PB Magazine November 2014

MAGAZINE October 2014

News Arts Profiles Sports

! ?

L R I G P

U S S A

W How

stree

th

ue al iss e r a is ment page 2 arass

omen

for

ork w New Y

PBM A G A Z I N E

yorkpbnews.com

YO! CAN I GET YO’ NUMBER? (Photo From Hollaback)

I

magine walking down the street passing a guy and he starts sending a series of derogatory terms and uncomfortable “compliments” your way, and you have the choice to either respond or ignore…annoying right? The issue of harassment is another one of the many dilemmas of the female experience.

Street harassment, or “catcalling”, is any action or comment between strangers in public places that is considered uncomfortable, threatening or disrespectful. It causes women to feel rather unsafe walking the streets of New York.

Catcalling creates a lot of discomfort among women, where or when they walk down the street. They feel as though they are being disrespected. You can say it’s another way to give men a platform to present their sexist ideas. Women usually deal with men responding to them in a variety of ways ranging from simple remarks to walking alongside them

2

to incite a reaction of some kind.

Some women who’ve experienced street harassment have different beliefs as to why men harass women on the streets, ranging from simply instigating to demanding attention.

McDonald’s crew trainer in Brooklyn Gabriella Shepherd experienced such a situation. The remark made her so angry she made a Facebook post alluding to the situation, something she rarely does.

“They’re just desperate for female attention,” said Shepherd. “I was walking with my mom and I had on my McDonalds uniform and one dude wants to shout ‘Can I get a double cheeseburger?’ I’ve had another guy come through the drive-thru say ‘Damn you got some sexy ass lips’ like ewww!”

A number of incidents have brought the topic front and center.

An advocacy group called Holloback! posted a video by Rob Bliss of actress Shoshana Roberts walking

through the streets of Manhattan, where she is harassed more than 100 times in 10 hours. The men made a series of different remarks, some of them sounding harmless like, “how you doin?” and, “have a good day.” But one of the most disturbing moments in the video was one of the street harassers walking next to her without saying a word for five minutes. The video sparked such controversy that Roberts started receiving rape threats online.

According to the National Street Harassment Report, 65% of women have experienced some form of street harassment, 23% have been sexually touched, 20% have been followed and 9% have been forced to do something sexual.

One less known story of street harassment gone wrong is the death of Mary Spears, a 27-year old Detroit women who was shot by a man trying to get her number after she refused him. It started off with

Spears meeting the man at a church where he asked for her number but she told him she was engaged. It then escalated where he continued to harass and then hit her, causing him to get into a fight with her fiancée and the man shot her and shot three other people in the vicinity.

“She said she had a man and you get mad and kill her? It just shows that he couldn’t handle rejection.” said Shepherd.

English major Christian Vega of Hunter College, although he has never participated in street harassment, has heard stories from his friends about their experiences with street harassment and takes a very strong stance against it.

“I believe that street harassment is a huge problem for all women.

Its toxic to blindly believe this isn’t a serious issue because catcalling is a form of asserting dominance and objectifying women.” said Vega.

Biology major of Iona College, Kadeem Hendricks, is another non-participant who is against it, seeing it as something childish and out of date.

“Street harassment in my opinion

can be dangerous, immature, and a waste of time. People of modern times should know better by now when to leave individual alone, and go on about their day.” said Hendricks.

According to Vega, one of his friends experienced street harassment like every other female individual but what she went through was much more intense. While she was walking home one night, a stranger started to follow her home and decided to grab her arm to prevent her from walking away from him. When she fought back, he called her a “cold-hearted cunt” and an “ugly bitch”. Hendricks also mentioned one of his female friend’s experienced repeated harassment, where they would make sexual remarks and would follow her.

Eventually, the situation got so bad they followed her into her dorm room.

Street harassment commonly occurs on the streets and in public places like stores, restaurants, malls, etc. But with the introduction of social media, some would agree

that that too is another form of harassment. Some women have received comments from random men through social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram.

“Social media harassment is the new catcall in today’s day and age due to Instagram.” said Communications Technology major Giovanni Anglin.

According to the Pew Research Center, 25% of young women between ages 18-24 have been sexually harassed online.

This is something that isn’t new to Shepherd who received a few uncomfortable comments on her Badoo account, a social media outlet similar to Facebook.

“This one guy sent me a message talking about ‘damn you sexy, can I lick your pussy?’” said Shepherd.

Both local and global organizations were created to stop street harassment in not only New York but around the world. Organizations such as Hollerback are making attempts at educating the public on street harassment and how people can speak up about and put a stop to it. New York City has in total 11 organizations that and Stop Street Harassment have come up with ideas to decrease or get rid of street harassment. In the same Stop Street Harassment report, 91% of respondents believe there are ways to decrease street harassment by increasing police presence, security cameras or school workshops.

By Dominique Williams

3

IX

PB M A G A Z I N E

I

yorkpbnews.com CUNY prepares to change the way they handle rapes on campus, but is it their image or the students at the University they’re more worried about?

n an effort to combat and prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment on their campuses, CUNY has put together a group of lawyers, administrators, and student affairs professionals to reevaluate and revise its current policy on sexual assault and harassment, according to the University.

On Sept. 12, a notice was sent out to students’ and faculty members’ email alerting them that changes were being made to the current policy in response to some events that have centered around how schools are handling sexual assault and sexual harassment complaints.

In May, the Department of Education (DOE) released the name of 55 schools that are under investigation for mishandling sexual assault and harassment cases which included Hunter College.

Hunter College’s Dean for Diversity and Compliance, John Rose, said in a statement that the school is under investigation after a student filed a complaint and then withdrew it six months later in Feb. 2013.

“As is OCR’s frequent practice, they used the occasion as an opportunity for a general review of how Hunter handles complaints related to alleged sexual misconduct,” said Rose.

The statement then said that Hunter has used this incident as an opportunity to improve and update the information and services available for students.

“I wasn’t even aware of (Hunter being on the DOE’s list) and I’m really shocked,

4

especially since Hunter has such a deep history of being a women’s college,” said Hunter College senior, Crisula Prassos, 21. “I thought it would be something they would take seriously, but for them to have mishandled any sexual assault issue is really shocking.”

Rose said Hunter College held a town hall meeting with students in efforts to help educate them on the matter.

As of last year, the main campus on Lexington Avenue has a total of three reported forcible sexual offenses. Two were reported to the Department of Public Safety while the other was reported to the New York Police Department, according to Hunter’s annual security report located on their website.

“I heard about it in the news about the sexual assaults going on in these schools, and I heard that CUNY was one of the top schools on the list,” said Priya Seejoor, 18, Accounting Major at Hunter. “I still think Hunter is a safe place and personally I feel really safe here. There are security guards everywhere, there’s always school officials, and I’ve never had a problem with anyone.”

“We are being proactive and taking measures,” said Gail Marshall, York College’s Title IX coordinator. According to Marshall, York has already taken steps to educating the students and staff. During the new student orientation, students are shown powerpoint presentations on what Title IX is, where to report incidents, and are given gender neutral educational brochures and pamphlets. York faculty are also trained on how to handle situations when students come to them with complaints, and there are even presentations for

concerned parents.

Ebonie Jackson, Director of “Raising awareness is key,” said the Women’s Center and just Marshall. “Awareness gets more one of the many people who people talking and it gets more have reviewed, commented people reporting.” and have given feedback on the The draft of the new policy, new policy. “That’s why they’re which has been reviewed and soliciting comments from the has received feedback from students and the faculty and students and faculty members, people who are actually on has several new additions. InCUNY campuses who know terim measures that the college how stuff works. I think that’s a must take once an investigation really good thing and it’s going begins are clearly listed. An to be these comments that will addendum was added to define make the policy work better.” various terms, such as “sexual Jackson is also doing her harassment”, “sexual violence”, part to make sure students are “stalking”, “consent”, and “retal- aware of what is going on with iation”. the new policy changes and The new policy also states their rights under Title IX. The which members of the college Women’s Center held a group community students can talk forum on Oct. 9 called “Girl to who will maintain their Talk,” in which a group of stuconfidentiality, and which are dents came together to discuss “responsible employees” of the Title IX and CUNY’s revision college and must report any to it’s sexual assault policy. incidents to the Title IX coor“So far I think the new polidinator. Under the new policy, cy seems effective in handling employees and visitors of the sexual harassment & sexual campus are protected and can violence violations, although file any complaints to the Title there can be adjustments,” said IX coordinator or the Office Ashley Gulliver, 18, a student of Public Safety, and there is who attended the “Girl Talk” a new section on bystander meeting. “I do believe there reporting, stating that anyone can be a little more tweaks can and should “take respontowards the policy being more sible and prudent action to pre- strict and effective in punitive vent or stop an action of sexual actions if violated such as reharassment or sexual violence taliation, because even though that she/he may witness.” it is prohibited it’s still an issue “I didn’t even know that because many still receive CUNY was revising their polibacklash from students and cy,” said Sujeyri Cruz, Biology maybe even CUNY employees.”

Major at Hunter. “If there’s a “I like that they are changing flaw in the policy to begin with their policy, but they’re doing it and they’re trying to correct it, for the wrong reasons, they just then yeah, that’s a good thing.” don’t want to end up on that “One of the concerns of the list,” said Aghogho Okrokoto, policy was that it was being 22, a Biology Major. written by people who had no The new policy will be experience being on a CUNY presented to and reviewed by campus, it was being written CUNY’s Board of Trustees at by people at CUNY central, their next meeting in Decemwho rarely stepped foot on ber. any CUNY campus,” said

By Yvette Brown & Janae Hunter

Ebola Frenzy Hits York College News reports concerning the recent Ebola epidemic both internationally and in the United States have caused concerns from the public, as government officials have increased efforts to prevent any further spread of the virus. Some Liberian natives say all the media attention has put them in an unwelcome spotlight, and West African students on campus claim to have been treated differently sicne the scare came to New York City.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considered the recent Ebola epidemic one of the worst outbreaks in history and on Sept. 30, Thomas Duncan became the first American reportedly diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. Duncan, who developed symptoms four days after

“I believe it is a lack of education that is increasing the rate of people that are contracting Ebola.

When you have proper education in place people are educated about ways to prevent it and ways to prevent the virus from being transmitted.”

Ola Jimoh 19, Undeclared

he returned stateside, contracted the virus while in West Africa, where the death toll has risen to more than 4,000 and the number of reported cases has been expected to soon reach 10,000, according to recent reports by the World Health Organization.

Before Duncan’s arrival in Dallas on Sept. 20, the arrival of two Ebola patients, Dr. Kent Brantly and his assistant Nancy Writebol caused harsh reactions from the public. CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden urged the public not to be alarmed after he said the agency had received “nasty emails” and at least 100 calls from people asking “How dare you let Ebola into the country?” according to a CBS News report.

As part of Increased efforts to prevent a possible outbreak in the U.S. government officials in New York have imposed stricter airport screening policies on flights from West Africa and limited the number of airports flights can enter, JFK Airport being one.

All the media attention surrounding the ebola outbreak has caused many West African students on campus to feel a bit alienated from the rest of the student population:

By Rodney Gantt

“Aside from it hurting people both physically and emotionally I feel Ebola aids

Osa Igbenokun, 22, Speech Communication

“It has affected the way I interact with my friends, I don’t give handshakes anymore and even if I do, I wash my hands immediately. I really think its going to get here if we don’t if we don’t take care of it, where it is now.”

Bernard Oppong 19, Physicians Assistant

5

PB M A G A Z I N E

yorkpbnews.com

A Hair-Raising Bone-Chilling Revival: Gaming’s Return to Horror The Rise of Horror

A

fter disappearing for more than half a decade, it seems as though the horror genre is finally making a long awaited return in the gaming industry.

In the mid to late 90’s, the popularity of the horror game surged as 1995’s Resident Evil, a small game big time developer Capcom, made waves across the video game industry.

Within no time, other developers attempted their take on the genre, creating some of that generations most memorable franchises including Silent Hill, Clock Tower, and Fatal Frame. Whether players found themselves being stalked

by Silent Hill’s nightmarish Pyramid Head or the bulletproof Nemesis from Resident Evil 2, they all had one thing in common. They each scared the heck out of everyone who played them. They utilized the most essential tools to craft a traditional horror experience. Most of which are similarly used in scary films. A creepy atmosphere, a virtually unstoppable enemy/enemies, limited resources for survival and unexpected plot twists and gameplay turns.

The Fall of an Industry trend

B

ut, as with many things, the genre eventually peaked and went away. In 2005, the fourth Resident Evil game both revolutionized the genre and perfected it all at once.

Developers struggled to evolve past Resident Evil 4, a game largely considered one of the greatest of all time. Even Capcom, struggled with RE sequels, with RE5 being mostly an action game and RE6 receiving mixed reactions from both critics and fans alike.

Although there was a slight renaissance in 2008, with Visceral’s Dead Space and Valve’s Left 4 Dead becoming big surprise hits, they didn’t have the same impact and lasting power as fans of the genre would have hoped. Despite having sequels, Dead Space fell off after the second game in the franchise. And after Left 4 Dead 2 in 2009, although adored by PC gamers and the mod community to this day, it doesn’t seem likely to be getting a

6

proper sequel anytime soon.

Bringing it back from the Dead

T

his year however, things have changed. Interest in the horror genre is at a new high. First starting with indie darlings like Outlast and Slender, continuing with new releases like Alien Isolation and The Evil Within and games like The Order and Silent Hills on the way next year. There’s a lot to keep players terrified well into 2016.

The Evil Within -Trying to evolve past RE4

W

hen Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil franchise said he’d be returning to his horror roots, players anxiously awaited whatever the project was going to be.

With his last horror game, Mikami changed the survivor game into survival action with tight, fluid controls. While it eventually led to the not so scary Resident Evil games of today, it was most notable for reinventing the wheel and perfecting the third person action genre. With his new development team at Tango Gameworks, Mr. Mikami has taken notice of the way horror games have become more action oriented and hopes to bring it back to their roots with The Evil Within.

The Evil Within follows a detective investigating the scene of a gruesome murder. Shortly after observing the crime scene he is knocked unconscious where he then wakes up tied up in an unknown location. The player then begins their experience in the third person survival horror. Running away from mysterious zombie like humans, horrifying chainsaws monsters and more.

Using weapons and traps play a big role in gameplay as they help the player save precious resources. Bullets and health don’t come easy forcing players to run and hide defenseless and terrified of what’s to come. The Evil Within takes the best elements of the tradition horror games of the late 90’s and combines it with the gameplay of third person action games of today.

Alien Isolation- A new take on a long gone genre

W

hile The Evil Within hopes to add something new to a very familiar formula, Alien Isolation completely departs from what gamers expect from a survival horror game. Based on the 1979 Ridley Scott film Alien, Isolation follows the Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley. After her mother’s disappearance, Amanda has been searching for leads as to what happened to her. When the company her mother worked for informs her that a distress signal from the ship her mother was on has been found, goes promptly volunteers to investigate the ship alongside a three man crew, hoping to find closure. What should have been a trip giving answers to all of her questions turns into a grim hellscape. Amanda finds herself aboard a derelict ship holding unimaginable horrors both human and not-so-human.

The main selling of the game of course is the Alien license. Everything from the art direction to the presentation reeks of the original film. All of the technology in the game is based on the future Ridley Scott envisioned in 1977. This means CRT monitors, command prompt like computer interfaces and tangible, boxy technology with moving parts.

The antagonist of the game of course is the single Alien present in the game. Players are constantly being stalked by an ever present killer. The player is outmatched in terms of speed and lethality so going head to head with it is not an option. While trying to escape the ship, Amanda is in the middle of a mutiny between the workers on the ship and their higher ups, rogue androids who are killing people at will when orders aren’t followed, all while knowing an ever ominous and deadly Alien is present.

When the Alien is encountered, it is not a scripted event.

The Alien is has it’s own artificial intelligence and will have it’s own behaviors meaning it will never act the same when encountered. Players will need to outsmart and outmaneuver the living, thinking Alien in order to progress.

Run out of breathe while the Alien is inspecting a locker you’re hiding in? It’ll rip the door off and drag you out. Too anxious to run for the exit and make noise? The Alien will hear you and run after you. Fail to keep your flashlight off in a vent? Well you get the idea. Players can also use the Playstation Camera or Kinect to track your head and listen in for noises they make. This means not keeping your cool while playing means enemies can hear that and

react accordingly.

Unlike Resident Evil and Silent Hill, players are almost completely defenseless against everybody. Weapons are melee based and improvised from engineering tools, tech used batteries and bullets are almost non existent.

Instead players rely on hiding, distracting enemies and moving smartly through the environment. Whether hiding in a locker or under a table or in the vents, players will need to think fast and improvise as the situation play out. It is an unforgiving game that will kill you on the drop of a dime in terrifying action. It more so mirrors the feel of an actual horror movie as you always feel hunted and unsafe.

The result is a truly heart pounding experience unlike anything else on consoles now. Mirroring the sort of dread and helplessness a character in a horror movie would feel is something unique that no triple-A release has attempted to do.

Between The Evil Within and Alien Isolation, the games industry seems to want to give horror one more go . With the start of a new generation almost one year ago, new tech seems to be the driving force behind the sudden interest in the long dead genre.

7

PB M A G A Z I N E

Q: You were awarded the 2014 USA Swimming Diversity & Inclusion Award on Sept. 19 in Jacksonville, Florida. Tell me what that was like being recognized for your contribution towards swimming and minority athletes?

In more than 50 years as a swimming coach in areas like Nassau County, Queens and Brooklyn, Coach Robert Trottman has tread water in uncharted territories as he helps build workoriented and bright student-athletes despite economic and cultural barriers.

A: It’s a great feeling. When I was a kid I was fortunate enough to be a part of a swimming team. During that time I had a black coach who had a team that was 90 percent white and I got lucky, given the opportunity to learn how to swim. There were six or seven minority kids on the team and that’s how things really took off from there.

Q: You were also featured in the May edition of Ebony Magazine last year, named as one of Ebony’s “Everyday Heroes.” How do you feel about that?

Photo by Marvin Duarte

CROSSING Lanes Q: You are not only seen as a person who just coaches a team, but one who also inspires and guides those to purse swimming with your positive impact. Why go above and beyond?

A: I was just different. I noticed that some of these kids really weren’t doing anything or doing everything except swimming. When I worked as a lifeguard I got the minority kids from the community and allowed them to come in on mornings and

8

taught them how to swim. Being a lifeguard back in the day was one of the things that got me involved in helping those who were less fortunate. What happened too, was when I was 16 years old I started a team at Flushing YMCA that was heavily involved in swimming. I was pretty much all over the place in a good way as a kid trying to get others like myself to get out and be proactive.

A: I felt good about that, I felt good about working with our kids. As a black man I know how hard it is for our people.

It was very difficult for our kids back in my earlier years.

I look back and told myself that it was important to get the youth involved in something productive. What bothered me then was knowing that many of our kids did not know how to swim. They would jump in any water and when you look as far as minority kids, these kids drowned. Mainly because they would see others doing something which led to them trying to do the same thing.

So I started working hard with

kids from then on out. It’s such an important thing for our kids to learn basics, and they don’t have to be the best of swimmers. For me it’s just for them to learn how to adapt.

Q: You also created the Martin Luther King Swim Invitational, why?

A: The MLK swim invitational celebrates the life of the late civil rights activist. Dr. King and many others like him paved the way for an event like this involving children of all backgrounds, ethnicity and abilities coming together to compete in a friendly arena.

It felt good creating the invitational, I’m just that type of person that loves our people.

So many times as black people we’ve been spurned for something lousy, but hey I did it for the right cause. I did it, I did it, I did it. I coached a number of swimmers to compete at the top level and some of those swimmers are now lawyers, doctors, and teachers.

Q: What are some ways you make sure your men and women start the season good after completing the 2013-14 season?

A: We’ve got some young people and what we have to do is educate these players for starters.

yorkpbnews.com A: What our staff does to prepare these players is have them go through a process.

We sit them down and tell them this is an opportunity to learn valuable things.

Sometimes it’s hard for them because of school and other outside things they’re doing.

Q: When things get rocky during the season, what are some things you do to get the team back on track?

A: I have to stay on them from the beginning, I’m like glue.

I let them know that it’s a process and that things would unfold the right way when we stay focused. We’re all here together and we can’t lose sight of that.

Q: What are your expectations for the swimming team this upcoming season?

A: It depends on what level you’re talking about. There are different types of competitive levels, of course you always want to do good out there against your opponents. I just want my players to be comfortable and have fun, that’s all.

By Graciano Clause

Q: How have you prepared your players physically and mentally?

9

PB M A G A Z I N E

We <3 Jeter

Y

ankee fans at York agree that Derek Jeter has lived up to his nickname as “The Captain” or “The Clutch.”

As the 40-year-old shortstop steps down after 19 years in the MLB, Derek Jeter has surely lived up to it.

He was Rookie of the Year in 1996, World Series MVP and a 14-time All-Star since 1998 when he was 24-years-old.

Jeter has helped his team win five World Series Championships and is without a doubt one of the most famous major league baseball players in history.

“I don’t think the Yankees will ever find a better shortstop,” said Jonathon Kampuries, 24, a sophomore Communications Technology major at York College.

The Kew Gardens native was raised a Mets fan and believes that Jeter is a very influential person based purely on his talent, and he is not alone. Jeter finished his impressive baseball career ranking sixth in big league history. Due to a lingering ankle injury he was limited to only 17 games in his final season. Jeter recently played his last game at the “House that

10

Babe Ruth built” which is Yankee Stadium.

Jeter was drafted straight out of high school to the Yankees after Tony Fernandez was put on the disabled list in 1995.

He made his big league debut on May 29, 1995 playing against the Seattle, Mariners.

In 2003 Jeter became the first player to be named the All-Star Game and World Series MVP in the same season. He was then named the team captain in 2003. He suffered his first ever major injury that season after a collision left him with a separated shoulder.

After returning from his injury, he won five gold glove awards from 20042010. Throughout his career, he has been praised by coaches, peers and fans saying that there will never be another Derek Jeter. Is it safe to say that in this day and age New York or maybe even the world will ever have another Derek Jeter?

“Alex Rodriguez is coming back and there will be a few who will take over “I think there will be somebody who’s going to take over,” said York sophomore Edward Poueriet.”

The 21-year old Business Administration and Finance major believes it’s not a matter of time, but a matter of which player will put in the effort to fill Jeter’s

cleats.

Jeter started setting legendary records when he passed Lou Gehrig in September 2009 after hitting 2,722 hits, the most in franchise history. Mets beat writer at MLB.com Anthony DiComo in 2009 said that “setting a mark that even the greatest players in club history could never achieve.”

All of this was before Jeter earned his fifth World Championship at the end of the season. Then in July 2011, he homered to become the 28th player on history to reach 3,000 career hits. Sadly in 2013, Jeter announced to the world he would retire after the 2014 season.

Though his numbers were down due to the approach of father time, he proved that he could still rise to the occasion. He hit a leadoff double in the All-Star Game and then knocked home the game-winning run in his final at-bat at Yankee Stadium in his final season. Jeter now has a new website called “The Players Tribune” where athletes share their stories on issues around the community. His contribution to the game of baseball will always be remembered.

By Lelosa Imasuen