The Fine Print, Fall 2013

VOLUME VI, ISSUE I

www.thefineprintuf.org

FALL 2013 FREE

Edibly Educated Hone your foraging skills on campus

p.14

{

{

Plus!

An exclusive interview with

NOAM CHOMSKY p. 28

LOCAL STRIKE ECHOS NATIONAL CRY FOR WORKERS’ RIGHTS P. 26

{

in

this issue A Platinum Pursuit (pictured right) UF’s newest LEED Platinum building calls for a closer look at the LEED.

p. 32

Published with support from Campus Progress/Center for American Progress (online at CampusProgress.org).

Print Editors

Ashira Morris Samantha Schuyler Lily Wan

Photo Director

Javier Edwards

Art Director

Emma Roulette

Layout Director

Isabel Branstrom

Creative Writing Editor

Nadia Sheikh

Copy Editors

Hyesu Kim Heather Reinblatt

Web Editors

Ashira Morris Samantha Schuyler Lily Wan

Marketing Director Distribution

Vanessa Kinseya Ellen McHugh

Page Designers

Isabel Branstrom Korrie Francis Chelsea Hetelson Rosie Robinson Kelley Taksier

MISSION STATEMENT

(Paper)Back in Gainesville (pictured above)

A filmmaker returns to good ol’ Gainesville to shoot his second film.

p. 22 Cover art by Emma Roulette.

COLUMNS Read Up, Chow Down, p. 06 Curious about how some of your favorite Gainesville noms are made? Look no further. Plus, a mini guide to in-season fruits and veggies.

For the Record, p. 10 From math rock to hip hop, we’ve got local bands on lock.

SPOTLIGHTS Let’s Get Physical: Books and Movies You Can Feel, p. 16 Businesses that buck the online trend.

FEATURES Got Debt?, p. 24 Student debt: astronomical. Student creativity to pay it off: just as high.

Mind Your T’s and Q’s, p. 34 Beyond the binary.

02 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

thefineprintuf.org

Our mission is to serve the Gainesville community by providing an independent outlet for political, social and arts coverage through local, in-depth reporting.

CONTACT US

Email us at editors@thefineprintuf.org.

FREELANCE SUBMISSIONS

The Fine Print accepts freelance writing, photography and illustration. Submissions should be sent to editors@thefineprintuf.org.

ADVERTISING

The Fine Print distributes 5,000 copies of each bimonthly issue and is currently looking for advertisers. For more information, email editors@ thefineprintuf.org.

LETTERS

The Fine Print accepts letters from readers. Submit letters via email to editors@thefineprintuf.org or by snail mail to The Fine Print, 200 NE 1st St., Suite 201, Gainesville, FL 32601. The editorial board will decide which letters will be published, and writers will be notified before publication.

DISCLAIMER

The Fine Print reserves the right to deny or accept the publication of articles or advertisements according to the decisions of its editorial board. The views of our writers do not necessarily express those of The Fine Print.

}

LETTERS, ETC.

from THE FINE PRINT’S

.org

intuf www.thefinepr

ISSUE IV VOLUME V,

3 SUMMER 201 FREE

thefineprintuf.org

EDITORIAL DESK

by Ashira Morris

Dear reader,

EDS

THE BEES’ NE

ion’s Facing the nat off in largest bee diethe buzz t’s wha , ory hist strong keeping colonies in Florida? p. 24

Multimedia, more stories, blogs and a community calendar.

PLUS! Comment on stories, see photos from the printed issue (and more!) IN COLOR, flip through a digital version of the printed edition and much, much more, all updated throughout the month.

You have picked up The Fine Print at a momentous time: our fifth birthday. Before we bust open piñatas and eat cake, we’d like to take a second to give all of you a shoutout: CARE THAT S E Thank you for reading. We’re five years S ES + BUSIN young because of your support.

If you will, allow me to get a little facebook.com/thefineprintuf sentimental. (Actually, you don’t really 1. twitter.com/thefineprintuf have a choice. If you’re not interested, just flip to the next page.) I’ve been with The Fine Print since my freshman year, so I’m basically going into my fourth year of a very serious relationship. It’s been an extremely positive one.

I’ve watched The Fine Print grow up. The first FEATURED STAFFER meeting I went to was held at The Midnight. And that first nomadic year, we could fit the entire staff Andrew Baldizon around a few tables pulled together at Maude’s.

Now, we have an office (and business cards to boot).

Staff meetings call for an entire classroom’s worth of space.

Sidestepping sappiness, deciding to work with The Fine Print my first year at UF was one of the most fulfilling decisions I’ve made. And in the end, it all comes back to the people.

Our editors are wonderfully creative and sharp.

We’re all working together because we’re passionate about what we do, not for a paycheck at the end of the day.

The members of the community who we interview, from activists to artists, all have powerful stories. I’ve always been fascinated by the trust involved in journalism: by stating that you’re a reporter, people engage with you. They answer your questions and crack open a window into their life.

It’s an incredible experience, and Gainesville is full of fascinating windows.

To everyone who has written stories, shot photographs, designed layouts, sold ads or drawn illustrations over the years: You’re a part of our history. Don’t you dare underestimate your contribution, because you helped us get here.

And that brings us back to you, the readers.

Maybe you’ve been with us since day one, or maybe this is the first issue you’re reading. Either way, we’re Andrew is a Political Science major at UF. His happy to have you with us.

So from the bottom of our paper heart, thank proudest moment is from the second grade, when you again for helping us reach our toddler years. he performed as Elvis Presley at a class party. He You are all invited to our birthday party on Oct. 19 writes, drinks Yoo-hoo and you may catch him on for some kickin’ bands and good times, as always.

We love you all. But seriously. If you weren’t drums from time to time. His hero is Tony Clifton. reading, we might start asking why we’re writing. with erience -old age sonal exp es his per ustry to the passed is ind compar Aspen e auto repair ere a message ounces nic porat ” wh yer ann the cor “telephone, The last pla usually very ly mecha . is of the on me. ple e has is ich peo gam wh ho . He e of Aspen er nature s out of his repair shop along a lin to the group message. al earted n ge a custom o good-h siness he run start his ow concept of the messa m the origin blem when wh bu to nager, the the nt fro for the s inspired same proa service ma r with differe led by ERG to nced the He wa t encounte was humb nic.

SA GOLDB A ethics experie his problem the mecha RIS firs . and MA the his ism to s to CORRE d at after rate ment” d Au capital TEXT BY explain ys the issue appalle the corpo a nd pay traditional is. On Kin

BY MARIA the it l your “in-ki PHOTOS listing o then rela s absolutely en said of from e got but rol e diversion at a diversion a section Asp “I wa for aut ry. “I’v at night.” ’t help r corporat is to,” ge ust wh can re d han ere ind p the ital An exc If you anothe bsite, ve dig basics, money e to slee they adh ile repair ept in be abl back to t Repair’s we en will acc an inexpensi ic guitar. at yet ndal or ob to for s e om chat eye acoust y and er aut science; I hav nging it take com e “barters” Asp nt listings: age sca to sta ers some bri and an to find oth espion salesperson, . His nam rre con is ers Cu top off ge tom lap sed nd air.

Aspen exchan hungry have a frie him Aspen) rep his cus ir cars. He nge if you decent be hard-pres era, a ter in raging s ago on the free oil cha mers can t you s call rs would ling to bar dry decade ost encou U T O cam a works friend sto fact tha N D A n a Custome nts wil dition ran was of utm t while he es, including oil filter. Cu in the Ruder (his I me K ish ind at tra cash establ re tha it’s “no oil and e servic is Von man beh nt — love,” fre your own vice. Th ided hard get mo is the dec differe for ser bring here you!” and he rd, people to Repair is is an act of It backya when nd Au I R , “w R E PAnic, you get a frie shade of his head and a value. Kindto consumerism. the t d his mecha ace and a servan website. sits in aroun shop’s Aspen loosely tied The ‘60s “pe Aspen’s says the of a m. er dan ear cov en, ok the h for a ban soft-sp orates on eac tattoo me that dec ive of his ect love” the leg is refl etic prosth uf.org eprint thefin

UP? P. 32 OR COVER CLEAN UP FUND SITE: ERS SUPER THE KOPP

18 | T

HE

FIN

IN E PR

T|

Listen to his show, Funhouse, Tuesdays at 10 a.m. on Grow Radio (growradio.org).

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

03

COLUMN / PAPER CUTS Ouch! That hurt s doesn’t it? Paper Cuts are our shor t, erratic and slig htly painful updates on current local an d national events .

See our website for more Paper Cuts at thefineprintuf.o rg

Paper Cuts ‘BRO’ CODE ON THE BATTLEFRONT Rigid rules, tight schedules, constant pressure and stress, high demand for high standard performance -- military personnel are very familiar with these traits. For many, sexual assault makes the list, too.

Women are more familiar with this one, though. Only 3,374 sexual assaults were reported in the U.S. military last year.

Only? Yes -- comparatively low when taking into account the Pentagon’s estimate of 26,000, with 6.1 percent of these attacks against women; 1.2 percent on men. Still, critics question the Pentagon’s figure and transparency in reporting.

The numbers are atrociously high and that’s clear; the boundaries in the field, however, aren’t. An apparent “bro” culture pervasive in the military leaves female soldiers often in limbo between what attitudes of their male counterparts should be considered inclusive and exclusive, if not harassment.

But speaking up? A 2003 study by the University of Iowa Social Research Center conducted a survey amongst female veterans and found that women who spoke up about an unacceptable, disrespectful work environment were six times more likely to have experienced a rape during their time of service.

04 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

Image courtesy of the Government Pr ess Office by Miln via Flickr Common er Mos s.

he

For the women who don’t report such hostility, many shrug off it, as one one Air Force Sergeant told to The Atlantic. This “bro” culture has been reported to include screening porn before flight missions in Iraq and singing songs popular from the Vietnam War about “the S&M man” who “makes the hurt feel good.”

Even today, the military’s hypermasculine environment has yet to shed the culture so heavily ingrained in it through its maledominated history. No silver bullet can fix this, but necessary reform relies at the very least on complete transparency in incident reports, equal status for women in combat, and eradication of this “bro” culture.

By Lily Wan

ONLINE SHIPPING: AMAZON NOT SO PRIME “I’ll just order it on Amazon.”

Commonly heard and commonly said, this attitude -- and the causatively much cheaper price tag that goes along with it -- is one of justifiable convenience.

And such is the beauty of online shopping: cheaper, wider selection, on-hand reviews and delivered right to your doorstep. And it’s that

last part wherein lies the problem. You order something and -- boom -- it appears. There is no human connection bonding the consumer to the product; there is only a mere price, and the attractive 2-day delivery turnaround as offered by Amazon Prime accounts, which are free to students.

That expedited shipping time comes with a price. As anyone who’s bought anything online knows, faster delivery comes with a higher price tag. As anyone working in a large scale corporation warehouse knows, faster shipping comes with more stress, higher demand and even worse-than-usual working conditions.

These shipping warehouses aren’t operated directly under the corporation name from which the products are being packaged and sent, but rather a second party temporary staffing agency. This way, when employees complain or threaten lawsuit for their working conditions (we’re talking 10 hour days ringing in only $60 after taxes), the parent corporation isn’t pinned the defendant.

As an employee of a temporary staffing agency, such as Amazon’s Integrity Staffing Solutions, you are not entitled health care, raises or paid vacation. Many benefits shorted, more profit gained, and the more money consumers save with free shipping.

By Lily Wan

COLUMN / MONTHLY MANIFESTO

GAINESVILLE CITIZENS

for activE

transport

BY GCAT EXECUTIVE BOARD Have you ever been stuck in bumper-tobumper traffic on a beautiful day and noticed someone walking or riding their bike enjoying the fresh air and thought, “I wish I could do that”? I have. And whether you’d like to commute to work, ride your bike with your kids to school or walk to the park, Gainesville Citizens for Active Transportation (GCAT) wants to make your outing easier.

GCAT is a coalition of local organizations and individuals. Our mission is to advocate for complete streets practices that promote cycling, walking, disability access and transit through education and advocacy for a safe and convenient network of multi-use trails and streets. Active travel strengthens connections in neighborhoods and enhances our community’s quality of life, health, environment and economy. We are already working with coalition partners to provide grade school students with pedestrian and bicycle safety training, maintain local multiuse trails and paths, increase neighborhood bike/pedestrian connectivity, and raise awareness of active transportation issues through advocacy with the Gainesville and Alachua County Commissions.

All kinds of people use active transportation -- some by choice and others by necessity.

6.15 percent of Gainesville workers commute to work by bike, and 9.2 percent of trips statewide are taken on foot. Did you know that 68 percent of people traveling to UF do so via transit (39 percent), foot (19 percent), or bike (10 percent) and that active transportation (bike/pedestrian/transit) accounts for more than 92 percent of trips on campus according to a UF transportation study?

Active transportation benefits all of us.

It reduces road congestion, makes parking easier and saves Florida taxpayers billions of dollars in health care expenses each year (about 50 cents per trip taken).

We all also pay for roads. Active transportation infrastructure costs much less to build while generating more jobs per mile and reduces road maintenance costs dramatically. We pay about 6.5 cents per mile driven to build and maintain roads and about 29 cents per mile driven in additional costs to taxpayers -- and this doesn’t include the costs of vehicle ownership.

GCAT envisions a community in which active transportation is a viable and attractive option for all, and we invite everyone to join us and get active so that we can transform our

ACTIVE TRAVEL STRENGTHENS CONNECTIONS IN NEIGHBORHOODS AND ENHANCES OUR COMMUNITY’S QUALITY OF LIFE, HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY. vision into reality. You can start by liking us on Facebook, where you can learn about our public meetings, projects, and city and county meetings related to active transportation. At the very least, just keep riding and walking!

Remember how you felt the last time you were stuck in traffic? Use that memory as motivation to get out of your car and onto your bike; break in those sneakers or that bus pass. Thousands of your neighbors do every day, and I doubt anyone looks at the cars stuck in traffic and thinks to themself, “I wish I drove my car today.”

Fall 2012 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

05

COLUMN / READ UP, CHOW DOWN

read up,

chow down

FEATURED RECIPE: FLACO’S SUNSHINE SANDWICH TEXT BY NADIAH SHEIKH / ILLUSTRATIONS BY TONI-LEE MAITLAND PHOTO BY JAVIER EDWARDS

Flaco’s Cuban Bakery & Coffee began with owner Tim Puyana, a skinny man making the best of a tough nickname. He opened Flaco’s Cuban Bakery downtown, making the best Cuban coffee, sandwiches and classic ropa vieja. Flaco’s is all about staying true to yourself, which isn’t hard when you’re downright delicious.

They bake their Cuban bread fresh every day and use vegetable oil instead of pork fat, so any sandwich can also be vegan-friendly.

Good thing they’ve got locations downtown and midtown, open ‘til 2:30 a.m.

When you make your way to Flaco’s, check out the Sunshine Sandwich. The sandwich started as a tofu crumble, but switched to tempeh because of its great protein content and hearthealthy benefits. Flaco’s uses Artie’s Tempeh, a local provider of tempeh for Gainesville restaurants. Now you can make some Sunshine for yourself with this handy recipe! It’s a tasty choice for the cheating carnivore and for all of us veg-heads.

06 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

Flaco’s Cuban Bakery & Coffee Downtown: 200 W. University Ave. (352) 371-2000

Midtown: 1702 W. University Ave. (352) 371-2000 Closed Sunday and Monday

COLUMN / READ UP, CHOW DOWN

INGREDIENTS: t Cuban bread t Mayonnaise t Mustard

t Swiss Cheese t Mojo onions t Sunshine

SUNSHINE t Tempeh (found at the farmers market, your local grocery or health food store) t Cumin t Oregano t Pineapple juice t Sofrito (chopped peppers, garlic, onions) t Frozen vegetable mix or chopped vegetables of choice 1. Crumble tempeh and season with cumin, oregano and any other favorite spices.

2. Add some pineapple juice so tempeh isn’t totally dry.

3. Cook about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

4. Sautee sofrito ingredients in olive oil in pan on medium heat.

5. Chop vegetables and saute, or toss in frozen veggies. (Don’t overcook! Veggies should be a bit crunchy.)

MOJO ONIONS t Olive oil t Garlic cloves t Onions, thinly sliced 1. Puree garlic cloves and heat olive oil in a pan.

2. When oil is hot (but not burning hot), toss in garlic and cook until it smells delicious.

3. Slice onions and cook until tender.

FINALLY: 1. Assemble sandwich.

2. Press until crunchy (or toast bread).

3. Fill belly with Sunshine.

What’s In Season Chestnuts, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Green Beans, Green Peppers, Hot Peppers, Lemons, Lettuce, Limes, Okra, Papaya, Pecans, Persimmons, Pineapple, Prickly Pear Cactus, Pumpkins, Radishes, Satsumas, Southern Peas, Sweet Potatoes, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Yellow squash, Watermelon, and Zucchini.

FALL 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

07

SECTION

TABLE for

ONE

BY TYLER FRANCISCHINE

Your outfit is perfect. Your hair is impeccable.

Your makeup is off the chain. You’re pumped and prepared for this concert tonight. But then your phone chirps. It’s your best friend; he’s not going to make it. The panic sets in. Who are you going to go to this show with? Who are you going to talk to all night? You couldn’t possibly attend this event alone, could you?

08 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

thefineprintuf.org

COLUMN / FRANKLY SPEAKING

Our generation is absolutely averse to being alone. We drag friends to events they don’t care about; we text incessantly when said friends escape briefly to the bathroom. Then, we upload pictures of the night to the Internet to gain the approval of the rest of our “friends.” It’s as if being alone, even for one night, makes us feel friendless, socially inept and otherwise unfit for civilization.

I’ve had a downright fear of being alone since my first semester at UF. In high school, I was in the IB program and the marching band. I was around the same kids all day and soon enough, we formed a little family. But in college, I had a different schedule than many of my friends. Some days, I was forced to eat lunch in the dining hall by myself. I put on a brave face and armed myself with an iPod in my ears and a book at my fingertips. But every time I heard someone laugh or exclaim something cheerfully to his friends, it pierced straight through me. Then, there were the evenings during exam week on which I’d walk back to my dorm after a full day of studying at Library West and realize I hadn’t opened my mouth or interacted with others all day. To compensate, I’d spend my nights on the phone chatting for hours with long-distance friends or begging my roommates to accompany me to whatever oncampus event I could find. I felt like an evening spent alone would be an evening wasted.

This phobia continued long after I threw my cap in the air and Bernie shook my hand. This summer, four of my closest friends left Gainesville for greener pastures. Every Facebook event invite filled me with dread. Who would I go with? Could I find a co-worker to drag to this film? Would I be able to think of enough clever things to say to my acquaintances so they’d stand next to me at this show?

Maybe it’s from TV shows and movies featuring large ensemble casts, but we’ve been taught that being alone is less preferable than

being around others. As usual, I blame social media – our tendencies to overshare mundane details and document every happening (pics or it didn’t happen) lead to fear and embarrassment of being alone. But it doesn’t have to be so.

This summer, I made a conscious decision to do as Tom Haverford advised me: Treat yo’self.

Why deny myself adventures just because no one else was around to share in them? I went to the record store by myself and added to my burgeoning collection. I sat by the pool solo and soaked in the sun’s rays. When I wanted to get something to eat and no one else was available, I got something to eat. And I didn’t stick in my earbuds, either.

Though sharing and making connections with others are great sources of joy in our lives, it’s also important to share things with you and only you. In fact, there’s a certain joy in knowing you were the only one to witness that beautiful cloud formation or the only one who saw how delicious your lunch looked before you ate it. These little things can make us feel alive, present in the moment.

My friend Collin told me, when you’re by yourself, you can be exactly who you want to be. When we’re around others, we can feel the need to placate them by agreeing with their views – even if they don’t match our own. If we think of alone time as freeing and liberating instead of a trap, as my friend Jess recommends, we can use this time to find out exactly who we are. We can ask ourselves why we do certain things, why we choose the people we surround ourselves with and why we hold the opinions we do. This way, when we’re with our friends or acquaintances, or even people we don’t like that much, we’ll feel secure in our personalities and identities because we’ve taken the time to develop them. Plus, if you haven’t danced by yourself in an empty house, you’re missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures.

If we think of alone time as freeing and liberating instead of a trap we can use this time to find out exactly who we are.

Fall 2013 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 09

FOR THE RECORD Reviews of local bands, the next big thing, and all your friends.

Dungeons & Dagrons, Raian Khan and Pedro Sanchez. Photo by Javier Edwards.

WIZARD // Dungeons & Dagrons STIX Pedro Sanchez// drums

Experimental party math Release Date// Oct. 19 Recorded at// Casa Bazooka Recording Studios, Miami Sounds like// 1994, Lightning Bolt, Hella Inspiration// Giraffes? Giraffes!, Rush, Noumenon, Foals Key tracks// “Fire Ant Juice,” “Per Degaton” Where to get it// dagrons. bandcamp.com Upcoming shows// Stay updated at facebook.com/Dagrons

10 | T H E

Raian Khan// guitar

There seems to have been a recent explosion of “math rock” bands in Gainesville. These are bands that employ frenetic percussion and disorganized, experimental guitar riffs. But why is this chaotic genre becoming so popular? Basically, it’s because math rock sounds really bizarre.

But what is math rock exactly?

“Some people think that if you hear a little bit of guitar tapping in a song, that makes it math rock,” said Raian. “No. No. No. There is so much more to it than that.”

Typically, a math rock song will include unexpected tempo and key changes, as well as irregular scales and time signatures. While most rock music is eternally bound to 4/4, (that is, four beats per measure) a math rock song can have a measure with two beats, then four, then two, then seven. Or any other crazy combination you can think of.

“Math rock completely avoids the universal rules of music that no one ever thinks about, yet still manages to sound good,” said Pedro.

Which is the whole point of Dungeons & Dag-

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

If you’d like to see your band reviewed in For The Record or if you want to be considered to play at our next benefit show, email editors@thefineprintuf.org and let us know.

rons. At one moment, their songs can radiate a nostalgic melody reverberating at a lava lamp tempo and then suddenly morph into symphonic finger-tapping at warp speed. If anything, Dungeons & Dagrons is reminiscent of a schizophrenic Nintendo-64. For example, “Fire Ant Juice” opens with a series of glitchy sound effects above mountainous, chugging guitar riffs, giving way to an optimistic march in changing time signatures.

Despite their frantic and frequent tempo and tonal changes, Dungeons & Dagrons would still consider themselves to make “party math rock.” Their music somehow succeeds in combining unexpected musical patterns with beats that are hip and danceable. This is obvious at their live shows, where the floor shakes irregularly under the feet of the crowd, moving in unison to the splattering, scattered beat of Pedro’s drums.

It is also remarkable that, aside from the main movements of each song, much of their live music is created on the spot. Even the seasoned music lover’s mind will be blown to pieces by the improvisational tornado of this spazz-rock duo.

BY ANDREW BALDIZON

COLUMN / FOR THE RECORD

DOWN THE STREET

SOMEWHERE // Slugage

Sour bubblegum mischief Release Date// Digitally: July 11, physically: October 2013 Recorded at// Brian Ray’s House Label// BUFU Records Sounds like// Parquet Courts, The Misfits, The Sonics Inspiration// Weezer, Regina Spektor, Bomb the Music Industry!

Key tracks// “Tuesday,” “House Broken” Where to get it// slugage.bandcamp.com Upcoming shows// Oct 23 at the High Dive with Peelander-Z and We the Invader

NOCTURNAL

Interstellar communal transmissions Release Date// October 2013 Recorded at// Medusa Sound Studios, Gainesville Label// Elestial Sound Sounds like// Hieroglyphics, Arrested Development, The Roots Inspiration// Black Star, Cannibal Ox, Erykah Badu Key tracks// “Dessert,” “Trails in the Sky” Where to get it// At shows or hear old tunes at soundcloud. com/msnra Upcoming Shows// Check their Facebook page at on.fb.me/ GNMN8o

Anthony Herrera// vocals, bass Christina Herrera// drums

Witness any Slugage set and you’ll notice even the most angry song performed with tongue firmly in cheek. It’s rare for these fellas to keep a straight face on stage.

“We’re like the Naked Gun of punk bands,” said Vitor Viana, guitarist-turned-bassist and one half of the band’s songwriting duo.

This playful attitude pervades many of the tracks on the band’s second release, “Down the Street Somewhere.” Recorded in three days, the music melds influences as varied as Black Flag and Regina Spektor into an EP about “leaving, relationships and nothing at all,” says guitarist Alu Soto.

Change and growth were on the band’s mind as they recorded these songs and moved to Gainesville from Miami earlier this summer. Slugage’s first local release reflects a step forward for the group. After an additional year of playing and writing together, their performances and creative process are more focused compared to their previous effort, “You’re Welcome.”

The difference lies in the fact that, as opposed to “You’re Welcome” – where producer Ben Katzman helped finish about half the material as sessions progressed – this time, the band went into the studio

// MSNRA

Alu Soto// vocals, guitar Vitor Viana// vocals, guitar

with every song completed.

The added rigidity helped. These are aggressive songs with melodic sensibilities that reflect a duality in the group’s sound. This split character can be attributed to the band’s shared songwriting duties. In numbers such as “Tuesday,” written by Soto, you’ll find many examples of vocal harmonies and guitar lines indebted to surf-rock and ‘60s groups, like The Sonics and The Rascals. Viana’s material, especially the standout “House Broken,” features short, compact riffs and raw vocals that recall proto-punk Johnny Thunders and hardcore pioneers Minor Threat.

A change of scenery wasn’t the only adjustment Slugage had to contend with in moving up to Gainesville – they also left behind former bassist Anthony Herrera, who studies in Miami. Slugage continues as a three piece, and what eases the transition is the personal friendship and musical kinship between the trio.

“We all enjoy and respect what each person has to say musically,” said drummer Christian Herrera.

“It’s like we’re each other’s house band, now literally under one roof.”

BY ANDREW BALDIZON

Tristan Whitehill// guitar, bass, synth, production Alexander Cook// emcee, drums, production Dillard Wiseheart// keyboards, DJ, production Zach Thomas// emcee, guitar

MSNRA stands for moon, stars, sun and the Ra. “The name is us; it’s duality; it’s yin and yang; it’s day and night. It’s all encompassing – everybody has something they bring to the table, and we balance each other out,” said Bim Akinsiku, one of the group’s emcees and founding members.

The “Nocturnal” EP is the collective’s first project as an eight-piece. MSNRA’s lineup has doubled since their first show; the group’s growth has contributed to a sense of community that is paramount not only on these songs, but in their philosophy. The tunes implore you to remember where you come from (the group repeatedly champions Gainesville and the fact that these beats are all Gainesville-produced). They profess self-empowerment and self-respect, deliberately constructed to work outside the sound and content of mainstream hip-hop.

“Dessert,” produced by emcee Alex Crook, features an instantly recognizable organ line and tasteful guitar. It explores the liberation that comes with discovering your proverbial voice (“I couldn’t see until these songs/I’m not alone”).

Abimbola Akinsiku// emcee Shara Lunon// vocals Mariama Ndure// vocals Theron Gray// vocals, violin, clarinet

“Trails in the Sky” includes gorgeous choral backing vocals reminiscent of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).” Its lush bassline anchors the song and creates an introspective mood in which simplistic subject matter is scorned (“Rest in peace one dimensional emcees”) and the individual empowered (“Risin’ out of dust and it settles down to Mars/every single one of us is made up out of stars”).

It isn’t easy to reconcile the creative drive of eight different minds, but MSNRA manages to both reflect a diverse set of influences and express a consistent message: the promotion of positivity, knowledge and respect. Respect for each other’s creative space is crucial to their harmony in songwriting and live performance.

From the outset, MSNRA was never intended to be limited to the original four members. Akinsiku and Crook envisioned a continually growing, fullband, live experience. In fact, their first show was an Elestial Sound album release showcase for two future members, Tristan Whitehill and Dillard Wiseheart.

BY ANDREW BALDIZON Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

11

office SPACE SECTION

PROFESSOR: Dr. David Hackett OFFICE: 112 Anderson Hall DEPARTMENT: Religion CLASSES THIS SEMESTER: American Religious History (REL 2121) and Religion in North America (RLG 6137)

COLUMN / OFFICE SPACE TEXT AND PHOTOS BY GRIFFIN HORVATH American Religious History Professor, David Hackett, grew up with questions of meaning and purpose. The 1960s countercultural movement popularized the quest for religious explanations. Hackett began looking past American society’s answers and hasn’t stopped since.

Hackett came to the University of Florida in 1987. When he started teaching American religious history, courses rarely seated more than 30 – a far cry from today’s hundred-plus lecture halls.

“I’m really aware of the fact that underneath everything else, I’m helping people move from 18 to 21,” Hackett said. “I’m helping them move into the first intonations of adulthood, of purpose, of finding meaning in life and in what they want to do.”

His office is defined by a bookshelf. The room sits on a corner

in Anderson Hall. Windows dominate the other walls, granting the room sunlight and a warm glow. Hackett relates to the college experience sentimentally; as he says, “The more desperate issue is becoming a human being.”

Instructing “What is the Good Life?” a required class for incoming freshmen as of 2012, has been particularly rewarding. He recognizes that his students are coming immediately out of high school and into college.

“It’s a major period of life adjustment,” Hackett said.

Hackett stresses the greater meaning in the course, encouraging his students to embrace it in a more holistic sense.

“It’s a kaleidoscopic, wonderfully chaotic, thrilling and terrifying time period,” Hackett said. “It’s a great time to be teaching them.”

“LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET” BY RAINER MARIA RILKE

Hackett smiled as he pulled the book from the shelf.

“Underneath everything else, the student, the young person, the adolescent who’s come away from home on this great adventure of college is asking questions of himself,” Hackett said. “Who am I? What am I going to become?” Hackett added. “We too frequently seize on answers to these questions before we’ve allowed them to percolate long enough so we can find the real answers.”

Rilke, the author, was a poet and a writer in Germany.

A young man would send Rilke letters asking for advice; he wanted to become a poet.

Hackett quoted from the book, “Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms. Like books written in a very foreign tongue.”

“Ambiguity is part of the game,” Hackett said. “What you have to learn is that you’ve got to live the questions. This is a single most important piece of advice; that there is ambiguity, that there’s ‘lostness,’ and that’s part of the game.”

“NEW AND SELECTED POEMS” BY MARY OLIVER

“Tell me; what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Hackett recited, stressing the final words of his favorite poem by Oliver, “The Summer Day.” It’s a point that he takes directly.

“We’re all about doing; we’re not about being.” Hackett said. “We have to be. We have to sit. We have to be lost. We need to wander around the fields,” Hackett laughed.

“That’s a very fruity thing to do, to wander the fields and look at grasshoppers. This person’s going to get anywhere.

No, this person gets everywhere. The point is, what are you going to do?”

Hackett advises to listen and pay attention to all sorts of little things. “Just watch things. It’s going to get colder soon.

Watch how people’s clothes change. Just watch things. It’s not what you see right here, it’s what’s out in the peripheral vision. Stay focused, stay alert.”

“RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE” BY DAVID HACKETT

“I was hired to teach American Religious History,” Hackett said. “When I first started teaching, almost all classes were small classes. I started to use a textbook. I had a course pack at the time. The textbook had additional articles, which were new directionals in the field. I started creating a course pack, which turned into this textbook.

This has become quite popular; it’s used in quite a lot of undergraduate courses throughout the country. It’s a collection of essays in American religious history.”

Fall 2013 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 13

SPOTLIGHT

EDIBLY EDUCATED BY ashira morris illustration BY henrY taksier Crisis: you open your fridge and there is not a piece of produce to be found. Sure, you could go to the grocery store and buy some fruit. Or, you could make your way to campus and pick it yourself.

Nole Lake, the superintendent of the University of Florida’s grounds back in the ‘50s, brought the first edible plants to campus. More recently, Marty Werts, the superintendent until last year, planted 50 citrus trees and many avocados.

Thanks to the Hawthorn Group clay formation, which runs under the campus, tropical plants flourish around the university. Clay holds more water than sand, creating a warmer environment for heat-loving plants.

UF’s campus is, on average, 10 degrees warmer than other parts of Alachua County, said Jason Smith, an associate professor of forest pathology at the university.

“It’s incredible how much can grow here that can’t grow west of [Interstate] 75,” he said.

The jelly palm, for example, is native to South America, but can be found around campus. The fruit is a yelloworange color. It’s sweet and tart at the same time. Unless you’re dedicated enough to bring a ladder to the North

Lawn, the best way to harvest these cherry-sized fruits is to wait for them to drop from the trees and hope you get there before the insects do.

Just about any plant on campus is free for the picking. Exceptions include all research gardens, student plots across from Fifield Hall and the student agriculture garden by the bat houses.

However, behind the rented student agriculture plots lies the ethnoecology garden, home to tropical species such as bananas, kiwis and papayas, among other native fruits, vegetables and herbs.

“I love it out here. It’s kind of like a secret garden on campus.”

Ethan Kelly, president of the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Club, organizes the maintenance of the garden. This summer, that meant whacking away at overgrown plants with a machete; now, the club is busy putting peppers and other fall crops in the ground.

Although the plots are open, freeloading is not encouraged. Anyone harvesting frequently should spend some time helping in the garden.

“I love it out here,” Kelly said. “It’s kind of like a secret garden on campus.”

E Ju aster gla n B ns lac nig k W ra al nu

t

14 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

Newell Dr.

museum Road

Inner Road Newell Dr. J

W. university ave.

Buckman Dr.

F

Ci A

Mu W

Fletcher Dr.

Ch

Ci

Ci Pc

Ku

Center Dr.

WhERE to

FoREaGE oN th

Mu Gale Lemerand Dr.

Gale Lemerand Dr.

2nd

A - avocado B - banana Ci - citrus Ch - chaya/herbs F - fig J - jelly palm Kw - kiwi Ku - kumquat Mu - mulberry O - okra Pc - pecan Pe - peach W - black walnut

museum Road

sW

stadium Road

Key

.

ave

W. university ave.

s

W

Mu

Ci

N Newell Dr.

museum Road

Ci

stadium Road

union Road

E

Woodlawn st. sW 23rd st.

uF

Campus

sW 2nd ave. sW 24th st. sW 25th st.

Village Dr.

Village Dr. Lake alice

sW 26th st.

sW 2nd ave.

state Road 26

Corry Circle

Pe B

Kw O

F Fall 2013 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 15

SPOTLIGHT

physical

let’s get

books and movies you can feel

TEXT BY DERICK GOMEZ ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY CARPENTER The growth of online options for media consumption such as Amazon and Netflix has eviscerated bookstores and video rental outlets, for both big-box giants and the local independent stores that survived the rise of the chains. Many pundits have gone as far as to say that these businesses are obsolete and are destined to suffer the same fate as the radio star. Gainesville must have missed the memo.

Gainesville’s already-thriving independent bookstore and video rental scene gained a new member when Broken Shelves, a used book store, opened last March. David Astor, the owner, was aware of the challenges currently facing the industry.

“Instead of saying ‘This is isn’t working,’ I asked, ‘How can you make this work?’”

Astor wanted Broken Shelves to operate as a social space, which he felt Gainesville was lacking, as well as a bookstore. Broken Shelves sells beer, tea and other beverages and has comfortable seats for people to sit and chat. The store features works from local artists and frequently hosts performances by local musicians.

“Books create a space that can include a wide diversity of people,” Astor said.

The landscape for businesses such as Broken Shelves has changed substantially with the closing of once-formidable giants such as Borders and Blockbuster. People can choose to consume their media with the convenience that comes from online options or the charm and interaction that come with shopping at a local business.

When Video Rodeo opened in Gainesville in December of 2004, its first advertisement said, “F*ck Blockbuster.” It also ran a promotion where anyone who cut up their Blockbuster membership

16 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

card and put it into a jar got a 10 percent discount off their rental. Today, the jar of dismembered Blockbuster cards is still at Video Rodeo, but the local Blockbuster chain has been long gone.

The owner of Video Rodeo, Roger Beebe, started the store as a place to carry alternative films that Blockbuster didn’t stock. Beebe, who is also a professor of film and media studies at the University of Florida, votes with his employees to determine what movies the store should stock.

Natalie Nix, one of those employees, believes that the non-corporate identity of Video Rodeo gives it the freedom to bring in a unique selection of films.

Near the store’s checkout desk is a catalog of Florida films, including New Low, a feature-length romantic comedy by Adam Bowers, a University of Florida alum and former employee at Video Rodeo.

Roger Beebe said that the demise of Blockbuster, while saving Video Rodeo, has widened gaps in film options.

“With Blockbuster gone and Netflix as our main competitor, the movie landscape has become much worse,” Beebe said.

Recently, Video Rodeo has begun to carry more mainstream films to bridge these gaps following the closure of Blockbuster.

Broken Shelves and Video Rodeo are situated in parts of town with heavy pedestrian traffic, particularly of students.

However, the success of these independent businesses cannot be solely attributed to location and students. Go Video, the only other video rental outlet in Gainesville, is located in the suburban Hunters Crossing neighborhood, outside the sphere of most students.

Go Video began when Barrett Daniel

SPOTLIGHT

“We are trying to make Gainesville the sort of place we want to live in.”

Indie Gainesville began in 2011 to promote awareness about the advantages of patronizing local independent businesses and to combat any further closings. Gainesville’s bookstores and video rental outlets are key components of the organization.

“These businesses offer much more than just books and movies,” Whitney Mutch at Indie Gainesville said.

Gainesville has the distinction of being home to Wild Iris Books, the only feminist bookstore in the state of Florida and one of only nine still operating in the United States.

“It isn’t lucrative, but that isn’t why we got involved,” Erica Morrell, one of the co-owners of Wild Iris Books, said. “We got involved to help create a safe space and community for everyone.”

Wild Iris Books has a selection that could not be found in most other bookstores, offering extensive resources

on women’s issues, the LGBTQ community and books dealing with alternative spirituality.

Wild Iris Books recently received an outpouring of support when it was forced to move from their University Avenue location for financial reasons. It began a fundraising campaign that raised more than $5,000. The funds allowed for a move to a location with significantly reduced operating costs off of south Main Street, near the Civic Media Center and the Citizen’s Co-op.

Morrell said that this ended up being a good thing because it helped “unify Gainesville’s activist community.”

All these businesses see themselves adding something distinctive to the Gainesville community.

“We are are trying to make Gainesville the sort of place we want to live in,” Beebe said.

4936 NW 39th Ave, Suite A Gainesville, FL 32606

{

In Magnolia Parke next to Hungry Howie s

{

saw an opportunity to satisfy a largely suburban customer base after the closing of Gainesville’s Hollywood Video, a now-defunct video chain.

“People want to deal with another human face-to-face who can offer them movie recommendations,” he said.

Gainesville has had its fair share of independent bookstores and video rental businesses close over the years. Book Store Inc. and Goerings Books, two longstanding institutions in town, closed in quick succession after decades of serving Gainesville.

Monday - Saturday: 10am - 7pm Sunday: 11am - 5pm

gainesvillebookrack.com (352) 224-3945

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

17

FEATURE

RAPE CULTURE

NOT TO BLAME

BY CHELSEA HETELSON From a reporter’s point of view, it’s easy to write about rape. It’s easy to find the 1 in 4 statistic from RAINN or any group who has done the research. It’s easy to report that help is minimal and the prosecution rate pathetic. Without historical context or new information, however, these statistics are just that: statistics. The numbers and figures in such regurgitative reporting ultimately delivers no useful information and no real solutions.

Of the half dozen articles on rape published by the Alligator this past September, four had “rape culture” in the title. “National, local rape culture calls for change in conversation” in particular repeatedly referenced and blamed a “rape culture” for all rape without ever even defining it.

“Rape culture” is a culture that normalizes rape in its society. Joking about rape, making excuses for rapists and street harassers, and scrutinizing a woman’s dress and behavior instead of the behavior of rapists and harassers is rape culture. These conditions certainly exist and are a form of sexism, but, simply grouping them all under the umbrella of “rape culture” and blaming this for rape lets rapists off the hook.

The Alligator’s repetitive examinations do little to further a more in-depth discussion on rape, its causes and solutions. All women know rape is a problem.

We don’t need to hear more examples, we know the examples. Many of us ARE the examples. What we should be reading about is how UF is currently handling the rape cases they do receive, what rape prevention programs, policies and tactics UF employs to stop rapists, and how they can improve in the future.

Following a rape that took place near campus in November of 2011, UF sent out an e-mail alert to the entire university listserv where the University Police Department (UPD) reminded students to “Avoid walking alone,” and “Stay in well-lighted areas away from alleys, bushes and entryways.” This “advice” merely perpetuates rape myths and does nothing to educate on actual rape prevention since 73% of all

18 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim, not a lurking stranger in the bushes. As campus police, one would expect or at least hope they would know better.

The Fine Print reported this rape as part of a broader look at UF’s rape prevention program in 2011 in an article titled “UF Says Yes to Rape Awareness.”

We had reported that on the UPD’s own website every single link to UF’s policies and procedures concerning sexual assault and all links to rape awareness resources and groups were broken.

Today, two years later, these links are still broken.

There’s even a wrong phone number given for Sexual Trauma/Interpersonal Violence Education (STRIVE), the rape awareness group at UF. If UPD gives the impression on their own website that rape and rape prevention are not a high priority, what hope do we have that women on campus will come forward and report rape, let alone see any successful prosecution and disciplinary actions?

What we should be reading about is how UF is currently handling the rape cases they do receive, what rape prevention programs, policies and tactics UF employs to stop rapists, and how they can improve in the future.

In 2011, STRIVE said they were gearing up for the new “Bringing in the Bystander” campaign to start in January 2012. The program was modeled after the highly successful and well-researched program of the same name at the University of New Hampshire.

Two years later, this program has still not been implemented. What’s more, last month seven different local organizations, including UPD, Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center, and GatorWell

FEATURE

came together to make two one-minute-long public service announcements encouraging students to intervene and step in if they see a situation that looks like a potential sexual assault. STRIVE, UF’s own rape awareness program, somehow failed to be involved in this community rape awareness project just as it fails to maintain any active involvement in rape prevention, except for during rape awareness month where volunteers sit behind a table with brochures on rape prevention and awareness.

Incompetence and inaction were not always synonymous with UF’s response to rape. As we’ve previously reported, in the 1980s, programs addressing rape prevention were few, but UF had one of the best in the nation.

SARS, Sexual Assault Recovery Service, and COAR, Campus Organized Against Rape, were both campus organizations at UF and founded by therapist Claire Walsh in 1981 and 1982 respectively. Throughout the ‘80s, Walsh and COAR representatives supplied information to more than 500 universities and media organizations and served as a model for similar programs at other schools. The programs were a national success.

In the 1988 book titled, “I Never Called It Rape,� one of the first extensive studies of rape on college campuses, COAR was called out as “one of the nation’s most comprehensive programs,� which included a rape-myth quiz, a slideshow of sexual stereotypes in the media, and discussions of body language and assertiveness in dating. COAR also made it a point to discuss the societal and cultural attitudes of men, women and relationships that may lead up to rape situations as well as ways to enhance

J OI N and

STOP RAPE

general communication between men and women.

But in 1991, due to budget cuts and general UF bureaucracy, COAR was defunded. SARS was dismantled and integrated into general counseling in Mental Health Services, forcing rape victims to sign in as mental health patients instead of patients for rape recovery. Unfortunately, because the UF website offers more information on past UF presidencies than the historical significance of its past nationally acclaimed programs, information on COAR and SARS is limited to those who already know the acronyms and can Google them.

Incompetence and inaction were not always synonymous with UF’s response to rape.

It is impossible to move forward and progress in the world if we ignore history. It is the responsibility of our journalists and the media to remind us of that history. When we only consider the present when forming analysis and solutions for well-known historic problems, we are bound to come up shortsighted. Educating on consent is important, but so is rape counseling, so is rape prevention programs doing more than tabling on campus, and so is universities taking rape reports seriously, making sure cases are investigated and convicted rapists are severely punished. Because without policy and punishment, there is little reason to expect victims to come forward and for rapists to stop.

National Women’s Liberation (NWL) believes the frequency of rape, the threat of rape and the notion that rape victims are to blame is not the result of a rape culture, but actually the direct result of male supremacy. “Male supremacy� is the inherent authority and legitimacy men enjoy simply by being male. Rape culture is a symptom of the male supremacy built directly into our political, economic and cultural institutions.

UF’s very own history has shown us that it is possible for our university to be a national leader in rape prevention programs that focus on men not raping, not women being “safer� and for there to be a strong women’s rights group on campus. UF needs to recognize rape as a real and

"

for that time to be now. ! "

"

"

WOMENSLIBERATION.ORG | 352.575.0495

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

19

OCTOBER// Sunday

Monday

LOTS MORE EVENTS ONLINE AT thefineprintuf.org + submit events to CALENDAR@ THEFINEPRINTUF.ORG

20

21 Colleen Green Live and in person at The Atlantic. $6. She rules.

/tues/28

Tuesday

Wednesday

NOAM

CHOMSKY

At the Phillips Center. Doors open at 7:15pm and talk beings at 8pm. This event is free and open to the public. Advanced tickets are required. Tickets are availiable Monday, Oct. 14 at the Phillips Center Box office from 12pm to 6pm.

The Main Squeeze + Flatland

29

At the High Dive. ‘90s big-time indie band. Tickets are $20 at the door. Slam Dunk and Genders also playing.

CMC 2OTH ANNIVERSARY BLOCK PARTY

FEST 12

At the Civic Media Center.

23

At The JAM. $10 tickets and 8pm show.

Femeninst Open Mic Night At Wild Iris Books. Read, sing, dance. Unleash your creativity in an accepting atmosphere.

BUILT TO SPILL

16

\oct\ 15

The Hound of the

Baskervilles film screening

At The Wooly

Continues until Nov. 3rd.

6

4/5

3

A Band Called Death film screening At The Wooly

WEEKLY EVENTS:

Mondays Drag Bingo at the Jones B-Side Drag Queens from the UC call bingo numbers and get sassy.

Tuesdays Jazzology at The Bull Treat your ears to classy jazz and your tastebuds to classy brews.

Wednesdays World Wednesday Dance Circle and Drum Class at The JAM

African dance and drummin’.

/NOVEMBER Thursday

17

Saturday

Friday FREE FRIDAY CONCERT: PATCHWORK At Bo Diddley Community Plaza. It’s folk music outside fo’ free.

18

Pseudo Kids, Winona Rider and Euglossine At The Atlantic. Some sweet local bands.

/fri/25

ARTWALK

Halloween

PARTY LIKE IT’S A ZOO BENEFIT SHOW

19

Gainesville Roller Rebels GRR take on the Charlotte Roller Girls at the Martin Luther King Multipurpose Center.

26

florida bat festival At Lubee Bat Conservatory.

Wander around downtown and explore open galleries, live music and that warm fuzzy feelin’ of community.

31

THE FINE PRINT PRESENTS:

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOOK SALE At 430-B North Main Street. Continues until Oct. 30th.

\nov\ 1

QUEER THE FEST

At Display. Beginning at 2 pm a queer sanctuary of sorts, a safe space for art and expression will accompany Fest. There will be workshops, open mic, poetry, skillshares, and as usual, a pretty killer line-up of bands.

2 Amy Gerhartz Acoustic Show At Cymplify. Live singer-songwriter performance on the coffee shop’s back lawn.

8/9

7

MFA READING At Volta. UF MFA students read poetry and prose while you sip delish coffee.

Thursdays

Ride+Dine at 8th Ave. Bike Shop All level cyclists welcome for a ride to a local restaurant and subsequent feast.

Fridays

Friday Night Dance Party at Pocamino Casual dance party, outside under the lights.

Saturdays Cupping at Volta

It’s like a wine tasting, but with coffee.

FEATURE

(Paper)Back in Gainesville Indie filmmaker returns to Gainesville to shoot second film

Filmmaker Adam Bowers waits at a table at Flaco’s Bakery in downtown Gainesville while lighting and filming get ready to shoot a scene for his new movie, “Paperback.” The movie was shot entirely in Gainesville and took about one month to film.

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY KYLE HAYES

Adam Bowers, a former employee of Gainesville’s independent rental store Video Rodeo, found himself behind the counter again for the first time in six years.

The reunion came in a roundabout way. During those six years, Bowers shot a film called “New Low,” which was selected to play at the Sundance Film Festival. He then moved to LA to perform improv and work in the film industry.

This time he wasn’t working the cash register because he needed a job. Rather, Bowers was just in town to shoot his upcoming film.

Since he was around, he picked up his old duties again as a favor for his friend Roger Beebe, Video Rodeo’s owner.

The movie is a romantic comedy which just finished production here in Gainesville.

Beebe was a producer for Bowers’ second feature, called “Paperback.” The film is a romantic comedy, and it just finished production here in Gainesville.

Bowers’ first film was also shot in Gainesville. With a shoestring budget of $2,000, the indie comedy started Bowers’ career as a pro22 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

fessional filmmaker. During his time in California, Bowers began to pursue other projects to follow up his first feature, but he had to deal with the struggles of finding financing in the cutthroat environment of Hollywood.

“I was getting tired of waiting around,” Bowers said. “I was thinking, I already did this once on my own with very little resources, or help or experience.”

This time, Bowers had everything he didn’t have for his first film.

He knew he could now make the kind of film that he wanted to see.

He gathered a cast and crew of people he’d met in Los Angeles. The list included actress Dreama Walker from “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23” and cinematographer Jay Keitel, who shot the film “Sun Don’t Shine.”

With his crew on board, Bowers created a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $39,000.

The filmmakers then made their way to Gainesville to start production. For Bowers, the choice to shoot in Gainesville was a no-brainer.

It had contributed to the punk aesthetic of “New Low,” and he wanted

FEATURE

that present in “Paperback.”

“There’s a gritty side of Gainesville,” Bowers said.

“For a smaller town, it has a kind of edge to it that I think is interesting and that is not that common. That’s the kind of thing that I feel drawn to.”

When it came time to shoot the film, Gainesville provided more than just a setting for “Paperback.”

Bowers found the locals ready and willing to do what they could to help. People auditioned for parts in the film, worked as extras and even let members of the cast and crew stay at their houses. Owners of Gainesville staples like Satchel’s Pizza, The Top and Flaco’s Cuban Bakery & Coffee also allowed Bowers to use their spaces for filming.

Summer Adhal volunteered to join the crew and work the 13-hour days as second assistant director. She loved the first film and thought “Paperback” was just as entertaining.

“This script was really hilarious,” Adhal said. “It’s really great making something that you know will make someone laugh.”

The droll humor of “New Low” is present in this film, but manifests itself in different ways. Bowers said this came out of his progression as a filmmaker.

“New Low was very joke-driven,” Bowers said. “A lot of the humor in [“Paperback”] comes more from the context and the situations the characters are in. I didn’t want jokes to come out of the characters’ mouths.”

The characters of the film struggle to find maturity and purpose. Bowers developed themes that came from personal experience.

“Everything I make is in some way about something I’m exploring in my own life,” Bowers said.

Bowers created characters for the film that partially reflect how he felt. To represent the success he found after his first film, Bowers created a character who found success after leaving Gainesville, and is returning to the city for the first time since graduation. On the other hand, the protagonist of the film is someone who never left the city and failed to make something of his life.

This character reflects Bowers’ struggle to try to progress as a filmmaker and not become complacent.

However, Bowers achieved more than his self-effacing characters. For “Paperback,” he took on the roles of writer, director and actor, and he is now back in Los Angeles editing the film himself. It is expected to premiere early 2014, and will be available on DVD around this time next year.

The production went smoothly, largely due to the Gainesville community and its willingness to help. The filmmakers emphasized their gratitude for this.

Colin Contreary, one of the stars of the movie, had never visited Gainesville before. He left with a good impression of the town, and felt that its friendly environment made it a great fit for filming.

“You can film a movie anywhere,” Contreary said.

“But when you’re doing it in a place where it seems like people genuinely care about its success, that makes a difference.”

“For a smaller town, [Gainesville] has a kind of edge to it that I think is interesting and that is not that common. That’s the kind of thing that I feel drawn to.”

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

23

got

DEBT? finanial aid at UF

TEXT BY HEATHER REINBLATT ILLUSTRATION BY TONI-LEE MAITLAND In a perfect world, a college degree would come nicely packaged with a career and wrapped in a clean slate. But an outdated financial aid system and unregulated tuition keep some students scrambling to lift their heads above the rough waves of debt.

Student loan debt now amounts to $1 trillion, $864 billion of which is backed by the federal government, according to Generation Progress.

This rising trend is due to student loans being tacked with high interest rates. Some are as high as 6 percent.

The difference in the rates adds up to a nice chunk of change for the federal government, but it also means that students will owe even more money than they initially borrowed.

Combine that with the rising cost of tuition.

Can the situation get more discouraging? You bet. At the University of Florida, the percentage of students whose needs are fully met is only 30.2 percent of the student population, according to U.S. News.

There is no reason to give up, though. Students are in college for a reason: to think outside of the box and climb over hills even if they might seem like mountains.

24 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

Some students are getting creative to afford college.

David Lakin is a chemical engineering major with a talent for producing fine art. After discovering his gift in high school, he drew simply because he enjoyed it.

But upon entering college, Lakin knew that some things needed to change if he was going to successfully graduate without drowning in loan payments.

As a freshman, Lakin found www. society6.com – a website that allows artists to upload their work and sell prints – so while studying, he could use his favorite pasttime to help him through the fiscal journey.

Lakin works on commissioned pieces, meaning that customers are able to request specific works of art.

At the same time, he has the ability to incorporate his own ideas and vision.

“Usually, a commissioner will have some sort of idea in mind that I then bring to life in my style,” Lakin said.

“Sometimes, you get an individual who has no particular idea and just wants you to paint them anything.”

Although his online business does not pay for everything, it certainly does help.

As a junior, Lakin is fortunate

25%

of UF students are using some type of student loan

99%

of the student population receives financial aid

only

31%

receive federal aid

about

$3,729

is given to students in financial aid

FEATURE

enough to have qualified for Bright Futures and other funds, but it is more about “riding out the wave” than “hoping for the future.” The funds that he receives allow him to maintain, but his project adds profit.

“I think the rising tuition costs are completely ridiculous,” Laken said. “Education is a right deserved by all who desire it, and this whole service industry bit has gone too far.”

Lakin doesn’t foresee “affordable” college in the near future unless there is some major, unexpected overhaul.

“It saddens me, but from what I’ve seen, my prognosis is that students will have to shoulder this burden for a while yet,” Lakin said.

Sarah Adams is a junior telecommunications major who found an IT job while searching for work online. Seems normal, right? Except that Adams worked for a company that hired men and women for webcam “peep” shows. Setting up individual cam websites, she also performed daily maintenance on streams and chats.

“Education is a right deserved by all who desire it.”

With parents who were already struggling financially, she was hopeful that UF would come through and provide enough aid for dorm and tuition. Unfortunately, what she

was given was not enough. So, she did what she had to.

But it’s hard to get a decent job with “sex industry” on your resume, so Adams switched employers and now works for a family-friendly company. The money she makes from this job goes straight to tuition, and the rest comes from loans.

Adams remembers a time when her sister received Bright Futures at 100 percent tuition.

It was her hope to follow in her sister’s footsteps and go through college unperturbed. But things rarely ever go according to plan.

“I never expected it to be like it is now,” Adams said. “Even National Merit students at UF are only getting around $500 a semester.”

“Loan” can seem like a dirty word, but Adams believes that students shouldn’t be afraid to take them out.

“It’s draining to worry about money all the time,” Adams said. “If you have the option to make it a little easier now, do it.

Use that extra time not working to get good grades so you can compete for a job that you like.”

Allana Brown is senior telecommunications major who lost both her scholarships and Bright Futures her freshman year.

Desperation set in. Without work experience or a job, it seemed as if graduating college was impossible. So, Brown turned to the Internet for help.

Now, three years later, she is a “serial dater,” a person who is paid to go on dates.

Brown accidently came upon the site, www.whatsyourprice.

com, while visiting www. sexyjobs.com. Uncomfortable with the idea of being a “sugar baby” or a phone-sex operator, she believes that her job is a lot safer.

The idea behind the site is that online visitors cannot view private pictures or send messages

“If anyone judges you, they better be willing to pay your tuition.” until a price is agreed upon between the two parties.

Brown does not necessarily enjoy the job, but it pays for her education.

“I like going on dates, so why not get paid for something we all do for free?” Brown said. “I also have two other jobs.”

Brown believes that her circumstance is a testament to the failing education system.

“The cost is going up, but the aid is decreasing,” Brown said. “I am no mathematician, but that doesn’t add up. Undergraduate degrees are like the high school diploma of years before. Not to mention that many of us cannot even find jobs after we accrue so much debt.”

Despite what others may think, Brown is unashamed of her situation. In fact, she encourages students to do whatever he or she thinks is necessary to get through school.

“If anybody judges you, they better be willing to pay your tuition,” Brown said.

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

25

FEATURE

INDIVISIBLE AND INDISPENSIBLE

Local strike echoes national cry for workers’ rights

BY MARISSA GOLDBERG AND SARA NETTLE ILLUSTRATION BY SIDNEY HOWARD July 19 was pay day for the employees of Tasty Buddha, a popular Asian fusion restaurant in west Gainesville. One employee, Jane Pollack, was eager to cash in a week’s worth of hard work.

However, for the past few pay 26 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

cycles, Jane and her co-workers’ paychecks had been bouncing a few days after being direct deposited.

Fed up with having to contact management every time her paycheck got deducted from her bank account, Pollack, along with a few other employees, went directly to the company bank to cash the checks.

“The first person to try was

immediately denied due to insufficient funds,” Pollack recalled.

Tasty Buddha could not pay its employees and at this point, the employees agreed that it was time to organize the strike they had been contemplating for the past few months.

Pollack and her fellow workers decided to take advantage of this strike to address other

FEATURE problems they have faced in the workplace. The lack of respect for the employees, broken kitchen equipment and bounced paychecks – these had long been accepted as just how things were, Jane said. These little things, usually dismissed, had been piling up for the employees, and it was that last round of denied paychecks that really pushed the envelope.

In his defense, Parker van Hunt, the president and CEO of both of Gainesville’s Tasty Buddha locations, cited financial difficulties.

“I opened a new restaurant a month before the financial crisis,” said van Hunt, who reportedly has not taken a salary since the west location opened in May 2011.

“Instead of closing shop when things got scary, I went into debt so that all the people I had just hired didn’t get fired, and I kept my dream going.”

The National Labor Relations Act protects employers from firing workers that are on strike. However, most workers are not even aware of these rights or any others, for that matter. All businesses are required by federal law to display a poster that lists employee rights as guaranteed by the U.S. government.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find this poster hidden behind bulky kitchen equipment or posted out of employees’ usual line of sight.

Despite the fact that many workers are undereducated about their rights, the complaints of the Tasty Buddha employees are merely reverberations from a louder cry for help echoing throughout the food service industry.

This local strike can be seen as a microcosm of the largest mobilization of restaurant workers to occur in the history of the United States. Around the same time as the Tasty Buddha strike, fast food strikers in several cities across the nation came together in

solidarity to call out poor working conditions and demand a liveable wage of $15 an hour.

While the paychecks were the tipping point, the underlying force behind the Tasty Buddha strike was the demand for better working conditions and an environment wherein employees feel like they are a respected and valued as crucial team members instead of merely replaceable pawns.

“Lack of respect for workers leads to higher turnover rates and less productivity,” Pollack said.

By fostering a friendlier work environment, workers will feel like they have more at stake in the business and will work harder to contribute to the business’ success.

“Instead of closing shop when things got scary, I went into debt so that all the people I had just hired didn’t get fired, and I kept my dream going.”

The strike, as Pollack had hoped, proved that she and her coworkers were not disposable, and their absence could severely disrupt the restaurant’s operations.

According to a September 2013 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 1.2 percent of salary and wage workers are members of unions.

Here in Gainesville, unions are also few and far between. Currently, Tasty Buddha is the only business that officially recognizes the city’s sole food service industry union, the Gainesville Restaurant Workers Alliance (GRWA).

“I’m pro-union,” van Hunt said. “I’m a bleeding-heart liberal.

I think America has been made

strong by labor unions. I think it’s a positive tool for everyone.”

Pollack and her co-workers formed GRWA as a support system for all restaurant workers, whether it be the college student who picks up a late-night shift for some extra cash or the mother of three who lives paycheck to paycheck.

Students usually resort to jobs in the food service industry because, oftentimes, little experience is necessary and the jobs are consistently available. They become dependent on this income to supplement or, in some cases, solely fund their tuition.

And while a restaurant gig may just be a way to pay the bills, for some it’s the only way.

“A quarter of the staff are students; most are young people with families,” said van Hunt of his Tasty Buddha workforce.

“Low wages and lack of job security leads to an increased reliance on social programs, such as food stamps, which leads to fewer funds for other social services such as education,” Pollack said.

Not only do restaurant workers benefit from better working conditions and higher wages, but everyone in the community is better off. According to the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley, raising the minimum wage would benefit 2.9 million low wage workers while only increasing food costs by 10 cents a day for consumers.

Currently, a third of food workers struggle to feed themselves, relying on food stamps at 1.5 times the rate of the general workforce.

It doesn’t cost much to improve wages and working conditions for the employees of the food service industry and it pays off tenfold.

Unions across the nation and here in Gainesville are fighting to make this heard. Sure, any restaurant’s food is easily disposable, but it’s time to recognize that its employees are not.

Fall 2013 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 27

FEATURE

the

doctor is in

BY SAM SCHUYLER ILLUSTRATION BY EMMA ROULETTE

N

oam Chomsky doesn’t tend to favor one particular academic sphere. He’s contributed to linguistics, philosophy, politics, cognitive science and what seems like an impossible number of other subjects. He has published at least one book a year since 1967. He is a professor at MIT and an outspoken supporter of political activism. And while assistant editor Sam Schuyler talked to him briefly on the phone, his voice sounded like crackly, warm chocolate.

28 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

FEATURE

Sam Schuyler: You’ve spoken before about the continuing corporatization of universities, and we find this especially pertinent at UF because it’s such a huge, public university.

Do you see a relationship with this corporatization--with tuition hikes and the number of administrators to professors-and the way college is being used as job training rather than cultivating our minds?

Noam Chomsky: Part of the corporatization, one aspect, is imposing a business model which measures success output in extremely narrow, commercial terms. What’s good for simply gaining material wealth, contributing to profits and so on. Actually, Florida as I recall had sometime back... actually cut back funding for things that were considered expensive, like engineering and nursing, which happen to be the ones where there were jobs.

SS: Yeah, there’s been a lot of talk about cutting tuition for people who are in STEM majors.

NC: That’s an effort to drive people toward what’s valuable for business, but maybe not for their individual development as human beings. That’s what college is supposed to be.

SS: Undergraduate degrees are becoming kind of like high school degrees. I’m wondering what you think about this

situation in our society right now, that we’re undervaluing the education we’re getting right now?

Should we continue to foster this kind of attitude toward the liberal arts? Obviously STEM education is necessary.

NC: We’re not just undervaluing it, we’re undermining it . . .One of them is defunding, another is undermining the independence and dignity and authority of teachers, and another is just by forcing students, dragging them towards routine, unimaginative activities.

That’s what teaching to the test is, and we all know that from our experience. It’s training people into obedient robots.

NC: The importance of liberal arts is it introduces you to the cultural wealth of our society and its history and other societies and its history. A person could just become a clerk in a store who pushes buttons, but it could be someone who explores the cultural wealth of the past and contributes to it and enriches it for the future.

SS: So you believe having some kind of liberal arts education or background is necessary for being a good part of society?

SS: Yes, absolutely. We have the FCAT here in Florida, which is the standard every middle school, high school teaches to...

It’s just a standardized test.

NC: Teaching to tests is essentially undermining the thirst for learning, the joy of discovery, the individual development, collective activities.

Anything a decent education should be sponsoring is undermined by simply designing education-to use an image that was used in the Enlightenment--to regard education as pouring water into a vessel, and then having the vessel poured out again. And a very leaky vessel as we all know from our experience.

NC: Well, I think you’d be a very uninteresting, boring, unimaginative, uncreative person if you didn’t have the interest in exploring this rich array of human contributions and contributing to them.

If those interests, which are normal among people, are deadened by the educational system, it’s seriously failing.

(Continued on next page...)

SS: Students pursuing a degree in liberal arts are often told that their degree is essentially useless.

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

29

FEATURE (...Continued from previous page) SS: As students we live in this awkward in-between where we are legally adults and want to contribute to society, but we’re not legitimized with a job or a degree. How do we use this time most effectively to create social change?

NC: The student years in a person’s life are typically most free. That’s why student life can be so exciting and enriching.

And it’s also incidentally why social movements, the civil rights movement, women’s movement, others, have typically had students at the forefront. This is the time when you have a degree of freedom you hadn’t had before and are unlikely to have in the future. If that period of freedom is squandered by rote learning and imposition of mechanical demands, that’s a tragedy for the person.

30 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

Noam Chomsky (Live and in person!)

Chomsky will be at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 15 at 7:15 p.m. to talk about the crisis in the Middle East. His talk was coordinated by the Civic Media Center. It is a free event and open to the public.Advance tickets are required.

Tickets available through the Phillips Center starting on Monday, October 14th, Noon to 6pm.

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

31

A PLATINUM

PURSUIT Introducing UF’s newest research building and a closer look at LEED

BY LILY WAN The right angles. The modern cuts and crisp cement. The sleek and sexy glass facade.

Cruising down Gale Lemerand Drive, UF’s new Clinical and Translational Research Building (CTRB) is definitely a showstopper.

The research building, constructed over summer, houses the Institute on Aging and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which includes research groups focusing on muscular dystrophy, liver disease, diabetes and other rare and genetic diseases.

The $45 million facility was funded by a $15 million grant by the National Institute of Health that UF was awarded as part of the 2009 stimulus bill.

The remaining $30 million was covered by a loan to be repaid with overhead funds received from research grants.

Beyond aesthetics, the research building is slated for a shiny platinum certification per U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

In 2009, the USBGC created the LEED rating and certification system to encourage widespread adoption of green building and neighborhood design.

It is a point-based system that awards a project one of four tiers of certifications -- certified, silver, gold, and platinum -- based on design specs. Platinum requires at least 90 out of the 100 total points on the scale.

When Bahar Armaghani, managing director of LEED initiatives at UF, was first running through the design with Perkins+Will, a Miami-based architecture firm contracted for the project, they hardly considered the LEED checklist, Armaghani said.

32 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

“We just needed to make sure it was optimized.

We designed it, laid out everything we wanted and then you look at the checklist and things fall into place,” she said, “We wanted to make this the greenest building on campus.”

And with over 1,000 buildings on campus and more speckled across the state, Armaghani and the Perkins+Will design team nailed it with UF’s newest research building.

Toward its 103-point finale, the CTRB racked up two points for its 220 solar panels, three points for integrating recycled building materials and using regionally sourced materials, and 2 points for its leaf-inspired stormwater drainage system. The individual components don’t score much alone, so buildings seeking certification have got to be pretty star studded.

“We wanted to go beyond the [LEED] scorecard,” said Pat Bosch, design director at Perkins+Will.

CTRB’s green roof, an expensive construction and maintenance venture, only rang in one point for the facility. By LEED’s standards, installing a bike rack, which is obviously much cheaper, would get you the same boost.

While an in-depth analysis of Perkins+Will’s CTRB design proves the firm’s integrity to sustainable architecture, these more flexible criteria make it easy for less conscientious architects to blaze down the path of least resistance.

LEED-lustrous designers snatch up the lowhanging, easy-point fruit to secure that certification paper, bragging rights, and -- in some states -- tax

UF’s new Clinical and Translational Research Building incorporates a storm water drainage system inspired by the biomimicry of a leaf’s structure in nature. Photo by Robin Hill, supplied by Perkins + Will.

breaks, too. The shortcuts are there, and they’re not well hidden.

“If you have the right people who know how to use the tool,” Armaghani said, “ it won’t become about chasing points.”

Critics of LEED have easily picked out these “gimmie points,” and some have decided to take the system on their own. While LEED is remains the most widely recognized benchmark for green buildings -- and the most stringent, according to Armaghani -- it’s not the only player in the field. As the program ages, more alternatives are cropping up in exposition of its flaws.

Green Globes is another nationally recognized green building rating system, often touted as cheaper and simpler than LEED. Green Building Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to mainstreaming green buildings, created the Green Globes rating system to incorporate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Multiple Attribute Evaluation in building assessment.

The majority of green building standards are based on unidimensional attributes such as building materials’ recycled content or Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions.

However, a low-VOC paint or perhaps a recycledfiber carpet doesn’t necessarily make the case for sustainable design.

In order to fully understand the long term relationship of a building (or any product or development, really) with the environment, impact of components need to be examined from an LCA perspective, which Green Globes breaks down into

five criteria: Embodied Energy, Global Warming Potential, and Effects on Land, Air and Water.

Instead of just checking a box on the LEED list confirming the usage of recycled-fiber carpet, for example, the LCA approach would look at the environmental impacts of the carpet from cradle to grave: the chemicals used in manufacturing it, its projected lifetime and methods of disposal.

LEED doesn’t factor in a LCA of materials, so it could definitely stand to borrow a page from Green Globes there.

It’s not entirely shortsighted, though. LEED does require a 5-year follow-up performance report for each building to see if it’s still walking the talk. Is five years long enough to determine a design’s success though? Future versions of LEED may extend the scope of its performance review to hold designers more accountable.

“I think there’s room for improvement,” Bosch said, “but it’s an evolving system and as it continues to evolve it’ll catch up with technology and demand.”

As it has in the past, increased public critique of the system will push reform and refinement as green building standards mature. LEED version 4 will be introduced in November with even more stringent standards, rising to meet even higher expectations.

Svelte design can catch an eye on the first glance, but it takes more than aesthetics and easy-target LEED points to seal the deal and CTRB has definitely done it.

“We walk our talk,” Bosch said. (I’d say they strut it.)

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

33

FEATURE

Mind

Your

T’s & Q’s

by Damian Gonzalez Illustration by Sara Nettle 34 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

Strategic thinking. It is a definitive quality of LB Hannahs, director of LGBT affairs at the University of Florida.

From the slicked-back hair to the dapper outfits, LB clearly knows how to execute sophistication in the most traditional sense of the word. Beyond the realm of personal style, however, this characteristic plays a greater role in LB’s day-to-day life than one would expect.

LB identifies as genderqueer.

What was once an anti-gay epithet, the word queer has been reclaimed as an umbrella term for those who do not identify as heterosexual or cisgendered. Therefore, folks who classify themselves as genderqueer identify outside of the traditional gender binary altogether. For many of us, though, the words gender and sex appear interchangeable, but unbeknownst to many in even the LGBTQ+ community, these seemingly synonymous terms are very different.

By eschewing traditional conventions of what it means to be male or female, LB shatters the alignment of gender identity with predetermined gender.

“While my gender is more stagnant, I know my gender presentation depends on how someone may see me through his or her lens,” LB said. “For folks that live in the gray area, the constant struggle is deciding how much you want to assert your gender expression and present it in a space where you feel as though you’re being misgendered.”

FEATURE

“While my gender is more stagnant, I know my gender presentation depends on how someone may see me through his or her lens,�

LB said.

Misgendering, a commonality shared by trans individuals alike, is a departure from the experiences faced by those who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual. But the differences do not end there. There is a starker reality for those who identify as gender non-conforming. For LB, an endeavor as simple as using the restroom in a public location becomes a major concern. “I think very strategically about bathrooms when I’m traveling.� LB said. “There is always a heightened level of anxiety and stress. I plan out how much water I drink, the amount of liquid I intake, how much food I eat. Even within Gainesville, I know the places that have gender neutral or single stall bathrooms.�

After adding sexual orientation to their human rights ordinance in 1993, Alachua County dissolved it shortly one year later. But with the county’s recent changes to the ordinance,

discrimination based on both gender identity and expression is finally being acknowledged by lawmakers after having been ignored alongside sexual orientation for over two decades.

On average, however, about twelve years pass before gender identity and expression are even included in anti-discrimination policies following the inclusion of sexual orientation. “This ‘we’re going to come back for you’ concept is troublesome,� LB said. “You’ll see communities advocating for rights based on sexual orientation, but not gender identity or expression. They see it as a separate issue when, in actuality, they are conjoined twins.�

Alachua appears to be an anomaly after having simultaneously incorporated legal protection – not only on the bases of sexuality, but also gender identity and expression.

Nonetheless, the ordinance, which will be enacted come Jan. 1, 2014, appears to be a step in the right direction.

It is a reassurance for many that such protection will finally exist, particularly within the trans community. But LB emphasizes that it will be a long time before acceptance truly permeates throughout the general populace. The biggest changes will lie in hiring practices and who establishes themselves full time in Gainesville. This could potentially be a place where all members of the LGBTQ+ spectrum can set up families and live long term.

Despite the setbacks that the community endures, progress is a reality thanks to individuals likes LB, who serves on the board of the Human Rights Council of North Central Florida and teaches an honors class on the social constructions of gender and sexuality. And if there is one thing any of us can be certain of, LB will be doing it all while wearing Ralph Lauren ties and signature leather boots.

Sex

A medical term referring to genetic, biological, hormonal and/or physical characteristics, which are used to classify an individual as female, male or intersex at birth.

Gender

Social/cultural classification of man/woman. Gender characteristics can change over time and are different between cultures.

Transgender

A term used to describe people who transgress social gender norms; often used as an umbrella term to include transsexual, gender queer, gender non-conforming or crossdressers. People must self identify as transgender in order for the term to be appropriately used to describe them.

Cisgender

Not transgender. “Trans� means “cross,� “cis� means “on the same side.�

Genderqueer

Someone who identifies outside the gender binary, and/or believes that the gender binary is a social construct and doesn’t really exist

Gender Binary

Gender binary: The belief that men are over here, and women are over there, and there’s a huge chasm in between, that’s it; all people are either men or women, and nothing else is possible. Not accurate with regards to human beings, nor several other species.

FALL 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

35

PROSE + POETRY

At Sea, or August

by Ann Manov

Anything without you depresses me—rails tinged with rust Or palm fronds damp on my doorstep, or mornings wet And anticipating nothing.

Or times when you’re sleeping and I lie in bed Sick with love for you and panicking that my goal Is to watch you sleep.

Sad people like symbols. In a dream I drove to a lagoon And then tried to return, driving, finding nothing.

We are sophisticated people, But amor fati helps nothing and changes nothing of the disgrace Of chance.

We’re two fish and scared.

Coda

by Ann Manov

As for the future, The future is a place where people go to die.

You will be the candle and I shall be the fly.

illustration by Lily Nelson

36 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

PROSE + POETRY

Mr. Atwater is Asleep

By Chelsea Grinstead Destroyed longing, To locate in the mind Is an answer grasped; A port, a lighthouse.

The green leaves go out of focus, Moving as a shining organism Through the open window That is neither clean nor proper.

The wind is a bunch of plastic bags, Rippling and crinkling Jelly fish—refracting, Tremendous, Hot on the eyes and Perfect in that.

Slide down on the ground, Think about that too, the dirt On the skin cells. When rubbed off Cool and damp residue lingers Like dirty feet on shores— Just don’t wear shoes.

Just don’t get up and the Sky is the right thing to look at: Not a concave case or a lens or a reflection.

It may be cloudy or more gray Than blue, but it is complete blank, The closest to easy meditation, To half-cocked Center, to some Buddah Or whoever. To look is a neck elongated A spine angled and the skin follows, And maybe the mouth is open. It is Wonderment.

That is the production.

illustration by Lily Nelson

Fall 2012 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

37

THE FINE PRINT’S EXCLUSIVE

C ROSSWORD PUZZLE CAREFULLY CRAFTED BY ALI BRODY

FIND THE SOLUTION @ WWW. THEFINEPRINTUF.ORG 38 | T H E

F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintuf.org

CLUES:

DOWN 1. Like totes awesome 4. Accidents endpoints 8. If not, then 10. Pip in your step 12. Smoothie nibs 14. Gainesville’s Roller Rebels’ match 16. Clipped eared cat 18. Rail trail in town 19. Cartoon sitcom bartender 20. Capture new footage (abbr) 21. “___ the rewards” 24. Speech professor 25. Breakfast staple 27. Not NW 28. If not, then 30. Trackers of daily activity 33. Restroom in Britain 34. Philly store 35. Frat family member 36. ___ vs. them 37. Post game (abbr) 38. “All ___ on me” 40. Finals week cry 42. Surname of Scooby and Scrappy 43. Gainesville: Welcome to the ___ 45. Gainesville native (abbr) 46. Text lingo for “How far are you?”

47. File email method 48. “___ hey, hey, hey, goodbye” 49. Uncool hipster party beverage 54. Propose rename of the Reitz Union, 2012 59. Medical scan 60. Expression of sudden pain 61. “___ ___ late!”

62. Not tit, but for 63. Night time shimmers 64. “Sold ___ is” used

ACROSS 1. GNV public transport 2. FLA gallery display 3. Building for on-campus living 4. Google’s vehicle, for example 5. Holds the paddles in a boat 6. Gainesville famous pizza joint 7. A woman’s right to choose 8. Anything moon 9. “Watch your ____!”

11. Pooh’s yin and yang 13. “___ no!”

15. Black and white cookies, homemade 17. High riser, as in loaves

The Midnight

223 S. Main St. Downtown Gainesville (352) 672-6113

not

22. Corn style 23. Mason, for example 26. This gator doesn’t need no man (or Albert’s) 29. “It’s great to be a Florida ___!”

31. After “knees” in children’s sing-a-long 32. “It’s in the game” motto 34. A human’s best friend 36. Roll Tide university 39. Not NE 40. Garbage collection company 41. Printer brand (abbr) 42. Opposite of an ADC 44. Draw then, but not the shortest one 46. Implement into law 47. Not regarding with love 49. To use a certain online database 50. Pirate talk?

51. Armstrong of Predator who passed in 2012 52. Tip-top condition 53. Not rd, dr, or st 54. Small animal DR. 55. Members of the same ancestry 56. Talking of oneselve, conj 57. Gov’t spying agency 58. Call of a sinking vessel

trivia monday trivia begins at 8pm pitchers of Yuengling and Shocktop for $6

tankard tuesday DJ Dillon Rose 25 oz. domestic drafts for $3 25 oz. craft and import tdrafts for $5 21+ only after 9pm

wino wednesday BOGO glasses of wine, Sangria and wine cocktails every 2nd Wednesday: Fiona Bas traditional Irish jam

thirsty thursday $2 domestic pints $3 tankards of Amber Bock, Yuengling, and Shock Top all night

Extensive craft and import beer selection Food served ‘til 1:30am Open 7 days/week, 5pm-2am

sunday schoolin’ DJ Bada and DJ Adikt: reggae psych. lounge $2 pints of Yuengling and Shock Top all night glassware giveaway starting at 5pm

Fall 2013 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

39

The Fine Print is published with support from Campus Progress. Campus Progress funds, trains, and mentors students running a diverse and growing group of progressive campus media organizations. For more, visit CampusProgress.org/ JournalismNetwork.