December 2016

REPORTER DECEMBER 2016 reporter.rit.edu

Please Recycle

REPORTER EDITOR IN CHIEF Mandi Moon PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Bryanne McDonough ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Liz Peterson COPY EDITOR Ramya Shankar NEWS EDITOR Taylor Derrisaw TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Ryan Black LEISURE EDITOR Claire Fleming FEATURES EDITOR Rozie Yeghiazarian SPORTS EDITOR Kristin Grant VIEWS EDITOR Jake Krajewski WRITERS Kristen Grant, Samantha Wagner, Mandi Moon, Catie J. Raff, Claire Fleming, Taylor Derrisaw, Taylor Synclair Goethe, Ryan Black

ART ART DIRECTOR Dennae Makel ONLINE ART DIRECTOR Madeleigh Place DESIGNERS Alyssa Minko, Dasha Buduchina, Emma Flemming, Kendra Murphy, Paula Piedrahita, Kevin Zampieron, Rebecca Wolinski ILLUSTRATORS Lauren Mays, Angie Krieg, Alexis Jeffries, Madeleigh Place, Alyssa Minko, Unique Fair, Stephanie Chan, Monica Nguyen-Vo

EDITOR’S NOTE I recently finished reading “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” by Chris Hadfield, one of the most decorated astronauts in history and the first Canadian to walk in space. This book was a treasure trove of little wisdom nuggets, but the one that stuck with me the most was Hadfield’s point of view on what he calls “the big moments”: “If you start thinking that only your biggest and shiniest moments count, you’re setting yourself up to feel like a failure most of the time.”

This resonated with me, I think, because like everyone else my age, I grew up being told that I could do anything I wanted – which makes it hard to stomach the everyday setbacks. It makes it hard to wait for the opportunities to come my way. I feel as if every day that goes by in which I don’t do something extraordinary is a day wasted. It wasn’t until I read Hadfield’s book that I realized that was a good way to discount the majority of my life, and make myself miserable in the bargain.

Since finishing the book, I’ve started keeping track of the things I accomplish each day, no matter how small. I give myself points for cooking breakfast, for solving both big and small problems, for helping friends, for giving compliments to strangers. For some people, just getting out of bed every day is a momentous achievement. Why don’t we give ourselves more credit when credit is due?

I think that as long as you’re trying, as long as you set goals and you are doing all you can to make those a reality, as long as you enjoy the process of getting ready as much or more than you enjoy recognition – then you’ve got something really good going. The satisfaction with knowing you worked hard on something you cared about is honestly a reward in itself. We don’t need anyone else to tell us we did a good job. We can do that for ourselves.

PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EDITOR Rob Rauchwerger ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR Joseph Ressler PHOTOGRAPHERS Ramya Shankar, Rebekah Havens, Rob Rauchwerger, Samuel Kettel, Joseph Ressler

Mandi Moon Editor in Chief

BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Zachary Grzelka AD / PR MANAGER Alexis Montoya PRODUCTION MANAGER Mitchell Morgan ONLINE SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR Peter Willis WEB MANAGER Joe Jankowiak VIDEO EDITOR Francesco D’Amanda

Letters to the Editor should be sent to rpteic@rit.edu. No letters will be printed unless signed. All letters received become the property of REPORTER.

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Reporter Magazine is published monthly during the academic year by a staff comprised of students at Rochester Institute of Technology. Business, Editorial and Design facilities are located in Room A-730, in the lower level of the Campus Center. Our phone number is 1.585.475.2212. The Advertising Department can be reached at 1.585.475.2213. “I need a disclaimer that says I’m not responsible for any of my social interactions for the next several days” -R.Y. The opinions expressed in Reporter do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute. Reporter is not responsible for materials presented in advertising areas. Reporter takes pride in its membership in the Associated Collegiate Press and American Civil Liberties Union. Copyright © 2016 Reporter Magazine. All rights reserved. No portion of this Magazine may be reproduced without prior written permission.

December 3

TA B L E O F cover and TOC illustration by Monica Nguyen-Vo

NE WS 7

T E CH

RIT SPIRIT EVENTS Win cool prizes by being active in the community

8

HACKERS, CYBER ATTACKS AND MALWARE (OH MY!)

LEISURE 10

Protecting our information in the age of technology

12

14

@reportermag 4 December

THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF SPIRIT THE TIGER The full story of our very first mascot

FOOD TRUCK FRENZY The food truck scene has hit Rochester

AT YOUR LEISURE Treat yourself now through the end of the semester

CONTENTS FE AT URES 16

A DECADE OF DESTLER: BRINGING OUT THE BEST OF RIT President Destler and Dr. Johnson discuss a decade at RIT

20

22

THE BUSINESS OF SHARING Carlson Cowork brings the sharing economy to Rochester

THE HISTORY AND COMPLEXITIES OF GIFT GIVING

SPOR T S 24

ON THE ROSTER: DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING ATHLETES

VIEWS 26

HAPPY HANUCHRISTMAKWANSIDAYS/ MERRY CHRISTMASHANAQUANZIKA Holidays are becoming disconnected from their religious origins

RIT has some incredible deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes

28

30

WORD ON THE STREET What’s the best gift you have ever given?

RINGS Text or call (585) 672-4840

Giving gifts is a long-standing tradition with complex roots

reporter.rit.edu December 5

Strong Fertility Center

JOIN US AT GENERAL MEETINGS EVERY FRIDAY AT 5:00PM REPORTER

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If you are a healthy, non-smoking woman between 21 – 27, you can earn $5,000 while helping couples achieve their dream of having a baby by donating your eggs.

For more information, or to apply online, visit fertility.urmc.edu or call (585) 487-3378.

by Taylor Derrisaw illustration by Madeleigh Place design by Emma Fleming

GET YOUR

Y

SPIRIT

ou’d be hard-pressed as a member of the RIT community to run out of things to do. With various club, MSO and CAB events, there’s never a dull day on campus. A recent Student Government (SG) project called Project Spirit aims to help encourage students to go to particular events.

Project SpiRIT is the brainchild of SG’s director of programming and fourth year Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences student Farid Barquet. His ultimate goal was to support clubs and organizations in advertising their events and help students learn more about those events. On a semester basis, certain events are advertised as SpiRIT events, and offer benefits if students attend them.

Students who attend SpiRIT events accumulate points, which are then tallied at the end of the semester and the top four students win prizes. These aren’t your average, run-of-the mill prizes either; the first place winner has the choice between a flat-screen television, an Xbox One, a Surface Pro or two floor tickets to the upcoming Maroon 5 concert. The second, third and fourth place winners will then decide

ON!

on the prizes in descending order. While attending an event that’s part of the program, a student’s ID will be scanned and the appropriate number of points will be credited to them.

“We feel like if we’re giving out prizes to go to these events, people will be wanting to go to these events more ... We’re trying to figure out how to help clubs increase their attendance,” Barquet said.

Barquet reached out to multiple clubs, asking that if they would like any of their events advertised to contact SG. Although participation wasn’t high this year, Barquet believes more clubs will get involved in future semesters as some clubs were not aware the project was in place until well after its commencement.

“Not every club responded, and actually a lot of clubs have been reaching out now that the project is ongoing, but unfortunately we’re not able to add them to this semester,” Barquet said.

Most clubs have what is called a “Signature Event,” usually planned well in advance. Barquet and SG will incorporate most of these into Project SpiRIT. Project SpiRIT evolved through different ideas and collaboration within SG. Initially, Barquet had the idea to start SpiRIT weeks, during which everyone on campus could be involved. Gradually, this morphed into SpiRIT we have today that goes throughout the semester.

Ultimately, this allows students to be more flexible, as some weeks are busier than others.

One of Barquet’s original ideas, SpiRIT Fridays, is still included in the program. Each Friday has a theme, and if students come to the SG office dressed as that theme, they will gain points. By doing so, students can gain points here and there if they are not able to make certain events on campus.

The program doesn’t come without its shortcomings, however.

Ensuring that student information is kept private while also keeping track of attendance in an efficient manner is a major concern for Barquet. SG is currently straining to have members attend each event.

“We feel like [scanning IDs] is the best method, but unless you’re a student employee you’re not allowed to scan student IDs. This means Student Government employees have to be at the events,” Barquet said.

In the future, Barquet also hopes to make point tracking easier for those who inherit the project. Currently, Barquet examines attendance data through Excel. This process is time consuming, and Barquet hopes to replace it with its own software. This may even include leaderboards for students with the most points.

“We’re probably thinking on having actual point standings be displayed on the website ... These things are still in conversation,” Barquet said.

In order to prepare for next semester, Barquet and SG will be reaching out to clubs and organizations to help get their events on the board. This will give students more opportunities to earn points and prizes.

News 7

HACKERS, BOTNETS & MALWARE (OH MY!)

by Kevin Zampieron | illustration by Alexis Jeffries | design by Rebecca Wolinski

8 Technology

W

e live in an era of unprecedented closeness with technology. Our banking, communication and access to information has all been expedited thanks to the internet. This close relationship, however, comes with a dark side.

In the past year, cyberattacks have emerged from the shadows and into the spotlight. And yet, we know so little about the attackers or how they operate. Their targets range from enormous corporations to anyone unfortunate enough to click the wrong link. You could be under attack right now and not even know it.

The 2016 presidential election, for instance, was plagued with cyberattacks and information leaks. The malware used to hack the Democratic National Committee this past July was even developed by the Russian military. These faceless hackers

toward cybersecurity have yet to catch up.

Many users are vulnerable to attack and ignorant of the risks.

“This is kind of creeping in on us, and I don’t think we’re really addressing [it],” said Mislan.

A haphazard approach to security can have dire consequences for a company and its customers. In 2013, hackers installed a rudimentary malware onto Target’s payment system just days before Thanksgiving.

Although the company was notified by a malware detection program, it refrained from taking action. This led to the theft of 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million pieces of personal information.

“Every time you accept a new technology into your life, do everything you can to protect yourself,” said Mislan. He brought up internet protocol (IP) cameras — home security cameras that are internet enabled

“IF YOU HAVE A REASONABLY SECURE LAPTOP, IT MIGHT NOT BE SO EASY TO BREAK IN. BUT MAYBE I CAN GET INTO YOUR SMART REFRIGERATOR.” shaped the narrative of the 2016 presidential election as much as any speech or debate.

These recent large-scale attacks haven’t just been aimed at political institutions. A recent distributed denial of service (or DDoS) attack shut down some of the web’s largest sites, including Netflix, Amazon and Reddit for hours. According to Management Information Systems professor Richard Mislan, these widespread cyberattacks may just be the beginning of something bigger.

“There’s been speculation that our latest attack was just a dry run. Whoever did this, they’re just testing the boundaries to see what’s possible,” said Mislan. “I think there’s a bigger event to come.”

Cybersecurity is further complicated by the increasingly connected nature of technology, known as the internet of things.

“The internet of things is all the different devices that are becoming connected these days,” said Matthew Wright, director of the Center for Cybersecurity at RIT. While having an entirely wireless and connected home feels like a convenient extension of smart technology, the reality can be deeply problematic.

“If you have a reasonably secure laptop, it might not be so easy to break in. But maybe I can get into your smart refrigerator,” said Wright. “Unlike most computers, [they’re] harder to update those as often.”

Although we have become exponentially more connected with technology, attitudes

— as an example of vulnerability. IP cameras come with a default password, something that many owners forget to change.

“If you don’t change [the password], and most people don’t, it becomes a product of a website called Insecam,” said Mislan.

Insecam allows anyone to view unsecured IP cameras worldwide. The result is a deeply disturbing visualization of how important cybersecurity really is. By clicking a couple of links, I was able to watch a dog in New Jersey jump onto the living room couch while its

“YOU CAN INSTALL YOUR VIRUS SCANNER, BUT FOR EVERY WALL, THERE’S A LADDER,” WARNED MISLAN. “AND THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A TALLER LADDER.” owner was gone. The only ones who know what happened are me, the dog and anyone voyeuristic enough to be watching.

But even if you are forward-thinking enough to adopt necessary security measures, no one is ever completely secure.

“You can install your virus scanner, but for every wall, there’s a ladder,” warned Mislan.

“And there will always be a taller ladder.”

This is the difficulty of teaching cybersecurity in an academic setting: how can someone learn to defend against an intangible enemy that is constantly changing and evolving?

“The thing that we try to have the students really get out of it is ‘What are the fundamentals?’” said Wright. This includes learning about the methods and ethics of penetration testing, which is an intentional attack on a system to determine its security weak points so that malicious hackers can’t exploit them.

Despite such attackers’ prowess, people can still protect their online assets without a degree in cybersecurity. Multi-step authentication can do a great deal for security.

An example of this would be a thumbprint along with a password to unlock your phone, or an email notification alerting you to a new device accessing your account.

“The more ways you can try to secure, the better,” explained Mislan. However, the most important tool the average person has against these attacks may perhaps be decidedly low-tech: our gut. Although our basic human nature makes us ripe for online exploitation, it can also be greatest asset.

“Emails are the starting point for something like 80 or 90 percent of compromises,” noted Wright. Phishing, by which a person is tricked into entering their personal information into a fake website, is often executed through email.

“You’re not really paying attention, you enter in your name and password and before you know it, someone’s taking money out of your bank account,” said Wright. In this way, a single lapse of judgement or careless move could cost you immeasurably. So if you see something out of place, take a minute to verify that it’s your bank and not a sociopathic teenager in Belarus trying to steal your credit card.

“Be vigilant,” said Mislan. “It’s a judgement call. It’s an instinct. It all boils down to that.”

There’s no telling where technology and cybersecurity will go in the next decade.

Think of how important your smartphone — a piece of technology that has only achieved mainstream use in the past decade — has become to your life. But while the tech may change, the people who use it are a constant.

As long as there are people, there will be some who wish to exploit and attack the more vulnerable among us. All we can do is prepare accordingly and hope our password has enough characters in it to keep our lives from financial ruination.

Technology 9

THE LIFE & LEGACY

OF SPIRIT THE TIGER

by Taylor Synclair Goethe photography by Ramya Shankar design by Dasha Buduchina

Photographs and letters of Spirit the Tiger courtesy of the Wallace Center’s collection.

10 Leisure

H

ere’s a piece of RIT trivia: In the 1960s, RIT had a live Bengal tiger cub as a pet “mascot.” You read that right. RIT students in 1963 formed a Tiger Committee to purchase a male tiger cub, harboring him in the Seneca Park Zoo and showcasing him at school activities and sporting events.

However, the story of how a few motivated students could acquire a tiger cub is much more extraordinary, convoluted and tragic.

First off, the current Seneca Park Zoo director, Larry Sorel, stressed that modern zoo policy would never allow for an endangered species to be purchased as a pet for a campus.

“The laws governing all that were substantially different, were not as strict or concerned about the welfare or conservation of endangered species,” Sorel said.

Nowadays, animals are kept in simulated natural habitats and are not handled by humans. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits zoos like Seneca Park, is a nonprofit peer evaluation organization that focuses on providing animal welfare and conservation for zoos and aquariums. They provide guidelines for properly socializing and breeding animals solely to sustain population and not to meet the demand for consumer entertainment.

Offspring are left with their parents or with their mothers only, as is the case with tiger cubs. This is also why policies of harboring school mascots have been discontinued.

“A tiger that is unnecessarily hand-raised and socialized to be with people might never be able to act appropriately if it were to be reintroduced for breeding,” general curator for Seneca Park Zoo and RIT professor David Hamilton said. Since modern zoos and aquariums are concerned with sustainability, pet tigers are not part of their mission.

Despite this, nearly 50 years ago, Spirit was indeed RIT’s “pet” tiger, and suffered the consequences.

“In the ‘60s zoos really were captive places and the animals were in less-than-ideal circumstances,” Sorel said.

The following is the chronological assessment of Spirit’s purchase, life, death and legacy as described in correspondence between the Tiger Committee, Student Government, Seneca Park Zoo and other interested parties. All information is stored on the third floor of the Wallace Center and is up to your own interpretation.

OCTOBER 1963: THE AGREEMENT Spirit was acquired in 1963 through nothing more legally binding than a verbal

agreement. The gist is that RIT raised $1,000 through “tiger stocks” sold at one dollar to students and faculty for a live mascot. That money was paid to a company known as F. J. Zeehandelaar, Inc. After Zeehandelaar relinquished ownership of the tiger to RIT, he was “donated” to the Seneca Zoological Society under the stipulation that he would become RIT’s mascot. The tiger was then transported by American Airlines in exchange for publicity and then transported to Seneca Park Zoo, where he was housed and fed until he was summoned to RIT events to be displayed.

In a letter to Student Activities Center’s Roger Kramer, Zoological Superintendent Louis R. DiSabato wrote: “As with all our animals, the tiger will be given the best of care at all times and every effort will be made to keep it docile as is possible even though we know growth in tigers is rapid and their temperament extremely unpredictable.”

NOVEMBER 1963: WAY OVER THEIR HEADS Spirit was kept “docile” by mostly interacting with his “student handlers.”

Student handlers were responsible for transporting and handling Spirit while he was off campus. RIT also had agreed to absorb any legal damages or liability claims once the tiger was taken from Seneca Park Zoo property.

The Tiger Committee was quickly becoming overwhelmed with finding proper insurance, purchasing new transportation equipment for Spirit’s rapid growth and meeting the demands of requests for Spirit to appear at RIT events.

In a letter to the Student Activities of University of Houston, RIT Director of Student Activities A. Stephen Walls wrote: “I am writing on behalf of the members of the Tiger Committee at Rochester Institute of Technology. We have recently purchased a baby Bengal tiger to be used as a mascot in the same manner as your cougar, Shasta. We would like to ask several questions concerning problems we have encountered in the cars, training and insurance of our animal.”

JULY 1964: THE FOOT Excerpts of letter correspondence between Walls and DiSabato: “We have people who have visited the zoo to see Spirit, the RIT mascot, and they have come back asking us what is wrong with his foot. In order to be able to answer these people, can you give us an idea of what the problem is

and if this is something that will be taken care of in the near future?” Walls wrote.

“We at the zoo along with our veterinarian have been disappointed in the development of his foreleg which has grown rather crook and caused somewhat of a limp ... we might X-ray the leg and establish whether the leg bone has grown crooked or the possibility this is a joint problem,” DiSabato responded.

The zoo first diagnosed Spirit with calcium deficiency and began putting calcium pills in his food, which he dug out immediately.

It was later revealed that he had a pelvic constriction, a rare bone deformity that distorts the pelvis causing serious issues.

Spirit was put down on Sept. 28, 1964.

JUNE 1967: NOWHERE TO HIDE Three years after Spirit was put to sleep, the campus was struggling to find a taxidermist to get his pelt cured so they could get his hide displayed in a trophy case.

In a letter from former Tiger Committee member David A. Page to the vice president of Student Personnel Services Dr. James B. Campbell, Page wrote: “The spirit of the tiger has done much in the past to enrich the tradition of RIT and it can do much more in the future. It is a small but integral part of RIT as an institution and should never be allowed to fade as the school grows.”

JANUARY 1989: FORGOTTEN In letter from former RIT President Richard Rose to George Eastman Museum’s Georgia Gosnell, Rose expressed his sentiments about the pelt of “Tony the Tiger.”

Spirit stayed in the Eastman Museum until 1991 when RIT archivist Gladys Taylor wrote in a letter that he had “nothing to do with Eastman” and was returned back to the campus. What is left of Spirit now lies in a box in the archives on the silent third floor of Wallace Library.

What happened to Spirit would never have happened today. However, we can still honor our mascot by becoming educated on the impact that destroying natural habitats has on endangered species. There are currently only 3,800 tigers left in the wild, so get active. Volunteer at the Seneca Park. Take an animal conservation class with Hamilton.

Donate to Tigers for Tigers, a movement for tiger conservation.

While nothing can bring Spirit back, do not let his memory die in vain.

FOOD TRUCK

FRENZY

F

ood trucks are a new trend in fast food and can even be a source of culinary innovation. Trucks serving everything from tacos and sushi to sandwiches and even poutine have been permeating large cities in recent years, and Rochester is no exception.

To Elizabeth Clapp, owner of Le Petit Poutine food trucks are all about “hanging out, having a beer, talking about life and having hands too full to have a phone in.”

According to Huffington Post, the food trucks of today surfaced sometime in the early 2000s around the beginning of the economic recession as a still-quick alternative to fast foods like McDonalds or Burger King.

Their popularity only continued to rise as the quality of food improved.

Social media has also contributed to the success of the food truck. Owners often rely on various platforms to draw in customers every day by setting up shop and posting about it on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and waiting for people to flock to them.

“Social media has been a huge part of food trucks,” said Matt Petrillo, owner of a food truck called The Meatball Co. “It’s easy for

by Claire Fleming |photography by Rob Rauchwerger | design by Kevin Zampieron us to communicate with the public and tell them where we are. Before social media, before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, how are you supposed to tell people where your food truck is? You put up a flyer and walk around and tell people ‘I’m here, I’m here, I’m here.’”

While the food truck trend began in the early 2000s, it only popped up in Rochester about five years ago in 2011 with Rochester’s first food truck, Le Petit Poutine.

When Le Petit Poutine was established, there were virtually no laws regarding food trucks’ health, safety or even permits, so Clapp and her business partner Veronica McClive took it upon themselves to create a way to regulate food trucks in order to succeed.

“We started a group called the Rochester Food Truck Alliance (RFA), which is a business association to lobby for better food truck laws,” Clapp said.

Clapp and McClive helped initiate RFA in late 2012, and the number of food trucks associated with the organization has since risen to 26. The association also lobbied for permanent food truck locations in the center

of the city for food trucks to rotate through when they aren’t doing events.

The city of Rochester did not allow food truck vendors to park and sell in the center of the city until June of this year, after months of city council debate. After paying a number of vendor and event solicitor fees, the new law allows two trucks at each of the 10 locations.

Some of the locations include State St., Court St., East Ave. and Elm St., but the trucks sitting at each location change every day.

The center of Rochester is important for food truck vendors because of the approximately 35,000 people who work in the area every day. Trucks park near businesses right at lunchtime to catch those who are busy and looking for something convenient to eat.

Besides the working class, college students are just about the best population for food trucks. Food trucks are growing in popularity at college events in Rochester, especially at RIT. Petrillo listed the numerous events that his truck alone catered this past year, including Hobart College, MCC, Nazareth, RIT, the University of Rochester and Saint John Fischer. “[Hobart has] me there two or

RIT FREQUENT DRIVERS: LE PETIT POUTINE three times from 11 at night to two in the morning selling to kids who just got out of finals or have been drinking — like three to four hundred kids,” he said.

Food trucks also cater to events in like the Food Truck Rodeo at the Public Market, which attracts people from all walks of life, including college students.

“Obviously being able to go to our customers and to participate in these events on college campuses and the like is very fun,” Clapp said. “We really get to be part of the party, and we like to bring the poutine party with us wherever we go.”

Rochester’s first food truck, Le Petit Poutine, was founded in 2011 by Clapp because she spent time in Ottowa, Canada growing up.

Poutine is foreign to many Americans, even those here in Rochester, less than 100 miles from the Canadian border.

“It’s kind of a trifecta of comfort food. It’s hot with gravy and cheese and fries and it’s a great base,” Clapp said. “But when we do specials it’s fun because we can throw anything on there.” Clapp has experimented with all kinds of cuisine, from cheeseburgers to vegetarian food — as she says, “Poutine is for everyone.”

“WE LIKE TO BRI

NG THE

POUTINE PARTY WHEREVER WE G

O.”

THE MEATBALL CO. This food truck, which sports the slogan “Darn good balls,” was founded by Petrillo in 2014. This truck obviously offers meatballs, but also has subs and fries. It uses its catchy slogan and a few other ball puns to get people laughing.

“It kinda gave the public something to laugh about ... Little kids could say ‘Darn good balls’ and not get in trouble because they’re talking about the meatballs,” said Petrillo.

To find a food truck to indulge your cravings, Rochester has a website called Where that Food Truck to track them down via compiled lists of each truck’s most recent tweet. Rochester now has over 26 options to satisfy anything you may have in mind.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER TASTY FOOD TRUCKS IN THE ROCHESTER AREA:

EFFORTLESSLY HEALTHY ROB’S KABOBS STINGRAY SUSHIFUSION ROC CITY SAMMICH SMOKIN PETES MARTY’S

at your leisure

AY L

TREAT YOURSELF end of semester

5th

6th

Treat yourself to donuts at the Hospitality Association’s Krispy Kreme fundraiser in the Infinity Quad and SAU all day.

9 th

dec.

by Claire Fleming illustration and design

by Alyssa Minko

2nd Treat yourself to some music, slam poetry and spoken word at Open Mic Night in the Grace Watson Hall Lobby.

3 rd

4 th

Celebrate a great Friday and even better Saturday and grab Breakfast Blowout at Salsarita’s for lunch.

Treat yourself to the George Eastman Museum’s display of gingerbread houses December 1-14.

7 th

8 th

Treat yourself to a discount movie at Cinemark 10 on West Henrietta Road. Many movies are only $1.50 on Tuesdays.

Treat yourself to some breakfast at ACA’s Wake up Wednesdays at the Tiger Statue from 9-11 a.m.

Just 8 days left! Treat yourself by grabbing a treat from Artesano’s or Midnight Oil.

10 th

11th

12th

Treat yourself to some Dinosaur BBQ from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at RITZ.

Treat yourself to a holiday season celebration by attending College Town’s Holiday Kickoff Festival from 4-7 p.m.

Meet RITchie and the entire hockey team at Skate with the Tigers in Gene Polisseni Center at 12 p.m. ($5.00).

Celebrate getting through the first day of finals with a fancy seasonal drink from Java Wally’s in the Library.

13th

14th

15th

16th

ADMIT ONE ADMI T ONE

BBQ

SAUCE

NETFLIX

Take a break from studying and get a meal at Jay’s with your friends.

14 Leisure

Treat yourself to some winter fun and go sledding down the hill by Gordon Field House.

Treat yourself to some free food from RHA at the sundial from 3-4 p.m.

Celebrate getting through finals week by watching a holiday movie or television episode. You made it through the semester!

A DECADE OF

Destler:

last BRINGING OUT THEyear BEST and OF RITlegacy

by Ryan Black | photography by Samuel Kettel | design by Emma Fleming

I

n the midst of his tenth and final year at RIT, it has been business as usual for President Bill Destler. Both he and his wife Dr. Rebecca Johnson, an associate of the university, have prepared accordingly for his retirement come the end of the school year, while remaining as involved as ever.

“It’s been fine. Pretty normal, the usual sort of overloaded schedule and events of various kinds,” noted Destler. In his opinion, however, people mentioning how almost every event he attends is his last [insert event here] has gotten kind of old. “I went to the exhibition hockey game and somebody came up to me and said, ‘This is your last exhibition hockey game.’ I said, ‘Boy this could get old in a hurry.’”

From the perspective of Student Government (SG) Vice President and fifth year Computer Engineering student Amar Bhatt, both Destler and Johnson have been as committed as always this school year, particularly when it comes to student life. “Whether it’s eating lunch at Brick City, going to a lot of student events, he’s been doing that more than ever in his final year. I think him and Rebecca Johnson [both],” said Bhatt.

Johnson, who plans to still be involved with many of the same initiatives she’s championed while at RIT after Destler retires, still feels especially driven this year. “I think for me it’s been a year where I’ve felt more focused than usual,” said Johnson. “I often have my fingers in a lot of pies, so I felt more free to really devote myself to what feels particularly important to me.”

According to Andrea Shaver, president of SG and fourth year Graphic Design major, Johnson has fervently sought out causes relevant to students’ well-being and topics that need to be

16 Features

discussed on campus — especially ones that have needed to be heard by administration.

This year, Johnson has been excited to discuss an array of issues including those related to diversity, sustainability and dialogue across differences. “I guess that doesn’t sound very focused,” she joked. “I was involved in five different, one every day of the week, organized conversations about difficult issues. About Columbus Day, race, police, hate — and they were all such impressive discussions showing such a thoughtful and diverse RIT community.”

Bhatt specifically recalled how both Destler and Johnson have been willing to discuss potentially contentious issues. He cites their willingness to participate in conversations like the one surrounding the PawPrints petition to fly the Black Lives Matter flag.

“I’m always saying, if you can’t have those kinds of discussions on a college campus, where can you?” asked Destler.

LOOKING BACK

“I think in terms of what the overall last 10 years have been like, you want to be very careful of what you take credit for, because I have this sort of ‘genius’ administrative strategy of getting out of the way of good people,” explained Destler. “A few of the things that have happened were actually my ideas, but certainly not all of them.”

RIT has changed significantly over Destler’s tenure. Imagine RIT, an idea of his, came to fruition and has since grown exponentially. Both Shaver and Bhatt also point to the large growth in the number and variety of offered academic programs.

“Since he’s been here, several more programs and colleges have been added, just trying to diversify,” said Shaver. “RIT’s super unique in the fact that there’s the nine colleges and they’re all so different.”

Under Destler, RIT has opened the College of Health Sciences and Technology, as well as several additional global campuses. The door has also been opened for more and more research opportunities with RIT’s recent reclassification as a “doctoral university.”

In Bhatt’s eyes, all this change culminates in something which benefits almost every student on the individual level. “My degree is worth more because of a lot of the things he’s done,” he said.

Destler sees such endeavors as community achievements. He’s particularly proud of how RIT has managed to grow the stature of the university, quality of enrolled students and overall diversity of both the faculty and student body concurrently. As well as how, during the midst of the past decade, the university hasn’t lost sight of its core.

“I’m very proud of that, as it’s easy to forget some of your fundamental values that drive the institution,” expressed Destler. “We want to be an undergraduate-focused institution. We want to make sure we don’t dilute the quality of the undergraduate experience even as we move into more research.”

Destler said that much of what has come to fruition was something he saw the “seeds” for before even starting at RIT. “I talked about it during the search for the president, when I was one of the finalists,” he noted.

At the beginning of his tenure, in September of 2007, Destler told Reporter about the potential he saw in RIT. He recognized the uniqueness in having engineering, science, technology and business programs occupy the same academic space as the design and creative arts.

“I began thinking of it as a place that could be turned into a center for innovation and creativity,” he said.

Shaver sees how Destler has sought to foster the potential for innovation he imagined. Imagine RIT has been perhaps the most direct manifestation of this.

“He’s a president who’s like a student. He’s curious about new creations or technologies,” said Shaver. “He wanted to create a space where any student can create or show off something they made or built, and people could come and see it.”

Today, Destler sees RIT as one of the greatest collections of “geeks” and artists in the world. “The extent to which those people can get together is the extent to which you can build top five gaming programs, industrial design programs [etc.],” said Destler. Over the past 10 years, he has come to realize that RIT is an institution where both sides of the brain are in abundance. To Destler, we’ve begun taking advantage of that uniqueness, something which he still defines as a focus on innovation and creative work.

“Creative work is sort of on the arts side and innovation is on the science, technology and business side,” explained Destler. “I think RIT has had these kinds of assets for a long time, but I’m not sure they quite understood what they could be as an advantage. You know I’m always looking for unfair advantages, and this is really RIT’s unfair advantage.”

When asked about what he and Johnson would hope graduates from 10 years ago might notice while visiting RIT, Destler hoped that they would take pride in what their alma matter has become and be engaged with the school as it continues to progress.

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“I’d love [for] them to just come to campus, walk around and see all the people, see all the students,” added Johnson in reference to both the exponential growth in student life and the diversity they’ve seen since initially coming here. Destler noted how RIT has come a long way from being mostly a night school 20 to 30 years ago for the likes of Kodak, Bausch & Lomb and Xerox employees. “People have community and learning experiences that are outside the classroom that equal in importance their classroom experience,” he said.

THE DECISION TO RETIRE

“A couple of things happened. One: I turned 70,” said Destler, laughing. “When I first took this job, I told the trustees that if they appointed me and they didn’t throw me out, I’d stay for 10 years.

So that’s always been my plan.”

Destler believes that change can be good for an institution. It opens the door for new talent able to embrace RIT’s fundamentals while also bringing fresh ideas to the table. “I’ve always had some things I’d like to do a little bit more of. I’d like to play a little more music,” said Destler, adding that he is also involved in a number of community and corporate boards that would continue to occupy his time.

Destler plans to be pretty “hands-off” to make way for the next president. “I’ll try to be supportive in the same way Al Simone was with me,” he added. He intends to be available to give advice when asked for. “[Simone] also supported me in the community, and I’d like to do that for the next president as well.”

Johnson, on the other hand, still imagines that she’ll be quite involved, doing much of the same work with sustainability, diversity and opening up dialogues on campus. “We think I can continue a lot of what I am doing at RIT, which I would very much like to do,” she said.

To students like Shaver this was not surprising. “’Retiring’ is not a word I would use to describe Dr. Rebecca Johnson,” she said.

In addition to still having their house in Maryland from before they moved to Rochester, they’re about to buy a home in Rochester as well.

“So we may spend some time in both locations, but I think that probably we’re now at the point where we’re so rooted in this community that we’ll spend a lot of time here,” explained Destler.

For Destler and Johnson personally, these past 10 years at RIT were the first time in their lives that they’ve actually worked together. “It’s the first time we’ve really known each other professionally,” noted Johnson. “We’ve known each other as spouses and parents. To know each other professionally, that’s been a lot of fun.”

GOODBYES

Being on the search committee for his successor has only reminded Shaver and Bhatt that Destler is a one-of-a-kind president.

Shaver recalled an instance where she ended up stuck in a Chicago airport with Destler after missing a flight connection. The two of them ended up driving a rental car all night to get to their destination. “With a normal president, would that have really happened?” she asked.

It’s qualities like this which Shaver and Bhatt find hard to put into words — as well as being hard to ask for in potential candidates.

Bhatt compared Destler to what he’s heard about presidents from other universities: “I have a lot of friends who went to different universities, they don’t even know who the president is,” he pointed out. “They might know the name, because it’s on some building somewhere, but they don’t know what he looks like. And the fact that our president eats lunch with us — especially in a school of 16,000 students — that’s crazy.” This has made Bhatt realize just how unique it is to have someone able and willing to wander out of what might seem like an administrative bubble.

While sad to see him retire, both Shaver and Bhatt acknowledged just how much Destler has been able to accomplish and grow the university in 10 years. “He’s definitely going to leave a really strong legacy,” said Shaver.

“We had been in Maryland for over 30 years. Bill did not move around, he was at the University of Maryland his whole other career,” said Johnson. “We met, we married, we raised our kids there. We had roots there, we had a community. I was not anxious to leave.” She recalled how, after an initial reluctance, one visit convinced her RIT was a pretty cool place. “Dog-gone if you guys haven’t wormed your way into my heart!” she said. “This is a really special place and it’s been just as Bill said, just a real privilege, growing experience and joy to be here.”

Destler felt similarly. “This has been the greatest experience of my life. To be able to cap off your career at an institution like this and see the progress we’ve made ... it doesn’t get any better than this.”

“

THIS HAS BEEN THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. TO BE ABLE TO CAP OFF YOUR CAREER AT AN INSTITUTION LIKE THIS AND SEE THE PROGRESS WE’VE MADE . . . IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS.

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THE

BUSINESS OF SHARING

by Taylor Synclair Goethe | photography by Joseph Ressler | illustration and design by Lauren Mays

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usiness in America is undergoing a new revolution. Unsurprisingly, advances in technology and communications by social media have skyrocketed trade within the global economy. However, it is not just accessibility to international commerce that has changed, but attitudes on how businesses interact with each other, giving rise to the “sharing ecomony” and related concepts like coworking.

The world is in the infancy of the new sharing economy. Innovators in sharing economics, “The People Who Share,” define it as a socio-economic ecosystem built around the sharing of human, physical and intellectual resources. Contrary to the cutthroat entrepreneurism of the early 1900s where success required the destruction of the competition, businesses today collaborate to benefit from each other’s mutual success.

Multiple companies, from small startups to large corporations, have embraced the power of collaboration. Forbes magazine even featured a gallery of sharing economy pioneers, including AirBnB, Uber and Snapgoods.

What the Harvard Business Review is coining as collaborative consumption are “systems of organized sharing, bartering, 20 Features

lending, trading, renting, gifting and swapping.” Examples are presented in Netflix, LetGo and Yelp, which are all wellestablished businesses that use collaborative consumption business models.

Collaborative workspaces, or “coworking,” branch from this concept and have quickly begun to boom in the sharing economy culture. Coworking is the use of office space for people who are self-employed or work individually in order to share equipment, ideas and knowledge. Many metropolitan cities, including Rochester, have integrated collaborative workspace environments into their local economies. Coworking has already grown by 2.2 million square feet in New York City alone and has doubled in size in Washington D.C., according to National Real Estate Investor Magazine.

“The coworking trend isn’t just a flash in the pan, as employees have learned that telecommuting is too isolating, they want to be around people, to feel like they’re part of something, a bigger purpose,” continued the piece.

RIT professor of branding and marketing Barry Strauber is an owner of the small

business RISING and co-founder/member of Carlson Cowork, a collaborative workspace in downtown Rochester. Strauber stresses that this is not your run-of-the-mill “coffee shop” environment that many young entrepreneurs are accustomed to. Unlike other rental workspaces, Carlson Cowork’s mission is to build a community that focuses on providing networks of support, collaboration and learning. Members of Carlson Cowork do not simply handle their business and go; they are there to provide and receive support from the community. This way, members become each other’s resources to expand their business.

“We’re all in this together to make money and be successful,” Strauber said.

Carlson Cowork’s facility is basically 16,000 square feet of awesomeness. It harbors over 65 different small business members from industries including professional development, real estate, advertising, graphic design and film production.

Companies must first be accepted into the community through an application process before they can rent space. Once accepted, they pay a monthly membership fee and enjoy a reserved working space as well as

“We’re all in this together to make money and be successful,” Strauber said.

the other benefits a coworking environment may bring about.

Aaron Powell was a 2012 graduate of RIT’s 3D Digital Graphics (later renamed 3D Digital Design) program and has a startup animation and effects studio called Luna Digital, Ltd. In May 2015, Powell’s business was forced to relocate on very short notice. One small

do with the physical location. Find the right people, the right community, though, and the sky is the limit,” Powell said.

The diverse array of trades at Carlson Cowork is a definite benefit if a small business wishes to expand its enterprise.

As Strauber put it, sharing a space with 65 other companies is an automatic uplift to any company because of the networking opportunities.

Since Carlson Cowork is group support-oriented, the possibilities to collaborate, receive advice and learn new skills is vital for start-ups trying to gain footing within their industries. Powell recalls his collaborating experiences with other creative, like-minded businesses at Carlson Cowork had kept his operating costs down as well as expanded his ability to serve clients.

“Instead of hiring a full-time video editor for a particular project, we can instead collaborate with another company that

“ I don’t believe ‘collaborative workspaces’ actually exist, because it really has nothing to do with the physical location. Find the right people, the right community, though, and the sky is the limit.”

Aaron Powell connection from a friend led him to Carlson Cowork. Powell describes the energy of Carlson Cowork as something he has “never seen before in the city,” and attributes much of its success to the great people within the community, not just the business being a collaborative workspace in and of itself.

“I don’t believe ‘collaborative workspaces’ actually exist, because it really has nothing to

happens to do video editing really well and provide an outstanding service that gets the job done,” Powell said. “It’s an arrangement that benefits everyone involved.”

Unbeknownst to new entrepreneurs, the business landscape is changing quickly in the city. After the collapse of Kodak and Xerox, the hopes for expanding commerce died with the manufacturing plants. However, the once fiscally weak economy of downtown Rochester is beginning to blossom again.

It is dependent on the new thinkers, new businesses and new leaders to aid in its construction. The spring of the sharing economy is exactly what emerging small businesses need to build connections in lieu of experience in order to bring prosperity back. Culture is changing so businesses need to change with it.

“I truly believe the economy will continue to shift toward small businesses and remote workers,” Powell said. “Because of this, communities will definitely continue to grow and bloom around those businesses because it’s proven that collaboration beats out siloed competition any day.”

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by Kristin Grant illustration by Stephanie Chan design by Rebecca Wolinski

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hy do people give gifts? To most of us, presents are just superficial objects. To RIT anthropology professor Dr. Christine Kray, gifts have societal implications that are often left unexplored.

Gift-Giving Culture: Surprisingly Complex “All cultures have different meanings that they attach to gift-giving. Even within different cultures, there can be different patterns of gift-giving, and different things they are trying to achieve by gift-giving,” said Kray. “There’s a great deal of complexity around gift-giving, and there is no simple answer. There are many different meanings cross-culturally.”

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Dr. Michael Laver, history chair and associate professor at RIT, echoed Kray’s observations. “There’s no such thing as a gift in a vacuum,” he said. “The whole cultural thing must be taken into account.”

The study of gift-giving and its ties to culture were first investigated academically

by Marcel Mauss, a French anthropologist and sociologist. “[Mauss’s] main conclusion was that gift-giving is not uninterested — that is, people don’t just give gifts freely and without expectation,” said Kray. “In fact, gift-giving usually implies an expectation that something would be given in return at some point, whether that be something material or that be a social relationship that is built through that gift or maintained through that gift.”

Kray and Laver discovered that their own respective findings were consistent with Mauss’s observations. Laver, who spent many years researching abroad in Asia, found Mauss’s comments on reciprocation especially applicable to Japanese gift-giving culture. “If I am in pre-modern Japan, and I gave you a gift, you were now obligated to me,” he said. “By giving a gift to you, I’m binding you to me in a web of social reciprocity.”

“There’s no such thing as a gift in a vacuum,” Laver said. “The whole cultural thing must be taken into account.”

Kray, on the other hand, did field work for several years among the Yucatec Maya people of southern Mexico — and while the location of her studies could hardly be further removed from Laver’s, there are still remarkable parallels between the two culture’s gift-giving customs. “[The Yucatec Maya] have a saying that ‘If someone visits your house, you should always give something, even if it’s just a little water.’

You’re always giving something to your visitor as a sign of hospitality,” Kray said.

“And there’s an expectation when you visit them, they will return it to you.”

Laver pointed out how the reciprocal system of gift-giving is also present in

Western culture. “Even a gift from Santa Claus is tied to good behavior — naughty or nice, it’s the reciprocal response. Gifts are never just gifts,” he said.

Kray also remarked how a culture’s giftgiving practices are often manifestations of larger societal values. “Economic forms of

giving gold to daughters of poor fathers that couldn’t afford a dowry,” explained Laver.

“So that gift-giving tradition formulated out of St. Nicholas.”

However, sometime in the mid-1800s, America’s customs toward the two holidays changed. “In the 19th century, Nicholas Day

“A sense of obligation can be incredibly powerful.

I think that once a gift-giving tradition has been set, it’s very hard to break that tradition.” transaction are often molded by requirements of society,” she said. “You can take that a step further and say that gift-giving also supports a society’s social structure.”

Kray certainly found that to be the case among Yucatec Maya, especially in their practice of the t’ox, a ritualized gift-giving ceremony. After a day of celebration, the community would often gather to share a small treat or gift. But no matter what the occasion, elders were always served first, and then the rest in an egalitarian fashion.

The ceremony in turn would reflect two essential community principles, Kray explained. “This is a form of gift-giving that reinforces an idealized social system of two parts — respect for elders, and then equality for all,” she said.

Fluidity of Gift-Giving Practice Since gift-giving traditions are so linked to cultural practice, it is understandable why they would change alongside fluctuations in societal values. For example, the American Christmas tradition has gone through quite the evolution in just the past 200 years.

“Christmas was not observed in any special way up until the 19th century,” said Laver.

“You would maybe observe it with your family, you would observe it in a church setting — but you may not even go to church on Christmas day.”

In fact, gift-giving was initially associated with a completely different Christian holiday: St. Nicholas Day on December 6. “St. Nicholas was the Bishop in what is now modern day Turkey. There’s a lot of stories about him

got conflated with Christmas. Because, of course, Christmas has nothing to do with St. Nicholas — they just happen to be somewhat close in time, only 19 days apart,” Laver said.

“And because there is this tradition of gift giving around St. Nicholas, that’s where the gift-giving comes from.”

There were numerous factors that contributed to that conglomeration. “My understanding is that you started to get big commercial pushes in the late 19th century that had to do, in part, to increased urbanization and big department stores downtown,” Laver explained.

Now, according to a Pew Research Center study, over 92 percent of Americans observe Christmas in some way. And in Kray’s opinion, the gift-giving aspect of the holiday will not be going away any time soon. “Every Christmas, people feel overwhelmed with the pressures of gift-giving,” she said. “I know that it’s something that people feel a lot of stress about, but it’s an obligation we can’t get out from under without changing relationships.”

The Christmas giving tradition is not the only one most likely to persist — Laver’s and Kray’s examples of the Yucatec Maya and the Japanese gift rituals will likely enjoy longevity too. While in practice, they will continue to evolve alongside their respective cultures as they still share the very same binding ties.

“A sense of obligation can be incredibly powerful. I think that once a gift-giving tradition has been set, it’s hard to break that tradition,” Kray said. “Because if you break from that tradition and say, ‘I’m not going to give gifts to my family’ then what you are saying in a way is that you don’t really care about those relationships.”

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ON THE ROSTER: DEAF AND HARD-OFHEARING ATHLETES

by Samantha Wagner photography by Catherine Rafferty design by Paula Piedrahita

Bradley Morrisette, a member of the RIT track and field team, poses for a portrait at the track outside the Gordon Field House, Nov. 4, 2016.

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newer program has started to plant its roots in the middle of RIT athletics, making the competitive world of varsity sports even more accessible to all students. In the past couple of years, the RIT/NTID Athletic Development Program has worked with RIT varsity coaches, NTID faculty and staff and, of course, the athletes themselves to help ensure greatness on and off the field, court or track.

At the moment, the program works with about 15–18 Deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes.

As Athlete Development program coordinator, Skip Flanagan is the primary support service for these athletes. He, along with the program, offers a wide range of different services including academic help, sports medicine and educational workshops for the teams and coaches. Most importantly, there is one-onone support offered at any time.

“An individual athlete might come to me to figure out what’s the best fit for them, what they want, and I try my best to provide whatever’s needed,” signed Flanagan.

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Every athlete is different, and thus each athlete needs something different than the next. The programs are set in place to help meet the needs of every single one.

“Mostly it’s support I get from [Flanagan],” signed second year volleyball player and Applied Arts and Science major Alana Smith.

“If I have a struggle, I will go to him, and we will talk about it and figure out a way to get rid of the issue.”

Fourth year Electrical Engineering major and a member of the men’s crew team Andre Webster also commented on the program and Flanagan’s help. “He’s been really instrumental and helping me get what I need and helping other Deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes in their programs,” he said.

All of these resources are put into place because being a Deaf or hard-of-hearing athlete is challenging. This program tries to help the athletes succeed through all their different obstacles.

“We have to work two times harder than anybody else on any sports team,” explained

second year Accounting major Bradley Morissette, who jumps for the track and field team.

One of the biggest challenges Deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes face is the feeling of isolation. While no team seeks to intentionally exclude its fellow members, sometimes these athletes can feel left out due to the communication barrier. It is easy for the hearing athletes to sometimes forget about the situation.

“For some of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes, it tends to be tough to really bond with the team or even bond with the coaches,” signed Flanagan.

For that reason, it is up to both sides to work together and solve this issue.

“I struggled to be a part of the team.

The lack of chemistry was difficult in the beginning,” signed Smith. “Now I am integrated with the team. I think it’s just developing the bond over time.”

Flanagan agreed with Smith on this matter.

“Sometimes they aren’t used to a new person

coming in, but they’re not resistant to it,” he signed. While it might take a little time to adjust to the new circumstances, that does not usually stop it from working out.

Morissette found this to be the case with his team, mentioning that teammates are often willing to learn sign.

One of Flanagan’s responsibilities is to help the athletes and their teams get through this key adjustment period together. “That’s my role,” he signed. “I get involved and teach the staff how to figure out which kinds of communication tools or methods work best for each individual athlete.”

One of the things Flanagan and the program does is give out sign cards with the alphabet to all the coaches and players.

Flanagan has also provided workshops for both the coaches and captains of the teams to teach them how to improve their team dynamics and communication.

Sometimes the athletes even take matters into their own hands. For example, Smith is teaching her volleyball team a new sign every day. “They are learning ASL and are practicing

it with me,” signed Smith. “Everybody is always excited to learn a new sign.”

This receptiveness and willingness to change goes a long way in ensuring each athlete’s success. “[RIT] is one of the most inclusive universities I’ve ever seen in the country, perhaps in the world,” signed Flanagan.

Despite the different challenges, the athletes report that their experiences and achievements have made the effort well worth it.

“When I do get the opportunity to play, that’s when it really hits me the most,” signed Smith, describing her time on the volleyball court.

“When I get to play, I get the hugest amount of support from the team.”

Smith reported that her team is always there cheering her on and showcasing their support for her and all her abilities. She described how they are all up screaming and have smiles on their faces whenever she is put in.

“It doesn’t matter if I make a mistake, they are still so supportive,” signed Smith. “They

welcome me on the team, and that’s what really matters.”

The feeling of making that game-winning goal, stealing the ball from the opposing team, beating your own personal record in the water or on the track or making that perfect block should not be limited to hearing athletes. Flanagan and his program make sure that these cherished moments are possible for anyone.

“Worrying about your hearing loss or how you may be at a disadvantage should be at the back of your mind,” said Webster. “Just work hard and everything will fall into place.”

Ultimately, the NTID athletic development program is there to help and support all Deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes. “Looking back at my season, I’m so glad I joined the crew program. I got a chance to see what I’ve accomplished in just a few short months,” explained Webster. “It never could have happened with out the support of a fantastic NTID athletic program and the best coaches and teammates one could ever ask for.”

It doesn’t matter if I make a mistake, they are still so supportive,” signed Smith.

“They welcome me on the team, and that’s what really matters.”

Andre Webster, a member of the RIT crew team, uses a rowing machine at the Hale Andrews Student Life Center, Nov. 5, 2016.

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HAPPY HANUCHRIS

KWANZIDAYS

by Mandi Moon | illustration by Unique Fair |design by Kevin Zampieron

“KEEP THE CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS!!!!!”

says the sign hanging in your ultra-conservative second cousin’s window when you arrive there for the yearly winter holiday family shebang. You take a deep breath, trying to hold your opinions inside, even if it means swallowing your progressive millennial pride and not exploding when the conversation inevitably rolls around to how the world needs to stop being so politically correct, in your aunt’s opinion.

You sit there all night, wishing that religious connotations to holidays you generally enjoy would just evaporate so that you could spend one Christmas in a secular, friendly family environment without contemplating sneaking out the back window.

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The opinions expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER

IF THEY WANT TO CELEBRATE RELIGIOUSLY, GREAT. JUST LET THEM DO THEIR THING AND DON’T FORCE YOUR BELIEFS ONTO OTHER PEOPLE. Wait, have I been saying “you”? I meant me.

This is how I feel every time I get roped into a discussion with someone who gets offended when I say “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas,” because I do so interchangeably.

To me, they’re essentially the same thing — and there is nothing wrong with that. The secularization of holidays like Kwanzaa, Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas and any number of others is just a perfectly natural byproduct of globalization, industrialization and general cultural growth. **Disclaimer: I was raised in a Catholic household, so most of my holiday experiences have been of the traditional Christian variety. At no point am I trying to leave out the celebrations of those of other faiths and cultures — I simply am unfamiliar with the customs that accompany them, and I don’t want to get the details wrong. The general principles I’m expressing can apply to any and all religious holidays.** I take some solace in the fact that the aforementioned generational disconnect doesn’t apply to just me. The Pew Research Center found that millennials, along with being much less likely to consider themselves religious than previous generations, are also less likely to think of holidays like Christmas and Kwanzaa as religious events. Instead, we tend to look at them as cultural events and attach less significance to whether or not it was Jesus’ birthday (or a day dedicated to the Roman god Saturn/Persian god Mithra, as the holiday in December 25 was originally).

We still enjoy the celebration associated with these particular dates on whatever

religious calendar we happen to be accustomed to, though. We still love to celebrate the holidays that were such staples of our childhoods, even if a lot of us don’t really care about why we set up a dead or fake shrub in the middle of the room in the house we never use and put those candles in the windows and on the tables. What matters to us is the warm feeling we get when we think of cold winter mornings of our childhood, when we could walk out into the living room to the smell of hot chocolate and a feeling of close family ties.

Not everyone takes such a nonchalant approach to the drain of religious significance, however; some people, largely religious conservatives, balk at the secularization of what used to be primarily religious celebrations. I’m sure many of you can remember the uproar over Starbucks’ holiday cup design from 2015 and then again this year, in which people accused the company of “waging a war on Christmas” simply because they chose to go with a minimal red cup design in lieu of traditional holiday decorations like reindeer, candles, Christmas trees, etc. If you do a little exploring of the “War on Christmas” tag on FoxNews.com, you’ll find stories tagged with “outrageous” and “fiery.”

This idea of a “war” on anything that people see as a threat to the superiority of their culture is another symptom of the rampant issue of hyper-nationalism that I tackled in an article Reporter published on its website titled “The Perils of Nationalism.”

Some people see the inclusion of others or

the decline in popularity of beliefs that have previously been mainstream as a threat to their position in society. These people don’t want to see a change in the status quo.

There are voices of reason among the naysayers, however. In his blog onFaith, Jeff Clarke pleads with his fellow Christians to actually listen to the teachings of their messiah and reminds them that “Christmas is a significant date in the Church’s liturgical calendar, not society’s Calendar.” In other words, Christmas is just a day. If people want to celebrate on that day, good for them. If they want to celebrate religiously, great. Just let them do their thing and don’t force your beliefs onto other people. We need more vocal Christians like you, Jeff; we hear too much from the other side and not enough from yours.

The reality is that holidays have become more than just religious celebrations. They have become cultural posts in the everflipping calendar that, without some spots of brightness, would be dreary, repetitive and without meaning. Even if I don’t think a fat man in a red suit is going to somehow break through the sealed-off fireplace into my living room to leave consumerist souvenirs under my fake tree adorned with plastic balls, I should still be able to enjoy the time with my family and the warmth in the pit of my stomach that starts with that first chime of silver bells.

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photography by Rebekah Havens design by Kendra Murphy

Brandon Alerte Mechanical Engineering Technology, Second year

Rose White Visual Media, Third year

I gave my girlfriend a handmade jar of notes, all in paper hearts.

Each note was a little love letter. I cut up the hearts on cardstock, wrote on each one, then filled an entire salsa jar with them. They smelled like salsa, which was kind of gross. But she still has the jar. I called it “My Heart in a Jar.”

Shayna Kiblin Photojournalism, First year I got my friend a CD from every one of the concerts we went to together, and got pictures of us printed at each one.

My cousin got engaged last year, and for the proposal I made a video of all our family saying that they love my cousin. I pretty much gave them their engagement, in a way.

James Porras Visual Media, First year My best friend loves Cage the Elephant, and so I bought him tickets for Christmas. Going together was such a great time.

Krit Upra Fine Art and Biomedical Photography, Fourth year What I have in mind is my doing my part to help out my family. I’m an international student from Thailand. And being an international student, especially a fine art student, it’s so hard to get scholarships, so my parents are paying most of the tuition for me. So they’re paying for my school, my housing, my pocket money, everything. I got my parents a coffee machine.

And they’ve wanted an espresso machine for a while, and I’m at the point where I can make my own money now and I can get them something that’s decent. I got it for them back home, and they were like “How did you get the money for this?” and I said “I actually made my own money and decided to get this for you guys.” It was a nice feeling that I can start supporting myself and at the same time to start buying something for someone on my own terms.

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Rakshanda Jha Bioinformatics, First year

Kaylie McEntire Biomedical Engineering, First year

I put the word “devd” on a photoframe and gave it to a friend of mine. I call him that, which means “a person who is sad about a girl forever,” and now he has to see it every day.

Marla Murrett Interior Design, Fourth year

Last year for Christmas me and my dad took a road trip to Orlando and bought my stepmom a picture frame from Disney World because she loves Disney, and I got her a diamond necklace that said “Mom” on it. It was a confirmation of “yeah, you are my mom.” And we also went on a little girl’s trip and took pictures and put them in the frame.

Bhargavi Solanki Computer Science Masters, Fourth Year

A weird geode. She really appreciated it. We go to the gem and mineral show that’s here every year in October.

It was for my parents’ 25th anniversary. We never had a nameplate outside our apartment.

They weren’t expecting anything, but me and my sister went out and got a fancy nameplate. I could see my mom was very happy because of what the nameplate symbolized.

Max Pearman Computer Security, Second year Eighteen holes of golf for my dad on Father’s Day.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER

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compiled by Jake Krajewski | illustration by Angie Krieg | design by Paula Piedrahita

I physically don’t have the attention span for the gym.

10/14/16 1:56 PM [Text]

Light a man a fire and it will keep him warm for a single night. Light a man on fire and it will keep him warm for the rest of his life.

10/16/16 9:09 AM [Text]

You know somebody must have had an interesting day when they leave their boxers in the basement bathroom of Wallace.

If I could learn how to use tweezers on my eyebrows, America can learn how to cooperate

10/18/16 5:41 PM [Text]

11/9/16 10:05 PM [Text]

Can I write an opinion piece on how the bananas from Javas are always of better quality then the ones from Cross Roads?

10/23/16 1:24 AM [Text]

The opinions expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER 30 Views

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