Ethos Magazine Spring 2013 by Ethos magazine

CATFISH: Social media horror stories | PULL THE TRIGGER: Various targets in sight 11 tracks and 7 fests to jam to this summer | New to the bars? We’ve got you covered

OPEN MIND RECOMMENDED FOR EFFECTIVE USE OF THIS PRODUCT

SPRING 2013

BACK ON THE COURT

MAGAZINE

STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Devon O’Brien

PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR Allie Anderson

MANAGING EDITOR Matt Wettengel

WRITERS Michelle Brugioni Emily Elveru Michael Finn Amira Khatib Rahemma Mayfield Nicole Presley Ben Theobald

ARTICLES EDITOR Abby Gilman JUNIOR ARTICLES EDITOR Kiana Roppe VISUALS EDITOR Kait McKinney JUNIOR VISUALS EDITOR Liz Zabel CREATIVE DIRECTORS Nguyet Bui Katy Moore JUNIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mackenzie Ferguson ONLINE EDITOR Dallas Daws

MEET THE ETHOS STAFF

JUNIOR VISUALS EDITOR Liz Zabel

DESIGNERS Becky Eilers Teryn Hammes Emerald Klauer Jordan Welch Briana Wengert PHOTOGRAPHERS Yue Wu Suit Yee

DESIGNER Jordan Welch

SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Maggie McGinity

ONLINE EDITOR Dallas Daws

DESIGNER Emerald Klauer

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR ADVISER Dennis Chamberlin

SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Maggie McGinity ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Patrick Dieleman

AJ’S ULTRA LOUNGE & LIQUOR STORE

OFF THE CORNER OF LINCOLN WAY AND WELCH AVE. HOURS MON 6pm-1am WED-SAT 6pm-1:45am SUN 6pm-12am

A LETTER FROM

THE EDITOR

I WANT TO CREATE AWESOME THINGS WITH AMAZING PEOPLE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. My friend called me to comment on the second best college town. She’s a collegiate correspondent for USA Today College and was writing a story about the best college towns in America: naturally, Ames was named No. 2 (don’t worry guys, we’ll kick Ithaca’s ass next year, like Cornell? Who cares?). She was interviewing me about what makes Ames so great; I started talking and immediately lost it. The realization that graduation is just around the corner, and with it my departure from Ames, got me so bummed. Don’t get me wrong, college has its ups and downs and sometimes I just need to get away. But when it really comes down to it I’m going to miss Ames. I’m going to miss frantically scurrying to class with a deep-seeded fear that a crow will poop on my freshly showered hair. I’m going to miss crossing central campus in the middle of winter in a foot of snow, walking uphill both ways. I’m going to miss pulling my roommate’s and my clean mugs out of the dishwasher on Wednesday night and knowing that the best night of the week is only one day away.

But what I’m going to miss most is the reason Ames was named No. 2: the people (I struggled with this theme because I knew it would get sappy and pathetic, but stick with me here). This town is filled with great people from all walks of life who will continue on to do new things. I want to create awesome things with amazing people for the rest of my life, and I’ve gotten to do that here—despite the very open group of people who disagree with that. So, as my last chance to talk to all of you, our readers, I want to say thank you. Thank you for making this experience possible for me and for all of the amazing people I work with. P.S. This issue is filled with all of the awesome stuff I created with those amazing people that I usually talk about here, but I think you all know the drill: We can’t make this sh*t up.

S P R I N G 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS 11 Pull the Trigger: The gun owners behind the barrel

The Pickup Game Land the guy or gal you’ve had your eye on

Quickies Nuggets of information to keep your inner douche at bay

A Newbie’s Guide to the Bars Tips for drinking like a champ rather than looking like a chump

Taking the Green Initiative Iowa State pumps up its environmental game

Festival 101 The lowdown on the summer’s best music fests

Love Knows No Borders Couples don’t let a little distance get in the way of romance

How Safe Are Your Snapchats? Keep your friends’ embarrassing moments forever

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The Comeback Kid Bubu Palo: Get to know the man behind the allegations

28 Catfish: Campus Edition

Firsthand accounts of social media gone wrong

Veggies for One Transform frozen vegetables into delicious dishes

War of the Weekend Frat party vs. house party; which will win you over?

Who Do You Think You Are: Kate Poore Meet the leading lady of ISU’s Medieval Re-Creationist Club

A few easy steps to landing a date with the hottie across the bar. BY MICHELLE BRUGIONI DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION JORDAN WELCH PHOTO LIZ ZABEL

Preparation If you want to pick up a hunny, you have to dress the part. Take a shower and put on something nice.

Flirt Take a note from our story on nonverbal communication at ethosmagazine.org; make eye contact and focus your attention on the person.

Select

Location

Arrive

Match your type with your place. Looking for a hipster? Hit up Thumbs. Looking for someone athletic? Head to Welch Ave Station.

Did it just get hot in here? Yes. Because you showed up and brought your A-game.

Browse the crowd and when you see the one who takes your breath away, make eye contact to establish a connection.

Wind up

Introduce

Approach

Self explanatory. Just don’t lead with anything too personal like your digestive problems when you drink milk.

Confidence is dominance. Approaching the one you have an eye on may help peak his or her interest.

Start conversation. Avoid bragging about how many shots you can pound or how much your outfit cost.

Turn it up

Seal the deal

Follow up

Now you have to lay down your best moves, and no it isn’t a pickup line involving a reference to heaven.

Time to seal the deal or ditch. You either need to swap numbers, “get out of here” together or part ways.

If you managed to nab the number and are looking for more than a one-night-stand, pick up the phone. Just wait a day or two.

8 Ways to Annoy Everyone at the Library Become every student’s worst enemy. Bring food, all the food, the crunchiest foods. Get Jimmy John’s, but don’t just get a sandwich you can unwrap one time and be done with. Get an Unwich, so after every bite you can tear a little bit more of that wrapper and make your neighbor cringe. Follow it up with those chips that sound like shrapnel when you chew. Snacks aren’t enough, you’re going to need some caffeine. Bring a 32 ounce Mountain Dew from the gas station. Fill it full of ice, then soda. Drink out the soda, shake the cup, slurp the ice melt, shake the cup, slurp the ice melt, etc. Give up; chew the ice. Listen to Skrillex with your headphones in, but use earbuds and definitely don’t put them all the way in your ear. Let those heavy bass drops not only escape your ear canal but ricochet off of every ear curvature, filling the third floor. Whisper-sing when appropriate. Wear a ’90s style nylon sweat suit.

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Lace your bag with Velcro. Keep everything you need in a separate pocket. Tear those hook-and-loop fasteners apart every two minutes. Need your notebook, riiiip. Oops! Need a pen, riiiiip. Uh-oh! Gotta plug in your computer, riiiiiip. Keep your phone set to vibrate for texts and “Call Me Maybe” for phone calls. Mass text everyone in your phone, “Hey I need to talk ASAP.” Place your phone on the hardest surface possible while you go to the bathroom. Watch videos of your favorite stand-up comedian, headphones in, laughter on full volume. Don’t fight it; repeat your favorite lines immediately after you hear them. Inconveniently get a tickle in your throat. Morph into DJ Kool, perform “Let Me Clear My Throat.” Let a mic materialize in your hands, hold it out for the audience to join in only to throw it on the ground and announce, “DJ Kool, out.” You’re sure to get a standing ovation. Bonus: If all else fails, just have sex in the tiers.

Waste your time effectively Between papers, projects, assignments, readings, exams, quizzes, work, meetings and maybe sleep, college life gets busy. Sometimes students need to procrastinate to get away from it all. Instead of wasting your time scrolling through your Facebook news feed, waste your time constructively with these websites. 1. Livemocha.com: For the international buff who wants to learn a new language, Livemocha uses traditional methods, games and feedback from native speakers to help you become conversationally fluent. 2. Supertracker.usda.gov: Striving for a healthier lifestyle? SuperTracker gives suggestions on how to live healthier after you document five goals in exercise and diet-related fields. The site then creates customized plans for diet and exercise, but it’s up to you to make it beneficial. 3. Lynda.com: This software tutorial site is an often underused resource for Iowa State students. The University has a subscription, making it free for anyone with an ISU net-ID. Lynda offers a wide range of courses that teach users about any kind of software including anything from the Adobe Creative Suite, GarageBand and even HTML coding. Each lesson is taught through videos that walk you through whatever you’re learning, making them easy to follow and understand. If you’re looking to get a technical boost, look no further.

4. Crash Course! channel on YouTube: The Crash Course! channel covers five subjects—world history, biology, literature, ecology and U.S. history—and gives users brief, yet thorough overviews of a variety of topics from each one. While it is educational, it’s nothing like a class lecture. The goofy John Greene guides you through each video and keeps the information fun and conversational, which makes even the dullest of topics entertaining. 5. Radiolab.org: Like to multitask while doing homework? Listen to the enlightening conversations Radiolab offers while doing other things, if you can handle it. The site describes itself as a place “where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy and human experience.” If nothing else it makes for informative background noise. 6. Artbabble.org: Art Babble is a compilation of videos that present different mediums, periods, styles, themes and locations of art. Even if you’re not in the know when it comes to the art world, visiting this site will help you keep up with any art buff.

7. Mint.com: Always wondering where your money goes? Mint tracks your spending habits and breaks them down into categories, which can help make sense of always-depleted bank accounts. It accesses your accounts directly and sends weekly updates on your spending habits to keep users in the know. It will also alert you to any unusual spending if you’re looking for a little extra protection. 8. TED.com: Progressive talks from top speakers in areas of education, inspiration, business, empowerment and more is what TED has to offer. If you want to listen to ideas that are worth spreading, which is TED’s mission, this is the place for you. 9. Mashable.com: Mashable reports on the latest digital updates in social media, technology, business, lifestyle and more, to keep you in the loop and on top of things. 10. Humantouchofchemistry.com: Offering fun games, information and activities about chemistry in an interactive website, Human Touch of Chemistry offers users the chance to enjoy the daunting subject in a simplistic light.

What Not to Do at the Gym

don’t be the person who Types “ha.” after every sentence Wears cut-off jorts Stops in a major walkway to talk Takes selfies that give you a boob job Picks fights on Facebook Sleeps wherever you fall Leaves bottles of chew spit in the kitchen Takes up an entire chair for your stuff Has a purse that’s big enough to take up an entire chair Talks about your “diet” Lives at your significant other’s place Has shower sex when your roommate is home Doesn’t do your own dishes

Check yourself out in the mirror

Taking selfies on the equipment

Talk on your phone

Wear jeans

Anything other than working out while using a mat

Leave your weights on the floor 7

a newbie’s guide to the bars BY AMIRA KHATIB DESIGN JORDAN WELCH PHOTO KAIT MCKINNEY

Your first time at the bar can be a tricky rite of passage. We share our beginner tips so your friends won’t find you in the corner Googling “proper bar etiquette,” or “best drinks to order at the bar” the night of your 21st birthday. 8 | ethosmagazine.org

speak the lingo

keep it open

By now, you’ve probably walked down Welch a few times and passed signs that read “$3 wells and $2 draws” only to pause and think, “What’s up with all this bar lingo?” Study these key terms to look less like a newbie.

Opening or running a tab is when the bartender keeps a running charge of your drinks for a one-time bill. This is a convenient way to pay if you know you will be ordering multiple drinks throughout the night. The bartender may also ask you if you would like to “keep it open,” which is a subtle way of asking if you are planning on ordering more drinks and need to keep a tab running. However, you’re also likely to spend more than if you pay with cash for each drink.

cocktails

Keep in mind that some bars set a minimum when paying with a credit or debit card. Boettcher says that at Cy’s, bartenders can’t close a tab unless it meets the minimum of $10, which can put people in an awkward position. She suggests only opening a tab if you’re certain you will order at least two or three drinks.

White Russian: Made famous by the movie “The Big Lebowski,” this drink is a sweet blend of coffee liqueur, vodka and cream or milk.

Wells: Drinks made with off-brand, in-house liquors that are significantly cheaper than namebrand. Instead of ordering a Jack and Coke, simply ask for a whiskey and Coke. Top shelf: This refers to the more expensive name-brand alcohol that is placed on the top shelf behind the bar. This includes brands like Grey Goose, Patrón and Crown Royal. 2fers: Two drinks for the price of one, hence the name 2fer. They are the BOGO (buy one, get one) of alcohol. Domestic: Beer from the U.S., such as Budweiser, Miller Lite and Coors Light. Imports: Beer from other countries, such as Heineken, Corona and 312. Draws/Drafts: This refers to how beer is served—from the tap.

pick your poison On her 21st birthday, Angela Christianson, senior in journalism and mass communication, says she was afraid to order anything at the bar because she had no idea what to get. “Often times you’ll get people, especially girls, who say, ‘I want a shot of something, I don’t know what, but I don’t want it to taste strong,’” says Michelle Boettcher, bartender at Cy’s Roost.

Be careful: Reality hits hard the morning after a foggy night when you realize you never closed your tab. If you do forget to close your tab, the bartender will close it at the end of the night and you can go back the next day to grab your card. No need to be too embarrassed either—it’s likely you won’t be the only one. However, not all bars are forgiving; at some places, the bartender can close out your tab at the end of the night and automatically add a 20 percent gratuity.

here’s a tip Don’t forget to tip and do so generously. Some first time bar-goers forget that bartenders make less than minimum wage filling your mugs and mixing your drinks. Instead of trying to calculate the tip at the end of the night, just follow the general rule of $1 per drink.

get creative Long Island Iced Tea: Don’t let the name fool you, this drink is strong. It consists of vodka, tequila, rum, gin, triple sec, sour mix and a splash of Coke. Dirty Shirley: The grown-up version of a classic childhood drink. It’s made up of vodka, lemon-lime soda and grenadine.

Sex On The Beach: A fruity drink consisting of peach Schnapps, vodka, cranberry juice and either pineapple or orange juice.

shots Redheaded Slut: The name says it all; this shot consists of cranberry juice, peach Schnapps and Jägermeister. Dirty Girl Scout: A creamy shot made of coffee liqueur, Irish cream liqueur, creme de menthe and vodka. Kamikaze: A popular shot consisting of vodka, triple sec and lime.

Both Christianson and Boettcher suggest learning some specific drinks and going to the bar knowing exactly what you want. Boettcher says the most popular drinks are rum and Coke, whiskey and Coke and Dirty Shirleys. If you want to shake things up a little, try ordering a Moscow Mule—vodka, ginger beer and lime—or a Nerd Bomb, an Ames original consisting of strawberry vodka, Red Bull and apple, grape and watermelon pucker.

HOW SAFE ARE YOUR

SNAPCHATS? BY AMIRA KHATIB DESIGN KATY MOORE PHOTO KAIT MCKINNEY

We show you how to clean up your mess faster than you can screenshot your friend’s double-chin, cross-eyed Snapchat for blackmail. Snapchat is a self-destructing photo- and video-sharing app. The sender controls how long the receiver can see the photo or video by setting a timer for up to 10 seconds. After the allotted time, the content disappears into thin air forever—or so you thought. According to security experts, there are plenty of ways to get around the vanishing act. Doug Jacobson, electrical and computer engineering professor, explains that you can either do a screenshot on the phone or take a picture of the screen with another camera. This may seem sneaky, but Snapchat alerts senders when someone screenshots their photos. However, at that point there is nothing the sender can do about it. It’s not as easy to save a Snapchat video, but there’s an app for that. Robert Leshner, CEO of Safe Shepherd, a company that provides personal-data protection, says Buzzfeed discovered that by getting a free file browser app like iFunBox, you can download any video someone sends you directly to your computer. “Even if the company plugs these holes in its security, it will likely never be able to offer users an expectation of complete privacy,” says Leshner. The good news? Unless your friends are tech nerds, it’s unlikely that they had any idea how to save your videos. For now, cover your ass (literally) by keeping your Snapchats G-rated.

STEAL SNAPCHAT VIDEOS Follow these few quick steps and voila, your friend’s video is yours forever:

Tap to let the Snapchat message load, but don’t open it. Plug your phone into your computer. iFunBox finds the Snapchat folders where the videos are stored.

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Find the Snapchat folder and locate the folder called “tmp.” This contains all the Snapchat videos you’ve received and from there you can download them to your computer and save them forever.

pull the trigger:

DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION NGUYET BUI PHOTO YUE WU Four blasts echoed through Ames 30 minutes before midnight on Saturday, March 9. The noise fired from the barrel of a revolver during a disagreement between two minors in the parking lot of Zeke’s, less than a mile west of campus on Lincoln Way. The shots were heard by Ames Police officers who “observed several people fighting in the parking lot and running from the area,” according to a press release from the Ames Police Department. After interviewing people at the scene, officers took the minors to juvenile court for carrying a concealed weapon, reckless use of a firearm and disorderly conduct. Ames Police Investigations Commander Geoff Huff says that the shots weren’t fired at anyone in particular and no injuries were reported.

respond to homicides where guns were fired or find evidence suggesting shots were indeed fired. “Ames is a relatively safe town to live in, but we get everything that a big city does, just not as much of it,” he says.

Twenty-nine percent of Midwesterners own a gun, making it second to the South for regional gun ownership in the U.S., a recent Gallup poll revealed. Huff explains that a strong hunting presence and the region’s relatively low violent crime rates contribute to Midwesterners having a more relaxed attitude toward guns. “When you hear about someone having a weapon in a big city you’re going to automatically assume the worst about it, where we don’t necessarily do that,” he says. When the language of the Iowa Code changed Even though the minors were from out of from “may issue” to “shall issue” carry permits town, the scare they caused isn’t necessarily on Jan. 1, 2011, the number of non-professional uncommon in Ames. “We probably get a report weapons permits issued spiked dramatically of shots fired maybe once every week or two statewide. In Story County alone, the number weeks and most of the time we never figure more than quadrupled in 2011, the latest out what that noise was,” Huff says. Fireworks, backfiring cars or even hunters can provoke such data available in the Story County Sheriff’s Office Annual Budget Report, though the Iowa reports, but Huff says Ames police occasionally

Department of Public Safety predicts that the number of permits issued will taper off because of their five-year validity. Despite more residents having weapons permits, Huff says that problems with guns are usually caused by those who possess them illegally. Even though guns aren’t permitted on Iowa State’s campus or any of its property, the Midwestern gun culture is very much present in its students. Those who went through the appropriate legal processes have their own reasons for owning guns. Many were raised in the presence of firearms, whether they went hunting with relatives, have parents in the police force or grew up with a reason to fear for their safety.

DEFENDER BY LIZ ZABEL

A car packed with angsty teenagers, 30 to 40 pounds of marijuana and 10 to 15 pounds of cocaine sits outside a run-down gas station on the South Side of Chicago. A scruffy, desperatelooking man approaches the teens with a gun: cocked, loaded and ready to fire. “Y’all need to get out of the car right now,” the man says. The teens stare down the barrel of his gun without fear; having been in this situation before they expected nothing less. Without hesitation, the front seat passengers pull out their own guns, lay their finger on the triggers, aim and prepare to retaliate. The man saw his defeat and fled, leaving the teenagers to survive another day. Joining a gang at 13 years old is not a choice willingly made. For John*, a current Iowa State student and driver of the car that day, there was no other option. Without support from his parents or a stable home, John had to turn to gang membership and drug trafficking to protect himself. “My dad left when I was really little and my mom … she just kind of did her own thing … I was the kind of kid who could stay out all night and my mom just didn’t really care,” John says. “It got to the point where I had to buy my own groceries ... I couldn’t really keep up anymore—I couldn’t really feed myself, so I had to [sell drugs] to get whatever sort of money I needed.” Which is exactly what he was doing that night in Chicago. According to John they couldn’t just forfeit the car filled with drugs to the armed man; they needed to return that stash to their gang leader and collect the relatively small portion of income they earned. Either they would die at that moment from a gunshot wound (from whom John suspects was a crackhead wanting the car), or they would suffer the consequences upon returning empty handed. In a neighborhood where it isn’t uncommon to get shot at on the way home, stabbed in a gang fight or harassed for wearing the wrong color of clothing on the wrong side of town, it didn’t seem out of the question to own and carry a weapon. In fact, it wasn’t abnormal to own a gun at that age in that town, much less carry it to school. According to John, at least six out of 10 kids in his high school carried guns, and if they felt threatened, they weren’t afraid to use them.

John was walking home, just mere blocks away, when he heard the echoing ring of gunshots. It didn’t take long for him to realize the shots were meant for him and his friends, or to quickly react by revealing his own weapon. Shots fired between the two groups, resulting in an earsplitting cacophony of gunfire. It was fight or flight for the group and they weren’t afraid to fight. “It didn’t faze me or anybody with me to shoot back. That was really our only choice … it was either shoot back or get shot,” John says. “A lot of [the] times we actually had to use our guns it wasn’t really a choice … it was a matter of survival.” Leaving a gang isn’t as easy as leaving a job or transferring schools; you can’t just quit. When John decided he no longer wanted to be part of the gang, he had to get out quickly and quietly. John ran, “ran like a bitch.” He didn’t tell anyone; not his friends, family or teachers. He didn’t try to “fight back the system of getting out,” he just left. When he saw his chance, he took it and came to Iowa State. Since leaving the gang and his hometown, John has been working to move on from his previous lifestyle toward a better future. He rarely goes home, and when he does, it’s a short visit—he never stays the night. He says that even today, if any member of the gang saw him, they would probably try to attack him. As of now, John owns two guns: a 12 gauge Remington 870 shotgun for home defense and a .38 revolver handgun for personal defense, which he doesn’t have a permit to carry. He plans to buy an assault rifle for further protection in the near future. Due to his earlier experiences, he still feels the threat of someone breaking into his house, which is why he keeps guns in his home and never keeps them in the same place for long—a gun safe, closets, under his bed and occasionally in his car. If he could, he said he would carry his weapons on campus. “Here, I don’t feel [fear] as much because I know those people don’t have the resources nor the desire to really come out here and make something of it,” John says. “But, to go home is a scary thing … I really just can’t go home.” *Name has been changed.

HUNTER BY MATT WETTENGEL Ben Schneider remembers his first kill as if he pulled the trigger yesterday. On an early morning in April—the beginning of the turkeymating season—his uncle caught the attention of three male turkeys with the soft cooing of his box call, luring them to the decoy hen strategically placed about 30 feet from their perch. Sitting on a large hill beside a lone oak tree just outside of St. Donatus, Iowa, the two had spent the morning listening to 20 or so turkeys gobble, watching them fly out of their roosts in the surrounding trees. “These male turkeys are so loud and when they make this gobble, it reverberates through your entire body ... it makes your intestines shake and your heart just starts pounding, it’s just the coolest sound you ever heard in your entire life,” Schneider explains. It seemed the toms had all found hens until the group of three loners came into view. Schneider knew it was his chance. The sun began rising while he sat as still as he could, peering through his binoculars at the three toms running toward him, fans on full display, wings spread and bodies ballooned out. When the birds got within 50 feet of his position, he set his binoculars down, and picked up his 20 gauge Mossberg shotgun as his uncle told him to take the turkey on the right, the biggest of the three. His body shaking, he held his gun on his knee trying to steady his shot. He knew he had to aim for the head—turkey’s feathers deflect bullets, which he learned the hard way the day before when he shot but only stunned a bird that ended up flying away. When the bead of his scope was centered on the bird’s white head, a wave of adrenaline ran through his body as his finger began to tighten on the trigger. Heart pounding, ears ringing, he felt like all of the blood in his body was rushing to his head; a high he hadn’t felt before. Pulling the trigger, his shotgun let out a loud POP. His turkey fell to the ground, the other two made a run for their lives and he knew that hunting was his newfound addiction. Growing up along the Mississippi River in Bellevue, Iowa, Schneider first went duck hunting with his uncle at age 5. Back then he was an observer, the designated retriever of his father’s kills. His father bought him his first

weapon at age 12—the Mossberg shotgun that he got his first kill with a little later, when he was 13. Today the senior in animal ecology owns 12 guns and each has its own purpose. A light and short 20-gauge shotgun for stalking animals on foot; a heavier and longer 12-gauge shotgun for ambushing wandering prey; a .270 rifle for shooting long range at animals like coyotes; and his .50-caliber muzzleloader—his pride and joy. The camo-clad weapon is the most precise one in his collection. It helped him bring down a 9-point buck that scored 136 points on the Boone and Crockett scoring system, the largest he’s ever killed. He hunts as much as he can year-round and has never spent a VEISHEA weekend in Ames because it conflicts with turkey season. Instead he returns to the 40 acres his father owns—and that he maintains for the animals who call it home—where he creates memories he knows he’ll always remember with whoever will join him. Some days he sits silently in his stand, not taking a single shot. “If I don’t have a shot on an animal I’m not going to take it; it lives,” he says. These are some of his favorite days and just seeing animals in their natural environment can get him the adrenaline fix he’s always after. He’s never been one to shoot whatever he sees, he has too much respect for mother nature. Still, he hasn’t had to buy meat from a store for six or seven years. A self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, he’s always trying to get others hooked on this natural high, even if they’ve never hunted before. “There [are] so many students here that were born in the city and they never got to experience the outdoors the way that I have,” he says. He loves to take new people out and see them shake as their adrenaline rushes like his did during his first kill. For this reason, he’s in the process of trying to start a hunting club at Iowa State, to promote safe, professional and ethical hunting practices and to give more students the chance to find a connection with nature like the one that he has and cherishes.

MARKSMEN

BY MATT WETTENGEL As the sun sets behind snow-covered trees that hide Izaak Walton League Park tucked away between Duff and Dayton Avenues, just north of Lincoln Way, ear-piercing cracks fill the silence of a cold Thursday night in March. “Pull,” Kyle Nerad, junior in civil engineering and member of the ISU Trap and Skeet Shooting Club calls out. Club treasurer and sophomore in agricultural engineering Jacob Christensen pushes a button and a single clay pigeon sails through the air away from the group. BANG. What seems like a second later, the same call comes again. “Pull.” BANG. His targets make no sound as they shatter to pieces and rain back down to earth, but after nailing his last two, Nerad lets out audible exhale that’s as visible as the smoke rolling from the barrel of his shotgun. Once the three other shooters take their two shots at the soaring targets, they rotate positions, moving about four feet right to the next zone. This group is practicing trap, while another group of seven is shooting skeet about 200 feet to the right. Club membership is at an alltime high, says president Jon King, senior in mechanical engineering, with members coming from a variety of majors at Iowa State. It’s not just men either—eight women are included in the club’s 53-member roster. Each member comes out for their own reasons. Some hunt, others just like to compete, but

“His targets make no sound as they shatter to pieces and rain back down to earth.”

only the die-hards come out to practice their marksmanship in the cold, King says. This explains why only 18 members made it out to this week’s meeting on the snowy, slushy evening. Most members bring their own guns to practice with. King personally owns between five and 10 guns and usually shoots with his Caesar Guerini rifle. A problem that some members run into is storing their guns, which aren’t allowed on University property or in greek houses. When the weather’s warm the club attends meets almost every weekend, traveling to various locations between Kentucky and Wyoming. They have to drive their own vehicles since their guns aren’t allowed in University vehicles either. Fortunately, they have a deal with the Sports Club Council, the governing body of sports clubs at Iowa State, to get their entries fees paid for since they personally pay their travel expenses. Another caveat in the club’s funding is that no money from it’s University account can be spent on firearms and ammunition, though they do have club guns members can use that are owned by the University. “We’ve had people who’ve never held a gun before,” King says, explaining that they’ve had to teach some newcomers how to properly handle a firearm. “It’s difficult, especially in this area of the country, not to have any experience with guns, but it does happen.” King’s father taught him the importance of gun safety at an early age, which he strives to instill in all new club members. By the time he was big enough to hold a 12-gauge—around age 13 or 14—he really got into the sport of shooting. Nowadays he’s the owner of a concealed carry permit, partakes in as many trap and skeet competitions as he can, and hunts. He and his father also compete in a handgun league in Ankeny, where they fire at targets while navigating an obstacle course. King and the rest of the club’s members benefit from it’s competitive aspect, whether they’re competing with themselves or others. “We love to hit that one extra bird or target than our buddy at least,” he explained. Being a recreational club with an emphasis on safe firearm handling and practices, the club hasn’t had any accidents. King explains that through education, guns can be made safer. He believes this is a better alternative to placing restrictions on guns and who can own them. “I’m all for making the world safer, but I don’t think that limiting law-abiding citizens is the way to do it,” he says.

For more stories and videos on local gun owners visit ethosmagazine.org.

BY ABBY GILMAN DESIGN KATY MOORE PHOTO KAIT MCKINNEY

The elusive events of one May night almost altered the rest of his life. Sexual assault charges loomed as his name appeared in media across the nation, prompting the community he grew up in to turn its back. Ethos reveals the man behind the dropped allegations.

n a cool Saturday afternoon in January, inside the cement walls of Hilton Coliseum, the sell-out crowd roared as it rose to its feet. A junior guard removed his red long-sleeved warm-up jersey and took his first step onto the sacred cardinal-framed court. He was a homegrown kid, a product of the Catholic church and a loving mother who kept him on his toes. He was a key player on the local high school basketball team, cultivated into a valued competitor at the collegiate level. And, nearly five months prior, sexual assault charges threatened to take it all away.

Yempabou “Bubu” Palo flexed his athletic muscle at a young age. He shot a basketball

at anything with a rim and dribbled self-made obstacle courses snaking through the family’s Ames apartment. When laundry baskets no longer sufficed, his parents went to Toys ‘R’ Us and bought a plastic hoop. The hoop was his comfort; Palo dragged it with him wherever he went. It became a symbol of his persistence—it survived two moves and, to this day, remains in the basement of the family’s home in North Ames. “He would not let that go,” Jessica, Palo’s sister, says. A wire hanger meekly holding it together, Palo still drags the hoop out to play on the occasional visit home. On the run between soccer, basketball and baseball practices, Palo rarely had time for much else other than sports. His dream of reaching Eagle Scout status, inspired by his older brother Pierre, was cut short as he couldn’t dedicate the time to earn the necessary badges. Palo gave whatever spare time he had to his church, greeting members and passing out liturgy at weekly services. The family’s heavy involvement in the church ingrained lessons in Palo and his siblings, lessons their mother, Berthe, didn’t take lightly. Originally from Burkina Faso in West Africa, Berthe comes from a tight Catholic family.

“Something I did not compromise was being respectful of any human being and [to] be there for others,” Berthe says. “That’s how I was raised. Be very sensitive to the needs of others.” Born into middle-class Ames, Palo never experienced the poverty of his family’s native third-world country. Back home, Berthe told him, children walked miles to get to school where they might not even be served a meal. Palo was humbled, taught to never take what his parents provided for granted. “I let [my children] know what they have here as opposed to what it is like [in Burkina Faso],” Berthe says. Berthe stressed the importance of school, making it clear that no matter how much athletic talent he had, an education was the way to make it in life. Palo was an intelligent child, but Berthe never let him become too comfortable in his ability. Rather than applauding a 95 percent on a hard test, Berthe would turn around and ask what happened to the other 5 percent. “[My parents] always shaped me to try to be the best person I can be and to put my best foot forward,” Palo says. “Always wanting people to remember [me] for being a better person rather than [my] sports or whatnot.” Soon after graduating from Ames High School, Palo’s childhood friend Spencer Cruise was arrested for assaulting a police officer attempting to break up a party at Cruise’s home in 2009 (Cruise reportedly body slammed and attempted to turn the taser on the police officer). Palo and Cruise met at a young age, playing on the same sports teams. They became fast friends and would stay over at each other’s houses for days on end. The two stayed friends up through high school, when different sports interests—Palo basketball and Cruise football—temporarily wedged their relationship. When Cruise went through that trying time in 2009, Palo stood by his side. “A lot of people shied away from him,” Palo says. “I stayed by his side as I realized that, you know, some people make mistakes or whatnot, but to stand by his side really helped him.”

Palo was the underdog. Basketball didn’t come

easy to him; rather, he was a natural-born soccer star recruited to play at the University of Cincinnati and Drake University, both D1 schools, with promising athletic scholarships at each. Basketball was work.

As much a force in the classroom as on the court, Palo made first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection last season and second-team in 2011. His dedication and performance on and off the court earned him an athletic scholarship courtesy of head coach Fred Hoiberg in 2012. “I just felt Bubu was a big part of what we were doing,” Hoiberg says. “He always does the right thing in the classroom and he was playing a big role for us, so I really thought he earned and deserved that scholarship.” Palo continued to be a strong force coming off the bench in the 2011–12 season, backing up Royce White, NBA’s Houston Rocket’s 2012 firstround draft pick. He could bring the sometimesoffensively-anxious team to focus. Palo was a savior when the Cyclones got into turnover trouble, says Hoiberg; he came off the bench to calm the team down and transition into an attacking offense. “I’ve always been very impressed with Bubu,” McDermott says. “He was always a player that put his team first and exhibited great leadership from the point guard position.”

Palo in second grade before his first communion. Photo courtesy of Palo

Then-ISU men’s basketball head coach Greg McDermott had seen Palo’s performance on the court at Ames High—Creighton star Doug McDermott, coach McDermott’s son, was Palo’s teammate on the state championship-winning team—and offered him a spot as a walk-on in 2009. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Palo turned down all scholarship offers for the chance to don the cardinal and gold jersey. A promising reserve guard, Palo averaged 3.4 points and 14.1 minutes per game in the 2010–11 season (he redshirted the 2009–10 season). He brought his signature calm to the game and, according to roommate and junior forward Melvin Ejim, worked hard from his first year of play to become one of the team’s most improved.

Search warrants are executed on Palo and Cruise’s homes. Condoms pulled from the scene of the alleged assault—located at a third residence on Oakland Street—are sent to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lab for DNA analysis.

Female reports sexual assault. Bubu Palo and Spencer Cruise are named suspects.

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Female washes the shirt that she wore the night of the alleged incident, according to the female’s mother’s deposition in late December.

His stern focus is evident in his lack of visible emotion. He doesn’t take time to celebrate a basket or steal. Fans and family caught a rare glimpse of excitement after upending the then-No. 1-ranked University of Connecticut in last year’s NCAA tournament. “I was really happy to see him get excited, because you don’t see Bubu let go,” Berthe says. “When he was dribbling you could see he was ready to celebrate and then I saw him dancing in the locker room. You don’t get to see that side of him. He’s always just so content.”

Early in the morning of Friday, May 18, 2012, a female and her boyfriend sat at the

hospital awaiting the results of a sexual assault screen. It was a calm spring day, warmer than average for the middle of May. The semester had ended two weeks prior and Ames had begun to return to its slightly slower summer pace as students migrated to spend their breaks anywhere but here.

Results from the DCI lab confirm the DNA on the condoms is that of Palo and Cruise. Charges are filed against them.

Palo and Cruise turn themselves in on allegations of sexual assault. Initial pre-trial hearings are held. Palo is released on bond with a no-contact order. Palo is suspended indefinitely from the Iowa State men’s basketball team consistent with Iowa State University policy.

Just a few hours earlier, the female—a friend of Palo’s from Ames High whose name has not been released to the press—called Palo and Cruise for a ride home from the bars. The trio ended up at a residence on Oakland Street owned by Cruise’s family and the female agreed to go inside. Once inside the home, according to the female’s statement to authorities, Palo and Cruise each sexually assaulted her. Three days later, on May 21, a search warrant was executed on the residence in question as well as the homes of Palo and Cruise. Palo and Cruise’s cell phones were confiscated as evidence and condoms collected from the location of the alleged assault were sent to the State of Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation lab for DNA testing. The case went on hold for four months pending the DNA test results. On Sept. 5, the results from the DCI lab confirmed the DNA on the condoms was that of Palo and Cruise. Official charges were filed and arrest warrants were issued for both men two days later, to which Palo and Cruise turned themselves in. Palo was released after an initial pre-trial hearing later that day with a no-contact order and a monitoring tracker around his ankle. In one day, Palo was stripped of his freedom and suspended from the ISU men’s basketball team per University policy. The community he grew up in, the people he had known all his life, turned their backs on him; some literally walked the other way when they saw him on the street. “I’ve been held in pretty high regard, respected as a hometown kid,” Palo says. “Not knowing what people were thinking about me was pretty tough. People you see your whole life or people that you’ve grown to know … to not necessarily know what they were thinking, if they believed what the media was saying or think that they would know the true person that I was. [I hope they] know that I would never commit such a crime.” Palo and Cruise each pled not guilty to two counts of sexual assault in the second degree (one account

Matthew Boles, Palo’s attorney, enters written pleas of not guilty to two counts of sexual assault in the second degree on Palo’s behalf.

Jury trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 27.

for performing a sex act by force or against one’s will, and a second for aiding and abetting). The charges— both Class B felonies—are each punishable by 25 years in prison. Many times, when people are charged as co-defendants, “one turns on the other,” Matthew Boles, Palo’s attorney, says. That wasn’t the case with Palo and Cruise. If anything, the incident brought the two closer together. “He was the only person that, for the most part, could understand what I was going through,” Palo says. “He was there for those depositions, he had a tracker on his leg, he would go in the public and he’d see those people look at you or shy away. He could understand what I was feeling.” The depositions began and, according to Boles, Palo maintained his innocence through and through. His positive attitude never faltered and he kept up with his coursework, despite missing several classes due to court conflicts. “A lot of people, they would never know,” Palo says, “but when I was going through my struggle, they would just give me a nice little wave— they didn’t know how much that meant to me.” As summer turned into fall and the men’s basketball team began regulation games, Palo was isolated, confined under strict bond orders. He focused on his academics to keep him busy. When he wasn’t at hearings or in the classroom he was in the gym maintaining his athleticism. Ejim was there at the end of a bad day to cheer him up with the crack of a joke. The coaches and rest of the team sent texts encouraging him to keep his head up and prepare for the day he is able to join them again. And when none of that was enough he turned to God to guide him through. He prayed daily, for his own clarity and the well-being of those involved in the case. He called his mother almost daily, praying for her emotional strength to prevail and for an end to the draining process. “I drew strength from him,” Berthe says of her son. “His attitude led me to change my attitude and become a much better person. I stopped focusing on the negative and I focused on, ‘OK, let me not be judgmental. Let me pray for her and her family.’”

Palo’s hearing is rescheduled to Dec. 11 to combine with co-defendant Cruise’s hearing.

Female finds formerly misplaced shirt. Shirt is obtained by the county attorney’s office as additional evidence.

Boles and Joe Cahill, Cruise’s attorney, file motions to send shirt to expert Chesterine Cwiklik for analysis.

Jury trial is rescheduled for Jan. 22.

Cwiklik is deposed. She states that it is scientifically impossible for the shirt to have been torn before being washed.

Prosecutors dismiss all charges against Palo and Cruise. Palo is reinstated to Iowa State men’s basketball team consistent with Iowa State University policy.

Palo and Ejim (left) shoot around after practice.

In December, Palo got the answers he had so desperately sought. The female was deposed for two days, during which she stated that she had washed the shirt she wore the night of the incident and then misplaced it. The female found the shirt in a drawer at her mother’s house the day after her deposition, five and a half months after the alleged incident. When the shirt was presented as evidence on Dec. 1, 2012, a 5- to 6-inch-long tear gaped across the front. The female’s boyfriend had come to her residence after the alleged assault, where, according to Boles, the two remained for approximately an hour before deciding to go to the hospital. According to Boles, the female’s boyfriend, the sexual assault nurse and case detective Suzy Owens all testified the tear was not there that night at the hospital. Finding the mismatch of the new evidence and subsequent depositions troubling, Boles motioned for the shirt to be sent to Chesterine Cwiklik— owner of Cwiklik & Associates, a microscopy and forensic consulting lab in Seattle—to be analyzed.

The case never made it to trial. Scientific

analysis, Cwiklik deposed, determined it was impossible the shirt had been torn before laundering. Prosecutors concluded the female had manufactured the evidence, stories became muddled and the female’s case fell apart. The charges against Palo and Cruise were officially dropped Jan. 14, freeing the two of all legal consequences and allowing Palo to be reinstated to the basketball team. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Palo says of that May night. “There’s a lot written

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about me that’s false ... It’s still kind of tough to think that someone could put someone through that. I’m still coping with forgiving her and moving on.” Twelve days later, on Jan. 26, Palo made his home court return against the Kansas State Wildcats. Adrenaline coursed through Palo’s veins causing his already heightened emotions to soar as he sat on the familiar bench. He was ready for his turn in the ball game, and he soon got it to a standing ovation from the crowd. It was the reassurance he needed to calm his nerves and the welcome he wasn’t sure he would receive. “It took me awhile to calm down,” Palo recalls of his first game back in the 2012–13 season. The Cyclones defeated the No. 11 Wildcats that day and continued on to an impressive 87–81 road win over Baylor two weeks later, a feat ISU hasn’t been able to pull off since 2000. The fourth top-scoring team in the nation—with a season average of 79.6 points per game—finished the season with a 23–12 overall record, including an invitation to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year. After defeating Notre Dame in the Round of 64, a controversial buzzer-beater loss against Ohio State ended the team’s run in the tournament. It was a heart-wrenching loss after a hard-fought game. Palo played crucial minutes, spending his last seconds of the season he almost missed on the court. “I think he showed a lot of people around here, especially on the team, how not to let something

“He’s getting back to the normal Bubu and that’s great to see.” —Melvin Ejim

like this affect what’s going on in your life,” Ejim says. “This is his community and he’s seen the types of things people have said about him or done toward him ... but I think for the most part he’s coming back around and he’s definitely not down anymore. He’s getting back to the normal Bubu and that’s great to see.” Four months ago he dreamed of working on Wall Street after graduation (Palo has one more year of play at Iowa State, expecting to graduate May of 2014). Today he aspires to help those in a similar position in which he found himself: in trouble with little resources to hire help. He saw how the justice system works and understood the need for change. “We talk about how some people end up where they are just because they didn’t have the means to pay for decent lawyers,” Berthe says. “He’s a lot more compassionate and more inclined to be an active citizen than before. I was touched by how much [the incident] changed him.” The trivial joys of life fell to the background as Palo refigured his priorities. “[I’m] definitely just going to make the most of my second chance and just appreciate [my life] more,” Palo says. “Just take this experience and turn it into a positive, whether it’s able to help other people or whatnot. Now I have a deeper compassion for other people. Maybe it’s not the same struggle, but I can sympathize when they’re really down, [when] they don’t know if they’re going to make it.” Today he is in a better place. The warm welcome he got during his first game back is fresh in his mind; those first minutes of play were of hope, redemption, acceptance and support from the community he loved. It was his first taste of the fast speed of play in nearly a year, making it that much harder to slow his adrenaline. He took to the bench after four minutes, giving him a chance to clear his thoughts and settle his nerves. “It finally slowed down,” Palo says. “I was back to normal.”

With sustainability on the forefront of innovation around the country, Iowa State is making changes to be more environmentally friendly and even making innovations of its own. What do these initiatives mean for the environment and will they save the University any money? BY EMILY ELVERU & DALLAS DAWS DESIGN TERYN HAMMES PHOTO KAIT MCKINNEY

BioBus Those delicious, greasy curly fries everyone goes crazy for in the UDCC come to life in a vat of cooking oil, but what eventually happens to all the leftover grease? Just look to the No. 711 CyRide to find your answer. This is the BioBus. It runs on cooking oil converted into biofuel by a group of Iowa State students. The idea of BioBus first launched in February of 2008 by a small group of graduate students. After officially being recognized as a student organization that summer, the partnership between BioBus and CyRide began a year later in February of 2009. CyRide tried using biofuel in the ’90s but experienced difficulties with it clogging fuel filters. In 2005, CyRide gave the fuel another chance and was later approached by the BioBus team. “We were comfortable with using biofuel,” says Rich Leners, CyRide’s assistant transit director. “We just had to be comfortable with ISU’s biofuel.” After going through specific checkpoints to meet the petroleum industry’s standards, CyRide began using the BioBus team’s biofuel in the spring of 2011. Only two main chemicals are needed to make biofuel: methanol and cooking oil. The team collects the cooking oil from the UDCC and dries it, a process taking anywhere from four to eight hours. After adding a catalyst to speed up the process, the oil is put into a processor that extracts unneeded glycerin. Water is added, and the oil can be seen floating on the top ready to be taken out and used.

The BioBus team buys the pure methanol at ISU Chemistry Stores for about $6 per gallon. One gallon of biodiesel requires about 0.2 gallons of pure methanol, so every gallon of BioBus biodiesel contains about $1.20 of methanol. In industry, a gallon of methanol would cost around $2-3. The team buys their methanol from the ISU Chemstores because it is very high quality and is bottled on campus in small onegallon quantities, which makes the conversion process safer and easier to manage for BioBus members.

gallons of biofuel each year. In turn, CyRide would be saving at least $25,000 if the team continued to donate the fuel. If BioBus increased its production and continued to meet the petroleum industry’s biofuel standards, CyRide would accept the extra fuel.

They have access to the equipment in the Biorenewables Research Lab on campus for free. The processor they use only has a few small electrically-powered parts, so the cost of electricity they use is negligible. The team produces about 10 gallons of biofuel per week to give to CyRide. Between this year and last year combined, the team has given about 50 gallons of biofuel to CyRide, which is equal to nearly $250. This may not seem like a large savings, but CyRide is thankful for any amount it receives. “We’re certainly glad to have the fuel,” says Leners. “We don’t want to minimize that.”

The next time you see the 711 passing through campus, just remember the last French fry you ate—it may be powering that CyRide bus.

The team has around 15 to 20 active members working to supply biofuel for bus 711. CyRide would accept more biofuel, but the club doesn’t have enough labor and the Department of Environmental Health and Safety restricts the amount of biodiesel a lab can hold. “Even if we had all campus oil, we couldn’t meet the demands of CyRide,” says Dave Correll, president and director of administration and outreach for BioBus. If every CyRide bus used biofuel, the BioBus team would need to produce about 5,500

“I would call it a success,” says Leners. “The student group is thorough. Just handling the fuel and having to follow the specific standards is tough enough, and they’ve been very responsible.”

Wind Energy With Iowa recently passing California in wind energy production, it is no surprise to see a wind turbine pop up on campus. The 160-foot-high wind turbine came to life in mid-December. Iowa State contributed $250,000 toward the installation cost of the wind turbine on University property, which came from unspent University funds from the end of the 2011 fiscal year and utility funding that remained unspent from energy conservation projects. Iowa State also agreed to purchase all energy produced by the wind turbine for the next 10 years. After 10 years, ISU can either keep the wind turbine or ask SUREnergy, the turbine company, to remove it, but the turbine is anticipated to have a 20-year lifespan. Last year, 9.1 percent of ISU’s energy came from a wind farm in northeast Iowa, but campus depends on coal for its main energy source.

The electricity produced by the new wind turbine will reduce coal consumption by about 100 tons each year. Wind energy is more expensive than other energy sources, but it doesn’t leave a harmful carbon footprint behind like coal does. “We are always looking for ways to reduce coal use, but we have to look at the cost,” says utilities director Jeff Witt. “The students and the state are paying for our energy.” The wind turbine is sitting on University-owned land, but SUREnergy owns and maintains the turbine. Iowa State pays for the energy produced by the turbine, and under agreement, SUREnergy is letting Iowa State use that energy. The money Iowa State is being paid to lease the land won’t offset the cost of installing the turbine and the cost of the energy it produces. However, because the amount of energy the new turbine produces is minimal, it will have an insignificant impact on students’ tuition. “It’s an environmental benefit rather than dollar savings,” says Witt. “There are times when the blades are spinning, but it’s only producing enough energy to power the turbine alone.” The wind turbine is not supplying energy to any specific building on campus. The electricity it does produce feeds into the campus electrical power plant system and offsets other fuel sources Iowa State uses, like coal. In January, the wind turbine generated enough energy to power little more than Jischke Hall. In one year, it will produce enough energy to separately power Catt Hall, East Hall or the Hub. Students and faculty expressed interest in having a wind turbine on campus. “We listen to the students and what they want,” says Bill Simpkins, a professor in the department of geological and atmospheric sciences. “In part, it’s a symbolic gesture [to Iowa State].” The new turbine will also provide data and new research opportunities for campus. In the future, a boiler project plans to cut onethird of campus coal use by replacing it with natural gas. The natural gas will be used in the power plant to produce steam that will be used to produce electricity, chill water and provide the campus with heat. This new project will comply with new emissions regulations, reduce carbon dioxide and slightly increase the campus power plant’s efficiency. As for now, natural gas and coal prices are about the same and would have minimal financial benefits. There are no specific plans to add additional wind turbines to campus in the future.

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Installation options are limited due to state codes and the local airport. “Putting a wind turbine closer to buildings makes the performance worse,” says Witt. “It’s all about the terrain.”

Troxel Hall Now that the sidewalk is cleared by Catt Hall, the construction of Troxel Hall may be in the back of your mind, but the building will be making a lasting impact for years to come.

“Floor-to-ceiling windows line the front of the building to bring natural daylight and warmth in, cutting down on energy use.”

Troxel Hall, which was built for the sole purpose of providing another much needed large lecture hall, is using its square footage to the max potential by featuring many sustainable aspects. The building only contains a 400-seat lecture hall, prep area, lobby and restrooms. Floor-to-ceiling windows line the front of the building to bring natural daylight and warmth in, cutting down on energy use. Sunshades hang over the windows to block light without obstructing the view. “They’re set at an angle so in the winter you take advantage of that heat

that comes from the sun,” says Kerry Dixon-Fox, sustainable design and construction coordinator. Other college campuses in Iowa are already taking advantage of environmental innovations like this. In Fairfield, Maharishi University’s Sustainable Living Center, incorporates greenhouse windows to capture heat from the sun as well as solar panels that circulate heat throughout the building. Troxel Hall’s green roof collects water entering the storm sewers when it rains. Vegetation and soil, among other materials, filter the water as it flows in—a technique already being used at Maharishi’s Sustainable Living Center to supply water to toilets, water faucets and even drinking fountains. A rain garden in the front of Troxel slows rainwater runoff, reducing the chances of flooding. The building is equipped with an in-floor heating system. Not only does heating the floors keep people warmer since heat rises, but the natural flow of hot air means less energy used to heat a space. For cooling, Troxel uses a chilled beam system, pulling air through beams with cold water flowing through them. Dixon-Fox says this uses less energy because normal buildings use large machinery to cool down the air and transport it to where it is needed, but the chilled beam cools the air in-transit to the destination. While Iowa State has been trying to implement more sustainable features in new buildings, Maharishi University sets the example with a completely energy self-sufficient building. Lonnie Gamble, co-founder of Maharishi University’s Sustainable Living Program, says that the building, which is less than a year old, is on track to produce an average of 30 percent more energy than it uses annually. With solar panels to provide heat and electricity, as well as

a wind turbine to produce energy, Iowa’s natural resources provide more than enough energy to keep the building running sustainably. “Some days, during a sunny, windy day, the building will produce 20 times as much energy as it’s using,” says Gamble. “The surplus energy is put onto the grid for the rest of campus to use.” Earth blocks, compacted from dirt collected from construction waste, make up the walls of the interior. “In the summertime, when it’s cool at night, we bring the cool air in and we cool all couple hundred tons of earth in the building off,” Gamble says. “When [the blocks] cool, then we close it up during the daytime and that cools off the building all day long for many parts of the summer.” Gamble hopes that, in addition to being a teaching tool for students, the Sustainable Living Center can serve as a model for sustainable buildings around the country. While the Sustainable Living Center may very well be a good model for sustainable buildings, the aspects of the building don’t meet a need that Iowa State is lacking—at least when it comes to building facilities. “With our central power plant and the types of buildings we build, we have almost totally different constraints around the buildings,” says Dixon-Fox. “I have followed some of the things they are doing, but haven’t found an applicable project yet on the building side.”

BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors You’ve seen those mailbox-looking trash cans scattered across campus with Cy telling us to “Live Green,” but what impact do the BigBelly Solar Trash compactors really have on sustainable living here on campus? In the more than two years since the first trash compactor was installed in the fall of 2010, the number has grown from one to 49 sprinkled around the residence halls and high traffic areas on campus. Now, each compactor costs $4,000, which includes the price of the “Live Green” wrap and the software inside. “We have one guy that empties all the trashcans on campus, and he was falling behind,” says Les Lawson, facilities maintenance manager. “We had well over 100 trashcans on campus, and he just could not keep up. With one [BigBelly trash compactor], they take the place of five trashcans.” The University’s one guy can now get around to all of the full trash cans without wasting his time on BigBellys that aren’t full. Software

Construction of Troxel Hall.

installed in the trash compactors allows Tim Watson, supervisor of plant services, to check which compactors are full and where they are located. A GPS system inside the compactor feeds the location to Watson while sensors show him which compactors are full. The compactor, which removes all of the air out of the trash, is powered by a battery charged by a solar panel on the top of the trash compactor. BigBelly trash compactors create a cleaner campus because the bins are completely sealed at all times. “The trashcans are not overflowing. That’s the biggest thing,” Lawson says. “[In the BigBelly] the trash is contained. You don’t have raccoons [and] birds getting into the trash, scattering it all over the place.”

Lawson believes that they have made up for the cost of the trash compactors, but the “Live Green” wrap that goes around the bins costs $400, so why bother? “It’s been pretty essential,” Lawson says. “It sends a message to everybody.” New single-stream-recycling BigBellys were added this semester. Paper, plastic and cans can all be recycled in one bin. “As money becomes available, we seem to keep adding [more BigBellys],” Lawson says. “If the single-stream recycling [is successful], I think we will see a lot more of those.”

The Department of Residence has become the biggest funder for the trash compactors, with over 30 bins around residence hall areas. Lawson says that students like to use them, and the DOR has seen that they work.

h s i f t a c E S U P M A C PPE D

NA RO

BY KIA

Like a relationship superhero, technology can save you from the embarrassment of getting shut down by the hottie in your chem class. Instead, you can friend your crush on Facebook and make not-sosubtle hints as to your romantic intentions. But what happens when the hero turns out to be the villain?

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PH ERS

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Catfish [kat-fish] verb (as defined by MTV)

To pretend to be someone you’re not online by posting false information, such as someone else’s pictures, on social media sites usually with the intention of getting someone to fall in love with you.

KE$HA CONNECTION

With roughly 1,400 miles separating them, Helbing and Milosevich have never met in person. Their communication is limited to text, Skype, phone calls and social media. Milosevich did attempt to visit Helbing once, but she turned him down because it was the summer and she was living at home. “What would I have done?” Helbing says. “Say, ‘Hey Mom, this is Joey. We just met five minutes ago in the driveway. Can he sleep here?’ That wouldn’t have gone over well, I think that’s what sparked the whole ‘you’re fake’ thing.”

With an obvious appreciation for the pop-singer Ke$ha—that’s borderline obsessive—Brittany Helbing, junior in biology, let fate take its course when she messaged Joey Milosevich, Arizona resident, in response to him ‘liking’ her comment on Ke$ha’s Facebook page. Milosevich liked Helbing’s comment simply because he decided to show his approval of Ke$ha’s post by liking each individual comment on the post. “She was just one of a thousand,” he says.

This modern, electronic type of friendship comes with its own set of pros and cons. “I kind of like not having met, because it’s new and exciting every time we talk,” Helbing says. “He’s the type of person that would want to hang out all of the time and I can’t because I have class. But, if he lived here, I would feel bad and hang out with him anyway. Since he lives so far away, I have an excuse not to hang out so I can go to class and do homework.”

After that fateful encounter two and a half years ago, Helbing and Milosevich have continued to talk and enjoy each other’s friendship. “He’s really silly and easy to talk to,” Helbing says.

The biggest con is pretty obvious—no in-person interaction. “It’s especially hard if one of us has had a bad day, because all we can do is talk on the phone,” Helbing says. Another con is that

This term arose after the movie “Catfish” chronicled the journey Yaniv “Nev” Schulman took to meet his Facebook fling, Megan. In the movie, Nev’s budding relationship turned out to be nothing more than the fantasies of a stay-at-home mom. “I’m so gullible. I’m so embarrassed,” Nev says in the movie. He has since developed “Catfish” into an MTV show, bringing Internet couples together to uncover the truth of their online relationships.

when either of them gets upset with the other, they can’t hash it out in person. “We can’t talk it out, and that’s what I like to do,” Helbing says. In the event that she’s the one upset, Helbing would say, “Joey, back off. I’ll talk to you in a week.” Milosevich is currently in the process of getting on the MTV show “Catfish” and claims he is in the final stages. “I want to be on the show and just know that she’s a real person,” Milosevich says. “I’m slightly worried. I get the feeling that something’s going on.” Upon hearing Milosevich’s suspicions, Helbing laughed and said, “He thinks Ke$ha is trying to punk him or something.” Should Helbing and Milosevich ever meet face-to-face, whether on MTV or in the natural course of life, it will have been long awaited. “It’s nerve-wracking to think about,” Helbing says. “It would be weird because we don’t have a physical relationship—we’ve never high-fived or nudged each other … If he were to come right now, I would be cool with that because I have an apartment.”

FAMILIAR FACE It was just like any other day. Elizabeth Nahas, senior in event management, sat watching TV in the summer of 2010 when she received a call from her cousin, Michelle Farrage. Farrage was distraught over the discovery that a fake profile was using her Facebook photos. Wanting to see the fake profile of her cousin, Nahas pulled up the link. She noticed the profile had about 20 friends, so she quickly scrolled through them. What she found was surprising—herself. But it wasn’t herself, really. A fake profile had been created using her photos, just like they had her cousin. It seems being catfished runs in the family. Nahas and Farrage found a third fake profile using Nahas’ sister’s photos. The profiles created in lieu of Nahas’ sister and Farrage used only their Facebook photos, changing names and information. The profile created in lieu of Nahas, however, used her photos and listed that the person “attended the University of Iowa.” “Even though I don’t go to Iowa, it scared me that the person who made this site knew I live in this state,” Nahas says.

Shocked and confused, Nahas immediately reported the page to Facebook. Then, she deleted any “friends” on Facebook she wasn’t close with—totaling around 60 profiles—secured her profile as private and removed her profile picture. The fake profile was removed from Facebook within a couple of weeks, but Nahas’ page remained barren for a long while. Presently, Nahas continues to be vigilant regarding her social media sites. “I used to be so careless with who I added,” she says. “Now I make sure I actually know the person before I accept.” She advises others to take the same measures of security. Nahas is not alone. In August 2011, Facebook reported that 46 million profiles are fake under the category labeled “duplicates”. Facebook defines this category as “an account that a user maintains in addition to his or her principal account.” This makes up 4.8 percent of all accounts. So this means, if you have 400 friends on Facebook, almost 20 of them are likely fake. Worried your photos are being used on a fake profile? Drop them into Google Images by clicking the camera icon. Google will show images that match or are similar to your photo. If the links associated with your photo are in fact yours, relax. If some links aren’t yours, look into it and use your discretion.

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Nahas’ picture used for the fake profile.

“I’m going to find that

bitch.”

HARD TO GET We’ve all been there at some point in our social media lives—the scenario where some creeper tries to get fresh over Facebook. Not cool. But what do you do when the creeper is obviously using a fake profile? Adam Wangler, sophomore in accounting, decided to play along. The name on the profile, created July 2, 2012, is listed as Ava Brown and is accompanied by a profile picture of Nicki Minaj. Brown got busy right away by friending and messaging Wangler that very day. After a few messages of neutral content, Brown randomly implied that Wangler’s girlfriend, Katelyn Hall, was cheating on him. “Bitch she is going out with my brother,” Brown wrote. Then Brown told Wangler she liked him, revealing a possible motivation to lie. She also friended Hall and began messaging her. Boldly, her first message read, “I’m sorry, Adam is going out with me.” Skyping the whole time this was going on, Wangler and Hall find it laughable. “The conversation was just funnier and funnier as it went on,” Wangler says. One funny instance was when Brown decided to post on Facebook, rather than just messaging the couple. The post read: “Adam Wangler is my dream boy.” Hall commented saying, “awkward,” and Brown replied by saying, “bitch is my likes.” Although unsure of Brown’s use of grammar and what the phrase actually means, Hall, Wangler and a few of their friends showed support of the situation by liking the post. To counter Brown’s insistence that Hall was cheating, Wangler asks Brown to describe Hall. Having never actually met her, Brown asks Hall via Facebook to describe herself. Knowing what Wangler asked, Hall provided Brown a fake description, made obvious by Hall’s profile photo that depicts a skinny redhead.

Not seeing the discontinuity, Brown copied and pasted the description Hall wrote, only bothering to change the first three words before sending it to Wangler: “Well she is about 300 pounds and super curvasciously beautiful. I have long blonde hair and blue eyes.” The ‘I’ gave it away. The conversation ended shortly after Wangler called Brown out on the bad copy-and-paste job. Neither Wangler nor Hall know who created the fake profile, but Hall jokingly says, “I’m going to find that bitch.” It appears that Brown hasn’t been active on Facebook since August of last year. The person behind the profile appears to have hit on Wangler, in particular, because of a shared connection to Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas (where Wangler is from). Most of Brown’s Facebook friends attended Lawrence High School and some of them are even friends of Wangler as well.

BY AMIRA KHATIB DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION MACKENZIE FERGUSON

Every summer brings a huge list of music festivals, each a jam-packed weekend full of your favorite artists and a slew of new bands and experiences. Whether you’ll be back home, working in a cool city or stuck in Ames, there is a music festival nearby or cool enough to warrant a weekend road trip. We’ve done all the dirty work for you and made a list of some of the best festivals in the country, so pick one, gather your friends and go.

80/35 When: July 5-6 Where: Des Moines, Iowa Tickets: $50 for 2-day pass Lineup: David Byrne & St. Vincent, Yeasayer 80/35 offers multiple free stages featuring local and regional acts, perfect for any broke college student on a budget. However, the main stage, where the big name shows are, is for ticket-holders only. Lining the festival are streets filled with local food, drink and art vendors. Since the festival brings more than just music to Des Moines, you can find every flavor of person here—from half-naked hula-hooping women to your dad’s best friend from high school.

Outside Lands When: August 9-11 Where: San Francisco, Calif. Tickets: No information yet, typically $250 Rumored Lineup: Alt-J, The Lumineers, Phoenix and Vampire Weekend Outside Lands, is held annually at San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Park. If you prefer milder weather or want to avoid the mud and sweat that comes with Bonnaroo, Outside Lands has you covered. The festival also provides an eco-friendly atmosphere. Some of its green initiatives include a refillable water bottle station, a solar-powered stage and a recycling program.

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Governor’s Ball When: June 7-9 Where: New York, N.Y. Tickets: $95 for 1-day pass Lineup: Kanye West, Animal Collective and Guns n’ Roses

Kanrocksas When: June 28-29 Where: Kansas City, Kan. Tickets: $190 for 2-day pass Lineup: MGMT, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Empire of the Sun, Grouplove and Baauer Kanrocksas began in 2011 and after a hiatus in 2012 for renovations, it’s back at the Kansas Speedway this year. Although the festival is relatively new, it attracts an impressive lineup on par with some of the big-name festivals on the map. Kanrocksas is two days, perfect for a short weekend road trip, and camping is only $25 per tent.

Rivaling Coachella as the best music festival held on a U.S. coast, it’s no surprise that a city like New York would hold one of the biggest, most diverse fests in the country. Held at Randall’s Island Park in the East River near Manhattan makes it convenient for anyone vacationing or interning in NYC this summer. You get the best of both worlds with the Manhattan skyline and plenty of open grassy areas and shade.

Firefly When: June 21-23 Where: Dover, Del. Tickets: $258 for 3-day pass Lineup: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vampire Weekend, Foster the People and Grizzly Bear Though 2012 was the inaugural year of Firefly, it was deemed a huge success. The festival is held within the The Woodlands of Dover International Speedway, so guests can enjoy a lush, wooded backdrop while watching their favorite bands play.

Bonnaroo When: June 13-16 Where: Manchester, Tenn. Tickets: $269 for 4-day pass Lineup: R. Kelly, Paul McCartney, Mumford & Sons and Wilco This legendary festival is held annually on a 700-acre farm in central Tennessee. The name Bonnaroo is French slang for “a good time” and for good reason. Be prepared to endure the inevitably sweaty conditions and close quarters as there are typically 100,000 attendees, and it continues growing every year.

Hangout When: May 17-19 Where: Gulf Shores, Ala. Tickets: $229 for 3-day pass Lineup: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Slightly Stoopid, The Shins and Stevie Wonder Hangout is recognized as the first major music festival to be held on a beach. Typically attracting a crowd of nearly 30,000, it’s essentially one big beach party. Imagine jamming out to your favorite band, surrounded by palm trees, with the white sand squishing between your toes.

BY DALLAS DAWS DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION EMERALD KLAUER

Hoping to see the world and experience a new culture, students jet off to every corner of the world to study abroad. When love is involved in the experience, relationships can become complicated. Is there hope for love when couples live thousands of miles apart? International Fling Sara Kinderknecht, senior in apparel design, experienced a European fling that seemed to be straight out of a romance movie during her semester abroad in Florence, Italy. Kinderknecht was out for a night of fun when she met Sam Reifsnyder, an Italian bartender at a local pub. They talked and shared a couple of drinks, exchanging numbers at the end of the night. “After meeting out for drinks with a group a couple more times, he asked me out on our first date,” Kinderknecht says. They hiked up to Piazzale Michelangelo to share aperitivo, an Italian tradition of drinks and snacks before dinner. “It all sounded very romantic and it was going really well, getting to know each other over a glass of wine and enjoying the Florentine sunset over the city, until it started to downpour,” Kinderknecht says. It was not long before Reifsnyder invited her to his parent’s house in the Tuscan countryside to meet his mom, who is American. “I was the first girl that he had ever brought home, so I was pretty nervous, but also very flattered and jumped at the opportunity,” Kinderknecht says. “His mom [lives] in a very small village in the Arezzo mountain area of Tuscany. The small village was built into the hillside under a castle that overlooked the small valley town of Stia. One of the coolest parts of our visit was that this area was actually known for three different castles that were in visual range from each other.“

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Dating someone from a different culture gave Kinderknecht the unique opportunity to experience cultural differences on a personal level. “I think one of the most important lessons that he taught me as far as the Italian lifestyle and culture was that Italians don’t live to work, they work to live,” Kinderknecht says. “It was also very interesting to have a romance with someone who does not consider his native tongue the same as yours. I was able to practice and learn more Italian during my time spent with him.” Though Reifsnyder, an environmental engineering student at the University of Florence, hopes to move to the U.S. in the future, the two did not continue their romance. However, they remain in contact. “Sam and his roommates are planning a coast-to-coast trip once they all graduate, so I am looking forward to the day when I get to show him around the States,” Kinderknecht says.

“We don’t go days without speaking, [and] we try to keep up on the same level that we would if we were in the same town.”

Love Down Under Michele Fredregill, Iowa State alumna and communications specialist at the Iowa State University Foundation, studied abroad in Australia her junior year of college in the spring of 2010. However, she did not meet her Australian boyfriend while she was there. Daniel Aggromito, who was interning at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis the spring of 2011, took a trip to Ames for VEISHEA with a coworker, who happened to be friends with Fredregill. Fredregill was asked to meet Aggromito so she could relate to him about Australia, as he was a little homesick. After hitting it off that weekend, the two continued to talk and Fredregill asked Aggromito to join her and her friends at the Lake of the Ozarks for a weekend.

The romance continued, though they did not have an official title to their relationship. Fredregill spent that summer in Minnesota, and the two would travel to see each other every couple of weeks. In July, one of Fredregill’s friends was getting married, so she invited Aggromito to go with her to the wedding. At the hotel before the wedding, Fredregill says, “He popped out this gift-wrapped box for me.” Inside was a silver necklace he bought from Joseph’s. “He bought me a necklace to go with my dress for the wedding and we weren’t dating at the time, so I just remember thinking, ‘Wow, either he’s trying to buy my affection, or it’s love,’” she joked. That very night, he asked her to be his girlfriend. Aggromito had to return to his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, when his visa expired, but returned to the U.S. a month later to apply for a position with Rolls-Royce. When that opportunity fell through, he returned home and flew back to Iowa twice more before Fredregill went to visit him for two months beginning in November 2012. “I stayed with Daniel and his family,” Fredregill says. “They are lovely people, and I had a great time.” She saw the major influence their Italian roots had on the family. As Aggromito’s parents both moved to Australia at a very young age, they are no strangers to having family across the world. After returning to the U.S., Fredregill accepted a full-time position with the Iowa State University Foundation, and Aggromito went back to grad school in Australia for aerospace engineering. Though they cannot physically be in each other’s lives, they do their best to be there for each other. Aggromito says the hardest part of their long-distance relationship is “missing out on life events and being a part of her everyday life.” To remedy this difficulty, the two make sure to talk every day about their typical daily events. “What keeps us close is that we talk about the day-to-day stuff,” Fredregill says. “We don’t go days without speaking, [and] we try to keep up on the same level that we would if we were in the same town.” On Fredregill’s first day at the foundation, Aggromito sent her flowers to congratulate her. “He has quite a presence because he feels guilty that he can’t be here, I think,” she says. “[Daniel] is on a first name basis with the florists. He tries

to be involved in my life in any way that he can. He sends letters, pictures and flowers, and we communicate a lot. We both are really into communication, and if you’re going to be in a successful long-distance relationship, you need to be in constant communication.” Aggromito also keeps a journal tracking their relationship from the very beginning. “We have had a very adventurous relationship,” he says, “and I believe this is the girl I will marry someday. I wanted to write about us so we can look back on it later in life.”

“It’s just more special when you can share it with someone.” Separated By Sea

When Valentine’s Day rolled around this semester, Thompson and Heiderman could not celebrate together like they normally would have. Instead, Thompson took pictures at different landmarks in Florence with signs that read “Will you be my Valentine, Jordan?” to show her affection. “We have always done cute things like that. After weekend visits, the next week I would find cute notes written on a day of my planner or find a sticky note in my car saying, ‘Have a good week,’” Thompson says. “So since I was over here it was just a way to show him that I really miss him.” While being apart for so long can become a strain, the pair has been committed to making it a positive experience. “[Our relationship] has actually gotten better,” Thompson says. “We realize how much we mean to each other, and it makes me appreciate him a lot more. Everything I do here I [think], ‘Oh, Jordan would love to see this.’ It’s just more special when you can share it with someone.”

Katie Thompson and Jordan Heiderman are a couple of American college students currently separated by approximately 5,000 miles. Thompson, junior in apparel design at Iowa State, is studying at Accademia Italiana in Florence, Italy, this semester while Heiderman is at Indiana University. “He is actually the one who convinced me to [study abroad],” Thompson says. “He told me that I needed to do it, so that’s how I decided to come.” Heiderman says that he knew “she would regret it the rest of her life if she did not go.” The couple, who had been introduced by a mutual friend, had been dating a little over a year when Thompson crossed the Atlantic to pursue international fashion and explore Europe. Heiderman had been attending Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa, until this semester, so they were a close two-and-a-half-hour drive apart from seeing each other every weekend. Transitioning to a whole new routine and form of communication was difficult to get used to. “Obviously I miss him, but the hardest thing is the time difference,” Thompson says. “We have a set schedule for when we talk. It gets annoying to have to plan every day.” Skype and a free texting app have become their new forms of communication.

VEGGIES FOR

ONE BY DEVON O’BRIEN DESIGN BRIANA WENGERT PHOTO KAIT MCKINNEY & DEVON O’BRIEN

Frozen veggies are not only cheaper than fresh produce, they also hold the same nutritional content and have a longer shelf life (obviously). So skip the cans and grab a variety of vegetable bags from the freezer aisle. This is a must-have for every college kitchen and these recipes will help you utilize them in single-person servings.

INGREDIENTS • • • • •

1 cup frozen cauliflower florets 1 clove garlic 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon milk Salt and pepper

cauliflower mash 1 2 3 4 5

Place the cauliflower in a microwave-safe dish with 3 tablespoons of water. Microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes, microwave in 1 minute intervals until tender.

Add cooked cauliflower to blender or food processor with garlic, butter and milk. Blend until smooth (the texture should resemble mashed potatoes). Season with salt and pepper, serve.

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INGREDIENTS • • • • • •

1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 cup frozen stir fry vegetables 1 clove garlic 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce Salt and pepper 1/2 cup cooked brown rice

2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup frozen chopped spinach 1 clove garlic 1 cup cooked penne pasta Salt and pepper Parmesan cheese

veggie stir-fry 1 2 3 4

spinach penne 1 2 3 4

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and garlic and cook until heated through. Toss with the cooked pasta, season with salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan cheese, serve.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the vegetables to the skillet and cook until tender. Add the garlic and teriyaki sauce, cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper, serve over cooked rice.

INGREDIENTS • • • • • •

1/2 cup frozen Brussels sprouts 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon garlic powder Salt and pepper 1 teaspoon lemon juice

balsamic brussels sprouts 1 2 3 4 5

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place brussels sprouts in a microwave-safe bowl with 2 tablespoons of water. Microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes, or until tender enough to be pierced with a fork. Cut each sprout in half lengthwise, return to bowl. Arrange the sprouts on a baking pan, cutside down sprinkle with oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until the outer leaves are dark brown. Toss with lemon juice and serve.

WAR OF THE WEEKEND

BY MICHAEL FINN DESIGN EMERALD KLAUER PHOTO YUE WU

So you’re fixin’ to get crawl-on-your-knees, text-with-one-eyeclosed, wake-up-in-a-stranger’s-bed drunk tonight? Better decide between the house party with a keg and the frat party with sorority girls. Where should you go? Let’s weigh your options.

THE

GRPARTY EEK

When most people hear the word ‘frat boy’—a word that has grown to be synonymous with ‘douchebag’—images of Polo shirts, boat shoes, pastel-colored chino shorts, Natty Light beer cans being crushed over foreheads and abuse of freshman pledges come to mind. It’s a stereotype that has remained alive and unchanged for many years. Don’t let these guys consume your opinion, there are also plenty of frat boys that are perfectly normal, sociable guys that won’t fill you with an urge to punch them in the throat. All stereotypes aside, fraternities are one of the most popular places to party, particularly for younger students. Frat boys know how to drink and have a good time— and they’d love to party with you too, given that you don’t purposefully destroy their house or disrespect their fellow members. You’ll usually end up doing one of two things at a frat party: dancing in the neonlit basement or dwelling in the crowded hallway, bouncing from room to room. Frat basements are dark, damp, stickyfloored and beer-scented caves where many acts of hedonism take place. If you end up here, you most likely won’t remember it, which is probably a good thing—you don’t want to remember beer-bonging a Four Loko and dancing like a jackass. Frat parties are usually uncharted territory for non-Greek partygoers (the Greeks call these people GDI’s: God Damn Independents). As you try to gain entrance to a frat party, the guy attending the door will ask you, “Who do you know here?” If you don’t know anyone, didn’t come with a girl or someone who does know someone, be prepared for rejection. They like to keep their house to themselves, their friends and girls. Can you really blame them? The biggest thing to know about frat parties is that most people you meet there are

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Greek. Frats have been, and likely always will be, the stomping grounds for frat bros and sorority girls. This is why many non-Greek students take their partying somewhere else, somewhere they feel more at home.

THE

H OPARTY USE Remember that crazy party you always wanted to have in high school? Before they left for the weekend, your parents would leave leftover food in the fridge for you and tell you to not stay up too late watching TV. Ha! Little did they know, you planned to throw the single greatest party your high school has ever seen. It would be a party that people would talk about 30 years from now at your high school reunion. You would become a legend. In college, that sort of house party isn’t just a dream; it’s an every-weekend reality. But it’s not as glamorous as you imagined it to be. If a house party is too big, which it often is, you won’t be running around, drinking and frolicking, flirting and dancing. You’ll be squished up against a wall, cursing under your breath as you slowly move like a sheep in a herd to the next room, wondering why the hell you went there in the first place.

What makes or breaks a house party is the amount of people that go to it. If there are too many people, you won’t be able to move. Big house parties consist of standing around and looking like an idiot. People will sometimes occupy different spaces and form into cliques—just like your high school cafeteria. House parties can be giant melting pots of wildly different personalities, “God Damn Independents” in the truest sense of the words. But that is part of the beauty of house parties, and it’s something frat parties can’t always offer. If you’re at the right party, you’ll see a lot of your own friends, but you’ll also get a chance to meet a lot of other cool people, so don’t sit in the corner and stare mindlessly at your smartphone. Step outside of your comfort zone and talk to new people—you are guaranteed to have a good time. When a keg is introduced, a house party can go from a casual drinking circle to a rowdy, lawless free-for-all within minutes. Keggers will attract people from all over the place, because everyone knows a $5 beer cup leads to a drunken good time. Keggers are especially great if they are outside. There’s just something about blue skies, sunshine and kegs that brings out the crazy in people. In the end, it really doesn’t matter if you’re partying with the frat bros or kickin’ it with the GDI’s. Sure, they’re a lot different from each other, and they both have their own culture, but they share a common ground— they both enjoy letting loose after a long week of class and having a few drinks with friends. So what are you still doing here? Put on your party pants and get crunk at the party of your choice.

KATE POORE WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

BY DEVON O’BRIEN DESIGN BRIANA WENGERT PHOTO YUE WU A kingdom reigns in the Midwest: the Kingdom of Calontir. Kate Poore, or Katherine of Arles as known by her lads and ladies, leads Iowa State’s Medieval Re-Creationist Club (MRC) as part of this kingdom. The sophomore in history gives us the lowdown of the Middle Ages existing in the 21st century. Ethos: How did you become part of the club? Kate Poore: The club is affiliated with a worldwide organization called the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) ... we try to recreate the appeal of the Middle Ages—the chivalry, the clothing and the pomp and circumstance as well. But we try to avoid the Plague and we have indoor plumbing, which is also nice. I’ve been part of the SCA as it were since I was born. E: What do you do as a club? KP: As a club we try to give the students a chance to participate in SCA events. Like, we tell them all about the stuff, we try to get them somewhat as prepared as it were. We get them clothing ... if they want to learn how to fight we help them fight, we have loaner gear for fighting, we have loaner garb to wear to events, we like to educate people. Our big thing is educating and telling people we want to have fun as well. E: So what are the events then? KP: There [are] all sorts of [varieties] of events. There’s fighting events, there’s arts and sciences, which is our more cultural thing—the sewing, the metal working, the woodworking, cooking, we do a lot of cooking, brewing, anything you could think of a person in the Middle Ages doing, you could do it. Except the whole killing thing.

E: Do Renaissance fairs fall into that? KP: Yeah, we do somewhat participate in Renaissance fairs. How the Renaissance fairs differ from what I do is the Renaissance fairs you pay to get in and then you pay them to get stuff that they make. What we do is you pay to get into an event and then we try to teach you different things—how to sew, how to cook, how to fight. What we do for fighting is, there are times it can be dangerous, but not really. We wear enough armor and you should be set to go fight as it were.

E: Is that like LARPing then? KP: We are not LARPers. While we have a role-playing aspect, we are not fantasy based. LARPers have wizards, they have orcs, they have magic, we do not. We are more realistic in our game. It is a game and we play it. The LARPers and the MRC here on campus have had ... a very touchy, odd relationship. We’ve had issues with the LARPers, they have had issues with us, it’s been kind of bad. But for the most part we will stay out of their issues, they will stay out of ours. E: Is your kingdom governed? KP: Yeah, we have a king and queen who reign for about six months and then they step down. There is a prince and princess, the prince and princess are only the prince and princess for one to three months depending on the kingdom. How to become prince or princess or king or queen is you have to fight in a Crown Tourney. Whoever comes out the winner is the prince. E: So you battle with swords? KP: We don’t fight with metal swords, we fight with rattan, which is a cousin of bamboo—it looks like bamboo on the outside but it’s solid.

When you put it together we put duct tape over it to create a blade and then you could put a handle on it and it gives the weight of an actual sword without the deadliness. We participate in tournaments, we participate in melees. Melees are five plus people on a side fighting each other.

E: What’s the typical reaction you get when you tell someone you are the president of the MRC? KP: Do you guys like the movie, “Role Models?” Then I try to steer them toward “A Knight’s Tale.” E: What’s the best food that you eat at a feast? KP: We always have bread and butter on all the tables … there’s a saying, “When in doubt at a feast, you can always eat the bread.” Because many times the food can be very bland. E: So the giant turkey leg, is that just a cliché? KP: Yes and no. For us it can be a cliché but in medieval times the whole eating a giant turkey leg has been found to be proven true. We do eat with utensils, although there are times when we don’t. E: Where do dragons fit into the picture? KP: They don’t.

For more information on the Medieval Re-Creationist Club we sent Ethos reporter Ben Theobald to a meeting. To read about his experience among the noble knights and fair maidens visit ethosmagazine.org.

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