Volume 50, Issue 22

Page 1

Single copies free The student newspaper at USF St. Petersburg

Feb 22- Feb 28, 2016 | Volume 50 | Issue 22

Online monitoring comes to campus

Roller Derby is on the rise p. 4

p. 2

Meet Pepper the campus cat By Samantha Putterman Staff Reporter

Samantha Putterman / Crow’s Nest

Pepper lives under the historic Williams House, where Laurie Berlin, Sheri Beaudreau and others bring food and look after the stray cat.

There’s more than one mascot at USF St. Petersburg. The university’s official character, Rocky the Bull, may have some stiff competition – from a stray cat. Her name is Pepper, a tabby who appears to be 4 to 5 years old. Pepper is no ordinary stray. Since she appeared a couple of years ago, she has captured the attention – and the hearts – of a small campus crew that takes care of her. She lives under the historic Williams House, using a special entrance that was created by the university’s building department. She patrols the courtyard of the nearby journalism building, where human friends feed her and stroke her head. And when she had a litter

about three years ago, friends found homes for her kittens and arranged surgery to ensure she won’t be a mother again. Laurie Berlin, who has worked at the Florida Humanities Council in the Peter Rudy Wallace Florida Center for Teachers building for 15 years, first noticed Pepper about two years ago. “She was very wild, very thin, very emaciated … and in my head, I said, ‘I’m not going to go there, I’m not going to go there,’” said Berlin. “But she kept getting skinnier.” Even after Berlin started feeding Pepper, it took some time before the skittish tabby started to warm up to her. “Finally, I was able to scratch the top of her head while she was eating, and we went through that

Continued on p. 2

A surreal collaboration

By Jeffrey Zanker Staff Reporter

Walt Disney and Salvador dalí, the masterminds of animation and surrealism, were good friends. The two were born three years – and a continent – apart. Disney,

in 1901 in Chicago and Dalí in Figueres, Spain, in 1904. And despite their distance, they shared a world of fantasy. “You do not think of them in the same context,” said Peter Tush, the education curator at the St. Petersburg Dalí Museum. “But there was an unexpected

Peter Tush, the education curator at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg views Dali’s surrealism as “dark and psychological” and Disney’s naturalistic style as a “happy, safe view of the world.”

connection between these two radically different figures. Their imaginations were so strong they had to create environments for others to experience what they desire.” The Dalí Museum’s newest ex hibit, “Disney a nd Da lí: Architects of the Imagination,” bring the two together, showcasing the artists’ works and various collaborations. The exhibit will be on display until June 12. Tush is co-curating the exhibit along with filmmaker Ted Nicolaou. Nicolaou worked with Disney’s daughter Diane who sparked the idea behind the showcase. “This will show an angle of Walt that people don’t normally think of — he wasn’t just all about familyfriendly stuff,” said Nicolaou. “He wasn’t dark, but he dealt in dreams and fantastical images.” The entrance to the entrance displays two large murals. One is an architectural blueprint of Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland, while the other is Dalí’s “Dream of Venus” pavilion from the 1939 World’s Fair. The murals, Tush said, emphasized the interest both had in architecture and design.

As both were ahead of their time, the two visionaries struggled to get their ideas/project/endeavors off the ground in their early careers. As Disney pioneered the world of animation, Dali was piercing through the world of surrealism.

Throughout the exhibit, the men’s lives are paralleled from their childhoods to their eventual fame. Their timelines are featured in an archive of photos, film clips, recordings, drawings and sketches, which to lead to the centerpiece – their first encounter. Each were fans of the other’s works. D a l í w a s i m pr e s s e d w i t h Disney’s early cartoons, while

Disney admired Dalí’s boundless imagination. After reading Dalí’s autobiography in 1944, Disney sent his copy to the painter for an autograph and inquired about a possible collaboration. At the time, Dalí was working with film director Alfred Hitchcock on a dream sequence for the movie “Spellbound.”

Continued on p. 5


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.