The Current Vol 4 Issue 3

The Official Student Newspaper of Eckerd College

Vol. 4, Issue 3—Oct. 12, 2012 Viewpoints

Chicago violence hits close to home for EC students “Flash mob” violence in Chicago and multi-tiered segregation cause fear in residents. page 9 Entertainment

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros plays local show Eckerd students attend Indie band Edward Sharpe’s set on Oct. 1 at Jannus Landing.

page 16

The Quickie

Club spotlight: Free-Thinking Young Independents Club New club attempts to break into the bipartisan scene on campus. page 17

Gov. Mitt Romney and wife, Ann, wave to a crowd near the pier in downtown St. Petersburg at a Republican rally Oct. 5.

For more about the rally, see page 8

Health & Fitness

Relaxing during midterms Four sensory relaxation tips for the upcoming stress of midterm exams. page 20

Sports

Women’s soccer surging Tritons have won four straight conferences and are in sole possession of second place. page 21

photo by Jenna Caderas

Eckerd announces speaker for 50th commencement ceremony

By Cait Duffy News Editor Journalist and activist Bill McKibben will be addressing the students, staff, friends and family of Eckerd College during the 50th commencement ceremony on South Beach field May 19.

McKibben will be returning to Eckerd after making a large impact on the student body during his visit to the campus in 2011. His

lectures included addressing the class of 2012 in their Quest for Meaning course, as well as a CPS event in which he discussed his book “Eaarth” and the possible impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Eckerd students, compelled to assist McKibben, organized a trip to Washington, D.C., in early November of last year and joined his protest outside of the White House. In an email interview, McKibben said, “Eckerd sent the largest delegation of any college up to join

EC student travels home to Venezuela; votes in election

By Malena Carollo Asst. News Editor This past weekend, democracy took the form of a purple-stained pinky finger.

Grinning for a picture outside the voting center in her hometown of Valencia, Venezuela, Junior Maria Andreina Bello Mora displayed the inky digit she had traveled nearly 1,700 miles to get—proof she had cast her vote in the first presidential election for Venezuela in 14 years.

“It has been one of the best experiences in my life,” Mora said in an email from Venezuela. “[Thank] God that I was able to be in the whole electoral process.”

Beginning their shift at 3 a.m. on Oct. 7, Mora and her sister Maria Carolina Mora worked to organize the voting center for the day ahead; the two traded off distributing water, coffee and food with monitoring activity to ensure electoral transparency.

Outside, hundreds of voters formed lines waiting for their turn to dip a finger in the telling purple ink and cast their vote.

The election featured two candidates— president for the past 14 years, Hugo Chavez, and opposition leader Henrique Capriles. A recent article by Reuters pegged the election as the closest Chavez has faced.

Just six days prior, being at this voting center seemed like a pipe dream for Mora. Ticketless and bound by where she was registered to vote, Mora couldn’t join the thousands of Please Recycle

INDEX: News 2 - 8

in the climate protests in Washington D.C. last year, and that’s why I’m coming--I owe you guys.”

The issue of the Keystone pipeline has recently resurfaced with presidential candidate Mitt Romney touting his support at debates and rallies. In late April speech to Republican party leaders, Romney stated, “I will build that pipeline if I have to do it myself.”

President Obama famously rejected the

On patrol with campus safety, Part II Continuing an in-depth look at the day-to-night operations of our Campus Safety patrol

By Elizabeth Tomaselli Editor-in-Chief

A

courtesy of Maria Mora’s Facebook Mora poses with the Venezuelan flag.

other Venezuelans in the United States in voting at the consulate in New Orleans. The only way she could participate in the crucial election was to find a way home—and back.

A ticket wasn’t even the hardest part, just the latest obstacle. The challenge to participate in Venezuela’s democratic process began last March when Mora missed the voter registration period in Miami while home on spring break.

“As soon as I heard that [it was closed],” Mora said, “my mom goes, ‘You know what, it’s better that you come right now while you’re here, let’s go so you can register. I See VENEZUELA, page 6

See McKibben, page 5

long the way, as we stop for him to introduce me to maintenance workers and other safety officers, Phil consistently introduces me by my Italian last name—and with uniquely impeccable pronunciation.

Later during our daytime patrol, I learned he lived in Naples, Italy for nine years of his life while his dad was stationed there. We bond over our love for Italy, my Italian heritage and our knowledge, albeit intermediate on my part, of the language.

“I got the best office in town,” Phil says as our golf cart makes its way to south beach. The cloudless blue sky allows the sun to sparkle on the water and a brisk breeze moderates the temperature as we roll down the beach.

“If I get tired of one beautiful spot,” he muses, “I go to another beautiful spot.”

Another one of Phil’s favorite spots? Beneath the palms on the far side of chapel pond, the opposite side from the library. “I just love it over here,” he admits.

Sometimes, on his breaks, he’ll go down to the huts by the water and take his lunch and a book. He claims to even occasionally see the infamous chapel pond gator in that back corner.

When we arrive back at the office, Phil jumps on a computer to work on the investigation report for a broken window at Kappa, and Kathleen is working on fire extinguisher and emergency phone checks.

Fire extinguishers are checked twice a month and recorded in a log book, Kathleen

Viewpoints 9 - 12 Entertainment 13 - 16 The Quickie 17 - 18 Health & Fitness 19 - 20 Sports 21- 24

says. It costs $30 to refill an extinguisher and $70 to replace one if it’s been damaged or stolen. The red emergency phones— there are 23 on campus—are also checked and logged frequently. The checks involve personal visits to all of the phones and extinguishers on campus, a time consuming job that Kathleen boasts she has already almost completed by 9 a.m.

Kathleen Winterberg, in her first year, is one of two female Campus Safety officers on staff. She admits that even though students sometimes underestimate her because she’s a woman, she’s glad she could bring a female presence to the team.

“Sometimes ladies feel more comfortable that I’m here, especially when they’re locked out of their rooms in a towel,” she says.

Other times, she says she thinks kids might see her as a motherly figure, especially when she’s consoling hysterical or sick students.

But don’t underestimate her—she’s as tough as any of them. When Campus Safety and a St. Petersburg police car broke up the gathering of hundreds of students at midnight on Kappa Field on April 20, Kathleen was the first one to charge into the middle of them on her golf cart as students scattered all over campus.

As we sit in the break room over lunch, Kathleen tells me about her first year so far at Eckerd; learning the dorm personalities, learning the party “hotspots” and even some uniquely Eckerd traditions. She claims no one warned her about Kappa Ball—the unofficial student party after Spring Ball See On Patrol, page 7 The Current is a free, biweekly student newspaper produced at Eckerd College. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the writers.

2 News

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

LET’S BE BRIEF

Global

Tension builds in east Asia

Chavez wins Venezuelan presidential election Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won the Oct. 6 election for a fourth term as president this year. His challenger, Henrique Capriles, who pledged to restore economic growth, gave Chavez his narrowest win yet—a nine percent margin of votes.

President Chavez pledged to continue his socialist revolution which has been ongoing since Chavez was first elected president in 1998. In that time, Chavez has nationalized private industry, become an international pariah and caused widespread economic stagnation.

Indeed, the elections were watched closely on the international stage by several actors, including Iran, who w a s concerned that it could lose a key ally in the Western Hemisphere.

Oil analysts were also anxious about Venezuela’s election. The country recently passed Saudi Arabia in having the world’s largest proven petroleum reserves. A number of other Latin American countries are also on the line because of the aid they receive from the Chavez regime.

Capriles gave a graceful speech following the election results, saying he wants the best for the Venezuelan people. courtesy of Wikicommons Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

National California suffers under gasoline price shocks California has broken its all-time high average of gas prices twice in the past week on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7. The averages for those days were $4.614 and $4.655 respectively. Some cities saw prices run even higher, notably Long Beach where prices have reached $6.65 per gallon.

The price spikes came after a power outage at an Exxon Mobil refinery in Southern California.

Power was restored to the refinery on Friday, but oil producers are still rationing. Some gas stations in Los Angeles shut their doors because of the shortages. There have also been incidents of people stealing gas from shuttered gas stations.

The price spikes have made California the most expensive state in the Union to buy gas. Hawaii had previously held that infamous title. And the problematic prices are expected to persist while the supply chain reestablishes itself. Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy. com, told the Washington Post that price averages might peak at $4.85 before coming down.

South Korea has increased the range of its ballistic missiles to 800 km, or nearly 500 miles. At that range, their missiles could hit any target in North Korea, as well as parts of China and Japan. However, the deal is also a new stage in a growing regional arms race with North Korea and China expanding the military capabilities.

The South Korean government had previously limited its missile range to 300 km as part of a 2001 agreement with the United States. But with North Korea’s long range ballistic missile test in April, South Korea felt the need for greater missile capabilities.

Japan, too, signed an agreement with the U.S. three weeks ago for a second missile defense system.

The South Korea deal also comes after China and Japan spent weeks saberrattling over the uninhabited Senkaku courtesy of Wikicommons Islands in the East Ballistic Missile Launch.

China Sea.

Movement in cell phone industry Business analysts have been predicting further consolidation in the wireless phone services industry since the collapse of AT&T’s T-Mobile acquisition last December. Those predictions were vindicated on Oct. 3 when T-Mobile and MetroPCS announced that a merger deal had been struck between the two carriers.

Since then, information has been coming out that Sprint is considering either a separate bid for MetroPCS or a bid for the combined company once the merger completes next year.

On face value, the Sprint-MetroPCS merger would make more sense because both companies use CMDA wireless networks. They also have complementary customer networks and it is estimated that the potential merger could save the company (and therefore customers) $8-9 billion.

That number is in contrast to the more modest savings estimate of $6-7 billion attached to the current merger with T-Mobile. T-Mobile also uses a GSM wireless network that is incompatible with MetroPCS’ CMDA network.

The last time two companies with different wireless networks combined was the Sprint-Nextel merger of 2005. That merger did not go well: Sprint didn’t get any bigger and Nextel was valued at an 80 percent loss two years later.

Local Saturday morning market marks 10th anniversary St. Petersburg’s Saturday Morning Market re-opened Oct. 6. The market will celebrate its tenth anniversary in November with live music.

The market was founded on Nov. 10, 2002, with 20 vendors along Second Street. After the first year, there were thirty vendors and by the beginning of the second year there were 45 vendors. Now the market fills all of Progress Energy Park with 200 vendors rotating through 130 spaces.

Highlights of the market’s success will also be available for viewing throughout the month of November. And applicants to the market keep on coming. The Tampa Bay Times reported that the market has talked with a thousand applicants over the past ten years.

The market is also planning to expand with a new food demonstration capability. It’ll teach people about new and interesting foods that they haven’t tried before. Mark Johnson, the market’s director, told the Tampa Bay Times that “short of death, nobody wants to leave.”

Turkey intervenes in Syrian civil war The world has been watching the Syrian civil war with horror for 18 months, but things are changing. Starting early in October, Syrians started firing shells into Turkey.

Staying true to his previous statements, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan started sending artillery fire into Syria.

The artillery fire is allegedly targeting the site of the Syrian attackers, but the shelling has continued unabated for days.

This border conflict is the latest escalation of Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian civil war. Already, the country is hosting 100,000 Syrian refugees and allowed rebel leaders sanctuary.

In addition to these involvements, Turkey is a part of NATO. The cross-border exchanges have already instigated Turkey to twice activate Article 4 in NATO’s charter. That article requires consultation among the members about a developing crisis situation and had only been activated once before in the 63-year history of NATO. If the situation gets any worse, Turkey might activate Article 5 which requires NATO members to come to the defense of an ally, in this case Turkey. Article 5 has only been activated once, after the 9/11 attacks when President Bush was planning war on Afghanistan. courtesy of Wikicommons If Turkey were to do the same, it could drag the West into an Syria & its Neighbors.

Assad ousting that numerous Middle Eastern countries have called for.

Voyager 1 space probe approaches edge of the solar system NASA launched the two Voyager probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, into deep space 35 years ago. Since then the two probes have discovered new moons and provided detailed information and photographs of the gas giants.

Now Voyager 1 is 11.2 million miles from the Earth and at the very edge of the solar system. NASA scientists have been closely monitoring its progress to know when the probe leaves the solar system and whether it will survive.

Two crucial markers have already been met. Solar wind readings have fallen off almost 90 percent indicating that the sun’s particle reach is now very thin. The second marker has been the increase in cosmic radiation affecting the probe. The last thing NASA is looking for are magnetic field changes indicating that the probe has left the sun’s magnetic field.

Even with these changes, the probe will not reach a new star for approximately 4,000 years.

But NASA says that the probe could start getting pictures of other planets by the year 2025. Those pictures would give further claims of fame to the Voyager mission that courtesy of Wikicommons has already made so many Voyager 1 Space Probe. milestones for humanity.

St. Petersburg mayor called out over red light cameras

Physical altercations Sept. 22, 23 still under investigation

St. Petersburg’s City Council meeting on Oct. 4 ground to a halt when the council found out from an activist about new red light camera installations. This stands as a huge mistake for Mayor Bill Foster who should have consulted the City Council before planning new red light cameras.

The council narrowly approved the initial round of red light cameras in February on the condition that their effectiveness beevaluated after a year. Mayor Foster defended himself by saying that the new installations are in the planning stage.

But that didn’t work for the council and the meeting descended into arguments with the council calling out their right of oversight. The mayor indicated that the cameras were at monitored intersections and were in place to close blind spots that drivers were exploiting.

Fox News Tampa Bay reported that three new intersections would be getting cameras: 1) US 19 & 5th Avenue, 2) US 19 & 22nd Ave and 3) 66th St & 13th Ave N.

Sept. 22: Eckerd student hospitalized after a physical altercation involving University of Tampa students and Eckerd students.

courtesy of Wikicommons St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.

According to Director of Emergency Management and Campus Safety Adam Colby, the case is “being finalized and will be turned over to the Office of Community Standards.” Currently, the University of Tampa students have been issued ban letters. Violation of the ban can result in trespass warnings by the St. Petersburg Police Department.

On advice of his lawyer, the hospitalized student is not available for comment during investigation.

Sept. 23: Physical altercation between Campus Safety Officer and Sophomore Samuel Ramey results in Ramey’s arrest, charge with felony battery.

According to Colby, the case is “being reviewed through an internal process that involves several departments on campus.” Osani is not available for comment during the review process. On advice of his lawyer, Ramey is also not available for comment until the case is finalized.

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the current

Oct. 12, 2012

News 3

news Fans of organic, sustainable foods to gain new grocery location in St. Petersburg

By Katie Doyle Contributing Writer A recent report on I Love the Burg, a local blog, states that the national grocery chain Whole Foods will be coming to downtown St. Petersburg. The exact location is still undecided. As the company is working out location disputes, the Eckerd College community debates how this addition will affect local businesses and grocery bills.

There will no longer be a need to drive over the Howard Frankland Bridge to get to Whole Foods for those who make the commute. A recent article in the Tampa Bay Times said Whole Foods is considering multiple locations, but was specifically looking into a property on Third Ave. North, currently occupied by a Synovus Bank.

The location is rumored to be undergoing construction in the near future, but the final decision won’t be made until the end of this year. I Love the Burg, suggested another location for the store to be in Pasadena.

The Eckerd College community has varied reactions to this addition in their community.

“My gas tank is happy,” The Reverend Libby Shannon, assistant chaplain and Quest For Meaning professor, discusses. “The most important thing about adding a Whole Foods in St. Pete is that it provides another alternate to buying produce, and what is great about Whole Foods is it supports local farms that practice fair labor practices.”

Senior Alex Carroll shared her excitement.

“Other than the Saturday Morning Market, which is still a bit of a drive, there is nothing in the area that offers such a wide selection of naturally grown, local food. Especially when it comes to meats.” Its opening would also add options for people who are strictly vegan/veg-

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ECOS Senate meets

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UN speeches address attacks

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Student votes in Venezuela

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By Rhemy Brezin ECOS President

courtesy of Wikicommons Customers shop at a Whole Foods location.

etarian, giving them more variety in selection, which can be very hard to come by.

“Whole Foods is a large chain, and like any other large, successful corporation, it provides tough competition for local businesses,” Garden Club President Deborah Hilbert explains.

“I’m no expert on Whole Foods Market—the last time I bought from them was freshman year, and I remember it being expensive and oddly reminiscent of a more hip version of WalMart.”

“I’m sure having a Whole Foods Market in

downtown St. Pete appeals to those hip citizens who can afford it,” Hilbert said, “but I’d rather eat food that I grow myself in the campus garden or that is grown by St. Pete farmers and gardeners.”

“Going to Whole Foods for me is like going to the Disneyland of grocery stores,” Sophomore Olivia Cook said. “ There are two natural grocers in St. Pete already, Earth Origins and Rollin’ Oats, and so I imagine there is going to be a lot of upset people who support those local places.”

With help from affiliate programs at Butler University and the Council for International Education Exchange, Eckerd students can receive credit for studying in Israel

Eckerd students now have the opportunity to study abroad in Israel for credit this year.

The international education department announced in June that two of Eckerd’s affiliate study abroad programs, Butler University and the Council For International Education Exchange, are offering programs in Israel.

Since Israel is on the State Department’s warning list for travel, it was not previously offered as a study destination by either the programs Eckerd is affiliated with or the International Student Exchange Programs (ISEP) due to insurance liabilities.

“I think it suffices to say that all schools and organizations watch the State Department travel warning list and many of them develop policies based on that and input from other sources,” Diane Ferris, director of international education, stated in an email.

“Butler and CIEE are Eckerd af-

Students react to pres. debate

ECOS makes involvement, awareness easy for students during presidential election

Studying abroad for credit in Israel now possible

By Greg Reilly Asst. Sports Editor

INSIDE NEWS

filiates,” Ferris stated, “which presents an opportunity for Eckerd students to participate in a study abroad program in Israel and, based on grades and the courses taken, to receive credit for this abroad experience.

Students must still follow all Eckerd rules regarding planning for study abroad—approval of courses by the mentor and the registrar.”

The Current ran an op-ed piece in April saying Israel should be considered an option to study because it was not that dangerous, and some students felt restricted by not being able to travel there through Eckerd.

“I am beyond excited that students at Eckerd can now study in Israel,” Senior Katherine Raker, who studied in Israel through an unaffiliated program last year, said.

“I’m glad that Eckerd students now have the opportunity that is available all across the country.”

Students will still have to go through the same process they would for any other study abroad

Visit us online at www.theonlinecurrent.com

courtesy of Wikicommons City of Haifa.

program in order for their credits to transfer back.

The CIEE program will be at the University of Haifa. Coursework in Haifa will consist of international relations and psychology courses, as well as peace and

conflict studies, according to the CIEE website.

Butler University’s program will be at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Students can study Hebrew, Arabic, religious studies, as well as Middle Eastern politics.

Elections are an important time in our country. It is your chance to express your opinion about the issues you see as most important, from abortion to health care to higher education. So the true question is, will you continue to be a statistic, sit on the sideline and let others make your decisions for you?

Or will you stand up for your own opinions and cast your vote in this election?

Do you want to know how the candidates stand on various issues without having to do research?

The debates will be shown at 9 p.m., Oct. 11 and 16 in the Student Lounge. The final presidential debate will be shown at 9 p.m., Oct. 22, in Miller Auditorium.

Would you rather discuss your questions with a local representative from the main political parties?

ECOS will be hosting a Pretty Patriots party at 5 p.m., Oct. 18, in Triton’s Pub. Students are encouraged to dress in American themed clothing and a full beverage service will be provided thanks to Her Campus, ECOS President, the Young Democrats and Republicans and the Independent Club. Finally, to get your fellow students excited about voting, an All-American party will be thrown at 11:30 a.m., Nov. 4, under the GO Pavilion with a plethora of American themed foods and games.

Are you worried about not being able to vote because you lack transportation to the polls? ServiceLearning and ECOS have created a solution. Free transportation to the polls Nov. 6, Election Day, will depart from the mailboxes. Please come out and take advantage of our free shuttle. If you’re a fan of watching the election results roll in poll by poll and time zone by time zone, come out to Triton’s Pub at 9 p.m. Nov. 6, where the election results will be broadcast on the big screen.

4 News

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Presidential debate streamed live in Miller Auditorium; students react

Denver University hosted the first of the three presidential debates between President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney on Oct. 3. The debate format was intended to allow the candidates time for real, substantive discussion of policy.

The debate was comprised of six sessions at fifteen minutes each, the first three focusing on economic policies, one on health care, one session for the role of government and one for the act of governing.

As Eckerd live streamed the debate in Miller Auditorium, students were full of opinions. The ECOS sponsored event also saw a guest appearance from a Bay News 9 camera crew and reporter, who were interviewing students’ reactions to the political discussion.

Laughter erupted from the auditorium as the debate began and Romney congratulated Obama on his anniversary with wife Michelle, which fell on the day of the debate. “I’m sure it’s the most romantic place you can imagine,” Romney conjectured, “here with me.”

The debate ensued in grand form with both candidates routinely destroying time limits and the moderator, Jim Lehrer, was entirely irrelevant. He even got a losing vote in the after-debate analysis by Washington Post’s political blog The Fix. When discussing the economy, Obama charged Romney with wanting a $5 trillion tax cut favoring the rich over the middle class. Romney responded by arguing that his real tax plan has always been a revenue neutral reform that lowers all brackets by a fifth. The plan also includes caps and eliminations on deductions used by the rich to ensure a progressive tax code, just with a more efficient tax code.

All told, Romney’s deficit reduction program boiled down to three questions: Is this priority so vitally important that we should be borrowing money for it? Can this program be run more efficiently by the states? How can we make this program more efficient?

Among the programs to get the axe by Romney is the $444 million subsidy to PBS. “I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I like [Leher] too, but I am not going to keep spending money on things [we have] to borrow money from China to pay for.” Students in Miller voiced their reactions with boisterous laughter and resounding cries of “what?!” throughout the auditorium.

Notable among Romney’s explanations was his indication of the need for good regulation that ensures business transparency.

He also spoke on the importance of separating government and corporations.

This section included attacking the section

of the Dodd-Frank financial reform that identifies five banks as too big to fail.

Obama retaliated the intervention by stating that “Wall Street put Main Street at risk.”

At one point late in the debate Jim Lehrer momentarily seized the reigns of control and redirected the debate out of the vein of direct policy and toward the role of government. Obama said the role of government was to protect the people.

On the other hand, Romney pointed behind himself and cited the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution displayed there. He specifically cited the phrase “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” explaining each in turn.

Romney’s explanation of the right to life was defending the security of every American’s life and property, including the unborn. The right to liberty was defending every person’s freedom from encroachment by others and/or the government. Last was the pursuit of happiness, which Romney interpreted as a robust defense of free market principles and freedom of economic action.

Notably absent from the night was any mention of Romney’s 47 percent comments, his tenure at Bain Capital, his tax returns, or any of the lightning rod issues that Obama has been using to decrease Romney’s likability.

Also noticeable was Romney’s tone.

He wasn’t passive, but he wasn’t angry or shouting or any of the things that you would expect if the Republicans had nominated a Tea-Partier. Obama too was moderate in tone.

All told, the debate reflected the race. Two candidates who are playing to the moderates in a race defined by the big issues of the day.

ECOS Chief of Staff Langdon Evans felt that “neither candidate won the debate.”

However, he did feel that “Romney seemed to be on the defensive because of the way he looked at Obama, as if he was attacking him.”

It seemed the students who attended this first debate were enlightened to issues facing the U.S. today. The CPS credit incentive may have helped with the large number of the students who attended, but it still rallied political thought and fanfare among the attendees of the event.

Freshman Carly Machen felt that she could not relate to many of the issues discussed due to her age. The winner was “a toss up” for her, as she agreed with some of Romney’s economic policies, as well as some of Obama’s health care stances.

Freshman Caroline Glenn said she “came to the debate trying to figure out which candidate I would vote for, but now it’s going to be harder to decide.” Mirroring Machen and Langdon’s viewpoints, Glenn felt “both had good points, plans and reactions to problems in America, and now I’m so much more confused than I was.”

She is considering researching third party candidates for her first presidential vote.

Below are the results of an ECOS survey taken by students at the screening of the Oct. 3 debate. The statistics below represent a total of 15 freshmen, 8 sophomores, 9 juniors and 7 seniors, with a total sample size of 39 students.

Which candidate did you feel was on the defensive regarding the economy?

During the first half of the debate regarding the economy, which candidate did you feel did a better job of assessing the needs of the American people?

5

4 15 10

19

Whose recovery policies seemed to make more practical sense?

25

Which candidate seemed calmer and more prepared?

5

7 7 7

25

27

Did either candidate seem to “win” the debate?

15

17

photo by Liz Tomaselli

By Ethan Packey, Cait Duffy, & Matthew Wilson Asst. News Editor, News Editor, Staff Writer

7

Poor education in Chicago linked to violence among city’s youth

By Taylor Glaws Staff Writer Important domestic issues can often be drowned out amid the clamor of national politics, especially in a contentious election year.

One of these issues is the rising rate of violent crime in Chicago, which has seen a 38 percent increase since 2011.

In a recent article, the Huffington Post reported that over the weekend of Sept. 22, three people were killed and 18 others were injured in knife and gun crimes.

Many point to gang activity to explain the recent spike in violent crime.

Chicago has the highest population of gang members of any city in the country, and some reports indicate that up to one quarter of homicides this year have been gang-related.

In an article in the Chicago

Tribune, Jeremy Gorner identified a changing culture in a new generation of street gangs. The new generation has been more violent than any other since the 1990s.

Bruce Osbey, a former gang member, is quoted in the article as saying, “when I was coming up it was like 100 [Black P Stones] and 100 GD’s [Gangster Disciples] fighting...Now, ain’t no such thing as fighting...it’s a shooting thing.”

One reason for the increased violence in the past year highlighted in Gorner’s article has been the lack of central authority in many gangs.

This has led to fighting between a number of splinter groups, from gangs such as the Gangster Disciples, over once shared territory.

This readiness of the new generation to respond to any provocation with deadly force is embodied by a recent murder in Evanston, a suburb near Chicago.

On Sept. 22, 14-year-old Dajae Coleman was shot and killed while walking home from a party with friends by a man who mistakenly suspected Coleman’s group had been involved in an earlier fight.

Authorities believe that Coleman was not the intended target, his death a case of mistaken identity.

The violent crime and other gang related activities that plague Chicago communities came into focus during the recent teachers union strikes.

Thousands of children who would have been in the relative safety of public school were increasingly exposed to the dangers of life in the city.

In an article appearing in issue two of The Current, Junior Christina Smith expressed concern for her two young siblings who were home schooled during the strike.

The strike, as well as other events in recent weeks, underscore the connection between poor

courtesy of Wikicommons/ Jarred Trost The Chicago skyline.

education and other problems in the community.

A group of parents and other community members met to discuss youth violence after Coleman’s death. While the tone in Evanston was optimistic, with statements such as “I don’t think gang violence is increasing. I think it’s decreased” by people attending

the meeting, the rest of Chicago is still confronted by many serious challenges.

In Viewpoints, see “Chicago violence escalates, hits home” on page 9 for the student perspective.

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the current

Oct. 12, 2012

News 5

ECOS Senate discusses fall allocation, pedestrian traffic in academic quad

By Cait Duffy News Editor The student elected Senate convened Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 for its first meetings of the academic year to discuss issues related to creation of student committees, the finalization of fall allocation and policies regarding longboards and bikes in the academic quad, among other things.

ECOS Vice President Eliza van Dissel officially began the Sept.

30 meeting at 7:05 p.m., beginning with an explanation of the process behind voting on motions, also known as “Robert’s Rules.”

All of the dorms were represented, as well as Vice President of Financial Affairs Brady O’Donnell, while ECOS Parliamentarian Greg Johnson was absent.

After the explanation of Robert’s Rules, discussion moved to the creation of a culinary committee.

Senior Kyle Berghold proposed the plan for the culinary committee, which would act as a liaison between students and Bon Appetit.

The committee includes two senators, Iota Senator Katherine Pace and Delta Senator Timothy Farrell. In moving to create the food committee, a suggestion was made to reduce the senators on the media committee from two to one. This was voted on at the Oct. 7 meeting.

The final club budget allocations followed the discussion of committees in the meeting.

O’Donnell presented the budget to the senate, reading the amount allocated to each organization along with explanations behind some decisions.

The final budgets saw both increases and decreases in the amounts requested during fall allocation. The motion to pass the budget was made by Omega Senator Brenna Durkin, seconded by West Lodge Senator Haven Allard, and passed unanimously.

Senior Andrew Miller addressed the Senate next with a proposal for a student initiative. Dubbed

“Mission Kitchen,” the organization would work in a similar manner to previous food delivery fundraisers such as Kappa Kitchen and Crisis Kitchen.

Miller hopes this endeavor can raise funds to help support a health clinic in Ethiopia he had worked at for a short period. After ensuring it would not conflict with Kappa Kitchen, Kappa Senator Kyler Thomann offered advice on properly running such a campaign.

After a short discussion of adding more cigarette buckets around campus and the importance of senators having a strong relationship with their complex’s Resident Advisors, the meeting was called to a close.

The members of ECOS filed outside and began walking toward South Beach, where a cookout had been planned.

Oct. 7 saw the second convergence of the ECOS Senate.

Zeta Senator Mary Jean Harford and Johnson were both absent, with Durkin acting as secretary for the meeting. The meeting was called to order as senators discussed the weekend’s wild-west themed shenanigans.

The meeting commenced with votes to approve the creation of the culinary committee and the approvals of student heads for WECX and the Media Committee, Nathan Rupp and Hailey Escobar, respectively. Approval of the culinary committee and WECX head were both passed, while the motion to make Escobar head of the media committee was tabled.

An amendment to the ECOS constitution was made, in which Section 14, B.2 was changed to one senator, instead of two, to sit on the media committee. The amendment was motioned for approval by Sigma Senator Ashley Sargo, seconded by Gamma Senator James Patterson and passed unanimously.

A significant portion of the meeting after was devoted to discussing the issue of bike and longboard traffic in the academic quad. According to van Dissel, ECOS has received word of

faculty complaints about students longboarding and biking in front of classrooms, and the administration will be taking steps to add deterrents to sidewalks.

Much discussion from the senators ensued. Sargo raised the issue of “pushing longboarders into the street” and the hazards posed by mixing cars with bikes, while Matthisen raised the possibility of setting hour restrictions and fines into effect instead of making physical alterations to the sidewalks.

The discussion concluded with a proposed solution for the faculty of placing rubber mats in front of classrooms, placing mirrors on the corners of buildings, and setting time restrictions into effect. While the Senate is able to contribute ideas toward the means of implementing the deterrents, they are unable to stop the implementation.

The meeting came to a conclusion with multiple senators requesting use of their funds for their dorms.

Alpha Senator Henry Ashworth requested reimbursement for supplies purchased to host a pancake-cooking event in the Alpha common room.

Patterson requested access to his full $100 budget for pancake supplies as well, and will be raising money to host a holiday bash Nov. 4 at Gamma.

Epsilon Senator Isaac Anderson requested access for up to $35 of his budget to host a Halloween event Oct. 19. Commuter Senator Henry Palmer requested access to his total $100 budget to host a pumpkin carving event for off-campus students.

Delta Senator Timothy Farrell requested up to $50 to purchase cutting boards and paper towels for Delta’s common area. All requests were unanimously approved.

The meeting concluded with discussion of goals for the next meeting, including devising a point reward system for students who attend campus events, as well as looking into the possibility of making pre-paid laundry a reality for all dorms on campus.

Environmentalist, author Bill McKibben to address class of 2013 at 50th commencement ceremony McKibben from front page

creation of the pipeline in January, on the grounds that more research into the possible environmental impact needed to be conducted.

TransCanada Corp., the company that would build the pipeline, is still months away submitting a new application for the review process.

McKibben feels excited to be coming back to the campus, and students, staff and administration alike share mutual feelings.

Senior Devon Williams, one of the main organizers of the Keystone XL Pipeline protest and a member of the commencement speaker selection committee said, “I think he will be extremely relevant to our class. Because we’re such an environmentally focused campus, his message and life work really speaks to us. At Keystone XL Pipeline, he got everyone really riled up. He’s an excellent motivationalist.”

Senior Jack Morrisey agree. “It’s awesome that we are promoting environmentally minded ideas. He’s the man for the job.”

The decision to have McKibben come to Eckerd for commencement is one that has been in the works for some time. According to Dean of Students James Annarelli, the

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invitation had been extended to McKibben to address the class of 2012. Annarelli said, “His schedule didn’t allow him. [McKibben] offered President {Donald} Eastman and the Eckerd community a ‘rain check.’”

Before extending the official invitation, Annarelli met with members of the ECOS executive council, among other members of the class of 2013, to gauge student opinion. The same process ocurred before issuing the 2012 invitation.

Both groups of students endorsed the invitation.

Annarelli said, “McKibben accepted the president’s invitation almost immediately.”

Senior Jenna Carderas is excited to have McKibben come to campus.

“Having Bill McKibben be the 2013 commencement speaker is great.

It’s a treat he will get to speak to us at graduation.”

When asked what he plans to address in his speech, McKibben said, “Some of the tough realities that face the [class of 2013], but also the fact that if we can get past them we can build a better world than anyone now imagines.”

McKibben feels that the Eckerd community has a unique advantage in seeing the world as it truly is, and

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understanding the impact of the individual. “Somehow.... being right at sea level has helped everyone understand they have a real stake in the way the future unfolds.”

While some seniors are excited to have the man called “the world’s best green journalist” by Time magazine address the class, others aren’t quite as enthralled.

When asked, Senior Kevin Burdick was disappointed. “It’s a good decision for the stereotypical Eckerd College student. But if Eckerd wants us to think outside the box, I don’t think it’s a good fit.” Burdick feels that focusing too heavily on the environmentalist aspect of the campus limits the perception of diversity of interest in the student body. “We are almost forced to favor the environmentalist view to fit in here. Preaching to the choir is not a good way to make change.”

Senior Henry Ball disagrees. “I think he is a cool choice. Eckerd is a college where we become world students in not just the sense of an international reach, but a global and naturalistic sense as well.

It will be cool to have a speaker like McKibben to open the final moments of the senior class.”

These worldly perceptions

courtesy of Eckerd College Flickr Bill McKibben during his 2011 speech at Eckerd College.

gained through Eckerd are a part of what it means to obtain a liberal arts degree. A degree that McKibben feels is necessary to have when trying to tackle environmental issues.

“The environmental problems we face--especially global warming-will require that we understand not just science but ethics, not just math but public policy,” said McKibben.

“It’s the kind of problem the liberal arts education was made to solve.”

Annarelli also believes the values of a liberal arts degree will ensure this year’s seniors are well equipped for the world. “There is no better foundation for further study and

for thoughtful global citizenship than a liberal arts education.”

Among others, Annarelli adds, “A global perspective that defines, analyzes and solves problems from a multiplicity of perspectives and “the ability to work with others, and particularly with diverse groups” as invaluable skills and competencies that one develops with a liberal arts education.

Heads held high and faces turned toward the future, the class of 2013 will be receiving sound advice from McKibben, as well as many of Eckerd’s most notorious academics, as they wait for their diplomas and the next step toward the future.

6 News

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Tomaselli thecurrent@eckerd.edu Managing Editor Jeralyn Darling

News Editor Cait Duffy currentnews@eckerd.edu Asst. News Editors Malena Carollo Ethan Packey Viewpoints Editor Carver Elliot Lee currentviews@eckerd.edu Asst. Viewpoints Editor Ely Grinfield Shannon Vize

Entertainment Editor Ian Lindsay currententertainment@eckerd.edu Asst. Entertainment Editor Hayden Johnson Aaron Levy Lizzy Brophy The Quickie Editors Alex Roberts Aaron Levy Shannon Vize Ryan Wheeler Dominick Cuppetilli Lizzy Brophy Health & Fitness Editor Alex Roberts Asst. Health & Fitness Editor Caroline Campbell

In General Assembly debut, newly elected leaders address international community

By Taylor Glaws Staff Writer The United Nations General Assembly convened last month in its 67th session during a tumultuous period in international politics. Against the backdrop of widespread outrage across the Middle East over a YouTube video and rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, the newly elected leaders of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya addressed the GA for the first time.

The leaders, President Mohamed Morsi (Egypt), President Mohammed El-Magarief (Libya) and President Moncef Marzouki (Tunisia), spoke about many of the same issues, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nuclear non-proliferation and the conflict in Syria.

One issue that all three leaders appeared to agree upon was the international recognition of an independent Palestinian state. The emphasis of this issue by all three leaders, in particular President Morsi’s reference to the conflict as “the first issue which the world must make efforts to resolve,” underscore t h e

Sports Editor Mike Geibel currentsports@eckerd.edu Asst. Sports Editors Greg Reilly Colin Casey Will Creager Ryan Wheeler Dominick Cuppetilli

Graphic Design Editor Carver Elliot Lee Photo Editor Alex Zielinski Web Editor Mike Geibel

Faculty Adviser Tracy Crow Director of Finances Kevin Boyd Director of PR/Advertising Devon Williams currentads@eckerd.edu Asst. Director of PR/Advertising Arielle Burger

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 welomes 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 goverment 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.

courtesy of Wikicommons Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

importance of Palestinian statehood to regional politics.

This emphasis may reflect the necessity for these new leaders to obtain political support in a region where people are passionate about this issue. However, according to Fait Muedini, professor of political science, it is also important to bear in mind that these new governments all have strong Islamist ties.

Professor Muedini explained that these new governments have been and will continue to be outspoken advocates for Palestinian statehood partly because of these ties.

Elaborating on the historical importance of the issue to groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Muedini said, “Early in the 1920s.... many of their major principals were Palestinian rights issues. This is something that they can claim they have been a proponent of for decades.”

Another issue on which all three leaders seemed to agree, was the issue of nuclear non-proliferation.

Statements such as “the only solution is to get rid of nuclear weapons” by Morsi, as well as similar comments from Magarief and Marzouki, demonstrate a strong anti-nuclear sentiment in many Middle Eastern nations.

While they all condemned the pursuit of nuclear weapons, Morsi in particular stressed the right of nations to pursue nuclear power for energy purposes, “Nations... have the right to peaceful nuclear energy.”

While the leaders were careful not to directly address any one nation, these statements carry special significance to relations between Israel, which has been unofficially noted as having

nuclear weapons, and Iran. Iran in particular has been the subject of international criticism and sanctions as consequences of its nuclear development.

One theme that seemed to particularly pervade Morsi’s address was the necessity for a new understanding of Middle East-west relations. Conscious of his predecessor Hosni Mubarak’s relationship with the U.S., Morsi described his vision for a new Egypt in which “our cooperation with the international community [is] in a spirit of mutual understanding and mutual respect.”

This theme was present in the leaders’ discussion of many other issues, such as the recent mass protests over the video “The Innocence of Muslims.” All three condemned the video, as well as the violent retaliation to it, but dealt with it differently in several key ways.

Morsi devoted more time to discussing the important questions that this incident raises about free speech. Contrary to the unequivocal support for the universal right to free speech that President Obama expressed in his Sept. 25 address, Morsi argued that some speech incites hatred and violence, and thus should be banned, “Egypt supports freedom of expression...[but] not freedom of expression that deepens ignorance.” Morsi went on to say “We expect from others what they expect from us; that they respect our culture and religion and not to seek to impose concepts or cultures that are unacceptable to us.”

President Magarief spent a large amount of time apologizing and offering condolences on

courtesy of Wikicommons Libyan President el-Magariaf.

behalf of his country for the death of Chris Stevens and his three aids.

Magarief described Stevens as “a voice of reason” and “a messenger of friendship.”

Despite his praise of the American ambassador and his expressions of solidarity with the sadness of the American and Libyan people, President Magarief was also careful to assert that the video “go[es] beyond the concept of free speech.” These comments suggest to many the presence of a cultural or ideological rift between the east and west regarding the issue of free speech.

Others, like Professor Muedini, are hesitant to acknowledge the legitimacy of such a rift.

Muedini points to several factors, such as the fact that the governments of Egypt and Lybia are Islamist, to explain these positions. “They are Islamist parties; it would be problematic, I think, for them not to speak out.”

Additionally, Professor Muedini stressed that there is nothing intrinsic about Islamic societies that limits free speech. “There are many examples of Muhammed, who would be spoken against, who would have things thrown at him, and would not retaliate.”

Muedini went on to say that “the importance of....allowing everyone to speak” has historically been a central value of Islamic societies.

Despite difficulties, EC student acquires ticket home, participates in election VENEZUELA from front page

prefer you to be registered here than not to be [registered] anywhere and lose a vote.’”

At 1 p.m. the day U.S. registration closed, Mora joined a line outside the voting center in her hometown. To register, one must present identification at the registration center, declare at which center they will vote, sign a form four times and put their fingerprint on the form. The three hours Mora was there the first day, three people were registered before the center closed.

She returned the next day at 11 a.m. to stand out in the sun, waiting for the uniformed military man to open the door and let her in to register. Hours passed as the line crawled, making little progress. Meanwhile, Mora had more to worry about outside than staying hydrated.

“Right now in Venezuela when you go out on the streets, people get kidnapped,” Mora said.

“People come and steal your purse, [and there are] shootings everywhere.

You’ve got to be careful.”

Last month, Mora’s own family scrambled to put together thousands of dollars in cash after her sister-in-law was kidnapped in the middle of the night.

Many families, Mora said, have money set aside in case one of their relatives is taken hostage. While her family spent hours finding enough to pay the ransom, they received a rare happy ending.

“I say that it was a miracle,” she said. Three hours after being taken, Mora’s sister-in-law was freed when the kidnappers’ vehicle crashed far from the city. She was able to make her way to a nearby house and call her brother, returning unscathed.

“That’s the reason why we’re leaving the country, why we’re here [in the United States],” Mora said. “How do you live in a country where you can’t even walk in the streets because you feel fear from everyone?”

Luckily, Mora’s time outside the voting center remained uninteresting, though closing came just as she reached the front of the line. Frustrated, she challenged the uniformed doorman, saying she had a right to vote and the center was denying her this. The next day was the last the center was open before she had to return to school— What time did she have to get to the center to be able to register? she asked.

5 a.m., he said.

The next morning, Mora arrived on time and joined a line of people already 20 deep. By 8 a.m., she was sandwiched by nearly 80 people behind her, free on a Saturday from work and school. Hours ticked by.

The line slowly whittled down to three people in front of her. Then came an announcement: “We’re going to let two people in, then we’re going to close it for lunch and come back at 2 [p.m.], and then we’re going to close the place at 3 [p.m.],” Mora

recounted. Papers ready, Mora was the last person they let through to register that day.

Fast forward to Oct. 2, six days before the election.

Mora was on a waiting list for two months to get a ticket for a flight from Miami to Caracas but to no avail. All flights were booked solid with remaining tickets priced in the thousands.

While writing a paper in the library, Mora got a call.

One of her sisters in Miami had a friend who found a round-trip ticket for $1,300.

If Mora could pay, she would leave Saturday from Miami and return the following Tuesday.

“It’s worth [the expense],” Mora said. “It’s when Venezuelans need to vote and give whatever we need to give.”

Mora was on her way to class, urging her sister to secure the ticket for her.

With $300 from Mora’s own pocket, her sisters and family were able to pull together enough for the ticket in an hour. At 6 a.m. on Oct. 6, Mora boarded a flight for Caracas.

“For our students going to vote in November, [voting is] not a dangerous thing to do,” Assistant Professor of Spanish Yanira Angulo-Cano said. “They don’t feel repercussions for which way we vote, and perhaps our students can’t relate to that, I know they can’t. But I think if they realize their classmates here, their friends that are going through that, they’ll realize that this is going on in parts of the world.”

Mora takes 400-level

Spanish with Angulo, the election process, no and sought her counsel matter country you look throughout the process at, but Maria should be a of getting to Venezuela. role model for students in Angulo has spoken with a this country too. She flew few Venezuelan students, all the way home to vote in reassuring those who an election that she knows couldn’t make the trip was probably cheated in home that they should be the direction of Chavez, content with their efforts in and yet some of us are too campaigning in the States. lazy to register to vote “I think the most here. It’s horrible that he devastating thing is that got ‘reelected,’ but I really they mention the elections admire people like Maria.” and people don’t respond,” Despite Mora’s efforts at Angulo said.

“They’re home and in Florida, results not sympathetic about late Oct. 7 announced it because they’re not Chavez as the winner by informed.” a margin of 9 percent for News of both the election another six year term, and Mora’s departure came meaning the situation in as a surprise to Senior Chris Venezuela will continue.

“I’m really sad,” Mora Giordano, who sits next to Maria in Angulo’s class. On said in an email. “I still want hearing the news, he was to fight for my country for a better future. However, how immediately supportive.

“I plan to help Maria [will] we do it with a guy in any way she feels is that stole all our votes, that necessary,” Giordano said. bought so many people?”

Currently, Mora says her “I think it’s a very important thing for Eckerd students to family, like many others, know. But at the same time, is planning on leaving because it’s not my country, Venezuela in search of a I feel that I can only act in “better future somewhere else.” a supporting role instead of “I can just say, leading.” ‘ Ve n e z u e l a , Other students w e l c o m e were more informed to a real about the election, dictatorship,’” though equally Mora said. as supportive of their fellow Eckerd students affected.

“I love that the students are taking charge,” Junior Olivia Sadler, who knew about the election prior to Oct. 7, said.

“They have courtesy of Maria Mora’s Facebook always played Mora and a friend display their inked fingers a large role in

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after casting their votes.

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Oct. 12, 2012

News 7

On patrol with Campus Safety: final installation in series On Patrol from front page

where guys dress like ladies and girls typically wear lingerie.

“I saw a girl walk out of her dorm in just her underwear and I wanted to run up to her and tell her to throw some clothes on. I was so confused,” she laughs. A heads up would have been nice.

A transplant from Long Island, N.Y., Kathleen admits she wasn’t aware how much multitasking was actually involved in Campus Safety.

Between patrols, locking and opening classrooms, transports, vandalism, room lock-outs and noise control, Kathleen might add “Dr. Doolittle” to her list of responsibilities. In the little time she’s been here, she’s already done at least four wildlife relocations.

One time, she got a call from a student whose pet snake was trapped in his dresser—not exactly in her job description. Eventually, Kathleen was able to save the day.

Thanks to the fact that she knew how to assemble furniture, she was able to carefully take the dresser apart and safely retrieve the snake.

Maybe they should add wildlife rescue to their already impressive list of training credentials, she jokes. Colby might agree. He recalls one morning when the team had received a call about a sick pelican on South Beach. Since no one could bring the pelican to the bird sanctuary for a few hours, the team brought the sick pelican back to the Campus Safety office to babysit it until it could be transported. Colby recalls the awful mess the pelican made all over the office as it got sick and the wretched smell that plagued the office for the day.

Animal rescue isn’t quite at the top of the Campus Safety training list, yet, but the list is no less impressive. Colby keeps a detailed excel spreadsheet of all of their training, and the list keeps growing.

Safety officers have a smorgasbord of training credentials including CPR, conflict management, teambuilding, field interview and report writing, incident report writing and professional communication practices, chemical lab orientation, hazardous waste management, special training on safety for the Ransom Art building, campus public safety response to WMD incidents and threat and risk assessment, to name a few. They even applied for staff scholarships for interviewing and interrogation training.

And the training doesn’t stop at the end of the school year. Colby has a list of summer training they’ll be working on including initial response courses, a fire department course taught through St. Petersburg Community College, and they’ll even be working on the creation of their very own Eckerd College crime prevention program. The collaborative program will also be a resource for residential advisors, where they can invite Campus S a f e t y officers to talk t o their

dorm about how to prevent crime and theft on campus.

By noon, the weather has warmed up a bit and more calls start coming in. Phil and I take one to unlock a classroom in Sigma and another about graffiti at Kappa. When we arrive at Kappa, maintenance is just leaving after assessing the situation. That right there is a porous concrete sidewalk, the maintenance employee tells us.

Graffiti like that on the sidewalk sets and, because it’s porous, can’t just be cleaned. It needs to be painted. This paint and the now inevitable upkeep of the paint on the sidewalk is an unnecessary expense and one that grows with each graffiti incident on campus. Students don’t realize that contributes to tuition hikes, he tells me.

As Phil and I finish one last patrol of campus before I have to go to class, I ask him about his experiences with Eckerd students.

Does he resent them for all the trouble they cause? “Absolutely not. Never,” he replies. When Campus Safety deals with trouble on campus, he knows they’re mostly dealing with what he calls “the two percent.” But in general, he thinks Eckerd is filled with bright young students just having some harmless fun in college.

“They’re our future; they’re going to be the movers and shakers of the world.”

The night shift The differences between the day shift and the night shift are, well, like night and day. On a Friday night I met up with Chris Brinson at the Campus Safety office. Chris is also a team leader and his team is on the night shift this weekend, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. By 7:30 p.m. Chris and I are in a golf cart setting out to complete the second perimeter check of the day.

This time, we leave through the front gate and make a right down 54th, following the Pinellas Trail down past the water treatment plant and turning right on the sidewalk at the light. On the outside of Eckerd’s fence, in the far corner, there’s a flattened area of metal fence with an Eckerd yellow bike on the outside. Chris grabs the bike and puts it in the back of our golf cart to bring back to campus.

Before working with Campus Safety, Chris worked in horticulture, but now he’s been a Campus Safety officer at Eckerd for ten years. When he started, Omega was just being built and the Campus Safety office was where we now have Armacost library.

“We were right in the middle of the action then,” he recalls, since Armacost is only a few feet away from Epsilon and the residential side of campus.

On our way back to campus, we stop at the front gate where Chris

photo by Alex Zielinski

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McLaughlin, a former deputy sheriff, is stopping cars and checking IDs. This is the first line of defense he tells me as he continues to stop cars, meticulously scanning every dark corner of a car—including the trunk—while examining IDs. At the gate, especially once Eckerd becomes a closed campus at 6 p.m., no car goes unnoticed.

McLaughlin has work study students in the booth to assist him if cars get backed up or they need to run a search on someone.

To streamline the process of cross checking students who forget their IDs, a widespread epidemic it seems, McLaughlin created a handy set of rectangular-shaped, laminated, double-sided index cards. The cards are held together on a circular metal loop and, in alphabetical order, have the names and ID numbers of every Eckerd student. This way, McLaughlin explains, he can check names right at the car instead of risking them just driving away while he runs to the computer in the booth to verify information. He learned from experience, he says.

Even the delivery cars must check in. Anytime a Papa John’s or Domino’s car comes on campus, the officers at the gate write down where they’re from, what dorm house and complex they are going to and the time they entered campus.

This log runs all night—a fairly new procedure that began after a delivery man reportedly remained with friends on campus and caused some trouble.

McLaughlin only works the gate on weekend nights, where he is supplemented with a St. Petersburg police officer in case reinforcements are ever needed.

Inside the booth there’s a bathroom and a computer with a few chairs. The walls are filled with rules and regulations, policies and pictures of people banned from campus.

During the day, when Eckerd is an open campus, Ed Bolden says, with a warm, welcoming smile, his job at the gate is to greet people as they enter campus. “I’m the first person they’ll see,” he says, “It’s a position that requires some tact and diplomacy.”

From the gate, Chris and I began our first patrol of the night.

“This job will really teach you some things,” he says as he turns on the headlights while we ride around the right side of the new molecular and life science building, “you definitely don’t get stagnant on what could happen here.”

Working as a Campus Safety officer at a college, anything goes.

From body paint, to togas, loose snakes, vandalism and students climbing buildings, Chris has pretty much seen it all. And though every crazy scenario he encounters might not be explicitly outlined in a training manual, Chris credits vigorous training with ensuring his efficient responses.

Proper training acts as a guidepost, he tells me, as he scoops a little lizard off the windshield of the golf cart, and every individual will react differently to a situation, but the training ensures the reactions remain in the spectrum of those guideposts.

The importance of patrols, Chris informs me as we meander through the back corners of Lewis House, is not so much to catch students doing things they shouldn’t be doing, but to create a presence on campus; to create the sense that there is no “secret spot,” all corners are patrolled and searched.

That being said, if there are “secret gathering spots” on campus, Chris knows where they are. After

ten years at Eckerd, Chris knows this campus inside and out, right down to the specific trees students climb and even the time of night students start to gather in certain spots on campus.

On his earpiece, Chris gets a call for a transport, so we make our way over to Epsilon. It’s a 40 minute process by the time Chris assesses the situation and interviews witnesses—and writes information down on a small, handy steno pad— and the Fire truck comes along with a Sunstar ambulance and the third-party cleaning company. Since, for the time being, there are no more calls, we return to the office so Chris can get a head start on his incident report.

Back in the office, Dave, another officer on Chris’s team, sits at a computer and begins his incident reports for the evening so far. The wall calendar next to the computer has a picture of Mount Rushmore and the radio on the bookshelf is set to 104.7, casually broadcasting a low soundtrack of Michael Jackson, The Eagles, KC & The Sunshine Band and Cyndi Lauper in the background. Chris runs to the pub for dinner and Dave and I chat while he types up his report.

A former paramedic, Dave recalls some of his worst encounters with students: having a beer thrown at him, whiskey spit at him and even a student getting on a megaphone to yell at him across the parking lot for ticketing his car.

“Oh, that’s his thing,” Chris says as he walks back through the door with a tuna melt and fries, “parking tickets.” Dave’s pet peeve is students parking in handicap spots when they don’t belong. I always get them, he tells me.

While we’re in the office, a few more calls come in that Chris delegates out, another transport, a room lockout and a request to transport a cat back to the waterfront. It begins to thunder and rain outside and they tell me that might indicate a fairly uneventful evening. But you never know, they remind me.

As I sit in the corner, observing while Chris and Dave chat in between typing up their incident reports, their other team member comes in after responding to a call.

I take note of the giant poster on common drug paraphernalia to my left and the three of them joke with each other and offer advice on writing their respective incident reports.

It’s the kind of natural camaraderie you might find between members on a sports team or students in a Western Heritage class; people who’ve spent a lot of time together and have grown to respect each other and even enjoy one another’s company.

Hotspots At 11 p.m., Chris and I hop back in the golf cart and start another round of patrols. This is the time, Chris explains, when he checks out the “hotspots” for the night.

According to him, 11 p.m. is a good time to see where people are starting to gather and where they’ll have to check back later in the night.

On our ride, thunder rumbles nearby, leaving a hint of a vibration sound on the plastic golf cart windshield.

In a lightning storm, these golf carts are probably one of the worst places to be, Chris tells me, just as a gigantic streak of bright purple lightning lights up the sky ahead of us.

After a quick “hotspot” patrol, we speed through the rain to Sheen where we’ll finish locking up

the classrooms.

Lock and key game If you don’t immediately recognize a Campus Safety officer approaching at the sight of their obvious uniforms, which Colby says is intentional, then you can certainly hear them. Each officer carries a large metal hoop filled with the keys to the city— presumably every door at Eckerd College. None of the officers seem to be able to give me an exact number of keys, just the fact that there are a lot. Lined up on their side, with each key about .2 cm thick, they probably measure the length of a small banana at the caf.

Though they are all the same gold color, there are two kinds of keys: Best keys and Sargent keys.

Best keys are the newer ones, and the doors are slowly being transitioned to them. The keys, however, are not labeled. Other than the type of key and the serial number, there’s no explicit label for what building or room it belongs to—and each door has its own, individual key.

This is where memory and logic skills come in. The process resembles a game of Guess Who, where experience and memory help them to quickly pair locks and keys when opening and locking doors. A big part of their daily routines, morning and night shifts, includes what I have dubbed the “lock and key game.”

We play the lock and key game for a while, weaving in and out of rooms in Sheen, turning off lights and locking doors while dodging the rain being blown from the sides of the covered sidewalks. Chris and I talk about popular majors at Eckerd, his family and my family and his approach to working with students as a Campus Safety officer.

Willie, the officer who trained him, gave him an important lesson early on: keep an eye out and monitor the situation, but if they’re not causing trouble, let them have their harmless fun. That seems to be the way Chris approaches his job. “Everyone likes to be treated fairly,” he says. If he can approach someone calmly and with fairness, he expects them to do the same.

A few classrooms we approach on our rounds have students in them. We leave those open, Chris says, and we’ll come back when they’re finished. One of the perks of a small liberal arts school, Eckerd believes students should always have a quiet, productive place to study, which means if you want a classroom to study in, Campus Safety will open one for you. However, this means that sometimes the lock and key game can go on all night, constantly moving around campus re-locking and unlocking rooms.

Partially soaked, we hop back in the golf cart so I can go home and Chris will ride around in the black Campus Safety truck to stay dry for the last five hours of his rainy night shift. “You never have the same day on this job,” he tells me. There’s no routine. One minute you’re opening a dorm room for a locked out student, and the next you’re answering a noise complaint, mediating a fight, dismantling furniture to save a pet, patrolling the perimeter, filing an incident report or rescuing a sick raccoon.

You’re like a jack-of-all-trades I tell him, as he asks what I learned about his job tonight. “That’s exactly right,” he laughs, “I guess we are.”

This is the second and final installment. The first part was run in Issue 2 of The Current. For the complete piece, be sure to visit www.theonlinecurrent.com.

8 News

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Romney builds on debate momentum with rally at St. Petersburg Pier

By Elizabeth Tomaselli Editor-in-Chief

“Please vote for Mitt Romney,” he pleaded. He proclaimed, on numerous occasions, that this election would be the most important in his lifetime.

Thousands of supporters came out Oct. 5 to see Republican presiRomney took the stage with his wife, Ann, to chants of “USA” dential candidate Mitt Romney at Pier Park. The victory rally drew and “We want Mitt,” amidst a sea of waving American flags and blue crowds of local Romney supporters, including foam baseball mitts bearing his name. members of the Eckerd College Republicans Ann introduced her husband, explaining club, many of who were there as volunteers. how happy she was that America finally got to “Many EC Republicans are currently either see the real Mitt, referring to his performance interning with the campaign or volunteering a in the first debate. lot of their free time to help elect Mitt RomRiding on the coattails of a debate the ney,” said Senior Ryan Heffner, President of EC Romney campaign is calling a victory, it was College Republicans. clear the crowd was listening to a more confiAccording to volunteers, supporters began dent and assured candidate. gathering around 3 p.m. for the 5:45 p.m. rally, “I enjoyed that debate,” Romney said with a many dressed in red, white and blue, Romney/ smile to an uproarious cheer from supporters.

Ryan t-shirts or sporting campaign pins. Most of With the pier as a backdrop, Romney’s 20 the attendees were families, with lots of children minute speech recalled his strongest points in present. the debate and touched on a range of topics Approximately 10 protesters stood on the outincluding healthcare, jobs, energy, trade and skirts of the entrance line, including two dressed small business. as Big Bird. Others held up signs and yelled into “Romney made this speech very personal a megaphone, to which most of the crowd just talking about three people who have recently ignored, laughed or mumbled responses under passed that greatly affected his life,” said Senior their breath.

Kevin Vine, a member of the EC Republicans Once inside the secured area, a national debt who was also volunteering at the rally. “Often in clock displaying the total national debt, as well politics you hear very little about ones personal as debt per taxpayer, updated in real-time with life unless it’s the negatives coming from the opthe phrase, “Cut the spending,” hung above the position. bleachers.

Hearing Romney speak of the things that photo by Elizabeth Tomaselli A jumbo screen with the slogan “We can’t af- Romney campaign buttons. make him who he is revealed a side of him ford four more years” hung over the entrance, missed in the common sphere of politics. which switched to play video footage of Romney interviews before Among the remarks that received the loudest cheers from the the rally began. crowd, Romney said he would not raise taxes on middle class famiA parade of speakers addressed the crowd including remarks by lies or small businesses and he would cut American dependency on former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker and Republican Pinellas County foreign energy providers and would create more jobs.

Congressman C.W. Bill Young (for whom our library computer lab is Exiting the rally, supporters chanted “Romney” and shouted, named after—The C.W. Bill Young Technology Center).

“He’s going to win.”

Each stressed the importance not only of Florida in the election EC College Republicans president agrees. “Romney’s remarks but in Pinellas County in general. “You win Pinellas County, you win demonstrate a clear choice for our country,” Heffner said. “We can the I-4 corridor. History will also tell you that when you win the I-4 either choose to reelect President Obama and continue with high corridor, you win the state of Florida,” Baker exclaimed to an eager unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, and raising education and crowd. commodity costs or we can choose to elect Mitt Romney as our Former Tampa Mayor and Democrat, Dick Greco, also spoke. next president.”

Photo by Elizabeth Tomaselli Mitt Romney speaks

photo by Elizabeth Tomaselli Romney supporter with an anti-Obama sign.

photo by Elizabeth Tomaselli Florida for Romney banner with American flag.

photo by Elizabeth Tomaselli Ann Romney introduces her husband.

St. Petersburg Pier’s median covered with campaign signs.

photo by Jenna Caderas

photo by Elizabeth Tomaselli Romney supporters enter the rally site on St. Petersburg Pier.

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the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Viewpoints

9

Viewpoints INSIDE VIEWPOINTS First Times

10

Letter to the Editor

11

Freedom of Speech

12

My Big Fat Gay Column Sophomore Beth White continues the LGBT column, focusing on October, LGBT awareness month See page 11

Chicago violence escalates; hits home The violence never fades in the City by the Lake

photo by Colin Casey

The Chicago skyline.

By Colin Casey Asst. Sports Editor Famed travel writer Anthony Bourdain once called Chicago “America’s only other metropolis.” Such a statement offers images of grandeur and esteem worthy of a world center. Recently however, the metropolis has taken a wide left turn. During the summers of 2011 and 2012, dozens of so-called “flash mob” attacks occurred in downtown Chicago. These “flash mobs” consisted primarily of young African-American males moving as one group, using coordinated attacks to rob and injure seemingly random targets. For two months, fear of the mobs ruled the city as residents began to panic, believing that simply stepping outside posed a risk. However, this fear did not go without scrutiny, as several prominent pastors from the city’s Southside accused such fears as being racially motivated. There was a point raised that no public official could refute, these attacks happen on the Southside every day, but now that they happen on the Northside they make the news?

As a lifelong Southsider, I can unfortunately attest to the validity of the pastors claims. As a city, Chicago has been segregated from the start; whether by recent immigrants or skin

“I feel unsafe walking far from home after dark.”

- Sam Crea, junior

color, the city of broad shoulders will find a way to separate you. Neighborhoods were divided up years ago, and now the availability of public services is based on where you live.

For some neighborhoods, city funding simply disappears into the coffers of politicians, and basic services such as streets and sanitation, police and basic repair begin to suffer. Even the simple act of plowing and salting the streets during the winter never seems to gain traction.

But there is one place where no need will ever go unheeded. The downtown area has experienced a great revival in recent years under the guise of a ‘Disneyfied’ pay-to-play wonderland. Since 1999, a major portion of the budget has been devoted to revitalizing the city centre through new parks and thoroughfares for businessmen and tourists as local citizens are shut out. The real Chicago is four miles south on the CTA›s Green Line.

The real Chicago contains people who

work for a daily wage in an effort to pay the skyrocketing taxes and secure their family’s future in a city that seems to have just given up on them. When people are given up on, they band together and can do some horrifying things.

Recently, a rise in gang violence has caused terrifying results for citizens. The most powerful gang in the city, the Latin Kings, are infamous for their connections to Mexican cartels and their own ruthless business practices. Such gangs have been allowed to rise in the city because of failures by the government to ensure services and treatments for other citizens. The cold business practices of these street gangs cause the summer months to run with blood.

Already, the murders in Chicago have surpassed 400 people this year, primarily through gang violence. There is no excuse for such occurrences in what can be thought of as a world city in a first world country.

The CPD have also experienced problems with the loss of officers and funding in recent years. They find themselves unable to fight in the war brewing on the streets. So stretched is the department that in May, the mayor announced that a few hundred new police officers would be on the streets. However, See Chicago on page 11

Mars, Inc. stops production of King Size candy

By Shannon Vize Asst. Viewpoints Editor The change is concealed so well that if you spent any time walking up and down the aisles of 7-Eleven looking for the perfect chocolate infused candy bar to fix your craving, you probably didn’t even notice.

Mars, Inc. the producer of the world famous M&Ms, Milky Way, Twix and Snickers has made a recent promise to put an end to all of their king size portions and any candy bar that exceeds 250 calories per portion.

This change comes after the obesity epidemic in the U.S. became a hot topic in the past few years, especially the alarming rate of obesity found among American children. Mars, Inc. is a founding member of The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation and has also partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama to fight the obesity epidemic among children.

The foundation believes one of the main problems of childhood obesity in this

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photo courtesy of Wikicommons

country is the easy accessibility to foods high in caloric content and trans and saturated fat.

For instance, the king size Snickers has 540 calories. Mars, Inc. believes that by ridding store shelves of these and replacing them with smaller portions, children and adults will begin making healthier choices in terms of what they put in their bodies.

But, what good is the replacement? If you even noticed, Snickers no longer comes in king size but in an arguably similar sized package split in two. Mars, Inc. came up with the idea of only producing candy bars that

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have 250 calories per portion, but it’s that last word that you have to pay attention to.

The new and improved Snickers bar is split down the middle, which Mars, Inc. believes will help encourage people to save the other half for later.

On their Health and Nutrition page, Mars claims, “our ‘2toGo’ bars are packed in memory wrappers that can be twisted to close, giving people the choice to save one portion for later.” After informing Junior Breanne Haapala, of Mars, Inc.’s idea of See KING SIZE on page 11

Eckerd College faces identity crisis

By Carver Lee Viewpoints Editor

photo courtesy of Facebook/Triton Tribe

When you hear the word triton, what do you think of? The little mermaid, tridents, Greek mythology, the moon of Neptune?

Regardless of what you think of, it’s probably not the same thing as that of the person sitting next you. So, when someone hears that we are the Eckerd Tritons, what do they think of?

Any prospective student might flip through brochures or click through the website and see our signature shell, Cymatiidea, more commonly known as a Triton. When they daydream about college and going out to big athletic events, maybe they see themselves packed into the student section, cheering behind the antics of our school mascot, a giant gastropod.

Thankfully, our sports teams aren’t supported by a human-sized shell, even though we are the Tritons. On all the athletic flyers, signs and even uniforms, there’s the Eckerd athletics logo: a circle with a wave and EC inscribed. While appreciative of the ocean theme, the prospective freshman is now a little confused.

The Chicago Bulls have a bull for a logo because they are the bulls; Eckerd Tritons have a wave for their logo because…the Greek god Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, is a merman and comes from the ocean? It’s a stretch, but we’ll go with it.

Now the EC freshman is daydreaming about jumping up and down as the Eckerd Triton’s basketball team scores the winning goal; dancing around on the floor in front of him is Triton, a merman holding a trident.

Once again, we must shatter the poor prospective’s dreams. In reality, our freshman will be cheering behind someone in a blue morph suit. I’m not saying this is any less exciting or lacking in school spirit, but it’s strangely reminiscent of the school mascot for the fictional Greendale Community College, setting of the TV sitcom “Community.”

In an attempt to create a nondiscriminating mascot for the Greendale Human Beings, they simply have someone running around in a white morph suit, representing a character with absolutely no racial or ethnic identity.

This is how I sometimes feel at Eckerd, as if there is no sense of school identity. It’s See IDENTITY on page 10

10 Viewpoints

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Identity crisis at Eckerd?

First Times

Making friends out of enemies goosebumps; it was exhilarating,

By Jeralyn and somewhat terrifying.

Darling Once we were back at the Managing Indian home base, my roommates Editor

Cowboys and Indians. An epic night of camaraderie mixed with fierce, wet competition. Though I didn’t go to last year’s event, I hear that this year may have been even better — a little less organized, but still incredible.

For a little background for our uninformed readers, Cowboys and Indians is a campus-wide event.

Residents of Nu dress as cowboys; Omega residents dress as Indians.

Everyone else gets to pick a side.

Water guns and balloons (and bowls, plastic bags, generally anything that will hold water) are involved.

The impact on the school is probably atrocious — water bill, litter, injuries — but for all it’s worth, this was one of the best nights of my college life.

The night began with Another Man’s Trash, our incredible improv group that never fails to make me guffaw far too loudly. Made up of only guys right now, I wondered if they would still have the same spark as last year.

They did. And then some.

Matt, Michael, Geoff, Colton, Jamie Thomas and Chris were unbelievable.

Venturing back to Omega to prepare for the night’s festivities, Another Man’s Trash go-ers were surrounded by war cries and “yeehaw”s alike.

The sounds gave me

and I finished off our costumes, added a little war paint and filled our water guns and balloons.

The war cries grew louder outside our Omega 104 window, drowning out a select few cowboy calls.

And so it began.

Camaraderie is exactly the word that flitted in and out of my mind Saturday night. I was surrounded by friends and comrades all fighting for the same thing: a fun time. And we deserve a good time now and then, we do.

Water rained down from balcony to balcony. War cries echoed off the ocean just a few feet away. Neon orbs filled with water sailed past me in blurs.

The costumes were another high point of the night. My favorites were the few witty folks who took “Indian” the politically correct way and came dressed as Indians, not Native Americans.

It was bliss. I shot a few cowboys, sure, but the thing I’ll remember most about that night is the time I shared with my friends and the new ones I made.

Yes, new friends.

Strange, mysterious, nameless friends.

A guy dressed as an Indian came into my friend’s room to restock on water and, being that we were all one tribe (the Triton tribe, if you will), we obliged. We named him Kocoum. He took group pictures for us and then he was gone.

I hope that no one was injured or harmed in any way, and that the impact on the environment was kept to a minimum, but I will not soon forget the war that brought us all together.

perspECtives

IDENTITY from page 9

not just with athletics; it’s a school-wide problem. Our school colors are teal and white, but by walking around the campus, it’s barely noticeable. Heck, even this newspaper has identity issues; over the past 50 years we’ve changed our name countless times, only three years ago becoming The Current, though our primary color is teal.

All of this is not to say that Eckerd is a place where no one can feel as if he or she belongs or is part of something. Our student body certainly has an identity.

“Eckerd has some of the warmest and most open people around,” says Senior Eliot Mooiweer. “I think it’s because of the climate here. When people are happy, it definitely shows in how they act around each other.

I’m not sure where our mascot and school colors really enter into it, but just about every person, and not just students, is glad to be here and it shows.”

Senior Duncan MacLeod sees our identity not just in the students, but in the functionality of

the school. “I don’t really feel like our identity is tied into our colors or mascot, but Eckerd is a liberal arts school to the core. Everybody takes classes way outside of their major. Varsity athletes compete in club and/or intramural sports they don’t normally play. The social life is open to everyone, not closed off with a Greek life,” he says.

These identities, of being a happy and welcoming campus and a liberal arts institution, are strong, but they’d remain the same regardless of our school mascot and colors.

We could be the purple and lime green flying monkeys, but we’d still be a school full of accepting and open-minded individuals focused on liberal arts education.

So how important is it that the identity of our school is tied to our mascot and school colors?

On a large scale, maybe it’s not that important, but when I’m an alumna, walking around in my EC sweatshirt, I want other people in the world to see the school logo and colors and know what they represent.

Sitting in class and your professor says something funny? Tweet it to @TheECCurrent and include the hashtag #AmusingMusings Security Guard: This is a fun-only zone. Once you pass this gate you have to have fun. #CheckingIDs

Communications Professor: We knew more about Bill Clinton’s penis than any other penis in the 90s. #WeLoveThe90s

Literature Professor: If you don’t like these poets, then suck it. #SyllabusChoices

Literature Professor: Our campus is a cesspit of filth and corruption. #MetaphorExamples

Send a letter to the editor

Sociology Professor: Well Billy, one day you are going to be a prisoner. #SocialRoles

Tell us how you feel about this issue, or any other and you can be published, too.

Literature Professor: It’s not just Dave’s ass we want, it’s all of him.

400 words or less, submitted by email

#Synecdoche

Include full name, graduation year and contact information

Literature Professor: Don’t eat pomegranate seeds that strange men offer you while you’re wandering around the underworld.

Faculty and staff should include their title, department and contact information

#AdviceForPersephone The Current holds the right to reject any letters deemed inappropriate. All submissions are subject to editing for the purposes of clarity, length or style.

Q: How do you feel about the new IDs?

photos by Shannon Vize

“I don’t really like the new IDs. The colors are off.

Why did they use dark blue?

They look less friendly too.”

- Tommy Wille, Sophomore

#Amusing Musings

“I hate it. I’m already 21 and I don’t get to take a new picture, but everyone else who is under 21 does.

It’s not fair.”

- Brittany Snyder, Junior

“I wasn’t here for the old ones, but from what I heard it was a concern over identity theft. So I think it’s good.”

- Michael Cicchetti, Freshman

“They’re not aesthetically pleasing.

The pictures look worse. Having my birthday on the old one was the only way I could get alcohol and cigarettes because my real state ID looks nothing like me.”

- Dana Schletter, Junior

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the current

MBFGC: A month to remember LGBT

By Beth White Columnist October is LGBT History Month. From military genius Alexander the Great (bisexual), to agricultural innovator George Washington Carver (gay), to current Prime Minister of Iceland, Johanna Sigurdardottir (lesbian), LGBT people have been living extraordinary lives.

Despite being some of the finest achievers in arts, politics, science and many other fields, much of LGBT history in the past several decades has been the marginalization of LGBT people.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon is international and when investigating the issue on the global level, one finds that in many regions, the situation is devastating.

Consensual same-sex relations are illegal in more than two thirds of African countries. Many Caribbean countries have also criminalized same-sex romantic acts and homophobic violence is still common. Additionally, several Asian countries ban intimacy between members of the same sex. Non-state violence against LGBT individuals is accepted in these regions, forcing many people to lead double lives, fearing rejection and hostility from their communities and families.

In some countries, homosexuality is punishable by death; Iraqi “death squads” pursue LGBT individuals.

The history of LGBT rights is thankfully not all bad. Despite the incredibly homophobic attitude of many other countries, the 21st century has seen several nations grant same-sex couples the right to marry. At least eleven countries have all heralded in the new age of marriage equality.

In a liberal arts college environment, however, it is easy to forget that historically and internationally, homophobia still prevails. However, many LGBT young adults are aware that if things don’t change soon, they, too, will face very serious legal, political and social injustices.

I spoke with a lesbian couple on campus, who wish to remain anonymous, about the federal illegality of same-sex marriage in America and they expressed such sentiments. “I guess right now as a college student it’s not really a huge issue, but in the future, thinking about legal rights is really important to me. If something ever happened, even though you consider yourself married, you still don’t have the right to make decisions about whether or not that person stays on life support. That is just absolutely insane and it’s something I always think about.”

The issue is not just about hospital rights, but personal liberty too. Not legally being considered family denies and belittles the true love felt between members of the same sex. But as one of the students said, “making same-sex marriage legal will normalize it. Because right now having it illegal makes it seem like there’s something different with your marriage than there is between average [straight] Americans’ marriage.”

One day governmental and cultural discrimination of LGBT rights will be nothing but a part of our community’s history, but until that day comes we will have to settle with celebrating the victories of a few admirable states and countries, while continuing to recognize the critical need for improvement in most others.

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Oct. 12, 2012

Viewpoints 11

Letter to the editor :

Response to “Are women really paid less?”

By Ely Grinfeld Asst. Viewpoints Editor I never thought that I would ever write a letter to my own section but the sense of discomfort that reverberated in me from Gabe Stanberry’s article in Issue 2, titled “Are women really paid less?,” deserved a cathartic release.

The need for catharsis was made stronger when it was brought to my Gender and Media class’s attention for using dangerous gendered rhetoric.

Stanberry claims that the reduced ratio with which women are paid on the dollar compared to men is justied by certain “lifestyle choices” they make.

Laughter bellowed out of me initially at seeing that all of the information in the article came from one source. The Youtube video, posted by www.learnliberty.org, which appears to be a libertarian-slanted political organization, relies on its predominately straight-white male academic speaker catalogue to give it an any amount of legitimacy.

Déjà vu struck. It seemed like only yesterday that Rep. Todd Akin gave a speech on how women have natural anti-rape defenses in the uterus that prevent pregnancy, or that Michigan Rep. Lisa Brown was silenced for saying that womanly body part-which-must-not-be-named.

My laughter doubled upon seeing one of these SWM (straight-white male) scholars enlighten his viral audience as to why women are appropriately making less money.

According to Steven Horowitz, economics professor at St. Lawrence University, women make less on the dollar because of their “lifestyle choices” which is passive-aggressiveconservative-man speak for pushing out babies all the time and not being as smart as men.

Smart men, obviously, go into the hard sciences

and economic professions which net more money, whereas women, being not so smart, go into teaching professions and work more on a part-time schedule.

I think our eager author’s first mistake was in making the rushed conclusion that women make less on the dollar because of the certain choices they make. That claim would have been substantive if it only compared men and women with the same professions. It doesn’t.

Men and women, as Horowitz visualizes it in the video, are compared on something that more resembles a value points system. Women apparently make less “valuable” choices and thus explaining the wage difference. This does not explain the issue of the disparity between genders in the same profession.

Nowhere does Steven Horowitz give information as to why the system continues to operate in a way that keeps women subjugated.

Maybe even more frighteningly so Mr. Stanberry seems to have no desire to find out why women seem to occupy these spaces in the workplace.

Women who attempt to enter the hardscience workplace are met with a nearlyhomogenous group of nerdy men, none of whom probably spend much time with women at all.

Andrea Hodge, a research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, had prepared a speech to give to a group of Japanese scientists in 2004 on her research on nanomechanics.

The group of Japanese scientists had initially completely ignored Hodge when she arrived based on the assumption that she must have been a secretary as no women are serious scientists. Albeit a minor example, it is one of many that speaks of a stigma placed upon women that prevents them from being taken seriously.

Women are also stigmatized in the mother

role into which they are often appropriated.

Kory Kroft, co-authored “Duration Dependence and Labor Market Conditions: Theory and Evidence from a Field Experiment,” which details that the longer an individual is out of work, the harder it is to find decent-paying jobs, or any jobs at all. Cleverly called the “pinkslip stigma,” the attitude from employers has hindered thousands of women in the U.S. who have taken maternity leave.

After a six to eight month leave, the chance of being called back for an interview, based upon the experiment done by the author, is 4 percent, a 45 percent plummet from the 7 percent chance at the 0 to six month range.

Good thing guys don’t have to carry around a baby for three-quarters of the year, if they even decide to have one at all.

Most troubling of all is that articles like Mr. Stanberry’s are exemplative of a greater attitude that women’s rights are somehow taken into account and no longer need to be maintained.

Maybe this just me being crazy but I think if you have a mother, sister, aunt, grandmother or any significant woman in your life, you ought to be a feminist.

Don’t get me wrong, though. If you would ask me to defend The Current’s collective decision to publish this article, I would do so without much hesitation. Articles are meant to generate dialogue and The Current wants to give a voice to the voiceless.

Yet, I simply don’t get why men have a problem with the ideas that women are more than just mothers and don’t need to be submissive to the father. I also don’t get how one can not see the sexism still rampant in a society where its women are now the majority of college students yet only a handful of them become the top CEOs, poets and scholars.

Chicago violence escalating, needs solution soon Chicago from page 9

the source of these officers is troubling; I spoke with a veteran of CPD’s undercover unit who shared that most of these new cops “are shifted from desk duty and medical leave returned to the streets.” The mayor heralded these people as new police officers, even though they were already officers, they’re just filling in other duties. Despite this, Christina Smith, an Eckerd College junior, still argues that the police “do a fine job,” and “what can you ask of them in war?” The police work well with what they are allotted; can the mayor’s sentiments be anything more than a call of all hands on deck aboard a sinking ship?

Not all of Chicago is on fire, as some still fight for equality and an end to the violence. Father Michael Pflager is the outspoken pastor of Saint Sabina’s Church in the Gresham neighborhood. Annually, Pflager is actively involved in drives to end the city’s violence, including town halls, charity nights with the church and actively supporting a turn-in point for the annual city gun turn-in every June.

Pflager has criticized the city’s

handling of the crime problem and preaches the notion of harmony for the city. A more public face to the campaigns has been Chicago Bulls’ point guard Derrick Rose.

Rose, a native of the Englewood neighborhood, is a lifelong Southsider. Derrick has become a supporter of anti-violence groups since attaining his high national position during his meteoric NBA career. He recently assisted in Pflager’s Ballin’ for Peace Basketball Tournament, volunteering as a basketball coach for former gang members. Rose has also recently purchased land in Englewood with the intention to build a house for his family. Unlike many chicago natives, Rose has yet to give up on his city.

Five years ago, Chicago was a contender for the Olympic Games, what has gone so wrong? I spoke with two Eckerd students from the Southside and they gave me their response to a simple question, is Chicago safer today than it was five years ago? The first, Sam Crea is a resident of West Lawn and grew up a stone’s throw from a captured Latin King safehouse. Crea discussed how when he is home he

feels “unsafe walking far from home after dark.” The other, Christina Smith of Kenwood, echoed Sam’s issues with the crisis, “it is barely safe to go out when the streetlights come on and even before [then] there’s some danger.”

Perhaps the gravest statement was her reflection on how the city has deteriorated, “when the government won’t help people, nature just takes over. Once people remember their self-worth, then things can change.” As a resident of Scottsdale, I concur with Christina and Sam, the city is not as safe as it once was. There is really no denial that gangs run rampant while people beg for mercy from the violence, from their high taxes and from the segregation based on where they live.

People tend to notice things like poor public services, bad police beats and their public voice being ignored so why has it taken so long for this city that I love to adjust? Perhaps we have truly just lost all feeling for each other. In a city with such diversity, its citizens must find their inner self worth or else Sandberg’s hog butcher to the

photo courtesy of Flickr/Zol87

world will continue to butcher its own.

Until then, we remember the Great Fire of 1871 which just marked its 141st anniversary, when Chicagoans rolled up their sleeves and dug out of the ashes as one and built the metropolis of today.

That drive and determination sets Chicago apart and will allow it to continue to thrive on the world stage. Perhaps that is why, despite the atrocities on the streets, Chicagoans still and will always love the city by the lake.

Chocolate company ends production of king size candy bars KING SIZE from page 9

saving a candy bar for later she claimed, “I think it’s just a way for Mars to look like they’re having healthy portions, but everyone is just going to eat the whole thing anyways. Who saves half a candy bar for later?”

Their recent development of the brand new Snickers Peanut Butter bar also begs to question the believability of Mars, Inc.’s claim to help the youth of America combat obesity. This new candy bar comes in “squares” and varies from including just two squares to four squares which adds up to 500 calories, but you won’t find that

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number anywhere on the package.

Instead, you’ll see strategically placed “250 calories per serving” logos all over the packaging.

Personally, I don’t see the point in trying to cover up what we all already know; candy bars aren’t good for you, especially the bigger ones. Yes, I understand there is an obesity problem in this country, but let’s be realistic. No one is going to save half a candy bar for later, the reason the candy bar industry is worth billions is because they play on your last minute decision to indulge by lining the walls to the cash register with every possibly fix to any craving you might have.

If you thought ahead about saving half the candy bar, then you probably wouldn’t be the key audience Mars, Inc. profits from anyways.

You buy a candy bar because you are craving something sweet, chocolaty and delicious. If there are king size bars or king size bars cut down into portions, people will still eat the entire thing, so why not slap the king size logo on the bar to remind those individuals the amount they’re eating is a lot, excessive to some. But by tricking people into thinking the new regular bars are healthier, it simply adds to the problem.

I grew up in an age of king size and super size everything, yet I managed to avoid the obesity epidemic that is plaguing the country. We should stop turning to the very companies that are producing the food saturated with calories and fat to fix the problem and instead limit ourselves to a candy bar on occasion, even if it is king sized.

There’s nothing wrong with indulging once in a while when a delicious looking Snickers catches your eye in the check-out line, just be sure to balance it out with some fruits and veggies and maybe a yellow bike ride later.

12 Viewpoints

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Religious insensitivity affects views of free speech

By Ethan Packey Asst. News Editor You’re likely not a big news person if you haven’t heard about the “Innocence of Muslims” video and the tremendous controversy that has swept the Middle East in the wake of its publication. Aside from the whole issue of spewing lies and calling it truth, the video brings up a dilemma that comes with free speech.

The Western world has lost its sense of the sacred, so free speech now includes the ability to completely trash religion. Religion is one of the most important parts of the lives of billions of people across.

So when we speak our opinions with no holds barred, we risk giving great offense to people all across the globe.

This level of insensitivity to religious sentiments results in outrageous videos like “The Innocence of Muslims.”

The West’s insensitivity to religion also resulted in the 2007 Danish cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb, as well as Glenn Beck’s ridiculous commentary on Islam. So our insensitivity to religion brings up a larger question, are there natural limits to free speech in society?

To some extent, the United States already has limits through social taboos.

The government may have started antiracist and anti-sexist policies with Brown v. the Board of Education in 1955, and with

the civil rights programs of the 1960s, but that was nowhere near the end of it.

Fifty years ago, whole sections of the country lived in a completely racist situation. Racist and sexist people surely exist today, but they have been marginalized in society as government law reinforced existing social mores.

Similarly, the government regulates speech that can cause clear and present danger to individuals and has previously banned hate speech. Libel and slander are also on the books as crimes. Clearly the idea of regulating insensitive speech is not a new idea in America.

So now back to “The Innocence of Muslims” and the insensitivity that created it. If you think our insensitivity to religious sentiments is a problem then you’ll probably also think that religion should be protected from hateful and destructive speech.

Those protections might be truly necessary because unlike with the civil rights movement, our society has eroded any social mores defending the sanctity of religion.

If you don’t think religious insensitivity is a problem, then you’re a true proponent of unlimited free speech. But nonetheless, our insensitivity to religion is a larger issue within our society that has implications for social cohesion, civil discourse, and our relationship with countries around the world. If for those reasons alone, we should think about the way we treat each others religions in thought and speech.

courtesy of Youtube

A screenshot of the “Innocence of Muslims” video on Youtube, that has caused uproar worldwide.

See page 6 in News for more on “The Innocence of Muslims,” including the response from the United Nations.

Eckerd Garden serves school in more ways than one

By Celine Currier Staff Writer Leonora Stefanile is an Eckerd graduate from the class of 2011. During her time here she was president of the garden club and an active member in campus sustainability initiatives. After she graduated two years ago, she lived in Albuquerque, N.M. and ran an urban farm with Americorps In a recent interview, she shared her experience with the Garden Club and how it’s affected her life.

If anyone has ever heard of Prof. Kip Curtis or the Edible Peace Patch then they already know a little bit about how our garden came into existence. President Eastman had visited the Edible Peace Patch and loved the community being built around it and wanted to do the same thing at Eckerd. Professor Curtis, Leonora, and three other students worked for three months on a design plan and budget.

“Everything was coming together,” explains Stefanile. “I think there was a lot of skepticism about whether or not we would actually break ground and complete the project; but everything you see now was built by the students involved at the time. If you look at the garden now it’s a beautiful example of student effort.”

This is really the most important gift the garden offers us. It’s a place where we can see our hard work manifesting and flourishing into something outside of our own little worlds. When asked why having the garden was important, Stefanile immediately started talking about this relationship between the individual, their community and nature; the garden represents this trinity. “If we want to make green jobs than we need a place to teach people how to get their hands dirty.

The garden is a living example of creativity and science working together. In this world with so much bureaucracy and industry it can serve as a training ground for students wanting to learn the art of gardening,” she said.

She emphasized how helpful the garden can be for our futures, “If you want to get a job on a farm, then you need to have some experience and build up your endurance as a hard worker. You need to cultivate skill and stamina ahead of time. The garden is critical because it creates a space for students to test their hands.”

If anything, Eckerd students are known for

testing their hands. This is why we travel for protests and register voters.

Most gardeners think of Leonora as the mother of the garden; she has certainly put in more time there then anyone else, which is why I was interested in hearing what she hoped to see in the future. “I hope it outlives me. I think it’s the perfect size and I just hope it will last. This lifestyle is always going to be an uphill battle, we’re always going to have to fight for it; the survival of the garden depends on its community,” she says. “If it can continue to be productive than leaders can come and go without anything suffering.”

The garden can be a community for people to be apart of and return back to. Learning how to work with people and provide for ourselves are two very important skills we would all do well to master.

Now, Stefanile is living in Embudo, N.M. on an 8-acre, 60-year-old family farm. “They turn a pretty successful profit by selling goods and hosting different events like cooking classes,” she explains. “The most important thing to ensure is that you have a steady food supply; so we have hoop houses here that allow us to grow produce all year long. We also have fruit trees that we make preserves and jams from. It’s very family oriented.”

Of everything that Leonora said, what she emphasized the most was that there are many opportunities for work in New Mexico. The main issue seems to be in connecting these small farms with able hands.

The garden is located behind the soccer fields, near the edge of campus.

The Garden Club and other students run this on-campus garden.

photo by Alex Zielinski

photo by Alex Zielinski

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the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Entertainment 13

ENTERTAINMENT Indie band Edward Sharpe amazes students at Jannus

By Alix Brett and Jennifer Lincoln Staff Writers

A vibrant crowd filled the Jannus courtyard, ringing in the month of October with a warm welcome for Edward Sharpe and his crew of magnetic musicians. The concert was an amazing affair from start to finish.

To begin the show, Saint James Band—which includes Jade’s father—played a few blues songs that set the mood for the rest of the night. People crowded around the stage and cheered the entire time Saint James Band was playing.

No one was left bored.

Soon thereafter, the indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah came on to play their set, which included “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” and “Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood.” Everyone in the crowd was dancing and jumping up and down by this point, singing along to lyrics, “Just listen to me I won’t pretend to understand the movement of the wind or the waves out in the ocean” from the song “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth.” Listeners went crazy over the three-

man-band’s songs and styles.

At one point in the show, lead singer Alec Ounsworth publically apologized to a girl he had emotionally hurt in the crowd before continuing to perform. Acts such as this epitomize the smaller-scale performers indierock listeners love.

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros’s opening was electric. They arrived onstage to a rain-soaked crowd, and kicked the set off with “40 Day Dream,” a cherished track from the group’s 2009-debut album, “Up From Below.”

Known by most as his messiah-like stage

alias Edward Sharpe, Alexander Ebert is the engine behind the Los Angeles-based folk collective. As their name suggests, the group is based around this fictional character Ebert dreamt up years ago. He’s carried Edward along for the ride ever since, assuming the laid-back, hippie sage alter ego in concert.

It’s difficult to imagine Alexander as anything other than the mesmerizing man I saw sporting a messy bun and embroidered denim button-down. However, a look to his fairly dark past reveals he wasn’t always the crystal-healing, gospel-singing, hippy-dippy adventurer he is today.

His music career debuted at age 19, as lead singer for the big-label poppunk group Ima Robot. In an interview with Mother Jones, he reflected on this time in his life, “I quickly lost my grip on what the music was supposed to be about.” Supplemented with a spiraling heroin addiction and a broken heart, the troubled singer eventually went knockin’ on A.A.’s door.

Everything changed when he met singer (and better half) Jade Castrinos on a sidewalk near L.A.’s downtown train tracks. “She and I began making music in its most elementary form,” he explained. After the purchase of a $9,000 bus on Craigslist, and a trip to Marfa, Texas, the rest is pretty much history.

promotional photo

see SHARPE, page 14

Campus actors bend and snap in “Legally Blonde:The Musical”

By Hailey Escobar Staff Writer

Bininger Theater is getting ready to go blonde. “Legally Blonde” that is. For the past month the cast of Eckerd students has been hard at work on rehearsals to bring the pink world of Broadway’s “Legally Blonde the Musical” to life.

The journey began in early September as 55 people over two days auditioned to be in the cast. Of those, only 28 made it into the final cast. Leading the show is Freshman Juliet

Anderson who, despite falling in love with musicals at the age of 4, had never actually performed in one. Imagine her surprise when she found out she was not only in the cast, she was Miss Elle Woods herself. “I think I screamed. I thought my friend was joking because my friend had called me to let me know,” Anderson said.

Anderson will be joined by fellow Freshman Danny Makholm who plays Elle’s exboyfriend whom she follows to Harvard Law School. When asked about his thoughts on the rest of the cast, he didn’t hesitate

to sing their praises. “The cast is awesome.

There are some really talented people here and I’m so glad I get to work with them.”

The cast will also feature Freshman Paige Horwitz as Vivienne, Senior Devon Williams as Paulette and Alums Bob Avila and Elliot McDaniel as Emmett and Callahan.

Why “Legally Blonde” though? I was able to ask Professor Gavin Hawk, the director, this exact question. “I wanted to do something that was modern and hip that I felt our students would be excited to perform in,” he explained. “Knowing that when we audition shows we tend to be female heavy versus men, we purposefully wanted to choose something that was about female empowerment, but also about a strong female cast.”

From the sound of vocal rehearsals alone, the show looks to capture the fun-filled spirit that made the musical and the original movie such an icon in pop culture. The show will open on Nov. 8 and will run for a two weekend engagement. The show will also be counted as a CPS event for those who need credit.

photo by Hailey Escobar “Legally Blonde: The Musical” cast rehearsing lines.

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INSIDE Entertainment Mumford and Sons review

14

DeadMau5 review

14

Guide to Internet memes

16

Sex on the Beach

16

Dip-dyeing hair: new Eckerd trend

By Shannon Vize

Asst. Viewpoints Editor Observing how other people choose to express themselves is one of my favorite hobbies. Whether that be through their clothing style, music preferences, nail polish color, shoes or lack thereof or even what backpack they bring with them to classes.

Returning to Eckerd this September, I was greeted with hair every color of the rainbow and this very well may be my new favorite form of self-expression.

Every day I walk to class, or even while in class, I am presented with a vast array of hair color choices. I’ve seen everything from a chic, bright green pixie cut to a shoulder length blue hue. One of the main hair dye trends on campus this year is the new dip-dye look, which is my personal favorite. Dip-dye has been trending with celebrities for the past year or so along with the similar ombre hairstyle, which has been around a bit longer.

Dip-dye, for those of you who aren’t well versed in hairstyle terms, is exactly what it sounds like. You take the tips of your hair, whatever you determine you want dyed, and you coat only that hair in dye, resulting in what looks like hair that was simply dipped in a bowl of dye. The female students at Eckerd have been showing off dip-dyed tips with a vast array of colors from hot pink, violet, navy blue, green, to red and even white.

If you’re dark haired like me and want to try out the trend, don’t worry. You are more than capable of getting that bright pink or violet hue that blondes can easily add to their already light hair. You simply need to pick up a bleaching kit, read the instructions carefully, and get to work.

I recommend bleaching your hair even if you are a dirty blonde as otherwise the bright colored dye you have selected might appear much darker and will fade away sooner. To keep hair healthy, only bleach your hair every 8 weeks. Dyes come in a variety of duration options, so if you can’t commit to liking bright blue hair for more than a few weeks, try out the semi-permanent dyes.

If you’re strapped for cash but still want to experiment with hair colors, I recommend grabbing a friend and dyeing the tips of your hair. If you want to dye your entire head, I would recommend going to a salon because it is much harder to dye your entire head yourself. The only supplies you will need for dip-dying are a bleaching kit (for darker hair), tinfoil, a dye brush or paintbrush, a pair of gloves and whatever color dye your heart desires. To learn how to dip-dye, just type in “how to dip-dye” into YouTube and you’ll have several tutorials to choose from.

The entire process should take under two hours the first time and the supplies can all be bought for under $30 at Sally’s Beauty Supply located right next to Publix and China Wok on 34th St. At the end of the day, your hairstyle choices won’t define who you are, but why not have a little fun with them. After dip-dyeing my hair last spring, I found my normally dull brown hair finally depicting my fondness for bright colors and although I can’t control how fast it grows or how it can’t hold a curl, I can control what colors I want it to be. So if you’ve been looking to try out something new or re-invent yourself, pick out your favorite color, grab some dye and experiment with your hair. After all, you might not be able to have candy colored hair after college.

14 Entertainment

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Mumford & Sons releases “Babel” to delight

Sharpe stuns crowd From SHARPE, page 15

By Jennifer Lincoln Staff Writer Mumford and Sons follow up their 2010 album “Sigh No More” with “Babel,” an album that so far has received outstanding reviews from critics and avid listeners alike. Mesfin Fekadu of The Huffington Post raves about Mumford’s voice, “The songs on Babel are anchored by his powerful tone,” she explains, “which is beautifully gritty and gravely, and downright commanding.

He’s got one of the best voices of our time.”

Learning from the success of tracks such as “Little Lion Man” and “The Cave” from “Sigh No More,” Mumford and Sons took their new album in the same direction of heavy banjo, drums and upbeat music their fans could dance to. However, some fans and critics were disappointed in the repetitive nature of the sophomore album.

The Washington Post’s Elizabeth Nelson wrote, “Much like his peers in Dawes or the Lumineers, frontman Marcus Mumford experiences subtlety as an allergy and expresses his every heartfelt whim with a deepthroated evangelism that belies the extraordinary banality of his lyrics.”

While other people might agree with Nelson, I wholeheartedly contend that Mumford and Sons’ signature style of music is what made them famous in the first place, and they will continue to make the music that grips the hearts of their fans. “Babel” is any die-hard Mumford and Sons fan’s dream, as well as a great album to listen to whether you’re driving around on a sunny afternoon or brooding in your room with all of the lights off; there are tracks for every mood.

Will Hermes of Rolling Stone Magazine wrote, “It feels shinier, punchier, more arena-scale than the debut, with the band hollering, hooting, plucking and

strumming like Olympian street buskers.”

Even though the band did not branch out very widely in terms of their sound, the outcome has been incredibly profitable and successful. Fans of Mumford and Sons know that it is the lyrics and overall passion in the music that makes the band worth listening to, and this album is full of emotional and identifiable lyrics. In the title track “Babel,” Mumford belts “Cause I know my weakness, know my voice, I’ll believe in grace and choice, and I know perhaps my heart is farce but I’ll be born without a mask.” Deep lyrics that fans can identify with on an emotional yet intellectual level are what draws people to the band.

It still blows my mind that Mumford and Sons made it in a radio world dominated by frivolous pop music and obscenely offensive rap music.

Though they do not fit into the sound

promotional photo

including one for Best New Artist, a Grammy performance with Bob Dylan, and selling over 2.5 million copies of “Sigh No More.” “Babel” is projected to sell 625,000 copies opening weekend as well as earn the #1 spot on the Billboard album chart. Everything Mumford and Sons put out is infused with the vigor and spirit of the ideal underdog.

Even though they only have two albums out, they are a more accomplished band than many other musicians that have been involved in the business for much longer. Mumford and Sons’ lyrics are just personal enough to convey understanding and identity with their listeners, while not sounding too “cheesy” or “corny.”

In “Lover of the Light” Mumford sings, “In the middle of the night, I may watch you go. There’ll be no value in the strength of walls that I have grown. There’ll be no comfort in the shade of the shadows thrown. But I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine.”

Many of Mumford and Sons’ lyrics are speculated to be about Marcus Mumford’s wife Carey Mulligan, an Oscar nominated promotional photo actress. The way that the band conveys the personal aspects of their lives in their music usually overplayed on the radio, the fact is very much responsible for their growing fanthat they perform so well and their music base, and is why “Babel” has become such a rings true with everyone who listens to it has success for them. Personally, I loved Babel with pushed them up the “Billboard Top 100” list, every fiber of my being and cannot wait for what as well as inspiring two Grammy nominations Mumford and Sons throws our way next.

The 10-man folk band decorated the stage, reminiscent of The Polyphonic Spree; minus, of course, the matching white robes. A medley of accordion, banjo, piano, horn and tambourine floated magically through the muggy evening air.

A large slice of the set was devoted to “Here,” the latest 8-track release.

The album achieves a beautiful marriage between earthy folk and communal gospel, which translated into a powerful live performance.

The crowd went wild for the handclapping Southern revival tracks. “I want the whole damn world to come dance with me,” bellowed Ebert during the performance of the Johnny Cash-esque “Man On Fire.” And they did. “I Don’t Wanna Pray” and “That’s What’s Up” were two more crowd favorites.

Jade’s father joined her onstage for her beautiful and soulful solo, “Fiya Wata.” Jade was certainly the most magnetic of Edward’s so-called “Zeros.” And the pair onstage was like watching two characters from a fairytale.

Even though the Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros are becoming more and more well known, they still make it a point to interact with their crowd. Alexander sat down at one point during the show and sang to the audience while extending his hands as a way of connecting to them on a deeper level than one generally sees from other performers.

They closed with the much beloved, “Home.” Alexander noted the song’s particular relevance for Jade, as she lived the first few years of her life on Treasure Island. During the song’s conversational refrain, they handed the microphone to members of the crowd eager to share a story.

And just like that, the magical evening came to a wrap.

Deadmau5 releases “Album Title Goes Here”

By Cory Chamber Staff Writer Joel Zimmerman, also known as Deadmau5, has recently released his new album, “Album Title Goes Here.” Deadmau5 is well known for his electronic house music and his Mickey Mouse mask. “Album Title Goes Here” has songs featuring Chris James, Gerard Way, Cypress Hill and Imogen Heap. Considering the wide variety of contributing artists, it was interesting to hear the collaborations that were created.

I saw Deadmau5 perform at Lollapalooza in Chicago the summer of 2011. Never really having listened to him, he gave a good first impression with his green lasers and heavy dance beats. At one point you could see the rain in the lights, as if the rain was frozen with each flash of light. After I saw him, it seemed like each album was becoming sloppier and sloppier. I concluded that I could enjoy him live but I couldn’t casually listen to him if I was sitting in my room.

slight change that takes place: It gets A l e x i s a little faster.

Petridis of What was really The Guardian surprising was stated that how well Deadmau5 the album was matched up the made “by someone artists and the music. who’s never danced With Gerard Way signing courtesy of Wikicommons in their life, but in a “Professional Griefers” it purely technical sense, it’s was a good mix of Way’s band, extremely well produced.”The first My Chemical Romance, and Deadmau5’s song, “Superliminal” starts off with a powerful electronics.

The song “Telecommunications” beat and as the song progresses there is only a

featuring Imogen Heap, and “The Veldt,” featuring Chris James were two songs that I could really tolerate. They both were not overwhelming with bass drops and overpowering tempos.

Deadmau5 said in an interview with Rolling Stone that he loves Heap’s voice and that she is out there with her melodies and videos. Though this was Deadmau5’s aim with the album, it wasn’t achieved with all the tracks. The one song that was a disappointment was “Failbait” featuring Cypress Hill. Though Cypress Hill is a group that I am sure everyone can enjoy, their collaboration with Deadmau5 didn’t reach its full potential. The music together with the lyrics didn’t mesh well and just sounded lazy and rushed.

I am sure we will be hearing Deadmau5’s new album playing around campus and at parties because let’s face it, his music can get you moving. “Album Title Goes Here” may not be Deadmau5’s best album, but it’s definitely not his worst. With a little patience, everyone who gives the album a listen will be able to find a song that they can enjoy.

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the current

Friday 12 6 p.m.

Fall Funfest 7 p.m.CPS “Patience (After Sebald)”

Oct. 12, 2012

Saturday

Sunday

13

14

6:30 p.m.

Movie Club Movie Night

Events Monday 15

11 a.m.

Breasts and Bagels

7 p.m. CPS Sacred Groves of Sierra Leone and India

9 p.m.

Kappa Kitchen

8 p.m.

Drag Queen Bingo

19

20

4:30 p.m.

9:00 a.m.

Pitchers with Professors Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading at USF 7 p.m.

St.Pete Howl-O-Scream 6:30 p.m. and CPS Movie Club Movie International Film Night 9 p.m.

9 p.m.

Triton Tip-Off Haunted House Hal10 p.m. loween Tip-Off After Party

Tuesday

21

9 p.m.

Presidential Debate

Thursday

17 7 p.m. CPS The Macho Paradox

18 5 p.m.

Pretty Patriots

7:30 p.m.

Swing Dance Lesson

6 p.m. CPS Women in Politics

9 p.m.

Presidential Debate

8:30 p.m.

Open Mic Night

24

23

22 7 p.m. CPS Green China Rising

Oct. 12 - Oct. 25

Wednesday

16 7 p.m. CPS Designs of a Neurologist

Entertainment 15

7:30 p.m. CPS The Mystical Spirituality of the Byzantine East 7:30 p.m.

Swing Dance Lessons

4 p.m.

Carve or Be Carved 7 p.m. CPS From Service Learning to Service Lawyer

25 7 p.m. CPS Surviving Double Jeapordy 7:30 p.m.

Coffee House Series

9 p.m.

Weston Great Pumpkin Movie Night

To advertise your event with The Current, contact Current Entertainment at currententertainment@eckerd.edu

The St. Pete Sampler: Local Fun & Fine Dining

This issue’s sampler looks at some of The ‘Burg’s best healthy hangouts.

Need to recharge before a busy schoolweek? Give these local restaurants a try.

Price $-$$$$ ($ = <$5.00 per meal $$$$ = $20.00+ per meal) Food Quality (1-5 stars)

A. Rollin’ Oats Market & Cafe

2842 Dr Martin Luther King Jr St. N 15 minutes from campus $$ 4 stars Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Sunday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Beer & Wine Only

B. Evos St. Petersburg

2631 4th St. N 15 minutes from campus $ 3.5 stars Monday - Sunday 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

No alcohol served

C. Leafy Greens Cafe

EC Cocktails

White Russian

Tequila Sunrise

Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz vodka 3/4 oz kahlua 3/4 oz heavy cream

Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz gold tequila 3 oz orange juice 1 tsp grenadine orange slice

Preparation: Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice.

Shake well. Serve in lowball glass. Variation: substitute milk for heavy cream.

Preparation: Shake tequila and orange juice well. Pour into highball glass with ice.

Drizzle grenadine over top. Do not stir. Garnish with orange slice.

Note: The beverages and recipes on this page are intended for consumption only by individuals who are 21 or older. The Current does not promote underage drinking. When combining alcoholic beverages with caffeinated beverages, it is important to be aware of the potential side-effects and limit your consumption accordingly. Drink responsibly, our friends.

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1431 Central Ave. 15 minutes from campus $$ 3.5 stars Monday - Thursday 11 a.m.- 7 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 11am - 8pm Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

No alcohol served

D. Meze 119

119 2nd St. N 15 minutes from campus $$ 4 stars Monday - Thursday, Sunday 11 a.m. 9 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Beer & Wine Only courtesy of Google Maps

16 Entertainment

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Viral Video Update: Play and Rage

By Ivanna Thunderose Contributing Writer I would like to explore the idea that there are more categories of sexuality for women than just conservative or slutty. It has taken me many years to come to this conclusion--through both observation and experience.

Many women take awhile for their sexual feelings to develop.

For me it was different. There was no point in my life that I can remember where I didn’t know what sex was. But, growing up as a pubescent teenager I was told only men want to have sex and “don’t let them pressure you into it.” So I wondered: where does this leave me?

I thought it was wrong for me to have such strong sexual feelings and thoughts. So when I did start having sex, I figured I was supposed to be “lady-like,” which, for me, meant not saying what I wanted, or what I thought I wanted in the bedroom.

I thought I would scare the boys I was sleeping with.

It wasn’t until I started being more vocal and exploring what I wanted, that I started enjoying sex.

My experiences haven’t always been virtuous. I think it is okay to make a few mistakes as long as you learn from them.

Now that I’m more confident about my sexuality, I’ve made my own rules for sex. These rules don’t involve waiting until the third date, or only sleeping with people I fore-

“INSANE Dogeball Kill” uploaded by HumorHome on Oct. 6.

“Sh!t Ragers Say” uploaded by clubandcarnivores on Feb. 3.

see a relationship with, but rather, these rules involve respect for myself and a general liking and respect for the person I am going to sleep with. Basically, if I don’t like someone’s personality, I’m probably not going to get off. So I refrain from picking up strangers at bars, solely because I like to actually know someone before I sleep with them.

Also, I perform better when I’m not highly intoxicated. Not every lady, or man, out there knows exactly what they want. Coming to this realization is the first step toward good sex. If you’re a little shy, then you should look for sexual partners who have a similar sexual outlook as you.

If you’re a little shy, but wanting to explore, then sometimes finding someone with opposite personality traits can help you step outside your comfort zone. Just make sure you are not doing anything you don’t want to do. And don’t ever let inexperience stop you from trying something new.

My challenge for Eckerd men is to look for these respectable, confident ladies because the wait is worth it. My challenge for Eckerd ladies is to figure out what you like in the bedroom, because if you’re happy, your partner will be happy, as well. And my challenge for the entire Eckerd community is to stop having sex, and start having great sex.

Ermahgerd, exploring the very best Internet memes

By Hayden Johnson Asst. Entertainment Editor

Internet memes come and go in trends but few have declared their place in the heart of the World Wide Web. Typically consisting of the same picture, these memes depict different characters that are obscurely funny or represent things we can all laugh at in our daily lives. Memes are fun because they can be made by anyone and when used properly, they can provide a lot of laughs.

Scumbag Steve: The name says it all for this one. He’s not evil but more of a daily pest.

Scumbag Steve is the kind of guy who will borrow your lighter, permanently. We all encounter this character in some form or another in our lives, but we can all laugh at him.

Socially Awkward Penguin: If you’ve ever found yourself walking on campus, seeing

someone you know at a distance and then stare at the ground until you are in waving range, Socially Awkward Penguin is the meme for you.

This flightless bird is used to portray everyday situations in which awkwardness arises, and can be very relatable to some of us more than others.

Futurama Fry: Have you ever woke up and said “Not sure if I had no class today or just forgot to go?” This cartoon character is never sure of anything. With his eyes squinted he brings up uncertainties that we all face in some way or another. Although originally a screen capture from the TV series, Futurama Fry has grown into a prominent meme.

Philosoraptor: Life is full of tough questions, so why not leave them to a raptor? Philosoraptor is a meme that asks things like “If the opposite of pro is con, what is congress?” With a claw perched on his chin, Philosoraptor is always with us as we look for truth and meaning.

Bad Luck Brian: It he ran with scissors he would get hit by a bus. When it comes to misfortune, Brian can’t get a break. Upon looking at this awkward school picture, the internet

decided to make him a jinx.

Success Kid: Here and there have moments in which we can bask in glory.

These moments can be such things as finding the answer to a test question in the next question or driving onto campus at night, and all the people ahead of you have their IDs. With his tiny fist he salutes you in every victory, no matter

how small.

First World Problems: Sometimes living in a first world country can be tough. Luckily with this meme you will never have to go through such trials as having an 8 a.m. class or having to wait in line for the iPhone 5 alone.

Insanity Wolf: This wolf is considered to be a classic by many meme connoisseurs. Insanity Wolf ’s antics range from violent acts such as spawn camping in a hospital’s delivery room to lesser feats of chaos such as doing math homework in pen.

Bad Luck Brian: It he ran with scissors he would get hit by a bus. When it comes to misfortune, Brian can’t get a break. Upon looking at this awkward school picture, the internet decided to make him a jinx.

Good Guy Greg: The exact opposite of Scumbag Steve. Good Guy Greg would of-

fer you his yellow bike if he saw you walking.

If he fell asleep on your couch one night, he would wake up, clean your house and cook you breakfast. He’s a symbol of everyday awesomeness that we can only hope to achieve.

Ermahgerd: Originally just a picture of a girl with a retainer holding three Goosebumps (or Gersbermps) books this meme has spread out to mispronounce other things as well. Don’t read this meme for too long, or else you might ernd erup terking lerk thers.

all photos courtesy of memgenerator.com

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the current

Oct. 12, 2012

The quickie

There’s always enough time for a quickie

ACROSS

crossword by Will Skinner

The Quick Fix

5 tips for your everyday life

By Jeralyn Darling Managing Editor

1 2 3 4 5

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Bounce sheets and hot water will remove caked on food from any pot or pan. Soak for at least 20 minutes, then scrub. If it doesn’t work the first time, try again..

Bounce sheets are also a great mosquito repellent.

Wipe them on your skin before going out, or stick them in your pocket. Plus they’ll make you smell great.

Need to get a red wine stain out quick? White wine will do the trick. As long as the stain is recent, this should work wonders. Soak and scrub (and possibly pray).

You can prevent acne by sleeping with a freshly washed towel over your pillow. And, if it’s just been dried it’ll be extra cozy right before you go to sleep.

Forgot to use the towel trick? Put a small dab of white toothpaste (not the red and blue sparkly one) on the problem area before bed. Toothpaste will dry out acne.

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The Quickie 17

1 Overacts 5 Stares 10 Recycling receptacle 13 Normandy beach 15 Common phobic prefix 16 Pitching stat 17 Modified leaf 18 Candle type 19 Sultry 20 Thermodynamic property 22 Hamid Karzai, for example 24 Gregor Mendel’s plant 25 Standarized test, for example 26 Tel ____ 27 Skin disease 30 Rock genre 32 Part 33 Stiller or Stein 34 Wholly absorbed 35 Consume 36 10/6 faction 38 10/6 faction 42 uSSR rival 43 Hi & ____ 44 High-pitched bark 45 Dwell 48 Chess piece 49 Attractive 50 Repair 51 Cool 52 Justin Long, in commercials 54 Crib 56 Mobile Mexican eatery 60 Card game 61 Low-frequency wave 63 Make amends 64 Knight honorific 65 Folk rock brothers headlining the Clearwater Jazz Holiday 66 Electronics component 67 Type of farm house 68 Concise 69 Hackivist collective member, perhaps

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1 Goalkeeper Solo 2 Declaration of affirmation 3 “The Simpsons” creator Groening 4 Edward ______ the Magnetic Zeros 5 Presidential Libertarian candidate Johnson 6 Gone by 7 Tonya of Campus Safety and Security 8 Food company 9 Crooned 10 Act properly 11 Incongruous 12 Endemic 14 ____ vera 21 Tropical fruit 23 Hispaniola half 25 Hymenoptera member 27 Party theme 28 Business executive 29 Compass dir., Miller to Forrer 31 “Brown” company 32 Cushions 34 Singer Axl 35 Conundrum 37 Singer Holly 38 Charged particle 39 Yes vote 40 Veto 41 Mole 43 Back talk 45 Surprise 46 Hat type 47 Congenital 48 Author of both Frosh and Senior readings 49 Nova ______ 51 Ho antecedent 53 Prep. school, perhaps 55 Rascal 56 Type of bag 57 Blessing 58 Reverse 59 Spotted 62 Armacost dept.

Club Spotlight: Free-Thinking Young Independents Club

By Ryan Wheeler Quickie Editor When it comes to political parties, it seems we don’t have much variety. I only know a handful of people on campus who don’t associate themselves with the Democratic Party, and almost all of these people are Republicans. But earlier this week, I met Matt Wilson who doesn’t associate himself with either of these political parties. Wilson is an independent and has recently founded the Free-Thinking Young Independents Club, or FYI Club. This is an important addition to the political culture of campus, adding more parity to the political spectrum as a whole. I sat down with Wilson to learn more about his new club.

Why did you want to start an independents club, what was the impetus for creating something that is so different politically than everything else on campus?

“I have always liked to be different, and I felt the campus needed something fresh, politically speaking, besides the usually two party rivalry— especially in this gridlock of an election we are all witnessing. I see myself as an independent, because I don’t like to accept just a particular viewpoint or ideology and I hope to reflect that philosophy in the club. I want members of the club to come away from the meetings with a feeling of satisfaction, because they were enlightened to a different perspective from what they knew before the meeting.”

What are your short and long term goals for the club?

“This is a new club, so there are always the start-up challenges that we must pass in order to move forward, such as getting members, gaining a following, and trying to understand who we are; the short term goals for our club though are getting a few fundraisers set up for either the end of this semester or the beginning of the spring semester, and possibly inviting an outside speaker. As for the long term, I want to keep spreading the word about the club and engage in more activities outside of our Eckerd community.”

As president of the club what do you think this club can bring to the Eckerd campus and community?

“I believe we can change how our Eckerd students view academic discussion, from dry and boring to interactive and fun. I want everybody to participate in our discussions, no matter what political, religious, or philosophical viewpoints, so we can discover truth in the context of the topic at hand. I hope everybody on campus will gain a voice and respect it, especilly in the club. ”

How can students interested in joining get involved in the club?

“Interested students have many ways to join— Contact by e-mail:mcwilson@eckerd.edu, Contact by phone: (518) 534-1415, Visit West Lodge Rm. 161, or stop by at any of our meetings. We also have a Twitter account set up for the club @TheFYIClub, and we hope to be sending out either daily or every other day topics for students to voice their opinions. Finally, if anyone from the Eckerd community sees me (Matt Wilson), come up and ask me about the club anytime.”

18 The Quickie

Oct. 12, 2012

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courtesy of dailyinfographic.com

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Oct. 12, 2012

Health & Fitness 19

HEALTH & FITNESS CrossF Iit:

By Brad Williams Contributing Writer

A letter from the head of the new campus crossfit club

Andrew Miller and I started the EC CrossFit club to bring a different type of fitness club to campus. It is easy to get caught up in the complacency of a routine that’s simply comfortable—even though it isn’t actually helping you improve.

Our goal in this club is to run group workouts that will yield tangible results that you can measure each week.

According to the main CrossFit website, “The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience.” This means that anyone interested has no excuse not to come out and try it.

While we probably will not ever have enough of a club budget to set up an official CrossFit gym with all of the required equipment, I think we have done a fine job using what we have to formulate a bare bones fitness program. Our club runs group workouts Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Pavilion by South Beach.

A standard workout will be organized as follows: 1.) warm up as soon as you arrive, 2.) follow the group stretch led by one of the instructors, 3.) perfect one new CrossFit exercise. We begin the workout of the day after a thorough explanation of all the required exercises.

All of this will take less than an hour out of your day. It will leave you feeling accomplished and move you closer to your fitness goal.

Although we do not have the ability to incorporate the usual power lifting into the workouts, the combination of cardio and calisthenic exercises (push ups, pull ups, etc…) we create are designed to provide you a uniquely functional level of fitness.

While we want to help people look their best, more importantly our goal is to help people achieve a new level of functional fitness that can be applied to their daily lives.

This is not a gender specific program that excludes or even biases toward one sex or the other. No one needs to be scared to come out

Need a DD?

and while you are drinking, and be conscious of how many drinks you are consuming. It’s a good idea to set a limit for yourself before you start drinking. If you are going out to a bar or party, be aware of your surroundings, don’t accept drinks that you don’t see being made or opened, stay with your friends and have a plan for getting home safely with a designated driver—whether that means a friend that isn’t drinking or calling a cab.

Don’t forget that students are able to sign up for the SafeRide program through Campus Activities in Brown Hall. The cost is $50 for the fall semester. This program drives you safely back to campus, or to a selected offcampus residence.

Beyond SafeRide, there is also the Good Samaritan/Medical Amnesty policy that says whenever a student seeks medical aid for him/herself or another due to the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, conduct will be addressed through education, assessment, and/ or treatment. You are obligated to get help for someone in need and may be held responsible if you do nothing—always err on the side of caution and tell someone.

The Office of Health Promotion will be observing Alcohol Awareness Week from Oct. 22 to 26. The week will include a CPS event, “Four Stages of Drinking,” with Mike Green on Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. in Fox Hall.

By Megan Coy Coordinator of Health Promotion Between movies and music, many of us leave for college with the idea that we’re going to spend the next four years drinking, partying and experiencing consequences that will be nothing more than humorous. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

On the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II in spring 2011, Eckerd students who chose to drink reported that they experienced a variety of negative consequences as a result of their drinking in the last 12 months. These negative consequences included things like doing something you later regretted, forgetting where you were or what you did, having unprotected sex, having sex with someone without giving or getting consent, physically injuring oneself…nothing that lets you wake up feeling good about the night before.

While many students have experienced negative consequences of drinking, many others have things they do to stay safe when they are partying or socializing. If you are going to drink, make sure you eat something before

and try our classes; our number one goal is for everyone to feel like a welcome member in our community.

CrossFit has been growing extensively in the past 5 years and is now widely regarded as “the sport of fitness.” While there is a competitive aspect to these workouts, it merely serves as a means to track your progress and push people harder than they could, or would, on their own.

Andrew and I are 100 percent committed to helping you achieve your goals. As a new club, we understand there will be a significant learning curve and we are more than willing to give our time to all individuals who are ready to dedicate themselves to a higher level of fitness.

Come find out what it’s like to be a part of a fitness club that will cheer louder for the last person to finish rather than the first. I have two promises for you. First, you will feel welcome. Second, if you commit, we will work just as hard as you to help you reach your goals.

Run until you drop

By Alex Zielinski Photo Editor Our race official was an eerie looking bellhop from the Hollywood Tower Hotel. He encouraged us to stay for the Villain’s Hollywood Bash if we were able to complete the race alive. Fireworks shot off at 10 p.m., signifying the official start of the Inaugural Tower of Terror 10-Miler. His final words were left echoing in our ears as we began to run.

Don’t like or want the crust?

Mary Kate McKenna Staff Writer Do you love pizza, but are trying to stay away? Are you trying to lean toward healthier alternatives? Are you trying to be good, but you hate vegetables? That’s where cauliflower-crusted pizza comes in; it’s a delicious alternative to eating cauliflower, and for those of us counting carbs, it’s pure deliciousness.

Cauliflower is a good source of vitamin C, fiber and nutrients. It is a cruciferous vegetable, meaning its enzymes have cancerfighting properties.

Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 20 minutes Servings: 4 Ingredients: 1 large head of cauliflower 1 large egg 1 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese 1/2 tbsp of fennel 1 tsp of garlic 1 tbsp of ground oregano 1 tbsp of parsley Optional: spinach, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes

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Preparation: 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Finely chop the cauliflower.

3. Microwave cauliflower for 5 minutes.

4. Beat egg, then add the cauliflower and shredded cheese.

5. Add garlic, oregano and fennel.

6. Mix and press into greased pizza pan.

7. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, until crust is slightly browned.

8. Remove crust from the oven.

9. Add sauce and toppings.

10. Place back in oven for 5-6 minutes un til cooked.

photo by Brittany Mullins Cauliflower-crusted pizza, courtesy of Brittany Mullins’ EatingBirdFood blog.

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Alex’s Workout

Die Young Ke$ha

By Purprise Gemini Club

Domino Jessie J

I’ll Make a Man Out of You Donny Osmond

Four Years

Jon McLaughlin

Crash Your Party Karmin

Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People

Sun of a Gun Oh Land

Get Lite

The Beatards

Remember When Chris Wallace

MENU

From the iPod of Alex Zielinski hausting being up nearly 24 hours straight and running 10 miles, but it was worth it after all of my hard training.

I was training at a 10-minute-mile pace throughout the year so I could finish well below two hours and still have time to take photos along the course. I knew there was also entertainment and character spots throughout the race, and I was determined to get some pictures with the characters—it is Disney, after all.

Run Disney, in charge of the races at parks in Orlando, Fla. and Aneheim, Calif., holds the annual races: Walt Disney World Marathon, Princess Half Marathon, Tinkerbell Half Marathon, Expedition Everest Challenge, Disneyland Half Marathon and also the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.

I’ve been a fan of Run Disney for quite some time, but never imagined myself actually participating in one of the races. I feel so proud to have accomplished my New Year’s resolution by completing this race.

Overall, the race was phenomenal and I didn’t expect anything less of Run Disney.

As for my next Run Disney race, I’m looking into the Expedition Everest Challenge in May, and the Wine and Dine Half Marathon next November. Wish me luck, or better yet, join me.

How did I train? With music. Check out the iPod graphic in this section to see the first 10 songs that played on my iPod for the race. Also be sure to look online for a video of the race’s beginning.

photo by Alex Zielinski Fireworks to mark the start of the race.

The race course wound out of Disney’s Hollywood Studios toward Animal Kingdom, back around toward Disney’s Wide World of Sports. Then back to Hollywood Studios toward the finish line at the entrance to the Tower of Terror.

I ended up finishing the race in 1:41.01, even after stopping once around mile 7 to grab a picture with the race mascot Stitch.

That put me in the top 10 percent of the 11,000 runners. I was surprised I had kept up the pace because the humidity was near 90 percent that evening.

Finishing the race with me were Sophomores Greg Johnson and Michaella Paddock and Junior Ashley Chambers—all of us decked out in numbered race bibs.

After the race, we stayed in the park to catch a few rides before heading back to our hotel to get a few hours of sleep. It was ex-

photo by Elizabeth Zielinski Greg Johnson, Micahella Paddock, Alex Zielinski and Ashley Chambers at the finish line.

20 Health & Fitness

the current

Oct. 12, 2012

A guide to a relaxing atmosphere

By Hailey Escobar Staff Writer Midterms. The halfway point of the semester that stresses us out with studying and last minute reviewing. Luckily, there are little ways that you can make your studying atmosphere into a relaxing one. Last week we covered what foods make you happy; this week we will focus on the other four senses: smell, sound, sight and touch.

Doesn’t that smell relaxing?

Aromatherapy is the practice of using natural scents to help trigger certain responses for physical and psychological well-being.

Many different scents also target stress relief, such as: lavender, chamomile, ginger and jasmine—just to name a few—keep in mind the last three can also be served as flavored teas for further relaxation.

Citrus scents are another set of smells that can help with stress along with giving you more energy and happiness when you start feeling drained.

Peppermint also enhances focus while vanilla calms even the most stressed student.

Scents can be found in lotions, soaps and hair care products to help give you an extra boost of calm or energy even when you’re taking exams. You can also add a few drops of natural oil on your pillow or use it as a spray for your room.

Sophomore David Steren finds relaxation with the smell of vanilla, “I think its just a scent that I’ve always enjoyed and found particularly calming,” says Steren. “It soothes me and helps me focus and its also delicious.”

Open your ears.

Music has been proven to help the learning process. Listening to music that you like puts you in a positive state of mind. It can also help with learning by energizing you, providing motivation or releasing tension.

Instrumental music is especially helpful, like for Freshman Samantha Brito who commented, “[Instrumental music] really relaxes me and helps me focus on studying.”

It can also be beneficial to turn off the music and listen to the natural world around you. This form of quiet can help you relax and be calm. Although, if you live in a noisy dorm, this can also be replaced by a CD or video of nature sounds, which can easily be found at convenience stores, around campus or online with iTunes or YouTube.

Singing and humming may also relieve internal tension. The vibrations and vocal release helps calm your mind and body, relieve stress and release pent-up emotions.

Let me see?

Eyes get tired while reading the small print of text books. Take a moment while studying and look up. Notice the beauty around you.

Post pictures on your wall so you can find comfort from them. Put flowers in your room. Have your favorite color around you— blues and greens are especially relaxing.

Freshman Brian Jenkins may be drawn in by both of these colors. When asked what he looks at to relax, he responded, “can’t go wrong with the beach.”

Open a window and let natural sunlight in the room to wake you up and relax you. Remember, unnatural light is thought by some to be harmful to your health.

Just the right touch.

Touch can even help with relaxation, and not just through a good massage.

Just touching the skin of your hand naturally releases endorphins, which can naturally lower your stress. Your body also releases serotonin when touched, which is an anti-depressive chemical in the body.

Seek out a pet dorm if you are missing your little family member back home. Sophomore Heather Gosnell seeks out her cat when she is stressed. “My cat!” Gosnell said when asked about what relaxes her. “Coming back to the room and hugging my fluff ball always calms me down.”

Try out these ideas. They are quick and easy ways to calm down and relax while preparing for mid-term exams. Hopefully, it will also be helpful for study sessions in the future when you just need a break.

Dance: “I just love it.”

By Rachel Beck Staff Writer

Performing with the Moscow Ballet does not scare Senior Shelly Partridge. In fact, she performed in their annual “Nutcracker” tour of the United States. Twice.

Partridge started ballet classes in middle school and continued through her first two years of college.

In high school, Partridge performed in several ballet performances—taking on roles such as the lead in “Sleeping Beauty” and the Black Swan in “Swan Lake.”

When Partridge was 16, she auditioned for the Moscow Ballet. She was chosen along with a few other dancers, whose ages ranged from 5 to 18, to perform in the annual “Nutcracker” at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, Fla. “It was incredible,” Partridge says. She trained for about five months before the performance. “It was amazing to be able to dance with true professionals,” she says. “I had my photo by Sarah Cole whole family come and watch it. It was really just such a great experience.”

Shelly Partidge leading her stretch class.

She seized the opportunity to perform

Race to break

By Alivia Kelsey Staff Writer Fall Break is in our sights, and if you are like me, you are ready for that long weekend to break from classes, schoolwork and every other stressor.

I hope my previous workouts have helped you so far with those stresses. This one will keep you going through mid terms. Let these workouts produce endorphins in your body and sweat away stress and steam.

This workout targets your upper body and consists of a warm-up, two supersets and a mini circuit. Do as many reps as your body is trained for and repeat three times.

Warm-Up: Sit-Ups: Lie on your back and place your feet firmly on the floor with your legs bent at the knees and your hands behind your head.

Raise your upper body creating a V-shape with your thighs, then lower your body back slowly to the floor and repeat.

Walking Lunges: Step about two feet forward with your right leg, keep your left leg stationary behind your right and lower your upper body down, keep your torso upright and maintain balance. Do not allow your knees to go past your toes. Use the heel of your front foot to raise back up.

Squats: Stand up straight, shoulder-width apart; this is your starting position. Bend at

the knees and lower down, keeping your upper body straight, not letting your knees go past your toes. Lower down until your butt is parallel to the floor and your knees are bent at a 90 degree angle, raise and repeat.

Glute Raises: Lie on your back with your hands at your sides and your knees bent for your starting position. Lift your hips off the floor, keeping your back straight, then return to the starting position.

Superset 1: Bent Over Rear Delt Raise: Sit on the edge of a bench with one dumbell in each hand. Lower the weights to the floor, then raise back up to your sides and repeat.

One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press: Lie flat on a bench with a dumbbell in one hand, with an overhand grip, fully extend the arm, this is your starting position. Slowly bring your arm down until it is at a 90 degree angle, with your upper arm perpendicular to your body, and then press it back up to the starting position.

Superset 2: Shoulder Press: Sit on a bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Raise the dumbbells to shoulder height, rotate your wrists so your palms are facing forward, this is your starting position. Push the dumbbells upward until they touch at the top, lower back down to the starting position.

Dumbbell Flyes: Lie on a bench with a dumbbell in each hand, with your palms facing each

with them again when she was 19 even though she was outside the desired age range.

After these performances, she trained and performed with the Florida Dance Center during freshman and sophomore year of college. By sophomore year, she had scheduled an audition with the Boston Conservatory.

Unfortunately, a broken foot prevented her from making her audition. She has since decided to finish her major in communications and her minor in theater, though still keeping ballet as an important activity in her life.

Partridge has channeled her many years of ballet experience into inspiration for the classes she offers as a fitness instructor. Partridge teaches three classes each week in the dance room of the gym. She offers Stretch and Hot Legs once every week and Abs/ Glutes twice every week. For more information on the classes, go to www.theonlinecurrent.com article featuring her classes called, “Hot Legs.”

Partridge will continue to dance. “I just love it,” she says. “It’s a beautiful sport.” other, hold them in front of you at shoulder width, move them above your chest keeping your arms slightly bent, this is your starting position. With a slight bend in your elbows, lower your arms out to both sides in a wide arc, and return to the starting position.

Cait’s Cookin’: Apple cinnamon muffins

By Cait Duffy News Editor For me, weekends have always been a time for resting, relaxing and having fun.

They have also been the best days for breakfast, when I actually have the time to flip some pancakes, fry some bacon and enjoy a belgian waffle piled high with strawberries and whipped cream.

Of course, once I started in on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, weekend breakfasts had to take a different turn.

Bacon was completely out of the question, as was anything made by Aunt Jemima.

Yet another quick search around the Internet led me to a few suggestions for breakfast pastries that are SCD safe, including many versions of apple cinnamon muffins.

After playing around a bit with spices and variations, I’ve found my favorite combination of ingredients so far.

This recipe yields about 12 medium sized muffins, which will remain moist and crumbly for at least a week.

Ingredients 1/2 cup melted butter 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 1/4 cup honey 1 cup almond flour 2 eggs 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vanilla 1 large red delicious apple, diced 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp nutmeg Optional: 1 tsp apple pie spice 2 mixing bowls A muffin pan Cupcake liners

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 325 * F 2. Mix butter, applesauce, honey and vanilla 3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, eggs and baking soda 4. Mix butter and flour mixtures 5. Add diced apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and apple pie spice 6. Mix completely 7. Place the cupcake liners in the muf fin pan 8. Pour about 2 tbs of batter into each 9. Bake 20 minutes, or until tops are light brown Eat one fresh from the pan, or heat it up and enjoy for breakfast!

Mini Circuit: Zottman Curls: Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand starting at arms length, elbows should be close to your torso, this is your starting position. Rotate your wrists so your palms are facing up, keeping your upper body stationary, curl your dumbbells upward, and rise until they are at shoulder height. Rotate your wrists so your palms are facing down, return to starting position.

Dips: Hold your body at arms-length with your arms nearly locked above the bars; this is your starting position. Slowly lower yourself downward until there is a 90 degree angle between your upper arm and forearm, raise your body back up to the starting position.

Chin-Ups: Grab the pull-up bar with the palms of your hands facing your torso and a grip closer than shoulder width, with both arms extended, bring your torso back, sticking your chest out creating a curvature in your back, this is your starting position. Pull your torso upward until the bar nearly touches your chest, lower down to the starting position.

After this workout, you are one step closer to not giving stress the time of day!

Apple cinnamon muffins.

photo by Cait Duffy

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the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Sports 21

Sports Women’s soccer climbs standings

By Mike Geibel Sports Editor The Eckerd women’s soccer team continues to surge ahead after starting the season 2-2. A four game win streak capped by a 9-0 offensive showcase against Florida Christian College on Oct. 4 has propelled the team into sole possession of second place in the Sunshine State Conference.

The Tritons have been playing well on both ends of the field.

On offense, Senior Dana Treat and Freshman Rachel Price have led the Tritons offensive breakout. Both players fall into the top ten in goals per game and points per game. On defense, goalkeeper Sophomore Morgan Crescent continues to have a breakout season.

She leads the conference in saves per game against all opponents, and has performed exceptionally well against SSC conference opponents.

Crescent has tallied four shutouts already this season which has put her in a second place tie for both the season and career records. With three more shutouts, Crescent would break the Eckerd season record and be nearly halfway to the career record.

Eckerd’s success has come as a surprise to many in the league.

After going 0-7 in the conference last year and only 5-12 overall, the Tritons were the preseason coaches’ pick to finish last in the Sunshine State Conference again this year. Sophomore Arie Anahory explained what she believes is the reason for Eckerd’s success

this year, “Going into this year we set out a goal to make history.”

The team certainly has made history, winning the first conference game for the Tritons since 2006 “As a team we are motivated each and every game to conquer our goal and change the minds of other conference teams,” added Anahory.

The girls have put on quite a show for home fans. The team’s last loss came on Sept. 15 and they have since recorded a 4-0-2 unbeaten streak. Three games during the winning streak were against conference opponents, which was the main catalyst in boosting the team near the top of the standings. After the 9-0 defeat of Florida Christian, Eckerd was a half game behind Tampa for the conference lead. The two teams will not

meet in conference play this fall.

The team has added plenty of style points to their unbeaten streak as well. Before the nine goal onslaught against Florida Christian, the women beat Lynn University 1-0. Freshman Abbey Walter scored the only goal of the contest, a game winning penalty kick that snuck into the low corner of the net just before halftime. The defense then took over to hold off Lynn for the remainder of the game, and Crescent contributed 6 saves en route to her fourth shutout of the season.

The Triton women will begin another four game homestand on Oct. 17 that will culminate on Senior Night on Oct. 24. This year’s final home game will be against Florida Southern at 7 p.m.

photo by Ethan Cooper Freshman Abbey Walter scores on a penalty kick just before halftime. Her penalty kick was the deciding goal in the Tritons 1-0 victory.

Cards, Orioles advance despite pitching mismatch, controversial infield fly rule call

By Will Creager Asst. Sports Editor The St. Louis Cardinals and the Baltimore Orioles have advanced past the first round of the 2012 MLB playoffs with road victories on Oct. 5. The Orioles beat the Texas Rangers 5-1, while the Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3.

This was the first year with this round of playoffs in the MLB, as the MLB and the Players Association agreed this past March to add an extra wild-card spot to the playoffs in each league. This series was just a single game, with the winners advancing and the losers going home. The rest of the playoffs will continue as usual, with a best of five game NLDS/ALDS and then the NLCS/ALCS and World Series, which are each best of seven games.

The American League wildcard game saw Yu Darvish and Joe Saunders take the mound for the Rangers and Orioles, respectively.

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This match-up appeared to give the Rangers a clear advantage, as Darvish had a strong rookie campaign in which he went 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA while Saunders went 9-13 with a 4.07 ERA combined with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Orioles.

However, Saunders held a tough Rangers lineup to just one run in 5.2 innings en route to picking up the win. Darvish held his own, pitching a quality start and giving up just three runs (one of which was unearned) in 6.2 innings, but was charged with the loss nonetheless.

The National League wild-card game was a bit more controversial. Down 6-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Braves were mounting a rally. They had two on with one out when Andrelton Simmons appeared to single on a pop up to shallow left field that fell in due to a miscommunication between shortstop Pete Kozma and left fielder Matt Holliday.

However, Simmons was called

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out because an umpire called the infield fly rule, even though it was not a ball that could have been easily caught by an infielder.

When all was said and done, the Braves had runners on second and third with two outs instead of the bases loaded with just one out.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny then brought in his closer, Jason Motte, for a four-out save. courtesy of Wikicommons Motte walked pinchhitter Brain McCann, Joe Saunders had a strong outing to help the O’s advance. but then struck out see the Orioles take on their AL Michael Bourn to escape the jam. East rivals, the New York Yankees, He then held onto the Cardi- and the Oakland Athletics take on nals’ 6-3 lead in the ninth despite the Detroit Tigers. In the NLDS, allowing two-out hits to Chip- the Cardinals will play the Washingper Jones and Freddie Freeman. ton Nationals while the San FrancisThe two ALDS match-ups will co Giants face the Cincinnati Reds.

INSIDE SPORTS Scoreboard

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Sports Calendar

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Volleyball coverage

Back Cover

Tennis comes up just short at regional tournament, looks ahead to strong season

By Sabrina Lolo Contributing Writer Men and women’s tennis fell short at the USTA Regional ITA Championships in Lakeland, Fla. This double elimination tournament was hosted by Florida Southern and began Sept. 27 and went through Sept. 30. Led by head coach Erin Koenig and assistant coach Ben Maxwell, the top four players from each team were sent to compete. Senior Dylan Randazzo, Sophomore Stephen Felman, Senior Ben Levy and Junior Madison Durley represented the men’s team while Sophomores Carson Trapp, Taylor Bullock, Amy Naula and Gipson Hawn represented the women’s team.

On the men’s side, Felman and Randazzo won a doubles match against Palm Beach Atlantic’s Nicholas Battisin and Mark Heimberger 8-3 but fell to the University of West Alabama’s Anton Ivanov and Adam Drysdale. The women’s team advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles on some byes but was defeated 8-1 by Barry University and 8-5 in a close match against Florida Tech.

“I think mentally we need to get stronger and tougher, constructing points needs to get a little bit better,” says Koenig. “They all did a really good job out there fighting though, even when the scores were tough.”

“We were a very young team last year,” says Carson Trapp. “With the experience we have now and hard work we’ve put into every practice, I think that we will immensely improve and be prepared for a competitive season in the spring.”

Both teams are working hard and looking forward to competing in the upcoming season.

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the current

Oct. 12, 2012

Eckerd Scoreboard Men’s Soccer

Women’s Soccer

Women’s Volleyball

9/26 @ Saint Leo University W 1-0 (1 OT)

9/26 @ Saint Leo University W 2-1

9/29 v. Barry University W 3-0

9/24 v. Barry University W 2-1

9/26 @ Palm Beach Atlantic Uni. L 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 25-15, 18-25, 1015) (EC) Biggs 9 kills, 18 digs (EC) McAlvany 20 kills, 11 digs

10/3 v. #4 Lynn Univsersity L 2-0

10/2 v. Lynn Univsersity W 1-0

10/7 v. Warner University W 3-1

10/4 v. Florida Christian Uni. W 9-0

9/28 v. Saint Leo University W 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22) (EC) Burr 34 assists, 11 digs (EC) Biggs 20 kills, 11 digs

9/29 @ Florida Southern College L 3-1 (20-25, 22-25, 25-22, 22-25) (EC) McAlvany 25 kills, 10 digs (EC) Biggs 13 kills, 12 digs 10/5 @ Nova Southeastern Uni. W 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-15) (EC) Burr 21 assists, 7 digs (EC) McAlvany 13 kills, 17 digs

(EC) Burr 24 assists, 8 digs (EC) Biggs 14 kills, 15 digs Sunshine State Conference opponents in bold

10/6 @ Lynn University W 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-22)

Sports Calendar 12

Friday

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Saturday

14

Sunday

15

Monday

Women’s Soccer @ Florida Southern College 5 p.m.

Women’s Sailing @ Yale Women’s Golf @ Saint Women’s Intersectional Leo Invitational All All Day Day

Men’s Soccer @ Florida Southern Coll. 7:30 p.m.

Men’s Sailing @ Captain Hurst All Day

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Tuesday

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Wednesday

Women’s Golf @ Saint Leo Invitational All Day

Women’s Soccer v. Rollins College 5 p.m.

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23

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Women’s Soccer v. Ave Men’s Soccer @ Palm Maria University 7 p.m. Beach Atlantic University

Women’s Soccer v.

Florida College 7 p.m.

Volleyball v. Christian Brothers University 4:45 p.m.

Men’s Soccer v. Florida Southern Coll. 7 p.m.

(Senior Night)

Women’s Soccer v.

Florida Southern Coll.

7 p.m. (Senior Night)

Women’s Golf @ Flagler College Fall Slam All Day

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Thursday

Men’s Soccer v. Rollins College 7:30 p.m.

Volleyball @ Barry University 4 p.m.

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20

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2 p.m.

Volleyball v. Valdosta State Uni., Uni. of West Florida 11 a.m., 5:45 p.m.

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Women’s Golf @ Flagler College Fall Slam All Day

Triton Tipoff 9 p.m.

Sports Briefly Eckerd Sailing falls short A bad start doomed Eckerd Sailing last weekend. As the team entered the final day of competition they sat in tenth place. But sadly the weather did not hold out as conditions deteriorated on the last day and the competition was called. This marks the Sailing team’s third top ten finish of the season.

Women’s rugby plays it close The women’s rugby team lost a nail biter to UCF but made history for the program. UCF is currently the top ranked women’s rugby team in the state of Florida. The Sirens came within one try of defeating the state powerhouse. This season is the first that the Sirens are playing in Division 1, and the close match against UCF marks a promising season for the team.

Triton Tip Off coming your way Are you ready for basketball season? Then you are ready for the annual Triton Tip-Off held in our very own McArthur Gym. The TipOff will be 9 p.m., Oct. 20. Come out to this school-wide pep rally to support the start of your Eckerd College men and women’s basketball season. Tritons from each team will come out dancing and ready for a good time. There will also be a performance from both the Eckerd College Cheerleaders and the Eckerd College Dance Company. Show up before the TipOff to tailgate with food and beverage in the gym parking lot. Most importantly, don’t forget to bring the excitement for your Eckerd College Tritons.

National Cassel crumbles Making waves this week were the fans of the Kansas City Chiefs, who cheered as starting quarterback Matt Cassel was removed from the game with an injury. Cassel had underperformed during the game causing the fans reaction. However, his teammates rushed to his defense and showed their displeasure with their fanbase and the embarrassing actions.

Classic Clásico When the best soccer clubs and players in the world get together, something spectacular usually occurs. As was the case in the 202nd meeting between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Nou Camp in Barcelona. An exciting match that saw offense driven through the two best players on Earth, the first Clásico of the season saw four goals scored by Barca’s Lionel Messi and Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

The game marked the 56th draw between the two clubs in their rivalry’s 110 year history.

DC wins playoff game One would assume the nation’s capital would have a strong team in the national pastime.

However, Washington DC only recently received its third Major League Baseball club in 2005 and the city had yet to experience postseason baseball since Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House. That changed last Saturday as the Washington Nationals opened up their 2012 playoff campaign with a road win over the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals in a thrilling three to two victory.

At press time the series is tied/ Nationals lead.

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Oct. 12, 2012

Sports 23

Good vibes: your action sports source

By Dominick Cuppetilli Quickie Editor

Catching up with Ultimate Frisbee

By Ryan Wheeler Quickie Editor Ultimate Frisbee is undoubtedly the perfect sport for everybody at Eckerd College. How could it not be? The ever popular sport among college kids, hippies and Frisbee fanatics all across the country fits Eckerd very well. Club President Will Demarest explained, “for a lot of us, it’s a great way to relieve stress and take our minds off school, we try to keep it really laid back.”

Ultimate Frisbee as we know it today was invented during the summer of 1968 by friends Joel Silver, Bernard Hellring and Johnathan Hines at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., according to usaultimate.org. The basic rules of the game have remained unchanged for the better part of four decades.

There are two teams of seven that play on a rectangular field a little bit bigger than half of a football field. The rules are simple: after one team kicks off to the other and possession is established, the player with the Frisbee has ten seconds to pass the Frisbee to one of his or her teammates. The team on offense tries to advance the disc down the field into the end zone for a touchdown and the first team to score 15 times wins. If the disc touches the ground or an opposing player intercepts it, then possession changes to the other team.

While throwing, a player must establish a pivot foot, usually the left foot for a right handed player, and isn’t able to pick this foot up until after he throws the disc.

Those are just the basic rules of the game, but really anyone who’s played a pick-up game for even a few minutes would look like a seasoned pro. The game is simple to learn, which is what makes it so fun. ”I’ve never met someone who hasn’t enjoyed a game of pick up” says Demarest. When I went out to play with Eckerd’s Ultimate Frisbee club I was able to pick it up after the first couple of touchdowns of the game.

If you are at all familiar with football, soccer, lacrosse or even basketball, the flow and pace of the game will be very easy to pick up because in a sense Ultimate Frisbee is a blend of all four and probably other sports too. The strategic movement of players without the disc is vital to the team’s success.

Since the most common defense implemented in Ultimate Frisbee is man to man, if all of the players on offense ended up in the same area the defense would be able to cover them all very easily.

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I quickly picked up on this and began trying to run across the field into open space instead of just running deep for the end zone every play. Another important part of the game is to give whoever is throwing the disc a good passing lane or window. For example, if the defender is shading the thrower to the inside of the field, you want to run a route to the outside so the thrower has more room and the defender has a lesser chance of swatting it down.

This is similar to numerous soccer plays, lacrosse plays and even making cuts in basketball. Some of the better players don’t have to rely on their receivers to break open on one side or the other, though, because they can throw the disc both back-handed and fore-handed. The back-hand throw is what most people are familiar with and the forehand is a little bit harder to master.

Essentially it is the same motion as far as your hips and forearm are concerned, just flipped. The grip is the most difficult part of this form. Imagine making a fake gun with your pointer finger, middle finger and thumb, and then resting it under the lip of the disc. You generate all the power of the throw in your hips and arm. Now flick your wrist to generate the spin. It sounds difficult, but the forehand takes a little bit of practice to be good enough to use in a game.

When I went out to play with Eckerd’s Ultimate Frisbee club, I was a little bit nervous because I had never played, but once there, the members were friendly and assured me not to worry.. We ended up playing a five on five game because we were short on players, meaning I got to play right away.

We didn’t keep score. If I had to pick a winner, though, it was probably the other team, because of me. Although I did manage to catch three touchdowns, I dropped a couple, and let’s just say a lot of my passes were a little less accurate than I had hoped.

The club is always looking for more people to play as well “I would encourage anyone who is looking for a fun and laid back way to get some exercise, or just looking to meet some new people, to come play ultimate with us,” Demarest said. “The more the merrier.”

The Ultimate Frisbee Club meets Mondays from 5 -7 p.m. on Kappa Field, Thursdays 8:30 – 10 p.m. on the soccer field and Fridays from 4 – 6 p.m. on Kappa Field. For more information, contact Will Demarest at wsdemare@eckerd.edu.

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Slater and Reynolds represented USA in the finals, so an American win was certain. Although ReynThe 2012 Kia Cold Hawaii PWA olds’ score was higher in the semiWorld Cup was held in Klitmoller, finals, Slater kicked into high gear Denmark Sept. 17-23. This world to win the gold in the finals, forccup of windsurfing had 42 riders ing Reynolds to walk away with from 14 different countries, ac- second. This win marks 20 years cording to pwaworldtour.com. since Slater’s last win in France, Surfers can already get some big and his 51st elite tour victory. air with their own momentum, but Although some of the best surfwith the wind behind the sail, rid- ers in the world are all hanging out ers catch some serious airtime al- in France right now, Eckerd is home lowing them to pull off multiple to quite a few talented surfers of its flips and rotations. First place in own. Sophomores Andreas Stocker the competition went to 26-year- and Madison Kriek have both been old Thomas Traversa from France. surfing for years and are avid memThe silver went to Philip Koster bers of the surf club on campus. The from Germany. This up and com- club’s local spot is Sunset Beach, just ing 18-year-old won back-to-back up the road from St. Pete Beach, Wave World Championships in and when they can, they head out 2011 and earlier in the season of to Cocoa Beach on the East Coast.

2012. 28-year-old Spanish rider, Andreas Stocker is a Florida naVictor Fernandez Lopez, wrapped tive from Flagler Beach. He is a psyup the podium with a bronze. chology major with a minor in manThe annual Quiksilver Pro agement. Stocker began surfing the brought its competitors to the summer between his sophomore and shores of France in late September. junior years of high school. His love The contest ran from Sept. 28 to for surfing started after he wanted to Oct. 8. According to quiksilverlive. move past the skim boarding hobby com, it was compiled of five rounds, that he picked up the year before. which qualified contestants to ad- When he surfs here locally, he rides vance to the quarterfinals, semi- his six foot Al Merrick shortboard, finals and culminating with the but when he rides back home, he finals. Only eight of the 36 surfers cruises on a 9’6” Starr longboard. remained by the time the quarterfiStocker says, “I like the lifenals came around and the semis left style of longboard [riding], but the only four competitors to surf it out. adrenaline I get from riding short Kelly Slater out did Joel Parkinson board.” He says people think that in his heat, and Dane Reynolds just longboard surfing is not as fulfillbarely squeezed by his opponent, ing as short board, but he claims it John John Florence, by one tenth of is just as challenging when you are a point, giving Florence and Parkin- doing it right. “It’s all about style.” son the bronze medal to share. Both Stocker has several go-to tricks

on the longboard, including cross stepping, nose riding and the equivalent of what a pop shoveit is in skateboarding. He likes the more retro feeling from longboarding as opposed to the shortboard. Stocker explains, “The coolest thing about surfing is it’s more than a sport. It connects you with nature. It is truly a lifestyle.”

Fellow Florida native is Madison Kriek, a marine science major and art minor here at Eckerd. Surfing started for her five years ago back home in Naples, Fla. Her father was big into surfing and she turned out to be a natural following in his footsteps, getting up the first day she tried. The hardest thing to learn in the process was spotting her own waves for a set, but she is riding her way into being quite the expert. Not only does Kriek surf locally around Florida, but she also spends two months out of the year shredding down in Costa Rica.

“It is so good down there,” says Kriek. “The water is warm and clear year-round. It’s 6 to 8 foot waves on a slow day.” Her favorite tricks to pull out are big bottom turns and cutbacks. “I like the athleticism.

Not everyone can do it, so I feel accomplished after finishing a good set. And of course it’s fun.” Surfing has been a huge part of Madison’s life, and it’s been good to her. “Everyone should try it at least once.”

For anyone who would like to try their hand at surfing, the waterfront has plenty of windsurfing boards to go around, and we do live in a state surrounded by water, so go give it a try.

courtesy of Madison Kriek Kriek rides a wave during a two-month stay in Costa Rica.

Call for submissions!

All students, faculty, staff and ASPEC and OLLI members are invited to send in their short stories, nonfiction (15 pages max., double spaced for prose), poems and art on or before Friday, November 23, 2012, for consideration for publication in ECKERD REVIEW 2013.

Please visit www.eckerd.edu/eckerdreview and follow the submission guidelines to electronically submit your work anonymously.

The Official Student Newspaper of Eckerd College

Sports

Oct. 12, 2012

Volleyball sweeps in two wins; moves to second in conference

By Dominick Cuppetilli Quickie Editor

that gave them the points.”

This change in momentum largely came from Biggs, who led in kills The Eckerd College women’s with 14 while also coming volleyball team swept Nova up with 15 digs on the day.

Southeastern University on McAlvany was close behind Friday, Oct. 5. Despite Nova’s with 12 kills of her own, and attempts to win on their libero Kaleigh Humphrey home court, the Sharks fell brought in 10 digs. Biggs to the Tritons in three short also said that she sees the games (25-19, 25-21, 25-15). team coming together as a The match’s offense was led by unit, which will help them Sophomore Ali McAlvany, with to succeed in the future.

13 kills and 17 digs. McAlvany The week before the two held onto the Sunshine State sweeps, the team fell to Conference lead in kills per set Florida Southern College for at 3.85. Junior Lindsay Biggs their first conference loss of put down another 10 kills for the season. The Florida the Tritons, and Sophomore Southern College Mocs beat Katarina Milojevic contributed photo by Ethan Cooper the Tritons 3-1 (20-25, 22-25, with eight. Senior Olivia Fraser The Tritons have started to play more as a unit, which 25-22, 22-25) on Sept. 29. and Milojevic helped the Triton has led to increased success on the court.

Despite 25 kills coming defense with four blocks each. from Sophomore Ali Biggs explained, “coming conference opponent in a row. The McAlvany, the Tritons could not off a loss from the week before, Tritons topped the Lynn University [we] decided that the other teams Fighting Knights, 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, get over the hump to put away Florida Southern, who were fresh weren’t going to give any games to 25-22). Although the Tritons trailed off a loss to the University of them.” It was this mentality that in every set of the match, they led to the team’s domination over forced the change in momentum Tampa and determined to deal the Nova. “All the hitters seemed to each time and came out on top. loss to another team. Biggs tallied be on. The game was clean all the Outside hitter Biggs confessed, 13 kills to her season total and way around,” Biggs concluded. “We started the games with a few Senior Alex Laton notched in eight.

The Mocs took the first two The following day, Eckerd errors, mostly communication earned their second sweep of a errors, so it was our own mistakes games, but Eckerd would not give up without a fight, stealing the third game starting with a 6-0 scoring run. The Tritons were close in their attempt in the fourth match, but it would prove to be the final of the night.

The night before the loss, the Tritons added a conference win over Saint Leo University, winning 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22). This was the Lions third sports defeat on Eckerd soil in one week, after both the men’s and women’s soccer teams dealt the Lions losses.

Biggs led the Tritons, tying a season high 20 kills, followed close

by McAlvany with 17. Each had 11 digs on the night. The Sunshine State Conference Defensive Player photo by Bill Stickley of the Week, Fraser, also wracked Katarina Milojevic serves against Saint Leo in a home match at the MacArthur Center. up 12 kills to support a Triton win.

photo by Morgan Engle Lindsay Biggs (10) adds another kill to her season total against Saint Leo University.

SSC Volleyball conference standings as of Oct. 7 1. Tampa 2. Eckerd 3. Florida Southern 4. Florida Tech 5. Barry 6. Rollins 7. Lynn 8. Nova Southeastern 9. Saint Leo

(6-0 SSC, 13-2 Overall) (5-1 SSC, 11-6 Overall) (4-2 SSC, 12-6 Overall) (3-3 SSC, 12-5 Overall) (3-3 SSC, 10-7 Overall) (3-3 SSC, 9-8 Overall) (2-4 SSC, 10-6 Overall) (1-5 SSC, 4-15 Overall) (0-6 SSC, 6-8 Overall)

Wild college football weekend shakes up AP rankings

By Colin Casey Asst. Sports Editor College football has reached its most critical month, and the nation has had no shortage of surprises.

Once a proud title-contending conference, the Big Ten has fallen upon hard times. With both Ohio State and Penn State ineligible for bowl games, the conference looks for a new head of class. Stepping into the role this week are the Northwestern Wildcats who started undefeated until a week six loss to Penn State. Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald, a defensive legend from his time with the Wildcats in the 1990s, has lost much of his defensive magic but his offense continues to fire on all cylinders.

Perhaps the surprise of the season has been number four in the nation LSU, last year's SEC champion. This year's version of the team lacks the same punch and luster that rocked teams last season. After barely gutting out two of its first few wins, LSU lost to an undefeated Florida team this

past weekend. LSU prides itself on its NFL-style shut down defense, but now what seemed unstoppable last year appears beatable to anyone on their schedule.

Florida State, another school with national title ambitions also fell flat against lesser competition in week six. In a season that started off with so much promise in Tallahassee, the Seminoles suffered heartbreak at the hands of the North Carolina State Wolfpack. Before the game, FSU was ranked at third in the nation.

Perhaps the biggest shock to college fans was the sudden appearance of West Virginia in the top ten. Joining the Big 12 for their first season in the conference, the Mountaineers have amazed with a high powered, offensefirst mentality. In week six, they traveled to play undefeated Texas, and beat the Longhorns in a thrilling game in prime time.

Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith now looks to be the early favorite for the Heisman Trophy.

His best competition for the Heisman, Matt Barkley of USC

has been buried recently. It is not easy to get press playing on the West Coast, and unfortunately for Barkley, his Trojans received it in the worst sense. After an early season loss to Stanford, the team's national title hopes evaporated like a glass of water in the southern California sun. The Trojans still look to make it to a top bowl game but their original season goal of a national championship will go unaccomplished.

The most important game of the season thus far was the week six clash between unbeaten teams South Carolina and Georgia. The Georgia Bulldogs, ranked number five in the nation, looked to many to be sleeper picks for the SEC title while number six South Carolina is still looking to restore the luster to its once proud program.

The clash was awarded ESPN’s official “game of the week” as anticipation mounted in Columbia.

Once the game started though, the South Carolina Gamecocks took control and never let it go.

Georgia has had an outstanding offense this year, but it was not

courtesy of Wikicommons USC quarterback Matt Barkley (7) stands under center against Arizona State in 2011.

enough to make up for lapses on the defensive side of the ball.

Embittering the college football nation have been the results of the undefeated number seven ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

After years ired in mediocrity, the Irish have taken advantage of a weak first half schedule to emerge undefeated entering a vital stretch run. Unlike Irish teams past, this

year’s version is powered by an elite defense led by Mant’i Te’o and assisted by a strong running game.

Both sides of the ball were on full display in last Saturday’s rivalry game against the Miami Hurricanes in Chicago. However, their task looks daunting as challenges against Stanford, USC and Oklahoma await but the season appears to only get better as the year goes on.

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