Volume 6, Issue 5

Vol. 6, Issue 5 Nov. 14, 2014

Construction begins on new sailing cove by GMLS

By Jeremy Brown Asst. News Editor

Construction on the new sailing cove has begun just southwest of the Galbraith Marine Science building.

The construction will be divided into two phases, and phase one is scheduled to be completed sometime during spring semester, according to Head Sailing Coach Kevin Reali.

Phase one includes sea wall repair, new vegetation planting, an observation dock with the construction of a monument and the installation of docks. There is not a set design for the monument yet, but the monument will be lit with LED lights with hopes to install solar panels, according to Reali. There will also be Brazilian pepper plant removal, which is an invasive species in Florida, Reali said.

According to President Donald Eastman, the sailing team will receive all new sailboats during the first phase. Ideally, he said, the boats should be replaced every five years and the current boats are six years old. The old sail boats may be available for recreational use at the Waterfront after they are replaced.

One of the main reasons for building the new sailing cove is space. The sailing team is currently us-

ing the Waterfront to dock boats and store equipment. But not all of the boats can fit in the water due to lack of space for both the team’s equipment and the Waterfront’s boats and equipment.

Reali is helping to facilitate the operation and ensure that funds are being used appropriately. The limiting factor for the first phase is obtaining permits.

Reali said that they are taking appropriate precautions in order not to disturb the sea grass beds, mangroves or fish populations. No mangroves will be removed and the docks will not be placed over the sea grass beds, where many fish live.

The second phase will consist mainly of the construction of a new facility that will include coaching offices, storage rooms and expansion of space for the rest of Eckerd students to utilize, Reali said. The larger space will be available for use by Eckerd students — even those who are not part of the sailing team — as well as staff. Restrooms will also be installed in the building, located conveniently close to South Beach.

Student funds will not be used for the project. Instead, funds are being raised through various donors and alumni. The first phase will cost $1.1 million and the second phase will cost about $1.5 million, according to Eastman.

See SAILING, page 4

Climate change and the former president of the Maldives read it on page 2

INDEX:NEWS Please

Recycle

1-4

VIEWPOINTS

5-8 SCIENCE & TECH 9-10 A & E

11-12 HEALTH & FITNESS 13-14

SPORTS 15-16

The Current is a free, biweekly student newspaper produced at Eckerd College. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the writers.

2 News

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Nov. 14, 2014

Editor-in-Chief

Sydney Cavero thecurrent@eckerd.edu

Managing Editors Teresa Young Gary Furrow Jr. currentme@eckerd.edu

News Editors Chelsea Duca Bryan Arnott

Assistant Editor

Jeremy Brown currentnews@eckerd.edu

Viewpoints Editors Dorothy-Mae Eldemire Araesia King currentviews@eckerd.edu

Science & Technology Editor Emma Cotton

Assistant Editor

Sarah Raney currentscience@eckerd.edu

Arts & Entertainment Editor Leah Bilski

Assistant Editor

Nate Gozlan currententertainment@eckerd.edu

Health & Fitness Editor Blaide Woodburn currenthealth@eckerd.edu

Sports Editors

Dominick Cuppetilli Sabrina Lolo currentsports@eckerd.edu

Photo and Graphic Design Editor Alex Zielinski currentphoto@eckerd.edu

Online Editor

Hailey Escobar currentonline@eckerd.edu

Layout Editor Hannah Hamontree

Assistant Editors

Andrew Friedman Clifford Lezark currentlayout@eckerd.edu

Multimedia Manager Gary Furrow Jr. currentvideo@eckerd.edu

Social Media Coordinator Marissa Meleedy

Business Manager Gabe Rosenthal currentads@eckerd.edu

Faculty Adviser K.C. Wolfe

The Current is a free biweekly student newspaper at Eckerd College.

Offices are located upstairs in Cobb at 4200 54th Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL, 33711. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of EC students, staff, faculty and administration.

The Current welcomes letters to the editor. Submissions should be typed and not exceed 400 words.

Writers must include their full name, graduation year and contact number. Faculty and staff should include their title, department and contact number. All submissions are subject to editing for the purposes of clarity, style or length. The Current holds the right to reject any letters deemed inappropriate. Letters can be sent via email to thecurrent@eckerd.edu with subject “Letter to the editor.”

The Current will run full-length articles covering any arrests that present a clear danger to the community.

Charges that would be investigated under this policy include robberies, assaults, weapons charges or illicit drug manufacturing, such as methamphetamine. The Current will continue publishing a small police blotter for felony arrests, and misdemeanor charges against student government leaders, Residential Advisors and staff members of The Current. We learn of arrests through searching the police arrest database by entering Eckerd’s address, as well as from tips. Questions and comments can be emailed to thecurrent@eckerd.edu.

LET’S BE BRIEF

By Bryan Arnott & Chelsea Duca News Editors

Participate in Harvest Fest potluck

Waterfront hosts Hoe Down

The Garden Club will be hosting its bi-annual potluck on Nov. 23 at 3 p.m. Singers, dancers, instrumentalists and all types of performers are welcome.

Contact Maya Carl at mhcarl@eckerd.edu for more information.

Make your way down to the Waterfront on Nov. 15 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. for live music and performances by the EC Riptide dance team and the Tritones a capella group. Professor of Biology Steven Denison’s bluegrass group will also be performing.

In The Know

New pet park completed

The Flush

Email from Doug Ault

Library starts fall book sale

Check out the new pet park in between Omega and Gamma. A fenced-in area has been constructed to allow pet owners to run their pets off-leash. Pets of all shapes and sizes are welcome.

The Eckerd library will be selling books from Nov. 12 through Nov. 16. You can purchase paperback books for $0.50 and hard cover books for $1.

Sign up for Tibu Run

Take self-defense lessons

Those interested in the 5k or one mile run should email Selena Bachelder at sebachel@eckerd.edu. The event is shark themed, and Eckerd registered vans will be leaving at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday Nov. 15. The 5k run is $25 while the one mile fun run is $15.

Want to learn to defend yourself, work out and meet some new people? Karate classes are every Monday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m, boxing class Thursday 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and open mat sessions Sunday 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. All classes meet in the Fitness Center near the punching bag.

The Flush

The Flush

In The Know

Dorm Olympics ceremonies approach

By Bryan Arnott News Editor

The ECOS Senate is planning an Olympic event worthy of six rings. On Nov. 15, students will have the opportunity to represent their dorm in the 2014 Dorm Olympics opening ceremony on Kappa field.

While the opening ceremony will be occurring Nov. 15, the actual Olympic events will not be happening until next semester. The opening ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. and is scheduled to end at 5 p.m., but depending on campus enthusiasm and involvement, the event could run longer.

Over 200 students participated in last year’s event, capture the flag. The event sparked discussion among members of Senate and it quickly became something they wanted to continue doing. “[Director of Residence Life] Jamey Handorf wanted to bring it back, I think,” ECOS Vice President Jack Layden said. “Then it just got passed around Senate and we thought it was something that we could take and it could be our trademark event.”

The Dorm Olympics are not new to Eckerd. In the past they served as an event to encourage dorm pride. Layden hopes that the Olympic events they set up this year will have similar results.

While last year’s event was a success, Senate only had about a month to set it up. This year, they have been working hard to make sure it’s even better than the last, and have allotted $2,000 to $3,000 of their budget to do so, according to Layden.

Layden notes that one of the major changes this year includes a rolling points system. As there was only one event last year, whoever won it took home the trophy. This year’s score will be tallied over various big and small events, such as capture the flag and trivia night, and posted on the ECOS Senate website so everyone can keep track

of their scores. At the closing ceremony the complex with the most points will be awarded the trophy.

“We’re going to do a couple of backyard barbeque games for points, like balloon toss, maybe a sack race or three legged race,” Layden said.

Nu Senator Andrew Rose is in charge of planning the games and activities for the event. Besides the usual egg run and corn hole games that litter barbeque parties, Rose has something else in mind.

“We’ve also been talking about some sort of Kappa 500 — a sort of yellow bike relay race,” Rose said.

Rose also sees the addition of tents for each dorm complex being a big draw, as it will give students a place to relax and hang out with their dorms.

“Each dorm [complex] is going to have their own tent, kind of like their home base to go to... I think it’s going to be a really good time,” Rose said.

Students will be able to decorate their tents during the hour before the event starts, at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15.

He She Me Wumbo will be the only band performing at the event, though music will be playing the whole time.

While initially Café Bon Appétit was slated to cater the event, Layden has since gone in a different direction. Layden contracted a local barbeque restaurant for $1400 to cater enough food for for at least 250 people. Pulled pork sandwiches, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese will be among the dishes being served.

While they won’t be handed out to everyone at the opening ceremony, a few lucky students who win certain events during the ceremony will receive a patch to commemorate the Olympics. The patches will be handed out to everyone at the first competitive event.

“Last year we gave out the patches and they were a huge hit so we’ve changed them up a little and they

will be given out as an incentive to come,” Layden said.

Receiving one for attending the second Dorm Olympics will serve as a small piece of history.

To honor and show solidarity to a well known and friendly student on this campus, the Senate decided that Senior and starter for the

Triton Basketball team Malcolm Brunner Jr. will be the torchbearer for the opening ceremony, in commemoration of his father passing away.

“Everyone loves being out on Kappa field, so I’m sure it will be a great event,” Senior Alex Freeman said.

courtesy of Jack Layden The Dorm Olympics cup will soon be up for grabs again.

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News 3

News

By Bryan Arnott News Editor On Nov. 2 the ECOS Senate started their meeting at 7:05 p.m.

Motions were passed for $10 worth of kitchen supplies in Zeta common lounge, $50 worth of supplies for an apple fest, $45 for pizza for a pool tournament at Epsilon and a $350 budget for decorating dorm complex tents for Dorm Olympics ($25 per dorm).

The senators discussed upcoming ECOS-sponsored events, such as Pizza with the President, and the Future Projects event on Nov. 20 in the Triton Room with Director of Planning, Development and New Construction Bill McKenna.

Discussions also covered final arrangements and jobs for the Dorm Olympics.

The meeting concluded at 7:48 p.m.

On Nov. 9 the ECOS Senate started their meeting at 8:03 p.m.

This meeting was used to nail down all the final projects and concerns with the upcoming Dorm Olympics.

Motions were passed for $200 to be paid to He She Me Wumbo for their performance at the Dorm Olympics, and $50 for a flag for Alpha’s complex tent.

Cigarette buckets were handed out for every dorm except for Sigma and Iota.

The meeting concluded at 8:40 p.m.

Scott in, Democrats out

By Bryan Arnott News Editor

Scott is one of 31 Republicans to win their respective gubernatorial race after the midterm elections, as opposed to the Democrats’ 17, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In 2012, Forbes ripped Scott for cutting over $1.3 billion off of the state’s education budget.

“I think that he’s blatantly extorted money and no one cares, one,” Senior Flannery Fitzgerald said. “Two, I think that he wants to control women’s bodies when that’s not at all something he’s in the position to do, or has the right to do.”

Scott signed a bill in June 2014 making abortions illegal at any point in the pregnancy process if

the doctor feels the fetus could survive outside of the womb.

Elsewhere on the ballot Amendment One passed while Amendment Two, which would have allowed the medicinal use of marijuana, failed to pass by two percent of the vote. The vote needed 60 percent to pass.

The Greenlight Pinellas plan failed to pass in this election as well. One supporter of the plan believes this is due to politicians making the plan unclear to voters, and also not focusing on the right areas of the proposal when creating it.

the circumstances in the Mal- ity, preaching that change must be hoped that other countries would dives, rising sea levels could made if the nation was going to sur- follow suit. That December, he have a grave impact on our city. vive. At the 2009 Summit, Nasheed played an instrumental role in “Coming to Florida, it’s very was asked about his backup plan if a the Copenhagen Climate Change much like home,” Nasheed said. progressive decision was not made. Summit. His speech convinced “None,” he said. “We will all die.” countries such as China, the U.S. “We have the same ocean, we have Nasheed has perhaps pushed and Australia to agree to the Cothe same climate, the trees, the plants are the same…you are very harder than any other global leader penhagen Accord. In this agreevery similar to us. If we sink, you for climate change. In 2009, along ment, countries pledged to lower emissions, moniare going down tor developed and with us.” developing counEckerd also tries and give subshowed “The stantial financial Island Presisupport to emisdent,” in Miller sions reductions.

Auditorium on Nasheed has Nov. 4. This confronted the documentar y challenges of comfocuses on bating climate Nasheed’s adchange in a politivocacy for recal setting. He is ducing carbon the only Maldivemissions durian president to ing his time as ever be demopresident from cratically elected 2008 to 2012.

— a dictatorship The UN Inpreceded his term tergovernmenand caused him tal Panel on Clito resign in 2012. mate Change “We have a projects a photo by Lia Nydes voice in democworldwide sea racy, unlike where level rise of Former president of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed spoke at Eckerd on Nov. 5. he is from,” Bolbetween 26 and 82 centimeters by with the vice president, cabinet sec2100. If this were to take place, retary and 11 ministers, clad in scu- lier said. “It is our civic duty to rise the Maldives would be underwater. ba gear, Nasheed held a meeting 20 up and tell the world that this is Bollier says that the Maldives feet under water to symbolize the happening. We have the right and are like a canary in a coalmine — future of the country. The endeav- the ability to choose the right leada warning to the rest of the planet or received worldwide attention. ers, who will hopefully have a pragIn March of 2009, Nasheed matic and realistic voice that will that climate change is a reality.

During his presidency, Nasheed pledged to make the country car- represent our greater concerns.”

The Blue Ocean Film Festival and made climate change his prior- bon-neutral within ten years. He

Conservation Summit, only miles away in downtown St. Petersburg, featured some of the world’s most successful ocean advocates, including Sylvia Earle and Fabien Cousteau. But Nasheed came to Eckerd.

Senior Nora Kilcup, an Eckerd student and intern who works with Charles Kinder, one of the founders of Blue, felt that Nasheed’s visit would be significant.

“I think, at this point, Mohamed Nasheed is more than just a man or a former president,” she said in an email. “His determination and call for more direct and drastic actions has inspired people all around the world to become more involved in reducing the rate of climate change to try and prevent global environmental catastrophe.”

Kilcup hoped that Nasheed’s lecture would educate and inspire students to become directly involved in making change.

Nasheed looks to future generations to develop the science needed to adapt to a changing environment. He encouraged Eckerd’s future writers, film-makers, scientists and politicians to get directly involved with the issue.

“We must find outside-thebox ideas on how to impress the gravity of the issue,” he said.

Finally, Nasheed spoke about staying optimistic.

“You must wake up every day thinking what a beautiful day it is,” he said. “You must try to think of something every day, and I think it can be done.”

On Nov. 4, citizens of Florida took advantage of their rights and voted in the midterm elections.

Candidates and amendments in Florida made national news in the months preceding the elections due to multiple smear campaigns run

by Democratic candidate Charlie Crist and Republican Rick Scott, and the highly controversial topic of legalizing medical marijuana.

Scott proved victorious in the gubernatorial election, garnering 2,861,390 votes to Crist’s 2,795,263.

See GOP, page 4

Former Maldives president addresses climate change

By Emma Cotton Science & Tech. Editor

Former president of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed spoke at Eckerd on Nov. 5 in conjunction with the Blue Ocean Film Festival and Conservation Summit. His lecture focused on climate issues and the politics involved in making definitive change.

The Maldives, a chain of 26 atolls that lies off the southwestern coast of India, is only one and a half meters above sea level. It is the lowest-lying nation in the world, and is already experiencing the effects of rising seas. During Nasheed’s presidency, he had to relocate the citizens of 16 islands.

As an island president, Nasheed was also able to speak with authority on the subject of rising sea levels.

Sustainability Fellow Evan Bollier worries about how subjects such as these could affect Eckerd’s campus.

“It’s going to affect our real lives, especially here in St. Petersburg, Florida, specifically Eckerd College, where we have about a mile of waterfront property that’s only three to five feet above sea level,” he said. “It’s going to affect our housing prices and our quality of life, and not that much longer after the Maldives.”

“For us, it’s not something in the future,” Nasheed said.

“It’s happening now.”

St. Petersburg’s highest point above sea level is 61 feet.

Though this is less extreme than

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4 News

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Nov. 14, 2014

Scott in, Democrats out, continued

photo by JaxStrong / CC BY Governer Rick Scott was reelected on Nov. 4, 2014.

From GOP, page 3 according to the official Green

“Instead of talking about how much it was going to help the economy, how much it was going to help jobs and eventually put more money back into the region,” Senior and International Relations major Ryan Wheeler said, “I think people just focused on trying to make it sound not as expensive as it was.”

The plan would have introduced a passenger rail from St. Petersburg to Clearwater and eventually to Tampa, Bus Rapid Transit lines in most of the major St. Petersburg streets and areas and increased overall bus service by 65 percent,

Light Pinellas website.

Those in favor of the plan pointed to the heightened tourism, better mobility and the creation of and accesibility to more jobs in the area.

“People’s taxes would have increased by a pretty substantial margin,” Wheeler said.

Those opposed to the plan highlighted these same increased taxes.

Capitol Hill will be seeing a lot more of the color red for at least the next two years. On Nov. 4 midterm elections were conducted and the citizens of America chose to overhaul the U.S. Senate by voting in a Republican as the majority leader.

While the majority change adhered only to the Senate, the implications are widespread. With the Senate and House of Representatives now in control of the Republicans, legislation is expected to be much harder to pass in the upcoming years.

Through 33 elections the Republicans gained a projected eight new seats in the Senate, while the Democrats could only muster 11 election wins — none of these being gains for the party.

The eight states now with Republican senators are West Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana and Alaska.

The Louisiana vote for their Senate representative is currently in a run-off to be decided on Dec. 6. The election will be between incumbent Democratic senator Mary Landrieu and Republican Bill Cassidy, as neither candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote.

Republican Mitch McConnell won his reelection in Kentucky by a 15 point margin over his Democratic opponent, according to The Economist. Because of the change in Senate majority, McConnell is now the Senate majority leader.

It wasn’t all downhill for Democrats, as they saw at least one state turn in their favor. Democrat Tom Wolf won against incumbent Republican Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race.

According to Opensecrets. org, both sides raised a combined $554,530,173 for Senate elections, with $519,470,322 of that being spent. The Democrats raised $263,990,721 among 58 candi-

Eckerd reaches out to Pinellas County students

By Christine Schafer Staff Writer

This year, Eckerd students and staff are becoming increasingly involved in service projects in local schools. Currently, Pinellas County has 11 F-rated schools . In addition, half of all black male students do not earn a high school diploma.

At Eckerd, students from a club called the EC Education Alliance understand the importance of supporting students at local schools.

With the help of the Office of Service-Learning, the EC Education Alliance has become increasingly involved in tutoring at some of the local elementary, middle and high schools in hopes of turning the statistics around.

“Our goal is to provide a constant in kids’ lives because a lot of them have families where they don’t have a constant,” President of the EC Education Alliance and Sophomore Carly Gilmore said. “We want people who desire to work with kids to have the opportunity to make an impact in their lives, help them raise their grades and be a person they look forward to seeing every week. One of the schools we volunteered in, Gulfport Elementary, raised their score as of last year.”

One of the club’s goals is to get five tutors at every school in the area. While they are still working on reaching that goal, many tutors have been volunteering at Gulfport Elementary, whose principal is an Eckerd alumnus.

“In Pinellas County, the government is not very happy with the graduation rates,” Service-Learning AmeriCorps VISTA Christopher

Higgins said. “It is especially bad with black males, but we are trying to increase the graduation rates among all demographics. Dr. Ronald Porter was asked by the mayor to establish service learning in local high schools. One of the high schools we will be piloting a service-learning program in will be St. Pete High.”

As an AmeriCorps volunteer, Higgins has been assigned the mission to help increase graduation rates in the area. His target number is 300 students by May 2015.

One project currently taking place is the Edible Peace Patch, where volunteers from Eckerd have been planting gardens at local elementary schools. According to Higgins, the goal is to get volunteers from St. Pete High involved at their elementary schools through Edible Peace Patch. The Office of ServiceLearning also offers shuttles on weekdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. to Academy Prep, a school for at-risk youth in St. Petersburg.

“Most students from Academy Prep go on to graduate from high school and do really well,” Higgins said.

As shown through the Edible Peace Patch project, Eckerd students and staff take many approaches to positively impacting lives. Last year, the Director of the Fitness Center Henry Palmer completed his Quest for Meaning community service hours as a classroom assistant in a journalism class at Melrose Elementary and Lakewood High.

“When you have kids who are worried about when they are going to eat next, you realize that school

isn’t as big of a priority to them.

Making connections with those kids was really important,” Palmer said. “At Melrose, we were at an advantage just being 20 year-oldsomething guys because we were not seen as an authority figure. I teach kids like adults because they respond to it better.”

Unlike tutoring in traditional subjects, Palmer said that journalism did not confine the curriculum and allowed him to ask students on a one-on-one basis what they cared about.

“I interacted with them by appealing to their interests and treating them as equals rather than subordinates,” Palmer said. “I think the journalism magnet program is a great way to go about it because it has the unique opportunity to show kids that they can enact change.”

In addition to the efforts made by the Office of Service-Learning, the EC Education Alliance and other students on campus, staff members also have the opportunity to mentor local students. A new mentor program called “Lunch Pals” will allow staff members to have weekly lunches throughout the school year with kids at Lakewood Elementary.

Training for the program will start later this month, in hopes that the extra attention will be a significant experience for students.

Any students interested in becoming tutors can go to the Office of Service-Learning to sign up to volunteer at Academy Prep, or contact Carly Gilmore to get involved through the EC Education Alliance. The Office of ServiceLearning is also welcoming more volunteers to participate in the Edible Peace Patch project.

dates while the Republicans raised $285,181,737 among 137 candidates. $420,244,982 of the fundraised money came from the finance, insurance and real estate sectors, with 38.3 percent of the money going to Democrats and 61.6 percent going to Republicans.

McConnell’s race in Kentucky proved to be the most expensive election, with both parties raising a combined $49,945,431 and spending $44,838,119. The Georgia, Minnesota and North Carolina Senate races also saw over $30,000,000 being raised, respectively, according to Opensecrets.org.

The ramifications of the majority change will be almost immediate. President Obama will now have to resort to his presidential veto and executive orders in order to stop legislation and get it passed, actions he uses judiciously and has only done twice in his presidency, according to CNN. Obama hopes to quell fears of stagnancy in Congress though, and took to the podium on Nov. 5 to encourage Americans that all will be well on Capitol Hill.

“Congress will pass some bills I cannot sign,” Obama said in the press conference. “I’m pretty sure I’ll take some actions that some in Congress will not like. That’s natural. That’s how our democracy works. But we can surely find ways to work together on issues where there’s broad agreement among the American people.”

Another implication of the majority change will see effects at once.

It is widely speculated that Obama will create an executive order for immigration law reforms, currently thought to reduce the number of

yearly deportations. This is because any bill that was floating around the Senate will now have to be voted on again once session reconvenes.

Obama mentioned a multitude of ideas for actions and bills in his press conference on Nov. 5 that he thinks would be possible with the new majority. These range from creating more jobs at home, exporting more American goods overseas and decreasing student debt nationwide.

Student debt is a concern for masses of people, both in school and out, as it has now reached over $1.3 trillion, according to a Forbes report from Aug. 2013. The stalemate in Congress could mean less relief for students in the short and long run.

The U.S. finds itself in a difficult situation. Legislation was being passed at a crawling rate before, even with the Democrats holding the majority of Senate. Now, with a Democratic president in Obama and a Republican Congress, it will be a testament to both parties’ camaraderie and nationalism to pass any new laws. Obama thinks this is possible.

“Even if we don’t agree 100 percent, let’s get started on those things where we agree 70, 80, 90 percent,” Obama said in the press conference. “If we can do that, and build up some trust and improve how processes work in Washington, then I think that’s going to give the American people a little bit more confidence that, in fact, their government is looking after them.”

From SAILING, page 1

tions about the cove. Junior and Marine Science major Connor Zink does not like the idea of a sailing cove being constructed.

“It’s destroying the environment in the cove and surrounding waters,” Zink said.

Reali wants to let students such as Zink and the entire student body to know that there will be no ecological conflicts with the project and all proper precautions are being made. Reali also believes that having a new sailing cove will help attract prospective students.

“The new cove will help to put Eckerd even more so on the map,” he said.

This new addition will showcase Eckerd’s unique position on the water and will also serve as a permanent location for the sailing team.

“It’s great for the team to have a place that we can finally call our own, instilling a better sense of camaraderie,” Green said.

“The funds for the first phase of the project have already been raised and we are working on [fundraising for] the second phase,” Reali said.

The sailing team will benefit most from the project and they are grateful that they can take full advantage of the new facility and location. Junior Brianna Green, a member of the sailing team, is looking forward to the new cove.

“I think it is a great way to showcase the growth of the sailing program,” Green said. “The new sailing cove will make practice time much more time efficient because of the reduced sail out to the bay.”

Because of Eckerd’s location on the water, sailing is a popular sport, with 35 students collectively between the men’s and women’s teams. But due to the Eckerd community’s respect for the environment, some students have reserva-

photo by Lia Nydes Construction has already begun on the anticipated sailing cove.

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Viewpoints 5

Viewpoints Jolly season sleds into stores too soon

By Araesia King Viewpoints Editor ‘Tis the season to be jolly. November is finally here, and we all know what that means. Christmas decorations have begun their mass invasion of stores everywhere.

Forget Halloween. Forget Thanksgiving. Santa sneaks into stores stealthier than Halloween ghosts and sticks around longer than Thanksgiving leftovers.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. But its early appearance in stores seems to make a joke out of the jolly season. Christmas is meant to be a time of giving, but it is now rampant with overconsumption and greed.

A study by the American Research group last year revealed that shoppers plan to spend about $801 on gifts this holiday season.

This number is appalling. The holiday should be about more than getting the best gift.

Not only does the early appearance of Christmas in stores promote overconsumption, but it also seems to distract from the holidays that precede it. Both Veterans’ Day and Thanksgiving are glazed over by the obsession for consumption created by the Christmas season.

It is unfortunate that we are so focused on gifts that we tend to neglect more important things.

There are many troops overseas still that are not able to celebrate the holidays with the family and could use a little Christmas cheer.

People spend more time worrying about what they are going to stuff their stockings with rather

photo by Hailey Escobar The Frozen Christmas display in International Plaza Mall brings in Christmas earlier than expected.

than reflecting on the sacrifices made so that they are able to live the way that they do.

“It’s just sad that people worry more about buying gifts for Christmas rather than spending time with their families and embracing the true spirit of the season,” Freshman Kelsey Gancarz said.

The obsession with gift-giving distracts from the “true spirit of the

season” that Gancarz mentioned.

For Christians, Christmas is a time to remember the birth of Jesus -- a birth that, for followers of the religion, serves as a reminder of the ultimate sacrifice as God sent His one and only son to Earth to die for their sins.

For those who aren’t Christians, Christmas represents a time to create traditions and to express thanks

for all that they have received and all that they will receive.

It is a time to spend time with loved ones and not a time to spend money at the stores.

I recently went home for Fall Break and my parents proposed to my brother and I that instead of giving gifts this year, we should just take a trip somewhere to spend some quality time together.

My brother’s response to this proposition reflected the mindset of our society.

“I mean I would love to go somewhere, but I still want gifts,” he said, without looking up from his phone.

The holiday season was once meant to be a time to reflect on the past year and remember the things to be thankful for.

Now we can hardly get past Labor Day without Christmas merchandise making its way into the stores.

But Santa’s swift arrival to stores is not entirely a bad thing.

“Shopping early might allow for a more mindful and intentional observance of the religious holiday in December,” Director of the Center for Spiritual Life and Chaplain Doug McMahon said. “Additionally, I have heard people report that October Christmas shopping allows family members to send Christmas presents to military personnel serving overseas, to family members serving in the Peace Corps, or others living or working in other countries.”

McMahon raises a good point.

While the holiday season is overrun by overconsumption, it is important to remember that there is an upside to every situation.

Yes, the early appearance of Christmas stores creates an environment in which purchasing is valued over connecting, but it does not have to remain that way.

We need to put the holiday season back on the nice list and deck the store aisles with compassion and joy rather than greed, making it truly a season to be jolly.

#GamerGate: Getting females in the game

By Hailey Escobar Online Editor It’s a widely held belief that the world of gaming is considered by many to be a “boys only” club.

For years, women have faced sexist remarks when they dress up for conventions and yet are faced with little to no representation in major games.

If there is a female in a game, she is in metal lingerie.

But these male remarks have evolved to become aggressive threats towards female critics of the gaming industries’ ethics in their games.

According to a chart created for GamesBeat, an online blog for gaming, the #GamerGate storm, the growing anger between female gamers and the refusal from other gamers to do so, has been brewing since February.

It has only begun to receive national attention in October after the threat against Anita Sarkeesian became public.

Sarkeesian has made a name for herself in the feminist and gaming communities through her web series “Tropes vs. Video Games” and her website “Feminist Frequency.”

On Oct. 14, Sarkeesian was forced to cancel a talk on her work after several death threats and threats of mass shootings at the

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venue became viral.

Sarkessian is not the only female in the gaming industry to be hit by this wave of hostility. Critics Leigh Alexander and Felicia Day and game developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu have also experienced some negativity, according to the Washington Post.

During her interview on “The Colbert Report,” Sarkessian explained why she thought she and her fellow critics were receiving so much criticism from other areas of the gaming community.

“I think women are perceived as threatening, because we are asking for games to be more inclusive,” Sarkeesian said.

Since receiving the official name of #GamerGate on Twitter, there has been a lot of confusion over which side the name is supposed to apply to: those taking a stand for inclusion or those threatening them.

At this point, I believe that the name encompasses the entire debate.

Much like its inspiration, Watergate, these threats are revealing what’s really been going on in this global industry to the general public and are putting a spotlight on those behind it .

Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not a major gamer. My history with video games includes

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the Sims franchise and the occasional one-on-one fighting games.

Despite this, I understand where the critics of modern gaming are coming from.

It’s time for a change in an industry that has been ignoring a large percentage of its client base.

It’s people who feel threatened by this change -- by the fact that a woman would even know about “Assassin’s Creed” or “Call of Duty” let alone play it -- who are allowing their vanity and ignorance to drive them into making death threats.

The gaming industry needs to build a new culture, a stronger culture, that encourages the creation of games where women aren’t turned into props and where women are welcomed as equal gamers.

First, they need to weed out those creating the threats, because they are only developing a terrible image for the gaming world. Then, by creating the necessary characters inside the games, all gamers will begin to see women as people or heroes in the game, not just pretty faces.

They could even invite more women to speak at conventions as part of a professional panel, not separated into a separate discussion on dealing with aggressive males.

There is so much that can be done, all they need to do is take the first step.

courtesy of Merle Czarnetzki Sophomore Kiana Sladicki is deep in thought as she plays a game on Xbox 360.

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Nov. 14, 2014

My tattoo is of a New England lobster. The reason that I got it was because I am from Boston and I like the symbol of the New England area. I’ve always associated with the symbol of lobster with myself. I thought it was cool to get a lobster immortalized on my body when that is how they are in nature.

—Daniel Makholm, junior

Body art: Permanent ink does not pop the Eckerd bubble

By Chase Sheldon Contributing Writer

“My tattoos are like my life journal. Basically the whole theme of my sleeve is that life is short.” —Katie Shafer, Junior

If you were to tell a sensible person that the way you expressed yourself is by placing ink underneath your skin with a needle moving faster than the human eye can follow, that person might give you a weird look.

Yet, tattoos are becoming a larger part of our culture. Some TV shows and magazines are even centered around them, such as Spikes’s reality show Ink Masters and Inked Magazine.

Tattoos are a way to express yourself -- to tell others about yourself with a simple drawing or phrase.

This viewpoint is shared by many students in the Eckerd bubble.

When walking around campus, you might see Celtic Crosses or butterflies on the shoulders, biceps or ankles of Eckerd students.

Crosses are extremely popular up in my hometown in Massachusetts, though that could be because of the large Irish-Catholic population.

I have a tattoo on my right shoulder blade of a panther head inside a black ring. It is the symbol for my grandfather’s WWII army division.

Others have gotten tattoos because of their sentimental value or for religious reasons.

“Tattoos are not something that you get to please other people.

They are permanent images left to remind you of past battles or triumphs,” Freshman Ally Gallagher said.

Tattoos are like scars; they tell a story.

While the story is obvious to the owner of the tattoo, it may be perceived by others in a different way than was originally intended.

A tattoo that may have sentimental value to someone might come off as offensive or off-putting to others.

Here at Eckerd, we can safely explore our boundaries with those who understand and are sympathetic towards us.

Outside our bubble, things will be harder, espe-

cially in the working world.

I won’t lie to you, it will be hard enough getting a job after graduating from Eckerd.

The Economic Policy Institute states that the unemployment rate for college graduates under the age of 25 in the U.S. is 14.5 percent.

Having a tattoo might make it more difficult to find a job.

Even if your tattoo isn’t wild or outlandish, it is still a tattoo, and any type of body modification can impact the way that a possible employer will perceive you.

My dad once told me that as long as I never get a tattoo that is visible when I’m in a suit, I could get whatever I wanted.

It’s some of the best advice I’ve ever heard about getting a tattoo, and I’d advise all of you with tattoos and those of you who plan on getting tattoos to take what my father said to heart.

Don’t let these things deter you from getting a tattoo. Just be smart about it.

Above: “My tattoo is a French creole poem. It says ‘And the day will come to become the sky and become the sea. And the sea has embraced me and released me from my cage. Nothing can stop me now.’”

—Alek Pfeiffer, freshman Below: “‘Cry now smile later.’ Cry now because I’ve been through so much, but then I’ll be able to laugh later on.” —Theo Bruner, senior

“My tattoo is for my grandmother who passed away. She collected peacock feathers in Spain and they are now hanging in my house.” photos by Hannah Hamontree —Lizzy Miller, freshman

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Viewpoints 7

Nov. 14, 2014

Catholic church moves towards LGBT acceptance

By Timothy Lee Contributing Writer In October, the Catholic church almost made a monumental leap toward greater respect for its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members.

On Oct. 5, Pope Francis called together the Synod of Bishops, an advisory assembly of bishops from all over the world, to discuss the church’s teachings on marriage and family.

The Catholic church currently teaches that homosexual behavior is sinful, that we LGBT people are “intrinsically disordered” and that marriage is the sacred union of a man and a woman.

But, last month, the eyes of the world turned to Rome, the seat of the church that claims 17 percent of the world’s population among its adherents, as the synod released a draft report that could be described as nothing short of game-changing.

“Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community,” the report said.

While it stopped short of any change in doctrine, this working document signalled a new respect for LGBT people. It moved beyond the empty rhetoric of forgiveness and love for sinners, to the point of recognizing that we are actually humans, inherently valuable and able to contribute to our communities.

But, it was just a draft. In their backlash, the conservative bishops stripped almost everything revo-

photo by PaoNu / CC BY Pope Francis greets followers in Italy.

lutionary from the final report, as if it had never existed. But they could not change the impact the draft had on LGBT Catholics.

This hiccup proved just how controversial the Catholic church’s strict anti-gay stance is, even at its highest levels.

It signaled the inevitability of a change in the church’s treatment of its LGBT members, thus marking a tiny step in the right direction from one of the world’s oldest and largest institutions — the baby step of an ancient giant. From the perspective of ordinary Catholics, it seems the

leadership is being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century.

According to a Pew Research survey published in June, 60 percent of the U.S. Catholics that attend mass at least once per week believe that homosexuality should be fully accepted by soci-

Dear Abby, I don’t know what I want to do for the rest of my life. I am about to graduate from college, which I love, but I am clueless. How can I get on track?

Best, Real Life Worries Dear Real Life Worries, The first thing I would do is take a deep breath and realize that this is not just a closing of a chapter, but the opening of a new one.

Many things in life have probably been planned out for you like they are for all students. Children grow, go to elementary school, middle and high school. Then there comes

#Amusing Musings

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ety, and 45 percent support legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

According to Reuters, Pope Francis closed the synod with a sermon urging the Catholic church not to fear change.

“God is not afraid of new things.

That is why he is continuously surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways,” the pope said at a mass at which he beatified Pope Paul VI. Paul VI is best remembered for bringing together the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which reformed the church’s relationship with other religions now that pope is one step closer to sainthood. Catholics may well be honoring Pope Francis 50 years from now for a similar groundbreaking change in his church’s relationship with LGBTQ people.

But why does this matter, and why do some LGBT people choose to persist in the tension of religious communities steeped in bigotry and ignorance?

As a gay Protestant Christian myself who was raised as a Southern Baptist, I don’t have a good answer for that question. I stayed because the stories are still important to me, and I believe Christianity is still a good framework for my personal values. I can’t speak for anyone else.

I know there are many other people like me who’ve stuck around for the sake of faith or family or a desire to change our communities for the better. This controversy signals a first small step in that direction.

college, and throughout all of these years one is expected to make good grades. For the first time in your life, you will have a say in what you do. I would advise talking with a parent or guardian. They have been through the same things and will always have your best interest at heart.

I would also suggest slowing down and taking a little break from this thought. You probably have been on the go most of your life.

Take a moment to reflect, and approach this topic again when you have settled down into a routine, and are used to being a graduate.

Try not to live on fast-forward like a lot of people do. Enjoy being in the moment. I hope this helps.

Best, Abby

Here is where we immortalize the funniest quotes from EC students and faculty. No names, no shame.

Follow us on Twitter: @TheECCurrent

Human Experience Professor The sound isn’t working on the video so I shall narrate. The eyeball is a very fascinating thing... so is the Earth. #fixthesoundplease

Anonymous Professor: Prof: Whats wrong with your eyes?

Student: I’m just ugly.

Prof: Oh, sorry. That sucks. #wellthisisawkward

Chemistry Professor: I don’t give out candy, I just give out happiness, joy and quizzes. #thereisjoyinquizzes

Humanities professor: Your dictionary will never give you an STD. #learningissexy

8 Viewpoints

the current

Nov 14, 2014

Contrasting the issue of military contractors

Friendly Fire:

By Matthew Cramer Staff Writer

Few incidents in the Iraq war have shocked the American public quite like the Nisour Square incident, when American contractors fired machine guns and threw grenades into an Iraqi traffic circle, killing 17 Iraqi citizens and injuring 20 others. None of them were insurgents.

As the story grew, the specter of American contractors in Iraq rose from the shadows. With cloak and dagger names like Blackwater and DynCorp, private contractors quickly began to capture the American public’s attention, and their actions and atrocities caused considerable outcry. But, it is much easier to vilify the scary multinational company with the comic-book villain name than to examine the circumstances that have brought them into play. Contractors are an unfortunate necessity due to the American political

The new century has seen further complications in conventional warfare and ways to go about protecting U.S. citizens from danger. One complex trend that has emerged in the War on Terror, the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War has been the use of private contractors in warzones.

The New York Times defines private contractors as military-trained security guards hired by governments to protect diplomats, provide intelligence, assist soldiers on missions and conduct covert operations.

While these individuals are called “Private Military Contractors,” this is only a slight change of the actual term that originally described their work. The most apt, and recognizable terminology for these “contractors” is mercenaries.

Their lack of loyalty to any country in particular, violations of con-

climate -- more a symptom of the disease rather than the virus itself.

It is easy to see why the American political system relies on contract work. In the media, the phrase ‘boots on the ground’ is often repeated, and denotes how many American men and women are at risk in the combat zone. Every set of ‘boots on the ground’ is another American soldier that could potentially be killed in the conflict.

Every American death hangs heavy over the heads of American politicians, and heavier still on their hopes for re-election. Each political party knows that American deaths during their tenure will come back to bite them come election season. One only needs to look to the 2008 elections, or more recently the Benghazi incident and the role it played in Obama’s re-election, and could play when

duct that national armies follow and allegiance only to money places this new generation of contractors in the same category as past mercenaries.

While most countries have banned the practice of utilizing mercenaries coupled with the United Nations passing numerous conventions banning the use of mercenaries to fulfill any means, the trend has only increased.

The most notable country that utilizes these contractors is the U.S. One defense company that has received considerable attention is Blackwater Worldwide, which has changed its name to Academi in recent years.

The name change came in the aftermath of perhaps the most controversial event involving private contractors in the Iraq war. Many shootings involving contractors, from Blackwater in particular, took

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place during the Iraq War, but one in particular resulted in the convictions of four former contractors.

On Sept. 16, 2007, Nicolas Slatten, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty and Paul Slough were involved in a shooting that took the lives of 17 Iraqis.

The event that took place in Nisour Square that day created a seven-year legal and international battle to hold the four contractors responsible for their crime.

The New York Times reported that the shooting in 2007 represented a clear criminal act and further attributes the shooting to ultimately bringing down Blackwater Worldwide.

On Oct. 22, 2014 justice finally came for the 17 Iraqis that lost their lives in the shootout in the form of convictions for the four contractors.

Nicolas Slatten, the first man to

Hilary Clinton inevitably runs.

The easiest way to skirt this issue is to not have ‘boots on the ground,’ or at least not American soldiers.

American contractors on the other hand -- that’s another story.

With all the focus on ratcheting down troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been little focus on contractors. In March of this year, the State Department reported that there were approximately 60,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan; however, there were more than 100,000 contractors.

David Johnson, a former army lieutenant and executive director for the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington, outlined in a recent presentation that a substantial number of contractors would remain as troop levels fell to support existing infrastructure. Contract work fire the shots that started the deadly shooting, was convicted of firstdegree murder for which he could receive life in prison. The other contractors received convictions of voluntary manslaughter and using a machine gun to carry out a violent crime, a charge that carries a 30year minimum sentence.

This event justifies the need for all countries, the U.S. included, to categorically ban the use of mercenary forces in any form.

The practice of hiding behind semantics is not only unethical in this situation, but also sinister.

The U.S. stands in a primed position to rid the scourge of this new generation of mercenaries, and hopefully we will see this take place. The 21st century has no place for government to use guns for hire to carry out missions where ethical and legal guidelines can be sidestepped.

serves as a way to hide conflict and death from the American public and protect the political parties from potential backlash.

Contract workers do have a history of war crimes, as evidenced by the Blackwater incident. However, this pales in comparison to the vast history of war crimes committed by the American military, in Iraq and other conflicts. What unites these crimes is the war itself; when war and foreign occupation occur, so too do atrocities. The American public cannot afford to be blinded by the established narrative of evil corporations being at fault for these horrific incidents; war is at fault. For there to be lasting change, the focus cannot be on the military contractors themselves, but the situations that allow for their existence and facilitation by the American government.

By Dan Whitley Staff Writer

Professor edition: What does your tattoo mean to you?

“I have two tattoos. They’re both from Ice Age movies. Scrat and Sid. Perhaps the result of a heavy night of drinking and at the time dating a tattoo artist. They were just images that were on my goalie helmet at the time I was playing for the club hockey team at Ohio State. It seemed, when one was drinking, like a good idea. Don’t drink and get tattoos.

— Professor Chopan, Creative Writing

“I have two tattoos that are visible. Both of them are in memory. I have a rather large tattoo on my foot that is a California Poppy that is in memory of one of my pets that I had to put down several years ago. On my arm I have my father’s handwriting. It’s ‘you are the memory.’

That was a phrase he wrote to me in a letter many years ago. He passed away about four years ago and I put that on my arm in memory of him.” — Professor Conrad, Biology

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Science & Technology 9

Science & TEchnology

graphic by Alex Zielinski

Amendment One will preserve and protect Florida’s water, wetlands and more.

Florida votes ‘yes’ to conservation

By Sarah Raney Asst. Science & Tech. Editor

photo by Eileen McGraw The new electric car station is located by the Environmental Studies building.

Eckerd supports electric vehicles, installs new charging station

By Graydon Neill Staff Writer

In early October, a school-sponsored charging station was installed for owners of electric cars.

Placed in the Environmental Sciences and Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science buildings parking lot, the new station is operated by a company called ChargePoint. ChargePoint operates roughly 80 other stations throughout Pinellas County.

With this addition, Eckerd joins other local colleges such as FSU and St. Petersburg College who have already had charging stations installed.

The new station carries a message about Eckerd’s commitment to the environment.

“This is a trial run on campus right now. If we feel the need to expand [the program] we can put another Chargepoint station on campus,” Sustainability Fellow Evan Bollier said.

Eckerd has an agreement with Chargepoint that the school will pay for anyone who uses the charging station, making it free for anyone with an electric car.

“We are paying about ten cents per kilowatt hour, so we’re not paying that much right now,” Bollier said.

It usually takes between three to five kilowatt hours of electricity to fully charge an electric car.

Bollier estimates that there are under ten electric car owners on campus. Among them, the new charging station has been a hit. Professor of Computer Science Kelly Debure is one such owner.

“I usually come to campus with a near full charge, so the convenience is more the reward of a good parking space,” she said.

Debure notes that the new charging station takes a worry off her mind when she has to drive farther than usual.

“On the occasion that I do have a long drive to make in the morning, it really is wonderful to be able to recharge for the rest of the driving I need to do that afternoon or evening,” she said.

The student body also welcomes the addition.

“The new charging station encourages more people to come [to college] with electric cars,” Senior Alex DuMond said.

Bollier explained that the location for the first charging station was chosen for visibility as well as practical reasons. The parking lot by the MPC is used when holding the Environmental Film Festival in Miller Auditorium.

For now there are just but a few people who can take advantage of the charging station, but this could change. Bollier hopes that the addition of the charging station will encourage students to bring electric cars to college. Regardless, the station will be a highlight on campus tours.

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As human activities and global climate change continue to alter Florida’s fragile environment, Amendment One, which passed in the Nov. 4 election, will allocate one-third of document excise taxes, which are paid when you sign the documents for purchasing real estate, for the next 20 years to conservation and protection of water resources.

The amendment required 60 percent of the vote to pass, and it received 75 percent. It will go into effect on July 1, 2015.

According to Vote Yes on One, 95 percent of the budget for conservation efforts has been cut since 2009. Because these groups feel that Florida’s governing bodies have done little to make conservation a priority through legislation, they are seeking an amendment to the state constitution.

Assistant Professor of History Lee Irby has lived in Florida for many years and is very familiar with its rich history and ecosystems.

“I think what this reveals is

the frustration of people, especially conservationists, who feel really shut out right now,” Irby said.

Legislators have argued that amending the state constitution is not the way to achieve actions that could be taken through legislation. On the other hand, Professor of Political Science Anthony Brunello pointed out that it may not have gotten the necessary votes in Tallahassee.

“This is legislation through constitutional amendment, that’s essentially what it is,” Irby said.

Sophomore and Florida resident Jessie Green expressed concern about the language of the amendment. “[Legislators] tend to make their statements confusing by using lots of big and rather unnecessary words and long rambling statements,” she said.

“Voting yes can actually mean voting no and vice versa.”

According to Irby, citizens feel like they do not have a way to get to officials, and that disconnect has led to this amendment.

As the population in Florida has increased, more strain has been placed on its ecosystems.

“The lack of a Growth Management Act has allowed rampant development,” Irby said.

“The Growth Management Act of 1985 at least forced developers to go through the state to meet certain criteria to get approval, and now that’s all gone.”

The Growth Management Act of 1985 required Florida jurisdictions to make comprehensive plans detailing their land uses, or planning for future growth and development in a community for the next 15 to 20 years. This program put more regulations in place before development could move forward.

It was repealed by the legislature in 2011, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Since then it has been open season,” Irby said.

Other conservation programs have faced drastic budget cuts in recent years. For example, the Florida Forever program, according to Irby, has seen a significant loss of funding. The Everglades Restoration Program has also had very slow progress, especially as development continues to close in around it.

Irby, however, has also expressed concern with the language of the amendment.

According to Brunello, the language is very vague. Not only will the money go to conservation efforts but also to management of water resources.

“The red flags that came up for me were how much emphasis was on water management,” Irby said. “That’s what developers need. They can’t build if there’s no water. Will this amendment allow the legislature the back door to move water from one part of the state to another? Water is a huge issue.”

The amendment on its own, though, may not be able to fix the problem. Legislation is still needed to provide infrastructure for protecting our environment, according to Irby.

“I’m really torn about this amendment,” Irby said. “It seems like a slam dunk, and yet there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

Although the amendment may have unintended consequences, it may lead to greater preservation of Florida’s unique environment.

“What it means for the state, it will remain to be seen,” Brunello said.

Butterfly Garden opens to public

By Fiona Maguire Contributing Writer

On Oct. 22 at 5 p.m., Environmental Studies majors and members of Green Team arrived at the Palm Hammock ready to put the final touches on Eckerd’s new butterfly garden.

The garden is located at the far end of the Palm Hammock, next to the swimming pool and North Parking Lot. All of the plants are Florida native species and will hopefully attract native invertebrates like butterflies.

There are a wide variety of species, including corn grass, muhly grass, coreopsis and native milk weed, which is a crucial diet for the growth of Monarch caterpillars.

Green Team Conservation Crew Leader and Sophomore Jo Campo has been working on the restoration project.

“The project [helps] promote butterfly species richness and diversity on campus,” she said.

All members of the Eckerd community are welcome to visit the garden. Professor of Environmental Studies Alison Ormsby has organized the gar-

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den from the beginning.

“Hopefully it will be a nice, quiet place of reflection where students can just relax and study,” she said.

During the opening celebration, participants spent the hour removing weeds and invasive grasses while others transported mulch onto the cleared areas. After the garden’s completion everyone was rewarded photo by Eileen McGraw with refreshing raspber- ry lemonade and pop- A group of professors and students put the finishing touches on the butterfly garden. sicles. Students will still fessor of Environmental Studies butterfly species sightings. be expe g on the garden, “The garden restores the but the new irrigation should and Biology Elizabeth Forys’s help to significantly lessen the conservation biology class will natural area of the palm hamnow be able to use the garden mocks,” Ormsby said. need for watering.

Not only will the garden atFacilities has been a huge for their butterfly monitoring tract butterflies, but it will also help in making the garden pos- project.

Forys assigns a monitoring attract a variety of other native sible. They built several benches placed alongside the trail, project each year where stu- insects that will improve the staand will continue to help with dents identify and document bility of the ecosystem. Upperupkeep such as mulching and the species of butterflies found level organisms feed on these weeding. A sign at the garden’s on Eckerd’s campus. Some but- insects causing the benefits to terfly species you may see in the travel up the chain, making an entrance will be installed soon.

Ormsby called the garden a garden include the Zebra butter- exponential impact. The plants living laboratory and said the fly, Monarch butterfly and Gulf will work to rehabilitate the land environmental comps class will Frittilary butterfly. So far, there and improve the biodiversity of be helping out. Students in Pro- are about 20 to 30 documented Eckerd’s campus.

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Standing water accumulates during storms

By Beau Maysey Staff Writer

As the rainy season of Florida draws to a close, there may be lingering questions about the large amounts of water that seemed to flood many parts of campus, such as Slater’s Woods, after each downpour. Many students complained about inaccessible walkways and slippery conditions.

“There is a big problem with the drainage, but I don’t know what they could do,” Sophomore Shannon Murphy said.

With standing water potentially a hazard for commuters around campus, Director of Planning, Development and Construction Bill McKenna offered some insight into the situation.

McKenna recommended using the term ‘standing water,’ as flooding comes from an external body of water such as a lake. According to McKenna, Eckerd’s issue of standing water stems from its geography.

Eckerd is elevated to only five feet above sea level, making it very flat as opposed to other campuses. At the same time, only two feet of the ground on campus is able to soak up water, due to its composition of primarily sand and limestone.

According to McKenna, this makes an underground system of transporting water essential.

“Go back 10 years, this campus was underwater in even modest rainstorms,” McKenna said.

Looking back, there was a time when commuting on campus after a downpour was simply impossible.

Walking out of Delta meant trekking through a foot of water, and the soccer field would become a pond. Since then, improvements have been made, such as a system of five foot diameter pipes being installed that connect to the large rain basin that drains the water out.

Eckerd’s drainage plan involves compliance with the Florida Clean OH

Standing water gathers on the road near Zeta and Nu.

Water Act (FCWA) so that standing water cannot be dumped directly into Tampa Bay. Instead, it is directed to a retention pond for holding, and then filtered before draining it out.

Water tends to flow into the North Pond near the entrance of the campus, so Facilities connected the pond to the lakes of Marina Bay. From there it flows into Tampa Bay. Another example occurs at the creek located behind Zeta. Because so much water collected, it was expanded to take in more and offset some of the puddles.

The road to a well-maintained drainage system has spanned a OH

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learn responsibly

By Conor McKenna Columunist I stare uninterested at my computer screen. It’s Facebook of course, and I cannot help myself to look at the new “scientific breakthrough” that is popular on the godless website. I click to find that the title is misleading the audience from what the actual research is on. This is done to attract more attention from the public.

In fact, a study published this year in PLOS ONE revealed that popularity may breed unreliability, an interesting find for Facebook participants. As scientists, it is important that we remember the old saying: we can’t trust everything you read, including the wide world of the Web. The study was conducted by Senthil Selvaraj of Brigham and Women’s Hospital along with other collaborators. The research consisted of collecting published medical journals and clinicallyoriented journal articles from the top five newspapers and the top five medical journals and comparing the citation rates along with impact factors. The study compared 75 of each newspaper submissions and 75 of the medical journals.

Each study’s authenticity was given a rating from one through five based on the number of credible sources. Because medical

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ready and raising it might create a hazard to pedestrians.

Meanwhile, at Lewis House, where a storm drain is meant to bring water to Chapel Pond, the end is plugged up with an overgrowth of Brazilian Peppers, completely blocking the exit into the pond.

Even without problems such as these, the underground piping is complex. It’s no surprise that problems crop up from time to time.

There are also structures called swells all throughout campus that were engineered to temporarily hold certain amounts of water until drained away.

Future fixes are already being planned for places where standing water greatly obstructs walking patterns. Notably, there is a plan for the area near the Visual Arts Center, in which Chapel Pond will accept more water run-off.

With several million dollars put aside towards facilities and utilities upgrades, McKenna plans to continue improving the campus’ drainage system and the issues that he is aware of. Eckerd may still have a long way to go if it hopes to satisfy the student body in terms of its puddles, but it would be much worse without the drainage already in place.

ITS reduces Eckerd’s paper consumption

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decade, but along the way a few problem areas have emerged. The asphalt road between Dorm Drive and Iota Complex was, according to McKenna, meant to be a temporary path for construction workers, and so a drainage system was never installed there. However, students clamored for the pathway to remain, and water continued to accumulate in small ditches along the path. Eventually, the area was changed to concrete and the drain line was expanded.

Another problem area with standing water has been at the sidewalk going past Beta and Delta.

This sidewalk has been elevated al-

photo by Cypress Hansen

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journals will have many more citations, they are considered more reliable. Research is determined more reliable by the number and quality of the citations provided.

The study suggests that more favored topics seem to have weaker study design, not the more popular an article is the more unreliable it is.

So what the heck did they find out? Well, the researchers found that 40 percent of the journal papers they examined were found to be most reliable, while only 17 percent of the newspaper articles were. This means that the research in medical journals had a much higher rate of reliability than the ones chosen by newspapers.

Does that mean that this column is made more unreliable because you are reading it from a newspaper? It could be... The research, my only source mind you, conducted by Selvaraj, was comparing medical journals and newspaper articles, two of which have different requirements and have differing publication criteria. Perhaps, we scientists must decide for ourselves what we believe to be authentic.

I encourage you to challenge any subject material you read.

Next time you’re reading that Facebook shared post you cannot believe is true, maybe it isn’t.

By Ania Szczesniewski Staff Writer Information and Technology Services has been working towards reducing Eckerd’s reliance on paper and the machines that print them by devising a new way for their department to fax materials. This will be in addition to an already impressive resume of paper reduction initiatives.

ITS will be rolling out, only in their department for now, a method of sending faxes through a fax server in iCloud. This will enable computers to send documents directly to a fax machine instead of first printing it out and then processing the page through a fax machine.

ITS similarly hopes that people will increasingly scan documents to be digitally sent out rather than mailing physical pages.

As for other attempts to reduce paper use, a few years ago ITS began charging departments for paper.

Before departments were aware of the prices, much less thought was put into how much paper is being used.

According to Assistant Director of IT and Manager of Admin Software Systems Frank Abney, ITS also provides a $60 to $100 allotment on the PaperCut printing system, depending on class standing, for students to use towards printing. This limit is an effort to reduce the amount of paper printed by students since they are forced to go through a payment process each

time they print.

According to Director of ITS John Duff, before Papercut was put in place there was a focus on lessening the amount of printing in the library. Before the installment of PaperCut, the public was entering the library to print unlimited amounts of paper for free.

“It apparently was just known in the community,” Duff said.

Students from University of Southern Florida and St. Petersburg College were also taking advantage of Eckerd’s free printing, according to Duff and Abney. The two of them found out about this from Eckerd librarians who would see people simply walking right in.

PaperCut also eliminated the problem of unclaimed printed pages piling up by requiring that the printing job must be released on location.

ITS reports that there was about a 30 percent decrease in paper usage with PaperCut alone.

“It’s nice to know our school is being conscious of our impact on the environment,” Freshman Lily Curry said.

Departments are now beginning to store documents on the document management system Knowledge. Google Forms and Seamless Docs fulfill a similar purpose and are also being used. For example, forms found in the Registrar’s Office for students are now being delivered electronically with an e-signature and then stored in the document management system.

The Board of Trustees is another example of a department that has made changes.

“The Board of Trustees stepped up in a big way,” Duff said.

Eckerd staff used to prepare binders about three to four inches thick for every board meeting for every member. About three meetings happen a year with 15 to 17 people attending. These binders were full of all the reports from various groups on campus, but now the meetings hardly print anything. All the board members have acquired iPads or other devices on which they look up the various documents on the Board of Trustees’ website.

Documents can also be projected on a screen.

Additionally, the judicial process at Eckerd formerly used paper.

Anyone called to hear a case would receive a stack of paper with pertinent information. Now, instead, they are given an iPad with all the documents. This has improved the process by providing better quality, colored photos and resolving the issue of disposing of the papers.

Classes are given a certain amount of paper they are allowed to use. To increase this quota, they must make a request. This can serve as encouragement to decrease printing. The requests for higher quotas have gone down over time.

“There are a lot of things we’re going to continue to do but if someone identifies an area of need we will certainly look at it,” Abney said.

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Nov. 14, 2014

Arts & Entertainment 11

Arts & Entertainment MisterWives: next “family” of indie pop

INSIDE A&E Gambino album review Humans of Eckerd

page 11 page 12

Gambino releases mix tape, “Kauai”

By Dorothy-Mae Eldemire Viewpoints Editor

courtesy of Iconosquare user @iamannex The band MisterWives takes a “family” photo.

By Amy Delano Staff Writer If you are searching for vocal energy, band synergy and catchy unique beats, then look no further.

MisterWives is a group composed of vocalist and sole female member Mandy Lee, Drummer Etienne Bowler, Bassist William Hehir, Guitarist Marc Campbell and Multi-intrumentalist Dr. Blum.

MisterWives brings a distinctive voice to indie pop music with a mix of fun, upbeat songs as well as softer, sentimental songs.

Lee, Bowler and Hehir all began solo journeys in New York. Things slowly fell into place when Lee was introduced to Hehir via a mutual friend, and was thereafter intro-

FRIDAY

duced to Bowler who worked only a block away from Lee. But the group did not find its sound until the next two members joined. After one rehearsal with Campbell and Blum, the group finally felt complete. Their first show with all five members was at New York’s Canal Room on Feb. 1, 2013.

After their stellar performance, MisterWives got signed with Photo Finish Records.

The band was touring for a good portion of 2013, opening for acts such as Half Moon Run and American Authors before releasing the “Reflections EP” earlier this year.

A full-length album is much anticipated, however there is no release date yet.

SATURDAY

“Reflections” is currently their most well known track, and I can see this song becoming very popular in the near future.

“Reflections” stars out calming and smooth, but quickly breaks into an upbeat tune of powerhouse vocals when the chorus begins.

“Reflections” is a wonderfully catchy beat that will have you continuously pressing repeat. I discovered this song in August and knew I’d be hearing more from MisterWives.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard this song around more and more and I’m sure it will become a hit on the radio. “Reflections” has over 8 million plays on Spotify as of October 2014, and I expect that

SUNDAY

MONDAY

number to rise drastically in the next few months.

According to Billboard, the name “MisterWives” comes from the “gender-corrected take on the term ‘sisterwives.’”

The band even lives together; it’s kind of like they’re actually married. They turned one of the bedrooms into a studio so that they can continuously record, Lee told pastemagazine.com “You’d think we’d be sick of each other, considering we see way too much of one another,” Lee said.

We’ll let you know how it goes the following year, you never know.

We might kill each other. For now, we’re all best friends. We’re not a band -- we’re definitely a family.”

TUESDAY

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Pitchers with Professors 4:30 p.m.

Triton’s Pub

Waiting for Godot 8 p.m.

Bininger Theater

Waiting for Godot 2 p.m.

Bininger Theater

The Current meeting 7 p.m.

Taco Tuesday LinkedIn workshop 6 p.m Career Services

21 Film: Winter Sleep 7 p.m.

Miller Auditorium

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Band Fall Concert 7:30 p.m.

Fox Hall

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Love Letters 8 p.m.

Bininger Dance Studio

Love Letters 2 p.m.

Bininger Dance Studio

The Current meeting 7 p.m.

Men’s Basketball 7:30 p.m.

MacArthur Gym

Visit us online at www.theonlinecurrent.com

Women’s Basketball 7:30 p.m.

MacArthur Gym

Donald Glover has become a household name over the past few months. Many know him as Troy from the TV show, Community while other fans who know him as Childish Gambino go way back to his Sick Boi mixtape. The evolution of Gambino has been worth the watch.

He released his first album, “Camp” in 2011 with Glassnote Records, which really put him in the spotlight as you couldn’t drive down a highway without hearing someone blasting “Heartbeat.” While “Camp” was more raw and straight forward, Gambino’s second studio album “Because the Internet” started a movement. From his conspicuous “Roscoe’s Wetsuit” tweets to wearing the same pair of shorts and white T-shirt everywhere, many questioned whether Gambino was mentally stable enough to continue in the business, especially after suddenly leaving Community to produce.

Proving them wrong, he not only released the album, but a 76 page, four act screenplay and short film to go along with the album. “Because the Internet” was the beginning of Childish Gambino’s master plan. Fans rallied behind his tour, which sold out in every state. The music videos compiled together to tell a story. It seemed that despite everyone’s comments, Gambino knew exactly what he was doing.

On Oct. 2, he released the mixtape “Stn Mtn,” ignoring all the negative criticism from media while reaching out to his roots in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The whole mixtape has a mid-Atlanta feel not only track wise but in the lyricism he skillfully uses throughout the tape.

He’s resurrected old tracks like Maceo’s “Nextel Chip” which he makes known.

“If you’re really from Atlanta then you’ve heard this before.”

Gambino says. He raps over tracks like Ludacris’ “Southern Hospitality” and Future’s “Move that Dope” with ease.

There is a confidence in Gambino’s flow that seems to have grown see gambino, page 12

WEDNESDAY

19 Abraham Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address 151 years ago today.

26 First national Thanksgiving Day observed in the U.S.

THURSDAY

20 Orchestra Fall Concert 7:30 p.m.

Roberts 104 EC Poker Tournament 8 p.m.

Triton Room

27 Thanksgiving day No classes

12 Arts & Entertainment

the current

Nov. 14, 2014

Cranberry crossword gets saucy

crossword by Nate Gozlan and Leah Bilski

Across 1 Plains 6 Fasten 10 Dog food brand 14 To predict from an omen 15 What tourists take 16 Rhythmic writing 17 Saw logs 18 Upon 19 Leash 20 Clasp 21 Nosy 23 Monosodium glutamate 24 Low-calorie 26 Now Iran 28 Thin 31 Purple dorm at Eckerd 32 Kimono sash 33 Burnt 36 Tropical edible root 40 Refuse to believe 42 Spider’s net 43 Filthy film 44 Tuber 45 Lure 48 East northeast 49 Dorm dweller 51 Tomboy 53 Capital of Turkey 56 Tarzan and ____ 57 Snake 58 Display emotions 61 Attic 65 No 67 Bulb flower 68 Fish tank growth 69 Sports channel 70 Snake-like fish 71 Little girl’s toys 72 Study 73 Memorization 74 Lived in previously For answers, go to www.theonlinecurrent.com

Down 1 Waistband 2 Canned meat 3 Freudian selves 4 Color of Zeta dorm 5 Before, poetically 6 Rock 7 Taboo 8 Cab 9 Supported 10 Spring month (abbrev.)

11 Towers 12 Coke’s competitor 13 Upperclassmen dorm 21 Eye infection 22 Still 25 Tax agency 27 Rodents 28 What peas come in 29 To incite 30 Evergreen tree 31 Asian-humped ox 34 Reverent 35 Color of Kappa dorm 37 Did well 38 ____scape (video game) 39 Sign 41 Young Men’s Christian Association 45 More sordid 46 Blacken 47 Long time 50 Miner’s goal 52 ______ bike 53 Lil’ ___ (cartoon character) 54 Lasso 55 ______ Kreature 56 Outlaw James 59 Brand of sandwich cookie 60 Slope 62 Leer at 63 Season 64 Tryout 66 Expire 68 Total

Araesia King Viewpoints Editor

STN MTN/Kauai promotional photo

From gambino, page 11 He puts all his energy into complex verses while leaving the hook as something you can cruise down the highway to. This happens especially with the song “You Don’t Have To Call” as he channels a smooth Usher-like flow.

“STN MTN/Kauai is a mixtape that turns into an EP. The mixtape is a dream and I wake up in Kauai.

They go into each other, it’s one complete project. The money from the EP goes to keeping Kauai clean” said Gambino in an Interview with “Complex.”

On Oct 3, 2014 Gambino released the EP Kauai. The funds from this Extended Play would go towards maintaining and preserving Kauai island in Hawaii. According to Billboard, Kauai debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200 after selling 16,000 copies the first week. In comparison to STN MTN where he channeled his Atlanta roots, this album seems to show listeners where Gambino plans to go next as a musician. The EP has more of a feel good, top down, Saturday morning driving to the beach feel when compared to other albums.

“STN MTN/Kauai exudes the lyrical and emotional prowess of a

literary marvel.”

The tracks blend together lightly in a way that washes over listeners.

On the track Palisades, he sings “I’m tired of running, tired of playing, tired of hiding.”

This mixtape/EP release seems to be Gambino progressing as an artist who is doing what he wants and what he believes in more than working to please the masses. This uniqueness has managed to attract fans despite the skeptics.

“Most people just don’t like me.

That’s cool. That’s fine, but like I want you to say that. You can’t hide behind my lyrics,” Gambino said.

“You can’t listen to that freestyle and be like Donald Glover can’t rap.

I want this to be fun. Yes, I want to raise questions, but I want it to be fun.”

Childish Gambino has made it clear he doesn’t produce to cater to the industry. His mastery is shown in everything he puts out. If you enjoy well produced lyrical masterpieces, I would recommend listening to the transition Gambino makes between both of these works of art.

If you flip the above image upside down you get the album cover for Kauai and vice versa.

photo by Eileen McGraw Director of Career Services Grant Bailey has been working in his current position at Eckerd since June.

“There’s a project that I started working with in undergrad with students in the Dominican Republic that I’d love to help. Our group wanted to give young people who worked on the street, who actually didn’t even have much of a voice in their own country, a sense of voice with us and in our country. We worked with a photographer and got donations of disposable cameras and did many projects with them as a part of Acción Callejera, mostly with boys who did a lot of shoe shining. We gave them cameras and asked them basically to document their life, where they live and how they live, then we put together these books that were basically like three ring binder portfolios. We brought them back to the U.S. to share here with the students and people in the community and then we sent them back for them to keep. We weren’t trying to say that they were doing anything wrong or change them, we just wanted to learn about their life from their own perspective. It was fascinating how just through the medium of a camera, communication was able to open organically and naturally. In terms of anthropology it would take months to make that kind of connection, but a camera just kind of made it happen.”

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Nov. 14, 2014

Health & Fitness 13

Health & fitness INSIDE H&F

The truth behind turkey-induced naps

By Blaide Woodburn Health And Fitness Editor Following Thanksgiving Day meals, family members are often sprawled out across the living room watching football and drifting off into a what many would consider a turkey induced slumber, but is this really the case?

According to Chemistry.about. com, there are various factors that contribute to the drowsiness following this festive meal. These factors include the multiple sources of dietary L-tryptophan and overeating of slow digesting foods.

L-tryptophan is an essential amino acid with documented sleepinducing effects. Most people think that turkey has a higher L-tryptophan content than other food, but this is indeed false. According to

Chemistry.about.com, turkey contains 0.333 grams of tryptophan per 100 gram edible portion. This is relatively the same as other foods like all of the carbohydrates that accompany a Thanksgiving Day meal.

The consumption of many slowly digesting foods also contributes to post-meal drowsiness. When food takes longer to digest, more blood is recruited to the stomach for digestive purposes. Thus, the rest of the body is deprived of blood, making one feel less energetic and tired.

Furthermore, the relaxed atmosphere of holidays such as Thanksgiving creates an ideal environment for drowsiness.

The combination of L-tryptophan, overeating and a relaxing atmosphere produce the family wide slumber that occurs post holiday meal.

graphic by Alex Zielinski Taking after-dinner naps is a favorite Thanksgiving tradition.

Deadlift workout

page 14

Meals with Midge

page 14

Scan to hear the playlist:

The pre-workout supplement debate

By Blaide Woodburn Health and Fitness Editor Since pre-workout’s rise in popularity, it has developed a poor reputation. Pre-workouts have been generalized as an unnecessary supplement that are filled only with stimulants and harmful chemicals.

This is a highly misinformed and ignorant generalization because, if taken and chosen correctly, preworkouts can safely provide the extra dietary push for those sought after aesthetic and strength gains.

As an avid lifter, it is very important to know what you are putting in your body and how it will affect you -- the same is true when choosing a pre-workout. Leading supplement companies such as MusclePharm use scientific research to create their products,

and consumers should adopt the same type of process when choosing supplements.

Although this is an article promoting the informed use of preworkout, it would be ignorant to say that there is no such thing as a poor pre-workout supplement. Let us set a standard for a good preworkout. Many low-budget supplement companies pack their preworkouts with excessive amounts of stimulants such as caffeine.

While stimulants can increase focus and aid central nervous system output, an all around preworkout should not center around stimulant use, but ingredients that contribute to production of ATP, muscle contraction, blood flow and oxygen transportation.

In a good pre-workout, most, if not all, ingredients will be essential

and nonessential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. For example, MusclePharm’s Assault Preworkout formula consists of ingredients such as calcium, vitamin B12, L-tyrosine, beta alanine and L-aspartic acid. All of these ingredients have been scientifically proven to aid in athletic performance plus they can be found in many foods.

Ultimately, I am an advocate for MusclePharm’s scientifically produced supplements because this company incorporates methods that are ideal for everyone -building better athletes through science, knowledge and hard work.

Knowing the names and functions of various supplements and choosing the right pre-workout booster, while avoiding stimulants, can be as easy as choosing the right post-workout protein shake.

By Samantha Schepps Staff Writer

graphic by Alex Zielinski Supplements may help you, but should always be researched before taking.

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Visit us online at www.theonlinecurrent.com

People work out to not only look aesthetically pleasing, but to have a healthier body overall. I think that a lot of bodybuilders run a thin line when they try to look the best they can but take various supplements that have FDA warnings on them, because of the serious side effects that can occur and the potential of containing illegal substances.

I will admit, when I first got into working out I did take all the various supplements my friends told me to take, from calorie-filled protein shakes that caused unwanted weight gain, to different pre-workouts that made me feel super weird and just not right in the head.

According to Esupplements. com, many of the pre-workout brands contain dimethylamylamine, a substance that has been

graphic by Alex Zielinski MusclePharm is one of the many companies that produce pre-workout supplements.

banned in New Zealand and military bases. It is illegal based off of FDA guidelines because it’s commonly found in party drugs. This chemical causes the blood vessels to thin dramatically. When that is mixed with cardiovascular activity, significant stress is placed upon the heart. There have been a few deaths directly related to the consumption of a pre-workout before working out, along with countless serious health issues. Thinned blood and increased heart rate are grounds for a heart attack and long term cardiovascular issues.

Did you know that pre-workouts are mainly based off of caffeine? Pre-workouts contain about three or four times the amount of caffeine found in one cup of coffee, as according to Esupplements.com.

This is part of the reason why preworkout makes people feel jittery, nauseous, unable to sit still and even have headaches as I commonly experienced. Drinking coffee

would be a healthier alternative to consuming a crazy amount of caffeine. Everything in moderation, as I always say.

I think the biggest problem with pre-workout is that the FDA does not test pre-workouts in a process similar to the way they test for foods. That means that a lot of the proper tests probably have not been done, and illegal substances slide by under the radar into various brands.

Do research before taking any of these supplements, because there’s no reason anyone should end up having a heart attack in their 20s or 30s or experience liver failure because they decided to take weird powders.

If you’re feeling sluggish and tired, eat more simple carbohydrates and lean protein to get the energy back. No one should have to resort to crazy chemicals to get through a workout that’s supposed to be making them healthy!

14 Health & Fitness

the current

Nov. 14, 2014

Meals with Midge: Stuffed Peppers

By MJ Harford Staff Writer This recipe is a college cook’s best friend for many reasons.

It’s made with very accessible and inexpensive ingredients; ingredients which a smart, health-conscious cook should keep in their pantry at all times. It’s also wholly allergen friendly, being free of gluten, nuts and animal products.

Keeping an intelligently stocked pantry is a special skill every cook relies on, no matter how much or how little space is available. So just because you live in a dorm room doesn’t mean you cannot set yourself up for meal success. Think about the meals you gravitate toward and basic combinations you find yourself enjoying time and again. Do those meals have stable ingredients you can keep on hand? For example, I really enjoy fresh herbs and vegetable grain/lentil salads, so I keep quinoa and dried lentils in my cabinet at all times. This way I can make a healthy meal in a matter of minutes by quickly cooking a cup or two of grains or lentils and throwing in whatever herbs or vegetables I happen to have in the fridge.

Ingredients: 2 large bell peppers

e 1 cup cooked wild ric

s an be ck 1/2 cup bla

tomato 1/2 cup canned diced

er wd po ili ch ns 2 teaspoo

garlic flakes n oo sp tea 1

kes 1 teaspoon onion fla

pper pe d an lt Sa ado

s, guacamole or avoc Cilantro, green onion

additions for optional ser ving

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Combine the wild rice, beans, tomatoes and spices in a warmed skillet and heat for five minutes (or until warm).

3. While the filling is combining, cut the peppers into two even halves. Clean out the peppers of their seeds and any soft, lightcolored insides to create a hollow center.

Once the filling is warm, spoon it into the peppers until they are full.

4. Place the peppers on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 20 minutes, until the outside of the pepper skin appears slightly wilted.

5. Serve with fresh cilantro and green onions. A drizzle of salsa or guacamole would be delicious too.

Workout spotlight: deadlift

By Samantha Schepps Staff Writer When it comes to compound movements, squats are the best exercise one can incorporate into their workout. However, deadlifts are an amazing exercise to really build the legs and lower back.

Deadlifts can be worked in to either back day or leg day since they work multiple muscle groups. Be careful when doing deadlifts, especially if it is a new exercise for you, as straining your back can be a real issue if not done properly.

There are three types of deadlifts that can be performed. A Romanian deadlift (straight leg), conventional deadlift and sumo deadlift. The Romanian deadlift really focuses on working the hamstrings compared to the other two types. I usually incorporate these into my leg days as they are great for building the hamstrings and the glutes.

To start, position your feet about shoulder width apart and point the toes out just slightly, similar to a squat stance. Bend the knees just a little bit so your knees are not locked when standing, and keep a flat back throughout the whole exercise. Grab a bar with the weight desired, and try to keep the bar as close to your legs as possible when lowering and raising the upper body. Your upper body really just needs to go about parallel to the floor when doing this variation to really feel the stretch in the hamstrings, unless you are more flexible and need to go slightly lower.

The second variation is the conventional deadlift. This is where the feet are positioned similar to the Romanian deadlift, shoulder width apart, toes slightly pointed out.

For this form, make sure to keep

photo by Alex Zielinski Posture is always an important thing to keep in mind during workouts.

the chest up and back flat. The bar with the desired weight should start on the ground. Bend the knees to grab the bar, and push through the heels up to bring the bar up to the hips, squeezing the glutes at the top. Keep the bar as close to the legs as possible while raising and lowering the bar. It’s important not to let your back round at all during the whole movement, as this will definitely strain the back.

The last variation, and my personal favorite, is the sumo deadlift.

The feet should be spread farther than shoulder width apart, with

the toes pointed outwards. For this, there’s really no set rules on how far the feet should be, or how much the toes should point out, it’s just about what’s most comfortable for each individual.

Similar to the conventional, make sure to keep the chest up and back flat. Really push through the heels to get the bar off the ground and keep the bar as close to the legs as possible throughout the whole movement. Get the bar at the hips and squeeze the glutes.

It’s important to make sure that with any exercise, you are really focusing on getting the movement down correctly before really adding weight. It is okay to start off light and build your way up, because hurting yourself from doing a squat or deadlift incorrectly could cause serious long term injury.

Ask for help from people who know what they are doing in the gym and research about exercises before just trying them. Safety is key when weight lifting.

Scan below to see the schedule of fitness classes:

Resources: Campus Safety 727-864-8260

photo by MJ Harford Stuffed peppers are a quick and nutritous snack.

Counseling Services 727-864-8248

Each issue I’ll be sharing an allergen-friendly recipe that is easy, nutritious and delicious. If you make any of them, tag me in your Instagram photos (@midgesmoments) with the hashtag #mealswithmidge.

EC-ERT 727-772-3760 Health Services 727-864-8326

If you have any requests, like converting a classic recipe to its healthier version, or a particular kind of meal for a particular allergy, email me at mjharfor@eckerd.edu.

photo by Alex Zielinski Romanian deadlifts are a good addition to any leg workout.

Serious Emergencies Call 911

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Nov. 14, 2014

Sports 15

Sports

photo by Cypress Hansen Freshman Keeper Alex Gott dives to save a ball in the game against Rollins on senior night.

Former FIFA player becomes starting goalkeeper for men’s team

By Sabrina Lolo Sports Editor

As the starting goalkeeper, Alex Gott has been an integral part of the Men’s Soccer team this season. Gott recorded two shutouts and a total of 72 saves during his freshman campaign. He was also voted Athlete of the Week on Oct. 27 for making 10 saves in two games against the University of Tampa and Rollins College while recording his second shutout.

Originally from the small town of Bedworth, England, Gott has been playing soccer from a young age.

“I started playing soccer when I was six for the Bedworth Eagles and my dad was the coach,” Gott said. “I can’t actually remember why I started playing, but I suppose every boy back home says he wants to be a footballer.”

Gott continued to play for the Bedworth Eagles until he was eventually scouted by the Coventry City Sky Blues. He attended St. Thomas More but left school

at the age of 16 to play for the Sky Blues under a professional two-year contract. Gott was also called up to Scotland’s national team twice by the 19u and 20u squads for training camps and has even appeared in the FIFA 2014 video game.

“It was good because you’re with some of the best Scottish players around,” Gott said.

“It was also intense and hard.”

After leaving Coventry following the 2013-2014 season, a friend told Gott about Eckerd. He was told that the Men’s Soccer team needed a new goalkeeper and made a last minute decision to attend Eckerd about four months before Autumn Term.

“Funny enough, I made my decision based on Google,” Gott said.

“I didn’t actually go on the website. I typed Eckerd into Google, saw images of the campus and that’s when I made my decision.”

This season has had a lot of ups and downs but the Men’s Soccer team still pulled out a win against Barry University on Oct 27, which secured their spot in the SSC Con-

ference Tournament. This is the first time they’ve been a contender in the tournament since 2012.

“It’s been strange,” Gott said.

“I think we’re all relieved because we’ve lost so many games. We’ve won two conference games and

which led to a scoop and score. Despite Eckerd’s resilience and success with lineups, Florida continued to put up points on the board.

“Rugby is a complex sport,” Senior Alicia Spinazzola said. “We have a bunch of rookies who need to just get used to the game. There’s nothing that can help them more than just playing over and over again. Our defense looked better this game, our offense looked good last game and now it’s just a matter of combining them both.”

The Florida Gators are ranked among one of the best teams in Florida while the Sirens are a Division II team composed of mostly freshmen. This type of competitive matchup should light a spark in this young team that will help them renovate for future success.

“We knew we weren’t going to win, but we still did our best and had a good time,” Freshman Stephanie Arsenault said. “Watching this game compared to last game, I’d say we’ve gotten much better.”

One area of play the Sirens improved on was their ability to handle their rucks. A ruck is formed when a teammate bounds to another teammate with the ball on

the ground, and usually ensues after a tackle. While the women lost the majority of those against University of Central Florida (UCF) during their first home game, the Sirens handled them with more expertise against the Gators. Head Coach Mike Geibel agreed that the team is making steps in the right direction.

“We did a lot of things we’ve been working on in practice better than we did in the first game,” Geibel said. “We need to work on staying in a flat line and shifting to where the ball is going. They got a lot of tries when they got on the outside of us because we couldn’t shift over quickly enough.”

This could be seen most clearly towards the end of the game in which UF continued to escape to the outside for consecutive breakaways. If the young Eckerd team wants to compete with a big school like UF, they will need to work on patching up these holes in practice.

“We’re going to work on shifting, team defense and passing,” Geibel said. “We’ve got to learn to control the ball when we get opportunities and not throw it away when we break line.”

photo courtesy of Alex Gott Alex Gott is featured in FIFA 14.

tied one, which puts us in the tournament, but it’s been a hard year.”

Despite the Tritons’ tumultuous season, Gott still believes that the team has earned their place in the conference tournament.

“In a way, we still deserve to be there because we haven’t played bad,” Gott said. “We’ve actually played well, it’s just been a lot of bad luck.”

Head Coach Cristian Neagu has been very pleased with the way Gott has played and conducted himself in the last three months.

“He came in as a freshman and he’s been one of the kids that I’ve been very impressed with in terms of his work ethic, attitude and desire to get better in each training session,” Neagu said.

Neagu has high expectations for Gott. He’s already shown that he has leadership capabilities and if he continues to perform the way he’s been doing this season, he is going to play a big role on the team for the next three years.

Gott is currently a Management major and plans to staying the Unit-

ed States after college and aspires to play professional soccer here.

“It’s a life decision to come here [from England] because you’re leaving home for four years,” Gott said.

“I like America a lot, it has a lot to offer. I really want to stay here.”

Neagu thinks Gott has a very good chance of becoming a professional soccer player in the U.S. “I one hundred percent believe it,” Neagu said. “To be a professional soccer player, you have to have the talent, but there’s other characteristics off the field that I think Alex has, which is his work ethic and his mentality. If he continues on that path, he will definitely get an opportunity.”

Correction In issue 4, the name of Coach Bill Mathews was misspelled. The correct spelling is Mathews. The article also mentioned that Mathews coached at Eckerd for 36 years.

He was head coach for 23 years.

Women’s Rugby falls to the University of Florida

By Pat Mullen Staff Writer

The Women’s Rugby team fought hard against the Division I University of Florida (UF) Gators on Kappa field Saturday but fell to their opponents 75-0. The speed and the size of the Gators proved to be too overwhelming for a less experienced Sirens team as they ran up the score on 13 tries and five two-point conversions.

Despite the lopsided outcome, the women refused to hang their heads after the game. The players saw this challenging matchup as a learning opportunity that they will use to benefit their team as a whole.

“I thought the freshmen did well, especially since this was only their second game,” Senior Natalie Minor said. “We still need to do a better job tackling. Once we get that ferocity down, we will be all right.”

Florida marched down the field early until a Siren tackle led to an injury-related delay. Following the stoppage, the Gators scored their first try but failed to convert on the kick. The Gators’ next try came after a loose ball booted downfield

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photo by Lia Nydes Freshman Anna Louise Wilson wins a line out against UF.

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the current

Nov. 14, 2014

Sports Anahory leads Women’s Soccer program in new direction

By Dominick Cuppetilli Sports Editor The Eckerd Women’s Soccer team has made a tremendous transformation over the past four seasons. The Tritons have transitioned from failing to win a single conference game to conference tournament competitors in two out of three previous seasons. Their growing success can be greatly attributed to Senior and Captain Arie Anahory.

Anahory scored a team-high 12 goals this season, bringing her collegiate career count to 28 and putting her at number four on the Tritons’ all-time scoring list. She also led the team with nine assists, the second most assists in Eckerd history with a total of 23.

The lead striker scored two hat-tricks this season, and once had three assists in one game.

She was awarded the Athlete of the Week on the Triton’s website three times, including back-to-back weeks on Sept. 8 and 15, with the third being Oct. 13. She was also recognized as the Sunshine State Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 15 and Oct. 13.

Head Coach Danielle Fotopoulos brought in Anahory as part of her first recruited class of players. Fotopoulos praised Anahory’s leadership, claiming that it has been a driving force of the team.

“Over the years, Arie has matured into an amazing leader. It’s very hard to be a captain, let alone a good captain. She’s been able to lead Eckerd from being a team that was everyone’s win in the conference to being competitive for the conference tournament her last three years,” Fotopoulos said.

But Eckerd wasn’t on Anahory’s radar during her school search until her mother forced her to visit the school for a night. Despite her complaints, once she attended a game and shadowed former player Allison Dean for a night, she was hooked. She called her mom the following morning to tell her that Eckerd was the one.

It was obvious that college soccer would be in her future since she was five. Anahory recalls trying many other sports early on, but she always came back to soccer.

During her time playing with her first club team, West Pascol Futbol, she was selected to play with a traveling international team, which selected girls across the nation. The international tournament was held in Hawaii, and was the

first major soccer event the young team’s new spark came from fellow to Eckerd to Anahory, such as Shannon Estes-Larkin.

10 year old had been a part of. 2011 recruit, Kaitlyn Curley. While Junior Estes-Larkin was recruited “I feel like I grew as a soccer Arie provided the fire on the ofplayer, because I had to come to- fensive end, Curley remained solid to play the following year in gether and play with girls from on defense. “Me and Kaitlyn really 2012. She has played with Anadifferent places and coaches started the team’s new direction hory since middle school, alaround the nation,” said Anahory. on the right foot,” said Anahory. ways just one year behind her.

The long-lasting friendship Curley explained that her In addition to many middle have confidence has created a unique bond beschool awards, she became a four- teammates year varsity player in high school in Anahory, leading to better tween these teammates. Esteswhile bouncing around several chemistry on and off the field. Larkin feels that Anahory has “On the inside the whole dynam- been the first true captain Eckclub teams in the area. The young star was given the Golden Boot ic has changed, and it’s cool to have erd has had and that she was by Award for Offensive Player of the seen that over the last four years. far the best person for the job.

“She is the leader Year both her we needed and did junior and sewhat she had to do,” nior years and Estes-Larkin said. was honored as While Anahory’s the MVP folleadership skills lowing her sehave been felt by nior campaign. all on the team, she In addition to has a particularly her high school influential role on success, AnahoUniversity of South ry was chosen to Florida transfer play on Florida’s Taylor Tippett.

Olympic DeTippett served velopment Proas the only junior gram from 2008 captain on the to 2011. She team and has been was also proable to work closely moted to play with Anahory in on the souththe leadership role. east regional Anahory exteam in 2011. pressed her confiWhile playdence in Tippett ing for the Real as the future leader Salt Lake Futbol of this team. TipClub in the u16pett said that she u17 league, her feels excited and team won the ready to step into state competithis role after being tion and moved able to watch Anaon to win third hory on and off the in the regional field. She considtournament. ers Anahory’s work She finished ethic and ability to her club career listen to her teamat Tampa Bay mates to be among United, where her best qualities. she played un“She works der George photo by Dominick Cuppetilli hard for the full F o t o p o u l o s , Senior Arie Anahory cuts through traffic in a game against University of Tampa.

90 minutes,” TipCoach Danielle Fotopoulos’ husband. This proved It all started with us,” Curley said. pett said. “She leads by example, Senior Morgan Crescent, who not just her voice, which is speto be the gateway that landed Anahory a spot here with the Tritons. has had an equally impressive career cial. Without Arie [Anahory], the Anahory began producing re- here at Eckerd, claims that Ana- program wouldn’t have developed sults during her first season at hory was the reason she decided as it has. When a player as good Eckerd, leading the team in goals to come to Eckerd, promising that as Arie comes, you take notice.”

The team’s seniors are confiscored with five in her fresh- she would be part of a team that man campaign, and receiving the was going to do something special. dent that the program will con“She has the same drive and pas- tinue to grow and Tippett is exMVP award. Although the team still went winless in conference, sion as I do, so it’s easy to work cited to facilitate that in the future.

“It’s a 100 percent different they were able to get some wins alongside someone who wants it against teams they hadn’t before. as bad as I do,” Crescent said. “I team from when we started,” “She [Anahory] helped put Eck- knew that she was going to do Crescent said. “I think the group erd on the map for the local soc- big things when she got here.” we have now is the reason the Many of the local talents also program has turned around.” cer community,” Fotopoulos said.

Anahory is pleased that the EckAnother contributor to the attribute their decision to come

erd program is started to get some recognition in the conference, even though it has been an uphill battle.

“Sometimes it’s hard to see the progress of the team while being so competitive, but when I step back and think about where we’ve come from, I can see the progression we have made as a team,” Anahory said.

The senior captain felt that she has grown both as a player and a person. An especially impacting experience was playing overseas in Italy in the summer before her senior campaign.

Anahory was among 16 girls selected to play with the American International Sports Teams. For the second time, Anahory played with athletes from across America. They spent 13 days traveling across Italy and played three professional Italian teams, going 1-1-1.

Upon returning to the states, Anahory refocused on her senior year at Eckerd, considering it to be their most successful yet. She was especially proud of the team’s mental tenacity.

“The amount of heart the players have shown has increased through the years, so it’s hard to leave that going into graduation,” said Anahory, “I feel the relationships here are long lasting, not just collegiate.”

Fotopoulos feels very blessed to have coached and seen Anahory develop over the past few seasons. She hopes their relationship will continue to develop.

“I know I can count on her for anything and I hope she feels the same way about me,” Fotopoulos said. “I will miss seeing the feisty little number ten scoring goals and slapping her hands down at her side when she skims the top of the crossbar on a shot.”

Anahory will graduate in December as a business administration major with a concentration in sports administration and a minor in leadership studies. She will attend graduate school at University of South Florida (USF) to study entrepreneurship and work for their Women’s Soccer team’s Game Operations Program.

Anahory was very pleased with her career here at Eckerd, and couldn’t of been happier to be the catalyst that turned this team around. She is excited to see where the program can go from here. “[I appreciate] the fans that have come out these four years, and the girls that chose to give Eckerd a chance.

I’ll never be able to thank my coach and my teammates enough for the experience I have had.”

team all four years despite her injury. In 2013, Milojevic was ranked sixth in the nation in total blocks (143) and was awarded SSC Conference Honorable Mention. Milojevic wanted to be honored with her class as she is still undecided about a fifth season with the Tritons.

McAlvany, Jones and Milojevic contributed to the program’s 80 wins and three NCAA Championship South Regional appearances since 2011.

Head Coach Michelle Piantadosi describes the seniors as strong leaders who have set the tone for younger players on the team.

“They have developed as people and athletes,” Piantadosi said. “All three of them have made a great impact on our program and they’ve left a mark here that we can continue to build off of in the future.”

The Tritons have an overall record of 12-16 and a conference record of 3-11. Eckerd is currently in eighth place with two conference games to play.

After losing five seniors last year, the volleyball team has been in a rebuilding year with six freshmen on the roster.

“I think the freshmen have gotten a lot of great experience by being on the court,” Piantadosi said.

After back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Championship South Regional, this is the first year under the reign of Piantadosi that the team has not made the tournament.

“The girls that Coach brought in are great athletes, really talented and smart volleyball players,” Jones said. “I think that in the future the program is going to do better and surprise a lot of people.”

Volleyball seniors honored in last home game

By Christina Rosetti Staff Writer

The volleyball team fell to Palm Beach Atlantic, Saturday, Nov. 8 at the MacArthur Center in three sets after honoring the Tritons’ seniors.

Prior to the match, family, friends and teammates recognized Seniors Ali McAlvany, Grace Jones and Katarina Milojevic. For the last home game this season, the Tritons took the court looking to upset the Sailfish, ranked No. 25 in the nation.

After rallying back and forth for much of the first set, Eckerd fell to non-conference opponent Palm Beach Atlantic 25-21. The Sailfish pulled away in the second set with a convincing 25-18 victory over the Tritons. Despite a late run from Eckerd, Palm Beach Atlantic closed out the match with a 25-20 win.

Junior Tjasa Kotnik led the team with a total of 15 kills followed by Freshman Lauryn Nelson with eight. Junior Emily Shadow had 20 assists while Freshman Stephanie Karlovics finished the night with three service aces. Freshmen Kaitlyn Sibson and Madison Whiting tallied 10 and eight digs respectively.

McAlvany played for the first time after sustaining a serious ankle injury earlier in the season.

“It was a little frustrating because I wasn’t up to my full potential,” McAlvany said. “I was just happy be able to play some.”

McAlvany has thrived during her career at Eckerd. She has been a Sunshine State Conference Fall Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection every year. McAlvany was also named to the SSC All-Newcomer Team in 2011 and

honored as an AVCA Third Team All American in 2012. The veteran outside hitter joined the 1,000 kill club this year totaling 1,231 kills and reaching 36 double doubles throughout her career.

“The best thing that has come out of this is the relationships I’ve built,” McAlvany said.

Jones, the voice of Eckerd College Athletics, has appeared in 207 sets throughout her career and leads the team with 68 total blocks this season. The middle blocker is seen as an influential leader both on and off the court.

“The credit goes to my teammates,” Jones said. “I’ve learned so much from them.”

Milojevic suffered an ACL and meniscus tear in her right knee last April, redshirting this 2014 season.

Milojevic played a large role on the

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