OCTOBER 2013 VOL XII ISSUE I SYRACUSE NEW YORK your student fee
WE'RE BACK...
YOU'RE WELCOME. @jerkmagazine
Illustration by Erick Friely
CONTENTS OCTOBER 2013 7 8 9 10
11 12 13
14 15
FROM THE EDITOR Change FEEDBACK PEEPS JERK THIS What you should hit up and bitch about this month. BACKDROP WERW Radio Station CLICKBATE TOTALLY UNSCIENTIFIC POLL Columbus Day SEX Halloween FRAMED
14 BITCH OPINIONS 16 BYE BYE BOOBIES How Angelina Jolie's decision stirred the pot.
20 CENTS-LESS Is impending never-ending financial ruin worth it?
21 HELLO GOODBYE Glee is getting serious fast this fall with the death of Cory Monteith.
22 TEA PARTY
46 CLOSET CASE Let your clothes do the talking.
“I T OLD
47 STRIPPED What your Féline– meow!–says about you.
NOISE ARTS & MUSIC
Why tea kicks coffee’s ass.
48 ONE OF THE BOYS 23 BRAND FACTORY The not so unique backstory of designer sunglasses.
SMUT FEATURES 24 SILENT GROUND A woman’s death leads to the Syracuse community’s rally for justice.
Grant Palmer just graduated from Cuse and is already chillin' with 50 Cent.
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THE
MT
HAT
THE
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30
FIG
HT
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52 PACKAGE The pizza guide of your dreams.
60
58 REWIND
WA SN
38
'T O VER
.”
TLC
30
59 ALTRUIST 18 NUCLEAR CONCERN This is something to be afraid of.
30 BURNING RED DOMA and Prop 8 are dead, but the fight for marriage equality is long from over.
Young Adult Novels
60 AMPLIFIED Kinnetix
61 SYNAPSE First Ladies
62 DISCOVERSYR 34 TINY FURNITURE With these miniatures, smaller is better.
GAWK FASHION 38 FASHION FEATURE Cover Designed by Maddie Kelly Photographed by Ilana Goldmeier 4 10.13
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Black, white, and blue all over. This fall, it's all about denim.
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69
46
Book Ends Bookstore
64 OTTO Sweat, tears, and ever fear are all the name of the game in the Otto suit.
65 OBITCHUARY Google Homepage 66 FORM AND FUNCTION Underage? We've been there.
52
DID YOU KNOW...? the longest recorded pizza delivery went from london to melbourne, australia—a total of 10,532 miles.
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Riyana Straetker EDITOR
Laura Cohen
Daniel Taroy
Mary Wagner
MANAGING EDITOR
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
EDITORIAL
Daisy Beccera ASST. FEATURES EDITOR Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm ASST. FEATURES EDITOR Ally Balcerzak OPINIONS EDITOR Diana Pearl ASST. OPINIONS EDITOR Leigh Miller STYLE EDITOR Joelle Hyman ASST. STYLE EDITOR Julie Kosin MUSIC AND ARTS EDITOR Cori Rosen RESEARCH EDITOR Michelle van Dalen COPY EDITORS Erin K. Kelly, Eric King FACT CHECKERS Erin G. Kelly, Roxy Silver FRESHMAN INTERNS Collin Gordinier, Ryan Harper FEATURES EDITOR
WEB
Nicole Fisher WEB EDITOR Teresa Nigolian ASST. WEB EDITOR Alissa Pulver COPY EDITOR Kelley Rowland FACT CHECKER Erika Zoffer DESIGNER Jackie Barr
EXECUTIVE WEB EDITOR
DESIGN
Maddie Kelly Paris Bethel, Andrea Bolf, Sara Easterling, Jennifer Powers DESIGN DIRECTOR DESIGNERS
ART
Sarah Kinslow Adam Day STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Allen Chiu, Ilana Goldmeier, Penelope Vasquez ILLUSTRATORS Hillary Cianciosi, Dylan Cownie, Anna Ellis, Adrian Hatch, Lise Sukhu, Christina Mastrull PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR ILLUSTRATION DIRECTOR
BUSINESS
Justin Dorsen Rachel Meyer AD DESIGNER Hannah Blauner AD REPS Brianna Dutton, Jacob Gillon, Emily Hook PUBLISHER
AD DIRECTOR
PUBLIC RELATIONS MULTIMEDIA
Cassie-Lee Grimaldi ASST. MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR Annie Pettinga MULTIMEDIA STAFF Brittany Bart, Bria Holness, Michael Moates, Arden Phillips PODCAST DIRECTOR Lakota Gambill PODCAST STAFF Brianna Couture, Chloe Miller, Haley Schluter, Jordyn Rosenberg, Sawyer Rosenstein, Keely Sullivan, Lucy Tomkiewicz, Melissa Viola Nawojski, Malcolm Whitfield MULTIMEDIA EDITOR
Ryan McGlynn Tori Coté PR DESIGNER Meghan Burns PR REPS Brittany Anderson, Hannah Ruben, Mariann Yip COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR
CONTRIBUTORS
Nicole Battafarano, Madysan Foltz, Chris Janjic, Connie Kim, Sam Maller, Emmie Martin, Melina Martino, Annemarie Menna, Rachel Mohler, Drew Osumi, Anna Paterno, Molly Pomroy, Ariana Romero, Heather Rounds, Sarah Schmalbruch, Sarah Schuster, Victor Cheu Soares, Alexa Voss
Let me just preface this by saying I’m from California—and nothing is old there. You East Coasters have your Revolutionary War sites and presidents' homes; all we have are a string of missions that only serve to remind us of the religious oppression we forced on natives. So moving to Syracuse where houses have outlived me at least five times over was a bit of a shock. Who knew a pile of wooden support beams could stand for a century? And these houses, they make a lot of noise. They creak, they groan, they settle, they squeak. And while my house looks like Snow White’s cottage, during a thunderstorm it feels like the Wicked Witch’s hideout. It was a stormy Saturday night when we figured that one out. Daniel (our Executive Editor and my roommate—don’t worry, we know) and I were attempting to work downstairs during one of those massive thunderstorms. The windows lit up every few minutes with bolts of lightning. Work abandoned, we gawked at the storm and jumped from the occassional clap of thunder. Our house has crannies that never see the light, and corners eternally covered in cobwebs, lending the storm an eerie reality. After we finally settled down, it dawned on me: The reason I was so afraid of a little rain was because our house didn’t feel like home. We have a basement—non-existent in California. We have a mysterious door sealed shut with duct tape. We’ve got windows that don’t open and cabinets that won’t stay closed. It started to seem like we bit off more than we could chew. But after that night, it all fell into place—I guess it just takes a storm of uncertainty for everything to come together. The same happened for us this summer. It took new staff and new pages nearly falling to pieces for everything to come together. But now we bring you, lovely readers, a gussiedup version of the Jerk you know and love. For the nostalgic, check out a revamped Rewind on page 58, where we revisit musical milestones. Or if you’d rather peek through your neighbor’s wardrobe, read this month’s Closet Case on thrift shop finds (page 46). If you desperately need Jerk's stamp of approval, just head over to our reworked calendar (page 10) and web shout out (page 12) where we’ll tell you how we think you should live your life. But, if you’d rather get lost in a thunderstorm, who am I to judge?
Melissa Chessher ADVISER
Through its content, Jerk is dedicated to enhancing insight through communication by providing an informal platform for the freedom of expression. The writing contained within this publication expresses the opinions of the individual writers. The ideas presented in this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Jerk Editorial Board. Furthermore, Jerk will not be held responsible for the individual opinions expressed within. Submissions, suggestions, and opinions are welcomed and may be printed without contacting the writer. Jerk reserves the right to edit or refuse submissions at the discretion of its editors. Jerk Magazine is published monthly during the Syracuse University academic year. All contents of the publication are copyright 2013 by their respective creators. No content may be reproduced without the expressed written consent of the Jerk Editorial Board.
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Smells like teen pizza (see page 52 for reference),
Riyana Straetker JERK
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PEEPS
FEEDBACK This summer, you guys took a break from binge-watching Breaking Bad to tell us how you really feel. Read on for thoughts on our previous, better-late-than-never issue and don't worry— we know how wonderfully hipster we are. Yeah, bitch! Elaina Leigh Powless @elainaleigh12 Picked up @jerkmagazine’s newest, super impressed with the issue, especially Violence Against Natives, Hometown Glory, and Paint the Town. - May 21 Samantha Schoen @sammyschoen
SHOW US SOME LOVE Jerk Magazine 126 Schine Student Center Syracuse, NY 13244 @jerkmagazine jerk@jerkmagazine.net jerkmagazine.net
Danny DeVito, I love your work. @jerkmagazine - September 3 Gabi Hastings @gabihastings @jerkmagazine excited that I graduated an my illustration is
in the issue. Pretending the graduation thing never happened. #alumprobs - September 4
VICTOR CHEU SOARES
CONNIE KIM
Victor Cheu Soares calls Brazil both home
If Connie Kim had her way, she’d make texting
and the jumpstart of his journalism career.
and unnecessary small talk non-existent. Instead,
The graduate student spent his younger days
the retail management and marketing junior
interviewing celebrities on the country’s largest
will just have to settle for people-watching
television network, Rede Globo. His claim to
through her too-dark sunglasses—though, she’ll
fame in the United States? Interviewing Aaron
probably get recognized for her self-proclaimed
Carter in 2002. He gets back to his musical roots
“unfortunate laugh” eventually. Check out her
with his Noise feature on page 48.
modeling chops on page 38.
Leah @L34HSTR4SS Shoutout to @jerkmagazine for having an unprecedented number of staffers with hipster glasses and/or bangs #respect. - September 4 Kelsey Burke @kelseyjaeburke Emphasis on “Where grown men magically transform into 14-year-old boys.” @jerkmagazine - August 26
FOLLOW, DON’T LEAD
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facebook.com/jerkmagazine
@jerkmagazine
vimeo.com/jerkmagazine
Jerkify Syracuse
ALEXA VOSS
ARIANA ROMERO
Alexa Voss hates creepy, leafless trees. But
Magazine journalism senior Ariana Romero
that’s not to say the magazine journalism and
wants to tell you that she’ll probably still be
information management and technology
unpacking by the time this is in print. The New
sophomore doesn’t know a good haunted house
York native also wants to convince four of
when she sees one. In fact, this bookworm and
her friends to dress up as the Spice Girls for
apple cider expert plans on spending All Hallow’s
Halloween so she can fulfill her childhood dream
Eve inside one. We’re hoping she’ll bring reading
of becoming Scary Spice. If her spiel is anything
material from her visit to Books End Bookshop
like her opinions piece on page 21, expect to see
(page 62) to distract her from the supernatural.
lots of girl power by the end of this month.
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JERK THIS
BACKDROP BACKDROP Syracuse Oktoberfest:
Grab your lederhosen and dirndls (Oktober 6).
WERW Radio Station
Making waves for the masses. Broadcasting 24/7 from Schine Underground.
British Fever:
Forget Ed Sheeran and check out lads Swim Deep and The 1975.
Jeffrey Eugenides at the Civic Center: Dust off your copy of The Virgin Suicides (Oct. 29).
Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast:
Head to the Beaver Lake Nature Center. No, but actually (Oct 8).
Adult World at the Syracuse International Film Festival:
Remember that time John Cusack and Emma Roberts filmed on-campus? (Oct. 6)
Career Fair:
Seniors—pop a mint, spruce up your résumé, and try not to hyperventilate (Oct 1).
«
HIT BITCH «
SHIT WE LIKE, AND SHIT WE LIKE TO AVOID.
BuzzFeed:
Really, how nostalgic about the 90s can we get?
Cheesecake Factory at Destiny USA:
Opening date is indefinite—just like your wait time.
WWE LIVE at the OnCenter:
Sweaty, bulbous men and a ticket worth your dignity (Oct. 4).
Mario Lopez turns 40: Does he ever stop smiling?
Kimmel Food Court:
Called it. At least we’ll always have Chipotle.
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The station runs from 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, in one to two hour student-run programming increments.
By Madysan Foltz
“We used to DJ a bunch of local events but now we're restricted to our launch party to get the word out,” Thomas says.
“I chose WERW as opposed to the other radio stations on campus because I wanted to be able to play the music I actually listen to,” says sophomore Mackenzie Polzin.
Photos by Chris Janjic
Despite being one of the only studentrun radio stations in the nation, What Everyone Really Wants (WERW) Real College Radio exists like a campus ghost— elusive, anonymous, and hidden inside the Jabberwocky Cafe at Schine Underground. In its heyday, WERW held social events around campus, says associate general manager Bri’ana Thomas, a senior political philosophy and physics major. But a change in station management led to the Student Association’s classification of WERW to “specifically operational,” Thomas says. Originally known as WRUU—We aRe University Union—WERW was run by the
campus organization University Union. In 2009, however, problems finally led WERW’s stationrunners to take full control of the station. Today, DJs run WERW’s programming, ranging from hip-hop and R&B music to indie alternative hours, and talk show segments. In the summer of 2012, increased funding allowed for equipment upgrades. “WERW provides the Syracuse community with an alternative music source through radio broadcast,” says WERW general manager Ian Teti. “We encourage our DJs to play whatever they want on air so they can feel their voices are being heard.” JM
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TOTALLY UNSCIENTIFIC POLL
CLICKBATE
X
IN 1492...
WHAT WE GOT OFF TO ON THE WEB THIS MONTH
Yeah, we know how the rest of this goes. Christopher Columbus had quite the trip across the ocean blue, and we haven't stopped talking about it since. But what did he really discover on that fateful trip to India? The Americas? It seems people aren't really sure. Jerk polled 50 students in Bird Library to discover the truth.
.NET
What's happening with Jerk on the web
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE COLUMBUS DAY?
WHO WAS COLUMBUS?
DUDE DISCOVERED AMERICA, OBVIOUSLY BUT WHAT DID COLUMBUS ACTUALLY DISCOVER?
42% The Fox If you managed to graduate first grade without learning “ducks say quack and fish go blub,” then Ylvis are here to help. As Norway’s answer to U.S. comedy group The Lonely Island, brothers Bård and Vegard Ylvisåker run through a menagerie of animal sounds in their viral hit, “The Fox,” delivering memorable but on-the-nose one liners such as “Dog goes woof / cat goes meow.” But it’s the central question—“What does the fox say?”—that makes this video catchy as hell, featuring a clubworthy chorus comprised exclusively of crazy vulpine sounds. Just shut the fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow up and watch.
Stereodose.com
ThugKitchen.com
Internet anonymity wins again with Twitter handle @WhatTaylorDoes. This unknown philosopher spews Taylor Swift’s inner lovelorn monologue with utmost sincerity. For example: “At an antique store, Taylor Swift finds a weathered old jewelry box. I could keep my heart in this, she thinks. I could keep it safe forever.”
This online music platform joins the ranks of 8tracks and last.fm—but with a twist. Pick a drug of choice (weed, perhaps) and then your mood (chill, groovin, thug life, or rasta) for a Stereodose-approved playlist to match your state of mind. They stress they aren’t promoting illegal drugs, but does it really matter?
The blog that makes you wonder what really happened to Martha Stewart in prison. Concocting fancy dishes twice a week with language straight out of a 2 Chainz song, Thug Kitchen makes Epic Meal Time look like Rachael Ray. Getting worked up over midterms? “Cool your ass down. Snack on some frozen banana pops motherfucker.”
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44%
BAHAMAS
10%
PORTUGAL ( HE NEVER LEFT )
4%
INDIA
culturally ignorant 18%
a real dick 10%
WHAT AREA OF SYRACUSE DO YOU THINK IS UNCHARTED?
1 Thornden Park — don’t want to know what goes down behind those trees. 48% 2 Carnegie Steps — I pity the fool that tries to open that front door. 24%
all of the above 30%
3 The Women’s Building — what actually happens all the way over there? 18% 4 Westcott — only worth the trek for Alto Cinco. 10% PHOTO CREDIT: www.deredactie.be
@WhatTaylorDoes
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Jerk’s multimedia team took to Euclid Avenue on an unassuming Friday night. Don’t worry— you didn’t make complete assholes out of yourselves. But check this video out to see what you and your friends had to say about drinking.
a great explorer 34%
WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE COLUMBUS DAY?
40%
WALKING INTO SOMEONE'S HOUSE AND TELLING THEM YOU LIVE THERE NOW JERK
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FRAMED
Dirty in Disguise When the costumes come on, all bets are off. Whether it's the confidence the anonymity gives us or the excuse to wear as little clothing as possible, the days surrounding Oct. 31 bring out more freaks in the sheets than in the streets. In the spirit of the horny season, Jerk asked random students to fill us in on their most scandalous Halloween hookups.
CALIFORNIA CANDY
“I dressed up as Katy Perry from the ‘California Gurls’ music video—cupcake boobs and all. At a Phi Psi open party that night, I started to make out with this guy, so he took me upstairs to his room. Things were starting to heat up when he whispered in my ear, ‘I've never made love to a candy before.’”
VERY IMPORTANT PUSSY
“A guy dressed like a construction worker in Sammy invited me up to the ‘VIP’ room, also known as his bedroom. Needless to say, I never saw my cat ears again.”
HALLOQUEEN
“When you're gay, ‘Halloqueen’ as I call it, is your one chance a year to dress and act like the draq queen you've always—secretly, or not so secretly—wanted to be. So a few ‘Halloqueens’ ago I went out dressed as any good gay would—a perverted gay gym teacher. Maybe it was the short-shorts and whistle that drew him in, but before I knew it I was that girl at the party. I guess I’m a sucker for a man with fangs.”
SLICK SATAN
“Freshman year I dressed up as Miley Cyrus in her ‘Can't Be Tamed’ video. I was hooking up with a senior in a fraternity and felt like hot shit when he booty called me that night. I went over in my outfit: a black leotard, fishnetstockings, thigh high boots, and a pair of wings. It was a magical night of drunken sex. The next morning it was literally hailing outside and Miley had to walk home in costume—at 11 a.m.” JM
Thauxite Sculpture PHOTO CREDIT: http://assets.inhabitat.com/
WALK OF TAMED
“AEPi had a Halloween party at DJ’s my freshman year. I fingered a red devil in the middle of the dance floor.”
"The piece is a material experiment more than anything. I wanted to use the chain for a figure but had trouble concealing the various techniques used to adhere the chain to itself. This troubleshooting process led to the incorporation of cast aluminum, which holds the form and adds a contrasting surface texture. The aluminum spilling through the links accentuates the shadows and various curves giving more detail to the piece as a whole."
—Noah Hausknecht
Showcase your work in Framed. Email art@jerkmagazine.net. 14 10.13
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Bye, Bye B
bies
Angelina Jolie made mastectomies mainstream— but not for the everywoman.
By Melina Martino
Illustration by Anna Paterno
A close family member recently diagnosed with breast cancer joked about getting an “Angelina Jolie.” She planned on having a preventative double mastectomy and subsequent reconstructive surgery, even if it wasn’t entirely necessary. It may seem a little aggressive, until you recall how Jolie’s medical confession this summer inspired women to consider an uncommon method of preventing cancer. In her highly publicized New York Times op-ed, Jolie shared her story with the public, joining the dialogue about the 1 in 8 women the American Cancer Society says are living with breast cancer in the United States. With her doctors estimating an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, Jolie opted for the drastic preventative double mastectomy. She explained her experience before going under the knife for the extensive surgeries. She also shared her decision for reconstructive surgery—medical terminology meaning boob job. Now, her risk of developing breast cancer has dropped from 87 percent to five percent.
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Media outlets such as People Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, and even CNN praised Jolie for her decision to curb her risk of developing breast cancer. Jolie even inspired Zoraida Sambolin, a CNN co-anchor, to undergo a double mastectomy when she was diagnosed with breast cancer this past May. The ensuing media frenzy elicited pure shock more than anything, sparking an ongoing debate on whether it was the right choice. Jolie has serious courage. She had the opportunity to lower her risk of seemingly unavoidable cancer, and took it. So much of Jolie’s image has been built on her sex appeal, begging the question how the former “Sexiest Woman Alive” could chop off her boobs. A woman shouldn’t be judged for her lack of "real" tits, especially if the surgery could save her life. Yet, Jolie had the reconstructive surgery. And with intent or not, she made it seem that mastectomies and reconstructive surgeries go hand-in-hand. The impeccable pressure to maintain her sexiness could have additionally influenced Jolie’s decisions to
have the reconstructive surgery. To some, it could be the thing to do, but regardless of Jolie’s reasons behind the surgery, society’s obsession with sex, sexual organs, and objectifying women’s bodies seem to be the greater reasons. Jolie is the epitome of a sex symbol. It goes beyond her physical beauty. It's her mysterious personality, her confidence, and the fact that she always does whatever she wants, even if it is a little different (like macking on her brother circa 2000). It’s that intrigue that’s made her the fantasy of not only every man, but also every woman. But for those exact same reasons, if any woman were able to cut off her boobs and still be the sexiest woman alive, it would be her. Jolie is always going to be drop dead gorgeous, and a lack of boobs could’ve fit with her badass persona. She could have been the one to make “no boobs” sexy. For the everyday woman, Jolie’s cancer battling tactics aren’t as realistic. It is sometimes possible for health insurance plans to cover mastectomies, but reconstructive surgery is oftentimes not covered. According to ABC News, reconstructive surgery can cost upwards of $50,000. Most women don’t have that kind of cash lying around. Jolie could afford any tests and surgeries she needed, but most women don’t have that luxury. Yes, it’s beneficial that Jolie’s message has raised awareness about the cancer-causing genetic mutation. It’s unrealistic, however, to expect women to display her poise in the same situation. Losing their boobs could mean losing their femininity, whereas Jolie’s sex bomb image will make her feminine and appealing no matter what. And it’s the media’s portrayal of sex and women’s bodies that is to blame. The sexiness that boobs and bodies
are supposed to have in our culture is so rooted in our brains that we often don’t even realize it’s there. Jolie’s story is one people admire, but society shouldn’t be influencing women and their health decisions. Your boobs are your boobs—you’re free to do what you want with them. JM
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NUCLEAR CONCERN Our puzzling hot and cold media frenzies with volatile North Korea. By Sarah Schuster You’re babysitting twins when suddenly the little boy pulls out a pair of craft scissors, grabs a handful of his sister’s hair, and threatens to cut it off. The scissors might not be sharp enough to do any serious damage, but the risk is too great. You attempt to reason with him, but nothing seems to be getting through. The little girl starts to cry, and in a moment of desperation, you say to her brother, “I’ll give you a cookie if you stop and never do that again.” He drops his sister’s hair and you reluctantly get him a cookie. But he soon breaks his promise, and again you give him a cookie. Then it happens again. And again. Replace cookies with foreign aid and make the stakes a little higher—like, I don’t know, nuclear weapons higher—and you’ve got yourself a nearly perfect metaphor for the relationship between North Korea and the United States that has existed since the end of the Korean war. October marks the seventh anniversary of North Korea’s first nuclear test and this past February, North
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Korea held its third test. Then, in May, they fired six short-range missiles from its east coast into the Sea of Japan. In response, the U.S. sent a missile-defense system to Guam and dispatched F-22 fighter jets to South Korea. And we, the youth of America, laughed. Psychologically it makes sense; call it the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” syndrome. If the little boy threatens to cut off his sister’s hair enough times without following through, you’re going to stop believing him. And why should we take North Korea’s threats seriously when we’re AMERICA? We can use our freedom of speech to meme whoever the hell we want. Take that brainwashed public of North Korea! We can make fun of the dictator’s weight (without getting the irony) and laugh that he would have the audacity to threaten the impenetrable U.S. We meme, we laugh, and then we forget. North Korea’s threats are the latest craze, nothing more than Amanda Bynes’ Twitter feed.
But unless your Facebook friends are international security experts, most of them probably don’t have an educated opinion about the state of North Korea. Even our government, which apparently knows what you texted your ex last night, has limited knowledge about what’s really going on. Experts don’t take North Korea’s threats lightly.
We meme, we laugh, and then we forget. North Korea’s threats are the latest craze, nothing more than Amanda Bynes’ Twitter feed. A poll conducted by the National Journal shows 70 percent of “insiders” (defense and foreign policy experts) consider North
Korea a serious threat. And even more, 94 percent, thought the United States reacted appropriately by taking the threats seriously. The reality is, this latest test was North Korea’s most powerful one yet, causing a seismic event measuring between magnitudes 4.9 and 5.2, which corresponds to a weapon with an explosive yield of six or seven kilotons. Although North Korea couldn’t touch the U.S. with that kind of power, according to Bruce Cuming, the history department chair at the University of Chicago and author of several books on North Korea, it could damage South Korea and Japan. Even if we pretend the country’s nuclear program is laughable, North Koreans are still oppressed, starving, and too far gone, or too brainwashed, to do anything about it. It’s much less fun to meme human rights violations and much less satisfying to admit we might not be in control. Despite our American superiority complex, the scissors are in North Korea’s hands. JM
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¢
ENTS-LESS
As student debt grows, so does the question of a degree’s worth.
By Rachel Mohler
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Glee's tribute to Cory Monteith is more than just a courtesy.
Illustration by Dylan Cownie
Have you ever considered bankruptcy? Probably not. The thought of declaring yourself unable to repay outstanding debts has likely never crossed your mind, even though annually parents (or the Office of Financial Aid) foot an almost $50,000 bill for you to attend this lovely private university. That’s the down payment on a nice house. It’s buying a brand new 2013 Audi Q7, with a few addons. And that bill doesn’t just happen once—it’s every year for four years. The average student graduates college with almost $27,000 in debt and within each state, the proportion of individuals in debt is nearly always at least 50 percent, meaning half the country carries around some student loan debt with terms, conditions, and interest rates that are just plain confusing. The nitty gritty of loans gives students their options, many of which are difficult for all but financial experts to understand. Variable rates versus fixed rates. The differences between unsubsidized and subsidized loans. What “consolidation rate” and “accumulated interest” really mean. When it comes to their financial future, many students are in the dark. And from that darkness comes confusion. From not knowing what their interest rates
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He lo Goodbye
are to not knowing the current balance of their loans, students on SU’s campus and campuses across the country won’t necessarily feel relieved at graduation. The fact remains that student loan debt never goes away. Even if you declare bankruptcy, your student loans are almost never forgiven, save for exceptional cases. Since loans only continue to accumulate interest throughout the process, bankruptcy isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. According to Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, college graduates supposedly earn 68 percent more than workers with just a high school diploma. But unless you’re majoring in Petroleum Engineering (and bringing in $120k a year post-grad), you’ll be stuck searching for the typical social work, education, or counseling job that’ll barely keep you off food stamps, normally $30k a year. It comes down to going to a school you can afford. In most cases, a degree is a degree and coming out debt-free with relevant credentials is preferable to racking up loans. Additionally, check out your options. Since we’re all here already and someone’s paying for it, seek the advice of an unbiased expert to ease some of your financial woes—or at least have a grasp of what’s going on with your money. The real world is going to be stressful enough. JM
By Ariana Romero
Illustration by Lise Sukhu
On July 14 at 1:26 a.m., I opened an email expecting the usual “Buy Something Right Now!” update. Instead, The Hollywood Reporter dropped this heartbreaking bomb on the world: “Glee Star Corey Monteith Dies at 31.” After a few minutes of disbelief and frenzied Google searches, the big question on my mind was, “What the hell is Glee going to do?” Fox’s answer was to give Monteith’s character, all-star athlete turned glee club front man Finn Hudson, the funeral episode he deserves, and then take a necessary extended hiatus. But it’s not going to be easy for Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy to hit the right notes without seeming warmedup-in-the-microwave cheesy, tactless, or worse—both. Actress Jane Lynch, who plays Coach Sue Sylvester, tweeted that the script for the memorial episode “is the most beautiful thing.” And it better be. Television shows and their fans have dealt with characters’ deaths for years, but the death of one of the show’s original stars and fan-favorite characters is a massive and dark first for Gleeks. Sadly, this loss is even heavier than the school shooting panic of season four, or Kurt dealing with coming out to his father. Teens think they’re invincible. But finding out someone they’ve spent an hour with every Thursday night for four years died
of a heroin and alcohol overdose shatters that youthful perception. Monteith played a recent high school grad, and now his fans are going to have to watch his funeral. Talk about a harsh dose of reality. If Glee turns to the TV textbook to see how other shows have dealt with actors’ unexpected deaths, the first lesson they should learn is honesty. The writers can’t gloss over Finn’s TV death once they finish the memorial episode. After the Goodbye episode for John Ritter of 8 Simple Rules, storylines dealt with the fallout of a father’s death; the characters’ lives didn’t suddenly go back to normal. Fans should see the same emotional permanence at McKinley High. These characters—and actors—have just lost a boyfriend, friend, and teammate. That pain realistically lasts for longer than 44 minutes and a few commercial breaks. At its heart, Glee is a show about growing up and dealing with firsts. Whether it was the first time a character hit the sheets, or got a slushie in the face, they did with sincerity. And the same consideration should be seen with this first, however tragic. Hopefully, the Glee team will take a cue from Lea Michele’s Teen Choice Award acceptance speech. Monteith’s TV and real life girlfriend struck a balance of genuine teary grief, respect, and hope for the future. And if they can keep that authenticity up, we’ll all be singing their praises. JM
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Colonials should have thought twice before dumping all those leaves into the Boston Harbor. By Emmie Martin “You don't drink coffee?!” “No, I prefer tea.” “But, why?” It’s the initial bewilderment followed by the inevitable scoff anytime someone catches wind of my unusual drinking habit. A college student who doesn’t drink coffee? Unheard of. It seems as though tea has fallen by the wayside as the less efficient, less attractive little brother of coffee. But tea deserves recognition in its own right. While coffee may keep you awake and hopelessly addicted for days or years on end, tea is cost efficient, touts a multitude of health benefits, and— here’s the shocker—still provides the caffeine buzz necessary to get you through that 8 a.m. class, even after a late night at Club Bird. For college students, possibly the greatest presumed downside to tea is its silver medal
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status next to coffee’s gold for caffeine potency. Though an 8-ounce cup of black tea with between 14-60 mg of caffeine falls short of instant coffee’s 27-147 mg range, it still provides the much-needed jumpstart to get you moving without overloading and crashing later. Tea does more than just keep you awake. A Harvard study reported that catechins, a compound found particularly in green tea, work as antioxidants in the body. With regular consumption, these guys reduce the risk of certain cancers, including lung, breast, and colon. And antioxidants in both green and black teas have been linked to lower cholesterol levels. It might not counteract the negative effects on your body from too much Svedka and too little clothing after walking home from Chuck’s on a bitter night, but at least it’s a start. Then again, who cares about health at a time in your life when beer and wings make for a “sufficient” meal? Instead, consider the practical benefits of tea. For starters, the tea bags make it easily portable and requires minimal ingredients. All you need is a tea bag and hot water, and presto! You’re done. Don’t worry if you don't have class near People’s Place or Starbucks, you can brew your personal favorite flavor in Pages or Food.com. Tea can even be used to spice up simple recipes without piling on calories or worrying about extra ingredients. We’re talking green tea smoked chicken and oatmeal supercharged by holiday teas, such as sugar cookie or pumpkin—minus the sugar headache. Do I hear the kettle whistling on your stove yet? With endless varieties, tea gives you a multitude of ways to fall in love. You might even forget about coffee altogether. JM
One company's monopoly on the sunglasses business means you aren't paying for what you think. By Sarah Schmalbruch Illustration by Adam Day Attention brand whores: Those new $400 sunglasses you’re flaunting were not, in fact, made exclusively by fashion God Chanel. Take a moment to let this reality sink in and rethink that line you fed yourself to justify dropping that cash on “one-of-a-kind unique quality and craftsmanship,” because the same hands that made your Chanel glasses also make $150 pairs of Ray-Bans. Those hands belong to a company that has managed to monopolize most of the eyewear industry—Luxottica. Quietly headquartered in Milan, Italy (shocker), its employees are the ones that turn designers’ sketches of glasses into a reality. Originally founded in 1961 by Leonardo Del Vecchio, Luxottica started as a modest workshop producing parts for the optical industry, and now, the company manufactures the glasses themselves. Luxottica even owns multiple well-known brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley, in addition to manufacturing glasses for luxury brands such as Chanel, Prada, Ralph Lauren, and more. As if producing the sunglasses for almost every popular brand isn’t enough, Luxottica keeps it in the family by running more than 2,700 retail locations in six continents, Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters among them. But don’t worry, the company doesn’t intend to lower prices for the industry—mainly because they don’t have to. Consumers are
prepared to pay whatever price they have to for the brand they want, evidenced by Luxottica’s net sales last year: €7.1 billion, or approximately $9.4 billion. You’ve probably never heard of Luxottica, despite it being the largest eyewear company in the world. And it’s not some big secret either––most of us don’t know because most of us don’t care. When it comes to fashion, we’re a brand-happy society. We turn a blind eye to where and by whom our Chanels were made. We’re more concerned with flashing those interlocked Cs to anyone who’s looking. Plus, there’s no logic behind brand loyalty—it’s purely emotional. Studies have proven that our left visual field registers specific brand names’ typefaces and then sends signals to our right brain, where emotions originate. High fashion houses have long been engrained in consumers’ minds as the best. And while that may ring true for their one-of-a-kind couture clothing pieces, their outsourced sunglasses are a different story. The exorbitant prices of “couture” sunglasses are the only difference from “lesser” brand name glasses made at the same table. And nobody seems to care. Because, in the world of fashion, we’d rather follow in the footsteps of Beyoncé on the cover of Vogue than some Basic Betty at the sunglass kiosk at Destiny USA. JM
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Silent Ground A community remembers a daughter’s neglected cries for help as an organization fights her last battle.
By Daisy Beccera On November 11, 2009 at 6 p.m., inmates near cell #7 on 3C-pod report to the on-duty deputy that Chuniece Patterson has vomited. Arrested after missing her court appearance on charges involving stealing beer and smashing a convenience store counter, the 21-year-old has yet to be convicted of a crime. At 6:40 p.m., Registered Nurse Missy Clayton arrives at the Onondaga County Justice Center to evaluate Chuniece. In direct violation of the Onondaga County Justice Center’s policy, she does not check for vital signs. She does not call for a medical transport. Instead she leaves, only to arrive again at 8:22 p.m., after Chuniece
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reportedly took her clothes off and lay on the floor, breathing heavily and complaining of abdominal pains. Nurse Missy Clayton leaves, again, without calling for a medical transport. At 11 p.m., the deputy reports Patterson making noises, moaning, and rolling on the floor. The deputy neglects to call for medical help. From 11 p.m. to midnight, a new deputy on the shift reports hearing “a fake asthma attack” from Chuniece’s cell. Again, the deputy does not call for medical help. At 1:40 a.m., Chuniece activates the emergency button in her cell.
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The new nurse on duty knows Chuniece is pregnant, having conducted her pregnancy test the night before. He reports none of this to the other nurses. He fails to conduct a full check for vital signs and instead puts Chuniece on the sick call list for the next morning. Beginning at 7 a.m., the deputy on call will yell at Chuniece to knock it off when she begins to splash water from the toilet onto her face. At 7:17 a.m., the deputy will tell her to get up from the floor to get her breakfast tray as she sits motionless on the ground. At 7:45 a.m., her arms will be cold, white foam will drip from her open mouth, and she will have no pulse. The deputy will call medical emergency in from her radio. As they arrive, they report to Deputy Diane Stech. Thirteen years earlier, Stech had been on duty the day Lucinda Batts, 36, died of an ectopic pregnancy, bleeding to death after complaining about severe stomach
cramps for several hours. The medical staff asks Stech about Chuniece’s location in the jail. “She has been faking all night,” Stech replies.
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f you ask me, Chuniece was killed in 2009,” says Derek Ford, Ph.D. student and Syracuse’s Act Now To Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition co-founder. Created in 2010, the Syracuse branch of the national ANSWER network first demonstrated against the Iraq War and now campaigns against racism, police brutality, and in Chuniece’s case, prisoner maltreatment. In a state with an inmate population of 56,024 in 60 penal units, Chuniece’s story came to the organization’s attention after the New York State Commission of Corrections released a damning report on the Onondaga County Justice Center in 2010. The jail’s inaction to properly provide medical care to an overlooked
The 2010 rally was endorsed by the Syracuse Peace Council, the National Action Network, and Syracuse Unived Neighbors. The marchers changed, “Justice for Chuniece! We need jobs, not police!”
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inmate sparked unrest reminiscent of the Oscar Grant and Kevin Clark stories of the past. With the discussion of systematic violence on oppressed groups at a high peak, the amount of prisoner deaths occurring less than two miles from campus at the Onondaga County Justice Center raises concern over prisoner mistreatment and discrimination, a notion that pushed Chuniece’s mother, Chundra Smith, to sue the county for her daughter’s unlawful death. In what Ford considers a rare feat (“It was like this real coming together in Syracuse, which was very new. That did not happen.”) Syracuse ANSWER, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Disabled in Action, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the family’s own congregation rallied for long-awaited justice, waiting to hear the county’s admittance to Chuniece’s death. In May of this year, the county awarded the Patterson family $385,000 in damages. The real reward, however, came in December 2012 when, after three years of offering declined settlements to the Patterson family, Onondaga County admitted employee negligence as the prime cause for Chuniece’s death. “It’s like a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, it’s a victory. On the other hand, it shouldn’t have been a struggle in the first place,” Ford says. The net worth of Chuniece’s life became the defining factor of the dollar amount in damages given to the family. She had no children. She had no college degree. Her only earnings came from the housework and care she contributed to her family. Essentially, Chuniece’s family received a dollar amount for the life of their daughter from the very institution that deemed her unworthy of care in the first place. It’s a process of dehumanization that started with Chuniece’s first ignored cry. For Dr. Sandra Lane, a professor in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University, Chuniece and Lucinda’s
deaths remain two of the most shocking instances of medical neglect in a jail. “I was shocked because the way they died was preventable. They did not get the care they needed, I believe, because they were discriminated against.” In 2008, Dr. Lane published Why are our babies dying? Pregnancy, birth and death in America, which outlined her involvement with improving medical guidelines in the jail after Lucinda’s death in 1996. Dr. Lane believes that the jail, which now has two deaths on record, went backward. “We thought we had fixed the problem in the jail and clearly it didn’t stay
“IT'S LIKE A BITTERSWEET MOMENT. ON THE ONE HAND IT'S A VICTORY. ON THE OTHER HAND IT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A STRUGGLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.” —DEREK FORD
fixed.Those women died of ectopic pregnancy and each of them was in intense pain for over 12 hours and they were yelling and screaming and begging for help and the jail personnel did not help them,” Dr. Lane says. “They ignored their own rules and another woman died. Shame on them.” When Chuniece first entered the justice center on the night of her death, the situation quickly escalated into an avalanche of questionable behavior brought on by jail staff and deputies, who, according to the county report, neglected to follow basic protocol. “Most of the time, when you look at these cases, you’re trying to learn what occurred— what should have occurred and what occurred
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SMUT and why didn’t the policies and procedures they had at the justice center protect the A day in thtk liftk of Jack woman from bleeding to death in her cell,” Rotariu, Station 2 Bunk-in says Janet Izzo, the attorney who represented Chuniece’s family during the trial. “They failed to be human, quite frankly,” Izzo says. Dr. Gretchen Purser, who teaches Criminal Justice in the Maxwell School at SU, focuses on issues brought on by imprisonment culture, which at times can play a crucial role in how people are treated. “I think increasingly the focus is on the character of the individual,” says Dr. Purser. “If you assume that a person is inherently bad, inherently a liar, inherently a manipulative what-have-you, then it will breed that type of behavior as opposed to just saying a person made a mistake.” For years, the topic of prisoner maltreatment was the focus of several social experiments, including Philip Zimbardo’s famous Stanford prison study where students acting as “prison guards” displayed sadistic tendencies towards their “prisoner” counterparts. The culture of authority in prisons creates a problematic environment, yet civilians who have yet to stay behind bars show little to no empathy.
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“Juries are not concerned about the way inmates are treated,” Izzo says. “So what the ANSWER coalition does is bring attention where losses may not be able to.” Bruce Peak, an activist, met Ford at the birth of Syracuse’s ANSWER Coalition branch in 2010. A few years later, he found himself sitting in a courtroom alongside Chuniece Patterson’s family, hearing testimonies from the jail nurses who were with Chuniece the night she died. During their first meeting at the family’s church, the Lighthouse of Love Ministries, Peak stuck to his grassroots background, maintaining professionalism rather than privilege. “People are not children. They don’t want to be told what to do. But you can say, ‘Here are some options,’” Peak says, who worked with Ford to prioritize the family’s choices. Likewise, Ford shares the same mindset when getting involved with the community, steering away from the savior mentality he sees in university-led involvement by SU administration. “The way that the ANSWER coalition asked Chuniece’s family, ‘What do you want us to do?’ I would like to see the University ask people in the city instead of telling them, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’” Ford says. For the community, the rallying point for justice became more than just reprimanding a prison. In 2011, 26,000 black women were incarcerated in the U.S., while black men from ages 18 to 19 were imprisoned more than six times the rate of white males. With Syracuse poverty rates recorded at 14 percent in 2012, up from 12 percent in 2011, it is evident that imprisonment displays class and race as primary factors. “Race was an indirect factor because there is a disproportionate number of people of color who are incarcerated,” Dr. Lane says. “Class, specifically wealth and education, are key indirect factors because if a person who has more resources does a crime and they get arrested, they can afford better legal representation. They’re less likely to spend time in the county jail. Chuniece was probably sitting there because her family couldn’t afford bail.” Uprising as a community oppressed by both
Photos courtesy of Syracuse ANSWER
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According to her family, Chuniece started working as a dishwasher a week before her death.
class and racial circumstance, on September 4, 2010, 200 protesters marched to the center seeking justice for all victims of police brutality. At the rally, Barrie Gewanter of the New York Civil Liberties Union said, “This facility is misnamed. Justice does not visit here.” After the county awarded the family $385,000, justice seemed to evade the site of Chuniece’s death. In 2011, the Onondaga County Justice Center’s medical care was outsourced and privatized. Following the events of the trial, reports showed the nurses and deputies who were on duty the night Chuniece died were internally reprimanded but never fired or sanctioned. “People should understand that there’s a systemic problem with brutality in the police system,” says Peak, who had a nightmare the night before about being wrongfully treated by the police. “This is not just Syracuse. This is national.”
Today, the ANSWER coalition is working with the NYCLU and State Legislator Ryan McMahon to create an independent citizen’s review board for the jail. Yet the path to reinforced guidelines in jail systems lays riddled with forgotten bodies. Almost a month before the march to the Onondaga County Justice Center, Raul Pinet Jr. died at the jail from cardiac arrest caused by cocaine-induced delirium. In a video shot by a deputy, Pinet Jr. can be heard yelling “Please!” over 40 times in a small timeout room as he struggles on the ground. A spit mask that had been placed on him had become displaced and was blocking his breathing. Instead of turning Pinet Jr. on his side to prevent asphyxiation, the deputies left him face down on the ground. When they returned eight minutes later, he was dead. JM
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With Prop 8 rejected and Section 3 of DOMA invalidated this summer, the fight for equal rights beats stronger than ever in the heart of Syracuse. By Anniemarie Menna
Illustration by Christina Mastrull
At First English Lutheran Church, dozens of people pack into pews and aisles. The crowd roars and jumps to its feet, applauding and cheering. They clutch the occasional American flag and small posters that read, “You have the right to be yourself.” A couple sports shirts emblazoned with two marriage bands on a rainbow field. Bruce Carter stands in the pulpit, flanked by a rainbow banner and a podium carved into the shape of a winged eagle. A wide smile on his face and a necklace of multi-hued beads around his neck, he addresses the crowd. “I told them that the fight wasn’t over,” he says, several months later. On that day late last June, Carter, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, and a host of other activists and allies gathered at a rally in First English Lutheran Church to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down 30 10.13
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DOMA—the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act”—and Proposition 8, both of which blatantly attempted to quash marriage equality and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. When the decision came down, Carter remembers being “very happy” in spite of the progress that still needs to be made. “I was overjoyed by the idea that these people whom I know and love could get married and have relationships recognized by federal law.” Carter, an associate professor of psychology and child and family studies at SU, works as the board president of CNY Pride, a volunteer organization that offers events and services meant to support and empower the LGBT community, as well as their allies.
Carter initially began working with CNY Pride in the 80s when it was called the Gay and Lesbian Conference of Syracuse. Once the committee chair organizing the Pride events, his work with CNY Pride today strives to attain marriage equality, a term Carter insists more accurately captures the essence of equality for all, rather than simply “same-sex marriage.” Under DOMA, same-sex marriage was legally marginalized and disregarded. Drawn up in 1996, it defined a committed marriage as “the legal union between one man and one woman,” banning any sort of union between same-sex couples. Those who qualified reaped the marriage benefits—tax incentives or insurance coverage—while same-sex couples paid thousands of extra dollars in outrageous taxes as a result of their unrecognized marital status. People of all generations, races, genders, and backgrounds acted in response to Section 3 of the DOMA Act, including more than 200 companies who signed an amicus brief stating their opposition. Moreover, a poll conducted by the Respect for Marriage
Coalition found that 75 percent of respondents believe marriage equality is a Constitutional right, up four percent from 2011. Edith Windsor brought this discrepancy to the federal courts when she was forced to pay estate taxes after her partner passed away. United States vs. Windsor found Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional on the grounds the government could not capriciously deny life, liberty, or property to its citizens—three basic words that have been written into virtually every founding document since 1776, including the Constitution. The Supreme Court’s statement on Prop 8 said far less. Prop 8’s history goes back to 2008, when California lawmakers tried to ban same-sex marriage with an amendment of their own. When a California judge ruled this unconstitutional in 2010, proponents of the law appealed to the Supreme Court until the decision this June when the Supreme Court effectively dismissed the case altogether. While this left the district court’s decision to support marriage equality intact, Carter felt disappointed. JERK
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“The Supreme Court had a chance to act According to other news outlets, there on a principle of equality. But what they said were only two protestors present at the Pride is, ‘We’re not going to hear this case.’ What Parade. Carter laughs when asked about the they didn’t say is, ‘We’re in favor of equality two solitary malcontents. “It’s the same two for all citizens.’” guys every year,” he says. Those same two “The reality is that just because we have men are the street preachers SU students marriage equality in some states, it’s not that often see on the corners of Waverly and we have won,” Carter said. Marshall Streets. New York, one of 13 Religious doctrine states to have legalized has always been seen marriage equality, as opposing marriage moved quickly in 2011 equality, but Carter says “THE REALITY IS THAT to capitalize on a poll those who still believe JUST BECAUSE WE out of Quinnipiac sexual orientation is a HAVE MARRIAGE University stating choice don’t want to EQUALITY IN SOME that 58 percent of talk about facts. Despite New York residents what some people may STATES, IT’S NOT THAT supported the creation think, marriage equality WE HAVE WON,” of a law allowing does not actually marriage equality. In threaten the institution of —BRUCE CARTER June, the outcome of heterosexual marriage. Governor Cuomo’s The local Roman marriage bill remained Catholic bishop is also uncertain up until the final vote was cast after a conservative, staunchly supporting the a “marathon nine-hour closed-door debate.” DOMA-era definition of marriage. But then The final call was too close for relief: 33 to 29. there’s Reverend Fred Daley, a priest serving The bill was approved. All Saints Parish on Lancaster Avenue, who Roughly a year later, over 3,000 same-sex came out to his congregation one morning couples had tied the knot in New York alone. while ministering in Utica, N.Y. Over the remainder of the year, the city of The Rev. Daley has done some things the Syracuse issued 1,265 marriage licenses, 144 traditional Catholic Church may not agree of which went to same-sex couples. Mayor with—including voluntarily holding an Miner, who threw open the doors of City interfaith prayer service during Pride Week— Hall the first day the state of New York could but he has the support of his congregation begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses, and marriage equality advocates. Carter even even signed a local law last December that has an Internet ordination and has performed extended the civil rights of transgender and marriage ceremonies with ministers of the “gender non-conforming people.” same mentality. They would like to support Roughly a week before the Supreme the LGBT community, but run the risk of Court ruled on DOMA and Prop 8, hopes losing their jobs if they offer to perform sameand spirits doubled with the events of Pride sex marriages. Week, a weeklong celebration of the LGBT “Religious organizations are going to have community that culminates in the Pride to come to grips with this,” Daley says of Parade. The parade itself cost CNY Pride the precedents set by DOMA and Prop 8. If over $20,000 and required a full year of they continue to use select, possibly abusive fundraising. But the turnout was worth it—on passages of scripture to perpetuate ideas June 15, thousands of people came out in about other people—when there are just as support of LGBT community. many passages promoting acceptance—they
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are going to lose members of the community. students of the day are not as radicalized, or as For Rachael Card, religion and politics engaged, as they might have once been. Carter made an effort to address young shouldn’t interfere with the work of SU’s Pride Union. As a senior and current president of people, namely his students and community Pride Union, she has seen how many students members, and engage them in the kind of social reform that requires passionate, view the fight for same-sex equality. “Most of the students come here because informed voices, like Mayor Miner’s, or those they want someone that they can talk to about who rallied at First English Lutheran Church. anything, not necessarily because they are “I’m concerned that young people—that is, college students—think that these things kind political,” she says. While Pride Union may have started as of happen on their own,” Carter says. “In my an advocacy group, Card believes bringing heart, I believe that education is the way out aggressive politics into their mission is of this.” In the living room of the Pride Union house counterintuitive. About a year ago, roughly 40 students attended a weekly meeting that on Ostrom Avenue, several members sit on turned into a heated political debate. The a gray elbow sofa prepared to queue up an next week, only 15 students showed up. Card episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix. believes that students approaching Pride Card offers the seat next to her before the Union aren’t necessarily looking for a cause, Pride Union director encourages the attendees to talk in the conference room upstairs. but for a conflict-free zone, “a way in.” “We’ve been Card is critical of fighting for it for activists who hailed the so long that they Supreme Court decisions “IT’S NOT TABOO, IT’S might take a little on DOMA and Prop 8 as NOT TOO BAD IF YOU breather before the final answer needed they find something to validate the struggle REALIZE THAT YOUR else to fight for,” for LGBT rights. The fight AUNT IS MARRIED TO A she explains. For isn’t over. As a country, CO-WORKER WHO YOU her, it’s all about Card believes we still face THOUGHT WAS HER the students and issues of gender-queer catering to what they discrimination in the BEST FRIEND." want. Right now, she workplace in particular. —RACHEL CARD has a dance party While some people planned for Pride didn’t think it was Union to kick off “time,” or that we as a society have come far enough to accept Coming Out Month in October—a muchthe LGBT community, Card says that her needed breather after the DOMA and Prop generation is not only prepared; they are 8 victories. “If they want a dance party, we’ll have more accepting. “Now I think people are growing up in a world where it doesn’t a dance party,” Card says. “You want to matter,” she says. “It’s not taboo, it’s not too know my plan? My plan for the year is to bad if you realize that your aunt is married to just have fun.” JM a co-worker who you thought was her best friend.” Where some experts call the crusade for LGBT equal rights the modern equivalent to the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, there is one notable difference: the youth and
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FURNITURE Hidden away on West Genesse, this miniature dollhouse shop breathes life into an old tradition. By Heather Rounds Photos by Ilana Goldmeier The Palace of Versailles-styled room is decorated with gold molding and intricate designs that dance across the ceiling and walls. A fireplace sits on one wall, elegant furniture sprawled around it. Yellow frilled curtains frame the view of a lush backyard. Dollhouse-sized and artistically detailed, this room is arranged in an old recycled drawer, painted and polished into a display box. It is one of the masterpieces at Lee Thomas Miniatures. Inside the brick house at 1816 West Genesee St., past the fluorescent sea-foam columns and purple railing, owner and artist Lee Seawell runs this store as a hobby. When Seawell is not working security Monday through Thursday, he utilizes his degrees in architectural technology and interior design to create miniatures. From the half-completed mini version of the very building the store is in, to the pocket-sized Titanic Seawell proudly holds up, these miniatures represent an array of skills—from woodworking and carpentry to decorating and styling. “That’s what’s fun about it. You can do such elaborate work,” Seawell says. There are paintings, stained-glass lamps, sofas, floral arrangements, trays of assorted fruits and vegetables, gumball machines, raspberry pies, and baby carriages. While some of these are Seawell’s pieces, others are the work of local artisans. A few creations
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have even traveled from artisans in Maine and California. Seawell is not alone in his passion for miniatures. He shares stories of customers who own six or seven dollhouses and display them in museum-like fashion. He describes a customer who needed her dollhouse to be renovated to properly utilize the wasted space. Seawell’s most exciting story, however, is the time he was commissioned by Disney to make a glass chandelier for a Cinderella ballroom model. Seawell remembers making his first dollhouse at the age of seventeen. Years later, he still enjoys creating pint-sized masterpieces. “It’s my form of art.” JM
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Replicas and models are Seawell’s most exquisite works, but the shop also prides itself in offering lines of furnishings, accessories, electrical fixtures, and supplies for other dollhouse creators. While his intricate Parisian models take most of the spotlight, Seawell’s other replicas include a New York brownstone living room, a Vanderbilt dining room, and a recreation of The Basilica. The prices for all three range from $500 to $3,000. Although difficult to achieve, customers who fail to find what they need in Seawell’s shop can contact the Seawell to fabricate, order, or even stock supplies for every miniature need. Their custom services also consist of museum modeling and doll house renovations. The shop provides unique services like a custom dollhouse showroom to its customers—a population of miniature lovers who frequent other spots like the Syracuse Area Miniature Enthusiasts (S.A.M.E.) club. Growing up as an avid model maker, Seawell developed the business as a part-time hobby. After working in retail, Seawell returned to school and earned degrees in both Architectural Technology and Interior Design in 2008.
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STRIPE SHIRT: SAINT STRIPE SHIRT: SAINT JA M E S $ 8 5 ; PA N T S : JA M E S $ 8 5 ; PA N T S : GA P , T H E L E G G I N G GA P , T H E L E G G I N G JEAN $70; JEAN $70; SNEAKERS: SNEAKERS: CO N V E R SE $5 0 . CO N V E R SE $5 0 .
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GAWK
DE N I M S H I R T : J. CR E W $ 9 8 ; J E A N SH O R T S : V I N TAGE LEVI' S C U T- O F F $20; HEELS: XSI R E $ 25.
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S H I R T : TO P M A N $30; J UM P E R : V I N TAG E $ 2 4 ; H AT : M O D E L ' S OW N ; S N E A K E R S : VA N S $ 5 5 .
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GAWK
JAC K E T : M A D E WELL $9 8 ; SWEAT S H I RT: S T Y L IST'S OW N ; PA N T S : Z A R A , S LIM F I T D EN I M $ 80; S UNG LASS ES : M OD E L ' S OW N .
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M OTO R CYC L E JAC K E T : S T Y L I S T ' S OW N ; PA N T S : C U R R E N T / E L L I OT T , T H E D E S T R OY E D A N K LE J E A N $228.
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GAWK STRIPPED
CLOSET CASE
SALVATION'S ARMY A truly skilled secondhand-sifter knows the value of a good print, and these three guys are no exception. If anything, they make the rules when it comes to patterns of yesteryear. Photos by Ilana Goldmeier
Know your Homies from your Hermés to save some face–and money.
LABEL MAKER
By Cori Rosen
”I went to Disney for the first time and at 21 finally fulfilled my childhood dream to visit Mickey & Co. On the plane home, I figured if I wear the shirt (along with my blue denim bucket hat) there would be no doubts about where I just spent my weekend.” –Troy James 46 10.13
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“The dog sweater is, like, giant. I was at a concert and the girl I was with was really cold so I lent it to her and it actually went below her feet because she was so small.” –Carter Burch
”My parents got the robe in New Mexico or Arizona when they first got married; they were like 25. I wear it now with these California Hardwear pants down to Marshall to get burritos when I'm hungover.” –Kevin Scheiferstein
Illustration by Hillary Cianciosi
It’s hard to imagine that Céline Dion is relevant to someone who prefers a skate deck to a cruise ship deck. Dion fell victim to brand Reason Clothing with their cottonand-screen-print spin on the French fashion house sharing her first name. Céline is certainly not the only brand to get the lowbrow T-shirt treatment, but it is the only brand that went from nada to Prada in terms of mainstream recognition. New York-based skate brand SSUR originated the trend with Comme des Fuckdown, their play on Japanese label Comme des Garçons. Up-and-comers like Brian Lichtenberg and Conflict of Interest gained momentum by following suit. Jaana Jatyri, trend-forecasting agency Trendstop founder, explains, “Imitating luxury logos was something 90s skate brands did, so streetwear brands know that ironic fan items are both witty and fashionable.” By now, you’ve seen everyone from A$AP Rocky to Miley Cyrus in this sub-trend, but what does your choice to slip into Féline—meow!— over Ballinciaga say about you? If you purchased a Céline Dion shirt from Reason, fresh off the back of some editor
spotted on Jak+Jil, grab yourself a tall glass of bubbly and swig it down, for you are in the fashion-know. If you purchased this tee just last week from Urban Outfitters, you’re a fraud. It’s quite simple to spot if you joined in on the fad early by your effortless choice to pair it with J.Crew Collection hand-beaded, embroidered jeans instead of ass-hugging Lululemon pants. Mocking Céline wasn't enough, so Lichtenberg ditched Hermés for Homies, paying homage to low-rider culture in South Central, L.A. The pun is a far cry from the luxury of Jane Birkin and a close second to Snoop and Ice Cube. If you wear this style, it's likely you have a legit Hermés bracelet locked on your wrist and a Cartier love bracelet tagging along. If you're trying to bring some irony to this week’s chapter meeting, trust us—there are better ways to do it. Streetwear transcends downtown skate parks and emerges as instantly rebloggable on Tumblr dashboards everywhere thanks to celebrities with a knack for LOLs and labels. But be warned, we all know what happens to people who follow a Mileyapproved trend—a wrecking ball right through their dignity. JM JERK
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ONE OF THE BOYS By Victor Cheu Soares Photos by Ilana Goldmeier Illustration by Adam Day Grant Palmer was a freshman sitting in a German class at Syracuse University and got a call from an unknown New York City number—he hit the ignore button. His manager texted him right after saying, “Yo! Pick up your phone, DJ Whoo Kid just tried to call you.” When Palmer saw the message he recalled thinking, “Oh shit!” and left the room to call back. A woman from Interscope Records answered and asked Palmer to hold for Whoo Kid, a longtime member of 50 Cent’s G-Unit label, who quickly came on the phone and told Palmer that he wanted to take him to sister label Shadyville and host his next mixtape. Two weeks after receiving the call, Palmer 48 10.13 • JERK
finished the semester at SU and signed his contract. Little did he know that within his first year of signing, he’d be rolling up to 50 Cent’s crib and meeting G-Unit, thereby becoming a witness to the “rapper lifestyle” he aspired to. The awestruck moment happed right before arriving at 50 Cent’s house, when Palmer’s industry friends took him shopping at Kid Robot, dropping 5,000 dollars on clothes, toys, and chains as a “welcome to the club” gift. He had seen 50’s house before on MTV Cribs But this time there was no TV screen separating Palmer from the real rap world. The garage had a slew of expensive cars, including an F50 Ferrari, plus other toys
SU alum and signed artist Grant Palmer joins the ranks of rap's heavyweights.
including a Segway. When he walked inside, he gawked at a stripper-pole-bearing club with spray-painted graffiti on the walls. “You can’t be like, ‘Oh my god, I’m with 50 Cent.’ You just gotta be like, ’50 Cent used to be some bum-ass dude in the hood, ya know.’ He got shot nine times and now he made a lot of money,” says Palmer. Originally from Maplewood, N.J., Palmer started rapping when he was a senior in high school. The first time he wrote a song, he had no idea what he wanted it to be about; he just knew he wanted to write a “club-banger.” So he sat down and thought, “Damn, I gotta have a punch line and a catch hook.” Now Palmer, also known as IamG,
contributes to Atlantic Records and Def Jam, whose artists include T.I. and FloRida. He’s also embarking on his first nationwide tour around 26 states over the next few months—a huge feat for an up and coming artist in a competitive genre. And the ambition is evident in his lyrics. Ulf Oesterle, one of Palmer’s music professors at SU, confirms that songwriting is really about “cutting teeth.” He says Palmer was a motivated, hard worker who loved to write. “Although he has not been writing for 10 or 15 years, he has spent a lot of focused time writing; and he is still learning his craft,” Oesterle says. “Songwriting is not ever a craft that you reach a certain level and you JERK
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NOISE
NOISE say, ‘OK, I’m good.’ You’re always trying to find what else you can express, write, work— because it’s your career; it’s not a hobby.” Dedicated to keeping up his craft, Palmer writes somewhere between three to four songs a week, preferring to write rap or hip hop while leaving the mixing to everyone else. He writes every day, and he has rituals to help him write. In the mornings he usually wakes up at 7 a.m., crunching on a bowl of Cheerios while writing songs as his patients sleep. “If you listen to my music, you’ll probably get a good idea on what’s going down in the studio.” At this point in his career, Palmer only wants to convey one message—that he can rap. He doesn’t like people when people judge a book by its cover, and in a time where artists like Drake, Kanye West, and Asher Roth get flack for posing, the criticisms run high. “Like, yes, I did grow up wealthy and because of that, people will see or think you don’t have any hardships in your life or think
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that everything is made easy for you, or everything you get is through connections or paying people rather than having to work for it.” Back when he first started to rap, Palmer remembers that people in his town said, “Oh yeah, he’s that rich kid that thinks he’s a rapper.” But Palmer works hard to make his background invisible to his fans. The message of his songs reaches out to people who don’t dream big enough and can’t turn their dreams into gold. For Palmer, the visit to 50 Cent’s mansion was a chance to witness gold in real time. He has traveled the world, visiting China a handful of times and most of Europe. He has even met the First Family. “I had dinner with President Obama during his inauguration. My family went down to support [the Obamas] at his victory. I know him,” Palmer opens up, before hesitating and deciding not to describe in detail the connection between his family and the President.
“YOU CAN’T BE LIKE, ‘OH MY GOD, I’M WITH 50 CENT.’ YOU JUST GOTTA BE LIKE, ’50 CENT USED TO BE SOME BUM-ASS DUDE IN THE HOOD, YA KNOW.’ HE GOT SHOT NINE TIMES AND NOW HE MADE A LOT OF MONEY.” —GRANT PALMER Palmer thinks that if most people were in his shoes, they would be a “pompous asshole, or a dick, or a combination of things that rich people can be.” In the end, he saves his aggression and the disses for his songs. “If someone pisses me off, I’m just going to make a song about how they did me dirty.” He comes up with song ideas everywhere— on the couch of his living room in his New Jersey home, where he jots down words in his cell phone, or while standing in front of a stop sign, where 10 different rhymes come to his mind at once. It’s more about capturing the emotions than writing the rhymes. Marcus Neal, a senior sociology major at SU, is one of Palmer’s best friends and songwriting partner. Neal sees Palmer as a brother, spending holidays at Palmer’s family home. He thinks that Palmer’s success is the result of a driven personality, calling his best friend both “persistent” and “consistent.” “When he started, people were trying to say his music was not credible because of his background,” Neal says about his friend’s privileged life. Neal says that he and Palmer see themselves as different from everyone else in the industry because they challenge the typical culture of rappers out there. They refuse to take on the stereotypical “gangster” image the industry so desperately replicates. On a recent trip to London, Palmer felt his rebellious, independent spirit was coming
into its own. He realized he couldn’t just pick up a phone, call his parents, or ask them to drive for hours up to Syracuse. In fact, Palmer recognized that when he was in college, he thought he had everything figured out. “Wow, I didn’t know half the shit,” he says. Today, he spends his time learning from the celebrities he meets. Palmer has his own style of approaching them. “When I worked at Atlantic Records, John Legend would walk in. I was in the bathroom peeing next to Young Jeezy. When I meet these people, I’m not thinking, ‘This person has four million fans on Twitter and they’ve sold 10 million albums.’ I’m just thinking, ‘Oh, okay. This person is dope.’” To him, celebrities are just people—and that’s how he treats them. He considers himself a nice person to his fans, making it easier for them to open up. The image that he wants to portray to his fans in a whirlwind industry is that of his real and honest persona. And for Palmer, the image-making begins with his craft. “My fans mean everything to me. But at the same time, I’m a dude that gets up, puts my pants on one leg at a time. I walk downstairs, I eat breakfast, and my job is to write songs. JM
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PIZZA BY THE NUMBERS SOURCE: http://theweek.com/article/index/216550/americas-pizza-obsession-by-the-numbers;
LIVES OF
pepperoni 252 million pounds of
consumed every year from pizza
The average American eats
9,000
23 $38
pizzerias in New York
POUNDS
70%
of Super Bowl viewers eat at least one slice during the game
BILLION
in annual pizza sales in America
of pizza each year
You Could've Had... So, you scarfed down three slices of Domino’s pepperoni pizza on a late night binge (fueled by one too many cups of jungle juice). Hate to break it to you, but there goes approximately 1,140 calories. Time for the hard truth. Here’s what you could have had instead: 3 Grande Pumpkin Spice Lattes
In honor of National Pizza Month, we present Jerk's guide to the greatest thing since sliced... pizza.
4 spicy tuna rolls 5 Insomnia chocolate chunk cookies 11 cans of Keystone 22 servings of broccoli
Ways People Eat Pizza Pizza: A Guide for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Users. Folding
Pizza balls
Your blood is as New York as your slice is dripping in oil. Beginners need not attempt as that same oil could ruin just about every piece of clothing you're wearing if not attempted sitting down.
Cupcakes are to cake as pizza balls are to pizza pie. Maybe we would be at Harvard if the SAT questions were that obvious.
Fork and Knife If you want to use a fork and knife, eat a steak. Pizza is a sensational–literally– experience, including touch.
Crust First This makes no sense because everyone knows the crust is the best part. Didn't anyone ever tell you “save the best for last?”
Mexican Pizza Whoever got high and thought of this, we thank you greatly. Get earth’s two greatest cuisines with this supremely filling hybrid.
Pizza Donut Fuck the cronut. Anything cheese-filled and fried gets our approval over the defamation of France’s finest pastry.
THE MORE YOU KNOW: THE PIZZA EFFECT Spawning from a twisted claim of origin, The Pizza Effect theory describes the flow of cultural phenomenon between different cultures or peoples, giving an item values it didn’t have before. Many objects of consumption have since drifted from their origins, but these are a few of our favorites. GREEK YOGURT: Chobani took the simplicity out of the favored mediterranean mainstay with yogurt bars. From the outrageous mango and avocado-topped option to the downright un-American–peanut butter and jelly, Zeus is weeping into his beard.
SUSHI: Traditionally, this Japanese delicacy is not meant to have completely fresh fish–often the biggest selling point of overpriced eateries. America bastardized sushi with the creation of the inside-out roll, but we have to admit we don’t know where our Friday nights would be without it. Oh, but stop trying to make cream cheese happen. VODKA: You may think you’re cutting calories by substituting that slice of Funfetti for Cakeflavored Pinnacle, but vodka should slide down your throat quickly and painfully, not drawn-out by the artificial taste of buttercream and dead birthday dreams.
A Slice of history When pizza first graced the world, it was considered a peasant’s food, mostly eaten by the poor. Now, it’s the only food that brings us together.
Bored with her diet, Queen Margherita visited Naples for a pizza freefor-all. Her favorite? A pizza mozzarella—soft white cheese, tomatoes, and basil, or, the modernday margherita.
popular pizza 1700s
1889 1905
Pizza Hut popped up across the country, opening the door for more national chains and consumers swearing loyalty to favorite commercialized brands.
Street vendors sold simple flatbreads in Naples, Italy, convenient for the lower class and their seemingly “disgusting” eating habits.
Pizza followed Italian immigrants to the U.S., mostly the work of unlicensed vendors. The first official pizzeria, Lombardi’s, opened on Spring Street in Manhattan—and it’s still slicing today.
1930 1983
Now a cultural phenomenon, pizza left room for innovation; Carmela Vitale, the genius of Dix Hills, N.Y., invented the little “tabletop” that keeps the pizza from hitting the box top.
RECIPES Attention college students: put the cheese, chicken, hot sauce, and beer in your fridge to good use and make a Buffalo Chicken and Beer Bread Pizza. For this and other Jerk-approved concoctions, head to jerkmagazine.net.
Slicing its way into our hearts and cultural psyche, pizza is at the heart of our favorite films. From childhood favorites to cherished classics, prepare to crave a pizza-and-movie night. Toy Story Two words: Pizza Planet—home to little green aliens and the best pizza this side of the Pixar Universe. Though the real mystery is how Woody keeps his lanky figure after all those trips to our childhood birthday party heaven. The Princess Diaries If you ever want to make amends with us, send an Anne Hathaway-esque apologetic pizza pie—topped with M&Ms spelling out "Sorry." Not that we’d actually eat it—shit’s gross. Saturday Night Fever Whenever a movie starts with pizza, you know it’ll be a good time— bellbottoms be damned. Tony Manero, played by a pre-mid life crisis John Travolta, bolts down two slices of pie before struttin' his stuff in the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever. Fast Times at Ridgemont High Sean Penn in his prime as resident pot-head Spicoli makes us all nostalgic. And when he casually orders a double cheese and sausage pizza to his history class, we totally understand his obscene logic: when you've got the munchies, you've gotta do what you gotta do. Wayne's World Way back in 1992, funnyman Mike Meyers fought the good fight against sponsors, ironically promoting a slew of brand names—including Pizza Hut, of course. Product placement never looked so cheesy.
ALTRUIST
REWIND
TLC
We help critique pop culture so you don't have to.
Young Adult Novels By Daniel Taroy
The deal
By Laura Cohen
Wejudge judgealbums albumsby bytheir theirsingles... singles... We Artist Artist
Album Album
Single Single
Deltron3030 3030 Deltron
EventIIII(Oct (Oct11) ) Event
"CityRising Risingfrom fromthe theAshes" Ashes" "City
4.5 4.5
OfMontreal Montreal Of
Lousywith withSylvianbriar Sylvianbriar(Oct (Oct8)8) Lousy
"FugitiveAir" Air" "Fugitive
3.5 3.5
PushaTT Pusha
MyName NameisisMy MyName Name(Oct (Oct8)8) My
"Pain" "Pain"
2.5 2.5
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Rating (out of 5)
The issue In today’s adaptation-happy media, novels with the greatest visibility are ones with crossover appeal, pigeonholing YA books into the supernatural/dystopian love triangles of Twilight and The Hunger Games series, or the frothy, guilty pleasure drama of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. And thanks to bandwagon authors desperate to deliver The Next Big Vampire Love Story, bookstores lined with wannabes have done little to dispel the notion that books for teens should stay for teens. We’re accused of not only dumbing down literature, but dumbing down ourselves. PHOTO CREDIT: www.allisonldoyle.com/2013/08
began with the The Supremes and led to Salt-n-Pepa. Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child, and The Pussycat Dolls defined many of our childhoods, and now groups like The X Factor stars Little Mix and Fifth Harmony are here to fill the empty space they left in our hearts. The success of girl bands comes at the same time as the wild renaissance of the boy band kingdom reigned by One Direction. The romance between 1D’s Zayn Malik and Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards brings us back to the glory days of Justin and Britney, before the darkness of a breakup that ruined all of our childhood dreams. Now, our generation needs strong bonds among women, perhaps more than ever before, especially while Texan lawmakers are battling it out on the Congressional floor over reproductive rights and a flood of reports say colleges are not handling sexual assault cases properly. Now is the time for females to support one another and stand together to combat patriarchal forces working against them. Girl bands demonstrate sisterhoods. The women in them have the potential to be role models and show great female friendships—unless you’re Ginger Spice, that is. JM
PHOTO CREDIT: VH1 - www.rhymeswithsnitch.com
If you can clearly define a “scrub,” then you’re on board with TLC. For those who don’t know, a scrub is a guy who thinks he's fly and is also known as a buster. The best-selling R&B group of all time’s hit single from their third album, “No Scrubs” remains a song that prompts us to belt out our displeasure with this lazy, brokeass species of man. Formed in the 1990s, the three women of TLC—Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, Tionne "TBoz" Watkins, and the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes—redefined what girl bands meant in the U.S. They headlined the highest-grossing tour by a female group and produced chart-topping hits, such as “Waterfalls,” off their second album CrazySexyCool, which sold more than 23 million copies. Now, they’re venerated in VH1’s new biopic entitled Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story, premiering on Oct. 21. With Keke Palmer, Lil' Mama, and Drew Sidora playing the roles of the TLC three, the biopic will bring us back to the beginning of the girl band revolution, and likely add to its recent revival. TLC represents the power and success that comes from female-dominated groups in the music industry across all genres; and girl bands are a thing once again. It
Before Harry Potter, young adult novels dominated English classroom syllabi in the form of Holden Caulfield’s red hunting hat and Jay Gatsby’s green light. Other landmark novels, such as Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Bell Jar emerged in their wake, adding to a roster of commercial literature eventually associated with the hormonal broodiness of adolescence.
The (larger) issue From Forbes telling us we’re “going nowhere” to Time calling us “the me me me generation,” nobody takes Millennials seriously—and it extends beyond the books we read. We’re unapologetic about our (not so) guilty pleasures, from overusing emojis, to hashtagging every other word, to binge-watching Catfish, and
we’re deemed selfish and shallow because of it. Our professional eagerness gets misconstrued as narcissism, yet anything less than an obsessive interest equates to a lack of ambition. We’re caught between expectations, and to everyone on the outside looking in, we’re Peter’s Lost Boys without the "second star to the right and straight on till morning" to follow.
The defense If we’re entitled, it’s because we expect certain things after graduating. Like a job. You know, the thing that isn’t unemployment but not quite an unpaid “internship,” either. And if we’re distracted, it’s because federal student loan debt reached one trillion dollars and we’re on the verge of entering a job market that’s about as cheerful as it’s been since the Great Depression. Forgive us, but we’re not particularly keen to get off our asses and become real people when we could read instead—and not just about vampires necking, either. Books like The Fault in Our Stars, The Lovely Bones, and The Virgin Suicides tread sensitive subjects of cancer, death, and depression, respectively, while never losing sight of younger readers. Besides, teen-centric fare doesn’t necessarily remain so. A recent study showed 55 percent of YA novels are purchased by adults, all of whom invariably contributed to children’s / young adult novels becoming the single fastest-growing publishing category in 2011. So in the grand scheme of shitty affairs, let us read our books. And by all means, join us. JM
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SYNAPSE
AMPLIFIED
FIRST LADIES Everyone’s favorite FLOTUS—and former Secretary of State— Hillary Rodham Clinton is turning 66 on Oct. 26, which means all those damn pantsuits are finally age-appropriate. And, Hil recently joined the Twittersphere, leading some to speculate this could only mean one thing: Hillary for President, round two. But before we get sidetracked with our binary Democratic and Republican ways, let's take a minute to appreciate all the other powerful ladies out there.
Kinnetix
FILM: Gravity
Real name: Ben Honig • Where he's from: Tenafly, N.J. • Active Since: 2012 • Sounds like: A cross between melodic trance and electro-house music.
Photo by Drew Osumi
What he Jerks to: Groups like Santana, Modern Jazz Quartet, Marvin Gaye, and Pink Floyd, which reflect his widespread love and appreciation for all genres. Why he started: In 2012, this EDM enthusiast realized that much of the genre's songs didn't suit his standards. He thought, "I can make this shit better." Using the program LogixPro, Kinnetix built up his track list—his original song titled “The Opener,” released under his former DJ name, Binyamin, was featured on music competition Electro Cuse’s website this past spring—and his remix of Maroon 5’s “Payphone,” also released under the name Binyamin, played on a UK radio station. Best song: Felix Cartal and Clockwork, “The Fire (Kinnetix Remix).”
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Where you can listen: You can tune in to all his remixes and playlists at soundcloud.com/ kinnetixmusic. Why you should listen: These remixes offer amped up, energized versions of their original counterparts. With Kinnetix’s first original single expected out by the end of this year, his repertoire is sure to expand. Look out for him at frat parties and venues around Syracuse. On his tech grind: Besides creating music, Kinnetix also made the iPhone applications ConnectNow, PicMeme, and Poké Quiz under his company name iPhonig, LLC. “At the end, when you have an app in the App Store that’s the coolest thing in the world, and it’s the same with [music],” he says. “It’s a frickin’ pain in the ass to do, but at the end it’s pretty sweet.” JM
PHOTO CREDITS: http://bit.ly/a9UqqT (FIRST LADIES), http://bit.ly/18pymTu (FILM), http://bit.ly/15r5Id5 (MUSIC), http://bit.ly/16b5QiE (TELEVISION), http://bit.ly/18pzaaY (ART)
By Michelle van Dalen
MUSIC: Sky Ferreira's Night Time, My Time
First lady of film Sandra Bullock blasts off in the
Pop music’s druggie younger sister breaks
upcoming sci-fi drama Gravity. Under the direction
expectations like Hil breaks gender roles. With
of Alfonso Cuarón, Bullock and eye candy co-star
bubblegum lyrics and a look Courtney Love
George Clooney are left scrambling for air and
would be proud to sport, Sky Ferreira gives us
struggling to survive after their space shuttle
the perfect excuse to pretend to be teeny-
crashes mid-flight. But if you're going to be
boppers. And with her new album Night Time,
trapped in space, might as well die with Clooney
My Time dropping Oct. 29, the rule-breaker will
by your side. Gravity falls into theaters Oct. 4.
be what we’re listening to when we aren’t watching for Hillary’s campaign announcement.
TELEVISION: Scandal
ART: Scorched
A pantsuit aficionado herself, Olivia Pope, played
Fearless females come in all forms in Lebanese
by Kerry Washington, portrays the powerhouse
Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad's Scorched,
D.C. lawyer politicos turn to when they need
an upcoming Syracuse Stage production
help. From influencing foreign affairs in her
premiering Oct. 23. Heroine Janine and her twin,
pajamas, to taking on—and taking down—the
Simon, follow the letters their mother left after her
most powerful men in the world, there’s nothing
death as they travel to the Middle East to untangle
this stunning and smart gladiator in a suit can’t
their family roots entwined in a war-ravaged
do. It’s handled when Scandal returns to ABC
past—a region Hillary left her legacy in.
Thursday, Oct. 3.
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DISCOVERSYR
Books End Bookshop An adventure at this local nook makes for one memorable page-turner.
Opened in the early 1980s, Books End is Syracuse's oldest used bookstore.
By Alexa Voss
Photos by Sam Maller
A bell rings when the door opens and the warm smell of pine shelves and old books fills the air. A worker stands behind the counter as endless rows of books tower over the threshold. Welcome to Books End Bookshop, a haven for rare, used, and out-of-print books—a paradise for avid readers and book junkies. Paperbacks and hardcovers are crammed into every nook and cranny of the labyrinth of shelves. Book gems include second edition Dostoevsky novels, teen fiction, and even a 1945 edition of The Onondagan—SU’s yearbook. The store’s founder, Jim Roberts, opened Books End 26 years ago. A book lover all his life, Roberts decided to make Books End a rare and out-of-print store because he felt it wouldn’t be able to compete with well-known industry giants, 62 10.13 • JERK
like Barnes & Noble or Books-a-Million. The quirkiness and quaintness of the books draws flocks of readers in every day. The process of gathering books is intriguing: three-quarters of them come from locals who sell their old, dusty paperbacks. However, it’s the timeless pieces of art from locals that draw in customers from far and wide, giving Books End a quality most bookstores could never achieve—irreplaceability. The store consistently tries to sell things not found in a typical chain bookstore. This allows Books End to appeal across the board to people who range from wanting a cheap, used paperback romance to those who are desperately searching for a coveted first edition Steinbeck. From cover to cover, this place has it all. JM
Collectively, the staff at Books End has over 60 years of bookselling experience. JERK
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OBITCHUARY
SPEAKEASY
Behind the Rind It’s on every Syracuse student’s bucket list ––a photo with Otto the Orange. Not that you ever knew the person inside the suit, that is, until now. Meet Aaron Frank, a former Otto who gives us the lowdown on getting down in that furry orange ball.
Homepage CAUSE OF DEATH: SUICIDE September 4, 1998 – 2013
By Riyana Straetker Photo by Penelope Vasquez
By Molly Pomroy
So, we’ve gotta ask. What’s better in the suit— boxers or briefs? I’ll say this—I always regretted wearing boxers. I definitely had to switch to briefs after, like, a month of trying to be all cool with boxers. What should we know about being Otto? You’re running around in 140-degree weather, with 200 percent humidity, and there’s no air. So drink more water than you ever could imagine drinking. Because within 10 minutes, it’s gone. Any insane Otto stories? I had to go to a women’s club softball game and I couldn’t get a ride. So in the suit I had to find the bus to South, stand on the bus in character, not fall over while it’s bouncing around, run around for an hour, find a bus again, make my way back to the Dome, and change. So a little 30-minute appearance turned into a three-hour extravaganza. Who are the craziest fans at games? There are crazy frat guys who think Otto is like their life-sized toy, that they can do whatever they want––especially after having a couple drinks. Once alcohol gets in the mix with fans, things get a little interesting. Then there are the young kids, who think you're this amazing thing. When they get to 7 to 10, they’re a little skeptical. Once they pass 10 years old, it’s very polarized between, “Yay Otto!” and, “I hate you. With a passion.”
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Best moment of being Otto? My sophomore year, I went to the USC versus Syracuse game, over in Pasadena, Calif. I was able to travel in a private jet with the team; I was able to stay at the Biltmore, a beautiful hotel, for four nights—the whole treatment. And I was on the Rose Bowl’s field, for four straight quarters. That’s a field I’ve seen my entire life. And standing there, dancing with the cheerleaders in front of 60,000 people, 3,000 miles away from Syracuse, in my hometown of Los Angeles, was just incredible. Got any advice for fans? Remember what everything is about with sports, with school spirit—and that’s to have fun. All rivalries aside, Georgetown still sucks, but it’s all about having fun. JM
Illustration by Erick Friely
We gather here today to mourn the death of a friend we took for granted and trusted implicitly, during nights of caffeine shots and bloodshot eyes. The Google homepage has been killed. The culprit? None other than Google itself. When the tech giant introduced us to the Chrome browser, Google made finding information easier by turning your URL bar into a convenient search engine. We abandoned Firefox and completely erased the royal blue “e” from our desktops, quickly becoming slaves to their multi-colored world. By doing us a favor, Google killed off the creativity of its own design. Also lost in the shuffle is the oftenoverlooked “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. Most people thought the optimistic button had no purpose, just sitting on our screens for shits and giggles. Its death doesn’t seem too shocking or heartbreaking—until you realize the amazing lost power behind it. Choose to “get lucky,”and you’d be brought directly to the most viewed site relating to your search. If you put a little faith in Google, it would lead you in the right direction. But now, Google has played directly into our short, overeager attention spans with the instantaneous nature of its search engine. Google’s been smart: enhancing our searches, and putting itself in the “best friend” category over Bing and Yahoo!, but the iconic homepage is now dubbed
redundant. We used to look forward to seeing the unique typeface and goofy graphics that make up the Google banner, but that excitement is now lost so we can save a few seconds. Next time you’re feeling lucky, buy a scratch off or simply sing along with Pharrell, because the Google homepage is gone for good. As we lower the page into its self-dug grave, it’s comforting to know MySpace is down there keeping it company. JM JERK
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FORM&FUNCTION FORM&FUNCTION
How To Dress So Everyone Knows You're Underage
Google Maps: Where the fuck is Chuck's?
Running mascara: Don't cry, your ID will at least get you into Club Bird.
Pleather jacket: The vomit will slide right off.
ID lanyard: This is a bar, not the Pentagon.
Platforms: The better to step in a puddle of beer with. Cash: "Will you go to the liquor store for me?"
PHOTOGRAPHER: Sarah Kinslow STYLIST: Joelle Hyman MODEL: Nicole Battafarano
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www.cusetogo.com coming soon
www.facebook.com/cusetogo now hiring
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