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EDITOR’S NOTE: REMEMBRANCE I’m preparing right now to graduate and actually begin a real life. These are my last few weeks of college, and this is my last issue of Reporter. It’s been real. At this point, I’m stuck in a loop of constant reminiscing on days past. A lot has changed in the world, and in my life since I was young, innocent and optimistic about the future. It’s a kind of fond self-reflection. I think we all do it; take a look back at ourselves and how times were so great back before you had responsibility, or real concerns at all. We remember because it gives us hope that things were once better and could be again, or that things have truly improved. We see a mental portrait of the smiling youth so carefree and full of potential, or the long summer days. First kisses, birthdays, frustrating sprinkles of regret every now and then. Of course, it’s mostly a lie. I can spend most of my life longingly looking back at the past with rose-tinted glasses. It doesn’t change the fact that, at the heart of everything, I was an awkward, socially anxious youth who grew up to be a bitter, lonesome and cynical adult. Not much can change that, and that revelation is little consolation to anything. In fact, it’s detrimental to know that despite all of your accomplishments, you still can’t escape who you were or who you are. But if there’s anything to take away from this, it’s that you can shape who you’re going to be.

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December 3

TABLE OF cover and TOC photography by Kristen McNicholas polaroid by Robert Rauchwerger

NEWS

TECH 6

RETRO GAME REVIEWS: NOSTALGIA-FREE Fresh eyes reviewing old games

A BLAST FROM THE PAST: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90S TOYS Classic toys from the 90s era

LEISURE 10

@reportermag 4 December

HOMECOOKED POLITICS The tactics politicians use to gain sympathy

THE OLD VS THE NEW Women still experience discrimination based on the way they dress

AYL Spot The Difference

CONTENTS FE ATURES 16

A RELIC OF ROCHESTER INDUSTRY REBORN Exploring the remains and future for Kodak’s historic buildings

SCIENCE BEHIND NOSTALGIA Where do these feelings come from?

NOSTALGIA BY THE NUMBERS: THE POWER OF REMINISCENT ADVERTISING

SPORTS 24

GYM CLASS HEROES: ‘90S EDITION Reminiscing fondly on some school time games

HINDSIGHT ISN’T ALWAYS 20/20: THE DARK SIDE OF NOSTALGIA What was all the fuss about anyway?

WORD ON THE STREET What’s your fondest childhood memory?

RINGS Text or Call (585) 672-4840

Companies use your childhood to manipulate you

December 5

RETRO GAME

REVIEWS

by Jake Krajewski illustration by Kaitlyn Fitzgerald design by Halli Rosin

6 Technology

IT is a school full of gamers, many of whom have been gamers from a very young age. Games from our childhood are always remembered fondly, but how good are they really? Are they still actually fun, or are we so blinded by nostalgia that we don’t see the obvious flaws? I have taken to reviewing some retro games to find out. This list will consist only of titles I did not play as a child so that I can avoid being swayed by nostalgia.

“PunchOut!!”

Featuring Mr. Dream (Nintendo Entertainment System, 1990)

Sadly, I was unable to get my hands on a copy of the original “Punch-Out!!” game that featured Mike Tyson as the final foe. As someone who played the Wii reboot of the game, I was excited to see how it would turn out. From what I played, it was enjoyable, but ultimately not as enjoyable as the Wii version. The boxers I went up against had notably smaller move repertoires than their Wii counterparts, making many fights feel monotonous once I had learned the pattern. The game certainly does become more challenging as you get farther into it, but the difficulty spike is insane. The huge difference in difficulty between Great Tiger and Bald Bull made me want to snap my controller in half. Additionally, you are only allowed to lose three times before you have to load your save via a special code. However, your losses carry over into your save. If you lose once before your first save point, you can only lose two more fights from then on, even if you load your save. Also, save points only occur after you beat the champion of each of the three circuits. If you get a game over, you have to go back and fight through every fighter in the circuit again, which is endlessly annoying. The game is a fun challenge, but only for a little while.

“BanjoKazooie” (Nintendo 64, 1998)

“Banjo-Kazooie” is possibly developer Rare’s best-known game. Known as being from Rare’s “golden age,” this game is a

platformer centered around protagonists Banjo the bear and Kazooie the bird. The gameplay involves exploring worlds and collecting all manner of objects to progress. The first thing anyone would notice about this game isn’t actually the game itself — it’s the controller. The Nintendo 64 controller is possibly one of the most awkwardlydesigned controllers of all time. The control stick feels like it’s too tall and the whole thing is just uncomfortable to hold; it takes some getting used to. However, once I had the hang of the controller, the game itself was actually a lot of fun. The platforming was fairly good, the challenges became more difficult over time without ever feeling overly unfair and the secrets stashed around the game made exploring worthwhile. My only real gripe is with a particularly difficult phase of the final boss in which the player has to fly around the stage and boost into the boss. It’s very difficult to aim and ends up feeling frustrating. That aside, the game is rock-solid.

“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (Nintendo 64, 1998)

Opinions on this game vary wildly depending on who you ask. Some call “Ocarina of Time” (OoT) the greatest Zelda game of all time, while others clamor that the only reason anyone believes that is because they are biased nostalgia. As someone who has no nostalgia of the game, I can judge it on its merits as a game alone. After playing through the entire story and exploring side quests on my own (I made sure to avoid any sort of guide or walkthrough), I can honestly say that I love this game. It follows the traditional Zelda formula, sure, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. The fighting feels very solid, which I wasn’t expecting for Nintendo’s first attempt at a 3-D Zelda game. Awkwardness of the controller itself aside, the game controls well. The story is on par as far as “The Legend of Zelda” plots go; Ganondorf is trying to take over using the Triforce and Link has to stop him. The different areas of the world were interesting and had plenty of hidden secrets to find. The amount

of content was surprising for the first Zelda game outside of the 2-D world. It feels like “The Legend of Zelda” that I know and love to this day, but with a level of care that actually seems above average compared to the titles of today.

“Mario Party 2” (Nintendo 64, 1999)

“Mario Party” is known far and wide as one of the games that ruins friendships, and for good reason. It’s hard to forgive someone when they dump you into a pit of lava or push you off a cliff. “Mario Party 2” is usually the first “Mario Party” game people remember playing as a kid. After playing it myself, I have to say I had a mixed experience. First are the boards: they all have the same formula for collecting stars, which is to get to the star space and pay 20 coins. Because of this, the boards all feel like palette-swapped versions of each other. Even though the boards have different layouts and some different special events, they ultimately don’t feel that different from one another. More important than the boards, though, are the minigames. While the selection is understandably a bit slimmer than the more modern “Mario Party” games, the level of creativity in their settings and scenarios is still what I’ve come to expect. However, the minigames don’t control as well as in other titles. I found many times that pressing a button at a certain moment had a delay or would not register at all (which, through testing, I found was not the fault of my controller). Other times, there was too much happening on the screen for me to be able to tell what was going on. Overall, “Mario Party 2” just doesn’t stand up to its more recent titles. Even the ninth and tenth versions of “Mario Party” were more enjoyable than the second.

The Nintendo 64 Controller

is possibly one of the most

awkwardly designed controllers of all time.

Technology 7

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

‘90s TOYS by Daniel Zhou | photography by Justin Barrett | design by Halli Rosin

e were exposed to a lot of media while growing up: video games, books, movies, television shows and toys. Some of the most popular toys— Tamagotchis, Beanie Babies, Hot Wheels, Pokemon Cards and the Rubik’s Cube — were influential to the childhoods of many people.

Tamagotchi

Tamagotchis, first sold by Bandai in 1996, were a handheld virtual pet simulation game. The pets have three basic meters that all owners must keep an eye on: the hunger meter, the jappy meter and the discipline meter. The hunger meter can be filled by feeding the pet, the happy meter can be filled by playing mini games with it or feeding it and the discipline meter can be filled by pressing the scold option when it refuses to play or be fed. The pet also needs to go to the bathroom, be cured from sicknesses and go to sleep. Tamagotchis were especially popular with children, as they encouraged responsibility and nurturing behavior. They were also popular among teenagers and adults, as it gave them an idea of what it would be like to take care of children or pets. There is even a new version with a myriad of added features.

Be anie Babies

Beanie Babies are a line of stuffed animals made by Ty, Inc., starting in 1991. There were originally nine Beanie Babies; that number has now grown to over 2,000 different stuffed animals. All Beanie Babies have a heart shaped tag at the top and a fabric “tush tag” at the bottom. The tags also include four-line poems related to the Beanie Baby and the date of birth for the toy. “I used to collect Beanie Babies in my childhood,” said Siobhain Page, a second year Interior Design major. “My aunt collected Beanie Babies, so I started to do it also. I had 20 to 30 Beanie Babies at one point. I stopped collecting Beanie Babies when I grew older. However, I still have a little giraffe Beanie Baby keychain on my backpack.” Ty, Inc. had a strategy of deliberately making Beanie Babies scarce and regularly retiring Beanie Baby designs, which 8 News

increased their popularity and value immensely. “My siblings and I were usually very territorial about our belongings while growing up,” said Greg Carrobis, a third year Game Design and Development major. “However, when it came to Beanie Babies, we didn’t fight over who owned which Beanie Babies, we just collected them. We used to put on puppet shows all time using Beanie Babies as the actors.

Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels is a brand of to-scale die-cast toy cars — usually models of automobiles from major manufacturers, including Chevrolet, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and more — introduced by Mattel in 1968. Their scale ranges from 1:18 to 1:64, for example, 1 inch on a Hot Wheels car would equate to 64 inches in on the real automobile. Hot Wheels were originally intended to be made for children and teenagers, but became popular with adult collectors because of limited edition models.

Pokémon Cards

Pokémon cards are part of the Pokemon trading card game, which is a collectible card game based on the Pokémon video game series, currently published by Nintendo. Players pretend to be a Pokémon trainer, use Pokémon to battle and use the Pokémon’s attacks to reduce the opponent’s hit points (HP). There are three types of Pokémon cards: Basic Pokémon, Stage 2 Pokémon and Stage 3 Pokémon. Basic Pokémon can be played immediately onto the field, while higher stage Pokémon can only be played when the corresponding Basic or Stage 1 Pokémon is on the field already. Energy cards are attached to Pokémon to provide added benefits. Trainer cards help remove some of the damage Pokémon have taken, remove energy from the opponent’s Pokémon or revive Pokémon that had been reduced to zero HP. Pokémon cards were mainly marketed toward the people that had seen the Pokémon anime and/or played the video

games before. “I initially didn’t know how to play the Pokémon card game,” Carobbis said. “But I liked Pokémon cards and collectible card games because my dad used to play ‘Magic: The Gathering.’ My neighbor had Pokémon cards, so we first got them from him. We made up our own rules on how to play. In fact, I was exposed to the card game first, before the Pokemon video game series.”

Rubik’s Cube

The Rubik’s Cube was invented by Hungarian sculptor and professor Erno Rubik in 1974. It is a three-dimensional combination puzzle in which each face is covered by nine colored stickers; these colors are blue, orange, white, green, yellow and red. To solve the puzzle, each face of the Rubik’s cube must have all of its stickers be one color. The puzzle has remained an increasing source of frustration for some people. “My dad got me into playing with the Rubik’s Cube,” remarked Page. “I always messed around with it and played until high school, but could never figure out how to solve it. I quit trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube when my friends in high school solved it before I did.” To date, 350 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold. The Rubik’s Cube has had a profound impact; Speedcubers, who solve twisty puzzles as fast as possible, come together to hold competitions and develop new methods to solve the Rubik’s Cube. The fastest time the Rubik’s Cube has been solved is 5.25 seconds. There is even an organization called The World Cube Association, started in 2003, that organizes Rubik’s Cube Competitions. All of these toys can still be bought, collected and played with today. These toys, among many others, were a huge part of our generation’s childhoods. We will always have good memories any time we see somebody play with a Tamagotchi or Pokémon Cards, and reminisce over the fact that just a few years ago we were also playing with them.

News 9

by Gino Fanelii illustration by Alyssa Minko design by Kevin Zampieron

10 Leisure

Recipe for manipulating the court of public opinion: Two parts feeding into the irrational fears of the public One part plucking the universal human heartstrings A tablespoon of reminiscing longingly for a rose-tinted view of 1950s American exceptionalism A dash of localized colloquialisms, feigned southern drawls and tightly tailored accents to fit the location of a speech At least, this is what the modern political circuit would have you believe. It’s important to understand that a politician’s job is to realize and employ these kinds of tactics. That is, at its most fundamental, a presidential candidate’s duty is not to fix America or explain how they would bring up the standard of living, improve foreign relations or fix the deficit. Rather, it is simply and only to win. That is the goal of a presidential candidate, and thus, it’s imperative that you feed into the lowest common denominator. Republican voters are most susceptible to sensationalism due solely to social standing. According to a Pew Research Center report, among white voters without any higher education, Republicans outnumber Democrats 54 percent to 37 percent. In addition, the higher the education level, the more likely a person is to vote Democrat. According to CNN’s 2008 presidential election poll, 44 percent of all voters identified themselves as college graduates. Among them, there was an 8 percent higher likelihood that they voted for Obama over McCain. For those with a postgraduate degree, the number rose to an 18 percent lead. This is by no means to say that Democrats are more intelligent than Republicans, as there are a massive number of faults in the way Democratic candidates pander to their audience base that will be examined further in this article. But for now, let’s look at the average Republican voter. According to a second Pew Research Center report, a whopping 42 percent of Republicans identified as a white evangelical protestant

in 2009, compared to 20 percent of Democrats. In addition, only 10 percent of Republicans identified as having no religion, compared to 35 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of independents. In regard to race, 88 percent of Republican voters identify as white. For gender, 22 percent of women voters identify as Republican. And lastly, for income levels, concentration of Republicans increases from 15 percent in voters with an annual income of less than $20,000 to 32 percent for those with an annual income of greater than $100,000, with the stat rising incrementally in every income bracket in between. What does this mean? Essentially that — perhaps not for all Republicans, but for a large portion — the demographic can be pinned to a mostly white, religious, higherincome-yet-lower-education demographic. It’s a demographic established on traditional values, and thus, it’s essential for Republican candidates to focus on the “change is bad” mantra. In an article by E.J. Dionne Jr. for the Washington Post, he argues that the right wing longs for ‘50s nostalgia. In other words, they long for an era marked by social homogenity, affluence and religious values. It’s a value system that is, quite literally, the definition of nostalgia: it disregards the rampant racial oppression, Cold War paranoia and perpetual cycle of foreign conflicts, and focuses solely on the perceived good. It’s a dirty tactic, but highly effective. Take, for an ideal example, Donald Trump. His policy suggestions border precariously on the border of insanity, or at least are mostly infeasible, yet he still takes 38 percent of the Republican polls as of November 11. The why is simple: his verbose tactic speaks to a middle-American, religious, white, oft-uneducated demographic which is continuing to feel more disenfranchised, and their beliefs challenged more in the modern world. In a report by MSNBC, post-debate Trump supporters racked up the following stats: 43 percent had a high school diploma or less, 91 percent are white and 38 percent are evangelicals. The slogan “Make America Great Again” doesn’t encapsulate a fault in American ideals, but rather a fear in the heart of a

demographic which is feeling continually irrelevant in an era where progressiveness has become a powerful social dynamic. But what does this say about Democratic politicians? There is a facade of progression painted on the face of Democratic candidates, and rather than pandering to the anger in the hearts of voters, there is more so a tactic of attempting to focus on humanization. Hillary Clinton has been criticized the most for this with her sometimes on, sometimes off Southern accent. Though Clinton did live in Arkansas for 18 years, her accent seems to be dictated by the audience she’s speaking to. Particularly, as reported by The Guardian, Clinton adopts a drawl in Southern states, most often when speaking to African-American audiences. Why? Because, through decisively different tactics than Trump, Clinton’s accents and the use of her motherhood as a prop for humanization are meant to gain voters’ sympathies. Republicans, essentially, want a leader they can look up to, while Democrats want a leader they can relate to. In a report from Politico, 83 percent of black voters support Clinton; comparably, 74 percent supported Obama in the same poll. It’s not about what you’re going to do, it’s about what you’re willing to say. It’s extremely important to acknowledge at this point that no policies have been discussed here. And, in the scheme of political dynamics, that may be the most accurate approach to identifying voting practices. It’s not about what you’re going to do; it’s about what you’re willing to say. Who you are willing to be. What kind of people you’re selling yourself to. There are two kinds of people in the world: one who, when seeing a man driving a Lamborghini in an Armani suit, feels pangs of jealousy and wants to be him; the other, who sees greed and decadence in the same man. No other factors matter, and it’s all about presentation. Is Clinton worth $55 million, and therefore nowhere near comparable to her voter base’s economic position? Absolutely, but it is a game, now more than ever, of presentation.

“It’s not about what you’re going to do, it’s about what you’re willing to say.” Leisure 11

THE

OLD VS

THE

NEW by Gino Fanelli illustration by Kaitlyn Fitzgerald design by Halli Rosin

ilm has changed a lot in the past 40 years. Where productions were once bound to what could actually exist in reality, digital editing and computer generated images (CGI) have made the options for a director virtually endless. “There were certain scenes back then that just couldn’t be done,” said Peter Kiwitt, a film and animation professor at RIT. “Now, with the ability to basically paint each frame digitally, there really is no limit to what can be done outside that of imagination and budget.” Today, a litany of classic movies are getting the modern makeover. Classic horror, once hinged on B-movie budgets and the use of practical effects, now get their time to shine in comparably large-budget productions. Action movies are able to truly revel in explosions and mayhem that formerly could not exist, at least not without a hell of a lot of gasoline. And timeless films are getting artistic makeovers and reinterpretation, creating new beasts altogether. Presented here are three films which fall into these categories.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974/2003)

“Texas Chain Saw is an interesting one,” Kiwitt said. “We’re talking there about a pretty small budget B-film, whereas the remake has a much larger budget. So I think what you’ll see there is an overall better production quality.” The 1970s “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is essentially “The Godfather” of cheesy slasher 12 Leisure

flicks. The plot is simple: cannibalistic backwoods family butchering innocent, cliche teenager stereotypes, headed by a hulking monster of a man in a mask. The plot has been done to death, but at the time of its release, this Tobe Hooper-directed film was wildly innovative, introducing many of the tropes found in the slasher genre. For a film made on the meager budget of $300,000, “Texas Chain Saw” is surprisingly good looking. It’s creepy, it’s dense with atmosphere and it’s all around still a pretty

enjoyable film. It’s important to mention that, like many horror films of the 1970s and ‘80s and recently resurgent in films like “It Follows” and “The Babadook,” “Texas Chain Saw” is a clearly metaphorical film. In this case, the real meaning is hotly debatable. While much of the film is clearly in promotion of vegetarianism, there are also arguments that say it is a commentary on capitalism, the decay of the American way of life and the objectification of women.

This is where the remake differs. Although it is a pretty honest remake directed by Marcus Nispel — meaning it doesn’t necessarily shirk the original material while still not being a shot-for-shot copy — there is a clear difference. Mainly, the atmosphere of malaise found in the original is gone, replaced with a cookie-cutter dark aura found in nearly every horror movie made since 2000. The gore, which was mostly off-screen in the original, is now up close and personal, eschewing subtlety altogether. Which makes it, essentially, a bad movie. What was originally there to take away has now been reduced to reveling in blood and guts.

Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory (1971),

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (2005)

“With ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory,’ the original was essentially a pretty straightforward kids’ movie,” Kiwitt said. “But with the remake with Johnny Depp, they brought in an auteur, someone who turned the film into something completely different than the source material.” The original “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory,” starring Gene Wilder and directed by Mel Stuart, is arguably the greatest live-action children’s film of all time. It was based on the book by Roald Dahl, and there are certainly some details in the film that lend itself to a bit more than simply a children’s movie. The scene with the boat in the tunnel in which the characters are surrounded by flashes of spiders and insects is pretty unnerving, for example. The entirety of the film finds a pretty perfect balance between being dark and being light-hearted and fun. Director Tim Burton apparently didn’t like the the latter portion of that. To be fair, “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” is a good movie, but it’s not trying to be anything other than a festival of weirdness. Depp’s “Wonka” is a bit creepy, the fun scenes have an air of severity to them and in general the tale seems very Burtonized. If you’re familiar with Burton’s other work,

True Grit (1969/2010)

you’ll know exactly what to expect from this interpretation. It is grander, wilder, darker and harsher than the 1971 version. Visually it is beautiful, keeping the CGI to a minimum and utilizing ridiculously complex features, including training a group of actual squirrels to sit in little bar stools and crack nuts. “I think ‘True Grit’ is the closest you’re going to get to a true remake,” Kiwitt said. “But there is still room for that auteur touch. Those John Wayne Westerns were very based around this hero sort of dynamic, and I think the remake sort of plays on those themes.” Let’s face it: Westerns are pretty much dead. The closest we got to a spaghetti Western in recent memory is “Django Unchained,” and even that was more of an homage. “True Grit” comes from a time when Westerns were all the rage, all based around a relatively similar, familiar plot. This Henry Hathaway-directed film, based on the Charles Portis book of the same name, stars John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, a drunken, hard-ass U.S. Marshal, assisting a young girl in finding her father’s killers deep in “Indian Territory.” Without ever seeing the film, it’s likely you can piece together a good outline of the plot. The remake directed by the Coen Brothers starring Jeff Bridges is a true modern adaptation of Western tropes. Cogburn is essentially the same character, but there is little triumph found in his actions. The ambiguity is palpable, and the nature of vengeance, good and evil are played with to a far greater extent than in the original. In that sense, it is a far greater cinematic experience than its predecessor.

Leisure 13

14 Leisure

A RELIC OF ROCHESTER INDUSTRY REBORN

by Nathan J. Lichtenstein photography by Robert Rauchwerger design by Annie Wong

16 Features

There’s a sleeping Kodak giant closer to home for RIT students, and it’s about to awaken in a big way. The Rise And Fall of Kodak The former glory of Kodak still hangs heavy over Rochester. Starting in 1888 with the debut of its first camera, Kodak would go on to forever change the way we share experiences as human beings with the advent of easily available photography. Kodak was responsible for a lot of firsts; from pocket cameras to amateur color photography, it was the original Rochester innovator. Unfortunately for Kodak, innovation is a double-edged sword. Though it first developed a digital camera in the mid 1970s, Kodak sat on its hands and did next to nothing with the invention for fear of ruining its lucrative photographic film business. By the time the digital revolution hit photography, it was all but too late for Kodak. It signed its own death warrant. The market went digital, and Kodak wasn’t diverse enough to save itself. Starting around the turn of the century, things truly started going south for Kodak. It cut its workforce by the thousands, stopped trading on the stock market and filed for bankruptcy. Since the early 2000s, the fate of Kodak hasn’t been entirely clear. There are rumors that it plans to enter the smartphone business, and it still sells film kits to indie movie developers who prefer to shoot on actual film. However, there’s little to no chance the Kodak that was will ever be again. Unfortunately, such is the fickle nature of technical industries: no giant lasts forever. The former glory of Kodak can still be found all over Rochester, you just need to know where to look. If you gaze out at the skyline of Rochester, you’ll see Kodak Tower, an obvious and distinguished landmark. A picturesque building built in the French Renaissance style and emblazoned with a red neon sign reading KODAK illuminating the night sky, the 19-floor tower has been Kodak’s headquarters since 1914. The largest and most obvious remnant of Kodak’s manufacturing business is Eastman Business Park, located just outside of Rochester. Just as Kodak has gone through changes over the years, so has the former

Kodak Park. Since 2007, several buildings have been demolished to make way for new industry; the most recent demolition took place in July 2015. The medical marijuana industry will soon be one of the newest residents of Eastman Business Park, which will be leasing over 200,000 square feet to Columbia Care LLC, a leader in the industry in the United States. Though the introduction of medical marijuana is an interesting prospect for the Rochester area, there’s a sleeping Kodak giant closer to home for RIT students, and it’s about to awaken in a big way.

The Riverwood Facility Just a stone’s throw from RIT off of East River Road sits the Riverwood Campus, an overgrown and long-abandoned Kodak facility overlooking the Genesee River. The campus opened in the late 1970s as a training facility for professionals using Kodak products, a meet-and-greet center of sorts. It was built in a distinctive late-1960s, early-1970s style. The building, designed by the architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), was heavily influenced by famed architects Mies ven der Rohe and Le Corbusier. SOM is still around today designing influential works of architecture like One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. “You always felt special there,” remembered Jerry Dominik, a 39-year veteran of Kodak who first visited Riverwood in December of 1976. In that time Riverwood was referred to as the Marketing Education Center (MEC). MEC was primarily a customer-facing site, but was also used for training employees in the use and repair of various Kodak products. Dominik was originally based out of Chicago and would fly into Rochester for a few weeks at a time to receive repair training for the Kodak photocopiers he supported back home. MEC was meant to impress potential customers and clients. While in customeraccessible areas at MEC, Dominik and his colleagues were told to be on their best

behavior. Once they were behind closed doors in the lab and training areas, they could loosen their ties and relax a bit. Needless to say, MEC was meant to impress Kodak’s deep-pocketed customers. Dominik mentioned numerous times that the food was always great and the views from the cafeteria were stunning. The cafeteria building was built in a multi-tiered fashion similar to that of Grace Watson Hall at RIT, so that diners could have pristine views of the Genesee River. Granted that employees were not the audience Kodak was trying to impress, Dominik remembers always eating on the lowest level of the cafeteria, which had the least impressive of views of the stunning property. Interestingly, MEC was also the location from which Kodak Business Television (KBTV) was broadcasted. A large satellite dish behind the building was used to record messages at MEC which were then linked up to satellites via encrypted streams and could be accessed across the country, and possibly the world. The multi-building campus has sat abandoned since the early 2000s, a casualty of the downfall of Kodak, and has changed hands a few times since then. In 2005 a California real-estate developer purchased the site in hopes of breathing new life into it. Unfortunately, his concept of new life was opening up a casino three miles from a college campus, so it was quite short lived. The facility once again fell dormant, waiting for a knight in shining armor to come and save it. Fortunately for the distressed facility, a local developer is hoping to wake up Riverwood with true love’s kiss.

Rising From the Ashes Rochester developer Frederick Rainaldi Jr. has a proven track record of breathing life into relics of Rochester; he redeveloped the Culver Road Armory in Rochester and High Point in Victor, just to name a few of his successes. It was from his office in the Chapin Building on Saint Paul Street that Rainaldi shared his enthusiastic vision for Riverwood.

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Fortunately for the distressed facility, a local developer is hoping to wake up Riverwood with true love’s kiss.

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“We’re one city,” Rainaldi said. “There’s more to redeveloping Rochester than focusing on the city itself. The suburbs are equally important.” Rainaldi is the right man to meet the challenge; it almost seems that he seeks them out, and Riverwood is no exception. As a relic of the 1970s, the site has asbestos that needs to be remediated and about 30,000 square feet of singlepane glass windows in desperate need of replacement. Riverwood has afforded him a unique opportunity because it already has so many amenities that modern offices crave. From an easy commute to vast outdoor spaces and 10,000 square feet of rooftop gardens, Riverwood is set to be a utopia for modern business. It’s a match made in heaven for RIT, located just a few miles down the road. The site is slated to feature fully ADA-compliant public parks and boat launches for every imaginable nonmotorized water craft. There will be miles of hiking trails and so much more. It will be a space where the public can feel welcome and safe. For those who think the campus is just too good

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to leave are in luck. Rainaldi and his team have sold 56 acres of the site to The Michaels Group, one of the largest housing developers in the country. The Michaels Group plans on building student housing on the property unlike anything the Rochester region has ever seen that will house over 600 students. The first students should be able to move in around August of 2017. While the housing has to be built from scratch, the Riverwood buildings are already there, and tenants can expect to begin moving in Spring 2016. Change takes time, and Riverwood will be well worth the wait. Rainaldi knows that he cannot incite change alone, and couldn’t stress any further that the redevelopment is a collaborative team effort.

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EXISTING LOT

Touring the Facility There’s a marked difference between hearing about a major project and actually seeing it come to life. Rainaldi invited me over to Riverwood to take a look for myself. I live down East River Road; I’ve been driving past Riverwood everyday for the past two years, and it’s

always piqued my curiosity. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t think about exploring the site myself a number of times over the years. Over the last few weeks, there have been some noticeable changes to the site from the road. The once-overgrown landscape has been trimmed back, revealing the angular 1960s architecture. It’s beginning to look beautiful again, and that’s just from the road. Rainaldi met up with Reporter photographer Rob Rauchwerger and I in front of the main reception building on the campus. I was immediately taken aback by the sheer size of the property. The expansive glass and sharp angular beams were so much more substantive and foreboding than the site looks from the road, or from any pictures I had found online. We started off our adventure walking the property. From behind the main reception building, you can see clear down to the Genesee River. A large plot of land has been cleared right up to the river, offeringg a pristine view. Next to the main reception building sits the cafeteria hall. Though it looks like a freestanding structure, it is actually connected to the rest of the campus through an expansive underground

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tunnel, similar to those found on the RIT campus. We spent close to a half an hour wandering the grounds as Rainaldi got himself set up and got some of the buildings opened. After our initial stroll around the grounds, Rainaldi invited us into the cafeteria to take a look inside. Just inside the cafeteria doors sat a behemoth of a granite island, and leaning up against the island was Kevin Koss of Landsman Real Estate Services. Koss has been maintaining the facility since Kodak formally left the site. Koss explained that for the first few years, the site was kept in turnkey condition. The buildings were heated and the grounds were fully maintained. The buildings are no longer heated, but there is still electricity and ample light to look around. Looking out over the cafeteria from the top tier, Jerry Dominik’s words rang out in my mind. I felt like I was truly somewhere special. The massive glass windows overlooking the river were shuttered by deep maroon curtains. An old wooden chair kept a small section

of the glass exposed. Since they stopped heating the buildings, the mechanism that moves the curtains has stopped working and they haven’t been able to get them fully opened up since. Each side of the cafeteria is flanked by two executive dining rooms with glass back walls for pristine views of the surrounding landscape. Rainaldi and Koss gave Rauchwerger and I free range to the entire building. We explored every nook and cranny, discovering endless features and details. From heavy wood cabinetry to dumbwaiters, it’s clear that Kodak spared no expense. On the lower level of the cafeteria there was still a Kodak branded podium, begging to be used again. Our next stop was over to the main reception building. Unfortunately, due to safety concerns, we were not permitted to explore far into that building, or into any of the others. It is an active construction site with a lot of remediation and cleanup work ahead of it. We were permitted to walk around the first floor, and I was far

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from disappointed. Every single exterior wall of the building was made of glass. The views were awe-inspiring and allencompassing. Rainaldi told me his goal is to make Riverwood Tech Campus the “Silicon Valley of the East.” He’s surely on his way. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, including my tour of Riverwood. Rainaldi drove away and flashed us a quick peace sign. Rauchwerger and I stuck around for a bit longer, walking the full perimeter of the site, even taking the time to fly a photo drone for an aerial vantage point. The students who will get to live in the Riverwood facility are lucky indeed.

WER 2 “Change takes time, and Riverwood will be well worth the wait.”

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AMYGDALA

HIPPOCAMPUS SIGMUND FREUD

THE SCIENCE OF NOSTALGIA by Alissa Roy designe by Olivia Konys illustration by Max Yeager

earning for the past was considered a mental disorder in the 17th century when Swiss physician Johannes Hofer was attempting to diagnose the need soldiers felt to return home. He coined this yearning “nostalgia” and considered it to be a cerebral disease, according to Scientific America. Now, we see this yearning as a comfort, a socially acceptable way to sigh and dream for those Christmas mornings, Disney movies and ice cream drippings in the stressful and tense moments of life. The childhood comforts we took for granted for so long come back to warm us in the turbulent and developmental years of becoming an adult.

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a history of nostalgia Nostalgia is not an emotional state, but rather “a longing for a sanitized impression of the past,” according to Alan R. Hirsh in “Nostalgia: a Neuropsychiatric Understanding.” Rather than seeing the past for what it truly was, we recall it as a conglomeration of various memories, filtering negative ones out to integrate the positive ones which creates nostalgia. Professor David Gerber of the University at Buffalo has studied the ways in which nostalgia has changed over time, and has noted that only recently has society recognized nostalgia as a beneficial force. “[There are] positive uses to which memory, even painful memory, may be put in the effort to confront the challenges to personal identities of such massive changes in the lives of an individual,” Gerber said.

This may be why nostalgia is most dominant among young adults, according to Erica Hepper, a psychologist at the University of Surrey. As life becomes more settled, people become less nostalgic. These memories help when shaping our identity to times of great change, such as leaving home and going to college. Nostalgia is actually a useful technique to help stave off any negative feelings due to the turbulence of becoming independent. Recollecting these positive emotions of a time we consider to be more simple and positive can help counteract emotions of anxiety, loneliness and depression. Recalling a love for the past helps promote hope for the future, and reassures us that life is meaningful. There are also key differences between nostalgia, homesickness and recollection that should be noted. According to Gerber, recollection is “a conscious and intentional effort” when trying to remember past memories. This is different than nostalgia, which is usually prompted by the senses, and is often a sudden experience. Nostalgia is ambiguous and is often a “flood of feeling[s] that diverts us temporarily from the present and immerses us in the past.” While nostalgia is usually positive, homesickness can be painful. Nostalgia passes while homesickness lasts and can be an almost obsessive desire for a certain place, which can lead to depression. Nostalgia

helps people to cope with negativity; when in a lonely or poor state of mind, special moments are recalled to help deal with current problems. People who experience more anxiety tend to become nostalgic in order to help soothe their inner worries, according to Science Friday.

Nostalgic Triggers

Smells and music in particular can be conducive to nostalgic feelings. Freud realized in 1908 that there was a strong link between odor and emotions. This is because the nose is connected directly to the limbic system of the brain, where emotions are housed. The average person can detect about 10,000 different odors, and each one will cause people to react differently, as they associate these smells with different experiences, according to Elite Daily. “Olfactory has a strong input into the amygdala, which process emotions. The kind of memories that it evokes are good and they are more powerful,” said Howard Eichenbaum, director of the Laboratory of Cognitive Neurobiology at Boston University, to NBC. This helps to explain why nostalgia often results in positive emotions. The amygdala is the portion of the limbic system that causes intense emotions and motivation. When odors are being directed directly into this portion of the brain, one is more likely to be overcome with intense feelings. The limbic system is also home to the hippocampus, whose main functions include both memory and emotion. Since the nose is connected to two portions of the brain that are so important to memories and feelings, there is a very strong chance that nostalgia will be induced by odors.

The smell of baked goods were found to be the greatest olfactory stimuli of nostalgia. Other scents related to cooking (such as pasta, bacon and meatballs) came in second to the olfactory causes of nostalgia, according to a BBC report. Other senses can play into nostalgia as well. Playing a song from a generation’s youth can get a crowd of people excited. For example, an otherwise forgettable Avril Lavigne song that was popular in 2007 can transport you back in time because “Girlfriend” can remind you of being 12 years old. It has been found that songs that were on the radio during one’s childhood will make a person feel more attached to them. They will be more recognized and help trigger memories of that time. These musical preferences were found to be inherited. In 2012, Cornell University and UC Santa Cruz discovered that collegeaged students that were around 20 years old felt nostalgia for not only music played during their own childhood, but also for songs from the 1960s and 1980s, which were popular before their birth. Music that was popular long before they were born created just as much nostalgia as songs that were constantly on the radio as a youth. They theorized that parents passed down their musical tastes to their kids by playing the tunes frequently in developmental years, and passed down musical preferences inherited from their own parents played during their own youth, according to Priceonomics. Nostalgia clearly has many benefits; however, it may be wise to avoid playing too much Justin Bieber around your kids if you don’t want them to be getting touchy feelings when “Baby” comes on the radio in 20 years.

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22 Features

by Gino Fanelli | photography by Will Kelly

emory is a funny thing. As a society, we are well aware that today we are in direct access to more knowledge, technology and opportunity than any other time in history. However, this doesn’t stop people from staring longingly into the past with rose-tinted glasses. It would be a fruitless endeavor to try and compile every hashtag, Kickstarter, social media campaign or Tumblr account based solely around the reveling in 1990s-era nostalgia. It all boils down to this reminiscent way of thinking that, for some reason, even though we have come so far technologically, we are still missing the same type of elusive, soulful zeitgeist. It is, of course, mostly nonsense, but this doesn’t mean that sort of nostalgia is not a seriously powerful marketing tool. Before delving into what sort of tactics marketing companies use to tickle your ‘90s nostalgia bone, it’s important to point out why such tailored marketing is necessary. Essentially, it is due to the fact that millennials have enormous buying power. As of 2015, according to a Dartmouth study, Generation Y, defined as any people born between 1980 and 2000, are responsible for a total worldwide buying power of $2.45 trillion. Such a massive dollar amount of consumption makes millennials incredibly lucrative targets, and thus, providing those notes of familiarity can offer some benefits. Take the 2014 Kraft commercial for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” Mac n’ Cheese featuring a Vanilla Ice who has clearly seen better days. Or Pepsi’s collaboration with Atari. Or any of the nearly never-ending list of celebrity cameo endorsements and nostalgic product reboots. The goal is simply to engage targets. While there is obviously hopefulness that people watching the commercials will feel some sort of reminiscent emotion and buy the product, the real aim is brand engagement and recognition through social media. It’s about keeping the company name alive and in the consumer’s heart by means of a proverbial “Hey, remember me?” And, often, it is effective. For example, take a look at Coca-Cola’s “Share It Forward” campaign, which quite literally told people to buy more Coca-Cola than they needed — in the classic 20-ounce glass bottles — at Wal-Mart. The result, after the four-week run of the campaign, was a 40 percent rise in sales. However, one could easily pin these marketing campaigns as desperate. Attempting not to necessarily sell a product on its own merits, a company would rather resort to a pandering, manipulative tactic in order to attempt to convince people to buy a product based solely on sentimentality. And, based on recent sales in many of the companies mentioned, that assumption of desperation may be entirely accurate. Kraft sales in virtually every product, from Cool Whip to Mac n’ Cheese, and particularly Jell-O, are on a perpetual decline. Coca-Cola sales have dropped 3 percent since 2014. Virtually all fast food joints are in some form of fiscal trouble, although Burger King is enjoying increasing sales due to the reintroduction of the early-2000-classic Chicken Fries. Why? For one simple reason: people are eating less trash. Young consumers would rather eat local, or at least healthier mac and cheese options than Kraft. First, because better food is now cheaper and much more accessible, and second, because, following the recession, an emphasis on locality and organic, sustainable production has become a facet of the millennial consumer mindset. In retaliation, junk food purveyors opt to hijack the less conscious side of the mind, offering shining trinkets of the past in exchange for neon orange cheese products and Rafael shaped pasta portraits. It’s a floundering marketing tactic, fueled by industries that are likely taking their last breaths.

illustration by Alyssa Minko | design by Dennae Makel Features 23

24 Sports

GYM CLASS

HEROS

by Mich Zaken photography by Daniel Vasta | design by Olivia Konys and Dennae Makel

‘90S EDITION

You wake up and it’s a Tuesday morning in 1997. You put on your favorite tee, brush your teeth, grab some Eggo waffles and rush into the car, backpack falling off your shoulder, to get to school on time. You’re excited as anything — not just because in elementary school you actually enjoyed going to class, but because today you have gym. For us kids, gym is one of the best parts of the day because it was the time when all of our jittery energy was finally released and we got a break from listening to lectures about math or history. What on Earth is better than that? We didn’t play any of the typical sports. No, it was the best and weirdest games our gym teacher could come up with that would soon become a huge part of our elementary memories. When you are a kid, you don’t realize that all the activities chosen by gym teachers are carefully structured to help you and your classmates learn different athletic, cognitive and teamwork skills.

GIANT PARACHUTE

Essentially the poster game for kids in elementary school in the ‘90s, the various games played with this giant, colorful creativity-inducer were mainly to get kids moving. Its key focus was to increase flexibility and mobility in arms and legs and to increase imagination with make-believe games. Something about those primary colors flailing around in such a rhythmic way gets every kid excited to see how high they could get the colors in the air, how large their igloo could be or if the ball they threw on top of the parachute could roll to them first. Not only is it fun, but it stimulates the mind and gets the juices flowing, increasing brain activity and hand-eye coordination. It’s the most simple concept and still the most entertaining game, at least for a few minutes.

SCOOTERS

This was the most fun you could possibly have while simultaneously feeling like your fingers were being chopped off. Remember that? Scooters actually provide great sensory feedback and help physical development in kids around the elementary age. It’s an innovative way for kids to explore and improve their balance and bodily awareness as well. Muscle strength is another big one; moving your legs at the speed of light a clenching your abs until they hurt just to keep from falling off are some of the best ways to not even realize you’re getting a pretty decent workout. Not to mention spinning — along with jumping, hand-

flapping, rocking and more — can also help teachers and parents recognize if a child has a form of autism or other learning disabilities.

DODGEBALL

The most basic incarnation of survival of the fittest. Put simply, the teacher splits the class in two, puts all of the balls on the line in the middle of the floor and as soon as the whistle blows the class goes all in. In more recent years, certain states like New York, Virginia and Connecticut have actually banned or outlawed dodgeball for P.E. classes. According to the National Association of Sports and Physical Education (NAPSE), the game is inappropriate for elementary school because some kids are naturally not as athletic as others and may feel left out. The same thing applies to competitiveness as well. Some studies have been done trying to find a connection between the ego-filled, naturally strong and more athletic students; their psychiatric stability, and the outbreaks of school violence. While there have been variations and changes to the rules in certain school districts to make it easier for everyone, there are thousands of concerned parents and teachers pushing to ban it altogether. In an online discussion post about the game itself, one user argued that the whole point of gym class is to learn about and get more involved with physical education and learn about about fitness and health. When

a child is tagged and is forced to leave the game, they are no longer moving around or exercising at all, instead, just watching from the sidelines while the faster runners and higher jumpers compete in the game. This can discourage children from learning about health or exercising on their own because they associate physical activity with inferiority.

FREEZE TAG

A person is chosen to be “it,” and as soon as the game starts if you’re tagged by “it,” you’ve got to freeze exactly where you are and wait for another person still in the game to come un-tag you. It’s one of the more adrenaline pumping games that helps improve speed — it’s almost like a less structured form of interval training — and agility, because of all the darting back and forth in various directions to keep from getting caught. One of the main reasons this game is played, though, is to help kids learns how to work together and help their fellow classmates while still trying to stay in the game themselves. Freeze tag gets kids talking and can be a stepping stone to increase social interactions and even friendships. It also increases brain activity with mental training and strategic thinking. You have to be focused, strategize how to get around the person who’s “it” while simultaneously trying to unfreeze other players. Play if you dare, but don’t get caught!

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HINDSIGHT ISN'T ALWAYS 20/20:

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he mell of gingerbread cookies, the sight of an overcast sky and falling leaves in autumn or the initial beat of of “Oops! I Did It Again” might send you back in time to when you were young, naive and free of student debt. These harmless triggers bring on a wave of warm nostalgia, and may even leave you in a better mood than you were before the flood of emotion. That being said, nostalgia in excess can be detrimental to our health, especially if we compare how the nostalgia makes us feel about the way things used to be to how we feel about the way things are now.

What Exactly Does “Nostalgia” Mean, and Why Is It Bad? Originally defined by ancient Greek philosophers as “psychological suffering caused by unrelenting yearning to return to one’s homeland” and thought of as a mental disorder until the mid-20th century, nostalgia is not always as innocuous as we would like to think. In fact, it is still considered by the American Psychological Association to be a subset of depression. Its current cultural definition, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again.” While that is not quite as ominous-sounding as psychological suffering, it still calls for pause when assessing the value of an emotion prevalent enough that people have reported feeling it at least once a week. This definition also fails to take into account a crucial component of nostalgia: when you experience it, you are fondly remembering and longing for a time that never actually existed. Those memories, while not entirely fabricated, have been selectively chosen and further tinged and modified by your own brain to seem far better than they truly were. Anyone may find herself yearning for the times her grandparents used to take her out to go sledding, drink hot chocolate and build snowmen, while at the same time forgetting that the reason this happened so frequently was so that they could remove her from the presence of an abusive alcoholic parent. In fact, according to the Association for Consumer Research (ACR), nostalgia even contributes to the tendency of those

with abusive or alcoholic parents to marry abusive or alcoholic spouses by causing an “urge to recreate the past.” I’m not trying to say that this entirely invalidates the undoubtedly happy sledding memory; the problem comes when we associate that happy feeling with our entire childhoods, and as a consequence find ourselves wishing that nothing had changed or that we could go back. Longing for “the good old days” is harmful because the present could never possibly live up to such a falsely idealized vision of the past from which all negative emotions have been filtered out, and the unfair comparison causes a state of denial, filled with unhappiness and despair, that is rooted in self-deception. Idealizing the past will only make the present seem worse than it actually is — and why, once aware of that, would we continue to do that to ourselves? Can’t we just be happy with things the way they are, or work to change them if we are not, even if that is easier said than done? In reality, wistfully remembering or imagining a time when things were “better” does much more harm than good.

Nostalgia’s Harmful (And Less So) Effects Nostalgia’s subsequent false recollections can have especially harmful repercussions on those who already suffer from excessive worrying or anxiety. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Bas Verplanken, a professor of social psychology at the University of Bath, discovered that, after being exposed to nostalgic stimuli, participants who exhibited a “strong worry habit” showed “enhanced symptoms of anxiety and depression” compared to those with the same predisposition in the control group. In other words, the nostalgic triggers caused those who worry “habitually” to become more depressed and anxious than they would have been otherwise. As Dante so poignantly wrote, “There is no greater sorrow/Than to recall a happy time/When miserable.” That isn’t to say nostalgia is ubiquitously detrimental to our well-being. Verplanken cited several studies that have unearthed positive mental effects resulting from nostalgia, such as the easing of existential distress and increasing

feelings of “social connectedness.” However, even those who identified these positive effects recognize that nostalgia is an idealized recollection and has a melancholic effect. Nostalgic emotions — or any other emotions, for that matter — should not be suppressed or ignored. They should be monitored and treated with caution rather

THE ONLY REASON NOSTALGIA IS HARMFUL IS BECAUSE OF THE HUMAN TENDENCY TO

alter memories of times past

than glorified, just like the memories of which they are composed. This brings us to the heart of the matter: the only reason nostalgia is harmful is because of the human tendency to alter memories of times past, similar to how we tend to be impatient for a time in the future when everything is sure to be better than it is now. There is nothing wrong with fond memories, even if their golden sheen is partly imagined, as long as we realize that juxtaposing memories and dreams of the future with present situations may be unnecessarily making our lives more difficult. The best way to avoid the depression that sometimes accompanies nostalgia is to stay mindful of what is going on around you here and now, and not discount it. A balance of all emotions — including sadness, anger, joy, frustration, compassion, excitement and nostalgia — is necessary and healthy. We just have to be careful not to overindulge in any one emotion. With feelings of nostalgia, just like those of any other emotion, we have to be careful how we let them affect us; while there is a beauty in feeling deeply, there is also a danger. Just as we would do our best to stop from hurting our loved ones, either physically or emotionally, during a fit of rage, we must do our best to avoid hurting ourselves through deceptively gilded versions of past memories. Views 27

WOTS photography by Daniel Vasta | design by Dennae Makel

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“My favorite childhood memory would be celebrating Kwanzaa with my family growing up. I thought that was really cool. Just going over community values, and things of that nature, and how we could make things better on a micro level instead of a macro level.”

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“Ok, so my favorite childhood memory is when I was a kid, and ‘Kingdom Hearts 2’ came out. I was very excited for it, because I had played the first one, and it was my favorite game ever. I was gung-ho, and my mom let me go right to GameStop and we got it. I was super duper excited, and I played it with my sister, and that is one of my favorite childhood memories. That bonding over ‘Kingdom Hearts’. 28 Views

“My favorite childhood memory is hanging out with the neighborhood kids. So, over the summer we would all go to each other’s houses and hang out all day. Then we’d go and climb trees and go to the corner store.”

“I’m from India, and my favorite childhood memory was back home there. I was going with my parents to watch the game of cricket. That was my first experience with it. I was like seven years old, and I don’t remember much, but that is something I know I went to, and it was something that was fun, something that I wanted to do again with my parents.”

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REPORTER What’s your fondest is in your childhood memory? extended Magazine

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What’s your fondest childhood memory? Trisha Perry

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Biomedical Engineering “I think the best memory I have, at least of my childhood, would be hanging out with my mom and dad, going to car meets and stuff. I thought it was really cool because I was able to connect with my dad at a different level when I felt like he looked at me as somebody that was very capable of doing higher things”

“I would say that my favorite childhood memory would be when we got my puppy. I was in the third grade, and I just remember being really excited about it. I never had a puppy before, so it was like a whole new world to me. It was really fun that I could grow up, and basically have an animal best friend that’s always there for you, that’s always happy to see you. It was just a great experience.”

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“I’m from Rochester, but my family is from the Virgin Islands. So, one year we all took a trip back down to the Virgin Islands. It’s the first I remember, and it was really tropical and beautiful. The ocean was really blue and clear. I got to swim -I saw a shark- no one believes me, but I saw a goddamn shark.”

“I guess when my dad showed me what games were, and took me to a huge arcade. It basically set my life path. I played Street Fighter 2 when I was like, a wee lad, and at that moment I knew, I just want to make games.”

5:29 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27

Put your [meat] on my face like wet ham slapping a countertop. [Text]

9:47 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29

A monk was on campus giving away Buddhist books. I got confused and gave him 5 dollars. [Text]

10:47 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29

Do you ever spill a handle of liquor on your Wii sports disc? [Text]

11:53 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1

God warned us about premarital calzones. [Text]

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As an artist, do you go up to people in airports and say, “You would make a great Sith Lord, can I draw you?” [Text]

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Overheard at RIT: “Massachusetts is the one above us, right?” “No dude, that’s Canada.” [Text]

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