The Purchase Independent - 9/23/10

the

Q&A

September 23, 2010 | Issue #218

y o u r. i n d y @ g m a i l . c o m

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

editor-in-chief: Ri l ey Ken ny s mith

I’ve never been very good at thank-you notes. This letter, however, is one of the easiest to write because it is the most heartfelt. On Thursday night, our campus was hit by a rainstorm that strained the campus’s water system, exploding a pipe above the publications office in CCN. The ceiling collapsed under the weight and turned the publications and PSGA offices into indoor swamps. The aftermath gives me a list of thank yous, so here I go:

Thank you to the Submission staff who were working in the office when it happened. Your quick actions rescuing the computers and putting garbage cans under the waterfall definitely saved us from a lot of additional damages, and I’m eternally grateful.

Thank you to facilities and maintenance staffs for your immediate response that night and patience with my frazzled mess of a self, asking, “Will it be okay?” the next morning.

Thank you to The Brick for posting photos of the damage and an article before I had even gathered the courage to leave the library and look at it for myself. Your coverage gave me peace of mind and more time to finish my readings that night, and I needed both of those things very badly.

Despite this minor setback, the Indy will continue to publish on schedule. We’re here to serve you, the students, and that’s what we’ll continue to do. If you think there’s a story we should be publishing, why not try your hand at writing it? All students and staff may submit and every piece will be given fair consideration, which I hope will encourage more of you to reach out to the campus through this magazine. This week our cover story is about the disaster in Pakistan, which makes our “flooded” campus look like a paradise. It’s important to keep ourselves in perspective, working on the problems on our own campus while also looking outward and helping those in need around the world.

layout editor: Ta r a C on n elly writers: H i l l a r y An d er s on A da m B reid b art Va n essa Cavan agh Ro se C ros by A l i McG h ee M a da me Q u er y copy editors: E r i c a B as co A l ex Pros cia print manager: Ro byn Wilk in s cover photo by: Ri l ey Ken ny s mith artwork by: To ny Was h in gton web editor: D a n i elle Lemp p The Purchase Independent is a nonprofit news magazine, paid for by the Mandatory Student Activity fee.

We welcome and encourage submissions from readers. The Indy is a forum for campus issues and events, to give students the voice they deserve. Letters, articles, comics, ads, event photography and event listings are welcomed.

The deadline for submissions is every Friday before midnight, and accepted pieces will be published the following Thursday. Publication of submissions is not guaranteed, but subject to the discretion of the editors. No anonymous submissions will be considered, but we will accept use of pseudonyms on a case-by-case basis.

Send all submissions and inquiries to your.indy@gmail.com. Send questions to Madame Query at formspring.me/ madamequery. Back page quotes can be submitted to formspring.me/indybackpage or put in the Back Page Box that hangs on the office door.

Our office is located on the first floor of Campus Center North, room 1011.

Staff meetings are held in the office every Monday night at 9:30; anyone is welcome to join.

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CAMPUS

TOGEY THE BIRD

BY HILLARY ANDERSON & RILEY KENNYSMITH

P HO T O BY K AT E MCCO R MICK

Name: Togey the Bird Age: A few seasons, give or take Weight: 13 ounces Wingspan: 8 inches Telltale Togey moments: He often assumes a

posture that makes it seem like he’s listening to your conversation, and will gladly hop around if you choose to visit with him while day-tripping.

The newest guest on campus has become an overnight celebrity and mascot at Purchase.

He’s an apparently flightless starling generally found on the path between the Hub, Terra Ve and Starbucks, and occasionally visits empty shoes in the quad. Some students have christened him Togey, while others refer to him simply as “the Purchase bird” or “that little starling,” and one can’t help but wonder how long our feathered friend will be around. Can our brick-covered campus compare to Togey’s varied previous visitations? The new north mall doesn’t seem alluring enough to bring us such a special bird and the south mall has lost all its appeal to his kind since they cut down the hammock trees,

so it seems there’s little here to attract a starling to stay and socialize like this. There are rumors he’s come from a mystical place, which would explain his speckled appearance and nonaversion to strangers. But what if he’s just a normal bird with a messed-up wing? Some say he’s a temporary visitor, while others say they know he’s made Purchase his home, and the real question underneath all of this is whether he’s impervious to the weather. We’re all donning boots and scarves as the temperature drops, but birds normally migrate before the snow hits and Togey appears not to have that option. He spends all his time with students and never hangs out with other birds—what sort of avian arguments does his past hold? Perhaps he never learned the secrets of migration. Perhaps he’s just a camerawhore, feeling at home amidst the many Purchase paparazzi fascinated by him. He’s certainly known to perform a few tricks when cameras are rolling, from bathing in Starbucks cups to sharing the crust of your Terra Ve pizza and even occasionally landing on students’ hands. Whether he flew up from a rabbit hole or fell down from a cloud (“For the Birds” anyone?) we hope he’s here to stay.

(Please, though, don’t badger him. Don’t try to pick him up, and be careful if he jumps onto your hand, because people and birds can get each other sick. He is still a wild animal, as much as he may act like a semi-domesticated pet, and should be treated with respect.)

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FILL UP MY CUP

BY ALI MCGHEE

There is something so intriguing about the Hub, the convenient mecca of all foods bad yet delicious. It is there for you whether you are cramming for exams and need some brain food, or the more likely case where you just have the munchies. Even though the pizza is questionable and the cheese pretzels sometimes end in indigestion, there has always been a food item at the Hub remaining consistently delicious throughout the years. Until now.

Many Purchase students are up-in-arms about their Coyote Jack fries. Last week’s issue of the Indy posted a backpage quote from a concerned student: “Dear Hub, stop scamming me.” For those of you readers who are more Terra Ve-inclined and not Hub astute, this semester Coyote Jacks has not served their fries in the cute cup with the logo stamped on it like they used to. Instead, fries are served in what appears to be a coffee cup. Yes, folks, a coffee cup. I thought they were meant for liquids, not precious salted fries. The sign claiming that these cups will give you the same amount as the previous cups tries to clear the air, but does it?

When I look at that sign I just think of Terra Ve. Didn’t Chartwells tell us students that it would only be closed for a few days? The wait turned into a semester, then an entire year passed by before it reopened. When it finally did open up again it was lackluster. If we are deprived of these Coyote Jack cups any longer, who knows what could happen to the amount of fries we have a right to. The sign says that filled, it should weigh 8 oz, just like it would have with

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PH O T O BY K A T E MCCO R MICK

the old cups. This is just fine and dandy, but these coffee cups are shorter and have a thicker paper than the old ones, which were tall, thin cardboard. Eight ounces, my ass.

Every time I get in line with my fries I tell the cashier “meal and super flex,” but truthfully I don’t know if I should be using that super flex. Is it really worth it? Paying for an item of food I know could be up to better standards than recent service is not my idea of a good time. Not to mention how incredibly awkward and hard it is to actually hold the cup without having all of your fries spill before you can even sit down. Enough was enough, I had to find out. Were these coffee cup Coyote Jack fries worth the super flex and embarrassment? After counting fries from various people’s orders, I found the average to be about 60 fries. Compare this to Burger King’s fries, with about 58 fries in a large cup. “I guess Coyote Jack’s is not so bad after all,” I thought, as I walked up to the cashier with a new coffee cup of fries. Then I slipped on some spilled Pepsi and my fries went flying everywhere. I want my old cups back. The amount of fries may very well be fair, but the Hub is scamming me out of my social graces.

FOOD

KICKIN’ IT TAIM

BY ROSE CROSBY

So, it’s the third week and if you haven’t already, you are probably itching to get off campus. Not that Purchase isn’t beautiful this time of year, it’s just you’re probably ready to get away from the buffet of the D-Hall and all set to burst from another Hub burrito. As you may know already, New York City is a mere Metro North ride away from campus. Or, as of last year, a five-dollar Purchase shuttle ride away.

For most, when you think NYC, you think big spending—especially when it comes to food.

NYC is synonymous with fine dining, famous executive chefs and Michelin Star ratings. It’s hard to find food on a budget, or I should say, quality food. However, when and if you’re looking for good food, you can find it.

Over the summer, New York Magazine featured the “101 Best Sandwiches in New York,” and so, for my love of sandwiches, I began the daunting task of sifting through the list. And there it was: falafel at Taim; the perfect place to bring my Philadelphia native, Israeli boyfriend.

FYI: falafel is a fried ball made of groundup chick peas typically eaten with pita, sabich is pita stuffed with fried eggplant and hard boiled eggs.

The low down: Taim, from the Hebrew word for delicious, is located in NYC’s West Village neighborhood. At 222 Waverly Place near Perry Street, it is a quaint, quintessential NYC ‘hole in the wall’ kind of place. Completely unaware of what to expect, we didn’t realize the line on the street was for the place we were looking for. Taim is no bigger than a typical dorm room: a register and food bar on one side and a modest, five-person countertop on

the other. The place was near bursting at its seams with people munching on both the bench outside and on the curb. A huge chalkboard lines the wall above the cash register with a fullcolored coded menu. Taim features traditional Mediterranean favorites: falafel and sabich, in addition to a smoothie bar and other hot and cold beverages. Taim is home to vegetarian, vegan and kosher friendly eats. It is big on taste and easy on the wallet. A falafel sandwich (which I strongly recommend) will cost you only $5.25!

And if you’re in the mood for sabich, it’s only a dollar more. But what if you can’t decide what kind of falafel/sabich to have? Easy. Get a platter! Both falafel/sabich platters are only $10. The falafel sandwich comes on either a whole wheat or white pita, with hummus, tahini (sauce made from sesame paste), Israeli salad (cucumber, tomato, and onion), and marinated cabbage. However, choices of other toppings like feta cheese and s’rug (a Yemeni hot sauce) are available.

The boyfriend and I both had a falafel sandwich but needed a cool pairing for a warm day. And while he preferred the sourness of the homemade ginger mint lemonade, I enjoyed the deliciously sweet homemade brown sugar lemonade, bringing our grand total to $18 and change. And because of the crowd, we took our food outside to the streets – literally – walked for a bit and found a nice shady spot to sit. But if you’re up to it, you could take a ten-minute walk over to Washington Square Park to enjoy your food.

Happy Ventures!

This article is published courtesy of Her Campus. http://hercampus.com/purchase

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IT’S TIME TO LOOK AT PAKISTAN

BY VANESSA CAVANAGH

It would be an understatement to say that God just pissed away his Sunday night six-pack of PBR* all over Pakistan during Ramadan. It would be even more of an understatement to say that anyone has paid any attention.

A casual survey of Purchase students on the subject turned out to be scary and enlightening. There has to be some kind of reasonable explanation for the media’s (and consequently, the public’s) lack of knowledge about the disaster. Most who I asked about the devastating floods in the world’s sixth most populated country denied knowing about it.

The few that had heard about it were unable to explain how it happened, how many people were affected, or, well…pretty much anything about it.

To put it in perspective, if 1/5th of America were living in mud, drinking contaminated water, faced with outbreaks of cholera cases in the thousands, we would know about it. The American media (most notably the television networks) had been seized into a craze over rich white girl problems and a possible mosque construction site two long blocks from the old World Trade Center siteleaving little airtime for millions of ill-fated Pakistani flood victims. A LexisNexis search for the terms ‘Pakistan’ and ‘Flood’ from July 31st (when the deluge began, killing 800 people in two days) to August 6th returned about 1,100 results. ‘Mosque’ and ‘New York’ yeilded 1,300 hits while ‘Lindsay Lohan’, in that same time span, over 650 hits. Some suggested that the current state of ‘islamaphobia’ in regard to the

Mosque controversy has left people less inclined to donate towards Muslims affected by a disaster.

Considering 1/4th of the country believes Obama is a Muslim, (can I lol?) this isn’t too hard to believe.

Few Americans saw the heart breaking scenes of eight million Pakistanis displaced from their homes, the complete submergence of cities, the destruction of crops crucial to the area, infrastructure ruined, etc. News junkies wondered, as a catastrophe more destructive than the Haiti earthquake and the 2004 tsunami combined unfolded—why isn’t this on television...at all? Few reporters did cover the floods, but they were awarded with limited air time and unfavorable time slots. Compare this to the coverage of the Haitian earthquakethe benefit concerts, the outpouring of aid, the medical and food supplies so desperately needed—it’s as if Americans are dealing with some kind of donor fatigue, even though a dollar and a half from each American would have met the U.N. aid appeal. Compassion tells us to donate, common sense tells us not to. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

By the beginning of September, Americans had donated $25 million dollars.

Yeah, sure, twenty-five mil doesn’t sound so bad.

Until you find out that in the five weeks following the Haiti earthquake, Americans managed to scrounge up an impressive $900 million.

Disaster relief experts (how does one become a disaster relief expert, by the way?) claim that earthquakes will always raise more donations

*By assuming God drinks PBR, I am also assuming he was a Purchase student.

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GLOBAL than a flood will—even if the flood is ten times more destructive. Apparently, a slower rising death toll removes some kind urgency from donor’s thoughts. I don’t know about you, but when my bathroom floods half an inch I would go as far as to say that I like to act pretty damn urgently. I don’t like getting my feet wet. I’d assume anyone wouldn’t like getting their entire house wet. Or their country for that matter.

The Pakistani government isn’t doing itself any favors. If the chain-smoking, guitar playing kids in the quad don’t know where Pakistan is located on a map, who can expect them to understand the political and social ramifications of what’s happened? It’s no surprise potential donators are turned off because they believe aid money might be pocketed by the officials who have subdued humanitarian aid efforts for their own country.

An administration who spends most of their money on nuclear weapon development instead of on it’s own people shouldn’t necessarily be trusted. But it’s easy to forget that there are people who actually don’t have nuclear labs in their now-flooded basements. Instead of letting the groups who have the money swoop in and save the day (these would be terrorist organizations) we should, as a country, be capable of rationalizing. Americans of all people should realize that an individual is not always reflected by their government.

It’s entirely possible to donate through an organization that doesn’t go through the Pakistani government. It’s too much trouble to navigate away from the Facebook homepage, I know. I understand. But for anyone interested in donating, I recommend http://www.gfa.org/, or Unicef. Gospel for Asia is a religious outreach

program and is accepting donations, clothes, food, et cetera. And all the money donated goes straight to the field, and not toward nuclear holocaust funding (because you were obviously thinking that).

With the majority of Americans getting their news from television in the 21st century, it’s easy to see why not many of us know about what happened halfway across the world and why it matters. As it stands, 21 million Pakistanis are homeless and the death toll is roughly 2,000.

For the past two months, flood waters have been moving from north to south, creating a brand new disaster cycle everyday. According to the U.N., as of September 10th there were more than 700,000 cases of acute diarrhea, at least 800,000 acute respiratory infections, nearly 1 million cases of skin disease and almost 183,000 suspected malaria cases reported. Yum.

A few google searches and some extra clicking could come as an enlightening reminder as to why we’re so lucky to live in America—we can eat cheese fries while watching Gossip Girl in our warm, dry dorm rooms. I don’t think anyone in Pakistan will have the pleasure of doing that for a few years.

AMOUNT OF MONEY GENERATED WITHIN FIVE WEEKS OF A DISASTER $1.9 billion

$1.1 billion $900 million

$900 million

Tsunami Relief

Haiti Earthquake

$25 million Hurricane Katrina

9/11

Pakistan Floods

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DEFIANCE OHIO

BY HILLARY ANDERSON

Last Monday’s show brought a huge crowd to the Stood. Purchase bands Wood Spider and Nick Corbo & Animal Names opened for Connecticut-based Mutiny Amongst Friends, and the night’s headliner Defiance, Ohio. All the bands were based in folk, from acoustic to punk. By the time Defiance, Ohio took the stage the crowd was ravenous for a show that most of them had come specifically to see.

Excitement in the air was palpable, along with the sweat of about a hundred punks.

Defiance, Ohio did not disappoint, bringing an intense set as they usually do. Defiance is known for their extensive touring and crazy shows.

Crowd surfing was abundant, and at one point, I witnessed two surfers high-fiving. Purchase students had this to say about the show: Alyssa Cohen, freshman;

“The show was amazing. It more than fulfilled my expectations. The crowd was so great and the music was awesome, I’m honestly so glad that we have events like this here at Purchase.”

swaying crowd to close out the night by lifting up my friend to crowd-surf. When the end of their set was faced with chants of “one more song!” one of the members complied by doing an a cappella rendition of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” while the sweat-soaked audience belted along.”

Colin Leonard, freshman;

“I had never been into the folk punk sub-genre before this show. Going in and seeing the mass of crust punks waiting around was somewhat annoying because it confirmed my views about the band. For me, Defiance Ohio had always been my town’s band of choice and I had rebelled against that. I had never wanted to be some drug-addled teen anarchist. But Monday night I was ready to be open-minded. The musicianship, lyrics, and stage banter all drew the crowd in and got them pretty rowdy. Their new, more electronic sound made them more accessible for new fans. All in all I became a fan Monday night; Defiance could really play. “ Madeleine Harrington, junior;

“I crowd-surfed like three times, SUCK IT!” Stephen Faught, senior;

“The Defiance, Ohio show was an example of the perfect Purchase show. Whitson’s was packed with people, which was surprising considering it was a Monday night. Defiance, Ohio played a set of newer material and old favorites, and the crowd responded by shouting along with every word. By the time they’d played a few songs, I’d lost count of how many shirtless strangers had put their arm around my shoulder while we all sang. I heard a friend call my name right before their last song, so I worked my way through the

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Wood Spider

http://www.myspace.com/hellowoodspider Nick Corbo and Animal Names

http://www.myspace.com/ncorbo Mutiny Amongst Friends

http://www.myspace.com/mutinyamongstfriends Defiance, Ohio

http://www.defianceohio.terrorware.com

CAMPUS

MAKING A DREAM TEAM

BY ADAM BREIDBART

The Purchase Women’s Tennis team is off to a hot start this year and the backbone of the team is hard-working senior Colline Laninga, named the team’s MVP at the end of last season. They were just one match away from the conference tournament title last year and hope to make the jump from semi-finals to Skyline champions this season.

“I was so pumped to get MVP last season,” said Laninga. “It was really rewarding because I worked so hard that season and pushed myself and just to be recognized for how much I put myself out there was really great.”

Laninga has been playing through a serious injury this season and is still a top member of the team. In last year’s quarterfinal she went up for an overhead and landed wrong, severely tearing several ligaments in her ankle. It still has not fully healed, but she plays through it by wearing a brace and icing it after every match.

Despite the injury, Laninga is on the #1 doubles team and #3 singles on the roster.

This year’s team is expected to push far through the post-season and give a hard fight to formidable opponents such as Mount St Mary, Bard and St. Josephs. This semester’s roster of 13 girls includes five rookies and the team is using new strategies to mixing up the doubles teams and pair rookies with experienced players. “It helped this year that we have more returnees than newcomers; since we already had a sense of a team we were able to welcome the new players in a much better way. Last year we were thrown together not really knowing one another,” said

Laninga. “This year we’re a lot more willing to push ourselves and really play to our greatest potential.” The results are great so far with a winning record and a strong team chemistry.

Although it seems like tennis is a big part of Laninga’s schedule, it’s not the only thing that keeps her occupied. “As a Drama Studies major, you give your life to the theater, no matter what aspect, so it’s hard to balance life, sports and theater,” said Colline. Laninga has performed in several productions over her three years at Purchase but her favorite experience here was playing Wendy in Stacey Juengling’s take on Peter Pan, where she had to learn aerial acrobatics and stage combat for the performances. “Theater is like a bad relationship,” says Colline. “You give your life to one production for three days then you forget about it and move on.” As a senior this year, Colline will direct and produce her own take on Seven Keys to Baldpate by George M. Cohan. She plans to seat the audience on the stage right in the middle of the “world of madness.”

A bigger feat than managing her time around sports and theatre is that she is about to graduate at the age of 20. Colline had skipped the sixth grade and started college at Simon’s Rock College in what would have been her senior year of high school, later transferring to Purchase College for her sophomore year when she was 17. About to enter the real world two years sooner than the average senior, Colline has quite a resume already and it’ll be an adventure to watch what she adds to that list in her future.

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MADAME QUERY HAS YOUR REMEDY How can I encourage my roommate the leave the room? He has no friends and sits on WoW all day. I’m tired of never having the room to myself.

Your roommate does have friends, they just happen to be on World of Warcraft.

However, Madame does understand the importance of socialization as well as alone time.

Your roommate needs to get off the computer and communicate with others in real time while you need a little space.

If your roommate really enjoys this popular online action role playing game, he might actually enjoy the more social alternative live action role playing. The activity otherwise known as LARPing. Madame has not checked out the LARPing community, but she hears they are a friendly bunch. It is a good way to get in touch with the campus and he won’t develop carpel tunnel.

If computers are more his thing and he isn’t so much into acting, then maybe you should ask around your friends to see if any of them are into the virtual world scene. Who knows maybe you have a friend who has their own second life happening. Sharing your friends could very well allow you some peace, quiet and temporary loneliness. But if the guy won’t budge, tell you’re about to get laid in five minutes and you need the room. That is something anyone can understand and you’ll have about an hour of alone time.

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I kissed a boy and I liked it, the problem is I have a girlfriend. What should I do?

Uh oh. Sounds like someone just joined the bulk of the male population at Purchase. So maybe you don’t know if you like girls or if you like boys or if you like boys and girls. Whatever, that’s fine, its okay to get a little experimental up in these brick walls. Your real problem is the girlfriend. If you want to try new things and see what you like, that’s great! First you need to dump her. It’s not fair to you or her if you go behind her back and try to keep another identity from her.

Here’s how things will go down if you don’t end it: You two are out one night at a mutual friend’s party. At around 12 you bullshit some story that you don’t feel good, but really you’re going to meet a cute guy back at your place. You tell her that you really don’t need her to stay over with you because you’ll get her sick. (It’s not only obnoxious when us girls want to help you when you’re “sick,” but it also sucks when you make up some excuse that you’re looking out for us.) Whoever it is comes over your place, you’re shacking up and then all of the sudden your girlfriend walks in because she forgot her phone. She is left heartbroken, never able to date again.

Talk to her. Avoid this situation. Maybe she’s cool with an open relationship, or maybe she’ll completely understand and separate so you two can start seeing other people. I will tell you one thing though; no girl is cool with being a beard.

A DV I C E

Madame Query, what is in the Purchase Punch?

MMmmm Purchase Punch.

When Madame Query was a freshman, she, like many other freshmen on a Friday night, went off gallivanting through the Olde looking for that “hot” party scene with a huge hoard of other kiddies. Of course we didn’t know anyone who lived there, but there was always the hope of maybe getting drunk and dancing a little amongst the inebriated older, wiser students.

On one particular night my friends and I heard of a birthday party happening on J Street. I’m assuming someone made a Facebook event public and one of us happened to see it pop up in our newsfeed (not that I suggest you do this, current freshmen). We headed to the party at around 11ish and thankfully the seniors hosting it were drunk enough not to care that there were a bunch of freshmen roaming around their party. It was kind of surreal how perfect it worked out, as well as how drunk these seniors were at only 11 o’clock. Out of nowhere a friend comes running over to me with a red solo cup to exclaim he had found the infamous Purchase Punch!

That was first time I had ever heard of the beverage. The friend led me to the kitchen where a too-drunk hostess was pouring whoever was in sight a solo cup. I was given my cup and I just looked at it. Within a half hour I was shwasted.

Purchase Punch can be potent or it can be so-so, but it’s always a classic. My first experience with PP was made with grain alcohol.

This may explain why the hostess was so friendly to us little freshmen. I find that most batches, though, are made with really cheap vodka that even a homeless person wouldn’t want to be seen with, such as Dubra or Popov. Of course the mixer thrown in is always Hawaiian Punch.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS

TO MADAME QUERY http://www.formspring.me/madamequery

A response to last week’s column:

There’s nothing wrong with having sex on your period, and nothing wrong with encouraging people to do so - after all, it is the safest time in your cycle that you can have sex if you aren’t on a hormonal birth control - but what if the reader actually just DOESN’T want to have sex on her period? A lot of women feel like crap when they’re menstruating. If her boyfriend’s been hounding her repeatedly to have sex with him, it sounds like he isn’t thinking about what she wants. Perhaps I shouldn’t expect a whole lot from a student advice column, but I just can’t help but feel a little put off that the response was solely limited to “Suck it up, fuck him,” without the slightest hint of “It’s your choice if you want to have sex with him or not, and he needs to deal with that.”

-Aiyana Knauer

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*some quotes have been rewritten for legibility or to preserve the anonymity of the submitter