Orange and Blue magazine - Fall 2021 - The Home Issue by UF CJC

ORANGE AND BLUE MAGAZINE

FA L L 2 0 2 1

the

HOME

issue

ORANGE AND BLUE MAGAZINE

THE HOME OF THE BRAVE / MY BODY IS A TEMPLE, MY MIND IS A MANSION / FLAVORS THAT FOLLOW / THE HABITUAL HOMEBODY / THE INTERSECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL SPACE AND MENTAL SPACE / THE LAND OF LAKES AND VOLCANOES / BUILDING A HOME 2,000 MILES AWAY

THE HOME ISSUE FA L L 2 0 2 1

letter from the editor 2

HOPE HATHCOCK When my team of writers and I sat around a table to determine what the next issue of Orange and Blue Magazine would be, we continued to circle back to the concept of comfort, of security, of pride. Acceptance. Growth. Love. Home: It is so much more than a place. It’s the Cambodian plate of Ba-Bong whose aroma floods you with memories of Asian tradition. It’s the dorm room designed to let anyone have equal opportunity regardless of ability. It’s the music whose Panamanian lyrics call you to the dance floor. After months of unpredictability and turbulence, we all deserve to pause and be thankful for our own piece of home. For me, home is where my loved ones are — the individuals who undoubtedly know who I am. The ones who uplift me in my moments of triumph and strengthen me in my darkest days.

The storytellers within us were compelled to uncover the microcosm of homes within Gainesville. Once you flip this page and read the words that carry the weight of the community’s heart, I hope you, too, reflect on your own definition of home. My writers and I wish for you to be inspired to challenge yourself to think beyond convention and explore the limitless possibilities that home possesses. Let us not forget that home holds a different significance to everyone. These differences do not divide us, for they unite us in the universal experience that is the innate desire for needing to belong.

meet the staff

ANISSA DIMILTA

HANNAH SHELTON

ALEJANDRA ZAMORA

PHOTO EDITOR

COPY EDITOR

BLOG EDITOR

Home to me is where my family and loved ones are. At the same time, home is also a feeling. It’s that feeling of walking in the door, putting on some warm fuzzy socks, wrapping myself in a blanket and eating my mom’s homemade food.

Home is where my goats are! Quite literally, my family recently rescued three goats, and they now live at my house in Orlando. They encourage me to get outside, slow down and play — plus, they’re super cute.

Home is wherever my “people” are, whether that’s with my friends in Gainesville or my family in South Florida; I attribute my deep-rooted, familial connections to my Cuban heritage, a trait I cherish greatly.

SARAH SEPE

DENISSE FLORES

NICOLE IRVING

MARKETING DIRECTOR Home is wherever my family is; I love my family more than anything in the world, so wherever they are is where I feel the most at home.

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Home to me is Playa Maderas in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

BRIANNA MONROE GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Home to me is wherever my loved ones are. When I'm with them, I feel safe and comforted.

ADVISER

Home is wherever my children, husband and coffee maker are!

Thank you to our adviser Nicole Irving, as well as Ted Spiker, Dean Hub Brown, Spiro Kiousis, Cally House, and the Hal Herman Magazine Fund. Orange and Blue Magazine is published semiannually by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications students enrolled in Applied Magazines. This issue was printed by Publications Printers. Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any means without written permission. Orange and Blue Magazine is protected through trademark registration in the United States. Send letters to Box 118400 College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. Cover art created by Alex Renda, a first-year graphic design student.

TABLE OF

Morning Routines in the Making

7 Easy Snacks You Wish You Knew of Sooner

Sharing the Swamp

When Home Doubles as a Classroom

The Home of the Brave

The Duality of Disability: Persevering Through the Dark and Cherishing the Light

Beyond the Board: 8 Ways To Transform Any Space

Exploring the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

Home Away From Home: The Ronald McDonald House

The Habitual Homebody

Dear Social Media Designers, What Have You Done?

The Hidden Heart and Soul of Gainesville

The Other Side of Goodbye

My Body is a Temple, My Mind is a Mansion

CONTENTS

From Canal to Swamp

The Intersection of Your Personal Space and Mental Space

The Power of a Name

Building a Home 2,000 Miles Away

An Open Letter to Gainesville

Breaking Down Homeopathy's Past, Present and Promising Future

After Hours: Scenes From the Home Life of a Nurse

Reserving Land and Reclaiming Truth

Is Living Solo the Way To Go?

Making a House a Home: Design Trends of the Past

My Birth, My Way

Experiencing Loss Away From Home

Home Economics: A Lost Art and Transformed Tradition

Flavors That Follow

Morning Routines in the Making story & photos by BRIANNA MONROE

If you type in the phrase “morning routine” into the YouTube search bar, you’ll be met with thousands of videos where the titles and thumbnails boast about waking up early, sipping on fancy lattes and productivity. Similarly, Google search results showcase the healthiest habits to incorporate into your routine that will leave you happier than ever, or so they say. With the booming wellness and self-care industry, morning routines have become a trendy and seemingly necessary key to creating better days and, ultimately, a happier life. But, what effects do morning routines actually have on our lives? Are they really worth all the hype? Morning routines can be seen everywhere from video series like Elle’s “Waking Up With…” or stories like The Cut’s “How I Get It Done.” They take you into the early hours of celebrities’ and successful people’s lives to showcase their go-getter mornings. Oprah avoids using alarms, makes a chai tea and completes a workout. Julianne Hough meditates, dances, repeats affirmations, makes a green juice and goes for a run, all before 8 a.m. 6

While striving to achieve this lifestyle, most of us end up snoozing our alarms more times than we can count. “Morning routines are a bigger deal for some people than they are others,” said Kris Gooding, a Gainesville-based licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist. Some people are anchored by their routines, and it helps them work toward goals they’ve set for themselves, she said. Others might not need a morning full of activities in order to approach the day with vitality. However, Gooding mentions that if you have a routine, it helps take decision fatigue off the table. Living out your morning routine allows you to have a structure to follow, and there’s a lower chance that worries about the day will begin to creep in. Morning routines help with not starting the day with a drained brain and can give you a sense of comforting familiarity. Not only does the importance of morning routines vary from person to person, but so do the routines themselves. Depending on someone’s life circumstances, the activities that take up their morning are incredibly different. A common theme, however, is checking the phone.

According to a study conducted by the International Data Corporation, 80% of smartphone users swipe and scroll on their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. This intake wakes up the mind with a burst of excitability by shooting off high levels of dopamine, making the morning-time social media scroll highly addictive. While on these platforms, comparison kicks in. It’s almost too easy to look at other people’s lives and feel like you aren’t doing enough. If you find it hard to imitate the early-riser routines you see online, know you aren’t lazy or failing, but there’s something in the way. Gooding explained it can be hard for people to develop morning routines — or routines in general — for various reasons. Perhaps someone was never shown how to construct a productive day, maybe they can’t figure out the right activities to do or there could even be an underlying mental health barrier. “Morning routines aren’t only an avenue for creating increased well-being and a sense of agency. They are also a reflection of mental wellness,” Gooding said. Slipping out from under the covers to do morning grooming might be a mindless task for some, but for those who struggle with mental illnesses, such as depression, it can be a herculean feat. Gooding suggested that if you find yourself battling to create a morning routine you find fulfilling or to get out of bed to begin with, seeking professional may be beneficial. Beyond what society tells people is best, how do they find what makes them want to get out of bed? Angela Betancourt, a happiness coach based in Gainesville, explained that when creating a morning routine, you should focus on what serves you best and what self-care means to you. According to Betancourt, the first step should be reevaluation. Take a look at your current routine and ask yourself: What are you doing that isn’t serving you? Too often we pile on more to-do’s and activities without taking a step back to see what isn’t working for us.

“I commit to writing not because it’s a healthy routine; I commit to writing because I love it, and that, in turn, heals me.”

Michael Grubbs, a 45-year-old Micanopy resident, formed a morning routine by creating a lasting habit that spoke to his soul. When his wife became sick in 2007, she suggested he start writing about the stress and frustrations he was facing while navigating her illness and working full time. In doing so, he found it extremely therapeutic and continued to write even through his wife’s passing. She died on Christmas Day 2007. “Writing was my wife’s last and lasting gift to me because, in the years since, I have witnessed how much it has helped me heal,” Grubbs said. A few years of writing later, he came across the website 750words.com. Based on an idea from the book “The Artist’s Way,” the website encourages writing 750 words every morning to clear your mind. It can be about anything: dreams, fears, stresses, things you’re looking forward to, but it should be done soon after waking up. For 11 ½ years and throughout various careers, Grubbs has tried to write almost every morning. When writing, he likes to acknowledge his blessings and set a positive tone for the day, but he also jots down rants and frustrations. For him, it is an outlet, and after a “few hundred words of complaining,” he can’t help but to look for something positive. "I commit to writing not because it's a healthy routine; I commit to writing because I love it, and that, in turn, heals me."

“Ask yourself: What makes me feel grounded?” Betancourt said. Morning routines can be a part of the journey to self-discovery as you’re searching for activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. You have to find what works for you, something you love to do. 7

pp m a m w S t h e a g n w i S t h e g r n SShhaa r i story by ALEJANDRA ZAMORA & photos by CHRIS KIM and MATT STAMEY/ SANTA FE COLLEGE TEACHING ZOO

A packed stadium full of fans clad in orange and blue and a plush pair of vibrant green mascots are usually what comes to mind when the word “gator” is uttered anywhere in North Central Florida — or in the whole state, for that matter. But with such a large presence of human “gators,” it is easy to forget about our scaly neighbors whose names we borrowed to dub our football fanbase: the American alligator, a massive species of reptile that has called this state home for far longer than we have.

Photo by Chris Kim

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Florida has a steady population of about 1.3 million alligators that can be found in almost all fresh and brackish bodies of water. More locally, alligators frequent many Gainesville locations, from Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park to small ponds on the University of Florida’s campus. Recent viral stories, like an Ocala woman pushing an alligator away with her paddleboard while on the Silver River and a UF student shooing a gator away from her picnic setup at Lake Alice, have become commonplace news for Floridians, but it begs the question: Has their abundance made us lose our healthy fear? Despite unfazed outlooks and how used to humans we may think alligators are, chance alligator attacks can arise, posing a great danger to both people and the creatures themselves. FWC data from 2015 to 2020 showed 61 instances where alligators have bitten humans, with four being fatal. While not extremely common, alligator attacks can be prompted by overly confident behaviors and unlawful conduct. Jade Salamone, a conservation education curator at the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo, said alligators are opportunistic eaters, meaning they will only emerge for food when it is presented to or near them.

Photo by Chris Kim

“They’re naturally, as a species, going to be wary of humans and not get near us on purpose,” she said. “We suddenly call them nuisance alligators when they’re too close to us, and the practice for that is to euthanize them.” Alligators are a keystone species in Florida, meaning their removal can greatly affect the survival rate of other species, and relocation is not a viable option, Salamone said. Florida law states it is illegal to harass and feed alligators, but, unfortunately, it must be assumed that all gators have been fed by humans at some point, said Darby Guyn, a park ranger at Sweetwater Wetlands Park. “When alligators get fed by humans, they lose that natural fear,” she said. “We’re affecting their behavior and ecology.” Taking proper precautions — such as not feeding and keeping a safe distance from gators, swimming only in designated areas and never letting dogs or small children roam free along shorelines — is all it takes to be safe around alligators, she said.

“They're not these vicious predators who are out to get us,” Guyn said. “They're just living their life, and if we just follow some simple rules, we can absolutely live in harmony with them.”

Photo courtesy of Matt Stamey/Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo

The Home of the Brave

story by SARAH SEPE & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

n the year 2020, people in the United States were as divided as ever. With talk of vaccines, mask

mandates, a push to defund the police and a controversial presidential election, American patriotism hit an all-time low, according to a Gallup survey the same year. With this, the American people started doubting police officers, doctors, the media and more. When the country you call home is in shambles, is it still worth fighting for? Lt. Arthur Small thinks so. The Georgia native carries himself in a way that lets you know he’s in charge, a quality achieved through a decade of training. The 28-year-old active-duty member of the U.S. Navy is also a professor for the University of Florida’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program as of spring 2020. The lieutenant comes from generations of family members serving in the U.S. military. Although he said he felt a personal calling to enlist and serve, he said his father,

“I think a lot of it comes from my dad,” he said. “Trying to follow in his footsteps … I always wanted to become like my dad, to experience what he experienced at my age. I think I made the right decision.”

Arthur, had the biggest impact on his decision to enlist. “I think a lot of it comes from my dad,” he said. “Trying to follow in his footsteps … I always wanted to become like my dad, to experience what he experienced at my age. I think I made the right decision.” Small’s decision to follow in his family’s footsteps and serve is one that many people in America are seeming to make. In 2019, the New York Times reported that 79% of all recruits had a family member who served, with 30% of those family members being a parent. This is the case for Midshipman Alyssa Albano, who hopes to sail the seas the same way her father, Dominick, has been since 1984. However, her relation is not the only thing that pushed her to enlist.

“The scholarship, the traveling, those are extra benefits, in my opinion,” she said. “Fighting for my country is the number one reason I’m doing this … the job itself, helping people, is rewarding.” The 21-year-old grew up in a family that moved almost every three years, living as far as Naples, Italy, and as south as Jacksonville, Florida, which she considers home. Albano’s upbringing gave her an affinity for traveling, and she hopes to return to Italy one day and visit new places, like Spain or Japan. People like Small and Albano who have endured years of training, oath-taking and soul-searching are already deep in the process.

Zeke Hatfield, a 19-year-old from Litchfield, Connecticut, always knew he wanted to serve his country. With a strong voice spoken with passion and conviction, he said he always found himself being a mentor to others, whether it be tutoring people in high school or hyping people up during ROTC training. “I like the Marines’ mission,” he said. “They’re like the world’s first responders. If anything happens in a region, they’re often the first ones there, which I like. And their

After a year of training, he got his scholarship. Now, he is closer to fulfilling his dream of being an aviation officer. “We all took that same oath that we swore in,” Quinones said. “We all accepted the fact that when it comes time to serve, that it’s something we have to be ready for … we’re all fully invested in this. There’s no ‘halfsies’ or partial feelings on it. For me, whenever they need me, I’m ready. Any way to serve, I’m ready.”

values and culture … they take pride in fitness, appearance and just doing things right.” Although Hatfield had family members who have served, his immediate family, particularly his mother, had some concerns with his decision to enlist. “My mom had a typical motherly response,” he said. “She wasn’t very happy at first, [and] definitely didn’t like the idea of her son being in harm’s way.” What started as concern turned to pride, as Hatfield explained he wanted to serve his country more than anything. Today, his parents are very supportive of his decision. He said he hopes to be a better son to them, and he thinks the discipline and training he’s had with the ROTC has already, in his eyes, put him on track to do that. Alex Quinones, also 19, said his mother, Mylene, had similar doubts when he first told his parents he wanted to enlist. The midshipman from Orlando, Florida, comes from a long line of U.S. veterans, but his lineage didn’t stop his mother from wanting her son to choose a less intense field. Quinones, however, had a goal. None of his family

Zeke Hatfield (left) and Alex Quinones (right)

members have ever been an officer, which is a leadership role that requires planning and critical decision-making,

Patriotism is still present. People of all ages still want to

and he is striving to accomplish that with his time

serve their home country and give back to the

in service.

generations to come. However, it’s clear that patriotism alone isn’t what’s keeping the U.S. military afloat — it’s

“I wasn’t on scholarship when I first got here. There were

something bigger. It’s the connection to leadership, familial

no benefits for me,” Quinones said. “I felt like I had to

tradition and discovering the nation they have pledged

prove myself.”

to protect.

Beyond the Board: 8 Ways To Transform Any Space

Her passion turned into her profession when she

story by HANNAH SHELTON & photos by ALLISON RABER

Dream homes, starter houses, remodels, online

PHOTOGRAPHY and RYA DUNCKLEE

design — Evan's to-do list goes on. Although she is

Whether you’re remodeling a home or decorating a dorm, you must face the feat of designing your space. Some rise to this creative challenge with their Architectural Digest magazines in hand and HGTV shows on loop. Other people’s optimism dims in the light of

opened Evans Construction & Design with her husband, Philip, in 2000. The duo has owned and operated their business in Gainesville for 20 years, with Lori spearheading the designs and Philip working as a general contractor.

constantly collaborating with clients across the country to bring their different visions to life, much of her design approach is universal. Anyone can draw inspiration from her guidelines to transform any space, and they can do it all in eight steps.

decor. With the abundance of options, commitments and

1. Function First

comparisons to be made, they are rightfully intimidated

Before the fun begins, Evans believes it’s important to

by the mere idea of interior design. Lori Evans, an interior designer with over two decades of experience, understands why individuals might feel lost or overwhelmed when it comes to home renovations. However, she showcases that you don’t need a degree in design to pursue your decorating dreams. The Miami native and University of Florida alumna has always been enthusiastic about home design, but she did not receive formal training in the field during her collegiate years.

first consider a room’s function, then its fashion. Think about how you want the room to serve you. Is it a place to cannonball onto the couch with late-night leftovers, or is it a room intended to organize your belongings and add structure to your day? In answering these questions, Evans says, “be true to yourself, and be real with yourself. It’s no one else’s space but yours, and you don’t have to follow convention.” Regardless of what you do with the space, be realistic.

Instead, Evans took her fervor and bachelor’s degree in

2. Be Intentional

marketing to gain experience at different firms after she

Evans finds that a formal course of action is not

graduated in 1996.

necessary when deciding what and how you will utilize a photo by RYA DUNCKLEE

space; however, she thinks there is a value in having a game plan, even if it’s a loose one. “It’s helpful to have a plan about what you want the space to feel and look like, or what you ultimately want to end up with,” she said.

3. Like What You Like “Acquire things that you love, not what you think you should have or what’s popular on Pinterest right now,” Evans said. Pinterest is a great resource to inspire some interior design ideas, but it should not be your final destination. Whether you marvel at modernity, embrace tradition or are intrigued by the unconventional, Evans said, “get things you like, and it will work.” 12

photos by ALLISON RABER PHOTOGRAPHY

4. More Price, Less Risk

7. Big Pieces, Small Space

When picking pieces, your intentions should parallel the

“If anything, they do the opposite,” says Evans to her

price tag. Being intentional and considering the future of

clients who fear placing big pieces in small spaces.

the space lends Evans to believe that the more

Instead of rounding up smaller pieces with minimal

expensive a piece is, the less risky you should be.

meaning, she believes smaller rooms with a few big elements that are purposefully picked make any space

“If I’m suggesting a sofa for a client, it can be an

look cleaner, larger and calmer.

investment and a lot of money. I tend to be less risky with those larger purchases,” she said. “Pillows, rugs

8. Mix, Don’t Match

and other fun little accessories … go crazy with those,

The one rule you should follow while shopping for home

but you should be more thoughtful with bigger pieces.”

art is that you should only buy it if you love it. Matching isn’t mandatory, for Evans thinks your interests,

5. Find Your Forever Furniture

not the specific color of your couch, should decide what

While everyone might find themselves building their own

decorates your walls.

Ikea dressers at one point in their design journey, Evans encourages her clients to invest their money into

“You should buy pieces that you really love, that speak

quality pieces that will last a lifetime. Although they can

to you, that you’re really excited about,” she said.

be more expensive, they tend to outlast any price tag

“Maybe you like it and don’t know why you like it, and

and trend. To find your forever pieces, she recommends

that’s OK.”

first shopping at thrift stores, Facebook Marketplace and Goodwill.

In following this guideline to your sweet escape, Evans discourages people from being fixated on crafting an

6. Paint is Power

Instagram-worthy space and falling down the Pinterest

Evans champions the power of paint and believes it can

rabbit hole. Although these are helpful resources, they

transform any room. Her paint philosophy is that since

are breeding grounds for comparison and “hacks” that

all colors cost the same, people should purchase their

don’t actually make your life easier. Instead, she advises

preferred palettes.

people to find inspiration in magazines and online platforms and to stay away from trends. “Trendy” does

“If you’re painting a room, whether you have a terrible

not mean “timeless,” so Evans uses what people

or amazing color, it’s all the same price and same effort

personally value, memories they cherish or items they

in painting. So, why not use a color that you really love

love as design catalysts.

and that speaks to you?” she said. “Trends should be more about what you really like,” she If you’re renting a space or cannot paint a room, Evans

said. “Let’s dig deep into that and run down that

recommends using temporary wallpapers.

road — full force, no breaks. If you like it, who cares about the rest?” 13

Home Away From Home: The Ronald McDonald House story & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

When Colton was 3, his dog knocked him over one

She boasts about how she can easily elaborate about

afternoon, but his grandmother didn’t suspect anything.

the house for hours. When asked if she minds sharing

She soothed him to stop his crying, but he still seemed

a story, Houston couldn’t help but smile and effortlessly

a bit off. When his parents returned home from church

talked about Colton.

that day, his mother knew something was not right. His parents took him to the emergency department in

According to its website, RMH of North Central Florida is

Pensacola. At first look, he was deemed fine, but his

just one of more than 365 houses worldwide caring for

mother knew something was still off.

children like Colton and their families. The home opened its doors for the first time in 1982 after a group of five

She insisted they look at him again. After a full-body scan, doctors discovered a tumor the size of an eggplant above his stomach. That night, he was life-flighted to UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital. Now, Colton is doing better and is receiving outpatient treatment. In between stays at the hospital, he and his parents stay at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) of North Central Florida. Sherry Houston, the executive director at RMH of North Central Florida, speaks with never-ending pride about the families and children, like Colton, she has the opportunity to serve every day.

local pediatricians came together to create something that was missing from the Gainesville community. This house, one of the first to be built from the ground up in the state of Florida, serves as a place for families to unwind, sleep and have a hot meal while their child is in the hospital. This particular house contains 31 bedrooms and is at “100% occupancy 365 days a year,” Houston said. RMH becomes a home away from home for any family and their child who has a life-threatening disease. Houston said, regardless of where a family is from or what their socioeconomic status is, there will be a place for them.

The house serves children up to the age of 21 and

The house has common areas for the adults to socialize

has seen kids come through the UF Health Pediatric

and comfort one another through their difficult

Emergency Room, newborn intensive care unit,

circumstances. Grab-and-go breakfast and lunch meals

pediatric intensive care unit and the oncology

are provided. For dinner, the house relies on volunteers,

department. The reason for illness is

caterers and local restaurants.

seemingly never-ending. It is difficult to discuss the dynamics of the house According to Houston, 41% of the families that currently

without talking about the vast effects of the COVID-19

live at the house are battling a cardiac issue. The house

pandemic. In March 2020, the house effectively closed

also serves as a place for mothers with babies in utero

its doors to new families. The house fell from being at

who are going to need surgery — often heart

100% capacity every day to having just 11 families, or

surgery — once they are delivered, Houston said.

about 65 people. The social family room was closed, and every chair was removed. Residents even

Families have traveled from not only across the United

transitioned to using a schedule for the two

States but also around the world, including Paris,

laundry rooms inside the house.

London and Canada, to receive medical treatment from Gainesville doctors. The goal of the Ronald McDonald

Rather than having groups of volunteers and chefs come

House is to take on the role of “home” when families

in to cook dinner each night, dinners are now

are hundreds, or thousands, of miles away from their

prepackaged, and families are called down to grab their

physical home. On top of their normal bills, adding on

meal and return to their rooms. Yet, the pre-pandemic

medical expenses can be overwhelming. The

atmosphere of nightly dinners is hard to forget.

house asks for a room donation of $15; however, that is not always achievable, Houston explained. Nonetheless, families are not turned away if they cannot provide the donation. Although the Ronald McDonald House is a part of the global organization of Ronald McDonald House Charities, only 14% of their operating budget is paid by RMHC. The house runs on contributions from the community, whether it be an individual or third-party donation, or even a collection of pop tabs from various canned goods. “We really rely on the comradery and the generosity of our community to make our house a home,” Houston said.

“You smelled onions and peppers and garlic and everything stirring in the kitchen,” Houston recalled. “And, then, for families to meet someone from the outside and share their story … So, it [COVID-19] does change the dynamic.” Volunteers were no longer permitted and, as of November 2021, are still not allowed in the house out of an abundance of caution for the families, Houston explained. The family room located on the 10th floor of the children’s hospital was also closed. The house staff discovered an out-of-the-box, or room in this case, way to serve families. Director of House Operations and Programs Emily Pridgen came up with the idea of “comfort bags.” Essentially, the bags are filled with nonperishable and microwaveable foods and snacks of all different kinds. They also have fuzzy socks, toiletries and activity books tailored to fit a family’s likes and dislikes. The community-funded bags were created so families have nearly everything they would need to sustain themselves, rather than going to a vending machine or to restaurant within the hospital. In 2020, 980 bags were delivered and, as of October 2021, over 1,300 bags have been delivered. Although the house is back to 100% capacity, “the very social core of our program has been obliterated,” Houston said. “But you know what, you pivot, and you can’t cry over spilled milk. You find ways to make it right and to do what you need to do because now our families need us more than ever.”

“

We really rely on the comradery and the generosity of our community to make our house a home,” Houston said.

Dear Social Media Designers, What Have You Done? story by HOPE HATHCOCK & photos by SAMY ASFOOR

The homepage is our sense of comfort and escape from the world around us. It’s our personalized space. We decide who we follow and the kind of content we see, right? What if the very thing we believe we are in control of is actually controlling us? That maybe our choices are not as free as we think they are? According to the 2021 DataReportal Global Overview report, 53.6% of the world's population uses social media. That is 4.2 billion people who understand our need to check Instagram just one more time before we go to bed –– until an hour passes, and we are clueless how we lost track of time. It’s not speculation: It’s science. Our impulse to open our apps is a consequence of learning mechanisms and habit formation. According to Daria Kuss, a Nottingham Trent University psychology professor, these application creators designed reward mechanisms, such as likes and comments, to be integral features. Whether we know it or not, social media aims to keep user attention online for as long as possible. Feed algorithms use machine learning to predict which posts we’ll like the most by analyzing data from posts we’ve previously interacted with, search history, our friends’ preferences and even how long we look at a post. Constant scrolling can have destructive consequences, even outright addiction. “Social media rewards in the forms of likes, and similar experiences engage the reward system by releasing dopamine,” Kuss said. “Over time, the brain learns to associate social media scrolling with this pleasurable experience and will seek more of it, which may explain maintenance of the behavior and possibly problematic use.” Increased social media exposure trains our reward system to require more time spent scrolling to experience the same pleasurable effect, she said. A numbing effect then causes the presented content to not register with the brain. Thus, our attention spans are decreasing due to receiving constant notifications throughout our day.

Due to the high frequency of incoming messages, electronic interruptions are fragmenting our lives. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, this reduces work productivity and decreases a person’s well-being. Excessive smartphone use impacts social communication by reducing smiles when interacting with strangers, enjoying face-to-face interaction and drawing parents’ attention away from their children. UF Health Marketing Manager Jessica Barton admits she uses social media daily for personal reasons but also because it’s her job –– a testament to the integral role these apps now play in the success of a business. “Social media is a giant time suck,” she said. “We worry that our teenagers won’t ever be able to interact in the real world without a phone in their hands. And then we look down, and we’re staring at our phones in our hands.” Tragically, the instrument designed to keep us connected to people around the globe is the very device keeping us disconnected from the world right in front of us. This is our wake-up call: we can’t let our homepages dominate our lives.

T h e O t h e r S i d e o f G o o d b ye story by DENISSE FLORES & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

t’s a bittersweet feeling when you take your firstborn child to their first day of senior year. After you take

their last pictures documenting their first day of school with their lifelong friends, reality begins to settle in. The faces you've seen them grow up with will be soon replaced by new ones. Before you know it, they start preparing for their cap and gown ceremonies and receiving their college acceptance letters in the mail. The question lingers in your mind — where did the time go? For many parents, the moment their children receive their first admissions letter marks the end of an era. Without knowing it in the moment, they begin to lose a fundamental part of themselves that changes them forever. However, their biggest proof of love is how they silently mourn sending their children off, doing so with the brightest smile and telling them to chase their dreams. The phenomena of void and grief that parents experience during this transition is known as the empty nest syndrome, according to Cadabam’s Hospitals, a specialty center for psychiatry and neurology in Bengaluru, India. 18

This often occurs when children leave home for the first time to pursue higher education, and parents have a hard time adjusting to the new reality of not having them physically around. Even though it is not a clinical condition, it still affects parents psychologically, the hospital added. This syndrome can manifest through feelings of emptiness and worry that can lead to depression and anxiety if not given enough attention. However, some parents are more susceptible to it than others and may experience a harder time letting go. This fall, José Raúl, 59, and Marcela Gómez, 43, experienced empty nest syndrome for the first time as they sent their firstborn off to college. When Amaya Gómez, 21, was accepted to the University of Florida in the spring of 2021, their hearts couldn't take the excitement. After a year of personal hardships, the Gómez family felt so proud of their daughter for accomplishing this milestone. This news came three years after the Cuban Nicaraguan family permanently moved from Nicaragua, their home country, to the United States in 2018.

They shared that moving from their two-story house in

“At the entrance of the house, I have a box that I add

Nicaragua to a small apartment in Tampa, Florida, was

items to. As I place things inside of it, I keep telling myself,

a challenge. However, amid the darkest days of the

‘This is for Amaya, I will take that other thing to Amaya,’”

COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders, they were

José said. “She’s always present in my thoughts.”

able to bond as a family of four one last time before they faced Amaya’s departure to UF.

According to Margarita Palacios, a clinical psychologist at Plenitud Familiar Clinic, parents completely change roles

“To be completely real with you, I feel that I have not

from full-time parenthood to a single role as a partner

hidden it. I have handled it in such a way so she does

during this transition.

not see it as if I am suffering,” said José as he concealed his watery eyes and reflected on the void he has been

“Letting go of that stage is what causes pain that we could

experiencing as a parent.

consider very intense,” she said. “Both men and women deal with this in a different manner.”

The Gómez family started missing their eldest daughter months before she left for UF. As the move-in date

Palacios said a parent’s reaction can depend on multiple

approached, they organized family road trips to pick

factors such as biological, environmental and sociocultural

Amaya up from nearby places as an excuse to spend

characteristics. Additionally, when children flee the family

more time with her. Now that she lives in Gainesville, they

nest, conflictive situations between marital couples that had

feel disoriented and stuck in a whirlwind of emotions as

gone unnoticed with the presence of the children

they try to rediscover themselves as a family. However,

may emerge.

they still feel the responsibility of keeping Amaya motivated from afar while feeling empty without her. “It's like my first year of marriage,” Marcela admitted. “I feel like I don't know what to do. I try to text her on WhatsApp or communicate something casual occasionally that is not so deep.” The mother stated that, unlike her husband, she tried to break the cycle of attachment with Amaya even though her overprotective motherly instincts told her to do the opposite. In keeping a natural yet not overwhelming communication, Marcela wants Amaya to be able to enjoy this exciting new chapter in her life without feeling too overruled by her parents. She also described this as a way of practicing reverse psychology in hopes of motivating Amaya to want to visit home on her own.

With their daughter's departure, the parents acknowledged

José said that, between he and his wife, he has been

time to their marriage in order to prepare themselves for

most affected by their daughter’s physical absence, even describing this current period as full of unprecedented grief. He is especially triggered by the little things at home that echo her distinct laughter. José even recently refused to use some of his wife’s specialty plates from back home because he would rather wait for his eldest daughter to

they have to redesign their lives and dedicate more quality the time their youngest child leaves. To them, each day that passes is one day closer to seeing Amaya again. "Our wish is to always be actively present in the lives of our daughters," the mother said. "Somehow, that's the reason that has kept us on our feet to this day."

experience it with them.

Easy Snacks You Wish You Knew of Sooner

story by SARAH SEPE & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

There are few feelings worse than rummaging through your kitchen cabinets when you’re hungry. It’s times like these where you throw your hands up and say the phrase that’s known all too well: “I have nothing to eat!” Whether you’re on a lunch break at work, coming home after a long day of classes or have children headed home from school, it might be tempting to run to McDonald’s or order a pizza. While it’s OK for once-in-awhile occasions, getting into a routine of ordering out may not be the healthiest option. It can also be costly, with Statista reporting that Americans spent over $38 billion on pizza in 2020. So, instead of pulling into a drive-thru or picking up the phone to call your favorite pizzeria, here are seven easy and healthy snacks you can make with ingredients you likely already have.

1. Energy Balls Packed with healthy fats, protein, fiber and vitamins, this portable, no-bake snack is effortless to prepare, and even easier to throw in a Ziploc bag and take with you to work. It's typically made from oats, a nut butter of your choosing, a sweetener (like agave or honey) and other add-ins like dried fruit, granola or shredded coconut. To make them, combine 1 cup of rolled oats with ½ cup of peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds, ¼ cup of shredded coconut and ¼ cup of honey. If you want to add a touch more of sweetness, mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. After mixing the ingredients, take a spoonful of the mixture and roll into bite-sized balls.

2. Chia Pudding Another snack that requires no cooking is chia seed pudding. Even though you may not have chia seeds in your pantry, they are a must-buy and often easily accessible. For $4.30 at Target, you can purchase a pack of these heart-healthy, nutritious seeds and make this recipe five to six times. To make this delectable snack, simply pour 2 tablespoons of chia seeds into ½ cup of your preferred kind of milk. Next, stir until the seeds are completely incorporated into the milk and drizzle some honey on top. Cover your mixture and place it in your fridge for at least two hours. When you’re ready to eat, you can have it plain or top it with some fresh berries. Don’t want to eat it yet? No worries, this snack can be stored for up to one week. Talk about hassle-free.

3. Roasted Chickpeas You know that can of chickpeas you bought two years ago and forgot about? Dig it out of your pantry and make some roasted chickpeas. This snack is high in protein, amino acids and fiber, and it is delicious. Preheat your oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, crack open a can of chickpeas, pour them into a strainer, rinse the chickpeas and then pat them dry. In a small bowl, mix ½ teaspoon of each: smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, sea salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and onion powder. Pour the chickpeas onto the baking sheet, drizzle about ½ tablespoon of olive oil over them, and then, add your seasoning on top. Bake for 40 minutes, and voila! It's a snack that can be enjoyed at home or at the office.

4. Apple Nachos Yes, you read that correctly. You’ve likely snacked on a sliced apple with peanut butter, but this recipe takes it to the next level. To make it, cut one apple and place the slices in your refrigerator to cool. Next, take about 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and place it in the microwave for 30 seconds, or until its consistency is thin and it is able to be distributed. After that, grab your sliced apples, put them on a plate and drizzle the peanut butter over them. Top the dish with a sprinkling of ground cinnamon and drops of honey, and enjoy.

5. Bell Pepper and Hummus This is another snack that can be enjoyed on-the-go. All you need to do is wash and dry a bell pepper in the color of your choosing, cut it into slices that are a ½ inch wide and pair them with 2 tablespoons of hummus. Not a hummus fan? You can pair your bell pepper slices with other things like salsa, guacamole or whipped cream cheese.

6. Sliced Chicken and Cucumber Roll-ups No more worrying about soggy sandwich bread. These sliced chicken roll-ups will leave you satisfied until you eat your next big meal. This recipe can also work with turkey, ham or any other meat you would like to use — you can even substitute the meat for lettuce. Simply take four slices of chicken, spread 1 teaspoon of whipped cream cheese onto each slice, place a strip of cucumber on each slice, and roll it up. If you like spice, this is an optional step: Add a touch of sriracha in each roll. It gives the rolls a nice contrast between the heat of the topping and the coolness from the cucumber. You can make these to keep in your refrigerator for when you get home or take them to enjoy in between classes or at work.

7. Ricotta Cheese with Cocoa Ricotta cheese is a great source of calcium and provides other essential nutrients, like vitamins K, A, B12 and healthy fats, according to Healthline Magazine. This snack is perfect for when you’re craving something sweet but don’t want the extra sugar. To make it, mix ½ cup of ricotta cheese, ½ teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract and ¼ teaspoon of honey. Then, enjoy it chilled and maybe sneak a couple of mini chocolate chips on top. According to Harvard Medical School's health blog, what you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and mood; 95% of your body’s serotonin, or the “happy hormone,” is produced in your gastrointestinal tract. Everyday stress puts enough pressure on people already, so ease some of those demands with things you can control, like your diet. So, the next time you stumble upon a lone bell pepper or a can of chickpeas, come back to this list. Rarely do people with cabinets filled with food actually have “nothing to eat.” You just need to think outside of the box. A healthy diet makes for a healthier, happier mind, and everyone is deserving of that.

When Home Doubles as a Classroom story & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

One of the most common misconceptions about homeschooling is that children are being socially deprived. Parents continue to search for the answer regarding socialization and homeschooling, according to Stetson University research. But it is 2021, technology is thriving, and the upcoming generation is more advanced than we realize. Ten-year-old Vance Munksgard is just one of the thousands of homeschooled children in Gainesville who prove homeschoolers can flourish both academically and socially. On Oct. 23, 2019, Jen Munksgard and her husband made the decision to pull Vance out of third grade at his private school and transition to at-home learning. Their son developed a dislike for school when he was in first grade, she said. Despite being regularly ahead in most subjects, he became bored in the classroom. Vance was a happy, bubbly kid in the mornings, but when getting to school, it was like “a weight around his neck as soon as he got out of the car,” his mother said. His teachers described him as a model student because he was so quiet in class. However, the toll of his disinterest in class led to emotional problems at home. On Oct. 24, 2019, the next day, Vance’s mom called his school and confirmed he would be transitioning to homeschool. She described the process as “ripping off a Band-Aid,” so there would be no going back on their decision.

The Munksgard family isn’t alone in adopting this unconventional form of schooling. According to the 2020-21 School Year Annual Report by the Florida Department of Education, 2,109 students in Alachua County were homeschooled. Per Florida law, parents are not required to have a special certificate or educational background to homeschool their children. Following each year of instruction, a certified teacher must evaluate the student. Then, a letter confirming the student has successfully completed a year’s worth of academic growth is submitted to the school board, according to Florida homeschool evaluator Karen Porter. Like all changes, this was a gradual process, as Vance’s parents took time to find the best curriculums and identify his learning style. They mainly focus on what Jen refers to as “interest-based learning.” Vance learns the basic “meat and potatoes,” like math, science and social studies with online curriculums. The rest of his lessons surround more of what he is interested in doing. Right now, that consists of technology-related lessons, including working in Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop and video editing software. Last year, he participated in an online class based in New York called CinemaKidz with other students around the country. Jen believes her son enjoys school now and doesn’t see it as a chore anymore. The most rewarding thing has been the uninterrupted time with him — witnessing his “aha” moments and maturity development. “The relationship we’ve been able to foster has really blossomed,” she said.

The Duality of Disability: Persevering Through the Dark and Cherishing the Light story by HOPE HATHCOCK & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA When Robyn Clarke was 6 years old, her father told her

Born two months early at 2 pounds, 10 ounces with the

he wanted her to go to Harvard, to which she replied,

umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, she entered this

“No, Daddy, I’m going to Florida.” However, Clarke did not

world with her arms and hands stretched out as if she was

believe her dream school would become her reality even

pleading for help. After a month in the neonatal intensive

after she was accepted. There were simply too many

care unit, her parents noticed she was not hitting

barriers to move from her house in Newnan, Georgia, to

milestones, such as rolling over or sitting up. She was

find a place to live in Gainesville, Florida.

diagnosed with CP when she was 10 months old.

College campuses and dormitories are designed to be

At the age of 3, Clarke began walking with a

a welcoming environment for all incoming students as

posterior Kaye walker and wore ankle-foot orthotics for

they transition from one chapter of their lives to their next

support. She went to physical and occupational therapy

page of independence and exploration, yet a very crucial

once a week. Every six months since she was 5 years old,

portion of the population is overlooked when universities

she receives Botox injections in her legs to reduce their

consider the definition of a home: people with disabilities

spasticity, a side effect of her CP that causes abnormal

whose home lives do not conform to society’s standards

tightness in her muscles.

of “normal.” Despite the untraditional routine of her childhood, Clarke’s One in four adults in the United States have a type of

parents held her to the same expectations as her

disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control

able-bodied sister, whether it was making all A’s or

and Prevention. Disability affects people of every ethnicity,

going out to have fun with friends. She said she did not

gender, economic class, age and geographic location, yet

fully realize the scope of her disability or that her life was

people with disabilities are perhaps the largest

not “normal” until a boy made fun of the way she walked

disadvantaged population. Nonetheless, Clarke and her

when she was 12 years old.

family did not allow the pretense of the impossible to deter her as she paved her own path to redefine normalcy and strive for accessibility. Today, Clarke is a 21-year-old journalism senior at the University of Florida who has cerebral palsy (CP) and utilizes a power wheelchair. She is also president of the UF Disability Ambassadors, treasurer of the Association for Women in Sports and a committee member for the Student Advisory Council for Undergraduate Affairs.

“I started to wonder: What do people see when they talk to me?” Clarke admitted. "Do they see me as Robyn, or do they see me for my walker and my disability and all of the things I can't do?" Every time she meets someone, she can almost instantly determine their perspective on disability based on how they speak to her. According to Clarke, people see her wheelchair and automatically assume that because she has a physical disability, she must also have a cognitive impairment. Sometimes, people talk to her like a toddler, or, other times, they talk slower. These individuals who are not inclusive or who make inappropriate comments do not understand how to talk to people with disabilities or understand that there is a spectrum of experience within each different disability. For instance, Clarke knows five other individuals with CP, and all of their abilities are drastically different. Still, Clarke believes the country has improved over recent years, as society realizes that people with disabilities can

“ADA laws let us in the room, but universal design gives us a seat at the table,” she said. The key to equality is education. Despite living with a disability her whole life, Clarke did not know about universal design until she came to college. Similarly, people stigmatize CP and put disability in one box because they are not aware of what it is like to live with CP or a disability, she said. Organizations such as Special Friends Care Inc. in Gainesville are responsible for advocating for change and are the reason why Clarke became a Florida Gator. Initially, she did not believe it would be possible to attend UF in person due to accessible housing, requiring a personal care assistant and being in a different state far from her family. Nevertheless, she overcame every obstacle she faced. “It was totally the Lord,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like that where all of the barriers that were in the way just disappeared.”

be an asset and are an underutilized talent pool. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, more remote work is available, which is leading the world to understand work can be accomplished in different ways. More technology is being created, and more people are becoming open-minded. But, she said so much progress still needs to be made in terms of policy, awareness and activism. One solution is universal design, the composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. This is not only for the benefit of a minority of the population, for it is the fundamental condition of good design; universal design is a step beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. Clarke said the ADA laws do not work because they are the bare minimum.

“I started to wonder: What do people see when they talk to me?” Clarke admitted. "Do they see me as Robyn, or do they see me for my walker and my disability and all of the things I can't do?"

Months of resilience and patience led to several phone

“If I can educate one person or open one person’s eyes

calls and trips to Gainesville to meet with people who

to ‘hey, this is what it’s like to live with a disability,’ or do

could bring her dreams to life. One of these dreams

one thing that takes one small step for a more equal world

manifested in the form of Cypress Hall, one of only two

for people with disabilities, I think that would be the coolest

college dormitories in the nation built using universal

thing,” she said.

design. The dorm features rooms with lift systems in the ceiling to transport residents around their rooms,

Hoping to find her place at the intersection of sports and

tablet-controlled lighting and window blinds, roll-in

advocacy, Clarke aims to use her knowledge as a person

showers and height-adjustable sinks.

with a disability while capitalizing on the extensive platforms of sports teams to tackle the systemic issues

Surpassing just walls and floors, Cypress has grown into

surrounding accessibility. Currently, she is interning with

an irreplaceable community for Clarke, as she has met

U.S. Figure Skating and feels lucky to have such a

many incredible people who also have disabilities. This

wonderful learning environment.

network of friends is able to understand her feelings and be a support system, whether they are wheelchair racing

Clarke compares living with CP to living within a yin and

down the hallway or making a late-night McDonald’s run.

yang. On one side, she copes with the dark side of

In combination with UF’s Disability Resource Center (DRC),

stigmas and barriers. Contrarily, she has been blessed to

she said there is a great foundation at the college, and she

meet so many genuine people and is grateful that her

truly feels heard.

disability ensures she is constantly surrounded by compassionate human beings.

Even though Cypress is a starting point, Clarke said there are still several areas of campus that can be improved,

“You don’t appreciate that light without having first gone

which is to be expected of an older university. When a

through the darkness,” she said.

student is faced with an environment that is not accessible, frustration takes over, as she feels defined by the things she is unable to do. “Sometimes, it’s hard for me to not sit there and go, ‘why do I have to deal with this? Why are things so hard?’” she confessed. “Of all the thousands of kids born on Feb. 1, 2000, why am I the one who has to deal with this? And those days are not easy. And there are some days that I just go home, and I just cry because it’s so frustrating.” Beyond postsecondary education, Clarke is concerned for the future of herself and the other Cypress residents. Accessible housing is extremely rare, and people with disabilities are not left with many options once they graduate, she said. However, her optimism and strength overpower her fears, as she focuses on her excitement to

is a place, and it's a house, and it has all of

use her story to help others.

these things and has a white picket fence,

She expected to take the sports journalism world by storm when she first came to UF, yet after experiencing both writing sports articles and promoting conversations around

and it's more material based. But I think as you get older, you realize that home isn't a place, but it's people. It's the people who

inclusivity through being a disability ambassador, she

love you, the people who care about you, the

discovered her true purpose in disability advocacy and

people who see you for who you really are.”

creating a lasting impact. 26

“When you’re little, you are taught that home

Clarke with her service dog, Irma. 27

Exploring the Land of

Lakes and Volcanoe s story & photos by DENISSE FLORES To live where people vacation was a reality I had the

Scattered throughout the colorful island, you will find

privilege of experiencing for 17 years. The place I call

rentable golf carts, which will allow you to explore the

home is located in the heart of Central America: Nicaragua,

area’s hidden treasures on your own. Additionally, you can

commonly known as the land of lakes and volcanoes.

indulge in an island staple: lobster, which is offered on a daily basis in every restaurant on the island at a price

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American

range of $5 to $15.

isthmus, and it is home to the world’s most beautiful landscapes, lagoons, lakes, hidden beaches and

Ligia Mendoza, the owner and manager of Columbia

volcanoes. In this paradise, you can experience everything

Tours, a prestigious Nicaraguan tour, said the Corn Islands

from surfing an active volcano to swimming in the crater

are unique beyond its tropical paradise because of the

of a lake.

hospitality of the people throughout the islands.

But, if you ask me, there are two locations that make

“This place will make you question by the time you leave

Nicaragua a magical place to call home.

how did you end up making so many friends while living your dream vacation,” Mendoza said. “You won’t realize

Cor n Islands

that this getaway is exactly what you needed until

To start off the adventure, we have Nicaragua’s Corn

you are there.”

Islands. These heavenly islands feature turquoise waters, adrenaline-inspiring activities, affordable and appetizing

In this idyllic location, you can do activities among the

eats, white sand beaches and unforgettable landscapes

biodiverse coral reefs, such as scuba diving, snorkeling,

all in the most relaxing environment. To get to Big Corn

kayaking and fishing. You can even find a piece of Italy on

Island, which is located 43 miles east of the country’s

the island.

Caribbean coast, travelers take an hour-long flight from Managua, the capital, through La Costeña, a local airline which offers daily flights to this exotic destination. As soon as you hop off of the plane, you are welcomed into an unparalleled experience. Once you arrive at Big Corn Island, there are endless lodges and resorts to choose from that are nestled in the six square miles of the island. Arenas Beach Hotel is known as the best resort to make your stay unforgettable. This hotel offers compact bungalows along with family-sized suites. Located in the Southeast region of the island, this lodging option provides a beachfront restaurant situated on a white sandy beach. For around $80 a night, it features a boat bar, immediate access to the crystalline waters and dreamy coastal landscapes. 28

The view from the beachfront restaurant in Arenas Beach Hotel on Big Corn Island.

Big Corn Island is home to Nardo Luigi, 61, an Italian owner of an authentic Italian restaurant on the island called Pizzeria Italia. As a first-time tourist, he was so enchanted by the beauty of the place that he decided to leave his natal Italy and make it his new home. For the past 16 years, he has been serving his handcrafted pizzas to the locals and tourists of Big Corn Island, satisfying them through his willingness to serve others. If you are looking for more adventure, a 40-minute boat ride on the island’s native pangas will lead you to Little Corn Island. This small paradise is home to coral reefs and the bluest waters. Here, you can tour the entire island in less than an hour on foot because of its small size. Its 1.5 square miles will immerse you in a world of relaxation through a vibrant and Creole-influenced culture alongside the dreamiest water views.

Vi l l a s P l a y a M a d e r a s The next stop is located on the Southwest coast of Nicaragua, just 20 minutes north from the famous beachside party town on the Pacific Ocean, San Juan del Sur. The boutique resort Villas Playa Maderas has been the designated vacation spot for A-list celebrities like Josh Hutcherson, Tove Lo and Emily Ratajkowski. Through the five diverse villas at Villas Playa Maderas, you can enjoy otherworldly views. The villas are fabricated in a way that guarantees their guests’ privacy and include their own private beachfront porch with access to picturesque pools overlooking the San Juan del Sur Bay. Surrounding the villas is the luxuriant Nicaraguan jungle, which provides unique harmonies of nature along with the sounds of monkeys chattering in the wild.

Villas Playa Maderas not only offers the most blissful lodging experience, but it is also home to the best outdoor yoga retreat center in Nicaragua. Through the yoga retreat center, you can choose from four different decks to perform the ultimate meditation. Whether it is a solo adventure or group class, doing sun salutations surrounded by the jungle while having the ocean breeze caress your cheeks does not have a price. As if you needed more convincing, this paradisal getaway allows you the opportunity to engage in different leisure activities, such as horse and boat riding, walking forest trails, fishing tours and surfing. If there is anywhere that should be on your bucket list this year, it is to visit these paradisal locations in the land of lakes and volcanoes. Wherever your place of destination is in Nicaragua, this country will provide you a kind of adventure you have never experienced before. This Central American nation will make you want to stay forever through the hospitality of its people and the breathtaking landscapes spread across its Pacific, Central and Caribbean regions.

In any of the villas, you will feel as if you are in your own sanctuary of relaxation. If you get tired of being in the private pools, you can head down to the beach through the secret pathways that grant you direct access. As you stand on top of the highest edges of the villas, you can’t help but ask yourself how natural spectacles of this caliber are visible to the human eye. A lookout spot from one of the villas at the boutique resort, Villas Playa Maderas.

A paradisal viewpoint from one of Big Corn Island's highest points.

The Habitua l Homeb ody story & photos by BRIANNA MONROE

The outside world is loud. It’s filled with people around every corner, and expectations cast over you like a suffocating net. It’s a place where worry and trouble can lurk. When at home and away from the chaos, however, those stressors can disappear. For homebodies, the walls that surround them act as a barrier from the commotion that lingers on the other side; home is a safe, comforting place. According to Merriam-Webster, a homebody is a person whose life tends to center around their home. But do all homebodies think the same way? Do they have the same motives for staying home? From curling up underneath soft sheets, watching a treasured series glow from the TV screen or snacking on anything and everything found in the pantry, there are countless reasons as to why homebodies might prefer not to leave their safe place. For introvert Sarah Gilley, a 24-year-old animal care technician at the University of Florida, it’s mainly about control. Gilley feels safe at home. She’s away from trouble and chaos, and she enjoys not having to worry about anyone else. Growing up, she felt like a babysitter when she was surrounded by her family of alcoholics. Annoyance and anxiety can creep up on Gilley if she’s somewhere where there are drunk crowds, so she tries to avoid them at all costs. She prefers to spend her time at home with her boyfriend and their three dogs, five cats and eight parrots — away from social events, as they typically involve drinking. Occasionally, the pair will visit a movie theater, a restaurant or an escape room, places where they can stay in their own lane. Gilley admits she is far more likely to attend an outing if it’s planned and if she can map out the details. “It goes back to liking to have control in situations,” Gilley said. 32

“People like to be home for a reason,” Bogoslavsky said. “It is recharging, it is relaxing.”

Most often, though, you can find Gilley at home watching documentaries or playing outside with her furry friends. There, she doesn’t have to keep up with appearances, and she can do things her own way. Surrounded by the loving company of her boyfriend and animals, there truly is no place like home for Gilley. She enjoys being a homebody and the unique comfort relaxing at home grants her. Tom Greenia, an information technology employee at UF, takes on the homebody lifestyle, so he can enjoy his hobbies. The 35-year-old spends his time at home reading, listening to music, gaming and looking after his dogs. Being at home is a way for him to step out of the real world and into his own, away from people that are “erratic and unpredictable.” A self-proclaimed extroverted introvert, Greenia has experienced different spectrums of his social life and homebody tendencies. Prior to his move to Gainesville and the pandemic, Greenia had a healthy social life that included lots of out-of-the-house adventures and a seemingly great balance of work, home and away-from-home experiences. Now, he’s craving what he once had. While Greenia feels drained when he leaves his home and tends to need a recharge, he admits being home isn’t always as refreshing as he wishes it could be. Spending too much time at home can make Greenia feel like he’s missing out on life or watching the world move forward while he’s left behind. He explains that being home can make him feel fulfilled, yet empty — at peace, yet anxious. Sometimes, he enjoys it. Other times, he’s daydreaming of an escape. The moments that trigger this desire of escape likely stem from the fact that he lives alone, he said. Greenia believes if he had a roommate or a couple of decent friends, this feeling would probably diminish. “We are social creatures at the end of the day,” Greenia said. “We aren't made to be alone.” He grows tired of the notion that people who aren’t homebodies think home-lovers need to “get a life.” Homebodies do have a life, he said. It just doesn’t check the boxes of their version of normalcy. The term “homebody” has developed a slightly negative connotation, depending on who you ask, according to Mattie Bogoslavsky, a postdoctoral intern studying at the University of Central Arkansas to become a licensed psychologist. She explained that it does not make sense to her why being home is a lifestyle that is looked down upon in our society. It puzzles her that people tend to think the homebody lifestyle is one that needs to be fixed.

“People like to be home for a reason,” Bogoslavsky said. “It is recharging, it is relaxing.” From what she has seen from her patients, Bogoslavsky said being a homebody usually stems from one of two things: Either the person enjoys at-home activities, such as cooking or taking care of pets more than hitting the town, or the person finds situations outside of their home to be overstimulating. While she doesn’t want to generalize, she explained that anxiety can also be a recurring theme in homebody culture. Social anxiety, phobias and depression can all play a role in wanting to stay home, each in its own way, she said. These struggles deal with avoidance, whether that be avoiding interacting with people, going places or being perceived by others. “There is a certain comfort that comes with avoidance,” Bogoslavsky said. “Avoidance is comfortable, that’s why we do it.” This isn’t to say all homebodies have a mental illness or disorder, a misconception Bogoslavsky believes homebodies face. Some people simply enjoy relaxing in the comfort of their own homes. It also goes beyond personality types; both introverts and extroverts can be a homebody. Bogoslavsky considers herself a “huge extrovert” who chooses to be home over anywhere else. She meets her socialization needs by inviting people over to her place, where she can lounge in comfortable clothes and enjoy conversations with them. Like in any group of people, there is a spectrum of homebodies. Despite the differing reasons they choose to be there, they all align with the belief home is the place to be.

The Hidden Heart and Soul of Gainesville story by ALEJANDRA ZAMORA & photos by BRIANNA MONROE

At the first mention of Gainesville, Florida, even a well-traveled individual may begin by asking, “Where is that?” But, once references to the top 5 public university and SEC football team are made, recognition usually returns. Cloaked in an orange and blue haze, Gainesville is seemingly the University of Florida, but the University of Florida is not Gainesville. For UF and Santa Fe College students, the aforementioned is the reality; located in the rather desolate north-central slab of Florida, Gainesville creeps up on the average Interstate 75 driver, coming after a long distance of empty flatlands followed by an even longer stretch to Georgia. The universities and their affiliations are the main attractions of the town, yet according to 2018 Census data, college-aged students make up only 14.2% of the population. The spotlight is on the students, but what about those who dwell in the shadows? Though tucked away beyond the borders of campus, residential neighborhoods and other nonstudent housing units exist. Their occupants are full of families and hardworking, successful adults who are not classified as students of the city’s major colleges. Over 125,000 residents are part of the employed workforce, and about 55,000 married and single-family households lie within city limits, according to census data.

Lavon, originally from Michigan, followed her then-husband to Gainesville for his work, accepting that it would be her new home and where her daughter, Stella, would be born. The then-unemployed and new mother, however, found herself lonely and stuck in a town whose fierce school spirit was something she couldn’t connect to. “I did not like it at first,” Lavon said. “I didn’t really experience a lot of what Gainesville had to offer for the first year or so [because I was pregnant].” That started to change when she and newborn Stella attended new mom luncheons offered by the North Florida Regional Medical Center, where Lavon had the chance to meet other new mothers and form a support and activity group. “That was really the start [of] when I started to make friends in Gainesville,” she said. “I had been here probably about 10 months at the time, and I actually made a group of friends that I’m still friends with today.”

Within the confines of campus, a student may be completely unaware of the “regular life” happening around them, of those who may be attending open houses at their children’s schools instead of classes and reading work memos instead of textbooks.

Despite never growing to be a Gator fan herself (she’s been known to jokingly bet on Florida losses to the horror of her Gainesville-native friends), Lavon and a now-10-year-old Stella have found a solid community here in Gainesville.

For some of its residents, Gainesville serves as a chosen home, one full of opportunity and hope. But for others, making a life here came unexpectedly.

The pair loves frequenting the local parks, visiting the Lubee Bat Conservancy, attending festivals and events like the annual tree lighting in Tioga, and more, all things that “make it feel like home.”

When a pregnant Colleen Lavon moved to Gainesville 10 years ago with her now ex-husband, she remembers being taken aback by how different the residents were compared to the South Florida crowd she was used to. 34

“The very first time I came to Gainesville, I went to Target, and I remember seeing somebody in blue sweatpants, an orange sweatshirt and one blue and one orange Croc,” she said. “I was like, ‘Huh, that’s a little different than a Target experience in Sarasota!’”

Lavon has remained in Gainesville for her job and custody purposes, but over the years, her reasons for staying have doubled.

“

I’ve made it my home and truly can say I do like living here.”

"I realized when I was going through my divorce that I can't change the circumstances of being in Gainesville, but I can change how I perceive it and find things I enjoy," she said. "I've made it my home and truly can say I do like living here." A feeling of gratitude toward the town is also shared by Marsheen Pleak-Ryan, a fellow mother who also never imagined making a home in a college town. When her nonprofit job turned unstable, Pleak-Ryan moved to her husband Zack’s hometown area with their daughter in 2003. “It was a bit of a culture shock for me,” said the Los Angeles native. “When we first got here, both my husband and I joked that it was like we were dropped out of a spaceship.” Though they settled in Hawthorne, the ex-city dwellers found themselves in Gainesville for more reasons than a better grocery store selection: When their daughter Kayne developed dyslexia, the only school that would accommodate her was a charter school in Gainesville. “When we found the school and realized that they could meet her needs, there was really no question: Both of us were going to do whatever we had to do to make sure she got a good education,” she said. “We look at her education as being the greatest gift we could get her.” Rather than going back and forth to pick up and drop off, they “made their lives in Gainesville during the day,” finding work, friends and recreation in the city — the family really only found themselves in Hawthorne to sleep at night. While different, the college town eventually grew on Pleak-Ryan. “When we first moved here, we would get pizza at Leonardo’s by the Slice and sit out on the patio and just watch the students go back and forth,” she said. “There was a lot of really good energy from the students.” Despite the occasional annoyance dealing with gameday traffic (it’s still nothing compared to LA, she said), Pleak-Ryan and her family have grown fond of the town and admire its loyal community. Away from the hustle and bustle of campus, residents like Pleak-Ryan and Lavon offer a look into the often unseen lives of Gainesville’s other inhabitants, those who don’t encompass the conventional character but who, nonetheless, make up the town’s lifeblood.

Colleen Lavon (left) and her daughter, Stella (right), share a laugh outside their home. Lavon remembers knowing her 10-year-old felt at home in Gainesville when she turned down a 35 weekend trip to Disney World to spend time with friends.

My Body is a Temple, My Mind is a Mansion story by HANNAH SHELTON & photo by JOHANN VAZQUEZ

From head to toe, the human body is a complex vessel.

In addition to yoga’s ability to connect the mind and body,

Trillions of cells, 206 bones and more function together in

she also champions the practice’s additional advantages,

a symphony of organized chaos to create one being. The

such as the postures that lead to more openness and

body, like a home, is a special space. Like a roof, the skull

flexibility, and the breathwork that enables people to feel

protects. Like a wall, the skin surrounds. Like a window, the

lighter and more energized. The beauty of these benefits is

eyes gaze. Dust gathers and diseases deteriorate. Doors

that they are a gift to everyone.

open and arms embrace. “No one is bad at yoga,” Sadler said. “Ultimately, we are all The mind rings, and the body calls –– is anyone home?

seeking to connect deeper back to ourselves, back to our essence, to the true, blissful beings that we all are.”

From brain to being, a universal connection exists. Reflection, growth and mindfulness are fruits of this

Daisy Curtis-Nation’s lifelong journey with yoga also started

fixture, but they often go underdeveloped as the

with attending one class. She arrived at the studio in extreme

connection between the mind and body go unexplored.

pain from her genetic spinal condition, but she left feeling

Establishing this network is difficult. It takes time and

calmer and more alleviated. Over two decades later,

patience, which are rarities in the modern world. Amid these

Curtis-Nation has become the “teacher of teachers” and,

requirements, though, exists an understanding of the body

as result of her constant exploration and practice, has not

and mind as one, and the connection necessary to breathe

needed any surgeries to aid her condition.

life into their unity. “Yoga has been a healing practice that started with my body, The call can be answered, and this mind-body connection

but then extended into my mind and heart,” she said.

can be achieved, through the practice of yoga. As an instructor at Yoga Pod in Gainesville, Curtis-Nation Brandi Sadler identified this connection when her mother

encourages beginners to start their journeys by browsing

took her to her first yoga class when she was 16 years old.

online resources or attending a class with a friend. She said

Her visit evolved into a lifestyle, as she has been

mind-body connections aren’t immediate, but they can be

practicing yoga for 20 years and now owns Wildflowers

achieved through commitment and communication.

Yoga in Gainesville, Florida. According to Sadler, yoga is the union of the mind, body and spirit.

“That’s why we call yoga a practice,” she said, “and it’s something we keep practicing for as long as we are in these

“Yoga is a practice of connecting back to the deeper essence of ourselves,” she said. “Connecting back to your body means honoring what your body needs. It means slowing down and doing more things that you enjoy in your day.”

earthly bodies.”

From Canal to Swamp story by DENISSE FLORES & photos by CHRIS KIM

o 78-year-old Marvel Davison Townsend, a current

Townsend added that it was after teaching at Duke

resident at Oak Hammock Retirement Community at

University, and combining her love of helping and being

the University of Florida, waking up every morning next to

around children, that she realized this was what she

her husband is one of the many blessings she feels

wanted to do in life.

fortunate to have. As a resident of Gainesville for 42 years and a math professor at UF for 24, she has created a lasting impact on the community, leading her to have an award named in her honor: the Marvel D. Townsend Lecturer Award in Mathematics. Despite the chaos, nothing can stop her from seeing the beautiful moments life has had to offer from her youthful days until now. She hasn’t allowed a single mathematical problem to get in the way of her dreams. Today, if anyone at UF mentions Townsend, they

The former professor was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1942 in the midst of World War II. As a result of the military draft, her father had to relocate to the Panama Canal Zone, and her mother followed him down when Townsend was just 11 months old. The territory where she grew up was controlled by the United States, and during this time period, both of her parents worked for the U.S. government. “We lived in housing like a military base. It was assigned, but we had a wonderful, wonderful childhood,” she said.

automatically think of numbers because of the legacy she

“We had good schools, we had good friends, we had time

left behind through her passion of teaching mathematics

to play outside all the time, we were on the water all the

throughout her life.

time. I loved it.”

“When I went to college in those days, women were pretty

Despite having an American nationality, there is not a

much teachers, nurses or secretaries,” she said. “We weren’t doctors and lawyers and dentists and everything like nowadays, so I knew I wanted to teach.”

memory of Townsend’s youth that isn’t characterized by the strong rays of the Central American sun of Panama. She stated that growing up in the Panama Canal Zone, it was warm all year, and she and her friends played outside all the time.

She couldn’t help but smile every time she mentioned the water that surrounded her when she was growing up. The Panama Canal Zone even played an essential role in her romantic life because it was where she grew up with her husband, Frank Townsend. They had known each other all of their lives prior to dating, and they even attended the same high school. Frank is two years older than Townsend, so he went off to college in 1958 and did his military service, as she attended Wake Forest University for her undergraduate studies and Duke University for graduate school. During Christmas in 1965, she came home from Duke, and he came home from the military. While they were in the Panama Canal Zone at the same time, they started dating. “We knew our families, but we hadn’t dated each other. We had other boyfriends and girlfriends,” she giggled as she processed the memory of how their love story started. “It was destiny for sure.” Townsend added they got married a year and a half later in Panama. They selected a sunny day at the start of June for their happily ever after to begin. To celebrate their honeymoon, they drove from Panama throughout Central America to Texas. Even though the Townsends do not live in the Panama Canal Zone anymore, the Panamanian inside of them hasn’t left despite the years that have passed. Her husband is still fluent in Spanish and can still passionately remember Casco Viejo, one of the most popular tourist places in Panama. Townsend considers the Panama Canal Zone her home. However, she shared that family has always been the center of her life. “Home is where my family is,” she said. “A house is not a home. I like to be with my loved ones –– in particular, with my husband at the moment –– and as I was growing up, I liked to see my parents as much as I could.”

The concept of family is so important to Townsend that, even during her teaching career, she stopped lecturing for 10 years to stay home with her children and dedicate all of her time to them. She described that, after teaching for 30 years, her biggest takeaway is the feeling of satisfaction from helping people understand math, even in classes with up to 500 students. “I know it is harder for some people than for others, but I liked to explain it in a way that they could understand it, and I think that that is what I enjoyed about doing it,” she said.

“

Home is where my family is,” she said. “A house is not a home. I like to be with my loved ones –– in particular, with my husband at the moment –– and as I was growing up, I liked to see my parents as much as I could.”

Besides mathematics, Townsend said something else that

The Townsends moved to Oak Hammock during the

makes her heart happy is music. The love she shares with

pandemic and have begun enjoying many of the activities

her husband for music is what keeps their bond strong.

that weren’t initially offered to them when they arrived. They shared that, now that everything is opening up, they are

“My husband and I love to dance. We actually do a lot

getting to meet more people and have made new friends.

of Panamanian dancing,” she chuckled. She added that one of their favorite songs to dance to is “The Girl from Ipanema” by Antônio Carlos Jobim and songs by Lucho Azcárraga, a Panamanian artist. After being in Gainesville for so long, Townsend said the biggest change she has seen, compared to when she moved to the city, is that the town has gotten bigger due to urbanization. She first moved here in 1979 when her husband was hired as a civil engineering professor. However, despite how populated the town has become, they love Gainesville. She added that some of the things

“I am playing bridge again, I’ve started doing tai chi, and I’ve learned to play Mojave, and my husband is very involved in the Institute for Learning in Retirement, which is lectures,” she said. “He gave a lecture about his life, and then he is giving a lecture about the Panama Canal. We are more than busy and very happy.” Townsend would like to tell future generations of students they have to pursue their dreams. “If you don’t like math, you shouldn’t be in math. If you

they cherish the most about the city is the weather, the

like art or journalism, or whatever you like, that’s what

people and being at UF. Townsend said that if she had

you should pursue because if you are not working in

the opportunity to change something about her life,

something that you love, you will be unhappy,”

she wouldn't because she feels extremely blessed with

Townsend said.

everything she has. “I have a wonderful husband. I have great kids. I had great parents. I can’t really ask for anything more,” she said.

The Power of a Name story & photos by HOPE HATHCOCK

ailing from South Carolina in 1854, Esther “Serena” Chesnut and Confederate soldier Thomas Haile brought their several children and abundance of slaves to Alachua County to establish what would transform into one of the area’s wealthiest cotton plantations, Kanapaha. Almost 170 years later, the same soil now is home to 2,600 households, restaurants, schools and more in a community development — which is still known as Haile Plantation. Even though it is simply a name to some, Haile Plantation symbolizes a history of hurt to others, begging the question: To what extent does the neighborhood protect the lifestyle of all residents? A steadily increasing number of Gainesville inhabitants have united to display their opposition to the name of the community, forcing citizens to reevaluate the history of where they live as well as the power of titles.

Hawkstone Country Club has changed its signage at its entrance. However, not all logos have been rebranded yet.

Tatanya Peterson, a UF Health Shands lung transplant assistant, traced back her fourth-generation grandparents to Hampton and Grace Hathcock, slaves on the plantation of James Chesnut, brother to Serena Haile. Even though society needs to understand its past to know which direction it’s heading, she said she wants the name to be changed because it represents the enslavement her ancestors faced. “What does the name mean today?” Peterson said about a new title for the neighborhood. “Hopefully, putting an end to the past stigma of slavery and living peacefully where every race, culture and creed can live in harmony. Sadly, race is still a hate crime, even here in Alachua County in 2021.” A wave of residents would agree with Peterson, for they decided to choose change. Reaching a turning point of momentum in 2020, calls for progress led one of three homeowner’s associations, Haile Plantation West (HPW), to create an exploratory committee to research the issue and summarize opinion. 42

Photo courtesy of Historic Haile Homestead (Taken from the late 1890s). Seated from left to right: Bennet Kelley and his father, Edmund Kelley, both of who were enslaved at Kanapaha. Bennet's second wife, DeBose Kelley, the remaining individuals have not been identified.

In an email delivered to all residents, the association’s attorneys concluded a name change would cost less than $100 per home, and no owner would need to alter any legal documentation. Based on the results of HPW, the other homeowner’s association with the word “plantation” in its name would consider action. Those opposed to changing the name “Haile Plantation” say nothing is inherently evil about the word “plantation,” and the community must remember its past to learn from it. Others call attention to the financial hardships residents may be experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A third perspective says people who are offended should not have bought a home in the first place, according to the committee’s report. Those in favor of the name change say the country’s progressive climate means people have to look beyond the original intent of the word to acknowledge the painful impact the name has on the community’s Black members and that these problematic parts of local history should not be honored in modern times. Their stance is that changing the name reflects the values of the people who presently live there. As a sign of respect, deleting “plantation” stops the developer industry’s cycle of romanticizing the plantation system. President of the Historic Haile Homestead Karen Kirkman said she is in favor of the name change, but she is also OK if it stays the same because her own research allows her to understand that the name was a statement of fact at the time the developers bought the land from the Haile family descendants decades ago. It was a Haile plantation. “I think at the time, calling something a 'plantation' was a marketing gimmick, too,” Kirkman said. “However, that is problematic. Using the word 'plantation' in the name totally ignores the dark side of what a plantation really was.” Moving into Haile Plantation in 1984 and starting as a Homestead volunteer docent in 2001, she worked to uncover the limited information on the county’s past. Today, the Homestead features a rotation of displays and exhibits about the farm owners and the experience of enslaved people from the other local plantations owned by members of the Haile family. HPW did not garner enough votes for the name to be changed due to a majority of residents voting against the motion and a low response rate. The area’s country club, which is owned by the independent company ClubCorp, chose to rebrand from Haile Plantation Golf and Country Club to Hawkstone Country Club.

Vincent Hampton, a former resident and real estate agent in Haile Plantation, described his frustration over clients not considering the development due to its name and losing clients due to being outspoken about his morals. Born to a multiracial family, he posted on Facebook on several occasions pushing for the name change and his goal to make his community comfortable and inclusive to everyone. “I know changing a name isn’t a huge effect,” Hampton said. “But you kind of build off that small victory and hopefully can make an actual impact that can be felt for generations to come.” He has shifted his efforts from speaking out to supporting the community through Gainesville Vineyard and Bridge Community Center and serving on the Boys and Girls Club board. “For us to just call it history and forget about it and move forward is really just a slap in the face to the people that experienced that,” Hampton said. “You see so many people that have generational wealth, but they don’t want to acknowledge the people that have generational trauma that has been passed down.” David Canton, University of Florida Director of African American Studies Program and an associate professor of history, echoed Hampton’s redirection to channeling energy into changing policy to impact the community. However, he can see Haile Plantation changing its name in future years. He said society puts a lot of value into universities and buildings, and names are supposed to reflect the values of these institutions, which is the root of the debate. “Take it to the next level,” Canton said. “Have these discussions on issues of voting participation and getting people to the polls, which will have a bigger impact than just having a conversation.”

“

You see so many people that have generational wealth, but they don’t want to acknowledge the people that have generational t rauma that has been passed down.” 43

A n O p e n Let t er t o G ain e sville 44

story & photo by ANISSA DIMILTA

I have lived in you, Gainesville, for the last three years. While I was visiting my mom and the rest of my family back home in Jacksonville not too long ago, I found myself saying something strange. My mom asked me if I wanted to take something back to Gainesville with me as I was packing up to leave. “Yes, I’m going to take that back home with me,” I responded. Home. I called you home. But really, Gainesville, you will never be home to me. I have spent the last three years trying to love you, but if we are being honest, you make it hard. I wish I could say it’s me, not you, but I don’t want to lie to you. It is you, Gainesville. There are things I cannot look past, and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. Let’s start off with something kind of obvious and, perhaps, fixable: Why is parking so difficult here? Earlier this semester, one of those parking passports was added to the street outside of my apartment. You either have to pay to park, park millions of miles away, or cannot park because of time restrictions. Don’t get me started on the parking lot at the Publix on the corner of University Avenue. It took me longer to find a spot than it did for me to wait in line, order a "Pub Sub" and pay for it. Pro tip: Go to Publix on Main Street. Not as many college students shop there, so it is usually less crowded and more stocked. Downtown parking? Don’t even try. Searching for a space downtown is a nightmare, but honestly, nothing will ever be as bad as finding a spot on campus. It’s the less deadly version of Russian Roulette — instead of your life being at stake, it’s taking a chance on being late to class (or sometimes taking the hit and missing it). My sweet Gainesville, you are a beautiful and quaint town. Please tell me: Why are you always under construction? I am not just asking this because of the countless times I have been late to my internship and classes due to an unexpected road closure. If it’s not roadwork being done (and the occasional gas lines getting cut), it’s tearing down some of your most treasured restaurants.

Did you really have to get rid of The Swamp Restaurant and Leonardo’s Pizza by the Slice for more apartments? You forced me to enter the Wawa trend because you tore down the few dinky gas stations that lined University Avenue. Let’s talk about scooters. Yes, I mean the new electric scooters. I might just lose my mind if I break my ankles one more time trying to guess which direction someone is going to go on the sidewalk with those things. Someone call the soccer team goalies to give me some tips. I’ve never seen someone with a scooter complain about the lack of parking. Maybe those people are onto something ... Well, Gainesville, I think you get the point. I could go on about the autonomous buses, the way campus always has an odd variety of questionable smells and how orange and blue is not an appealing color combination. Don’t get me wrong, you do have some pretty lovable qualities, like the music scene and the quirky downtown venues. I will miss the familiar and comforting ringing of Century Tower when I’m walking to class. But I’m sorry to say, you will never be home.

After Hours: Scenes From the Home Life of a Nurse story by ALEJANDRA ZAMORA & photos by BRIANNA MONROE

n a clear Friday afternoon, Danielle Munson enters Starbucks Coffee with a bag of baseball gear she just sold earlier that day on Facebook Marketplace. With one hour to spare, she grabs a cup of coffee before she sits to talk more about her remarkably busy life. Munson isn’t a coach or athlete, at least not in the traditional sense. Though she’s constantly moving around, making game plans and managing the other members of her team, she trades a helmet for a surgical cap, a jersey for scrubs and cleats for comfortable tennis shoes. Her last name isn’t displayed on the back of her uniform. Instead, it’s printed on an identification card attached to her attire by a badge holder: Danielle Munson, RN, UF Health Shands. Over a quarter of a century has passed since Munson entered the field of nursing on the advice of her grandfather.

Although she only works three days a week (in 8-to-12-hour shifts, at that), Munson experienced things she had never encountered in her 25 years as a nurse: Her uniform gained many layers, she witnessed the sickest patients she’d ever seen in her life, and her mental health took a toll. But this change wasn’t just affecting her. When she would arrive home after shifts, a worn-out Munson would begin her second job: being a busy, yet devoted, wife and mother to her two teenage sons, Ryan and Chase.

“You’ll have a job forever,” she recalled him saying. Seventeen and living on her own in her home state of New Jersey, Munson jumped at the chance to apply to nursing school, and she’s been in the field ever since 1994. “It’s like second nature since I’ve been doing it for so long,” she said. Munson is a recovery room nurse at UF Health Shands Hospital, where her normal duties include preparing patients for surgery and helping them recover after surgery. But when the COVID-19 pandemic struck Florida, her work routine was rattled. “We had to turn the recovery room into a COVID unit because there weren’t enough beds in the hospital,” she said. 46

Photos courtesy of Danielle Munson

The transition wasn’t always so easy. When Munson would come home, mentally exhausted from work and often freckled with red indentations on her cheeks from the face masks, she was forced to adjust her routine while still maintaining the same super mom-level care for her family. “[When I come home], everybody wants me,” she said. “It’s tiring.” In a normal year, the mom of two would come home to greet her family, make dinner and hang out before ultimately peeling off her scrubs. That changed when she started dealing with more COVID-19 patients. “I would have to come home, and everyone's like, ‘I want this, I want that’ and I'd have to stop them and say, ‘Don’t touch me,’” the nurse said. “I went into my room to take everything off. I would take a shower; I would make sure I’m all clean before I even go out there and talk to anybody.” Work-night dinners usually consisted of takeout meals she’d pick up on the way home, meals she sometimes wouldn’t even get to enjoy herself because she’d crash in her bed by 9 p.m. Munson is grateful that her sons, who are 13 and 14, are old enough to be mostly self-sufficient, but it’s still a difficult responsibility to handle at times. Her husband, Michael, is a nurse anesthetist and works away for sometimes weeks at a time, leaving Munson to be the sole heavy lifter some weeks, handling the cleaning, school drop-offs and pick-ups, sports practice transports, grocery shopping and more herself. Her family was always on her mind, especially at work when she handled situations that hit a little too close to home. One patient in the COVID-19 unit, Munson recalled, was always talking about her son and how much she missed her family; she died without being able to see them one final time. “The emotional part of it is really sad. It was harder than I thought — I didn’t think it would affect me the way that it did,” Munson said. “If you put yourself in their shoes, that’s when it gets bad.” She wasn’t alone: According to a Nursing Times survey from March 2021, about two-thirds of nurses reported their mental health was worse than at the start of the pandemic. Munson said the mental pressure revealed itself by heightening her irritability.

“My brain was so overwhelmed. I would start to yell at home,” she said. “I just wanted to sleep and not be bothered.” She found herself longing for pre-pandemic days when her brain wasn’t “always on,” she said, the days of eating out at restaurants more, going on family cruise vacations and having the time and energy to watch movies on the couch with her sons. With overall numbers of those infected improving and vaccination rates rising, Munson said the hospital is beginning to return to its normal operations, but the memories of the past two years linger, nonetheless. Still, Munson feels lucky. Through it all, her family has remained healthy. She loves her bosses and coworkers, and she has even been inspired to apply to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner, a position with more autonomy than a registered nurse. While she can’t predict the state of the world in the next few years (“Will this become a seasonal thing? Will a new strain come soon? Will something else come that’s worse?” she wonders), Munson is prepared for another surge of busyness when she starts school in January, but she’s hopeful it will provide her with greater relief in the future with more time to relax and spend with her family. After all, she’s been at it for a quarter century; to this master multitasker, mom and medical professional, what’s another quarter century more?

Is Living Solo the Way To Go? story by SARAH SEPE & photos by KELLY O'TOOLE

Tino Taylor knew he wanted to live on his own in college before he was even accepted to one. At 19 years old, Taylor has a setup to himself that would make fraternity boys fall to their knees in jealousy. The one-bedroom apartment is filled with nearly everything he could dream of: a vintage Pac-Man machine, a beer keg (affectionately named Kevin) decorated with every sticker imaginable, White Claws stacked to the ceiling, a Chipotle menu mounted on the wall and his newest addition, a golden retriever named Dexter. “So, I’m like, crazy,” Taylor said with a sheepish grin. “I like to keep my air conditioner at, like, 60 degrees. No one else would want to live with that, which I get.” Taylor goes on to list the many other reasons he wanted to live alone so badly. His sleep schedule is nonexistent, he likes to play video games whenever he pleases, and he wants to have friends over on his own terms — the list is endless. “Nobody’s going to want to deal with that,” he said. “If I want something a certain way, then that’s it. I can do it.” The Wisconsin native said another reason he longed for his own space was his mother’s strict parenting style back home. He saved his money from working at an Italian restaurant to be able to afford the apartment he stays in now, and he is currently a manager at Chipotle to continue to pay for his living expenses. According to Taylor, it’s worth every cent. There are some downsides to having an apartment all to yourself. At times, the loneliness creeps in, the dishes pile up with no strict mother to clean them up, and the silence becomes excessive, he said. According to the most recent census, over 12,000 people live alone in Gainesville, and not all of them share the same blissful experience as Taylor. 48

According to Gainesville-based mental health counselor Mimi Culpepper, these people were hit hard during the quarantine period following the initial outbreak of COVID-19, especially if they were prone to anxiety. “Extensive periods of isolation can potentially exacerbate anxiety,” she said. “This can impair the overall functioning of a person’s life.” Taylor admitted he had ever-so-slight periods where he would have liked to have had a roommate. For a moment, he had a girlfriend who would often spend the night at his place, and he said it was actually nice. “She helped me out with stuff here,” he said. “She was cool … it was nice to have someone there.” However, that void has now been filled with Dexter in his life. His dog, a new addition, keeps Taylor on his toes, gets him outside due to the many walks they go on and keeps him company. Now that Taylor has Dexter, he doesn’t need anyone else.

My Birth, My Way story & photos by BRIANNA MONROE

Month by month, as their bodies grow new life, pregnant women pick out tiny onesies, the perfect name and the coziest of baby blankets. Among the list of pregnancy to-do’s and decisions is one of the most imperative: Where will their children be born? According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 98.4% of women give birth in a hospital. If not there, babies can be brought into the world at birthing centers or at home with the help of midwives. However, an article from the journal “Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care” stated that home births increased by 77% from 2004-2017. Whether it’s for convenience, comfort or control, there are a multitude of reasons why women opt to have a home birth, said Abby Reichardt, a licensed midwife in Florida from Midwives Cooperative located in Gainesville. All reasons stem from the desire to create the birthing experience mothers want, Reichardt said. At a hospital an expecting mother in labor may find restrictions around what she can eat during labor and the birthing positions available to her, the risk of having an episiotomy or the use of forceps and additional hospital noise. Many women may choose to have home births so they can be in a comfortable and familiar place in the presence of whomever they want, all while not having to frantically grab supplies and rush to the hospital. There’s also the desire to give birth without medical intervention and have the most natural experience possible. Mothers can make decisions for themselves, anything from lighting candles for a soothing atmosphere, subscribing to their cultural or religious practices or laboring in a certain position. Recently, Reichardt had a client who gave birth in the tub, held her baby for the first time and shouted, “Oh, my God, that was awesome!” The midwife said that not only was the new mother proud of herself, but the sense of triumph came from feeling supported and free to do what she wanted. Reichardt personally had two home births, and she is beyond grateful she was able to shape the story of her births through her decisions and the support from her husband and midwives.

“I got to bring my baby into the world how I wanted, and I love that. I love protecting that.” Reichardt said. “I always feel proud of people for being so empowered.” Similar to the sense of comfort and professionalism in a hospital setting, midwives are trained and certified, and if medical emergencies were to occur, they follow protocol, administer medication they have in their kit or call an ambulance. In the prenatal phase, there are multiple meetings between clients and midwives, and they are there to answer any questions, perform tests and ultrasounds and make sure everything is on track. One of the main lessons midwives teach expecting mothers is how to relax and manage the pain. They explain body relaxation tactics in detail, such as loosening the fingers and forehead, dropping the jaw and shoulders, breathing in through the nose and exhaling through loose lips. Midwives arrive when active labor begins, which is when contractions become stronger and more frequent, and the cervix dilates more rapidly. Throughout labor, they monitor all vitals and provide physical and emotional support to mothers. Whether it is a cool towel on the forehead, making a cup of tea, giving a back rub or encouraging them, midwives do all they can to help the mothers. If labor is taking too long or there is no progress, they typically transfer the parents to the hospital where, in most counties, midwives can still be there to help deliver the baby. After the infant enters the world, they are immediately placed onto the mother’s chest, skin to skin, creating a bond that will last a lifetime. The initial length of time physically spent together is up to the mother. When the mother is ready, the umbilical cord is cut, and breastfeeding is encouraged. 49

Like at the hospital, midwives are trained to administer newborn examinations and check the mother for any issues or tears, clean up and do laundry, and let the parents embrace their little one and focus on nothing else. Midwives return to the home 24 to 48 hours after delivery to perform additional tests, help with breastfeeding and encourage visits to a pediatrician. They visit again after two weeks to make sure everyone is happy and healthy. It was the time, care and attention that midwives offer, along with the natural and nonrestrictive nature of home births, that made Christine McCarty choose to have two of her own. Originally, McCarty had planned to have a natural birth in the hospital. While working with a gynecologist and making a birth plan, she began attending birthing classes with midwives through The Family Birth Center of Naples in Florida. After hearing the benefits of home births with midwives and reading books like “Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way,” she made the switch to an at-home birth. On Oct. 16, 1999, she woke up in bed, and her water had broke. The journey began. The midwife and doula, a nonmedical professional who provides emotional and physical support to the mother, arrived and instructed her to walk around her home to get both her and the baby’s body moving. Step by step, she maneuvered from one room to the next before entering the Jacuzzi on her lanai to begin pushing. McCarty had wanted a water birth, but after hours of effort that didn’t result in progress, the team made their way to the side of her bed. In a kneeling position with her husband Mike and a midwife at her side, she continued to exert herself and groan with each push. The labor took around 10 hours, and it wasn’t until McCarty’s mother arrived to walk the family dog that the baby’s head could be seen. Soon after the arrival of her mother, she remembers the midwife eagerly telling her to give a strong push, as the head was almost out. A few pushes later, the McCartys met their son, Nicholas, for the first time. “I really think seeing my mom just did something,” McCarty admitted. While soaking in the view of her precious newborn, she remained in a state of awe. After experiencing the intensity of pushing out her child, she was amazed at her body's capability and the reality that this is how each one of us came into the world. “After Nick, I just … I couldn’t believe that the Earth had ever been populated!” McCarty said with a hearty laugh. “I remember that day just thinking 'Woah, this is what women have done forever?' I just couldn’t believe it. It’s incredible.” According to McCarty, her first and second births couldn’t have been more different. 50

Photos courtesy of the McCarty family

After collecting the last supplies needed for her second home birth, she made a pit stop at Target with Nicholas and her mother. At the end of an aisle, she halted, put a hand to her abdomen and realized her contractions were starting. After a quick zip through the Boston Market drive-thru to fuel up for the journey ahead, the trio made their way to the McCarty’s newly purchased home. It was nighttime, and Nicholas was put to bed while McCarty anxiously waited for her husband to install the ceiling fan, a crucial resource for an at-home birth in Florida. Dialing up the midwives resulted in an outcome that McCarty could’ve never predicted. An extremely rare circumstance, neither of her midwives were available. One was sick with the flu, and the other was attending a different birth. She was told to lie in the tub or her bed and try to relax until a midwife could make her way to her home. Lying in bed, McCarty felt her contractions become more frequent, and she knew labor was approaching. Despite the pulsing pains and receiving the nerve-racking news about the unavailable midwives, McCarty recalled feeling calm and collected. In the intensity of the moment, her mother began to massage her feet for relaxation while her husband tended to her back. However, according to the online publication Healthline, when certain parts of a pregnant woman’s foot or ankle are massaged, it can trigger cervical ripening and uterine contractions — or promote labor. Not long after, McCarty’s water broke, leaving her mother and husband sharing a nervous glance. Mike encouraged her to breathe and to not push in order to hold out for as long as she could until help could arrive. “When you feel like you’re ready to push, there’s kind of no way you can’t,” McCarty explained. She told Mike she couldn’t help it. She had to start. Mike hastily got the midwife on the phone, and McCarty’s mother called 911 while the soon-to-be mother of two began pushing on her side.

“

I remember that day just thinking, 'Woah, this is what women have done forever?' I just couldn't believe it. It's incredible."

Through a phone call, the midwife talked McCarty through her labor and second home birth. She described the feeling of giving birth like trying to push a watermelon through a straw: an unparalleled intensity. Yet, this was what she wanted. A natural birth allowed her to be there for every moment, to feel everything and to not miss out on a single part. McCarty admitted that managing the excruciating pain was the hardest part, but she didn’t shed any tears during her labor. She melted into the moment and her body, incorporating the relaxation and breathing exercises the midwives had taught her. This labor was much shorter compared to her first. McCarty felt nothing but joy after pushing out her baby's head. She was ecstatic. Within 12 minutes, the baby boy had been fully brought into the world — but not without a slight complication.

Soon after, the midwife arrived to find an exuberant McCarty with her new baby, John, in hand. The umbilical cord was cut, and May 16, 2002, became one of the best days of McCarty’s life. Despite the midwife not being there, the mother felt prepared from the knowledge and information taught to her previously. Words of encouragement and instruction still rang through the phone, and in both her births, she felt safe and taken care of by her midwives. “If you aren’t prepared, of course you’re going to be scared,” McCarty said. “But if you’re taught for months how to deal with everything, you’ll be ready.” From first attending classes and learning about pregnancy to putting those lessons into action, McCarty is forever grateful for the experiences she had with her midwives and her births. They were the most “awesome and beautiful” experiences of her life.

The umbilical cord was wrapped around her son’s neck. The midwife instructed how to proceed over the phone. Mike was able to carefully and successfully remove it.

Home Economics:

A Lost Art and Transformed Tradition story & photos by HANNAH SHELTON

At the first sound of the school bell, students scatter from their classrooms. Lockers slam and sneakers shuffle as they congregate in the hallway for five minutes to debrief about the past 50. Hugs are given, headphones are fetched and homework is shared. Chatter about yesterday’s exam and this weekend’s plans are interrupted by yet another ring. The commotion ceases. Students are summoned to their next class, and with heavy heads and backpacks, they make their weary way there. Math, science and history are listed on their schedules, but what’s absent is the once customary home economics course, a now-extinct tradition that’s been transformed in modern classrooms after years of lengthy debates and revisions. Instead, Gainesville High School (GHS) students can take nutrition and wellness. According to Dawn Bekaert, who has taught the subject at GHS for 15 years, the course equips students with information about food skills, safety and planning. Although the class isn’t required to graduate, she said her students register for her course because they want to be there. With her apron tied and family recipes in hand, Bekaert also teaches her students how to measure ingredients, read recipes and use kitchen equipment. Students start cooking within the first nine weeks of school, and during the second semester, Bekaert builds upon what her pupils have learned through labs and demonstrations. From baking cookies to preparing pizzas, the lab groups have the opportunity to create their own concoctions and sample their fellow students’ work. 52

“I’m not teaching them how to be culinary chefs,” Bekaert said. “I’m teaching them basic home cooking skills so they come out of my class familiar with cooking and able to provide for themselves.” Learning basic cooking skills is a component of the traditional home economics curriculum, which Bekaert defines as “courses that teach life skills.” The original aspects of the discipline once encompassed basic home management tasks, where students would learn how to sew, cook and more. Cornell University’s home economics archive reveals formalized teachings of domestic principles date back to the mid-1800s, though the term “home economics” was not widely used until a century later. It garnered more popularity as cooking instructors, educators and reformers championed the importance of domestic life; in alignment with the stereotypes of the time, the rhetoric targeted young women. With the passage of the Morrill Act in 1862, which donated “public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts,” more women could attend land-grant schools. In contrast to private schools that were primarily sustained by wealthy men who fancied white-collar professions, these schools emphasized agriculture and practical pursuits.

With this application, leaders in the field believed home life could be improved. In 1899, Ellen Richards and other women met in Lake Placid, New York, to breathe life into this belief and legitimize home economics, according to the article “It Might Have Been Euthenics: The Lake Placid Conferences and the Home Economics Movement.” Now known as the “Lake Placid Conferences,” these gatherings laid the foundation and dissected the complexities of implementing the curriculum into schools. The article chronicles how home economics evolved yet also remained the focus of each of the 10 meetings. Although the meetings were over, the fight to legitimize home economics in American schools was not. In 1909, the American Home Economics Association (AHEA) was founded, electing Richards, who was also the first female graduate of and instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as its president. According to archives cited by Cornell University, the organization lobbied for more funding and rapidly expanded its educational programs. Such expansion also enriched the role of home economists, as they found jobs in various fields and contributed to debates on policy issues like social welfare and child development.

In not being taught yet still being expected to do practical tasks, Bekaert believes schools are “doing children a disservice.” Her students laugh as she not-so-jokingly says she teaches the most important class on campus, but she’s confident her lessons can be used every day and also give more opportunities to students who do not attend college. Despite the negative changes in the home economics field, she continues to champion the courses and the power of teaching. “Whatever you want to call them, these classes give the foundational skills that are invaluable in society,” she said. “Everyone needs life skills.”

The term “home economics” ran a long, relevant race until the AHEA changed its name to the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) in 1994. The rebranding occurred, according to the organization’s platform, “due to the complex social and economic issues that individuals, families and communities face today.” As society evolves and economic problems emerge, these complexities indeed pose a threat to the success and implementation of family and consumer sciences (FCS) courses. A report published by the AAFCS notes that, during the 2010–2012 academic years, student enrollment averages in FCS secondary programs decreased by 38% in the last decade since 2012; within the same decade, teacher employment also decreased by 26%. Bekaert, who has been the only home economics-related instructor at GHS for the past 11 years, believes this decline is due to a lack of funding. Despite the value she has found through her personal and professional experiences in the field, she finds the education system sets minimal money aside for courses that do not teach job skills. “I know job skills are important, but I also think we’re discounting the values of home skills,” she said. “A lot of kids aren’t getting the skill set that my generation got when we were the same age, so they grow up not knowing basic things.”

Past Individuals find ways to recreate their previous spaces of comfort and security by bringing aspects of their roots into their current surroundings. This can be acted out consciously or unconsciously, the professor said. For instance, when living in a new city, a person can incorporate the style preferences one’s mother used to decorate the individual's childhood home.

The Intersection of Your Personal Space and Your Mental Space story by HOPE HATHCOCK & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

Imagine your bedroom. Look around. Scan the walls. Do your favorite colors surround you? Are there books? Are there photographs? Are the pictures of people? Do you know them, or do you wish you did? Is it places? Have you been there, or do you dream to? The environment you have created for yourself is the manifestation of who you are, and this can include your past, your present and your future. According to psychologist and University of Texas professor Samuel Gosling, your personal space reveals far more about you than you think. Pausing to reflect on the reasoning behind why you select certain pieces to make up the space you return home to can help you understand your identity. “Physical environments, such as bedrooms and offices, are rich with evidence about the people who occupy them,” Gosling said. Peering into an individual’s bedroom allows you to understand one’s personality, dispositions, values, abilities and lifestyles. According to the psychologist, analyzing residential spaces has been neglected by empirical researchers even though there has been a long history of emphasizing the psychological significance of homes. 54

“The motives behind these decisions may be propelled not by conscious tastes and preferences, but rather by the emotional connections promoted by these elements,” Gosling said.

Present People showcase their current status in life and what they value in the moment through various forms. One conveys their fondness for family by displaying photos of loved ones. Additionally, political affiliations can be demonstrated through symbols. In a study published in Political Psychology on the intersection of personality and style by contrasting political parties in the United States, liberals maintained rooms decorated with art, travel, literature and memorabilia of other cultures, whereas conservatives occupied spaces with conventional American ornamentations such as sports decor and flags. “The presence of personal and cultural artifacts can influence levels of well-being and feelings of social support,” he said. “For instance, people may use photos of loved ones and other tangible reminders of connections to others to fend off feelings of loneliness and social isolation.”

Future “Although most cues will reflect past behaviors,” he said. “There may also be some clues to anticipated behaviors.” One can demonstrate hopes for the future by incorporating a design that serves as motivation. Mood boards are a prime example of people surrounding themselves with their aspirations in order to inspire themselves to act. This can range from goals of wellness and health to travel destinations to dream professions.

One can conclude the resident is conscientious if they organize their belongings, which can be shown through a tidy work desk. One can conclude the resident is socially responsible if they voted and expressed pride through displaying an “I Voted” sticker. One can assume the resident is adventurous if they are passionate about surfing and lays out a surfboard in their room. Rooms can also be bookmarks of momentous occasions in life like puberty, living alone for the first time, marriage, divorce and having a child, Gosling said. Furthermore, a bedroom provides valuable context to examine processes of emotion regulation since it is stable while also being malleable, and it’s a location where individuals spend a great deal of time. How you spatially organize your domain and the resulting facilitation of the consumption of emotion-regulating materials — such as movies, music and books — can also be studied to understand your inner self, he said. This can go beyond your room and into your office space, even to your car. Not only do you affect your environment, but your environment has the capacity to also affect you, he said. Once you decorate your counters, shelves and bed, your personal space in the world takes on a new meaning of impacting the most personal space of all: the place within your mind. By analyzing the choices you have made, you can make new strategic decisions that have the potential to improve your lifestyle. For example, if your goal is to reduce stress, one can ensure there is as much access to lighting as possible. In order to promote social interactions, you can create extra spaces for people to sit. With his team, Gosling has conducted empirical research in order to draw conclusions from observed habits rather than simply theorizing. From only examining bedrooms or cubicles, observers were able to make accurate hypotheses about the occupants’ personalities and identities.

So take one more look around your room and note the qualities of yourself that are reflected through your style and organization. You won’t regret taking that extra step in improving the physical space around you to elevate the mental space inside of you.

Acting as a resource for endless clues to character, rooms allow one to piece together the puzzle of a person from studying the functions of the space that are unintentional. Are there clothes on the ground? Are there bottles on the nightstand? What kind of drink is it? The questions and consequential observations are infinite.

Building a Home 2,000 Miles Away story & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

A missed opportunity and a vow to never let it happen

again. That is what brought María del Carmen Curatolo to the United States and, specifically, to Gainesville, Florida. Curatolo grew up in Guayaquil, Ecuador, which is located

more than 2,000 miles away from Gainesville. It was always her sister’s dream to live in America, yet it wasn’t necessarily hers, she said. But life has the tendency to throw curveballs at people. Curatolo grew up in Guayaquil, received her law degree from the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil and worked for a local law firm. She said coming to America was never a plan for her life. She had one simple goal while working at the law firm: travel more. She was always the one in her workplace volunteering to travel and offering to transport the mail because Ecuador does not have an official post office or mailing system. Ecuadorians have to rely on private companies like United Parcel Service (UPS) or FedEx. “Believe me, they are not as reliable as they are here,” she said with a chuckle. Most of the time, the easier option was to have individuals transport the mail. She recalled a time when her law firm was working for a new radio station whose frequency was owned by the government. Paperwork had to be filed and delivered, and she was the one who volunteered to make the delivery trip. One day at work, she was asked if she knew English well enough to do business. Although her father had paid for years of English courses, she admitted she did not know

“

Home is really where your loved ones are,” she explained. “In my case, I have my kids. They’re truly mine, so that’s where home is."

enough to communicate at a professional level. Consequently, she lost the opportunity to travel to Chicago. “I missed the chance, so I said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen to me again,’” Curatolo said.

She quit her job — hoping she would get it back at some

Going back home to Ecuador means she can eat all the

point — and began searching for places where she could

food she grew up with without having to prepare it.

study English and become proficient enough to never miss

Mealtime is a very important event in Curatolo’s family. She

another opportunity.

said that meals here seem rushed; people eat, and then, they go.

She came across the English Language Institute at the University of Florida.

In her family, lunch is at 1:30 p.m., and it is a time for everyone to sit around the table, eat, hang out and catch

“They have an amazing immersion program. It has

up. She remembered the times they would sit at the table

amazing features,” she boasted nearly 18 years since

for so long that her grandfather’s sister would have to kick

being in it.

everyone out because it was time to start preparing for dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Curatolo went on to complete the program, but she did not pursue her original plan to try to get her old job in

“As long as there is some cheese on the table or some

Ecuador back. Life threw another curveball at her — she

coffee … we can still talk,” she said.

married a man from the U.S. and permanently relocated to Gainesville.

In 2018, more than 44 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, according to a study by the

“There will be plenty of experiences for you,” she said.

Pew Research Center. Furthermore, 13% of the U.S.

“Things that you would never imagine. Sometimes we have

population has moved from a place they once called

a plan, and it just doesn’t go that way.”

home to a completely new country. Some people bring items from home with them, while others carry on with

Curatolo already had a law degree from Ecuador, so she

traditions that go beyond physical decor. Some, like

applied for her Master of Laws degree at the UF Levin

Curatolo, find solace in small things, such as quality family

College of Law. According to the Law School Admission

time at the dinner table.

Council’s website, this degree is designed for law students to specialize, expand their knowledge or “gain international

When she first moved to Gainesville in the early 2000s,

qualifications if they have earned a law degree outside the

she arrived at her hotel with only a few suitcases. Due to

United States or Canada.”

the lack of space, she could not initially bring many items that reminded her of home. However, she has brought

In November of 2015, she opened her own law firm

some reminders of Ecuador for her new home as she

in Gainesville.

travels back-and-forth over the years.

When asked if she still considers Ecuador home or if she

Curatolo said home is not the structure in which you live. It

now calls Gainesville home, she paused, “It’s a

is not the place you go home to every night that protects

difficult question.”

you from the environment.

All of her family members still live in Ecuador. Here, she

“Home is really where your loved ones are,” she

has her children, she said. There are certain aspects of life

explained. “In my case, I have my kids. They’re truly mine,

in Ecuador she misses, but she has grown accustomed to

so that’s where home is. It doesn’t matter where we are

life in America.

physically as long as we’re together.”

Breaking Down Homeopathy’s Past , Present and Promising Future story by SARAH SEPE & photos by ANISSA DIMILTA

One sore throat led to a then-23-year-old Alvaro Toledo’s life profession. After over two weeks on antibiotics and receiving shots to reduce inflammation for strep throat, his condition remained the same. This is when he sought treatment with a holistic doctor. “She put me on a couple of Chinese herbal remedies, and after the first week, I was nearly completely better,” Toledo said. “This is what got me a little curious on maybe pursuing this as a career.” Fifteen years later, Toledo is now a licensed acupuncturist and has been practicing in Gainesville for over nine years. Acupuncture is a type of homeopathic treatment. Essentially, homeopathy follows the belief that the body has the tools it needs to heal itself, and remedies only help bring those tools out. The practice of homeopathy has been controversial for decades — but why? Homeopathy is based on two main principles, according to The National Institute of Health, and the first one is found in the name itself: “Homeo” means “similar” in Greek. 58

This leads to the first principle, “like cures like,” meaning illnesses are treatable with substances that cause similar symptoms in healthy people. It may sound odd, but it is a basic idea in mainstream medicine. For example, some vaccines contain a small portion of the illness it is targeting to fight. The second principle is the law of the minimum dose, meaning many practitioners believe low dosages lead to better results in patients than a higher dosage. This belief led to some disagreements, with many doctors calling the practice implausible. In 2012, former British Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt told a science writer for The Telegraph that he utilized homeopathic treatments and was mocked for it. In 2021, Timothy Caulfield, the Research Chair in Health and Law Policy at the University of Alberta, wrote an open letter to alternative medicine saying, “I get why people enjoy hanging with you, Alternative Medicine. But none of this makes you clinically effective. None of this makes your core tenets scientifically plausible.”

So why is there such a disdain toward a branch of medicine that has been around for thousands of years? Toledo believes one of the factors is that most people think it’s either one or the other — alternative or conventional, there’s no in between. “I have patients who are surgeons or conventional doctors who come to me for acupuncture,” Toledo said. “There have been times where I have combined Western medicine with acupuncture … it was incredibly helpful having the combination of them.” Toledo isn’t the only practitioner using herbal and holistic remedies in tandem with typical Western medicine. As the number of people seeking homeopathic care increases, physicians who practice Western medicine have been meeting in the middle with patients, whereby they use an “integration” of the remedies instead of the remedies being an alternative to typical treatment. Slowly but surely, homeopathy is becoming less taboo to the public. In recent years, many celebrities have shared they practice homeopathy, with many posting their treatments on social media. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Anniston have posted their acupuncture facials for their followers to see. Actress Natalie Portman has been using acupuncture since 2011 following the birth of her first child, and musician Sheryl Crow has been an avid believer in homeopathic treatment following her battle with breast cancer.

Similarly, Toledo said that five years ago, he received a huge influx of patients who wanted to try cupping, an ancient Chinese practice of using suction cups to pull the skin back and loosen muscles and tendons, after Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was seen with red dots all over his body in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Homeopathic treatment may not be the best solution for everyone, but everyone should be open to trying it. There is no one-treatment-cures-all in Western or alternative medicine. Find what works for you, not what works for Michael Phelps or Kim Kardashian. Speak to a professional about it or do your own research. In the case of Toledo, it led him to a new career path. In your case, it could be a new path to healing.

“

She put me on a couple of Chinese herbal remedies, and after the first week I was nearly completely better; This is what got me a little curious on maybe pursuing this as a career.”

A recent article in Medium regarding the topic of influencers said, “People in today’s society look up to these famous people so much, sometimes they would follow anything that celebrity said or did.” The influence celebrities have over the public is nothing new. For years, brands have relied on famous friends to get their product off the shelves; the same goes with cookbooks, clothing lines and movies. Seeing a familiar face, even if it’s the face of a celebrity someone has never met, can be the deciding factor between picking up a product or walking past it. The same can go for the use of alternative medicine. Bailey Berhannan, a student at the University of Florida, has recently started using herbal remedies. Oil of oregano is her favorite, and she began taking arnica tablets for pain after she read an article that shared David Beckham used it, she said.

Reserving Land and Reclaiming Truth story & photos by HANNAH SHELTON

lachua County was founded in 1824 with promising

citrus, phosphate and mercantile industries on its horizon. As Florida was granted statehood two decades later, the county continued to develop and so did its dependence on railroads. In 1853, it moved its county seat closer to the local railroad and conceived a new town: Gainesville. According to the official Alachua County website, the central location of the new city inspired the creation of more trains, people and economic growth. The World War I tragedies and agricultural-based tribulations the county endured hindered its development at the turn of the century; however, its saving grace came in the form of a university that initially had about 100 students, a few faculty members and two buildings. With origins tracing back to 1853, the University of Florida was established on its current Gainesville campus in 1905. Its consolidation breathed urban life into the rural lungs of Alachua County, whereby UF has since contributed billions of dollars to the state’s economy and constituted over half of the county’s workforce in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, according to a 2019 study. The university continues to glisten in the Florida sunshine and enrich the area, but, despite their persistent and proud presence, neither Alachua County residents nor UF students were the first people to call this land home. Before there were the Gators, there were Native Americans. As new discoveries are made, the timeline of Indigenous arrival stretches back further, and the details become debatable. According to a 2015 article by National Geographic, it is generally accepted that “Indigenous Americans are descendants of Siberians who came to the New World by crossing a land bridge in Alaska around 15,000 years ago.” 60

Conversely, a period that bears more clarity is when Europeans began colonizing the region Indigenous people called home. The year 1492 unraveled thousands of years of this sense of “home,” as Christopher Columbus’s arrival to the so-called “New World” inspired other Europeans to begin new lives at the expense of the deaths of Native people. In came the Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and British, and out went Native Americans’ autonomy, privacy and power. Colonizers enslaved people for many malicious reasons, but the Gilder Lehrman Institute of America History noted that “unfree labor” was “the central means by which Europeans generated the wealth that fostered the growth of colonies.” Thus, Indigenous people built a society they were later forcefully removed from. In the 1500s, more explorers set sail to North America. Spanish conquistadors, like Juan Ponce de León and Hernando de Soto, voyaged to modern-day Florida in search of gold and other resources, but, as European presence and power waged throughout the land, tension between the Natives and new arrivals grew. Such strain transpired into more wars, death, displacement and enslavement across North America. A study by Linford Fisher, a historian at Brown University, noted that “between 1492 and 1880, between 2 and 5.5 million Native Americans were enslaved in the Americas in addition to 12.5 million African slaves.” During this period, infamous battles, such as King Philip’s War and the Battle of Little Bighorn, ensued. However, as the fighting came to the end, so did Native Americans’ reign and sense of home. According to The History Channel’s official website, “though Indians helped colonial settlers survive in the New World, helped Americans gain their independence and ceded vast amounts of land and resources to pioneers, tens of thousands of Indian and non-Indian lives were lost to war, disease and famine, and the Indian way of life was almost completely destroyed.” How did groups of humans simply stroll onto lands already inhabited by people and claim it to be their own? The uncomfortable truth is that they did, and it happened in this very vicinity.

According to archives catalogued by UF’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies, “the Potano people lived in the Alachua County/Gainesville region at the time of European exploration and colonization of what is today known as Florida.” The Potano people were linguistically and politically associated with the Timucua, who Access Genealogy acclaimed as “the most powerful of all the Timucua peoples.” Despite this power, as history often repeats itself, the Potano population was decimated by disease and violence, which led to a decrease from around 3,000 people in 1650 to about 160 a mere five years later. The Timucuan civilization disappeared in the 1700s, but their legacy remains: Gainesville was founded on Potano land, and city residents currently live on their once prosperous home. National efforts, such as President Joe Biden being the first in his position to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021, and local actions, such as the city of Gainesville’s erection of a sign honoring Indigenous people in front of city hall, have recently occurred, but there is more work to be done if society is to honor and uplift the voices of the Native Americans it has long

Maya Stanfield-Mazzi, an art historian and UF professor who focuses on Indigenous art in the Americas, said it’s important to understand the issues, such as poverty, political representation and lack of resources, Native Americans face as a result of colonization. “Political activism is an important part of indigeneity, people being able to articulate their rights and to be able to talk about their home land,” she said. “Native people have struggled to maintain their homes and spaces as they were encroached on by settlers … people need to protect and advocate for these rights … and put Native American perspectives first.” This sense of home has been plagued by the Western world’s limited view of the concept, but Stanfield-Mazzi believes there are different ways of understanding home. Gainesville residents cannot fully restore the lands that were mercilessly taken from Native Americans, but they can remember. They can acknowledge, advocate and educate. They can, as the sign outside of city hall states, “perpetually seek ways of mirroring the regenerative lifeways of the original Indigenous stewards of this land.”

deemed invisible. 61

Making a House a Home:

Design Trends of the Past story & photos by BRIANNA MONROE

Whether someone is a sleek, modern enthusiast or a lover of farmhouse furnishings, the design trends we implement today have been influenced by interior design staples of the past. But which have been the most influential, and which are most representative of the time? To illustrate past decades' standout home design trends, interior designer Kaelyn Schmidt, owner of Kaelyn Schmidt Design, helps paint the picture. THE GLAMOROUS GOLDEN ERA Art Deco was all the rage in the ’20s and ’30s. If you’re unfamiliar with this design style, think of the aesthetic of the Roaring ’20s or “The Great Gatsby.” Wallpaper, furniture, tile, rugs and artwork all incorporated regal and intricate line work and dynamic shapes, such as triangles and diamonds. Rooms were designed with elegance, sophistication and a touch of golden glamour. Crystal chandeliers hung from ceilings with patterned wallpaper, and substantial mirrors decorated the walls. “The ’20s was probably the most impactful decade in design because of the Bauhaus school of design and the many artists, designers and styles that came from it that we still see influence design today,” Schmidt said. CLEAN LINE CONTEMPORARY Similar to Scandinavian design, the mid-century modern design concept was all about simplicity and functionality. Design elements were centered around minimalism and the juxtaposition of clean lines with organic shapes. Wallpaper was phased out, and neutral colors were painted on the walls, as they were the main color palette of this design era. Evolving technology allowed furniture to be produced with new materials, such as plastic and vinyl, made to complement their wood counterparts. In the late 1950s, both the Egg Chair by Arne Jacobsen and the Eames Lounge Chair by Charles and Ray Eames made their mark in history and in people’s homes. Made of plywood and leather, the Eames Lounge Chair is a contemporary staple for this futuristic, yet timeless, decade. “Social areas were important at the time, and homeowners put a lot of effort into designing their living rooms and kitchens,” said the interior designer. 62

S A T U R A T E D ’6 0 s Vivid colors and intricate patterns could be seen across all rooms in the ’60s. It was common for rooms to have monochromatic themes. Red bedrooms, blue bathrooms, yellow living rooms; the houses of the ’60s showcased all of the colors of the rainbow. The brighter, the better. The space age brought forth designs and furniture that included chrome finishes and curved features, stepping away from the clean lines seen in the previous contemporary era. In 1963, the Ball Chair was designed by Eero Aarnio and found its way into many people's living rooms. Its spherical form represents the trend of geometric shapes that were consistent in ’60s designs and culture. On the floors were vibrant shag rugs or patterned carpets, which both dominated the decade. “If someone didn’t have colorful carpeting, they most likely had parquet flooring, which was another huge trend,” Schmidt said. No matter the aesthetic, the designs we see today stem from the trends and iconic creations of the past.

Experiencing Loss Away From Home story by DENISSE FLORES & photos by JOHANN VAZQUEZ

As opposed to the common belief that you don’t know what you have until it's gone, I knew what I had. I just thought I would have it for much longer. In December 2017, I lost my best friend during the first semester of my freshman year of college. This was the first time I ever experienced grieving someone close to my age. Death doesn’t happen until we are old, right? This thought ruminated in my mind until I experienced it at 18 years old. Back then, even though I knew dark days were ahead of me, I had to develop a psychological resilience to get back on track with my studies. However, as an international student, how was I supposed to do it away from home and without the support of my family and friends? This is an issue many international students face, but due to the stigma surrounding mental health, it isn’t spoken about as often as it should. Natalie Hodnett, 19, is a second-year student from Bolivia at the University of Florida. October 2021 marked one year since the passing of her childhood best friend, Olivia Rojas, who tragically lost her life in a car crash at the University of Notre Dame in 2020. Hodnett and Rojas met each other when they were just 4 years old. They not only went to school together for 15 years, but they had also been next-door neighbors since the second grade. “When I found out the news about Olivia’s passing was true, I felt like they had ripped my heart out of my chest," Hodnett said. “It was the worst feeling I’ve ever felt in my entire life.” 64

She shared that, of all the ways she was affected, her academic performance was impacted the most. “That semester I had a 2.5 GPA. I had to leave from Gainesville to be with my parents because I couldn’t be alone,” she said. Hodnett said losing her best friend has made her aware of how important it is to practice mental hygiene because every day is a different battle. According to Ledia Gutiérrez, a neuropsychology specialist at Mente Sana Psychological Center with over 30 years of grief experience, every loss provokes a natural depression. “When someone is grieving, they lose focus and the desire to get things done. Academic performance and conversations will drop. We do not all process grief in the same way,” Gutiérrez said. She added that for students like Hodnett who are dealing with grief from a distance, the healthiest thing to do is live the pain without getting addicted to it. If you ever find yourself going through the loss of a loved one far away from home, know there are tools to help you. Seeking psychological therapy, communicating your feelings by talking with friends or crying to unload your emotions can help you overcome the pain.

Flavors That Follow story by ALEJANDRA ZAMORA & photos by BRIANNA MONROE

In the early morning hours, Bo and Leanna Prum depart their home in Newberry, Florida, to travel to their restaurant in downtown Gainesville, where bundles of herbs and vegetables wait to be washed and chopped, and cuts of chicken and beef wait to be carved and marinated. It’s a task that’s required of them in order to uphold the freshness and flavor that loyal customers of Prum’s Kitchen know so well. But it’s also one that reminds them of their home, for the 20 miles they drive every morning is nothing compared to the over 8,000 they once traveled. The husband-and-wife duo who owns the downtown restaurant at 6 S Main St. hails from the Kampong Cham region of Cambodia, the small southeastern Asian nation tucked between Thailand and Vietnam. According to Bo, life was “innocent, fine, fun and peaceful” before the early 1970s when communists seized control of his small village. At only 8 years old, Bo’s home was uprooted, as his family was forced to flee to the capital city of Phnom Penh. But the effort was to no avail, for in 1975, the Khmer Rouge communists had infiltrated the capital, which initiated the start of a gruesome regime that would be responsible for the death of over 2 million people. “The communists don’t believe in family,” Bo said.

Both Bo and Leanna managed to escape, but it wasn’t without tremendous peril and hardship. For Bo, specifically, he and his 10 family members — including his then-eight-months-pregnant sister-in-law — fled on five bicycles for a week to a camp on the border of Thailand. There, their new home became each other’s company in the refugee camp. There, the Prums waited for a sign they didn’t think would come. Freedom came in the form of a sack of letters written by Cambodians stranded in other countries brought to the camp by a Cambodian monk. Bo remembers thinking that a message from his older brother, who had been stuck in America since before the takeover, couldn’t possibly be in the heap of letters, but “a miracle happened.” Regaining contact with his brother led to the family’s sponsorship to Anaheim, California, where Bo would spend the majority of the rest of his life. America brought a myriad of culture shocks and a deep language barrier, but it’s also what brought him to his wife. Despite growing up in the same province in Cambodia, Bo and Leanna’s story began at the California high school they both attended. “I couldn't believe we had another Cambodian,” Leanna said on discovering she and Bo were the only Cambodians in the school. Their small, often overlooked ancestral country was mirrored in the size of the Cambodian community they had in California. The Prums relied on each other and their families to keep their traditions and culture alive.

From everyday family dinners to larger holiday gatherings, food is at the root of that connection to their home country. “Cambodians are very kind and hospitable. You can knock on somebody's door and say, ‘I’m lost,’ and they wouldn’t say hello. They’d say, 'Have you eaten yet?’” Bo said. “We wanted to give that same feeling to the community in Gainesville.” After their three children grew up, Bo and Leanna left their respective jobs in technology and accounting to once again search for a new home where they could pursue a calmer career in a more relaxed environment as they neared retirement. They found that setting in Gainesville by accident. “Before deciding anything, we got stranded here in 2017 from Hurricane Irma,” Leanna said. “Our flights got cancelled, and we were forced to stay a while.” Their journey serving the Gainesville community began that year when they stumbled upon the opportunity to cook for over 300 people in a hurricane shelter. “That’s when we felt like serving this community was something we were called to do,” Bo said. Bo and Leanna bought their Main Street storefront in August 2019, and they opened their doors five months later in January. At the start, finding traditional ingredients that were crucial to the cuisine, like lemongrass, turmeric and galangal roots, were hard to find. “Where we lived [in Cambodia], we would just go to the backyard to get it,” Bo said. The couple quickly learned they’d need to travel to larger cities in Florida, like Jacksonville and Orlando, to source ingredients. Sometimes, their children even bring essential provisions from California when they come to visit. The trek for authentic, fresh ingredients was always worth it, though, for bringing a taste of home to Gainesville was not only their main intention, but it was also a way to keep Cambodia close to their hearts, a way to remind them of where they came from.

The Prums credit local media exposure and community support to keeping them afloat in the pandemic’s peak and through the present day. Leanna, the head chef, and Bo couldn’t imagine not spending their days hand-making crispy pork egg rolls, simmering savory broth for noodle soups or stir-frying marinated beef for their most popular dish, Ba-Bong. Through their open kitchen, the Prums love to peer out into their little brick dining room and watch happy customers beam after their first bite of food from an unfamiliar cuisine. To them, that’s a sign they’ve done their job right, that they’ve adopted another person into their family.

Just two months into opening their business, however, the Prums faced their next challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It touches us,” Bo said.

“There's a lot of whys [when we were forced to close so soon],” Bo said. “Lots of stress, lots of headaches, lots of hard work put in. We just had to fight through it.”

Bo and Leanna’s ancestral country may be over 8,000 miles away, but opening Prum’s Kitchen has allowed them to create a little Cambodia right here in Gainesville, a home that’s always open, asking anyone who shows up at their door, “Have you eaten yet?” 67

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