The Fine Print, Vol. III Issue II by The Fine Print

VOLUME III ISSUE II

www.thefineprintUF.org

NOVEMBER 2010 FREE

130-Meal Limit Takes Its Toll p. 18

WHO DECIDED YOU CAN’T SMOKE ON CAMPUS? AND WHY?, p.

{

this issue Punk Rock Mecca,

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

p. 4

Jessica Newman

(right) Ye Old Fest 9 has come to pass. For just a weekend, Gainesville became the punk-rock capital of the dirty South. In case you missed it, here are some photos documenting the mayhem.

(above) A workers’ co-op gives back to Gainesville by removing trash from the Hogtown Creek Floodplain.

p. 21

Editorial Board Cody Bond Kelley Coggins-Anton Travis Epes Chelsea Hetelson Henry Taksier

Troubled Waters,

p. 9

{

Cleaning up the Creek

Travis Pillow

An award-winning documentary exposes the annual killing of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises in Taiji, Japan. Find out more in this review of “The Cove.”

All Inked Up,

p. 12

An look into Gainesville’s tattoo culture, featuring a series of photos and an interview with Sleepy Dave of Anthem Tattoo Parlor.

Digging the Rubble,

p. 14

People call Newnansville a ghost town, but there is no town left to haunt, and the ghosts have long since faded like the letters etched in their tombstones.

The Land of You Can’t Touch This,

p. 24

The Department of Defense invests more than 30 million dollars into UF’s research every year. What are we creating behind closed doors?

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

Jeremiah Tattersall Photo Editor Henry Taksier Web Editor Travis Epes Art Director & Cover Artist Leah Herman Design Director Kelley Coggins-Anton Page Designers Cody Bond, Adam Brown,

Kelley Coggins-Anton, Caitlyn Finnegan, Chelsea Hetelson, Rae Martin

Copy Editors Ali Rieck, Cayla Stanley

MISSION STATEMENT

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

GETTING INVOLVED

The Fine Print is a monthly student publication. If you’re interested in getting involved, e-mail us at alt.publication@gmail. com or come to our meetings at the Civic Media Center (433 S. Main St.) at 4pm on Sundays.

ADVERTISING

The Fine Print distributes 5,000 copies every month directly into the hands of students and is currently looking for advertisers. For more information on ad prices and placement, e-mail us at ads@thefineprintuf.org or call Kelley Coggins-Anton at 305-431-2313.

LETTERS

The Fine Print accepts letters from readers in response to articles written each month. Letters are generally 150 to 200 words in length. To submit a letter to the editors, send an e-mail to alt.publication@gmail.com with “Letter to the Editors” in the subject. The editorial board will decide which letters are published, and writers will not 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 expressed in our columns do not necessarily express those of The Fine Print.

LETTERS, ETC. from THE FINE PRINT’S EDITORIAL DESK

FROM OUR READERS F.org

I VOLUME III ISSUE

www.thefineprintU

BY HENRY TAKSIER What the hell is The Fine Print, anyway? When people ask me what we’re about, I catch myself spitting out empty buzzwords. “We’re an alternative, um, monthly… independent… progressive, eh… nonprofit… student-run magazine… publication… newspaper… thing. And we’re progressive. Wait, did I already say that?” Fine print literally refers to the microscopic text you might overlook in an otherwise deceptive document. We’re here to take that text and put it in Futura, size 72, and shove it in your face. Following current events can be exhausting, especially at the local level. It’s easy to miss something important. Take the Cabot-Koppers Superfund Site, a 90-acre stretch of industrial property so polluted that the EPA considers it a health hazard to the residents of Northwest Gainesville. Months ago, our reporters investigated the issue in multiple installments. We compressed thirty years of con-

“

Fine print literally refers to the microscopic text you might overlook in an otherwise deceptive document. We’re here to take that text and put it in Futura, size 72, and shove it in your face.

flict between concerned neighborhood residents and company representatives into two neatly packaged stories. Our work is far from done – the issue is as volatile today as it was in March. In the meantime, Gainesville Regional Utilities has proposed the construction of a biomass plant. Is this a cost-effective, renewable source of energy or an environmental and economic disaster waiting to happen? There’s no simple answer. If you’re concerned about subjects like these, check our website for updates and look out for the next issue, which comes out in January. In the current issue, you’ll find photography and reporting on a wide range of topics, from Gainesville’s tattoo culture and punk scene to the ethics behind UF’s engineering research and where its funding comes from. You’ll gain a new perspective on the injustice behind the meal limits imposed on Gainesville’s homeless residents, as well as a look into the concept of green burials, a radically eco-friendly way to secure your afterlife. Oh, and if you’re wondering about the cover, it’s because dinosaurs are freaking cool. End of story.

ESVILLE GUIDE TO GAIN FREE

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

“i don’t like

the idea of

fashi is either acceptab ething le or una . it implies thaon t som cceptable”

-Cori, seamstre ss

recyclables” All pictured models are wearing custommade pieces by Cori and Nina. Opposite page: Esteban O’Sulliva n Clockwise from top, left: Elaine Schoaf; Evie Van Derveer; Elaine Schoaf; Nina applies Robert Cachinero’s makeup before the show. Visit thefineprintUF.org for more photos.

Guide to Gainesvill

e| THE FINE P R I N T | 37

What did readers think of our September “Guide to Gainesville”? The following are letters received in response to specific articles. For more reader feedback, visit thefineprintuf.org. In response to “Media and the Movement” Regarding your synopsis of Moon Magazine, Pegeen Hanrahan indeed presented herself as a defender of the environment over out of control development. Her actions as Mayor proved otherwise. I have never in 20 years seen such green-lighting of student housing from out-of-town developers than under Mayor Hanrahan. To put her in the same sentence as a true defender of the environment, Penny Wheat, is at the very least, disingenuous; At best, it is ignorant. Hanrahan’s background as an environmental engineer was a dead giveaway. Environmental engineers engineer the environment so that it makes money. The system ate her soul, and I am happy she is no longer the Mayor. If she stays out if Government, I wish her all the best. - Tom Miller In response to “Turning up the Heat” As your newspaper carefully demonstrates, becoming involved for causes that are important to you, or just getting informed and stopping ignorance, is a large undertaking that Gainesville and the UF campus have not taken lightly. That is why I want to contribute and respond to an article called Turning Up the Heat. Mr. Cenker and Ms. Walters so eloquently describe how the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) have worked so diligently to become a part of the Farm-

worker Freedom March and get Alachua County citizens to stop purchasing Publix tomatoes until they “agree to champion for farmworkers’ rights.” Wonderful, and here is my point. I am so happy that we have a community of people who are willing to protest for miles to make a statement, and the fact that The Fine Print wants to document that is honorable. At the same time, I think Cenker and Walters could have thought a bit more professionally when trying to make a public correlation in paragraphs one and six to the flotilla attack in Israel on May 31. Again, I am all for people petitioning for human rights and making a ruckus, but only when it is fair, unbiased and well thought out. For someone who may not know anything about that incident, your writers leave the reader with a very negative slant and no credible source. “Brutal Israeli attack on a flotilla of Palestinian peace activists...” [...] If you want to show your opinions in a way that is worth people reading your newspaper, you should write an article that presents both sides of the event, with more sources than just the staff at TFP office. You speak of getting involved and standing for a cause, so that’s what I’m doing. So please, contain your “anger and horror” by learning about something that may make you uncomfortable at first, but will make you a better newspaper in the end. - Stephanie Mandelblum

EB s, blogs W E H T N O ore stories, photo d a

@ m

edia an art, multimvents calendar, ye communit ll updated daily a

thefineprintUF.org ON FACEBOOK AND

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 03

k n u p

rock

MECCA PHOTOS BY LOGAN JAFFE AND HENRY TAKSIER TEXT BY CHELSEA HETELSON

Ye Old Fest 9 has come to pass. Eleven sites, including diners, bike shops, pubs and even a few legit music venues hosted over 280 bands over three days. Gainesville gave us everything we expected and more, blasting our ears, melting our faces and bruising our bodies with three days of non-stop shows, parties and drinking. If you partied too hard to remember or got knocked in the head at the Good Luck mosh pit, The Fine Print is here to jog your memory with some photo highlights. Still can’t recall exactly how you got that cut below your eye? Grooveshark might be able to help you with some live recordings from Fest weekend at Medusa Studios. Each session features one song by the artist with a short interview. Look for it at Grooveshark.com. If you still can’t remember Fest 9, sorry dude, you missed out on a badass weekend. See you next Fest. (above) Two dudes, one shirtless and one bespectacled, play guitar outside Wayward Council, singing, “The first day I rob a bank is the first day of my life as an honest man...” Photo by Logan Jaffe.

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

(below) Jeff Cunningham, the lead singer of Bridge and Tunnel, defiantly lifts his battered hand and incites a riot Saturday night at 8 Seconds. Photo by Logan Jaffe.

(left) As the Fest winds down on Halloween, blood-spattered kids raise their cups on a bench outside Spin Cycle. Photo by Logan Jaffe.

(above) A girl walks past 8 Seconds on a Saturday evening. Unfortunately, one of our photographers, whose name may or may not be Henry Taksier, was too drunk to remember her name. Photo by Henry Taksier, if that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t obvious.

(right) This little fella was tied to the fence while everyone else enjoyed the Fest. At least heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s famous now. Photo by Henry Taksier.

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 05

What few know about

UF’s tobacco-free policy BY IRVING ROMERO DE LA ROSA Not many students, faculty or staff who violate UF’s tobacco-free policy would want their names printed in a magazine, but the fact that it happens is not hard to miss -- just take a walk through campus. With no tangible means of enforcement, there are still smokers who break the rules to get their fix. Many of them complain about the policy, lacking knowledge of how or why it was passed. The UF tobacco-free policy, effective since July 1, 2010, prohibits the use of tobacco products on all Shands and UF-controlled property. It encompasses more than just smoking a cigarette. Anyone caught possessing an electronic cigarette or even smoking while driving their car through campus is considered to be breaking the rule. The initiative for this policy was led by Healthy Gators, a coalition of students, faculty and staff that aims to create a healthy environment for all members of the UF community. In September 2008, 29 members of Healthy Gators developed the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Task Force Recommendations document, which included policy recommendations to reduce tobacco use by 2010. One of those recommendations was for a campus-wide smoking ban to be implemented by July of that year. Jane Emmerée, chair of the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Task Force and an employee of GatorWell Health Promotion Services, cited three reasons for the ban’s recommendation. The first was research indicating that tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and illness in the U.S. The second was that secondhand smoke exposure is the third leading cause. “Any individual has the right

to smoke,” Emmerée said. “But I don’t want a person’s smoke blowing into my face.” Emmerée’s third reason, she said, related to sustainability. A field study indicated that more than 10,000 cigarette butts are discarded every day on campus. The actual effects of the ban

UF to provide counseling and affordable treatment programs for faculty, staff and students who want to quit smoking as well as insurance coverage for evidencebased treatment of nicotine dependency. Finally, it prohibited university-controlled advertising, selling,

“We’re not trying to tell people what to do or change their lifestyle. But we are encouraging them to live a healthier lifestyle.” are yet to be determined. The document assigned members of Healthy Gators to evaluate the policy on a biannual basis. The group will conduct studies on the campus smoking rates of faculty in 2011 and students in 2012. The document also encouraged

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

or free sampling of tobacco products and the sponsorship of campus events by the tobacco industry. Upon receiving the document from Healthy Gators, UF President Bernie Machen presented the initiative to the Board of Trustees, who voted and approved the

policy. Florida Bridgewater-Alford, director of UF Community Outreach, led a campaign to reach out to faculty, staff, students and 4.5 million annual campus visitors. Funding -- a total of $4,100 -- was provided by the Florida Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Network, which receives grants from the state government. Bridgewater-Alford said her team’s efforts included intranet posts, newsletters, staff e-mails, news stories, public service announcements and advertisements. She also coordinated the removal of items that brought to mind smoking, like ash trays on top of garbage bins and signs saying that tobacco could be used more than 50 feet away from school buildings. Talk about the policy’s enforcement was ever-present throughout its formation. However, both Emmerée and Bridgewater-Alford recognized that the policy is not enforceable by any means other than “peer pressure.” The report by Healthy Gators 2010 states that the policy may “reduce tobacco use by smokers” by making smoking “less socially acceptable.” “We’re not trying to tell people what to do or change their lifestyle,” Bridgewater-Alford said. “But we are encouraging them to live a healthier lifestyle and to remind them that there are folks around who want to breathe cleaner air, safer air. They don’t want secondhand smoke.” Even if students, faculty and workers at UF continue to smoke, Bridgewater-Alford said she considers the policy successful, as long as “they [find] another place to do it” and don’t “discard their butts on campus and pollute our areas.” So the message is out -- if you’re a smoker, you’d better leave campus in order to get your fix. Otherwise, you might receive dirty looks. It’s for your own good, though.

STORY BY DIANA MORENO ART BY VICTORIA WINKLER

Coping with your failed political party relationship HOPE-less After the sadness of Sept. 11 our nation was in desperate need of some lovin’, and the silly looking, seemingly harmless cowboy we were dating at the time pledged to make it all better. He wasn’t the smoothest of talkers, or the brightest of crayons, yet we could hardly refuse the luring promise of stability and security he offered. Eight years, two wars, one hurricane Katrina and a battered economy later, we finally realized that it was time to let go. Maybe George wasn’t that into us. We were in desperate need of a change.

This Charming Man We first noticed him back in 2004. The speech he gave at the Democratic National Convention gave us serious butterflies, and ever since, our curiosity for this tall, dark and handsome beau only grew. Barack’s poise, his charm and his ability to speak eloquently without butchering the English language was beyond refreshing. After the breakup with George, we thought we’d never get over our trust issues, but the man with the GQ smile and an IQ to match came seemingly out of nowhere to pick us up, dust us off, and invite us to ride into the sunset. “Is

this real life?” we kept asking ourselves. But questioning what felt like true love was inconceivable at this point. It seemed like we had finally found THE ONE!

Love is Blind, Change is Hard (Audible Sigh) He promised to restore all that is righteous and pure, to put a puppy in every home and to generate enough green jobs for us to quit our foreign oil binge. He promised we would no longer have to pretend we’re Canadian while traveling Europe, and that he’d never hang around shady, war-loving assholes like Dick Cheney. We were head over heels, the ballots were cast, and two years later, the old adage stands: Love is blind. OK, fine. Maybe our expectations were a little unrealistic. We wanted overnight peace and prosperity, but were met with the sobering fact that change ain’t easy. Barack’s attempt to heal our broken health was countered by the unrelenting power of the insurance lobby. Before he had a chance to bring up immigration reform, crazy Aunt Arizona proposed to SB 1070 all brown people

See p. 27 November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 07

B.S. Science Water Fluoridation

“They’re trying to poison us!” BY JEREMIAH TATTERSALL ART BY DIANA MORENO I was sitting around complaining about pseudoscience and general quackery (a celebrated past time of mine) when the idea for this column hit me like a metric ton of proverbial apples. Just as the headline suggests, the purpose of science is to understand the unknown. This column will explore the gray areas of misunderstood science, illuminate bullshit through critical reasoning, and show how detrimental fraudulent science can be. Check our website for links to peer-reviewed articles and an open discussion on the topic. Onward to a skeptical understanding of material reality! Water fluoridation has been called a communist plot to undermine our health and described as a scheme by the nuclear industry to dispose of its waste. Nonetheless, the majority of scientific evidence maintains that it is a safe, effective way to prevent cavities for the most vulnerable among us. Most of the controversy stems from the misunderstood science behind fluoride, cavities and their relation to poverty. Water in Gainesville has a natural fluoride level of about 0.3 milligrams per liter (mg/L). Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) extracts water and raises the fluoride level to 0.8 mg/L, give or take a few tenths of a milligram. According to the World Health Organization, American Dental Association, and the American Medical

Association, there is no evidence of toxicity at or near these levels. The evidence on the safety and effectiveness of fluoride in preventing cavities is near a scientific consensus. Despite that, many of the countries

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

that once had water fluoridation programs have stopped with little to no effect on their cavity rates. These countries could afford to do away with their water fluoridation programs because, unlike in the U.S., they have readily accessible dental care. "If we had a system similar to what they have in Norway, Sweden, Finland and other similar countries -where they make a huge investment in the oral health of their children -perhaps we wouldn't need community water fluoridation," said Dr. Scott Tomar, department chair of Community Dentistry and Behavioural Science at UF’s College of Dentistry. These programs make sure every child has access to dental care -- often by giving exams at schools -- with no out-of-pocket cost to families. By contrast, in the U.S., fourfifths of the 24 million children insured by Medicaid do not see a dentist yearly according to a 2010 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The numbers are even worse for the 8 million uninsured children. In order to protect them from cavities with the least cost ($0.94 per person per year), we continue to fluoridate our water. The true controversy over water fluoridation is nothing more then a comment on the current state of healthcare in the US. Fix the healthcare system and make water fluoridation redundant. For links to specific documents cited, see our website.

Troubled Waters

BY ANDREW WYZAN At first glance, Taiji looks like it was designed for a children’s show about the wonders of the ocean. A blue whale surrounded by bubbles and dolphins with smiles plastered on their faces are just some of the caricatures that dot the town. However, this atmosphere masks a cove outside the town where dolphins are corralled and slaughtered for their meat. It is this cove that attracted the full attention of dolphin activist Ric O’Barry and film director Louie Psihoyos. O’Barry is the hero and central figure of “The Cove,” an Academy Award winning documentary about the town of Taiji, in which an estimated 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed each year. He is without a doubt the most electrifying presence in the movie. At one point, he was one of the most famous dolphin trainers in the world, having worked on the popular 1960s TV show “Flipper.” He soon had an epiph-

any when one of the dolphins he bonded with stopped breathing in his arms. Dolphins have no involuntary breathing mechanism -- she committed suicide. Since then, he’s spent his life as a Superman for dolphins, traveling the world to free any dolphin that is in danger. He’s made it his mission to expose Taiji to the world, and he recruited Psihoyos, co-founder of the Ocean Preservation Society, to further his cause. Psihoyos, despite his attempts to be an objective filmmaker, actively participates in the events captured on film. Much of it plays out like a real-world “Ocean’s Eleven,” as Psihoyos recruits an activist, a roadie, a former special effects wizard, a pair of worldclass free divers and others to stage a covert night operation, sneaking into the cove illegally and planting cameras to expose the truth. The angry fishermen and authorities they encounter add drama to the film, and when the team snaps into action, “The

Cove” becomes more thrilling than any movie with explosions could ever be. A great deal of scorn in the movie is laid on the International Whaling Commission, the international body that put a moratorium on whaling in 1986. According to the documentary, the Japanese delegation attempts to use biased scientific findings to make whale killing legal again. They argue that whales and dolphins cause declines in global fisheries, which is a far-fetched notion to oceanographers. Psihoyos ends up committing a cardinal sin against objectivity by not giving an adequate voice to the delegation and the Japanese government. In fact, he only paints them in broad strokes, characterizing them as little more than Captain Planet villains. Japan claims that parts of the movie are misleading and fraudulent, further calling Psihoyos into question. Fishermen portrayed as

See p. 28 November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 09

A Fresh Idea

Blue Oven Kitchens helps local food entrepreneurs get started Among the wild mushroom, sunflower, raw milk, and fermented tea stands of the Union Street Farmers’ Market, Taylor Daugherty stands at his Pop Stop -- a small cart filled with natural popsicles concocted hours ago in a kitchen on Main Street. Call it unconventional, but these pops aren’t cherry flavored or injected with Red 40. “They’re well received,” Daugherty said. “But some of the flavors seem a little scary.” To first-timers, he recommends the pineapple. For the more adventurous customers, vanilla and orange basil are up for grabs. Daugherty was inspired by popsicle vendors in bigger metropolitan areas like Atlanta and wanted to bring the idea to Gainesville. His friends from the Jones Eastside, a local eatery, told him about a new non-profit organization that could help him. Enter Blue Oven Kitchens (BOK), which matched him up with an inspected kitchen that he could have access to 24/7. It’s all part of a bigger mission to nurture and support local food entrepreneurs. According to Forbes Magazine, startup costs for a new business can range from $100,000 to $300,000, depending on how elaborate the plans are. Then comes the fun part -- property, licenses, permits and tax forms. “You have to do it in an inspected kitchen,” said Val Leitner, one of the founders of BOK.

“So unless you’re going to build it yourself or serendipitously form your own relationship with an inspected kitchen that’s owned by a restaurant, and you’re a very resourceful person who’s willing to look up all of the regulations and do all the research yourself, it’s a pretty formidable process.” BOK, along with affiliates like Hogtown HomeGrown (a newsletter and website providing seasonal recipes and menus), the Citizens Co-op and the Center for Innovative and Economic Development at Santa Fe College,

‘‘

Unless you’re going to build [a kitchen] yourself or serendipitously form your own relationship with an inspected kitchen that’s owned by a restaurant, [...], it’s a pretty formidable process.

‘‘

BY ELLEN MCHUGH

works to encourage a local food economy. BOK’s future goal is to raise enough money to build its own inspected kitchen. But for now, it is actively matching renters like Daugherty with already existing inspected kitchens in town via the Referral Service Program. BOK also has “Lite-Fare” workshops to teach prospective businesspeople or curious cooks the inside scoop of the culinary trade. “We play matchmaker,” Leitner said. “We don’t charge for it, but we do ask for dona-

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

tions.” The idea took off with Leitner, Maya Garner and Stefanie Hamblen. They visited existing kitchen incubators across the U.S. to get ideas and saw a helpful model from Blue Ridge Kitchen Ventures in North Carolina. The basic goal is to serve the community by making farm fresh local goods more widely accessible. “You can’t go into a restaurant and get a local egg,” Leitner said. BOK is working with its partner, Slow Food Gainesville, to provide the tools via the Farm-to-Restaurant Initiative that small farmers need to educate themselves on getting their local products to family dining tables. BOK is currently fundraising, planning workshops and introducing cooks to kitchens, and it only looks to expand. From farmer to kitchen and cook to consumer, fresh food shouldn’t be so hard to find. And BOK is looking to turn that concept into a reality for North Central Florida. Check out their website at www.blueovenkitchens.org.

(above) Troy Parson and Taylor Daugherty, both 25, prepare Popsicles using the industrial space provided by Blue Oven Kitchens -- an essential first step in their joint enterprise, The Pop Stop. Photo by Krissy Abdullah.

the

City Farmer BY KRISSY ABDULLAH

Learning the basics to biodynamics and lunar gardening If you think your backyard garden isn’t “organic” enough and want to try something more cutting-edge, biodynamic gardening may be the answer. Conceived by Rudolph Steiner (the same guy who created the Waldorf school), biodynamic gardening harnesses earthly and cosmic forces to generate a nutrient-rich and vigorous soil and transforms your garden from a tasty treat into a thriving and bountiful energy field of life. But, beware: This method is not vegetarian friendly, and it’s far from easy. Biodynamic gardening (also known as biointensive, homeodynamic and sometimes hippy-dippy shit) seeks to create a holistic relationship between the dirt, plants, animals, microbes, universal forces and farmer. The practice focuses heavily on time-intensive composting methods applied as medicinal elixirs to the earth. These elixirs, with technical names like Preparation 500 and 503, begin with the ritual sacrifice of a cow in autumn. From then on, the processes for making these elixirs range from filling the cow’s horns with manure to decompose underground for six months, to filling the entrails with medicinal flowers to create chamomile and dandelion sausages used to ferment compost piles. It may sound odd, but biodynamics begins with the philosophy of creating a spiritual and interpersonal relationship with your garden from the animals to the plants to the dirt - and understanding how everything ties together. If this seems too intensive for your garden, or if you’re afraid your landlord might find your cow horns distressing, don’t fear. There are other ways to incorporate biodynamics into your yard. Biodynamics gardeners consider astronomical information as crucial as checking the weather among the myriad environmental factors that can affect planting. A cursory understanding of astronomy tells us that moon

phases control the amount of moisture in the soil, with more moisture during a full moon and less during the new moon. For this reason, lunar calendars have been available in farmers almanacs for decades. Additionally, biodynamics adherents have formulated a guide based on the position of constellations and planetary bodies on a given day, which helps farmers choose the most favorable time to cultivate and harvest crops, plant seeds and transplant seedlings. Biodynamics planting calendars are organized by the 12 constellations of the zodiac, which are associated with the four elements: earth, air, water and fire. Based on the alignment of Earth with these constellations and the moon, sun and other planets, certain qualities of a crop can be enhanced. By following the calendar, a gardener could focus on fruiting crops (such as peas, beans and strawberries) on days when the moon is in relation to fire elements; leafy crops (like lettuce or greens) with water elements; flowering crops (like broccoli) with air elements; and root crops (like beets, onions and radishes) with earth elements. For those of you who know nothing about the zodiac, or even the phases of the moon, you are in luck: Stella Natura publishes a comprehensive planting calendar for the beginner biodynamics gardener. You can check out and download the months of November and December on The Fine Print’s website, www.thefineprintuf.org.

BIODYNAMIC RESOURCES Sandhill Farm is a biodynamics family farm located just outside of Gainesville. The farm sells vegetables at the Union Street Farmers Market (Bo Diddley Community Plaza, 111 E. University Ave.) each Wednesday from 5-7 p.m. Stella Natura, edited by Sherry Wildfeuer, prints a yearly biodynamic planting calendar. The November and December pages are available on the Fine Print website, and you can buy a 2011 calendar at www.stellanatura.com Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association is a national nonprofit organization that offers many resources on biodynamic farming. Its website, www. biodynamics.com, lists books, journals and events based on Steiner’s biodynamics philosophy.

PLANT OF THE MONTH Persimmon

(Diospyros virginiana) Be on the lookout this fall and winter for local Persimmon fruits, native to Florida and the southeast region of America. Diospyros (Greek for Zeus’ fruit) is a juicy, sweet fruit with a date-like taste and a soft, waxy skin. For more information on persimmons and how you can use them in your cooking, check out The Fine Print’s website at www.thefineprintuf.org.

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 11

(Right) Marie Carter, 27, of the local “queer indie dark pop” band Marie Curie, shows off a tattoo designed entirely by Sleepy Dave of Anthem Tattoo Parlor. According to Carter, Sleepy Dave is an artist, not just a guy with a needle. Photo by Henry Taksier.

all inked up Will Mayol, 21, UF sociology student. His batman tattoo was completed by another one of his friends with a sewing needle and India ink. The stick-n-poke tattoo, which can be completely safe if executed and sterilized correctly, is an old form of tattooing that is experiencing a renaissance in Gainesville. Photo by Krissy Abdullah.

BY ELLEN MCHUGH People who have tattoos often find themselves caught explaining “the story” behind their art. Like, “Hey bro, that’s an awesome tat, why did you get that?” Maybe it’s the initials of of their dead grandma. Maybe it’s a Chinese symbol that perfectly represents their life’s mantra. But what about people who just get tattoos for the hell of it? “People will want something and then they’ll invent some kind of meaning to justify their wanting it,” said Dave Kotinsley, aka “Sleepy Dave” from Anthem Tattoo Parlor. “They’ll say like, ‘I want a palm tree, and I want that palm tree because it stands in the wind, so it symbolizes courage, and I just went through a really weird, bad car accident.’ I just want to be like ‘who gives a fuck?’ Get

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

what you want. You don’t have to justify it to anybody.” After four years of inking people up, Dave has recognized patterns in Gainesville’s culture. “A lot of people want to get done what band they’re in. Everyone’s in a band,” he said. “A lot of times they’ll get done what house they live in. You know, like a whole bunch of young people living together will give their house a name or whatever.” A tattoo artist doesn’t want to know why people get them. It doesn’t matter. Live in the moment. Take a piece of your life, significant or not, and turn it into something that lasts.

Got a cool tattoo? Send us a photo

at photoeditor@thefineprintuf.org, with or without any justification for why the fuck you got it.

“

I just want to be like, ‘who gives a fuck?’

Get what you want. You don’t have to justify it to anybody

” Anna Cody Dell, 21, sits at Maude’s Coffee Shop and displays a tattoo she got at Anthem Tattoo Parlor. Photo by Krissy Abdullah.

(Above) Local artist Alma Elaine Shoaf, 23, got her tattoo in 2008 at the Black Orchid parlor in Savannah, GA. It’s from an illustration by Aubrey Beardsley and depicts Oscar Wilde’s tragic play “Salome.” Photo by Krissy Abdullah.

(Left) Many of Will Mayol’s tattoos have been done by friends outside of a tattoo parlor. Mayol’s newest tattoo was completed by a close friend with prior tattoo experience and personal equipment in another friend’s living room. Photo by Krissy Abdullah.

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 13

Digging the Rubble

Newnansville TEXT AND PHOTO BY CODY BOND No kicks left in Newnansville, and not a soul to talk to. Just the cicadas holding vigil as the sun sets through the live oaks. People call this place a ghost town, but there is no town left to haunt, and the ghosts have long since faded like the letters etched in their tombstones. Everyone is nameless in the end. The real history of Newnansville is hazy at best. The town lived and died at a time when public records weren’t quite so public, when politicians and plantation owners were free to meet behind heavy lacquered doors and divvy up the land over glasses of Scotch. What records remain are maddeningly incomplete and sometimes downright contradictory. It’s difficult to establish the cause of the town’s demise. What’s left to work with is a watered-down oral history, charming to recount from a rocking chair but damn near impossible to validate. The story goes something like this: In 1814, James and Simeon Dell settled on a patch of land about a mile north east of the present-day city of Alachua. The area developed slowly as settlers trickled in and put their plows to the soil. Then in 1824, after gaining dominion over Spanish Florida, Congress authorized the construction of the Bellamy Road. The new federal highway would run from Pensacola to St. Augustine, bringing travelers and trade through the area that would soon become Newnansville. By 1828, the settlement had grown pros-

perous enough to gain the attention of The Territorial Council. They officially renamed it “Newnansville” after Gen. Daniel Newnan, and with a few pen strokes made it the seat of the newly formed Alachua County. As the

1853 and voting to move the county seat to a location along the new Florida Railroad. They settled on a swampy area just east of the settlement at Hogtown, on land that was part of the Bailey plantation, and named it Gainesville. Some say they went so far as to steal the Newnansville courthouse. Six years later, the first train finally rolled into the fledgling city. The final blow came in 1884, when the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad missed Newnansville by barely a mile. F. E. Williams, whose land the railroad traversed, capitalized on the opportunity and founded what would later become the city of Alachua. Slowly but surely, the people migrated to the new depot town, and the life drained out of Newnansville. That’s the official line anyway: The ebb and flow of progress simply left the town behind. But it doesn’t tell us why—why the ambition of one man should take priority over an entire community, why no one seemed to fight him, why a distance of a mile should be allowed to kill a place. One way or another, by the 1930s Newnansville was gone from most maps, and most of its residents were gone from it. Those who remained were laid to rest in the old Methodist cemetery. Over the years, the cemetery has expanded, and now it is all that’s left. Even the church is gone. The town site was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It sits just outside Alachua, on County Road 235, where the traffic drowns the echoes of its silent past—a legacy of lichen-covered graves, unanswered questions and armadillo holes.

People call this place a ghost town, but there is no town left to haunt, and the ghosts have long since faded like the letters etched in their tombstones.

plantations around it grew, Newnansville became a hub of antebellum society. Newnansville reached its peak just before the Civil War, and then suddenly fell into a terminal decline. No one really knows why. There’s a story about Alachua County’s leading citizens meeting at Boulware Springs in

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

UNDOCUMENTED

An ‘illegal’ Santa Fe student shares her story with Gainesville BY VICTORIA WINKLER Mica seems like an average American college freshman. She works hard in school and volunteers for the school paper because she’s crazy about writing and wants to be a journalist. But she’s also an illegal alien. Mica, who has asked that only her first name be used, came to the U.S. with her mom, dad and little brother when she was 8 years old. They came on a temporary visa meant for families on vacation, and though her parents told her the truth, she knew to say she was going to Disney World if anyone asked. About 65,000 undocumented students graduate from

American high schools every year, but once they reach age 18, they are considered the same as other adult undocumented people, and can be deported if discovered. For the children of illegal immigrants, this can mean the only country they remember living in doesn’t want them to work or vote or drive. It can mean being invisible. “It’s a great example of how people create legal categories without bothering to think about the real human impact,” said Paul Ortiz, director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at UF. Because they have no immediate relatives with U.S. citi-

zenship or legal residency, undocumented children can face detainment and deportation, and just like other immigrants without special skills or circumstances, have virtually no path for citizenship. “These are individuals who have grown up in the U.S., and for many, if not most of them, this really is their culture,” Ortiz said. “Unfortunately, what you’ll find in politics is the fairness and logic arguments only get you so far. If those arguments would have worked, we never would have had slavery or segregation.” The DREAM Act, which stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, was created to provide children

and young adults like Mica a pathway to citizenship. If passed, those who came to the U.S. before the age of 16 and have been here for at least five years could obtain conditional permanent residency by attending college or serving in the military for at least two years.

See p. 28 (Top of page) Mica, an undocumented student from Argentina who asked that only her first name be used, speaks at DREAM Act Week of Action Kickoff Nov. 8 on the steps of Tigert Hall about her experience as a college student risking deportation for an education. Photo by Henry Taksier.

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 15

NOV& OC

SUNDAY

MONDAY

[nov]15 16

learn somet hing new!

“Two Spirits”

8pm at the Civic Media Center (433 S. Main Street) presented by Counterpoise Magazine

North Florida Marxist Conference

hosted by Gainesville’s International Socialist Organization at the Civic Media Center (433 S. Main Street) 1pm

Live butterfly release

at the Florida Museum of Natural History (SW 34th St. and Hull Road) 2pm

21 29

Ghanaian Dance and Cultur Class at the Wilhelmina Johnson Center (321 NW 10th St.) 7pm

a collective art exhibition and campaign launch at the Florida Museum of Natural History all day

The Misfits play with Gainesville’s Grabass Charlestons at Common Grounds (210 SW 2nd Ave.) 9pm

Docent-led tours 12 of the Harn Museum of Art

“Dugout Canoes: Paddling Through the Americas”

at the Florida Museum of Natural History all day

McIntosh Harvest Village Ghost Tour

22050 N HWY 441, McIntosh 7:30pm

Justin Townes Earle and Caitlin Rose at Common Grounds (210 SW 2nd Ave.),9pm

rock out!

The Boswellians and The Cocker Spa 9:30pm playing at the CMC (433 S. Main Street)

“Symbiosis: 23 Butterflies, Moths and Plants” the watercolor paintings of Mindy Lighthipe, displayed at the Florida Museum of Natural History (SW 34th St. and Hull Rd.), all day

at Emiliano’s (7 S 6:30pm

Downtown Farmers M at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza 4pm

14 “A Christmas Carol”

plays at the Hippodrome State Theatre (25 SE 2nd Place) 7:30pm

the Christmas classic on stage at the Hippodrome State Theatre (25 SE 2nd Place) 8pm

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

Live Jazz

a e m o c be ! e r o v a c lo

“This Wonderful Life”

SW 34th St. and Hull Rd. 2pm

WEDNE

“The Blue Path: Protecting Florida’s Springs”

TUESDAY

“The Girl W the Hornet’

plays at the Hippo Theatre (25 SE 2n

&DEC

ESDAY

THURSDAY

aniels

SE 1st Ave.)

Drinking Liberally

Weekly Poetry Jam

meets at Brophy’s Irish Pub (60 SW 2nd St.) 7pm

at the CMC (433 S. Main Street) 9pm

FREE Yoga Class

at the Downtown Library (401 E. University Ave.) 5:30pm

[dec]1

Perpetual Groove and Chroma

“Flow”

Market 15

spoken word presented by UF’s Poet’s Inc. at Orange and Brew (UF campus) 7pm

School of the Americas Protest

Swing Dance Class for beginners at the By Ear Musician Studio (7230 W. University Ave.) 6:30pm

Who Kicked ’s Nest”

FREE confidential STD and HIV testing

odrome State nd Place) 7:30pm

at the Pride Community Center (3131 NW 13th St.) 4pm-6pm

SATURDAY

Transgender Day of Remembrance

in Fort Benning, Ga., through Nov. 21

FREE Tango Class

at the Downtown Library (401 E. University Ave.) 5:30pm

Los Ekoblos (members of Umoja Orchestra) perform at the Atlantic (15 N. Main St.) 9pm

perform at Common Grounds (210 SW 2nd Ave.) 9pm

FRIDAY

27 Muslims and Christians In Conversation a discussion at the Mennonite Meeting House (1236 NW 18th Ave.) 10am

Agbedidi Africa Dance and Drum at the Constans Theatre (UF campus) 7:30pm

Free Fridays concert series

“Stargazing: Various Planets and Meteors”

at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza downtown 8pm

at the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium (3000 NW 83rd Street #129) 7pm

celebrate!

Veterans for Peace Winter Solstice Celebration

at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (4225 NW 34th Street) 8pm November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 17

Rationalizing the Ration Ratio 130-meal limit takes its toll on Gainesville’s homeless BY CRISTINA RABAZA Steve Dennis has a slew of numbers floating in his head. When you ask him about poverty, they all come pouring out. It took two years serving in the Vietnam War and one bag of feces thrown at him from an anti-war protester for Dennis to realize he wasn’t exactly welcomed back. It took three war-related health conditions (diabetes, peripheral neuropathy and posttraumatic stress disorder) and zero job opportunities

“

Some of these older men are giving up their place in line so kids and pregnant women can eat.

”

during the 1970s recession to land him in debt. It took almost 40 years of homelessness for Dennis to call the woods his only home. And it takes 130 people arriving before him at the St. Francis House for Dennis to be turned away. “Even when they have enough food for me, if I don’t get in line before the 131st person, then I just

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

don’t eat that day,” he said, “unless I choose to go to the grocery store and shoplift something, but I’m trying to be a law-abiding citizen.” A speaker for Alachua County’s chapter of the National Coalition for the Homeless, Dennis is most concerned about the number 131 now that he’s back on his feet with assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Through a sturdy, 60-year-old former Marine’s frame, Dennis managed to project a soft-spoken voice from the steps of City Hall on the night of Thursday, Oct. 21, a voice that barely captures his frustration with the city’s 130-meal limit on soup kitchens. He’s one of about 30 citizens who rallied at City Hall and told the Gainesville City Commission to get rid of the limit, an ordinance meant to disperse the homeless population currently concentrated downtown. “It doesn’t work,” Dennis said. “If they get denied from St. Francis, the homeless are just going to panhandle around downtown until they collect enough money to eat something. You’re not dispersing them anywhere. You’re just starving them.”

The commission passed the ordinance in 1992 but never enforced it until last year, which long-term homeless advocate and social worker Pat Fitzpatrick says coincided with the August 2009 opening of downtown’s Hampton Inn. “Some of these older men are giving up their place in line so kids and pregnant women can eat,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s just bizarre. When is the city going to put people before profits?” But City Commissioner Jack Donovan said prioritizing is a balancing act. He said the ordinance is the best compromise among the city’s varying interest groups, and “sometimes that includes the neighborhood businesses.” The businesses complained of homeless people urinating in their bushes and panhandling around customers. Donovan said much of the damage downtown, however, is done by students but blamed on homeless people. He said residents and businesses support the ordinance because of people using the homeless as a cover for criminal activity. A 2008 report on Gainesville’s homeless conditions stated 45 percent of respondents said unemployment and job loss caused their homelessness, and the majority of respondents said this was their first homeless episode. “Unfortunately, what most of us have as an image of homelessness is what we periodically encounter downtown: the chronically homeless,” he said. “As opposed to the temporarily homeless, these people tend to have a lot more problems and can sometimes even be dangerous. But for the most part, homeless people aren’t any more likely to misbehave than the rest of the community.” Donovan favored lifting the 130-meal limit until the city eventually completes its construction

of a one-stop homeless center five miles north of St. Francis, which will feature about 60 beds, showers, telephones, healthcare services and counseling services. The commission, however, rejected the moratorium. Donovan said they’re doing their best, but he’s seen commissioners influenced by the funding they depend upon for re-election. “Sometimes economic interests and getting campaign funding weigh more heavily than some of us would wish,” Donovan said of other commissioners. “But it’s a matter of balancing and asking yourself, ‘Will I get campaign money from wealth-

“

130-person capacity. Jackson said opening more soup kitchens would also ameliorate the crowding, but zoning restrictions “make it impossible for other soup kitchens to be established.” The effect, he said, has been to prevent services from being provided instead of dispersing the homeless population. Fitzpatrick said despite all the legislation tangled in the issue, it boils down to a simple question: “Are these people going to eat or are they not going to eat?” Fitzpatrick will host a fast on the steps of City Hall during the three

Sometimes economic interests and getting campaign funding weigh more heavily than some of us would wish.

ier business owners or not?’ We’re at a temporary stalemate until we see what happens with the one-stop center.” But the issue isn’t completely dead in the water. Joseph S. Jackson, a UF legal skills professor and long-term homeless advocate, said the Bo Diddley Community Plaza has become even more concentrated with people hoping to beat the 131st rejection, and the best alternative is to grant the St. Francis House longer hours of operation. “It makes so much more sense to provide meals only during certain hours,” Jackson said. “Then people wouldn’t have to crowd downtown during its opening hours. It would allow for food to be given in an orderly fashion with fewer external impacts on the downtown community.” On Oct. 21, the commission allowed the St. Francis House to begin petitioning to extend its hours of operation, feeding more people throughout the day but keeping a

”

days before Thanksgiving to raise awareness that food sharing is not a handout but a basic human necessity. Dennis says he prefers calling it a leg up. Of all the homeless people he’s met in the past 40 years, he said most are more than willing to work their way out of poverty if given the chance, and the only thing the city can disperse is the act of one homeless person helping another. “It multiplies,” he said. “I got mine, so why can’t I help others now? These commissioners think when they look at us that they’re looking at crap, but what they don’t see is that with a little help, a pile of crap turns into a garden.” (pictured) Steve Dennis, a Vietnam veteran and recovering alcoholic who struggled with homelessness for almost 40 years, relaxes outside his apartment with a cup of coffee. He is now a speaker for Alachua County’s chapter of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Photo by Henry Taksier.

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 19

The Boswellians Amy and Ryan sit in the middle of the street near Maude’s holding toothbrushes for no apparent reason, lit by the headlights of passing cars. Amy said she wanted the picture to be as awkward as possible. Photo by Henry Taksier. BY ELLEN MCHUGH Ready to party and decked out in vintage garb, a group of hipsters think it’s 1966. Among the multi-colored balloons, cobalt blue streamers draped around the porch and bowls of hunch punch, Amy Lobasso emerges with guitar in hand next to her friend Ryan Beckman on the piano. A voice starts to ring out through the crowd. People quiet down. Her smooth vocals with subtle jazzy hints radiate like an old Billie Holiday record. But there are no scratches, just clarity. The crowd sways in ridiculous high-waisted pants and nods their heads to the beat. The Boswellians have got the them hooked. Trips to the keg can wait. Inspired by everything from Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith to Black Flag, The Kinks and St. Vincent, The Boswellians are on a quest to blend all of their favorite music and mix it into their own pop/jazz/folky sound. It began with the uniting of two musically

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

compatible individuals, Amy and Ryan. “I just heard Ryan playing piano at a house one night and I knew I wanted to work with him,” Amy says. “We just took it from there.” The young duo started making tunes together right around the spring of 2009, and just recently welcomed new additions Fletcher

The crowd sways in ridiculous highwaisted pants and nods their heads to the beat. Yancey and Scott Kauffmann of the band Pseudo Kids on drums and bass. With the help and support of other Gainesville bands like Janna Pelle and Halfsteps, The Boswellians are popping up at house parties, benefit shows and the Civic Media Center. They’ll be playing at an acoustic showcase at 1982 in mid-November.

“The Gainesville music scene is really like a tight-knit community, and they all sort of help each other out,” Amy says. “We’re making the rounds.” Amy’s vocals combine with Ryan’s piano playing to provide the backbone of the sound, and a hint of acoustic guitar, newly added bass and light percussion enhance the pairs’ collaborative melodies and Amy’s lyrics. Amy says that they are contacting students in the music department at UF to see if anybody wants to get involved. They’re ready to experiment with quirky sounds. “We want lots of woodwinds and strings, that’s the goal,” Amy says. “We’ve been playing around with chamber pop.” Download their music for free on Bandcamp.com or visit their Myspace page for more information, contact info and upcoming shows. And don’t be shy if you have ideas or would like to chat, or just jam with them. Send them a line at theboswellians@gmail.com.

Civilization cleans Hogtown Creek TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JESSICA WHITE On Sunday, October 17th, eight Civilization members volunteered to clean up the 8th Avenue Hogtown Creek Floodplain. After an hour of cleaning, 200 pounds of trash and 60 pounds of recycling were collected. Civilization, a local worker-owner co-operative restaurant and catering company, cleaned the creek in an effort to give back to the community. Gracy Castine, a member of the Civilization co-operative, decided to contact Fritizi S. Olson, Executive Director of Current Problems, Inc. a local non-profit organization specializing in finding ways to clean up Florida waterways. Castine found out there was a big push for cleaning Gainesville's waterways in the month of October and arranged for a cleaning day.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery offers green burials in Gainesville BY JAMES CHAPIN On a Thursday afternoon, a small group of men and women will drive underneath a large sign reading Prairie Creek Ranch and park in a dusty roundabout. They will get out of their cars and be shown, a half a mile away, to their final resting places. These people, perhaps a dozen of them, will be taking part in a private tour of Prairie Creek Conservation Cem-

mental preservation: a green burial. “Some people, they have made up their minds intellectually, but they want to see it for themselves,” said Freddie Johnson, the president of Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery’s board of directors. “We’ve had about 20 people come here and sign those final burial wishes in the past month, which is about as long as we’ve been here.” The first burial at the cemetery

Every year, there’s enough concrete used in burying people to build a highway from Tallahassee to Miami. There are enough tons of steel used to build the Golden Gate Bridge. etery in preparation for signing a final burial wish document. This will seal their commitment to being buried on this land in a radically eco-friendly fashion: no tombs, no caskets, no embalming, no gravestone. It is the vanguard of environ-

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

occurred on July 20. Dr. Kathy Cantwell, a prominent local environmentalist who founded the Putnam Land Conservancy to the east of Alachua County, was lowered into her grave as friends stood by. Her wish to be buried on the

site reflected a consciousness of the material cost of a regular funeral, Johnson said. “Every year, there’s enough concrete used in burying people to build a highway from Tallahassee to Miami. There are enough tons of steel used to build the Golden Gate Bridge,” he said. “But this way, you’re in the middle of conservation land, and helping to conserve more of it. It’s a good option.” So far, seventy-eight acres have been set aside for the cemetery -- a tiny tract amid thousands of undeveloped acres southeast of Gainesville. “I suspect you could hike from here to Paynes Prairie and never get off conservation land,” Johnson said. “One of the tenets is to have your area be next to conserved land, to enlarge it.” A green burial at Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery costs $2,000, about a third of the price of a conventional burial, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Prairie Creek’s owners spent $6,000 per acre for the land, meaning that with only three burials per acre it will recoup its investment. Members of the board of directors believe that

they could feasibly bury 100 people per acre. According to Johnson, any additional revenue will be used to purchase and set aside more land. “We basically bought this land in order to make it bigger,” he said. The road up to the cemetery meanders through a hardwood hammock with high, rolling hills. The burial site itself lies on naturally open sandhill terrain covered in stubby grasses. Dr. Cantwell’s gravesite is visible as a small mound of pine needles, with a young magnolia tree planted at its foot. There is no headstone. “We don’t want grave markers because it’s not part of the natural landscape,” said Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson, executive director of Alachua Conservation Trust, which owns the deed to the land, and a member of the cemetery’s board of directors. Each hole is four feet deep, with a three-foot cover. The only non-biodegradable object in the grave is a tag required by the state for legal reasons. “Here people are buried in only a shroud,” Hutchinson said. “In Kathy’s case, the shroud was sewn out of all her old environmental T-shirts by her friends. They tested each one to ensure that they were all environmentally safe to bury.” The Green Burial Council, based in Santa Fe, N.M., oversees standards on issues such as burial shrouds and embalming procedures and certifies sites across the country. Prairie Creek is one of only two green cemeteries in the state of Flor-

ida recognized by the council. The gravesite of David Brush, another of the three people interred at the cemetery so far, lies a stone’s throw away from Dr. Cantwell’s. It is signified by a mound of pebbles and loose sand. There are two pieces of iron rebar embedded near the surface of each grave, on

since it would mean an end to further funerals on the site. He noted, however, that the same concept that makes Indian burial ground inviolable also applies to today’s graves. “Me, I want to spread [the graves] as thinly as possible across this

The idea won’t be to go out and find somebody’s grave. The idea is to see that this person helped to save all of this. either side of the body, so that it can be located via metal detector once other surface signs have disappeared. “Eventually there will just be a memorial wall with all the peoples’ names,” Hutchinson said. “The idea won’t be to go out and find somebody’s grave. The idea is to see that this person helped to save all of this.” He waved an arm to take in the whole of the wildflower-spotted field. Walking back toward his car, Hutchinson stopped short at the sight of a bone lying on the ground. He picked it up and turned it over, eventually determining that it was a deer bone from the days when the land was an exotic-game preserve. “It would be very interesting if we were to find some sort of Indian remains out here,” Hutchinson said. He admitted that he was glad they hadn’t,

land,” Hutchinson said. “That way it’s all a sacred burial ground and you can’t disturb it. People ask me how many people we’ll bury out here, and I say just enough to get the job done. And then it’s on to another place, and on to another.” Hutchinson acknowledged that in an age when funeral directors manage the procedures and the “work of dying,” a green burial is unusual. “This is a fairly revolutionary concept,” he said. “It shouldn’t be, but it is. And once again, it’s Gainesville leading the charge.” The intentions of the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery may be novel, but its methods are not. “Back before the Civil War, people were all pretty much naturally buried,” Johnson said. “There’s not much new about this.”

Dr. Cantwell’s grave site is visible as a small mound of pine needles, with a young magnolia tree planted at its foot. There is no headstone. Dr. Cantwell was the first person buried at Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery.

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 23

The Land of ‘You Can't Touch This’

Appetite for Department of Defense Funding Expands Military Technology While Marginalizing International Students at Universities BY THOMAS BAKER Roughly 400,000 Vietnamese have died from exposure to Agent Orange since it was sprayed over rice fields and villages during the Vietnam War. An estimated 3 million people have been affected physically by the chemical, including 150,000 children born with defects. Only a few know that the chemical, originally discovered as a plant-growth hormone, was manipulated at the University of Chicago to destroy crops with funds from the Department of Defense. DOD grants at universities pose a moral dilemma to researchers as they try to weigh the negative and positive implications of their work. There is a lot at stake for the university community as its institutions take on expanding roles to produce the knowledge that has materialized the technology age.

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

“University research accounts for half of the new technology in the world,” said Dr. Win Phillips, vice president of research at the University of Florida. University research yields knowledge and technology worth billions of dollars to the U.S. military each year. DOD has more than doubled the funding at UF over the last decade to $32 million, adjusting for inflation. This, compared to a 32 percent increase in overall research at UF, highlights an increasing acceptance of military research on university campuses. “All research is important,” Phillips said, adding that more funding from DOD is welcome. “[Research] is a knowledge issue and not a social issue.” The swell of military funding for research is reminiscent of the Cold War era, when universities were used as breeding grounds for missile guid-

ance systems and chemical and biological weapons like Agent Orange and Coxiella. Almost no defense research at universities is this hostile today, however, and it is used in both military and commercial applications. The ever-increasing defense budget for the U.S. is a strong and consistent source for research money on most college campuses. “Part of what the military is doing is investing in scientific manpower,” said Dr. Stephen Senturia, a retired Massachusetts Institute of Technology research professor in electrical engineering. “There is always a cynical side to this.” With limited resources available, some professors will take any research money, even if the research seems loutish or lacks altruism. Dr. Bhavani Sankar, a professor of 24 years in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UF, said a growing problem in the national university system is professors taking on research solely based on the pressure to do so; some professors write grant after grant without looking too far into what the research entails. Senturia added that research money can be very competitive, and professors can “buy out of teaching by getting research.” He also said that much of the money in technological development today is in the military. Senturia was a young researcher at MIT in 1969 and 1970 when students and professors, including Noam Chomsky, protested the university’s involvement in classified military research on the campus. Though Senturia did not partake in the protests or questionable re-

search, he said it was a scary time for all at the university. The protests, a mix of formal intellectual debate and organized campus marches, eventually caused the MIT administration to submit to many of the student demands. Most groups that performed classified research on military projects, including nuclear weapon improvements, were prohibited from continuing on campus. “In times like those, you cannot pretend like things are normal, because they are not,” Senturia said. Today, some research at universities is restricted to foreign graduate students, Senturia

strictions include not being allowed to use certain equipment, enter particular rooms or use computers that hold “sensitive” information. They are allowed, however, to have an American use the equipment for them in order to obtain data vital to their research. The restricted technologies and information are often dual-use and developed by the military for both commercial and defense pursuits. Because the technology could be used as weaponry, it is restricted to only qualified nations, companies and researchers. “Most faculty would like to do their research in a manner

“Part of what the military is doing is investing in scientific manpower. There is always a cynical side to this.” said. This conflicts with the belief that the “first and primary mission of a university is the dissemination and the assimilation of knowledge ... and once you are in a university, you should be an equal,” he said. UF currently has more than 5,000 international students from 130 countries, according to David Sammons, dean of the International Center. Most of these students are in graduate school and make up roughly 6 to 7 percent of the student body. The International Traffic in Arms Regulations places restrictions on foreign nationals at public and private universities across the country. These re-

that they didn’t have to worry about export control,” said Dr. David Norton, associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Engineering at UF. Professors have the option to walk away from any research and to limit who they receive funding from, Norton said. Some professors even refuse money from DOD for “reasons of conscience” and “their own personal convictions.” Much of UF’s military funding and certain government research funding are dependent on following the ITAR. Professors can lose their jobs over this issue, and graduate stu-

dents can be expelled. The university can be fined millions of dollars, and research contracts can be lost. Following these regulations requires a lot of energy and a conscious marginalizing of foreigners by the researchers who use these technologies. “ITAR regulations are a pain in the ass,” said electrical engineering Ph.D. student Justin Zito. “You have to go through a bunch of red tape that slows down the research process.” For researchers, ITAR ordinances seem to be more of a hassle than a conflict with the university’s mission, which includes creating “the broadly diverse environment necessary to foster multicultural skills and perspectives in its teaching and research.” Many researchers agree that ITAR rules derive from the presence of military research on campuses. This research gets to universities by a coupling of government initiatives and the willingness of researchers to take defense ardor. Universities with diverse student bodies can think toward many goals, both positive and negative. The broader struggle for researchers can be more pressing issues, such as the polluted Koppers Inc. industrial plant site here in Gainesville and the growing demand for food, clean water, land and energy across the world. “It is important for [students] to grow up in a community that has a wider point of view,” Phillips said. Whether this means accepting military research is the professor’s decision. For a foreign national, there is not much of a choice.

November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 25

Don’t bottle up your feelings BY RAIN ARANEDA Two things Florida is known for are its strawberries and springs. People come from around the world to tube down Ginnie Springs or to explore caverns carved out by the underground rivers beneath our feet. Every year, locals look forward to the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City. It makes Florida an attractive place to live and visit. Unfortunately, at the start of 2010, a severe freeze swept over the state, threatening Florida’s crops. Farmers fought for their right to use water in excess of regulated limits so they could spray their crops and protect them. The Southwest Florida Water Management District allowed strawberry farmers in Plant City to pump an extra 1 billion gallons of groundwater from the Floridan Aquifer each day for 11 days. As a result of the rapid water draw-down, 760 residential wells went dry and 140 sinkholes were created. A few months later, all the crops became ready to harvest and hit the market at once. Strawberry prices plummeted. Farmers chose to destroy the recently saved crops instead of harvesting them at a loss. As clean supplies of potable water dwindle across the globe, the debate over who owns the water and has rights to it has intensified. The United Nations claims that water is fundamental to life and a

Illustration by Adam Zabowski Florida will need an extra 91 million gallons of water per day than can feasibly be pumped from groundwater sources without damaging the environment. To make matters worse, the bottled water industry has been purchasing rights to extract water from spring and underground sources across the country for the last 20 years. By

“Water is a limited resource. Its proper allocation needs to be enforced or Florida’s world-renowned springs will run dry.” precondition for the realization of human rights, yet more than 800 million people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, 2.6 billion have no access to basic sanitation and an average 1.5 million children under the age of five die every year from waterborne diseases. Even in developed countries, water is becoming scarce. The St. John’s River Water Management District currently estimates that by the year 2030, the Northeastern part of

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

2009, 22 bottling companies had established operations along Florida’s waterways, pumping anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million gallons per day. Bottle and brand label producers in the area utilize even more fresh water for their operations. In fact, producing the average bottle of water takes about five times the amount of water contained in the bottle. Bottled water reports yearly profits of 50% to 200%, which are understandably high. The industry is

able to buy cheap extraction permits from local water management districts and only needs to comply with voluntary water treatment standards, which lowers their capital costs. In 2005 and 2009, The Florida Senate and Governor Charlie Crist, respectively, proposed a state extraction tax on bottling companies, which would have netted about $56 million a year in state revenues. Industry representatives argued that they were being singled out and proposed a state sales tax instead. However, a large portion of the water bottled in Florida is shipped and sold outside the state’s borders, including the Dasani water that Coca Cola bottles nearby from Ginnie Springs. The extraction tax law never passed. Water is a limited resource. Its proper allocation needs to be enforced or Florida’s world-renowned springs will run dry. In future editions of The Fine Print, the effects of lax water protection laws, rapid urbanization and the trend to buy bottled water will be explored. Claims from the industry, as well as community activist groups, will be analyzed. Hold your breath.

Coping with your failed party relationship, cont’d from p. 7 out of the state, and only 18 months into our relationship half of America decided to go on an elephant ride, cheating us out of future chances for any semblance of progress. It’s hard to admit, but Mother Common Sense was right, we can’t expect for one man to save us.

What Now? America, honey, it’s been a tough decade. We were so damn ready to celebrate the end of the war(s), LGBT equality and universal health care that we put on our most fabulous dress and brightest lipstick. But two years later we were still sitting by the phone, waiting to hear that at least one of our hopes had been fulfilled. The faithful among us called for patience, they asked for us to praise the baby steps and forget the terrible compromises. The disappointed were inflicted by the awful disease of apathy and stopped dating altogether, while many felt the catastrophic urge to run back to our ex-lovers. Worst of all, a few of us gave up sanity and Tea-partied all the way to Glenn Beck rallies in

a desperate search for someone to believe in. In the end, admitting the obvious is empowering: No one is going to take care of us if we don’t take care of ourselves. It’s time to take off the sweatpants, put away the Ben & Jerry’s and stand on our own two feet. Continuing to wait for Mr. (or Ms.!) Right while our world crumbles is not what history prescribes in times of crises. And we should know, nothing has been handed to us by any of the men we’ve dated, whether liberal or conservative. Remember, our grandmothers campaigned, organized and fought the good fight for decades before the good ol’ boys decided that a woman’s right to vote was worthy of a constitutional amendment. Our mothers sat at segregated lunch counters and marched in Washington to attain guaranteed civil rights for our brothers and sisters. Now it is our turn. We have plenty of worthy challenges ahead of us, and we are not waiting around for Obama, or anyone else, to hold our hands through the fire. We’re America the beau-

The Fine Print would like to thank

tiful, damn it! And God knows we look our best when we invest in ourselves. So, dump the unrealistic hope of pretty boys with pretty promises, and don’t fall for

the baseless fear of double-chinned foxes or mama grizzlies. It’s up to We, the people, to practice the democracy we preach.

Published with support from

The Civic Media Center

for its continued support.

433 S. Main St. civicmediacenter.org

Campus Progress provides support, advice, and materials to students engaged in public education/ advocacy campaigns on issues like Sudan, the Iraq war, living wage, poverty and the death penalty. We also engage students in national issue campaigns on critical issues from global warming to civil rights, student debt to academic freedom. Visit CampusProgress.org/issues for more. November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 27

Troubled Waters, cont’d from p. 9 hostile were said to be provoked by the film crew, according to Japanese media, and the film outright lies about a specific government employee. Despite Psihoyos’ clear bias and agenda, he proves himself to be a great filmmaker. During the film’s climax, the footage

they recovered from the cove appears on screen, carefully edited for maximum effect on the viewer. The fishermen use their boats’ sonar to coerce dolphins into a corral. The clear waters of the cove soon become murky with blood as the fishermen of Taiji harpoon the captured

dolphins. The final shots show nothing but a sea of blood. For the more emotional viewer, “The Cove” may prove too much to handle, but the final moments of the documentary have the emotional payoff that makes it a magnificent story and a worthwhile film.

Undocumented, cont’d from p. 15

For Mica and other undocumented children, the biggest challenges start as they approach adulthood and face their futures. “I have this huge weight on my shoulders,” she said. “Sometimes it leaves; it always comes back.” Mica attended the brand new Ronald W. Reagan/Doral Senior High School in a suburb of Miami, where she took advanced classes and then interned at the Miami Herald. She got into UF and several other schools, but because of her status, she has to pay out-of-state tuition in Florida, where she’s lived for over a decade. As an undocumented student, she was also ineligible for federal grants and scholarships and can’t drive or work, now or after she graduates. There were disappointments, but Santa Fe Community College accepted her immediately and was affordable even with out-ofstate tuition. While she’s happy to pursue her “one true love,” journalism, Mica wishes her family could be with her as she does. Feeling the financial and emotional strain of living in legal limbo, Mica’s father, mother and little brother returned to Argentina in August. Mica chose to stay and finish the future they worked so hard to help her start. And because of policy changes in the ‘90s that made returning to the country within 10 years of their illegal residency criminal, and punishable by prison time, it could be a long time before they see each other again. Mica’s family and the 12 million other people living in the U.S. illegally could embark on the long road to proper citizenship, but the best case scenario, for parents,

spouses or children of an existing U.S. citizen, takes at least five years. The next best cases can take decades. For those without an immediate relative or a college degree and job offer in the country (or special cases like star athletes or wealthy potential investors), gaining permanent legal residence is nearly impossible. The DREAM Act, first introduced in 2001, would allow these children and young adults to stay in the country, so long as they earn a high school diploma or GED, have good moral character (a term yet to be defined exactly, but probably something like a clean criminal record) and complete the necessary requirements. Then they can eventually transition from conditional permanent residency to citizenship. It has been almost 10 years, and the act has been reintroduced several times, most recently in late September. But it’s never had enough votes to pass. The act has faced opposition not only from Republican conservatives but also from some traditionally liberal organizations and individuals who struggle with use of the act as a recruitment tool by the military. Advocates of the DREAM Act have also faced criticism from other immigrant-rights groups who feel more comprehensive reform should be the movement’s priority. “We have an act which is not perfect, that leaves much to be desired, but my argument is that we need to support it because real lives are at stake,” said Ortiz, a third-generation immigrant and veteran. “Human rights are at stake here.“ Vickie Mena, program coordinator for

“We have an act which is not perfect, that leaves much to be desired, but my argument is that we need to support it because real lives are at stake. Human rights are at stake here.”

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

“The Cove” can be rented at Video Rodeo, 1119 W University Ave. If you’d like to learn more about the subject matter you can visit www.takepart. com/thecove or text dolphin to 44144.

the Bob Graham Center for Public Service and local activist, along with the other members of the Gainesville Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice, hopes to make the dream a reality. “This is going to be the year it passes,” Mena said.

President Bernie Machen’s message to DREAM Act Supporters As read by Paul Ortiz on Monday, November 8, 2010 at the National DREAM Action Week Press Conference sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice UF, Tigert Hall “As a member of an institution of higher education which prepares its students for active, global citizenry and values diversity, I personally support the DREAM Act legislation. Most of the three million students who graduate from U.S. high schools each year get the opportunity to live out their dreams. However, approximately 65,000 undocumented students are limited in their prospects to better themselves and pursue their dreams in the country they take great pride in calling home. Now is the time to stand up for these students. By supporting this federal legislation, we are acknowledging that education is a human right, and that these students, regardless of citizenship status, should have equal access to institutions of higher education. Removing their barriers can only benefit all of us as they become productive and engaged members of our society.”

Advertise with

e-mail us at

ads@thefineprintuf.org

for more info

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be printing again in January. In the mean time, check out our website at thefineprintuf.org for new content throughout the months of November and December. November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 29

Illustration by Leah Herman

Makeur own yo NT I R P FINE pewriter! ty

It’s get your difficult to d typewrita goo hands on puter age...until om er in the c is your ver y own e now. Her t typewriter that Fine Prin color, cut out, you can lay with! and p

Directions

1. Color your typewriter. 2. Cut out typewriter along the outside edge. 3. From now on, the front of the paper will be referred to as Side A. The back will be Side B. Cut along the dotted line and fold the flap towards Side A. This forms the paper sticking out of your typewriter. 4. Fold the L-shaped side flaps of the typewriter towards Side B. Fold each of the 4 tabs on the side flaps towards Side B. 5. The rectangle in the center is the back of the typewriter. Fold the bottom of the rectangle towards Side B. Fold the top of the rectangle towards Side B. Then fold the final dotted line above that towards Side B. 6. Fold the dotted line above the words “The Fine Print” towards Side B. 7. There is a tiny dotted line that begins at the keyboard. Fold the top part of the keyboard towards Side A. 8. There is also a tiny dotted line at the bottom of the keyboard. Fold the bottom part of the keyboard towards Side B. 9. Enjoy!

| T H E F I N E P R I N T | www.thefineprintUF.org

The Fine Print’s exclusive, unsyndicated

DOWN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 24. 25. 26. 32. 33. 35. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 53. 54. 56. 58. 59. 62. 64. 70. 72. 74. 75.

Pattern for soldiers, hunters, etc. Pertaining to pee Wealthy Revisit, rework Greek letter EPA emissions standard Story, yarn Wintertime African heritage celebration Get it, finally? India, invisible, et cetera Masonry or gardening tools 1985 film by Kurosawa “Molecular unit of currency,” abbr. Grocery check-out line periodical Lacking color A covered walkway or portico 60 in a min. To snatch or grab French day “Don’t be a sore _____” She-___, cadi-___ A work of art Depression drugs, usu. To move slowly, like a worm Central bank of the U.K. Egg shapes A male bee Weezer frontman A cop might give you one Tanning bed offering? Bukowski novel, Ham on ___ Twin Peaks rich girl Scorn, express contempt Animator/director Gilliam Custard-like dessert Run away and get married 2000 Radiohead release Bunches, lots “Bastard wing” Desert of China and Mongolia Internet-type ad Floats in the water Eel-like reptile This bad grammar be? Lipid transport proteins, in short Ahoy! New digital patches from Apple? 76. So forth, yadda, yadda, and whatnot 77. Retired US tennis pro Andre 78. To the slightest degree (two words) 79. To cut or shape with chisels 83. Not occidental 84. German composer Johann Sebastian 87. Internet cola? 92. Marine branch of nat’l armed forces 94. The Iliad, or Beowulf, or Lost 96. Not twice 97. Implement, utensil 100. Not to be confused with Indian flatbread? 101. “Smellacious” 103. Tube for breathing underwater 107. The capital of Samoa 108. Horn-____, as with glasses 109. Not a madam 110. Sedimentary rock burned as fuel 111. A demonstration of respect 115. In the Bible, victim of fratricide 116. Nautilus captain 117. A fried dough torus, in street lingo 118. Slightly open on the counter 120. A foxy somebody 122. To droop, as with plants or flowers

Find the solution

Edited by Spellan Beauchamp

CROSS WORD 1

106

100 101

107 108

102

90 95

103

96 104

120

114 121

122

130 135

136

137

138

139

140

1. 8. 11. 15. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 34. 36. 39.

Up-to-date Japanese carp Catching device Got a secret? A short aria To achieve victory Assign value Earl Grey, for instance Abstract expressionist king of pop? Hot tea in Japan A long time Miss piggy? “The magic word” Morse code distress signal Submachine gun Outbreak virus again? Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Necronomicon?

ACROSS

67. 68. 69. 71. 73. 78. 80. 81. 82. 85. 86. 88. 89. 90.

123 124 125

126

131 132

134

47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 55. 57. 60. 61. 63. 65. 66.

105 111

133

Inuktitut word for “snow” A sword for fencing Disease pandemic 2003-2004 Solid phase of water Gun advocates, in short Originally known as US agency offering cultural funding Zig-___

110

128 129

124. 125. 126. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132.

113

127

112 119

65 70

109

117 118

93 99

115 116

80 86

38 43

68 73

15 22

28 31

Day of the wk. Israeli paranormalist Geller Knee ligament, for short A briny body of water Wintertime holiday Hank Williams hit, “_______ Blues” Head covering Buñuel/Dali film What follows a kay To leap about An unruly group Not “kwik” River through Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands Roman emperor City now known as Tokyo Responsibility, burden The state of existing in a specific point in space 23-, 39-, 106, or 127-across To agree with, or join Vehicle Folklore witch Baba Herman Melville’s whale-hunter A Greek letter Alkaline ingredient in soapmaking ‘94 college flick with Jeremy Piven Music genre with Jamaican origins Pixies album, Surfer ____

91. Titillates 93. Compass direction; New Zealand is ___ of Australia 95. Understood by few 98. NV automobile racing complex 99. Famous Yoko 102. Package deliverers, abbr. 104. ___-cone, ___-caps 105. No, informally 106. “Renaissance Master Song,” Songs of Last Supper? 112. Black & white-keyed instruments 113. Pigeon noise 114. Brit. symphonic rock group 115. Fire, steady, ____ (in no particular order) 119. Extends from spine to sternum 121. Unprocessed, uncooked 123. West, Questel, Jemison 127. Founding Father and the Mothers of Invention? 133. The first of 26 flightless birds? 134. Greyish-pale yellow 135. Where kids go to spell 136. Might be minor or major 137. Hobbit odyssey, in short 138. Kim of the Pixies and the Breeders 139. Snake-like fish 140. Marigolds

www.thefineprintuf.org November 2010 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 31

Where the Red Fern Grows: A Green Cemetery p. 22