The Fine Print, Winter 2016

VOLUME VIII, ISSUE II

thefineprintmag.org

WINTER 2016 FREE

The Long Haul What happens when fresh food is too far away? p. 21

t h g i S n i a l Hidden in P erseas, g isn’t just ov in k c ffi a tr n a m Hu ua County, h c la A in g in n it’s happe p. 28

from the

EDITORIAL DESK

I

don’t like politics. It’s confusing, jargon-y and I get the feeling that holding office is more about winning a popularity contest than serving the community. Even at the local level, monkey stunts and ready-for-media apologies sit in the back pockets of our elected officials.

Take Jeff McAdams, a former Gainesville police officer, who was charged in late 2015 with stealing at least $56,000 from the police union he led. He spent thousands of dollars on expensive booze and overnight trips, and even treated our mayor, Ed Braddy, to dinners on the union’s dime. Because of this, Braddy filed an ethics complaint against himself. Even a man running for mayor this year has been accused of stealing a pickup truck. These incidents present convincing evidence that some of those who hold office in Gainesville may not have the moral fiber needed to make real changes in our community.

In this issue, we hope you’ll see who is driving the real changes in our community. From UF’s diversity affairs office, local nutrition education outreach programs and the folks at

Wild Iris, it is clear that individuals, community groups and activists in Gainesville are working hard to make our city more inclusive and tolerant.

You will also notice — I hope — the obstacles that the city’s and county’s policies and priorities create, which is why local activists are fighting so hard for change. In a few of our stories, you’ll see how the city and county choose which areas and needs of the city to address, leaving important issues and areas untouched or ignored.

It is a pleasure to introduce this information to you as the magazine’s new assistant editor. As always, we strive to cover, and thereby show you, the places and issues conspicuously absent elsewhere.

Published with support from Generation Progress/Center for American Progress (online at GenerationProgress.org).

Editor-in-Chief

Samantha Schuyler

Managing Editor

Sarah Senfeld

Photo Director

Sean Doolan

Art Director

Sara Nettle

Creative Writing Editor

Melia Jacquot

Copy Editors

Kai Su Adriana Barbat

Print Editors

Molly Minta Shayna Tanen

Web Editors

Samantha Schuyler Sarah Senfeld

Social Media

Erick Edwing Lissa Aderholdt

Page Designers

Isabel Branstrom Lauren Johnson Maitane Romagosa

MISSION STATEMENT ag.org

thefineprintm

ISSUE I VOLUME VIII,

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

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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.

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IN THIS ISSUE

Cover art by Samantha Schuyler.

COLUMNS Monthly Manifesto, p. 05 Girls to Young Ladies aims to empower and support girls.

Read Up, Chow Down, p. 08 Sababa’s savory sauteéd okra.

Homestead Instead, p. 14 A winter trifecta! DIY herbal tea, lip balm and scented candles.

Opinion, p. 06 In defense of modern student activism.

Simply Science, p. 12 UF’s supercomputer helps us understand climate change.

Prose + Poetry, p. 34 Prose by Brandon Shenk

SPOTLIGHTS A Team Effort, p. 16 Wild Iris’ Trans Affairs is back and better than ever.

She Sonders, p. 17 A new comic by Aneri Pandya.

Minority Report, p. 20 Despite more minorities enrolling at UF there’s still more to do to make them feel at home.

Statue of Limitations, p. 32 “Old Joe” still stands.

FEATURES The Long Haul p. 21 Several areas in Gainesville have limited access to fresh food.

Voices of Porters, p. 24 People of Porters share stories about the neighborhood and thoughts on gentrification.

Hidden In Plain Sight p. 28 Human trafficking happens closer to home than you might think.

The Long Haul, p. 21

FEATURED STAFFER Ashley Lombardo

Ashley is a senior studying journalism and anthropology.

In her spare time, she enjoys listening to brass instruments, taking nature trips and drinking red wine. She wants to eventually work using communication to promote positive social change. Her post-grad priority is purchasing a one-way ticket to India.

For the Record, p. 10 The scoop on locally grown tunes from Iacon, Blackfire and Insignificant Other.

Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 03

COLUMN / PAPER CUTS

Paper Ouch! That hurts, doesn’t it? Paper Cuts are our short, erratic and slightly painful updates on current, local and national events.

See our website for more Paper Cuts at thefineprintmag.org

ST YL E OV ER SU BS TA NC E it all started when Barbaro tweeted a photograph of Marco Rubio stepping onto his campaign bus in a terribly mismatched and unflattering outfit.

Rick Tyler, communication director for the Ted Cruz campaign said, “A vote for Marco Rubio is a vote for men’s high-heeled booties.” Carly Fiorina tweeted a picture of her own heeled boots with the caption, “Yeah, @marcorubio, but can you rock these?” Jeb Bush’s super PAC incorporated the boots into a sing-song attack ad titled “These Boots are Made for Flopping,” in which a torso-less man donning the heeled boots dances as the multiple issues on which Rubio has allegedly flip-flopped float along behind him.

“They’re clearly trying to effeminize Marco Rubio,” Steve Schmidt, who ran John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, told Politico. The shoes call Rubio’s masculinity and, by proxy, his ability to run the country into question. The implication is that the average-heighted, 5-foot-10-inch candidate must wear heels in order to measure up to the stature of a true man; and the “fashionable” shoes imply he cares about clothes, something much too effeminate for a Republican.

The attack on Rubio’s masculinity via his shoes becomes more interesting when one considers the even shorter Cruz’s choice of footwear. The candidate calls his (truly hideous) black ostrich skin shoes his “argument boots,” explaining on the Senate floor in 2013 that,

04 | T H E

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

“Litigators are kind of superstitious, so anytime I went into the court to argue a case I wore my argument boots.”

Cruz’s shoes are no more gendered than Rubio’s, yet the senator spun his footwear as more masculine. During his 21-hour filibuster in 2013, Cruz opted instead to wear sneakers, telling the Star-Telegram afterward, “I will embarrassingly admit that I took the coward’s way.”

Clothing is so integral to representing gender that the black-suit-white-shirt and red or blue tie uniform is a strategic bet, one made to prevent voters from drawing implicit and perhaps unwanted conclusions. However, the conclusion I drew from this whole debacle is not that Rubio is “too feminine,” but that if he — or any politician for that matter — is ever going to deviate from the uniform, he really needs to hire a stylist. •

By Molly Minta

EXE CUT E-IV E DEC ISIO N the u.s. supreme court, our nation’s most venerable justice league, launched into 2016 with a WWE SmackDown-grade dramatic entrance — by ruling Florida’s death penalty system unconstitutional.

The court found that Florida’s capital punishment procedure violated the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a jury trial. Under the former system, which began in 1972, juries could only offer recommendations to judges in death penalty decisions. Judges alone weighed

the evidence and made the final decision, which in over 300 state cases involved disregarding jury recommendations.

As a result, Florida is left with virtually no death penalty, leaving public defenders and prosecutors unsure how to proceed. Many across the state have called for a moratorium on all pending death cases until the state clarifies its procedures. While the clarifications could change the verdict for any number of the 390 inmates on Florida’s death row, officials are currently at a loss as to what a new system will look like. And how do you approach pending cases, or ones that have been decided under the unconstitutional system?

The state legislature now has to pass new laws that reflect the court’s decision, meaning in the coming months Florida’s method of determining death sentences will get a massive overhaul. Most people agree that due to Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature, the changes won’t include any kind of end to the death penalty. But with a recent study that shows no white person has ever been executed for killing a black person in Florida, it’s clear there are holes in the system that must be fixed.

Still, with this decision, Florida will finally join the rest of the country in enacting a jurybased approach, leaving Alabama as the sole state giving judges the most power in capital punishment decisions.

So, at least we’re not hanging out with Alabama anymore. Sorry Alabama. •

By Samantha Schuyler

COLUMN / MONTHLY MANIFESTO

Girls to

Young Ladies

BY RESHONE FLANDERS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER

G

irls to Young Ladies Inc. (G2YL) is a nonprofit organization for girls ages 6 to 17. Established in October 2007, our aim is to empower and support girls as they transition into womanhood.

In 2014, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reported that female arrests between ages of 10 and 17 had risen 14 percent since 1980. Our goal is to reach out to as many girls of this community as possible to assist and educate them in overcoming life’s challenges in order to excel in whatever they choose.

Throughout the year we put on workshops encouraging self-esteem and teaching financial savvy, Internet safety tips, how to navigate career choices, abstinence and many other topics aiming to assist the young ladies in making logical and important real-life decisions. We also provide assistance with academic studies and encourage girls to participate in community activities and events.

These workshops have helped improve academic grades, launch personal web pages, teach respect for others, and plan for future careers and secondary education.

In 2013, with financial assistance from Plum Creek, G2YL introduced the STEM project to attendees. G2YL provided materials, instructions and guidance to children on building robots with Legos, shapes versus gravity, lava lamps and so on.

G2YL also collaborated with Gainesville Police Department, Black on Black Crime Task Force and the City of Gainesville to create a summer program

for the young ladies through the Heat Wave program. The program includes a daily schedule packed with presentations and speakers, field trips, handson activities, exercising, team building and more.

G2YL has reached many girls and continues to gain more. We serve around 20 girls during the spring and fall. Our goal this year is to reach 50 girls or more and partner with other local organizations to expand services. G2YL partnered with and/ or received donations from the City of Gainesville, GPD, Black on Black Crime Task Force, Heat Wave, Plum Creek, McDonald’s of Gainesville, Best Buy and other organizations.

G2YL operates not only through donations but with the help of our volunteers, who make it possible to provide the needed services and daily assignments. We receive volunteers from the University of Florida, Santa Fe Community College and other individuals in the community who have the same passion for encouraging young ladies. All volunteers are required to pass a background check prior to assisting with G2YL. Requests for an application should be sent to Reshone Flanders at reshoned53@gmail. com.

Another opportunity to contribute to G2YL is through sponsorships or donations. G2YL is a 501(c)(3) organization. If you or your organization would like to join us in ensuring that girls receive the support they deserve, please email reshoned53@ gmail.com or call 352-745-6200. • For more information visit girlstoyoungladies.org or find us on Facebook: Girls Place, Inc.

Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 05

TALKING heads

ILLUSTRATION BY SARA NETTLE

BY SAMANTHA SCHUYLER

I

Old white men are at it again.

n the final months of 2015, a wave of campus protests around the country caught the attention of national media outlets. Yale and the Halloween costumes; Mizzou and the football team; Wesleyan and its student newspaper. And trailing behind, breathless and red-faced, were the op-eds and think pieces there to process it all into pure, crystalline outrage.

Writers from all across the media landscape took great pains to conjure an image of the modern student activist, throwing around descriptions like the “extraordinary fragility of the collegiate psyche,” “vindictive protectiveness” and “flagrant intolerance” that “bears no relationship to the real world of politics (or, for that matter, of business, technology, art or culture).” Their collective tone hovered 06 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

between sage and authoritarian, the kind of indulgent frustration recalling an older family member — tipsy, perhaps, or settling in after a large meal — launching into dreaded holiday political talk. You know, “OK, kid, you say this now, but wait until you’re in the Real World.”

Student activism, they argued, has become somehow both oversensitive and rigidly dictatorial; campus activists are demanding to be coddled under threat of collective action. They wrote that students were “turning common events into nightmarish trials” and “claiming that easily bearable events are too awful to bear.” They brought up safe spaces, microaggressions and trigger warnings — concepts students were trying to bring into public discussion — with contempt and frustration. They were outraged

COLUMN / OPINION that students were “seeking punish- tion: Why should we give credence half calling for reason and a “proper ment for things that made them feel to people with power disclaiming the perspective,” claiming, “The point uncomfortable.” complaints of people with less pow- is that nearly everything we use or And then, having found students’ er?) Maybe they were simply myo- create in our increasingly complex demands inappropriate, they pro- pic and uninterested in recalibrating society has been suspected, by someceeded to deem them censorial: a their perspective. But the language one, of being a potential hazard.” The misguided attempt to do good, sure, they all used took on a certain tone. CEO of CSR Limited, an Australian but effectively anti-free speech.

The writers called students’ demands industrial company, referred to asbesLooking over 28 of these opinion immature, trivial, an “emotional tos claimants as “malingerers” in the articles and think-pieces (purpose- stampede.” The words they used to late ‘80s. fully avoiding explicitly conservative describe them — “coddled,” “overAustralian academics Susan Enblogs), all but two of the writers are sensitive,” “fragile” — were infantiliz- gel and Brian Martin described this white (the other two are white-pass- ing (why else would you use the word phenomenon in a 2006 paper for ing Hispanic); all but four are male. “whining?”), reducing the protesters’ the journal ”Global Society.” They This, of course, is a simple reflection grievances and actions to hysteria. It’s wrote that sources of authority and of the lack of diversity in the media, a tactic that’s been used by authority power commonly use this rhetorical where newsrooms employ, for ex- of all stripes. tactic, which they called “devaluing.” ample, only 5 percent black men and Asbestos is a good example. Even Corporations, or anyone seeking women. But it also gives a better idea after the material was found in the to preserve dominance and power, where the dismissive and patronizcan devalue victims by the way they frame them. ing, instructional tone comes from.

“They can label victims as How many of these writers have misguided, as ignorant, as had to experience the microaghow many of complainers, as self-seekgressions they’ve decided are innocuous, common, easily ing, as vindictive, as pawns these writers have had bearable? On a larger scale, in the hands of anti-corpohow many have had to exrate manipulators, or even to experience the perience the structural racas criminals,” they wrote. microaggressions they ve ism that puts so few people “Devaluation is made easof color into the newsrooms ier by many people’s belief decided are innocuous in which they work? that the world is just, so The students were fightthat if bad things happen to common easily ing for legitimate things: someone, they are assumed racial sensitivity; awareness to have done something to bearable of how language and day-todeserve it.” day actions can be oppressive and When people with power harmful; an overall higher standard and relative institutional safety feel of safe and respectful behavior on 1930s to shed lethal, cancer-causing that change is on the horizon — that campus. It’s hard to believe that the dust, manufacturers and industry they risk losing some of what gives writers of these pieces — academics, officials encouraged its use until the them authority — they fight to keep journalists, psychiatrists — don’t un- late 1970s. They attacked the cam- it around. That could mean keeping derstand the politics of language; that paign groups that fought against the a deadly but profitable industry alive; they could not see how calling out continued manufacture and use of it could mean preserving the kind of casual racism and insensitivity is im- asbestos, and they did so with simi- language and unspoken othering that portant to dismantling the unspoken larly dismissive language. The As- hurts minorities but maintains your systems that make people of color bestos Information Committee — a cultural status. feel unwelcome or “other.” And how publicity and lobbying firm estab“Revolution is not a one-time these kinds of environments have lished by leading asbestos companies event. It is becoming always vigilant had, and continue to have, real con- — responded to a booklet published for the smallest opportunity to make sequences — for example, by influ- in 1976 called “Asbestos Kills” with a a genuine change in established, outencing students of colors’ academic critical commentary of its own, lam- grown responses,” writer and activist success — that keeps inequality alive. basting the writer for her “extremist” Audre Lorde wrote. “Nothing neuBut maybe they don’t get it. Af- views. Hill+Knowlton, the same PR tralizes creativity quicker than tokenter all, they’re mostly white men, company that represented the to- ism, that false sense of security fed by and this is outside the realm of their bacco industry in the ‘50s and ‘60s, a myth of individual solutions.” • experience. (Which raises the ques- issued a memo on the industry’s be-

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Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 07

PHOTO BY SEAN DOOLAN

READ UP,

CHOW DOWN

BY KAI SU ILLUSTRATION BY ANGELA PANG

08 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

SABABA presents

Y

ISRAELI BAMIA

ou’d be hard-pressed to find another restaurant in Gainesville as accommodating as Sababa without skimping on flavor or variety. Whether you’re kosher, vegan or gluten-intolerant, it’s got you (and your taste buds) covered.

The menu, centered around traditional Israeli cuisine, features dishes that pay homage to a gamut of European cultures: Arab falafel, Yemen malawach, Greek shawarma, German schnitzel, Moroccan fish and Turkish coffee.

Previously located in the University of Florida Hillel, the restaurant moved to its current location in the downtown Sun Center in March 2015. Owners Riley and Yael Sullivan said the relocation has been phenomenal for their business.

“This is the epicenter of Gainesville restaurant culture, so it’s really cool to have a place down here,” said Riley, a Gainesville native.

The small dining area, which used to be a dance studio, is open and simply decorated: Wood tables and patterned chairs line a mirrored wall; on the opposite wall a metal pitcher and a printed Jewish prayer hang above a sink. If you would like to bless your food in the Jewish tradition, you can pour water from the pitcher on each hand three times, then recite the prayer before eating.

The couple renovated the space and built the furniture themselves. Yael said eventually they’d like to add a patio with outdoor seating and a late-night take-out window.

Yael’s mother—who was born in Israel and helped run the business at Hillel—created most of the dishes on the menu and taught Riley how to cook them.

“I’d never had falafel before I learned how to make it from Yael’s mom,” Riley said. “I’ve really fallen in love with the food.”

Following kosher guidelines, Sababa uses separate fryers for the meats. (They only serve chicken and fish.) And if you’re kosher? No problem: None of the dishes contain dairy, so there’s no worry about mixing it with meat. Plus the falafel are made without flour, making them glutenfree.

Yael said she and Riley are natural business partners because they don’t like to do the same tasks. She handles the business side, and Riley does the cooking.

“If I don’t ever have to enter a kitchen, I’d be happy,” she said, laughing.

As for the name, Riley said the word sababa—Hebrew slang meaning “awesome” or “exciting”—is a common one for Israeli restaurants.

“You use it like you’d use ‘true’ or ‘word,’” Riley said.

“It’s an affirmation of goodness.” •

COLUMN/READ UP, CHOW DOWN

• ingredients

directions•

1. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil on 1 large onion, diced low heat 3 cloves of garlic, minced 2. Add onion and garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil 12 oz of okra (fresh or frozen) then sauteé for 5-6 minutes until nearly brown 16-oz can of crushed tomatoes 3. Add okra (if using frozen, squirt of lemon juice thaw first) 2 tsp of salt 4. Add another tbsp of olive 2 tsp of black pepper oil 1 tbsp of cumin 5. Turn up heat, then cook pinch of sugar

for 8-10 minutes until okra cooks through and becomes tuesday – saturday crispy 11am – 9pm 6. Add small squirt of lemon AND juice sunday 7. Add can of crushed tomatoes 10am – 3pm 8. Season with salt, black 101 SE 2nd pl., suite 107 pepper, cumin and a pinch gainesville, fl of sugar, to taste

OPEN

352-792-6043

I N S E A SO N AND FRESH bell pepper carambola tangerine peanut passion fruit mushroom eggplant celery orange cabbage avocado and more!

Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 09

FOR

THE RECORD

Showcasing local bands, the next big thing, and all your friends.

Alexander Graham, the talent behind Iacon on the DNA bridge.

Photo by Gabrielle Calise

IACON Inifinities

Experimental / vaporwave

October 16, 2015 His house sounds like Macintosh Plus, ESPIRIT inspiration George Clanton, Esprit, Nanoshrine key tracks Miracles, Out of Love where to get it soundcloud.com/ iacon; iaconofficial.bandcamp. com upcoming shows TBA released

recorded at

composer, Alexander Graham

alexander graham’s iacon blends seemingly incom-

patible genres: heavy metal, techno and dainty ‘80s Christian music. Graham describes his music as vaporwave, an almost entirely indefinable genre.

“A short description of vaporwave would be slowed down weather channel music that has been chopped and screwed,” he said.

“I grew up listening to the softer stuff and went into my teen years and adult life listening to the heavier stuff,” he said. “Vaporwave is different because it takes that soft sound and tweaks it, slows it down, down-pitches it, then adds a bunch of stuff to the original song to make it sound fuller to the point where a metalhead can engage with it too.”

Graham said he considers himself a huge fan of heavy metal, and he draws heavily from the genre. His songs are typically upbeat and contain more vocals than what you’d usually find in vaporwave music.

“Due to my influence in drums and metal, I started picking up a bit of a following,” Graham said. “People were like, ‘Hey, this is different, this is new. I don’t know what this is, but I like it.’”

Once he completes the routine process of pulling music samples from YouTube, usually mixed with Japanese funk/disco and obscure American oldies, Graham blends them together using the program Ableton. Although he plays several instruments, including drums and guitar, Graham considers Ableton his pri-

10 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.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

mary instrument, which he uses to digitally manipueditors@thefineprintmag.org late his contrasting and let us know. musical interests into a very specific, ambient feeling.

“My kind of vaporwave snaps you back into reality and keeps you there, so you’re in this weird place between reality and materialism,” he said. “Your mind is trying to drift away from it and relax at the same time.”

Graham found inspiration not only in his musical taste, but also from life’s unexpected events. After a sudden breakup, Graham found solace in his music, which he allows his listeners to experience.

“I had just went through a breakup with somebody that I dated for three years, and the first album that I released completely healed me from it in seven days,” he said. “Vaporwave really brought me out of it.”

Graham not only recovered from this experience, but continued to produce several albums, totaling 11 in one year.

“Every experience I have is poured out into these albums,” Graham said. “And you can actually hear it if you really listen.” •

BY PAULINA PRAPHANCHITH

BLACKFIRE Five Songs

Modern Eastern European folk

August 4, 2015 Goldenstone Studeio in Gainesville, Fla. sounds like Kalyi Jag, Csókolom inspiration Eastern European folk music, raucous fun key tracks Vinnitser Sher, Gankino Horo where to get it blackfirestrings. bandcamp.com upcoming shows Feb. 19 at The Vine, 6-8 p.m.; Feb. 26 at The Hardback Cafe; March 5 at the Haile Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to noon released

recorded at

fiddle,

Kassia Arbabi John David Eriksen drums, Zach Randall cello,

feels like a tornado of pretense: award shows, endless PR, corporate cosigners, weird festivals.

Music’s particular power to move and connect human beings without artifice can feel stripped away under the wind with the pressure for profit.

Not so with Blackfire, a heavy folk rock band which pulls deeply from the tradition of Eastern European ethnic music.

Through their latest release, “Five Songs,” they conjure a raucous countryside carnival.

“We play traditional music, and take traditional tunes, and rearrange them for our instruments,” said John David Eriksen, Blackfire’s cellist.

The combination sounds like my great-great-grandmother’s shtetl went punk, combining traditional rhythms and melodies with a loud, rocking drum set. Meant to be danceable, each tune invites you to kick off your shoes and let loose in the street.

Blackfire’s musical potpourri pulls from several traditions, including Romani, Balkan and Klezmer.

“In Eastern Europe there were a lot of musicians traveling around and playing each other’s music, so there’s a lot of counterinfluences and overlapping styles,” said Kassia Arbabi, Blackfire’s fiddler.

modern music often

BY MICHAEL HOLCOMB

INSIGNIFICANT OTHER la gente guapa come fruta fea

Activist singer-songwriter October 25, 2015 Her mom’s house in South Florida sounds like Regina Spektor, Magnetic Fields, Beirut inspiration Hop Along, Mitski, Josephine Foster key tracks nightswimming, estafador where to get it insignificantother. bandcamp.com upcoming shows Gouge Away Record Release Show, Feb. 13 at O’Malley’s in Margate, Fla. released

recorded at

On “Five Songs,” the fusion includes material ranging from traditional Bulgarian tunes to Veretski Pass covers.

These tracks were born out of a tour set, and the recordings were made live, with no dubbing.

“We played these songs on tour many times in a row, so we decided to capture that energy we had created on stage,” said Eriksen.

The album has all the energy and spontaneity of a jam session, yet each song is carefully composed and balanced. The nuance of the music is in its carefully crafted, well-calculated raucousness.

“With the compositional elements we try to support this wild, unfettered sound,” Arbabi said.

A wild spirit, inherent in their music, is what brought Blackfire together. All three members said that they wanted to make music in this vein because of childhood connections with Eastern European folk tunes and a desire to reconnect with its dynamic energy.

“It’s always exciting to find other people who are playing this kind of music,” Arbabi said.

“So if there’s anyone like that in the Gainesville area, drop us a line.” •

“Subverting

capitalism” and

“preventing waste” are just two goals Simona Morales of Insignificant Other had in mind when naming their newest “accidental” album, titled “la gente guapa come fruta fea” (meaning “the beautiful people eat ugly fruit”).

Morales, a nonbinary painter and women’s studies major at the University of Florida, said they wanted to use their music to create awareness about various social movements, including mental health, transportation, education and, above all, accessibility.

“The primary reason why I named the album that is so that people would Google it,” Morales said.

The album title, “la gente guapa come fruta fea,” is coined after a movement among Latin American women called “la gente guapa.” This movement focuses on Latin American women, both abroad and in the States, who Dumpster dive for “ugly fruit” or buy it at a low price for impoverished folks who can’t afford fresh fruit.

Morales, who had never written a song prior to starting Insignificant Other in November 2013, originally created the songs that ended up on “la gente guapa” about a boy they met at The Fest and in preparation for a tour that ended up being canceled. Insignificant Other recorded the songs with a home studio microphone at their mom’s house about three months before releasing the album in

ukulele, guitarlele, vocals Simona Morales

October 2015.

Morales frequently records at their mom’s house, they said, because the anxiety of being at home unexpectedly creates a “therapeutic” environment.

“Maybe I put myself in very uncomfortable environments to write good music,” Morales added and laughed.

However, Morales’ music is anything but uncomfortable. With a voice like a hot iron, Morales smooths out every wrinkle to the delicate strumming of a ukulele, or sometimes a guitarlele.

Heart-wrenching songs such as “nightswimming” weave a gentle amalgamation of folk and indie-pop into melodies guaranteed to melt your troubles. A musician of many talents, Morales also uses all of their own work for their album art because it “saves on copyright issues” and allows them to combine their two artistic passions into one “awareness-raising entity.”

Morale’s next project focuses on combining their soothing melodies with upbeat rhythms that can catch anyone’s mood.

“I like when people tell me they can fall asleep to my music,” Morales said. “But I also love the idea of people dancing to my music, and a full band is a lot more conducive to that sort of thing.” •

BY EMILY CALVIN Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 11

CTRL+S

the planet UF’s supercomputer helps cruch data that tells us the effects of climate change.

BY BRANDON CORDER ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH RHODES

S

omewhere between the record-setting warm November and the 80-degree Christmas day that had people scrambling for the beach, you’ve probably heard the offhand comment about global warming. Of course, while it’s actually an unusually strong El Niño event that we have to thank for the heat, the weird weather has made climate change a pretty hot topic.

It’s one of the major questions on researchers’ minds: How does the environment — for example, forests or the ocean — respond to “global change drivers” such as climate change, ozone depletion and pollution that are altering the planet and its natural processes? Knowing these relationships helps us better understand the effect humans have on the biosphere and Earth’s ecological future.

It turns out, however, that those questions are pretty difficult to answer without some heavy computational help.

12 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

COLUMN / SIMPLY SCIENCE

>_THAT MEANS THAT SOME

OF THE OUTPUT FILES ARE ABOUT 62 TIMES LARGER THAN THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF MOST SMARTPHONES. _< Forest ecologists and other researchers who study the effects of climate change have a massive trove of data to draw from, including direct scientific observations that may date back centuries, and “proxy” data (such as ice core samples) that can be used to estimate climate conditions on time scales reaching back millions of years.

The issue is what to do with that information. The biggest challenges come from the intense computational powers the modeling requires, said University of Florida biology assistant professor Jeremy Lichstein, Ph.D. “Like most ecologists, we’re very much dealing with the challenges of ‘big data,’” he said.

That’s where the new UF megacluster supercomputer, HiPerGator 2.0, steps in.

The HiPerGator 2.0 supercomputer is rolling out this spring to welldocumented accolades and fanfare.

And this boon to Gainesville’s brain trust has the potential to answer important questions — not just on campus, but worldwide.

“Basically, it is a bunch of regular computers put together into racks,” said Matt Gitzendanner, Ph.D., a bioinformatics specialist at the UF High-Performance Computing & Simulation Research Laboratory (UF HCS Lab).

While each computer alone may have humble capacities, the real beauty of a supercomputer is that it combines “clusters” of processor cores — the workhorses of computing — that communicate seamlessly with each other, reaching speeds that have

been compared to 600 Playstation 4s blazing at maximum capacity.

Lichstein and his colleagues at UF and abroad are currently collecting data from direct measurement of “plant functional traits” such as nitrogen and phosphorus, two important elements for plant growth in leaf fibers. They are coupling that with U.S. government and other agencies’ data on forest growth across the world to make projections on how ecosystems respond to climate change.

From there, researchers turn to the supercomputers. All these massive troves of observations are used with computer models, which simulate natural processes to better understand which plants may be most competitive under different climate change possibilities. Computer models such as these are incredibly intensive and can require up to hundreds of processors functioning at once, depending on the size of the data pool input.

And data they spit out are on the scale of terabytes (TB), making them even harder to manage. That means that some of the output files are about 62 times larger than the storage capacity of most smartphones.

Lichstein is not alone at UF in this important application of high-performance research computing. In 2014, UF biological engineering researcher Senthold Asseng, Ph.D., co-authored a paper that used computer models to analyze yields of globally important crops, such as wheat, under different climate projections. Similarly, Andrea Dutton, Ph.D., at the UF Department of Geological Sciences, has been using computer models to get an idea of what Earth’s oceans may look like in the future as glaciers shrink.

HiPerGator 2.0 is actually an expansion of HiPerGator 1.0, itself an expansion on older technology at UF. HiPerGator 2.0 adds close to 30,000 new cores to the existing 21,000 in the first model, 1 petabyte (PB) of disk storage (that’s 1,000,000 GB) to the existing 2 PB, and 120 of GB RAM to the previous 64. The en-

tire system is housed cozily in UF’s East Campus in a climate-controlled space.

When HiPerGator 1.0 became operational in 2013, Gitzendanner said, UF researchers in biological science fields had, for the first time, a dedicated system for working on projects as diverse as drug outcome probability, genomic research on human or pathogen genes and ecological modeling.

All this is not a luxury afforded to every researcher in universities and institutions nationwide. Elsewhere, researchers may have access to cloudbased supercomputers at government labs, such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, but they must deal with bureaucracy and waiting in line. Gitzendanner and colleagues at the supercomputer facility said they envision the addition of HiPerGator 2.0 assisting UF researchers in doing what they do best without all of the stop-and-go.

Already this year, HiPerGator 2.0 was recognized by TOP500, a semiannual ranking of the top supercomputers in the world, as the third most powerful supercomputer site at any U.S. public or private university. HiPerGator was also recognized in October with a Dell World 2015 Impact Award for its data-processing capabilities.

UF HSC Laboratory specialists such as Gitzendanner are prepared for the influx of even more users, who have already begun signing up for time with the new 2.0 roll-out.

After all, the current HiPerGator 1.0 can already accommodate thousands of “jobs” at once. In the meantime, Gitzendanner is busy traveling from lab to lab to instruct more scientists on how to use this new resource. To scientists like Lichstein monitoring the impact of climate change, however, the value of HiPerGator is clear: “We couldn’t do what we’re doing without big computer clusters.” •

Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 13

BABY IT’S

COLD AF

TEXT BY HELEN ILLUSTRATION BY BRITTANY EVANS as the temperature dips, going out can be a chore. First piling on the requisite layers; if you bike, braving the biting wind; then peeling it all off at your destination — it can get old. Instead, we recommend a cozy night in. Make (and light) some candles, coat your face with balm and sip away at some tea, all made yourself. And, of course, bask away in your supreme comfiness. •

àÚàÚà

Herbal Tea WHAT YOU NEED

u Leaves, flowers, herbs, and spices v Paper towels w A jar x The Fine Print Magazine

u

DIRECTIONS

Gather your ingredients from your garden or outside. You can use almost any non-toxic plant parts, from sage to mint to clover to lemongrass.

Get creative and explore combinations of herbs, as well as ingredients like citrus zest and flowers. v Place your gathered herbs on a paper towel in a clean, dry place where they will be undisturbed. Place a second paper towel on top of them to keep them safe from dust. Allow them to dry naturally for about 10 to 14 days. w Once your herbs are dry, move them into an airtight container such as a Mason jar. Add any spices such as cinnamon, ginger or anise leaves. x For herbal blends, allow your tea to sit in the jar for a few days before brewing. This allows all the flavors to blend together and create a consistent flavor. y Now your tea is ready to brew. Enjoy it on a cold, rainy day while reading a book or this issue of The Fine Print!

14 | T H E

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

COLUMN / HOMESTEAD INSTEAD

àÚà

àÚà

Lip Balm àÚà WHAT YOU NEED

Microwave safe bowl Small container for lip balm Essential oils (optional; for flavor) Lipstick (optional)

u

Grater One tsp grated beeswax (or Candelilla wax for a vegan alternative) 2 tsp coconut oil

DIRECTIONS

Measure out two teaspoons of coconut oil into your bowl

v

Using your grater grate your beeswax. Measure out about one teaspoon and add it to the coconut oil. (Note: to make more lip balm, simply use any 2:1 ratio of coconut oil to lip balm)

w

To add a tint, add a few small pieces of lipstick to the mixture. This is a great way to repurpose old lipstick that melted during the summer heat.

x

Microwave the ingredients on high for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until the mixture is completely melted and combined.

y

If adding essential oils for flavor or scent, add them to the mixture after it has melted.

z

Pour the melted mixture into your container. Possible containers include empty metal mint trays, contact lens cases, empty tubes of chapstick, small paint tubs, or any small jar or container you have around. Feel free to get creative!

{ Allow the lip gloss to cool at room temperature for an hour. | Your new lip balm is ready to use! Tinted lip balm

is great for keeping your lips nice and moist in the dry indoor heat, and un-tinted can be used on any dry skin on the face.

Scented àÚà Candles WHAT YOU NEED

Wax Scented oils of your choosing Jar or other heat resistant container Double boiler or a large pot with a smaller metal

bowl Crayons Wick string Metal wick sustainers Tacky glue Pencil

DIRECTIONS

u Gather all materials. Wax can be purchased by

the pound at a craft store or can be recycled from old candles in your home. One pound of solid wax will equal about 20 fl oz. of melted wax, so keep this in mind when measuring out your wax and choosing your container. The container for your candle can be any jar, such as an old glass peanut butter or jelly jar, as long as it is heat resistant. v Set up the container for your candle. Thread the wicks through the metal sustainers, then glue the sustainer to the center of the bottom of the container. w Lay a pencil across the opening of your container, then pull the wick taught and tie or tape it to the pencil.

This will ensure that your wick is in the center of the candle. x Break up your wax into small pieces to ensure even melting. Then, using a double boiler (or a smaller bowl or pot inside a larger pot of boiling water) melt the wax until the mixture is completely liquid, stirring frequently. y As the wax is melting, add your color. You can choose any color you want, or mix up several. Peel the crayons, break them up into smaller pieces and add them to the hot wax. z Remove the wax from heat, then add your scent. You can use scent oils purchased from a craft store or essential oils for an all-natural candle. Work quickly to stir the scent in before the wax starts to solidify. { Carefully pour the wax into the container, and allow it to solidify at room temperature. This normally takes a couple hours. When the candle has solidified, trim your wick about ¼ inch from the wax. Now your candle is ready to add warmth to your home this winter!

Winter 2016 | T H E

FINE PRINT|

15

SPOTLIGHT

a team

effort

BY HELEN STADELMAIER ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN NICHOLAS

W

hen people are marginalized, often the best way for them to navigate their world is by forming a community with each other. That’s the principle behind the resurrection of Trans Affairs at Wild Iris, a trans support group started over a year ago by Erica Merrell, co-owner of the feminist bookstore, and Yocheved Zenaida-Cohen, a community activist known by most as “Yaz.” But after Cohen moved out of Florida in August, Trans Affairs began to dwindle as an organization. Merrell attributes this to the often-transitory nature of Gainesville’s community.

With everyone coming, going and in between, it was hard to keep the group alive without Cohen driving it. Trans Affairs had all but disappeared until recently, when Merrell began securing funds to restart the organization.

“We got a little bit of funding from Queer The Fest, which is a music show that happens during Fest with queer artists,” Merrell said, “Every year they give to some worthy groups, and they’ve supported us so that we can carve out this space.”

Thanks to these donations, Trans Affairs has items such as chest binders, breast forms, makeup and clothing that are available for free to people

16 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

Trans Affairs offers resources and support for Gainesville’s trans community. in need. These items are usually expensive, often unaffordable for those living in difficult financial circumstances. But for some, they make everyday life more manageable and can be essential to a trans person’s sense of identity.

“Even getting an ID that matches what you look like when it comes to finding a home or getting a job,” Merrell said, “These are barriers that people don’t always think about.”

Trans Affairs is there for people in all stages of their transitions, she said.

Even trans people who are just beginning to ask preliminary questions about the process of transitioning can meet with leaders who have the experience, information and resources to help.

Merrell said her main hope for the future of Trans Affairs is the creation of an informal mentoring program, so people in need of answers, guidance or understanding can connect with those who may be able to help. For people in dire situations, small moments and gestures like this can make a huge difference, Merrell said.

“I think just having a cup of coffee with someone who gets it can change your entire trajectory,” she said.

Although she was instrumental in the creation of the group, Merrell said

she wants others to step up to the plate and be leaders as the group continues to take form.

“It’s important to us that leadership comes from the trans community so that it can accurately reflect what they need,” she said. “There are a lot of times that I’m in the store and people come in looking for resources.

Because I’m not trans, I don’t always have the best information.”

Trans activists such as Duan Valiant and Eli Mender have begun filling leadership roles to ensure the group meets the needs of the community.

Mender is taking on the role of outreach coordinator, and Valiant is treasurer. They said they are determined to ensure the group continues to grow and creates a much-needed space for trans people in the Gainesville area.

“We’re just starting a program called TransConnect,” Valiant said.

“This will be a way for people to find possible mentors or information on local resources.”

For now, Trans Affairs plans to continue holding weekly meetings on Saturdays at Wild Iris, so local trans folks and their partners can connect and organize. •

SPOTLIGHT

MINORTYREPORT

BY LUCY MARCH ILLUSTRATION BY SHANNON NEHILEY

Is UF creating a welcoming environment for minority students?

“I

don’t feel connected.”

“I don’t know if this was the right fit.”

“I’m the only black person in my class.”

Brandi Pritchett-Johnson, a clinician at the University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center, regularly hears these and similar sentiments from the minority students she works with. Over her four years at UF, Pritchett-Johnson has observed that “systematic pervasive bullying is what I sit with on a daily basis.”

In light of student protests at Yale and the University of Missouri, college campuses around the country are reacting to a renewed desire for a more involved and engaged administration when it comes to matters of race and diversity. UF students and administration are also responding to a shifting moral culture that strives to ensure equality and inclusion.

With the inauguration of President Kent Fuchs in December, the university’s 12th president has made diversity at UF a priority. It is one of the top goals of his strategic plan for the school, said Mary Kay Carodine, vice president of UF Student Affairs.

According to UF’s Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, minorities comprised about 32

18 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

percent of the university’s student population in 2013. This reflects a nationwide increase in enrollment of minority students at American colleges and universities. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, from 1976 to 2012 the percentage of Hispanic college students in the U.S. rose from 4 to 15 percent, and that of black students rose from 10 to 15 percent.

Despite increasing enrollment, minority students are struggling to complete their degrees or graduate on time.

According to the Pew Research Center, Hispanic and black students are making significant gains in college enrollment, and yet a smaller percentage are enrolling full-time and earning degrees.

The National Center for Education Statistics also has some concerning numbers — about 22 percent of white students at public institutions complete their degree in five to six years, but only about 10 percent of black students and about 16 percent of Hispanic students complete their degrees in this timeframe. For those students, it may take longer. UF’s Office of Institutional Planning and Research does not provide similar statistics regarding graduation rates for minority students.

These statistics make it im-

perative for students and administration to embrace diversity. A month prior to his inauguration, Fuchs published a column in The Independent Florida Alligator titled “Listening, learning and combating racism” where he encouraged the UF community to be “courageous when we have the opportunity to oppose and combat racism, no matter how slight or subtle, including when it means a change in our own perspective, words and actions.”

Carodine said the university is not simply reacting to the change in climate across American college campuses, but rather that UF has continuously made a concerted effort to foster a more inclusive campus environment.

At the same time, she said the university needs to “not just create programs, but really look at the culture of the University of Florida.”

A lack of minority faculty and staff is a common concern, Pritchett-Johnson said. “A student should never say that they haven’t had a professor who looks like them.”

And bureaucracy has presented some obstacles.

“There is a great tradition of marginalization [at UF], and to not name it is unjust,” she said.

Pritchett-Johnson said it took her more than two years to get one of her diversity training pro-

SPOTLIGHT

grams off the ground.

Damian Gonzalez is the co-president of the Pride Student Union, but as a queer Latino, he struggled to find his place on a campus that only acknowledged “one-dimensional” diversity — meaning there were safe places for students of an underrepresented racial identity or sexual identity, but not for both, he said.

When Gonzalez was a freshman, he said that someone had keyed the word “faggot” onto a law faculty member’s car. Gonzalez said that be-

“I’ve been told that they don’t apply, but there even seems to be a barrier of entry at the beginning,” he said.

“I know freshmen applying to entrylevel positions and getting denied.”

As a co-president of PRIDE, Gonzalez has observed that leadership positions in other prominent student organizations such as Accent Speaker’s Bureau, Student Government Productions and Florida Blue Key have historically been filled by students from the Panhellenic Council and the Interfraternity Greek

How can students and administrators bridge that gap?

Black Student Union president Phillip Wells feels optimistic about Fuchs’ willingness to continue the conversation. He was impressed by “the culture of him as a person,” he said. “He likes to be present... he attends our events and stays there the whole time. It doesn’t feel like he’s just checking a box. It’s a different feel” from past presidents.

Fuchs will be in good company among the administrators and stu-

cause of instances like these, he felt had to hide his identity as a queer student.

“There are students who are still hiding,” he said, “and the administration ignores them.”

PRIDE was predominately white when Gonzalez joined, but he said he helped create an environment where both sexually and racially diverse students can feel comfortable.

“Last year every speaker I brought for PRIDE was a person of color,” Gonzalez said.

He said he is also frustrated with the small number of minority students selected for leadership positions on campus.

Council, while students from the Multicultural Greek Council and National Panhellenic Council are underrepresented in these organizations.

Gonzalez said that UF depends on its student organizations to celebrate and acknowledge diversity, but the administration doesn’t do as much to acknowledge and celebrate minority populations.

“UF does an awesome job of promoting community,” Gonzalez said, “but that needs to cross over to the system.”

He also said minority students don’t feel that connection to the administration.

“There is a huge gap,” he said.

dents already working to bring about change.

Along with her counseling work, Pritchett-Johnson also serves as the coordinator for Aspire , which focuses on retention of minority students and outreach to different departments.

Aspire was created with the CWC 15 years ago, after former governor Jeb Bush made affirmative action in college and university admissions illegal through his “One Florida” initiative. The university wanted to continue giving attention to minority students in light of the political climate. While the program provides comprehensive support to black, Hispanic and first-generation students,

Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 19

SPOTLIGHT Pritchett-Johnson felt there was something missing in Aspire’s outreach component.

So she worked with the CWC and Aspire to start the Social Justice Summit, which had an attendance of about 200 students during its inaugural weekend in November.

The main concerns the summit sought to address were recognizing diversity among people and antagonizing oppressive systems.

Pritchett-Johnson said that while the harm of marginalization is the same across sexual, racial, and economic diversity, people should also honor their distinctions.

Another recently developed program, the Bias Education and Response Team addresses incidents that could not be considered a hate crime, but can still harm the targeted individual by attacking that person’s identity. When a report is submitted to the team, the person receives a response within 24 hours.

According to an email from Carodine, incidents addressed by the team have included an individual being called a racial slur while walking on campus, a faculty member talking to a student about their accommodations in front of other students, and racially insensitive pictures posted by two sororities.

Other recent initiatives listed in the email include the student government’s work to in-

Asian

96%

Hispanic or 88% Latino

89%

White

de

e

20 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

79%

Black or African American

g re

93%

2 or more races

fo r b a c h

s

Indian or Alaskan

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders

e lor

74% American

6-year gr ad

of a leadership cabinet.

“I’ve tried to fill my role and understand the people around me and what they want,” Wells said.

Wells wants to place training at the forefront of UF’s efforts to create an inclusive campus.

“We always wait until something happens instead of focusing on education,” he said.

Wells serves on the Black Student Affairs Task Force, which assesses campus climate and determines how to tackle issues of race and diversity through focus groups, town hall meetings and surveys. Wells believes these town halls have sparked the conversations necessary to bridge the communication gap between administrators and students.

“From sitting in town halls, there’s been healthy conversations,” Wells said. “People feel comfortable discussing issues.”

In 2016, the task force hopes to use this information to implement physical solutions in cooperation with Fuchs and Student Affairs.

But how does a university integrate these initiatives into a historically oppressive framework?

Pritchett-Johnson said the best way to combat systematic oppression is by visibly antagonizing it. Rather than feeling stressed out about something they feel they can’t control, Pritchett-Johnson said she has observed that this helps minority students feel responsibility for the campus culture.

“It flips the script,” she said. •

r at e

88%

crease all-gender restrooms and the signage for these restrooms.

When the Reitz Union renovation is completed, there will be a multicultural space and meditation space, along with ablution rooms available for the UF community.

Student organizations have organized programs such as welcome assemblies, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian American Kaleidoscope Month, Fast-a-thon and weekly programs designed to educate the campus about diversity issues while also celebrating and supporting culture.

One such program was a week-long collaboration between several student organizations that promote various types of diversity on campus. Diversity Week, which took place Jan. 11-15, tackled issues such as one-dimensional diversity, racial identity and immigration.

“I’ve never felt like my voice wasn’t heard,” Wells said, but he admitted that his experience at UF may not reflect that of every student of color on campus.

He attributes this attitude to “plugging into the campus early on.” In addition to serving as BSU president, Wells has been involved in Cicerones, Gator Growl and Student Government, where he served as assistant director

THE

long

HAUL

Gainesville’s low-income families struggle to obtain groceries amid the town’s food deserts.

BY SHAYNA TANEN PHOTO BY SEAN DOOLAN

FEATTURE

B

uried underneath a mountain of groceries, including boxes of cereal, frozen chicken nuggets, a cabbage, 1-percent milk, a package of shrimp and two boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese lay baby Gabriel’s banana peel.

The 16-month-old voraciously ate the fruit while his two older sisters hung off the shopping cart. Meanwhile their mother, Amanda Vostrejs, scoured Wal-Mart’s seemingly endless aisles, comparing unit prices, serving sizes and nutrition facts. She was ready with her notebook, which assigned a meal for every day of the month. If it’s not on the list, chances are she’s not buying it. This is the only shopping trip she will make for two weeks, and she has to make sure the food lasts for her family of four until the next trip.

Vostrejs, a 26-year-old mother of three, counts on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits to provide enough money to pay for groceries. But without a car, getting access to those groceries is a continuous struggle.

Issues surrounding access to fresh and affordable groceries have plagued areas of Gainesville for years, and the problem isn’t unique to Vostrejs.

Today the areas east of Northeast Waldo Road and Southeast Hawthorne Road, known as East Gainesville, have only two full-service grocery stores: a Wal-Mart and a Save-a-Lot. Other areas of town, notably the southwest portion of Gainesville, have only gas stations and convenience stores. These parts of Gainesville, among others, are considered food deserts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, defined as “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.”

Food deserts are usually populated by lowincome families and characterized by low access to fresh foods. The USDA uses many numerical parameters for this, but the original 2006 measure referred to food deserts as low-income areas at least 1 mile (for urban communities) or 10 miles (for rural communities) away from a supermarket.

The USDA states that areas like this might only have access to fast food restaurants or gas stations, which limits the amount of fresh, healthy food community members can eat. This can contribute to health risks like obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Adam Hall, executive committee chair of the San Felasco section of the American Planning Association Florida chapter, said there are many 22 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

ideas for solving food deserts.

“It depends on what you think the main problem is,” he said.

After devoting 2015 to researching local food systems, the San Felasco chapter (an area that spans most of Central Florida) found that the main issues creating and perpetuating the lowresource areas are: development and homebuilding on land previously reserved for agriculture ; strict zoning regulations or homeowner’s association rules restricting community gardens; and a lack of investment in food deserts.

“The food desert phenomenon is symptomatic of the lack of investment (in infrastructure) that a lot of governments have had in certain areas of town,” he said. It affects not just Gainesville but towns and cities across the country. In fact, as part of the APA’s research efforts, the San Felasco chapter created a map of food deserts in Gainesville and how these areas relate to food resources.

By infrastructure, Hall means the city’s and county’s investments to improve water, sewer systems and roads. He said that businesses, including grocery stores, are incentivized to move into areas with already strong infrastructure and more disposable income. And in some cases, they are physically unable to move to areas that lack infrastructure.

Plan East Gainesville, a 2003 study funded

by Alachua County, the City of Gainesville and other entities, states that “East Gainesville has experienced declining population and limited economic investment since the 1960s, when I-75 was developed to the west of Gainesville. ” It’s a vicious cycle, Hall said, because businesses will take root in areas that already have more money, causing the government to invest more in infrastructure there, which attracts even more businesses.

“The food desert phenomenon is symptomatic of the lack of investment that a lot of governments have had in certain areas of town,” he said. “And it’s not just in Gainesville or Alachua County.”

Hall said that governments all over the U.S. have not incentivized grocery chains to open in areas of town where citizens of lower socioeconomic status live.

“There’s a tax on access to food,” he said. “A lot of these folks have to drive further or take public transit, which is time, which is money. So

they have to pay a little bit more for better food.”

Gainesville City Commissioner Craig Carter said he has “no doubt” that the city has plans to address its food deserts.

Along with Gainesville Commissioner Charles Goston, Carter has been negotiating with a large grocery retailer to open in East Gainesville. He declined to specify what store it was, but said he would be very “aggressive on accommodating a grocery store on that side of town, because quite frankly, you have a great customer base over there.”

He continued, “There’s no reason that our citizens on the east side of Gainesville don’t get the privilege of shopping at a store just as all the other citizens of Gainesville do.”

Carter said there are plans to create incentives to lure the grocery chain to Southeast Hawthorne road in East Gainesville, including

He said stores are also worried that if they open in East Gainesville, it will detract business from the “Main Street” stores. further developments to Gainesville Technology and Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC) and the reconstruction of Kennedy Homes, an affordable housing complex that was torn down in 2007.

But he added that there are no commitments at this point.

“To be honest with you, and they (the grocery chain) told me, if it was the perfect location and that was where they dreamed to be, it takes two years (to build a store),” Carter said. “So in a location that they’re going to have to get creative in and maybe resize the store, it could take three to four years. And that’s the sad part about the reality here.”

Carter explained that the grocery chain he has been in discussions with told him that it would take about two years to build a store in “the perfect location.” But for locations that are not perfect, he said, where “they’re going to have to get creative in and maybe resize the store, it could take three to four years. And that’s the sad part about the reality here.”

He added that the stores are also worried that if they open in East Gainesville, it will detract business from the “Main Street” stores. While Carter said he was unsure of why it is so difficult to attract grocery chains to East Gainesville, he speculated that perception factors into the deci-

FEATURE sions.

“We want to have equality throughout the city,” Carter said, “whether that’s through grocery stores, transportation or jobs. So if we have a food desert or a disparity in some place, I think as commissioners, we need to try to address that.

And sometimes you can’t.”

V

ostrejs and her children Gabriel, 16 months; Anastasya, 4, and Starr, 9, all live in one bedroom in the Arbor House, a transitional home for homeless single women and those with children, which they have occupied for over a month now. The house is less than a ten-minute walk to Ward’s Supermarket. She is not technically located within a food desert, but she faces similar transportation problems to those of community members impacted by food deserts.

Vostrejs doesn’t have a car, and the only chance she has to make a full shopping trip is when her mother lends hers for a day or so, usually every two weeks.

Because her kids have asthma and walking with the groceries is tough, she said having a car has helped a lot.

When she needs one or two items, Vostrejs might walk to Ward’s, but the food can be expensive, and she can only buy what will fit in the baby stroller.

Ward’s also does not supply baby care items or paper goods like paper towels. If she absolutely needs to, Vostrejs must take the Route 15 Regional Transit System bus, then transfer to the Route 8 bus to make it to the Wal-Mart on Waldo Road.

She said it can take an hour to commute

“it gets hard at the end of the month.”

Those who rely on buses also have to consider the RTS system’s reduced routes around holidays. From Dec. 19 to Jan. 3, RTS cut service for 13 buses, not including campus buses or Later Gater routes, according to a December RTS press release. On Christmas Eve and New Year’s day, the release states, only 11 buses ran from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

About $11.5 million of the RTS budget is paid for by University of Florida student fees, along with agreements with Santa Fe College and UF Health Shands, Commissioner Carter said. Hall said that makes the bus system’s routes more campus-centric. He added that although there should be more access to RTS buses for people on the outskirts of the city, overall RTS does a good job with the resources it has.

In the 2015 fiscal year, Route 20 from the Reitz Union to the Oaks Mall had the greatest ridership of any route, with more than 1.1 million passengers, according to the RTS 2015 ridership report. Route 12 from the Reitz Union to Butler Plaza ranked second-highest for passengers with over 755,000, according to the same report.

Carter said the city is always looking for opportunities to improve the bus system, and he noted a recent agreement with Uber to increase transportation for citizens on the outskirts of town.

Because food deserts are characterized by lack of access, UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ Family Nutrition Program goes inside food deserts to help alleviate the problem.

The program provides free nutrition education services for people who are eligible for SNAP assistance.

Qwamel Hanks, an extension program assistant for the FNP in Alachua County, said series-based curriculums like the “Cooking Matters” course tar-

“There’s a tax on access to food,” he said. “A lot of these folks have to drive further or take public transit, which is time, which is money. So they have to pay a little bit more for better food.” to the store each way. By car, it takes no more than 15 minutes. And traveling by bus, she can only buy as much as she can carry, which severely limits the amount of food she can purchase.

“If you don’t plan correctly,” she said,

get areas with a community clubhouse or family resource center. Other outreach programs, according to the program’s website, are held at the Union Street Farmers Market, St. Francis House and Alachua County Library Headquarters downtown, among other places.

“It’s not just teaching people how to shop for healthy foods,” she said. “A large component of it is teaching them how to do it on a budget.”

Hanks said the FNP does not focus on curricula that cover strategies for accessing healthy foods — the focus is more on identifying healthy foods and teaching where to find them. It also does not provide transportation to program activities.

“For the participants I have had that are in food deserts, not having that easy access to nutrient-dense foods leads them to go to the gas station or wherever is the closest to whatever kind of food they can get,” she said. “Of course, it’s totally understandable. That strained access alone, I see, is a significant contributor as to why people make the choices they do.”

The courses the program does offer have made a difference in Vostrejs’ buying habits, she said. She attends Hanks’ “Cooking Matters” course and said she has learned about buying smarter: purchasing foods in season; comparing unit prices and serving sizes; and evaluating the nutritional values of canned and boxed items.

She said she tries to make healthy food choices but struggles to budget for balanced meals that can last a long time.

Pretty soon, Vostrejs will have the relief of sending her two youngest children off to school — one to daycare and one to preschool. This way, Vostrejs won’t have to provide breakfast and lunch for her kids on weekdays because they qualify for free meals at school.

And she is always looking to the future. On the drive back to the Arbor House from Wal-Mart — the entire shopping trip took an hour and a half and cost $232.78 — Vostrejs saw someone riding a bicycle with a cart attached on the back.

Looking at it, thinking of how she could pull her kids and groceries in the cart, she cried out, “I’d love to have one with a seat on it!” • Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 23

Idella Anderson

Mrs. Anderson is 71 years old and has lived in Porters Oaks for 25 years.

“W

e all here are family. What gives me the feeling of family is to know — well, something happened to me. Three weeks ago, an incident. And before I knew it, there was two ladies here quick as a flash, they had them ran up here like Superman, knocking on my door, saying, ‘Ms. Anderson, are you OK? You alright, Ms. Anderson?’

I guess I could say, whatever it is, I truly hope with my heart that it’s something great. Something good.

Something prosperous. Something that’s gonna benefit every house, every home, every person that’s out here in this neighborhood. I really do. I hope it’ll make everybody happen. Even the little kids.

I hope that it’ll be something that’ll cause the little bitty boys, the little bitty girls, to come up into something great, and make their family happy. Even if it’s being the first to go to college in that family, ‘cause I’m sure their parents didn’t. And a lot of them probably didn’t go to college, like me, but I got 13 sisters and brothers. I make 14. But I did graduate from high school, in June 1973, and that was like I had climbed Mt. Everest. I was proud of myself. I would like a lot of good things for Porters.

24 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

”

the

VOICES of

PORTERS In the second installment of our four-part series on gentrification in Gainesville, we talk to residents of Porters about the changing neighborhood.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY SAMANTHA SCHUYLER Ashley Yo contributed to this story

Sonja “Miss Bunch” Kirksey

FEATURE

Mrs. Kirksey is 74 years old has lived in Porters Oaks for 27 years.

“T

hese buildings are not worth what they said. They’re not really that good, to me. When I put in for this place, I didn’t know that they were gonna be hooked up to each other — I thought we were gonna have a single house. I didn’t know it was gonna be like this. It’s just like living out in apartments again. I spent a lot of money on this house ... At first it looked good. But this house wasn’t built well, and it’s still falling apart. The boards they had on it, they were like pasteboards.

I had no other choice but to reboard. I had a man come and tell me the windows were put in upside down. They fell out in less than a year’s time. But I thank God for what it is. Because they were building for us — these black people. They just throw something together. That’s how I feel, nobody else might feel that way.

“E

ven though it still probably has a bad reputation — people think of it as a high-crime area — it’s just not like that anymore. It’s quiet, it’s friendly, it’s peaceful.

It’s near downtown — we’re near everything. It’s just wonderful, it’s a wonderful place to be. The neighbors are very close. We unfortunately just lost a neighbor across the street, Ms. Savannah, and she was in her 90s. She was here for a long, long time. And I remember her so well. When this house was being built, she would be sitting on her porch, and I would come by every day, and we became good friends. And I miss her dearly. She would talk about [Porters] all the time. The concern is, you know, gentrification, and what’s going to happen in the next 10, 15 years.

Especially with the Depot Park coming in, it’s going to be a big, big attraction. You know, I just hope that the older residents don’t get pushed out, that they’ll be able to enjoy all of the new things that are coming, you know? They’re doing special stories every now and then on the city channel about the Depot Park, and I tell my daughter, ‘Oh, there it goes — there goes the neighborhood,’ I said, ‘It’s going.’ I was telling her about the little pastry shop that opened on Sixth. I know from New York, when those little trendy shops start coming in, the whole neighborhood starts to change.

And that too is good. But if we can find a way to keep the old and the new, you know, that would be wonderful. There’s good things happening. We just hope that everything blends together, and that everyone can appreciate and love it. And not just try to change it into one thing. If we can keep it a lot of little things — that’s what makes it nice. If we could do that. I just hope that it continues to be a great, friendly mixture of different people — different cultures, different economic standings, you know? Having a mixture is always good, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve seen it happen. You know, we’re being surrounded — on Sixth, they have the new houses that are predominantly students. And on Fourth there’s another big building that’s predominantly students.

And pretty soon you’re surrounded. I don’t know what’s going to happen, I just hope that my grandchildren will be able to enjoy it and feel happy and come back and see it. And maybe live here one day, or think of it as their home.

” Ina Foy-Hines

Mrs. Foy-Hines has lived in Porters for 21 years.

”

Laurie Terry

Mrs. Terry is 38 years old and has lived in Porters Oaks for eight months.

“W

e were living in a very bad apartment complex in Sugarfoot, and we stayed in there with no toilet, no refrigerator. So I had to move me and my kids out of there ... and we moved here, and the toilet’s never been working.

We can’t invite nobody over. No one has addressed it. And I pay my rent, $750 a month, even when we been through all this. This’ll be the sixth plumber person to come, and they say that these apartments need to be gutted out, and the plumbing needs to be redone, so they say there’s nothing they can do about it. I just think they just don’t care. The most you need in an apartment is a toilet, a tub and a kitchen. we don’t have our toilet, and we barely have a tub — they told me one time, they say, ‘Oh, if you put your shower curtain inside your tub, it won’t leak.’ I said, ‘We do that, man. I’ve stayed on my own since I was 20. I’m 38, and this the third time I’ve dealt with with stuff coming down from the bathroom into the kitchen.’ some people feel that their words ain’t going to help, speaking for how they’re living and how the apartments are. I think all the black communities really have been looked over. If I can find me a place, I’m leaving.

”

Angela Wright

Mrs. Wright is 61 years old and has lived in Porters for nine years.

“I

could not have picked a better neighborhood. I love my neighbors. Even when the neighborhood was a little rough when I first came. I know when I first bought this house, people said, “Porters? You bought a house in Porters?” You know, like it was the worst place I could have bought a house. And sure enough when I first came, there was a little juke joint across the corner; he’d blast music all the time. Apparently, people were going there and getting drunk.

So the first night I moved here, some sucker got into an argument with some local guy and whatnot, next thing you know, someone stabs him — and the guy drops down right in front of my house! It’s funny, over the seven to nine years I’ve been here, they’ve cleaned it up. They brought the students in. But these same people who are supposed to be bad people have always looked out for me. This guy named Bart who used to hang out next door, Bart was a really intelligent guy that got on drugs. But what a wonderful person. I mean,

Michael McKnight

Mr. McKnight is 61 years old and has lived in Porters his whole life.

“I

been here 62 years, and I’ve seen a lot of changes — I remember when the road was dirt. And, you know, as time went along, the university started buying up a lot of property. For the students, for apartments. And it’s like they started pushing, pushing, pushing people away. I told my brother, I’m not going anywhere! If they come in here, they gotta bring the big checkbook. Not the little checkbook. I’ve been here. I’ve seen a lot of people go, I’ve seen a lot of people come. Gator Nation?

It’s all over the world, yeah. Let us live our life out here! Don’t just come in here, demolish everything, and put a park up or something. I don’t wanna see that. Right across Sixth Street. I remember when a lot of my mother’s friends and some ladies that had been related to her, on my mother’s side, they stayed down there before they even put the pond in. There used to be a bunch of houses. Straight down this road here, there used to be a lady who’d run a beauty salon. Things just change. They’re not thinking about the people who live here. I know it’s all about the dollar, but come on now.

”

Ruby Williams

Mrs. Williams has lived in Porters Oaks for 25 years.

“T anything I needed help with, Bart knew how to come over and fix it.

So others might call them drug addicts, or this, that and the other — they’ve all been real blessings to me. it’s a community where people really look out for each other. There’s Kate next door, she bakes. She’s like Betty Crocker. She’ll bake her Christmas stuff and bring over black Caribbean cake, because her aunt is from Guiana. And then I’m always cooking, so I prepare a lot of curry dinners and other foods.

So I’ll share my stuff. And people across the street, if he gets access to something — so everybody’s sharing. It’s good. Everybody’s looking out. When I bought this house, it was right before the crash. So, they were saying these homes were worth a lot more than they actually were. You ended up paying for more than your house was actually worth. So as a homeowner, I hope they continue to clean up and fix up and make the place more beautiful so the value of the house will equal what you supposedly paid for these houses. I just hope that the people who are here, I would hate to see them leave. You know, we’ve got Miss Harris next door, the artist? Her stuff is in the Smithsonian. Her stuff has been in movies. In Shands on Waldo Road, when you’re going to that clinic? There’s a big thing with a wedding — that’s one of hers. And if you ever really speak with her, and listen to her, she has so much history. She’s got a lot of stories.

26 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

”

hey can come and buy this now if they got the right money. Tell them they can come buy this. Why? Because didn’t you just say eventually they’re gonna come? Wish they’d come before I go to heaven. You know? Cause you just said with your mouth, ‘Eventually they’re gonna come,’ University of Florida, whoever, is gonna come — well, we know that! The commissioners already know that. That’s nothing strange. When other people mention that, I say, ‘Send ‘em over here to buy this now.’ If they pay the right price for me to buy another place. Tell them that. We already know they want this neighborhood. They gonna come and get this part. They’re gonna come over here and do what they want to do, like they did for everybody else, and put people out. Give them a little money to get a little place to stay, and they can’t live where the people are. We already know that. No, I’m just saying, since y’all saying that they’ll eventually be here — yeah, eventually they will! Yeah, eventually they’re gonna get all this out here! But when? So what I’m saying is, come now. Get this if you want. It’s nothing new. Some people have their other place, just waiting on it. You know how they do, how they do us — black folks. Black folks. Kennedy Homes — people had to move. On Fifth Avenue, they had to move. Making like they’re gonna put up apartments up over there. I ain’t see no apartments — yeah, there’s just vacant lanes. Kennedy Homes people, ain’t nothing over there either. They a mess. That’s it. It’s very unfair. Why everything gotta be for the students to live in?

Build some more apartments in the spaces you knocked down.

And let people of color go over there and get their apartments.

But you told us that when you tore the houses down! You was gonna rebuild. Ain’t rebuild yet.

”

Alpha Davis

Mr. Davis is 41 years old and has lived in Porters Oaks for eight years.

“I

feel it’s going to be inevitable because of this neighborhood’s location to UF — that all of this is just slowly moving from 13th and University, moving east. And so this is going to be swallowed up. Not right now, but I’m seeing it even with the housing. Student housing used to be two or three blocks around campus. Now, at Fourth and Seventh, Fourth and Sixth — I mean, the big high-rises almost to Main Street, anywhere they can stick 600 apartments. This is the next step. Do you think that impacts the community? It impacts it in that what you consider ‘home,’ where you were from, where your roots are from — there are no longer people there that look like you. I do know that my old neighborhood in the northwest is now maybe over 65 percent white, when it used to be 100 percent black.

Except for the older black people who own homes in that area, it’s students that live in that area. I don’t feel loss. I go through the neighborhood and I can still identify where I used to stay and what I used to do. And I tell my kids, and I tell my grandkids. But I mean, it’s different. Just like with black schools in most cities in the south with the onset of integration. Those schools got turned from a high school — which is a part of your history, those are

the people you grew up with, they were as close to you as family — that was stripped away, it’s no longer a high school, it’s a middle school. Or it was left abandoned for years, and you don’t want to have that part of your identity as being part of yourself, real and tangible, in the now. Whereas schools that were white may have changed locations, but they didn’t change names.

They’ve still got identity. Gainesville High School has always been Gainesville High School, and it’s still Gainesville High School.

But Lincoln High School is now Lincoln Middle School, and now all you have is memories. Where do you think people will go? [laughs] Wherever they can afford to go. That’s the reality of it, they’ll go wherever they can afford to go. The people who make those decisions aren’t looking at where these people are going to go. They’re looking at what their bottom line is. Money is power, unfortunately. Doesn’t take into account what is established, what is an old neighborhood, what is tradition, what is whatever. If there’s an opportunity for somebody to make some money, then they’re gonna find a way to do it, or buy somebody — opinion, or vote, or ordinance or whatever, to make that happen.

”

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Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 27

HIDDEN IN

PLAIN SIGHT

Back in 2007 nobody knew about human trafficking in Gainesville.

It took the whole community to cast light on it.

BY ASHLEY LOMBARDO ILLUSTRATIONS BY SYDNEY MARTIN AND SAMANTHA SCHUYLER

28 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

FEATURE

A

s she approached the darkwooded podium, her nerves turned to fire. Each step closer to the microphone left her wondering if it was the right decision. One foot on the stage, and then the other. There was no turning back now.

“Everyone, please welcome Ann*, a child trafficking survivor,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Williams said.

Survivor. The introduction surprised her. This was something she hadn’t yet identified in herself.

She peered into a crowd of more than 40 people gathered for the symposium hosted by the Alachua County Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Williams looked up at her from the first row. He sat alongside Sherry Kitchens and John Madsen, two people whose work over the past decade had led to this moment. She didn’t make eye contact.

Her hands were tucked close to her body; she kept her head down.

The audience sat expectantly. You could hear a pin drop.

At age 12, she said, her mother’s boyfriend sold her. When she escaped a year later, she had found no help waiting for her.

Before she met the coalition, she had seen nothing done about human trafficking. But at this point, she was no longer concerned about herself. Though she spoke quietly, she wanted to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

It was 2012, and few people would acknowledge that children were being sold for sex so close to home. For Williams, Kitchens and Madsen, her words only confirmed that their efforts had been worthwhile.

“Please, don’t ever stop what you’re doing,” she pleaded. “There are so many people out there who

need you.” uman trafficking is the involuntary or coerced trade of another person, often for sexual exploitation. Commonly assumed to be something that happens in foreign countries or big cities, trafficking happens regularly in the United States, in Florida, and even in Alachua County.

According to Florida State’s Department of Law Enforcement, a total of 85 people were identified as offenders and arrested for the crime of human trafficking in Florida from 2004 to 2013. This number excludes federal data and only takes local and state arrests into account.

The arrests were made after the passing of a 2004 state law, called FL State Statute 787.06, that recognized human trafficking as a crime of its own in Florida for the first time.

“It really has been an overlooked thing historically,” said John Madsen, a Gainesville Police Department detective who heads the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. “We were of the same perception as most people are, that human trafficking is not something that happens locally. It’s something that happens in foreign countries or at a border crossing.”

In 2015, Gainesville’s Child Advocacy Center identified 18 children, many of whom were between the ages of 12 and 16, who had been trafficked in Alachua County.

In one closed case, the trafficker harbored a 15-year-old girl in a Gainesville house through May and June of 2015. He would transport her to clients in nearby private houses and motels.

“Not a week goes by that my phone doesn’t ring about a lead, a tip, a new case that shows up,” said Florida Law Enforcement Special Agent Jeff Vash at a presentation on

H

human trafficking held at Santa Fe Community College in October.

Vash, who is in the process of investigating four cases, works with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Formed in 1997, the task force originally focused on child pornography, illicit file sharing and traveling to meet minors for sex. And assistant U.S. attorney Williams, who prosecutes local human trafficking cases, is currently handling six.

“It’s almost like drawing a map,” Vash said. “It seems that every time we get involved with a case and peel one layer back, there’s two or three more behind it.”

This is due, in part, to the Internet and smartphones, Madsen said. Backpage, a classifieds website with a section for “adult services,” came to Gainesville in 2011 and has offered more ease of access for traffickers and consumers. Madsen identified it as one of the biggest sites for underage trafficking, among other places like the darknet and KiK. In many cases, traffickers advertise girls as over 18, when in reality they are much younger. For example, one backpage ad pointed out by Williams showed a girl advertised as 22, but her actual age was 14.

But according to Williams, the current numbers don’t show the extent of the problem.

“You will see, without any question,” he said, “that the number will steadily increase. But how many more is it going to take for this community to recognize it as a problem?”

This creates an issue for people who are trying to combat human trafficking; plumbing the Internet, where much of this occurs, takes time and resources that local agencies don’t have.

“The brutal honesty of it is that

*Name has been changed to protect her identity.

Winter 2016 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | 29

FEATURE there’s really no resources to investigate this. I’ve talked to several girls that have been almost forced to get on Backpage,” he said. “We’re so understaffed in this agency, let alone the detective bureau, let alone the efforts dedicated to proactive work.”

He added that criminals and victims can be identified on the Internet through discoverable IP addresses, phone numbers and more — but without staffing, they don’t have the means to actually investigate.

“It takes a team of people to do it safely,” he said. “Right now we’re in a place where we don’t have the assets to do the proactive stuff. It’s only when it’s brought to our attention.”

According to Williams, though they have a long way to go, the situation is improving — that is,. The conviction rate is increasing — because local agencies and organizations are finally coming together to combat the problem.

In 2012, when Ann made her speech, the players were finally sitting in the same room, uniting for the same cause. But it took years for them to identify the existence of local human trafficking, let alone start working together. n 2013, the Polaris Project released a report that shocked public officials: It confirmed controversial statistics that ranked Florida third in the nation for human trafficking.

But for Sherry Kitchens, director of Gainesville’s Child Advocacy Center, and detective John Madsen, the report was bringing attention to an issue they had been chasing since 2010.

Kitchens has been working with ungovernable, runaway and truant children over her 23-year career, but it wasn’t until 2007 — two years after she became the director of the center — that she understood the

I

30 | T H E F I N E P R I N T | thefineprintmag.org

connection between the neglected children she worked with and human trafficking.

“I hadn’t even heard the term ‘human trafficking’ until 2007,” she said, “even though I had been working with these victims for many years.”

Everything clicked after Florida State University’s Center for the Advancement of Human Rights presented on the subject for a conference at the advocacy center. This was the first training session on human trafficking in the area, Kitchens said.

As the presenter walked through several sex trafficking cases, Kitchens immediately thought of a girl she had worked with in Trenton, a rural town a few miles outside Gainesville. She would disappear for six-month stints — her older boyfriend was bringing her to Miami to dance in clubs.

Though the family did the best they could, the young girl’s mobile home was bare, her mother had been recently incarcerated and the town had already pegged her as a troublemaker.

She realized that the seventhgrader’s circumstances matched what the presenter was describing as the perfect storm for traffickers to swoop in. Not only that, she realized that by being outside of the investigation process and only providing therapy after the fact, she and others who worked in child support had limited their effectiveness.

“We’ve seen these kids all along,” she said. “This is happening to these kids, and we’re missing it.”

With this new information, Kitchens formed the first link among local advocates and law enforcement on the topic of human trafficking in 2008, when she helped launch the Alachua County Human Trafficking Task Force. It united 35 agencies and 105 volunteers from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Department and the Child Advocacy Center, meeting every other month to hold training sessions on human trafficking of all kinds.

Between then and 2010, local

advocacy groups and law enforcement began working more closely together. They shared perspectives, resources and expertise, helping each other to better approach human trafficking cases across the county. They had found that victims were telling different stories depending on who they spoke to, especially when law enforcement got involved. Traffickers had taught victims never to speak to police; and police, too, needed to be educated on how to approach victims.

“Teaching some of those folks how these children need to be addressed differently, and law enforcement and prosecutors trusting the victim service providers, has made the biggest difference across the board,” Kitchens said.

Kitchen’s long-term plan was to eventually use the structure of the Child Advocacy Center, which unites law enforcement, prosecutors, therapists, child protection investigators, advocates, medical personnel, social workers and guardians into an organized system in child abuse investigations, for human trafficking cases. First, Kitchens said, she had to convince local child support workers that Alachua County had a human trafficking problem, not a “bad kid” problem.

But in April 2010, due to lack of resources, the sheriff’s office announced they could no longer support the task force. At the time, the office had identified 21 labor trafficking cases, but sex trafficking cases are harder to unearth. Many times victims keep quiet, having been convinced by traffickers that what’s happening to them is their fault.

Without reports coming in, the sheriff couldn’t justify putting resources into the task force.

The sheriff suggested they leave the cases to federal officers and task forces in bigger cities, like Jacksonville. But Kitchens argued that Alachua County was different. For

FEATURE example, its rural makeup was important to consider, among other issues they hadn’t scratched the surface of in 2010.

“By that time we were too far along to go backwards,” she said.

“The work was too important.”

After moving the task force to the state attorney’s office, it slid into dormancy until 2012, when Trinity United Methodist Church reached out to Kitchens. For the first time, members of the community, rather than child care professionals, were getting involved. They offered to take the task force over, eventually turning it into what it is today: the Alachua County Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

“It’s taken a while to trickle down,” said Marie Samec, vice president of the coalition. “I think the awareness is finally there; it was not when we started this in 2012.”

Ann agreed, saying that being a survivor in Gainesville was the same as being a survivor anywhere else: No one knew or talked about it.

Samec said that the coalition used Ann’s testimony to determine what needed to be worked on.

After a year of planning, the coalition began organizing events, meetings and communication among members to keep them engaged in the task of fighting human trafficking. They put together care packages for victims. Then they launched a six-week symposium on human trafficking that brought Kitchens, Madsen and Williams together to speak. That was when Ann was given a chance to tell her story to the public.

“We all came to see each other speak,” Kitchens said. “And that bonded us together in a different way, even though we were all doing parts of the work already.”

“Most cases, you do your little piece and you’re out,” Kitchens added. “We

see our work is much more effective when we keep everybody hooked together.”

Now everyone is interlaced, working collaboratively and sharing information with each other. For example, in 2012 Madsen learned about how the Dallas Police Department used interviews to discover a link between chronic runaways and their potential to be lured into human trafficking. He eventually brought what he learned back to GPD, and they created a formal unit based on the findings. Madsen said it helped change GPD’s perspective on victims of human trafficking.

Madsen then used GPD and Alachua County Sheriff’s Department databases to flag 267 chronic runners. Though he and Kitchens had been interviewing high-risk victims since 2010, it was now a concerted effort.

“We started with the kids who had run away eight times. And I can tell you, by then they’ve absolutely been trafficked,” Kitchens said.

“Many of them were almost adults and wouldn’t even talk to you.”

Then, after the 2013 report was released, the state finally caught up when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement hired Jeff Vash to investigate human trafficking cases. The state also passed the Safe Harbor Act, which for the first time treated those caught in human trafficking as victims instead of criminals.

“We had been reviewing highrisk victims for three years by then — which is a completely new way to do it anywhere around, because no one else was doing it,” Kitchens said. “[State officials] were calling me consistently for stuff to put in their bills.” here is, of course, still more to do. For example, the coalition hopes to bring a victim-oriented facility to Gainesville, which Vash said would be used and probably filled in no time.

“As far as getting victims help —

T

“By that time we were too far along to go backwards,” she said. “The work was too important.” they need extensive help, and I don’t know what the answer is,” he continued. “Once they’ve reached a certain age, they’ve been victimized for so long, it’s indoctrinated into who they are. If they wanted to get out it’d have to be a conscious choice, years of counseling, substance abuse treatment.”

The coalition is currently visiting shelters across the state to understand how they are run.

“There’s a shortage of shelters across the country, and in this area there’s none,” said Samec. “There are no shelters for adult victims available.”

Not only that, Kitchens said that it takes about five years for a victim to be rehabilitated and start leading a normal life. After the Safe Harbor Act passed in 2013, 10 children have been placed in safe harbors, or long-term therapeutic programs that keep victims from triggering environments that could provoke a backslide into trafficking. There are no safe harbor placements in the area for children who are trafficked elsewhere, like in nearby rural spaces areas, which she hopes will soon change.

Samec also added that they want to get awareness into the school system, which has not been done previously. She said there’s a lot they hope to do, but everything comes down to money.

“It needs to be a higher priority,” she said. “The federal and state government both say it is, but without the money to get things done, how much of a priority is it?” •

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STATUE OF

LIMITATIONS The future of Gainesville’s confederate statue.

BY NEEL BAPATLA ILLUSTRATION BY SHANNON NEHILEY

A

fter the protests, the teach-ins, the petitions and the sprawling, emotional speeches during public comment at local government meetings, the statue still stands.

“Old Joe,” the 111-year-old statue of a Confederate soldier, whose presence on downtown public property within view of several government buildings has been disputed since this summer, never got the relocation that had been promised.

On Sept. 22, the County Commission voted 3-2 to move the statue to the Matheson History Museum, a private nonprofit organization, which the county believed had expressed interest in accepting the statue. But on Oct. 28, the museum rejected the county’s draft agreement offer.

Alachua County Commissioner Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson and community organizer Faye Williams are anticipated to meet in January with the Matheson History Museum board for the first time in person to discuss the Confederate statue in front of the Alachua County Administrative Building.

The draft agreement stated that “the

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cost of removal, transportation and placement of the Statue on the Museum Grounds … shall be fully born [sic] by the museum,” which would cost an estimated $10,000 to $15,000. Any artifacts or documents found underneath the statue’s base would belong to the county and not the museum.

“I’m willing to take responsibility for putting words in the Matheson’s mouth,” Hutchinson told Williams at an informal meeting on Dec. 10.

In an email sent on the day of the Matheson vote, Peggy Macdonald, executive director of the museum, spoke on behalf of the board when she wrote that the Matheson rejected the statue primarily because of financial and legal

concerns.

In addition, the Matheson’s board of directors believed the county would maintain control over the placement of the statue, said Bob Ackerman, a Matheson board member. He said that the board believed that the county had wanted the statue placed on the museum’s limited property on University Avenue.

Hutchinson said he thought the Matheson may have misconstrued certain parts of the agreement. However, because they never had a county representative explain it fully, he said that the museum’s decision was understandable.

And, as Hutchinson admitted to Williams, the contract was less than perfect.

FEATURE

From Sept. 22 to Dec. 10, the Confederate statue remained standing in its place on University Avenue and Main Street while plans concerning its future stagnated.

The talks of moving the statue began after the murder of nine African-Americans at a church service in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17.

The shooting provoked an unprecedented examination of the United States’ racial history — one that initially began with the police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and other unarmed African-Americans. It questioned what it meant for state and local governments to honor the Confederacy on public grounds.

For community activist Jesse Arost, statues like the soldier in downtown Gainesville serve as public endorsements of racism.

“Every day it stands there,” he said. “It continues to do exactly what it was put there to do: exalt white supremacy.”

On July 9, Arost and Williams led a rally at the Confederate statue, which provoked two counterprotests and garnered ample news coverage. This led to the commission meeting on Sept. 22, which concluded in a vote to donate the statue to the Matheson.

However, to many of the board members, the draft agreement felt like a slap in the face, Ackerman said. The county did not consult the board before making the decision to donate the statue, he said.

In addition, the museum, which plans to renovate a nearby building to build an archive, library and meeting space, could not raise the required funds to move the statue.

Macdonald said the board members believed all fundraising would take

“I’m willing to take responsibility for putting words in the Matheson’s mouth,” Hutchinson told Williams at an informal meeting on Dec. 10. place internally within the Matheson — in essence, directly from the museum’s funds. The Matheson wrote in an email to the county that it was unaware of any community fundraising efforts to support it.

The Matheson is still open to discussing accepting the statue, Macdonald said. On Nov. 4, at the request of County Manager Lee Niblock, she emailed the county on behalf of the Matheson board. She expressed interest in sending a counter-proposal but urged greater leadership at the county level in terms of raising funds to move the statue.

Hutchinson said at the Dec. 10 meeting that he is still committed to moving the statue.

As a goodwill gesture, he suggested that he and Williams approach the Matheson together to show the community is committed to raising the money to move the statue.

“I assume [the Matheson’s] starting position is that [tit] should have no need to raise funds for the move,” Hutchinson told the Fine Print in a text message. “So it’s once again up to the community to contribute.”

The campaign to remove the Confederate soldier will take responsibility for leading fundraising efforts, a steadfast position it has

taken from the start, Arost wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Williams said, however, that the campaign would prefer to wait for concrete plans to be made before it begins its efforts.

Hutchinson added that “this will only succeed if there is a credible agent to solicit, account for, and disburse the funds as well as oversee the logistics of the project.”

So far the Matheson has recommended County Manager Lee Niblock for this task.

In the meantime, Hutchinson suggested placing a whiteboard on one side of the statue’s base, which would cover the text stating that the Confederate dead “counted the cost, and in defense of right, they paid the martyr’s price.”

He said community members could write what they think is an appropriate inscription for the statue, or they could lift the whiteboard to see the signage underneath.

The results would be photographed every day until the statue is removed from its original place downtown.

Among the remaining issues is the question of contextualization: how the statue should be placed to properly interpret its history. Both Hutchinson and Mark Barrow, a founding member of the Matheson, suggested placing the statue in the museum’s “Walk Through Time,” a space behind the museum’s main building that explores American wars. If the Matheson rejects the statue a second time, Hutchinson and the campaign expressed interest in moving the statue to Kanapaha Veterans Memorial Park. •

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PROSE

It’s More Than Just That

BY BRANDON SHENK PHOTO BY STEVEN LONGMIRE

D

ana stands in an open doorway to her house, listening with a concentrated face. Dylan, the guy she’s listening to, will officially become her ex-boyfriend in precisely two minutes and seven sec-

onds.

Dylan continues: “It’s more than that. I mean who are you, really? Can you even say? Don’t get me wrong you’re kind and funny and smart. And … and insanely — I mean you really are a miracle in bed. But it just seems like you’re not emotionally invested in us. Am I right?”

Dana bites her lip, slightly ashamed.

Dylan says, “Dana, say something, anything!”

She shifts uncomfortably from one leg to the other. “I like you. I feel what we have is good. For me it’s – that’s enough.”

“So that’s that? You like me.”

“I like you a lot.”

“You’re too much for me.” He motions, exaggeratedly circling her. “All of this is too much for me.”

“So we’re done?”

“Yes. No, yeah — no wait. What?”

He struggles to say something but only short hot bursts of air escape.

After an exchange of subtle yet extremely awkward looks between the two, Dylan stomps off. Dana remains in the doorway, passively watching.

At the end of the walkway he stops and texts away on his phone. He looks back at Dana. “Just remember, you forced my hand.”

Dana says, “I’m sorry that I unintentionally hurt you. If there’s anything I cannot do that would make you feel better?

“No, You’ve already not done too much to undo all the not doing you’ve already done.”

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“Okay, well I’m closing the door now and going inside.”

She walks into the living room and stops and stares at the door. Dylan comes back to the front window.

“That’s so like you to close the door and go inside.”

Dana, a smidge flustered, goes and shuts the blinds. The boyfriend’s distinct silhouette shows.

He continues, “Shutting the blinds. Classic Dana move. Let me guess, you did that to all your past boyfriends. That’s all I was to you, wasn’t I? Just another name heaped in with all the rest. And I bought you a chair.”

Dana glances to a garishly upholstered armchair in the corner of the room.

“Do you even know what that means? You were my first, ever. I’d never even thought or wanted to buy a chair for another. Okay, I’m going in three seconds if you don’t say anything. This is your last chance. In three, in seven seconds I’m gone. Can you hear me in there? Say something if you can hear me? Dana – okay, ten Mississippi river, nine Mississippi river, eight Mississippi river. Oh, to hell with it.”

Dana watches Dylan’s silhouette as he rages on the front porch, picking up whatever is close at hand and tossing it. His anger quickly deflates. He leans in close to the window and says, “Remember, you forced my hand,” then finally stomps off.

Dana wanders around the house in contemplation. At one point she reenters the living room and goes to the armchair. She nestles into it with difficulty. No matter how she tries to situate herself she can’t get comfortable.

There’s a tap at the window beside her where a woman’s silhouette suddenly shows. She opens the blinds, sees who it is, then opens the window.

“Hey, Anna. Want to come in?”

PROSE

“No you should probably be alone.”

“So you heard?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“How?” Dana asks. “It didn’t even happen ten minutes ago.”

“Dylan changed his relationship and update status on Facebook, which Suzy read and tweeted about, then Ron saw and immediately texted Mike, who of course is always Snap-Chatting with Jan, who’s a wiz at making impromptu Vines that go viral, which caught the eye of Tom, who’s in a What’s App group with Sam, who saw the news and wrote something obscenely funny about it on the bathroom wall at Mojo’s, that Joanna saw while giving Joey a blowjob in the same exact stall three minutes later, and of course we all know how Joanna can’t keep her mouth shut. So here I am.”

Dana shrugs.

Anna asks, “You okay?”

“This is the longest I’ve gone without a boyfriend.”

“It’s only been twelve minutes.”

“Exactly,” Dana says. “And this chair doesn’t fit me either.”

“Yeah we all knew that chair wouldn’t fit you. Out of all the chairs, we definitely knew that one wouldn’t fit.”

“I guess I should get rid of it.”

“Yeah you should get rid of it.”

“I’m going to get rid of it.”

The two half-drag, half-carry the chair outside. At the curb on the corner of the street they set the chair down. Dana appraises it one last time and turns to walk back inside but notices Dylan across the street starring at her.

“Really Dana?” he says. “That chair was meant to be an extension of you.

It’s how I saw you. And now you’re just going to leave it on the corner for a

dog to come along and pee?” He gets his phone out and keys away on it.

“I just can’t believe you.”

Dana’s stare lingers briefly before she turns and walks towards the house.

A pedestrian couple, who both have their phones out, pass before her on the sidewalk. They eye her contemptuously.

The pedestrian girl says, “What a cold, heartless bitch.”

The pedestrian guy says, “Seth told Barbara that her ex bought her that chair from Ashley’s Furniture and it wasn’t even on sale.”

Dana, mildly shocked, takes this verbal lashing. Then her expression changes and she rushes to the house where Anna is waiting.

Anna says, “Don’t worry about what those two said. They’re clueless.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not worried, but I have to go.”

“I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor you’re about to undertake.”

“You know what I’m doing?” Dana asks.

Anna nods her head. Dana ponders this a second.

“Technology,” Anna says. “You want me to come with you?”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I have to go this one alone.”

Twenty minutes and forty-one seconds later Dana enters a furniture store.

Donald, a male employee, mid-thirties, approaches and greets her. Waxing cordially he says, “What can I do you for little lady?”

Dana is amazed by the huge selection of chairs surrounding her.

“Is this your first time?” Donald asks.

She makes a simple head gesture that admits as much.

“Then you’re in good hands. I’ll walk you through it. You and I can do this.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I have to go this one alone.” •

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