Issue 10, Spring 2015

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CATALYST

WALL PREVIEWS

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APRIL 29, 2015 VOLUME XXXVV, ISSUE X

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A student newspaper of New College of Florida

AIPAC presence starts debate

BY YADIRA LOPEZ The leadership development director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Jonathan Kessler, came to speak on campus on Thursday, April 23, drawing a handful of interested students as well as a crowd of about 20, who gathered in opposition to AIPAC’s message and felt uncomfortable with Kessler’s presence.

After more than an hour of tension and voices that ran equally high on both sides, Kessler and a few students moved their meeting elsewhere. A majority of the students, including some who did not come in with the dissenting group, stayed behind after Kessler’s departure to hold an impromptu discussion.

Notice of Kessler’s talk was sent out to students just one hour prior to the event, scheduled for 7 p.m. Many felt that the short-notice, coupled with the wording of the email, were objectionable. “Are you pro-Israel and unsure about how to make a stand for Israel on your college campus? Are you lacking confidence in how to be openly pro-Israel amongst your far-left colleagues? Are you yourself beginning to QUESTION Israel BECAUSE of the propaganda you see and hear around your college campus? Come and discuss this STRUGGLE TO SECURE ISRAEL ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES …” the email

Yadira Lopez/Catalyst

Posters reading “Caution: Hate Speech Zone Ahead,” among other messages, were carried by students to express discontent with AIPAC speaker on campus.

read. Kessler was invited to campus by first-year Madison Bryan. Neither the event nor the protest were endorsed by any campus clubs.

Some students felt excluded by the wording of the email, which reiterated, “Again, only for students seriously interested in securing Israel on our campus.”

“We weren’t included in the conversation,” first-year Leen Alfatafta said. “The only people who were invited were pro-Israel.”

The incident has since raised questions about campus climate and tolerance of opposing views, with some fearing that voices from all sides are being inadvertently silenced. Still, many questioned the use of a public campus space to host such a contentious speaker. AIPAC, considered one of the most powerful pro-Israeli lobbying groups, is no stranger on college campuses. The organization hosts an

continued on p. 11

Ringling College to build $18 million library

BY KATELYN GRIMMETT Starting this June, construction for the new $18 million library at Ringling College of Art and Design will be under way, with an expected date of completion in Fall 2016. With $2 million set down from the Ringling reserves, a campaign to raise the remaining $16 million necessary to complete the construction began earlier this year.

Every donation was doubled by the Ringling College Library Association, a non-profit organization.

The campaign will end with the fiscal year in May but, with less than $500,000 of the costs left to raise, Ringling has already employed WillisSmith Construction Company, and outlines for the innovative building have been drawn.

“This will be the first building from our 50-year campus master plan which was created about four years ago by our president, Larry Thompson,” Stacey Corley, assistant vice president of strategic philanthropy in the Office for Advancement, said. “The new library is literally and figuratively the center of

photo courtesy of Ringling Office of Development

Projected structure of the new Ringling library from the view of Bayou Green.

the campus, it is a building for every student of every major.”

The facility will be open to the Sarasota community and New College students for art research or general interest. The current library is also available for use by non-Ringling students and community members.

Co-chairing the campaign are

trustees Isabel Norton and Carolyn Johnson, who have both worked with Ringling for at least a decade and have dreamed of creating a new library for years. The campaign has reached out to the Sarasota community as well as Ringling alumni, students and staff in order to raise the funds for construction, which includes money for interior

design, furnishing and technology.

Further expansion and renovation is unattainable for Ringling’s current library due to its location against Dr. Martin Luther King Way and the underground electrical system on its other side. With the school’s population having increased from an original 400 students to almost 1,300, the library is inadequate to hold all of the school’s necessary materials. In fact, 30 percent of the printed collection is already located off-site, requiring requests in order to access the material.

As with all art school libraries, the Ringling College library has an unusual collection of text and material including video games for game design students; more than 300 journals and magazines covering every topic taught under the fine arts; artist catalog raisonnés that collect all of an artist’s completed works of art; and the special collection holding more than 400 artist books.

“This library is different from other libraries – the special collection

continued on p. 11

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BRIEFS

PAGE 2

briefs by Sydney Kruljac

Loretta Lynch announced as new attorney general On Friday, April 17, President Obama called out the Senate for stalling his nomination of Loretta Lynch as attorney general. This was the longest wait for a nominee in three decades.

“Enough. Enough. Call Loretta Lynch for a vote, get her confirmed, let her do her job,” Obama said during a White House press conference. “This is embarrassing,” he added.

It had been 160 days since Obama initially nominated her on Nov. 8, 2014.

The delay in her confirmation was the longest since 1984, when Ronald Regan elected Edwin Meese as attorney general.

“There are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far,” Obama said. “This is an example of it.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was delaying Lynch’s nomination as a means to make Democrats drop the filibuster on the unrelated anti-human trafficking bill.

McConnell said he would not confirm Lynch until the disagreement was resolved.

On April 23, Lynch was confirmed as the nation’s first African-American top law enforcement officer with a 56 to 43 vote, replacing Eric Holder. The votes for Lynch were the lowest of any attorney general since 2007, when Michael Mukasey won confirmation with 53 votes after Democrats discovered his refusal to label waterboarding as torture, according to NBC. What decreased Republican

popping sound spawns from a bubble that forms between each joint, not when it erupts. This study also reinforces another study that challenged the thought that cracking knuckles causes arthritis.

“It’s mostly an urban myth perpetuated by mothers who are sick of hearing their kids crack their knuckles,” Dr. Kevin DeWeber, who studies sports medicine in Vancouver, Washington, said. In fact, DeWeber believes cracking the knuckles might even be good for the joints, serving as a type of massage.

For the finger crackers everywhere, rest assured that nothing harmful is happening to your joints.

Norway’s government recently announced that within the next two years they would get rid of FM radio, the first country in the world to do so. By January 2017, they are hoping to switch over to digital radio entirely.

Thorhild Widvery, minister of culture, claims the switch is due to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) system having more benefits than FM radio, the benefits being more channels and better quality, according to New York Daily News.

“Listeners will have access to more diverse and pluralistic radio content, and enjoy better sound quality and new functionality,” Widvery said. “Digitization will also greatly improve the emergency preparedness system, facilitate increased competition and offer new opportunities for innovation and development.”

Additionally, radio digitalization supposedly costs less. Broadcasting national radio channels through FM networks costs eight times more than broadcasting through a digital network.

“Whereas the FM system only had space for five national channels, DAB already offers 22 and there is capacity for almost 20 more,” Widvery added.

Norway has been talking about the switch for years. However, a move for 2017 was latched onto the availability of “affordable and technically satisfactory solutions” for those who listen to the radio in their cars, and the idea that the signal that carries the national services account for more than 90 percent of Norway’s population, according to NPR. DAB is much less vulnerable to a failure in transmission during extreme weather conditions, the Norwegian government pointed out, which enhances the appeal to digital radio.

Due to Norway’s plans to switch, many countries in Europe and Southeast Asia are also now considering switching to digital broadcasting.

Information taken from npr.org and plosone.org

Information taken from npr.org and newyorkdailynews.com

photo courtesy of Getty Images/Mandel Ngan

Loretta Lynch made history by becoming the first African-American attorney general.

support for Lynch were her views on immigration, and her refusal to denounce Obama’s laws implementing limited deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Lynch stated she believed Obama’s actions to be reasonable and lawful. Even still, Lynch won the support of 10 Republicans, which was more than initially expected.

Surprisingly, McConnell was among the few Republicans who voted yes.

From the White House, Obama praised her confirmation. “Loretta has spent her life fighting for the fair and equal justice that is the foundation of our democracy,” Obama said. “She will bring to bear her experience as a tough, independent and well-respected prosecutor on key bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform.”

It was expected that Republicans

would move Lynch’s nomination quickly this year, since most GOP party members are said to despise Holder, who is believed to be too politically aligned with Obama and even more liberal. However, the nomination became ensnared in disagreements about Obama’s immigration reform, and suddenly, all seemed to be delayed.

Since 2010, Lynch has been the top prosecutor for a large district including Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island, a position she held from 1991 to 2001. She will now take on a department dedicated to combating terrorism and cyber attacks, and focused on national debate over law enforcement’s treatment of black men.

Information for this article taken from npr.org, nbcnewyork.com, and cnn.com

The truth about finger cracking People who crack their fingers have been given flack for years from non-finger crackers who say it causes arthritis. Recently, however, that myth has been dispelled.

The age-old finger cracking mystery apparently comes from a bubble forming in the fluid within the joints when bones separate – NPR called it “a tiny air bag inflating.”

This discovery, found in a study conducted by Plos One, aligns with the original study conducted in 1947.

However, the 1947 study was then challenged in the 1970s.

According to Greg Kawchuck, a professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Alberta, the second group to conduct the finger-cracking experiment believed the noise was

caused by a gas bubble collapsing.

Although many people believed in the bubble popping theory, no one could confirm it. For this reason, Kawchuck and a team of scientists banded together to put the question to rest, with the help of a friend who was exceptionally adept at cracking his knuckles.

“We called our colleague the ‘Wayne Gretzky of finger cracking,’” Kawchuck joked. “He can make this happen in all 10 of his fingers.”

In order to solve the mystery, they asked the volunteer to place his hands inside of an MRI scanner and created a film of them as he pulled on each finger to make it crack.

“We’ve been calling it the pull my finger study,” Kawchuck said.

The scientists discovered that the

“We should tell all the professors to quit and work as managers at Tijuana Flats.” -overheard at a bacc exam © 2015, the Catalyst. All rights reserved.

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

Norway to end use of FM radio

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

Sara Mineo Pariesa Young Yadira Lopez Caitlyn Ralph Bianca Benedí Colt Dodd, Katelyn Grimmett, Giulia Heyward, Haley Jordan, Sydney Kruljac, Jasmine Respess, Ryan Paice; Kaylie Stokes

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.

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NEWS PAGE 3

Halt on Obama’s new immigration policy could be disastrous for millions

BY GIULIA HEYWARD While Obama’s new immigration policy has generated a vocal response from supporters, those who disagree with his course of action have also voiced their opposition. Among the dissenters are 26 states – including Florida – that filed a lawsuit in Texas this past February, effectively placing an injunction on the policy before it can take effect early next year, potentially changing the lives of five million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Obama’s new immigration policy would allow undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children protection from deportation. The policy would also protect parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for several years.

The program would only allow those without a criminal background, and the intention to either pursue further education or join the armed forces, to qualify.

Texas Governor Greg Abbot argued in December that the president had overstepped the powers of the federal government, and that each individual state should be granted the power to enforce immigration laws. The argument opposing the immigration policy also cites the amount of money that states will have to pay in order to finance the education, healthcare

and driver’s licenses of undocumented immigrants should they be granted protection from deportation.

Obama announced the new policy last year on Nov. 20, after the midterm elections. “We want a system that takes into account that there are good people out there but who are very much our neighbors and our friends,” Obama said in a video posted on the White House website. “Their kids play with our kids, and they love this country and they want to contribute to its success. If we are going to be a nation of laws, and a nation of immigrants, then we’re giving them that opportunity. I think that that’s a common sense solution that most Americans would believe in.”

This is good news for the numerous undocumented immigrants who are currently subject to difficult working conditions or other injustices, yet do not speak up for fear of deportation.

“In this country, having a citizenship is kind of like having your humanity,” third-year Wilmarie RiosJaime said. “In that context, anything is a win.”

Rios-Jaime was born in Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States and, as such, was granted U.S. citizenship at birth. Rios-Jaime stated that she did not have the typical experiences of those who come to the United States.

“It’s not something I’ve had to think about ever,” Rios-Jaime said. “It’s definitely something that separates

photo courtesy of Associated Press

Citizens protest Abbot’s attempts to block the bill.

[me] from the current experience of a Latino people. You’re born with a citizenship and so many people risk their lives trying to gain that citizenship. It’s definitely a privilege.”

The Obama administration has responded to the injunction with a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Federal attorneys hope to overturn this blocking of the policy in a debate that is now centered on state versus federal rights. The appeal has yet to reach a verdict.

“Immigrants sustain the economy,” Rios-Jaime said.

“Immigrants are the people who are pushing the economy forward. Not giving immigrants citizenship rights makes it easy for unfair wages, horrible working conditions, and modern-day slavery. I feel as if we have more to gain from this.”

Information taken from whitehouse.gov, texastribune.org, and the huffingtonpost. com.

Shell adds to quirkiness with antique store

BY JASMINE RESPESS The Shell station is a common spot for New College students to do the usual activities such as, grabbing snacks, buying beverages, or filling up. The Shell is a mainstay of the New College experience. For the past two years, Kim and JR have been setting up shop in the Shell parking lot. The partners offer jewelry, baskets, boots, hats, brooches, and patches galore. There is even some full sized furniture availble.

Although some items are individually priced, barging can be done, especially with bulk purchases. Even though the antiques and other items are a sight to be seen, the real show happens when you order a fruit bowl.

Under a sign labeled “Fruit Ninja,” JR, cuts up the freshest pieces of fruit right in front of the customer. Some of the fruits included were mango, melon, watermelon, and grapes. All juicy and delicious. But the kicker is not just the ripe fruit, but option to add spices to the mix. JR has two options one spicer powder and another sweeter spice sauce.

The beauty of the Shell station is that its location allows for these kinds of quirky businesses to exist. And for the struggling college student, the Shell’s most recent addition allows one to buy a little glamour or just gaze at the funny things on the way to class.

Jasmine Respess/Catalyst

Various wares are offered by vendors at the Antique Shop when it sets up in front of Shell.

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NEWS PAGE 4

Online voter registration bill advances through House vote, bounces back to Senate

BY PARIESA YOUNG Legislation that would lead to the creation of an online voter registration system by October 2017 overwhelmingly passed the Florida House 109-9, with a slight provision that will require it to jump back to the Senate for another vote before reaching the governor’s desk.

Last week, the bill advanced to the Senate and passed 34-3 after passing the Senate Appropriations Committee with a 10-4 vote.

The measure, SB 228, calls for the creation of an online application in just over two years. Similar applications are already in use by 21 states, most recently New Mexico at the beginning of April.

Three other states are currently in the process of creating and implementing online voter registration systems.

Some states have reported creating the program in as little as four months. The Senate and House agreed to allocate $1.8 million to prepare the Division of Elections to create this program.

Current voter registration forms

must be mailed or delivered to county elections offices or the Department of Motor Vehicles. A website would not only be more accessible and convenient, but cheaper. Proponents of the bill agree that it will cut costs and reduce voter fraud by eliminating human error.

"In examining online voter registration, we have found there to be only positive gains from the concept: lower costs, more security and greater accuracy," Jerry Holland, supervisor of elections in Duval County and president of the state association of supervisors, told the Tampa Bay Times.

“I don’t think there’s a supervisor of elections that isn’t in agreement with the bill,” Sarasota Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent said to the Herald Tribune.

Secretary of State Ken Detzner (R), who serves as Gov. Rick Scott’s elections chief, has vocally opposed the bill. He is concerned about the project’s looming due date, and the lack of a concrete plan of action. In addition to the complications of collaborating with Florida’s 67 counties and their

Supervisors of Elections, Detzner fears the "high risk" of computer hacking and cyber-attacks, citing that there are "forces of evil" which hope to disrupt Florida elections, according to the Bradenton Herald.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, said that “There have been zero issues of fraud.”

Voter registration information will be submitted online and cross-checked with records from the Department of Motor Vehicles. In addition, each voter is given a “unique identifier” to further reduce fraud.

When the bill reached the house this week, Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, amended it to require a full risk assessment every two years, in order to ensure “data integrity.” The bill’s sponsor supports the addition.

"Some members in the House have some reservations about how we've run technology in this state and we just want to give them a little more assurance that we're getting it done properly," Clemens told the Tampa Bay Times. "I think we're good."

Caitlyn Talks Science Sleep as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease?

Democrats in the House, however, feared that this was an attempt to stop the bill in its tracks. With strong opposition from Scott’s key elections chief, the bill may not get the governor’s signature.

In the past, Scott has supported legislation which increases restrictions on voting, such as the voter purge of 2012 and a law that reduced early voting days. Voting access has widely been seen as a partisan issue, with Republicans supporting legislation curtailing voting. As liberal voters are more often of a lower economic class, they may have a harder time getting to the polls on Election Day. Democrats have strongly been in favor of increasing the number of early voting days and streamlining the registration process in order to better serve minorities and low income populations.

SB 228 has bipartisan support and will likely end up on the governor’s desk.

Information taken from heraldtribune. com.

B-Dorm Bounce Haus

BY CAITLYN RALPH

BY KAYLIE STOKES

There is a copious amount of experimental evidence linking the importance of sleep to memory formation and other cognitive processes. It is known that many with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) – a degenerative, and currently incurable, memory disease – do not sleep well.

New results from research with fruit flies has found that sleep plays a role in improving memory function, which could have high implications for the treatment of AD in humans.

While jumping from fruit flies to humans sounds like a big leap, fruit flies’ sleep patterns are actually extremely similar to that of humans.

The study gave the fruit flies a drug called THIP, causing them to sleep more. The originally forgetful fruit flies became stronger in their memory, represented by a short-term memory test in which they avoided an area coated with an unpleasant chemical.

The fruit flies’ memory extended for days, in that the males did not court other males that smelled like females after getting previously rejected by them.

“Quite honestly, this is a stunning result,” co-author Paul Shaw said in a Science News release about the research. “We take flies that are bad and we make them better. We don’t

On May 2, thesis student and resident advisor (RA) Colton Dodd will continue the tradition of appreciating B-Dorm with the daylong B-Dorm Baller Burrito Brooks Bash the Bourgeois Bounce Haus Bonanza.

The event, which was funded for $220 by the Student Allocations Committee (SAC), will include a bounce house, ball pit, food, music and a Ronald Reagan piñata. "I always get what I want," Dodd said.

Dodd hopes that the event will attract students who may not normally visit B-Dorm, and give them a better idea of what the only dorm on the academic side of campus is all about.

"I think B-Dorm is better than any LLC [Living Learning Community],” Dodd said. “B-Dorm has such a vibrant community. This place means a lot to me."

Dodd also hopes the event will challenge some of the B-Dorm stigma on campus. "People always say B-Dorm is so disgusting and that they would never live here, but what they don't realize is that a lot of people who live in B-Dorm can't afford to live anywhere else," Dodd said.

"I really just want people to come out and have a good time," Dodd concluded. "I'm really excited for the piñata."

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Research on sleep, memory, and fruit flies could pave the way to more effective Alzheimer’s treatments.

just prevent their deficits. We reverse them.”

To ensure that the results were caused not by the drug, but instead by the sleep, the researchers tried out two different ways to make them sleep without a drug. With these alternate methods, the fruit flies still showed the improvements. Therefore, it was not the THIP causing the memory enhancements – it was the sleep.

They also researched into the fly equivalent of the gene that usually has mutations in people with AD and found improvements in long-term memory as well.

The report was published on April 23 in an online publication, “Current

Biology.” “It’s a stretch to suggest that sleeping would cure memory problems in Alzheimer’s disease patients,” Mark Wu, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University, said in the same Science News article. “But there’s a potentially important relationship between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease.” Basically, effective treatment for AD is few and far between, but it is possible to treat issues with sleep. This research, along with growing body in the connection between AD and sleep, can create inroads for treatment of the currently irreversible disease.

Read the full article at www. sciencenews.org.

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NEWS PAGE 5

U.S. troops arrive in Ukraine to train fighters as the conflict escalates

BY RYAN PAICE

The death toll has reached 6,116 since April 2014 in eastern Ukraine, as the country tries to combat Russian forces. Recently, the fighting has escalated, especially in the Debaltseve area and near the Donetsk airport.

Ukraine’s civilians have been horribly impacted, with those near the fighting being forced into living in their basements in an attempt to avoid the warfare. Three-hundred U.S. troops have arrived in the war-torn country for training exercises with Ukrainian national guard units.

Ukraine has struggled with a deep political split ever since the country regained its independence from Russia.

Since the breakdown of the Soviet Union, western Ukraine has been growing closer with countries in the EU – especially Poland – who support Ukrainian independence, while eastern Ukraine has been under the heavy influence of Russia.

When Putin became president in 2000 he took a strong interest in this political split and actively interfered with elections and candidates, leading to the famous poisoning of Yushchenko in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections.

Through extensive media aid, corruption and vote-buying, Russia made sure that Yanukovych – a proRussian candidate – was elected president in the next presidential election. Yanukovych scuttled an association agreement Ukraine had been negotiating for years with the EU, and instead sought closer relations with Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States – otherwise known as CIS. His actions sparked the Maidan protests that led to his impeachment and flight from the country.

“Then Russia went after Crimea and started fomenting unrest in Ukraine’s Eastern areas of Luhansk and Donetsk,” Professor of Political Science Barbara Hicks said. “This strategy of Russia's to utilize ethnic enclaves to foment unrest in post-Soviet neighbors, by the way, is a long tried and true tactic, seen especially in Moldova and Georgia.”

Now, a year after the conflict began, U.S. involvement will finally begin.

“The training exercise was longplanned, but continuing with it is a deliberate move by the US and the West to show resolve in defending NATO allies,” said Hicks. “Especially Poland and the Baltic States, and Western support for Ukraine.”

Photo courtesy of U.S. Army flickr

U.S. army troops in Ukraine in 2011.

“Cancelling it, though, would have been seen as acquiescing to Russian threats and Russia's intent to control Ukraine's foreign relations,” Hicks continued. “The troops are in the very Western section of Ukraine, near the Polish border, despite Russia’s provocative claims to the contrary.”

While the Ukrainian forces were

Sexual Assault Awareness Month recognized at New College

BY SYDNEY KRULJAC Another successful Sexual Assault Awareness Month at New College Each year, New College actively participates in Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) with multiple activities for students to take part of throughout the month of April. With events such as lectures on supporting sexual assault survivors, building communication for a healthier sex life, educating students on sexual violence in the queer community, and Take Back the Night, students can learn and become more aware of sexual violence.

Thesis student Cassandra Corrado has been involved with SAAM at New College since 2012 and is currently the director for the Sexual Health and Relationship Education (SHARE) Center.

“During the summer after my first year, I interned with the Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health (The CSPH),” Corrado said. “While I was there, I started to read about reclaiming sexuality after sexual assault, and that spurred my interest in issues of sexual violence. During my second year, I undertook an ISP focused on research sexual violence prevention education curricula on college campuses, and used my research to plan SAAM 2013. From

there, my interest continued to grow, and I interned as a victim advocate at SPARCC. Following graduation, I will be working with the national Take Back the Night organization to rebrand their national advocacy to be more inclusive and contemporarily relevant.”

In the 1970s, women in England began holding protests against violence they experienced as they walked the streets at night. These protests came to be known as Take Back the Night marches. Word soon spread to other countries, inspiring them to do the same and the protests grew.

In 1978, New York City and San Francisco held the first United States Take Back the Night marches and, over time, sexual assault awareness expanded to include problems with sexual violence against men, and their roles in helping end sexual assault.

As sexual assault awareness evolved, October became another important month to recognize violence against women, with domestic violence becoming the central focus.

At first, activists only wanted a week for sexual assault awareness.

In the 1980s, the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault polled state sexual assault alliances to designate a week for Sexual Assault Awareness Week, and finally a week was selected in April. Some advocates held sexual

violence events throughout the month of April and by the late 1990s, it was usual for sexual assault awareness activities to be seen throughout the month of April, subsequently calling for a national month.

The United States first nationally observed SAAM on April 1, 2001. Since then, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) advocates for national unity for SAAM events.

“I hope that SAAM continues to grow here at New College, particularly in its inclusivity,” Corrado said. “We try to have events focused on populations that are often marginalized, but we haven't been able to have events about men as survivors or about child abuse, because no one on our committee has ever had the expertise to lead those workshops, and if we have had someone who could, they aren't comfortable doing that. I hope that in the following years we have people who are able to do those events, because they're very important. Nationally, I would love to see SAAM get more attention outside of activist communities. Even within activist communities, sexual violence is often silenced, and we can't hope for a society free of sexual violence without people speaking up in support of survivors.”

Information taken from nsvrc.org.

making progress against the rebels, their progress was reversed when Russia began to send in covert troops and advanced arms. To help combat the enlivened rebels, the newly arrived U.S. paratroopers will spend several months training the Ukrainian national guard – many of whom are inexperienced volunteers who want to support the independence of their country. While Ukraine’s forces might not get the backing that the rebels have with Russia, sufficient training for the largely inexperienced Ukrainian forces might provide the boost they desperately need in their fight to maintain their country’s independence.

While the fighting has largely died down since a cease-fire deal was signed in Minsk, Belarus, this past February, both sides refuse to come to a full standstill.

“While the conflict seemed to be settling down after the renewed ceasefire agreement brokered by the Europeans in Minsk, the last week has seen some escalation,” Hicks said.

“Particularly concerning are credible reports of Russian troops and arms headed toward Mariupol.”

“This city is a key point on an eventual land bridge to Crimea,” Hicks said. “Which Russia occupied and annexed against all international law and a specific post-Soviet treaty with Ukraine that guaranteed Ukraine's territorial integrity in return for Ukraine turning over nuclear missiles stationed there during the Cold War.” While Russia has been assisting the rebels for months with their own troops and armaments, the U.S. has now begun their own involvement.

The conflict does not seem to have an end in the near future, and Ukrainian civilians are the ones suffering because of it. While their military is fighting to maintain their country’s independence from Putin’s Russia, their civilians are left with nothing to do but find shelter and try to survive.

Information taken from cnn.com and usnews.com

Sarasota Jungle Gardens Reptiles, mammals and birds, oh my!

BY HALEY JORDAN In Sarasota lies a 10-acre oasis of breathtaking landscape, home to myriad of rare and beautiful creatures that serve as an extraordinary, if only temporary, escape from civilization.

Sarasota Jungle Gardens has been a family-owned sanctuary since its establishment in 1939, and now exhibits more than 150 native and exotic animals, most of them donated or rescued. Among them, birds of prey, primates, and even Florida’s famous flamingo. The gardens intermix education with entertainment through daily bird and reptile shows, featuring not just an array of exotic animals but a staff of impressive degree-backed keepers as well.

“A couple of the birds have been here since we started the show in the

70s and have been in that show since then,” commented Samantha Roman, keeper from the Florida International Teaching Zoo. “A lot of our birds of prey were injured, and because they couldn't be released they came here, so a lot of them are rescue,” about 40 birds out of the jungle’s 50, Roman explained.

Sarasota Jungle Gardens is an untamed adventure not to be missed by any New College student or Sarasota resident.

The gardens, located at 3701 Bay Shore Road, are open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and require a $15.99 donation for one adult entry. They do not currently offer student discounts but coupons can be found online. For more information call 941-355-1112 or visit http://www. sarasotajunglegardens.com/. all photos Haley Jordan/Catalyst

(left page, counterclockwise from left) Sarasota Jungle Gardens is conveniently located near campus on Myrtle St. Goats are one of the many mammals at Jungle Gardens. Pink flamingos roam the grounds of Jungle Gardens. (right page, clockwise) A number of blue and red macaws call Jungle Gardens their home. The Gardens are known for their exotic birds. Jungle Gardens is a relaxing and engaging place to spend an afternoon.

CATALYST

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

FEATURES

PAGE 8

Sarasota Film Festival shows ‘The End of the Tour’

BY CAITLYN RALPH With only one showing at the Sarasota Film Festival last Wednesday, April 15, the highly anticipated “The End of the Tour” was sold out way in advance. Consequently, by 6 p.m.

– an hour until doors – the stand-by line began to accumulate outside the theater.

A relatively simple narrative with a beautiful, hearty and rich script, “The End of the Tour” is based off a Donald Margulies adaption of a David Lipksy work titled “Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself,” which chronicles the writer’s five-day road trip with David Foster Wallace at the end of Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” book tour.

After the movie, the audience was given a question and answer session with Director James Ponsoldt and actress Mickey Sumner, who played the character Becky. Ponsoldt detailed his time reading Wallace’s massively popular, thousand-page novel as a freshman in college. “It changed my life,” he said. “Subsequently, I tried to devour everything I could find from David Foster Wallace.”

“He’s the internal monologue when I’m engaging with culture or issues of ethics, morality, of how to be a better person, how to deal with pop culture, how to deal with literature, how to deal

with abstract ideas, how to deal with concrete ideas – all these things – how I feel about an album, how I feel about an athlete, whatever it is,” Ponsoldt continued. “He’s the voice that I hear in my head and that I sort of aspire to.”

Lipsky is played by Jesse Eisenberg and Wallace by Jason Segel. Both actors were the actual age of the characters they were portraying, 30 and 34 respectively. Eisenberg and Segel act in the roles so seamlessly, instigating such a tangible connection between the characters that one would think the duo has been working together for a long time. Much of the script, carried out in simple settings, is conversation between Wallace and Lipsky, highlighting not necessarily what the actors are doing, but instead what they are saying.

“They are both really, really smart guys and great writers, it’s worth noting,” Ponsoldt said of the two protagonists. “Jesse Eisenberg writes humor pieces for the ‘New Yorker,’ he has a play that he wrote that is about to be produced on Broadway.”

“Jason Segel has written a ton of movies. He’s the guy that revived the Muppet franchise as a writer, as an actor, and as a producer. He’s written other comedies – he’s about to write the new Lego Movie,” Ponsoldt added.

“It was a real gift to have that cast.”

An announcer opened the movie

photo courtesy of indiewire.com

Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel star in ‘The End of the Tour’.

discussion by saying that viewing the film is actually “a transformative experience.” While the film illustrates many themes and motifs, one of the most appealing is that of art journalism and the portrayal of artists in the media.

Eisenberg did a nice job displaying the apprehension his Ivy League-educated character had before interviewing Wallace. This apprehension is something many journalists grapple with on a

daily basis. The idea of recording a fellow human, engraving their words, returning to them later in a different context, and using them for a story that will be published to a massive audience, is an incredibly dubious task, one that Wallace was clearly uncomfortable with from the start.

continued on p. 11

This week’s Netflix pick: ‘Peaky Blinders’

BY SARA MINEO The Netflix original series Peaky Blinders is basically The Godfather except it is set in 1919, takes place in Birmingham, England, prefers razor blades over guns, never makes a mention of cannolis and has swapped the young Al Pacino for Cillian Murphy as its lead. Okay so it is nothing like The Godfather. But it does have roots in the crime family genre.

Murphy plays gang leader Thomas Shelby, a dangerously ambitious man who will do anything to own and control every aspect of his city. Season one follows Thomas’ rise to power and his aggregation of many enemies in the process. These enemies include Chief Inspector Chester Campbell (Sam Niell), the gypsy mob family the Lees, the Irish Republican Army and, of course, each other. Shelby matriarch Elizabeth “Polly” Gray played by Helen McCroy (Harry Potter series) is one of the few women represented in the show. She keeps the boys in line and it is revealed very early in the six episode series that she is the closest Thomas has to an intellectual equal.

Historically, youth uprisings in post-war Birmingham led to “battles to ‘own’ areas such as Small Heath and Cheapside. These [areas] saw hundreds of youths fighting — sometimes to the death — in mass brawls that lasted for hours,” according to BBC. “Peaky Blinders” was a name given to a rival of the original gang the “Sloggers.” As

in the show, the boys would wear stiff brimmed caps with razor blades sewn in. According to historian David Cross in the same BBC article “When the [boys] hit someone or headbutted someone on the nose while wearing one, it would cause their victim temporary blindness.”

Thomas Shelby is cunning, has great love for his family and is kind to those who deserve it. Unfortunately for him and viewers who crave originality, he is blinded by love in the guise of a sassy bar maid who is actually an undercover agent working for the Crown. Thomas’ weakness for an intelligent and attractive woman did not add any aspect of interest to his character. And the fact that he was so easily swindled by a character who is so obviously not who she says to be is hardly believable. Especially because he was raised by a tenacious woman such as Polly who teaches him that women can be just as skilled in deception as men.

For a season full of blood, wit and family drama, the finale was a letdown (I had predicted the ending three episodes sooner). I appreciate a show that has the mind bending twists that this show lacked.

Season one and two can both be found on Netflix and a third season is in the works.

Rating: 3.5/5 Information from this article was taken from www.bbc.com

photo courtesy of comingsoon.net

The Netflix series follows the Shelby family and their rise to be kings of the slums of England.

An original photo of the real Peaky Blinders.

CATALYST Sundays and Balconies

BY ANONYMOUS I look back and see What was important to me How can I miss something that was never there The sun kissed my cheeks You made me feel weak How can I miss something that stripped my soul bare I miss my home in that rainy place I want my home and the rain in my face I miss that coffee in our square That Spanish coffee and your messy hair Your flicked cigarettes I can never forget I won't miss something that was never there Sunday's and balconies You made me tremble in my knees I don't know if you'll ever care I miss my home in that rainy place I want my home and the rain in my face I miss that coffee in our square That Spanish coffee and your messy hair I want you to know that the pain is you There's no place to go because that pain is true And each night I hope you'll think of me too There's no way to show you What I would ever do I have time to forget These feelings that I meant How can I miss something that was never there Baby you're gone And I was so wrong How can I miss something that stripped my soul bare

this is the defense that i submit

BY ANONYMOUS i am a force to be reckoned with but lately it seems that i can’t get out of bed can’t keep my feet on the ground can’t lift my arms to care be gentle with me; i am a force to be reckoned with if i could only have some time to prove it.

POETRY

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

Haiku #1

BY JASMINE RESPESS Holds me, too tightly.

The pure white; the morning eyes, I do not deny.

You're waiting for me, To slip through the open door.

Not a new feeling.

When will I return?

The cactus flower does bloom.

In our bright, small room.

One day you are here, Then you're gone a long, long way.

Maybe you'll return.

Happy National Poetry Month For the month of April, the Catalyst featured poetry submissions by New College students.

Thank you for your poetry submissions!

Haiku #2

Dolls of the 50s

BY JASMINE RESPESS

BY ANONYMOUS

Texas ebony, Leaves used medicinally.

Fruit, potential juice.

Loquat or cumquat.

The carambola star fruit.

Lives the whole year round.

The Japanese yew.

Poisonous or delicious.

Gemini; two sides.

PAGE 9

We are born with all the necessary stimulants Tiny lipsticks, dolls with curly tendrils, a pink nightlight.

We grow up in these little kitchens, plastic imprisonments.

Then puberty pricks with a question: When will we wear white?

So we contort, conceal, conform ourselves to that image until A white blur, a tainted honeymoon, and a house for satisfaction.

And now it’s “Why aren’t my pants clean?” and rising dirty dishes.

The next phase in our prophecy: the nine month DNA replication.

Now I’m dry.

BY JASMINE RESPESS I have a lover who laughs about anal sex, While I say the anus as bud in full bloom.

But I am sure in a test of intelligence, he'd get the good grade, while I'd scare the room.

Who is smarter?

This is not the time for questions.

He's fully grown and I'm still in gestation.

Who is more clever?

Youth begets lies, So I'd say it's a tie.

Who is smarter?

He thinks the question is how, But I think it's why?

Haiku

BY ANONYMOUS death death death death death death death death death death death death inevitable

A scream and an epidural, and our dolls are born into dependence.

Then there are bed time stories and tutu’s to steal our minds’ time.

Yet, we remember Rosie and the gratification of independence.

We try to repent our maternal impositions but cannot draw the line.

So we run back to our kitchens and into the future our argument falls Now only the brave ones neglect our daughters their dolls.

To make the A [Bacc] perfect pot Up Poem of chai. to take up space

BY ANONYMOUS Bring together one cup of water and two cups of milk and let it simmer.

As it hisses and steams stir in one heaping tablespoon of loose-leaf chai.

Reduce the heat and let it steep, be liberal with sugar if you like it sweet.

Do not forget the most important bits: ginger and cardamom will make a difference. To make it frothy pour the tea into one cup and the quickly pour it into another. Repeat this once or twice, and enjoy the bubbles.

BY CATALYST EDITORS Bullshit Attempts to Cultivate Crap And Lie About Ur Research, Education And Talents Endlessly Emmediate eXodus of Alums to Manhattan

CATALYST

FEATURES

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

PAGE 10

Wall previews

BY GIULIA HEYWARD Friday, May 1: Dance-Off Wall Qi Zhao Dance-Off Wall is a competition where students can dance their hearts out for the winning title. The competition will consist of two rounds where judges will pick the winners, before culminating in a final dance battle where the audience will get to pick the winner.

“Dance-Off Wall is a New College tradition,” third-year and Wall host Qi Zhao said. “I would like to continue that tradition this year. It will be a good chance to see New College students showing talents, expressing themselves through dancing, and sharing with other people.”

The Wall will be held in the Nook with the help of thesis student Oliver Goldsmith. Wall-goers can expect great music, great dances and possibly pizza.

Saturday, May 2: Fetish Ball Katherine Mullin Fetish Ball, which will take place in Palm Court, stresses consent and an opportunity for students to explore their sexuality in a safe environment.

Another long-standing tradition, this will be the Wall’s 21st year running.

“We turn Palm Court into a dungeon,” thesis student and Wall host Katherine Mullin said. “People who are over 18, sober, and sign a consent form can come in and experience four kinds of sensation play at the hands of trained peers.”

Wall-goers can expect to participate in activities such as flogging, wax play and rope bondage.

The Feminist Guide to New College

BY BIANCA BENEDI It is no secret that New College has a history of social activism and radical movements. This activism includes a long history of feminists campaigning for change and understanding among New College students. In 1998, three New College students put together a guide for those feminists trying to navigate their way through New College, entitled “The Feminist’s Guide to New College: the complete campus resource for feminists and their friends”.

Annie O’Connell (‘95), Amy Murphy (‘95), and Vashti Braha (‘95) created this guide for feminists for the 1998-1999 school year. The contents range from suggestions for feminist tutorials, to men’s involvement in feminism, to information and resources for sexual assault victims.

“The ideas presented in this guide are the individual (and sometimes collective) thoughts of only a few people. By no means does this booklet claim to represent all feminists or all New College feminists,” the guide says on the first page. “This is a living document. We invite you to read, consider, add and create your own flavor to feminist movement. Define feminism for yourself, and become a part of the collective struggle for equality.”

The guide scrolls through topics with bold headlines and various feminist quotes peppered throughout the 60 pages. It also suggests various ways

Sara Mineo/Catalyst

The booklet contains thought-provoking discussions of feminist ideals and activism.

to get involved in feminist activism, including events such as Take Back the Night, Black History Month, The Clothesline Project, and various email discussion lists.

A section titled “Attention men!” written by alum Eric Piotrowski (‘93), offers suggestions for male feminists on how to make women on campus feel safer and supported in feminist movements.

The book refers to events on campus as well – Braha inserted a piece addressing a controversial rape postering campaign in Ham that many male students claimed attacked them for being male. Braha discusses the

controversy of addressing rape on college campuses, particularly a small one. “Why is the problem of rape so carefully protected among students at New College?” Braha finishes.

One issue notably absent from this book, which otherwise disusses intersectional issues regularly, is the existence of transgender students. This conspicuous absence shows that the booklet is definitely a product of its time.

These three students and the others who contributed to the making of the booklet attempted to guide feminists through the sometimes scary world of feminist activism.

EVENTS: APRIL 29-MAY 5 Off Campus

On Campus

Wednesday, April 29 • BACC Reading Days • SAAM: Denim Day • 6 p.m. “America Reframed: American Dreams Deferred” screening @ Sudakoff • 8:30 p.m. Kink Week: “Hansel & Gretel” screening @ HCL 8 Thursday, April 30

• 7 p.m. “The Forum Movie”

screening @ HCL 8 • 7 p.m. Kink Week: “Alice in Wonderland: an X-rated Musical Comedy” screening @ HCL 7 • 9:30 p.m. Arab Film Night sponsored by Middle East Interest Club @ HCL 8 Friday, May 1 • 9:30 p.m. Arab Film Night sponsored by Middle East Interest Club @ HCL 7 • 11 p.m. Dance-Off Wall Saturday, May 2 • 6 p.m. Arab Film Night sponsored

by Middle East Interest Club @ HCL 8

• 10 p.m. Fetish Ball Sunday, May 3 • 6 p.m. “We Serve You” @ Ham Center & Old Mail Room Monday, May 4

• 10 a.m. “Threads: Master Class

for Dancers” with Anjali Austin @ Fitness Center • 7 p.m. “Advocating for Health” presentation with social worker/ sex educator Kira Manser @ College Hall Music Room • 9 p.m. STOP Meeting @ GDC • 9 p.m. 100 watt horse and Floral Print set @ Four Winds Tuesday, May 5

• 10 a.m. “Threads: Master Class

for Dancers” with Anjali Austin @ Fitness Center • 7:30 p.m. Aced It Meeting @ GDC

Wednesday, April 29 • All day Davinci and Michelangelo exhibition @ Bradenton Auditorium $15.95 • 7 p.m. Team Trivia Night @ Growler’s Pub

Sarasota Fairgrounds Monday, May 4 • 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Gleaning @ Jessica’s Organic Farm

Thursday, April 30

• 9 p.m. Vinyl Night @ Growler’s Pub Friday, May 1

• All day Poetry Life Weekend @ Florida Studio Theatre

• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Food Truck Fridays @ the Asolo

Saturday, May 2 • All day Poetry Life Weekend @ Florida Studio Theatre • All day 2015 Sand Sculpting Contest @ Siesta Key • 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dowtown Farmer’s Market • 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Viva Sarasota International Latino Festival @ Downtown Sarasota Sunday, May 3 • 10 p.m. Exotic Bird Extravaganza @

Want your event to be featured on our calendar? Email ncfcatalyst@gmail.com by the Friday prior to your event.

CATALYST

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

JUMPS

PAGE 11

AIPAC

Ringling

End of the Tour

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

holds many artist books which are literally works of art from artists having reimagined what books should be so there’s a smell book, a glass book, a Lego book, many pop-ups and 3D books,” Ringling Research Librarian Jennifer Friedman said. “Students use these to get inspiration and see bindings, the paper used, how stories are put together without words – they learn to tell stories through different media.”

The special collection will have its own glass display room in the new library and will require a librarian’s assistance with the student wearing white gloves to keep the artist books in good condition.

Three stories high, the library will be built in an L-shape, complete with three terraces overlooking the Bayou Green, 12 group study rooms (as opposed to the current library’s sole group study room), two large classrooms, an Academic Resource Center and 20 work stations on both the first and second floors. The first floor, which plans to be open 24/7, will hold the periodicals, work progress room, spray booth room and a coffee shop.

The second floor will hold regular collections, the special collection room and group study rooms, while the third floor will have more traditional books relating to general academics.

The layout of the library is designed to create quieter environments away or up from the black, highly polished staircase located in the center of the building.

There will likely be a competition for students’ artwork to be displayed in the new library, particularly on the core of the structure which reaches up all three floors and will serve as the major art decor of the whole building.

In addition to the display of their artwork, the students at Ringling will have a considerable amount of input on the library’s design. Next semester, there will be a furniture fair – mostly modern to mid-century in style – with architects from the Boston Shepley Bulfinch firm allowing students to vote for their favorite.

Already, architects have surveyed the school, asking what is expected from the new library and have come to the conclusion that the students are looking for a warm and colorful place where they can feel at home and study.

Ponsoldt, also credited for 2013’s “The Spectacular Now,” gave advice to the Catalyst for aspiring art journalists.

“Consume everything. Don’t be a snob.

Be generous, but try to be honest.

And read and consume and read and consume,” Ponsoldt said. “I think some of the most you can learn about writing sometimes is by reading, a lot. Find critics and journalists who write about art that really inspires you.”

“I have so much deep respect for great journalists and great critics,” Ponsoldt said in the question and answer session.

Set in the 1990s, when everyone could smoke everywhere, the characters ponder the effect of technology in the coming years. Wallace, who possesses a clear television addiction, basically thinks that increasing virtualization of life will not only make it okay, but make it actually pleasurable for us, to be more and more alone.

It is hard to describe the vast array of ideas touched upon in all of the pair’s conversations. An interesting point was made concerning the connection between artists and audience. Similar in ways to musicians who write their own lyrics in a quasi-diary sort of way, Wallace and Lipsky question if, because “Infinite Jest” is so personal, reading the book equates to reading Wallace himself.

“I think I have a little bit of understanding into how that relationship can get really blurry,” Ponsoldt said of this artist and audience connection. “How you can meet someone who has created a lot of art that has really moved you and you think you know them, but how when you meet them in the flesh they can be a lot different in their own humanity.

It muddles things and complicates the relationship.”

“That’s a really complicated, weird thing that involves a lot of emotional transference and can sort of bring out your own insecurities and anxieties,” Ponsoldt added.

As the silent bond grows between Wallace and Lipsky, the two begin to, almost accidentally, dive deeper into each other’s psyche, so much so that at one point Lipsky asks, “Hey, who’s interviewing who?” Even though “The End of the Tour” possesses a fair share of deep and serious topics, the occasional blip of humor got the whole audience – obviously enthralled with the film – laughing.

“The End of the Tour” is scheduled for a late July limited release, eyeing an Oscar run in the future.

annual policy conference in Washington D.C. that doubles as a campus outreach effort by inviting student leaders from universities in all 50 states.

“Every future senator will pass through an American campus. Every future member of the House of Representatives will pass through an American campus. AIPAC’s job is to identify, engage and educate those individuals that are already selfdefining, self-actualizing as campus political leaders,” Kessler said in a clip of the 2010 conference, released by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We simply have to find a way of identifying those most likely to emerge as America’s future policy makers, specifically foreign policy makers.”

Kessler added, “How are we going to beat back the anti-Israel divestment resolution at Berkeley? We’re going to make sure that pro-Israel students take over the student government and reverse the vote…This is how AIPAC operates in our nation’s capital. This is how AIPAC must operate on our nation’s campuses.”

AIPAC’s presence on campus drew further scrutiny after an article written

by Bryan Ellis in the socialist newspaper Liberation News, stated that an event series titled “Finding a Path to Peace” was not given permission to host two events at New College this past January.

Ellis, who was on campus protesting Kessler’s talk on Thursday, alleged that President O’Shea had received threatening calls from members of Sarasota’s Zionist community in response to the Finding a Path to Peace event. President O’Shea rejected the article’s claims.

“There was a series, [Finding a Path to Peace], that was put out that said it had New College sponsorship, and it didn’t have New College sponsorship.

I was concerned about it and so were some others because what was being presented there was quite one-sided, and was being billed as two-sided. And of course if it were a student event – fine.

But it was being presented as sponsored

by New College,” O’Shea said, adding that the series’ organizers ultimately respected the school’s decision not to sponsor the series and moved the events elsewhere.

“It is true that the Jewish Federation was not happy about [the Finding a Path to Peace event] there – they felt it was one-sided. I quite agreed with them though, I thought it was one sided … It would be O.K. to put that on campus as a student event, and people could disagree on it, but not presented as a New College event, or as having the college’s [sponsorship], which I think is what they wanted,” O’Shea added.

Finding a Path to Peace was billed as a Palestine/Israel educational series and was co-sponsored by the Peace Education and Action Center, the Center for Religious Tolerance, the Women’s Interfaith Network, the Venice Interfaith Community Association, the Suncoast ANSWER Coalition, and WSLR Community Radio.

Events in the series included screenings of the acclaimed documentary by Israeli-American filmmaker Ronit Avni, “Encounter Point,” as well as a screening of the documentary “Where Should The Birds Fly” by Gaza filmmaker Fida Qishta, and a presentation by Tzvia Thier, an Israeli-American activist who identifies as a former Zionist.

“As a rule I often feel that New College can often be a tough place for students that are observant and quite religious,” O’Shea said, adding that he hopes students on campus do not become polarized by outside forces. “It’s concerned me. So I really hope that’s not going to happen here. No matter what one thinks of AIPAC, I certainly hope that the students that had invited that speaker are not feeling themselves unsafe or targeted. Which would be terrible. And I think there are outside groups here that are quite interested in creating divisions because it helps their cause if they can demonize somebody else. I hope we don’t fall into that.”

Information for this article was taken from www.newyorker.com, www.nytimes. com and www. aipac.org and www.jta.org

Information for this article was taken from www.imdb.com.

CATALYST

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THE BACK PAGE

Class holds honey tasting event on Earth Day

BY KATELYN GRIMMETT The Marine Science Outreach course, taught by Professor of Biology Sandra Gilchrist, celebrated Earth Day by holding a local honey tasting event in Hamilton “Ham” Center last Wednesday, April 22. The honey was supplied by Suncoast Beekeepers Association members Kevin Lausman, the master beekeeper at University of Florida, and Randy Lewis, a beekeeper in Sarasota. The raw wildflower honey ranged from dark to light depending on the season during which it was harvested.

Students in the Marine Science Outreach class gave back to the bees in turn with a simple but sustainable craft.

The class provided a paste of soaked, recycled Catalyst papers with which students could make “plantable paper” by mixing in a layer of wildflower seeds and letting the creations dry before placing them anywhere in the ground.

“The class is made up of a seminar and a lab with four students,” said thesis student Abigail Oakes, one of the class’s participants. “We focus on ways to educate the public on science, mostly marine or environmental, and attend outreach events in the community.”

Providing outreach events to the community is one of the requirements for the course. After brainstorming – keeping in mind the interests of the school’s population and the issue of bee populations dying off – the class put together the honeytasting event and pinned it on Earth Day. Bee populations around the world have been declining drastically for various reasons including the Varroa mite, loss of habitat, and a number of pesticides. Scientists recently found another potential reason for colony collapse disorder – a phenomenon in which worker bees abandon the hive, often leading to the failure of the colony. The study, which focused on the effects of a neonicotinoid class of insecticides, found that bees might be addicted to the nicotine-like elements in these “green” chemicals. Since the insecticide does not trigger honeybees’ neurons used to detect dangerous chemicals, the bees keep returning to the sprayed flowers and have begun to actually prefer these plants.

While researchers have concluded that these insecticides are no longer safe to use, they still remain on many flowers and crops. Despite this, little deeds such as planting pollinator seeds in “plantable paper” provides natural wildflowers for local bee populations and helps to mitigate the effects of colony collapse disorder. all photos Katelyn Grimmett/Catalyst

(right) The Marine Science Outreach class chose a particular wildflower mix appealing to honey bees for the “plantable paper” craft. (middle) The local raw honey was paired with animal crackers for a delicious treat. (bottom) Students gathered around the table to taste some local honey and make “plantable paper” crafts.

PAGE 12