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CATALYST
NOVEMBER 1, 2017 VOLUME XXXV ISSUE VII
New College of Florida's student-run newspaper
Funding for art resources draws a blank BY JACOB WENTZ As students gathered to support the pre-thesis art show, various works were admired for their aesthetics, deeper meanings and connections to the artists. Though some appreciate the time and process that it takes to create the pieces, most fail to realize one of the most significant factors that influences the means of creation: funding. According to students closely associated with the arts department, photo courtesy of Zoe Heuermann funding is a complicated issue with unclear procedures and guidelines. Despite having an outdated, wobbly taboret table, thesis student Rebecca Miles “There’s no money and you don’t creates impressive works of art in her studio space. know where to go because there’s not a lot of direction in terms of the peo“We don’t know what to do. a lump sum of money from the colple who are supposed to be giving us We’re just confused and sad and lege’s Education and General (E&G) at least a push in the right direction,” broke,” art thesis student Rebecca fund. Sculpture Lab Teaching Assistant Miles said. After removing fulltime and ad(TA) and thesis student Zoe HeuerHow division funding works junct salaries and fringe benefits, the mann said. Every year, each discipline gets continued on p. 10
TAMPA SERIAL KILLER ALL ABOUT BITCOIN pg.
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The Catalyst remembers Professor of German Studies Dr. Glenn Cuomo
"Professor Cuomo has touched many students’ lives over the years with his caring, endless patience and will be long remembered by community members." -Donal O'Shea New College of Florida President A full length story honoring Glenn Cuomo's lasting contributions to this community will be published in the next issue.
Million Hoodies Movement for Justice launches National Week of Action BY TIM MANNING
https://doc-0k-18-docs. googleusercontent.com/ docs/securesc/s7jurnmk912se8sp3mgg3hd8llrh0uos/obdpo7fpcdn719 co01n4qb7t57rv346b/1 506448800000/0533393 9401667025082/025783 83506865688437/0B4ze ECbsUTILVjVXY25YUU 52ZUk?e=download
Just after midnight last Thursday, a small group of student activists filed into the WSLR radio station to promote and discuss the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice National Week of Action. Million Hoodies formed in response to the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin and the failure of the media to cover it. Now, the movement is a national organization, comprised of young people of color, with chapters across the country, including the West Florida chapter, which is based out of New College. Million Hoodies has, in the past, worked on a number of projects, including the creation of the “We Keep Us Safe Network,” which is “a rapid response platform to provide communities with the tools to educate themselves and take immediate action during moments of cri-
WHAT’S INSIDE
Tim Manning/Catalyst
Second-years and Million Hoodies members Angelo Acebedo, Kristen Patterson and Cabrini Austin at the WSLR studio in Sarasota.
sis,” according to the organization’s website. However, at the center of this past week’s Week of Action was the idea of freedom cities, cities and communities designed to be safe and protect all of its members.
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On air with WSLR, Million Hoodies activists second-year Cabrini Austin and Angelo Acebedo interviewed Dante Barry, the head of Million Hoodies, about the sig-
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nificance of this week of action and about the idea of freedom cities. “I’m a big fan of the ways in which freedom cities connects different struggles together. Different racial struggles, whether it's if you identify as Black, as muslim, as asian, as Puerto Rican, it all kind of connects to people of color. It also connects in relation to class, it connects to gender and gender nonconforming people,” Barry said. “A part of the idea of freedom cities is a challenging of the idea of sanctuary cities,” Barry continued. “What folks have found is that when people talked about sanctuary cities, sanctuary wasn’t actually enough, wasn’t a big enough demand for communities. And that’s why people have experienced so much pushback about sanctuary [cities] both from people on the progressive side of things. continued on p. 11
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WENDY'S PROTEST
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Two women rescued after being lost at sea for five months BY SAMANTHA RAMIREZ
Jennifer Appel, Tasha Fuiava and their two dogs were stranded at sea for almost five months after straying off course in route to Tahiti. The two women and their pets were rescued by the U.S. Navy almost 900 miles southeast of Japan and thousands of miles away from their destination. The pair and their companions set sail from Hawaii on May 3, their destination would be Tahiti about 2,600 miles away. They first ran into trouble on May 30, when bad weather caused their engine to flood, with the ship's mast damaged as well, their ability to maneuver was limited and by then they had strayed off course in their attempts to continue sailing. Panic struck when the duo lost communications. After two months had passed-the expected time it would take
to arrive to Tahiti--the two Hawaii residents began to send out distress signals, however they were too far from other boats or land stations to be heard or detected. A year supply of food consisting of rice, pasta and more as well as a water purifier on board kept the passengers alive. However, food would not be the only thing the women had to be worried about, as the pair went through two separate shark encounters. One incident consisted of the boat drifting into a school of Tiger sharks, and the other occurred when a shark began to slam itself into the boat's hull. After nearly five months at sea, the boat was spotted by a Taiwanese fishing vessel which contacted the National Coast Guard to aid in the rescue of the women and their dogs.
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Deadly ambush sparks mystery in Nigeria
BY SAMANTHA RAMIREZ
the American soldiers consisting of a 12-member Army Special Forces team were on patrol with 30 troops from Nigerien forces when the ambush took place. The Americans immediately made contact with the commanders informing they were under attack, then called for help an hour later. That provoked the transmit of Niger ground forces and French Mirage jets, which arrived on scene about two hours later, as the fighting was gradually fading. However, the rescue units did not retrieve all 12 Americans, and have not released an explanation regarding leaving four behind, out of radio contact. They were initially considered missing in action by the Pentagon, which suggests that they may have been alive after being left by the rescue helicopters. The bodies of three dead Americans and the team’s Nigerien interpreter were found hours later and it took two more days for American, French and Nigerien troops to find the body of Sergeant Johnson, the fourth soldier.
Day by day, the mystery deepens in the minds of American citizens over the deaths of four American soldiers in an ambush by extremists in Niger. Many questions have arisen but few are being answered. President Trump has denied any responsibility and has offered few answers himself--for the first 12 days after the attack on Oct. 4, Trump was silent. However, Trump is Commander in Chief, in charge of directing the armed forces. Eventually, President Trump and the Pentagon will have to provide a full account of the operation but also of how it plays into a broader strategy for countering terrorists in Africa. The American military has increased its presence in the African continent, in an effort to Information for this article was train local forces in fighting extremists in order for the U.S. to limit their gathered from cnn.com deployments. Niger is home to one of the largest concentrations of U.S. forces in Africa, home to 800 to 1,000 American troops and is utilized as a hub for regional intelligence and surInformation for this article is the residents themselves and any veillance. Currently what is known gathered from nytimes.com BY SAMANTHA RAMIREZ possible witnesses. A surveillance about the timeline of events, is that The shooting of 22-year-old college video shows a person of interest student Benjamin Mitchell on the running away from the scene of the night of Oct. 9 was the first murder first murder, although the police are at the hands of a mysterious killer uncertain whether or not this could who has left the police perplexed be the murderer or just a resident and residents of the Seminole outside exercising. They are asking As of this week, only 26 percent BY SAMANTHA RAMIREZ Heights community on edge. The the help of anyone who can idenof Puerto Rican households have had body of Monica Hoffa, 32, the sectify the person caught on tape. The Most of Puerto Rico remains their power restored according to the ond victim of the alleged serial killer murders all happened in the quiet without power more than a month Puerto Rico Electric Power Authorwas found in a vacant lot on Oct. Seminole Heights community, with after Hurricane Maria ripped ity (PREPA). PREPA is a state-owned 13, only four days after Benjamin the victims walking alone outside, through the island. The total of lost utility filed for bankruptcy in July, Mitchell had been found. Less than therefore police have advised for hours in electricity between Puerto and it's no coincidence that most of a week later, a third resident of the residents and anyone nearby to heed Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands has the top 10 blackouts in U.S. history Seminole Heights neighborhood, all warnings and take any necessary added up to the largest blackout in have involved Puerto Rico. 20-year-old Anthony Naiboa, was precautions. "We're not using the This year’s hurricane season United States history. Hurricane shot to death at a bus stop just a word 'serial killer' yet because we Maria has in sum caused the loss of brought strong storms, Irma caused block away from where Mitchell had just don't have enough evidence," 1.25 billion hours of electricity for the loss of 752 hours of electricity, as been. Authorities have not found Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said. Americans, making it the largest it ripped through the Caribbean and any obvious connections between Florida, causing the fourth-largest blackout in all of U.S. history. them after investigation. Information for this article was taken The hours of lost electricity, blackout in U.S. history. The ongoing The police are in need of help from from nytimes.com however, will only continue to grow, power outage across most of Puerto as Hurricane Maria knocked out the Rico is now the worst electricity failelectricity grid on the island leaving ure in U.S. history, and getting the many residents still without power, electricity back on is now dominatand expect the same for months to ing politics and leading to allegations CORRECTION: come. Getting power back on hilltop of mismanagement, as residents are communities on the island has also still in the dark. In Issue 4's Composting Tutorial story, the article incorrectly listed Professor Carl Shaw as the sponsor of the Composting Tutorial. The sponsor is actually proved difficult--with Puerto Rico’s Information for this article was gathterrain varying from plains to mounProfessor Brad Oberlee. ered from cnn.com tains the restoration of power has been tough. The Catalyst apologizes for this error.
Tampa residents concerned over possible serial killer
Puerto Ricans still left in the dark
"You don't know what bitcoin is, Jason?!" © 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.
General Editor Managing Editor Copy Editor & Writing Coach Online Editor Layout Editors Social Media Editor Staff Writers & Photographers
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Jason D'Amours Noah Baslaw, Miranda Gale Michala Head, Azia Keever, Tim Manning, Samantha Ramirez, Cole Zelznak
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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Flake joins Corker in protest as Trump continues to uproot political landscape BY RYAN PAICE Trump-era politics has not only wreaked havoc on the Democratic party, but on the Republican party as well. Only weeks after Tennessee Senator (R) Bob Corker called the White House an “adult day care,” Arizona Senator (R) Jeff Flake came out against the ethics and practices of Trump and his administration, announcing that he would not run for reelection upon the end of his current term. “We must never regard as ‘normal’ the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals,” Flake said in an Oct. 24 speech to Congress. “We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country—the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons, reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with the fortunes of the people that we have all been elected to serve.” While Flake’s chances of winning his second term as a Senator of Arizona might have been slim— polls showed him trailing by double digits to his challenger, Kelli Ward in the Arizona Republican primary— he might run as an Independent candidate, depending on what polls might show about the viability of an Independent campaign. Regardless of whether or not he remains in Congress, Flake’s condemnation of the Republican party and its path under the leadership of President Donald Trump stands as a powerful message about the sociopolitical landscape of America today. No matter the Republican party’s dominance over U.S. politics, the party itself is at odds with itself, split between the traditional values of the “Grand Old Party” (GOP) and the path of practice the Trump administration has recently led the party. “Were the shoe on the other foot, would we Republicans meekly accept such behavior on display from dominant Democrats?” Flake said. “Of course not, and we would be wrong if we did.” “I am a conservative and a Republican. This fever will someday break and we can rebuild our party once more,” Flake tweeted on Oct. 30.
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Flake, yet another Republican senator to condemn Trump’s behavior—besides the flocks who had upon the release of the Billy Bush/ Donald Trump audio recordings during Trump’s presidential campaign but withdrew their condemnations upon his election—embodies yet another manifestation of the struggling Republican party. According to a Sept. 24 CNN poll conducted by SSRS, only 29 percent of the American public hold a favorable view of the Republican party. That percentage was a full 13 points higher in March, and is the lowest favorability for the GOP since 1992. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted from Oct. 23-26 found that 48 percent of Americans would support Democratic congressional candidates, while Republicans would only garner 41 percent of the public’s vote. A Fox News poll conducted Oct. 2224 found that Democrats led the Republicans by a commanding 15 percent—with Democrats garnering 50 percent of the generic ballot’s vote, while Republicans only got 35 percent. After failing to pass a repeal and replacement of Obamacare, and having to scrape together votes for an upcoming tax reform vote despite a 52-46 lead over the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, the Republican party has—so far—little to show for their control over the American government. Arizona Senator John McCain, who played a pivotal role in blocking the party’s attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, spoke on Sept. 22 about the importance of not simply voting strictly on party lines. “We should not be content to pass healthcare legislation on a party-line basis,” McCain said. “I hope that in the months ahead, we can join with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to arrive at a compromise solution that is acceptable to most of us, and serves the interests of Americans as best we can.” Bob Corker, who spoke out against Trump before Flake, plans to utilize his position as the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—along with member Jeff Flake—to use the committee as a forum to discuss matters involving Trump’s leadership and direction on a variety of topics, such as Iran, continued on p. 11
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The Activist Newsletter photo courtesy of Jasmine Respesss
BY ANYA CONTRERAS-GARCIA This week (11/1–11/9), activists have the opportunity to participate in movie screenings, community meetings, art exhibits and game nights! Read on if you want to get involved in the community regarding environmental activism, local politics, or art for social change. Fri., Nov. 3, Moonlight Movies on Siesta Key: Labyrinth @ 6 – 9 p.m. Siesta Key Beach, 946 Beach Rd, Siesta Key, FL 34242
Tues., Nov. 7, Access + Mobility @ 6:30 – 8 p.m. Ringling College of Art and Design, 2700 N Tamiami Trl, Sarasota, FL 34234
Sarasota Film Festival invites community members to a free screening of Labyrinth on Siesta Key Beach with Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources. Take advantage of Florida’s beautiful weather by watching a movie on the beach this Friday! Moonlight Movies are a way to give back to the community outside of festival season. This family friendly film is free and open to the public. Films begins at sunset, so bring a blanket to bundle up with and a lawn chair. For more info, check out the event page on Facebook.
Please join us at Ringling College of Art and Design for the third event in our three-part series of Socially Engaged Art (SEA) Film Screenings, selected from Art21, Creative Time and A Blade of Grass: FIELDWORKS education series profiling artists’ work for social change. ACCESS + MOBILITY highlights artists working in the public sphere to provide agency and access to basic human needs and resources through mobile means. This event is free and open to the public. For more info, check out the event page on Facebook.
Thurs., Nov. 9, Project No Tues., Nov. 7, Dark Money in Labels Charity Bingo @ 7 – 9 Sarasota Politics p.m. @ 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Flamingo Resort St. Pete, 4601 Fogartyville Community Center, 34th St S, St. Pete, FL 33711 525 Kumquat Ct, Rear, Sarasota, FL 34236 Join this bingo game benefiting Project No Labels, an orJoin activist, columnist and ganization that unites the Tampa radio host Cathy Antunes for a Bay LGBTQ+ community with look at the role of dark money straight allies through positive plays in local politics. This event volunteerism and activism. There is hosted by Manasota Move to is a suggested $10 donation for Amend, an organization that 10 games. The event will be held strives to bring democracy back in the Main Room at Flamingo to Sarasota and Manatee coun- Resort St. Pete with 10 unique ties. For more info, check out the prizes. For more info, check out event page on Facebook. the event page on Facebook.
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NEWS PAGE 4
The New Wild West: Cryptocurrency and blockchain BY NOAH BASLAW Opinion and understanding surrounding Bitcoin (BTC) is varied, but the revolutionary initial intention behind its creation remains its central telos. Bitcoin was introduced as a decentralized digital currency which bypassed formal financial institutions by allowing users to be their own holder of their funds. Despite generations of devastating bank runs, where masses of people attempt to withdraw their bank deposits and there is nothing in the vaults, many folks hear of Bitcoin and only think of nefarious dark web usage. High demand for Bitcoin has perpetuated a relatively tall value for the beorgening cryptocurrency, which recently peaked around $6,000 a coin. There is currently about $167 billion invested in the whole cryptocurrency market, and Bitcoin represents about 55 percent of that total, according to coinmarketcap.com. Computer Science Professor John Doucette talked to the Catalyst through email about this relatively new phenomenon. “Blockchains are a particular technology for implementing a public ledger. A public ledger is just a place where people can read and write things, but never erase what has been written. This lets people who don't trust each other agree on what has happened in the past,” Doucette wrote. “Solving that trust problem solves all sorts of other problems indirectly. For example, if you watch me write in a public ledger that I owe you $5, then you can later prove that I still owe it to you by consulting the ledger.” “Blockchains, as a data structure, are capable of holding arbitrary data and can be applied to most anything,” third-year Eric Brigham recalled, who worked on a project involving blockchain technology last summer with computer science professors Matthew Lepinski and John Doucette. Brigham studied how blockchain could be used to make internet censorship harder for authorities to attempt. “Competition between miners (those who compete with each other to write transactions into the blockchain) ensures decentralized control,” Brigham stated. Doucette continued by explaining the faults in conventonal banking. “In the past, most ledgers were private. A bank might maintain a ledger, but if two people don't trust the bank to keep the ledger correct-or the bank won't let them write in it--there wasn't a good way to help them trust each other about what
photo courtesy of coindesk.com
The value of Bitcoin in USD over the last year.
had happened in the past,” Doucette wrote. “Blockchains provide a way to create public ledgers online, that anyone can write to or read from. “Bitcoin is implemented on top of a blockchain. The idea is that to spend some coins, you just write in the ledger that you're giving your coins to someone else, and sign it with your pseudonym. The ledger is designed so that you can only write this if your pseudonym was given some coins by someone else in the past. To get your first coins, you can sell something else [like dollars, or goods or services] to someone who already has coins,” Doucette continued. Decentralizing the management
zero,” and The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia conceded in 1975 that, “Without the confidence factor, many believe a paper money system is liable to collapse eventually.” “Bitcoin is a limited supply asset, only a certain amount will ever exist, unlike the fiat currency system we currently use, which allows new money to be printed and thus decreases the value of existing currency. The fiat system is also fundamentally based on debt held by banks. Each U.S. Dollar (USD) solely represents a unit of debt, it is no longer backed by anything other than what other countries are willing to pay for it on the international market. It is also the reserve currency of the world,
"Investing in cryptocurrency comes with risk, but has potential to give back significant returns. As the dominant coin in the cryptomarket, Bitcoin has always suppressed other alternative coins values by taking most of the demand. " of currency with nifty computer code is supposed to curb corruption and manipulation which centrally-managed currencies, like the infamous German Mark, have historically suffered from. The hyperinflation of the Mark was followed by Hitler’s Third Reich, a reminder of the direct correlation between social, political and currency stability. Additionally, the enlightenment writer Voltaire once observed, “all paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value,
which incentivizes foreign governments to take large sums of USD out of circulation to store in order to hedge against risk,” New College alum, Steven Lubka shared to Catalyst through email. They host a free Facebook group called ‘Blockchain Visions.’ Even sovereign nations store the USD like it’s a solid reserve of value, like gold, but the dollar is not backed by anything but the confidence in the dollar.
“I have met many people who live entirely off Bitcoin mining,” Lubka continued. “In Venezuela, the entire country essentially runs on Bitcoin which was the only hope for a failed central banking system and a hyperinflating currency.” The Venezuelan government’s subsidized electricity is cheaper than most goods and folks have used that electricity to earn bitcoin via mining out of pure necessity. “Governments fear Bitcoin and cryptocurrency because they lose control of the money supply. However, they are also being surprisingly open and receptive to it in many cases,” Lubka said. “Some countries are trying to regulate them in restrictive ways, others are facilitating their growth. Ultimately it is a fundamental challenge to the very way all of our systems operate, and it will be a bumpy road, but one that the entire world is gradually embracing. Within the crypto-community, the largest issue right now are the various Bitcoin forks. This type of project has never existed before--and because Bitcoin lacks a centralized authority, all upgrades to its code must be done through consensus by the miners-the individuals who participate in running the blockchain, not creating new Bitcoin. New Bitcoin are never created. “The process of mass consensus is inherently challenging as it's only possible through people all over the world coordinating on developing a project, that no one entity is running. Miners are compensated with Bitcoin--or whatever coin is being mined--for their work, however these coins are not created from thin air. In most cases they are taken from a network transaction fee that is charged on each transaction. These fees sustain the network and allow the miners to make a profit in order to create a reason for someone to be a miner,” Lubka explained. Investing in cryptocurrency comes with risk, but has potential to give back significant returns. As the dominant coin in the crypto-market, Bitcoin has always suppressed other alternative coins values by taking most of the demand. However, the crypto markets are volatile, and it is anybody's guess as to what the top performing coins will be even in the near future. Nonetheless, the most significant question for an potential investor, is whether they see better long run opportunity with their wealth in crypto or their respective sovereign fiat currencies. Information gathered from CNBC and coinmarketcapitalization
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NEWS PAGE 5
Freestyle and floetry: Center of the Universe Party returns for Halloween BY MIRANDA GALE Live freestyling and rap, independent local artists, lots of dancing and the first few days of cold Florida weather all came together this Halloween Palm Court Party (PCP). The major challenge? An unexpected and torrential downpour that reorganized the structure of the event in the last few hours before it was held. “The rain was inconvenient, but to tell the truth it probably made the Palm Court scenario a lot better,” thesis-year student and PCP co-sponsor Miles Iton said. “We kept the stage setup under the roof of Ham to keep dry, which was different and spacious enough to keep the party going and have all the locations a little more equidistant (except for the Bike Shop). We were delayed about 30 minutes overall though because we couldn't set up until the rain died out.” Freestyle/Floetry/Fuckery COUP(CP), sponsored by thesis-year students Paul Loriston and Miles Iton, won the vote with 172 votes or 48.5 percent of the total vote. The theme focused on live rap, led by n.e.Bodied Entertainment, a music and entertainment imprint started by Iton and Nathan Burnaman and born out of New College’s freestyle and floetry tutorial led by Professor Carl Shaw. Locally focused, the goal of n.e.Bodied Entertainment is to eventually attract enough revenue to manage student artists. One of the biggest challenges to PCP was the rain, which started earlier that afternoon and lasted well into the evening, subsiding to a light drizzle just before the event was to start. Palm Court remained empty, while dancing and music were set up on the Pei tiles under the overhang in front of the mail room and New College Student Association (NCSA) office in Hamilton
Center. Instead of using the Black Box Theatre (BBT), the band room was converted into an indoor dance space, complete with handmade artwork and lights. The Old Mail Room remained a music and dance space as usual, and additional live music-complete with lights and an enthusiastic audience--lit up Z amphitheatre and the Bike Shoppe. YC Collective, comprised of Florida West Coast rappers Swerv the Hooligan, Pseudo Ra and Tre Goodfella, headlined the event, accompanied by numerous student sets and members of n.e.Bodied Entertainment. A lone stripper pole--an elusive party element occasionally seen around campus--popped up
safe space to anyone who needed it. Although SSDP neither condemns nor condones drug use, they facilitate conversations about drug usage, encouraging a culture of knowledge and openness rather than stigma. “We have created a grounding setting where people can take a break from their partying, drink some water and relax. If people are having any difficult times on substances or not, SSDP wants this room to be a place to find comfort and peace,” SSDP member and thesis-year student Mei-Jing Bernard said in an email interview. For further education, she recommends photo courtesy of Alexis Pujol www.erowid.com, www.rollsafe.com, Thesis students Eugenia Quintanilla, Maria the Zendo project and Dance Safe. Simmerling, Alexis Pujol and second“Drink lots of water, ask quesyear Elizabeth Ramsamooj arrived in a
"A lone stripper pole--an elusive party element occasionally seen around campus-popped up on the tiles in front of Ham, drawing curious crowds and eventually a drag show performed by Kiki Butter Mischief and Wanda Fistya." on the tiles in front of Ham, drawing curious crowds and eventually a drag show performed by Kiki Butter Mischief and Wanda Fistya. Other PCP go-ers occasionally attempted feats of strength, grace and flexibility, with mixed results and a variety of styles. Other attractions of the night included snacks, powder paint ball and the chill out room, ran by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). A regular feature of PCP, the chill out room, located in the old X study room between X and Y dorms, included soft lighting, pillows and blankets. Members of SSDP staffed the room throughout the night, offering a calming presence and
tions if you are unsure about something and remember on the other end of PCP to do a lot of self care,” Bernard added. For the most part, students spent the nights running around, complimenting each other’s costumes and dancing to sick beats. At times, improvised pole dancing competitions broke out, students displaying unique mixtures of grace, athleticism and humor. At approximately 3:20 a.m., an ambulance, fire truck and several cop cars pulled up onto Z Green, headed towards the Pei Courts. Currently, details have yet to be made public as to the nature of the emergency.
coordinated cat costume.
photo courtesy of Caitlin Zarseczny
First-year Caitlin Zarzeczny paid homage to Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night painting.
photo courtesy of Jennyfer Gonzalez
Thesis students Kailah Santos and Jennyfer Gonzalez in rave gear.
Jennifer Lin awarded second place in Division G Toastmasters competition BY JASON D'AMOURS While students were finally winding down from a week of midterms and preparing for their fall break adventures, members from the campus Toastmasters chapter were partaking in the Fall 2017 Toastmasters Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest in Division G, which encompasses Sarasota and Manatee counties. Second-year Jennifer Lin, President of the campus Toastmasters chapter and District Newsletter Editor for Toastmaster District 48, was awarded second-place in the table topics competition.
Table Topics is a challenging impromptu speaking contest. Contestants are given a topic as they step onto stage, which they do not have prior knowledge of, and are asked to give a coherent one-to-two minute speech with only about 10 seconds of preparation. As Lin walked before an audience, she was told she had to speak to her greatest life lesson. “My greatest life lesson was that you are beautiful, just the way you are,” Lin shared in an email interview. “I spoke about my past and present drive to seek socially acceptable goals, such as being the most popular
by having the trendiest things [...], but I gradually learned that fitting in does not make me stand out [...]. I gradually learned that I am beautiful and respected just who I am and who I am is who I like myself to be.” “I feel proud of myself,” Lin continued. “I had to win over the five clubs in my area and win over three area champions [...] I have never ranked this high in my Toastmasters career and I really have to thank my club for their help and support in getting me to where I am today.” Lin founded the Toastmasters chapter at New College during the first semester of her first year to pro-
vide an environment for students to develop communication and leadership skills. The campus club is one of the 16,400 clubs around the globe dedicated to Toastmasters International’s mission: to empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Lin invites anyone interested in public speaking, leadership, communication and in having fun to stop by a meeting. Information for this article was gathered from toastmasters.org.
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FEATURES
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Selby Gardens displays rare hybrid and natural orchids at the Orchid Show BY AZIA KEEVER Bulbophyllum phalaenopsis is an orchid that smells like rotting flesh. Unlike most other flowers, whose scent is sweet as to attract moths, bees and wasps, this orchid’s pollinator of choice is the fly. Currently on display at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is their annual Orchid Show and, thankfully, this orchid is not in bloom. Orchidelirium is the word that described the craze surrounding the Victorians’ discovery of orchids. In the 19th century there was no length too far to retrieve a unique specimen from the wild. One adventurer, who had discovered over 800 specimen, did so despite being robbed 17 times, having to survive a volcano eruption, fighting off a rabid jaguar in the jungle and losing his hand and replacing it with a hook. Today, orchids are still very popular and orchid shows can be found all over of the world. In Sarasota, one can experience an annual orchid show held by Selby, a garden that is known for its orchids year round. In 2012 alone, Selby staff doing fieldwork in Brazil discovered 24 new species of orchids. Most of Selby’s live orchids for the show can be seen in their conservatory. The exhibit boasts a beautiful, meticulous display of attention to color, texture and architecture. The Tropical Conservatory was transformed for the Orchid Show under the direction of Selby’s designer Angel Lara, Director of Glasshouse Collections and Mike McLaughin, the Senior Director of
Horticulture and Site Operations, with the help from guest curator Dr. David Berry, the Assistant Director of Academic Affairs at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. The arduous process involved countless diagrams, sketches and clay models with meticulous attention to measurements and color. But McLaughin assures, “If you’ve only seen the conservatory part you’ve only seen half of it.” The second half of the exhibit is in Payne Mansion and pulls from Selby’s three other collections on site: their herbarium, spirit and bibliographic collections. Their herbarium is a collection of 100,000 pressed plant specimens. Their spirit collection, which is already primarily orchids, holds 30,000 specimens preserved in spirits and fluids and is the second largest collection of its kind. Their bibliographic collection is composed of books and prints. “The show really encompasses all four collections at Selby,” McLaughin said. With about 27,000 documented species, the orchid family is one of the largest plant families in the world. That doesn’t include hybrids created by people, which amount to an “unfathomable” number of types which is constantly changing as people no longer breed certain hybrids and introduce new ones. The ability to breed outside of their genus allows for a wide array of specimen. “Normally you can’t cross things from different genera, only in-species breeding can occur,” McLaughin said.
Two epiphytic orchids hold a water droplet in between their petals.
“Orchids can perform intergeneric hybrids.” This year’s theme, “Earth, Air, Fire, Water,” focuses on the immense diversity of the orchid family. They have the ability to specialize to a large range of habitats. The orchid family is made up of 70 percent epiphytes. These plants live-as parasites do--on other plants. Unlike parasites, they do not rely on the nutrients of their hosts, but instead garner nutrients from the air. Most of the world’s vanilla comes from an orchid, the Vanilla planifolia, which can be epiphytic or terrestrial. It has only one known natural pollinator found in Mexico, the Melipona bee. For years, horticulturists were baffled by the orchid’s inability to produce vanilla outside of its natural habitat. The plant would grow and bloom, but efforts were fruitless. “Orchids relationships with their pollinators are so specific, more than other plants,” McLaughin said. “Orchids are highly evolved for specific pollinators.” The Vanilla vine takes three years to grow before it is able to flower. The flowering period is a two-month window when timing is everything. Each flower blooms for only 24 hours. Pollinators have even less time than that to achieve their goal as Vanilla planifolia must be pollinated within 8-12 hours of flowering. If this transference of pollen from one side of the plant to the other does not happen in time, the flower will quickly wilt and die having never produced a vanilla bean. As a re-
sult, commercial production of Vanilla is pollinated by hand. “The pollination system is really specific and puts the orchids at high risk when their ecosystem is disturbed,” McLaughin said. The Selby Gardens has also been involved in the discovery and preservation of a rare, endangered orchid: Epidendrum Ilense. It was discovered in 1976 by Dr. Calaway Dodson in Ecuador and brought back to Selby gardens to be studied. When Dr. Dodson returned to the site for a second time the forest had been cleared away, destroying the flower’s natural habitat. “It showed up again in a few select areas in the wild, but it is nearly extinct,” Mike McLaughin said. “Tropical plants can be highly specific, endemic, to certain areas. Once that area’s been cleared, it’s gone.” Epidendrum Ilense was then propagated and distributed out of Selby Gardens to insure it remained in existence and is now even available in trade. The Orchid show is on display until Nov. 22. Aside from the exhibitions, the show boasts lectures, discussions, classes and events surrounding the show. On Nov. 15 from 12-1 p.m., one can learn about the orchid craze in Victorian Britain from Dr. Berry. Classes include learning how to garden orchids and photograph them. Information from this article was collected from Smithsonian.com, the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens website, the American Orchid Society and University of Wisconsin’s Bioweb.
Selby's orchid show boasts a lush conservatory exhibit with countless species of orchids to sniff and admire.
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Orchids have a highly diverse range of physical appearances. There is a whole subsection of "micro orchids" that can be found all over the world.
Three "Lady's Slipper" Orchids. They are native to Europe and parts of North America.
Selby has a large collection of orchids perserved in spirits. Orchids have the rare ability to breed outside of their genus, allowing for flexibility and creativity amongst hybrids.
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NCF alum and Grip Shift inventor Sam Patterson has cautionary tale for entrepreneurs
BY COLE ZELZNAK
Anyone who has been around bicycles in the last 20 years has likely seen or used a Grip Shift. The shifter is built into a bicycle’s handlebar grip, and twisting it changes the gears. Less obvious is the fact that this innovative and now commonplace design was invented by New College of Florida (NCF) alum Samuel “Sam” Patterson (‘79). The Catalyst spoke with Patterson about his career as an inventor and entrepreneur from his days working on motorcycles in Sarasota to his current and future projects. Patterson first began exploring his passion for tinkering by rebuilding, modifying and riding vintage motorcycles when he was a student at NCF in the early 1980s. In Sarasota, Patterson formed a relationship with the inventor and scientist Walter Minto, who had worked on the Manhattan Project and invented a number of renewable energy technologies. “[Minto’s family] lived in this big mansion on Bird Key, you know, off this guy’s inventions, and I just thought that was so romantic that he would be a self-made inventor making his own products in his garage,” Patterson said. Patterson went on to receive a
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rider to take a hand off the handlebars and reach down in order to shift. Initial versions of the Grip Shift were a success. In 1987 Patterson, Day and Day’s brother Scott founded SRAM Corporation to market and sell the Grip Shift design. SRAM, an acronym for Scott, Ray (Stan Day’s middle name) and Sam, now designs and sells a wide array of bicycle components and is the Japanese multinational Shimano’s main competitor. Over the course of his time at SRAM, Patterson learned that the Day brothers had intentionally manipulated the structure of the comPhoto courtesy of Wikimedia Commons pany to prevent him from sharing in the profits his designs were generatThe SRAM Grip Shift, a widely used and innovative bicycle component, ing. After litigation, he was pushed was invented by NCF alum Samuel Patterson in 1986. out of the company. “At the end I had to just dust degree in mechanical engineering (CVT) for a bicycle controlled by a myself off and start over. It was from the University of South Caro- twist grip like a motorcycle throttle. an interesting little 14-year speed lina and moved to San Diego, Cali- At the time I knew that everybody at bump,” Patterson said. fornia to work for a firm developing MIT had been working on CVTs forAccording to Patterson, his libfuel injectors for two-stroke engines. ever and nobody had really came up eral arts and technical education had On a weekend ski trip, Patterson’s with anything that great [ … ] That left him vulnerable to unscrupulous brother introduced him to Stan Day, was just chasing the pack.” business practices. Patterson’s future business partner. Patterson had the idea to make “I did take a course in entrepre“We had fun comparing notes shifting gears on a standard bicycle neurial economics at New College, on the ski lift and decided to team drivetrain easier by creating a shifter and I went to engineering school, up to brainstorm a product and try that could simply be placed on the but I just was so unprepared to sort to found a company based on an handlebars. Patterson’s helical cam through what really are really trivial inventive and innovative product,” design was a marked improvement principles of how taxes are set up, Patterson said. “He had an idea for a over the existing “downtube shiftcontinuously variable transmission ers,” awkward levers that required a continued on p. 11
Alum Jeb Lund talks freelance journalism, online personas and his huge Twitter following BY MAGDALENE TAYLOR
Jeb Lund (‘97) is known for being both serious and comedic. His work as a writer is political, careful and consequential in tone. His Twitter account, on the other hand, with over 70,000 followers, often ranges from topically humorous to downright absurd. Of course, he’s also a New College alum. Graduating in 2001, Lund has spent the last six years as a freelance journalist and politics and sports columnist for publications including Rolling Stone, the Guardian, Esquire and Vice. He currently runs a podcast called Week In Atrocity. In an email interview with Catalyst Managing Editor Magdalene Taylor, he answered questions about how New College impacted his career, advice for writers and his online Twitter persona @Mobute. Who was New College-era Jeb Lund? Like a lot of people, I wasn't who I wanted to be in high school, and I overcorrected when I got here. I moved a ton growing up and struggled to make friends while sleepwalking to straight-As, so when I got
to New College I failed to take full advantage of academic opportunities while pathologically schmoozing and bed-hopping. I spend reunions apologizing to professors who saw me too little and alumni who saw me too much. I should also mention that I was substantially dumber politically, but every year I learn about some new dumb thing I was hitherto unaware I was being dumb about. People often talk about New College being different from the "real world" - did this relate to your experience? If nothing else, it's almost impossible to replicate the broadly intense intimacy of friendships you make at New College without getting married, a dog, or pregnant. What's the story behind your Twitter following? I was part of "Weird Twitter" back when we did fun things like Goatse'ing two million people trying to get "firsties" on Iran Election crisis news, then successfully blaming the band Hoobastank for it. Or exiling Pitbull to a Wal-Mart in Kodiak, Alaska. But now it's a grownup place, and we all grew up. Mainly it's basic
stuff. Avoid cornball. Avoid clichéd joke formats. [...] You can be funny or right; try to be both, but if all else fails, be funny and not obvious. Do you see yourself as having somewhat of an internet persona? If so, how different is this persona from your "real life" self? I never thought I did. But one of the first things I hear when I meet people is usually, "You are much nicer than I expected," which I think is a good lesson to anybody: online anger translates further and faster than anything else, and it makes people second-guess your sincerity. On a personal level, I've accidentally hurt colleagues' feelings by not knowing how much the digital wall translated my being argumentative or critical into a blanket disrespect. On an audience level, I've always been sentimental, but some people always read it as mockingly ironic. One day I will tweet, "I just found out my mom died," and 50 people will reply, "same." Can you offer any advice to New College students entering into media/freelancing/the gig
Wanna connect?
You can find Jeb Lund on: Twitter: @Mobute Instagram: @Mobute Facebook.com/JebLund Podcast: @WeekinAtrocity
economy? Don't. I make less than a Florida high school teacher, and in exchange strangers threaten to rape my family. Nobody has figured out how to make money online in media, and every website that claims to is lying. [...] But, if you're determined, go local. Haunt city council meetings. Haunt your state representative. We desperately need to replace the institutional knowledge gutted by the destruction of local newspapers. It's also the best way to learn the skills that trump the hot-take artist. When editors need someone to walk up Capitol Hill, they'll pick the person who knows their congressman and district, not the person who dropped 2,500 words dunking on how a 30-year-old movie has retrograde politics. Read the complete interview on ncfcatalyst.com.
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Yesterday and Today: local Miami record store of 36 years, good for the oldies BY JORDI GONZALEZ Across the street from the timelessly popular Bird Bowl bowling center on southwest Bird Road, up the rickety metal stairs of a tightly packed strip plaza, hides the holein-the-wall gem known as Yesterday and Today Records which holds the timeless gifts that are vinyl records. The perfect spot for buying, trading and selling. “Getting back to analog, it just sounds so good. The collectability of the covers, the artwork,” Evan Chern, one of the original founders of Yesterday and Today Records, said. “There’s a warmth, there’s a presence that vinyl records have.” Upon first entering, consistent oldies jams bump from the speakers and there are crates on crates of records stacked nearly to the door, leaving little room for visitors to walk up and down the aisles. The selections are expansive ranging from popular oldies like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Simon & Garfunkel, to more modern artists like Aphex Twin, to even international and specific records. Yesterday and Today makes for the artistic connoisseur’s paradise as it’s a cultural whirlwind with every inch that may be better known to New College students than expected.
“New College is a musical and advanced school,” Chern said. “A lot of them [Novo Collegians] over the years have come to this store.” Chern sits observantly behind his counter--also piled with records-and speaks to every curious customer with the utmost wealth of knowledge and breadth for music history and pressings. He and his friend starting up the business 36 years ago as of last June, but it wasn’t in the exact location it is now. Throughout the years, the store name has relocated and multiplied in locations with the late-’80s to the mid-’90s seemingly being their most successful and eventful era.
-famous for songs like “Blitzkrieg Bop” and the rise of punk rock in general. “They [The Ramones] were all in our store and there’s actually a YouTube video of it you could watch that’s about 20 minutes,” Chern said. As of now, their current Bird and 92nd Ave. location is far tighter, but carries just the same, if not larger, collection of vinyls, CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, you name it. The specialty as of now is in rarities of psychedelic, progressive, garage bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s, but the majority are records from the ‘50s to the ‘90s. Astoundingly
“We’ve always believed in analog recordings,” Chern said. “We like records so we’ve never stopped dealing with them.” There used to be a Yesterday and Today in Miami Beach focused on more techno, electronic, and dance music as the DJ scene was first spiking. There was also a store on Red Road and Bird Road, which was more spacious, that allowed them to have live performances from bands such as the Ramones-
there’s a quality selection of European imports that have different tracklistings and cover art for records, which makes for unique additions to one’s vinyl catalog. “There’s been a Renaissance on vinyl, you know it’s more young people getting into it,” Chern said. Chern may be right as the only
Photo courtesy of Miami New Times Yesterday and Today Records has been in the vinyl record business for almost fourty years. visitors walking in were in the college student age range like my circle of friends and I are that frequent Yesterday and Today Records. While cassettes are rising in popularity in recent history--as they get more vintage, like records--records still persist as an optimal commodity in music for any age. “We’ve always believed in analog recordings,” Chern said. “We like records so we’ve never stopped dealing with them.”
Submission: Nazis wipe out Czech town as retribution for Nazi officer’s assassination SUBMITTED BY CASSIE MANZ Content Warning: This article contains information that may be troubling and upsetting to read. It discusses the brutal murder of men, women, and children by the Nazis during World War II. Mentions of concentration camps, deathly gas and execution.
Forty minutes northwest of Prague, there are the remains of a town that once was. There is a sliver of a stone wall, what once used to be part of a farmhouse. Otherwise, the green fields stretch before you, completely empty. If one stumbled upon the area and had no knowledge of the land’s story, it might simply seem like a quiet park. In June of 1942, Adolf Hitler’s forces brutally wiped out the town of Lidice, an act known as the Lidice Massacre. Hitler wanted this to serve as a warning to the Czech people, that resistance to the Nazi occupation would not be tolerated. The soldiers who carried out the orders even filmed it, as evidence of what they were capable of.
Why Lidice? In 1938, four years before the massacre, Germany, France, Italy and Britain signed the Munich Agreement, allowing Hitler to occupy the Sudetenland, the outer edges of Czechoslovakia where many Germans who had left the Third Reich lived. Many Czechoslovaks disliked the Munich Agreement because they believed it would eventually lead to Germany annexing all of Czechoslovakia. On March 14, 1939, Slovakia declared its independence from Czechoslovakia, quickly becoming a Nazi puppet state. On March 16, Hitler invaded Bohemia and Moravia, proclaiming it a Protectorate of Germany and marched successfully into Prague. After the successful occupation of Czechoslovakia, Hitler appointed security police chief SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich as Reichsprotektor in 1941 to quell the growing anti-Fascist resistance movement. Heydrich was a powerful figure of Nazi Germany and in 1942 a plot was hatched to assassinate him. The plan was called Operation
Anthropoid. Two Czech patriots, Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik, along with the Polish forces in Britain, carried it out. After the assassination, Hitler demanded mass executions of the Czech people. However, Heydrich’s subordinate SS Gruppenführer Karl Hermann Frank suggested that the Nazis look for the assassins first. The Germans invaded 5,000 towns and arrested more than 3,000 people, 1,344 of whom were sentenced to be executed. Fortunately, the threat never materialized for many of those sentenced. Then, a “suspicious” letter was intercepted that roused ideas of a connection between Heydrich’s assassination and the Horák family living in Lidice, who had a son serving in the Czechoslovak army in Britain. The suspicions were wrong. Investigations and a home-search produced no evidence that the family had been involved in the plot. Still, Hitler ordered the town to be wiped out, as avengement for Heydrich’s death. Specifically, he commanded
that all adult males were to be executed, all woman to be immediately transported to concentration camps, all children suitable for “Germanization” were to be placed with German families in the Third Reich and lastly the village was to be demolished and the area leveled. On June 10, 1942 the men of Lidice were rounded up and executed against the wall of the Horák farm. Mattresses were placed behind them on the wall so the bullets would not ricochet. One hundred seventy-three men were killed that day. The women and children were taken to the gymnasium of the village school. After three days, the Nazi forces separated the children and women. The children were loaded into buses. The ones selected for “Germanization” and babies under one year of age were sent to families in the Third Reich. The other children, 82 of them, were sent to the extermination camp at Chelmno where they were gassed to death in specially-adapted trucks. The continued on p. 11
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Lidice
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 soldiers had told the women that they would see the children again shortly. The mothers and children were distraught at being separated but the Nazis ripped them apart, threatening to shoot the children if the mothers did not let them go. The mothers eventually complied, believing that they would see them again, as the soldiers promised. For most of the children, they never did. Nearly 200 women were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, from which few returned. A few others had been executed along with the men on the first night. Once everyone was gone, the soldiers burned all the houses and bulldozed the ruins flat. They dug up the graves in the village cemetery and destroyed the church. They filled in the pond where villagers had once canoed on a warm Spring day, diverted the direction of the stream and uprooted all the fruit trees. After they were done, they put a fence around the territory warning any passerby not to enter. Out of the 503 village inhabitants, 340 people were murdered by the Nazis. The area where Lidice once stood has since been turned into a memorial, with a museum, rose
garden and several monuments and sculptures throughout. In the museum, there is a video of the survivors of Lidice, mostly children. They recount their memories of what happened on that fateful day in June. Many children who were sent to German families were not allowed to speak Czech and they were so young that they soon forgot how to. One woman remembered coming home after the war ended, finding her mother, and not being able to communicate with her because she only spoke German and her mother only spoke Czech. In one monument, 82 lifesize bronze children stand grouped together on the grass. On the plaque in front of the sculpture, it is written, “82 children of Lidice gassed by the Nazis in 1942. In memory of the millions of children who perished in the Second World War.” Around the sculptures visitors have left mementos: flowers, candles and small toys to honor the children. After the war, people rebuilt. The new town of Lidice was built 300 meters from the original site. Several towns across the world also took on the name Lidice to honor the memory of the village, includ-
ing towns in Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil. It is always surprising--even after great tragedy, life somehow manages to go on. I visited this town on a class field trip. It is very hard to visit these places and to write about death like this, the death of innocent people, the death of children. It is hard to read about it also. However, I believe skipping over the story of this village would be an insult to these people’s memory. This history is not easy--not much of history is--but it is important to remember these people and it is important to continue to educate on how massacres like this ever became possible, so that we do not forget. It is important to tell the stories of how and why these people died. In an age where neo-Nazis are alive and well, it is imperative to look to the past for guidance, to remind ourselves of from what we have come and why we must never go back. Information for this story was gathered from www.lidice-memorial.cz, www.holocaustresearchproject.org, and www.history.com.
Art funding
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 operating funds from the base E&G fund for 2016-2017 was as follows: Humanities: $196,086 Natural Sciences: $142,317 Social Sciences: $100,831 “This money is allocated to the Division of Humanities. It is up to the Division Chair to assess needs and allocate dollars as needed to support the division in total,” Bendickson wrote. “The College's finance office does not get involved at this level. Our role is to ensure that all invoices that are submitted to payment are for allowable items within the state's guidelines.” Division Chair of Humanities Miriam Wallace estimated that she manages $89,000 each year for the humanities department. Information about the discrepancy between the $196,000 figure from the financial office and the estimate provided by Wallace is unclear. Rather than supplying a fixed amount of money towards each individual discipline within the division– which is what the social sciences division does–the humanities division attempts to fund regularized annual needs in order to allow some flexibility for when new opportunities arise. “The reason we don’t say ‘take continued on p. 11
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Songs you should heAR After Glow Edition BY JORDI GONZALEZ Afterglow: when used in the context of recreational drug use, refers to positive physical and mental effects that linger after the main effects of a drug have subsided, or after the peak experience has subsided. This state is often characterized by feelings of detachment or increased psychological clarity. “Floating” by Jape “We took our first pill when the music was shit” is how the song immediately starts as the singer rekindles memories of the sensations of floating in a rather hypnotic and encapsulating, oddly strange, way. Kind of puts you in a world of endless flow. “Garden” by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Mellow electronic vibe with soft melodic vocals of a duet somehow communicating throughout the song. The bass is incredibly thick and adds so much to it overall. Caution: this song can bring about intense nostalgia for a past romantic love. “Multi-Love” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra It’s rare for me to find a song that sounds like nothing else, but this is an example of music that sounds so unique it’s indistinguishable and “Any Colour You Like” by Pink Floyd An instrumental from one of the most classic albums of all time “Dark Side of the Moon” that’s powerfully charged with guitars, synths, and mind bending arrangements. “Coming Down” by Dum Dum Girls The song, being over six minutes, seems to drag on forever, just as side effects of an experience feels. The singer is definitely expressing intense emotions and the distorted guitars seem to crash down as hard of the singer.
Got an idea for what the theme of our next Song Blurbs should be? Got a song that you'd love to see reviewed or discussed in next week's song blurbs? Send us an email at ncfcatalyst@ gmail.com!
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Gripshift
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 corporate structures, how it really disadvantages certain participants and advantages others,” Patterson said. “I would say that any aspiring entrepreneur, don’t think you’re doing yourself any favors by being a purist and letting other people handle the money. Because for anyone with any technical acumen, understanding what the MBAs do is like a snap of the finger, so trivial you’ll be yawning, but you have to do it.” Patterson is still designing novel bicycle components. His most recent, the Patterson Transmission, is a crankset that replaces a front derailleur and instead uses an internal planetary gear system to shift. He’s currently refining a different planetary gear shifting system that will be manufactured solely in the United States.
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 North Korea and the Middle East. “The committee is going to be very active,” Corker said on Oct. 25, “and I think it will be very informative to the American people and to the rest of the Senate about what powers the president has—should, shouldn’t have, whatever. It’s going to be a very robust period of time.”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 the money and divvy it up among all the disciplines’ is that the needs are actually different. The thing that I want to be careful about is I don’t want somebody in a field to feel like ‘well we’re the poor discipline, we never get anything, nobody cares about us,’” Wallace said. “It’s always a moving target, so there are the things you know come up every year that we can get regularized.” Faculty members can ask for funding for certain events or materials. “Last year, Professor Anderson said ‘it would be good if we could have more easels’ so I said ‘okay, let’s buy this many this year and then let’s see next year if we can buy some more’ because if you buy everything in one year, then it all breaks at the same time. So we’re also trying to think about that,” Wallace said. “Art is a resource heavy area. It needs physical material resources, it needs people, it needs students to work as technicians and support services in sculpture studio after hours. Music, similarly, needs resources and has been under-resourced in many ways. So the trick is to get that balance right.”
Supplying the supplies Drawing, painting and sculpture classes have lab fees that are put in special accounts for the Division of Humanities to use for consumable supplies for those specific classes. The school also partners with Information gathered from theatlantic. com, nytimes.com, fivethirtyeight.com, Home Depot and Art & Frame of Sarasota to help provide materials at a washingtontimes.com, usnews.com cheaper cost than the retail price. and cnn.com The fees and partnerships are meant to help provide students with resources, but students often feel that the resources and amount provided are not sufficient.
“We’re pretty much expected to buy 90 percent of our supplies,” Miles said about drawing and painting classes. When Heuermann took Sculpture I in 2015, supplies were given to students by former Assistant Professor of Sculpture Rick Herzog. “I never bought anything for that class. But now I’ve noticed that all of the Sculpture I and Sculpture II students have to buy all of their own stuff,” Heuermann said. “They get some supplies, but it’s very, very limited.” “They get cardboard,” Miles added, “and a limited amount of plywood.” Painting students are expected to create their own canvases. The school does not provide the wood necessary to create the canvases, so students must purchase their own wood. “Yes, it’s cheaper than buying an actual canvas, but at least provide the wood or something,” Miles said. “We have to buy all of our own paints, we have to buy pretty much everything if we want to make something.” In addition, students claim that most materials are outdated. "It feels like we can’t harness the full potential of what we actually have because stuff just literally does not work, or we don’t have access to stuff,” art thesis student Olivia Forero said. Unsure of what else to do, art students have been going to the Council for Academic Affairs (CAA) to get money for their art supplies. The recently updated CAA process creates drawbacks for many students, especially those who need art supplies to be delivered before they present their pieces at a scheduled art show. The future of art at New College
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As the school embarks on its five-year Growth Plan--in which student enrollment will grow from approximately 800 to 1,200--students fear that the art department will struggle if changes are not made. According to Provost Feldman, the art department will gain the attention necessary to support the growth. “Sarasota’s such an artsy place, so we thought about ‘why would a student want to come to New College’ and one reason might be because of the arts,” Feldman said. “If we create students who are artists or know about the arts, they can contribute to what is a major industry in Sarasota, and so we’re serving the community in that way.” Students who have been through the program, however, are not as optimistic. “Last year we took Painting I and there were about six people. Now the class is totally full and there’s not enough of anything; it’s at max capacity and they’re not prepared for that,” Heuermann said. “It’s also difficult because even as the school grows and even as art classes grow, there’s only a limited amount of thesis space [...] so they have to limit the amount of declared art AOCs.” There are currently eight studio spaces reserved for thesis students in the Caples Fine Arts Complex. “I don’t understand how they’re going to grow the student body by 400 students; once you get more people coming in here, it’s going to be unsustainable,” Sculpture TA and third-year student Abigail DeGregorio said. “If more people come in [...] you literally will not be able to do art. It’s going to be subjective as to who gets in, which is messed up. You should be able to do art if you want to do art.”
Million Hoodies CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“And so we need a new, bigger, broader narrative around how we actually build safer communities and so forth. And so there have to be some cultural shifts to talk about keeping people of color and all oppressed people safe in a way that’s empowering.” Million Hoodies focused this week in part to raising conversation and promoting the sharing of stories about the experiences of individuals and communities. “Million Hoodies this week is engaged in a week of action across the country to use this idea of how to be in conversation with the people in our communities, and the people that we work with and the people that we care about and all of the different types of people in between to
really start to think about what does it look like when you have safe communities: when we are moving resources away from harmful institutions and putting them into things that actually keep us safe [...] [Freedom cities seek to provide] vital basic needs for our communities, stop funding associations that harm us, stop the criminalization of all oppressed people, political power and community control, economic justice and community self-defense,” Barry said. The week’s programming started off with a screening of “Cop Watchers,” a documentary about a group of New York activists dedicated to filming arrests and other police interactions with citizens. The footage provided by the cop watch-
ers helps dissuade police from being violent, and it also can serve to help in the legal battles that often follow unjust and unwarranted arrests. This kind of community engagement is a central part of freedom cities and the activism of Million Hoodies, which seeks to create networks of activism that are ready to respond to threats or violence against communities. While reimagining safer communities is central to Million Hoodies’ mission, Million Hoodies also provides community to its members, as a group that brings together young activists and provides support. “I work with Million Hoodies because it provides me with a sense of community. We all care about social justice and Million Hoodies gives us the opportunity to stand up for what
we believe in. Initiatives like this week of action highlights the concerns that we have as people of color and shows that we have no tolerance for the institutions that try to divide us. It gives a sense of power knowing that there are people who are willing to stand beside you when you’re trying to get a message across,” Austin said. For Dajé Austrie (‘15), Executive Co-chair and cofounder of the West Florida Chapter of Million Hoodies, the Million Hoodies holds similar value, as “a medium for both peer-driven community service and as a space for young black and brown people to find support from one another.”
CATALYST
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1 2017 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst
Boycott Wendy’s!
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Local protest highlights abuse of farmworker women
the right to report abuses without fear of retaliation among other proThe newly-formed Sarasota tections; second, the Fair Food PreFair Food group and the Coalition of mium, a small premium that particiImmokalee Workers (CIW) organpating growers commit to pay that ized a protest at a local Wendy’s distributes as a bonus on workers’ restaurant on Sunday to highlight paychecks; and third, mechanisms the pervasive sexual abuse against for enforcement of these standards. farmworker women in Wendy’s sup“Before the Fair Food Program, ply chain. Activists of all ages, faiths the voice of farmworkers didn’t exand backgrounds marched in front ist,” Perez said. “None of their rights of the restaurant to demand that existed. After the program began the fast food chain secure human in 2010, we established the rights rights for farmworkers by joining to have water, shade and rest in the the Fair Food Program. fields. Now there are numbers that The Oct. 29 demonstration cul- workers can call to report abuses. minated Sarasota Fair Food's "Wen- We want Wendy to return to buying dy's, You're Failing Farmworker their produce where these programs Women" week which ran from Oct. already exist.” 22-29. The week of action, called This week of action culminating for by the Student/ Farmworker in Sunday’s protest sought to highAlliance (SFA), is the first national light the ways farmworker women mobilization in this season's Harare especially vulnerable to abuses vest without Violence campaign in the fields. A 2010 study among launched by the CIW Women’s farmworker women found that 80 Group. percent had experienced sexual For years, Wendy’s has resisted harassment at work. Extreme povjoining the Fair Food Program erty, racial discrimination, language despite major competitors like Taco barriers and often complete dependBell, McDonalds, Burger King, Sub- ence on individual men for their way and Chipotle signing on. Howcontinued employment make them ever, Sunday’s protest was specifiparticularly vulnerable to sexual cally to highlight a recent decision harassment and violence. by Wendy’s to buy their produce The CIW’s Fair Food Program from Mexico instead of from farms is creating these new structures of that participate in the Fair Food accountability in the tomato indusProgram. try in Florida. The Code of Conduct “Wendy’s has stopped buyincludes a zero-tolerance policy for ing their produce from the United any instance of sexual harassment States where there are protections or assault. for farmworkers’ rights and have The CIW’s fight to bring Wenstarted buying from Mexico where dy’s to the negotiation table has the conditions are very bad,” Sylvia been years in the making, but has Perez, from the Coalition of Imbeen gaining momentum. Sunday’s mokalee Workers, said, translated local protest was the result of the from Spanish by the author. “In combined efforts of people from Florida where the Fair Food Proall walks of life who support farmgram is in place, farmworkers have worker’s struggle for human rights. the right to drink water, to have Protesters ranged from the ages shade, to take breaks and the right of five to 75 and spoke a variety of to report abuses. languages. Marching together were “In Mexico, farmworkers are farmworkers and their families, subject to modern-day slavery, students, professors and people of women are abused by their supervi- faith. sors and children work in the fields. New College of Florida in Wendy’s is supporting this problem particular has had a long-standing by buying from there. So, what we relationship with the CIW, organizwant is for Wendy’s to join the Fair ing several actions over the past few Food Program. That’s why we’re here years to connect students and proprotesting.” fessors to the efforts of farmworkers The Fair Food Program was in Immokalee, only a two-hour drive designed by the CIW as a “partnerfrom the college campus. ship among farmers, farmwork“New College’s role was obviers, and retail food companies that ously to involve our school but also ensures humane wages and working to educate and involve the rest of conditions for the workers [...] on the Sarasota community,” thesisparticipating farms” according to student Zoe Heuermann said, who fairfoodprogram.org. represented the New College stuIt consists of three parts--first, dent body at the protest. “The fight’s the Fair Food Code of Conduct not over. We’re young and the future which establishes worker’s basic is coming.” rights to water, shade, breaks and
BY ANYA CONTRERAS-GARCIA
All photos Anya Contreras-Garcia/Catalyst
“Before the Fair Food Program, the voice of farmworkers didn’t exist," aid Sylvia Perez from the CIW said. "None of their rights existed."
New College Student Alliance (NCSA) President Ximena Pedroza was one of several New College students present at the Wendy's protest.
New College Professor of Anthropology Erin Dean seen carrying a sign at the protest.