Lifestyles

Escape into the mysterious reality of “Caraval”

u By Katelyn Gomez

Contributor

“Welcome, welcome to Caraval! The grandest show on land or by sea. Inside you’ll experience more wonders than most people see in a lifetime. You can sip magic from a cup and buy dreams in a bottle. But before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game.”

Truly a game indeed! Stephanie Garber’s’ novel Caraval takes you upon the journey of a lifetime. Just when you think you might understand the story, the plot, and the characters, the world shifts beneath your feet.

A tale of definite twists, turns, revenge plots, and betrayals. Welcome to a land of magic and hoaxes, of mystery doors and tunnels, of flowing fountains and moving castles! Just like its characters in the story, the truth is never what it seems.

As the reader you must determine, untangle, and search behind layers of illusions to find the truth of a single moment, a single day or maybe even a single week for time works differently in a land full of games. Experience a world where your very eyes can fool you, your every word can hurt you, and your every action can lead you more and more into a mind of mental madness.

Garber’s story demands the justification of choices. The choice between exchanging a single day of life for the discovery of truth, trading fears for fortunes of the near future, and even sharing blood for tales of the past. It allows readers to question how far they would be willing to go to win a game? Then again, can a game every truly be just a game if the game is life itself? Discover a maze of clues, death, enchanted dresses, foods, and books.

Dive into Garber’s creation of a tale of justice, freedom, love, and most importantly secrecy. Get to know the tales of Legend, the unseen leader of Caraval, the man bestowed magic like the gods by a witch for the woman he loves in exchange for his soul. Marcello Dragna, the Governor of The Conquered Isle of Trisda, father of the two Dragna girls, a murderer and power hungry monster, the man who lives to torture those around him. Count Nicolas d’Arcy, a man of complete mystery hiding behind words in letters, promising a life of freedom and safety. Donatella, the youngest Dragna sister with fire in her blood, rebellion in her eyes, spirit in her soul and a plan to die like no other. Julian, a man with a tricky past, a tricky future, and a tricky family, a man with a difficult choice to make.

And lastly, the main character Scarlett Dragna. The girl on a mission. The girl who will make you question the very essence of this make believe world. The girl who has only ever seen the world through the experiences of childhood bedtime stories.

I said it once and I will say it again welcome to Caraval. Remember it is only a game… unless it is not.

“The Princess Bride” has only gotten better with time

u By Velvet Jessen

Staff Editor

It seems inconcievable that anyone hasn’t seen ‘The Princess Bride’ but in case you haven’t spoiler alert: It’s fantastic. The first time I watched ‘The Princess Bride’ I was 7 I liked it then and it has only gotten better to me with time.

In the movie you can see a giant, a sassy swordsman, a short man with a god complex(not that you can’t find that in real life), a six fingered man, a prissy king-tobe, a pirate, ‘rodents of unusual size’ (if you believe in them) and a doesn’t-want-to-be princess all in one spot. With all these unusual and interesting characters the movie is full of the hilarious quotes that anyone with good taste in movies will immediately get.

The movie’s title may make it seem like some sappy chick flic but it’s anything but to me. In the opening scene we see a sick little boy complaining about his grandpa coming over right before his grandpa opens the door and comes in. The little boy and the grandpa make jokes at each other the entire movie and narrate the story of ‘The Princess Bride’ for the audience. The story is full of sarcasm and jokes that younger viewers won’t get until they’re much older. When I rewatched the movie a couple days ago I found more jokes that I completely missed all the other times I’ve watched. And trust me I’ve watched it a lot. ‘The Princess Bride’ is simply a movie that won’t get old, the jokes just keep being funny.

The movie doesn’t rely on race, religion, disability, or really anything problematic to make a joke and that is part of what makes it so good. The characters have enough personality and sass that they don’t need to rely on shock value to be funny. The princess bride is a movie you can safely watch when you’re around younger siblings but you’ll be able to actually enjoy it. The jokes will still be funny to them just not in the same depth as they might for an older audience. Its really a movie you can watch with anyone: your grandma, check; your little siblings, check; your college best friends, absolutely check. It creates the perfect Mawiage of adult comedy and children’s movies. Expect to be quoting things from this movie for weeks after you’ve watched it with your friends because it won’t get old. Just hope they forget the monologue from the wedding scene by the time your marriage comes along if you don’t want their speech done in an awful accent.

Overall the princess bride is a movie I can’t find faults in. If there are any faults I’d put bets on the idea that you’ll be enjoying the movie too much to care or notice. If you don’t believe me feel free to watch it yourself and try to prove me wrong. I’d find it truly inconcievable that you could.

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his Saturday marks 20 years since the World Trade Center was attacked by Islamic extrem- ists. In the years since, there has been a lot of destruction, patriotism and anguish. To com- memorate the horri c events that took 2,996 lives, we asked faculty to re ect on what they were doing that day, and how they see the impact of those events 20 years later.

Vignettes by Aubrie Lawrence, Mackenzie Dahlberg and Velvet Jessen

Randy Rhine

CSC President On Sept. 11, 2001, Randy Rhine, then the dean of the college of professional studies at Montana State University, Billings, was having breakfast with several other deans when he rst saw the news. Early reports stated the towers were on re. Nothing about a terrorist attack. “By the time I got back to campus, and I went by the chancellor’s o ce, they had a TV on, and we actually saw the second plane hit the second tower,” Rhine said. “ at was a very unnerving moment.” Later that day when the towers fell, Rhine said he was in complete shock. “I had been to the Trade Center a number of times and been up on the observation deck a number of times,” he said. “It was kind of a thing; we’d go to New York, and we’d always go to the World Trade Center and watch the planes. It was a very unsettling time.” Now, after America has spent 20 years ghting the war on terrorism, not much has changed. But Rhine said he believes that even though the world is still full of hardships, it’s important for young people never to lose hope. “ ere will always be con ict in the world and unfortunately some-times that con ict leads to horrendous acts,” he said. “I think it’s important for all of us to strive to create a world and a space where those things aren’t necessary. So don’t give up hope, there is always hope.”

Justin Curtis

Asst. Professor, Social Sciences Justin Curtis was 11 years old and living in Arizona when the World Trade Center was attacked Sept. 11, 2001. When he was getting ready for school, the rst tower had already been hit. By the time he reached school, the second tower had been hit. e day was somewhat normal, Curtis said, but he was still very aware of the world-changing events taking place. He went to school and, unlike many other classrooms around the nation, his was not shown the live news

Jonathan Rovner

Assistant Professor, English Twenty years ago on 9/11, a 25 year old Jonathan Rovner was pulling a 12-hour shift at a KFC in Den-ver when two planes crashed into the Twin Towers. He listened on a radio at rst, until someone brought in a small portable television to watch the tragedy unfold. To Rovner the day was “surreal and terrible and exciting.” It started as just another day when he had to go into work but ended in what he said felt like “feeling the weight of history” for the rst time in his life. e event certainly did go down in history, and according Rovner, it felt and still feels like a “pivot in recent American history.” He added, how-ever, that he isn’t sure what we’ve pivoted to 20 years afterward in what he said feels like “another era.” “If we as a nation learn anything from the 20 year ‘War on Terror,’ I hope that in the future we never again declare war on an abstract noun,” he said.

Mary Donahue

Professor, Art e morning news echoed softly o the walls, em-anating from the radio to keep the silence out but not really being listened to during morning routines. CSC Art Professor, Mary Donahue, rode to work that 9/11 morning like any other normal day. When she stepped into her Utah State University o ce complex, it greeted her with abandoned desks. “It was eerie,” she said. She stumbled upon coworkers gathered in a conference room, watch-ing the television news and what was happening in Manhattan. “It was hard to get anything done the rest of the day; so much unease and uncertainty,” Donahue said. Kids today should know that it changed everything, she said. It made fear, anxiety and suspicion part of daily life. It changed how we travel and move through public spaces and placed the U.S. on a path of war and de-struction in the Middle East. It a ected all lives. “It is hard to believe it has been 20 years because the memory of that day is so vivid,” Donahue said. “I wish more thought, care and concern for the future had been put into the decisions made after 9/11.”

many other classrooms around the nation, his was not shown the live news coverage of the events unfolding in New York. “I was either too young or my teacher decided not to do that, I don’t know why, but we didn’t do it,” Curtis said. “It was kinda just a normal day, but it de nitely didn’t feel normal. Everyone knew what the World Trade Center was, had an image of the Twin Towers, and so we all understood that this famous image of New York was di erent all of a sudden.” However, the formative event that stood out in Curtis’ mind happened a few days later when an employee at a convenience store down the block was murdered in retribution for the 9/11 events because he looked like a Muslim. e victim, a man, was a Sikh from India. “For me, for some reason, maybe because of the proximity, maybe be-cause of even at a young age, I recognized how irrational that was. at was the moment that stuck in my head,” Curtis said. “I remember after 9/11 that feeling of unity and patriotism and putting ags in places they had not been. But I also remember an immediate sense of fear, con ict, terror, xenophobia, Islamaphobia, I don’t know exactly what to call it. “ e combination of those two things were extremely formative for me,” he said. “It informed my interest in world politics, which is what I do today.” On Sept. 11, 2001, the morning started as usual for Josh Ellis - a rush to get ready for work while making sure a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old were ready for day-care and school. Neither his television nor his radio were on, normal amid his daily morning chaos. After he delivered his morning lecture at National American University in Rapid City, South Dakota, Ellis noticed a bunch of students huddled around the small television in the student lounge. en he watched the planes collide into the towers. Shortly after, he received a call from his school to pick up his 5-year-old - all the schools were going into lockdown due to uncertainty. at uncertainty kept everybody glued to the television throughout the day, trying to gure out what, how and why it happened. “I realized it last year, when I had class on the 19th anniversary of it and I realized most of the students in my class weren’t alive at that time or were very young,” Ellis said. “ at’s when it struck me that it was a long time ago, but it just seems like yesterday.”Since 9/11, Ellis has made several trips to the memorial at Ground Zero. “ e monument in Manhattan is neat to see,” he said. “It still holds a very solemn atmosphere in the area, even after 20 years. It’s still very quiet at the monument, almost like a cemetery.” Ellis said that kids should know that after the attacks, the country was closer together, which seems to happen in similar situations. It drew people closer together, especially in Manhattan and people appreciated their loved ones more. But he said he respects people’s positions today about the U.S. en-tering Afghanistan in 2001 contrasted against the debacle of America’s departure last month. He said people he knows who served over there feel like it was a waste of their time, while others feel like they did their best while they were there, given what they had to work with. “But I don’t know if we were ever going to make any positive gains there,” Ellis said. “Twenty years is a long time. ere was a lot of money and a lot of time, quite a few lives that were lost there, too.”

Josh Ellis

Assoc. Professor, Family & Consumer Sciences

the future had been put into the decisions made after 9/11.” Donahue added that we needed to disentangle from Afghanistan, but the evacuation last month could have been executed better with more time and planning. Better decisions should have been made years ago, so we weren’t so involved there. If we wouldn’t have been involved, then there wouldn’t have been so many American and Afghani lives lost and countries destroyed. “I am torn about it all,” Donahue said. “It’s all so sad and I wish humans would learn to be kind to each other.”

Michael D. Kennedy

Communication Instructor When the Twin Towers fell in New York, it was 5 p.m. that Sept. 11, 2001, evening in the Dubai co ee shop where Michael D. Kennedy was sipping on a cup of java between bites of his apple pastry. Unaware of what was happening stateside, Kennedy spent the next hour and a half relaxing, unwinding from a day of class-es and meetings at Zayed University, an all-women’s in-stitution in the United Arab Emirates where he taught

journalism. He was hosting faculty colleagues for a weekly poker game that started at 7 p.m. At 7:15 p.m. no one had showed and Kennedy said he wondered what was wrong. A moment later one of the players, a Canadian colleague who resided on the eighth oor, knocked on his door and blurted, “Did you hear what happened?” “No,” Kennedy replied.“Someone ew a plane into the World Trade Center,” his friend said.With poker night canceled, Kennedy turned on the television and the two sat watching the events unfold in New York.“It was a tough night. But the next day was a little tougher,” Kennedy said. “I was worried about two things. My Arabic students and friends. “I worked with many Arabic faculty members and every one of them came up and apologized. ‘ is is not Islam’ they said, and I knew that. You had to be ignorant to believe this extremism is what Islam is about.” It wasn’t just his colleagues Kennedy worried about. “I was tense that day. I was feeling anger. But I had to make sure that my students knew I wasn’t angry with them. It was hard not to convey because I was angry, but I wasn’t not angry with them.” e events surrounding e U.S.’s involvement in Afghanistan over the past 20 years have been a double-edged sword for him, he said. He recalled the day Osama bin Laden was killed.“Osama bin Laden needed to go and to this day I see nothing wrong with the way we took him out,” Kennedy said. But he added that he was troubled with the way Americans, particularly young Americans, celebrat-ed his death. “Hearing crowds of young people chanting ‘USA!’ ‘USA!’ as if we had just won a major sporting event, was troubling, uncomfortable for me.” at action was way too serious to be trivialized by athletic chants.” Kennedy said those troubled feelings surfaced last month with the United States’ exit from Afghanistan. In January of 2002 during semester break at Zayed University, Kennedy spent two weeks photographically documenting living conditions among Afghan refugee camps in the tribal region between Pakistan and Afghani-stan. In June 2002, he spent a month in Kabul where, among several things, he attended and documeted Hamid Karzai’s innauguration as the country’s rst president after the U.S. drove the Taliban out of the capital. During both excursions he became close friends with two Afghan jour-nalists, both of whom escaped from Afghanistan just last week and arrived in the U.S. this past Saturday.“I am glad they got out,” he said. “But the whole exit was a cluster...,” Kennedy cut his words, then added, “well you know what comes next. It should’ve been planned better. Did we need to get out? Yeah, we’ve been there for 20 years. Longer than any other war in our history. And why? For what? We’re not going to change a foreign country’s culture. ere was no reason for us to be there that long. We had good reason to be there after 9/11. But once we got rid of bin Laden, we should’ve started thinking, ‘we need to move on and move on now.’”

Editor’s Note: We interviewed eight faculty members. Be- cause of space and time constraints, we were unable to include them all within this spread.

10 Sept 9, 2021 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Comics

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