Generation Magazine Volume 27 Issue 2

Generation Magazine

Jan. 12 - Jan. 25, 2010 Vol 27 Issue 2

Features 16 | spotlight on students

EVERYTHING YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE TEXTBOOK INDUSTRY Did you know that textbook representatives take your professors out for “nights on the town?” Did you know that the industry rewards them with bylines on textbooks if they agree to use it? You do now.

CONTENTS 04 | Editor’s Letter 05 | Mailbag 06 | Snapshot 07 | Agenda 08 | He Says, She Says Cool Campus Jobs 09 | Edible Material 10 | Bits and Bytes

12 | backstage in Buffalo

11 | The Fashion Page

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF BUFFALO THEATER

14 | Blueprint

Theaters like Shea’s and the Irish Classical Theater Company are performing well in Buffalo, even as the economy lags.

20 | Literary

15 | Nickel City 18 | Campus

22 | Parting Shots

ON THE WEB:

Check out our Web site at www.ubgeneration.com. You’ll find an extended picture section, more articles and even some videos down the road. Stay tuned for a complete redesign. ubgeneration.com | 3

Editor’s Letter

Mailbag

Welcome to a new decade

B

y the time you’re reading this, you’ve already realized that Generation Magazine has changed yet again. I’ll explain that later – but first, let’s talk about change. We’ve seen a lot of it in our lives, particularly in the 10 years that we put to rest just a fortnight ago.

The 2000s were a decade of great transformation. In all of our excitement over last year’s monumental elections, some have forgotten everything else the decade ushered in, and it brought some doosies.

In many ways, the last 10 years were much like our parents’. We played baseball with our friends and spent our summers clinging to the sides of pools. We simultaneously looked forward to and dreaded our first kiss. We cried on our first day at high school when the seniors called us names, we cried on our last day of high school when we bid farewell to our best friends and we shared plenty of laughs in between.

But our stories differ in many ways. We were the first to grow up with the Internet.

Some of us might remember card catalogs in libraries and using unwieldy large maps on road trips, but to others, those tools never existed.

Most of us IMed, downloaded and surfed our way through the decade, none too aware of the lives that came before.

We were connected through cell phones and texts and used them so much that schools had to ban them. We witnessed the rise and fall of reality TV, gel pens, Furbies, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Razor Scooters, and William Hung. We listened to Jessica Simpson as she wondered if Chicken of the Sea was made out of tuna and watched as Ozzy Osbourne fumbled his way through a day.

Here in Buffalo, we still had the taste of “no goal” in our mouths at the start of the decade. We watched the Dominator collect a Vezina and then set sail for Detroit, where his team would eventually reel in a Stanley Cup. We witnessed the end of the “black and red era” and saw the team set records during the Briere/Drury days. Now, the Sabres are forging a new path in old colors.

In one way, we are more like our grandparents than our parents ever were. We were the first generation in 60 years to have witnessed a major attack on American soil in our youth, and it has affected us greatly, whether we realize it or not.

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“With everything else that changed this decade, it only made sense for Generation Magazine to change too.”

The America I knew before 9/11 was a happy and benevolent one. Our stock markets were booming, we had great allies overseas and we were optimistic about the future. We watched movies like Forrest Gump and Titanic and reflected on the past while looking forward to what was to come.

But the attacks changed us. The markets took a metaphorical hit as four locations in our nation took very physical ones.

Our psyche changed. The military showed up at our airports, and they brought large and intimidating screening machines with them. We tested the limits of our allies overseas and they become wary of our actions.

Movies like Children of Men and The Dark Knight became box office gold – depicting a pessimistic and dark viewpoint that reflected the subconscious of the nation.

For me, the 2000s brought tremendous change. I began the decade as a meek and meager eighth grader, waiting for Y2K to bring the world to its knees. I’ve since grown up, filled out and learned to lead and speak, rather than follow from the shadows.

I was lucky enough to have spent half of the decade at the University at Buffalo. I saw and learned a lot during my time here, both good and bad. I paid attention as John B. Simpson has pushed the UB 2020 plan from idea to fruition and watched as five different freshman classes stumbled their ways through their first tastes of freedom.

I picked up The Spectrum, Visions, and Generation Magazine as much as I could and learned a lot about student journalism.

Some of the publications changed during my time here, some did not.

At the beginning of the 2000s, Generation Magazine was a small, black and white magazine that people read mostly for the

personals and “I’m Right, You’re Wrong.”

When the publisher pulled the magazine’s charter at the end of the spring 2009 semester, Generation was much the same format and it continued to rely on the same content. But in today’s shifting world of journalism, refusal to change is unacceptable – publications must adapt to stay relevant.

I was aware that I would be in charge of some sort of transformation when I was chosen to lead the publication for the spring semester. With everything else that changed this decade, it only made sense for Generation Magazine to change too, just as the generation it now represents changed. We decided to cut a lot of the old content, we added some new stuff, and we completely changed the size and layout of the magazine – it made aesthetic, economic and practical sense.

Some people will like it and some people will hate it. It all depends on their view of change.

As my time at UB winds down, my role at Generation Magazine is a simple one. I am here to impart everything I have learned in my half decade, and the other 17 years of my life, on to you.

I will give everything I have gained to the readers of this magazine.

You, the students, can have a profound effect on the future of this university. You can change the 2010s and mold them into anything that you want them to be. Generation Magazine is your tool.

Pay attention. Time moves fast.

Ren LaForme Editor in Chief

‘Give the magazine a chance’

Editorial Staff Editor In Chief Ren LaForme Managing Editor Keeley Sheehan Creative Director Katelynn Padowski Asst. Creative Director Dino Husejnovic Associate Editor Joshua Bach Associate Editor Kathryn Przybyla Associate Editor Melissa Wright Photo Editor Jennifer Peters Circulation Director Abraham C.L. Munson-Ellis Contributing Writers Michael Fix Danielle Morgera Eric Schles

Business Staff Business Manager Elizabeth Caruso Ad Manager TBD Asst. Ad Manager TBD WE NEVER PRINT SEXUALLY EXPLICIT PHOTOS ON OUR FRONT PAGE. Generation Magazine is owned by Sub-Board I, Inc., a corporation owned by the student of the State University of New York at Buffalo. The Sub-Board I, Inc. Board of Directors grants editorial autonomy to the editorial board of Generation. Sub-Board I, Inc. (the publisher) provides funding through mandatory student activity fees and is in no way responsible for the editorial content, editorial structure or editorial policy of the magazine.

Editorial and business offices for Generation are located in Suite 315 in the Student Union on North Campus.

The telephone numbers are (716) 645-6131 or (716) 645-2674 (FAX). Address mail c/o Room 315 Student Union University at Buffalo, Amherst, NY 14260 Submissions to Generation Magazine should be e- mailed to ubgeneration@gmail.com by 1 p.m.

Tuesday, a week before each issue’s publication. This publication and its contents are the property of the students of the State University of New York at Buffalo 2009 by Generation Magazine, all rights reserved. The first 10 copies of Generation Magazine are free. Each additional copy must be approved by the editor in chief. Requests for reprints should be directed to the editor in chief. Generation Magazine neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any claims made by our advertisers. Press run 5,000. Hi Caps.

‘A publication that is for the people is better than no publication at all’

A

s a student at the University at Buffalo, I speak for many when I say that there has been a void on campus for the past few months.

Generation Magazine was taken off of shelves on Sept. 8 and production was halted following a fiasco that could fill this entire magazine. The “student voice” was silenced, and campus journalism took a blow.

Until today.

Following a new rebirth, I am pleased to see Generation Magazine share shelves with my publication, The Spectrum. While it might not be as offensive as before, or lack the personals that many students would flip to the back pages of past issues for, Generation Magazine’s true purpose stays the same. It’s here to serve the entire student population of the University at Buffalo.

There are many students who are stern and want a publication from the past to make a triumphant return. And to them, I say this – give this new magazine a chance. Many people aren’t pleased with change. But without change, life would be a boring record, played over and over again.

We might see new additions that we will love. We might see some that we could do without. But one thing is for sure – a publication that is for the people is better than no publication at all.

Once students open up to this new publication and breathe life into 315 Student Union, the student voice can speak up once again.

It is a publication by the students, for the students. Now they need to get to work.

Good luck, Stephen Marth Editor in Chief, The Spectrum Stephen.Marth@ubspectrum.com

‘The publication has a substantial following’ As both president of the Graduate Student Association and a member of SubBoard I, Inc. Board of Directors, I would like to wish you the best of luck with

the new magazine. I have no doubt that you will be of great service to our entire student body.

Last semester, I had the opportunity to hear from several students who were loyal fans of Generation Magazine. It is a publication that is important and has a substantial following. I have every confidence that you will bring back the student voice in this magazine and cover issues that are important to all students at this university with the utmost integrity.

Good luck in your endeavors! I wish you all the best and look forward to reading Generation Magazine!

Nicole M. Jowsey President Graduate Student Association nmjowsey@buffalo.edu

been a part of my undergraduate experience here at UB and like many of my fellow students, I can’t wait to pick it up.

I’m sure that I am not the only one that has been waiting for the magazine’s triumphant return and it is good to finally see such a great periodical back on campus.

Generation has always been an outlet for students of the university to express their creativity, their opinions and true feelings about that Long Island chick that won’t shut up in their communication class. Regardless of why you are picking it up, make sure you appreciate all the hard work and dedication put forth by the writers and editors of this magazine.

I wish all the staff good luck for the rest of the year and I hope the publication will see many successes in the future.

Make sure you continue to check out all the exciting stuff SA has in store for this semester and enjoy the Buffalo winter (just kidding).

‘Don’t mess this up’

Your friendly neighborhood president,

Respectfully,

To the Editor, It’s been a long time coming, but GENERATION IS FINALLY BACK! Let me be one of the first to say congrats and I look forward to reading as many articles as I can before my teacher finds out that I’m not listening to his/her lecture. Generation has

Ernesto Alvarado President Undergraduate Student Association eja22@buffalo.edu

Live Like Kings!!!

Do you want to write for the most awesome publication on campus? Do you want to hang out with a Canadian, a wizard, a potential cult member, a Bosnian, Castle Wolfenstein, a kitty cat, a reformed Catholic, a drunkard, or a bro ham?

Stop by 315 Student Union!

We need you!

Generation is now hiring contributing writers, photographers, artists, poets, short story writers, cartoonists, and more.

E-mail ubgeneration@gmail.com for more information.

We don’t turn anyone away.

P.S. Ren, don’t mess this up ;-)

Yeah, about those changes...

By the time you read this letter, you’ve probably already flipped to the back to search for the personals and scanned the rest of the magazine for “I’m Right, You’re Wrong.”

If so, you noticed they’re gone. Relax.

It’ll be OK. Personals got the axe because students were picking up the magazine solely to read them. We want people to read the rest of the stuff in the magazine. And, as a wise Buffalo News staffer told us, people won’t eat their meat and potatoes if there are sugar-coated crack rocks on the table.

As for “I’m Right, You’re Wrong,” it

JOIN GENERATION

isn’t gone. We simply returned it to its original format — a battle of the sexes.

And we took out Pulse because, let’s face it, you go online for reviews.

At the new Generation, we’re all about quality content. We’re adapting.

If you want to identify whores on campus or out your roommate, take a trip to collegeacb.com. That stuff is on the Internet now, it has no place in pricy print publications.

If you’re looking for unbiased and indepth reporting, look no further. Generation Magazine has you covered.

We want to hear from you.

Do you want to tell us how much you hate us? How much you love us? Express your indifference?

What do you think of all of our changes?

Are you Barack Obama?

Do you need a hug? Are you lonely? Do you need someone to talk to?

Maybe you miss Visions and want some “Shits and Giggles.”

Let us know!

E-mail us at ubgeneration@gmail.com with your thoughts, concerns, or sexy pictures and we might print them in our mailbag.

The choice is yours.

-The Generation staff

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Snapshot

Agenda dkjsa Good Vibrations

“Hmmm… did I do anything crazy when I was in college? The answer to the question is yes…”

DB: Oh yeah. Katie Couric’s plane got delayed and she landed two minutes before her speech was about to start. Bill Cosby, the weather was terrible, so he rented a car and drove eight hours to get here to deliver his speech. He got out of his car in a sweatshirt and someone said “we have a dressing room over here, Mr. Cosby, if you’d like to change.” Mr. Cosby is a comedian but wasn’t feeling very funny and he said “this is what you get.”

With UB 2020, the university is going through a lot of change.

What does the future hold for UB? DB: It sounds like a TV commercial – bigger, better and bolder.

Bigger, to do more of what we’re trying to do. Better, to do it better. Bolder, to not do things like we did in the ’40s, ’50s. ’60s or ’70s, but to do them like they should be done in the future.

Last semester, UB saw some pretty crazy things. There was a kid living in the woods for a while. Did you do anything crazy when you were in college?

Dennis Black 10 questions for the man who traded banter with Stewart and Colbert and lived to tell about it He’s easily the most energetic and approachable member of UB’s administration, which makes sense since he’s the vice president for Student Affairs. You might know him best as the guy who asks the questions at the Distinguished Speaker Series. Here’s a closer look at the man with the mic.

You’ve been up on stage with a lot of famous people. Who has been your favorite speaker so far?

Dennis

Black:

Probably

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two.

Conan O’Brien who took the time afterwards to take the backstage crew, people you never see but whose work we all depend on, he took them to Duff’s for chicken wings and beer after the event.

George Herbert Walker Bush, president 41, enjoyed talking to people so much on a one-on-one basis he almost didn’t make it to the stage because he was just having conversations with people.

He probably didn’t get a chance to do that very often.

Can you recall any big mishaps during the series?

DB: Hmmm… did I do anything crazy when I was in college? The answer to the question is yes… *silence* I guess we’ll leave it at that…

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

DB: I thought that I was either going to be a newspaper editor or a television news producer. I thought I was going to be in the news, media, information side of the world. As a kid, I was odd. I read three newspapers a day and watched the evening news. As an adult, my kids thing I’m odd because I still read three papers that are still printed on actual paper a day and TiVo the evening news.

If you could trade places with someone for one day, who would it be?

DB: I think I’d like to be a kinder-

garten teacher for a day. I think I’d like to work with little people before they’re molded by us, when they’re just themselves. They’re their own personalities. They ask questions not because they’re trying to make a point, but because they want to learn.

What sort of music do you like?

DB: I’ve got an odd iPod – a little bit of everything on it. So there’s probably James Taylor, there’s a lot of Broadway material that’s on there. And then my kids come home for their vacations and they take over my Nano and for the next month or two I’m trying to figure out what it is that they put on there but it’s all good.

The Buffalo Museum of Science Now until Jan. 31

Check this out from...

JAN 12 to 25

The exhibit features the hands-on Sound Lab, on loan from the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Visitors can peruse the music and sound-related pieces, exploring the mechanics behind man- and naturemade noise. The museum is also featuring musicians and speakers to accompany the exhibit throughout the month of January. A schedule of performances is available on their Web site. The museum is open on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Thursdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is located at 1020 Humboldt Parkway in Buffalo. Tickets are $6 with a student I.D.

Vampire Weekend - “Contra”

We have three more, very brief questions for you. How much more snow are we going to get this winter?

Released Tuesday, Jan. 12

Break out your argyle shorts and Lacoste cardigans – Vampire Weekend are back with a new full-length album with more eclectic rich-kid indie than you can shake a jewel-encrusted stick at.

The band again blends worldly beats, African rhythms, reggae, violins, autotune, and just about anything else they can get their affluent little hands on. The band manages to sound big and small at the same time. It’s like a little bit of sun wrapped itself in an upbeat CD to save you from the dark Buffalo winter.

DB: Oh. It has not yet begun to snow.

Where are the best wings in Buffalo?

DB: Best wings in Buffalo? I’d be a Duff’s guy.

Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Cold War Kids - “Behave Yourself”

DB: I’m sorry? I don’t understand the question.

That’s the best answer you could possibly have given.

Thanks.

The Lovely Bones In theaters Friday, Jan. 15

Peter Jackson’s film based on the book by Alice Sebold promises a thoughtful blend of sweeping celestial landscapes and intimate, emotional human connections. The movie stars Saoirse Ronan (City of Ember) as 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who is murdered in the 1970s and watches from heaven as her family and friends deal with her death, and Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia) gives a chilling performance as Susie’s murderer. While fans of the book will notice differences in the screen adaptation – most notably Jackson’s decision not to show Susie’s rape and murder – the movie should remain true to the poignant, emotional core of the novel.

Released Tuesday, Jan. 19

You may have heard them on shows like “Gossip Girl,” “Entourage” and “Numb3rs.”

Now, indie blues boys the Cold War Kids are sending out one last hurrah to the past before releasing their third full-length album this summer. “Behave Yourself” is, just as the title suggests, a collection of five songs that didn’t fit on “Loyalty to Loyalty,” the band’s second full-length.

The album art says it all – “they didn’t belong there [on the album], but they kept hanging around, starting trouble; made friends and insisted that their story be heard.”

The new tracks are much brighter and, surprisingly for Cold War Kids, poppier than their sister tracks on “Loyalty.” The song “Audience” even has some clapping.

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UB by the NUMBERS

70

Patents were awarded to UB between 2003 and 2008

208,000

Amount of living alumni, currently living in 130 countries

114,000

Amount of alumni living in New York State

1,192

Number of acres North Campus covers

12%

Amount of UB students who study abroad

38,947

Students and employees at UB

12,807 Parking spaces on North Campus

3,918 Parking spaces on South Campus

7,017

Number of degrees earned in the 2007-08 school year

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He Says, She Says An advice column divided by the sexes, starring Ren LaForme and Keeley Sheehan

Edible Material

Restaurant picks at a home-cooked price Ingredients:

Q: My boyfriend used to be awesome. We used to go out to eat dinner and watch movies all the time. But now he just sits in his room and plays “Modern Warfare 2” on his Playstation for hours. I don’t want to break up with him, but this has to change. What should I do?

KS: Explain to him that while you respect his right to be lazy and stare at fake people all day (perhaps wording it nicer than that), you miss him. If he’s a good guy and he cares about you, you’ll get through to him and get him out of the rut. If not, I’d seriously reassess the point of staying with someone who doesn’t leave his dorm room. Spend more time with your friends. Focus on classes. Join a club. Volunteer somewhere. Meet new guys who have evolved to the level of being able to interact with the real world.

They exist, I promise. By the time your boyfriend remembers that there’s life outside his video game

console, you’ll be having too much fun to care.

RL: Start practicing and kick his ass. Nothing will turn a guy off videogames more than when he gets beat by his girlfriend. If you don’t want to put the time in, just tell him you won’t play with his “joystick” until he puts down the controller.

That’ll get to him. But honestly, if a dude cares more about a game than you, there are bigger issues at stake here. You might want to consider your other options.

Q: I’m trying to get my master’s degree in English and I have to write a 60 to 80-page thesis. I’m having a really hard time picking a topic. What should I write about?

KS: I don’t know much about writing a thesis. But I remember an English professor once telling us about a student who wrote an entire thesis about the role of hair in Victorian literature, something

Cool Campus Jobs

By Kathryn Pryzbyla While some of us are stuck filing papers and answering phones at our less than eventful jobs, Jordan Stewart watches movies. The film manager for the Student Association Film Series and junior communication major has one of the niftiest jobs on campus. We asked him all about his part-time position and yes, we were jealous.

What exactly does a film manager do?

I have a lot of responsibilities as film manager. I make up the schedule of movies that we play each semester, and work closely with people at distribution companies to make sure that

everything runs smoothly. I also am in charge of managing the employees that work at the theater, I get to make the schedules for them and fill them in on what needs to be done.

Although, everyone on my staff is great, it makes my job easier.

Do you handle real film or are you just popping in a DVD? How does that work?

We do not just pop in a DVD. I wish it was that easy. We work with real film called 35mm film.

The film starts off in canisters then we get to put it together, making sure we put it in the right order. Then we have to thread the film through the projection machine, which is a lot harder than it sounds. Then we show it

about it being a metaphor for repressed sexuality or all that fun prude stuff Victorian writers were so caught up in. The best advice I can give you is to think about what interests you about literature, what you’d enjoy researching since you’re going to have to stick with it for nearly 100 pages, and then talk to someone who is actually qualified to give you advice, like a professor in the English department.

RL: You should write about how English majors are so pretentious.

Seriously. Put your hand down. I don’t care about your views on James Joyce or that your brother’s friend’s uncle lived in the woods like a transcendentalist for four years. If the professor asks a question, answer it. Otherwise, quit trying to boost your ego by spewing adjectives. What was the question again?

Q: My parents gave me a bunch of money for Christto you guys in the Student Union Theater. When it is all done we have to break it back down into the canisters and send it back to the distribution companies.

Are there any perks? There have to be some perks.

My favorite perk is being able to watch the movies. I love sitting back and relaxing to a good

1 – 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken strips (tenders) 1 – 8-pack of white corn tortillas 1 – 16-oz. can of black beans 1 fresh lime (or squeeze container of lime juice) 1 – 2-cup bag of Mexican shredded cheese Cayenne pepper Salt and ground pepper for seasoning 1 small container of sour cream 1 – 16-oz container of fresh chunky salsa

mas because they knew that I won’t be able to work this semester because of my course load. The problem is, they didn’t give me enough to last the semester. How can I make money or maximize what I have so I can focus on school?

KS: There are lots of job opportunities on campus. Try one of the zillions of places to eat on campus, or check with Career Services in Capen. They might be able to point you in the right direction.

There are also tutoring services on campus that employ student tutors. Or you could try selling your eggs and/or sperm. I hear you can get top dollar if you’re smart, free of weird genetic glitches or look like a celebrity.

RL: Eggs and sperm FTW. Got a pressing personal or academic question? E-mail it to ubgeneration@gmail.com. Sounds answers are not guaranteed. movie. But there are other perks – I get sent promotion materials from companies that I get to hand out and that is pretty awesome. I get to pass out things from mugs, to towels, to posters; I even passed out DVDs once for a movie.

What film companies do you Continued on page 19

By Joshua Bach Most of us enjoy going out to eat, but with a student’s budget, who has the money? The editors at Generation are no exception.

So we decided to go out to eat somewhere, then replicate the recipe, making it at home for a lot less.

Good idea, right? We thought so.

We made our way down to the Elmwood strip on a frigid afternoon and started walking. All of a sudden we saw a quaint little market – the Globe Market, 762 Elmwood Ave. – across the street.

We walked in and it was packed, but not uncomfortable. A large food case stood in front of us, with several coolers to the side and at the far end, shelves stocked with products from all over the world.

The Globe Market, with the feel

of a country store, and the food of a gourmet bistro, specializes in dishes with artisan breads and cheeses.

I looked over the menu, thinking I wanted finger food, but since it was so cold out, I wanted something hot. Tuna? Roast Beef? A wrap?

No. I settled on a grilled chicken quesadilla with black bean paste, an artisan cheese mixture, salsa, and sour cream.

My total, with a novelty glass bottle of Coca-Cola, came to $9.83. The food was delicious – a must-have from the Globe Market.

While everyone should make Globe Market their lunch destination at least once while they’re in Buffalo, grilled chicken quesadillas are also easy to make on your own, just as delicious, but at a fraction of the cost.

Place thinly sliced chicken strips in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add to taste salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and limejuice. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium to high heat. Allow the pan to heat evenly. Once heated, place the strips in the pan and cook for several minutes on medium heat – the thinner the strips, the shorter the cook time.

Set the oven to “broil.” Place a tortilla on a cookie sheet and top with the desired amount of cheese and chicken pieces. Place the tray in the oven until the cheese has completely melted. Remove the tray, top with black beans and a light coating of cheese and place on the top tortilla. Put the tray back in the oven until the outside of the tortilla is golden brown. Flip if desired. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool before serving.

Total : $13.33 / 4 Quesdillas or $3.33 per quesadilla

Healthy eats in Buffalo

By Joshua Bach If you’re tired of repetitive and often unhealthy campus food, the Lexington Co-op in the heart of the Elmwood strip at 807 Elmwood Ave. is the place you’ve been looking for to satiate all your healthy and delectable food cravings. The Lexington Co-op opened in 1971 by a group of “members” who wanted to make whole foods more accessible.

The Co-op continues to be member-run, now with a sizable staff to run the store.

The store specializes in highquality, organic products with an emphasis on giving back to the community by stocking locally produced goods. It offers a full grocery store as well as fresh baked goods and prepared

foods that cater to people with all different tastes and needs.

“Lexi’s Kitchen,” as members refer it to, offers a full selection of prepared foods: sandwiches, salads, pizzas, a hot and cold food and soup bar, a fresh salad bar, an in-house all-natural sushi chef, as well as an in-house bakery. There are prepared food options to fit anyone’s needs, from vegans and vegetarians, to gluten-free eaters, and everyone in between.

The friendly staff is always willing to help, and if you’re not sure you’d like something, they will let you try it first. Becoming a member owner is he best way to get the full Co-op experience.

Becoming a member costs $80, which may seem steep at first, Continued on page 19

Living veg in Buffalo

By Ren LaForme Being a vegetarian in Buffalo is a little bit like being a non-Catholic in the Vatican. Between chicken wings, beef on weck and Sahlen’s hot dogs, I’ve spent a significant amount of time feeling alienated and honestly, a little alone.

It’s been over two years since I purposely ate any part of a cow, pig, sheep, chicken, turkey or any other mammalian or avian animal.

I say purposely because I slipped up once when I confused prosciutto for an Italian cheese, and then was too timid to order something else. Oink. Oops.

A lot of people are surprised to learn that I’m a vegetarian. I’m not one of those crazed PETA people – although I do find their e-mails in my inbox from time to time. I don’t wear chicken suits and stand outside of KFC to protest for animal rights. I don’t even try to guilt people into eating meatless food.

For me, being a vegetarian is personal. Animals are tasty, that I’ll admit, but humans can now survive without killing and consuming other creatures. For me, it just makes sense to discomfort myself a little bit to prevent animals from needlessly suffering.

I realize that I’m not making a huge difference. I’m sure the meat industry hasn’t noticed that I am no longer a customer, and they probably slaughter the same amount of animals that they did before I gave up their product.

But just knowing that I’m not eating something whose sole purpose in life was to be killed and divvied up on dinner plates makes me feel good. And being a vegetarian is great for the environment – some analysts peg the meat industry as the most significant contributor to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

So yes, being a vegetarian is hard sometimes. But it’s also easy. Try it.

What have you got to lose?

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Bits and Bytes

Kindle vs. Nook vs. Book

In the battle between e-readers, the Kindle that started it all now faces stiff competition from the just-released Nook. But in the end, do they beat out the original?

Amazon’s Kindle The Device: The Kindle DX is 8-by-5.3 inches in size and .36 inches deep, and weighs in at 10.2 ounces. The device features a 6-inch E Ink display that allows for crisp and paper-like reading, even in direct sunlight. The Kindle has 2 GB of memory, and can hold up to 1,500 books. The battery lasts up to two weeks with the wireless coverage turned off.

Price: $259.00 before shipping and handling and tax on amazon.com.

Store: Users must download or purchase books to use the device. Users can either download books directly from the Web site or use the reader’s e-book store. It has AT&T 3G wireless coverage, with no associated fees for airtime usage. Users can navigate to the store on their Kindle and download a book in 90 seconds or less, according to the Web site. There are over 400,000 books on the online store, and free samples are available for most books for readers to check out before purchasing. Most bestsellers and new release titles cost around $9.99.

Navigation: The Kindle DX uses a keyboard and joystick control, located on the lower half of the device, as well as buttons on the side for page turning.

Other features: Text-to-speech function, dictionary and highlighting tools, experimental Web browser, PDF support, built-in Wikipedia access, and adjustable text size.

Cons: Not Wi-Fi-compatible, no removable battery, ePub files are not natively supported, no expansion slot for additional memory, and additional fees when the device is used abroad.

LOCAL LUXE

Fashion

By Keeley Sheehan

There’s no need to squander money on gas or plane tickets to NYC or LA just to add some pizzazz to your closet when you’re going to school in the second largest city in the state. Plenty of locales in Buffalo offer distinctive pieces from stores that have the kind of charm you can’t get from a chain store at the mall.

Elmwood Village in particular boasts a number of chic boutiques with products ranging from stylish coats to quirky finger puppets. Some are a little on the pricey side, so proceed with caution – at least until you’re done buying textbooks. But the originality and convenience of shopping local makes them well worth the price tag, and there are plenty of options for the most frugal of recessionistas.

Shoefly is a shoe addict’s haven. Footwear of every shape and color line the walls, with intricately designed heels sure to turn heads at the special occasion of your choice, pretty and practical flats to make sitting through class a little less agonizing, and boots to keep your feet warm and stylish all winter. The

store also features a variety of jewelry and purses to accessorize any outfit.

Shoefly 822 Elmwood

Wedge with stone embellishment by Poetic License $96

Barnes & Noble’s nook The Device: The Nook is 7.7-by-4.9 inches in size and .5 inches deep, and weighs 11.2 ounces, making it one ounce heavier than the Kindle. It includes the same 6-inch E Ink screen, but instead of a keyboard and joystick at the bottom, the Nook has a separate color touch-screen with virtual keyboard. It has 2 GB of storage – approximately 1,500 books – as well as a MicroSD slot that allows for memory expansion up to 16 GB. The battery lasts seven to 10 days with the Wi-Fi turned off.

Price: $259.00 before shipping and handling and tax, available at barnesandnoble.com or in select stores.

Store: Users can either purchase books on Barnes and Noble’s Web site, similar to the Amazon e-book store, and have new titles wirelessly synced to their Nook. The Nook also uses AT&T 3G wireless coverage, but is Wi-Fi enabled, unlike the Kindle.

The store is accessible from the device as well, and free samples are available. Barnes and Noble’s e-book store has more than 1 million titles available, most around $9.99, and more than 500,000 free e-books available for download.

Navigation: The Nook uses a 3.5-inch color touch screen for navigation, located below the E Ink display. There, users can access the main menus, along with book covers to flip through, similar to Apple’s Cover Flow. Readers can use the touch screen to flip the page without waking the screen, or use the page turning buttons located on the side of the Nook.

Other features: Removable and replaceable battery, Wi-Fi connectivity, free Wi-Fi and book streaming in Barnes & Noble’s stores, e-book lending of certain titles to other devices for 14 days, powered by Google’s Android operating system – making it open for application development – dictionary and highlight functions, support for .jpeg and .mp3 files.

Cons: No text-to-speech function, currently limited usage of the lending feature, no experimental browser, and shorter battery life due to the color touch screen.

...and a good old-fashioned book.

The Device: A bound collection of written or printed pages, featuring various types of wording or illustration. Dimensions and weight vary.

Price: Pricing varies; library books and books borrowed from friends are free – unless you have crappy friends.

Store: Too many to even begin mentioning.

Navigation: Most employ the ever-popular finger-to-page flipping method.

Other features: No Wi-Fi, PDF storage or anything like that – that’s what your computer, iPhone, etc. are for. The Kindle’s $9.99 price for a book sounds reasonable, but nothing beats the free cost of a library card. The Nook allows you to lend a book to a friend – as long as they too have a Nook – for 14 days. You and your friends can trade

10 | ubgeneration.com

books infinitely, with no need to leave out friends who don’t shell out the $259 for some fancy device. You can borrow books from the library as many times as you like, find great discount deals on books at sites like Amazon and half.com, and store as many books as your house can hold. And books smell like, well, books. The Nook and Kindle don’t smell like much of anything. Curling up in a cozy chair with a blanket, a cup of hot chocolate and… an e-book doesn’t sound quite as appealing as with a well-worn copy of your favorite Austen novel.

Cons: You can carry thousands of books with you at any given time with a Kindle or Nook. It’d be tough to carry that many books around in your backpack. Unless you’re the Governator.

Plum Pudding

Splash Panic

Urban Threads

779 Elmwood

818 Elmwood

736 Elmwood

Plum Pudding is a small store with a lot of character, offering a host of pretty pieces – party dresses, stylish winter coats, colorful hats, scarves and gloves, interesting gift ideas and lots and lots of jewelry.

The friendly atmosphere and beautiful items for sale make this little shop a must-stop for any relaxing retail excursion.

Splash Panic offers interesting finds for girls and guys at reasonable prices, and they get new merchandise in every week. You can find the usuals – dresses, tops, jeans, purses, and accessories – or opt for something a little different in with Indi Denim, allowing you to get jeans that are custom designed and made to fit. You chose the specs, from wash and leg styles to embroidery styles.

Urban Threads offers a range of brands, some solid and well established, some maybe less recognizable but definitely worth a second look.

They carry plenty of cozy gear to keep you warm all winter, with lots of coats, hats, boots and whatever else you need to keep from freezing. The store also features a loft area full of snowboards for those looking for the right gear to brave the cold and hit the slopes.

Skirt/top combo: Houndstooth print skirt by Final Touch $30 Short-sleeve top by Fashion Magazine $25 Head band $5

V-neck top by Volcom $38 Argyle cardigan sweater by Ci Sono $54.99 Denim jeans by Levi Strauss 504 $49 Purse by Miss Sixty $168 Hat by Bold Grace Hats $30

A night out: Sequin-top dress $39.99 Earrings 2 for $10 ($6.99 each) Rhinestone bracelet $14.99 Winter look: Mid-length button coat $49.99 Beret $14.99 Scarf $14.99 Purse $49.99

ubgeneration.com | 11

ALL THAT

JAZZ

Turning on the footlights, a glimpse behind the curtains of Buffalo’s playhouses

By Keeley Sheehan

T

“Actors, directors and playwrights have started their career here in Buffalo and gone on to Broadway, television and film.”

-Kevin Faulhaber, former asst. sound tech for Studio Arena 12 | ubgeneration.com

he marquee lights illuminating Buffalo’s Main Street theaters against a backdrop of softly falling snow unearth a nostalgia for the golden age of theater, when stars like Cole Porter and George Gershwin were in top form.

Broadway’s heyday in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s seems a vintage memory relegated to sleek New York City tourist postcards, but some of Buffalo’s theater companies continue to thrive, even in the unlikeliest and downtrodden of cities.

The arts have managed to flourish alongside Buffalo’s tumultuous fiscal history. “Generally our ticket sales have been strong through the recession,” says Tony Conte, president of Shea’s Performing Arts Center.

The Queen City is no stranger to hardship. Buffalo is the third poorest large city in the U.S. as of 2007, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. It falls after only Detroit and Cleveland, with 28.7 percent of the population living in poverty.

The city has a population of 270,919, according to 2008 Census data. The Buffalo-Niagara Falls unemployment rate was 9 percent as of Nov. 2009.

But Buffalo’s economy began to fracture well before the most recent economic collapse. Once a strong manufacturing center involved in railroad, steel and automobile production, Buffalo had the nation’s largest inland post, second biggest rail center and sixth largest steel producer, according to U.S. Census data from the 1950s.

Much of the city eventually fell into disrepair as most of its chief industries closed their doors; the city plagued

with abandoned homes and stunted redevelopment plans.

When Shea’s first opened as a movie house in 1926, many called it “The Wonder Theater,” the phrase illuminated above doors of the theater’s Main Street entrance. The theater was modeled after a European opera house, replete with intricate Neo-Spanish Baroque architectural features. The theater boasts a “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ; custom designed by the Wurlitzer Company, and built in their North Tonawanda factory. It is the second largest in New York State, after one in the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The organ has fallen in and out of use over the years, but in 2006, in celebration of the theater’s 80th birthday, musician Anthony Neuman played the organ, along with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, performing striking pieces including, fittingly, selections from “The Phantom of the Opera.”

The history of the theater itself mimics the organ, falling into disrepair in the ’60s and ’70s as Buffalo’s economy began to buckle. The Friends of Buffalo Theater formed in 1975 in an effort to save the theater from demolition. The group began restoration projects, and in 1975, due to their efforts, Shea’s was added to the National Register of Historic Sites.

Shea’s has remained a vital piece of the Buffalo theater scene, bringing in acclaimed Broadway productions season after season. Last season featured such shows as “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Color Purple” and a special engagement of “Rent.” Shea’s is kicking off the new year with a Jan. 26 to Jan. 31 run of the Tony Award winning musical “In The Heights” that follows its characters through three

days in the NYC Dominican-American Washington Heights neighborhood.

The theater set a new record with 12,028 tickets sold for the 2009-10 season, including 2,827 new season tickets, according to a Dec. 11 report from the Buffalo News. “We feel that [strong ticket sales are] partly due to the value we offer the patron as well as the likelihood that people are staying in the area rather than on vacation and are looking for entertainment near home,” Conte says.

Conte also attributes much of the theater’s success to its focus on the total theatergoing experience. “[We present] the highest quality Broadway shows out of New York in a facility that is one of the finest theaters in the country, with staff and volunteers who understand and are focused on outstanding patron service,” he says. “We also work diligently to maintain affordable ticket prices for our patrons.”

Tickets to most shows usually start at around $22, and organizations like M&T Bank and Independent Health continue to sponsor each season year after year.

Across the street, Buffalo’s Irish Classical Theater Company is in its 19th season. Founded in 1990 by brothers Chris and Vincent O’Neill from Dublin, the theater quickly established itself as a place for quality international, modern and Irish plays, and has featured such talent as the mime Marcel Marceau, and internationally known playwrights, directors and actors like Kazimierz Braun, Kevin McHugh and Milo O’Shea. Starting Jan. 15, the theater will put on John Vanburgh’s 1696 play, “The Relapse,” about a virtuous wife dealing with her husband’s rakish behavior.

Despite the thriving success of some of Buffalo’s theaters, the Studio Arena Theater hasn’t had such a charmed existence. While it would be easy to blame its troubles on the economic crisis, Kevin Faulhaber thinks the answer isn’t quite that simple.

Faulhaber worked at the theater for eight seasons as an assistant sound technician before it closed in the late 2000s. The board of directors failed to create an effective business plan, voting to convert Chapter 11 re-organization proceedings into Chapter 7 liquidation, he says. The Studio Arena Theater that existed for over 40 years is “gone.”

“The building, if it re-opens, will be under different ownership and operation,” Faulhaber says. “It was a failure to operate with a budget based on the money they had. Instead they operated using a budget based on money they wished they had.”

Studio Arena attracted over 100,000

patrons each season, and had a $10.5 million impact on the local economy, according to the theater’s Web site. The money the theater spent on labor and materials, and the money patrons spent for a night of theater contributed to this impact, Faulhaber says.

“Producing six to eight shows a season, each one required the construction of a new set,” he says. The theater routinely purchased materials from local vendors and employed workers from the Buffaloarea stagehands union, along with local college students looking for experience in the field. “Patrons coming to the theater would frequently dine at area restaurants.

They might go out for drinks afterwards.

They would pay to park their cars in lots around the theater,” he says.

The Studio Arena Theater first opened in the 1920s, and shortly after opened a theater school that it operated for about 80 years, making it one of the oldest continually running theater schools of a resident theater.

“Studio Arena Theater was unique in that it [produced plays] on a national, and sometimes international level,” Faulhaber says. “Actors, directors and playwrights have started their career here in Buffalo and gone on to Broadway, television and film. Plays and musicals that had their debut on stage at Studio Arena are still being produced around the world today.”

The theater started a letter writing

campaign. In a message on their Web site, they ask supporters to “let us know that Studio Arena Theater is important to you and this city. We need these letters of support from you to make our case with funders, businesses, foundations, and politicians.” The site suggests sending letters to government officials to drum up support for Studio Arena and the arts.

Faulhaber says the value of theater is twofold – impacting the audience and the actors.

“The live theater experience is unique compared to going to the movies, sporting events, or a concert. Seeing a

live performance of your favorite play or musical can be very enjoyable, and not only will it be a different and unique experience every night, but every production of it will be different because of different actors, different designers, a different director, etc.”

The variations, he says, are “countless.”

“For the people who work on stage or behind the scenes, Buffalo offers just as much,” he says. “The theater environment is a place where students and professionals alike come together to take words on a piece of paper and create something.”

ubgeneration.com | 13

Blueprint

Nickel City

What would you do before the world ended in

2012

Alexa Papapanu, junior nursing

“Buy an Escalade. That’s pretty much been my life goal since high school.”

Alex Matthews, junior biology

“Drink a case of beer and kiss my girlfriend just in case.”

Margot Selover, junior nursing

“I plan to dominate; 2012 isn’t the apocalypse, it’s the start of the zombie invasion, so get ready!”

Brad Kittrell, junior engineering

“It won’t end.”

Erikson Neilans, senior psychology

“I want to figure out specifically why spots form on hot dogs. Why not squares or triangles?”

Jaime Hefter, junior nursing and psychology, ROTC

“I’d stop going to class and drink my face off. And go to Greece.”

Laura Haberfield, junior business

“I plan to graduate with a 4.0 and get a really high qualified job. I am completely serious because I don’t know where I plan on getting a job, but I have a 3.9 GPA.”

“I plan on killing off all the Republicans before 2012 so the world can end as a pure state without corruption.”

-Brandon Hahn, junior physical therapy

“I would either get my book published or go see the X Games in Aspen.”

-Katie Quinn, junior business and English

“Partying in every major city from LA to NYC.” -Andrew Zapfel, junior political science

“Get laid. Or buy a helicopter and build a mountain house to fly it to, so I can go heliskiing on the weekends.”

-Jay Battesh, junior engineering

14 | ubgeneration.com

“I plan on skydiving into a pit of crocodiles and then when I land in it fireworks will shoot of everywhere.”

-Jason Lubniewski, junior geology “I want to find out if Lady Gaga really has a penis.”

-Olivia D’Amico, junior nursing

“If the world were to end, I would hope to be able to drive a Ford GT, but realistically speaking, I plan on getting myself settled into a career in finance.”

-Sean Baker, junior financial analysis

Flexible Volunteering

A way for busy students to improve their communities and build their résumés

By Joshua Bach Classes, homework, labs, midterms, and finals – getting a degree can be one of the most stressful times in your life. Trying to maintain some connection to the outside world can seem impossible, and the thought of penciling in another thing to do can make your head pound. And when friends invite you to a movie night, but the guilt of foregoing work causes you to decline, options can seem limited.

Volunteering is one solution.

It can be a good way to relieve stress and spend some guiltfree fun time with friends, but it can also dramatically improve your résumé with a few simple and easy adjustments. There are countless opportunities to volunteer, especially in and around Buffalo, at all hours of the day, often with minimal time commitments. It’s called “flexible volunteering” and it works around your schedule, when you want to do it, with no strings attached – perfectly tailored to fit college students’ busy lives.

The United Way of Buffalo and Erie County has a “matching” service right on their Web site.

This matching service allows you to narrow your search by specifying what kind of people you are looking to work with, your age group, and the field in which you would be most interested in volunteering. It’s a great, easy system to use.

Business First, a local newspaper, prints a “Corporate Caring Calendar” each year that lists volunteering events for the whole following year. They also print updates to the calendar in the third issue of each month. In addition to flexible volunteering,

there are also many traditional volunteering opportunities out there for those who find that path to be more tailored to their needs.

But just as important as volunteering is how you present the experience. When you walk into a local business, looking for a part-time job, and you hand your résumé to the manager, think about what it has on it – an objective, an education section, a work experience section, and a volunteering or intern section.

But this is where you can make your volunteering experiences work for you, making yourself a much more viable candidate for any job you seek today, or in the future. Make a few notes on the work that you completed – the organization you worked for, what your work entailed or what duties you performed during your time there, the official title to your position if you had one, and the length of time you worked there. Once you’ve gathered your information, you can put together your résumé, or use a résumé-building Web site like charityguide.org that’s targeted specifically to college students, to help you. Charity Guide suggests four guidelines for including volunteer experience on your résumé.

Location. Do not list your volunteering activities in a separate section labeled “volunteering.”

You worked, didn’t you? List any volunteer work in your “work experience” section.

Title. In many instances, you are not given an actual title when you volunteer. Don’t simply title yourself a “volunteer;” create one. If you helped underprivileged children learn to read, for example, you could

title yourself a “mentor” or an “instructor.” Titles like these stand out, intriguing and impressing perspective employers.

Elaborate. Everyone can assume that as an “instructor” you taught a group of people a certain skill, but there is always more to the job. As an “instructor,” for instance, you may have been responsible for the “creation and selection of lesson plans and skill building exercises that ensure student growth,” or “establishing and nurturing student, teacher and parent relationships.”

Skills. Some of the usual skills that you gain as an instructor include time management, organizational skills, and working with people. But there are usually more specific skills that you gain through these tasks; for example, working with a grading program, or receiving extensive training in Microsoft Office to create worksheets, slide shows, or other teaching aids. Make sure to list these skills as well. Being well-rounded and exhibiting this kind of skills knowledge is an impressive quality that employers will look for in a candidate.

FLEXIBLE VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES United Way of Buffalo and Erie County 742 Delaware Ave Buffalo, NY 14209 (716) 887-2690 uwbec.org/volcentr.htm American Red Cross, Greater Buffalo Chapter 786 Delaware Ave Buffalo, NY 14209 (716) 878-2159 greaterbuffalo.redcross.org

Extreme Week How one volunteer helped her community

By Melissa Wright Emily-Rose Maher, Hamburg, 24, finished her term with WNY AmeriCorps in November and works as a tutor trainer at Literacy Volunteer in Buffalo.

When Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Buffalo, Maher participated in the project to renovate Delores Powell’s Massachusetts Avenue home.

Maher worked on a committee in charge of volunteer recognition for Extreme Makeover, creating activities to help the volunteers feel appreciated.

“Our biggest idea was to get chiropractors and massage therapists on site all day every day – that was a big hit,” she says. “We also stocked a golf cart with food, water, and coffee and visited all the community sites to make sure all the volunteers were hydrated and happy.”

AmeriCorps volunteers had just a few weeks to plan for Extreme Makeover, taking a “significant amount of planning in a very short time slot.”

“During Extreme Week, I was there for about 12 hours every day, but some members worked for days straight without going home,” she says. “The bright lights they used after dusk made it seem like it was daytime 24/7, which kind of threw you off.” The

experience was exhausting, but worthwhile. “Every minute I spent away from the site I was wanting to get back.”

Maher’s role with AmeriCorps allowed her to get to know all of the volunteers and witness the ways they were affected by the experience. “Every day was transformational,” she says. “Most of the volunteers were from areas outside of the city, and some of them admitted to never visiting the city or even being initially afraid of the neighborhood they were working in. Some said that they had never volunteered a day in their life. But so many people were changed by what they were able to accomplish, and by the sense of community they felt at that site every day.”

Maher’s term with AmeriCorps ended in November, but she’s continuing to serve as a tutor trainer for the Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo & Erie County, which matches volunteer tutors with adult students who struggle with reading and writing.

“One in three residents of the city of Buffalo is considered functionally illiterate,” she says.

Those interested in becoming tutors can visit literacybuffalo. org or call the LV/BEC office at 876-8891.

“I am of the firm belief that the surest way to change the world and our selves, especially now, is to serve others. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was an exaggerated example of what can be accomplished in a very short amount of time if that commitment is made,” she says.

Maher saw volunteers and community members leave the Extreme Makeover project with an improved opinion of Continued on page 19

ubgeneration.com | 15

By Ren LaForme On a frigid day before the semester began, Amanda Szudzik walked out of the University Bookstore on North Campus $700 poorer. “I spent $700 on books and barely used any of them. My most expensive book was $200 and I never once used it.”

Szudzik, a sophomore nursing major, is not alone. College students in the United States spend between $700 and $1,000 on textbooks every year, according to a study performed by the U.S. Department of Education. An estimated 17.66 million college students in the U.S. spent more than $4.6 billion on textbooks in 2006.

Those numbers continue to rise at a rate higher than inflation. A Government Accountability Office study found that textbook costs increase by approximately 6 percent per year, or double the rate of inflation of other consumer goods. With no regulation or government agencies providing oversight for the textbook industry, many believe that costs will only continue to increase.

“The people who write the books are to blame because they charge so much,” Szudzik says. “For example, my microbiology class, the professor writes the textbook so I feel like he jacks the price up a lot when, in reality, we hardly will ever even use the book.”

“Fall semester of 2008, I spent $1,500 between books, equipment, scrubs, lab coats, and a $500 PDA. All of these were purchased at the UB Medical bookstore,” says Caitlan Mulholland, a senior nursing major. “Hospitals have told us that the prices we paid for the materials in our

16 | ubgeneration.com

Confessions of a

TEXTBOOK SALESMAN

An in-depth look at the seedy relationships between professors and textbook representatives and why your books cost so much ‘kit’ are absurd and much higher than the retail price that medical professionals pay. I understand we need these type of materials to learn, however, needing to take out an extra loan just so I can cover the costs is absolutely ridiculous.”

According to David Weliver, a former textbook representative for one of the top 10 higher education textbook publishers in the United States, the textbook industry’s “sexy underground” is the reason for the inflated prices.

“There are really only two ways to sell textbooks: have the best textbook … or be the professor’s favorite sales rep,” Weliver says. “Once our book was published, we couldn’t control whether it was the best

or not, so we tried to become professors’ best friends. We sent them lots of free books. We took them for dinner and drinks. We called them just to ‘chat.’”

Once the salespeople establish a relationship with a professor, it is easier influence his or her decision-making process when it comes time to choose a book, allowing representatives to steer professors toward the most expensive products – maximizing commission and company profits.

“Basically, after a [education] convention we’d rent out part of a bar and pay the tab for several hours for professors,” Weliever says. “I once heard a marketing manger for McGraw-Hill bragging about a

$14,000 bar tab he paid while entertaining professors.”

Publishers also use their position to offer professors résumé boosters – often by getting as many professors involved in the creation of textbooks as possible, Weliever says. “We invited people to be ‘reviewers’ of new books. In exchange for reading a draft of a chapter, they’d get their name in the front of the published text. It’s a [résumé] booster for them. For us, that means they’ll be more likely to use a book with their name in it.”

According to the Affordable Textbooks Campaign, a coalition of student public interest research groups and student government associations in 14 states who are “working to make college more affordable,” publishers are able to keep profits high from year to year by increasing prices, bundling textbooks with other items, releasing new editions, and selling “low cost” textbooks that cannot be resold.

One of the group’s studies found that the price of Pearson’s “Conceptual Physics” 10th edition increased by 13 percent in a one year period, from $112.40 in 2005 to $126.65 in 2006.

New editions of textbooks, in particular, are often a huge headache for students.

New editions eliminate the possibility of reselling a book and raise prices. One watchdog group says new textbooks cost 12 percent more than the previous editions.

It shouldn’t be surprising that many professors fail to even notice the price of the textbooks they assign to their students.

“There are some professors who are sensitive to students’ budgets, but many

don’t even notice a books’ price tag,” Weliever says. According to one textbook watchdog group, representatives often fail to mention the price of the books on purpose.

These practices contribute to inflated prices because the textbook industry is not based on supply and demand – the consumers who choose the textbooks (professors) are not the same consumers who use them (students). “Because professors choose textbooks and students ultimately pay for them, the books’ cost rarely plays a role,” Weliever says.

This makes the textbook industry more similar to the prescription drug industry than any other – and several welldocumented cases involving drugs like Zyprexa and Prozac have showed that the drug industry sometimes shows more concern for profits than patients.

“Analogous to the market for prescription drugs where prices have risen rapidly, in the market for textbooks the separation of textbook choice and textbook payment profoundly influences pricing … Students end up being coerced to pay for someone else’s choices. This tends to make their textbook purchases less responsive to price increases than their purchases of items such as cheeseburgers and jeans,” says one study by James V. Koch, a Board of Visitors professor of economics and president emeritus at Old Dominion University.

But publishers contend that they send representatives to help professors choose the best books – not to bribe them into selecting more expensive ones. “McGrawHill Higher Education sales representatives are responsible for meeting the needs of instructors and providing them with the highest quality and most cost-effective learning materials for their students,” says Tom Stanton, communications director for the company.

According to Stanton, the costs do not come from the nature of the industry, but from the raw materials and thought that go into producing a textbook.

“The largest percentages of the wholesale textbook price – in descending order – go to cover author royalties, paper, printing and binding, investments in editorial development and digital product development, marketing, instructor resources, and support materials, general and administrative costs, and freight costs,” he says.

The Association of American Publishers released a report that showed textbook costs remaining steady at 4 percent of total college costs, contradicting the findings of the report from the Department

of Education. “We raise and lower the prices of educational materials based on continuous monitoring and evaluation of the market environment,” Stanton says.

The University Bookstore on North Campus doesn’t have much control over textbook pricing or which edition professors choose to use, according to Elio Distaola, director of campus relations for the Follett Higher Education Group, who said that the school’s markup costs are confidential information.

“Books that are pre-priced are sold at that price,” he says. “Books that are not pre-priced are sold at an agreed upon contractual margin in a contract between the school and Follett, the bookstore operator. Unfortunately, the details are obviously contractual and proprietary, it would be at the school’s discretion for release.”

The government has done little to mitigate textbook costs for students, but the recent Higher Education Opportunity Acts took some steps in a direction toward more regulation of the industry. According to Inside Higher Ed, the act requires universities to “publish the ISBN numbers and retail prices for textbooks, other trade titles, and related course materials that faculty recommend and students buy for classes.”

“The ISBN mandate will accelerate the demise of a once captive market: college students buying books and course materials at the local college bookstore,” the publication wrote.

In the meantime, students can use a variety of tactics to save money and alleviate expenses.

“Buy the cleanest used copy [used textbook] you can find, keep it in good condition as you use it and sell it as soon as you’re done with it before a new edition comes out and diminishes the value. If you can do this, you can recoup most of what you paid for each book,” says Weliever, the former textbook representative.

According to Distaola from Follett, students can save money by purchasing used books, renting texts and using digital offerings available at the University Bookstore. “In just one semester, our rental program saved students at UB over $220,000 over the cost of new books …

In addition, we continue to explore and expand our digital offerings, also costsavings from traditional ‘bound’ books.”

Unfortunately, there’s not much students can do to stop the “sexy underground,” save speaking to their professors about their financial hardships.

Percent

Wholesale Costs (paper, printing, editorial and administrative costs) -­‐ 75.9 %

College store personnel -­‐ 11.1 % College store income (pre-­‐tax) -­‐ 6.3 %

College store operations -­‐ 5.7 % Freight expense -­‐ 1 %

On the Border

By Joshua Bach

Most people could name a few of the radio stations in Buffalo, but 88.7 WBFO doesn’t often roll off the tongue – leaving many missing out. WBFO, a National Public Radio Affiliate located on South Campus, and winner of many national broadcasting awards, has tremendous programming that everyone can enjoy.

WBFO strives to keep everyone connected and to bring local contemporary music to its listeners.

The station’s “Nighttime On the Border” programming combines the essence of radio with the thrill of a live concert series.

Its free concert series on Wednesday nights highlights musically talented individuals or groups that are active in the community. Potential performers submit a “résumé” listing their past performances, along with a sample of their music. The show is then broadcast live-to-air on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. from Allen Hall.

The “On the Border” Wednesday night program is made possible by grant funding that, in these economic times, is hard to come by. According to Dee Adams, talent producer for WBFO, the program will come to a close on Feb. 17.

These final performances are a must-see to witness the amazing accomplishments of not only local talents in Buffalo, but public broadcasting, an often forgotten treasure. Every other night during the week at 8 p.m., “Nighttime On the Border” spotlights a different aspect or genre of music, each infused with all that is Buffalo, highlighting the intricate diversity and talent that has come to define Buffalo.

Mike “Bubba” McKay joins listeners

on Mondays for Americana Music, showcasing the best country and rocks.

Tuesdays with Critt’s Juke Joint puts a twist on jazz by mixing some of the greatest musicians with the unmatchable sounds of the Buffalo scene. Every other Tuesday, Tod Kniazuk brings the tunes of New Orleans to the heart of the city with the Big Easy in Buffalo.

Wednesday nights’ “On the Border” lead into Thursdays, when listeners can get the best pop and rock, as well as folk, rock, jamband, bluegrass, punk, world, and jazz with Jon Topper. It’s a little bit of everything. Friday is Workers’ Playtime with Govindan Kartha. Kartha, a native of Buffalo and founder of New World Record, guides you step by step through the theme of the week using songs, lyrics and history.

WBFO presents: Jan. 13 – A special show featuring Image Urban Arts (hip-hop) and Grace Stumburg. The show will focus on music in schools. The Image Urban Arts is an after-school program committed to educating youth on all aspects of the arts (songwriting, business and production).

Jan. 20 – Joelle Labert & Friends (country) Jan. 27 – Latin Jazz Project. The Latin Jazz Project has successfully integrated the music of Puerto Rican and AfroCuban heritages into American life.

Feb. 10 – Mojo Mergler Band (funk) Feb. 17 – Cathy Carfagna (piano-based pop)

ubgeneration.com | 17

Continued from page 8

Campus

Taking intercollegiate sports to new heights

By Keeley Sheehan College students in gym shorts with capes tied around their necks run around an empty field on North Campus, holding brooms between their legs while throwing dodgeballs at each other.

What sounds like late-night drunken shenanigans is actually a competitive sport – Quidditch.

Taking a cue from the “Harry Potter” series, students at UB are putting their inhibitions aside in favor of slightly awkward outfits and fierce competition.

“It’s a game for anyone really, people are just afraid of looking silly,” says Brittany Casino, secretary of the UB Quidditch club. “We get some rude remarks yelled at us while we are playing, but we don’t care.”

Many of UB’s Quidditch players got involved in the sport in high school, a number of them from St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in Kenmore, N.Y. Michael D’Angelo, president of the club, and a group of his friends formed a Quidditch club at St. Joseph’s in summer 2008, playing at the World Cup competition in Middlebury. Their team placed third out of 16.

“Unfortunately most of us attended different colleges and were unable to maintain our team throughout the school year. Members at Syracuse University, the University of Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and the University of Rochester formed their own teams in our absence,” D’Angelo says. “This year I thought that UB should have its own team.”

The team began practicing as an unofficial club in September and applied for official club status through the Student Association in October, after six UB students competed in the 2009

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World Cup. “We have had great interest from students who have showed up and most of them have returned multiple times and with their friends,” says Chris Savery, treasurer.

D’Angelo says players usually get one of three responses when others find out they play the sport.

“Sometimes they shun us as geeks, usually they are indifferent to the sport and sometimes they are adamant about their will to play,” he says. “We have begun to evolve Quidditch into a legitimate competitive sport.”

Author J.K. Rowling details Quidditch’s fictional history in her companion to the “Harry Potter” series, “Quidditch Through the Ages.” In the universe of Harry Potter, Quidditch is a rough, occasionally fatal mix of ancient German, Irish and Scottish games with such names as Stichstock, Aingingein and Creaothceann. All require broomsticks, though only one – Stichstock – involves protecting an inflated dragon bladder.

Players fly around the field trying to throw balls through goals hundreds of feet in the air.

Collegiate Quidditch distances itself from the fictional Quidditch of Harry Potter, borrowing the name and a basic rule structure, but infusing more Muggle – “non-magic folk” – elements to make the game appealing to non-Potter fans looking for new modes of athletic competition.

“I haven’t read most of the books, and I know a lot of people we play with aren’t all that interested in the books, or even the movies,” Casino says. “We don’t bring Harry Potter paraphernalia to the games because we just want to play.”

D’Angelo says they don’t think much about Rowling’s Quidditch when they play.

“Many people immediately think of Harry Potter as soon as we say the word Quidditch, and begin to pass judgment from there, but the truth is that we have distanced ourselves so much from the realm of Harry Potter,” he says.

Alexander Manshel, the first Quidditch commissioner, adapted the rules from the Harry Potter series to form an intramural league at Middlebury College in Vermont in 2005.

Each team plays with a keeper, who guards their team’s goals – a cluster of three per team at opposite ends of the field – two beaters, who try to knock opposing players off their brooms with bludgers (dodgeballs), three chasers, trying to score by throwing the quaffle (volleyball) through the opposing team’s goals, and a seeker, who tries to catch the golden stitch. In Rowling’s Quidditch, the snitch is a small golden ball that zips around the field. The seeker who catches it wins 250 points for their team and ends the game.

In collegiate Quidditch, the golden stitch is a person dressed in yellow with a tube sock holding a tennis ball hanging out of his or her pants, free to

run around campus in an attempt to elude the seekers. The seekers’ goal is to grab the tube sock.

Alex Benepe became the Middlebury Commissioner in 2006, and founded the Intercollegiate Quidditch Assoication in 2007. Middlebury College and Vassar College played the first intercollegiate Quidditch match in November 2007, according to the IQA Web site. More than 200 institutions from around the world have joined the IQA or play by IQA rules, including teams in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France and Israel.

Benepe is still commissioner, and the IQA distributes rulebooks to interested teams.

Casino says she loves everything about the sport, “the people, the game, the competition and the camaraderie.”

She thinks others would enjoy it too, if they give the game a chance.

“I did a lot of different sports in high school, but I don’t think any come close to being as enjoyable as Quidditch is for me,” she says. “I was skeptical at first, but after playing it I was hooked. I hope that other people can get past how silly they think we look and just try it.”

The team will continue to play this semester on the lot next to Governors E. D’Angelo hopes to get a few winter games in but depending on attendance, they might wait until later in the semester when it gets a little warmer.

“I know our attendance got smaller and smaller last semester because of the cold, but we are going to try and plan a winter game,” Casino says. “All you need is some snow pants and no fear of the cold.”

D’Angelo says the team will have a meeting early in the semester for interested students, or that students can just stop by the field if they see them out playing or go to their Facebook page.

“Three people on our team are varsity athletes at UB in one or more other sports,” he says. “We are open to all who have a sense of humor and a desire to be competitive.”

deal with?

We mostly deal with the distribution companies who work directly with companies. We have worked with Universal, Disney and other really big names like that.

Where are all these movies shown and where can I find out what’s playing?

All of our movies are shown in the Student Union Theater. We typically play a different movie each week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You can find the schedule on many different places. I think the most important is sa.buffalo.edu – on this Web site they have a banner on the top right corner that will display the upcoming movies, as well as other great SA events. We also have poster cases on campus that are updated to let you know what is playing weekly. We have two next to the upper level at the theater, and one across from the student lounge on the Student Union, and one over at the intersection of Baldy and O’Brien across from the Law Library.

I hear all about these “sneak peaks.”

Why are they so special?

I love sneak peaks. They are what I think to

be the coolest thing that the movie theater does on campus. For sneak peaks we get to show a movie on campus before anyone else gets to see it. We have done some really great sneak peaks even in the last semester. We had The Fourth Kind, When In Rome, The Blind Side, Where The Wild Things Are, and that was only last semester.

What are your top five favorite movies of all time?

That is a hard one to answer, because I change my mind so often. But I love classic movies. So, this would probably be my list [from one to five]: Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, It’s a Wonderful Life, and who doesn’t love a little Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho [and] Vertigo.

Have any of those been shown at the Student Union Theater?

We have not shown any of these movies at UB while I have been here. But I would love to play some classics in the future.

Rumor has it you were Wolverine for Halloween this year. Was that choice theatrically inspired?

The rumors are true. I hate to admit this one but I am a little bit of a comic book geek. I love super heroes, so with my love

for comics and the release of the new X-Men movie, and the amount of facial hair that I have, it seemed like no question what to be for Halloween, but I’ll tell you those claws were a pain in the butt to make.

Overall, which films brought out the most students within the last couple years?

Definitely the first Twilight and probably the Sex in the City movie. We also got a lot for Batman: The Dark Knight.

What is your favorite movie quote?

“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind.

How could you not love one of America’s first bad-asses? It is a classic line from a classic movie.

How long has it been since you’ve seen a movie NOT at UB? What was it?

I saw an advanced screening of the new movie Nine a couple of weeks ago.

There are tons of movie posters all around your office. But do you ever get to put up those huge cardboard promo things that they have at the Regal/AMC? Once we got a cutout for a sneak we did of Friday the 13th. It was Jason holding his prey by the neck. It was creepy and it took hours to complete, but we did it.

Let’s say hypothetically I was looking for a life-size Robert Pattinson cardboard cutout... would you have any extras?

No, I have never gotten a Robert Pattinson cardboard cutout. But if I ever get one it is all yours.

Continued from page 15

Continued from page 9

Buffalo and a renewed commitment to volunteering.

“Big, meaningful things happened that week: a new home for a family, community gardens created, crumbling roofs fixed, an abandoned home taken down piece by piece. And that’s only a snapshot,” she says. “But if everyone could take that momentum and use it in small bits, making a single action every day that could help someone else, things would change for the better. I’m sure of that.”

but the benefits outweigh the cost. The Co-op highlights seven benefits of being an owner, including everyday savings on at least 25 items in the store at 15 percent off, monthly member specials, and two owner appreciation days every year, with extra discounts. You can find more information about the program at lexington.coop/ownership.html.

Here’s a sample of some of the products Lexington Co-op offers: Sandwiches: $5.99 to $7.29 Varieties include: turkey with sun-dried tomato, veggie hummus wrap, roma sandwich, smoked salmon with boursin cheese spread, turkey with cranberry mayonnaise

This kid writes for Generation. You should too! E-mail us at ubgeneration@gmail.com Don’t be a chicken.

on Twitter. @UBGeneration

Salads: $3.99 to $6.99 Varieties include: sweet and spicy tofu salad, curried chicken salad, Mandarin chicken salad, Greek chicken salad, spinach salad, chicken caesar salad, California cobb salad

Have you ever caught two people hooking up during a romantic comedy? Does that happen often?

No. The ushers that work at the theater go in and check, and make sure that nothing like that happens. But we’ve had some people get close.

Why is the film manager position one of the coolest jobs on campus?

I get to provide free movies for students, and free popcorn too. I get to give the opportunity for students to see brand new movies for free. The entire student body has the chance to see a movie that they might not otherwise get a chance to see.

Prepared Salads: $6 to $6.99 per pound Varieties include: tuna salad, egg salad, broccoli cashew salad, seven-grain salad, Moroccan cous cous, Edamame salad Soups: $5.99 for 30oz container Varieties include: chicken noodle, lentil, Tuscan minestrone Bakery: Most of Lexi’s baked goods are made fresh each day right in the store, and includes a commanding choice of baked goods that use sugar substitutes such as honey, agave (cactus), and organic sugar cane. Other baked goods are brought in from local bakeries in Buffalo.

Other products: Fresh locally grown, organic and conventional produce and dairy.

Bulk food items including many organic options such as granola, sugar cane, nuts, dried goods, and dried fruits.

Health and beauty items.

Canned and boxed goods.

Fresh meat, seafood and vegetarian items.

ubgeneration.com | 19

Literary

Literary

Imaginary Relations Interviewer (I): A polite person who is of little impact on the conversation, save curious interjections. Due to the imaginary nature of the dialogue, the interviewer is somewhat like a supporting character in a poorly written play – merely a sounding board for some idiosyncratic talks. He/ she is also kind of like Polemarchus in the Republic. Not quite a yes (wo)man, but certainly not about to stop two Titans from (re)claiming the motherland.

By Melissa Wright A posthumous dialogue between some real-life characters on an imaginary television show. If the title made you believe that there would be some Marxist power struggles going on in here, you can pat yourself on the back – not too hard.

Characters: Laura (Riding) Jackson (LRJ): She is well into her “second understanding of things” and with it white hair and a smile that has found humor, almost levity. Her movements seem unconnected from the workings of her mind. She moves slowly, her back stiff from a suicide attempt nearly 40 years ago (fall from a 4th story window in London).

Jacques Derrida (D): He is a bit spryer than (Riding) Jackson, though also toward the latter half of his life. His face shows careful concern and often, an ironic smile.

He speaks in a French accent (mostly because he is French), and will move between English, French and German spontaneously. He is almost fidgety and while pleasant and somewhat gregarious, there is a sense that he would rather not be here.

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I: This dual interview today, which I am delighted to be a part of, is between acclaimed philosopher and inventor of deconstruction, Jacques Derrida and distinguished poet and philosopher, Laura (Riding) Jackson. The format is truly a dialogue, within which all subject matter is welcome, but in which I believe we’re most curious to see where the two of you depart in your understandings of language. To start, I’d like to ask you both to say a few words about your own writing process. In what space are you compelled, incited to write? Jacques, if you would be so kind to go first…

D: [Touches forehead covering half of his profile with his hand; looks at floor and then up again at interviewer.] Writing for me has been something of an impulse – I get a sense of necessity, that this and that must be put into question and I write. While I’m writing, it is almost as if something extended, outside my conscious control produces the content.

And you’ll notice a significant difference between the way I write and the way I speak. With my speech, I am a bit more – you know – inhibited or shy. I have not always agreed to give interviews, partly for this reason. On the one hand, I desire the control of mediation [smiles, to himself, looks up at interviewer] – ironically perhaps as I’ve taken on myself to [makes single quotes with fingers] ‘deconstruct’ other’s work and yet for so long I upheld rather serious interdictions concerning the publishing of my photographs, and so forth. And then, as I’ve said on several occasions, a large portion of my work aims to disengage readers from their obsession with the author. As a result, my writing, engaging with a kind of anonymous text, provided a sursis from this kind of

reading; that is, a reading which values the psychobiographical lines of a text and keeps looking for a presumed purpose or message.

I: You used the word “sursis” – is this French?

D: Yes. It is French and can be translated in a variety of ways, which is part of why I use it here. It means, uh… deferment and respite… and even extension. Of course, the translation, like all translation, is not perfect. [Laughs softly.] Language is, after all, a national construction – not universally constructed, though we sometimes refer to concepts as universal, but one and the same with its history – the evolution of the language as such.

I: Deferment, being at the core of your understanding of writing.

D: Uh… yes – uh, to convey meaning without the object right next to you.

When we cannot simply point to the object – what Hegel might call simple selfconsciousness – expression asks us to conjure up that thing since removed.

LRJ: If you don’t mind me asking, what then exactly is the purpose of deconstruction?

Does it not disintegrate the very basis of communication, saturating the purpose of the text by constantly pointing to the history of the thing expressed? Is there no room for signification as intended?

D: Thank you, Ms. (Riding) Jackson.

Quite the contrary – and this is a serious criticism of deconstruction – that aside from undermining the rational subject, it puts forth only a negativity, but it is more than this. Language is an affirmation.

While I speak right now – I do not as I say these words, challenge that each word mean what it actually does; rather, I trust that what I say is being communicated.

We would have no deconstruction without this affirmation. When we speak there is always a presupposed. I do not deny the fundamental import of signification, but look at the way that the written text – writing – complicates this. At the same time, deconstruction examines the assumptions of language – the presupposed and all that comes before and allows for language’s positivity.

LRJ: My fear, which may not be of surprise, is that this theory, and so much

other theory, is robbing the potentiality for the text to actually say something.

This potentiality that writing tries to allow for is being – perhaps, in some ways has been – stomped out, forgotten. The bodies of literature, the tapping into of a truth, seems to have been replaced with theoretical jargon, terminological weapons that would rather destroy the text than enter a communion with it.

D: I respect your position, no doubt. [Laughs a bit nervously, but not intimidated.] You think, have said in the past, that language has promise. Poetry has proven a failure in your life, but language offers hope, yes?

LRJ: In so many words, yes. I renounced poetry many, many years ago and have since turned to language that it might reveal the universal truth that poetry could not. Poetry turned out to be too abstruse and because of its abstruseness, made its physical trace ever the more apparent, blurring one’s ability to enter the moment the words related.

D: And you still believe that language can elicit something universal?

LRJ: It promises this. After all, we are communicating right now, correct?

D: Yes, and deconstruction does not deny that you and I can communicate, though it is important to note that this is in English – which is kind of like a universal language more and more. [Laughs softly.]

I: Are you fearful of this? That the English language have this, and I quote, “universal” power?

D: Well, this is what people tend to mistake about deconstruction. While the nature of

deconstruction is aggressive – questioning the formations of language and the trust in its status as truly signifying something essential – I do not assert that anything is necessarily a bad thing. I am not fearful of it per se – it is… it is rather good in some ways, perhaps least of all for Americans who are not required to learn another language. No offense. [Smiles, looks up at Interviewer, but not LRJ.] What we need to be aware of though, is that the English language is hegemonic. This is not to say that it’s bad, but we must be aware of this.

Poems by Michael Fix

Her poem (I know…)

Stout Hierarchy

Tracks

Say hello to the toesies.

My father said never trust a man who can’t pour stout.

LRJ: [Looks at Derrida with a sense of empowerment.] Your philosophic language is also hegemonic and we must also be aware of this. Rather than using descriptive powers, so much philosophy has constituted difficult verbiage in its place that ultimately excludes participation.

At least English can use its own powers to clarify itself. Can you say the same of deconstruction?

When she asked, I felt afraid too—speaking.

The scene; whatever its truth.

D: [Laughs.] I never intended the word to hold so much weight. Let’s do away with it today. I’d be happy to!

I: And with that, we’ll need to cut to a commercial break. When we come back, I’d like to examine your somewhat similar hesitancies regarding your public image.

RANT CORNER Let us run forward, with the deep knowledge we have obtained and subdued the god titan known as the international economy.

- Eric Schles

Chosen Bit:

(Single line selection from recent submission) Everyone is a tumultuous turn-style.

- Danielle S. Morgera

Editor’s Note: Insulating crunch The smell of fresh light and dead And a crisp blanket to hold in place Burying a muddy living To freeze for now And start over for a while

M.A. Candidate, English

We stumbled upon wet bears.

Perhaps it was five; or not.

What struck me was the sopping fur drizzling from their huge arms.

“Well, it appears that one, or perhaps both are drowning.”

What followed—in turn, now interminable; like a sneeze’s overture.

Willy, the largest, struggles, chained to the bottom; Monte-Cristoed.

Waves slapping—ask the bears “hug”.

Give up and sink; ceaseless—like equatorial sunsets.

“We shouldn’t watch.”

Your voice—a struggle.

“The big one’s eyes… are shining… is he dying?”

What welcome!

To nature, instead of dragonflies; remorse.

I could smell the funk and yet she’s as funky as she wants to be, a hero—but there are two guidelines for that: one is even harder than the other which sits behind her every day.

A spiral could be her best-good friend, yet—the proposition, it’s a difficult stanzaic form.

I could grab her, or spike my hairs, ­­­­ and I would only manage.

A grocery store where I showed my built anger;

Wet bears sink, wet bears scream—piercing.

No grrr—but shhhhh; wet bears shriek.

yet it’s a poem that may be the place my anger is useful, if only to succeed

Who was I—judge?

Such a grisly scene, and Willy—merely wrestling with his sole?

where, in faith I fail—buying over-ripened navel oranges (2.99lb).

I fight through the city bars and short-order grills to find soft hands.

For a warm glass, residual-chlorine and black toastiness pasteurized with care.

I receive pails of graduate sideburns, sprinkled in precious spilled malt.

Searching like a ten year old, a lost dog in redwood forest, I remember my father’s hands—steady n’ strong pulling the lever, graduating the sweet black flow.

Oddessey of alcohol—done right, a hierarchy of pours—time consuming the needs that be.

The open-end of a search, as Irish as a race finished—late, I listened to the drunks, reciting; they say: Poems like those have no meaning, in a sing-song nite of visible breath, and now I care not, I’ve found the perfect pour, and I prepare for a full 12, left with taillight broken, and was arrested.

Worth the trip and tip.

Post-script: “The mud is insufferable.

Eventually wins though, right?” - C.S. III

ubgeneration.com | 21

Parting Shots

Scholarly Seductresses

By Keeley Sheehan

L

ast year gave us many things, but mistresses seemed to be the most abundant. There were a few Argentinean hiking mates sprinkled here and there, and then Tiger Woods really tipped the scales at the end with his revolving door of cocktail waitress-esque hired “help.”

Prostitution is, of course, the world’s oldest profession, along the charitable work of sleeping with rich, awkwardlooking married men for free – if you don’t count lavish vacations and hush

money, that is – and they don’t seem to be going anywhere despite how much moral superiority society throws their way. But I remain optimistic – optimistic for a return to the “good old days” when these mistresses actually gave people something interesting to talk about.

There was a time when the women who enticed men had more qualities to boast than an excellent plastic surgeon and a good dye job. They were artists, poets and great leaders. People referred to them by name, not as mistress No. 12 and counting.

One of history’s famous lovers, Veronica Frano, was “an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th century Venice,” according to Wikipedia; brains before beauty. Frano was a well educated “cortigiana onesta” – intellectual courtesan – and wrote two volumes of poetry and books of letters.

She survived the plague, trysts with King Henry III of France, and successfully defended herself when she was put on trial for witchcraft in 1577. Sparse records suggest she may have lived out the end of her life in poverty, having lost much of

her wealth following the trial, but at a time when financial security depended on a respectable life sentence as a submissive housewife, she did pretty well for herself.

But centuries before Franco charmed Venice with her snappy poetry, Cleopatra VII, one of the most fascinating female Egyptian pharaohs, was making grown men – powerful leaders – very nervous.

She married her younger brother, as dictated by tradition, and shared power with him. She wasn’t shy about edging him out, taking his name off official documents and appearing solo on coins. She was eventually forced to flee into exile, but she wasn’t dormant for long, and over the course of her life, was seductress of two very powerful and very married men: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She had children with both; Caesar even commissioned a golden statue of her to be placed in the temple of his family’s mythical ancestress, Venus Genetrix.

But Catherine the Great, empress of Russia from 1762 until her death in 1796, was perhaps one of the most

productive mistresses. During her rule, she expanded the Russian Empire and improved its administration, turning it into a great European power. While she was busy leading Russia, she managed to accumulate an impressive collection of lovers. She had an affair with her adviser Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, and after the relationship ended, he supposedly selected many of her succeeding lovers for her. She was clearly very skilled at delegating responsibilities.

Today – not so much. Modern mistresses seem to be good at one common, boring thing. I’ll give you a hint: it’s not writing poetry. Any short-skirted, long-legged Vegas girl can lead a man astray, but if that’s all she’s known for, that’s all she’ll be forgotten for. An emergence of fidelity would be too much to ask, so instead, I implore all the would-be mistresses out there to take a cue from their early predecessors and aim for something a little more intellectual or creative on the side. Or at the very least, try to pen the inevitable tell-all without the help of a ghostwriter.

SOPORIFIC SUMMER

By Joshua Bach

R

io de Janeiro may have won the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, but is Rio the best choice for this prestigious and exciting event?

The International Olympics Committee has claimed that Rio’s documentation regarding important factors like venues, financial ability, transportation, and public

22 | ubgeneration.com

support was “of the very highest quality,” but what about one important factor affecting both competitors and tourists – safety?

Of the four finalists – Chicago, Madrid, Rio, and Tokyo – for the big 2016 event, Rio, by astonishing numbers, has not only the highest rate of crime, but also the highest rate of homicide crime.

American tourists are by far the most targeted victims, whether it be of scams, violence or being drugged and robbed.

The Overseas Security Advisory Council, a division of U.S. Department of State, has rated the safety concern in Rio as “critical.” If you are planning to travel there, use the OSAC to do your homework first, it will definitely pay off.

The question I have is, was this fact not a red flag to the members of the IOC? Apparently it was not. Rio’s homicide rate

is listed as 30 victims per week, according to a report released just two years prior to this decision.

The same report notes that during 2006, more than 2,000 murders were committed, and more than 50,000 have occurred since 1978.

How does this compare to the other cities that were competing for the bid?

Chicago’s population is about half of Rio’s, but even doubling what Chicago’s crime rate was at the same time Rio’s report was released, it is almost half, with murders in Chicago tallying at just over 1,000 in a one year period. Don’t get me wrong, this is by no means low, but compared to Rio, it is tremendously better.

The OSAC lists Madrid as a safe place for tourists. The majority of the crime is petty crime, often committed

by pickpockets. There is no mention of homicide in their report.

Probably the safest place out of all of the bidders, Tokyo’s crime rate, according to a Straits Times report released in the beginning of 2009, has continued to fall for a sixth straight year. Homicide accounts for less than 1 percent of all crimes committed.

In the end, I think that most of us would have loved to see the Olympics held on home turf in the Windy City, and it would have been a much safer choice.

The ultimate question is, can Rio clean up its act in the next several years to prove that it was the right decision for the 2016 Summer Olympics?

Considering its previous record, I highly doubt it. I’ll be watching the Olympics from my own home. Thanks but no thanks, Rio.