Tallahassee’s Community Newsmagazine
Volume 4 ~ Issue 2 ~ Mar 2008
forfeiting our (bright)
futures The Problem. The Solution. page 12.
Published with support from Campus Progress/Center for American Progress (online at CampusProgress.org)
Letter
Reader– I come to you in this letter as a Florida resident and a Bright Futures recipient. By virtue of these two things already, I am identified with a number of you. If that fails, I offer the following instead to serve as a shared substance: I am a citizen of these United States, a voter, and a politically active youth whose concern over our communal posterity has impelled me to write about this particular subject. Few issues bind the citizenry together like the future of our nation, bolstered so much by a strong and rounded education. The fact of the matter is that we stand at a crucial juncture in our history, or at least in our calendar year. The legislature is meeting in the first week of March. They are faced with unimaginable – yet inescapable – budget cuts. On the chopping block is Bright Futures, what has been the means for countless youths like me to receive an education at little or no cost. Few states offer a program as robust as Florida’s. Yet, this is not an endorsement of “levelling down,” which would mean taking away our Bright Futures, but a heightened appeal to the preservation of an institution invaluable in terms of the promise it affords our children and our futures. Herein you will find an extended exposition by Ginny Kotzias on the state of Bright Futures, and a relevant and related defense of the humanities, and of liberal arts education in general. An integral component of our nation – education for all – stand threatened by our elected officials. Fortunately, they are answerable to us, and it is our duty now to make sure that they answer indeed.
Locations
The Yeti Collective
Ryan Jenkins, President Ginny Kotzias, Vice President William Hermann, Treasurer
All Saints Café
Contributors
Café Shisha
Anonymous Erica Belfiore Will Da Novi Justin Granstein Will Guensler James N. McKay Shayn Nicely Patrick Paine hunter pittman JC Sheppard Daniel Vahab
Canopy Road Momo’s Pizza Paperback Rack Quarter Moon Strozier Library
Advisor: Paul Rutkovsky Front Cover: Ryan Jenkins Back Cover: Joshua Mikel myspace: sharkguts
V89 Radio Station Velvet Vintage
Printed with assistance from Campus Progress and the Student Government Association of Florida State University.
Vinyl Fever About the Yeti
Founded in April 2005 by a small group of students from FSU, The Yeti was created as a truly independent alternative to the corporately owned FSView. Fueled by a hatred for the official FSU newspaper’s constant dribble, our publication is for interested and active people by an ever-increasing collective of the same. The Yeti allows you to become the media at Florida State.
Ryan Jenkins, Editor
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2 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
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Contents
headlines
local/CAMPUS 5 Update: The Man
17
Patrick Paine
Ridin’ Hard, Goin’ Nowhere James N. McKay
nation 3 Headlines 6 The Bush Legacy
8 9
JC Sheppard, Cornell University
Voter Equality in the Electoral College
Justin Granstein, Cornell University
Psst, Want to Steal an Election?
Ryan Jenkins
Feature
Who Needs Bright Futures Anyway? Ginny Kotzias
Hold on to your hats, boys and girls: the fight for Bright Futures is far from over. The January attacks against the humanities via Senate Bill 1320/House Bill 813 were only the most publicized assaults against your education.
4 18 20 22
culture Suicide Girls Shayn Nicely
In Defense of the Humanities Anonymous
Local Music Feature Erica Belfiore
A Progressive Netflix Queue Will Da Novi, Campus Progress
literary 10 Thanksgiving in Johnny’s Dorm Room Daniel Vahab
11 father day card (late) hunter pittman
Israeli Minister Threatens Gaza “Holocaust”
In Israel and the Occupied Territories, at least eighteen Palestinians have been killed in continued Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Thursday’s Palestinian toll includes four young boys, killed by bombs as they were playing soccer. The youngest was eight years old. Another Palestinian child was killed along with two adult civilians. Palestinian officials say at least nine Palestinian militants also died. At least thirty-one Palestinians, including nine children, have died in the past two days of Israeli attacks. Israel says it’s responding to Palestinian rocket fire, with forty-five rockets launched from Gaza on Thursday. One Israeli was killed this week in the town of Sderot, the thirteenth Israeli killed by Palestinian rockets in the last seven years. A seventeenyear-old girl was lightly injured Thursday when Palestinian rockets struck the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is warning of a full-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza. In what could be a first for an Israeli official, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai has threatened a “holocaust” in Gaza if rocket fire continues. Vilnai said, “The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust, because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.” An opinion poll taken this week shows 64 percent of Israelis favor a ceasefire with Hamas, the highest majority to date. Hamas has made several proposals for a truce, but the Israeli government has rejected its overtures.
In New Record, Dem Candidates Raise Estimated $80M
On the campaign trail, the fundraising race continues to break new records. On Thursday, Senator Hillary Clinton announced she’s raised $30 million this month. Senator Barack Obama did not disclose his total take, but aides said it was “considerably more,” with estimates of around $50 million. Taken together, an $80 million combined February total would surpass the previous high set by President Bush and Sen. John Kerry in March 2004.
Comcast Admits to Planting Attendees at FCC Hearing
The media giant Comcast has admitted to paying people to fill the seats at a government hearing on net neutrality. The gathering at Harvard University Monday was one of several organized by the Federal Communications Commission to gather public input. Critics say Comcast was trying to take space away from critics of media consolidation. Harvard says dozens of genuine participants were forced to stand outside the hearing unable to participate. The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 3
culture
Suicide Girls
Hard “G” and An Accent on the Sue by Shayn Nicely
O
h, the irony of a pro-feminism pin-up site with iron-clad contracting and a penchant for suing its own former
models. You may have noticed a certain fetish fashionista making appearances on the cover of Gothic Beauty, as well magazines Envy, Juxtapose, Punk, and Bust, often advertising rubberwear and latex corsets from the likes of Venus Prototype and Bodycult, in gallery exhibits such as Lithium Picnic’s “Water,” and in music videos like Zao’s “My Love (We’ve Come Back From the Dead)”. Her alias is Apnea, and she’s been around. Personally, I think it’s something about her eyes. I saw them, and was immediately inspired to write a poem about insanity coalescing. She models for the alternative pin-up site Gods Girls, and has her own personality-based paysite (http://www.apneatic.com) of which I am a ravenous and addicted member. Of course, she used to be a Suicide Girl, too. Used to. Nowadays, she and her old employer are locked in a legal battle over who owns her. When I say “her,” I really mean her. Her biographical information, her signature, her image, her persona, her voice; the contract doesn’t expire for five years. Here lies an excerpt of the latest rendition of the Suicide Girls’ contractual bindings: 4. GRANT OF RIGHTS & RELEASE. Model hereby grants to SG[...] a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up right and license to the unlimited use of the ‘Model Likeness’ (alone or in connection with any media, now known or hereafter created) throughout the universe: (ii) SG shall have the right to[...] (x) transform, edit, alter, distort, modify, add to, subtract from or enhance the Model Likeness[...] ‘Model Likeness’ means model’s name, nickname, persona, character or characterization, initials, logo, slogan or catch phrase, autograph, facsimile signature, voice, photograph, film[...] biographical or historical information, any material provided by or statement made by[...] Model agrees that 4 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
Model will have no right to approve any use of the Model Likeness. This is hilarious. The self-proclaimed celebration of “unique, strong, sexy and confident women” is taking legal pursuit of an ex-employee’s husband for photographing her! Damages: $100,000.00! Apnea’s husband, renowned fetish and fashion photographer Lithium Picnic (Phillip Warner), has been served the court papers. The trial will be in Portland, Oregon, where Lithium Picnic will be continuing to shoot models. He used to work for Suicide Girls as well, as the regional photographer of Austin, Texas. There are no hard feelings between him and SG, though. “...SG is just making an example out of him for shooting girls from other sites for his personal projects and for standing up to them as much as he did,” Apnea said. SG is maintaining a very professional stance of utter silence, including not responding to their mail, removing Lithium Picnic’s fan group from Suicide Girls without notice, and blotting all mention of the incident from their message boards. Although they did publish a poorly-crafted “homage” to a portrait that was actually painted with muse Apnea posing front-and-center with an incredibly phallic red lollipop. The portrait is called “Daddy’s Girl,” by Michael Hausser, a friend of the couple. They actually sold prints of this to help raise money for legal fees. Then Suicide Girls published a photo shoot called “Daddy’s Girl” with the exact same premise, down to the costuming, only removing every comment by users thereafter who recognized the origin of the homage and mentioned Apnea. Several models have left the site in show of support. Their blogs were, of course, immediately erased. Even though Mr. Picnic asserts that the legal document they claim he violated (a section 8 of one “Confidentiality, Invention Ownership & Intellectual Property Agreement”) is invalid and improperly executed (even non-existent), he and Apnea have started a fundraising campaign that
Former Suicide Girl “Apnea.” consists largely of hocking their belongings (like camera lenses and cat-suits from popular photo shoots) on eBay and receiving donations from generous sympathizers like auctioneers Dread To Be Different and SINched Custom Corsets, as well as from artists Danielle LaBove and HydE. Apnea believes that Suicide Girls will settle out-of-court, and are merely attempting to entangle her husband in a legal gridlock so as to keep him unemployed and unable to find work with any of their competitors. Amazingly, a pin-up giant like SG is focusing on growth and popularity. They recently began paying their models almost twice as much (a pleasant five hundred dollars per shoot as opposed to the previous three hundred) but have also stopped accepting as many non-SG photographed sets. That Suicide Girls owns over one thousand models (even up until two years after abortion of the contract) and these models shoot often exclusively with SG-staffed, geographically-specific photographers, means that Suicide Girls has basically become its own self-sustaining, self-perpetuating organism.
local
Update: The Man Booth is now iPad. Nothing has changed. by PATRICK PAINE They evolved! Stated by ex-Suicide Girl and staff photographer Oryx in a Myspace forum that may have been blotted from web-existence by now: “When I had a few no-shows . . . I was told to ‘go out on the street and find some new girls.’ One new girl’s application was completed while she was 17 and I shot her on her 18th birthday.” The Suicide Girl company is ferociously territorial of tattooed naked chicks—a genre they seem to believe they invented, in spite of the long-standing popularity of both tattoos and nudity—and they express as much in their legal assault on competitors such as Deviant Nation and Gods Girls, infamous for stealing ex-Suicide Girls and other craved gems. This would seem hypocritical to anyone who is familiar with the more vintage gothic modeling on Blue Blood, SG’s predecessor. In the court case against Gods Girls, SG tried to claim legal ownership of the color pink. Gods Girls, SG’s latest and greatest competition, has been in a pre-trial discovery with SG for over a year and a half. Deviant Nation was tied up for three years in court until they finally won the case and were allowed to launch. The owner of Deviant Nation, however, had to sell his house, expend over $20,000 in court costs, and travel to LA every week for 2 years. He lost 2 jobs and had the threat of imprisonment over his head constantly. Those kinds of damages made me think twice about writing this expose. I myself was once a Suicide Girl and, fearing for the integrity of this document, have published under my real name, which is something I’m sure they’d never recognize. Technically, I suppose, if I were to publish this under the persona they “own,” these words would “belong” to them. This height of irony is only succeeded by that which accommodates civil forefathers who owned slaves. This pin-up company Suicide Girls is vocally feminist, “punk,” and progressive, meanwhile granting itself ownership of each of its women, down to the fingerprints. It’s like Dita Von Teese set up a sweatshop.
L
iving at Osceola Ridge was an unadulterated travesty. The management was incompetent. The premises were dirty. People had parties and blasted music at all hours, filling the parking lot and intimidating police into staying in their cars and relying on megaphones to break them up. Management breached the lease by entering my apartment on more than one occasion without giving warning. Maintenance would enter and leave without locking my front door. Booth’s free housing scholarship was mismanaged. Utility bills were divided up improperly between roommates. A roommate of mine was fined twice for the same offense. Booth Management has changed its name to iPad Management, but I have a hunch that the essential incompetence remains. I decided to move out in the Fall of 2006. To top it all off, Booth illegally withheld money from my security deposit without notifying me within 30 days. So, I did what any legally informed and pissed-off former resident would do: I threw the book at them. What follows is the letter I wrote to Booth Corporate. A quick apology was the reply, and my money was refunded three months later. It was only $30, but it was damn worth it. Dear Booth Properties, I received a letter in the mail, postmarked October 1st, 2007, detailing Booth’s intention to impose a claim upon my security deposit. Unfortunately, the time period within which to notify me of your intention has expired, so that Booth has waived its right to do so. Florida Statute 83.49(3)(a) clearly states: “(3)(a) Upon the vacating of the premises for termination of the lease, if the landlord does not intend to impose a claim on the security deposit, the landlord shall have 15 days to return the security deposit together with interest if otherwise required, or the landlord shall have 30 days to give the tenant written notice by certified mail to the tenant’s last known mailing address of his or her intention to impose a claim on the deposit and the reason for imposing the claim [...] If the landlord fails to give the required notice within the 30-day period, he or she forfeits the right to impose a claim upon the security deposit.” Emphasis added. To satisfy the above notice period, Booth Properties would have had to have postmarked their letter detailing their intent to impose a claim on my deposit by September 9th (9/09/07), my date of vacating Osceola Ridge having been August 9th, 2007. Clearly, this statutory requirement has not been met as evidenced by the following: The letter addressed to me is dated 9/13/07, past the statute of limitations. The statement of deposit is dated 9/13/07, past the statute of limitations. The check for the remainder of my deposit is dated 9/20/07, past the statute of limitations. Finally, the certified mail containing the notice is postmarked October 1, 2007, undoubtedly past the statute of limitations, ending on September 9. Booth Properties has therefore forfeited its right to impose a claim upon my security deposit. I am not disputing my utility charges of $11.69, but the charge deducted for “additional cleaning” at $30.00. I fully expect the latter charge to be refunded to me in full upon receipt of this letter, in accordance with Florida law. I am writing to assist any fellow Booth residents, in order that they may prevent being scammed in the way I almost was. Booth nearly got me. Don’t let them get you. The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 5
nation
The Bush Legacy by JC Sheppard, cornell university
What Exactly has he Done?
W
ith only a year left in office, the Bush administration is quickly running out of time to leave a lasting legacy. A highly respected legacy is hard to come by. Leading the country in times of great struggle has canonized some presidents, like Abraham Lincoln and FDR, in history books. But other presidents were remembered for things aside from their leadership abilities; George Washington lied, but then told the truth. Bill Clinton did the same thing. Reagan made up his own word (Reaganomics), and Millard Fillmore simply had an awful name. What will the Bush administration be remembered for? The easy answer to this question is September 11th. We were attacked, 3,000 people were killed, and Bush stood up and assured his country that yes, we were gonna get those bastards. In no time at all, the U.S. shifted gears from the war on Osama bin Laden, to the War on Terror, to the Iraq War. Six years later, we still have not touched Osama bin Laden, we are arguably less safe than we were before 9/11, and the Iraq War is turning into the war from which we’ll never come back. Bush may have been the national leader during 9/11, but he did not deal with the situation effectively. He led our country into a war based on faulty information (those pesky WMDs never did show up), and he has no idea how to get us out of it. After General Petraeus’ hearings in September, it became clear that the road home from Iraq will never make it onto Bush’s presidential agenda, and finding a feasible exit strategy will fall on the next president. In response to 9/11, the Bush administration started a war that it could not finish. Smooth move. The War in Iraq is being fought to “preserve our way of life,” yet it has far greater consequences on the American way of life than many care to notice. First, the economy is in the crapper. This is not American. Enough said. Second, part of what makes the U.S. a world power is its talent for 6 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
“ I’m the master of low expectations. ” George W. Bush aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003 innovation. We are quickly losing ground in this department. China is roaring past us, and Japan is right on our tail. The most valuable commodities of the next century are going to be energy efficient technologies. Instead of encouraging alternative energy research and development, the Bush administration
is narrowly focused on the Iraq War. Bush has ignored the need for alternative energy innovation, nay, discouraged it because “global warming is just a theory” (which is not only ignorant, but damaging to the people he has sworn to protect). With regard to energy innovation, we are falling behind
Bush’s approval vs. disapproval ratings since his inauguration. (You should be able to tell which line is which.) As the end of Bush’s term draws near, he becomes visibly more concerned about how he will remembered, for example, vehemently denying the slowdown of the American economy. on a global stage at such a steady rate that we may never be able to catch up. This alone could actually knock us out of the race for international superpower of the 21st century. Finally, to add insult to injury, we’ve turned into bullies. The U.S. preaches democratic ideals, but we are not doing a very good job exhibiting them to the rest of the world. Democracy means cooperating and listening to one another. Bush has not conducted himself according to these ideals. Instead, he has represented Americans as unwilling to listen to other opinions, as “my way or the highway” type folk. We need to cooperate with the U.N. and other international bodies if we plan on continuing to be a world leader in the years to come. “Going it alone” is no longer an option. In terms of domestic policy, there is a new item to add to Bush’s legacy: denying healthcare to children who can’t afford it on their own. We are spending about two
billion dollars a week, in part, to drop bombs on another nation of poor children, so why aren’t we at least spending some money to help American kids? If the seeming answer is, “the Iraq War is helping to save lives because it is stopping terrorism,” this is simply incorrect. And even if the Iraq War actually was helping to reduce terrorism, the odds of dying in a terrorist attack are miniscule compared to the odds of dying due to inadequate healthcare. Bush’s priorities are totally out of whack. At times it might seem that he is trying to build his own legacy of successfully “getting those bastards” at the cost of our nation’s youth. According to the National Priorities Project, with the money we’ve spent on the Iraq War, the government could have insured almost 300,000 children. Pardon my language, but what the hell? There are so many other not-soimpressive things that Bush could be
remembered for - did the tax cuts work? No. See the national deficit numbers for proof. Did revamping Medicare work? No. The elderly still grumble at the irony of the “take with food” labels on their medicine because, gosh darn it, Medicare didn’t cover them this month and they have to decide between food and pills. Have the citizens of the U.S. lost basic civil liberties due to “wartime executive privileges?” Yes. See the text of the Patriot Act for proof. Is the administration overrun with cronyism? Yes. In September, Bush literally gave away his “find an exit strategy for Iraq” responsibility, leaving it up to Petraeus and the next president. By refusing to acknowledge global warming as a legitimate issue, Bush is also leaving the climate change problem for someone else to address. George Bush has effectively avoided doing pretty much anything positive. What exactly has the Bush administration left behind for posterity? Bushisms, for one. Those are always fun. “Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?” Bumper stickers - “More trees, less Bush.” A couple of flowery speeches at Ground Zero, a hurricane disaster named Katrina, tax cuts for the rich, 74 “I don’t knows” or “I don’t recalls” from Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and a pricey quagmire named Iraq (and this one doesn’t go “giggity giggity”). It is shameful, disappointing, and ridiculous that in almost seven years, this is all we have to show from the Bush administration. Instead of leaving all the important decisions up to “somebody else,” it would be great to see Bush do something (anything!) that benefits this country in his last year as president.
The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 7
nation
Voter Equality in the U.S. Electoral College by Justin Granstein, cornell university
W
ith the 2008 Presidential election looming large, for us, as Americans, understanding how our electoral process works (or doesn’t work) is important. While providing a relatively stable system for over two centuries, our current election process is riddled with pitfalls and hypocrisies readily apparent to anyone who cares to look. The 2000 U.S. presidential election served as a wake-up call for many Americans. How, we all wondered, could the candidate who won the popular vote, lose the election? The answer lies in the quirks of what is known as the Electoral College; in essence, the United States functions as an indirect democracy. That is, while the popular vote is important, the people are not actually voting for the names on the ballot. Rather, they are voting for electors who have pledged their votes to those candidates. Each state is allotted a number of electors equal to that of its congressional representation (the number of Senators plus the number of Representatives [Washington, D.C. is given three electoral votes]). The winner of a presidential election must therefore
receive a majority of 538 electoral (not popular) votes, or 270. So, while the popular vote decides the electors’ votes by state, the national popular vote has no de jure significance in the outcome of the election. Such was the scenario of the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Democrat Al Gore undisputedly won the national popular vote, however, the electoral count tells a much different story . While there were certainly other, less quantifiable factors at work (such as the political affiliations of the Supreme Court justices, as well as Katherine Harris’ dual role as the Florida Secretary of State and also the co-chair of Bush’s Florida campaign), the 2000 election revealed a plethora of intriguing questions pertaining to U.S. politics. For example, how was it that those 537 voters in Florida, despite being on the losing end of the national count to the tune of 500,000, could still sway the election? How does a fragment of the population, representing barely 0.0005% of the total votes cast nationwide, decide the course of American history? The answer lies partially in what is known as the “voting weight” of the following states using the Banzhaf Power Index (BPI) (More information available in Taylor, Alan D. Mathematics Number of % of Electoral and Politics. New State Electoral Votes College % BPI York: Springer, 1995. Democratic Bloc 228 42.38% 31.11% 63-95.), which has Republican Bloc 217 40.33% 22.34% become a standard Florida 25 4.64% 12.73% measurement of Nevada 4 0.74% 1.88% the mathematical New Hampshire 4 0.74% 1.88% inf luence of voting entities with regard New Mexico 5 0.93% 2.71% to the total weight of Ohio 21 3.90% 10.65% the system (in this Pennsylvania 23 4.28% 12.32% case, the electoral Wisconsin 11 2.04% 4.38% college in its entirety). With this formula, Figure 2: The iniquitous distribution of influence entailed by the we can determine the Electoral College.
8 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
magnified power of each swing state, based on its number of electoral votes relative to the amount of power each state has over the outcome of the election. To apply this to the 2000 election, one must group states into one of three categories: those which are solidly Democratic, those which are solidly Republican, and what we shall call “swing states,” or states whose electoral votes cannot be confidently declared for either candidate. In order to take into account the ever-evolving political landscape, current hot button issues, and changing demographics, categorical determinations will be made based on the recent voting record of each state. Swing states will be states that demonstrated a deciding margin of 5% or less in the 2000 election. Additionally, in order to simplify our calculations, any state that voted for one party consecutively from 1988 through the 2000 election is considered to be solidly for that party, as long as the deciding margin was greater than 1%. Thus, the breakdown of the new “blocs” is as follows: 228 electoral votes for the solidly Democratic bloc, 93 votes in the swing states, and 217 votes in the solidly Republican bloc. Keeping in mind that a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win, the Democratic bloc will be looking to add 42 electoral votes, while the Republican bloc will need a further 53 electoral votes. Using the aforementioned formulas in combination with the assumed voting blocs constructed above, we can draw some important conclusions, outlined in Figure 2: Thus, while the voters in the Republican bloc account for over 40% of the electoral votes, their power, or the sway they have on the outcome of the election, is barely 22% - a drop of nearly half. Similarly, the Democratic bloc, while accounting for over 40% of the electoral votes, garners
nation
psst... want to just 31% of the power in the voting system, representing a 25% cut in its power. What is truly striking though, is the effect that the Electoral College has on the power of the swing states: Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio each command inf luence nearly three times that of their allotted electoral votes, while Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada and New Hampshire each come out with power that represents more than twice their proportion of electoral votes. These numbers for the power of the states are, of course, merely a ref lection of the increased power of the voters themselves. Looking at this data another way, the results are even more frightening; if we add up the populations of these swing states as of 2000, we arrive at a grand total of 44,669,661 people. This represents 15.9% of the U.S. population at the time (281,421,906). That is, according to our previous calculations, this 15.9% of the population possesses a whopping 46.55% of the deciding power in the American electoral system. Such a glaring discrepancy in the power distribution of the American electoral system is a national tragedy that demands our attention, yet only manages to fall by the wayside in light of other hot button topics, such as abortion and immigration. With our country so increasingly divided, however, the issue of election reform and power distribution is one guaranteed to surface repeatedly, until we as a nation are forced to resolve it.
steal an election? by Ryan Jenkins
A
h, welcome to the wonderful world of democracy. America: shining beacon of Freedom to the entire world. Let us be the very paragon, the Shining City on a Hill for others to look to for their marching orders. We will lead by example. And salute the outcomes of our most celebrated democratic system. Nah, screw that. Do you really want to trust your political future to the fickle and unreasoning opinions of the unwashed masses? Take matters into your own hands! So, you’ve decided to steal an election... Well, where would you start? You might want to tap your connections in the industry. You’ve got a good start there: 80% of the voting machines in the country are operated by ES&S and Diebold (now Premier Election Solutions), which are operated by two brothers, whom both have Republican ties. On August 14th, 2000, The CEO of Diebold, Walden O’Dell, promised to “deliver” Ohio for Bush in 2000. And he did. You might want to make your machines incredibly easy to hack. If they’re hacked, make it impossible to tell. A study conducted by Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy showed how such machines can be hacked in less than a minute. They found: “Malicious software running on a single voting machine can steal votes with little if any risk of detection. The malicious software can modify all of the records, audit logs, and counters kept by the voting machine, so that even careful forensic examination of these records will find nothing amiss... AccuVote-TS machines are susceptible to voting-machine viruses that can spread malicious software automatically and invisibly from machine to machine during normal pre- and post-election activity.” Besides being hacked by software, make it ridiculously easy to open physically. Make the lock
easy to pick. And, make the exact same key open every voting machine in the nation. Then, make it a key that’s easy to find, like, a hotel minibar or a jukebox key. Then, post a picture of the exact key on your website. Diebold did all this. If you can tell that a machine has been tampered with in some way, destroy the evidence. Poll workers are instructed to zip-tie their machines shut. If the zip-tie is found to be cut or broken at the end of the day, all of the results from that machine are discarded. So, just send some operatives into the enemy’s strongest precincts and cut the zipties. That way, all of the votes registered on that machine will be discarded. You might want to hire someone to steal the election for you. Computer programmer Clinton Eugene Curtis testified under oath before Congress that he was approached by Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) to write a program that would flip an election 51-49 and would be entirely undetectable. You know what? Why not just have some of your friends who run the polls take the machines home with themselves? Workers in California actually took home electronic voting machines with them before the election in a policy – I’m not kidding – called “sleepovers.” I can’t imagine the justification. Finally, make sure that the code stays secret. Make sure the public has no oversight. Diebold has repeatedly invoked a defense of “trade secrets” to resist turning over the code that comprises the very essence of American democracy. Florida’s 13th District Court of Appeals agreed. This, of course, is just a primer. There are many more creative ways to rig an election, but the basics have been covered here. Remember, your most valuable tool is a complete disdain for the integrity of your nation, the faith of its people, and the sacred process of democratic politics that may be mankind’s last vestige of freedom. The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 9
Non-Fiction
Thanksgiving In Jonny’s Dorm Room by Daniel Vahab
M
y boarding pass reads 9:45 pm. After four hours and forty five minutes of Fox News, its 10:45 pm. I’m still sitting on the metal, attached seats of the Tallahassee Greyhound, on Tennessee St. My ass squirms. The stench of a left over Greyhound Service Food eight piece fried chicken meal combined with poverty and freshly mopped floors permeates. A lanky black college kid approaches the vacant seat of the man next to me. I tell him that someone’s sitting there. He ignores me. In a few minutes, a short, stout, old, black man, that’s in need of a shave, walks towards the college kid. His face is mean. He says, “Ya sittin in my seat.” The college kid replies, “What?” in a dumbfounded look. The old man repeats, “Ya sitting in my seat.” His deep voice is penetrating. The college kid replies by moving to another seat. Listening to “Dane Cook” on my Ipod, my dimples are protruding so much that my cheeks hurt. It’s 11:15 pm and we’ve just past Lake City on our way to Jacksonville. The bus is silent and dark. I can hear the faint whispers of the passengers that sit behind me. Directly behind me, sits the same old man that had the encounter with the college kid. In a deep voice, he blurts out, “Ow God...please forgive me of my sins.” I shudder. “This dude is crazy!” I think. He repeats, “Ow God…please forgive me of my sins.” I lean forward and cover my eyes with my hands. Amid the bustle of SUV’s around me, I open the passenger door to my little brother Jonny’s 96 white Isuzu Rodeo. My mom and Drew, my older brother, are seated in the back. They waited an hour to pick me up. My mom reaches over my head rest and tickles my neck. I squirm and say, “Mom stop!” She says, “Ow…come on you big baby.” We’re on our way to Osprey Hall, the 10 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
destination of Jonny’s dorm, in University of North Florida. To save money, for three days of Thanksgiving Weekend, my family and I are cooped up in Jonny’s dorm room. My mom sleeps in Jonny’s sheet-less bed on the back of the wall. Drew sleeps on the Futon on the side of the wall. Jonny and I sleep in the air mattress in the middle of the room; it gradually deflates as the night progresses. There is only one real blanket, so my mom receives it. Drew has this red Sponge Bob blanket that’s so short it barely reached past his knees. And, Jonny and I are each given a skimpy sheet. It’s cold in the dorm room, but if we shut off the air conditioning, the room gets moldy. Therefore, I sleep with my red and blue stripped Ralph Lauren sweater. My mom sleeps wearing her favorite pair of blue jeans and a Hippie looking shirt, with socks. Drew sleeps in his Joe Boxer pajamas and plain white V-neck shirt with socks. And, Jonny sleeps shirtless with a pair of black Footlocker basketball shorts; he’s apparently adapted to the cold. We are displeased with Jonny’s living habits. Expired underwear, the Publix brand of Fruit Loops with no milk, and a sink filled with unwashed Dallor General plastic cups and bowls, along with crusty socks that smell, is Jonny’s version of self sufficiency. The day after Thanksgiving, Jonny suggests we go to movies in Tinsletown and see Beowolf. I kind of want to see Beowolf, too. Within ten minutes of the movie, however, mom has enough. Eyes closed and face contorted in fear, her head rotates forty-five degrees to the right. She refuses to watch anymore. The next day we drive to the St. Augustine Outlet mall. Ironically, I only buy one item; whereas Drew, who’s usually frugal, buys five to six items. His total is over three hundred dollars. After Drew’s third item,
our feet became sore. Drew is determined though and traverses every store. We decide to leave Drew and grab some fruit smoothies in the food court. Finally, Drew’s shopping had ended. For dinner, we eat at this Hookah restaurant. After appetizers of couscous and pita bread with hummus, we ask the waitress to recommend a hookah flavor. She convinces us to try double apple cherry. Within a few minutes, mom feels a little light headed. She then excuses herself from the couch pillows that we are sitting on. She comes back from the bathroom with a story. She says that she did her thing in the bathroom and then tried to wash her hands but couldn’t. There was soap, and she lathered up, but both hot and cold knobs for the sink were removed. So she resorted by wiping the soap off her hands with tissue paper; there weren’t any paper towels left. Arriving at the Osprey Hall parking lot from dinner, Jonny develops a plan. Jonny and mom leave the car first. Mom appears to be escorting Jonny back to his dorm room. After a few minutes elapse, Drew and I head to Jonny’s dorm room. Appearing to be students of UNF, I carry Jonny’s backpack and Drew carries Jonny’s psychology textbook. We walk at a moderately fast rate. Almost up the stairs to Jonny’s floor, a girl approaches. We simultaneously say “Hi” and walk past her, without waiting for a response. In Jonny’s dorm room, Drew and Jonny whisper because they both have deep voices and the walls are thin. We all then take turns at the bathroom. Going in the bathroom first, mom takes a thirty minute shower. Then Drew showers. Meanwhile, I channel surf the TV. I stick to I Love New York on VHI. Jonny, on Facebook, updates his profile. About five minutes elapse, Drew’s out of the shower. He demands to use the computer. Jonny concedes his seat at the computer for a seat on his bed, next
Non-Fiction
father day card (late) by hunter pittman to mom, who’s attempting to rest. Two commercials later, we hear loud snores from mom. Reaching in his pocket for his Blackberry, Drew checks his voicemail. Realizing no one important called, Drew’s body flops on the futon. He’s soon asleep. Then, Jonny and I realize our only light on is from the TV. Now, our Thanksgiving jaunt is almost over. Jonny is a Resident Assistant of his dorm, Landing. He is told that he can’t leave Landing for Thanksgiving. We have no choice; we are a family and we stick together. Therefore, I go to Jacksonville by Greyhound. Drew flies a connected flight from New York to Atlanta to Jacksonville. And, mom flies from North Palm Beach to Tampa to Jacksonville.
w
hen i was 8 you nailed my bike to the wall of the utility room. you were angry because you tried to teach me how to ride and i fell. i didn’t care at all about being able to ride a twowheeler. beneath the skinned knees and the skid marks, i cared about being able to learn from you, to do something you wanted me to do. i wasn’t able to, i fell and i fell and i fell. fell onto the asphalt and you nailed my little black bicycle to the wall. and with it you crucified my heart. four years later i got a new bike and i learned to ride it the same day, my brother taught me. and even though the little black bike had long been taken down off the wall, my heart was still there. maybe when we moved away from that house it stayed behind, i don’t really know. we got a new house but i still didn’t have a home, because home is where the heart is. i don’t know where home is, i don’t know where my heart is, perhaps you still have it. i think i’ve lost you. or did you lose me? no one has ever loved me as much as you have loved me. and no one has ever hurt me really, except you, because i love you. no one has broken my heart, made me feel as mean and callous and indebted as you. i don’t know what i owe you, aside from my rent. in the back of my mind, i have always hoped that maybe with a little more work on the house, with better grades, with cleaner dishes, that you would be proud. i don’t want your help or your pity, i don’t want you to pay off my debt, i want you to love me. 21 years trying to earn your love and now i’m tired. you have brought me up the best you could and brought out the worst in me. you taught me what it feels like to be completely alone. i only ever ran from you to see of you would chase after me-- if you would welcome me home when i came home. all i want is to come home and be welcomed back as the prodigal, to have you say that you don’t care about the
past because now i am home. i want to have a home. i have fallen again, fallen in love. i am trying to love a girl. she is beautiful and loved and she has a home. but i am terrified of letting her love me because i know i will have to take the chance that she will give me a new heart. last time i had a heart i didn’t work out so well. so now i can ride a bike but i am not sure i can love. and everytime i fall the failure takes far more from me than the layer of skin i left on our old driveway. now i know why they call it falling in love, because it is exactly like falling. you have no control and it is completely terrifying, and the whole time you are worried about what might happen when you stop falling, when you hit. the fear of falling doesn’t stop anyone, it’s the fear of hitting something that you can’t get past. i am not sure i can get past myself. i fell for you the way you fell for me the day i was born. you were god to me, strong, commanding, you had a thick black moustache. i am learning about god, but i half believe that when i get to heaven he will have played football for the navy and been voted orlando’s hottest bachelor in the 70’s. i hope He is just like you, because, disregarding all the reasons, resentment, and fear, i still love you, and even though i don’t know why or see the evidence as i would like, i know we are awfully in love.
The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 11
feature
Who needs Bright Futures, anyway?
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Special to the Yeti by Ginny Kotzias
old on to your hats, boys and girls: the fight for Bright Futures is far from over. The January attacks against the humanities via Senate Bill 1320/House Bill 813 were only the most publicized assaults against your education. A far more threatening monster is lurking in the shadows and nobody is saying a word. Tuition increases,
History
In the words of the Florida Legislature, the Bright Futures scholarship program was created for three key purposes: “to encourage better student preparation and performance, help make college more affordable, and encourage more students to attend a Florida college.”1 Since its inception in 1997, Bright 1 “Bright Futures Contributes to Improved College Preparation, Affordability, and Enrollment.”
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enrollment caps, Bright Futures cut-offs, faculty lay-offs, and the weakening of the Florida Prepaid College program are all shockingly possible results if the Board of Governors has its way with your tuition dollars. So, what’s the best defense against the reign of the Tuition Tyrants? Being informed.
Futures has disbursed over $2 billion in scholarships to qualifying students and has experienced wide success in reaching each of the goals outlined in its mission statement. A 2003 OPPAGA report indicated that atrisk students (here described as minority or low-income) were most affected by the OPPAGA (Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability), and office of the Florida Legislature. Report No. 03-17. February 2003 (available online)
incentives offered by the program and showed significant academic improvement for the purposes of qualifying for the scholarship. A steady increase in the number of Florida residents applying to and attending Florida schools from 1997 to 2004 further indicated that affordability and “smart kid” retention were effective. The system works. As early as 2002, however, the ballooning cost of the program was catching the eye of the legislature. Bills were proposed requiring
placement tests and mandatory CLEP-like exams in order to qualify for funding and amendments in 2003 made FAFSA and 12hour semesters an integral part of the financialaid/academic program. 2003 also marked the creation of the Florida Board of Governors, a 14-member party appointed for the purpose of “advancing the state university system of Florida.”2 Though nobody really knows what these people have done to improve the quality of higher education, the combination of the state budget crisis, stagnant economic growth, low scores on a range of national university averages, and the question of class/ race equality has pushed this dark horse into action. And they’ve got their eye on your tuition check.
The Problems And The Victims
There is, in effect, a four-fold problem facing the legislature and their in-house oligarchy that makes a happy solution difficult to determine. Therefore, before we opt for the ritual stoning of inept state leadership, we need to isolate the problems, the variables, and the people affected by any changes (or lack thereof): 1. Bright Futures is not a cheap program to maintain. Originally disbursing just under $70 million in 1997, Bright Futures is shelling out a hefty $398.4 million for the 2007-2008 school year and, without adjustments to the current award strategy, total cost is estimated to hit $1 billion within the next ten years.3 Though the program is currently funded by the Florida Lottery and therefore derives negligible costs from state tax-payers, the mere 40% increase in lottery revenue cannot account for the 570% increase in scholarship output. Without alternative funding mechanisms in place, the legislature will be forced to pick up the difference in order to keep its promise to Florida students -- an expense that the state simply cannot afford. 2. Florida has historically enjoyed a lower tuition rate and a higher percentage of state financial burden at the university level than 2 Taken from the Mission statement of the Florida Board of Governors. Full text available at http:// www.flbog.org/ 3 “Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Disbursement History” and “Changes may be in store for Bright Futures.” Palm Beach Post. Kimberly Miller. February 17 2008.
is reasonably shouldered by their national peers. To date, the average yearly tuition at a Florida public university totals approximately $3400 compared with the $6200 national average. A 2006 analysis of the effectiveness of the program revealed that, though higher education standards, graduation rates, and funding had dramatically improved within the state, Florida still lagged behind the national average by at least ten points.4 Critics have suggested that Bright Futures and Florida Prepaid College Programs have kept tuition rates superficially low, resulting in the kinds of education budget crises currently plaguing state universities and, effectively, impacting the quality of education in our schools. Budget cuts to student groups, increased studentfaculty ratios, the hiring and retention of fewer tenured professors, etc. have contributed to the recent downward trend in the Florida University experience and strikes at the potential for our schools to produce nationally competitive and socially significant graduates. To compete nationally, critics argue, we have to observe the national financial average and adjust our pockets accordingly. 3. In an attempt to balance the capsizing state economy, Governor Crist approved a $272 million cut to higher education that hit state universities in October of last year.5 Compounded with the passing of Amendment 1, the effects of which are estimated to take over $2 billion out of K-12 education within the next five years, the significance of the Lottery’s contribution to Florida education has expanded to astronomical proportions.6 Bright Futures and K-12 share the Lottery profits in a less-than-equal manner and any expansion of Bright Futures disbursement inevitably redirects those funds out of our primary education operations and construction; with lottery sales slumping and Bright Futures growing at an average rate of 10% each year, Bright futures will subsume the whole of the Education Enhancement Trust Fund within
4 “Preparing for the Future: A brief review of the major drivers of Florida’s future in the first decades of the 21st century.” Florida Council of 100. January 2006. 5 “Summary of the Governor’s Proposed Budget Reductions” Office of the Chancellor. Director of Communications, Bill Edmonds. September 6 2007. 6 “Bright Futures Devouring Lottery” The Tampa Tribune. Adam Emerson. February 22 2008
the next seven years.7 Education, of course, builds upon itself and without the foundation of a strong K-12 program, college is a mere pipe dream. Because we share funding and have all been hit with severe budget cuts, the integrity of the Bright Futures program is at stake. 4. Described as the “Fairness” quotient, the Board of Governors has placed Bright Futures on the forefront of the minority and class wars, calling for a redistribution of aid along need-based lines. Reports across the board indicate that non-white students account for only 20% - 40% of the Bright Futures scholarship recipients8 and that the merit-based standards are “out of reach to poor students.”9 Attempting to equalize the playing field by increasing need-based aid, the Board believes, will bridge the gap in Florida’s race/class war for funding and increase access to university education, offer a better representation of Florida society at the university level, and otherwise improve the total economic potential for the state.
Recent Proposals And Problems
SB1320 and H813 Only a month ago, Senator Jeremy Ring proposed a bill to the legislature that would increase funding to “science, technology, engineering, mathematics, education, and nursing/health professional” (“STEM”) majors at the expense of all others. Due to the widespread public outcry taking form in a 20,000 member facebook petition, calls to committee, and floods of constituent letters, the decrease in non-STEM Bright Futures funding was stricken from the bill. Though the threat of this legislation is no longer significant, a number of issues have risen in its wake that are worth addressing – issues that cross-apply to the recent arguments and bad policy recommended by our Tuition Tyrants of the State University System. First and foremost, student capital is limited. The attempt to redirect the focus of education from the educational process itself and polarize courses of study, financial constituency, or the racial element of your 7 “Bright Futures devouring Lottery” 8 “Bright Futurs policies attacked” Times-Union. Beth Kormanik. August 27 2002 and “Quick Facts: Student information” Florida Board of Governors website. August 24 2007 9 “Changes may be in store for Bright Futures”
The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 13
Bright Futures, continued student base in effect hurts education
itself. Social work majors are worth no less than nursing majors, and a white lowermiddle class student is worth no less than a Hispanic one. To create or, rather, exacerbate intellectual, racial, or monetary segregation is both undemocratic and harmful to the educative process. We need humanitiesbased and vocationally-driven students at all levels of society in order to fulfill the needs of a diversified economy and culture; the color of my skin or the particular professional role I intend on pursuing should not matter as much as the content and abilities of my mind and hands. Second, to begin the push for a specific kind of education at the university level is idiotic at best. If we want more scientists, nurses, and teachers in the workplace, we need to a) improve the job market, the post-college financial incentives, and the probability of jobplacement, b) improve elementary and high school education so that all Florida students are prepared for the rigor and demands of the college curriculum, and c) encourage individual scholarships or foundations for specific groups rather than tamper with an egalitarian state scholarship system aimed at promoting higher education across the board. The same plan applies to increasing the percentage of minority or low-income students attending universities: articulate the economic advantages of college education and encourage higher K-12 academic performance, improve our schools, and look to widening the base for needs-based funding on the private level. To decrease the emphasis on merit and focus on particular socio-economic groups reduces the financial incentives for good students to do well and inevitably hurts all other classes. In a world where the US population has increased by a third in a matter of only 40 years, admission to the nation’s colleges has become more competitive than ever before. If we want to be able to remain relevant in a quickly changing economic world, then we need to put our energies into education as a whole – college is not the place to start.
The Board Of Governors
Ironically, the positions currently filled by the Florida Board of Governors were eradicated in 2001; a constitutional amendment was passed in 2003 reinstating the “Board of Regents” under their new name,
so we have to change the constitution to get these people out of office. (But that’s neither here nor there.) The Board has already made some significant changes to the way that the State University System (SUS) is running. This past fall, they instituted a 4.4% increase in tuition, a hike that will double for the 08-09 school year – and will not be covered by Bright Futures.10 Permission has been granted on a state-wide level to cap freshman enrollment, increase the standards for community college transfers, and begin the faculty lay-off process. But this barely scratches the surface of the wide-sweeping changes that the Board has proposed.
The Tier System
Following the 50-year lead of California’s “Master Plan,” the Board of Governors is proposing the implementation of a tiered university system in the state of Florida. During the 2007 legislative season, they pushed for a tuition differential that began the hierarchical process, creating divisions along financial lines.11 Strictly speaking, a tiered university system redirects funding and university focus: the top-tier universities -- three of the state’s eleven -- would be labeled “research” universities while the remaining eight would be bachelor’s degreemanufacturing machines. The lowest tier would consist of Florida’s 28 community colleges. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the subject, but the concept of creating a state-mandated hierarchy of educational institutions sounds a bit medieval. Supporters of the program assert that it would organize tuition dollars and create more focused university study because, as one reporter claims, “every university [would] know its place.”12 I disagree. Among other issues, it puts universities like FAMU at a grave disadvantage that is both illegal and unfair. Following the desegregation of schools in the 1960s, the Department of Education gave Florida two options: assimilate its historically black university into larger 10 “Board of Governors member Gus Stavros speaks out on tuition!” Florida Board of Governors website. 4 February 2008 11 Senate Bill 1710 12 “Off the field, our colleges are a bunch of wimps.” Orlando Sentinel: Commentary. Mike Thomas. 10 February 2008
local schools to create a more diverse student population, or allow FAMU the financial and legal room necessary to compete with other schools within the state.13 Under the new three-tiered system, FAMU would become one of the state’s bachelor’s manufacturing machines and would potentially lose footing in its advanced pharmacy, industry, and business programs. In much the same way that a free market system allowed for the burgeoning of the middle class over five hundred years ago, a free university system allows the most room for universities to grow. If we lock our state institutions into a legally-binding economic and educational status, then we lose the potential for those schools to become as competitive on a state and national level as the selected favorites of the Board. Furthermore, research institutions have a higher rate of faculty retention and a much better chance of attracting high-level academics in any field. This prevents classroom material from becoming stale and the quality of education from flat-lining because of the inherent potential for professors to keep interested in research and, by extension, share new information with their students.
Bright Futures
In keeping with the idea that education should involve equality, the specifics of the Board’s attack against Bright Futures need to be addressed. At present, Bright Futures is a merit-based program that distributes awards in relation to the academic performance of high school students: the better you do in school and on standardized tests, the more money you get. This system more or less mirrors the realities of the work place, in which job performance usually correlates to a higher paycheck. The Board of Governors, however, claims that the qualification mechanism is out-dated and does not “reflect the needs of the state.”14 Though the cost of Bright Futures has been allowed to blossom without check since its inception, the Board intends to cap the cost at the current $400 million and redistribute funding along need-based lines. 13 “Don’t let Florida System advance at the expense of Florida A&M” Tallahassee Democrat: Comment. W. McWilliams. 2000. 14 Quotation from Carolyn Roberts, chairman of the Board of Governors. “Changes may be in store for Bright Futures.”
Ways to make an impact:
1. The Board of Governors has opened a blog for constituent suggestions to solving the Bright Futures issue. Log on to http://flbog-talkbrightfutures.blogspot.com/ and post your opinion. 2. Write to the 14-member Board and tell them what you think should be done, how Bright Futures has helped you, etc. Then get everyone you knew from high school, every teacher you’ve ever had, and every professor who will listen to write to the Board of Governors. Volume equals voices. 3. Write to your senators and representatives to let them know what is important to you. While they can’t help the Board make their decision, they have the power to sue for jurisdiction and create legislation to override any bad policy implemented by the Board. 4. Keep informed and Get Involved. Under the proposal, $200 million of the Bright Futures funds would go to merit-based scholars, $100 million would be directed to need-based students, and the last $100 million would go to either miscellaneous financial aid or STEM-based majors (sources are decidedly unclear on this last point).15 Though the intentions of this proposal are certainly noble, redirecting focus from academic performance undermines the very purpose of the Bright Futures program. Allow me to clarify. The Board has not discussed exactly how the $200 million cut will affect merit-based funding. We have no idea whether that means less tuition coverage, higher standards for merit scholarships, or higher fees for nonneeds scholars. The bottom line, however, is that only 50% of the Board’s concern lies with academic performance. Students in greater financial need certainly deserve to go to college, but to shift the focus of university education away from academics is to devalue the very qualities that are essential to succeeding in college (and, by extension, in life).
15 “Changes may be in store for Bright Futures” and “Bright Futures Devouring Lottery.”
The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 15
As the 2003 OPPAGA report on Bright Futures indicates, low-income and minority students have shown the most improvement in high school academic performance due to the financial incentives of the program.16 Based solely upon merit, then, Bright Futures sends the message that a university education is possible if only you apply yourself to a certain standard of performance. To reduce the academic component of the scholarship by half inevitably reduces the incentive for these students to do well. This, in turn, hurts the quality of education for ALL students once they are peers in a college classroom because a single standard of performance has not been met by everyone. You cannot subtract academics from education and expect that students will adapt to a harsher curriculum once they become university freshmen. That’s just absurd. Furthermore, the academic relationship between high schools and colleges goes both ways. As studies by the National Endowment for the Humanities have illustrated, college curricula standards have an enormous effect on the exit requirement for state high schools – if you want better high schools, you had better have top-notch universities recruiting their students. 17 We depend on K-12 education to produce the kind of students that will prosper in a university environment and should not short-change university standards without considering the concentric waves of consequence. In addition to increasing the academic performance of at-risk students, Bright Futures has an excellent track record for keeping bright students in Florida which, in effect, has improved the quality of education at select institutions.18 For example, the average freshman SAT score at UF has increased steadily over the past eleven years and the national rankings of the arts programs at FSU have slowly crawled to competitive stature.19 79% of my graduating high school 16 “Bright Futures Contributes to Improved College Preparation, Affordability, and Enrollment.” 17 “To reclaim a legacy: A report on the humanities in higher education.” National Endowment for the Humanities. William J. Bennett. November 1984. 18 “Fact Books.” (relating to student residency statistics) Florida Department of Education. Available online. 19 “Does Student Quality Affect the Quality of the School?” Journal of Undergraduate Research. Vol. 6 Issue 2. Emily Wilbanks. October 2004.
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I.B. class are attending Florida universities and many are already planning to attend grad school elsewhere in the state.20 Reducing the merit-based element of Bright Futures will mean that these students will likely search for a challenging and meaningful education wherever they can find it – most likely out of state. If economic stimulus, education quality, and university rankings are important to the state of Florida, it needs to illustrate its appreciation for bright students before they flock to greener pastures. Simply put, the purpose of a university education is exactly that: education. Meritbased funding is a color and class-blind system that allows all students to succeed. Critics of Bright Futures have said that the standards are embarrassingly low in order to qualify for scholarships, yet the program focuses on the bare minimum required to succeed in college – and statistics have proven that the students the Board is trying to reach are already working to attain (if not exceed) these standards.
Facts Of The Matter
At the end of the day, the Board of Governors is attempting to pursue a number of contradictory goals. They want to increase access to Florida universities but have encouraged enrollment caps and faculty lay-offs. They want to improve the quality of education but want to take academic achievement out of the scholarship formula. They want to help low-income families afford college but have damaged the integrity of the Florida Prepaid College program by raising tuition without retroactive qualification. Are there problems with the current functioning of the Bright Futures program? No. But budget problems within the state call for a necessary revamping of a system that was created in cheerier economic times. As a student and volunteer journalist, I lack the kind of resources necessary to propose an alternate plan for solving such a complex issue, but the following steps might help to alleviate the glaring holes in the Board’s proposals. 1. Florida is not the only state with a college scholarship program. Massachusetts, New Mexico, West Virginia, Georgia, Arkansas, and others have similar programs 20 Cypress Creek High School International Baccalaureate graduating class of 2005
for similar purposes.21 I suggest looking at these programs, how they function, what their strengths/weaknesses are, and developing a plan based on empirical evidence and logic rather than strictly scary economic forecasts and tear-jerking constituency woes. 2. Find alternative sources of funding for education. The fact that both college and K-12 schools receive so much money from lottery profits is absurd. Florida doesn’t have a state income tax, has just voted to cut property taxes that will affect education budgets, and has otherwise wasted significant state resources available to education. Make your budget cuts elsewhere and start raising money for an investment in Florida’s future. Unfortunately, you don’t get a second chance when it comes to educating the young and the more you deprive a generation of the education that is necessary to survive in the world, the worse our total economic future will be. 3. Keep merit-based funding intact. There are other ways to tamper with the mechanics of the Bright Futures program – eradication of the $225 book/lab fee component of the Academic Scholar scholarship, reducing the 100% funding to 95%, etc. – while still making it the best deal available to Florida Students. Cutting out little things on a big scale will have tremendous effects on the total savings and therefore maintain the integrity of the program. When the economy takes an upward turn, then we can indulge in luxuries like free books and 24-hour campus libraries. Look, funding is a problem and unfortunately, we can’t get around the fact that education costs money. We can’t afford to continue to support Bright Futures as it is, but that doesn’t mean that the Board of Governors has the answers to our problems. As students, Florida voters, and SUS constituents, it’s our responsibility to make sure that the government reflects the needs of the people it claims to serve. Keep education equal and accessible or else watch performance, attendance, and quality – the original tenets of the Bright Futures program – go down the drain.
21 “Statewide Programs.” US News and World Report pdf file available online. 2008.
CAMPUS
Ridin’ Hard, Goin’ Nowhere by JAMES N. McKAY
R
ecently, the Florida State Leach Center invested 43 thousand dollars in five new stationary bikes and several other exercise machines. It was reported in the FSView that these bikes have more sophisticated training characteristics than the existing equipment, and will help cut down on waiting time during peak hours. It is no wonder that FSU has struggled to extend their reputation beyond the realms of athletics and partying with such near-sighted spending. The purpose of the exercise bikes is reportedly to provide a more leisurely activity while improving students’ cardiovascular fitness (the article informed us that there was no conflict with the FSU Cycling team, who have their own training facilities). Couldn’t these same goals be achieved by making the FSU campus a fun and safe place to ride your bike to, from, across and around? So much could be done to improve and encourage biking around campus, given the vast (and growing) amount of paved land which FSU owns, and a parking crisis which is the bane of students and administration alike. First and foremost, FSU should show a basic respect for the existing bike infrastructure by improving it. Many road markings are missing, unclear or faded out. New students might not realize that there is still a bike lane on West Call St, as it has been buried from sight by roughly two inches of dirt and construction debris for about a year. Even parking is a headache for cyclists. Ever see those bikes locked to fences, signposts, and trees? That’s not always a sign of a lazy rider. The Stone and Student Life Buildings have capacities of around four hundred people, but only five to 15 spaces for bikes. The football stadium accommodates over 40 thousand people, but has limited bike parking for significantly less people. All of this adds up to the implicit policy that
cyclists don’t matter. I realized this when I was given 40 minutes to await treatment in the lobby of Thagard Medical Center, using toilet paper to stop the bleeding from five deep abrasions on my arms and leg - my reward for not anticipating a girl in a car running the stop sign at a crosswalk. (I wondered if tetanus could be fatal.) Recall a Federal Highway Department study from the year 2000 in which Florida lead the nation in cyclist deaths, accounting for over one-sixth of the national total. Nearly three times the fatalities of third place Texas. Much can be done. Creating new bike lanes, bike traffic signals and signage make motorists more cautious and aware of the shared nature of the roads and lead to more people opting to take more trips to school by bike. FSU should also install parabolic mirrors at congested intersections with blind spots and pavement hazards. These have long been standard traffic equipment in Europe and Japan, proven to reduce road conflicts of all kinds. They are especially important for lower-visibility vehicles like bikes and scooters. Mirrors prevent many motorists from inching through stop signs by giving them a clear view of the traffic they wish to merge into. Most cars don’t stop until they are five to ten feet beyond the stop sign, because they cannot otherwise see the traffic coming down Murphree. A perfect place for these would be where Chieftain Way ends at Murphree Dr., behind Bill’s Bookstore on Tennessee. Also, a small, centrally located bike maintenance and repair center where students can pump their tires and get some patches would be a big help, too. Such services are common at large schools on the west coast, and the University of Florida has one in Gainesville. Incidentally, Gainesville is often cited in planning research as a very bikeable city. It would seem that the Noles struggle to compete with the Gators in
more than just high-profile, conventional athletics. Regular exercise should a vital part of everyone’s life-particularly in this age of skyrocketing obesity. 60 years ago, more than 60 percent of children rode their bikes to school: today, that figure is only 10 percent. Over the same period juvenile obesity has quadrupled. The other age group with the most significant obesity increase is the twenty-somethings. Every semester I am forced to pay 64 dollars in “transportation fees,” whether I drive or use the buses. If the school is collecting that money from everyone, that means well over two million dollars are available each term. Surely that could pay for some of the aforementioned infrastructural improvements, which would transform FSU from one of the more treacherous urban cycling terrains into a safe, bikeable campus. With millions of dollars, they could subsidize student bike purchases, provide free lights, or a bike loan system that works like a library account (such systems are enjoying skyrocketing success in cities like Barcelona and Copenhagen). I think it is time for FSU to disclose how such ample funds are used, and do more than just spout rhetoric about making a bikeand pedestrian- friendly campus in their statements and plans. Rather than a focus on holistic, healthy campus community living for students, these policies at FSU reinforce the derelict, egocentric consumer values which have become the modus operandi of the very youth who are supposed to form the intellectual and professional corps of this country’s future.
The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 17
culture
In Defense of the Humanities An anonymous analysis of a perpetual problem
V
arious defenses of the humanities can be found in every era of Western civilization and follow a predictable formula. Given the recent political attention cast upon the place of the Humanities in university education, however, a review and expansion of these arguments is necessary to remind us that the accusations of intellectual masturbation and lack of practical application are fraudulent claims. The study of the humanities is and always has been relevant to the economics, culture, and politics of Western society and we would do well to remember the value of a total education rather than merely a vocationally-driven one.
Traditional Arguments
The study of the humanities typically refers to a specific set of subject matter. The 1965 legislation that established the National Endowment for the Humanities describes the field as “language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts and those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content.” In simpler terms, the humanities target the history of the human experience via language, symbol, and art. By their very nature, these studies are considerably more abstract and concept-based than their science equivalents and therefore develop different skills, philosophies, and critical methodology systems. The development of communicationrelated skill sets are most commonly attributed to the study of the humanities. Whether a student is studying literature, a foreign language, or the visual arts, there is a focus on the ability of the student to express ideas, form arguments, analyze 18 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
rhetorical structures, and engage with the material in a critical way. Textual analysis and essay-writing are the earmarks of the teaching methodology, both of which force students to improve their vocabulary and ability to argue persuasively. The articulation of an educated individual is, in essence, a primary goal. The material studied, however, should not be overlooked. The Humanities has banked its reputation on its foremost thinkers: Plato, Bacon, Kant, Shakespeare. . . the list goes on. The questions that have plagued mankind throughout the centuries are still relevant and play a role in the intellectual process that is difficult for science to accommodate: What is truth? What is justice? Why are we here? How do we determine what is real? What can we know? The question of pedagogy, epistemology, and methodology are important in any study – scientific or otherwise – but more than this, they help to organize the problems inherent in the human condition so that students can work through “big questions” and come to terms with life through the process of reason rather than indoctrination. By studying said material in a university setting, deeper meanings within texts and symbols can be more fully explored, helping to break down the barriers of intolerance and otherism. A great advantage to a comparative religion or introductory philosophy course is that alternative ways of organizing and perceiving the world are made accessible to a wide variety of students, allowing for discussion and debate. By learning about other cultures, other religious or social values, systems of kinship or economics, or interpretations of art and literature, the concept of the Perfect Myth is systematically deconstructed.
When we realize that the world has not always subjugated homosexuals to second-class status, that questions of proper government and citizen’s rights extend beyond the democracy of Ancient Greece, or that interpretations of women’s roles in society have shifted, we are left with the core of humanity: a mass of biological organisms struggling to understand the world.
The New School Arguments
The advantages of a humanities-based education – communication and critical thinking skills, confrontation with the eternal questions of existence, and the potential to eradicate bigotry and intolerance from the human agenda – are easily translated into significant and relevant positions in 21st century culture and politics. Dr. William McKinney of Slippery Rock University has famously published on the intellectual attributes of the accomplished arts/humanities scholar. According to his studies, four of the top ten highest scoring undergraduate majors on the LSAT come from philosophy, classics, history, and English backgrounds, with humanitiesbased students topping the charts in MCAT, GMAT, and GRE performance. Furthermore, corporate executives and human resource managers list the specific skill sets acquired from a humanities curriculum – oral communication, reasoning, written communication skills – as the most desired and marketable “skills set” a potential employee can have. In addition to standardized tests and business preferences, the past 30 years have also seen a significant push for the “Medical Humanities” as part of the standard med-school curriculum. Because the humanities are focused on
the human condition – a condition that includes illness, suffering, pain, and death – a study of the human experience has great potential to increase the standards of western medical care.1 The spread of New Age and Holistic medicine suggests that patients want a health experience that extends beyond mere physical treatment; if standard western medicine wants to meet the
addition to their scientific construction. To create a more effective product, an understanding of human history (what we perceive as beautiful and why) and psyche (how space or form affects us) are crucial for the movers and shakers of our future: the Colosseum, after all, is equal parts engineering and art. Finally, the study of the humanities is crucial for the total development of a student as a citizen and individual. As Professor E.D. Hirsch of the University of Virginia was once quoted as saying, “no culture exists that is ignorant of its own traditions.” Without a study of the development of western democracy, the history of scientific achievement, or the progression of cultural movements over time, the very integrity of the Western social fabric threatens to unravel. The content encountered on the college campus inf luences the nature of the next generation’s social, cultural, and political goals. Universities are not merely producing cogs in an economic machine but individuals whose decisions will have an impact on the kind of values that achieve prominence in our society over the next 30 or 40 years. To deprive students of the opportunity to take place in philosophic or epistemological debates in a controlled setting, the ability of an entire class of students to grapple with the problems of their day inevitably suffer.
These questions help to organize
the problems inherent in the human condition so that students can
work through “big questions” and come to terms with life through
the process of reason rather than indoctrination. demands of an increasingly dissatisfied patient constituency, an understanding of psychology could mean as much as an understanding of body chemistry. David Billington, a professor of civil engineering at Princeton University, has written several books about the benefit of pairing studies of the humanities with physics and structural engineering courses. 2 The things that we build – bridges, sky scrapers, houses, etc. – have social and symbolic meanings in
1 Dr. TJ Murray “Why the Medical Humanities?” Professor of Neurology. November 18 1994 and “Humanities in Medicine Student Interest Group” University of Manchester 2001 2 Bruce Cole and David Billington “Discipline and Play: The Art of Engineering” Humanities March/ April 2005
Conclusion
Though many of the advantages of a humanities-based curriculum are arguably not unique to the field and may, in fact, be encountered in a science or technology classroom, the specific emphasis placed upon verbal communication skills and textual analysis places the Humanities in a distinct education class. Students will not do well in a biology course if they can’t read the textbook or write a cogent lab report. What we need to do is bridge the gap between the fields and eradicate the hierarchy that society has superficially imposed upon education. The Humanities present ample opportunity for the next generation to organize their values and recognize their place in the history of the Western world as part of a continuous timeline of development. As the late philosopher Charles Frankel once said, “it is through the humanities that civilized society talks to itself about things that matter most.” If we want to preserve the cultural legacy of the US, improve our standards of education, and produce a society of critical thinkers and activists, then a firm foundation in the humanities is key.
The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 19
CULTURE
Locals’ Guide to Tallahassee Music
My intensive research across the interminable MySpace for local Tallahassee bands has inspired me to compile the list you see below. Whether you bang your head or shake your hips, there’s a local band that heeds your calling. Some bands are actively performing and some may be on a creative hiatus, but all are worth checking out. Any other bands that are active and are not listed below contact E Fury @ booktheboys@ gmail.com and you’ll be added. For The Dance Party Powerplant KeepBullFighting For The Pop Addicts Stages and Stereos The Miracle Year Lipona One Small Step For Landmines The Popheads Say It Twice My Anomaly For The Punk Comeback Hopesick Call For Fire Boy Truck For The Ballers After the Smoke For the Spunk Rockers Thank You Kindly Soft Targets For the Instrumental Madness Spike Mott and the Blackest Knights of the Darkest Apocalypse Cnidarian Tron Dead Legs For The Alternative 20 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
c i s u M
Seeking Sui Kill Clouseau 2 Left Feet
For the Chicks What! Tiny Fists of Fury Girls On Film Mujabica For The Jammers That 3060 Wait For Green Pepper Drive For The Soft Hearted The Bells The Bluebird Suitcase The Woods Mikaiyelle Gettysburg Jason Choi and the Sea The Ums For The Hip Shakers Ausley Look Mexico The Humbell Lions For The Surfers The Intoxicators For The Irishmen County Hell
For The Head Bangers VOP Violation of Probation 27 South Altar of Flesh Mydian The Western Hold Cream Abdul Babar White Trash Messiahs For The Good Ol’ Rockers Kid Hart Kevin Lawrence Band Luke Stephens Band Pat Puckett For The Jazz Hearted FSU Jazz Band Rick Lollar Trio
For the Groove Jackson’s Men Danny Bedrosian and Secret Army Asphalt Panda Kendra Foster Sarah Mac Band Stillwood The Soular System Catfish Alliance Equinoxx The Dirty Robots For Jesus Cambden For Da Spinners DJ Mannes DJ Demp DJ Mad Mardigan Little Foot
c.
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under n w o D b Clu m:
SU 8:30p R EE for F F Mar 5 @ – A P ND MATT PO c // 18+ i l b u p 8 $ / students /
Beta Bar
: Mar @ 10 The Mood
8:30pm: @ 1 2 r a POSEHN M N A I R B AN COMEDI ents // $15 d u t s U S rF – FR EE fo 8+ public // 1
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:30pm: 8 @ Puckett 7 t a 2 P r / w Ma ONDERO D D I V A ts // $8 D n e d u t s or FSU // FR EE f 8+ public // 1 8:30pm: @ 8 2 r a M URING T A E F M 80s PRO by IRHC d e t n e s e r –p ntest, o C SWITCH e m u t sic, Cos in the k l a // Live Mu h C k t Sidewal EE for R F / Black ligh / ! e r d, and mo Courtyar All // 18+
house The Ware pm: 10 Mar 29 @ Stillwood
y’s Big Dadd pm:
10 IAL BY R Mar 14 @ T & Y EPUT ZACH D / 18+ STONE / 11pm: @ 5 1 r a M AH //18+ L A M E TH
CULTURE
A Progressive Netflix Queue by Will da Novi, campus progress
A
s a student activist at Connecticut’s Wesleyan University, I was always searching for films that promote awareness of the progressive issues that were important to me. Many of the finest films released in 2007 fulfilled this need for socially engaged media, serving as potential catalysts for discussion among progressive-minded students around the country. They came from points near and far within the global landscape of contemporary cinema and operated in a variety of genres, forms, and modes of production. What follows is a brief survey of the year in cinema cast through the critical lens of issues that defined progressive politics in 2007. With an upcoming presidential election, intractable military occupations abroad, and unresolved health care and civil liberties issues lingering on the domestic front, these films will continue to spark essential dialogue into 2008 and beyond. 2007 was the year that the war in Iraq became spectacularly visible at the American multiplex. Where Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and other definitive portraits of the Vietnam War did not emerge until well after the fall of Saigon, Hollywood released an onslaught of films this year that confronted the immediate concerns of post-9/11 security, Iraq, and the status of our troops: Paul Haggis’s “In The Valley of Elah”; war-widower story “Grace is Gone,” with John Cusack; “Rendition,” a counterterrorism saga starring Reese Witherspoon; and Brian DePalma’s Redacted, a fictionalized, multimedia account of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. troops. The critical and commercial reception of these films has been mixed at best. The most scathing critiques have centered on the pervading selfrighteousness of some films, their attempt to impose a unifying moral order upon a conflict that defies conceptual comfort. Beyond any differences in the caliber of their cinematic personnel, what separates these recent Iraq dramas from their more artful Vietnam counterparts may be a lack of historical perspective, an inability to dramatize a war that continues to evolve at home and abroad. To the progressive student activist, however, the films represent a vital new development to consider within the American media landscape. If the casualties of U.S. foreign policy are made visible to a wider audience, how can this translate into forging a citizenry more critical of our political status quo? Will these films spark outrage and political action, or will they lead to over-saturation and a newfound complacency? In spite of the mixed results of Hollywood’s foray into political drama, this year continued a trend in which U.S.-produced documentaries on the Iraqi conflict have served as essential works of journalistic investigation and artistically rendered historical documents in the making. Where previous years saw films like Laura Poitras’ “My Country, My Country” and Deborah Scranton’s “The War Tapes” offer vital portraits of ground conditions overseas, this year augured a shift away from intimate character studies toward the exhilaratingly comprehensive analysis of Charles Ferguson’s “No 22 | The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008
End in Sight.” Making full use of Director: Charles Ferguson his extensive MPAA Rating: not rated rolodex as Runtime: 102 minutes a former IMDB Rating: 8.5/10 Brookings Institution scholar, Ferguson conducts riveting interviews with a veritable who’s who of the major U.S. officials that oversaw the first six months of Iraqi reconstruction. His impeccably paced narrative builds a panoramic indictment of a policy shaped by high-level arrogance and incompetence, quietly stoking the viewer’s outrage. As the title suggests, “No End in Sight” offers no cure-all for the problems that continue to engulf post-surge Iraq. By crystallizing the critical blunders that led us to our current dilemma, the film instead stands as a revelatory testament to the importance of questioning the hell out of leaders who conflate policy propositions with incontrovertible fact. Where “No End inSight”highlighted the effectiveness Sicko (2007) of the rhetorical Director: Michael Moore slow burn, Michael MPAA Rating: PG-13 Moore’s Sicko Runtime: 123 minutes tackled the U.S. IMDB Rating: 8.4/10 health care crisis with the subtlety of a house on fire. The approach works surprisingly well, particularly in the outrageous afterglow of President Bush’s veto of increased funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Moore has never been more skillful at entertaining and affecting his audience. Hit me with a breathtaking montage of healthy French couples making out to the pulsing baritone of Serge Gainsbourg, and I’ll believe anything he tells me about their social welfare state, annual riots in the Paris suburbs be damned. Confront me with the stunned gaze of a Texas family that’s lost a father due to penny-pinching corporate malfeasance, and I’ll be eternally grateful for Moore’s clear-eyed capacity to reveal stories too often neglected by the public eye. French kissing aside, Moore is typically ham-fisted in his exploration of case studies beyond the borders of The Red, White, and Blue. In his trademark foray into the utopian expanses of the Great White North, any Canadians in the audience (this writer included) will find that there literally is no place like home. Yet such pitfalls are integral to Moore’s usefulness as a model for young
No End in Sight (2007)
progressives navigating the intersection between media and politics. His work highlights both the power of direct address and what can be lost by engaging political subjects from an unabashedly polemical perspective. Is a certain degree of strategic essentialism necessary to surmount intransient institutional injustice? Or do we lose support and credibility from the blurred details and fudged facts that occasionally crop up in such rhetorical endeavors? Misguided essentialism was hard to avoid in the fear-mongering that dominated U.S. public discourse on Iran this year. Thankfully, that nation’s dynamic contemporary filmmaking culture served as a vital counterpoint to the rhetoric. The U.S. release of Jafar Panahi’s “Offside,” a wonderfully nuanced portrait of youthful rebellion, was a particularly powerful antidote to all the woefully premature talk of war. “Offside” follows a handful of Offside (2006) die-hard Director: Jafar Panahi female soccer MPAA Rating: PG fans as they Runtime: 93 minutes attempt IMDB Rating: 7.3/10 to gain entry into a qua lif y ing match for the World Cup. Stymied by the police and by strict rules forbidding the mixing of the sexes, they end up confined to a makeshift holding pen along the stadium walls, engaging in a series of hilarious negotiations with the ill-matched young guards entrusted with watching them. Though he has laid down years of his life in jail for his harsh and unforgettable portraits of the marginalized in Iranian society, Panahi commits himself to the kind of refreshingly complex vision of human relations that is entirely lacking in our political discourse on Iran. He celebrates the toughness and guile of his heroines while also casting a sympathetic glance at the ethical quandaries facing the men whose livelihoods depend upon reinforcing their country’s oppressive patriarchy. In the transgressive energy of his youthful protagonists, Panahi confronts us with a film that is truly alive to the possibility of social transformation. Surely the United States can do better than to meet such creative struggle with fear-mongering and militant posturing. M o r e foreign food for domestic The Lives of Others thought (2006) came from Director: Florian Henckel von Germany in Donnersmarck “The Lives MPAA Rating: R of Others,” Runtime: 137 minutes this year’s IMDB Rating: 8.6 Academy Aw a r d winner for Best Foreign Language Film. Flor ian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s poignant, unsettling thriller explores the ethical trials set in motion when a secret police captain plants a wiretap in the home of a
playwright and his actress girlfriend. In the context of this summer’s FISA debate and recent revelations of CIA efforts to destroy interrogation tapes, it is easy to draw parallels between the Orwellian logic of life in the German Democratic Republic and the erosion of civil liberties under Bush II. “The Lives of Others” is above all an inventive exploration of the old truism that “the personal is political.” The film reminds us that political institutions and cultures are not confined to the abstract realm of public discourse. They also manifest themselves in the most intensely personal, intimate spheres of life. They can skew our thoughts. They can thwart our desires. They can confront vulnerable people with impossible choices. Returning to the domestic Killer of Sheep (1977) sphere, Director: Charles Burnett there is no MPAA Rating: not rated better way to Runtime: 83 minutes underline this IMDB Rating: 7.9/10 notion of the personal as political than by offering a closing tribute to the year’s most exciting cinematic event: the 35 mm re-release of Charles Burnett’s criminally underappreciated “Killer of Sheep.” Completed in 1977 but fully released only this year, Burnett’s film is an extraordinary portrait of a slaughterhouse worker and his family living in a bombed-out stretch of black Los Angeles. Stan, the film’s protagonist, is both an executioner and a victim in a world that is quietly suffocating him, a working-class striver struggling to keep his family together. In his exploration of the complex emotional universe of his characters, Burnett redefines the underrepresented and frequently oversimplified terrain of black and working class life on film, offering some of cinema’s most counter-hegemonic images. He reminds us that good art can be inherently political without directly engaging official figures and institutions. Feel no shame if you’ve never heard of Burnett or “Killer of Sheep.” This vital work of black independent cinema languished for years without theatrical release, available only in battered prints lying around film schools and libraries. This year’s triumphant re-release forces young progressives to consider not only the paucity of progressive representations of race and poverty within American media but also questions of multicultural access and visibility within the American film industry. The film’s 30-year journey out of the shadows reminds us that the same asymmetries of power that progressive students seek to resist in their activism are frequently reproduced in the very processes of media production and distribution through which progressive messages are disseminated. There could be no more vital lesson for young progressives to consider as they look to creative media for guidance in the struggles of 2008 and beyond. Will Di Novi graduated from Wesleyan University in 2007.
The Yeti ~ Vol. 4 #2 ~ March, 2008 | 23
Tallahassee’s Community Newsmagazine
Volume 4 ~ Issue 2 ~ Mar 2008