Student Magazine of the University of South Carolina Spring 2016 HARD TO SWALLOW The truth about USC's most casual felony In Full Bloom Discover an edgier side of floral SHOP THRIFTY SECONDHAND SAVINGS
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16 8 46 PROFILE 8 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Whether it's an Olympic medal or an Oscar, these two are going for the gold. 38 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE Alex Rusnak takes his art outside the classroom. COLUMNS 10 FISH OUT OF WATER Fire extinguishers at the ready in Mrs. Moore-Pastides' cooking class. 13 SWEAT & TELL Your hips won't lie after this belly dancing class. 17 POCKET CHANGE So many thrift stores, so little time. STYLE 12 SUITE STYLE We scratched the surface of dorm decor. 30 IN FULL BLOOM Get a fresh take on florals this spring. 36 NATURAL INSTINCT Do flower crowns count as accessories? MUSIC 41 ON THE AIR Jazz up your evening with Hat and Beard Jazz Radio. 42 SCENE AND HEARD This grunge-pop duo talks about growing up in Columbia's music scene. MUNCHIES 14 FOOD FIGHT
of Columbia's bagels is a hole-in-one? 16 RECIPE Roll out of bed to these two delicious recipes. EXTRAS 44 TRASH TALK
worst dates make the best stories. 45 QUIZ
failed New Year's resolution are you? 46 OVERHEARD AT... REPTICON "I have 100 lizards." On the cover: Selling Attention: USC'S Casual Fellony Article by Hannah Jeffrey on Page 21 FEATURES 19 SELLING ATTENTION: USC'S CASUAL FELONY 22 CONSTANT CONVERSATION: SOCIAL MEDIA'S ROLE IN ACTIVISM 26 RELATIVE PERSPECTIVE: A FOREIGN EXCHANGE Contents GARNET & BLACK SPRING 2016 VOL. 22 ISSUE 3 www.gandbmagazine.com 3
Which
The
Which
STUDENT MAGAZINE of the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ERIKA RYAN
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
LINA LeGARE
MANAGING EDITOR
KENDRA LITTLE
ARTICLES EDITOR
JAKE MARGLE
ASSISTANT ARTICLES EDITOR
KASEY MEREDITH
COPY CHIEF
MADELEINE VATH
ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR
RICHARD LIPKIN
STAFF WRITER
HANNAH JEFFREY
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
MIKAELLA ANTONIO
MEAGAN BLAKESLY
KATHERINE FINNEY
LAUREN GALIDA
K. LEE GRAHAM
KATHLEEN MILEWSKI
KATHLEEN SCHIPANO
KELLY YOON
ART DIRECTOR
KODY KRATZER
STAFF DESIGNERS
KELLEN LaGROON
STEPHANIE ORR
BRITTANY WILT
CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS
CHARLOTTE JOHNTSON
RACHEL JOHNSON
CHARLOTTE PRICE
HATARA TYSON
PHOTO EDITOR
HANNAH CLEAVELAND
ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
JOSH THOMPSON
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
BRENNAN BOOKER
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
MIKAELLA ANTONIO
DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA
SARAH SCARBOROUGH
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
EDGAR SANTANA
PRODUCTION MANAGER
DEGAN CHEEK
BUSINESS MANAGER
KRISTINE CAPPS
FACULTY ADVISER
SCOTT FARRAND
CREATIVE SERVICES
BRANDON BRAZELL
RANNAH DERRICK
WANDA FELSENHARDT
KODY KRATZER
LINA LeGARE
CHARLOTTE PRICE
Advertising: (803) 777-3018
BREE BURCHFIELD
KENDRA LITTLE
MELANEY MOTTSEY
CHRISTIAN TOLBERT
VIDEOGRAPHERS
KYLE HAYDEN
JAY LUEBKE
WEB EDITOR
KATHERINE FINNEY
ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR
ROBIN HENDRICKS
PUBLIC RELATIONS & EVENTS DIRECTOR
ALYSON RUSSO
PUBLIC RELATIONS ASSISTANT
KRISTIE WAKEFIELD
ALEXANDRA MELTSER
SHAYE GULOTTA
JESSICA GORMAN
STYLE EDITOR
LINDSAY RIGGINS
STYLE ASSISTANT
DOMINIC BELLOTTI
STUDENT ADVERTISING MANAGER
NICK VOGT
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
JOSH DAVISON
COLE HALTOM
LOWMAN HARLEY
MARYAN TEHRANIE
AMANDA GRANT
To contact G&B, email sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or visit www.gandbmagazine.com
Garnet & Black magazine is produced four times a year by students of the University of South Carolina and is distributed for free to members of the university community. All editors and staff members can be contacted at (803) 777-1149. The office is located in Russell House room 339. Email letters to the editor to sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or to Garnet & Black magazine, Student Media, 1400 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208. Letters should be 250-400 words and must include name, address, phone number and academic information (if applicable). Garnet & Black reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published.
4_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
Contributors
Events
2016 MIDLANDS HEART WALK
Colonial Life Arena
Mar. 12, 2016 // Walk begins at 9 a.m.
The Heart Walk is a nationwide event sponsored by the American Heart Association to promote healthy living. Register as a team or individual to help raise money for the cause.
CHARLOTTE PRICE
Charlotte Price is a third-year visual communications student from Atlanta, Georgia. She discovered her love for graphic design while working on her high school yearbook and hopes to move to Paris, France, after graduation. Charlotte enjoys traveling to new places, lying on the couch with her roommates and stressing out about absolutely everything. Make sure to check out her design on page 13.
ROBIN HENDRICKS
Robin Hendricks is a first-year English student who loves reading, writing, badly playing piano and watching "Parks and Recreation." Although she has also contributed as a writer in the past, Hendricks started this semester as Garnet & Black’s assistant web editor and writes a book blog for the website as well. After college, she hopes to be a literary editor at a publishing house.
5TH ANNUAL CAPITAL CITY
BLUES FEST
Township Auditorium
Mar. 13, 2016 // 6 p.m.
Tickets $43 - $53
Theodis Ealey, Sir Charles Jones, Klass Band Brotherhood, Calvin Richardson, Pokey Bear and Big Robb will be featured at the Township Auditorium for the fifth Annual Capital City Blues Fest.
ST. PAT'S IN FIVE POINTS
Five Points
Mar. 19, 2016 // 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Tickets $15 in advance, $20 day of Don’t miss Columbia’s annual St. Patrick Day celebration that takes over Five Points. The day is going to be packed with live music from Drive-By Truckers, Shovels & Rope, Old Dominion and The Front Bottoms, among others.
COLUMBIA FIREFLIES
OPENING DAY
RAVEN ELLIS
Raven Ellis is a fourth-year public relations student with a minor in fashion merchandising. She has a passion for self-expression and personal style. In her free time, she combines these passions on her blog: Raven's Style Haven. After graduation, she hopes to ignite her career in fashion public relations by working in communications for a fashion brand. Ellis has been a part of the Garnet & Black public relations team for three years now.
BREE BURCHFIELD
Bree Burchfield is a fourth-year visual communications student with a minor in photography. She’s been a freelance photographer for more than a year, focusing mainly on portraiture, live music and band promos. She works for the Nickelodeon Theatre doing marketing, photography and theatre work, and has contributed to Auntie Bellum Magazine and Scene SC. When she graduates in May, she hopes to move to a bigger city and develop a thriving career in photography. Don’t miss her photos of our artist in residence, Alex Rusnak, on page 38.
Spirit Communications Park
April 14, 2016 // First pitch at 7:05 p.m.
Spirit Communications Park is the newest addition to Columbia baseball. The park is the new home for the Columbia Fireflies, the New York Mets’ Class-A affiliate. The Fireflies will face Greenville in their first home game on Thursday, April 14. Make sure to stick around for the post-game fireworks.
5
You’ve probably noticed this cover isn’t like the other two you’ve seen on the stands this year. That wasn’t by accident.
For this issue, we decided it was time to dig deeper into real issues. It’s easy to play it safe, but the journalist in me was itching to do something more hard-hitting. Even if we’re discussing the dealers behind study drugs, the fight behind social change or awkward experiences with bad dates, these are relevant to the lives and experiences of college students today. It’s naive to think we should only talk about the achievements — we’re only telling half of the story if we don’t touch on vices as well.
When our staff writer, Hannah Jeffrey, came to me with the idea to write about study drugs at USC, we were searching for some way to make it different. Every publication has
reported that college students take Adderall, and a lot of it. In fact, Garnet & Black actually wrote a story in Summer 2011 called “Overachiever’s Drug Culture.” In a moment of brain-storming, Hannah looked at me and asked, “How do I make this different? What — do I write it from the dealer perspective?”
So that’s what we did.
As USC’s magazine, it’s important to include a wide range of stories to represent students across a variety of backgrounds. Diversity is something not only worth representing, but also celebrating. Our feature “Relative Perspective” reflects on parallel experiences from USC students studying abroad and international students studying here. We wanted to see how USC looks through a foreign lens.
As a 20-something, I spend a lot of time reading pieces condemning millennials. In our feature "Constant Conversation," we make the case that social media isn't always bad; it can actually be a vehicle for social change.
I'm not saying we're perfect, but as the generation raised on the Internet, we're socially engaged and willing to see the world from different perspectives.
Erika Ryan | Editor-in-Chief
6_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
Letter Editor from the
Jonathan Boland
BY MIKAELLA ANTONIO // PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON // DESIGN BY BRITTANY WILT
Jonathan Boland is a swimmer whose achievements make it peculiar that four years ago, colleges were skeptical of recruiting him onto their teams. He had plummeted in the national rankings because of an injury that prevented him from swimming for two years.
Overtraining took a toll on him as a high school freshman. He broke his back and was told by his doctor that his chances of swimming again were slim. Boland was fitted with a back brace intended to stimulate bone growth, and he wore it until his junior year, when a CT scan showed his back had fully healed. Boland was cleared to swim again.
He savored the small victories during his comeback and felt a shift in perspective. Prior to the injury, “swimming was purely a job,” Boland said. “I wasn’t really enjoying it. I was burned out mentally.”
Afterward, he said that he had a greater passion for the sport. It requires rigorous training “for so many hours a day, every day, in hopes of dropping maybe a tenth of a second,” Boland said. It also fosters closeness among teammates. Team dinners at the Dodie are the best part of his day.
Now a third-year exercise science and Honors College student, Boland’s weeks are filled with practices, classes, schoolwork and
community service. He speaks with the mysticism of a person who is apparently acing his life and finding a balance between these responsibilities.
This summer is a big one for Boland, as he will be applying for medical school and competing in the Olympic trials. His specialties are the backstroke and butterfly.
“I don’t expect to make it,” he said about the trials. “It’s hard to make it as an American,” Boland said, referring to swimming legends Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, who dominate the competition.
“I’m going more for the experience,” Boland said. An experience open to elites.
8_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Sydney Key
BY HANNAH JEFFREY // PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN TOLBERT //DESIGN BY BRITTANY WILT
Sydney Key got one week’s notice that she'd spend her summer sleeping on a couch and waking up before 5 a.m. every day.
Last year, the third-year media arts student went from living her life in South Carolina to working on the first feature-length film of her career in the middle of Minnesota.
“I’m a very go-with-the-flow kind of person, which is not OK for life-planning,” Key said, but this spur-of-the-moment decision paid off.
The film was “Witch,” an adult fairy tale where the main character is tripping on LSD and a little girl’s stories come to life. The production was on a shoestring budget, so there weren’t many people working on it. O.K. Keyes, a graduate student and teaching assistant at USC, asked Key to join the team, and Key said yes immediately. Sleeping on a couch for a few weeks would be well worth the experience she’d get working on a set.
On the “Witch” set, Key was a production assistant, one of the lower roles on the film set totem pole. But after her work with Keyes last summer, Key got the chance to move up.
Keyes saw the opportunity for their once-production assistant to move into a more artistic role for a student film called “Alienography,” and Key scored her first director of photography gig.
“I figure out shot compositions,” Key said. “You know, figuring out the most effective way to shoot that costs the least."
“Alienography” is a sci-fi film about four friends who find a peculiar rock with alien inscriptions on it. The aliens start taking over, and the government drops a bomb to try to kill the alien-human hybrids.
Key is a fast-talker and a self-proclaimed scatterbrain, so her explanation of the film’s plot isn’t too vivid.
“I didn’t write the story,” she said. “I just figure out how to tell the story.”
Key is getting lots of experience, which she hopes will give her an edge when she enters the highly competitive film career field. She’s had her eye on an NBC internship for years. After all, she said, “television’s where the money’s at.”
She knows she’s a perfectionist, and she knows that isn’t ideal on a film set. Time management is important when you’re depending on certain lighting and coordinating schedules with several people. But there are few things she loves more than getting a great shot with the perfect lighting and great colors. Which is what makes her favorite television show so strange: Key is a huge “Shark Tank” fan. The girl who dreams of being in charge of every visual element of a film is the same girl who loves the quick cuts and harsh lighting of a reality show about patents and funding inventions.
“I watch it, and I’m like, ‘Why are they zooming so hard?’” she said. “And then I’m like, ‘I don’t care.’”
She may not care what the shots on “Shark Tank” look like, but you can be sure you won’t hear Key saying she doesn’t care when she’s on set herself.
9
Cooking with USC's First Lady
BY KATHLEEN MILEWSKI // PHOTOS BY HANNAH CLEAVELAND // DESIGN BY STEPHANIE ORR
10_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 FISH OUT OF WATER
When it comes to cooking, my greatest accomplishment prior to taking first lady Moore-Pastides’ cooking class was mastering the chicken finger recipe on the back of a Bisquick box.
So when I walked into the professional kitchen in the lower level of the McCutchen House, I was more than a little intimidated. I was almost an hour early, so I wandered around the massive, quiet kitchen feeling very out of place.
My uneasiness melted away as soon as I met Moore-Pastides. She reassured me that my lack of cooking abilities wouldn’t result in any sort of major disaster as she handed me an apron and a Carolina baseball cap to use instead of a hair net.
Students started trickling in. Most of them had heard about the one-credit-hour course from friends or had stumbled upon it on Blackboard. Their reason for taking the class? Learning to cook from the first lady of the university.
Moore-Pastides started off the two-and-ahalf-hour class with a short lecture about the health benefits of olive oil and garlic; the latter, for example, acts as a mild anti-inflammatory. She then assigned a different recipe from her book “Greek Revival: Cooking for Life” to each student. She was drawn to how healthy the Greek diet is and has focused the majority of her cooking around it ever since.
The theme of the day was vegetables, and I was assigned a tomato and zucchini recipe.
Everyone else knew exactly what to do, but I was completely clueless. I hovered around until a friend pointed me toward my station, which had all the ingredients pre-measured and waiting for me to prepare.
The first step was to peel and dice an onion. The only time I had ever touched a raw onion up until this point was to hand it to my mother. As I fumbled around for a knife, Hannah Cleaveland, the photographer accompanying me, said the most comforting thing I had heard all day: “I work at a Greek restaurant, so if you need any help, just let me know.”
I swear I almost hugged her in that moment. She showed me how to peel the onion and let me figure out how to dice it. If there is a rule for dicing onions, I definitely broke it. I cut it like an apple and diced it from there, trying not to dice my fingers in the process. Next I had to thinly slice three zucchinis. That was simple enough.
Then I had to open the canned tomatoes. Now I admit that I have very little experience in the kitchen, but I do know how to use a can opener. The McCutchen House can opener is not your average can opener, however. It’s mounted to the steel counter and looks like some sort of medieval torture device, but I got help from Moore-Pastides and the head chef, so I walked away successful.
After that, things were pretty simple. I sautéed the onions in olive oil and added the tomatoes, spices and zucchini like the recipe said, with our photographer's help of course.
The last step was to dry roast a half cup of pine nuts. I knew I was bound to mess up something, so I wasn’t surprised when I burned the first batch. In my defense, they burned in all of three minutes, and I got distracted by the constant movement surrounding me.
Everyone was focused, but smiling.
Moore-Pastides was running around patiently answering questions and offering her help to anyone who needed it. There were about a dozen different dishes being made, so the kitchen smelled incredible.
We got to sample each recipe. I never thought vegetables could taste so good.
I got a chance to talk to Moore-Pastides at the end of class. Although she doesn’t have a culinary degree, she has published two cookbooks focusing on Mediterranean cuisine, which she was first introduced to during a sabbatical in Greece in the '80s.
This was a huge learning experience for me, and I can’t think of anyone else I would have rather learned from. I will never look at vegetables the same way again.
11
TEXTURE
BY MEAGAN BLAKESLY // PHOTOS BY MIKAELLA ANTONIO // DESIGN BY KODY KRATZER
Beyond the bustle of Greene Street and stress of classes, students need a comfortable oasis to escape. Through considerate use of textures, it’s possible to achieve your very own lodge retreat within the walls of your apartment.
BARK
There’s nothing that screams “lodge” more than actual tree bark. From tables, lamps, cutting boards and coasters, stores are replacing their classic, polished wood items with rougher, more rustic pieces for those hoping to bring the outside in. If you want to be reminded of your favorite summer hiking trips, bark accents will do the trick. These items are equally perfect for those who appreciate nature, but prefer the tranquility of the great indoors.
FUR
A great option for college students who want to personalize their space is investing in a faux fur pouf or a furry bean bag. They’re stylish and compact enough to fit in your small dorm space or next to that boring, grey couch your apartment complex provides. But, if you’re looking for less pricey fur items, as these poufs generally run around $100 or $200, it’s easy to find blankets, pillows, rugs and even table runners in furry fabrics at places like Pier 1 Imports.
HAMMERED METAL
While metal can often have a more industrial feel, a hammered metal bowl, vase or lamp base can actually bring a great deal of warmth to any space. Metallic accents look great with wooden and fur items, and they give any space a modern touch. Additionally, the hammered
texture allows for light to reflect off the object in unique ways. Not only will you want to touch it, but you’ll also enjoy lighting your favorite candles by your metal decor.
CABLE KNIT
Just like your favorite sweater, a cable knit blanket or pillow can add the perfect touch of coziness to your daily life. So if you’ve considered ditching that old quilt your grandma passed down to you, it might be time. I recently purchased a teal, cable knit pillow while shopping for a few groceries at Target, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite dorm items. For a unique take on mounted deer heads, often seen in lodges, some brands offer ones made from resin and cable knit fabric.
A TOUCH OF FLANNEL
It’s a chilly day and you don't want to get out of bed. However, you know you have to make it to that pesky 8:30 a.m. class you signed up for, thinking it would motivate you to spend your nights studying and going to bed at a reasonable hour. So you roll out in your softest flannel shirt and grab a coffee. Well, the flannel doesn’t have to stop there. Flannel blankets and bedding add the perfect touch of comfort to any fusty dorm room or stark apartment to create a lodge-like abode.
12_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 SUITE STYLE
Belly Dancing
BY K. LEE GRAHAM // PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON // DESIGN BY CHARLOTTE PRICE
Belly dancing. It’s not the most approachable form of exercise.
From my perspective, belly dancing is associated with crop tops, colorful silks and a certain sultriness that I most definitely do not possess. For the sake of fitness and this column I went to a beginner level class at Alegria Dance Studio at Emerald Ball-room anyway. The experience was interesting to say the least.
I’ve heard that belly dancing is a great workout, but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The class began with a warm up, focusing on isolations. I was used to these kind of exercises from when I danced, so nothing too crazy here.
The real challenge was trying not to laugh when I caught glimpses of myself in the mirror and made awkward eye contact with the class regulars.
I thought I would be learning to be slinky and, dare I say, seductive, but the technique focused on posture, keeping proper alignment and matching your rhythm to the music.
I talked with the instructor, Maria Palacio, and she told me that a lot of people have misconceptions of what belly dancing actually is.
“It’s for anybody, any age, any size, I don’t care how old you are, or what shape you’re in,” Palacio said.
Palacio focuses on traditional folkloric dance in the beginner class, which is more of a social form of belly dance that people perform at weddings or special events. Basically, to the Persian Gulf region, it’s what shagging is to the Carolinas.
This isn’t necessarily an intense body sculpting session, but it’s a fun choice for an active recovery day if you have one in your workout schedule.
As expected, I did feel my ab muscles targeted in a new way and surprisingly, some of the arm movements started to burn my shoulders because of the repeated and continuous isolation movements performed throughout the class.
Is belly dancing my newest obsession? I think I’ll just stick to my barre classes when I need my dance fix. I will say it was a good way to connect to a different culture in a unique way, while branching out of my comfort zone.
I thought I would look completely ridiculous — and I did — but there was something really interesting about a group of people trying something completely foreign to them just for the sake of learning something new.
Plus, it’s just fun. So grab your silk scarves, a buddy and be ready for lots of laughs. At the very least, you’ll get some great photos.
13 SWEAT & TELL
Columbia's BAGELS
BY KASEY MEREDITH // PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON // DESIGN BY LINA LeGARE
Let’s face it: We’re far from New York City, the bagel mecca of America, but that doesn’t mean Columbia can’t hold its own. Our top bagel spots mostly specialize in the savory variety, but supply sweeter flavors as well. All of these bagels are under $5, including the cream cheese.
14_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 FOOD FIGHT
Carolina Cafe and Catering Co.
These bagels are big and will definitely hold you over until lunch. With more than 10 flavors to choose from, sun-dried tomato is the most intriguing. The chunks of chewy and tangy sun-dried tomatoes aren’t sparse in this whole-wheat bagel. The generous amount of tomato combined with the doughy texture makes this bagel a substantial meal. Carolina Cafe boils their dough instead of steaming it, which gives it that classic, doughy texture. The oregano aromas of the bagel pair well with Carolina Cafe’s homemade garlic herb cream cheese. The spices, sun-dried tomato and garlic herb cream cheese is a godly combination. While not obnoxiously garlicky, this cream cheese could keep the vampires away. Carolina Cafe also toasts their bagels upon request.
Drip
Drip has two types of bagels delivered from International Gourmet, cinnamon raisin and Tuscan herb. The latter, which might sound similar to Carolina Cafe’s sun-dried tomato, definitely has a personality of its own. Drip’s bagels are small and thus well-suited for a snack. Closing your eyes and biting into this bagel is like being transported to Italy. Italian seasoning isn’t just for entrées. Made up of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and rosemary, this bagel is the essence of Italian. While in the same vein as pizza-flavored snacks, this bagel is definitely an upgrade. You can choose to pair it with Drip’s standard cream cheese, but the Tuscan herb bagel has enough personality to hold it’s own. These bagels are best served untoasted in order to fully experience their fluffiness.
College Grounds Cafe
Who says southwestern flavor can’t be in a bagel? Move over, breakfast burritos: There’s a new sheriff in town — College Grounds Cafe’s jalapeño bagel. Normally, I stay away from anything too spicy, but College Grounds’ jalapeño bagel isn’t overpowering. Their bagels are made in-house either every day or every other day. With pieces of jalapeño baked in, this whole wheat bagel is a perfect light lunch. Like the sun-dried tomato, these jalapeños are rather chewy, but it works. In terms of texture, College Grounds’ bagels are a happy medium between Drip’s and Carolina Cafe’s. Paired with their regular cream cheese, this bagel is like an avant garde jalapeño popper. I recommend toasting this bagel in order to get the full, zesty effect.
15
Sweet & Savory
College is all about appearances: how you look on the first day, how you cover up those dark circles after all-nighters and how you cover up your crippling fear of the real world. In the spirit of spring awakenings, I present two “fake it ‘til you make it” breakfasts. Two simple recipes that make a big visual and flavorful impact while being quite simple to assemble.
Orange & Basil Biscuit Waffles
Thanks to that one friend from high school who won’t stop reposting Tasty videos, you would be forgiven for thinking anything can be put in a waffle iron. Seriously, was that a mac and cheese waffle? Anyway, one item I’ve seldom seen in a waffle iron is biscuit dough. Relegated to the oven for such duties as pigs in a blanket, or simply to spread your favorite jam over, biscuit dough takes on a new identity in the iron.
1 can biscuit dough
1 cup powdered sugar
1 T of milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large orange
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Basil
Preheat the waffle iron. Meanwhile, zest the orange and mix with the sugar. Gently knead the mix into the divided biscuit dough. Don’t knead it too much or you’ll make it dense; do it just enough to incorporate the orange flavor. Place as many of your biscuits in the iron as will fit. While they cook, mix the milk and sugar to the consistency of icing and finely chop the basil. Remove the biscuits, drizzle with icing and top with basil
BY JAKE MARGLE // PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER // DESIGN BY LINA LeGARE
Shakshuka
A Middle-Eastern egg dish served from first light to sunset, shakshuka is a one-pan meal that makes for a serious crowd pleaser. With big flavor, bold colors and boundless ways to dress it up, there’s really nowhere to go wrong.
1 28 oz can of chopped toma-
toes (with juice)
3 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp hot sauce (Cholula or the like works well)
5 or 6 large eggs, depending on the size of your pan
1 cup feta cheese (optional, but highly recommended)
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large skillet — cast iron if you can get it — heat the oil over medium heat. Sweat the onion and bell pepper until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for five to 10 minutes, but don't let the garlic brown. Add the spices and follow with the tomatoes. Add the hot sauce and cook about 10 to 15 minutes until the tomatoes have thickened. You can add the feta now to soften it, or crumble it over the top later. Crack the eggs into the mixture and transfer to a 350-degree oven and cook for just under 10 minutes or until the eggs set.
RECIPE
Check out our behind-the-scenes photos at gandbmagazine.com 16_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
POCKET CHANGE
COLUMBIA'S BEST THRIFT SPOTS
BY KATHERINE FINNEY // PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER AND JOSH THOMPSON // DESIGN BY RACHEL JOHNSON
If you’re looking to decorate your apartment with one-of-a-kind items, skip the mall and hunt local shops to find pieces that will give your place personality. Here are three of Columbia’s best places to find used and antique wares, from a lower-end flea market to a more pricey antiques mall.
U.S. #1 Metro Flea Market
3500 Augusta Road, West Columbia
We didn’t have much hope showing up at the flea market on a snowy Saturday morning, but we were excited to find that the market was bustling with activity. Even though it was January, there was still row upon row of vendors, though relatively few customers.
The outside portion of the market consists of tents selling everything from beanies and scarves to burning oils and produce. Everything was reasonably priced, and the merchants were chatty and willing to barter. Used appliances and nicer furniture are protected from the elements across the parking lot in the inside portion of the market. Unfortunately, only a few of the stalls were open when we visited, as the market is more popular in the summer, but if you are in search of cheap but sturdy used furniture, this is the best place to look.
Best find: Used furniture
Best time to go: Summer
Goodwill
6642 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia
While you most likely won’t find clothing at the flea market or an antique mall, Goodwill is the place to go for thrifty apparel. The bulk of what Goodwill sells is clothing, and you can find it for cheap, though you may have to hunt through a few racks to find what you’re looking for. While garments do make up most of what Goodwill has to offer, you can also find furniture in the back, along with appliances and decorations. No matter what it is you’re looking for, stop by Goodwill toward the end of the season you would use the item. Right now, the shelves are crowded with Christmas decorations, but you most likely won’t find any bathing suits.
Best find: Clothes
Best time to go: Year-round
Columbia Antique Mall
602 Huger Street, Columbia
The antique mall doesn’t look like much from the outside — just two long, squat buildings clustered around a courtyard filled with lawn fixtures on the corner of Blossom and Huger Streets. One building is home to the pricier antiques, though smaller and less expensive items are nestled among them.
The second building is home to almost exclusively smaller wares, including a sizable used records section. While you’re probably not going to be able to furnish your apartment for cheap here, you will be able to find smaller fixtures, like lamps and dishware, that can fit any budget.
The mall is picked over in the summer and fall as students move into new apartments, so in order to find the most variety, make sure to visit in the spring.
Best finds: Unique trinkets, antique fixtures
Best time to go: Spring
$
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19 FEATURE
If Tim*, Zoe* and Charlie* got busted, they’d each face up to five years in prison. They could get slapped with $5,000 fines. The law sees them as drug dealers selling a Schedule II drug, which means it’s on par with cocaine and meth.
But they aren’t holed up in a safe house, surrounded by mountains of cash and packages of drugs. Tim, Zoe and Charlie aren’t worried, partially because Tim, Zoe and Charlie aren’t their real names.
They’re not kingpins. They’re just college kids selling Adderall.
Medical Histories
Zoe has had an Adderall prescription for ADHD since she was in kindergarten, and she started selling it when she was in high school. When one of her classmates complained about not having any before final exams, she realized she could make a few bucks off of her close friends. For two or three years in high school, she’d sell it before finals to kids who asked for it.
Tim entertained the idea of getting a prescription of his own, considering how much taking Adderall helped him concentrate, even if he didn’t need it every day.
“I don’t ever really go to the doctor. I’ve been overdue for a checkup for a really long time,” he says. He doesn’t like going to the doctor in the first place, and the thought of going in to ask for a prescription he didn’t need makes him uneasy. “I wouldn’t want to go in there and even try to lie about something like that.” Instead, he gets it from his 17-year-old sister who has a prescription and sells it to him for $3 per pill.
Charlie first bought Adderall when he was a first-year from someone who sold him other drugs at USC. It wasn’t until he took it that first time that he realized he might need a prescription himself.
So, the next time he went to the doctor, he brought up how paying attention to homework was difficult and how he thought he might benefit from an Adderall prescription. A few months later, Charlie was selling his own pills it to a few of his friends. Charlie’s experience isn’t all that unique. Many people don’t realize they have ADHD until college, when work piles up and newfound freedom makes it easier to get behind. And when they realize they might need help, many don’t seek it out, according to Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a non-profit advocacy group.
“Many transitioning students with ADHD choose not to disclose their disability and seek help,” the organization says. “Many high school and transfer students with ADHD who previously did not need help before, may not see a need to access supports when they go to college.”
That means a lot of kids coming to college realize they might need treatment for ADHD, but they don’t go through the proper channels to get help.
And then there are students who have issues such as depression and lack of sleep, which can present symptoms similar to those of ADHD, and end up using Adderall to treat the ADHD they don’t have.
“There are both people who are misusing and shouldn’t be because they have other issues,” says Dr. Kate Flory, a psychology professor at USC whose research focuses on ADHD. “And there are people who are misusing and should have a prescription that would help them.”
Patients
Amphetamine use and abuse — using without a prescription — on college campuses comes as no surprise. For years, studies have shown that college students are some of the most likely to abuse “study drugs” such as Adderall and Vyvanse.
A 2012 Journal of American College Health study found that more than 60 percentof students surveyed were offered prescription stimulants in their four years of college. That same study showed that about 90 percent of students who abused these drugs got them from friends, some who had a prescription and some who didn’t.
By the time Zoe graduated last year after four years in a sorority at USC, she knew plenty of people who bought and sold Adderall at USC, especially in Greek life and primarily men. Zoe’s experiences echo the results of the 2012 study, which found that fraternity members were especially likely to use the drugs without a prescription. It estimated that 55 percent of fraternity brothers would use them at some point.
Zoe and Charlie both say they try not to take their own pills every day, which Flory calls a “medication holiday.” And Flory says skipping a few days isn’t unhealthy — stimulants such as Adderall have pretty short half-lives, so they only stay in the body for a few hours at a time. Charlie says he doesn’t usually take it every day, and if he does, it’s only a quarter
20_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 FEATURE
*Names have been changed
or half of a pill. Zoe “likes to be fun” on the weekend, so she stops taking it when the week’s over.
“But I don’t have, like, pounds and pounds to give to a bunch of people,” Zoe says. And that’s what these three have in common. They aren’t big-time dealers — each one sells to a handful of people.
“I know everyone I sell to. It’s not like they’re big drug addicts,” Zoe says. It’s the same with Tim:
“I only sell it to my close friends that I see on the regular. Obviously, I don’t think any of them would rat me out.”
And Charlie:
“I mainly sell to two or three people, and they’re all people who need it to study. It’s mostly one of my friends who really needs to get his own prescription.”
Regardless of how casual students make it out to be, Officer Eric Grabski says USCPD has made arrests for both Adderall possession and distribution on campus in the past. And when it's on a school property — including a college campus — the penalties are much worse. In fact, they double. Selling controlled substances within a halfmile of campus could land you in prison for 10 years, earn you $10,000 in fines, or both.
Side Effects
The whole thing is all so laissez-faire that the consequences seem impossible. Besides, students arrested for selling a few pills rarely make the front page or the 11 o’clock news. It’s the giant drug rings and meth labs that catch your eye.
“As long as we don’t start doing things like that, I’m not worried,” Charlie says. But the punishments are identical. Possessing a Schedule II drug of any kind can land you the same sentence, regardless of which drug
you’re selling. And it’s the same thing when it comes to selling — getting caught selling meth and getting caught selling Adderall are in the same category.
None of them are selling Adderall to make a living or put themselves through school. (Zoe says she used the money she made to buy snacks.) They do it because they can get it. For many, if it weren’t so accessible, they probably wouldn’t buy or sell it. If Tim’s sister didn’t have a Vyvanse prescription, he doesn’t think he’d ever take it in the first place. But she does, so he takes advantage of that supply.
“That’s a big part of it — the availability and the price,” Tim says. “If I had to go out and buy it from some sketchy drug dealer for like $8, I probably wouldn’t do it.”
Zoe prices her pills at between $3 and $5 a pop. Depending on his mood and how much he has left, Charlie will sell a pill and a half for around $7. Tim often sells his to his friends for $3, the same price he buys it from his sister — he’s not really in it to make a profit. Besides, he doesn’t sell it to enough people to make too much. To him, he’s helping his friends who ask for it.
But that may not be true. Taking stimulants doesn’t make the user smarter or guarantee better grades. In many cases, it’s just the opposite.
“Research shows use of stimulants without a prescription is associated with poor academic performance,” Flory says. “It certainly is not helping.”
If Tim, Zoe and Charlie stopped selling, USC would have three fewer drug dealers. But each only sells to a few people, and all three of them know scores of others who sell or abuse it.
It wouldn’t be hard to find if they gave it up. “I’m in college,” Charlie says. “I feel like everybody I know knows how to get it or already has it.”
motives for using study drugs*
6%
*by year four of college Source: J Am Coll
21
“I’m in college,” Charlie says. “I feel like everybody I know knows how to get it or already has it.”
Health
91.5% responses allowed on survey, so numbers do not add up to 100 percent.
Multiple
used to study
1.3% used out of curiosity
14.5% used to stay awake and party used for other reasons
6.4% used to get high
Constant Conversation
BY KASEY MEREDITH // ILLUSTRATIONS AND DESIGN BY KODY KRATZER
On Monday, November 16 at 10:30 a.m., students on USC’s campus promptly left class and traveled to the Longstreet Theatre. Clad in black, they proceeded to march down the Horseshoe to meet with the administrators and demanded their needs be met. These needs were issues spurred from the lack of representation at this year’s Homecoming pep rally.
Unrest among college campuses has been loud and clear, especially online. USC is one of the 76 colleges and universities on thedemands.org, a website that links to the demands of their respective student bodies, but the 2020 Vision movement began to gain momentum on Twitter.
USC’s coalition of concerned students, 2020 Vision, was formed from different organizations and students. The group’s demands sprung from concerns about the ineffectiveness of diversity outreach and inclusion on our campus and the policies that concern that, such as the Carolinian Creed, a document which every USC student is required to sign.
“I think people are just tired of being fed up, and once they see other people speaking out, they’re more likely to do the same,” Clarie Randall, third-year biology and psychology student and co-president of USC’s Feminist Collective, said.
Randall said she was scared when the Google document of demands was first leaked, but administrators were there to greet them during the walkout. The 2020 Vision is unique because social media wasn’t initially used as a tool, but it ended up working in the group’s favor.
Generation Y makes up most of USC’s student body and is a product of the Internet age. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are powerful and pervasive. Social media gives us a voice.
Social media can be an intrusive and complicated public forum — it’s often the first thing we see when we wake up. Serious social issues, such as gender-neutral housing and racial diversity, are a constant topic of conversation across these platforms, which make these issues hard to ignore.
“People were talking about it. They were, frankly, b----ing about it,” Randall said. “When people b---- about stuff on the Internet, other people will listen.”
Within the last five years, we’ve seen various social media platforms used as orchestrated political vehicles. From the Arab Spring to #YesAllWomen, #BlackLivesMatter to #FreeTheNipple, social media is the unsung hero of the public forum.
“The same sort of attitudes about things like race are still here today. That history of race, colonialism, the negation of civil rights are still with us today but it is transformed. Before it was through laws, but now it’s more covert through attitudes,” Martin Aveldanes, second-year sociology and mass communications student and a close participant of the 2020 movement, said.
The 2020 Vision movement’s walkout mushroomed into an impactful conversation. Not only did students, faculty and news organizations take to social media to continue the conversation, administration is also working closely with the student body to create change.
22_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 FEATURE
“So, the night before, everyone knew, but I think that actually helped us. I think we got a bigger turnout [because of] that,” Aveldanes said. “I’ve never seen anything on campus like it.”
Social media isn’t just the gambit of college campus activism. It’s being used globally. For instance, in Tunisia, a fruit vendor, furious with bureaucracy, set himself on fire. Someone witnessed it and took a phone video that went viral. This video had the power to take down president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, who had been in power for more than 20 years.
“Social media didn’t lead to permanent change, although it is a stark political tool,” Randy Covington, a USC professor of journalism and mass communications, said. “In a different era, he would have died and that would’ve been it. But someone had a cellphone and they took a video and they posted it and it got shared.” This was one of the first events that led to the Arab Spring.
United by social media movements, hashtags galvanize action. They're not only a vessel for change, but rapid publicity. Everything goes quicker. When things catch on, they explode — movements that would’ve taken decades before are catching on much quicker.
“But if you’re upset about fill-in-the-blank and you’re posting your opinions about whether that police officer should be charged with murder, it’s not that it’s social media,” Covington said. “It’s posting it on a subject people care about, hey have an opinion about and they want to share something that is significant.”
Covington attributes the rapid acceptance of gay marriage as being driven by Generation Y, but also the rapid sharing of ideas and concepts that before would have taken much more time to seep into the culture.
While it appears that some movements come out of thin air, social media is society’s informal megaphone, amplifying our beliefs as well as our outrage.
Mathieu Deflem, a sociology professor at USC who specializes in law and pop culture, said the formula for an organization or individual to spark a revolution is two parts serious conviction on an issue and one part serious levels of organization. The ratio is interchangeable, but the ingredients are crucial.
“The people that take up certain social, political issues in, let's say, ‘the old days,’ had to have the right idea or particular strength of conviction,” Deflem said. “For instance, Martin Luther King, where his oratory skills were very well known, the civil rights movement had a special connection to churches.”
Twitter is a facilitator of revolution, just as Martin Luther King Jr. was a mouthpiece for the civil rights movement. “It’s great to have other people start speaking up, but we’ve been having these conversations
on campus with different people for a long time, and cultural change needs to happen, but we can’t just expect people to do that with one protest,” Randall said.
To many, social media by itself is arbitrary, but with the right people behind it, it can make significant change. It can topple dictators. It can change policies that people thought could never be changed. The demands made by 2020 Vision can be met — the demands of a student body can be met.
It’s Hip Hop Wednesday, and Yik Yak is littered with atrocious, racist comments. Through the mouthpiece of Twitter, students expose the hate, share ideas to end it and converse seemingly endlessly. It’s the same strength and conviction that students used when they did sit-ins in protest of an idea, and it’s the same way that early civil rights activists were successful in spreading their message through television broadcasts of protests. When people see injustice firsthand, they’re more likely to fight back.
While many issues can seem like the flavor du jour, an issue has to have a particular gravity to stick — the issue must be serious and demanding. Anybody with a cellphone and a Facebook account is a publisher, a voice or a revolutionary. Many of the demands of the 2020 Vision movement visionaries seem to have fizzled out, but the conversation is constant. There isn’t a need for talking heads because of social media. USC students are making progress.
“It just kind of shows that, in this movement, we stand in solidarity, but we also have our own issues here as well,” Randall said. “There are problems that need to be addressed, because if we don’t, nobody is going to do that.”
“
“
Social media didn’t lead to permanent change, although it is a stark political tool.
Randy Covington, USC professor of journalism and mass communications
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Relative Perspective
BY JAKE MARGLE // PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER AND COURTESY OF SUBJECTS // DESIGN BY KELLEN LaGROON
The typical USC student is no stranger to the study abroad programs offered here. We’re bombarded by emails and besieged by spokespeople, all in an effort to coerce us into seeing the world.
If study abroad is all it’s cracked up to be, what are we and our fellow students to gain other than the typical memento?
Exchange students make for prime interview material. Trading places gives more insight into the lives of students around the world, because we can see both viewpoints
It’s undeniable that study abroad puts students in contact with situations and experiences that would never cross their paths in their usual environments — that’s its epithet after all.
The desire to go abroad may be great, but, as with any trip, things will go awry. Just ask Lois Carlisle, third-year art history student, who ventured from USC to study at the University of Warwick in England.
“To be received by the university was great.
Warwick is like 34 percent international students, and they build themselves on being a global university,” Carlisle says. “The difference in being accepted by the university and being accepted by the department of history here, however, was just a huge disparity.”
Carlisle experienced a few difficulties with the administration at Warwick.
“The department acted like they had never hosted someone from overseas before,” Carlisle says.
She believes a lackluster transition to digital rosters and submission systems are to blame. Like USC, the University of Warwick only recently put its faith into online systems.
“It was and has continued to be an ongoing struggle,” Carlisle says. A struggle that has resulted in “crazy emails that say, ‘We see you haven’t been to class, we’re thinking about revoking your visa.’”
The key to spending a semester overseas is to remain adaptable. A new country, new res-
idence and new people make for an endless mix of unpredictable factors.
“Everything else is perfect, truly,” Carlisle says. “I can’t emphasize enough that there is nothing about this experience that I would not do again.”
For conciseness and fairness, each student interviewed was part of an exchange program. In Lois’ case, as she went abroad to Warwick, an English counterpart arrived at USC. Fiona Leedham, a third-year history major, is experiencing Columbia at the same time as Carlisle.
Concentrating in Southern studies, Leedham felt the draw to study abroad as a desire to expand her horizons.
“I just wanted to do something new, something different,” Leedham says.
Not only did Leedham find herself wanting for a change of scenery and pace, but South Carolina was prime location for the type of history study she is currently pursuing.
“I have an interest in race and race relations,
26_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 FEATURE
so out of my options at home, South Carolina was the best one for me just in terms of the area,” Leedham says. “They had an African American studies program, and that really brought me in.”
Leedham has made many journeys to plantations around South Carolina and the greater South, such as Boone Hall in Mount Pleasant and Evergreen Plantation in Louisiana.
When she remembered her reception here in the South, a smile spread across Leedham’s face.
“They're so much friendlier,” Leedham says. “Southern hospitality is definitely a thing here.”
In terms of administrative aptitude, when comparing USC to Warwick, Carlisle isn’t alone.
“Back home, I don’t want to hate on Warwick, but the administration is just so bad. I’ve complained many times,” Leedham says. She attributes the difference to USC’s more “relaxed” approach.
Outside of the classroom, that relaxed
attitude poses a few problems for Leedham. Being exposed to alcohol and the socialization that comes at a much younger age in England puts her in a curious place among other students. At home, she’s far past the socalled binge drinking stage that runs rampant on American campuses. She explains her position eloquently, without a hint of judgment, but rather like a 21-year-old at a high school party: present but passive.
The novelty of her accent proves difficult as well.
“They'll hear my accent and go ‘Oh, where are you from?’ It just never carries on past that conversation,” Leedham says.
She’s not the only foreign student perplexed by the conversational habits of American students. Charmaine To is a third-year international business student here from Hong Kong as part of the International Business and Chinese Enterprise program in Columbia.
“I feel like Americans have a lot of inside
jokes, or sarcasm,” To says. “I think rather than a language barrier, it’s the way that people talk.”
To isn’t thwarted by the nuances of the Southern college vernacular though. Like Leedham, she’s experienced the palpability of Southern hospitality.
“I feel like, in South Carolina, I’m more encouraged to meet and talk to people because everyone is so much more friendly,” To says.
Hong Kong is a more reserved city in terms of personal space and social interaction, To says. You wouldn’t make conversation while waiting in line for a bagel. Third-year international business finance student Ryder Hogan, a correlative to USC and To who studied in Hong Kong for 15 months, knows this all too well.
“I was lucky enough to be there for longer than one semester,” Hogan says. “I think when you’re there for a short period, there is this filter where everything just seems amazing, and there is kind of a novelty to it. Being there for as long I was, I experienced the highs and
Perspective
27
lows, and I think that was a valuable, more authentic experience.”
Hogan found himself in a common situation faced by many travelers. He arrived in Hong Kong in a state of confusion. IBCE was a new program at the time, and with that comes teething issues.
“We didn’t have a lot of warning before we had to buy flights and when we went over we didn’t have much initial guidance,” Hogan says. “I flew in and had no idea where to go. I knew I had to go to the university but I didn’t know which building or where it was. They didn’t have an orientation set up for us so we just had to kind of figure it out.”
Hogan spoke to the more reserved nature of Hong Kong, but also to the inclusion of The Chinese Univer sity of Hong Kong. Hogan joined the rowing team while there and was surprised by the diligence the staff had toward accommodating English speaking students. The college he resided in also mandated that at least three meals a week be eaten with all the students living there in an effort to foster closer relationships and break down barriers.
Hogan summed up the study abroad experience as a combination of highs and lows. Social and ac ademic acclimation is a taxing process, but finding your way in an environment, especially one overseas, rewards like no other.
"It will be the best experience," Carlisle says. "And when things go wrong, and they will go wrong, you will be all the better for it."
Charmaine To Third -year international business student
from Hong Kong Ryder
Third-year international business finance student
to Hong Kong FionaLeedham Third-yearhistory student TraveledfromEngland 28_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
Lois Carlisle
Third-year USC art history student Studying in Warwick, England
Traveled
Hogan
Traveled
STYLE 30_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
// STYLE ASSISTANT DOMINIC BELLOTTI // MODELS CAROLINE
HUDSON, KYERRA LINDSEY, EMILY
// HAIR AND MAKEUP
STYLE
BY LINDSAY RIGGINS // PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER, HANNAH CLEAVELAND, JOSH THOMPSON
GRIGG, SARAH
ODOM
BY ANGELA GRECO // FLOWERS PROVIDED BY BRAHNAM'S FLORAL SHOP
Bohemian Hometown Crew, Madam Bovary dress, $88
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STYLE 32_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
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Wildflower Boutique
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Three Piece Stone earrings, $14
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Bohemian AG, Vertical Casing ring, $108
Bohemian Show Me Your MuMu, Juliet Maxi dress, $198 Wildflower Boutique Teal Stone ring, $16
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36_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 STYLE
Wildflower Boutique Grey teardrop, $16
Natural Instinct
Neutral accessories are the perfect compliment to bold floral patterns. We’ve learned it’s best to keep them simple and understated, so that your wardrobe can shine.
STYLE BY LINDSAY RIGGINS // PHOTOS BY STYLE ASSISTANT DOMINIC BELLOTT
1. Wildflower Boutique Ostrich Silver clutch, $38
2. Bohemian Free People, Eclipse Block heel, $148
3. Wildflower Boutique Mint Crystal necklace, $39
4. Wildflower Boutique Crystal necklace, $32
5. Bohemian AG, Vertical Casing ring, $108
6. Wildflower Boutique Qupid, Black pumps, $18
7. Bohemian Hobo, Fern crossbody, $119
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37 ACCESSORIES
Alex Rusnak
BY KELLY YOON // PHOTOS BY BREE BURCHFIELD // DESIGN BY HATARA TYSON
Now a third-year graphic design student, Alex Rusnak has been expressing himself through visual art for as long as he can remember. As a child, he would draw on anything he could get his hands on, whether it be canvases, class notes, clothes or headphones. In contrast with his peers, he took his art classes seriously in secondary school, putting forth his best effort.
Though initially an economics student, Rusnak made the switch to the School of Visual Art and Design in order to follow what his passion.
Rusnak’s prefers paint of all types like oil, acrylic, spray and house. His works are generally
abstract, but with sparing uses of realism.
“My style is similar to that [of] an impressionist painter, but with visual patterns rather than physical patterns, different than, say, Van Gogh," Rusnak says. "I’ll combine various patterns to capture the impression of what I’m seeing.”
However, Rusnak is not limited to the constraints of a canvas. He is currently in the process of seeking approval for a commissioned mural of a Carolina wren painted in his signature, intricate style. This large-scale project is to be displayed on a parking garage in the city of Columbia.
Rusnak’s artistry extends
beyond the medium of paint. He describes himself as “multidimensional.” He holds interests in music, design and his minor, computer programming.
“Graphic design was a good choice because visual design encompasses everything artistically," Rusnak says. "Knowing the concepts about how to make something visually appealing and how to communicate effectively through visual design is helpful, no matter what medium I work with.”
Rusnak is currently interested in the way people relate to society and their responses to societal and cultural norms, and several of his works revolve
around these matters.
He is currently in the process of developing more of a cohesive style and overarching concept for his works. Rusnak’s ultimate dream is living off his art — opening his own studio, creating works, selling prints and featuring in exhibitions.
In the meantime, he channels different kinds of inspiration from various artists. He is influenced by the visual aspects of Zio Ziegler’s and Gustav Klimt’s works, but also finds inspiration from several artists’ outlooks on life, such as Picasso, Stanley Kubrick, Alan Moore, Jim Morrison and Aldous Huxley.
Ziegler and Klimt's types of
38_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
influences act together to help Rusnak develop as an artist and ultimately hone his personal form of expression.
Rusnak holds the view that fine art serves as a channel for the artist to direct people’s attention to particular concepts and emotions.
"The artist is someone who brings up questions and feelings in an abstract way that causes people to expand their vision of the world, all while sharing a little about himself," Rusnak says. "All forms of art, including literary and performance art, are about communication.”
“The artist is someone who brings up questions and feelings in an abstract way that causes people to expand their vision of the world, all while sharing a little about himself.”
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— Alex Rusnak
Hat and Beard Jazz Radio
Garrett Owen is a fourth-year visual communications student who wants to spread his love of jazz music while proving he can excite a younger audience. Listeners can expect older hits from Louis Armstrong and more modern twists of jazz-fusion with current rap and electronic artists. Catch DJ Goat Guy’s show, “Hat and Beard Jazz radio,” Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m.
How did you become interested in jazz music?
I probably started when I was in high school. Probably when I was about 15, I started listening to Miles Davis' “Kind of Blues” — that’s, like, the best-selling jazz album of all time — and it was on a Rolling Stone list of “Greatest Albums of All Time” — and I was listening to a lot of rock 'n' roll and classic rock, so I was reading Rolling Stone, and I came across this album and was like, “I know nothing about jazz,” so I just started listening to it.
A lot of people don’t know anything about jazz, so do you think here’s a wide audience of college students who are excited about jazz?
“high society, fancy stuff,” but you look at jazz history and it’s totally the opposite of that — it’s supposed to be vibrant, exciting music. And I think a lot of modern jazz is exciting and different, and I think its making sort of a comeback because you see groups like BadBadNotGood. They’ve recorded with rappers like Earl Sweatshirt and Ghost Face Killah.
Do you focus on one sub genre of jazz or do you try to play everything?
I try to play everything but smooth jazz — just personal preference. I don’t think it’s something people need to hear to get the full story of jazz. And I probably play mostly bebop, hard bop, post bop.
Do you prefer instrumental or vocal jazz?
I think people would be more into jazz if they heard it more. It has sort of a stigma as being “old people’s music” or
I definitely prefer instrumental, just because it’s freer without lyrics — it’s not combined with any one meaning — I think you get more out of it sonically. It’s more open to interpretation.
5. “AllBlues ” by MilesDavi s 4. “BrilliantCorners ” by TheloniousMonk 41
Garrett ’ sPlaylist
BY LAUREN GALIDA // PHOTOS BY MELANEY MOTTSEY // DESIGN BY BRITTANY WILT
3. “StrangeMeadow Lark” by DaveBrubeck ON THE AIR
2.“Ornithology” by Charlie Parker 1.“Hat and Beard” by Eric Dolphy
BY ERIKA RYAN // PHOTOS BY HANNAH CLEAVELAND // DESIGN BY KELLEN LaGROON
Since they played their first show together at 13 years old, the members of MyBrother MySister made a name for themselves in Midlands music.
Guitarist and vocalist Dylan Kittrell and drummer Jenni Scott, are students at Dreher High School and are the grunge-pop duo. Even at 17 years old, they're far from out of place in Columbia’s music scene, surrounded by seasoned veterans.
Scott and Kittrell became a band in late eighth grade but started taking the idea seriously in ninth grade. MyBrother MySister found its place when Mat Cothran of Elvis Depressedly put them on one of their shows with two other Columbia-based groups, Those Lavender Whales and Dear Blanca. It was the first performance where Kittrell and Scott played to the crowd that they “wanted to play to,” and it’s only gotten better from there.
“People dug it, but it got better,” Kittrell said. “I feel like everyone adopted us for a while to help us grow.”
Despite being years younger than most of the bands they share a stage with, the scene welcomed them with open arms. The faith of their musical peers has been an asset to their success so far, but they say it isn't always fun
being the youngest in the room.
Scott said, “people think we’re impressive because we’re young,” and while older age can reflect experience in the industry, it doesn’t necessarily reflect talent.
“I can’t help it, so I might as well be good while I’m young,” Kittrell said.
Kittrell and Scott aren’t siblings, but the band name is drawn from a few connotations. Kittrell lost his sister to a terminal disease, and he views the name as a way to honor her, as well as a take on Kittrell and Scott’s friendship.
“My sister died when I was younger, and that affected me,” Kittrell said. “I became better friends with Jenni. She’s like my sister in a way, but it’s also an ode to my other sister.”
Over the years, Scott and Kittrell grew as friends and musicians, and music came as second nature to them from the start. According to Scott, she’s never had drum lessons.
“I don’t know why, I’ve just always been attracted to playing drums the most,” she said. “It just came very naturally to me.”
Over the last few years of playing together, the band's sound has grown just as they have. Since the release of their first album in November 2014, “Go Back Home,” produced at Archer Avenue, their music has headed in
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42_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016
SCENE & HEARD
a different direction. Traditionally, Kittrell described their music as having “the same sort of drive through a song,” but they’re working to expand their sound with more changes.
“It’s kind of different than most rock music, in a way,” he said. “A lot of my friend’s bands have five different parts in a minute of a song, and our songs had maybe five parts in the total time of a song.”
In the studio, Kittrell and Scott record themselves and layer the recordings as their own backing band. Because they can’t be their own backing band on stage, their friends Martin J. Hacker-Mullen on guitar, Andrew Graybill on bass and Ian Graybill on synths join them.
“I think it sounds exactly how I want it to,” Kittrell said.
Kittrell and Scott know they probably wouldn’t be where they are today without the support of their parents along the way, and they’re grateful to have the parents that they do given the circumstances of their popularity.
“Shout out to my mom for loving Dave Grohl,” Kittrell said, laughing.
Had their parents not loved music and the band, MyBrother MySister could’ve been nixed after a bad test grade. Moms are always their kid’s biggest fans, but they can’t always be roadies, too.
“They think it’s sick,” Kitrell said. “I’m having to tell my mom, ‘No, you can’t come on this tour with us’ because she’s like, ‘Alright, I’m ready.’”
Kittrell and Scott are looking forward to playing shows and going to class as college students. MyBrother MySister is seemingly much more than just a high school band. They recently opened for one of their biggest influences, Alex G in Asheville, North Carolina.
They’re humble about their success thus far, but musicians believe in them for a reason. As the youngest of a community of musicians, their mentors are becoming peers, proving that age really is just a number.
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43
— Dylan Kittrell
Worst Dates
EDITED BY GARNET AND BLACK STAFF // PHOTOS BY KENDRA LITTLE // DESIGN BY KODY KRATZER
We asked, you submitted them. Here are a few of the best worst dates.
ONE FOR 'STAR WARS'
Tinder dates are never really a great idea, but this one was far worse than I was expecting. Not only did he not tip our waitress after having coffee, he left me outside while I was paying for my own ticket for "Star Wars." When I met him inside he had already bought a small drink and popcorn and said, “Oh, did you want something?” We were waiting for the previews to start, and he proudly flashed me his phone, “Look, new Tinder match!”
YIKESARONI GRILL
He had been my waiter at Romano's Macaroni Grill a few nights before. We texted for a few days before meeting for coffee. He was 5'3" (I'm 5'1") and had nails painted with crackle nail polish. He had a car and offered to take me grocery shopping. After going to Publix, he took me on an hour-long ride around Columbia. With breadsticks and coffee being our only sources of interaction, I was naturally freaked. He dropped me off at my dorm after trying to initiate a make-out session in a medical center parking lot. I texted him that it was a no-go later that night, only to discover I had left my groceries in his car.
THE FAST AND THE CURIOUS
He was walking me home after a short dinner date, and I had made up my mind in the first five minutes that there wouldn’t be a second. Over the course of our conversation, I mentioned my love for muscle cars and that my favorite Christmas movie was "Die Hard" (and carefully rejected his offer to take me to see the fifth "Die Hard" movie — I explained I couldn’t let John McClane break my heart again). As we reached my street, he blurted, “You like cars, you like action movies ... Tell me, in what other ways are you like a man?”
44_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 RANTS
Which Failed New Year's Resolution Are You?
BY KATHLEEN SCHIPANO // DESIGN BY CHARLOTTE JOHNSON
3. What does your Instagram bio say?
A. It’s a Golden Girls quote and the trash can emoji.
B. Graduation date ~ Organization ~ HMU.
C. Several flying cash emojis.
D. " Not all who wander are lost." — J.K. Rowling
E. Taco emojis. And cheese emojis.
4. Which of these BuzzFeed quizzes would you take?
A. How Well Do You Really Know Every Show On Netflix?
B. What $10 Liquor Are You Based on Your Sign?
C. Which Passing Fashion Fad Are You Actually?
D. We Can Guess Your Favorite Color By Your Blood Type
E. What Should You Eat For Dinner Based on Your Sign?
Mostly A’s
Work Out More
You promise yourself that after this episode you’ll go to the gym, but autoplay gets you every time. You are a creature of comfort that does not concern themselves with FOMO. So settle into your couch crease, cover yourself in crumbs and do you!
1. Where were you on NYE?
A. Becoming one with my couch and trying to remember why Jenny McCarthy is famous.
B. I don’t remember, but my DD says they found me sleeping in a Waffle House bathroom.
C. I didn’t buy that bomb outfit to stay in with granny! I was out!
D. IDK, DT?
E. Four words: Pigs. In. A. Blanket. Three more words: Covered. In. Cheese.
2. What’s on your vision board?
A. A Fabletics ad, but also my Netflix watch list.
B. A countdown to my 21st birthday, or maybe to the day I get my license back.
C. A new watch / LuLuLemon anything / Yeezy’s.
D. My what?
E. Basically anything Tasty has ever posted.
5. Describe yourself using a preparation of potato.
A. Just a plain ole spud.
B. Hash browns. Hash browns forever.
C. Au gratin.
D. Ummm … french fries?
E. Garlic mashed potatoes with lots of sour cream and some cheddar.
6. Where do you eat in Russell?
A. The Ballpark Grill. It’s right on the first floor, and the line can be short.
B. Einstein’s. It’s so clutch for a hangover.
C. Woodstock. Yeah, I know it goes over meal plan.
D. Wholly Habaneros — it’s like real Mexican!
E. A combination of Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. No judging.
Mostly B’s Drink Less
“Party foul” is your nickname, and you wear it with pride. Your social media is your mother’s worst nightmare, which is why you have two Facebook accounts. Your life will get a lot easier, and longer, if you learn about the joys of staying in.
Mostly C’s
Spend less money
You look amazing, but your bank account doesn’t. Your friends like being around you for the selfies, but not because they end up spotting you at every meal. You want to cut back, so think about rocking that thrift store look for awhile, and maybe pay your electric bill.
Mostly D’s Get Better Grades
Your parents went postal when you you told them about your grades last semester, even though you embellished them a little. You can totally turn it around, so get your pretty face out of the clouds and go to good ole T. Coop for some tough love.
Mostly E’s Eat Better
Liking “Tasty” on Facebook is the worst thing that ever happened to you. We love you because you bring the treats we crave, but there is such a thing as too much Funfetti. Love yourself with a green smoothie every once in a while.
45 QUIZ
Repticon
BY ERIKA RYAN // PHOTOS BY HANNAH CLEAVELAND // DESIGN BY STEPHANIE ORR
Columbia is home to all types of people. Artists, businessmen, students and even snake breeders. Repticon is an exotic animal and reptile convention that travels the country, so we stopped by during the convention in Columbia to learn a little more about the people and pets behind the terrariums. Here are a few things you might have heard if you attended that weekend.
"I'm in college full time, and I have 100 lizards."
"If I ever get stressed out, I just play with my lizards." "Maybe if you weren't playing with your lizards you would pass your science classes."
"We have over 1000 tarantulas." "How do you keep track of them?" " ... It's difficult."
"He who dies with the most snakes wins."
"If I name my snakes, they can't come to the convention with me."
"Everyone here is vaping."
"If he gets out of the cage, it's on. He will chase us."
"I'm kind of new to breeding snakes. I've been doing it for 26 years."
"Guarantee you, they'll never shed on your couch like a dog."
"My daughter likes rabbits ... we had 50 at one time."
"Are these aggressive?" "This one is."
46_Garnet & Black_Spring 2016 OVERHEARD AT...
Aquatics Bike Shop Outdoor Recreation Intramural Sports Sport Clubs Personal Training Group Exercise Strom Thurmond Wellness & Fitness Center Solomon Blatt Physical Education Center 803.576.9375 803.777.5261 University of South Carolina Campus Recreation @UofSC_CampusRec campusrec.sc.edu