Issue 2: November

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ISSUE 2

November 2016

SUNY-ESF Literary Magazine

Growing Syracuse Page 8

Mmm...

KEY LIME PIE Recipe PAGE 7

Food Issue

What’s On

Your Plate Page 12

TABLE O’ CONTENTS Branching Out Reoccurring Articles

Professor Spotlight: Dr. Thomas Horton, Justin Coleman Stumpies Around the World: LJ Jerome |New Zealand, Isabella Kaplan A Second Glance: Food, Isabella Kaplan Weird Creature Spotlight, Stephen Scaduto Cheap Eats, Jordan Jessamy Simplicity Over Toxicity: Regrow Your Food Scraps, Miranda Cordiale

Getting To The Roots Environmental & Campus News

Growing Syracuse, Hailey Smalley Fine Dining In National Parks, Teagan Alderman

Small Twigs Personal Essays

A Turkey Sub And An Ubu, Miranda Cordiale Foodmanity, Zachary Warning

Lug Your Bug, Wren Wilson

What’s On Your Plate, Kings Court

Budding Minds Poetry & Creative Writing

Lemon Meringue Pie, Carly Benson

Descent And Ascent, Noelle Stevens Untitled, Shourjya Majumder

This Is A Love Poem, Jordan Louie Untitled, Shourjya Majumder

Silly Saps Satire & Laughs

Ask A NUT Bad Joke Corner, Stephen Scaduto

Recipes

Key Lime Pie, Justin Coleman

Overnight Oatmeal, Morgan Beatey

Photo Credit: Mark Tepper

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BRANCHING Out Reoccurring Articles

Professor Spotlight:

Dr. Thomas Horton

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JC (Justin Coleman): What are the courses that you currently teach and have taught in the past?

TH (Tom Horton): I teach General Ecology, Mycorrhizal Ecology alternated with Advanced Mycology: Basidiomycetes; any number of semi random seminar courses: Fire Ecology, Ethnomycology, Darwin: The Origin of Species.

TH: There are pros and cons for all 3. Advanced Mycology is fun but there are no TAs so I do all the labs and lecture by myself. I get to meet so many students every year.

JC: What do you think has been your proudest moment in your career as an ecologist?

TH: Showing that the trees don’t compete directly for soil nutrients-they compete through their fungal networks, and being able to take part in the oral passing on of traditional ecological knowledge. TEK is becoming a long lost

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SUNY ESF THE KNOTHOLE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM

JC: What keeps you positive in regards to all the environmental and social problems that we currently face?

Justin Coleman

JC: What is your favorite class to teach?

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grill. Salt and pepper corn potatoes. And of course, some mushrooms.

art and I am proud to carry on the knowledge of ethnomycology.

JC: If you could have a dinner party with a historical figure, who would you like to meet? And what would you eat?

TH: Amadeus Mozart. We would eat truffles on cream linguini.

JC: The battle of the coasts! Who do you think has the best culinary aptitude: the east coast or the west coast?

TH: San Francisco hands down.

And the coffee rocks. I think there’s more brew pubs/microbreweries in Portland, Oregon than anywhere in the country.

JC: What was the first mycological meal that you made?

TH: Either chanterelles or oyster mushrooms.

JC: And what is your favorite food dish to make?

TH: A rocking juicy steak on the

TH: The students: We are trying to pass on the baton to the students.

JC: Do you like dogs or cats better?

TH: Dogs.

JC: What’s your favorite band/music group?

TH: The Grateful Dead JC: Do you have any pets?

TH: 1 dog and 3 geckos JC: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

TH: Rum raisin with real rum or butter pecan from Gannon’s.

JC: If you could travel back in time what time period would you go to?

TH: I would go to the middle of the 1800s, exploring biodiversity as an explorer/scientist.

JC: What is your favorite aspect of your job?

TH: The places I get to see during my research endeavors.

JC: What is the most boring part of your job?

BRANCHING OUT NOVEMBER 2016

TH: Sitting through meetings.

JC: I’ve heard lots of hype about the famous west coast In-and Out-Burger. What’s with all the hype?

TH: I have no idea. I went to Tommy’s Chili Burgers. When I was on the west coast I was a vegetarian at the time.

JC: What is your favorite species of wildlife? What about plant?

TH: Grey Wolf; Orchids.

JC: What is your favorite large charismatic megafunga?

TH: King bolete mushroom.

JC: What do you suggest to the new generation of environmentalists and the students of ESF? TH: That’s a heavy one. Every little bit helps. Try to do a lot of little things and don’t get discouraged by hitting a wall.

JC: What is your favorite place you have travelled to?

TH: I would say Austria. It has the alps, music, coffee and good food.

JC: What is your favorite food that you have tried or eaten before?

TH: Dungeness crab. It is a commercially harvested crab off the west coast.

JC: And of course, what is your favorite mushroom and why?

TC: Lion’s mane mushroom. Easy to find, tastes good, rebuilds nervous cells in humans.

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Stumpies Around the World:

L.J. Jerome, New Zealand Isabella Kaplan For this issue of Stumpie Around the World, I had the amazing opportunity to interview LJ Jerome.

LJ is a senior in Environmental Biology. If you are not fortunate enough to know LJ, she is an adventurous, fungus-loving girl. Not only did she get Plant Propagation club on its feet, but she also has been its president and co-president for 2 years. Last semester, she achieved her dream of “going to the Shire” (New Zealand) and studied at the Victoria University of Wellington.

Isabella (I): How was New Zealand and what was your favorite part?

LJ: “It was amazing,” she said with a soft smile on her face. “ I think about it all the time… I want to go back. My favorite part was the people. Just a complete 180 from the people here. They’re kind and don’t expect anything from you. No hidden agendas or anything. They have a slow pace. Just kindhearted people. After a while I didn’t feel like a tourist anymore. At first, I definitely did, and any momentum a conversation potentially had was brought to a close with ‘Oh, you’re American!’ or ‘Wow, you’re

Canadian!’ They can’t tell the accents apart.”

I: Do you have any good stories about the people?

LJ: “I met some amazing people in hostels. My friend and I met a woman named Susan from South Korea. She is a very deeply religious woman and her husband ran the hostel. Her English wasn’t great but she communicated with us in different ways and it was a really emotional experience. And I met some other incredible people who I’m confident will be in my life forever.”

I: I heard it is a beautiful country, how is the wildlife there?

LJ: “It’s a beautiful place. Just a roaring diverse landscape where you’ll be in the city one minute and snowcapped mountains the next… and then rolling hills… and vineyards for miles and miles… and glaciers that are just wild! And the birds! It is just so compact into this tiny little place. They’re very isolated over

there and there are like no native animals, but the birds are just nutters. Oh yeah, and sheep; sheep everywhere.”

I: What were the favorite things you did there?

LJ: *LJ takes out her computer and we start scrolling through her fantastic collection of photos from her trip* “I went on a wine tour… that was one of the best days. We went skydiving. We went to the top of New Zealand and I rode horses through a bay, and we went birding…” She stops as she smiles at a picture. “The 8th wonder of the world, I swear to god, is Milford Sound. It just takes your breath away. And one of my favorite places was Mount Cook, which is a mountainous glacial area and it’s just beautiful.” She laughs, “Its just unreal… I miss it so much.”

I: Sounds like so much fun! So what was the hardest part?

LJ: “So, I was very much prepared to leave the U.S. for New Zealand.

I did a lot of research. I had wanted to go to New Zealand my entire life so it wasn’t a huge stretch. Leaving New Zealand after being there for six months to the day was the hardest part. I stayed after my program ended and I got an intern-

A Second Glance:

Food

ship. By the end of my time in New Zealand, I had really established a life there, and I put off leaving until the very last second. My flight wasn’t until 5 days before school started back up again at ESF. The day I left New Zealand was one of the hardest I’ve ever had! But I still recognize how lucky I am to have been able to go at all. My worst day there was better than my best day here. Also, I got really sick when I was over there. I had a really swollen gland or something, and had to have surgery and to miss 3 weeks of school. I’ll send you a picture, it was hilarious.”

Isabella Kaplan

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Stephan Scaduto

Hello Stumpies!

So as you probably realized by the theme of the issue, the Knothole team loves food! That being said, it isn’t surprising that ESF throughout the years has shared this love.

ESF’s love of good (free) food and BBQ on the quad is so strong that it is mentioned in almost every single issue. In the last A Second Glance, I took us back to 1972-1973.

Therefore, for this issue, I decided to flip through the pages of issues published between 1975-1976.

Within a few seconds of leafing through the November 21, 1975 issue, I found this title: An Environmentally Scientific Approach to Food Conservation. ESF’s favorite things: food, science, and conservation.

I: What would be a piece of advice for ESF students who want to go abroad?

LJ: “Do it. You wont regret it.

Throughout the whole experience I felt myself becoming the person I always wanted to be. Travel changes you. And you should definitely be prepared to be a different person when you come back to America. I am not as I was when I left, and my interactions with people are definitely different now.

But it was all so, so worth it. GO ABROAD IF YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY!!”

Thinking Like a Mountain knows, this ideal is dangerous. The Knothole skillfully defended the coyotes by illustrating facts from “food studies” and ecological systems that proved coyotes are mostly rodent killers. They reminded the world “predation is no problem”, but vital to our ecosystem. ESF may care deeply about food, but we have always remembered where this comes from, and the interconnected web we are all a part of.

In honor of the food issue, this Weird Creature Spotlight will focus on an animal with one of the more bizarre eating habits in nature.

Named the drinking moth, you can probably guess what’s so strange about its diet. Most of these moths are gentle, using their straw shaped mouthparts to lap up tears from large, 4 legged animals that can’t easily brush them away. But, one recently discovered species native to Madagascar, Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica, is a bit more aggressive while pursuing tears.

This article recommended a short experiment for students to try to help them lessen their food waste.

The instructions are as follows: 1.

Measure out the food you buy for the week in ounces.

2.

Put all the food waste in a plastic bag.

3.

At the end of the week measure the weight.

4.

Subtract the weight of step one from step three.

5.

From now on, buy an amount of food that is equivalent to the result in step four.

According to the 1975 Knothole team, this will allow you to “not waste any food at all! No Sh*t!”

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Nicholas Deniford Pinterest.com

The only relatively large animals native to Madagascar, lemurs and mongoose, can easily shoo these pesky moths away with their paws.

Therefore, the moths have evolved to target sleeping birds (it’s hard to run away when you’re asleep).

Since birds have double eyelids, the moths must stab through them with frightening harpoon like proboscis before getting their treat. I feel bad for the birds of Madagascar, because I would probably cry too if someone stabbed my eye with a tiny harpoon while I was trying to take a nap.

Hopefully this Weird Creature Spotlight wets your appetite for the food issue (Get it? Because tears are wet?). If you’re ever feeling down and want to cry, just be glad that someone isn’t trying to steal the tears out of your eyes.

ESF wasn’t just concerned about their own meals, but also about the impacts America’s desire for plentiful food was having on the planet. In the March 4, 1976 issue, the Knothole had a bone to pick with deer hunters. In the 70’s, hunters were killing off coyotes in the Adirondack Park to ensure the predators no longer caused “great damage to game populations”. As any one who has read Leopold’s

Photo Credit: LJ Jerome SUNY ESF THE KNOTHOLE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM

Weird Creature Spotlight

mentalfloss.com SUNY ESF THE KNOTHOLE FACEBOOK2016 INSTAGRAM BRANCHING OUT NOVEMBER

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Recipe

Specialty Produce.com

Cheap Eats

Simplicity Over Toxicity:

Regrow Your Food Scraps

Jordan Jessamy

Miranda Cordiale

Calio’s

Funk ‘n Waffles

When you have little money and a big appetite, quality is often sacrificed for a lower price. However, Calio’s, a calzone eatery on Marshall Street, delivers more food for less. Calio’s provides a unique and tasty twist on the classic calzone by stuffing it with unexpected and surprisingly delicious food combinations. Their menu, which contains an abundance of dinner options, also offers dessert calzones with fillings such as cheese cake batter, brownies, cookies and cream, and pie. The calzones, priced at $7.25, might seem expensive at first but almost always ends up being a convenient bargain. Their stuffed, Frisbee-sized calzones are so filling that they often provide a full stomach and leftovers for the next day. If you have a huge appetite and are daring to try anything once, go to Calio’s on Marshall Street or get a calzone delivered to your door!

If you think that waffles are only for breakfast, this establishment will make you reevaluate the versatility of the waffle. This popular music venue and eatery’s food selection offers the dishes, “Chicken and Waffles” and “Jive Waffles,” that were featured on the well-known television series, “Diners, Driveins & Dives.” Like Calio’s, Funk ‘n Waffles pleasantly surprises tasters with unexpected food combinations. In the infrequent event that customers do not like what they see, custom waffles and several sandwiches are always an option.

Funk ‘n Waffles also has a reputation for their specialty smoothies and shakes with equally unique flavors such as “Apple Pie”, “Cool Kick”, and “All Nighter.” Entertainment lovers will rejoice even more, as this local eatery frequently offers live performances to go with your waffles, such as several band genres and stand-up comedy for a small admission fee averaging $5.

Finally, the cost of Funk ‘n Waffles unique food experience runs cheap with waffles ranging from $3.99-$6.99 and drinks as low as $1.85. Customers can enjoy this unique establishment without breaking the bank!

In honor of this food issue, I’m going to go a new route! DIY-YOUR OWN FOOD! A lot of the things you throw away as food scraps can either be composted or regrown to make new food. You heard me, REGROWN! Regrowing your own food will not only save you trips to the grocery store, but it will save you dollars in your pocket. The following is a list of foods you can regrow in your own home! Warning: I have tried only the first one.

The last three are from friend’s experiences or were found on Pinterest!

Celery: Take the bottom of the celery bunch and place it in a bowl of warm water filled 1-2 inches above the base. Place in a sunny spot in your house for a week, or until the leaves start to grow and then plant it in soil and leave in the sun. Make sure to leave a large part of the celery out of the soil.

Sweet Potato: Take about half of a sweet potato, poke it with some toothpicks and suspend it over water. Make sure half of the potato is covered with water. Keep the potato in a bright area. When the sweet potato starts to grow roots, you can plant it in soil.

Ginger: Get a ginger root with as many sproutings as possible and soak it in warm water overnight. Place the ginger chunk on top of some welldrained soil and then cover it with just a little bit of soil. Keep your ginger warm and watered.

Avocado: If you are up for a challenge, an avocado tree can be regrown from the avocado pit. Like the sweet potato, take the avocado pit and suspend it half in water with toothpicks.

After 6-8 weeks, roots will start to grow. When the stem is about half a foot long, cut the stem and keep it soaking. When it reaches that height again, plant the avocado pit, keeping half of the pit out of the soil in a large pot with rich soil.

www.funknwaffles.com

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KEY

Lime

PIE

By Justin Coleman

For the crust you will need:

1 box of graham crackers (2 sleeves usually will give you more than enough crack for your grahams.)

1-1.5 teaspoons of sugar 5 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter

Put the graham crackers in a closed bag, and use a rolling pin a jar or your hands to crush them into small chunks about a half inch or smaller. There is some leeway in the size of the graham crackers, depending on how crunchy you like your crust. Next, melt the butter for no more than 5 seconds at a time until it is pourable. Mix the sugar, the melted butter, and the crushed graham crackers in a medium sized mixing bowl until the graham crackers begin to stick together. Pour the crust mixture into a standard-sized pie dish, and bring the crust up to the edge of the tray. Set aside.

Now onto the delicious part: the filling. This filling puts the key in key lime!

You will need:

One can (14 ounces) of condensed milk (Not evaporated milk been there done that…bad idea. I would love to hear if anyone knows an alternative to condensed milk for those that are vegans.)

3-5 eggs (I personally like to use 4 but any of that amount will work. And feel free to try a substitute for the eggs if you are a vegan. I would love to hear any responses.)

And the most important ingredient of all: key lime juice. Key limes are a hybrid fruit that is made from a lemon and lime crossing. (ESF has taught me well). My standard go-to brand for key lime juice is called Nellie and Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice. You can get this at Wegmans and sometimes Price Chopper.

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I am not sure exactly where and when I started making this key lime pie recipe. I am not the first one to make it this way, and I hope that I won’t be the last to make this recipe. Once you try homemade key lime pie, you will never want storebought again. I especially like this pie because many of the store bought pies I have found often are made from palm oil, the world’s most unsustainable cooking oil. I think it is one of my favorite desserts to make, and I hope that all of you will enjoy it as much as I do.

It is a straightforward recipe that tastes delicious and allows you to enjoy a tasty treat. While the Key Lime Pie originated in Florida, it still hits the spot in the sometimes-cold Northeast. Although I don’t usually add whipped cream, it is definitely a viable option and may add to the deliciousness of your recipe. I hope you all try making Key Lime Pie with this recipe and have fun baking!

southernliving.com BRANCHING OUT NOVEMBER 2016

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Campus & Environmental News

GETTING THE

Growing Syracuse Hailey Smalley In a place like Syracuse, it’s easy to get caught up in all the asphalt. It’s easy to drown in brick and stone, to get lost in corridors of concrete, and to completely forget that anything other than gray even exists. Bright rosy pinks and the bright orange of ripe carrots and the deep, wholesome green of growing things seem difficult to find, especially as snow begins to blanket the city. Yet, all these bright wonderful colors along with the sweet tastes and fragrances that accompany them are right around the corner. You just have to know where to look.

Syracuse is one of many cities that are joining in the revolution of urban agriculture. Organizations such as Syracuse Grows have recently moved into inner-city spaces, transforming former food deserts and poor income neighborhoods, such as Westcott and Pioneer Homes, into safe and interactive spaces for community members to connect through the greatest bonding agent of all: food. Such community gardens operate under a premise of volunteerism. Community members dedicate their time and energy to the care and upkeep of the garden grounds, and, in return, are supplied with fresh produce, ranging from raspberries to eggplants to basil to sunflowers.

Syracuse isn’t the only city participating in this wave of urban agriculture.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently released a report claiming that a staggering 15 to 20 percent of food production now takes place within cities, which is good news for rapidly urbanizing countries like the US. What’s even more promising than the millions of pounds of food produced by these grassroots efforts, however, are the intangible side effects brought about by urban agriculture enterprises.

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Rapid suburbanization after WWII left many inner-city areas across the US heavily segregated and well below the national poverty line. As well-off citizens left, so did business, and many inner-city neighborhoods were left without easy access to fresh, affordable foods, leading to health problems such as malnutrition and obesity. The 2014-2017 Onondaga County Assessment and Improvement Plan found that 5.5% of low-income residents and a disturbing 6.3% of children in the county don’t have easy access to a grocery store. These statistics, of course, don’t even take into account other factors barring access to food such as income level or issues of transportation.

a step in the right direction. After all, food is the great joiner of people. There seems no better way to begin to rebuild our city into a more integrated, united community than to dig our hands into the earth, plant some seeds, and watch them grow.

If you would like to take part in the urban agriculture revolution taking over Syracuse, check out Syracuse Grows for several opportunities to partake in community agriculture, including SUNY-ESF’s own Green Campus Initiative garden!

Urban agriculture can serve to transpose some of these imposed barriers by providing fresh and healthy foods to families whom would otherwise be unable to obtain them due to a lack of infrastructure, transportation issues, or low income. They also serve as a safe and beneficial channel through which residents can enjoy the outdoors and the company of others, an aspect that is commonly lacking in low-income neighborhoods without community centers or parks. Spaces such as community gardens provide reprieve from the noise and commotion of the city and promote healthy living physically, mentally, and socially.

filled with wild berries. Nothing says edible plants like making your own salad. Comprised of “miner’s lettuce” (Montia Perfoliata), goldenrod, violets, Rocky Mountain maple leaves, and wild rose hips, this medley of edible plants is sure to get your taste buds dancing.

TO

ROOTS Fine Dining In

National Parks Teagan Alderman Have you ever spent a long day hiking in our nation’s National Parks and wondered where your closest source of food was? Chances are, you don’t have to look too far. Edible plants and fungi are often much more abundant than people think.

by letting Douglas-fir needles and stems steep in boiling water for approximately 15 minutes. After tea-time, you can enjoy a collection of local berries. From creeping Oregon grapes to chokecherries, currants, and more, this park is

Yosemite National Park: Much of the lower Yosemite forest cover is dominated by ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, sugar pine, and white pine. From these, an array of teas can be brewed.

Also, if you’re looking for something crunchy, pine cones are completely edible. The same uses can be applied for the vegetation of the higher elevations such as lodgepole pine, red fir, western white pine, and Jeffrey pine. An excellent fruit salad can be assembled from the elderberries, gooseberries, wild strawberries, and manzanitas.

After a wildfire a few years ago, the regrowth consisted of a massive flush of the famously expensive and delicious morel mushrooms. If you are daring and lucky enough to find morels, you are in for a treat, but be careful; morel hunting in Yosemite is illegal!

The National Parks of the United States are known for their value in recreation and preservation, and other details such as their edible plants can often be left out, but, if you have the knowledge to correctly identify some of these edible plants, they offer an opportunity to get a true taste of nature. Eating dandelions isn’t as crazy as it sounds.

Rocky Mountain National Park: After spending a day hiking along the Continental Divide, nothing sounds better than food. Up first is a Douglas-fir tea, a mildly spicy tea with an amber-green coloration. This beverage can be easily brewed

While urban gardening won’t solve the wealth of environmental justice issues in the Syracuse area and beyond, it is SUNY ESF THE KNOTHOLE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM

Shenandoah National Park: If you decided to stay within a day’s drive of ESF, but still wanted to do some taste-testing and exploring of the U.S. national parks, you might find yourself driving down to the Shenandoah National Park in Northern Virginia. There is an abundance of edible flowers including daylilies, dandelions, water lilies, and others. The park’s edible fungi consist of chanterelles, chicken-of-the-woods, oyster mushrooms, and many more. Wild grapes, huckleberries, mulberries, raspberries, blackberries, and black raspberries are just some of the berries you can find in Shenandoah.

www.theotherandyhamilton.com GETTING TO THE ROOTS NOVEMBER 2016

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Photo Credit: Miranda Cordiale

SMALL PERSONAL

A Turkey Sub

And An Ubu

On a beautiful Saturday in the beginning of August, my closest friends were at work while I itched to enjoy my day in the Adirondack Mountains. The weather was clear, around 75 degrees. It would rain later in the day, but I would be done before then. I arrived at the parking lot near the golf course and made my way to the Gothics Trail.

My first stop was at the waterfall about two miles in. The water rushed down the rocks, cascading through the crevices and jagged

and lied to her trainers for her own self-gain, which I find disturbingly “human”.

ESSAYS

Foodmanity

Miranda Cordiale I breathe in mountain air and exhale my troubles while I feel the leaves crunch beneath my feet.

My breathing becomes heavy as it cleanses me. I am well prepared for the journey that is about to begin. My pack is filled with the essentials; a headlamp, extra layers, a raincoat, a sub from Jacob and Tony’s, and of course, a Lake Placid Brewery favorite, Ubu. Sometimes I think that I only hike so I can sit at the top of the mountain, feasting on my sub and enjoying my favorite dark beer.

TWIGS Zachary Warning

edges. I admired its beauty and quickly decided that I would let the water pour on me when I returned.

I ascended the ladder next to the waterfall and began the rest of my journey. My pack was heavy with the three liter bottle I bought at Stewart’s earlier that morning, but I did not mind. I enjoyed the challenging weight on my back.

After scrambling up some rocks and steep terrain, I reached an area with more ladders to climb up and down. I was led to a sign that pointed to Gothics, less than a mile away.

I was about two to three hours in and quickly becoming hungry. I drank about a liter of water, making sure I was hydrated. I promised myself I would not eat my sub until I reached the top. I was so close.

The birch trees only lingered for a little while longer before I reached the peak. It was a little crowded on this gorgeous, early afternoon, so I went around to the other side of the peak to enjoy my sub in silence.

I sat down to unpack, ravenously searching for the sandwich. There it was, a beautiful sub with turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise, about the length of my forearm.

The sub was simple, but perfect in that moment. I then took out the real prize of the trip, my Ubu. I took my keys and opened the bottle with my bear beer bottle opener, taking a swig. The chocolate tones cascaded over my pallet, and I was satisfied. I sighed happily, and took another bite of my sandwich.

In this moment, I forgot the rest of the world. I soaked in the sight of my home, the Adirondacks. The mountains rolled around me, the birds flew by slowly, questioning my generosity while eyeing my sandwich, and the clouds were a fluffy, white accessory to a blue sky. In this moment, I was reminded of my purpose in life. I am here at ESF to save these lands, to be a part of a community to keep them alive and thriving. I breathed in deeply one more time, inhaling and exhaling love. I am full.

To eat is to live. But of course, this statement is not always true, for then would not poison be the elixir of life? And what sort of moral conundrum do we have on our hands where only the well-fed are considered alive? Is to eat human? No? Is to starve animal? Whence cometh starvation then, if it be neither animal nor human? And why, you may be asking yourself, am I reading this article rather than stuffing my face to, ultimately, feel alive?

You are a human. This much I am ninety-eight percent certain, the remaining two percent being left to the improbable, though not impossible, scenario in which a sentient autotroph, insulted by my previous moral quandary, has taken to reading and planning to one day confront me in a coup d’état of plants vs. men. Unless of course the sentient autotroph is a cyanobacteria,

in which case the question arises – what is sunlight?

You see, these ink blotches do serve a purpose: To make you think. Think about food. Think about your favorite food. Think about my favorite food. Did you guess it? No? I guess we’ll all be left in the shadows…

Purpose – yes, that’s right – I’m getting to it. You see, it’s very hard to say with absolute certainty what makes us human. You cannot say it is our upright stance, lest a parakeet be given rights in a court of law (in 50 to 100 years if parakeet rights is a movement sweeping the youth of America, I am not species-ist). It cannot be that we are intelligent or that we reason, lest we remember Koko the gorilla, who was taught sign language

Photo Credit: Miranda Cordiale

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But food – yes, food – is uniquely human. Not the consumption of it, the preparation of it. The eclectic collection of a dozen ingredients from 13 countries (the math works out, I’m telling you) to join flavors in a utopic ecstasy of sensation only we as humans have learned to harness. It penetrates our culture like music and art (and, in many cases, serves as music and art; Citation: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 & 2), and so, when this winter you gaze out from your humble domiciles and feast (food pun heavily intended) your eyes upon a scrappy deer nibbling on a twig, sprinkle some cinnamon on your bleached wheat soaked in animal fat, and raise a glass of warm Peruvian cocoa sprinkled with delicately shaven ginger and a mint leaf for aesthetics to humankind and our indomitable drive to both give the meaningless meaning and somehow find a way to belittle indigenous fauna in our metaphors.

Veni, cenavi, vixi, et tunc mortuus ego.

(I came, I ate, I lived, and then I died).

Photo Credit: Miranda Cordiale SUNY ESF THE KNOTHOLE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM

SMALL TWIGS NOVEMBER 2016

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Recipe

www.chroniclesofvanity.com

Lug Your Bug

What’s On

Your Plate

Wren Wilson

Free food isn’t really hard to find on ESF campus. There are events most days you can attend where some variety of snacks are provided, not to mention weekly scheduled events like the free Panera bread in Nifkin on Thursdays. Obviously, it takes some time to learn all the tips and tricks of maximizing your free food input. As someone who has only been at this school for a little over two months, my knowledge of these tips and tricks certainly could use a little buffing up. Thankfully, I managed to discover one huge tip to getting free food the other day: lugging your bug.

It all started with a simple 9PM trip to the Chipotle on Marshall Street.

The weather was nice enough for that time of night, so the walk was pleasant, if ultimately forgettable. What was not nice, however, was the line at Chipotle, which wrapped well around the inside of the restaurant, reaching the door we entered through. The brisk fall air of the street was contrasted the sweltering heat inside the establishment, and I felt the difference the second I walked in the door. At this moment, we faltered; questioning our will to proceed, but we had walked all the way for our burrito bowls and we weren’t about to walk back empty handed. A commitment is a commitment after all, and we steeled ourselves for the evidently difficult journey ahead of us.

It was at least a half hour before we made it to the front of the line, and I decided that my will to brave the line warranted the one dollar treat of getting steak instead of my usual chicken. As I waited for the sweet, sweet victory that would be my completed burrito bowl, a small green creature leapt over my head

Kings Court

and onto the table behind me.

Turning around, I registered the creature as a katydid-- and promptly (and completely silently, according to my roommate) grabbed it up off of the table, returning back to the line in a matter of moments.

I figured I would set the little guy free once we got outside, and that would be the end of it.

It wasn’t.

Instead, the manager of the restaurant came up to me, asking, and I quote, “You brought that in here with you, right?” To which I responded with a very confused “No?” because, honestly, who actively brings their pet insect into a respectable dining establishment like Chipotle? The manager then promptly went up to the cashier, who was ringing up my roommate at the time, and quietly told her to give my roommate and me our meals for free. I was in a state of disbelief. Apparently this harmless little insect had been “menacing” the restaurant the whole day, and catching it turned out to be a feat worthy of not one but two free burrito bowls. The second I stepped away from the register, free meal in hand, I burst into laughter at the surrealness of the whole situation.

Acting upon my natural ESF student instincts and catching, what turned out to be, a rather pesky insect had gotten me free Chipotle. I’m not suggesting you attempt to replicate this result by bringing your own insects to your restaurant of choice, but desperate times do call for desperate measures, after all.

This Thanksgiving, let us remember to embrace the buffet of colorful and unique options before us all. It is these widespread options that determine the quality of any meal.

Many people are fickle with their tastes while the opposite spectrum holds people willing to accept nearly anything; with these differences in perspective. Why limit a meal to a single dish, especially when you know this meal is being shared with others? Some people tend to only be concerned with their own palate and that of their immediate families and close friends. However, this meal is not only for them, but for all 324 million of us.

In our meal, there is a large amount of food on our plates, with the amount of food seeming to ceaselessly continue to pile. Within the past century, the content of this meal has changed, leading to an increase in more diverse cuisine, and to a wide spread of different reactions from the hundreds of millions eating. For instance, picky eaters would have simply a turkey, as per tradition. Others, more willing to bend, have added a couple sides to their plate. Maybe they replaced turkey for ham, but still hesitate to fully try something new and change customs. Then, there are those completely for experimentation. These are the people who see tradition and recognize that because it reflects the past, it does not need to reflect either the present or the future.

meals, they will hopefully see that it is for the best. The meal is made better thanks to a new flood of different tastes and textures that some may never have experienced before. People just need to be willing to experiment. What makes our meals unique, more so than many others, is that not every home may offer such a diverse meal. Some homes have strict limitations and clear thoughts on what should be available. In our home, we encourage all foods to show up in our meal and on our plates, and the guests are able to take it all in and experience a world of cuisines.

Overnight Oatmeal

By Morgan Beatey

Let’s face it: college life is hectic. Late nights, early mornings, and last minute assignments you forgot to do. With a crazy schedule, it can be difficult to find enough time prepare tasty food. Unless it’s a granola bar here or some fruit there, unprepared days are often spent on an empty stomach with the promise of dinner later in the day. Sure, I could get up early and prepare breakfast and a lunch to go, but I don’t want to wake up a minute before I need to. Sleep is a luxury, and I enjoy every minute I get. For those of you who have schedules like mine, I suggest trying the following recipe and taking your food to go.

Ingredients

Directions

(The following amounts are suggestions; you can change them to fit your taste and containers as you need. Nonetheless, I suggest a 1-to-1 ratio between key ingredients.)

1. Add the oats and milk to your container of choice and allow a few moments for the latter to settle. Add the yogurt and fruit and give the ingredients a mix if you desire. (For portability, I suggest using a mason jar for this recipe; mugs, cups, and bowls work just as well.)

1/2 cup Raw Oats 1/2 cup Milk (This can be of any type, including non-dairy alternatives.)

1/2 cup Yogurt (Greek, fruit, vanilla – it doesn’t matter! Let your taste buds decide.)

1 cup Fruit (Some fruits are seasonal, but there’s no end to the types you can use.)

2. For those looking to sweeten their meal, now is the time to add your honey.

3. Place the container in the refrigerator and allow it to sit overnight – or until you want to eat it. The longer it sits, the more the oats will absorb the flavors included within.

4. Grab a spoon, pull out the food, and enjoy!

1 tbsp. Honey (Don’t have it? Try maple syrup, brown sugar, or simply go without!)

The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t need the luxury of a full kitchen to make it! Check out Campus West or scope out the fruit and salad bar at Sadler. All the ingredients are there, you just have to find them! (An extra suggestion? Add some more milk in the morning to loosen the oatmeal and a few extra toppings to give it some crunch! You can even heat it in the microwave if warm meals suit your fancy.)

Debates have been argued over which type of food is best, whether salty meals dominate sweet or if bitter is basically the same as sour. Ultimately, the debates are unnecessary. Once people come to understand why we have all of these different options in our University of Massachusetts Medical School

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SUNY ESF THE KNOTHOLE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM

SMALL TWIGS NOVEMBER 2016

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Lemon Meringue Pie Carly Benson A boy roamed the market, just under 4’3” With holes in his T-Shirt, and scrapes on his knees.

He didn’t look lost, but smart with a plan Holding two cans of beans, and some salty old spam.

He was close to the register, about to slip by When a girl of 3’9” had caught his brown eyes.

With a hand on her hip and her eyes pinched up, smug The boy thought she looked like a prissy old pug.

But he feared one more thing, besides her face scrunch The girl saw him steal his next bean and spam lunch.

But her eyes had no allegation, rather generous concealment As her small lips turned up with an unspoken agreement.

So, the boy took his chances and stammered away Through the automatic doors where the Christmas tunes played.

The boy’s heart pumped too fast to keep on time with the beat So he knelt in the snow as flakes froze his small knees When a spot on his shoulder felt especially warm Where a hole in his shirt left his skin cold just before.

He looked up to the gloves that adorned his old rags And then up to the girl holding a brown paper bag.

She looked oddly familiar with the same nose as his sis, And the boy wondered if she’d look as beautiful as this If they had money for gloves and had meat on their bones, Or if they had just enough water to scrub the dirt off her nose.

But the girl only stared as the boy stood to her moon glinted eyes 14

When she put the bag and gloves in his hands, then smiled goodbye.

She walked away fast to her plump, smiling mother, who looked like his own if a king would have loved her.

They got in their car and drifted away, Dissipating slowly into a sheet of white flakes.

The boy opened the bag to see what was inside, To find piles of peaches, some bread, and lemon meringue pies.

But underneath was a note that read, “Butternut Street…

Your family can come over on the holiday to eat!”

The young boy was sure he’d never smiled so wide, No doubt it could fit the whole lemon meringue pie.

So he tucked the yellow note back under the bread And thanked the moon glinted sky For what the note read.

Budding Minds Poetry & Creative Writing

Untitled Shourjya Majumder Why do you cry, tell me why do you cry?

Time flows by, through the wind and the sky The moon looks for peace within the breast of the sea The Southern Wind on my face tells me everything is going right The breeze in the willow trees whisper; not worth fighting this fight See the sails billowing in the breeze, such a truly peaceful sight

Descent And Ascent Noelle Stevens Falling. I sink steadily to the ground.

Slowly I drift along the delicate currents, Spiraling and dancing, making not a sound.

fall down.

Again. I reach the bottom, but where?

Change. This time, I have no family around.

I hit upon the floor at last, To find myself among my fellows.

Together again! - but no…

Our time together is once again in the past.

I continue my ceaseless motion, Up and down & down and up.

Until my fragile body can take no more And as a wave crashing against the sea, I break.

Again. I am taken from my kin and

Thus ends the fall of me, the leaf.

SUNY ESF THE KNOTHOLE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM

Yet still you cry Why? Listen to the water, the birds, the breeze The moonlight flooding through the trees Scattering throughout, over the wood Spreading happiness, where sorrow once stood

Silly SAPS

This Is A Love Poem Jordan Louie This is a love poem for books, for novels, for the words on paper that form images in my mind.

I have been shaped by you, little quirks taken from your pages, a dream, a way of living. Because of you I know how to love, but, I don’t.

From magic kingdoms and perfect princesses to teenage drama and vampires to love triangles and heartbreak, you are my saviors.

This is a love poem for me, for the one who reads the literature, the one who first picked up those words as a shield from the real world. A shield from the “friends” that make plans right in front of you and don’t invite you, from Dad asking why you act so stupid for someone who is supposed to be smart, a shield from that boy who lied when he said he didn’t want to date, yet turned around and asked out another girl.

The plunders of another distract me from my own, provide protection from the creeping thoughts, thoughts that beat and burn and break.

This is a love poem for the authors, the writers who created the stories, who taught me what love is, taught me to dream, taught me to live.

You can’t live behind a book forever, eyes caressing pages, but never what is right in front of you.

Let the real arms wrap around you, just as you let those words hold you close.

Because, just like those pages, you are beautiful.

Ask A NUT

Dear Nut, I have a culinary question to ask you. I live in Centennial Hall and I can’t quite figure out how to make popcorn without setting off a fire alarm. You’re supposed to put the entire cardboard box in the micro-

Dear Everyone Who Lives in Centennial Hall,

Untitled

O my friend My friend So many wonders in this world.....

wave and set it for 10 minutes, right? Or are you supposed to turn the stovetop on high, put the bag in the pan, and forget about it for an hour? Please help soon, because I’m having this problem with Easy Mac, too.

Sincerely, Everyone Who Lives in Centennial Hall

Fear not, for there is a way to microwave food without setting off You have connected a bridge dia smoke alarm, forcing the fire rectly to my heart, department to rush to the building directly to my brain. How did you and making everyone wait outside write my life, in the cold for half an hour. The how did you know about the crazy most critical step is to first take the best friend and the friend who This is a love poem to help me love popcorn bag out of the box (hint: to secretly had a crush, and the feelme. remove the popcorn bag from the ing that I wasn’t good enough? box, you must first open the box) and remove it from the clear casing. Next, correctly place the bag in the microwave by observing the huge letters on the bag that say “THIS SIDE DOWN.” The next step is to shut the microwave door Shourjya Majumder Many wonders in this world.

O Friend, So many wonders in this world!

Wherever I go; I gasp and stare in awe Yet I never find any meaning.....

No meaning......

See, good people are living in a hut Evil is sitting and ruling on a throne Those who grow golden crops don’t afford to feed themselves Factory workers are just a remnant of their former selves.

Satire and Laughs

(a crucial yet often forgotten tactic) and pick a time setting. Usually the bag will have a suggested time setting written on it. If you can’t find it, simply press the popcorn button on your microwave. This is usually the button with “POPCORN” written on it. The final step can get a bit tricky, because you might have to listen closely and stop the microwave when the popping noises begin to slow down. If you’re having trouble, call your grandma. She’ll know what to do! If you’ve made it this far, sit down and enjoy your popcorn. We can cover Easy Mac in a later issue; I think it’s best to take this one food at a time.

-Nut

Bad Joke Corner

Stephan Scaduto Q: What do you call candy that was stolen?

A: Hot Chocolate Q: Why do watermelons have fancy weddings?

A: Because they cantaloupe Q: What happens if life gives you melons?

A: You’re probably dyslexic

BUDDING MINDS & SILLY SAPS 2016 NOVEMBER 2016 SILLY SAPS OCTOBER

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Full Photo Credit: Morgan Beatey

The 2016 Wiffle Ball Tournament

Thanks to everyone who came out to help and have fun!

Congrats to the Winner: The Men’s Soccer Team!

Meet The Staff Editor: Grace Belisle Co-Managing Editor: Miranda Cordiale Layout Editor: Scott Przybyla Chief Financial Officer: Mark Tepper Editing Team: Carly Benson, Hailey Smalley, Katie Oran, and LJ Jerome Layout Team: Scott Przybyla and Lauren Perry Cover Photo: Mark Tepper Cover Design: Joseph Gleason Contact Information: Comments or Questions about The Knothole?

The Knothole meets (just about every) Thursdays at 6:30pm in Baker 141 - new Knot People are always welcome! Or email us at esfknothole@gmail.com