The Purchase Independent - 09/20/2012

T PURCHASE H E INDEPENDENT

ISSUE 270 SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

y o u r. i n d y @ g m a i l . c o m editor-in-chief:

Ró i sí n McCarty layout editor:

M el i ssa Fos ter writers:

D yl a n G reen A l yc e Pelleg rin o M i k e Relu zco N o el l e Moore Ste ph a n ie Sp en cer La u r a Meltzer Ja k e Mu r p hy print manager: Tommy Roach cover photo by: Jake Mur phy artwork by: Mark Zubrovich web design by: Tommy Roach Cindy Mack

The Purchase Independent is a non-profit news magazine, paid for by the Mandatory Student Activity fee.

We welcome and encourage submissions from readers. The Independent is a forum for campus issues and events, to give students the voice they deserve. Letters, articles, 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.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Our printer, Gerald, is feeling rather ill lately, and none of the technicians/doctors know what’s going on or how to treat him. For the time being, we’re going to be distributing on Fridays rather than Thursdays because we have to outsource and print off campus.

The issue will still be uploaded online on Thursdays and hopefully our printer situation will work out. We, along with Jasmine Rippey, our CoCOaS, are working with the company to get it fixed, or somehow acquiring a new printer.

I really hope everyone takes the few minutes to read the article about the Food Co-op. I personally feel that this is a very, very important part of the Purchase campus and the culture here in general, and if you feel the same way, please do what you can to help. We will have further reporting as time goes on, and new information surfaces.

Have a wonderful week!

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

Calling all students!

wants you!

Make The Indy YOUR paper!

Write, pitch ideas, illustrate, submit backpage quotes.

Meetings are on Monday nights at 9:30 in CCN 1011.

For more information, email your.indy@gmail.com Submit Backpage quotes: formspring.me/indybackpage Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/purchaseindy Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/purchaseindy

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Political Filmmaking Is Singed on Both Sides

BY Dylan GREEN

Nowadays, more and more attention is being poured onto the laps of directors of politically minded documentaries, especially after the runaway success of Michael Moore’s 2004 Bush Administration deconstruction, “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Moore, a famously liberal commentator whose filmography has straddled such topics as health care (“SiCKO”), the 2008 financial crisis, (“Capitalism: A Love Story”), and General Motors’ decline and impact on his hometown (Roger & Me), is also infamous for being one of the most biased and one-sided filmmakers in the world, no matter how good his intentions are.

We’ll get to why that is in a minute, because there’s now another commentator turned filmmaker who is seeking out Moore’s crown: Dinesh D’Souza. The Indian-born conservative pundit, author of The Roots of Obama’s Rage, and the unofficial “Anti-Michael Moore,” has staked his claim on the manipulative and biased political documentary bracket with the film adaptation of his novel, “2016: Obama’s America,” which attempts to link Obama’s “re-modeling” of America to possible ties with anti-colonialism theologies.

Both Moore and D’Souza use their status as controversial political hotheads, along with various forms of cinematic trickery and theatricality, to invoke false sympathy and cheat their way to profits and (scarily enough) mass media attention.

1. Artificially heightening tension

Too often, documentaries will play evocatively sappy and/or ironically disturbing music clips juxtaposed with melancholic shots of de-

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molished houses, or disapproving interviewees staring into space on camera. Your scene of wartorn neighborhoods, impoverished communities, or disadvantaged civilians isn’t going to be made better by having a somber orchestral score or “Hall of The Mountain King” playing in the background.

In Moore’s case, he uses “Wouldn’t it Be Nice” by The Beach Boys in a scene of impoverished Flint multiple times throughout “Roger & Me,” while D’Souza will punctuate the end of an interview with Obama’s own brother with a score so somber that you can feel the emotion in the teardrops falling off of the horn player’s cheek. Being real “un-scripted” moments, there shouldn’t be a need for music to remind us that these moments are filled with sorrow.

2. Mishandled statistics

Statistics give us categorized numerical information in an easy to digest chart or graph that is easy to read, yes. Rapidly throwing barely related or explained statistics across a screen without time for the audience to consider what they’ve seen is just another cheap way to force out those sympathy points. No matter how a bar or pie graph may help to simplify the percentage of people living under the poverty line (Moore’s own “Capitalism: A Love Story”) or the number of voters not happy with President Obama’s healthcare bill (“Obama’s America”), at the end of the day, a graph is a graph, not a quickly dispensed Kleenex.

3. What about the rest of the interview?

They say that the devil’s in the details, and if that’s truly the case, Moore and D’Souza

movies

may be hiding a lot of demons on their respective cutting room floors.

These men are frequently guilty of setting up interviews and visibly cutting their subjects short as soon as they get the exact tidbit of defamation that they need. Worthless anecdotal information is one thing. Entire sections about company benefits (“Capitalism: A Love Story”), or experiences with or around President Obama (“Obama’s America”), is another thing entirely.

What’s the point of a trivial and brief dissection of political documentaries, you may find yourself asking? Politics are extremely important to how we live our lives and exercise our basic human rights in the United States, especially in with the future of America hanging in the balance of a tumultuous election.

While film has always been a reliable source for information we should all learn to take a step back and examine what exactly the filmmaker is trying to say instead of simply lapping it up. Michael Moore and Dinesh D’Souza may be intelligent and highly controversial men, but not even they are above utilizing such cheap gimmicks to gain sympathy and attention for their particular causes. Remember that grain of salt with your food for thought, folks!

Human Spirit

BY ALYCE PELLEGRINO

Merve Aydin was the name of the woman who finished the 800m race in tears at the 2012 Olympic games. The Turkish runner injured her ankle early into the race ensuring that a medal would not be in her future, but that didn’t stop her. Limping and in tears, Aydin finished the race to cheers and applause from the crowd around her.

Most have praised Aydin, claiming that this is what the Olympics are about. However, not all shared the same feeling. If anyone is a part of the blogging network Tumblr, you’ve seen this moment depicted time and time again in gif form.

Most have inspirational messages underneath them, others have criticism.

Why would a person, an athlete nonetheless, someone who knows how important it is to not overexert the body, ever continue in that condition? Better to get the injury treated right away, cause as little damage as possible, and make sure it heals correctly. But if you were at the Olympics, perhaps your one and only shot at these games, and you took such a detrimental blow, would you finish?

I suppose the better question really is, would you be able to live with yourself if you didn’t finish? This is something more than pride, though it can sometimes be confused as such. Just because your body has broken down does not mean your spirit has to follow suit; this is the thing that drives so many of us forward. We need to be able to say that we did it. We completed it, and we never gave up, even if we could not win.

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Never Shout Anthrax

BY NOELLE MOORE

The recent outbreak of hantavirus, arising from Yosemite National Park, has been described as “unprecedented.� Officials have claimed more than one infection in the same place in the same year is very rare for this deadly affliction. Startlingly, the park had to extend warnings to over 230,000 recent visitors who may have had potential contact with the virus. Infection of a ninth person has been confirmed, after the death of three individuals. There is no cure for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which kills one third of those infected, but early detection can raise chances of survival.

Hantavirus is a virus that is carried primarily by deer mice, but can be transmitted to humans through contact with mice excrement. The Center for Disease Control has issued a worldwide alert to anyone who has visited Yosemite between June and August of 2012. The park attracts hundreds of people each year, leaving the potential for a severe outbreak if all were to come into contract with the virus. One of the characteristics of the deadly virus is that it can incubate for six weeks after the onset or exposure, leaving those who contracted the infection to not display the flu-like symptoms until much later, when they can be easily dismissed as the common cold.

While not as familiar as some other viruses, there are those that have gained a reputation. In recent years, the term anthrax has induced panic on a national scale. Anthrax is a lethal disease caused by a bacterium that releases spores that can enter the body through contact with the skin, inhalation, and ingestion. Some of the more frightening as-

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pects of anthrax are that it is capable of surviving in a harsh environment for hundreds of years, and is naturally found on all continents. Anthrax has become synonymous with biological warfare, due to the anthrax attacks following 9/11 where letters containing the spores were delivered to news offices and U.S. Senators. Ultimately, five people died from the exposure during the incident.

Recently, anthrax made an presence once again across the pond. British health authorities have reached out to caution the heroin users after a second addict succumbed to the infection. It is possible but unclear if these British occurrences are linked to eight other cases throughout Europe that have emerged since June. While anthrax cannot be transmitted from one person to another, it is especially dangerous because the disease can progress quickly and become almost untreatable by the time symptoms show.

It is proof that even though advancement has occurred on a global scale over the past few centuries, simple bacterium and viruses have the potential to derail and combat our medical technologies. We’d like to believe that the days of small pox, measles, and influenza endemics are far behind us, but the truth is that these naturally occurring viruses can cripple us as easily as it does the animals we like to believe we are superior to.

info

GET CASH FAST

BY MIKE RELUZCO

It’s hard out here for a college student.

Everybody’s trying to make the money to buy that one pack of cigarettes, or that one handle of vodka for the party this weekend. I know how it is. I am one of you. That’s why I joined QueOpinas.com. That is also why I am currently a depraved madman.

At first, when I saw the commercials on television for survey websites, I thought it must be a scam. Then they kept saying ‘cash.’ I started having those moments when that single word, ‘cash,’ started to resonate in my mind as though I were in some poorly executed film. So, as sure as a vulture will go to rotting meat, I made my way through the survey websites, eventually landing at QueOpinas.com.

QueOpinas is not advertised often. It’s a subsidiary of another survey website. QueOpinas is directed at those of hispanic origin. I wanted to be offended, but the word ‘cash’ was still ringing in my head. So I signed up. I took a survey. They gave me 105 points. When I get to 1000, they say, I’ll get $20.

$20 is a lot of money.

So now, upon the opening of every survey they offer, I receive an email notification, which I immediately click on to take the survey. This is where it gets hard.

At the beginning of every survey they take basic demographics. Age. Male/Female. Occupations. At first I was telling the truth: I am 20.

I am Cuban. I am Male. I worked in automotives.

Apparently, though, this disqualified me from the survey. Who would have thought that they had

enough opinions from the 20-year-old Cuban mechanics?

So I started to lie. I am a 40-year-old Puerto Rican mother of two, working in marketing and PR. I am 70 years old and I used to work in manufacturing. I made up new names, new ages, and whole new lives to become the people that the hispanic survey websites wanted me to be, but survey after survey I am repeatedly denied.

To this date, I have approximately 27 personalities. One is a monkey. I am losing my mind, but somehow I have yet to make that twenty dollars.

As my mental state degenerates, only one question comes to mind: what kind of qualifications do I truly need to take these stupid surveys?

How many more people must I become before I finally cash in on that twenty dollars so I really can buy that next goddamned pack of cigarettes?

Update: Mike finally got his $20 by impersonating a 38 year-old Argentinian father of 12.

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I’M COVERED IN BEES

BY TOMMY ROACH

(Disclaimer: All of these quotes are fake and done for the sake of parody. Not slander. Please don’t sue me.)

Every fall, Purchase students return to campus excited to start a new semester. The weather is perfect, the campus looks gorgeous (for the most part), and almost nothing has gone wrong yet. Almost nothing. Fall is accompanied by one especially awful thing: Bees.

They strike constantly, without warning, and are incredibly persistent. The bees mean business, and they’re not taking no for an answer.

But one needs to ask: Why here? Why are Purchase bees so relentlessly aggressive? Do they have something against our campus?

In my investigations regarding this matter, I uncovered a shocking truth. The bees are actually part of a rogue sect of art-hating bureaucrats, out to ruin the fun for all of us.

My source, who wishes to be referred to as “Deep Buzz,” tells me that this group of crazy zealots have declared war on the art world, and have decided to start their attack on art schools across America.

“They first thought it’d be a good idea to go for the dubstep DJs,” Deep Buzz explained.

“They figured, ‘Hey, those guys seem like wimps, so why not?’ That guy Skrillex put a stop to that with his crazy hair though.”

Deep Buzz went on to tell me that after this failure, the group, known as The Bee Party Movement, decided to go then for the weakest looking demographic of artists: art students.

“They figure it like this; art students bare-

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ly get any sleep, and are always so hopped up on caffeine they’re too tired to fight anything as small as a bee off,” Buzz continued. “So taking them out would be an easy first step to a world without art.”

The question that now looms overhead is clear. What can Purchase students do to fight these bee insurgents off from this lovely community? Is there any way the school can win this war?

World-renowned bee experts Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Seinfeld weighed in on the matter, hoping to shed some light for the terrified masses of Purchase students.

“What’s the deal with these bees?” Seinfeld asked. “One minute you’re sitting there eating your lunch peacefully, enjoying the sunlight, and next thing you know an angry swarm of bees is trying to take it from you. One of them even asked me for a cigarette, and then bullied me into giving him the entire pack. I’m glad I don’t go to this school.”

“I feel like some of this could be traced back to me,” Winfrey added. “When those ‘everybody gets BEEEEEEES’ pictures surfaced, I didn’t realize that an extremist group would take this as a call to action. I thought the Internet was just clever. Maybe I’ll try to get their leader on my show to talk some sense into him.”

Also approached on this matter was geologist Bill Nye.

“See, this just proves my theory about bee evolution,” Nye said. “All these apiologists, or bitches that study bees, for those who aren’t in the sciencey-know-how, are saying that the bees are

info dying out. False. They are all just evolving into art-hating businessmen trying to undermine the global economy and boost honey sales through the roof. I swear I’m not crazy.”

As it stands now, the only thing Purchase students can truly do is wait out the swarm. A cautionary word to the wise though; these bees seem to dislike cigarette smoke like the rest of the bee-community. However, what makes them different from the rest is that these bees just get angrier and more aggressive when you light a cigarette, so refrain from doing that if you don’t want to die.

DUMPSTER DIVING

BY JAKE MURPHY

The Internet has brought so many things to the world that seemed impossible 20 years ago: news on the spot, online shopping, and chat rooms. But one thing it brought that many have argued about are hackers.

Lately, hacker groups, called “Hacktivists,” have claimed to be hacking for a better cause; bringing down sites linked to Internet Censorship and other wrong doings, and has received quite a bit of coverage from news outlets across the globe.

One hactivist group, “Anonymous,” has gained world wide notoriety for their online revolts and Denial-of-Service attacks on major corporations and government websites; even going as far as attacking the Pentagon. For those that don’t know, Anonymous is a self proclaimed Internet vigilante group that have taken down such sites as the Westboro Baptist Church, pornography websites, official sites related to the religion of Scientology, and many others.

Just last week, Anonymous crashed all servers linked to Godaddy.com, a site for domains, for being a link to the Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA.

The hacktivist group has been reported as standing up for what is right, but not in the right way.

Officials have condemned their acts, while many activists approve, and even support them by wearing Guy Fawkes mask at protests and in public.

Governments around the world have promised a crackdown on hacktivist groups, Anonymous in particular, and bringing them to justice. There is no knowing what the next move against the group or by the group will be, as both are kept secretive. But one thing is for sure, and that is that Anonymous isn’t going anywhere.

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The Late night network

BY STEPHANIE SPENCER

To say that funnyman Mike Cronin is unnecessarily hard on himself would be a dramatic understatement. In spite of the booming success his show, Purchase Late Night, experienced with Purchase Television, Cronin, a junior, still convinces himself that he was somehow not living up to his own expectations.

However, his remarkable ability to make audiences laugh and charismatically engage fellow Purchase writers to join him in such comedic ventures continue to prove him wrong. So wrong, in fact, that Cronin and his team are taking a huge leap of faith by creating their own online network respectably called, The Late Night Network.

Sitting down with Cronin and his tech team, you can sense the excitement that almost bordered on nervousness. Watching Cronin on Purchase Late Night, it’s rather incredible to see that he looks exactly the same off camera as he does on. With his classic parted hair (a more conservative, darker version of Conan O’Brien’s famous ‘do), Cronin eludes a boyish charm that makes him fun to watch even when he is only explaining the logistics of how the Late Night Network came to be.

Since PTV’s unfortunate move to Campus Center North due to construction, Purchase Late Night found themselves in extraordinarily cramped conditions that simply weren’t able to accommodate the program’s traditional desk, band, and couch set up. The limited number of audience members who were allowed in the studio were made to idly stand by the door as the show aired.

“Like in business you’re either growing or

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you’re dying, and couldn’t grow in that space,” Cronin explained.

Brian Sansone, Head of Personal Relations, prefaced Cronin by explaining how the Purchase Late Night technical demands vastly grew. “When you’re trying to shoot video on HD and you’re trying to shoot things that are going to look really crystal clear, we needed something you could get a legitimate audience in,” said Sansone.

With studio space quickly hindering Purchase Late Night’s ability to produce a show that lived up to their expectations, Cronin and his team racked their brains to find alternatives, understanding that PTV was stretched for time and resources.

According to Cronin, that alternative came in an opportunity provided by Linda Solomon, a social media professor at Purchase, who came across the Purchase Late Night page when she was surfing the school’s social media pages.

One thing she remembers not being able to do, was control her laughter.

“I could not stop laughing,” Solomon said in a consistently low, thoughtful voice. “Classes start, I look at my front row, and there’s Mike Cronin in my finance class. I was like, ‘oh yea, you’re the funny guy!’”

What Solomon noticed was Cronin’s effortless ability to transcend comedy among all generations; a skill that Cronin is known for forgetting from time to time. Solomon then decided to ‘give the kid a chance,’ and invited Cronin to speak for Accepted Students Day at the PepsiCo Theater. This was Cronin’s largest audience with over 400 people, and even through nerves, Cronin

news delivered.

“I noticed that when he went onstage and did his act that the parents were laughing, and the kids were laughing,” said Solomon. “That confirmed to me that he has got something that is attractive to a large suave of people.”

Realizing that Cronin strives with a live audience, the Late Night Team set forth a plan that would result in a bittersweet goodbye from PTV, the channel that gave them their start. Great success can’t come without a few bumps, however, and Cronin found fundraising to be a challenge.

Not because no one would donate, but because of his intrinsic fear of failure.

“I was, quite frankly, fucking terrified of doing a Kickstarter because doing a Kickstarter was the most public thing we’ve ever done,” Cronin said. “If we failed, it would be obvious.”

With faith that their network will not only take off among students, but alumni and commuters as well, Cronin’s team pitched in all together to earn $1500, enough for state-of-theart equipment that will make its premiere in the Crossroads lounge this semester.

“We’re shooting on high-quality webcams instead of big, bulky cameras,” exclaimed Sansone. “We know the space we have, we’re trying to make the whole thing a little more portable.”

In addition to the Late Night Show, the Late Night Network will also be featuring six additional television shows created by Purchase students. Shows that will evidently express as much passion and integrity as Cronin’s team demands.

Shows such as the Purchase Pulse, a news program created by Purchase student Kyle Mackenzie, will add to the diversity of viewers.

“I don’t want to air anything that’s not clearly someone’s passion,” Cronin put simply.

Not only will the Late Night Network be expanding the use of their equipment, but they will also be working closely to expand their mar-

keting appeal. With the Late Night Network’s bold move to be solely online, a broader statement on where today’s generation is finding new, upcoming entertainment is being made. Rather than relying on television, which is a luxury many college students don’t have, the Late Night Network will rely on live streaming through Facebook.

This way, the network will be able to reach a wide range of people no matter where they are.

The Late Night Network, which will air on the 1st of October, essentially puts Purchase Late Night back in its element, with audiences comfortably laughing as Cronin delivers punch lines in his signature suit. Regardless of his selfdeprecating humor there is no one who can say that Cronin isn’t putting his all into this project.

It’s more than a college project to him- it’s his career, and he understands that he has a lot of people banking on him and his team to do this the best way possible.

When asked what tools the Late Night Network needed to fully succeed, Solomon took a long pause. Lost in pensive thought as she tried to assemble the words to describe someone she truly respected, she said simply, “Mike Cronin is a natural.”

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WILL GREEN DAY GO BACK TO # “ UNO!”? !

BY TOMMY ROACH

In 2009, Green Day released “21st Century Breakdown” that was to be looked at as a continuation of 2004’s “American Idiot.” Fans were not all that impressed. Longing for the subtlety of Green Day past, I deleted all but three songs from “21st Century” off my computer, and accepted that the Green Day that didn’t need to blatantly say “fuck America” while still saying “fuck America” might very well be gone for good.

For this reason, then, I approached the release of Green Day’s latest album “¡Uno!” with mild apprehension, especially since I had found the first single from the album, “Oh Love,” to be a weak track by Green Day’s standards.

That said, all of my cautionary feelings about “¡Uno!” were dashed approximately 30 seconds into the first song.

“¡Uno!” is Green Day’s 9th studio album and is the first in a trilogy of albums. The next two are set to be called “¡Dos!” and “¡Tre!” (haha, get it, Tre? Tre Cool?) and will be coming out in November 2012 and January 2013, respectively.

I want to make one point very clear before I go into any detail; every single song on this album is solid. Even the weakest tracks are well done, and are only considered weak when held up to the immensely hard to reach standards that Green Day has set for themselves.

The first track, “Nuclear Family,” sets a perfect tone for the rest of the album. Opening up with a heavy riff of power-chords is a classic Green Day move, and one they pull off extremely well. The song actually makes me want to get up

and dance, a feeling I haven’t received from a Green Day song in a long time.

“Let Yourself Go,” one of the singles, picks up the pace quite a bit. In classic Green Day style, the song cuts off all instrumentation at the 23 second mark for Billie Joe Armstrong to exclaim “Shut your mouth ‘cuz you’re talking too much and I don’t give a fuck anyway!” before going into the chorus. If there’s one song this year that I cannot wait to hear on the radio this might very well be that song.

In contrast, another single, “Kill the DJ,” might actually be the weakest song on the album.

One thing that does stand out about it, though, is that it has a feel very similar to most music by The Strokes, and is an interesting deviation from the rest of the album.

The song “Fell For You” is my favorite track from this album. This is probably because I’m a sucker for love songs that don’t say the word “love” ever, and this song does that perfectly. It’s adorable, it’s sweet, and it’s been stuck in my head since I first heard it.

The album continues from there with more of that classic, pre-”American Idiot” Green Day feel. This is the Green Day you know, love, and miss, wrapped up nicely in a more mature and refined package.

In short, Green Day is back to the way they were about 12 years ago, and I welcome them with open arms. This is the album fans have been waiting for. And it’s only the beginning of a trilogy.

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news

THE FRESHEST BUNCH

BY LAURA MELTZER

As a freshman peer advisor I never expected my student to be embarrassed that they were in their first year of college.

Like any freshman, I had roommate problems and struggled to find my niche, but I wasn’t embarrassed of my standing in the college social hierarchy. In fact, being a first year student has many advantages.

On a Saturday afternoon my friends and I were convening in the dining hall to eat omelets and discuss our escapades from the previous evening. While grabbing silverware I saw a table of my students sitting together and probably discussing the same subject. My freshman excitedly waved to me to which I replied, “My awesome freshman!”

“You don’t have to refer to us as that. It’s embarrassing,” replied one of my students.

“But, you’re freshman,” I retorted.

“Still,” she said.

As a junior I feel I it’s my civic duty to tell the class of 2016 that it’s okay to be a freshman.

You’re no longer in high school where you get shoved in a locker for being the new kid. Plus, that only happens on “Freaks and Geeks” and “Glee.”

I understand that you want to appear ‘cool’ to the cute guy you met at that party on GStreet, or knowledgeable to the one hundred peers in your “Freedom in the Media” course. There are other ways of doing that without facing backlash that will haunt you until your senior year.

Being yourself and bringing the knowledge you’ve gained from personal experience will

not only make you seem confident in your personal capabilities, but others will respect your selfrespect.

Nobody is perfect, so get ready for your fair share of mistakes. You will projectile vomit in Crossroads and get written up by an RA, do miserably on an assignment, and develop a crush on a person who will ultimately end up being a douchebag. But, in the end you’ll learn from these experiences. For most of you, this is your first time not living with your family. With that being said, go ahead and try something new. The only way you’ll come off as stupid is constantly repeating the same mistakes. Third time is not a charm in that scenario.

Live, learn and enjoy this free year pass of a year where you can mess up. You’ll never experience this liberty again, so take advantage of it! I sure as hell did.

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SAVE THE FOOD CO-OP

BY MIKE RELUZCO

The SUNY Purchase Food Co-op is currently surrounded by a cloud of rumors. You know what sucks about rumors? They’re almost never true. So let’s get around to dispelling some of those ugly rumors. There is no asbestos in the Co-op.

There hasn’t been anybody getting sick inside, and if you walk in, you will not die.

Wait. You can’t walk in there. It’s closed.

For years the Co-op has operated just above the Main Dining Hall, providing a space to do homework, play records, relax with friends, enjoy vegetarian and vegan snacks, as well as the least expensive coffee and tea on campus.

Over the summer, a health inspection was conducted in the Co-op. According to Tom Maher, the Co-op’s on-site supervisor, this is the first formal health inspection to have been conducted in several years. So the question is-- why now?

The closing of Humanities also means the closing of the Humanities Theater. The school administration has told Tom and the team of interns who run the Co-op that they will be taking the Co-op’s space for classes and rehearsals, the same way they used to use the theater. At the same time, Southside Lounge used to host several events which have been displaced due to its new use as a classroom. So now the administration suddenly needed a reason to close down the Co-op and convert it into a similar space-- an inspection. They couldn’t have picked a worse time.

“The Co-op is more important than ever,” Maher said, “the quad is demolished, and with so much construction [students] don’t have

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anywhere to go.”

Several organizations and clubs meet in the Co-op, including Cheese Club, the Green Team, and Complexuality.

The Co-op is currently working on compromises with the administration to allow more organizations to use the space until they can find another place for them to meet, but due to the autonomy of the Co-op from most school administration, bureaucracy makes much of this difficult to work out.

The administration is trying not to seem too unreasonable. The Co-op has been offered a small corner in their old space, a closet-sized space in Campus Center South, or an old ticket booth-turned-closet. This would be okay if the Co-op is just a place to sell food, but it’s so much more than that.

“[Moving the Co-op would be] hindering a wonderful place that people are really attached to,” said Brigid Slattery, an intern and regular patron of the Co-op.

“The Co-op made Purchase what it [is] to me.” Maher said.

So, if you’ve ever sat in the Co-op and hung out, gotten yourself a snack, or generally enjoyed yourself, its time to stand up. Stand up and help the Co-op remain what it is, and where it is.

For more information, contact: tom.maher@purchase.edu brigid.slattery@purchase.edu or thepurchasecoop@gmail.com

events

DUMPSTER DIVING TUESDAYS in the Stood: Aperture Club, 8-9pm

ANONYMOUS

in the Cinema

What is the value of books in a bookless world? It seems that someone at Purchase College thinks they are worthless.

Hundreds of books were thrown in the dumpster between Humanities and the Neuberger Museum last Thursday. These books were worth a lot, some valued at $80.

Of course books get thrown out everyday so this isn’t really a big deal, until I tell you this: these books were NEW. The covers had been untouched by human hands, because they were still wrapped in plastic. Some of the books had not seen the light of day, as they were still in the boxes they were shipped in, taped shut. I’m talking hardcover books along with some equally valuable paperbacks.

But why? Why so many good books, valuable books, new books? Almost all of them were books about art, from painting to sculpture.

What is even weirder is these are the type of books you love to have, the kind with the soft pages and heavy paperstock, textured covers, and beautiful layout.

Students of the visual arts have been taking dumpster dives to dig out the books. “This is surreal,” says one student, “what is wrong with these books?”

I am disgusted that this could even happen. There is no way these books could be garbage, dumpster worthy. Are we losing books?

TUESDAYS in the Stood: Complexuality, 10-11:30pm in the Cinema

WEDNESDAYS in the Stood: LGBTQU, 10:30-11pm

MORRISON BROOK RELEASE SHOW

Saturday, September 22nd Student Center Whitson’s

Hip Hop Club Party

Saturday, September 22nd Stood Main Stage

HOLDING AN EVENT? Email us the information at YOUR.INDY@GMAIL.COM

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