REPORTER MAY 2015 reporter.rit.edu
STORY-TELLING SPECIAL ISSUE
NEW YORK PRESS ASSOCIATION 2014 BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST SECOND PLACE OVERALL FOR COLLEGE NEWSPAPERS IN NEW YORK STATE.
FIRST PLACE FOR GENERAL EXCELLENCE: “Rochester Institute of Technology RIT’s “Reporter” is simply outstanding in every aspect. From the intense, bold look, to the strong and well-written stories really make this rise to the top. The photography, the graphic elements, the layout, the fonts, the justified columns, the page bleeds... really, REALLY outstanding. The entire team that works on these publications should be extremely proud of what they produce together.”
FIRST PLACE FOR NEWS STORY: BRYANNE MCDONOUGH - THE AUTISM SPEAKS CONTROVERSY “Very interesting angle to this story... seeing it from dual perspectives. Bryanne did a great job writing, and I would also like to give a shout out to Emily on a great layout and to Kim for the photo element! Well done!”
FIRST PLACE FOR COLUMN: NATHAN LICHTENSTEIN - THE FINE PRINT “The Fine Print offers critical analysis of issues that are (or should be) of importance to students at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The use of school policies as the basis for commentary is extremely well done, offering multiple angles of interpretation, in addition to the author’s point of view. If the goal is to engage the institution to take a closer look at school policies, these columns are excellent examples for how to start the conversation.”
FIRST PLACE FOR DESIGN: RACHEL FOX - OVERALL DESIGN “Reporter blends color, graphics and photography beautifully for a visually immersive experience.”
FIRST PLACE FOR EDITORIAL: STEVEN MARKOWITZ AND ALYSSA JACKSON “Short, yet powerful stories about “the real life” young people face. Special Kudos go out to Alyssa for her “wake up” article inviting freshmen and underclassmates to step up and get inolved... and to make changes happen. Both Steven’s and Alyssa’s stories were intriguing and thought provoking.”
Please Recycle
REPORTER
BE A LITTLE SELFISH
EDITOR IN CHIEF Alyssa Jackson PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Joan McDonough
ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Nathaniel Mathews COPY EDITOR Amanda Moon NEWS EDITOR Taylor Derrisaw TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Natasha Amadasun LEISURE EDITOR Gino Fanelli FEATURES EDITOR Nicole Howley SPORTS EDITOR Alexander Jones VIEWS EDITOR William Hirsh WRITERS Bryanne McDonough, Courtney Smith, Nicole Howley, Gino Fanelli, Melissa Mendoza, Jake Krajewski, Alexander Jones, Ryan D. Black, Kevin Zampieron
ART ART DIRECTOR Rachel Smith ONLINE ART DIRECTOR Jordyn Carias SENIOR DESIGNER Teysia Parks STAFF DESIGNERS Caleb Payne, Annie Wong, Teysia Parks, Halli Rosin, April Chen, Alexandria Bates, Dennae Makel Olivia Konys, Peter Traversone, Brandon Edquist
I recently did something that a lot of people would say is selfish. After getting a co-op offer at one company and accepting it, I changed my mind and accepted another co-op offer at a company that was more aligned with where I want to go in the future with my career. The original company was understandably upset, and although many people stood by my decision, there were others that felt I had made a selfish decision. I agree; I did. After the original company emailed me back with their grievances, I was very upset and felt guilty for what I had done, but a wise person told me that I needed to get thicker skin. I’m passing along that wisdom to all of the students out there graduating and looking for co-ops or internships. Be a little selfish in your search, because this is the time in our lives to be selfish. Everything is on the line right now. We’re new college students, fresh to the world. We’re fighting statistic after statistic saying that we might not get a job in our different fields, and we’re fighting thousands of other talented college students who are looking for the same opportunities that we are. This is the time in our life in which we have to be able to say that we come first. Most of us have worked incredibly hard for the opportunities that we have gotten thus far, and we shouldn’t feel bad or selfish for taking them. Now, I’m not advocating that we step on others to get to the top, or that we treat our friends, family and other support systems poorly in our attempts to realize our dreams. What I’m advocating for is simply not being afraid to dream. Don’t let fear of leaving people behind, or hurting another company’s feelings, or missing someone prevent you from trying for the job or position that you’ve always wanted. Now is the time to write our story and to make it what we’ve always dreamed it might be. To do that, don’t be afraid to put yourself first every once in a while.
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Kaitlyn Fitzgerald, Jordyn Carias, Max Yeager, Ashleigh Butler, Corrine Fallone
PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EDITOR Kim Bubello CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Kim Bubello, Lloyd McCullough, Kristen McNicholas, Victoria Binkley, Meghan Connor
BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Jaclyn Bergin AD / PR MANAGER Rachael Moynihan PRODUCTION MANAGER Ryan Walsh
Alyssa Jackson Editor in Chief
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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 didn’t think dicks were made of fat. I thought they were made of dick.” -R.F. 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 © 2014 Reporter Magazine. All rights reserved. No portion of this Magazine may be reproduced without prior written permission.
May 3
STORY-TELLING 6
8
THE EVOLUTION OF STORYTELLING From cave drawings to Instagram, the art of storytelling is constantly changing.
PHYSICS THROUGH FINGERS NTID Interpreter Stacey Davis translates the scientific world.
FACEBOOK | facebook.com/reportermag TWITTER | @reportermag INSTAGRAM | @reportermag SNAPCHAT | @reportermag 4 May
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AYL The death of human journalism or the birth of exponentially more efficient reporting?
THE NARRATIVE OF CONSENT Analyzing the different understandings of what consensual sex is.
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THE CONCERT REVIEW Two writers, two vastly different styles, one concert.
THE NATURE OF THE NARRATIVE Dancing out equations, illustrating disaster and popup Dracula, stories gift wrapped in new forms.
cover illustration by Max Yeager table of contents illustration by Max Yeager
SPECIAL ISSUE 20
IMMERSIVE NARRATIVE AND STORYTELLING IN VIDEO GAMES
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With recent titles breaking tradition, video games cement their place as a serious storytelling medium.
22
THE ART OF THE CONCEPT ALBUM The death of human journalism or the birth of exponentially more efficient reporting?
MISREMEMBERING: THE SCIENCE OF STORYTELLING
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Hindsight is never 20-20, but why?
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BUZZKILL: BUZZFEED AND THE FUTURE OF ONLINE JOURNALISM
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AUTOMATED JOURNALISM The death of human journalism or the birth of exponentially more efficient reporting?
WORD ON THE STREET Give us a five-word story.
Can the home of “22 Signs You’re the Khloe Kardashian of Your Familly” ever be considered a legitimate news source?
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RINGS Your texts tell a thousand stories.
#reportermag May 5
The Evolution of StoryTelling by Melissa Mendoza illustration by Meghan Connor design by Kuan-Lin Chen
I
t is in our nature to tell stories and inform others of our life events. Storytelling, whether fact or fictional, is an intrinsic human characteristic. However, the way we communicate with others has changed drastically over time. Storytelling originated with visual stories, such as cave drawings, and then shifted to oral traditions, in which stories were passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. There was then a shift to words formed into narratives, including written, printed and typed stories. Due to the use of advancing technologies such as the printing press, the camera and the internet and its social media platforms, the way we tell others stories and keep ourselves informed about current topics has shifted to a more all-encompassing experience. Technology has allowed humans to utilize all forms of storytelling through the years: visual stories in photographs, spoken stories in videos and recordings and written words on blogs and statuses.
6 Storytelling
Drawings: Cavemen and Hieroglyphics It is estimated that the Chauvet cave in France has drawings that date back 30,000 years. These drawings detail animals, such as deer and bison, as well as themes of survival according to Nature Index. It has been shown that humans in all societies, even dating back to cavemen, have an inclination toward visual representations. Chauvet cave drawings were not just casual doodles, but rather art that displayed the talents of skilled craftsmen at the time. They reflected a universal language by which all could understand and appreciate the stories told with a stick, in mud or in clay. Another common form of drawing used to communicate stories is the use of hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt. This form of writing utilized pictographic characters as pictures, symbols and sounds. The hieroglyphic language dates back about 5,000 years and is recognized as one of the world’s earliest writing systems. It was not only used for religious documents, but also to line tombs and temples with messages to future inhabitants. Since we are visual individuals, drawings have always been an effective way to tell others stories about survival and life.
Oral Tradition Storytelling through oral tradition dates back to different points in history, depending on the culture. These traditions use song, chant and epic poetry to tell stories that had been handed down from generation to generation and eventually written and published. Myths were also first passed on through word of mouth. For example, oral myths in the United States are most common among Native American cultures. The Cherokee tribe continues to recount their creation story, although it is sometimes skewed, depending on the person telling it. Traditional storytelling by word of mouth still takes place whenever a group of people get together to socialize, and it has helped to shape current studies in the field of communications.
Written Words There is evidence of written symbols that date back to about 9,000 years ago. The first written stories were manually transcribed, whether on paper, stone or clay. As described above, writing began as drawings, but over time changed into script. The current alphabets were derived from older forms of writing,
such as the Phoenician alphabet. attempts to capture the entire essence of a The transition from oral to written culture news article in one shot. A photograph has overlapped, but is predominantly account- the ability to communicate stories through ed for in ancient Greece, where the earliest emotion, mood, narrative, ideas and mesinscriptions date from 770 to 750 B.C. Schol- sages, according to the digital photography ars suggest that “The Iliad” by Homer is the school. oldest surviving work in the Greek language Mev McMahon, a third year Photojournalthat originated from oral tradition, according ism student, commented on how photogto History of Information. Unfortunately, not raphy has changed the way we tell stories. all populations were literate, so only the edu- “Photographs evoke emotion and empathy,” cated class was able to read and write stories. McMahon said. “They are a different form This era also brought about the use of plays to that allow us to tell stories that words might tell stories. not be able to justify.” The next great milestone in communiUnfortunately, there are shortcomings to cations history is the introduction of mass the use of social media platforms such as Inprinting that would make news and other in- stagram, Twitter and Facebook to tell stories; formation more readily available to all. Print- now we are always unsure of what is true. Soing helped increase literacy among lay people. cial media has given its users the power to Johannes Gutenberg is considered the inven- write freely and express personal opinions. tor of the printing press in the 15th century; The nature of this interface has allowed for however, 600 years before Gutenberg, Chinese storytellers to remain anonymous, which can monks created a block printing mechanism be best represented through the use of blogthat set ink to paper using wooden blocks. ging. Technology has allowed us to return to a form of visual representations that tell stoTechnology and Media ries. The use of technology has shaped the way that we interact with others and how we tell stories. Starting from around the year 1800, technology has contributed to the creation of photography, motion pictures, telephones, radio, TV, digital media, mobile media and social media. The current most influential form of communication is social media. Media platforms such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have grown in popularity in the 21st century. All of these platforms allow users to express their thoughts in a public manner with everyone on the Internet or to choose with whom to share their information. Twitter and Facebook allow users to post statuses, photos and videos of memories and personal stories. Instagram, a photograph-based platform, enables users to share only photos or videos. This is intriguing because technology has given us the ability to practice our intrinsic nature as visual individuals “The use of tools like Instagram is a way to tell a story quickly,” fourth year Photographic Technology student Yasmeena Azer said. “Some people still love reading more than anything else, but pictures have their own way of grabbing an audience’s attention.” Photography has the power to tell an entire story through the capture of just a moment in time. Newspaper photography, for example,
Technology has given us the ability to practice our intrinsic nature as visual individuals.
Storytelling 7
Physics Through
FINGERS by Bryanne McDonough | photography by Meghan Connor | design by Caleb Payne
T
he room is quiet, but Stacey Davis is hard at work. Her hands are flying, detailing the physics topics that will be on the upcoming test. The students who attended the study session agreed that it had a big impact on their University Physics test.
“She does astronomy, so it makes perfect sense that she is someone who could help us on an astronomical scale,” “She does astronomy, so it makes perfect sense that she is someone who could help us on an astronomical scale,” wrote Eric Epstein, a second year Software Engineering major and NTID student. Davis, a senior lecturer in the Department of Science and Mathematics in NTID, is the tutor for all of the School of Physics and Astronomy (SOPA) classes with Deaf students, with a little help from her colleague. As if physics was not hard enough already, Davis must explain it all in American Sign Language (ASL). When asked what a normal day was like, she responded with a single word: “Crazy.” One look at the schedules posted outside her door confirmed this; her weeks were solid blocks of color. On a testing day, she “had six students here at one time working on physics problems.” During a typical week this semester, she sees 14 unique students, some of them multiple times. Davis tutors for six different SOPA classes this semester, but some semesters that number is up to nine. The day isn’t over until after Davis has gone to the RIT Observatory, where she teaches astronomy labs. But how does one get started in such a complicated career? “I just kind of fell into it, to be honest,” laughed Davis, who started out as a high school math teacher. Davis earned her Bachelor’s degree in Astronomy-Physics from Col8 Storytelling
gate University. She began to learn ASL with a colleague who was fostering a deaf child. “I fell in love with the language,” Davis admitted. When she was looking at graduate schools, Davis found RIT to be the perfect choice. “If I’m going to do a Masters in Education, why not learn another language while doing it?” said Davis. She earned her Masters of Science in the Secondary Education of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing program. When her grant was up, Davis prepared to move on from RIT, but experienced received a bit of resistance from the administration. “NTID was like ‘Wait a minute, you can’t leave. You know physics and sign language.’ I was very blessed.” Lecturers in NTID are required to know sign language, even the tenured professors. This can make it difficult for NTID to find lecturers. While not unique, Davis is one of only a few to have mastered both physics and sign language. Over her years at RIT, she has had to learn the material of 16 different physics courses to tutor and teach.
“Seeing people get it, not hate physics, [and] seeing the lightbulb go off,” Davis explained when asked about her favorite part of the job. “I like getting to know the students and building that relationship with them.” Louis Roman, an Information Technology major and NTID student, works with Davis twice a week. “She is a wonderful tutor,” Roman said. “She is able to help me to understand the materials which I need to know and practice on them.” Jonathan Duong, an Electrical Engineering major and NTID student, agreed, writing: “Stacey is kind and helpful.” When Davis manages to find some free time, she enjoys swing dancing, growing African violets and being active in her church. Her two beloved Weimaraner dogs keep her busy at home.
Stacey Davis, a lecturer in the Department of Science and Mathamatics in NTID, has a profand impact on her students lives through her tutoring.
AYL
COULD TELL YOUR DIRT OWN FIVET CAN'T N BE WORD STORY
by Gino Fanelli | design by Teysia Parks
NIGHT
SUN
BEST
G N I ALL
F
LIVE
HER
D E D N
E INT
E
Y V
KILL
ARMS
S
D N I W
STILL
BELIEVE
FRIENDS
DOG
WO
OD
S
COLD AR C HOPE REFLECTION
CRUSH
TO
D
M
SENT
SCARED
INSTEA
A E
H
MYSELF
TOG
ETH
HUNGER
NOT SAND
FLOWERS
LOVE
ER
ARE
GRASS
TH
HE
EARTH
TRAPPED
EVER
N O O
TREES
LINGERS
RIGHT S Y A
W
AL
PED
ATE
PAIN
RAN
TAP
S E H T O L C
YELLED
ART
BED
WINTER WO
N'T
SIGNS
AWAKE
TOMORROW
K
B
C LA
BEGIN DON'T Storytelling 9
X
by Nicole Howley illustration by Ashleigh Butler design by Alexandria Bates
‘ NO ’ MEANS ‘ NO ’ BU T WHAT EXACTLY DOES ‘ YES ’ MEAN?
M
any news outlets and people over the age of 40 alike have discussed and lamented the presence of “hookup cultures” on college campuses. Although the desire to sleep with others in a casual, immediate manner isn’t necessarily something to discourage, some aspects of this culture — such as alcohol and placing a large amount of trust in an attractive stranger — can complicate a person’s ability to attain and give consent.
DEFINING CONSENT Legal definitions of consent can be vague or even nonexistent. They vary from state to state, but sex educators, the California State Legislator and colleges across the country are advocating for definitions of consent that are affirmative, meaning that consent must be asked for and given by all participants before engaging in sexual activity. The State of California recently passed a law requiring all state universities to define consent in an affirmative manner. Now, in
the universities’ policies, consent has an extensive definition that fits this requirement. In summary, consent is “an affirmative, unambiguous and conscious decision by each participant to engage in mutually agreed-upon sexual activity.” It is informed, meaning that everyone understands in what activities they will be engaged; voluntary, meaning it is free from coercion; revocable, meaning it does not apply to all sexual activities or sexual encounters and can be taken away at any time; and it cannot be given while incapacitated. Although definitions can be extensive, RIT illustration alumna Jessica Hough responded to our email saying that she believes that consent, in its basic form as permission or an agreement to engage in a sexual activity, is relatively easy for people to understand. “It’s a pretty simple idea, and I don’t think the overwhelming majority of people have any real problem understanding if consent is there or not in most situations.” Darci Lane-Williams, director of the Center for Women and Gender, has found a different level of knowledge within her experience with college students. “When we are talking about consent, we found that not only do people not understand if they have it or not — or if people can even consent at all — but we have people who don’t understand how to give consent or withdraw consent.” One method to avoid misunderstanding is to have clear communication between those involved before engaging in anything sexual. Fourth year New Media Design major Maddie Heck responded to our email survey saying that
she believes that this communication is particularly important for disclosing sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but fourth year Biomedical Engineering and Computational Mathematics major Michael Potter responded a little differently saying that he thinks that how much people choose to communicate depends on their situation. “The extent to which you should discuss sex before engaging in it depends on how interested you are in remaining healthy and how much you care about whether all parties involved are enjoying themselves. If you don’t mind having to be medicated for the rest of your life and if you’re not interested in pleasing anyone but yourself, then your values probably do not require you to discuss sex before engaging.”
Storytelling 11
Lane-Williams advocates that people should communicate clearly before engaging in sexual activities. “You literally need to have a conversation, and that conversation doesn’t need to be scheduled or anything really rigid,” said Lane-Williams. “It doesn’t even have to be a long drawn-out conversation. It can be like, you are moving into different acts and asking the person ‘Is this okay?’ And if the person says yes or nods yes or moves in closer or gives you some body language and feedback to say it’s okay, then you proceed.” Paying attention to what a partner says and any body language that could express enthusiasm or hesitation is important for determining whether someone is consenting. When participants are intoxicated, however, behavior and judgment can be affected. When alcohol is involved in the college hookup culture, issues of consent become more complex.
12 Storytelling
ALCOHOL & UNFAMILIARITY It is not uncommon for people to drink at bars or parties and then go home with someone — whether that person is a friend, acquaintance or someone completely new. Despite the frequency at which this happens, it is not always clear if both parties can consent or are consenting. Even the University of California policy is a bit ambiguous on this front. The policy states, “Where alcohol or drugs are involved, incapacitation is defined with respect to how the alcohol or other drugs consumed affects a person’s decision-making capacity, awareness of consequences and ability to make fully informed judgments.” No guidelines or measurements are provided to determine when a person can no longer consent due to incapacitation from alcohol. “Alcohol affects people differently and, especially if you’ve been drinking, it can be hard to tell what’s OK and what’s not, and you could argue that alcohol is always an impairment,” said Hough. “In most situations, it may just come down to judgment calls by individuals — which is not the best yardstick, but works if you’re not a complete douche.” Lane-Williams acknowledged that there are situations in which people who have been drinking can have sex with each other in a consensual way, but she also stated that it can still be risky. “After you’ve been having sex with this person, you can get a drunk yes later,” said Lane-Wil-
Drin
king
= NO S
EX
plus m o r no awkw n poss ings, an ard d ible regr no ets
liams. It’s not ideal, but there’s less risk involved because we know drunk people have sex with one another. It happens, but every time you have sex with someone who’s impaired, you run the risk of them saying ‘I did not want to have sex with you,’ and then that’s on you.” She also heavily recommended that students don’t have sex with a new partner for the first time when either person has been drinking. For two people who meet each other at a party they have been drinking at, Lane-Williams suggested that “It is okay that night to establish that there’s an attraction, and it is okay that night to say ‘Hey, I want to pursue something,’ but you don’t do it that night.” She lamented that if students followed that advice, “That would cut out the majority of assault that we see on college campuses.” Potter, however, raised an important concern: sobriety is not necessarily the most important consideration. “People tend to take for granted the assumption that lack of inebriation automatically means someone is capable of making informed decisions. This is patently false. Sober people make decisions without understanding the ramifications of those decisions all the time,” said Potter. “A drunk person who has a thorough understanding of sex is probably more capable of making a truly informed decision than a sober person who thinks that because they’re not wasted, they must be making a rational choice.” Although this can be the case, there is a certain level of intoxication at which it is clear to almost everyone that a person is incapable of consent. “We’ve had people urinate on themselves, literally be that intoxicated, and someone still thinks it’s okay to have sex with them,” said Lane-Williams. “Someone who loses their bladder control because they’re so intoxicated or someone who vomits or someone who’s gripping the toilet bowl
— gripping the toilet bowl is not foreplay. It’s called ‘sick person with too much alcohol in their system.’ Not okay. We shouldn’t have to say that, but we do. All the time.” Nonetheless, many students are also aware that this is not okay. This is why sex educators and the White House alike are encouraging these individuals to make efforts to prevent sexual assault on campuses.
BYSTANDER INTERVENTION The “It’s On Us” initiative recently launched by the White House asks people to take a pledge to “help keep women and men safe from sexual assault” and to “not to be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part of the solution.” They want people to recognize what sexual assault is, identify situations in which it may happen, intervene in these situations and help “create an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and
survivors are supported.” Lane-Williams also believes that the role of bystanders and friends is incredibly important. “If you want to negate any possibility that your friend will be assaulted after you guys are parting, don’t leave them with anyone. If you go to a party with your friend, you need to make sure your friend gets home safely,” Lane-Williams explained. “Just like people have designated drivers, there should be a designated cock-blocker at every party.” Being labeled a “cock-blocker” may not always seem like the best thing, but when it involves preventing sexual assault, it is definitely something to be proud of. Heck agreed on the importance of this role. “People should definitely be looking out for each other. If you see someone who’s clearly too drunk to make thoughtful choices [being] targeted by someone who doesn’t have their best intentions in mind, it’s perfectly acceptable to step in.” In the end, bystanders can make a large difference. “When everyone keeps saying not me, not me, not me, that’s how these assaults keep happening at heavily populated parties where people see people and how impaired they are,” said Lane-Williams. “It’s not like there are no witnesses to these things. There are often no witnesses when the actual assault is happening, but there are a lot of people on the way to the assault that could step in and say
there might be a problem.” Whether you are planning on engaging in sexual activity or you are a friend of someone who is, there are ways to talk about and advocate for clear, sober consent. That is what we should be striving for.
Storytelling 13
CONCERT THE
by Gino Fanelli | photography by Victoria Binkley | design by Dennae Makel
HARD NEWS
F
riday, March 3 saw the arrival of a diverse spectrum of blues and rock and roll performances at Rochester’s Bug Jar bar and venue, presented by Bug Jar’s own art gallery The Lobby. Playing first was Rochester native Roger Kuhn with a solo act of traditional delta blues style jams on both steel resonator and acoustic guitar. “There was a time in this guy’s life when all I wanted to do was just have fun,” Kuhn said, before delving into the elegant slide guitar melody of “When My Work’s All Done.” “I guess I still just want to have fun,” he continued. Interjected throughout Kuhn’s set were staples of classic Americana folk, including heavy drinking, lost love and riding freight
14 Storytelling
trains to unknown destinations. Kuhn, embodying the spirit of the overwhelming hopefulness found in this style of music, offered up an inspirational toast to the audience toward the end of his set. “May your hearts grow strong with love and passion, may all of your dreams come true,” Kuhn said, raising a cup. “May you all live to be old, prosperous and in love with each other.” Following Kuhn was Guntrouble, a Rochester blues rock trio featuring Mark Cuminale on guitar and vocals, Kolbe Resnick on drums and Justin Pallini on bass. Guntrouble’s set was met with endless enthusiasm for the crowd. Cuminale’s clean yet dirty finger-picked guitar style served as a perfect compliment to his not quite rock and roll yet not quite blues vocals. Meanwhile, Pallini’s thumping, simplistic bass line served as a powerful accompaniment to Resnick’s pounding drumbeats, altogether creating an extremely solid representation of the blues rock style fit for a night of frantic dancing and whiskey shots. Headlining the set was the Philadelphia native band Haggard fronted by the lovely Kerrin Pantelakis on guitar and vocals and backed by Matt Kelly on drums, Randall Coon on bass and Tony September on lead guitar and backing vocals. Haggard’s set marked a stark yet
ultimately welcome departure from Kuhn’s and Guntrouble’s sets. Pantelakis’ vocals were as clean and elegant as they were powerful, intimidating at their most timid and innocent at their most brash. Pantelakis has clearly been gifted a voice that is truly ethereal. Backed by a competent band that seamlessly merged garage rock, psychedelia and a touch of some element that can’t quite be pinpointed, Haggard presented an entirely unique approach to the classic aesthetic of rock and roll. If their performance at the Bug Jar is any indication, Haggard faces a bright future in the world of alternative rock. Also featured at the show wasf artwork by local artists, including Apple Tattoo’s Tim Kelly. “I did a lot of these pieces over here,” Kelly said, pointing to an assortment of different surrealist art designs executed in brilliant colors. In particular, a psychedelic painting of a three-eyed cat, painted in swirling rainbows of color, stood out on the wall. “The owners also let me do the spray paint murals on the outside of the bar, which was really cool.” Artwork by Living Color Tattoo’s Matt Lucci and graffiti artist Airen was also exhibited at the show. Friday’s performance demonstrated some of the true talent found in the rock and roll scene in Rochester as well as some of the visual art talent found in the city. The fantastic performances and stunning new murals came together to create a truly fantastic musical experience.
REVIEW
by Alexander Jones | photography by Victoria Binkley | design by Dennae Makel
GONZO STYLE “
L e t s have a p a r t y,
“Lets have a party, goddammit!”Roger Kuhn shouted as he raised his glass to the crowd. I think we might have. To be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure what happened next. There was something strange about the Bug Jar that night. All the regular visual cues were in place — a scattered mass of aging punks perched at the bar, kids not a day older than 16 clutching Genny’s and furiously rubbing the x’s off their hands, 20-somethings with all hues of hair color imaginable — but something in the air just felt off. Maybe it was the rain outside washing the Bug Jar’s usual trash-hole-charm into the gutter along with hundreds of cigarette butts. It might have been the fact that no matter how many people filed in through the front door, the often-cozy venue couldn’t help but feel disarmingly empty. I entered the Bug Jar stoned and delirious, muttering silent prayers that whatever band was on when I entered the stage-room was quiet and unassuming. Thankfully my prayers were answered halfway. I found a wall to lean on and watched as Kuhn, a Rochester blues singer, took his damn time through a set packed with original songs, a host of recognizable covers and drunken rants. Clad in an undershirt, some sort of porkpie hat and slacks, Kuhn played his role expertly, spinning tales of hopping trains, getting lost in liquor and unrequited love. The edible I had eaten about an hour before was entering its “Fuck you, I’m taking over” phase, and it became hard to tell when Kuhn was performing and when he wasn’t. His whole travelin’
man, gee-wiz, I-just-wanna-play-my-goshdarn-songs-to-you-beautiful-people shtick began to frustrate me. How can such honesty and dishonesty coexist in one man? By any rational mortal law, this man should be dragged into the street and tried for treason. “He’s deceiving you all!” I longed to yell. “Beware this man’s lies!” Then he would start singing again and all was right with the world. The next band, Guntrouble, was a local dad-rock trio who played songs reminiscent of The Stooges and The Gun Club. Their lead singer/guitarist, Mark Cuminale, fingerpicked his guitar and warbled in a sort of half-rock/ half-soul style that the crowd ate up like a pack of ravenous dogs. Something about the whole spectacle began to engulf me in self-doubt. Was this white-washed, pseudoAmericana style the right right music to make? Could something so simple, so bold in its naiveté, be what people truly truly want to hear? My questions were answered when the Philadelphia-based headliner Haggard took the stage. Their prog-kissed garage rock was powerful in my altered stage, but was met somewhat cooly by the crowd. I watched as a thin glaze washed over the eyes of the crowd and took this as an ample opportunity to make my escape. I headed toward the door, the psychedelic drawings displayed from local artists like Apple Tattoo’s Tim Kelly, Living Color Tattoo’s Matt Lucci and graffiti artist Airen mocking me as I made my exit. It was a night full of diverse talent and promising, up-and-coming artists. I had to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.
Storytelling 15
THE NATURE OF THE NARRATIVE:
STORYTELLING THROUGH DIFFERENT MEDIUMS by Gino Fanelli | photgraphy by Kristin McNicholas | illustration by Josh Neufield | design by Teysia Parks
16 Storytelling
T
he story is always a concept; it is always composed of abstracts bits and pieces of information, ideas and facts. It is never the story itself which completely dictates the reception the public will have of it. Rather, it is presentation. It is breaking the binds of the concept to weave a work of art based around the concept of the story. In a sense, all narratives whether they are journalistic, biographical, entertainment or scientific are works of concept art. And, much like good art, storytelling is at its most candid engaging and enthralling when it shatters the traditional conventions of its own medium, creating a story gift-wrapped in a unique, compelling package. In the world of journalism, there is a tense tightrope to walk between creatively interpreting a story while remaining true to the sources and disrespecting the severity
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I SAW THE POTENTIAL TO USE COMICS TO BRING PEOPLE RIGHT INTO THE EXPERIENCES OF PEOPLE ON THE GROUND DURING HURRICANE KATRINA.
of a story by diving too deeply into artistic liberty. In this world, which is constantly evolving and experimenting with new forms of telling stories, few stylistic choices are as hotly debated as that of comic journalism, exemplified by the 2014 attack on France’s Charlie Hebdo Magazine office. That is, hard news stories adapted into comic book and cartoon format run the risk of falling into the realms of simple satire, such as Charlie Hebdo. While satire is certainly a valid way of approaching news, it was through Joe Sacco, whose 1996 graphic novel “Palestine” documents life on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, that the framework of a groundbreaking new approach to journalism was laid, shattering the expectation of comic journalism being simply political satire. Following the opening of the floodgates by Sacco’s form of reporting came a masterful pushing of the boundaries of what both journalism and the graphic novel can do on a powerful, social level, embodied in works like Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” (2000) and Josh Neufeld’s “A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge” (2009). “I think that comics have a particular power when it comes to portraying certain types of events, giving them a certain sense of immediacy or intimacy that other forms
of reporting may not be able to,” Neufeld said. “With a story like ‘A.D.,’ I saw the potential to use comics to bring people right into the experiences of people on the ground during Hurricane Katrina.” “A.D.” follows the lives of seven residents of New Orleans from different walks of life in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, during the storm and through the devastation it left behind — all presented in very simple yet elegant illustrations reminiscent of classic newspaper “funnies,” including cartoon renderings of the storm itself captured by satellite images. “A.D.” screams the beauty of simplicity, featuring little to no back story. The vast majority of the written portion is composed solely of dialogue obtained through interviews with the subjects, a format extremely similar to traditional superhero comics. However, while the expectation is that works like “A.D.” would generally be consumed by those already reading comics based on form alone, Neufeld argues that the exact opposite is true. “I’ve noticed that a lot of people that read traditional comics, your sort of typical fanboy or fangirl who read comics for fictional or fantastic stories of superheroes, horror or science-fiction, those kinds of people tend to not be as interested in the kind of work I try to do,” Neufeld said. “I often find that people who are more serious consumers of news, Storytelling 17
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18 Storytelling
thought that, even when she went to school for science and became a professor, it was always a thought in the back of her mind. So when I came to her with this idea, she just thought it was the greatest thing in the world, because it maybe resolved something for her.” Astro Dance went on to tour across the East Coast, receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation. The idea is as simple as it is endlessly unique: a narrator provides a bit of background information about what the audience is about to see as light displays and dancers, half of which are RIT students and the other half NTID students, perform a choreography that abstractly portrays the scientific processes of theories such as the aforementioned merging of black holes and gravitational waves. Warfield explained that this presentation is a way of elegantly merging two very different schools of thought in a manner proposing that perhaps they aren’t very different at all. “There’s a lot of talk about the left and right brain, the logical mind and the creative mind,” Warfield said. “But I think its all one brain, that creativity has to be blended with science, that when someone is handed just the platter of information, it can be very bland. So what we found when we did these performances is that the artistic minds were now drawn to these scientific theories, and could walk away from one of our performances with a bit of knowledge, since it’s presented in a way they can approach and understand. Meanwhile, those people who are more logical-minded, who would generally have no interest in dance and theater, were now coming to see these shows and embracing it. It was just really amazing to hear what these people would say, that they really wanted to know more about astrophysics, how the stars collided.” While the works of Warfield and Neufeld are essentially universes apart, their basic principles are astoundingly similar. That
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WITH SCIENTISTS THERE’S OFTEN THIS DIFFICULTY TO SEE THINGS IN A CREATIVE, ARTISTIC WAY.
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who read magazines and books and watch documentaries, are more engaged in news stories and non-fiction. They open their mind to different forms of media more willingly.” Looking at critical reception of “A.D.,” it seems that the world of journalism and “serious news” agrees with this statement. Neufeld is the first comic journalist ever to win the University of Michigan’s prestigious Knight-Wallace Fellowship. In addition, The New York Times, perhaps the most decisive outlet for judgment of journalistic integrity, raves in a massive deconstruction of the path of “A.D.” from a web series to a serial in Smith Magazine to a print book, about the power of the graphic depiction of Hurricane Katrina. Los Angeles Times’ Geoff Boucher, in addition, said that calling “A.D.” simply a comic book is “a bit like calling ‘Schindler’s List’ a talkie.” We see here an overwhelming acceptance of a new form of journalism. Though it’s in its infancy, in the pages of “A.D.” there is an undeniable power, an engagement missing from so many different coverages of Hurricane Katrina — a feat that Neufeld describes as his sole ambition in setting out on this project. “When you have someone like Joe Sacco, who really popularized this form of journalism — I saw what he was doing from the beginning, and that is using comics to change people’s view of what comics can be. People often confuse the medium with the message,” Neufeld said. “When you look back at ‘Maus,’ Art Spiegelman’s story of his father’s survival of The Holocaust, that was really horrifying for a lot of people, that something so serious, so terrifying was being presented in this format. But every person who did that was striking a blow to what the message of what works like that can do. If someone was to say to me that they felt like my work was unfair to the sources, I would say they must not have really been paying attention to what they just read. All of this is real. I don’t change quotes, I don’t make stuff up or falsify
events. This is real journalism.” It seems that Neufeld’s work represents a beautiful addition to the blooming field of journalism that both thrives and faces frightful change in the age of the internet. Journalism is a field where the story, the concept the art is built around, is rarely malleable. In a sense, the story a journalist works with is akin to a scientific theory. It is solid, based in fact, research and cross-checked information; however, it is also always based in perspective, able to be contested by others in the field with differing research. Thus, the concept of a scientific theory is, much like journalism, open to interpretation. And, again like journalism, a theory can always be granted the liberty of an artistic packaging. Enter RIT’s own Astro Dance, a collaboration between Director of the RIT/NTID Dance Company Thomas Warfield and Manuela Campanelli, a professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences and program faculty in the Astrophysical Sciences and Technology in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Astro Dance is the incredibly unlikely marriage between astrophysics, computer generated effects and dance. “I saw a simulation of black holes merging, and I just thought ‘My gosh, they look like dancing! What is that?’ because at the time I didn’t even know what it was,” Warfield said. “So then I went to a science and arts conference in New York City and I was just blown away by all of these things people were doing. It was mostly music and theater combined with some kind of science, there was nobody doing any kind of dance thing. So I thought I could do some kind of dance thing.” Warfield went on to discuss the birth of Astro Dance through a common bond he found between Campanelli and himself. “I told the director of the College of Science that I really wanted to do some kind of dance thing that merged with science, and he set me up with Manuela, who is an astrophysicist,” Warfield said. “So I went down to her office and told her about this idea I had. I didn’t even know what the idea was at the time, I just knew I wanted to do something with this black-holes-merging idea. And her reaction was just, with scientists there’s often this difficulty to see things in a creative, artistic way. But she told me this story about how when she was a little girl she always wanted to be a ballerina, and I think that’s a
THIS PARALLELS NEUFELD’S WORK, WHICH IN TURN PARALLELS WARFIELD’S WORK. THEY ARE ASTOUNDINGLY, STARKLY AND OBJECTIVELY DIFFERENT, YET THEY ALL FEATURE A COMMON BOND: THEY PRESENT THE CONCEPT OF THE STORY BY MEANS THAT SHUN ..TRADITION. is, to present stories in a manner that is as engaging as it is provocative. But what of the often overlooked, more conventional arts of storytelling whose full potentials are rarely given much consideration? Professor William Finewood of RIT’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences has taught a course on pop-up books since 2003. While the pop-up book is a staple of children’s literature, it is also a relatively forgotten form of art, and an extremely small amount of people ever take critical consideration of these books. “A lot of these books are for children,” Finewood said, “but we also have nature books, graphic novels, art books and all other different forms that pop-up books take.” Finewood presented a large, hardcover
book adorned with a “Star Wars” logo. Inside, the true complexity of these works becomes apparent, with each page featuring multiple pop ups of the Sarlacc, Chewbacca and every other “Star Wars” character, vehicle and setting, all in exquisite detail. “This one right here would take about three weeks from concept to finished project,” Finewood said, pointing to a small pop-up of the Millennium Falcon in the bottom right corner of a page. While the “Star Wars” book is essentially a solely visual experience, other works show the potential of pop-ups to tell a story. “This is Bram Stoker’s Dracula as a graphic novel,” Finewood said, flipping through the book as elevated faces of horror fly off the
page to accompany the dialogue boxes. “It really has a way of animating the story and making it a more engaging experience.” This parallels Neufeld’s work, which in turn parallels Warfield’s work. They are astoundingly, starkly and objectively different, yet they all feature a common bond: they present the concept of the story by means that shun tradition. While tradition has brought us many of our classics of literature and art, it is experimentation that has birthed the truly groundbreaking pieces of artwork. All stories are concepts, and it is through these marvelous, sometimes subtle and sometimes blindingly brash interpretations that their nature can truly shine.
Storytelling 19
by Jake Krajewski | illustration by Max Yaeger | design by Annie Wong
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE GAMES “DEAR ESTHER” AND “PORTAL.”
I
n most media, such as movies, music and books, we either watch, listen to or read the story as it unfolds. While a good story can certainly draw us into its fictional world and immerse us in the characters and environments, sometimes it still feels like there is a barrier separating us from the story. In this aspect, video games have a strong advantage: they give you control over a character and his or her actions to an extent and allow you to experience the story as that character. Julie Johannes, who teaches a Games and Literature class at RIT, provided her thoughts on narrative and storytelling in games. To begin with, she clarified the differences between narrative and story, as she does in her class. “Narrative is sometimes seen as the story that you tell about what’s happening, [while] story is the events that are unfolding,” Johannes said. Her class explores the importance and validity of the narratives of various works of literature and video games. Many stories and games feature “tropes,” which are defined as common or overused plot devices. A few storytelling tropes that gamers might immediately recognize are “the hero’s quest,” in which the protagonist is searching for something; the very common “morality meter” or “moral choices” trope, in which the player is given a series of choices of varying moral correctness that affect how the story progresses or how other characters 20 Storytelling
view the player; and “point of no return,” where the plot forbids the player from revisiting previous sections of the game after a certain point. While popular opinion says that tropes are overused and unoriginal, Johannes disagrees. “You can really boil down any story to ‘It’s about love, life, death or something similar,’” Johannes said. Johannes believes that tropes can be used well in games if they are utilized in original or surprising ways. However, tropes are in their worst forms when they are used “just for the money.” When a game is released just because the developer believes it will sell well, especially if it’s only because a certain name is attached, then these games are doomed to appear as cheap rip-offs and will be torn apart by the fan base. A specific example of this can be seen in the iconic “Banjo-Kazooie” games. The first two games were massive platforming games with heavy emphasis on collecting all manner of objects and tokens. However, in the
third game, “Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts,” players constructed their own vehicles out of Lego-like pieces and drove around expansive worlds. Fans of the series usually regard “Nuts and Bolts” as a cash-grab game which would have been much better off with a different protagonist. While games can easily fall flat in the storytelling department, there are other games that excel in that aspect. Johannes believes that games which allow players to “construct the story of themselves” are some of the most effective at storytelling. One such game she mentioned was “Dear Esther,” which she includes in her course. While there are prompts and there exists a level of linearity, the player is given the option to explore the world and dig up more information about the story as he or she progresses. Johannes mentioned the drawings on one of a cave’s walls in the game; closer observation reveals that these drawings are diagrams of things like a car’s braking system or a chemical formula. She also compared it to the game “The Stanley Parable,” which has a few more gameplay elements while still being very heavily narra-
“NARRATIVE IS SOMETIMES SEEN AS THE STORY THAT YOU TELL ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING, [WHILE] STORY IS THE EVENTS THAT ARE UNFOLDING.”
tive-driven. However, it isn’t only narrative-oriented games that tell stories well; games with actual action and gameplay can boast strong narratives, as well. Most gamers have either played or know the basic plot of the game “Portal.” In fact, many people that have played the game were aware of the ending before they played it. Many players knew the true intent of the voice that guided them from test chamber to test chamber from the start — but imagine not knowing what the game held in store, instead thinking the guidance throughout the first half of the game was delivered via prerecorded messages. Someone who wasn’t aware of the murderous artificial intelligence lurking behind the text-to-speech-sounding voice would be confused and startled by the
fact that the supposedly prerecorded messages were beginning to talk directly to them, threatening to kill them. Additionally, “Portal” contains a large amount of hidden content for those willing to explore. An adventurous player can find a fair number of dens hidden behind the walls of the test chambers. In those dens is obsessive scrawling, some of which spawned a certain infamous internet meme. The player is given the option of exploring the world around them while they progress to gain more information, or they can proceed directly from point A to point B. Johannes said that interactivity is key to telling a story well in video games. If a game uses an overabundance of cutscenes or progresses the story by making the player listen to non-player characters constantly, that can
ruin the immersion of a game. She praised games that make the player think while they play; not in terms of solving puzzles, but providing the player with information that startles or confuses them. A great example of this is “Bioshock,” which is known to have an enormous plot twist that makes the player rethink every action they have taken in the game thus far.
Video games have become a promising frontier for the creation of immersive, interactive storytelling. Cutting-edge visuals and audio can paint a scene for us and draw us into a new reality. There is a huge amount of potential to be explored, and some games are well on their way to being viewed in the same light as sophisticated literature.
Storytelling 21
The Art of the
CONCEPT by Alexander Jones | photography by Lloyd McCollough | design by Halli Rosin
22 Storytelling
ALBUM
The album is a dying art form, and unfortunately, so is the concept album.
I
t isn’t a full-stop, instantaneous death like 8-tracks and disco, but rather a gradual slipping into obscurity. Without relying too much on glassy-eyed “back in the day” babbling, it’s hard to imagine a time where the only real way to get your hands on a song you liked was by purchasing the entire record. Services like Spotify, iTunes and now the Jay-Z helmed Tidal allow users to entirely bypass the idea of listening to a 30- to 40-minute block of music, giving them instant access to the song(s) they’re looking for while avoiding those menacing “deep cuts.” The benefits that these services have are truly undeniable. They almost completely eschew dinosaur record labels and failing corporate infrastructure to place artists’ music firmly in the hands of the listener for a minimal fee — sometimes for nothing at all. While the “death of the album” is already a well-documented cultural transition, the mutual death of the concept album has not been receiving nearly as much attention. As Pop Matters describes in “The Concept Album As a Performative Genre,” a concept album is “an album that consists of a group of songs that are unified by a theme or by a certain narrative. In most cases, this unison can be found at the level of narrative cohesion, which means that there is a certain story or plot development that can be followed throughout the different songs on the album.” In more digestible terms, think of something like most Pink Floyd records, such as “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall,” Kanye West’s “Yeezus” and “The College Dropout,” The Mountain Goats’ “Tallahassee” and Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinois.” These albums are considered concept albums for a variety of different reasons. Albums like “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “Yeezus” deal with literal concepts, like how the day-today pressures of life can cause someone to go crazy or how success can still seem distant and unachievable when the industries you are attempting to flourish in look down at you because of your pigmentation. Albums like “Tallahassee” and “The Wall” hone in their focus a little more; their “concepts” are based around the narrative of a single character, or a handful of them. It is a medium that lends itself beautifully to genuine storytelling, something that music is in
danger of losing as the album begins to fall by the wayside. That being said, it’s an art form that still has its fair share of passionate fans. “I love concept albums,” said Jessee Amesmith, a local Rochester musician and singer/ guitarist for the band Green Dreams. “[David Bowie’s] ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ was the first rock and roll record I fell in love with. I don’t think I knew it was a concept album at the time, but what spoke to me was a storytelling narrative that went beyond ‘This song is about this. This next song is about that,’ and instead offered up a world for the songs to exist inside of. It’s almost like listening to an opera.” This idea of songs existing only as singular identities and not a part of a larger narrative is commonplace in today’s pop music. While it is often appropriate, as one isn’t necessarily going to assume that One Direction’s “Steal my Girl” is part of a larger, overarching narrative piece, it’s an idea that has permeated genres outside of pop as well. While concept albums have never been the dominant musical medium in any genre, it’s becoming increasingly harder year after year to find hip-hop, metal, electronic, punk or any other genre of records that don’t exist as something other than just a collection of individual songs packaged together. “I think concept albums are important to help us push the boundaries of what pop music is and what it does for the listener,” Amesmith continued. “It’s a way of interacting with an audience through music in a way that becomes immersive, thought-provoking and
helps us as a culture expand and grow.” “I like the idea that a record can tell a story to the listener,” added Russ Torregiano, owner of Rochester’s NeedleDrop Records. “Nowadays it seems bands just want a hit single. It used to be really cool to have a full LP be this fully-realized entity versus just pumping out cassingles.” Exactly why music listeners and musicians alike have seemed to collectively move away from the concept album is unsure, but one thing seems certain: it hasn’t entirely been abandoned. It seems somewhat inevitable that eventually, the album as a way to present music will be a thing of the past, but for now we have enough musicians and fans to keep some gas in the tank, at least for a little while. The reclusive underground hip-hop figurehead MF Doom has released a handful of absolutely essential concept rap albums this century, while the Canadian hardcore collective Fucked Up recently struck music-critic-praise gold with their rock opera “David Comes to Life.” The Georgia progressive metal quartet Mastodon recently released “Crack the Skye,” a spacey and galaxy-crossing concept album that was met with near-universal acclaim, and Green Day completely revitalized their career by releasing “American Idiot.” “I love an album that’s consistent all the way through and makes me want to listen to everything in order,” said RIT Advertising Photography major Mitch Riter. While the concept album will one day fade into the void with so many other abandoned musical platforms, its legacy is crucial to the legacy of storytelling in music. It provides a much needed narrative to a genre that so often slips into linear, song-to-song tales. It’s an art form that requires patience from the listener, the ability to sit down for a set amount of time and truly absorb a piece of music as it was intended to be listened to. It’s a platform that requires some sort of respect to be paid to the person responsible for putting the album together, and forces the listener to hear music, concepts and ideas that they may not be comfortable with, or just plain don’t like. The concept album helps us grow as people, but more importantly, it’s a work of craftsmanship that we can truly appreciate, which is becoming all too rare.
Storytelling 23
The McDevitt Center at Le Moyne College Presents
CNY Cybersecurity Connections: Today’s Challenges, Opportunities and Trends
WEDNESDAY
20
MAY
8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Science Center Addition, Room 100 Le Moyne College
Advanced Persistent Threats, The Cloud and Mobile Malicious actors continue to raise their skill levels and recent security events demonstrate the willingness of these actors to take their time in finding and exploiting vulnerabilities. Learn more about advanced persistent threats, get your questions answered about security in the cloud, and learn about the impact mobile devices have on your security infrastructure. PRESENTERS
Mike Kearn, US Bank Dmitri Alperovitch, CrowdStrike Inc FACILITATOR
Marc Rogers, Ph.D. Purdue University & McDevitt Chair in Computer Science
PANELISTS
John Bay, Cyber Research Institute Carl Landwehr, Le Moyne College Department of Computer Science (The panel will be joined by Dmitri Alperovitch and Mike Kearn.)
Registration for this free event is preferred by Friday, May 15 at lemoyne.edu/cybersecurity. CO-SPONSORS:
For program schedule and more information visit
email or call
lemoyne.edu/cybersecurity mcdevittcenter@lemoyne.edu (315) 445-6200
A CAREER PATH WORTH INVESTIGATING M.S. IN FORENSIC ACCOUNTING Let Canisius College prepare you for a career in the exciting field of Forensic Accounting. With the rise of white-collar crime and increased government scrutiny, the skills to detect and prevent financial fraud are in high demand in public accounting, industry, government and law enforcement organizations. Our 30-hour program prepares you for this cutting-edge career and meets the requirements for CPA licensure in New York State. Plus, the Canisius network gives you access to employers in these organizations, including many of our own alumni.
To learn more, visit canisius.edu/forensic or contact program coordinator Prof. Patricia Johnson at 716-888-5947 or johnsonp@canisius.edu. A B.S. in Accounting or equivalent is required for admission
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MISREMEMBERING THE SCIENCE OF STORYTELLING by Courtney Smith | illustration by Jordyn Carias | design by Olivia Konys
“ YOU CAN’T DEPEND ON YOUR EYES WHEN YOUR IMAGINATION IS OUT OF FOCUS.” - MARK TWAIN
F
or anybody who has watched the television show “Friends,” the episode where Ross and Chandler cannot figure out who told a joke first hardly seems like a real-life scenario. As it turns out, not being able to recall a memory correctly is common for many people. “Probably all of us have false memories from one time or another,” said Nicholas DiFonzo, a Psychology professor at RIT. “Most of the time we don’t even realize these memories are false, because there isn’t always someone to validate the truth.” “Occasionally, as one is telling a story, they will be corrected by someone else, because as a community we are very good at finding the truth if we want to find it and have the capacity to do so,” DiFonzo continued. However, when we don’t have the ability to confirm a memory and straighten it out, we remember what we think we saw — and that memory becomes ingrained, even though it may not be completely factual. The ability to remember something accurately varies from person to person, depending on the development of some brain structures. “Differences in size of the paracingulate sulcus (PCS) are associated with one’s ability to remember an event accurately and if a memory is of a real event or something that was imagined,” said Joseph Baschnagel, another Psychology professor at RIT. The Journal of Neuroscience recently published a study concerning people with a small or nonexis-
tent PCS. These people tend to have a harder time recalling whether they had said a specific word in a test or if the researcher had said the specific word. They were also unaware of their inaccurate memories. This study helps us understand that it is very possible that, in the “Friends” example, both Ross and Chandler were completely confident in their memories of who said the joke first; the problem in this case is that there wasn’t anybody to verify the memory. False memories can come up often in cases where there is a question of whether or not a person was sexually abused as a child. As humans, it is very hard for us to have a completely accurate memory of something that happened, especially if people are suggesting that the event occurred in a different way. “We tend to remember things that make us feel good, and we tend to want to forget from our collective memory the events that make us feel bad,” added DiFonzo. Additionally, people who are good at thoroughly immersing themselves in their own vivid imaginations are especially susceptible to these kinds of memories. False memories can arise from many different factors, such as brain structures, susceptibility to suggestions and the ability to fully immerse oneself into an imaginary event. Everyone can have false memories, despite how good they think their memory is. Even when you think you are telling the complete truth, you may unknowingly be telling a story that’s just a little bit untrue.
Storytelling 25
Buzzkill: Buzzfeed and the Future of Online Journalism by Kevin Zampieron | illustration by Ashleigh Butler | design by Kuan-Lin Chen The opinions expressed are soley those of the students and do not reflect the values of REPORTER
I
f you spend more than a minute browsing your Facebook feed, you’ll see them. They promise to “Blow Your Mind,” to tell you “Which French Existentialist Philosopher Is Your Spirit Animal” and to make you “Rethink The World You Live In (You Won’t Believe Number 4).” Although these clickbait websites are popular, they’re usually considered to be as intellectually stimulating as the back of a children’s cereal box. However, Buzzfeed, the most ubiquitous of these websites, has been attempting to rebrand itself as a legitimate source of journalism. While steps toward this end are commendable, Buzzfeed cannot attain real credibility while maintaining the model that has made them so popular. Buzzfeed has become wildly successful, finding a niche and prevailing in a vicious, competitive environment. It has become successful enough for the site to try to branch out into various areas, including journalism. In a promising step, Buzzfeed hired Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mark Schoofs to lead their investigative journalism ventures. However, according to professor Andrea Hickerson of RIT’s School of Communication, Buzzfeed’s principal challenge is overcoming its own brand. “Can they convince their audience that they’re a reputable [news] organization?” 26 Storytelling
asked Hickerson. “In the end, content is what reigns.” However, content doesn’t exist in a vacuum; a serious, hard-hitting piece of journalism is going to lose something when the headline is inches away from a listicle consisting entirely of GIFs from “Full House.” It’s like putting Skittles on prime rib; separately they might be fine, but together they just make each other worse. Another problem that Buzzfeed needs to address is the site’s questionable relationship with the limits of fair use and plagiarism. In an article entitled “The 30 Funniest Header Faces,” Buzzfeed used pictures owned by photographer Kai Eiselein without prior permission or credit. Eiselein struck back with a $3.6 million lawsuit against the site. Although Buzzfeed took down the offending
If Buzzfeed is trying to cultivate a respected reputation, mindlessly reposting content from the front page of Reddit isn’t a good way to go about doing it.
photo, almost all of Buzzfeed’s listicles consist of content lifted from other websites like Reddit and Flickr. While what Buzzfeed does may be protected under the fair use provision of United States copyright law, the practice is undoubtedly unethical, especially considering that Buzzfeed and its writers make money off of articles that feature the content in question. Posting a funny image or GIF you found on the internet might be acceptable for your Facebook wall, but not for an article hosted by a website reportedly valued at $850 million. If Buzzfeed is trying to cultivate a respected reputation, mindlessly reposting content from the front page of Reddit isn’t a good way to go about doing it. Buzzfeed obviously can’t be discounted as simply another mindless clickbait website. It has made strides toward being a legitimate media organization; it has the capital, the brand recognition and the talent to make its goal a possibility. However, as long as Buzzfeed continues to operate the way it does, respect will continue to elude their brand. They can’t have their cake and eat it too.
Automated Journalism by Ryan D. Black | illustration by Kaitlyn Fitzgerald | design by Halli Rosin
The opinions expressed are soley those of the students and do not reflect the values of REPORTER
T
he term “automated journalism” may stir up worries of human writers losing their jobs, among other things. After all, it’s not an uncommon story to hear how machines and computers may replace living, breathing workers across multiple fields. When it comes to journalism, however, this does not appear to be the case. Embracing such technology has indeed allowed for an immense growth in the scope of the Associated Press (AP)’s coverage, but there is good reason to think there is still a place for human written articles. Ideally, both means could be utilized in collaboration with one another to expand the reach and depth of the stories being written. The program, which was announced in June 2014 by AP, was first launched the following month through a partnership between AP, Zacks Investment Research and a technology company called Automated Insights. Automated Insights brought its Wordsmith software to the table, which, according to their website, is designed “to transform raw data into actionable stories and insights.” In this context, the data were the corporate earnings for various United States companies, and the goal was to produce 150 to 300-word reports about each company’s results, a task that had traditionally been done by human reporters. As of late January, not only has the system been tweaked to the point where there are fewer mistakes than its human predecessors, but AP has been able to increase its coverage from about 300 articles to 3,000 during those six months. Last March, AP announced plans to utilize similar technology for future NCAA coverage, starting sometime this spring. The AP has stressed that this move was made to broaden the coverage done by human journalists, not to cut back on jobs. “I think it makes a lot of sense. It frees up human reporters to cover on other things that might be more in-depth, stories that need more nuance,” said professor Andrea Hickerson of RIT’s School of Communication. Hickerson
pointed out that computers are incapable of asking why something is happening, and now that they are taking care of the number crunching through automation, reporters are free to pursue more “hard hitting, investigative” material pertaining to the issues covered in such stories. One potential fault in this, however, is that automated headlines do not grab the reader like ones written by a journalist. “The research shows that [headlines] that are written by humans are clicked on more than the ones that are automated, so that suggest that there is a nuance, there is kind of an art to writing a headline that people see,” Hickerson said. It is interesting, however, that in certain cases, the headline as well as the author may not make a difference to the reader. This is especially true for sports fans, as Hickerson points out, for they are going to
want to read about their team even if it was a computer program that generated the story. Automation can provide those fans with the scores and results faster then any human reporter can. Neither method is perfect, so instead of dealing in absolutes, the best approach would be to play off the strengths of both automated and traditional journalism. The efficiency of programs like Wordsmith make automation a powerful tool in bolstering the sheer amount of articles and the speed at which they are written. Such technology not only grants the public far greater access to information, but it allows human writers more time and impunity to craft investigative pieces pertinent to the reported events. As AP recognizes, computers remain unable to craft stories of a journalistic nature. This distinctive trait is what keeps human writers from becoming obsolete.
Storytelling 27
WOTS WORD ON THE STREET
GIVE US A FIVEWORD STORY.
photography by Kristen McNicholas | design by Brandon Edquist The opinions expressed are soley those of the students and do not reflect the values of REPORTER
Shruti Sharma Third Year Industrial Design
“She found home 7,222 miles away.”
Crystal Lam First Year Diagnostic Medical Sonagraphy
Rishabh Upadhyaya First Year Grad Telecommunication Engineering Technology
“I like chocolate ice cream.”
“Then I heard her scream.”
Ayo Second Year Grad Materials Science and Engineering
Justin Gerard Third Year Imaging and Photography
Tori Lev Second Year Biomedical Photography
“I can never spell ridiculous.”
“I think I’m beautiful because ...”
“We need to think deep.” 28 Storytelling
Teresa Kugler First Year Fine Arts Photography
“Green leaves, sudden heat tonight.”
Cassandra Olsson Third Year Metals and Jewelry Design
Michael Desimone Second Year Biomedical Science
Alvin Yip Fifth Year Mechanical Engineering
Keelan Tucker Third Year Computer Science
“She sat at a table.”
“RIT is an extraordinary place.”
“Can’t wait to graduate RIT.”
“A giant crab attacks small city.”
Kaytlyn Johnson Third Year Interior Design
Roxy Elahi Second Year Journalism
Angela Wager Second Year Chemical Engineering
“Live your fullest life everyday!”
“I had toast for breakfast. “
“The sun multiplied the students.” Storytelling 29
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RINGS
585.672.4840 CALL US OR TEXT US
compiled by William Hirsh | illustration by Corinne Fallone | design by Peter Traversone The opinions expressed are soley those of the students and do not reflect the values of REPORTER
Friday, March 20
4:35 p.m. [Call]
Monday, March 30
8:40 p.m. [Text]
Monday, April 6
12:46 p.m. [Call]
Saturday, April 11
12:44 a.m. [Text]
Sunday, April 12
2:19 a.m. [Text]
Sooo, I called the Suicide Hotline and they sent me to voicemail. How fucked up is that?
I mean, who among us is the perfect foot [schmucks]?
Oh my God, oh my God, this is still the same number, which makes me so happy! I just found your phone number in my flip phone from 2008. Wow, Rings! I hope you’re doing well. Miss you, love you.
I don’t know about this God stuff. I just wake up and sometimes put pants on. I don’t know about the rest.
Nothing quite like falling asleep to the soothing sound of loud gangsta rap playing several floors down from me!
Storytelling 31