Issue 6, Fall 2016

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OCTOBER 19, 2016 VOLUME XXXIV ISSUE VI

A student newspaper of New College of Florida

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$750k Mellon grant means stronger arts and humanities for New College and beyond

BY MAGDALENE TAYLOR New College was recently awarded a $750,000 grant from the Andrew V. Mellon Foundation in support of our humanities programs. The grant, which will be given to the school over the next five years, is intended to bolster projects between New College and the other C4 institutions (Colleges of the Creative Coast) as well as between New College and other arts-based organizations in the area.

The grant was received with the help of President O’Shea, who reached out to the Mellon Foundation to propose New College as a potential benefactor of their funds. The Foundation, which has an endowment of six billion dollars, specifically donates money to institutions to help foster the growth of the humanities, and has a history of giving grants to top colleges and universities as well as museums and projects involving digitizing pieces of art.

Dr. O’Shea reached out to the Foundation in December of last year. Having been familiar with the

photos courtesy of Kaylie Stokes

Students in the humanities showcased their academic work, as seen above, in a 2015 thesis art show open to the Sarasota community.

Foundation’s work because of their previous involvement with Mount Holyoke College - Dr. O’Shea’s previous place of employment - he had hoped the foundation would be interested in helping with the consortium. Mount Holyoke College is similarly part of a consortium, comprised of liberal arts colleges in Western Massachusetts and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After Dr. O’Shea reached out to the foundation, they invited New

College to send in a “concept paper” detailing how the school might use the funds.

“The foundation is interested in helping colleges be their best selves,” O’Shea said. “And they were really interested in the arts opportunities in Florida and particularly in New College.”

The Foundation is particularly concerned in preserving the humanities, O’Shea notes.

“They’re concerned with the way the relentless focus on STEM drives out the humanities and arts, and they were kind of thrilled with the consortium.”

As to what exactly New College and the consortium at large will do with the funding, that hasn’t yet been determined. However, Professor of Theater Nova Myhill and Professor of Philosophy April Flakne have been appointed as directors of the overall program. The project is called “New College: Connecting the Arts and Humanities on Florida’s Creative Coast” and cites three goals: 1. To elevate New College’s capacity to contribute to public discourse on humanities and arts in our region, 2. To build sustainable relations with local arts organizations, 3. To establish sustainable academic connections with local colleges that comprise the College Consortium on the Creative Coast (the C4 group).

Faculty have submitted proposals to use grant money for existing projects, like New Music New College and the Public Archeology Lab.

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New College, leftist politics and the third party Our school’s role in the Bush-Gore election and questions for 2016

BY PARIESA YOUNG When George W. Bush was elected president for his first term, many current thesis students were in kindergarten (first-years might have been toddlers), yet his presidency shaped, and ultimately determined, the outcomes of the most significant political events in our world. While current students were just growing up, a generation of Novo Collegians were facing one of the most important elections of their young lives. Today, we find ourselves in the same position, both mentally, considering the ramifications of our one vote, and physically, on the campus of New College of Florida, in a highly contested swing state.

On Tuesday, Oct. 11, former Democratic presidential nominee and climate change activist Al Gore told Floridians that he is “Exhibit A” to

WHAT’S INSIDE

prove that every vote matters in this year’s election. Gore’s loss in 2000, which ultimately came down to a mere 537 votes, has been attributed to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader who siphoned a chunk of votes that some say would have pushed Gore over the edge and into the presidency.

Does New College have a “thing” for third parties?

“Leftist politics in particular has always had a performative element at New College,” alum Jeb Lund (‘97), former political writer for The Guardian, Rolling Stone and Gawker, said in a Facebook message. “Nothing cements your revolutionary bona fides like loudly condemning the insufficient progressivism of your peers, even if it means staking out increasingly thinner territory within an already marginalized wing of the party.”

2 BRIGHT PLANKTON

Most alumni contacted estimated that between half and two-thirds of students in 2000 supported Nader.

The significant zeal for the Green Party candidate on the New College campus has led professors and alumni to consider the impact of our small campus on a national, even global scale.

This perception is present even in those who voted for Nader and now feel responsible for a Bush presidency.

“It was my first election, I absentee voted, and Gore was ahead when I voted,” Sara Beall said on Facebook.

“Yes, I was one of the Nader votes and I learned a very hard lesson that year.

Voting your conscious is not as simple as it seems because it could lead to exactly the outcome you wanted least.”

While Nader support was strong, many students disagreed; tensions were predictably high on campus in the time before the vote.

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MUSIC ON CAMPUS

“I had friends get in knock down drag outs about whether to vote conscience or strategy,” alum Lauren Payne said over Facebook. “It was very divisive.”

“The only real brawl I ever witnessed at New College was on Election Night 2000 between a Gore voter and a Nader voter,” alum Karen Halperin Cyphers said.

A banner reading “GORE COST NADER THE WIN” was hung in Hamilton “Ham” Center after the election.

“I still remember when CNN called Florida for Gore and then went back and gave it to Bush, how shocked and ashamed I felt,” alum Jen Robbins (‘92) said. “For years I didn’t even want to admit that I voted for Nader in that election because I felt so culpable.”

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SEX SHOPS IN SARASOTA

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briefs by Cassie Manz

Bioluminescence appears in the Sarasota Bay The week before midterms hundreds of thousands of tiny organisms graced New College with their luminous presence.

The bioluminescence in the Sarasota Bay is caused by a high concentration of dinoflagellates, tiny organisms that give off a bright flash when stimulated. According to Professor of Biology Sandra Gilchrist, dinoflagellates usually flourish in the fall and ctenophores flourish in the spring. Ctenophores are animals, as opposed to dinoflagellates, which are plants.

The bioluminescence is a chemical reaction that dinoflagellates and ctenophores both have, as well as many other organisms. Scientists speculate that it could serve many purposes,

including scaring off predators or attracting mates.

The dinoflagellates, as well as the ctenophores, live in the bay year round, but their highest concentration appears from June to early October.

Florida is not the only state that has bioluminescent organisms; gulf and coastal states have them as well, including Alabama, New Jersey and California.

“What happens during the fall is the nutrient conditions and the temperature conditions are such that it increases the density [of the dinoflagellates] so instead of having something that’s so dim you can’t see it you have several thousands of these that will begin to luminesce when they’re stimulated,” Gilchrist said. She

added that the shallow water is also a factor because the water warms up “kind of like a soup bowl” and helps the organisms increase in number.

The quality and amount of light is also an important element because dinoflagellates are photosynthetic.

Interestingly, the organisms of red tide are dinoflagellates as well, but a different genus than the bioluminescent ones. The conditions under which the density of the bioluminescent dinoflagellates increase also contribute to the concentration of organisms that cause the bloom of red tide. “It’s the same kind of phenomenon but they don’t really interact with each other,” Gilchrist said.

“It looked magical,” second-year marine biology Area of Concentration

(AOC) Camila Vallejo said about the bioluminescence at the bay. “My favorite part was when the fish would move and you would be able to see them.”

Vallejo was most amazed by the fact that no matter how many times she kicked the water or threw things in the water the dinoflagellates never stopped lighting up because there were so many of them.

However, both Gilchrist and Vallejo recommend against swimming in the bay during bioluminescence, partly because if there is high red tide it can cause skin and eye irritation and also because swimming at night can mean one might be swimming with the sharks.

“Zombies” comes back to life at New College

The game, Zombies, will make its yearly return to the New College of Florida campus in the last week of October, leading up to Center of the Universe Party (COUP). Throughout the week one will be sure to hear screams and see students running around with plastic spray bottles, ever alert and vigilant.

The Game Masters of Zombies, thesis students Kyle T. Johnson and Lily Gonzales, promise the game will be entirely different this year. They are working directly with administration on the logistics of the events and have reached out to the New College Police Department (NCPD). Assistant

Director for Student Engagement Tara Centeno has been very supportive of the game, according to Johnson.

Johnson added that the mechanics they are introducing have never been formally introduced to the game before, including the Berserker and the Grabber.

Johnson and Gonzales held a Concerns and Safety Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 5. The meeting was intended for people who had experienced the game as a player or non-player at New College, according to an email Johnson sent out. The Game Masters and attendees discussed the safety of Emotional Support Animals

(ESAs) in the game and also officially added the SHARE room to the safe zone list.

“I think we got a lot of nice feedback,” Gonzales said about the meeting. Johnson added that it helped to clarify rules that have been debated in the past and also formally established the primary importance of the health and safety of the players during Zombies.

“I’d say the first priority for us is to remind people that this is a game and you should be having fun with it,” Gonzales said.

“It’s important that people know that it’s okay to take yourself out of the

game,” Johnson added.

Johnson and Gonzales also want to “crack down on the toxicity” in the game that can exist between players and non-players and want to work to ensure that Zombies does not interfere with the campus community.

Johnson and Gonzales are both very excited to see how Zombies plays out this year.

“I’m just having fun,” Gonzales said. Johnson added that he wants this Zombies to be “the best ever” and give people stories they can talk about for years to come.

Seven bee species added to the endangered species list The world is ending... Or so many people believe now that seven species of yellow-faced bees native to Hawaii have been placed on the endangered species list. These are the first bees in the country to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. However, conservationists see this as a victory. The new status will provide much needed protection for the bees by allowing authorities to implement recovery programs for the species and limit harm from outside sources, according to Gregory Koob of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is largely credited for getting the bees onto the list. They have led a multi-year effort that began in 2009 to gain protection for the seven

species of yellow-faced bees. The Society called the USFWS decision “excellent news for these bees” but added that there is much work that needs to be done “to ensure that Hawaii’s bees thrive,” according to their website.

“It’s definitely a good first step,” President of the Pollinator Ecology Club on campus and thesis student Reed Barry said. “The next step would be to protect specific habitat areas so that nobody can degrade those areas any further and lead to further population declines of those particular species.”

For now, Barry advises activists to put pressure on politicians and urge them to create new legislation that will further the protection of the bees.

Many conservationists see the recent designation of these bees as endangered as growing recognition of

“Trying to rap while running is also a fun practice in lung capacity.” © 2016, the Catalyst. All rights reserved.

The Catalyst is available online at www.ncfcatalyst.com, facebook.com/NCFcatalyst, @ncfcatalyst The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by Professor Maria Vesperi and taught by visiting instructor Yadira Lopez. It is developed in the New College Publications Lab using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign and printed at Sun Coast Press with funds provided by the New College Student Alliance.

the importance of bees. As Sam Droege, a U.S. Geological Survey wildlife biologist and one of the country’s foremost experts on native bee identification, told The Washington Post in 2015, bees are “the indigenous, unpaid and invisible workforce that somehow has managed to sustain all terrestrial life without health-care subsidies, or a single COLA [Cost-of-Living Adjustment], for the past 250 million years.”

At least 75 percent of the world’s food supply depends, in some way, on pollination. If pollinating bees died out, the world would have to find a way to continue the work they inherently do.

However, pollinators are not the only important bee. Recently, emphasis has begun to be placed on the protection of wild bees as well. According to Taylor Ricketts, director of the Gund Institute

General Editor Managing Editor Copy Editor Online Editor Layout Editor Staff Writers & Photographers

Pariesa Young Giulia Heyward Ryan Paice Caitlyn Ralph Audrey Warne Katelyn Grimmett, Jasmine Respess, Dylan Pryor, Elan Works, Jacob Wentz, Kelly Wilson, Cassandra Manz, Anya María Contreras-García, Magdalene Taylor

for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, although some wild bees may not be responsible for pollinating crops, they are important to the larger ecosystem and can help maintain the habitat for other species that indirectly affect humans.

Information for this article was gathered from npr.org, xerces.org and washingtonpost.com.

photo courtesy of beeculture.com Direct submissions, letters, announcements and inquiries to: The Catalyst 5800 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, Florida 34243 ncfcatalyst@gmail.com The Catalyst reserves the right to edit all submissions for grammar, space and style.

No anonymous submissions will be accepted.

Submissions must be received by 12:00 p.m.

Friday for consideration in the next issue.

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CAMPUS

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Newtown’s food insecurity a stark contrast to its past

BY KATELYN GRIMMETT

When a Winn Dixie off Tamiami Trail and Myrtle closed in 2010, residents of Newtown had to walk two or three extra miles south to get to Publix until the Neighborhood Walmart opened in the same spot a few years later.

The Historic African American community of Newtown did not always face such a delicate foundation of food security. In the past, there were many markets to choose from, most of them family-owned and all of them run by the black community.

“We had Cann-Major’s grocery, the Jenkins grocers, you had Eddie’s fruit stand which had all the fresh fruits and veggies you can think of-- collard greens, navel oranges, grapes, bananas, peanuts, he had brazilian nuts, different pecans-- it was a hell of a fruit stand,” Lance Shabazz, Newtown Native, said.

Today, most of the businesses remembered by the older generation are long gone. Shabazz’s explanation for this is that these businesses were “generated to stay in the community.”

Once money started going outside of Newtown - a change that first occurred with integration - the independently-owned businesses fell through the cracks.

Before Walmart replaced Winn Dixie, neighborhoods surrounding New College fell into the same food insecurity as Newtown. If you lived in the area and you couldn’t eat at the Hamilton Center (Ham) then you lived in a food desert.

At the time, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defined “food deserts” as “low-income areas where a significant number or share of residents is far from a supermarket.”

Then, “far” was considered one

mile in urban places and 10 in rural places. Now, residential areas facing certain obstacles to fresh food can be labeled by the USDA as food deserts within a half mile of a supermarket.

While most of Newtown no longer falls under the old definition with the Walmart there, recent tweaks to the USDA’s algorithm for food deserts requalified a few areas within the district.

“Newtown has been considered as a food desert because they don’t get enough produce and veggies,” Shabazz said. “This is what inspired us to open a farmacy, that’s f-a-r-m-a-c-y, eat to live, fresh fruits and veggies.”

Your friendly neighborhood grocer The USDA’s concept of a food desert has undergone phases of expansion to incorporate different factors within food insecurity and create “layers” of food deserts.

Layers are formed based on individual issues affecting a tract, which is a zone or area designated by the USDA to collect data from. Here is an example.

The Amaryllis Park neighborhood in Newtown overlaps the USDA’s census tract 12115000300, a low-income zone out of reach from a fully-stocked produce store within half mile.

Atlas - the USDA’s interactive map of food deserts - states that the tract where Amaryllis neighborhood falls has “a relatively high number of households (437 of 1,448 total households (30.2%) without vehicles.”

The combination of low-income with a shortage of cars qualifies this area as a food desert within a half mile of a grocery store. This tract is colorcoded in orange to differentiate from the green that designates areas fitting the original food desert measure.

Lack of mobility and

Katelyn Grimmett/Catalyst

Newtown native Lance Shabazz’s market, Farmacy: Eat to Live, is a new extension of his restaurant, Food Supreme, which serves Jamaican patties, oxtails and the like.

Katelyn Grimmett/Catalyst

“​ You got four or five convenience stores on the streets and not one of them sells our people tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, they can’t buy veggies,” Shabazz said. transportation is not a new problem in Newtown. A few ambitious grocery stores used to deliver personalized orders of produce right to their neighbors’ doors.

“Cann and Jenkin’s grocery, you could call them up and put in all your grocery [orders] and they’d deliver them to you,” Shabazz said. “They had delivery trucks back in the 60’s cause a lot of people didn’t have cars so they would bring you your groceries.”

Fannie McDugle, Newtown resident since 1947, talks about Jenkin’s grocery in an oral history interview conducted for Newtown Alive!, a project completed by the Newtown Conservation Historic District’s and published this year.

“He had a truck, and all the older peoples who didn’t have cars or didn’t have a way to get around to shop...they would call in and tell him what they want and he would take the orders to them, from door to door,” McDugle recalled.

Present day Newtown’s closest equivalent to such accommodation is the non-profit Newtown Nation’s Farmer’s Market, which makes door deliveries upon request.

Your not-so-friendly neighborhood corner store Even with the USDA’s attempt to incorporate the myriad of issues composing food insecurities, the very term “food desert” is criticized as undefinable. How do you factor in independent produce stands or personal gardens? In New York City, is half a mile comparatively “far”?

For people living in food deserts, eating can become a complicated and difficult daily chore. Without convenient access to fresh food vendors, people either get creative or turn to local convenience stores and fast food restaurants.

In Newtown, convenience stores dot along both sides of MLK and they’ve adapted to their customer pool.

Nearly all of them accept Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) in order to serve customers using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.

“You got four or five convenient stores on the streets and not one of them sells our people tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, they can’t buy veggies,”

Shabazz said.

An example of this relationship is Moore’s Grocery. Moore’s Grocery store used to be a real grocery store, run by Estella Thomas and her husband until 1987. The store has retained the family name to this day.

In another interview transcribed in Newtown Alive!, Thomas describes the items Moore’s had in stock when she was running the place “We had all kind of fruits and vegetables, just everything… Fresh cheese, cracklings that you’d have to weigh, the two-for-a penny cookies that you had – everything.”

Today, the structure of Moore’s Grocery Store remains the same but the business itself has been altered completely. The array of produce Thomas describes is out of sight, out of mind, replaced by convenience store finds: chips, individually-wrapped cakes, soda and beer.

Half of one aisle is dedicated to a fair selection of dry ingredients - rice, sugar, flour - and canned goods (mostly soups). But not an apple or orange can be found today in Moore’s Grocery.

Nevertheless, the store accepts EBT cards and SNAP. “This community is built on social dollars so we’re gonna cater to the people on these programs where they can save money and eat healthier and live better,” Shabazz claimed. “We don’t have no sodas, we don’t have beer, we don’t sell cigarettes.”

Where gardens used to grow Fifty years ago - give or take Newtown was a gem of prosperity in a time where Sarasota was nearly all dirt roads.

Many people who grew up in the area still paint an idyllic picture of old Newtown, where everything one needed was in their backyard. A literal example of this is the abundance of home gardens that used to grow in Newtown homes.

“Practically every house that you would go by or visit had some kind of little garden out back or on the side,” Dorothye Smith, a Newtown Historian, recounts. “With greens, okra, tomatoes, and flowers - blooming flowers - and maybe you notice some of that, pass by certain homes and you see blooming flowers. That’s a continuation of what started back a long time ago.”

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NEWS PAGE 4

A former White Nationalist and a Novo Collegian: The legacy of Derek Black

BY GIULIA HEYWARD When the school finds itself on the pages of a major publication, it is quickly shared among alums, current students and their proud parents. This could be seen with what the Washington Post had to say about alum Derek Black (‘09), a transfer student, the founder of a white nationalist website, Stormfront, and the son of one of the most prominent white nationalists in the Florida Region and a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Black entered New College as a 21-year-old transfer student and graduated in Spring 2013. He studied Medieval Literature and his undergraduate thesis was on vampirism in the 18th century. Black became the subject of a forum thread that became one of the most commented threads in the school’s history. Upon graduation, Black recanted the beliefs of his father.

Black was contacted a year prior by the Tangent for an interview on his experiences but declined, stating that he was not interested.

“I didn’t know him but we had a mutual friend,” Alum Jakilah Mason (‘08) said in an email interview. “I went to that mutual friend’s Bacc and Derek was there, and so was this older dude who told me he was Derek’s roommate. [...] He [roommate] accosted me after the Bacc and started harassing me about how not racist he and Derek Black were. I can’t remember the entire conversation but I remember him saying that Derek couldn’t be racist because he lived in Newtown and asking me what I thought Obama was going to do about re-election, because he had just come out in favor of gay marriage and black people are so notoriously homophobic.

I guess I include that story to say that although Derek and I never spoke, I still had to deal with the crappy repercussions of his presence.”

This criticism of both the article and New College administration was also felt by other students.

“The article certainly did not paint a wholesome enough picture of the fear and terror felt by students of color on campus, leaving that to the discretion of the reader to imagine,” alum Adriana Diaz (12) said in an email interview. “Reading the commentary posted by alums of color while sharing the article on Facebook really fleshed out the reality of feeling unsafe on your own campus where you must live. Additionally, New College as an institution was not held accountable for their negligence in protecting students of color from a hate group dedicated to multiple forms of violence against people of color. Its so disappointing to hear in the comments of alumns whose time overlapped with Derek’s that the administration did little to nothing to ensure the safety of students after the information of Derek’s affiliation with white supremacist ‘white nationalism’

came out.”

“I don’t feel like he went out that much but I saw him at a couple Walls and parties and it always made me vaguely uncomfortable, to be honest.,” alum August “Gus” Tupper (‘11) said in an email interview. “Like no matter how reformed he was, I read some of the stuff he wrote on Stormfront and like whoa.”

The Washington Post piece recounted Black’s upbringing, including his time at New College, up to his recanting of his father’s beliefs.

The article discussed the influence of alum Matthew Stevenson (‘10) who befriended Black and aided in the evolution of his ideology.

“I think the article fed into a narrative that a lot of people love, namely, this dude got ‘educated’ and suddenly realized his parents and David Duke were garbage monsters whose ideas were literally hateful, boring, and lazy,” Tupper continued. “But it took him a long time, and I’m sure he’s not any kind of angel now. [...] I took most of what was said with a grain of salt. I feel bad for Derek because he was born into an unimaginably fucked up situation, but circumstances like that don’t make any of us less responsible for the violence of oppression, structural or otherwise, in which we, especially as white dudes, are all complicit.”

This sentiment is shared by other alums as well.

“The whole thing feels very performative and carefully planned to me,” alum, and former Vice President of Student Life, Taylor Toro (‘12), said in an email interview. “When Derek Black first denounced his affiliation with the white nationalist movement, it was at a very convenient time for him to do so.

He was going to move on to obtain yet another degree at another institution that allowed for the admission of a white nationalist. So his distancing from the movement felt a lot like a means to fit into the institution as opposed to an authentic and genuine denouncement.

“I guess we could give praise to folks that renounce harmful and violent ideologies. But that doesn’t erase what he did,” Toro continued. “To be clear: he made the white supremacist movement more palpable for folks that weren’t comfortable with the violent imagery and methods of the KKK and neonazis. He ushered in an era of white supremacy that was reinforced by pseudoscience and questionable stats. In my opinion, he and his father are partially responsible for the mass acceptance of white nationalist thought in the Republican Party. Stormfront not only pushed politics further to the right here in the US, but also beyond the US; stormfront served as the means to unify all white nationalists around the world. [...] Like yeah, I guess good for him for thinking people of marginalized identities are just as deserving to live as he [is].”

The Activist Newsletter Katelyn Grimmett/Catalyst

This week (10/19 – 10/27), activists have the opportunity to attend debate watch parties, boycott protests and educational lectures. Read on if you want to get involved in the community regarding national politics, racial and ethnic equality, or LGBTQ+ rights.

BY ANYA MARÍA CONTRERAS-GARCÍA

Wednesday, Oct. 19 Presidential Debate Watch Party @ 7:45 p.m. – 11 p.m.

The Starlite Room 1001 Cocoanut Ave Sarasota, FL 34236 Planned Parenthood Action Fund is hosting a watch party for the second round of the presidential debates. The support and involvement of members helps secure the future for reproductive health care in America. The debate will be aired on the big screen of the first floor of The Starlite Room where dinner and drinks will be served. The lounge will be open for walk-ins, but it will be on a first come first serve basis. To reserve a table, call Starlite at 941.702.5613.

For more information, check out the event page on Facebook.

Sunday, Oct. 23 Boycott Wendy’s Protest during Sarasota Eat Local Week @ 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Wendy’s (near the hospital) 1601 S Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34239-2906 Join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and allies for a Boycott Wendy’s picket in Sarasota, as part of Eat Local Week 2016. Wendy’s stands alone as the last of five major fast food corporations in the country still holding out from participating in the Fair Food Program. Wendy’s farmworkers continue to confront wage theft, sexual harassment, child labor and even forced labor with little access to protections.

Join activists to hold Wendy’s accountable for its corporate social irresponsibility. #BoycottWendys.

For more information, email patricia@ allianceforfairfood.org and check out the event page on Facebook.

Wednesday, Oct. 26 Gender Rights as Human Rights @ 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Selby Auditorium University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee

A selection of panelists will speak on the topic of gender rights and human rights. Topics will include women in India, rural women in Africa, men’s gender issues in human rights, men’s role in women’s rights and New College’s own student Leen Al-Fatafta will speak about on Arab Feminisms. There will be time for questions from the audience and informal conversation.

Wednesday, Oct. 26 A Conversation with Jim Obergefell @ 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Sainer Pavilion 5313 Bay Shore Rd Sarasota, FL 34234 The New College Gender Studies Program presents a conversation with Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in last year’s U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision affirming the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry in all 50 states.

Jim Obergefell, now among the most recognized faces in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, will share an intimate, gripping account of the legal precedents and personal hardships behind this unforgettable victory for the gay community.

Admission is free. To reserve a seat, go to donate.ncf.edu/events. For more information, check out the event page on Facebook.

Thursday, Oct. 27 An Evening with Jim Obergefell: Cocktail Reception @ 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Isermann Gallery (behind Sanier Pavilion) This cocktail and hors d’oeuvres reception honoring Jim Obergefell follows his free lecture at Sainer Pavilion. Tickets to the reception are $125 and reservations are limited. An autographed copy of Mr. Obergefell’s book, Love Wins, is included in the ticket price. All proceeds will benefit the New College Gender Studies Program. Tickets are available for purchase at donate.ncf.edu/events.

For more information, check out the event page on Facebook.

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NEWS PAGE 5

CWC survey gauges need for gender diversity training

BY ELAN WORKS Perhaps the greatest issue with the Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC), an important resource for many students on campus, is ironically the lack of resources it has due to severe underfunding.

It will not come as a surprise to students who live on campus or have sought services from the CWC in the past to hear that the services offered are extremely limited. Only short, episodic counseling is provided, students may only consult with a doctor one day a week and certain medications, which may be crucial to students’ academic success, are not allowed to be prescribed on campus.

A recent survey was sent out to students on the forum from the CWC representative Andrew Blackowiak, a thesis student, in an attempt to gauge student feelings towards the staff of the CWC. The questions on the survey specifically asked about the front desk staff and the nurse practitioner, who changes year to year.

An important question included in Blackowiak’s survey asked respondents if they felt fully informed about any diagnosis they received from the CWC before they left. Responses to this particular question will indicate a key element in the competence of the CWC’s diagnosing staff, as it is absolutely essential that any person know the full implications of any diagnosis they are

given.

Participants were polled about comfort levels in relationship to the staff and asked for their feelings on the respectfulness of staff towards gender identity.

“Do you feel that your gender was respected while seeing the Nurse Practitioner?” was a survey question followed by “Yes”, “No”, and “Other” options. Similar questions were asked about the front desk personnel and student comfort with the people who interact directly with students when making appointments or checking in.

“Once I’ve compiled the responses, I’ll be presenting them to Dr. Fisher in preparation for a potential gender diversity training for the CWC,” Blackowiak wrote in the email sent to the students signed up for the forum, elaborating earlier in the email that students should only respond if they have had experiences with the CWC staff this semester.

It could be argued that since common decency and respecting each person’s gender identity are such large components of New College’s culture, that students should be able to expect their gender identity to be respected by anyone on campus - most especially in places like the CWC where students may feel more vulnerable.

The issue of gender diversity training for CWC staff has been present in the minds of the student body. In last month’s Vision Workshop pertaining

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst A Student Health Satisfaction survey, located in the lobby, can be filled out by students.

to the future of New College, students repeatedly brought up the CWC and potential, much needed improvements.

Volanta Peng, a second-year student who attended the workshop, was particularly adamant about the CWC improvements. “[We need] full-time psychiatrists and doctors,” Peng wrote on a sticky note that was added to a board of ideal improvements.

Other members of the brainstorming group with Peng described an increase in gender and race sensitivity training for CWC staff and also for Metz employees who interact with students, citing the importance of sensitivity towards everyone. Another issue the participants of the workshop raised with the CWC’s method of mental

health care was the directing of students to outside facilities which students may not have the transportation abilities or funds to access for long-term treatment.

The problem pointed out to students both at the workshop and those of the same opinions that were voiced there was that the CWC does not receive enough funding to provide longterm care or full-time access to doctors or psychiatric services. This leaves the question: why is student health such an under-funded aspect of campus life? Should this issue be a priority moving forward? The answers are unclear, but perhaps in the near future the administration and CWC staff will use student responses as guidance in transforming the capabilities of the New College students support systems.

Marriage equality activist Jim Obergefell to come to SRQ

BY ANYA MARÍA CONTRERAS-GARCÍA Since 2015, Jim Obergefell has become the face of the recent wave of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. His fight for gay rights reached its climax when he was the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case, Obergefell v.

Hodges, where he claimed that state officials violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights by denying samesex couples the right to marry.

Obergefell and his husband, John Arthur, were together for two decades when they decided to get married in Maryland in 2013 when the state legalized same-sex marriage. Arthur passed away soon after their union, and Obergefell fought for legal recognition as his surviving spouse on Arthur’s Ohio state death certificate.

Obergefell’s fight made it all the way to the Supreme Court. In the resulting historic decision, the Court ruled that the Constitution supported same-sex marriage for the entirety of the United States and established the legal right of same-sex couples to marry.

After his role in winning marriage equality for Americans, Obergefell has been on the road, touring across America to energize tides of passionate LGBTQ+ activists by sharing his story.

All across the nation he has been received as an iconic hero for social equality.

Signed copies of Jim Obergefell’s book “Love Wins” -- about his role in the historic Supreme Court case that established the right for same-sex couples to marry in America -- will be available at the reception on Oct 26.

Next week, on Oct. 26, 2016 Jim Obergefell will visit New College of Florida “to tell the story of his taking the case to the Supreme Court and winning federal same-sex marriage rights,” according to the New College Gender Studies program Facebook page.

Obergefell’s talk is part of New College New Topics, a lecture series focused on contemporary issues. The conversation will take place at the

Mildred Sainer Pavillion at 5:30 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and reservations are recommended.

The discussion will be followed by a cocktail reception in the Isermann Gallery celebrating Obergefell’s commitment to the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. Tickets to the reception cost $125, which includes a signed copy of Obergefell’s book, Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the

Landmark Case for Marriage Equality.

All proceeds will benefit New College’s Gender Studies Program.

Obergefell’s work fighting for LGBTQ+ rights is far from over. He is actively lobbying in Washington D.C. for the Equality Act, an update to the 1964 Civil Rights Act to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender orientation.

Obergefell is also continuing to fight for a ban on conversion therapy, a controversial form of counseling aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. “No child should be forced into therapy that has been debunked and disproved and is a form of child abuse. We’re seeing movements in the right direction when it comes to that because medical professionals, they all say it’s harmful,” said Obergefell in an interview with Sarasota Magazine.

After the announcement of the Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriage, Obergefell addressed a crowd outside of the Courthouse saying, “If we’re truly dedicated to our democracy and the values that we as a nation cherish, we must be equally committed to ensuring that all citizens are treated equally, that all Americans deserve justice. That’s when we’re all united.”

To reserve a seat for the free New Topics New College lecture and/or the following cocktail reception, visit donate.ncf.edu.

Musical opportunities hit a high note at New College

BY JACOB WENTZ Every week, multiple performance opportunities take place around campus. In addition to contributing to New College’s creative atmosphere, these shows give students the chance to practice their instruments in a collaborative setting. Whether the performances are hosted by students or organized by the music department, there are always opportunities for eager musicians to express themselves.

Performances Various musical performances are always happening at NCF in the form of jam sessions, small concerts and most recently, New Music New College. These impromptu shows allow musicians to create experimental sounds and friends to dance their hearts out.

“Pretty boy aloe hosts these live music events in his dorm, ‘Space Cave,’ where people just sort of impromptu get together to jam and play their own stuff,” second-year Elijah Weiss said.

“Often times there’s a lot of improv and musical talking back and forth between people. People come, people go, it’s a very open musical experience; it’s just creative expression.”

In addition to students, the Four Winds Café and the Bike Shoppe have recently announced that they are willing to host musical events.

“Four Winds is a community space and is open for students to put in event requests,” thesis student Sophia Schultz wrote in a forum post.

The musical environment at NCF has grown a lot since last year, showing the community’s growing value of art and creativity.

“I’m a lot happier with [the musical opportunities] this year than I was last year,” Weiss said. “There wasn’t as much spontaneous jamming—that I was aware of, at least. Now that that’s becoming more of a frequent and regular thing, that gives me hope for the student body to create a more cohesive creative and musical community.

Ensembles The most consistent way for musicians to practice their instruments is through organized ensembles. Led

Photo courtesy of Adilyne McKinlay Good Graeff performing in front of Ham at Newstock.

concerts in “Club Sudakoff,” NMNC puts a strong focus on educational activities, including Artist Conversations and panel discussions. This focus on education is especially important for NCF students and at least one NMNC concert every year features NCF student work in a prominent way.

This blend of community, education, and performance shows the unique approach to musical knowledge that gives NMNC an incredible amount of value.

Funding The creative community at NCF will continue to grow, thanks to recent artistic funding. The Andrew V. Mellon Foundation has awarded a five-year Jacob Wentz/Catalyst grant of $750,000 to NCF for project New College: Connecting the Arts and ​James Moore, Kathlee Supové, and Jennifer Choi performed at a recent NMNC concert. Humanities on Florida’s Creative Coast.

The central goals of this project

by Virginia Bray, the New College remain extremely similar: experimental include elevating the college’s capacity Chorus is a part of the music program performance creates the opportunity to contribute to public discourse on on the “academic” side and therefore for dialogue; new music comes alive humanities and arts in our region, tends to be more officially recognized when presented in the appropriate building sustainable relations with local than the other ensembles at NCF. The performance space; short and intense art organizations, and establishing New College Chorus provides students performances have maximum sustainable academic connections opportunities to sing classics of a vast impact; and the conversation about with local colleges that comprise the choral repertoire, from Gregorian chant contemporary music is richer when College Consortium group. Not only to music of today’s composers. The it involves the community, students, does this grant show the importance of Chorus has greatly grown in size and faculty and staff. For the past seventeen humanities in education; it allows New regularly attracts large audiences to its years, NMNC has opened dialogue about College students to further advance the concerts. contemporary music and performance artistic community on campus.

To those who need to let their In addition to the New College with the New College community, the creative energy flow, NCF seems like a Chorus, staff members occasionally greater Sarasota-Bradenton community very suitable environment. organize specialized ensembles. and world-class musicians.

In addition to gaining a large “I’ve led ‘open instrumentation’ “New Music New College is an ensembles over ISPs, in which students outstanding series that is yet more amount of funding for the arts, our who play any instrument assemble “local”, taking place right here on college is always alive with musical performance opportunities. Whether and take on challenging contemporary campus,” Dancigers said. repertoire by composers like Steve “New Music New College brings one would like to jam with friends or Reich, Louis Andriessen, Fred Rzewski, nationally-recognized performers spectate at a New Music New College and others,” Visiting Assistant and composers who specialize in performance, the musical setting at Professor of Music Mark Dancigers said adventurous and experimental music- NCF is rich. To aspiring musicians, take in an e-mail interview. making for performances throughout advantage of these opportunities and “I also created and led two Laptop the year. These concerts are free for all follow this advice from Dancigers: “Work hard every day, and let your Orchestras as a part of the class in NCF community members - check them ears guide you on your journey.”

Electronic Music a few years ago, and out!” may revive that in the future.”

In addition to bringing the Though many opportunities community together to experience come from the music department and staff, there are multiple student-led ensembles on campus. The New Cats jazz band, one of the college’s only organized instrumental group, practices at least once per week and puts on occasional concerts for students. The New Cats is a more selective ensemble, however, as it only accepted one new member this year.

The New College A Capella group, organized by thesis student Tessa Geier, provides a more casual opportunity for those who would like to further their vocal skills.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to create beautiful art with likeminded, cool people who also really want to have fun,” first-year student Cole Schmidt said.

New Music New College Founded at the turning of the Photo courtesy of Adilyne McKinlay millennium, New Music New College (NMNC) has significantly grown from Students relax on the grass during Newstock, enjoying the sunny day and live music. its beginnings in 1998. However, the foundational principles of NMNC

Caitlyn Ralph/Catalyst Second-year Olivia Van Housen put on a show by Long Island based This Is All Now last Saturday, emulating the process of how to bring musicians on campus.

​Sudakoff was transformed into “Club Sudakoff ” for the first New Music New College performance of the 2016-2017 season.

Jacob Wentz/Catalyst

Jacob Wentz/Catalyst First-year student Conner Jure was one of multiple NCF students that accompanied the musicians.

Jacob Wentz/Catalyst

​Jennifer Choi plays a mean violin.

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Humane Society’s Excursion Buddy program gives you a dog for a day

BY CAITLYN RALPH

Emphasizing an idea most have known for a while, a post on Harvard Medical School’s health blog detailed a therapy dog that reduced employees and students’ stress at work. However, whether due to financial constraints or unfit living situations, it’s unfortunate that college students - a cohort constantly bombarded with work many times cannot have an animal of their own.

Enter Humane Society of Sarasota County’s (HSSC) Excursion Buddy program - a program to fulfill all fluffy, stress-reducing, animal needs.

“Unfortunately, most colleges do not allow pets inside dorms so often students are forced to leave their pets at home; or they are unable to commit to the time or cost of a pet when leaving for college,” HSSC Communications Coordinator Nalani Simpson said in an email interview. “The Excursion Buddy program is an excellent way to live vicariously through pet owners, get the love and cuddles everyone needs, help an animal, and ultimately, assist with finding the pet its forever home.”

Having just begun this past summer, Excursion Buddy allows volunteers to “check-out” a dog at HHSC to take into the community for a few hours. As HSSC’s website concisely states, “This is a great option for college students or others who are prohibited from having pets but still want to help shelter animals get adopted.”

“This helps raise the visibility of the shelter pet, allows people to view the animal outside of shelter (in a standard day-to-day situation), and you can even showcase their skills such as

‘sit’ and ‘stay’ to potential adopters,” Simpson said. “The animal will receive socialization, get a chance to be adopted, and enjoy their time just spending the day with you outside of shelter.”

Someone interested in the Excursion Buddy program must first apply to be a HSSC volunteer on their website. The application is reviewed, and the applicant is contacted to complete the appropriate volunteer trainings.

Photo courtesy of the Humane Society and Rescued Nose Photography

Volunteers with the Excursion Buddy program have the opportunity to take a shelter dog into the community for a few hours to socialize - like this pup, who is enjoying a local Sarasota beach.

“Once all trainings and requirements are met, all you do is select an adoptable dog at HSSC’s shelter and take the dog into the community for a few hours at a time,” Simpson said.

All supplies are provided to the Excursion Buddies participant, including a leash, an “adopt me vest” and flyers telling the story of the dog.

The Humane Society of Sarasota

County began in 1951 with Donald Evans, whose lost dog was euthanized by a dog catcher. After that experience, Evans began a Humane Society to prevent other animals from getting wrongfully euthanized. In early 1952, that idea became a reality, and HSSC became officially incorporated. Growing from its original 48 kennels and one room for six cats, HSSC now houses 82 air-conditioned kennels and room for 80 cats.

In March 2009, HSSC became a no-kill shelter, which means, as its website states, “No adoptable pet would be euthanized to make space for another.” Each day, the Society has an average of 150 animals in their care.

That same post on Harvard Medical School’s blog concisely summarized research on animals’ health benefits. It states, “Pets have been shown to lower blood pressure, improve recovery from heart disease, and even reduce rates of asthma and allergy in children” and that “Pets also improve people’s psychological wellbeing and self-esteem.”

“Studies certainly show that animals can reduce stress and foster a comfortable environment for learning, though HSSC enacts these practices through our Education Programs,” Simpson said.

HSSC’s Education Programs practice humane education, which, according to Simpson, “is the teaching of compassion and respect related to animal welfare and examines the challenges facing our planet and explores how we might live with compassion and respect for everyone.”

These programs take the form of classroom visits, shelter tours, pet

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therapy and reading to animals.

There are other ways to volunteer with HSSC. This includes the “Mini Stay-Cation” program, which sees volunteers take a dog off-site for a day or weekend; the “Matchmaker” program - which helps potential adopters find the right pet - and the “Adoption Ambassadors” program, which is an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) initiative that “empowers HSSC volunteers to foster a pet, promote the animal in their community, identify potential adopters, and even finalize the adoption process,” according to Simpson.

The Excursion Buddy program actually stemmed from the Adoption Ambassadors program.

“ASPCA research has shown that programs like Adoption Ambassadors help reach a new pool of adopters and result in lower return rates than traditional shelter adoptions,” Simpson said. “Not only are lives saved, but space, time, and resources are freed up at shelters.

“Often people find that they want to foster or help get shelter pets adopted, but do not have the time or are unable to commit to such an in depth program such as the Adoption Ambassador program. Thus the Excursion Buddy program was established so time-limited volunteers could still help shelter pets in need,” Simpson continued.

The Excursion Buddy program runs during the same time as HSSC’s normal business hours, which are Tuesday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Turning the page on a new week at the comic shop

BY DYLAN PRYOR

As comics continue to be one of the strongest and most consistent inspirations for modern television and film adaptations, we take a look at some of the most intriguing stories to hit the shelves this past month.

Champions #1 (Marvel) In the aftermath of Marvel’s recent Civil War sequel, this series about a group of its teenage heroes out to spread a message of idealism and hope through their efforts is as relevant as ever. The book contains a line-up of teenage heroes including Khamala Khan (Ms. Marvel), Miles Morales (SpiderMan) and others who share their names with staple heroes of the Marvel-verse.

In a world where it’s natural for each newer generation to claim they can do things better, it is refreshing to see a comic where the heroes actually try.

Green Valley # 1 (Image) Walking the line between light-hearted comedy and profound action is a tough feat for comics and movies alike, however Green Valley’s Max Landis appears to do this near

Image courtesy of dccomics.com

Shade the Changing Girl by DC comics.

effortlessly, with a story that is much more than your standard story of knights and castles. Strong character

Image courtesy of ign.com

Champions by Marvel comics.

work is evident throughout this book that is good for both a few laughs and as the foundation for a heartfelt tale with

heroes the reader can root for.

Shade the Changing Girl # 1 (DC) Shade is definitely one of DC’s more abstract works of the current line-up, but it’s also a simultaneously refreshing and jolting change of pace from the imprint’s standard superhero book, in favor of something much more abstract. What originally appears to be simply the story of an eccentric alien inhabiting the body of a high school girl and looking for a change of pace is much more than it appears, as evidenced by a final shot that represents a stark juxtaposition to the pages before it.

Cage! # 1 (Marvel) Cage! Is an interesting counterpart to the modernized Luke Cage series that premiered only a few weeks ago on Netflix. While the hero’s TV show brings him into the modern day, this book is a period piece that takes him all the way back to his 1977 roots. Throw in the art style of Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky, and the result is a fun and lighthearted story that fans of both comics and classic cartoons can both enjoy.

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Burns Court heats up! Where to go and what to see

BY CASSIE MANZ The Burns Court Historic District is directly south of Downtown Sarasota and stretches for about seven blocks.

The area is known for its residential history; it contains 15 Mediterranean Revival style bungalows built from 1924 to 1925 by well-known developer Owen Burns and architect Thomas Reed Martin. Today the district is made up of not only the historical homes but also small boutiques, art galleries, restaurants and more. There is much to do, eat and see!

Where to Go in Burns Court: Stop by Nancy’s Bar-B-Q, one of the first restaurants you’ll see when entering the Burns Court District. The small local restaurant is well-known for its homemade barbecue served to guests mess hall style. It’s fast, affordable, and delicious! Guests enjoy outdoor seating and try their homemade barbecue sauce, sweet or chipotle.

Venture down a block to Burns Court Cafe and take advantage of your 10 percent student discount. The cafe is home to live jazz at night and a tuckedaway wine bar in the back. It is classy but casual. Guests can bring a book, sit

outside and try the gelato.

If you are in a treat-yourself mood visit the Starflower Organic Spathecary.

This local spa offers facials and massages as well as a homemade organic skin care line. If you don’t want to splurge on the products or offers, don’t worry - there is a sample bar!

Looking for a break from all this walking? Catch a movie at Burns Court Cinemas, a small, indie theater. It is cute and charming and usually has good movies. Cry during a tearjerker next to a person who looks like your grandmother and realize that movies bond people of all ages together.

After this emotional moment wind down at Owen’s Fish Camp. What used to be an old cottage has been made into a charming restaurant that has all the feelings and looks of Old Florida.

Take a step back in time, enjoy the live music and try the oysters.

If you have time pop into the Sarasota Trading Company, an antique store, across the street from Owen’s Fish Camp. It is pricey but fun to look around in. The assistants are usually nice even though they know you’re not going to buy anything.

Center yourself after a busy day

at the Pineapple Yoga Studio. It has a discounted $16 price for drop-ins for students and if you bring two friends to a class you get a week of yoga classes free! The studio also sells locally-made kombucha and other fermented foods, as well as eco-friendly yoga mats and accessories. Check out their class schedule on the Facebook page.

Information for this article was gathered from sarasotahistoryalive.com.

(clockwise from top) Sarasota Trading Company, Burns Court Cinema, Nancy’s BBQ, Burns Court Cafe.

The latest scientific thinking attempts to discover what aliens actually look like

BY KELLY WILSON While most people in modern times may realize that aliens are not green humanoid creatures, they may not agree on how aliens actually look.

Luckily, astrobiologists who have been thinking and researching on the subject have begun to share their thoughts with the rest of the world. It turns out, aliens might look much different than we could have ever predicted.

Since the 17th century, human beings have been casting life on other planets as human-like in the media from The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun (1657) by the French writer Cyrano de Bergera to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels in the late twentieth century through modern movies and novels such as the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. Thus, the long-held view of aliens is that they are humanlike. However, many people have begun to question this idea that has been floating around in the media for so long, “As for aliens, I think every portrayal of aliens in Hollywood or TV shows or whatever, they all have like generally humanoid faces, which is not accurate, like if something breathes carbon dioxide instead of oxygen then it’s not going to look the same because it’s going to be made of different stuff.

I saw this one thing about Star Wars: a New Hope, how in the Cantina scene, where there’s all the different aliens in it but they all have like they all have two eyes and a mouth in different positions. But if something is alien and so different from humans then it’s not

going to have those same features,” first-year Kallie Delis said.

First-year Mairead Howely agreed. “I don’t know anything about this because I don’t know how biology works, or chemistry, or anything like that but I still think that it’s absurd that aliens necessarily even have the same definition of life that we do. I don’t think that aliens even look like anything we could recognize as human.

“Like in Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle In Time,” they talk about how there’s this other planet that has like alien like sentient beings on it and Meg, the protagonist, tries to explain what sight is to them but they have this other sense that’s like emotions sort of but it’s very different from human senses but it’s sort of more profound. They can like sort of sense what something is instead of what it looks like.”

“So why would we assume that aliens have like sight and sound and everything like humans?”

Howley questioned.

Star Trek blames their lack of diversity on the Theory of Panspermia, which was proposed by two scientists – Steven Benner of the Westheimer Institute of Science and Technology in Gainesville Florida and Christopher Adcock of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas - to explain the fact that Earth lacks some of the chemicals essential to forming life while Mars has them.

While most agree that water is one of the building blocks of life, RNA - the beginnings of genetic expression - falls apart when built in water. Thus some theorists believe that life on earth may have developed on Mars and ended up

here via rocks or asteroids coming from Mars.

Star Trek builds on this theory by creating worlds in the Milky Way who are all ancient relatives of each other.

However, proponents of this theory argue that life on earth came from various places in the universe through asteroids and comets hitting earth and therefore, because different elements exist in different places, life in other places in the solar system would be completely different and not necessarily human-like.

“Just because of how different the conditions on other planets would be I think that aliens could be incredibly similar to life on earth if we find an earth like planet. Or, so different that we might not even be able to recognize it. We’re already found like arsenic based life forms on earth and a few years ago we didn’t even know those existed so who’s to say that there aren’t more elements that haven’t been discovered?’ second-year Harrison Andrew said.

First-year Caito Moore agreed with this, adding, “I think that unless we’re operating under the assumption that all the elements and all the stuff that’s needed to survive is the exact same for the entire universe which I doubt the odds that there are aliens that are even remotely similar to us is kind of unlikely. To use kind of a cheesy fictional example I suppose, there could be beings made of pure energy or metallic stuff like that. I don’t think that humanoid creatures should be the assumption that we’re jumping to.”

Daniel Apai, an astronomy and astrobiology researcher at the

University of Arizona and the NASA Astrobiology Institute told the National Geographic, “While there are examples for parallel evolution in the terrestrial biosphere - for example, similar eyes evolving in very different, unrelated species - it seems unlikely to me that we would encounter alien life that would be humanoid.”

But, Apai concludes that we will be surprised with what life on other planets will actually look like if humans have the chance to interact with them, which is something that creative New College students might agree with, in trying to envision human life.

“I think they look like sea creatures, and the rocky horror cast,” first-year Lindsay McElroy said.

“I believe that aliens and they’re living amongst us and we just don’t know who they are. They probably don’t have belly buttons that’s a strong indicator, and maybe they all wear hats because they actually all have cone heads or maybe they can transform into something that looks like the [alien] snapchat filter,” first-year Kaeli Williams added.

While scientists remain mostly unsure of what aliens actually look like, it can be fun to theorize about and imagine, just remember, that these aliens are probably not as human like as the ones in the movies, according to the latest thinking of scientists including Apai.

Information for this article was taken from nationalgeographic.com.

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Songs you should hear Exercise edition

A lot happens in the music world between the Catalyst’s weekly production schedule. While Caitlyn and Jasmine would love to cover it all, they can’t – so, instead, we gave them a category and had them write up bite-sized blurbs on a handful songs from that category. This week’s best exercise songs – take a look at the results below.

BY CAITLYN RALPH AND JASMINE RESPESS “Running With The Wild Things” - Against The Current

at the beginning fool you - it’s just a light and graceful buildup to the track’s explosive chorus, encouraging you to “make it to the sunrise.” - CR “Underdog” - You Me At Six

Signed to Fueled By Ramen, Against The Current are an up-andcoming pop-rock outfit I predict is on the verge of breaking into the mainstream.

Frontwomen Chrissy Costanza’s vocals are simply irresistible, and their track, “Running With The Wild Things,” is an electrifying choice for your workout playlist that will actually make you want to hit the fitness center. - CR

On my long runs, I like to create a Spotify playlist in advance. A song I always place at the point when my energy wanes, “Underdog” by the British lads in You Me At Six, with its hard-hitting drum beat at the beginning and “I’m down, down—but definitely not out” lyrics at the bridge, will push you to go the extra mile. - CR

“Sunrise” - Our Last Night

Int’l players club - UGK

“Sunrise” is a song for the morning exercisers. Don’t let the piano ballad

I would listen to this when I ran cross country. The lyrics “I need a real

Will you consider major changes to our political and economic system to create a more just and democratic A FREE BOOK FOR YOUR society?

FEEDBACK

SUBMITTED BY BOB BIVONA Public revenues from higher taxes on high incomes and taxes on large amounts of wealth can be used in ways that will create economic boom and greatly improve other social conditions. If the 34 public policies that my forthcoming book, The New Enlightenment, details are instituted they will lift tens of millions of Americans out of poverty to a standard of living that now exists in the middle class, substantially improve the standard of living of tens of millions more, create a true democracy and have other major beneficial impacts. These policy impacts will occur while GDP increases and a $500 billion annual federal budget surplus is created.

Higher taxes on high incomes and taxes on large amounts of wealth are needed to accomplish this.

Analysis of historical data reveals a positive correlation between economic growth and top tax rates.

Contrary to the claims of “supply side” economists, economic growth tends to be greater in years when top tax rates are higher. From 1951 to 1980, when the top rate was between 70% and 92%, average annual growth in the American economy was 3.7%. These tax rates that many of the most prominent “pundits” and politicians claim would cause economic disaster are in fact associated with the opposite, economic boom.

The growth rate over the decade 2006 through 2015 averaged 1.4%.

Many factors are involved in economic growth. Correlation does not prove causation; however, the positive

The album covers for “Only Girl in the World”

by RIhanna and “Running With The Wild Things” by Against the Current.

historical correlation of growth and top tax rates proves that higher top tax rates are not incompatible with higher growth rates, as the most prominent “pundits” in the media would have you believe.

If the resulting increase in funds from the increase in top tax rates were used to reduce inequality, support research and development, infrastructure improvements, opportunity enhancing, and other economically simulative policies the positive correlation results from a causal relationship. Reducing inequality is economically important because when economic disparities are extreme, there’s a depressing effect on economic activity resulting from the depressed purchasing power of large numbers of people.

Economic and political inequalities were the main motivations for the Enlightenment period’s societal transformations including the one that created the United States.

Comparisons of data from medieval England and today indicate economic inequality is more extreme now than it was before the Enlightenment. For this reason and others, it is time for a new Enlightenment to again replace an aristocratic social order with one more egalitarian and democratic.

For more information, see: www. newenlightenment.us.

Please mail a request for a free copy of my not yet publicly available 510page book, The New Enlightenment, with a few sentences explaining why you are interested in it and would like to give me your feedback on it to Robert Bivona, PO Box 4103, N. Ft. Myers, FL 33918. Thank you.

photo courtsey of wikipedia.org

street stalker to walk a green mile helped me over any hump. JR Anaconda –– Nicki Minaj An iconic song remixed from Sir Mix A Lot’s classic song. Trying to rap while running is also a fun practice in lung capacity. JR

photo courtsey of musicvos.com

Only Girl in the World –– Rihanna Running around Bay shore blasting this drowns out all the noise and dancing a little makes the exercise tolerable. JR

CATALYST Mellon

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 There will additionally be efforts to strengthen collaborations with organizations like the Sarasota Orchestra, with whom we have a thirteen year collaboration with composers for New Music New College.

As Provost Steve Miles explained, the grant could be used to deepen that connection: for example, players from the Sarasota Orchestra could visit classes such as Professor of Philosophy Aron Edidin’s Philosophy of Music course.

Third par ty

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 So did New College start the Iraq War and cause global warming?

While the idea of Novo Collegians essentially putting Bush in the White House is provocative (and a great way to convince students how important their vote really is), the real story is much more complicated. In order to say that New College itself cost Gore the election, every student at the time would have had to be registered in Florida and have voted for Nader. A number of other elements were more likely to have had an impact.

Many of those who voted for Nader blame the outcome of the election on the recount that occurred after the close results from Florida. Alum Dave Doherty (‘95), who moved out of Florida before the election, argued that “if Nader voters had instead voted strategically, there may well have been no recount.”

It is nearly impossible to come to a satisfying conclusion as to the exact mechanisms putting Bush into the White House, and similarly difficult to ascertain New College’s effect, if any.

In reality, no single group of voters or electoral mistake or butterfly ballot or recount error or corruption or conspiracy can be credibly blamed for the outcome of the 2000 election. Of course, a complex set of circumstances, both in and out of control of his campaign, led to Gore’s loss, but it is nonetheless interesting to evaluate how our small school factored in.

Only 55 (of the fateful 537) votes were cast for Nader in the precinct containing New College dormitories, however a number of students voted absentee to the county where their parents lived, so the actual number of third-party votes coming from students is difficult to estimate. Compared to the 442 votes for Gore and 164 for Bush in the same precinct, NCF’s direct impact seems small, but Sarasota county did have a higher proportion of Nader votes than the statewide average.

Lund holds the “suspicion that New College students as a whole were disproportionately likely to vocally support Nader without necessarily having voted for him.” This idea is supported by one student who had a Nader bumper sticker, campaigned for him, and yet voted for Gore in the booth, and another who donated to

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

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“There are numerous arts organizations that, if we had deeper collaborations with, could really benefit our students,” Miles said.

“We will be expanding our relationship with Sarasota Contemporary Dance… We will expand our relationship with the Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, so this is going to strengthen theater,” Miles said.

“I could go on and on, but ultimately what it means is that this is money that will facilitate a closer relationship, allowing New College faculty and these different organizations to really plan

what they would like to do together, so this year a lot of planning will be going on,” he continued.

This money will further be used to facilitate a closer relationship between New College faculty and the other faculty in the consortium.

A possible plan to do this is to formulate faculty seminars where professors from the consortium colleges can become more familiar with each other’s work.

“It’s really about furthering the consortium by bringing the faculty together, and we don’t know for sure what will emerge from that… We’re not

trying to push people to do things, we want an organic process,” Miles said.

Lastly, the grant will be used to push humanities into the public sphere, potentially through public seminars that recreate the environment of New College classes.

What will all of this mean for students?

“There will be more opportunities for students,” Miles said.

“This will give us a chance, in a funded environment, to develop the right permanent relationship… You can’t collaborate your way to a strong arts program.”

the Nader campaign but voted Gore “because it was that important.”

Many students attending New College in 2000 – although they did vote for Nader – did so by voting absentee in their home state, dodging any personal culpability for the fiasco in Florida.

Others report not even receiving their ballots in the mail until after the vote.

While the claim that New College students in 2000 actually affected the election results is hard to back up, some concede that the extended New College “family” (alums, professors, etc.) in Florida must have had an effect.

Other progressive actions also contributed to Nader’s success in the Tampa Bay area, including rallies with Michael Moore and endorsement from Tampa radio station WMNF. Regardless of the actual effect Novos for Nader had, a significant theme among talking to them is learning. Alum Lindsay Moore called the experience “an education in voting strategically,” and Jen Pemby said the election made her “utterly aware of just how important voting is.”

While some Nader voters express regret and guilt for their cast ballot, many of them stand by their vote.

“Do I blame myself for the next disastrous 8 years?” Pemby said on Facebook. “No, I blame George Bush and his admin.”

“The notion that we are locked into a two-party system is only perpetuated by people who buy into it and support it,” alum Matt Mazzuckelli (‘99) said.

“I still remember fellow NCF students berating me for my third party vote, still glad I did it.”

Robbins said, “I still maintain it was naive as hell to vote for [Nader], least of all in such a critical state as Florida, but I also understand why I and so many people were dazzled by him. This time around, I can’t fathom why anyone would vote for Johnson or Stein.”

third-party candidates have received mixed responses from their peers.

“There was quite a mix between people saying ‘You’re brave, I want to vote third party but I wouldn’t dare be vocal about that at this school’ and the expected ‘How could you even consider voting third party, you’re a Trump supporter!’” Stein supporter and second-year Nika Sigua said.

“I am tired of people always saying that a vote for a third party candidate is a ‘protest’ vote,” first-year transfer student Cesar Chavez said in an email.

“It is my right as a U.S. citizen to vote for whoever I want. I am tired of voting out of fear for people whom I do not support and who only care about the rich. That is why I will be voting for Jill Stein, she is the only candidate whose morals and plans I mostly agree with.

“I also believe that in the near future more people will leave the two party dictatorship that is the U.S. and allow parties like the green party or even the libertarian party to grow,” Chavez continued. “I think this has become increasingly obvious with the way the DNC treated Bernie Sanders and was hostile towards him because of his anti establishment stance.”

Third-year and NCF Democrats President George Thurlow threw his support behind Clinton when she won the Democratic nomination, but supported Sanders in the primary.

“Many of the Sanders supporters who haven’t been supporting Clinton are convinced that the primary was rigged but I never believed that,” Thurlow said in an email interview. “Hillary Clinton received 3 million more votes in the Democratic primary. She won, fair and square.”

Thurlow never considered opting for a third-party candidate, and said his initial choice, Sanders, knew that running in as an independent “he would be assuring Republican victory, potentially from a very scary candidate.”

In 2000, the lure of the third party has been attributed as a factor leading to Bush’s election. Again, third-party candidates have been criticized for pulling votes away from the main party candidate whose views more closely match theirs.

“You have two choices for President of the United States (third party candidates are nothing more than a distraction in reality),” Thurlow said. “You live in a battleground state.

One candidate acknowledges the same issues that Bernie Sanders did but wouldn’t go as far. The other doesn’t

and would make things worse for marginalized communities. Choose the better candidate.”

“It’s been brought up to me several times that Florida is a swing state and apparently because of that I should reconsider who I am voting for; I think it’s over-complicating democracy to have to consider that my political ideology should change depending on where I live at the moment,” Sigua said.

Alum Brian Turk (‘97), who voted for Nader in 2000, said he “will grudgingly vote for Hillary” this time around. “I can’t truly say I support her. Jill Stein stands for my values and principles, no doubt. But I will vote for Hillary because I very very much do not want a billionaire real estate developer who boasts about fondling women to be the president. Trump and what he stands for represents me even less than Hillary does.”

Some alums attempted to “trade” their vote with friends or family in solidly red or blue states where voting green would not significantly alter potential outcomes.

“I remember arranging for several of my relatives and friends in Alabama to vote Nader there (where Gore had no chance) in exchange for a Nader voter voting Gore here in Florida,” alum Richard Butgereit said. Butgereit however said that “social media [was] not prevalent enough to make NaderTrading a real thing.”

This year, a website called “Trump Traders” has reignited the prospect of vote trading, running on the motto that “Friends don’t let friends protest vote in swing states.”

Recent alum Ganga Braun (‘11) plans to vote for Clinton in Florida while a friend votes for Jill Stein in California, a state with historically little chance of going red.

According to Doherty, “If you want to elect third party candidates, work to get them elected at the local level where this is actually possible. [...]

The seeds of change are not going to be planted by voting your conscience in a presidential election. In fact, casting a ballot in that way may well work against your purported goals.”

Then and now While undoubtedly, support for any third-party candidate at New College this year does not come close to the fervor for Nader in 2000, some students feel the same dissatisfaction with the Republican and Democratic candidates. While support for Sanders is palpable on campus just from a quick glance at bumper stickers in the parking lot, Clinton support is a bit less noticeable. If there are any supporters of Trump on campus, they have not been vocal about it. Those who support

Information for this article was taken from washingtonpost.com, slate.com, greensboro.com. A special thank you to Jono Miller for providing 2000 data from the Sarasota Supervisor of Elections and to everyone on the NC(F) Daimon Facebook page.

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Sexy Sarasota exploring our adult stores

BY MAGDALENE TAYLOR Sarasota is a lot of things. It’s wealthy, it’s luxurious, it’s a vacation destination. But is it sexy? I tried to answer these questions via the most explicit sex-related public locations available in town: adult stores.

Sarasota has three main adult sex shops: there’s XTC, located right off US301 on 17th Street (with other locations across the state, including one in Bradenton), Giggles, south on Tamiami near Trader Joe’s, and Kinky Kitty, in the Gulfgate area near Munchies 420.

Each of these stores has a different vibe to it, serving different clientele with different sets of needs.

XTC XTC is your run-of-the-mill sex shop, with a strong focus on pornographic DVD sales and rentals.

As I visited, another older gentleman entered behind me, dropping a stack of at least six DVD’s on the counter and shouting “Just making some returns!” to the man working, whom he appeared to know. The DVD area, which took up about half the store, appeared to feature

Giggles provides an environment that is accessible for women and LGBTQ+ individuals.

films geared toward heterosexual men, with a slim selection of gay pornography as the only real variance. The store does feature a reasonably wide selection of cheap sex toys for all genders, as well as some lingerie with decent plus-size options. Prices here are lowest of the three, but the store doesn’t seem to be particularly geared toward women or members of the LGBTQ+ community.

It is, however, one of the only stores in the area that sells compressed nitrous oxide.

Giggles Giggles presents an environment that may feel a bit friendlier to women and LGBTQ+ people. For starters, the store is staffed by women. There is a much larger selection of lingerie, as well as bikinis and costumes for Halloween and otherwise compared to XTC, with an offering of professional shoes and clothing for exotic dancers - though there’s a bit of a mark-up. A display of sex toys, clothing and related products targeted toward gay men is front and center in the store. A back room contains a selection of pornographic videos (some which, at least based on their covers, seem to be targeted toward women) and a vast amount of sex toys, many of which are considered premium.

The prices reflect that, and all around Giggles presents a more expensive - but more comfortable - shopping experience than XTC. Giggles is an adult store for certain, but not necessarily a sex store.

Beyond getting intimate, there are a number of reasons why one might stop in.

Kinky Kitty The Kinky Kitty, nearly a half-hour drive from campus, is a little bit of a trip but offers a different experience from both XTC and Giggles. Kinky Kitty is best described as a boutique - the store is smaller, more curated, with cute pink walls and decor throughout. Around Halloween, it’s another great place to pick out a costume, but also offers a decent selection of lingerie, exotic dancewear, club dresses, and corsets at prices a little lower than at Giggles. In the back, all the sex toys and kink gear are behind a counter. This may make it a little difficult to look at and touch everything on your own, but lends the perfect environment to ask questions and get to know the products with the help of a professional. For Kinky Kitty, that’s really the strong suit - the boutique experience is perfect for when you know you want to buy something, but you’re not sure what. Like Giggles, Kinky Kitty is staffed only by women.

Kitty Diane, the manager of the store, explains that it’s important to hire women for this position because many people come in needing to be fitted for corsets or other clothes, or just simply feel more comfortable with the help of a woman. But Diane is clear about one thing: Kinky Kitty is for customers of all genders, orientations, interests and ages (so long as they are 18+).

“We get a lot of trans women in particular, and help people try women’s clothing for the first time,” Kitty Diane said.

Each employee of the store has their own “Kitty” name - the store owner, for example, is Kitty Rachel. In addition to running the independent business, which started six years ago, Kitty Rachel also has an engineering degree. Kitty Diane met Kitty Rachel when she was working in cardiology, with Kitty Rachel as one of her patients.

all photos Magdalene Taylor/Catalyst

The other employees include a woman who works in pediatrics, and a woman who graduated from Ringling and now makes cartoon pornography.

Despite her expertise in all things sexy, Kitty Diane said that New College students have taught her a thing or two about kink as customers in the shop.

“They came in here teaching each other how to properly whip someone, how to properly flog someone. I didn’t know there was a technique,” Kitty Diane said.

Kitty Diane has been in touch with a producer from Bravo, and is in talks to create a reality show based on the shop.

The Kinky Kitty furthermore has a radio show being developed.

The Kinky Kitty is definitely a further distance than most of us college students are willing to travel, but if you’re looking for more of an experience than just a quick shopping trip, it’s the way to go. Giggles sells just about everything you could imagine yourself needing and then some, with a larger selection than the Kinky Kitty for nearly every type of product. But if you’re really in need of something quick, XTC is most convenient. Just maybe don’t expect a friendly saleswoman to greet you at the door.

A selection of toys on display at Kinky Kitty.

Some of the clothing available at Giggles.