ll be spending all of next year back in his hometown. “ I’ll spend half of each

semester in the studio downtown and the other half in a firm working a paid internship.” Although Legg calls Birmingham home, he spent a great deal of his youth on the road. “My dad produced hospitality venues for PGA events. He would be gone for two months at a time. My mom was tired of playing single mom while he was gone so she pulled me and my sisters out of school and we started homeschooling, traveling all across the United States.” While his father worked for various events with the PGA, LPGA, Breeder’s Cup, Kentucky Derby, even NASCAR, Legg got to tag along and explore nearly every region of the United States, an exception to what homeschool usually entails. Shifting to “homeschool” isn’t all he has to thank his mother for either. “My mom is a super creative

person,” he says. “I think that gene was just passed down to me. I’ve always had creative hankerings.” With the designer gene in his blood, a sketch journal in hand and a few Lego sets, Legg was a child destined to create. Although he didn’t always plan for it to turn out this way. An initial pre-med major, Legg took time off of school at Samford University, spending much of that time in drawing studios. His pursuit for design led him to Auburn’s College of Architecture Design & Construction. In his fourth year, Legg has become well-acquainted with programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and 3D modeling programs such as Google SketchUp, AutoCAD, Rhino and Revit. Early last year, Legg decided to use his tools for design to carve a niche as an emerging branding professional. He launched his project for a client just off Auburn’s campus, a furniture company called Seven Oaks. After successfully creating the company logo, Legg began designs for a clothing company called Outside The Camp. “My baby was the beanie,” says Legg. Legg designed a beanie, collaborated on the company logo and even helped put the company in contact with wholesalers. “I invested a ton into the company,” he says. His client list even includes his mother. “My mom just started a kombucha company,” Legg explains. “She’s been brewing her own Kombucha for a while.” After some encouragement from his father, Legg’s mother finally transformed her hobby into a business. “It’s called Better Kombucha. I’m branding the company and doing the website.” Pro bono, of course.

“If I’ve learned anything in architecture, it’s that good design is timeless” Original artwork by Carson Legg

As Legg sits at his laptop, he’s working on branding a farm-to-market catering business in Waco, Texas. “It’s called Happy Harvest,” he says. “The owner Juanita has a vision, but she doesn’t have a background in design. She relayed to me what she wanted and released creative control.” But branding a company 800 miles away is no small challenge. Unlike his former projects, this one involves breaking down the barriers of written communication. “The easiest way is by Facetiming,” Legg explains. “So much can get lost in text and email. I’m asking her about her family and her favorite colors and why those colors are her favorite colors. Going through exercises like that to get to know her to essentially associate a color palette with her personality. It’s something that I don’t take lightly. I don’t want it to just be a logo that she has until the company dies.”

Low-poly Gazelle print by Carson Legg

“I was going through all these old WWI pictures and it impacted me.started researching these gas masks because of these chlorine bombs and they were first introduced in World War I. They saved a ton of people’s lives. That one innovative piece of equipment spoke to me.” But Legg doesn’t limit himself to strictly client work. He creates watercolor art and digital prints for his personal enjoyment. Occasionally, Legg will share his prints on social media. “I’ve been encouraged by a couple friends to start selling them,” he says. Just a couple weeks ago, he opened up an etsy shop. “Recently I’ve gotten into doing low-poly art,” he says. This technique uses relatively large geometric shapes combined to produce an abstract image. Low-poly was originally a technique used in video games, creating three-dimensional shapes (think Lara Croft ‘96). Now, the art style has become somewhat of a nod to the retroism of early graphic design. One of Legg’s most notorious prints is an eerielooking World War I gas mask. After researching the historical uses of chlorine, Legg stumbled upon findings of the chemical being used as a poisonous gas during World War I. “That struck me,” he explains. “I was going through all of these old World War I pictures and it impacted me. I started researching these gas masks because of these chlorine bombs and they were first introduced in World War I. They saved a ton of people’s lives. That one innovative piece of equipment spoke to me.

Low-poly WWI print by Carson Legg It’s definitely an intense image.” The gask mask print is one of a three-part series that Legg is currently finishing up. Legg is one of many in the recent wave of young self-starters to emerge from Auburn. Sara Hopkins, a media studies graduate, has become a national social media sensation. Mollie Jenkins, a senior in fine arts, recently launched a successful pottery business, selling pottery anywhere from Columbus to Buckhead. “I’m definitely new to the game,” he says. Legg admits that he is still finding his style. “There’s this architect named Louis Kahn. He didn’t find his style until he was 55 years old. If I’ve learned anything in architecture, it’s that good design is timeless” he explains. “It needs to have character. It needs to be full of life.”

Why we should bite bugs back The Argument For Entomophagy By Camren Brantley-Rios

ugs are saving the planet. Well, perhaps not on their own, but two billion people are alleviating the global food crisis by simply chowing them down. The practice is called entomophagy and it could be key to solving the food crisis. You may call it repulsive and even barbaric, but you can’t say it isn’t sustainable. At the turn of the century, there were six billion mouths to feed. By 2050, that number will skyrocket to nine billion. Our population soars, but unfortunately, our planet remains the same size. It’s no surprise that sustainability has become the new frontier in the food industry and is exactly why Westerners should, at the very least, consider eating insects. Insects require significantly lower amounts of water and land resources than cows, chickens and pigs. It takes nearly 900 gallons of water to produce a third of a pound of beef, enough for one hamburger. That same amount of water could produce 140 pounds of crickets. Unlike cows, chickens and pigs, insects are exothermic and don’t require hundreds of calories from feed to maintain their body temperature. In fact, some bugs yield nearly a 100% ROI from feed. Ten pounds of feed can produce anywhere from six to nine pounds of insects, depending on the species. In comparison,

cows yield one pound of meat per every 10 pounds of feed. And they don’t need much land to grow. In fact, bugs prefer to live in close quarters. You could comfortably raise them in vertically stacked cages, sparing land for conservation or alternative agricultural purposes. The same can’t be said for cows, chickens and pigs, many of which are uncomfortably packed into unnaturally tight quarters. Entomophagy is more than just the latest health buzzword. It’s a responsible, humane method of sustaining our food industry. Yet it remains hard for Westerners to stomach the idea. We felt the same way about lobster up until the 1800s. The consumption of lobster was once frowned upon in civilized America. Referred to as the garbagemen of the sea, lobsters are bottom-feeders that were deemed as a last resort, eaten only by prisoners and the poor. Some American colonies even had laws prohibiting prisons from feeding lobsters to inmates, as it was cruel and unusual punishment. Two hundred years later, the tables have turned. The bottom- feeders have climbed their way to our tabletops. It’s not unusual to find restaurants that charge more than $1,000 for a lobster dish. Lobsters haven’t changed, but our perspective has. Western culture has reinforced an aversion toward insects. We view them as pests, invaders of our world (they actually outnumber us 200 million to one.).

From left to right: Mealworm Nutella and banana sandwich, cricket queson fundidio, mealworm mushroom soup, cricket calamari salad, mealworm fries, sautéed dubia cockroaches, mealworm burger, California waxworm roll, wax n’ cheese. Photography by Camren Brantley-Rios We see them as dirty creatures, carriers of viruses. In reality, insects don’t carry food-borne illnesses like salmonella and mad cow disease. Were raised to believe they were bad. In other places, that’s not the case. In Cambodia, it is common for children to hunt tarantulas and bring them back home to eat as a delicacy. Many South American consider locusts a delicacy. Even in America, there is a Utah-based

company called Chapul beginning to produce cricket meal-based protein bars. The power of culture is nearly limitless. At this very moment in time, Western culture disapproves entomophagy. But with more than 1,900 known species of edible insects, a bug-based diet is a promising weapon in the fight for food security. The only thing stopping us from eating them is our perspective.

Gafford performs his debut single ‘Porch’ at a local coffee shop in downtown Opelika Photography by Richard Cecil Hagans

Photography by Will Smith

Captain Kudzu Building a Wall of Sound

By Camren Brantley-Rios Captain Kudzu, formerly a music project between Jackson Gafford and a friend, has now become Gafford’s stage name for his independent work as a producer, musician and singer-songwriter. An Opelika native, Gafford is currently recording his first album, while performing at venues within the Auburn-Opelika area. Gafford crafts his sound by using the increasingly popular method of looping. He records a certain sound and then replays it to create a seamless repetition of music. He loops sounds as a simple as a drum beat to more complex guitar riffs. Gafford layers these sounds upon each other, slowly building his work, piece by piece, until he fills a room with atmospheric sound. “I like the idea of creating a wall of sound that isn’t just noise, but it’s atmosphere,” said Gafford. This looping and layering method is a very technical process that has earned artists like Grimes and

Panda Bear critical acclaim, although Gafford receives inspiration from a variety of musicians. “I come from a lot of difference musical influences,” said Gafford who cites artists like Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson as inspiration. Gafford’s style, previously characterized by blues and punk, has evolved into more ambient music. ‘Porch’, his debut single, begins as a simple waltzy beat akin to Beach House’s Walk in the Park. Eventually, Gafford kicks the beat up into a groovy rhythm reminiscent of Foster the People’s Pumped Up Kicks. Piece by piece, Gafford layers guitar riffs and vocals until they build what he calls his wall of sound. “My music kind of works the same way Kudzu does. Kudzu begins at one simple point and moves and grows and envelopes an entire area. That’s what I like to do,” says Gafford. “I like to start from something very simple and build it into something more

“Find your ‘other language.’ Not words, but the language that you can speak through what you do. You’ll reap the benefits of it. If it is music, speak it. Don’t yell it. Don’t mumble it. Don’t speak over people. Music is a conversation. Have a cohesive one. Have an interesting one.” complex to the point that you don’t even know what you’re listening to anymore. It’s just this wall.” Any given performance will begin this way. A steady Gafford has spent much of his recent time in the studio. He’s working on his eponymous debut album ‘Captain Kudzu.’ Photography by Rachael Boutwell

beat followed by a staggering of layers. However, some of these layers might change with each performance. “Usually, I’ll start out with solid beats. But the layers could change depending on how I’m feeling that night. There’s been riffs where I’ll write it and when I perform it, I end up making something different.” Admittedly a nervous performer, Gafford has found the boldness to take risks on stage. He reveals that if a lyric doesn’t feel right, he’ll change it on the spot. Somewhat inspired by the spontaneity of Jimi Hendrix, Gafford is unafraid of the risk of performing songs still under development. Despite the risk of making a mistake, Gafford is finding patience. (Photo credit: Rachael Boutwell) “It’s so risky. When I first started out, I would get angry if I messed up a loop,” Gafford said.“Sometimes, if the loop is just off and there’s nothing you can do about it, you just gotta stop. You just make a joke. You play it off.” When he’s not performing, Gafford can be found recording his debut album titled Captain Kudzu, set to release later this year. Gafford plans to collaborate with local musicians and also encourages his fellow creatives to connect through music. “If it’s genuine, people are going to respond to it,” he said. “Find your ‘other language.’ Not words, but the language that you can speak through what you do. You’ll reap the benefits of it. If it is music, speak it. Don’t yell it. Don’t mumble it. Don’t speak over people. Music is a conversation. Have a cohesive one. Have an interesting one.”

Gafford laughs off the mistakes of live performances, oftenly cracking jokes to the audience Photography by Seth Brown

“Sometimes, if the loop is just off and there’s nothing you can do about it, you just gotta stop. You just make a joke. You play it off.” 19

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