Fall 2017 – Issue 6

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CATALYST

VENEZUELA CRISIS pg.

TERRORISM IN FRANCE

OCTOBER 25, 2017 VOLUME XXXV ISSUE VI

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NCF PRINT CULTURE pg.

New College of Florida's student-run newspaper

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The Ghost of Reproductive Rights Past

BY MICHALA HEAD One of the spookiest developments coming out of this October for women may be President Donald Trump’s continued effort to roll back the Obama-era mandate that required birth control to be covered by workplace insurance. More frightening than any ghoul is the Commander-in-Chief’s continual targeting of reproductive rights for political gain at the cost of women’s autonomy in their own health.

What Trump’s rollback will do is allow for corporations with religiously oriented owners to cease birth control coverage. This will mostly impact women with low-paying, hourly wage jobs with companies that do not actually serve any religious purposes.

Those who lose coverage also lose their agency in their repro-

photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“So symbolically [the rollback] is saying you don’t have that right, you don’t get to choose, and if you do want to choose you are going to pay," Sex Educator Cassandra Corrado said.

ductive health. When interviewed, Anne Fisher and Cassandra Corrado stressed that people be aware of any change that may impact them and of all of the resources available to them.

Both discussed available reproduc-

tive resources and potential contingencies in the event that one was to lose birth control coverage.

Anne Fisher, program director at New College of Florida’s Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC),

detailed the resources available on campus in relation to reproductive health.

“We do a basic well women’s exam, which is a pap smear and some STI testing. We have a fair number of women who come use it because it’s convenient--it’s on campus,” Fisher said. “Our nurse practitioner can write for reproductive stuff, mostly birth control pills, and then we have condoms around that student government provides.”

Fisher went on to discuss the lack of impact the rollback will have on the CWC and student government’s role in providing protection.

“For this operation, it really does not change much because we don’t carry birth control, we used to carry Plan B, but students decided to do that themselves, so that is something that Student Government does continued on p. 9

Missing in Action:

Understanding tree removal on campus

BY GIULIA HEYWARD

https://doc-0k-18-docs. googleusercontent.com/ docs/securesc/s7jurnmk912se8sp3mgg3hd8llrh0uos/obdpo7fpcdn719 co01n4qb7t57rv346b/1 506448800000/0533393 9401667025082/025783 83506865688437/0B4ze ECbsUTILVjVXY25YUU 52ZUk?e=download

The recent removal of several trees on campus has garnered attention. The absence of trees, with their often large and unforgettable presence, is symptomatic of a larger issue concerning bureaucratic processes and lack of student input.

These trees are not just valued by alums or current students, but also by researchers such as Assistant Professor of Biology, Brad Oberlee.

Oberlee studied tree biology and how the diversity of trees helps influence the kind of services they provide in their ecosystems while obtaining his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

According to Oberlee, there are over 100 different tree species on campus--part of what motivated him to work here.

“We have a lot of cool trees!”

Oberlee said. “Most native species

WHAT’S INSIDE

Azia Keever/Catalyst

According to Alan Burr, over 46 trees were removed from campus by Physical Plant following Hurricane Irma.

are more diverse as you get nearer to the equator. [...] But, the majority of the trees we have on campus are actually native to other places but were planted here for a service or to provide beauty for the campus.”

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GHOST SOCIETY

One example is the camphor tree, native to Asia, that is located at the bayfront side of campus.

“We have trees like the camphor tree that people like to climb

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SPOOKY STORIES

that’s near College Hall--that’s what I like to call a legacy tree,” Alum and current adjunct professor of Introduction to Environmental Studies, Jono Miller (‘70), said. “That tree was planted when [John and Mable Ringling] were here. If the Ringlings hadn’t planted that tree, or the orchid trees on the way to the Four Winds, we wouldn’t have them [on campus] because they are invasive species. But because they are part of our heritage from the Ringling era, we aren’t cutting them down.”

In addition to having graduated with an Area of Concentration (AOC) in Environmental Studies, Miller is also the former director of the Environmental Studies program at New College, who also served as a Chair of the Landscape Committee in the past. Miller is currently applying to serve on the City of Sarasota continued on p. 3

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SELBY GARDENS

CATALYST

BRIEFS

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Spanish Prime Minister removes Catalan leadership

BY RYAN PAICE Spain took its largest step yet in opposing the pursued independence of Catalonia as Prime Minister (PM) Mariano Rajoy announced on Oct. 21 that he would remove the leadership of the region and begin a procedure of establishing direct rule by the Spanish central government in Madrid. The actions were quickly condemned by Catalan leaders, whose recent push for independence had garnered global attention after the region held an independence referendum for Catalonia on Oct. 1, despite the Spanish government and

courts ruling the vote illegal.

“There’s nothing soft or limited about what he announced today,” political columnist Josep Ramoneda said of PM Rajoy. “We’re entering a very delicate phase, in which an independence movement that appeared to be running out of options might now draw instead on a collective sense of humiliation at seeing Catalonia being forced under Madrid’s control.”

Catalan independence has been a goal for the people of the region for generations, but the move marks the first time that a leader of the Spanish government invoked Article 155

of the Spanish Constitution, a constitutional article meant to protect the “general interests” of Spain as a whole.

Rajoy said that he intends to remove Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and the remainder of his administration from office, as well as taking charge of Catalonia’s autonomous police force and the Catalan center for telecommunications.

The Catalan Parliament will not be dissolved in the move, but the president of the assembly will not be able to take any initiative in anything deemed contrary to Spain’s Constitution for 30 days.

Puigdemont led a mass protest of around 450,000 people in the nation’s capital of Barcelona the same afternoon the announcement was made, with other Catalan leaders warning that the move would only incite further escalation rather than resolve anything. Puigdemont could attempt to circumvent Rajoy’s actions by asking lawmakers to vote on a declaration of independence within the days following the action.

Information gathered from nytimes.com

Trump announces allowance of release of JFK assassination files

BY RYAN PAICE For historians and conspiracy theorists alike, Oct. 26, 2017—the scheduled date on which classified government files regarding the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were to be released—has been a day to look forward to for years now.

Despite reported opposition from national intelligence agencies to the release of the classified documents, President Donald Trump an-

nounced on Oct. 21 via Twitter, that, “Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.”

The classified files, held in protected secrecy in the national Archives, were mandated by Congress to be released on Oct. 26 of this year by a 1992 law. Trump has the power to halt the release of the assassination files, or to simply let the files be released as they were already mandated to by law for the last 25 years.

Regardless of the marginal role he is playing in the documents’ release, Oliver Stone effusively praised Trump via Twitter.

“Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump on his decision to release the JFK files - Transparency Matters !” Stone said in an Oct. 21 tweet.

Stone additionally called Trump “My hero !” in another tweet within the same hour.

While the files are apparently going to be released, many conspiracy theorists doubt that the files will

uncover any sort of bombshell.

“There’s going to be no smoking gun in there,” author of “Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK” Gerald Posner said in an interview with CNN. “But anybody who thinks this is going to turn the case on its head and suddenly show that there were three or four shooters at Dealey Plaza—it’s not the case.”

Information gathered from CNN.com and nytimes.com

McDonald’s to test vegan products in Finland

BY RYAN PAICE Tampere, Finland, will be ground zero for McDonald’s testing-stage product, the McVegan.

The meatless burger will have a soy patty and can be served with vegan fries, according to McDonald’s Finland Marketing Director Christoffer Rönnblad. The McVegan’s Tampere test-run through November will determine whether or not the McVegan will be launched throughout all of Finland—and perhaps, eventually, the United States.

“We will consider launching the McVegan in all McDonald’s restaurants in Finland in 2018,” Rönnblad said. “The decision will depend on our customers’ opinion on McVegan.

The very first test sales results, cus-

tomer feedback, and the attention the product is getting in different vegan communities are very promising.”

Finland, whose population has called for more and more vegetarian food items from McDonalds in recent years, is not the only country to experiment with healthier alternatives to the multitude of low-quality burgers McDonald’s customarily serves.

France saw the introduction of the Le Grand Veggie burger—a burger with a patty of carrots and root vegetables—and in May, McDonald’s added the McVeggie to its menus in Norway.

A single McVegan sandwich is priced at €3, with the extra value meal priced at €6.95 throughout the Finnish test. The burger is made up

"We can never break the aesthetic because we ARE the aesthetic!" © 2017 the Catalyst. All rights reserved.

The Catalyst is available online at www.ncfcatalyst.com, facebook.com/NCFcatalyst instagram.com/NCFcatalyst twitter.com/ncfcatalyst The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by Professor Maria D. Vesperi.

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.

of the aforementioned soy patty on a Quarter Pounder bun, topped with a vegan McFeast sauce, ketchup, mustard, fresh tomato, lettuce, onion and pickle slices.

Whether or not the product becomes a staple for the company internationally, or even if the test fails to lead to a year of Finnish McVegans, the initiatives to introduce plant-based products in countries like France, Norway and Finland, indicate an increasing demand for vegan and vegetarian options.

Information gathered from veggieathletic.com and forbes.com

General Editor Managing Editor Copy Editor & Writing Coach Online Editor Head Layout Editor Layout Editor Social Media Editor Staff Writers & Photographers

photo courtesy of BonAppetit.com Giulia Heyward Magdalene Taylor Ryan Paice Jacob Wentz Anya María Contreras-García

Jordi Gonzalez

Jason D'Amours Noah Baslaw, Miranda Gale Michala Head, Azia Keever, Tim Manning, Samantha Ramirez, Cole Zelznak

McDonald's will be testing the new products at their Finland location.

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.

CATALYST

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NEWS PAGE 3

TREES

continued from page 1 Tree Advisory Committee.

Miller explained that the decision on whether or not a tree is removed from campus is decided by a tree matrix drawn up by the Landscape Committee.

According to Miller, the current Head of the Landscape Committee recently left the position.

“We no longer have a person in that slot,” Miller said. “The committee hasn’t been functioning this fall, the position is unfilled at the moment and we’ve had more trees damaged in a single event from [Hurricane] Irma than I can remember in any other single event in the last 47 years.”

The fact that the Landscape Committee hasn’t met once this semester is a major concern for Miller.

“No tree is supposed to be cut down on campus without having gone through the Landscape Committee and that includes dead trees,” Miller said.

According to the Director of Facilities and Construction, Alan Burr, the role of the Landscape Committee is minimal.

“The Landscape Committee provides input and recommendations to the president and handles things that are relatively low level as far as the landscape is concerned,” Burr said. “Any tree that is dangerous does not need to go to the committee, they’re simply informed.”

Burr states that tree removal is regulated by the state of Florida and that New College follows regulations outlined for Florida colleges and universities.

“Trees are removed from campus whenever it’s necessary,” Burr said. “Generally if it becomes dangerous and is in danger of falling on a walking area, parking area or a place with a lot of activity.”

Burr also states that Itza Frisco is the Head of the Landscape Committee, though the Landscape Committee has not met yet. Trees are removed from campus by Seres, an arborist company that the school has a contract with.

“They’re hollow in the trunk, and that’s dangerous,” Burr said. “Its limb or itself would fall and damage people or property.”

Miller stated that dead trees were not as dangerous as people may think that they are.

“One of the things you’ll notice is that we have a number of dead pine trees on campus, none of those blew over, which people find paradoxical,” Miller said. “People assume that a dead tree is going to fail and a live tree is gonna prevail.

And what more frequently happens is that the dead trees don’t fail and that live trees do. That’s because a

dead tree has very little wind resistance, there’s no leaves on it, so there is nothing for the wind to push against. It’s sort of like a sailboat mast. But if you put a sail on the sailboat, there’s suddenly a lot of push.”

According to Burr, over 46 trees were removed after damage from Hurricane Irma.

Another factor in sustainability efforts on campus is the role student activities and initiatives have on campus. The Landscape Committee is typically comprised of representatives from Student Affairs, the Foundation, faculty and even a student representative. A Landscape Committee Representative has not been appointed by the New College Student Alliance (NCSA) Council of Green Affairs (CGA) yet.

“I feel as if there have been so many generations of New College students that have seen the same trees that I have and now some of them are gone,” third-year and Council of Green Affairs (CGA) Residential Garden Teaching Assistant (TA), Daniel Niedospial, said.

“It instills a feeling inside of me that makes me want to be more active in producing more trees onto campus. [...] While it’s really disenheartening to see these old, really important trees being taken from us, it’s kind of motivating in some way to counteract that from happening.”

However, according to Burr, student initiatives on campus are often abandoned by students.

photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Opponents of Maduro's rule have taken to the streets and gained platforms to voice their frustration with Maduro's government.

The economic crisis in Venezuela continues

BY SAMANTHA RAMIREZ

2017 introduced many disastrous and heartbreaking events, and with these new situations fresh in the minds of many, other global issues and disasters are left on the backburner. An example of such an issue is the Venezuelan crisis. Venezuela is suffering, nearly all of the country's supermarkets shelves are bare, the health care system has completely collapsed and power shortages are so extreme that government offices are now open for only two days a week.

On top of that, the nation's crime rate has reached the highest record its ever seen and inflation is quickly crumbling any economical value left of the Venezuelan currency.

Many blame the current state of Venezuela and its direction towards chaos on President Nicolás Maduro.

“The students often come to Venezuela is known for having the us wanting to put gardens around largest oil reserves in the world, so campus and we don’t seem to have when oil prices plummeted, Venany good maintenance from the ezuela’s revenue fell. Oil has caused students on their gardens--they much of Venezuela's distress by lownormally turn into weed beds,” Burr ering the money the nation has to resaid. “And then they get busy with pay its foreign debts, forcing Maduro their studies.” to slash imports in order to avoid default. The event of a drought has also When it comes to accessibility, brought dire consequences which if a tree obstructs a sidewalk or a have shriveled the country’s hydroroad, then it is removed. power generation, a critical source of electricity much of the country has “If you’re in a wheelchair, precome to rely on. sumably you’re going to be confining Venezuela currently owes your movements to firm surfaces, roughly $120 billion to foreign crediand so we allow dead trees to remain tors and has been given deadlines on laws and open area where they for payments that many speculators are not going to fall on anything,” believe they simply cannot pay if oil Miller said. “I don’t think there’s prices remain low, leaving the counvery much risk.” try's economy in ruins.

Political opposition to Ma“They are so persistent,” Miller duro in Venezuela is high, however, said. “Most of the the students are the country's crisis is not necessargoing to experience, they can come ily to blame solely on Maduro's rule back during their reunion and be but partly on his predecessor Hugo able to sit under those same trees.

Chavez, who died in 2013. Many It’s just as much a part of the cameconomists agree that his policies pus as the buildings.The whole fact of state ownership, uncontrolled spending, subsidies and domestic continued on p. 10

price controls have put the country in its current state of crisis. The political turmoil in Venezuela has created high tensions among the people, with Maduro’s opponents gaining momentum and winning a majority of seats in the national legislature.

Maduro’s opposition has accumulated nearly 2,000,000 signatures on a petition to begin an end to Maduro’s rule.

For months now, opponents of Maduro's rule have taken to the streets and gained platforms to voice their frustration with Maduro's government. More than 100 people have died in connection with bloody protests. Due to Venezuela's economic crisis, the country has very little money to purchase goods from other countries, resulting in foreign imports having been reduced by 50 percent.

This decline in imports has affected the country's essential needs, such as food and medicine for the people. The lack of these vital imports has created chaos among the social sphere. Many hospitals, schools and shopping centers are out of supplies, psychiatric wards are being deserted by employees, leaving patients alone and without care. The overpricing of food has created a bustling black market, that has integrated itself into the lives of many in Venezuela and has left supermarkets and shopping centers deserted.

Living in Venezuela has become a great struggle for its citizens. The nation is dealing with social, economical and political difficulties every day. They face many problems such as shortages of food and home staples, shortages of medicine, blackouts, rising unemployment, a rise in violent crime and even a surge of malaria. Despite the several grave disasters and issues in 2017, we must not forget about Venezuela's current state and its everyday struggles.

Information gathered from nytimes.com

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FRANCE

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PAGE 4

Submission: Dealing with the aftermath of attentats in France Phoro courtesy of Audrey Warne

SUBMITTED BY AUDREY WARNE Two women, ages 17 and 20, were stabbed repeatedly by a man at Saint-Charles Station on October 1. Both women died from their wounds while the attacker was shot and killed by police. The attack was the second to take place at SaintCharles Station, the main train station of Marseilles - the second largest city in France - in the last month.

Both attacks took place in Marseille, were held in public, crowded places and targeted young women in their late teens and early twenties. The October 1 stabbing resulted in the death of both of the victims while the earlier incident which involved a woman who threw acid on four American students studying abroad for the semester resulted in two of the four victims being injured. While only the October 1 attack is being investigated as a terrorist attempt, both attacks have perpetuated the feelings of distrust and fear that have pervaded France since the November 2015 attentats on Paris.

These attacks tend to feel far away and almost inconsequential when experienced from 4,000 miles away. I was almost surprised to see that remnants of the larg-

est terrorist attack in the history of France still remained evident on the streets of Paris and in the daily lives of its citizens. Bag checks and metal detectors are now commonplace for entrance to almost every museum, monument, nightclub or music venue, soldiers armed with machine guns wander the streets and police the metro stations and airport security now takes two hours instead of a few minutes.

The tour Eiffel, which has served as a monument to Western industrialism and globalization since its creation for the 1889 World’s Fair, is now completely surrounded by a wall of sheet metal over 10 feet in height. The tower used to be completely open and visitors were able to walk around and underneath it without passing through security or waiting in line. Now there are only two entrances open to the public - each with extensive security and wait times. This temporary anti-terrorism measure is soon to be replaced by bulletproof glass walls that will cost 30 million euros and take over 9 months to install. The Eiffel tower has become synonymous with Paris and Parisien tourism over the past century and this new modification will permanently alter the experience and aesthetic of one of the most recognizable monuments in the world.

France has now been under martial law for 19 months and President Emmanuel Macron has recently proposed a bill that would turn the temporary state of martial law into a permanent decrease in civil liberties and increase in public surveillance - similar in structure to the 2001 Patriot Act in the United States. The changes would allow individuals suspected of terrorist activities or plots to be searched without warrants and held for a period without probable cause or proof of the charges being pressed against them.

France, as with most of Europe, hasn’t had to deal with the frightful reality of the possibility of mass shootings and gun violence that has become dismally commonplace in the United States - the Las Vegas shooting happened the same day. The changes aren't earth shattering - and may not even be discernible if you hadn't experienced the city as it was before - but the attitudes and the atmosphere that such changes reflect reveal the fear and anxiety that have infiltrated daily life in one of the most popular tourist destinations on earth.

Signs across Paris display warnings of criminal or terrorist movement.

Information gathered from dailymail. co.uk, nytimes.com, foreignpolicy.com and france24.com

Emergency anti-terror powers become law in France

BY JACOB WENTZ The French parliament recently approved an anti-terrorism bill that grants authorities the power to search homes, close places of worship and restrict movement. The new law makes permanent various measures that were imposed under the state of emergency following the November 2015 Paris attacks.

The state of emergency imposed after the attacks extended the power of police and security forces, granting them the ability to proceed with many decisions without seeking a judge’s approval. The emergency law expires on Nov. 1, prompting lawmakers to take action to solidify its measures.

The lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved the bill with a vote of 415 to 127, with 19 abstentions.

President Emmanuel Macron promised to pass the law during his election campaign and in a major speech on security, he said that it would allow authorities to combat terrorism “without abandoning our values and principles.”

Debate about the law has put the balance between security and respect for civil liberties into question.

Right-wing parties have called for tougher measures, whereas left-wing parties argue that the proposals go too far.

“The concentration of powers in the hands of the executive and weakening of judicial oversight is not a new characteristic of France’s counter-terrorism effort,” France Director for Human Rights Watch Bénédicte Jeannerod told French news sources.

“But the normalization of emergency powers crosses a new line.”

What the law enforces The main aspects of the law deal with house arrest, home searches, places of worship, security zones, border checks and wiretapping.

Under the new law, the Minister of the Interior, Gérard Collomb, can place suspected jihadist sympathisers under a loose form of house arrest. This power extends over those who are not accused of a specific crime.

“We’re still in a state of war,” Collomb told parliament, warning of a “very serious threat” level.

Part of “individual surveillance

measures,” those suspected are allowed to leave their homes, but must remain in the boundaries of their town or city. They must also report to the police once a day. Those who wish to travel outside of their home towns must wear an electronic bracelet.

Local police chiefs must ask a judge for a warrant to search the homes of people with suspected terror links. When their home is searched, the suspected individual can be held for four hours. During this time, any documents, data and objects can be seized.

In each of France’s regions, the top government official can order for mosques, churches and other places of worship to be closed for six months if preachers are found to have encouraged attacks or glorified terrorism.

Places of worship can be closed on the basis of the “ideas and theories” circulated among devotees and investigators are not required to provide proof of radical preaching or writings. Non-compliance with the ordered closure would result in a three-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.

Authorities can also create se-

curity zones, in which they seal off areas around a location or event that they deem vulnerable to attack.

Those who want to enter the security zone must be searched by the police or private security guards.

One of the most controversial elements of the law is that police will be granted more powers to carry out stop-and-search operations in border areas In addition, the law expands the scope of identity checks to include train stations and territory up to 10 kilometers around international ports and airports.

The new law also allows security services to access the travel data of airline passengers, a directive implemented by the EU. The most disciplinary elements of the law will be annually reviewed by parliament and are scheduled to lapse at the end of 2020.

Information for this article was obtained from france24.com, rfi.fr and economictimes.indiatimes.com

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PAGE 5

Graffiti and hot wax: the lost tradition of NCF print culture

BY COLE ZELZNAK Hidden under layers of paint and within dusty cabinets are some of the most vivid records of daily life on campus in days long past. Unknown to many current students and recent alumnae/i, before student discourse largely migrated to the Forum and other social media, a vibrant print culture once flourished at New College of Florida (NCF).

Between the 1960s and the early 2000s, at least 20 different student magazines and newspapers were published on campus, many on a weekly basis. Students also frequently produced “Facebooks,” effectively yearbooks, featuring the names, Areas of Concentration (AOC), hometowns and other information about students.

Student newspapers, although amateurly published, became one of the primary sites of debate about social issues on campus and disputes within the New College Student Alliance (NCSA).

Headlines from student newspapers published in the 1970s illustrate the hot button issues facing NCF when it was only a few years old. In 1971, a student named James Logan (‘69) penned an article for the New College Organ entitled “NC is Covertly Racist,” challenging the liberal arts institution’s “liberal” selfimage and lack of faculty of color.

A letter to the editor in a 1971 issue of the Cauldron calls out homophobia on campus and urges solidarity among gay students.

“Despite the image this institution tries to project (one of enlightenment, I would assume), it is without doubt; incredibly sterile and tight-assed. It's painful. All the hypocrisy. What a spectacle,” Nicholas “Niko” Koulianos (‘68) wrote.

Alum Dallas Taylor (‘91) fondly recalled working on The Final Analysis, a student magazine published between 1995 and 1996.

“I remember we never sought sponsorship or credit for it, because we didn't want to sully our editorial purity and we were punk rock like that. We used to write about half of it ourselves, and published all but maybe one or two submissions we got,” Taylor said. “We'd edit it in the computer lab, a process typically involving a few hours and several quarts of malt liquor from the Shell station. When I left New College, it was one of the things I was proudest of doing.”

Many alumnae/i also recalled the function graffiti and posters played in discourse on campus.

“We didn't have online forums, but we had physical walls with paper

plastered all over them. There was definitely an ethic of more speech being better than censorship, so it was rare that a sign would get torn down, but people would argue back and forth in print, in public,” Cynthia Harrington Ficenec (‘91) said.

“I remember an incident in 1984 or 1985. For some reason, someone drew graffiti on a wall in the first court lounge. Someone else responded with more graffiti, and another person drew more, and so on and so on till the walls of the lounge were covered,” Rodrigo Diaz (‘84) said. “I remember […] being impressed with how the humor in the graffiti deepened in complexity as the chain of reactions went on. It occurs to me now that in the days before Internet the graffiti functioned as a kind of social media thread.”

“Some witty stuff sometimes showed up, but it was mostly just garbage,” Dwight H. Mann (‘92) said of the graffiti in Hamilton “Ham” Center in the 1990s.

In recent years students have published zines, and 2014 saw a short-lived online student newspaper, the Inhibitor, pop up in response to the debate over drug use on campus. However, it’s apparent that things are not as they were. The discussions that used to appear scrawled on walls, in letters to the editor and in hastily arranged print blocks, are now happening elsewhere. Digital media has simply made it easier to get the word out.

“Catalyst in the 60s. IBM Executives, paste-up with hot wax. Uphill both ways, in the snow,” Jonathan Lundell (‘66) said.

Many student publications are available to view in the NCSA Archives as well as in the NCF Archives digital collections. To access the NCSA Archives please contact John Lake or Cole Zelznak.

A BRIEF TIMELINE OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS 1965-73 1969-70 1971 1971-72 1972 1972-73 1973-74 1977-78 19771978 1983 1987 1990-91 1992 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 2002-06

The Catalyst Captain Jack Cauldron, Zorn’s Lemma The New College Organ Search for Tomorrow Apple in Your Eye Mescalito The Gonzo The Catalyst Blessed Relief, Byzantium Reagent The Spark The Nerve Spiny Gumbo Yo! Schneia The Final Analysis The Albatross Backwards & Ugly

The Activist Newsletter Phoro courtesy of Jasmine Respess

BY ANYA CONTRERAS-GARCIA This week (10/25 – 11/2), activists have the opportunity to participate in community meetings, film screenings, protests and marches! Read on if you want to get involved in the community regarding gun legislation, urban farming, farmworker’s rights or gender equality. Wed., Oct. 25, Fired women who are challenging Up Pinellas: FL Gun Laws & the way this country grows Issues, Charter Schools @ and distributes its food, 6 – 8 P.M. one vacant city lot, rooftop Metro Wellness, 3251 3rd Ave garden, and backyard chicken N #125, Ste 125, St. Pete, FL coop at a time. Pre-register at 33713 Eventbrite to ensure a seat.

Fired Up Pinellas is a A $5 donation at the door multi-issue activist group that for Transition Sarasota is will be hosting this meeting suggested, but no one will be featuring several different turned away. For more info, speakers tackling different check out the event page on topics. This meeting will Facebook. bring in speakers to discuss Florida gun laws and the Sat., Oct. 28, Wendy’s controversy over charter You’re Failing Farmworker schools. Attendees will also Women @ 11 A.M. – 12 P.M. learn about the mission of 14890 Six Mile Cypress Pkwy, Metro Health Wellness and Fort Myers, FL 33966 Community Center and the FGCU SFA is hosting local organization Clothes to a solidarity action for the Kids. Please bring new or used “Wendy’s You’re Failing children’s and teen’s clothing, Farmworker Women” school uniforms and shoes to donate. For more information, National Week of Action! Join SFA, CIW and SWFL allies for check out the event page on a Boycott Wendy's picket in Facebook.

Fort Myers! Together, let's bring the message to Wendy's Fri., Oct. 27, Films for a Future: Growing Cities @ 7 that CIW and their allies will keep up the pressure until – 9 P.M. they commit to protecting Academic Center Auditorium, farmworkers' human rights!

Ringling College of Art & For more info, check out the Design, 2363 Old Bradenton event page on Facebook.

Road, Sarasota FL 34235 This special Eat Local Week edition of Transition Sarasota’s monthly Films For a Future series features Growing Cities, a film about urban farming across America.

Filmmakers take a road trip and meet the men and

Do you have an event you want featured on our activist newsletter? Send us an email to ncfcatalyst@gmail.com to have your event printed in our next issue!

CATALYST

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

FEATURES

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How to Catch a Ghost: Tips and Tricks from Bradenton’s Paranormal Society

BY AZIA KEEVER “If you’re an asshole in life, you’re an asshole in death,” Liz Reed, a founder of the Paranormal Society of Bradenton, said when asked about demons. “I always tell people, because a lot of people think their houses are being haunted by demons, spirits are just normal people and their characteristics go with them.”

Reed is the founder of the Paranormal Society of Bradenton. I sat with her and two other members of the team, Kim and Brandon Bassett, at Reed’s home in Bradenton for an interview. Reed started the Paranormal Society with her husband seven years ago. Since then, they have investigated countless places around both the Sarasota and Manatee counties. They have maintained a strong history with New College campus.

“We’re the only paranormal group in the world that’s done the whole block of John Ringling’s,” Reed said. “By the way: Ralph Caples? He’s a little flirt.”

Ralph Caples and his wife, Ellen Caples, lived in what is now New College’s campus on the south side of Ringling Museum. Upon her death in 1971, Ellen Caples bequeathed their property to New College. Today it is home to offices of professors, the sailing club, the arts building, the organic garden and, according to the Paranormal Society, the friendly ghosts of the Caples family.

“There’s a lot of activity there,” Reed said while recounting an experience she had with her team on Caple’s property.

“The front door--you know how heavy the Caple’s doors are?

Opened,” Reed said. “My husband thought it was security so you see him get up, because there is a camera

that is kind of positioned, but he’s in it, and you see him at the table, and you see a shadow sitting across from him and they both get up at the same time.

“My husband walks away with the flashlight, the shadow sits back down. Somebody sat across from the whole time.”

Another time, Reed was sitting next to Andrea Niles, New College’s Assistant Director for Community Engagement during an EMP session.

“At the same she was touching her hair I was adjusting my necklace.

I thought my necklace had fallen off and she thought I was touching her hair,” Reed said. When looking back at the footage later, they realized their mistake: “Something in between us was pulling my necklace to the side and pulling her hair,” Reed said.

“I’m so fascinated by it I just want to know what is out there,” Reed said. “We do it whenever we’re needed. We do investigations for free, we work on donations only.”

Though the team has a healthy dose of fascination with the paranormal, they make sure their work is as legitimate as possible. There have been false alarms where people have called them in hopes of being on TV. They see the jobs where their clients are mistaken to be very useful for keeping the team sharp.

“We’re always on our toes,” Reed said, “we’re always training.”

Mrs. and Mr. Bennett spoke extensively on the precautions and rules of communicating with the paranormal.

“You never do an investigation by yourself. You always have a buddy that way if you get in trouble there’s always someone there to have your back or call for help,” Mrs. Bennett

said. “You never know what you’re going to run into.”

With pictures, it’s important to blow them up on the computer first before claiming anything substantial. Reflections in pictures can be misleading.

“You might think you’re getting orbs or lights but you’re just getting reflections from metallic objects or light sources,” Mr. Bennett said.

“Using flashlights are important if you’re in a dark place but use it sparingly because if you’re using a camera it can distort stuff,” Mrs. Bennett said.

They suggest taking multiple shots of the same scene for the best evidence.

“We do get a lot of pictures people send in and some of them really do look like faces, but a lot of the time it’s nothing. You really have to check them,” Reed said.

Voice recorders are also quintessential to an investigation, but again the margin for error can be large if one isn’t careful in handling the equipment.

“You don’t want to rub your fingers on it or play with it,” Mrs. Bennett advises. “Lay it down--you want to make sure that whatever you hear is something and not you.”

Talking should be kept at a minimum, but Mr. Bennett advises to use your voice as a tool to coordinate happenings or clear up something that could be confusing later when going over the material from an investigation.

“If you got a recorder going and you start feeling something, say it.

It’s important to record at what time things happen so you can coordinate your separate devices,” he said.

“You have to pay attention to what you’re around,” Reed said. Once,

a recorder picked up a loud scream.

The team was surprised because it was so clear to the human ear. Later, they found out a cow had been giving birth some ways away during their investigation and it had been the source of the scream. Sounds during investigations should be mentioned by an investigator in the recording in a clear normal tone so one knows later to disregard confusing noise.

“And most importantly: no whispering. If you whisper you might think you got something but it’s just you or your teammate,” Mrs. Bennett said.

Other rules include not wearing strong fragrances so as to keep the air clean of anything that may limit one’s ability to smell subtle scents and to put phones on airplane mode/ off when using electromagnetic field (EMF) monitors.

EMF readers are important to investigations because they can be used to communicate directly with spirits using yes or no answers, according to Mr. Bennett.

“The theory is spirits are made of energy so they can interact with these devices. You can tell them to touch this spot if they want to answer yes, and back away if they want to answer no,” Mr. Bennett said. “Always follow up with additional questions because a sustained communication is really what makes for good evidence. A single flash of red after 20 minutes of questions, that’s really difficult to say what what that means if anything.”

Nowadays, there are a lot of apps for smartphones that can mimic a lot of the expensive equipment, allowing anyone to try their hand at ghost hunting, at least to some decontinued on p. 10

(Left) A spooky light at the beginning of the ghost tour. (Right) A haunted hotel in downtown Bradenton.

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“Using flashlights are important if you’re in a dark place but use it sparingly because if you’re using a camera it can distort stuff,” Mrs. Bennett said.

The sign for the Paranormal Society's ghost tour in downtown Bradenton. Tickets can be bought on their website.

One of the EMF monitors the team uses to communicate with spirits.

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PAGE 8

Not so New College: stories of ghosts and spirits from the past (‘84)

BY JASON D'AMOURS Ninety-one years after the death of Charles Ringling, ghosts and spirits continue to swarm the dusty halls of College Hall and the eerie corners of the rest of campus. The Catalyst asked current students and alumni to share their spooky stories. What follows are their ghoulish responses.

“4W is haunted. It’s an old elephant barn. Elephant ghosts?” -- Ella Denham-Conroy 2016, second-year.

“It was fall of my first year, when I was still pei-ing my dues in the mold hole that is first court. A few friends of mine decided that they wanted to play with the Ouija board. I've always been into the paranormal and I'm familiar with Ouija, so I agreed to play, thinking it would be a fun opportunity to connect with ghosts of New College past.

Like I said, I like the paranormal and it's sort of my forté. So, I get to be the Ouija talker (the one who asks the questions). I made my best effort to do what I thought got you good Ouija sessions: hoping for and thinking of positive interactions with some old spirits of New College. But of course positive intentions don't work too well when the other 5 people in the room are scared shitless.

So we start the session. "Hello, is there anyone out there who wants to communicate?" With no time wasted waiting, the planchette moved almost too quickly to “yes.” Feeling hopeful that we'd contacted an eager spirit waiting to tell their story, I asked the being's name. The planchette moved to Z, and my stomach dropped when I realized it was next on a quick path to O. Without saying anything to my fellow players, I immediately said "goodbye," and luckily the planchette moves to goodbye too.

All of my friends around the

The ghosts of the Ringlings' past board start asking me why I shutdown the session so quickly, not even letting a full name get out. I explain that there is a demon who comes through Ouija boards that plays on the fears of the inexperienced, a demon who according to legend is powerful, and in the closest consorts with Satan. This demon is named Zozo.

I burned sage in the room, said a prayer, and dipped. I do not fuck with demons. Apparently, the friends I had been playing with were not so aversed, and ended up playing Ouija to summon this demon three more times. They described being terrified of playing, but feeling the compulsion to keep playing (that is, of course, what Zozo makes you do).

We ended up having to hide the Ouija board for a while to keep the demons away. As to the residual demonic presence left after every time you summon demons? Our first-year RA had her grandfather, a Catholic priest, bless the whole of first court.

The moral of this story is: don't fuck with ouija boards, especially in first court. Our personal demons aren't the only ones that haunt this campus.” -- Emily Via 2015, third-year

“I was working as a dispatcher at the cop shop around 1988 or 1989. I was dispatching one night, a midnight to 8 a.m. shift, and was working with Officer Paddy O’Boyle, who, if anyone remembers him, was a retired Irish New York City cop.

Paddy’s call number was 86, and the officers would go around on patrol each night, checking on the campus buildings and roads, and report in all of the checks, which the dispatcher would log on the record. It had to be the middle of the shift, and Paddy calls in from Caples Campus.

“86 to, ah, university,” he said in Jason D'Amours/Catalyst his New York Irish flavored accent. (you had to know Paddy.) likely creep around our campus.

“Go ahead, 86,” I reply.

“I’m at, ah, Caples.” He pauses.

“I did have a really weird ex- “Can you hear that, university?” he perience at College Hall. Early early asks, and through the radio, I hear a one morning (around 5 a.m.), I went piano playing. out to sit in the cork tree to watch I reply, “Yes, 86, I hear it.” He the pelicans for my thesis but it was pauses again. raining hard so I went into the mu“I just checked out the buildsic room which was unlocked. I kept ing, and the door is locked.” Another hearing the sounds of the building pause. “There are no lights on.” Pause when it was occupied: voices just again. “There’s no one in the buildout of hearing range, murmurs and ing.” doors shutting and distant foot“Uh, 86, where’s the piano comsteps. It sounded like students actu- ing from?” ally, nothing particularly threatening “It, ah, sounds like the second but exceedingly compelling and like floor, university.” nothing I've experienced before or “Okay, 86, you might want to since.” -- Susan Hirschberg (‘83) get back in the car now.”

“Ah, 10-4, university.”

“In the late eighties, Officer I kid you not. I remember that Andy Murray of the campus police conversation, the matter-of-fact told me that he was doing a build- manner of Paddy’s responses, and ing check in Caples Mansion in the the tinkling sound of a piano, across wee hours of the morning one night nearly 30 years. Caples always made when he heard a piano begin to play. me nervous after that, from the iron He said he called his wife from a chandelier above the front door to phone in the building (this was be- the creaking stairs leading to Profesfore cells) and asked her if she could sor Riddle’s office. hear the music. She was groggy from I had a really nervous laugh being awakened so late but replied with Paddy when he got back to the that, yes, she could hear it clearly. cop shop that night, and I know I "Well," said Officer Murray, "I'm the told my roommate about it. Creepy only one in this building, and I'm not continued on p. 11 playing that piano."” -- Rodrigo Díaz

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS right now, so there’s access for Plan B,” Fisher said. “Where students are going to feel it more is on the outside [of New College], because they are going to have to go out to get stuff.”

Sex Educator Cassandra Corrado, weighed in on what the rollback signifies and how it will be impactful, “The important thing to know that the birth control mandate has always had a loophole for religious organizations,” Corrado said. “This [rollback] opens up for organizations like Hobby Lobby or even Chic-Fil- A, [...] organizations that you may not think of as religious but that may be part of their founder’s core beliefs or their executive team’s core beliefs,

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

those are the people that we would be worried about.”

Corrado went on to discuss low cost options for birth control pill accessibility in the event of losing coverage, “There are some types of the pill that might be as little as $4 a month at places like Wal-Mart, telemedicine has made it easier to get access to birth control at a lower rate,” Corrado explained. “Companies like Nurx make it much easier to pay a cash price for birth control and you can get a prescription and get it delivered to you online. Telemedicine uses the power of the internet to get you connected to a wider variety of

medical providers, usually at a much lower cost and usually not covered by insurance.”

Corrado also gave the reminder that while birth control pills are technically not the only form of birth control, they are still crucial in the lives of many, “There is a stereotype that birth control is a frivolity but it isn’t," Corrado said. "For many people it is necessary, it is a part of their health care regimen, it is a way for them to further pursue their education, it is a way for them to not reproduce if they are in an abusive relationship, a way for them to say I have this bit of control and my insurance covers that

and respects that.

“So symbolically it [the rollback] is saying you don’t have that right, you don’t get to choose, and if you do want to choose you are going to pay.”

“Be prepared and [...] look into the details of your current insurance plan and how long it is place,” Corrado said to those who may be impacted. “If people don’t have doctors, know that there are options for ways to communicate with medical professionals like Mayvin, you can still get a doctor’s opinion. Do your research.”

Information gathered from the nytimes. com and washingtontimes.com

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PAGE 9

New College: the metaphysical side

BY MIRANDA GALE On certain nights of the month, some students leave crystals outside their dorms to charge by moonlight.

Others anticipate trials and tribulations of the upcoming week by reading horoscopes and charting their sun and moon signs. While the occasional good-natured astrology meme pops up, these types of spiritual practices are taken seriously by their practitioners as a means of connection and self-examination. Metaphysical opportunities on campus include several clubs, past and present, meditation tutorials and the greater student community itself, where many students find new knowledge and support through each other.

First-year transfer student Salua Rivero is a gemini and practices using primarily gemstones, although she has recently expanded her interests to astral projection, a topic she researched for her meditation tutorial. She is also an appreciator of of witchcraft, although does not practice it much herself. Mostly self-taught, she recommends the Spirit Science channel on YouTube and “Spiritual Catalyst” Teal Swan’s works for further metaphysical edification.

Rivero developed her interest in crystals before she came to New College and feels like it is easier to practice here than at her old school, where most of her friends and peers hadn’t heard of using crystals in spiritual practices before. Because other students follow these practices, they can exchange information and teach each other, making learning more fun and memorization of gemstone meanings easier.

“I had to do all the learning by myself,” she said. “But here I feel like I have that sense of community, I find people that also do it, that also are interested in it, or don’t know about it but are genuinely interested in getting to know about it.”

Miranda Gale/Catalyst

Tarot and crystals allow practitioners to influence their subjective realities.

One of the biggest questions believers contend with is just how crystals work in practical life.

“I think they work but I think it 100 percent has to do with your intention,” Rivero said. “If I truly believe in my mind that these crystals are going to help me bring love or positivity into my life then it's going to happen but it's not going to work if I don't believe in it. I think it’s a mix of the crystals themselves and their energies with your own good intentions.”

Steven Monroe, a former New College student, also uses crystals for personal development.

“It’s like you’re trading energies with it,” Monroe said. “But within the metaphysical energy, hippie shit, they’re seen as singular points of consciousness so you can use them in theory to alter your own mental and emotional states.”

As a environmental studies and philosophy Area of Concentration (AOC), witchcraft interests Rivero as an intersection between natural and spiritual forces. She sees it and herbalism as closely connected.

“Basically I think what witchcraft is about is knowing your envi-

ronment and knowing what is out there that you can use, like the medicinal plants that are available, how to combine them, how to use them for your benefit,” Rivero said. “At the same time like anything else in the world you can turn something good into something bad but it has a lot to do with the intention of the person who’s creating it.”

In addition to crystals, astrology is particularly popular on campus and many students chart their own personal signs. Several websites offer these services for free--all one needs is a birthdate, birth time and the city in which one was born to discover sun and moon signs. From here, one can discover their compatibility with friends and love interests as well as check up on what’s in store for the next week or month. Sun signs are outward presentations of social self, while moon signs are insights into one’s inner or unconscious self.

“Astrology is nosey,” Monroe, who is a scorpio sun and aries moon, said. “If you read your natal chart, it’s like someone has been following you and keeping track of all your personality traits that you know and also are uncomfortable with and then

writing them down and presenting them to you. It’s the nosiest thing I’ve ever found that isn’t actually just someone following you around.”

Thesis-year student and Catalyst reporter Cole Zelznak is a Leo sun and a Capricorn moon. He used to be much more skeptical about astrology.

“I like to read my horoscope now after three years at New College and I find that it's a nice way to promote some self reflection on what you agree and disagree with about your horoscope,” Zelznak said. “And it’s accurate, I agree with most of the ones I get. So I guess I’m not really that much of a rational skeptic, I’m a skeptical believer.”

Even Monroe and Rivero, both believers, feel that along with openmindedness, a healthy dose of skepticism allows one to construct a more meaningful and personal spiritual development.

“Keeping that skepticism and challenging everything is important,” Rivero said. “We should be open that [astrology and crystals] could be true but also challenge it, and that's how you come up with your own spiritual path. Everybody’s different so not everybody has to use crystals, not everybody has to like astrology, everybody has their own path to be spiritual and it doesn’t look the same for everyone.

“I think it’s that dedication of trying to learn about it, doing your research, but also keeping a certain sense of skepticism where you’re like ‘this is not going to solve all my problems’ or ‘this is just a tool but I have to use it’, things like that.”

“Placebo is very, very real... it’s very possible that the effects I’m feeling are purely placebo,” Monroe said of their skepticism. “But I’m feeling effects and so within my subjective reality, there’s something happening and I can literally alter my subjective reality subtly in my favor by using certain rocks.”

NBA season opens up to major injuries

BY RYAN PAICE Within the first six minutes of the first game of the 2017-2018 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, Boston Celtics star Gordon Hayward’s year was likely over, dislocating his ankle and fracturing his tibia after falling awkwardly. The very next night, Brooklyn Nets star Jeremy Lin fell on a drive to the basket and—according to the team on Oct. 19—ruptured his patellar tendon, likely ending his season.

The Nets, who finished with the

worst record in the entire league last season with Lin injured, will have to rely heavily upon D’Angelo Russell, Allen Crabbe and DeMarre Carroll, all of whom are newcomers to Brooklyn, acquired in several trades over the hectic offseason. Without ownership of their first round draft pick for this season, Brooklyn has no incentive to lose, but the loss of Lin’s playmaking and leadership will be costly to a team attempting to work their way out of the basement.

“We feel awful that the injury will cost him the season, however

our organization will be there to support Jeremy in every way possible throughout his recovery,” Nets general manager (GM) Sean Marks said in a statement. “Jeremy remains an important part of this team and will continue to contribute in a leadership role.”

Boston, on the other hand, had the best record in the Eastern Conference last season and lost to LeBron and the Cavaliers in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals (ECF), and while only returning four of 16 players from last season, had cham-

pionship aspirations for this year upon the free agent signing of an All Star in Gordon Hayward and in trading for another in Kyrie Irving.

Hayward’s loss shocked the Celtics, and the reverberations of his injury reshape the entire playoff landscape in the Eastern Conference.

After a historically hectic summer, the NBA season—only a little more than a week old—is following suit with the shock and significance of Hayward and Lin’s injuries.

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III Points: a review and recap of Miami’s premiere music festival

BY MAGDALENE TAYLOR Miami’s III Points music, arts and technology festival sold out at its Wynwood venue on the weekend of Oct. 13, delivering three days of eclectic but approachable electronic music, hip-hop and undefinable art.

Now in its fifth year, the festival saw its biggest growth yet, bringing in major names like Gorillaz, Danny Brown, the XX, Kali Uchis and Skepta.

III Points combined the typical outdoor arena style of most festivals with unique warehouse spaces familiar to the dance music genres. With five different performance spaces of different sizes, III Points was able to offer the experience of both a major music event and a small, local venue.

Keeping with this duality, both major international artists as well as local and up and coming artists were showcased.

Friday featured more of the former. While the entire festival was sold out, tickets for Friday night sold out much earlier than the rest. Lines and crowds were massive, especially for the evening’s headliners, English virtual band Gorillaz. The band functions primarily in animated form, with a fictional band serving as rep-

III Points still managed to hold on to its roots while expanding onto the international scene.

resentation for a revolving set of real-life musicians. Their performance was therefore a combination of live music and video narrative. The experience was much like seeing any other live band, with an added component of a digital world of familiar characters displayed behind them. Friday nights performances also included Danny Brown, Abra, Arca, Kali Uchis and more.

Saturday and Sunday saw smaller crowds than Friday, but were still just as impactful. British rapper Skepta delivered a sharp and highenergy show in one of the venue’s warehouses that almost seemed to transport the audience out of Miami and into an industrial UK space. Despite the darkness, Skepta’s set was an excellent time to view the rest of the crowd--even in the hot weather,

people wore elaborate costumes and even fur coats.

The smaller crowd on Saturday and Sunday also allowed for more opportunity to view the art and technology side of the festival. The most publicized piece was Brian Eno’s “The Ship”--an immersive soundscape room. Resembling a “chill out room” often created during Palm Court Parties in both aesthetics and utilization, “The Ship” was a dark enclosed room with deep colored lighting and ambient sounds. Most of the people experiencing “The Ship” took the time to lay down and relax. Other art installations at the festival were primarily from local artists, largely involving sculpture or audio/visual work.

For the festival organizers, this was a record breaking year. The festival not only sold out, but was the largest it’s been yet. On top of that, it was the first year at its new massive venue, Mana Wynwood. However, with this growth can come some challenges. In its earlier, smaller scale, the festival was perhaps better able to capture the eccentricities and diversities of the Miami art scene.

Nevertheless, even in its latest developments, III Points still managed to hold on to its roots while expanding onto the international scene.

TREES

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 that some of these trees are from the Ringling era, [...] it forms a connection to place. People love climbing that camphor tree down by the bay. One of the things that happens is that people end up associating specific events with landmarks. [...]

The landscape becomes imbued with memories and the meaning is sort of attached to the landscape. People start associating their feelings and recollections with the landscape.”

“If we had been more thoughtful, we would have had a pre-disaster tree strategy in place,” Miller said.

“We’re making judgements

about the survivability of a living organism because it’s challenged in some way,” Miller said. “Trees can live with a lot of problems.”

Oberlee has been conducting research to understand the risks of dead trees which is currently being submitted for publication.= “If you look across the entire eastern United States, a standing dead tree from the moment it dies has a 50/50 chance of standing for the next eight years,” Oberlee said. “It really depends on where it’s growing, how big it is, and how much decomposing has happened.”

“Dead trees store a lot of carbon, when you cut down a dead tree, it is disposed of in a landfill or it decomposes quickly, the more dead trees we have, the more carbon we have,” Oberlee said. “We have a Climate Action Plan we subscribe to which is keeping more carbon on campus.”

“Losing carbon from our campus is bad because that carbon goes to the atmosphere,” Oberlee said.

“One specific benefit is that they provide better habitat for different kinds of important species.”

Orberlee’s current research

on dead trees was done in conjunction with collaborators from George Washington University (GWU), Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the United States Forest Service.

Oberlee also worked with students to create an index of all tree species on campus. He is working with Professor Emily Saarinen on a map of trees on campus, as well as applying to have the campus recognized as a public tree collection.

PARANORMAL SOCIETY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

is a pretty useful EMF reader, though some of the other features can be a little finicky.

The team is favorable to people going out and doing their own investigations, but they stress the importance of safety and empathy for those who have passed.

“Spirits are just people,” Mr.

Bennett said. “Be respectful.”

“Usually we find that it’s trauma or they caused a tragedy and they have to answer for their guilt before they cross over. A lot of them will stay here because they’re afraid,” Reed said.

“Also keep in mind if you think there’s a spirit there from, say, the

1800s, they may not know what an iPhone is so you have to tell them to speak into the box. Spirits may not understand the equipment, especially if they have not interacted with a lot of people. Spirits can learn over time. It’s helpful to explain it to them. It might take them a little bit to learn how to manipulate those frequencies.”

The most important thing the team said was this: “We do not encourage the Ouija Board.”

“Once you open a portal anything can come through,” Reed said.

Also, Burning the Ouija board is a very dangerous thing to do if you haven’t closed the portal yet.

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as it is, it remains one of my favorite New College stories. Those old buildings had a life of their own, there was a weight almost to College Hall, Cook Hall, and Caples that the newer building didn’t have. I never saw any ghosts, though I know a lot of people had similar experiences, but that piano played across the radio that night, and Paddy assured me no one was in the building. I don't think I ever went to Caples alone after that.”

-- Michelle Volkle Noberini (‘87) “In January of 1989, I left my room around sunset to go to the Pei 2nd Court ice machine. Inspired by the legendary Playboy Host and Bar Book (Battali, 1969) I was drinking Tequila Sunrises--the original kind, with lots of ice and creme de cassis in a tall Collins glass. I needed ice. I was sober...with the same kind of misplaced sense of adulthood that led me to affect a (tobacco) pipe, I didn't start drinking my Sunrises until, well, sunset. I filled my Collins glass and headed back to my room.

As I passed the doorway to the 2nd Court lounge, I caught a flash of white in the corner of my eye. A short woman in white--white T-shirt, what looked like white jeans--was stand-

ing at the sink. She turned on the sink and then turned it off. Now all of this happened really quickly.

I thought she was my friend Michelle, who often wore outfits like that, and she was cooking something in the 2nd court lounge, which was also something hippie chicks did a lot. I said "Hey Mi--..." but when I turned fully, the lounge was empty.

I went in. Nobody was possibly in there. A fresh spray of water droplets spattered the sink.” -- Troy Winfrey (‘87) “We did have a bit of campus wide ghost-hysteria during my second year around Halloween. It mostly seemed to affect the Humanities types.” -- Graham Strouse (alum) “Around 1998, I had my first, and strongest visible, experience with a ghost in College Hall. I stopped to play the piano on my way through the Music Room after a class one afternoon. After playing for a few minutes, I looked up towards the window at the front of the room.

There on the window seat, I saw the cloudy outline of an old woman, just like those commonly depicted in documentaries. I began to chant HU (a sacred word like OM, meant

to raise the consciousness and maintain a state of clear, loving calm), and tried to keep playing. I got the sense that she used to listen to music sitting in that very spot when she lived here, and had come to listen to me play. But I couldn't control my racing, nervous thoughts as I grew more and more anxious. She started acting out physically, her activity intensifying with my anxiety. I felt sudden cool breezes, though everything was closed, felt something brush by me, and watched the sheet music almost turn. I couldn't hold out any longer.

I got up and rushed toward the exit, and felt a pinch when I crossed the middle of the room on my way to the door.

The sense I got was that I had lost a war of wills, and she was vindicated in her dominion over the room.

It was hers in life, and she still owned it now from beyond the grave. I ventured back the next time I was there for class, and on the wall at the front window, found an old portrait of Mable Ringling (I think), identical to the apparition that had appeared there.”

-- Kitanai Veritas (‘97)

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Songs you should heAR Halloween Edition

BY JORDI GONZALEZ

With zombies literally running around everywhere, we know it’s that time of the year again, Halloween. A time where ghouls, goblins, vampires, werewolves, are given a little extra appreciation. As the holiday intermingles with the occult and metaphysics, there have been a plethora of songs inspired by the same realm.

“Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In”

by The 5th Dimension There’s an iconic scene on the AMC hit television show American Horror Story where this song comes on as a psychopathic man enters a mansion from the ‘60s and terrorizing the girls living in it. This has, however, always been a favorite ‘60s jam especially for the moment right around the middle where it complete shifts into something much more liberating and gospel with trumpets blaring along.

“I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins There’s been countless renditions of this classic, like the Disney Channel movie Hocus Pocus, but none of them deliver the same intensity, grit, and fervor than good ol’ Hawkins. Especially with the manic screaming at the end of the song, but you could definitely just rewatch the Hocus Pocus movie too.

“Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac This song is actually about a witch and Stevie Nicks, the female vocalist for the band, was nicknamed the “White Witch” throughout her musical career. Not entirely sure of these rumors, but it’s a solid tune from the Mac and their live performance of it is even better. The song was also mentioned on American Horror Story.

“Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett, Leonard Capizzi, Crabcorps This is a cover of the old-time classic that’s found on the soundtrack for the movie Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. I enjoy this version a lot more for some reason, it’s got more of a modern feel to it and the addition of electric guitar riffs is nice.

CATALYST

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

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PAGE 12

SARASOTA STEPS TOWARDS THE FUTURE WITH SELBY GARDENS GROWTH PLAN

BY MICHALA HEAD One of the first places that come to mind with the word “growth” is the gardens. Flowers, trees, and grass grow everyday, for five dollars, students can visit Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Selby Gardens) and witness a piece of this growth.

Officially opened to the public in 1975, Selby Gardens has been essential to Sarasota for tourists and residents alike. Now, Selby Gardens itself is gearing up to undergo some serious growth, as it has been approved for an estimated $67 million growth plan that will take place over the next 10 years.

Selby Gardens CEO, Jennifer O. Rominiecki, spoke with the Catalyst to detail why the growth plan needed to be implemented and what it will do.

“There are two core reasons for this undertaking, the first is to deal with sea level rise and we have the world’s best scientifically documented collection of orchids and right now they are in decaying structures on the ground in a flood zone,” Rominiecki said. “The second one [reason] is the fact that we can no longer accommodate our growing visitor base, it is a great problem to have.”

Visitation at Selby Gardens has grown by 36 percent and membership has grown by 29 percent over the last two years. They now have more than 200,000 visitors annually and are the largest member attraction in Sarasota.

Rominiecki went on to discuss the growing pains that have come with these figures, and how it relates to a rapidly developing Sarasota, “It is very difficult to park and orient our guests because we were never designed to be a public garden, we were really a residential property, so during peak days we had to turn away 200 cars and we would like to be able to accommodate,” Rominiecki said. “By consolidating our operations and putting the right structures in place, we will end up increasing Selby Gardens green space by 50 percent” The land that makes up Marie Selby Botanical Gardens was acquired in pieces over their 40-year history, and is oriented as such that they are not going to acquire the green space by expanding their property, but by restructuring.

“Right now the public garden functions are operating out of residential structures that are decaying, so by consolidating our operations into the proper structures that we need, we end up saving space and

we alleviate the footprint of our grounds and are able to create more green space,” Rominiecki said. “One of the big factors in making a 50 percent increase in green space is what we are calling our sky garden and terrace, that is a vertical living wall structure that will take care of our parking needs as well but it truly is armature for green walls and green curtains of plants.”

Rominiecki detailed the goals of these new structures are to be as environmentally friendly as possible in modern architecture by showcasing solar energy, stormwater management and green roofs.

“We are a community asset and a public garden, we have the opportunity to teach people about the importance of making these choices to better the environment,” Rominiecki said.

Selby Gardens considers NCF to be a partner in science and community betterment. Examples of past collaborations include the Hiroshima Seed Bank and their formal research partnership that allowed students to work with Selby resources.

“We would be thrilled to have New College involved along the way and to be briefed along the way, and I think whatever we are able to accomplish will greatly benefit our partnership,” Rominiecki said of New College involvement in the growth plan.

“I will plug our internship program, we started it with New College over the last year and the more the merrier” The growth plan is a three-stage process, that is in its very early goings and will be contingent upon fundraising. Rominiecki hopes that the amount of thought that went into the plan, and the benefits that Sarasota will reap from the development of Selby Gardens will be clear as the plan unfolds over time.

“Our board, our advisory committee, and constituents really thought hard about the best way to preserve Marie Selby’s legacy while also taking care of the needs that we have for a sustainable future, and I think we carefully thought this out in order to provide the needs that the institution has to operate--but at the same time we absolutely want to honor our past,” Rominiecki said.

A model of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Master Plan. Photo courtesy of Mischa Kirby.

Selby Gardens now have more than 200,000 visitors annually and are the largest member attraction in Sarasota.

Selby Gardens is open all week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Student discounts are available year round with a valid form of student ID. Selby Gardens considers NCF to be a partner in science and community betterment.