MSM Spring 2013

Main Street Issue 3 2013

Local Revolution: New Hampshire Beer

Editor’s Note This winter has been one for the record books, but here at Main Street Magazine, we’d rather not think about all that snow. We’ve set our sights ahead to spring, and whether you want to get your life in order health-andfitness-wise after a boozy break, ditch that Keystone Light for better made, better tasting local beer, or mix up your wardrobe with vintage pieces from seacoast stores, we’ve got you covered.

This issue, it’s all about local. Our profile on North Hampton’s Throwback Brewery will hopefully inspire you to learn more about your local brewers and try some new flavors when it comes to your spring and summer beer selection. The idea of a Blue Moon or Shocktop pales in comparison to the taste of a chocolate mint stout or a jalapeño pilsner (a Throwback variety I plan on buying lots of this summer).

Besides a preview of local taste locations including Throwback, and our reviewed restaurants of this issue, Portsmouth’s Book and Bar and Ceres Street Bakery, we’ve also got lots of local music variety with our interview of UNH student band Heads and Tales, as well as Jake DeShuiteneer’s interview with popular indie artist Youth Lagoon.

We’re keeping you ahead of the latest trends in swimwear, and our fashion spread with Newmarket store Concetta’s Closet may spark your interest in adding some vintage pieces to your spring wardrobe.

For some unknown reason, spring semester always seems to fly by much faster than fall. The days are getting longer and warmer, and pretty soon we’ll be shedding our winter layers for dresses, sandals, t-shirts and sunglasses. But while you wait for the snow on T Hall lawn to melt, take a break from those essays and exams, and enjoy this issue.

-Ella Nilsen

Ella Nilsen: Editor-in-Chief, Contributing Writer and Photographer Raya Al-Hashmi: Photo Editor Peter Cloutier: Editor, Contributing Writer Jake DeSchuiteneer: Editor, Contributing Writer Taylor Lawrence: Editor, Contributing Writer Arly Maulana: Design Editor, Contributing Writer Brian Morin: Web Editor, Contributing Writer Katie Wisniewski: Layout Editor Jack Callahan: Business Manager, Contributing Writer Brady Brickner-Wood: Contributing Writer Maggie Dana: Contributing Photographer Melisa Donovan: Contributing Designer Graham Hayslip: Contributing Writer Emma Huntoon: Contributing Writer Hannah Marlin: Contributing Photographer Tim Meehan: Contributing Writer Heather Ross: Contributing Writer Annah Todd: Contributing Writer Olivia Whitton: Contributing Writer Printed by our friends at UNH Printing Services, 10 West Edge Drive, Durham, NH The opinions expressed within Main Street Magazine are solely the opinions of the attributed writers and are not necessarily shared by Main Street Magazine, Student Press Organization, Student Activity Fee Committee, the University of New Hampshire, or anyone else, for that matter.

Main Street Magazine is funded entirely by your student activity fee and we would like to thank the Student Activity Fee Committee for continuing to fund this publication. www.mainstreetunh.com @mainstreetmagazine

Find Main Street • mainstreetunh.com • facebook.com/mainstreetmagazine • @mainstmagazine • MUB room 12B

On The Cover New Hampshire Beer Power to small New Hampshire breweries, including North Hampton’s own Throwback Brewery, which works with farmers to ensure sustainable, local taste.

Photographer: Raya Al-Hashmi.

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Main Street Spring 2013 Issue 3

Featured Article Internet Freedom How free should today’s Internet be? The recent suicide of Internet activist and computer genius Aaron Swartz has brought this question back into the minds of many. We take a look at questions of copyright and freedom in an age of increasingly open Internet.

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Features 24 26 34 36

Gun Control UNH Divestment Internet Freedom Defending Hip-Hop

Local 14 15 32 39 41

In Memory of Heather Laflamme Beer Tiesto Snapshots Portsmouth ShakesBEERience Student Spotlight: Dani Olean

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Reviews 6 7 8 11

Film Book: “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” Music Restaurants: Portsmouth Eats

Arts & Style 18 20 21 42

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Vintage Finds at Concetta’s Closet Spring Fitness: Get Fit, Get Healthy Spring Trends: Swimwear Interview: Youth Lagoon

Satire 13 Online Dating 40 Irrational Senior Fears

Travel 28 Abaco Dinghies 30 Florence on Film

Photo Spread 22 Portsmouth Street Art

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CONTRIBUTORS 1 Melisa Donovan. 2 Heather Ross. 3 Emma Huntoon. 4 Arly Maulana. 5 Tim Meehan. 6 Olivia Whitton.

7 Taylor Lawrence. 8 Peter Cloutier. 9 Jack Callahan. 10 Maggie Dana. 11 Brian Morin. 12 Brady Brickner-Wood.

13 Hannah Marlin. 14 Annah Todd. 15 Raya Al-Hashimi. 16 Graham Hayslip.

17 Katie Wisniewski. 18 Jake DeSchuiteneer.

Staff Picks Things MSM Staff Love Right Now

The Office is one of my all-time favorite TV

shows, but recent seasons have shown a steady decline in the quality of writing. So I’ve been enjoying seasons one through five on Netflix; remembering when Jim and Pam’s love was still star-crossed, and the show was still the best comedy on TV. -Jake

Jennifer Lawrence is beautiful, insanely talented, and super hilarious (watch her interviews). She just recently won an Oscar and she's only my age. What's not to love?

-Arly

It was love at first sight when I saw my Bart’s winter hat at Nevis Sports in Glasgow. It’s unique, adorable, and most importantly, has kept me warm throughout all of the extreme winter weather N.H. has gotten this year.

-Ella

This semester I’ve been writing letters to friends across oceans and across the state. I find it’s been a great complement to phone calls and texts because it allows for more contemplation. In addition, I love receiving letters, holding them in my hands, and feeling that much closer to those I care about. I highly recommend finding time to reflect and share with friends through this medium of expression.

-Peter

Lately I have been kicking my coffee habit and heading for the tea section instead. Blackberry Sage black tea is my all-time favorite.

-Katie

I am addicted to Libby’s Bar & Grill Nachos. For $10 you get a sinful amount of blue and white tortilla chips, chopped red onions, diced tomatoes, sliced jalapenos, and cheddar jack cheese. You will have leftovers, and if not that, then a heart attack coming your way; they are so deadly delicious.

-Raya

Aloe Vera, because if you went away for spring MorningStar Farms Buffalo Wings: Back in the days when I ate meat, real buffalo chicken never tasted this good. Try these out and you'll never want real chicken again.

-Brian

break like I did, this will quickly become your best friend.

-Taylor

FILMS We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Directed by: Lynne Ramsey Starring: Tilda Swinton, Ezra Milller, John C. Reilly

The Last Stand (2013)

Directed by: Kim Ji-woon Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Knoxville

“We Need to Talk About Kevin,” based on the novel of the same title, is a heartbreaking and tragic movie. British actress Tilda Swinton stars as Eva, a successful travel writer who has to give up her ambition to explore the world in order to raise her son Kevin (Ezra Miller) along with her husband Franklin (John C. Reilly). In “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Swinton delivers one of the best performances of her career. She manages to bring subtlety and complexity to her character, a woman who grapples with the idea of motherhood and struggles to form a bond with her son, who begins to develop hatred towards her.

Both Swinton and Miller use minimal dialogue, relying more on facial expressions to successfully depict the chilling development of their characters’ contemptuous relationship, as Kevin grows into a manipulative teenager with violent tendencies to hurt others around him, including his family.

The movie has potential to generate a discussion about psychological concept of “nature versus nurture.” Does Kevin exhibit that kind of sociopathic behavior because that is how he naturally is? Does Eva’s lack of enthusiasm to have a child contribute to Kevin’s behavior? Or is it some of both?

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” also manages to show a refreshing perspective of motherhood.

Instead of portraying motherhood as something that will make you happy like most Hollywood movies tend to do, it depicts motherhood as something that can make your life miserable. In

Eva’s situation, being a mother requires her to give up her freedom, hopes, and dreams, creating resentment toward everything around her. Women in Eva’s position do exist, and it is interesting to watch a movie that can show some of the harsh complexities of motherhood.

In “The Last Stand,” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second movie since leaving office, the Governator has an itchy trigger-finger once again. After leaving the Los Angeles Police Department, Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) decides to settle down as sherriff in a small, quiet town just north of the Mexican border. The aging Austrian isn’t concerned when he is told that an escaped convict may be attempting to cross into Mexico through his town, but the situation becomes serious when two of his young deputies stumble into a firefight. Owens quickly finds himself on a fast-paced and violent ride as he attempts to protect the residents of his town and prevent the criminal’s crossing. Luis Guzman and Johnny Knoxville play supporting roles as locals who help Owens secure the town.

Within the movie’s first ten minutes, a Smith & Wesson Model 500 and a Camaro ZL1 give good clues as to the violent, flashy pattern of the story.

Jee-woon Kim, the film’s South-Korean director, is generous with the movie’s use of fast cars and big guns. Kim may exaggerate the laws of physics a few times, like when the antagonist barrels across Texas in his souped-up Corvette ZR1, but the film’s well-constructed sense of self-awareness makes this an easy feature to accept.

While the film may lack in its physical accuracy, it certainly offers its audience a healthy dose of gratuitous violence. Of course, like all of his other films, it is impossible for Schwarzenegger to blow up a car or shoot a baddie without a hilarious one-

liner.

These archetypical Arnie catchphrases are not the only source of comedic relief in “The Last Stand.” Whether it’s Knoxville’s shenanigans or the uncooperative townspeople, the movie develops a dry kind of humor that compliments the setting and the characters.

This is an exhilarating addition to the action genre, and I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a high-energy flick that doesn’t require a lot of thinking.

-Arly Maulana

Ezra Miller as Kevin.

-Tim Meehan

Arnold.

BOOK

Author Ben Fountain.

“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” a novel by Ben Fountain, was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award, and has been the subject of countless glowing, five-star reviews. And, I can assure you; this one will be no different. The book – a blistering and honest story in which nothing really happens, but everything happens – follows nineteen-year-old former soldier Billy Lynn, a specialist in the Bravo Squad, as he and seven of his fellow heroes are put on display at a Thanksgiving Day football game in Dallas.

After a rushed two days home with their families, Billy and the Bravo Squad are primped and shuffled all around Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, as they meet with the team’s head honchos before being introduced to the stadium’s crowd as “the best our nation has to offer.”

The novel starts out with a chaotic cloud of words, meant to represent the never-ending stream

of patriotism coming from the mouths of the red-blooded Americans at Texas Stadium as they congratulate the men of Bravo on their heroism.

The words show up as they are spoken, with a true southern lilt: terrorist is terrRist, 9/11 is nina levin, and courage is currj. Also showing up in the cloud are God and sacrifice and George W. Bush, but Billy and the Bravo crew don’t hear much beyond white noise—partly because of the five Jack and Cokes they’ve each had by 10 a.m., and partly because they’ve learned to tune these types of monologues out for the sake of self-preservation.

Though the book takes place all in one long day at the Cowboy’s Stadium, Billy manages to drunkenly do pushups next to a beer cart, meet the franchise owner of the Cowboys, get high with a Spanishspeaking server at the fancy lunch buffet, question the entire meaning of his young existence, and fall in love with a Cowboy’s cheerleader.

Did I mention that the game’s halftime show features Destiny’s Child?

“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” is a hilarious but brutal glimpse at American society, and holds everyone from former President George W. Bush to a nice-looking elderly couple accountable for wartime bloodlust.

However, let me be clear. The book’s subject matter is heavy and at times will make you think.

Hard. But when it’s all over, it’s just a funny story about a kid named Billy that likes to drink and look at cheerleaders, and just happens to be a lauded war hero. Whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican or a member of the I-don’t-care party, I am positive you’ll find something to enjoy in Ben Fountain’s quick wit and intelligent writing, and that you’ll finish the novel wanting to pat a soldier on the back and buy them a drink.

-Olivia Whitton

MUSIC

Trevor Powers

Intervals

v`Local Natives

Youth Lagoon

“Wondrous Bughouse” Anti Records

Overall Rating: 9/10

Intervals “In Time” Self-Released

In 2011, Trevor Powers, the one-man band behind Youth Lagoon, released one of the year’s most melodically and emotionally powerful indie records of the year, The Year of Hibernation. With that album’s echo-y, minimal vocals, and touching but simple song compositions, it felt as if Powers had invited you into his own garage to listen to some of his most intimate thoughts sung over the ambience of slow building keyboards and guitars. With his follow up, Wondrous Bughouse, Powers takes us out of the garage and into his brain, which is a less welcoming, but more sonically daring place.

The album opens with the aptly titled “Through Mind and Back,” an instrumental track driven by its dissonant ambience. It sounds like Powers’ brain is warming up, as instruments tweet and slide into tune before the album’s second track, the glorious “Mute” explodes to a start with booming, triumphant threenote riff. The song moves through a screeching middle section before coming to a close with an extended coda, driven by an epic repeating guitar part.

Powers then takes the listener to weird new places with the perplexing circus music of “Attic Doctor,” before coming back home with “The Bath,” a slow moving song. Of all the album’s tracks, this is most

reminiscent of his debut album. Wondrous Bughouse’s fifth track, “Pelican Man” builds from a minimal composition of Powers’ vocals and keyboards to one of the album’s most melodically grand moments.

“Dropla,” the album’s most immediately catchy tune, finds Powers contemplating mortality. “You’ll never die, you’ll never die,” he sings repeatedly over haunting but infectious instrumentals. We stay firmly planted in his psyche as the album moves into the fittingly titled “Sleep Paralysis,” which starts like an innocent daydream before we get stuck in Powers’ hypnotic musical fever dream.

The album moves toward a close with a duo of strongly melodic tracks, “Third Dystopia” and “Raspberry Cane,” which both show Powers putting some of the album’s weirdness aside to create beautiful songs driven by catchy instrumental melodies. And then, Powers leaves us where we started, an extended instrumental journey. The album’s closer, “Daisyphobia,” begins with Powers briefly singing before he allows a warbled, gorgeous waltz to usher us to the end of our tour through his mind.

What a strange, beautiful trip it is.

-Jake DeSchuiteneer

In Time is the second EP released from the instrumental progressive metal band Intervals. This five song EP takes a unique approach to this subgenre of metal, commonly distinguished by its combination of heavy metal elements such as high-distortion guitars and rapid, harsh rhythms with a rhythmic writing style closer to that of classical music compositions.

This EP, devoid of vocals, focuses much more on the technical skill of the guitarists, rather than distracting audiences by forwarding drums or singing and screaming.

The song titled “Tapestry,” which appears third on the album, presents a bluesy, heart wrenching solo in the first minute, and reprises the solo in a higher key toward the end of the song. This, in combination with exploratory melodic sections in the middle of the piece, make the song feel as if it has classical

movements more than verses or choruses, and truly takes listeners on a musical journey.

Intervals has often been categorized into another style known as “djent,” which is characterized by a method of guitar playing using lots of low, chugging riffs (for which “djent” is an onomatopoeia) and electronic video-game-like sounds. However, In Time contrasts the group’s first album The Space Between, which utilized these elements heavily. This album favors a more intelligent and all-around beautiful writing style, and should be on the playlist for anyone who wants to hear a very artful and emotional approach to progressive metal.

-Graham Hayslip

Indie rock band Local Natives hit the public eye in 2010 with a strong debut album, Gorilla Manor. It contained the same appeal and beauty as bands including Fleet Foxes and The National, yet felt unfinished and slightly underwhelming. It was the work of a promising band attempting to make too big of an album.

Hummingbird, Local Natives’ second studio album, is the sound Gorilla Manor was searching for, and is a complete and memorizing project.

Front man Taylor Rice’s songwriting has improved tremendously on Hummingbird, as well as the band’s overall sound and production. The evolved sound and lyrics is pleasing and gentle, Rice at his best when he beautifully and desolately glides over soft pianos and guitars, the drums strong and echoing in the background. “Three Months,” “Mt. Washington,”

and “Columbia” showcase the band’s ability to dive deeper into their sound, creating a presence they previously lacked. The slower songs are matched with the pleasant sweetness of tracks such as “Ceilings,” and “Black Balloons.”

Local Natives’ growth and talent is on full display with Hummingbird, as they move from promising and slightly one-dimensional to thoughtful and complete.

Hummingbird is a bouquet of delicate but powerful songs, an impressive and brave album from a band with an exciting future ahead of them.

-Brady Brickner-Wood

Overall Rating: 7/10 Local Natives

“Hummingbird” Infectious, Frenchkiss Records

Overall Rating: 8/10

Editor’s Playlist Taylor

1. “Sweet California Can’t Stop” When you mash up Tupac, Aerosmith, and Chingy, to name a few, it’s hard to not eargasm.

2. “This Is How We Do It” – Montell Jordan I don’t care if it’s Friday, Saturday, or even Monday night, this classic never fails to get your “hands all in the a-ir.”

Katie

1. “Come As You Are”- Nirvana Nirvana music floods my iTunes, and this song speaks for itself. It reminds me not to judge so much, and let people come as they are.

2. “Feather on the Clyde”- The Passengers This song is on my '2 a.m.' playlist and is perfect for when you can't quite fall asleep.

3. “Idiot Boyfriend” – Jimmy Fallon An unlikely song for a playlist, but met with a hilarious video and a tune that will never leave your head, Jimmy Fallon proves why he is one of the most talented people in the industry... and a terrible boyfriend.

3. “Hopeless Wanderer”- Mumford & Sons This is my favorite song off their most recent album, titled Babel. I consider myself a hopeless wanderer, and this song represents that extremely well.

Raya

1. “Cardinal Song”– The National The Brooklyn band is releasing a new album in May, but I’ve been enjoying this throwback cut off of their second album, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, from way back in 2003. A chill groove laid down by the band topped by lead singer Matt Berninger’s deep vocals and deeply sad lyrics make for a relaxing listen.

1. “Sunshine” – Atmosphere Sometimes you just don’t know how great a day can be until you step outside.

2. “Dysfunctional”– Tech N9ne We are all a little dysfunctional, right?

3. “This Life I Lead”– Konu In this life we lead, sometimes a fifth of Hennessy is all we need.

Arly

1. “Grammy (Soulja Boy Cover)”– Purity Ring Megan James and Corin Roddick somehow managed to turn this garbage song into something worth playing over and over again. Swag.

2. “Everything is Embarassing”–Sky Ferreira Ferreira's lovely voice makes listening to this song about struggling with your significant other a very pleasant experience. The fact that it sounds like it was made in the '80s with a cool backbeat ands dreamy synths makes it even better. So sweet it hurts.

3. “Hollywood feat. Penguin Prison”–RAC Known for creating sick remixes of other people's songs, RAC finally made an awesome original track that has a catchy chorus and great vocals. It was released last year and I haven't stopped listening to it ever since.

Jake

2. “Juicebox”– The Strokes This is one of my all-time favorite songs, making its way back into my rotation. A gripping, aggressive vocal performance from Julian Casablancas, and heavy, surfinspired instrumentals from the rest of the band make this one memorable.

3. “Wakin’ on a Pretty Day” – Kurt Vile From his upcoming new album with a confusingly similar name, Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze, Kurt Vile turns in a nine-minute track of pure folk-rock relaxation. You’re guaranteed to loosen up when you hear it.

Peter

Although at present my musical repertoire is primarily modern and electronic, it is often the throwbacks that are most powerful.

1. “Mr. Tour le Monde”– Hocus Pocus Hocus Pocus is a French hip-hop artist especially adept at poetic nuance and catchy cadence.

2. “Retrograde”– James Blake

James Blake is a brilliant English musician with a knack for bridging experimental with experiential.

3. “A.M. 180”–Grandaddy Grandaddy’s A.M. 180 transports me into the dream of my past, of the great outdoors, and of the smell of teenage spirit. Enjoy.

Ella 1.“I Found a Body”– Tan Vampires Tan Vampires are a local seacoast band, and this single off of their 2011 album For Physical Fitness is haunting, subtle, and beautiful. I am constantly rediscovering this song, and it never fails to disappoint.

2. "I Love It (feat. Charlie XCX)"– Icona Pop School not going well? Job troubles? Boy troubles?

Swedish girl duo Icona Pop will solve all your problems with the most enjoyable and danceable "I-don't-give-afuck" song out there. Best for impromptu dance breaks in the kitchen, in your car, in the library...wherever you damn well feel like it.

3."Watch Out for This (Bumaye)"–Major Lazer feat.

Busy Signal, the Flexican, and FS Green Major Lazer's second album doesn't drop until April, but "Watch Out for This (Bumaye)" provides enough of Diplo's characteristic Jamaican dancehall/moombahaton bliss to see you through the next month.

Brian

1. “International Love”– Pitbull ft. Chris Brown It’s honestly embarassing, but I like this song a lot for the beat. I don’t even like Pitbull, but let’s be real...Chris Brown kills it.

2. “Firefly”– The White Panda I don’t usually like mashups with rock songs, but when I do they involve “Snow” by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kendrick Lamar.

3. “Heaven”–DJ Sammy You may or may nor remember this Eurodance song from 2002. It’s an absolute classic for house music in the early 2000s.

Restaurant Reviews By: Jack Callahan

Ceres Bakery 51 Penhallow Street Portsmouth, New Hampshire Mon–Fri: 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sat: 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

Sun: 7 a.m.-3 p.m.

(603) 436-6518 Originally located on Ceres Street, the bakery is now tucked away on Penhallow Street. A pastry and sandwich counter, Ceres Bakery does breakfast, lunch, and desserts. Boasting a great cup of coffee and a wide selection of soup and sandwich options, the little shop is packed throughout the day.

The pastry display case is full of cookies and pastries of every shape and color. The menu is written on various chalkboards that hang behind the counter and take a minute to decipher. The kitchen is open to the counter and customers can stand back and watch their food be prepared while they wait.

The build-your-own sandwich combinations seem to be endless. Choices need to be made between types of meat, types of spreads, mixtures of vegetables and types of breads. I decided on ovenroasted turkey, whole grain mustard, with sprouts and lettuce on whole-wheat poppy seed bread.

Ceres also offers a selection of soups, quiches, and pizzas along with their sandwiches. And while they have plenty carnivorous choices, there is always a vegetarian special, along with many vegetarian options on the regular menu. Their dessert offerings include cookies, cakes, tarts, and pies.

Little tables are scattered about the shop, caféstyle, and though they fill up quickly there is more space in the little dining room. Consisting of mismatched kitchen chairs, a fire place, and café-appropriate chandelier, the room is a great spot to nurse a coffee with a good book, watch the crowd come and go, and attempt to create the perfect sandwich from the endless options.

Book and Bar 40 Pleasant Street Portsmouth, New Hampshire Hours: Mon-Sun, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

(603) 427-9197 Newly opened this fall, Portsmouth’s Book and Bar is a hybrid. Part used bookstore, part living room, part bar; the place is a perfect conglomeration of eating, drinking, reading and relaxing. Housed in the old bank building on Pleasant Street, Book and Bar is nestled in a first floor corner of the imposing gray stone building just outside the main radius of Market Square. Nodding to its ornate history, the restaurant is updated in both creature comforts and style. A dark wood bar lies below a sleek faux ceiling housing lights and ventilation, but not hiding the original high ceilings or the crown molding.

Book and Bar benefits from an open plan. Low lying bookshelves like counter tops demarcate the dining area, as does a group of simple sturdy tables worthy of a library. Enclaves of armchairs and coffee tables are tucked away in various corners, but the bookshelves and bar are what stand out. With sections from ‘Music’ to ‘Photography’ to ‘Fiction,’ there’s more than enough reading material to keep a diner busy through even the longest lunch. And with am impressive local beer selection on tap, there’s enough to drink to keep a reader occupied through even the dullest book.

The pesto sandwich was excellent, with the roasted eggplant, zucchini, and peppers taking prece

dence and the pesto taking a backseat. The bread was lightly toasted and fresh and the sandwich came with a side of lightly dressed greens, but the roasted vegetables dominated the flavor to much applause.

Other vegetarian options include the Polenta Triangles, which came garnished with kumquats and included a mixture of capers and sweet chutney to spread on the polenta.

For carnivores, the Charcuterie Board figures prominently in the menu, and for good reason.

A wide selection of meats come sliced thinly and ready to be stacked in countless variations. While some of the meat stood out as dry and grizzled, the various spreads and toppings that came with the plate more than made up for it. Whether spread on bread or crackers, the choices between honey and Dijon mustard, pickles or pickled onions, and peppers or chutney made the assembly process half the fun. Whether deciding what spread to pair with what meat, what entre to pair with what drink, or what meal with what book, Book and Bar makes the choice yours, because they’ve got a little bit of everything.

Panini and brews at Book and Bar.

Pastries at Ceres Street Bakery.

The Evolution of Internet Flirting By: Taylor Lawrence

U

NH Senior Austin Lord bemoans, “I don’t even know how to flirt in person, let alone online,” and oh, how tricky it can be...

• The history of the Internet is thought to have begun with the development of electronic computers in the 1950s, however much we doubt the ancient flirting capabilities.

• The creation of the Internet coincided with the creation of the email, home to so many regretful pictures and suggestive statements.

• NASA was the first to use video chat in the 1960s. The amount of cybersex that occurred in outer space is still unknown.

• Email flirting is in its most subtle form a smiley emoticon (wink face if you’re forward) and in its most aggressive form a series of attached “pics.”

• AOL Instant Messenger blew up in 1997. Everyone was frantically trying to produce a screen name by combining their hair color, sport they played, initials, and the number 69 in one clever way or another.

• AOL Chatrooms were one of our first opportunities to chat with strangers somewhere besides

the mall. Much easier than guessing an email address, AOL Chatrooms were a mess of people, most trying to be someone besides themselves.

• The conventional web cam was invented in 1991, and changed the game of home videos forever.

Now even your closest companions could live stream their very own homemade love-fest right to your screen.

• UNH Junior Brady Filonov remembers the tune of love that vibrated over her desktop’s speakers. “Your crush had a specialized sound that notified you once they signed on… mine was a bell for my beloved Dylan.”

• Video dating offered by dating sites allow 3-5 minute webcam interviews. Just prop a cup of coffee on your desk and enjoy a casual bistro date all over the streaming web.

• Skype was created in 2003, and is one of the leading online video chat providers.

• “1 in 5 relationships begin online.”

• It is estimated that the annual revenue from the online dating industry in 2012 was $1.049 billion. About 40 million people are on eHarmony alone.

• Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook,

and Twitter have made flirting and getting rejected fast.

• Facebook was created in 2004 and is currently said to have over 1 billion users worldwide.

And with this creation, poking got a whole new meaning.

• “Sometimes the overusage of winky faces [on Facebook messenger] makes you feel like they want to take your clothes off,” UNH Junior Chad Becker.

• Twitter came out in 2006.

• “The way to know if the girl at the bar really liked you is if they added you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and left you a Snapchat all before you wake up the next morning,” says UNH Senior Nate Paitchel.

• In 2012 the Tinder craze gave every bar-goer an ice breaker with, “aren’t we a match on Tinder?”

It is difficult to know how far these online flirtations will go. Will there be a legal marriage app, a proposal social networking site? Nothing seems impossible in the virtual world that has no end.

UNH student Heather Laflamme.

UNH grad student Katie Lemay.

In Memory of Heather By: Ella Nilsen

T

his summer, 21-year-old UNH student Heather Laflamme was killed in a car crash on Martha’s Vineyard on the Fourth of July. Her friends are now working hard to establish a campus memorial in her name and organize a ceremony to honor her. The celebration, set to happen on May 4 at 1 p.m., is to be a time for UNH students to gather and celebrate Laflamme’s life. A location for the memorial has not yet been announced.

“Our goal that we set over the summer was to have a memorial with her name on it,” said Katie Lemay, a UNH graduate student and Laflamme’s former roommate and best friend. “We wanted to make sure it was on campus so that students could see it.”

Lemay noted that Laflamme, a Recreation Management and Policy major and native of Berlin, N.H., was incredibly attached to the UNH campus.

“She was obsessed with UNH,” Lemay said, “especially football and hockey. She loved them. She was a huge football fan in general and loved the Patriots.”

Laflamme was an honors student, and the first of her family to attend college. Within her Recreation Management and Policy major, Laflamme focused her studies and internships on event organizing, but also had a passion for helping the disabled. She had participated in a project on campus looking at how accessible UNH was to disabled people.

Lemay described Laflamme as the type of friend who gave unconditional support. “I could always rely on her,” said Lemay. “She was very understand-

ing. She would drop whatever she was doing if you were having a bad day.”

During the late summer and early fall, Lemay and other UNH students Laura Klui, Marissa Lee, Jackie Pham, Chelsea Walker, and Brooke Rallis, all friends of Laflamme, came together to start fundraising for a UNH memorial in her honor.

During the 2012 Parents Weekend on September 28 and 29, the group organized a car wash fundraiser to help raise money with the help of fraternity Phi Beta Gamma and sorority Kappa Delta. “It poured,” Lemay said. Even with such poor weather, the group raised $1,200 simply by going around town and asking for donations.

With the money they raised from the carwash, the group believed they would have enough to pay for a stone bench or tree engraved with Laflamme’s name on it, however, they recently discovered that they need a far greater amount of money to do so.

To establish a memorial at UNH, one has to go through the Office of Campus planning. To plant a tree, the cost is $1,900 and to set up an engraved six-foot bench, the cost is $3,500.

As spring semester draws to a close, the group is now weighing their options and trying to decide how to get a permanent memorial set up by early May. “Right now, we’re looking at engraving a bench that’s already on campus,” said Lemay, which she added would be more within the group’s pricerange.

Locations the group is looking at currently include benches outside of Congreve Hall, Laflamme’s for-

mer hall of residence.

Laflamme’s friends are also planning more fundraisers for the spring semester, and encourage anyone who is interested in contributing volunteer time or ideas to reach out to them. Currently, the group is putting out jars for people to donate to in downtown locations such as DHOP, Mama Macs, Village Pizza, Wildcat Pizza, Hayden Sports, and the Irving gas station.

According to Lemay, the biggest goal for establishing a memorial for Laflamme is to give Heather’s friends and family a physical place to go and remember her.

“I thought it would help her family to have someplace to go,” said Lemay. “There’s no place for people to bring flowers or go to.” As Laflamme was cremated following her death, there is currently no permanent memorial site for her.

A memorial ceremony is currently being planned for Saturday, May 4 at 1 p.m., but the location is yet to be determined and preparations for the memorial service are still underway. According to Lemay, the ceremony will be open to everyone. It is a chance for any UNH student or community member to speak in remembrance of Heather Laflamme.

Lemay noted that the best way for students to keep track of memorial service updates was through the open Facebook group, “UNH Remembers Heather.”

If any UNH organizations, Greek or otherwise, wish to contribute volunteer efforts to fundraising or to the memorial itself, they may contact Katie Lemay at kjc55@wildcats.unh.edu.

Local Taste: Throwback Brewery By: Tim Meehan

A

t the Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, Annette Lee and Nicole Carrier are fascinated with the concept of local taste, and have playfully adapted the wine community’s concept of “terrior” to illustrate their own vision with beer. ‘Terrior’ is a term used to describe the soil, grapes, and general environment that can influence a wine’s flavor and character, but in New Hampshire, it takes on a new meaning with local brews.

“We came up with the term ‘beer-ior’ to mean a beer that represents its taste of place, that the flavor of it reflects the local ingredients,” said Carrier. “It’s sort of a fun way to describe what we are doing here.”

Because of this interest, Annette and Nicole focus on buying most of their ingredients from local farms. This has proved to be a challenging task, however, because the New England climate is not suitable for the growing of many types of hops and fruits that can be used in beer. Although this may limit the variety of the beer, it ensures quality and local ingredients.

According to Carrier, the practice of growing grains locally is just starting to re-emerge in the States.

“Brewers traditionally, or for the past many years, have not focused on making local beers and I think that’s more of a revolution,” she said.

“Traditionally, most malts come from the U.K. or big factories in Canada, and also the Mid-West.

People haven’t really been growing grain around here but it’s starting to come back.”

The team at Throwback believes that through their dedication and optimism, they will be able to buy 100 percent of their ingredients from farms in the area. Brookford Farms in Rollinsford N.H., and Valley Malt in Hadley, M.A. are two of the farms that the brewery works with as part of this endeavor. Throwback also supports nearby farms by giving them all of their spent grain.

Lee and Carrier have constructed a comfortable, social atmosphere in their brewery, currently located at a warehouse in North Hampton. The bar, which is made of dark wood, reflects the traditional principles of the brewery. The tables near the bar offer visitors an area to enjoy their beer and socialize with other beer enthusiasts.

Carrier emphasized the brewery’s environment.

“It’s great because people get to meet each other and new friendships have been made,” she said, adding, “for me, it’s all about the sense of community we have created; meeting all the people has been the most invigorating aspect of owning a brewery.”

In the next year, the brewery will see many changes. Carrier and Lee recently purchased Hobb’s Farm, located across from the brewery’s current space.

“When we started, we always wanted to move the brewery to a farm and really incorporate using local ingredients,” Carrier said. “We thought

it would be great to also grow the adjuncts we use in the beer.”

The unique flavor of the beer is not the only benefit to brewing locally; this type of production is also instrumental for the reduction of Throwback’s carbon footprint. The transportation of ingredients across the country is costly, both economically and environmentally. In addition to buying locally, Annette and Nicole promote recycling practices and give reusable growlers to their customers. The brewery is also investigating the use of solar power to heat the water.

“The barn at Hobb’s farm is huge and it’s perfect for solar panels,” said Carrier. “We are also looking into alternative energy sources, like having a small windmill there to make some energy.”

Before moving to her position as head brewer, Lee worked as an environmental engineer for 20 years. A decade ago, she found her love for brewing after borrowing some buckets and ingredients from her friends. In 2008, Lee completed the World Brewing Academy Concise course in Brewing Technology from Chicago’s Siebel Institute.

During the same year, she worked as an intern at the Smuttynose Brewery in Portsmouth.

Carrier manages the marketing, technology and “people stuff ” that is involved in the management of the brewery. She has also been brewing for a decade, and continues to help create recipes for her partner to craft. When asked about her favorite brew, she explained that “it is hard to pick because it’s kind of like choosing between your children.”

At Throwback, Lee and Carrier seek to capture the crafting practices used by brewers before Prohibition, when local raw ingredients were processed before brewing. This affection for traditional brewing makes the brewery a “throwback” to the past. The name also refers to the social and comfortable taste of their beer that makes it easy to ‘throw back.’

With the help of a Maine-based welder, Throwback built their “Franken-brewery” out of tanks they discovered in the neighboring states. They produce about three barrels (93 gallons) during every brew, and hand-bottle the unfiltered beer.

As Carrier explained, “It doesn’t take much to go through three barrels of beer so we know if we make something, it’s pretty easy to sell at that size, it gives us more flexibility.” The small size of the tanks compliments Throwback’s creativity and willingness to incorporate uncommon seasonal ingredients.

Such a small operation demands near-constant work from Carrier and Lee, as well as their small staff.

“It’s constant work; we are always working,” Carrier says. “It’s a cliché to say that doing what you love doesn’t feel like work…but it’s one of those things that is very rewarding because people in the community seem to enjoy what we’re doing.

I guess we knew it would be work, but the work

is worth it.”

Throwback’s selection offers a healthy variety of beers for customers to choose from. Whether you are a hop-head or a more casual beer fan, the brewery can offer you tasty flavors to quench your thirst. When I asked Carrier what brew she would recommend, she named off countless options.

“If someone likes IPAs, I would tell them to try our Hopstruck which is our Red IPA,” she said.

“If someone typically likes dark beer, we have a Maple-wheat Porter that is a little on the lighter side with some Maple Syrup from Taylor Farms in Meriden, N.H. Or if someone likes more robust flavors we have a smoked porter that we do.”

For the beginners, Carrier recommends going light. “If someone is just getting into beer, I would recommend our Hefeweizen because it’s lighter and fruitier and approachable for people who might not be beer drinkers.”

In addition to their staple brews like Oma’s Tribute Black Lager, Hopstruck IPA, and Dippity Do American Brown Ale, they also craft unique seasonals, including a Chipotle Porter, Rhubarb Wit, Chocolate Beet Stout, and a Red Rover Coffee Mint Stout. The options are endless, creative, and most importantly, always locally based.

Be sure to check visit the brewery during their “growler hours” on Thursdays and Fridays from 4-7 p.m. and Saturdays from 1-4 p.m.

We Recommend:

The Campfire Smoked Porter - The malt used in the production of this beer was hand-smoked on local apple wood, which gives the dark porter a strong smoky flavor. Just as a campfire radiates warmth and security, the thick taste of the porter will give the drinker a comfortable feeling to sink into at night. This beer would nicely compliment a steak or a hamburger.

Dippity Do American Brown Ale - The name reflects the energetic, American taste of the ale.

Made with ingredients from New Hampshire, Maine, New York and Massachusetts, this beer’s regional flavor is great for most occasions. This would be perfect to drink while fishing, or spending time outside.

Hopstruck IPA - This red IPA is a must-drink for pale ale lovers. The flavor contains a healthy dose of hops that does not overpower the other ingredients, making this a well-rounded beer. The warm amber color suggests the approachable qualities of the IPA. This beer would go very nicely with crackers and cheese, or a sandwich.

Double IPA - Carrier offered me a taste of this strong pale ale after I told her that I enjoy IPAs. This hoppy beer has a powerful taste that is sure to please IPA lovers, as well as hop-heads.

Maple-Kissed Wheat Porter - This is the easiest-to-drink of the Throwback flavors I tried. It is not hard to recognize the hint of maple hidden in the balanced porter. The sweet taste makes this beer a perfect, social drink for after dinner.

“We came up with the term ‘beer-ior’ to mean a beer that represents its taste of place, that the flavor of it reflects the local ingredients. It’s sort of a fun way to describe what we are doing here.”

-Nicole Carrier, Co-Owner at Throwback Brewery

Intricate, floral textiles give a feminine flair to basic black.

Add an air of sophistication to sailor pants with accents of gold jewelry and woven wedges.

Channel classic nautical with blue and white lines and crisp accents of red.

High waisted pants and large brimmed beach hats? Check.

Red lips and a leather jacket give this tailored shift and ornate jewelry an edgy vibe.

Sharpen up your look with a leatheraccented, structured bag.

Local Vintage: Wear the Past By: Emma Huntoon

W

hile some clothing from eras past will remain in your grandmother’s closet, not to be worn again, many vintage pieces remain timeless. Whether it be the classic silhouettes of the 1950s, mod dresses from the 1960s, or gauzy flowing garments from the 1970s, these looks have not only remained staples of time’s past, but continue to influence clothing that is produced in the twenty-first century.

The ability to navigate a vintage look in 2013 is a skill that must take into account the context of a garment from its unique era, as well as a clear view on how to make it relevant to one’s own personal style.

Concetta’s Closet, opened in Newmarket approximately two and a half years ago by owner Dana Hanson, boasts garments that scream originality and class. Hanson, who lived in New York City before making the move to New Hampshire to harness her love for vintage, is passionate about

clarifying the meaning of vintage and styling the garments that she lovingly collects and sells.

Whatever your fashion inspiration, Concetta’s Closet speaks to many era’s past that remain relevant with flattering cuts and intricate textiles. If you are not interested in limiting your wardrobe to wears from the mall, then take a peak into the Newmarket store and begin your own style story.

Raquetball courts at the Whit.

Sleeves required here.

Spring Fitness By: Annah Todd

A

ddie Berglund sits cross-legged with 14inch wooden needles in her small hands and a ball of dark blue wool between her feet. It rolls off the couch at the end of every row. Addie is nine years old and spent the past New Year’s Eve in New York City with her family. Although she did not stay up until midnight, she resolved to “knit everyone scarves” in the New Year, and is now six inches into her second one. Not only is Addie an avid knitter, she is also a competitive swimmer. “I want to win more swim meets this year,” Addie said, “and improve my butterfly stroke.”

Although many people do not make resolutions to give all of their friends and family hand-knit scarves, Addie is not alone in wanting to improve her fitness. According to health.com, one in three Americans makes resolutions at the turn of the New Year. Seventy-four percent of those who do maintain them for about a week. Six months later, only 46 percent are still on target. Improving fitness and losing weight are some of the most common resolutions made.

Justine Young may have the opposite problem.

Young, a student at the University of New Hampshire makes time for “an hour of so” of activity a day. As a student, Young has access to the university’s recreation center, but she prefers the privately owned gym, Wildcat Fitness, in downtown Durham. “It’s still super busy in the afternoons,” Young said, “but Wildcat Fitness isn’t as insane as the recreation center is.”

Young is allowed one guest a day, unlimited tanning, and discounts on towel rentals and cooler

drinks for $25 a month at Wildcat Fitness, where she has been a member for three-and-a-half years.

The locker room inside the gym is clean and spacious with full-length mirrors, showers and benches.

Young piles her two coats and enormous backpack in her locker. Inside the fitness room, she runs three miles, walks for a few minutes, and then proceeds to lift weights for 15 minutes.

“I do this pretty much every day,” Young said.

“I’m pretty much right where I want to be with my fitness. If anything, my resolution would be to run a bit less so I don’t get injured again.”

But Young has an advantage. Statistically, she has better chance than the average American at succeeding in her resolution goals. Sixty-one percent of people in their twenties that made resolutions will fulfill them. A perfect example is Natalie Collins, a sophomore student at the University of New Hampshire who has ambitious goals for herself. A month-and-a-half after the ball dropped, Collins has stuck true to her resolutions. ​“My resolution was to eat healthy and try to stay away from dairy and gluten as much as possible,” Collins said. “Mainly because I want to eat food that processes through my body with ease, making me feel better and look better.” Easier said than done, as Collins has run into some challenges. She still lives in an on-campus dorm, has limited ability to cook meals for herself, and is at the mercy of the dining halls. “When I don’t have my own kitchen it’s harder, but I’m succeeding in my mind so far,” Collins said optimistically. “I eventually want to become fully dairy and gluten free by 2015.”

Though common health resolutions range from

consuming less alcohol to loosing weight to drinking more water, “finding fitness” is the most popular resolution across all age brackets. Ryan Gulla, a supervisor at the university campus recreation center, described January as being “unreal busy.”

“The first week of classes set records every year,” Gulla said. It’s no surprise that of the 250-350 people that come into Wildcat Fitness on a daily average, 50 percent are students. New membership sign-ups in January at Wildcat Fitness are triple compared to every month.

“Most people stick to their resolutions for two to six weeks and then start to get bored and then absolutely start to loose motivation,” Joe Melanson, general manager at Wildcat Fitness said. “They either stop coming or hire a personal trainer.” As such, January and February are the busiest months for personal trainers.

Before spring break rolls around in mid-March, numbers increase at campus recreation again, Gulla said. It gets busy at Wildcat Fitness too, but mainly because of tanning.

Looking to shape up quickly? “Well, a week or two before break, it’s too late,” Melanson said. “So don’t switch it up much. Stick with your plan, despite the time constraints and what you think you look like.”

Melanson, who spends enough time at the gym to know “every single person’s name,” sheds some light into the workout abyss. To develop a healthy, long-term habit, he recommends setting goals.

“The more you achieve the goals you set, the more confidence you will receive. If you walk in with a positive attitude, you will walk out with one.”

Tropical print suit on Naomi Odlin

Leopard print suit on Kayla Lennon Kayla Lennon wearing a rufflesd suit

Blue bandeau suit on Naomi Odlin

Spring into Swimwear

By Taylor Lawrence

F

or some, spring break may be a well-deserved week on a familiar couch catching up on months of reality television, but for the even luckier ones, this week can offer an escape from the frozen New Hampshire tundra that generally lingers into March. The eager spring breakers who are able to fast-forward to a week in the summer sun, heads filled with images of fruity cocktails and fit strangers, often pack their bags with some variation of sunscreen, towels, and shot glasses. Regardless of whether your flight is headed for Miami or Mexico, one item is essential to fit into that overstuffed suitcase: the perfect swimsuit. Luckily, runways across the globe have set the tone for this coming swimsuit season so that you can stay hot in the spring break heat.

In terms of prints, designers are taking their tropical inspiration and splattering it across suits.

Images of palm trees and water mirroring tropical destinations are displayed on suits of all shapes, styles, and sizes. These prints are exotic and eyecatching, with color schemes that encompass a lot

of blue, green, yellow and orange hues.

If you prefer palm trees on the beach rather than plastered across your chest, the runways have also been pushing beach-goers to take a walk on the wild side. Leopard-print has leapt from slim-fit cardigans to the swanky swimsuits of the season as this classic print takes on a whole new form. Look for it to appear in a range of colors uncharacteristic of the beast it was inspired by, like neon greens and electric blues.

Beyond the prints, this season is all about the details. Embellishments like ruffles add a flirty, unexpected touch to a classic string bikini, while crisscross detailing add sex-appeal and edge to this season’s simpler looks.

The styles taking shape this season have not veered away much from the runways of 2012. The one-piece cutout suits, or monokinis, are continuing to shatter stereotypes that one-pieces must be modest. Monokinis feature daring skin peaking out from every natural curve of a woman’s body.

These trendy suits carefully highlight a womanly shape by accentuating hips and waistlines as fabric

carefully weaves to compliment the female frame.

As we look at two-pieces, tops are continuing to shrink as a bandeau style reigns supreme on the runways this spring. This strapless style is perfect for a small bust-line, however, if your cup-size falls somewhere later on the alphabet, a more supportive top is probably the better choice. Try Victoria’s Secret’s Beach Sexy Line, which allows you to select tops according to bra size for the best possible fit and support.

Unlike bikini tops, which continue to perform a designer disappearing act, bikini bottoms are gaining inches of fabric as they mimic the high-waisted bottoms of the 1950s. These retro bottoms not only wink at fashion history but also offer a layer of modesty that works to highlight a curvy hip and a small torso. How high the waist is can vary from just below the belly button to a few inches above it.

Choose what makes you feel the most comfortable, and remember, confidence never goes out of style.

Portsmouth Street Art By: Raya Al-Hashmi

At the New Hampshire gun rally in Concord.

Gun Control By: Ella Nilsen

J

anuary 31, 2013: my first time coming face graders and six of their teachers and administrators to face with a man carrying a semi-automatic could not be forgotten as easily as previous incirifle. dents.

The horror that was Sandy Hook actually garIt’s not as bad as the image suggests. The man, nered more sustained media attention than any whoever he is, is simply attending a pro-gun rally at shooting before, and also received a much faster the New Hampshire State House in Concord. He’s political response from the Obama administration. exercising his right to publicly bear arms, as validat- Three weeks after Newtown, the President passed ed by the second amendment of the United States 23 executive actions to start moving on gun control Constitution. He’s also glaring at me as I point my reform. camera towards him, making me rethink the deciIn the weeks that followed, Congress took acsion to snap his picture. tion as well. Multiple bills are being considered in In the United States today, there are two sides to Washington D.C. right now, but one of the most the gun control argument, personified by my en- important ones would expand background checks counter with this man and his semi-automatic. The to private gun sales and nearly all other forms of first side of the argument is that it’s safe to assume gun purchase. The bill would also force stricter he is a licensed gun owner who has been trained measures on states that fail to enforce checks. in the safety and proper use of this weapon. In all New Hampshire has its own extremely colorful likelihood, this person is a law-abiding citizen with history with gun laws. N.H. House Democrats reno intention of firing into the crowd. cently repealed a long-standing state law allowing The second side of the argument has less reason representatives to carry concealed guns and other to it. It’s as simple as the clench in my stomach deadly weapons onto the floor of the state house. and the sudden apprehension I feel as I stare at the While lawmakers are no longer allowed to pack heat gun, with a chorus of ‘what ifs’ resounding in my while debating, (the ban also extends to the State head. It’s the legacy of Columbine, Virginia Tech, House gallery and ante-room), they and members Portland, Aurora, and Newtown. It’s the reality of of the public can still carry weapons elsewhere in scanning Twitter for news and seeing at least one the building. multiple-victim shooting per week being reported The N.H. State House weapons ban, enacted by media outlets. by a Democratically controlled state legislature in January, was met with both praise and scorn. ReIs this the new normal in America? publican Representative John Burt from Goffstown told members of the New Hampshire press that Gun culture is intrinsically entwined with Ameri- he planned to blatantly ignore the law, as the State can identity. Guns are everywhere you look, in the House rules bar security guards from searching replanguage of our Constitution and ever-present in resentatives. our history. They prominently feature in the reJustifying his stance, Burt stated, “If we become gional culture of multiple parts of the country, es- a gun free zone, we are telling every nut in the state pecially in rural areas. As reported by USA Today, we are a gun free zone. I will not be a victim in this rural Americans, counting for one-sixth of the total House, and I want all the crazy nuts out there in this population, are more than twice as likely to have state to understand that.” guns than their urban counterparts.

Some Democratic lawmakers pointed out that This statistic has something to do with the fact the State House regularly hosts New Hampshire elthat hunting is a large tradition in rural America, ementary school children, and that the impetus for but really, pro-gun rights and pro-gun identity have the ban revolved around concerns for their safety in much more to do with a belief that guns are es- such an armed environment. sential tools for with which American citizens may In addition to concealed weapons in the state protect their Constitution-bestowed liberties. house, the N.H. House of Representatives considThose who stand against control measures have ered a number of controversial concealed-weapons a number of concerns that have to do with a fun- bills last year, including one that would have allowed damental mistrust of big government and an over- anyone to carry concealed weapons and firearms on arching fear that the current administration will New Hampshire state university campuses, includ‘take the guns away.’ Taking the guns away is highly ing the University of New Hampshire. unlikely, but making them more difficult to purThe bill was met with an outcry from public unichase is an increasing possibility. versity officials, campus police, professors, and stuThe change in the national conversation on gun dents, not least due to the fact that UNH has seen control started after the Sandy Hook massacre in its fair share of assaults, including a stabbing in the Newtown, Connecticut. Even with a country so 2011-2012 school year. accustomed to violence, the shooting of 20 first It’s been fourteen years since 1999, the year of

the Columbine massacre. Since then, 2002 is the only year that has gone by without a mass shooting (defined by the F.B.I. as four people killed at one time, not including the shooter) in the nation. Since 1999, the U.S. has experienced 31 school shootings and since 1982 the country has witnessed approximately 61 mass murders.

The Washington Post recently reported that as of January, there are far more licensed gun dealers than post offices in the United States, 31,857 post offices compared to 58,344 gun dealers.

Mother Jones Magazine has found that the amount of guns owned in the United States has jumped considerably in the last decade. In 1995, there were an estimated 200 million guns owned privately. Today there are approximately 300 million. To put that in some perspective, there are approximately 314 million people total living in the United States.

2012 is by far the deadliest year of gun violence on record.

The January afternoon that I go to the gun rally at the New Hampshire state house is sunny but bitterly cold, like any biting New England winter day.

The anger in the crowd that has gathered is just as palpable. Of the approximately 500 people there, most are over 50 years of age. Many are carrying American flags and ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flags. Others hold up signs proclaiming their second amendment rights. And then there’s the most bold statement of all: those that are carrying guns.

One of the speakers, an older man who describes himself as a former Marine, takes the podium. His voice, tinged with a rugged New Hampshire accent, rings throughout the crowd.

“We’re at a crossroads in our country!” he booms.

“The second amendment protects our entire constitution!” He states that this is a peaceful demonstration, that the pro-gun advocates are collecting signatures, stating their opposition to gun control legislation... nothing more. But then comes a warning.

“We don’t want to have to wheel a cannon up to the governor’s house like we did two hundred years ago!” he shouts.

“But we will if we have to!” the crowd responds.

Over the next year or more, the legislators will debate. The pundits will yell. The six-year-old survivors of Sandy Hook will attend therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder and continue their young lives. The families of the victims will mourn and press for change. Gun advocates will argue that we need more guns instead of less.

The debate in the United States has just begun to get serious.

UNH students protest for divestment on campus.

A message for the president.

Lecturing on divestment.

Are We Burning Our Future?

By: Peter Cloutier

T

he word “divestment” is not commonly found in the college student’s jargon, but UNH’s Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) is trying to change that. I recently sat down with Fiona Gettinger, SEAC Coordinator and former intern at Greenpeace, and Kaity Thomson, a current SEAC member. I wanted to find out what divestment was all about.

Divestment is a movement that has spread primarily through 350.org, a website created by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben and fellow colleagues. McKibben is credited with writing one of the first and most recognized books on global warming and climate change. His success at mobilizing grassroots activism has swayed political leaders, including President Barack Obama, to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Along with some political leaders, many citizens have been inspired to start outgrowth environmental groups. UNH SEAC not only works closely with 350.org, but the groups Better Future Project and Responsible Endowment Coalition, social organizations focused on building public awareness on climate issues and supporting positive individual actions.

Divestment is the opposite of investment. Ecologically speaking, divestment carries deeper meaning—making sustainable economic choices by relocating university investments from fossil fuel companies to socially responsible companies. Divestment is not a specific reinvestment strategy, but an investment screen.

Last November, over 1,000 UNH students signed a petition to divest. SEAC members were among the signatures. Although there is strong student allegiance to the idea of divestment, the process of institutionalizing the concept will take much more than student action.

SEAC has struggled to open lines of communication to explain divestment’s benefits. Gettinger has continually been denied the opportunity to meet with the UNH Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Not to be disheartened, it was with enthusiasm and genuine concern for both the university and social and ecological systems that Gettinger and Thomson explained the concept of divestment, touching upon issues of sustainability, fiscal responsibility, ethical integrity, and the state of transparency between the student body and the administration.

UNH, nationally known as leader in university sustainability, is not normally hesitant to research potential green investments. Divestment may only need a little more support and a serious examination by the President and board of directors to determine its viability. The board of directors, however, has been apprehensive to listen to students.

By ignoring the students’ concerns they are ignoring their most fundamental and valuable resource, but SEAC remains undeterred.

On March 4, 2013, NH Listens sponsored a university dialogue on divestment. The UNH Founda-

tion’s Board of Directors attended, as well as the students, faculty and community. After two hours of small, round table discussions, a general consensus became apparent. There must be more transparency between the public and the university endowment, and the values of UNH must match our investment agenda. SEAC believes this is a step in the right direction, but it will take more education and quantitative analysis to galvanize divestments plausibility.

The University of New Hampshire’s students, faculty, administration—and hopefully the board of directors responsible for allocating the university endowment—pride themselves on a commitment to sustainability and green initiatives. It is not surprising that the university discloses information about its numerous socio-ecologically responsible actions online. Sustainableunh.unh.edu categorizes all actions/initiatives into four categories: C.O.R.E., or Curriculum, Operations, Research, and Engagement.

Under “Operations,” one can find the link to a program titled the Climate Action Plan. WildCAP, as the plan is abbreviated, is a decision to substantially lower UNH’s anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which have consistently gone down since 2003. WildCAP’s various achievements are credited to two other organizations within the university, the Climate Education Initiative (CEI) of the Sustainability Institute and the Energy Task Force (ETF), a subsidiary group of the aforementioned, created in 2006. Other programs and initiatives of the university include the Ecosystem Task Force (EcoTF), the Local Harvest Initiative, and the UNH Revolving Energy Fund (EEF).

On a moral basis, fossil fuel divestment at a university level means supporting a collegiate community that recognizes the intrinsic value of nature and does not blindly accept exploitation of the natural environment. Although fossil fuel is one of the most viable sources of energy, it is also one of the least efficient. Its production undermines the natural environment, which humans and businesses alike rely on.

The “greenhouse effect,” of which the burning of fossil carbon is a significant contributor, is causing earth’s global temperature to increase. In addition, the ozone layer has already depleted to a dangerous level. Intensified radiation from the sun is now reaching the Earth’s surface. Currently, global temperatures have increased 0.8 degrees Celsius. Scientists warn that we cannot afford to reach a global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius.

Fossil fuel companies’ oil reserves, cumulatively, contain approximately 2,795 gigatons of carbon.

According to the scientific community, this is more than enough carbon, if burned, to push global temperature change past 2 degrees Celsius. At this critical number the earth’s climate will suffer irreversible changes. To avoid this, divestment seeks to recognize higher education’s responsibility to make environmentally prudent decisions, emphasizing the

moral value in not investing in fossil fuels.

Divestment is financially feasible. It is not a specific reinvestment plan, but rather a proposal to cut out the largest 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies from the university’s investment portfolios.

Although UNH has made agreements to not disclose all of its holdings, there is no doubt that the university has stake in the oil industry – an industry whose product and processes kill tens of thousands of people each year from health effects, according to SEAC’s Proposal for Fossil Fuel Divestiture.

Studies have been conducted on whether or not avoiding these ethically worrisome companies and investing in sustainable companies is fiscally responsible. A study by the investment management firm Phillips, Hager & North compares the performance of Domini, a leading socially and environmentally screened fund, to that of the traditional S&P 500 stock index. The report concludes that, ‘the chief finding of this research is that socially responsible investing does not result in lower investment returns.’”

Moreover, many investment firms have adopted similar screens, including Green Century Funds, Portfolio 21 Investments, Green Revolving Funds, and Pax World. If successful investment firms support divestment, it should not be so radical to believe a progressive public university could make a similar commitment.

In fact, other colleges and universities have found divestment as both a morally responsible and financially feasible option. In November 2012, the Unity College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to divest the school’s $13.5 million endowment “from every industry that is polluting this planet.” Unity has also been joined by Hampshire and Sterling colleges in divesting.

Why not UNH? UNH is still a leader in university sustainability, being ranked by several lists as one of the greenest campuses in America. Over two decades ago, the university helped write the Talloires Declaration, described as “the most bold and definitive statement on higher education and sustainability.” A section of the declaration states, “The university heads must provide the leadership and support to mobilize internal and external resources so that their institutions respond to this urgent challenge.”

Maybe it is time, even simply from a leadership perspective, for the Board of Directors at UNH to bring more resources to the discussion table. Being one of the first state universities to divest would certainly send a resounding message of the UNH community’s commitment to making ethical, fiscally responsible, and environmentally cognizant endowment decisions throughout the higher education system.

Divestment can be a sticky process for an endowment, whose goal is to reach its yearly return objectives and to sustain its capital over the long-term.

The UNH Foundation is not normally a high-risk taking entity. According to the foundation, approxi-

Continues on page 43

Adventures of the Abaco Dinghies By: Jack Callahan

I

n the northern part of the Bahamas there is an archipelago of cays called the Abacos, a group of islands that sprout up from one of the longest continuous coral reefs in the world. The Abacos and their barrier reefs enclose a protected body of water called the Sea of Abaco. One of those little cays is called Elbow Cay, and just outside its main settlement, Hopetown, is a small inlet lined with mangroves, where three of the last seaworthy Abaco Dinghies float, suspended in translucent water.

The inlet itself is accessible only by water, surrounded by dense tropical underbrush too thick to allow a path over the hill into Hopetown. The boats are expertly restored and true to their original design, hardly ever leaving their moorings. Once the main mode of transportation in the Abacos, these dinghies are now being forgotten and close to disappearing.

Hopetown is the village that sprang up around the northern harbor on Elbow Cay, where a group of British Loyalists fleeing the newly founded America landed in 1785. A plaque commemorating their landing is engraved on a small rock found on a tiny beach that stretches along the harbor.

This grubby plaque is nestled under a palm tree and surrounded by the brightly colored cottages that dot the beach. It often goes unnoticed by the tourists who flock to Hopetown in weekly intervals.

Tourism is the lifeblood of the Bahamas, especially Hopetown. Though tourism is increasing with each passing season, some of the area’s rich history often goes unnoticed.

Thankfully Elbow Cay hasn’t completely been taken over by sunburnt Americans looking for the next Bob Marley. The area is still best known for its lighthouse, famous for being one of the last hand-operated lights in the world. The locals on the seven-mile island rely on their VHF radios for communication and their vegetable intake largely depends on what food arrives on the grocery boat each week.

In this ever-nascent tourist economy, little de-

tails of an earlier life can be found in the closed-up houses of retirees or modest local dwellings. One such detail of that earlier life is the Abaco Dinghy, vital and completely suited to its environment.

Traditionally, the Abaco Dinghy is a small, wooden sailboat with unique construction. Although small in size, usually 12 to 16 feet, the boat has a keel, which is a heavy weight fixed underneath to keep the boat stable and is traditionally found on larger vessels. While the keels on those larger vessels are often massive metal fixtures, the keel on the Abaco Dinghy is a thin wooden rib down the center, like an elongated surfboard fin. This long thin keel, coupled with an extenuated rudder (the boat’s steering apparatus), creates a boat that can be sailed in very shallow water.

This feature evolved out of a local need because coral reefs in the Bahamian environment are often just feet below the surface and massive sandbars block passage for larger boats with a deeper draw.

Now considered a collector’s item, the original Abaco Dinghies were built as workboats and were the main mode of transportation in the islands until the diesel motor was introduced to the Abacos after World War II. Traditionally, Abaco Dinghies were hand-built from local materials like Madeira Mahogany or Caribbean Pine. Man O’ War Cay, an island even smaller than Elbow Cay and slightly to its north, has always been a home to this style of boat building. Local families, generation after generation, built these boats in the traditional style, often without power tools. They sometimes harvested the wood themselves from the limited supply their islands provided.

As the decades passed, the boats evolved. Some boats were built to be larger in order to carry more supplies while others were built smaller for faster travel. But no matter how heavy the wind, the keel style of the Abaco Dinghy prevented it from pointing too high into the wind, and long distance travel was cumbersome and slow.

With the introduction of the powerboat, the

Abaco Dinghy lost prominence to the point that my grandfather, Tom Callahan, found one deserted in the mangroves outside Hopetown and paid the nearest boat yard a mere $400 for it. Tom’s Folly was the name he gave the boat, inspired by the constant restoration and maintenance the dinghy required.

Tom’s Folly is one of three restored dinghies that float unused in Frye’s Mangrove. The boat went through a variety of restoration projects, but as the years went by and Abaco Dinghies fell further out of the public eye, the boat builders capable of repairing these dinghies became few and far between.

Before my grandfather passed away he left the boat in the protection of a friend on the island, with the agreement that any family members could use the boat free of charge when they happened to be on the island. That friend now owns all three dinghies that float in the inlet.

I spent some time in Hopetown in January, but I could not sail my grandpa’s old boat because it was on shore being fixed. Finding it under repair was not a surprise, and in hindsight it feels fitting.

The boats are not used for work any longer and are rarely raced. At least it got off the mooring, even if it was just to go in to shore.

The Abacos are a very small section of islands where life moves slowly. Still, the old details are gradually being forgotten. With each new arrival of tourists at the beginning of the week, the dock bars and bantam restaurants start over again. T-shirts are sold, hotel rooms are expanded, and gift shops seemingly spring out of the sand, all on the growing influx of the dollar. And as the tourism industry prospers, so do the locals.

But it is still nice to know, as another multi-story rental home is erected and paid for by hurricane insurance money, that three wooden dinghies float quietly each night in Frye’s Mangrove as a handoperated lighthouse sweeps across the starry sky above them.

Passeggiata

The Woman in the Blue Robe

Pigeons

Ges첫

L

Snapshots: Florence By: Hannah Marlin

Photoautomatica

Flea Market

ast semester, I spent four months living and studying in Florence, Italy. This was my first time traveling to Italy. I am a studio art major in the education program with a concentration in photography. Lately I've been working a lot with film, in part because I believe that you can't become truly good at anything without going back to its roots. I fell in love with film, and now it's all I do. A lot of my work in Italy was trial and error, trying to figure out my strengths and weaknesses. I work a lot with timing, whether that is getting the perfectly timed shot or shooting at the time of day when the light it most desirable. I hope my photographs inspire you to travel while you're still young, because there is a lot more to see that might not be apparent.

The Whittemore Center transformed.

Tiesto Plays UNH Photos by: Ella Nilsen, Raya Al-Hashmi, and Brian Morin

There is nothing in this world quite like a college rave in the dead of New England winter. It may be a frigid 15 degrees outside, but that doesn’t matter to UNH students. Just throw on your day-glow shorts and shredded tee, rip shots, and run to the Whittemore center as fast as your legs can carry you. It’s that magical night of the year when girls discard their heels and black miniskirts for beaded white tees, pastel pink shorts, and lime green Converse. UNH bros simply swap out their white Wildcat cut-off tee with one that is bright orange or yellow. Everyone inevitably gets caught trying to sneak in glowsticks.

Front row fan.

The turnout for world-famous Dutch DJ Tiesto didn’t disappoint, as around 4,500 people showed up to dance to Tiesto and openers DJ Joe Bermuda, Quintino, and Tommy Trash. The night saw four-and-a-half hours of solid dancing from students, and featured the incredible music and lights that Tiesto is known for. Main Street Magazine cameras were there to document the madness and transformation of the Whitt from hockey arena to rage central. We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we do. If you like this spread, head over to our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/MainStreetMagazine, and check out all of our crowdshots from the show.

DJ Tiesto.

Internet Activist Aaron Swartz.

Waging the War for Internet Freedom By: Heather Ross

On January 18, 2012, millions of Internet users accessed their browsers to find the Google homepage masked by a quintessential censorship bar. The search engine’s daily thematic “Google Doodles” illustrate and educate users about obscure observances like Australia Day or the commemorative Last Day of the Canadian Penny.

The January 18 doodle, however, was a sign of demonstration, calling attention to the chilling reality about the future of collaborative Internet in the age of SOPA and PIPA, two anti-piracy bills put forth by the U.S. government.

According to The Los Angeles Times, 4.5 million people signed a petition on the Google home page to protest the pending legislations. As a result, the two highly publicized and controversial bills, Stop Anti Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), were postponed for reconsideration.

The legislation was created to censor and destroy websites that contained copyrighted material.

Popular sites like YouTube, Reddit, and Wikipedia are only a few of the many that would have been affected.

Eleven months and 11 days later, disputes about Internet freedom reemerged between a government system lagging in a pre-internet era and a generation of web modernization advocates.

The topic inevitably spotlights the government

for its disputed prosecution policy for Internet law-breakers as well as the hazy definition of what an Internet law-breaker actually is. At the start of 2013, all of this controversy became relevant again because of the death of Aaron Swartz.

A self-proclaimed “applied sociologist,” Aaron Swartz was an esteemed computer programming prodigy who – at just 14 years old – helped create RSS: a format that automatically updates web content for online news feeds. He was also a prominent advocate for a free and open Internet.

Swartz’s mission was to spread awareness on what he believed to be injustices in the current U.S. law, which prohibits copyrighted information from being free and available to the public.

He founded Demand Progress, a movement whose mission was to launch “[broad] social movements that would create fundamental, structural change,” according to its website.

The group commenced its activist mission with a petition against the “Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act,” which developed into 18 months of activism that helped bring down the SOPA and PIPA legislations in 2012.

In 2008, Swartz launched a “Guerilla Open Access Manifesto,” which eventually developed into his most notorious grassroots movement

to “fight back” against the inaccessibility of scholarly files without a paid subscription. Swartz encouraged his followers to follow his objective, saying, “We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file-sharing networks.”

Swartz pursued his movement by targeting the scholarly content on JSTOR: a not-for-profit online system of archived academic journals that is available by subscription only. JSTOR generally charges libraries, universities, and publishers a subscription fee that can sometimes exceed $50,000. Additionally, portions of the site’s subscription fees are shared with the journal publishers who hold the original copyrights.

As a research fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Swartz was authorized to access the JSTOR database from the university network. He instead procured unauthorized access to the computer network at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology through a restricted computer-wiring closet.

According to court documents, between September 24, 2010 to January 6, 2011, Swartz illegally downloaded more than 4.8 million articles by using two computers aptly named “Gary Host” and “Grace Host”: shortened to create the client names “ghost laptop” and “ghost Macbook.”

Swartz was subsequently arrested and charged

in July 2011 on four felony counts: wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer. He faced up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines.

Swartz ultimately returned the hard drives to JSTOR that contained the articles, and the organization did not pursue the case any further. According to a statement made by the organization, however, prosecutors Steve Heymann and Carmen Ortiz of the United States Attorney’s Office were still actively pursuing a criminal case against Swartz.

At the time of his arrest in July 2011, Swartz was charged with only four felony counts.

Yet, in September 2012, the prosecutors filed a superseding indictment that held Swartz accountable for 13 felony counts, according to a letter written by the U.S. House of Representative Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The role of this committee – which holds legislative jurisdiction over a number of government matters – is to secure the rights of the American people for an efficient and effective government working for their benefit.

“It appears that prosecutors increased the felony counts by providing specific dates for each action, turning each marked date into its own felony charge,” wrote Representatives Darrell E. Issa and Elijah E. Cummings, two of the committee members.

The increase in felony counts substantially raised Swartz’s criminal exposure to a maximum of 50 years imprisonment and $1 million in fines.

A year after the nationwide protest against the SOPA and PIPA legislations, Aaron Swartz’s legal battle left a number of onlookers feeling disturbed by the government’s fanatical intent to impose a punishment more severe than some states’ sentences for first-degree murder.

From an ethical standpoint, many individuals wonder if the expected punishment matched the severity of the crime, or if what Aaron Swartz did should even be considered a federal crime at all. Advocates saw Swartz’s punishment as a government tactic used to impede other Internet freedom crusaders from protesting the law.

Swartz was one of many advocates for a more balanced approach to a free and open Internet in today’s digital age. Websites that foster a creative, collaborative environment are also some of the most widely visited sites on the Internet today.

Consider a site like Reddit, the “front page of the Internet,” that reaches nearly 2 billion page views each month. By establishing itself in an active Internet community of users, the site is at the axis of cultural and social affairs.

“Most likely some of the most important ideas yet to develop will emerge due in part to sites like this,” said Mike Soha, a lecturer in New Media Studies in the University of New Hampshire Communication Department.

The draw of Internet communities like Reddit is that users can contribute to the content and conversation on current events and ideas. If the site were required to start regulating shared content that violates any copyright infringement,

it would diminish the amount of information on the site and destroy the community.

“Our current copyright system is incompatible with the digital age, which thrives on the sharing of ideas and collaborative production of content,” said Soha.

The current U.S. copyright law provides protection for the life of the author plus 70 additional years; earning the author royalties on that property for a very long time. Lobbying corporations like Disney that want to continue earning copyright revenue ultimately benefit from longer and stricter copyright policies.

“Clearly our copyright laws have become more of a method of generating massive profits for corporate rights holders, rather than protecting creators and ensuring that the needs of a creative society are met,” said Soha.

Advocates for an updated copyright law argue that today’s digital age requires a more balanced set of regulations that protect intellectual property but also protect the expressive, creative, and entrepreneurial potential of the Internet.

Aaron Swartz committed suicide on January 11, 2013 in his Brooklyn apartment. At the time of his death, the 26-year-old had spent a yearand-a-half collapsing beneath the unrelenting pressure of the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office. Despite equipping himself with a stellar legal team to reduce the charges against him, the prolonged indictment by prosecutors Steve Heymann and Carmen Ortiz eventually took its toll.

Swartz’s finances were drained, he was mentally exhausted, and he had been driven into a state of extreme isolation. Family and close friends argue that Swartz’s suicide was not a result of a preexisting battle with depression, as some sources have recently alleged. Instead, they insist that his suicide was a direct consequence of the incessant efforts of Heymann and Ortiz to lock Swartz up and brand him as a felon.

In a blog post titled: “Steve Heymann Should Be Fired,” Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, girlfriend of the late Aaron Swartz, described the prosecutor’s aggressive action in the case as a way of reviving his fading career.

“Heymann saw Aaron as a scalp he could take,” wrote Stinebrickner-Kauffman. “He thought he could lock Aaron up, get high-profile press coverage, and win high-fives from his fellow prosecutors in the lunchroom.”

To his supporters, Swartz’s actions in the JSTOR situation appeared not as a malicious, felonious crime, but a selfless crusade to bring about social change.

“Aaron has never done anything in this context for personal gain – this isn’t a hacking case, in the sense of someone trying to steal credit cards,” said Lawrence Lessig, Director of the Center for Ethics at Harvard University. “That’s something JSTOR saw, and the government obviously didn’t.”

Instead, the government saw Aaron Swartz only as a criminal who committed 13 felony charges and should be punished accordingly.

Prosecutor Carmen M. Ortiz, the Massachusetts

U.S. Attorney, declined to drop the charges following Swartz’s relinquishment of the JSTOR documents.

“Stealing is stealing, whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data, or dollars,” Ortiz said in a statement announcing the charges.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Swartz was reportedly offered a plea bargain by prosecutors stating if he pleaded guilty to the 13 felony counts, he would receive a sentence of seven to eight months in jail, but have felony counts on his record for life. Swartz declined the offer.

In an initial blog post titled “Why Aaron Died,” Stinebrickner-Kauffman blamed prosecutors and government policies for the ultimate cause of Aaron’s death.

“I believe that Aaron’s death was caused by a criminal justice system that prioritizes power over mercy, vengeance over justice; a system that punishes innocent people for trying to prove their innocence instead of accepting plea deals that mark them as criminals in perpetuity,” she wrote.

According to Rolling Stone Magazine, some of Swartz’s advocates believe the intense punishment sought by the prosecution was a way of deterring other activists from attempting a similar protest movement.

However, Swartz’s death has only galvanized efforts to finish the work he began. “For many people, Aaron represented the ethos of the net freedom community,” Soha explained. Many popular forums and websites have defended and celebrated him as a martyr for the pursuit of a necessary change for the greater good.

Fifteen days after Swartz’s suicide, the activist hacking group Anonymous temporarily assumed control of the U.S. Sentencing Commission Website. They left behind a lengthy manifesto of demands on the homepage, including reform to an American justice system threatening the free flow of information. “[Swartz was] killed because he was forced into playing a game he could not win – a twisted and distorted perversion of justice – a game where the only winning move was not to play,” Anonymous.

Claiming to target the home page of the Federal Sentencing Commission for “symbolic” reasons, Anonymous demanded that federal prosecutions must “return to the proportionality of punishment with respect to actual harm caused.”

In the pursuit of an Internet that is unrestricted by copyright law, Aaron Swartz was the Robin Hood who “stole” for the common good, not for personal gain.

In his honor and ultimate pursuit for a free and open Internet, Anonymous declared digital “war” on the U.S. government and made it clear that the activists will not be silenced. It is now obvious that the fight for Internet freedom is far from over.

Defending Hip-Hop By: Brady Brickner-Wood

Top to bottom: 2Pac, Chief Keef, Kendrick Lamar.

H

ip-hop is a beautiful form of art. It is unique, a truly genius genre that has woven its way into American culture. Yet for all of hip-hop’s brilliance, its ugliness is just as prevalent, and modern society has had difficulty accepting it as an art form. Rap supporters have constantly defended the genre as a legitimate expression of art, but to this day justification is still needed when discussing hip-hop’s role in America. Yet with hiphop’s persistent evolution, criticizers and defenders alike must reevaluate their positions, for the way in which hip-hop is understood in a broad, societal view is different than it was ten, twenty and thirty years ago. By reviewing the controversy throughout hip-hop’s history, modern society can not only hope to better understand hip-hop’s extensive narrative, but also help clarify a debate around acceptance that has clouded hip-hop since its genesis.

Hip-hop was bred from the street corners of America. In the wake of rap’s creation, the new artists in hip-hop were representatives to a world of poverty and violence, a sub-culture of society America prefers to overlook. Early rappers like N.W.A. and Public Enemy helped hip-hop come to power in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the government, media, and general public reacted with horror and anger to their violent and revolutionary message. The battle against this new content went as far as the FBI warning N.W.A’s record label to be cautious of releasing such harmful lyrics to the general public, or consequences could ensue.

As rap continued to progress, the drama didn’t go away. With the widespread success of albums such as Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers, Nas’ Illmatic, The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die, and 2Pac’s Me Against the World, hip-hop was front and center in the mainstream and reactions were mixed.

Most media outlets and journalists had a hard time understanding these violent and explicit albums, deeming them unfit for the public. Even the academic world took notice, with a critical essay on hip-hop written by Anthony M. Giovacchini published by Stanford University in 1999. The essay noted, “the nature of gangster rap influenced society in a negative fashion, yet there (is) nothing that could legally be done to stop this.”

Most rappers at this time were from inner cities in New York and California, where violence, drug use, and misogyny were present. These artists were reflecting their lifestyles in a raw and honest way, using hip-hop as an outlet to paint a vivid and blunt picture of their reality. Many in America condemned these rappers for their provocative content, when perhaps the condemnation should have been on the societal factors that enhanced the creation of such violent environments in the first

place. The artists at this time didn’t rap about offensive issues to sell records or gain fame; they did so because these issues were what they knew. They portrayed the lives they were born into, lives still led by millions nationwide. As the genre expanded in more diverse and creative ways, Americans grew to live with hip-hop, but still shunned it as an art form.

It was well established in the late 1990s and early 2000s that gangsta rap sold records, prompting numerous artists to take on character personas or portray exaggerated violent experiences, including the rappers of Murder Inc., Def Jam and Bad Boy. Eventually, by the mid 2000s, street rap began to lose its mainstream popularity. Even in the eyes of hip-hop defenders, the raw and honest kids from the ghetto were no longer viewed as representatives of street life, but rather promoters of questionable and dangerous activity. According to a 2005 Time Magazine article, rap sales fell to 44 percent, and dropped to 10 percent of all music sales; the lowest either had posted since the early 1990s. Hip-hop was at a crossroads.

Artists Kanye West and Drake were introduced to mainstream America in 2005 and 2009 respectively, and both became pioneers in the genre.

West was considered a musical mastermind and helped create a sub-genre of rap, primarily known as “alternative hip-hop,” which focused more on advanced production and realistic, relatable content. Meanwhile Drake, a biracial, middle-class Canadian, became an established rapper with the release of his mixtape So Far Gone. Although heavily influenced by West’s album 808s and Heartbreak, Drake’s project was groundbreaking. Besides experimenting with the blending of R&B and rap, Drake was outwardly personal and emotional, treating the microphone as a diary.

With the success of both West and Drake, the violent content of old began to phase out, and content surrounding materialism and the accumulation of money became the predominant subject matter. Although this new generation of rappers is a far cry from the violent personas of the old, the trials and tribulations of street life is still a major factor in hip-hop.

Kendrick Lamar was born and raised in violent and gang-ridden Compton, California, but his music neither promotes nor represses the violence and danger that he experienced. Rather, he addresses it as if he were a narrator to the disturbed lifestyle of the ghetto. J. Cole and Big K.R.I.T. are similar, providing thoughtful and intuitive insights into the life of young black men in a lower socioeconomic class.

Even with today’s new approaches and dynamics to hip-hop, controversy still looms. Waka Flocka Flame and Chief Keef are examples of rappers that provide a new wave of diverse and sometimes

negative attention to the genre. Besides the notion that these rappers lack the talents or skills of traditional rappers, their content is almost solely centered upon excessive materialism, drug, and gun use. The Associated Press said Chief Keef ’s album contains “topics including his menacing character and large stash of cash, (and) is borderline unbearable,” and BBC says that Waka won’t “wow you with overly insightful wordplay or pause-worthy one-liners.”

Chief Keef has acted as an incidental case study in hip-hop since 2011, as the 17-year-old Chicago rapper has made more headlines off of the microphone than on. With a record of distributing heroin, aggravated assault with a firearm towards a police officer, being a murder suspect, violating his parole for attending a shooting range, and addressing most of these issues in his music, Chief Keef raises many concerns.

Today, there appears to be a split in how the public perceives hip-hop. Artists such as Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole are deemed thoughtful and talented, in contrast with artists such as Chief Keef and Waka Flocka Flame, who are regarded as representatives of negative aspects of street culture.

The question is, should the latter be chastised because of their content, quality and backgrounds, or accepted as faces in a genre with a multitude of diversity?

All of these rappers are voices and narratives into lifestyles bred from different cultures all across the country. No matter how uncomfortable they make audiences feel, they are a part of the art, and a part of the genre that continues to be misunderstood. To overlook this segment of hip-hop would be to overlook all of hip-hop, and the cultures and environments that molded these rappers.

Defending the violent legacy of hip-hop has always been a challenge, yet ignoring or suppressing certain artists or sub-cultures within hip-hop would hinder the art and the culture, repressing the voices that help narrate a broader image of race, violence, drug use, and gender roles in America.

This is not to say that questioning the content shouldn’t take place. The discussion and criticism of quality and content contributes to the overall growth of art. Yet the repression, or attempted dismantling of content and artists is harmful and is not a successful tool in approaching hip-hop’s serious subject matter.

All forms of hip-hop are part of a larger narrative, different realities tackled through rhymes and laced over beats. It would have been convenient for hip-hop defenders to write off the mid90s gangsta rappers as “thugs” or “criminals,” men that shouldn’t be associated with music. But by embracing all forms of hip-hop, we not only learn about the music, but also about the reality of American society.

Clockwise from bottom: Ian Sleeper, Tom Sattler, Sam Johnson, Corey Persson.

Heads and Tales By: Graham Hayslip

T

he local indie-rock band Heads and Tales has recently released their debut EP titled Carousel. The band has been present on the UNH campus for some time now, and all five members are current UNH students. Previously known as the Sam King band, the line-up for Heads and Tales includes Charlie Weinmann (drums and percussion), Ian Sleeper (guitar), Corey Persson (guitar), Tom Sattler (bass guitar), and Sam Johnson (vocals).

Main Street Magazine: How long have you been playing together and who formed the band originally?

Ian Sleeper: We’ve been together since January 2012. Corey and Charlie and I were a blues trio and we played at the Grind. Sam saw us there and asked if he could play with us sometime. The next day, we formed The Sam King Band, which has evolved into Heads and Tales.

MSM: Any lineup changes along the way?

IS: Originally, Corey was the only guitarist, and I was the bass player. We picked up Tom Sattler, a freshman. He and I were in several bands in high school. That makes up the current lineup. We occasionally see guest appearances by Kevin Ashley (USMC) on the piano.

MSM: How long have each of you been playing music, and have you always played your respective instruments?

IS: Charlie’s been playing since the third or fourth grade and has always been a drummer. I started sax in fourth grade, guitar at end of fourth grade, and bass and drums in middle school. Corey started playing guitar in middle school. Sam has been singing since he was very young. He played the violin for nine years and also plays guitar. Tom learned guitar in middle school, and bass in high school.

MSM: How would you describe/define your

style of music? Is it a specific genre or a blend of several?

IS: We tend to go with indie-rock. We like to blend our favorite parts of rock, indie, post-rock, pop, and folk to make our sound. It comes out sounding kind of like Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Young the Giant, or Coldplay, so we go with indie-rock.

IS: Writing the EP was an interesting process.

Originally, we set out to record four songs: “1942 (Pacific Theatre),” “Brushfire,” “These Are the Best Nights,” and “Moonlit Jetstream.” After we’d recorded these songs, we felt that four songs really weren’t enough to capture our sound for fans or potential record labels. So we resurrected one of our other early songs, “Cry Me an Ocean,” and gave it a Temper Trap/Walk the Moon feel to match the other songs.

It wasn’t until last week that we decided to add Charlie’s song “Airport,” from Charlie and I’s old band, Good Places. Sam and I re-recorded the song and rounded the album out to seven songs. The process has relied on the whole band and features lyrics by all three of the lyricists in the band.

MSM: How has the process of exposure been at the university level? What sort of demographic do you look to entertain with your style of music?

IS: When we played regularly at Wildcatessen, we had a pretty decent following. Recently, we’ve been limited in our exposure around the university due to few opportunities. We’ve played at every major musical event around campus that we could and continue to seek shows out to grow awareness on MSM: Who in the band typically writes melocampus. Unfortunately, most of our shows have dies and the music for songs? What about lyrbeen off-campus and age-restricted by the venues. ics?

IS: Sam and I typically write the lyrics, though MSM: Since arriving at the university, you Charlie has penned five of the 26 originals on our have undergone one band name change. Has list. Ian writes about 75 percent of the music with this affected your image at all? the other 25 percent covered by the other musiIS: When we were the Sam King Band, the focus cians. Each member has liberty of his own parts seemed to be more on Sam. In a group, we’d be unless the song calls for something specific. stopped in the dining hall by some girls, who would say, “Oh my god, it’s Sam King!” With the name MSM: How would you reflect on the process change, we hoped to focus more on our sound as of recording this EP? a band, and less on the influence of just the frontIS: We recorded Carousel at HM Recording Stuman. It was actually Sam’s idea to change the name. dios in Canterbury, N.H. It started in July with “1942” and ended in early February with the final MSM: With the upcoming release of your EP, mastering. The process was arduous at times due how much of the UNH student body do you to the time commitment, the long hours, and the realistically see purchasing it? travel distance between many of us and the studio, IS: By our estimate, only about one percent of especially during the school hours. Through it all, the student body has even heard of us, let alone it’s been worth it. We’re really proud and pleased seen us live. We hope that with the advent of the with the product, and we think it really encapsulates UNH Coalition of Organized Musicians, opportu- the sound of Heads & Tales. nities for exposure around campus will grow.

MSM: How would you reflect on the process of writing this EP?

Seven Stages Shakespeare Company: The Ultimate ShakesBEERience By: Olivia Whitton

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f you’ve ever been hopelessly confused by Shakespeare—lost in the seemingly endless loop of thy and thine and thous—there is finally something better than SparkNotes to help you out. Every month, from September to February, the Seven Stages Shakespeare Company presents ShakesBEERience, a drunken performance of one of Shakespeare’s many famous plays. Don’t let the alcohol fool you, though. These actors mean business, and most of them are professionals, heavily involved with other theater productions in the Greater Seacoast area.

The ShakesBEERience program was launched in September with a reading of “As You Like It” and has grown substantially since then, each performance proving more popular than the one before.

This month’s performance of “Romeo & Juliet” marked the season’s finale, and what a way to end the season. Held at the Press Room in Portsmouth, the play featured several skilled actors, each of whom started the performance with a hearty glass of beer in one hand, and a script in the other (they only rehearse twice before go-time).

The Press Room is a cozy, two-level venue that,

in addition to being the home of ShakesBEERience, often houses live bands. For ShakesBEERience, the venue’s tables are organized into a circle that the actors perform. This arrangement makes for virtually no bad seating in the house. Admission is free, though they offer a decent pub food menu and an extensive and frequently updated beer list that I suggest taking (and did take) full advantage of.

As they perform, the actors become increasingly drunk, swapping out their empty glasses with new full ones, and taking shots whenever they feel like it.

And, in the common event that a character dies— which is six total in “Romeo & Juliet,” for those of you counting—a toast is said in their name and generous sips of beer are taken by each actor on stage. At one point during “Romeo & Juliet,” the bar was even incorporated into the show, as Romeo (Joel Colodner) asked the apothecary for poison and was rewarded by the bartender—who recited the apothecary’s lines—with a glass of scotch.

Shenanigans aside, the performances are excellent. The play’s Nurse, portrayed in this production by a man (James Sears), provided the sassiness that

the character calls for, delivering lines with a sarcastic bite as he tended to Juliet (Alexandra Borrie). Equally powerful were the actors playing the title characters, both of which were sobbing as they acted out their final scenes, eventually dying in each others’ arms.

ShakesBEERience was, overall, a very exciting, very good time. The food at the Press Room was excellent and watching the actors grow more and more intoxicated was hilarious. And, unlike SparkNotes, the performance was extremely engaging and allowed for an increased appreciation of Shakespeare’s famous plays.

While this was the last event of the season, Seven Stages will hold a (presumably alcohol free) production of “Romeo & Juliet” this summer at Prescott Park in Portsmouth. They have also posted a tentative lineup for next season’s ShakesBEERiences, which begin in September and include, among others, “Henry V” and “Twelfth Night.” Check out their Facebook page for more information, and check out pressroomnh.com for a list of upcoming Press Room events.

What’s Graduating Got to Do With It? By: Taylor Lawrence

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ears lie within all of us. Some are embedded deep within us while others are more difficult to suppress. Maybe you shriek at the sight of a spider, or your stomach turns in unison with the wild twist of a rollercoaster, but there comes a time in college when an entire class of students finds that one fear aligns them all. It has seniors seeking refuge in the bunker of Scorps basement and creating freshmen friendships just to anchor themselves back in the safety of Christensen. We all know it is coming, the expiration date of this taken-for-granted wonderland we call college. It’s the dreaded, the inevitable, and the inescapable college graduation.

On this year of 2013, seniors are rejecting the month of May just as millions have before us. But the question remains: what exactly are we all so scared of ? What are we hiding from beneath our wildcat-print pajamas? Just how scary is this “real world” we have created in our minds? What exactly does it mean for our future, and most importantly, where will we now find dollar drinks?

The real world is the last remaining myth once the bad news about the Easter bunny, Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, and your Uncle Bill’s toupee are

revealed. We have been warned about this obligatory mysterious place ever since we could see the end in the long line of books, biddies, and bad behavior. We have heard about the responsibilities, the serious relationships, and the smog. It is a life consumed by taxes and the lack of reckless behavior. Happy hour really only lasts an hour and hungover mornings can no longer be nursed amongst a herd of equally hungover peers in the dim light of a crowded dining hall. We can no longer stare at our peers in the familiar sexual tension of the library quiet rooms. We must… emerge.

Despite the fact that a strange man once told me he would “kill a baby” to go back to UNH (not recommended), I don’t think the real world will be all that bad. Here’s why.

The real world may open our eyes to an entirely different culture where people use Wagon Hill for sledding, a blackout references a loss of electricity, and Ramen Noodles no longer qualify as a basic food group. In the real world, a gentleman is distinguishable not because he buys you a dollar drink but because he buys you an eight-dollar drink (a serious display of chivalry).

After a long day of work, you take home a paycheck instead of an essay assignment. A professor

is only someone you interact with if you pop in a Harry Potter DVD, and subtle sex appeal of office attire becomes appropriate outside of a “CEO and Office Hoe” party. The chances of you being swept away in a current of yoga pants, UGGs, and North Face sweatshirts significantly decreases and, if you are lucky, you are paying off debt, not collecting it.

In the “real world,” walks of shame still exist, but instead of unsuccessfully clicking around in heels under a pair of male XXL sweatpants, you can hail a taxicab in the privacy of your own shame. You can always drive to the gym, and food exists beyond the buffet-style dining halls. The weekends are yours to spend with little regret and hopefully lots of cash.

Homework assignments no longer loom over your heads and library Sundays turn into lazy Sundays. Frat boys disappear in a sea of corporate suits and for girls, long walks to Young Drive in short skirts become a thing of the past. But regardless of whether graduation brings you success, puts the fear of God into you, or lands you squarely back in your parents’ basement, pride yourself in the fact that you can always call yourself a Wildcat.

Student Spotlight: Dani Olean By: Brian Morin

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veryone on the UNH campus is familiar with Campus Special: the pale green coupon books handed out at the beginning of each semester. Campus Special is a large national organization found at dozens of schools across the country, dedicated to promoting coupons and deals in the local area of each university. It also boasts a competitive, hands-on internship program. An incredible amount of effort from student interns factors into bringing deals to their peers. For Dani Olean, a UNH Communications senior from Stratham, N.H., the summer of 2012 was anything but a break as she walked into countless local businesses to meet with owners and her prospective clients. Who would have guessed coupon books could bring a student so far? Olean says she has learned priceless marketing and selling skills while exploring job opportunities as far away as California through her exciting and trying internship with Campus Special last summer.

MSM: What is the internship in a nutshell?

Dani Olean: Well, I’m a communications major so the fact that I went into a sales internship... people don’t really think about it like that, it’s mostly business majors. But it goes to show you just have to have good people skills.

I got it last April. It’s a grueling interview process.

I had to do three or four phone interviews. I remember one of my phone interviews, I ended up having to call and talk to the CEO. I called him and he didn’t pick up so I was like, “Oh my gosh, what do I do? Do I call again?” He ended up picking up after the third call and told me that I passed the test of persistence. After I got the job, they flew us all

to Atlanta for three days for training.

MSM: How did you hear about it?

DO: I found it on Wildcat Careers. I checked out their website and their career partners. They have outstanding Glass Door reviews. I was excited to dive into it.

MSM: Do you have any particularly strange stories about going and pitching to businesses?

Anyone really weird you dealt with?

DO: I dealt with someone who told me to mail him a letter. I walked in and he was like, “Mail me, this is my address.” I told him, “I’m not going to mail you, that’s ridiculous.” I fought with someone for three hours over a renewal once during my second week. It was a tattoo parlor on campus. We battled over $100 for the longest time.

I had two old ladies make me cry. They literally went at me. I told them they had a nice trinket store and they told me, “These are not trinkets, these are handcrafted goods.” They just laid into me. I just crumbled and cried. One of my teammates who was also there in Portsmouth that day went in after I had and started throwing coupon books around their store. We have each other’s backs.

MSM: Top 3 skills you’ve gained from all of this?

DO: Being assertive. It’s something we’re not used to at this age. This really taught me how to assert myself and show that I was the expert on marketing to college students. Being adaptable. You can’t just memorize a pitch and go in and do that pitch to every business. They aren’t all the same. You have to adapt to their personality, how receptive they are and how pissed off they are. Being responsible. It’s not like you just sign a contract and run off, you have to create the ad and make sure the clients are happy. You have to keep in touch with them and keep all of the reporting straight. It teaches you to be responsible and manage your time well.

MSM: What’s your plan when you graduate?

DO: I’m an International Affairs major too so I’m trying to go abroad for a bit. I’ve had a few job interviews and I should be getting offers by the end of the month. I really want to live in California. I’m ready to spread my wings a little more. I’d really like to be out there and have a new breath of air. I’m interviewing with News America Marketing soon.

They’re probably my number one because it’s less sales and more marketing. A lot of their clients are already established. I think it’s important to never get caught up in the corporate atmosphere. It’s about the community and if you’re helping people.

It’s a tough line to straddle. I don’t want to just be part of a machine; I want to be part of a team.

MSM: What’s the plan for your News America internship?

DO: Their headquarters is in New York City, so they’re flying me to NYC. I’ve already had two other interviews with them. I get a round of five interviews then they fly me back. It’s on a Friday

and I’ll know if I got the job or not the following Monday. They have an office in San Francisco that I’d really like to go to.

MSM: Do you have anything you would recommend to other students doing an internship?

DO: If you’re serious about your career, this is probably the best internship you could do, but you have to be serious. It’s not like you’re entering data into Excel sheets. They give you the reins and tell you to make it happen.

MSM: Tell me a little about distribution.

How do you get other people to help you hand out the coupons?

DO: I’m the president of Lambda Pi Eta and it’s an honors society so I know they’re all responsible.

I just posted on our Facebook group and said it would be $10 per hour. In the spring it’s a lot better because we can be outside. It’s funny because it’s good for students and for businesses, but we get a lot of teachers and administration trying to make it difficult for us. For example, we had a permit signed by the Durham Police and the director of the MUB to distribute. We were handing out in front of the door of HoCo and they made us leave. They made us go to Union Court. Four or five times some guy came and told us we couldn’t be there. We had to call the police to back us up.

MSM: What was a typical day for you this past summer?

DO: I would wake up at 7 a.m. We were expected to be at our first business at 9 a.m. I would plan out all my lists, spreadsheets and maps. You don’t want to be driving from Newmarket to Portsmouth to Dover. I would plan for at least an hour. I would go to my first few leads and I would talk to my manager a few times a day. I’d go to about 40 businesses. Some days I was out at seven, eight, or nine. Scorps doesn’t open until then. Out of all 40, I would talk to ten owners and nine would reject me.

Two or three days a week I would write a detailed report of every business I talked to. Once a week we had a conference call with our whole team. At night, I would email everyone I talked to and email everyone I closed a deal with. I would eat dinner and sleep. It took a toll on my relationship and my friendships, but in the end I’m glad I focused.

MSM: Do you think your communications classes were useful?

DO: I’d like to say my two biggest learning experiences were my study abroad and my internship. I had a few classes that were revolutionary in my mind, but they were after the internship. A lot of the communications classes are theory and kind of dry Ph.D. stuff. Some of the classes we’re practicing dialogue and community building. That’s really useful, but you don’t really get that until your senior year.

One Last Look: MSM Interviews Youth Lagoon By: Jake DeSchuiteneer

Youth Lagoon’s Trevor Powers.

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n 2011, Boise, Idaho dream-pop wunderkind Trevor Powers released The Year of Hibernation, the first album of his Youth Lagoon project. That record was filled with the intimate beauty of melodic keyboards and subtle guitars topped with deeply personal lyrics and echo-ey vocals. With Wondrous Bughouse, Youth Lagoon’s second album, Powers pushes that formula to new heights with a decidedly weirder, more developed sound and songs that explore the dark side of the human psyche. On the eve of Wondrous Bughouse’s release, Powers took time to chat with Main Street Magazine about the new album, life on tour.

Main Street Magazine: So, your new album people? comes out tomorrow. How are you feeling?

TP: For the most part it seems good. I guess Excited? my whole mentality is trying to avoid it. I’m on my Twitter sometimes, but for the most part I don’t Trevor Powers: Yeah dude, I’m so excited. It’s really read much as far as what people are saying. one of those things, like even when you hold onto I think it’s good, based on the reaction of people something like that for just like a little while and I know. you have to like keep it to yourself, I guess. It’s exciting to just get it out there.

MSM: How much do you care about what people say? How do you feel about reactions MSM: The new album has been streaming from fans and critics? on npr.org since last week. What has recepTP: I actually care a lot, probably a little too tion been like? What have you heard from much, and I think that’s why I try to avoid it, you

know? It’s really exciting when you see like positive things about something that you’ve done, but I feel like seeing one negative thing has so much weight, it kind of bums you out.

and it was this very eye-opening and just weird, weird experience. It’s trying to, I guess, just embrace the inevitable but at the same time try to deny it.

MSM: The album’s title is Wondrous Bughouse.

MSM: How would you describe your perIs there a story behind that? sonal songwriting process? Do lyrics come first, or music? How does it work for you?

TP: Yeah, I wrestled with the title for a long time because I wanted something that really applied to TP: It’s something that’s usually combined. I’ll the record. I kind of just got wrapped up in the start off with a certain idea. Sometimes I’ll just idea of people who are kind of deemed crazy by mess around on guitar or on piano or a synthesociety. ‘Bughouse’ is a term for an insane asylum. sizer or anything and start creating…Usually lyrics People that are deemed crazy, in a lot of ways, can don’t come right away but I’ll make up things, like see so many different things that sane people can’t whatever I’m feeling in that moment. It’s somesee. They experience a whole different type of thing that happens in union. And that’s when I go life. And, not that it’s always a good thing, because back and start shaping things and turning it into sometimes those people live in a nightmare. something.

it you feel weird. It’s nice to have breaks, but at the same time when you’re back home for a couple weeks you feel weird not being on a stage. I think it becomes kind of a comfort thing after a while because it becomes what you’re used to.

MSM: Which artists would you consider some of your biggest musical influences?

TP: One of my favorites has always been Townes Van Zandt. I’m a really big Townes fan because I’m fascinated by his lyrics and his storytelling. And he’s so minimal, but it’s very…I don’t know…beautiful, straightforward songwriting.

I’m also a big Brian Eno fan. I’m a really, really big fan of This Heat. A. R. Kane I love. … A lot of different styles, even some hip-hop stuff, just kind of everywhere.

I guess sometimes I kind of relate to that beMSM: On the album, it seems like a lot of cause my mind tends to wander and have weird the themes you are dealing with lyrically are OCD-type stuff. There’s something about that sort of heavy, like the psyche, death, etc… idea that really just applies.

Where do you draw inspiration for lyrics?

MSM: How do you feel this album shows a TP: I guess usually from a lot darker things. I’m progression, musically and lyrically, from The really inspired by dark things and things that are Year of Hibernation? kind of haunting. I don’t know why that is. I just find it more inspiring than things that are happy.

TP: My mentality was similar in some ways go- There’s something that turns my brain on as far as ing into this record, but in other ways it was com- being inspired when it comes to things like that. I pletely different. I really approached this one from think it’s just the way my mind wanders. a vantage point of trying to eliminate any kind of filter, and strip down any sort of agendas. Most of MSM: You’ve got a tour coming up, and it started as a stream-of-consciousness thing. I’d at the end you’re playing a show with [indie go back later and shape and clean up and stuff. It’s rock band] The National in June. How did trying to get certain things out of my system, if that come about? Do you know the guys in the that makes any sense. band personally?

MSM: The song “Mute” seems grander, a TP: Well, they curated All Tomorrow’s Parties little more ambitious than anything on your (ATP) Fest outside of London at the end of last last album. What went into writing that song? year. They invited me to be a part of it and while I was there I got to meet a couple of them. Super TP: I would start off a certain kind of idea, and rad dudes. It was one of those things where we then go back and stack and build and create layers had met and then our booking agents started talkand things on top of it. That song was actually ing and worked that out, so I was pretty ecstatic. one of the very first ones I started writing for this record. I probably started writing that song maybe MSM: Are you a National fan? like a little over a year ago or something like that.

So it’s had a pretty long history as far as how long TP: Oh, I’m a huge National fan. Are you?

I’ve been working on it. There’s something special to that as far as how long I’ve been holding onto it.

MSM: I am, yeah! Thanks for asking.

MSM: Another track on the album, “DropTP: (Laughs) Do you ever feel like you’re being la,” has a lyric, “you’ll never die,” that repeats interviewed? Do people ever ask you questions? several times throughout the song. Is there a story behind that? What kind of place were MSM: No, you know what, in my experiyou in when you wrote it? ence, I’ve never had someone turn the lens back on me, but it’s nice for once. I really apTP: That song just…it toys with the idea of that preciate it. It’s nice to feel like someone cares. sort of mentality that I think we all live in where it’s like living in complete ignorant bliss. There’s TP: (Laughs) For sure, dude. just certain things you want to think about…especially things like death.

MSM: How do you like touring?

I had an experience actually, a long time ago, TP: I really enjoy it. It’s one of those things. where there was a close friend of mine…I was in When you get used to it, and you get used to perthe hospital and had to watch as he passed away, forming and being on stage, when you’re not doing

UNH Divestment: Continued from page 26 mately 5 percent, or $6.5 million of the endowment fund, lies in fossil fuels.

This is an almost negligible amount; thus it lowers the risks associated with divesting. Screening has also become common practice. According to a Boston portfolio manager and UNH Alum who attended the March 4 dialogue on divestment, many investors now commit to investing in specific sectors and tailoring their portfolios to match their lifestyles. UNH should do the same.

UNH accepts large donations from corporations including Exxon Mobil, Shell, BAE systems, and Dow Chemical. According to the UNH Foundation’s Board of Directors, we cannot afford to turn our back on these economic powerhouses.

That the university must cater to the whims of big business seems wrong on to UNH SEAC on many levels.

According to Bruce A. Montville, EE, President and CEO of LifeWise Community Projects, Inc. the identity of socially responsible investing will increase the volume of donations the university receives. It is of paramount importance that the values of sustainability UNH proudly touts are matched by environmentally cognizant investing practices.

President Huddleston believes that divestment is a “complex issue.” It certainly will take more critical dialogue, as well as quantitative analysis, to determine the viability of fossil fuel divestiture. The role of students is now to educate one another and work towards a sustainable future together. It is time for the university to be owned by responsible, environmentally conscious individuals, instead of big corporations.